Well come back with me to Ecclesiastes
and the third chapter this morning, the third chapter, the work that
God makes is the title of this message. Words written by Solomon,
King Solomon the son of David, three thousand years ago, words
of great wisdom Because Solomon was given great wisdom. He didn't
ask for riches, he asked God for wisdom. And God gave him
great wisdom. Great intellect. Great sharpness
of mind. And with that, he gave him immense
riches. Riches, relatively speaking,
like nobody has ever had before or since. Whatever he desired,
he could have. But he was a sinner. Despite
wisdom and despite riches and despite everything that you would
have desired in this life, like everybody else, he was a sinner.
And his sinful nature led him into excess. in so many things,
led him into backsliding in so many things from the presence
of God. He was a saved man, and I know he's in eternity now,
he's a saved man. But if you read the record of
his life in the books of Chronicles and Kings, you will see he was
a flawed man. He was a flawed man. His ability
to have what he wanted, the flesh couldn't constrain itself. and
it went over and over you know like we see with so many celebrities
you know they get all the money that they could possibly want
and there's no restriction on what they want and how many of
them ruin themselves with drugs and alcohol and other excesses
how many of them die young because of because of such abuse no he's
caused to write in another place better a little with contentment
Solomon, tell us what's your experience, what's your advice
to us? And he says, better is a little
with contentment than great wealth with strife and trouble and anguish. Oh boy, is that worth listening
to. Better is a little with contentment than great wealth with strife. That's the thing. Oh Lord, give
me not too much, not too little. Give me just what I need. Give
me what I need. You know, in this internet age,
you know, those of us that are particularly internet savvy,
if you're going to go to a restaurant or to a hotel or to somewhere,
where do you go? You go to TripAdvisor, don't
you? Or something like that. Because TripAdvisor has got the
experience of people that have been there before you. Well,
think of Solomon as a TripAdvisor for this life. Think of him as
a TripAdvisor. You know? Oh, if only we could
have all the money that you could ever imagine. If only we could
have all the riches, all the access to pleasure. Listen to
what the Trip Advisor tells us in Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes
records the futility, the pointlessness, the meaninglessness of life without
God. Life without God. He conducted,
as we saw last week, a life experiment for our learning, and in those
first two chapters we saw he tried wisdom, education, the
the gathering of knowledge from this life for its own sake, to
fulfill him and give, you know, why am I here? Do you ever ask
yourself those questions? Why am I here? What is the purpose
of my life? Oh, well, let's get education.
And our education is a great thing. It's a good thing. Don't
think for one minute that I would ever demean the idea of getting
educated. Get the best education you can.
Do that. It's important. But don't think
that it will satisfy you for life. Because he got the best
education he could. He had the best intellect that
God had ever given to a man. He got education and knowledge.
And what was his conclusion at the end of it all? Futility. Vanity. Pointlessness. Oh, get
pleasures of every kind. Whatever you want. Anything that
money can buy. Any pleasure that is in your
mind, go and get it. Have whatever you want without
restriction. Without restriction of condemning
you, without restriction of judging you, without restriction of lack
of money. Go and do what you want. And
his conclusion at the end of it, when he'd absolutely parted
himself almost to death with it. His conclusion? Vanity. All is vanity. All is pointless.
Oh, go and do creative works. Ah, now that's satisfying, isn't
it? You know, great works of, you know, do you watch these
architecture programs? You know, some very, very clever
people and they must look at what they've done and they go,
wow, look what I've created. And creative work of every kind. And his conclusion at the end
of it all? Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. You see, we're in
a sinful state of rebellion against God by nature, all of us are. All of us in the flesh are in
a sinful state of rebellion. Do you know what the reason for
it is? Paul says it in Romans chapter 1, he says, they did
not want to retain God in their knowledge. Why do all the evolutionists
stand so solidly in favor of their evolutionary philosophy?
