This is a timely message for
you, for me, for all of us, a message on time, our times, the times
of this life that we are in. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, if
you want to turn there, Ecclesiastes chapter 3 is our text and the
subject. Now, David said in Psalm 31,
verse 15, My times are in thy hand. Speaking of the Lord, he
says, My times are in thy hand. Everything about us, everything,
everyone, our times, everything in our life is purposed by God
and in His hand. Time is the measure of our years
or days. We are creatures subject to time. And we have a very short time
upon this earth. And so scripture says to redeem
the time, spend it wisely. An urgent message from scripture
says today, while it is called today. Today is the day of salvation. You're about to hear the gospel,
God's word. Today is the day of salvation,
right now. There may be no tomorrow. The book of Ecclesiastes is a
summary of all our days, the life of every human being, all
that we go through. And he begins and ends this way,
vanity of vanities. All flesh is vanity, meaning
it's empty. It won't fulfill, won't fill
you. It's empty, won't satisfy. It
leaves you empty no matter what you accumulate. You lose it and
you end up with an empty feeling. Nothing satisfies, though it
promises, though it makes claims to make you happy, it won't because
you lose it all. In Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse
8 says, If a man live many years and rejoice in them all, that
is, he has many good days, but remember, the days of darkness,
they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity. One of the oldest Psalms in God's
Word is Psalm 90 and it says that our days are like a sleep.
In other words, we go to sleep and then we wake up and it's
over. So he says, teach us to number
our days that we might apply our hearts to wisdom. Scripture
says the Gospel is the power of God and wisdom of God. The
Scripture says Christ is the wisdom. of God. Teach us to number
our days, to count the days we have on this earth, and apply
them, our hearts, to knowing Him, whom to know is to have
eternal life. Number our days. If we live 3
score and 10 years, that's 70 years, as Scripture said, or
maybe 80. Seventy years is 25,550 days. That's what we have. Maybe. Number your days. They're short. The time is short. Now, there's
a hidden meaning in all this. This is probably familiar to
many of you. There was a rock group back in
the 70s that made a popular song out of this. But very few people
know what this means. Ecclesiastes 3 says, to everything
there is a season, there is a time to every purpose under heaven.
Everything is seasonal. God made the seasons, winter,
spring, summer, and fall, all beautiful in their own way and
all have a purpose. Winter brings spring, spring
brings summer, summer brings fall, and then winter, a time
of deadness. Hebrews 11 says the pleasures
of sin in this world are seasonal, just seasonal. They don't last
very long at all. They're just seasonal. This is
why Ecclesiastes 12 says, Remember thy Creator in the days of thy
youth, while the evil days come nigh, nor the years draw nigh,
when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. When you get
so old that the days are, there's no pleasure in them. He goes
on to say that time to every purpose under heaven, every purpose. God has purposed all things. He works at all things according
to His purpose. Romans 8, 28, preached from that
recently, that God's people know that all things work together
according to God's purpose, and therefore the good of God's people.
What is God's purpose? Ephesians 1 says this. Ephesians
1, 9 and 10 says, he has made known unto his people the mystery
of his will according to his good pleasure which he had purposed
in himself. That in the dispensation of the
fullness of time, when it is all over, time is over, time
no more, he is going to gather in one all things in Christ,
in heaven and on earth, all his people whom he had saved gathered
in Christ in heaven. the new earth together to worship
the Lord and be with Him forever. Are you in Christ? That is God's
purpose. Everything is according to that
purpose. Verse 2 says there is a time
to be born and a time to die. A time. Who determines those
times? God does. Our times are in Thy
hands. God says, I kill. I make a life. Every child born, God gives it
life. He purposed when that child should
be born. Everyone who dies, God did it. He may send means, but He did
it. Now, this is wisdom. Ecclesiastes
7, verse 1 says, is better than the day of one's
birth. That is, if you know Christ, if you know God. Oh, to be born
again, to be born again by the Spirit of God, by the Word of
God, by the Gospel of God, is to never die. It's a time to
be born, a time to die, and God has purposed Your time. My time. Time to plant. Time to pluck
up that which is planted. You know, the Lord said, Every
plant which the heavenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked
up. There's seed time and harvest.
That's what this is saying. Time to plant. Time to pluck
up. Seed time and harvest. The gospel seed is being sown
right now. There are people being born again.
Planted. The Word of God planted in their
hearts. And they are being put into God's
kingdom. Every plant not planted by the Lord will be plucked up.
