Now, let's go back to Ecclesiastes
chapter three. This is a portion of scripture
that I'm sure is familiar to most everybody. It's been popularized
in songs and in poems, books and literature concerning the
issues of time to everything. Verse one, there is a season
and a time to every purpose under heaven. And then it lists from
there to verse 8 all the various times that have been appointed,
time to be born, time to die, time to plant, so on and so forth. We'll look at those in just a
moment. But I want you to notice something about this, and I'm
just going to make some general remarks about this whole issue
that's brought forth here, and then when I come back to the
pulpit, I'm going to start right back here. And I said this morning,
I know you all forget what I've said, and I'll forget it, too,
so we'll just repeat it and go from there. But, you know, Isaiah,
he knew how to preach, and he said line upon line and precept
upon precept, and that's the way it is. We don't get tired
of hearing these things of God's glory in Christ. But we hear
about time. Time, time, time. There's a time
for everything. And this is talking about appointed
time. It boggles my mind how many preachers will go to a passage
like this. And they will say that Solomon
is expressing a bad philosophy of life called fatalism here.
As if Solomon is saying, well, everything's going to happen
in its time, and we can't do anything about it, so let's just
lay back and let it all happen. That kind of thing. It's not
fatalism at all. And I'll tell you, the key to
understanding how this is not fatalism is in verse 1. It's
in one word. But you know what word it is?
Purpose. Purpose. There's a purpose, you
see. It's not just time and time again,
as one pastor entitled his message from this. Not just time and
time again. There's a purpose here. And the purpose is in the
realm of eternity. In fact, this passage is just
as much about eternity as it is time. I've entitled the message,
Time and Eternity in Christ. Time and Eternity in Christ.
Could you imagine time and eternity without Christ? What a horrible,
horrible thought. But time and eternity in Christ. And I'll show you that in just
a moment. But whenever you see this word purpose in the realm
of eternity, it's God's purpose. It's not just what we purpose
to do, but it's in the realm of God's counsels and God's purpose. So what we're talking about here
is God's appointed time and times. In fact, a better way to put
this, I believe, than even the King James Version has it. And
I know that offends some people when I talk like that, but I
don't care. I mean, truth is truth. It is
that not just to everything there is a season and a time to every
purpose under heaven, but to everything there is an appointed
time. And God is the eternal sovereign
appointer of all these things. Now, first of all, let me say
this, that whenever, just as a reminder, and you study and
read the book of Ecclesiastes, this is one book of the Bible
that you have to consider as a whole book, from chapter 1
all the way to chapter 12. You can't proof text from this
book. You can't just jerk a verse out. and make an application
with it for the most part and say, well, this is what this
means. You have to consider it to find
its whole truth. And its central message, again,
is the vanity of life here on earth under the sun. That's earthbound
living. That's worldly living. That's
man in his sin. Man in his ruination. Ruined,
fallen in Adam. Condemned in Adam. Born spiritually
dead. He's got a mind, but it's a depraved
mind. He's got desires, he has a heart,
but it's a stony heart. It's a heart that's not towards
God, the glory of God. He has his own thoughts, his
own religion, and his own ways, but it's all in opposition to
the glory of God in his grace through Christ. So we have a
theme here of life here on earth under the sun without God, without
Christ, without grace, without real truth and life. in and by
him, without immortality. But it doesn't stop there. It
goes on in its theme to show. And, of course, the conclusion
to that is vanity of vanities. All is vanity. I mean, worthless,
temporal. It's corruptible. It's headed
towards death and oblivion from man's point of view. But the
truth is, it's not headed towards oblivion. There is life after
death. And incidentally, I'm going to
show you that. You know, scientists talk about
man being no different than the animals. Even Solomon made that
statement. And what he's simply saying there
is, without God, without Christ, that's what we are. We're no
better than the animals. But there is a difference, even in
lost man than the animals, because Because man is one of the only,
he's the only creature that's aware of his own mortality. You know that? I mean dogs and
cats, rats and mice, they're not aware of their own mortality.
They don't think about life after death or anything like that.
