I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastes. Psalms,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter three. from the first verse in this
third chapter until the verse that I'd like
to look at this morning, which is verse eight. Spirit of God moved upon Solomon
to make this statement in that first verse. Everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under the heaven. To everything, there's
a season. There's a set appointment, a
set appointment to everything that happens under the heaven. Not only is there a season, but
there's a time. for every set appointment. God Almighty has ordained everything
that's going to come to pass. And also, He's appointed a time,
an experience of what He has appointed. We're living in a
world that has been set established according to God's
determinant counsel and will. And he's going to bring it all
together. Ephesians 1 11 says in whom we
have obtained an inheritance being predestinated appointed
beforehand. according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. You remember after the Lord gave
King Nebuchadnezzar, one stood out on his porch one day, looked
over Babylon, said, man, look at this great Babylon. that I
have established. And God took his mind away from
him. Seven years. Let him go out there in the field
and eat grass. Seven years. The Lord was pleased after seven
years to give his mind back. This is what Nebuchadnezzar said
then. All the inhabitants of the earth including himself,
are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest
thou? Daniel 4, 35. Almighty God rules. in heaven
and earth. He's God. He's not trying to
be God. He's not waiting on me or you
to decide what we're gonna do. He's God. According to the revelation
of God's word, the Lord has appointed, he's ordained that which is going
to come up past, and he's given the Lord Jesus Christ He who
humbled himself, here's God Almighty. The Lord Jesus is God. He is
God. He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. But he humbled himself and made
himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of sinful
flesh. He knew no sin. But he took the
form of sinful flesh. And unto him who humbled himself,
unto his father as the representative of his people. A man sinned against
God. And a man is going to obey God.
Going to be the God-man. And he humbled himself. That's
an amazing thing to me. He humbled himself. unto his
father. And the scripture says in John
17 verses 1 to 3, when the Lord was going to pray his high priestly
prayer, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy
son also may glorify thee as thou has given him power. over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent." So here's what the scripture says. The scripture
says that there's a season. There's a time, a season. There's an appointment, and there's
an appointed time. bringing forth of that appointment. And it's going to be brought
about. And you know who's gonna bring
it about? The Lord Jesus. All powers given unto him from
the Father that he should give eternal life. Almighty God is
working everything that's going on in this world right now. You
know, I look around and I see what's going on in our country
and, you know, Just humanly speaking, let me just be honest with you,
I just get sick. I just get sick in my stomach
seeing what's going on. But do you know what I know? God in heaven is ruling this
world. He's bringing it about exactly
the way he's purposed to bring it about. And you know what's
gonna be done? His will. That's what's gonna
be done. And you know the best thing I could do? Settle down. Just settle down. Just settle
down. Everything's fine. Everything's
okay. All right, let's look at Ecclesiastes
chapter three and verse eight. And remember, these verses that
we look at, they speak of him. That's what you just read, Pat.
Beginning at Moses, there were two fellows walking on the road
to Emmaus after the Lord had risen from the dead. And they're
walking along, and their eyes were holding. They didn't recognize
him. They didn't recognize the Lord.
He was risen then. And he began to ask them, you
know, what are y'all talking about? And they, you know, scripture
says, they said, are you new in town? You're not from around
here? Jesus of Nazareth, we were sure
that he was the Messiah, but he was crucified. Three days
ago, today's the third day, and here he is. He's walking, and
beginning at Moses, old fools and slow of heart, he said to
him, to believe all things that were written in the prophets.
And beginning at Moses, the law, the Psalms, the prophets, He
expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself. This book right here, this book's
about Him. This book is about the Lord Jesus
Christ. So here we are, we're going to
look at a verse of Scripture, and we're going to behold how
the Lord Himself is bringing about. The Scripture says in
chapter 3, verse 8, There's a time to love, a time
to hate, a time of war, and a time of peace. Now, the Lord in this
verse of scripture right here, the Spirit of God has set forth
the complete revelation of the mercy of Almighty God. to a people
of his choosing. God's got a people. There's a
special people. Hold your place and turn with
me to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. The Lord
has a chosen people. I want to say, I mean, we've
read these scriptures before, but I want you to look at them.
