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What Time Is It? – Part 2
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
June 13, 2021

LAST TIME we met we worked our way through this important text.
• We noticed that the preacher has now jumped subjects.
• He has covered the temptations of wisdom, pleasure, and legacy.
• Then he jumped to another subject the young man needed to understand and that is time.

We covered the entire text last time, but there is so much more than still needs to be said and understood
Regarding the time before we move on even to verse 12.

What was made abundantly clear to us last time was this.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN over all time and events.

We read:
Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven”

• The preacher was clear that there is an “appointed” time.
• Events aren’t random.
• God is sovereign over time and over the events of earth.

And we learned that there are APPROPRIATE RESPONSES to all that God orchestrates.

This was the preacher’s point in verses 2-8
Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 “A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear 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 throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace.”

What you have listed there are reminders that
There are appropriate times for all events under heaven.

For example,
Take the last part of verse 2, “A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.”

• You know that is true.
• Right now it is summer and perhaps you are planting black-eyed peas or okra,
• But if you’re planting onions or broccoli, you’re too late.
• You don’t plant tomatoes in November, and you don’t harvest them in January.

WHY?
Because God has appointed the seasons.
God has sovereignly determined when seed will germinate
And when plants will grow and produce fruit.

SO, there is an appropriate response to every event which God orchestrates under heaven.
• Sometimes it is appropriate to plant, sometimes to harvest.
• Sometimes to kill, sometimes to heal.
• Sometimes to mourn, sometimes to dance.
• Sometimes to love, sometimes to hate.

And that is the point of the preacher.

Understand that there are appropriate responses
To the events that God orchestrates under heaven
And each event may require a different response.

NOW, because God is the One who sets the event,
Then we also learn something else.

THERE IS A JUDGMENT in which man answers to God for how they responded to life, or how they managed their time.

We learned this in verses 9-11
Ecclesiastes 3:9-11 “What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.”

Now first the preacher followed his custom by asking that famous thought-provoking question: “What profit is there..?”

He loves that question.
He loves to get you thinking about how important your actions really are.

And the first application is depressing.
• If God is sovereign over all events and all times under heaven, then really,
what are you accomplishing through all your work?

And the answer is that here, you aren’t really accomplishing anything.

In fact the preacher actually said that “I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.”

It may just be that God is merely keeping you occupied.
• I told you about my cousin who was asked to join us in painting the barn, but
because he was little, my grandpa only gave him water in his paint bucket.
• He soon figured it out and wanted to know the same thing. What is the point?

Well that is what the preacher asked.

BUT THE POINT OF IT ALL IS SEEN LATER.

For the preacher went on to tell us that God “has made everything appropriate in its time.”

God is the one who determined whether or not
Your response to His sovereign event is appropriate or not.

And “He has also set eternity in their heart”
• God has instinctively taught us that there is more than this life.
• Somehow, inwardly, we know that this life is not all there is.
• We know that after this life ends there is One to whom we will answer.

Now, God HAS NOT given us all the information.
“man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.”

• God hasn’t chosen to give you all the answers.
• God doesn’t expect you to know why He does what He does.

But God does expect you to respond appropriately
To all the events that He orchestrates.

God expects you to use your time on earth appropriately,
Because some day you will give an account for how you lived.

The payoff is not here, the payoff is in eternity.

And so the overarching point to be made by the preacher is that
God has not put us here to live for today, but rather to live for eternity.

We are in time, making decisions that will have eternal significance.

Or to quote R.C. Sproul again.
“We live in time, but we live for eternity.”

And this causes us to have to answer the question each day, “WHAT TIME IS IT?”

THAT WAS THE QUESTION WE CLOSED WITH LAST TIME
And before we move on to the next text,
I just want to spend one more moment thinking about it.

• I gave you some passages in closing last time, but I want to revisit them a little
• And perhaps consider a few others because I think this issue of understanding our time is so important.

I do want to SHIFT YOUR TERMINOLOGY a little if I can as we begin.

When we talk about time this morning, I want you to think about it,
Not simply as a moment on a clock, or a date on a calendar.

I want you to think about it as “YOUR ALLOTTED TIME”
Perhaps it is better to say it as your “life span”.

Ephesians 5:15-16 “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

Think about your “allotted time”
The time in which God has allotted for you to live upon this earth.

• What are you doing with the time God has given you?
• Are you making the most of your time? (As Paul would encourage)

And secondly I want you to think about APPOINTED TIME
That is God’s sovereign timetable.

Acts 17:26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”

We learned from the preacher last week that God is sovereign over it all.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven”

• We know that God’s timetable is real.
• There is a timeline that God has orchestrated.
• He has set all events and knows their times.

Consider passages like:
Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

Jesus spoke of THE FATHER’S TIMETABLE;
A time which while on earth even Jesus didn’t know.

Remember:
Revelation 9:15 “And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.”

• That is a future judgmental event from God,
• But you’ll notice the hour and day and month and year are set.
• We are barreling at it at the rate of 60 seconds per minute.

The point is that God has appointed the timing of events.

So we have God’s APPOINTED time,
Which is His orchestration of all events of eternity,
And then we have our ALLOTTED time which is
The small portion of time God has given you to live on earth.

God who appoints all things,
And God who allots us a small amount of that time.
For perspective purposes
YOUR LIFESPAN AS COMPARED TO ETERNITY
Is actually considered a vapor by James.

James 4:14 “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

Or as Moses taught:
Psalms 90:10-12 “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away. Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You? So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”

Or as David taught:
Psalms 39:4-5 “LORD, make me to know my end And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am. “Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.”

By comparison, we are not allotted much time.
But we do have time; our allotted time; our lifespan.

And the objective of humanity is to determine
What is our appropriate response to God’s appointed times
As we live in our allotted time.

• The goal IS NOT to understand everything.
• The goal IS NOT to know why God does what He does.
• The goal IS simply to make the most of our allotted time.

I read to you last week a passage that really spells this out.
Acts 1:6-8 “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Knowing God’s appointed times is not for us.
We are to concern ourselves with faithfulness during our allotted time.
Hopefully that makes sense to you.

So it brings back the question where we left off last week.
WHAT TIME IS IT?

• What time is it in your life?
• What time is it in the life of your spouse?
• What time is it in the life of your children?
• What time is it in the life of this church?
• What time is it in the scope of our ministry to this world?

Is it a time to plant or a time to uproot?
• Should you be pouring something into your life or weeding something out of your life?
• Should you be pouring something into the life of your spouse or kids or should you be weeding something out of their life?
• Should we be planting seeds of truth in our community or challenging weeds of deception in our community?

What time is it right now for us to be faithful to God’s eternal purposes?

Is it a time to kill or a time to heal?
• Are there things that must be destroyed, or are there things that must be repaired?

There is a quote I love from Martin Luther:
“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is more flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
(sited in: MacArthur, John; The Truth War, Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception; [Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN; 2007] pg. 26)

That is exactly what Luther was saying.
You can do the right thing, but if your timing is off, it is still inappropriate to your calling.

What is the appropriate response to the times in which we live?
Because if you respond the right way at the wrong time
You are missing what is appropriate.

• OUR WORLD is hung up on being positive all the time.
• OUR WORLD is hung up on being “loving” at all times.
• OUR WORLD is hung up on being tolerant at all times.

There are times when those things are certainly appropriate responses,
But there is also a time to kill and a time to hate and a time to tear apart.

You get the idea.
• Is it a time to tear down (Jeremiah)?
• Or a time to build up (Nehemiah)?

Is it a time to weep or to laugh; to mourn or to dance?

Jesus healed people and the Pharisees mourned;
• Their response was wrong.
John preached repentance and the religious elite scoffed;
• Their response was wrong.

Matthew 11:16-19 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Is it a time to throw stones or a time to gather stones?
Is it a time to embrace or to shun embracing?
Is it a time to search or a time to give up as lost?
Is it a time to keep or a time to throw away?
Is it a time to sew or a time to rend?
Is it a time to be silent or a time to speak?
Is it a time to love or a time to hate?
Is it a time for war or a time for peace?

What time is it?

Consider Paul’s admonition to Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

What time was it?
• It was time to preach.
• It was to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort”

Now, that wasn’t going to be easy because it was also “out of season”;
Meaning the world didn’t want to hear it.

They had already gathered a multitude of teachers to tell them what their itching ears wanted to hear, but that was inappropriate according to God’s eternal mandate.

Paul told Timothy, it’s time to stand and preach.
Don’t respond wrongly to the time in your life.

Now I just want you to think for a moment
About your life and the events of your life
And the events of the lives of those around you.

(What is going on in your life right now?)

We know that God has sovereignly appointed them all.
(3:1) “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.”

• There are all kinds of varying events that are taking place under heaven according to the sovereign prerogative of God.
• And our calling is to recognize the appropriate response to those events.

BUT HERE IS THE IMPORTANT POINT.

When we contemplate what time it is,
We must make the decision not based upon today,
But BASED UPON ETERNITY.

And this is the preacher’s point.

In the life of your spouse or your children or your community,
What is the appropriate response in regard to their eternity?

If your objective is not to make today better, but to make eternity better,
Is it more appropriate to plant or uproot?

If your objective is not to make today better, but to make eternity better,
Is it more appropriate to tear apart or to sew together?

This is perhaps the BIGGEST MISTAKE we make in our lives as parents, friends, spouses, and even ministers of the gospel in our communities.

When we lose sight of the eternal goal
We tend to make decisions based on what makes today better
Instead of what makes eternity better,
And this is totally out of step with God, who always works for eternity.

God knows that this life is a mere vapor
And to work for it is vanity and striving after wind.

SO AGAIN, WHAT TIME IS IT?

Someday in eternity everything regarding how you lived this life
Will be brought to light.

Matthew 10:26 “Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.”

And so you must consider eternity as you live in this small allotted time.

TO THAT END we read a couple of passages to end up last week.
Romans 13:11-14 “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

Certainly we should consider:
Matthew 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Consider:
Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

We would also do good to consider:
Hebrews 3 and 4.

TURN TO: HEBREWS 3

Look at verse 7, “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me”

• God had delivered those people out of Israel,
• But they quickly grumbled against God and hardened their hearts against Him.

The writer of Hebrews speaks there of the opportunity of every man.
The opportunity to respond to the spoken word of God
Or the opportunity to reject it.

And he points to “Today” as your day to respond.
Israel failed, you shouldn’t.

He goes on down in verse 12, “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

Look at the children of Israel and consider “Today”
And the opportunities you have today that you might not have tomorrow.

Furthermore know that David took that same passage about “Today”
And OFFERED IT AGAIN to his contemporaries in Psalms 95,
Which means God is still calling men.

