Listen! If we can envision a great end, it will guide and motivate us in the start and the middle!

I believe the Word of God is crazy powerful. The Word is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword piercing to divide the soul and the spirit, the joints and the marrow. It is crazy powerful. It is the thing that changes us. And I additionally believe that I have a responsibility as a communicator to make it clear, to make it motivational, to make you feel like it matters. It is part of my deep conviction, and I know that it's given some people heartburn in the church about that, but I think we are more changed by truth plus emotion or truth plus epiphany than we are by. Truth explained in the same old boring way. So. Please understand me, the word of God is powerful. We don't need a “dog and pony” show up here.

We decided there's going to be no smoke machine ever at FCBC. No laser lights ever. They have that in other places. God bless you if you want to do that. I have zero problem with it. There's an author who once said a book must be an axe to break through the frozen sea inside of us. And I think a sermon has to be an axe to break through the frozen sea inside of us and say. Listen up. If it's done right, it should grab me by the lapels and shake me and say I've got to go about life in a different way than I've been going about it in the past. I'm a deep believer, deep believer that I've got to set truth, propositional

truth, before people in a way that motivates them. And not in a way that bores them.

I have listened to so many sermons that were 45 minutes long, brilliant, biblical, full of facts, full of course references, full of truth, full of it was amazing. And I walked out and four seconds later I could not tell you one thing that the person said. There's different ways to present the truth. The word has power.

I'm not saying that we give power to the Word. Please be careful about that.

So. Preface to the last Sunday on Ecclesiastes. I'm wearing black. I am mourning the end of Ecclesiastes. None of you are mourning it, I'm sure. But we made it 17 weeks and here we are 11 1/2 chapters later. We're finally taking a road that leads somewhere and Koheleth is rewarding us because we stuck with it.

Ezra 7:10, “Ezra set his heart to study the law of God and practice it and teach his statutes in Israel.”

● A heart level commitment: A settled, inner determination to accomplish something.

What motivates us to these levels of commitment?

The truth is, I will not accomplish anything great until unless I set my heart to it. There was no way for me to lose 50 lbs without setting my heart to it.

No way to get a college degree without setting my heart to it. No way to build a house with my own hands without setting a heart to it. No way to write a book without setting my heart to it. These things don't happen accidentally.

● To study the Word of God:

How should I study the Word of God change over the years?

And so Ezra set in his heart number one to study the word of God. He said, I'm going to be in this book. I'm going to, I'm going to work hard. Now, when you're a brand new Christian, the book can teach you. It works. It helps. The longer you go along, the more you have to work to get into the deeper pieces of it. Someone said the Bible is a book that is a pool that a toddler can wade in. And an elephant can drown in. And as I go along, I work harder to

understand the meaning of the words, the relationship of the words, the purpose of the original author, the culture it was written to, all of that stuff. But he said it's hard to study it.

● To live/obey the Word of God:

Why is this critical?

He secondly said,'I'm going to live it and obey it.’ In biblical terms, as I've said from this platform, two or three or four or five times, you didn't hear it unless you obeyed it.

The great Shema hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might. The propositional truth I

God is one. And then I proved that I heard it by loving God with all that I've got.

● To teach/model the Word of God:

How do we do this? Why is it so impactful to others?

Biblical learning is to hear register in my brain and then adjust to my life. And then he said I'm going to teach it, Ezra said. I will teach it as well. I will teach it to other people. I will live it out in front of them. They will know that I really believe this, by the way, that I live by my changed life. And so I told you that Ezra did what Qoheleth, the writer of Ecclesiastes is about to tell us.

The Habits/Heart-level Commitment of Qoheleth all Wise People:

● Why is this endeavor so important?

● Why is this endeavor so hard?

1. Seek, practice, and teach wisdom

2. Seek, practice, teach knowledge

3. Find, arrange, and reflect on Proverbs–pleasing words and solid truth.

Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verses 9 to 14, end of the book. And I want to read that passage to us. So if you'll turn to Ecclesiastes 12, we're looking at the very last half of chapter 12. We'll start at verse 9.

