Important -Day-s of Scripture

I want to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. When you start up those stairs to this platform, you're committed. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, we'll read from verse 7. So that ye come behind, come short in no gift, waiting for the coming, the unveiling or the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, blameless, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not reading these in the order I intend to speak on them, just in the order you find them in your Bible.

1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 12, Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it. Because it shall be revealed by fire, the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Chapter 4, verse 2, Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

But with me it is the very smallest thing, the smallest matter, that I should be judged or examined by you, or by man's judgment, by man's day. Yea, I judge not or examine not even my own self, for I know nothing by or against myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.

And then shall every man have praise of God. Take the time with me to read in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 2 he says, For he saith, I heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee. Behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation.

Turn over to 2 Thessalonians, perhaps rather in Philippians chapter 1 first of all. Philippians chapter 1, verses, Verse 6, Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Verse 9 he says, And this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may approve things that are excellent, more excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense, till are with a view to the day of Christ, being filled with the fruit of righteousness.

Alas, almost last of all, two more references. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 1, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us as of the day of Christ. Or better is read, the day of the Lord is at hand.

That no man deceive you by any means, and so on. Last of all in 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3, we'll just read verse 9. 2 Peter 3 and verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. That's the promise concerning his coming back to the earth.

As some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, into which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming, anticipating the coming of the day of God, wherein or because of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Now I know that's a lot of reading, but there's so much more that could have been read.

And maybe I should have indicated what I have on my mind before I ever began to read. I'd like to speak to you a little bit about these important days of Scripture. I'm sure that like me, when I was younger, there are many younger believers here who are somewhat confused.

What are these terms and what do they indicate? These days that are being spoken of and which we've read and many more scriptures could be read together. I think it's one thing that's very important to notice, first of all, that these days that we've read about are not 24-hour days. We do believe that the days of Genesis chapter 1 are days of 24-hours duration.

When God made this world into an inhabitable place where he's going to carry out his great purposes. But the days that we've read about in these passages have to do with periods in which there are great events that are characteristic of each one. There are days in which God is going to move in a very marvelous way or which he has been moving.

And I think we should appreciate them and understand that God is moving forward and onward slowly, perhaps too slowly for men, but ultimately he's going to bring in that tremendous day, the day of God. And you might call it the eternal day. An eternal state which is so wonderfully described in the word of God, so different and so much a contrast to the conditions of the day in which we live.

Yet we wonder sometimes when all these things will take place. Just remember that like 2 Peter chapter 3 tells us that even though it seems like the Lord is tardy or late concerning his promise, as men would count tardiness, the Lord is simply long-suffering, not willing that any should perish. I want to think with you about the day of man in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. I want to link that with the day of salvation in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. I would judge those days run concurrently.

That is, the day of man on one side is also the day of salvation on the other. So we can see that there's two aspects of the day in which we live. This particular period of time that we oftentimes term the day of grace, a term that's not actually found in the Bible but is actually very descriptive, it's really the day of salvation.

It's the day of man. And there are certain characteristics that go on in this period of time. We read about the day of the Lord Jesus or the day of Jesus Christ.

The day of the Lord Jesus Christ and, of course, that day. And I take it that there are subtle differences between those expressions. But primarily, for simplicity's sake, we'll relate them to one tremendous moment that begins with the rapture of the church.

And I take it that that runs in one sense of the word at least part of the time concurrently with the day of the Lord. That the day of Christ is a heavenly sphere. The day of Christ is what will take place in relation to Christ and His church.

And the day of the Lord is what will take place in Jehovah's dealings with the nation of Israel and with the nations of this world. So we have two days, the day of Christ and the day of the Lord. And they need to be recognized.

We need to make a distinction. And then ultimately we read in 2 Peter 3 about the day of God. And I take that to be eternity.

I hope you agree with that. That's what God is moving forward to. A day when, as Revelation describes it so aptly, righteousness will be at home.

