Alright, as we return to Ecclesiastes
chapter 12, and the title of this message is The Conclusion. The Conclusion, verse 13, Solomon
writes, by inspiration of the Spirit, let us hear the conclusion
of the whole matter. This is the last word that God
has to say on all these things that Solomon has written in this
book of wisdom concerning his search for meaning and purpose
in life, all that he had seen, all that he had observed, all
that he had experienced concerning life under the sun, life here
on this earth. And here he comes at this last
chapter and I preached on the first seven verses last time
concerning the ravages of old age, the death of this physical
body, The Bible tells us plainly, and we know it by experience,
that this body is dead because of sin. And then he comes to
restate how he began this book in verse 8. Look at it. He says,
Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher, all is vanity. As you remember,
that word vanity means worthless, empty. That's what he's talking
about. And what he's saying, he's not
just being a pessimist here. In fact, this book is not pessimistic
at all. It's not a book of cynicism at
all. It's a very positive book if you have eyes to see and ears
to hear. That's the key. If the Holy Spirit
gives us eyes to see what he's headed toward, and that's what
the conclusion is all about. It's about the only way that
we as sinners, as fallen men and women by nature and by practice,
who are born into this world dead in trespasses and sin, how
we can rise above The vanity of vanities of this life. We
can't do it by our works. We can't do it in ourselves and
of ourselves. Can't do it by ourselves. It
takes a sovereign work of mercy and grace. Salvation from a holy
and merciful God for sinners like us to rise above this vanity. And that's what he's saying.
Now as he describes death or old age and death here, he talks
about both. He says there in verse 5, he
says that man goeth to his long home. He's talking about death
there. But death in itself, physical
death is not the end. He also says in verse 7 that
the dust shall return to the earth as it was and the spirit
shall return unto God who gave it. And so everyone is headed
out to meet God. That's what he's saying. In other
words, it's not just oblivion. After death, it's not just oblivion.
It's not just the emptiness of space, as some would say. There's
a man who is a famous scientist who, because of the ravages of
sin that come forth in this body, who's been reduced pretty much
to nothing but a brain. Pretty much all he can do is
sit around and think. He can't move his arms, his legs,
can't even speak except through a computer. And he's well known
as to be, as the press would put him up, as probably the smartest
or one of the smartest individuals, scientists, that has ever set
foot on this earth. Maybe comparable to Einstein.
I don't know if they'd say that or not, but that's the way he
was. And he's come to the conclusion finally, he's been living in
this wheelchair, in this motorized wheelchair for so many years
now, he's finally come to the conclusion that this universe
could not have been created by God. That's what he's come to
the conclusion of. He said it just couldn't, it
didn't have to happen. He said that Isaac Newton's theory
of, or his discovery of gravity, the law of gravity proves that
it didn't have to be God, that the big bang or whatever they
call it didn't have to have a prime mover. And I got to thinking,
that's exactly what Solomon is saying here in verse 8. Vanity
of vanities, sayeth the preacher, always vanity. with all the intelligence
that God gifted that man with, with all the smarts, with all
the abilities to consider these things, to observe nature, to
observe science. The conclusion he's come to is
the conclusion that every man by nature will ultimately come
to, and that is no God. And it'll either be no God or
an idol, or an idol. Well, Solomon has something better
for us. He has something that will help
sinners, cause sinners to rise above that. One of the old preachers,
and I don't remember who it was, back in, I guess, in the days
of the Puritans or shortly thereafter, he made this statement. He said,
every time I preach the gospel, I preach the gospel as a dying
man to dying men and women. And that's the case. We're all
in that process. of dying, and without understanding
the knowledge of God in Christ, without a saving knowledge of
who God is in His holiness, in His justice, and in His mercy
and grace, without a saving knowledge of who we are as sinners who
deserve nothing but damnation, and without a saving knowledge
of Christ as Savior, as Lord, as the one who redeemed his people
from their sins. Always vanity. That's the only
conclusion you come to. Death, which is the wages of
sin, ultimately will be the death that shoots sinners out into
that vanity. But not so, because the Spirit
will return to God who gave it. Man's searches and his efforts
to save himself, to make himself noble, to clean himself, to make
himself righteous, it's all vanity. And in light of death and judgment
and eternity, what is the best path of a fallen, sinful person? It's to turn to God. And that's
the conclusion of the whole matter. That's the end of it all. That's the last word of it all.
