Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
You know, we're typically pretty good about counting things,
aren't we? When it comes the issue of
counting things, it's something that we do often.
You know, you log into the bank account and you count how much
money you have or, well, how much money you owe.
All right, That's something that we're familiar with doing.
If you turn on sports radio or you look at ESPN or one of the
many sports channels that are out there, they're constantly
counting the top five quarterbacks.
The top ten in college basketball, Who's really the
best in college football? Who should be in the playoffs
and who should be out of the playoffs?
Ranking and re ranking and counting.
You see it all the time. We rank businesses and
restaurants when we visit them, don't we?
One star to five stars. And some of you might have gone
on the Google after a bad experience somewhere and you
said I'm going to give them one star.
In fact, if I give them no stars, I would give them no
stars. We're counting and ranking in
those types of ways. We count steps, we count
calories, we count sleep cycles with our apps and well, counting
calories, something I haven't been doing lately, I think.
But in general, you understand businesses count sales and
profits and losses and all these different things.
But of all the things we number, perhaps the most important thing
to number is the thing that we don't often think about, and
that's this numbering our days. I'm not talking about time
necessarily in and of itself, because we do count a lot in
regards to time, don't we? We all wear or many of us wear
watches and certainly we carry our cell phones with us and they
always have the time on it in fact.
I feel like sometimes I need to have my phone on me, not because
I need to check texts or get calls, but just because I simply
want to make sure I can tell the time when we're in office at
the. School in a car, anywhere we go,
it seems like there's a clock nearby.
For some reason the church thought it was a good idea to
put a clock right in the back to make sure that actually I put it
there, but still to make sure that we are at least.
I know what time it is because we don't want to go way, way too
long. Amen.
OK, That was a trick. All right.
You're supposed to say no, pastor, go as long as you want.
No, never mind. But I agree with you.
We want to know what time it is, how many times a day.
Do you just want to check what time it is?
You need to see what the time is.
In fact, the most common question we probably ask is
this. Do you have the time?
You know what time it is, but we're going to see today from
this Psalm written by none other than Moses.
Believe it or not, we're familiar with David's psalms
mostly, aren't we? But Moses writing this Psalm,
Psalm chapter 90, is not necessarily the issue of telling
time or counting time, but the fact that we need to number our
days. What does that mean?
Why is it important to us, and why do we need to consider it
here today, particularly at the beginning of 2026?
Would you stand with me for the reading of God's Word?
Again, we're in. Psalm chapter 90 and we'll begin
reading in verse #9 For all our days are passed away in thy
wrath. We spend our years as a tale
that is told. The days of our years are three
score years and 10. And if by.
Reason of strength, they be 4 score years, yet is there
strength, labor and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we fly
away. By the way, if you're not sure 3
score, 4 score that some of you were thinking 4 score and seven
years ago, that's probably what you're thinking of.
It's talking about 70 years, 3 score and 10 or 4 score being 80
years, about the average length of life maybe that we could
consider. Who knoweth the power of thine
anger? It says in verse 11, even
according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
Look at verse 12. So teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
God wants us to number our days for what reason?
So we can live in a way that is. Wise in God's eyes and not
within our own life. And we'll look at what that
means for us this morning as we consider the issue of numbering
our days. Would you be seated?
And we'll pray together. Heavenly Father, we do thank you
for this morning. And we thank you for our guests
and visitors who are with us today.
We thank you for returning visitors.
We thank you for how you bless this church.
We think of those who are not able to be with us today.
And I think of several who are dealing with the flu or flu
light symptoms. I think of our brother Vince,
who's recovering from surgery and others.
I, I always hesitate to name names.
I don't want to miss anyone. But at the same Time, Lord, be
with those who are watching, those who are unable to be here,
Lord, those who are here today, Lord, may your word do what only
your word can do Lord, mine. My own thoughts and my own words
are so limited, Lord, they're, they're so meaningless in so
many ways. Lord, it's your word that
changes lives. And may that be what people here
today. And may that be what makes a
difference in people's lives today.
And we do ask it in Jesus name, Amen.
I mentioned just a few moments ago, this Psalm is an
interesting one for no other reason.
