Fear God and Keep His Commands: Ecclesiastes' Conclusion

And there are a lot of parents in the room going, this sounds really risky, preacher. I don't know about this. You don't know what my teenager's capable of. But I didn't finish the verse. Look back at verse nine. Let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the desires of your eyes, but know that for all these things, God will bring you to judgment. Oh, that changes the whole meaning of what Solomon just said. [00:43:53] (35 seconds)  #YouthAndJudgment

You see, there is a lie of modern culture that says, follow your heart. But the bible says the heart is desperately wicked. Don't follow your heart. Follow Jesus. There's a lie in modern culture that says, do what makes you happy. There's only one problem with that. The bible says that we are not to pursue happiness because happiness is different from joy. We are to pursue holiness. The culture says, find your truth. Jesus said, thy word is truth. [00:45:18] (37 seconds)  #FollowJesusNotFeelings

You have made us for yourself, god. And our hearts are restless when we try to fill them with anything else until we find our rest in you. And that is the whole point of life, except for one thing. What if I haven't feared god and what if I find it really difficult to keep his commandments? Because the truth is this, we've all broken his commandments. That's why he sent Jesus. God knew that from the beginning and in his great love for you, he demonstrates. He proves to you that he loves you by sending Jesus to die for our sins. [01:01:20] (56 seconds)  #MadeForGod

And even though the wages of our sin, what we deserve for our sin is death, he offers us a free gift. The free gift of God is eternal life, not death, through Christ Jesus our Lord. And that if you will confess him as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, the Bible says, you will be saved. Anyone, anyone for all who call upon the name of the lord. Anyone who will believe god will save. He has never turned anyone away who trust him. Never. And you could do that today. [01:02:16] (47 seconds)  #SalvationIsAGift

Remember your creator. That word remember is in the imperative in the Hebrew Old Testament. That means it's a commandment. It's not just think back no stalgically upon your salvation experience or the time you were baptized. It doesn't mean just think back on your life group leaders when you were in the fourth grade that you loved. It doesn't just mean think back on something. The word remember actually has about it in Hebrew an expression of return. Go back to your creator. [00:48:14] (30 seconds)  #RememberYourCreator

Five words. Fear god. Keep his commands. You took 12 chapters to give us five words. Couldn't you have done that in a pamphlet? But they are wise words. And see, he had to take us down all those dead ends or we wouldn't have received that. He knew that. What does it mean to fear god? Well, it doesn't mean to be scared of him. It's not what it means. It's not phobia. [00:55:34] (31 seconds)  #FearGodKeepCommands

That he says, this is the whole deal. See, god's commandments are not burdensome. They they they are meant for our good. When god puts up offense, it's not just to keep you in, it's to keep something else out. That's what God is doing. You see, God's commandments and God's ways are the best possible way to live. Faithfulness is better than adultery. Honesty is better than lying. Peace is better than conflict. God's ways are best. Obey his commandments. They are for our good. [00:57:20] (39 seconds)  #GodsCommandsForGood

Not only that, god knows that when we disobey his commandments, it brings harm to us. Choose to sin. Choose to suffer. There are consequences. The bible makes it very clear that whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap. That is an immutable law of life. You will reap what you sow. It's gonna happen. So fear God and obey his commandments. [00:58:00] (33 seconds)  #YouReapWhatYouSow

What Solomon is trying to say to us is, yes, enjoy your life. You get to make all your choices. But once you make your choices, then your choices begin to make you. You get to make all your choices, but you don't get to choose the consequences of those choices. And Solomon wants to pull us back from the brink of foolishness, which he's been trying to do for chapter after chapter after chapter for those of you who've been here. [00:45:56] (33 seconds)  #ChoicesShapeYou

To be in absolute awe and reverence of him but he's not coming church and singing about that on Sunday morning. It leads to a surrender to his will and a submission to his ways. That's what the fear of the lord is. My my friend one of my friends who's a preacher says, the fear of the lord is not the fear that god will put his hand on you, rough you up when you do something wrong. The fear of the lord is the fear that god would take his hand off of you and let you go your own way. That's the fear of the lord. [00:56:42] (32 seconds)  #FearLeadsToSurrender

