Sorry about that. OK, good morning. Great to see all of you in the precious name of a Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's a privilege for me to be here this morning.
I'd like to thank Mark Brook Bible Chapel family for your love and fellowship. My name is Lord Wayne. It's good to see many smiling faces this morning. This is a long weekend, isn't it?
And we all celebrate Victoria Day. In Canada, long weekends are always special. People always wanted to do something, activities such as hiking, camping, running, or hang out with friends or ladies. You may add if I missed anything or just relaxing.
I also thought of doing something this long weekend. You may wonder what something special. I can tell you that I thought of participating in a Bruno's Martha. Then I tried to change my today's schedule of speaking to some other week.
But it didn't work out because other speakers are busy too. I felt a little bit sad, but I'm very happy to be here this morning. Surprisingly, my children got an opportunity to participate in 2K and 4K run yesterday. So I took them and also I had an opportunity to see some wonderful children from North Brook Bible Chapel as well.
So you may recognize them. They're in the picture. Just before the start of the race, my little son, Besseliel, he told me that Papa means dead. You don't run with me.
You better go and stand in the finish line. Then I told it's one of the requirements. I can't leave you alone. He's a little bit of sad.
Then I started running with him. Whenever they said it's ready, he took a very good lead. In front of me. And he was waiting approximately 100 meters, 150 meters.
He was waiting for me. I was trying to run and run. And then again, he started running. He took a good lead.
And then he started waiting for me until I reached over there. And I felt really, very bad. And I told him, now you don't wait for me. You better run and finish.
Go to the finish line and then you wait for me. In a moment, he took a wonderful, you know, kind of very fast. I could not even see where he was. And on the way of my running, some of the brothers sitting at the back, they were cheering Lord Wayne.
And I was worn. I was trying to run. And I'm pretty sure I finished very late. Then I thank God I didn't register for the marathon.
We may think that we might have missed something in this long weekend because of attending the Sunday morning service. But you know what? It is God's plan for us to be here this morning. We are not simply sitting by here because of our own interest.
We are here because of God wants us to be here. A wise man once said, you go no place by accident. May God bless all of you. Let us bow down our head and feel the presence of God.
Heavenly Father, let your Holy Spirit take full control of me and let him speak, not me. You know the needs of the people who will be listening to this preaching. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Why time is important? Because time plays a significant role in our life. Time is the most precious results because you can't get it back. That is why we always talk about time management.
Last week my friend, new friend, he invited, our family to his son's birthday party. So he lives in a spry field. So he told invited three families. So he told the Lord be there around 6.30.
That would be good. So I thought better 15 minutes earlier that would be great so that we can talk each other and things like that. So we reached exactly by 6.15 and then I had a good time talking because new friends, so many things to talk. Then around seven o'clock I asked others, are they coming?
And he told us they will be coming. So by 7.30 one family showed up very well. And it was the first time so I had a good chat as well with them. And then I asked from where you were coming, brother.
He told just next door. Oh, it's an hour late. OK, very good. And then we keep on talking and talking and talking.
And then at one point around 8 o'clock I asked the host of the birthday party, brother, are they coming? The next family are there. He said probably still they are following the Indian times. So they will be coming soon.
And then he showed up around 8.30. And then we have a wonderful chat and things like that. He was from northern part of India. Had an opportunity to speak in Hindi.
A lot of good things and the KKITCAT thing happened at 9 o'clock and we returned home at 11 o'clock in the night. But nobody felt anything bad about it. Because it's a cultural thing. Sometimes time is not a big.
The brother is nodding. He said, so he totally understood that what I'm talking about. It's not a big deal, right? But in Western culture, time is very important.
It's very important. If you call somebody at 630, if you don't go at 630, it's not really good. Maybe 10, 15 minutes good. But not more than like three hours or two hours.
It's not good, right? So all right. So I'd like to, before start my message, I'd like to tell you one more story so that you'll understand about the time, what I'm going to talk about this morning. Once a preacher, he was from my home state in India.
He was invited to preach the sermon in one of the churches in Toronto. I'm not sure exactly how much time they have given to the brother to speak at the church. Probably, half an hour, I assume. He might have taken one hour or even more than one hour.
So he mentioned to us that at some point, he noticed that people started slowly leaving the church. Then I assumed that probably he might have taken more than an hour, right? And at the end, there were only few people they were sitting at the church. And I believe probably the pastor and few deacons just closed the door, right?
So a man walked to the stage as soon as he completed his sermon or the message. And he shook hand with him and he said, I have a gift for you. So the preacher was very happy. And he thought at least one person in the church, he was happy and he listened my message.
And then the person gave the gift to the preacher. And the preacher asked, can I open the gift? And he said, why not? You can.
And he opened the gift. It was a wonderful watch. And he said, better be careful next time. You have to speak on time.
