Now, if you would, let's turn
back to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Now, I went up through verse
14 last time, but before I continue on through this chapter, I want
to go back and say some more about these last two verses,
verses 13 and 14. That's my text this evening.
Ecclesiastes 7, 13 and 14. And I've entitled this message,
How Should We Respond? How Should We Respond? And what
I'm talking about there is this. How should we, we who are God's
people, we who are redeemed by the blood of Christ, chosen of
God, justified in Him, we who have been called out, regenerated
and called out by the Spirit, how should we respond? And ultimately, how should any
human being respond to the great and glorious truth of the sovereignty
of God? Now, you know how most people
respond when we talk about God's sovereignty. Most people respond
in a negative way. Well, we can understand that. I mean, I remember a time when
I responded in a negative way. It was just a turn off to me.
But we know the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. Neither can he know them. They're
spiritually understood. And you know, the thing about
it is, if you really understand the scriptures from Genesis to
Revelation, you cannot really deny the revelation of God's
sovereignty in the Bible. That's what these two verses
are talking about. In verse 13, look at it, Ecclesiastes
7, consider the work of God. Not only consider the work of
God, but consider the things that he had mentioned up until
this point as the work of God. What he's talking about is all
the good times and all the times of adversity that we go through.
We read back in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 1, it says,
to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under
the heaven. And then he goes on, a time to
be born, a time to die, and so forth and so on. Talks about
how God has set eternity in every person's heart so that he cannot
find the purpose on his own. He must seek the Lord. All of
these things, God is absolutely, totally sovereign in all things.
As the book of Ephesians states it in Ephesians chapter 1 and
verse 11, God works all things after the counsel of his own
will. Look back at Ecclesiastes 7.
Listen to it. Consider the work of God or consider
these things as the work of God. For who can make straight that
which he hath made crooked? Those crooked things are, that's
from our viewpoint, the things that we think are out of place,
the things we think are accidental, the things that we think are
just chaotic. But God's in control. God's on
the throne. There's not a hair out of place.
There's not anything, you see, God is, nobody ever took God
by surprise. I was talking to a fellow down
in Albany one time, a preacher who was arguing against God's
sovereignty. And he asked me this, he said,
well, do you believe that the fall of man was well within God's
plan? And I said, well, I most certainly
do. But the reason I believe this is because the scripture
says it. The Bible says it. In fact, the Bible says that
the plan of salvation is older than the fall. Christ is the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The covenant of
grace and mercy. Now listen to me now. When the
gospel is preached, we're preaching the terms of an everlasting covenant,
an eternal covenant. His blood is called the blood
of the everlasting covenant. And so the plan of salvation
was set up long before this world was ever created. And the gospel
is the preaching of the terms of an eternal covenant concerning
one who is God himself, who has no beginning and no end. But
I asked this fellow when he was arguing against that, I said,
well, what do you think happened? Do you think Satan sneaked up
on God and took him by surprise? Do you think salvation is plan
B, some kind of a contingency plan that God had to come up
with real quick in order to get this thing back on track? Is
that what you think? You better read your book. You
better read the Bible. God's in control. Now, there's
a lot that I don't understand about that, and you don't either.
But this is what God's Word says. Look at verse 14. It says, in
the day of prosperity, here's how we're to respond. Be joyful. When God blesses you with prosperity,
be joyful. Now, that be joyful doesn't mean
forget God and go out and have a big party. That be joyful means
to be joyful in the Lord. That means to thank God and worship
Him and serve Him and recognize that you don't deserve and you
haven't earned the least of God's favor and blessings. Me neither.
That God gives as He will out of His sovereign goodness and
mercy and especially the salvation of a sinner through Christ. That's what his glory was when
Moses came to him and said, show me your glory. He said, I'll
have mercy upon whom I'll have mercy, and I'll be gracious to
whom I'll be gracious. Isn't that what he said? Isn't
that what God said to Moses? Now, didn't Moses step back and
say, well, that just doesn't sound right to me. That's not
fair, God. No, Moses bowed down and worshipped
God. That's how he responded. Now,
how are we going to respond? How do men today respond? People
say, well, if God's in control, if God's sovereign, if He's purposed
all things and works all things after the counsel of His own
will, then why should we do anything? Why should we go to church? Why
should we seek the Lord? Why should we believe? Why should
we try to obey? Well, we're nothing but robots.
Had a fellow tell me that one time. Is that how the Bible says
that we're to respond? Well, we're not just robots.
