Let's open our Bibles tonight
to Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Some of you who were here last
Sunday evening will remember in looking at Chapter 2 that
Solomon made an examination. He made an examination especially
of the things that are done under the sun, things that men call
pleasures. His conclusion was all was vanity
and vexation of spirit. And there was no prophet under
the sun. Remember, this is a sermon, the
book of Ecclesiastes. It is a sermon, a written sermon. And Solomon is the preacher.
And I would just remind us tonight that he is the one to whom God
gave great wisdom because he asked the Lord for it. And yet,
even the Lord giving him wisdom did not mean that he did not
need to study. He did not need to apply himself
and search out things, and he did. And that's what we read
many times in this book of Ecclesiastes, the things of this world, the
sciences of this world. You know, theology is the science
of God, the knowledge of God. And it's the only science that
looks back. It looks back. Every other science
looks forward in the sense that things are being discovered,
things are being learned as days go by. But theology looks back,
and it goes back even before the foundation of the world into
eternity. and reveals to us things about
God, the study of God. That's what theology actually
means, the study of God. And Solomon was given wisdom,
but yet he had to apply himself and study into things and seek
into things as he did. And he made a survey or a study
of what men call pleasures, We looked at that last time, those
things under the sun that men call pleasures, and his conclusion
was, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit
under the sun. And I would again remind us of
Robert Hawker's comments. He said upon this book, surely
the preacher, that is Solomon, he's the preacher, Surely he
intended, by this way of preaching, in showing negatively what human
pleasure and human learning are not, to proclaim, he showed this
negatively, what human pleasure and human learning are not, to
proclaim most loudly what Christ and His graces are. Now listen,
for all short of Christ is vanity, and Christ himself is the chief,
the only, the substantial good. As our Lord said, what should
it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his
own soul? Christ he is. himself the chief,
the only, the substantial good. Now tonight, in chapter three,
I want us to look at the first 15 verses. And I'm dividing these
verses into two divisions. First, a fact, a fact clearly
seen concerning things done under the sun. That's the first thing
I want us to see in these first 10 verses. A fact clearly seen
concerning things done under the sun. And I counted this phrase,
under the sun, is found 27 times in Solomon's sermon. What is
the fact that is clearly seen concerning things under the sun? Well, let's read these first
10 verses. To everything there is a season. and a time to every
purpose under the heaven, a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down, a
time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to
mourn and a time to dance, A time to cast away stones and a time
to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time
to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to
cast away. A time to rend and a time to
sow. A time to keep silence and a
time to speak. A time to love and a time to
hate. a time of war and a time of peace. What profit hath he that worketh
in that wherein he laboreth? I've seen the travail which God
hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. A fact clearly seen concerning
the things done under the sun. What is this fact? What is this
fact that is clearly seen and is brought out to us in these
ten verses? The fact is change. Change is
written on everything that we see and everything that we experience
in this world. That's a fact. That's clearly
seen. Change is written on everything
that we see and experience in this world. Matthew Henry pointed
out that there are 28 things, as you read through that verse,
a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down, a time,
there are 28, 28 things that are mentioned here. Matthew Henry
said, and I quote, according to the days of the moon's revolution,
which is always increasing or decreasing between its full and
change. the moon. It's always either
increasing or decreasing. And so we see change. And that's
what we see. It's a fact that all of us are
able to see, that all men are able to see. It's written on
everything in this world. Day turns to night. Summer turns
to winter. There's a time to be born and
a time to die. And those times are fixed. Those
times times, rather, in which we are born. God has that marked
on His calendar, the time of our birth and also the time of
our deaths. Remember the Lord, the Word of
God, rather, says there's an appointed day. It is appointed
unto man once to die. And that's an appointment that
all of us are going to keep. And we're not going to be late
for that appointment. there's an appointed time. There's
a time to be born and there's a time to die. And one old writer
said, there's no mention here of a time to live. A time to
be born, a time to die, but it doesn't mention a time to live.
And his comment is, or was rather, that our life here, our lifespan
here is so brief that it's not even worth mentioning. And that
goes along with what the Apostle James tells us in the New Testament. He says that our life is even
a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Change, the hymn writer said,
change and decay upon all that I see. O thou that changest not,
abide with me. At the present time, you and
I, at this present time, we're living in the springtime of the
year. It's a time when men are planting
their gardens, planting flowers. It's a time that I especially
love. I love those verses in the Song
of Songs, which incidentally Solomon also wrote, In chapter
two, which go far low, the winter is past. The rain is over and
gone. The flowers appear on the earth.
The time of the singing of birds has come, and the voice of the
turtle dove is heard in our land. The fig tree put it forth her
green fig, and the vines with the tender grape give a good
smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away. It is springtime. It is planting
time. But we know that summertime will
come, and it will be, as Solomon tells us, a time to pluck up. There's a time to plant, and
there's a time to pull up. There's a time He tells us a
time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to
dance. When you think in your life tonight,
oh, back over your life, think of how many days, how many times
have you cried? Have you mourned? Has it been
a time of sorrow? But then also remember how many
times as you look back over your life, Has it been a time of laughing,
a time of dancing, a time of rejoicing? Change, that's what
this world is made up of, change. That's a fact that is clearly
seen by everyone. He says there's a time to get,
and I think this is especially when we're young and strong,
there's a time to get knowledge. And you have that opportunity
to get knowledge. There's a time to get wealth.
