PROCRASTINATION
SCRIPTURES RE PROCRASTINATION
(Gen 19:1 NIV) The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.
(Gen 19:2 NIV) "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning." "No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square."
(Gen 19:3 NIV) But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.
(Gen 19:4 NIV) Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom??both young and old??surrounded the house.
(Gen 19:5 NIV) They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
(Gen 19:6 NIV) Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
(Gen 19:7 NIV) and said, "No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.
(Gen 19:8 NIV) Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."
(Gen 19:9 NIV) "Get out of our way," they replied. And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them." They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
(Gen 19:10 NIV) But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door.
(Gen 19:11 NIV) Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
(Gen 19:12 NIV) The two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here??sons?in?law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,
(Gen 19:13 NIV) because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it."
(Gen 19:14 NIV) So Lot went out and spoke to his sons?in?law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, "Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!" But his sons?in?law thought he was joking.
(Gen 19:15 NIV) With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished."
(Gen 19:16 NIV) When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.
(Gen 19:17 NIV) As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!"
(Gen 19:18 NIV) But Lot said to them, "No, my lords, please!
(Gen 19:19 NIV) Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die.
(Gen 19:20 NIV) Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it??it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared."
(Gen 19:21 NIV) He said to him, "Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of.
(Gen 19:22 NIV) But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it." (That is why the town was called Zoar.)
(Gen 19:23 NIV) By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.
(Gen 19:24 NIV) Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah??from the LORD out of the heavens.
(Gen 19:25 NIV) Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities??and also the vegetation in the land.
(Gen 19:26 NIV) But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
(Gen 19:27 NIV) Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
(Gen 19:28 NIV) He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land
of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
(Gen 19:29 NIV) So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
(Gen 19:30 NIV) Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.
(Gen 19:31 NIV) One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth.
(Gen 19:32 NIV) Let’s get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father."
(Gen 19:33 NIV) That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
(Gen 19:34 NIV) The next day the older daughter said to the younger, "Last
night I lay with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and lie with him so we can preserve our family line through our father."
(Gen 19:35 NIV) So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went and lay with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
(Gen 19:36 NIV) So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.
(Gen 19:37 NIV) The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab ; he is the father of the Moabites of today.
(Gen 19:38 NIV) The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben?Ammi ; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.
(Mark 1:16 NIV) As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
(Mark 1:17 NIV) "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of
men."
(Mark 1:18 NIV) At once they left their nets and followed him.
(Mark 1:19 NIV) When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets.
(Mark 1:20 NIV) Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
(Mark 1:21 NIV) They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went
into the synagogue and began to teach.
(Mark 1:22 NIV) The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.
(2 Cor 6:2 NIV) For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
(Mat 6:33 NIV) But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well.
(Mat 6:34 NIV) Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
(Luke 12:16 NIV) And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.
(Luke 12:17 NIV) He thought to himself, ’What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
(Luke 12:18 NIV) "Then he said, ’This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
(Luke 12:19 NIV) And I’ll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid
up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."’
(Luke 12:20 NIV) "But God said to him, ’You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
(Luke 12:21 NIV) "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
(James 4:13 NIV) 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."
(James 4:14 NIV) 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.
(James 4:15 NIV) Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that."
(James 4:16 NIV) As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.
(James 4:17 NIV) Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do
it, sins.
(Eccl 12:1 NIV) Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them"??
(Eccl 12:2 NIV) before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;
(2 Sam 19:35 NIV) I am now eighty years old. Can I tell the difference between what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still hear the voices of men and women singers? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?
(Heb 3:13 NIV) But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
(Prov 29:1 NIV) A man who remains stiff?necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed??without remedy.
(Job 34:20 NIV) They die in an instant, in the middle of the night; the people are shaken and they pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand.
(Acts 2:37 NIV) When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
(Acts 2:38 NIV) Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 2:39 NIV) The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off??for all whom the Lord our God will call."
(Acts 2:40 NIV) With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them,
"Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."
(Acts 2:41 NIV) Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
(Acts 8:1 NIV) And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
(Acts 8:2 NIV) Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.
(Acts 8:3 NIV) But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
(Acts 8:4 NIV) Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
(Acts 8:5 NIV) Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.
(Acts 8:6 NIV) When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.
