In Ecclesiastes, in the third
chapter, we read at the beginning these words, 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. 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. Ecclesiastes is another of those
books sometimes called the wisdom books in the scriptures, which
Solomon, the son of David wrote. Last week we considered his book,
the Proverbs. Here we have the Ecclesiastes,
or the preacher. And following this is the Song
of Solomon, or the Song of Songs. The book of Proverbs reveals
unto us the wisdom, the wisdom of God in Jesus Christ. That
wisdom which Solomon asked of God, which God gave him. That wisdom which is Christ himself. In the book of Proverbs we saw
how that wisdom is preached. We saw something of what that
wisdom is in Christ. And we see what that wisdom brings
forth for Christ, his bride, his bride, his people chosen
out of this world, saved by grace, washed of their sins, delivered
from darkness and death and destruction, washed clean, made new, made
whiter than snow, without spot and without blemish. A perfect,
a wonderful bride for her husband. So in Ecclesiastes, Solomon goes
on to show something of the preaching of the preacher of wisdom. Something
of what he enters into in this world when he goes forth to preach
the gospel of Christ. We see the world, the mission
field as it were, of this preacher, and the darkness into which this
light shines. A world of vanity, a world of
foolishness, a world which by wisdom knows not God. As Solomon says in the opening
words of the book in chapter 1, the words of the preacher,
the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the
preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all
his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth
away, and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth
forever. The sun also ariseth, and the
sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The
wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north.
It whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again
according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea,
yet the sea is not full. Unto the place from whence the
rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of
labor. Man cannot utter it. The eye
is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be. And that
which is done is that which shall be done. And there is no new
thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it
may be said, see this is new, it have been already of old time,
which was before us. There is no remembrance of former
things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that
are to come with those that shall come after. The world goes on
and on. One generation's born, they pass
away. The next generation's born, it
passes away. The next generation's born, it
passes away. Every generation thinks it is
brighter and more intellectual and more understanding with greater
knowledge than their predecessors. They all act like they've discovered
something wonderful and something new. And yet as Solomon says,
there's nothing truly new. And you're no wiser than your
fathers. You come and you go, you come
and you go, you're born and you die, you're born and you die,
and you're as dead and blind as all. And all your speech and all your
wisdom and all your great claims, oh men and women of this world,
of vanity. This is a book regarding the
preacher and those to whom he sent and the message he brings
to them. Following Ecclesiastes is the
Song of Solomon, that account of the love that Christ has for
his bride. and of the love that his bride
has for her Saviour. Oh, what a fulfilment of all
things is seen in that book, that love story between Christ
and his bride, that which the Gospel brings in, that which
Christ, the wisdom of God, by grace brings to pass, the end
of all things, a glorious sight, a glorious end, a wonderful fulfillment, and a fitting contrast to the
darkness that we see in the world which is portrayed by the preacher
in the book of Ecclesiastes. For many would read this book
and say that it is a mournful, a negative, a despairing book. For what they discover in here
is the vanity of man in the natural realm, is the darkness. And yet behind the darkness that
is presented to us in this book, there is a great, great hope. For the darkness is merely the
canvas upon which the glorious light and colors of the gospel
are painted. The darkness is merely that into
which Christ and his gospel shine. And it is the darkness and death
of this world which makes us see how glorious and wonderful
God's grace towards sinners truly is. for how utterly undeserving
of His goodness and grace and longsuffering we all are. We are all sinners, all born,
all living in sin, all rejecting and despising God and His truth,
all rejecting the Word of God when we hear it, all living for
self, all proud in our own intellect, all despising the former generations
as though we are greater and wiser, as though we are progressing,
and all as dead and blind as they ever were. all vain, all
foolish, and yet despite what we are, God still sends a preacher
into this world with his Gospel. Despite the darkness, Christ
still preaches Because he has a people who sit in darkness
unto whom he will show a great light. A people whom he has purpose
from before the foundations of this world to save. People like
you and I, sat in the darkness, rebels against God, undeserving,
never having loved Him, never having considered Him, never
