It is good to be in the house
of the Lord. It's good because here we find real comfort. We find real comfort in the word
of God. It's the only thing that endures.
It's the only thing that lasts in this life is God's word. When
we're all gone, If this world is still spinning and Christ
has not returned, this word will be just as sure after we leave
this life as it was when God opened it to us and before then.
This is the word of God and this is where we find comfort. I've
been praying a lot today about the message and asking God to
give me a word of comfort for you, a word of comfort in your
time of trouble. Your time of grief, and I believe
the Lord's given me one. If you'll take your Bibles and
turn with me to Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter nine. We'll try to get through the
six verses that are here. Be focusing on the first verse
mainly for a while. Ecclesiastes chapter nine. Read
verse one. For all this I considered in my heart,
even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise and
their works are in the hand of God. No man knoweth either love
or hatred, by all that is before them. Now here, the wise man Solomon
sets out to declare all this. And what he means by all this
is all that he had stated, he is summing up all he had stated
in chapter eight. Chapter eight in verse 16 and
verse 17, he said, when I applied my heart to know wisdom, 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 he shall not be able to find
it. As he beheld the business that
is done under the earth, Solomon in all his wisdom could not see
the work of God which is done in providence. He could not fully
understand God's providence. In chapter 8 in verse 4, he did
acknowledge God's providence. Look at this in verse 4. He said,
where the word of the king is, there is power. There is power. And who may say unto him, what
doest thou? God, who is king and sovereign
over all the works of the creation. He does, He has, He is, and He
shall do according to His will. Why? He is King. Where the word
of the Lord is, where the word of the King is, there is what?
There is power to accomplish what He has decreed. He is King,
if you were to go to Psalm 47. I believe it's verse 5, but he
says, God is king over all the earth. God is king over all the
earth. This thought of God as absolutely
sovereign should move every one of us to awe and reverence. God is King, God reigneth over
all things. He is absolutely sovereign to
do whatsoever He wills. To know that His Word is King
and He had brought forth the universe simply by speaking. Can you imagine? We speak and
what happens? Nothing. God speaks in the whole
world. The creation was made by the
sound of his voice. He is king over all things. To
know that by his word, he alone gives life and brings death. By his word alone. In verse 8,
He says, there is no man that hath power over the spirit to
retain the spirit, neither hath power in the day of death. There is no discharge in that
war, neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given
to it. Do you realize this, that God
has all power of life and death. God controls all things. He is king. In Deuteronomy 32,
39, he said, see now that I am he, and there is no God with
me. I kill, and I make a life. I wound, and I heal. seeing that this truth, that
God, of God, that we must then understand this, that all things
that happen, all things that happen in time and eternity are
according to the word of the King, according to the will of
God. All things that are decreed by
God from eternity, God does not make up things as He goes along.
That's how we plan things here. We make them up as we go. God
does not. Everything that is happening
now was determined before in eternity to take place. He does not change His eternal
decrees because they are perfect. They're perfect. I am the Lord. I change not. Now, if you're
a believer in Christ, this should comfort you. He says, therefore,
because I change not, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. God's will, God's decrees are
eternal. He said in Isaiah 46, he said,
I'm God and there is none else. Declaring the end from the beginning. from ancient times of things
that were not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. He alone knew the end from the
beginning. This day surely has taken us
by surprise. The comfort is this day was not
a surprise to our Lord. It was ordered. It was determined. God decreed it, therefore what? It came to pass, even as God
determined. He has ordained all things after
his own counsel of his own will. And this should give every believer
comfort. In Ephesians 1, in verse 11,
it says, in Christ, in whom we also, we the elect, the redeemed
by his blood, the called according to his purpose. Listen, we have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to what? The purpose. The purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. This thing that Solomon saw,
that God is king and his word has power, this should not disturb
us, this should comfort us. The purpose of God for his elect
is to save us. To save us. The purpose of him
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. This is Solomon's wisdom that
he found out concerning the divine providence of God. And so it
has with the election of God's people, so it is with all things
that happen in time. All things that happen in time
are according to his purpose. His purpose. He is right now,
through the actions of his people, through the divine providences
of time, and even through the actions of the lost, he is working
out his sovereign will. He is doing all things after
the counsel of his own will. That's what's happening. What then is his will? If the
king has all power, And with the word of the King comes power. And His purpose is always accomplished. It's important for our comfort
to know what His purpose is. His purpose is simply to save
His people. All of this is happening so that
God should save His people. Remember when Christ was about
to go to the cross, He was praying that high priestly prayer. He
said, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. And what was the reason that
all power was given to him? That he should give eternal life
to as many as the Father has given him. Everything in the
purpose of God is moving in perfect harmony with history, And with
the present and with all things, all future events, it is moving
toward one purpose, to save his people. To save his people. That's God's purpose. Yet as Solomon looked at the
business under the sun, knowing that God is king and in his word
is power, He said in verse 17 of chapter 8, look at this, he
said, then I beheld the work of God, that a man cannot find out the
work that is done under the sun. A man cannot find out this work
that's done. He cannot, by his searching,
by our finite wisdom, understand how the providence of God works
toward the salvation of his people. I do not understand how the death
of my brother is going to work toward the good of his people.
