Disciple Still 2024 is a discipleship weekend for adults age 55 and over.

In Jesus’ last words to His disciples before He laid down His life at the cross, He spoke to them about a great many important matters. At this year’s D-Still, we’ll explore four of these in our time together: love, peace, joy and truth. You may recognize that the first three of these occur, in a bit different order, in Paul’s description of the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22. It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling within us, who produces these qualities. A life lived in the power of the Spirit is a life in which we love like Jesus, we know His peace, we carry His joy, and we embrace what He says as the truth.

REGISTER HERE:

While registration is unlimited for the weekend, there are only 50 spots available for the Friday night banquet.

 

WEEKEND SCHEDULE

FRIDAY – December 13

• 5:30pm – Registration
• 6:00pm – Friday Night Banquet
• 7:00pm – Christmas Concert with Blake and Jenna Bolerjack

SATURDAY – December 14

• 9:30am – Saturday morning coffee and donuts
• 10:30am – Worship Service
• 12:00pm – Lunch
• 1:00pm – Afternoon of fellowship and games
• 5:30pm – Supper
• 6:30pm – Worship Service

SUNDAY – December 15

• 8:45am – Coffee available in the fellowship hall
• 9:15am – Worship service during Sunday School hour
• 10:30am – Corporate Worship with the entire church
• Dismiss at noon

 

 

Pastor Isaac Butterworth

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Dr. Isaac Butterworth, now retired, pastored First Presbyterian Church, Wichita Falls, for more than thirty years. A graduate of Baylor University (BA, 1968), Southwestern Seminary (M. Div., 1972), and McCormick Seminary (D. Min., 1980), he has served three other churches as pastor, all in Texas. Ike, as he is called, and his wife, Jan, have two grown children and three grandchildren. Committed to expository preaching, Ike seeks to present God’s Word in such a way that it may lead to life transformation. An avid hiker, Ike enjoys being in the mountains and walking the trails. He also loves to read, especially in the areas of theology, biblical interpretation, and biblical counseling.

 

 

 

Worship Leader: Colin Lundstrum

Colin has served on staff at Fellowship Church Lubbock since early 2020. Prior to moving to Lubbock, he served as a music minister in West Texas for 6 years. He has a BA degree in biblical studies from Frontier School of the Bible (2009) and is working towards resuming his MDiv in the fall of 2023 from Grace Bible Theological Seminary. He also earned a two-year technical degree focusing on piano and vocal performance from Olympic College (2006) and has received classical training in piano, clarinet, conducting and other interdisciplinary studies. He and his wife, Jessica, have six children; five boys (Seth, Kreg, Lewis, Theodor and Ethan) and one girl (Juliette).

 

 

 

 

FRIDAY NIGHT IN CONCERT

Award winning Christian Recording Artists Blake & Jenna Bolerjack will be coming this season LIVE for a Christmas Concert at FBC Spur @ 7:00pm.  Their concert will feature well known Christmas favorites and new songs: a fun, eclectic Holiday mix of Gospel, Pop, Southern Gospel and Classical selections. Listen Online to Blake & Jenna’s Christmas album “Christmas In the Snow” streaming on Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, and Apple Music. Find Blake & Jenna online at: https://linktr.ee/blakeandjenna  or  blakeandjenna.com

 

 

 

 

download here

Isaiah’s Passion – part 3
Isaiah 61-62 (61:3-11)
November 3, 2024

We had a pretty extensive recap this morning, so let’s jump back in tonight.

#1 THE PROPHET’S COMMISSIONING
Isaiah 61:1-11

• We know he was commissioned to preach.
• We know that it was the Holy Spirit who gave him the power to do so.

And we are talking about what he preached.

1) THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION (1)

(1) “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;”

And we could throw the first line of verse 2 in with that too:
“To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD”

Isaiah went to sinners, showed them their sin,
And taught them were forgiveness and freedom was found.

