May God be pleased to bless us
together as we meditate in his word this morning. Let us turn
to the book of Ecclesiastes and we'll turn to the third chapter
and we'll read the first clause in verse 2. The book of Ecclesiastes
chapter 3 and the first clause in verse 2. A time to be born and a time to die. Solomon wrote this book of Ecclesiastes
and we know that God gave him the ability to search out to
see whether he was able to find any true happiness in his life
and the life of people as they live in the world. And as we
may, and you may read through this short book of Ecclesiastes,
you will recognize that time and again Solomon had to point
out that there was no real satisfaction in the things of this world,
and he views it as the things of this world as vanity and things
which pass away so quickly and are gone. But he reminds us in
this book again of sure and certain things which will occur. He tells us in this verse, this
second verse, a time to be born and a time to die. I'm sure we're all familiar with
such a statement and recognise the truth of it. But again, in
this third chapter that we read together, he then goes through
a number of times and they really come between a time to be born
and a time to die. Between those two times there
are many other times, which he refers to here in the earlier
verses of this third chapter. But let us remember that the
good man is speaking here of the things of time. But when
we come to the time to die, the things of time will no longer
exist, because we will then be in eternity, and in eternity
there is no time. And it is important that we have
a conscious realisation of that, because I believe if the Holy
Spirit shows us that, it will really influence us in our lives
on this earth. The time that we spend between
the time that we are born and the time that we are to die. And there's a very good statement
that we read in the Word of God and that is this, redeeming the
time. That means really making up for
the time that we've lost. making up for the time that we've
wasted. And it is good that you and I
recognise the truth of that statement, because we have, and I suppose
we will, waste a lot of our God-given time as we are living on this
earth. There will be much time which
is not spent profitably which is not spent for the benefit
of our soul, which is not spent for the benefit of other people,
but it is a time which is wasted. And so it is good when the Holy
Spirit brings us to realise the reality of that and to understand
that our life in time is Fast passing away. And it is therefore
a great important consideration to realise that we are brought
right when we come to die. Now the preacher here is speaking
about our natural life. He's speaking about time. A time
to be born and a time to die. But we also have a spiritual
life. And in our spiritual life, it
means that you and I possess what we call a soul. The spirit
which is within us. And that spirit is born when
we are born. But that spirit does not die. Naturally we die. Our life comes
to an end. Our natural flesh and bones come
to an end. But our spirit lives eternally. And of course there will be a
time when there will be that uniting of our soul and body,
when the end of time comes about. when time shall be no more, when
that angel shall sound, or the angels will sound with that trumpet,
and time shall be no more. And that will be a tragic time
for many, many people. But it will be a blessed time
for the Church of God because it is then that the Lord appears
in the clouds. his people will be caught up
to be with him forever, forever with the Lord. So this morning
as we think of these words, a time to be born and a time to die,
we should also not forget that we possess an eternal soul which
will never die. And how important it is then
that we have the Knowledge that we are born again By the Spirit
of God because that means we are made spiritually alive. You
see we all possess when we're born a soul Which never dies? But it would be a wonderful blessing
when that soul is born again made aware of our lost condition
Made aware that we must stand before the judgment seat of Christ
and made aware that we are a needy sinner and that we need a saviour
and made aware that there is a saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a time for the Lord
Jesus Christ to be born into this world. There was a time
when the Lord Jesus Christ was to die naturally. There was a
time when the Lord Jesus Christ was to rise from the dead. There was a time when the Lord
Jesus Christ was to enter into glory, to ascend up into heaven
in his bodily form. And to know that he now sits
on the Father's right hand until that time when the end of time
will come and he will return to the earth with all his holy
angels. And that will be, of course,
a very, a very wonderful time and yet a very solemn time. And
so this morning, let us think of these words, a time to be
born in our lives. We've all been born naturally.
