WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.980 Well, good morning. Before I get in, before I 00:00:06.980 --> 00:00:10.220 get in, let me share something. Over the years, 00:00:10.220 --> 00:00:14.099 I have had more pastoral conversations than I 00:00:14.099 --> 00:00:18.140 can count. I have watched people methodically 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:20.960 work through what we might call the American 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:25.699 Christian checklist. The good life, right? Get 00:00:25.699 --> 00:00:31.780 the degree. Check. Land the job. Check. Find 00:00:31.780 --> 00:00:38.600 the spouse. Check. Buy the house. Check. Raise 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:41.439 the kids. Check. Build a retirement account. 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:46.679 Check. Go to church. Check. And I've sat across 00:00:46.679 --> 00:00:49.380 from person after person who has really worked 00:00:49.380 --> 00:00:51.960 diligently to fill those check boxes more and 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:55.840 more, but there's always something at the bottom 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:59.320 of that page that they can't check. They can't 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:02.299 even name it. They just know that something is 00:01:02.299 --> 00:01:05.920 missing. Maybe you've learned this. You can have 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:08.659 a good job, money in your bank account, friends 00:01:08.659 --> 00:01:11.980 who love you, a healthy family, and yet your 00:01:11.980 --> 00:01:14.280 soul can feel like it's grasping at something 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:20.219 that it just can't hold. You can't identify it. 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:22.760 You just know that you're restless. Now, if that's 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:26.159 familiar at all to any of you, I want you to 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:28.790 know that you're in good company. Solomon felt 00:01:28.790 --> 00:01:34.569 it too. And for 21 sermons across nearly three 00:01:34.569 --> 00:01:40.290 years, we've been sitting with him in that restlessness. 00:01:40.650 --> 00:01:43.870 And today is the day. This is it. This is the 00:01:43.870 --> 00:01:47.069 finale of our series in Ecclesiastes, grasping 00:01:47.069 --> 00:01:53.629 at wind, searching for God. 21 sermons, 12 chapters, 00:01:53.790 --> 00:01:57.590 nearly three years of journeying with one incredibly 00:01:57.590 --> 00:02:00.769 honest king who wrestled out loud with the same 00:02:00.769 --> 00:02:03.090 questions that many of us wrestle with in private. 00:02:04.030 --> 00:02:06.890 I first just want to thank you. I genuinely want 00:02:06.890 --> 00:02:09.550 to thank the body for walking through this book 00:02:09.550 --> 00:02:12.409 with me. It hasn't been an easy series. I know 00:02:12.409 --> 00:02:15.169 that. We've sat in some heavy chapters together. 00:02:15.310 --> 00:02:17.729 We've talked about death. We've talked about 00:02:17.729 --> 00:02:21.090 injustice. We've talked about the apparent absurdity 00:02:21.090 --> 00:02:24.439 of life under the sun. In some weeks, I know 00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:26.599 that you left here more unsettled than when you 00:02:26.599 --> 00:02:30.719 arrived. But that's okay, because Solomon wanted 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:34.240 us to be unsettled. That was part of the point. 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:37.280 But you kept showing up. You kept opening your 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:40.319 Bibles. You kept wrestling. And so this morning, 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:43.639 we get a look at the entire puzzle that is Ecclesiastes 00:02:43.639 --> 00:02:47.379 and appreciate it as a whole. Before we do, let 00:02:47.379 --> 00:02:49.020 me describe a few people, and I want you to see 00:02:49.020 --> 00:02:52.379 if you recognize yourself in any of them. A college 00:02:52.379 --> 00:02:56.020 student who is sharp, driven, in their final 00:02:56.020 --> 00:02:58.979 year, maybe even has a job opportunity lined 00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:01.659 up, and yet at 2 a .m. they find themselves scrolling, 00:03:02.020 --> 00:03:05.539 doom scrolling, through their phone, wondering, 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:09.919 is this all there is? Is this what my life is 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:14.419 going to feel like? There's checking boxes. A 00:03:14.419 --> 00:03:16.819 young couple, maybe they're engaged, maybe they're 00:03:16.819 --> 00:03:18.919 just married, they did everything right. You 00:03:18.919 --> 00:03:21.419 know, the Christian courtship, the counseling, 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:24.620 the beautiful wedding. Now six months in, they're 00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:26.319 staring at each other across the kitchen table 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:28.620 and they're thinking, I love this person, but 00:03:28.620 --> 00:03:30.819 why do I still feel like something's missing? 00:03:32.620 --> 00:03:35.800 How about the busy adult? Kids and all kinds 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:38.939 of activities, a wonderful mortgage you get to 00:03:38.939 --> 00:03:42.020 pay off every month, a career that's being built 00:03:42.020 --> 00:03:46.409 for maybe a decade or more, but exhausted. Not 00:03:46.409 --> 00:03:51.090 just tired, but exhausted in the soul. The life 00:03:51.090 --> 00:03:53.150 they've built, it looks successful from the outside, 00:03:53.210 --> 00:03:58.389 but something feels hollow inside. Maybe consider 00:03:58.389 --> 00:04:01.349 an older saint. They're looking back over 60 00:04:01.349 --> 00:04:04.409 or 70, 80 years and wondering, did any of it 00:04:04.409 --> 00:04:09.590 matter? Did I waste my life? What do I have to 00:04:09.590 --> 00:04:12.990 show for it now that my body is failing and I 00:04:12.990 --> 00:04:17.529 feel like my usefulness is fading? Well, here's 00:04:17.529 --> 00:04:21.769 the good news. Solomon, who is the wisest, wealthiest, 00:04:21.790 --> 00:04:24.629 most accomplished man who ever lived apart from 00:04:24.629 --> 00:04:27.829 Christ himself, sat down and wrote an entire 00:04:27.829 --> 00:04:32.509 book for every single one of us. The students, 00:04:32.629 --> 00:04:36.230 the newlyweds, the exhausted adults and parents, 00:04:36.290 --> 00:04:39.250 the regretful saints. I've said it before, but 00:04:39.250 --> 00:04:42.470 Ecclesiastes is not a depressing book written 00:04:42.470 --> 00:04:46.740 by an old cynic. It is a compassionate, brutally 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:49.459 honest book written by a man who had everything 00:04:49.459 --> 00:04:52.620 this world offers and who discovered empirically 00:04:52.620 --> 00:04:55.819 through direct experiment that nothing under 00:04:55.819 --> 00:05:00.819 the sun satisfies the human soul. So this morning, 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:02.040 we're going to do something a little different 00:05:02.040 --> 00:05:04.980 than our normal verse by verse walk. This is 00:05:04.980 --> 00:05:07.620 our finale. So I want to take you on a survey, 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:10.779 a greatest hits tour, if you will, through 12 00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:13.079 chapters, picking up the key threads that God 00:05:13.079 --> 00:05:15.620 wove throughout this whole book. And then we're 