Masterpiece takes time

"Paul wrote about the 'catching away' like it would happen in his lifetime. God's a pretty patient God, isn't He? Who would have dreamt He'd extend His grace for 2,000 years?

"From the moment God gave the tablets to Moses--a span of 1,500 years. The dispensation of grace has been running longer than the dispensation of law program. You ever think about that?

"There's an old proverb, 'Beware the vengeance of a patient man.' Beware when his patience runs out.

Revelation 6:10: [10] And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

"Do you cry this verse? Instead of saying, 'How long?' we should say, 'Thank God. Another day of extended grace, mercy, peace, love . . . '

"But God's people, as they're being slaughtered at the hands of the apostate system of Israel that's going to drag even their own relatives . . . When the Lord Jesus talks about, 'Father against son and daughter against mother,' He's talking about His faithful remnant that stands against the reinstituted Mosaic religious system.

"There are going to be pockets of Believers who say, 'The Book of Hebrews says to get out of the camp; don't touch it,' and as a consequence they're going to be dragged before the chief leaders and the Gentile governmental rulers who will do to God's people what they did to the Lord Jesus Christ.

"The religious system in bed with the political system. Isn't that what the 'great whore' is all about? There are three arms. First you have that political--the purple and scarlet. Then you have the commercial-economic, which is the precious stones. Then you have the religious arm, which is the cup. A system that utilizes the government, commerce and religion and all of that working together will result in God's people being beheaded, being martyred.

"We saw in the opening chapters of Revelation where they're going to suffer unimaginable atrocities and tribulations. So those people are crying, 'How long before you avenge our blood on them?'

"Look at verse 11: [11] And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

"The Lord says, 'Be patient, there's more who are going to have to be slaughtered.' 

*****

"When the Lord came to Solomon at night in a dream and asked, ‘Solomon, what can I give you? I’ll give you riches and power—whatever you want,’ Solomon answered, ‘I want wisdom.’ I Kings 3:15 says, [15] And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream.

“When the text says ‘Solomon awoke,’ what’s meant by that is, ‘You know, it doesn’t help you to work incessantly; stay up half the night, get up early to go to work, work through all kinds of difficult, sorrowful, hard, painful experiences--God gives you His gifts when you’re not working at all. When you aren’t even conscious; you’re asleep.’

“I’ve thought about that; it’s not of works. It’s His workmanship, not of us. This stuff all comes from Him. Think back through Scripture. When did God give Adam Eve? When did He cut the covenant with Abraham? He put him in a deep sleep. I mean, Solomon isn’t the only one in Scripture that that’s true of.

“When Paul says, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God,’ he’s saying God’s the one who gives the blessing, not based on your merit, but on His giving. ‘For we are his workmanship.’ This is His doing.

“That word ‘workmanship’ (Ephesians 2:10) is talking about a ‘work of art.’ A masterpiece. Preachers like to point out that the Greek word that’s translated there is the word we get our term ‘poem’ from.

“That word comes over in English as ‘poem.’ You’re His work of art. You’re literally the form through which He’s going to express Himself. A masterpiece is something you do to make yourself known.

“Romans 1:19-20 says, ‘Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. [20] For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.’

“Everybody knows something about God. He’s manifest in them. Romans 2:14 says, ‘For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves.’

“You see, God has indelibly printed into the heart of man, all men, some information. He manifested Himself. Everybody knows there’s a God. You have to educate yourself out of that, and what the educated guy says is, ‘Well, if you want to be sophisticated and educated, you have to get over your primordial tendency to believe in the superstitious idea of something bigger than you.’

“To get over that is to get over the mystery of life itself and to become nothing but a crass materialist where the only thing that’s real is what you can hold in your hand and you believe in ‘survival of the fittest,’ even though you’re never going to be the fittest, so you’re never going to survive. It doesn’t add to life; it detracts!

“You can look at Creation and see the wisdom, knowledge and understanding of God; the fact there’s a Creator revealed, and in that term ‘things that are made’ is a translation of the exact same word in Ephesians 2 about workmanship! Creation is God’s workmanship; His masterpiece demonstrating His wisdom, His understanding, His knowledge. He’s placed it in the Creation!

“When you look at the Creation, what you’re seeing is God manifest His purpose; what He’s accomplishing. You find out about Him!”