[0:00] I just want to give a special greeting to a son of this church, Charles Lewis, and his dear wife Hannah are here with their beautiful little boy, Stephan, and praise God for your presence.
[0:12] And man, he's so cute. Thank you for letting Sandy hold him. It's important. We're returning to our series in the Gospel of John, which we broke off about a year ago to deal with other issues.
[0:27] And we return now to the Jesus we need to know. And John chapter 7 is where we are. And we'll be looking at this wonderful long chapter in sections today, verses 1 through 13, Lord willing.
[0:46] Let's pray. Father, help us. We need to hear from you. We need your word because we need you.
[0:59] Father, your word reveals you. It reveals your will. It points. It brings us to you. We would have an encounter with you. We pray that our worship thus far has been pleasing in your sight and your presence has been with us to help us.
[1:15] Lord, we, Lord, we, you are everything. Jesus is everything. And we would surrender ourselves even more and more to him each and every day.
[1:28] His will be done. Your will be done, not ours. So, Father, open our hearts now. Open our eyes to behold and hear Jesus. Draw us close.
[1:39] Use your unworthy servant to proclaim him and him alone who is life, who is life eternal. We ask in Jesus' name.
[1:50] Amen. John chapter 7. After this, Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
[2:05] Now, the Jews' feast of booze was at hand. So, his brothers said to him, leave here and go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.
[2:16] For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If he do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers believed in him.
[2:30] Jesus said to them, my time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that his works are evil.
[2:42] You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come. After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
[2:54] But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but in private. The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, where is he?
[3:07] And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, he's a good man. Others said, no, he's leading the people astray. Yet for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him.
[3:24] Amen. That is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Thank you once again, praise team, for leading us in worship and song.
[3:37] How many times have you said, timing is everything? You might have a great idea.
[3:50] But if the timing is off, it can fall flat. Imagine a guy coming home with flowers and other gifts for his wife's birthday.
[4:01] He goes in awe aglow, yelling, surprise, baby, surprise. Happy birthday. He flowers, he has jewelry, he has, I mean, he is making a splash.
[4:17] He holds out his gifts and homage. But she's standing there with her arms folded like this, looking at him with the stank eye.
[4:30] Why? Why? He's operating in your life.
[4:50] And timeline and schedule. Do you have your watch on? John, chapter 7 and 10 through 10, make up the last year of Jesus' ministry here in John chapter 7.
[5:12] Two Passovers have already passed. At the next Passover, he will be crucified. He will be killed. Two feasts are going to be highlighted between chapter 7 and chapter 10.
[5:25] Remember how the last chapter ended.
[5:38] Chapter 6. Jesus has lost most of his disciples.
[5:52] Jesus has lost most of his disciples. And what some people would say is resignation and defeat. Jesus, at the end of chapter 6, offers the 12 disciples, his 12 closest disciples, the opportunity to leave as well.
[6:11] It's like he's saying, it's over. Do you want to go too? But they decline. They say, no, we're not leaving you. And Peter becomes the spokesman for the 12 in chapter 6, verses 68 to 69, to be on the screen.
[6:26] It says, Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.
[6:44] Is that your story? Is that your testimony? Tony, can you say with all your heart that where else can I go?
[6:58] Because you've met Jesus, because you've seen who he is and understood his love and grace, can you say, to whom shall I go?
[7:10] Where else can I find life? Where else can I find hope in this life and in the life to come? Would you feel lost without Jesus?
[7:30] So chapter 7 begins. Several months later from chapter 6. The feast of booze. A joyous celebration for the nation and the people of Israel, because these people knew how to party.
[7:47] But Jesus, but does Jesus want to join in the party? First thing I want you to notice, this feast is not his time.
[7:59] Verses 1 through 6, Jesus makes it clear, this is not his time. He's talking to his brothers. He's remaining in Galilee, the text says, refusing to travel in Judea, which is, again, now you're near Jerusalem.
[8:16] And the reason he won't go into that area, it says because the Jews are seeking to kill him. There's a contract out on Jesus' life. And you say, well, but can't they find him where he is?
[8:31] Well, see, in that day, Galilee and Judea were under separate jurisdictions. And what people would do if they got in trouble in one area, they'd go to the other to escape.
[8:44] It was like there was no extradition law or something. A good place to hide out. And so, Jesus, it seems, here is, in one sense, hiding out.