You see it in 4:7 “He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Do you get that?
• Back in the Exodus, that was their allotted time and they blew it.
• David offered it again to his contemporaries and that was their allotted time.
• And now we read it today.

TODAY IS YOUR DAY, TODAY IS YOUR TIME.
You don’t know how much more time you get, but you get today.
DON’T WASTE IT.

Because of this the writer of Hebrews also says:
Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”

God has placed eternity in your heart.
• You know eternity is real (even if you wish you didn’t)
• You know there is a judgment coming
• You know that the soul will live forever either in heaven or hell
• God has seen to it that you know that

And you understand that today you are making decisions
That will have profound impact on your eternity.

2 Corinthians 6:2 “for He says, “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU,
AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.” Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”

AND THIS IS SOMETHING THAT YOU MUST CONTEMPLATE.
WHAT TIME IS IT?

If we have learned nothing else from the year of 2020 and beyond
We should have learned that time is not guaranteed.

Your time, your life-span has been appointed by God.
Psalms 139:16 “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”

And the days that God has given you are so that
You might call upon Him and prepare for eternity.

Let me go back to that great statement by Paul to the Athenians.
Acts 17:26-31 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

Do you grasp that?

If you asked Paul what time it was
He would say it was time to repent and seek God because judgment was coming.

If you asked John the Baptist what time it was he would say:
Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

If you asked Jesus what time it was He would say:
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

I HOPE YOU GRASP THAT.

WHAT TIME IS IT?
In your life

And what time is it in the lives of those around us?
• It is not about trying to make this life better.
The preacher asked (9) “What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?”

And if you are seeking this life the answer is: NOTHING
But if you are working for eternity the answer is: GREAT PROFIT

Men are today making decisions to repent and trust in Christ
And it makes all the difference for their eternity.

Even in ministry how we use today is of great significance, consider Paul again:
Romans 1:13-15 “I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”

• Paul saw ministry today as an opportunity to gain fruit for tomorrow.
• He saw work today as a chance to gain treasure in heaven.

THIS IS THE BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
THAT WE MUST HOLD REGARDING TIME.

• Time is precious
• Time is a gift from God
• Time is mysterious
• Time is fleeting
• Time is sacred and we must make the most of it.

There will come a day, and you don’t know when,
When your time on earth is over, when your allotted days are done.

God already has an appointed day when He will put an end to your allotted days.

And all you will have before you is eternity.

And here is the sobering truth.
In eternity you cannot change your path or your fortune.

• There is no opportunity for repentance in eternity
• There is no opportunity for salvation in eternity
• There is no chance to store up more treasure in eternity
• There is no chance to witness to your friend in eternity
• There is no chance to confront sin in your child in eternity
• There is no chance to comfort the bereaved in eternity

All of that must be done now.
WHAT TIME IS IT?

“We live in time, but we live for eternity.”

“Make the most of your time because the days are evil.”

That is the message of the preacher to the young man.

How many of us, as we age,
Can look back on our life and see the waste that is there.

• Surely we understand the grief of the preacher as he talks about his quest for wisdom…
• Surely we understand the grief of the preacher as he talks about his quest for pleasure…
• We even understand the grief of the preacher as he realizes the futility of trying to sustain a legacy…

But how many of us can also look back and see wasted time?
• Not because we weren’t busy
• Not because we didn’t accomplish stuff in the world.

BUT BECAUSE WE ONLY ACCOMPLISHED STUFF IN THE WORLD.

• The futility of raising a child for 18 years and ONLY teaching them manners or how to live in the world.
• The futility of coaching a little league team and ONLY teaching them about baseball.
• The futility of working and building and ONLY leaving buildings behind.

It is the cry of the preacher:
DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE

Don’t waste this precious time which God has allotted you under heaven.

So again, WHAT TIME IS IT?
Contemplate that in your life and start making decisions
Based on a Biblical view of time and not a worldly view.

And because we certainly view all passages through a gospel perspective I most certainly tell you that it is time for you to repent and trust in Christ.

God placed you on this earth to seek for Him and to find Him only through Christ.
• Only Jesus Christ satisfied the righteous requirements of God.
• Only Jesus Christ propitiated the holy wrath of God.
• Only Jesus Christ offered to do both of those things for you.

He is the only way for a man to be prepared for eternity.

And so this morning, I’m telling you that
TODAY IS THE DAY for you to repent of your sins,
To trust in the work of Jesus Christ,
And to confess Him as your Lord.

Today is the day of salvation.

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Remembering Deliverance, Remembering Defeat
Psalms 108
June 6, 2021

Perhaps you pick up on it when we read through Psalms 108
But there seems to be a sort of peculiar jump that takes place
Between verses 5 and 6.

The first 5 verses are all praise and adoration with David declaring
• His sincerity to God
• His urgency to praise
• His zeal for making God known
• His discernment of the greatness of God
• And his goal that God is exalted above all the earth.

It is filled with praise and adoration.

And then sort of without warning he jumps into verse 6 which says, “That your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and answer me!”

It’s almost like he got bad news
Right in the middle of singing a praise song.

And the rest of the song sort of follows the struggle.
• In verses 7-9 he reminds himself that God has chosen Israel.
• In verses 10-13 he actually speaks of God’s rejection and need for God’s help
or else there can be no victory.

In reading the Psalm it really seemed to me
To sort of jump in between verses 5 and 6.

It would have helped if I had immediately recognized the words David wrote, but I didn’t until opening a commentary.

The reason for the noticeable jump in thought is because
Nothing in Psalms 108 is original.

Psalms 108 is actually parts of two different Psalms
Which David puts together.
And they actually break in between verses 5 and 6.

• Verses 1-5 are actually taken verbatim from Psalms 57:7-11
• Verses 6-13 are taken verbatim from Psalms 60:5-12

I don’t expect you to immediately pull to your memory those Psalms;
As I certainly didn’t upon starting my study.

BUT:
Psalms 57 was a Psalm written when David was hiding in cave from Saul.
• It was written according to “Al-Tashheth” which you remember as one of the “Destroy Not” Psalms.
• It was a Psalm in which David learned to trust God’s judgment and to therefore withhold his own.
• David exalted God in Psalms 57 because God proved that He could and would take care of David’s enemies and David only needed to trust Him.

Psalms 60 was quite different. It was a Psalm of defeat.
• It also came with a context indicator saying, “A Mikhtam of David, to teach; when he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and Joab returned, and smote twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.”
• The difficult part of that Psalm is that while we can find David fighting Aram and Joab fighting Edom, aside from Psalms 60 we don’t have any record of Edom ever defeating Israel.
• It occurred, it is just omitted from the books of 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles.
• Anyway Psalms 60 relates how David was humbled by the defeat
• It reveals how God reminded David of His sovereign selection of Israel.
• And it reveals how it reminded David that regardless of his military might, true victory was only found in the hands of God.

So you have a Psalm of Deliverance and a Psalm of Defeat.
And here in Psalms 108
David took part of both them and put them together.

While we know the original context of both of the Psalms David borrowed, We don’t know the context or the setting of Psalms 108
As to why David visited them again.

• Perhaps it is purely memorial as David reflects on past lessons learned.
• Perhaps it is again relevant and David is again afflicted and drawing strength
from past deliverance.
• Perhaps David is sharing it with others who need the same truth.

WE DON’T KNOW WHY

But David has visited them again, extracted from each of them,
And put them together in Psalms 108 for us to remember.

What is going to allow for us tonight is a PROGRESS REPORT
We get to revisit texts we studied previously and see how we are doing.
• Can we like David still sing those same songs?
• Or do we need to learn them again?

TURN TO: PSALMS 57

As we pointed out earlier you see the sub heading to Psalms 57
Which gives us great insight

“For the choir director; set to Al-tashheth. A Mikhtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.”

Again you notice the “Al-tashheth” distinction
Which of course means to “Destroy Not”

(It is a heading which we see in Psalms 57, 58, 59, and 75.)
It is NOT a prayer for God to “destroy not”
As those Psalms make abundantly clear.

Rather it is a message from David to Israel that they should “Destroy Not”

It is rather a reminder of what Paul taught in the New Testament.
Romans 12:19 “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.”

And you are well aware of that point as we have discussed it repeatedly
In the study of those former Psalms.

The setting is also given that it is “when he fled from Saul in the cave”
• And certainly you remember that story.
• 1 Samuel 24 outlines how David fled from Saul and Saul hunted him down.

1 Samuel 24:1-7 “Now when Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, saying, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. He came to the sheepfolds on the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave. The men of David said to him, “Behold, this is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold; I am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.'” Then David arose and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe secretly. It came about afterward that David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. So he said to his men, “Far be it from me because of the LORD that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the LORD’S anointed.” David persuaded his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul arose, left the cave, and went on his way.”

David learned a great lesson that day.
• He learned that it was not for him to take his own revenge,
• But that God could and would in His timing.

• David turned the other cheek in that cave.
• David spared Saul’s life.
• David left room for the vengeance of God.

And in response to what David learned in that cave, he penned Psalms 57.

Now you can read the first 6 verses of Psalms 57
(which David does not include in Psalms 108)
And you can learn again about David’s learning process.

YOU SEE DAVID’S CONFIDENCE (1-3)
• Namely that when in danger David cried out to God for his deliverance.

YOU SEE DAVID’S CONFIRMATION (4-6)
• Namely when Saul entered that cave David learned that God could definitely handle his enemies.

And then the part that David did copy and include for us was:
DAVID’S COMMITMENT (7-11)

“My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens And Your truth to the clouds. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.”

The overwhelming desire of David was that God be exalted.
• David has just understood that if he delivers himself by his own hand then God receives no glory.
• However, if David is steadfast and full of faith and allows God to be his deliverance then God alone is glorified and exalted.

In our country we are told to “Never take the law into your own hands”

And yet people still do at times: WHY?
• People take the law into their own hands when they have no confidence in the
legal system or the justice system.
• Either they don’t think the police can catch the criminal
• Or they don’t think the judge will convict the criminal and so they take care of it
themselves.

Well, when we take our own revenge we say the same things about God
And thus we rob Him of His glory as the righteous Judge.

Well David learned that in the cave and Psalms 57 was about that truth.

So it was a Psalm about TRUSTING GOD’S VENGEANCE

Even though you are afflicted you need not take your own revenge,
For God, who has chosen you, will in fact deal with your enemies.

That was the lesson of Psalms 57.

From there we move to the other Psalm David quotes.
TURN TO: PSALMS 60

The common denominator of both Psalms
Is that David is attacked in each of them.

