The sermon 'When Life Is Not Fair' by Mike Davenport, based on Ecclesiastes 3, explores the pervasive nature of injustice in the world and the theological implications of such unfairness. It emphasizes the recognition of injustice, retribution for injustice, reasons for injustice, and the appropriate response to it. The sermon draws parallels between biblical and modern examples of injustice, such as the cases of Andrew Brunson, the Kleins, and Alfie Evans, to illustrate the ongoing prevalence of unfairness. Davenport highlights Solomon's observations that wickedness often occupies places meant for judgment and righteousness, reflecting the broader theme that life under the sun is filled with vanity and meaninglessness without God. He argues that while God's judgment may be delayed, it is certain and will ultimately bring justice. The sermon calls believers to patience and faith in God's perfect timing and urges non-believers to recognize the bankruptcy of a worldview without God, encouraging them to find salvation and comfort in Jesus Christ.

So we'll be reading from Ecclesiastes 3.16. Moreover, I saw under the sun, in the place of judgment, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness iniquity was there. I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. I said in my heart, concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them that they may see that they themselves are like animals. For what happens to the sons of men also happens to the animals.

One thing befalls them, as one dies, so dies the other. Surely they all have one breath. Man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all return to dust.

Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth. So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is the heritage, that is his heritage, for who can bring him to see what will happen after him? Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun, and look, the tears of the oppressed, but they have no comforter. On the side of their oppressors there is power, but they have no comforter. Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead, more than the living who are still alive.

Yet better than both is he who has never existed, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. O God of all grace, God of wisdom, love, and might, Lord, I thank you that for those of us who have been the recipients of your grace, who have trusted in your Son Jesus Christ and put all our confidence in him for salvation, Lord, that you have not abandoned us to life under the sun, Lord, but that you have set us in the glorious light and beauty of your Son Jesus Christ, who is the brightness of your glory in the express image of your person, who is the only name under heaven by which men must be saved. Oh God, I thank you for this grace toward us Lord and I pray that for all here who are under the sun who are living under the sun and still trying to find meaning and purpose and joy and satisfaction under the sun Lord that they would look to Solomon and see that even though he had everything that he could possibly want, he found no meaning under the sun, and that then they would look to Jesus Christ your son and find all in him.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, if you are a parent, you have heard it before. If our children have said it once, they've said it hundreds of times. That's not fair. The fact of the matter is that though we may outgrow the tendency to actually say the words, even we adults often have the same response in our hearts.

Whether it is in response to what we have seen in the news or maybe what we've experienced ourselves, There is no denying that this fallen world is a world full of injustice. Any news outlet will prove that fact in a matter of seconds. Consider a few recent stories that will prove the point. Consider the injustice toward Andrew Brunson, detained by the Turkish government since October 7th, 2016. Mr.

Brunson is an American citizen and a leader of a small Protestant Christian church in Izmir, Turkey, some 22 or so members. And he is currently facing up to 35 years imprisonment on false terrorism and espionage related charges. Vice Chair Sandra Jolley of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was there in Turkey recently for the court proceedings that continue. This is what she said at the end of that day in court.

We leave the courthouse with serious concerns. Today's 11 hours of proceedings were dominated by wild conspiracies, tortured logic, and secret witnesses, but no real evidence to speak of. Upon these rests a man's life. Worse still, the judge's decision at the conclusion of today's hearing to dismiss all of the witnesses called by Pastor Brunson's defense without listening to a single minute of their testimony is simply unconscionable. Mr.

Brunson, as of today, still remains under house arrest. Consider Aaron and Melissa Klein, former owners of a family bakery, Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Gresham, Oregon, forced to shut the doors of their business, recipients of multiple death threats. Because they declined out of personal convictions to provide a cake for a homosexual wedding ceremony, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries fined them $135, 000 for mental, physical, and emotional damages. In addition to fining the Kline's $135, 000, a gag order was also issued to prevent them from speaking about the case publicly. They started a GoFundMe campaign in order to try to raise the necessary funds to pay the fine.

But GoFundMe shut their campaign down, claiming that it violated their company policy. The Klein's attorney stated that not only did they face that stiff penalty, that $135, 000 penalty by the state of Oregon, The state didn't wait for the Kline's to pay it. The state just went in and took the money out of their account. In December of 2017, nearly Five years after the incident that ignited the case, the Oregon State Court of Appeals sided with the state and upheld the penalty against the Klein's. Consider Alfie James Evans, a young boy under two years of age from Liverpool, England.

