Imagine if one night you're sleeping in your
bed, you're sound asleep, and you're nudged awake
by the God of heaven. And he leans over to you
and he says, what would you like to have? You
name it. He comes with a blank check from Almighty
God. Ask whatever you want, and I'll give it
to you. That's exactly what 2 Chronicles 1 -7
says. Well, Solomon was asked this question.
And you know what he asked for? He didn't ask
for riches. He didn't ask for wealth. He didn't
ask for honor. He didn't ask for the death of
his enemies. He asked for wisdom and knowledge
that he might lead God's people. And God said,
okay, wisdom and knowledge will be given you.
But he didn't stop there. He also gave Solomon
wealth and riches and honor. such as no king
had ever had before him. In fact, verse 14 says
that Solomon accumulated 1 ,400 chariots. That's
a lot of cars in the garage. And 12 ,000 horses.
That's a lot of horsepower. And verse 15 says,
King Solomon made silver and gold as common as
the stones on the ground. Solomon had everything
going for him as far as this world is concerned.
The chapters that follow in 2 Chronicles indicate
that Solomon's reign went from glory to glory,
culminating in the building and dedication of
the temple, that temple that his father David
had wanted to build. This was Israel's grandest
moment. And to top it off, Solomon was considered
to be the wisest man who ever lived. And his
wisdom was a gift from God. But listen very carefully.
Even divinely given wisdom cannot counteract
the folly of a man who will not deny himself.
In other words, without self -control, even the
wisdom of God is powerless to keep a man or woman
from making a fool of him or herself. For some
reason, Solomon wasn't satisfied with having
it all. All the blessings of God just weren't
enough. And so Solomon decided to go on a hunting
expedition. He stopped looking with eyes of faith.
He started grasping for the here and now. He
took his eyes off God and started grasping for
the temporary things that bring superficial happiness.
More, more, more became Solomon's motto. The
story of his hunting expedition is told in the
book of Ecclesiastes, so we're going to go and
pick it up there in chapter 2. Verse 1, he said,
I thought in my heart, come now, I will test
you with pleasure to find out what is good. But
that proved to be meaningless, or the King James
says, vanity. I tried cheering myself with wine
and embracing folly. I wanted to see what was
worthwhile for men to do under heaven during
the few days of their lives. I undertook great
projects. I built houses for myself. and I planted
vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted
all kinds of fruit trees in them. I also owned
more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem
before me. Solomon goes on to list a bunch of
things he accomplished. If you keep reading the
chapter, a bunch of things he accomplished and
accumulated. Solomon's hunting expedition took
him first into the world of wealth and material
things. Solomon accomplished and accumulated
a lot of things. But you know, meaning is not
in things. Jesus himself said a man's life does
not consist in the abundance of the things he
possesses. Having been a hospital chaplain for
about half of my years of ministry, I was with
many patients as they lay on their deathbed.
I've never seen one of them take it all with
them. I've never seen one of them pile up their
money, pile up their jewels, pile up their...
pile up their portfolio, their barabonds, their
whatever possessions there at their bed as they
breathe their last. What I saw that did bring
comfort to those breathing their last was relationships,
their relationship with God, their relationship
with their family. But notice instead how Solomon's
diary continues in Ecclesiastes 2, verse 8. I
amassed silver and gold for myself and the treasure
of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women
singers. You see, there was no stereo system
back then, and so King David could have this
group of singers. I guess they'd be slumbering
in between their performances whenever he got
feeling down a little bit. Come on over and send
me a song. I guess that's what was going on there.
He acquired men and women singers, but look what
the rest of the verse says. He also amassed a
harem as well. Are you kidding me, Solomon? You're
the king of God's people, and you've got a harem?
It reminds me of the cartoon where the kindergarten
child is asking the preacher, how many porcupines
did Solomon have? You get it. Porcupines, concubines.
In fact, let's see how many he had here. He had
700 wives and princesses and 300 what? Concubines.
