If you're here last Wednesday
night, you'll remember the subject was before the world began, or
before time began. And I have entitled the message
for tonight, In Due Time. Now, men, while we don't understand
it, We have some grasp of eternity. Everybody does. I don't care
what nation. Everybody knows that somebody
made this universe and nobody made him. He's eternal. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter one. Let me show you that. Everybody I'm not saying they
understand it, but they know it. So verse 20 of Romans chapter
one, for the invisible things of him,
things that can't be seen from the creation of the world are
clearly seeing being understood by the things that are made this
creation, even his eternal power and Godhead. Whoever made this
universe was all powerful and no one made him. He must of necessity be eternal. Now people can argue against
that if they want, but deep down everybody knows that's so. Now Lord willing, we're going
to consider the preaching part next week, but as in due times
manifested his word through preaching, we're gonna consider that next
week. But I just want us to think about time. Time, we're in it right now.
With the past, we all have a past. In the present, right now, and
tomorrow. Now time, we're bound by time. I can't see tomorrow, I can't
change yesterday. We're bound by time, God's not. He's not bound by space or time,
but you and I are, but there is a time, and this is almost
denying what I'm saying, saying this, there was a time when there
was no time. And so when that time was, there was no time,
that wasn't time. I don't know how else to say
it. It's eternity. Eternity, no past, no future,
everything in the eternal now. Time has not always been, it
began during creation. Turn with me to Genesis one for
a moment. Now, in Genesis chapter one, we have the story of creation. And in the Genesis account, he
gives six days of creation. And the seventh day he rested.
Some have thought those days represent periods, some a literal
24-hour period. And he does say the morning and
the evening were the first day, second day, and third day. So
if God created the universe in six days, God can do that. Whatever
God does is glorious and great. But on the fourth day, the sun
and the moon was created. Now look with me in verse 14.
And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to
divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and
for seasons and for days and for years. Time. It could be argued. I've heard
and read where people said time began on the fourth day. How
that could be, I don't know. If that is, I don't know. But
I can see where someone would say that just from the fact that
he says the days and the years come about through this creation
of the sun and the moon. Everything that takes place in
time was decreed in eternity. Everything. There's nothing that
happens in time that was not already determined in eternity. We're talking about the eternal
God. There's so many scriptures that bear this out. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. Hebrews 4.3 says all the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. Now that covers
everything. And then I love Revelation chapter 13 verse 8. I quote it
almost every time I preach and I hope I continue to do so. Christ
Jesus is called the Lamb having been slain from the foundation
of the world. Before there was a creation,
Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross in eternity and slain and was
raised from the dead. beyond what we can get a hold
of, but it's glorious. I'm so thankful the Lord has
made this known. Before there was ever a sinner,
there was a Savior, the Lamb slain from the very foundation
of the world. And God made time, God created
the universe for this event, the death of Jesus Christ on
the cross. When he said, my hour has come, Time was created for this hour.
This is the most God-like thing God ever did. The most glorious
thing God ever did. Jesus Christ was nailed to a
cross to glorify his father and put away the sin of his people.
You know, all you can respond to this is bowing down. This
is who he is. We read in Galatians chapter
four, verse four, but when the fullness of times was come, God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. Romans chapter five, verse six,
for when we were yet without strength in due time, at just
the ordained time that God had ordered, that very hour. In due
time, Christ died for the ungodly. I love to think of our Lord in
Gethsemane's garden when his hour was come. Father, glorify thy son. that thy son also might glorify
thee. That's why he came. I think of that time when that
cup passed before him in Gethsemane's garden. That cup wasn't empty. That cup had a content. Do you
remember when he said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. And the scripture says he was
under such stress that he sweat great drops of blood. Now this
is the Son of God. What was in the content of that
cup? I have no doubt that that's the
sin of God's elect. That's the sins of God's elect
that he was going to take into his own body on the tree. And
the thought of this made him sweat, drops of blood, because
he's the only one who understood how evil sin is. You and I can't
understand that. I mean, when we think of sin,
and we know it's wrong, but it doesn't bother us anyway the
way it should. But the Son of God knew exactly
what it was, and he knew he was going to be forsaken by his God.