So time is very important. Let's see now what Bibles say about time and season. If you'd like to open your Bible to Etsias chapter 3 versus 1 to 8. Etsias chapter 3 versus 1 to 8.
I'd like to read it's in the screen as well, in the PowerPoint slide. To everything that is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted, a time to kill, and a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up, a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to moan, a time to dance, a time to cost away stones, and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to gain, and a time to lose, a time to keep, and a time to throw away, a time to cure, and a time to sow, a time to keep silence, and a time to speak, a time to love, and a time to hate, a time of war, and a time of peace. Wow, total 28 different times. birth, death, weep, dance, love and even hate.
This is like a poem. Where are you, see yourself in this poem now? This list also shows us the need to take a full advantage of the time God gives us. God is soaring over all creation and time is a crucial component to his sovereignty being revealed to mankind.
You might have, time is very important. You might have heard people saying, if you could have taken to the hospital an hour before his life or her life could be saved, or you might have heard doctors saying that, probably if you would have bring her 10 minutes before, I could save his life or I could save her life. I also heard people saying that her time or his time is finished. One of my cousins sisters, she left this world at the age of 10.
In her funeral service, someone said, her time in this world is over because God wants her to be in his garden. So everybody is having that own time. Graham Staines was his name. He was an Australian missionary.
He served in India for more than 35 years. He worked among the lepers, R.D. was the communities, poor people. He spent his entire life for the welfare of the poor people in India, one of the less double stakes in India, Waddisha.
He learned the language, even he learned the local dialect and he spent the entire life for God's ministry in India. One day when he was returning from his ministry, they parked their car in one of the village that called Manoharpur. People from that village, they burned alive Graham Staines and his two little boys. The country was appalled.
Everywhere the story was a story of cross. The funeral song that they sung was, because he leaves, I can face tomorrow. Because he leaves, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future.
Television and lot of journalists, they interviewed her. One of the common questions they asked to her, do you hate that person who did this? She said, no. They said, unbelievable.
How come it could be? And then she said, glad he stains. She said, my God is having time for each and everyone. The time that God gave to my lovely husband and my two little young children, that comes to an end.
I don't have any hatred. And the journalist, he wrote in one of the leading newspapers in India, this is an authentic spirituality. And in the footnote, he said, I am not a Christian. Father, forgive them.
They do not know what they are doing. Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing. The least of these, that is Matthew 25.
If you'd like to know more about that story, a movie came out. It says the least of these, the story of Graham Stains. This morning, I would like to talk about the scripture, about the times. I would like to quickly touch four important times, time of the law of God.
Secondly, time of grace. Third, times Ahadofas and fourth, the time of judgment. Time of the law of God. Every nation that has lost.
In Canada, say for example, in Canada, we have different types of laws. Canada's legal system is based on what is a common and civil law. Similarly, the creator God has established law for his people. In biblical times, it's called the law of Moses, or the waltzmann law, or the Mosaic law, regulated almost every aspect of Jewish life.
The law of Moses was very strict law that was designed to teach the children of Israel obedience. It was indeed quite harsh when compared to our modern standards. Exodus chapter 21, verse 24 to 25. High for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
Very harsh. Exodus 21, 15 says, whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death. There are several commandments that God has shown in his word. But the 10 commandments gives a solid principles that was used with all other laws.
Exodus chapter 31 verse 18 says, when the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone, inscribed by the finger of God, inscribed by the finger of God. That's something very important. One time I remember when I was doing my masters, I have to go to another university to do some research. And while going, accidentally I saw one of the professor, and I told I'm going to punch up to do some research, I don't know anybody over there.
So can you please help me? So I asked, do you know someone over there? He said, yes, I know someone over there. And he just put his hands in his pocket.
He took a small piece of paper. And he wrote few lines. And Lord Bean and Sanjeev, my friend, both are coming. You do whatever it's required.
That's it. And he signed it. It's just a piece of paper. And then he told me, you just give this piece of paper to the head of the department of the Punjab agriculture university.
I thought, what is this? There is nothing. It's just a writing. There's nothing.
No logo, no typing. And nothing. It's just a piece of paper. And what's going to happen with that?
And I went to be went over there after a day or in a long train journey. And I gave that paper to the head of the department. You know, we got VIP treatment for the rest of our stay over there. So what's important is who is writing?
That's very important. He wrote by the fingers in his fingers. Even if you see the creation, God just spoke. Everything happened.
But he made humans buy his hands, buy his hands. That's very important because we are so special. We are so precious. That's what he made us in his hands.
It is interesting to see how important it is. It was written by the fingers of God that gave He to Moses. Those days, if people don't follow the law, the punishment is so harsh. Capital punishments, you know that, including burning at the stake, stoning.
