It's good to be with you again at the beginning of a new week, sharing with you keys to successful living, which God has placed in my hand through many years of personal experience and Christian ministry. This week I'm going to be speaking about a form of spiritual discipline which is mentioned many times in the Bible, but is very little understood or practiced by contemporary Christians, least of all probably in the United States.

The form of discipline that I have in mind is waiting for God or waiting on God. The older versions usually say waiting on God. The newer versions say waiting for God, but essentially it's the same thing. It's a form of waiting that is specifically related to God. There are many passages in the Bible that speak about waiting for God.

We'll glance at just a few to begin with. First of all, in Psalm 25, verses 1 through 5, To thee, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in thee I trust. Do not let me be ashamed. Do not let my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none of those who wait for thee will be ashamed. Those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed.

Make me know thy ways, O Lord. Teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach me. For thou art the God of my salvation. For thee I wait all the day. Notice waiting for God is mentioned twice in those verses. Verse 3, David says, Let none of those who wait for thee be ashamed. And then at the end he says, For thee I wait all the day.

And just before that, he says, Thou art the God of my salvation. I think there's a connection. If God is the God of our salvation, then one of the ways we relate to him as such is by waiting for him, if necessary, all the day. And it's connected with that prayer, Make me know thy ways, O Lord. Teach me thy paths.

I believe one of the ways in which we come to know God's ways and God's paths is by waiting for him. If we're not prepared to wait for him, there will be some things we'll never learn. Then we look again in Psalm 27, verses 11 through 14.

Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path because of my foes. Do not deliver me over through the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence. I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord.

We see there in the closing verse, David twice says, wait for the Lord. Yes, wait for the Lord. Again, we see that it's connected with his prayer a little earlier. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path. It's also connected with his prayer for deliverance from his enemies.

So I believe that waiting for God is the key to learning his way, and also it's one of the steps that are sometimes necessary in seeking deliverance from our enemies and from opposition.

And then there's another beautiful passage in Isaiah chapter 64, verse 4, which the prophet addresses to the Lord. He says there are certain things that distinguish the true God. And one of the things he says is, Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God beside you who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

So there is one of the distinctive marks of the one true God, that he acts on behalf of those who wait for him. One of the ways in which we need to relate to this wonderful God, the God of the whole universe, one of the ways in which we will come to the place where he will act on our behalf is by waiting for him.

What is the essence of waiting for God? What is really involved in it? Why is it so important? Why is there so much emphasis on it in the Scriptures?

I would like to suggest to you that there's a passage in Psalm 62 which probably contains the essence of this wonderful secret of waiting for God. Psalm 62, verses 1 and 2, and then verses 5 and 6.

In verses 1 and 2, the psalmist says, My soul waits in silence for God only. From him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. My stronghold, I shall not be greatly shaken.

And then in verses 5 and 6, he returns to similar language, but there are some significant differences. My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation. My stronghold, I shall not be shaken.

One important thing to see in those verses is that the word "only" occurs four times. Every time that the psalmist speaks about waiting for God, he adds, wait for God only. And he also speaks about waiting in silence for God or being silent toward God. In other words, it's focusing our total attention upon God.

It's looking to Him and continuing to look to Him, not taking hasty or unwise action, not yielding to our carnal pressures, but focusing our attention upon God, waiting in silence for Him.

What is it then that's so important about waiting for God? What are the results that it will produce in us?

I would like to suggest that in waiting for God, we acknowledge God in a very special way. We give Him His rightful place in our lives. It builds a relationship with Him that cannot be built in any other way.

In particular, there are three ways that we acknowledge God by waiting for Him. First of all, we acknowledge God as our source. That's why the psalmist said, wait for God only. He was saying to his own soul, what you need can only come from God. There's no other source for what you need.

So it's in vain to turn in any other direction. You have to keep your heart and your mind focused on God by waiting for him.

Secondly, we acknowledge God's sovereignty, and that is so important. The initiative is with God. The timing is with God. We can't tell God when to do it. We have to wait until God in his infinite wisdom knows this is the time that it needs to be done.

