Now let me direct your attention
tonight to Ecclesiastes chapter 2. The 26 verses in this chapter
and the real story of comfort and peace and direction and salvation
is told in the last few verses. But I want to read through this
chapter and make some comments and then deal with those last
few verses. concerning this subject, the vanity of pleasure without
Christ. The vanity of pleasure without
Christ. Wherein do you find pleasure,
satisfaction, contentment? These are the issues that Solomon,
the seeker, the preacher, some say the one who's on this quest,
is asking. Wherein do we find fulfillment? Wherein do we find salvation? You know, as you read through
the book of Ecclesiastes, understand that this is a man who is on
a serious quest. I mean, this is not just secondary
to him. He's not one who's just frivolous. He's
thinking about these things of eternity. He recognizes that
God has set within his heart the travail that he mentioned
back up in verse 13 of chapter 1, this sore travail that he
spoke of. Later on, he's going to talk
about it in Ecclesiastes 3 when he considers time and eternity. What is this all about? What's
the meaning? What is the answer to the questions
of eternity, salvation? The problems of life, the problems
within us, the problems around us that are caused by sin. Is there any answer? Is there
any hope? Well, is there any pleasure? Is there any contentment?
Is there any fulfillment, purpose, and meaning in this life? The
psalmist wrote in Psalm 111, the first two verses of that
psalm, let me just read that to you. It begins, Praise ye
the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my
whole heart. in the assembly of the upright
and in the congregation. The works of the Lord are great,
not the works of man now, but the works of the Lord, sought
out of all them that have pleasure therein." Contentment in the
works of the Lord. And so we know the end of this
story. We know the answer that it's
only in Christ. It's only in the way of the cross.
that man is going to find fulfillment and contentment and real eternal
pleasure in that sense. And I don't mean to be crude
when I say this, but what Solomon is looking for here as he is
addressing himself and endeavoring to find his answers under the
sun, which means here on this earth, it's the same as like
finding gold in a dung heap. You're just not going to find
it. And so that's why the Lord has to send redemption through
his Son and lift the beggars off the dung heap, as Hannah
prayed, so that we can find fulfillment. But let's just look at this.
He begins with the empty pursuit of pleasure. And what he's talking
about here, as we read through this, is human gratification
at the expense of God's glory. You know, the Bible teaches us
that the chief end of man is to glorify God in everything
that we think, say, and do. But this is the human pursuit
of pleasure at the expense of God's glory. And listen to what
he says, verse 1, I said in mine heart, this is a heart thing,
this is a determination here, go to now. In other words, listen
to what I'm saying, I will prove thee with mirth. That word mirth
is like pleasure or laughter. He says, therefore enjoy pleasure,
and behold, this also is vanity. In other words, here's a man,
he said in verse 2, I said of laughter it is mad, and of mirth,
what doeth it? Here's a man who decided to pursue
fulfillment in pleasure, in laughter, in his social life. Inflipency,
not taking things very seriously. He calls it vanity, he says.
What do with it? It's mad. It's of mirth. These are things that kind of
divert man's attention from the real quest. to glorify God and
to seek out meaning and fulfillment. These are distractions, you see,
what it is. That's what people do who don't
want to think about these things. They'll distract themselves with
their revelings. Look at verse 3. He said, I sought
in my heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting my heart
with wisdom. Now, what he's saying there when
he says, I give myself to wine, he's not saying that I'm just
going to get drunk and stay drunk all the time. That would be euphoria. He says, I'm going to give myself
to wine, yet acquainting my heart with wisdom. What he's talking
about, wine is a symbol of joy in the Scriptures. We talk about
the Holy Spirit who gives us joy, and sometimes wine is used
as a symbol of joy. And what he's talking about here
is not just getting drunk, he's talking about feasting, he's
talking about partying, what the Bible calls reveling. which
is part of the works of the flesh. Rioting may be a good word for
it. He's looking for peace of mind
He's looking for meaning, but he's going to seek it wisely
now not in drunkenness. He's going to do it in hedonism
This is like the guy who says eat drink and be merry for tomorrow.