2) THE GLORY OF SALVATION (2-11)

We saw this morning that he also came to proclaim:
“the day of vengeance of our God;”

It is the day in which God judges His enemies
And those who persecuted His people.

It is the day that the martyrs of Revelation 6 are crying out for:
Revelation 6:9-11 “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”

They are longing for this glorious day
In which our God returns in power and justice to judge the nations.

And the interesting thing to us (as we said this morning)
Is that this day is said to come FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE.

Isaiah says that God commissioned him to preach that message of God’s vengeance “to comfort all who mourn,”

He goes on to say it is:
(3) “To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

And we learn something wonderful here about this coming day of glory.

It is:
A DAY OF COMFORT TO A MOURNING NATION (2-3)

So let’s think on that a little bit.

Who are these mourners and how are they comforted?

One set of mourners are those
Who have grieved over the fallen state of this world
And the sin curse upon it and the rejection of Christ.

LET ME GIVE YOU SOME PICTURES OF THEM.

The first picture of this grief is actually from God Himself.
Genesis 6:6 “The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”

We read the same of the wilderness wanderings:
Psalms 78:40 “How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the desert!”

God grieved and mourned over the sinful state of the world which He created.
• It was not pleasant to Him.
• It caused Him to mourn.

And such has also been the case of the redeemed throughout the ages
As they see the growing atrocities and iniquity spreading upon the globe.

Remember when Jacob’s daughter was raped:
Genesis 34:7 “Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.”

• It is a grief over a sinful behavior that ought not to be done and certainly ought not to be tolerated.

THIS GRIEF IS UNIQUE TO THE REDEEMED.
When Jerusalem was at her lowest point of idolatry:

Jeremiah said of them:
Jeremiah 8:12 “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed, And they did not know how to blush; Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time of their punishment they shall be brought down,” Says the LORD.?”

You had people in the city who weren’t even bothered by sin.

But the truly redeemed were, and God took notice of them:
Ezekiel 9:4 “The LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.”

Peter spoke about why God rescued Lot out of the midst of Sodom:
2 Peter 2:7-8 “and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),”

• Lot was grieved by the iniquity of his city.

This is one type of mourning that is being mentioned here in Isaiah.
• These are people who do not love the world.
• These are people to whom the world has been crucified.
• They are not like Lot’s wife, looking back at the world she loved.
• They have left it, they hate it, they are grieved by it.

• The rampant immorality that is spreading.
• Sexual perversion.
• Half of the nation literally fighting for the right to kill the unborn
• Drag queens and the mutilation of children
• Drug trafficking
• Gambling and prostitution and pornography
• The gluttonous lifestyle that lives only for its own pleasures

OUR WORLD IS RIPE WITH THE STENCH OF WICKEDNESS.
And there are those in the midst
Who do not celebrate this decay…they mourn over it.

They grieve over what is celebrated.
They grieve over what is loved.

They are people like the Apostle Paul
Who saw the celebrated sin of Corinth and grieved over it.

1 Corinthians 5:1-2 “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.”

You understand the grief.

It is the mourning of the Apostle John in the Revelation when no one was initially found to open the scroll and redeem the earth.

Revelation 5:1-4 “I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;”

Commenting on that passage, W.A. Criswell said this:
“[John’s tears] represent the tears of all God’s people through all the centuries. Those tears of the Apostle John are the tears Adam and Eve, driven out of the Garden of Eden, as they bowed over the first grave, as they watered the dust of the ground with their tears over the silent, still form of their son, Abel. Those are the tears of the children of Israel in bondage as they cried unto God in their affliction and slavery. They are the tears of God’s elect through the centuries as they cried unto heaven. They are the sobs and tears that have been wrung from the heart and soul of God’s people as they looked on their silent dead, as they stand beside their open graves, as they experience in the trials and sufferings of life, heartaches and disappointments indescribable. Such is the curse that sin has laid upon God’s beautiful creation; and this is the damnation of the hand of him who holds it, that usurper, that interloper, that intruder, that alien, that stranger, that dragon, that serpent, that Satan-devil. “And I wept audibly,” for the failure to find a Redeemer meant that this earth in its curse is consigned forever to death. It meant that death, sin, damnation and hell should reign forever in the hands of Satan.” (sited in: MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Revelation 1-11, Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1999, pg. 165)

This is one type of mourner Isaiah mentions.

