Always On Time | Sermon by Mark Finley

god's timetable is not always our timetable and the promises of god for you will be fulfilled in your life even if you do not see them immediately fulfilled god's creatures are remarkable the more i study nature the more i sense of this incredible design of god pacific salmon are an amazing fish if you haven't studied at all about pacific salmon look it up they're incredible pacific salmon spawn and they swim from the place that they have spawned often a hundred miles 500 miles a thousand miles and when it gets time for them to die they come back to the place where they were born when their life is ebbing away they want home and they navigate many of them a thousand miles or beyond back to the place they were born now scientists wondered how do they do this how does a fish that it's left its spawning place and go on a thousand miles how does it know how to get back home well they've come up with two very plausible reasons number one the fish has a sense of smell and as the result of that it can imprinted in its brain is the smell of its home and as it begins to navigate down these rivers it smells where it's going and the brain is imprinted of the salmon with that smell and it can it can navigate its way home the second thing that they've noticed is this there was a 2005 study and researchers discovered now get this one researchers discovered that there are single cells in the brain of a salmon that act like compass needles they have a microscopic collection of magnetic crystals in their brain and these compass needles in the brain of the salmon lead that salmon back home now salmon have this incredible sense of timing they know when it's about ready to die they're about ready to die they know that they're going to spawn and pacific span salmon spawn once in their lifetime they know it's time to spawn they're going to die and so as the result of that they long for home when life is ebbing away they long for home they have this sense that the fullness of time has come imprinted on their brains at birth is this longing for whom and every single one of us have imprinted on our brains by the divine creator a longing for whom we know that there must be something better in life than sickness in suffering and heartache in death we know deep within the fabric of our beings that this world is not our home now the purpose that jesus came to earth was to take us to heaven the purpose he came to our home in the cosmos is because he wanted to take us to his home in the universe now in one of the most magnificent verses in all the bible in galatians chapter 4 verse 4 the bible describes this magnificent desire of christ to take us home so if you have your bible i invite you to take it and turn to galatians the fourth chapter the fourth verse is the basis of our bible study this morning galatians 4 and verse 4. but when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law verse 5 to redeem those who were under the law that he might receive the adopt that we might receive the adoptions of sons now there are three things in that passage to notice first there is a divine timetable second there is a definite plan third there is a determined purpose if you look at the text in galatians four verse four when the fullness of time has come that's a divine time table god sent forth his son that's a definite plan to redeem those who are under the law that's his determined purpose and i pray as we study these things that the holy spirit will speak to our hearts that the holy spirit the same that spoke to the prophets of old will speak to us let's first look at this idea of divine timetable now jesus didn't come at any time he came when the fullness of time had come now this should not surprise us because throughout history god has always orchestrated time so time is not some simply random event but we can look at passages in the old testament particularly that point out that god has a divine timetable for prophetic events for example if you look at genesis 6 verse 3 the timing of the coming of the flood it was no random event genesis 6 3. the lord said my spirit shall not always strive with man forever for he's indeed flesh yet his days shall be 120 years so god had a divine time table noah would preach for 120 years the flood would come we find this concept that prophetic events happen on time remember israel was in captivity to egyptian bondage they did not come out of bondage simply at some random timing if you look at exodus chapter 12 exodus chapter 12.