And all the conditions of this troubled, anxious, tumultuous world will be a thing of the past. And what a day that's going to be when God's ultimate purposes are accomplished. And we'll have a people that will never, ever sin.

And a world that will never rebel against Him again. And so look at these days with me very quickly as much as we can. Think of it about this day of man.

1 Corinthians 4, Paul relates it, and I know our Bible says man's judgment. But if you want to look it up in Strong's Concordance or any other resource, you'll find that that is the only instance in which this word is translated judgment. In every other case, or the majority of the cases, it is translated as day.

But it is a day that is related to man being allowed to carry out his judgment. It's a day which is marked by God's tolerance. God's allowing men to move in rebellious character against Him.

Allowing men to hear the gospel and to reject it. Even a day which we might say includes that moment when men in their ultimate rejection and rebellion against the eternal God crucified the Son of God. And God allowed that to take place.

He allowed Pilate to carry out an unrighteous judgment that was almost necessitated, he felt, because of the attitude of the Jews. It's a day in which man could nail the Son of God to the cross and put Him to an open shame even by continuing to reject Him today. It's a day in which God allows men to act upon their own determination and according to their own will.

And to even assert that will against God in heaven. Now I know that there are many cases in which God would override man's will. I'm only saying that in general.

I'm just saying that God in a great measure allows men to move agnostically and atheistically rejecting His Word and turning away from His truth and saying no to the eternal God of heaven. God allows that. Not to say that man won't pay a price for that.

But He allows it. And that's the character of the day in which we live. That's why it's a day of grace.

It's a day when God is dealing with men in a long-suffering way and allowing them to go on their own course that is determined by their willingly rebellious hearts. And God allows men to say no even to the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Now I know there are various aspects of that truth.

But nevertheless we recognize that it is a day when God tolerates. Can I use that word? God tolerates. In the days of Noah you remember that God looked upon this world and He saw the increase of the wickedness of man continually rising greater and greater.

Higher and higher. Until the point finally came God says that the wickedness of man was great in all the earth. And finally God said He would destroy the earth with a flood.

Well remember that God waited in the days of Noah 120 years. The long-suffering of God waited Peter tells us. We're living in a day of the long-suffering of God as He looks upon a world that is increasingly filled with violence.

A world that is leading ultimately toward anarchy. A world in which men can pursue immoral deeds and patterns of behavior. A world in which men determine their own course and allow unbridled lust to be expressed.

If you can't understand that in view of the day in which we're living certainly you can understand it in relation to what is taking place. God allows it. I take it that if God looks upon this world there's nothing in it apart from the child of God.

The believers who would allow Him to continue to show mercy and kindness to this world. You know it was the presence of Lot in the city of Sodom that actually preserved that city. God said He could not bring judgment upon that city until Lot had escaped from it.

The time when Lot was removed from that scene the judgment of God fell. And so we read that the presence of the Spirit of God in this world as well as the church itself is a preservative. You're the salt of the earth the Lord Jesus said.

A great preservative in this world. You know the world in general ought to thank the Christian that they're still here. Because were it not so the judgment of God would come without any hesitation.

So we're living in man's day and Paul could say that in relation to his own servants. He wasn't too concerned about even the Corinthians assessing his servants. He wasn't too concerned about their evaluation of his motives.

He wasn't too worried about their examination of his purposes. He simply was recognizing the fact this is man's day. And in man's day the believers in Corinth could criticize God's servant.

In man's day they could condemn him for things that they thought that were contrary to their own mind and will. And God allowed it. And Paul tolerated it.

Because Paul said this is man's day. A day when you can censure me. A day when you can only look on the outside and try to judge the inside and not even know what my motives are.

And not know what the character of my service is. But since it's man's day you can do that. Just remember when you and I criticize God's people and condemn them, it's man's day.

It's man's judgment. Not to say that we're not responsible for local assembly discipline. I'm not saying that.

But I'm saying that the attitude of criticism is a part of man's day. Not only that, Paul could say that in relation to this present day that he himself did not even have the ability to examine himself properly. Not to say that he didn't examine himself.

