The Time of Your Life | Part 1

Could our difficulties be a gift from God?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. The worst thing that could happen to us would be not to have any difficulties. We'd never know our need of the Lord.

Isn't that right? So God every day says, I'm going to give you sufficient evil, sufficient difficulty. But you see, God gives us enough difficulty to bring us to Him. But then God gives us enough grace to meet those difficulties every day.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring the powerful teaching of beloved pastor and author Adrian Rogers. You know, if we're not careful, we may spend the prime time of our lives chasing the wrong goals. This is why we have to learn how to use and maximize our time for God's glory. How can we prioritize what God is calling us to do with our time?

What opportunities have we been given with each passing day? If you have your Bible, turn to Ephesians chapter five. We'll be looking at verse 14 as Adrian Rogers begins this insightful message, the time of your life. Take God's word, please. And turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter five.

Ephesians chapter five, and I want to begin reading in verse 14 in just a moment. One of the most memorable bowl games took place some years ago. It was the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and the University of California was playing Georgia Tech.

And it was quite a game because both of these schools at that time were undefeated. And it was late in the second quarter, and Tech had the ball, and they were pressing hard on the 33-yard line when a man named Thomason was hit, and the center for the University of California scooped up the ball, spun around, and began to run with it. The crowd started to cheer, and he took this fumble and headed toward the goal. His eyes were watching peripheral vision. He's moving to the right and the left. His knees are up high.

His legs spread apart. He's running brilliantly. But with one problem, he's headed toward the wrong goal. He has somehow gotten confused and spun around. He is literally headed for the wrong goal with this scooped-up fumble. Now, the incredible thing is his own teammates are trying to tackle him, and the opposition is running interference for him. And finally, down on the one-yard line, after running almost 67 yards in the wrong way, Roy Regals is tackled by Benny Lon, one of his own teammates, on the one-yard line. Can you imagine the shame, the humiliation, as he walks back toward the bench? The jeers, the catcalls, the hooting for Roy Regals. They went into the half, and the coach put his arm on the shoulder of Roy Regals and spoke to him words of admonition and encouragement.

And he came out the second half and played brilliantly. And I tell that story because not only is it one of the great epochs in football history, but it's such a parable of so many of us who, when we think we're doing so good, may be doing well, except for this one thing, we're headed toward the wrong goal. I mean, you're doing fine in your business and you're doing fine in your health and you're doing fine in your relationships, but the problem is you've lost sight of the right goal, and it seems that Satan himself is leading interference for you. I want to do the same thing for you today that Benny Lon did for Roy Regals.

I want to tackle you today if I can. I want to stop you if I can, God helping me, and to help you to find God's goal for your life and to live life to its fullest and to be all that you can be. Now look if you will here in verse 13. The Bible says, but all things are reproved and made manifest by the light. And whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

Wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time. Now if that phrase is not underscored in your Bible, I suggest you may do so. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is, and be not drunk with wine when is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Now in the Bible there are two words that are translated time.

Of course we see one of these words right here in verse 16, redeeming the time. One of the words for time is the word kronos. It's the word we get chronology from. That's not the word that is used here. Kronos just simply means the passing of time like so many hours and so many minutes and so many seconds and some people call their watches a chronometer. That is, it just keeps count of time as it passes segments of time.

Kronos. But that's not the word that is used here. The word that is used here is keros, which means time but it means like seasons of time. It literally means opportunity. Let me show you how that is used in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10. The Bible says as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good to all men. Now the word that is translated in Galatians 6, 10 opportunity is the same word that is translated here in chapter 5 verse 16 as time. So when the Bible says redeeming the time here in verse 16, it speaks of the days, the hours and the minutes but more than that. It really speaks of the opportunities that we have because you see, you need to see time not just as something that is passing but you need to see time as an incredible opportunity. And when you're redeeming time, what you're really redeeming is opportunity. So the Bible says the days are evil but we are to be buying up the opportunities. What he's trying to tell us is how to live wise ways for evil days.

The days are evil. So therefore take advantage of every opportunity that God has given us. And so I want to talk to you today about the time of your life. If you've been going toward the wrong goal or if you've been sitting on the sidelines, either one, I want to show you from God's Word how to take time and use time and maximize your time for God's glory. Now there are three or four things I want you to notice with me and first of all, time is a provided opportunity.

Now what I mean by that is this. Look if you will in verse 14, wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest. Now we need to jolt some people awake. There is a day of opportunity that you dare not let pass by. We need to awaken from our stupor.

Some of us have been chloroformed by these evil days and somehow we need to be jolted awake. God has provided for you an opportunity. You see it is God who is the Creator of time. God's great gift to you, number one is Jesus and number two is time. Number one is Jesus. Number two is time. God has given you time to work, time to serve, time to love, time to laugh, time to labor.