throughout history god has had a prophetic timetable exodus chapter 12 verse 41. and it came to pass exodus 12 verse 41 and it came to pass at the end of 430 years on that very same day it came to pass that all the armies of the lord went out from the land of egypt now read verse 51 with me do you have it exodus chapter 12 verse 51 maybe it's easier for us to read from the screen let's do it together and it came to pass on that very same day that the lord brought the children of israel out of the land of egypt according to their armies so god had predicted that egypt that israel would be in egyptian captivity for 430 years and the bible says in two places on that very day god has a prophetic time table all the power of pharaoh could not keep israel in egypt the armies of the egyptians were no match for the might of the mighty god and god is always on time he is never late we look at the babylonian captivity you remember the babylonian captivity as well israel is in captivity to babylon for 70 years nebuchadnezzar is overthrown by sir by darius and cyrus but at the end of that 70-year captivity look at jeremiah 29 verse 10 god is not a capricious god god has a divine timetable of prophetic events jeremiah 29th chapter the 10th verse all the powers of hell could not keep the rain from falling in noah's day all of the egyptian armies could not keep israel in captivity after that 430 years all the might of babylon could not keep the babylonians and the media persians locking the israelites in captivity jeremiah 29 verse 10 for thus says the lord who who says that everybody jeremiah 10 for thus says who the lord after what seventy years are completed at babylon i will visit you and perform my good work toward you and cause you to return to this place in other words after 70 years all the powers of babylon all the powers of media persia cannot keep you in activity in captivity because i'm coming to take you home does god have a divine prophetic timetable of events indeed he does the prophet daniel predicted the exact time the messiah would begin his ministry of sacrificial service and when jesus came he came on time back to galatians chapter 4 verse 4. the bible says in galatians 4 verse 4 when the fullness of time was come what time is it it's the fullness of time was come now all the powers of rome all the powers of the roman empire emperors could not keep jesus from coming to be born when the fullness of time was come god sent forth his son and it is isn't it amazing that augustus caesar a pagan roman ruler passes this decree that all the world be text and mary and joseph leave their home in nazareth and travel that 90 miles down to bethlehem for christ to be born so as the result of a decree of a pagan roman ruler jesus is born in the right place in bethlehem that micah predicted hundreds of years in advance and at the right time the fullness of time has come now there's a remarkable statement a remarkable statement in desire of ages page 32 that i want you to notice it says but like the stars in their vast circuit of their appointed path god's purpose is know no haste or delay what did galatians 4 4 say in the fullness of time in the fullness of time god brought forth his son god's purpose is no no hasten or delay i want you to think about that when was the first promise of the messiah given when was that the book of genesis right genesis 3 15.

a serpent had tempted eve satan threw that serpent and god said the messiah would come and bruise the head of the serpent a deadly wound on the serpent and that christ's heel would be wounded so the promise of the messiah was given in genesis now every passing generation in century thought that the messiah might come then centuries passed each generation long for the messiah to come but the promise tarried from the days of adam and eve the promise was repeated fathers told it to their children the messiah is going to come mothers saying little song songs to their little ones on their knee the messiah is going to come patriarchs and prophets kept the hope alive but he did not come forty long centuries four thousand years past but exactly on time as daniel predicted in the town of bethlehem as micah predicted born of a virgin as isaiah forecast jesus was born on time because the purposes of god know no haste or delay just as there was a delay in the first advent there has been a delay in the second advent but god is always on time god is never late and we say god why haven't you come god lord we long for your coming but the purposes of god know no haste or delay and god has a divine timetable now there are two striking lessons for an end time people of god first because god's promises are not immediately fulfilled does not mean they will not be fulfilled there are times we become impatient with god times we say god why haven't you come the times we've become impatient with god in our own lives too we say god i believe in faith but it didn't happen we say god what's going on here i've been praying and praying and i don't see any answers god but god's timetable is not always our timetable and the promises of god for you will be fulfilled in your life even if you do not see them immediately fulfilled there's a second lesson waiting develops patience waiting strengthens our faith waiting teaches us perseverance now there's a danger that in the light of the delay of the advent we lose the expectation we lose the anticipation we lose the excitement did the jews face that problem during the 4 000 years from the time of genesis to the time christ was born they did the jews lost that sense of wonder they lost that sense of excitement they thought christ would come the first time as a conquering king they failed to understand the messianic promises that he would come to redeem the human race when the fullness of time was come what do you you think paul meant by the fullness of time that the fullness of time had come there at least five characteristics that had taken place in the new testament to create that fullness of time first we read about the pox romana that is the roman peace so there was peace throughout the roman empire during the time of christ's birth particularly and during this time of peace travel was very easily so this time of peace was a good time for the messiah to come because the gospel could be spread very quickly at a time of peace where it couldn't be spread at a time of war secondly the roman empire had linked the empire together with the roman roads so there was to travel was much more