Let's look back in Ecclesiastes
chapter 3 there. I have decided tonight to divert
from our regular study in the book of Ezekiel. For the sake
of our graduating seniors, I'm going to preach a message to
you tonight. But it's not just for you, it's
for all of us. I think, I know that I have some
words here that are the words of God, not my words, but come
from the word of God, concerning life lessons that every one of
us who are older are either thankful for or had wished that God would
have taught this to us earlier in our lives. But, you know, that's kind of
a of ironic when you think about this message from this passage
because here as Brother Aaron read, you know, it says here
there's a time for everything. And you know that's, this Ecclesiastes
3 is not, it's not just poetry. A lot, you know, many people
in the world are familiar with this passage because of a popular
song that came out when I was young. And They sing it or they
read it. Everything there is a season.
Everything there is a purpose. Time to every purpose under heaven. And time to be born, time to
die, all of that. And you know what that's teaching
us is that all time is set down by Almighty God. This is providence
here. That's what this is. God's government
of the world. God created time. And so that's
where What I want to talk to you tonight about just briefly
leads into the title of this message is taken from verse 13.
It's the last few words of verse 13. It is the gift of God. It is the gift of God. Now, several
years ago we studied this whole book of Ecclesiastes verse by
verse. Solomon, the wise man. That's
what Solomon was known for. He was the human instrument that
God used to write this book, these words of wisdom. And his
purpose can be stated something like this. What if you could
have all the money that you ever wanted, ever could want, all
the wisdom and knowledge and education, all the worldly fulfillment
that you could ever imagine a human being on this earth can have.
I mean, I know there are things you want, things I want, even
at my age. There are things you want, things
you'll aspire to. You have goals you've set for
your life. You want to achieve things and
you want to reap some of the benefits of reaching those goals
and go on in your life. Well, what if you could if you
could live everything to the max. Well, in my understanding
of the scriptures, Solomon was the one man who came the closest
to every bit of that. I mean, Solomon, he was rich,
he had power, authority. For a big part of his life, he
had respect, honor among the world. There was a queen. who
lived far off, Queen of Sheba. She'd heard of Solomon's fame
and the glory of his kingdom, and she traveled all the way
to Jerusalem to sit down and just talk to Solomon. And here's
the conclusion that Solomon came to at the end of his life, which
is the time that he wrote this book. And it's back in verse
14 of Ecclesiastes 1. Look at that. And he said, I've seen all the
works, Ecclesiastes 1.14, he said, I've seen all the works
that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and
vexation of spirit. Now, literally what that says,
all is nothing, worthless, and a trouble to my spirit. Now,
that doesn't sound like a good graduation message to you. Doesn't
sound like what I used to hear in what they call the baccalaureate
messages. I don't know if you have to go
through that stuff now or not. But whenever a person preaches
or teaches or gives a graduation speech, you want to be encouraging,
don't you? You want to be positive. And here Solomon says, I've seen
all the works done under the sun and here's my conclusion.
Vanity, vexation of spirit. But you have to understand the
context. And I want you to understand
the context of this in your life. And that's why I want to give
you these life lessons that I believe would help you. What that describes,
what Solomon described when he said all this vanity and vexation
of spirit, is not to be all in the end all of life as God has
purposed it for His people, even here on this earth. But what
Solomon has described there is man at his fullest, man at his
best, without God, without Christ. That's what he's talking about.
Man without Christ. And here's how he describes it.
Look at verse 10 of chapter 3. He says, I have seen the travail
which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
Now you know what travail is. Travail is usually a word that
we apply to women in childbirth. The travail. The sufferings of
Christ to put away the sins of His people is described that
way. The travail of His soul. He suffered,
suffered, suffered. to have a good end and a good
effect and a good result, which is the redemption of his people.
