Rise_Up_Early_Bill_Hall

The speaker emphasizes the importance of urgency and rising early in responding to God's call for repentance and reconciliation. Drawing from Jeremiah and Ephesians, they highlight the need to address sin promptly to avoid separation from God, the addictive nature of sin, and the eternal consequences. Urging listeners to come to Christ for forgiveness and to resolve conflicts promptly, the speaker cites biblical examples of immediate responses to the gospel message, emphasizing the need for swift action in spiritual matters. You might want to turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 7, our first passage, and you might want to put a marker there. We'll be turning away, but we'll come back to Jeremiah, and it'll make it easier to find that other passage. Good to see the good number, and got to speak to a number of visitors when you came in, but some of you I see in the audience that I've not been able to speak to, and I'm glad you're here, as well as the home folks and members of the East Alberta Church, and I'm glad to be here and glad to be standing here and to have an opportunity to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for that opportunity and for your presence, and I hope our study together will push us to be stronger in the Lord. I'm talking tonight about rising early. You may never have heard a sermon on that, but rising early, and it's certainly a Bible topic. Look at verse 13 of Jeremiah chapter 7. And now because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer. Rising up early, God says. Now look at verse 25, says the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt, until this day I even sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. That expression is found 11 times, just in the book of Jeremiah, rising up early. And in every instance in Jeremiah, it has to do with God sending his prophets, rising up early. I remember Abraham when he was going to take Isaac as an offering to Mount Moriah, he rose up early in the morning. And you remember the women who came to the tomb on the resurrection morning, they came early in the morning. Rising up early. If we were in a Bible class, I would say, what does that suggest, rising up early? What is implied with that? And would you answer not be that it's something that's got to be done right away, urgency, eagerness, rising up early. You ever seen a time when you had a project in mind for the next day, and you went to bed with that project on your mind, and then you rose early to get into that project, get it done. Or maybe you're going to go on a trip, I wonder how many times this has happened with me, and you go to bed and you think of a certain time that you're going to get up and leave and somehow you wake up earlier and you rise early to get on to that trip. There's an eagerness, an urgency for us to do that. And I think that's what's implied in the idea of rising up early is a New Testament passage that's similar to that. I'm turning to Ephesians chapter 5, Ephesians 5, look at verse 15. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wives, redeeming the time. You may have a translation that says making the most of the time, doesn't that suggest urgency? Get it done. So what I want to do is just talk tonight a little bit different from my normal style of preaching, but I just want to talk about some things that we ought to recognize as being urgent. We need to get it up and get up and do it, get it done. And the first thing I would suggest is the most obvious of all, and that's to come to Christ for forgiveness of sin. You need to rise up early in order to do that. Somebody said, well, I don't see what the hurry is. I've got plenty of time to do that. Well, the urgency is found in what sin does for you. Sin separates you from God. I'm not going to turn to the passage, but Isaiah 59, 1 and 2, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor is it heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. And I think of 1 Peter 2, verse 12, The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, his ears are open to their prayers. The face of the Lord is against those that do evil. When you're separated from God, can you think of a time when maybe a crisis has arisen and other people are praying, but you're separated from God. You can't pray with the assurance that God is going to hear you because you're in sin and you're separated from God. And then there's a second thing, sin is addictive. You get involved in sin and just about anything, it's addictive. And the farther you go into that sin, the stronger the addiction and the more difficult it is to break that addiction. Sin always takes us farther than we want to go, holds us longer than we want to stay, and costs us more than we want to pay. And that's just what sin is. And then, of course, sin is what brings a person to hell. If you're separated from God when you die, you're eternally separated from God. And sometimes we sing when we've been there 10,000 years, bright and shining as the sun, but when we've been in hell 10,000 years, there's no less, the suffering is not even halfway over. I mean, there's just no way. It's just eternal. It's forever. No wonder in Acts chapter 2, we read of 3,000 people who were baptized that same day, gladly receiving the Word. No wonder. Same day. Or in Acts 8, verse 36 through 38, we have a man riding down the road and ate the open as soon as it came to water. He was baptized. Or I think of Acts 9, verse 18, the fall of Tarsus, immediately arose and was baptized. And he'd been without food for three days, but he didn't delay at all. He ate after his baptism. And then in Acts 16, verse 33, we read of the Philippian jailer, through the same hour of the night, washed their stripes and was baptized. I've wondered how much difficulty