Where We Are in the Stream of Time pt. 2

Mark Finley: Life is what? Short. Death is certain. Eternity is forever.
Announcer: This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, "Where are we in the Stream of Time, Part two?" Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to HopeLives365.com. And now Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: Can you say that with me? Life is what? Short. Death is certain. Eternity is forever. See, death is certain unless Jesus comes. There's only two ways out of this world. One is you die in Christ, and you're resurrected, or Jesus comes and you're translated. But if Jesus doesn't come, three things. What are they? Life is what? Short. Death is what? Certain. And eternity is what? Forever. Cherish each moment. Don't do anything in your life that you're going to regret later on. Develop positive relationships with the people around you. Arise each morning with the joyful anticipation that this is a new day in Christ. It's a new day to experience the closeness of his presence, a new day to experience the warmth of his love, a new day to experience the touch of his healing grace. Life is too short to hold grudges, nurture hurt feelings, dwell on the pain that others have caused us. Life is too short to spend it on the trivial, unimportant things of life. Life is too short to be shaped by the culture, the values, the attitudes of this world. Life is too short to let the things of time crowd out the things of eternity. Life is too short to miss out on eternity, for eternity is forever, and forever is a long, a long time. Paul says, "Know the time." James says, "Cherish every single moment of time." Paul comes back in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 6, our third point on time, and he says, "If you have squandered some time, redeem the time." Romans chapter 5 verse 6, third principle of time, redeem the time. How do you redeem the time? You can never go back five years, 10 years and live over those years. But the way you redeem the time is taking advantage of the present, listening to the voice of Christ in the present, being sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit in your heart to the present, coming to Christ every single day in the present, being charmed by his love, redeemed by his grace, transformed by his power. Ephesians chapter 5, we're looking here, verse 16, "redeeming the time because the days are evil." What does scripture say? Redeeming the what? Time. Now, that's an interesting passage, "redeeming the time." The Apostle Paul calls us to evaluate our lifestyle. What is it that redeeming the time means? It means evaluate your lifestyle. It means evaluate your habits, your practices in the light of eternity. Make the changes necessary to prepare for the coming of Jesus. He appeals to us to, to redeem the time, to refocus our priorities. Let's suppose you were spending your time on trivial matters. Let's suppose that the latest Hollywood TV programs have captured your attention. Let's suppose that you were spending the majority of your time in video games. Let's suppose that the things of time have crowded out the things of eternity. What's Paul saying here? Redeeming the time. He's saying, refocus your priorities. He's saying, make the most of every opportunity that heaven provides, and don't squander away the precious moments that make little difference. Now, it's very interesting, you see that phrase "redeeming the time." There are times that you read a phrase in the New Testament, and you see it in English, but you don't catch the significance of it. So I went back and took a look at that phrase in the original language of the New Testament, which is Greek, and it's not "redeeming the time," which is really interesting. It's "buy out the time," "buy out the time." What does that mean? If you look at the history of, and the origin of that word "redeeming the time," it comes from the marketplace where a person was looking for a bargain and they had limited money. So if I'm looking for a bargain and I have limited money, I want to spend my money in the marketplace on the thing where I'm going to get the most value for my money. So what Paul is saying here is, you have a limited amount of time. From the time you're born to the time you die, you have a limited amount of time. So, if you are looking for a bargain in the marketplace, he's saying to the Ephesians, you're going to want to spend your money on the thing that is most valuable. Therefore, since you have a limited amount of time in the marketplace of this world, spend your time on the things that are most valuable. Limited amounts of money must be spent wisely. So what Paul is saying here is, you have a limited amount of time to spend, spend it wisely. Don't waste a minute. There's a significant statement in the book, "Christ's Object Lessons." And I want you to take a look at that in "Christ's Object Lessons," we find it there on page 342 and 345. Life is too short to be trifled away. We have but a few days of probation in which to prepare for eternity. We have no time to waste, no time to devote to selfish pleasure, no time for the indulgence of sin. It's now that we are to form characters for the future immortal life. It is now that we are to prepare for the searching of the judgment. Why were you and I born? What is our destiny? Were we born simply to get up in the morning and go to work and come home exhausted and fall on the couch to watch a few TV programs? Is that the meaning of life? We were born to know Christ. We were born to know his love. We were born to experience his grace. We were born to be transformed by his word. We were born to share his love with others. We were born to develop characters that will stand the test of time for all eternity. And