I hope you and I examine ourselves in relation to our life and service. I hope that we recognize that self-judgment is essential in relation to our continuing and close relationship with the Lord Jesus. But Paul says even the best degree of self-examination that I'm capable of carrying out may be faulty.

Because man's day is never perfect. Man's judgment falls short. So man's day is characterized by God allowing those conditions to go on without intervening in a direct way that is going to be characteristic of the future.

But along with that, I would say that this is the day of salvation. If it's man's day from man's side, it's God's salvation, the day of salvation from God's side. And God is moving in His long-suffering character and He is truly making this a day of grace.

Thank God we live in such a day. A day when, like our brother has reminded us this morning, the gospel not only can go forth, but it goes with a mandate from the Lord Jesus to go into all the world and preach the gospel. And it's a day in which this gospel is being offered.

That God, who is no respecter of persons, that even in an audience like this or in a city like this or in a world in general, there's an offer of salvation being made because of a provision that was accomplished at Calvary. But in this present day, it is a period of time when souls can avail themselves of the salvation that is provided through the Lord Jesus. But in this day, the Spirit of God, as John's gospel chapter 16 tells us, that when He has come, the Spirit of Truth, He will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

And it is in this world that is looming toward judgment and moving nearer and nearer to the time when His patience will come to an end. It is a day when the Spirit of God moves to seek to draw souls to the Savior. And even in a meeting like this, for the ministry of the Word of God, the Spirit of God, dear soul, would seek to draw you to the Savior of sinners that you might trust Him and avail yourself of this present provision that has been made through the Lord Jesus.

And so Paul could tell them in that day, in his day, it's a day of salvation. He's writing to believers in Corinth, and he's reminding them that they should never receive the grace of God in vain. That is, that that grace of God should never fail to be fully expressed and appreciated and understood in their hearts.

There should be a response. And God desires in your life and mine, dear child of God, that in this day of salvation, we not only feel our responsibility to carry the gospel to others, beginning with our neighbors, our families, those in our area, and carry it as far as you and I can take it. We also have a responsibility to live in the good of it and to enjoy the blessing of it.

I find it remarkable that Paul could write to the assembly in Thessalonica. I think of the vividness of expression that from you sounded out the Word of the Lord to all that were in Macedonia and in Achaia. I'm impressed when I think what a tremendous area was covered by that small group of believers in Thessalonica.

It's a day of salvation. It's a day when there is an offer being made because of the provision of Calvary. It's a day when God would seek to intervene in the lives of men and arrest them on their downward path and turn them to the Lord Jesus that they might trust Him.

Brother, we are in the day of salvation. We're in the day in which God would seek to use you and me to carry the gospel wherever He would send us. We are the feet.

We are the hands. We are the voice of the Lord Jesus in this present world. May God use us.

And may God exercise our hearts to recognize the tremendous value and the shortness of the day because whenever you read about the day, it's impressed upon us how short it is. So it's a day of salvation. It's a day of passing opportunity.

It's a day when God seeks to draw souls to the Savior and a day in which sinners can come to know the Lord Jesus. What a tremendous day we live in. Thank God for it.

But I need to quickly go on. I want you to think with me about the day of Christ, the day of the Lord Jesus. Now I know that you'll find that numerous times in your New Testament.

I haven't read even nearly all of the references to the day of Christ. However it is termed in your Bible and my Bible, I believe it refers to events that will take place. And brother, with all my heart, I believe that that day could start at any moment.

So far as you and I are concerned, we're looking for the Lord from heaven. We're anticipating the coming of our Savior. We thank God it's a day of redemption as Romans chapter 8 tells us.

A day when body, soul, and spirit united and transformed will be in the presence of the Lord Jesus. It's a day that commenced with a shout. The voice of the archangel, the trump of God.

We're going to be caught away in a moment of time. Like Enoch was taken after having walked with God for 300 years, he was not. Because God took him.