But like any gift, how you use it is really up to you. And we need to see every day this day and every day as a gift from God. Has it ever occurred to you that for you to cease living, God would not have to take your life? All God would have to do is stop giving you your life.

You see what I'm saying? You see the Bible says in Lamentations chapter 3 verse 22, it is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed because his compassion fails not. They are new every morning. Every day is a gift from God. Time is something that God gave you today and God will give you tomorrow.

It's not something that you own. God is the Creator, the possessor of time and so therefore I am a steward of the time that God has given me and one day I will have to answer to God for what I did with this day and every day that God has given me. Twenty-four hours in the day, 1440 minutes in the day, 86,000 seconds in the day and every one of them is a precious gift from God. I don't know who first wrote these words but they're meaningful to me.

I've heard them since I was a teenager. I have only just a minute, only 60 seconds in it, didn't seek it, didn't choose it, forced upon me. I can't refuse it but it's up to me just how I use it.

I must suffer if I lose it, give account if I abuse it, just a tiny little minute but eternity is in it. My dear friend, God has given us time. Don't go around saying, well, thus and such a person has more time than I have.

That's wrong. We all have the same amount of time. Everybody has 24 hours in the day. The difference between people is not that some people have more time than other people.

The difference in people is how people use the time that God has given them. So I want you to see this time as a provided opportunity, something that God has given you and something that God wants you to awaken to. But secondly, I want you to see this time not only as a provided opportunity but a present opportunity, something that is here right now.

Notice in verse 15, see them that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Now he speaks here of days. This is the day that the Lord hath made I will rejoice and be glad in it. There are two days that can steal the joy from today. There are two days that can steal the productivity from today. One is yesterday and the other is tomorrow.

Now we have a lot of folks who live in yesterday. The Bible warns us against that. The apostle Paul said in Philippians chapter 3 beginning in verse 13, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. That is, I don't think I have arrived. I don't think I'm already perfect but this one thing I do. Now Paul wasn't a man of many ambitions. He narrowed everything to one focus.

This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He said, I forget the past. Let me tell you some of the things that the apostle Paul therefore had to forget. He had to forget past guilt.

The apostle Paul was one who was guilty along with others for the stoning of St. Stephen. He said of himself, I am the chiefest of sinners. But he buried that guilt in the grave of God's forgetfulness.

Maybe there's somebody here today. You've done something so terrible, so horrible, your face would turn red if people in this congregation knew what happened. My dear friend, I want to tell you that the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses you from that if you'll confess it. And don't be haunted by the ghost of guilt. Paul said, I forget those things which are behind, past guilt, past glory. I mean, not only was this man guilty as a sinner, but as a saint, he was the greatest Christian I suppose ever lived, the greatest missionary, the greatest church planter.

But Paul didn't sit around and rest on his laurels. Past grief, he suffered as few men suffered. You read the account of Paul's suffering, but he just said that's our light affliction. He said the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.

He said, I forget that. And past grudges. I mean, there were many people who did Paul wrong. Paul was abused, lied on, mistreated, cheated, overlooked. But Paul refused to feed a fever and nurse a grudge. And Paul said, I take my past guilt, I take my past glory, I take my past grief, I take my past grudges, and I forget those things which are behind. Now I want to suggest as we face a new year that you do exactly the same thing.

You just bundle all of those things up and you just forget them. Paul said, I forget those things which are behind. One thing that can take the joy out of today is yesterday as you carry along the load from yesterday.

Something else that can take the joy out of today is tomorrow. You know, there was a psychologist whose name was William Marston. And he surveyed 3,000 people and asked them what they were living for. And out of that survey of 3,000 persons, an incredible thing, he found that 94% of the 3,000 people that he surveyed were enduring today in order to get to tomorrow.

94% of them. Today was not the day that they were living. They were only anticipating tomorrow. They were waiting for tomorrow.

Well, the problem with that is, my dear friend, is that tomorrow never comes. We're always looking forward to what's going to happen. We want friends. And so we look forward to having friends. And when we get friends, we weep when we lose friends, but many times we fail to enjoy the friends while we have them. Women are strange creatures, aren't they? They look forward 20 years to getting married and having children.

And after the children are grown and out of the house, they spend 20 years looking back at the time when they used to have the children, but they can't stand them for the 20 years they haven't. Friend, listen, enjoy. Enjoy what God has given you right now. Some people are waiting for tomorrow and some people are worrying about tomorrow.