having deserved His blessing, and yet He looks upon them from
eternity past and says, this one, that one, and that one,
I will save. And I am going to enter into
that world of darkness. And I am going to enter into
the world of mankind. I'm going to be made a man, rejected
of men, despised of men, crucified by men. and I am going to allow
them to nail me to a cross, I'm going to cause them to nail me
to a cross because I will go into that world of darkness,
into that world of death, to die for those who are dead, to
die for those whom the Father has given me, these ones, these
twos, these people who are chosen, I'm going to go for them, to
die for them, to save them. to wash them clean though they
deserve it not, to save them, to redeem them, and to call them
out from the darkness into my church as my bride, as my people,
to dwell with me in light forevermore. to dwell in that light which
is described elsewhere in the scriptures as light inaccessible,
light that fallen sinners in darkness cannot approach unto. For God dwelleth in light, he
is light and he dwells in light inaccessible because sinful sinners
cannot enter into his presence. because Christ came into this
world to save sinners and to take away their sin, to blot
it out and to make them righteousness, the righteousness of God in Him,
to make them light. He has brought them and He brings
them into the very presence of God the Father into light. Inaccessible. Oh what a preacher, what a saviour,
what a gospel, what wisdom and what light there is in it. Solomon wrote this book, but he wrote it as inspired by
Christ his saviour. For when Solomon opens and says
the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem,
In reality, he speaks not just of himself. He was the immediate
preacher, the immediate son of David, the immediate king in
Jerusalem. But the real author and speaker
here is the preacher Jesus Christ, the son of David, the one who
was prophesied to come, the Messiah, and the king in Jerusalem, the
king of kings, the king in New Jerusalem, not just Jerusalem
here on earth. This is Christ, and Christ cries
out into the darkness, the darkness in which you dwell, the darkness
in which your mind and your thought and your intellect and your ambitions
and your goals are all shrouded, the darkness of your death in
which you dwell. He cries out into the darkness. Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What prophet hath a man of all
his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth
away and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever. You're born, you die. You're
born, you die. And all you seek in life brings
you nothing. Brings you nothing. Children, young men, old men,
listen, you're born, you live, you seek things in this world,
you seek riches, pleasure, entertainment, you have your ambitions, you
think I will do this and I will do that, I will become this when
I'm older, I will seek to do this, I will build this, I will
make this great, I will make myself great. and the years go
by and you get older and you do this or that and you work
at it and you build up and in the end it's all nothing even
if you are the mightiest of men in this world the greatest of
women whatever you may build up it comes to nothing in the
end you are dust and you return to dust in the end there is a
time to be born and there is a time to die. And your life
is but a moment. And all the labour of your life,
all your great ambitions, all your great building, all that
you've sought and desired, all is nothing in the end. You pass
from this world to the next on that day in which you die and
you can take nothing with you. It's nothing, it's darkness,
it's vanity. Oh, will you learn it? How we're
deceived when we're young to think that life has so much to
offer in this world. And how the darkness around us
and the wisdom of this world says live life to the full. What
a wonderful life you may have, but how brief, how fleeting it
is. This isn't the end. This is but
a moment. And the wisdom that we might
be given by God, true wisdom, is to learn that this world is
vanity and nothing. But that there is a light which
shines in the darkness and that light comes in the words of the
preacher, the son of David, the king in Jerusalem. There are many throughout history
who have built and wrought great things, many who have been raised
to great heights, many who have built up great riches, who in
the end have died in despair. Winston Churchill, that great
leader of Britain, that man that brought Britain through the Second
World War, and who inspired and motivated a nation which was
on its knees and who worked all his life endlessly to bring peace
in Europe and peace in the world and passed the various treaties
with Germany and Russia and America following the Second World War
and worked tirelessly. When he was an old man, he saw
everything that he had worked for falling apart. He saw the
iron curtain come down in the east. He saw troubles all around
and he saw it all coming to nothing. And he said that he had laboured
and worked throughout all his life and everything had come
to nothing. He discovered the reality of
this. Maybe he didn't discover the
reality of the God that spake it but he saw how futile and
so many like him have worked and worked and laboured and sought
after their ambitions and discover when they're old that this world
is nothing. It's nothing. Nothing. This book of Ecclesiastes shows