12:9. “In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; And he pondered, searched and arranged many proverbs.

(10)The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. (11) The words of the wise man are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well driven nails. They're given by one Shepherd, rightly capitalized in my text. It's God who treated a shepherd there. (12) Beyond this, my son, be warned. The writing of many books is endless excessive devotion. Books are weary to the body.”

Verse 13, “The conclusion when all has been heard is fear God keep his commandments, because this applies to every person, for God will bring every act of judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or whether it is evil. “

So Qoheleth is saying to us. My job in life was to assemble people and give them the truth. I gave them the truth. I created a bunch of tension for 11 1/2 chapters. What tension was it? Life is hard. You can work all you want and you might still lose. Life is a real slog. It's a challenge, it's difficult. And having created that tension, he's finally going to resolve it for us today in this very last paragraph. Now let me say one more thing here about chapter 12. He gives us an overview of who God is.

Verse 1. He is our Creator. Jesus was the main creative agent of the Godhead who created us, spoke us into being, wills us to keep existing.

Verse 11. He is our shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for us. He walks with us every day of life.

Verse 13, He is the Master. Jesus is my Lord. Every day I must say to him, Lord Jesus, the answer is yes.

Now what is your question? Whatever you're asking me to do, yes is my answer. I just need to know what the question is. I need to be clear about that. And then verse 14. He's also our judge. He's the he is the God who whom we

will one day stand before and he will deal with everything we did, said failed to do. But he's also not in this chapter, but very clearly in the book, the God who is with us. Jeremiah 23:23 “Am I a God far off. Am I not a God near to you?

Or Matthew 1 23, “The virgin will give birth to a son and you will call his name Emmanuel. God with us. He's right here. He's not distant, He's not far off. He's indwelling us. By His Spirit. With all that said, let me pray for us a moment.

We'll think about these last verses.

In Ecclesiastes. We need your guidance, Father. We need your spirit to help us.

We know this is true. We know everything you said is true. You are the embodiment of truth. You're incapable of lying. We need to understand what you said here. We need to understand what we should do. To be biblical hearers of your word. So guide us in that in Christ's name. Amen.

Robert Browning released a poem in 1835 called Periclesis. It's a very long poem. I read it one time. I understood about 1/4 of it. So there is one paragraph I found stunning, he said in that, I am a wanderer. I remember well one journey, how I feared the track was missed so long the city I desired to reach lay hid.

When suddenly it Spires afar and flashed through the circling clouds. You may conceive of my transport. Soon the vapors closed again, but I had seen the city, and one such glance no darkness could ever obscure. Robert Browning said I'm going up the hill. I know I believe there's a city up there. I might not be on the right road. But then the clouds broke for a minute and I could see the Spires of the city. I knew I was going in the right direction. I was overjoyed and I said I will keep climbing up this hill because I know it's up there. So part of what Koheleth says to us if we could see the end of a life well lived.

It would motivate us in the beginning and in the middle. And as we go along, if I could look ahead and say I am going to die. I want to die well. What's it look like to die well? What do I do now so that in the beginning, in the middle, and near the end, I am living the kind of life that enables me to die well? I came to a funeral in this very room for a man who did not go to this church. I wasn't a part of the funeral. I was only a friend of his. I sat in the middle somewhere and I watched his funeral. 11 of the 12 people I counted could hardly speak. They were so broken up about how much this man had meant to them and how much he had done to mentor them, to lead them to faith and disciple

them and stay connected in their lives. And I walked out of that service and I said to myself, that was a life well lived. If I could be living that way, I could end in a great way. You learn more, as Koheleth says, from a coffin. Than from

a cradle. Death is the fulfillment. How did he end? Well, this man ended up crazy loved. It motivated me. And so Qoheleth is going to say to us today, here's the end of life that you need to strive for and therefore you need to do some things in the meantime to live well. Verse 9 and verse 10, the habits, the heart level commitments of Qoheleth and of all wise people are these #

1 seek practice. Teach wisdom. So wisdom in the Bible begins with fearing God. It includes discernment. It includes understanding the propositional truths, but then knowing how they work in life. It includes knowing that a gentle answer turns away wrath, and then actually using a gentle answer to turn away wrath. It includes discernment. It includes. Applying God's truth to my relationships.