• He is attacked by Saul in Psalms 57
• And he is apparently attacked by Edom in Psalms 60.

Psalms 60 also has a subtitle.
“For the choir director; according to Shushan Eduth. A Mikhtam of David, to teach; when he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and Joab returned, and smote twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.”

• Now, while we can read 2 Samuel 8 and read about David defeating Aram
• And we can read 2 Chronicles 18 and read about Joab defeating Edom in the Valley of Salt
• We have no record of any defeat at the hands of Edom which took place.

Just because it is not included in the narrative of Samuel or Chronicles
Does not mean it didn’t occur, clearly according to Psalms 60 it did.

Most likely, while David was up attacking Aram,
Edom attacked from the south and defeated Israel.

This defeat blindsided David.
• Psalms 60 is the song where David humbled himself and confessed to God that apart from God’s help there could be no victory.
• Psalms 60 is a Psalm about what David learned in defeat.

Those are good lessons.
• Like Paul’s thorn in the flesh.
• Paul didn’t learn true strength until he fully understood his own weakness.

SO DAVID ALSO.
Once he truly understood his own vulnerability,
He better understood his desperate need for God.

In Psalms 60 we saw David speak of A SHOCKING REJECTION in verses 1-3 (which David does not include in 108)

• You can really feel how shaken the confidence of David was.
• He just lost a battle he did not expect to lose.

In verses 4-5 (We get 5 in 108) we saw A SIMPLE REQUEST

• After David acknowledged in verse 4 that all his battles are for the glory of God
• David then cried out to God for deliverance.
• He wanted God to step in and deal with the enemy who had afflicted him.

In verses 6-8 (108:7-9) we see A SOVERIEGN REALITY

Here is where despite the defeat
David remembered what God had spoken in the past.

(60:6-8 / 108:7-9) “God has spoken in His holiness: “I will exult, I will portion out Shechem And measure out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet of My head; Judah is My scepter. Moab is My washbowl; Over Edom I shall throw My shoe; Over Philistia I will shout aloud.”

The point to be made is that the Sovereign God of the universe,
Who owns all things has already declared who gets what.

• Shechem and the valley of Succoth are Israel’s land.
• Gilead belongs to God.
• Manasseh belongs to God.
• Ephraim and Judah belong to God and are honored as weapons of war.

No one made God determine that,
But in HIS SOVEREIGN PREROGATIVE He chose to determine that.

That was His decision, not theirs.

And conversely
• “Moab is my washbowl” a lowly servant carrying water to wash His feet.
• “Over Edom I shall throw My shoe” like a slave to whom you kick off your sandals and tell him to deal with them.
• “Over Philistia I will shout aloud” indicating dominance and control.

So the point that David remembered is that
Even though God had allowed a victory for Edom over Israel
It does not change that God has chosen Israel and not Edom.

It did not override God’s sovereign prerogative.

But what it did to was humble David.
• It reminded David that the only reason he ever has any victory
• Is not because of his own military might,
• But because God has chosen to give the victory.

And that understanding is clearly spelled out
In the final 4 verses of the Psalm.

We saw A SINCERE RELIANCE

(60:9-12 / 108:10-13) “Who will bring me into the besieged city? Who will lead me to Edom? Have not You Yourself, O God, rejected us? And will You not go forth with our armies, O God? Oh give us help against the adversary, For deliverance by man is in vain. Through God we will do valiantly, And it is He who shall tread down our adversaries.”

You can hear the humility and the lessons that David learned.
• There is no victory apart from God.
• If God rejects David cannot win.

• “For deliverance by man is in vain”
• And yet, “Through God we will do valiantly, And it is He who shall tread down our adversaries.”

So while David was crushed against the rock of his own weakness,
He was lifted by the power of God.

And David learned not to trust his own strength
But rather to TRUST GOD’S SOVEREIGN GRACE

That is to say, to trust that God will in fact
Deliver those whom He has chosen to deliver.

It reminds of the famous passage in Zechariah:
Zechariah 4:6 “Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.”

David learned that through his defeat.

So we have two Psalms that appear to be
The opposite sides of the same coin.

In both of them David is afflicted.
• In the first he is taught to trust God’s vengeance and let God fight his battles.
• In the second he is taught to trust God’s grace and not his own strength in battle.

And now in Psalms 108
David brings part of them back together for us to remember tonight.

• David remembers a time of deliverance where he learned to trust God’s
vengeance.
• David remembers a time of defeat where he learned to trust God’s grace.

Now he puts them together.

So let’s look at Psalms 108 now quickly
And remember what David was trying to remind us of.

We’ll break the Psalm where it naturally breaks.
#1 REMEMBERING COMMITMENT IN DANGER
Psalms 108:1-5

• Perhaps David finds himself in danger again like he did back in the days of Saul,
• Or perhaps he is encouraging someone else who is trying to learn what it means to leave room for the vengeance of God.

Either way David is compelled to sing this song again.

And again it begins with a tremendous statement of commitment.

“My heart is steadfast, O God;”

It brings to your mind the great statement of Paul which is rooted in the resurrection of Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

• Because death is defeated and heaven is certain Paul calls for believers to be
steadfast.

David still believes that God will care for His own, and he confesses it again.
• He is not a vacillating man.
• He is not a half-hearted follower like the one whose seed was sown among the thorns.
• He is not a shallow-hearted follower like the one who seed was sown on the rocks.

Both of those only talk a good game until the going gets tough.

No David would be wholly devoted.
David would be committed no matter the danger.
And even though danger has arrived again David remains steadfast.

Notice also HIS SINCERITY
“I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my soul.”

This is evidence of a regenerate heart.
• David is not forcing a song against his will.
• David’s soul is so confident in God that it is filled with singing.

See HIS URGENCY
“Awake, harp and lyre; I will awaken the dawn!”

There is no time like the present.
There is no time to wait.
• It is not time to make battle plans.
• It is not time to double-check the defenses.
• It is not time to secure the rations.

It is time to praise the God who saves.
It is first on his agenda.

We see HIS ZEAL
“I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the peoples, And I will sing praises to You among the nations.”

• This was no private devotion.
• This was no intimate song.
• David’s song was meant to be a declaration to the God who avenges His own.

It was important to David that the world know
Where his trust was in the midst of danger.

Notice HIS DISCERNMENT
“For Your lovingkindness is great above the heavens, And Your truth reaches to the skies.”

• Why is David steadfast?
• Why is David sincere?
• Why is David urgent in praise?
• Why can David announce it to the world?

Because David knows how great the loyalty of God is.
He knows that God is for him.
He knows that God is with him.

He has sung this song before in faith,
Now he sings it in confident experience.
God will care for him again.

And we see HIS GOAL
“Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, And Your glory above all the earth.”

• There is a purpose in the danger.
• There is a sovereign reason behind it.

God is going to use this to glorify Himself
And David is still happy to be a part of it.

He saw God do this before with Saul.
• He saw God glorify Himself by preserving David and placing him on the throne.

Now He will see God glorify Himself again
By continuing to secure David’s throne even in new trials.

IT IS GREAT PERSPECTIVE FROM DAVID.
He has sang this song before and he will sing it now again.

He also remembers when God taught him humility by allowing him to suffer defeat and David is good with that too!

#2 REMEMBERING HUMILITY IN DEFEAT
Psalms 108:6-13

• Perhaps God will deliver like He did in the cave.
• Perhaps God will teach David humility like He did with the Edomites.
• Either way David is committed.

He knows that God and only God can deliver.
And so by singing this song again, David reiterates to God
That he has not forgotten that lesson learned long ago.

As he waits for victory he makes sure to confess again
That victory apart from God is impossible.

You see again his plea for salvation.
(6) “That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and answer me!”

David still wants deliverance.

You see again that he has remembered God’s sovereign election of Israel over other nations.
(7-9) “God has spoken in His holiness: “I will exult, I will portion out Shechem And measure out the valley of Succoth. “Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet of My head; Judah is My scepter. “Moab is My washbowl; Over Edom I shall throw My shoe; Over Philistia I will shout aloud.”

God’s sovereign grace in selecting Israel
Is still the very root of David’s confidence.

And you see again David’s humility and commitment to understand that deliverance only comes from God.
(10-13) “Who will bring me into the besieged city? Who will lead me to Edom? Have not You Yourself, O God, rejected us? And will You not go forth with our armies, O God? Oh give us help against the adversary, For deliverance by man is in vain. Through God we will do valiantly, And it is He who shall tread down our adversaries.”

The refreshing thing about the repeat found in Psalms 108
Is that we see that in David’s life NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

It is heartbreaking to us when we see men or women
Who seemed to trust God only to fall away from Him in future trials.
DAVID WAS NO SUCH DEFECTOR.

In Psalms 57 and 60 David LEARNED great things about God.
In Psalms 108 David is CONTINUING TO APPLY what he learned.

• It’s not like we only face certain trials once.
• It’s not like we only face danger once and then never again.
• It’s not like we only face opposition once and then never again.

No, each time we face it there is a lesson involved
To help us face it even better the next time.
That is part of the process of sanctification.

I suppose the good question tonight for us to ponder would be
“Do I trust those things?”

When we looked at Psalms 57
We talked about how a lack of meekness is actually an indictment against God.
• When we refuse to turn the other cheek…
• When we insist on getting our own revenge…
• We are actually saying that we don’t think God will handle it.

• Psalms 57 taught us to “Destroy Not” and leave room for the vengeance of God.
• Psalms 57 taught us to be meek like Jesus who even though He was reviled He did not revile in return.

Have you learned that lesson?

My notes say we studied that text on December 15, 2019.
(about 19 months ago)

Well we certainly had a year of frustration
Where we had every opportunity not to take our own revenge,
But to leave room for the wrath of God.

On December of 2019 none of us had a clue what 2020 was going to bring.

Did we learn the lesson?
Can we still sing 108 with David and say, “Absolutely, I am still steadfast in my belief that God will avenge”?

Or how about the lesson of Psalms 60.
I show that we studied it on January 19, 2020.

David taught us that the defeats and the hardships of life
Were meant to humble him.
David taught us that we were supposed to learn
That there is no victory apart from God.

Well again we saw 2020 come.
• We saw an election year.
• We saw defeats and struggles and hardships.

Did they humble us and teach us to rely on God
Or did they only anger us and cause us
To take matters into our own hands.

It is a pretty unique progress report God just dropped in our lap.

• We were first taught those truths a year and a half ago
• And then we were given every opportunity to see if we learned them.

• And now God has brought them around again to remind us
• And to give us a barometer by which to test our progress.

