The Clock Is Ticking

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the fourth Sunday in Lent, the 27th of March, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

I haven’t heard the term in a long time, but there actually is a point when a woman’s “biological clock is ticking”.  Medical professionals say this is around the age of 32, when a woman’s fertility starts to decline.  I never really cared for that term – it just seems like it was always said in a hurtful manner, so I don’t miss it at all.

There is a clock that is ticking, though, and it is biological, in a way.  This clock is ticking off the seconds until life on this earth comes to an end.  Each tick brings us closer to the return of our Lord, who is coming to set things right.

But we’re also in the midst right now of another countdown, and this one ends at the cross.  As we look ahead to the day the people turned against their Savior, we know how it all worked out.  Jesus knew, too, even before it happened.  He knew what was coming then, and what is yet in store for us today.

Please listen and follow along to just one instance where Jesus foretold the immediate future, as told by the Apostle John in chapter 12, verses 1 through 8 of his Gospel account, and I’ll be reading this from the Living Bible version of our Holy Bible…

1 Six days before the Passover ceremonies began, Jesus arrived in Bethany where Lazarus was — the man He had brought back to life. 2 A banquet was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus sat at the table with Him. 3 Then Mary took a jar of costly perfume made from essence of nard, and anointed Jesus’ feet with it and wiped them with her hair. And the house was filled with fragrance.

4 But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples — the one who would betray Him — said, 5 “That perfume was worth a fortune. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6 Not that he cared for the poor, but he was in charge of the disciples’ funds and often dipped into them for his own use!

7 Jesus replied, “Let her alone. She did it in preparation for My burial. 8 You can always help the poor, but I won’t be with you very long.”

--John 12:1-8 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for providing believers with this time in our Christian calendar to reflect on the life of Your Son Jesus and the example He set for us.  Out of Your love and mercy, You sent Jesus to us when we were dead in our sin.  You gave Him up so that through Him and His sacrifice we might be saved.  Thank You Father for caring so much about us.  Forgive us, please, when we begin to take our salvation for granted, when we fail to fully respect the sacrifice You and Jesus both made just for us.  Please help us understand how this impacts us personally, individually, and as a people.  And then help us to show other people how it affects them as well.  And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who do his work.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Help us hear the clock as each precious second ticks away.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Suppose you had a bank that credited your account with $86,400 each and every morning, but that carried over no balance from day to day.  It would not allow you to keep any cash in your account from one day to the next because every evening it would cancel out whatever part of the amount you failed to use during the day, resetting your balance to zero.  The question is, what would you do?  I bet you’d soon learn to draw out every cent every day and use it to your advantage!  Well, Family, you do indeed have such a bank, and its name is TIME!  Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds.  Every night it rules off as lost however much of this you failed to invest to good purpose.  It carries over no balances, it allows no overdrafts.  Each day it opens a new account with you.  If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours.  There is no going back.  There is no drawing against tomorrow.  To an eternal God, our time on earth is brief and He doesn't want us to waste it.  When we do, we throw away one of the most precious commodities He gives us.  Each second is an irretrievable gift -- an unredeemable slice of eternity.  

Sure, we have to sit at stoplights, wait in line at the grocery store, and other unproductive moments.  But what about the rest of our time?  Are we using it to advance the cause of Christ and to enhance our relationship with Him?  Is our time well spent?

The clock is ticking.

Biblical scholars still debate the timeframe that the Apostle John actually penned his Gospel account, with dates ranging from the late 60s up to 89 or 90 AD.  In any case, he wrote this book well after the events occurred that he describes in it, including Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.  John walked with Jesus for the three years of His ministry, being one of the first four that Jesus called to discipleship.  He was a first-hand eyewitness to these events.  So when he describes Judas as the one who betrayed Jesus and who often dipped his hand into the common funds, he knew these things because they had already happened.

But during the actual time of the events, as they were playing out, no one knew what would come next.  No one but Jesus, that is.  Jesus knew exactly what was to come, and when it would happen, and He tried to tell His followers often, but they just couldn’t quite accept it.