That's unique to man. I'm going to show you that in
just a second, too. But the theme goes on. It shows that the only
way that we as lost sinners, as sinful human beings, can find
meaning and fulfillment, purpose, happiness, completeness, and
eternity is in two ways. Number one, salvation by the
grace of God in Christ. And that was expressed in the
last two verses of chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes. This is the
conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God. You don't fear God
until you rest in Christ. And I hope you'll mark Hebrews
chapter 4 right there beside that verse and read that sometimes
because that's one of the best explanations of godly fear that
you'll find in Scripture in Hebrews chapter 4. It has to do with
entering into His rest. the rest that God takes. Now,
what is it? That's the satisfaction that God takes in the work of
His Son, in the salvation and redemption of His people. My
salvation is in the work of Christ, in the merits of His obedience
unto death on the cross, His blood and righteousness alone.
And I rest in Him. And all who truly fear God, that
means worship God, reverence God, respect God, trust God,
Follow God, obey God, all who do begin by resting in Christ. Isn't that right? So fear God,
and then he says keep his commandments. The first part, salvation by
the grace of God in Christ, has to do with faith and obedience.
The second part has to do with enjoying the things of the world
as a gift from God. to be used for his glory and
the good of others." Look at Ecclesiastes 2. Look back up
in the last part of chapter 2, beginning at verse 24. Remember
what he said there? Chapter 2, verse 24, there's
nothing better for a man than he should eat and drink and that
he should make his soul enjoy the good in his labor. Now, two
things about how you enjoy the good in your labor. He's not
talking about laboring for salvation there. He's not talking about
working to be righteous. That comes through Christ, by
God's grace, not by your works. You can't be saved, you can't
be righteous, you cannot have eternal life and glory by your
works. For by deeds of law shall no
flesh be justified. But what he's talking about in
the things that we're involved in in this world, our families,
our homes, our jobs, our relationships, we can enjoy that. But it's not
enjoying them in such a way as to say, eat, drink, and be merry,
for tomorrow you die, for look at the last life. This also I
saw that it was from the hand of God. You enjoy it as a gift
from God. Enjoy your families, your parents,
you have these newborn of babies. Enjoy those children. Enjoy your
grandchildren. But enjoy them not as an end
in and of themselves, and don't enjoy them in such a way so as
to take you away from God and away from the things of Christ,
but enjoy them as a gift from God. Enjoy them to the praise
of the glory of God and His grace in Christ. That's what he's talking
about there. And that's the secret to happiness and fulfillment.
eternally in this life. That's what Solomon's teaching.
That's what the Holy Spirit's teaching through Solomon. Well,
look over at chapter 3. Look at verse 12 down there. He says, I know that there's
no good in them but for a man to rejoice and to do good in
his life. Now again, not trying to be saved
by your goodness. We don't have that kind of goodness.
There's none good, no, not one. None righteous, no, not one.
If you think you can be saved by your goodness, you better
not enjoy that because that's going to end up in eternal death.
That's right. But he's talking about verse
13, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good
of all his labor. It is the gift of God. You see that? It's a gift from
God. You cannot have proper enjoyment of these things without
recognizing that these things are the gift of God, a gift from
God, and that our only hope of salvation is in God. Well, here
in chapter 3, up to this point, Solomon had viewed the vanity
of life without Christ by his own experience, his working labor. And now he begins some personal
observations concerning time and eternity. And as I said,
many claim this chapter speaks of fatalism, but it's not. It's
talking about God's sovereignty. That's what this chapter is talking
about. This purpose under the heaven. Everything that has any
purpose that's worth anything on God's green earth, under heaven,
under the sun, even though we've marred it by sin, the whole creation
groaneth, Romans chapter 8 says, waiting for that expectation
of the glorious redemption of the sons of God, Even though
there's a purpose that all this thing is headed to, and it's
the glory of God in the salvation of His people by the Lord Jesus
Christ. What a purpose. And God has appointed
all time and all times within the realm of that glory and eternity. Now, let me say this right at
the outset, too. This passage does not explain
eternity. If you want to find a passage
that explains eternity, let me show you where to find it. It doesn't exist. There's not
one. You cannot understand eternity. Everything that we deal with,
here's us. There's a time, verse 2, a time
to be born. I can tell you my birthday. And
a time to die. Now, I can't tell you when I'm
going to die, but I know the day's going to be there. And
I know sometime, somebody, maybe some of y'all be around to put
it on my tombstone. And you'll know it. He says there's a time
to plant. Russell come over and planted
four tomato plants. There was a time to do that.
