The following sermon was uploaded to Sermon Audio by Bible Baptist Church in McMinnville, Oregon. And now here with this week's message is Pastor Shawn McGoon. All right, have you ever had trouble communicating with someone? For example, a judge was interviewed a woman regarding her pending divorce and he asked, what are your grounds? And she replied, we have about four acres. No, he said, I mean, what is the foundation of your case? She said, oh, it's made of concrete. He shook his head and he said, do you have a grudge? She said, no, we park our cars on the street. So he tried again. Does your husband beat you up? Yes, she said, about twice a week he gets up earlier than I do. Finally, in frustration, The judge asked, lady, why do you want a divorce? Oh, I don't want a divorce, she replied. My husband does. He can't seem to communicate with me. We've come to the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, but have we really gotten the preacher Solomon's point, OK? What is his point? This is very difficult, and I'll sum it up as best I can. And at true confessions, I'm just beginning to understand the book, and now we've come to the end of it. Although life in this fallen, cursed world is a vapor or a mist that we cannot fully control or figure out, we are to view life as a gift from God, which is to be lived under the eye of God in the fear or reverence of God, enjoying all his good gifts as he intended in his word. You say, that's a mouthful. That's the book. And so, clarification, at conversion the Christian does not receive a key that unlocks all the mysteries of life. Wouldn't that be great? No more questions. No. And thus biblical wisdom is trusting, fearing, reverencing, and obeying God who does have that what? The key. By contrast, then, are you ready? Worldly wisdom rejects God and his word, both the Bible and Christ. And worldly wisdom seeks to live as if this earthly life is all there is, and ends up chasing after the wind to find three things, lasting satisfaction, significance, and security, which is impossible apart from you're what? Creator. And you're what? Redeemer. your Savior, Jesus Christ. In a word then, I would say it this way. We are created by God to worship him in reverence and rejoicing, which is only possible by regeneration. I need new life from outside myself. I need life from above because I'm dead to God. I come into the world dead to God. I need life from God. So I'm created by God to worship Him in reverence and rejoicing, which is only possible by regeneration, whereby God, it's a work of God, He causes me then to rely on His grace that He gives me through His Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that's found, where? In the word, the Bible, exactly. So what's the truth of our text in these last six verses? Are you ready? One sentence, and someone told me, was it yesterday? No, the day before, they said, man, you really worked on that. That sums it up well, those last six verses. God has given his word to make us wise or foolish? Tell me. Wise. OK, wise. Which means reverently worshipping God. How? By keeping his. You tell me someone, well, this person's worshipping God. Yeah. The only way I can know is by the evidence in their life. They're doing what he says. Jesus said, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and you don't do what I say? In other words, if you don't do what I say, I'm not your what? not your Lord. So God has given us His word to make us wise, which means reverently worshiping Him by keeping His commandments. Why or how? In preparation for judgment, the last day. That's verse 14. Now, the context is important. After telling us when to remember our Creator in the days of our youth, the text here tells us how we're to remember Him and why we should remember Him. Okay, this is a very simple outline. I know it looks complicated under the main points, but there are four P's to hang our thoughts on, okay? Think of these like pegs of nails in the wall driven. Four P's. We've got pleasure, we've got pain, we've got perspective, and then we've got preparation. All right, first we've got pleasure. I read the text, but I'll do it again. Besides being wise, the preacher, that's Solomon, also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The preacher, Solomon, sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. All right, two cautions I need to do this. There are two mistakes to avoid in reading this passage. One is that someone other than Solomon wrote it because he speaks of himself in the third person. There are lots of people who believe that, by the way. There's an editor that's coming in. But the question is, why can't Solomon be speaking about himself? and giving an honest appraisal about himself and his work. Jesus said that. The Son of Man is going to Jerusalem, and he's going to be crucified. He's talking about himself in Matthew 20, 17 and 18. So Solomon may have written this, but he's just talking about himself. Now, you have to agree with that. This could be an editor. I don't know. Moses, after he died, we have the last part of Deuteronomy written. It must be written by someone else unless he wrote it ahead of time. You get what I'm saying? So this may be written by someone else, but I'm not so sure Solomon could be evaluating his own work. Secondly, view to avoid, this void definitely, this is a wrong view, absolutely wrong, that an editor wrote this to correct what Solomon wrote, and the sense would be, hey, forget everything Solomon preached, and remember the heart of the Torah, that is, fear God and obey his law. Well, how do we know that view is wrong? Because there is no thematic disconnect between the final verses and the rest of the book. For example, these final verses affirm what Solomon has already said. Three things that he said. The value of fear in God. He said it all the way throughout the book. I could give you the verses, but I'm not. Secondly, the need to obey God's commands. He mentioned that, especially in chapter 5. Okay, which suits Deuteronomy, it cites Deuteronomy 23. And thirdly, the certainty of God's judgment. He has mentioned judgment once, twice, three, four, five, six times in the book. Six times the number of men, interesting. Okay, so as one person said it, the ending is not changing the subject, it is the subject of Ecclesiastes. And so if you look at this last passage, it's ending like a rudder that steers the ship. Without it to guide us, we can easily go astray. So two cautions to avoid in reading this passage. Now let's dive in. Who gave Solomon wisdom? God did, and why? And he tells us to teach the people knowledge. So here's a wise king. He's not an ivory tower scholar shut away from the world in his study. No, he used his wisdom to make others wise. And so what he said earlier about generosity in chapter 11, he also applied to wisdom. He did not hoard his learning. He collected knowledge in order to give it away. And he's been giving God's timeless truth of wisdom away for the past 3,000 years to billions of people around the world through his books. What's that? Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon, and at least two Psalms, all right? Well, if you say, hey, God teaches us wisdom so that we might teach others, yeah, it's called discipleship. Discipleship has two ideas, learning and following. And so what the point is, by learning, and then we're what? Teaching others how to follow King Jesus. Is anybody discipling you? You say, yeah, you right now. No, I mean on a personal level too. And are you discipling anyone? Remember one guy, he said, well, I'll teach you, my buddy Richard, I'll teach you as long as you teach someone else. And so the principle is each one, teach one. Can you imagine if we did that? Lots of Christians just struggle along in their lives and fumble and bumble and make a hash of it. And they find out later, you know, someone could have been teaching me all along here. I didn't have to go through all this junk. It's true. I could have avoided lots of pitfalls. Yeah, you could have. Each one, teach one. Are you with me? Everybody needs a Paul teaching them. Everybody needs a Timothy, they're teaching. And of course, we need a Barnabas alongside to give us a boot every once in a while, keep us moving. We'll get into that. All right, now, if you ask, and I'm expecting an objection here. Sean, wait a minute. Solomon, if he's so wise, why did he have 700 wives and 300 porcupines, concubines? And then he went after all these idols. Doesn't sound too wise to me. Okay, let me give you two points on this. First, because we have a tendency to guard, keep our guard up in the areas that we know we're weak. Isn't that right? But in the areas of our strength, we tend to let our guard down and become vulnerable to what? Sin and the enemy, world flesh and the devil. And so the irony of Solomon's life is that his greatest strength became his greatest what? Weakness, yeah. And the Bible's saying, beware. Be wise. Take what? Heed. If you think you stand, take heed, lest you... Well, it never happened to me. Really? You got as much wisdom as he did? It's saying what? Warning sign, flashes, right? But secondly, I think that he is a warning to us because wisdom is no substitute for Jesus Christ. What do I mean by that? Well, you'll never reach a point in life where you don't need to totally rely on Jesus. The Christian life is not like adolescence to adulthood, you know. And once, you know, I get my kid to ride the bike, I can take my hand off the back of the seat. No, no, no. The Christian life is more like a pacemaker that keeps your heart beating for who? Jesus, for God. That's how we need to think of it. Is that how you think of it? Now, notice that the preacher was also a teacher. He taught the people wisdom, right? Okay, well, what are we saying? That not all teachers are preachers, but all preachers must be teachers. And there's a lot of inks built on this distinction. How so? Well, teaching informs the mind that deals with our ignorance of the truth. And so Jesus did three things in his ministry. He taught, he preached, and he healed. And if you include healing, casting out demons, et cetera, Miracles, in other words. While teaching informs the mind, it's dealing with our ignorance of the truth. But preaching comes through the gate of the mind, seeks to inflame and change the heart. Okay? So the preacher, then, is not merely to communicate information, 2 Timothy 4 and verse 2, he's to reprove, rebuke, and exhort, and to teach. This is really important. That means that, I remember teaching in Bible college overseas, and the guy said, sir, they always call you sir, you preach like you teach. Well, I didn't know any difference. To me, it's like you need information, but you also need a kick in the rear end. You need to get moving. Amen? So it's going to hurt so good, amen? And so it should be encouragement and conviction, right? It's edification and what, exhortation? That's really what we're talking about here, preaching and teaching. Here's what Jonathan Edwards said about it, I love it. I should think myself in the way of my duty to raise the affections of my hearers as high as I possibly can, provided that they are affected by nothing but the truth, end quote. Question, are you affected by nothing but the truth? Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the whole truth? Are you affected by the truth? This is what God told Hosea, chapter four and verse six, you ready? My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. For lack of what? Knowledge. The priest was to teach what? Knowledge. Proverbs 29.18 says, where there is no vision, meaning revelation, meaning the Word of God, the people what? perish, but happy is he who keeps the law. And so when the word of God is neglected, ignored, or not taught and preached properly, what does that mean? We'll have to talk about it. People become fools and perish believing anyone and everything. Ah, but when on the other hand, people hear the word of God, rightly taught and preached, they believe it, they obey it, and they're blessed. James says, don't just be a hearer of the word, be a doer of it, amen. Now, that means that preachers, teachers, are not to water down the word in order to tickle people's ears. We're to open their ears to say, that's a miracle of God. Nobody can do that. That's the work of God. I say amen. And yet, we need to follow the example of Paul and Barnabas, Acts 14 and verse one. This is what it says. Now at Iconium, they entered together into the Jewish synagogue. and spoke in such a way, notice that, they spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. They spoke in such a way, and God took the way that they spoke and used it to bring people to what? Faith, regeneration, amazing. So it's not all what? God, and it's not all us. It's us relying on God and doing what he says and him taking that and doing what we cannot do. That's why