If you would please turn with me and your Bibles to Psalm 127. And the title of our sermon this morning is Avoiding Futility. Avoiding Futility. And as we begin this morning, I just wanted you to consider for a moment What would you do if someone told you that all of the years of work that you have spent, they've invested in your profession, your line of work, or maybe as a stay-at-home mom, whatever it is that you have given your life efforts and labors to, and they told you that all of it was a waste, all of it was useless, all of it was vanity, all of it was futile. How would that make you feel? Your response would most likely vary greatly depending upon who it was that was communicating that to you, right? As if it was coming from your parents or another loved one, that would be a very hurtful and devastating thing to hear from them. But if this was someone else who didn't know you very well, maybe a stranger walked up, someone you'd never seen before, and started saying all these things, you probably have a very legitimate reason for just blowing them off and not paying any attention to them at all, because they really don't know you or anything about you, and so their evaluation of you is not valid. It's not very legitimate. But in our text of scripture for this morning that we're looking at here in Psalm 127, the one who is speaking to us in this passage is none other than the sovereign Lord of the universe who knows us completely and knows all things completely. And he speaks, his evaluation is always 100% accurate. And so, when the Lord tells us these things, we need to pay attention. We don't have the option, like we would with a stranger, to just discount, oh, he doesn't know, he doesn't understand. When the Lord tells us something like this, we need to pay very careful attention. And in reality, these statements that we're going to look at are a gracious warning to us from God about how we might avoid wasting our efforts and our labors in this life. They teach us how to avoid a life of futility. And this morning we're going to be reminded that we must put our confidence in the Lord alone so that we do not waste our life in futile efforts. Let's read Psalm 127. Please follow along with me as I read this Psalm. A song of a sense of Solomon. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors, for he gives to his beloved even in his sleep. Behold, Children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate. This psalm, as you can see at the top there, the psalm, the superscription, it was written by Solomon, King Solomon, who was the son of David. And this is one of only two psalms that are attributed to Solomon, the other one being Psalm 72. And we know from scripture that Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. And we know that because God was the one who gave Solomon wisdom, because Solomon asked for it, wisdom to know how to rule his people. And we were told by God through his word that Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived. But God also shows us in the record of his word that in many ways Solomon did not follow. He did not live according to the wisdom that God had given him. And as it's been said by some, he was the wisest fool that ever lived because much of towards the end of his life, he was living in foolishness and idolatry and not according to the wisdom that God had given him. But this reality does not invalidate the truths that God spoke through him. This is still God's word, and it still is infallible and authoritative, as well as what he wrote in the Proverbs and in other portions of scripture. It is a song of ascents. There are 15, total of 15 of these psalms, ranging from Psalm 120 to Psalm 134. And most commentators agree that these songs were used by the pilgrims, Jewish pilgrims who were on their way to go and worship in Jerusalem. for one of the appointed feasts. And as Jerusalem is at a higher elevation, and when you're heading up to it, you're coming up, you're heading up, you're ascending to Jerusalem. And therefore, the song of ascent were songs that they were singing as they were heading up to Jerusalem to worship. And these psalms demonstrate a preoccupation, many of them with the temple and Zion and Jerusalem, as we would expect them to be, being sung by pilgrims who were on their way up to Jerusalem to worship. But this morning, we're going to just give our attention to the first two verses of this psalm. And I wanted to give you just an outline to follow along here, if you wanted to jot this down. The first part of verse one, we're going to see the vanity of building apart from the Lord. The vanity of building apart from the Lord. The second part of verse one, the vanity of protecting apart from the Lord. And in verse 2, the vanity of restless work apart from the Lord. So let's look first here in verse 1 at the vanity of building apart from the Lord. Solomon writes, unless the Lord builds the house, Solomon begins with the example of those who build a house. Some commentators believe that Solomon is specifically referring to the temple here, and that's a possibility. But whether he's referring to a temple or to building in general, the warning is still the same that's being