Let me give you some advice, not advice, more than advice. Oh, wonderful truth from the lips of the very Son of God. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 34, Jesus said, Take no thought therefore for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. And then Jesus said something very interesting. He said, Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Don't worry about tomorrow. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Now think with me, what did He mean by that? Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. That is that God in the crucible of His wisdom and in the ecology of His grace has ordered some trouble for you today and every day of your life. The Bible calls it evil. It doesn't mean sin. It's like an evil smell.

It means something bad. All of us have difficulties. We all need difficulties. We have been blessed with difficulties. God gives us enough difficulties to cause us to come to Him. The worst thing that could happen to us would be not to have any difficulties. We'd never know our need of the Lord.

Isn't that right? So God every day says, I'm going to give you sufficient evil, sufficient difficulty. But you see God gives us enough difficulty to bring us to Him. But then God gives us enough grace to meet those difficulties every day.

Don't worry about tomorrow. Sufficient unto the day, sufficient what? Sufficient grace for what? For the evil. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

So there's that perfect balance. God gives you a certain amount of difficulty today and God gives you a certain amount of grace today. God brings you, gives you enough difficulty to draw you to Him and then God gives you enough grace to live this day as you are. Now what happens when you worry? Well when you worry you reach out into tomorrow and you take tomorrow's difficulty and bring it into today. Well God didn't give you grace for tomorrow's difficulty. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. And so God says in His word, as your days are so shall your strength be, Deuteronomy chapter 33 and verse 25, as your days are so shall your strength be. Well what happens is this, that when you reach into tomorrow and you bring tomorrow's troubles real or imaginary and you cram them into today, you overload the circuit.

I mean you upset God's divine ecology. You see worry doesn't take the sorrow out of tomorrow, it takes the strength out of today. And then when you meet tomorrow, you meet tomorrow out of breath because you're already overloaded from today and you already are run down when you meet tomorrow. Worry therefore does not make us ready for the future, it really makes us unready. And we've been fighting tomorrow's battles today and therefore we meet tomorrow out of breath. Somebody put it well this way when they said that worry pulls tomorrow's clouds over today's sunshine.

And so true that is. You see, listen, time is a provided opportunity. Time is a present opportunity. Yesterday that's just a canceled check. Tomorrow that's just a promissory note. Today is all of the cash that you have.

You'd better learn how to spend it wisely. Thousands of years ago a wise man said this, look well to this one day for it and it alone is life. Are you listening? Yesterday is only a dream and tomorrow is but a vision. Yet each day lived well makes yesterday a dream of happiness and tomorrow a vision of hope.

That's great folks. Listen, listen, yesterday is but a dream. Tomorrow is but a vision. Life is today. And the Bible says in verse 15, see then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time.

Now that brings me to a third thing I want to say. Not only is time a provided opportunity and not only is time a present opportunity, but oh my dear friend it is a precious, precious, precious opportunity. Look again. He says here that we are to redeem the opportunity. Redeeming, do you see it? Redeeming the time. What do you do when you redeem something?

You pay for it. I mean, dear friend, there is something you must give in exchange if you would live up to the opportunities that God has given you. You see, we need to see how valuable time is. To waste time is to waste life because time is the stuff that life is made out of. A person who is killing time is not killing time, he's killing himself.

He is committing suicide by degrees. A murderer in the truest sense doesn't take someone's life. That person's going to die anyway. What he takes is that person's time. Do you understand what I'm saying?

He just causes that person to die sooner. You see, time is life. Time is life. How precious it is. Powerful words as we end today's portion of the lesson from Adrian Rogers.

To waste time is to waste life because time is the stuff that life is made out of. We'll hear the conclusion of this important message coming up tomorrow, but maybe you have questions about who Jesus is, about what he means to you, how to begin a relationship with God through Christ. We encourage you to go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio.

You'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and request the title, The Time of Your Life. This message is also part of the powerful series, Standing for Light and Truth, for the complete audio collection featuring 11 insightful messages. Call that number 1-877-LOVEGOD or go to lwf.org slash radio.

Or you can write us to order at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Thanks for studying in God's word today and listening to this convicting message. Now, what do you intend to do with your day?

Will you be a good steward of the time that God has given? Be sure to tune in tomorrow for part two of The Time of Your Life, right here on Love Worth Finding. Here's a note from a listener in Colorado that really encouraged us. He wrote, my dad's favorite preacher was Adrian Rogers. When my parents could no longer go to church due to my mom's stroke and Alzheimer's, they enjoyed Adrian's messages together. Thank you for being available still, even though Adrian Rogers is in heaven. At Love Worth Finding, we believe real truth is timeless and that it never changes even when the world around us does. This month is a thank you for your generous support that keeps us going. We want to send you our Standing for Light and Truth book. Now, this book is a collection of Adrian Rogers' best love sermons that will challenge you to stand for God's light and truth. Request the book when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD, 1-877-568-3463, or give online at lwf.org slash radio.