so, Paul says, "Invest your life in the things that count because life is too short to be trifled away." Some of you who are musicians may have heard some of the amazing symphonies and music of Tchaikovsky, the great Russian composer. Tchaikovsky put a sign on his gate to his home, and he said, "Visiting hours: Monday and Tuesday between 3:00 and 5:00. Other times, please do not ring." Now, by posting that sign, Tchaikovsky was announcing to the world that he was a great composer. And as a great composer, his time was important. If he was going to achieve his purpose and bless the world with music, he needed to single-mindedly devote himself to what was important. He was not willing to compromise his work or his calling by wasting his time on trivial matters. He knew that in order to reach his goal, he needed to focus on his purpose. He needed to value his time, and he needed to teach others to do the same. Now, as the result of Tchaikovsky's discipline in valuing his time and protecting his daily schedule, he became the one of the greatest composers of the 19th century. If he allowed himself to be distracted, he certainly would not have composed the world's greatest music. You and I are composing a character for the Kingdom of Heaven. A character that reveals the sweetness of Jesus' love, a character in which we can sing, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." We are developing characters that stand the test of time, that will go through the crisis that's coming, that in a world of darkness will reflect God's love and his grace and his goodness. So the Apostle Paul says, "Redeem your time. Spend your time on things that really count. Guard your moments carefully." At the end of the day, ask yourself four questions. Here are four questions that you ask yourself at the end of the day. Number one, "Did I spend my time profitably today? Or did I trifle it away?" Number two, "Did I use my time in productive ways?" Number three, "Were my actions pleasing to God today?" In those quiet moments, just before I go to sleep at night, when I'm in those, that slumber period of consciousness, I ask the question, "Were my actions pleasing to God today?" Is there anything I need to repent of today? Quick words, impatient actions, critical spirit, selfish heart. Were my actions pleasing to God today? Did I make my decisions in the light of eternity? And this really leads us to our fourth and final principle. Principle number one, know the time. Principle number two, cherish each moment. Principle number three, where you've made mistakes in the past, redeem the time. It is never too late to begin making good decisions. And the sooner you begin making good decisions, the sooner good things are going to happen. Redeem the time.
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Mark Finley: The last principle is found in Psalms. It's the 90th Psalm. And this principle is, "Improve every opportunity." Psalm 90. Now, Psalm 90 is a contrast between the eternity of God and the mighty nature of God and the frailty of the flesh. Psalm 90 verse one, for example, "Lord, you've been our dwelling place in all generations." Verse two, "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God." So there's the eternity of God. Then you let your eyes drop down, verse 10. "The days of our years are three score years or 70 and 10. And if by reason of strength, they be four score years, yet it is their strength, labor and sorrow for it is soon cut off. We'll be our life will be gone, we'll fly away. For who knows the power of your anger? Even though thy fear, so is thy wrath." What is it talking about here? It's talking about the brevity of life. It's talking about the fact, not that there's some vindictive angry God out there someplace, but God is angry against sin. That's the only thing God is angry against, against sin. And it is true that at times sin is deadly and fatal even in this life. And this is my text that I want to focus on. So, "Teach us to do what? Number our days. Teach us to, to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom." It's our fourth principle, learning to number our days. Now, what does it mean to number our days? Numbering our days is an expression used by David in Psalms to cause us to place priority on the things that are most important, to cherish things that matter most. Somebody said, "Show me where you spend your money and I'll tell you what's important to you." Then they added, "Show me where you spent your time and I'll tell you who you are. Show me where you spend your money and I'll tell you what's important to you. But show me where you spent your time and that will tell me really who you are." Once upon a time, there was a man who was getting up in age. He read about this Bible passage that said, "Teach us, oh Lord, to number our days. And if I reach 70 years old, I'll praise you. And if 80, wow, that's a miracle." And he said, "You know what I'm going to do?" As he's getting up in age, "I'm going to take a jar and put 70 marbles in it." So he took this jar and he put these 70 marbles in his jar. And then, each year he began to take marbles out of the jar. Well, when he began to do this, he was in his 60s, so he took 60 marbles out of the jar that had been spent already and he put them in another jar and he said, "This is the part of my life that's spent." So he took actually 67 marbles out of that jar, and he put them in the spent jar. He said, "If I live to 70, I only got three more marbles in my jar." And he said, "Each year," he told his wife, "I'm taking one marble out of the jar." Now, if the jar of your life is pretty well spent. Now, the truth of the matter is, we don't know the destiny of our lives, we don't know what, when we'll die. But this man said, "I want to do