I always hear Alistair Begg saying, Lord, do that which a miracle, a mere man can speak and you're actually what? Speaking through him. And he's right. Puritan Richard Baxter said, I preach as a dying man to dying men as never sure to preach again. I believe that's what Solomon was doing. You say, wow, but he made a hash of it. By the end of his life, that's what he's what? It's what he's doing. It's what he set out to do, though he went off the rails. And the Bible says, listen to this, that those who heard Jesus said, no one ever spoke like this man. You know who those guys were? They were the temple guards, like the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees sent them out, go arrest him. And when they went to arrest him, they couldn't because of what he what? What he said. His words arrested them, hallelujah! I love that. That's John 7, 46. You say, well, I don't know, these people that we're reading about, Paul, he was inspired by God, and Solomon's inspired by God, and Jesus inspired by God, obviously. Yes. Listen, they were, and yet we must be empowered by the Spirit, a power beyond us, but the means that the Spirit blesses as He chooses to is the hard work in the Word of God. That's what He means by when He says, you know, that He did this with great care. Well, what did He do? He weighed and studied and arranged many Proverbs with great care. It was hard work. What's he saying? That Solomon looked at life and he saw that often little pithy sayings, proverbs, perfectly captured the complexity and bewilderment of life. And so he studied people and situations and events in all their regularity and randomness and he wrote down what he observed and it was hard work, hard work. And he gave proverbs that are not promises, they're what? Principles. Now, you gotta get that. A whole sermon could be done just on that. But it was hard work. Here's the question. If you think about the things that he said, two are better than one. Really? Are they? Yeah, they are. The things that he said in the book. Wisdom's better than strength. I mean, he's saying these things that are just so compact and they're truth compact. He said a lot in a little, just like who? Jesus. Here's the question, do you praise God for the beauty of Ecclesiastes? Not just for what the book says, but also the way it says it. And so why is that? This is the word of who? God, and one of the many ways God reveals his character and shows his grace is through his word. He's a God of exquisite beauty. And so it's only appropriate, Christian, for the book that tells the story of his salvation to please the ear, to inspire the imagination, fascinate the mind, and delight the soul. And yet, yet, The more I read, it is a sad irony that many folks find Ecclesiastes a gloomy and pessimistic book. In fact, some are left unable to make any sense of it. I have a friend of mine, I won't say his name. I don't like that book. I'm glad you're preaching it, not me. It's the book of speculation like Revelation. Really? When it actually is written to bring us pleasure. How do I know? Notice what he says, the preacher sought to find words of what? Delight, pleasurable words. And he uprightly wrote words of truth. Let me ask you the question, in the context, how do you remember your creator? How do you know that you really know God? Well, by listening to his words of delight and truth and finding them what? Pleasurable. It'd be like reading a love letter. from the gal or guy you're engaged to. I could give you the illustration of Lynn. But what's the point of what he's saying? God is not a cosmic killjoy. The best way I put it, as God gave us his world to enjoy, he also gave us his word for our joy. Jeremiah said, your words were found and I ate them and they were the joy and rejoicing of my heart. Or the psalmist says, the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Or again, he says, you ready, if your law had not been my delight, there's our word, I would have perished in my affliction. But what we often do, if you're like me, confession, I hate to do this, but I will, grace and truth, grace and truth, yeah, truth at any rate. Grace, that's an option, but truth at any rate. And we become brutal, brutal, brutal, truth, truth, truth. Yeah, well, you just denied the truth by not loving. Yeah, but truth, truth, truth! I know what I'm saying is appealing to somebody, because if you lean toward grace, you're going, yeah, get him, pastor! But if you lean toward truth, you go, hey, stop that stuff, man, stop it. Jesus was full of grace and what? Truth. And so we often look at the Bible through the lens of the last word in verse 10, that word truth. Why? Rightly, we want to know, is the Bible reliable? Can we trust what it says? Is it true? And the answer is, yes, it is true. And we can stake our eternal destiny on it. But what Solomon is saying here is that the way the Bible actually works is being beautiful because it's true. Did you hear that? It's beautiful because it's true, and by being true because it's what? Beautiful. It is sin that distorts the beauty of God. Did you get that? I could use many examples, but imagine a person who thinks of the Bible as out of date and therefore irrelevant. Well, without the Bible's truth in this guy's life, there's also an absence of beauty. Why? Without the Bible's concept of what pleasure really is, this guy has to turn to construct his own idea of pleasure, which will always be driven by a selfish understanding of pleasure that will constantly narrow in around himself. And so his idea of pleasure is what? Sinful selfishness. Because he's not getting his pleasure from the idea of who? Of God. But Jesus says, on the other hand, John 8, 31-32, you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free from that sin and selfishness. You see, that's how much of the Bible works. Let me give you an example of it, because you say, I want more illustration. I'm not going to have a lot of illustrations today, but here's my point. What comes right after Ecclesiastes? What is it? Tell me. Song of Solomon, right? And so it's one thing for God to tell us that, you know, what marriage is, one man, one woman joined together by him for lifelong. It's quite another for God to tell us, you know, to give us poetry to express what it's like to be in love and what it's like to make love. That's what the book does. And so the truth of the words of God is not detachable from the beauty of the words of God. Give an example of this. You just read the last few chapters of the book of Job and all the questions that God asked him. And he goes back to creation. He goes back to all these animals. And it's just, it's amazing. Or how about this? Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. It's beautiful, isn't it? It's truth. And it's also what? Beautiful. Isaiah 40, mountaintop chapter. You say, that's all Old Testament preacher. Romans 8. There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Mountaintop chapter. And then you come to the end, Revelation 21 and 22. Wow, new heaven and new earth. You say, why aren't we there yet? I know. And so you know your creator when you realize that his words are meant to make you smile. Not frown, that his commandments are not burdensome. They're not a bunch of rules and regs. that you hate hearing about and being reminded of how short you fall of them. But another way to be sure that you know God is when what he says in the Bible makes you wince. Look at verses 11 and 12. The words of the wise are like goads and like nails. Firmly fixed are the collected sayings. They are given by one shepherd. My son, he's got the warning, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. All right, what were goads? They were ancient cattle prods with pointed sticks which shepherds used to get stubborn animals moving and headed in the right direction. So you could say correction and direction. Well, goads work because they cause what? Tell me. You say, oh, it's abuse of animals. No, no, no, no. It's not designed to injure the animal, but to inflict just enough pain to get its full cooperation. So, think of Ecclesiastes as God's cattle prod. Now, if you say, preacher, I'm not an animal. It's true that you're not an animal, but haven't you expected to find lasting satisfaction in something or someone other than the goodness of God? Let me ask you, have you ever looked to money to be the answer to all your problems? Okay, who hasn't? How about work? You thought if you just got a good job and you went to work, that would solve everything until what? It didn't. How about this? I just get married and everything will be great. I'm serious. How about this? When I have kids, then life will turn out really. And the grandkids, that'll be even better, won't it? Okay, I'm asking the question. You look to money or to work or marriage or family or pleasure or possessions, et cetera, et cetera. And the preacher's words then steer us away from this foolish rage, this mocking laughter. They spur us on to things like patience and contentment, humility and joy. And he's saying that when we forget God, the preacher prods us to remember our creator, and the very moment we start to think that this life in this fallen world, right, that we'll live here forever, he pokes us in the ribs and reminds us that soon we will what? Die. Are we having fun yet? If you look at how this word is used, Even biblically. Israel needed prodding through the wilderness. 40 years, didn't they? Interesting. And so did Peter. Remember Peter, he said, you'll never go to the cross. And Jesus pulled out his goat and said, get behind me, Satan. And he poked Peter, but Peter's not Satan, but Satan was speaking through him. How about this? I love this. Saul, the persecutor, was transformed into Paul the missionary by Jesus' words. They were what? Goats. Why are you persecuting me, he asked. And so here's the point. Where do you need prodding in your life right now? Where do I need you to come and tell me, hey preacher, you know, you didn't say that right. The spirit was not right at that. The tone was not right that way. Think of it. Or what you said didn't line up with this scripture over here, okay? Where do you need prodding? But not just prodding, think of your life as a tent and Ecclesiastes as nails or pegs that keep you from being blown away by this world's wisdom in the storms of life. He says nails. We all need true God-given words of wisdom that sting us and stabilize our lives. That's his point. They would have a nail there and they would hang things on the nail. But even if your life's like a tent, it would hold you down when the wind, the storms of life came along. The illustrations are profound. Just think of the comfort provided by Solomon's teaching. He says it will be well with those who fear God, chapter 8, verse 12. That's comfort. But think of the security provided by his teaching that God is in control. He says God has set the times, a time to be born and a time to, and everything in between. God is sovereign over how much of time? And everything that happens in it. And so you got comfort and you got security. How about this? Think of the focus of our lives by his constant exhortations that we seize the day and enjoy God's good gifts in the way he intended. And he said that again and again and again and again and again and again. Even if you look at chapter seven in verse 12, I'll just read it and emphasize the words here. This is what he said. For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantages of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. Wisdom gives us protection, and wisdom gives us what? Life. And we're talking about life abundantly, okay? Not just physical life. So these collected sayings, he says, are given by one shepherd. Well, who would that be? God, the Lord is my shepherd, but also Jesus, who's the good shepherd. And yet he's represented, Jesus is represented by many under shepherds that are to feed his flock with knowledge and understanding. Where's that? Jeremiah three and verse 15, okay? Well, here's what we read in the New Testament. All scripture is breathed out by who? By God. even the breath of breath parts of Ecclesiastes, okay? Vanity of vanities or vapor of vapor, that's God's what? Word. And what is the purpose of scripture? For teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness and why? That the man or woman of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. That's 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. All right. By saying, beware of anything beyond these, he is warning us to rest in God's written revelation, the Bible. He's saying scripture is sufficient. His point simply, there's no need for you and I to look to other books in hope of gaining better answers than the Bible. Okay, that's what he's saying. God knows that we need wisdom and so he gave us a book. And you say, but don't we need books to help us study the