I enjoyed that special. That
was good. The earth shall soon dissolve
like snow, the sun forbear to shine, but God who called me
here below will be forever mine. That was good. It's good to be
with y'all again this morning. It's good to see y'all. Everybody
back home says hey, especially mom and dad and Brady. But thank
you all for having us. This morning I'd ask that you'd
open your Bibles with me to Ecclesiastes chapter three. Ecclesiastes chapter three. This
morning I pray our Lord has given us a message of comfort, of peace,
of rest, that he'd make this plain and clear and a blessing
to our hearts. This is a familiar text. This
is familiar ground we're on right here. Ecclesiastes 3, look at
verse 1. To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven. To everything there
is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. There's
a season for everything that happens in our lives. Season
for everything. All of them are purposed by God
Almighty. Every single one. I'm thankful
for that verse. And I'm also thankful for what
this verse doesn't say. Notice it doesn't say, to some
things there's a season. To most things there's a season.
Even to good things there's a season. That's not what it says. To everything,
to everything there is a season. And a time to every purpose under
the heaven. And then Solomon goes on to write here that there's
a time to these 28 things. These 14 pairs, these 14 opposites
given in the first eight verses of this chapter. We read that
there's a time to be born, there's a time to die, a time to plant,
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, 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 sow, a time to keep
silence and a time to speak, a time of love and a time of
hate, a time of war and a time of peace. All these different
things, these different seasons that happen throughout our lives.
Some of these seasons we really enjoy. Some of these are happy
times, they're good seasons, things we consider good seasons
anyway. And then there's some that we don't enjoy. I love that
we have seasons where we live. It can get a little dicey sometimes,
but I love that we're about to go into fall. This last week,
we've had some cool mornings. We've been able to wake up and
go sit on the porch and not be miserably hot. And I'm excited. I'm excited that we got to watch
football yesterday and that it's football season in the fall.
I love the fall. And I'm never quite ready for
fall to be over. I'm just not. And yet every year
without fail, winter always comes. It always does. And we really
shouldn't be surprised by that. And then there's the seasons
that we don't enjoy. There's the seasons that are hard, that
we just don't know if we're going to get through. I can tell you,
I'm not a big fan of winter. I don't like it being 20 degrees.
I don't like shoveling snow very much. And Gene knows I've got
a pretty big driveway to shovel snow. I don't like it getting dark
at four o'clock. And you know, as soon as winter gets here,
I'm just like, man, I'm ready for spring. I want this to be
over. All these seasons that we have in our lives, things
that we consider good and the things that we consider bad,
they're seasons. They've all got their beginning.
It's going to last exactly as long as it's going to. And they've
all got their end. These seasons always come to
an end. And as long as that winter might seem, You know, every year
we end up with spring, every year without fail. And I'm thankful,
I'm thankful that our Lord has determined all these seasons,
all these seasons in our lives. Look down at verse 11 here in
our text in Ecclesiastes. We read, he hath made everything
beautiful in his time. Also, he has set the world in
their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh.
from the beginning to the end. This is the work that God has
made. This is what he's done. This isn't just things happening
by chance, going willy-nilly and, oh man, I can't believe
that happened. No, this is what God has done.
And listen, it says, he hath made everything beautiful in
his time. He hath, this is something that's
already been done. It's not just everything's unfolding,
this is already done, it's finished. And it's in His time. It's in
His perfect time. Not when we think it's to be
good, but in His time. And it's beautiful. It says it's
beautiful in His time. And I look that word up, and
it can mean a few different things. It can mean fair or the fairest. He's the fairest of 10,000. It
can mean pleasant. He hath made everything pleasant.
Don't you like things that are pleasant? He hath made everything
pleasant in His time. It could also mean this, well,
he hath made everything well in his time. It's that verse
of scripture, he hath done all things well. Well, because he's
the one that's done it. He's the one that's doing it.
