We started the service with this
passage of scripture. To everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under heaven. I read this as an introduction. A season, a time, a purpose for
everything under heaven. God has a time and a purpose
for everything He does. He sovereignly orders and directs
all things. All things according to His divine
purpose. God speaking through the prophet
Isaiah, He said, I've spoken it. I'll bring it to pass. I've purposed it. I will also
do it." And he does these things in his time, according to his
will and in his time. And in four or five passages
of Scripture, this three-word phrase appears. In due time. In due time. So for a few minutes
here this evening, the Lord will allow us, I want us to look at
this phrase in light of Scripture. In due time. Turn with me to
Deuteronomy chapter 32. Deuteronomy 32, verse 35. Deuteronomy 32, verse 35. belong with vengeance and recompense. Their foot shall slide in due
time. For the day of their calamity
is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. In due time, judgment is coming. Just because judgment is delayed
doesn't mean that it's not coming. It doesn't mean that punishment
is not coming. I was thinking about this this
afternoon. I can remember as a kid, on at
least one occasion, my mom telling me to go to my room and to sit
there until my dad got home. And he usually got home about
four o'clock. You know, when he didn't pull
in the driveway at four, sometimes in my mind I was convinced maybe
that it would just all be forgotten. You know, it never mattered how
late he came home. If he had to work over, Judgment may have been delayed,
but punishment was coming. Our Lord often delays punishment,
punishment of sin for a great while. It's laid up in store,
and it's coming. He says here, their foot shall
slide in due time. Turn with me to Job. Hold your
place there in Deuteronomy, but turn over to Job chapter 21. Verse 28. Job 21, 28. For you say, where is the house
of the prince, and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
Have you not asked them that go by the way, and do you not
know their tokens? That the wicked, the wicked is reserved to the
day of destruction. They shall be brought forth.
to the day of wrath, a day of reckoning. It's coming. The sin of sinful
men is going to find them out. The God of the Bible, He is the Lord God to whom vengeance
belongs. Men don't want to talk about
a God that's going to punish sin. A God that they mock. A God that
they question. A God that men refuse to believe. Listen to these words from Isaiah
59. According to their deeds. He will repay. Fury to his adversaries,
recompense to his enemies. To the islands he will pay recompense. And this is repeated in Hebrews
10.30, for we know them that hath said, vengeance belongeth
to me. I will recompense. That word
means I'm going to repay. I'm going to repay, saith the
Lord." And again, the Lord shall judge his people. I ask you,
does that sound like a God that loves everybody? Huh? Scripture says, he that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son. shall not see life, and the wrath of God abideth
on him." Do you still have Deuteronomy 32 verse 35? To me belongeth
vengeance and recompense. Their foot shall slide in due
time. It will be done in due time. the best time, in His time. The day of their calamity is
at hand, and though it may seem to tarry, it lingers not, it
slumbers not. Judgment is coming. God is going
to judge sin. God is going to punish sin. Second, turn to Romans 5 verse
6. Romans chapter 5 verse 6. For when we were without strength in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly in due time, in a time appointed by the Father, in the
fullness of time. When the fullness of time 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. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. In due time. The Lord Jesus Christ
died, the only begotten Son, the well-beloved Son of God,
God in human flesh. God, He came to this earth and
He died. And He died a death of shame,
a death of suffering under the wrath and judgment of Almighty
God. Scripture says he became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. He died for, in the
stead of, in the room instead of, his people. He died as a
substitute for all of God's elect, that God might be just and justifier
of them that believe. Listen, we read in due time,
Christ died. Who did he die for? The ungodly. Not for righteous
men. Not for men running around in
robes and religious garments. Not for deserving men. There are no deserving men. Who
did he die for? He died for the ungodly. He died for sinners. Turn with
me to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Follow along with me, beginning
with verse 1 of Ephesians 2. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience among whom also we all had our conversation. None exempt for that, huh? We
all had our conversation. In times past, what was it? The lust of the flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. But God, God who is rich
in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in trespasses and sin. Hath quickened us together
with Christ, by grace are you saved. He died, he died for the
ungodly in due time. in his time. When we were without
strength to obey him, unable to keep his law, with no ability
in ourselves, no goodness in us, we were in bondage to the
law and sin, unable to change our condition, like a leper trying
to change his spots. As a result, of his great love,
wherein he loved us. Greater love hath no man than
this, that he lay down his life for his friends. When we were
without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. in due time, at the appointed
time, in due time, the best time, in His time. Christ died for
the ungodly. Third, turn with me to 1 Timothy
chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. Verse 6, 1 Timothy 2.6, who gave himself a ransom for
all to be testified in due time. A ransom. That's reference to
the price of redemption. He gave himself a ransom. He paid the redemption price
for his people. He paid the ransom price for
me. He gave himself a ransom. This message, this gospel, it's to be testified. Now that's
not somebody standing up in the church and just rambling on for
two and a half hours. No, it's to be testified. That's reference to a witness. In court, that's what a witness
does, a true witness. They testify, they give a testimony. What do we read here? When's
