Well, good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here today. My name is Andy Langdon, one of the elders here. Just get the privilege today to talk to you from Ecclesiastes chapter 12 is where we'll be at today. My mic is cutting in and out still. Can I grab a battery or another one? Let's try this one on and see how this one works. We'll see. We'll go from it. Is that better? Okay. We'll be in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 this morning as we're finishing up our series in Ecclesiastes. We're done today. Next week we'll pick back up in the book of Matthew, in Matthew chapter 13. But today we're in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, looking at the entire chapter. Let me go ahead and read that passage to us. Ecclesiastes 12, verses 1 to 14. It says this, Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth. Before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them. Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain. And the day when the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men are bent and the grinders cease because they are few. And those who look through the windows are dimmed and the doors on the street are shut. When the sound of the grinding is low and one rises up at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of song are brought low. They are afraid also of what is high, and the terrors are in the way. The almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails. Because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets. Before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanity, says the preacher. All is vanity. Besides being wise, the preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many Proverbs with great care. The preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. 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, beware of anything beyond these, of making many books. There is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. God, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for the truth that we find there. We thank you for the Spirit that you give to us that brings it to life. We thank you for Jesus who is the Word incarnate that we might know you. We pray, God, that you would bless this time, that you would help us to see and hear and live lives that are following after you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm going to be honest with you as we start this passage of scripture. We've been in Ecclesiastes now. This is the 12th week we've been in Ecclesiastes. And as a preacher, I'm done with Ecclesiastes. Are you guys also done with Ecclesiastes? There's times when you go through passages of Scripture, and Ecclesiastes is one of those, just being honest with you, where it feels like, haven't we done this before? Haven't I preached this before? Isn't this, doesn't this feel like I can kind of plug and play whatever chapter, just pop that sermon into chapter 7, works in chapter 9, works in chapter 12, go back to chapter 3. Just doesn't it feel like that a little bit to you? I'll be completely honest with you. There are times when I've opened up to prepare for Ecclesiastes and I've read the scripture. I'm like, I swear I've already preached this. I swear Solomon has said this exact thing in the previous chapter and we're right here again. And there's, I think there's a reality that and I think there's an intentionality behind that. There's an intentionality in Solomon to say the same thing again and again and again. And we're at the end of this book, we're at chapter 12, and Solomon's not saying anything new. He's not saying, well, here's just one more quick new thing to kind of bring to your attention before we close the book. He's not saying anything new at all. He says, again, vanity of vanities is kind of how he's ending the book. It's all vanity. As we read through this passage of scripture, as we look through Ecclesiastes, as we kind of live life, quite frankly, I think there are many of us who feel like the sense that we're just kind of stuck in this sameness. where it just kind of all feels the same. That every day that comes feels exactly like the day before it. Every struggle that comes across us feels exactly like the same struggle we had yesterday. That nothing ever really changes. I'm going to quote song lyrics, and this song lyrics is basically for all of you, but only for one person in particular. You'll know who this is. One of my favorite songs, it says, take the longest day, waste it all away. There it is, Ryan. I can't stand it, but I can't do anything. Every day is the same. Nothing ever change. I can't stand it, but I can't do anything. I think there's a sense that there's a sense in Ecclesiastes of everything feels the same. Every day feels the same and there's a hopelessness, I think, a frustration that rises of what can we do about it? Can I change anything about the fact that it just the sun rises, the sun falls, the sun rises, the sun falls. It's vanity after vanity. I try, it doesn't work. I try, it doesn't work. This frustratedness of life. And we see in this passage of Scripture what I want us to feel deeply in that. What I think Solomon wants us to feel deeply in us of this frustration of something has to