Bible? Don't you use many commentaries, Sean? The answer is, yeah, I do. You can look at the end notes, footnotes, whatever, of all my sermons, there's probably anywhere from 12, 15 to maybe 40 or more on those, true confessions. Solomon is not bashing books and study and knowledge. Instead, he is warning us that we can know a lot and still not be wise. Paul told Timothy, 2 Timothy 3, that in the last days there will be folks who are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Think of that. God's design, someone said, for us, for our lives, is not to make us smart sinners, but godly saints. Does that make sense? If we aren't careful, if we aren't wise, we can get sidetracked at the vanity fair of knowledge, only to miss out on the wisdom of God and on a life that's really worth living. That's why in chapter 10, in verse 15, he said, the toil of fools wears them out. And what is his point then? He's not discouraging study. He's really trying to warn against the casual reader He's trying to discourage the faint-hearted and the lazy from aspiring to be one of these wise individuals that teaches other people. It's not a prohibition. It's an indirect challenge to those that are aspiring, right, that want to be counted among the wise. And in a sense, he's saying, look, as I devoted myself to know wisdom and to see the affliction that is afflicted on the earth, even though sleep is not seen in one's eyes day or night, still, I observed that one is unable to understand all God's work, the work which is done under the sun. That's chapter eight, verse 17. What's he saying? That it's hard work. And he's saying that even after you do all your study, you're still not going to understand it all. You're going to end up being frustrated if you're trying to figure all life out and you can't. And he's saying stick with the what? The word of God. That's what he's saying. He's saying, are you ready? Let God's word chart the course of your life. I don't need to go to another book to find out about marriage. The Bible tells me what I need to know. Well, it's not helping me. You must not understand it, or you're not applying it. Hello? Hello, Betty? Anybody listening? How about family? Same thing. Same thing. How about finances? Same thing. Same thing. How about government? Same, same. You say, tell them in Salem. Tell them in DC. I know. OK, but it just goes on and on. How about work? How about stuff, stewardship? The Bible tells us everything we need to know for life and godliness. And someone's gonna say, yeah, but Sean, what about history and science and philosophy? Again, he's not saying we can't study these things, he's just saying you would never use those as substitutes for the Bible. Here's the best way I can put it. The Bible comes from Jesus and is about Jesus and is meant to conform us to the character of Jesus. The beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the, so that everything must be seen in the light of God's word. Best way I can put it, are you ready? In the Old Testament, Jesus was predicted. In the Gospels, he was revealed. In Acts, he is preached. In the epistles, he's explained. And in the book of Revelation, he's expected, he's anticipated to come back. It's all about him. And so I must view everything in life by the light of the world. Who's that? Jesus. And if I don't see anyone or anything in light of Jesus, including myself, I'm seeing that person or that thing what? Wrongly. He's the standard. I don't care. Someone says, well, you know, so-and-so doesn't, they're not the standard. Jesus is. Are you with me? He said, you don't care. I'm not saying, I'm saying it doesn't matter when they're compared with him, what he or she's doing or saying or not doing or not saying. And so listen, remember your creator by letting his word dispel your illusions and confronting your folly, even when it hurts, even when it painfully, what, pokes you. I don't like that poking Sunday. That preacher was poking me. And it was painful. I really liked the delightful parts. but I don't like that painful part. Okay, look, are you ready? When was the last time you submitted to the Bible and acted on what it says even when you did not like what it said? What we do is, well, that's not really, that can't mean what he really means. Divorce part, that can't really mean what he says. Why not? Oh, sex outside the marriage, that can't really mean what he says, to look on a woman in lust. That's not right, really? Really? Obey your parents, yeah, except for when they tell me to clean my room and I can just stuff everything under the bed, right? No, no. And the government, you know, we gotta do what they say and pray for them and pay taxes, except when, and then you got all these things people come up with. I get it, but you still gotta respect them. Let me ask you a question. Do you let scripture poke? and painfully prod you to go God's way. You will know that you know God when what he says makes you weep as he's humbling your pride, as he's reversing your expectations, as he's upsetting your priorities when they're wrong, as he's offending your behavior when it's sinful, doesn't conform to his word, when he's challenging your faulty thinking. Pleasure, pain, and thirdly, perspective. Look at verse 13. He says, the end of the matter, all has been heard, fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. He's saying, when everything's been said and done, what's the bottom line? What's the end game of life? And he says, fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. I mean, do you hear how comprehensive this is? What do you mean, Sean? There's no compartmentalization of family over here, and I got my work over here, and my friends over there, and churches for Sunday. No, no, the preacher reminds us that every responsibility we have toward anyone or anything else, we have toward God first and foremost. Think of how this might change your relationships. Think of how this might change your stewardship. If you said, I'm going to do this for the glory of God, would my house be as messy as it is? Would I have as many books as I have? Would my car need washing on a regular basis? Would I get the oil changed every 3,000 miles? Would I call or even pray for a friend on a regular basis? Or no, I'm gonna wait for them to call me because don't you know I deserve it? Just think about how this might change your responsibilities and your relationships if God was the first and foremost of your life. This is