Let's take our Bibles once again.
Turn with me now to Ecclesiastes 3. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. I'd like to look at one verse,
scripture, verse 5. Ecclesiastes 3, 5. A time to cast away stones and
a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace, and a time
to refrain from embracing. Now, we're continuing, according
to the wisdom of God Almighty, to study this thing called time. Time is that moment when that
which God has decreed, which is the season, there's a time
and a season for all things. Time is when that which God has
ordained is actually brought into fruition, when it actually
is experienced. And all the events that happen
to all the inhabitants of this world are brought about in time
according to the accomplishment of God's will and God's purpose. Events that are divinely orchestrated
for this purpose that the Lord Jesus Christ should give eternal
life to as many as the Father has given Him. Things are being
brought about. So everything that has, everything
that is, and everything that shall come to pass has been predestinated
according to the determinate counsel of Almighty God these
things that were in the mind and will and purpose of God finished
from the foundation of the world. We're just beholding them. Everything that is happening
right now has been ordained of God. Everything that's coming
to pass is according to his will, purpose. So not only is the seasons,
and I'm gonna be speaking specifically of the season of of love, of
the calling out of God's sheep. Not only is that set, the surety
of their calling and the time when the Spirit of God shall
actually cross the path of the vessels of God's mercy, that's
set too. The Lord's going to bring his
people. He's going to get them under the sound of the gospel.
They're going to have to hear the gospel. They're going to
have to believe. They've got to believe. God's
going to give them faith to believe. They've got to willingly come
to Him. Those that are born not willing, but He's going to make
them willing in the day of His power. He's going to do it. He's
going to do a work of grace in their heart. And so today I'd
like for us to consider in this one verse of Scripture that everything
that has eternally been ordained of God in the salvation of God's
elect, everything that has been ordained, everything that happens
to them in their life, according to the Lord, chastening them
and refining them as gold and through the fire of his precious
trials and tribulations and chastisement, everything is one verse of scripture. This one verse of scripture right
here. In that verse of scripture right there, the entirety of
the will and purpose of Almighty God for his people is found in
this one verse of scripture. You can take that one verse right
there and that verse five, here's the totality of the eternal counsel
and covenant of God's grace. Now, we're gonna be talking about
for a few minutes some stones, stones. And I'm, as far as these
stones here, I've read, you can go back and read some of the
commentaries on, you know, time to cast out stones and gather
stones. And there's, I mean, there's all kinds of stuff, speculation
about clearing land. And so that, you know, the, you
know, the building of houses, you know, I think, well, I'm
going to bypass all of that. I'm not even going to take time,
but I'm going to consider these stones as the scripture reveals
these stones as types, figures of God's people. Those that the
Lord's been eternally pleased to show mercy, these stones that
shall surely be shown to be saved by the grace of God and be found
to be trophies of his power and grace. Listen, I'll just read
this, Zechariah 9 16. And the Lord their God shall
save them in that day as the flock of his people. They shall
be as the stones of a crown. lifted up as an instant upon
his land. So here's what we're gonna look
at in this one verse. The entire scope of the mercy
and grace of God Almighty. Now let me see if I can make
good on this. First of all, I'm going to say that the stones,
these stones, of God's affection have been everlastingly and eternally
loved of God. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. And they are surely going to
be saved from the penalty and the justice of God's wrath one
way, by the grace of God through the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ
and his shed blood upon Calvary Street. Now that God's gonna
save his people. I will save my own. I'll have mercy. Now, these that
the Lord has everlastingly loved, something happened in the garden. And unless we realize what happened
in the garden, we will not see, we will not behold the mercy
of Almighty God. Now, what happened in the garden? Well, here's what happened. Man
disobeyed God. One man, he disobeyed God. And here was all mankind found
in this one man. One man. Transgression. Man by one man's
disobedience. One sin, what'd he do? He took
of the fruit that was forbidden of God. All he did, all he did
was he took and ate of the fruit that God told him not to eat. That's what he did, he ate one
bite And by that one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, transgressors
of the law, come short, failures. And because of that one act of
disobedience, one transgression, man was separated from God. He died, and the sin of our first
parents bore the just due of God's actions. They were cast
out of the garden, cast out of the presence of the Lord. I want
you to turn back to Genesis 3, Genesis chapter 3, verse 22 to
24. And here's what happened, here's
the just due. Genesis 3, 22, and the Lord God
said, behold, the man is become as one of us to no good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his
hand and take also the tree of life and eat and live forever,
therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden
to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out
the man, and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims
and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of
the tree of life. Now, man, because of sin, was
now shut out, shut out, cast out. Cast out from God's fellowship,
God's presence, there's a time to cast away stones. Why? Because
God is just, isn't that right, friend? He's just. I'm a just
God. God, cast him out. But almighty God, who has eternally
purposed to not leave his people, to perish in their sins, to keep
them from eating. This is what he said, to keep
them from eating of the tree of life and remaining in that
state forever. I'm going to drive them out.
