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Transcript

Good afternoon, brethren.

I want to tell you a story, a true story, that happened a few weeks ago on Valentine’s Day, of all things. We don’t keep Valentine’s Day, but you can understand it’s very special to certain people in the world, husbands and wives celebrating love in the wrong way, but still, not something we do, but something that’s important to those in the world. And I want to tell you the story of my aunt and uncle celebrating Valentine’s Day, what, three, four weeks ago now. My uncle, he’s not my blood uncle, my aunt, my mother’s sister, and he were determined to go out to a special lunch.

And my uncle arrived at the appointed meeting place and began waiting for my aunt, waiting, waiting, no one showed up. So he calls her telephone number, and rather than her picking up, the paramedics picked up and told him, “Sir, your wife has suffered a major brain aneurysm.” And eight days later, after no consciousness, never getting to say goodbye, never getting those final words in, never having time to prepare for her death, she died. That was it. Now, I don’t tell you that story to elicit sympathy, but I tell you that story to illustrate a point that sets up what we’re going to talk about.

Life can change in an instant in very, very dramatic ways, in ways we can’t anticipate, in ways we can’t change. One moment you could be looking forward to a pleasant meal or date with your significant other, and the next minute you could be learning the worst news possible on the telephone. Another similar story, not as grave, but similar. I have a cousin who is one of the strongest people I’ve ever met, physically strong people. His uncle, not a blood relative, but his uncle was an elite boxer in Australia, an extremely powerful man, at the top of Australian boxing. And his nephew, my cousin, was also just unbelievably strong, not trained as a boxer.

But I remember as a boy having him over at the house, and we had a punching bag in the basement, and it was a heavy bag, and he, from a standstill, not even winding up, jabbed the punching bag, and if it didn’t hit the ceiling, it almost hit the ceiling from a standstill, that strong. Incredibly powerful human being. Well, he used to drive truck, and he drove in the North and South Dakotas, oil boom; there was a lot of booming industry about a decade, two decades ago. I’m not sure if it’s still the same. But in his semi-truck, he was T-boned by another semi-truck. And you can be the strongest guy in the world, but if a Mack truck runs into the driver’s side, you’re not going to be as strong after that accident.

A split second, brethren, can change everything. He can get around, but he’s not what he once was, you understand? Life can change in an instant, just one uncontrollable event, out of the blue, turn to Ecclesiastes nine, as we set the table here. Ecclesiastes chapter nine and verse eleven. Ecclesiastes nine, eleven, “I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift,” Solomon wrote, “Nor the battle to the strong, neither yet the bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance happens to them all.” Unpredictable. “For man also knows not his time.” He doesn’t know when he’s going to die.

No one knew. We didn’t know when my aunt was going to die. My cousin didn’t know when that semi-truck was going to plow into him. “Man also knows not his time. As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.” Life, as we know, isn’t always fair. Senseless death is a part of this life, cut off from God. One more story before we really delve into our subject here. One more story. My great uncle was killed in a most unusual fashion. It just goes to show how temporary this life is, how fragile it is.

This would have been my uncle on my dad’s side. They were farmers, and he was down in the farm, and there was a rich man who lived near them. Rich young man. And he was stealing fruit off of the trees. It would be one thing if he was hungry, but he was a well-to-do person just stealing poor people’s fruit. My great uncle took issue with it and told him, “If I catch you doing that again, I’m essentially going to beat you.” Well, some time progressed, and my uncle found this young man stealing fruit again. Great uncle, rather. And this rich young man knew what my uncle had said, so he brought a shotgun and shot him in the chest.

And as my great uncle lay there dying, I think I told this in a sermon at a long while ago, but most wouldn’t have heard it. As my great uncle lay there dying, he took his finger, and he dipped it in the blood of the wound, and wrote on his shirt who killed him. At that point, his brother, my grandfather, made a vow, “I’m going to kill this man.” These blood feuds originate in strange ways, but they’re very real. “I’m going to kill this man.” Well, this rich man, being rich, was able to flee to the United States, and that was that. I mean, he wouldn’t be able to fulfill his vow there. But decades later, when my dad was a very small boy, he distinctly remembered boots surrounding the house in the middle of the night.