There's a time to provide for your family. But there comes
a time when it will be a time to cast away, to spend that which
you have accumulated. And if you look in verse 7, and
I especially look at this verse, At the last part, he said, a
time to keep silence and a time to speak. Don't we all pray? I know I do. Don't we all pray
that God would help us to learn this? That there's a time to
keep silence. We don't always have to give
our opinion. We don't always have to speak.
Sometimes it would be good if we just sat in silence and meditate
and think upon our ways and think upon the things of God. You know,
I've noticed this about some people. They always have to be
entertained. There has to be music on the
radio. There has to be something on
the television. They have to be going. They have
to be doing something always. They're not able just to be still,
as the scripture says, and know that I am God. But obviously
what Solomon wrote here, a time to keep silence, but there's
also a time to speak, isn't it? There's a time to speak up when
the Lord Jesus Christ, when he is being blasphemed, or his truth
is being maligned, there's a time. There's a time to speak and let
others know that we are His servants. I thought
about that hymn we sometimes sing, Am I a soldier of the cross? It's fair to speak His name.
Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while
others fought to win the prize and sailed through stormy seas?
There's a time to speak, to stand up, to be counted, be identified
with the Lord Jesus Christ and with his gospel. Now, Solomon
saw the travail, if you notice in that that last verse, verse
10, he said, I have seen the travail which God hath given
to the sons of men to be exercised in it. Solomon saw the travail
exercised by men, you and I, and we all recognize this. We live in a world of constant
change. We want to get our nest just
fixed up there, you know, like the birds fix up their nest We
want to get our nest fixed up, our families established, and
our houses, and our homes, and our jobs, and we don't want anything
to change. But it does. And it causes men
to veil, causes men sorrow, because change is all around us. When and if we ever think we
have everything just right now, it won't last long. Enjoy it,
because it will change. Things will change. So that's
a fact. That's a fact. Change. It's easily
seen by everyone who opens their eyes. This world is nothing but
change. We serve an immutable God, but
we live in a mutable world. The second fact, that fact, that
first fact is clearly seen, but now listen, hear me now. Let's
read verses 11 through 15. 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. I know
that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice and
to do good in his life, and also that every man should eat and
drink and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of
God. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And God doeth it that men should
fear before him. That which hath been is now,
and that which is to be hath already been. And God requireth
that which is past. Here's a fact, now listen, clearly
seen only. Here's a fact. That first fact
is clearly seen by everyone, but now here is a fact that is
clearly seen only with the eye of faith, that things which are
done under the earth are beautiful. Did you hear what I said? It's only by the eye of faith. that we see that everything done
under the sun, he hath made everything beautiful in his time. And I must remind us that you
and I, as God's children, those of us who know him tonight, we
walk by faith and not by sight. We walk by faith. Here's a fact. that is only seen with the eye
of faith, that everything done under the sun is beautiful in
his time. Solomon says, notice this in
verse 11, he said, he hath made everything beautiful in his time,
but also, he said, also he has set the world in their heart.
that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the
beginning to the end. We all live in a very short time
span and none of us were here, none of us saw the beginning
and we sure haven't seen the end. I would try to illustrate this
if I could Suppose a friend comes to our house and tells us he's
so excited, he's just overwhelmed with excitement because he's
building the most beautiful house, the most beautiful house that
you can imagine. And he just can't stop from speaking
about it, talking about it. And after he leaves, we decide,
well, let's go see this house. This beautiful house this man
is building. And so we arrive on the building
site and is this the right place? Is this the right place? He's
been telling us about his beautiful house that he's building and
here we see a foundation and maybe two or three studs put
up on one side. This is beautiful. Now we haven't
seen the architect's drawing and we haven't seen the finished
product. Are we qualified? Are we qualified
just looking at the building as it is being built and saying,
it's not beautiful, it's not a beautiful house? Oh, but he
says it is. He's seen the drawing. And the Lord willing, he will
see the end. Now that's God. God has seen
the beginning and he's seen the end. Known unto him are all his
works from the beginning of the world. We're looking in time
at just a short picture of what God is doing. And we might think,
well, how could this be beautiful? doing this in my life and I'm
suffering or I'm going through these trials and these problems
that I'm dealing with, how could this be beautiful? You're only
seeing one side. You're only seeing your side.
