Let's turn to Ecclesiastes. I believe it's chapter 11. Ecclesiastes chapter 11. I'm going to read to you the
first eight verses, and then we'll look at one verse in particular
that drew my attention for sure. Ecclesiastes
chapter 11. Cast thy bread upon the waters,
for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to
seven and also to eight, for thou knowest not what evil shall
be upon the earth. If the clouds be full of rain,
they empty themselves upon the earth, and if the tree fall towards
the south or towards the north in the place where the tree falleth,
there it shall be. He that observes the wind shall
not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. As
thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the
bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child, even
so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. In the morning sow thy seed,
and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest
not whether shall prosper either this or that, or whether they
both shall be alike good. Truly, the light is sweet, and
a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. But if
a man live many years and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember
the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh
is vanity." So we just have sayings and axioms and words of wisdom
throughout this Ecclesiastes and Songs of Solomon as well.
But the verse that got my attention is verse 7. Truly, truly the
light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold
the sun. Now, it's sweet and pleasant
is the light that warms us. It's called the sun, obviously.
This is exceeding true in the natural realm. After many days
of clouds, a good sunny day, that sun beating on your face
is refreshing. It gives us cheerfulness, brightness,
and seeming comfort. This created light called the
sun. How much more, how much more to God's inheritance, to
His beloved bride, to His people, to be found in the sweet light? How much more, we say the natural,
we talk about natural light, but how much more the light is
sweet? The light being the gospel, the
light being Christ. the light being our God the Father.
To be found in the light of God's grace and for these eyes to behold
as it says in, I believe it's Malachi, Christ is called the
Son, S-U-N. Look it up when you get home,
Malachi. He's called the Son of Righteousness. He comes with
healing in his wing and is speaking about a person. So how much more
blessing to look past the natural phenomenon of the sun and light,
but for the believer to bask in the light of the glory of
God and how pleasant it is to behold the Son, to behold the
Son. That's what we're going to look
at. And I think this was the case with our Apostle brethren
in John chapter 20, if you want to turn there, John chapter 20.
And I'll bring you a look at what's going on here. John chapter
20 verse 1, The first day of the week come with Mary Magdalene
early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth
the stone taken away from the sepulchre. She's trying to find
Christ. Christ has been crucified. He
left the disciples. Or rather, He was taken from
the disciples. In verse 11, Mary stood without
the sepulchre, weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down and
looked into the sepulchre. So, she's distraught. She's distraught,
as in the disciples were distraught. Christ has been crucified. He's
been slain. He hung on a tree. He was put
in a sepulchre. He was separated from his lonely
disciples. They supposed that they had lost
their dear Savior, their master, and their friend. Look at verse
18. Mary Magdalene came and told
the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and they had spoken
these things unto her. That's what they supposed. They
supposed he was gone. but by the free and sovereign
grace of him who came to seek and to save sinners. Look at
verse 19. Then the same day in the evening, being the first
day of the week, when the doors were shut, the disciples were
assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst
and said unto them, peace be unto you. So they're afraid. They feel like they've been not
betrayed, but they're alone. Look at verse 20. And when He
had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side, then
were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord." When they
saw the Lord. Light is sweet. And it's a very
pleasant thing it is to behold the Son. It's like everything
just went away. They saw the Lord and they were
glad. Glad indeed. Let us just look
at this passage back in Ecclesiastes, the first set, the first words
truly of the light is sweet. Not a light, I wanna make that
clear, the light, okay? And you don't have to turn to
these passages, but light is sweet. And his gospel is called
light in Isaiah nine in verse two. and to have the light revealed
to us who are vile and corrupt sinners from birth is most sweet."
