Life & Death in the Hands of God

Good morning, church.

See everyone.

It's hard to believe next Sunday is September.

Well, I think September's in two days, but it is coming quick.

So many things going on here in the life of our church this fall.

And so again, we encourage you to look at what's happening online at westney.ca.

We are in Ecclesiastes 9 this morning.

Life and death in the hands of God.

Before we dive into the scripture, let us pray.

Father, our life is in your hands.

We don't know what tomorrow holds, but you do.

You hold tomorrow for us.

Lord, in this room are all kinds of struggles, all kinds of fears.

Lord, even all kinds of joys.

So I pray, God, as we come to your word this morning, you would speak.

You would speak the words of life deep into our souls.

God, give us a clearer understanding of your grace and your mercy this morning.

But Lord, a clearer understanding of how you work in and through all things.

Father, help us in our weakness to trust you, to seek your face, and to follow after you, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Ecclesiastes 9.

Speaking of this passage and the theme of death that exhibits itself throughout the book, Bobby Jameson writes this in his book.

He writes that coalate, or again, the teacher, the preacher.

So Koalate is, for those who are just joining us, is the Hebrew word for teacher for preacher.

So Bobby Jameson says, Kolate is a philosopher at a party.

Everyone else is trying to have the kind of good time that allows them, however briefly, to forget their troubles, their problems, their failures, and their mortality.

And Koate wanders over, sits down next to you, stares you in your eyes, and says, Death comes to all.

I mean, talk about a buzzkill, right?

And this guy's a little bit of a party pooper.

And that's what we get in the book of Ecclesiastes.

Is this kind of like we've been talking about this this reality check?

This understanding that, okay, life seems like a certain way, and we seem to understand things a certain way.

We might try to indulge in certain things to ignore the inevitability of death and the heartache and the and the suffering that takes place.

Ecclesiastes forces us to face those hard truths about suffering, those hard truths about death, head on.

What would you do if you only had a day to live?

If you knew you only had a day to live, what would you do?

I mean, some of us might be making a list in our heads of things we'd like to do or places we would like to see, somewhere beautiful we would like to go in that day we had left.

Well, when asked what he would do if he knew that he would die the following night, John Wesley, the famous 18th century preacher, proceeded to recount what he had scheduled the following day.

He said, I would preach, I would pray, travel, meet with believers, go to bed, and then I would wake up in glory.

You know, this section of Ecclesiastes we're talking about here this morning brings to the forefront our mortality and requires us to ask some important questions about life and death.

And this is the question we're going to come back to at the end, we're going to open with, but here it is: do you know where you're going when you die?

If you only had twenty-four hours to live, do you know where you're going when you die?

This passage is gonna draw out for us two unavoidable truths about life.

And they're both in relation to death.

And the first thing we're gonna talk about, this unavoidable truth about life, is that life is unpredictable, but God holds all things.

And then we're gonna look at death is inevitable, but life is a gift to be enjoyed.

So the first thing, life is unpredictable, but God holds all things, and we get this in verse 1.

You know, the message of chapter 9 isn't necessarily anything new that we haven't seen throughout the book.

It's almost as if he is painting this picture to bring us to this mountaintop moment in chapter 9, and then 10, 11, and 12 close up the book.

But it could be said that what we've experienced so far brings us to that peak moment here in chapter 9.

And then if you just, if you have your Bibles, just you can look with me at the end of chapter 8, just briefly, and he says this starting in verse 16 when I applied my mind to know wisdom to observe the activity that is done on the earth, even though one's eyes do not close in sleep day or night, I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person, a human being, is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun.

And even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it.

Even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.

And he's bringing us to this point of understanding it's impossible to capture all the working knowledge of the universe or understand really anything or everything that God does.

So all of this sets us up for the first words of chapter 9, which say this Indeed, I look, I took all this to heart and explained it all.

The righteous, the wise, and their works are in God's hands.

People don't know whether to expect love or hate.

Everything lies ahead of them.

Indeed, I took all of this to heart, he said.

All that we talked about.

I dwelt on it, I considered it, I didn't forget it, but I would explain it this way.

And then he says, How everything is in the hands of God.

And next, but we're gonna look at this.

This last phrase in this verse that says, People don't know whether to expect love or hate.

Everything lies ahead of them.

You know, we don't know what will happen.

This is what he's saying.

We don't know what will happen, when or how we will experience heartache or happiness.

Everything lies ahead of us, and there's no way to predict the future of what could happen.

But we've tried.

I mean, humanity, society, we've tried to predict, we've tried to understand, but we've failed.

Because the future isn't for us to control, it isn't for us to hold on to.

This is hard because we desire control, we want predictability, but life is unpredictable, and we can drive ourselves mad trying to make the unpredictable predictable.

But the truth and reality is, as Cole Late brings us out, we are clueless, but God is all-knowing.

And that's what makes that second section of this verse so important.

Life is unpredictable, but everything is in the hands of God.

Look what he says: the righteous, the wise, and their works are in God's hands.

You see, to be in the hand of God is to trust in the providence of God.

To be in the hand of God is relinquishing that desire for control.