I’m not about to tell you how I think we did or you did.
I can certainly tell you that I don’t think I like the grade on my scorecard.

But it is a reminder to do better.

That when we face danger or trials or hardships,
• Don’t take your own revenge but leave room for God and He will deliver.

And when we face defeats,
• Don’t get angry,
• Be humble and recognize that God disciplines those whom He loves
• And He humbles them so they will rely on Him and Him alone for their future.

Tonight we are reminded again to TRUST GOD’S JUDGMENT
And to TRUST GOD’S SOVEREIGN GRACE.

• God has chosen us.
• God loves us.
• God has determined to work all things for our good.

And God has promised that we do not have to take our own revenge,
For He will do that for us.
That is good news.

Perhaps over the next 18 months
We’ll do a better job of applying that truth to our lives.

Download Here:

What Time Is It?
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
June 6, 2021

In his letter to the Ephesians the apostle Paul wrote:
Ephesians 5:15-17 “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Paul certainly said a mouthful there
In regard to understanding the proper use of our time.

• Paul knew that we live in an evil day.
• He also understood that there was kingdom work to be accomplished.
• And so Paul encouraged the Ephesians not to be foolish but to “make the most of your time.”

IT’S THE ISSUE OF PRODUCTIVITY.
(or as we have said, not wasting your life)

AND YOU UNDERSTAND THAT.
Especially in America we are tapped in to the concept of time.

• One of the things that many of us have found so refreshing about Africa is the “laid back” atmosphere.
• They don’t plan events according to the clock
• They don’t figure in how long something will take
• They sort of just live in the moment and things happen when they happen
• There is an African proverb which says, “Americans have all the watches, but Africans have all the time.”

If you go to Africa you will either find that mindset
To be refreshing or it will drive you absolutely insane.

We are definitely linked to time in America.
• We run on watches, day planners, schedules, and calendars.
• We plan mornings, afternoons, and evenings.
• We question how long an event lasts so that we can plan the event after that.
• And when something pushes us outside of our schedule it can breed instant panic, anxiety, and even anger and frustration.

TO AMERICANS TIME IS A UNIQUE CURRENCY.
(some value their time even more than their money…my dad did)

In many ways we think about time the same way we think about money.
• People try to save money, and they try to save time.
• People will spend money, and people will spend time (i.e. I’ve got time to help)
• People can waste money, and they can certainly waste time.

The main difference between the money and time is that
While it is possible to know exactly how much money you have,
No one knows how much time they have.

It is a currency in our culture, but it is an uncountable one.

TIME IS ALSO AN UNYIELDING OPPONENT.
Time always wins.

Think about sporting events.
• Think about football or basketball or hockey.
• There is the same winner for every single one of those games.
• The clock wins every single game.

While the competing teams play each other,
They are also playing the clock, but the clock always wins.

Baseball is of course the exception, having refused the constraint of the clock,
But even it is called “The American Pastime”
Reminding us that if you watch or participate you are letting time pass.

Time is an unyielding opponent – it will win.

TIME IS AN ELUSIVE ATTRACTION.
• We think of New Year’s Eve.
• Many celebrations and parties as people await a countdown of 3-2-1,
• And in a split second that anticipated moment becomes the past
• And it can never be visited again.

You anticipate it, and in a moment it is gone.
We like to say that “Time waits for no man”

WHAT YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT TIME THEN IS THIS.
• It is sought but never owned.
• It is saved but never secure.
• It is spent but never sufficient.
• It is used but never mastered.

All we can do is manage the time we have.
Or as Paul said we “make the most of your time”.

And the overwhelming message of Scripture on the subject is that
How we manage time here has ripples that last for eternity.

Well, this is the next message that the preacher has for the young man.

• He has addressed those common temptations of wisdom and pleasure and legacy,
• And now he addresses another very important issue that the young man needs to understand.

He’s going to talk about how the young man views time.

And this is so important.
• You understand how important it is to have a biblical view of money.
• You understand how important it is to have a biblical view of relationships.
• IT IS ALSO SO IMPORTANT THAT WE HAVE A BIBLICAL VIEW OF TIME.

And that is what the preacher is about to give us
Here in the 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes.

We’re going to break our text down into 4 points this morning.
#1 THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Ecclesiastes 3:1

The preacher clearly SHIFTS GEARS here now in his sermon.
• He has momentarily moved on from wisdom and pleasure and the stuff of life
• And has now decided to talk about time.

And he opens with what is a very important truth about time.
“There is an appointed time for everything.”

This is a very important statement, if you will ponder it for a moment.

What is immediately clear is that as the preacher talks about time,
He is NOT so much talking about a cyclical view of time.

We often think of time in a cyclical way.
• There are 60 seconds to every minute
• There are 60 minutes to every hour
• There are 24 hours to every day
• There are 7 days to every week
• There are roughly 4 weeks to a month
• And it is a cycle that goes on and on and on and on

The preacher isn’t so much talking of time in that way,
So much as he is speaking more of
OPPORTUNITY or APPROPRIATENESS in our actions.

For example, as you will see in a moment he makes that famous group of statements, “A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted…”

• He is speaking of events, behaviors, actions, emotions.
• He is speaking of what is appropriate in any given moment.
• He is not talking about timing life, but rather your timing in life.
• He is speaking about living in time correctly or appropriately.

It is NOT a question of how long your life is,
But rather how did you use the time you have?
That is his perspective.

But there is also a very important clue
That must be understood right off the bat.

The preacher says, “There is an appointed time for everything.”

• He DOESN’T just say that “There is…[a] time for everything”
• But rather that there is an “appointed” time for everything.

In other words,
• There is someone who is pulling the strings.
• There is someone who is in control.
• There is someone who is sovereignly delegating out time.

And of course we know this is God.

Acts 17:26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”

Psalms 139:16 “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”

While we do not have power over time there is One who does.
We merely live in time, but God reigns over it.

We think of miracles in the Old Testament
• Like when God caused the sun to stand still for Joshua
• Or when He caused the shadow to move backward 10 steps as a sign for Hezekiah.

We think of Jesus purposely waiting 4 days to raise Lazarus.
• It not only demonstrated His power over death.
• But also His power over time.

Time does not constrain God.
Time bows to Him.

• There is a sovereign over our time.
• There is a sovereign over our days.
• There is a sovereign over the events of our life.

YOU MUST GRASP THAT.
YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT.

You are not in control of your time at all.

Jesus would ask questions like:
Luke 12:25 “And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span?”

• Certainly it was a rebuke about worrying, but you might also ask, “What event can you perform to add a single hour to your life’s span?”

None of us has control like that.

David understood that, and he understood that God alone did have that power.
He said:
Psalms 39:4-5 “LORD, make me to know my end And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am. “Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.”

There is a sovereign who sits above time and who controls it.
We have no control, but He appoints it all.

The preacher goes on to say:
“And there is a time for every event under heaven”

That is to say that nothing that occurs here is by mistake.

There are certainly events that seem wrong or even untimely to us
But not to the One who sits sovereign over all things.

God appoints every event.
God is sovereign over them all.

And this is the first announcement of the preacher to the young man.
You had better first get this right in your mind.

• You are not in control over the span of your life.
• You are not in control over the events of life.
• BUT THERE IS ONE WHO IS.

There is a sovereign God who is at work,
“And there is a time for every event under heaven.”

The Announcement
#2 THE EXPLANATION
Ecclesiastes 3:2-8

Here is perhaps the most famous passage from the book of Ecclesiastes;
Namely because of the song sung by The Birds.

Here the preacher gives 14 examples of what he means when he says that “there is a time for every event under heaven.”

And the key word here to help you understand
Would be the word “appropriate”.

There are events orchestrated by the sovereign hand of God alone,
And there are appropriate and inappropriate responses to them.

The first is a great example of that.
(2a) “A time to give birth and a time to die.”

You don’t have any control over either of those things.
It is the universal biography of all men.

• When you go to a cemetery and you look at a headstone,
• There may be a statement there regarding the life of the person,
• But what they all have in common is a bracket of dates. 1923 – 1984 etc.
• They represent a person’s life span.
• And that person had no say in them.
• They were ordained by God while they were yet in their mother’s womb.

Paul and David both said that.

So there are some events here that orchestrated by the sovereign hand of God.

But the bulk of the list speaks more to
How we respond to the sovereign appointment of God.

Most of what the preacher discusses
Is not regarding what God sovereignly does,
(we often don’t know what that is)
But rather if we respond appropriately in life to what God does.

For example:
(2b) “A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.”

Farmers and gardeners understand this.
• There is a time to plant and a time to harvest.
• You don’t just get to plant whenever you want.
• You don’t just get to harvest whenever you want.

But God has sovereignly designed the seasons
Which dictate when you can do both of those things.

When will it be warm enough?
When will it be wet enough?
When will it be light long enough?

So the point is that you must respond appropriately
To the sovereign timeline of God.

HE CONTROLS THE SEASONS,
You simply respond at the right time to what God is doing.

And you can go on through the list
And see that this is what the preacher is talking about.

(3a) “A time to kill and a time to heal”

• It may sound harsh that the Bible says there is a time to kill,
• But if you encounter a rattlesnake when you get home this afternoon
• You’ll understand the appropriateness of “a time to kill”.

There is a time in the orchestrated events of God that killing is appropriate
Just as there are times when healing is the appropriate response.

(3b) “A time to tear down and a time to build up.”

You remember the prophet Jeremiah and how God told him:
Jeremiah 1:10 “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant.”

Jeremiah was the prophet who announced the tearing down of Jerusalem.
• It was appropriate because God’s people had sinned against Him
• So discipline was appropriate in order to turn His people back to Him.

• There are times when brokenness is certainly appropriate.
• There are times when you break behaviors or attitudes in your children;
• There are times when you build them back up.

If you do either of those at the wrong time
Then you miss the sovereign work of God.

(4) “A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance.”

Think funerals and weddings here.
• It is inappropriate to laugh at a funeral or to weep at a wedding.
• It is inappropriate to dance at a funeral or to mourn at a wedding.

It is to respond incorrectly to what God is doing in time.

Romans 12:15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”

(5a) “A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones”

• Sometimes you need a road and stones must be scattered,
• Sometimes you desire a field and stones must be removed.

It is simply the point of appropriate behavior to the time you encounter.

(5b) “A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing”

You’ve likely learned this in marriage.
• There is a time when it is appropriate to hug your wife.
• There is a time when you may be taking your life in your own hands to do so.

(6a) “A time to search and a time to give up as lost;”

• If you’ve ever played golf you understand this.

(6b) “A time to keep and a time to throw away.”

