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Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse number 1 begins by saying, to everything there is a season. That's the title for the sermon this morning. To everything there is a season. We're about to commence this chapter, the first half or the first third of this chapter, just contains all different things that we're going to experience in life. Whether, it doesn't matter, even if you try to avoid these things, you're going to experience it to some extent in life, okay? Now, to everything there is a season. The things that we're about to read is applicable in our lives. We need to have these things in our life. It's not about avoiding these things. We must have it. And then it says in the continuation of verse number 1, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. So we, of course, on this earth is under that heaven. All of these things that we're about to list here at the beginning of this chapter has a purpose, okay? A time to every purpose. And so, you know, we start with the obvious, right? We look at, of course, verse number 2 there. It says, a time to be born and a time to die. And so immediately when you think about this truth, we've all been born. I don't know how long God has for us to walk this earth, but we're all going to die one day. This is what we say when we knock doors and we go door to the soul winning. So one thing that is the same for all of us, we'll say, is that we're all going to die one day. We're all going to perish. We're all going to pass away. That is something that we can relate to. But you know, when we think about someone that is born, a child that is born into this world, what is our normal reaction? If it's someone that we know, a family, a church member that has a child, normally we're rejoicing, aren't we? We're thinking about buying a gift and just looking forward to seeing that little life and how that little life will develop to be a child. And it's a time of celebration is what I'm trying to say. And then you've got a time to die. And obviously we're not celebrating that same sense. When it comes to someone that's passing, there's going to be people that are hurt, that are saddened, that are mourning. You know, you would kind of look at this part as a negative aspect of life, okay? You know, we've got the positive side being born, the negative side of dying, death. But once again, it says to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. We need to understand this. It's all got a purpose. There's a purpose to be born. There's a purpose to die. It all has meaning, okay? God has allowed us to go through these things. And as we go through this list, like I said, there are going to be positive things. There are going to be negative things. What does that say? It says in verse number two, a time to plant. Yeah, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. You know, right now we've got a garden, you know, the house that we purchased. We've got this nice flowers. We've got a lot of things it's nice to look at. But then when you look around, you can see these weeds. Hey, these weeds need to be plucked out, all right? Sometimes the garden can overgrow. It's like we got to clip this thing, right? Sometimes there's a time to plant and to enjoy that part of it. Sometimes it's time to take it down. Again, like a positive aspect, a negative aspect. No one likes doing the weeding, right? That's kind of like the negative side of gardening. But again, it's just stating the obvious that life has ups and downs. It's got positives, it's got negatives. You can't escape life. You have to have all these things. If you think life is all about positive, you're going to miss out a significant portion of life that's actually important, that has purpose. Now, when you think about being plucked up and being planted, the thing that goes straight to my mind, primarily because I'm a pastor, I don't like gardening, it's not my thing. But the Lord often speaks about preaching the Word of God as gardening, as planting or as plucking up. Now, you keep your finger there and please go to 2 Timothy. Go to 2 Timothy in your New Testament, 2 Timothy chapter number four. Please go to 2 Timothy chapter number four. 2 Timothy chapter four. And while you're turning to 2 Timothy chapter four, I'll read to you from Jeremiah 31 verse 28. Jeremiah 31 and verse number 28. And this is the Lord speaking to Jeremiah. Jeremiah, of course, is preaching these words to the southern kingdom of Judah before they're taken into captivity by the Babylonians. But it says in verse number 28, And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, so watched over the southern kingdom of Judah, to pluck up. You know, God is saying, there's come a time that I've got to pluck these people out of the land. As it were, these overgrown weeds, I've got to take them out of the land. Of course, they're going to be taken into captivity. But it says to pluck up and to break down and to throw down and to destroy and to afflict, okay? Negative, negative, negative, negative, negative in that sense, okay? If you're one of these children of Judah, man, being taken out of my land, going to captivity, that's not a great thing to be looking forward to. But then the Lord says, so will I watch over them to build and to plant, saith the Lord. So the Lord is already promising, even though I'm going to pluck them out, come 70 years later, they're going to be brought back. They're going to build. I'm going to build them up again. I'm going to plant them once again, all right? So we see the same analogy of gardening. God uses this to speak about how he has to treat his people from time to time. You're there in 2 Timothy 4 and verse number two. 2 Timothy 4 verse number two. It says, preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season. And what did we learn in Ecclesiastes? It says to everything there is a season, all right? Now here's the thing about preaching God's word. Even if what I'm preaching is out of season, we're still commanded to preach his word. Okay, we can't get to this point of saying, well, the world's not going to change. You're just offending people by this preaching. Maybe we should stop preaching about that kind of thing so we can grow our church. No, the Bible makes it very clear, preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season. Now look at this, reprove, rebuke. Hey, these are negative aspects of preaching. Sometimes a sermon's going to slap your face a little bit. It's going to step on your toes. You know, sometimes your sin's going to be mentioned, it's going to make you uncomfortable. But it's commanded to reprove and rebuke. These are two negative things. But then it says, exhort. So exhort is to build up, right? Exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. So notice when it comes to preaching God's word, there are two negative aspects there, right? Reprove, rebuke, but then we have a positive aspect to exhort, to build, to plant, to be constructive, all right? And so that's the purpose of preaching, right? I mean, yeah, sometimes we need to receive a little bit of negative news. Sometimes we have to be offended a little bit by God's word, but then there's also time to be built. You know, sometimes in order to build a stronger building, you know, when people purchase property, sometimes they look for a property that's run down that they can just destroy, and then they can build something greater on top of that. Okay, though the purpose of sometimes rebuking sin and making you uncomfortable is so we can get those weeds out of your life, and then we can build something great. Okay, but it's all important. You can't build something great unless you're tearing down the things that are weighing us down in life. Back to Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse number three. Ecclesiastes chapter three and verse number three. Now the reason I said that, actually, and I didn't finish the passage, sorry, I'll just continue reading. From 2 Timothy chapter four, we read verse number two, but verse number three says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having each an ease. Okay, so the danger is, if I'm constantly being rebuked and reproved, I'm gonna feel like I need to find another teacher, another preacher, that's just always gonna pat my back. He's always going to preach the positive. The positive only preacher, no. To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. We need to hear both positive and negative. And look, there are too many churches in Australia, across this world, on the Sunshine Coast, that are just focused on the positives. Just focused on the positives. For example, you're there in Ecclesiastes chapter three, and verse number three. Now I recently just taught on thou shall not kill. And I said, hey, you know, we talked about the commandment also I taught on the death penalty for those that commit cold blooded murder. And the Bible says in verse number three, a time to kill. There's a time to kill. The death penalty is right, okay, at the right season. You know, under the correct authority by the government, not vigilante behavior. But you know what, you go to most churches in Australia, there's not a time to, let's not preach about that. Let's preach the other side and a time to heal. That's what people want to hear. People don't want to hear it's a time to break down. They want to hear it's a time to build up, right? A time to weep, no, no, no, don't worry about weeping. You know, let's laugh. A time to mourn, don't worry about that. A time to dance, that's what we preach about. Positive, positive, positive, positive. And you go to these churches, and yeah, you're going to feel good. You know, because people are after, the ears getting scratched, a little bit itching ears. Can I hear what I really want to hear? It's nice to have your ears scratched. You know, I had a little bird that liked it when I had a little pat on its little neck there. It liked a little scratch. That's what a lot of people are like when they're seeking a church. I want a church that's going to scratch my ears. It's going to make me feel good. But that's not the reality of life. Yeah, you go to church, positive, positive, I feel good about myself right now, but then you've got to go into the real world where there's both positive and negative. And so the reason why we need to hear positive and negative sermons is so we know how to deal with real life situations. Because it's not always perfect, is it? It's not always perfect, it's not always great. There are going to be times that you're cast down, then you're going to go through difficulties. So you need to hear the difficult sermons so you know what God expects from you when you start going through these times. It's not just feel good on a Sunday morning. Oh man, I feel great. I mean, how's that going to be productive for you for the rest of your life? And so we need to hear it all. And look at verse number four. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. Mourning and weeping is good, okay? It's everything, there is a season. If someone's loved one passes away, you have to let that person mourn, okay? It's not like, oh, this person's mourning. That's bad, that's negative. We've got to pull them out of that. You know, I once spoke to a pastor and he said, someone in his church family, they lost a loved one, came up to me, it was all friends, all we are friends, and he said to me, you know, I just don't know what to do. Like, they're so cast down, they weep in the morning. You know, what do you think I should do? Like, how should I lift their spirits? How should I comfort them? You know, and his thought was immediately, the positive, how do I turn this negative into a positive situation? And I said to him, look, you can't. Because there's a time to weep. There's a time to mourn. You have to let them mourn, right? It's a time to every purpose under the heaven. It serves a purpose to mourn. You know, emotionally, your physical body, if you lose a loved one, you've got to experience a time of mourning. People experience mourning in different ways. You know, people mourn longer than others. Some will mourn quietly, some will mourn loudly. You know, we can't control that part. It's something that they need to get through and experience through their body to experience that time of mourning. But when people weep or people are mourning, what should we do? We can't say, well, get over it, brother. You know, we're commanded in Romans 12, 15, rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. That's all we can do. If someone's lost someone significant in their life and they're cast down, they're weeping and mourning, it's not your job to pull them out of that. It's your job to weep with them. It's your job to mourn with them. That's how you show them that you love them, okay? Not trying to pull them out, come on, just get over it. That's not going to help them because even the negative side of life has a purpose, okay? So they can then move on with their life. If they don't experience that time of mourning, they're not going to be able to move on. It's going to be something constantly in their life, in their mind that they haven't been able to get off their chest, you know? And so it all serves a purpose. Verse number five, a time to cast away stones and a time together, stones together. So again, you might consider this building, right? It's a time to cast away stones, you know, like I've mentioned earlier, you know, destroy a falling apart house but there's a time to get your stones or your bricks or your things together to build. There's a time to embrace, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. I kind of feel like I'm experiencing this as a parent. I love to embrace my children. I love to show them affection, especially when they're little, you know, they're little and fat and they're cute. I love to embrace them but then as my kids get older, you know, they go like, dad, just, you know, it's not the time to embrace anymore, right? And it kind of makes me sad, like, you know, now of course, you know, we do of course still embrace but not to the same level, right? It's not like I can just pick up my teenage kid and put him on my shoulder and carry him around and hugging and mucking around, you know, they get embarrassed after a while. Like, you know, we've grown up, dad, doesn't make me comfortable, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, all right, there's a time for those things, okay? There is a time to embrace. There is a time to refrain from embracing but also this idea, a time to embrace or a time to refrain is kind of the idea of approval. So obviously you're going to embrace someone that is your friend, someone that you're close to and sometimes, you know, you're there and you're given support as it were to somebody and, you know, one thing we have to be careful in life is even though we may develop friendships and we always want to be behind someone and support them, you know, sometimes there is a time to refrain from embracing. Like, you don't want to approve someone's bad decisions. You know, you don't want to approve someone's sins no matter how friendly you are with them. You know, or if someone has an opinion and you disagree with that, you know, it's not, you know, we ought to be people that are able to say, you know what, okay, that's what you believe but, you know, that's not right. That's not what the Bible teaches or that's not the opinion that I hold. You know, we don't always have to embrace, like the idea of just, we're just getting along no matter what, you know. Look, the best