Now, let me show you. I'm gonna read it, pass it again,
I just read. Verse 22, the Lord God said,
behold, the man has become as one of us to know good and evil,
and now lest he put forth his hands and take also of the tree
of life and eat and live forever. God in justice, oh, in mercy
drove him out. There's time to cast away stones. But according to God's will,
God's purpose, according to these scriptures, the scripture says,
there's a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together.
There's a time to collect, to heap up. from a root word that
means to build. When he said we gather to build
or to begin to build or to repair, that's what it means. According
to God's everlasting covenant of grace, to show mercy, here's
what he's gonna do. According to his everlasting
covenant of grace, in the fullness of his power, God sent forth
his Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. God's a just God. He said, I'm
a Savior. I'm a Savior. He will not know
why it's clear of the guilty. He drove them out. He drove them
away. He's just, but he's gonna show mercy. According to the
justice of God being satisfied through the merit of Him that
was sent forth, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
us, His sheep that were under the law, according to His merit,
God Almighty is going to gather us together Ezekiel chapter 16,
turn with me here. Now right here in this passage
of scripture, we're gonna behold the evidence of how almighty
God calls out his people in fullness of time, gathers them together
totally upon the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ and his shed
blood. There's a time to cast away stones and there's a time
to gather them back. Oh, what a precious time when
He gathers us back. Ezekiel chapter 16, starting
in verse six. And when I passed by thee and
saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when
thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live. I've caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field. Thou hast increased and waxen
great. Thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breast are fashioned. Thine
hair is grown, whereas thou was naked, bare. And when I passed
by thee and I 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 I entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee with water.
Yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed
thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered
work, and shod thee with badger skin. I girded thee about with
fine linen, and covered thee with silk. I deck thee also with
ornaments. I put bracelets upon thy hands,
a chain on thy neck, a jewel in thy forehead, earrings in
thine ears, a beautiful crown upon thy head. Oh, the beauty
of beholding through the mercy of Almighty God, because his
justice has been satisfied, because he's put away the debt of his
people. Now in mercy, mercy, Because
justice is satisfied, he said, time of love. And that time of
love is experience, is gonna be experience. I don't know if
that's a good word. It works, it works. God's people
are gonna experience something. They're gonna be crossed by the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, gonna cross their path. And when
he says the time of love is for you right now, and I'm gonna
say to you, live, live. life be imparted. And they're
alive. They're alive in Christ. God
gives them a new heart. And now, here's what's happening.
In time, we're seeing something happen. This time of time to
cast away stone, time to gather them together. And in time, we
see that Apostle Peter moved to say, ye also, as lively stones
are built up. spiritual house, a holy priesthood
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. God's people are stones, according
to God's word. He refers to your lively stones,
stones in his crown, precious stones, precious stones to you.
But you know where they're found. They're found in the same quarry
of this world. That's where they are. We're
in this world. We're found in this where they're born, lost
in trespasses and sins, but according to the grace of God, they're
dug out of the mire of this world's filth by the grace of God and
separated by the spirit of God. They're given life in Christ
and they're being made, being fitly joined together, a spiritual
house, a temple. What kind of temple? A precious
temple. Listen, I'll tell you how precious
it is. First Corinthians 3.16, know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Oh, there's
a time to cast away. God's justice, he did. Oh, but
there's a time to gather together, gather. And that's what the Lord's
doing through the preaching of the gospel. And there's a time
in the midst of our sojourning here, which we're walking through
this world, we're sojourning, we're just traveling through,
but there's a time, the scripture also says there's a time to embrace,
time to embrace. Oh, I looked at that and I thought
about how precious is the time of the Lord's embracing. Now,
as far as the Lord, we know that the Lord said that there's a
promise that he's never gonna leave us, he's never gonna forsake
us, and we know that, we know that. But as I looked at this,
the preciousness of time to embrace, I thought about, and I will admit,
I'm not going to touch the fullness of this scripture right here.
I just, maybe by the grace of God, hit the high points. But
as I began to think of that embracing, there's times when the Spirit
of God is pleased to allow us to know something or to experience
or to realize something of the Lord's embracing. We are so prone
to not think upon his word with the respect that we should. Now, we know that. We know that
he does embrace us. He covers us. I just read in
Ezekiel, I'll cover you with a skirt that robed in the righteousness
of Christ. I know we are, but isn't it pitiful
that we don't know it as we as we can, but there's precious
time. Turn with me to Song of Solomon.