And he said, if it'd be possible, let this cup pass from me. But
guess what? It wasn't possible. You see,
he's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world and it
was not possible. And he said, after this time
in John chapter 18, the cup, which my father had given me
to drink, shall I not drink it? Christ. made time, left eternity,
came into time to save His people from their sins and to glorify
His Father. Now that was done in eternity
and it was done in time. It's a historical fact, something
that happened in time. Yes, it happened in eternity
but it happened in time. It was done yesterday. It's historical and it's to believe,
to be believed right now in the present. Do you know that faith is always
in the present? If I'm looking backwards for
something to give me assurance that I'm saved, I'm not looking
to Christ. If I'm looking to something I
plan on doing in the future to be saved, all that is is works.
I'm thinking about something I need to do. Faith in Christ
is present right now. You and I are commanded by God
to believe on Christ right now, not to wait for anything, not
to wait till you understand more, till you're better, till you
stop committing this sin and start doing this good work. No,
the command of the gospel is to trust Jesus Christ right now. And to not do so is to disobey
the command of God. Don't think, well, do I have
a right to believe? You're commanded to believe.
You're commanded to believe. I've said this, I don't know
how many times in the past. Your job is not to figure out
whether you're one of the elect. Your job is not to figure out
whether or not Christ died for you. Your job is to believe on
Him right now. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, today is the day of salvation. Now, at the time of our death,
has already been determined. Aren't you glad you don't know
what day it is? But the time of our death, according to the
scripture, has already been determined. Just like our birth was determined,
and we all have an allotted time. God hath made, Paul said in Acts
chapter 17, God hath made of one blood all nations of men. Now, I love that information,
one blood. One blood, we're all of one blood.
There are not races, there is the human race made of one blood. God hath made of one blood all
nations of men to dwell on the earth and hath determined the
times before and appointed the times before appointed and the
bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord. Now,
what am I to do with my time here on earth? Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Oh, we have so
many things on our minds, I realize that, but what is the one thing
needful? To seek the Lord. I love what
Peter said. Pass the time of your sojourning
here. I love thinking about this. We're
sojourners. This world's not our home. I mean, we're passing
through. This world is not our home. Looking forward to getting out
of here and being delivered from my sin and seeing my Savior face
to face. But he says, pass the time of
your sojourning here in fear. Now, this is not fear that God's
gonna smash you if you mess up. This is that reverence toward
God, that all of the Lord God that makes you look to no one
but Christ alone is everything in your salvation. That's the
fear of God. You believe the gospel, that's the fear of God.
Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear that all of the
majesty of the glory of this gospel of this person And we're called upon to rejoice
with trembling. Think about that. Rejoice with
trembling. Fear of him, fear of his glory,
but rejoice with trembling. And then Paul said on two different
occasions in the New Testament to redeem the time. Make the most of every opportunity. Don't waste the time. Don't kill
the time. Redeem the time. You know, there's
something exciting about it if we can just think the Lord's
given us a time. This is the time He's given us.
And we're called upon to redeem that time and to make the most
of every opportunity. Now, when I was thinking about
this, I believe the Lord brought a passage to my mind from Ecclesiastes
chapter nine. I'd like you to turn there. Ecclesiastes
chapter nine. The wise man had a lot to say
about time in Ecclesiastes. Read that third chapter. But
this is a glorious chapter. Ecclesiastes is right after Proverbs. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Verse seven. Go that way. Now, this is the first thing
he tells us to do with our time. Go that way. Don't be doing what you don't
want to do. Do what you want to do. Go your way. You're free. Now, I realize that
because of our sinful natures, we have a sinful nature we're
aware of that scares us. You think, well, if I went my
way, I'd do this, I'd do that. I'd do all kinds of wicked things.
I realize you think that. Somebody says, I don't think
anything like that. I don't believe you. I don't believe you for a second. I know
you do. But this is true as well. What is the believer's way? The
way of Christ. I want to walk with him. That's
what I wanna do. You know, the Lord doesn't desire
unwilling disciples. He said, will you also go away?