was much easier it's much much quicker thirdly the roman had spoken the language of greek and the greek language was throughout the empire so god had had a providential design when the fullness of time was come god sent forth his son you have this time of roman roads rapid transportation you have the time the quickness of the spread of the gospel you have one common language and that common language is the greek language there's a couple other things that were going on during this particular period of time as well uh the you have the heathen religions that are failing and the heathen religions are desperately failing the people and as the result of that there's an openness there's a receptivity that hadn't taken place before you also have the fact that the jews at this time were coming from throughout the empire and the jews were gathering at jerusalem and so if christ comes and he's born since you have the roman roads that unite the empire since you have the greek language that can rapidly spread the gospel since you have people from every land gathering the message of the messiah is going to go forth also if you have moral decadence also if you have moral decay also if there's a longing ellen white puts it beautifully in the book desire of ages and kind of summarizes these reasons on page 32. let's take a look at it uh on page 32 when the fullness of time was come desire of ages 32 god sent forth his son now what were the conditions providence had directed the movements of nations the tide of human impulse and influence until the world was ripe for the coming of the deliverer the nations were united under one government we continued one language was widely spoken was everywhere recognized as the language of literature from all the lands the jews of the dispersion gathered to jerusalem to the annual feasts and as they returned to the places of their sojourn they could spread throughout the world the tidings of the messiahs coming at this time the systems of heathenism were losing their hold upon the people men were worth it were weary of patient and pageant and fable they longed for religion that could satisfy the heart while the light of truth seemed to have departed from among men there were souls who were looking for light and who were filled with perplexity and sorrow they were thirsting for knowledge of the living god for some assurance of life beyond the grave as you look at that statement think of where we are in the world today time has passed between the first coming of jesus and the second coming of jesus but again today we have the super information highway where the gospel can be spread quickly by internet by social media by printed page by radio by television around the world think about it today god has designed today that language is no longer a barrier i can stand here and through varian translation techniques this message can go to more than 100 countries at the same time think of it today men and women's hearts are longing for something better they recognize that this world is on the verge it's a stupendous crisis think about it today nations are weary think about it pandemic spreading over the world think about it north korea china iraq the potential of nuclear weapons we've never had weapons that have not been used that have been created before for the first time in history we can plot life off planet earth think about it global warming and the concern of science about the future of our planet think about it earthquake famine fire flood think about it school shootings where kids go to school that should be safe and they're gunned down when the fullness of time has come god brought forth his son jesus came the first time when the fullness of time has come am i stretching it at all to say that we're living at another time of verse history when the fullness of time has come god had a definite timetable god also had a definite plan take your bible and turn to galatians four verse four galatians chapter four verse four god's purposes know no haste or what everybody delay god has a prophetic timetable did god have a prophetic timetable down through history did he bring out of the historical point did god bring egypt make them powerless and bring israel out of egypt bondage 430 years did he bring them out of babylonian captivity 70 years did jesus come on time he came on time god's promises no no haste or delay god had a divine timetable but god had a better a definite plan look at galatians four verse four here's his plan but when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son born of a woman born unto law so he has a definite time the fullness of time has come but he also has a a he has a divine timetable but he also has a definite plan god sent forth his son now the coming of christ to this world was not some afterthought it was not something that simply took place because of some rushed decision by some emergency council in heaven when christ came the first time it wasn't that oh adam and eve have sinned and so the father son and the holy spirit are just so confused they don't know what to do and they have to develop this kind of a plan the father son and holy spirit consulted before the creation of human beings and made provision for the potentiality of sin again in the book desire of ages page 22 i read the plan for our redemption was not an afterthought a plan formulated after the fall of adam it was a revelation of the mystery which had been kept in silence through times eternal it was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of god's throne so in his all-seeing wisdom in his omniscience god foresaw the existence of sin before it happened and he planned for jesus to come and redeem the human race god was not caught off guard with the rebellion of our first parents free will has inherent risks but god was not only prepared to take the risk but he had a plan to atone for the damage from the sinful choices god had a divine plan to redeem this world for the child of god don't miss this life is not some cosmic accident we're not left alone god has a divine plan for our lives now when our first parent sinned god announced the plan that jesus was going to come before the angels and we have in the bible what jesus responded to the father when the plan of salvation was announced in heaven now this this is remarkable take your bible and turn to hebrews chapter 10. these are the words of christ to the father before jesus is coming to earth hebrews chapter 10 and you're going to look there at hebrews chapter 10 