We die Let's I remember back in the in the 70s They used to
have this commercial a beer commercial that said grab for all the you
only go around once in life grab for all the gusto you can get
you remember that and That's what he's saying. I'm going to
grab for all the gusto I can get. And it's not just to throw
caution to the wind, but it's a serious pursuit of happiness
in this thing, in feasting. And so he goes on, verse 4, he
says, I made me great works. Now he's seeking pleasure in
things, in his accumulations. I've built me houses, Solomon.
Now think about this. Think about the history. I planted
vineyards. I had a vineyard. He said, I
made me gardens and orchards and I planted trees in them of
all kinds of fruits. I made me pools of water. He
irrigated his vineyards. That's what he's talking about.
To water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees. I got me
servants and maidens. He had a whole house full and
had servants born in my house. This is how long he had them.
They were born in this house. Also, I had great possessions
of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before
me." He goes on, "'I gathered me also silver and gold, and
the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces, and I got
men singers and women singers, and the entertainment.'" You
see, you can see this now. In the human endeavor, Entertainment. So I got men singers, women singers,
the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments and that
of all sorts. He goes on, he says, so I was
great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem.
Also, my wisdom remained with me and whatsoever mine eyes desired,
I kept not from them. There's the lust of the eyes.
Whatever I saw that gave me pleasure in the lust of the flesh and
lust. That's what I got. I grabbed for it. I withheld
not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor,
and this was my portion of all my labor." Now look at verse
11. He says, then I looked on all the works that my hands had
wrought, had worked, and on the labor that I had labored to do,
and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit. There was
no profit under the sun. There's that conclusion again.
All of it's temporary. You can find pleasure in mirth
and partying and revelings and the accumulation of things, but
it will not last. It's all going to decay. You're
going to decay. All of it. It will never fulfill. the destiny of man as he was
set forth on this earth to glorify God. We read this morning in
Luke chapter 16 about that parable of the rich man who accumulated
so much that he had to build bigger barns to put his stuff
in those barns, and yet his soul was required that very night.
He said, I'm going to enjoy this the rest of my life. Well, he
only had one more night, and that was it. He said, Thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. And that's
what Solomon is saying. It's all going to come to that
final end where you'll have to face judgment and eternity. And therefore, what good will
it do us? Look at verse 12. And you know, you might notice
this labor here is for self-gratification. It's not for the glory of God.
It's not for the good of others. It's not to the praise of the
glory of God's grace. It's not a labor of love to God
and to others, but self. It's all self. It all revolves
around self. It's not works of faith, not
works of love, but it's all unbelief. And so what is it? It's vanity.
Well, look at verse 12. He says, and I turned myself
to behold wisdom and madness and folly. For what can man do
that cometh after the king, even that which hath already been
done?" Now what he's saying here is this. This is real interesting.
He's saying that nobody can do it better or more than I've done
it. And basically he was right. All
the wisdom, all the power, all the money, all the things that
he accumulated in his kingdom, nobody that's coming after me.
can do it better or more. What more could a sinful, mortal
man do more than the king? Nothing. In other words, what
he's saying here, this is the highest man can rise under the
earth of his own power. Vanity. Again, we see that man
at his best to stay at his best. This is man at his best now,
on his own, of his own free will, sinful, fallen man, getting all
that he can get, grabbing for all the gusto. What can he accomplish?
Vanity. And you know what? That's why
we need Christ. That's why we need salvation
by God's grace. That's why we need a deliverer,
a redeemer from our sins, because we can't do it. And I thought
about this when I read that verse, you know, over in Luke chapter
11, where the Lord was talking about his work, the accomplishment,
why he came to this world. He came to this world to save
his people from their sins. His name shall be called Jesus.
He shall save his people from their sins. And he was admonishing
his own generation because they weren't even interested in what
he had to say. All they were interested in was
promoting themselves and their religion, the Pharisees and the
Sadducees and all of them. And that's all they wanted to
do. They didn't want to hear the gospel. Listen, the gospel of
salvation. that causes man to rise above
this vanity by the grace and power of God in Christ. You don't
want to hear about that? You're not interested in that?
Many of you tonight here, and I myself included, we know about
vanity of things, don't we? And as you grow older, you learn
a little bit more each day, don't you? About the vanity of this
life. How one day you can be the picture
of health, and the next day you can be a massive jelly. How one day you can be rich,
the next day you can... We know something about that.