given here. The instruction doesn't change. And just to consider, are we just considering that Paul, excuse me, not Paul, Solomon is only referring to the temple or to a physical building? In other words, does this principle apply only to physical buildings? Are we just to think of it in that way, in that limited sense? I would say no that the principle given here would apply to all of the efforts that we make in this life to accomplish good and lasting structures. If you think about it, we can think of our desire to educate our children or to educate others. There's a type of a building, right, that's going on there, that work that's involved in it. Of course, our marriages and our families, right? We can think in terms of building into our families, building strong marriages. The scriptures speak of the growth of the church being built up as a building. Really, this concept of building entails a very large portion of what we do in this life, the efforts, the work that we do. Depending on your type of career and where the Lord has you, you can think of your work in terms of this concept of building. We are all builders. We are all working to establish and grow a variety of worthwhile structures in our careers, in our families, in our society, and in our church. And of course, the hope is that when you build something, that it's not gonna be in vain, that it's not gonna be futile, that it's not gonna be something that doesn't last. You want to see your efforts preserved. So what does Solomon mean when he says that unless the Lord builds the house, that they who labor, they labor in vain who build it. Does that mean that we're just supposed to pray and wait for the Lord to do everything? If you're a builder, are you just supposed to sit and wait and pray? and let the Lord build the building throughout scripture. We see that typically the Lord is working through his creation through his people. Although he created the world without the help of anybody or anything right in Genesis chapter 1. But from that point on, and he creates Adam and Eve, and he commands them, and he delegates them the task of filling the earth and subduing it, Genesis 128. So the Lord works through people. He works through his creation. So we are not to think that Solomon is forbidding the labors and efforts of humans to build structures and do all kinds of other works, lest it all be in vain. That's not what he's forbidding. So what is he warning us against here? As we'll see in a few moments, the Lord throughout his word commends hard work. And he commands us to work hard and to be diligent, to be faithful. And he condemns laziness and lack of diligence in our work and in our efforts. So that's certainly not what's being condemned here. He's not condemning diligent builders. But he is warning us that in all of our efforts, we must never lose sight of our dependence upon God. We must never lose sight of our dependence upon God. We are his creation, his creatures. We could not so much as lift a hammer unless he gave us the ability to think, unless he kept our hearts beating. unless He gives us breath. So even in our work, even in our hard work, we must remember and never forget that unless the Lord empowers us and enables us and gives us the ability to do that work, all of our efforts are in vain. And at any moment, He could remove our strength, our health, our ability to think and reason. Do you remember what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty king of the Babylonian empire, as he was talking about this great Babylon that I had built? And the Lord said, that's it. You're done. Your sanity has been removed. He's driven out like a wild animal. for seven years to live like that until he raised his eyes to heaven and he humbled himself and recognized that the Lord was the only sovereign who does not share. We also see in the book of Acts another king who was enjoying the praise of people that said, this is the voice of a God and told that God strikes him down instantly. The reality is that this is just as true of unbelievers as it is of believers. They just don't realize it. They just don't think about it, that they are dependent. Their every breath, the very breath that they curse God with comes from God. Isn't that amazing? And they don't stop to think and to fear and to tremble the fact that they are in God's hands. They don't understand that. But there are millions, dare I say, billions of people that spend their days doing all kinds of work without any acknowledgment of God. And yet all the while, God is the one who's enabling them to do it. So it's not only that the Lord won't allow you to accomplish anything, because, right, we see unbelievers building things, making empires, having success in this world. But the question is, do those things have value? Or are they in vain? What is the nature of all that building? And the problem, there's no lasting value in these things. It's the hay and stubble of this life that gets vaporized. by the consuming fire of God's judgment. There's nothing lasting. It's what the psalmist refers to in Psalm 1-4 when he's contrasting the righteous and the wicked. And he says, the wicked are not so. They're not like the happy and fruitful