So what does Solomon say in these last verses? Number one, he says
this, seek God in his word. Seek God in his word. And this
book is his word. Now you can seek God in other
things, in nature. Psalm 19, I mentioned this last
time, Psalm 19 says the heavens declare the glory of God. But
you're not going to find a saving revelation of God, of the true
and living God, by looking at the stars and the sun and the
layers of the earth or whatever. Because you'll come to the same
conclusion ultimately that that ignorant scientist came to. The
revelation of God in His Word. That's what he's talking about.
What does God reveal and say of Himself? Look at verse 9. He says, and moreover, because
the preacher was wise, and that wisdom is from God. That's not
the preacher was wise on his own or in his own eyes or by
his own will or words or way. But this is the wisdom that God
gave him. The wisdom of God in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The wisdom of God in salvation
by grace. And it's because this preacher
was wise, it says, he still taught the people knowledge. Now, first
of all, the preacher had to know God himself. He had to be wise
himself. Again, that's a gift from God.
And we see that in the gospel message itself. Paul wrote in
1 Corinthians chapter 1 that the preaching of the cross The
preaching of Christ and Him crucified, the finished work of Christ is
foolishness to them who are perishing. But it's the power of God and
the very wisdom of God to us who are saved and are being saved.
The Word of God, the Scriptures, look over at 2 Timothy chapter
3 with me. Paul writing to young Timothy
here and reminding him of one of the most important truths
that he can keep in mind, and that is the importance and the
value of the written word of God. He says in verse 14 of 2
Timothy chapter 3, listen to this. He says, but continue thou
in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured
of knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a
child thou hast known the holy scriptures, what God in his providence
and in his power calls men to write down by inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. That's the wisdom that the preacher
taught the people. That's the knowledge, the wisdom
of God and salvation, which is in Christ, who is our wisdom.
And he says through faith, which is in Christ Jesus, all scripture
All the written word is given by inspiration of God. Literally,
God breathed. And it's profitable for doctrine,
that's teaching, for reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God, the sinner saved by the grace of God in
Christ, may be perfect, meaning complete, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works. Look back at Ecclesiastes 12.
This preacher taught the people knowledge, knowledge of God.
I want to tell you about God, what God says of himself in this
word. I don't want to tell you what
I think about God, my opinion of God, or what other men think
about God. I may use that as an illustration
like I did before. I told you what this scientist
thought about God, that he didn't even exist. But what I want to
lead you to and what I want to point you to is what God says
of himself in this word. If God says he's sovereign, mark
it down, he's sovereign. Not a whole lot of people that
latch on to that truth today, do they? They think God changes
at their whims and at their wishes. But God is absolutely sovereign.
If the Bible talks about the God of election, then we believe
that God is a God of election. He chose a people for the foundation
of the world and gave them to his son. If he's the God of justice,
if he's a holy God who cannot even look upon sin, that's what
we believe about him. If he's the great creator, all
these things that the scripture teaches us and shows us of God. The preacher was wise to teach
people what the Bible says about himself, about us. Who God is
and who we are in light of God. I think about that young rich
man who approached our Lord. Not believing Him to be the Son
of God incarnate. Not believing Him to be God.
And he made this statement, good master, what good thing must
I do to inherit eternal life? And our Lord met him on his own
ground. He said, why are you calling
me good? There's none good but God. Christ wasn't denying either
his Godhood or his goodness there. But he's simply telling that
man, now if you don't believe that I'm God, then don't call
me good. Because the standard of all goodness
is God. Among men, fallen sinful men,
there's none good, no not one, he said. In Romans chapter 3. None righteous, no not one. What
does the Bible say about man in his state of nature? Human
nature. Fallen human nature. What does
the Bible say about us? Well, I can sum it up in one
of the Psalms. Man at his best is altogether
what? Vanity. What's Solomon say here? Vanity of vanity. In other words,
man at his best state in and of himself, fallen human nature,
is worthless in the sight of God. That's what that means.
