Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. I welcome you to our broadcast
this morning. And if you wish to follow along,
I will be reading several verses from Ecclesiastes chapter three. That is Ecclesiastes chapter
three. And while you're turning, I will
begin reading. If you're following along, you
can catch up with me. Ecclesiastes chapter three, this is what we
read. To everything, there is a season and a time to every
purpose under the heaven. A time to be born and a time
to die. A time to plant and a time to
pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to
heal. A time to break down and a time
to build up. A time to weep and a time to
laugh. A time to mourn and a time to
dance. A time to cast away stones and
a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time
to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose.
A time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to rend and
a time to sew. A time to keep silence and a
time to speak. A time to love and a time to
hate, a time of war and a time of peace. What profit hath he
that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? I have seen the
travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised
in it. He hath made everything beautiful
in his time. Also, he hath set the world in
their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good
in them, but for a man to rejoice and to do good in all of his
life. And also, that every man should eat and drink and enjoy
the good of all his labor. It is the gift of God. I know
that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can
be put to it, nor anything taken from it, and God doeth it that
men should fear before him. That which hath been is now,
and that which is to be hath already been, and God requireth
that which is past. And moreover, I saw under the
sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there, and the
place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. And I said
in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,
for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. That is Ecclesiastes chapter
three, verses one through 17. Here is my title for this morning,
and here is my subject. God's Absolute Predestination. Are you used to hearing any preacher
use that word much? God's absolute predestination. Now, God's word is absolutely
clear in its declaration that God absolutely predestinated
all that comes to pass. If it comes to pass, whatever
it is, God was the determiner of it. This book clearly testifies
to this truth. Again, I say, I say, If it comes
to pass, whatever it is, God was the determiner of it. Our
passage is clear about that. God holds all things and all
people under his sovereign determination. Men should do many things. Yes, we should. Men should do
many things of great honor toward God, but men are wicked, That's
me, and that's you by nature. But men are wicked, self-serving,
self-willed rebels. That's what we are by nature.
All things will be judged by God, especially men and women. But no one can judge God. You
hear what I said? No one can judge God. Take God
to court. See if you win. I dare you. No man can judge God, men and
women should fear him. So, stick with me here. Don't
turn that dial off, stick with me here. And if you have a desire,
any kind of inkling to at least ponder God's absolute predestination
of all things and all people and all events and all circumstances,
then listen as I just scratch the surface this morning. I don't
have time enough to deal with it all. I don't have the capacity
or the ability to deal with it all. But we will scratch the
surface. Let's look at this verse by verse.
Verse by verse. I will not deal in a lot of detail
with everything. As I said, I don't have the time.
I don't have that ability. I have to confess that to you.
But let's look at it verse by verse. Let's go through all 17
verses. I will read the verse. Comment
a little as I read the verse, and then make some closing statements
about each of the verses. Here's verse one. Here's what
it says. To everything there is a season and a time. To every purpose under the heaven. How much is left out there? Nothing. Nothing is left out there. As
a matter of fact, the writer of Ecclesiastes, that is Solomon,
goes through and shows us that he leaves nothing out. Now listen, listen to me. Here's
the verse. To everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under heaven. And this word season
means a fixed appointment. The word time means a duration
or a terminus point. So in other words, to everything
there is a fixed appointment. And there is a terminus, there's
a how long it can last. To every purpose under the heaven. Listen to me. Nothing that takes
place in this universe, I mean absolutely nothing that takes
place in this universe is extra. Nothing is meaningless. It is
all God's doing. Let's look at verse two. A time
to be born. and a time to die, a time to
plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. Do you
see it? This is included in this season and purpose and time,
and it includes everything. It includes every purpose under
the heaven. Listen to me, life and death,
It's in God's hands. Did you hear what I say? Someone
says, well, preacher, I got you there. If God predestinated me
to die in a car wreck, then I'll just never get in a car again,
and that way God's purpose will fail. You speak that way, you
speak as a fool. Because I tell you this, you