was there in being baptized at that time. One thing I know is they didn't flip on a switch and all the lights come on and you ride down to the baptistry in a nice automobile and baptized. I know that didn't happen. What arrangements had to be made for them to be baptized the same hour of the night? But they couldn't wait till the morning light. What's the urgency? They're in sin. And he who believes and is baptized shall be saved. And you don't want to delay that. When you understand the necessity of baptism, delay just becomes intolerable. Rise up early. I'm not just talking about those who need to repent and be baptized. I'm talking to any of you tonight who are away from God and have been unfaithful and need to make things right with God and with his people. Rise up early. See the urgency and render obedience to the Lord. Well, let me mention the second thing. We need to recognize the urgency and rise up early to rid ourselves of any ill will that we may have towards somebody else. I wonder if there are people present tonight. I haven't preached this sermon very many times. But one of the times I preached it, I didn't know that there was somebody in the audience that had a falling out with his family. And I just was preaching. You never know who you might be touching out there. But there was a man in the audience who had had a falling out with his family that night. I wonder if there's somebody here present who's had a falling out with his family or maybe a falling out with a former friend or brother in Christ or whatever. And you don't feel right toward that brother in Christ. Rise up early. Do something about that. Is that urgent? Well, Jesus thought so. Turn over to Matthew chapter five, starting with verse twenty three, Matthew five, verse twenty three. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and they remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, go your way, first be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift. If we think in terms of this age, you've come to worship, but you know there's somebody out there that has something against you. You've wronged them. Jesus said before you try to worship, go and make things right with that brother. But what about the brother who has been wronged? What should he do? So turn to Matthew 18, verse 15, Matthew 18, verse 15. Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him it's all between you and him alone. If he hears you, you gained your brother. All right. We've talked about the brother who has done this sinning against another. Now what about the brother who has been sinned against? If your brother sins against you, let me emphasize a few words. If your brother sins against you, sometimes people hurt our feelings. Many cases, they don't intend to hurt our feelings, they may not even know they hurt our feelings. Or somebody acts in a little unthoughtful way, that's not what this is talking about. I've got a friend over in Hartsville and his expression is, just get over it. They're just something we just need to get over and not make a mountain out of a molehill. But he's sinned against you. Notice the term against you, that's personal. This person has sinned against you. Maybe he owes you money and he won't pay you. Or maybe he's lied to you. He has sinned against you. So what should you do? Jesus said, go tell him his fault between you and him alone. Notice what Jesus did not say. He didn't say get your phone out and however way you prefer to communicate with others, the phones are kind of funny these days, aren't they? However, go tell everybody else about it. That's not what he said. You know one way we end up doing that? Somebody has sinned against me and what I do is I go to somebody and say, you know, I need some advice. Would you help me to know how to deal with this? And then you tell what that brother has done against you. And then maybe you go to somebody else and say, I need some advice. But Jesus gave us advice. He said, if your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault between you and him alone. Nobody else knows about it. He's wronged you. You haven't told anybody about it. And you go to him. And he says, well, you're right. I'm sorry. Forgive me. You forgive him. It's all over. Don't you wish all of our personal problems could be dealt like that? Now, of course, he goes on to tell you what to do if he does not repent. But this is what we're to do if a brother has sinned against us. Now, I'm aware that in a lot of our translations, the word against you are not to be found. And the word forgive is not to be found. But both are implied. And Peter caught the implication. But going down to verse 21, then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? How often does he sin against me, and I forgive him? Some of the most beautiful words in our language are words of exchange between two people. One of them says, I'm sorry. And the other says, I forgive you. Why do we have so much trouble saying those words? I think the little girl in the family, there was a churn, old churn that had been in the family a long time. And the little granddaughter, three years old, playing with the churn. And the grandmother said, now that's not a play thing. Don't be playing with that. And grandmother leaves the room, and the little granddaughter picks up the lid and breaks the lid. Grandmother comes in and sees what's happened, and she's upset. But she says to her granddaughter, tell me I'm sorry, and it'll all be over. And she stuck out her lower lip and said, I don't like to say those words. Three years old. I don't like to say those words. What is there about us that makes it so difficult when we've wronged somebody to simply say, I'm sorry. It's pride, I guess, but what beautiful words to say. And then the other person says, I forgive you. Now, let's not overlook the importance of forgiveness. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. You remember the brother in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, who was living with his father's wife, and the church was told to withdraw from him, take their company away from him, and apparently the church had done that. And now, I take it to be the same man, he has repented. And notice what Paul writes to them about this. Look at verse 6 of 2 Corinthians 2. This punishment, which was inflicted by the majority, is sufficient for such a man, so that on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. It's devastating for a person to come to somebody and say, I want your forgiveness. And the person says, well, I'm sorry, I've even heard of this happening. I'm sorry, but it's just not one of my things I have trouble forgiving, and he won't forgive. Look at verse 9, or verse 10. Now, well, let's start with verse 9. For it is him I also wrote to you, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient and all things. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. But if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of it. When a person has repented or said, I'm sorry, or whatever, if he's not forgiven, he may be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Satan may take advantage of him. And it's not just a matter of saying, I forgive you. If you say, I forgive you, and yet still hold him at arm's length, and he doesn't feel that forgiveness, then we have exactly the same problem. So put it together. Here's the person, and he's wronged this brother, and he's ready to go and say, I'm sorry. But here's the brother that's been wronged. What is he supposed to do? He's supposed to come and talk to the man who's wronged him. Can you imagine them meeting halfway? One of them coming because he did the wrong. The other coming because he was wrong. May I add this? If you have wronged somebody, go to his house, sit down with him, and say, I'm sorry. Don't come sitting on the front seat. I heard Erwin Lee one time make the statement. Too many times I have seen people on the front seat to make a public confession when they need to be in somebody's living room saying, I'm sorry. Approach the man you've wronged, and do it personally, and seek his forgiveness. I know that's hard. You know why that's hard? Why I know that's hard? Because I've had to do it. I've had to go. I've had to walk up to the door and walk into a man's house and say, I haven't felt good toward you. And he told me, I haven't felt good toward you either. And we came to reconciliation, wrote a statement out. It was read to the church. It's hard. But when reconciliation takes place, what a wonderful thing it is, and how joyful it can make you. And even if reconciliation cannot take place, the person will not respond to you. You know you've done what you could, and that it's what the Lord wants you to do. Rise up early. Don't put it off. I'm just going to go ahead and tell you, the man that was sitting there in that audience, he took all that to heart. He got in touch with his brothers. They all came together. His mother was included, and they all forgave one another. What a joy. To know that there are people whose hearts are soft and would be touched. And if you know somebody that you have ill will toward, what you ought to do maybe is just as soon as you leave this building, call them. Some way, get in touch with them and say, look, we've been alienated too long. Let's get things straightened out. Hopefully, the person would respond. All right, well, let's go to the third point. Rise up early. To do what? To train your children and your grandchildren. Rise up early. Now, I'm including our grandchildren. A lot of us in this audience, it's a little too late for our children, but it's not too late for our grandchildren. Two of the elders down at Gardendale are Alan Hargett and Kim Hargett. They're brothers. Brothers serving as elders along with a number of other men down at Gardendale. When Alan and Kim were little fellas, their mother and dad had no interest in spiritual things. But Grandmother Hargett, Mama Hargett, that's what I knew her as, Mama Hargett and Granddaddy Hargett, I never knew Granddaddy Hargett, they'd bring those little boys to worship. And in time, those little boys obeyed the gospel. And they grew up and they had children and they began to raise their children to serve the Lord. And not only did they work to raise their own children to serve the Lord, they went back and had an influence on their mother, who is now a faithful Christian in Gardendale. I don't think we can overestimate the influence that grandparents can have over the grandchildren. So I'm talking both to parents and to grandparents. We need to rise up early, their children to be trained. And if we delay, and they're already a pretty good size, it may be too late. Rise up early. Recognize the urgency. Well, okay, what do we teach our children and grandchildren? Well, first of all, we need to teach them the scriptures. One of the prettiest pictures you'll ever see is a mother or a father with their little child reading the Bible to them. Go back to 2 Timothy and go into chapter 4, I'm sorry, chapter 3, start with verse 14. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Timothy, from childhood, had known the holy scriptures. I wonder where he learned them. We'll go back to the first chapter, look at verse 3. I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy. And here's what Paul said to Timothy. When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I'm persuaded in you also. From childhood, Timothy had known the holy scriptures, implied is that you would have a grandmother, her name is Lois, a mother, her name is Eunice, and what are they doing with their young child, their grandchild, teaching them the scriptures, the holy scriptures. What a beautiful picture. When I think of Deuteronomy 6, let's turn to it, Deuteronomy chapter 6, start with verse 6. Moses is telling the people of Israel, and these words which I commanded you to do shall be in your heart, you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. Teach these things to your children. Neglect is a terrible thing. Somebody said, when do you start? Somebody else said, nine months before they're born. Well, that's a pretty good answer. You already began to think about your responsibility of parenthood and make up your mind, I'm going to take time in my life to read the Bible to my children and teach them the scriptures, but you know, let's take it one step further. A person can know the scriptures, he can memorize a tremendous number of scriptures, but not know God. Teach your children, not just the stories, teach them to know God. Now I want you to go back to Jeremiah. This time, turn over page or two to chapter nine. Go to verse 23. Here's what we need to do with our children. Blessed is the Lord. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I'm the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight, says the Lord. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. We sure have a lot of emphasis these days on education. We want our children to get college degrees, and then when they get that, maybe another degree and maybe another degree, and well, that's all right, but don't glory in that. And then I think of all that goes on in bodybuilding, and young men become so muscular, and I guess that's all right, but you just have what you glory in. And then somebody does well in their business or whatever, and they make a lot of money. It's all right. This passage says, don't glory in those things. And don't glory in those things in regards to your children. What brings you joy in regards to your children? Their education? Their excellent job in them climbing the corporate ladder? Is it in their athletic abilities and muscular body? Is that what you glory in? A lot of parents, I'm afraid, have pushed their children into things, living vicariously through them and finding so much joy in things that they're succeeding in. Really, they're not to glory in those things, and you're not to glory in those things either. What do you glory in? That they understand and know me. Teach your children to know God. I think about when we lived in Australia. Our roost was 16 months old when we moved over there. We never called home. We couldn't afford it. Times were different then. But we would get letters, and we would talk about Papaw, and Grandmother, and Namaw, and we showed them pictures. And when we got home, three years later, we said, Bruce, this is Papaw. He ran into his arms. He knew Papaw. Bruce, this is Grandmother. He ran right into her arms. And there was a good lady there at 77th Street, where we went back to, and she said, come here, Bruce. And he ran off, but we never found him again. He didn't know her. We had taught him to know. Teach your children to know God. And you can do this by not only teaching them scriptures, but through prayer. Teach them to pray. Some of the happiest memories I have of my children was teaching them to pray. My little girl, especially, she'd do a little bit. First thing you know, she'd say, now what else? And we'd tell her a little something. What else is teaching them to pray? And this is a part of the process of teaching them to come to know God. Teach them that God comes first. You know the scripture. Matthew 6, verse 33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things, the necessities of life, will be added to you. Teach them that God comes first. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. That's the first commandment. Second, love your neighbor as yourself. Teach them God comes first. Now, how do you teach them that? It starts by them seeing you do that. We live in a time when there's so many demands on us. Turn to Matthew 13. Do you remember the parable of the sower? All of us know the parable of the sower. And Jesus' explanation as to the thorny ground. Let me get back one page. Verse 22. Now, he who has received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. Everybody wants us to volunteer for something. And once we ever volunteer to help out in something, then they, oh yeah, they'll help. So they volunteer for this other thing, and first thing you know, demands are coming constantly. And if you're not careful, you're committing yourself for this, and this, and this. But the children observe. Whenever mother, whenever dad commits themselves to something, they always say, now I'll be glad to do that, as long as it doesn't interfere with my service to the Lord. But you need to understand that my service to the Lord comes first. And as long as this does not interfere with my service to the Lord, I'll be glad to do it. But just understand that that's the one situation where I can't help. I'll have to put the Lord first. And the child hears that. One day the child is listening, and that person says, oh, but we've got to be able to count on. And mother, father says, well, I'm sorry, then I just can't commit myself. And now there's kind of things come up in school, and they want you to be involved in a school activity. But up front, he has seen his mother and dad, and he goes and says, yes, I will be a part of this school activity. But if it ever interferes with my service to the Lord, I can't be a part of it. And if you can accept me on that basis, then I would be glad to be accepted. Well, we can't use you then. But he's already seen mother and dad, teaching them up front to let people know, I will commit myself to this, but only if it does not interfere with my service to the Lord. God comes first. What do we teach them? Modesty and dress. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 2. Verse 72, look at verses 9 and 10. In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness with good work. That passage suggests that we need to teach the children, the women, all, modesty. Two things that they're to be active in. One is modesty and dress, and the other is dressed in good work. And both things are to be seen in our women, and we need to teach that to our children. And we need to rise up early to teach them that. There's an urgency. It's hard to think about somebody allowing their little girls or boys to wear immodest clothing until they're about 13 or 14, and all of a sudden they find out that I'm not to wear that anymore. It's going to be hard for them to shift gears. You teach them in their youth, young, modesty, modesty of character, showing itself in modesty of dress. Well, I've got a bunch of things here. Let me mention this one. Teach them respect for others, the joy of giving, kindness to older people and the handicapped. Teach them to be comfortable around the handicapped people. Teach them to be comfortable around older people. I tell you what, it brings me joy when a little child comes up to me after service and looks up at me and they've got a little bag of cookies. What's mother done? Well, mother's taken the child, and they're in the kitchen, and she's letting the little child help make the cookies. You know, I used to say with Bruce, I'd say, well, I think I can get the job done in 30 minutes, but if Bruce helps me, I think I can get it done within an hour. That's what happens when your children help you. But your mother, and she takes their little daughter, and what mother could do in 20 minutes, it takes an hour to do with a little daughter, but she's teaching the little daughter to make these cookies and then to bring them to Old Burr Hall. Is that a good thing or not? Teach them to be kind and to be comfortable around older people and around the handicapped people. Teach them that. That's a valuable thing to learn. Teach them to give. Be willing to give to others, not just expect others to give to them, but to be willing to give to others. All right, you want me to summarize all this? Don't spoil the child. That's the worst thing you can do with a child, and grandparents, that's astute, don't spoil the child. Turn to 1 Kings chapter 1, David is near death, Solomon is the chosen king to follow David. He's God's choice to follow David, but one of David's own sons rise up, and he decides he's going to be king. His name is Adonijah, 1 Kings chapter 1. All right, start with verse 5, Then Adonijah, the son of Haggath, exalted himself, saying, I will be king. And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run before him. And his father had not rebuked him at any time by saying, why have you done so? He was also very good looking. His mother had born him before us. We have a 7 o'clock Saturday morning study, and there's a man in my community, lives across the street, just down two houses, who found out about this, and he wanted to be a part. We read this just last Saturday, and I said, I want two words that would describe Adonijah. He said, he's a spoiled brat. Those are exactly the two words I want. And when you have a spoiled brat, and he's good looking, you've got a real problem on your hands. Don't spoil the child. I asked Bruce Crawley one time, the man for whom I named my son, I said, how do you teach your child to do what's right when everybody around them is doing wrong? Brother Crawley said, I don't know, but it's not by giving them everything they want. That was perceptive. Now, let me just briefly mention one more thing. We need to rise up early. And that is in helping the needy. I want to go to Proverbs chapter 3. Don't put it off. Rise up early. Proverbs chapter 3, look at verse 27. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. Do not say to your neighbor, go and come back, and tomorrow I will give it, when you have it with you. You know what that's saying? Rise up early. You have a neighbor who needs something, then don't put him off. Maybe somebody else will help him. Maybe I won't have to. No. You have it in your hand. Help him. Do what he needs. Do for him. And I'm turning to the one New Testament passage, Ephesians chapter 4. I'm looking at verse 28, Ephesians 4, verse 28. And as we read this, I want you to observe that there are three parts to the passage. Let him who stole, steal no longer. Rather, let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. Three parts. You've been stealing, stop stealing. Well, but wait, if I stop stealing, how am I going to have any sustenance? Go to work. Labor. But as you do so, as you budget yourself, leave some for the person who is in need. The Lord expects us to be generous with those that are in need and rise up early. Don't put them off. That's what the passage in Proverbs is telling us. Rise up early. Well, that's a little different from my usual style of preaching, but I hope that encourages us to do some things and be prompt in doing it. No delay. Get busy. There's an urgency. There should be an eagerness to do these things that we've been talking about tonight. And it'll be amazing and how much good we can do if we will just get busy, rise up early, wink, and do the work that needs to be done. Meanwhile, back to our very first point, if you're not a Christian, don't wait till tomorrow. Tomorrow's sun may never rise to bless that long deluded sight. This is the time. Well, then be wise. Be saved. Oh, tonight. Why don't you yield yourself to our Lord, accept his invitation and come submit yourself fully to him, give your life to him to be controlled by him through his word. We encourage you to come as we stand.