something consciously that I always keep in mind the eternity is before me." He had three marbles in his jar. 68, two marbles in his jar. 69, one marble left in his jar. On his 70th birthday, he said to his wife, "Let's go out to a restaurant and eat." He brought his empty jar, held it up to his wife. He said, "Look, I've had 70 years that God has given me. I don't know how much time I have left, but wife, I want you to know every moment that I've been thinking about those marbles, going out of my jar, marbles going out of my jar, another life that was spent. He said, I've made a commitment that I want to be faithful to Christ. I don't want to waste one moment. I can't trifle away the precious gift of time that God has given me. Life on this earth is passing quickly. It's soon to end, and I must prepare for eternity. William Cowper was an outstanding poet and hymn writer. And his life was really filled with a, with a lot of trauma. He was discouraged at times, sometimes depressed. And he moved to a little village in Olney, England. And in that village, John Newton lived. In fact, John Newton was the pastor of the church, and you'll remember that Newton had been a slave trader running slave ships from Africa to United Kingdom and England. And Newton, um, was almost killed in a terrible storm on one particular occasion. And he gave his life to Christ. And that's when Newton wrote this amazing hymn, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see." William Cowper had the great gift as well of writing, writing hymns. And he and Newton would meet often in the afternoons in a little garden at the home of Newton. Sometimes they met at the home of Cowper. And they'd write hymns together. Eventually, they wrote a hymnal, and it became the most popular evangelical hymnal. And there is a song that Cowper wrote called, "For a Closer Walk With Thee." And it goes like this, "For a closer walk with God, a calm and heavenly frame, a light to shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb." But it was the second verse that really touched me of the song. It said this, "The dearest idol I have known, whatever that idol be, help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee." "The dearest idol I have known, whatever that idol be, help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee." The lines of William Cowper speak to us today, this time, this place. They come echoing down the centuries. They encourage us to be so sensitive to God's presence, so in tune with his will, so in harmony with his leading, that we will be ready to surrender anything in our lives that does not please him. They move us to examine our hearts, to discover if there's any idol there that we've placed on the throne of our lives except Jesus. They urge us to reconsider our lifestyle habits, our inner attitudes, our fractured relationships, to make things right with God and the people around us. The psalmist speaks the truth when he says to us, "Number your days." Like grains of sand, the time that you and I are on earth are slipping through our fingers. Like marbles in a jar, those marbles are going from the jar that we have not yet spent to the spent jar. Psalm 90, verse 17, sums up the passage, "Number your days well." What does it mean to number your days? What it does it mean to prioritize eternity? Psalm 90 verse 17, David says in the first part of Psalm 90, that our Lord is eternal from everlasting. In the middle part, he talks about the frailty of human life. But at the end he says in this magnificent passage in Psalm 90 verse 17, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of our hands upon us. Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." In the blazing light of eternity with the signs of the times running out, in the recognition of the brevity of life, is it your desire today to let the beauty of the Lord shine upon you? To be bathed in his grace, to be transformed by his love. Do you desire today to make the beauty of the Lord shining upon your life a priority in your life? As we pray together, in the quietness of this sanctuary, would you like to say to Jesus, "Jesus, let the beauty of your love shine upon me today." I want to reveal the beauty of your character. The only way to have more time for prayer is to have less time for something else. The only way to have more time for Bible study is to have less time for something else. The only way to have more time to witness is to have less time for something else. Every one of us have only one life to live. What are you spending your life for? What's significant to you? Let the beauty of the Lord shine upon you today as we pray.
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Mark Finley: Only one life will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last. Here's an eternal principle. Life is short, death is certain, eternity is forever. Every one of us have only one life to live. What are you spending your life for? What's significant to you? Let the beauty of the Lord shine upon you today as we pray. Father in heaven, we long for the beauty of the Lord to shine upon us. You've given us time to develop characters like Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. Thank you, Jesus, that you're such a wonderful Savior. That we can know the time that we live in, living on the verge of eternity, that we can cherish each moment and value it as you valued it. That we can redeem the time. If we've stumbled and fallen or frittered away our time or trifled, trifled our time. Oh, Lord, help us redeem that time. Teach us to number our days and make every day count for Christ. And may the beauty of the Lord, the beauty of the Lord shine upon us today as we sing, "What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord." In Christ's name, amen.