00:05:15.620 --> 00:05:18.100 going to land the plane exactly where Solomon 00:05:18.100 --> 00:05:20.560 himself was pointing, whether he fully realized 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:25.800 it or not, at the feet of Jesus Christ, the only 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:29.579 one who can satisfy the appetite of the human 00:05:29.579 --> 00:05:33.360 soul. Sound good? All right, well, we have four 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:36.100 key points this morning. First, we're going to 00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:39.720 rightly understand that word that everyone is 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:42.720 confused about, vanity. It echoes through the 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:45.470 whole book. We're going to look at Solomon's 00:05:45.470 --> 00:05:47.670 exposure of the materialistic mind. And friends, 00:05:47.750 --> 00:05:50.089 this is going to hit close to home for those 00:05:50.089 --> 00:05:53.290 of us who live in 21st century America. Third, 00:05:53.449 --> 00:05:56.250 we're going to see God's hidden purpose, even 00:05:56.250 --> 00:05:59.750 in the chaos and the crookedness of life. And 00:05:59.750 --> 00:06:02.209 finally, we're going to arrive at Solomon's final 00:06:02.209 --> 00:06:04.810 word of wisdom. And we're going to discover that 00:06:04.810 --> 00:06:06.790 3 ,000 years ago, he was pointing at something. 00:06:06.850 --> 00:06:10.949 At some one he couldn't yet fully see, but we, 00:06:11.089 --> 00:06:15.540 this side of the cross, Get to know by name. 00:06:15.860 --> 00:06:19.800 Amen? So start at the beginning. We've shown 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:22.860 you this outline since the beginning of 2023. 00:06:23.379 --> 00:06:27.240 Can you believe that? November. But I want to 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:29.939 start with the first section here in Ecclesiastes 00:06:29.939 --> 00:06:32.519 1 -2. Some of you read this. If you have your 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:35.560 Bible open, verse 2, chapter 1. Vanity of vanities, 00:06:35.639 --> 00:06:40.680 says the preacher. Vanity of vanities. All is 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:44.240 vanity. Now, I need to address this right up 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:45.939 front because if you've walked through this series 00:06:45.939 --> 00:06:48.839 with me, you know that almost every single time 00:06:48.839 --> 00:06:50.680 I've said this, our final Sunday, we have to 00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:53.480 nail it down. How often people misunderstand 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:57.279 that word. But if you misunderstand it, it determines 00:06:57.279 --> 00:06:59.620 how you understand the rest of the book. You 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:03.120 miss all of it if you miss this word. That Hebrew 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:07.819 word translated as vanity is hevel. In English, 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:10.759 vanity carries that connotation of meaninglessness. 00:07:11.500 --> 00:07:15.160 worthlessness, a complete waste. But if that's 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:17.319 what Solomon meant, this book would be nothing 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:21.420 but despair. It will be a suicide note disguised 00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:25.420 as wisdom literature. But that's not what Havel 00:07:25.420 --> 00:07:30.660 means. Havel in Hebrew literally means breath 00:07:30.660 --> 00:07:34.839 or vapor. It's the word used for that visible 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:38.120 wisp of air that you see on a cold morning that 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:40.839 emanates from your warm cup of coffee or for 00:07:40.839 --> 00:07:44.980 you tea drinkers. It's like the mist that rises 00:07:44.980 --> 00:07:48.259 over the mountains when the sun comes out and 00:07:48.259 --> 00:07:50.240 that brisk morning gives way to the sunshine. 00:07:51.300 --> 00:07:55.339 It's like smoke rising or dissipating. Here's 00:07:55.339 --> 00:07:56.839 another thing. You may have known this or you 00:07:56.839 --> 00:07:58.579 may have figured it out, but that same word, 00:07:58.620 --> 00:08:03.120 Havel, is identified in Genesis 4. as Adam and 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:09.600 Eve's second son, we call him Abel. In Hebrew, 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:15.879 his name would be Havel, capital H. Wasn't his 00:08:15.879 --> 00:08:20.279 life cut tragically short like a breath? Do you 00:08:20.279 --> 00:08:24.100 see it? Solomon isn't saying that life is meaningless. 00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:27.720 He's saying that life is fleeting, vaporous, 00:08:27.740 --> 00:08:31.329 here one moment and then gone the next. Like 00:08:31.329 --> 00:08:33.309 your breath on a January morning. We're waiting 00:08:33.309 --> 00:08:36.470 for those mornings, I know. But you can see it, 00:08:36.470 --> 00:08:38.230 you know it's real, you're breathing, but you 00:08:38.230 --> 00:08:41.809 reach out to try to grab it and it's gone. That 00:08:41.809 --> 00:08:44.289 changes everything, doesn't it? Vanity of vanities. 00:08:44.409 --> 00:08:47.389 It's not Solomon shaking his fist at the heavens 00:08:47.389 --> 00:08:51.190 and saying none of it matters. It's Solomon standing 00:08:51.190 --> 00:08:54.029 at the window and pensively thinking, watching 00:08:54.029 --> 00:08:56.169 his breath fade into the cold air and he's saying 00:08:56.169 --> 00:09:01.960 this, look how quickly this is passing. Look 00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:06.039 how brief everything is. Friends, it's not nihilism. 00:09:06.379 --> 00:09:09.200 That's a wake -up call. That's why in chapter 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:12.740 3, verse 1, he says this. There is an appointed 00:09:12.740 --> 00:09:16.139 time for everything. And there is a time for 00:09:16.139 --> 00:09:21.580 every matter under heaven. Not chaos. Appointed. 00:09:22.419 --> 00:09:27.860 Not random. Timed. Solomon isn't despairing over 00:09:27.860 --> 00:09:31.279 the brevity of life. He's cataloging it. He's 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:33.480 really reverently approaching this because he 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:35.820 understands that every single moment, even the 00:09:35.820 --> 00:09:37.779 breath that you're taking while you're listening 00:09:37.779 --> 00:09:41.259 to me pontificate, has a time and purpose stamped 00:09:41.259 --> 00:09:47.139 by God. Every moment. In the midst of divine 00:09:47.139 --> 00:09:50.340 intentionality, we recognize also in this same 00:09:50.340 --> 00:09:53.159 book, one of the most counter -cultural verses 00:09:53.159 --> 00:09:57.580 in all of Scripture, Ecclesiastes 7 .2. Better 00:09:57.580 --> 00:10:00.279 to go to a house of mourning than to go to a 00:10:00.279 --> 00:10:02.539 house of feasting, because that's the end of 00:10:02.539 --> 00:10:05.639 all mankind, and the living puts this in his 00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:08.460 heart. Now think about that for a second. Solomon 00:10:08.460 --> 00:10:11.139 is telling us this. A funeral teaches us more 00:10:11.139 --> 00:10:18.769 than a party. Why? Because the funeral forces 00:10:18.769 --> 00:10:25.970 us to remember this is Havel. This is a breath. 