Empty. Now listen to what it said now. Man at his what? At his best. I mean, we could readily accept
man at his worst as vanity. We could readily see that. No! Man at his best. Man at his most
religious. Man at his most moral. Man at
his most dedicated. What is he saying there? Is he
saying that it's bad for us to try to do good? No. He's saying
to us that our best efforts to be good will not save us. Our best efforts to be good will
not make us righteous. Our best efforts to be good will
not put away our sin and make us clean. And our efforts to
do so are nothing but vanity. And that's what the wise preacher
taught the people knowledge of. This is what God says about us.
You see, it doesn't matter what we say about ourselves or what
we say about each other. What does God say about me concerning
my relationship with Him, concerning what I deserve based upon my
best efforts? I deserve nothing but condemnation
and wrath. And then He taught the people
knowledge of how God saves such sinners as us. Knowledge of Christ. Christ is the only one. who has
done good. Christ is the only one who kept
the law. Christ is the only one who can
and did put away my sins by his death on Calvary. Christ is the
only one who can work out righteousness and give it to me and make me
righteous and holy in the sight of God. He's the only one who
can enable God to be just and justify. Without Christ, all
I am is vanity. No matter how I appear outwardly,
or no matter how long I live on this earth, or what I do while
I'm here. Without Christ, ultimately, it's
all vanity. Because man, fallen sinful man,
can only find meaning and fulfillment eternally and spiritually in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the knowledge that the
wise preacher teaches. And that's what God must open
our eyes to see. That's why we must be born again
by the Holy Spirit, that he may open our eyes to see these things.
Somebody asked me one time, are we saved by knowledge? Now listen
to me very carefully on this subject. The answer to that is
no. We're saved by the Lord Jesus
Christ. But, in being saved by Christ,
God teaches us. He gives us knowledge of himself,
knowledge of ourselves, and knowledge of Christ. There is no salvation
without knowledge. And Christ is the master teacher.
Now, think about that. Look here in Ecclesiastes 12. It says, The preacher was wise,
he still taught the people knowledge. And it says, yea, he gave good
heed, which means he studied, he pondered, he meditated, he
weighed these things, he examined them, he prayed over the word
of wisdom. I can't preach to you what I
haven't studied and listen to myself. That's what he's saying. He gave good heed. And then it
says, he sought out and set in order many proverbs. That means
he searched out. He searched the Word of God.
He studied, as Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2 and verse 15, study
to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed. And then he arranged these things
in an order that was simple and clear and easy to understand. You know, I think, and Ron and
Joe and Alan and Aaron, you men who preach, and others of you
who have taught and preached, you know, I believe one of the
hardest things that we as preachers have to do is not just to study
and know the truth of what this book is saying, but to set it
out in an order that's simple and plain. Because, you know,
I've often said this, you know, the gospel The gospel message
is a very simple message. I mean, it's so simple a little
child can understand it. A little child has the intellectual
mental capacity to understand the gospel. Now the natural man
won't receive it. Except the spirit of God bring
us and convict us and bring us to a saving knowledge of Christ.
Nobody will receive it. I don't care how smart they are
or what. It's not by that, you see. But it's a simple message. But now the Bible is not a simple
book. There are some difficult passages,
you know. And to get those things and set
them out in order. And what he's talking about is
make it simple. I tell people all the time, I
use the KISS method of preaching. Keep it simple, stupid. Talking
to myself. And you try to do that. Seek
out words. The Bible in 2 Corinthians chapter
11. speaks of the simplicity that's
in Christ. And literally what that means
is the singleness that's in Christ. And what he's talking about is
how we're to set forth the fact that everything that we are and
have as saved sinners is by the grace of God and it diverges
in one person and upon one work, Christ and him crucified and
risen again. Nothing we have, nothing we enjoy
is outside of Christ. It's all in Christ. If you have
Christ, you have it all. You have all forgiveness, all
pardon, all blessing, all righteousness, all justification. You're sure
for heaven as if you were already there in Him. In Him. And that's what the preacher
seeks to do. To set it in order. Many proverbs,
that's the That's the Word of God. Look at verse 10. He says,
the preacher sought to find out acceptable words. You might have
in your concordance in your Bible there, words of delight. That
could be translated that way. And when he says words of delight,
he's not saying he tells everybody what they want to hear. That's
what some preachers do. You know, Paul talked about that
in the last days, how people have itching ears. You know what
