SCRIPTURE READING: Ecclesiastes 3:1-22
SERMON STRUCTURE: FOUNDATIONAL
SUBJECT: TIME
THEME: God appointed a cycle of time in Man’s life
“In His Time”
Introduction:
What are our news in this day? What is our weather, is it cloudy? Rainy? What is your time in your watches, mobiles?
How about in other places? For example in, Saudi Arabia? Do we have the same environment, weather, time? It is different but God controls all of it. He made different happenings around the world with a purpose. A purpose that glorifies His Name.
Before we start let us pray. (Prayer)
Scriptural Background:
Psalm 90:10 “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away.”
Proposition: Man’s time is appointed by God.
Transitional Sentence: Man’s time is appointed by God through His Time as set forth in Ecclesiastes 3:1-24.
I. God appointed time for everything( ecc.3:1)
a.) Time to be Born and Die. 3:2 “a time to be born and a time to die…”
There is time for everything here on earth for example is “a time to be born and a time to die”. God is the giver of life and the one that take it. Only He has the power over these two things that happens to every living thing here on earth. We live according to the life that God gave to us. Yes, men may take once life, but only God allows that. We might say, “Oh, it’s a man who killed that man” NO! God is powerful over all thing happened in this world, even if it’s life and death of a certain person.
b.) Time to keep and throw away 3:6 “a time to keep and a time to throw away”
It may be interpreted of keeping riches, and which are sometimes kept too close, and to the harm of the owners of them; and of scattering them among the poor. Riches may led people to forget their God. the reason that this book of wisdom tells us that there is time to keep some of your riches and also time to give it away to those who are in need.
c.) Time to love and hate. 3:8a “a time to love and a time to hate”
A time to love, and to show ourselves friendly, to be free and cheerful, and it is a pleasant time; but there may come a time to hate, when we will see cause to break off all familiarity with them, especially when they are unbelievers. Christians does not equally yoke with the unbelievers, we put some limitations to their deeds. Yes, we need to help them know Jesus Christ and as we do this, we need to be vigilant upon how things go, is it according to His will? There is time to love and to hate also is not wrong.
II. God appointed time for judgment (Ecc. 3:17) “God will bring into Judgment both the wicked and the righteous.”
a.) Judgment for the Righteous. V. 17 “God will bring Judgment both Righteous…”
All believers of Jesus Christ has eternal hope as they die with faith, that Jesus will raise them from the dead and give them eternal life in heaven at the moment they will experience the Judgment day. The deciding factor at this judgment is whether one's name is written in the Book of Life. Actually if a person's name had been inscribed there, he would have already been a part of the first resurrection. So this verse applies only to those who stand before the Great White Throne. Every man who died before and after Jesus came on earth will face judgment. Even Moses, Noah, David, and those in the time of the disciples, Paul to the first Church of Ephesus. And until today and those who will die tomorrow, they will face the Judgment seat of Jesus Christ. Those who are written in the Book of Life will enter the Kingdom of God.
b.) Judgment for the Wicked. V. 17 “God will bring judgment both the wicked and the righteous…”
Among other things that pained the Preacher were injustice and wickedness in the Great White Throne of God. As the judgment takes place, it would be the saddest part of all men, where some goes to sa better place while others are in the place of turmoil, pain, anguish, sorrow, chaos and hopeless. Jesus Christ brings judgment to all men, no one is exempted to these final event of all the creation. For the unconverted who have died, Hades is a disembodied state of conscious punishment. It is a sort of holding tank, an intermediate condition where they await the Judgment of the Great White Throne. For believers who have died, Hades is a state of disembodied blessedness in heaven, awaiting the resurrection and glorification of the body.
III. God appointed time for eternity (Ecc. 3:11) “He has also set eternity in human heart…”
a.) Eternity – No beginning and end.
From the very beginning of the universe, God already set the world according to His plan and purpose. No one can understand God’s plan until he would reveal it. God set eternity in human hearts as he planned to be with all of his creation. Though not all will respond to God’s invitation of salvation, but there are those who receive Jesus Christ will be with the Lord forever. God has put eternity in man's mind. Though living in a world of time, man has intimations of eternity. Instinctively he thinks of "forever," and though he cannot understand the concept, he realizes that beyond this life there is the possibility of a shore less ocean of time. Eternity has been with all men since in our creation that’s why we were blest because of God’s Faithfulness in our lives.
Conclusion:
Therefore, we as Christian should know that God appointed time for everything here on earth. Anything happens is controlled and allowed by God. His power hold the universe, from the smallest creature to the biggest, from the most important thing you know to the most nonsense thing of all, God put it that way as he want it for a reason. All that is here on earth is meaningless because one day, a Great judgment will happen and all will lost. We came from dust and will return to dust.
These verses speak of an appointed time. Not only does God fix the standard and withhold or dispense satisfaction (2:26), but He also appoints “times”. Earthly pursuits are good in their proper place and time, but unprofitable and wrong when pursued as the main goal. Our main goal is to seek the Lord our God, creator of this world.
