Sermon at Christ Presbyterian Church, Georgetown · Ecclesiastes 9:11 · December 2024
Auto-generated transcript from the Christ Presbyterian Church (Georgetown) service, trimmed to the sermon (scripture reading through the message and closing prayer). Light caption cleanups applied; treat as a reading aid, not a polished manuscript.
Full service video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikE8uUNnLeo
we'll open the word of God in the Book of Ecclesiastes chapter nine and I'll read chapter nine but all this I laid to Heart examining it all how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God whether it is to love or hate man does not know both are before him this is the same for all since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked to the good and the evil to the clean and the unclean to him who
sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice as is the good so is the sinner as he who swears is as he who shuns an oath this is an evil in all that is done under the sun that the same event happens to all also in the hearts of the children of man uh are full of wickedness and evil and Madness is in their hearts while they live and after that they go to the dead was he who is joined with the living has hope for a
living dog is better than a dead lion and for the living know that they will die but the dead know nothing and they have no more reward for the memory of them is forgotten their love and their hate and their Envy have already perished and forever they have no more sure in all that is done under the sun go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart for God has already approved what you do let your garments always be wi let
not oil be lacking on your head enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil Under the Sun whatever your hand finds to do do it with your might for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in sh to which you are going again I saw Under the Sun the race is not to the Swift
nor the battle to the strong nor bread to the wise nor riches to the intelligence nor favor to those with knowledge but time and chance happen to them all for man does not know his time like fish that are taken in an evil net and like birds that are caught in a snare so the children of man are snared as an evil time when it suddenly falls upon on them I have also seen this example of wisdom Under the Sun and it seemed great to me
there was a little city with a few men in it and a great king came against it and besieged it building great Siege works against it but there was found in it a poor wise man and he by his wisdom delivered the city yet no one remembered that poor man but I say wisdom is better than might though the poor man's Wisdom is despised and his words are not heard the words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among
fools wisdom is better than weapons of war but one sinner destroys much good this is the word of the Lord thanks be to God well in the Book of Ecclesiastes the preacher the son of David the king of Jerusalem doesn't pull any punches right from the start of this book vanity of vanities all is Vanity or in Modern English we might say meaningless meaningless everything is meaningless and this is developed through the first eight chapters of his book he runs through various things we encounter
in life and that is his message and then we come to chapter nine which is like a pinnacle chapter in the book now a pinnacle chapter is when things all come together a kind of resume and this Pinnacle gives the high point of the argument and it leads on to the conclusion that we have at the end of the book remember your creator in the days of your youth but chapter nine is a pinnacle and in chapter nine there is a hinge vers verse now a
hinge verse is a verse on which the whole chapter swings and it gives the key to the various points made in the chapter and the hinge is in verse 11 B time and chance happen to all time and chance happen to all what does that mean time and chance to all well I think it means that we can control and try to control a lot of things in our lives we try to control our future by doing good studies we try to have a happy life
by choosing a good partner we try to bring up our children well exercise and control over them to a certain extent we try to have a good driving experience by choosing the right kind of car all these things are things in which we seek to exercise control in our life sometimes it turns out real bad for us when we try to exercise control because ultimately we can't control many things in our lives things go wrong and the two major things that go wrong are time and
chance what does that mean well let's give an illustration of how time goes wrong and how we can't control it most of us who are getting old try to offset the effects of age by taking vitamins by following rigorous fitness programs even going to the extent of dying our hair so that we look younger and covering over the cracks with botox h i I've not tried that myself but I don't so I can't recommend it one way or the other anyway time happens to us all
When We're Young we want to get older quick so we can drive that first car leave home and study choose our partner for Life get a job start earning money we think we can control these things but time happens to us all we can't stop it precious time is slipping away doesn't matter to which God you pray the precious time is slipping away as Van Morrison sings so we can't control time it gets us in the end we we can't turn back the clock so chance
well here's an example of chance if in Pennsylvania a few months ago a bullet had been a couple of inches in the other way who knows what the outcome would have been chance happened on that day and someone avoided the consequences which might have been dire for him and who knows too for the nation at least the outcome of the election might well have been different because of that chance that happened so there's a case of chance you can miss the bullet or maybe you don't
