Turn again in the Scriptures
to Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Some of you will remember that
last Sunday evening we looked at the first 15 verses in this
chapter, and I pointed out two facts, two facts. The first fact is easily seen
by everyone, and that is that this world is a world of change. A time to weep, a time to laugh,
a time to mourn, and a time to dance. That fact is easily seen
by everyone, that we live in a world of constant change. But
then there's a second fact that's not so easily seen, and it's
only seen by the eye of faith. And that is that everything is
beautiful in God's time. Everything is beautiful in his
time. Everything that he has arranged
in his providence. And remember, providence is that
which God ordained to take place from before the foundation of
the world. Now tonight, as we finish these
last few verses in this chapter, I want to point out three observations
of Solomon. Three observations of Solomon
of things that he observed under the sun. Remember, that's one
of the key phrases in this book, under the sun. But first, that
there is wickedness in the place of judgment. Notice that in verses
16 and 17. This is the first observation
of Solomon of things done under the sun. Moreover, I saw under
the sun, the place of judgment, that wickedness was there. and
the place of righteousness, justice, that iniquity was there. I said
in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,
for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. The place of judgment, Solomon
observed, is a place that should be a place of righteousness,
a place of justice, You know, God said a great deal about this
in His law. For instance, in Deuteronomy
chapter 25 and verse 1, God commanded, If there be a controversy between
men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them,
then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. That's what God commanded that
should take place in the place of judgment. that the righteous
should be justified and the wicked should be condemned. In other
words, when man came before judge and one man was right, his plea,
his case was right, then he was to be judged as being right. And the one who was in the fault
would be judged as being in the fault. Also, look back with me
to Deuteronomy. There's a number of these verses
where God speaks about this in His law. In Deuteronomy chapter
24 and verse 17, God said, Thou shalt
not pervert the judgment of the stranger. Not even Not only,
I should say, not only for the Israelites, but for strangers
who were living in the territory, the land of Israel, judgment
was not to be perverted for them. If two men came before the judge
and one was an Israelite, one was a stranger, then judge rightly. Don't pervert judgment. Don't
find fault the stranger only because he's a stranger, and
justify the man who is in the fault, justify him only because
he's an Israelite. Thou shalt not pervert the judgment
of the stranger, nor of the fatherless, nor take a widow's raiment to
pledge." Solomon, as the king of Israel, was to have his own
copy of the law to read for himself. Remember, Solomon, as a king,
was the supreme judge of all the land, of all the nation.
There was no higher court than the king. He was the congress,
the president, and the supreme court all in one. That was the
power that a king had. And he was a supreme judge. And as he would read God's law,
he would read things like this. This is found in Exodus chapter
23. Neither shalt thou countenance
a poor man in his cause. Don't find in favor of the man
just because he's poor, and find against the man because he's
rich. No. The justice, judgment must
be just and righteous Neither shalt thou countenance a poor
man in his cause. Thou shalt not rest the judgment
of the poor in his cause. Thou shalt not take no gift for
the gift blinded the wise. The gift blinded the wise and
perverted the words of the righteous. And one of the Proverbs that
Solomon wrote himself in Proverbs 17 and verse 15 is, He that justifieth
the wicked and condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination
to the Lord." Later, through the prophet Isaiah, this is one
of the faults that God especially rebuked the nation of Israel
for, this evil and perverting justice. God said in the first
chapter of Isaiah, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve
the oppressed, judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow. And
in Matthew 23, you know that chapter wherein the Lord pronounces
all those woes upon the Pharisees, the religious people. And one
of those woes He pronounced was, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses." They devoured widows'
houses because she was weak before the judge, and they could take
advantage of her. And don't think that God doesn't
notice, because He does. The man who was a judge in one
of our Lord's parables, that parable in Luke chapter 18, when
the Lord tells us that we should pray without ceasing. You know,
it begins by telling us that that widow came before a judge
who feared not God, neither regarded man. Certainly, the most unqualified
man or woman that you can think of to be a judge is one who does
not fear God. Justice, we know, is represented
by a lady blindfolded, holding scales in her hands. Justice
is to be blind. It's not to find in favor of
this one or that one because of anything it sees in their
person. It is to consider the law and
the law only. Solomon observed that this was
not always the case. In fact, as he said here, moreover,
I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness
was there. He saw that by reading reading
the histories and the words of other nations, and he saw that
even in his own nation. Though he was a king and did
everything he could, no doubt, to have just judges who were
just, yet he recognized there were many who were not. They
were unjust. They were wicked. They perverted
judgment. And this caused Solomon to know
in his heart, notice, there's a day coming. There's a day coming. Notice that in verse 17. I said
in my heart, he observed this. He observed that in the place
of justice, there was wickedness, there was evil. And so he said
in my heart, there's a day coming. There's a day coming when God
will judge the righteous and the wicked. He saw that there's
a day of judgment and it's fixed on God's calendar. The Apostle
Paul, when he was preaching in Athens, you remember the people
in Athens, they were Stoics and Epicureans, the scripture says,
the philosophers there. And he told them, God hath appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained. And we know who that man is.