give. Something has to be different. That we have to somehow break out of this cycle that we found ourselves in. That the world has numbed us to believe that this is all there is. There has to be something different than this. As some of you were here this morning, we shared about our trip to Turkey, and we went to Turkey about two weeks ago now. I forget how long it is. Time is meaningless in the last few weeks because of jet lag. I have no idea what time of day it is at all. But I got to have a conversation with a guy that I've had that word-for-word same conversation with, and I'm not exaggerating, for the last three years in a row. Here's a guy who stands outside some of the big major tourist places who ultimately wants to sell me a carpet. That's his end goal in the conversation. And I've talked to the same guy three years in a row who has come up to me in perfect English. How's it going, buddy? How's your day? Are you enjoying the sights? Is this your first time in Istanbul? Isn't the weather beautiful? Where are you from? This year I saw him coming and I saw the same guy coming at me and he began the conversation. I was able to say, I'm not interested in buying a carpet. Thank you for showing your fake interest in me. And I felt like I was kind of stuck in this loop of the same guy talking to me and giving to me the same message over and over again. And my hope is you don't feel that way about me this morning. That you don't walk away saying, we've heard this message before. I was here last week and the week before and the week before, and you're saying the same thing. But here's the good news. I'm not trying to sell you a carpet. Maybe. I'm trying to give you hope. I'm trying to give you a sense of it's okay to have sameness. It's okay to keep coming back to the same thing again and again and again. Because I believe with my whole heart there are some things that we need to hold on to so tightly. Same things that we need to hold on so tightly that are the only things that make sense in the world around us. The only things that give meaning and purpose, the only thing that helps us to break out of that cycle that we found ourself in. My summary statement, if you're following along in your notes, is do you ever feel like you're stuck in a loop that you just can't break free? Do you ever feel like the world we live in is just a roller coaster that you just can't get off? Do you long for something more, something different, something other? In the closing chapters of Ecclesiastes, Solomon helps us break free and find our way through the vanity of the world around us. And what I'm going to give you this morning is not something hyper spiritual. It's not something you've never heard before. It is something you have heard from day one. But I think it's so deeply foundational to who we are. And it's basically this. Remember God. Remember His word. Trust and obey. That's it. That's all I have for you this morning. That's all that ecclesiastes give to us. And I think ultimately this is what the scripture gives to us. That there is a God who loves us and cares for us and longs to be in a relationship with us. There is a God who cares about us so deeply that he has given us his word to share his heart with us that we may live a life of fullness and joy in this broken world. And there is a God who calls us to obedience no matter our circumstances. No matter how difficult it is, no matter how same, no matter how stuck that we feel, He calls us to obedience. If you're following along with your notes, number one, I'm going to talk about remember your creator. Remember your creator straight out of verse one. I have no creativity whatsoever. I'm stealing it directly from the scripture. Remember your creator. Number two, hold to the words of the shepherd. We hold to the words of the shepherd. And finally, number three this morning, is that we live as an act of worship. We live as an act of worship. Let's look at number one. Remember your Creator. The verse in this chapter starts with those very simple but profound and deeply meaningful word. At the end of all of this, at the end of Ecclesiastes, The one thing that Solomon, the preacher, wants to bring to your attention again and again and again, the one thing he wants you to walk away from in this book of vanity of vanities, of the world is fleeting and passing, is remember your creator. Remember your Creator. Let's be honest. Again, it's frustrating when we look at our lives. It's frustrating at times with the lack of change. It's frustrating when we look at the world around us. There are times at the end of my day where I'm frustrated, where I'm angry, where I'm sad, where I'm depressed, where I'm distressed, where all of those things. And I look at my back of my day and say, what was the point of today? What was the difficulty that was there? Why am I stuck in this cycle? Why is it so difficult to have change in my life, to be different than I was the day before? Why is it so difficult? What I want us to see in verse 1, in that first section of this, number 1, again, it's nothing profound, is the fact that there is a Creator. There is one who is ruling and reigning over the universe. There is one who has brought all of this into existence. There is one