If only then the fact that the author is Moses and Moses was
not necessarily the person that we think of or the person who we
think of when we think of the book of Psalms, because we often
think of David, don't we? The sweet psalmist who wrote so
many of the Psalms. But there's one and one only
Psalm that is attributed to Moses in the 150 psalms that we
find in this book. And you're looking at it right
now, Psalm number 90, and interestingly enough, it says a
prayer of Moses. And by the way, above verse #1
do you see? It doesn't have a verse number
there, but it says a prayer of Moses, the man of God.
That verse there, if you would, is verse 0, or we would call it
a prescript instead of a postscript, meaning this.
It is part of the Bible. That was not supplied there by
your publisher. That was not supplied there by
someone else. It's actually part of the
biblical record. And so we're reading this.
It's not that your Bible publisher thought, hey, maybe
Moses wrote this and I'm going to put that in there.
But we know that this is. Inspired from the Lord that this
was written by Moses and how is he titled there in that verse 0
if you will, he's called the prayer of Moses the man of God.
Now the title man of God is actually not found that many
times in the word of God. It's very rarely used and it's
saved for some of the choices of God's servants, for instance,
David or Elijah, Elijah or a very few rare others.
And this alerts us by seeing that Moses is a man of God, that
this is a man who's about to give us some very keen spiritual
insight. This is a man who lived for not
70 or 80 years, but actually lived for 120 years.
And could we put it this way? He saw some things in his life.
He lived 40 years in Egypt and then 40 years in the backside of
the desert watching sheep, and then 40 years wandering around
the desert with the sheep of the people of Israel.
He spent 120 years, and during that time, particularly in the
last 40 years, he handled himself as a man of God.
In fact, the New Testament presents Moses as a supreme
servant in the Old Testament. He was faithful, he was
authoritative, he was prophetic. Putting it this way, when Moses
speaks, we ought to listen. I know we can say that all the
word of God, I mean, where should you not listen out of the
66 books that we find in the Bible.
But yet when Moses speaks, he lived in such a way that there's
something about us when, when we see that he's identified as a
man of God, there's some things that he gets by the inspiration
of the Spirit that we need to understand here today.
Now, Moses made a lot of different requests to the Lord
in the 40 or so years he was truly serving the Lord.
He made a lot of different requests.
Perhaps maybe the most famous or infamous of his request was at
the burning Bush. Do you remember after he had a
back and forth conversation with God a little bit, What was his
request? Lord, send someone else.
By the way, God was willing to work with Moses while he was
working through some of his difficulties.
You know, like I'm slow speech. Will they listen to me?
Who should I say sent me? The Lord was very willing to
work with him while he was dealing with some of those
difficulties. By the way, this isn't my
message, but can I take a time out and say this?
The Lord is willing to work with you with some of your
difficulties as well. Did you know you have some
difficulties? If you don't, Sir, just ask your
wife. She'll tell you what your
difficulties are. All right, did you know you have
some? We all have them, don't we?
We all have difficulties. The Lord is willing to work with
us if we come at those difficulties with an honest
heart. But here's where he got
crossways with God when he said this.
Lord, we ascend someone else. What was he saying, Lord?
I don't want to do it. Listen, you can have these
issues that you're trying to work out with the Lord.
Here's something you don't want to tell the Lord.
No. Could I give you a nickel's
worth of free advice this morning?
Don't tell the Lord no when He's working on your heart.
Don't tell the Lord no when you are reading His word and He's
impressing upon your heart. There's some things that you
need to change. Yes, you need to grow.
I need to grow too. Yes, there's some things that we
might have apprehensions about. I have those two.
The Lord is willing to work with us in those things.
But listen, have an open heart. Don't tell the Lord no.
And that's what Moses did. By the way, you know what it
said after that? The Lord got angry.
Why? Because he said no.
But as Moses began to grow, he asked some very interesting
requests of the Lord. For instance, Exodus chapter 32
verse #32 after the golden calf incident he said this If thou
wilt forgive their sin and if not Lord.
Blot me, I pray, out of thy book, he requested.