And the police came in, extracted my grandfather, and put him in a prison cell because this rich man wanted to come back and visit without threat of retribution. Doesn’t seem just, doesn’t seem fair, but life isn’t fair. So the man had a nice vacation, and then when he went back to the US, the corrupt police let my grandfather back out. Not that he should have killed him, I’m not saying that they should have allowed it, but justice was not served. Life can change in a moment. You can be defending your crops and have a hole in your chest the next, with generational consequences. Turn to Luke chapter thirteen.

Can’t predict what’s going on in a world cut off from God. Luke chapter thirteen, verse one. “There were present at that season some that told him Christ of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose you that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things,” they suffered such a tragic demise, a freak accident we might say, but not an accident. A freak murder in the wrong place at the wrong time, “I tell you no, but except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.” In other words, if you die cut off from God, it doesn’t matter how you die.

You could be shot in the chest in an orchard. You could be driving to meet your significant other on Valentine’s Day and suffer a massive brain aneurysm. You could be sacrificing in the temple and killed. But if we haven’t repented, if we haven’t developed a relationship with God, we’ll all likewise perish, Christ said here. “Or those eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell and slew them, think you that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?” No. “I tell you no, but except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.” Now I’ve never fully understood this concept of Pilate mingling their blood with sacrifices. And Barnes’ commentary seems to offer something that’s plausible.

There’s no record in Josephus or other accounts where we can go to for this, but Barnes’ commentary explains that is while they were sacrificing at Jerusalem, Pilate came suddenly upon them and killed them, and their blood was mixed with the blood of animals that they were slaying for sacrifice. It doesn’t mean that Pilate offered their blood in sacrifice, but only that as they were sacrificing, as they were want to do, as they were living their normal lives, he killed them. Brethren, whether you live out your natural life, whether I live out my natural life, or disaster strikes early, we have God’s protection, of course. The result is the same if a person doesn’t have contact with God. That’s the message there.

Now, if we have contact with God, disaster can still strike to teach us great lessons. Look at the account of Job, just think about that for a second. God has great purpose in allowing what we might view as time and chance to occur to us, but what about us? In one sense, we’re very different from every generation past. We live a very different life because you and I, brethren, we’re not going to die. Very unique. I mean, maybe an elderly or two among us in the very, excuse me, short time that remains may finish their course, but by and large, you and I are not going to die. We’re not like any of God’s servants in the past. We’re not like any people in the past.

We have a very unique position in the plan of God, and it just so happens that while it is appointed unto all men to die once, it won’t affect you or I in the same way. We’ve probably thought about that before, but it’s an extraordinary statement. There’s coming a moment, brethren, very soon, not a moment like that meeting on Valentine’s Day or in that temple where certain people were slain, and their blood was mixed with that of animals. There’s coming a moment very soon, brethren, when everything will change. Nothing will ever be the same. Life will change forever and probably, hopefully, for the better in ways that we can’t even fathom for you and I.

Our life-changing moment is going to be wonderful, incomprehensibly wonderful. And we know that those who suffered those tragedies that I spoke of earlier, and countless other tragedies that could be enumerated, ones that are known about and not known about, all those people will get a wonderful future, a wonderful shot at what we’re pursuing now. What we want to focus on today, what we’re going to talk about, is how we plan for, how we prepare for, how we’re sure we’re ready for that life-changing moment that’s just over the horizon. See, we have the luxury of knowing a dramatic life-changing moment is coming.

We don’t have to be caught off guard, and it’s not going to be a terrible moment for us. Incredible. That’s what we’re going to talk about today. How do we plan for, how do we prepare for that life-changing moment that we uniquely know is coming? Well, the first step to that is to come to grips, come to deep grips with the fact that time is short. We don’t always understand timing perfectly. We don’t. And until God intervenes, we won’t understand everything perfectly. But we do know it’s short. Turn to Matthew chapter sixteen now, Matthew sixteen. I’m amazed at how accurate weather forecasts have become. You can pretty much rely on them.

It didn’t used to be that way. It used to be, okay, if the weatherman says it’s going to snow, it’s probably not going to snow. Or if the weatherman says, “Oh, you don’t have to worry about snow,” you’re probably going to encounter a blizzard. It was terrible. At least I recall it as such. But now, whatever the weatherman says, I may as well be reading about fulfilled prophecy. They’re that good now. If they say it’s going to rain between the hours of two and four PM, how they can know that, I have no idea. If they say it’s going to be fifty-four degrees at six PM tomorrow, it’s usually there within a degree or two. It’s amazing.