A woman who goes through childbirth suffers, that's why they call
it labor, labor. And there's pain and there's
suffering. And at the end of the suffering, there's a beautiful
child, a life, and that's the product, that's the end of the
travail. Well, here he's talking about
the travail of life that is given to human beings by God. And it
is a suffering. It is a trouble. Many times in
life you might not even think about it like that, but it will
hit you at some point in life. Some earlier than others. And
what is that travail? Well, it's in seeking fulfillment.
It's in seeking purpose. And it also has to do with a
realization of judgment and eternity. Now many people deny that there's
going to be a judgment or an eternity. But that is in us naturally
given by God and they may spend their lives trying to deny it.
But listen to how he describes it here. Look at verse 11. He
says, God hath made everything beautiful in his time, that is
for his purpose, for his glory, And also he hath set the world
in their heart. Now literally in the old language
that would read something like this. He hath set eternity in
their heart or in their souls. John Calvin, I believe it was,
was the man who called it the God-shaped void in the heart
of man. And what he's talking about is
there's a void in every one of us. There's a big hole in us. Put it that way. Like a hole
in our heart. And that's the result of the fall of man and
Adam. Our ruination in Adam. It's come
about because of sin. We've lost our purpose. We've
lost our aim. We've lost our reason for being. And we know that this life is
not the end. And so what do people do? Well,
they try to fill that hole up. And how do they do it? By nature,
man will try to fill that hole up with materialism, education,
philosophy, love or human love or whatever. He tries to fill
it up. Mainly, he tries to do it with
false human religion. False human religion. That's
what human Work's free will religion is man's pitiful, evil, self-righteous
attempt to fill up the hole in his soul. That's what he does. And sometimes it'll last even
until judgment. But God has set the world in
their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from beginning to the end. We're just not as smart as we
think we are, that's what that's saying. We're just not as big
and as great and as valuable as we think we are by nature. God is everything, man is nothing. And so he says in verse 12, I
know that there's no good in them, but for a man to rejoice
and to do good in his life, And also that every man should eat
and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor, all his work. I don't know what you're planning
to do after you graduate. If you haven't already graduated,
some of you may have already gone through the ceremony. I
don't know. But whatever it is you're going to do, you're either
going to go to school, you're going to go to work, you're going
to labor in some way. And there's nothing wrong with
enjoying the good of that labor. the results of that labor if
you keep one one thing in mind and here it is look at it again
verse 13 that last those last few words it's the gift of God it's the gift of God are you
smart you have a have a good head on your shoulders it's the
gift of God are you Are you, do you have opportunities to
do things that maybe somebody else in this world doesn't, don't
have the same opportunity, do you? It's the gift of God. Now, why did God give it to you?
Why didn't he give it to somebody else? Why do you suppose if all your
gifts, you may have talents, you may be able to sing or play
an instrument, you may be able to figure out things, you may
be able to write poetry, I don't know, whatever it is you can
do. Whatever gift you have, it's the gift of God. Why did God
give it to you? Is it because you're better than
everybody else? No, you know better than that. Is it because
you earned it and deserved it? No. It's just flat, the gift
of God. So how should you live your life?
Realizing that it's the gift of, we live it to the glory of
God. And that's how God fills that
hole in our hearts, by his grace and mercy in Christ Jesus. So
let me give you just briefly these life lessons. Number one,
enjoy your lives. We want you to enjoy life as
much as you can, live it to the fullest, do your best in everything
you do, but do everything to the glory of God in Christ Jesus. That's what we're saying. Recognize
that all you have, your life, your abilities, your talents,
your opportunities, the next breath you take is a gift from
God. The most important thing in your
life now and forever, no matter what else you do, is to seek
the Lord and the salvation that He freely and fully provides
His people in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no greater
task, there's no greater journey, there's no greater mission for
you. Believe the gospel, the good
news of salvation. You're a sinner and that tells
you one thing, you didn't deserve anything you've got. Now I know
that makes people feel bad sometimes, but it shouldn't. None of us
deserve any of the good things that we have. You know why I
know that? Because we're sinners. And whatever we have is a gift
from God. So believe the good news of salvation
from sin in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Treasure the word of
God, the Bible. You'll have, if you're going
to college, you'll be challenged in that. This book has been challenged. One thing I can tell you about
this book being challenged over the centuries, everybody who's
challenged it is dead, and this book still lives on. This book, it will not buy you
a house or a car or clothes. But I'll tell you what, it's
truly the most precious, valuable possession that you have, this
book. This is a book of Christ. This
is a book of God's grace. This is a book of wisdom. The
life lived in the grace of God and in faith and in love to Christ
is a life worth living. That's not vanity and vexation
of spirit. Without Christ and His truth,
without the grace of God, Him, all life is vanity and vexation. That's the lesson of Ecclesiastes.