And it's looking to God and it's saying, God, you are great, and I'm leaving it all in your hands.

And what do we find in the hands of God?

Well, what we find is that it is the best place to be.

In the hands of God is the place of honor, the place of protection, the place of assurance, stability, and strength.

If you think about it, Jesus, the righteous Son of God, sits at the right hand of God, and in him, in Jesus is all honor, power, glory, and he's sitting at the right hand of God at the highest seat of glory and authority.

And Jesus, with all of that glory and with all of that authority, tells us this in John 10, 27 to 30.

He says, My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me.

I give them eternal life and they will never perish.

No one will snatch them out of my hand.

My father who has given them to me is greater than all.

No one's able to snatch them out of my father's hand.

I and the Father are one.

We get to be held in the hands of God.

And you could be here this morning, and you've never trusted in Christ to save you.

You don't know where you're going when you die.

You've never experienced that security of being held in the hands of God.

And we encourage and implore you, come to Jesus and get to know what real security is, what real stability is, what real safety and protection is.

You see, life is unpredictable, but God He holds all things.

And that's how he opens the passage up.

And then he goes into starting in verse 2.

And this is where we get the idea that death is inevitable, but life is a gift to be enjoyed.

Death is inevitable, but life is a gift to be enjoyed.

Excuse me.

You know, there exists this obsession with trying to escape death.

And we um talked about this last week a little bit.

I mean, even just think about uh that whole uh thing that takes place where um I think it's called uh cryonics, where people are frozen after they're dead in hopes that in sometime in the future that the technology or the medical discoveries will be able to revive them and bring them back to life.

As you know, the guy who's been frozen the longest has been frozen since 1967.

His name is Dr.

James Bedford.

And to get this done from the research I did, it costs about$220,000 to get frozen.

Now, if you just want your brain frozen, that's only$80,000.

But there's this obsession to escape death.

And what's interesting about Dr.

James Bedford is that others are frozen at the same time as him.

Um something happened, they thawed.

Anyways, he's the only one that's surviving, apparently.

And then, like, even in modern times, right now, in today's age, you got guys like um Brian Johnson, if you ever heard of him, the uh tech billionaire, uh, that earlier this year he says that he wants to achieve immortality be uh immortality by tw by 2038.

So he believes that he's going to.

And so what Brian Johnson has done is he's created this plan with all the top doctors in the world.

It costs about$2 million or so for a year for your for yourself to go through this.

It includes like uh what to eat, what not to eat, how much sun, how how little sun.

It includes, I think he's got like a hyperbolic oxygen chamber or something in his room, in his house.

Anyways, all of this stuff because he believes he can live forever.

But just like a month or so ago, he announced that he was diagnosed with this rare autoimmune disease that's attacking the lining of his stomach.

Even with all that money, top doctors in the world, this disease went unnoticed for years.

You see, death is not an accident.

Death is not a disease that we can shake.

And as Hebrews 9 27 puts it, death is an appointment.

And just as it is appointed for people to die once and after this judgment, it's not an appointment that we can skip.

It's not an appointment that we can be late for, or even an appointment that we can be early for, because the time is set by God.

Psalm 139, 16 tells us, Your eyes saw me when I was formless.

All my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.

And this is how the teacher in Ecclesiastes 9 expresses this.

Look with me in verse 2.

Everything is the same for everyone.

You can't escape it.

It's the same for the billionaire text.

It's the same for those who aren't billionaires.

Everything is the same for everyone.

There is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice.

As it is for the good, so also it is for the sinner.

As it is for the one who takes an oath, so also it is for the one who fears an oath.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun.

There is one fate for everyone.

Death is inevitable.

It doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, what you have, spoiler alert, you will die.

You will die.

In verse three, we see that death and the reality of death can bring all kinds of things out in people.

Look what he says.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun.

There is one fate for everyone.

In addition, he says, the hearts of people are full of evil and madness is in their hearts.

And while they live, after that, they go to the dead.

Death and the reality of death can really bring out all kinds of things in people.

Death is coming when we face death, we must face the reality of our own evil hearts because you and I are dying because of the presence of sin, because of the presence of evil, because of the presence of madness in your heart and in this world.

This is why you can't save yourself from death's door of inevitability.

Our real problem, the Brian Johnsons of the world, their real problem isn't the food they eat.

It's not the exercise we do.

Our problem is the evil and the madness of sin in our hearts.

Romans 3, starting verse 10, as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one.

There is no one who understands.

There is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away, all alike have become worthless.

There is no one who does what is good, not even one.

Their throat is an open grave.

They deceive with their tongues.

Vipers' venom is under their lips, their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, ruin and wretchedness are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And this is why death exists, because of sin.

This is why you are dying because of sin.

But this is also why Jesus Christ, being God, perfect and holy, had to become sin, had to die, conquering death on our behalf by rising from the dead.

Because there is only eternal life in God's Son, Jesus Christ.

You want to defeat death, come to Jesus.

When you come to Jesus, your death is not the final word, the cross is.

The empty grave is.

