Everywhere you look people are wasting time.

Many Christians waste time they could be using for the glory of God. There is much to be done for the Kingdom, many people to be helped throughout the whole Earth, countless situations to pray about. It’s urgent that we learn to put value on time.

Ephesians 5:16, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Redeeming the time is making the most of time, “cashing in” on time. Spend time like you would spend money; use it. The Lord is the giver of time; no one else can give you time but He. Of all the billions of timepieces on planet Earth today, none can give you extra time. Now let’s redeem the time God has given, make it count.

Your Life Is Ticking Away

The thousands of seconds in each day are multiplied over and over again during your life span until your time on Earth ceases. Every time the clock ticks, it’s marking off a part of your life. A part of your life went today, a part of it went last night, and a part of it will go tomorrow if you live through the night. Time is ticking away, and how sad, how sad indeed if any is wasted. Your life span consists of an allotted time.

Although God allots more time to some people than others, we must all use the time the Lord gives to do His work in this final hour. We have much to do for Him, and a short period to do it in. You just have an unknown number of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years until you go into eternity.

Consider Your Time

Sinner, consider the time you have to get right with God. It may be much less than you think. Take to heart this warning about time because one of these days the Lord is going to declare through the angel of God that time will end. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer (Revelation 10:5,6).

Think about it: an angel with one foot on the sea and one on land declaring time is no more. What will you do when your time is finished? I repeat, every time the clock ticks, it ticks off a part of your life. Some of you carry a timepiece in your pocket or wear one on your wrist and don’t even think that it’s telling you part of your life has vanished.

What did you do with all the seconds, minutes, and hours today? How much time did you give to God? It’s up to you how you use time, how much you give back to Him.

To the sinner, time is for pleasure, time is the opportunity to satisfy every lust of the flesh, to go on in sin. But the sinner has made no time for Jesus, no time to let Him come in. How sad. One day the Lord will have no time for people who have had no time for Him.

Make Time for Your Soul’s Welfare

How much time have you given to get your soul ready for eternity? The hours pile up that you use to clothe, feed and shelter yourself, but all of that will be meaningless one day when the body goes back to the dust of the earth. You take care of the body, but what about your soul? How much time are you giving to your soul? How many seconds or minutes today did you give to your soul’s welfare? How many minutes or hours did you give last week to the inner person, the one who cannot die?

That soul that dies without God will exist in a living death in a timeless place, a timeless eternity. Unprepared for eternity, he or she had no time left to find Jesus. Never will there be a time to escape hell, to get out of that place of damnation once you’re there, no time to get out of the lake of fire. What will you do then? No longer will the Lord care. You’ll be with all the wicked, with the devil and his angels, sealed off to never be remembered again.

Jesus Had Time for People

When Jesus came down to Earth He came under subjection to every second of Earth’s time, under subjection to audacious men, to all the arrogance that came against Him from His persecutors. Growing up in time and with time, He suffered, suffered, suffered; yet He had time for people, He gave them His time.

How much heart do you have to give time to people? You give your heart through time, that’s the only way you can give it, by the second, by the minute, by the hour. How much service do you give to the Lord? Again, you can only give it by the seconds, by the minutes, by the hours, by the days, the months or years. How much time do you give? Jesus gave all, redeeming the time, not for Himself, but for us. He had come on a divine mission, and now we’re on a divine mission to follow in His steps.

Jesus had time to bring salvation to a Samaritan woman. Then cometh he [Jesus] to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water (John 4:5-10). The disciples had gone to get food, and tired and weary from His journey, Jesus had time to talk to the Father. Then to the Samaritan woman, Jesus gave His time, not because He felt like it, but because He loved her soul that could never die. He took time to preach to her, just one person; and because He did, He reached a whole city.

The Samaritan woman was set free, delivered, and she ran into the city crying, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him (John 4:29,30). Yes, Jesus took time. What if He hadn’t taken that time? How many would have died not knowing His saving grace?

Nicodemus Gave Time to Jesus

No doubt Nicodemus was a great teacher of the Law, but he didn’t know anything about Jesus or salvation. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit (John 3:1-8).

Nicodemus, not wanting anyone else to know, came to Jesus by night. Jesus turned on the Gospel light, and I imagine when Nicodemus left Jesus he didn’t care how many people saw him, how many knew that he had met Jesus and spent time with Him. What if Nicodemus hadn’t given that time to Jesus? He never would have found out about the born-again experience that Jesus took time to teach him. Had Nicodemus asked some people the questions he asked Jesus, they would have turned away from him saying: You’re too foolish to be taught. But Jesus wasn’t like that; He took time, made the most of His time here on Earth.

