In His Time
Eccl. 3:9-11
Introduction
We have just finished the first part of chapter 3 telling us “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven”. The song became very popular though it was not sung on churches. Now here in our text, specifically verse 11, we have another very popular song entitled “In His Time”. I honestly think that very few believers don’t know about this song. Indeed, God hath made everything beautiful in His time. If there is anything in the world that is ugly, it must be attributed only to sin, God did not make it. God’s clock is never late or advance. It always strikes at the right moment. To some people, time is very precious, to others not.
Illustration: How Do We Value Time?
How do we value ONE YEAR? Ask a student who failed a grade.
How do we value ONE MONTH? Ask a Mother whose baby arrived prematurely.
How do we value ONE WEEK? Editors of weekly newspapers know.
How do we value ONE HOUR? Ask someone who lies terminally ill waiting for a loved one who is late.
How do we value ONE MINUTE? Ask someone who missed a plane, a train, a very important engagement that would never be rescheduled.
How do we value ONE SECOND? Ask and Olympic Medallist, someone who just missed having an accident, or someone saying good bye to a loved one they will never see again.
Source: Unknown
I. Profit in our labours (Eccl. 3:9)
A. “What profit is there for the worker for all his toil”? The sad answer is none!
B. Man’s life is to short to enjoy it.
C. When he dies he knows not if the person he will leave all his accomplishments will be wise or fool.
D. That is what Solomon sees in the “life after the sun”
E. But since he put God in the picture, the outlook is now very different as we can see from the following verses.
F. All men’s labours, without God’s blessing, are unprofitable, and utterly insufficient to make them happy.
II. Task given by God to man (Eccl. 3:10)
A. The only things of value in life is what God gives to us.
B. All the material things of life, the enjoyable things of life, the relationships we have, the jobs we do are only of value when given by God.
C. We have been given task to work and do many things in this life and the things we do are according to His appropriate timing.
D. There is a time to every purpose under heaven
III. In His time (Eccl. 3:11)
A. He made everything beautiful
1. Beauty is the quality in the person or things which pleases the eye.
2. We have the beauties of nature (Ps. 19:1, Isa. 35:1)
3. There is also spiritual beauty (Ps. 149:4, Rev. 21:2)
4. For me, the real beauty is Christlikeness (1 Jn. 3:2, 1 Sam. 16:7)
5. Looking back at all the things that happened in my life, the good times, the bad times, the trial and sufferings, the events leading to my salvation and to the salvation of my family, I can only conclude that the Lord Jesus Christ makes all things beautiful in HIs time
B. He put eternity in the hearts of men
1. Our text here is the word “world” but is it doe not mean the material world. It means eternity.
2. Eternity is only in God’s hand, and in His time.
3. People have a longing for eternal life.
4. God has deeply rooted the idea of eternity in every human heart.
5. God had left a void space in our hearts that we will never find peace, joy, contentment, satisfaction, etc., without Christ.
Illustration: Best: Not Mansion but Christ
A young Christian, at the deathbed of an aged saint, said to him, “Shall I read to you the sweetest verse in the Bible?”
“Yes,” was the reply. The young man read the verse in John 14: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”
“No,” said the dying saint, “that is not the sweetest verse. Read on.” The young man read on, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
“That is the sweetest,” said the dying man. “It is not the mansions—it is Himself I want.”
—Gospel Herald
C. People cannot know the works of God
1. From beginning to end, people cannot know the sovereign eternal plan of God.
2. God has given man eternal perspective which he can use to look beyond the routine of life
3. However, Christ has not revealed all of life’s mysteries to man. (1 Cor. 2:9-12)
4. This is not in disagreement with what Peter has written in 2 Pet. 1:3 which states that “his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertains unto life and godliness”.
5. All the things we need to know about salvation, godliness, and fruitful Christian life have been given to us by Christ thru the Bible.
6. In the near future, a time will come when the Lord Jesus Christ will tell us all the things we want to know even before we ask him. (Isa. 65:24).
IV. Conclusion:
Jesus Christ makes all things beautiful in His time. Be one of the people who have experienced this. Be one of the many who have put their trust in Him.
