Good morning, everybody. Let
us open with a word of prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
we thank You for this day You've given us, a beautiful day and
this time to put everything aside and come and worship You. I pray
that You would cause all the cares of this world and this
flesh to flee for just a moment. Enable us to look into Your Word
and see the Lord Jesus Christ and what great things You've
done for us Lord, please bless us and give us a sweet time of
worship and fellowship and cause the Lord Jesus Christ to be exalted.
Get us out of the way. Descend upon us and meet with
us and speak to us. For Christ's sake, in His name
I pray, Amen. Open your Bibles with me to Ecclesiastes
chapter 3. Ecclesiastes right after Psalms
and Proverbs. Ecclesiastes 3. Now let's read
our text, verses 14 and 15. Ecclesiastes 3, verse 14. Solomon said, I know that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And God doeth it that men should
fear before Him. That which hath been is now,
and that which is to be hath already been, and God requireth
that which is past. Now, in seeking a message for
you today, this passage crossed my mind.
In verse 1, it tells us there's a season and a time to every
purpose under the heaven. And I got to thinking, all these
hurricanes kept coming, and I thought, man, What is going on? What is God doing? You ever in
that point in your life when something happens, you say, what
is God doing? We know whatever's happening, God's doing it, right?
He's the first cause behind all things. God's on His throne.
But something happens and you just, you can't understand, you
can't wrap your mind around it. Why is this happening? Sometimes we don't feel like
God is with us. We feel like His presence has
departed from us. Have you ever been there? I'm
there all the time. And just like our Lord told His
disciples when they were afraid, He said, Oh, ye of little faith. Is that not us? I pray God would
forbid from us being so faithless, so full of doubt, and enable
us to trust Him. Now, with that being said, I
do want to know what it is that God Almighty is doing. And I
want to know why He's doing it. And here Solomon gives us a little
insight to what God's doing. Now to understand what He's doing,
we must first understand who God is. We can't understand what
He's doing if we don't even know who He is. Let me tell you a
few things about the God we worship. God is sovereign. Isn't that
a good word? That means God is in control,
in complete control. And we're going to see that here.
I'm going to give you some verses here in a minute. He said, I
am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside
me. He alone is God. God is eternal. He's in the heavens. You know, we're temporal. Creatures
of the dust. God is eternal in the heavens. He said, I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last. That's God.
That's God. God is immutable. That means
He does not change. The same yesterday, today, and
forever. He said, I change not. I'm the Lord. Therefore, ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. And I find great comfort knowing
that. Because as we look into what God's doing, and we consider
the fact that He does not change, God cannot change, that gives
me great hope and comfort. God is holy. He said, I am holy. And we know He's holy, don't
we? I love that song we sing, holy, holy, holy. Though the
darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory may
not see, only thou art holy. There is none beside thee perfect
in power, in love, and purity. Is that not our God? So glorious
is He. God is holy and just. I love
thinking about this. Everything that God does is right. I just said it. We see things
happening. We think, well, Lord, why is this happening? Because
it's right. It may not appear right to us,
but it is right because God's doing it. Everything He does
is right. Psalm 145 verse 17 says, The
Lord is righteous in all His ways. All of them, not most of
them. The Lord is holy in all His works.
Every single one. Everything God does is right.
You go back and read Genesis chapter 1 when it says, God said
let there be light and there was light and God saw that it
was good. God created, divided the seas, and God saw that it
was good, created all the animals. God saw that it was good. You
know why? Because God did it. Now that's something we need
to learn. God is only pleased with His works. The Lord rejoiceth
in His works. I pray God would teach us that.
Now what is God doing? First, God is doing something.
God is working. God, you know, I know it's ridiculous. They made a movie about God's
not dead, but we need to just consider God is alive. He sits
on his throne. He rules and reigns as he will.
Turn over to Jeremiah chapter 18. Just a couple books over. Jeremiah 18. You know, people
think about God and they just think, well, I guess he's there.