Lord, if you won't forgive them, will you curse me and forgive
them? We want to talk about a man with
a heart. It's a man with a heart, he says
in Exodus 33, the next chapter, he says, I beseech the Lord,
show me thy glory. And what a wonderful text that
is. Exodus 34, the very next
chapter. Let, my Lord, I pray thee, go
among. Us for it is a stiff necked
people. Lord, will you please go with us
because I can't handle this on my own.
Numbers 14 verse 19 pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of
this people. Moses was a man who was
acquainted of making requests to God, but perhaps his most unique
of all requests is right here in Psalm chapter 90 verse #12 where
it says this So teach us and could we even?
Put it this way. So teach us Lord.
I'm not trying to add to the Word of God, but it's obvious
that He's speaking to the Lord here.
In fact, you see it at the very next verse.
Oh, teach us, Lord. Or to what number our days?
His request was this. Lord, I need.
You to help me with something. I need You to help us with
something. We need to be able to number our
days now to understand exactly what we just read here in verses
#9 through 12. It actually helps us to go all
the way back to the beginning of the chapter.
So only 8 verses. So I want you to follow along
with me from verse #1 and going to verse #8.
Because there's a contrast that's taking place here.
The verses we're about to read show both the permanence.
And the power of God, listen, it shows the permanence.
What does that mean? He's always there, He said,
well, what happened at the beginning?
Well, he was there. Well, what would happen at the
end? Well, He'll be there after the
end, you say. Well, that doesn't make any
sense. That's called eternality.
That's called his permanence, and then His power, the great
power of God. Look at it here in verses one
through 8. Lord, thou has been our dwelling
place in all generations before the mountains were brought
forth. And that word before my Bible I
have circled before the mountains were brought forth, or
ever. Thou has formed the earth and
the world, even from everlasting to everlasting.
Thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction
and sayest return, ye children of men and talking about the
fact that that men will be judged and there's a returning.
Returning to what? Well, returning to dust.
I would say ashes to ashes and dust to dust.
That man was made out of the dust of the earth.
And man returns to the dust of the earth for 1000 years.
And I sight our but as yesterday.
When it is past, there's a watch in the night.
Thou carries them away with a flood.
They are as asleep in the morning.
They are like grass which groweth up in the morning it
flourisheth and groweth up in the evening.
It is cut down and withereth. For we are consumed by thine
anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled.
Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins, in
the light of Thy countenance so. What do we see in those eight
verses that we just read? We can't obviously treat them
all here this morning and dig through all of them, but I do
believe what we just saw in verses one through a the
contrast with the text we read at the beginning of the message
shows the contrast between the eternality of God and the very
temporary nature of man means this God always has.
Been God, always will be, but we're here for a short time.
And it also shows the contrast between the strength of God and
how fragile man is. So who are you calling fragile,
pastor? How many broken a bone in your
life? You'll find out how fragile you
are, aren't you? I've never broken a bone, all
things considered. I still find myself to be pretty
fragile, all things considered. Especially emotionally fragile.
No, no, I'm just kidding. Maybe I'm kidding, but anyway.
This is what I do know. You want to find out how fragile
you are? Why don't you fast?
We just struck oil. All right?
You know what happens? You know what's amazing?
I'm not a breakfast person. I've said this before.
I'm not a Big Breakfast person but when someone tells me I
can't have breakfast I want it all.
Do you know what I'm saying? Well Mr. Rivera, you got to fast
for this blood work. It's going to be till 11:00.
I don't normally eat breakfast till or have anything till 11:00
anyway. But when you tell me I can't,
now I got to have it. Why?
Because we're fragile, right? That's who we are.
But listen, we may be fragile. God is not fragile.
We may be temporary, but God is permanent.
We may be here. For a moment and gone the next
in the eons of time, if you will, and the time that we have
here since God created the world and until whenever the trumpet
sounds and but we do know this. God has always been.
And that brings us to our text. And Moses, first of all, says in
verse #9 that our life is like a tale.
And by tail I mean TALE like a story.
Now, we'll say when I very first preached from this text, not
this message, but I preached from this text, I want to say,
Diane, I mean, we've just been at Westgate for, for probably a
few months, I want to say. And so I was 2223 years old.
And I remember preaching from this text.
And I remember saying that, you know, that your life is like a
story. And what will your story of your
life be like? And I remember preaching that,
you know what? It's not a bad message
necessarily, but it's not really what the text is trying to say.