That gives us comfort, gives us peace because he's on his
throne and he's ordered all these things. All these things from
before the world even began. He's ordered every single thing
and he sends them in his perfect time. And listen, all of God's
people have experienced hard seasons, seasons of trial and
heartache. And listen, a lot of us are probably
in one right now. And if you're not, you're gonna
be real soon. Because here's the thing, our
lives are either we're in trouble, we're going into trouble, or
we're coming out of trouble. And we get these short little
lulls of seasons that we enjoy, that we think are real good,
are in this world, you shall have tribulation. Not you might,
and not that it's gonna be every once in a while. In this world,
you shall have tribulation. And we're so surprised when it
comes our way. We're always so surprised when
trouble comes. I mean, I can think of any time I've been in
trouble, my first knee-jerk reaction was like, man, I didn't see that
coming. I just didn't. Where'd that come
from? We're always so surprised. Because here's the thing, if
it was up to me, I'd never be in trouble. And I kind of have
a hunch you guys feel the same way. If it was up to us, we'd
never put ourselves in trouble. But that wouldn't be good for
us. It wouldn't be because our Lord sends these trials to us.
He sends these seasons to us because He loves us. He sends
these things to chasten us, to draw us near to Him, and cause
us to look to Him. And as hard as it may be, our
Lord causes us to know these things. We know these things.
We believe these things. By His grace, we believe these
things. How soon do we forget them? How
soon do we we walk out this door and we forget everything we heard?
And so we've heard these things our whole lives and we forget
them just like that. It's so easy to forget them.
And and all of a sudden, it just seems like the world is falling
apart. And what am I going to do? Don't do anything. Don't do anything. Look to the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing we can do. Our
only hope is in him. And listen, I'm not just talking
about things in life that come up in our heart, because there's
lots of things that come up in hard loss of a loved one. Someone's getting sick. There's
just lots of hard things. But what about this? What about
in salvation? In everything, he's our only hope. There's one
thing needful, just one. He is that one thing needful.
And again, these aren't just trials of this life. But what
about the trials of being weighed down by our sin? About really
seeing who and what we are? Because listen, a lot of times
our sin doesn't really bother us all that much. But what about
those times when our Lord really exposes us, really shows us who
and what we are? Turn with me to Romans chapter
3. Romans chapter three, we'll look
at verse 10. There are some times where we
really feel like we can enter into this. Verse 10 says, as
it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There
is none that understand it. There is none that seek it after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery
are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that
what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law that every mouth may be stopped. and all the world
may become guilty before God. But those times when we really
see our guilt, because that's us. Every word of that is us. Unprofitable? Are we profitable
at all? No. Full of cursing and bitterness? No fear? No fear of God before
our eyes? And guilty. Guilty before God
Almighty. Every once in a while, Our Lord
gives us a glimpse of that. He shows us this old man. And
yet, in these seasons, when our sin rears its ugly head, our
Lord comforts us in his word. He does. He shows us this old
man so he can comfort us. He draws us to him. He calls
us to beg him for mercy. And he speaks to us and he says,
be still, be still. So for a few moments here this
morning, I just wanna look at a few passages of scripture that
I believe are a comfort and a help for when our Lord sends these
seasons of trouble to us. First, I'd have you turn with
me to Isaiah chapter 41. I said a minute ago that one
of my first reactions when trouble comes is that I'm just, catches
me off guard. I'm so surprised. But you know,
what usually goes right with that surprise is fear. I get scared. I get afraid. How
often are we afraid, especially when trial comes? Well, what's
our assurance? What's our comfort when these
seasons of fear come our way? Look at verse 10 here of Isaiah
chapter 41. The Lord says, fear thou not,
for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yeah, I will help thee. Yeah,
I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Our
Lord speaks to us in these seasons of fear. He says, fear not. Don't
be afraid. Don't be scared. Don't you wish
we could actually do that and actually not be afraid? Because
here's the thing, if our Lord tells us, the creator of this
universe says, don't be afraid, we really shouldn't be afraid.
We shouldn't. And not only that, but he says,
I'm thy God. Not only is he God, but he's
our God. I am his and he is mine. He's
our God. And right now he's sitting on
his throne and he's ruling and he's reigning everything. And
all these things that come to pass, they're for our good and
they're for his glory. He cares for us. He cares for
us. He cares for us like a shepherd,
like a shepherd cares for his sheep. David wrote in Psalm 23,
he said, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil. Why, David? Why aren't you fearing
any evil? He says, for thou art with me.
Who's thou? Who's David talking about? Well,
he said at the beginning of the Psalm, he says, the Lord is my
shepherd. I shall not want. If he's our
shepherd, Why are we afraid? What have we got to fear? If
He's our shepherd, if He's with me, I've got no reason to be
afraid. Read verse 10 again. Let's read that again. Fear thou
not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I
will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. You
know, in times of trouble, we feel weak. I mean, I am weak. And when these seasons of trouble
come, we're weak. Because most of the time, we
think, man, I got this. I've got it all figured out. I'm doing
real good. And the Lord sends these things, and he humbles
us. And he shows us how weak we are. But he says, I'll strengthen
thee. I'm your strength. He's our strength.