And what did those wives and all this adultery
do for Solomon? And his wives turned his heart
away from the Lord. Wow. How did the wisest man
who ever lived go so wrong? By not practicing
self -control. By living for self. By taking
his eyes off God and focusing on himself. You
know, that's really what the great controversy
is all about. Self is why the whole sin problem
got started to begin with. But Solomon's hunting
expedition wasn't over yet. Solomon said in verse
9, I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem
before me. Talk about keeping up with the Joneses.
He said, I denied myself nothing my eyes desired.
I refused my heart no pleasure. Remember this
key statement here. Even divinely given wisdom
cannot counteract the folly of a man who will
not deny himself. Without self -control, even
the wisdom of God is powerless to keep a man
or woman from making a fool of him or herself.
Let's look at Solomon's own conclusion in verse
11. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had
done and what I had toiled to achieve, Everything
was meaningless or vanity, a chasing after the
wind. When I was a child growing up in New Orleans,
we would have these storms that would blow in
off the Gulf. I mean, almost without notice,
they would show up. Of course, I wasn't paying
attention to the weather when I was six years
old, but when I would see that wind start blowing,
I knew the rain was coming. along with the lightning,
but I would get permission from my mother to
go out and run and chase the wind. It was something
I did when I was a child. It was silly, but I
was a child. That's what children do, silly things.
That's what growing up is all about. But as soon
as that lightning came along, mother said, get
in here. And so I had to get out of the wind
because the rain and the lightning was hitting.
It is silly or chasing after the wind. to put
a higher value on the things we achieve or accumulate
than we do our relationship with God and with
others. Christian maturity should lead us to
seek the more important things in life, like
fulfilling God's will for our lives. We don't
get to bring our trophies, we don't get to bring
our antique collections or our video games or
our bank accounts with us, just the souls we've
helped to win to Jesus and our characters that
have begun to reflect Christ's character. That's
what we get to bring with us. Over 100 years
ago, this man named Andrew Carnegie, he was the
richest man in the world. He's being interviewed
by this young reporter. Now, just to give you
a taste of how rich Carnegie was, in today's
money, he would be worth $350 billion, with a
B. That's twice as much as Bill Gates and Warren
Buffett combined, their wealth. Well, this young
reporter kind of broke down in his interview
and said, Mr. Carnegie, I envy you your wealth.
You know what Carnegie said to him? He said,
young man, I am not to be envied. How can my
wealth help me? I am now in my 60s. My health
is beginning to slip away. I would give all my
wealth, I'm reading from his statement here,
if I could just to have my youth back again.
In fact, I would make you a deal, young man.
If we could change places, I would give you all
I have. to be able to live my life over again.
The point is, wealth does not satisfy. And that's
the conclusion that Solomon comes to when in
Ecclesiastes he says, whoever loves money never
has money enough. Whoever loves wealth is never
satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless
or vanity. As goods increase, so do those who
consume them. and what benefit are they to the
owner except to feast his eyes on them? A number
of years ago, I was pastoring a church not far
from here, and one of my church members invited
me to his home, and as we're sitting there in
the living room, I just looked over and noticed
this old comic strip laying there in a plastic
sleeve. I didn't think too much until my church
member said, how much do you think that's worth?
It was an old Superman comic strip. And it had
10 cents on it. I said, well, it says 10 cents.
He said, be careful, Pastor. He said, that comic
strip magazine is worth $100 ,000. You know what
my immediate thought was? I had the presence
of mind to not say it out loud, but I said, to
who? I wouldn't give 10 cents for it. It's an
outdated, old magazine. And someone would give
$100 ,000 for that? Are you kidding me? What
benefit are they, Solomon said, to the owner
except to feast his eyes on them and maybe to
impress others with their possessions? The sleep
of a laborer is sweet, Solomon said, whether
he eats little or much, but the abundance of
a rich man permits him no sleep. He's too afraid
somebody's going to break in and steal that.
comic magazine. He's too afraid the stock market's
going to crash. He's too afraid that the banks
are going to close. He's too afraid a burglar's
going to come breaking through the doors. And
this syndrome that Solomon became entangled in
is not exclusive just to the rich, by the way.
The wannabe rich can also get entangled and infected.
Why do you think millions used to gather around
their television sets? to watch Lifestyles of
the Rich and Famous by Robin Leach. If I asked
for a hand raise, I'd probably see a few hands
go up. That used to be a popular television program.