miss the bullet but Chance happens to you and there's nothing you can do about it when it does happen to you so time and chance what can we do about it what can Our Hope be in this situation is there any way out of this predicament of time and chance which leads Ecclesiastes to say meaningless meaningless everything is meaningless well I think we have three points in this chapter which develop the ideas that I've just developed and the first point is that time and chance uh
are fact checked here for us so we know exactly what it means and uh in this chapter we have five ways in which time and chance are Illustrated to us so that we take this totally seriously now let's run through these Five Points of Ecclesiastes now very rapidly point one in the first verse man does not know but God knows man does not know but God knows we don't know the outcomes of time and chance but God does we don't know whether love or hate lies
before us in our life experience verse God knows and this Echoes what we have in the preceding chapter verse 14 where the preacher says there is a vanity that takes place on the earth that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the Deeds of the bad the wicked and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the Deeds of the righteous so bad things happen to the good and good things happen to the bad and we can't control it time and
chance get us and God knows it but we don't know it none of us knows what's happening tomorrow and none of us can turn the clock back to yesterday we don't know but God does not even the good know what will happen to tomorrow second point the same things happen to all of us verses two and three listen to this it's the same for all since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked to the good and the bad the same thing happens to
all everyone is caught in this web of time and chance and we can't escape from it we're like flies caught in a spider's web whether we're good or bad the same thing happens to all people in an economic downturn that happens when the banks crash the good and the bad are all caught up in it together in the tsunami me which hits the coast of Indonesia the good and the bad are all caught together in the injustices made by other men in Wars the good and
the bad are caught up together the same things happen to all second Point third point a living dog is better than a dead lion well what does that mean a living dog is better than a dead lion well lions are the symbols of power and the symbols of kingship and a dog in the Hebrew mentality is someone who is unclean despicable and miserable so a miserable despicable man is better than the dead king and a dog is better than a dead lion but having said this
the dog is characterized by Madness there is evil in the heart of man and Madness is in their hearts while they live we might have hope while we live but Madness is in all of our hearts in all of us it's ingrained to say as the food fo says as the Mad Dog says in his heart there is no God and Ecclesiastes says even though a living dog may have a little hope in their heart while they live after they go to the dead because there's
Madness in our hearts we are characterized by that foolishness of denial of God which lead leads us to death Psalm 49:20 says man in his pump perishes like the animals so we can build up wealth but we can't take it with us but while we live a living dog is better than a dead lion and again fourth reason being a star won't help you you can have all the success in your chosen field of life you can win all the races you can be the strongest
in the wrestling matches you can win your bread and you can have riches but Chance will happen to you all the same oh being a star ultimately won't do you any good success will crumble like ashes in your fingers because you have no ultimate control over time and chance and all this is summed up in the fifth point the fifth fact check of time and chance and that's is a really terrible thing when you read it it's horrifying we're swimming down the river like happy fishes
and all of a sudden we're caught in the net the evil Day falls on us for man doesn't know the time like fish are taken in an evil net and like birds are caught in a trap so the children of man as SN as an evil time when it suddenly falls on us death can fall on us like fish swimming into a net and like birds hopping into a trap and we're unaware of it so evil awaits us the evil day the day of death and
we have no power no control over that so well having heard these five things you might say well we may as well go home and have a good lunch because there's no escape from this huh and that's just what the writer says here and that's the second point we come to now the Ecclesiastes says when we realize that we're all trapped by time and chance what do we do naturally well to quote another songwriter Paul Simon yesterday was my birthday I hung another year on the
line but I'm depressed and miserable my life is a mess but have a good time that's the way most of our contemporaries are living you can't do anything about it so let's have a good time while it lasts and eclesiastes tells us three ways three painkillers yeah this realization that time and chance happen to us all is very painful so we rush for the valley and we take yeah the painkillers that'll help us forget this and there are three the writer says here in verses 7-10
enjoy the good things of Life Ecclesiastes chapter 8 verse 15 and I commend joy for man has no good thing under the Sun but to eat and drink and be joyful for this will go with him in his toil through all the days of life that God has given him under the Sun so eat drink and be joyful chapter 9 verse 7 enjoy uh go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart for God has already approved what you do so