Wasn't it, Russell? And I told him, I said, well,
I remember I told you to come over a certain time. He said,
that's too early. That's too early. There's a time, you know.
And he knows better than me what time that is. I know the time
when I see a big red tomato out there and I go pluck it up and
have my first summer tomato sandwich. And that's a good time for me. I knew I'd get an amen out of
this crowd sometime. Had to be over tomatoes. Well, I agree with you. So be
it. That's what that means. And a
time to pluck up that which is planted. That's what we're looking
forward to. Time to harvest. There's a time to kill. He's
not talking about murder here, but the thing about it is, God
overrules even murder for the good of His people. We've seen
that now. We've seen that in the death
of Christ. We, fallen humanity, murdered
the Son of God, but we did no more than what God had aforedetermined
that we should do. Do you believe that? Why do people
have problems with that? Because they want a God who's
like themselves. They want a God who's as changeable
and as fickle and reactionary as themselves. Why would you
want a God like that? I'll tell you why a man wants
a God like that, because he sees himself as God. He wants to exalt
himself. And you can't exalt yourself
without bringing God down and making Him an idol. You say,
well, I don't understand all that. That's not the issue of
this, you say. Whether you understand it or
I understand it, I mean, there's people, listen, there's smart
people who don't understand anything. They sit around and argue whether
or not they exist. Am I here? Are you there? One of the smartest philosophers,
French philosophers, Rene Descartes, he come up with a real humdinger
of a saying that everybody, I think, therefore I am. Well, stick a
knife in him, he'll hurt, therefore he is. You know? I mean, it's
just that kind of thing. People, we don't understand it,
you see. Eternity. We just see the times
unfold as God declares the end from the beginning. Now, that's
His purpose. Because He's the determinate. All things are working
according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. And that foreknowledge is not just for awareness. He's
not a crystal ball gazer. He's the grand determiner of
all things. He's sovereign. That's what this
is about. God's sovereign in all things. And I'll tell you
what, I know from experience just one thing to say it and
preach it and say we believe it and another thing to live
it, isn't it? But we do. God brings us down
to earth. He says there's a time to kill,
time to heal, time to break down, time to build up, time to weep.
And these are all times that we go through. Time to laugh,
time to mourn. Time to dance. All these things. Time to cast away stones. Time
to gather stones together. Time to embrace. Time to refrain
from embracing. Time to get. That means to seek
there. And a time to lose. Time to keep. Time to cast away. I think about
Job there. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It's all according
to his time. Time to rend. That means tear. Time to sew.
That means put together. Time to keep silence. Time to
speak. I got to catch up on them times to keep silent because
I'm way behind on that one. He says a time, a time to to
love and a time to hate. Now you think about that. Well,
David said, I hate every false way. There's a time for that.
He's not he's not justifying sinful hatred, selfish hatred
here. And it's always time to love
our neighbor, love our even our enemies. And he says in verse
8, a time to love, a time to hate, a time of war, and a time
of peace. All these times appointed by God. But now listen to me. As I said, this is just as much
about eternity as it is time. Look at verse 9. He says, What prophet hath he
that worketh in that wherein he laboreth? Now he asks a question.
And he gives the answer here, verse 10. He says, I have seen
the travail. You know what the travail is.
He mentioned that before over in chapter one. The travail that
God had given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
And this is this travail is an earnest yearning. It's a it's
an emptiness that we got to fulfill. It's a it's a labor. It's all
of these things striving for meaning, striving for purpose.
striving for completeness. That's what he's talking about
now. And he says, I've seen the travail which God hath given.
That is a gift from God. And he says, given to the sons
of men, not to animals now, not to cats and dogs and horses and
all that, but to the sons of men, even fallen sons of men,
to be exercised in it. Now look at verse 11. He hath
made everything beautiful in his time. You look at a lot of
things that happen in time and they don't seem beautiful to
us. But that word beautiful means appropriate. I mean, it's there
for, and what that means is this, whatever happens in time, it's
there for its purpose. And it may not seem beautiful
to us as far as aesthetics and, you know, something that makes
us feel good. But it's there for its purpose.
