Would you take God's Word this morning, please, and open to the Book of Ecclesiastes, the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes, and look in Chapter Number 3. And we're going to look at Chapter 3, Verses 1 down to Verse 15 here today, Lord willing. And you don't have to stand this morning. We're going to get right into the passage. Look in Chapter 3, look in Verse Number 1. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck up that which is planted. Now the words of this passage are familiar to us because we've heard them quoted so often either at a wedding or at an anniversary, and also perhaps because they were part of a popular song that was written in the 1950s and sung by a group called the Birds. I don't know if some of you are old enough to remember that group. But the final verse of the song takes the words of Ecclesiastes chapter three, word for word. And the refrain of the song goes like this, there is a season, turn, turn, turn. And it's intended to communicate the circular type of existence that we have here on earth. When Solomon wrote these words, however, that was really not the intent behind them. Solomon's message in these beautiful verses that we see here in chapter three is not that necessarily life is repetitive or cyclical, but rather that everything in life has meaning. That's the whole intent of what he's trying to say here. Let me repeat that. Everything in life has meaning. Now, this is a 180-degree turn from where Solomon started out in Ecclesiastes in this journal here, because if you read chapter 1, he kind of starts out with a pessimistic view of life under the sun. That's a familiar expression that you see in Ecclesiastes. And he does refer to the circular existence in chapter one. He talks about how there seems to be no meaning in life. Everything is repeated. All is vanity and vexation of spirit. The word vanity here, just emptiness. And what Solomon is doing is he's searching for meaning in life. And he finds that he can't really find meaning. He searches for meaning in human wisdom, and he finds nothing. He searches for meaning in pleasure-seeking, and he finds, again, nothing. Nothing seems to yield any answers. But when you come to chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes, he is now looking above the sun, whereas before the key phrase in chapter one and two was, you know, under the sun. He's talking about this horizontal existence. If you just look at this horizontal life with a human perspective, not looking at God or eternity, nothing seems to really have meaning. But all that changes in chapter three because now he's looking above the sun, and what does he see? He sees a sovereign God who is on the throne who reigns. He sees that events here on earth are inseparably linked to eternity. And events on this earth are not just random acts that have no meaning or purpose, but they are all connected to a God who is exhaustively sovereign. There are no random events. There are no accidents in a literal sense of the word. There are only acts of God's providence. A story is told of a cowboy who was going to go buy some life insurance, and the broker asked him if he had any accidents in the past year, and the cowboy said no. And he says, I was kicked by a horse, and I was chased by a bull, and I was bitten by a snake, and that laid me up for a while. And the agent said, well, aren't those accidents? He said, well, no, they all did it on purpose. You see, this cowboy realized there were not really accidents. There was a purpose behind it all. And that's what Solomon is trying to get us to see here. Every earthly event is connected to an eternal purpose or plan. So what is done under the sun is determined by what is above the sun. It's all connected to eternity. Therefore, everything in life has purpose. Everything in life has meaning. And so, this is key in verse number one, where we see the expression in verse number one, that to everything there is a season. This passage is nothing less than an Old Testament Romans 828, all things work together for good to those who love God, to those that are called according to His purpose. Everything, everything has a purpose. Those who hold to the pessimistic view that nothing has purpose or meaning are people that do not have God in their worldview. They look at the world as a closed system with no God. That's why they are pessimistic and cynical. Today we are living in a period of a revival of kind of an ancient pessimism and skepticism. We're assaulted on every side by the theme of this negative existential philosophy that teaches us one of two things. Either right now counts for nothing, or right now only counts for right now, and that's it. But Solomon says, right now counts for eternity. That's his whole point. Right now counts forever. And this is what we have to see. Now in order to hold to this worldview and eternal perspective, we have to see things from heaven's point of view. We have to see things from God's perspective. And so Solomon is challenging us to know what time it is. Did anyone ever ask you that question, what time is it? and you look at your watch and kind of give them the time. Well, Solomon here is asking the question, what time is it? But he's not asking you to look at your watch to tell the time. He's asking you to look at God's calendar, at God's clock, and know what time it is. It's easy for us to tell you what time it is right now. It's a bit more difficult for you to use some discernment and to know what time it is according to God's clock. That's a bit more difficult. But here's the point. One of the great ways to live a joyous, peaceful, contented, and meaningful life that has purpose is to understand God's time, to understand what God is doing, and to get in harmony with God's time. That's the whole point. And if you don't learn to tell time God's way and get into harmony with God's seasons, you may be very frustrated in this life. So I want you to learn three principles here in this passage that I want you to see with me. Here's principle number one. Just write this down, the principle of sovereignty. And this principle states that all things serve God's eternal purpose. Everything that happens, every season and event is according to God's purpose and plan. From the heavenly perspective, there is a timelessness, a timeliness, I should say, and a purpose for everything that takes place. And we notice this as we read these words here, and what these words show us are the sweeping scope of seasons. It's a comprehensive list of times and seasons. And what you see here in these verses are 14 pairs in all, which is twice the number of perfection and completion of number seven. We also notice that there are a pair of opposites. This is called merism, and it's a figure of speech in which the two polar opposites represents the whole. For example, when the Bible says God created the heavens and the earth, that represents the whole universe, the whole scope of the universe. And in a similar way, when Solomon mentions these polar opposites, he's talking about the larger whole. For example, weeping and laughing, that takes into account the whole range of earthly emotion. Birth and death, that takes into account the whole range of our human earthly existence. War and peace, love and hate, embracing and refraining from embracing. That's the whole range of human engagements. And so this poem covers the widest possible range of practically every aspect of human life. And reigning over all of these seasons, over all of these events that take place in our life, is a sovereign God. And the Westminster Confession says it like this. His wise, holy, and powerful providence governs all their actions. Beloved, God is the king of time. He regulates minutes and seconds. He rules over all the moments and over all of our days. Nothing happens without God's superintendence over our life, amen? And so, look at a few of these with me here. A time to be born, a time to die. Birth and death are not mere human accidents, but they are divine appointments. God has written out the days. He measures out all of our days. Just as surely as I had a day of my birth, God has also arranged the day of my death and all the days in between. All of that is arranged by God. It's according to his time, but also a time to kill and a time to heal. This is not referring to murder, but there are times when it's appropriate to inflict death. Every time we put a shot into a person who is suffering with a disease, we're giving them an antibiotic and we're saying it is a time to kill this disease. Every time someone takes chemotherapy, we're saying it's a time to kill the cancer that is inside of them. And so God permits killing so that others may be healed, so that others can dwell in safety. Unfortunately, war is sometimes necessary to prevent men from killing others. But then also notice a time to break down and a time to build up. You remember when God called Jeremiah the prophet, God said, Jeremiah, I'm sending you to pull down and to destroy and then to build and then to plant. And what he meant by that is that guess what God's word does when you preach God's word? Sometimes it'll pull down, sometimes it'll destroy, sometimes it'll break up, but then it also plants and it builds up. There's a time to pull down on things. You know, when change happens, you have to do away with the old in order for something new to take place. Sometimes God does that in our own life. There's also, in verse 4, a time to weep and a time to laugh. We know there are times for weeping, a time to mourn, and a time to dance in verse number 5. There's nothing more inappropriate than to be laughing when people are in pain, or to be rejoicing in the presence of those who are mourning. There are times when it's appropriate to rejoice with someone, and it's times when it's appropriate to mourn with someone. Look again in verse number five, where it says, a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones. Now some scholars are puzzled as to why Solomon, what he might be talking about here, And the land of Palestine was filled with stones. A Jewish tradition says that an angel came with a whole bucket of stones to give out throughout the land, and then he tripped and all the stones fell over, all in Palestine. That's kind of an ancient saying there. If you wanted to hurt your enemy, you filled his land with stones, according to 2 Kings 3. Also, stones were used to build houses. They were used for all types of things there. But what's interesting is that God says in his plan and in his purposes, there's even a time for picking up stones. There's a time for casting stones. Now we might ask ourselves, is God sovereign over even throwing stones? Does he even govern those things? But after all, God is sovereign over the big events, right? But not the little ones. But let me tell you something, dear friend. God is either sovereign over everything or He's not sovereign, even the little events. And so, God's sovereign even over the casting of stones. It's because of Solomon's father, David, who cast a stone at a giant one day that Solomon was even king. And also there is in history, I've told you before about a little shepherd boy one day who threw a stone into a cave and he heard a glass shatter, what sounded like glass shattering. It was a clay vessel that shattered and inside of it were scrolls and that was the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. I don't think it was an accident that he threw a stone into that cave at that time, at a time when liberalism was questioning the word of God. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found to again give reassurance that the Bible is the word of God. None of that was ever an accident. God says there's a time for casting stones. But also there's a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. There are times when people need a hug and affirmation, and there are times when you should not do that. I'm reminded of a time when I was years ago living in Tennessee, and we had a storm warning. It was a terrible tornado warning. All the lights went out. It happened to be just me in the house with my son Josiah, and he was having a little friend stay over for that night. It was just us three there in the house. It was dark. It was scary. We were kind of in the hallway, a place that's safe when a tornado comes through. And this little boy was about 10 years old and his southern accent looked at me and he said, you know, I hope it's not inappropriate to say this, but right now I could use a hug. And so I embraced him. I gave him a hug because there was a time for embracing. The Bible says there's a time for that. There's a time to get and a time to lose. We like getting, we just don't like losing anything. But God says no, there's a time for that as well. I've heard coaches say there's nothing good about losing, but God would differ from that because God has not only ordained gaining in our life, he has even ordained the losses in our life. Job said this, "'The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.'" It's a time to keep, a time to cast away. That's in verse 6. This verse applies to hoarders, people who never throw anything away. It's time to throw it away. This is a biblical warrant for yard sales, all right? There's a time to rend and a time to sow, a time to rend. I think of the story in the Old Testament where the prophet Ahijah came to the King Jeroboam and began to tear a garment into 12 pieces and saying, God is gonna basically tear the kingdom away from you. And then also there's a time to keep silent and a time to speak. You ever around someone who doesn't like silence, they always have to be talking? I wanna read this verse to them. There's a time to be silent. Silence is golden, it's okay, for there to be quiet, a time to be silent, a time to speak, a time to love, and a time to hate. If there's ever a time for God's children to love, it also means there's a time to hate, because if you love something, you're gonna automatically hate something else. If you love righteousness, you must hate iniquity. If you love goodness, you will hate corruption. The Bible lists seven things that God hates in the book of Proverbs, but also a time of war and a time of peace. When an enemy invades our shores and determines to destroy our nation and deprive us of our liberties, we must hate everything that force represents, and at that point, there is a time of war. Unfortunately, because of the sin and depravity of the heart of man, there's times when we have to fight against evil, and we have to war against it. Now, again, we can just go through all these things. One thought is this, whenever you bring up the doctrine of God's sovereignty, there are people who ask, what about human responsibility? I mean, you're talking about all these things that God is sovereign over. What about human responsibility? And I always say, and you've heard me say it before, human responsibility is equally true. The Bible teaches both divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Both of these things are true. There are some things on this list that I cannot control. God is sovereign over those things in the sense that, for example, I didn't control my birth. I had nothing to do with it. God was sovereign over that. And He's also numbered out my days. My death is in His hands as well. But I can control gathering stones. I can make choices of things that I'll do, whether I will embrace or refrain from embracing, you see? And so in other words, to believe in the sovereignty of God should not make us fatalistic. We make choices every day, and all those choices are real choices, so much so that we're judged according to those choices. Believing in sovereignty doesn't mean that you should be fatalistic, because fatalism is an unbiblical attitude. For example, think of the life of Jesus. Was his birth ordained? Of course. He was born at the very time God, the Father, ordained that he be born into his world. What about his death? Did God ordain the way and manner in which Jesus would die? Yes, absolutely. The Bible says he was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. And Jesus knew all during his life he was on a divine timetable, that all the things that he did was according to God's will and God's way. But it didn't cause Jesus to be fatalistic. When opposition and hostility mounted against Jesus, he would get in a boat and go into another place, go to the other side of the shore, the Sea of Galilee, into another region, into another district. You know, it didn't cause Jesus to throw up his hands and say, whatever's gonna be is gonna be, I'm on a divine timetable. No. When he was tempted by Satan to throw himself down, because God would definitely protect him if he threw himself off the pinnacle of the temple. The worshipers below would see that and surely they would recognize him as the son of God. And what did Jesus say? Do not tempt the Lord God. We don't tempt God by being presumptuous. I believe God protects me, watches over me, but I'm not gonna go out and play on 695 and say, well, God's gonna watch over me. That would be pretty presumptuous. You see, we never, because of the sovereignty of God, act in a foolish or fatalistic way. But what we do believe is that God has a purpose and a plan and a work in all our lives, and he's working, and nothing can harm us until we fulfill and complete the will of God for our life. That's the whole point here. God is sovereign over all of the full range of events and things that we read about here in this list, and we need to understand that. We need to see that, the principle of sovereignty. But here's the second thing, the principle of secrecy. Look at verse number nine and notice what it says. He has made everything beautiful in his time. Also, he has set the world in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. The principle of secrecy here is that no man can fully understand this sovereign purpose. His purposes are not always revealed nor knowable to us. We know that God is working his plan out. But we can't always know what it is or the purpose to that plan. That's the problem. The problem is we don't know why certain seasons come upon us or why certain things happen. And this is a cause of frustration for us at times because we want to know when something happens in our life, God, what are you doing? What's the purpose behind this? Again, we see in verse number 10, it's frustrating to live and work and go through seasons and not really know God's purpose in some seasons and times. And many times we want to know why. God has put in the heart of man this desire to search out his purpose. Notice verse 11 where it says, he has set the world in their hearts. The word world there is olam, eternity. Man's heart is linked to the eternal. It is linked to heaven. And this explains why nobody, including Solomon, can be satisfied with his endeavors and achievements and is able to explain all of the mysteries and the enigmas of life. Solomon couldn't do that. God accomplishes His purposes in His time, but it will not be until eternity that we begin to comprehend His total plan. Yet there is in the heart of every man that desire to understand the eternal, a taste for the eternal. We were created to live forever, and thus we have an inward longing for this never-ending life with God. And this eternity in our hearts gives us a deep desire to know what God has done from the beginning even until the end. We want to know, and that's the problem, but we can't always know. We can't know. And this is where faith comes in, beloved. This is where trust comes in. Sometimes people will come to me and say, why did God allow this to happen in my life? And I'll say, I don't know. I don't know that. And you may not ever know that here on this side. But when you get to heaven, you know what? It's all gonna make sense. You'll see God's plan from an eternal perspective. We can't see as God sees. His view sees all things. His view is complete. Our view is limited. Notice again in verse 11 where it says, no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Again, from our limited view, we are unable to span the mind of God. We can't understand all that he does and why he does it. Even Solomon with all of his wisdom and powers of intellect and observation could not understand what God was doing. However, Solomon did know one thing, and here's the promise. Look in verse 11 again where it says at the very beginning, he has made everything beautiful in his time. Isn't that a wonderful promise? That's an amazing verse. Solomon is examining and exalting the timeliness of God. That's what he's saying here. God knows what he's doing, and he's perfect in all his timing. We can't know why God is doing the things that he's doing, but we can know this. We can know that his timeliness is beautiful. And he's gonna bring it all together and make it beautiful in his time. That's the whole point. We have to give God time. We want answers right now. We want to know things right now. But Solomon's saying, look, in his time, you know what? He's going to make it all beautiful. It may be something that you had to deal with in 2024 and you don't understand still why that event had to happen, but I would just say this, time and trust. Give God time and trust God and you know what? You'll find out he's going to make it beautiful in his time. What God does, he does well. Our problem is we always have bad timing. But God's timing is always perfect. Our timing is the one that's wrong. I heard about an orthopedic surgeon who was moving to a new office across town. He decided to carry his skeleton, his display skeleton, in the front of his car to his new office. And while he was driving to his new office, he went through a stop sign and he was pulled over by a policeman. The policeman, when the policeman had him roll down the window, he looked and saw the passenger. The doctor tried to explain, he said, look, I'm a doctor and I'm taking this to my new office. And he said, well, doc, I hate to tell you this, but I think you're a little late. God knows when, you know, the timing is right. Our timing is off, but God's is never off. God knows when it's a time to break down. God knows the time for building up. God knows the time for keeping. God knows the time for casting away. God knows the time for war. He knows the time for peace. He knows the time for losses, and He knows the time for gains. We think we know all those things, but no, God is the one who knows all those things. He knows what is best. He does everything appropriate. He does everything right. He does everything in order. The seasons and the patterns are His, and they are always right. Let me ask you a question. Do you believe in the timeliness of God? Not just in the world in general, but in your own personal life in particular. Do you believe in the timeliness of God? Do you trust God for the seasons of life that he brings upon you and his wisdom? And are you willing to trust him in that? That leads to the final principle. We see the principle of sovereignty. And this principle states that God is sovereign. Everything that happens has an eternal purpose. The principle of secrecy, no man can fully understand the sovereign purpose, but we have the promise that God's going to make everything beautiful in his time. But here's the third principle. I call this the principle of symphony. And this principle states that we have to get in rhythm with God's seasons. That's the whole point. Look at verse number 12. He says, for I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of his labor, it is the gift of God. And so we have to discern the season. We have to get in harmony with it and enjoy the season that we're in. We can't always know the purpose behind the season, but we can know the season and we can enjoy the things that God has given us in that season. In other words, we have to act appropriately according to the season that God has brought upon us. Just as an example, and by the way, this is just practical for life. Don't try to build up when God is tearing down. Don't try to embrace when it's a time to refrain. Don't try to keep and to get when God says it's time to lose because you know what'll happen, there's going to be frustration there. You have to get in harmony with the season that God has. The problem is is that we put our own agenda ahead of God's. Can you imagine a farmer going out right now plowing his field? Anybody see a farmer plowing their field on the way to church today? You say, why not? Why wouldn't that happen? Well, it's just not the season for plowing a field and planting. If you live that way, if you live out of season, you're gonna die. You're not gonna have a crop. You're gonna starve to death. We have to recognize the season and we have to act accordingly to the season. And our actions are not gonna change the season. Some people say, I don't like that it's cold. I don't like that it's gonna snow. Well, I tell you what you do, just get on your shorts and your t-shirt and your flip flops and go for a walk. Maybe that'll change the season. Maybe God will look at that person and say, look at them in their flip flops and shorts. You know what, let's spring summer, boom. No, what you have to do is realize this is the season that God has brought and you have to get in harmony with that season and you have to trust God that whatever the season is, it doesn't last forever. It's just a time, it's part of the whole season. of what God is doing, and there's some attitudes that we have to have if we're gonna be appropriate for the season, and one of them is joy, and we saw this in verse 12. Solomon says, look, be joyful. We may not always be happy about the way things are going in our life, but we can find joy in the grace and in the gifts that God gives us at that season and at that time. Don't just focus on all of your burdens. Because let me tell you something about God. He always equals out the burdens and the blessings. Don't just focus on the burdens, focus on the blessings of that season of life. You know, we just got back from visiting our granddaughters, my daughter Annie, and get those mixed up all the time, Annie and my two little granddaughters. And you know what? Every time I see them, it reminds me that I'm not a young man anymore. It also reminds me that I don't have to take care of them 24 hours a day. There's a blessing to that. There's a blessing with spoil them, spoil them, hug them, kiss them, and give them away. You know, understand the season. Enjoy the gifts that you have in this season that God has brought to you. Don't get so caught up in your own agenda that you miss God's wonderful gifts. Charles Francis Adams, the son of President John Quincy Adams, and grandson of John Adams, kept a diary. And one day he entered this. He said, went fishing with my son today, and then he wrote this, a wasted day. His son, Brooke Adams, also kept a diary, which is still in existence. And on that same day, Brooke Adams made this entry, went fishing with my father, the most wonderful day of my life. The father thought he was wasting time, but the son said, this was the most wonderful day of my life. He saw it as an investment of time. You see, don't despise the gifts that God has put around you. And Solomon says, maintain a joyful attitude. But also there's another attitude, one of fear. Look in verse 14, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. God doeth it that men should fear before him. What God does and has determined to do, man cannot change. And here again, Solomon is referring to the seasons. You can't change the season that you're in. That'll play out according to God's clock. But what you must do is you must have reverence and awe in that. You must worship God in that. Again, you can't change the season just because you don't like it. but rather you need to worship God and realize He is in control and He has a purpose, joy, fear. And then here's the last thing, submission. Look at verse 15. That which has been is now. and that which is to be hath already been, and God requires that which is past." The last part of verse 15 interprets the first two lines. We could translate it like this, God seeks what has been driven away. In other words, if we refuse to submit to the season or the providences that God brings to us, You know what? We're going to run it, we're going to meet it again sometime in the future. Because what we drive away, God will recapture and play before us again. And that means that you're gonna repeat the season until you submit to it, until you grow from it. God will patiently repeat things until you get it. You see, what it's all about is God growing you spiritually, making you more like the Lord Jesus Christ. And if God brings a season, a trial into your life, and you wanna push it away and run away from it, and you don't learn from it, you grow bitter from it, you know what? God's gonna have to repeat that again. so that you'll learn it, so that you'll grow from it, because what's at stake is part of what God's purpose is, is your good and his glory, that you be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. So get in harmony with what God is doing. Know the season, understand it, submit to it, be joyful, and know that God is at work. A big-time sports fan was watching a football game with his grandchild, and he had just turned 75, and he was feeling a little bit wishful, and he said to his grandson, he said, you know, Nick, he said, it's not getting, you know, it's not easy for me, I'm getting older. He said, I guess I'm in the fourth quarter now. And his grandson said, well, you know, maybe God will put you into overtime, Grandpa. Well, it's a good thing he didn't say sudden death because that's also an expression that's used in football. God is the one who measures out our days and the seasons of life. Time is a gift that he gives us. We need to recognize that he's sovereign over all these things. We can't always know the purposes of the things that he does. We do have his promise that he's going to make everything beautiful in his time. And what we have to do is we have to get in harmony with the season that God has brought upon us. We have to live with joy and we have to live with reverence and fear to God and submission to what God is doing. That's the key of a purposeful, meaningful life, submitted to God as he works and does what is best for us. That's the whole point. So I'm asking you, What time is it? What time is it for you and your life? Let's bow for prayer together. With heads bowed and eyes closed, let me just say this. The Bible does say one thing about time, and that is this, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. This is a season right now when you can know Jesus as your Savior. There's going to come a time when that opportunity is over. It's gone. That season is gone. But right now is the season for salvation for those who've never trusted Christ. I want you to know that Jesus came and lived a perfect life. Born of the Virgin, the Son of God lived a perfect life. He obeyed all of God's law on your behalf, so that all that could be credited to your account. On the cross, He took all of your sins upon Himself. He took all of your sin debt, laid it on Himself, and with His death, He paid your sin debt. Salvation is now a gift. And you get it when you put your faith in the finished work of Christ, who died for your sins. He'll forgive you for your sins when you put your faith in Him, and He'll give you His righteousness. Now is the time of salvation, the Bible says. If you've never trusted Christ, I'm pleading with you right now. Don't leave until you get it settled. In your heart, pray and say, Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I know you died for me. Please come into my heart and forgive me for my sin and save me. And the Bible says, him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. If you'll come to him, you can be saved. And if you're a child of God, I'm just asking you to put your faith in the sovereign hand of God as he works in your life. I'm not saying that everything in your life is going to be tasteful or good, we experience sorrow, we experience all these things, but yet God has promised to make it all beautiful in His time, and trust God in that. Renew your faith in Him. Father, bless these words as we stand on the beginning of another year, that we would see that, Lord, You make everything beautiful in Your time. May we trust You in all these things, and we pray in Jesus' name.