Look at them. Take your Bible and let's look
at them. Ephesians chapter one. Here's
what the scripture says. As I've said before, let's let
God be true and every man a liar. What does God have to say? Ephesians
chapter one, verse three to six, blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he has
chosen us in him, in Christ, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. Now, the Lord has revealed in
his word that God Almighty has a people. He's got a people.
Where are they? They're all over the world. Every
nation, Revelation 5, every nation, people, tribe, tongue, God's
got a people. He's got a people that He's going
to save. He's going to save them. And
the scripture says that He gave them, according to what I just
read, He gave them to the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave them to
Him, entrusted them to Him. trusted them to the Messiah,
to the Redeemer, to he who humbled himself, made himself of no reputation,
the Father gave them to him. He said, now, these are my people. Now I want you, you save them,
you save them, you redeem them. The scripture says, turn to John
10, what happened to them? Well, I can tell you what happened
to them. In the Garden of Eden, in Adam, They all fell in Adam. In Adam's, in the loins of Adam
and Eve. There was only two people in
the world at the beginning. God made Adam, made Eve. How
many people was in mankind in the Garden of Eden? There was,
in all of mankind, all of mankind, how many people? Out of those people would come
everybody. Everybody. You trace our lineage,
keep tracing your lineage and lineage and lineage, you know
where you're gonna get back to? Adam. That's where we all came
from. God's got a people. Out of the
loins of Adam came all of mankind. And when Adam rebelled against
God, you know what everybody that was in his loins did? Rebelled
against God. We all did. What Adam did, because
we were in Adam. So there's a people that God
has given, the Lord Jesus Christ, but they fell in Adam. They fell,
they rebelled against God, they're sinners. And what's going to
have to happen for God to save them? They're going to have to
be redeemed. They're going to have to be bought
back. Their debt's going to have to
pay. They sinned against God. In Adam, they sinned against
God. Here, John chapter 10 and verse 14. Here's what the scripture
says concerning what the Lord Jesus Christ did. He said in
John 10, 14, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep. and am known
of mine, as the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father,
and I lay down my life for the sheep, other sheep I have which
are not of this foal." What does that mean? They're not Jews,
they're Gentiles. I've said before, I guarantee
you there's everybody in this room here is Gentiles. What does
that mean? What's a Gentile? Not a Jew,
not a Jew. They're not of this fold, them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming
to this world. Why, he's got people. There's
a people in this world. The Father's given Him a people.
And He's going to save them. He's going to redeem them. And
He's not going to leave it up to them. Why? Because they're dead spiritually.
They're dead. They're dead in trespasses and
sins. You know what dead means? It
means they have no ability, no hearing, no seeing spiritually. Or they're walking around physically.
But spiritually, they're dead. It's going to take Almighty God
to save His people because they can't save themselves. The scripture
says in Ecclesiastes 3.8, there is a time of love. There's a time of love. And we're
talking totally here. about the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ to save his people. God's got a people. Turn with
me to Ezekiel. As Bruce would say, I love the
way he said it yesterday. He said, turn to the right. Your
Ecclesiastes, turn to the right till you get to Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Lamentations, Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel 16. There's a time of love. Now you
know the scripture says in Jeremiah 31 3, do you know how long the
Lord has loved his people, those he's chosen in Christ? You know
how long he's loved them? He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. I've always loved you. God's got a people
that he's given the Lord Jesus and he's loved them eternally. I've always loved you. Never
been a time. But you know what? Those people
that he's everlastingly loved, they're born into this world.
And when they come into this world, they don't know anything
about the love of God. They don't know anything. Why?
Because they're dead spiritually. They just don't know it. God
knows. The Lord just said, I know my
sheep. But they don't know anything
about it. But this time of love, the time to be brought about,
that love, Ezekiel chapter 16, verse 1 to 3 says, again, the
word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem
to know her abominations. And say, thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, spiritual Jerusalem, thy birth and thy
nativity is of the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, thy
mother was a Hittite. What do you mean? Cause Jerusalem
to know what she is. Cause her to know that. Preach
to her. Tell her what she is. Tell her
how she fell in Adam. Tell her that her father was
an Amorite, mother was a Hittite. Tell her that she's from birth. That she's a heathen. You tell
her that. Here's what I'm gonna say. I'm
gonna tell. I'm gonna just broadcast this. Everybody that's born in
Adam has fallen and found in that mass of fallen creatures,
God's got a people in there somewhere. They've got a people. And to
all of you that has fallen in Adam, we're all heathens by birth. We all are. What does that mean? We don't love God. Somebody said,
well, I don't. It's not that I don't love the
Lord. No, we don't, none of us do. We're all heathens, heathens
by birth. So back in Ezekiel 16, what's
gonna have to happen? Here we are, we're heathens.