us this world and the vanity and the darkness and the foolishness
of men in this world. All that they think, all that
they reason, and yet how foolish it is. But it also shows us a
contrast. It also shows us some light shining
in this darkness. There's a voice crying out in
it. Crying out to man that this world
is vanity. Crying out that there is a God
and a maker over all who rules all. That though men are born
and men die, men are born and men die, there is an everlasting
God who was never born and will never die. one who was without
beginning and without end and when we die we will stand before
him and that this God in grace makes
himself known to sinners in the darkness when he shines the light
of his gospel in the darkness into the hearts of sinners and
says unto them by his gospel 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. Have you heard the voice of the
preacher, the son of David, the king in Jerusalem, speaking? There is a time to be born. Have you? Or is your thinking and your
understanding still governed by the thinking and the understanding
in this world and nothing more? Is all that you do under the
sun vanity? Or have you heard a voice from
heaven calling you to look up? To look up, calling you in the
darkness, calling you out. calling you out, crying unto
you in the darkness, there is a time to be born. This book is called the book
of the Ecclesiastes, or the preacher. The Ecclesiastes comes from that
word ecclesia, meaning to be called out. And the role of the
preacher as he preaches the Gospel is to go into this world of darkness,
crying and calling out in the world of darkness, calling unto
a people to come out from the darkness into the light of the
Gospel and into the gathering of God's Church, that people,
the Ecclesia, who are called out from this world. called out. In the darkness of this world,
a people is born, a people die, they're born, they die, they
do everything under the sun, and all they do under the sun
is vanity. And whilst they're born, whilst
they die, whilst they live, they can see nothing of that sun. of which the sun in this world
is but a picture, they can see nothing of that sun which shines
the light of the gospel into the darkness of this world. That
sun, the son of God, Jesus Christ. That sun, the son of David, the
king in Jerusalem. O you who live under the sun,
Have you seen, have you looked up, has the light of the sun
shone forth and cried unto you, calling out in the darkness,
there is a time to be born. Man by nature knows that there
is a time to be born and there is a time to die. He knows with
his natural reason there's a time to plant, a time to pluck up
that which is planted, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time
to break down, a time to build up. But all he sees in these
times is those times in the natural realm. He sees that men are born
and men die. He sees that plants are planted
and plants grow up. He sees that animals are killed
and we eat. He sees that people are hurt
and then they are healed. He sees that there are times
and there are seasons throughout the calendar in the year in which
he lives. He sees that there is winter
and there is summer. He sees that the sun rises and
the moon rises. Day comes, night comes, life
goes on and he sees nothing more. All he sees in these things is
the need to make the most of this life before that time to
die comes to him. Well that time to die comes to
all who have been born. You have had your time to be
born physically. and the days come and the days
go and the years come and the years go and you steadily get
older and as you go you are taking a journey which is moving steadily
closer to that day, that time when you shall die and does that enter your thoughts? Or do you spend your time simply
seeing nothing more than the need and the desire to enjoy
what this world and this life can offer you? The natural man sees no more
than this. There's a time to be born, a
time to die. When he dies he thinks that's
it, his opportunities come to an end, he goes to the grave
and that's it. He thinks of nothing beyond it. When your time to die comes, what do you expect to happen?
Will you cease to be? Will you fall into an endless
sleep? Or will you come to stand before
a creator who is timeless, eternal, who put you here, who put you
in this world, and who spake endlessly in the darkness in
his gospel of his son and of his salvation and will you when
you stand before him have to confess that you shut your ears
to the sound of that voice in the darkness and you shut your
ears to the knowledge of your creator and you come to stand
before him with nothing to say but to confess your darkness
and your sin. Chapter 12 at the end of this
book gives us a solemn warning. not to wait until we're old to
consider the time to die not to wait until we're old to consider
this god that put us here and sustains us here not to wait
until we're old to consider our creator but it tells us remember
now thy creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days
come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say i have no
pleasure in them While the sun or the light or the moon or the
stars be not darkened nor the clouds return after the rain. Remember now thy Creator in the
days of thy youth. There is a God who has made you
and placed you here, before whom you will stand. And by nature
you are full of sin. You have rebelled against Him,
shut your ears to His gospel, lived your life for yourself.