What a comfort there is in that. And in these times of trouble,
these seasons, he shows us that we're helpless. And he says,
right here, I'll help thee. He's our help. How glad does
that make us? Because we know we can't help
ourselves. We can't. And in times of trouble, when
we feel like we're just going to fall to pieces, he says, I'll
uphold thee. And he does it with the right
hand of his righteousness. That's Christ. That's Christ.
Aren't we thankful that he bears us up on his shoulders and he
carries us right through it? Just like that, just like that
shepherd left the left the 99 and got that one lost sheep and
carried it all the way home. That's what he does for us. He
upholds us. He keeps us. And he's our rock. He's our he's
our security. He's our safe place. There was
a ship that was wrecked one one stormy night off the coast of
England, and all were drowned except one little Irish boy because
the waves swept him up on a great rock. And when they found him
in the morning, they rescued him. And they said, lad, didn't
you tremble on that rock throughout the night? He said, oh yeah,
I trembled all night long. He said, but that rock didn't
tremble one time. It didn't. And that rock is Christ. That
rock is Christ. When all the troubles and fears
of our sin and this life come crashing down on us, just remember
Jesus Christ is our rock. He upholds us. He helps us. He
strengthens us. To everything, there is a season.
and a time to every purpose under the heaven. When these seasons
arise, what reason we have to be comforted. And what a comfort
it is that all these things are according to his purpose. Turn
with me to Romans chapter eight, another familiar passage. Romans chapter eight, look at
verse 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose. And we know, we know these things. By his grace, we know that all
things, all these seasons, they're working together for good. You
know, I don't think I've had a trial yet that has felt good.
And I don't know of anyone that's had a trial that has felt good.
And at the same time, it's for our good. It's for my good. These
things are working together for the good of God's people. It's
not for everyone's good. It's not. This verse says, and
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
These things are working together for good for God's sheep. Not
everyone on this earth. These are words of comfort for
God's elect, for his people, for those he chose to save. Aren't we thankful that he chose
to save a people? You know, we saw earlier in Romans that there
is none that doeth good. No, not one. We're told that
the wages of sin is death. And that's what we deserve. That's
all we deserve. And yet, it pleased God to save
a people from before the foundation of the world, to save sinners.
God's election, don't shy away from this, it's the truth. And
it's not a hard truth, it's not a harsh truth, it's a loving
truth. It's a kind truth, it's a merciful
truth. Isaiah 45 says this, for Jacob,
my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect, I have even called
thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though
thou hast not known me. He says, this isn't because of
anything you've done. This is because of what I've done, what
I've done for you. Romans 11 says, even so then
at this present time, also there is a remnant according to the
election of grace. God chose to save a people. Aren't
we thankful? Because if he didn't choose to
save a people, then no one would be saved. We'd have no hope.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Purpose. Everything God does,
He does on purpose. Not on accident, there are no
accidents. It's all according to His purpose. And God who purposed
to save His people has purposed all these different seasons,
all these different trials that come our way. Isn't it comforting
to know that He's purposed them? That it's already been done.
He has already purposed these things. It's gonna go exactly
the way that He's purposed it. It's not that he has a plan for
you, no. He has purposed this from before
time began, and it's going to happen exactly the way it's supposed
to. And you know, we like to think when these troubles happen,
you're like, man, I really wish it wouldn't have happened that
way. And what we mean by that is, I wish it would happen my
way. That's what we mean by that. Because we would have it our
way all the time. But aren't we thankful that's
not how it is? Because that wouldn't be good for us. We'd mess it
up. If it was up to us, we'd mess
it up every single time. Because his thoughts are not
our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. Me and Clara, we've
got all these projects going on around our house. And this
past summer, we did a bathroom remodel. And we were laying tile
in our bathtub. And I mean, I got up one day.
I was working on it. And it was going good for like
an hour. I mean, I was like, OK, this
tile's going here. It's looking real good. For too much longer,
I walk in the kitchen, I grab my keys, and I'm like, all right,
hun, I gotta go to Lowe's. She goes, Lowe's? Weren't you
there like an hour ago? I'm like, yep, I messed it up
again. We mess everything up, absolutely
everything, we mess up. But aren't we thankful that what
our Lord has done for us is the one thing we can't mess up? We
can't, we can't mess it up. Look down at verse 35 here in
Romans 8. Paul says, who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? That's a big question. That's
a really big question. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. It's not looking good. Not looking good right there.