Is it because it's scientifically proven beyond any shadow of a
doubt? Absolutely not. Absolutely no way. It just doesn't
stand up to any rational scrutiny. The reason they go for it is
this. They did not want to retain God in their knowledge. I told
you that lady I used to teach with 40 years plus ago, who told
me, a biology teacher, she told me she hoped evolution was true. Because if it wasn't, it meant
she was accountable to a God who would hold her to account
for her life. And she said, the thought of that to me is appalling. They did not want to retain God
in their knowledge. No. Futility. Pointlessness. That's the conclusion. When Solomon
is writing from the perspective of flesh only, futility and pointlessness. So what should we do, Solomon?
And he says again and again, eat, drink, and be merry, for
tomorrow we die. There's nothing, make the best
of it. That's all there is. There's a pointless cycle of
life. Look at verses two to eight.
We read those well-known words before, a time to be born, a
time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck, that which is
planted, a time to kill, a time to heal. Do you see, I won't
read it all again, because you can read it for yourself. Just
in passing, are not the words of the King James Version just
as language, the English language, is it not absolutely beautiful
language, isn't it? Lovely language, it's lovely
poetry. But let's think about the meaning of it. If we're talking
about your life and my life, with no reference to God, if
you're talking about your life and my life, just in the flesh,
seeking education and pleasure and creative work and all of
those things, and going through this cycle of a time to kill,
a time to heal, a time to be born, a time to die, a time to
get, a time to lose, a time to keep, a time to cast away, a
time to love, a time to hate, if it's just that, if it's just
a sequence, a cycle of events from birth to death, is it not
a pointless cycle of life? Is that cycle all there is to
live for? I look at people who are saying,
oh, we're having a good life, and I think, just look at you,
just all living the pointless cycle of life. And you know,
philosophers who apply their philosophy to understand it to
the best of their ability without God they come to this conclusion
it's absolutely pointless and how many of them have ended up
committing suicide because they cannot see the point of it this
endless pointless cycle look at verse nine look at the end
of this cycle look what Solomon asked what profit hath he that
worketh in that wherein he laboureth what's the point of it what does
it do for you at the end of the day the profitless work that
God makes for sinners who reject Him. Look, I have seen the travail
which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
If you reject God, it's a pointless cycle, because where does it
end? It is appointed for man to die once, and then? the judgment. Then you'll see eternal realities.
Then you'll see that all this thing about God and His justice
and His righteousness is absolutely true. It's appointed to man to
die once, and then the judgment. Look at all of the world's famous,
acclaimed, rich, and successful, beautiful, and strong. You know,
all the magazines that parade, this is what you really want
to be, you know, the Vogue's and the different magazines of
celebrity. The world's famous, the acclaimed,
the rich, the successful, the beautiful, the strong. Look what
happens to them all. Look at verse 20. Look at verse
20. All go to one place. All are of the dust. He's comparing
you and me. People made in the image of God
with the animals, the birds out there. When we die, what did
God say? What did God make us of? Out
of the dust of the ground. You say, no, he didn't. Yes,
he did. If we chemically analyze you, somebody once did this,
I don't know, those of you a bit older might remember, somebody
breaking down the human body into its chemical, Compound constituents
and on a table like this one next to me. There were several
piles of dust because it was like calcium carbonate and Something
you know all sorts of little piles of compact dust you are
and to dust you return and in that respect you see those birds
pecking around out there and when they die, do you know what
they're going to return to? Dust. You see, Solomon says,
all, all of us, in this flesh, in this physical nature, go to
one place where all dust, and to dust we will return, because
that was what God said. That's it. In that, the best,
the richest, the most famous, are no better than animals. So
think about it for yourself. What mark, what effect, Will
it be said that you have had on your life and your times when
you are dead? Think about it. Do you know there's
not many? Of the billions and billions
that live, there are not many. There are not many that have
any lasting effect whatsoever. Not at all. I was telling you
last week about us burning the last traces of my 40-year career
from the office upstairs. And when you look at it, you
think, well, did you do some great things? Well, there were
times when I really enjoyed it. And there were times when I would
say, gosh, that was a good piece of work. And people patted me
on the back. And we won some business. And people got paid
wages. And various other things happened.