[8:56] Refusing to go into a place where he knows these men want to kill him. But according to verses 6 and 8, this was not his time.
[9:08] That's the issue, it seems. Timing. We know the gospel. We know that Jesus was born to die. We know that the cross was his mission, his passion, right?
[9:21] But he was working on his own divine timetable. He wasn't working on our timetable or their timetable. Jesus had his own timetable because timing is everything.
[9:35] God's enemies do not dictate time and certainly not Christ's time. God's enemies do not dictate time and they're not going to die. The feast of booze, one of the most important Jewish festivals of the year.
[9:47] It occurred in October, so it's coming up. It was for seven or eight days. It was associated with the ingathering of the harvest, that God is king of the harvest.
[10:00] And so, during the festival, the people gave great thanks to God for rain which nourished the harvest. It was their thanksgiving. But they also looked forward to the coming time, the coming day, when God, as the prophet Joel said, when God would pour out his spirit upon all flesh and the kingdom of God would be ushered in.
[10:22] They didn't know that Jesus was the one who was going to bring this about. They came from all over the Roman Empire to have this time. The men, in particular, would live in booths made of branches and leaves constructed on rooftops or elsewhere.
[10:40] The booths were to commemorate God's faithfulness to his people when they had lived in booths in the wilderness. Remember, the children of Israel traveling into the promised land.
[10:53] A special feature which will be highlighted was water drawing and lamp lighting. And Jesus is going to make much of that imagery later on in the chapter.
[11:06] Timing is always important to God. If you were to look back, even in the book of Ecclesiastes, there's this wonderful section there that talks about time, verses 1 through 8.
[11:21] Here it is. For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. What are those matters? A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant.
[11:32] A time to pluck up what is planted. Harvest. A time to kill. A time to heal. A time to break down. A time to build up. A time to weep.
[11:42] A time to laugh. A time to mourn. And a time to dance. A time to cast away stones. A time to gather stones together. A time to embrace. And a time to refrain from embracing.
[11:55] A time to seek. And a time to lose. A time to keep. And a time to cast away. A time to tear. And a time to sow. A time to keep silent.
[12:08] And a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. a time for war and a time for peace. God is punctual.
[12:23] Timing is everything to him because he is the ultimate time Lord. Somebody caught that. And so Jesus is functioning on a certain schedule.
[12:37] The devil, remember, was inspiring these religious leaders to kill Jesus, but Jesus circumvents their plots. The devil will always push you to go off of God's timetable, just so you know.
[12:51] But they didn't understand about the cross. The devil is, if they understood about the cross, they wouldn't have been trying to kill Jesus. The last place they would have wanted Jesus to go would have been the cross, but devil is not omniscient.
[13:04] He doesn't know everything. He doesn't know God's plans except what God has revealed. So he's trying to bump off Jesus, but Jesus is functioning on a certain time.
[13:18] He will not die until he's ready. Oh, Jesus. Listen, I think it's striking that Jesus didn't do anything supernatural here.
[13:35] He simply behaved wisely. Prudently. If I don't want to die now, don't go to Judea right now. That's a word for us, saints.
[13:47] So many times we want God to reveal his will to us or to protect us when all he's calling us to do is use wisdom in the situation. If you don't want to die, don't go there.
[14:03] No miracle. Just good Bible sense. Write that down. No charge for that. Ask yourself, is this the right thing to do according to what I know of the word and is it the best time to do it?
[14:24] Because a good idea done at the wrong time becomes a bad idea. Second thing I want you to notice here. Unbelief cannot accept Jesus' timing or his methods.
[14:37] His brothers, verses three through five, his brothers, his own ladies and gentlemen and brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, his own siblings did not believe in him. Mary, his mother did.
[14:49] We believe that because we see how his birth comes about. She knew something was up, that God was at work, but not, and Joseph of course, but not the kids.
[15:02] His own siblings. It seems he might have had, I think, three brothers and a sister. I mean, he lost his disciples and his family isn't with him.
[15:15] I think this could have been one of the most lonely moments for our Lord Jesus. When your family doesn't believe in you. It cuts you to the heart.
[15:29] Our Lord Jesus, are you watching this? He had family drama. His brothers were thinking on a worldly level.
[15:42] If you want to be known, if you want to be popular, you go to the big city and do great things at the big city. And you get it online. And you do selfies.
