Eph 1175; 6/25/80 David; 9/5/72 James

DOCTRINE OF ONE DAY AT A TIME

A. Time is a logistical grace provision for the believer, Lam 3:20-25.

1. “Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me. This I recall to mind, therefore, I have hope. The Lord’s gracious functions never cease; for His compassions never fail, they are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. `The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, therefore, I have confidence in Him. The Lord is good to those who trust in Him; to the soul who seeks Him.”

2. Logistical grace provision includes a day at a time to execute God’s plan, will and purpose for your life.

B. In the days provided by logistical grace, only those days when the believer is in fellowship with God have significance in the execution of God’s plan, purpose, and will for your life. Ps 34:11-14, “Come my children, listen to me. I will teach you respect for the Lord. Who is the person who desires life and loves length of days that he may see the good [the plan of God]? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil, do good and pursue it [the plan of God].”

C. Days are lost through divine discipline administered to the believer.

1. Any time you are under divine discipline, that is a day you have lost.

2. Ps 102:3, “For my days vanish like smoke, my bones burn like glowing embers.”

3. Ps 102:18, “Let this be written for generations to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.” Ps 102:23-24, “In the course of my life, He broke my strength, He cut short my days [the sin unto death]. I pray, Oh my God, do not take me away in half of my days.” The believer under the sin unto death looses half of the days alloted to him.

4. Ps 89:45, “You have cut short the days of his youth; You have covered him with a mantle of shame.”

5. Ps 90:9, “All of our days pass under Your wrath. We finish our years with a moan.” If you lose too many days, then God cuts them all off.

D. The Importance of Bible Doctrine for Length of Days. Prov 3:1-2, “My son, do not forget my teaching. But let your right lobe keep my commandments. For length of days and years of life and prosperity, they will add to it [length of days].”

E. Where there is spiritual momentum and growth through doctrinal inculcation, days are meaningful and accompanied by prosperity.

1. Ps 90:12, “Teach us to number our days correctly, that we may gain a right lobe full of wisdom.”

2. Ps 90:14, “Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing grace, that we may sing for joy and be happy all of our days.”

3. Jer 15:16, “Your doctrines were found and I ate them; therefore Your words became to me happiness, and the delight of my right lobe, for I have been called by Your name, O Lord, Lord of the armies.”

4. Mt 4:4, “Man must not live by bread only, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

F. The day by day life of the believer only has meaning when related to Bible doctrine. Prov 3:13-17, “How happy is the person who finds doctrine, and the person who gains understanding. For her [Bible doctrine] profit is better than the profit of silver, and her gain better than fine gold. She [Bible doctrine] is more precious than precious stones, and nothing you desire compares with her. Length of days is in her [doctrine’s] right hand, and in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and her paths are prosperity.”

G. Arrogance destroys the capacity for the divine provision of a day at a time.

1. Prov 27:1, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”

2. Jam 4:13-16, “Come now, you who say, `Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and conduct business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vaper trail in the sky that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, `If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”

H. The dynamics of daily living must be related to doctrinal inculcation.

1. Ps 25:5, “Guide me with Your doctrine and train me, because You are the God of my deliverance. All day long I have confidence in You.”

2. Ps 119:97, “O how I love Your doctrine, I think about it all day long.”

3. Prov 23:17, “Do not permit your right lobe to envy sinners, but live in occupation with the Lord all the day.”

4. 2 Cor 4:16, “Therefore we are not discouraged, for though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is renewed day by day.”

5. Rom 14:6-8, “He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord… For not one of us lives for himself, and not one of us dies for himself. If

we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

I. There are three principles of time.

1. The principle of organized time, Jam 4:3-17. Our time must be organized.

2. The principle of redeemed time, Eph 5:16-18, “Constantly buying time, because the days are evil. Because of this, stop being ignorant, but completely understand the will [purpose] of the Lord.”

3. The principle of utilized time, 1 Cor 7:29-31.

J. When God’s plan for your life is over, you run out of days.

1. Every day is from the Lord; therefore, every day is equally as great. Each day is a grace gift, Jn 11:9-10.

2. Every day we live in phase two is a gracious gift from God. The only time we possess to honor God in time is the number of days He provides for us in the Christian life, Ps 90:12; Jas 4:13-15.

3. God has provided soul capital in the form of Bible doctrine to make each day count for His glory, Jas 1:21. Therefore it is important to learn Bible doctrine every day, Jer 15:16, Mt 4:4.

4. Since there is no suffering in eternity, God can only demonstrate His grace provision for suffering in time, 2 Cor 12:7-10 cf Ps 1-2:1-3. Evidence testing gives God maximum opportunity to show His grace provision in suffering while the believer continues to live one day at a time.

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