Now, you don't want to hear about a gospel, the good news of salvation,
and eternal life, and glory, and inheritance that you can't
even put a value on. You don't want to hear about
that. That comes from a sovereign, merciful God, in and by His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. Well, that's what Christ in Luke
11 was admonishing them for. And here's what he said. Let
me read verse 31 of Luke chapter 11. You read the whole chapter
sometime. He spoke of the Queen of the
South shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation
and condemn them. Now, you remember who the Queen
of the South was? That's the Queen of Sheba. And it's recorded
in 2 Kings, I believe. It may be 1 Kings. I have to
look it up. But it's recorded there how she
traveled from afar to test Solomon with hard questions. Questions
about life, questions about death, questions about judgment, questions
about salvation, questions, I'm sure, about government. Things
like that. And it says she was amazed at
Solomon's wisdom. She was amazed at it, you see.
And he uses that as a type of a sinner, an illustration of
a sinner, who knows his sin and who hears the gospel and stands
amazed at the glory of God in salvation by grace through Christ. We sing that hymn, I stand amazed
in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene. We sing that other
hymn, Amazing Grace, how sweet, is it really amazing to you? Like the Queen of the South was
amazed at what Solomon told her. When Christ speaks a word of
grace and mercy and comfort to you and to me, is it really amazing? Or can we just take it or leave
it? Or maybe we don't even want to hear it. And that's what Christ
is teaching there. I've told you the gospel. I've
told you the way of eternal life and glory. The way of immortality. Many of you are facing death,
and that writes soon. I'm telling you the way of immortality. in the Lord Jesus Christ who
is our life, who died to put away the sin that demands my
death. He died for me. Who established
righteousness. I'm telling you the way of righteousness
which you don't have and cannot by your best efforts work out. Solomon realized that. Are you amazed by that? Well,
listen on what he said. The Queen of the South shall
rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and
condemn them. For she came from the utmost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold,
a greater than Solomon is here." You want to hear the wisdom of
Solomon? No, I want to hear the wisdom of Christ. And this is
it. Look at verse 12 again of Ecclesiastes
2. I turn myself to behold wisdom
and madness and fire. For what can the man do that
cometh after the king, even that which hath already done? No mere
sinful man can do anything more than Solomon. But that one who
is greater than Solomon, let me tell you about what he can
do, and let me tell you what he has done. He's put away my
sins. He's given me a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice by which I stand
eternally and unchangeably not guilty and justified in the sight
of a holy God. He's given me eternal life that
can never be taken away. He's set me on the course for
glory and keeps me on that path, and He'll bring me in all the
way. That's why I chose that hymn
on Jordan's stormy banks. That's not just pie-in-the-sky
religion. Now, that's not just dreaming
about glory land. That's our security in Christ. Solomon is saying, I don't have
it here on earth, and I haven't found it yet. And I've done everything
a man can do, and nobody can do any more than I've done. But
there is one who's coming after Solomon who's greater than Solomon,
and he's done it all. Look at it, verse 13. He continues
here. He says, he says, Then I saw
that wisdom exceleth folly as far as light exceleth darkness.
Solomon found that wisdom and folly agree in being subject
to vanity, but now he shows a contrast here. Both are brought under
vanity by events. He says, verse 14, the wise man's
eyes are in his head, but the fool walketh in darkness, and
I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.
It's all going to come to the same end. But he's saying here
it's better to go in with your eyes wide open than with your
eyes shut. It's better to be a wise man
even in things of this world than to be a fool. That's what
he's saying. But it's all going to come to
the same end. It still cannot get you above the sun. It still cannot conquer the things
of this earth and death and the grave and hell. You see, the
grave is still going to be victorious for the wise man, wise in the
things of this world now, and for the fool. In fact, if you
go out there to the graveyard and you start reading names,
if you don't know those people, you wouldn't know which one's
the fool and which one's the wise man, would you? They're
all the same to you, the great equalizer. So how are you going
to rise above that? Well, there's not but one way,
and that's by the grace of God in Christ. Look at verse 15.