you do when you have an itch? You want to get somebody to scratch
it? And people have itching ears and what they do is they'll talk
from church to church, religious organization to religious organization
until they find a preacher who'll scratch that itch. Well, that
itch may be the best thing that ever happened to you. And so
we're not here just to tell people what they want to hear. We're
here to tell people what they need to hear. Another way to translate
this is gracious words or words of grace. Now, that's what we
need to hear. We're sinners. What do we need? We need to hear
words of grace. You didn't come here tonight
for me to whip you with the law. I'll tell you what the law will
do for you. It will condemn you based on your best works. But
my friend, that's not the end of the story. The conclusion
of the story is you need Christ. You need to run to Him. You need
to rest in Him. You need to believe in Him. He's
your only hope. He's my only hope. This dying
man's telling you dying people you need a living Lord, a living
Savior, you see. So you don't need somebody here
to get you to act right by whipping you with the law. My friend,
if the motive of grace and love and gratitude isn't good enough
to get me to seek Him and to follow Him, then any other thing
is vanity. It's all vanity anyway. So he
seeks out acceptable words, words of grace, the simple teachings
of Christ. Look at verse 10, he says, and
that which was written was upright, even words of truth. The written
word of God, that's what we're to preach. That's what I tell
people when they ask me about our television program. What
do we do? You know, why do we don't have all the entertainment
and all that? It's a teaching, it's a preaching program. It's
there to preach the word of God. And these words cannot be improved
upon. Now we use words that are not
found literally in scripture, but we have to be careful there.
I want you to turn to the book of Job with me. Turn to Job 19.
I want to show you something here. You know, preachers are
really good, or I'll say it this way, preachers are really bad,
for coming up with their own language. And the problem, and
sometimes it's helpful, Sometimes it is, and listen to me now.
I'm not saying that we can only use words that are written in
the King James Version of the Bible. For example, if you will
read from Genesis to Revelation, you will not find the word sovereign
in that book. But the truth of sovereignty
is there. You won't find the word trinity
in that book, but the truth of the trinity is there. You see
what I'm saying? So I'm not saying we're to restrict
ourselves on, but we have to be careful. in these areas when
we get our own little language and preachers are bad for that
and what happens they get their own little language and it's
theological you know it's real theological and it sounds so
good you know and what happens is they have their own definitions
and then here's the problem they invest their ego into it make
an ego investment And then, if anybody doesn't use that language,
or goes against that language, or doesn't agree with that language,
then, boy, you gotta split. All right? And whoever likes
that preacher will follow him, and whoever likes the other one
will follow. Now, let me tell you something. That is foolishness. It is foolishness. And I was
thinking about Job here. You know, Job had three friends.
And when Job got in trouble, now God made it clear in the
first part of the book of Job that Job was one of his servants. Job was a justified sinner. He was a just man. He was one
of God's saints. He was a sinner saved by the
grace of God. And then God began to test him
and he allowed Satan to buffet Job. Well, what happened was,
as you remember, Job had some friends. He had three friends
and they came along and they started talking. And they were
going to fix the problem. Be careful of that. I'm going
to fix your problem. That's kind of like, you know,
when the Lord said in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, now be
careful about judging other people about the splendor in their own
eye when you've got this big old railroad tie sticking out
of your eye. And that's the problem. I'm going to fix your problem.
And the first thing we've got to do, now you're going through
some problems. You're either sick or afflicted or something.
You've lost your home or your family. You've lost your job.
What we've got to do is figure out what you've done to deserve
that, what sin you've committed that God would bring that judgment
on you. And that was the words that they
sought to comfort Job with. You know what Job called them?
He called them miserable comforters. Look at Job 19 and verse 1. Miserable
comforter. Now let me tell you something.
You don't need a miserable comforter up here behind this pulpit. And
you don't need one coming to you in everyday life either.
The Bible tells us to comfort God's people, but what do we
do? We comfort by pointing them to Christ. But look here, it
says, then Job answered. Now this is his three, he's answering
his three friends, specifically here a man named Bildad. And
he says, then Job answered and said, how long will you vex my
soul and break me in pieces with words? Now you know what vex
means? That means trouble. How long
will you trouble? Remember Solomon said in Ecclesiastes,
everything is vanity and vexation of spirit. Everything's a trouble.