[15:53] And you videotape yourself. You get your brand out there. You know what I'm saying? Get the GoPro on. This is what I'm doing. You want to make a splash. That's what you do. Go to the big city.
[16:08] People will follow you. In other words, they're telling him, show your glory, Jesus. If you got it, flaunt it, baby. Take down the establishment.
[16:21] What a temptation. Are you listening? Show your glory before the cross. Show your glory without the cross.
[16:35] Because Jesus will show his glory, but not the way they wanted or thought. His glory would be seen in his teaching and ultimately in his death on the cross and of course his resurrection.
[16:52] Their advice to me seems insincere because the text says they didn't believe in him. So what's this about? What's this about?
[17:04] They didn't believe in what his works meant. Why are you hiding out here in Galilee? Are you afraid you can't stand up to the big time and the scrutiny?
[17:19] Was this sarcasm? You know, you want to get more disciples, right? Go get, you just lost a bunch. Get them back. Get to the big city, Jesus.
[17:31] Jesus, they would see his reticence to go as bad marketing and even fear because they have no clue about what he's come to do.
[17:45] No clue. Can I offer something, a little bit of encouragement to parents just for a minute? If Jesus' siblings grew up with him and still did not believe in him, don't beat yourselves up.
[18:03] Come on, moms and dads. Don't beat yourself up. The enemy wants to just crush you about your children's decisions. If you have lived a Christian life and taught your children the Bible, the Scriptures, and modeled for them, not perfectly, you've screwed up, yes, you have to own that, but listen, if you've done your best before the Lord and you've been faithful and your children make lifestyle choices of non-faith, don't let it crush you.
[18:44] Are you greater than Jesus? He lives. They had the ultimate one right there in the family. They watched him grow up.
[18:55] They watched him become a man. We think it's about 30 years old here. They watched him become a young man, watched him take his place in synagogue, watched him take up the Torah, the Word of God.
[19:05] They watched him all their lives and yet their hearts were hard. You're not greater than Jesus, but here's the thing.
[19:18] Grace is still available for them. As long as there is life, there is time. Keep praying. Don't compromise the truth.
[19:29] Love them, but don't compromise the truth in Jesus. Love them and pray for them. Let God's timing take over. Amen? Okay, no charge for that one either.
[19:40] I'm going broke here. Let me ask you a question now. Have you ever felt that Jesus has let you down because he didn't come through for you at the time you thought he should?
[19:52] Because you had a time schedule here. Why didn't he do something before you got fired or before you got sick? I'm sure Joseph, you remember Joseph in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis?
[20:05] I'm sure Joseph had to wonder why God wasn't getting him out of slavery in jail sooner. Why I got to go through all this? I'm in jail.
[20:16] I don't belong. I didn't do nothing to get in jail. I didn't do nothing to get thrown into slavery. God, you said you're with me. You gave me visions and dreams. Come on now.
[20:27] It's time. I've suffered enough. Because timing is everything. Now here's where your knowledge of Jesus and faith becomes supremely important.
[20:41] You have to say, does he love me? And you have to say, is he good? Now see, now you only know that if you look back at the cross. That's where you really know he's good and he loves you.
[20:52] When you recognize that you in your trespasses and sins were worthy of death, yet one who is good and one who loves you rescued you. Woo!
[21:04] You gotta keep going back. Then you can think about the blessings along the way. God's been good. You're experiencing tough times right now, but that don't mean God ain't been good to you.
[21:15] Look back. Just take a moment. Get sane for a second. Get alone with God. Pull out your journal and start counting your blessings. We always count, we always count what we've lost and we keep forgetting to count what we've been given and what we can't lose.
[21:35] Amen. Yeah. Come on. We can take it. We can take it. Come on. Listen, isn't he worthy of your trust?
[21:47] His brothers thought they knew him, but they really didn't. That's why they couldn't trust his judgment. faith says, like the old folks used to always say, he may not come when you want him.
[22:01] All right. All right. That's right. Yes. All right. How did Joseph's story end? Remember I mentioned Joseph? Jail, slavery.
[22:12] How did the story end? He was given understanding later. He says to his brothers in Genesis 50 verse 20, he says to his brothers, as for you, now he didn't downplay it, you meant evil against me.
[22:27] Oh, they needed to hear that. You have to be, you just, it's okay to be confronted about your sin. They needed to hear that. But he didn't stay there.