God said its purpose. God appointed it. That's what
He's saying. And he hath made everything beautiful
in his time. And it says also, now listen
to this, he says also he hath set the world in their heart.
Now literally, here's what that says. He hath set eternity in
our heart. What do we mean by that? It means
that man is uniquely given this gift by God that he has a sense
of eternity. that this is not the end. Some
people deny that, you know that. Atheists deny it. Agnostics say
we don't know about it. But it's there to begin with,
or they wouldn't even have to deny it. They wouldn't even think
about it. It wouldn't even be there. As I said, man is the
only creature that is aware of his own mortality. I'm going
to die, and what's after that? Have you ever asked that question?
Do you know of any human being who has not dealt with that question
in their mind, in any culture, in any language, no matter how
primitive or how advanced? And like I said, now a scientist
comes along and he says, well, I just don't believe there's
any life after death. Well, he's denying the gift that God has
given to man naturally. And then there are people who
try to fill up that void. I know there's something after
this. How am I going to prepare for it? Some people, they go
about trying to accumulate all the good things that they can
have in this life. Many of the Jews thought that
their immortality was secured by the number of children that
they had, and therefore, that's why they looked upon a woman
who was barren as being so cursed. But you see, that's not our immortality.
I mean, our bloodline carries through, but it's the bloodline
that started back in Adam in the fall, born dead in trespasses
and sins. That's not our immortality. That
just means I'm going to die, my descendants are going to die
one after the other. Some people get religion, and
they try to work hard to figure out a way that they can earn
their way into immortality, eternal life. And all of these things
are earthly ways. This is man's reasoning, this
is man's ways, this is man groping in the dark. There's none that
seeketh after God, no, not one. You see, you can only seek after
God by revelation. God must intervene in His eternal
nature and purpose into time. He must intervene Himself into
time, into our minds, and bring us to seek Him, because there
is none that seeketh after God. No man can come to Me except
the Father which has sent Me to draw him. In Him that cometh
to Me, He said, I will know why he is cast out. So that sets
us apart. But you see, everything that
Solomon is dealing with in Ecclesiastes 3, there's no fulfillment in
it, under the sun. There's no completeness in it.
There's no completeness in it. It will always have a flaw. It will always be lacking something. Because you see, God has purposed
that completeness can only be found in Christ. Mark down on
your notes or in your mind, or look it up in your Bible, Colossians
Chapter 2, verse 9, when he says, In him, in Christ, dwelleth all
the fullness. And when the Bible speaks of
perfection in the New Testament, that's what it's talking about.
It's not talking about moral perfection. You see, here's what
I'm saying. You're looking at a perfect man right now. But
I have a lot of moral imperfections. I have the flesh to deal with.
But I'm complete. Because it says, in him, in Christ
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, the fullness
of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and you are what? Complete in him. So in other
words, this purpose, this completeness, this eternal longing that he
set the world in our hearts is only fulfilled in the person,
the glorious person, and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because without His finished
work, all work's unfinished as far as acceptance before God.
If you're trying to work your way into God's favor, it'll always
be incomplete. It'll always be imperfect. It'll
always be wretched and sinful. But if you're coming to God pleading
the merits of Christ's blood and righteousness alone, what
do you find there? Completeness. Perfection. Fulfillment. He fills up what
John Calvin, I believe, called the God-shaped void in man, that
void, that longing. Look at verse 11 again. He hath
made everything beautiful in his time. Also, he hath set the
world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work
that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Now, what's he talking
about, no man can find out? Well, no man on his own. No man
by nature. No man of his own will can do
it. He said, you can't find out the work that God makes from
the beginning to the end. You can't find the fulfillment
and completion and the achievement of eternal life and immortality
and glory on your own, by your works in yourself or by others. It has to come through Christ.
Now, look at that. It says from the beginning to
the end. I want to show you something. Now, God himself is not subject
to time. He's not subject to time. God
in His very nature is eternal. That's a mind-boggling concept.