righteous ones that he just finished describing, but they are like chaff, which the wind drives away. The wicked, along with their works, will perish. See, so it's not just a matter of saying, okay, so that just means that unbelievers and the wicked and sinful people, that they will never have any success. No, we know that's not true, right? That's, from a worldly perspective, from a pure human physical perspective, they can have a lot of success. So really, there's, what I'm trying to get at here is there's two kinds of vanity that are being worn against here. two kinds of vanity. This idea, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. How can, what does that mean, they labor in vain? What does this vanity look like? Well, the first vanity is the vanity of not succeeding in a particular effort that the Lord was not wanting to have accomplished. An example, the Tower of Babel, right? Let's, let's make a name for ourself. Let's build this tower. Let's, and the Lord says, No. I'm going to bring down confusion. Confusion in the languages. And this effort is going to be stopped. And you're going to be scattered throughout the world. So they had all these plans and ideas that they were going to bring this tower, and God stopped it. So that's one example of not succeeding in a particular effort that the Lord was not wanting to have accomplished. Secondly, another example, King Solomon. He was king over Israel at the time that it reached the height of its power and of its influence in the world. I mean, he was a powerful king. You want to talk about somebody that knew about building, somebody that knew about what it was to protect a kingdom? I mean, King Solomon spoke from experience. He was a powerful king. a mighty king, and as we've already talked, a very wise king. And yet, as a result of his sin and idolatry, the Lord brought judgment and his kingdom was split. You have the splitting of the kingdom after Solomon. So all that work, all that effort, all that he had done because of his disobedience and his unfaithfulness to the Lord, much of it ended up being in vain. It didn't last because of his unfaithfulness to the Lord. In James chapter 4, if you want to turn there for a moment with me, this is a sobering warning to us. James 4.13 And we're still looking at this first kind of vanity, this vanity of not succeeding in a particular effort. And James, in James 4.13, gives us this warning. Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. We're gonna build, right? Do you see, the Lord is not in the picture here. There's no concept of unless the Lord, if the Lord wills, we will do this. And notice there in verse 14, yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. It don't matter how you're gonna go to such and such a city, and you're gonna engage in business, and you're already counting the money from your profit, And James stops us up short and he says, you don't even know what tomorrow holds, so you better be careful in your pride and arrogance talking about what you're gonna do a year from now and the success of your business and all of that. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Think about that, you know, putting a kettle hot water, and you watch the vapor, right? You see it, and if you turn off the water, you take it off, and it's gone, right? You see it, and it disappears. Instead, verse 15, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live. Do you notice that? If the Lord lives, we will live. That's the first thing. In other words, before you make any plans, you have to be alive. And you don't know if you're going to be alive yet tomorrow. So be careful about making plans a year from now in pride and arrogance. Again, this is not against making plans and thinking through things. And I don't believe you don't always have to say, if the Lord wills, I'm going to do this. You don't have to say that, there's no magic in that. But that thought and that idea better be in your mind and my mind as we're planning through things. That if the Lord wills, we're gonna do this. And if he doesn't will that, he might will that you and I are gonna be dead tomorrow. And obviously then our plans will not be carried out. If the Lord lives, we will live and also do this or that. Verse 16, but as it is, you boast in your arrogance. You see that? You boast in your arrogance about things that you have no control over. All such boasting is evil. All such boasting is evil. And so going back to Psalm 127, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. the Lord might decide that he doesn't want you, he doesn't want to build that house that you want to build. He's not, that effort, that thing that you want so badly is not according to the Lord's plan. And so regardless of how hard you might try, it's not going to happen. He's not going to permit it to happen. It's not according to His will. So that's the first kind of vanity. The second kind of vanity is the vanity of succeeding in an effort that has no lasting, eternal value and benefit. See, that one's a little trickier, isn't it? Because there's the appearance that I'm successful, that I've done this great work, I've built this great thing, right? Nebuchadnezzar, this is the great Babylon that I have built. but it has no lasting, no eternal value. It is ultimately in vain. The second point reminds us that this is why we need to be so careful about how we evaluate success. What is success? Because there are many in this life who have done many great things in the eyes of the world, and yet because they do not acknowledge the Lord, And because the Lord has not been the builder of their work, it was all and ultimately in vain. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 16, 26. He said, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? It's a rhetorical and a sobering question, right? That, in other words, if a man gains the whole world and he forfeits his soul, he didn't gain anything. He has eternal loss. And what will a man give in exchange for his soul? It's worth more than the whole world. An example of this that you might have heard before is it's reported that after the extremely wealthy John Rockefeller died, who died in 1937, it's estimated that based on inflation rates and all that, his estate was worth over $320 billion. That's how much he was estimated to be worth at the time of his death. And someone asked Rockefeller's accountant after he died, he said, how much did Mr. Rockefeller leave? The accountant replied, all of it. In other words, the accountant was giving an answer more than just the amount. The point was he left all of it, right? He didn't take any of that with him. And just another thing to consider, you know, for us as Christians and in the works that we do, you know, Jesus warned about the Pharisees and the religious leaders how they did their good works before men, right? To be noticed by them. So people would say, oh, wow, look at that guy. He's real spiritual. He's real holy. Isn't he godly? And Jesus said, they've received their reward in full. That's all they get. They're not getting anything else for those works. It's in vain. It's in vain. Not only is work in building a vain effort, but also the effort of protecting is a vain effort apart from the Lord. If you think about it, this idea of protecting of building a house, building structures, building into things, efforts, our families, societies, and then what's the other thing we do? We seek to protect it, right? Because we live in a hostile world, we live in a fallen world, we live in a cursed world, and those things that we build have a tendency to start crumbling. They have a tendency to get robbed and pillaged and attacked, and so we have to protect that which we build. And of course, in that day, they would have a watchman who would look out, would guard, be on the watch for robbers, for invaders, and they would stay awake through the night. Solomon points out here, unless the Lord is guarding the city, unless he's watching out, that watchman keeps awake in vain. There's no point in him staying awake. The Lord is not protecting the city There's no sense in the watchman staying awake. So, our second point here is the vanity of protecting apart from the Lord. First, we considered the vanity of building apart from the Lord. Now, we consider the vanity of protecting apart from the Lord. Once again here, we ought not to think that the Lord is giving a prohibition against any efforts to protect our belongings from loss or to protect our loved ones from harm. But once again, it comes down to a matter of who are we ultimately depending upon to protect us, to protect our things, to protect our family, our loved ones, those things that are most dear to us. Do we really think that somehow we can ensure the safety of our children from harm? Completely? Absolutely? I know there's a temptation and there's people there that will sell you every possible product that you might think that you can somehow ensure and guarantee that. And here's another question to consider. Do we fear the loss of our belongings and spend too much time trying to figure out how to protect them and being anxious about them? Is that the preoccupation of our heart and mind? How can I protect? How can I safeguard? Are you on a never-ending search for the next superfood or supplement or natural remedy that is going to protect you and your family from cancer and every other disease? Unless the Lord does it, unless the Lord wants to give health to your family and preserve them, it's all in vain. Now, again, a balancing verse here, Proverbs 22, 3 tells us that the prudent man sees danger coming and he hides himself. But the naive go on and they are punished for it. So the scripture does tell us to be wise, to be careful. It talks about knowing the status of your belongings, to know the condition of your flocks. That was the wealth in that day. We live in a cursed and a sin-filled world, and it's appropriate for us to take measures to protect ourselves and our loved ones and our belongings. I don't believe that this is a prohibition in any way against having various forms of insurance or a burglar alarm or keeping a weapon in your home to defend yourself and your family from intruders, against eating healthy, against exercise, going to the doctor. All those things are good. But who are you truly depending upon? If it's on those things, your efforts are in vain. You've got your trust