2001 A.D.--AN UNPRECEDENTED
PASSAGE OF TIME
By
Jerry Falwell
As we approach the year 2001 A.D., we move into a new decade, a new century and a new millennium. This is an unprecedented passage of time. Today I would like to talk with you about what the new millennium teaches us about time and how to use the time we have left.
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The new millennium makes us think about the end time.
I said to you that many will predict that the Lord will come on January 1, 2000 A.D. but that didn’t happen.
2. Passages of time. As we go from one millennium to another, people will become very aware of how time passes. I know a man who wanted to live in three centuries, i.e., the 1800s, the 1900s and the year 2000. He didn’t make it. This sermon will give us a new focus on time and the biblical view of time.
II. LOOKING AGAIN AT WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT TIME.
1. Each person is given a short period of time to live.
The Bible teaches that our life lasts about as long as the steam that comes out of a kettle. You see the steam, and then it’s gone. “What is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14).
In Psalm 90, Moses examines the shortness of a man’s life; Moses said, “People are like grass that springs up in the morning . . . it blooms and flourishes, but by evening it is dry and withered” (Psalm 90:5,6 LB).
2. We live approximately 70 years.
The Bible teaches, “The days of our lives are three score years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength, labor and sorrow; for it (our life) is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10).
3. We will all eventually die.
“Lord, through all the generations, You have been our home! Before the mountains were created, before You made the earth and the world, You are God without beginning and ending. You turn people back to dust (they die)” (Psalm 90:1-3 LB).
“It is appointed unto men (and women) once to die” (Hebrews 9:27).
4. God is above time.
One of the greatest things you can say about God is that He is not limited by time. “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night” (Psalm 90:4).
III. DON’T COUNT TIME--MAKE YOUR TIME COUNT.
Everyone has time. People often ask me how I get so much done. I don’t have any more time than anyone else, I just get more done in the same amount of time. I try to not waste time. I have learned to make my time count. This is what God says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Numbering our days is counting our days, or making them count.
1. Count your days because you don’t have many.
There are 365 days in a year. If you live to be 70 years-old, you will have lived 25,550 days. When I bury a 2 year-old baby, he has not lived a thousand days.
ILLUSTRATION: A little boy who doesn’t have much money will always count his money. You ought to count your days by making them count.
2. Count your days for they go by quickly.
When I was a boy, it seemed like it took forever for recess to come when I got out of class so I could go outside to play. When you are a child, time drags. The older you get, the faster it goes. Now when a week goes by, I ask myself, “Where did all the time go?” Now when a year goes by, I ask, “Where did the year go?” The older I get, the faster time goes. Moses tells us that our time is “carried away as a flood” (Psalm 90:5). Like the floods on the James River, they come quickly and depart quickly. Our time is just like a flood, and when it is gone; all we have are the memories of what the flood has produced.
3. Count your days because you won’t get a second chance.
We all wish we had more time to pray, so we should number (plan) the amount of time we can pray. We all wish we had more time to read the Bible . . . do the work of God . . . share Christ with the lost. So we should number our days, i.e., plan our time to do these activities for God.
We have to take into account our time at work, our time traveling, our time eating, our time sleeping, so we really have very little time that we can invest in the work of God.
The average week:
52 hours sleep
56 hours working, and traveling to work
8 hours eating
24 hours watching television
16 hours non-scheduled time.
4. Count your days because time can only be used once.
When you can only use something once, that makes it very valuable. Think of things that you use over and over again; they usually are not very valuable, i.e., like a mat at the front door, a towel, a ballpoint pen, a pair of shoes. On the other hand, when you use something only once, it is much more valuable to you, i.e., a gift certificate to a restaurant, a rare minted coin, one chance to visit a place you’ve always wanted to visit.
There are 1,440 minutes in a day and once you use every minute, you cannot use them again.
5. Count your days because wasting time is sin.
Now obviously, there is a difference between wasting time and not using time correctly. There is a difference between wasting time and leisure time. There is a difference between wasting time and waiting time. I define wasting time as a period when you could do something valuable and constructive, but you choose not to do it. Wasting time is wasting opportunities. Wasting time is wasting your assets. Wasting time is wasting the challenges of serving the Lord.
Sometimes when you are waiting, you can pray . . . meditate . . . plan your schedule . . . there are many things you can do to invest your time to enrich your life or use your time for the glory of God.
