Ecclesiastes chapter 11, verse 1, we cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days. Our theme this evening is redeeming the time, redeeming the time. The aim of the book, as we have seen, is to show us the way of true wisdom and what is truly our highest good during our days under the sun, compared with the way of folly whether open folly or dressed in worldly wisdom. This theme is now being brought to a head and to a conclusion. What is the correct and blessed use of things, temporal and spiritual, during our days under the sun? Firstly, let us learn. Don't hold back because of the unknowns. Don't hold back because of the unknowns. In the first six verses, the chapter divides into two. And under this heading, do what is our responsibility. The first two verses. Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven and also to eight, for thou knowest not what evil shall be under the sun. we must do what is our responsibility to do. The word bread is a word elsewhere rendered bread corn. For example in Isaiah 28 verse 28 where it can only mean bread corn. Bread corn is bruised because he will not ever be threshing it nor break it with the wheel of his cart nor bruise it with his horseman. There the same word is rendered bread corn. It would seem that this refers to the eastern practice of scattering the seed corn while the fields are flooded or at least the practice in Egypt when the Nile overflowed its banks so that the seed corn was cast upon the waters and though that seems haphazard, it was necessary if there was to be any harvest at all. And so the seed corn was cast upon the waters and the waters subsided and eventually there was a harvest. Which seed would flourish wasn't known but they had to cast it upon the waters and the return would come in due course, for thou shalt find it after many days. There are various views as to the casting of the bread but that seems the most reasonable explanation. It is the idea of just because everything is uncertain, you don't neglect duty, you do, you fulfil your responsibility, just as casting the seed corn on the waters, it all seems so random and haphazard, but in the end there was a harvest. And the generosity to all calls 4 is a responsibility in verse 2, give a portion to seven and also to eight for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. This generosity of spirit, this communicating that which is good, this doing good unto all men is particularly conditioned by the thought, for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. The possibility of evils to come and then the opportunity to show this generosity will not be there. In other words, the thought is that while we have opportunity, while God has put in this case material things into our hands, we must serve the Lord with it because we do not know what evil may come and when it might be that we do not have that wherewith to help others. So it's urging fulfilment of present opportunity because that opportunity may not always be there. And so there are many passages of scripture which urge liberality, generosity upon the people of God. Isaiah 32 verse 8 But the liberal diviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand. Proverbs 11 verse 24 There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth more than is but it tendeth to poverty." It is the idea of what seems safe ends up not safe and what seems risky is in fact the path of blessedness because it is the way of obedience to the Lord. Luke chapter 6 verse 38, "...give and it shall be given unto you, good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over, shall men give into your bosom, for with the same measure that ye meet, with all it shall be measured to you again." 2 Corinthians 9 verse 6 For this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which ye have shown toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. The point is that in these various verses, some of them more than others, but there is a principle that the apparently safe course isn't safe and the apparently unsafe course is safe. To serve the Lord is always safe, it is always the way of blessedness. And of course the application to the gospel, though not immediate from the text, is nonetheless for how above all do we show our love to our neighbour more than by telling him the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and this surely in principle is telling us that we are to spread the truth of God and in due season it will bear fruit in God's good pleasure. But then we are reminded of the things we have no control of in verse 3. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth. And if the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. The first part of the verse could be simply illustrating the generosity of verses 1 and 2 or better to take it as something over which we have no control. We cannot control the clouds and the rain and it's telling us that there are limits on what we control or what we have any influence over but that mustn't prevent us from doing what the Lord requires. And then the phrase, And if the tree falleth toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. When a tree falls, we are not consulted about it. It happens, it's not within our control. And the point here is that here is something in which we have no say. A tree falls in a particular direction and we have nothing to do with it. It comes about in the providence of God. This verse may also signify our state at death, that just as a tree falls and stays there, so our condition at death is that in which we remain. If we are in a state of salvation then we will be blessed forevermore and we will never fall into condemnation. On the other hand if we die in our sins then that condition of condemnation will go on and on. As the tree falleth so shall it lie. The great gulf is fixed as men leave this world whether under condemnation or justification and salvation. So it shall be, it will not be changed beyond this world. And if that is the sense of the verse then this only accentuates the need for the right use of the present life because the end of it is not in our hands. And so to wait for a