00:10:27.529 --> 00:10:29.830 And the living, the ones who are still taking 00:10:29.830 --> 00:10:34.629 those breaths, need to take that to heart. And 00:10:34.629 --> 00:10:36.389 do you see how that already reframes the whole 00:10:36.389 --> 00:10:39.190 book? To that college student, doom -scrolling 00:10:39.190 --> 00:10:41.870 at 2 a .m., wondering if their life is just checking 00:10:41.870 --> 00:10:44.710 boxes, Solomon isn't saying that life is pointless. 00:10:46.250 --> 00:10:49.950 He's saying life is short. And precisely because 00:10:49.950 --> 00:10:55.149 it's short, every day matters. Matters immensely. 00:10:57.350 --> 00:11:00.230 To the grieving heart in this room this morning, 00:11:00.350 --> 00:11:02.549 I know some of you buried someone this year. 00:11:03.909 --> 00:11:07.509 Solomon isn't minimizing grief either. He's actually 00:11:07.509 --> 00:11:12.090 acknowledging it. Life really is like a breath. 00:11:12.889 --> 00:11:17.539 It vanishes quickly. That's why even if some 00:11:17.539 --> 00:11:20.899 of you are familiar with James chapter 4, we 00:11:20.899 --> 00:11:24.279 learn this. It says you are a vapor that appears 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:28.480 for a little while and then vanishes away. James 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:30.019 is writing under the inspiration of the same 00:11:30.019 --> 00:11:32.320 Holy Spirit. He uses almost the same imagery 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:35.820 that Solomon used a thousand years earlier. So 00:11:35.820 --> 00:11:38.379 it's not a new idea that after Christ comes onto 00:11:38.379 --> 00:11:40.559 the scene we learn this. It's an affirmation 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:45.779 of an enduring principle. Here's the first point. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:51.379 Don't read vanity as worthless. Start reading 00:11:51.379 --> 00:11:56.700 vanity as fleeting. Solomon isn't handing you 00:11:56.700 --> 00:11:59.139 despair. In fact, it's like he's handing you 00:11:59.139 --> 00:12:02.360 a clock and he's just tapping at the glass saying, 00:12:02.460 --> 00:12:07.340 look how fast these hands are moving. What are 00:12:07.340 --> 00:12:08.500 you going to do with the time that you have? 00:12:10.259 --> 00:12:12.100 That question is going to matter even more as 00:12:12.100 --> 00:12:14.100 we move into the second point. Because Solomon 00:12:14.100 --> 00:12:16.480 is going to show us what most people do with 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:20.659 their fleeting time. And it's not pretty. Following 00:12:20.659 --> 00:12:23.940 our book outline, Havel, vanity is the diagnosis 00:12:23.940 --> 00:12:28.039 Solomon gives us for the human condition. Things 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:31.120 are fleeting, breath -like, passing. Then he 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:33.320 spends nearly the first half of the book on his 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:36.659 case study, his personal lab report. What do 00:12:36.659 --> 00:12:39.220 people typically do to try to cope with that 00:12:39.220 --> 00:12:42.669 fleetingness? I need to tell you that this section 00:12:42.669 --> 00:12:46.009 of the book was written for us. It wasn't just 00:12:46.009 --> 00:12:48.730 applicable in the context of Solomon's day for 00:12:48.730 --> 00:12:51.649 an agrarian society 3 ,000 years ago. It's also 00:12:51.649 --> 00:12:54.029 written for us in one of the wealthiest nations 00:12:54.029 --> 00:12:57.990 that this world has ever seen in an era of unprecedented 00:12:57.990 --> 00:13:03.149 consumer choice. Solomon starts in chapter 2 00:13:03.149 --> 00:13:07.409 with pleasure. He builds houses. He plants vineyards. 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:10.470 He gathers silver and gold, wealth. He acquires 00:13:10.470 --> 00:13:12.870 singers and instruments and the arts. All that 00:13:12.870 --> 00:13:17.070 the eyes desire, verse after verse of unrestrained 00:13:17.070 --> 00:13:19.309 indulgence. And do you know what he comes to? 00:13:19.690 --> 00:13:24.830 The conclusion in Ecclesiastes 2 .24. There's 00:13:24.830 --> 00:13:27.370 nothing better for a man than to eat and drink 00:13:27.370 --> 00:13:31.480 and tell himself that his labor is good. I don't 00:13:31.480 --> 00:13:33.399 want you to misread that as hedonism. Solomon 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:35.399 isn't saying eat, drink, and be merry, and that's 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:38.139 the whole point of everything. He's saying even 00:13:38.139 --> 00:13:41.960 ordinary daily provision is a gift from the hand 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:44.980 of God. Receive it with gratitude. Don't grasp 00:13:44.980 --> 00:13:48.519 those gifts as the source of ultimate meaning. 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:52.840 In chapter five, he gives us more warnings about 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:55.720 worship and wealth together. He says, don't be 00:13:55.720 --> 00:13:57.940 hasty with your mouth or impulsive in your heart. 00:13:58.299 --> 00:13:59.919 to bring up a matter in the presence of God. 00:13:59.980 --> 00:14:02.899 God is in heaven, you are on earth. Let your 00:14:02.899 --> 00:14:08.500 words be few. In 5 .7, in many dreams and vanities 00:14:08.500 --> 00:14:13.299 are many words. Rather, fear God. I want you 00:14:13.299 --> 00:14:16.440 to hear this one in Ecclesiastes 5 .10 very clearly. 00:14:17.019 --> 00:14:19.940 He who loves money will not be satisfied with 00:14:19.940 --> 00:14:22.940 money, nor he who loves abundance with its produce. 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:28.830 This too is vanity. And again, he says in 518, 00:14:28.929 --> 00:14:31.450 he gives that balance. Here's what I've seen 00:14:31.450 --> 00:14:34.429 to be good. To eat, to drink, and to see good 00:14:34.429 --> 00:14:37.629 in all one's labor, for this is his portion. 00:14:38.330 --> 00:14:40.710 Do you see the tension that Solomon is holding? 00:14:41.669 --> 00:14:45.889 Enjoy what God gives you, but do not love it. 00:14:47.590 --> 00:14:50.870 Receive it as a gift, but do not worship it as 00:14:50.870 --> 00:14:57.639 a God. Let me come to A verse that, as I've studied, 00:14:57.740 --> 00:15:00.860 I think this is the fulcrum of the entire section, 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:04.320 maybe even the whole book. But it's Ecclesiastes 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:08.919 6 -7. All a man's labor is for his mouth, and 00:15:08.919 --> 00:15:14.200 yet the soul is not satisfied. Let that sink 00:15:14.200 --> 00:15:20.019 in for a moment. Solomon, the man with more wealth 00:15:20.019 --> 00:15:23.740 than any of us will ever see. More wives, hopefully 00:15:23.740 --> 00:15:26.980 we don't ever see that many wives. More wisdom, 00:15:27.100 --> 00:15:29.779 more building projects, more accomplishments. 00:15:30.179 --> 00:15:32.720 And he looks at all of the human striving that 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:36.700 he could do, which far out exceeds anything we 00:15:36.700 --> 00:15:39.419 can, and he reduces it to this principle. He 00:15:39.419 --> 00:15:43.679 said, we labor for our soul, and yet our soul 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:48.539 is never satisfied with our labor. Wow. Some 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:51.480 of your translations may have the word soul, 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:57.019 translated as appetite. The Hebrew word is nephesh. 