Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
081220
Even in the little things our Lord protects us and watches over us
We have been noting the First Miracle of our Lord which was turning that which is natural into that which is unusual, or that which is natural into that which is spiritual; Joh 2:1-11.
Now, John has just presented Jesus as the creator in Joh 1:3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
So, He is identified as the Creator in Joh 1, and therefore He revealed to some that He is the Creator by creating right before their eyes, Joh 2:8-11.
So, the wine had run out, and normally that would have been a social embarrassment in that culture, but our Lord had everything under control.
As our Lord says in LUK 16:10 "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
She was also known to be blessed among women which points to the love and respect that she had for the Lord and His disciples.
Mary knew who Jesus was, and not only did she believe in Him but there was a measure of awe and respect that she had for the Lord because she realized that the child that was growing in her womb was the child that would save God’s people, the Jews, from their sin.
MAT 1:21 "And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins."
She never seemed to question her calling, but every time she meditated on what was going to happen, she knew her little boy was about to become a young man.
- The Head and the Body; 1Co 12.
- The Shepherd and the Sheep; John 10.
- The Vine and the Branches; Joh 15.
- The Cornerstone and the building; 1Pe 2:5-9.
- The High Priest and the Royal Priesthood; Hebrews.
- The Groom and the Bride analogy; Eph 5:18.
- The King of kings and the Royal Family of God; Rev 1:6.
Now, because of the announcement from the angel Gabriel, she knew she was going to be the virgin that the Lord promised to Israel.
Remember two passages that mean so much to the Jews: ISA 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
ISA 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Now, one thing we learn from our Lord’s first miracle and His first parable is the importance of timing and the principle of organizing your time.
"You know everything in life is timing and my trouble is I'm out of sync with everything, my timing is bad!
"I should balance out my life and not be so excessive in everything I do!"
"I'm an extremist, I need balance in my life!"
And there's no question about the fact that organize people seem to be much better off than disorganized people.
Disorganized people may not be a distress to themselves but they are a distress to everyone else.
However, if you are in the cosmic system or living your life minus doctrinal viewpoint and you are well organized, you're still not going to be happy.
Only the believer who puts doctrine first every day in his life and sets aside time every day for doctrine can find happiness in being organized.
God has assigned to you and me a number of days to live on this earth according to Psa 90:12; 31:15.
Psa 90:12 So teach us to number our days, That we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.
PSA 31:15 My times are in Thy hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
And, while you will probably experience most of these you will enjoy none of these without doctrine which gives you capacity to enjoy these things.
Do you realize that one of the most fascinating subjects in life is this word "time."
For throughout the day we hear things like; What time is it?
What time does the meeting start?
What time do you want me there?
“I don't have time?”
“How much time will it take?”
“Don't waste your time on that!”
”It's time for us to go!”
“Honey, it's time we had a long talk?”
"How much time left in the game?"
He tells you that an anonymous donor who loves you very much has decided each morning for the rest of your life to deposit in your bank account, 86,400 pennies each morning.
Whatever sum you failed to use; you would lose!
And so, $864.00 a day times 7 = $6,048.00 a week!
$6,048.00 a week X 52 (weeks – one year) = $ 314,496.00 for the year.
Every morning someone who loves you very much deposits into your bank of time, 86,400 seconds which represents 1440 minutes which of course equals 24 hours.
God gives you a certain amount of time that you might use it for His glory.
ISA 43:7 says "Everyone who is called by My name, I have created for My glory, Those whom I have formed, even whom I have made."
REV 4:11 says "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created."
This is why the mature believer regards every day alike, Rom 14:5‑6.
What Solomon says in this chapter is basically right, however, without a relationship with God and seeing things from the divine viewpoint of life, all of these things are meaningless.
Fatalism comes from the Latin fatum meaning "that which the gods ordain to happen."
God has created you for His glory and until you believe that and then live for that purpose, you will never find true happiness and contentment in life!
Every day we live is a gracious gift from God and it should be a day that we have time set aside for our relationship with Him.
The only time we possess to honor God in this life is the number of days He provides for us in the Christian life, Psa 90:12; Jam 4:13‑15.
JAM 4:14 "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away."
Lam 3:22‑23, "The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness."
JOB 23:12 "I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."
"treasured" is the verb tsaphan which means to esteem; to admire, appreciate, respect, and even worship.
Days of life are lost through divine discipline, Psa 102:23 "In the course of my life, He broke my strength, He cut short my days."
One of the things that make time so important is the fact that it is so rare! It is irretrievable!
Philosopher William James -- "The great use for one's life is to spend it for something that will outlast it!"
God's timing is perfect and if you are in fellowship with Him, you will have peace of mind with everything you do.
If you are not in fellowship with God and you do not have doctrine resident in your soul, you will concede with Solomon in ECC 3:9 What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?
It says, a time to give birth because life begins at birth not in the womb.
Regardless of the circumstances and events that surround your birth, God gave you life at that moment, so that was the right time for you to be born.
God created soul life and imputed it to your soul at your birth.
God is perfect, His ways are perfect, and you and I were born under the perfect timing of God!
Anyone who resents his parents or his early environment, no matter how bad or how good it was, is totally out of sync with life.
Just like we had no control over our birth, we also have no control over our death!
Only our perception of what's happening can be wrong, and that will be brought out in this passage.
People are often bitter, upset, and disturbed because of the way someone they love dies, putting themselves out of God's timing for the rest of their lives, as if somehow everything in life is unfair to them.
Excuses are never solutions to problems.
Becoming very pushy and trying desperately to make things happen is a sign of being on your own timing.
Your wrong timing as a believer will destroy you and make you miserable in life.
Timing is simply defined as the selection of the best time for doing something in order to achieve the desired effect with maximum results.
For the Church-age believer, timing is a matter of adjusting to and synchronizing with the PPOG.
Every detail of life is involved in timing, such as being in the right place at the right time.
Bad timing is a matter of being out of fellowship, falling apart when under pressure, being out of the will of God, having the wrong priorities, making the wrong decisions, and all of this because of ignorance or rejection of the plan of God.
Bad timing is lost opportunity under the equal privilege and equal opportunity of God's plan.
The Hebrew for plant is nata which means to plant, to work, to invest.
Solomon is saying that God has allotted or assigned to you a profession, a business, or a job and also the time to put into that job.
A time to begin and a time to end.”
Whatever you do in life by way of making a living, there's a right time and a wrong time.
You were born at the right time and you will die at the right time because those are God's decisions.
Knowing when to plant and when to plow is a matter of understanding the soil, the weather and what crops you're trying to produce.
Timing in life is a matter of knowing what you want to do in life, what business you want to be involved in, what you want to do to make money to sustain yourself.
There is a time for everything but if you don't look at life from the divine viewpoint and you just look at it like life "under the sun".....time is meaningless even when you're doing what you're supposed to be doing!
Uproot is the Hebrew verb aqar which means to root up; to destroy, to exterminate.
The Hebrew verb for kill is harag which means to kill the enemy in battle or to execute the criminal.
Violence can be right timing, or it can be wrong timing.
If you are in the military or law enforcement, there are times when you must practice violence!
You are not a murderer, it is honorable to kill in war, not dishonorable!
The Bible does not say "You shall not kill", it says "You shall not murder."
The verb to heal is rapha which means to heal; to bind up wounds, to heal medically, physically, to restore life; to save life; to mend or repair; reconcile.