The Process of Time
Bible Study Time 7-16-06
Church links:
Bible Study Time 7-16-06
It was the Apostle Paul who first gave us an explanation for all of the evil that is so very prevalent in our world today. Early in Paul’s ministry, he went out as a minister of the New Covenant explaining that anybody can become a new creation through simple faith in Christ. This is a powerful doctrine for it teaches that we as human beings can go from being an essentially evil and sinful person to becoming an essentially righteous and holy person.
Obviously, however, an integral aspect of this doctrine is that all humans are essentially sinful and evil until they become a new creation in Christ, and Paul did not back down from that conclusion by any means. Paul said in Romans 7:
Romans 7:18, 21 (NKJ)
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me . . .
As in turns out, if we look back in Chapter 5 of Romans, we see that Paul had already given us a hint as to the origin of man’s propensity for sin. He said:
Romans 5:12 (NKJ)
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men . . .
When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, it resulted in the sin nature being passed down to all of his descendants. So with this understanding we should not be alarmed to find a story of envy, hatred and murder in the very first chapter after Adam’s sin. Genesis, Chapter 4, tells us that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground while Abel brought an animal sacrifice. When God refused to accept Cain’s offering, Cain became very angry and ultimately killed Abel.
Now there was no logical reason for Cain to refuse to bring this animal sacrifice. It would have been a simple thing to do, but the devil specializes in making us do some really dumb things. Things that don’t make any sense. And then he is delighted if and when we have to face the consequences of our rebellion.
Many people today are just like Cain. They have chosen not to accept God’s plan for salvation. God has given us the Bible, and He has given us preachers who preach the gospel of the grace of God from pulpits, from street corners, on the radio and on television, but still people refuse to accept the means of salvation which God has provided. The Bible says that:
John 3:16 (KJV)
16 . . . God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The Bible warns us that:
John 3:36 (NKJ)
36 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; (but) he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
How simple it is for us to have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Isn’t it strange that so many people respond to God’s grace by stiffening their necks and hardening their hearts? But God is so merciful and so gracious. He gives us opportunity after opportunity to get our hearts right with God. When the Bible speaks of Cain’s offering, it actually says that:
Genesis 4:3 (NKJ)
3 . . . in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.
In other words, Cain decided to bring this sacrifice of fruit to the Lord after the process of time. This implies that God had taken the time to explain to Cain and Abel exactly what kind of an offering they were to bring.
God never requires people to do things without first explaining what things they are suppose to do and how they are suppose to do them. God never brings judgment upon people who have never had the opportunity to change their ways and get right with God. God always provides a process of time in which people have the opportunity to get right with God.
In the case of Cain and Abel, we know that God explained to Cain and Abel what sacrifice to bring because the book of Hebrews says that it was by faith that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. As a matter of fact, it may have been that in the process of time, Cain had brought the proper sacrifice to God on many occasions but then all of a sudden decided that there was no good reason for God to refuse the fruit of the ground which he had grown.
The devil is so good at sneaking in a thought here and a thought there to undermine the word of God, but the fact remains, we are under no obligation to understand the purposes of God, but we are required to take God at His word. Abel just took God at His word and brought an animal sacrifice by faith. He was rewarded with eternal life and was even granted a place in what many people call the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, and I’m sure Abel will be rejoicing throughout all of eternity that he heeded the instructions of the Lord which were given in that process of time.
When we look at the scriptures we see that God has always provided for mankind a process of time for instruction and warning. Peter called Noah a preacher of righteousness, and many Bible scholars believe that Noah preached to the people before the flood for 120 years to warn them of the judgment to come, but through this process of time, only 8 people entered into the ark and were saved from the judgment waters of the flood.
During the years of the Old Covenant Law, God repeatedly warned the nation of Israel about the dangers of not keeping the Law. Even Moses warned them of the curse that would come upon them if they refused to live by the Law. So the Old Covenant Law was in a sense a process of time in which God instructed the people in the ways of the Law and warned them of the consequences of breaking the Law.
John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus came as ministers of the New Covenant and again we see a process of time for instruction and warning. John the Baptist said that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, but he warned them that the coming Messiah would bring a baptism of fire. He said:
Matthew 3:11-12 (NKJ)
11 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
12 "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
The Lord Jesus taught that He had come to give life and life more abundant. He said, “If you seek, you will find. If your ask, you will receive. If you knock, the door will be opened unto you.” He said:
John 6:51 (NKJ)
51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever . . .
John 7:37-38 (NKJ)
37 (He said) "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
John 11:25-26 (KJV)
25 Jesus said . . ., I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die . . .
But as the Lord spread the good news of the kingdom, He also warned the nation of Israel about the consequences of unbelief. He said:
John 15:1,2,5,6 (NKJ)
1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
When the Lord Jesus offered up His life on the cross, He was shedding the blood of the New Covenant. After the cross there was again a process of time in which the Apostles went out declaring that Jesus was the Christ and that He had been raised from the dead. They warned the nation of Israel that the great and terrible Day of the Lord was at hand and that it was time to repent and get their hearts right with God.
In the Apostle Paul’s early ministry, he went out as a minister of the New Covenant and warned the Jews in Romans, Chapter 9, that only a small remnant of the nation of Israel will ultimately be saved and inherit the kingdom, but then in Romans, Chapter 11, he said that someday all Israel will be saved. Well, how does Paul go from a small remnant being saved to all Israel being saved? Obviously, in the kingdom all Israel will be saved but before the kingdom God is going to purge the nation of Israel, and all those who are not abiding in Jesus Christ will be cast into the fires of judgment.
In this process of time, Israel rejected Jesus as her Messiah, and God temporarily set aside the New Covenant program. At that point, God called the Apostle Paul to reveal the Church of our present age, the Church which is the Body of Christ. Our present age is one in which God is demonstrating His mercy and His grace. He is not overtly sending specific judgments upon people for specific sins, but He is using this time as a time of instruction and warning about the judgments to come.
Sometimes we hear people after a natural disaster who say that God sent that disaster as a specific judgment for this sin or that sin, but God is not working that way today. Today, God is demonstrating that He is full of longsuffering and grace. This is the age in which God is simply opening up his arms to receive all those who come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ.
Now I have to admit that when I see some of the terrible destruction and death that accompanied some of our recent natural disasters, I have to wonder if God is not giving the world a small taste of the suffering that lies ahead for this planet. I think that if I were lost, it would make me want to get my heart right with God.
And if you are listening this morning and you don’t know the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior, I hope that you will consider the things that lie ahead for this world. Someday in the future, and it may be very soon, God will catch up His Church to be with Him in heaven and then this age of God’s grace will end, and the very next thing on the calendar for the citizens of the earth is the great tribulation period.
We can be thankful today that we are still in the process of time which God is using to instruct and warn people like he did Cain so many years ago. God is using this time to bring to Himself all those who will heed His call. Those who heed His call will be saved from the wrath to come, and they will rejoice with all of the faithful throughout eternity.
God instructed Abel to bring an animal sacrifice and because of his faith he was given eternal life. Today God has provided the Lord Jesus as our sacrifice for sin, and all those who are willing to put their trust in His finished work upon the cross are given eternal life. It’s just that simple. As Paul told the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. It’s been a pleasure being with you this morning, and I’ll look forward to being with again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Obviously, however, an integral aspect of this doctrine is that all humans are essentially sinful and evil until they become a new creation in Christ, and Paul did not back down from that conclusion by any means. Paul said in Romans 7:
Romans 7:18, 21 (NKJ)
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me . . .
As in turns out, if we look back in Chapter 5 of Romans, we see that Paul had already given us a hint as to the origin of man’s propensity for sin. He said:
Romans 5:12 (NKJ)
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men . . .
When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, it resulted in the sin nature being passed down to all of his descendants. So with this understanding we should not be alarmed to find a story of envy, hatred and murder in the very first chapter after Adam’s sin. Genesis, Chapter 4, tells us that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground while Abel brought an animal sacrifice. When God refused to accept Cain’s offering, Cain became very angry and ultimately killed Abel.
Now there was no logical reason for Cain to refuse to bring this animal sacrifice. It would have been a simple thing to do, but the devil specializes in making us do some really dumb things. Things that don’t make any sense. And then he is delighted if and when we have to face the consequences of our rebellion.
Many people today are just like Cain. They have chosen not to accept God’s plan for salvation. God has given us the Bible, and He has given us preachers who preach the gospel of the grace of God from pulpits, from street corners, on the radio and on television, but still people refuse to accept the means of salvation which God has provided. The Bible says that:
John 3:16 (KJV)
16 . . . God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The Bible warns us that:
John 3:36 (NKJ)
36 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; (but) he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
How simple it is for us to have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Isn’t it strange that so many people respond to God’s grace by stiffening their necks and hardening their hearts? But God is so merciful and so gracious. He gives us opportunity after opportunity to get our hearts right with God. When the Bible speaks of Cain’s offering, it actually says that:
Genesis 4:3 (NKJ)
3 . . . in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.
In other words, Cain decided to bring this sacrifice of fruit to the Lord after the process of time. This implies that God had taken the time to explain to Cain and Abel exactly what kind of an offering they were to bring.
God never requires people to do things without first explaining what things they are suppose to do and how they are suppose to do them. God never brings judgment upon people who have never had the opportunity to change their ways and get right with God. God always provides a process of time in which people have the opportunity to get right with God.
