I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes. Right after Proverbs. Ecclesiastes chapter eight. And I'd like to read verses 16
and 17 and then the first verse in chapter nine. Ecclesiastes
8.16-9.1 Solomon, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, said, When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and
to see the business that is done upon the earth, for also there
is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes. Then
I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the
work that is done under the sun, because though a man labor to
seek it out, yet he shall not find it. Yea, further, though
a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find
it. For all this I considered in
my heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous, the
wise, and their works are in the hand of God. No man knoweth
either love or hatred, but all that is before them." Now, I want to do something that
I should be thinking about doing every time I preach. I want to preach this morning
like we have never heard the gospel before. This will be the
first time you've ever heard the truth out of God's Word. Now, what we just read, Solomon
had diligently studied wherein man's wisdom And he observed the restlessness
of men's minds and their bodies. He observed all of the employments
and their tireless concerns about worldly things. He said there's
that which neither day nor night seeth sleep. What he said was,
men worry about everything that they can possibly think of. And it's always worse at night.
You always think things and they... Then he considered the ways of
God. As the Lord revealed Himself through His Word, and all of
the methods of God's providence to men. He came to this conclusion
that everything that God is doing in this world that no man, no
matter how wise he thinks he is, no man is able to fully or
perfectly understand the things of God. We look around and we see what
God's doing today. We hear all this stuff, politics, virus, you know. What is God
doing? I don't know. But I know this,
that all things are working together for good to them that love God. to them who are the called according
to his purpose. So what Solomon said was it's
best for man not to perplex himself with the endless and fruitless
inquiries about the matters of this world that he's never going
to understand. We're not going to get it. We're
going to leave this world not getting what God is doing. But he said it's best to quietly
submit to God's will and His providence and live in the fear
and reverence of God and be thankful for the compassion of His blessing. Solomon concluded, he said, all
this I considered in my heart. All the truth revealed in God's
Word concerning man and all of the methods of his providence
toward men, Solomon said, we don't know. He knew that all
men were in the hands of God in the course of God's providence
is according to his purpose. And all things that are going
to fall out are going to be according to His will and His counsel,
and they're going to stand. And though we don't understand
what God is doing, we're assured that what the Lord does is right. Then Solomon said in the latter
part of that first verse in chapter 9, he said, No man knoweth either
love or hatred. What does he mean by that? We
cannot judge how God deals with any one person over another about
whether the Lord loves that person as He loved Jacob or hated that
person as He hated Esau. We don't know. Because the Lord,
according to David, He said David saw the wicked prosper. David
was suffering. And God chastens those that He
loves. So we can't tell how, you know,
what God is doing as far as one man over another, whether that
man's prospering in health or money or whether he's just a
Lazarus that, you know, the dogs lick his soul. We don't know. So there's a lot of things that
we're never going to come to the conclusion. Though all things, we rest assured,
we won't know the fullness thereof, there are some things that we
need to consider. And it's matters of life and
death. And there's some things that
the Lord has hidden, Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things of
God belong to him, those things that are hidden. But then he
said those things that are revealed. They belong to us and to our
children. So I'd like for us to consider
this morning some things that Almighty God
has revealed and things that we do need to consider. Now the
things we don't know, we don't know. But there's some
things we do know. And here's where I want to be
very plain for just a few minutes. And I want us to just look at
eternal things that we all need to consider. Here's the first thing that I
want us to consider. That's what he said in verse
one of chapter nine. Solomon said, all this I considered
in my heart. I want us to consider the state
of all men born into this world. Now this is something that we
all need to consider. And only by the grace of God
will any man or woman do it. The state of all men before God
is this, born in Adam, Romans 3.23, for all have sinned. That means all have violated
God's law. That's what it means. Sin is
the transgression of the law. That means that we've all disobeyed
God. Now, all of us, all have sinned
and come short. We've come short of His requirement
for obedience. We've come short of His commandments.