You know, our life is as a tale and meaning this.
It's like a story and it's a short story.
It's here 1 moment. And it's gone the next.
I believe that's the context when you look at everything
that's being spoken of here, how temporary the nature of man is.
Our life is like a tale. Your life is a story, but it's a
short story. Just as a tale is told in a
short fashion. Your life will come and go.
And so that's why Moses first of all says our life is like a
tale. And then it says that our life
is well time. In verse 10, the days of our
years are three score years and 10.
And if by reason of strength they be 4 score years gives
their strength of Labor tomorrow, for it's soon cut off,
we fly away. Now let me be clear about when
it talks about the 70 or 80 years saying that our life is a
70 or 80 year time time span. This is a general principle.
This is not a promise. We do not.
See that we are guaranteed by the word of God to have 70 or 80
years. You say well.
Can you give us an example? Moses 120 years, right?
He lived for 120 years and we don't always know exactly how
life. Manifests itself.
It's amazing to me and and so sorrowful to me when a parent
has to bury a child. The awful incorrect order of
life as it would seem to be particularly a very young child.
We also know that there are some who live to be 100 or more.
Just a few days ago, I believe was Dick Van Dyke, who just had
his 100th birthday. Unfathomable.
To me that that's even possible. But yet we see here that it says
as a general principle that our life could be somewhere around
70 to 80 years. It's saying this even if your
life is 70 to 80 years to be cut off in a moment, that we all are
finite in the time that we're here.
Our life isn't just a story. It's a clock.
It's a clock that's ticking downward.
You know, sometimes you see the sands of the hourglass and you
see the last sands go out of it. The difference for us is we
don't know how much sand is in that hourglass and we don't know
when it's going to come out. Listen, your life has been
appointed a time. The Lord knows the time.
We don't know the time, but you can be sure you have been
appointed a time. But this leads us to the
teaching in verse #12 And he says this teach us to number our
days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
We need to know that we make the most of the days we have so that
we can be wise in that which we do for the Lord.
And the fact that Moses says teach us means that it's
something that we we have to learn because it's not natural.
It's not natural to think of us about how much time we have
left. It's not normal for us to think
about the days that we have spent in our life.
I think of myself now being 43 years old.
I think we'll, as this looks here, I'm more than halfway
through my life now. I don't know if that's the case
and I don't know it either way, but I know this.
It's a distinct possibility. And I think about that and I
wonder, what have I done with my life?
What will I do with my life? You see, the numbering of our
days helps us to understand that each day has value.
The numbering of our days ought to make us live in a way that is
wise, Charles Spurgeon said. Of all arrhythmical rules, this
is the hardest to number our days.
Men can number the herds and droves of oxen or sheep they
own. They can estimate the revenues
of their manners and farms, They can with a little pain number
and tell their coins. And yet they are persuaded that
their days are infinite and innumerable and therefore do
never begin to number them. We just saw last week, well, for
the few of you that were here, a lot of you watched online last
week, but we just saw last week that there was a man who had
goods, there was a man who owned things.
And he said this, I've got barns, but it's not enough to
hold all I have, he says. So I'm going to tear down the
barns and I'm going to build bigger barns, but then what?
Did Jesus say of that man? He said, you fool, he says your
souls could be required of you and you have not made the proper
preparation. You thought that life was going
to be forever. You thought life was about the
here and now. He did not number his days and
what did he do? He did not apply his heart to
wisdom. And that brings us all to this
thought, which I want us to dwell on for a few moments this
morning. Since your days are numbered,
you need to live your life for the one whose days are without
number. Since your days are numbered,
you need to live your life for the one whose days are without
number. That contrast is seen right here
in Psalm chapter 90. He has no end.
We do, so we live for Him. He has all power.
We don't have much power, So what do we do?
We live for him. We apply ourselves to wisdom.
And so there's three things that I think 3 principles I want us
to look at from this text very quickly this morning.
I'd encourage you to write them down, particularly as we look
down the barrel here at a new year, January 4th.
We've got so much of the year ahead.
Consider these things this morning.
First of all, know this, and it sounds cliche, but it's found in
the Word of God. Every day counts.