Can you speak of Christ? Is He your darling? Do you know,
not just a cursory knowledge, but a little deeper, is He precious
to your soul? The Holy Spirit must enlighten
us through his word of truth, or else we are blind leading
the blind. This light comes by free gift
through faith, which also must be given from above. Never, this
is never worked for or earned or decided upon. The light, truly,
the light is sweet. The light is, it's just like,
what did we have to do when we woke up this morning? What did
we have to do, humanly, to bring the sun up, to receive its rays? We had nothing whatsoever to
do with that. Therefore, just like that, salvation
is by the free gift of God. We just received it. And I mean
receive it as the light shines on us. It's not as if people
say, oh, it's a gift. It's not a gift unless you receive
it. That's works. That's works. That's not salvation
by grace. We didn't have anything to do
with it. Matter of fact, we would not have this man reign over
us. Romans chapter 3, there's none that seeketh God, no, not
one. We didn't seek him. He sought us. Look at that. I
get an article in a bulletin, some Chinese man. Look at that. It's short, it's sweet. Just
look at that. That's the grace of God. We received
it. We're a part of it. But once he enables, by the Holy
Spirit, to see Christ, the light, is he not indeed most sweet to
his people? He is. He is most sweet. Truly,
the light is sweet. Secondly, the gospel is called
light, and Christ, in John chapter one, you can turn there, Christ
is also called light, John chapter one. And verse four, in him was life, and the
life was the light of men. And verse 14, was made flesh
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Lord Jesus Christ is also
termed light in the scriptures. He is the express image, says
the scriptures, of his heavenly Father, which God the Father
in 1 John, it says in him is light and no darkness. It's speaking
about God the Father. So we have the blessed Trinity.
We have God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, and God the Father,
they're all called light. And if we know this, No matter
what else we know, if we know Him, truly, the light is sweet. Truly, the light is sweet. To
see and to understand Him. Him who called us and chose us. Him who perfectly suffered and
bled and died for us. Him who quickened and illuminated
us. This is why we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Oh, how sweet
such sonnets of the song of grace is to us. Isn't it sweet to be
set free? He says we were captive. We were bound in prison. And
He opened the prison doors. Isn't it sweet to be set free?
Isn't it sweet to taste that He is gracious? Isn't it sweet
to know forgiveness? In Psalms 119, In verse 119, verse 103, How sweet are thy words unto
my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. And we sing this
hymn every now and again, "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just
to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise, just
to know, thus saith the Lord. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to trust His cleansing blood, just in simple faith to plunge
me beneath the healing, cleansing flood. Truly, truly, the light
is sweet. Well, the second thought Let's
continue to read on. And it's a pleasant thing. It
is for the eyes to behold the sun. Now, Malachi 4.2, it speaks
of Christ being the son of righteousness, S-U-N, comes with healing in
his wing. Now this word pleasant in Hebrew
It means good in the widest sense. So anything you could think of
that's good, this would apply. Or it also means beautiful. It
is a beautiful thing for the eyes to behold the sun. This
sight, by the eyes of faith, not physical and not outward
sight, is a saving look It's a repentant look. It's a humble
look. Simply beholding the king and
his beauty, as he says in Isaiah 33, 17. Your eyes, he says, shall
behold the king and his beauty. It is a necessary looking away
from ourselves and a full, single-eyed, single-love look at Jesus Christ,
all he is and all he's done. Now, we could spend eternity
on that. All He is, He's the mighty God, the wonderful Counselor,
the everlasting Father. All that He is, He's the Alpha,
the Omega, the First, the Last. He's the King in His beauty.
He's a servant among men. All that He is, all that He did,
He Himself sinned not. He went to the cross. to suffer
for those who could not save themselves. All that He is, all
that He's done. You could write essays upon essays
about this. Don't behold, as our text says
in verse 7, how pleasant a thing it is for the eyes to behold.
To behold. As our text says, don't behold
simply doctrine. It's important, but it's not
the Savior. Don't behold another man, me or anybody, we're just
sinners. Don't behold religion without
Christ. Religion, I happen to agree with
Marx on one thing, Karl Marx, religion outside of Christ is
the opium of the people. Without Christ, religion You'll
be like that woman with the issue of blood. You'll seek doctor
after doctor after doctor and grow worse. If this religion,
and that's why it's so important to find a place where the gospel
is being preached and for the one who's preaching to preach
Christ, not self. Not economics, not politics,
none of this stuff. Because that's when you leave
here, you're going to see all this stuff. It's going to occupy
your mind. But we are supposed to have the
mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ.