I don't care what anybody says. How shall we respond? Well, look
at this in verse 14 again. In the day of prosperity, be
joyful. But in the day of adversity,
consider. Think about this. God also has
set the one over against the other. As God made the one and
he made the other. To the end, that man should find
nothing after him. Literally, literally what that's
saying, that phrase at the end. To the end that man should find
nothing after him, it means this, you and I cannot figure it out. That's what that literally means.
We can't control the future. We don't even know the future,
let alone control the future. And we look at this world and
we try to figure it all out in our logical minds, in our human
minds, and we just can't figure it out. But that's the way God
has set it up. That's what he's saying. And
you consider this. How should we respond? Well,
I want you to go back to the first verse of Ecclesiastes 7.
Now listen to this. Here's how we should respond.
And I'm going to show you this back over in Proverbs and Isaiah
too. I want you to see this. Here's
how we should respond to the absolute sovereignty of God in
all things. Let me tell you something. God
is sovereign in creation. Not many people will argue that.
God is sovereign in providence. What does that mean? That means
God governs this universe. He didn't wind it up like a clock
and then just walk off and leave and then come back later, see
how it went. He's in control. And God is sovereign in salvation. That's what the scripture teaches.
So how should we respond? Well, here's here's some of the
things he gives us. He says in verse one, a good name is better
than precious ointment in the day of death than the day of
one's birth. It's still better to strive for a good reputation
here on this earth. That means to be an obedient
person. That means to be an honorable person. And ultimately, in spiritual
matters, it means to look to Christ, whose name is above every
name. You look to Christ. You fall
at the feet of Christ and beg for mercy. You say, well, I don't
know what God's going to do tomorrow. I don't either. But I know you're
commanded, and I'm commanded, to fall at the feet of Christ
and beg for mercy. And that's better than anything
you could ever do. I'm telling you. He says here
that the day of death is better than the day of birth. How you
finish is better than how you start. How do we all start this
race? We start as fallen, dead, depraved sinners with no hope. alienated from God. But if we're
in Christ, if we look to Him and rest in Him, we finish in
Him. And that's the most important
thing that we could ever do. That's the best thing. He goes
on. Verse 2, it's better to go to
the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting.
Don't respond to God's sovereignty by saying, well, it doesn't matter
what I do, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. No,
go to the house of mourning. And what he's talking about there
is the conviction of the worthlessness and sinfulness of sin that drives
a sinner to Christ. Blessed are they who mourn, they
shall be comforted. That's the house of mourning
that he's talking about. That's better. You see all these
better thans that he's talking about? He says, for that's the
end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart. God
is absolutely sovereign, but the living shall lay it to his
heart. He'll take it to his heart. Verse
3, he says, sorrow is better than laughter. This sorrow that
leads a sinner to Christ. For by the sadness of the countenance,
the heart is made better. Better than, better than, better
than. He says, the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of the fools is in the house of mirth. Verse
5, it's better to hear the rebuke of the wise. And that's especially
in the gospel. We need to be rebuked every day,
don't we, by the preaching of the gospel to show us that our
only hope is in Christ. and his blood and righteousness,
than for a man to hear the song of fools." And he goes on. It's
better than, better than. And when I saw that, I thought
about this. Turn over to the book of Hebrews with me just
a little bit. I want to show you a few things
here in the book of Hebrews. You know,
the whole theme of the book of Hebrews is that Christ is better. Better things. Look at Hebrews
7, for example. Hebrews chapter 7. He starts
out in Hebrews. He talks about how Christ is
better than angels. Christ is better than Moses.
Then Christ is better than Aaron and the Levitical priesthood. He's a better messenger than
the angels. He's a better mediator than Moses. He's a better high priest than
Aaron. He's a better tabernacle than
that earthly tent. All of those things. But look
here in Hebrews chapter 7. Look at verse 19. He talks about
the law, that's the law of Moses. He says, the law made nothing
perfect, that is, complete. But the bringing in of a better
hope did. There's a better hope than the
law. The law couldn't save him. The law couldn't save any sin.
The blood of goats and bulls, they couldn't take away sin,
but there's a better hope. And he says, bringing in of a
better hope did by the which we draw nigh unto God. We draw
nigh unto God who is sovereign and who is merciful by this better
hope. And it says, And inasmuch as
not without an oath he was made priest. That's talking about
Christ. He's the better hope. Look down at verse 22. He says,
By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament, a better
covenant. That covenant God made with the
nation Israel through Moses, it had its purpose, but that's
fulfilled. It's over with. Now there's a
better covenant. And that better covenant is fulfilled
by Christ, the one true mediator between God and men. Look over
at chapter 8, talking about Christ and His coming into the world
to fulfill all righteousness for His people. Verse 6, it says,
But now He hath obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much
also He is the mediator of a better covenant, there's that better
testament again, which was established upon better promises. Now I want
you to think about that. There were promises that were
associated with the old covenant given to the nation Israel through
Moses. But they were temporal promises.