Alfie was hospitalized due to neurodegenerative disorder and was hooked up to a life support system. In spite of the fact that a team of Italian doctors wanted to have him transfer to Rome thinking that they could better take care of this young boy, Britain's High Court of justice would not allow the transfer. Ignoring appeals from Alfie's family, the Alder Hay Children's Hospital removed the ventilation support on the 23rd of April 2018. World Magazine reported in their May 26, 2018 issue, 30 British officers guarded Alfie to keep his supporters from rescuing him. How odd for a hospital to treat a toddler like a roach.

He can check in but he can't check out. These instances are but a few among thousands of instances, instances of unjust treatment in every age and all around the world. And the fact of the matter is, is these don't even touch you, don't touch your life where you are. No doubt there are some here in this room who have been the recipients of unjust treatment. It's a reality.

Life often is not fair. We want it to be. We want it to all make sense. And when it doesn't, we want God to do something about it. Well, today we come in our study of Ecclesiastes to chapter 3, starting in verse 16.

And this morning I hope to cover the following four points. Number one, the recognition of injustice. The recognition of injustice. Second, the retribution for injustice, the retribution for injustice. Third, the reason for injustice.

And then fourth, the response to injustice. So first, the recognition of injustice. Look at chapter 3 verse 16. Moreover, I saw under the sun, in the place of judgment, wickedness was there, and the place of righteousness, iniquity was there. Having given us a glimpse of the unfolding of our lives according to the purpose and the plan of God, Solomon ended the last section by calling us to fear God, who alone does what he wills and who requires an account of all that has passed.

Here in our passage this morning, Solomon once again has his eyes fastened in a gaze upon that which is under the sun. And he looks about and he discovers something that is troubling his mind, that's troubling his soul. In the very place where justice and righteousness should be abounding. Wickedness permeates everything. The place of judgment and the place of righteousness, could it be that he was looking at the state and at the church and the authority that God has granted them?

Those are places where justice and righteousness should be found. But such justice and such righteousness were nowhere to be found. This was the condition of Judah in the days of Isaiah. Do you recall the charges brought against the people by the Lord of heaven and earth in Isaiah 1, 16 to 17? God says, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do good, Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Our nation, the United States of America, though not as bad as many other nations in which wickedness flourishes and iniquity abounds, yet even in those places where justice and righteousness should be paramount, We see wickedness. We see wickedness. We cry out with David, help Lord for the godly man ceases. The faithful disappear from among the sons of men. But not only is there a recognition of injustice, Solomon acknowledges secondly the retribution for injustice, the retribution for injustice.

Verse 17, I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. This verse and the one that follows are both introduced by the phrase, I said in my heart. They form, as it were, two bullet points. Solomon here is making two observations regarding the reality of the wickedness he observes. The first here in verse 17 is a theological statement.

The second in verse 18 is a anthropological statement, a statement about man. We learn something about God and then we learn something about man. In spite of the fact that everything that happens here on earth is according to God's purpose and plan, yet He will judge both the righteous and the wicked, their works, their words, and even their thoughts. Solomon realizes that the judgment will set everything right, but yet it is a future judgment. God shall judge.

You see, such judgment is often delayed. Even here, Solomon finds this wickedness in the place where justice and righteousness should be. He finds wickedness unchallenged. He finds it untouched, uninterrupted. God, for the moment seems uninterested, disengaged, unmoved.

Often God's people find themselves crying out like the psalmist in Psalm 94, Oh Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs. Oh God, to whom vengeance belongs. Shine forth. Rise up, oh judge of the earth, render punishment for the proud. Lord, how long will the wicked triumph?

Such is often the case with believers. We experience difficulty in coming to grips with what God is allowing by His sovereign hand. We're left holding those Lego pieces that we've talked about. We're left holding them without knowing what God is intending to build in and through our lives because He, and He alone, is the one holding the direction manual and not us. And sometimes what has been built thus far seems to be nothing like what we think the end product is supposed to be like.

Brothers and sisters, we must grasp with confidence a very important point. God will make every right or make right every wrong in his perfect timing. He will make right every wrong in his perfect timing, even if it is after this life. Too often we judge the Lord by our feeble sense, and when we do, we wind up all messed up like Asaph. Psalm 73, Asaph says, but as for me, as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, My steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore, pride serves as their necklace violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance. They have more than heart could wish.