00:15:58.919 --> 00:16:02.360 Now, that word, it's actually the same word used 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:05.340 for soul throughout the Old Testament. It has 00:16:05.340 --> 00:16:10.080 a connotation of that which breathes. And you 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:14.340 pair that with vanity, which is a breath, you 00:16:14.340 --> 00:16:16.200 really get a sense that Solomon is teaching us 00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:19.240 that we who breathe have short breaths. He's 00:16:19.240 --> 00:16:23.710 making it very clear. But let's continue. We 00:16:23.710 --> 00:16:26.789 need to see that nefesh is not physical hunger. 00:16:27.269 --> 00:16:30.669 Solomon is telling you that your soul has an 00:16:30.669 --> 00:16:33.629 appetite and no amount of labor, no amount of 00:16:33.629 --> 00:16:36.409 achievement, no amount of acquisition or accomplishment 00:16:36.409 --> 00:16:44.149 can satisfy or fill your soul. Solomon tried 00:16:44.149 --> 00:16:48.769 it all. He didn't theorize about wealth. He had 00:16:48.769 --> 00:16:53.029 wealth. He didn't speculate. about pleasure or 00:16:53.029 --> 00:16:56.830 enjoyment. He pursued pleasure exhaustively, 00:16:56.929 --> 00:17:00.350 systematically, like a scientist running an experiment 00:17:00.350 --> 00:17:04.670 with an unlimited budget. And his conclusion 00:17:04.670 --> 00:17:09.049 with divine inspiration is this, the soul's appetite 00:17:09.049 --> 00:17:13.210 cannot be satisfied by what this world offers. 00:17:14.990 --> 00:17:20.750 Not even with Solomon -level abundance. Let me 00:17:20.750 --> 00:17:22.210 bring this practical, because I don't want to 00:17:22.210 --> 00:17:24.170 stay just theoretical. You think of the couple 00:17:24.170 --> 00:17:27.789 I mentioned earlier, the one who's married, maybe 00:17:27.789 --> 00:17:31.450 they're a few years in, and they have that disquiet 00:17:31.450 --> 00:17:34.190 that starts creeping in, that dissatisfaction. 00:17:34.430 --> 00:17:36.430 Maybe it's not dramatic, maybe there's no affair, 00:17:36.630 --> 00:17:40.089 maybe there's no crisis, but a persistent sense 00:17:40.089 --> 00:17:43.210 that one spouse thinks, if my spouse were a little 00:17:43.210 --> 00:17:47.190 more like this, or a little less like that, or 00:17:47.190 --> 00:17:52.480 if we had this, or if we had that, then I'd be 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:59.819 happy. That's Ecclesiastes 6 -7 playing out in 00:17:59.819 --> 00:18:03.480 marriage. That soul appetite is never satisfied 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:06.539 because you're asking your spouse, you're asking 00:18:06.539 --> 00:18:11.160 your circumstances to fill that nefesh hole that 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:13.380 was never designed to be filled by things of 00:18:13.380 --> 00:18:17.490 the earth. You think about the adult, the person 00:18:17.490 --> 00:18:20.349 who's always chasing the greener pasture, the 00:18:20.349 --> 00:18:23.230 new job, the new city, the new friends, the new 00:18:23.230 --> 00:18:27.009 hobby, the new version of themselves. Every time 00:18:27.009 --> 00:18:29.289 the new thing arrives, the satisfaction lasts 00:18:29.289 --> 00:18:32.410 maybe three weeks, and then the itch returns. 00:18:34.029 --> 00:18:36.430 Friends, that's not a character flaw that's unique 00:18:36.430 --> 00:18:39.769 to that person. That's the universal condition 00:18:39.769 --> 00:18:43.900 that Solomon is diagnosing. We read, you can 00:18:43.900 --> 00:18:45.839 go back and read it in verse 8 of chapter 1. 00:18:45.940 --> 00:18:48.339 The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the 00:18:48.339 --> 00:18:50.480 ear filled with hearing. You can't get enough. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:53.880 And here's something almost humorous then that 00:18:53.880 --> 00:18:56.599 Solomon points out in chapter 5, verse 12. He 00:18:56.599 --> 00:19:00.759 says essentially this, the poor laborer sleeps 00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:04.740 sweetly. The poor person, whether he eats little 00:19:04.740 --> 00:19:08.359 or much. But the abundance of the rich doesn't 00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:11.920 allow him to sleep. Have you ever noticed that 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:14.640 the more choices, the more resources and options 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:17.200 that people have, the more anxious and sleepless 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:24.079 they often become? I think there's a strange 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:29.619 freedom in small, simple life. From my observations, 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:34.059 I'll call this the five -mile radius life. The 00:19:34.059 --> 00:19:37.289 person whose whole world is their home. their 00:19:37.289 --> 00:19:39.950 church, their neighborhood, their handful of 00:19:39.950 --> 00:19:43.210 relationships. They often sleep better than the 00:19:43.210 --> 00:19:45.769 person who's managing a portfolio of properties, 00:19:45.910 --> 00:19:48.690 relationships, and all kinds of possibilities 00:19:48.690 --> 00:19:53.490 spread across time zones. More options do not 00:19:53.490 --> 00:19:56.950 produce more peace. Often, more options produce 00:19:56.950 --> 00:20:01.650 less. Solomon continues. He puts a darker cap 00:20:01.650 --> 00:20:05.180 in chapter 9, verse 3. He says this is an evil 00:20:05.180 --> 00:20:07.019 and all that's done under the sun, that there 00:20:07.019 --> 00:20:10.859 is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts 00:20:10.859 --> 00:20:13.059 of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity. 00:20:13.539 --> 00:20:15.539 It's all in their hearts throughout their lives. 00:20:16.420 --> 00:20:19.779 Those are strong words. But let me explain this. 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:22.019 Solomon is just bringing the logic to its conclusion. 00:20:22.359 --> 00:20:24.859 If the appetite of the soul is never satisfied 00:20:24.859 --> 00:20:28.640 by what's under the sun, and if death comes for 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.900 everyone, regardless of how they lived, then 00:20:31.900 --> 00:20:34.859 the human heart, when it's left to chase satisfaction 00:20:34.859 --> 00:20:38.359 and created things, will eventually spiral into 00:20:38.359 --> 00:20:42.859 a kind of madness, a restless grasping at wind 00:20:42.859 --> 00:20:48.119 that never finds rest. Let me ask you a question 00:20:48.119 --> 00:20:50.559 this morning, and I want you to answer it honestly 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:54.839 with the Lord. What is your soul's appetite currently 00:20:54.839 --> 00:21:02.759 reaching for? Is it a relationship? Is it a promotion? 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:09.779 Is it a direction? A physical body that looks 00:21:09.779 --> 00:21:13.920 a certain way? A retirement account that finally 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:18.000 feels safe? A house in a different neighborhood? 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:24.440 A family? A future planned with all your desires? 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:29.279 I'm not telling you those things are inherently... 