Study Jesus

Knowing that He would soon have to be sacrificed for a lost world, that He only had a limited amount of time for people to either accept Him or reject Him, Jesus made the most of the time. He didn’t come to Earth for a vacation; He didn’t expect to have it easy. He came to be servant of all, to serve. Jesus never was too tired, too discouraged to serve, and He’s our example.

Study Jesus until you know every step that He made and know that you can make those same steps in harmony with Him each second, minute, hour that you have left. By redeeming the time, taking the time the Lord has given to you and making it worthwhile, you will have wonderful works to show for it.

If you meet the Lord empty-handed, it means you have wasted all your time. You didn’t work for Jesus; you worked for yourself, your children, your family. You worked for this pleasure or that pleasure; you worked to have a certain kind of home, but you didn’t take time to help people get ready for that heavenly home. To tell people the story of a home of many mansions, a home built by the hand of God—you didn’t take the time. You didn’t tell them about Calvary.

More Valuable Than Money

Time counts. When you waste it, you waste something more valuable to God than money could ever be. The problems caused by wasting God’s time can’t be fixed with money.

How often have you come up lacking because you wasted time instead of praying? How much time have you wasted by neglecting to obey when the Lord called on you to fast? Instead of reading the Word of God, how much time have you wasted reading something worthless, something that didn’t give you life, that didn’t feed your soul or bless you to bless others?

When something is a waste, it’s no good. When you look back on your life, how much is wasted time? If you had record, a calendar, of all your days since you have been on planet Earth, and the Lord would give you knowledge through His Holy Spirit to mark out every moment that you have wasted, every moment that He counted a waste, how much would be marked off? How much time would be left that you had redeemed by serving, by doing the wonderful works of the Lord and obeying Him? How much quality time for God would you have on that calendar of life?

You will face that calendar of life one day. On the Day of Rewards that record will show how much you’re going to be rewarded for the time that you gave to the Lord, for the works you did for Him. The Lord gave you the time, the love, the knowledge, the wisdom to work for Him; He gave you everything needed. He gave you strength, but did you waste it, use it for something else when you should have been using it to serve in His army?

He Was Not on Time

It can be tragic to not be on time. Not on time, a rich young ruler came to Jesus. There came one running, and kneeled to him [Jesus], and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions (Mark 10:17-22).

Very rich, the young ruler evidently had time to make money. He had time for pleasure, time to satisfy every lust of the flesh, but he didn’t have time to do what Jesus told him to do. Jesus gave him a chance to redeem the time, and in doing so he would have redeemed his soul; but the young ruler wouldn’t do it. He refused to yield his time to the Lord.

Jesus Took Time for Calvary

Have you refused to do what God wants? Are you still in sin and darkness, still in disobedience? Have you rejected the time that the Lord gave you to save your own soul, to work for Him? Jesus took time to go all the way to Calvary for you. He took time for that last drop of divine blood to flow from His veins; He took time. He took time to die for you, but some of you won’t take time to live for Him. Many of you are wasting that holy time, wasting your life.

The majority of people that have come and gone on planet Earth have wasted lives. Available were the times of opportunity, the times they could have found the Lord. The Holy Spirit wanted to talk to them again and again, but they wasted all of that time. They didn’t have time. “Some other day” was their excuse as they used time for whatever they wanted to use it for. You can use the same excuse and lose your soul as well; it will be too late.

Too Late for the Rich Man

It was too late for a certain man Jesus told about. There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence (Luke 16:19-26).

Faring sumptuously every day, the rich man lived high, completely ignoring a beggar at his gate asking for only the crumbs that fell from the table; but the man refused to give even that. So selfish was the rich man that he had no time to serve a poor servant of God at the gate. Later in eternity he wanted a favor from that beggar who, although poor, had not wasted his time. He had spent it getting his soul right, spent it making everything right with God, doing the will of God. When he died, he lifted up his eyes in Paradise.

It was a different story for the rich man who had given no time to God, taken no time to make preparations for his soul. His time was devoted to making more money, to putting on a great show of the material things of life. People thought the rich man was well off, but he wasn’t well off; he was a pitiful creature when he died without hope and without God.

Now the rich man in eternity no longer had the opportunity to go to his five brothers’ homes to tell them about God. He cried to father Abraham: I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him [Lazarus] to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead (Luke 16:27-31).

Some Don’t Want to Hear

The rich man thought his brothers would listen to the advice of someone from the dead. But he was told that if they wouldn’t hear someone alive, they wouldn’t hear someone from the dead. If a person doesn’t want to give time to hear the Word of God from one very much alive, he or she certainly doesn’t want to hear it from a dead person; it won’t work.