And designs came out of it. And you'd say, oh, what a wonderful
thing. I think if you were to ask anybody that ever knew me
working now, can you remember anything that that guy did? And
there'll be very few people who'll say, oh, I remember such and
such a thing. And yet to me at the time, it was the most important
thing going. Can't remember it. What effect
will it have? So you see, in your flesh as
you are, as we all are, on our own, there's no purpose. It's
a pointless cycle of life. But you see, the purpose of God's
word is not just to tell sinful man how pointless his godless
existence is. That isn't the purpose of it.
It is to declare salvation from sin. You know, we saw last week
that the problem was Sin. The title of last week's message
was No Just Men. Chapter 7, verse 20. There are
no just men. That's the problem. There is
none righteous. No, not one. There is none who meets God's
demands. There is none who satisfies the
justice of God. The only way of satisfying the
justice of God is through the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's
the purpose of this word. to declare salvation from sin,
to declare reconciliation with God, to give meaning to this
life, to give meaning to a life that has a goal not of this life
for its own pointless purpose, but in eternity. What did Jesus
say about these words? These ones that we've read this
morning. These are they that speak of me. How do they speak
of him? How do they speak of him? Look
at verse 11. Look at verse 11. the work that God makes, he hath
made everything beautiful in his time. Also he hath set the
world in their hearts so that no man can find out the work
that God maketh from the beginning to the end. The work that God
makes. You see, it's vanity for sinless,
godless mankind. It's pointlessness for sinful,
godless mankind. But God Throughout the scriptures,
I love it when Paul particularly writes, this is the state of
us in our sin, but God, but God. When it was all lost as far as
us and our sin is concerned, but God brought about salvation. Look at verse 14. 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. When God works, when God does
the work that God does, it's not a bit like the work of godless
mankind. Whatever God does, it shall be
forever. You know, what I did in 40 years
of work went up in flames at the end of the garden. But what
God does, he does it forever. His purposes can never be frustrated. He is sovereign over all. Look
over at chapter seven and verse 13. chapter 7 and verse 13. Consider
the work of God, for who can make that straight which he hath
made crooked? In other words, you cannot undo
what God has decreed. You can't do it. You cannot do
it. Now look back then at verse 11.
He hath made everything beautiful in his time. That could also
be rendered, so those who are good at the ancient languages
tell me, That could be rendered, the beautiful one has made all
things in his time. The beautiful one has made all
things in his time. Who is the beautiful one? That's
the Christ of God. That's God's Christ, the beautiful
one. How do I know that? If you were
to turn, and we won't do now for the sake of time, but to
the Song of Solomon in chapter 5 and verses 9 to 16, look there. What is your beloved more than
another beloved? And the Shulamite replies, ah,
my beloved is so beautiful. He's fair and ruddy and strong
and magnificent. And it just overflows with Praise
for this one who is the beautiful one. Christ is the beautiful
one of God. What God has done in Christ is
so different to man's futile strivings. What God has done
in Christ is what it says in verse 14. I know that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. God has made time. This time
in which we live, every minute of it is the creation of God. It isn't just happening. God
has made it, every bit of it. He's made it. It's all the work
of Christ. Christ is the manifestation of
the unknowable God. He is the manifestation, the
outworking. If you would know God as Jesus
said to Philip, Philip said, show us the essence of God. And
Jesus said to him, Philip, have I been so long with you, and
you have not yet known me? He who has seen me has seen the
Father, for I and the Father are one. Christ is the outworking,
the outpouring, the manifestation in speech of the mind of God.