But for that person Isaiah has good news!
CHRIST IS COMING!

He is coming with “a day of vengeance”

He will crush the sinner, He will purify the world, He will reverse the curse,
And this kingdom will again be glorious!

BUT THAT IS NOT THE ONLY TYPE OF MOURNER BEING COMFORTED:

We are also talking about the recently saved Jew
Who is mourning over his rejection of Christ
And who longs to be forgiven.

Remember Zechariah?
Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

We are also talking about those Jews
Who mourned not only over the sin of the culture,
But they mourned over the sin of their own hearts.

We heard the promise from Jesus in the beatitudes.
Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Jesus referred to those who mourned over sin.
• They were poor in spirit with nothing to offer God,
• It was their sin that caused this
• So they mourned over it.

James told the unrepentant to do the same:
James 4:8-9 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.”

And Isaiah is announcing that those mourners too will be comforted.

(3) “To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

“a garland instead of ashes”

• “ashes” represent mourning, as in those who weep on the ash heap.
• “a garland” was a type of crown.

When Christ returns, all those who mourned over sin
And who were broken over the decay…
He will pick them up and grant them a crown.

They will no longer mourn, they will rejoice.

They will receive “the oil of gladness instead of mourning”
• This is their anointing.

They will receive “the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting”
• This will be their new occupation.

Instead of grieving and mourning and weeping and fainting,
They will be rising and praising all their days.

“So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD”

• They are immovable.
• They are steadfast.
• They are righteous and glorious.

All the chaff has been blown away,
Only they were planted and remain.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD. “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.”

Psalms 1:1-6 “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.”

That is what Isaiah sees too.
There is coming a day for all who hate sin and love righteousness
To be lifted up and exalted.

Isaiah 35:8-10 “A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, And the ransomed of the LORD will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

It is the glorious day of His salvation,
When even this fallen world is saved from the sin that is heavy upon it.

Isaiah 11:1-5 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.”

And the result of that day will not be mourning, it will be praise.

Isaiah 12:1-6 “Then you will say on that day, “I will give thanks to You, O LORD; For although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, And You comfort me. “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the LORD GOD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” Therefore you will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation. And in that day you will say, “Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make them remember that His name is exalted.” Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth. Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

THIS IS THE DAY THAT ISAIAH PREACHED.
It is the glorious day of salvation.

And it is all “that He may be glorified.”

Isaiah preached that day, and we are called to preach it too.
• We remind the world that her rightful King is coming.
• We remind the church that her rightful King is coming.

Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning!

That is part of Isaiah’s message.
A day of comfort to a mourning nation.

BUT THERE IS MORE:
It is more of that glorious restoration
When Israel finally repents and returns.

A DAY OF RESTORATION TO A PRIESTLY NATION (4-6)

The first thing you notice regarding these 3 verses
Is THE REBUILDING of the nation.

But you also notice that all of the rebuilding is being done by the mysterious people known as “They”

• “they will rebuild the ancient ruins”
• “they will raise up the former devastations”
• “they will repair the ruined cities”

This of course fits with what Isaiah already told us:
Isaiah 60:10 “Foreigners will build up your walls, And their kings will minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, And in My favor I have had compassion on you.”

It is foreigners who once desired the destruction of Israel,
Now coming to rebuild her.

Not only that, but they also begin to take care of all the shepherding and farming duties of the people of Israel.

(5) “Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.”

So basically you have foreigners coming in and strangers arriving
To take care of all the day to day tasks for the people of Israel.
• Here, let us rebuild your city…
• Here, let us rebuild your house…
• Here, let us watch your flocks…
• Here, let us work your vineyard…

The big question is, “WHY?”