He's there. And we know that God said where
two or three meet together in my name, I'm there. Oh, I pray
He would be here. I pray He would be here with
us this morning. Here in Jeremiah chapter 18, look with me at verse
1. The word which came to Jeremiah
from the Lord saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house,
and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down
to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of
the potter, so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good
to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came
to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this
potter? sayeth the Lord. Behold, as the
clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house
of Israel." What is God doing? God's the potter. He's having
His way with everybody and everything all the time. Is that not clear
from those six verses we just read? That's who God is. I love
Larry Criss. He quotes a lot of hymns. I'm
going to quote a few hymns to you today. Lord, have Thine own
way. Thou art the potter. I am the
clay. Mold me and make me. Oh, Lord,
would You take hold on me? Take hold on me. Mold me and
make me after Thy will. Thy will has seemed good to the
potter to make it. While I am waiting, waiting on
the Lord, yielded and still, waiting on the Lord to do with
me as He's pleased. God is working. Y'all are going
to like this. Turn over with me to Psalm 74. I don't want to tell you what
I think God's doing. I want to show you from His Word,
this is what God said He's doing. Look at Psalm 74, verse 10. The psalmist said, O God, how
long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme Thy
name forever? Why is this happening? Why withdrawest
thou thy hand, even thy right hand, pluck it out of thy bosom?
For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the
earth. What is God doing? Well, according
to His Word, and we can trust the Word of God, He's working
salvation in the midst of the earth. Does that not give you
cause to rejoice? God's working salvation right
here. Right here in this wicked, evil world, He's working salvation.
He's saving His people. God, from eternity, He purposed
to save a people. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people. God is going to save a people
from their sins. And here we just read it. And
I love this. You can turn there if you want
to. I'll quote it to you. Romans 8.28. Most of us probably know
this verse. Here, Solomon says, I know that
whatsoever God's doing, we know, Paul said, that all things work
together for good. Who's working all things? It's
not me. Yeah, we get up and go to work,
but we're not working anything. God is working all things together
for good to who? To them that love God. Now, somebody
say, well, do you love God? Most people will proudly tell
you, yes, I do. How do we know? How do we know
if we love God? You can turn to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to God's purpose. That's who loves God. Those that
God has called by His grace to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And those people love God. I pray that that would be us.
If it's not us right now, I pray that it would be. Oh, I pray
that it would be. And another thing that I find
comforting God is saving His people. God is working salvation.
Working out the salvation of His elect. Ephesians 2 verse
10 tells us that we're His workmanship. That means we're His work. We
just saw it. That potter, he's working a work
on the wheel of clay. He had two lumps of clay. And
he made each lump of clay that seemed good to him to make it.
What do we say? By faith even so, Father, for
so it seemed good in Thy sight, Thy will be done. Not my will. Romans 8.28 is such a comforting
verse of Scripture. You know, you're going through
a hard time. Where do we turn? We ask people
for advice. No offense to anybody, and myself
included, but usually we're probably going to make things worse, given
it our two cents. Okay? By God's grace, we'll seek
Him. We'll open His Word. We'll seek
God. We'll seek Christ in the Scriptures. Lord, give me comfort.
Here's you some comfort. I'm working everything together
for your good. I've chosen you. Loved you with an everlasting
love. I've set my affection on you. Oh, is that not comforting? Child of God, everything that
God does, whatsoever God doeth, He does just for you. If you're
His, it's all for you. All these things are against
me. No, they're not. They're actually for you. Oh,
I pray God would teach us that in our heart. It's all for us.
If God be for us, who can be against us? Nothing. Everything
God does for us, He does ultimately for the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So what is God doing? God's saving
His people. That's what He's doing. Let us
not doubt Him. God's saving every single one
of His people. He said, My sheep, hear My voice. I know them, and
they follow Me. I give unto them eternal life,
and no man shall pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave
them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand. Isn't that good? So good. Look back at our text
in Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Look at verse 14 with me again.
He said, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. You know this, whatever God does
is final. Whatever it is, whatever God
does, that's final. God said it, that settles it.
God does it, that settles it. Whatever God does is right. Who
are we to murmur and complain against God? Lord, what are you
doing? And who can say unto him, what
doest thou? We must bow to God's will, whatever it is. However
much opposition we see it to be, we must bow to God's will
because whatever He does is right and it's final. Turn over with
me to Isaiah chapter 46. Isaiah 46. Scriptures say that Christ is
the judge of all the earth. You know what a judge, a judge
has authority. You know, we have something called
the Supreme Court. Something goes through all these
courts. You can go to all these courts and then finally you get
to the Supreme Court. Whatever they say, that's final. And no one else to take it to.