In the case of Cain and Abel, we know that God explained to Cain and Abel what sacrifice to bring because the book of Hebrews says that it was by faith that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. As a matter of fact, it may have been that in the process of time, Cain had brought the proper sacrifice to God on many occasions but then all of a sudden decided that there was no good reason for God to refuse the fruit of the ground which he had grown.
The devil is so good at sneaking in a thought here and a thought there to undermine the word of God, but the fact remains, we are under no obligation to understand the purposes of God, but we are required to take God at His word. Abel just took God at His word and brought an animal sacrifice by faith. He was rewarded with eternal life and was even granted a place in what many people call the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, and I’m sure Abel will be rejoicing throughout all of eternity that he heeded the instructions of the Lord which were given in that process of time.
When we look at the scriptures we see that God has always provided for mankind a process of time for instruction and warning. Peter called Noah a preacher of righteousness, and many Bible scholars believe that Noah preached to the people before the flood for 120 years to warn them of the judgment to come, but through this process of time, only 8 people entered into the ark and were saved from the judgment waters of the flood.
During the years of the Old Covenant Law, God repeatedly warned the nation of Israel about the dangers of not keeping the Law. Even Moses warned them of the curse that would come upon them if they refused to live by the Law. So the Old Covenant Law was in a sense a process of time in which God instructed the people in the ways of the Law and warned them of the consequences of breaking the Law.
John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus came as ministers of the New Covenant and again we see a process of time for instruction and warning. John the Baptist said that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, but he warned them that the coming Messiah would bring a baptism of fire. He said:
Matthew 3:11-12 (NKJ)
11 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
12 "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
The Lord Jesus taught that He had come to give life and life more abundant. He said, “If you seek, you will find. If your ask, you will receive. If you knock, the door will be opened unto you.” He said:
John 6:51 (NKJ)
51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever . . .
John 7:37-38 (NKJ)
37 (He said) "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
John 11:25-26 (KJV)
25 Jesus said . . ., I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die . . .
But as the Lord spread the good news of the kingdom, He also warned the nation of Israel about the consequences of unbelief. He said:
John 15:1,2,5,6 (NKJ)
1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
When the Lord Jesus offered up His life on the cross, He was shedding the blood of the New Covenant. After the cross there was again a process of time in which the Apostles went out declaring that Jesus was the Christ and that He had been raised from the dead. They warned the nation of Israel that the great and terrible Day of the Lord was at hand and that it was time to repent and get their hearts right with God.
In the Apostle Paul’s early ministry, he went out as a minister of the New Covenant and warned the Jews in Romans, Chapter 9, that only a small remnant of the nation of Israel will ultimately be saved and inherit the kingdom, but then in Romans, Chapter 11, he said that someday all Israel will be saved. Well, how does Paul go from a small remnant being saved to all Israel being saved? Obviously, in the kingdom all Israel will be saved but before the kingdom God is going to purge the nation of Israel, and all those who are not abiding in Jesus Christ will be cast into the fires of judgment.
In this process of time, Israel rejected Jesus as her Messiah, and God temporarily set aside the New Covenant program. At that point, God called the Apostle Paul to reveal the Church of our present age, the Church which is the Body of Christ. Our present age is one in which God is demonstrating His mercy and His grace. He is not overtly sending specific judgments upon people for specific sins, but He is using this time as a time of instruction and warning about the judgments to come.
Sometimes we hear people after a natural disaster who say that God sent that disaster as a specific judgment for this sin or that sin, but God is not working that way today. Today, God is demonstrating that He is full of longsuffering and grace. This is the age in which God is simply opening up his arms to receive all those who come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ.
Now I have to admit that when I see some of the terrible destruction and death that accompanied some of our recent natural disasters, I have to wonder if God is not giving the world a small taste of the suffering that lies ahead for this planet. I think that if I were lost, it would make me want to get my heart right with God.
And if you are listening this morning and you don’t know the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior, I hope that you will consider the things that lie ahead for this world. Someday in the future, and it may be very soon, God will catch up His Church to be with Him in heaven and then this age of God’s grace will end, and the very next thing on the calendar for the citizens of the earth is the great tribulation period.
We can be thankful today that we are still in the process of time which God is using to instruct and warn people like he did Cain so many years ago. God is using this time to bring to Himself all those who will heed His call. Those who heed His call will be saved from the wrath to come, and they will rejoice with all of the faithful throughout eternity.
God instructed Abel to bring an animal sacrifice and because of his faith he was given eternal life. Today God has provided the Lord Jesus as our sacrifice for sin, and all those who are willing to put their trust in His finished work upon the cross are given eternal life. It’s just that simple. As Paul told the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. It’s been a pleasure being with you this morning, and I’ll look forward to being with again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
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