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Nothing God does is incidental. He is intentional in all that he does. He does not need to adjust his plans due to unforeseen inconveniences. He has established divine appointments for us that will be kept at his appointed time and according to his great mercy.

Mankind so often is unable to see God for who he is. Rather man sees God in the image of man. Why do mere mortals, whose life spans are too short so often, consider themselves to be in control of events that too often spiral out of control? God knows our frailty: we need to know his omnipotence.

The scriptures tell us that every man that is born is also appointed to die. One of my favorite Bible verses is from the book of Job. Job 14:1 says, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.” And again in the Book of Hebrews we are told, “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” Hebrews 9:27

We do not know the day nor the hour, but it is one of the inevitable events of life. The Psalmist replies “teach us to number our days”. Psalm 90:12. Psalm 39:4 says, “LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.”

It is right that we should seek our creator for understanding, for wisdom, for his knowledge that he might fulfill his desires in us and for us. But this requires a willingness on our part to submit to his higher authority. Which for so many is a contradiction of who and what we are.

So many have no need of God. They have concluded that they are sufficient for the tasks set before them. Self-awareness, self-will, self-confidence drives them further from the one who created them and from the one who gave them their natural abilities. Was it for naught that God has endowed them with these abilities, these gifts, these talents?

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Chuck Swindoll relating the prophetic words of the Prophet Nahum in the Old Testament; Chuck Swindoll uses the phrase “the consequences of indifference”, when describing the destruction that God was about to unleash upon not only the enemies of Judah, but also upon unrepentant Judah as well. His message illustrates that indifference to the will of God carries with it consequences.

Throughout history God has chosen and used men and women to accomplish his purposes.

The Bible tells the story of the great city of Neneveh. Neneveh was the capital city of the warrior empire of Assyria. Neneveh was prosperous through its conquest of the regions around them. Their fierceness struck fear in the hearts of nations because of the brutality that accompanied their conquests. God sent a Jewish prophet named Jonah to go and preach repentance to the people of Neneveh. Jonah refused to go because he despised the Assyrians, and he wanted to have no part in preaching to these people. He did not want to warn them of the impending destruction that God was planning to bring upon the people of Neneveh. So, Jonah boarded a ship to go the opposite direction. But God is not mocked nor are his purposes thwarted by a mere man. The Book of Jonah recounts Jonah’s attempt to absent himself from God’s plans. When the ship was under way a violent storm arose. Jonah had to acknowledge that it was his own desire to run away from God’s call that brought the storm upon the ship and every person on board. Jonah’s attempt to delay or change God’s divine appointment only resulted in him being tossed into the sea and swallowed by a great fish. Jonah could not justify his actions and humbled himself and surrendered to God’s will. He was vomited out of the belly of the great fish onto the shores of that great and evil city. 

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One more comparison if I may. God called Abram to leave his family and his ancestral home. He called Abram to go to a land that he would show him.

Abram would become Abraham as a result of his willingness to trust in the God that called him from his homeland. Abram’s father and brothers were citizens of Ur of the Chaldees. This region is also part of the Sumerian Kingdoms. The thing to remember about God’s call of Abram is that Abram and his family were worshippers of the idols of the times. In the book of Joshua we learn, “Joshua said unto all the people, thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac”. Joshua 24:2-3

But when the one true God called him, Abram obeyed the call of God. Unlike the idols of wood and stone, that could neither speak nor hear. Abram communicated with God in a new and personal way.

“From this pagan city and environment, God called Abraham. The grace of God! In a city full of idols, He revealed Himself to Abraham as the true and living God. He called Abraham out in order to make of him a great nation; through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:2, 3). The grace of God! He also gave Abraham the faith he needed to leave the “good” life of Ur and to become a stranger in a land not his own. Abraham left a great city, but in faith he saw a far better one. The words of Hebrews 11:9-10 comes to my mind. “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God”.

An article in Christianstudylibrary.org makes this notation, “With this vision of faith, Abraham was far richer than those who only identified themselves and their well-being with the pagan metropolis of Ur and all its glories. He was rich toward God (Luke 12:21). Herein lies also a message for us today.” https://www.christianstudylibrary.org/article/ur-chaldeans

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Abraham was not indifferent to the call of God upon his life but rather he wholly embraced God’s plan for his and his family’s lives and for the family that he would eventually father.

In contrast, see the failure to continue to follow the divine appointments of our God. The history of the people of Israel is filled with evidence of great acts of faith and great acts of disobedience. One such story is of Saul the first King of Israel. Saul was chosen by God and anointed by the prophet Samuel. We read about Saul in the Book of Samuel.