this is what people do first painkiller enjoy life to the full the second one enjoy life with your wife your spouse with whom you love all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun because that is your portion in life and in the toil which you toil Under the Sun so the second painkiller find the ideal partner and enjoy life with him or her this is a wonderful pallative again against the trials of life and verse 10 the third pain
killer whatever your hand finds to do do it with all your might whatever your hand finds to do put your back into anything you do and do it well and you'll find some satisfaction in that you might say be good and that who will be clever do whatever you can do with all your heart and these are three palliatives these are three painkillers that the people around us indulgent and they're not IL legitimate God has given us these things to make our life a little livable
even though time and chance await us all around the corner and it's quite natural today there's nothing new Under the Sun that people say there are no absolutes there's no God act according to your truth do the best you can be the best person you can be and have a good life while you're living it because that's all there is and this is a painkiller that Ecclesiastes says is not bad in itself these things are good however painkillers can be addictive can't they and the pain
you want to kill might kill you painkillers can be Killers so while these things things are there they are not the ultimate answer they're just a temporary way out which avoids the ultimate realities that await us time and chance happen to all even when you've chosen these three ways out they won't get you out of the labyrinth which traps you time and chance will happen to you as well even though you've lived the best life you can even though you've had the best relationships you can
even though you've been as good as you can you've been the best me you can you'll be trapped in the end all these things will not do you any good ultimately when the evil day arrives so having seen the five ways in which time and chance affect us and the three palliatives now we come to the third point because if we had to finish after the second well it would be a pretty bad thing wouldn't it it would be a pretty miserable solution just say Okay
off you go do the best you can but the third point is the most surprising the most shaking the most astonishing and it's something which goes against all our natural assumptions of what might be good and right and the third point in Ecclesiastes 9 is not an argument but it's a parable it's an alternative story to this story we've Illustrated so far about time and chance and this Parable gives Checkmate to time and chance it demolishes all that Ecclesiastes has said about the finality of time
and chance in the previous verses and this Parable just comes into this book in a most unexpected way and it's something which is very surprising because here the gear shift we go from fifth gear to six sixth gear here and the perspective changes all together when the writer tells this Parable to us and he says you know there was a little city and a Big King came and made war against it he built fortresses against it and sieging Towers against it and he put it under
siege and the people in it were starving and there was no hope for that City and then in that City there was a poor wise man and the poor wise man he saved the city from the oppressing king who was besieging it he saved the city and this is an amazing Parable because it speaks about a Salvation which is totally unexpected it speaks about a mysterious salvation we're not told how the poor man saves the City from the powerful King but this poor man was despised
it speaks about a despised salvation and he wasn't remembered he was forgotten after the salvation for this little city life just went on as before people forgot all about it and that's a parable that is told here there's a mysterious salvation and there is an unexpected salvation and there is a despised salvation and there is a forgotten salvation but Salvation is there and wisdom is to see this salvation wisdom is to meditate on this Parable and see an unexpected salvation for those who are in the
claws of time and chance so who is the wise poor despised forgotten man I think in scripture this is an image of Israel from the Jews salvation will come from a small despised poor people besieged by forces around them salvation will come unexpectedly by the hand of God and that's the focus of the Old Testament salvation is of the Jews and this salvation is unexpected it's forgotten it's despised but as scripture becomes more focused in its Central message we see that the true Israel is the
Lord Jesus Christ he was the despised and rejected of men he came as a humble human being his salvation was counted for nothing as we read in one Corinthians if the rulers of the Earth have understood this they wouldn't have put the Lord of Glory wor to death This is how God unexpectedly saves his people by Jesus the despised and rejected one this is a mysterious salvation this is salvation out of the blue through the Lord Jesus Christ this is nothing in the eyes of the
world but this is what saves us from time and chance because God intervened in human history in an unexpected way in the fullness of time the Lord Jesus came under the law and gave his life to save his people from time and chance and we read in 1 Corinthians 2 which we heard just now that none of the rulers of the age understood this if they had they would not have crucified the Lord Of Glory because this is a secret and hidden wisdom that the rulers
of the age who are doomed to pass away do not know but this fulfills what the prophet it says what no eye has seen nor ear heard nor heart of man imagined what God has prepared or decreed for those who love him God has decreed this for those who love him so we reached the final end of all things of our sermon this morning morning but of all things because in Jesus Christ The Mysterious savior the despised and rejected one the unexpected one and the Forgotten