(Acts 8:7 NIV) With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.
(Acts 8:8 NIV) So there was great joy in that city.
(Acts 8:9 NIV) Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the
city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,
(Acts 8:10 NIV) and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, "This man is the divine power known as the Great Power."
(Acts 8:11 NIV) They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.
(Acts 8:12 NIV) But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
(Acts 8:13 NIV) Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip
everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
(Acts 8:14 NIV) When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.
(Acts 8:15 NIV) When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
(Acts 8:16 NIV) because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
(Acts 8:17 NIV) Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 8:18 NIV) When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money
(Acts 8:19 NIV) and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."
(Acts 8:20 NIV) Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
(Acts 8:21 NIV) You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
(Acts 8:22 NIV) Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.
(Acts 8:23 NIV) For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin."
(Acts 8:24 NIV) Then Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing
you have said may happen to me."
(Acts 8:25 NIV) When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.
(Acts 8:26 NIV) Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the
road??the desert road??that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."
(Acts 8:27 NIV) So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,
(Acts 8:28 NIV) and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet.
(Acts 8:29 NIV) The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
(Acts 8:30 NIV) Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.
(Acts 8:31 NIV) "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
(Acts 8:32 NIV) The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
(Acts 8:33 NIV) In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth."
(Acts 8:34 NIV) The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?"
(Acts 8:35 NIV) Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
(Acts 8:36 NIV) As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?"
(Acts 8:37 NIV)
(Acts 8:38 NIV) And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
(Acts 8:39 NIV) When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
(Acts 8:40 NIV) Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
(Isa 55:6 NIV) Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
(Luke 13:24 NIV) "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.
(Luke 13:25 NIV) Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ’Sir, open the door for us.’ "But he will answer, ’I don’t know you or where you come from.’
(Prov 1:24 NIV) But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
(Prov 1:25 NIV) since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke,
(Prov 1:26 NIV) I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you??
(Prov 1:27 NIV) when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
(Prov 1:28 NIV) "Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me.
(Prov 1:29 NIV) Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD,
(Prov 1:30 NIV) since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke,
(Prov 1:31 NIV) they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
(Prov 27:1 NIV) Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
(Heb 2:1 NIV) We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
(Heb 2:2 NIV) For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment,
(Heb 2:3 NIV) how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.
(Heb 2:4 NIV) God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
(Heb 4:7 NIV) Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."
(Heb 12:17 NIV) Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
There used to be a popular radio program which had for its title a saying which I realize more and more is true about myself and about others:
The saying is this: APeople are funny.@ In the mind of some high school students this applies mostly to his teachers, each of whom has some particular idiosyncrasy. It might be some chemistry teacher who periodically
innocently tries to blow up both himself and his students. I shall never forget Colonel Bernard, one of my high school chemistry teachers. It might be some physics teacher, like one of my acquaintances, who once before he was going to hand out some new expensive thermometers which the school had just purchased, gave the students a very detailed lecture on their value, their care and their use. He then proceeded to lean back on the desk on which he had placed these very valuable thermometers and with his elbow
smashed to smithereens all the very valuable thermometers which he had just purchased.
This morning I am thinking of a grade eight teacher who also taught my brother 13 years before he taught me. His name was Mr. Gibson, but everyone knew him affectionately as Gibbie. Mr. Gibson had a particular desire to teach his classes large, polysyllabic words. There were two words in particular which I remember he stamped into my vocabulary. The first was terpsichorean - T-E-R-P-S-I-C-H-O-R-E-A-N. He would often ask me, knowing of my interest in the terpsichorean art, ABarton, did you practice your terpsichorean skills last night?@ How many of you know what the word means? If you don=t, you can look it up when you go home.
The second word he stamped on my vocabulary was the word: PROCRASTINATION, the theme of my message this morning.
If, in Mr. Gibson=s class, students came to school without their homework done, and Mr. Gibson found out, and asked them why they didn=t do it,
and they said they were going to do it that night rather than the night before,
Mr. Gibson would turn to the class and say: AClass, tell Don or Jack or Mary or whomever the ten rules of success.@ The class was then supposed to rise to its feet and say in unison:
AThe ten rules of success are:
#1. Never procrastinate.
#2. Never procrastinate.