We've all come short of the glory of God, of the honor of God. Now what is it going to take
to be righteous before God? We must be holy. Now here's the thing. We're all
guilty. We're all cut out of the same
pit. There's none that have escaped
the filthiness of sin's pollution. None of us. And none of us left to ourselves
seek after God. We just don't care. None of us can or will do good. Now just, we need to consider
where we are when we're born into this world. When it comes
to our condition as being born in this world, Isaiah 64, 6 says,
but we are all as an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, minstrels, cloths. And we do all fade like
a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Now, we're all born filthy. We're
all born rebels. We're sinners against God. And
what can we do about it? Job asked, who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? And he answered it, not one. No one can change his position
or his state of filthiness by himself. That's a lie that's
being told in a lot of places, but according to the scriptures.
Now, if this is the first time you've ever heard this, let me
tell you this. We're all born sinners, rebels
against God. Here's the second thing I want
us to consider. Consider the one with whom all men have to
deal. Isaiah 6, 1-3 says, In the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord, Jehovah, sitting
upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the
temple. And above it stood the seraphims,
each one had six wings, with twain He covered His face, with
twain He covered His feet, With twain he did fly, and one cried
unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of
hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. Now this is the one that spoke
to Moses. Same one that Isaiah saw sitting
on the throne. This is the one that spoke to
Moses at the burning bush and told Moses, you take your shoes
off. where you're standing is holy
ground. This is the one when the law
was given to Israel on Mount Sinai. This is in Exodus chapter
19. The scripture says that God was
going to give His law to Moses. Exodus 19 verses 10 to 13. And
men talk about God, so disrespectfully. I saw something the other day,
I'd heard this before, it just sounds so disrespectful to me.
Something had happened and somebody wrote on there, it's a God thing.
I thought, don't you hush. whenever God was gonna give his
law to Moses. Exodus 19, 10 to 13 says this,
and the Lord said unto Moses, go into the people and sanctify
them today and tomorrow and let them wash their clothes and be
ready against the third day for the third day the Lord will come
down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. And
thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about saying, take
heed to yourselves that ye go not up into the mount or touch
the border of it. Whosoever touches the mount shall
surely be put to death. There shall not an hand touch
it. but he shall surely be stoned
or shot through. Whether it be beast or man, it
shall not live. When the trumpet soundeth long,
they shall come up to the mountain. When Almighty God was going to
meet with Moses, he told Moses, he said, you tell the people,
don't you touch that mountain. God is holy. Now, we hear that
word, and I searched to find out what does that mean? What does it mean, holy? The seraphims cried, holy, holy,
holy. is the Lord God of hosts. The
whole earth is full of His glory. What does holy mean? And to the
best of my ability to find out what the meaning of holiness
is, here's what it means. Separation. Separation. The complete otherness. Psalm 71 19 says, thy righteousness
also, O God is very high, who has done great things. O God,
who is like unto thee. So here we are. We're sinners,
filthy sinners, rebels against God. And God is holy. Thirdly, consider our state then
of separation from God because of sin. Consider this. Isaiah
59 1 and 2 says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened
that it cannot save, neither His ear heavy that it cannot
hear, but your iniquities have separated between you and your
God, and your sins have hid His face from you that he will not
hear. It's not that God is unable to
save. His hand is not shortened. That's
what that means. He's omnipotent. That means all
powerful. It doesn't mean he can't do it.
It's not that he can't hear. His ear is not heavy that it
cannot hear. He's not a dumb idol. He's not
a stick. or a piece of a rock or some
kind of a graven image, He's holy. And sin separates us. And because of sin, He won't
hear. I think how men talk as if A
man and a woman can just be reconciled to God. That's all you've got
to do. I see this fellow on TV and he's taking his dad's place
and he's standing up there and says, that's all you've got to
do. Now just pray this prayer. Done. Done. If you prayed that prayer, done.