• This is the decision you make when you plan for a garage sale.

(7a) “a time to tear apart and a time to sew together.”

To a Jew you understand the sign of repentance which was to tear you garments.
• During moments of repentance that was very appropriate,
• But it’s not always appropriate to go around ripping your clothes.

Again, there are sovereign appointed times in which we live
And then there are appropriate responses to those times.

If you do the right thing at the wrong time it’s inappropriate.
If you do the wrong thing at the right time it’s still inappropriate.

(7b) “A time to be silent and a time to speak”

Someone once said, “Sometimes silence is golden, other times it’s just plain yellow.”

(8a) “A time to love and a time to hate;”

People again see trouble with this one.
Since it seems like we should never hate.

And yet we read:
Romans 12:9 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”

There are times certainly even in our culture where things should be hated.
• I learned a few days ago that June is being labeled “Pride Month”.
• I hate that.
• I don’t homosexuals for we once also were foolish ourselves.
• But I hate that our culture feels the desire to celebrate sinful behavior and even take pride in it.

There are appropriate and inappropriate response
To all events under heaven.

(8b) “A time for war and a time for peace.”

• When Jesus walked into the temple and saw the chief priests fleecing the flock, it was “a time for war”.

• And when He walked into that upper room after He rose from the dead it was peace which He offered.

Obviously we could spend a lot more time talking about when those various behaviors or responses are appropriate or inappropriate
BUT YOU GET THE IDEA OF WHAT THE PREACHER IS SAYING.

There is a sovereign God who sets sovereign over everything and every event.
• “There is an appointed time for everything” because God has appointed it.
• “And there is a time for every event under heaven” because God has
ordained it.
• And then there is the appropriate response of humanity to those events.

God is sovereignly ordaining the events of life
And you and I will either respond appropriately or inappropriately to them.

Does that make sense?

He’s already shaping the way now you are viewing time.

• You are NOT in control of the major events of time
• But you ARE in control of how you respond to what God is doing.

• You are NOT in control of the time you have
• But you ARE in control of how you use the time you have.

Do you see that?

Well let’s go one.
#3 THE QUESTION
Ecclesiastes 3:9-10

And there is that question he likes to ask so much.

Ecclesiastes 1:3 “What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun?”

Ecclesiastes 2:22 “For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?”

Well here it is again.
“What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?”

Now keep that question IN CONTEXT.
The preacher is talking about time which you cannot control.

And he asks “What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?”

It is another way of asking that common question.
• Why am I here?
• What am I accomplishing?
• If God is sovereign over it all then what I am doing…really?

If I have no control over my days…
If I have no control over the events that take place under heaven…
Then what am I really accomplishing in all my labor in this life?

CAN YOU PONDER THAT FOR A SECOND?
Well the preacher strikes again doesn’t he?

He just made me feel totally insignificant and he made my life feel utterly pointless.
He has a way of totally crushing my ideas of self-importance.

That’s because if we’re living only for this life then it really is.
You have to see that.

You are trapped in time.
You have no control over it.

A QUARTERBACK on a football field can make all kinds of decisions,
And he can even manage the clock, but he cannot control it.

Neither can you in life.

And the preacher wants you to realize that.

Now that was the question.
“What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?”

And he goes on to explain the reason for the question a little better.

“I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.”

When the preacher mentions “the task”, he is talking about LIFE.

And notice how the preacher describes it.
“I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.”

• Have you ever had a job that was really important that you needed to get done, but your kids were all in the middle of everything?
• Did you ever give them something to do to keep them occupied?

Did you see what the preacher just said?

My sister and I have 4 cousins on my dad’s side of the family.
• One summer my grandpa decided to get all 6 of us together to pain his barn.
• But he was afraid my youngest cousin was too little.
• So while 5 of us got brown pain, my youngest cousin got a bucket full of water.
• It wasn’t long before my youngest cousin asked my grandpa if he could have
some brown in his water.

My grandpa let him feel like he was really doing something,
But the reality was he was only keeping him occupied.

And it wasn’t long before my young cousin asked,
“What profit is there to the worker for that in which he toils?”

Now do you grasp the difference between
What God is accomplishing in time and what we are accomplishing?

And the preacher feels like his life again is meaningless and pointless.
So he asks “What profit is there to the worker from that which he toils?”

What profit is there to painting with water?

SO THERE AGAIN THE PREACHER
HAS MANAGED TO PIN US UP AGAINST OUR OWN FUTILITY.

Well here is where we really start to learn.

The Announcement, The Explanation, The Question
#4 THE ANSWER
Ecclesiastes 3:11

Well let’s learn something here about God.

Remember the point of the preacher is that you don’t control time,
But you do control whether you respond appropriately to the events of this life.

Now let me ask you another question.
Who determines what is appropriate?

The preacher just said that there is “a time to plant and a time uproot”.
Who determines that time? God does.

The preacher said there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh”.
Who determines that time? God does.

Well listen to him here.
“He has made everything appropriate in its time.”

God has determined what the appropriate response in time is.
When God works, He has also determined how you should respond.

What the preacher is doing is:
Introducing to you the concept of a Sovereign Judge.
• There is One who is at work in time.
• That same One is giving you opportunity to respond to what He is doing.
• And He is watching to see if you respond appropriately or not.

He is watching to see if you weep when you should and laugh when you should,
If you mourn when you should and dance when you should, etc.

“He has made everything appropriate in its time.”
• He is the great Judge
• He is the great determiner of what is appropriate.

And then the preacher says:
“He has also set eternity in their heart”

When you read Romans 1 you read how God put the “knowledge of Him” in the human heart.
• Men instinctively know there is a God.
• Now they may seek to suppress that knowledge, but God put it in there.

Well here we learn that
God also put it instinctively in the heart of man to know eternity is real.
• Men just know that there is something beyond death.
• That certainly explains the rise of so many false religions.
• Men are trying to gain understanding to eternity because they instinctively know that eternity is real.
• Somehow man knows that there is more after this life.
• God did that.

Now, GOD DID NOT give man all the answers.

“yet so that man will not find out all the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.”

That is to say that God allows man to know eternity is real,
But God does not allow man to know everything.

A great verse here is:
Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”

• There are a lot of things that God knows that He has not allowed us to know.
• God has revealed all that we need to know in order to know and obey Him.
• We don’t get it all, but we do get all we need to know.

NOW, LET ME PUT ALL THIS TOGETHER.

• We have a God who is sovereign over time and all the events under heaven.
• We have man who is merely responding appropriately or inappropriately to
all those events.
• We have God who determines whether or not that response is appropriate.
• And we have man who doesn’t know everything, but somehow does know that
after this life he will answer to the sovereign Judge about how he lived.

And with that in mind the preacher asked you a question.
(9) “What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?”
If God is in control what good does it do for me to work?

Well the answer is that the profit comes in eternity
When you give an account to God.

• GOD DID NOT put you on this earth to be sovereign over the events of earth.
• GOD DID NOT put you on this earth to be in control of all things.
• GOD PUT YOU on this earth to prepare you for eternity; which He instinctively taught you is real.

To quote R.C. Sproul here: “We live in time, but we live for eternity.”

The God who is sovereign over time.
The God who makes “an appointed time for everything”
The God who makes “a time for every event under heaven”

That God has set all things up for the purpose of eternity.

That means that if you are working for here,
You are in conflict with God because He is working for eternity.

So what is your profit in all your labor here?
• Nothing if you’re trying to get your payoff here.
• But there is great profit if you work for eternity.

My cousin was accomplishing nothing by painting with water,
Except that he was pleasing my grandfather
Who would pay him just like he paid the rest of us.

And this is the message of the preacher to the young man.

As you go out into this world and you face various situations and events
• Know that each of these events is meant to prepare you for eternity
• And your objective is to learn what God’s appropriate response is to all these things.

There is really so much more that could be said here,
But we’ll have to wait until next time.

Let me just leave you with this thought for next seek.

“What time is it?”

And I don’t mean time on the clock
As to whether or not we should be getting out of church.

I’m talking about:
• What time is it in your life?
• What time is it in the life of your spouse?
• What time is it in the life of your child?

Are you responding appropriately in light of eternity?

When a football game starts drawing close to the end, the coach concerns himself with two things:
• The Score
• The Clock

• If he’s ahead in the score he runs the ball and hopes to run out the clock.
• If he’s behind he hopes to throw the ball and preserve the clock.

But all his decisions are made based on
Where he would be when the clock runs out.

Do you understand that?
• You were not put on this earth to live for today.
• You were put here to live for eternity.
• Are you ready when time runs out?

There is a sovereign God who has already ordained your beginning and your end. You have no control over that.

But how you respond to that God while you are in this life
Makes all the difference.

God hasn’t told you everything about what He is doing,
But He has told you that.

Now listen to the final sermon of Jesus.
Acts 1:6-8 “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

The disciples wanted to know about the time.
• Jesus said, that is outside of your paygrade.
• You need to rather learn to make the most of the time you have.

Ephesians 5:15-17 “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Romans 13:11-14 “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

• What time is it?
• What is your appropriate response to today that will profit you in eternity?

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A Reminder To The Redeemed
Psalms 107
May 30, 2021

Last week we read Psalms 106
And saw a tremendous testimony to God’s AMAZING GRACE.

• We saw people who had literally infuriated God.
• The Psalmist said that God “abhorred” them.
• And yet, He saved them.

It is a tremendous testimony that our God saves His enemies.
Certainly we marvel at such grace.

Psalms 107 seems to take the next logical step.
• While Psalms 106 focused on the degree of the rebellion which God forgave.
• Ps. 107 focuses on the magnificence of the redemption which God performed.

• Psalms 106 pushed us down into despair at the depth of our wickedness.
• Psalms 107 lifts our hands in praise at the magnitude of God’s deliverance.

We could easily title this Psalm “Amazing Loyalty”

6 times in the Psalms we come across that wonderful Hebrew word CHECED
Which speaks of “God’s loyal covenantal love”.

It is a Psalm that highlights for us
Just how good God has been to helpless humanity.

But it is also a Psalm that highlights God’s loyalty for a purpose.
And it drives home for us two main points.

1. The obligation of those who have been delivered.
2. The necessity of contemplating who God delivers

You actually read it in the last verse.
(43) “Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things, And consider the lovingkindnesses of the LORD.”

There is a call there
To understand God’s loyalty and who He shows it to.

This would call us then to BE THE TYPE OF PERSON
Who enters that type of a relationship with God.

This Psalm in its entirety
Is asking you to pay attention to the recipients of God’s redemption
So that you might be one who experiences it.