He's the man who is God's fellow. He is the God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. In John chapter five, our Lord
told us that all judgment is committed unto the son. The father
hath committed all judgment to his son. And as his son, as the
son of God, he is omniscient. Those who appear before him will
not be able to hide anything. They will not be able to deceive
the judge. You know, in our courts today,
in our land, they say we have the best justice in the world. I assume that's true. But sometimes
a criminal can turn state's evidence, as they say, and testify against
someone he's involved in, and he goes free. And that's necessary,
they say, because they can't prove their case unless they
have a witness. I tell you, God doesn't need
anyone to turn state's evidence, does he? He knows all things. He knows everything, and not
only the actions of men, but he knows the thoughts. The very
thoughts that men have to do evil, even if they do not put
those thoughts into execution. He knows every evil work. And if you look in chapter 12,
here in Ecclesiastes, and verses 14, Solomon speaks of this again.
The very last verse in the book. For God shall bring every work
into judgment. with every secret thing, whether
it be good or whether it be evil. God's going to bring every work
into judgment, even a word upon our tongue, the Lord knows. I
was reading this past week through 2 Kings, and I read about Ahab
and Naboth. Remember, Ahab was a wicked king
of Israel, and he was married to a woman, Jezebel, his queen,
who was as wicked or more wicked than he was. There was a man
there that had a vineyard. His name was Naboth. And according
to the law, he couldn't sell that land. That was his possession. That was given to him by Lot,
his family, by Lot, when they entered into the land of Canaan.
And it was never to pass from family to family, from tribe
to tribe. And he wouldn't sell his vineyard. And remember, Ahab went home
and started pouting like a little child. And his wicked wife said,
what's the matter with you? And he said, I tried to buy that
vineyard from Naboth, and he wouldn't sell it to me. I offered
to give him another vineyard, and he wouldn't sell it to me.
And she said, listen. Are you king or not? I'll take
care of this. You know what she did? She paid
men or sent a letter to bring Naboth to a feast and have two
sons of Belal, that is the devil, to stand up and witness against
him. And so he would be judged, witness
against him, and say that he cursed God. And so what happened
to Naboth? He was killed. He was stoned.
Years ago, I remember there was a famous sermon preached here
in the South by a pastor, I won't call his name, but the title
of the message was Payday Someday. Payday Someday. And yes, there
is going to be a payday someday. There's going to be a judgment
when justice shall be meted out according to righteousness and
holiness. This begs the question, as I
thought about this, will the sins of believers, will the sins
of believers be brought up in the judgment? The apostle Paul
asked, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
If our sins were to be brought up in the judgment, then it would
be bringing a charge against God's elect. But Paul said, Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifies. And when God justifies, He declares
that person to be as if he had never sinned. The scriptures
speak of the sins of believers as being blotted out. Just as
years ago on a ledger where they kept financial scores, a man
would blot out a debt. It's paid. So our sins have been
blotted out. The scriptures speak of God as
not remembering our sins anymore. And the scriptures also speak
of removing the sins of the believer as far as the east is from the
west. The scriptures speak of the sins
of believers, and it says, even if they're sought for, they cannot
be found. When God put away the sins of
His people through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, They're
gone. They're gone. They're cast behind
his back. Someone said, where is the back
of God? That's the point. That's the point. They're gone. I was reading John Newton's thoughts
on this, and he said, because there's some verses of scripture
that seem to imply that the believers will be brought into judgment,
he said, if, if that's so, He said, I'm convinced that in a
new body, in a new body, that if it will bring glory to my
Savior for all of my sins to be put out there. I know that'd
be awful, wouldn't it? But he said, if it would bring
glory to God, so be it. So be it. I know this. They're gone. They're gone. And I'm thankful, aren't you?
I'm thankful. Here's a second observation. Solomon observed that many men,
by their actions, appear to be more like beasts. They appear
to be more like beasts, verses 18 through 21. I said in my heart
concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest
them and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts.
