Are There Not Twelve Hours In A Day?

This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.

One of the things that is so amazing about our God, and we know about our God, is that He's multitasked. And He is a God who is doing many different things at the same time. It's not ever really as if God is doing just one thing.

I mean, we look at this account here, and we know that Lazarus is sick unto death—not ultimately unto death, as Jesus is going to raise him, ultimately unto the glory of God—but he's going to die. And his sisters sent a message to the Lord, Jesus.

Jesus is, you remember, a day's journey away. And they sent a messenger with the confidence that if the Master knows that their brother is sick, if the messenger tells Him that he whom You love is sick, that Jesus will heal him. And so they send the messenger, and Jesus receives the message, and we read here, He stays where He is for two more days.

Now, on the surface, none of this seems to make sense. You wonder, well, what is the Lord Jesus doing? What is God doing in the midst of this situation?

Well, the fact is, He was doing more than one thing—more than one thing. He's going to glorify Himself. When Jesus heads to Bethany in Judea two days later, when He arrives there on the fourth day since Lazarus died, God is going to be glorified. He's going to be exalted in the raising of Lazarus. And the disciples are going to learn something through this, that Jesus says that He's glad that He wasn't there for their sakes, for the sake of the disciples.
Look at verse 15 (John 11): "I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe." So that in the raising of Lazarus, there's something that's going to be done in the lives of the disciples. God was doing something. Our Lord was doing something.
So there's the glory of God in the raising of Lazarus, and there's a lesson for the disciples in the raising of Lazarus—more than one thing that our Lord is doing.

But there's also something else that's being accomplished that I want us to see this morning, that I want us to fix our attention to this morning. There's a lesson that He's going to pass on to His disciples that takes place before the raising of Lazarus. Look again with me at verse 7.
We read, "Then after this He said to the disciples, 'Let us go to Judea again.' The disciples said to Him, 'Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?'"

You see, this doesn't have to do with Lazarus. This doesn't have to do with Lazarus. This has to do with what? Judea. Judea. This has to do with the safety of the Lord Jesus. And by the way, this also has to do in their minds with the safety of the disciples, because when Jesus insists on their going to Judea, notice what Thomas' response is down in verse 16.
Look at it: "Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, 'Let us also go," —now watch this—"'so that we may die with Him.'" So this isn't about Lazarus. This is about something else.

And Jesus, in the midst of all of this, has a lesson for them. He says in verse 9, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of the world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." There's the lesson.

And this morning, I want us to think about this lesson, and I want us to think about it not only in terms of what it says about the life of our Lord Jesus when He was here on earth, and what it said to His disciples. I want us, beloved, to think about it in terms of what it says to us—as a church, as believers, as individual believers, and as a church together—because there's a lesson here about time, specifically about our time on this earth. It is fitting, beginning 2026, to consider this. A lesson about the time of Jesus on this earth, yes, but also a lesson about the time of His disciples on the earth, and about our time, as well, on this earth.

And I want us to consider six things that I would like to point out this morning from this text about this lesson, and the first one is this: our time as disciples of Jesus Christ, our time as believers, our time as children of God—and this is only true of children of God—our time is a classroom. Our time is a classroom. Our time on this earth is a classroom. That is, the Lord is teaching us during our time on this earth. He's teaching us.

We face things, all of us do. We face a variety of circumstances, situations. We face decisions we have to make. We face opportunities, tests, difficulties, hardships, trials, et cetera, et cetera.

And in the midst of all of it—whatever has happened in your life this week, even, whatever is taking place right now in your life—and some of these things you weren't even expecting, some of them may even have seemed strange or extraordinary, and in the midst of all of it, you need to know, beloved, that God is in control. God is sovereign. God is faithful. He's the God of lovingkindness, the God of *hesed*, as we were reminded last week. We need to remember that God is in control, that in this world of time, God is ruling. God is reigning. That you and I can really stand with confidence on this reality and the truth.