You have not sought Him, you have not served Him, and you
do not deserve His blessing. Then what will you say to Him?
on that day in which you die. He will say to enter into eternal
light and glory you must have light and righteousness in your
soul. Where is it? And where will you
find it? How will you produce it? How
will you present it to him? You may say, well I have lived
a good life, I have laboured my lifetime to do good to my
fellow man. I've tried my best to be good
to all. But your labour is vanity, it's
wrought nothing. What you call good, he calls
filthy rags. What you call righteousnesses,
He calls filthy rags. They're nothing. They're full
of sin and full of pride. They're contemptuous. Don't wait to have this discussion
when you come to stand before your Creator. But remember now
thy Creator in the days of thy youth. We don't just arrive in
this world by accident. There was a time to be born because
that Creator said of you and of me, now is the day, the hour,
when this one shall be born. And from that hour on, He sustains
us and provides for us. He keeps us alive. And what do
you do with that life which He gives you? What are you doing
with that life which He has given you this day at this hour? When you go from this meeting
and from this place, when you go from hearing this message,
what will you do next? God will give you life to do
this and to do that. He will give you strength and
wisdom to do this and to do that. And what will you do with it?
Will you seek your own glory, your own end, your own ambitions,
your own pleasure, to bring before him on that day when you die,
as sin in your hands? as utter unrighteousness, or
will you seek your Creator and fall down upon your face, fall
down upon your knees before Him and say, Lord, I am unrighteous,
ungodly, I am selfish, I am without strength, I am in darkness, I
cannot do right, I have not sought Thee, I can do nothing to save
myself, have mercy upon me. Because that is all we can do
as sinners in the hands of an angry God. Because this God is
angry with the wicked each and every day. And you and I by nature
are wicked. But this God who calls in the
darkness to the wicked by nature, is a God of goodness, and a God
of grace, and a God of life, and a God of salvation. And there
is a time with this God, when He says that there is a time
to be born, not simply born as sons of Adam in this physical
realm, but a time to be born of God. A time to be born with
a life unlike that life we have by nature. With a new life. With a life which comes from
God above. A new life with eternal life. A life by which we will see God. A life by which we will be given
faith to believe God. A life by which we will discover
God's salvation in Jesus Christ. A life by which we will discover
that we have no righteousness. But this God who calls the Son
to life is a God who has given His people righteousness in His
own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When He says there's a time to
be born for us, and the Spirit of God enters our soul, our hearts,
and quickens us to life, causes us to be born again, when He
says this hour to be born has come for you, then you will look
and then you will behold. Then you will behold the Son
of God crucified for sinners upon the tree, the Son of God
suffering for the sins of sinners, the sins of wicked sinners like
you and I. And if God gives you that faith
to see Him, if God causes you to be born again to see Him,
then you will see Him suffering for your sins. and taking your
sins away and making you to be the righteousness of God in Him. Then you will see that because
of what He has done, because of His righteousness, because
of His death and because of His love for you who loved Him not,
that you will be born and you will live and you will live forevermore
but it's not by your doing and you will only see if he calls
to you in the darkness and opens your eyes to see and opens your
ears to hear his voice there's a time to be born we
must be born again We must hear that voice in the darkness of
that preacher calling unto us, and we must hear his voice bringing
us unto life, and by that voice we must be born. Jesus said unto
Nicodemus who came unto him by night, came unto Jesus in the
darkness, came unto Jesus by night and said, and asked him
a question, and Jesus said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. And Nicodemus saith unto him,
How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? And Jesus answered,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. Yes, there's a birth which is
natural. You were born. Your time to be
born naturally has come and gone. But there's a birth which is
of the Spirit of God by which you are born again and you will
not see the Kingdom of God. You will not see the light shining
in the darkness until the Spirit of God speaks and you are born
by His Word, by the Gospel. Jesus says, Marvel not that I
said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where
it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every
one that is born of the Spirit. We don't know where the wind
comes from or is going. And we don't know where the Spirit