Tell me something. Who buys lottery tickets?
Trillions of dollars are spent by people who
can't afford it, and that's usually the ones
who buy it, wanting to get rich quick, thinking
that will solve all their problems when actually
it would bring a whole lot of problems with it.
And when the cash prize gets into the billions
of dollars, people line up to buy lots of lottery
tickets. That's an actual picture of a line of
people ready to buy this multi -billion dollar
lottery ticket. It could have saved them a lot
of time if they just passed the trash can. Put
your money here and just go on home, save your
time, because you're not going to win, and if
you did, it'll ruin your life. But Solomon didn't
find. meaning in wealth and material things.
And so he continued his hunting expedition next
into the area of sensual pleasure, you know,
the porcupines I was talking about earlier. Once
there was a very, very successful business executive
who had more money than he knew what to do with
and a little condo on the beach. And he... slept
with a different beautiful girl every night.
One day he asked for a minister to come and visit
him, and he asked that pastor, why am I so miserable?
I have it all, but something just seems to be
missing. You bet there was something missing.
That man and you and I are part of this TV generation
where pleasure is touted as the highest good.
From soap operas to prime time and from surfing.
To gaming, life has become one hectic, trivial
pursuit. A hundred years ago, Edna St. Vincent
Millay was blessed with the gift of poetry, having
a score of books to her credit, and so she was
a very wealthy person, but she lived an immoral
life, sleeping with a different man almost every
week. And I want you to notice how she felt about
her own life one rainy evening. Listen to her
own words. She said, what lips my lips have kissed
and where and why I have forgotten. What arms
have lain under my head till morning, but in
my heart there stirs a pain. For I am that tree
that stands alone in winter. I cannot say what
loves have come and gone. I only know that summer
came and sang in me a little while, but sings
in me no more. The apostle Paul agrees with her
when he said, the woman who lives for pleasure
is dead even while she lives. Of course, men
are included in that as well. Well, Solomon didn't
stop his hunting expedition in the area of wealth
and material things and in the area of sensual
pleasure. And so he continued searching for meaning
through knowledge and philosophy. Verse 12, then
I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom. and
also madness and folly. What more can the king's
successor do than what has already been done?
In other words, been there, done that. Solomon
wanted to know it all. He wanted to be it all.
He wanted to do it all. He wasn't content with
the knowledge of the scriptures that were available
to him in his day. And so he cast his net far
and wide. He was up on the great literature and
philosophy of the time that he was living in,
and somehow it began to infect. with its fatalistic
humanistic tendencies that we find reflected
in this book we call Ecclesiastes, almost like
a diary. Large portions of this book are quite
depressing. I mean, when you read Ecclesiastes,
you always have a tissue nearby. But I believe
God permitted all this to be recorded to show
us what can happen when our eyes are off of him.
So first it was materialism, then sex, then knowledge,
comparative philosophy, and none of that satisfied.
So then it was on to the thrills of the dark
powers, the occult. Solomon, the king of God's
people, built temples for other gods with a small
g. We talked about that in Sabbath school when
we went through the Ten Commandments together
in our class time. Gods with a small g that demanded
the sacrifice of human babies. Solomon became
involved in the occult. Remember all those wives
he had that came from other nations and they
brought their idolatry and occult with them and
that influenced Solomon. We still have societies
today that claim to have secret knowledge that
came to them from the temples of Solomon. Well,
eventually Solomon discovered that none of these
diversions could satisfy. Reading again. from
Solomon's own diary in verse 17. So I hated life
because the work that is done under the sun was
grievous to me. Can you feel the depression just
dripping from those words? All of it is meaningless,
he said, a chasing after the wind. You're repeating
yourself, Solomon. I hated all the things I had
toiled for under the sun because I must leave
them to the one who comes after me. You truly
can't take it with you. So my heart began to
despair over all my toilsome labor under the
sun. Depression, pessimism began to set in. Now,
if only Solomon had lived by the advice that
we heard read to us beautifully in our scripture
reading, we find it at the end of his diary in
the last chapter of Ecclesiastes. If only he
had lived by that throughout his life, we'd be
reading a different diary today. We come to the
conclusion of his diary found in the last chapter
of Ecclesiastes when he says, now all has been
heard. Here is the conclusion of the matter.