Turn up just a few more pages. Song of Solomon, chapter two,
and verse six. Song of Solomon 2.6. His left
hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. There's a word right there that
speaks of the tenderness of the Lord toward His people. And though, as I said, there's
the realization that His love and His embracing never ceases. There's times when we're made
or allowed to experience in our heart The preciousness, though
it's most of the time for me, but for a moment. Have you ever
been reading a scripture? I brought this up before. When
you're reading a scripture, and just for a fleeting moment, you're
made to realize the tenderness of that scripture, and you're
brought to tears, you read it, and you're just overwhelmed,
and you think, that is so good. that is so precious. And it's
just, I mean, just for a moment of thankfulness and appreciation
for that which the Lord, for Christ's sake, has been pleased
to do for us. And these moments are so tender,
but they're so fleeting to me, to be able to realize it. to
be able to be known, to know heartily of his loving embrace. And then once we realize it for
a moment, it just like it just goes away. And I think, oh, I
wish I could enter into that more and realize that more. We're made to know that loving
embrace. And then at that moment, It's
just like we're drawn to embrace him, hold him. I like when Jacob was wrestling
with a man and the Lord told him, let me go. And Jacob said,
no, I don't want to. I don't want to, no, unless you
bless me. You wrestle with the Lord. Oh,
there's a time, there's a time to cast away stones, a time to
gather stones, A time to embrace. Oh, I know this, Deuteronomy
33, 27, the eternal God is thy refuge. And underneath of the
everlasting arms, he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee.
Oh, there's a time to embrace and how precious those times
are. They come at a time by the grace of God when we're gonna
know as we're known. We're going to see him as he
is. We're going to be like him. Oh, what shall that be? I don't
know. I don't know. But we anxiously look forward
to it. But in closing, here's something
that I think I can enter into a little bit more as a time to
refrain from embracing. Time to refrain. Now, let me
make this clear again. I want to make this clear. The
Lord never leaves his people. He said, I'll never leave you. I will never forsake you, never. He is the ever present God. He is our city of refuge, our
rock of eternal security. But there's times according to
his infinite wisdom and mercy, when he's pleased for our good,
and His glory to refrain or to allow us to
experience the realization of wondering where He is. Song of Solomon chapter 5, Song
of Solomon 5. Verse two to eight. Song of Solomon
five. Two, I sleep, but my heart waketh. It's the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister. My love, my dove,
my undefiled, for my head is filled with you, and my locks
with the drops of the night. And here's the answer from us. I've put off my coat. How shall
I put it on? I've washed my feet. How shall
I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by
the hold of the door. He stirred my heart, convicted
me. My bowels removed for him. I
rose up to open to my beloved, and my hands dropped with my
fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock.
I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself
and was gone. My soul failed when he spake. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer. The watchman that went about
the city found me, smoked me. wounded me. God's preachers that
tell people what they truly are, how frail we are. The keepers
of the wall took away my veil from me. I charge you, O daughters
of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I'm
sick of life. Oh, in these times when they
come, how quickly We're made to remember our need of him. And then when we're renewed by
the grace of God in our spirit, and he's made himself known afresh
to us, how precious those times. Turn back to Song of Solomon
three, and I'll wrap this up. Song of Solomon three, one to
four. By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought
him. but I found him not. Have you
ever experienced going through something, you're going through
a trial, tribulation, and you just, you cry to the Lord and
you think, Lord, do you hear? Lord, do you know? Lord, I'm
hurting. Lord, help me. a night on my
bed, I sought him whom my soul loveth, but I found, I sought
him, but I found him not. I will rise now and go about
the city and the streets and the broad ways, I'll seek him
whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. The watchman that go about the
city found me, to whom I said, saw ye him whom my soul loveth? And it was but a little that
I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth. I held
him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into
my mother's house, into the chamber of her that conceived me. The preciousness of being, by
the grace of God, in that time, when it's time, the Lord knows
it's time, when to refrain from embracing, to cause us to wonder,
Lord, have you forgotten me? Lord, if you left me to myself,
I sought him, but I couldn't find him. Oh, it's the preciousness
of beholding in this one verse of scripture. There's a time
to cast away stones and a time to gather them together. Time
to embrace, time to refrain from embracing. The preciousness of
that scripture, to behold him who is the just God, and therefore
must have cast us out of the garden because of our sin. But according to his eternal
love and affection, covenant of grace was pleased to not leave
his people to themselves, but gathered them together, his justice
being satisfied in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then while in this world manifest his love to us in these precious
times through the hearing of the gospel, causing us to know
something of him embracing us and blessing that precious gospel
at times where it just brings us to such a brokenness, tears,
but then whenever we're needy, which is often, a time to withhold
the evidence of his love. Why? To draw us back to himself.
Well, thankful. David said, my times are in thy
hands. Aren't you glad? May the Lord
bless this to our hearts for his sake.