Here's the second life lesson. Never ever imagine that God owes
you anything. Because he doesn't. He didn't
owe you a thing. And I'll say this way too. Don't
forget that the world doesn't owe you a living. They don't
owe you a living. Sometimes it may seem to you
that life isn't fair. But I'll tell you something,
God is always fair. He's always just, He's always
right in what He does. Learn that the things you may
want may not be the things you need. Should have learned that
lesson already, it's taught by your parents, but sometimes you
get by with that. The Lord knows what you have
need of before you ask Him, the scripture says. So remember,
God doesn't know us anything. What he gives, he gives freely
out of his mercy and his love to his people in Christ. Third
lesson. Even though you cannot earn salvation,
it's a free gift from God based on the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Even though you cannot earn salvation,
you must work and earn your paycheck. That's right. You got to work
for a living. In the world, you must work and
earn your living, and you must start at the bottom and work
your way up. I was reading this past week
where a fellow who's a multimillionaire who started out working at a
McDonald's. And here's what he said. He told
his children this. He said, flipping burgers is
not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different
word for it, for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. And
that's the way you look at it. No job is beneath you. No, you
can't earn salvation. It's a free gift from God. But
you must earn your living. Life lesson four, self-esteem
is important. We want you to be confident in
your abilities. But self-righteousness is deadly.
Self-confidence can help you. But pride, especially religious
pride, goes before a fall. God hates pride. Don't think
you're better than others. If God were to judge any of us
based upon our goodness or our self-worth, we'd all be condemned.
Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand?
And in all this, trust and depend upon the Lord and be kind to
and considerate of other people, even those who you think don't
deserve it. Because before God, we don't
deserve His kindness and His compassion and His mercy or the
least of His blessings. You know, our only real worth
before God is as we stand in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only
one with whom it was ever said by God, pleased him. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. So remember that. Number five,
remember that God always chastises his children. And what I mean
by that is this, life's not easy. You know, life is one continual
test after another. We all love respite. We all love
a little moment of peace. But I'll tell you what, life's
just not like that, is it? How many times have you heard
me say that somebody would ask, well, when is this trial going
to be over? And I'd say, as soon as the next one begins. And that's
the way it is. It takes the grace, the goodness,
the wisdom, and power of God to bring us through. And when
He does, it always results for believers For those who trust
Christ in what the Bible calls in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
11, the peaceable fruit of righteousness. And you know what that is? You
know what the peaceable fruit of righteousness is? It's not
coming out on the other end of a trial feeling good about ourselves
and how well we've done. No, it's coming out on the other
side by the grace of God feeling better about Christ. more appreciation
of Him, more value for Him, more love to Him, a greater assurance
and peace and hope of salvation because of Christ. Just in line with that of this
life's not fair, one old fella said to his graduating class,
he said, if you think your parents and teachers were tough, just
wait till you get a boss. Number six, don't blame your
sins, your failures and your mistakes on others. That's useless. Do you no good. You know the
Israelites of old, they tried to do this when they'd say the
fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are
set on edge. That's what they meant by that.