So we're acknowledging God's sovereignty in our lives.

Thirdly, we're acknowledging our dependence upon God. And that's something that's painful for all of us. Because as a result of man's fall, there is ingrained in every human being a deep desire to be independent, even to be independent of God.

Waiting for God deals with this desire for independence. It continually reminds us we are dependent upon God.

The initiative comes from God. The only source is God. And so it humbles and subdues that carnal... impulse in us which is continually striving to be independent of God.

And then in that passage that I read from Psalm 62, we need to notice the transition. David says in verse 1, my soul waits in silence for God only. In verse 2 he says, I shall not be greatly shaken.

Then in verse 5, he says, my soul wait in silence for God only. And in verse 6, he says, I shall not be shaken at all. Notice there's an important difference. First, I shall not be greatly shaken. Then I shall not be shaken at all.

In other words, waiting for God develops stability. And finally, we always need to remind ourselves that waiting for God is mutual. It is not only we who are waiting for God, but it is also God who is waiting for us.

Here's a beautiful scripture to that effect in Isaiah 30, verse 18.

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore he waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice. How blessed are all those who wait for him.

We tend to look only at our own situation, say, God, I'm waiting for you. But we need to be inspired by that scripture to know that it's two-way. Not only are we waiting for God, but God on high is waiting for us.

And he's waiting to have compassion. He's waiting to be gracious. So even though at times our patience may be tested, let's bear in mind it's mutual. It's two-way. We wait for God, but God also waits for us.

And the reason he waits is to be gracious, to have compassion on us.

In my introductory talk yesterday, I pointed out that the Bible has a great deal to say about waiting for God. and I gave a number of examples. I also singled out what I believe is the essence of waiting for God, as presented in Psalm 62, verses 1 and 2 and 5 and 6.

And I'm going to read those verses again because I feel they are so significant.

Psalm 62, verses 1 and 2. My soul waits in silence for God only. From him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold. I shall not be greatly shaken.

And then verses 5 and 6. My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold. I shall not be shaken.

Let me remind you quickly of what I said about that. First of all, we notice that the word "only" occurs four times, so that in waiting for God, we're giving him a position that is absolutely unique. We're saying, whatever it is I need, there's only one source, and that's God.

So, in waiting for God, we acknowledge God. In particular, we acknowledge three aspects of our relationship with God and his with us. First of all, we acknowledge God as our source. Second, we acknowledge God's sovereignty. And third, we acknowledge our dependence on God, thus dealing with that carnal desire in every human being to be somehow independent of God.

We noted also the transition. David said the first time in verse 2, I shall not be greatly shaken. But the second time in verse 6, he said, I shall not be shaken at all. So we see a transition. to complete stability out of waiting for God.

Second, waiting for God is a necessary part of the process by which we are made mature and complete. James tells us that this process requires perseverance, and perseverance means holding on, both when we're busy and when we've got nothing to do, we still have to hold on, and that's the hardest test.

Third, waiting for God produces serenity. It's the answer to fretting, anger, and wrath. And fourth, waiting for God results in a supernatural transformation. Isaiah tells us that those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength, but literally will exchange their strength in place of their own natural strength. they'll receive God's supernatural strength.

So waiting on God is the way to receive God's infinite resources.

In my talk today, I'm going to illustrate this principle of waiting for God from the life of Abraham.

First of all, we need to see that Abraham is both our spiritual father and a type of Christ.

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Father and our pattern. Consequently, his experiences are particularly important for us as believers. This is stated by Paul in Romans chapter 4, verses 11 and 12, where he says, "He, that is Abraham, received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised." So then he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

We see then two important points. First, Abraham is father of all believers. Second, we need to walk in the footsteps of Abraham's faith. His life is a kind of pattern for us. How does this apply then to waiting for God? It applies very specifically in the life of Abraham. In fact, I would have to say that was one of his greatest tests, possibly his greatest.