And so here these guys come in their religion and they're going
to fix Job's problem. And he says, how long are you
going to trouble me with words? Look over in Job 19 and verse
21. Now listen to this. Now here's
what ought to happen. He says, have pity upon me, have
pity upon me, O ye my friends. In other words, it's kind of
like this. Instead of looking at Job and saying, now what did
you deserve to do that, and let's get rid of that problem, they
ought to be saying, why am I not going through the same thing?
I deserve worse. That's it. Hey, if God gave me What I deserved, or deserve,
at my best moment, what would it be? What'd the psalmist say
in Psalm 130 verse 3? Oh Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? Who would stand? So don't go
around here talking about what everybody else deserves. We all deserve nothing. And if
we're sinners saved by grace, except death, if we're sinners
saved by grace, we still don't deserve salvation. Right now,
after preaching the gospel for 30 years, I still don't deserve
it. I'm still a mercy beggar. That's what I am right now. And
I'll never rise above that. And when I get in glory, the
song of redemption will not be, well, now I'm finally worthy.
No, it'll be worthy is the lamb that was slain. Do you understand
that? Well, look here. He says, have
pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the
hand of God hath touched me. Why do you persecute me as God? And what he's talking about is
if you're God, is if you can figure out what's wrong with
me. And he says, and are not satisfied with my flesh. Oh,
that my words were now written. Oh, that they were printed in
a book. that they were graven with an iron pin and led in the
rock forever, for I know that my Redeemer liveth." There's the words of delight.
I'm going through a sore trial, Job says. And you know, Job,
he even got to the point where he was justifying himself, but
he was wrong. That's why he said at the end
of the book, he said, I've heard of thee by the hearing of the
air, now mine eye seeth thee and I repent. I abhor myself
and I repent in sackcloth and ashes. Here's the words of grace,
the words of delight. I know my Redeemer liveth and
that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though
after my skin worms destroy this body. Now remember what Solomon's
been saying in Ecclesiastes about this old body. Worms gonna destroy
this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. whom I shall see for
myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins
be consumed within me." There's the words of delight. Look back
at Ecclesiastes 12. Words of delight. Paul wrote
in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 6, he said, let your speech be
always with grace, seasoned with salt. That doesn't mean salty
talk. Salt back then was what? A preservative. And what he's saying is, let
your speech be with grace that will preserve, not destroy. Let your speech be with encouragement,
not discouragement. That's what he means. That you
may know how you ought to answer every man. Look at verse 11 now
of Ecclesiastes 12. He says, the words of the wise
are as goats. You know what a goat is? It's
like a cattle prod. prodding our thinking, moving
us along in the right direction in the power of the Holy Spirit.
That's what that is, a goad that will turn us where we ought to
go and drive us to where we ought to go. And of course, in the
words of the wise in the scripture, that's always driving us to Christ,
always leaving us with no hope but Christ. always causing us
to look to him and rest in him. And he said, and as nails fastened
by the masters of assemblies which are given from one shepherd. These collected say, that masters
of assembly means the collected sayings, that's what that means.
In Genesis to Revelation, these are a collection of writings,
of words, of sayings of God. And these things are firmly embedded
in the mind and in the heart of God's people like a nail fastened
down. Fixed in our mind and in our
heart. Written on the heart. This is the Word of God written
on the heart. Christ living in us by His Spirit
and by His Word. And like a nail piercing deeply
into the mind and the heart. unto conviction, the law of God,
the word of God, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
asunder to the thoughts and the intents of the heart, all things
open unto God, bringing a sinner to conviction, conviction of
sin because we believe not on Christ, conviction of righteousness
because he has gone unto the Father, conviction of judgment,
because the prince of this world is being cast out. It brings
forth a conviction of the heart. You see, every nail has a point.
Well, every verse of scripture has a point too and it has an
application. And when it reaches its point,
it's fastened in our hearts and cannot be moved. We won't leave
it and it won't leave us by the power of God's grace. And it's
held down securely like a nail in a secure place. Held together
and strengthens it. And you can hang your soul right
on this. Right here. On the words of God
in Christ. And here's the key. Look at this.