My sins, my situation is not my fault, it's somebody else's. You know the reason we need Christ
so much and the grace of God in him. The reason we need his
blood to wash away our sins is because of our sins. My sins. David prayed that in Psalm. My
sins. My sins. Not everybody else's. My sins are ever before thee. Not the sins of others. So take
responsibility for what you do or fail to do and use it as a
learning experience. And get beyond it. Don't wallow
in it. Don't be despondent over it, but use it as a learning
experience. Learn better. And here's number
seven. Prepare for life. Prepare for a job. Prepare for
a husband or wife, a family, a home. Prepare for these things.
They don't just drop in your lap. These things are not rights. Work is not a bad word. Paul
told the Thessalonians, he said, if a man doesn't work, he don't
eat. Those things are things that
God has given us through the means of our preparation. And
then lastly, don't set yourself up as judge, jury, and executioner
of others. We know this, for example, we
know those who do not trust Christ are lost. And we are to be discerners,
especially in the matter of the gospel, truth, and eternal truth. But don't ever look down on others
as if you're better than they are. Learn to respect and consider
others. Don't let them take advantage
of you, but don't short sell them either. Scripture says that
the whole law is fulfilled in these two commandments. Love
God perfectly and love your neighbor as yourself. Look back over at
Ecclesiastes chapter 12 with me. The last chapter. As Solomon continued through
the book of Ecclesiastes, he related his experiences as
a human being, as I said, living life to the fullest in every
aspect that a human being could experience life here on this
earth. If you read the biography of
Solomon, you'll see that he, even with all of his wisdom,
which God gave him. He messed up a lot, didn't he?
Made a lot of bad moves, bad mistakes. And yet we know that
God took care of him. We know that God saved him in
spite of himself. But that's the way He does all
of us, isn't it? I mean, think about it. If God saves me, He's
going to save me in spite of myself. And if He saves you,
He's going to save you in the same way. That's what grace is
all about. That's what mercy is all about.
And that's why our only hope of salvation now and forever
can never be wrapped up in ourselves, but totally in the Lord Jesus
Christ and what He accomplished on the cross of Calvary to put
away our sins. And so when Solomon comes to
the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, look at the last two verses of
this chapter, the last two verses of the book. He says, let us
hear the conclusion of the whole matter. graduates are virtually
just beginning your lives. But wouldn't you like to know
what the conclusion is before you get there? Well, here it
is. Now, we don't know how you're going to end up in your life
situation, where you're going to be living, who you're going
to be with, and all of that. We don't know those details.
But listen to this. Here's the conclusion of the
whole matter. Fear God. Now, that's not talking about
a legal fear. It's not saying be scared of
God. The word fear there has to do
with worship. It has to do with respect. It
has to do with regard and honor. Hallowed be thy name. It has
to do with faith. If God says something, believe
it. You can rest on that. Mom and
dad, they'll tell you things. And they mean well. But they
could be wrong. And you'll hear things from other
people that you respect because we're human. But when God speaks,
He's never wrong. It's always the truth. You can
bank on it. Worship Him. Believe Him. And then He says,
keep His commandments. Now as that applies to us today,
I would put it to you this way. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe the Gospel. Your salvation, your eternal
soul is at stake in this matter. And you can think of a lot of
things in this life that you don't want to lose and you want
to gain and all that things that are at stake. If you don't get
a good job and work hard at that job, you're not going to achieve
those goals. If you don't get a good education, all that is...
But here, in this matter, your eternal soul is at stake. And so it says, keep His commandments.
He's not saying here try to work your way by keeping the Ten Commandments. No. What does God command His
children to do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. Rest in Him. Cling to Him. Submit to Him. Plead His blood
in righteousness. That's where salvation is. Jesus
Christ, the God-man. Jesus Christ, the substitute,
the surety. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And then he says, for this is
the whole duty of man before God. 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. Now, he's
not talking about judgment there as if it is what your works will
earn for you. No, he's simply saying this. This is what the works of God's
people say about them as evidences of their their being in the grace
of God, evidences of being in the love of Christ. And all of
it is a gift. It's a gift from God. All of
it is a product of his goodness and his mercy and his grace to
his people. And I hope that will help you
keep those things in mind as you go through.