so christ speaks to the father before he is incarnated and in hebrews 10 as the father and the son are ready to announce the fact before the angels that christ is coming to earth jesus speaks and this is what he says in verse 5 therefore when he came unto the world he said sacrifice an offering you did not desire so all those centuries from the days of adam to the days of christ's coming they were sacrificing sacrificing bulls and goats and lambs but a body you've prepared for me so jesus there in heaven says to the father a body you prepared for me here the divine son of god the commander of all the angels the one who existed from the father with the father from all eternity the one who had never had a beginning it'll never have an ending the eternal christ will come and dwell in a human body he'll face the challenges of living in a fallen world he'll be subject to the fiercest temptations of satan now the angels don't fully comprehend what's going on the angels are not not they don't know they can't bear to see their beloved leader face the heartache sorrow and suffering of the world and in my imagination it's not so much imagination because you read it in the divine holy writ a dazzling angel steps forth he says no jesus you cannot go jesus you cannot go jesus you're the divine commander of heaven jesus you're the eternal son of god jesus you're the one that never had a beginning never had any jesus you cannot go i will go the angel says let me go jesus in your place you can't go to that defiled world you can't go to that sin-stricken world you can't go to that disease-filled world you can't go to that polluted world jesus let me go but only the creator can redeem his creation so mystery of all mysteries wonder of all wonders jesus is born of human flesh and he dwells among us and emmanuel has come isaiah 7 verse 14 isaiah 7 verse 14 emmanuel has come emmanuel's come jesus leaves heaven the father had a divine timetable the father had a definite plan isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 therefore the lord himself will give you a sign behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son the divine son of god is conceived in the womb of mary by the holy spirit and this virgin bears a son and shall call his name emmanuel god with us god in christ is tabernacled in human flesh god in christ is not far away god in christ is with us he knows our joys he knows our sorrows he knows our happiness he knows our disappointment he knows our triumphs and defeats he knows our highs and lows isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 puts it so well isaiah 9 verse 6 notice it here for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counsel or the mighty god the prince of peace and of the increase of his government there'll be no end notice unto us is a child born who who is he born to who is jesus given to unto what us he is your savior he is my savior unto what's that next word unto us a son is given heaven gave its best gift the government shall be upon his shoulders what's all that about although he's the son of god he's also sovereign ruler of the universe this world and its affairs are on his in his hands he is in charge although evil men make sinful choices and wreak havoc although at times all nature is out of control although nation's battle and pandemics raise he is still sovereign he'll accomplish his plan for this world having confidence in this sovereign god makes all the difference in your life he's guiding the destinies of the world and if you let him he's guiding the destinies of your life that brings enormous peace to our hearts it's a great stress reliever to know that the government is upon his shoulders what's that mean he is the ruler yet he is the divine sovereign yet he is the one that sits on the throne of the universe yet and he's the big god who guides the point it's guidance the stars and he can guide every single one of our lives notice for unto us or what child is born he's born unto us unto us a son is given the government's punishment his name will be called wonderful what does that word wonderful mean he's full of wonders he's full of one he's going to surprise you he's full of wonders this son there's tabernacle in human flesh for you this christ that wants you to have the best in life he is full of wonders for you his name shall be called counselor you know a lot of times people come to me and say pastor mark can you give me a little counsel here or there sometimes i'm wondering about if i'm wise enough to do that you know it's one it's a blessing to get counsel from other people but i'll tell you one thing it's a blessing to get counsel from jesus jesus is a wonderful what everybody counselor i've had so many times in my life where i've been in dilemmas i mean more dilemmas than you would know and the wonderful counselor has given me guidance and i think of some of those specific experiences on one occasion i was having evangelistic meetings in sweden and uh in stockholm preaching in a large auditorium in stockholm and i was working as the ministerial secretary of the trans-european division at the time and we had 19 countries and i was responsible for pastors in those countries so we had to fly a lot and the president of that division's name was john paulson who later became president of general conference and he said to me look mark we're having a meeting in croatia that is in former yugoslavia he said you really need to be there on tuesday he said whatever you do i have to have you there on tuesday because elder neil wilson who is the president who is the general conference president the father of the current president he said you've really got to be there he's going to be there and you have to give a report on the ministerial work in our division so don't miss the meeting he said preach on your sunday night and then um then come i said sure so i figured out how i could get there and it was going to be tough because of course at that time yugoslavia was communist and croatia and serbia both were very communistic and i figured okay this is the only thing i can do after i preach on sunday night meeting you get over nine o'clock there's a train that goes from stockholm to copenhagen i can take that train i'll take an all-night train try to sleep on the train so i got down to the train station about 10 30 and get on the train it was a horrible horrible night the the the tr i couldn't sleep at all i didn't sleep most of the night and the train took me to copenhagen in denmark so i