who is over all of this. There is one who is leading this from beginning to end. There is one who gives purpose to everything that we're walking through in our life. There is one that we have an account that we must give to at the end of all of this. There is a creator. And so when we look at the world around us and we feel in ourselves this frustration of vanity, of vanities, that things are meaningless and pointless and nothing ever changes, that we can look to the creator and say, no, there is one who cares deeply for me. There is one who has made me. And one of the reasons that I'm so frustrated at times in life, and one of the reasons that the world is so frustrated with life and wants to break out of the cycle, is because we have tried desperately in our hearts to set ourselves up as creator. We have tried to communicate. We have tried to live life as if we were God. As if we were the ones who were holding everything together. As if we were the one who was giving purpose and meaning into everything. As if we were the ones who had any power whatsoever to change our own hearts, let alone the hearts of other people. And we live our lives as if we are the creator. And that leads nowhere but frustration. Nowhere but being exhausted and exasperated and wanting to throw your hands out. Nowhere but feeling crushed at the end of the day. And this is, I think, our deepest problem. The deepest thing wrong with the world. The deepest thing wrong with me is that I am denying my Creator. I'm denying that there is one who has made me and given me specific purpose that I owe my life and my heart and my desire and my allegiance to. The deepest thing wrong with me, the deepest thing wrong with you, the deepest thing wrong with the world is that we think we're God. We want to be God. We want to dictate our own lives. We want to dictate the things that we do in our world around us. Here's the reality check for us. We're not. We are not. And one of the things that I think Solomon wants us to understand in the book of Ecclesiastes is that God is God and you are not. That God reigns in the heavens. You live on earth. You are in submission to him. He rules and he reigns. He directs your path. You do not. And the reason the world is stuck in this cycle of vanity of vanities, because they have not yet submitted to the truth and the reality of it, they are not God. That they do not dictate their own path. The reality is to remember your creator is that God is creator and that I am not. That God is in heaven and I am on earth. That God rules and I submit. That God reigns and I serve. It's so frustrating in life. It's so difficult in life at times when that, when we're so desperately trying to reverse those roles. will never ever work that way. You will constantly feel defeated in a life where you are never meant to rule and reign. Revelation chapter 4 verse 11 says, I'm so frustrated in life. We're so discouraged in life at times because we spend most of our time, I think, and I'm just as guilty as this as anybody else, is standing in the mirror and looking in the mirror and saying, we're the O-U-R-O, Andy. Worthy are you of praise and honor. Worthy are you, O Andy, because you created all things, and by all things, Andy, things existed by you. And this is the desire I have in my heart. That's the sin deep in my heart is to say, Andy, let's praise him. Let's build him up. Let's see that, God, that you are the one actually in charge, Andy. And I leave walking away frustrated and defeated. But in reality, I have to submit and give up my grip on the world around me. Give up my understanding at times. One of the things that Solomon wants us to understand through the book of Ecclesiastes is you will not understand everything, and that's okay. Things don't make sense, and that's okay. Things don't always add up, and that's okay. Because God is in the heavens, and you are on earth. Because God is our Creator, and you are not. And He is trustworthy and good. Some of our frustration is trying to be God and understand God. We remember that I am not Creator, that God is. And again, nothing Mind-blowing about that. There's nothing new about that. The scriptures open with in the beginning God created. For the scriptures open with the reality there is a God who exists and creates and everything goes under his authority, under his reign. Everything works the way it's supposed to work when we submit to God as creator. And everything breaks down when we fight hard to be our own God. We remember first and foremost is remembering your creators, remembering our position. God is God and I am not. Solomon goes on to say, remember also your creator. This word, not just the sense that there is a creator, but we must remember that. And the word in the Hebrew means it's a commitment that leads to action, is what remember here. We use the same word we see when God remembers Israel, when he remembers his people. It's not just a sense of acknowledging or aware of something, but it's a remembrance that leads to an action. And Solomon is calling us as his people, not just to simply acknowledge the existence of God, but to have a life that reflects the existence of God. That actually takes action in the fact that I believe that God is God. It's