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:32.940 sinful to desire or to pursue. Solomon himself 00:21:32.940 --> 00:21:36.440 says, enjoy your labor, eat your bread, drink 00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:40.099 your wine. It's a gift from God. But he's telling 00:21:40.099 --> 00:21:43.519 you, with the full weight of his own failed experiment, 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:49.700 none of it will satisfy nephesh. None of it. 00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:54.059 Even a Solomon level abundance. So if not anything 00:21:54.059 --> 00:21:59.740 else, then what? What? Solomon's not quite ready 00:21:59.740 --> 00:22:02.380 to answer that yet. Because before he gets there, 00:22:02.420 --> 00:22:05.220 he wants to show us something else. Something 00:22:05.220 --> 00:22:07.839 about how God is working, even when life feels 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:11.420 crooked and chaotic and unjust. And that's our 00:22:11.420 --> 00:22:14.539 third point here. Now, if Solomon had stopped 00:22:14.539 --> 00:22:17.759 it, nothing satisfies. This book would just be 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:22.700 one long groan. But he doesn't stop there. Because 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:24.839 woven throughout this book, sometimes in the 00:22:24.839 --> 00:22:27.839 very same paragraphs as his most depressing observations, 00:22:28.420 --> 00:22:31.339 Solomon keeps returning to this thought. There 00:22:31.339 --> 00:22:36.980 is a sovereign God who has hidden purposes. Ecclesiastes 00:22:36.980 --> 00:22:40.819 3 .11 makes this abundantly clear. It's one of 00:22:40.819 --> 00:22:42.440 the most theologically rich verses, actually, 00:22:42.440 --> 00:22:44.660 in the whole book. He's made everything beautiful 00:22:44.660 --> 00:22:47.430 in its time. He's also set eternity in their 00:22:47.430 --> 00:22:50.430 heart yet so that man will not find out the work 00:22:50.430 --> 00:22:52.829 which God has done from the beginning even to 00:22:52.829 --> 00:22:56.569 the end. Two massive truths in one verse. First, 00:22:56.710 --> 00:22:59.029 God has made everything appropriate, fitting, 00:22:59.130 --> 00:23:01.829 beautiful in its appointed time. Nothing is random. 00:23:03.150 --> 00:23:07.369 Second, God has placed eternity in the human 00:23:07.369 --> 00:23:10.430 heart. That restlessness that we talked about, 00:23:10.609 --> 00:23:14.049 that ache that nothing in this world satisfies, 00:23:15.460 --> 00:23:20.119 Solomon says God put it there on purpose. You 00:23:20.119 --> 00:23:23.819 were built with an eternity shaped void precisely 00:23:23.819 --> 00:23:27.380 so that you would look beyond under the sun and 00:23:27.380 --> 00:23:33.099 search for the one who is above it. Chapter seven, 00:23:33.180 --> 00:23:37.299 verse 13. He says, consider the work of God who 00:23:37.299 --> 00:23:40.180 is able to straighten what he has bent. Then 00:23:40.180 --> 00:23:42.700 verse 14, in the day of prosperity, be happy. 00:23:42.900 --> 00:23:45.730 But in the day of adversity, consider, God has 00:23:45.730 --> 00:23:48.009 made the one as well as the other so that man 00:23:48.009 --> 00:23:49.769 will not discover anything that will be after 00:23:49.769 --> 00:23:54.190 him. And then he jars us here in verse 29. He 00:23:54.190 --> 00:24:05.910 says, I pray you see the shape of Solomon's argument 00:24:05.910 --> 00:24:09.869 here. God is the one who bends and shapes circumstances. 00:24:10.750 --> 00:24:15.069 Some are prosperous. Some are adverse. We don't 00:24:15.069 --> 00:24:17.869 get to choose which season we're in. And we certainly 00:24:17.869 --> 00:24:20.710 don't get to straighten what he's bent. But that's 00:24:20.710 --> 00:24:24.230 not fatalism. In fact, it's an invitation to 00:24:24.230 --> 00:24:29.769 trust him. Verse 29 clarifies where the crookedness 00:24:29.769 --> 00:24:32.809 in the world actually comes from. It's not from 00:24:32.809 --> 00:24:36.970 God's design. It's from man's own devices. It's 00:24:36.970 --> 00:24:41.509 from our sin, twisting what God made good, twisting 00:24:41.509 --> 00:24:48.650 what he made upright. It's us. Chapter 8, verse 00:24:48.650 --> 00:24:52.230 14 says this. There is a vanity which is done 00:24:52.230 --> 00:24:55.410 on the earth. That is, there are righteous men 00:24:55.410 --> 00:24:57.230 to whom it happens according to the works of 00:24:57.230 --> 00:24:59.269 the wicked. On the other hand, there are wicked 00:24:59.269 --> 00:25:01.549 men to whom it happens according to the works 00:25:01.549 --> 00:25:04.329 of the righteous. Solomon is looking straight 00:25:04.329 --> 00:25:07.950 at the injustice of this world. Good people suffering, 00:25:08.210 --> 00:25:11.509 bad people prospering. But he doesn't flinch 00:25:11.509 --> 00:25:15.710 in naming it It's a breath -like absurdity from 00:25:15.710 --> 00:25:18.990 our limited vantage point. But then he says this 00:25:18.990 --> 00:25:22.769 almost comically in chapter 10. He said, And 00:25:22.769 --> 00:25:31.170 he tells us that he saw slaves riding on horses, 00:25:31.230 --> 00:25:34.589 slaves on horses, and princes walking on the 00:25:34.589 --> 00:25:38.470 ground. Have you ever turned on the news and 00:25:38.470 --> 00:25:41.490 thought, how on earth did that person end up 00:25:41.490 --> 00:25:47.589 in charge of anything? Solomon saw it 3 ,000 00:25:47.589 --> 00:25:51.829 years ago. Folly is set in high places. That's 00:25:51.829 --> 00:25:54.789 not just a California thing. That's not just 00:25:54.789 --> 00:25:59.089 a U .S. government thing. But where does that 00:25:59.089 --> 00:26:05.170 leave us? Chapter 11, verses 9 and 10. He takes 00:26:05.170 --> 00:26:09.369 another pivot. He says, be glad, young man, during 00:26:09.369 --> 00:26:11.450 your childhood and let your heart be merry during 00:26:11.450 --> 00:26:14.690 the days of young manhood. remove vexation from 00:26:14.690 --> 00:26:17.309 your heart, put away evil from your flesh, because 00:26:17.309 --> 00:26:22.210 childhood and the prime of life are vanity. There's 00:26:22.210 --> 00:26:27.230 that word again, vanity, hevel, fleeting. Notice, 00:26:27.269 --> 00:26:29.569 though, his response to things being fleeting 00:26:29.569 --> 00:26:33.750 isn't despair. Yes, rulers can be foolish. Yes, 00:26:33.910 --> 00:26:36.690 bad things can happen to good people and good 00:26:36.690 --> 00:26:40.509 things to bad people. Instead of despairing over 00:26:40.509 --> 00:26:44.720 all of it, He actually invites us to have godly 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:48.740 joy, to hold loosely to the things that we do 00:26:48.740 --> 00:26:52.920 have in submission to God who ordained crooked 00:26:52.920 --> 00:26:58.440 and straight things alike. Maybe you're sitting 00:26:58.440 --> 00:27:00.099 here this morning and you're carrying some regret. 00:27:00.339 --> 00:27:02.059 Maybe you're one of the older saints and you 00:27:02.059 --> 00:27:04.660 look back and you think you wasted years, you 00:27:04.660 --> 00:27:07.700 made choices that you can't undo. Maybe you didn't 00:27:07.700 --> 00:27:10.380 study God's word enough. Maybe you're still learning 00:27:10.380 --> 00:27:12.700 to apply it. Maybe your body doesn't work the 00:27:12.700 --> 00:27:14.740 way it used to. Maybe you're wondering what you 00:27:14.740 --> 00:27:19.579 still have left to offer. Solomon's answer, even 00:27:19.579 --> 00:27:23.019 to that person, isn't to fade away in lament 00:27:23.019 --> 00:27:27.579 or in penance. Solomon's answer is this. God 00:27:27.579 --> 00:27:30.299 has been sovereign over every bent and crooked 00:27:30.299 --> 00:27:34.140 season of your life. Even the ones that you caused. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:38.880 He set eternity in your heart still. And that 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:41.500 means your story's not over. Your usefulness 00:27:41.500 --> 00:27:44.819 in God's economy was never measured by your productivity 00:27:44.819 --> 00:27:48.500 in the first place. Some of you know this verse 00:27:48.500 --> 00:27:52.259 out of Isaiah 46. It's a promise that God makes 00:27:52.259 --> 00:27:54.559 to his covenant people and it echoes the same 00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:57.720 truth. Even to your old age, I will be the same. 00:27:57.779 --> 00:28:00.759 And even to your graying years, I will bear you. 00:28:01.079 --> 00:28:04.230 I have done it and I will carry you. and I will 00:28:04.230 --> 00:28:09.869 bear you, and I will rescue you. And I pray that 00:28:09.869 --> 00:28:12.130 we all learn and remember this, that the God 00:28:12.130 --> 00:28:15.890 who bent the crooked places of our lives is the 00:28:15.890 --> 00:28:18.150 same God who carries us all the way to the end. 00:28:19.390 --> 00:28:22.609 His purposes for us don't expire when our calendar 00:28:22.609 --> 00:28:27.390 turns 60 or 70 or 90. And Solomon's shown us 00:28:27.390 --> 00:28:30.619 then, life is fleeting. Our appetites can't be 00:28:30.619 --> 00:28:33.420 satisfied by created things, and even the chaos 00:28:33.420 --> 00:28:36.259 and crookedness of this world is under the sovereign 00:28:36.259 --> 00:28:39.619 hand of a good God who has set eternity in our 00:28:39.619 --> 00:28:42.940 hearts. We're the ones who bend it. We're the 00:28:42.940 --> 00:28:48.099 ones who turn the upright wrong. Finally now, 00:28:48.259 --> 00:28:50.799 Solomon is ready to land the plane, and I want 00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:53.039 you to lean in. It's the destination this entire 00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:54.519 book has been building towards. You've probably 00:28:54.519 --> 00:28:57.480 been waiting for it. So turn with me, if you 00:28:57.480 --> 00:29:00.059 will, to our final anchor text this morning in 00:29:00.059 --> 00:29:06.880 Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Solomon is an old man 00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:11.019 now. He's reflecting on his own life's experiment. 00:29:11.339 --> 00:29:13.880 Beginning of verse one, he tells us this, remember 00:29:13.880 --> 00:29:17.599 also your creator and the days of your youth. 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:20.859 Before the evil days happen, before the years 00:29:20.859 --> 00:29:22.720 draw near, when you say I have no delight in 00:29:22.720 --> 00:29:26.160 him. It's after this that he gives his haunting, 00:29:26.339 --> 00:29:29.480 poetic description of the body aging like a house. 00:29:29.980 --> 00:29:32.440 The keepers of the house trembling, the grinders, 00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:36.920 the teeth ceasing, the windows growing dim. But 00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:38.940 then he arrives at verses 11 through 14, and 00:29:38.940 --> 00:29:40.779 we haven't had a chance to stand for the reading 00:29:40.779 --> 00:29:42.920 of God's word yet here, so let's do it for this 00:29:42.920 --> 00:29:48.119 one. I'm going to read Ecclesiastes 12, verses 00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:54.650 11 to 14. The words of wise men are like goads, 00:29:54.670 --> 00:29:57.269 and masters of these collections are like well 00:29:57.269 --> 00:30:00.589 -driven nails. They are given by one shepherd. 00:30:01.089 --> 00:30:04.589 But in addition to this, my son, be warned. The 00:30:04.589 --> 00:30:07.029 making of many books is endless, and much devotion 00:30:07.029 --> 00:30:10.289 to books is wearying to the flesh. The end of 00:30:10.289 --> 00:30:13.390 the matter, all that has been heard, fear God 00:30:13.390 --> 00:30:16.210 and keep his commandments, because this is the 00:30:16.210 --> 00:30:19.480 end of the matter for all mankind. For God will 00:30:19.480 --> 00:30:21.880 bring every work to judgment, everything which 00:30:21.880 --> 00:30:26.680 is hidden, whether it is good or evil. You may 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:33.460 be seated. I know this was our text from last 00:30:33.460 --> 00:30:35.079 week, but I didn't get to go into everything. 00:30:35.579 --> 00:30:38.799 I want you to notice one of those phrases. Well 00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:46.059 -driven nails given by one shepherd. The Hebrew 00:30:46.059 --> 00:30:50.019 word for nails here. Masmerot, it pictures something 00:30:50.019 --> 00:30:55.240 fixed, immovable, driven so deep that it holds 00:30:55.240 --> 00:30:59.279 firm under pressure. Solomon is telling us that 00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:03.200 true wisdom, it's not a passing trend. It's not 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:06.299 just the hottest thing on TikTok. It's not the 00:31:06.299 --> 00:31:10.200 most popular podcast. It's not counseling for 00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:13.980 adults with aging parents. It's definitely not 00:31:13.980 --> 00:31:17.150 this weird. separation thing that's going on 00:31:17.150 --> 00:31:19.930 these days. Blocking people out of your life? 00:31:20.450 --> 00:31:24.789 How childish is that? You can tell I have feelings 00:31:24.789 --> 00:31:29.109 about this. Solomon tells us that true wisdom 00:31:29.109 --> 00:31:33.109 is fixed. It is anchored. It is given by one 00:31:33.109 --> 00:31:37.309 shepherd himself. Who is that shepherd? Psalm 00:31:37.309 --> 00:31:41.750 23 tells us really clearly, Yahweh is my shepherd. 00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:45.180 Maybe you learned it growing up, the Lord is 00:31:45.180 --> 00:31:49.240 my shepherd. Same. What does Jesus say in John 00:31:49.240 --> 00:31:53.900 chapter 10, verse 11? I am the good shepherd. 00:31:54.680 --> 00:31:59.359 And the good shepherd does what? Lays down his 00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:04.359 life for the sheep. The same shepherd who fixed 00:32:04.359 --> 00:32:07.960 wisdom like a well -driven nail into Solomon's 00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:11.980 book is the shepherd who himself was nailed to 00:32:11.980 --> 00:32:16.660 a cross. for our sake? Do you see the thread 00:32:16.660 --> 00:32:21.779 that God is weaving? Solomon's final word, after 00:32:21.779 --> 00:32:25.319 12 chapters of relentless honesty, the fleetingness 00:32:25.319 --> 00:32:28.380 of life, the insatiable appetite of the human 00:32:28.380 --> 00:32:31.980 soul, he brings us to a very simple conclusion. 00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:37.759 Fear God, keep his commandments. He doesn't say 00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:41.539 acquire more. He doesn't say experience more 00:32:41.539 --> 00:32:45.019 pleasure. He doesn't say achieve more legacy. 00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:49.519 He actually doesn't say follow me. He says fear 00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:55.359 God. Full stop. So I want to bring you back one 00:32:55.359 --> 00:32:57.259 last time. I mentioned that I thought that this 00:32:57.259 --> 00:33:00.700 verse might be the fulcrum of this entire book. 00:33:01.579 --> 00:33:06.900 It's Ecclesiastes 6 -7. All a man's labor is 00:33:06.900 --> 00:33:11.339 for his mouth, and yet the soul is not fulfilled. 00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:16.900 See, Solomon knew 3 ,000 years before the incarnation 00:33:16.900 --> 00:33:21.579 that the human soul, the nephesh, was built with 00:33:21.579 --> 00:33:24.480 an appetite that nothing under the sun could 00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:27.279 fill. Now, he didn't have the whole picture. 00:33:27.380 --> 00:33:29.980 He couldn't have known the name of the one who 00:33:29.980 --> 00:33:32.900 would come to fill it. But by the Spirit's inspiration, 00:33:33.160 --> 00:33:35.400 he wrote the diagnosis with startling accuracy. 