say that in your heart before God and to God, I'll never die
in a car wreck, then you know what God might do to you? God
might have you have a heart attack at work or wherever you are right
now and you fall over and you're totally unconscious. Somebody
calls an ambulance for you, puts you in that ambulance, that ambulance
driver has a wreck and you're killed right there on the spot
and you still died in an automobile wreck. You will not skirt God
on this issue. Life and death are in God's hands. Humanity is in God's hands. Plants and animals are in God's
hands. There is a season and a time. Whether it's a human life or
a weed, a weed, it's all predestinated by God. Why? A time to be born
and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to
pluck up that which is planted. Now verse three, look at what
it says. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break down
and a time to build up. Listen to me. Now, I know this
is gonna shock some folk, but you listen to me. When it comes
to God Almighty, God is absolute in his predestination, whether
it is self-defense or murder. God Almighty's in sovereign control,
and I don't back up from that one bit. God will judge men for
their wicked deeds. Yes, he will, but God Almighty's
in sovereign control. You had wicked men that took
Jesus Christ and hung him on a tree, beat him half to death
within an inch of his life, as we would say, before they hung
him on a tree, and yet God Almighty was in absolute sovereign control
of all of it. Think of it. Go back and read
the New Testament of what they did to Jesus Christ. And it's
almost as if, though they were not, but it's almost as if they
were opening the Old Testament and saying, all right, what are
we supposed to do next? Now we're supposed to spit on
him. Why? Because he had already been predestinated by God. Come
along, well, now what are we supposed to do? We're supposed
to buffet him and hit him with our fist. I'm telling you that
God Almighty is absolutely sovereign over all things and has predestinated
all things. If they come to pass, God Almighty
declared for it to come to pass. Whether it's self-defense or
murder, whether it's a local assembly that rises up to the
glory of God and then God later just shuts that assembly down.
It's all God's business. Look at verses four through seven.
Time to weep. A time to laugh. We ought not
laugh when we ought to weep. We ought not weep when we ought
to laugh. But I'll tell you this, God's in control of all of it.
God sovereignly predestinated all of it. A time to weep, a
time to laugh. A time to mourn, a time to dance.
A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together.
A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. a time to get, a time to lose,
a time to keep, a time to cast away, a time to rend, and a time
to sow, a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. In other
words, God has ordered all these things to happen when they happen,
and they last exactly as long as God Almighty decreed that
they would happen, because he begins by saying, to everything
there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven,
and he ends up by saying later on, God doeth it that men should
fear before him, yes? Yes, it's even more than that.
Look at verse eight. I'll stick with me now. Don't turn that
dial off there. Listen to me. A time to love
and a time to hate. A time of war and a time of peace. You say, preacher, you can't
mean that. This ain't about me. This is
about what God Almighty, through Solomon, moved him by his spirit
to write down about God Almighty's absolute control of all things
in God Almighty's universe. And God says a time to love and
a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace. Yes, even
love and hate. Now, hear me now. God give you
eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to stick with me and
listen to me. Not all love is good. You hear
what I just said? Not all love is good. John the
Apostle makes that quite clear in 1 John 2, verse 15. And let me just turn back there
and read it. I do not want to misquote that. 1 John 2, and verse, 1
John 2, verse 15. Before I read it, I know that
in our day and age, it's love, love, love. As my late pastor
Earl Cochran used to say, it's L-U-V love. It's not L-O-V-E,
agape love. Sadly today, people love God
like they love chocolate ice cream, and that ain't the same
thing. I'm telling you, not all love is good. Listen to what
the book says. Listen to what God says. First
John, chapter two. Verse 15, love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. Do you hear what God said? It
says here a time to love and a time to hate, and listen to
me now. All hate is not evil. I fully realize that that will
be misconstrued and people will accuse me of saying this and
saying that. You go on and say what you will,
but you listen to what I just said. I said not all love is
good and not all hate is wrong. Listen to what the book of God
says, God's holy inspired word says in Romans chapter nine. and we will specifically look
at verse 13 and 14, as it is written, this is a New Testament
writer, quoting from the Old Testament, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That's what God
says. That's what it says. And look,
what shall we say then? Is this wrong in God? You see
it? Is there unrighteousness with
God? And immediately Paul is moved
to pin down, God forbid. You see, God hates all workers
of iniquity. That's what the book of God says.