They were earthly promises of an earthly land and earthly temporal
blessings. But now in Christ we have eternal
dwelling places, eternal blessings. You see? So it's established
upon better promises. And then look over at Hebrews
chapter 9. Look at verse 22, Hebrews 9, 22. He says, And almost
all things are by law purged with blood. Now what he's talking
about there is the blood of animals that was given in sacrifice in
the old covenant to purge them in a ceremonial way. And he says,
and without the shedding of blood is no remission. Verse 23, it
was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the
heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things,
the eternal spiritual issues themselves with better sacrifices
than these. Now, what better sacrifices?
What's better than the blood of bulls and goats? The sacrifice
of Christ, the blood of Christ, the incorruptible blood of Christ.
He goes on for Christ. is not entered into the holy
places made with hands, those ceremonial, temporal places which
are gone now, which are the figures of the true, they were types
of the eternal, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence
of God for us. You see, we have so much better.
And the fact that God is sovereign doesn't cancel that out, doesn't
diminish it at all. You're to seek the Lord. We're
to seek Christ. You see, we need a better righteousness
than any human being could ever work out here on earth, or ever
have. That's why Christ said, except
your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom
of heaven. That's why we have the righteousness of Christ.
Look at Romans chapter 9. And this is interesting here
because, you know, Romans 9, If you want to hear what I think
is the only biblical answer that God gives to man's objections
to the sovereignty of God, it would be Romans chapter 8 and
9. And what I'm saying is, you know, we can argue with people
about it, and men are going to object to it because man has
been declaring his independence and freedom from God ever since
the fall of man. That's what Adam did. in unbelief,
he's declaring his independence from God. I'm the captain of
my own destiny and my own fate. I can determine this. I can determine
that. And the Scripture keeps telling
us over and over again, oh no, you're not able to do that. You
don't know the future. You can't control the future.
There's too many obstacles that we, number one, are unable to
overcome and cannot foresee. And there's too many things that
have to be provided that we cannot provide. You say, we're not all
wise, we're not all powerful, only God is. So man comes along
with his objections to the sovereignty of God. And here's the things
like he says here in Romans chapter 9. He says, well, that's not
fair. God's not fair. What does Paul
say? He says, well, in verse 14 of
Romans 9, look at that. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness? Is God unjust? Is there unjustness
with God? He said, God forbid. He says
to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's
not of him that willeth. It's not of the free will of
man, nor of him that runneth. It's not of the works of man,
but of God that showeth mercy. It goes on. Someone says, well,
how can God yet find fault with us? And he says, well, who are
you to reply against God, old man? That's the answer. And he
keeps going on relating these objections, giving the only biblical
answer, and then he comes down to this conclusion. Look at verse
30 of Romans 9. What shall we say then? How shall
we respond? Well, here's how. And he goes
right into the issue of salvation by God's grace. Now, here's the
issue now. You can argue about God's sovereignty
all you want till you're blue in the face. God's still sovereign.
And listen, when you come out on the other end making your
point, objecting to God's sovereignty, you can be sure of one thing.
God's still going to be sovereign when you're done. He's going
to still be in control. He's going to still be working
all things after the counsel of his own will. Now, that's
for sure. But here's the issue that you
and I have to face in our response to this. And that's this. How does God save sinners? Well,
it's by grace. Look at it. Verse 30. What shall
we say, then, that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness,
have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which
is of faith? Now, what is the righteousness of faith? That's
what I want to talk about. That's what I want to know about.
This is how I'm going to respond to the fact that God's sovereign
and the fact that God says that he's just and the fact that God
says he's merciful. Well, he says in verse 31, but
Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath
not attained to the law of righteousness. They were trying to be righteous
by their law keeping. They didn't make it. Verse 32,
wherefore, or why? Because they sought it not by
faith. Well, what is it to seek it by faith? He said they sought
it by the works of the law. They stumbled at that stumbling
stone. Well, what's that talking about?
The stumbling stone. Well, that's a reference to an
Old Testament prophecy. And what's that prophecy talking
about? You'll find it in Isaiah 8, and you'll find it in Isaiah
28, this stumbling stone. And what's that talking about,
or who's that talking about? Well, look at verse 33. As it
is written, Behold, I lay in Zion. Now, you know Zion is a
geographical place in Jerusalem, but it's a type of the church.