He says it's given from one shepherd. Who is the one shepherd? The
good shepherd who gave his life for the sheep. The great shepherd,
the chief shepherd, the only shepherd of his people, the Lord
Jesus Christ. These are the words of God. These
are the words of Christ. Now you may have a Bible that
has red letters in it, and that's okay, but don't think, listen,
all of it really should be read from Genesis to Revelation, not
R-E-A-D, it should be R-E-A-D, but it also should be R-E-D.
Because this is the whole word of God. Genesis 1 are the words
of Christ. I believe that. Revelation 22
is the words of Christ and everything in between. I've heard people
say that, say, well, now that's what Paul the Apostle said in
the book of Romans, but I want to hear what the Lord said. Paul
didn't write one word in Romans that wasn't given to him directly
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know that is so. One shepherd. Christ is our shepherd. He's
all in all. And then look at verse 12. He says, our foundation is the
word of God, but now here's a contrast. He said, and further, by these
my son be admonished, that is by the words from this one shepherd,
the word of God. Now he says, of making many books
there's no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
He's talking about the books and the works of men there. It
is a weariness, and there's no end to it. Books, books, books. And I'm not telling you not to
read books. They're okay in their place, but when you compare them
to the words of God given from the one shepherd, they're nothing.
So what's the conclusion? Well, here's the second thing.
He says, follow God's word as it leads us to Christ. Look at
it in verse 13. Let's hear the conclusion of
the whole matter. Everything that's been said.
And here it is. Number one, fear God. Fear God. Now you know what that's talking
about, or most of you do. There are two kinds of fear.
There's a legal fear, a terror, that is not a gift of the Holy
Spirit, but is natural in man. We got that legal fear from our
father Adam in the fall. That fear which caused Adam and
Eve to run from God and to seek to hide from God. You remember
that. That fear, that legal fear, that
terror, fear of the wrath of God, that motivated Adam and
Eve to try to fix the problem themselves instead of casting
themselves on the mercy of God and saying, I'm a sinner, God
be merciful to me, the sinner. It was that legal fear that caused
them to try to fix the problem by covering up their nakedness,
their ashamedness with the fig leaf aprons, which indicate and
symbolize man's efforts in religion to fix the problem. That's a
legal fear. It's the abject terror of an
unrepentant sinner before the justice of God. But you see,
that's not the kind of fear that he's talking about here. The
kind of fear that he's talking about here is a reverence and
a respect and an awe of God. That's what he's talking about.
You see, we who are in Christ, we who are washed in His blood
and clothed in His righteousness, we need not fear God with terror
and legal fears because Christ, by His death on the cross, has
totally, completely, and perfectly removed the wrath of God from
us by His work. The Bible says it this way, there
is therefore now no condemnation in Christ, to them that are in
Christ. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father.
We do not have to fear the wrath of God because Christ was made
sin for us. Came under the wrath of God.
He was made a curse for us. He became guilty for our sins
and He died under the wrath of God. He cried on the cross, My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Himself. And because God
the Father forsook God the Son, and I admittedly do not understand
the full extent of that, and you don't either, but it must
have been something that He went through in His soul, His soul
suffering, that no other man, and He wasn't just a mere man
now, He's God man, but no other being had ever experienced It's
amazing, isn't it? But because the Father forsook
Him, He will not forsake me who I'm in Him. I'm in Him. And so,
we don't have to fear the wrath of God. The Bible speaks in 2
Corinthians chapter 5 verses 10 and 11 about appearing before
the judgment seat of Christ. And it says there, knowing the
terror of the Lord. Now we know the terror of the
Lord. And what is that to God's people? It's the terror that
we know that sinners will have to face when they stand before
God at judgment without Christ. Think about it. Remember Matthew
chapter 7 verses 21 through 23, when those who appeared before
the Lord, they said, Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in your
name? Haven't we done many wonderful works? Haven't we cast out demons?
Only to hear him say, depart from me ye that work iniquity.
What was their problem? They were pleading their works
and not Christ. That was their problem. Paul
wrote in Philippians chapter 3, O that I may know Him, O that
I may be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness of
Christ. His faithfulness to do what the Father sent Him to do
in saving my soul. My friend, there's nothing but
wrath and terror for any sinner who stands before God without
Christ. And so we're to fear the Lord.