You're going to heaven. The scripture says that God,
because of sin, will not hear. Isaiah 64 verse seven, there's
none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take
hold of thee. Why? For thou has hid thy face
from us and has consumed us because of our iniquities. Because of
sin, there is a wall of separation between man and God and the only
hope of salvation, therefore, is that Almighty God must do
something for man that obviously man cannot do for himself. Now, if we're a sinner, and we
are, and God is holy, and He is, and He will not hear, He
will not hear, doesn't it stand to reason that
God's going to have to do something? We're spiritually impotent. So don't think that it's just
a minor thing. Fourthly, consider the consequences
of dying without Christ, without reconciliation. What will happen
if a man dies in his sins? He dies without Christ, Matthew
22. Matthew 22. The Lord gave a parable
about a marriage for his son. This is a parable that sets forth
what the father has done concerning the son himself, and a marriage
that's been prepared. Matthew 22, verses 2 to 7. The kingdom of heaven is likened
to a certain king which made a marriage for his son. He sent
forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding,
and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants,
saying, tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared my dinner,
my oxen, my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come
unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and
went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. And
the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully,
and slew them. But when the king heard thereof,
he was wroth. And he sent forth his armies,
and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." Now,
Almighty God has given his son a bride. And he sent the gospel into this
world to declare concerning his mercy and compassion of saving
a people and the marriage of his son to the church. And he sent preachers to preach
that message. And this parable sets forth that
left to themselves, men and women, when they hear the gospel, the
declaration of the marriage. And they make light of it. And
they despise God's preachers. And they talk and speak disrespectfully
of them. The scriptures declare that there's
coming a day when Almighty God's going to deal with them. And
what's He going to do? He's gonna cast them out. The Lord said that there's gonna
be a lot, Matthew 7, 22, 23, that will stand before Him in
the day of judgment, justifying what they did. Many will say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name and cast out devils? Thy name done many wonderful
works. And then I will profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. So here is the summation of what
I've said so far. Man born in Adam is in a mess. He's in a mess. And but for the grace of God,
he doesn't know it. He's ignorant of it. He disrespects
the gospel. He disrespects God's preachers.
He disrespects God. He has no respect. There's no fear of God before
his eyes. And his moments on this earth
are clicking off. But for the grace of God, he's
going to leave this world and all of a sudden he's going to
realize, I have made an awful mistake. Everything that I thought was
so unnecessary, everything that I thought was so trivial, I mean,
we got stuff going on in this world we need to be concerned
about. We need to be worried about some stuff. Solomon said,
no you don't. God's got it all in control,
but there are some things we do need to consider. Consider the miracle of God's
grace. It's my next point. Here's the
only hope. For a man, God revealed to his
preacher, Moses, in Exodus 33, 19, I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious. We're in a mess, born in Adam.
I mean, we read the scriptures and he told Adam, in the day
you eat thereup, you're going to die. Well, that doesn't really
register with men. by women, by nature. But we're
dead in trespasses and sins. And for God Almighty to rescue,
He's gonna have to show grace. Grace, mercy, mercy. God Almighty is going to have
to bestow electing grace. God's gonna have to choose to
show mercy to somebody. He's not going to leave it up
to men to make that decision. Because if He left it up to a
man to make a decision, a man that's dead, He's not going to
make it. Mankind would perish and God has been pleased that
mankind is going to have salvation shown it. So God has chosen Out
of the mass of humanity, God chose a people. And God adopted them in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He trusted His Son, the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, and God predestinated
them, determined their end, where they were going to be. Where
are they going to be? They're going to be in glory with Him. and everything
else that was associated with them being in glory, God Almighty
ordered it. So He chose, I'm gonna show mercy. I'm gonna have mercy on whom
I have mercy. I'll show compassion, grace to whom I will. And didn't leave it, like I said,
to their free will. They don't have a free will.