one God shows himself to be the Lord of time and ch chance and God Saves from time and chance in Jesus Christ from our side everything in life seems to be halfhazard everything seems to happen from our perspective according to time and chance things we can't ultimately control but from the other side of the perspective from God's side time and chance do not exist everything is decreed by the Lord God in his goodness in his sovereignty and in his love for our Salvation God is the
Lord of time and chance it's like a tapestry and on one side you have a perfect picture fully and beautifully developed and then you go to the other side of the tapestry and you can't see the picture at all you can only see Loose Ends hanging out and pieces of thread here and there but you can't make any sense of it that's life seen from our side in which time and chance rules and everything as Martin Luther said seems to happen in an absurd Way by
time and chance and we have no control over it but you look at it from God's perspective God is accomplishing his perfect Sovereign will in all things and there is no time and chance for God because God is Lord of all these things and God has decreed what he has decreed for our Salvation God has prepared this for those who love him so we are secure in the hands of our savior God who sends his own son and in the course of human history at Christmas
and Easter the Lord Jesus Christ showed himself to be the Lord of time and chance he was the Lord of chance because there was no chance for him he went to the Cross purposely he came in the fullness of time purposely it didn't happen according to the normal laws of the world it happened according to the decree of God to fulfill it and Jesus Christ fulfilled God's will perfectly in coming into our world and he came in as the Lord of time and chance and ruled
over it he said let it be so now for this must be as he was going to the Cross he purposely set his face to go to Jerusalem he didn't run the other way like Jonah to Nineveh he went went to the cross and he mastered time and chance in his death by coming out of it on the third day in his resurrection and he says all authority in heaven and on Earth are given to me he is the Lord of time because he is risen
from the dead and the time we are living is his time and our times are in his hand we cannot control anything much in this life but he is controlling ruling over everything because he is the Lord of time and chance he is the Lord of all things and the ruler over these things because he has decreed it for our son salvation for your salvation Christ became the Lord of time and chance and if you are in Christ if you know the Lord Jesus as your
savior and your lord you know that you are Safe in His Hands nothing that the world can do can cut you off from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ Our Lord that despised wise man who brought the unexpected salvation which is forgotten today but which is mysteriously working out the will of God for the Salvation of his people so that is why we pray as we prayed just now thy will be done thy kingdom come give us this day our daily bread all
these things belong to Christ his will is being worked out even through the miserable situations of Our Lives he is working his will out for our Salvation so instead of saying let's have a good time let's say may our time be the Lord's time and may he give us the grace to live out our lives trusting in Him alone for salvation he knows tomorrow you don't he knows the day of your death you don't he is your savior trust to him and then all that is
in your life the good things the wife that God has given you the spouse that God has given you and the power to do things to the best of your ability we'll all have that spiritual motivation which comes from your union with Christ in Union with Christ we are given these things as gifts of God and so they are no more means of pleasure but means for serving God to his glory for which we can be thankful so go your way knowing that your times are
in his hand and his hand is a sovereign hand of Grace for you and this will bring you true Joy amidst all the hardships amidst all the difficulties you might encounter you can still say the wise Lord is my savior and my my God and to him I trust all things amen let's bow our heads in prayer almighty god father of our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you for your great wisdom that in your grace toward us you found the way of countering our sin of
countering the meaninglessness of our lives and reformatting our lives according to the wisdom that's in the Lord Jesus Christ we thank you that in him there is newness of life we thank you that in him there is all Grace we thank you that he is the way the truth and the life life and that when we come to you by him we can know the fullness of Salvation and the in the Assurance which tells us that our lives are in your hands almighty God help us
not to commit ourselves to our own projects good as they may be help us to commit ourselves to you and to trust in you for all things things father you know the joys the fears uh the Sorrows the misery uh which we all experience in one way or another and you know what is in our hearts today but we pray that you would send forth your Holy Spirit to engrave your word in our hearts so that we may trust in you and find our consolation our
Assurance in you father root us and ground Us in the Lord Jesus Christ The Only Hope of Salvation help us to treasure him above all things that we have here below and to find in him a true purpose and meaning for our lives this we pray in his name
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