It'll be a good thing if we have the evidence that we are born
again by the Spirit of God. It is really very important that
we have the evidence that we are born by the Spirit of God,
because then we are made spiritually alive to the realisation that
we have an ever-dying soul, and that one day we must stand before
our Maker, and then to have our hope not based upon what we've
done in time, but thankful to know what the Lord Jesus Christ
did when he was on the earth in that glorious time of 33 years
going back some 2,000 years or so. Well, the Lord in his providence
founded the earth some 6,000 years ago. And that time came
when the Lord created all things, when time began. Because prior
to that there was eternity and there was no time. But the Lord
God created the earth and all things and it was then that time
came into being. There was no time before that. We know that the Lord then brought
about time as we know it. Evening and the morning. and
day and night. And so that continues down to
the end of time. A time to be born and a time
to die. Well may we therefore recognise
that we have naturally been born and may we all be concerned about
the time when we die. There may be in our lives a right
and true preparation for that time. It really is the most important
thing for all of us, to be prepared to meet our Maker, to be prepared
for that time when time for us will be no more. And we're reminded,
aren't we constantly, of the death of one and the death of
another, their time has ended. And you
see, naturally, we tend to think, well, I wonder who will be next
to die. But we tend not to consider that
to be ourselves. We're very reluctant to think
that we'll be the next person to die. But it will be good if
the Holy Spirit gives us a real concern and exercise as to whether
we are ready to die, whether we are ready to meet our Maker,
or whether we are at the moment unprepared, because we do not
have the evidence that we possess the life of God in our souls. And yet, if we do have the evidence
of the life of God in our souls, to also be concerned that we
are therefore living our life in a right way. We are living
our life in accordance with the Word of God. We are living our
life in the way the Lord would have us to live our life. And
that of course is not to be found just spending our time on the
things of this world, the things which as the preacher says, our
vanity of vanity. But to spend our time on the
things of God. We have to of course work in
this world. We have to work to live. We have to earn our living. We
know that from the time in the Garden of Eden when Adam and
Eve sinned and the Lord came and put them out of the Garden
of Eden, they had to work to live and to feed themselves.
And that's so today. You and I are to do that. But
our priority should be about the condition of our souls and
whether we are right to meet God. If the day of our death
does come, the time comes for us, for you and me, to die. Whether
we are ready to die. We all have to stand before God
and we all have to stand before God in our life today to examine
ourselves. The Word of God encourages us
to examine ourselves whether we are in the faith or not. It's a good exercise and don't
think it's irrelevant because there is a time to die. And so
may we examine ourselves. It doesn't mean to examine other
people. We may sometimes be quite keen looking at other people
and passing our verdicts on their spiritual condition. But the
great question is, how stands the case, my soul with thee? How does it stand? How is it
with our soul? Are we ready for that time when
we must die? It is the two certain things
really in life. The time when we are born, that's
certain, and the time when we die. That will come to pass. Everything else in our life,
we're not sure how things will work out. But there will be that
day when you and I must bid goodbye to the things of time. when our life will come to an
end. And therefore, that exhortation
is very appropriate to examine ourselves. Again, it's not for
other people to examine ourselves. You and I need to come, as it
were, like David did in his life. What did he do? He came and he
sat before the Lord. He wanted to know where he stood. My friends, may you and I come,
perhaps in a quiet time, and sit before our God and to ask
and to seek that we may know whether our soul is born again. You know, we don't want to be
deceived, do we? Now, never listen to the advice the devil gives. And the advice the devil gives
is this. You needn't worry about it just yet. You're quite young,
likely to have quite a few more years, even if you're old before
you. So you need not worry. The devil would then try and
distract us. He's a past master at distracting
us from the things of God. And yet the Word of God tells
us very clearly that we are to examine ourselves, whether we
are in the faith or not. And we should not therefore think,
well, that is irrelevant. I can wait. No, you cannot wait.