And he says, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of a fence, and
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." That stumbling
stone is a person. Whosoever believeth on him. You see, the only hope that you
and I as sinners have is to believe on him. Who is this talking about? Well, look at verse 1 of chapter
10. He says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. You know, he said back
in Romans 9, God says he saves whom he will. He has mercy upon
whom he will. Well, Paul says, well, I'm praying
for Israel's salvation. That's my response to that. And
he says in verse two, I bear them record that they have a
zeal of God. They're religious, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Now what is that? Verse 4, For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord.
That's so. To seek righteousness by faith
is to seek it in Christ. You say, well, how can you connect
that with God's sovereignty? Go back to Isaiah 46 again that
I read. Look back at Isaiah 46. This
was our scripture reading. And this is real interesting.
You know, Isaiah is talking about the future here. And the only
reason Isaiah knew the future is because God revealed it to
him. He was a prophet. And he's talking about a future
here where Israel was taken into captivity by idolaters. And that's why he starts out
Isaiah 46 the way he does. Bell boweth down, Nebo stoopeth. That's idols. Their idols were
upon the beast. They had idols, but they had
to take the idol and set the idol upon a beast, upon a cow
or an ox or something like that, a mule, and carry it along. If
they were going to move, they had to take their idol, set it
upon a beast. And it says, your carriages were
heavy loading. They are a burden to the weary
beast. These idols. They stoop, verse 2, they bow
down together, they could not deliver the burden, but themselves
are gone into captivity. So, listen to how he distinguishes
himself. Now, here's the point. Men will
worship and serve a God that men can carry. As long as you're
God, and this is the way men are by nature, I know, this is
so. As long as you can manipulate your God, as long as you can
tell Him what to do, or as long as you can change His mind or
persuade Him or argue with Him, that's fine. Man by nature loves
that. That's the kind of God men love,
a God they can carry. Man by nature does not want to
worship a God who carries him, carries man. And that's the God
of the Bible. Look here, verse 3. Harken unto
me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel,
which are born by me. I bear you. You don't bear God.
You don't carry God. You don't manipulate God. You
don't twist him around and persuade him and change his mind at a
whim. No, sir. He carries his people. He's sovereign, that's what that's
talking about. He says, which are born by me from the belly,
which are carried from the womb. He says, and even to your old
age, I carry you all the days of your life. And even to the
whore hairs, that's the gray hair. He says, I will carry you.
I've made and I will bear, even I will carry and will deliver
you. I'm the salvations of the Lord. And then he says, you can't compare
me to anybody. Look at verse 6, they lavish
gold out of the bag, weigh silver in the balance, hire goldsmiths,
and they make their gods. Man loves a god he can make.
They fall down, yea, they worship, they bear him upon their shoulder,
they carry him, they set him in his place, they pray to him,
he can't deliver, he can't save. And then he says in verse 8,
remember this and show yourselves men, admit what you are, bring
it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Take your place, your rightful
place before a sovereign, holy God who does as he will among
the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
That's what he's saying here. Who works all things after the
counsel of his own will. And then he says, remember the
former things of old? All those things that happened
in the past? He says, I'm God, there's none
else, there's none like me. Verse 10, declaring the end from
the beginning. You remember over in Ecclesiastes
7 what he said there in verse 14? He said there, God also hath
set the one over against the other to the end that man should
find nothing after him. Man cannot declare the end from
the beginning. What does that mean? That means
you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. You can't determine
what's going to happen tomorrow. You can make your plans. I can
make my plans. But you know as well as I do,
it doesn't take a whole lot to happen in our lives to change
our plans. Now, we can declare the beginning
from the end. I can tell you what happened
this morning when I woke up and go on throughout the day. That's
declaring the beginning from the end. But God He declares
the end from the beginning. He determines what's going to
happen in the future. That's what it's talking about.
He said, and from the ancient times, the things that are not
yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, that's God's wisdom.
I'll do all my pleasure. He said, I'll do it. Now, how
do you respond to that? How do we respond? Well, look
at verse 12. Harken unto me, ye stout-hearted
that are far from righteousness. That's how. Listen. Listen up
to this sovereign God who declares the end from the beginning. Listen
up and hear to this God who carries His people and His people don't
carry Him. Listen up, He says. You stout-hearted,
what's that mean? That means proud. That's what
we are by nature, isn't it? Far from righteousness. There's
none righteous, no, not one. There's none good, no, not one.
You see, that's how we stand with God. That's what he meant
there. Take your place, your rightful
place before a holy and sovereign God as a sinner who deserves
nothing, as a sinner who can earn nothing. Listen, a sinner
who deserves nothing but wrath from God. All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. Take
your place before this God. And listen to what he says in
verse 13, I bring near my righteousness. Now that's what I need and that's
what you need. We need God's righteousness.
What is God's righteousness? Well, remember what we read over
in Romans 9 and 10? The righteousness of God. What
is that? Who is that? It's Christ crucified
and risen again. That's the righteousness I need
to stand complete and whole and accepted before this holy and
righteous God. He says it shall not be far off. It's coming soon. In Isaiah's
day, there was probably about 700 years, I think, before Christ
actually came. And he said, and my salvation
shall not tarry. You know, I hear people talking
about, well, Christ is going to come back again, but He's
just waiting on you, or waiting on me, or waiting on Israel.
He's not waiting on anyone. The time's appointed, and when
that time gets here, as appointed by God, He'll be here. Not one
second late, not one second too soon. And that's the way it was
with His salvation. The Bible says in Galatians chapter
4 and verse 4, "...in the fullness of the time God sent forth His
Son." Made of a woman. Made under the law. To do what?
To redeem them that were under the law. And so he says, it won't
turn. And I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel, my glory. How do we respond to that? Seek the Lord. Seek Christ. Now,
go back to Proverbs 16, and I'll close with this. Listen to this. Just like in Ecclesiastes, where
it talks about it's better It's better to do this than that.
My friend, don't ever let anybody tell you that if you believe
God's sovereign, that it doesn't matter what we do or we can't
do it. Listen, we're to, we're to do what God commands us to
do. Period. And he says, seek ye
the Lord while he may be found. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, what shall be saved? But now here's what
people need to learn. Here's what they need to hear
from the Word of God in the Gospel. What is it to call upon the name
of the Lord? It's not just to look up into
the sky and say, Lord, help me. You go back and find out the
first time anybody ever called upon the name of the Lord is
recorded in the Bible and see what they did. The first one,
I believe, that is recorded that way. Now, there were men who
called upon the name of the Lord before this. But those words,
calling upon the name of the Lord, the first time it's used
is Abraham. And you know, the first thing
Abraham did before he called upon the name of the Lord is
he built an altar and he sacrificed. Because you see, if you're going
to call upon the name of the Lord, you need to understand
that the Lord only hears from his people through the blood
of his son. That's right. Without Christ, we're nothing. But now look at Proverbs 16 verse
1. Now he says, the preparations,
that's the disposings of the heart in man and the answer of
the tongue, that's from the Lord. All the ways of a man are clean
in his own eyes, that's how man sees it. But the Lord weigheth
the spirit, the Lord looks on the heart. So here's what he's
saying there in those first two. He said God is in control. God
knows all. So how do you respond? Well,
here's how you respond. Commit thy works unto the Lord.
And thy thoughts shall be established. Commit yourself unto the Lord.
Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner, the Lord hath made all
things for himself. It's for his glory. Yeah, even
the wicked for the day of evil. Now you say, well, I don't understand
all about that. I don't either. But it's that's
what exactly it says. God's not the author of sin.
We were talking about in the study, somebody said, well, God
can't create God cannot create anything that could sin and we
created Adam and Adam sinned. But listen to this, he says in
verse 5, everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to
the Lord, though hand joined in hand he shall not be unpunished.
In other words, you can have a big crowd joined hand in hand,
but the proud heart, the sinner who comes before God without
Christ, without the blood, without his righteousness. So he says
in verse 6, by mercy and truth iniquity is purged. Now where
are you going to find both mercy and truth? One place. in Christ
and Him crucified and risen again. Mercy and truth, iniquity is
purged, and by the fear of the Lord men depart from it." What
is the fear of the Lord? It's to worship God. It's to
reverence Him. It's to trust Him for all things. In and by Christ we have the
very righteousness of God. I thought about this in this
sense in Psalm 84 and verse 10. He says, for a day in thy courts
is better than a thousand. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in
the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. You
remember back in Ecclesiastes chapter six and verse six, he
made the statement there. He said that though a man have
a lot of children, big family, or live to be a thousand or two
thousand years old, it means nothing without Christ. It means
nothing without Christ. Whatever this book says about
God, we're to believe, we're to bow to, we're to submit to,
and how are we to respond to any of it? We're to seek the
Lord. We're to cast ourselves at his mercy, beg for mercy,
and all who do shall receive it. And so let's sing as our
closing hymn, hymn number 51, Praise the Savior.