Matthew chapter sixteen and verse one, “The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came and tempting him desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, when it’s evening, you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and lowring.” They could predict the weather. Not to the degree that people can predict the weather now with all of the scientific advancements and meteorological instruments available, innovations in that field. “Oh, you hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky.” You can predict the weather, “But can you not discern the signs of the times?”

He said that two thousand years ago. Well, we know that the next big dramatic thing in God’s plan is just over the horizon. We’ve got to be able to discern the signs of the times. We have to be deeply focused on the fact that time is short. We have to be deeply committed to believing that time is short to be ready for that moment that’s coming. We can’t have a ho-hum lackadaisical approach to life. We have to live with the knowledge, and as though time is short, because we know it is. We can discern the signs of the times. We have a teacher pointing us to all the guideposts so that we can discern the signs of the times.

Psalm ninety. We’re not only supposed to discern the signs of the times, but we’re supposed to discern the signs of the times with respect to what that means for our lives specifically. Psalm chapter ninety. This first key step of coming to grips with the fact that time is short and what it means for us paves the way to all the subsequent steps, Psalm chapter ninety and verse two, “Before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” I think this is Moses speaking. “You turn man to destruction and say, return you children of men.

For a thousand years in your sight are as but yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night.” We’ll come back to that later in the New Testament. “You carry them away as with a flood. They are as asleep. In the morning, they’re like grass which grows up. In the morning, it flourishes and grows up. In the evening, it’s cut down and withers. For we are consumed by your anger and by your wrath, we’re troubled. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance. For all our days are passed away in your wrath. We spend our years as a tale that is told.” Now God can be angry, righteously so, but hopefully He’s not angry with us.

We’re doing the things that are pleasing in his sight, as the apostle John said. “The days of our years,” verse ten, “are threescore and ten, seventy. And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow. For it’s soon cut off and we fly away.” Man is appointed seventy years; he might get eighty, that doesn’t apply to us in the same way. But this next phrase does. Who knows the power of your anger, even according to your fear? Not that one. So is your wrath. Here is what applies to us. Even if we’re not getting our seventy or eighty years. “So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

If you were a true saint living in the sixteen hundreds, you could look at this and say, “Okay, I’m fifty years old. I’ve got another twenty, maybe thirty years in me. Am I living in line with God’s will? Am I living in a way that will allow me to enter his family?’ Maybe you’re sixty-five when you’re called. In the fifteen hundreds, I’ve got maybe five years in me. I’ve got to redeem the time, I’ve got to catch up. It’s not like that for us, brethren. We don’t have the luxury of knowing we’ve got seventy or eighty years. We’ve got to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom and know we have even less time. That’s why this step is so crucial to preparing for that life-changing moment that’s just ahead.

We’ve got to know we don’t have much time. You nor I. So with that backdrop, that first step in place, let’s pull way back, and this section of the sermon deals in ratios. You know ratios. I spend, the average human might spend eight hours sleeping and sixteen hours waking, a one-to-two ratio. Sixteen is twice as much as eight. It’s a ratio, of course. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. What I want you to do, I’m going to talk about four ratios here. First ratio, what I’d like you to do is write down how many years you’ve been alive, if you would. How many years you’ve been alive.

I’ve been alive thirty-eight years, but for the sake of discussion, I’m going to call it forty for this exercise. So you’ve got a number there, how many years you’ve been alive. Now that we understand birthdays, it might be easier to remember how old you are. Remember for the longest time, somebody would ask me how old I am, and I’d kind of scratch my head because I wasn’t marking those milestones, I had to do math with nineteen eighty-eight. And I must have looked strange, not knowing how old I was to certain individuals, but no longer, thankfully. I’m thirty-eight, I know it, brethren. But I’m going to use forty here.

Now take that number, write a line under it, divided by six thousand. So your age divided by six thousand. Maybe you’re better at long division than others. Don’t look left or right; you might realize somebody forgot their elementary school math, but you can go home with a calculator and do it later if it’s too challenging right now. But for sake of discussion, I’m going to call myself forty. Forty into six thousand is one hundred and fifty. That’s the first ratio, one to one hundred and fifty. Or whatever your ratio is, it’s going to be different based on when you’re alive. If you’re twenty years old, it’ll be, what, twenty to three hundred.