that happened? When's His word, this gospel to be proclaimed? In due time. In due time. Listen, it's to be declared at
all times. In season, that's what Scripture
says, in season, out of season, it's to be testified. And again,
that witness is one who testifies. They tell about something. Something they've seen, something
they've heard. That's what 1 John 1 verse 3 says, that which we've
seen and that which we've heard, We declare it unto you. The gospel
is to be testified in due time. When is that just the right time? We see that time and time and
time again in God's Word. In due time. Remember that woman
at the well? She came there in the heat of
the day. She came there at a time when
she was confident no one else would be there. And what happened? Our Lord was
there, wasn't he? The Lord met her there and she
was made a witness. She left her water pot. She forgot
all about what she was there to do. She was there to fill
that water pot up with water. She left that water pot and she
ran back in town and she said to the men, come see a man which
told me all things that I ever did. Is not this the Christ? In due time. Peter, he saw Christ. Christ had to be revealed to
him. Remember his confession? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. How did he know that? Flesh and
blood didn't reveal it to him, did it? No. The Lord said flesh
and blood didn't reveal that to you, but my Father which is
in heaven. God revealed it to him. The thief
on the cross, the Philippian jailer, the Ethiopian eunuch,
all of them, sinners, all of them in need of the Savior. And
you know what happened? In due time, God sends a messenger
and they hear. They hear with ears of faith. A messenger sent forth and they
hear and they believe. Paul said this of himself. Turn
to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. He said, I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein
you stand, by which also you're saved, if you keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received." He said, I'm an eyewitness of
this. how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that
He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He
was seen of Cephas, and then of the twelve, and after that
He was seen of above five hundred at once, of whom the greater
part remain to this present time. Some are falling asleep. After
that He was seen of James, and then of all the apostles, and
last of all, He was seen of me also as of one born out of due
time." In due time. The appointed time. The best time. In His time. God's Word. Who He is. What he did, why he did it, where
he is now, it's to be testified. Well, fourth, turn to 1 Peter
5 verse 6. 1 Peter chapter 5. Verse 6, here we read, humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you
in due time. Humble yourselves. Humble yourself. Spurgeon wrote this. He said,
pride is so natural to the fallen man that it springs up in the
heart like weeds in a garden. I know this for a fact. You don't have to plant weeds
in a garden, do you? They're just there. And pride,
we're ate up with it. Humble yourselves, you, in light
of who God is, in light of who and what we are by nature, in light of what Christ has done
for His people. How could we ever be anything
but humble? And in the church, what's that
look like in the church? Scripture says this, that we're
to be subject one to another. Not to look for ways to rule
over one another, but to be subject one to another. Our Lord, He
took upon Himself the form of a servant. Scripture says we're to be clothed
in humility. In James 4, verse 10, we read
this, "'Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He
shall lift you up.'" How about in trial and affliction?
What's humility look like then? We'd be wise to follow our Lord's
example in prayer and in action, huh? What'd He say? there in
the garden, nevertheless, not as I will, but as I will. Like the leper of old. Remember,
he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. How about Naaman? Remember that? Naaman, he said, I thought, well,
I thought, roll up in the chariot and he'd come over and put his
hand over the place and the leprosy would be gone. He sent his servant. He said, go wash. Go wash in the Jordan and be
clean. And Naaman just, he really just
pitched a fit about it, didn't he? And his servant, what a wise
servant. He said, if the man had asked
you to do some great thing, you'd have done it. Rather just wash and be clean. In our daily lives, humility. It was said of David that he
walked humbly before the Lord. Remember when Shimei, remember
when David the king, he was passing through and that man named Shimei
come out and he started throwing rocks and cursing David? I've been cursed before. I don't
like that. I don't care for that. I probably had it coming. David's
the, listen, David's the king. Don't treat the king that way."
And one of David's servants, Abishai, he said, he said, you
just say the word and I'll go over and I will take his head
off. Remember David's reply. And it would have been no problem
if he would have said, go to it. David said to Abishai, and not
just Abishai, all his servants, He said, Behold my son which
came forth my boughs, he seeketh my life. How much more can this
Benjamite do? Let him alone, let him alone,
and let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him. Oh, that the Lord would cause
us to walk humbly, to walk humbly before Him, with good reason. I'm sinful. I'm unworthy. I must have mercy and the grace
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm totally dependent on Him,
totally dependent on His grace. And if He doesn't reach down
and lift me up out of that deep miry clay, that's where I remain. Listen, it's not just the deep
miry clay. He's got to lift us from the dunghill, because that's
where we would stay and be perfectly content. But you know, in due time, Scripture
says this, in due time, his people are going to be exalted. How's that? because of what he did. Our Lord,
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient, obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He didn't stay in the grave,
did he? He's exalted. high and lifted up. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you. When? In due time. At the appointed
time. At the best time. When? In his time. I pray the Lord would be pleased
to take these things and teach them to us, to reveal them to
our hearts. All right.