Our reading is from Ecclesiastes 3, and I'll read the first eight verses. So, Ecclesiastes 3. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. a time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away, a time to rend and a time to sow, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace. And today, particularly, I'd like to look at the verse 2. a time to be born and a time to die. Ecclesiastes, the book, was written by King Solomon, around 1000 BC. King Solomon was the son of King David. He was the king of what was known at the time as the United Kingdom of Israel. He was the first king to build a temple in Jerusalem. But interestingly, even though he was known as, historically, people believe he was the wisest man that ever lived, he fell and he fell greatly. He had 700 wives, many foreign wives. He became greedy for wealth and money. He worshipped false gods. And essentially when he died, the kingdom of Israel was split into two. He died at about the age of 60. of natural causes. And when he died, he had a son called Rehoboam. The 10 tribes of Israel refused to accept him, and it split into two Israels, split into what was called the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and I think it was the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Well, the book of Ecclesiastes is interesting. Solomon, he is looking at the whole of life, a human's life, no more than that. He examines what's termed the human experience, the human situation. He thinks about things that happen, to use a biblical term, under the sun. The boundaries of life and death. In chapter one of verse two, the very famous verse, vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, saith the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. In other words, really, to most men, life is full of self. They want for themselves, they want their own way, their own doings, me, me, me, as we say these days. And right in the last chapter, Chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes verse 2 says, Remember now thy Creator and the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. And right at the end of Ecclesiastes, Verse 13, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. The last words of Ecclesiastes. But today I want to look particularly at the very, very well-known verse, verse 2. To everything there is a season, to every purpose and a time, to every purpose under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die. Just interesting, to everything, everything, there's a season, there's a time, there's a time, a portion of time, there's a purpose to everything, there's a reason we're born and there is a reason we die. I would say at this point, why did I want to preach on this verse or talk on this verse as it were? I think I mean, I was just chatting to Sylvie a few moments ago, and of course we were talking about John's, the anniversary of John's death, her husband, next week on Monday, and then she'd mentioned that Charlotte's husband had recently died, sadly. But me as a person, I had many friends at work, of course I'm busy at work the last 10, 20, 30 years or whatever it is, been all over the place, Cairo, France, Germany, Flint. But what have I seen a lot of? Death, death. Only two weeks ago a friend at work died suddenly in his 50s. Completely fit, fittest man probably in the factory, in the mill. And suddenly Saturday out one day, he'd been cycling up in the hills, somewhere where I live. And after his cycling expedition, as it were, with his son, he said to his son, I don't feel well. And within a second or two, dead on the ground. Tried to buy him an air ambulance, everything. Paul died that day. And then it occurred to me, not only did Paul die a couple of weeks ago, his funeral is tomorrow, there are many, many others who I've known very, very closely. I worked in France four, five, six years, on and off, probably more than that, was there all the time with a guy from Berry, John, excellent fellow, kind fellow, went to his funeral last year because he died just in an accident. The guy who died last week or a week or two at work, Paul, his heart, fittest man in the world, simply stopped and died. John died in an accident, a friend I worked with in France, and there are many, many others. Cancers, hearts, accidents. One of the lads at Barrow I worked with, I heard he died only about four or five weeks ago. Dick Foote, he had a bout of COVID, was on a ventilator, Saturday came out, Sunday died. People think they're all going to live to 70 or 80, yet it's not the case. There is a point in time to die for each and every one of us, and we don't know when that is, I think people say sometimes, oh, they went too soon, but really there is not a point in time. There's a time given to us, a purpose for our life, a time to be born, and a time to die. There are time to all things, whatever it may be, as the Scriptures say. Twenty-eight things are mentioned there in those verses, but of course there are time and purposes for thousands and thousands of things. As Christians we believe this, there is an appointed time. We have no idea when it may be. Does the world believe that? I think in a superstitious way most people who are non-Christians do believe it. There's a time set aside for them, but they don't believe it's in God's hand. They just think somehow it's foreseen or some sort of silly karma or event dictates their death in some odd spiritual way. But they don't believe that's in the hands of God Almighty of heaven. The verse really tells us, to each of us there is a beginning and an end. And of course we say to everything there is a season, a time, a purpose, time to be born, time to die, to everything there is a season. And of course