In the midst of all of this, the Lord reigns, supreme. That there's a throne in heaven, and that throne is standing, and that throne is not vacant. In this world of time, God is ruling. He rules over time. This is a freeing truth. He rules over time. He rules over the events that are taking place in time, the events in your life that are taking place in time. And when it comes to His children, in the midst of all of those things taking place in our lives in time, well, He is teaching us. He's teaching us. It's not random. Things just don't just happen. He's teaching us.

Lazarus is sick. This is a reality. He's going to die. This is a reality. He's going to be raised. It is a reality. But that's not the only thing taking place in the midst of these circumstances. So also something for the disciples to learn, and Jesus is going to teach them. So this setting is a setting of learning. This setting turns into a classroom, and there's something that Jesus has to teach them. And I think this is a great lesson for us, beloved.

The first question that we ought to ask, you and I—train your heart to do this, as I need to train my heart to do that—when anything takes place in our lives that we notice, that gets our attention, the first thing we ought to ask is, what is God teaching me in this? Naturally, we default into, why? But we need to train our hearts. What is God teaching me in this? What does God mean for me to learn through this? Whatever that is.

Jesus makes a decision, verse seven. He says, "Let us go to Judea again." And I want to emphasize, this is teaching time. This is teaching time. Because the very way—if you look at the text, especially in the original—if you look at the text, the very way that He words this is meant to turn their minds toward the danger.

I mean, think about this. He said, "Let us go to Judea again." Now, He could have said, "Let us go to Lazarus." But He didn't. He doesn't say that. He could have said, "Let us go to Martha and Mary." Well, He doesn't say that either. You say that would have turned their minds toward compassion, if He were to say, "Let us go to Martha and Mary." That would have turned their minds to compassion in the direction of concern. But He doesn't say it that way either.

He doesn't say, "Let us go to Bethany." Because even that would have evoked thoughts that were what? Nice, pleasant, right? I mean, this is where they live—Martha, Mary, Lazarus. This is where He had stayed with His disciples. He could have said it that way. But He doesn't say it that way. He simply says, "Let us go to Judea again." And the disciples know what they just left in Judea. They know exactly what they just left.

You go back to John 10, you remember, you look at verse 31: "The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him"—in Judea. So it wasn't the first time. Also, verse 39: "They were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp"—Judea. You see, this is something that's going on again and again and again. They're seeking the life of Jesus in Judea. They wanted to put an end to Him.

So when He says, "Let us go to Judea again," notice the reaction of the disciples in verse eight. "The disciples said to Him, 'Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?'" And by the way, that is in the emphatic position: "Are You going there again?" The end of the statement there—*Kai palin*—Are You going there and again? That's where it's placed, in that emphatic position. And again, Lord, You're going there? They thought this is suicidal. They thought this is something that would literally mean that He would lose His life.

That's why in verse 16, Thomas said, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him." I will talk about that in the future, Lord willing. His bravery and courage is admirable, but you'll see his perspective of it, right? This means He's going to die. That's what he thought. Judea—death.

Now, why does Jesus put it this way? Why does He bring it up the way He does in the words that He uses? Why does He do that? Because, beloved, He's teaching them something. He's teaching them something. And I want us to realize that no matter what it is that you're going through in this world of time as a child of God, as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord is at work in your life—actively at work in your life—teaching you, growing you, molding you, shaping you, conforming you into the image that pleases Him, the image of His own Son. He's committed to that end.

So before we go any further this morning, just stop and reflect on what you faced this past week or what you're facing right now in your life and ask yourself the question: What does the Lord mean to teach me through this? Because He's teaching you something.

Which leads us to the second thing I want us to see. Not only is our time a classroom, but our time is determined by God. Our time is determined by God. Jesus says something to their response. "Are You going there again?" He says in verse nine, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" Interesting statement. Now it may have been a proverbial statement. They may have said this to communicate a point in that day. But one thing is clear though: the Jews divided the day into 12 hours. And so for them, there were 12 hours of daylight. And those 12 hours were fixed. Fixed.