friendships that I've developed are friendships that, you know, we get along, we care for each other but we also know our differences. We know that we're not always going to see eye to eye with each other and that's just fine. You know, we don't have to embrace about every or be in approval or in agreement over every situation. There is a time for you to stand on what is true especially when it differs from somebody that you're close to. Verse number six, a time to get and a time to lose. There's a time to make a profit, to work a job and make a profit, sometimes a time to lose. You know, sometimes you might buy a certain item and it just falls apart or, you know, you take certain risks with investments and you just lose, all right. I mean, coming to start new life at this church, I lost a lot, you know, because I went away from working a full-time job to starting a church and not being able to be supported by the church, I was a lot of loss, okay. But before a lot of loss, there came a lot of get. If I didn't have a lot of get, I probably would not have been able to come and start this church. There's a time for everything, it all serves a purpose. Like, I don't look at the losses in life and think, oh, what a waste. No, again, there's a time to everything, okay. There's a purpose for everything under the heaven. There's a time to get, there's a time to lose. Verse number six, a time to keep and a time to cast away. I think the Mishals are going through this right now. It's always when you're moving house. It's like, what do I keep? What do I get rid of, all right. I mean, there's a time for all of these things, all right. This is life, okay, positives and negatives, you know, and sometimes when you have to get rid of things, you're kind of like, man, I spent all that money. What a waste. You know, we don't need it after all. And you know, I think for me, I learned this concept when we had our first baby, when we had Isabel. You know, people tell us, you gotta buy the change table. Yes, great, thank God for the change table. And you gotta buy the big bag, big nursery bag, I got a nursing bag. You know, you gotta bring to church, you know, ladies are bringing these big bags and we found the best bag we could bring and then I realised we don't even need that. Like all we needed is a couple of nappies, a few wipes and baby's fine. Like, you don't need to be, and you're buying, like, you know, our mothers, they buy all this stuff, buy, buy, buy, and then they realise as time goes on, I really didn't need all this stuff. I kind of just wasted all this money, you know. And then, you know, as you have more children, you realise what you really, what really is valuable, what you really need when it comes to having children. But anyway, this is all part of learning, part of life. Okay, it keeps going there. Verse number seven, a time to rend or tear, okay, and a time to sow. You know, I'm sure my wife goes through this many times with the kids with their clothing, you know, they play, they rip their clothing or, you know, whatever, it gets muddy, it gets dirty. Sometimes my wife has to make a decision, we gotta throw this out or no, I can fix this. Okay, there's a time for all of these things, a time to rend, a time to sow. Look at this, a time to keep silence and a time to speak. Generally, we like that one. A time to speak. I need to give my two cents, I need to give my opinion. But not always, because there's always a time, there's also a time to keep silence. You don't have to open your big mouth about everything. It's what the Bible's saying, okay. You don't always have to speak. You don't have to give your opinion over every issue. All right, especially when it has nothing to do with you, when it has no significance to your life. But I still gotta give my two cents to brother so-and-so. What is it to you? What does it matter to you? You know, that's how we are. It's part of society that I hate, is that everyone's just gotta open their mouth and give their opinion, even though that means nothing to them. They're not the ones that are carrying the risk or the issue or going through that experience that you just gotta open your mouth. I prefer to be silent. You know, even when someone tells me about something in their life and I don't really agree with what they're doing, you know what, I'd just rather keep the peace if I can and I don't have to give my opinion. Unless someone's asking me specifically, pastor, especially as a pastor, people generally come to me, pastor, what do you think I should do in this situation? Does the Bible say anything about this issue? Of course, at that, someone's come to me seeking some type of counsel, some type of advice. But even then, even then, I might throw it back to them and say, well, what do you think? All right, the Bible's not against what you're thinking. And then maybe you need to go with that. Because that person is the one going through that experience. I'm not in their shoes, okay? And sometimes the Bible just doesn't have the answer. There are many possible answers, there are many options, and you're just gonna have to choose the option that is best for you, you know? And sometimes I get asked, there are situations, and this happens a lot, I get asked, well, I might just choose to be silent about something, right? Because it just doesn't affect me. It's not about me, it's about someone else's life, it's about someone else's family. And it's like, well, surely, Pastor, you must have an opinion. Surely you must have something on your mind, and you know what, sometimes I just don't have an opinion. Like, for me to develop an opinion, the situation, I have to care enough about the situation, it has to touch me enough for me to voice my opinion. And even if I have an opinion, do I need to voice it? Because I'm sure we all have opinions, but before you open your mouth, the question you wanna ask yourself is, well, if I give my opinion, is it actually gonna be helpful? Like, is it gonna benefit somebody by giving my opinion? Oh, did you hear about family so-and-so? Okay, but if I voice my opinion about that, how's it going to make their life better? Or could it be taken as gossip? Or could it be taken as criticism when it's not my life? It's not my situation, okay? And so, look, there's a time to speak. Someone comes and asks you some questions and wants your advice and wants your thoughts about something, speak. Okay, but there's also, it's perfectly good to just be silent. It doesn't affect me. I don't, you know, I haven't given that situation any thoughts, and I don't really want to, because I've got other things to think about. I mean, there are so many things in life to think about, to speak about. We don't have to always open our mouths about every little thing that happens in the world. Verse number eight, it says, a time to love. And again, the preachers love this. God is love, and he is love. Okay, and we rejoice in his love, but there's also a time to hate, and a time to hate. Oh, man. It's like that has been completely lost in churches. It's like pastors just don't see this in their Bible anymore. I don't understand that. They're afraid of being called a hate church, a hate group, a hate preacher. Yeah, there's a time to hate. If you're going to love anything, you are automatically going to hate certain things. And I love that example. If you love little children, you're going to hate the pedophile. If you love your flowers, you're going to hate the weeds. If you truly love, you're going to truly hate something. You're going to be protected for the things that you love, and you're going to hate the things that are trying to destroy the things that you love. That's just, that's life. There's a time to love. There's a time to hate. Look at this, a time of war and a time of peace. There's a time of war, there's a