That's why when we gather together, We're all, it's all, you know,
the ground's level at the foot of the cross. We have differing
gifts, yes, but nobody's above someone else other than our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's why the light is sweet.
That's why it's beautiful, it's pleasant, and it's good in the
widest sense for the eyes to behold the sun. So may I speak
of the sun in nothing more, nothing less. And as our card says, nothing
else. So in our beholding, Let us seek
him, trust him, love him, and worship him. No one else is worthy
of our time, our thoughts, or our attentions, or even our look. Our tongue cannot describe our
inexpressible joy in seeing our altogether lovely one. Now, this
would be enough. You would think this would be
enough. The light is sweet, and it's a very pleasant, beautiful
thing for our eyes to behold the sun. But above sweetness
and above pleasantness, there are three things that await everyone
who is looking to Christ and no other. First thing is, a sight
of Christ by faith brings peace to the conscience. Now, no matter
what you try to do, walk an aisle, make a decision for Jesus, this
and that, no matter what you try to do or what I try to do,
It cannot appease the conscience, only the blood of Christ, which
is the blood of the everlasting covenant. Fears are without and
fear fighting's within says Paul. It's a pretty good description
of ourselves. We struggle hard with sin and
the flesh and the world and Satan. Matter of fact, uh, Paul, uh,
he put it this way. He said it this way. Oh, wretched
man that I am. Not that I was. He's a believer. He's still wrestling with the
flesh. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Truly, light is sweet and pleasantness
to behold the Son, to behold the Son, our righteousness. Secondly, the sight of Christ
subdues our doubts and checks our unbelief. Now, I don't know
about you, but probably as soon as I walk out that door, I'm
going to be hit with doubt or unbelief. Unbelief, you want
to know what the unpardonable sin or whatever, and most people
that I've talked to, the most old writers, it's unbelief. It's
not, you're doing this, you're not, it's unbelief, that's natural
to us. But a sight of Christ, a looking
away from ourselves, The sight of Christ will subdue our doubts
and check our unbelief. These two foes are not easily
put off, but the sight of our Savior dying for you and for
me upon the cursed tree assures us that this is our Redeemer
who died The just one for the unjust ones. Look to Christ and
doubt no more. Look to Christ and be in unbelief
no more. And when we believe and we are
sure, when we look to Him, we can say as Solomon said in Solomon
6 and verse 3, I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. Can you
say, I mean, you should be able to know whether you can say that.
I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. Look to Christ, look
to Christ. And thirdly, the sight of Christ
gives us victory over death and will open heaven's view to open
heaven's, it'll open heaven's gate. Oh, the joy, death, where's
your sting? Death wears your sting. I don't
know why, but the last week or so, thinking a lot about death,
you know, I'm 66, and you look at the paper and there's a lot
of people who are younger. They're gone. The Lord just took
them. But it's just going to usher the believer into glory. Why? Because Christ has died. Yea, rather He's risen and led
captivity captive. we will call all, he will call all his dear
people, precious people unto himself. And he says, come into
the joy of his kingdom, which will be our kingdom, our kingdom. Now, realizing this, I'm gonna
read this verse one last time, truly the light, Christ is sweet. And a pleasant thing it is for
the eyes to behold the Son, to behold the Lord Jesus Christ.
And all these things come with it. And all the sight of Christ
by faith brings peace to the conscience. It subdues and checks
doubt and unbelief. And the sight of Christ will
give us the final victory over death. With these things in mind,
let me close with this one verse. actually several verses, but
in this one chapter, 1 Thessalonians 4, for the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words." Comfort one another with these words. I could try to comfort you talking
about the stock market and all these different things, but what
if the stock market crashes? What if this great country collapses?
Comfort one another with the words of truth. This is our sum
and substance. This is our bread. This is our
all. This is our all and in all, Christ. And we know and we believe and
are sure that this is the word of God, the truth. There's no
error and we're ever grateful and ever thankful for what he
has done and what he is yet to do among us. Nathan, would you
close us please?