Who shall separate us from his love? Is there anything that
can separate us from him? I mean, we're counted as sheep
for the slaughter. Is there anything we can do to
mess this thing up? Look at verse 37. Nay, no. In all these things, we are more
than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature. That about clears up everything,
doesn't it? Nothing shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing. There is not a single thing that
can separate us from him. And even though we try to mess
this thing up every single moment of every single day, that's what
we do. We try to mess it up. We can't. When our Lord hung
on the cross, he cried, it is finished. Can't mess that up. If it's finished, we can't mess
it up. Nothing to add, nothing to take away. It's finished.
And isn't that a comfort when these seasons of trouble come
our way, that it's finished, that nothing can separate us
from his love? To everything, there's a season and a time to
every purpose under the heaven. Everything. And listen, these
seasons are hard. I'm not saying that they're easy.
They're hard. When you're in the middle of one, it is hard.
And how hard it is when it seems like our Lord feels so far from
us and our unbelief creeps in. Turn with me to John chapter
20. This was right after our Lord
hung and died on the cross, and at the beginning of this chapter,
our Lord had risen from the dead, and He appeared unto Mary, and
Mary went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and
that He had told her to tell them that He ascends unto His
Father. And that brings us to where we are here in verse 19.
Look at verse 19. Then the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus
and stood in the midst and saith unto them, peace be unto you.
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. The disciples
were glad. They weren't glad before. But
when they saw him, they were glad. I mean, you can imagine
how sad and how heartbroken that they must have been leading up
to this. You know, they had watched their Lord be crucified and die
on the cross. And even though, even though
our Lord told them time and time again that that's what he had
come to do and that he was going to rise again, they didn't believe
him. And yet the Lord came to them
in his mercy. He said, peace be unto you. And
then he showed himself, he revealed himself to them. Showed them
the scars on his hands and his side. Then were the disciples
glad. When they saw the Lord, they
were glad. How excited, how happy they had to have been. They hadn't
seen him in three days. They were in a time of trouble.
They were in a season. And then the Lord revealed himself
to them. What a time to rejoice and be glad. But look down at
verse 24. But Thomas, one of the 12 called
Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. All this rejoicing,
all this excitement over seeing their Lord, and how sad for Thomas. He didn't get to see him. He
wasn't there. Whatever reason that was, Thomas wasn't there.
He didn't see him. And how true that is for us sometimes. You
know, we read this word, And we know it's the truth. We know
it is. We know there's comfort in this word. But how often do
we read it and it's just words on a page to us? Or when we come
to the worship service and we're longing to hear a word, we're
longing to get some comfort. And it just goes in one ear and
right out the other. And we see our brethren rejoicing
in the Lord. And, oh, that was so good. That
was such a blessing. And yet it seemed so cold to
me. I didn't hear. I didn't hear it. And these seasons,
they seem like they last a long time. I mean, they do. I mean,
it might just be for a short little while, but it feels like
it lasts a long time. Look at verse 25. The other disciples
therefore said unto him, we have seen the Lord. But Thomas, he
said unto them, except I shall see in his hands the print of
the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust
my hand into his side, I will not believe. The disciples told
him, they said, Thomas, we saw the Lord. He's risen. We just
saw him the other day. But Thomas didn't. Thomas said, unless I see him,
I won't believe. I won't. And you know, sometimes
our Lord brings us into these winters where we can't see him. He feels so far from us. Because
we're in the same boat as Thomas here, we are. We'd like to say
that we're not. Knee-jerk reaction, we might
read that and we'd say, oh my goodness, can you believe Thomas,
that he would actually say that? A believer wouldn't do that,
would they? Don't be so sure. I heard a man say this one time.
David's great sin with Bathsheba. And we're awful hard on David,
we are. But don't be too hard on David. just because our Bathsheba
hadn't come along yet. If the Lord tempts us, if the
Lord leaves us to ourselves, we'll fall away just like that,
just as easy as anyone else. But he doesn't leave us there.