[22:38] But God, but God meant it for good. So, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.
[22:49] they meant to do evil to him. I mean, they meant to do evil. And God said, I got this. And my time, I'm going to work this out.
[23:04] So, then think about this. So, I've been saying it, Jesus' timing is not our timing. I'm just, I mean, let's be real. His timing is not your timing.
[23:16] He says, it's not time for me to go up to the feast in Jerusalem. Any time is good for you, but not for me. It's not time for me to go yet. End the story.
[23:27] Goodbye. Talk to the hand. I don't think he's referring to the cross literally here. Other times, when he said, my time has not yet come, he said it to his mother Mary.
[23:40] He meant the cross. It seems he's just focusing right here on the timing of going up to the feast. Here's the thing.
[23:51] If Jesus was not going to Jerusalem to go to the cross and he knew they were trying to kill him, why go at all? I mean, really?
[24:02] Why go at all then? Here's why he went. He went to keep the law in your place. The law required that all men present themselves to the feast.
[24:18] Jesus goes to the feast to keep the law. The law that you and I have broken. Forget the Ten Commandments. We broke everything. But just stay with the Ten if you want.
[24:31] We broke them all. We have been unfaithful. We have not loved the Lord our God. Jesus gave the summary. We have not loved the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We have not.
[24:41] We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. We have loved ourselves. We have loved ourselves more than God. We have loved ourselves more than our neighbor.
[24:52] We've broken both tables of the law. That's the summary of all Ten Commandments. Love God, love neighbor. And we haven't. Jesus, so therefore, we are all lawbreakers.
[25:03] Jesus, the only law keeper, goes to the feast, risk, as it were, risking death at an early stage. But he knew he was in control. We would look at it, he's risking.
[25:14] He knew what he was doing. He goes up to the feast to keep the law, to present himself before God on behalf of his people, on behalf of all those who would, all those lawbreakers who would believe in him and trust in him and say, no Lord, I am a lawbreaker, but I'm not here depending upon my goodness.
[25:35] I'm here before you, and I'm pointing to my lawyer. Yes. Yes. My lawyer will speak for me. Yes. Jesus is the advocate in the law court.
[25:46] He stands before God. He says, yes, yes, next case. Oliver, Oliver Tremue, stand forward. You are guilty, sir.
[25:57] You have broken all of the law. Then the lawyer steps up. Your Honor, speaking for Mr. Tremue, I paid his price. Amen. Amen.
[26:07] Amen. Speaking for Mr. Tremue, I am giving him my record, my perfect record. I kept the law. I went to the feast. He didn't go to the feast, but I went to the feast.
[26:20] I've kept everything. I've done everything right. He's done everything wrong, but he has my record, Your Honor. Your Honor, Exhibit A. Yes. My record. And the judge looks at the, the Father of Heaven.
[26:33] Yes. The judge of the court. Case dismissed. Brother Tremue, you are free to go.
[26:44] You are, hallelujah, you are righteous, Brother Tremue. Forever. That's why he goes to the feast. So that you and I can be righteous.
[26:55] Yes. Yes. I'm almost done. A few minutes left. One more thing I want you to notice. Well, maybe two. We'll see.
[27:07] Jesus, Jesus divides people because of his timing. In verses 11 and 13, he's here. The Jews are looking for him.
[27:17] Where is he? And then look at, the people are monitoring about him. Some say he's a good man. Others say, no, he's leading the people astray. Look at verse 13. For fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly about him.
[27:32] No one who hears about Jesus can stay neutral. The Jewish leaders expected him to be at the feast. They knew as a good Jew, he had to come.
[27:45] They were setting a trap. Much like Daniel. Remember in the Old Testament, Daniel, they couldn't, they couldn't get anything on Daniel because he was walking in righteousness. They said the only way we can get him is based upon his religion.
[28:00] They're doing the same thing here with Jesus. They're trying to trap him based upon his religious faith in the living God. He's going to be here. All right.
[28:12] Mufasa, Jedediah, y'all lay in wait. Get the knives out. We're going to take him. Maybe we're going to take him on the road because once he gets to the city, the people are going to protect him.
[28:27] So on the road, they were probably setting ambushes for him, waiting, hoping to catch him in the caravan, maybe by himself. Or with those 12 wimps of his. But notice there, an argument breaks out in the group.