He says, Then said I in my heart, as it happeneth to the fool,
so it happeneth even to me. And why was I then more wise?
What was it all for? Then I said in my heart that
this is also vanity. Ultimately, that's what he's
saying. Verse 16, For there is no remembrance of the wise more
than of the fool for ever. Memory is not going to last forever.
Seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dies the wise man? Well,
he dies as the fool. Death comes on. Now why? Because
the wages of sin is death. That applies to the fool and
it applies to the wise man. You may be having a good time
here on earth with all the pleasures of this world, but still the
wages of sin is death. Verse 17, therefore I hated life. Now what a place to come to.
I hated life. Because the work that is wrought
under the sun is grievous unto me for all its vanity and vexation
of spirit. And then he turns again to his
labor. Listen to this in verse 18. You see both ultimately,
both wisdom and folly do no good in the matter of salvation. Cannot
get you above. these things of the world. Cannot
conquer death. Cannot bring eternal life. He
goes back to his labor. We read this the other night.
Look at verse 18. He says, Yea, I hated all my
labor which I had taken under the sun, because I should leave
it unto the man that shall be after me. If you do accumulate
all these things, you're going to just leave it to somebody
after you, and you don't know whether that person's a fool
or a wise man, but it really doesn't matter. It all comes
to vanity. It's all going to perish. He
says, verse 19, who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or fool,
yet shall he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored,
wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This is also
vanity. You might consider also that
all the kings, most of the kings that came after Solomon, even
in the divided kingdom, northern and southern, were idolaters.
They were unbelievers. A few in the southern kingdom
led the people in the ways of God. as the king should have,
but most of them were fools. He says in verse 20, therefore
I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which
I took under the sun. Now I'll tell you something,
that sounds depressing. But you know it's really a good
thing for your heart to despair of all the labor which I took
under the sun. Where is your salvation? If it's
in your labor under the sun, You need to despair of that,
because, my friend, that's a false hope. That's a refuge of lies,
you see. Our joy and our peace must come
in believing, and the object of our belief, our faith, is
Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen again. That's where
our joy needs to be. That's the lasting joy and peace
that cannot be interrupted, even when we don't feel it. Now, you
understand, this whole thing is not based on faith. This thing
of faith, and I read about this all the time, you know, people
judge faith and they gauge faith by how they feel. Don't do that. Don't do that. You judge faith
and gauge faith by the Word of God. And what the Word of God
says to you and to me is that the strength of our faith is
totally in accordance with the strength of our Savior. You see
what I'm saying? You see, if I believe in Christ,
that's all that matters. Even when my faith in myself
is weak, He's strong. That's right. Even when I'm in
a valley in life. Many of you have gone through
some valleys here in this past year. Some of you in this past
week. Some of you right now. But see,
even when you go through that valley, Your Savior is still
the same, and He'll never change. Listen, that doesn't diminish
your salvation, it doesn't diminish your righteousness, it doesn't
diminish your security. One iota when you go through
that valley. But now, if your eye and your
heart and your mind and your hope is on the things of this
world, then what is He saying? You need to despair. You need
to despair. Look at verse 21, he says, For
there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge,
and in equity, that's justice. Yet to a man that hath not labored
therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity
and a great evil. There are people who are diligent,
who study, who read, who are educated, and there are people
who don't. And ultimately it all comes to the same end under
the sun. And so he says in verse 22, he
says, for what hath man of all his labor and all the vexation
of his heart, wherein he hath labored under the sun, for all
his days of sorrows and his travail of grief, yea, his heart taketh
not rest in the night, this is also vanity. And you know, that
kind of works even harder as you get older, doesn't it? You
come to find that a good night's sleep is a precious thing. I think about this, you know,
my little grandson, he'll fight sleep. He'll fight it. Debbie
tries to get him, and I'm sure Liz tried to get him to take
a nap. He'll fight it. You elderly folks, and I'm including
myself there, do you fight it? Oh, you cherry, you bring it. That's the way it is because
you've seen some things. You've grown in these areas.