time of peace. You know, sometimes, you know, there are developments in the world, and did you know this country is going to go to war against this country? Past, there's a threat of nuclear war. Yeah, there's a time of war. We know that already. It doesn't change my life. I'm going to keep serving Jesus Christ. If it's a time of peace, a time of war, it doesn't really change my life, right? I'm still going to meet for church. I'm still going to preach God's word. I'm still trying to win souls. I'm still going to try to raise my family to love the Lord and to raise them and to love my wife and to enjoy life as best as I can, even if it's a time of warfare. We might be limited in a time of warfare, but you know what, life still continues. And I think about a time of war and a time of peace. I also think about our Christian life. In the Bible, we're called ambassadors for Christ. Again, what's an ambassador? We're people that are represented in a foreign country. We're represented in heaven. And our job as ambassadors are to bring peace, right? To preach the gospel and bring peace between God and man. They can be reconciled with God. That's our job. But the Bible also says that we're a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And sometimes we are at war. In fact, not only are we trying to bring peace between God and man, but when we go and preach the gospel, we are at war. We're taking the sword of the spirits and we're trying to slay false doctrine, false religion, false understanding. We're trying to pull someone out of darkness, out of the power of darkness, power of the devil, all right? We're trying to open their eyes. So sometimes to bring peace between someone and God, we often have to go to war first, to war against their false understanding, false religion, false doctrines. And then once we win the war, then we can bring them to peace as an ambassador to the Lord Jesus Christ. So there's a time for all of these things, brethren. All right, so as I said to you, this is life. And you have to understand life has positives, life has negatives, okay? We can't just think positive, positive, positive. Now, obviously, it's not saying that, it's not like, I think of Eastern religion where they got the yin yang. And basically, the yin yang thought is kind of like, there's equal bad with, so everything that's good is equally bad. I don't know how to explain this very well. But basically, as much good as there is in the world, there's an equivalent of evil or bad things, okay? That's not how we ought to look at this passage. Of course, I'm trying to live a life of peace more than I am of warfare. But I'm not avoiding war. It's part of life, okay? Obviously, I would rather love than hate, okay? But you know what, there is a time to hate, isn't there? You know, I wanna laugh and I wanna dance more than I wanna mourn and weep, all right? I mean, obviously, our life, if we're living a life that is at peace with God and we're trying to walk in God's ways, obviously, we're gonna experience great blessings of God. You know, the positive attributes are going to be the greater part of our life, the greatest sum of our life. But to think that we can just go with life without the negative things is wrong. We have to have all these things. For, you know, as I said earlier, to everything there is a season and a time. Now, I want more time with peace than at war, all right? I want more time laughing than weeping, but we can't avoid these things. We must, our life must have all of these elements. Otherwise, you're not living life or you're just ignoring reality. Reality means we are going to experience all these truths. All right, verse number nine, verse number nine. It says, what prophet have he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth? I have seen the travail which God have given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. Okay, so verse number nine is similar to chapters one and two Again, what prophet is there? It's all vanity. Again, Solomon's on this journey trying to figure out the meaning of life, the purpose of life. But what it says in verse number 10, again, is that reality that I just spoke about. You know, if you're trying to avoid these aspects of life, you can't because it says, verse number 10, I have seen the travail which God have given to the sons of men. God gives us these experiences, positive and negative ones. This is how he's created life to be, okay? To be exercised in it, okay? We're going to go through these things is what Solomon is saying in this passage. And this is God's purpose and plan, okay? Now obviously, when it comes to Adam and Eve at the very beginning, it was all good, there was no sin, there was no rebellion. But since they disobeyed the Lord, this is what life is, all right? And the exercise that we go through life, positives and negatives is all to a purpose. Now again, to a man that's trying to live without God, who's not trying to serve the Lord or to a non-believer, it's all vanity to them, okay? It's all like, well, I mean, what's the point if we're going to get to the end of life and it means nothing? But to us, brethren, we need to remember that even the hardships that we go through, there are lessons to be learned. God is allowing us to go through this exercise so we can be more like Christ. We have to go through the experiences in life to be better at it. You know, if you wanna be a better friend when someone is going through hardship, you're gonna have to go through hardship. You're gonna have to experience it and learn how to recover yourself and draw back to God so then you can be a benefit and a help to someone else who is going through that difficulty, right? A mother who has lost a baby, she's gonna be much more comforted by another mother who has lost a baby, for example, okay? These are exercises that God allows us to go through to build us, to make us better, to make us more like Christ. It has purpose for us as believers, but again, to the unsaved world, it has no purpose because it's all gonna end anyway. So what's the point? That's how they look at things, all right? Verse number 11. Now, verse number 11, because you might say, well, these negative things, I really don't want it, but look what he says. He, that's God, of course, have made everything beautiful in his time. Everything that we just read, brethren, even the negative things, is beautiful in his time. At the right time, it's beautiful, okay? Again, the right time. If there's a funeral, you're not gonna start making jokes and laughing around and bring a comedian on stage to say a few words. That's the wrong time, okay? That's the wrong time. Hey, but is having a laugh, you know, getting along and having a good time a bad thing? No, it's a beautiful thing. You say, but Pastor Kevin, you know, yeah, I understand being born is beautiful, but what about death? How is death beautiful? Well, again, what did it say? They have made everything beautiful in his time, okay? The Bible says in Psalm 116, verse 15, Psalm 116, verse 15, it says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. There is beauty in death. God looks down and says, this is precious. When my saints, a believer, someone that is right with God, this is the right time. This is something that is beautiful. When a believer closes their eyes and they open their eyes and they're in heaven with the Lord God forever. That is beautiful in its right time, okay? The Bible also says, and I read this already, Philippians 1, 21, Paul says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Even the apostle Paul has ever seen beauty in death. Because I gain, I've got the advantage when I pass on. I don't have to deal with this sinful flesh anymore. You know, I can be in the presence of God for all eternity. There is beauty even in death. There is beauty even in