Ecclesiastes 3, we've been going
through this book and it's such a wonderful book for everybody. For believers, it's such a precious
book of instruction and it brings so much comfort to see the Lord's
purpose and His hand in everything. This book started out Solomon
wrote that everything that happens is according to God's time and
purpose. And I can't think of a more comforting
thing than that. Every single thing that happens
is according to God's time and God's purpose. He said there's
a time to be born, there's a time to die, there's a time to weep,
there's a time to laugh. There's a time to get, there's
a time to lose. I love what David said. He said,
my times are in thy hands. All of my times, everything that
comes, it's all according to his purpose. Every bit of it.
And then we saw where everything that God has purposed is beautiful. Verse 11 says, He hath made everything
beautiful in His time. Everything. No matter how horrible
it appears, I mean everything. Everything. No matter how bad
it appears, Every single time a believer will be able to turn
around and look back at it and say, that was beautiful, that
was perfect, that was purposed, and it was beautiful. No matter
how horrible it appears, it's always beautiful, always. Our greatest example of that
was our precious Lord hanging on that cross. Greatest example
that could ever be told. Even though it appeared to be
the most horrible, devastatingly ugly thing that had ever happened,
it was actually the most beautiful event that humanity has ever
known. The most beautiful thing to ever take place. Time and
eternity. We are right now in time. In
one of these days, time is going to be over. No more time. When
we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we'll
have no less days to sing his praise than when we first got
there. There will be no more time. Time and eternity will
forever thank and praise God for the beauty of that horrible
cross. All the life that sprang from
the one death, one death, One death. All that death happened.
Death, death, death, death. He came in one death. That was
it. All the life that sprang out
of that. Well, this morning Solomon is going to encourage us to look
to the one who holds our times. Spend the rest of our time trusting
the one who has made everything beautiful. The one true judge
of the earth. There is one true judge of the
earth. He is the only one who must do
right. He's the only one. Solomon is
still showing us that everything in this world, if it does not
possess the fear of God, it's vanity. If it does not possess
the fear of God, it's absolute vanity. Without the God of judgment,
there's no judgment. None at all. Look with me at
Psalm 20. Psalm 20 verse 7 says, Some trust
in chariots. and some in horses. But we, thank
God we're a we. I want to be a we. We will remember
the name of our God in all these things, through all of this.
We will remember by God's grace the name of our God. That's the
heart of what Solomon is saying this morning, the end of Ecclesiastes
3. Look with me at Psalm 146. Psalm 146 verse 3 says, put not
your trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there
is no help. There's not any. There is not
any. We will not find it there. It will disappoint every time. It will turn out to be vanity
every single time. Back over in Ecclesiastes 3,
we're going to pick up this morning with verse 16. Ecclesiastes 3, 16, and moreover,
I saw under the sun the place of judgment The place where judgment
was supposed to be, that wickedness was there. And the place of righteousness,
the place where righteousness was supposed to be here under
the sun, that iniquity was there. Now, I believe that this is a
very needful thing to understand. Especially right now while everyone
is dwelling on an upcoming election. Everybody's thinking about it.
Everybody's dwelling on it. Everybody's passionate about
it. And the truth of the matter is,
here's the truth of the matter. If the fear of God is not in
that office, wouldn't you have loved for Solomon to have been
your king? Solomon was king. I was king. Son of David. If the fear of
God is not in that office, there will be no right judgment in
that office. I don't care who's there. It
doesn't matter. If the fear of God on his throne
is not at the forefront of the one in that office, all we're
going to end up with is the same thing we've had up until this
point. It's a judge who will relish his own throne. And all
of his judgments will be for his own good and his own glory. There will be no right judgment
there. It'll be a seat of iniquity. That's what it'll be. They're
campaigning on what they're going to do and how they're going to
fix things. They always do. It's always broken and they're
going to fix it. They're going to come in and take care of it.
They're portraying themselves as the savior of the people. But our savior has already come.
Our Savior has already come. The only Savior we have is Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ. The only judgment
that we have is the judgment of God, the Christ. And the only
government that we have is the one that sits on his shoulders,
which is all of it. All of it. Thank God he's not
running for office. Aren't you so glad he's not?
He doesn't need one boat. He is seated in the heavens.