If that's what you want, you can. He doesn't desire unwilling
disciples. I love it when he said to Bartimaeus,
thy faith hath made thee whole, go thy way. What did Bartimaeus
do? He followed Jesus in the way. Go your way. You're set free. This is not about a life of doing
things you don't want to do. That's no way to live. Go that
way. You have been set free. And I
think of what Paul said, here's the place I want to go
in Christ. Oh, that I might be found in him. I want to know
him," Paul said. Isn't that your way? Don't you
want to know the Lord Jesus Christ? I want to know him. I want to
know the power of his resurrection, the accomplishments of his resurrection,
the fellowship of his sufferings. I want to know what he did he
did for me to be made conformable to his death if by any means
I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Go thy way. This is how we're to spend our
time. This is to be our conversation,
our way of life. This is how we're to proceed
in this manner. Go thy way. Trust Christ and
do what you want to do. You've got an allotted time that
the Lord has given you. Go your way. You've been set free. Stand fast
in the liberty where with Christ has made us free. and be not
entangled in that yoke of bondage. Go your way. I wanna be a willing
disciple, don't you? I wanna be doing what I wanna
do, following the Lord Jesus Christ. Go your way. Go your
way. You're the Lord's free man. You're
the Lord's free man. Go your way. And look what it
says next. Go thy way. Eat thy bread with
joy. and drink thy wine with a merry
heart. Now, this is what God says to
do. Go your way, eat your bread with joy, drink your wine with
a merry heart. Now, that almost sounds so good
to be true, doesn't it? I mean, that's so simple, it's
so easy. It's just, how can he say that to us? Well, here's
the reason. Verse seven, for God now. accepteth thy persons, thy person,
right now. And in most of the other versions,
it says God has already accepted thy works. He's already done
it. As a matter of fact, that is in the perfect tense, perfectly
completed, never to be repeated. There's nothing that can be done
to take this away. He accepts thy works because
he accepts the works of the Lord Jesus Christ and whatever works
Christ worked, those are the works you worked and God right
now accepts your person. Isn't that a good reason to go
your way and eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with
a merry heart? God now accepts your works. This is for right now in the
present. Now, remember, we're talking
about time. Go your way. Go your way. Romans 8, 1 says
there's therefore now, right now, right now, no condemnation. Them that are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, no condemnation.
I love that hymn, no condemnation. Now I dread. I am my Lord's and
he is mine. Alive in him, my living head,
and clothed with righteousness divine. Romans chapter five, verse nine
says, being now justified. You hear that? Being now. This is not something that you're
gonna find out on judgment day. Right now, being justified. That means right now before God,
you don't have any sin. You have never sinned and you
never will sin. You've lived a life that has
perfectly pleased God. Somebody says, but that seems
so contrary to my experience. I know it does. I get it. But Jesus Christ accomplished
salvation. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. So right now you stand before
God as one who has never sinned and done nothing but pleased
God. God right now accepts thy works. First John chapter three, verse
two. Beloved, now are we the sons of God? Oh, you might feel blue about
your situation. Wait a minute. You're a son of
God. God's your father. Christ is
your elder brother. You're his child. Beloved now,
are we the sons of God? Listen to this scripture, Hebrews
chapter nine, verse 24, for Christ is not entered into the holy
places made with hands, which are figures of the true, but
into heaven itself now, right now. to appear in the presence
of God for us. Paul said in Galatians 2, verse
20, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life I
now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son
of God. who loved me and gave himself for me. He went on to say, I don't frustrate
the grace of God. For if righteousness came by
the law, my doing, if I think salvation has anything to do
with my doing, Christ died in vain, if that's the way it is.
But that's not the way it is. I don't render void. I don't
nullify the grace of God. Now, little children, Paul, John
says, now, little children, right now, Abide in Him. Now there's
a place I want to be in Him and I want to stay in Him and I don't
want to be anywhere else. Now little children abide in
Him because of what is now God's acceptance.
We abide in Him. Go thy way. eat thy bread with
joy, drink thy wine with a merry heart for God right now accepts
thy works." So eat your bread with joy and drink your wine
with a merry heart. Verse 8, let thy garments be
always, now that has something to do with time, doesn't it?
Let thy garments be always white I don't have any doubt that that's
referring to that fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness
of the saints, which Christ has arrayed them with. Oh, your garments. Don't forget your garments. And
then he says in verse eight, and let thy head lack no ointment,
the anointing of God, the Holy Spirit, the Fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace. Let your head be, don't lack
no ointment. Verse nine. Live joyfully with the wife whom
thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity. Now, your
life, remember, it's vanity. Don't take yourself too seriously.