Even one thing befalleth them, as the one dieth, so dieth the
other. Yea, they have all one breast,
so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast, for all is vanity. All go unto one place, all are
of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit
of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that
goeth downward to the earth? This observation is that men,
many men, by their actions appear to be like beasts. And you notice
his question in verse 21, who knoweth? Who knoweth? Now, that is a question like
we find in Isaiah chapter 53, when the prophet said, who hath
believed our report? He's not saying that no one believed. I'm thankful that I believe the
report. You believe the report today.
If you believe the gospel, that's what he's speaking about, isn't
it? The gospel of the suffering Savior, the successful Savior,
there in Isaiah chapter 53. Who hath believed our report?
He's not saying that no one believes the report. We believe the report.
And the same thing here. Solomon is not saying that no
one knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit
of the beast that goeth downward to the earth, but few, few. And most people, most men, he
says, conduct themselves as though they were beasts. It appeared
to him that most men, by their actions, if you just judge most
men by their actions, Most men do not recognize that there is
a difference. Yes, as you look at their lives
in this world, the flesh, that men get sick, beasts get sick,
men die, beasts die, and men's bodies turn back to the dust,
and beasts, their bodies turn back to the dust, but that's
not the end. That's not the end. It appears
by men's actions that most people don't believe and don't deport
themselves any different than beasts do. Beasts, they do not
have the ability to think of the future. Men do. We do. But many men live as if
there was no future. as if there is no future, I should
say, as if there is no eternity. Richard Baxter, in his book,
The Saints' Everlasting Rest, he said, the worldly-minded are
so taken up with seeking the things below, the worldly-minded
are so taken up with seeking the things below that they have
neither heart nor time to seek this rest, that is, heaven. O
foolish sinners, who hath bewitched you? The world bewitches men
into brute beasts and draws them some degree beyond madness. What
rising early and setting up late and laboring from year to year
to maintain themselves and their children in credit till they
die? But what shall follow after they
never think of? That's so, isn't it? You know,
it is people, labor, some of them very industrious and making
money and, and making provisions for their family, for the future
and all of that. And yet never give any thought
to eternity. I heard a pastor preach a funeral
several years ago, and he had all this lined out how that men
prepare and they prepare, they have their funeral arrangements
already paid for. They have everything lined out,
but they do not prepare to meet God. And that's so. That's something you wouldn't
think a beast would do. A beast just is out there in
the field, and there's 10 calves in the stall, and they're feeding
them every day, and the farmer comes along one day, and he gets
one of them and leads him off, and he's going to to be slaughtered. Those other nine, they don't
think anything about it. Come back later and get another
one, take him off. And the eighth, they don't think
anything about it. Just more grass for them, more
corn, more food, until there's only one left. You think, well,
he might think about it. No. Why? He doesn't have that
ability. He doesn't have that sense. Men
do, but they don't use it. Solomon here is very clearly
saying that in his observation, men, many men act more like beasts. The bodies of men and beasts
do alike return to the dust at death. And for the beast, that's
their end. For animals, when they die, that's
their end, but not so for men. Again, if you look in chapter
12, he points this out again, chapter 12, and verse 7. Then shall the dust return to
the earth as it was. Our bodies in the beginning were
made from the dust. Red dust. Did you know that? Red dirt. And when we die, our bodies will
return to the dust. But that's not the end. The spirit
shall return unto God who gave it. Look with me in the New Testament
for just a moment in Luke chapter 16. In this place, the Lord Jesus
speaks about two men who died. We're not told anything about
their bodies, but we know that they were buried or cast out
to the dump. That was probably true of this
one man to return to the dust. Luke chapter 16 in verse 19. There was a certain rich man
which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously
every day. And there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores. Sometimes men say, well, that's
just a parable. No, the Lord didn't give people
names in a parable. And both are certain individuals,
a certain rich man, a certain poor man. and the poor man desiring to
be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.
Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass
that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom." Now, for the Jews, to be carried into Abraham's bosom
is equivalent To what we would say, they died and went to heaven,
was carried into Abraham's bosom. The angels, the angels, you know,
we think it's so amazing that Elijah was caught up by a chariot
of fire into heaven. What was that? It was the angels,
the angels. And the same thing's going to
happen to you and me when the Lord calls us home, he's going
to dispatch his angels, just like he did for this man, and
carry us into heaven. Our soul, escort us into heaven,
to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. But in this
case, it says, it came to pass that the beggar died and was
carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died
and was buried, and in hell he lift up his eyes. being in torments,
and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue. for I am
tormented in this flame. Don't you know that when that
rich man passed into his gate day by day and he saw Lazarus
lying there filled, his body filled with sores, the last thing
he wanted was for Lazarus to touch him. Things have changed
now. And he pleaded that Lazarus might
just dip the tip of his finger into water and to put it upon
his tongue Because he said, I'm tormented in this flame. People
say, my uncle told me one time, he said, my pastor's got so many
degrees behind his name. And he said, he told us, he told
me, there's no place like hell. Well, I guess his pastor knows
more than Christ. No, this is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. And there is a place of retribution. There is a place of punishment. And it is for all of those who
do not know God. All of those who do not obey
the gospel, Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Lazarus
did not go to heaven because he was poor. You know, that's
a theology that's been taught in the last, what, 10, 15, 20
years, that just because people are poor, they're going to go
to heaven. No. Some people are poor because
they're lazy. Some people are poor because
they won't work. We know that. And being poor
doesn't mean that a person's righteous any more than being
rich means a person is not righteous. Abraham, think about this, he
was a very, very wealthy man, wasn't he? He was a very wealthy
man. But yet he was a believer. He
believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, the
scripture says. And so the same about Lazarus.
But their bodies, no doubt, the rich man's body, the poor man's
body, turned back to dust, but their spirits returned unto God
who gave them. And one went to that place of
torment, and the other to that place of eternal rest. Now let's look back, if you will, in Ecclesiastes. The third observation in verse
22, that man should use and enjoy what their labor brings. Verse
22, wherefore I perceive that there's nothing better. You know,
this is not the first time he said this. Look back, if you
will, in chapter two and verse 24. There's nothing better for
a man than that he should eat and drink and that he should
make his soul enjoy good in his labor. And this won't be the
last time he says this. Look ahead, if you will, in chapter
5, Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verses 18 and 19. Behold, that which I have seen,
it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy
the good of all his labor, that he taketh under the sun all the
days of his life which God giveth him, for it is his portion, every
man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given
him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice
in his labor. This is the gift of God. And
then, if you will, also in chapter 8, one last time in chapter 8
and verse 15, Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no
better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be
merry. For that shall abide with him
of his labor the days of his life, which God giveth him under
the sun." God gives men our lives, and God gives men the ability
to labor, to get wealth, and Solomon said there's nothing
better that men should enjoy what their labor brings them.
And I have two things that we should learn. First, use Use,
but do not abuse what your labor produces. Use it, what your labor
produces. Use it to care for you, to care
for you and your family. Use it to prepare for a rainy
day. Use it to spread the gospel. Use it, but do not abuse it by
hoarding and not helping others. You know, there's a proverb that
says, There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth. Man gives,
and he gives liberally. People say, well, he's just giving
everything away. Yeah, he's scattering, and yet
he increases. And then, on the other hand,
the other part of that proverb is, There is that withholdeth
more than his meat. He keeps back for himself more
than his meat, but It tendeth to poverty. Now, how is that
possible? Because God's in control. That's
how it's possible. That's how it comes about. Man's
liberal. He gives. He shares. He helps
others. He helps spread the gospel. He
gives. He scatters abroad. And God increases. I could give a testimony here,
but I'm not going to, of a man that I know Maybe one of the
poorest men that I've known, and yet one of the most liberal
men that I've ever known in giving, and yet God has always blessed
him and met his needs. And people marvel. People actually
marvel at how God has provided for him. Well, we shouldn't. It's what the scripture says,
isn't it? What it teaches. The second thing, no. that you
shall soon leave it all. That's the second lesson. You
know, Solomon had voiced his concern about this before in
chapter two. If you look back in chapter two,
verses 18 and 19, he was concerned about who was going to inherit
his wealth. What kind of a person is he going
to be? Yea, I hated all my labor which
I had taken unto the sun, because I should leave it unto the man
that shall be after me, and who knoweth whether he shall be a
wise man or a fool. Know that you shall soon leave
all, and when you leave this world, you will be finished with
it. It's no longer yours. It amazes
me, and I've commented about this before, but there's two
very, very wealthy men in our country, and every once in a
while, we'll see or hear on the news that they've donated all
of their wealth, but after they die. Well, it's not theirs anymore
anyway. A wealthy man died, a millionaire
years ago died, and someone said, well, how much did he leave?
All of it. All of it. Whatever he had, that's
what he left. And that's true of all of us,
isn't it? My observation is that it's good for a man to enjoy
the fruit of his labor. And it's God who gives men the
power to labor to get, and God who gives the power for men to
enjoy the fruit of their labors. May the Lord bless these words
to us here this evening.