I don't know. I know it will. But you can search, and you can
look at Providence, and you can try to find it out. Solomon said
you can't. You ain't going to figure it
out. We look at circumstances of time. What do we see? We see chaos.
We see random events. We see tragedies. We see victories. We see men that are born rich
and they become poor. We see men that are born poor
and they become rich. We see the righteous suffer and
the wicked prosper. We see the gospel of Jesus Christ
hated. Can you understand that? Can
you fathom that, that men would oppose themselves of God's mercy
and grace that is found in the most lovely man that ever existed? Can you imagine that? I can't
understand that. They do. They do. They hate it. Mighty kings are
overthrown by weak ones. You have strong leaders and all
of a sudden weak leaders take over. Can you understand why
that is? Can you figure that out? Wicked kings, wicked leaders,
they oppress the good and exalt the evil. Can you figure that out? How
that's going to redound to the salvation of God's people? Why is there such injustice?
People commit crimes all the time. Leaders commit crimes all
the time. They're never punished. And people who commit no crimes
are punished. You figure it out. There's no
justice. No real justice among men. You figure this out, some children
are born with illnesses. What a sad thing that is. You
see a child being born in the world, how's that working toward
the good of God's people and the calling? I don't understand.
Some are born healthy. Some children die in infancy
while wicked men live for years and prosper. Now listen, we could look for
all kinds of reasons We can apply ourselves to try
to know this, but the wisest man next to the Lord Jesus Christ
applied himself, and he said, you ain't gonna find out. Stop
trying to figure out how this is going to work out. So then let us learn what God
is teaching concerning his providence. I wanna learn what God is teaching.
I want to learn what God is teaching us by this, because He is teaching.
He is teaching us this by His providence. I want us to learn
what God is teaching us concerning His providence and how This should
comfort his people, how it should move sinners to repentance, because
that's what it does. Remember, all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them that are called according.
I want to learn something about that. Solomon in these verses
declares to us, he declares to us a principle
of comfort, a principle of comfort. of divine wisdom concerning the
providence of God. And that's what I want to give
you tonight, a principle of comfort concerning the providence of
God. A principle of comfort that's here. He says, I considered all
this. He considered all the divine
providence of God. And this is his conclusion. He
said, look, you ain't going to figure it out. You ain't going
to learn how that this affects this and how this affects...
you're just going to lose sleep. Your eye's not going to be able
to sleep if you try to figure it out. This is the conclusion.
For all this, I considered in my heart even to declare this. Listen, here's the comfort, that
the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of
God. Now this principle of comfort
is directed to certain persons. It is not comforting to all.
The providence of God is not comforting to all men. It is
comforting to these men, to those who are righteous and to those
who are wise. To those who are righteous and
to those who are wise. First of all, the righteous.
What do I mean by righteous? Listen, I mean someone who is
completely without sin. Isn't that a righteous person?