Sometimes when you are waiting, a little snooze is good because you get the needed physical strength to live your life for God. Sleeping is not wasting time, but if you oversleep, and spend too much time sleeping, that is wasting time.
6. Count your days to invest your time.
Time should not be spent, it should be invested. When you spend money, you don’t see it again. When you invest money, it comes back to you along with interest.
Jesus told us, “Take heed and be aware of covetousness for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15). We are not to invest our time just to get things, we are to invest our time so that we may live better, our family may live better, we may expand the kingdom of God and we may glorify God.
I heard the story about a man on death row who was appealing to the governor for clemency so that he might not die for his crime. The guard told him that he had “good news;” the prisoner thought it was a pardon or at least a stay of execution, but an uncle of the prisoner had died and now the prisoner was heir to millions of dollars. What good is all the money in the world, when you have no time to use it and you are staring death in the face? All of us are like that prisoner in some ways, we will die; some sooner, some later. Our heavenly Father has left us a spiritual inheritance, we need to know how to best use it.
7. Count your days because affliction is inevitable.
To live in this life is to ultimately have some pain and suffering. The outcome of Adam’s fall was that we would work in the sweat of our brow, and there would be pain in childbirth. These are just part of the great sufferings we will have because of sin. All of us will get sick, some of us will suffer terribly as we die.
When you have good health, invest your time for the work of God; because when you have bad health, you may be extremely limited in what you can do for God. Remember Paul told us, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (II Cor. 4:17). Even Paul had his sufferings, “a thorn in the flesh” (II Cor. 12:7).
Many can serve God because they don’t have sufferings, some serve God through their sufferings. Since all will eventually have sufferings, let us number our days for the glory of God.
If you are going through sufferings today, look at the days that you have left, i.e., number your days; then realize your afflictions are not nearly so bad in light of eternity--remember Heaven will be a much better place to live. When you realize this, you have numbered your days.
IV. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON’T NUMBER YOUR DAYS?
1. If you don’t count your days, you get little done.
The problem with time is that you must plan to use it, or you will lose it, i.e., use it or lose it.
If you don’t use time properly, it will get away from you. I often do funerals, and before the funeral I look over the details of the deceased so I can give an appropriate eulogy during the service. The sad part is that you can tell everything great about a person in less than 10 minutes. Think about it, at your funeral how long will it take the minister to tell all the great things you have accomplished? If you don’t number your days, you won’t accomplish much.
2. If you don’t count your days, life gets more difficult with the passing of time.
The natural inclination of the human body is to seek rest. It takes mental effort and physical discipline to force us to work and be productive because man tends to be lazy; we must “number our days,” i.e., plan our days so we can accomplish more for God.
John Maxwell has an audio tape where he talks about “pay now and play later.” He advises the young to work hard in the first part of your life so you can have some enjoyment and “play” time for enjoyment in the second half of life. Maxwell points out the young who “play first” will “pay later.” Those who don’t work hard to prepare for the second half of life, will “pay later.”
There was a man here in Virginia who spent his life sitting on the front porch waving at the cars as they went by. He probably enjoyed that, but he gave in to his lower nature; he had a life of ease and rest, waving at people.
3. If you don’t count your days, you dishonor God.
When we make our time count, we recognize that God is the author of time who created time. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In that creative act, God began time. We define time as the distance between events. In eternity past, there were no events, there was only God. So there was no such thing as time until God created the earth; that event started time and since then, the clock has been ticking.
We should “number our days” to recognize God who created time and gave time. If we don’t treat time properly, we don’t properly honor God.
4. If you don’t count your days, you are not a good steward.
Finally, God has given us time; it is our stewardship. I have defined stewardship on many occasions as “the proper management of our time, talent, and treasure for the glory of God.” When we are properly managing our time, we are proper stewards for God.
CONCLUSION
“Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:14-16).
I believe we have little time left before Jesus comes. Why . . .?
Because . . . of the events surrounding the year 2001,
Because . . . evil is getting stronger,
Because . . . we are approaching one world government, one world monetary system, and one world language (the international cyber-system language in computers),
Because . . . cloning humans will upset the natural process God established to bring people into this world; cloning angers God,
Because . . . Israel is back in the land, and the stage is set for Jesus’ return.
Therefore, let us number our days and redeem the time.
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to welcome you to the family of God.