(6) “But you will be called the priests of the LORD; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, And in their riches you will boast.”

They are going to take care of all the details of life
BECAUSE YOU’LL HAVE A BIGGER JOB.

“you will be called the priests of the LORD”

Do you remember when Israel came out of Egypt?

Exodus 19:3-6 “Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

They were always supposed to be “a kingdom of priests”.
• They were supposed to be the evangelists of the world.
• They were supposed to lead men to a right relationship with God.

The problem is that they did not.
• Jesus labeled them as lights under a bushel.
• Jesus labeled them as salt with no flavor.

And even those who did try to be salt and light
Were such a hypocritical and phony form of it that Jesus said
They made people twice as much a son of hell as themselves.

IN SHORT, THEY FAILED MISERABLY AT THEIR COMMISSION.

BUT NOT ON THIS DAY.
On this day, after true redemption through Christ,
Israel will once again be who they were intended to be.

Isaiah 60:1-3 “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you. “Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.”

Zechariah told us how 10 men will grab the garment of a Jew and say take us to your leader!

It is the coming glory of Israel’s salvation.

When Christ returns it will be:
• A day of comfort to a mourning nation.
• A day of restoration to a priestly nation.

A DAY OF INHERITANCE TO A PUNISHED NATION (7-8)

Here Isaiah speaks of the removal of shame
And the presence of glory and joy for the Israel
When they return to Christ.

(7) “Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs.”

Both analogies are clear to us.

The “shame” is the shame of being deported from their land.
• It is the shame of having the glory of God depart from their temple.
• It is the shame associated with having murdered their own Messiah.

The “double portion” is also clear.
• We remember Joseph, the favored son receiving a double portion from Isaac as he divvied out the Promised Land to his sons.

AND THE MESSAGE HERE IS THAT

God will take this nation that has endured so much shame
While dwelling under God’s discipline, and will equal that in glory.

They have had more shame than any other nation
And they will have more glory than any other nation.

All this when Israel returns to Christ.
And Isaiah has been preaching this!

And then we come to verse 8,
Which is perhaps the most difficult of the chapter.

(8) “For I, the LORD, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; And I will faithfully give them their recompense And make an everlasting covenant with them.”

IT WOULD SEEM THAT
What God is reminding Israel of here is His faithfulness.

Because God loves justice,
And because He hates “robbery in the burnt offering”

He was faithful to subject them to open shame.
• And as long as they remain in rebellion, He “will faithfully give them their
recompense”

But He is also faithful to “make an everlasting covenant with them” that cannot be undone.

So it would seem that the reminder from Isaiah is that
You can trust the promise of God
To restore you fully to a double portion.

He was faithful to punish you as He said He would
And He will be faithful to restore you as He said He will.

All this for Israel when they return and trust in their Messiah.
• A day of comfort to a mourning nation
• A day of restoration to a priestly nation
• A day of inheritance to a punished nation

A DAY OF GLORY TO A RIDICULED NATION (9)

(9) “Then their offspring will be known among the nations, And their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them Because they are the offspring whom the LORD has blessed.”

This represents yet another truth
That Isaiah has been faithful to proclaim to the nation.

Upon their repentance and faith in Christ
Then God will bless them to a tremendous decree.

He will do so by
• Putting His glory back in their midst
• By putting glory upon them
• And it will be a glory so significant that they will be recognizable by it.

I think of Moses going to stand before the Lord and then having to put a veil on his face because the glory was so brilliant shining from him.

This will be Israel.
God will shine upon them.

It was the old famous salutation of Israel.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’”

Israel often quoted that blessing but never received it.
But on the day they return to Christ,
His glory will return and illumine them.

And again, this is what Isaiah has been preaching to the people.
This is what God commissioned him to proclaim.

And finally:
A DAY OF WORSHIP TO A RIGHTEOUS NATION (10-11)

(10-11) “I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations.”