A righteous man is one who has no sin. He's free from sin. He is a man that can stand before
the strict, absolute justice of God and be found innocent. That's a righteous man. That's
a righteous man. He is one that God said, be ye
holy, even as I am holy. That's a righteous man. Now then,
is there any righteous man among us? Is there any here righteous
in thought, in word, and deed? Can any of us say that we have
kept the law of God perfectly? The answer, the honest answer
is no. No. The scripture has concluded
this. In Romans 3 it says that there
is none righteous. Is that not plain language? I
love plain language. Don't you? I love it when it's
plain. Men will try to excuse that away all they want to. God
said there is none righteous. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God, there is none that doeth
good, no, not one. Just in case you misunderstood
the first part, he summed it up, not one. None righteous,
none good. But this principle of comfort
is speaking to all who have righteousness. How then could this give us any
comfort? Because this is speaking to those
who have the righteousness of God that is imputed and imparted
to them. It is the righteousness of God
that is imputed and imparted to them. If you go to Romans
chapter 3, that very same passage that Romans, he said, there is
none righteous, no not one. It tells us how a man that is
made righteous, He says in verse 20, therefore
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. Nobody's righteous by the law, for by the law is the
knowledge of sin. But, here it is, now the righteousness
of God without the law, I like that, without the law is manifest,
witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God which is by, what? the faith of Jesus Christ. You see how righteousness is
made, don't you? You see how it's made? It's made by the faith
of Jesus Christ. I'm so glad my name is not put
there, that wouldn't be true. I'm not made righteous by my
faith, and neither are you. Righteousness was made by the
faith of Christ. And then what happens? It says,
but now the righteousness, even the righteousness of God which
is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe. Unto all, imputed to all, and
upon all, imparted to all them that believe. It's a wonderful thing to know
this, that the righteousness, you who believe in Christ right
now, this is wonderful. The righteousness of God was
made and obtained by Christ alone. It was obtained by his faithful
obedience to God. In being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became what? Obedient. Obedient. even unto death. The Son of God did not need righteousness. Is that right? He did not need
righteousness. He was always righteous. Yet
he became a man so that he might procure righteousness as a representative. Jesus Christ, our Savior, obtained
righteousness as a representative man. Adam was a representative
man and what came of him? Sin. Wherefore, as by one man's
sin entered into the world, and death passed upon all men, for
all have sinned, we sinned in Adam. And so as Paul continues
in Romans 5, he continues to say this, that even so by the
disobedience of one, many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one, many are made what? You see how this text could be
to you? You see how this could be to you? If you believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, this text is for you. He has made you righteous. He has obtained righteousness
for us. What kind of righteousness? Even the righteousness of God. Are you not astounded by that?
That you who believe have the righteousness of God charged
to your account? That you by Jesus Christ stand
without sin in before the eyes of Him who sees all? That you are as righteous as
His Son? You see why we praise Him? You
see why we thank Him? We praise Him. We believe on
Him. He is our righteousness. But not only did He procure our
righteousness, He also procured our redemption. What good would
it be to give me a robe of righteousness without satisfying the justice
of God for my sin that I did commit? Christ came into the world not
only to procure our righteousness, but to redeem us from the curse
of the law by being made a curse for us. How far did he condescend? Was it It was not enough that
he be made a man and to be made the least of men, the most despised
of men. He must himself be made sin for
us. Why? So that you might enjoy
this text, that you might be made the righteousness of God
in him. He died on the Calvary's tree
without mercy so that you might obtain mercy. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree that you might bear His nature even in your own body. What a privilege He gave us.
He bore our sins so that we might be made righteous. So then I
ask you this, are you righteous? I'll tell you this, if you are
in Christ, you are righteous. You are righteous. Listen to
this, as he is, as he is, how is he? He is holy. He is righteous. He is without
sin. He is accepted of God. How is he? Even so are we in
this present world, given a righteous nature. A new nature, what a
blessing. So this comfort's coming to you.