What a picture of the church at the end of this dispensation. In a moment of time to be here and then with the Lord. Thank God we look for that far more than we look for the undertaker.

I take it that this day begins with a rapture. Don't let anyone tell you the rapture is not in the Bible. It's definitely in the Bible.

It's a snatching away of God's people. It's that moment of translation from this world into the other. It's that moment of taking us out of this body of clay, this body with all of its limitations, this body of humiliation that Paul could speak about in Philippians 2. Take us into the presence of the Lord Jesus.

Chapter 3, sorry. In chapter 3. This body of humiliation to be transformed into the body of His glory. Why what a day that's going to be.

To be with the Lord Jesus. To be like the Lord Jesus. To enjoy His presence for eternity.

That's going to be a tremendous moment in God's calendar. We wait for that moment. I hope you're waiting for that.

You know the Word of God says we wait for the Lord from heaven. It's the idea of waiting expectantly. Waiting with anticipation.

Waiting with longing. Waiting with great desire. At any moment I'll see Him.

Ever stop to think what it's going to be like? Now and then I try to think about that. Think of what that moment's going to be when for the first time we look upon the One who endured the cross. Who sank under the great billows of the wrath of God for us.

Paid the tremendous price that He might redeem our souls to God. We'll look upon Him. And we'll be like Him.

But I would take it as well this day of Christ is a heavenly sphere for the believer. That includes that solemn moment. That period.

That event. When as believers we'll stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus. Not just to look upon Him.

But for Him to look upon us. We have references in the Word of God that tell us that judgment seat of Christ. I only read one of them.

1 Corinthians chapter 3. Paul calls it that day. I take it that it's in contrast with man's day. It's that day.

It's not a day of man's examination of others. It's not a day of man's examination of himself. It's a day of the Lord's examination of each one of us.

Not a relation to sin. That's been taken care of once for all. It's a relation to our service.

It has to do with our character of life. It has to do with our use of time. It has to do with our use of talents.

Opportunities that He has given us. We have to give account. It might not be the account that you and I would like to give.

It would be the account that is actually true. It would be the account as He has seen it that we're responsible to give to Him. For how we have used our Master's goods.

You know when the nobleman in Luke chapter 19 returned from the long journey, having received the kingdom, he called his servants. Wanted to know how they have used his goods. Because those talents he gave them weren't theirs.

They belonged to the nobleman. Know how they had to respond and show the evidence of what they had done in the meantime serving Him in His absence. And here you and I are in the absence of the Lord Jesus, but the day is coming when like stewards we'll give account to Him.

I wonder how that account's going to go. I wonder how it's going to be for you and me, each one of us to stand individually, not responsible for what anyone else has done. Only for ourselves.

Romans 14 tells us that every one of us shall give account of himself to God. That's solemn. No excuses.

No one that I can blame for failure in my life. No ability to transfer a responsibility to someone else. No to give account for myself.

Sometimes when you think of that, you'd like to start all over again, wouldn't you? Have a new start. But brethren, we have to go on from where we are and seek to use our time as God gives it. I would take it as well the day of Christ in the heavenly sphere would also include the marriage of the Lamb.

That moment when bride and bridegroom will be joined for eternity. That moment that involves a patient waiting of Christ as He longed for that time. When joined with that blood-bought bride to enjoy His presence and for Him to enjoy her without end.

I'm not going to dwell on that anymore, but I take it that on earth during that period of time will be the start, the beginning of the day of the Lord. How is the day of the Lord described? Well, I take it that the first reference to the day of the Lord in our Bible historically is in the book of Joel. I take no credit for that.

But Joel being the first of the prophets, perhaps Obadiah being contemporaneous, both of them have reference to the day of the Lord. Both of them describe it as a day of gloominess, a day of thick clouds, a day of trouble, a day of anxiety, a day of suffering, a day of judgment. We take it that the day of the Lord begins with that awful period of time called the Tribulation.