But you remember back in the book of Exodus when Moses asked
the Lord in Exodus chapter 3, he had been commissioned to go
down into Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let my people go. And he said,
you go talk to the people first. And Moses, remember, asked this
question. He said, now who do I say has sent me unto you? Who has sent me? Remember what
God's answer was in Exodus 3.14. He says, And God said unto Moses,
I am that I am. Now, that's the eternal I am.
He says, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am. I am. You see that? I am hath sent
me unto you. That's the eternality of God.
Now, when he says I am, he's not just saying I exist. That
glass of water here exists. It's there. I know it's there.
It doesn't think, but it's there. And I know it's there. And I
can take a drink from it. And I can feel the effects of
it. And that water's there. Incidentally, it didn't spill
on the ground, so I guess I'm here too. So it's all here, you
know. So that I am is more than just
existence. It's more like saying this, I
am what I am and I will be what I will be. I always was and always
will be. He is the eternal God. That's
what he's saying. Now listen, remember here in
Ecclesiastes verse 311, no man can find out the work that God
maketh from the beginning to the end. God has no beginning
and He has no end. You're not going to figure out
God. Stop trying. Just bow to what He tells you.
of himself, what he reveals of himself. Okay. Now, second Peter
three, eight, listen to this, but beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years and a thousand years as one day. What does that mean?
It means God's eternal. He's not subject to time yet. God has created and appointed
all time and all times for his glory. And here's the thing,
now God intervened himself, involved himself in time, and even in
the person of Christ as man, the God-man, made himself subject
to time, not in his nature as God now. I've heard people say
that, and that's not right. But Christ himself, as God-man,
for his glory in the salvation of sinners, in the salvation
of his elect people, his sheep, he became subject to time. So
much so, read it in Galatians chapter 4. Galatians 4 and verse
4. It says, but when the fullness
of the time, not just the fullness of time, And this is the definite
article, it's in the original. In the fullness of THE time.
What time? The appointed time. There was
a time appointed, just like back here in Ecclesiastes 3.1. And
there was a purpose for this appointed time. In the fullness
of THE time, God sent forth His Son. He intervened into time. Made of a woman. That's his humanity. Made under the law, that's his
responsibility to meet all the conditions and qualifications
and satisfy the law and justice of God against our sin for this
purpose, to redeem them that were under the law that we might
receive the adoption of sons. If you want to understand anything
about time and eternity, look to Christ. That's what he's saying.
Ephesians chapter 1, listen to this one, verse 9 of Ephesians
chapter 1, speaking of God who has, by His sovereign revelation,
made known unto us, that is His people, born-again people, believing
sinners, the mystery of His will, according to the good pleasure
which He hath purposed in Himself, there's that purpose again, you
see these times have a purpose, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times, God Marked it all out in dispensations,
and I know people don't like that term because of the heresy
of some Dispensationalist, but that's no don't think about that.
He says in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might
gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven
which are on earth even in him now I can't figure out eternity,
but I know who has eternity in his hands, and I know who is
eternal So Christ as our Savior when he spoke of himself. He
spoke of himself in terms of his deity, and he spoke of himself
in terms of his humanity. For example, for our purpose
tonight, he spoke of himself in terms of eternity and time. Let me show you that. As God,
as God, here's what is said of Christ as to his eternal nature. It says in John chapter 1, verse
1, In the beginning was the Word." Now, that literally is in beginning,
which is really no beginning. In other words, you can't mark
it back to a time in history. And it says, "...and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God, the same was in beginning
with God." That's Christ. That's the same one who says
in verse 14, "...was made flesh, and dwelt tabernacled among us,
intervened in time." John chapter 8 and verse 56. Listen to this.
This is interesting. This is when he was being attacked
and accused by the Pharisees and the religious people of his
day because he claimed to have the power to forgive sins. Well,
he's the Messiah. He's God in human flesh. And
he said to them, in answer to them, he says, Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. And then
said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old.