[28:45] Sort of an argument. There's muttering. Some people say he's a good man. Some people say he leads people astray. They're muttering in various groups. Not so much open debate. He hasn't done what they expected him to do.
[28:59] Show up. And so now there's all kinds of speculation about him. Some see his good works. They saw his good works. They heard about his good works. They know he's a good man.
[29:12] The others decide, I don't believe it. But here's the thing. To see Jesus as merely a good man is not enough. It's not true faith.
[29:25] Now it's a good start, but it's not the end game. The crowd here is still not walking in faith if all they see is Jesus is a good man.
[29:36] You see the same thing in Luke chapter 18, 18 and 19, where a young ruler asks Jesus, listen to how he flatters him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[29:48] This guy was rich, y'all. Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Was Jesus denying his goodness?
[30:00] No. No. But like so many people, the rich man thought he could do something to enter the kingdom of God. He thought he had to do something to get God to like him, to get God to blessing, to get God to give him heaven.
[30:17] He was trying to work his way into heaven and Jesus is cutting him down. You cannot work your way into heaven. By the works of the law, no flesh will be saved.
[30:29] You can't do it. You're not good enough. You'll never be good enough. Listen, Jesus, what you need to do is follow him to follow him, the mercy of the one who is good. And Jesus says, is telling him, you know God's the only one that's good.
[30:43] Do you know who I am? Do you really know who I am? Only God's good, son. Will you trust in the goodness of Jesus?
[30:53] Jesus. He's not just a good man. He's a good God. The son of God. God in human flesh.
[31:05] More than a prophet. More than a good teacher. More than a revolutionary. Until you see him as he truly is, you're not a disciple yet. Worse, some people said he was a deceiver.
[31:19] The other group, that's even worse. They called him a devil, basically. They saw him as a deceiver. Amazing.
[31:30] The one who healed. The one who loved. The one who taught the people. The one who touched the lepers and made them better. The one who loved on people who were hardcore, caught in all kinds of stuff that was destroying their lives.
[31:47] Tax collectors, prostitutes, others. He loved them. He loved them little people. He loved them everybody. And yet, these folks still saw him as a deceiver.
[31:57] What does that say? What does that say about us? That we could look at what Jesus is doing and still turn away.
[32:11] says we're dead. We're dead in our sins. We're dead in our souls. And without the grace of God, without his kindness, we can't live.
[32:25] But he is kind. It's his kindness that leads us to repentance. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Jesus couldn't make everybody happy.
[32:43] Jesus couldn't make anybody, everybody happy. And neither can you. Amen. Amen. Your good at times will be even evil spoken of.
[32:57] That's right. That's right. Not right. But you look like Jesus if you really did good in his name. You look like Jesus. And sometimes, yes, people will misunderstand.
[33:15] Sometimes you'll do it intentionally. Sometimes you just didn't get it. You weren't clear enough. They just didn't understand whatever happens. It's not right. I know. I hear you. But Jesus understands that.
[33:28] the question we should ask ourselves, first of all, is if we feel like we're being beat up for doing good, well, ask yourself, did I fall short of God's word?
[33:41] If you did, then it's okay. Repent. Say, hey, I blew it. I'm sorry. I messed up. You don't lose anything for that. You're accepted by God in Christ.
[33:56] Remember, I have to, you're accepted by God in Christ and he won't turn his back on you because you failed. People might, but he won't. Rest in his love and acceptance and admit you blew it.
[34:11] But if the expectations were false or unrealistic, don't let them get you down there either. You can't live for the acceptance of people. David prayed, don't let me fall into the hands of man.
[34:25] Because people are not gracious. You keep on going.
[34:37] In Jesus' name, keep on going. Because you are seeking, you fear him. You're walking in the fear of the Lord, not in the fear of people.
[34:48] They don't have a heaven to put you in or a hell to condemn you. You keep walking with Jesus. And pray they come around. Why?
[35:01] Notice this. They were muttering about Jesus. No one, the ones who thought he was a good guy never came out and said it out loud. Why? Because they were afraid. The last verse, 13, they were afraid.
[35:13] They were afraid. That's how I know they probably weren't true believers. Some of them were, because it happens to true believers, okay? But fear kept their mouths shut.
[35:26] Fear kept them from saying out loud, Jesus is an okay guy. We know better. We know Jesus is Lord. Sovereign ruler of the heavens and the earth.