John chapter 1 verse 3, all things were made by him, this is Christ,
and without him was not anything made that was made. Hebrews 1
verse 2, talking about the Son, speaking by the Son, by whom
also He, God, made the worlds. How did He make the worlds? By
His Son. And He has made a people. He has made a people, who are
sinners, all, for there is none righteous, no, not one. He has
made a people into His jewels. In Malachi chapter 3 verse 17
God talks about making his jewels out of all mankind in its sinful
futility And it is in its sinful futility. Look what verse 11
says, the second clause. He hath set the world in their
heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh.
In its sinful futility, God said, okay, if you reject me, there's
the world set in your heart. That's the limit of your experience
and your aspirations and your desires and your ambitions, the
world set in your heart. And so you can't find out the
work of God. As Job says, who can find out
God just by sitting and considering? It's something which must be
revealed by his spirit, through his word. But out of that mankind,
in its sinful futility, God has made some to be his prized possession. He's made some, his elect, to
be his prized possession, his jewels. This is the work of God. What should we do, ask the Jews,
that we might work the work of God? He said, this is the work
of God, that you believe on him whom he sent. This is the work
of God. This is the work that God does,
that you believe on the Christ whom he has sent. Look at it
in verse one. To everything there is a season
and a time for every purpose under heaven. What has God done
in time working through Christ? There is a time in the purposes
of God. Do you know when we looked at
Revelation and we kept seeing the numerics of it, the three
and a half, the time, the times and the half a time, the 1260
days, symbolic and all of those things, the 42 months, the six
times seven, six being one short of seven. I'm not going to go
into the great detail now, but there's a mystery, but there's
great significance in those things. Do you know, all of time is in
God's hands. All of it. All of time is in
his hands. All of it. He's made it for his
purposes. And at the right time, he does that which accomplishes
the salvation that he purposed. In time, he does that which accomplishes
the salvation which he purposed. Galatians 4 verse 4. When the
fullness of the time, whose time? God's time. When the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman,
made under the law. Why did he do that? To redeem
those who are under the law. To redeem those sinners who he's
going to make into his jewels by satisfying the law of God
in the blood of Christ. He sent forth his son, made of
a woman, made under the law to redeem those who are under the
law that we might receive the adoption of sons. Made the jewels
of God. God sent forth his son. There's
a time to be born. Christ was born. Why was he born? That he might die. There's a
time to die. A time to be born, a time to
die. There was a time for him to be planted. You know, the
Old Testament talks about him as the branch out of the root
of Jesse. There was a time for him to be
planted. But in this life, there was a
time when he had to be plucked up. There's a time to kill and
a time to heal. He had to be killed. under the
law, under the just condemnation of God for the sin of his people,
that he might be raised to newness of life, that they might be raised.
He's the firstfruits. We're raised in him. He had to
be broken down that he might be resurrected and that he might
ascend to heaven. There's a time to weep. Jesus
wept as a man. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. But for the joy that was set
before him, For the joy that was set before him, he went to
the cross, despising the shame. It was worth it for the joy that
was set before him. He wept as a man and he rejoiced
in the salvation that he was accomplishing. He casts away
in judgment. He gathers in grace. And so we
could go on down all of these. He loved Jacob, we read. Time
to love and a time to hate. He loved Jacob, but it says he
hated Esau. meaning he left Esau to his own
unbelieving, rebellious devices. He makes war on his enemies.
He makes peace through the blood of his cross. In his earthly
life, Jesus said at various times about his time, time is the creation
of God. Time without God is a pointless
cycle of futility that ends in death and judgment. But in God's
purposes, he accomplished salvation by Christ coming. In time that
Christ had created, at the right time, in the purpose of God,
they sought to take him. John 7 verse 30. But no man laid
hands on him. Why, with all their forces, did
they not lay hands on him? Because his hour had not yet
come. It wasn't the right time. in
the purposes of God. John 13, 1, Jesus knew that now
his hour was come. He said in Matthew 26, 28, go
into the city says such a man and say to him, the master says,
my time is at hand. Now is the time for me to ride
into Jerusalem and go to the cross to save my people from
their sins. I will keep my Passover at thy
house with my disciples. And it happened exactly as he
decreed. Because I know that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. That which God has made crooked,
can any man make straight? No, no. God's purposes last. God's purposes unfolding time
in his saving purposes. So that Romans 5, 6 says this.
