I'm going to read from Ecclesiastes
chapter 3. To everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under 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 sow, 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. What profit hath he that worketh
in that wherein he laboreth? I've seen the travail which God
has given to sons of men to be exercised in it, He's made everything
beautiful in his time. Also, he set the world in their
heart that no man can find out the work that God maketh from
the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good
in them, but for a man to rejoice and do good in his life, and
also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good
of all his labor, it is the gift of God. I know that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, or
anything taken from it. And God doeth that men may should
fear before him. That which hath been, that which
hath been is now, and that which is to be is already been. And
God requireth that which is past. Let us pray. Our Father, most
glorious, God of all, ruler and reigner of this universe, you
who do as you please in heaven and earth and all the deep places,
you who do according to your will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, none can stay your hand or say
unto you, what doest thou? You who out of the same lump
of Adamic clay make one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor,
one vessel to be a trophy of your grace, another to be used
for a time and cast aside. Now art God, there is none beside
thee, there is none like unto thee. You declare the end from
the beginning and the things that are past. You bring something
out of nothing. You make new creatures and new
creations in Jesus Christ. We praise you and thank you.
Pray for those dear friends and brothers and sisters. We've lost
a dear friend this week. We've lost him, but you've gained
him. We pray, Lord, you'd be with all this congregation at
the loss of Wayne. Cause us in our hearts to realize
that our days are numbered, our months are with thee, our bounds
are set, and we cannot pass. when it's time for us to go home
we will but until that day let us enjoy this life that you've
given for it's a gift of God. Help us now to worship you as
we think on these things we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Friday morning at 915 Brother
Wayne Land went on to glory. We've been waiting for that moment
many times in the last days of his life, in the last year or
so, he would say, I'm waiting for that trump to sound to call
me home. He also said that afflictions
are appointed of the Lord. He had a peace and a confidence
in Jesus Christ. He was a stalwart defender of
the faith, a man who loved the gospel of Jesus Christ. When
it came to the gospel, he gave no quarter and took no enemies.
He was a friend and a brother and he will be sorely missed for those who loved him as we
did. Have confidence in this very
thing that God who has begun a good work in you shall accomplish
it to the day of Jesus Christ. He was buried the same day he
died for that was what he desired. So we didn't have time for a
funeral service, but he wanted me to preach this for his funeral,
so this morning is a kind of funeral service for our brother
Wayne. He loved this passage of scripture.
I can't tell you how many times when I would go see him that
he would say, read me Ecclesiastes 1 through 15. where he was a man who believed
in the absolute sovereignty of God and all things. God was in
control, the rule of rain. He gave life. He took life. He
killed and he made alive. He brought down and he lifted
up. He made poor and he made rich. These things were things that set his mind in order
and gave him peace in this world of chaos. Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon,
a wise king, a man whom God gave wisdom and was great in that
wisdom. His life didn't end well because
he was also a political genius and found himself aligning himself
with many pagan nations and taking pagan wives and concubines. Didn't end well for him, but
he was a wise man. And as you wrote this book, Ecclesiastes,
it means the preacher. He's preaching about the glory
of God's absolute sovereignty in all things. He says to everything
there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
Gave two things that have to do with time. The first is a
season. A season usually has a beginning
and an end. The child of God, his life is
a life of trials, and that's one of those seasons that he
spoke of. It has a beginning and an end.
When James wrote his epistle to the church, he said, Knowing
this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Count
it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, but let patience
have a perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting
nothing. as the season. We have seasons
of joy, seasons of sorrow, but they have a beginning and they
have an end. He also uses the word time. This has to do with
appointment. This has to do with the time
that you have. The time has been appointed for
something to take place. Over in Job 14.5 it says man's
days are numbered, his months are with God, his boundaries
are set and he cannot pass. That simply means that he will
live as long as God has given him breath, and at the appointed
time, he will die in the flesh and go on to be with the Lord.
And he says to everything, everything, there is a season and a time
to every purpose under heaven, and simply says this, that if
you understand and know this, the troubles of this world will
not have the great effect on you. They will trouble you because
we are human beings and sinners and we are often governed by our view of circumstance. But to know this, that whatever
happens in this world is according to God's purpose and there's
a time for it and a season for it for every purpose under heaven
and he lists a number of things, pretty much covering everything,
a time to be born and a time to die. Wayne experienced both
of those things. He was born into this world a
Florida boy, and he died at Solly Manor at 915 on Friday morning. There's
a time to plant the children of God are said to be those who
are planted by God as plants planted with his whole heart. Time to pluck up. And our brother
was plucked up out of this world into the next. Time to kill and
time to heal. These things we don't think of. We rarely, or at least in religion
today, don't want to think of God in terms of controlling things
like killing or hating. We don't think of him in those
words, but we need to because God is who he is and his thoughts
are not our thoughts, neither are our ways as far as the heaven
is above the earth, or his ways and thoughts above our ways and
thoughts. So there's a time to kill and
a time to heal, a time to break down, a time to tear down things,
and a time to build up things, So everything is according to
purpose. A time to weep, we're experiencing that now. And a
time to laugh, and we've experienced that many times with our brother.