This will be their song!
A song of rejoicing and exultation.

Why? “For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness”

Israel can’t sing it today,
But on the day they come to Christ they will.

The nations will marvel at the glory beaming from them
And Israel will say, “It is nothing less than the glory of Christ imputed to me!”

This is the glorious reality of imputed righteousness that we rejoice in.
One day Israel will too, and they will worship Christ forever
For what He has accomplished for them.

They will be like a decked out bridegroom!
“As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland”

They will be like a beautiful bride!
“And as a bride adorns herself with jewels”

And it will all be the beauty of Christ upon them.

And again Isaiah promises that God will cause it.
(11) “For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations.”

Does that sound familiar to you?
Isaiah 55:10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

It is Isaiah’s way of reminding that God fulfills His promises.
If He says you will be glorified, you will be glorified.

Now, all of this is what Isaiah has been commissioned to preach.

God sent him to a blind, deaf, and stubborn people
That he might proclaim to them
Both the gospel of salvation and the glory of salvation.

THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION IS THAT
• God forgives sinners.
• He heals them of their brokenness
• He frees them from their prison
• He lifts them from their affliction

And Isaiah preached that.

THE GLORY OF SALVATION IS THAT
• God glorifies sinners
• He imputes righteousness to them that is not their own
• He causes His glory to abound on them and from them
• He restores them as priests
• He grants them an inheritance
• He gives them comfort from their mourning

Isaiah preached that too.

And Isaiah was faithful even to a nation
That wanted nothing to do with his message.

THIS WAS HIS PASSION.
And we’ve got 66 chapters here to testify that
Isaiah never waivered from the message.

AND THIS IS AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO US CHURCH.
We have been commissioned to the world.

Might I also remind that we are commissioned also to Israel.
We have a very real interest in the salvation of Israel.

But like Isaiah, we also are commissioned
To go in the power of God’s Spirit
And to proclaim God’s glorious gospel of salvation.

• We don’t get distracted.
• We don’t get sidetracked.
• We don’t improve upon it.
• We just proclaim it over and over and over.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”

Romans 1:14-17 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

THAT IS OUR MESSAGE.
THAT IS OUR PASSION.

ONE DAY CHRIST WILL SAVE ISRAEL.
He will return to restore them and to restore this broken world.
• He will comfort those who mourn
• He will restore them as priests
• He will grant them the inheritance that has always eluded them
• He will restore the glory to them as a people
• He will cause them to worship Him as they have never done before

We look forward to that day!
We hasten it the same way Isaiah did,
By calling them to repentance and faith in Jesus.

ISAIAH DEVOTED HIS LIFE TO THAT CALLING.

What calling is your life devoted to?

This past weekend at Disciple Now we showed those young people the clip from John Piper’s sermon about not wasting their life.

I’m going to close tonight by showing it to you as well.
This is the passion we are called to have.

download here

Isaiah’s Passion – Part 2
Isaiah 61-62 (61:2)
November 3, 2024

It’s actually only been two weeks since we took a look at Isaiah,
But with D-Now thrown in last week it feels more like it’s been a month.

But this morning let’s dive back into this wonderful book.

Two Sunday Night’s ago we began a new sermon from Isaiah.
(We’re still in that evangelistic section of the end of his book)
• This new sermon of Isaiah comprises of chapters 61 and 62.

We called it “Isaiah’s Passion”

It is one of those wonderful texts in Scripture
That takes us deeper than just what the prophet is saying
And it shows us the heart of the man who is preaching.

It reminds me of Paul’s opening chapter to the Romans where we see so much of his heart.

Romans 1:9-14 “For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.”

You see there a man who is not only commissioned,
But who has a passion to fulfill his commission.

He hasn’t just been called to go and proclaim the gospel.
• He believes the gospel he has been called to proclaim
• And he loves the people he has been called to.

Those two very important realities must be present in any ministry.
If you don’t believe the gospel you preach
Or you don’t love the people you preach to,
You’re not going to be much of a preacher.