remembering and moving to action. This past week, they're not in here, I don't think, so I can share this publicly and confess my sin publicly because they're not in here. This last week, I was asked to watch the Reisner's dog on John. The dog's okay. Let me start, let me start there first before I confess. The dog's alive and well, so everything's fine. There, I was asked to take their dog out. Thursday, I think it was, Thursday afternoon, Thursday evening. Thursday afternoon, no problem. Did exactly what I was supposed to do. Four o'clock, I was there, let the dog out. Everything was fine. When I got back, I set a reminder on my phone to say, 945, go take out the Riser's dog. I am jet lagging. Nine o'clock Thursday night, I'm in bed. I am dead asleep. My reminder goes off. Who cares? I'm dead asleep. 11 o'clock, I get a nudge from my wife that says, Becky just texted and asked, have you, how was the dog doing? Had you had a chance? Super like around the corner, like I clearly know you haven't. Our cameras are showing nobody has showed up at the house yet. Our dog is alone in the house. And so in that moment, I could have remembered and said, Oh yeah, I was supposed to take care of their dog and then went right back to sleep. I remembered and then I got my clothes on and got in the car and drove over and let their dog out and came back and went right back into bed again. There was a remembrance that led to action, that led to something changing, something about my attitude, something about my direction changing. And so this is what Solomon is wanting from us in this. It's not simply an acknowledgement. It starts there. We have to begin with that, but then it has to go somewhere from there. I'm acknowledging your creator, and now I'm going to live my life in light of the fact that you are creator. I will do what you asked me to do. I will go where you asked me to go. I will live in a way that honors you. The psalmist tells us in Psalm chapter 16 in verse 8, that I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be shaken. Solomon is reminding us in a world of full of vanities, in a world full of things that are passing and fleeting consistently, in a world that is desperately trying to pull you into and to numb you into thinking that this is all that there is. Remember your Creator. Remember that there is a God who reigns over you, who cares for you, who loves you, who is walking beside you, and constantly have that before your face. Constantly be reminding yourself, there is a God who cares for me. There's a God who is watching over me. There is a God who is providing for me. And why is it so important for us to remember our Creator? Well, he goes on to tell us in the rest of this chapter. Solomon tells us one of the reasons it's so good to remember our Creator, in verse 2 it says, Just when you think, Solomon is going to end on a high note and give us this encouragement. Remember your Creator. He goes right into because it's going to be awful. And so remember your Creator because it only goes downhill from here. That's the rest of these verses. We'll get there in a little bit. But he's basically saying you're all going to die and it's only going to get harder from here. So while you're young, remember God is God. But there's a reality to that that I think is important for us as Solomon is reminding us the days are evil. There is an enemy who wants to come and destroy you. There is a world who wants to tempt you and to make you think that this is all that there is. There is an enemy. There is a world that wants to numb you into the realization that God is God. And so it's important for us to remember our Creator because the days are evil, because the temptations are real, because the weight is real, the frustration is real. And so in those moments when we recognize this can't be all that there is, when we watch the news, when we hear the things on the radio, when we struggle with things in our house, when we look back at our day and say there was nothing really good about that. It felt like one disaster, one hard thing after another. What is Solomon's encouragement in that? Remember your Creator. Remember, He's in charge, not you. Remember, He knows what He's doing. Remember, all of this is heading towards an end for your good and His glory. Remember, He is sustaining the world around you. Remember, He can take beauty from ashes. Remember, He can do beautiful things from the destruction that you see around us. Paul picks up the same theme in Ephesians chapter 5. He says, Again, I don't really need to convince you of that, do I? I don't really need to convince you that our days are evil. Some of us are having a hard time finding any good at all in the days that we're walking through. But the good that we have when days are evil is that we have a Creator who is watching over us and caring for us desperately. And he goes on in verses 2 through 7. basically just piles metaphor after metaphor after metaphor after metaphor about what it means to be old. Some of you are old. I won't have you raise your hand. You know who you are. We know who you are. Some of you are old. Some of you read through this passage of Scripture in Ecclesiastes 12, and you can identify very clearly with the things that he's