The rich man asked if Lazarus might dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue (Luke 16:24). He’s asking now for such a little favor, a drop of water. Some people claim there’s no flame in hell, but the Lord said there is. Anyone who denies hellfire is denying the Lord Jesus no matter how much they preach, testify, and claim to believe the Bible; they don’t really believe the words of Jesus.

Unquenchable Fire in Hell

Jesus said, If thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:43-48). Hell’s fire is never quenched for the souls that never die. That’s Bible, I say again, the words of the Master Himself. The rich man testified that he was tormented in this flame.

The devil has tried his best to do away with man’s belief in hellfire. If God’s people had given time to the Lord as the early Christians had in the beginning of the Church, given time to warn others of eternity without God, they would have rescued many who would be in Heaven today instead of screaming in hell. People don’t take time to listen to a message about hell. Some people refuse to attend a church whose doctrine states that a literal, burning hell awaits the disobedient and the unbelieving; they don’t want to hear. How sad that people reject the truth! Jesus said, Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). Jesus came with the truth to set people free from the bondage of sin, and that’s the only way anyone can be free.

The rich man now had time to think about warning his five brothers. Why didn’t he take time to consider the penalty for sin when he was here on Earth? He had time to do it, and in hell he realized that his time had all been wasted. There’s no way to redeem time in hell.

The Liberty or Bondage of Time

In Heaven the seconds won’t tick away our life; there time will end and we will live for all eternity. Now, however, here on Earth, we’re either in the liberty of time or in the bondage of time. If you’re wasting time, time has become a bondage to you, you have time to be depressed, time to be oppressed, but no time to rejoice in the Lord and praise Him for your blessings. When you’re in the bondage of time, you have time to worry and fret, but no time to sing praises to the Lord, to glorify Him. The bondage of time is wasted time, wasted time.

God in His goodness has given you time, how much, you don’t really know. Whether He is going to give you enough time to face another dawn, another new day, you know not. Many people on planet Earth yesterday suddenly found that their time didn’t stretch through the night; they went into eternity either prepared or unprepared. Today is the day of salvation if you’ll take time for it. Jesus stands at your door: Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:20). Don’t be like some people who simply feel they don’t have time to open that door.

Only God Measures Out Time

Where will you spend eternity? Your money can’t keep you here on Earth; nothing but God can keep you here, for only God can measure out time. King Hezekiah was told he was going to die, but he had the favor of God: In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years (II Kings 20:1-6). The Lord measured out time like a housewife would measure cloth. Fifteen more years, Hezekiah, I’ll give you to live.

Many of you today can testify that the Lord has added to your years. You have been healed of cancer, heart trouble, lung trouble or another death disease that would have taken your life. Many of us would be dead today had the Lord not had mercy on us, given us life and allotted us more time to live. Children of God, although by the grace of God you’re alive today, check to see how much time is wasted.

The world is restless, people running to and fro seeking rest, seeking happiness and not finding it because they won’t take time to look in the right place. If you want joy, you’ll find it at Calvary. That’s where I found mine and it has lasted all these years, eternal joy that will endure forever. Praise God forevermore!

Treasure Your Time

Time—people treasure their money in the bank, but they don’t treasure time. Think of the people—some millionaires, some billionaires—who have died and left it all. They didn’t have time to use that money for the Lord; they wasted the time. Giving their lives to make money, they failed to give back to the Lord. Imagine all the good they could have done for lost humanity, the enormous benefits they could have reaped in building the Kingdom of God. Heaven could have been theirs had they only surrendered to the Lord, but they wouldn’t humble themselves. They didn’t have time for Jesus.

If you don’t have time for Jesus, I say again, He is not going to have time for you. The death angel will come, and you’ll beg for more time. You may spend large sums of money on the best doctors in the land, but they can’t save you. You have no more time; you’ve used it all up.

Where are you with your time today? God gave me this message to bring to you: Time counts; how precious it is! God reminded me of the people in the Bible who made the most of the time He gave them, and He reminded me of the people who have failed to receive God’s best because they failed in using time; they wasted time.

She Took Time for Jesus

If the woman with the issue of blood hadn’t made the most of her time to get to Jesus, she would have died. A woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, Came behind him [Jesus], and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched (Luke 8:43,44). What if she hadn’t taken time to look for Jesus? She could have said, Well, when He gets ready, He’ll heal me. No, she didn’t think that at all. She used her time to get to Jesus because she had heard His message. It’s wonderful to heed the Lord’s message, to have your mind right on the Lord and what He’s doing today, to not be thinking about something else when you should be thinking about the Lord.