His story begins in chapter 8 of the Book of Samuel. Here we find that Samuel has become quite old. He appoints his two sons as judges over Israel. But Joel and Abiah, Samuel’s two sons were not men of faith and faithfulness. 1Samuel 8:3 tells us “His sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice.” 

And the people of Israel were fed up with their evil ways and came to Samuel and demanded he choose a King to lead them. The people said, “Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 1Samuel 8:5 Samuel was offended and displeased by their request. He took their request as a personal rejection. But God redirected Samuel’s view and sent him to anoint Saul as the first King of Israel. We look at this situation and we can think that it is a good thing that the people are asking for. After all Samuel is quite old and who is going to take his place. His sons are scoundrels. They did not want these two to have rule over them. They were not like Samuel at all. But here is the error in their request. When we read in verse 7 “the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”

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That rebuke alone was hard. But Samuel follows with the most severe rebuke, “But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee” 13:14

These two rebukes were, no doubt, crushing to Saul’s thoughts of passing his kingdom on to his sons. Because God had made it plain that he was looking for another man to rule his people.

And the final tragic consequence of disobedience is found in the 15th Chapter of the Book of 1st Samuel.

God sends Samuel to Saul and commands Saul to go and completely annihilate the Amalekites.

“Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.

Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” 1Samuel 15:1-3  

Saul dutifully numbered the people and went out to the battle. The people of Israel and Saul won the battle. But listen to the after the battle postscript:

“And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.” 1Samuel 15:8-9

God spoke to Samuel saying “"I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands." And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night.” 1Samuel 15:11

Samuel’s heart was broken, but he had another distasteful obligation to fulfil. So, he went to the battlefield where all were merry and rejoicing over the victory.

Saul comes out to meet him. “Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” 1Samuel 15:13

Oh, if that were true what a delight that would have been to Samuel and to God himself.  When Samuel bitterly remonstrated with Saul’s greeting it was clear that neither Samuel nor God could be pleased with Saul’s performance of the command of God. “And Samuel said, what meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” 1Samuel 15:14

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How Samuel’s heart must have ached to stand face to face with the man he had thought would lead God’s people. The man that God himself had chosen and know in his heart that this was not the man that they could trust the Kingdom to. Listen to Samuel’s response to Saul when Saul tried to excuse his failure saying the people chose to save the best to make a sacrifice to God. “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” 1Samuel 15:22-23

Understand beloved, God does not view sin in degrees as we often do. We look at our sins as small in comparison to the sins of others. But as the scriptures teach us, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10

And as Pastor Chuck Swindoll has pointed out there are consequences for our indifference to the will of God.

God establishes for each of us divine appointments. Sometimes they are momentary events that change the trajectory of our lives. Sometimes they are designed to illuminate for us how God himself sees us. At times these divine appointments are to put God’s grace and power on display not only for us to see but for those who are watching our live to see as well.

Whatever the purpose it behooves us to be of the same mind as Christ Jesus. We need to be diligent to listen for the Lord’s guidance. We need to be diligent to seek his will in our lives. We need to be quick to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

It is, as I said, right that we should seek our creator for understanding, for wisdom, for his knowledge that he might fulfill his desires in us and for us.’

For those of us who are already born again let us look for and keep those divine appointments set by God

For those who read this message and realize that you do not have that kind of personal relationship with the God who created you, you can have the same experience of being born again. Born of the Spirit of God. Today if you sense the Spirit of the living God drawing you to himself, today is one of those divine appointments that can change the whole trajectory of your life.

Cry out to your God who created you! Ask him to forgive your sins. Ask him to accept you as his child. Welcome him into your life, into your heart, trusting that this is why Jesus died on the cross long before you ever took your first breath. This is why you have read this message all the way through. Don’t miss this divine appointment with God himself. Be born again today.

In closing, allow me to offer 3 soundbites from Pastor Swindoll regarding Divine Appointments from God-

1. Stay aware!

2. Welcome Absolute honesty!

3. Keep short accounts with God! -Stay in prayer!

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I like how the King James version describes Jesus’ meeting Zaccheus face to face. “And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.” It was not Zaccheus who was inviting Jesus into his home, Jesus was inviting Zaccheus. This is what you might call a divine appointment.

My focus today is somewhat different from Debra’s focus in 1977. Her focus was on Jesus’ call to Zaccheus. She noted that Jesus had called Zaccheus to come down from the tree. But she also pointed out that the call went a little deeper than just coming down from the tree. She saw that Jesus’ call to Zaccheus included coming down from “self-centered pride and self-sufficiency” and receive from God what his money could never provide him.