And hast thou seen Abraham? You're limited to time. You're
not even 50 years old and you've seen Abraham. And Jesus said
unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was,
what did he say? I am. I am? I am. I am that I am, Jehovah
God. That's our Savior. He spoke of
himself in those terms. Turn in your Bibles to Revelation
1. Listen to this. Now, remember there in Ecclesiastes
3, he made this statement that no man can find out the work
of God that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Listen
to this. One old guy said, this will really
float your boat. But listen. Look at Revelation 1. Look at
verse 4. Or no, not verse 4. Look at verse
4. He says, John, Revelation 1 verse
4. John, to the seven churches which
are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him which is,
and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven spirits,
that's the completeness, which are before his throne. You see
that? He says, and he goes on down
to verse Look at verse 8. He says, I am Alpha and Omega. That's the beginning and the
ending. Remember over in Ecclesiastes 3.11? He said, No man can find
out the work of God, that God maketh from the beginning to
the end. You know what he's speaking of there? He's speaking about
how God brings His purpose to fulfillment in the salvation
of His people. Man on his own can't find it
out. He can't work it out. He can't do anything about it.
He's lost. So if you want to find out the
work that God makes from beginning to end, look at it again back
here in Revelation 1 and verse 8, I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the ending. You want to find out the work
that God makes, the fulfillment of His purpose in salvation,
in immortality, in eternity, in glory, look to the Alpha and
the Omega. That's the beginning and He is
the beginning and the ending. Christ is. And it goes on to
say, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to
come, the Almighty. Verse 11, look at Revelation
1.11, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.
What that means is he's the first word and he's the final word.
He's the first work and he's the final work. And he says,
and what thou seest, write in a book and send it unto the seven
churches. That's Christ in his eternality. It's amazing, isn't it? And he
said, let me just read it. Well, look, it's Revelation 21
and verse 6. He says it again over there.
Talking to John, the revelation from Christ to John. He says,
He said unto me, it's done. I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. You're
going to find life, you're going to find it in the beginning and
the end. You're going to find it in Christ. The Alpha and the
Omega. And then Revelation 22, 13. He says it again. I am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end. first and last. Christ spoke of himself in that
way. He's eternal. Now, as man, he spoke of himself
as subject to time. Remember, many times as he was
going along with his disciples and he was telling them about
where he was headed, he had to be arrested, he had to suffer,
and he had to die on the cross, be buried, and he would tell
them, he said, my time has not yet come. There was a time set
for his death. For everything that he went through,
he said, my hour has not yet come. And then one day, he prayed
a prayer, a high priestly prayer in John 17 and verse 1, and he
said this, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes
to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son. may also glorify thee." When
he was prophesying to his disciples of his death on the cross, he
said in John 12 and verse 31, now, a word of time, now, not
before now, but now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the
prince of this world be cast out. There is a sense in which
the scripture uses the eternal now. For example, Romans 8.1
says, there is therefore now no condemnation in Christ Jesus.
That's the eternal now. He told his disciples in John
14 and verse 3, he says, if I go prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there
you may be also. That's future. There's a time
appointed for his return. And as our Savior and mediator
then, we can rest in Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He's the beginning and the end.
As our Savior. Now all this shows that our times
and our purpose can only be filled in the God of all grace in Christ. That's what Ecclesiastes is saying
here. Let me just read this in the
Psalms and then I'll quit. Psalm 31, verses 14 through 15. It says, But I trusted in thee,
O Lord. I said, Thou art my God. My times
are in thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies, and from them that persecute me. My times are in thy hand. Now, where are your times? Well,
they're in God's hand, whether you know it or not. But wouldn't
you rather know that? Wouldn't you rather glorify Him?
That's what Solomon, the wise man, is talking about back here.
What profit has it? What good is it? What does it
all mean? My times are in God's hand. There's a time we meet here together
and we worship God. It's in His hands. Time we're
going to wake up tomorrow. Many of you are going to go off
to work. Many of you are going to take care of the children.
Many of us, some of us are going to go in the hospital. My times
are in His hands. And boy, I tell you, there's
no greater comfort when you really understand and know that that's
the way it is. That's the way it is. I can't
find it out on my own. God's works from beginning to
end. God declares the end from the beginning. He's the eternal
I Am. It's all going to be fulfilled
to the praise of the glory of His grace in Christ. And so let's
rest in the God who appointed all our times.