You see, the fulfillment of God's purpose in Abraham's life centered around the birth of his promised heir. He was told he was going to have an heir and that through this heir, God would bring forth a nation through which all other nations would be blessed and that his descendants would be multiplied as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore. And everything in his life ultimately depended on the fulfillment of the promise of an heir. But for this, He had to wait for God.

Now, as we study Abraham's life, we see two aspects to the example that he gives us. One is negative, the other is positive. Abraham didn't always do the right thing. In this respect, he failed. He made a serious mistake. He was not prepared to wait for God.

Let's look at the time frame of Abraham's life. It's interesting. Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran on his journey to the promised land. After 10 years, he got tired of waiting for the promised heir, and so he did something to help God, if I can put it that way. He did it in his own cleverness and in his own strength.

Apparently, Sarah couldn't have a child, so with Sarah's full consent, in fact, at her suggestion, He took as a concubine Sarah's maid, Hagar, and he had a child by her who was called Ishmael. Now Abraham was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael.

Before Ishmael was born, the angel of God foretold what his character would be. This is stated in Genesis 16, verses 11 and 12. The angel of the Lord also said to her, "that is to Hagar," You are now with child, and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. Ishmael means God has heard.

Verse 12 describes the kind of son. He will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand against him. And he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.

We see then that the product of our own impatience and carnal impulses is a wild donkey. That's very clear language about this son. He will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone, everyone's hand against him. He will live in hostility toward all his brothers.

See, that's a very vivid picture of what comes as not waiting for God, of just going ahead in our own carnal impulse and doing what seems right in our eyes, accepting somebody's helpful suggestion, trying to help God. The result is not that we solve our problem, but that we aggravate our problem by doing that.

The descendant of Hagar, Ishmael, is essentially the father of the Arab nations of the Middle East. And the problem that started then has continued for 4,000 years and is more acute now than it was then. Because it's the descendants of Ishmael who are the unrelenting, totally opposed enemies of the state of Israel and of the descendants of the promised seed, Isaac and Jacob.

So if ever history has a lesson, the lesson is it pays to wait for God. It's dangerous to lose your patience and go ahead, act on your own initiative, yield to your carnal impulses and other people's helpful suggestions, and try to help God out and solve your problem your way. Because instead of solving your problem, you're going to aggravate it.

Now we'll turn to the positive aspect of Abraham's example for us. For the next 13 years after Ishmael was born, Abraham had no further recorded revelation from God. He was 13 years out of harmony with God. How had he got out of harmony with God? By going ahead in his own impulse by not waiting for God.

You see, waiting for God is essential to being in harmony with God. However, 13 years later, and that must have seemed a long 13 years to Abraham, when he was 99 years old, God gave him the seed promised, Isaac, born of Sarah. Isaac was actually born when Abraham was 100 years old.

So Abraham had to wait 25 years for the fulfillment of the promise upon which everything that mattered in his life depended. Can you identify with Abraham? Consider what it means to have to wait 25 years. See your own body grow old. See Sarah, your wife, grow old. Realize that in the natural all hope is totally gone.

But now notice what I emphasized yesterday, the supernatural transformation that comes out of waiting. For this we'll turn to Hebrews chapter 11, verses 11 and 12, which describes the outcome. By faith Abraham, even though he was past age and Sarah herself was barren, was unable to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.

And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand of the seashore. What was that the product of? That supernatural miracle that transformed the physical condition of both Abraham and Sarah and made it possible for them to have a child of their own?

What was that the outcome of? It was the outcome of waiting for God. You see, that's an endorsement of what Isaiah says in chapter 40. Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength and more literally will exchange strength in place of their own worn-out bodies, their own limited natural ability.

They will receive this divine, supernatural strength and enabling. Let me make a final comment on this. God's supernatural purposes require what I call a gestation period. They are not instantly fulfilled. God's promises are like seeds. Dropped into the earth, they take time to bring forth the promised result.

Now during that period of gestation, we are waiting for God. So you see, waiting for God is a necessary and logical requirement for receiving the endowment of God's supernatural ability and power that alone can produce the result that we need.