Religious society in which we live as so prostituted and cheapened
the love of God that it's no more It's no more than some man
walking down the street at the at the red light district trying
to get him an old whore for a few dollars That's exactly what men
have done with the love of God today, and that's exactly what
they do with the hate of God They say this hate must be evil
no this hate is just and holy because God is just and holy
and the wonder The wonder ought never to be. How could God hate
Esau? Poor Esau. Esau was a rebel against
God. The glory is here is that God
would say, I love Jacob. That's the glory we see in God. So again, I say, time to love. a time to hate, a time of war,
and a time of peace. Let's look at verse nine through
12. What prophet hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth? It's basically a rhetorical question. What prophet is there really?
I have seen the travail which God hath given, you see, I have
seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be
exercised in it. He hath made everything beautiful
in his time, also hath set the world in their heart. This doesn't
mean that God Almighty makes men evil, it means God lets men
sometimes have what they want, what they really desire. Do you
see it? He hath made everything beautiful in his time, also he
hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the
work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I know
that there is no good in them, that is in men and women, but
for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life. Think about
it. Here's what verses nine through
12 is saying. Here's what God is saying to
us. has shut men up to prevail under
His sovereign purpose. And this is the judgment of God
against this world and against humanity because of our rebellion
against Him. We do not control not one thing
in God's universe. We should do good There is no,
we should do good, but there is no good even in us. Do you see it? Notice he doesn't
say, I know that they do no good. That's not what he says. He says,
I know. that there is no good in them. That's my problem, and that's
your problem by nature. This is not just what we do,
it's about what we are. Again, God has shut man up to
prevail under his sovereign purpose by his judgment against the sin
of this world. We do not control not even one
thing in this universe. We should do good, but there
is no good in us. Verse 13, look at what it says.
Verse 13, and also that every man should eat and drink and
enjoy the good of all his labor. It is the gift of God. Think
about that. Do not men take what they earn
what they work for and use it for some dastardly deeds, dastardly
evils. Yes, they do. And they are under
the judgment of God. But listen to what he actually
says. And also, that every man should eat and drink and enjoy
the good of all his labor. It is the gift of God. Let me
put it to you this way. Verse 13, I'm gonna summarize
it this way. Everything this side of hell
is a gift of God. Every breath you take on this
side of what men call eternity is one less breath, and that's
probably not the right way to say it, but it's one less breath
you'll take in hell. It's the gift of God. Verse 14,
look at what it says. I know that. Now maybe you don't
believe it and maybe you don't know it, but God's people do.
God's people do. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
It shall be forever. This is in the context of what?
To everything there is a season, and a time, to every purpose
under the heaven. Go back and read them all again.
Read them all again. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever, and it's not, this is not just some fatalistic
time. This is the wise, almighty, all-powerful,
immutable, sovereign God. Listen to what he says. I know
that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can
be put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God doeth it that
men should fear before him. God has you in his sovereign
hand. He controls you. Somebody says,
well, you're making men to be a puppet. I would not insult
a puppet by comparing a puppet to us or us to a puppet. We are rebels against God by
nature. Everything, as I said, this side
of hell is a gift of God, but it goes on even more. Here is
God's absolute. predestinating sovereignty stated. It don't have to use the words,
it's teaching the truth. I know that. Whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it, and God doeth it that men should fear
before him. God rules all. God rules all,
you best fear him. Verse 15, look at what it goes
on to say. This is what Solomon goes on
to write. That which hath been is now. And that which is to
be hath already been. And God requireth that which
is past. Is that perplexing words to you?
I understand that. I do. It used to perplex me until
God Almighty opened my eyes, opened my ears, and gave me a
heart to perceive the truth of who God is and who man is, at
least to some degree. Here it is. Listen to me. Nothing
surprises God. You get that. Nothing surprises,
I mean absolutely nothing in this world surprises God from
the greatest glory that men have enacted amongst men, not before
God, but that men have enacted towards men and for men and the
most dastardly deeds that's ever happened on this earth. Nothing
in this world surprises God. All events in time have eternal
determination with God alone. Do you hear what I just said?