You cannot wait. And if you do not know, then
go home. Go home. And in the quietness
of your room, examine yourself, whether you are born again of
the Spirit of God or not. And if you are, if you can find
there, in your hearts the evident work of God, and the evident
work of God is that which you could not do. The evident work
of God is that which He has done. The evident work of God is to
show you what you are in the sight of God, to show how bad
you are, and the evident work of God is to direct you then
to the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only one that can save your
soul. Now, what a blessing that will
be if you have the evidence of the life in your soul, that the
Lord Jesus Christ is something to you, and that something means
to be the one who has saved your soul. That will bring into then
sharp relief the necessity of the Lord Jesus Christ being born
and the Lord Jesus Christ dying because of his great and glorious
life, his sin-atoning life, the life that he lived and the death
that he died in order to redeem your soul and my soul. A time to be born and a time
to die. And so do not put off examining
yourself as to how you stand before God. It's a good exercise. It's a necessary exercise and
it's very important because none of us know when the day of our
death, a time to die, will come. We don't want to come and be
unprepared. We don't want to come when time
for us is no more, and we do not have the evidence of that
spiritual life within. Well, it's a good exercise, and
we shouldn't think, Preacher, you're a bit morbid this morning.
We're not morbid at all. Because these things are so important. Nothing more important, really,
than to know the condition of our soul. Nothing more important. We spend much time, don't we,
in our life of time, trying to advance ourselves. We need this,
we think, and we need that, and we think, and we strive after
this, and we strive after that. But let us not forget what the
Lord Jesus Christ said when she addressed Martha. One thing is
needful. One thing is needful. The Lord
didn't say many things. He said one thing is needful. Everything else, therefore, by
inference, is not needful. We might think we want it, but
it may not be needful. But my friends, to know the Lord
Jesus Christ as our Saviour is needful. Oh, it is needful. Don't
then pass it by. Let us not think it is something
of no consequence. It is of great consequence. And the Apostle Paul, man of
God that he was and blessed by God that he was, wrote the epistle
to the Hebrews and he tells us and as it is appointed unto men
once to die there's only one death and there's no opportunity
then to come back after death to seek the Lord. Death is the
end of our life on this earth, our natural life. and how our
soul stands on that occasion will be eternal. There will never
be another opportunity to examine ourselves. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Well, are we then in our state
of time, before the time of our death occurs, are we seeking
after Christ? After Christ as the one thing
needful. It is appointed unto men once
to die, and then it's not annihilation, like people like to think and
of course the old Pope reckons that well there'll be a heaven
but there won't be a hell there'll be an annihilation he suddenly
changed his views well there is no such thing as annihilation
the Word of God makes it very clear that you and I have an
eternal soul which lives forever and lives forever and lives forever
It's good if the Holy Spirit grants the application of the
truth of His Word to our souls, to direct us to the great need
we have. The truth is that we are awfully
privileged to have the Word of God to read. But just think,
if you and I never have the new birth, and find ourselves in
hell, to realise that we had the Bible to read, and it never
had an effect upon us. That is surely a most tragic
situation. And it won't matter, you see,
what we've done, how good we may have appeared to be, it's
only whether we have the evidence in our hearts, in our soul, that
the Lord Jesus Christ has died for us. And if that is so, there
will be an effect of it. There will be evidence of it,
And the question may be asked, well, why will there be the evidence
of it? The answer is very simple. The
evidence of it will bring forth honour and glory to Almighty
God because of his great work of grace in our hearts, in our
souls. And that will bring glory to
God. And that's what your life and
my life is for, to bring glory to God. And if we are not born
again in the Spirit, if we have no evidence of life within, if
we go on aimlessly in this world and drop into hell, no glory
to God. Now, my friends, may we be concerned
then, as we think of this truth, this great truth, this important
truth, a time to be born and a time to die. that as we pass
through the first time, we shall each have to face the end time. And that end time is as positive
as anything else in our life. There's nothing more positive
than the day of our death. And the Apostle Paul when he
wrote to the Romans and he alerted them to this situation and he
tells us in the 13th chapter of his epistle he says and that
knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of
sleep For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. It's time to awake. Oh, have
we been woken up from that state of death, that state of darkness,
and we come into the great and glorious light of the Gospel?