listing here. He lists things about sickness growing when you're older. He lists things about weakness growing when you're older, about your strength failing when you're older, about your eyes and your teeth and your lips and your ears all weakening and failing as you grow older. Think about sleep being more difficult as you grow older. Thinking about the fact that life consists as this kind of cycle going downward that ultimately the end of all of us is death. They were all heading in that direction. And so Solomon's encouragement is before you get old and before all you can see are the ailments in front of you, remember your creator. Remember the one who made you. Remember the one who sustains you. Remember the one who is holding deeply after you. Remember your creator. So that when the weakness comes, When the difficulties come, when the things that are hard come, when the trials come, the joy is rooted deep. The love for God is rooted deep. The faith in God is rooted deep. So that when old age comes, when trials come, when difficulties come, you're able to sustain them. You're able to walk through them with joy and with love and with faith, still recognizing I'm old and I don't like being old. I don't like the difficulties that come with being old and the limitations that come with being old. But God is my creator. He is still good. He is still loving. He is still providing for me. My trust and my faith in Him can still stand. And so Solomon's encouragement to us is before things get evil, before things get difficult, before the weight of the world is being placed on your shoulders, remember God in your youth. Because those weighty days are coming. It is inevitable. You're going to have hard days. If today isn't a hard day, tomorrow probably will. And that's the way the world works. And that's hard and that's difficult because of sin and the presence of sin in our world today. But remember, there is a Creator over all of that. There is purpose over all of that. So we cannot get caught up in complaints and missing what God is doing. Job tells us this in verse Job chapter 19, 25 to 27. He says, For I know that my Redeemer lives. Job's gonna say, I'm gonna die. My skin is failing, my body is failing, but I know my Redeemer lives. I know I will see Him face to face. I know He will reward my faith. Even if my body fails, my God will reward my faith. Because He is Creator. Because He is the one who rules and reigns over all things. Because He knows what He's doing. Because He's powerful enough to begin a thing, sustain a thing, and end a thing. This is the God that we serve. Why do we need to remember? Creator in the days of our youth. Verse 8, in case we've forgotten, one more time Solomon has to throw it in in verse 8. Vanity of vanity, says the preacher, all is vanity. Why do we need to remember our Creator so desperately? Because the world is fleeting. Because the world is passing quickly before our eyes. Because everything in this world is fading away, is a mist. It's a fog that we grab onto, and there's no substance to, there's no grip to, there's no foundation to. So because this is true, remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Again, nothing groundbreaking, is it? Nothing you've never heard before. My great profound advice, remember God. Remember he exists. Remember he is there. Do not neglect moment by moment, day by day, breath by breath, to say, God, you exist. You are for me, not against me. I can trust you in all things, and I trust that you are God, and I am not, and that is a good thing. So how do we break free of the vanity of the world? Remember that God exists. Secondly, how do we break free of the vanity of the world? We hold to the words of the shepherd. God has created all things and put all things into existence and reigns over all things, and he has revealed himself to us through his word. He's given us his character. He's given us these stories. He's revealed his purposes to us through the word. Solomon says, starting in verse 9, Kind of talking about himself here, I believe. Talking in the third person. He says, Solomon is recognizing that the words that he's saying carry weight. They carry weight. It's not just knowledge. It's not just he's passing on information. Solomon is recognizing that by the work of God in his life, by the work of God inspiring him, he is giving words of life. Words that change. Words of hope. Words that carry a much, much deeper weight than anything else that anybody else has written. Not because they're Solomon's words, because ultimately even Solomon recognizes they are the shepherd's words. They are God's words. He is giving these things to man. So we can hold fast to the words of the shepherd. Solomon tells us that it's with great care that he's bringing these things together. We can trust what Solomon tells us. We can read Ecclesiastes and we can trust that it is from God and for us. That it was taken with great care that he was submitting to the work of God to lead him along to write these words. Why else did Solomon write these? In verse 10, he says, sought words to find of words of delight. That God wants to give us words that bring us joy, that bring light to us, that bring us happiness, that bring us completion in our