Man does not determine time. God long ago determined time. So Jesus is saying, listen, there are 12 fixed hours in the day, aren't there? Hasn't God fixed the time? Isn't God the One who set these 12 hours in their place? Isn't He the One who controlled all of that? Do we have any control over that? Hasn't God done that? And something you see emphasized in the Word of God is that when it comes to time, God is the Master of time. God’s the One who’s determining the time. God is the One who set the timetable. The world, beloved, is on a divine timetable. Men aren’t controlling it.

I read this week about some clock that some scientists created when atomic weapons were developed. It’s called the Doomsday Clock. Maybe you’ve heard of it before. And they move the hand ever so often to say, now we’ve got so many minutes until midnight, and so forth. But what’s amazing to me is that they keep moving it back and forth. I mean, sometimes it’s 12 minutes to midnight. At some point, it’s seven minutes to midnight. In fact, in the 1950s, it was actually two minutes to midnight. And what they’re saying is that we are now closer to some sort of a nuclear holocaust or destruction.

Listen, beloved, we know how the world is going to end. Don’t we? We know how the world’s gonna end. And where do you find that? In Scripture. You find it in God’s Word, and it’s not going to be global warming that does us in. God is in control of this world. God is in control of the times. Remember what we studied recently, Galatians 4:4, "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law." When did He come to this earth? In the fullness of time, when the time arrived. Not one minute before, not one minute after.

Mark 1:15, after the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus was preaching this: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." In John 7, when His brothers were urging Him to go up to the feast and make public that He’s the Messiah, wanting Him to be more public than He had been with His claims, we read in John 7:6, "Jesus said to them, 'My time is not yet here.'" Verse 8, He said, "Go up to the feast yourselves; I am not going up yet to the feast because My time has not yet been fulfilled." Chapter 7, verse 30, "So they were seeking to seize Him; yet no man laid his hand on Him." —Why? —"Because His hour had not yet come."

And this is not just true of Jesus. Do you realize this is true of all of us, beloved? You know, don’t you, that all of your days and my days were written down by God before you lived one of them? Isn’t that what the Scripture tells us? Psalm 139:16, "Your eyes have seen my unshaped substance; and in Your book all of them were written, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was not one of them." Our times are determined by God. Our time on this earth is determined by the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. Just as He says there are 12 hours in a day—God determined that—so your lifespan has been determined by God.

This leads to a third thing that I want us to recognize from this text. This time that we have is a classroom. This time that we have has been determined by God, and therefore, flowing out of the second lesson that we see here, our time cannot be shortened. Our time cannot be shortened. And that seems to be the main point of the comparison. You can't shorten time. You can't.

The day lasts; it always lasts as long as God has ordained. We don't have control over that. You and I don't have control over that. And what He's dealing with here is the fear that His disciples are experiencing. He wants them to know that they don't have anything to be afraid of. He's walking according to His Father's will, and until the Father's time for the Son on this earth is done, is complete, until that time is finished, Christ is untouchable, indestructible. There's nothing that can happen to Him until His Father's time for Him is done.

Isn't that what He tells Pilate? "You have no authority over Me." John 7:30—we just read it a second ago—They sought to arrest Him, but they were not able to arrest Him. Why not? "Because His hour had not yet come." It wasn't God's time. It wasn't. The time is coming, Jesus told the disciples, when the night will arrive, when His time on the earth will finish, and the cross is looming ahead, but it's according to God's timetable. But until that time, He has nothing to be concerned about. He just walks in His Father's will, and He is safe.