If you’re fifty years old, it’ll be, what, fifty to one twenty, I think, if I’m doing my math right. I might be exposing myself here. But anyways, that’s how many lifetimes you’d have to live just to get back to the garden. It really puts in perspective how few years we have. I’d have to live one hundred and fifty successive lifetimes to get to the point we are now in prophecy. But I only have one lifetime. You only have one lifetime. We only have a very short time to write our record that will stand for eternity. Incredible, really, if you think about it. We’re here for a small fraction of the time that humans have been alive.

Yet, we just read what Moses said about time. Let’s see what Peter says here. Second Peter three, one. You have your ratio. The second epistle, verse one, “Beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Without getting into the technicalities here, people tend to lose sight of the big picture. “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness, but his long suffering to us were not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

So, our twenty years, our thirty years, our forty years, fifty, sixty, whatever it is we’re given, is a very small fraction of human existence. Yet to God it’s virtually nothing. Because if six thousand years, the time man has been here since the garden, is to God like six days, it shows how he views time. He’s been here forever. Very hard to wrap our minds around. So rather than thinking of our life as a ratio out of six thousand, twenty to three hundred, for instance, think of... if you’re twenty years old, think of it as twenty to eternity.

Twenty out of infinity, thirty out of infinity, forty out of infinity, however old you are. Really, you can’t express a fraction in those terms mathematically, but it’s a ratio nevertheless. Brethren, you and I have a very short time, and it grows shorter by the day, to write a record that will stand for eternity. Sometimes life can feel long, but it’s so, so, so short in the grand scheme of things. And we’ve got to keep that at the forefront of our mind. Everything we do in this life, in this very, very short life, will have impact on what we do for eternity.

When things are hard, let’s think about that, meditate on that. Yes, things are hard, but I’m here for a blink of an eye, and if I perform well in this blink of an eye, I’m shaping my eternal life. It’s really profound if we’ll stop and meditate on it, as I’m sure we do. A decade can feel long, but it’s short in the grand scheme of things, and it’s that decade or however long that allows us to write our record for eternity. We’re here, and then we’re gone, James chapter four, James four, verse fourteen. James four, fourteen, “Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life? It’s even as a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away, just here and then gone.”

Yet if we use that vapor wisely, we could be here forever, with a marvelous, unfathomable future. If we just use that tiny bit of time that we’ve been given in the grand scheme of things. Psalm chapter eight. God gives us such an opportunity. Psalm eight, “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth, who has sent your glory above the heavens.” Now we understand how close is the third heaven now. His glory extends above that. His glory permeates the universe, and maybe beyond. I don’t fully understand. I don’t think anyone of us fully understands how vast God’s creation is.

“Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings have you ordained strength, because of your enemies that you might still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him? Or the son of man that you visit him?” This temporary creation, this creation that might be here for sixty or seventy years, versus these suns and these stars that have been here for who knows how long. I once had the opportunity up in, I think it was Cleveland area, to look at the stars through an extraordinary telescope, like one at a planetarium, I think they’re called.

They tried to explain to me that the stars I was seeing were... I was seeing an image that was X number of years old, thousands of years old, because of the way that light travels. It’s not necessarily the way that my mind works or something that I’m deeply passionate about, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around it fully without doing more digging. The fact that I could be seeing something that’s so old that I’m seeing it in its state twenty-five thousand years ago, or however long ago it was, through this telescope, it’s almost incomprehensible to the human mind. And I would say that before we discovered things like the speed of light, I’d be with the rest of humanity.

So if you brethren understand it better than I, good for you. To me, it’s one of those mysteries. If I’m seeing something with my eyes, to me, that’s the way it is now, but maybe there’s some quirk of science that I don’t fully understand. All I know, all I took from that is these stars are incredibly old, yet God says, “What is man that you’re mindful of him compared to these great astral bodies out there, these works of God’s fingers, and the son of man that you visit him? For you’ve made him a little lower than the angels and have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet. All sheep and oxen, yea, and beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea. O Lord, our God, how excellent is your name in all the earth.”