comes from or is going. But there we are, stood one day. And one day the Spirit of God,
the breath of God, the wind of God, comes and blows upon us. And it blows upon us by the Gospel. And it says unto us in our darkness,
ye must be born again. And we hear. And we are born. And we see. Nicodemus answered
and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and
said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knoweth not these
things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and
ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things
and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly
things? And no man have ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
Man which is in heaven. There's Nicodemus. was a great
master in Israel, a theologian of his day, one versed in the
scriptures, one that men looked up to as a wise man in the things
of God, in the things of the church. And when Christ came
unto him and told him the truth of the gospel, he didn't understand. Art thou a master of Israel and
knowest not these things? But we, Christ says, we, I, and
those whom I send to preach my gospel by my name, come unto
you and we speak what we know, and we testify what we've seen,
and you receive not our witness. Is that you? It's certainly true
of many today. There are many Nicodemuses around
today and those that follow them, blind led by the blind. many
in the professing church, many who say great teachers, great
theologians tell us these things, who receive not the witness of
Christ in his gospel by his preachers. Who will you listen to? the masters
in Israel, the theologians who lead people in the darkness,
or the voice of Christ in his gospel by his preachers, who
call unto you in the darkness, ye must be born again. Ye must. The natural man knows nothing
of this birth. He knows there's a time to be
born and a time to die, a physical birth and a physical death. The
natural man in religion knows the Bible speaks of a new birth. But he thinks that that birth
comes when he makes a decision to follow Jesus. As though this
birth is just a changing of his ways. He knows nothing of that
birth. He's foreign to it. He's never
experienced it. But the preacher here, Jesus
here, says we preach what we know and what we've seen. We
know this birth. We've experienced it, we've seen
it and we know that there is a new birth from on high and
we know the life it brings. You may speak of it but you know
nothing of it. Or do you? Have you heard, have
you been born again? For the spiritual, the children
of God, God's people, his ecclesia, his church, called out from the
darkness, knows the reality of another birth. He knows that
life in this world now by nature is but a living death. But he
knows there's another birth which brings life, and that is because
of the birth, it brings the life because of the birth, of another
man. Another man who was born in this
world, who looked like other men, but unlike other men, never
sinned. There was one who was born 2,000
years ago in Bethlehem, who was born for a purpose. born not
to seek his own aims and his own will and his own selfish
aims in this world. but born to seek the salvation
of those whom he loved who deserved it not. Born to die. There was one, the Lord Jesus
Christ, God, the Son of God, made man who was born at an appointed
time in the fullness of time, at that time at which he should
be born. There was one who was born in
order that he should die. And having been born, and having
died, he is the one here who preaches by which we might be
born. That we might not die. That we might not die. that when
that time to die comes of which others speak of that for the
believer the one who has heard the voice of this one crying
in the darkness calling out in the gospel, preaching the light
in the darkness, when we hear his voice calling us unto life,
that having been brought to life, we might know that when we pass
from this world to the next, that that which people call our
death is but a passing from this world to another world, to a
greater world, a more wonderful world, a world of life and of
glory. When we're born again, we're
born never to truly die. Our natural body may be laid
in the grave, but we will never die. We have everlasting life. When the Spirit of God gives
us life, it's forever. It's a life of equality unlike
any other. It has no beginning and no end,
because it is the life of Christ himself, of God himself within. And it will never be taken away. Never. Oh have you heard the
voice of this preacher? Do you know his life? For this
preacher knew that there was a time to be born. He knew of
that day when he came into this world. when man sought to slay
him at his birth, when Herod sought to put the children to
death that he might destroy this rival to the kingdom of Jerusalem,
He knew what it was to come into a darkness and for the darkness
to receive him not. He knew what it was to come unto
his own and for his own the Jews to reject him. He knew what it
was to be born into a world of evil and of sin that despised
and hated him, hated him then and continues to hate him to
this day. He knew what it was to be born.