00:33:36.019 --> 00:33:39.680 And he left the prescription open, waiting to 00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:43.329 be fulfilled. From our position in redemptive 00:33:43.329 --> 00:33:45.670 history, we get to know the rest of the story. 00:33:45.849 --> 00:33:49.009 We get to stand where Solomon could only point. 00:33:49.630 --> 00:33:53.950 Listen as I read part of Psalm 63. It's a Psalm 00:33:53.950 --> 00:33:56.230 of David written in the wilderness of Judah. 00:33:56.410 --> 00:34:01.349 He says this, O God, you are my God. I shall 00:34:01.349 --> 00:34:05.150 seek you earnestly. My soul thirsts for you. 00:34:05.250 --> 00:34:09.409 My flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land 00:34:09.409 --> 00:34:13.519 without water. Psalm 42 paints a similar picture. 00:34:13.619 --> 00:34:17.380 As the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants 00:34:17.380 --> 00:34:21.059 for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for 00:34:21.059 --> 00:34:26.219 the living God. Do you hear the appetite? Do 00:34:26.219 --> 00:34:32.019 you hear what Solomon diagnosed? That nefesh, 00:34:32.139 --> 00:34:35.199 the labor and labor that's never satisfied. David, 00:34:35.300 --> 00:34:38.780 Solomon's father, described it as a thirst for 00:34:38.780 --> 00:34:44.070 God himself. It's not a thirst for wealth. It's 00:34:44.070 --> 00:34:46.269 not a thirst for pleasure. It's not a thirst 00:34:46.269 --> 00:34:49.829 for legacy and accomplishment. It's a thirst 00:34:49.829 --> 00:34:53.230 for the living God. And at the proper appointed 00:34:53.230 --> 00:34:56.690 time, Jesus, we know him as Emmanuel, God with 00:34:56.690 --> 00:34:59.809 us. He stands up in John chapter 6, and he says 00:34:59.809 --> 00:35:02.829 the words that finishes Solomon's sentence 3 00:35:02.829 --> 00:35:07.389 ,000 years later. John 6, 35, he says, I am the 00:35:07.389 --> 00:35:11.199 bread of life. He who comes to me will never 00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:14.719 hunger, and he who believes in me will never 00:35:14.719 --> 00:35:19.079 thirst. Do you understand what's happening there? 00:35:20.059 --> 00:35:24.079 Jesus is answering Ecclesiastes 6, verse 7 directly. 00:35:25.059 --> 00:35:27.260 We read, all a man's labor is for his mouth, 00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:30.400 and yet the soul is not fulfilled. It's not satisfied. 00:35:31.500 --> 00:35:35.820 And so Jesus says, come to me, and I will satisfy 00:35:35.820 --> 00:35:41.090 it. Not with bread that perishes, but with myself, 00:35:41.429 --> 00:35:47.070 the bread that endures to eternal life. Some 00:35:47.070 --> 00:35:49.269 of you remember what Jesus said to the woman 00:35:49.269 --> 00:35:52.889 at the well in John chapter 4. She was thirsty 00:35:52.889 --> 00:35:57.230 in more ways than one. And Jesus told her, whoever 00:35:57.230 --> 00:36:00.829 drinks of the water that I give will never thirst. 00:36:01.809 --> 00:36:06.230 The water that I give will become a well of water. 00:36:06.730 --> 00:36:12.670 springing up to eternal life. Solomon searched 00:36:12.670 --> 00:36:17.590 the whole earth, wealth, pleasure, wisdom, accomplishment, 00:36:17.929 --> 00:36:21.349 legacy, a lot of opportunities that we sitting 00:36:21.349 --> 00:36:23.849 in our very privileged seats today are able to 00:36:23.849 --> 00:36:28.889 do. But he concluded this, the appetite cannot 00:36:28.889 --> 00:36:34.170 be satisfied by anything under the sun. So Jesus 00:36:34.170 --> 00:36:36.929 steps into human history. and he shows us that 00:36:36.929 --> 00:36:42.110 he is not under the sun. He is the sun who made 00:36:42.110 --> 00:36:46.550 our sun. He is the enduring light in the darkness. 00:36:47.010 --> 00:36:51.349 He is the path, he is the way, and he can satisfy 00:36:51.349 --> 00:36:54.489 what nothing under heaven ever could and ever 00:36:54.489 --> 00:36:57.730 was supposed to. Earlier in our call to worship, 00:36:57.849 --> 00:37:01.570 Psalm 16 gave us the destination of that satisfaction. 00:37:02.070 --> 00:37:05.280 It said, you will make known to me. The path 00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:08.079 of life. And your presence is fullness of joy. 00:37:08.159 --> 00:37:11.159 Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Not 00:37:11.159 --> 00:37:15.599 a fleeting breath of pleasure. We take these 00:37:15.599 --> 00:37:18.179 things in this world and we forget it is like 00:37:18.179 --> 00:37:22.219 soap bubbles. It disappears so quick. We try 00:37:22.219 --> 00:37:25.059 to grab it and we can never hold it. But where 00:37:25.059 --> 00:37:31.139 are pleasures forevermore? In his presence. At 00:37:31.139 --> 00:37:35.429 his right hand. See, that is the whole arc of 00:37:35.429 --> 00:37:37.949 Ecclesiastes, and I want you to see it clearly 00:37:37.949 --> 00:37:40.869 this morning. Life is a breath. It is fleeting. 00:37:41.010 --> 00:37:43.409 And the appetite of the soul cannot be satisfied 00:37:43.409 --> 00:37:47.570 by anything under the sun. To remember that the 00:37:47.570 --> 00:37:50.070 crooked and chaotic seasons of life are still 00:37:50.070 --> 00:37:53.010 held by that sovereign hand of God who has set 00:37:53.010 --> 00:37:55.789 eternity in our hearts, and that the conclusion 00:37:55.789 --> 00:37:59.809 of the whole matter is to fear God and obey Him, 00:37:59.889 --> 00:38:04.949 to keep His commandments. Why? Because that God, 00:38:04.969 --> 00:38:07.889 in the fullness of time, he sent his own son 00:38:07.889 --> 00:38:12.530 to be the most well -driven nail of wisdom, the 00:38:12.530 --> 00:38:15.869 good shepherd, the bread of life, the living 00:38:15.869 --> 00:38:19.690 water. It's in his presence that we find the 00:38:19.690 --> 00:38:23.650 fullness of joy forevermore. Your restless soul 00:38:23.650 --> 00:38:29.150 can stop grasping when it's in Christ. So let 00:38:29.150 --> 00:38:30.750 me bring this home with some practical application. 00:38:33.360 --> 00:38:35.840 First, if you're here this morning and you're 00:38:35.840 --> 00:38:39.280 exhausted from grasping at wind, chasing satisfaction 00:38:39.280 --> 00:38:41.719 and accomplishments, relationships, possessions, 00:38:41.980 --> 00:38:44.719 I want you to hear the invitation of Christ this 00:38:44.719 --> 00:38:48.699 morning. He says, come to me. He didn't say try 00:38:48.699 --> 00:38:54.400 harder. He didn't say acquire more. He didn't 00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:59.659 say do more things. He said, come. Matthew 5, 00:38:59.739 --> 00:39:08.920 6 says, That is not you doing work. That is a 00:39:08.920 --> 00:39:11.519 promise of him satisfying because he can fill 00:39:11.519 --> 00:39:17.800 our longing hearts. Second, Solomon gives us 00:39:17.800 --> 00:39:21.159 counsel toward a quiet and faithful life. It's 00:39:21.159 --> 00:39:24.199 not a call to passivity, but it's a call to contentment. 00:39:25.500 --> 00:39:29.389 He echoes, or this is really echoed, In 1 Thessalonians 00:39:29.389 --> 00:39:33.389 4, verse 11, Paul teaches us to make it our ambition 00:39:33.389 --> 00:39:37.989 to lead a quiet life, to attend to our own business, 00:39:38.070 --> 00:39:42.469 to work with our hands. So I want you to hear 00:39:42.469 --> 00:39:44.469 this because we are in a culture, especially 00:39:44.469 --> 00:39:46.929 in this university, Southern California town, 00:39:47.050 --> 00:39:50.690 that glorifies hustle. We glorify ambition. We 00:39:50.690 --> 00:39:53.090 glorify constant striving and full schedules. 