You know some things. And you just cherish it. And
then look here, now in verses 24 through 26, this right here,
this is the first statement, I believe, of the true message
of the book of Ecclesiastes right here. Here's the true message
of it. This is the culmination of it right now. He's been talking
about vanity and despair, evil days, all these things that are
negative. But now listen to how he ends up now. And what he's
saying in these last verses is this, now when God enters the
picture, everything changes. When grace comes into the life,
Everything changes. It's a whole different perspective
now. And that's what these last verses
say. So look at what he says first. He says, verse 24, there
is nothing better for a man than he should eat and drink and that
he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. Now listen to this. This also
I saw that it was from the hand of God. Now, does that make sense
to you? Well, first of all, I want to
give you a literal translation of this verse. It's really not
saying there's nothing better for a man. That's not what Solomon's
teaching. Is there anything better than
this? If there's not, we're of all men most miserable. Paul
said that in 1 Corinthians 15, didn't he? When he talked about
Christ be not risen, if there's no resurrection unto a better
life, unto eternity in glory, where this corruptible puts on
incorruption, if there's nothing better than this, then we're
of all men most miserable. Now, is Solomon, is he contradicting
what Paul's writing over the Newt? No. He's really not saying
there's nothing better. Here's what he's literally saying
in verse 24. He's saying there's nothing in man that he should
eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. There's nothing
in man, there's no inherent value in man, fallen, sinful, depraved,
ruined man, that makes it possible for him to extract true enjoyment
and fulfillment from the things he does. And that's the first
lesson. So what does? Well, he says,
this also I saw was from the hand of God. for apart from him
who can eat or who can have enjoyment or fulfillment." That's what
he's saying. Apart from God. This is from the hand of God.
And I'll tell you what I believe he's basically saying here. He's
saying we can enjoy life. We don't have to go around like
these taste-not-touch-not-handle-not so-called self-righteous people,
Pharisees, and act as if we're just in misery and despair all
the time. We can have real joy and real
peace in believing, and we can enjoy the things of this life. Listen, as we view them and know
them to be the gift of God. That's what he's talking about.
All the things we have. Listen to this in James chapter
1, verse 17. We've been studying the book
of James. Remember what James wrote in James 1, 17 through
18. Listen to this. He says, Every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down
from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his
creature, born again by the Spirit, firstfruits of his creation."
We can enjoy life. We enjoy eternal life in Christ. That's a gift from God. Listen,
the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. We can enjoy the gift of His
Word, His Word of Peace, His Word of Joy, His Word of Grace,
His Word of Direction. We can enjoy the fellowship of
one another. We can enjoy worshiping God.
But now we can enjoy our families. We can enjoy our jobs. We can
enjoy the things that God has given us. You think about that? Your children, your grandchildren.
You can enjoy it. There's nothing wrong with rejoicing and enjoying
the gifts. Recognize this, this also I saw
that it was from the hand of God, not just the enjoyment of
it, but the things themselves. You can enjoy your homes. You
can enjoy your activities, all of these things. To the honor
and praise of the glory of God's grace, that's what he's saying.
He's not saying it's a sin for us to enjoy these things. We
can. We're a first fruits of his creatures. And what is that? That's the joy and peace that
comes through Christ. Let's use these things to honor
Him and to glorify Him. Let's treat them as He gives
them for our enjoyment because they're not our salvation, they're
not our hope. These are passing things, but
we're on our way to glory in Christ. So we cannot find our
fulfillment in ourselves or in the things we enjoy, but we acquire
the fulfillment and see the fulfillment we have in God through Christ.
And then look at verse 25. He says, for who can eat or who
else can hasten here into more than I? He's going to pursue
this. This is something that that he
knows he desires. And he says in verse 26, for
God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom and knowledge
and joy, but to the center. he giveth travail, to gather
and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God.
This also is vanity and vexation of spirit." Now, what's he talking
about? God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, or before
him, wisdom and knowledge and joy. Well, the Bible tells us
that there's none good in men. He's not talking about God looked
down and saw those who are good and then gave them wisdom and
knowledge and joy. If that were the truth, then
then there be no wisdom, knowledge, and joy. Because there's none
good, no not one. There's no one good inherently
in and of ourselves. The one that literally is good
before God, and literally what this verse is saying is those
who please God. The one who pleases God. Now
what does the scripture say about us pleasing God? It says without
faith it's impossible to please Him, without looking to Christ.