And by counting, I mean that
every day matters. There's something at stake.
Every day the Lord allows you to wake up in the morning.
There's things for you to do, there's things for you to learn.
There's people for you to serve. There's souls that you need to
give the gospel to. There are things that you need
to give, and there's things that you need to receive.
Listen, every day counts. Meaning every day matters.
If our life is a tale that is told, listen.
We need to know that every word in a story, story matters.
What? What happens if you waste 10% of
the words in the story? Well, depending on where it is,
where those words are taken out, you might have a quite a
different story, can't you? I think of the old English
teacher joke. I was an English teacher for a
while about the difference between the sentence I ate comma
grandma and I ate grandma. Now you think about that for a
second. I ate comma Grandma or I ate
grandma no comma. With one sentence you were
telling grandma you had supper. The other sentence you're
telling grandma she is the supper.
That comma matters. Doesn't I ate grandma not No, I
hate grandma. You know that's not right.
Listen, what I'm saying is even every punctuation mark matters,
and the life that you have and the life that I have every.
Day matters. Every day counts.
Don't waste the days that God has given you.
Find something meaningful to do for him every day, even if it's
small, knowing that your life belongs to him.
Listen, show people Jesus Christ, Psalm, second
Corinthians chapter 3 verse 2 where he said your epistle
written in our hearts, known and read of all men.
You know what that verse is saying is that there's a lot of
people that will never read the Bible, but they'll see you and
you'll be the closest Bible that they've ever seen.
What would they get from you? Will they get the true word?
Will they get some other word that maybe pushes them further
from Christ? Listen, make every day count in
how you live for the Lord. Listen, clock in and clock out
of your job with purpose, knowing that you're serving the
Lord. You say, well, I'm not serving
the Lord. I'm serving this huge
corporation. I'm not serving this Lord, the
Lord. I'm serving this boss I don't
like. Listen, you are serving the Lord
through your testimony and through your ethic.
Yes, you can show Christ even in the job site.
Yes, make every day count. Go to school with meaning, do
your chores and make repairs with His Spirit.
Since every day counts, show Him every day to everyone in
everything that you do. That doesn't mean you get to
hand a track to everybody you talk to.
It doesn't mean you get to extend the name of Jesus Christ
to everybody you talk to. But it does mean this.
You can show people Christ through your countenance.
You can show people Christ through your decisions.
And listen, if you waste a day today, guess what?
There's another day tomorrow. Don't just decide that you
wasted the day for the Lord today and you're going to waste
the next week to make yourself feel better.
Bad about wasting today. Do people really do that?
Listen, I can tell you this that you start eating healthy and you
have a bad day and you're like, you know what?
It's Monday had a bad day, so I'm going to start next Sunday.
That's what we do, isn't it? But every day counts.
You mess up today. Well.
Confess it to the Lord and make tomorrow count.
You know what Satan wants you to do.
He wants you to make sure you waste today and then keep
wasting tomorrow and the following day and the following
day and the following day and the following day.
And you're always going to tell you along the way how no good
you are and how much a waste you are and how God's wasting His
time on you. And this is what He's going to
tell you. Listen, make every day count for
Him. And if you missed making today
count, listen, make tomorrow count for him #1 our life is a
tale is told. That means that every day counts
#2 every day is a currency, Every day is a currency.
Say, well, Pastor, what does that mean?
Well, really, it goes along with the last point.
But I would say this, that every day is a currency.
It's a commodity. It's something that you hold
meaning. This yesterday has already been
spent. Tomorrow's not in your account
yet. Do you know what you have to
spend today? Well, what am I going to do
tomorrow? It's not tomorrow.
You know, I'm not saying preparation and planning is a
bad thing. I encourage you to prepare and
plan. We just talked about this last
week and we looked at it where Jesus said that the fact was
that if you were going to build a tower, you ought to count to
make sure that you had enough money to build the tower.
If you were to go to war, you probably ought to make sure you
have more soldiers than the other people that you're going
to war with. That planning and preparation is
good. But listen, it only goes so far.
You can only serve the Lord today.
It's a currency, and if you waste today, listen, it's gone.