one of the most famous verses to the Christian in the Bible is that one of Romans 8, 28. We know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. So there is a season for everything, there's a purpose for everything. But all things that do occur and do happen are for the good of the Christian. I often think this, that the whole world doesn't realise it, but the key events of the world occur for the benefit of the Church. The whole world really revolves, as it were, around God's people here on the earth. Everything else is peripheral. I often think as well, we meet in this church, Christians meet, evangelical Christians meet in churches, and I've often said our pastor when we're here and preach, in that 40 minutes, there's an encyclopaedia of knowledge there, more than many Christians will hear in their entire life. I was in a meeting today, this afternoon, 2 till 3.30. It was a company meeting, and I don't know how many were in the meeting listening. They had a guest speaker who spoke for 30 minutes, which I think they paid about $25,000 to $30,000, typical guest speakers from America. And I thought from the beginning of the meeting to the end, there was no content, there was nothing useful, beneficial, In fact, it could have applied to almost any company anyway. The content was shallow, hollow, empty. In fact, to be honest, after 20 minutes, I had to leave it. It was winding me up so much. I listened to the last few minutes and it was just like the beginning. Shallow, hollow, empty. That's not the case when the Christians speaking, particularly ministers like our Pastor Thackway, So why are we giving time here? We're giving time here to prepare, prepare for eternity. Each man, woman, child is responsible to understand the purpose we have, why he or she has been created. There's a reason they have been brought into this world. They've really been brought into the world to know and enjoy the God who made us. The God who made us, if they turn to him, they can enjoy him forever and ever. Not just now on this earth, but when they leave this earth into eternity. Just thought this morning, out of the blue, we had Thomas, I mentioned this a few times, a child called Thomas, he was the brother, the twin brother of James, the policeman, and he was stillborn. But what was the purpose of Thomas' life, Thomas Paul? We don't really know. Thomas lived in the womb until eight and a half months, or whatever it may be. We don't know his purpose in life, but there is a purpose. There is a season, a time, and a purpose to everything under the heaven. And of course, as each member of my family die and enter heaven, we shall meet Thomas, and we'll get to know a character we never did know. The same, of course, with all of Walter's children. We shall meet people who died before they even entered this world. Quite incredible, really. Well, soon, of course, I was thinking, soon, soon, I will die. Could be tonight, could be 10 years, could be 20 years. Curse me off, friend Patrick, always remember when he talks in the town, who will be tying, said this before, who will be tying your shoelaces tonight? It could be the undertaker, who will be undoing your shoelaces tonight? You don't know. Same with Paulson Matthew, he'll die soon-ish, five, 10, 20 years, who knows? But I often think, you know, there are these methods of recording things, and I wonder if somebody may come across this little talk tonight who knew me once and many years to come. they could outlive me, which is highly probable, but I would desire my non-Christian friends and colleagues take heed of the warnings from the Christians. The Christian is really only given these warnings from the Scriptures, that they repent and they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They won't particularly understand these words, but we as Christians can help them understand these words. It's the only thing I would say to the non-Christian that really matters in life. You may think your children's birth is the most important thing, your marriage is the most important thing, who you marry, but it's not. There's one thing, it's whether you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't, the destiny is certain hell. If you do, your destiny is certainly heaven. It's your duty to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet sin gets hold of you, gets hold of all of us, and it keeps you away from it. What I do say and often think is, when a non-Christian, when a friend, a colleague at work, whatever it may be, comes across a Christian who says some things to them, listen to the man, the lady, the child. Listen to these words. When you're in a high street in Chester or any town and you hear a street preacher, anybody at all, just listen to them. Take heed to what's being said. People don't these days, and I don't know why. They're embarrassed to be seen, to stop to listen to a Bible preacher. It's the most important thing that can ever happen in a non-Christian's life. friends, colleagues at work, I often think they don't know how many times people here, to your own friends and colleagues, I have prayed for many, many times for friends and colleagues at work, prayed for their wives, prayed for their family, that they'd be born again. Because I often think if so-and-so's converted, It's a good thing, but it would be good if the wife is converted, good if the children converted. You don't know them too well, may have come across them, but I'd pray families would be converted. And I often think, sometimes I get a bit biased, I think, well, if they were converted, is there a church nearby? And I hope for them that there would be, but of course, that's not my business. If they're converted, there'll be means made