But first the Psalm opens with the obligation of those who have been redeemed and that is where we start as well.
#1 THE OBLIGATION OF REDEMPTION
Psalms 107:1-3

This is a great opening paragraph to the Psalm
And there is so much that is important here to grasp.

Let’s sort of take the truths revealed here in kind of a chronological order, rather than a verse by verse order.

1) THE ADVERSARY

(2) “Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary”

• We speak here of a people in bondage, and they are in bondage to a master.
• They are in bondage to an adversary.
• We know who this is, it is Satan.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”

• Paul speaks there of those who are lost and even quarrelsome as those who are “held captive” by the devil.

• When John the Baptist spoke to the Pharisees at the Jordan river he called them “brook of vipers” (literally sons of snakes)

When Jesus addressed the Jews in John 8, He said:
John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

In the garden the adversary showed up and deceived the woman
And the entire human race fell into sin and into slavery to the evil one.
Men were held captive.

Some experience severe and terrible cruelties as a result of this captivity.

For example:
• In Luke 13 we meet a woman who had been bent over for 18 years due to a sickness caused by a spirit. Jesus healed her on the Sabbath.

Luke 13:16 “And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

Jesus said that Satan had bound her.

Certainly we read of the demon possessed who were terribly and physically afflicted.

But not everyone who is bound by Satan is physically afflicted.
• Some are actually quite healthy and even appear prosperous in life.
• Their captivity is found in their bondage to sin.

Those who are lost are in bondage and often don’t even know it.
The reason is because their fallen will aligns with their captivity.

They are in slavery to the sin which they love
So it often doesn’t feel like slavery.

But if they ever reach a point where they wish they could stop sinning, usually due to outward consequences; then the slavery reveals itself.

• That is when they learn that they can’t stop…
• That is when they learn that they are actually slaves.

This is the adversary,
And all men begin there by reason of Adam and their own sin.

But into this horrible scene we are introduced to:
THE REDEEMER

He is “the LORD”
• Redemption means “to buy back”
• It is to pay off the debt of the person in bondage.

One of the most beautiful pictures of this comes in the book of Hosea
• Where Gomer has been an unfaithful wife.
• Because of her unfaithfulness she is sent away.
• She falls into the arms of cruel captors.
• She incurs a debt of slavery.
• And then Hosea determines to take her back, but she comes with an enormous cost.

Hosea 3:1-2 “Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley.”

It’s really a remarkable story.
(I always imagine Hosea telling his friends all about his intentions)

God is such a redeemer.
He redeems the unfaithful and pays off the debts they have amassed
So that He might take them back again.

And that lets us talk then about
THE REDEMPTION

(1) “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

WHAT A GREAT REALITY!
God’s CHECED is “everlasting”

• That is why He redeems.
• That is why Hosea took Gomer back.
• God’s loyalty is “everlasting”

And because of that loyalty
God “has redeemed them from the hand of the adversary.”

That’s what His redemption is.
• Fueled by His great loyalty
• God pays off the debt of those
• Who are held captive by their enemy.

And so we would also then talk about:
THE REDEEMED

(2) “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so”

This is where the obligation come sin.
“Oh give thanks to the LORD”
• There is a required gratitude.
• There is a required testimony.

• Where you enslaved in sin?
• Did you have a debt you could not pay?
• Was there a cruel enemy who sat as your master?

• Did God come in and pay off your debt?
• Did God deliver you from his grasp?

THEN LET’S HEAR ABOUT IT!
Give thanks and talk about it.

It’s the beauty of the testimony.
I loved that the W.O.M. ladies spent this last year sharing their testimonies.
• For one it is great for unity and fellowship.
• But more importantly it is glorifying to God.

God has stepped in and redeemed us from our mistakes
And delivered us from our captor,
We should tell people about this.

It is the obligation of redemption.
Sharing your testimony is not optional, you are obliged to do this.

Well, that’s how the Psalm opens.

But then we get 4 pictures of what redemption looks like.
#2 THE DESCRIPTION OF REDEMPTION
Psalms 106:4-32

Obviously these break down into 4 stories of redemption.

What you must notice as you look at these 4 stories is
• What did they all have in common that caused God to redeem?
• And, what was their expected response to that redemption?

That is what the Psalmist is wanting you to grasp.

As I said, there are 4 stories here
1) GOD SATISFIES THE HUNGRY (4-9)

Here we find a story of a lost wanderer.
• They are in “a desert region”
• “They did not find a way”
• “They were hungry and thirsty”
• “Their soul fainted”

Certainly you understand a parable when you read it.

This could be a person literally lost in a desert without food or water,
But is a picture of one who has found no satisfaction in life.
This person is Ecclesiastes personified.

They have tried and searched for everything that could satisfy
And they have come up empty.

And I would also point out that this is their fault.

The preacher in Ecclesiastes made this very clear to us this morning.

Ecclesiastes 2:25 “For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?”

God has so ordained it that
There is no satisfaction if you are seeking it apart from Him.

And yet people do seek satisfaction apart from God.
Jeremiah even rebuked the children of Israel for this.

Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.”

These are people who made the mistake
Of seeking satisfaction in the world
And they came up way empty.

(6-7) “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He delivered them from their distresses. He led them also by a straight way, to go to an inhabited city.”

They called upon the name of the LORD
And He immediately straightened their path.

He took them RIGHT TO THE SATISFACTION that had alluded them their entire life.
Psalms 23:1-2 “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.”

That is what He did here.
• He satisfied the hungry
• He satisfied the thirsty soul

And what then is their obligation?
(8-9) “Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.”

“give thanks”

Has God satisfied you?
Then tell Him thank you.

God, in His great loyalty satisfies the hungry soul.
And those who have been satisfied should be grateful.

2) GOD RESCUES PRISONERS (10-16)

Analogy number 2 comes to us as prisoners in a dungeon.

(10) “There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, Prisoners in misery and chains.”

These were locked away in a cold dark dungeon.

But let’s make sure and also recognize that
They were there because THEY DESERVED TO BE THERE.

(11-12) “Because they had rebelled against the words of God And spurned the counsel of the Most High. Therefore He humbled their heart with labor; They stumbled and there was none to help.”

They didn’t listen.
• God told them not to go and they went.
• God told them not to do and they did.
• God told them not to touch that tree or eat from it and they did.

And in their rebellion they received far more than they bargained for.
They became slaves.
They were arrested, they were tried, they were convicted,
They were sentenced, and they were incarcerated.

And now they live as prisoners of their cruel master.

And of course we are NOT just talking about actual prisoners here.

We know of addiction and the horrors it can bring.
Alcohol, drugs, pornography, sex, gambling

But also every other sin which will enslave
Gossip, greed, ambition, anger, etc.

People who are ensnared by sin and can’t escape.
And they just rack up more and more debt they can never repay.

It is people who willfully did what God told them not to do
And it landed them in the pit of their consequences.

(13-14) “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death And broke their bands apart.”

They called on the LORD and “He saved them”
• He tore apart their chains
• He ripped away their cell door
• He set them free

No longer did they have to commit the sin they once were enslaved to.
They were now a new creation.

And what is their obligation for such a great deliverance?

(15-16) “Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! For He has shattered gates of bronze And cut bars of iron asunder.”

They also must “give thanks”

Has God delivered you?
Has God set you free from your sin?
THEN TELL HIM THANK YOU.

God in His loyalty rescues prisoners.
And those who have been delivered should be grateful.

3) GOD SAVES FOOLS (17-22)

Here we come across “fools”
People who just do stupid things and foolish things.

WHY?
(17-18) “Fools, because of their rebellious way, And because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all kinds of food, And they drew near to the gates of death.”

They were again people who rebelled against God
And did dumb things that nearly got them killed.

Teenagers seem to particularly identify here.
• We think of all the dumb stuff we did when we were younger that could have gotten us seriously hurt.

But even more than just innocent foolishness,
Here it is rebellious foolishness.

When we actually defied the commands of God
To do what was dangerous because we thought it would be fun.

And in our rebellion we “were afflicted”

We brought horrific consequences on ourselves.
• Not the least of which was the displeasure of God and the promise of hell and judgment.

These people were fools.

(19-20) “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.”

But in the middle of their stupidity
They called on the LORD and “He saved them”

“He sent His word and healed them”
• Indicating that He gave them instruction on how to escape their perilous
situation.
• When they listened and obeyed, they found themselves delivered.

They had been redeemed from their foolishness.

How should they respond?
(21-22) “Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, And tell of His works with joyful singing.”

Here we see gratitude again.

And we see an “also” thrown in.
“and tell of His works with joyful singing”

They should declare it at the top of their lungs
With magnificent songs of praise to God!

God in His loyalty saves fools.
And the fools He saves should respond with gratitude and praise.

4) GOD DELIVERS THE HOPELESS (23-32)

These were people who weren’t necessarily
Doing something foolish or even rebellious,
But they were caught simply in the realities of the curse.

This life is hard and this world is dangerous and they were caught in it.
And it didn’t matter how hard they worked they couldn’t get out.

(23-27) “Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters; They have seen the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, Which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths; Their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, And were at their wits’ end.”

It doesn’t mention rebellion.
• I suppose you could sort of read between the lines and accuse them of greed since they were doing business, but that is hardly a sin.

In reality it was just people caught in the storms of life.
Sometimes that happens even without adamant rebellion or foolishness.

The problem is that even though they didn’t necessarily cause it,
They still had no answers for it.

They “were at their wits’ end.”
• There was no hope.
• The situation had defeated them.

(28-30) “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, And He brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, So that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they were quiet, So He guided them to their desired haven.”

In their trouble they called on the LORD and “He brought them out”.
And “He guided them to their desired haven.”

HE DELIVERED THEM IN HIS LOYALTY.

How should they respond?
(31-32) “Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! Let them extol Him also in the congregation of the people, And praise Him at the seat of the elders.”

You see it again.
• “give thanks”
• “Let them extol Him also in the congregation”
• “and praise Him at the seat of the elders”

Give God gratitude and glory!

God in His loyalty delivers the hopeless.
And those He delivers should thank and praise Him.

Now those are the descriptions of God’s redemption for humanity.

And certainly as we read
You saw the fingerprints of Jesus all over this Psalm.

JESUS SATISFIES THE HUNGRY.

• We could easily read about Him feeding the 5,000
• We could easily read about the woman at the well and Him offering her living water.

John 6:32-35 “Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

Jesus alone is satisfaction.
Jesus alone gives life and life abundant.
Certainly that story is about Him.