Well, the scripture says in verses four and five of Ezekiel 16,
it says, as for thy nativity, In the day that thou was born,
thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple
thee. Thou was not salted at all, not
swaddled at all. None I pitied thee to do any
of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou was cast
out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the
day that thou was born. What's our situation? Well, we're
in a mess. We're in a mess. We're heathens spiritually by
birth? You say, well, that's a little
bit strong. No, it's nearly not strong enough. No, we're a mess and we're cast
out and nobody cares. Nobody cares. People, you know,
you call up somebody, they'll call you on the phone, and you
know, you answer the phone, hello, hello, hello, is this Marvin?
Yeah, it's Marvin. How you doing? I said, I'm fine,
how you doing? Oh, I'm feeling good, thank you for asking. I'm
thinking, I don't care, I don't really care. I really didn't,
you know, seriously. I mean, people were born spiritually
dead in trespasses, and by nature. Men don't care, they don't care
about themselves, they don't care about others. But what's
gonna have to happen? The scripture says, verse six,
what's gonna have to happen for me to have any hope whatsoever? Verse six, scripture says, when
I, that is the Lord, when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted,
excuse me, in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast
in thy blood, Now listen to this, I love this word. Live. Live. I'm telling you, with that command
goes the power. The Spirit of God comes in power.
He said, I'm gonna remove a heart of stone. Stony heart, I'm gonna
give you a heart of flesh. I'm gonna write my law on your
heart. I'm gonna be your God. You will be my people. You've
always been our God. He said, I'm gonna tell you about
it. and you're gonna believe it, you'll believe it. I've caused
thee, verse seven, I've caused thee to multiply as the bud of
the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art
come to excellent ornaments. Thy breast are fashioned, thine
hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Before, he said,
you were dead, you were born, your navel wasn't cut, nobody
salted, nobody suppled you, nobody wrapped you up. I came by and
I saw you, And here was that time of love, that time of love
for us to know it. I've always loved you, but you
didn't know it. Oh, but when I was pleased, when
the time of love, when I was pleased to call you out of the
darkness of your sin and unbelief, he says in verse 2, In Ezekiel
16, I need to read one more. It said, when I passed thee,
verse eight, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the
time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee,
and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. Always been his. He said, I just
told you about him. Now, now you know. Now was the
time of love. When was the time of love? When
the scripture says it pleased God. When it pleased God, who
called us by His grace. There's a time of love. That's
what Ecclesiastes 3, 8 says. There's a time of love. But then
the scripture says also in Ecclesiastes 8, there's a time to hate. Now you know there's a lot recorded.
in the scriptures concerning hate, hate. The Lord speaking
through David in Psalm 69, 4 reveals the animosity that man by nature
has toward the Lord. The scripture says, the Lord
speaking, they hate me without a cause. And those that hate
me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head. They
that would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. He said, then I restored that
which I took not away. The Lord warned his disciples
of the hatred that the world would have toward them because
of his love for them. John 15, 18 and 19, I'll read
this to you. He said, if the world hates you,
You know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of
the world, if you were of the world that hates the message
of salvation by grace, you know the world preaches a message
that says, now listen, God loves everybody. He loves everybody. And he wants to save everybody.