God said of his beloved son, this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased, hear ye him. God has no pleasure in the wicked.
God only has pleasure in his work. Remember we read that at
the beginning in Psalm 111. Those who have pleasure in his
works. And his work, listen, his work
is not just the mountains and the seas and the sky. His work,
listen, if you're a sinner saved by the grace of God sitting there
before me tonight, you are his work. Did you know that? We are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in them. If any man
be in Christ, he is a new creation, a sinner saved by the grace of
God, pardoned by the blood of Christ, clothed in the righteousness
of Christ, he is God's workmanship. And so, who is he pleased with?
Who is good in the sight of God? Only those who are in Christ. That's what he's saying. Blessed
are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled." Look at Isaiah chapter 55. I want to close with
this. I want you to see this. Now,
remember I told you, look at this. Here's a man that's in
pursuit. And he says, now God gives to
a man that is good in his sight. And who's good in God's sight?
The Bible says there's no flesh shall be justified in God's sight
by works of the law. So what's he talking about? Who's
good in God's sight? Sinners saved by the grace of
God in Christ. That's who he's talking about.
And he gives them wisdom. Christ is our wisdom. He gives
them knowledge. We don't know anything about
God in salvation and redemption, except we see the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. And he gives us joy. The only
lasting, real eternal joy that we have is in Christ. But now
to the sinner, that's the unbeliever, he giveth travail. The unbeliever,
that's all he has. Now he may not feel that way
at given moments, but that's all it is. It won't last. And
he even uses that to give good things to his people, but for
them it's only vanity and vexation of spirit. But now look at Isaiah
55. Now, you remember? I said, you've got to look at this fella
here, this Solomon, as a person who's serious about this search.
He's serious about it. I'm on a search for the... I
want to find meaning in life. It's like the guy in the cartoon
who climbs up the mountain, sees the old guy with the white beard
and says, tell me what the meaning of life is. And the fella finally
says, well, you climbed all this way because I just don't know.
That's the way it is, you know. But look here now. Here's the
search. that Solomon ends up with. Look
at verse 1 of Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. He that hath no money, come ye,
buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. What a great description of man
in his sin. Thirsty. Thirsty for meaning,
for purpose, for fulfillment, for salvation. Looking for the
waters that'll quench that thirst and endeavoring in the things
under the sun that'll quench it for a little while, but not
permanently, not eternally. Trying to buy salvation, but
he has no money. Has no money. We have no righteousness. We have no goodness. We have
no power by which to buy salvation. That's us. And he says, now you
come and buy wine and milk. That wine there, that's that
joy. That's not what Solomon was using back there with the
mirth and Ecclesiastes 2. This is the wine and the milk.
This is joy and nourishment. This is joy and fulfillment.
And he says, do it without money, without price. Now what does
that mean? It means it's free. When you buy it without money,
without price, that means it's free. To you and to me. It costs somebody something.
But not you and not me. It cost God's Son His very life,
redeemed by the blood of Christ. And he says in verse 2, Wherefore
do you spend money for that which is not bread? That's what Solomon's
doing in Ecclesiastes under the sun. He's spending money for
that which is not bread. It won't fulfill you. It won't
nourish you eternally spiritually. For that which is not bread and
your labor for that which satisfies not. How many times he's talked
about his labor being vanity and vexation. Hearken diligently
unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness." Fatness there is the fullness that we find
in Christ. Incline your ear, come unto me
here, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. What are the
sure mercies of David? It's the certainty of salvation
by God's mercy in Christ, who is our mercy saint. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 73,
25, he said, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon
earth that I desired beside thee. You see, there's the sinner's
desire, Christ. Peter spoke it in his sermon
in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. Look to the Lamb of God. Let
me read this and I'll close. 1 John 5, 11-13. This is the
record. That God hath given to us eternal
life. And this life is in his Son.
And he that hath the Son hath life. You see that? And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Isn't that simple? These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified and risen again, that
you may know that you have eternal life, not vanity, not vexation
of spirit, but eternal life, and that you may continue believing
on the name of the Son of God. There is the pleasure of God's
people.