Well, in the matter of eternal things, God is the judge. And whatever He says is final.
It's final. Look here in Isaiah 46 verse
9. It says, remember the former
things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am
God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel
from a far country, yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring
it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it." He said, My counsel shall stand. We just read, I know that
whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. We just read, God's
purposed it. He will bring it to pass. God's
purpose cannot and will not ever be hindered. Nothing that we
do, nothing that anybody else does, has done or ever will do,
can hinder God's purpose at all. At all. All things work for His
purpose, not against it. Nothing, nothing, nothing can
work in contrary to God's purpose. What about all that evil we see? Isn't that awful? Did you not
hear about what's going on? That's terrible. Surely the wrath
of man shall what? Praise Him. That's right. That's
what the book says. Even the wrath of man is going
to praise you, God. That's right. That's exactly
right. God's will. He said, I'll do all my pleasure.
I purpose it. I've spoken. I'll bring it to pass. I will
also do it. God's will cannot be overruled.
We just saw it. We're the clay. He's the potter.
Hath not the potter power over the clay? Cannot I do with you
as this potter? You know, God's purpose is to
save His people. What does that mean? It shall
be forever. God's going to do what He's pleased
to do. If God purposed to save you, you know what? You're going
to be saved. Isn't that comforting to know? Well, let's just chalk
it up to blind faith. We'll find out in the end. Man,
I've never heard something so terrible. God purposed to save
sinners, and all sinners He purposed to save are going to be saved.
Let's look back at our text again. He said, I know that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it. You
know what that means? Nothing can be added to it. I
can't add to what God's doing. And why on earth would I want
to? Why would I try to add to what the Almighty is doing? I can't add to it. Especially
in this matter of salvation. We sing, Jesus paid it all, all
to Him I owe. And we're going to add to what
He did. somehow make it effectual. That's ridiculous. God's perfect. Everything He
does is perfect. It's complete. It's right. It's good. It's finished. The Lord said, I will work. I
told you it's not us that's working. He said, I will work and who
shall let it? I'm God. There's none else. It's a shame
that you or I or anybody would ever try to add to what God's
done. to ever try to add to the finished
work of redemption that Christ accomplished, that we're going
to add to that. Oh, if we try to add anything
to it, all we're going to do is take it all away, be left
with nothing. We read that nothing can be put
to it, nor anything taken from it. I can't add to what God's
doing, and praise God, I can't take away from what He's doing. concerning things that happen
and we don't understand why they're happening. I love that. It was
Brother Scott Richardson that said that if I had the power
of God, I'd change everything. But if I had the wisdom of God,
if I could only see things the way He sees things, I'd change
nothing. Nothing. You know, all the time we think
we know what's best. For us, other people, we don't
have the slightest clue. But God does. God always has. Everything's according to His
infinitely wise and good purpose. Now, the best thing I see in
reading that nothing can be taken from whatever God's doing is
this. God has saved His people. If
God has saved me, I can't do anything to add to it, and I
can't do anything to mess it up. And I'll tell you this much. If I could, I would. We corrupt everything we touch.
We are nothing but sin. Oh, I'm so glad that I am saved
by God's grace alone, that my salvation is totally dependent
upon God. It's His work, not mine, because
I would mess it up. Is it so for you? I pray God
would drive away any inclination of us to trust in ourselves,
because there's nothing in us worth trusting. Nothing. God
is saving His people. And what He does is forever.
It shall stand. And we read it, God doeth it
that men should fear before Him. What does that mean? That men
should fear before Him? I wrote this down and I looked
and y'all have it written back there. Psalm 46, 10. Be still. Be still. And know that I am. God is working salvation in the
midst of the earth. Be still. Don't worry about all
that stuff. Be still and know He's God. That verse goes on to say, I
will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.
I pray God would give us grace to rest, to trust, to trust Him. Rest and trust Him. I want us to behold what God
hath done. Let's read these two verses together
again. I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And God doeth it that men should
fear before Him. That which hath been is now,
and that which is to be hath already been, and God requireth
that which is past. That which hath been is now. Now don't let this confuse you.