He gets cut by the NFL, tries to make comeback after comeback, and it never worked for Johnny. Enjoy your youth, but don't waste it. Number two, remember your creator before life gets hard and before life hardens you. Remember your creator before life gets hard and before life hardens you. Look at chapter 12 verse one. So remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come, and the years approach when you will say, I have no delight in them. [00:47:27] (46 seconds)  #RememberBeforeHardship

Solomon is saying to us, he's not saying do whatever you want and grace will cover it. No. That's not what he's saying. He's saying, live with an awareness that you were made by God and you are made for God. And someday, you will appear before God. So he says, yes, enjoy your life. And the bible is not anti joy, and there are things that God wants you to experience that that are absolutely capable of filling your life with incredible joy. [00:44:27] (34 seconds)  #MadeByAndForGod

I I I think every high school commencement speech should begin with congratulations on making it through the absolute easiest part of life. And I'm not diminishing your achievements, your work, your accomplishments, but you need to understand life gets harder. But here's what's even worse. When life gets harder, for some people, they lie they allow life to harden them. Before the days of adversity, that's when life gets harder. And when you say, I have no delight in them, that's when you let life harden you. [00:49:55] (38 seconds)  #DontLetLifeHardenYou

Basically, here's what it means. When you walk outside in the wintertime, you breathe out, you see your breath. It's real. That's really there. That vapor is really there, but it's gone. And not only is it temporary, but it doesn't do anything. It doesn't produce anything. It won't bear any weight in your life. And so Solomon calls us back and he says, remember your creator before life hardens you and before life gets hard. [00:53:15] (33 seconds)  #LifeIsFleeting

Solomon says, I want you to enjoy your youth. Enjoy life. Now, that is a contrary message that some of you thought that the preacher would bring on a Sunday like this. You're like, I don't know that that's that's even wise for you to say that to young people like this. The bible is not anti joy. Christianity is not anti joy. The problem is that there are some Christians who are the worst possible advertisement for Christianity. [00:42:41] (33 seconds)  #EnjoyYouthWisely

Christianity is all about God invented joy. And he says to us, enjoy your life. Embrace the good gifts of God. Enjoy times with your friends. Laugh a lot. Make memories. Build friendships. Eat good food. Go to great concerts. Experience great places. Solomon says, what I want you to do is I want you to to enjoy your life. I want you to let your heart be glad and walk in all the ways of your heart and in the desires of your eyes. [00:43:14] (39 seconds)  #GodInventedJoy

I read one of the most wonderful definitions of the fear of the lord the last couple of weeks as I've studied and prepared for this. The fear of god is an awe and a reverence that leads to surrender and submission. It is an awe and a reverence. It is seeing the greatness, the glory, the holiness, the wisdom, the power, and the love of god. To be in awe of who he is. Capable of speaking a word and the universe comes into existence. [00:56:05] (36 seconds)  #AweThatLeadsToSubmission

Solomon was this incredibly wise man. At one point, when he became king of Israel, god appeared to him and god said, Solomon, ask me for anything and I'll give it to you. I mean, think of that. God appears to you and gives you a blank check. Just fill it in. And Solomon said, I asked for wisdom to lead this this people. And God said, Solomon, since you have asked for wisdom, not only will I give you wisdom, but since you didn't ask me for wealth, I'll give you wealth. And since you didn't ask me for long life, I'll give you long life. [00:40:23] (36 seconds)  #WisdomOverWealth

They are also part, not just this class alone, but they are part of a generation that has higher anxiety, greater rates of loneliness, more uncertainty about their future, and more moral confusion than any generation that has ever lived. And yet they're asking the same questions that we've asked for centuries, for millennia. Why am I here? What will really satisfy my soul? What will what will bring me peace? What will bring me peace with God? What will bring bring me peace with others? What will bring bring me peace within? They're asking those questions. [00:39:33] (42 seconds)  #GenerationSeekingMeaning

I mean, Johnny Manziel could be dropping back for a pass, and you thought that he's gonna be tackled for a 10 yard loss. All of a sudden, he scrambles out of it, throws a little pass down the field, and the Aggies would score a touchdown. And Johnny Manziel, because of that incredible talent, he won the Heisman trophy as a freshman. First person ever do that. Ever. Then he went to the NFL. Johnny himself said in an ESPN special about his life that his alcohol abuse, that his partying, that the fact that he was undependable as a teammate, it destroyed the trust that his team had in him. [00:46:46] (40 seconds)  #ChoicesDestroyTrust