Aren't we thankful he doesn't leave us there? These seasons
come to an end, and even though they feel like they last a long
time, our Lord brings it to an end. I'm sure that these few
days for Thomas felt like forever, but they weren't. Look at verse
26. And after eight days again his
disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be
unto you. He said, Peace be unto you. And then there was Thomas. Verse
27. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach
hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy
hand, and thrust it into my side. and be not faithless, but believing.
Thomas answered and said unto him, my Lord and my God, aren't
we thankful that just like Thomas, our Lord comes to us in his time?
You know, I'm sure if Thomas had his way, he would have been
there right with the disciples the first time, but that wasn't in
the Lord's time. That's not what he had purposed.
And how glad Thomas was when the Lord finally came to him,
when he saw the Lord, it was all okay. When we were kids,
mom and dad would always take us to Dollywood there in Pigeon
Forge. And I felt like we would go like
every year and we had a blast. We'd ride roller coasters and
eat way too much food and we'd have a good time. And I remember
one time we were down there, and we'd been going for a while,
and there's a section in the park where it kind of bottlenecks.
And there's a bunch of roller coasters, and it's really, really
crowded. And we're all just walking together,
and I'm right next to Dad, and Brady and Mom next to him. I'm
a little fella, and so I'm in my own little world. I'm just
walking along, looking at my feet. You know, not paying a
lick of attention. You know, I'm pretty sure dad's
next to me. I can see his feet moving. And all of a sudden,
dad stops. And I'm like, hmm, OK. And so
I start walking circles around dad. I'm just like, OK, I'll
just stay where he is. And then it kind of hits me. I'm like,
why did we stop? And so I look up. That wasn't
my dad. And I was scared to death. I mean, 10 years old, frantically,
where's my dad? And sure enough, he's five feet
ahead of me. As soon as I lock on him, I take
off running, I latch on to him. When I saw him, everything was
okay. It was all okay. I wasn't scared no more. It was
all okay. How much more Thomas here? When
he saw the Lord, it was okay. To everything, there's a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven. To everything, there's
a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. I want
to know that, don't you? I want to, I want to believe
that I want to rest in that. In closing, I'd ask you to turn
with me the book of Job, Job chapter 38. You know, this morning we've been talking
a lot about these seasons of trial and seasons of trouble.
And as far as human flesh goes, I don't know that there's anyone
that endured trouble like our brother Job. Job, who in a very
short time, worldly speaking, lost everything. Lost his children,
lost his wealth, his health, all his worldly comforts. And
yet in all of this, we're told that Job sinned not, nor charged
God foolishly. And that wasn't because of anything
in Job. That's because our Lord kept Job. Through all of this,
our Lord kept Job. Well, here in Job 38, God spoke
to Job and answered out of the whirlwind. Look here at verse
11. The Lord speaking and said, hitherto shalt thou come, but
no further. And here shall thy proud waves
be stayed. Hitherto shalt thou come, but
no further. These waves that we see at the
beach that wash up on that sand. Our Lord has said, hitherto shalt
thou come, but no further. One of my people's favorite things
to do my grandfather Go to the beach every year and he told
us this story. I don't know how many times But
his favorite thing to do is he would get to the house and he'd
he'd run and he dropped the luggage on the bed And he'd go straight
down to where the ocean met the sand right right where those
waves were hitting and you know some of those waves were big
and they'd crash and they'd and They'd hit his shins and go behind
him. And some of them maybe were real
little, and they wouldn't even reach his toes. And he'd sit
there, or he'd stand there, and he'd look out at this, our Lord's
great ocean, and he'd be reminded of this verse. God said, right
here and no further. For each one of these waves,
for that big one, God has said right here and no further. For
this little one right here, God has said right here and not an
inch further. Not an inch closer, right here,
and no further. And I can't help but think of
how true this is. In light of our text this morning
and our lives here below, to everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under the heaven. For all of us in
our walk here below and this life that our Lord has given
us on earth, the end of this journey has already been determined.
From before the foundation of the world, God has said for each
and every one of us that our life is going to be right here
and no further. And listen, nothing's going to
change that. It's not going to be a moment sooner and it's not
going to be a moment later. Right here and no further. And
for all these seasons of trouble and heartache that we endure
in this life, God has purposed the beginning the duration and
the end of every single one of them. And even though it seems
like these seasons are gonna overtake us, our God's grace
is always sufficient. He always brings us through.
And we can take comfort in this. We can take comfort in that every
single season, there's an expected end because our Lord has purpose
for it to be right here and no further. Right here and no further. to everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Amen.