in the wrong thing, because none of those things will totally protect you and keep you safe from harm. There's only one who can protect you, and part of his protection might be having you killed. I mean, we're all going to die eventually one day, right? the death rate is pretty consistent for the past millennia. Unless the rapture, which I'm praying and hoping, I would like that, I would prefer that. But if the rapture of the Lord does not come, I'll die, you'll die, we'll all die, and actually our death is our entrance into eternal life. That's how the Lord has taken the sting out of death. And my point is not to unsettle you or to frighten you by that, but just to be faced with the reality that the Lord will protect us. He will carry us through the deep waters of death into his eternal kingdom. And he does take the fear and the sting out of death for those of us that are his children. So again, the question is, who are you truly depending upon? Who do you think is going to prevent you from being harmed? Who is going to keep you and your family from getting a disease? The reality is that in a sin-filled and a fallen world, there is no guarantee or promise from God that you and your family are going to remain healthy, that no harm will ever come to you or your loved ones, and that none of your belongings will ever be stolen. In fact, in regards to our possessions, Jesus specifically commanded us, I'm sure you're familiar with this, to store up our treasures in heaven. Because why? In heaven, we don't have to worry about things rusting, or moss eating holes in your mink coats. I'm sure all of you have mink coats. Or thieves breaking in and stealing, Matthew 6, 19 through 21, right? Store up your treasures in heaven because in heaven, none of those things will happen. Implication that on earth, what? Those things will happen. That's just the nature of the world that we live in. And the primary concern of Jesus is that he wants our treasures to be in heaven, because wherever we store our treasure, that's where our heart will be also, Matthew 6, 21. But we can see clearly from this teaching of Jesus that far from being a guarantee of protection of our earthly belongings, there's actually the expectation that our possessions will be damaged and stolen in this world. Not saying that all of them will, but that's just the risk of worldly possessions. Sometimes the restless nature of our efforts can be an indication that we are not truly resting and trusting in the Lord, right? Because it's like, okay, well, how do I know? Because you said I'm still supposed to work. You said I'm still supposed to protect and take care of my things, take care of my body, all of those things. So how do I know if I'm really trusting in the Lord? Well, sometimes, again, it's this restless nature, this churning, this anxiety within us that indicates that we are not truly resting and trusting in the Lord. And so we need to be instructed regarding the vanity of restless work apart from the Lord. That's verse two. The vanity of restless work apart from the Lord. Let's read verse two. Solomon writes, it is vain for you to rise up early to retire late. to eat the bread of painful labors. So here seems to be a picture of an individual that seems to be a workaholic, right? Somebody who is going to just wake up a little earlier and stay up a little later. And if they do that, they can just earn a little more money and stick a little more away in the bank. And they can take a little bit better care of themselves. And if I just do a little more, then I'll be safe, then I'll be successful, then I'll have enough. They are fretfully trying to assure that they have enough. I think what Solomon's pointing out here is people, and we can all, we all fall into this at times, being self-made, being independent, being proud, being people that don't need any help from God. Please don't misunderstand me. There's nothing wrong with putting in long days of work. And depending on the nature of your work, you might need to put in very long days, or you might have seasons of work. We all do seasons that are extremely busy. And throughout scripture, the Bible commends and commands that we work diligently. Proverbs 10.4 says, Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. And the scriptures clearly and consistently condemn laziness throughout. In Proverbs 6-6, we're told the sluggard is told to go to the ant and observe her ways and be wise. Proverbs 13-4, the soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat. 2 Thessalonians 3.10, Paul said, for even when we were with you, we used to give you this order. If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat either. And we could go on and on and on. I mean, the scripture is filled with condemnation of laziness and a esteem of working hard. So again, just wanted to set the balanced picture here that the Lord is not condemning hard, diligent, toilsome work. Paul talked again and again about laboring with his own hands. Jesus worked tirelessly in his ministry. Nehemiah, others throughout scripture. But we need to be careful that our work doesn't swallow up all other priorities, because there are other priorities in our lives. The Lord being first