They're dead. Christ came into this world and redeemed them. Paid their debt. And because
of redemption, God Almighty pardoned sin. God's people sin right now. And Christ who paid the debt,
God pardons it. No charge. And the Lord is going to keep
them. He, according to His own will
and purpose, put them in the person of His Son. The Son, He
loved the Son, He trusted the Son of covenant agreement, who
stood for them and said, I will answer. Now they've all sinned. We're all filthy. Righteousness,
filthy rags. I'm going to answer for them.
They're guilty. There's no doubt about that.
We're guilty. But my God, the Apostle Paul
said, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, shall supply all
your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. What was it gonna take for God
Almighty to save a sinner? Well, here's what it's gonna
take. The Lord Jesus Christ, God himself, is gonna have to
come into this world and walk before God for them. Now all of God's elect are in
Christ. And now here's the Lord Jesus
Christ in this world. And God Almighty now, on the
behalf of the elect, is gonna deal with one man. One man. All of God's elect, one man. And whatever he does, God Almighty
is gonna account that toward them. whatever he does. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And John said, we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. He was
full of grace. truth. Man by his sin was separated
from God and now a man by his obedience alone can reconcile
man back to God. The God-man for a people of God's
choosing. Now I'm telling you, He's doing
this for somebody. He's not doing this, He's not
just coming in there to make it possible. He's doing this
for somebody. The Lord Jesus Christ, with all
of God's people in Him, we're all there, lived before God in
perfect obedience. Obedience that Adam never possessed. And as a man, as a man, he earned
that perfect obedience that is referred to as the righteousness
of God. A man obeyed God to God's standard. And that righteousness that is
ours by imputation, charged it to our account. Galatians 2.16
says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the
law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. I'm not standing before
God in my righteousness, because in myself, I don't have a righteousness
that God's gonna accept. But his righteousness, he said
of him, this is my beloved son, whom I'm well pleased, you hear
him. We had nothing but that which would be cast out. But his, God accepts. And concerning the justice of
the law, which sin? Wages of sin is death. So he's
earned righteousness for us and the scripture says concerning
the law being satisfied and the law is going to have to be satisfied.
You run a stop sign and a police officer catches you, well I mean
if it's the letter of the law, then whatever the penalty for
running that stop sign is, that's what it ought to be. With God
it is. But the scripture says Romans
5, 6, and 8, for when we were yet without strength in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man, some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says this. He, the Father, hath made him
to be sin for us. There's people who knew no sin,
Christ, that we might be made the righteousness of God as Him.
Our debt's going to have to be paid. And I'm sorry, you ain't
going to get it. God is just. And just a little
verbal confession, you ain't going to get it. God's going
to have to do something that we can't do. And He did. He paid our debt at Calvary. The debt of His people, He paid
it. and he earned a righteousness before God that God's accepted.
And now, being found in Christ, found in Him, no debt to answer
for, and a righteousness that God accepts, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, that means after the way of man, thinking
that he can reconcile himself back to God by the works of the
law, not by the works of the flesh, but after the Spirit,
by the Spirit's revelation that salvation is of the Lord. And
lastly, consider the reward that we have being found in Him. This is the reward. Matthew 25,
34, Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come,
not depart. He's gonna say that to somebody.
They try to justify themselves. Come, ye blessed of my Father,
not cursed of my Father, but blessed of my Father. Inherit
the kingdom, not outer darkness, but the kingdom, prepared for
you by God's electing grace from the foundation of the world. He said, my father has always
meant this for you. And here's the last consideration
concerning this blessed truth. The way that God has been pleased
to reveal His good pleasure, to show mercy to any sinner,
is by giving that redeemed and regenerated sinner faith to believe
what he's done for him. How do I know? For by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. Almighty God has been pleased
to save a people. He said, I'm a just God and a
Savior. I pray that God bless this to
our heart. I pray that the Lord comfort God's people and call
out God's people. His glory and our good. Amen.