They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore his people return here and waters of a full cup are drained by them and they say, how does God know? And is their knowledge in the most high?

Behold, these are the ungodly who are always at ease. They increase in riches." And it wasn't the first-hand witness of God's judgment falling upon the wicked that relieved Asaph of his anguish. It wasn't any change in their current state that brought relief. It was a consideration of what awaited them, the judgment of God that would fall in due time. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God.

Then I understood their end. Surely you, O God, set them in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors." So having helped us to recognize injustice and to understand that God will bring retribution upon all injustice. Solomon now, thirdly, wants us to grapple with the reason for injustice.

The reason for injustice. You see, this injustice allowed by the sovereign hand of God, a hand that always moves with purpose and with plan, this injustice accomplishes God's intended purpose. Verse 18, I said in my heart, concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them that they may see that they themselves are like animals." Here we have the second point, the second I said in my heart. And Solomon is going to bring an anthropological point to bear. You see, the question, this question forces its way to the forefront of our minds.

What is that question? Why does God allow the wicked to prosper? Why does he allow wickedness to prosper in the places where judgment and righteousness are to be? Solomon comes to the conclusion that God allows the temporary prosperity of the wicked and the unjust in order to test the sons of men or the sons of Adam. It is all a test to reveal to them the state of their own hearts apart from God.

Philip Ryken, in his commentary on Ecclesiastes, writes, Our present existence is a proving ground. It is a test, not simply in the sense of something we pass or fail, but also in the sense of something that demonstrates our true character. One of life's purposes is to examine and ultimately to reveal our true relationship to God. Will we learn to see ourselves for who we really are. The human heart, devoid of God and of any thought of Him, is a beastly heart.

Apart from that fear of God that Solomon just talked about in verse 14, man becomes just like an animal. Consider with me man's divine appointment by creation found in Psalm 8, 5 through 8. There David declares, Oh, Lord, you have made man a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, the birds, the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.

You see where God placed Adam. He was the crown jewel of all creation, the last thing created, and he was created in the image of his triune God, given dominion over the earth, yea, of the beasts of the field. But these sons of Adam seek to throw off that authority. They seek to throw off that call to dominion, to break God's bonds in pieces and cast away his cords. And man replaces justice with wickedness and righteousness with iniquity.

He says in his heart, there is no God. And if he does exist, He does not see and take notice of the deeds done. In denying the Creator in whose image He was created and in refusing to acknowledge Him As the judge of all the earth, man strips himself of that God-given dignity of being created in the image of God and placed in dominion over all creatures and rather takes creatures, and rather takes up willingly upon himself a lower place, that of the beast, the very beast that God put under man's dominion at creation. This attitude toward God was just such an attitude found in the heart of King Nebuchadnezzar. He refused to acknowledge God in spite of all the signs that God granted him.

And what did God do? God gave Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Babylon, a beastly appearance to match his beastly heart. And this pattern of thought, I am afraid, is not isolated to God-haters. This was the very thought pattern that we saw in Psalm writing Asaph. Having been reminded that God would one day judge the wicked, he went to the sanctuary, he remembered the end of all of those who hate God.

Once he was reminded that God would one day judge the wicked man who was prospering in this present life, Asaph goes on in that 73rd Psalm to say, "'Thus my heart was grieved and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant. I was like a beast before you." So we, even ourselves, We as Christians, like godly Asaph, can lose sight that God is the judge of the earth. He will do right. And when we do that, we ourselves are like a beast before God.

How have the sons of Adam done with this test from God Almighty? They have excelled in proving themselves like beasts. They've excelled. He who sits in the heavens laughs. God holds them in derision.

Refusing to repent, autonomous man has gone on to embrace this beastly image. He embraces it, going as far as creating a fabricated, so-called scientific origin of species that declares that man evolved from the very beast and we therefore have no more dignity than the animal or the tree. Commentator Charles Bridges makes the following observation, so degraded is man that he cannot understand his own degradation. Yet when we see men of vast capacity of the mightiest grasp of mind in earthly things, living as if they had no souls, seeking happiness in sensual pleasures, never looking beyond the grave, never calculating soberly the infinite stake of eternity, rather determined to perish in rebel stubbornness than willing to return to God, does not man here sink his immortal nature to the very lowest brutishness? And so man rejects even natural revelation.