A time to mourn, we're experiencing that now. And a time to dance. A time to get. A time to get
and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to
cast away. A time to rend or tear and a
time to sow. a time to keep silence, and a
time to speak, a time to love, and a time to hate. That's an
amazing thing. There's a time for that, for
each one of those things. People think you shouldn't hate.
David said, I hate them that hate thee with a perfect hatred. If you hate me, you have every
right to. I'm a despicable human being,
a sinner saved by grace. And you don't know half the story
if you think I'm bad and vile. You don't know half the story.
So what you can say about me, and if you hate me, I fully understand
you have every reason to hate me. But if you hate my God, you
hate my Lord Jesus Christ, you hate the one who died in my room
instead and put away my sin by the sacrifice of himself, then
don't expect me to love you. Now if you're my enemy, my enemy,
I am to love you. And that love, first of all,
is redemptive. That means I need to tell you
the truth about how God saves sinners. But if you hate the
Lord, that's a whole different ballgame for every believer.
A time to love and a time to hate, a time of war. There always
will be wars and rumors of wars in this world because of human
beings. in a time of peace. This world knows little times
of peace but the Church of the Living God has peace in their
heart and they have a peace that passeth knowledge and understanding.
That simply means as they look out around them they see no peace
and they see no reason for peace and yet the Lord has given them
peace. He said, My peace I give thee,
not as the world giveth, give I thee. He gives a peace that
settles the heart and mind in all things and causes us to rejoice
even in our trials and tribulations. Then he talks about a man's work
and what he does in this world. He says, What profit hath he
that worketh in wherein he laboreth? What profit hath he? What does
it end up being? If you know anything about this
world and its final consummation, you know that nothing you gain
in this world, nothing you profit in this world, you can take with
you. Only that which is eternal lasts forever, and those things
are appointed and given by God alone. He said, I've seen the
travail which God giveth to men to be exercised in. He said,
He's seen the troubles and trials of man. he says in uh... job said man is born of woman
is a few days of trouble and it's god who gives this travails
that demand to be exercised in then he makes a wonderful and
beautiful statement for the faith to believe this
and rejoice in it everything that goes on Everything that
takes place in every second and hour and day and month and year
of this world is beautiful in God's time. According to His
time, it will show itself to be beautiful. And also, He has
set the world in the heart of men. That's an interesting phrase. It simply means this, that men
judge things by what they see in the world. They judge things
by circumstance, though they ought not to. But they look at
circumstance and say, this is how it is. But circumstance is
merely a tool in God's arsenal, whereby he controls and manipulates
and moves things in this world. But he set the world in our heart
for a reason. We have these circumstances that
move us and direct us often. And they're for a reason. And
the reason is simply this. So we can't know what God is
doing. Providence is a wondrous thing. It's an amazing and a
beautiful thing. But sometimes it's hard. Sometimes
it's tough. But it's always beautiful. It's
always perfect. it's God's providence he provides
and moves things as he sees fit what a beautiful thing it is
we don't want to know that I remember many years ago my brother after
my dad died my brother who didn't attend church much told my mom
I'll take you to church since dad can't anymore he'd gone on
to glory and so he began to take mother to church. I was sitting
outside my mom's house with him, leaning up against the old Buick,
and I said, let me ask you this. He said, if God told you that
the only way for him to get you under the gospel was to take
your daddy, would you have agreed to that? He said, probably not. And I
said, be thankful that you don't know what God is doing when he's
doing it because that's how he got you under the gospel. What
a glorious thing providence is. Our brother has gone on to glory. It was his greatest wish. These
last days he kept saying, I just want to go home to be with his
beloved wife Laverne and his dear friend Fred and sit together
and worship the Lord around the throne of the Lamb. it was his desire what would
be the effect of his death I don't know but I know providentially
and it's beautiful it's beautiful in God's time in God's purpose
he said he did that so no man could find out what the work
of God maketh beginning to the end we just don't know what God
is doing The gospel is a report. We preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ that glorifies God for the choosing of whom He would
save out of a fallen race, bring them to the feet of Christ, to
have His Son, to take on human flesh and walk among sinners
yet without sin, and to die in the room instead of sinners when
it was made to be sin for His people that they might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. fully satisfying God's law and
justice by his sacrifice and being made to be the righteousness
of all those whom God had chosen and they are accepted in the
beloved. That is all a report. It's not something that we talk
about going on now. It's something that happened.
Something that happened in God's time, in God's season, in God's
purpose. And that thing that happened
is what we report over and over again in redundant, resplendent
repetition. We stand and we tell the story,
the old, old story of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for sinners.
We're thankful to be able to do that, but we're not telling
something about something that's about to happen or something
you can do something about or something you can make effectual
while your decision or your free will. We're talking about something
that's already taken place. The redemption of God's people
is a finished thing and what we do is tell people what God
has done because we can't know what he is doing to bring all
of that to its appointed end but we can know that he has done
it. Having that knowledge and understanding. The preacher says I know that
there's no good in them that is in men or in the things they
have or possess. He said the only thing that's
worthwhile is for a man to rejoice and do good in this life. To
do good in this life. To endeavor with all his power
to be the kind of person who would honor his God We know what's good and what
ain't. God doesn't list what's good and what ain't. He just
tells us to do good, to do good in this life. And this is also
that in this life as we work and taught, it's good that every
man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of his labor.