and him in all other things, marriage, corporate worship, your children, your neighbors, et cetera. Sometimes you might need to step back and say, why am I working so much? What's the point? What's the purpose? Why am I so short on sleep? There is a kind of wearisomeness that is the result of not trusting in the Lord and working without a consideration of the Lord's work in your life and your circumstances. Again, the key issue here is where is your trust? Where is your dependence? Where is your confidence? These self-sufficient attitudes and approaches to life are certainly true of unbelievers, but again, the sad reality is that they can be true of us as believers. We can all fall into these attitudes, these self-sufficient. We can forget that all depends upon the ultimate work of the sovereign Lord, both for the completion of the work as well as the value of the work and the protection of the work. Here are a few scriptures for us to consider as we seek to guard against having this kind of godless and self-dependent attitude and approach to life. Jesus said in John 15, four through five, abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. How often do we think about that when we start out our day? Hebrews 11, 6. Writer of Hebrews says, and without faith, it is impossible to please him. It is impossible to please God apart from faith. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. Notice here the second part of verse two. He says, for he gives to his beloved even in his sleep. It says in the New American Standard, if you notice, those are in italics, which means the translators stuck those words in there to try to help the understanding. I believe it's a better way to just not insert those italic words, which are not part of the original. But for he gives to his beloved sleep. the Lord gives to his beloved, sleep. He knows that we need to sleep. He provides us with sleep. Sleep too is a gift from the Lord. And you think about it, sleep is a humbling thing, isn't it? Sleep is a humbling thing. Do you realize that if you get the generally the recommended amount of sleep for an adult is eight hours of sleep, you will spend one third of your life unconscious, asleep, eyes closed, laid down, doing nothing. Means if you live to be 90 years, 30 of them will be asleep. That's pretty sobering, isn't it? Think about how vulnerable we are when we're asleep, right? Think about the fact that you're not actually accomplishing anything while you sleep, although we all know that if you don't sleep well, your next day is not gonna be very productive, is it? I learned that the hard way in seminary. But we don't get along very well for very long without sleep. We all need to sleep. One thing to consider is, again, if you're not getting enough sleep, and again, there's seasons, sometimes there's health reasons, But is it because you're up at night thinking and worrying about life and about circumstances and about troubles that you haven't really truly entrusted to the Lord? Is it because you're trying to build and you're trying to protect without confidence in the Lord? Could it be that you've forgotten this crucial unless the Lord principle? in your approach to life, do you really think that it all depends upon you? We are called to be faithful and we're called to work diligently with all of our might, but there must come a time each day when we take a break from our labors, we entrust them to the sovereign Lord. We thank him for the reminder that he is God and we are not. and that all depends upon him and not upon us. And then we close our eyes and we go to sleep. He is the one and only indispensable one. He's the only indispensable worker and protector. And we close our eyes and we sleep in peace because we know that our sovereign Lord and our Father, that He never grows tired, as Jeff read for us earlier in Isaiah 40. He never grows tired or weary. We do. And like Isaiah said, even the young men, even the vigorous men, even the athletes, even the special forces seem to be invincible in our eyes, but they're not. They need to sleep. They need to rest. David said in Psalm 3, 5, I lay down and slept, I awoke for the Lord sustains me. And he said in Psalm 4, 8, in peace, I will both lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. We have the illustration of Peter in the book of Acts. the night before he's supposed to stay in trial. And we see him there, what, and he's asleep, chained between two soldiers. How would you do with sleeping in those conditions? And knowing that seems to indicate that he was probably supposed to be executed the next day. Sleep is one of those creaturely needs that reminds us that we need God and he doesn't need us. As we already pointed out that Isaiah 40 points out that the Lord alone is the only one who doesn't need sleep. He never grows tired or weary. And he extends and offers his strength to weak people like us. And one of the very practical means that he uses is sleep. Sleep. Everyone else gets tired, all of us. Notice he says here that he gives to his beloved sleep, his beloved. Some believe this might be a reference to Solomon, because in 2 Samuel 12, 24 to 25, we are told that Solomon was also named Jedidiah, which