The same thing would be true if you look at a canvas. An artist
is painting a beautiful picture, but all he's done so far is just
sketch out what he's going to paint. He hasn't put a any paint
on the canvas as of yet. Are we qualified in just looking
at that canvas and saying, that's not, that's not a work of art,
that's not beautiful. We'll wait till it's finished
and then see it. You know, to illustrate this,
that illustration that I've used before and others have used,
it's still one of the best, years ago when rugs were made, Not
like they are today. You know, rugs today, you can
buy a rug, and the side that's going to be seen is beautiful,
and the backside of it doesn't look too bad. But years ago,
when rugs were being sewed in shops that made them, the looms,
as they were working, as the rugs were being sewed, the backside
just looked like a bunch of scrambled thread, knots and pieces of thread
and different colors. There was no pattern that you
could see. And that lady visited one of
these plants one time and she commented upon the rug not being
beautiful and the man said, oh, come around and look at it from
this side. And so she came around and looked at it from the side
that was going to be seen, and everything was beautiful. It
was a beautiful rug. I want to give an example tonight, and I pray the Lord will bless it. Do you remember just over two
years ago, the Lord took Cody Gruber. And I don't know how
many preachers, how many pastors have told me, some at that very
time and some after that, they've said something like this. Of
all the preachers, of all the preachers in our loosely associated
Sovereign Grace Group, he was the one that as far as I can
tell, we could least afford to lose. And I agree with that. He was
the one we could least, looking at it from our viewpoint, the
work that he was doing, how God was using him. But this just reminds us again
that God's ways are not our ways. And God's thoughts are not our
thoughts. We look through a glass darkly.
All of us do. And I think of our Lord's words
to Peter that night when he was washing their feet. And Peter
said, you'll never do that, Lord. You'll never do that. Not to
me. And the Lord said these words
to him. What I do, thou knowest not now. What I do thou knowest not now,
but thou shalt know hereafter. And as I said, we walk by faith
and not by sight. And this truth, though it is
hard for us to see, may be impossible for us to see, but everything
is beautiful in His time. even these things that hurt us
and cause us sorrow, things that we do not understand. When we,
you and I, when we are in eternity and the mystery of God is completed,
then and only then will we see just how beautiful all of God's
work is. how beautiful it all is. In the meantime, we must comfort
our hearts with this truth, this truth that's found in Deuteronomy
chapter 32 in verse four. He, that is God, is our rock,
and his work is perfect. His work is perfect. I appreciate Matthew Henry's comments
on verse 14. Solomon said, I know, and Matthew
Henry commented, everyone knows it that knows anything of God. What Solomon says here that he
knew, Matthew Henry said, everyone knows it that knows anything
of God. What is it? That whatsoever God
does, it shall be forever. His measures are never broken,
nor is He ever put upon new counsels, but what He has purposed shall
be effected. And all the world cannot defeat
nor disannul God's purpose. And it behooves all of us, as
Matthew Henry said, to say, let it be as God wills. I remember when Eli, that prophet
Eli, when he received word that his two sons had been killed,
he said, it is the Lord, let him do what he will. When God killed Aaron's two sons,
the first day, I mean the first day they raised that tabernacle
up and worshiped God. God killed two of his sons, his
two oldest sons. You say, would God do that? He
did that. He did that. Why did he do that? Because they
offered strange fire before the Lord. You say, what could be
strange about fire? The fire that they were to use
in the burning of incense was to come from the altar upon which
the sacrifice had been burned. And these two sons, they took
some fire from somewhere else and went into the tabernacle,
and God killed them. And Aaron, the scripture says,
held his peace. God's mysterious works of providence
are to benefit us. They are, when we see these things,
and they are mysterious to us, but they are to benefit us, as
Solomon said, that man may fear before Him. Notice that verse
again, verse 14, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall
be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it, and God doeth it. Notice that man should
fear before him. We observe God's mysterious providence,
and we should learn. We should learn to reverence
God. We should learn to recognize
that God is sovereign, that this world is his world, and that
we are his creatures, and he has the absolute right to do
what he will with his own. God doeth it that men should
fear. Reverence, reverence him. We should acknowledge him in
our ways, in all of our ways. The proverb says, acknowledge
him in all thy ways. And we should be very careful
about offending God. about speaking against His providence. When we see that we are in a
world of change, let us recognize that this is as it has always
been. Notice that last verse. That which hath been is now.
And I'm sure that some of you, maybe like myself, we're guilty
sometimes of saying, well, it's never been this bad before. Oh,
yes, it has. It has. If you'd lived in Sodom
and Gomorrah, that which has been is now. And that which is to be hath
already been. And God requires that which is
past. When we say that we are in this
world of change, we recognize this as it has always been and
shall be until he comes and his angel says, ìTime!î Just like
the referee or the coaches in a basketball game, they call
for time. So Godís angel one day is going
to call for time to be no more. But until then, things that are
or as they have been and as they shall be. We know, we love, and
we serve God who is immutable. But once again, let me say, we
live in His world And this world is one of mutability, of change. But one day, my friends, when
we are there with him, we will know hereafter and we will see
that nothing could have been better. Nothing in God's providence,
nothing in God's plan could have been arranged better than it
has been and worked out as it has. I pray that the Lord would bless
these thoughts to all of us here tonight.