You've earned it, enjoy it. But what you realize in the final
thing because it's beautiful in his time, is that your life
and everything you have is the gift of God. That means you were
given it and you received it. The Word of God says, I know
that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. God is in the
business of eternity. Eternity is a strange thing.
We talk about it. We talk about eternal life and
that's talking about not the extent of it necessarily, but
the quality of it. It never ends. We know that.
But we don't know a great deal about eternity because we're
bound by time and tide. But whatever God does is forever. And if he saved his people by
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that's a forever thing. Our Lord
said, My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither is
any man able to 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. I and My Father are one. So whatever God doeth, it shall
be forever. Nothing can be put to it, It's
a done deal. It's closed. It's finished. It cannot be added to or taken
from it. The Word of God declares that, and it declares in the
Scripture, in Proverbs and in Revelation, that nothing is to
be added to these words and none is to be taken from it. Because God's done it. God's
done it. And He's done it so men would
fear Him. The word fear there is not slavish fear. He's done
it so men would worship Him. Fall down before Him. Love Him. Honor Him. Glorify Him. All glory belongs to Him. And then the preacher says a
verse that's always intrigued me and still does to this day.
What happened Friday morning? at 915 when our brother shed
this mortal call and the Savior came to take him
home taking his hand and saying don't worry about death I've
already tasted it it won't hurt you took him on to glory what
happened what happened then had already been. There's nothing
new under the sun. That which hath been is now. That which hath been is now.
If you read history and look at history of this world you
know that everything that's happening now has already happened in every
nation and every culture throughout the world history. What we have
now is the ability to put our hands on it and see it in a matter
of seconds through the Internet is an amazing and a wonderful
thing but it's nothing new. It's just more readily reported. I can remember the days in high
school when I would have a report to
do I would go to the library to this great desk that had hundreds
of drawers. It was called a card catalog. That was my internet in those
days. I would look and look and look
and find some article, some word that could help me in writing
a paper. That which is now has already been. that which is to be is already
been. What does that mean? We have
a future out yonder, but it's already settled in the seasons
and times and purpose of God, and God requires that which He
has ordained or that which has passed. As I was preparing this
message, thinking on the things I was going to say, I read an
article Just as I was pondering this, to everything there is
a season and a time and a purpose under the heavens. I read an
article about scientists who were studying ants. And they found that ants, when
they were preparing for winter, which the Lord says they do in
Proverbs, they don't have an army, but they get ready for
the cold winter months by taking in stores of things to eat and
survive on. And these scientists had watched
ants taking seeds into their little ant villages. And they split the seeds in half
before they took them into their little domain. And the scientists wondered,
why in the world would they do that? So they took some seeds
that the ants had taken in and they cut them in half and they
found that when they planted them, they would not germinate.
They would not spring forth life. So they were just for food and
the ants divided them so they wouldn't grow into trees underneath
their domain and they could eat them. But they also saw that
for the coriander seed, it was divided into four pieces rather
than divided in half. And they wondered why the coriander
seed was treated differently than all the others. And so they
took a coriander seed and cut it in half and planted it, and
it germinated, grew roots and started to grow. And then they
took a coriander seed and cut it in four pieces and planted
it, and it didn't germinate. The ants knew to divide the coriander
seed into four parts while they divided the other seeds in two.
And I thought, I wonder how they knew that. To everything, there's a season, a time, to
every purpose under heaven. Our brother is in glory rejoicing
in this passage that he loved. And for those of us who remain,
there is a day coming for us to die and leave this
world. What a day that will be when we see Jesus as he is because
we'll be like him. and we have no more problem with
sin and with the flesh. What a season that will be. Our mourning will be over and
it will be a time to dance and to rejoice. Wayne had a favorite song. Now, I'm gonna sing this without
music. I hope I don't go flat on it, but we'll see. This was
his favorite song. Pain fadeth earthly joy, Jesus
is mine. Break every tender tie, Jesus
is mine. Dark is the wilderness, Earth
has no resting place. Jesus alone can bless. Jesus is mine. Tempt not my soul away. Jesus is mine. Here would I ever
stay, Jesus is mine. Perishing things of clay, born
but for one brief day, pass from my heart away, Jesus is mine. Farewell, ye dreams of night,
Jesus is mine. Lost in this dawning bright,
Jesus is mine. All that my soul has tried, left
but a dismal void, Jesus has satisfied, Jesus is mine. Farewell, mortality, Jesus is
mine. Welcome, eternity, Jesus is mine. Welcome, O loved and blessed. Welcome, sweet scenes of rest. Welcome, my Savior's breast,
Jesus is mine. To everything, there is a season
and a time to every purpose under heaven. Father, bless us to our
understanding. We pray in Christ's name, amen.