Also those that are wise, wise. These who are made wise are made
wise under the salvation that I just described. The salvation
that Christ obtained, listen, those who are wise are made wise
under this salvation. In other words, this is a comfort
to those who have experienced this saving grace of God. To
you who have experienced this saving grace of God, to all who
are made wise so as to believe on Christ through the preaching
of the gospel. Friends, it's one thing to know
the doctrines of grace in your head. I'm sure if you were to
take all your children, they've sat under this ministry here
at this church for so long, they could spout out the doctrines
of grace without thinking. I'm not talking about knowing
the doctrines of grace. I'm talking about being made
wise to the person of Jesus Christ. When the Spirit of God moves
in power upon a soul and gives him life by the gospel of Christ,
these doctrines are not just cold doctrines to be memorized. In fact, they glow with life. It seems that when we come to
faith, we come to the person We come to a knowledge of Christ,
not just a knowledge in our head, but an experience of grace. We know Him. We know Christ. It's there His work becomes personal
and effectual to our souls. When I was a kid, I knew the
doctrines of grace long before the Lord ever saved me. I was
a little Pharisee. I could run around spouting these
things out, confusing people. Lost religious world, they didn't
have a chance. But I was just as lost as they were. I knew of God's sovereign grace,
but when he came, I knew that he was merciful to
this sinner. I knew he was merciful to sinners,
but when he came to me, I found out this. He was merciful to
this sinner. I knew he died for sinners, but
when he came to me, I knew this. He died for this sinner. This
sinner. I saw that Christ is the wisdom
of God and the power of God and the salvation to everyone that
believeth. He exposed my sin. He made me
to feel my need. If you're ever going to be wise,
you have to know your need. You have to know the ruin of
your nature, the need of Christ. And then by grace, he gives us
wisdom to do what? Flee to Christ. Have you fled
to Christ? This is not my wisdom. This is the wisdom He gives us. It was by the power of the Spirit
of God, He gives us faith in Christ. Now notice this, their
works. He said, I considered in the providence of God that
I can't figure it out. I'm going to declare this to
comfort the righteous and the wise, those who are made righteous
by Christ, those who have received Christ by faith. You're wise,
and listen, they're works. They're works. These are the works of worship,
the works of praise, the works of thanksgiving, especially of
faith and love, the work of faith and love. Everyone who is righteous
and wise have these works, faith in Christ and love to the brethren. Matter of fact, in John chapter
three, In verse 23, he said, and this is the commandment.
This is the commandment that we should believe on the name
of his son, Jesus Christ. Do you believe on the name of
his son, Jesus Christ? Well, you have obeyed the truth. This is the work of everyone
who God saves. They believe. They believe. They obey this commandment. Is
this commandment grievous to you? Is this commandment grievous?
No, to believe on the Son of God is not grievous. It is wonderful.
It's grace. It's by mercy. and not only this,
and love one another as he gave his commandment, and he that
keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him, and hereby
we know that he abides in us by the spirit which he has given
us." If you obey these commandments, guess what? That is evidence,
John says, that we are in him, and he is in us. This is the work of everyone
who is righteous and wise. They believe on Christ, they
walk by faith. Is this you? Is this you? Now then, if this is you, I want this text
now to comfort you. I hope and pray the Lord will
bless this to you. So then in this text, it is for
your comfort concerning the providence of God that we cannot see or
understand by searching. We and our works are in the hand
of God. This is your comfort. This is
your comfort. If you are righteous, made righteous
by Christ, if you are wise by the power of the Holy Spirit
to believe on Christ, listen to this, your works, your faith,
your love, everything that is, listen, this is your comfort.
It is in the hand of God. This word for hand, you know
what it means? Open hand. That's what it means. It means
acceptance. It means acceptance. Don't you
realize that your faith is accepted? Your love is accepted. You are accepted. You righteous and you wise, all
your works are acceptable. Isn't that what God purposed
in the beginning? According as he had chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without
blame before him in love, having predestined us under the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us, what? open hand, accepted in the beloved. You are accepted. This is your
comfort, friends. You are accepted of God. His
arms are open to you. Isn't that what he said? He said, awake, O sword, and
smite the shepherd. And his sheep shall be scattered,
and I will turn my hands to the little ones. I will accept them
because of what he has done. You are accepted in Christ. Believer in Christ, we who have
been washed in the blood of Christ, have his righteousness imputed.
We have been accepted of God. I know this, your faith is weak.
Because mine is weak. I understand. Do you love him
as much as you want to? Do you believe him as much as
you want to? No. But this is your comfort. You are accepted. You are accepted. This also tells us that All our
life is in His hands. Not only are we accepted by Him,
but we are in His hands. So Solomon says, now, no man
knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before him. He
now redirects us back to the providence of God. After he said
he saw the providence of God, there's no way to figure it out.