This is the main point of the statement: there are twelve hours in the day. It is fixed. There's no shortening of it. And as long as He walks in the Father's will, there's nothing to fear.
A. W. Pink, commenting on the statement, he says this:
"The great lesson for us in these two verses is this. No fear of danger or unpleasant consequences must detour us from doing our duty. If the will of God clearly points in a certain direction, our responsibility is to move in that direction unhesitatingly, and we may go with a double assurance that no power of the enemy can shorten our life till the divinely appointed task is done."

Commenting on this, James Montgomery Boice—listen to what he said:
"An important conclusion follows from this. We need not fear what people can do to us, or let me say it another way. If the prolonging of our days is in our hands, then we must be extremely careful in all we do."

Did you grasp that? I mean, if your day is saying, if the number of your days is determined by you, then you better be very careful, very afraid. He goes on to say:
"We must be cautious if that is the case. For instance, are you sure that you really want to make that trip by auto that you have planned for next summer? Many die on the roadways. You may be safer at home. Or again, are you sure you want to eat the kind of food that's served often at local restaurants? Perhaps it's not good for you. You may want to get on to health foods. Or again, are you sure you've had sufficient medical checkups? Perhaps you should have a checkup each month, or better yet, perhaps you should just check into a hospital permanently. Above all, be sure that you do not anger anyone. The person you anger may be the kind that kills people. Be careful not to stand for anything. You see my point."

He goes on to say:
"If God is not in control, if you're in control, then be fearful. On the other hand, if God orders the duration of your days, and if nothing can cut them short, then you can be bold to serve Him as Jesus was."

Now, obviously, we wholeheartedly agree with what Boice  is teaching in the context of the full counsel of God, and he's making a point here. There is some wisdom, though, that has to be applied to that truth, and we know that from Scripture. But we have to apply that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit to say that our times are in the hand of God, and therefore it makes no difference. For example, what we do with our health is not wise. It's unwise. To say you never have to have checkups and you don't need to watch anything—well, no. There has to be wisdom here.But the fact is that if we're walking in the will of God, there's nothing to fear. That's the point. There's nothing to fear because our days have been fixed by the Lord. No cutting them short. Our time is a classroom. Our time is determined by God. Our time cannot be shortened.

And there's a fourth thing that we see here, but before we move on to the fourth thing, let me quickly say also that this doesn't just have to do with the duration of your life. It also can apply to the duration of your service somewhere.

Sometimes people say, you know, if I take this stand at work, or maybe they work for themselves and they've got a business, and they say, you know what? If I make this decision and that decision, here are the potential ramifications. Here are all the bad things that could happen to me. Listen, don't you understand, beloved? Your life is in the hand of God. You seek first God's kingdom, you obey Him, you walk with Him, and you have nothing to fear. If you're doing His will, you have nothing to fear.

Fourth, our time is not unlimited. It is not unlimited. Just like our time cannot be shortened, our time will not be extended. There are only twelve hours in a day—not thirteen, not fourteen, not fifteen. And what we see by that is we have limited opportunity. We have limited opportunity. There's a sense of urgency about our lives. I didn't say panic—not panic, not panic—but an understanding that actually time matters. It matters. Time is important.

In fact, do you know that it's a reflection of one's spiritual maturity and wisdom, what they do with their time? Jesus pointed this out in chapter 9, verse 4. He said to His disciples, you remember, "We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." My time on this earth is—it has an end. It's limited. And we must be about the things the Father has given Me to do, He tells them.

And the psalm that was read in your hearing earlier, the call to worship, Psalm 90, verse 12, Moses wrote, "So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." What is necessary for a heart of wisdom? The understanding that you don't have forever. The understanding that you don't have forever. What is necessary for a heart of wisdom? The understanding that your days are limited. The understanding that you're to number your days, that you're to make the most of the time that you have, to redeem that time.

Why didn't Jesus leave immediately to go to Lazarus? Right away? Why did He wait two more days? Well, maybe some will say, well, He was waiting for him to die. Well, no, that's not true. We've already seen that, haven't we? Lazarus was probably dead by the time the messenger even got to Jesus. And if he wasn't, he certainly died on the same day. It was one day's travel to Jesus. Jesus waited for two days, and it was one day's travel back. And when He arrived there, Lazarus had been dead for four days. So he had to die the same day the messenger was sent.