He knew what it was to live in this world as we live. He knew
what it was to be a man in this world with the sufferings and
the travail that we experience in this world. But he knew what
it was for that time to die to come upon him. He knew there
was a time to die. And when he was born he knew
that that time to die was what lay before him. And that time
to die was the reason that he came. The reason that he came. He knew it. He knew that there
was that day on which he should stand in the place of judgment
for his own. in order to take that judgment
upon himself and deliver them from judgment, in order that
he should take their sin and the wrath of God against them,
in order that they should be made the righteousness of God
in him. He knew he must die. He knew
he must die. Who knows of this time to die
more than Christ does? Who knows of it more than him? And whose death is like his death? Oh what a death this is! What
a death it is! That death which brings the birth,
the spiritual birth of a countless multitude, because he died to
take away their sins. Later in chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes,
Solomon says, the preacher says, moreover I saw under the sun
the place of judgment. That wickedness was there, and
the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. 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. Well, there is a time of judgment
which will come. when we die, and when we stand
before God, and when He will declare whether we go into eternal
glory or into outer darkness forevermore. There is a time
when we will answer for our sins. But there was a time of judgment
on that time for Christ when He died, where the sins of His
people were laid upon Him. The iniquity of His people was
laid upon Him. And where God judged it, that
he might take his righteousness and make them to be that righteousness
in him. Yes, I saw under the sun the
place of judgment, that wickedness was there, and the place of righteousness,
that iniquity was there. Have you seen by faith the place
of judgment? Have you seen the place of judgment
for you? Is the place of judgment that
you behold a beholding by faith of the cross of Christ where
God met your wickedness in judgment and met your iniquity and righteousness
and destroyed and took it all away? or will the place of judgment
for you be that which you have yet to enter into on that time
when you shall die? Where is it? Has God taken his
gospel and by that gospel caused you to see that place of judgment
at Golgotha, at the cross? Has he? Has he shown you that
bread? That bread of heaven broken upon
the cross for sinners? That bread of heaven which was
broken, that the gospel might be wrought and that the gospel
might be preached? that gospel in which that bread
is taken and in which it is spread upon the waters cast upon the
waters that sinners might hear and that they might be called
out of the darkness the preacher says in chapter 11 cast thy bread
upon the waters for thou shall 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. When the Gospels preach there's
a bread cast upon the waters and it may take many years and
many times of hearing and the sinner may fight and shake his
fist against it. You may hear and you may go and
you may come and you may hear and you may go and you may come
and you may hear and you may go and it might be years before
you truly hear. But we know not whether that
bread cast upon the waters might be cast upon the waters of your
soul, and whether it might be found after many days, having
brought forth fruit, having brought forth life, as God the Spirit
takes his gospel, takes the light of his gospel, and causes you
by grace to be born again. Born again. called out of the
darkness, called out of the darkness into Christ's ecclesia, called
out and gathered in with his people, called out and gathered
in as that people whom he calls his bride, his bride. That bride whom Christ loved. That bride of whom he shows his
love in the Song of Solomon. That bride for whom he laid down
his life. That bride whom he loves despite
her rebellion and her sin. That bride. Are you that bride? Do you know the one who loved
you when you hated him? Did he love you? Are you one
for whom he laid down his life? Have you heard his voice in the
gospel? Have you heard the preacher?
Are you his? There is a time to be born and
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. Where are you? Is God breaking
down your resistance? Are you weeping over your sin? Are you mourning over your sin?
Are you longing that he should hear your cries for salvation? If you are, then hear his word,
that there is a time to be born. and when you are born you will
hear and he will take you by his gospel to see that place
of judgement to see a saviour crucified crucified for sinners
for sinners was he crucified for you? was he? is he seeking you today? is he
preaching his gospel today? is he opening your ears today? to hear the words of the Preacher,
the Son of David, the King in Jerusalem. O hear, hear the words
of the Preacher, the Son of David, the King in Jerusalem. Amen.