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this
is the whole duty of man. If Solomon only had
heeded this counsel. We should be reading a different
diary today. I can just hear younger Solomon
saying, don't fence me in with your rules and
restrictions. I want to live. Real happiness
is freedom, man. But tell me, have you ever played
a game where there was no rules or where you
made up the rules as you went along or you changed
the rules when you didn't like how it was favoring
you or not favoring you in the game? The game
loses its meaning, doesn't it? when you don't
have rules to play by. Can you imagine driving
in that kind of craziness where there's no signal
lights, no street signs? I was in India most
of February, and it's like that there. It's every
man for themselves. They stay on their horns,
and I'm just amazed that they don't have accidents
every five seconds. I was traumatized and glad
I didn't have to drive, but I'd close my eyes
and just pray a prayer. I said, Lord, if we make
it through, then I'll preach tonight at that
evangelistic meeting because it was scary just
like that. So rules are actually a good thing.
But Solomon's life had become vanity or meaningless
because he ignored the rules and the limitations.
And those who will not limit their behavior now
are surely limiting their behavior later. Think
about it. Take, for example, participating in
intimate acts before marriage. Not only has a
whole host of STDs come along to spoil the fun,
but there's study after study that shows that
when you have that intimate relationship before
marriage, that it affects your ability to have
a meaningful relationship with anyone in marriage
once you do get to the place of marriage. It
can affect you the rest of your life. Abstinence
is God's plan. We find it in Galatians, we find
it in Corinthians, we find it in the Ten Commandments,
we find it all through Scripture. Absence is
God's plan, not condoms, not pills, not killing
unborn babies through abortion. When kids want
to grow up too fast, they're borrowing happiness
from their future and maybe cutting out their
chance of eternal happiness. Our Heavenly Father
knows best. To live free from rules now is to
live in the strictest of bondage later. Take
another example. Drugs, alcohol, bending the
law, telling lies. It all leads to destruction
in the end. Life is all about choices and consequences.
Adam and Eve made a choice. They got kicked out
of the garden. Consequences. Now all consequences
don't have to be bad if we make good choices.
And it's true that we live in a world of sin
so that sometimes we make the good choices and
bad things still happen to us. Life is not fair
this side of heaven, but there's a life to come
where God will more than make up for it. But
generally speaking, we reap what we sow. The
choice is ours. Are you suffering from this Solomon
syndrome? The choice we make in the days of our
youth can either rob us of our peace and future
security or they can secure for us a future of
peace and eternal happiness. God knocks at the
door of our heart, but he lets us make that choice.
So what choices are you making? This Solomon
syndrome is quite pandemic in our world. Our
society is certainly infected by it, and we're
in contact with it everywhere we go. Even driving
home from church, you'll be infected, or you
have the potential of being infected by it just
looking at billboards. It used to be that only
a few people were subject to the Solomon syndrome.
But today, in this TV generation, the vast majority
are exposed to it with all the shows that parade
through television that are all about sex and
greed and idolatry and materialism and me, me,
me. By overexposure to excitement and pleasure,
a person can permanently raise his or her threshold
of pleasure. In other words, it takes more to
make that person happy. And so I've heard many
a young person say, I'm bored, and I'm thinking,
they've got ten times more things to do than
I did at their age. How could they be bored with
life with all they have to do? The threshold
has gotten pushed to a point where constant overload
of the sensory is required just to kind of reach
a level of satisfaction. Children are especially
vulnerable. when they're allowed to watch emotionally
packed traumatic scenes in one television program
that you might not see in real life in a lifetime,
and you can see it in 30 minutes or 60 minutes,
well, that person is becoming permanently desensitized.
You can send only so much electricity through
a small wire before it burns out. Well, Solomon,
with all his wealth, wanted to do it all. He
wanted to have it all. But Jesus said it would
be hard for a rich man to enter heaven. That's
because rich folks can sometimes be insulated
from the hard knocks of life. But hard knocks
are kind of a good thing for the most part. Solomon's
basic problem was this. He forgot the ultimate
secret to happiness, which is living for Jesus
first, others second, and ourselves last. Much
of Solomon's life was consumed in living for
self, me, me, me. And that is the way it is today.