[35:39] That his kingdom is over all kingdoms. That he's the only wise potentate. That he is the czar of the universe. Presidente of all creation.
[35:50] We know this about him. And yet, out of fear, we too sometimes keep our mouths shut. To speak of him might upset the status quo.
[36:05] When you speak the words of justice based upon the word of God in the name of Jesus, those who want to do injustice, might come after you. And, we look just like our Savior.
[36:28] To speak of Jesus is always dangerous to the forces of darkness. To speak of Jesus can be dangerous for his people at any time. Do you say to yourself, this isn't the time.
[36:45] Not time yet. Sometimes we do friendship evangelism so long, that all we are is friends. We never get to the evangelism part. It's good to be friends with people.
[37:00] But they need to hear the truth. Don't let fear, don't let fear, don't let fear close your mouth. Who's the ultimate time Lord here?
[37:12] Jesus. He will show you the time. And when he shows you the time, if you open your mouth, he'll give you words, and he'll handle, let him handle the fallout.
[37:27] He's got the fallout. He's got it. Trust him. He's got it. But I bet you, this week coming, see I'm praying for you right now, he's going to give you an opportunity to speak of him.
[37:37] to somebody who needs to hear some good news. Don't be afraid. It's his timing.
[37:49] And he's with you. Well, let's be honest, we all struggle with God's timing. We all struggle with God's timing.
[38:01] Who do you identify with? In this passage, are you the brothers? Do you identify with the brothers? Now is the time, Jesus. Now is the time.
[38:13] Is that you? Do you identify with Jesus? Waiting for God's timing. Let's go back. Do you identify with the Israelites?
[38:25] When God said, go into the promised land, they said, that's not the time. Those people are big. It's not the time. When maybe when they die off or get shorter, then we'll go in.
[38:37] It's not the time. It's amazing. You know, God says go, we say no. God says stay, we say go, we go. We just, we... It's knowing Jesus and resting in Jesus.
[38:53] That gives you peace. So you can wait patiently on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. I say again, wait on the Lord.
[39:04] Timing. I don't know how many times I've gotten out of God's timing and messed stuff up. It's okay. But grace, His grace keeps me going, picks me up, says, okay, let's try this again.
[39:16] He won't kick you out because you got the timing wrong. He's, but recognize He is Lord of time. And it may be, listen, I'm gonna give you a couple, just real quick, just something that just, let this sink in your soul for a minute.
[39:29] Jesus said in His earthly life, He did not know the time of His return, His second coming. He said He didn't know. See, He was waiting patiently for the, in His humanity, He did not know.
[39:43] He knows now in glory, but in His humanity, He did not know. But listen, when He was brought to be a sin, remember we looked at Acts chapter 1 and 2? Listen, the disciples said, when are you coming back?
[39:55] When are you gonna make us the king of the, you know, the leaders of the kingdoms? When are you gonna reveal yourself? He said this, let this sink in your heart. It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed in His own authority.
[40:12] Let that, just let that sink in your heart for a minute. He's talking about His second coming, but that's a principle right there. Isn't that, isn't it, don't you see the Jew? It's not for you to know. What He wants us to know, He'll tell us, listen, is take some pressure off.
[40:28] When should I go? When should I do? Take some pressure off. He may not tell you all the time, but here's another one for you. That was Acts 1-7. Here's the one I want you to sink down deep.
[40:41] Psalm 31, 14 and 15. I trust in you, O Lord. I say you are my God. Listen, my times are in your hand.
[40:54] Rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors. Can you say that with me? My times, come on, my times are in your hands.
[41:10] Let it sink. Let it sink in. And He doesn't fumble. He doesn't drop the ball. And He won't drop you.
[41:21] Jesus came in the fullness of time, according to Galatians, born under the law, died for you, for you, at just the right time.
[41:37] He's not going to drop you now. Your times are in His hands. Father, O Lord, may we rest in knowing this.
[41:51] Your timing is not our timing, but Your timing is best. Help us to follow You. Help us to hear Your voice so that, Lord, we will know when the timing is right, for decisions we must make, for actions we must take.
[42:07] Help us to hear Your voice and walk closely with Your Son, trusting in Him alone, for He is the time, Lord, and we, we who are time-bound, but yet destined for eternity.
[42:22] We must trust in Him. Teach us Your ways. In Christ's name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[42:32] Amen. Amen. Amen.
[42:43] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.