And then if you go to Paul, he explains in Hebrews that we haven’t yet seen all things put under us. We know our awesome potential. We know our future. Yet, what is man that you’re mindful of him? Just here as a vapor and then gone, yet we’re going to be entrusted with all of this? Incredible. And we only have to build our record for a very short time. Maybe you’ve only been in God’s Church for months or even weeks. What you’re doing right now will have tremendous bearing on what you do for the rest of your life, if I can put it that way.

Isaiah chapter forty. We were there looking at Jerusalem last week, but Isaiah chapter forty, and we’ll pick it up a little bit after that, after what we read on the Sabbath. Verse nine, this ratio is extraordinary. Our lifetime is compared to eternity. Verse nine, “O Zion that brings good tidings, get you up to the high mountain. O Jerusalem that brings good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up and be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, behold, your God. Behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule with him. Bold reward is with him and his work before him. He’ll feed his flock like a shepherd. He’ll gather his lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are young.”

Who is this God? Well, that’s what Isaiah asks. “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?” You think of the oceans out there, “…measured the oceans in the hollow of his hand.” They’ve categorized yet another ocean, I think, down around Antarctica, based on the way water moves.

But think of adding the Indian, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Arctic, the whatever, the other newly named ocean, the other ocean, the great lakes, the rivers, the streams, adding all those up, and they fit in the hollow of God’s palm. “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out the heaven with a span,” with a ruler, or maybe with the span of a hand’s breadth. It’d be a span, I believe. “And comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales.” Oh, I’m going to weigh five hundred grams of flour for this recipe, a woman might say. Well, God says, “Well, I’m going to weigh all the mountains on my scale.” Puts it in perspective.

“And the hills in a balance. Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor has taught him?” Nobody. He’s willing to receive counsel. We understand that. We see, for instance, the twenty-four elders or even human beings; Moses, he received his counsel, but he doesn’t need counsel from anybody. He doesn’t need to learn anything from anybody. “With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding?” Nobody. “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of a balance. Behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing.”

So if the nations comprised of hundreds of millions of people are as a drop in the bucket, what about an individual? What about you or I? We’re like nothing compared to God, a vapor. Whether you’re looking at time or just our nature itself, the ratio is... there’s a chasm that can’t be quantified between us and God. Behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing. If the nations, brethren, are a drop in the bucket, how much more so the individuals that comprise those nations? The difference between a human being and God is so vast it can’t be quantified. If the difference between a nation and God is so vast it can’t be quantified, how much more so a human, you or I?

That’s a ratio that is impossible to wrap the mind around. Yet God has a desire to work with each and every one of us. “And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing, and they’re counted to him as less than nothing and vanity. To whom will you liken God, or what likeness will you compare him? The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold and casts silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot.” He goes into idolatry here, and so on and so forth.

Verse twenty-six, “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number. He calls them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one fails. Why say you, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel? My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God.” Not us, but Israel. “Have you known, have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding.” And that transitions into the next ratio that we’re going to talk about.

Verse twenty-nine, “He gives power to the faint.” Now we start looking at what he is doing with human beings, what he is doing with you and I. “He gives power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.” We have an incredible future. We know we’re going to enter the God family.

So the flip side of that ratio, as insignificant as our existence is in the grand scheme of things, whether it’s viewed in terms of time or viewed in terms of who we are as compared to all that God is and all that he’s done. The flip side of that ratio that I want you to perhaps write down, write down one hundred and forty-four thousand to one hundred billion. One hundred and forty-four thousand out of one hundred billion. Now, one hundred billion is just a ballpark figure in terms of what we’ve thought of, in terms of all the humans that have ever lived. Nobody knows the exact number. Hundred billion.

One hundred and forty-four thousand out of one hundred billion. Extraordinarily slim odds to be a part of the a hundred and forty-four thousand. Yet, I want you to now please cross out one hundred billion. Cross it out. Because that doesn’t even begin to tell the story. Hundred billion is just those who have lived. The hundred and forty-four thousand will always be in place. There will never be a hundred and forty-four thousand and one, so to speak. So, we’ve got to take a hundred and forty-four thousand as a fraction of all the people who have ever lived, but also that will ever live. How many people will be born just during the Millennium?