Billboards and advertisements tell us you owe
it to yourself to do this. Reward yourself. Pamper
yourself. You've earned it. So enjoy it. And
remember, Solomon did achieve many great things,
good things even. But for what purpose did he
do it? For who are we achieving? For ourselves?
For the glory of being recognized by others?
Speaking of achievement, have you ever heard
of... Yukimio Ashima, this Japanese young man,
was a spectacular example of what ambition coupled
with fierce determination can accomplish. You
see, Yukimio was literally a 97 -pound weakling
as a youth, frail and sickly. But by disciplining
himself and through grueling weightlifting, Ashima
transformed his frail body into an atlas -like
physique. In fact, the Japanese encyclopedia
used him as their example to illustrate bodybuilding.
And so first it was bodybuilding that he became
a master at, and then he took up swordsmanship
and became a master swordsman, and then he distinguished
himself as a novelist, a playwright, a stage
director, a movie actor, a journalist. In two
and a half decades, he wrote 40 novels, 18 plays,
20 collections of short stories, countless articles
and essays. On top of all that, he was a political
figure and a renowned speaker and an international
celebrity who could talk to you in six different...
That's what a polygon is, someone who speaks
multiple languages. On top of all this, Ashima
had piloted a commercial jet and conducted a
symphony orchestra, traveled around the world
seven times, and on three separate occasions
been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. I'm
tired just reading his list, this partial list
of what he did. And yet by his own admission,
Ashima said that he was devoid of meaning. He
was a homosexual. who had a morbid preoccupation
with death, and at the age of 45, he took his
life. Jesus said, what will it profit a man if
he gains the whole world and yet loses his own
soul? Clarence Darrell was a person who would
have understood both Ashima and Solomon. He was
one of the greatest lawyers of his time, and
of any time. We're kind of getting too far removed
from his time when he was a lawyer, but he could
demand a six -figure salary or fee back in his
day for the work that he would do. And yet one
day he asked for a minister to come and visit
him. And he said, you know, Pastor, I've done
a lot of things. I'm the envy of a lot of people,
but I realize I'm old enough now, I'm wise enough
to realize that that isn't life. He told his
minister that he had found the epitaph for his
life in one of the gospels where Jesus told the
disciples to let down their nets for a catch.
The answer of one of his disciples described
his life, Darrell said. Master, we've toiled
all night and have taken nothing. You see, it's
not enough to achieve, to be a success if it's
done for self. There's a much greater cause than
the cause of self. Jesus said whoever saves his
life. We'll lose it. But whoever loses his life
for me will save it. And that's the profound
secret of joy. But maybe you question that. Or
maybe you're struggling with all the other folks
around you who just, you know, not just on Black
Friday, but whenever there's some great sale,
just run over everybody to get to it. Looking
out for number one. Me, me, me. That's what I've
got to take care of. Who else is going to take
care of me if I don't take care of me? Maybe
God. Or maybe you've seen others who weren't
going by the rules and they seem to be just going
along just fine and yet you're trying to live
by God's word and it just doesn't seem like things
go your way. There was a fellow by the name of
Asaph who struggled with all of this himself.
He actually wrote the 73rd Psalm. Only half the
Psalms were written by David. He collected the
rest and did a good job of it. In fact, this
one definitely was a good one to include because
in this Psalm, Asaph questions whether it was
worth it to be good. He envied the wealth and
success of others who were not living a moral
upright life. Listen to what he had to say. He
said, this is what the wicked are like. Always
carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in
vain have I kept my heart pure. In vain have
I washed my hands in innocence. All day long
I have been plagued. I have been punished every
morning. When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me. Till. You know something
good's coming now. And he says, till, till I
entered the sanctuary of God, then I understood
their end, their final destiny. Did you hear
what Asaph said? Did you catch it? See, until
he started looking with spiritual eyes, until
he started looking at the big picture, it was
frustrating to him. But once he looked at the
big picture, the eternal picture, he could now
make sense of it all. And so, If you want to
know something of the ultimate values of life,
you don't look at the beginning of a person's
life. You don't look at the middle of a person's
life. You look at the end of their life. You
seek to understand their end, their final destiny.