His foolish heart becomes darkened, and he worships the creation rather than the creator. And having rejected the natural revelation, foolish man is just left with his own reasoning. That's all he's got left, his own reasoning, having been given over to his own foolishness. And so, without God in the picture, the sons of Adam are left to reason like this. Verses 19 to 20.

For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals. One thing befalls them. As one dies, so dies the other. Surely they all have one breath. Man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.

All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all return to dust." Without God in the picture, Man is left to the things that he finds in the world, the things that are under the sun. And he is left with them to determine the meaning and purpose for everything. And because faith no longer has an object to look to, hope does not have an object to rest in. Because faith does not have an object to look to, hope has no object to rest in.

Man is left to his observation, not just to determine science, but to determine life. That being so, simple observation of the end of all creatures would conclude that man has no advantage over animals, just as the wise man was found to have no advantage over the fool when it came time to die. Our brother read in our hearing from Psalm 49. I want to read a portion of that again. It is a very important text.

The sons of Korah listen to the very similar message that they conveyed. For he sees wise men die. Likewise, the fool and the senseless person perish and leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever, their dwelling places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names.

Nevertheless, man, though in honor, does not remain. He is like the beasts that perish. This is the way of those who are foolish and of their posterity, who approve their sayings. Do not be afraid when one becomes rich, when the glory of his house is increased. For when he dies, he shall carry nothing away.

His glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lives, he blesses himself, for men will praise you when you do well for yourself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see light. A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish." The thoughts being set before us here, that man is but a beast and there is no good, no God to whom he must give an account, these thoughts as far as they are concerned, lend justification to any injustice and unrighteousness that they wish to engage in.

What is wrong with treating others unjustly if we are all just a bunch of animals in the first place. And we simply go back into the dust of the ground and that is the end of it. The second greatest command flows out of the first and greatest command. We should love our neighbor. We should do justly and righteously because we are to love our God.

But if I reason that there is no God that I am to love, then there is no logical reason to love my neighbor. It is therefore no wonder that Eric Harris, one of the teenage killers in the Columbine High School massacre, was at the very time wearing a shirt with the words, natural selection printed on them. The other killer, Dylan Klebold, had the word wrath printed on the front of his shirt. Those shirts reflected a belief that man is simply an animal. Survival of the fittest.

The weak must die, and there will be no reckoning for the deeds done. To them, the life of fellow students, as well as their own lives which they took in the end. These lives meant nothing. These deaths were treated as no more significant than the deaths of animals. Verse 21, who knows the spirit of the sons of men which goes upward and the spirit of the animals which goes down to the earth?

Remember here that the sons of Adam are left with only the aid of their observation. In spite of what one may believe and even have been taught concerning the soul of man living on in spite of these things. Simple observation, limited as it is, is left to declare who can truly know the whereabouts of the spirits of men, which are said to return to God and the whereabouts of the spirits of animals, which are believed to simply be buried in the earth. Can anyone truly prove this to be the case by means of reasoning and careful observation? Now children, you must understand here that the Bible is not here teaching that we can't know what happens to a person's soul at death.

What the Bible is doing is revealing to us the ignorance of our own hearts as well as demonstrating the fact that as humans we don't often see what is going on behind the scenes. Remember what we saw last week? God has said eternity in our hearts. We want to understand this. We want to understand all that happens.

How is the body and the soul separated? How does it happen? Where does it go? What's in limbo? We want to understand it.

But God has made it such that we just can't fully understand it. We're just given the Lego pieces. Put this here, add that to that, And just go along as he who holds the instruction manual tells us and gives to us each of the pieces. You see, we know what Solomon truly believes. He proclaims it in chapter 12 verse 7, when man dies, the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

He understands. Let me try to help you children understand it a little bit better. Charles Bridges uses a very helpful illustration that helps us to understand and try to capture the reality of what happens. Imagine that I have a lantern here, an old lantern, not one of these lights with light bulbs, but an old lantern. In that lantern is a candle.

Imagine with me that the candle has been lit. We've lit a match. We've lit that candle and it's burning. And it's burning. Charles Bridges says, the soul of a beast is at death like a candle blown out.

And that's the end of it. Whereas the soul of man is like a candle taken out of a dark lantern, which leaves the lantern useless indeed, but doth itself shine brighter. That's the reality of the soul of man. The body goes into the ground, but what happens? God, as it were, takes that candle from that dark lantern that's placed in the earth, and then that candle is ushered into his presence and must face the judge of all the earth.

