INTRO.- ILL.- A time management expert at a conference was to give a speech about her success in business and how time management plays a huge part of business success. She engaged the crowd and they seemed to love her. She was giving tips and sharing success stories. Suddenly, she realized she had been talking for two hours! She stopped to apologize to the wary group and explained that she had left her watch at home. A voice came from the audience, “There is a calendar next to you."
Two hours. I don’t have the time to speak for two hours! I don’t want to speak for two hours and you don’t want to listen to me for two hours. It’s not that it wouldn’t be good for both of us, but we feel like we don’t have the time. However, if we lived in certain parts of Africa, we’d have the time because time is all they have!
Time management is something most people need. We are not the best at using our time wisely. Of course, what you consider to be wise and what I consider to be wise may be two different ideas.
ILL.- Dost thou love life?
Then do not squander time,
For that’s the stuff life is made of.
—Benjamin Franklin
ILL.- Yesterday is a canceled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is the only cash you have—spend it wisely.
ILL.- The great 19th-century naturalist and Harvard professor Louis Agassiz was once approached by the emissary of a learned society and invited to address its members. Agassiz declined the invitation, saying that lectures of this kind took up too much time that should be devoted to research and writing.
The man persisted, saying that the society was prepared to pay handsomely for the lecture. "That’s no inducement to me," Agassiz replied, "I can’t afford to waste my time making money." Nor can we. We can’t afford to waste our time, precious time on planet earth.
The master of the universe gives the best advice when it comes to use of our time on earth.
Ephesians 5:15-18 "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit."
Romans 13:11-14 "And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."
James 4:13-17 "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins."
Our God and Father knows the best time for everything. Our text reads: "When the time had fully come."
PROP.- When the time of God had fully come, what happened?
1- When the time had come God sent His Son
2- When the time had come God sent His Spirit
I. WHEN THE TIME HAD COME GOD SENT HIS SON
4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
When was this time? It may be that man was in a hopeless situation of being lost.
ILL.- The heirs of A. T. Stewart, one of the wealthiest Americans in the last century, wanted to bring a suit against Judge Hilton for his way of handling the estate. They went to William M. Evarts, one of the most distinguished lawyers of his day who later served in the Senate and as secretary of state, and asked him to manage their case.
“Well, I will take a contingent fee.” “And what is a contingent fee?” asked one of the heirs.
“My dear sir,” Evarts replied, “I will tell you what a contingent fee to a lawyer means. If I don’t win your suit, I get nothing. If I do win it, you get nothing."
This doesn’t sound like a very good deal to me! It sounds like a lose, lose situation! And many people in our world probably feel like that’s exactly where they are!
ILL.- Ernest Hemingway once said: “Life is just a dirty trick, a short journey from nothingness to nothingness. There is no remedy for anything in life. Man’s destiny in the universe is like a colony of ants on a burning log.”
Hemingway finally took his own life. He sounded like a man with no hope for anything good in life. Some of his hopelessness, however, may have been brought on by himself. BOOZE WILL DO THAT TO A PERSON!
ILL.- Years ago the S-4 submarine was rammed by another ship and quickly sank. The entire crew was trapped in its prison house of death. Ships rushed to the scene of disaster off the coast of Massachusetts. We don’t know what took place down in the sunken submarine, but we can be sure that the men clung bravely to life as the oxygen slowly gave out.
A diver placed his helmeted ear to the side of the vessel and listened. He heard a tapping noise. Someone, he learned, was tapping out a question in the dots and dashes of the Morse Code. The question came slowly: “Is... there... any... hope?”
This seems to be the cry of humanity: “Is there any hope?”
4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
I like to paraphrase this scripture and say, "When the time was just right, God sent His Son, Jesus, to save us." And I do believe that’s God’s timing is perfect.
Don’t you wish your timing could be as perfect? Occasionally in life we may "hit the nail on the head," but part of the time, we are way off base in our decision-making and our doing.
ILL.- That’s like the time I tried out for the pulpit in Cabool, MO, many years. The Sunday I went there to preach a trial sermon was the very Sunday they had a going away party for their preacher whom they loved. Dumb on my part. Dumb on the part of the elders to invite me at that time.
It wasn’t wrong to go there and preach a sermon. It was just bad timing and consequently, the people didn’t vote for me. But I’ve done worse and made worse decisions with poor timing or bad timing.
But God’s timing is right on! Aren’t you glad you’re living on this side of the cross? PRAISE HIM!
II. WHEN THE TIME HAD COME GOD SENT HIS SPIRIT
6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
ILL.- Your getting mature when:
- You look forward to a dull evening.