not the first time that he's told us to fear God. He told us to fear God because God's work is eternal, chapter 3, 14. Because God demands holy worship, chapter 5 and verse 7. He told us to fear God in times of adversity as well as prosperity in chapter 7. And he said in chapter eight and verse 12, that it will be well with those who fear God. And now he tells us, fear God and obey him because one day God will bring us before him in judgment. Now here's my question. Why do so many preachers say that fearing God does not really mean fearing him? And they spend five, 10, 15 minutes on talking about how fear doesn't really mean fear. Well, perhaps because folks today find the words freedom and independence much easier to swallow and follow than to fear and keep is what? Commandments. Doesn't that sound so constricting? You know, fear and obey. After all, we live in a made-to-order drive-through culture. We like things done our way and done fast. That's the way one person said, fat to skinny, dumb to smart, sad to happy, godless to godly, all with a snap of a finger, or push of an easy button, or a dial of a phone. And God's in our hearts, fast and easy. But what Solomon is saying, fearing God, this reverence of God and obeying his commandments are a lifelong process. It's God's only solution to our sin and that truly it will satisfy our hearts. In other words, there's no shortcuts with God. I want the quick and easy way. Let me read the little book on discipleship, you know, and my whole life will be fixed. Pastor, meet with my kids and fix them, will you? People have told me that. I'll tell you, illustrations about it. Okay, let's go through this simply. To fear God is to take him seriously and to stand in awe of him. Why? He is almighty creator and we are mere creatures. Would you agree with that? He is eternal and we are, according to Solomon, a vapor, a finite vapor. He is sovereign, we are dependent on him. He is holy, we are sinners. It is fitting then that we stand in awe of our eternal almighty creator, because in him we live and move and have our being, yeah. One man, Oswald Chambers, said that when you fear God, you have nothing else to fear. But when you don't fear God, you fear everything else. Let me ask, whom or what do you fear? And, and I think this is really important, I'm not gonna leave this out, the fear, this fear, this reverence of God includes all the gracious affections of the soul towards God, which are produced by the Holy Spirit. When we talk about fearing God, it's not something you can conjure up, okay? It's a work of God. It's grounded in the knowledge of what God has revealed about himself and his word. Are you ready? It's inseparable from God's love, and it's in proportion to it. For example, A slave could be terrified of his master and detest his master. But how different is the reverence of an affectionate child who, in proportion as he or she loves his or her father, dreads incurring his father's displeasure or her father's displeasure? Listen, each of us falls into one of two categories. Those who fear reverence God or those who have no fear of God before their eyes, Romans 3, 18. You either fear God or you don't. It's saying you're either a believer or you're what? You're a make-believer. You're not a Christian. How can we know? Look at the text that tells us. I don't have to go far with this. The text tells us, sticking to the text, amen, that the attitude of fearing God leads to the action of keeping his what? Commandments. Doesn't it say fear God and little word what? End. And so if you, if I really stand in awe of God, we're gonna seek to obey his word. Yeah, except for when I don't like it and it's not going my way. No, no, no, no. Jesus said, if you love me, you might think about keeping my commandments. He said, you will, John 14, 15. And why? Now this is the way one person put it, I can't put it any better. Because when by the gift of God, someone possesses the fear of God, sin loses its sweetness and strength. Obedience to the word of God naturally follows because it becomes the delight of the newborn soul. Interesting. So now I delight to please and obey my father because he first loved me. And how do I know that he first loved me? He sent his son who loved me and gave himself for me. We're talking about the gospel. And so Jesus delighted to do his father's will. You read it in Psalm 40. And why did he delight to do his father's will? Because he delighted in the fear of the Lord. Where's that? Isaiah 8 and verse what? 11. But I want you to notice the text. Fear God and keep his commandments. The order is crucial. Why? By grace through faith in Christ, I am already accepted and therefore I what? Obey. It is not I obey so that I can be accepted. No, he first loved me. Isn't that what the text says? We love him because he first loved us. Isn't that what it says? And so look, I now love and serve him in grateful response to his free grace. This is not a performance trip. This is not you earn it. This is not how good can you do so that you might be accepted by God. That is not what he's saying. This is the fulfillment of the promise of the new covenant, that I will put my spirit in you. I will put my fear in you. I will put my law in you and cause you to walk in my ways. Jeremiah, what? 31, 31, you can read it. 31 and Ezekiel, what? 36. You can read those verses. And what some people had in the old covenant true regeneration, all have in the new covenant. The fear of God written on the believer's heart is the work of the Holy Spirit. Again, read it. You can read it in Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36. It's the work of God. Now, here's what's fascinating about this text. The word duty is not in the Hebrew text. So it would read, fear God and obey his, keep his commandments, right? For this is the whole of man. In other words, the whole of man, the wholeness, the essence, the very best and fullest way of being a human being, okay? It's more than just our duty. This is one of the old writers, Charles Bridges. It's our whole happiness in business, the total sum of all that concerns us, all that the Savior enjoins, all that the Holy Spirit teaches and works in us. You say, that's so good. Solomon is saying is that the greatest thing any person can do, the most important thing in your life and my life is to worship God and obey his word. Let me ask you, is that your perspective? No, I got stuff for work, I gotta get ready tomorrow. And