That's why it says we must number our days and apply our
hearts to wisdom. Are you willing to spend the
currency of today wisely? Could you imagine if I had $100
bill up here and I just, I have to imagine that, I guess.
So could you imagine $100 bill I have up here and I have a
shredder and I say, you know what, we've got a party coming
up here at the church. I think we've got a bridal
shower and then we got we got baby shower in different order,
but they're coming up. We need some confetti.
Let's put some $100 bills in here.
All right. They passed their cheaper ways
to make confetti than with $100 bills.
Somebody would say, why are we tithing at this church?
They just put $100 bills in the like.
That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
Listen, why would you do that? Listen, that money was made to
be spent. And if it's not spent today, it
will be spent eventually. But listen, your days are like
$100 bills that if you don't spend it today, you might as
well shred it. It's done, it's gone.
That conversation that you need to have, listen.
Have it today as the Lord allows that.
Person that you need to witness to talk to them today, that
person. That you need to reconcile with.
Try to reconcile with them today.
I know it's not always that easy, I understand that, but if
there is any possibility of it, don't put it off till tomorrow.
Spend the currency of it today. The Bible talks to us constantly
about making sure that we use the currency of today.
Psalm 118, verse 24. This is the day which the Lord
has made. Let us rejoice and be glad to do
Hebrews 313, but exhort one another daily while it is called
today, lest anyone of you be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin. You know what it says.
If you're going to be an encouragement to somebody, you
know a good time to be an encouragement to somebody today.
You know, I really want to encourage.
I was thinking about you. I mean, I didn't call you or
text you, but I was thinking about you.
Well, don't just think about them, call them and text them
today. Listen, the whole thing with
thoughts and prayers. I was thinking about you.
Listen, don't think about me. Pray for me.
Put the thoughts off to the side.
Just give me the. Prayers, all right, because I,
to be honest, I don't know how much I want you thinking about
me, all right, but I do want you.
Praying for me. I want you to pray.
I need. You to pray for me.
But it says, when do you do that?
Today, in the day that is called today.
Joshua 2425, perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible that
deals with today. And if it seemed evil unto you
to serve, the Lord, choose you. This day, whom you will serve,
whether you're gods which are served that your father served
on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, and
whose land you dwell. But As for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord. Joshua said this.
We're making a decision today, he said.
Well, I'm going to make a decision tomorrow.
Well, you're making a decision today not to.
And so you've made a decision by not making a decision.
Hey, Pastor, could you say that again?
I don't know that I could say it again, all right.
But I do know that you can put you can say I'm not going to
decide to do anything with today.
And listen, you just waste it. You shredded it, it's gone.
It's done. There's nothing to do with it.
Say, why wouldn't waste $100 bill that way?
Why would you waste a day like that, which is so far more
valuable than $100 bill? You know, they produce a lot of
things for $100. You know what they don't
produce? Time.
Jim Elliott, missionary to the unreached people of Ecuador,
believed obedience to Christ was worth any cost.
In 1956, he and four of the missionaries were killed when
attempting first contact. His journal line is often
quoted. Listen to this.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he
cannot lose. That's deep.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, meaning the things
of this life to gain what he cannot lose, the things of
eternity. Jesus put it this way.
They're not out for yourselves. Treasures on earth for most, and
moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves breakthrough and
steal. So instead lay up for yourselves
treasure in heaven. The ends with this, for where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also, meaning
this. The more you number your days
and the more you lay up your treasures, the currency of these
days the right way, you know your heart will be where it
needs to be every day. Excuse me?
Every day counts, every day is a currency #3 and finally, every
day is a countdown. Every day is a countdown.
Remember 3 score years and 1070 or 80 years as a principal.
Not a promise, but we do know. This it's a reminder that our
time will be up someday and we don't know when the buzzer will
sound. You watch a any Sport on
television today and they have right there in the bottom of the
screen or right there in the corner of the screen.
What do they have? The clock, you know when the
game is going to end reasonably so depending on how many fouls
or penalties or stuff there may be going on, but you have a
reasonable understanding of how long the game will go.
Now, remember when I coached girls basketball coach, high
school basketball, that we would go to a lot of gyms and most of
these gyms were pretty, you know, small and pretty Spartan
in the way that they were set up.