- Your back goes out, but you stay at home.
- 95% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.
- Your children are beginning to look middle-aged.
- When you are on vacation your energy runs out before your money does.
I guess maturity could be defined in many ways, depending on who you are or where you are in life. Some people are not mature at 60 or 70 whereas others may be very mature at 30 or 40, but I don’t know of many like that!
ILL.- The work of Japanese painter Hokusai spanned many years before his death in 1849 at age 88. But toward the end of his life, the artist dismissed as nothing all the work he had done before age 50. It was only after he reached 70 that he felt he was turning out anything truly worthy. On his deathbed Hokusai lamented, "If heaven had granted me five more years, I could have become a real painter."
Why is it that we wait so long to become the kind of person God wants? Some call it maturity. It takes a while for some people to mature to a point where they are workable or perhaps useful to God.
ILL.- I was raised in the First Baptist Church of Webb City, MO. Why? Because that’s where Mom took us three kids. Why the Baptist Church and not some other church? I don’t know.
My grandmother, Alma Jones (mother’s mother), may have at one time been in the Southern Baptist church. But at her death in 1985, she was a member of the North Joplin Christian Church.
Nevertheless, mom took us to the Baptist Church. And I am so thankful for being taught in a church that preached Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world! It’s so important that our children are taught the gospel early in life. If not, their hope of coming to Christ is not good or not nearly as good.
I enjoyed Sunday School, because it was made for us kids. I don’t remember much about it but I remember my Sunday School Superintendent who was such a loving, sweet woman. Nola Anderson. God rest her soul.
And I remember my Sunday School teacher in my high school years; Mr. Gentry, who was also my Driver’s Education teacher at school. He was likable, funny, etc. He joked with us kids and made us feel like he truly cared for us and that’s so important.
ILL.- R. C. Sproul wrote: "Rebirth or regeneration is monergistic, not synergistic. It is done by God and by God alone. A dead man cannot cooperate with his resurrection. Lazarus did not cooperate in his resurrection. Regeneration is a sovereign act of God in which man plays no role. After God brings us to life, of course, we certainly are involved in "cooperating" with Him. We are to believe, trust, obey, and work for him. But unless God acts first, we will never be reborn in the first place."
In other words, God is the Creator and is also the one re-creates the human soul. He makes rebirth possible. We can’t do it alone. We can’t birth ourselves the first time or the second time around. However, unlike Sproul I do believe we have a part in our rebirth. IT’S CALLED FAITH. IT’S CALLED SURRENDER, etc.
I have also come to believe that not everyone experiences rebirth at the same time! Both my older brother and twin sister confessed Christ and were baptized when we went to the Baptist Church. I did not. It was not so much that I was more rebellious than they were (well, I might have been), but I wasn’t ready.
My heart wasn’t ready. Hence, I did not make a true surrender to Christ until I was 20 years old. By that time, I had come to see the futility of many things in life (drinking, carousing, etc.) and also realized my need for God and Christ and for the hope of eternal life.
One of the things that may have brought it on was when I had a total car wreck when I was around 19 years of age. I totaled my 1955 Chevy and that made me think a bit! And maybe more than just a bit! I distinctly remember thinking, "What if I had died in that accident? Where would I have gone?" And I thought I knew and it wasn’t good.
6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father."
I am saying that when the time is right and the person is ripe, that’s when God will send His Spirit into their hearts and God will become their Father. They will cry out, "Abba, Father."
But this comes at different stages or ages for people. Not everyone gives their life to Christ when they are 10 years old. Some often give their lives to Christ over the age of 20 and 30.
God sends His Spirit to work "on" people all the time. The Holy Spirit is at work in this world to convict the world of sin and convince the world that Jesus is the Son of God. But God only sends His Spirit into people’s heart when they get to the point where they surrender to Christ AND NOT BEFORE! God’s timing is perfect!
CONCLUSION------------------
Time is so precious. We only have so much of it and God knows when our time will run out.
ILL.- Recently, we were somewhat surprised but not totally shocked at the deaths of Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett and pop singer Michael Jackson. Ed was 86 and had cancer. Farah Fawcett was 62 and was obviously dying with cancer. Michael Jackson, however, should have been in his prime but obviously, wasn’t.
Any of us can leave this world at any time. Health declines, accidents happen, hearts stop. We all need to walk with the Lord so as to be ready when our time comes to leave this world.
God entered into this world at just at the right time and He entered into our lives at the right time, perhaps the nick of time. But now His timing must become our timing, His will our will. IT’S THE PERFECT TIME RIGHT NOW!