When you come to Jesus as Jesus is the resurrection and the life, one day all those who have come to Jesus, all of those who are in Christ Jesus will be raised from the dead.

And guess what?

You don't need to be a billionaire.

All you need humility enough to repent and believe that Jesus is Lord, that He died for you and for me, and that God raised him from the dead.

There's an old saying that other preachers have used.

Don't quite know the uh the origin of it, um, but I heard an old preacher say once that um the uh originality is the ability to forget where you heard it.

So there's an old saying that you might be familiar with life is short, death is sure, sin the curse, and Christ the cure.

Life is short, death is sure, sin the curse, and Christ the cure.

The only way to deal with death is through Jesus Christ.

And Colate goes on in verse 4, but there is hope for whoever is joined with all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion.

For the living know that they will die, but the dead don't know anything.

There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten.

Their love, their hate, their envy have already disappeared.

And there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.

Well, interesting, right?

Dogs and lions.

You know, dogs in the ancient uh time, they were despised.

Lions, as with today, were these symbols of power and strength.

They were royal-like.

But here he says it's better to be an alive dog than a dead lion.

See, the dead can't do anything about the situation that they're in.

But the living can.

For the dead, it's too late, but for the living, it's not.

So that's what the warning is here.

It's better to be alive and aware and to turn things around while you still have time.

And then verse 6 outlines these strong emotions that we experience in life that really get really govern many decisions in life.

We see love mentioned, hate and envy.

All of these things have disappeared.

All of those arguments have disappeared.

When we're dead, there's nothing we're arguing about any longer.

Because death is inevitable.

It's going to happen.

But then we see life is a gift from God to be enjoyed.

And this comes out in verses 7 through 10.

Verses 7 through 10 is where we see the wisdom in understanding our mortality and trusting in God for our eternity.

And how this allows us to enjoy life as a gift from God.

And this isn't a new theme, like we said before.

We've seen it before.

Enjoying life has been one of Solomon's themes as he's made his way through the book.

We've seen it in chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 5, chapter 8, and we're going to see it again in chapter 11.

But here's where he now picks up what he's saying.

In verse 7, he says, Go, eat your bread with pleasure, drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works.

Let your clothes be white all the time, and never let oil be lacking on your head.

Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life, which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days, for that is your portion in life and in your struggle under the sun.

And then verse 10 Whatever your hands find to do, do with all your strength, because there is no work planning, knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.

He says, go, verse 7, go.

Get up and do something about it.

You know death is coming, but get up and do something about it.

God has given you life to enjoy, so go and enjoy.

And what we see here in this section, these verses, is that these things are to be enjoyed.

These are these everyday, mundane things that are just so beautiful in life.

Getting up, eating, drinking, being merry.

Only God can make the ordinary, mundane activities of life a delight and a joy.

But that's what he does, because they're a gift from him.

It's not by searching for special things that we find joy, but by seeing the everyday things special.

It's the things you eat and drink.

It's your family.

See that in the passage?

Your spouse.

It's some of life's luxuries.

Verse A talks about white clothes and oil on your head continually.

Well, that that was that was for celebrations, they would put on white clothing.

They would anoint their heads with oil.

I guess it was ancient uh deodorant.

And then in verse 10, it's it's uh it's it's enjoying hard work.

I mean, these are ordinary things in life, but they're gifts from God.

Because God has hardwired all of us to enjoy life with Him and everything else, if we look for it in any place else, it will always be a failed substitute.

I think some of the most sobering words in the passage are here at the end of the of uh the section of verses in verse 10.

He tells us to go and then he tells us where we're going.

It says in verse 10, there is no work, no planning, no knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.

And what's Sheol?

Well, Sheol is the land or the place of the dead.

And here the message is simple.

You will die.

Life will end.

And back to that question from the beginning.

Do you know where you're going?

Do you know where you're going?

Life is unpredictable, but God holds it in his hands.

Death is inevitable.

Life is a gift from him to be enjoyed.

Let's pray.

It is uh I guarantee that there are some here that have never trusted in Christ to save them from their sin.

There's some here that are not ready for death.

And if you want to be ready for death, you can be.

Turn to Christ, repent of your sin, and believe in him.

And if you want to do that even here this morning, you can just talk to him now.

In your own words.

If you want to do that here this morning, you can say something like this to God.

You can say, God, I know that I'm a sinner.

In need of your grace.

Will you forgive me of my sin?

I believe in the power of Jesus, his death, and the resurrection to make me a child of God.

Lord, thank you for saving me.

Father, thank you for revealing to us the hard truths of life and of death.

Thank you, Lord, that this passage and the teacher here so clearly spells out for us the inevitability of death, but also, Lord, how you have given us life to be enjoyed.

Life to be enjoyed in balance, life to be enjoyed.

The normal everyday things, the gift of being able to wake up each morning and live life with you.

Father, I pray that all those here this morning that are listening would know for certain where they're going when they die.

Would know for certain by placing their faith and trust in Jesus Christ that they will be with you for eternity, not separated from you.

So, Father, we do pray you continue to take these words and impress them into our heart and our soul.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.