00:39:53.130 --> 00:39:56.889 Do we not? Hey, just know yourselves. Know the 00:39:56.889 --> 00:40:00.650 culture that we're in. Ecclesiastes and Paul 00:40:00.650 --> 00:40:03.230 calls us to something that is countercultural, 00:40:03.349 --> 00:40:08.690 a quiet life, faithfully lived, content in Christ, 00:40:08.969 --> 00:40:11.869 not because you've stopped working, but because 00:40:11.869 --> 00:40:14.650 you've stopped striving, expecting your work 00:40:14.650 --> 00:40:21.150 to satisfy your soul. Third, for those of you 00:40:21.150 --> 00:40:24.329 carrying regret this morning, carrying weariness 00:40:24.329 --> 00:40:27.050 or the sense that your best years are behind 00:40:27.050 --> 00:40:31.650 you, Philippians 4 .19 promises this. My God 00:40:31.650 --> 00:40:35.449 will supply all your needs according to his riches 00:40:35.449 --> 00:40:41.510 and his glory in Christ Jesus. Now, I don't think 00:40:41.510 --> 00:40:43.010 it's just for the older saint. I think it's for 00:40:43.010 --> 00:40:45.929 all of us. Your satisfaction was never meant 00:40:45.929 --> 00:40:49.630 to come from your productivity. Your satisfaction 00:40:49.630 --> 00:40:52.309 is supposed to come from his presence. And that 00:40:52.309 --> 00:40:54.309 door is open to you today, regardless of your 00:40:54.309 --> 00:40:57.269 age, regardless of your history. Solomon spent 00:40:57.269 --> 00:40:59.610 a lifetime and an unlimited budget discovering 00:40:59.610 --> 00:41:02.250 that nothing under the sun can satisfy the soul. 00:41:02.389 --> 00:41:04.570 We don't need to run that experiment ourselves. 00:41:05.650 --> 00:41:08.869 Learn from what he did. Start where he left us 00:41:08.869 --> 00:41:14.469 off at. Fear God. Now let's go beyond his ability 00:41:14.469 --> 00:41:17.230 because we get to know the name of the one who 00:41:17.230 --> 00:41:20.460 fulfills it all. Jesus Christ. our good shepherd, 00:41:20.619 --> 00:41:23.000 the bread of life, our living water. We know 00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:25.639 that in his presence is fullness of joy, that 00:41:25.639 --> 00:41:27.780 at his right hand are pleasures forevermore. 00:41:27.820 --> 00:41:32.059 We know that. So let's not stop where Solomon 00:41:32.059 --> 00:41:34.860 left us. Let's start there and let's move forward. 00:41:35.800 --> 00:41:37.820 I want you to think about this. As we close this 00:41:37.820 --> 00:41:40.619 series, it's been 21 sermons, 12 chapters of 00:41:40.619 --> 00:41:43.340 God's word, three years, and one restless king 00:41:43.340 --> 00:41:46.619 pointing us to a satisfying savior. So my prayer 00:41:46.619 --> 00:41:50.909 for everyone here is very simple. Stop. at wind. 00:41:54.070 --> 00:42:00.510 Instead, come to the one who was himself affixed 00:42:00.510 --> 00:42:05.510 to the cross so that we would be affixed to him. 00:42:08.010 --> 00:42:15.650 Would you take a moment and pray with me? Father, 00:42:15.769 --> 00:42:21.679 we come to an abrupt end. A series that has poked 00:42:21.679 --> 00:42:26.679 and prodded us, has wounded us, has caused us 00:42:26.679 --> 00:42:31.400 to think, has made us uncomfortable, has perhaps 00:42:31.400 --> 00:42:34.019 shaken some foundations of our beliefs and our 00:42:34.019 --> 00:42:41.500 thoughts, but has been used by you to draw us 00:42:41.500 --> 00:42:47.420 to you. We come to you with that same jarring 00:42:47.420 --> 00:42:50.099 ending. that Solomon leaves us at, the end of 00:42:50.099 --> 00:42:54.480 the matter is this. We come before you. We come 00:42:54.480 --> 00:42:57.579 before you recognizing that we are people who 00:42:57.579 --> 00:43:02.039 grasp at wind. And so we thank you for your patience 00:43:02.039 --> 00:43:05.659 with us. We thank you for meeting us in our restlessness, 00:43:05.800 --> 00:43:11.860 not just condemning us for it. Lord God, you 00:43:11.860 --> 00:43:14.099 know how fleeting our days are. You know that 00:43:14.099 --> 00:43:15.880 they are like breath, and you are teaching us 00:43:15.880 --> 00:43:19.139 that. over and over and over again, please keep 00:43:19.139 --> 00:43:22.940 teaching us to number our days. That we wouldn't 00:43:22.940 --> 00:43:27.139 be anxious, but that we'd be grateful. Help us 00:43:27.139 --> 00:43:29.760 to treasure what you've given rather than chase 00:43:29.760 --> 00:43:33.760 things that you never promised. So we confess 00:43:33.760 --> 00:43:37.440 our appetites have run after so many things that 00:43:37.440 --> 00:43:44.869 cannot satisfy. Money, pleasure, control. the 00:43:44.869 --> 00:43:49.389 approval of others, even good things like family 00:43:49.389 --> 00:43:54.409 and work, these things we've made to be our gods 00:43:54.409 --> 00:43:58.909 instead of you. So would you forgive us for our 00:43:58.909 --> 00:44:03.469 pursuit of idolatry? We thank you that where 00:44:03.469 --> 00:44:07.090 our labor fails, your son, our savior, Christ, 00:44:07.329 --> 00:44:10.860 succeeds. because he is the bread of life. He 00:44:10.860 --> 00:44:13.380 is the living water that our souls have been 00:44:13.380 --> 00:44:15.980 needing all along, even when we didn't know his 00:44:15.980 --> 00:44:20.900 name, even when we weren't looking. So like David, 00:44:20.940 --> 00:44:23.619 we repeat, and I ask this to be our prayer growing 00:44:23.619 --> 00:44:26.699 more and more each day, that we would thirst 00:44:26.699 --> 00:44:31.719 for you, that we would yearn for you, that we 00:44:31.719 --> 00:44:35.820 would see this as a dry and weary land. We can 00:44:35.820 --> 00:44:38.860 still appreciate the good gifts, but help us 00:44:38.860 --> 00:44:43.139 to long for the giver. And like your promise 00:44:43.139 --> 00:44:46.159 in the Psalms, we ask that you would make us 00:44:46.159 --> 00:44:50.079 to know the path of life. Fill us with the fullness 00:44:50.079 --> 00:44:52.420 of joy in your presence and the pleasures that 00:44:52.420 --> 00:44:56.440 can be ours at your right hand with Christ. Not 00:44:56.440 --> 00:44:58.900 the fleeting things here, not these things that 00:44:58.900 --> 00:45:02.059 vanish like a vapor, but the everlasting joy 00:45:02.059 --> 00:45:05.300 that is only found in knowing you and being known 00:45:05.300 --> 00:45:10.030 by you. For those of us carrying regret this 00:45:10.030 --> 00:45:12.989 morning, would you remind them that you are sovereign 00:45:12.989 --> 00:45:17.750 over even the crooked and chaotic seasons? Would 00:45:17.750 --> 00:45:22.409 you remind us that you carry your people all 00:45:22.409 --> 00:45:25.710 the way to the end, even with the gray hair? 00:45:28.289 --> 00:45:30.550 And for those who are exhausted from all their 00:45:30.550 --> 00:45:34.110 striving today, would you grant them the grace 00:45:34.110 --> 00:45:39.000 of a quiet, faithful life? content in Christ 00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:45.219 alone? We also ask for your mercy upon those 00:45:45.219 --> 00:45:48.599 here who do not know you. For anyone who has 00:45:48.599 --> 00:45:51.940 not come to you and come to your son for satisfaction, 00:45:52.340 --> 00:45:57.639 would you use the words today spoken from your 00:45:57.639 --> 00:46:03.179 word to draw them to yourself? And so we thank 00:46:03.179 --> 00:46:06.829 you. Jesus, thank you for walking our church 00:46:06.829 --> 00:46:09.969 family through this entire book of Ecclesiastes. 00:46:10.989 --> 00:46:13.590 Thank you for your patience with our questions, 00:46:13.809 --> 00:46:17.289 with our doubts, with our restlessness along 00:46:17.289 --> 00:46:22.150 the way. And so we pray very simply as we depart 00:46:22.150 --> 00:46:26.809 our fellowship today and from this book, that 00:46:26.809 --> 00:46:32.690 apart from you, all is vanity, a breath quickly 00:46:32.690 --> 00:46:38.440 gone. But seal this truth in you, in Christ. 00:46:38.659 --> 00:46:45.179 Our souls find what they were made for. And we 00:46:45.179 --> 00:46:49.280 ask all of this in the saving and satisfying 00:46:49.280 --> 00:46:54.420 name of Jesus Christ, our good shepherd. Amen.