But the natural man, unable to see these things with his own eyes, becomes hardened in his darkened reasoning, and God gives him over to the foolishness of his own error in judgment. Verse 22, So I perceive that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage, that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him? Well, just as wisdom excels foolishness, as light excels darkness here in the land of the living, so man does excel the animal in that he can delight in his own works. And if he simply dies like the beast in the end, then his works, which excel that of the animals, are the only thing that he can boast of, and that for a very short time.

And so the cup is raised in toast and the voice of the world rises above the chaos. Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die." How interesting that that very phrase first given by Isaiah is used by Paul in the very context of his dissertation about the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and of His people, that is to follow. He says in 1 Corinthians 15, If in the manner of men I have fought with beasts in Ephesus. What advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." I believe That is the exact same context that Solomon is couching this phrase in.

If this isn't true, God's not going to judge the righteous and the wicked. Just enjoy it all. This is all you got. Enjoy it. Eat, drink, for tomorrow we die just like the beast." Stuart Aldiott in his commentary on Ecclesiastes sums up verses 16 to 22 like this, "'Into Solomon's unenlightened mind came a contradictory thought.

Perhaps God is permitting all this injustice to demonstrate to men and women that despite their intelligence they are really no different from the animals. After all, in the end, they are no different. They die and return to the dust, just like animals do. They all go to the same place. And who knows whether what happens to men after death is any different from what happens to the other creatures.

Nobody has any proof one way or the other, so who knows for sure? There is nothing in man to show that he is any different. In light of this, a person ought to concentrate on making the best of this life that he can. You cannot be certain that there is anything to follow. Who is going to enable you to enjoy anything after you have gone?

Now, fourthly and finally, the response to injustice. The response to injustice. Chapter 4, verse 1, Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun. And look, the tears of the oppressed, but they have no comforter. On the side of their oppressors, there is power, but they have no comforter." Having dealt with the reason that God allows injustice and just what the revelation of man's heart looks like, Solomon says that he returned to the initial subject that he brought up in chapter 3 verse 16.

The reality of wickedness done in the very arenas where justice and righteousness should prevail. Such wickedness that comes from positions of power is simply put, oppression. It's oppression. It's taking advantage. And Solomon here stops to take in all the oppression done under the sun.

Not that he is talking about every instance of oppression, but he is considering all the ways that the oppression manifests itself in the world that he finds himself in. He considers two consistent realities. First, the tearful oppressed have no comforter. The tearful oppressed have no comforter. And second, the oppressors have no lack of power.

The oppressors have no lack of power. James noted those two realities in his letter to his persecuted brothers and sisters. Note in James 5, 4 through 6, how there seems to be no comforters for the oppressed and no lack of power for the oppressors. Indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out. And he seems to say that it's not being heard by those around, but the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabeoth.

You have lived on the earth, you oppressors, in pleasure and luxury. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned. You have murdered the just. He does not resist you." So Solomon saw all of this oppression.

But how did he respond? Verses two and three, "'Therefore I said, ' or, "'Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead, more than the living who were all still alive. Yet better than both is he who has never existed, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the Son. Again, we must note that he refers again to that which is done under the Son. Look back at Verse 1, I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun.

God is not in the picture. Those who are being oppressed are not directed to look to God, the judge of all the earth who will do right. No hope is held out to these oppressed ones. The picture is of those who have no help in God, who are left to themselves, often in place where there is no comfort in sight. All that lies before them is the grave, all this oppression, and then the grave.

And that's it. And with no hope, they simply see themselves under oppression until they enter the grave just like the beast. Applying the worldview of the non-Christian to the circumstance, Solomon is left with nothing better than to praise the dead more than the living. For in their death, they have at least escaped the hand of their oppressors." So dark is the plight of that man who has no comforter. Solomon declares that the one who never existed is better off than both the one still alive and the one who has already lived his life, for he is free from witnessing or being affected by the evil that occurs in this wicked world." Is there any doubt why suicide rates are increasing in our day.

Our text today points to the reason without God in the picture, we are unable to come up with any legitimate response to the cry, life is not fair. Consider the following from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2016, Suicide claimed the lives of nearly 45, 000 people in the United States. Suicide was the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 34, and the fourth leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 35 and 54. There were more than twice as many suicides in the United States that year as there were homicides.