In my previous talks, I've pointed out four benefits of waiting for God. First, it develops stability in us. Second, it's a necessary part of the process by which we are made mature and complete. Third, it produces serenity. It deals with fretfulness, with anger, and with wrath.

Fourth, it results in a supernatural transformation. Isaiah tells us that those who wait for the Lord will exchange their strength. In place of their own limited natural strength, they will receive an impartation of divine supernatural strength.

Yesterday, we saw how this principle that Isaiah states was illustrated in the life of Abraham. And we looked at it from two aspects, from the negative and from the positive aspect.

First of all, on the negative side, we saw what happened when Abraham failed, when he failed to wait for God, when he went ahead and acted on his own initiative, yielded to his own carnal impulse, the helpful suggestion of his wife, tried to help God out, and had a child by his maidservant.

The result was Ishmael. And concerning Ishmael, the scripture predicted even before he was born, he would be a wild donkey of a man. There's tremendous appropriateness in that. You see, the carnal nature in us is the donkey nature. And when we yield to the donkey nature, what it produces is just another donkey, no matter how good our intentions may be.

It's the expression of impatience and self-will, and it's always going to be just a donkey. And I pointed out that... Abraham didn't solve his problems. He multiplied them. Ishmael became the greatest problem to the descendants to whom God had made the promise, that is, to Isaac and to Jacob.

Today, 4,000 years later, in the Middle East, we see this confrontation between the descendants of Ishmael and the descendants of Isaac. If Abraham had waited for God, how different history might have been.

But that's an if that we shouldn't speculate too much about because that's the way history has gone. Abraham made his mistake, and he and his descendants have been paying for it ever since.

However, thank God that's not the only aspect of Abraham that we looked at. On the positive side, Abraham eventually learned his lesson.

13 years after Ishmael had been born, God gave him the final assurance that Isaac, the promised seed, was going to be born.

And so 25 years from the time God first set Abraham moving on his journey to the promised land and gave him the promise of the heir, that promise was fulfilled. Abraham had to wait 25 years.

And I tell you one thing, I deeply respect Abraham, that he waited in faith. And then came that which we've been speaking about, the supernatural transformation.

Both for Abraham and for Sarah, their bodies were supernaturally transformed. God restored to them the ability to have a child.

Today I'm going to develop a theme that I just touched on yesterday, harmonizing with God.

Yesterday I pointed out that by going ahead and not waiting for God, Abraham got out of harmony with God. And for 13 years he had no communication, no revelation from God.

It took him 13 years to get back into harmony. So waiting relates to the time element in our lives.

And the Bible has much to say about this.

For instance, in Psalm 31 verses 14 and 15, the psalmist says this:

"But as for me, I trust in thee, O Lord.
I say, thou art my God.
My times are in thy hand."

That's a very significant statement. It's one that I myself utter many times.

I say to God, "my times are in thy hand." I'm not going to get impatient. I'm going to trust you. I know you've got complete control of the time element in my life.

And when I really grasp that... and act according to it, there's a release from tension and pressure.

You see, the Bible teaches that there's a right time for every activity. This is stated very vividly in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verses 1 through 8, and those are some of my favorite verses in the Bible.

Perhaps there are some of you that don't often turn to the book of Ecclesiastes. Let me tell you that there are some jewels in it.

This is what it says here in Ecclesiastes 3, 1 through 8:

"There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to uproot.
A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build.
A time to weep and a time to laugh.
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them.
A time to embrace and a time to refrain.
A time to search and a time to give up.

A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace."

If you analyze those verses, there are 14 pairs of opposites. And the principle that runs all through that... is that there's a right time to do a thing and there's a time not to do a thing.

Everything that's mentioned there can be right if it's done at the right time, but it also can be wrong if it's done at the wrong time.

And one of our commonest problems is that frequently we try to do the right thing at the wrong time.

We're concerned about whether a thing is right, but we're not concerned about the time. This reminds me a little bit of the theory of relativity, which states basically that you cannot specify a location in space without specifying the time, because time and space are interrelated.