Your life's vanity. It really is. And that's a waste
point. Don't you know that? I know mine
is. Vanity. So remember that. Your
life is vanity. So you're not going to get too
upset when you remember that your life is nothing but vanity
in the first place. But he says, live joyfully with the wife whom
thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity which he hath
given thee under the sun all the days of thy vanity there
there it is again but i love this instruction live joyfully with the wife of
thy youth now unless you're not married you're not going to be
living joyfully with your spouse and That's all of the Lord and
in his purpose and providence, and we know that. And whatever
he does with me or you or anybody else is right, best, totally
just, best for me, best for you. It's glorious. We realize that,
but if you're married, make it to where your spouse is awful
joyful that they're married to you. Now, what life you have
is with your spouse. He that's married care for things
of the world, how he may please his wife or his or her husband. I mean, scripture says that first
Corinthians chapter seven. So live joyfully, make it to
where they feel joyful being married to you. Let me remind
you, God hates divorce. Marriage is of the Lord. Make
this your aim. Now, you know your life is a
life of vanity. Quit taking yourself so seriously
and don't say things like, I'm not happy. Shut that up. Live
joyfully with the life of thy youth. Don't think, well, I want
to be happy. Do what's right. Quit thinking
about that. Do what's right and you'll find
contentment, you'll find rest, you'll find peace in Christ.
But live joyfully with the wife of thy youth. Make it your aim
while you're here to have the best marriage anybody ever had
by the grace of God. Be the best husband, be the best
spouse, and put it all on yourself. Don't put it on your spouse.
Well, they need to be treating me better. No, you need to be treating them
better. Always keep that in mind. Live joyfully. with the wife
of, verse nine, live joyfully with
the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity
which he has given thee under the sun all the days of thy vanity
for this is thy portion in this life and in thy labor which thou
takest under the sun. Now that's another phrase that
the wise men in Ecclesiastes use over and over again, the
things that take place under the sun. Now look what he says
in verse 10. whatsoever," this is here in
time, "...whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy
might." Put your whole heart and soul into it. Don't accept
mediocrity. Don't accept anything but doing
your best in whatever you do. Now, this is what to do in time.
I don't care what it is. There's nothing mundane in the
life of a believer. I don't care if you're washing
dishes. Wash them to the glory of God. I don't care if you're
emptying the trash. Empty the trash to the glory of God. Whatever
God gives you to do, do it with all your might. Don't be slack.
Don't, don't be apathetic. Whatever the Lord gives you to
do, do it with all your might as unto the Lord. Verse 11, I returned and saw unto the son,
and you and I have seen this too, that the race is not to
the swift. You know, the fastest man doesn't
always win the race, does he? nor the battle to the strong." A lot of times strong man loses
the ones we thought would win. "...neither yet bread to the
wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor
to men of skill." Oh these are the guys that ought to be achieving,
the guys of skill, the fast guys and but look what he says. But time and chance happeneth
to them all." Now, don't mess up this word of chance. When
we think of chance, we think of, well, you know, something
that didn't have any guidance or purpose. It just happened.
It happened. But the word in the Hebrew is
occurrence. Timing and God's occurrence is
what controls everything. Isn't that beautiful? God has made everything beautiful
in his time. Ecclesiastes chapter three, in
his time. And don't think, well, I don't
have the strength, I don't have the ability, I don't have the
wisdom, I don't have the, you've got God. You've got God. And everything happens according
to his sovereign purpose. Time and chance happen to them
all. That's what, that's what determines the outcome of everything.
But whatever, you can't be fatalistic about it. Whatever your hand
finds to do, do all to the glory of God for man. Verse 12, for
man also knoweth not his time. You don't know when you're going
to die as the fishes that are taken in the evil net and as the birds
that are caught in the snare. So are the sons of men snared
in an evil time when it falls upon them suddenly. And that
makes us want to look to Christ right now. You don't know when
you're going to die. Look to Christ right now is all
you have. Just whatever. Look to Christ right now as all
you have. Now, I want to close this message
by turning to Luke 19. Due time. Time you have is right now, and
the thing to do is look to Christ right now. Everything else will
be taken care of. You believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Trust him to save you. Luke chapter 19, beginning in
verse 11. And as they heard these things,
he added and spake a parable because he was knight of Jerusalem
and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately
appear. Now, that has something to do
with time. It's gonna come right now. Now,
if you knew the Lord was coming in the next two or three days
or tonight, how would it affect what you do? How would it affect
it? I love what John Calvin said.