With God alone as the decree maker and the sustainer. When men rebel against God, in
vehement hatred against God and their fellow men. God gives them
the very breath with which they are alive, in which they use
their tongues to lie about God and to do their dastardly deeds.
I'm telling you that nothing surprises God. Nothing sneaks
up on God's blind side. He doesn't have a blind side,
verse 16. Moreover, I saw under the sun,
think about this now, Moreover, I saw under the sun the place
of judgment. And here he's not talking about
the place of condemnation. He's not talking about, say,
a man goes to court because he's been guilty of stealing an automobile.
And then he's actually found guilty and then condemned to
judge, to go spend time in jail or something. No, that's not
what it's talking about. This here judgment word has to do
with making determinations, with coming to our opinion about how
things are. This is about our opinion about
how things are. And moreover, I saw under the
sun the place of judgment where men make their determinations.
That wickedness was there. But look, and the place of righteousness. You hear it? And the place of
righteousness. that iniquity was there. That's what verse 16 says, do
you see it? Everything on this earth, yes, even the stars and
the moon in heaven, everything on this earth is under the curse
of God. Man's contemplations about matters,
man's judgment, the place of judgment, where man makes his
determinations, what is it? Evil's there, shot full of wickedness
and shot full of hell. But also this, in man's righteousness,
man's best deeds. It's what? It's shot full of
wickedness and iniquity. Look at verse 17. I said in mine
heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked. For there is
a time there for every purpose and for every work. How can God
predestinate and yet judge? Because he's God. Because he's
God. Listen to Romans chapter nine
again. This is what the word of God says. Somebody says, well
I don't believe that. Then you don't believe God. Ain't even
read it yet. Romans chapter nine. Listen to
what God says about himself through the apostle Paul. Romans nine
verse 18. Therefore hath he, this is all
about God. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy? and whom he will he hardeneth.
Thou wilt say unto me, why then doth God yet find fault for who
hath resisted his will? And that's exactly what some
of you are probably saying out there right now. Thou wilt say
then unto me, why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted
his will? Nay, nay, but O man, who art thou that replies against
God? Shall the thing form say to him
that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Rhetorical question. No. Hath not the potter power
over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor
and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? And let me tell
you something. God's absolute predestination of all things
does not mean God just sat up in heaven and said, all right,
there's a good man, but I'm gonna damn him to hell. And there's a decent woman,
I'm gonna damn her to hell. No, sir. We're fitted to destruction.
We deserve what we get when it comes to the judgment of God,
because we're God-haters, because we've fallen in this world. Listen
to what it says. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replyest against God, shall the same form say to him that
formed it, why'st thou made thee thus? Hath not the potter power
over the clay of the same vessel to make one vessel under honor
and another under dishonor? What if God, willing to show
his wrath and make his power known, endured with much longsuffering,
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he hath before prepared in the glory. Verse 24, Paul
says, this is true concerning Jews and Gentiles. Jews and Gentiles. You see, God Almighty created
the universe and he created man. And God said about the universe,
it's good. And when he created man on the sixth day, he said
it's very good. But Adam rebelled against God.
And Adam's our daddy. Did you know that? We all came from him. I don't
care what the color of your skin is, what your station in life
is, how good you think you are or how bad you are. We're all
the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. And our daddy Adam,
when he was in that garden, rebelled against God. And let me tell
you, and we are like our daddy Adam. And we like being like
our daddy Adam. God has and will judge you and
judge me according to Revelation chapter 20 and verse 11 through
15. And he says this about some folks, they will be judged according
to the works out of the books. Is that what you want? Then you
go for it, buddy. I want to be one of those whose
names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. There's the distinction
between all that God does when he sums it up. Some men and women
will be judged according to their works, and they will be cast
everlastingly into the lake of fire. Other men and women simply
have their names written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. I want to be one of them. What
about you? I ask you to listen in. 12 noon on WVBACW, the same channel. 12 noon, you can hear a portion
of one of our Sunday morning broadcasts, one of our Sunday
morning messages.