That's where He is. He's already on the throne. He's reigning. He's ruling above the sun. Paul said, I went up to the third
heaven. That's above the sun. And He's
sitting there in absolute righteousness. Absolute, perfect, holy, pure
righteousness. So we look to Him. Bypass everything
else and look to Him. You look to Him. We don't look
to any candidate, any earthly judge for anything. We look to
Him. Now, I'm going to vote. I'm going
to vote. I'm going to show up. I'm going
to vote. That's a privilege our God has given us in this country.
The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing is of
the Lord. Every bit of it. the one who
sits above the sun. He truly is our governor. I mean,
he is our judge. Now, under the sun, verse 16,
Solomon said, moreover, I saw under the sun the place of judgment
that wickedness was there and the place of righteousness that
iniquity was there. People say, well, I'm just going
to take him to court. I'm going to sue them. They've given me no option. That's
what I'm going to do. Well, don't expect righteousness. Don't go
there expecting righteousness. Don't expect a righteous judgment
to be the outcome. Paul told the Corinthians the
exact same thing. Look with me at 1 Corinthians
6. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 1, he said,
dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before
the unjust and not before the saints? Do you not know that
the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged
by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye
not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain
to this life? If then you have judgments of
things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least
esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it
so that there's not a wise man among you? Know not one that
shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth
to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. He's
saying you want to write judgment in a matter? Don't take him to
court. Don't take him to court. Take him to God. Take him to
God. The judge. The reigning, ruling,
the only one who must do right. Must. Take him to God. God's
saints, he said, you know, go before the saints. God's saints,
you know how they judge? Right there. You go before another
saint, and if he's truly one of God's saints, and if he has
God's spirit, and you ask him, what do you think about this?
He's going to say, give me a minute. That's what I think about it.
Take him to God. Take him to God. As a matter
of fact, turn with me over to Matthew chapter 5. Here's what
our Lord said on this thing of being done wrong and injustice. Matthew 5 and look at verse 38. He said, you have heard that
it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say unto you that ye resist not evil. Don't even, when it
comes at you, don't even throw your guard up. But whosoever
shall smite thee on thy right cheek, don't make him work for
the other one. Help him out a little bit. Turn
the other one. Turn to him the other also. And if a man will
sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy
cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee
to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee,
and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. You have heard that it hath been
said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say
unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do
good to them that hate you. and pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your
Father which is in heaven. For he maketh the sun to rise
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and the unjust." Him telling us to do that seems so... You know what he's telling us?
This is how I am. Isn't that great news? Isn't
that great news? I think about the ones who literally
spat in his face as he was hanging there. I believe he looked right
at them and said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they
do. What a blessing. Knowing that
everything is in his time. Knowing there's a time to get
and there's a time to lose. He stole it from me. Well, it
was your time to lose. Knowing that everything that
he has purposed is beautiful. It is so beautiful. He sued me
and took my coat. Well, give him your cloak too,
because God might save him. Might break his heart. Might
cause him to just be crushed by Saul of Tarsus. You think
he wasn't crushed for the rest of his life how he treated God's
people? And he's going to look and say, look at grace, look
what grace did. I sued him for his coat, he gave
me his cloak too. But knowing that everything is
in the hands of the Lord, he's saying don't take him to court,
take him to God. Take him to God. Go back with
me to Ecclesiastes 3. Verse 17. I said in my heart, God shall
judge the righteous and the wicked, for there's a time there for
every purpose and for every work." Every judgment, all of the judgments
that men make on this earth, those judgments are not the final
say in the matter. Men are making judgments here
on this earth, and they're executing their authority and all those
kinds of things. It's not over. That's not the
final say. All of the judgments are going
to be brought back up. And God is going to right every
wrong, every single one of them. And he's going to undo every
injustice. He said, vengeance is mine. I
will repay. and he's going to judge the sinful
judges. That's what he's going to do.
Look with me at Isaiah chapter 10. Isaiah 10 verse 1 says, Woe unto
them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness
which they have prescribed, to turn aside the needy from judgment,
and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows
may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless. And what
will you do in the day of visitation and in the desolation which shall
come from far? To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your glory? I'll tell you that nobody
is going to be judged like false prophets. Nobody is going to
be judged like false prophets. Sinners come in need. They come
in need. And false prophets give them
their unrighteous decrees. That's what they pass out to
them. And they turn them away from Christ. That's what they're
doing. Turning them away from Christ.