available for them to hear sermons, to worship other Christians. It's a very important thing. The worse of this verse, why? It comes to mind all the time because of death. Yes, as I said, many say it's all before their time. I just made a note as we were sitting there. Of course, it's one of the surest things It applies to all men everywhere. There's that famous saying, one of the founding fathers of America, Benjamin Franklin, which used to make me chuckle a little bit. There are only two things definite to certain in life, taxes and death. We don't like either. Certainly, death. Yeah, so many men have passed that I've known that are very sad. Time. Yeah, God himself is outside of time. People value time. The first thing I thought when I thought of the word time was oddly my mother, who died 20 years ago, whatever now, a Geordie girl from the Northeast, she really had an obsession with time. You wouldn't believe the obsession had with time. I'm not as... crackers as her. What I mean by that is, there were perhaps, let's say, four or five clocks in the house. She would set every single clock in the house probably about 15 to 20 minutes ahead of the real time. So she was ahead and had in her bag 15 to 20 minutes. And of course in those days the clocks were never particularly brilliant and they slowed down. But she'd so obsessively catch up and set it ahead of the time. Of course it occurred to me in those days you didn't always know exactly the time. You had to catch it on the telly or a radio you had it. So she valued time to the core. Didn't save her at the end of the day. But people do have an obsession with time. And then I was thinking about for all men everywhere and this appointed time. It just occurred to myself, and I wrote this on my phone a few months ago, about appointed times. I was converted at the age of 21. I was converted through meeting a Christian in South Africa who I inquired of. He gave me a Christian book. He gave me a Bible. And eventually I was converted after I was there for three or four months in South Africa, came back to the UK, went to a reasonable Anglican Evangelical, was converted at that time. Yet, that was 21. But at 17, I remember very distinctly clearly driving my dad's Hillman Avenger car at such a speed, I think I can remember, it was 80 miles an hour down a steep hill, and I mean a steep hill, and there was a bend at the end. And when I began to turn the wheel, the car went straight ahead. It wasn't turning at all. That was an absolute 100% and had a couple of friends in the car. I should have, almost you could say should have died, but for whatever reason Providence had that I would not be killed that day and the car eventually just before moved to the left and gripped the road. Similar things, I remember 18 years later overtaking ridiculously on my motorbike a car car coming the other way, and I'm not kidding, I don't know how the handlebars didn't hit both cars. I was miraculously brought through that. Many instances when anybody is not converted, they're to be converted, they're to live longer, God will preserve their life, even through foolish and ridiculously silly acts. People of course, the other thing that occurred to me, they're obsessed and they think that cycling, going to the gym, jogging will extend their life. They're convinced it will make them live longer, lots longer. But of course, and I've used this verse at work, 1 Timothy 4.8, for bodily exercise profiteth little But godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of life that is now, and of that which is to come. People genuinely believe by constantly cycling, by going to the gym, whatever it may be, they will live a lot longer. I'm not saying bodily exercise is bad for you, it's good for you, but it won't extend your life indefinitely. Poor Paul, who died on a couple of weeks ago. He was probably the fittest man in the factory, I'd say without a doubt. Constant exercise, yet sadly dead. People do believe the strangest things. They believe, I don't know how many times I'll hear the word, oh, there is karma. You know, whatever you do, there's a kickback. They believe this fate, different superstitious, unnatural things believe in. But gospel, biblical things, no, refuted, want nothing to do with them. Interesting comment here, I wrote to myself, or a note I made, do I have doubts about these things as a Christian? Do I have doubts about eternity? Do I ever have doubts about eternity? And note here I put to my, I don't want to mention, it's strange, but really the answer is zero, and I can't answer that. I don't ever believe that there is not a heaven and a hell, and there is a God in heaven who takes Christians to be with him. I'm virtually 100% sure. I've never had a doubt, not even for a moment in life. I'm not saying Christians do have doubts. I think we have different makeups, different ways we're brought up, perhaps influences, but I've never had a doubt since the day I was converted. But remember, exercise profiteth little. The Greeks were obsessed with the body, The man in the race was cheered, elated, but no, it doesn't do you any good whatsoever. To the unbeliever I say, it's the single most serious issue in your life, your status before God. You're either one of his, a repentant Christian, like the folk here, or you're destined for the sure place called hell. It's a real place, a place where the non-Christian will perish forever and ever. To the non-Christian, that's you. And to this I say I have no doubts about it whatsoever. It's the single most important and terrifying thing you may ever hear. There is a heaven and a hell. And you'll probably dismiss it as some sort of story or myth. And when I put the word terrifying, suddenly occurred