It's very simple. God is eternal. His works are eternal. You know,
we're creatures of time. That's all we can understand.
And we can barely understand that. You know, how time flies
by. That was a couple weeks ago. Man, that was five years ago.
That's not God. God's eternal. God is eternal. God's not constrained by time.
He is from everlasting to everlasting. And every second of time that
goes by is simply the unfolding of God's purpose. That which
hath been is now good. This very day, from eternity,
God purposed this day to come to pass just as it is. Do you
believe that? That nothing happens outside of God's will and God's
purpose? That's so clear from the Scriptures.
That which hath been is now, and that which is to be hath
already been. Well, what's that? What is to
be? The salvation of His people,
right? He shall save. The Lord is in
the midst of these mighty. He will save. God's going to
save His people. God saved His people. That which is to be has
already been. What else is to be? Christ prayed
that we would be with Him where He is. We read in the Scriptures,
I'll be satisfied when I awake with His likeness. We're going
to be with Him forever. We're going to dwell with the
Lord for all of eternity. That which is to be has already
been. Over in Ephesians we read that
we are right now seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Right
now. Now I ain't going to begin to
try to explain that. Don't ask me to. I can't. But that's glorious. That's glorious. Well, how can
that be? Here, I will try that. I'll give
you something. How am I seated in heavenly places in Christ
right now? Because Christ liveth in me. He's in heavenly places. He always has been. Christ in me, me in Christ. And He's my hope of glory right
now. Right now. And the last part
of this verse says, God requireth. You know, when something tells
us what God requires, we better perk up. We better listen. Give
our attention. God requireth that which is past. Does your Bible say that? The
Gospel. It's not, let me tell you what
to do. God requires that which is past. It's done. It's finished. God's not waiting for us to save
ourselves. He never has. I'll tell you what
God's waiting for. You can read it, I don't forget,
somewhere in Isaiah. It says, God is waiting that
He might be gracious. He's not waiting on us. In His
time of love, He will come to us and save us by His grace.
Give us faith to trust in Him. He's not waiting on us. Look
over with me at 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy 1. Verse 9. It says, God who hath saved us. Hath. Don't you love that? He
hath saved us and called us. It's already done. He called
us with an holy calling. Now see this. Not according to
our works. My works ain't got nothing to
do with the matter. Not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace which was given us. Where? In Christ
Jesus. When? before the world began. That's where it is. God requires that which is past.
God's not waiting on us, but I pray that He would cause us
to wait on Him. There's the difference. You see,
what God requires, I'm sure you've heard this many times, what God
requires, God provides, and God alone can provide. Okay? We can't
provide what God requires. Are you not glad? Does that not
make you happy to hear that every time you hear that? What God
requires, God Almighty provides. You see, there's one sacrifice
for sin, and that's already been made. Over in Hebrews chapter
10, every priest standeth daily ministering and offering, and
oftentimes the same sacrifices can never take away sins. But
this man, let me tell you about this man. God forbid I stand
here and do anything other than tell you about this man, who
by one offering, He did it all. He satisfied the law of God,
fulfilled everything. This man, after he offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, what did he do? He sat down. He sat
down. The only priest who ever sat
down by one offering perfected forever. Then let her sanctify. Is that not wonderful? You might
say, well, what about Abel? He was a long time before Christ
came. Yeah, he was. And he offered a sacrifice. Abel
offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Okay? God was the
witness that he's righteous. God testified of his gifts, his
offerings. Abel's offering was a picture of Christ. He was looking
to Christ, the Lamb, to come by faith. But you know what? We also read that the works were
finished from the foundation of the world. Right? Salvation has always been, even
before Christ came to this earth physically, salvation has always
been in Christ alone. He's always been the Lamb of
God, the Lamb's Lamb. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. We must look to the Lamb, behold
the Lamb of God. Look and live. There's life for
a look. Look and live. I'll leave you
with this. In Isaiah 45, 22, the Lord spoke
to Isaiah, and He said, Look unto Me, and be ye saved. Are you interested in that? Look unto Me, Christ said, and
be ye saved, for I am God, and there is none else. None else. I pray God would give us faith
to look to Christ, to trust in Him for all our salvation, all
our hope of eternal life. Amen.