#3. Never procrastinate.
#4. Never procrastinate.
#5. Never procrastinate.
#6. Never procrastinate.
#7. Never procrastinate.
#8. Never procrastinate.
#9. Never procrastinate.
#10. Never procrastinate.
My brother once taught me this little ditty about Sodom and Gomorrah.
ALL THE SINFUL PEOPLE OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH,
KNEW THE THINGS THEY SHOULD DO,
BUT LEFT THEM TILL THE MORROW.
WHILE THE SINFUL PEOPLE IN THE VALE OF SIDDIM.
KNEW THE THINGS THEY SHOULDN=T DO,
BUT WENT RIGHT AHEAD AND DID >EM.
Although each year as I grew older I realized more fully the importance of not procrastinating, that we should not put off the doing of good things we know should be done today, it was not until the early hours of the morning of April 5, 1957, that I learned in a rather dramatic way again the folly of procrastination. The story behind that date goes back to September 1956,
when Margaret and I moved to Kingsway School, a Christian boarding school near Peterborough, Ontario, where Margaret and I taught high school and were dorm parents for a year. The very day when we moved I phoned the insurance company and asked them to transfer a portion of our insurance from our home in my parents= basement to the school, our new home. I did not know just how many personal belongings we then had, and I did not know just how many of them we would be leaving in Toronto. I intended when we had finished moving to the boarding school to sit down and revamp our whole insurance policy.
Well, school teaching, especially school teaching for the first year, and teaching in a boarding school with many dysfunctional students, and with a limited staff, can be a very time-consuming job. I learned very quickly the tyranny of the urgent, and the truth that we should not put off until tomorrow
the good things we can do today,
To make a long story short, on April 5, 1957, the school, containing most of our personal possessions except a few clothes in which we escaped, burnt to the ground. When we finally figured up the value of the goods which we had lost, against the amount of insurance we had, we found that we had lost over two thousand dollars. By procrastinating, by not taking a few moments to sit down and weigh the situation, we lost more money in one hour of that fire than we had gained by working that entire year.
We all know that procrastination is a thief of time. I have learned by dramatic experience that procrastination can be a thief of money and assets. But there is something more important that I would like to discuss with you this morning. It is this: To the person who procrastinates in accepting Jesus Christ, procrastination can be the thief of your soul.
To the person who accepts Jesus Christ, but procrastinates in following Jesus in the waters of baptism, or who procrastinates in dedicating his life completely to Jesus Christ, procrastination can be the thief of joy and peace and service to God.
There are three things which I would like to discuss with you this morning
which underline the fact that procrastination in spiritual matters is foolish.
I. First, there is no sensible reason for procrastination in spiritual matters.
Any person who tries to offer a reason for delaying his acceptance of Christ
or for delaying his obedience to Christ in baptism or in any other matter is foolish.
1. Some people say I want to get an education first and get established in business first. After that I will follow Christ.
Well, tell me, what kind of education are you going to get, and what kind of career are you going to follow. Suppose you decide to become a school teacher and you pursue that career. You wind up teaching a bunch of brats,
for that is what you will think of them, teaching them reading, writing and arithmetic; when you would be much happier taking a commercial course
or taking a course to be nurse. Young people, Jesus Christ knows the end from the beginning. He know you better than you know yourself. And if you do not listen to Him, He will not be able to guide you into the perfect will of the Lord for your life.
2. A second type of excuse is given by those who say that they will wait until they get older to accept Christ. Is that you? So, you are going to give God the fag end of your life, are you? You are going to give Him what=s left after you have wasted your life, are you? What makes you think you will be more in the mood then than you are now. It is all well and good for you to draw my attention to the fact that the dying thief was saved in the last hour. But let me point out to you two things about the dying thief:
First, the dying thief probably did not have the opportunities to hear and accept Christ as you have had. Furthermore, you seem to forget the fact
that the other dying thief was lost in the last hour. With his last breath he cursed and mocked the Savior. The probabilities are that we shall die as we live. If we live in rejection, chances are that we shall die in unbelief.
The Bible says: Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth.