to me a friend, Stephanie knows, we had a friend at our first strict Baptist chapel in Kent called Uncle Arthur. He was a woodworker. He had an accident, a very severe accident. He was crushed on a machine. He ended up in a hospital bed. He was an unconverted, but I think he was from a Christian background, Uncle Arthur. Very, very seriously ill. I'm not sure if he was dying to death, as it were. He knew the gospel, unconverted, and he said what happened to him. One day he was given a vision in the hospital bed. He looked around it. And Arthur was just a completely sensible, normal man. He looked around at it and he said, without a doubt, he saw a vision of hell below him. And he was converted that moment, Arthur. Not a person who would ever invent anything, just as normal as could be. So to the non-Christian, these things are real, they're true. Some people are given visions of horrific things. Arthur was converted. A non-Christian, you need to be converted. The Scriptures, we may know, and I address this mainly again to the non-Christian, the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. I'll read a little of that. So much in this. Luke 16 is like The warning to the world, there is a heaven, there is a hell, it's physical, it's real, this is not a parable, this is not a story, this is a recollection given in the scriptures of an actual event that actually really happened. Just to read a few verses about the rich man and Lazarus, remember the rich man fed sumptuously every day and the beggar Lazarus ate the crumbs from beneath the table. And it says, and it came to pass, and the beggar died, and was carried by the angel into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham far off. and Lazarus in his bosom. Do you know if there's one verse I can remember the scriptures more than any other is this one. And in hell he lift up his eyes and seeth Abraham afar off being in torments. And he cried and he said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot. Lazarus can't come and dip his finger in water. Neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou would send him, Lazarus, to my father's house. I have five brethren that he may testify unto them, lest they come into this place of torment, into hell. Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear. So people here on the face of the earth, they have the scriptures, they have the street preacher, they have the pastors, they have the churches, they have the warnings they'll hear throughout their life, and they'll regret every warning that they ignored, because they will be in hell. Every friend I would say, you'll be there and you'll think about the few things you heard, the way you ignored people telling you about the reality of true religion. Yep, these are the most critical words you'll ever hear. I'll just say this with a few scriptures. And again, this particular scripture, Romans 10, 14. Not overly familiar with this, Romans 10, 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall they then call on him who have not believed? How shall they believe in him who they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? So we have preachers, and again I was thinking about street preachers. So when folk walk past Dylan and Patrick who say the clearest, simplest biblical explanation of the truth of the gospel, it's a terrible, frightening, ridiculously wrong thing. Listen to the preacher. How shall they hear without a preacher? They hear him and they ignore him. So to the unbeliever again, when you come across a Christian, Listen, take heed of what is said. Don't be ashamed, don't be embarrassed in case somebody sees you listening to something religious. Past generations that was never the case, but now it's gone. In Job it tells us, man that is born of a woman is of a few days, a few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. I couldn't understand that. And I thought to myself, sometimes the sun can catch the body, and you can move a little, and you see the shadow, and it's gone. It flees away, it's gone with your movement. And that's like life. It's full of trouble. It's a few days. All of us have troubles and problems. A little later in the same chapter, chapter 14 of Job, seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee. Thou has appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. So people have a number of months, they have bounds that cannot be passed. God has determined the date of each of our death. Jeremiah, who was a prophet, he didn't want to be a prophet, and he says, right at the beginning of Jeremiah, then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Before thou camest out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee to be a prophet to the nations. Then I said, ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and he touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put words in my mouth. there's a man who didn't in his life want to be a prophet, but before God who had ordained certain things for him. I'll close with just a few words from Psalm 90. The days of our years are three score years and ten. Three score years and ten. And if by reason of strength they be four score years, Yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away. So there is a time to be born and a time to die. We should think about these things while we're alive. Why did God bring me into the world? Was it so I should live for myself and the world? Or was it that I was created to live for him, for God? So the best thing, the right thing, is to enjoy him, worship him, believe on his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and have him as your closest friend and your closest ally you could ever have. Thank you very much.