In our scripture reading, when Judas complained about Mary “wasting” expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet, our Lord told everyone within hearing that His death to this world would come soon.  He knew that Judas wasn’t really concerned about the poor, but He wanted to remind us all that we will have the poor with us as long as this world still exists.  He wanted to let His followers know that the clock was ticking and that He wouldn’t be with them much longer.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke each recorded three times in our Bible when Jesus spoke of His impending persecution and death, and there are many more times when He hinted at it, especially in John’s account.  We just looked at one of those hints, when Jesus said, “I won’t be with you very long”.  Let me read another to you.

This comes from earlier in John’s Gospel, when Jesus is defending His self-witness to the Pharisees.  In other words, they accused Him of witnessing to Himself, which, for normal humans, is not always trustworthy.  Listen to this interaction as recorded by John in chapter 8 of his Gospel account, verses 18 through 24…

18 “I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.”

19 Then they said to Him, “Where is Your Father?”

Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.”

20 These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.

21 Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”

22 So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?”

23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

--John 8:18-24 (NKJV)

Those are pretty powerful and scary words that Jesus spoke.  “I am going away” alludes to His impending death and departure from this world.  He even adds, “I am not of this world… I am from above”, letting us know that this world cannot hold Him because He is not of this world.  And then those damning words: “Where I go you cannot come.  You will die in your sin.”

Now remember, Jesus was speaking directly to the Pharisees, those who refused to believe, who actively worked against Jesus, and thus against God.  Later on, when Jesus was speaking with His disciples, He said, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.”  This was directed to believers.

What a huge difference!  Believers will someday come with Jesus to heaven and live with Him there.  Non-believers cannot follow Jesus to heaven but will die in their sin, the second death of everlasting pain and punishment, eternal separation from God.

Jesus bore witness of Himself through His teachings and His mighty signs, and God bore witness of Jesus as His Son at His baptism and His transfiguration.  Those who will not believe this witness will die in their sins.

Family, the clock is ticking.  The countdown has begun.  Right now in our observance of Lent, as we look ahead to Resurrection Day, we are getting closer to the cross.  We’re also getting closer and closer to the day when Jesus returns to this earth, when He will judge us all, separating the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff, the believers from the non-believers.

Soon, maybe very soon, the ticking will stop.  We’ll reach zero.  We’ll run out of options.  We need to get right with God, and we need to do as Jesus commands us and do what we can to help save the lost.  And we need to do it now, before it’s too late.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, You set a plan in motion to reconcile Your creation back to You, and Jesus carried out that plan to the letter.  He faithfully obeyed and served You, knowing all along how much He would have to suffer while in human form before He could return home to heaven.  Thank You, Father, for doing all this for us.  And thank You for giving us the chance to get right with You.  Father, sometimes we just don’t do as You and Jesus command us.  Sometimes we get too wrapped up with the day and all its busyness to concern ourselves with higher ideals than self.   We know the clock is still ticking, because Jesus has not yet returned to complete Your plan.  We know we still have work to do to fulfill our part of the covenant You made with us and signed with Your Son’s blood.   Forgive us, Father, our disobediences.  Forgive us when we fail to truly show our love to others.  Please help us be better servants.  And Father, please help us remain strong, faithful, and true through all that we face in this age.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You came to carry out God’s plan of salvation and You did everything He asked of You.  You showed us the truth and You set clear examples for us to follow in righteous living.  Thank You, Lord, for giving us a chance at redemption.  Too often, though, Lord, we don’t show our own love by doing as You command us.  We worry too much about ourselves and less about others.  We think the lost deserve what they get so that we can rationalize not helping them.  Please, Lord, forgive us.  Help us be more receptive to Your voice, more mindful of Your own example of sacrificial love.  Remind us that we are Yours, that You paid for us with Your own life.  Show us our failings and how to correct them.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these very difficult times.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.