And so it's the same with our actions. We can't just say an act is right. We can only say it's right if it's done at the right time.

So we have to learn to wait for God's time. That's what waiting for God does. It brings us into harmony with God.

You see, God invites us to walk with him.

In Amos chapter 3, verse 3, we have this question:

"Can two walk together except they be agreed?"

And the two that Amos is speaking of are God and man. Can we walk together if we're not in agreement, if we're not in harmony, if we don't keep in step?

So walking with God demands keeping in step with God, harmonizing with him, being in time with him.

You see, the universe is like a vast symphony, but man's part in it is discordant as a result of sin. Man is out of tune and out of time.

The purpose of redemption... is to bring us back into harmony. Not merely the right note, but the right note at the right time. Anybody knows in music you can play the right note, but if you play it at the wrong time, there's total disharmony.

Now I want to re-emphasize something that I mentioned briefly in my talk yesterday. It is this, that God's supernatural purposes require a gestation period.

or the seed takes time to germinate, if you want to put it that way. When God gives a promise, when he unfolds a purpose, there is a time lapse before the fulfillment of that purpose.

And the way we can come into harmony with God is by waiting for the time for the fulfillment.

This applies in God's own dealings with man, and it applies both to the past and to the future.

Look for a moment in Galatians 4, verse 4 with me, concerning the first coming of Jesus. It says there:

"But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, and so on."

So there was a precisely appropriate moment in time for Jesus to come.

And God, with his perfect sense of harmony, as the director of the symphony of the universe, waited for that precise moment to send Jesus forth into humanity.

But this applies also for the return of Jesus and for the consummation of the present age. There is an appointed time.

It's very beautifully stated in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 9 and 10:

"And he, that is God, made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ."

That's like the climax of the symphony.

It's the bringing together of everything in the universe, in heaven and in earth, under one head, Jesus Christ.

And you know how, as you come to the end of a symphony, like, for instance, the 40th Symphony of Mozart called the Jupiter Symphony, how you get all the themes and all the instruments coming together, fitting together into one grand climax of sound.

Well, that's how it's going to be.

at the close of this age. When the times will have reached their fulfillment, then Christ will be made king over all the universe, and we will take our place with him in the kingdom.

But we have to think of ourselves, each one, as some kind of musical instrument.

We have to be very careful that we're in time, that we're in harmony with God's purposes and their art working.

We have to watch the score, not merely for the note to play. but for the time to play that note, and that requires waiting for God.

Yesterday I spoke about the time element in our lives. I pointed out that God invites us to walk with Him.

Amos 3.3

Can two walk together except they be agreed?

And the two that Amos has in mind are God and man. Can God and man walk together except they be agreed? Another translation says except they make an appointment.

Whichever way you translate it, the essence is the same.

There's a time element. If we're going to walk together with God, we've got to get into step with God.

We've got to be in rhythm with God, in harmony with God. And that means we've got to learn to take our time from God.

And always, sooner or later, that will involve waiting for God.

Today I'm going to close this series of talks by speaking about waiting as a distinctive mark of God's people on earth.

I wonder if you've ever thought about that, that one of the things that distinguishes God's true people on earth is that they are a waiting people.

This is very clearly stated by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 8 through 10. He praises the Christians at Thessalonica, says you were an example to all the other believers and churches and people in the whole area.

And he praises them for two things. Now I'll read this. I want you to notice the two things that he praises them for.

The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia. Your faith in God has become known everywhere.

Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us.

They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Now, Paul praises these Christians. He says, you were models. You were an example. I didn't have to speak about you. Your own testimony and behavior had already made an impact on the whole area.

But what he says was so praiseworthy amongst them was two things that they did. First of all, they'd been idol worshippers. They'd been pagans. They turned from their idols to do two things, to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven.

I wonder if you've noticed that. All of us can understand the concept of serving God as a mark of his people.