You don't need to have me go into that. You can read that, those events in the book of Revelation, as well as in portions of the Bible, other places. We know that it's going to be a terrible day for this earth.

What a tremendous moment it will be when God begins to take up His dealings with nations as He did in the Old Testament, have dealings with His own nation, the people of Israel, to bring them to genuine repentance and to bring about full restoration. You think of the words of the prophet Zechariah as he could speak of the time when there would be a mourning, every tribe apart, every individual mourning, a tremendous trouble, the time of Jacob's trouble, all for the purpose God has in view of restoring that nation to its purpose, that they might ultimately be the head of the nations and have the place of preeminence among all the peoples. But God has to deal with the first.

I see a picture of that when you think of Joseph upon the throne of Egypt. His brethren are brought by the power of God and God's workings to have to face Him. And it works until He brings them to acknowledge that we are verily guilty.

Guilty of what? Guilty of rejecting their own brother. Guilty of casting them in the pit. Guilty of selling him to the Egyptians.

What a picture we have of God's bringing that nation to genuine repentance and conviction. Not for the purpose of leaving them there but to bring them into that close relationship to Himself and bring about real restoration that He longs to see accomplished in that wayward, unbelieving nation. So it's a day in which there's the assertion of the Lord's rights.

Now in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 it says the day of Christ is at hand. And I believe everyone that comments on that verse would tell us it really should read the day of the Lord. It's not the day of Christ, it's the day of the Lord.

And what he is describing in 2 Thessalonians in those three chapters has to do with God's dealings with the unbelievers in this world. Whereas in 1 Thessalonians dealing with God's dealings with His own people, the believer. He tells them that that's going to be a day that's going to come upon men like a thief.

Catch them unawares, unprepared. And ultimately it will be for the establishment of the righteousness of God. So we have the resumption of God's dealings with His people again.

Beginning with trouble and thick darkness and gloominess but leading on into that ultimate great day when the Lord Himself will be revealed in flaming fire. Taking vengeance upon His enemies and upon all them that know not God and obey not the gospel. That's 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. The Lord is going to come in all of His glorious power and establish His right to rule upon this world.

The millennium. A thousand years of the reign of Christ will take place in that day of the Lord. And ultimately, of course, every enemy of the Lord will be defeated at the end of that period of time.

Very briefly, we have looked at these days. But the last one is in 2 Peter chapter 3. He says early in that chapter that in spite of the tardiness, apparent tardiness of the Lord Jesus in carrying out His promise, He says, but the day of the Lord will come. It's often been said that God's wheels grind slowly.

But they grind surely. A wild man judges God and challenges Him and says that God is not true to His word or faithful to His promise. But, the day of the Lord will come.

And then he goes on to tell out the thought of the day of God. He says, hastening unto the coming of the day of God in view of the which, the heavens being on fire shall melt with fervent heat. The earth and all the works that are therein shall be burned out.

That is not in that day of God will that take place, but in view of that, in preparation for it. Because we know that the word of God tells us Revelation chapter 21, I believe it is. There's going to be a new heaven and a new earth.

Not a restored heaven and a restored earth like in the millennium, but a new heaven and a new earth wherein righteousness is settled down at home. My, it's a tremendous day. Righteousness is sort of a stranger here today, isn't it? Holiness is a foreigner.

The things of God are those things that have been cast out or rejected, but God says that righteousness will be at home. And I take the separation between heaven and earth, the gap that seems so genuine today and so real because of sin, will be virtually removed. God Himself will dwell among them.

And God Himself will be their God, and they shall be His people. Brethren, we have great things to look forward to. We're living in a day when men, in their own desires and purposes, would reject the counsels of God.

Thank God the day is coming. First of all, we'll see Him. And then we're going to come out with Him in the manifestation of His glory and to reign with Him.

The Word of God says if we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him. I can only say, brethren, it's worth it all. Keep your eye upon it.

God is going to bring it all to pass. In the meantime, recognize the character of the day in which we live.