When we were yet without strength, you and me, his people. When
we were yet without strength, when we were sinners, without
any righteousness or justice before the law of God, in due
time, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Look at
1 Timothy 6, verse 13. What is this salvation in time
focused on, working towards, going to culminate in? Verse
13 of chapter 6 of 1 Timothy, I give thee charge in the sight
of God who quickeneth all things, he's the one who gives life,
and Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good
confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable,
now this is the point, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Until, it's about time, isn't
it? Until. It's all working its way towards
the end of time when he shall appear, to take his people to
be with him, which in his times he shall show who is the blessed
and only potentate, the King of kings and the Lord of lords,
who only hath immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach
to. This is where it's aiming for, the work of salvation that
God in Christ has accomplished in time, in all of these times,
pointless without God, but in the purpose of God, absolutely
everything at the right time, to do that which is necessary
to redeem sinners from their sins. The Beautiful One has indeed
made all things in His time. And verse 14, it shall be forever. He shall not fail, says Isaiah
42, verse 4. He shall not fail. Sinful man's
pointless, meaningless cycle of futility is set against God's
purposeful ordering of all things for His glory in the salvation
of His people, the people of His choice. But then not only
does he do that in time in Christ, making the way of salvation clear,
but he works in each individual. And you know how this cycle,
as we saw at the start, is nothing other than futile. What profit
hath he that worketh in that wherein he liveth? What's the
point of it all? But in Christ, in the purposes of God, God's
work in his individual people, is full of purpose, it's full
of saving purpose. These words were written by Solomon. He was an object of God's grace,
he was given great wisdom, but in the flesh he was a hopeless
mess. In the flesh he was a hopeless
mess. These words were written by him, but they were inspired
by the Holy Spirit of God. God works out his redemptive
purposes through his Son, in time, as we've just seen. But
then he works them out specifically in each of his elect, in bringing
them to himself. Out of their natural, futile
darkness, into his glorious light. Because each one of us, I don't
care who you are, what home you're brought up in, which influence
you have been brought up in, you're in darkness outside of
Christ. but God by grace brings each
of his people to himself into his glorious light. Which believer
cannot look back and say with amazement all the way my God,
my Savior has led me. All of it. All of it. Look at
it. Look at what I was. Look at where
I was. Look at what was my... Look where
he's brought me to. To everything there is a season
and a time, to every purpose under heaven. Look at all the
way my God has led me. I look at people and I think,
oh dear, people that are very dear to me and I think, oh I
would that they weren't going that way. And then I think, all
things are in the hands of God. All things are in the hands of
God. If they're objects of his grace, I don't care what they
do, he will not let them go. He will get them. He will get
them. He will bring them to himself.
He will show them, oh you can't possibly deal with that person
in that way, they have much to, I tell you, I tell you, if God
takes hold of a sinner and shows him himself, that sinner will
be broken before him. That sinner will be broken. We
can all, if we're believers, we can look back and say, not
because I did this or I was better than the rest, but just by grace,
by grace. It's just the grace of God. Look
at verse two. In the life of every believer,
You were born physically, but there's a time to be born spiritually. For except a man be born again,
said Jesus to Nicodemus, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Oh, in
the life of every believer, there is a time to be born. There is
not one who is truly saved who does not know it before they
go to the grave. Mark my words, there is not one
who is truly saved. God brings everyone that he has
saved to know that they are saved by the grace of God through the
blood of Christ before they go to the grave. They know it. They
know it. God doesn't save anybody out
of some fictitious purgatory. Never, ever. That's a lie of
the Roman Catholic Church. It's nonsense. It doesn't work.