The Bible says the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. That's said so many times in
Proverbs and Psalms. By nature, there is no fear of
God. There's no worship of God. There's no respect for God. Listen,
any sinner who's trying to be saved by their works has no real
fear of God. Because if you have a real godly
fear, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit, if you have this
kind of fear that Solomon's talking about here, You'll know there's
no way I can stand before God and be accepted based on my works. I can only stand before God and
be accepted in Christ. Accepted in the beloved. And
so, fear God. Rest in Christ. Fear God is to
hate evil. To hate the evil even of false
religion. And then he says in verse 13,
keep his commandments. Now what are his commandments?
Well, the first thing, Brother Joe read this back in the study
a while ago in Mark chapter 1. The first thing that our Lord
did when he began his public ministry in preaching. He never did. Now listen to me.
He never did. And you can read all the red
letters and find this out if you want. Not one time did our
Savior look at men and say, be saved by your works. He said
that one time to the rich young man. He said, well, if you want
to be saved by your works, then keep the commandments, that is,
the Ten Commandments. But he knew that the man couldn't
do it because no sinner can. All the law can do for us based
on our best works is condemn us. But he never, in preaching
the gospel, commanded anybody to try to be saved based on their
works. You know what he first started
saying when he came on the scene and began his public ministry?
He said, repent ye and believe the gospel. What is the gospel? It's how God saves sinners by
grace through the merits of Christ. through the blood of Christ,
through the righteousness of Christ. Now you repent of ever
thinking that God would save you or bless you based on anything
else but Christ and Him crucified. And that's where His commandments
are all centered right there. That's what He's talking about
here. Keep His commandments. He's not saying try to keep the
Ten Commandments to be saved. No, sir. Even the Ten Commandments
didn't say that. Why was the law given? The scripture
tells us that the sin might abound, that we might see what we really
are in the sight of God and our need of salvation by mercy and
grace. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. That's his commandment. And he
says this is the whole duty of man. You see that word duty there
in verse 13? It's in italics. That means the
King James translators supplied it. It wasn't in the original
verse. What does it really say? He's saying this, this is the
whole man. Fear God and keep his commandments.
Rest in Christ. Worship God. That's what a whole
man is. That's what he's saying. That's
what makes you whole. You're not going to be whole
or complete apart from Christ. You see, that's what this whole
thing is all about here in Ecclesiastes. Man cannot be fulfilled. Man
cannot find purpose and meaning under the Son in himself, in
his works, in his experiences, in his family, in his physical
body. Anyway, you can try to do those
things, but you'll never be complete. You'll never be whole. The only
way you're going to be a whole person is to look to Christ. That's the whole man. Right there. That's what he's talking about.
You'll never be whole without him. And then, he says in verse
14, for God shall bring every work into judgment with every
secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Fear God,
keep his commandments, and live life in light of judgment and
eternity. Now this is not speaking, verse
14, if you look up every verse of scripture that has to deal
with the judgment, or any judgment, whatever you believe about the
judgment now. Some people believe there's going to be one judgment,
two judgments, three judgments, probably somebody somewhere believes
there's going to be 50, I don't know. Whatever you believe about
the judgment, let me tell you something about it. The only
ones who are going to be judged by their works are those who
don't have Christ. Now that's so. This is not speaking
of judgment by our works. You know what it's talking about?
It's talking about the judgment of our works. whether they be
good or evil. Now what's a good work? It's
the work of Christ in and through his people. It's the fruit of
his grace and the power of his life. He's the vine, we're the
branches, we don't produce the fruit, he does, we just bear
it. Read it in John 15. And those
fruits, those works that are good, are those that are produced
by Him and when they come through us, washed in His blood and a
testimony to His grace and our identification and union with
Him. That's what it's talking about. He's not saying, now believer,
you better do some good works because He's gonna weigh your
good works with your bad works and see which comes out. And
you who done the most good works, you get a mansion and you who
did the least, you get a shack that leaks or whatever, I don't
know. That's not what he's saying at all. No sir. We don't earn
anything from God. It's all grace. All grace. And if we're in Christ, that's
what our works will testify of. They'll redound to the glory
of God in Christ. Alright.