The king is in charge. He's doing what he wants to do.
He has a purpose. And we know this. His purpose
is to save his people. And so Solomon is giving comfort
to who? God's people, to those that are righteous, to those
who are made wise by the Spirit of God. To you who have faith
and love, you are accepted. You are accepted. But I want
you to understand this in providence. so that you're not confused.
He said this, no man knoweth love or hatred by what's before
him. In other words, listen to me,
you will never know the love of God by providence or the hatred
of God by providence. You're not gonna be able to see
it. Why? You see the righteous suffer.
Can you see the love of God in that? You see the wicked prosper. Can
you see the hatred of God in that? You're not going to be
able to determine who God loves and who God hates by providence.
You are going through a hard time. You are going through a
dark providence. That does not mean God hates
you. Yet that's how we always think.
If everything's going bad, we think somehow God's angry. God's
upset. God hates me. If everything's
going well, we say, oh, God must love me. You can't tell that
way. You can't see it that way. Our experience and circumstance
in this life, it may be good, it may be bad. Things do not always work for
the physical appearance of good to God's elect. The death of
our brother, does this appear good? Can you tell me how? You can't. It's not for us to
understand. It's for us to simply believe
the Word of God. That's how you tell the love
and hatred of God. By His Word. Hold fast to His Word. Look only to Christ. You want to know if God loves
you? Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called the sons of God. Now, if you
want to know the love of God, where are you going to find it?
You're going to find it in Christ. You're going to see it in this,
that God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. Therein is the love of God, in
the giving of His Son. Did He die for you? Why? He loved you. What about this
privilege? What about this God? Does it
matter? Does that change the love of
God? No, it doesn't. Our circumstances
have nothing to do with the love of God. And just because we can't
figure them out doesn't mean He doesn't love you. He does. How do I know? He sent his son
to be the propitiation for my sin. He sent his spirit into my soul
crying, Abba, Father. And I know this, he loves me
because he keeps me in the faith. Why are you still here? Why have
not all the dark providences of your life driven you from
this place? How many of you have seen come in and go out because
of providence? Well, if God does that, then
I'm just not going to worship a God like that. And they don't. We do. I'm still here because he loves
me. I'm still here because He gives
me faith every single day of my life. He keeps me. I am in His hands. Who then shall pluck me from
His hands? Who? Who? Who shall match omnipotence,
unfold the grasp of Thy right hand, and pluck the sinner thence? Who? No one. So no matter what happens in
Providence, we're safe. Safe. You don't have the wisdom
to figure out what God's doing. All you need to know is this.
All things, now listen to me, I know your pastor before the
Lord took him home, I knew this. He told you many times what all
things mean. If he said it once, he said it
100,000 times. All things, he said, let me get
deep, let me get deep. All things mean all things, all
things. All things work together for
good to them that love God. to them
who are the called. Not just called, but be called
according to His, what? Purpose. You see what His purpose
is? His purpose is to save you. His
purpose is to keep you. And so all that He's doing that
you can't understand, He is doing to save you and keep And so this
dark providence that you feel, this sorrow that is inflicted
upon you, listen to me, this is by the hand of God. Remember, power is in the word
of the King. He's doing this. What's your
comfort? He made you righteous. He made
you wise unto salvation. You are accepted in the beloved
and you are in his hand. And you will find out if he loves
you by the things you see and think and feel. You will only know his love by looking to Christ. Are you in Christ? And no matter
what happens to you, you are loved. Now listen, if you're outside
of Christ, I got no good news for you. Solomon in this text is going
to get real dark. And he'll say, look, if you're
outside of this, you're wicked, and you die. There's no hope
for you. But all who come to God by Christ
I hold and pray that if you're not saved, that you should come
now. That you believe now, and then this good news could be
yours. This good providence. His providence
is working for your salvation, isn't it? I pray that he would
save his people. And then give us comfort and
assurance to just trust him. Trust him. Isn't that what we
have to do at this moment? Because we can't understand. I pray God blesses to you.