And there's going to be a harvest of God's people. There's going
to be a great separation of the sheep and the goats, of wheat
and the tares. Which are you? Verse 3 says,
a time to kill, a time to heal. Deuteronomy 32, 39, God says,
I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. A time to
heal. Some are healed of diseases,
some are not. If they know Christ, whatever
it is that takes them from this world, they are healed forever. Verse 3 says a time to break
down, a time to build up. Right after the fall of man,
Cain had a son. He began to build cities, and
man began to build buildings and cities. Well, not long after
that, the Lord tore it all down with a flood, destroyed it all. Builds and marries, gives in
marriage, and buys and sells and builds, but very soon it's
all going to be torn down. The Lord says, not one stone
left standing on another. He goes on to say in verse 4,
time to weep, time to laugh. In chapter 7 of Ecclesiastes,
he says, it's better to go to the house of mourning than to
the house of feasting. Sorrow is better than laughter. Our
Lord in His Sermon on the Mount said, blessed are they that pour
in spirit, blessed are they that mourn, they shall be comforted. Those that mourn, those that
weep over their sin, those that mourn over their lost estate,
they will be comforted. They will laugh when the Lord
turns the captivity of God's people, those who weep like Israel
of old and captivity to Egypt, And in the slime pits, those
who are made to know by the Word of God, by the Spirit of God,
by the Gospel of God, that they are captives to sin and Satan
and this world. And he comes in the Gospel to
set them free. They shall laugh. They're weeping. We'll turn to laughter, oh, weeping
endures for a night in this dark world, but joy cometh in the
morning. Time to mourn, time to dance,
time to rejoice. Verse 5 says it's time to cast
away stones, time to gather stones together. When you plow a field,
you come across stones and rocks, and you take those rocks out
of that field to plant the seed, and you throw those rocks to
one side. But then, later, you might gather
those rocks together and build a wall, build a building. Well,
God's people are gathered by Him, and they're called living
stones that He puts into His temple. 5 says, a time to embrace, a time
to refrain from embracing. A time to embrace the Gospel
is the embrace of God, the love of God, the mercy of God, the
grace of God. It embraces sinners that come
to God by cry. There is going to be a time when
there is no more love, no more mercy, no more grace. The door
of the ark will be shut. A time to refrain from embracing. Verse 6, a time to get, a time
to lose, a time to keep, Time to cast away. We accumulate much
in this lifetime, in these short years. We accumulate much, we
get things, but we lose it all. There's not one thing we get
to keep in this world. There's a time to keep and there's
a time that's going to be cast away. Who decides how long we
get, what we get, How long we have to keep it? God does. We
have wives and husbands and children and they are a gift from the
Lord, but the Lord gives and the Lord taketh away according
to His wisdom, according to His time. We need to apply our hearts
to understand this. The only one thing that God's
people get to keep is salvation, eternal life. Those who are kept
by the power of God, He keeps their souls forever. Verse 7
is a time to rend, a time to sow. Oh, that we would rend our
hearts and come to the Lord in repentance, asking for mercy
and grace. He has a robe of righteousness.
There was a prodigal son who was dressed in rags. He was down
in the hog pen. He left his father's house and
came back by the mercy and grace and power of God. He came back.
The father ran to him, fell on his neck, kissed him, and the
first thing he said was, bring the best robe and cover his nakedness. Yeah, there's a time to sow,
a time to keep silence, a time to speak. Oh, that this world
would shut its mouth collectively. All mankind would just shut their
mouths, and then there's a time to speak. What should we say?
We should all say together, have mercy upon us, O God. Verse 8,
a time to love, a time to hate. Gospel is the love of God, the
mercy of God. God loves His people. God loves
those in Christ, but He hates those outside of Christ. Yes,
He does. He hateth all workers of iniquity,
Scripture says. Angry with the wicked every day.
Verse 8 concludes, it's a time of war, a time of peace. There's a warfare going on right
now, though it may seem like peace to you, and though false
preachers say peace, peace, when there is no peace, there's a
war going on. It's between the Lamb and the
world. And God's people, Scripture says in Revelation, overcome
this warfare, this battle they overcome by the blood of the
Lamb. They love not their lives unto
death. There is a warfare, a spiritual warfare. And Jesus Christ is
the captain of His people, the captain of their salvation. In
Isaiah 40 it says, The warfare is accomplished. On Calvary's
tree, he said, it is finished. Satan defeated, sin put away,
God's people's salvation secured. And yet they have a warfare with
this sin and the struggle in this world, but they've been
assured by Christ that through the blood of the Lamb they shall
overcome. What about you? Are you in a
warfare or struggle? If you are, If you're one of
God's people, oh, it's going to be a time of peace, everlasting,
eternal peace with God, with Christ in glory. Amen.