It includes me being a person who judges things correctly, who looks at something and is discerning about it, who knows what's going on. It allows me to take God's word and live a life of righteousness and prudence and compassion and care. And all wise people, Qoheleth says, build their lives on the practice of wisdom. Secondly, they also seek practice and teach knowledge.

They are people who know the moral principles of God. They discern how they apply. This is more than knowing facts. This is understanding.

The perception of realities in my life and my relationships and other people's lives, aligning myself with the truth of God. And finally, he says wise people are concerned about proverbs, pleasing words and solid truth. So what is a proverb? It's a statement of ethical moral truth that is so true and so widely believed it becomes a common saying. In a in a culture and we have proverbs

in our culture. We have common sayings in our culture.

Pride goes before the fall that comes from Jesus, I'm sorry, from Psalm 16:18, but also from Jesus. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before stumbling, Qoheleth says. Why do people immerse themselves in these? What do these things mean? And then secondly, he said pleasing words, words that cause delight, words that are acceptable words that. Help to a great extent in this situation.

Ephesians 4:29. “Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Say stuff that helps in this situation.

I've had a time when I was so upset about something. I told my friends for 5 minutes how upset I was about this specific thing. I just was unhinged on it and when I stopped he said two sentences. And changed my whole perspective. I don't remember what I was upset about. I don't remember what he said, but I do remember that he gave me the words I needed at that moment to arrest my attitude and my thinking.

Wise people are after those kinds of words and finally words that are true.

Correct. Straight, upright, memorable lecture. Yes. Be yes and your no be no.

Be a person who says what you mean. So the person who embodied this.

Jesus, of course, Qoheleth did it to one or another, but Jesus did it in perfect manner

there.There's some people who have said some stuff that we all remember.

Solomon said some stuff. Winston Churchill said some stuff, John Kennedy said

some stuff. You have mentors who said stuff that you'll

never forget. Listen to some of the common stuff Jesus said that's still in our culture today.

● It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Than for a rich

man to get into heaven.

● Jesus said, ask and it will be given to you.

● Love your enemies. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

● What good is it if someone gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

● Don't throw your pearls before swine.

● Blessed are the gentle, they shall inherit the earth.

● Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

● Our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name, your will be done. Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day Our Daily Bread. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Jesus said all these things.

Even people who don't know Christ know these proverbs. He was a powerful, amazing, unbelievable communicator. And Qoheleth said, “I want to dedicate myself to this kind of thing!

Proverbs, wisdom, knowledge, pleasing words, straightforward talk. That's why I want to be verses 11 and 12. Here's what the power of the shepherd's words has in us and through us. Verses 11 and 12, this is what they can do for us. They can spur us on. They can change our will. They can motivate us to action.

If somebody says the right words in the right way. We will change our behavior. And the words of God, the words of wisdom, will do that for us. Let me, let me read you some words that changed behavior. Though the British Empire lasts for 1000 years, many will say this is our finest hour.

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. Our policy is to wage war. We should go on to the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the

fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the field, in the hills. We shall never surrender.” Who said that?

Winston Churchill, he said that in 1941 as Germany was hammering their island and he was the backbone of the British people, and he said stuff that prodded them to action. And what he said was we're going to fight them wherever they are. And if it comes down to fighting them in our living rooms, we are not surrendering. The words of God have the power to motivate us.