literally means the beloved. of Yah, short name for Yahweh, beloved of the Lord. So it very likely could be that Solomon here is speaking of himself, that recognizes that the Lord gave him. Again, even as a great, mighty, powerful king, he needed sleep. But we must remember that these promises and so many others in scripture are only for God's beloved children. Unbelievers can't claim these promises. They're for God's children, those who have repented of their sins, those who have put their faith in Christ and have embraced Him as their Lord and Savior. Again and again in the New Testament, we read these words, in Christ, in Christ. Look at those two words. They show up everywhere. in the epistles throughout the New Testament, because the promises and the blessings and the joys of our salvation, they all come to us in Christ, in the person of Christ. Those who are separated from God, those who have never been reconciled to him, they can't claim these promises. They are recipients of common grace. They're given health and joys and things that God gives to all creation, but they can't claim these kinds of promises. And ultimately, the sad reality is that their labors are in vain. Their efforts to protect themselves, no matter how healthy they are in this life, no matter how well they eat, no matter how much insurance they have, ultimately will not protect them from the ultimate judgment of God that they will face. There will be no one to protect them in that day. But the good news that we have, the gospel, is that Christ offers protection. God has provided protection from his own wrath by pouring out that wrath on his own son. in their place if they would but humble themselves and admit that all of my life, my efforts, my efforts even to be righteous, to save myself, to live a life that's worthwhile, it's all in vain. It's all a life of futility. It's vanity, emptiness. But God gives us this gracious warning to us as believers and to unbelievers. It's an invitation to become one of his beloved through trusting in his son's death, burial, and resurrection on their behalf for their sins. So in conclusion, unless the Lord and you can fill in the blank. Your efforts to become educated are in vain. Your efforts to become rich are in vain. Your efforts to be safe are in vain. Your efforts to be healthy are in vain. Your efforts to evangelize your children, your relatives, your neighbors, your coworkers, unless the Lord saves them, your efforts are in vain. Your desires to play sports at a higher level are in vain. Your efforts to buy a house are in vain. Your efforts to be holy and righteous are in vain. It is only through the work and merit of Jesus Christ and him alone that you can ever be justified and declared righteous before a holy God. That's what Paul pointed out in Philippians 3 when he said, all my efforts to abide by the law and being so zealous for the law and trying to be so outwardly righteous. He says, I'm throwing all that aside because I want the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. The reality of the sovereignty of God in our lives ought to produce a humility and a recognition of the vanity of all of our life, all of our efforts in this life apart from the Lord. And in conclusion, I wanted to read to you 1 Corinthians 15, 58. encouraging and promising note to us as believers. As you know, this chapter is a great chapter dealing with the resurrection, the hope of the resurrection that we have as believers, the reality of the resurrection. And Paul concludes this chapter saying, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast. immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. Isn't that a great word? Great. Your toil, your efforts, your labors are not in vain in the Lord. Let's close in prayer. Lord, I just pray that you'd help us to search our hearts. Lord, you know the individual circumstances of each man and woman, each boy and girl here today. Lord, you know what's going on in their lives. And I pray that you would, by your spirit, bring conviction to where we are laboring in vain, to where we are seeking to protect in vain, not truly trusting on you. And some are just frantically seeking to work and protect and provide in a way that you would tell them to cease their anxious striving and to trust their Heavenly Father. Yes, to work diligently, but to trust in you, Lord. Please help us to do that. And I pray, Lord, if there's any here that don't know you as their Lord and Savior, I pray that you would help them to see their need for your salvation, Lord, help them to see the vanity of life apart from you, Lord, and that you have so wonderfully and so graciously provided salvation for us in Christ at great cost to yourself, because it was through his shed blood that we receive forgiveness of our sins. Lord, I pray that you would do your work in each of our hearts, Lord. And I pray that for us of us, those of us that know you, Lord, I pray that we would go on this week and that we would, Lord, that all of our work would be in the Lord and that it would not be in vain and that we'd be steadfast and immovable and abounding in those works that you've set before us this week. We ask it in Jesus name for his sake. Amen.