hardships. Because again, it teaches you, it's a teacher for you to learn and to grow. And there's that saying that goes under every cloud, there is a silver lining. Even when things are going bad, there's something positive that you can take out of that. And that's how we need to develop, change our mindset around things in life. Enjoy life more by appreciating even when things aren't going good. Because there's something beautiful. As long as you're in tune with God, as long as you're under his will, you're gonna find beauty in every situation. You're gonna find a positive spin on every situation. And well, let's keep going, verse 11, I didn't finish it. It says, it's beautiful in his time. Also, he have set the world in their hearts. So it says that God has set the world in the hearts of men, basically. For what purpose? So that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. All right, so the world has been set in the hearts of men, meaning that man tries to accomplish something in the world. They see what success could look like. You know, they've got a dollar figure in their mind, they've got status in their mind, or they've got some level of achieve, all of us, doesn't matter what you, you know, saved, unsaved, we all have been put on this earth, and God has put it in our hearts to be productive, to achieve something, okay? You know, if you try to live a life just being a bum, not being productive, you say, you know what life, for me, life is just about sleeping in my bed, you know, sleeping in, laying on the couch and doing nothing with my life. You are gonna be miserable, miserable, because that's not how God's created you, okay? It's going to depress you, it's going to destroy your life. The thing that keeps us going is being productive. You know, once we achieve something, even if it's something small, it gives us some level of satisfaction in life, you know, to do more, you know, to do more. And whatever that is, that can be something of a temporary value that means nothing for eternity, or it could be something of eternal value, like winning souls, you know, learning the Bible, you know, making change in your life that you know is going to please the Lord. You know, in our hearts, we all want to achieve and do something in life, and so God has put this in our hearts, but to what end? Again, so that no man can find the work that God made from the beginning to the end. So the purpose of putting this in our hearts is that we would search, okay, and now I'm talking about the unbeliever here at the moment, okay, and they never get satisfied. They never get to the end of it. You know, I've said it before, it doesn't matter how much money someone makes. You know, the billionaires in the world, they want more. It's not enough for them. They want more, they want more. We see with King Solomon, he's got it all, but he wants more, he just can't find meaning. So why does God put this in our hearts? So that we seek meaning, so we get to a point in our lives and go, well, I'm doing all this for nothing. What's the meaning of life? You know, what is there beyond this life? These are questions that people start to have, and you know what? Honest enough with themselves, if they're seeking the truth, if they want to know who God is, then God will show them. God will send them somebody. You know, they will walk into a church or they'll have a gospel preacher at their door, and they'll hear the truth of God's word, and then they'll understand at some point that it's all about Jesus. It's all about serving the Lord God. That's what matters. So God puts this in the hearts of men to get to a point and go, if I just live for myself, if I just live for temporary things, there's no satisfaction. It's all vanity. So there must be more. And the only answer to that more is Jesus Christ. His salvation is to serve the Lord God. You know, knowing full well that when we close our eyes, we're there with the Lord God for all eternity. That's the meaning of life. And for those of you that are saved and you've understood this truth, it's a huge burden off your shoulders because it's not about, well, you know, I'm just gonna find joy in this earth. No, you find joy in the Lord. And that joy is forever. My Lord is forever. The temporary things on this earth, it's all gonna be destroyed. But my Lord God is forever. You know, the Bible says in Galatians 3, 24, wherefore the law, that's the Old Testament law, was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. Okay, so we learn that the reason of the Old Testament law is for us to get to the point where we realize I can't be good enough. It's a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. I can't keep all the commandments. You know, I'm at my wits end. What do I do? What must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. So true is this thought that God's put in our hearts to achieve something on this earth. But then you get to, what's the point of it all? Again, it all points us back to God, that he is the answer to all things. He is the one that truly satisfies. Verse number 12, Ecclesiastes 3, 12. I know that there is no good in them. That's in just trying to live for the world, okay? For a man, but, so there is good in this, but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life, okay? But then it says in verse number 13, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God. And I saw that we looked at this last week, okay? The correct perspective on life. To really have some level of meaning on this temporary earth is that whatever you work and labor toward and that you achieve and be productive with and that you're able to enjoy is to remind yourself that these are gifts of God. Going and working a job is a gift of God. So I don't wanna work, then you're refusing God's gifts. You're not gonna find joy, okay? To be productive to achieve and then to enjoy something nice that you like. And I don't know what your favorite cuisine is. Let's say you like Chinese. All right, work hard and once in a while, treat yourself to some Chinese food. Okay, this is good and proper. And be thankful to God. Say, God, thank you that I get to enjoy this. Thank you that you've made my hands productive. This is how we can enjoy temporary things in this earth. Okay, remind ourselves that it's God who has given us these beautiful gifts. Verse number 14. Now, again, when it comes to earthly things, we know it's all gonna perish, okay? But it says here in verse number 14, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Amen. Whatever God does is forever. Again, in comparison to us, you know? A lot of what we do is not gonna be forever, okay? A lot, a lot. There are some things that we can do that's gonna last forever, for sure, okay? The things that have eternal value, okay? Which I won't go into all that right now, but, you know, again, just that reminder that if we're just living for here and now, we're talking to perish, we might as well serve God because God is forever. His works are forever. Eternity is forever. That's where our mindset ought to be upon, right? Serving our Lord God. Look what it says in verse number 14, continuing. Nothing can be put to it. So basically, you can't add anything to God's works, nor anything taken from it. You can't take away anything from God. And God doeth, sorry, and God doeth it that men should fear before him. So whatever God does lasts for eternity, all right? You can't add to it. You can't take away from God, all right? Now, think about salvation. It's God's work. Salvation has to be God's work. If you want salvation to last forever, it's not your work, because your works don't last forever. God's work lasts forever. God's done it all, okay? So what is salvation? Well, once you realize what God's work is, the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ, payment for your