convenient season to seek the Lord is disastrous because we do not know when the tree will fall, when our lives will be brought to an end, when our eternal state will begin, when we will leave this world and be forever blessed or forever damned. but then also notice present obligations are not to be put off. Verse 4 He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. The illustration from the natural realm applies to seeking the Lord and serving the Lord. In the natural realm, if a man waits for what he regards as the perfect time, the ideal circumstances for sowing or for reaping. He'll never do it because there are no infallible guarantees. Even the most seasoned farmer cannot guarantee the weather. And here the thought is that the man who puts off because he's always waiting for a better opportunity, a better time, a more suitable time in his eyes. He never actually does it. And the same is true in all our obligations to the Lord. Any alleged deficiencies of circumstances can be used to excuse our abdication of our responsibility to the Lord, to seek Him and to serve Him. Haggai chapter 1 and verse 2. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, These people say that time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built, Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. You see, the people sounded pious. They said the time is not come. The time's not right. It's not that we're not interested, but the time's not right. it's not the right time for building the temple of the Lord and yet apparently it was the right time for them to build their own houses and to attend to their own affairs and they were simply avoiding present duty with pious excuses concerning circumstances it wasn't the right time but it is always the right time to obey the word of God. And there are those who postpone evangelistic endeavour and they say, well it's no use seeking to spread the gospel in dark days like ours. But the Lord's mandate given to his church does not contain an exemption clause for days like ours. It is always the duty of the people of God to spread the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly we must cry mightily to God to plead his own cause and to bring sinners to repentance, but our obligation to declare the truth publicly by ministers of the Word and individually by the people of God, that obligation stands and it is not a variable according to our idea of whether the time is right or not. Then we have unknown outcome in verse 5 and 6. As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit, nor have the bones to grow in the womb of her that is with child, even so thou knowest not the works of God, who maketh all. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. Unknown Outcome we have our limits spelled out in verse 5. It may have been this verse that the Lord Jesus was referring to to some extent when he said, The wind bloweth where it listeth, so is every one that is born of the spirit. The word for spirit and the word for wind are the same. But here the spirit would seem to refer to the soul of man and the way of the spirit. We don't know how God puts the soul in man. We know, of course, that from conception that is a human being. There is a soul, but we do not know, we cannot see, we cannot investigate how God ensouls a human being. and we cannot understand it and even the physical development of the infant in the womb, despite man's claim to understand it, he doesn't understand it, not exhaustively. In other words, we do not know all the works of God, we do not understand all that God does and we do not know what God will do. And so that's why verse 6 goes on, In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. Because we don't know the works of God we are to do what is required unselectively because we do not know which activity God will bless and prosper but we do all that God requires we engage in all the activity that the Lord appoints for us We can't tell whether it will be this or that that will prosper. Don't try and guess because we don't know all the works of God. But do all that is required. Evangelistically, we are to be unselective. We are to spread the gospel. We do not know in which direction God will bless his word. We do not know who the elect of God are. God knows, but we don't know, and so we are to disseminate the truth. Thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good, because we don't know the works of God. We are limited But we don't need to know, we must do what is our present obligation, redeeming the time. That brings us to the second half of the chapter. Seeking the right kind of joy and seeking it early. Seeking the right kind of joy and seeking it early. Verse 7 to 10. First of all, life at best is short. Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. But if a man live many years and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity." Solomon acknowledges, to put it in everyday speech, people would say it's good to be alive and he's saying truly the light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun people are glad to be alive and to have a long life is very pleasant and so even if his life is many years and he rejoices in them all yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many." Even if his life is long, and though it is pleasant to see the light under the sun, yet what follows, even a long life, is much longer. What comes after life under the sun is infinitely longer than life under the sun, however long it is. And for the ungodly, of course, what lies beyond life under the sun is not only no longer under the sun, but it is in outer darkness forever and ever. Such a life, a long life, if granted, comes to an end. Death and judgment follow. And such a life on earth only produces vanity in what follows. The man who has a long life, the man who has good health for many years, he still dies and if he is not in Christ, then his state beyond this life, beyond life under the sun, is one of unutterable and endless misery. So that All that follows his life in this world is vanity. But then we are told that youth is short. Youth is short. Verse 9. Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes. But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity." He thinks of the young man, fit and healthy, assuming that he has his whole life before him. Well, he does have his whole life before him, but how long that whole life is, he doesn't know. But nonetheless, the young man, in at his peak is most given to this yes it's good to be alive feeling and he finds it comparatively easy to be cheerful and to enjoy himself as this world speaks of it. He walks in the ways of his own heart and in the sight of his eyes. He does whatever he pleases. He's fit, he's well, he's got energy and he has a good time as the world speaks of. But there is an end. Youth doesn't go on and on. Youth, even if not cut off in its midst, it it doesn't go on and on. Even if three score years and ten or four score are given, youth gives place to middle age and old age and then death and then the eternal world. But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. That verse, there's a remarkable account of, some of you will have heard this, of the conversion of a sinner through this verse. There was a soldier in Cromwell's army and Cromwell's soldiers were all given a little Bible which this young man, who was an ungodly young man, but he pushed his Bible, I think perhaps they all did, into a pocket on his breast and then in battle A bullet struck him and went into the Bible and went in just far enough that the tip of the bullet stopped when he opened it at this verse and he read this verse and it was the means by God's sovereign grace of his conversion. What a wonderful illustration of the providence of God in the gathering of his elect. But the teaching of this verse is that the young man who thinks he's got it all, because he's got his health and his strength and his wits, yes, he can have his supposed good time, but it ends. It either is cut off in midstream, as it were, or else it descends into old age. But death comes. Judgment comes. For all this, God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity." Remove sorrow. This young man doesn't think he's really got this sorrow that needs removing, but it's a coming sorrow. In his prime he thinks, what sorrow? But it will come. if death doesn't come suddenly it will come gradually he will get old and his pleasures that he wallows in as a young man will evaporate that's why the next chapter begins remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days come not nor the years drawn nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." The picture is of a young man who throws himself into the pleasures, sinful pleasures of this life, but then he's an old man. God spares him to become an old man. But the pleasures have all begun to disappear. And in the last verse of our chapter tonight, it's saying to avoid this sorrow of disappearing pleasures, and only old age if spared, then death and condemnation ahead of you. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. He's saying to the young man, those pleasures that you wallow in now, they will go. They will go as your youth goes, if not suddenly, then gradually, as old age comes. For childhood and youth are vanity. Childhood and youth are vanity. Even if spared our seventy or eighty years. We spend far more years looking wistfully back to youth than we ever did enjoying it. The application. Firstly, it is always the right time to obey the Word of God. It is always the right time to obey the Word of God. Our dependence upon divine grace does not diminish divinely placed obligation. It is always the right time for sinners to repent of sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. It is always an obligation and it is always the highest wisdom because God can say to any sinner, this night thy soul is required of thee. And it is always the right time to put away sin and follow Christ and pursue holiness. Always the right time. Don't indulge sins. Don't tell yourself you'll do something about some sinful habit sometime but not now. Seek grace to modify that sin now. It is always the right time to engage in legitimate biblical methods of evangelism. The night cometh when no man can work. We should always be seeking to set forth the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it is always the right time to obey everything in the word of God. But then secondly, Seek the joys that last. Seek the joys that last. This young man, with all his health and strength and opportunity, his joys will not last because they are ungodly. The only joys that will ultimately last are those of fellowship with Christ and in Christ. Fellowship with Christ lasts. All that pertains to fellowship with Christ will last, and nothing else will. All that the ungodly lives for, he will have taken from him. The thoughts of the wicked shall perish. His cherished pleasures, plans, and hopes all will end under the eternal wrath of God. The pleasures of sin are for a season. The damned will still be sinful and they will still love sin, but there will be no opportunity, no scope for the enjoyment of the pleasures of sin in hell. All that they love will be gone. All the opportunity for their enjoyment of sin, though their nature will not be changed, there will be no scope for the enjoyment of that which they love, sin against God. They will still be wicked, they will still hate God, but they will know that He is God and that they are damned under His hand and so there is nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth. but those who can speak of God as their chiefest joy, who can say, not only so, but we joy in God, by whom we have received the atonement. They have a joy that will only be perfected in the world to come. My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Our Lord Jesus Christ gives to his people blessings which will never be marred in the world to come, which but will be perfected. And these are the joys that we should seek, and we should seek them while on earth. The more we joy in God, the less death means leaving behind what we love. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fate is not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time.