Giving
Welcome to Refinery Life Australia.
Today we continue our series titled The Doctrine of God.
Today we are talking about The Urgency of God.
Prayer
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Text
John 9:4 AMP
4 We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.
Scripture Reading
John 9:1-12 AMP
Healing the Man Born Blind
1 While He was passing by, He noticed a man [who had been] blind from birth.
2 His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi (Teacher), who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed and illustrated in him.
4 We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world [giving guidance through My word and works].”
6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground and made mud with His saliva, and He spread the mud [like an ointment] on the man’s eyes.
7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.
8 So the neighbors, and those who used to know him as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?”
9 Some said, “It is he.” Still others said, “No, but he looks like him.” But he kept saying, “I am the man.”
10 So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He replied, “The Man called Jesus made mud and smeared it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received my sight!”
12 They asked him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”
Introduction
How does God regard time?
Although God is eternal, He has a program of redemption for mortal beings, who are “of few days, and full of trouble.”
God’s commands and commissions surging with urgency.
His business requires haste.
Jesus is our example, so compelling was His task, so urgent was He in spirit that He crowded into three and a half years work what could have graced a century.
When we look at this urgency, lets look at two facts and then based on these facts, consider two questions.
- Two facts.
First, we are slow to do God’s work.
In almost every realm an impelling sense of urgency grips us.
“Hurry! Hurry!” Is the watchword of the day.
We must eat faster, learn faster, travel faster, and sell faster.
This sense of urgency has touched every aspect of life, except the program of the church.
How leisurely is our pace.
No sense of urgency weighs on our minds concerning God’s work.
In the world, our theme is rush, rush, rush.
“Got to make a living, you know.”
But when it comes to serving God, we say, “We’ll get to that one of these days. There’s no hurry, we still have plenty of time.”
Second, God is urgent.
This fact is shown in bold contrast against the dark shadow of the first fact.
Most people think of God as having no concern with the passage of time.
When they read Peter’s statement in 2 Peter 3:8, “Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day.”
They emphasis the thousand years in God’s sight equalling one day.
Seldom do people focus attention on the statement the other way around.
Anyone who has watched through a long night at the bedside of a dying loved one will understand how a few hours can seem like an eternity.
So it must be with God as He watches the dying multitudes, whom He loves and for whom Christ died, going to eternal damnation.
Our delay in sharing the gospel must weigh heavily on His heart.
God’s love demands haste.
The New Testament is an urgent book.
It is filled with phrases like, Matthew 28:7, “go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead”, Acts 12:7, Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared [beside him] and a light shone in the cell. The angel struck Peter’s side and awakened him, saying, “Get up quickly!” And the chains fell off his hands.
Revelation 22:20, He who testifies and affirms these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The only reason Jesus ever asked His disciples to slow down was that they might be filled with the Holy Spirit in Luke 24:49, “Listen carefully: I am sending the Promise of My Father [the Holy Spirit] upon you; but you are to remain in the city [of Jerusalem] until you are clothed (fully equipped) with power from on high.”
2. Two questions that arise from these two facts.
First, why are we so slow? There are several reasons.
We are slow because we do not realise how important God’s work is.
We think primarily of our own earthly wealth and material obligations.
We let God’s business get along the best it can.
People often want God to hurry, especially when His presence would banish their own sorrow and suffering.
The rest of the time they assume that God will be content to wait until they have made their fortune, until every earthly obligation has been met, until a more convenient day arrives.
We are slow because we cannot discern unerring and unseen operation of spiritual laws and forces.
God world silently and unseen, but He works!
Let every Christian remember that for those who are not Christians, time is running out.
Witnessing to them is urgent.
Sometimes we just need to make the leap and seize the moment.
The pendulum of God’s clock is swinging, no one knows the day or hour of our Lord’s return.
We are slow because we do not know the urgency of God.
The heartbeat of God sets the tempo, the main issue of life is what He is concerned about.
“Hurry! Hurry! He would say, “For those I love die so fast.”
How urgent is our God.
Second, what results from our lack of urgency concerning God’s work?
By our lack of urgency, we bring pain to the heart of God.
God has furnished all things needed for our salvation.
Jesus bore this out when on the cross He cried “It is finished.”
God’s plan of salvation is complete.
Atonement has been made.
How it must grieve His heart when we are so slow to show others His way.
By our lack of urgency, we let irreclaimable opportunities to reap God’s harvest fall to the ground.
Our text tells us when we are to work for Him, “while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.”
The opportunity passes.
One of God’s angels in Revelation 14:15 cried,
15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to Him who was sitting upon the cloud, “Put in Your sickle and reap [at once], for the hour to reap [in judgment] has arrived, because the earth’s harvest is fully ripened.”
By our lack of urgency, we do so little to win a lost world to Christ.
Although much is being done in all types of missions, the surface has hardly been scratched.
Conclusion.
There are two prayers we should all pray.
First, “God give us a vision of yourself, of a God who is in a hurry. Give us a vision of Your work, its importance, its urgency.
And give us a vision of ourselves, how slow and carelessly lazy we are.”
Second, “God, help us realise that the King’s business requires haste. Show us how great Your program is, how urgent Your cause.
Urge us on, Lord, that we may be in a hurry to do Your work.
Amen.”
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
Giving
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer.
Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at www.refinerylife.org
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