So therefore, that's not why Jesus waited. But one reason we're learning this morning—He had a lesson for His disciples. Right? But beyond that, do you realize Jesus also had something else to do for those two days? I mean, there was something the Father had given Him to do that required Him to remain where He was.
Beloved, your time is not unlimited, and wisdom is learning to number your days and to make the most of your time, which leads us now to the fifth thing. Our time is sufficient.

Our time is sufficient. That is, God gives us enough time to do the things that He's called us to do. Our time is sufficient. Did you hear that? God gives us enough time to do the things that He , that He has called us to do. Do you believe that this morning? Do you believe that? Do you believe that God would call you to do things that He doesn't give you the time to do? Or supply the strength to do it? Or He doesn't give you sufficient time to accomplish what He has for you to do?

Luke 24:44, "Now He said to them, 'These are My words,'" —Jesus is speaking—
 "'which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms,'" —here it is— "'must be fulfilled.'" The life of Jesus on earth was not going to end until everything—everything—written about Him in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms, was fulfilled.

And don't you get a sense when you read the Gospels? Don't you get a sense that Jesus was on a mission? I mean, all that He's doing, all of His decisions, marching forward on a divine timetable, on a divine clock, on a divine timetable towards an ultimate end. And I love the way it is worded in John 4:4, when He went to meet the woman at the well, "And He had to pass through Samaria." He had to pass. I mean, He's on a mission.

And then you take that lesson about our Savior, and you think about us. Does the New Testament teach us that we're to have a sense of mission? That we're to have a sense of importance—the importance of time? That we're not to be wasteful when it comes to these days that the Lord gives us?

Ephesians 5:16, you remember there in our study of that book, speaking to us, the disciples of Christ, we are called to redeem the time, to make the most of the time, because the days are evil. Colossians 4:5 says, "Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, redeeming the time." Make the most of the opportunity. Only so many hours in a day. Only so many days in a lifetime. And wisdom is to redeem our time, to make the best use of our time—the sufficiency of time. God gives us the time necessary to do His will. Are we using the time wisely?

Now, let me pause here, and I want to hopefully have some boots on the ground here. I want to underscore, this becomes something very practical for us, because when it seems like you have 24 hours' worth of things to do, and only 12 hours in the day, you only have two choices. And I want us to think about that. Two choices. You have either 12 hours of fluff or junk in there somewhere, or you're not managing your time wisely.

Anybody ever feel that way? You have 24 hours' worth of stuff to do, and 12 hours to do it in? Let me ask you, what in your day, what in your schedule, is not really what God is giving you to do? What is it that you're doing that God hasn't given you to do? This becomes very, very practical. This goes to church attendance even sometimes, or as well sometimes. Just to use an illustration, midweek prayer meeting rolls around, someone says, "Well, I just couldn't be there. I had something I had to do." And beloved, listen, there are cases where that happens. That happens. And you are indeed, as you hear very often from this pulpit, providentially hindered. I know there are things that come up that just cannot be avoided.

But here's the question that we want to wrestle with, each and every one of us before God. How many of the things do we sometimes elevate to the category of unavoidable tasks that are truly things that cannot be avoided? And here's the question: Was that really on God's agenda for you? That was really what He wanted you to do? And those of you perhaps in our midst who have control over your schedule, you're in business for yourself, or you have the kind of job where you have freedom with your schedule, are you making wise choices with what you're doing? Some of these things that seem so important, is it really on the same place on God's priority list for you, as you put it?

These are all questions. This is not designed to make anyone feel saddled with guilt, but really self-examination under God to really evaluate my time in my life.