To do things we should do to motivate us to live in different ways.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, Jesus said, except through me. That motivates me to do something with my life. And the second thing they do is they stick in my memory. Quality words, the words of God, well spoken, stick in my memory.

For example, “I have a dream that one day my four little children will live in a nation where they are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Who was that? Martin Luther King, Junior. What a beautiful, powerful statement. I have a dream that we'll live in a nation that is absolutely colorblind. And it sticks with us. It sticks with us. Anybody over 15 knows the I have a dream speech and he spoke words that stuck with us. Jesus does the same thing for us. “Come to me, you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.” It sticks with us. When we're exhausted, we say I need to turn to Christ.

Verse 11 Jesus is the very shepherd who embodies all of this. He spoke with power, with clarity, with motivation. He spoke the word of God. He spoke the truth. He spoke it in clear, clear and skillful ways. And he said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the wise man builds his house on my words.

It is like building your house on a rock because there are going to be storms. He doesn't say if a storm would come in your life. He says when. There is no storm free place to build a life, none. And if I have built them on the word of God, I'm going to be like a house on a rock and the storms will crash against it, but it will not fall because I have built it on the Word of God. Now he gives us a warning at the end of verse 12, which he says it is very possible to become addicted to books.

Two ideas 2 arguing, 2 theories to search. It is very possible to become addicted to just wasting my life looking for the newest thing that's interesting to argue about. I don't ever want to come to a conclusion because, you know, that means I'd probably have to do something. What I want to do is just argue. I just want to. Be in the thick of it with somebody about some theory. I might not even believe it. I might not even care about it. I'm just entertained by being in the thick of it with somebody. And I'd rather read another book on parenting than go play tag with my children. I just want to be immersed in this search. Sharing Christ on the island of old cars 3 weeks ago.

One of my visits was with a professor in his 70's. The man had a doctorate. He was a brilliant individual. We gave the gospel to him. He asked a question, seemed like a legitimate question. We gave a reasoned response. He asked another question, which seemed like a legitimate question. We gave a reasoned response. After about the fourth question, I realized you didn't care about the gospel. He just found somebody to argue with, to stir up. And I turned and I said to my translator in English. The man didn't speak English. I said to my translator, this is going nowhere. He just wants to argue with us. Let's move on and find a seeker. And my translator said absolutely, I was about to say that. And so we're very gracious to him, but I left him with one final thing I said, Professor, You've probably taken 500 tests in your life.

And judging from the fact that you had a doctorate, you passed most of them.

We have one more test coming, Sir. You have one test coming. It's a single question test. You're going to stand before God and he's going to say, why should I forgive your sin? And professor, you're not ready. You're not prepared.

I said to myself, I've got to say something to this man that arrests him, that picks him up by the lapels, that's in his language, in his culture, the culture of academics, and says you're about to fail the most important test of your entire existence. We left him with the Bible. His Christian friend was going to go talk to him again, but all he wanted to do is argue. He was the epitome of never

coming to a conclusion. Never making a decision, never acting.

Now, friends, 17 weeks, 11.5 chapters. We're finally coming to the

path that gets somewhere. Verse 13 and 14, Qoheleth says. Here is the whole duty of every person. This is our whole responsibility for every one of us. Verse 13 at the beginning, fear God. Live humbly and comfortably in your place under the king. Understand that even though we don't have a king in this country, we have a king in our lives and he demands my reverential awe.

I need to see God as awesome, not as in man. That song is awesome. My word, that dance is awesome. There's different things. We have completely ruined the word awesome. God is an awesome being. He makes our jaws drop. We go. I had no idea with Job, we say, I heard of you, but the hearing with the hearing of the ear. But now I see with my eyes. I repent in sackcloth and ashes. I put my hand over my mouth twice when I have spoken. I will not say anything else. God forgive me. Because he saw who God was. God is a being who is awesome. I'm convinced. And I know I'm 72 1/2 and you're going to

think I'm just screaming kids get off my lawn. But I'm convinced that we have lost respect for anybody and anything in our culture. Respect for the president no matter what party, respect for the police, respect for the Constitution, respect for the flag, respect for teachers, respect for parents, respect for anybody out there. It is we.