Ask a man who's at the brink of death. Ask the
man who has lived his life for himself and is
now at the end of his life what his thoughts
are. Go ahead. Go ahead. Ask him. Ask Voltaire,
one of the most noted infidel writers of all
time. who once called Christ a wretch. He said,
curse the wretch. He tried to wipe out Christianity
in Europe. But shortly after his death, his house
became a depot for the Geneva Bible Society.
They stored Bibles to give to people in his house.
But the nurse who tended to Voltaire said, for
all the wealth in Europe, I will never see another
infidel die. She heard this Christless person
cry out. I'm abandoned by God and man. I'll give
you half my possessions if you give me six months
of life, nurse. Oh, Jesus. Oh, Christ. Oh, Jesus.
Or ask William Pope, a leader of a company of
atheists who ridiculed everything that had to
do with Jesus and Christianity. One of their
exercises, this was in the late 1700s when Bibles
were very expensive, but at the beginning of
each of their group meetings, they would take
a Bible and kick it around the floor and tear
it up before they would go ahead and have their
meeting. Friends who were present at his death
in 1797 spoke of it as a scene of terror as he
died crying, I have no contrition. I cannot repent.
I know the day of grace has passed me. I am damned
forever. Oh, eternity. Nothing for eternity but
hell. While Pope didn't have his theology right
when it comes to how long hell will last, you
can feel the hopeless outlook that his prior
decisions had led him to. And don't forget to
ask Thomas Paine, a renowned American author
and atheist who exerted his influence against
Christianity. He came to his final moments in
1809 and said, I would give worlds if I had them
if my book Age of Reason had not been published.
Oh, Lord, help me. Christ, help me. Oh, God,
what have I done to suffer so much? But there
is no God. But if there should be, what will
become of me hereafter? Stay with me, nurse,
for God's sake. Send even a child to stay with
me, for it is hell to be alone. If ever the devil
had an agent, I am he. How would you like those
to be your last words? Or ask Queen Elizabeth
I of England, a haughty, self -centered woman
who died in 1603 with 2 ,000 expensive dresses.
Take a look at that dress. She had 2 ,000 like
that. And what did she say? All my possessions.
for a moment of time. Ask Stephen Gardner, a
Catholic bishop who worked to stamp out Protestantism
in England. Gardner's hands were stained with
the blood of many a martyr. His last words in
1555 were these, I have sinned like Peter, but
I have not repented like him. Ask these Christless
souls what their life had accomplished and now,
and how their future looked, but now turn back
from them. And I want you to... to now listen
to some of the words of individuals who love
their Savior. Listen to their final words. Listen
to James Robertson, a Scottish merchant, who
refused to take a false oath. And for that, he
was sentenced to be hanged. Just before he was
hanged, he had this testimony. He said, I rejoice
in my lot, for it has fallen to me in pleasant
places. and I have a godly inheritance, and I
will not exchange it with the greatest of earthly
monarchs. Let heaven and earth praise him. Let
all creation praise him throughout eternity.
Goodbye, fair friends of mine. Or ask Charles
Wesley, who by his pen sought to bring ever greater
glory to God. Nineteen of the hymns in our hymnal
were written by Charles Wesley hundreds of years
later, but shortly before his death he said,
Come, precious Jesus. What manner of love is
this to a poor worm such as I? I cannot express
the praise due thee, but Lord, help me to give
thee my all. I will die praising thee and rejoice
that others can praise thee better. I will be
satisfied with thy likeness. Satisfied. Satisfied.
Oh, my dearest Jesus. Then there is the artist
John Bacon, who died in 1799. Before he died,
he had his tombstone made, which was a custom
back then. Before he died, he had it made, and
he wrote on it these words. While I lived, what
I did as an artist seemed very important to me.