came to denmark and uh i was half tired got to the copenhagen airport and i was going to fly to vienna and take a flight from vienna to zagreb which is the capital of croatia so i get to vienna i'm half tired knowing that i have to be in this meeting it's now monday afternoon and i'm running through the airport because i had a tight connection i look up at the board and it says fog airport in zagreb fogged in flight cancelled and i am there in the vienna airport on a monday afternoon knowing i have to be at my meeting early tuesday and i'm thinking oh no there's no way i mean it's impossible and i just went by a little corner and i prayed now lord i need your wisdom i need you or the almighty counselor you need to help me lord because i i got to be at that meeting i don't know what to do i can't get there flying and all of a sudden i got this impression go into the bookstore i said bookstore where am i going to go read a book my wife knows i love books but this was not the time or the place go into a bookstore so i went into the bookstore and the first thing i saw was a book of maps so i picked up the map book and i figured something out this is what i figured out that austria and i knew this ahead of time that austria borders yugoslavia it borders creation in croatia and i remembered in my mind that our school at marichovich was about 50 miles from the border and i said i know what i'm going to do if i can catch a flight to this particular town that i see on the map i'm going to walk across that border under communism i'm going across i'm going to get at that meeting so i ran back out i saw on the board 30 minutes of flights leaving and i'm saying lord you're my wonderful counselor on this one you've got to get me there lord you're my wonderful counselor so i bought a ticket flew to this place and i said to the cab driver take me to the border he said i can't take you all the way but i'll take your power where you got to walk the rest well i had been in yugoslavia many times and i knew a little bit about the political and the sociological and the religious dynamics and i didn't have a visa incidentally but i knew that there would be a guard station at the border i also knew that in serbia at the airport they could stamp my visa so i was counting on it that at um they could give me a visa and i was counting that croatian zagreb they could give me a visa i got to the border walking a young communist guard is standing there and other soldiers and i said i i need to go over that he got hooked he says passport i gave him my passport no visa no visa no go no visa i said lord you're my wonderful counselor what did you get me into here now i had called my office in england i said look i'm walking across that border when i get across i called them from the airport i said when i get across i need a car there to take me immediately into that meeting and so i said to the guard passport no visa no visa now i knew in those days that yugoslavia was was in five republics and i knew that serbia was orthodox and croatia was catholic and they had this big head and i just kept praying lord you've got to get me through this you you impressed me to look at that map you've got to get me through this you're my counselor i have nobody to talk to and the lord impressed me with something i opened my passport and i said serbia visa at the airport serbia very very good croatia no visa here croatia is good as serbia he stamped my password he said you go so i went god is a wonderful counselor you are going to find yourself at times like i did in that experience with no human counsel that can solve your problem but what does our text say he is a what let's look at our text again isaiah 9 verse 6 for unto us christ a child is born unto us a son is given jesus is given to you absorb everything that he is to you unto us a child is born unto us the son is given the government will be upon his shoulder his name will be called what wonderful he will do wonders for you counselor he's your he's your counselor and here's the good news the one who is wonderful the one who is your counselor is the what are the next two words what is he he is the mighty god we have a counselor who's the mighty god we have a counselor he's the mighty god he's the everlasting father he's the prince of peace of the increase of his government there will be no end jesus he's a wonderful counselor he's the mighty god who gives power to his children to carry out his counsel he has the characteristics of the everlasting father the prince of peace and he'll bring peace to our hearts he has a divine timetable he's always on time he has a determined plan he sent his son a definite plan he sent his son into the world but he has a diver a determined purpose a divine timetable a definite plan a determined purpose back to galatians 4 verse 4.

back to galatians 4 verse 4. god is never late he's always on time he has a definite plan he sent his son into the world god will not be late with his second coming and god has a definite plan but he has a determined purpose we find it in galatians four verse four when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law now what is his what is god's determined purpose verse five to redeem those who were under the law that he might receive the adoption as sons god's determined purpose in coming to this world was to redeem us the longing of his heart is that we will be with him forever the ransom price has been paid his sacrifice is complete we are his children adopted into the family of god through the sacrifice of christ on the cross there is nothing more important to god than getting us home there's nothing more important to god than getting us home his advent has been delayed but he's never late he invites us to be faithful while we wait although the promise tarries just as the first coming of christ was on time his second coming will be on time he's always on time his promises never fail in habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 3 we read about the promises of god this promise in the book of habakkuk relates to the second coming of christ habakkuk chapter 2 you're looking there at verse 3. for the vision is yet for an appointed time the vision of his coming the vision of his return at the end it will speak and it will not lie though it tarries wait for it because it shall surely come it will not tarry that's the new king james version listen to the contemporary english version of this one here's the contemporary english version of habakkuk 2 verse 3.