Am I—and I'm not just talking about church as well. I'm talking about time with your family when I say church attendance, but also I'm not talking about only church attendance. I'm talking about time with your family. I'm talking about time with the Lord in His Word. Does the Lord really have you so busy that you feel like you can't spend time in His Word?
"Oh, I'm so busy. There's so many things. The Lord understands. I'm not going to read. I'm not going to be in prayer. I'm not going to be in the book. I'm not going to be on my face before God." You can't find time in your schedule for time alone with God? Does God really have you that busy? How much of this represents a divine assignment? How much of this represents misplaced priority? So that's one possibility when it seems like you have more to do in a day than you have time for. How much of it is stuff that you've added and it's not God's priority for you?

But there's another way to look at this as well. That is, sometimes it is due to mismanagement of our time. It's not that we don't have enough time. It's that we don't use our time wisely and we don't learn to say no to certain things or delegate.

Something you learn over the years: some of the busiest-looking people you'll ever see in your life—some, some, not all—some are the most inefficient people you'll ever meet in your life. The reason they always look busy is because they don't know how to manage their time. They don't know how to prioritize and get things done.

There are 12 hours in a day. God has something for us to do in those 12 hours. And yes, it's true, it's true to say that they won't be cut short. There's safety, but they won't be extended. So there's priority. Do we know what it is to find from the Word of God what the priorities of God are for my life so that my life is lived in such a way that reflects wisdom? See, that requires me to study the Word of God and figure that out. Lord, teach us to number our days so that we may present to You a heart that is wise, and wisdom is reflected in how we manage our time. Our time must be used wisely. God has given us enough time to do what He's called us to do.

Couldn't help but think of Jonathan Edwards. Wrote down a list of goals so that he could walk in biblical wisdom. He called them his resolutions—70 of them. He began writing his resolutions in 1722, less than a year after he came to know the Lord Jesus and when he was about 18 years of age. Eighteen. He wrote 21 of the 70 in one sitting, and he steadily refined them and wrote additional ones for about a year, completing them in August of 1723 before he was 20.

Here are some excerpts from his finished set. Quote, "Being sensible that I'm unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat Him by His grace to enable me to keep these resolutions so far as they are agreeable to His will for Christ's sake. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory and my own good profit, in the whole of my duration, the whole of my life." He says, "Resolved, to live with all my might while I do live. Resolved, never to do anything that I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life. Resolved, to always be finding out fit objects of charity and liberality." In other words, people whom he could help financially. "Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently that I may find and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same." He said, "Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be." In other words, never give up. And then there's this one: "Resolved, never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it the most profitable way I possibly can."

And resolutions are a wonderful tool, but they're ineffective if you never look at them. And so Edwards, at the beginning of his list, he writes this: "Remember to read over these resolutions once a week." Elsewhere he said, he wrote, "Resolved, to ask myself at the end of every day, week, month, and year wherein I could possibly in any respect have done better."
Beloved, a wise life is an examined life. It's a life in which opportunities to pursue biblical wisdom are not wasted. And by the way, that includes as well times of rest.

The last thing I would mention this morning as we close is that our time in God's will is a place of safety. Our time in God's will is a place of safety. And this is important for us to keep in mind.

Notice what He added here, our Lord, back to John 11 and verse 9: "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" And so here's the application—here's His application: "If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

And it's pretty clear there's a double meaning here, right? There's a double meaning in His words. If you take the physical illustration, He's saying, when you walk in the daylight, that's not when you stumble around. So when you're walking around in the night, that's when you stumble. I've got to remember that we're pretty much used to streetlights. You drive around and there's streetlights everywhere, unless you go somewhere really away from the city. But we're pretty much used to streetlights. But in this day and age, there weren't any streetlights. And so if you're walking around at night, you can't see very much. The darkness is very dark. And that's when people stumble. That's when people would be injured.