He said, if I knew Christ was coming back tomorrow, I wouldn't
change anything. I'd do what I'm doing. Now that
that's a, I hope we all understand that's the way it ought to be.
But look what the Lord said. He had these people who were,
who were the kingdom of heaven's coming right away. Uh, and concerning
our time, there's not much time left. And look what the Lord
gives this parable. And he said, therefore, a certain
nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom
and to return. And he called his 10 servants
and delivered them 10 pounds and saith unto them, Occupy till
I come. Now that's what you're to do
with your time. He gave him these pounds, occupy,
trade, get gain, do what you can for my glory. Occupy till
I come. Now there's what we're to do
with our time. Occupy till I come. Verse 14, but his citizens hated
him. and sent a messenger after him saying, we will not have
this man to reign over us. That's the response of every
natural man to the Lord Jesus Christ. We won't have him reign
over us. He's reigning over you right
now. He's in absolute control of every thought going through
your mind. He's Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Verse 15,
and it came to pass that when he was returned, having received
the kingdom, Then he commanded these servants to be called unto
him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how
much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first. Now he had been occupying his
time, and I can hear the joy in his voice. He wasn't saying
this, look at me, how proud I am. He loved his master. And I can
hear the joy in his voice toward his master. Then came the first
saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained 10 pounds. And he saith
unto him, well, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful
in a very little. Have thou authority over ten
cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath
gained five pounds. He occupied till the Lord came. And he said, be thou likewise
over five cities. And another came, saying, Lord,
behold, here's thy pound. This is what you gave me. Here
you have it back. which I've kept up, laid up in
a napkin. I hid it. I didn't do what you
told me to, occupy it till I come. I hid it in a napkin. Four, verse 21. I feared thee
because thou art an austere, harsh man. Thou takest up that thou layest
not down. You take what doesn't belong
to you and you reap what you didn't sow. You're absolutely
sovereign. You do what you will. There's
no point in me trying to do anything. But you know, he really demonstrated
what he really thought of his master, a harsh man. You know, when people hear of
the sovereignty of God, quite often that's harsh. That's severe
to think that God elected some and He didn't elect everybody,
that Christ died for the elect and He didn't die for everybody.
Why? That's harsh, that's severe, that's unjust. A harsh man and
this is the way this man comes to the Lord. This man wasn't
a harsh man, this man was a gracious man. He gave. Oh what a gracious
man, but oh how harshly they viewed him. I feared thee because thou art
an austere man, harsh. Thou takest up that thou layest
not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. That's somebody's
objection to the sovereignty of God. And he said unto him, Out of
thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. You
come to me thinking I'm that way, okay. Thou knewest that
I was an austere man, taking up what I laid not down, reaping
that I did not sow. Wherefore then gavest thou not
my money into the bank, that my coming I might require mine
own with usury? And he said unto them that stood
by, take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath
10 pounds. And they said unto him, Lord, he hath 10 pounds.
For I say unto you that unto every one that hath shall be
given. You know, The Lord gives you
his grace, and then he gives to you. Grace for grace, grace
upon grace. What a glorious, gracious Lord.
And from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away
from him. But those mine enemies, that
would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay
them before me. in due time. Remember, salvation
was accomplished before time. That means your works don't have
anything to do with it. All together. Be happy in that
sense. Eat your bread. Go your way. Eat your bread with joy. and
drink your wine with a merry heart, for God now accepts thy
person. He accepts thy works. He accepts
you. You're accepted in the beloved.
So what am I to do? Whatsoever my hand finds to do,
do it with all my might. And remember all the stuff that
takes place under the sun. The Lord's time and the Lord's
occurrence, he controls the outcome of it all. Let's pray. Lord, we are awed by the greatness of
your person, the greatness of your being, your eternality,
your graciousness. Lord, give us the grace to do what you said, to go our way,
to eat our bread joyfully and drink our wine with a merry heart.
Keep our white garments by your grace, totally anointed by your
spirit. We pray that you would bless
us, our families, our homes, us as individuals. And Lord,
give us the grace to whatever you give us to do in our allotted
time, that we might do it with all our might for your glory. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen.