The title of this sermon is A Time for Redemption, or God's Time for Redemption. And this comes by way of piggyback onto the previous sermon, and we are going to be looking at the subject of the time of our redemption in light of Ecclesiastes 1-15, in particular verses 2-8. But we're going to spend a lot of time in the newer testaments to reflect upon the life of Christ as it pertains to God's time for redemption as it concerns us. So we're going to spend just a few moments. This won't be a long sermon. It will be relatively short and more like a table address than a sermon. But in particular, this morning in this service, We are going to be looking at the times within the life of Jesus as they relate to our redemption. In Ecclesiastes 3, verses 2-8, we spent some time considering the various times and seasons which God has ordained within our lives. This morning we are going to consider the various times and seasons which God had ordained in the life of His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. For starters, we know that Jesus existed prior to his arrival in this world. In John 1, we are told that Jesus Christ, the Word of God, was with God and was God. This is before the world came into being. Additionally, we are told in Colossians 1 that all things which exist were created through Jesus and for Jesus. which again tells us that he existed before anything was ever created. He is God. But there did come a point in time when the one who inhabits eternity came into this world as one of us. We're told about that time, specifically in Galatians chapter 4 and verse 4, that when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. It wasn't just any time, but at a specific time, a time appointed by God that Jesus was born into this world. We also know that according to God's plan there was a time for his earthly ministry. He began his earthly ministry with these words in Mark chapter 1 verses 14 and 15. Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled. and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. During his earthly ministry we can perhaps look at a few of the events that we saw in that poem from Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and just give some consideration briefly to certain areas of Christ's earthly ministry. We are told in Ecclesiastes that there is a time to plant and a time to uproot. Jesus, we know, sowed the seed, and there was a time of uprooting. Jesus said, every plant which my Heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Matthew 15, verse 13. And we know also, that in the last day, that the tares will be uprooted from the wheat, and they will be separated eternally. It's also a time to heal. We know Jesus healed many, but he didn't heal all. There was an appointed time, an appointment, if you will, for each person he ran into, each person he came across and actually did heal. That was according to God's time, an appointment. There's a time to weep and a time to mourn. Yes, even in the life of our Savior, this is and was the case. We know that Jesus wept over Jerusalem when he cried out, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Oh, how I wanted to gather you like chicks to a mother hen. But you were unwilling. Jesus, we know, mourned over the death of his friend Lazarus. Our Savior experienced, in fact, so much sorrow that he carries the label, the Man of Sorrows. Indeed, he had plenty of times for weeping and mourning. There's a time for joy and a time for laughter also in the earthly ministry of our Savior, and also outside of his earthly ministry, even as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We're told that Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit. When his disciples came back from their first mission trip, which began their work of the ministry, he rejoiced in the Spirit. He was happy. It caused him joy. Luke 10, verse 21, we have that record. It says, In that hour, again in time, In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for it seemed good in your sight." There is a famous passage in Psalm 2 which tells us that King Jesus laughs at the threat of rebellious nations. He who sits on high laughs at these things. In his ministry, there was a time to seek and a time to lose, a time to embrace and a time to not embrace. Jesus sought the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He also embraced Gentile sinners. At the same time, he rejected and refused to embrace the scribes and the Pharisees and others who thought they were righteous enough in and of themselves. Time to speak and a time to keep silent. Jesus spoke and preached a great deal during his short three year public ministry on earth. He spoke from the law, the prophets and the Psalms. He told parables and preached publicly. We know he came into this world to proclaim the good news. Yet when the time of his trial arrived, we're told that he didn't speak in his own defense. Instead, he remained silent, and like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. Concerning his death, Jesus could not die before the appointed time. Try as his enemies did, they could not kill him prematurely. Before the appointed time, because we're told in John 7 and verse 30, his hour had not yet come. We know that Jesus was aware of the time of his death in John 13 and verse one. Now, before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the father. Matthew 26, verse 18, and he said, go into the city, speaking to his disciples, go into the city to a certain man and say to him, the teacher says, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. That hour did finally arrive, didn't it? We're told as much in Romans 5, 6. At the right time. Christ died for the ungodly at the right time. Jesus rose at the right time as well on the third day as the scriptures have prophesied. And this was prophesied way long beforehand. We might even look back, there's a lot of types and shadows that we can look at about the resurrection of Christ, but specifically in Hosea chapter 6 verse 1 we read these words. Come and let us return to the Lord. For he has torn, but he will heal us. He has stricken, but he will bind us up. After two days, he will revive us. On the third day, he will raise us up that we may live in his sight. Again, it's a type and a shadow of the resurrection of Christ and how our healing is directly dependent upon his being raised again from the dead. Jesus made use of the prophet Jonah in relation to this, reminding the people that Jonah, as Jonah, was three days in the belly of the whale, so he would remain three days in the grave, speaking of his resurrection. He also said this in John 2, verses 19-22, speaking to the scribes and the Pharisees, Jesus said to them, destroy this temple. and in three days I will raise it up." And then the Jews said, it has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days? But he was speaking of the temple of his body. And therefore, when he had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this to them, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said. There is a time also when Jesus will come again. In Acts 1, verses 6 and 7. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Jesus, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority. Verse 10, And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven. But as we are told in other portions of Scripture, of that day and of that hour, no man knows. This time belongs to God. There is a time when Jesus will host us at his table face to face. In Matthew 26 and verses 27 through 29. Then he, Jesus, took the cup and gave thanks. and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." Folks, the unbelieving world sees no point in all that is done under heaven and certainly sees no point in what Jesus came to accomplish. But for us as believers, we look at these things and we see these things and and he sees the believer, he sees how God does in fact make all things beautiful. We as the people of God see this and see how he makes all things beautiful in its time. And we see this in an especially wonderfully way wonderful way in how all these things fit together in his eternal purpose and his decree to redeem mankind. It's beautiful. We take all the things that we've talked about and looked at this morning in both services and put them all together, it paints a beautiful picture of the redemption of God's people and Christ at the center of it as the Redeemer, our beautiful and blessed Redeemer. So as we conclude, And as we wait for our Lord's return, living during the in-between times, we might say, I'd like to leave us with the following words. First, let us pray that the Lord will bless us with wisdom, even as he did for the sons of Issachar in the time of David. We're told in the scriptures that they had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. First Chronicles 1232. So let's pray that God might give us wisdom, that we might understand the times in which we live. Second, let us also pray as Moses did in Psalm 90, where he prayed, teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. And finally, I'd like to leave you this morning with the words of the Apostle Paul, 1 Timothy 13-16. I urge you in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless, until our Lord Jesus Christ appearing. which he will manifest in his own time, he who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone has immortality dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. Please join your hearts with me in prayer.