And so He's saying, listen, I'm walking in the day. I'm walking. And here's the double meaning of His words: I'm walking according to My Father's timetable. I'm walking in the will of the Father. There's the daylight. When you walk in the will of God, there's the daylight. There's the daylight. And someone who walks in the day doesn't stumble. In other words, there's safety.
Though it may seem dangerous, though from a human vantage point it may seem risky, there's safety. There's really only one thing that any of us has to determine: Father, is this Your will as revealed in Your Word, with the principles that You've given me and Your Word in my hand? And if it is His will, there's no danger in it. There's no danger in it. There's safety in it.

Now, beloved, that doesn't mean there won't be persecution in the way of God. That doesn't mean there won't be martyrdom as we walk in the will of God. We've seen in church history. That's not what He means. It's not physical safety necessarily. There's nothing to fear when you are in the will of God, which is good, pleasing, and perfect. Don't fear him who can kill the body, right? But fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. But if now we have peace with God, there's nothing to fear. And you know, our time can't be shortened. No one can lay a finger on you. You are immortal until your time and your ministry and your purpose on earth is complete. Do we have to fear going back to Judea again? Not if that's the Father's will. Walk in the light. Walk in the daylight.

Now, here's what you need to fear. You need to fear life outside of the light. You see, you need to fear life outside of the light. And here's another meaning of the word. Christ is the light. Doesn't that come to mind when you read the light of the world, "the light of this world," verse 9? Don't you think of the Lord Jesus Christ? And He's ultimately that. And we've already seen that in the book of John, John chapter 8. And you see it in the book of 1 John as well.
To walk after Christ, to follow after Christ, to walk in His will—that's light. And that's a life of fulfillment. That's also a life of safety. Christ is God's light. And we're safe as followers of Christ. But then there are those people who walk outside of the light, outside of God's light. They don't have light in them. They're walking in darkness. They don't have proper understanding of the times. They don't know that their time, their life is in the hand of God. They don't know that their time is determined by God.

In fact, sadly, tragically, they foolishly think that they have some hand in how long it is they're going to live on this earth. Maybe there's even someone who thinks this way here in our midst, who thinks in themselves, "You know, I'm going to live till I'm 100. I'm going to make sure of it. I'm going to exercise, work out, eat healthy, eat the right thing. I'm not going to do certain things. I'm going to do everything that I can to live a long life." And then all of a sudden—boom. They're gone. Healthy a moment ago, but now dead. How foolish that is. How dangerous that is to think that you have your life in your hands.

But someone who's walking in the light understands just the opposite. My life is in His hand. My life is in the hand of God. My times are fixed by Him so that I can boldly serve Him without fear because He is in control.

I want to ask you this morning as we close: Are you in the light? Or are you in darkness? Are you in the light? Do you have Christ, the light of the world? Do you know God? Have your sins been forgiven, wiped away completely through the shed blood of Jesus on Calvary's cross? Do you know the resurrected Son of God? Do you know Him personally? Do you have a relationship with Him? Do you walk in His will?

Do you know God? Are you in the light? Or are you in the darkness, stumbling around trying to figure out the meaning of life, thinking that your life is in your hand, that you are the master of your own ship, the captain of your own ship? Is that you? Do you know that God fixes your times? Do you live your life boldly—not foolishly, not unwisely—but confidently, knowing that God has your life in His hand? And are you prioritizing your time according to the will of God revealed in His Word?

Do you say along with Moses, Lord, teach me to number my days so that I can present to You a heart of wisdom? It's not a waste of time to go to work. God has ordained that we work to support our families. It's not a waste of time to do many of the things that we do. But beyond those things, and even how we handle those necessary things, it ought to reflect our knowledge of God, our knowledge of His truth, our knowledge of the brevity of life, our knowledge of the eternity to come. We ought to be living our lives in light of eternity, beloved. That's wisdom. Is that how you're living your life?

Only when you walk in the light, only when you know the Lord, only when you know Christ Jesus, the Light of the world, will you ever be able to approach time the way that it really is. May God help us to do that, 2026. Let's pray.