How much time do you have? You could be close to the end of your time; you could have used almost all of it. Some of you worry about your money getting low, but there’s something worse than that today: it’s when your time gets low. The Bible tells us that the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God (Psalm 9:17). When you forget God, you’re wasting your time. No matter what the world thinks about you, no matter how high you may climb in the eyes of the world, how successful you are, you’re wasting all of your time if you leave God out of your life. You may feel that you’re getting to the mountain peak—but then suddenly there’s no more time, no Heaven for you to go to, no mansion prepared for you. From that imagined mountain peak, you plunge into the depths of a burning hell.

Time Is Running Out

Time is running out for the inhabitants of the earth. We’re coming to the end of our civilization. The endtime signs are everywhere, and what are you doing with the time you have left? How valuable is time to you?

You who are unsaved, what will you do with your time? Will you use it to find God? Don’t waste a minute of your precious time by neglecting God. Make haste to get home before dark because when darkness falls you won’t be able to find Calvary. Jesus is the light of the world to show everyone the way to Calvary, the way to salvation.

Thank God Jesus took thirty-some years of time for you and for me, thirty-some years of time that He could have enjoyed in Heaven with the Father. Those years must have seemed like a long time to be away from Heaven, but He gave that time, gave it for you and for me. Jesus didn’t waste time. He knew how valuable it was when He said, I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work (John 9:4).

The night is coming, Child of God, when you won’t be able to work. Don’t make God promises and then neglect to take time to fulfill your covenant with Him. Rather, take time to do what you tell Him you’re going to do; He’s given you that time. The children of God have been given an allotted time to take this Gospel to the world in this final hour just before Jesus comes.

I repeat, consider your time; how much of it are you redeeming? How much wasted time will the Lord find in your life when He comes? On the day of rewards, Child of God, how much wasted time will you be responsible for? There’s always work to be done, always people who can be helped, the sick to be visited. Many in nursing homes are neglected by their own families; they have nobody to love them, nobody to talk to them. In our hospitals many are suffering. They need people to pray for them, people who really care and can touch God.

Take Time for Salvation and Healing

How valuable is your time to you? It’s valuable to God, and He wants you to use it. He gave time to you on purpose, but you are a free moral agent and He leaves it up to you how you use time. He can’t make you use one moment of it for Him; what you do with your time remains your decision. Don’t ever forget that when your time ends, eternity starts for you—good or bad. One day when the Lord declares to the inhabitants of the earth that time shall be no more, all will find themselves in eternity. Where will you be then?

I want you to think carefully of what God has given to you in this message. If you don’t have Him, come to Jesus now; you have no time to waste. You’ve wasted too much time already. If you die without God, you’ll have no glorious morn ever, just a night of eternity not marked by time, not by one tick of the watch; think of it. The grace of God is reaching for you and the Lord wants you to live in Heaven with Him.

You who are unsaved or in a backslidden condition, it’s only through the grace of God that you have this moment. Although you may not have much time left here on Earth, you still have a chance to live forever, a chance to live for all eternity. Will you waste it? This may be the last opportunity you will ever have. Say the sinners’ prayer with me: Oh, God, save my soul. I’m so sorry I sinned against you, but I have come home. I’m going to serve you, Lord, the rest of my life. Now I believe that the blood of Jesus washes away all of my sins. Come into my heart, Jesus! Come on in!

If you meant that prayer, He has come: And you can say, Hallelujah! Jesus has come. Hallelujah! Jesus is mine.

Now that you’ve taken this time to give your life to Him, take more time in serving the Lord. Take time with the Word of God; take time talking to Him in prayer, and in fasting. Take time to live a holy, righteous life in this present world. Time will cease, but you won’t care; you’ll be in that glorious, eternal day with no night.

You who are sick and afflicted, you can have a miracle. Untold multitudes have been healed through this Jesus ministry. I am not the healer; Jesus is the healer. I’m agreeing with you for you to have your miracle. Lord, I come with your supernatural gifts. I come with your divine blood to lay a healing hand on the sick and afflicted in the nations. Heal! in the name of Jesus. Heal! in the blood name of Jesus. Heal! heal! I pray.

Feel that healing power of the Lord, of the divine blood of Jesus, going into you and believe with me. Take time to watch yourself get well and then write and tell me about it; I will rejoice with you. God be with you; spend much time with Him and Heaven will be yours one day. Don’t squander time, that’s what life is made up of.