No, there's a time to be born. and a time to die. What's the
dying? The death of the old man in the Lord Jesus Christ. That
old man has got to die. Verse three, there's a time to
kill and a time to heal. The law of God has got to kill
you, every individual one of us. It's got to kill us that
we might be made alive by Christ. Has God's law killed you? Has
it? You'll know if it has, because
you know that there's only one place to go. That law sends you
to Christ, pleading mercy in him alone. As 1 Corinthians 15,
22 says, for as in Adam all died, that's all of us, every one of
us, even so in Christ shall all, all his people be made alive.
Verse four, there's a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time
to mourn and a time to dance. Jesus said in the Sermon on the
Mount, blessed are they that mourn. He's not talking about
mourning because their relatives died. No, that's not the mourning
he's talking about. He's talking about mourning over
our sin. Blessed are they that mourn over their sin. Blessed
are they that are heartbroken because we know that before the
law of God we stand condemned, justly condemned, deserving nothing
other than his wrath and punishment. Blessed are they that mourn for
they shall be comforted. In what shall they be comforted?
They shall be comforted. In what shall they rejoice and
dance and laugh? In what? In the salvation that
Christ has accomplished. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted with the grace of God in the gospel
of his grace. Verse five, there's a casting
away. I don't know really what this means. What could it be?
Could it be he's talking about God casting away those stubborn
stones of the Jewish nation and gathering the living stones of
Gentiles brought to himself? I don't know. Embracing. What
could this be? Could this be applied to fluctuations
in a believer's experience in intimate communion with God as
I expect we're going to see if we move on into the Song of Solomon
in a few weeks time. Verse six, a time to get and
a time to lose. A time to get and a time to lose. Luke chapter nine, verse 24,
Jesus said, whosoever will save his life, will get his life,
will keep his life, will say this life is mine, He says, whosoever
will save his life shall lose it. But whosoever will lose his
life for my sake, the same shall save it. Ever mulled that over? Whosoever will lose his life
for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the honor of his
name, for submission to his word, the same shall save that life
for eternity. Verse seven, there's rending
and sewing. Is there in that a hint of repentance
because they used to tear their clothes in repentance in the
Old Testament? Is there a hint of binding up
that the repentant heart is bound up by the blessings and the comfort
of the gospel of grace? The main point is this. God unfolds
time and his purposes for each of his elect children in bringing
them to eternity. The same applies to the speaking
and the silence and the loving and the hating and the war and
the peace. I think you get the point. We
all now inhabit time until the day we die. That's it, this is
where we are. We're in God's created space-time
situation till we die. Will your journey through time
be futile and pointless and profitless without God and without hope
in this world? Will it be on that broad way?
Oh you say everybody else is going that way? Yes, Jesus always
said it's a broad way that leads to destruction. Don't think that
you're on the right way if the majority are there with you.
No, it's a broad way that leads to destruction. It's the narrow
way that leads to life. And few there be that find it. But by his grace, there are some. There are some. 1 Corinthians
1. Not many are called, but some are called. Not many high and
mighty and important in this world. Not many, but there are
some. Don't follow that broad way that
leads to destruction. Rather, will you seek to understand
God's purposes in salvation? You know, not a pointless time,
but God's purposes in time, in sending his son at the right
time, in accomplishing redemption for his elect, in calling you
under the sound of the gospel to embrace the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Because I know
this, As it says in Acts 13, 48, when they preached the gospel,
those that God had ordained in his unchangeable purposes to
eternal life, believed. Simple as that. Those that God
had ordained, they believed. Whatsoever God doeth, it shall
be forever. Oh may he give us wisdom, that
wisdom which is from on high, that wisdom which is the Lord
Jesus Christ.