How many people will be born during the seven years that precede the Millennium? How many people will be born in the generations that follow the Millennium? Are we looking at hundreds of trillions? Tens? Hundreds? Maybe quadrillions of people? One hundred and forty-four thousand out of X. God only knows. Maybe He’s waiting to see how many people are produced in the grand scheme of things. Revelation chapter fourteen. Revelation fourteen, verse one, “And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having his father’s name written in their foreheads.

And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps, and they sang as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders. And no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb withersoever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. The firstfruits.” Unique. A hundred and forty-four thousand, no one else like them.

“And in their mouths was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Amazing to consider our awesome, privileged, planned reward from God. Not reward, but gift from God. We’re rewarded based on how we use our time, but no one could have said, “You know what, I’m going to earn a spot in a hundred and forty-four thousand.” Impossible. God handpicked us, and the odds of Him handpicking us for that is literally a hundred and forty-four thousand out of tens of trillions, maybe even quadrillions of people. That should leaven our minds as we wait for that moment when everything will change.

Here’s another ratio, or maybe more of a comparative, and that is what we go through versus what others before us have gone through. What we go through compared to what others before us have gone through in life. You have whatever it is that you’re battling right now. I have whatever it is that I’m battling right now. Maybe some of us are experiencing financial hardship. Maybe our car is malfunctioning. Maybe our job isn’t going well. Maybe someone we were very close to, a loved one, died. Maybe we’re being persecuted from family members who are not in the church. You fill in the blank.

That’s by no means an exhaustive list. But it could always be worse. You could read about any number of God’s servants in the faith chapter, for instance, and what they endured. Here’s just one, Second Corinthians eleven. Not in the faith chapter. Here’s just one of God’s servants who endured great hardship. How does it compare to what we endure? We don’t want to compare ourselves amongst ourselves and look at somebody, “Oh, I’m doing better than them.” That’s not my point here. But we can look at these lives that are given to us in the Bible and say, “You know what? What I’m going through might not be that bad in the grand scheme of things.”

Second Corinthians eleven and verse twenty-two. Paul here, the apostle Paul, “Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.” He was establishing his credibility here. “Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I’m more in labors, more abundant, in stripes above measure.” Have any of us, any of God’s people, received stripes in their adult life or childhood life? “Stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in death often.” Death often? This is unique. “Of the Jews, five times I received forty save one.” Beaten thirty-nine times with stripes. Five times.

“Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck.” Most of us have only been shipwrecked twice, right? Oh, we’ve been through nothing by comparison. Now, there are some brethren who will have to endure worse than what’s on this list with wrong decisions. We know what some saints will have to endure in the coming fire. But what we go through compared to what God’s servants in the past have gone through, nothing. Nothing by comparison. “Night and a day have I been in the deep,” in one of these shipwrecks, “In journeyings often, in perils of water.”

Think about it, a night and a day, twenty-four hours maybe, floating on a piece of cracked ship in the middle of the ocean before a rescue came. “In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” It makes that transmission problem with our car not seem so bad. Makes that friction at the workplace seem like a walk in the park if we’re willing to look at it as a comparative.

“In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, fastings often, cold and nakedness, besides those things that are without, that come upon me daily, the care of all the churches,” an incredibly hard worker, Paul. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed forevermore, knows that I lie not.” And then he goes on to list things like he was let down in a basket through a window, having to escape one time. Wow, he really puts in perspective our trials.

What about Christ? What did he endure compared to what we endure? Thinking in terms of a ratio, thinking in terms of a fraction, thinking in terms of a comparative can really put things into perspective. One final ratio here. What we’re going through compared to what awaits us. Can we assign a ratio to that? What we’re going through, the level of emotion, the level of intensity of what we’re going through compared to what awaits us. Can we assign a ratio or some kind of comparative to that? The answer is no, we can’t. Romans chapter eight, Romans eight. It’s impossible.

Romans eight, verse twelve. “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God.” We’re being led by the spirit of God. “For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

Something extraordinary awaits us, a mystery that is hidden to the world. We’re going to be in the God family. Can that be compared to the sufferings which we endure? Can we assign a ratio in this respect? Well, let’s continue here in verse eighteen. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time,” no matter what they are. They can be as bad as what Paul went through, or they can feel bad what we go through. But as I’ll say, this kind of mundane by comparison, as bad as what we go through, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

“Don’t even try to make a ratio. Don’t even try to draw a comparison,” God says. They’re not worthy to be compared with anything we’re going through. “For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who have subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit.

Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which we see not, then we with patience wait for it.” We know an incredible future awaits us. It should make everything we’re going through pale in comparison. So with those ratios in mind, it gives us the proper mindset as we await this life-changing moment that’s just ahead. We’re going to spend the last little bit here talking about the action that this mindset should breed.

Ecclesiastes, back to Ecclesiastes, this time chapter eight. Ecclesiastes eight and verse five. “Whoso keeps the commandment shall feel no evil thing.” If we’re living correctly, we know our future. “And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.” We’ve discerned that the time is close. We can discern the signs of the times. We know how extraordinary this calling is. We know all that awaits us. We have a good idea of all that awaits us.

I’ll say that much. I’m sure it’s much better than we’re able to comprehend with our human minds, and it seems extraordinary. That time, knowing that time is short, and knowing we have very little time in the grand scheme of things, should cause us to want to redeem the time. That’s what we’ll talk about in the final part of this message, redeeming the time. It’s never too late to grow and change. Luke chapter sixteen. It’s never too late. If we haven’t committed the unpardonable sin, if we want to move forward, if we want to serve God, if we still care about God, it’s never too late, Luke chapter sixteen, to change and grow.

Verse one, “And he said to his disciples, There was a certain rich man which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.” The steward hadn’t been using his time wisely, hadn’t been using his resources wisely. “And he called him and said to him, How is it that I hear this of you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you may no longer be steward.” Serious. This is, of course, a parable, but serious. “Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do, for my Lord takes away from me the stewardship? I can’t dig to beg. I’m ashamed. I’m resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.”

So this steward scrambled. “So he called every one of his Lord’s debtors unto him and said to the first, How much do you owe, my Lord? And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said, Take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty. Then said he to another, How much do you owe? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. And he said, Take your bill and write four score, eighty. And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely. For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.”

Now, there are multiple lessons within that parable, but one is if we’re in a tough spot, scramble. We can scramble. God shows us you can make lemonade out of lemons. Even if you’re in a tough spot, don’t get to that tough spot. Ideally, you wouldn’t have gotten to that tough spot. Scramble in whatever time you have left is one of the lessons here. Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians five verse fourteen. Regardless of where this applies prophetically, it has application to all of us. “Wherefore, he says, Awake you that sleep,” Ephesians five, fourteen, “and rise from the dead, and Christ shall give you life. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.”

Very practical here, just be careful what you’re doing in life, God tells us. Walk circumspectly. We know this world is a dark and dangerous place. If we’re walking through a forest infested with snakes, we’re going to be careful where we step. We’re walking through a world infested with influence from the god of this world. We’ve got to be careful where we step, where we spend our time, who we spend our time with. What can we do with our time? “See, then you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is, and be not drunk with wine.”

It’s practical application here. Don’t focus on the physical; focus on the spiritual. “Wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Focus on the spiritual, he says. “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We’ve got so much to be thankful for. Just think about those ratios we talked about. So much to be thankful for. “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord.”

Now, redeeming there is a very interesting word. It means to buy up, that is, ransom. Figuratively, to rescue from loss. When you pay a ransom, it’s for something that’s very valuable. There’s been a very high-profile kidnapping case in the news lately. People are kidnapped all the time; it’s horrible, but this one has been particularly prominent because it’s been featured in the news so much. This family didn’t want to pay a ransom. The woman was probably already dead, but the family didn’t want to pay ransom. For whatever reason, good or bad.

You pay a ransom for something that’s very valuable, that you want to buy back. Well, God is saying buy back the time. It’s of extraordinary value; use it wisely. Pay the ransom in this case for that time. Scramble. How? Well, Colossians explains in greater detail. There’s a lot of practical things we can do there in Ephesians, but here’s Colossians. Colossians chapter four. Colossians four and verse two. “Continue in prayer.” Develop momentum with your prayer. Once we get into a routine of praying, it becomes easier to stick to that routine.

As with many things in life, but of course, there are times to be instant in prayer too. Pray as we need to. As events arise during the day, but continuing in prayer, having a routine with it. “And watch in the same with thanksgiving.” Watch, pray, be thankful. “Withal praying also for us. For those doing the work, God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ. For which I am also in bonds.” More of those hardships Paul suffered. “That I may make it manifest as I ought speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time.” Watch your conduct. We should be living as lights. Just by living a good example, we’re redeeming the time.