But what about waiting for God, waiting for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, from heaven? That's put side by side with serving. I think it's far easier for us as Christians to learn to serve than it

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O wait is an essential part of our life's discipline. And I'd like to ask you again, which is harder, serving or waiting? I'm sure for most people it's much easier to work hard than it is to wait. I want to point out to you that waiting has always been a mark of God's true people for more than 2,000 years. And waiting carries with it certain implications which are extremely important.

I'll mention just four. It means that we are looking beyond our own narrow interests. We're not just wrapped up in ourselves. We are aware that there's something more important, which is outside ourselves, which we have to wait for. Second, it means that we are looking beyond what our own efforts can achieve. We can do so much. But the ultimate necessity is the intervention of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

Let's never get the idea that we can do it all without Jesus. We need him, and if we need him, we're going to have to wait for him. Third, it means that we're looking for something from a higher plane. It means there is something higher than all that's going on on the level of this earth. Most people on earth today don't see anything higher. They never lift their eyes higher than the earth plane.

But God's people are a people who have lifted their eyes to a higher plane. Fourth, it means that we're looking for something from an age yet to come. It means that we have a hope and an expectation for the future, which is not true of most of the people on earth today. There's one thing that marks multitudes of people on earth today. It's an attitude of pessimism.

What lies ahead? What is the good of having children, raising a family? All we're waiting for is destruction by nuclear warfare or some other thing. God's people are distinguished by the fact that they have a hope for the future. I think in this context of the Orthodox Jewish confession, which they have maintained for something like 900 years.

I believe it was first given by the great rabbi Maimonides. This is how it is translated into English. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah, and though he tarry, I will wait for him every day. You see, that's kept the Jewish people separate from all other peoples. It's marked them out.

They're awaiting people. They are waiting for a Messiah. I'm waiting for a Messiah, too. I believe the exciting thing is we're waiting for the same Messiah. But I can say that statement with every bit as much conviction as any Orthodox Jew. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah, and though he tarry, I will wait for him every day.

You know, that puts backbone in a person. You know that all the Jewish people have been through, they would never have been able to go through it if it hadn't been for this expectation of a Messiah. Compare what Paul says to New Testament Christians in Titus 2, 11 through 13.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

You see the same emphasis. We're awaiting people. We're awaiting for a blessed hope. We've got a future that distinguishes us from most of the unfortunate people on earth today. And waiting for that blessed hope causes us to lead a certain kind of life, a life that's self-controlled, upright, and godly.

It's motivated by the fact we're waiting for Jesus to return. And then in Hebrews 9, 27 and 28, Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people, and he will appear a second time not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Notice Jesus is only coming to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. That's one essential requirement of God's people on earth at this time. Waiting for the return of Jesus will be our final test of waiting. Then everything will come to the God-appointed climax.

I want to bring out something from the last three parables that Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 24 and 25. They all have certain things in common. One thing they have in common is that in each of these parables there are people whom when Jesus comes he will reject because they've been unfaithful in the interval.

The first parable is about the unfaithful servant who was put in charge of his master's household but abused his authority. And this is what it says about him in Matthew 24, verses 48 and 49. But suppose that wicked servant says to himself, my master is staying away a long time, and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.

And let's look at the next parable about the wise and the foolish virgins. The foolish virgins were the ones who were rejected. How did that come about? Notice Matthew 25, 5. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

And there's the parable of the talents. And, of course, there was the one servant who got one talent and did nothing with it and was rejected. And in Matthew 25, 19, it says, After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.

Have you noticed one phrase that occurs in every one of those parables? A long time. Some of those people didn't stand the test of waiting. It's a long time. Nothing's happened. It's not going to come the way God said it would. We might as well do something else.

Those were the people that could not stand the test of waiting. That was the final test. It may well be the final test for you and me. Finally, let's note the transformation for those who wait in faith for the Lord's return. Philippians 3, 20 and 21.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Notice two things. We are eagerly awaiting a Savior from heaven.

And concerning those who are so waiting, Paul says that when he comes, there will be a marvelous, supernatural, glorious transformation that will be manifested in our physical bodies. He will transform our lowly physical bodies so that they will become like his glorious body. There's the principle again. Waiting for God is consummated in a supernatural transformation.