Trained ourselves to jump online and bang out some nonsense and float it out there anonymously. It's, it's, it's craziness, friends, in my judgment. OK, end of sermon. It's crazy. But God is a being who demands respect. Reverential awe.

He's a being that causes rooms to fill up with smoke.

In Isaiah, he causes mountains to shake. He causes men of gravitas to fall on their faces like dead people. He can make people come to life again. He once

stopped the sun in the sky and it didn't move. He's an amazing being. You don't know anybody like him. I don't know anybody like him. He's unbelievable. And he's calling for us to be people who treat him with reverence, who treat him with awe, who live in the fear of God. He's the one who created us, sustains us, provides for us, directs us, rescues us, forgives us, redeems us, gifts us, gives us meaningful things to do with life. He's the one coming back for us. He's the one who's right now praying for us. He's so remarkably sacrificially committed to us.

And he's a stunning being, the people of Israel said to Moses. Don't let him talk to us anymore. We don't want to hear that voice. Let him talk to you. Then you come tell us what he said. He's an amazing being. And Qoheleth says to us, here is the whole duty of every human being. It is to fear God. To live in full submission to him, to bow the knee before him. We will all bow the knee in the end, some voluntarily and some involuntarily.

So what the book of Ecclesiastes says, start now, get some practice, get on your knees now before the King of the universe and live in a way that shows you're submitted to him. Second end of verse 13, “Keep God's commands.

This is for His glory and it's for our good.”

When I obey God, I am giving him more glory. When I disobey God, I am causing people to think less of Him, and when I obey God I am getting more joy in my life. God is not a cosmic killjoy out to ruin all joy and happiness and pleasure. Who invented joy, happiness and pleasure?

God's a big fan of joy. He's a huge fan of happiness. He's a huge fan of pleasure. In my right hand, God says our pleasures forevermore. Obeying God is not a way for me to miss out on fun. It's for me to have the best possible life. I could have the best possible joy, the greatest enjoyment in life if I would obey Him. What everybody else is doing about their relationship to God is their responsibility. My responsibility is what am I doing in my relationship to God. Obedience produces ridiculous joy. What did he command?

Well, there's 800 commands in the New Testament. I'm not going to go through them today. There's 800 of them. Here's the top three. Love God, love others, make disciples. Friends, if I got 100% of those three, I would be so far down the road it's ridiculous.

At long, long last we find the path that leads somewhere! The whole duty of every person.

First, fear God! Live humbly and comfortably in your place under His rule!

● How do we, in our everyday lives, live out the fear of God?

Second, keep God’s commandments! Obey for God’s glory and for your own good.

● What did Dave say are the three top commands from God to us? Why?

Love God, love others, make disciples. This is what He is commanding us to do.

Third, every act will be judged! Therefore, everything matters to God and to us!

● What do you think about the statement that everything matters to God?

Third issue, verse 14. At the very beginning, every act will be judged, therefore everything matters. Derrick Kidner said no detail on earth could be too small to matter in heaven. An idle word, the death of a Sparrow, a cup of cold water, the repentance of 1 Sinner. It all matters. There's nothing in my life

about which I can say this doesn't matter. To God. The smallest thing matters to God when I'm his subject, when I'm under his ruler, rulership, everything

matters to God. Here's some of the things that matter. Dishes. You're going to say, hey Dave, you start preaching or you start meddling and you're not preaching, but dishes, attitude, words, flossing, mowing, complacency, anger, speeding, excesses, greed, words. Parking gossip, Dress lane changes, choices.

Words cars service eating words kindness to pets.

Forgiveness, words, disrespect, online postings. Now I know you think OK Dave, you listed words about five times there. You've lost your mind. No, I didn't. I mean what? I've got some of it left. I said words intentionally. It all matters to God. It all matters to God.

