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What’s the Time?
Rom 13:11-13
Introduction:
I have come to help people today. I am not here just to teach or inform you. God has your need to supply – allow God to do the work – no devils are going to stop Jesus. I found the following reading somewhere & think it is good:
Human beings are very interesting creatures. Besides killing our own selves (suicide), we also kill each other (murder) & we kill members of other species both for personal gain & for pleasure (just for fun). We are also the only specie that commits assassination (murder for hire). Have you ever noticed who we choose to assassinate? What kind of people are targeted? It’s mostly people who tell us to live together in harmony & try to love one another: Jesus, Ghandi, Lincoln, John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, John Lennon, .. encouraging people to live together peacefully …BAM shot dead. Apparently people are not ready for such peaceful & loving behavior; it’s too difficult for us. (unsure of source but I think it was a comedian)
It is amazing to hear the excuses people use for strange behavior. I didn’t have the right education, my family life was unhappy, I grew up in a hard life, NONSENSE. Excuses are excuses. Free will choice determined our behaviour & we are 100% responsible for it & God says ‘we will reap what we sow’ – judgment will not hear any excuses.
Bound by Time:
God began the measurement of time on the 4th creative day when he made the sun & moon (Gen.1:14). Not only are we affected daily by the appearance & disappearance of the sun, the changes of the moon affecting tides – always on a repeating, regular basis, but also within our own body there are many timed events (regular heart rate & breathing, need for food & elimination, & sleep just to name a few). We are on a schedule of time. God is so busy & active, time is perceived much differently than us. Psa.90:4; 2Peter 3:8 1000 years as a day. Or
24 hrs. = 1000 yrs.
12 hrs. = 500 yrs.
1 hr. = 41.67 yrs.
1 min. = .694 of a yr. (253.3 days)
1 sec. = 4.22 days
Our Time is Important to God:
Rom 13:11-13 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Knowledge of our time, being aware of ourselves in ‘God’s plan’, provides for an armour of light meaning ‘we can see!’ (1Jn.1:5 God is Light – Gen.1:3 Let there be God!). Let’s look at each ‘time’ reference in Rom.13:11-13:
Knowing the time: Don’t keep avoiding God, avoiding truth, by blaming others & making excuses. Know your time, right now – salvation or damnation are very near; – face it & don’t run;
Jn 5:39-40 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
Some ‘think’ they are saved when they are not, & they continually avoid the truth.
Heb.11:1 we are taught to have ‘now faith’, ‘current’ faith, updated, in tune with the times, present (not past), now faith.
It is high time: or it has come to the ultimate peak of timing to wake up & get right with God. This ‘sleep’ is not a relaxing unconscious state – it is a spiritual blindness, spiritually unconscious state (Eph.4:18).
Now: Pay attention to right now! Stop bringing up the past (using it for excuses) & worrying about the future. Matt.6:33-34.
Salvation is nearer than you think: we have thoughts about many things that are opposite to God. Isa.55:8-9 Be aware of the mess we made with wrong thinking before God led us to truth. Salvation is nearer because you don’t know how God is taking you: death or rapture.
3 types of’ time’ to consider;
1) Jesus is coming soon & those unprepared will be left behind. (Luke 21:28)
2) Some may face death very soon – again, the unprepared will be left behind; (Luke 12:20)
3) Then there are the scariest people – those whose sin & decisions make it possible God may cut them off real soon, except they repent. (Rom.1:28)
Night is far spent: So many have wasted so much time, fooling around chasing carnal goals. The night time of sin is ending soon & many people see & feel it while many are asleep. No-one can stop or delay it – the night of sin is almost over & great tribulation is on the doorstep. Do you know the times? Your time is almost up!
The day is at hand: no more games, no more childishness, ‘He’s coming’ & He will not change the time, plan & schedule for anyone. Psa.30:5 .
Conclusion:
Ecc 3:1(-8) To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
28 conditions for times & purposes –
A time to be born & a time to die;
A time to plant & a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill & a time to heal;
A time to break down & a time to build up;
A time to weep & a time to laugh;
A time to mourn & a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones & a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace & a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get & a time to lose;
A time to keep & a time to cast away;
A time to rend & a time to sew;
A time to keep silence & a time to speak;
A time to love & a time to hate;
A time of war & a time of peace.
We need to decide what to do with the time that is given to us.
1st – wake up! Pray through will wake us up & help us live in the real world.
2nd what time is it in your life? Are you doing what God told you? This knowledge will help place values on the right things for your salvation (don’t compare with others; grow & prepare for the future).
3rd Be faithful to church & God or you will never be able to stay awake.