If you just let him. He's trying. trying to do the
best he can. He laid down his life, he shed
his blood, and all you have to do is to just accept it. That's salvation by works. That's
salvation by works. Your works. That's not what the
scripture says. You tell somebody, show me that
in the word of God. Show me what you just said in
the word of God. Here, show me. It's not there. What does scripture
say? Jonah 2, 9, salvations of the
Lord. I read just a few minutes ago,
Daniel 9, he doeth as he will in the armies of heaven. Nobody
stays, nobody. There's a time of hate, but what
kind of hate? What are we talking about? Well,
when the Lord is pleased to call his own out of the darkness of
sin and unbelief, come and give them life, live. And he gives
them a new heart, a new heart for him, a new will, a new desire. Then something changes in that
person. I want you to hold your place
in Ecclesiastes, but turn with me to Romans 7. Romans 7, there's
a time of hate. Now, until the Lord does something
for somebody, I'll tell you what they love. They love this world. They love the world and they
love the things of this world, but they don't love God. They don't love God. They don't.
Romans chapter 7, verse 14, 15. For you know that the law is
spiritual. But I'm carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
or I know not. I don't know why Paul said I
do what I do. For what I would, that I do not. What I would desire that I would
do. Oh, I wish I loved God like I
should. More love to thee, that's what
we just sang. More love to thee. John, you
sang that, where are you? More love to thee. The Lord asked
Peter. Peter, lovest thou me more than
these? He said, Lord, you know I do. You know I love you. That's
what God's people say. Lord, you know I love you. I
don't love you as I should, and I'm ashamed of it. I don't love
you as I will. I don't love you as I desire,
but Lord, I do love you. He said, For that which I do,
I allow not. But what I would, I do not. But what I hate, that I do. What I hate, that I do. Let me
tell you about me. I don't know about you. But I
would desire to walk consistently before God. I would, I want that. I wish I walked and adorned the
doctrine that I preach. I wish I did. And I'm a failure. I don't do as I should. And I
hate it. I hate it. What I see in myself,
I hate it. The scripture sets forth that
there's a time of love and there's a time of hate. And God Almighty
calls his own out of darkness. They begin now to hate that which
they see in themselves. That old man's still there. That
old man that wars against him, that old man that raises his
ugly head, that's gonna be with us until we leave this world. And we're gonna battle with him
until we leave this world. Paul said, I see him. I see him
in me. and I hate what I see. So there's
a time to love that God calls his own out of darkness. There's
a time to hate. Back in Ecclesiastes 3, it says
there's a time to war. Time to war. There's a spiritual
battle that begins within a believer. A battle that began with that
spiritual birth. Back in Romans chapter seven.
Again, I'll just, let me just continue where I picked up. Romans
chapter seven. Let me just tell you about this
battle. Let's just read about it. Just read about this battle
that's going on. Romans chapter seven, beginning in verse 18. Here's the battle that every
believer knows something about. Roman chapter 7 verse 18. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present
with me. Paul's looking at himself now.
He's looking at himself. And he sees two men in him. He
sees two natures. He sees them. And both of them,
both of them, war against each other. He said, to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For
the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now if I do that which I would
not, it's no more I that do it, that evil that I don't like,
I hate. He said, the new man in me. He
said, I don't desire to do that. Now, if I do that, I would not,
it's no more I, the new man that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is
present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mine,
that new mine, that new man, I serve, I bow, I bow to the
law of God. But with the flesh, that old
man still there, the law of sin, he said, I see two men in me. There's a new man there that
loves the law of God. And I do, I love God's law. Here's
my problem. Neil, I just can't keep it. I
just can't keep it. I love it. Anything wrong with
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, body?
Anything wrong with that? Anything wrong with love your
neighbor as yourself? Anything wrong with that? Anything wrong
with thou shalt not kill? Anything wrong with that? Thou
shalt not steal? Covet? Covet your wife, your neighbor's
wife? Anything wrong with that? No.
I love that. I got a problem though. I got
an old man in me that is bent on disobedience. And Paul said,
I see him and I hate him, I hate him. There's a time to love,
there's a time to hate, there's a time of war, a time of battle. And he said in closing, there's
a time of peace. Oh, what a miracle of God's grace
that there is peace before God, peace which was established at
a great cost. I turn to Colossians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, Colossians 1. Let me tell you what cost. I said one time, I said there's
a high cost of what we call free grace, the high cost. Colossians
1, verse 16. Colossians 1, 16, for by him
were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth,
visible, invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by him and for him, and he's
before all things. By him all things consist, and
he's the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have
preeminence. For he pleased the Father, that
in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through
the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven." There's peace. There's
peace before God, for God's people, for those that the Lord Jesus
Christ laid down His life. There's peace that's been established.