It’s a lot of what we’re already doing. It’s just helpful to remember these things. God wants us to be an example to others. He’s going to make us the ultimate example to others. So much so that we’ll teach others how to enter his family in the very near future and beyond. He’s entrusting us with his most precious commodities, but he wants us to be an example to them even now. So that in the future somebody can say, you know what, I remember that person or this person. Wow, they were different in this life. Now they might remember us from before we came into God’s way. That’s a different story.

Then we can tell them, yes I used to be like that. You remember me like that. Well, let me tell you how God transformed my mind and my life. Incredible. “Let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt. That you may know how you ought to answer every man.” Be careful with our words. Now, continue in there in verse two means to be earnest toward. Persevere, be constantly diligent. To attend assiduously in all exercises. To adhere closely to. We want to take these things seriously. Whether it be prayer or our conduct. These are just basic ideas, but they’re what the Bible speaks about.

We have a very limited time, brethren, to redeem the time. Look at the example of Christ. John chapter nine. We’re more like Christ with respect to our life spans than we are with any previous servants of God. How so? John chapter nine verse one. “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, Master, saying, Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither is this man’s sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”

God always planned to heal this man. To use Christ to heal this man so that the works of God would be made manifest to those around him and aid in Christ’s first-century ministry, that would have impact on everything going forward. Here’s what Christ said. Coming off of that. “I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is yet day.” While it is day. “The night comes when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Then he healed the man.

Christ knew he only had a short period of time left. He determined to work the works of the Father while it was day. He knew night was coming. We know our end is coming. He knew the end of his physical life, and all that that meant was coming. We know the end of our physical life is coming. We have to work the works of Him that sent us while it’s still day, so to speak, in our own lives.

I heard something extraordinary recently about a man who, as he later in his life, realized he didn’t have as much time. This was a man in the church. He said, “I used to take my time. Now I’m in a hurry because I don’t have time anymore.” Amazing, really, if you think about it. It should resonate deeply with all of us. “I used to take my time. Now I’m in a hurry because I don’t have any more.” Sometimes, the hardest tasks are tied to time. You can, for a very short period of time, go through something very intense.

I remember the worst, I think, single task I was ever a part of. I say worst in a certain sense. It was just brutally exhausting. I was working for my dad. It was shortly before I came up to headquarters. We had to replace a walk-in cooler at an ice cream place. We had 24 hours to do it based on the way the restaurant was going to open. I don’t remember all the particulars. It was a 24-hour job. Tearing out the aluminum panels in the freezer, replacing the foam, the insulated foam, all on the walls. First, having to take out all the ice cream and put it in refrigerated trucks. On and on and on.

I remember 21, 22 hours in, I was a young man. I like to think I had some vigor and strength. My old man, as a man’s father sometimes put, he outworked me. I had to throw in the towel. I had to go home and sleep at about 21, 22 hours. He just kept going. A humbling experience in a certain regard, but intense effort in a very short amount of time yielded a job well done. I just wasn’t there for the end of it, I’m sad to say.

Brethren, we should take nothing for granted in the time that remains. We can work hard, we can scramble, but take nothing for granted in the time that remains. Use the time wisely. Redeem the time. Do God’s will, not our own will. Focus on what matters. If we feel like we’ve got some catching up to do, catch up. God is forgiving. God will help us achieve his will when we every day pray, your will be done. The presumption is he’s going to give us enough of His spirit to do His will. If that involves catching up, wonderful. We can all catch up in certain regards.

Brethren, you and I don’t have the luxury of being caught off guard when our moment comes. We can’t receive a phone call in that diner and be shocked at the news, if I can go back to the introduction. We don’t have the luxury of not knowing when things will end for us. We do know when they’ll end. There’s a clock associated with our lives. We have to be hyper-focused with the right mindset, which we can help cultivate by focusing on those ratios we started out with. With the right mindset and by taking action to redeem the time.

We know time is short. We want to act accordingly. There are moments in life that change everything. The biggest moment for us is just ahead, and it’s going to be a positive and a wonderful moment. Let’s stay focused with the right mindset and taking the right actions in the little time that remains.