sins, done and dusted, then the Bible says it's by grace alone, through faith alone, on Christ alone, okay? That's how you receive salvation. And we say sometimes, plus nothing, minus nothing, because you can't add or take away from God's work. Okay, that's how we receive salvation. Don't add anything. It's by grace, it's free. It's by faith, simply by believing. It's Christ alone. You start messing that formula. Oh, but you gotta add this, so you gotta take away this. Then, no, then you're basically trying to work your way to heaven, and it's not gonna last forever. Only God's ways, God's works, last forever. The Bible says in Revelation 22, 19, if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his power out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. If you go to God's word, God's word is perfect. You can't add to God's word. You can't take away from God's word. But the moment someone tries to take away and edit God's word, and take away the things they don't like, and change in what God's word has to say, well, their power is taken out of the book of life. Their reprobates, they cannot be saved. They've lost it, okay? God's word is forever. It's established forever. It cannot be changed. Also, when you think about the laws of physics, you know, there's one law that states that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Have you heard that one before? Matter, you can't create, man cannot create some matter out of nothing. Matter can be changed. Yeah, like you think of water. You think of taking a liquid and you boil it, you can change it to a gas, but the matter remains. It hasn't disappeared, okay? So, oh, but if we just blow up a city, it's destroyed. No, no, I mean, you blow it up, there's just pieces of it everywhere, okay? The matter's still there, it's just all over the place, okay? You cannot, you know, again, God, what God does, you can't put to it, you can't add to it, you can't take away from it, okay? This is just how God operates outside of the laws of nature. We're stuck within the laws that God has in this realm. God is the creator, God is the only thing that can create something out of nothing, okay? And again, what are we trying to learn from this? It says the reason for this at the end of Psalm 14, and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. So this realization that we cannot create, we cannot even destroy, should bring men to fear God. You know, when the scientists, the physicians, they understand these laws of science. You know, they're meant to. Get to the point of going, man, there is so much we don't know. As men, we are so limited. If matter cannot be created, then who created the matter? Right, I mean, that should be the next logical leap. If we can't do it, who did it? And again, all of this is supposed to lead us to God and to fear God. But these stubborn idiots, they go, oh, there's no such thing as God. You know, matter creates itself, or matter exists because of gravity, which means nothing. They say the big bang, something literally came from nothing. When their own laws of science says this is impossible. You know, our God is a God of impossible things. He's the miracle worker. He's outside of the laws. He's the creator. And again, what these scientists should be doing, if they've got an honest heart, if they're truly seeking for the truth, they get to a point in their studies and go, well, man, I just don't know. There had to be someone else. There had to be an intelligent being that created all things. But no, they can't. They're stubborn, they're stiff-necked, or they reprobate, you know, or they swallow the lie of evolution, and they're just trying to justify this nonsense, and they just cannot see God, even though it's the only logical step, you know? And God's done it this way so people would get to that point and fear him. Fear God. Look at verse number 15. Not only is God outside of the laws of nature, but God is outside of time. The Bible says, and that which hath been is now. So things in the past is now, is present. And that which is to have already, sorry, and that which is, so that which is now, is to have already been. So what's taking place now has already taken place. The what? And God requireth that which is past. The Bible's saying again, God is outside of time, okay? You know, the Bible says that with the Lord, what's it say here? 2 Peter 3.8, but beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Time is irrelevant to God, okay? In the beginning, God created. People ask the question, what did God do before he created? There was no time. That is the beginning. The beginning is God's creation. There is nothing before that. So how, because we're stuck in time. We think like this, but God does not. You know, there's another passage that I've shared with you before. Ephesians 2 six, so just read it to you. You know, once we've been saved, the Bible says, and have raised us up together and made us sit, made us sit, past tense, made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. As far as God is concerned, the moment you're saved, you're seated in heavenly places. It's already happened. Think about, I'm here on the earth. You know, my body's down, sitting on this chair right now, pastor, because time is irrelevant to God. It's already taken place. You know, when you look at the prophecies, think about the prophecies of the Bible. When the prophets were able to look at the future, future events and write these things, it's because from God's perspective, it's taken place. He's outside of time. God can operate at any moment in time. And it's hard for us to wrap our heads around this. Okay, it is hard to wrap our heads around this. But even Solomon's gone to this point to understand. From God's perspective, it's already happened. Okay, and you go, well, does that mean we don't have free will? You know, does that mean that everything we do and we act is already dictated to us by God? No, because what did it say at the end of verse number 15? It says, and God requireth that which is past. So the things that you've done, God requires it. What does that mean? You're accountable to God for everything that you've done. You're accountable. So you can't say, well, what is that teaching us? Even though God is outside of time, it's teaching us there's still free will. You know, God knows the future, but we're the ones that made that decision in our lives. But God knows what decisions we're going to make. We're accountable to God for our actions. If there was no free will, how can we be accountable to God? Okay, we say, well, God, you made me do it. It was all you. You know, I'm just going through this tape recording that's already been recorded for us. No, no, God's already, he's offered us free will. And God's gonna require things that have taken place in the past. All of us one day are gonna be held accountable to God for what we've done. Okay, all of us, every single human being, saved or unsaved, one day we're all gonna stand before God and give an account for the things that we've done. Okay. Verse number 16. And I'll show that I'm not, you know, this is not left field. This is, you soon see, as we continue for this chapter, it is about giving an account to God. Okay. Verse number 16. And moreover, I saw under the sun the place of judgment. Okay, now this place of judgment is not God's judgment because it says, and moreover, I saw under the sun. So what's under the sun? The earth, okay. So this is talking about judgment on the earth, man's judgment. Remember Solomon himself is a king. Many times Solomon himself would be passing judgment for his nation, okay. So Solomon looks at this place of judgment, which we would consider the courts, the court system, okay. Look, and he says, that wickedness was there. There's wickedness even in the places on this earth that are