What a cost. God's people, born sinners, Born
into this world, rebels against God. Rebels by birth, rebels
by choice, by nature, by practice. But when he pleased God, Paul
said, who separated me from my mother's womb, call me by his
grace. Revealed unto him, as he does
all his people, the Lord Jesus Christ has taken their burden
There's sin. Let me tell you a miracle of
God's grace as I wrap this up. When the Lord Jesus Christ went
to the cross, he was bearing the sins of all
those who were given him by the Father. I just read it. He said in John 10, 15, I laid
down my life for the sheep for those that the Father gave Him.
He said, I paid their debt. I paid it. And when He hung upon
that cross, the scripture says this is what happened. He, the
Father, hath made Him sin for us. He who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Whenever he went to the cross,
he was made what his people are by nature. He was made sin. And when he was hanging on that
cross, made sin, they said, well, what do you mean by that? I mean
he was made sin. I love what Brother Scott, I
heard him say one time, when the Lord Jesus Christ took that
water at the marriage of Cana, Galilee, and he made that water
into wine. Was it really just still water? Somebody just put a post-it note
on it that says wine. You look at that and you said,
that ain't wine. I know what wine looks like. That ain't wine.
When he was made flesh, was he truly made flesh? He was made
flesh. When he was made sin, He was
made sin. And when the Father forsook him,
my God, my God, why? Has thou forsaken me? God's holy, and he was made sin. And the scripture declares that
he who knew no sin, he was not a sinner. I didn't say that.
As I've told you many times, a sinner is one who's disobedient. Here's the great mystery substitutionary
work of Christ. He was made what we are. And
God dealt with him and put away the debt of our guilt. Of the sin of his people, though
given him in Christ from before the foundation of the world,
he paid it and put it away. There's no debt. Now, let me
ask you something. What does God's people owe right
now? To the law of God. I tell you
what, to make it even more understandable. If the Lord has a people that
has not been born yet into this world. You know, we were all
born sometime. Let's say that the Lord's got
some sheep. They haven't been born yet. They hadn't been born
yet. Okay? They hadn't even been born yet. What do they owe? If he died
for them, what do they owe to the law of God? What do they
owe? or put away their debt. Are they
going to be born sinners? Yes, they are. Is the Lord going
to cross their path? Yes, he will. Is he going to
reveal to them what they are by nature? Yes, he will. Is he
going to give them a new heart? Yes, he will. Is he going to
save them? Yes, he will. How do you know
that? John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to
me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which be in Christ Jesus.
None. To them who walk not after the
flesh, after the spirit. God's gonna reveal to them. Has
he paid their debt? He paid their debt at Calvary. And he'll tell, he'll tell. There's
a time of love, time of hate, time of war, time of peace. Yes, sir. That time when the
Lord, time of love, when He's going to openly reveal it. Time
of hate, yeah, there's going to be a time. God ever calls
a man or a woman out of darkness, I tell you what they're going
to do. They're going to hate what they see in themselves, that old man,
they're going to hate it. Time of war, yes sir, they'll
battle with it until the day they die. They'll go through
this world, and that spiritual battle will be going on. The
flesh is going to lust against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh. But there's going to be a time of peace. They're
going to know that the Lord Jesus Christ has put away their debt
and established peace through His shed blood. And there's going
to be peace in their heart. They're going to realize, Lord,
You've established peace for me. And though I'm struggling
with what I see in myself right now, Lord, I've got some hope. I've got some hope. You put away
my... Lord, here's what they're gonna
do too. The Lord who has saved them,
they're gonna say, Lord, save me. The Lord who's kept them,
they're gonna say, Lord, keep me. The Lord who's given them
the spirit, that spirit that he'll never take from them, you
know what they're gonna say? Lord, don't take your spirit
from me. They gonna struggle, struggle, struggle. But they
gonna say in their hearts, by the revelation of God's Spirit,
He's done something for me that I couldn't do for myself. He
saved me. Lord, keep us for Christ's sake.
Amen.