Debra also noted that Jesus not only called him down from the tree and down from his high estimation of himself, but he told Zaccheus that he (Jesus) would abide at his house. Debra noted that Jesus meant to abide not only in Zaccheus’ house but in Zaccheus’ “heart”. God, Debra notes, wants fellowship and communion with his creation. God wants to abide in our hearts because he loves us and cares about us (our eternal souls). Many other things Debra shared in her message, but the major take away is that God calls us to himself. He calls us because he loves us and wants to “perfect us in his will through abiding in our lives”.

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As I re-read this sermon from years ago, I was drawn in a different direction. Zaccheus’ story is a wonderful example of our sovereign God setting a divine appointment with someone that he wants to have communion with. Not every person is willing to hear the Gospel message. Many turn a deaf ear to the Word of God and the call of God to come to him. Many busy themselves with their own plans and purposes. They build their own personal kingdom. They do not consider that the sovereign God of all that is can at anytime bring that kingdom down. They are too busy pursuing their own purposes. But there is a God to contend with, and he knows our hearts and minds. Luke 16:15 tells us “God knoweth your hearts”. Jeremiah the prophet notes there is a God who knows the heart of men, “But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart,” Jeremiah 20:12 (I love the King James language of the scriptures) For those who are not as captivated by the prose of King James, the NIV says, “LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind.”

I see in Zaccheus’ story the heart of God reaching out to Zaccheus. God saw his heart. God looked beyond his wealth and self-sufficiency and saw the need of his soul. God looked beyond Zaccheus’ lifestyle and saw his soul’s need. Zaccheus was a tax collector for the Roman government (a Publican) who was despised by many in his village. But Jesus came to give him a new life. And give his life new meaning a purpose.

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Matthew Describes Jesus’ Death          Matthew 27:32-44 (KJV)

Matthew records the account of the death of Jesus this way, ”As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.”"

What the disciples did not yet understand was Jesus’ death had to take place when, where and the way that it did.

John Mac Arthur notes that the Gospel of John as well as the other gospels had a twofold purpose:

“John has a purpose, and it’s an explicitly stated purpose in chapter 20, verse 31. He tells us why he wrote the gospel, and also why Matthew wrote Matthew; Mark, Mark; and Luke, Luke. “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” They’re written to give evidence of the deity of Christ. That evidence is then to lead the saving faith by which we can receive eternal life. This is the highest and noblest of all purposes. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John give us the accounts of Jesus “so that we might believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God; and that in believing we might have eternal life in His name.”

Grace to You: Prophecies Fulfilled At Calvary John MacArthur

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Atonement Once and For All

Luke describes the death of Jesus saying, “44And it was about the sixth  hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. 46And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. 47Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. 48And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned. 49And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.” Luke 23:44-49

Pastor Chuck Swindoll describes the significance of the veil of the temple being torn. “Since the days of Moses, a thick curtain hung at the entrance to the holy of holies, separating sinful people from their holy God. One day each year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered this sacred chamber on behalf of the nation and “brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin” (Hebrews 13:11). This practice of reconciling people with God went on for centuries, until Christ put an end to it with the blood of His own sacrifice. On the cross, Christ, our High Priest, “offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time” (10:12). It was the ultimate Day of Atonement all the other Days of Atonement anticipated. As a result, Christ’s priestly act made the old system obsolete; it opened access to God for anyone who believed. Anyone! To herald Christ’s epochal achievement, “the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51). God literally tore down the barrier between Himself and sinful humanity through the sacrifice of His Son. However, the veil between God and sinners wasn’t the only barrier that Christ’s atonement brought down that day. Long before Moses and the tabernacle, Gentiles (non-Jews) were excluded from God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants, the nation of Israel. … Christ put an end not only to the alienation of sinners from God but also the alienation of Gentiles from God’s covenant. Christ’s death broke down both barriers!”

https://insightforliving.swncdn.com/pdf/series/BPG/Becoming-a-People-of-Grace-08.pdf

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Jesus’ Death Pours out God’s Grace

John the Beloved Disciple offers a poignant moment in the death of Jesus on the cross. He writes, “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. 33But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. 35And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. 36For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. 37And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced. John 19:31-37

Jesus’ death was a fulfillment of the words spoken by Zechariah: “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” Zechariah 12:10 Jesus’ death brought grace to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and ultimately to us who believe today.

When Christ Jesus died his disciples and those who had looked to him as Messiah and teacher walked away mournful. In bitterness because of the loss of the promised redeemer. The one in they had placed their hope of salvation and deliverance. What they did not take into account is in death Jesus accomplished more than he could have ever accomplished in life. With the atonement accomplished now God would be able to pour out his grace upon all who will come to him in faith.

Now where sin abounds Grace does much more abound! Romans 5:20