life, that brings us delight in our life. The words that God gives to us are words of delight. He says they're words of truth, that we can believe what Solomon says when Solomon says that the world is vanity, that nothing in this world really matters at the end of the day, that it's all passing away, but God is good and there's a creator. We must give our lives to following him. We can trust that that is truth from God, not merely his opinion, but truth of how life actually works. He says in verse 11 that these words are like goads. We have goads at your house. Who knows what a goad is? Got one in your pocket right now? You don't. Basically a goad, you kind of think about something that moves something else along. Use them on horses. Use them on animals a lot to get the animal to do the thing you want it to do. To move it along to the next stage. Solomon is telling us that the words of God are like goads to us that move us along, that won't allow us to stay stuck in the same place, won't allow us to stay defeated or frustrated, that the Word of God moves us along to the next thing. It says that the Word of God is like nails firmly fixed. These are things in my life I know that I desperately need in my life. Those firmly fixed nails that I can hang realities on. That I can kind of wrestle with something in my life when I don't quite know the answer to something. When something doesn't make sense, I have certain nails in my heart and my mind that I can hang these truths on. The nails that the Word of God has revealed to me that God is good. That's a nail I can hang something on. I may not understand what's going on, but there's a nail, there's a secure thing I can hang on that God is good. So I can hang this question on this spot. When things are frustrating, I don't know what's next in life. I know, okay, God is wise. That is a nail that is firmly fixed. I can hang this decision on the reality that God is wise. And so the Word of God gives us those kinds of things so that when we're older, when things get difficult, when the world comes against us, we have those fixed things that we can go back to and say, this is what's true of God. And that God's Word is sufficient. Solomon tells us here, you don't need to study anything else. There's nothing else out there that will provide for you as the Word of God gives to you. Doesn't mean never study anything other than the Bible. What he's saying here is there's nothing sufficient enough to rescue you and save you and change you as the Word of God is. Nothing else can accomplish that apart from the Word of God. We see this longing in our hearts and what desire that we have for the Word of God. If you have your Bibles open or your phone open with me, flip over or go back. We're going to look at Psalm 19 for just a second. Psalm 19, as we think about God's Word. As the psalmist, the first six verses, the psalmist is talking about God as revealing himself in nature and the beauty of God and how through creation God is making himself known. And then spends the rest of Psalm 19 talking about the Word of God. Psalm 19, starting in verse 7. It says the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned, and keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me, then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. What do we read about God's Word in Psalm 19? It is perfect. It is reviving. It is sure. It is wise. It is right. We rejoice in it. It is pure. It is clean. It endures forever. They are true. They are righteous. To be desired more than anything else. This is how we break free of the cycle of the world. This is how we break free of the vanity of vanities, as God has given us this precious gift in His Word. This precious gift of truth of who He is, that is pure and righteous and true, that gives us delight in our lives and changes us and gives us a firm foundation when things are falling apart. And Solomon reminds us at the end of Ecclesiastes, you have been given this incredibly gracious gift. Not only does God want to know you in a general sense by revealing himself to you, he also wants to know you personally. He has given us his word that we might know him personally. And some of our frustration in life of, I just want to get off this ride, is connected to the reality is that God's word has not been stuck down deep in our hearts. We're not meditating on God's Word. Some of us, if we're honest and we think about God's Word, we wouldn't describe it as sweeter than the drippings of honey. We wouldn't describe it as saying, I desire the word of God more than any worldly gift I can be given. If we're truly honest, and there's days in my life where if I'm truly honest, I don't have this kind of longing that the psalmist has, or that Solomon is trying to produce in us. And on those days, I am most frustrated. And on those days, I am caught up in the cycle of everything else. But God is calling us here to say, I long for this because he has given us this great gift. When we were in Istanbul a couple of weeks ago, we were introduced to this dessert place that serves one thing. This is the only thing they make. This little Portuguese pastry, custard-y kind of thing, and it was very, very good. God made this, and then he said, it is good, and he