A third type of excuse is made by people who say: I cannot give up my sin;
or I do not want to give up my sin. Tell me honestly: AIs there any sin worth being damned for? Is there any sin worth going to hell for? Is there any sin which brings more lasting joy to you than following Jesus Christ? If there is any sin or delight that is worth going to hell for, if there is any sin that gives more lasting pleasure than knowing Jesus, then pursue that sin. Engage in that sin with all your might. Forget about Jesus Christ and His claims on your life. But if there isn=t any sin that=s worth going to hell for, if there isn=t any sin worth rejecting Jesus Christ for, then don=t play the fool or act the madman. Repent of your sin and accept Jesus Christ, and do it now.
No, there is no excuse for putting off acceptance of Christ or obedience to His commands. There is no sensible excuse for procrastinating in your acceptance of Christ or in your obedience to Him.
There is a second reason for refusing to procrastinate in your acceptance
of Christ or in your obedience to Him in any way. It is this. Jesus Christ hated procrastination. Jesus Christ demanded decisive action. Even to Judas Iscariot, who was to betray Him, hoping that challenging him to be decisive would lead him to a good decision, Jesus Christ said in John 13:27:
AWhat you are doing , do more quickly.@
Jesus Christ had no use for indecision. He had no use for the aimlessly drifting, unthought-out life. Yes, Jesus Christ told us to count the cost of following Him. But then he told us to wisely and quickly the cost and then decide without reservation to follow Him.
Notice how Mark comments on the response of the disciples to follow Christ.
(Mark 1:16 NIV) As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
(Mark 1:17 NIV) "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of
men."
(Mark 1:18 NIV) At once they left their nets and followed him.
(Mark 1:19 NIV) When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets.
(Mark 1:20 NIV) Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
(Mark 1:21 NIV) They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went
into the synagogue and began to teach.
(Mark 1:22 NIV) The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.
There is a third reason for refusing to procrastinate in accepting Christ or in obeying Him in baptism or in any other decision. The opportunity to accept Christ or to obey Him may be lost. It may be lost by our death. Or it may be lost by the hardening of our hearts.
It may be lost by our own death. I am not going to dwell on this subject this morning, because I believe that the fear of death is a lesser motive for accepting Christ and following Him. But I would remind you that Jesus used that motivation for people who needed. I would rather be scared into accepting Christ than hardened into refusing Him.
Each of us may lose our own opportunity to accept Christ by our own death,
by a sudden cutting off of life.
There is a second way we lose our opportunity to accept Christ and obey Him. It is by the hardening of our hearts. There is a spiritual principle
that as people refuse to listen to God, their hearts become hard and their necks become stiff.
Pharaoh hardened his heart against God with each plague. How many plagues will God have to send on you and those whom you love before you obey Him? Have you ever seen a sponge which has become like flint. It takes a long time, but it happens. When a sponge stops soaking up water and using it for good, it becomes hard like flint.
ILLUSTRATION RE PROCRASTINATION
A minister of the Gospel determined on one occasion to preach on the text: :@Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.@ While he was in his study thinking about his text, he fell asleep and began to dream. He dreamt that he was carried into hell and was set down in a group of demons
who were consulting with Satan, the deceiver. They were discussing together how they could attack the souls of lost people. They were deciding which one had the best method and so which one would go first. One demon arose and said: AI will go to the earth and tell men that the Bible is all fable; that it is not the inspired Word of God.@ Another said: AI will tell men that there is no God, no Savior, no heaven or hell.@ At those last words a rather fiendish smile came over the faces of Satan and all the demons.
Suddenly one arose, and with a wise smirk like the serpent of old, suggested: AWe do not need to tell people that the Bible is untrue; that there is no heaven or hell; that there is no God and no Savior. All we need to do is to tell them that there is no hurry. Tomorrow will do.@ So, they sent him first, and he went straight to churches on Sunday mornings. He proved to be very successful especially among so-called Christians. You may be listening to him today.
Instead of listening to him today, you had better listen to Mr. Gibson.
He used to say:
AThe ten rules of success are:
#1. Never procrastinate.
#2. Never procrastinate.
#3. Never procrastinate.
#4. Never procrastinate.
#5. Never procrastinate.
#6. Never procrastinate.
#7. Never procrastinate.
#8. Never procrastinate.
#9. Never procrastinate.
#10. Never procrastinate