Well, the Apostle here addresses the Church of Rome in this way,
and it speaks to us today, and that knowing the time, that it
is now high time, high time, to awake out of sleep. The devil
wants you to stay asleep. The night is far spent. The day
is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness. That's the things of the flesh.
That's the things which do not profit. That's the things which
will not stand us in good stead when we come to this day when
we must die. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness. Let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly as in the
day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the
flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof." It doesn't mean we're not to
provide for our flesh, of course we are, but he says, to fulfil
the lusts thereof. It's very easy for us to make
provision for such things which are not profitable and will take
us away from the things of God. So rather than finding time to
examine ourselves, testing our religion as to whether it is
of God or whether it is of the flesh. There's many people today
that have a religion of the flesh. You may ask me, well, what do
you mean by religion of the flesh? What I mean is this. A religion
which is satisfying to our flesh. Something that you and I can
do ourselves. And perhaps we might think, well,
what does that really mean? Well, just as a little example,
we can think by coming to chapel every Sunday, and perhaps in
the week is satisfying. And that's all we need to do.
Well, it's good and right and proper. But my friends, it's
not saving. It's not saving. Many people
have been very studious and assiduous in coming week by week, and perhaps
they think they're doing an extra bit by coming in the weeknight.
But this won't save our souls. This will not save our souls.
And what are we doing? We're perhaps making provision
for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof by satisfying our
own flesh that we're doing that which is good and that's all
we need to do. Not at all. That's why we are
to examine ourselves. The great need is for you and
me to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, the one whose
paid the price for our sin because everyone who is born into this
world, everyone who has come through this at time to be born,
they are born in sin and shapen in iniquity. No one is born without
sin. No one exists on this earth who
has not sinned. Everyone has sinned. And some
people think, well, I'm not sure if I have sinned, and if I have,
I haven't sinned very much. Well, let's remind ourselves
that in heaven, there is no sin. No sin. And therefore, if you
and I have the slightest trace of sin, we shall not be found
in heaven. And of course we have traces
of sin, don't we? So what do we need? We need to
know that the Lord Jesus Christ has taken away our sin. That
it's been completely removed. Completely removed. The beautiful words in the epistle
of John, the first chapter, the seventh verse, if we confess
our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Have
you confessed your sins? Have you stood before God, confessed
your sins? Well, if you have, and you've
been given the Spirit to confess your sins, you'll then seek to
know that the Lord Jesus Christ has removed your sins. And you'll
want to plead his promises. There are many promises in the
Word of God. They're there for our encouragement. And that Word
is true. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins. But it will mean
coming in a right way. It'll mean coming, recognising
that we have sinned, and we've sinned very badly. And we need
the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver us from our sinful condition
and have the evidence that he has. And that was accomplished. When He died upon the cross at
Calvary, He came into this world to die, to take away the sins
of His people. What a wonderful Saviour we have
now, when the Holy Spirit therefore comes and speaks to our heart
and applies by His Spirit to show us our lost condition, and
on needy condition and directs us to the Saviour, then it is
that we'll come casting all our care upon Him. There's nowhere
else because we realise we need Him as our Saviour. We'll need Him
to say such words as this, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. These things will be very real.
They'll be very pressing. They'll be very important. They
won't be something that you can just brush aside. I see many
people come and they hear the Gospel preached. It doesn't affect
them. It goes just into their brain. It doesn't touch their heart.
They're not a new creature. They're not born again in the
Spirit of God. They remain in their carnal position,
relying on their own works, relying upon what they've done, relying
perhaps on what they've said. My friends, it's what God has
done. It's what God has said to our
soul which is the important things which will stand us in good stead
when we come to the time to die. We don't want to be looking for
our religion when we are about to pass out of time. We want to come to that time
so that all we have to do is to die because We have the evidence
of God's work in our heart, proving that we are born again of his
spirit, because the Lord has done for us that which we could
not do for ourselves. Firstly, in revealing to us the
awfulness and the terribleness of our sin, the condemning nature
of our sin, and directing us then to none other than the Lord
Jesus Christ as our great and all-sufficient Saviour. Well, what a mercy, my friends,
if the Holy Spirit moves us to realise the importance of such
truths and the need we have. And if we have never come aside
and examine ourselves before a holy God. What a blessing then
if the Holy Spirit moves our heart to show to us the vital,
vital importance of such things. When the Apostle was on the earth,
and you may remember he went to Athens. It was a place given
over to idolatry. And they made an altar, and they
made an altar to the unknown God. They didn't know that God.