There is nothing that doesn't matter.

Fourth, every hidden thing, good or evil, will be revealed! Secrets aren't real.

● Why is this so?

4th end of verse 14. “Every hidden thing, good or evil will be revealed.” Secrets are not real. They do not exist.

Luke chapter 8:17. “There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, nothing concealed that will not be known and brought out into the open.”

I can keep something secret for a time, but it will come out in the open. Good or bad, it will be broadcast from the rooftops. Eventually. At some point, every evil thing is going to come to light. Famous mega church pastor in Texas. I'm not going to give you his name. Last week arraigned in Oklahoma and accused of molesting a girl in 1982. Now he's innocent until proven guilty. I'm not

saying he did it, I have no idea. But I am simply saying if he did it, it took 4 decades and two years to come into the open. Everything matters because everything will be revealed. Every good thing will come to light. Sometimes you might do a great thing and think that was the right thing to do and nobody saw it. Wrong. God saw it.

Kathy and I had a time in seminary on a Saturday. We looked at our finances. We need $300.00 by Monday or we're going to bounce some checks. We prayed, we didn't tell anyone. Sunday after church came out to the car, there was an envelope on the seat with $300.00 in it.

I have no idea who did it. No idea. But it's going to come in the open. Someday I'm going to see that person in eternity and say it really helped us. Thank you. It's all coming to light. And because it is, all of it matters. Here is the whole duty of every person.

Fear God, keep his commandments. Everything will be judged, everything is important, everything will come to light. And so here's Qoheleth’s gem. Here's what he's saying to us. Our lives are like a lightning quick breath. They're like a vapor, they're like a mist. They're like a little chunk of smoke that blows

past us. So start early to fear God and obey him.

And if you didn't start early, start now. Because our lives are going away in a flash. They're only vapor. You may not agree with that, but I'm here to testify. I know this not only intellectually, but now experientially. The days are long, but the decades are short. They just stack up like that.

How did I get here? I have a granddaughter married, for heaven's sake, friends. I know I was there. I did the wedding. I know for a fact. My granddaughter is married. It didn't take any time at all. It just happens in a flash and Qoheleth says. This is happening so quickly. You can knock yourself

out in this world and if you don't have God, all you're going to be is knocked, knocked out and knocked down. You're going to be discouraged.

Psalm 90:10. “The length of a man's life is 70 years, or if by strength, 80.

Yet their pride is what labor and sorrow, for soon it is gone, and we all. Fly

away.”

It takes no time at all to live 70 years. I'm here to testify. It takes no time at all on this table. Here are: If I earned one grade of rice for every day of

life at the age of 70, I would have this pile. One grain for every day of life. At the age of 70 I would have this pile of rice and you think that would take forever?

My pile is bigger than this one already. It just happened like that. You might be sitting there at 12 or 20 or 40 and thinking, oh, this is, this is nuts. This old man's ranting and raving. It's not an old man ranting and raving. It's in the book. The book says it's going away rapidly and it took me 70 years to stack this up and it's all going away.

Qoheleth’s Gem: Our lives are a lightening quick breath…so start early to fear and obey God!

However, if you didn’t start early, start now!

Like that? It's all gone. It's just poured out. My life is soon going to be poured out, yours is going to be poured out. And so what's the lesson? Start young to fear God and obey Him. And if you didn't start young, start now to fear God and obey him. Let's pray, friends.

Father, thank you for your kindness to us in writing this book. Thank you for your kindness to us in giving it to us in a language we can read. I do pray now for those people in the world who don't have this book in a language they understand. Have mercy on them. Thank you for your revelation to us. To whom more is revealed, more will be required.

Let us be people who start young or start today. To fear you, to obey you.

To treat you with reverential awe. To adjust our lives based on what the end needs to look like. Help us, we pray, in Christ's name, Amen.