I gotta rest and there's laundry and I gotta clean the house and I gotta get gas in the car and I gotta blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The most important thing for you is to worship God. Well, we do that on Sunday morning, 24-7, 24-7. Your whole life is to be what? Worship. Everything is to be done as unto Him, because in the answer, I will answer for every last thing. And so that brings us lastly to God's wisdom. What does it call for? Preparation, verse 14, and we are done. Notice what the text says. Four, the reason. We are to fear God and keep his commandments. For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. One of my favorite writers, preachers, Dale Ralph Davis said, life down here is only a prelude to a greater life in the hereafter. And the preacher tells us a day of reckoning is coming. And God will hit the rewind button of our lives and then push the play button. I don't like that. I don't like the idea that God is going to bring everything back up in my life. I don't serve that kind of a God. Isn't it interesting that Christians, what we do? Well, I know that's for the unbeliever, because all that has to be brought up, all that dirty linen has to be brought up, so they're going to be thrown in hell. But not the believer. No, no, no, the text says it will be comprehensive and detailed in scope. Notice, notice the text. Every deed, that's our actions, every secret thing, that's our thoughts, even our motives, and good or evil, it will all come to light. Jesus said you will account for every idle word, Matthew 12, 36, 37. Now here's the last question, I'm just gonna ask you so simply, is that frightening to you? It's interesting, some people are going to say, well, no, I got my fire insurance, man. I got my get out of jail card free. I don't need to worry about that. Other people are like, yeah, that's frightening because I'm going to be accountable to God. The preacher has told us, notice this, to reverence God and to what? Rejoice. And what he's saying is that if we don't let the joy of knowing God, right, draw us to a saving relationship with God through faith in his son, then this promise of judgment, this goad may still reach us and move us through the narrow gate that leads to life. Matthew 7, 13 to 14. Now, let me get right to it. I'm gonna stick to my notes closer. Why does Ecclesiastes mention the final judgment? Because the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. And if there is no God, then therefore no final judgment, then it's hard to see how anything we do really matters. In that scenario, the NIV translation makes sense. Everything's meaningless. Bad translation, by the way. Because if there is a God, and there is, who will judge the world, then everything matters. Everything matters, everything. You say, what do you mean? Everything, okay? How we invested our time and money. Really? Yeah, you're gonna answer to God. I'm gonna answer to God for how we invested our time and money. How we stewarded our bodies. Oh, don't tell me what I can eat. Don't tell me about my sleep. Don't tell me about exercise. Preacher, now you're meddling. And not just that, how we obeyed or honor our parents, how we loved our wives as men, how we submitted, you know, to our husbands if we're women, how we treated people young and old. Interesting. Well, just a child. Well, it's just, you know, senior, elderly. Really? How we spoke to people, words, and how we spoke about them when they weren't around, gossip. Think of that. how we went about our daily task. Did you do it as under the Lord? Did you do it with all your might? He's been talking about that in the text, hasn't he? Hasn't he? It will all matter on that final day. That's what he's saying. And so the final message of Ecclesiastes is not that nothing matters, but that everything matters. that without faith in Jesus on that day, your righteousness will be exposed as filthy, dirty rags. And Solomon is getting to the whole point of the Bible. Only the person clothed in the righteousness of Christ will be able to stand before holy God in full acceptance and approval. The question, will that be you? And I'm preaching to myself, will that be me? And so let the words of the preacher be like a hand on your shoulder that rudely shakes you and I from our slumber and ends our dreaming illusion of a happy life in which we write our own script without our Creator and Redeemer. I can do whatever I want to, you know, tell me how to live, preacher, or dad, or mom, or president, or police. Really? Yeah, I can do what I want and how I want and when I want and with whom I want. Really? Really? No. Listen, if that's you, then let this final verse be a gracious invitation, not a sentence of condemnation. Write the text you're saying right now and trust your life to Jesus Christ today, who alone has the power to save you from the wrath of God. Amen? Ah, you say, but we're all Christians, aren't we? Well, some probably are, and some aren't. I mean, God knows our hearts. But for the believer, death and judgment are not things to fear. They are a time when the terrors of this world will give way to the glory of the new world. And so in Christ, then, living and dying are a win-win. To live is Christ, to die is? Gain. To me, if anything, the judgment seat of Christ ought to kill all our complacency. What do you mean, preacher? Ah, how many things are we to do under the glory of God? Whether you eat or whether you drink. No, it's just talking about singing on Sunday, preacher. Really? No, it's talking about everything you think and say and do. Again, time and money and relationships and responsibilities. It's talking about nothing. Nothing is too small a matter for heaven to take notice of. Think of that. When I read this text, I thought, what am I doing with my life? You cannot afford, I cannot afford to waste our lives. And so it's to kill our complacency. I was reading even this morning. Judgment Day is an event that the church has nearly implied to be a no-show opportunity for believers washed in the Savior's blood. However, there will be many surprised souls when their acquittals come only after a public reading of the list of offenses against God and humanity. Now watch this. This is Estes and Fredrickson. They say this, the public reading must be done if God's deserved glory is to be magnified. for his mercy and forgiving so horrendous a list of sins. Now watch this. And acquittal comes only after charges have