And if you were lucky, you had one electronic clock 1, and it
was only on one side of the gym. There's a problem.
You got to play both ways. So if we were at home, we always
made sure that we got the side where we saw the clock in the
fourth quarter. If we were away, they always
made sure that we got the side where you couldn't see the clock
in the fourth quarter. And so if we were very close and
we need to make sure we need to make a last second bucket, you
know what I had to do? I had to stop coaching and I had
to do this 10/9, 8. I had to count because I could
see the clock. None of them could because
they're back towards the clock and if you were against the
other team and they really want to get into your head, all of a
sudden people in the crowd and people in the other bench are
going. 479. Two, and they didn't know.
But listen, if they hit the buzzer could sound and they
could hold on to the ball and didn't even know it was time to
shoot and it was too late. So listen, do you know what I
told them? Now listen to this.
I had to tell the girls this. Don't listen to the other
voices. You listen to my voice.
I'm the coach. I'll tell you when the time's
up. No one else is going to tell you
one time. It is in fact, they're going to
try to tell you some other time. But I'm the one that will be
honest enough. I'm the one with the information
that will tell you when time is up.
Now, listen, I'm not trying to suggest this morning that if you
walk closely enough with God that He will give you the time
of your days. By the way, God is merciful and
gracious enough to not tell us when our time is.
You think you want to know that? I don't.
I'm not trying to suggest that this morning.
But I'm saying this. If you walk with God and you
follow His countdown, if you will, you'll be where you need
to be and you'll do what you need to do and you'll get
accomplished and you get accomplished if you listen to
his voice and not the voices of the world.
Know what the voices of the world tell you?
Don't go to church. You're wasting your time.
You're coming to to listen to to
some preacher who's standing up with his really weird looking
suit jacket and he's got that's why the church had to give him a
love offer. He's got another suit jacket.
You know what I'm saying? Christmas gift and you're going
to waste of your time. Why are you reading your Bible?
No waste. You know what you could do with
your. You know what you could do with
that? 15 minutes or or so, or however
long it is. In the morning when you're.
Having time with God you waste your time why would you pray
what a waste of time why would you fast what a waste of time
why would you try to reach other people for Christ what a what a
waste of time why would you prioritize your life to.
Live in a way that's pleasing to God.
Why don't you just please yourself?
That's what everyone else is doing.
Everyone else just wants to please themselves, and you're
missing out by trying to please the Lord.
Why would you do that? It sees all these other voices
are saying, do all these other things.
You know what some there will be a time when the Lord says time.
And you know what you'll have? You'll still be holding onto the
ball and it'll be too late. And the Bible says that there
will be tears as we approach heaven.
You say, pastor, that doesn't make sense.
I don't have time to go there. But the Book of Revelation says
he'll wipe every tear from our eye.
I always wonder why we're crying.
There's probably a lot of reasons for it.
I have to imagine one of those is the things that we knew we
should have done, but we were so worried about the here and now
and we'll be an eternity and look at what we had and say that
was so fleeting. It was momentary and we wasted
our life for things that don't matter.
Do you know if? You were on the.
Forbes 500 list and you're in heaven.
By the way, anyone here on the Forbes 500 list?
If you do, make sure you tie. All right, good, I'm in.
I see that hand. All right, good.
But I do. I do know this.
In heaven you could be a pauper and you're on equal ground.
That's right. That's right.
You live this life with nothing, you say?
Well, well, do you find that in the Bible?
I'll give you one worse. There is a man who lived his
life so badly, had sores all over himself.
He had nothing. He he, he begged for crumbs off
of a man's table. And that man was so rich that he
lacked nothing. But the Bible says that man
defended turning hell and Lazarus had comfort.
By the way, I don't believe that's a parable because
parables don't give names. There's a reason Lazarus was
mentioned as being in paradise and the other man mentioned
being in hell because he still had family that was spoken of in
that parable. Listen, it's real.
Count your days. Every day is a countdown the
Lord. And listen, we don't know when
the Lord will reappear again for his second coming.
We don't know if we'll go, as my preacher used to say, by the
undertaker or the upper taker. But we do know this.
Your time is short. Say, pastor, what are you
saying? Saying this, if you don't know
where you spend eternity, you don't wait another day.