JESUS RESCUES PRISONERS

He said it Himself:
Luke 4:17-21 “And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

• We think about that man born blind who was consigned to darkness.
• We think about that cripple at the Bethesda pool whom Jesus healed and told him to sin no more.
• We think about that paralytic lowered through the roof and the first thing Jesus did was forgive His sin, and then healed him.

Matthew certainly understood that
Those “who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death” needed Jesus.

He saw Jesus and wrote:
Matthew 4:12-16 “Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES — “THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.”

And Jesus said of Himself to those in darkness.
John 8:12 “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

Those who fell into sin and addiction and slavery to sin,
Jesus alone has the ability to give them back their life.

He alone can pay off their debts and release the prisoners.
Certainly that story is about Him.

JESUS SAVES FOOLS

Matthew 17:14-18 “When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. “I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once.”

• Jesus is there seen saving that lunatic.
• Or go to the Gadarene demoniac who is living among the tombs and see Jesus deliver him from a legion of demons.

Jesus saves fools who do stupid things.

Titus 3:3-7 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Certainly that story is about Jesus.

JESUS DELIVERS THE HOPELESS

That story is almost verbatim to the story in the New Testament
When Jesus calms the sea.

• Men in danger of the sea and Jesus rebukes the waves and the sea becomes calm.
• It was a picture of how Jesus can deliver us from what we have no power to deliver ourselves from.
• Many of those disciples were fishermen and they knew a thing or two about a storm, but on that night their strength was not enough.

We find that in life.

And to those people Jesus says:
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Those who have no hope of saving themselves.
He delivers them.

We read how “He guided them to their desired haven.”
• I can’t help but think about God brought to Carrie and I the great deliverance
from her depression when we had all but given up.
• We have often called it our “Island of Malta” because God delivered us from
that storm to an island we didn’t even know existed.

He does those things in His loyalty.

Have you experienced any or all of them?
• Have you ever been empty?
• Have you ever been enslaved?
• Have you ever been foolish?
• Have you ever been hopeless?

Did Jesus redeem you?

Then “give thanks”
“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so!”

Well, there is one more point tonight.
#3 THE LESSON OF REDEMPTION
Psalms 107:33-43

When you read verses 33-38
What you see is the sovereign prerogative of God.

You notice that God has the ability to make life hard any time He wants.
• He can send a drought
• He can make life hard

And you notice that He can make life easy.
• He can send rain and grow crops and do all sorts of things like that.

By His sovereign prerogative
He has the ability to do whatever He desires with life.

But when you get to verse 39
You begin to see that BOTH OF THOSE HE DOES FOR A PURPOSE.

• If He makes life hard and squeezes a person it is for a reason.
• And if He makes life easy and blesses a person it is for a reason.

And that reason is what you SHOULD HAVE NOTICED
During the first 32 verses of the Psalm.

God brings calamity so that men might do what?
• What is it that all 4 of those stories had in common?

(6,13,19,28) “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble”

God wants faith and submission and for you to call on His name.
That is the Psalmist explanation for your affliction.

And then when God delivers and redeems and turns struggle into blessing, why is it that God does that?

(8,15,21,31) “Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness”

So God places men in difficulty.
• (12) “He humbled their heart with labor”
• (25) “He spoke and raised up a stormy wind”

So that they will call on Him.
And then credit Him for their redemption and praise Him for it.

WHAT DO YOU LEARN FROM THAT?

Bound up all throughout this Psalm is the one foundational truth
That everyone should know now by heart.

James 4:6 “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”

(39-43) “When they are diminished and bowed down Through oppression, misery and sorrow, He pours contempt upon princes And makes them wander in a pathless waste. But He sets the needy securely on high away from affliction, And makes his families like a flock. The upright see it and are glad; But all unrighteousness shuts its mouth. Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things, And consider the lovingkindnesses of the LORD.”

God can squeeze anyone He wants to squeeze
And God can exalt anyone He desires to exalt.

And it is always the same criteria.
That man will humble themselves and call on His name.

• If idolatry landed them in their distress then certainly they must confess that idolatry when they call.

• If rebellion landed them in their distress then certainly they must confess that rebellion when they call.

• If foolishness landed them in their distress then certainly they must confess that foolishness when they call.

• If weakness landed them in their distress then certainly they must acknowledge that weakness when they call.

But when they humbled themselves and call on His name,
He redeems!
That is the point!

And when they are redeemed they are obliged to give thanks and say so!

“Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things, And consider the lovingkindnesses of the LORD.”

We could easily go on for many hours tonight on this topic,
But the point I hope is clear.

This week,
• If you are in peril humble yourself and call on the LORD.
• If you have been redeemed then give thanks and tell someone about it.

Download Here:

Contemplating Your Legacy – Part 2
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26 (17-26)
May 30, 2021

This morning we come back to our study of Ecclesiastes.
The preacher, also known as the critic, is giving his review
Of everything that is done “under the sun”.

And his objective is to help the young man know the truth about life.

He began by addressing those two chief temptations that all men face.
• One is the MOST ESTEEMED – Knowledge
• The other is the MOST EMBRACED – Pleasure

But both are nothing more than a mirage.
Neither can provide true satisfaction or happiness in life.

• While knowledge is certainly to be preferred over pleasure knowledge lacks the ability to straighten what is crooked or to supply what is lacking.

• And pleasure, thought it can be quite enjoyable for a season, ultimately leaves you either frustrated or bored.

And, having given his life to searching out both of them,
The preacher has now left his review that
Neither knowledge nor pleasure are to be the sole pursuit of life.

LAST TIME WE MOVED ON as the preacher began to examine something else that eventually becomes important to men and that was his LEGACY.

We started working our way through this text.
#1 HIS EPIPHANY
Ecclesiastes 2:12-14

Very simply the preacher, with his legacy in mind,
Determined to compare wisdom with pleasure to see which was better.

And hands down he came to his answer.
(13) “And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.”

And we have no argument there.
• No one sees foolishness as a virtue.
• An education is a good thing.
• Certainly we prefer wisdom over pleasure.

But that WASN’T his epiphany, in fact everyone knows that.

His actual epiphany was much more disturbing.
(14) “The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.”

He was blindsided by the reality that in this world (under the sun)
The finish line for the wise man is the same as the finish line for the fool.

I’ve preached a lot of funerals
• I’ve preached the funeral of wise men and the funeral of fools.
• I’ve preached the funeral of rich men and the funeral of poor men.
• I’ve preached the funeral of the educated and the funeral of the uneducated.

AND IT IS AMAZING HOW SIMILAR THEY ALL ARE.

AND THE POINT IS THAT ALL MEN DIE.

Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”

And even though knowledge is better than folly, no amount of wisdom or education can stop death.

Genesis 3:19 “By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

The epiphany of the preacher was that
It didn’t matter how hard he pursued wisdom,
In the end he would die and be buried just like the fool.

That was his epiphany.

#2 HIS ENIGMA
Ecclesiastes 2:15-16

And we saw the mystery that baffled him.

(15) “Then I said to myself, “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. WHY THEN HAVE I BEEN EXTREMELY WISE?” So I said to myself, “This too is vanity.”

Today we say, “Eat right, exercise daily, die anyway.”

Since both the wise man and the foolish man still end up at the grave
HE COULDN’T HELP BUT ASK HIMSELF:

“Why then have I been extremely wise?”

Was all my quest really accomplishing anything?

And that was bad enough,
But there was STILL ANOTHER THING that greatly grieved him.

(16) “For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as the wise man and the fool alike die!”

There is even no benefit to your legacy.
There is no guarantee you’ll even be remembered.

• And I read you a list of several US Presidents that not many people in here even knew.
• I gave you name Martin Cooper who invented the cell phone and no one in here knew who he was.

And we see that LEGACY IS A TRICKY and unpredictable thing.

For example:
The first idea of a flushing toilet was made by Sir John Harington of England which is why people speak of going to “Use the John”

In the late 19th century another inventor took the idea and ran with it creating a line of flushing toilets. His name was Thomas Crapper.

When American soldiers in England saw his name stamped on the toilets the name became slang for the toilet and even for using the restroom.

History of the Flush Toilet

Legacy is tricky.

Well, the preacher has just figured that out.

Wisdom couldn’t keep him from dying
And wisdom couldn’t cause him to be remembered or remembered well.

The simple fact is “all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die!”

It is a sad and dark reality.

And that led us to the 3rd point which we just barely started examining.
#3 HIS EMOTION
Ecclesiastes 2:17-21

You see again there his 3 statements.
• (17) “So I hated life…”
• (18) “Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor…”
• (20) “Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor…”

When he realized that all his efforts to obtain wisdom
• Could not make him righteous,
• Could not supply satisfaction,
• Could not keep him from death,
• And could not protect his legacy,

HE WAS CRUSHED.

He had undoubtedly figured himself
To be a little better than the average man by means of his wisdom
And on this day he learned that they were mere equals.

That type of humility is a hard pill to swallow.
And it crushed this preacher.

But let’s look a little deeper as to exactly WHY he was so bothered.

Here in verses 17-21 he actually shows us 3 reasons why he was so bothered.

1) WASTED LABOR (17)

“So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.”

Imagine pursuing wisdom
With the expectation that it will make you better off than everyone else,
Only to find that it didn’t.

There is a real sense of injustice there that is hard to swallow.

I remember a recent undercover journalistic experiment where a journalist started interviewing college students on campus regarding socialism. When a particular student said they thought socialism was a good thing, the journalist then told them of the new university policy to use a socialistic grade averaging standard. The students were instantly infuriated.

That was a spoof, but life is eerily similar.

We think that if you study hard and work hard and if you push through the difficulties that life owes you success.

We actually get frustrated with people
Who seem to land in success without having to do the work.

But it is generally assumed that
• If you will go to college,
• And study hard,
• And make good grades
• Then you will get a good job and have a successful life.

BUT THERE IS NO SUCH PROMISE.
SOME PEOPLE STUDY HARD AND STILL FAIL.

AND even those who do manage to become successful in this life
Still face death and so ultimately there is no winning.

AND THE PREACHER WAS BOTHERED.
His work he says “was grievous to me”

Ever had work like that?
Ever had a job that was really, really hard?

You’re only means of justifying such hard work
Is that the payoff will be worth it.

But when you learn that the payoff isn’t worth it,
It just makes the work that much more bitter.

So now the preacher actually hated all the work he did.
• He saw it as a waste.
• He saw it as unnecessary struggle.
• He hated it.

That’s not the only reason he despaired.

2) ABANDONED ACCOMPLISHMENT (18)

“Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.”

When I was about a year old my parents bought the 50 acres
Where my mom now lives.