We know Stephen was torn to death. Crucification is all well-known capital punishment during the time of Christ. And in verse 26, chapter 26, verse 21 says, if you still continue to resist me and refuse to obey me, I will again increase your punishment seven times. God destroyed the whole world civilization of Noah's day by a flood, Genesis chapter 66, 13.
And whole cities by fire, such as Godum and Samara, Genesis chapter 19. Why? He's a holy God, separate from sinners and perfect in righteousness, justice and purity. Romans 7, 12 says, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good.
In simple words, if you want to leave, keep the law. If you disobey the laws, you will not leave. You will die. Sin must be punished.
That's what we see in Romans chapter 6, verse 23. If the same law exists today, are we able to survive? It's a question. Let us assume a new law.
Okay, this is just an assumption, imagination. Don't take it seriously, okay? Let's say that it's a fitness law. The new fitness law says you have to run every day 10 miles.
And then just immediately you have to swim for another two miles. And once you finish two miles of swimming, and the law says you have to do one hour regular exercise. And then the law continually saying that you have to do every day. Then the law at the end, it says that if you can't able to do it, you will be shot immediately.
Then how many of you think that we can survive? Maybe on the day, first itself, most of us gone. And maybe some healthy people like Good in Fitness and a lot of good stamina may able to survive for a couple of days. That's it, right?
Thankfully, the situation I explained to you is not real. But there was an analogous situation that was real in the time of old-nessment, time of grace. Now we are all living in a grace period. We are all living in a grace period.
Two questions here. Why we need the time of grace is the gift of grace given to everyone that's a question. What is one time that focused mainly on God's justice and holiness and in the new testament, we see his focus towards grace and mercy. To understand the time of grace, we need to go back to Genesis, chapter one verse 21, God created mankind in his own image.
In the image of God, he created them male and female. He created them. When Adam sinned, sing entered the world. Adam's sin brought death.
So death spread to everyone. Genesis chapter 124 says, he drove the man out, he placed off the east side of the garden of Eid and Sharubium and a flaming sword, flashing back and forth to God the way of the tree of life. The man became a sinner, separated from his creator, all has sinned and falls short of the glory of God, Romans 3, 23. These shall be punished will be everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.
That's what we see in the second, the second, the second, the second, chapter one verse nine. That's the bad news, isn't it? God would require a sacrifice for sin. Now, man would need a substitute and sin bearer for sin.
John 3, 16, God sold out the world. He gave his only begotten son, that whose server should not perish but have everlasting life. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, that's what we see in John chapter 129. That's a good news for us.
First Timothy chapter one verse 15 says, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Time of grace is not like the time of love of God. In the time of grace, God is so patient. This is a very interesting verse here.
Romans 5, 20 says, people have seen more and more. God's wonderful grace became more abundant, more and more sin, more and more grace. God is withholding his judgment because he does not want anyone to perish. In Heimiah chapter 9 verse 31, in your great mercy, you did not destroy them completely or abandon them forever.
What a grace, what a gracious and merciful father we have. Psalms 194 says, the earth is filled with the love. Do you remember the song, Marvelous Grace of a Loving God? Grace that exceeds our sin and guilt and our guilt, amazing grace.
How sweet that sound. Second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9 says, my grace is sufficient for you. God's grace is sufficient in times of trials and tribulation. The good news is, grace is available to all.
Galatians 3, 13 says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. But remember, someday the period of grace will be suddenly over. So what we need to do, we need to acknowledge our sinfulness to God and put our faith in Jesus Christ. He has taken the penalty on himself if he died without receiving him or reject him, we will be judged for our sin.
Revelation chapter 12 verse 11 to 13 says, let the one who does wrong, can't do to wrong. Let the white person continue to be wild. Let the one who does right, can't need to do right. Let the holy person continue to be holy.
Look, I'm coming soon. My reward is with me and I will give you each person according to what they have done. I am the alpha and omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Matthew 24, 44 says, you must be ready because the son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Thirdly, time ahead of us. The future is coming. One of my university friends, he's currently working in one of the leading universities in the United States. I recently talked to him and I asked him, what kind of research you are doing?
He said, artificial intelligence. Then we had a little bit of chat about artificial intelligence. And he said, artificial intelligence can perform jobs like humans and a lot of new research currently going on. People talking about hydrogen planes to stop the carbon emissions, green funerals, living robots, artificial neurons on silicon chips, 3D printers, cancer, nanotherapy, the list goes on.
On the other hand, even after so much advancement in the medical science, millions of people, they'll lose, they lost their lives. That is a long list of incurable diseases in this world. Let us see what Bible says about it. If you see in Jeremiah, chapter 30 was 12 to 13.
This is what the Lord says, your injury is incurable at terrible wound. There is no one to help you or to bind up your injury. No medicine can kill you. This is just a beginning for more to come.
Matthew 24 verses six to eight says, you will hear a wars and reemos of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nations and the kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and yet quikes in various places.