Solomon doesn't pull any punches in this book. He forces us to live according to our worldview. Every person you meet on the street, every person you come into contact with, they all live with a borrowed worldview. It's a borrowed worldview. It's the Christians' worldview.

They can't face up to the realities their worldview comes with. It's too depressing. It's overwhelming. It's crushing. Many of those who take their own lives, they do so because they've come to the end of the lies.

They see life for What it is, a lie. And those who continue on with their lives do so blindly, refusing to consider where their worldview really takes them. Can I ask you a question? Have you bought into the devil's lies? Have you bought into his lies?

Do you possess a worldview that has ripped God from the picture, cast into the side? Solomon here pulls back the curtain on your worldview. He reveals to you what it really has to offer. Remember that phrase that caught our attention earlier in our study? Pleasure's advertising agency is much more effective than its manufacturing department.

Well here's your end product. This is your end product. You want to chase wisdom, you want to chase pleasure like Solomon did, this is what you get right here. Here's what Pleasures manufacturing department was able to deliver for you. Does it look like what was advertised?

Does it? Well, this is what you bought. This is what you paid money for. This is what you gave your life for. Having wrapped up three chapters of this book, we would benefit from the wisdom of the following reminder that Philip Riken brings out at this very point in his commentary.

Mr. Riken says, by this point it is clear that Ecclesiastes does not have all the answers. This frustrates scholars who see no progression of thought from one section to another, and who claim that Solomon offers no universal or satisfactory answer to any of the problems he poses. But at least this book asks the right questions. As well as anyone else in history, Solomon accurately identified the problems of human existence.

If we continue to ask his questions and look for answers that God has for us in the gospel, the Holy Spirit will lead us to the truth of everlasting life. Certainly, we are not to come away with only what our eyes can convince us of. If left to our weak and feeble senses of reality, we will fear no better than Solomon's description of those who have no hope. We must go beyond, beyond what we can see, beyond what we can sense. We must be convinced of heavenly realities.

Commentator and pastor David Gibson asks and then answers the question, will there ever be a time for justice? He writes, will there ever be a time for justice? The answer is yes. Yes. God will retrieve every single injustice in every single time, in every single activity, every single deed that has ever broken His holy law and tarnished His beautiful world and damaged His image-bearers.

Every one of those moments will be answerable to God. Every tear and every sighing sorrow for my wrongs, whether through things I have done or had done to me, each one will be sought out by the God who is perfect justice, truth, mercy, and love. Knowing that God is outside of time and sees it all and will in the end bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked stops me Needing to be in control of everything that happens to me The message of Ecclesiastes is not that life is full of good times and bad times, and so you just have to roll with the punches. Rather, the message is that life is full of good times and bad times that we cannot control. But the patterning of our lives in this way is part of a bigger pattern that God controls.

It's not just that good follows bad, follows good again, and that's the end of it. The point is that I can live within this rhythmic pattern and accept not having all the answers to my times of pain yet. Yet. This is the key. Yet.

Every time of mine will have its day in court. So, while I wait, how then should I live? And that's the question Mr. Gibson wants us to grapple with. How should we live while we wait?

Well, we saw the gospel answer to this question in our study back in James 5 verses 7 through 11. Therefore, be patient. Be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain? You also be patient.

Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed who endure." You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

So when life is not fair, when justice is nowhere to be found, consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth, who when he was reviled did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. Wait patiently for your compassionate and merciful Savior, the God of all comfort, who is coming again for His people. Establish your hearts.

Establish your hearts. Rest your entire being on Him who will make everything right at His coming. And you who are here today without Christ, Own up. Own up to the bankruptcy of your worldview and your lost estate. See it and declare it for what it really is, and come and bow the knee before the Judge of all the earth, Jesus Christ, and confess Him to be Lord of all.

Receive from Him mercy and grace and comfort, freedom from the shackles of your sin, right standing, and restored fellowship with the God you have offended. A living hope through his resurrection from the dead and an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. Those who come to Jesus shall never hunger, and those who believe in him shall never thirst. Come. Come.

Father, we thank you for your precious word. We thank you for its reality. It hits us where we are. Oh, how we need your word. Your word indeed is the truth that sets us free.

Lord there are those today here with us who are in bondage, in bondage to sin, in bondage to the devil, and they're... They have a worldview that leaves them bankrupt. Oh, draw near to them, we pray. Show them Christ in all his glory. Give them grace to come to him.

Lord give us all grace to look forward with anticipation and hope the coming again of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.