been made. Did you hear that? God's very glory and honor, his perfect expectations and perfect love require the fullest extent of our sin be realized by all in order to appreciate but a fraction of his grace. And then he says, the reach of God's judgment goes beyond any secrecy through which one would hope to veil one's sins. And there may be several reasons for the hiddenness of sin, that word secret. We have heard Solomon talk about the weakness, human memory, but we've also heard of our very limited knowledge. Nonetheless, the sobering alarm is that whatever sin one designed to be secret will not escape notice. Am I trying to hide something from you? Are you trying to hide something from me? He said, it will be shouted from the rooftops on that day. That's what Jesus said, didn't he? He said, well, this God sounds like a God who takes the dog's nose and rubs it in the poop on the carpet. No, no, we don't like that kind of God. Psalm 90 in verse 8, listen, you have put our iniquities in front of you, our secrets in the light of your presence. God will be glorified in the end. He will be. And when we see how much we've been forgiven, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, there it is, and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction. Why? So that we may be able to comfort those who are in an affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. What's the point? And how do you look at Judgment Day? Well, I look at it like grades, pastor, at the end of my term. I'm trying not for the F, you know? I'm trying for the A, but I'll probably get a C, and so I'm a carnal Christian. I could be a selfish saint. Really? Well, no, I kind of look at it like job performance, preacher. There's evaluation. I may not get the promotion. I may get a demotion, but I can't get a pink slip in heaven. OK, I get it. You could look at it like that. In the Navy, I remember that. They couldn't kick us out. You may be in the brig, but you couldn't be dishonorable discharge, I guess, if you did something bad enough. But there won't be any Christians who are dishonorably discharged, amen? Well, I don't look at it as either of those. I really look at it like a family. What do you mean? A family that my father will tell me what I will inherit and what I won't. Right? Well, that makes sense. I'm sorry. As a Christian, I inherit everything Jesus inherits. Yes, you will inherit the whole earth, but what you do in it will be determined by how you labored here. We don't think of that. Look at the parable of the talents. Look at the parable of the meanness. Look at the parable of the steward. He put people in charge of things and when he came back, he expected them to be faithful and he rewarded them and gave them service that's what? In line with what they did or didn't do. Am I right or not? You look at the parables Jesus is teaching that what we do now matters for how long? That's not how we usually think of it. I just got my get out of jail card free and I'm in. No, not so fast, I say. Everything is to be done for the glory of God. And verse 14 reminds us of the comfort that will come when God finally balances the scales of justice, vindicated the righteous and condemning the wicked. I love what C.S. Lewis said about this. He uses the illustration. And you've got, what's the guy's name, Augustine as well. I thought it was really good. Augustine makes this point about our house being like an old house, our life being like an old man, you know, and God creaking the house and God working in the house. And he said this, the house of my soul, oh Lord, lies in ruins, rebuild it. And this is what C.S. Lewis said, imagine yourself as a living house. Because that's the illustration he used earlier in chapter 12. And God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what God is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on. And you knew those jobs needed doing, and so you're not surprised. But presently, in other words, all of a sudden, he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense, in other words, to you. What on earth is God up to? And the explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of. Throwing out a new wing here and putting on an extra floor there and running up towers and making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage, but God is building a palace. A palace he intends to come and live in it himself. That's good. That's what God is doing with you and I, the Holy Spirit making a palace that he will dwell in for how long? Forever. And so Solomon had learned, as we all must, that he was not in control. And so as dust-bound creatures, we cannot trust time and events. We have no leverage over them. As sons and daughters of Adam, who will never escape God's comprehensive curse in this life, so we will never be free from troubles or escape death in this life, our only hope is our creator and savior. Can I hear an amen? and we can labor for Christ now while we live, and we can live with Christ forever when we die. And so death is truly gain for the Christian. A man came into a church service and he hollered from the back, don't worry, I read the end of the book, we win. In the end, who wins? God and all those who fear him and keep his what? Commandments. Christian, there is no need for despair or pessimism. God will win. The judge of all will do right. And Christ has already crushed the serpent's head. And on that day, he will throw him into the lake of fire. And then Jesus will straighten out this crooked world. So be not dismayed, beloved. Have faith now in what God says about the future. Believe that the Lord will make everything right. Listen, today, do you need to leap off the ash heap? Remember Job on the ash heap, scraping his boils? Do you need to leap off the ash heap? Do it then, amen? Stand up straight, sister. Walk forward in faith, brother. Obey what God said and count it all joy as you do, amen? 1777, John Wesley wrote this in his journal. I began expounding in order the book of Ecclesiastes. I never before had so clear a sight either of the meaning or the beauties of it. Neither did I imagine that the several parts of it were in so exquisite a manner connected together, all tending to prove that grand truth, that there is no happiness outside of God. And Wesley got the preacher's point. There is no lasting happiness apart from Jesus Christ. And that concludes this week's message. We hope you were encouraged and thanks for listening.