Recently, Canadian Defense Minister, she spoke at a conference of defense experts and she said, this world is growing darker and more chaotic. She's right. We can see the same thing in Joel chapter two, verse two. Say it's the same thing, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and darkness.
Malachi chapter four, one says, surely the day is coming, it will burn like a furnace and the aragand and you will do your will subtle and the day that is coming will set them on fire says the Lord almighty. Not a root or branch will be left to them. Stephanie of 118 says, neither that silver nor the gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord's wrath. In the fire of his jealousy, the whole earth will be consumed for he will make a sudden end of all who leaves on the earth.
Amos 811 says, the days are coming, digglers the sovereign Lord. When I will send famine through the land, not a famine of food or a curse for water. It is very important. It's not a famine of food or a curse for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
We are so privileged here to hear the word of God today, but many places in the world, people are facing and all those challenges to hear the word of God. Deuteronomy 424 says, the Lord your God is a devouring fire. We all have a question here. Is there any hope for our world?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. All what is written in the Bible that will happen for sure. You may ask another question. Is there any hope for me?
The answer is yes. There is hope for you in Jesus Christ if you believe and follow him. Finally, time of judgment. Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead.
John 16, 8 says, when he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment. Psalm 96 was 13 says, he is coming. He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice and nations with his truth.
John 14 says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 1 1 says, in the beginning there was word and the word was with God and the word was God. And then in John 1 14 says, the word became fresh and made his going among us.
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the Father full of grace and truth. Do you know where the judgment will start? We can see that answer in 1st Peter, chapter four verse 17. It says, for its time for judgment to begin with God's temple and that God's spirit delves in your mindset.
So it says, 1st Peter 4, 17 clearly says, for it is time for judgment to begin with God's household. Who is God's household? You and me, God's household. In 1st Corinthians 16 says, you yourself are God's temple and that God's spirit delves in your midst.
Matthew 25 verse 31 to 46, I would like to finish by this. People are compared to sheep and goats as a metaphor. But this will really happen. The passage is often called judgment of the nations.
I'd like to read from verse 31 to 46 and I will finish it. When the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate that people, one from another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right, come. You who are blessed by the Father, take your inheritance. The kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I need a close and you quote me. I was sick and you looked after me.
I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord. When did you see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did you see as a stranger and invite you in, leading close or close you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? Then the king will reply, truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. That is Matthew chapter 25. I gave you one example of Graham Stains, least of these.
This morning we heard about brother David Spidell. His life, he is with Lord right now. Was 41 says, then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.
I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. I need a close and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.
They also will answer the Lord. When did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing close or sick or in prison and did not help you? He will reply, truly I tell you. Whenever you did not do one of the least of these, you did not do for me.
Then they will go away to eternal punishment but the righteous to eternal life. Time is ticking, I don't have much time to explain it. But to summarize this, I can put in three words, separation, secondly, sentencing and third is a surprise. This is no longer a man of sorrows.
This is the man, this is the son of man in his glory, sitting on the throne of the universe with authority over hell and heaven. The term least of these is a common one in Matthew and Jesus always uses that to refer to his disciples. So it is pretty clear he's talking specifically about the suffering Christians on the road to Damascus. When Jesus confronted to upholstered Paul, who was at the time persecuting the church, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Moulle l'outaikradhu vu'nakkakadinam, that is in Tamil. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. The final judgment is the end of human history and the beginning of the eternal state.
We are living in a grace period, Ephesians 5 or 16, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Our earthly life will not last longer. God demonstrated his love towards us that while we are etsiness Christ died for us. We love him because he first loved us.
Look chapter 12, Jesus gave a parable. He described a rich man who wanted to only eat, drink, and be merry, and had no time or thought for God. The rich man believed he had years yet to enjoy his pressures, but God required his soul that very night. We can learn from this parable that none of us know how many days will be granted.
So we must not waste our time. Jesus said in gospel of Matthew's, for what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? We are now in the age of grace. But when the age of grace is over, salvation will no longer available.
The Bible says that when we die, we will either go to heaven or hell. The choice is yours. This morning, Brother Warren picked up a song. It said, some golden day break, Jesus will come.
Battles all win, he will shout the victory. Are we ready for that? Brother, he might read about, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, about hope. He's coming, he's morning we heard about that.
We all have that hope. He's coming again. As C.S. Lewis, he famously put this one.
If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. Let us pray. Father, we thank you so much for this morning. We can hear you, Lord.
We thank you that you have delivered us from your wrath. And thank you for the gift of Christ. Our times are in your mighty hands. Thank you for giving this time of grace for each and every one of us.
Help us to use our time wisely in this world. Give us a heart to help others those who are in need. We may put our appointments on our calendar, but our times are in your hand. Teach us a lot to number our days and make the best use of our time serving you.
Be with us now and forevermore. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all you. Amen.