• It was a ½ mile off the highway so accessing it meant often times walking through the mud.
• Many nights around 2 in the morning my dad would come in from a horse sale and lead horses in the dark, through the mud to his land.
• Terrible Tuesday in Wichita Falls (a massive tornado) gave my dad and grandpa the opportunity to go and gather up debris from which they built a barn and pens.
• Over time he would salvage and gather to build fence, get farm equipment just to be able to turn that 50 acres into something he could use.
• He loved that barn, he loved that land.

Before he died, he was sitting in his back room looking out the window and he said,
“I’m just sitting here wondering who will own this land after I’m gone.”

Now he wasn’t in despair, he had long since determined he wanted a heavenly inheritance, but there is a certain sadness in a statement like that.

All that work, All that labor
And you leave and have no say over what happens next.

TO FURTHER PROVE THE POINT,
2 months after my dad died my mom painted that barn turquoise.

THE POINT IS someday you leave it all.
• Land, houses, barns, equipment, degrees, certificates.
• You take none of it with you.

Luke 12:13-20 “Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘ “But God said to him, ‘ You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’”

It’s an important question.
“Now who will own what you have prepared?”

Psalms 49:10-12 “For he sees that even wise men die; The stupid and the senseless alike perish And leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have called their lands after their own names. But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.”

Psalms 49:17 “For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him.”

1 Timothy 6:7 “For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.”

That is what grieved the preacher; “for I must leave it”.

And that still isn’t the only thing that bothered him.

3) UNCERTAIN MANAGEMENT (19-21)

“And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity. Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil.”

• Perhaps if you knew that you were leaving your land to a son who could run the farm…
• Perhaps if you knew that you were leaving your business to a man who would care for your legacy…

BUT THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES.

The preacher was leaving all that he had accomplished
To the man who would come after him
“And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?”

And the ironic thing for Solomon was that his son was a fool.

The kingdom of Israel was never bigger and never more prosperous
Than when Solomon reigned as king.

• His son and heir to the throne was Rehoboam.
• When Rehoboam became king the northern 10 tribes approached him asking for relief from the hard service that Solomon had placed upon them.
• Rehoboam’s counselors advised him to listen to them and make the nation stronger.
• Rehoboam listened to his friends instead who encouraged him to show them his strength.

His answer:
1 Kings 12:11 “Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'”

What was the response of the northern 10 tribes?
1 Kings 12:16-19 “When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; To your tents, O Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” So Israel departed to their tents. But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.”

• The northern 10 tribes seceded from the union and the kingdom was split.
• The kingdom Solomon built was split.
• The temple Solomon built was used only by 1 tribe (Judah in the south)

It is what Solomon feared
(19) “And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.”

How can that be fair?

But it is real and it led the preacher to despair.
(20-21) “Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil.”

Can you wrap your mind around this?
It is important that you do.

We are talking about what is done “under the sun”.
We are talking about all you accomplish “under heaven”.

AND YOU DON’T GET TO KEEP ANY OF IT.
AND YOU DON’T GET ANY SAY OVER IT AFTER YOU’RE GONE.

It really forces a man to begin to ponder
Just what he is building or accomplishing.

Well the preacher did and it led him to despair.
And if this world is your treasure it will do the same to you.

His Epiphany, His Enigma, His Emotion
#4 HIS EVALUATION
Ecclesiastes 2:22-23

Here again we come to THE ACTUAL REVIEW.

“For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?”

Now he’ll actually answer that in a minute, but first you need to ponder it.

WHAT DO YOU GET FROM IT ALL?

And this has been a major point of the sermon of the preacher.
Ecclesiastes 1:3 “What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun?”

That is the same thing he’s asking here again.
“For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?”

• What is the profit?
• What is the benefit?

And he asks that “BECAUSE all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity.”

• Look at the man killing himself to obtain this world…
• Look at the man worrying endlessly about his stuff…
He is consumed by it.

We think of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 6:27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?”

There is just so much that is totally out of your control.

But you see the man who is killing himself
To obtain that which he can never keep,
And that which he will leave to someone else
Who may in fact ruin it all.

“For what does a man get..?”

What if you spend your life and you make your fortune and you store up a 401K and you have all your stuff.

• What happens when the government starts printing money and writing checks it can’t cash and inflation takes over and your dollar is no longer worth anything?

• Of even if your retirement doesn’t run out and you amass a fortune that is still in tact when you die, but your heir determines to invest it all in Bitcoin or something else and it all poofs away?

When Corenelius Vanderbuilt (the shipping and railroad mogul) died he was worth an estimated 95 million dollars (roughly 3 billion in today’s terms).
By the 4th generation it was all gone.

What did he get for all his work and all his worry?

And you know the answer.
NOTHING

So do you see the preacher’s evaluation?
Do you see the critic’s review?
“This too is vanity.”

• It’s a mirage
• It’s a mist
• It’s smoke

Men work hard and worry hard and push themselves to win at life, But in the end they leave it all.
And their legacy vanishes like smoke.

• Are you really going to spend your life trying to build something that lasts only on earth?
• Are you really going to spend your life trying to store up something that must stay on earth when you leave?
• Are you really going to be a man who has many possessions but is not rich toward God?

THAT IS THE QUESTION.

How foolish to be a billionaire on earth and a pauper for eternity.

The preacher saw his life’s work and saw that it was a vapor.
• It vanished
• It poofed away
• Like a morning cloud it was quickly gone.

You need to learn that in your pursuits of life.

Now, there is one more point that the preacher makes here.
#5 HIS EXHORTATION
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

Now, in verse 22 he asked, “What does a man get in all his labor..?”

Well here in verse 24 he actually answers that question.

(24) “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.”

So what is the answer to the question?
“What does a man get in all his labor?”

AND THE ANSWER IS: he gets the momentary satisfaction of that labor.

DID YOU PLOW THE FIELD? Well you get the momentary satisfaction of looking at that plowed field.
DID YOU PAINT THE HOUSE? Well you get the momentary satisfaction of looking at the painted house.
DID YOU MOP THE KITCHEN FLOOR? Well you get the momentary satisfaction of a clean kitchen floor.

And I don’t know how that hits you, but it’s true.

There IS satisfaction in your labor in this life.
And you SHOULD enjoy those things.

IN FACT, there is even evidence that in some ways
God even shows favor and blessing in this way to those who love Him.

Verse 26 is sort of a proverb.
• I remind you it’s a proverb and not a prophecy because if you turn a proverb
into a prophecy you will wreck your faith.
• A prophecy is always true all the time.
• A proverb is generally true much of the time but there are always exceptions.

(26) “For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.”

Solomon has noticed this before.
Proverbs 13:22 “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.”

What is the preacher’s point?
• That there is a benefit to all your labor and striving.
• There is a reward.
• There is even a reward from God in this life.

That is NOT TO SAY every good man gets rich and ever bad man loses his fortune, we understand the flaws in the prosperity gospel.

The preacher is just merely pointing out that
There IS a reward for your labor on earth, and it is a reward FROM GOD.

• If you plow your field and are able to enjoy it, that is a gift from God.
• If you are able to paint your house and you like it, that is a gift from God.
• If you mop your floor and enjoy how it looks, that is a gift from God.

There IS satisfaction there.
Just know that it is a temporary and fleeting satisfaction.

IT IS DESIGNED THAT
• You can get NO eternal satisfaction from plowing a field.
• You can get NO eternal satisfaction from painting a house.
• You can get NO eternal satisfaction from mopping a floor.

WHY?

(24) “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good.

And incidentally, DON’T read that statement like one of infinite bliss,
• Like when you sit on your porch in a cool summer evening and say, “It just
don’t get not better than this.”

That’s NOT what he’s saying.

He is saying, “I’m glad you enjoy this, because there is “nothing better” coming.”
• This is the treasure.
• This is the reward.

It’s sort of like when Jesus told the Pharisee
Who loved men’s applause for praying or giving or fasting.
Jesus said, “You have your reward in full.”

That’s what the preacher is saying.
There is “nothing” more than the momentary pleasure you feel right now.

WHY?
“This also i have seen that it is from the hand of God.”

Because God designed it that way.

All of the actions and labors on earth.
• God has permitted there to be temporary pleasure and satisfaction in those things.

But God has also designed it that
There can be no eternal pleasure or satisfaction in those things.

WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?

(25) “For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?”

Do you know why God will not allow the labors of this life to satisfy you eternally?

Because God demands that only He be the source of eternal satisfaction.

We go back to that great Psalm 73 where Asaph learned how fleeting the wealth of the world is, and we listen again to his statement.

Psalms 73:25-28 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.”

Do you hear him?
Nothing in this life satisfies for eternity.

“Whom have I in heaven but You?”

We might also ask, “WHAT have I in heaven but You?”

And the answer is: NOTHING

I so wish that I could get this through the head of our culture.
People who think heaven is about all the great stuff they’re going to enjoy.

There is ONE ATTRACTION in heaven…ONE
It is Jesus Christ.

He is an attraction of such greatness that the inhabitants of heaven
• Never tire of His presence,
• Never grow weary in His worship,
• And never desire even for a second to go and do anything else.

Revelation 4:8 “And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”

HE IS THE ATTRACTION!

God has ordained it that way.
All glory is His for all eternity.

God will permit you
To have momentary enjoyment in what you accomplish on this earth;
That is actually a gift from God.

But if you try to squeeze any more enjoyment out of it than that,
You will be disappointed for God has ordained
That He and He alone will be the source of eternal satisfaction.

And this of course is where we hear the preaching of Jesus ringing loud and clear.

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

• Do you hear Him talking about how it is all fleeting?
• Do you hear Him telling you that it won’t last?

Matthew 6:31-33 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Listen young man; listen old man.
STOP PURSUING THAT WHICH YOU CANNOT KEEP
AND START PURSUING THAT WHICH IS THE TRUE RICHES INDEED.

Let me give you another story from Jesus to close.

TURN TO: LUKE 14:15-24

Did you hear that?
• “I need to go out and look at” my land.
• “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out”
• “I have married a wife”

Now, let’s be clear.
Those ARE all enjoyable things.

• Who ever bought land and didn’t enjoy looking at it?
• Who ever got a new car and didn’t enjoy driving it?
• Who ever got married and didn’t want a honeymoon?

All those things are designed as a temporary gift from God in this life.

But to make the acquisition of those things
More important than the one true treasure which is Christ
Is the epitome of foolishness!

You must understand that there is only One who is truly worthy of pursuit
There is only One true treasure.

Every other treasure and pursuit will leave you empty.
• Wisdom
• Pleasure
• Even a legacy

None of them can satisfy.
Only Christ – LISTEN TO THE PREACHER YOUNG MAN.