seeking judgment, okay. Look, and the place of righteousness. What would be a place of righteousness? A place where you think it should be good and proper and pleasing to the Lord. You know, I tend to think about the house of the Lord. I tend to think about your local church, New Life Baptist Church. Say this is the best church. You know, we're the best people. But then this is what Solomon says. And the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. If you go to a place looking for justice on this earth, you're gonna find wickedness. You're gonna find corruption. Even if you go to church and say, I just wanna be around God's people, righteous people, there's iniquity there. Because we're all sinners, aren't we? We're all sinners. I bet you right now there's someone that's not right with God right now. Far from the Lord. Right now, there's iniquity. I don't wanna go to church because it's a bunch of hypocrites. You got it, that's right. Every church is like that. Every courthouse is like that. The judges are corrupt. Even if they try their best to pass right judgment, they're still human beings that can make mistakes, right? This is why, brethren, I don't look for justice. You know, one thing that really helped me in life, and if you're strong with this, then please absorb this in your mind. I am not looking for justice on this earth. I'm not. If someone does me wrong, now look, I'll do what I can to make peace with that person, you know, try our best to reconcile our differences. But at the end of the day, life is not fair. Life is not fair. You're not always going to get your way. You don't have to be the justice warrior trying to right every wrong. You're not gonna right every wrong. Not even the court system can right every wrong. And once I, and I learned this in my teenage years, because you know, you get frustrated. Kids get frustrated. You know, my kids, we got 11 kids. It's hard to be fair, right? Oh, but this guy got this much time on the computer. What about me? Yeah, life is not fair. It just isn't. All right, mums and dads, we got iniquity. We're not perfect. We're not always going to get things right. All right. And we are just looking for justice. We've got to make things right. Then you just, you know what? You're gonna be frustrated for the rest of your life. Because even Solomon said, and moreover, I saw in the sun, the place of judgment that wickedness was there. You're never gonna get things exactly lined up the way that you want. So get over it. Sometimes you're just gonna have to deal the wrong and wear it. Sometimes you just have to allow yourself to be defrauded and deal with it. Sometimes someone doesn't want to pay back what you loan them. You gotta let it go. If you want to be happy. If you just want to get on with life. Now that's part one. That's part one of what I'm saying. Part two is even better. It says there in verse number 17, it says, and I said in mine heart, okay, this is how you fix your brain in this sense. God shall judge. Okay, the righteous and the wicked. For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. Remember how I said that we're all gonna stand before God and give an account for what we've done. So we're coming back to that thought that God will judge the righteous and the wicked. God's judgment is perfect. God will balance the books. And so I don't care if someone does me wrong. Well, I care a little bit in my flesh. Okay, but once I, okay, no, you know what, just remind myself of this truth. I'm not always gonna get justice, but I know that God judges. Vengeance is the Lord's, okay? So I'm just gonna know in my mind that the books are gonna get balanced at some point. It might happen in my life. By letting that little grudge, that little issue go, God might bless me in this life right now and reward me for letting that go. Or I'm just gonna get rewarded in heaven. Okay, doesn't the Bible teach that when we're being persecuted for righteousness sake that we ought to rejoice because we get treasures in heaven. We get rewarded by God in heaven. The books are balanced. I'm not seeking to right every wrong. I'm not expecting our court system or our politicians to make all things right, okay? Because if that's what you're looking for, justice on this earth, under the sun, you'll be frustrated, you'll never get there. But you point your mind toward Christ, toward the Lord God, he's the judge, he judges righteously, he'll balance the books, and you leave it there. You leave it with God. And just know that God will balance it and that God will bless you. And to me, that just changed my life completely. I'm not bothered by every little thing. You know, even the things that I probably should be bothered about, very little bothers me. Very little bothers me, okay? Because I learnt this truth and I get to be more happy. I get to enjoy life a lot more by letting things go. You know, like I said, we're all gonna give an account. It says, look, God would judge the righteous. Now, who's truly righteous? It's only those that are saved, okay? Because we have the righteous of Christ imputed upon us and the wicked. Whether you're saved or unsaved, we're all gonna be judged by God one day. We're all gonna have to stand before God one day. And one of the scary things that Jesus Christ says, and again, this is for the unbelievers, so don't get too worried about this, but Jesus Christ says in Matthew 12, 36, but I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Even an idle word. You just, in your own bedroom, just say something that's stupid. Just a random word that you just said, out of stupidity, out of hatred, you know, God says, well, you're gonna be accountable for that. I mean, whoa. Whoa, that's pretty serious, right? Now, let's keep going there. It says there in verse number 18. It says, I said in mine heart concerning the estates of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, that they might see that they themselves are beasts. Now, the word beast, they're just animal, okay? Solomon says, man, I just realized that people realize, you know, recognize that they're animals. Now, is man truly an animal? No, okay? The Bible says, I'll just read to you from Genesis 1, 26, when God created man, it says, and God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And so the difference with man is we're created in the image of God, and God has given man dominion over the animal kingdom and over creation. We're a separate created being, all right? But again, Solomon, trying to find purpose without God, says, you know what, we're just animals. And in fact, that's what atheists literally believe. People that deny God, they believe in the Big Bang, they literally think we're an ape that decided to shave. They literally believe we're an ape that decided to come off the tree and walk on our legs, like walk standing up. They truly believe. They believe human beings are just animals, okay? Now that is where life will lead you if you try to live a life without God, if you're not thoughtful about who God is, okay? That is, yeah, that's where it leads. I mean, isn't Ecclesiastes relevant to 2022? Nothing changes, okay? This is what man is like. All right, let's take God out of the equation. We don't like to think about giving account to God, and where that leads is we're just an animal too, okay? So of course you're not gonna have any meaning to life, being an animal in that sense. But look what he continues to say here. Oh yeah, sorry, so when we look at ourselves carnally, I suppose we have a lot of similarities to animals, right? Like physically and carnally, we have a lot of similarities, right? I mean, we have a body, they've got a body. We have blood, they've got blood. We eat, you know, they eat, we procreate, they procreate. You know, we've got arms, they've got arms, or whatever they got, tentacles, whatever. You