Don't wait another minute. So I have questions about
eternity. I don't know where I'll spend
eternity. You know what?
The answer will not be in a catechism.
The answer will not be in a self help book.
The answer will not be with a new age gurus.
The answer will not be within yourself.
You know, just unlock the the, the, the person inside of you.
No, I'll tell you, I want to lock the person away that's
inside of me as I like the flesh.
I need to lock him away. I need he needs to die daily.
The Bible says read Romans 6-7 and eight.
Find out what you're supposed to do with that.
But I will say this, the answer is in this book and the gospel
message. There's some of you that have
been struggling with this. For a while.
So we've been struggling that whether the was the answer
Catholicism or is the answer in the Baptist Church or is the
answer in the Presbyterian Church or is the answer in the
Bible church, the answer in the non denominational church.
The answer you've missed is in Jesus Christ.
That other stuff we'll work out later, but the answer the
Gospels in Jesus Christ and that you're a Sinner and only he can
save you and that if you do not accept him that there is a very
real penalty for those sins that you will have to pay.
But Jesus already paid it for you.
So he wants you to take the free gift of salvation for those of
you that are saved. The message is this number your
days make every day count. Why?
Because well, he counts every day has value.
Why? Because he has the ultimate.
Value. Your days are numbered, so you
need to live your life for the one whose days are without
number. I'll give you this story and
I'll be done. Consider the story of a man
named William Borden. I've read this several years
ago. Some of you I I know living in
the South. Borden Dairy.
Borden milk was, was the milk that everybody drank.
But William Borden was the heir of that $1,000,000 family
fortune in the late 1800s. It was worth about 2 billion.
It is worth about $2 billion today, equivalent of what that
company was owed. He earned his undergraduate
degree from Yale and a graduate degree from Princeton Seminary.
Against all worldly logic, he left his millions and followed
the call of God to an unreached Muslim people group in western
China. He gave his life to Christ at
the young age and upon graduating from high school, his
parents rewarded him with a tour around the world.
He ventured across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and God
began to burden his heart for those who had never heard the
gospel of Christ. Williams own passion to follow
Christ was growing, he said, under the preaching of Doctor RA
Torre, a well known evangelist of the day, and felt the Holy
Spirit calling him to commit himself fully to Christ.
He wrote the words No reserves. His father was adamant that his
son attend university and so he obeyed his father's wish and
enrolled at Yale University. William began meeting with a
friend in the mornings to read the Bible and pray together and
soon another student joined them, then another.
The number of students showing up for morning prayer meetings
began to multiply and over the course of a few years what began
as a small group became a campus wide movement.
Some report that by the end of Williams first year.
At Yale, 150 students gathered in groups for prayer meetings,
and by a senior year, the movement grew to 1000 students.
Can you imagine that at Yale in New Haven, CT?
Could you imagine? That also during his college
years, he helped found Yale Hope Mission, seeking to rehabilitate
drunkards and others in need near the docks of New Haven.
The spirit of God stirred and burdened Williams heart
concerning the specific unreached Chinese so much that
he decided to pursue a master's degree from Princeton Seminary
and then sailed directly for China.
Upon graduation. He had several prestigious job
offers, but his mind was still set on China.
Borden then wrote the words No retreats.
William followed through with his plan to sail overseas and
obedience to God's call on his life.
Before going to China, he first spent time in Egypt learning the
Arabic language in preparation for his ministry to Muslims.
It was there they caught spinal meningitis.
William died one month later was buried in Cairo.
He was 25 years old. After his death, these three
phrases were found written inside of his Bible.
No reserves, no retreats, no regrets.
You say that man wasted his life.
He was 25 years old and died. And my response to you would be
this, 100 plus years later we're still talking about him.
There was a woman who wasted an alabaster box.
It would have been about a year's worth of salary.
And Jesus said, as long as I'm spoken of, this woman will be
spoken of in her sacrifice. It's not a waste.
Listen, when you give your life to the Lord, it is never a
waste. Listen, I'll say this and I'll
be done. He'll take better care of your
days than you will. So give your life to Him in
salvation, or continue to consecrate your life to Him on a
daily basis once you're saved. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.