But now what I really am as a believer in Jesus
Christ is the only thing of importance. Ask Ellen
G. White, who was used by God to help raise up
this last day movement. Ask her for her final
words as she breathed her last in 1915. She said,
I know in whom I have believed. God is love.
He gives his beloved sleep. And did you know
that Solomon's father's last words are recorded
in the Bible? King David's words are found in
2 Samuel 23. Is not my house right with God?
Has he not made an everlasting covenant, arranged
and secured in every part? Will he not bring
to fruition my salvation and grant me my every
desire? Can you hear the assurance of salvation
he had? This was a murderer and an adulterer.
who had confessed his sins, received forgiveness,
and he had that assurance. And listen to the
Apostle Paul. His words come as he's on death
row, about to have his head chopped off. And
he said, For I am now ready to be offered, and
the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought
a good fight, I have finished my course, I have
kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day,
and not to me only. but to all those who love
his appearing. You know, if you want real success,
success of enduring value, success of eternal
worth, success that has no regret, then don't
go chasing after the wind like Solomon, making
the same mistakes he made. Choose a worthy goal,
work on it with all your might, but remember
that the man or woman who lives for the glorification
of self will lose everything in the end. Instead,
if you will lose all for Christ, live for God
first, others second, yourself last, if you'll
choose for your work something for the upliftment
of humanity, if you'll choose to serve, then
in the end, as you look back over your life,
you'll see that it was a full one. The life worth
living is a life lived for others. One of the
craziest stories I ever read was the one where
a farmer decided to sell everything he had, except
he was going to keep his house and maybe a couple
acres around it there, but sold hundreds of acres.
Think of South America or Africa. I'm trying
to remember what country. But he sold everything
because he wanted to go hunting for diamonds.
He wanted to discover diamonds. He spent every
penny. He came back to his home penniless, and
he sat on his porch while he watched a mining
company on the land he had sold uncover. the
richest vein of diamonds that had ever been discovered.
Solomon had tasted all the sweets the world had
to offer and it became bitter in his mouth. He
made choices that turned into dead ends. But
after he had squandered much of his life in self
-centeredness and riotous living, he came to
his senses. He turned back to the God of his
fathers and our loving God accepted him. And
so we must read his conclusion one more time.
In Ecclesiastes 12. Now all has been heard. Here
is the conclusion of the matter. Fear God and
keep his commandments, for this is the whole
duty of man. Now some of you are or will be wise,
strong, or rich. But please heed the words of
the Lord found in Jeremiah 9. Let not the wise
man boast of his wisdom, or the strong man boast
of his strength. Hear that wise man one more
time from that last chapter of Ecclesiastes.
He's not just speaking to the young people, but
also us young at heart when he says, remember
your creator in the days of your youth before
the days of trouble come and the years approach
when you'll say, I find no pleasure in them.
Then I hear a wiser man speaking, another son
of David, whose ancient paths have crossed our
paths today. Can you hear him saying, have you
the faintest idea what I have to offer? You're
playing in your puddles when you might have the
ocean. You flit about with your candle when you
might have the sun. You talk about planning for
years when you could have eons. Jesus said, A
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
But I have come that they may have life and have
it in all its fullness. Jesus says, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. Follow me. Lose
yourself in me, and I'll give you more skies
than you can see, more seas than you can sail,
more sun than you can bear the watch, more stars
than you can scale, more breath than you can
breathe, more yield than you can sow, more...
grace than you can understand, more love than
you can know. In closing, I'd like you to sing
with me a little chorus, a cappella. It's like
a prayer, and it's entitled, Yes, Lord. And if
this prayer says what's in your heart right now,
that you want to give all to him anew, and you
want him to fill your heart and live in your
life, then I'd like you to stand with me as we
just sing this little chorus a cappella. Yes,
Lord, I give my heart to you. If that's your
decision, stand with me today. Yes, Lord, I give
my heart to you. Yes, Lord, my will I yield anew.
Love me, guide me, fill me. my soul. Yes, Lord,
take full control. Lord, that's our prayer. Thank
you for your mercy. Thank you for your long suffering.
Thank you that you were long suffering with Solomon
and you're patient and merciful with us. We need
you, Lord. Take full control. We pray in Jesus'
name. Amen.