And they pray on them. And the judge is going to take
care of them. The judge is going to do right. Back in Ecclesiastes
3 verse 18, I said in my heart, concerning the estate of the
sons of men." Now, what he's saying right here is, this is
what my heart desires for the sons of men. Just like the Apostle
Paul said, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. Solomon is begging for mercy
here and we beg the same thing. Verse 18, I said in my heart
concerning the estate of the sons of men that God might manifest
them and that they might see that they themselves are beast. What he's saying is I pray God
would open their eyes. I pray he would open their eyes.
calls them to see that all of this vanity, all of this injustice,
all of this travail, they brought it on themselves. God didn't
bring it on them. God created man good and upright
and man brought this on himself. I have a center margin in my
Bible in verse 18 and it says that they might clear God and
see Solomon said in his heart, oh, that they might clear God
and see, that they might not charge God foolishly, that he
might open their eyes just to see their beast. Without God,
that's all we are is beast, isn't it? That's all we are. We're naturally only concerned
for our body, and we have no concern at all for our soul,
and that's a beast. That's what a beast is. Only concern for
the body, no concern for the soul. Verse 19, For that which
befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts, even one thing befalleth
them. As the one dieth, so dieth the
other. They both die. As far as this
world can see, they both have the same end. They both go into
the ground. They return to the dust. Verse
19, he went on to say, Yea, they have all one breath. They breathe
the same air, they stop breathing the same air. They have all one
breath, so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast, for
all is vanity. All go unto one place. They don't go to one eternal
place. There's a spirit in an animal, but there's no soul.
Man has a soul, and man is going to go to an eternal place. And
he's talking about the grave right here. Verse 20, all go
into one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man
that goeth upward? and the spirit of the beast that
goeth downward to the earth." Don't turn, but in the last chapter
of this book, chapter 12, he was talking about man returning
to the dust. His body is going to return to
the dust and his soul is going back to the God who gave it.
His soul is going to go back to be judged. Here this soul
came down, lived on this earth. And at the end of it all, he's
going to go back to be judged. And I couldn't imagine that. I couldn't imagine that. Aren't
you so glad we have an advocate? Aren't you so glad that we have
an advocate with this judge? There's a judge at a bar. Thank
God we have an attorney. We have an advocate. Jesus Christ
the righteous. He's the judge. He's the advocate.
He's the Punisher. He's the Punishee. Thank God. Judged in Him. And He's caused
us to see we're beast, unrighteous, wicked. And He's turned our heart
to hope in the fact that He has undone all of our injustices. He's righted all of our wrongs. We have to be pardoned. He must
do right. That's the glory of it. He must do right. He has
to let us go. Every saint, I thought about
this, every saint in glory, you know what they're crying? You
know what we're going to be crying for all eternity? Thank God for the justice
system. Thank God. Justice in the blood
of Christ. Thank God. Well, verse 21, who
knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of
beast that goeth downward to the earth? Wherefore I perceive
that there's nothing better than that a man should rejoice in
his own works. The last, the end portion of
this book, Solomon said the conclusion of the whole matter was that
a man should fear God and keep His commandments. Obey Him. That's the whole duty of man.
Right here in verse 22, He said, For that is His portion. That's
His portion. We rejoice in His commandments,
don't we? John wrote, For this is the love
of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not
grievous. They're not grievous. The things that he's called us
to do and given us to do, wherever he has us, whatever he's given
us, that's our portion. That's our portion. And we rejoice
in it. Verse 22, wherefore I perceive
that there's nothing better than that a man should rejoice in
his own works, for that is his portion, for who shall bring
him to see what shall be after him? It doesn't matter what's
after us on this earth. Once we leave it, we're gone.
And whatever's after us, the judge will do right. It does
not matter what's after us. And if we'll keep our eyes on
what's coming after all this vanity is over, if we'll keep
our eyes on eternity with Christ, eternity with glory himself,
it'll keep us rejoicing. We'll rejoice whatever works
he gives us to do. We'll know that our works are
really his works. He gave us his works. He took
our works. And we'll rejoice. And this is
a tough life. It's a tough life. I'm halfway
through, much harder now than when I started. Whatever obstacles step in the
way, whatever comes, as long as we know he's the finish line,
as long as we know what's coming after, if we can keep our eyes
right there on that finish line, we'll get through it rejoicing.
I promise. There's a time to weep. There
is. But there's a time to laugh.
And buddy, God's saints are going to spend eternity laughing, laughing,
knowing the judge has done right. Thank God. All right, you're
dismissed.