And what does the apostle say when he was in Athens, and he
went and stood on a little hill called Mars Hill, and there he
preached the gospel. And he tells them, for as I passed
by and beheld your devotions, that means their times of worship.
I found an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God, whom therefore
ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the
world. That's the God that you and I
have to deal with. Not the unknown God, the God
that made the world. And all things thereof, seeing
that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples
made with hands, neither is worship with men's hands, as though he
needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all
things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for
to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the
times before appointed, the time to be born and the time to die,
and the bounds of the habitation, that they should seek the Lord. My friends, that's the great
command, that you and I are to seek the Lord. It is time to seek the Lord. they should seek the Lord if
happily they might feel after him and find him though he be
not far from every one of us for in him and only in him we
live and move and have our being how important it is then that
we know that we have our life our spiritual life which is hid
with God in Christ. That means that we are united
to the Lord Jesus Christ and that he is our friend and he
is the one who has died for us, the one who has given his life,
shed his most precious blood. Until the Holy Spirit therefore
comes and works in our heart, The reality is that you may read
and speak about the blood of Christ, but when the Holy Spirit comes
and applies the word, his word of conviction, and directs us
by his Spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his sin-atoning
blood, then it becomes precious blood. So in our examination,
as we stand before God, to find as to whether the blood of Christ
to you and me is precious blood, that means it is of great value. And it is of great value. It
is so valuable that it removes our sin. It pays the price to
have our sin removed. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Oh, my friends, the need for
you and me to have the evidence that that is true in our soul's
experience. Strive after such a blessed revelation
and such a wonderful knowledge, to have the evidence therefore
that it is well with our soul. That was the great concern of
the Apostle. May that be the great concern
of our soul as we realise the relevance of such a word as this,
a time to be born and a time to die. We read in another place,
the time is short. The time is short. We don't know
how much more time we have, it's short at the longest. in comparison
with eternity. Now, the blessing is that if we have the evidence
of God's work in our soul, that means his call, calling us out
of darkness into the glorious light of the everlasting gospel,
it has a wonderful effect to us. It's a wonderful effect,
you know, in our hearts and in our soul, and we should be so
thankful that there is such a God who is so gracious to us. And
the Apostle on two occasions, many occasions, but two specifically,
he tells us this in Ephesians chapter 2, but now, and it's
good if you and I have a now in our spiritual experience,
But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are
made nigh, that means brought near, by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace. And that's the effect of the
knowledge that the blood of Jesus Christ was shed for us. It produces
peace. For he is our peace. who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall, a partition
between us, having abolished in his death the enmity, even
the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, for to make in
himself between one new man, so making peace, and that he
might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross. having slain the enmity thereby. And then in the epistle to the
Colossians, very similar words really. He says this, but please
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell and having
made peace through the blood of his cross. My friends, it's
precious blood. The hymn writer has a word for
it. invaluable blood. It is so valuable. Without being under it we are
eternally lost. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself,
by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven. And again he says, and you that
were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled." May we have then the evidence
of this reconciliation. May we have the evidence that
we are under the blance with this word which is so true, a
time to be born and a time to die, that we may not have to
face death without that good hope, in his grace, in his mercy,
in his favour. And to face it, realising that
by his grace, it is well with our soul. Then, you see, we will
say, death, where is thy sting? It will have gone, because we
are resting in what Christ has done. To realise we are complete,
not in ourselves, but in Him and to rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory for His great grace which has come into our
hearts and has caused us to search out the work of God in our hearts
and to rejoice in that work, to praise and bless God for it
and therefore to be ready when that time That call comes for
you and me when time shall be no more. Amen.