rested. It was very, very good. And we went a couple of days later, and Kirk, the other days, we were going, and I said, listen, I don't care what we do today, The only thing we do today is to get back to that dessert place and get one of those dessert things. I will be happy. Like, that was literal words. I don't care what we do today as long as I get back to this dessert place and get one more of those things. I'm not saying this to shame Kirk. They're that good. They're really that good. I'm saying that for us, when we think about our connection to God's word, Let me honestly say, I don't care what I do today. As long as I'm connecting with God and His Word, that's all I need. I don't care what else happens today. I don't care what my schedule is. I don't care what comes before me today. But if I'm connecting with God and His Word today, it's a good day. I will be satisfied with this. My hunger will be gone from this. I will be left satisfied from God. 2 Timothy 3 tells us about God's word. But as for you, Paul tells Timothy, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Everything you need from salvation and beyond is given to us in the Word of God. How do I break free from the cycle of vanity of vanities? All is vanity. I find it in the Word of God. I see it most clearly in Jesus. Hebrews chapter 1, the book opens with, you've heard the prophet say, that you've been given the prophet say, but now the word has come through Jesus. That we look to Jesus as the one who gives us the words of the father, who brings to life the words of the father, that shows us how to live and how to act and how to move, that we see it clearly in Jesus. Gift after gift, grace after grace does God give to us, knowing we live in a broken world. Knowing we're on this roller coaster that we want to get off. Knowing that we're frustrated and discouraged. Knowing that it feels overwhelming and crushing to live in this world at this time. God gives us gift after gift after gift. He gives us himself. He gives us his word. He gives us his son. So we remember the words of our shepherd. And so on those days when you want to give up, on those days when it feels overwhelmingly frustrated, go to the word of God and let his promises wash over you. Finally, number three, we live as an act of worship. We live as an act of worship. The last two verses of Ecclesiastes says this, the end of the matter, all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. These last two verses, Solomon sums it all up. Everything I'm saying to you, all of life, everything that matters, I'm summing it up into these two things. Fear God, keep his commandments. This is your purpose. When someone asks you, why do you exist? What is the purpose for your existence? Go to Ecclesiastes 12, 13. My existence, I exist to fear God and keep His commands. That's why I'm here on this earth. That's why I was created. That's why I'm still here on this earth. That's why I've not yet gone home, because I'm here to fear God and keep His commandments. And so I live life as an act of worship. In the middle of the pain, in the middle of the questions, in the middle of the things that don't make sense, in the middle of the discouragement, what are we as God's people to do? Obey our Creator. Whatever He asks us to do, wherever He wants us to go, whatever He's asking of us in the moment, that is the whole duty of our life is to say, you are creator and I will do whatever you want me to do. I will live my life as a reflection of the fact that I have a God who has created me and is sustaining me and I am not the one in charge. How do we break free from the cycle? We obey God. We fight hard with everything He has given us to fight against the current, to fight against the ways that are pulling us back into the world, pulling us into despair, pulling us into discouragement. We fight with everything God has given us to say, I will obey in spite of the world going the other way. I will obey knowing that I will be ridiculed for obeying. I will obey knowing that the world will scratch their head and say, it doesn't make sense. I will obey anyways. I will obey in the light of trials. I will obey in the light of persecution. I will obey in light of temptations. I will obey in light of the darkness that surrounds me at times. I will obey God living as an act of worship. We know from James that James tells us not just to be hearers of the word, but doers of the word. What Solomon wants, what all the writers of scripture wants is not simply you will walk away and say, those are some good ideas. That was nice. That was thoughtful. That was thought-provoking. That was different than what I thought before. We read the word of God, we come away changed people. Different than what we were before. Living as lights in a dark and depraved generation. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12 verses 1 to 3, And Solomon would say, why? Because it is vanity of vanities. But be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. What is God calling us to? That as created beings to lay ourselves on the altar of worship and to say, God, whatever you would have for me, whatever you want from me today, Whatever pleases you today, whatever honors you today, whatever shows that my hope is in you, whatever shows that I recognize that this world is not all that there is, whatever shows that my eyes are on eternity and not temporary things, I give it to you, freely give it to you. Whatever vanity is thrown in my way that I can say, God, you must rescue me from this. I live as an act of worship. So the question is, now what? We read through Ecclesiastes 12, and you get to the end of this, and he says the whole duty of man is to fear God and to keep his commands. The question you must ask is, now what? What do I do with this? How do I respond to this? I don't know. Spirit knows. So we trust the Spirit to say, God, what would you have me to do with this? What are the specific acts of obedience? What is the specific response you're asking of me in response to Ecclesiastes? Maybe it is I'm living my life as if I am God and I need to confess that and be changed by that and submit to a God who loves me and cares for me that is not me. Maybe I am neglecting his word. Maybe I'm trying desperately. I acknowledge God. I know he's there, but I'm trying desperately in my own strength and my own wisdom to understand things and to live the way that I should when God is calling us to be in his word and to let it wash over me. Maybe it's a deeper commitment to God. I'm going to trust you by being in your word. Maybe God has given you very clearly some specific thing that you are supposed to respond to. Some clear act of obedience, some clear act of confession, some clear act that God is saying, this is what I'm asking of you and you can trust me because I'm creator and I've given you great promises that I've never failed once on any of them. I've entitled this message, Loop Cycle. There's a band that I love. called The Grey Havens and they just came out with a song very recently with that same title called Loop Cycle and it's been very meaningful to me because the whole point of the song and this newest album is kind of he's sharing this frustration with the world this longing that there's got to be something else than what's happening in the world around me. And the point of the song is to share that I'm just stuck in this loop of anxiety and depression and discouragement. And it just feels like every single day it's the same. And as a believer, I desperately long to break out of that cycle. I want to share with you the lyrics to the song. It says, I'm in this world. I see a vision of the life I know I should be living. Head down, head spinning, it's when the voices get in, you're a failure, you're a waste of time, you've got nothing to say and you're so far behind. Everyone found a place and they're flourishing, they're flourishing, but you're barely alive. Loop cycle. Here we go. Anxious thoughts on retreat, on repeat, living life in defeat. Every day, all the time, on replay, in my mind. Doesn't that feel like Ecclesiastes? Just every day it's the same. Vanity of vanities. Every day it's the same. Vanity of vanities. Goes on to say, loop cycle, let me go. Anxious thoughts, let me be. All I know is I won't live in defeat. Your castle walls are coming down. Raise a song, a trumpet sound. Anxious thoughts to the ground. See the walls coming down. Let the song raise and shout. See them all coming down. Artists who wrote the song. Preacher who wrote Ecclesiastes, the God who loves us desperately is giving us the same message. The world is broken. Acknowledging the world does not function the way it's supposed to. Sin came into the world and broke everything. Creation is broken. Relationships are broken. You're broken. Governments are broken. Your jobs are broken. Everything is broken. But there is hope. There is hope that comes in the person of Jesus. There is hope that can break us out of that. There is hope that can break us out of the anxiety. There is hope that can give us a bigger, truer truth than the one we've deceived ourselves with. There is hope that gets us out of the cycle to say, God, you created me with good and for a purpose, and I can trust you even in the light of vanity, of vanity. So Solomon's last words to us, my last words to you on the book of Ecclesiastes. Remember your creator in the days of your youth. Remember the words of the shepherd that are clean and pure and bring joy to your life. Fear God, keep his commands, and the cycle will be broken. Let's pray. God, we come to you this morning and we thank you. Thank you for your word. We thank you, God, for the truth that we find here. We thank you, God, for the opportunity you've given us to study. to dig deep into Ecclesiastes. We thank you ultimately for the hope that we find in Ecclesiastes. It's not ultimately a depressing or discouraging, disparaging book that ultimately brings hope to us that God, you and you alone, can break us out of this cycle. You and you alone give us meaning and purpose when all else feels so fleeting and so vain. Father, grant us faith. to believe this, not just in our heads, but deep down in our hearts, and with our hands, and with our feet, as we obey the things you have called us to do. Help us to leave this place, to go back into that broken world, and be beacons of hope, and light, and peace in a world that so desperately needs it. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.