know, we've got eyes, they've got eyes. Like we've got a lot of similar aspects, okay? Not because we're an animal, but because we're created by the same being, we're created by God, okay? So from an earthly carnal perspective, if that's all you think life is, then in many ways, yeah, you're gonna just, you're gonna conclude a man is an animal, because there are a lot of similarities, okay? But of course the difference is that we're a spiritual being. The difference is we've got a soul. The difference is we've been created in the image of God, and we'll soon see this. The difference is that when our eyes close in death, we continue, our soul continues, okay? That is the big difference. It's that which is not seen, okay? We understand this truth by faith. Now look what it says in verse number 19. For that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts. So the same thing that happens to men happens to animals. Every one thing befalleth them. As the one dieth, so dieth the other, okay? Animals die, humans die. Yea, they have all one breath. No reincarnation. We get one chance at life, and that's it, okay? So that a man, look, that a man have no preeminence above a beast for all his vanity. Again, from an earthly, carnal perspective, yeah, we're no better than a beast. We're no better than an animal. We get one chance of life, and that's it, we die, animal, human beings, that's it, it's done. Okay, verse number 20. Now look, this is talking about the carnal, this is talking about the body, okay, the earthly, because it says in verse number 20, all go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. What turns to dust again? The physical body. The body gets buried or it rots away or whatever happens to it, right, just returns back to the dust. All right, so this is carnally. We're like animals in that sense. But again, for those of us that are saved, for those that are seeking God, we know there's more than just what the earth has to offer. Because it says in verse number 21, now it touches one of the spiritual side of things. Verse number 21, who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth. So you notice that. Some men recognize, yeah, carnally, we're very similar, carnally, our bodies are all gonna turn to flesh. There's something different internally, isn't there? There's something different spiritually about a man and a beast. When it comes to man, our spirit goes upward. Of course, again, touching upon this thought that every single human being, one day is gonna give an account to God. We're all gonna stand before God one day and God is going to require the past. He's going to tell us, show me what you've done with your life. And we've gotta give an account to that. Every idle word. Let me hear why you said that, okay? Whereas the beast, oh, their spirit goes into the earth. It's done. It lives, it's done. The animal is not accountable to God. The animals are not gonna stand before God one day in judgment, okay? That's it. I'm sorry, we love pets, we love creatures, we love little animals, but that's their one chance of life. Enjoy them now and that's it, okay? That's God's ways, you know? What matters more than animals is a human being. Amen, human beings matter much more. I'd rather save the life of a man than save the life of an animal. Even though saving the life of an animal is great. It's fun. You learn things, you learn about life and death, okay? With a little creature. But man is superior. Man will have to one day stand before the Lord God. So if all our spirits will go upward, stand before God one day in judgment, obviously the big difference between us and the unsaved is that our sins have been forgiven. Our sins have been washed in the blood of the lamb. Even every idle word that you said that is just complete foolishness and stupidity has already been nailed to the cross, okay? And praise God, we stand before God in the righteousness of Christ. But we're still gonna be judged by God. You know, I haven't got time to go through this, otherwise the sermon will be too long. But as Christians, we're gonna stand before the judgment seat of Christ. He's going to judge us, he's gonna look at our life. Now that we are saved, now that we are cleansed, he's gonna look at all the works that we've done. And if the works that we've done have eternal value, it's going to pass through the fire and will come out as precious stones, gold and silver. Great rewards for us to have in heaven. Other works that we do that are just carnal and earthly, you know, it's gonna pass through the fire and it'll just be stubble, okay, we burnt up. You know, but hey, we're gonna be judged by Christ anyway. You know what, and the great things that we've done, the things that last forever, Christ is going to reward us. In other words, we're not gonna be judged for our sins, okay? That's been taken care of, the judgment fell on Jesus Christ. But for the unbeliever, they're gonna be judged by their works. If they don't wanna trust Christ for salvation, they reject Christ and they need to stand in their own righteousness, which we know is like filthy rags, okay? And the books are gonna be opened, they're gonna come short, of course, of perfection, of righteousness. And unfortunately for these people, that's the great white throne judgment and they're gonna be cast in the lake of fire. But the point is, we're all one day gonna stand before Christ. We're all gonna be judged by God at some points. We just have different judgments for the saved and for the unsaved. Verse number 22, Wherefore, I perceive that there is nothing better than that a man shall rejoice in his own works, for that is his portion. For who shall bring him to see what shall be after him? Let me just touch on the last bit there. For who shall bring him to see what shall be after him? So basically, that idea that once we perish, we perish. You know, we don't have that reincarnation. And so what we achieve in life, we're not gonna come back to the earth to see, oh, how's that progressing, in that sense, okay? In other words, like, you have a life now, just focus on what you have today. Focus on the work that God has given you today. Don't worry about the future. Don't worry about what happens after when I pass away. Forget about that. That's someone else's life. You're accountable for what you do. You're accountable for the works that you do, is the point. Okay? And so that's how it ends. That when we look at purpose in life, that we're gonna stand before God and be judged, okay? Then we ought to consider our works. As Christians, we should consider our works. Are our works good? Are they righteous? Do they please God? Do they matter for eternity? Or do they not? And then once we figure out what we're doing in life, is we want to make sure that we maximize the things that matter for eternity. We're gonna maximize the treasure that we can get in heaven and minimize the hay and stubble. We all have some hay and stubble in our lives, right? But we want to minimize that as much as we can and make sure that we prioritize the good works and that we rejoice in his own works. That we rejoice in doing the works for God that matter for eternity. All right, brethren. To everything there is a season, okay? There is a purpose under the heaven. Again, the book of Ecclesiastes, it's much about things being empty and worthless and vain. But in the right context at the right time, you notice also everything has a purpose. Everything we do has a purpose. Every word that we speak or sometimes that we decide to remain silent. All these opportunities that God gives us in life, this exercise that we're to go through, it all has meaning, it all has purpose. But as we go through this in life, we want to make sure that the works that we do please the Lord. Okay, that it matters for eternity. Okay, let's pray.