THE PROPHET’S PASSION MATTERS.
• Well that is what we are seeing here in Isaiah 61 & 62.
• It is a prophet sharing his heart for the gospel he is preaching
• And it is a prophet with a heart for the people he is preaching too.

Let’s jump back in like this:
TURN TO: ISAIAH 6

You remember the chapter, you remember the commissioning.
• We remember that Isaiah was in the temple.
• We remember that he entered as a hypocrite with unclean lips.
• And we remember that he encountered the Holy One.
• Isaiah was certain he would die, for he was not holy.
• But God in His great mercy atoned for Isaiah’s sin and redeemed him.

It was at that point that Isaiah heard God’s calling
For one to take the gospel to the people.

(READ 8-13)

• Isaiah was called to take the truth of the gospel and preach it to blind, deaf, and hard-hearted people.
• He was promised that if he would do that he would succeed only in proving how blind, deaf, and hard-hearted they were.
• He was told this ministry would never really see much fruit.

But he was promised that in the end a remnant would return.
There was a holy seed.

And what we have seen since that day is:
Isaiah faithfully doing what God commissioned him to do.

We have seen 60 chapters of Isaiah faithfully preaching the gospel
To the most blind, deaf, and stubborn people ever.

He has not relented.
He has not stopped.

• He was mocked in chapter 28 as a babbler.
• He was told in chapter 30 to shut up and stop prophesying.

But Isaiah continued.

You are familiar with Paul’s admonition to Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:2 “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

Isaiah had an “out of season” ministry and yet he preached.

We want to know WHY.
We want to know HOW.

So we are looking at the passion of Isaiah.
• Chapter 61 shows us the Prophet’s Commissioning
• Chapter 62 shows us the Prophet’s Commitment

So to jump back in to our study that we began a couple of weeks ago:

#1 THE PROPHET’S COMMISSIONING
Isaiah 61:1-11

When we started this segment and we made just a couple simple observations about Isaiah’s calling.

These were just a couple of nuggets
That sort of sat right on top of the ground for easy picking.

ISAIAH’S COMMISSIONING WAS A PREACHING COMMISSIONING.

He was commissioned:
• “to bring good news to the afflicted”
• “to proclaim liberty to captives”
• (2) “to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD”
• (2) “and [to proclaim] the day of vengeance of our God.”

And I remind you again that this is the commissioning for all of us.
• There is nothing wrong with acts of kindness.
• There is nothing wrong with shining the light of good works.
• There is nothing wrong with feeding the poor.
• There is nothing wrong with clothing the naked.

In fact believers are commissioned to do those things as well,
But none of those things takes the place of the proclamation of truth.

God uses the preaching of the gospel
As the method for calling the elect to salvation.

If men don’t hear the gospel they cannot believe it.
If they do not believe it, they cannot call on Christ.

The calling is to preach.

ISAIAH’S ABILITY AND EAGERNESS CAME FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT.

(1) “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted.”

We said it several times last time that,
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A MISSIONARY.

John 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,”

We learn in John 16 even more of the work of the Holy Spirit.

John 16:8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;”

John 16:13-14 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

The Holy Spirit is a missionary.
• So if you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit…
• If you are filled with the Holy Spirit…
• It only stands to reason that He will make a missionary out of you as well.

HE PROVIDES THE PASSION.

We learned also that He provides THE POWER.
The disciples were explicitly commanded by the Lord not to leave the city until they were “clothed with power from on high”

Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

God commissions His people to proclaim the gospel and God sends His Spirit to give them the passion and the power to do it.

That’s just a little low-hanging fruit here from Isaiah 61.

BUT FROM THERE we got into the actual message from Isaiah as we looked at his commissioning.

And we see that in regard to preaching,
Isaiah was basically commissioned to preach two topics.

There would be two basic truths that Isaiah would proclaim over and over and over again to his blind, deaf, and stubborn audience.

1) THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION (1)

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;”

We recognized that passage because
It is the one that Jesus quoted as a reference to Himself.

Luke 4:16-21 “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

And again we make the point that this final segment of Isaiah is not only Isaiah preaching to his people, but it is actually Jesus preaching to Israel.

He preached this truth to the Jews of His day and He is preaching it still.

And as we have learned recently in Isaiah,
God will never stop preaching this truth to His people until that remnant returns.

Isaiah 59:21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”

Christ preached this in His day and His children continue to preach it to Israel even to this day and even to the end.

And one day this very message of the gospel WILL SUCCEED
In calling that remnant home to faith in Christ.

ISAIAH KNEW THAT,
He preached it faithfully year after year after year,
Even without seeing any results.

Isaiah believed the gospel God commissioned him to preach,
And being clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit,

Isaiah faithfully took that gospel to the sinners who needed to hear it.
• He brought “good news to the afflicted”
• He bound up “the brokenhearted”
• He proclaimed “liberty to captives”
• He proclaimed “freedom to prisoners”

AND THIS MUST BE THE PASSION OF THE CHURCH.

Our world is corrupt and growing more corrupt by the day.
Our world is vile and sinful and evil and it loves it.

But the world is not benefited one bit by a church that hates them.

Our world needs a church that loves them
And loves them enough to tell them how to
Be restored, healed, forgiven, and set free from their sin.

ISAIAH NEVER STOPPED PREACHING THAT,
Two Sunday nights ago we looked at
Some of that preaching from earlier in the book.

And now THIS MORNING we move forward.
For the gospel of salvation
Is not the only thing Isaiah was commissioned to proclaim.

There was a second thing.
2) THE GLORY OF SALVATION (2-11)

That is to say:
Isaiah didn’t just tell them that
• The gospel could save them
• And deliver them
• And forgive them
• And set them free,

Isaiah actually showed them what such a deliverance would look like.

For sure he spent a great deal of time confronting and engaging sinners.

BUT HE ALSO SPENT A GREAT DEAL OF TIME
EXPOUNDING THE GLORIES OF THE SALVATION THAT HE OFFERED.

Look at verses 2-3
(2-3) “To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

If you are thinking still about Jesus preaching this text in Nazareth
• You know that Jesus quoted the first line of verse 2
• And then stopped without quoting “And the day of vengeance of our God;”

Jesus quoted only that which spoke of His first coming.

The rest of that passage spoke of His second coming.
• That part had not yet been fulfilled.
• That part has still not been fulfilled.

But this is the other passion of Isaiah’s preaching.

He is telling Israel not only of the salvation of the gospel
But also of the glory that follows their believing it.

And we have talked about this so many times,
But it never hurts to show it again.

Listen again to Peter in Acts 3.

Acts 3:17-21 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

Peter reminded the Jews of exactly what Isaiah preached.
That when Israel repents and returns
It will trigger the return of Christ to set up His glorious kingdom.

And let’s talk about this a little more this morning,
If perhaps to gain some more understanding.

You know of those who label themselves as “Amillennialists”
Or “Post-Millennialists” or even “Preterists”.

Those are different views of the end times,
But one thing they all have in common is that
When taken to their logical end, THE CHURCH HAS REPLACED ISRAEL.

And in those views there is a tendency to spiritualize or allegorize much of the Scriptures, especially those of the Old Testament.

I could show you commentaries on Isaiah from men who take everything we’ve been studying about the coming glory of Israel and show you how theologians have replaced Israel with the church and made all of those promises sort of allegory to speak of the church age.

And they would say that everything Isaiah spoke of already happened.
It didn’t happen to Israel, like Isaiah said,
• But rather it happened to the church.

It didn’t’ happen literally like Isaiah said,
• But rather it happened sort of symbolically or spiritually or allegorically.

They would say that the church is now receiving all of the blessings which God promised to Israel in a spiritual sense.

And because there is an uptick on this discussion
I feel it very important to continue to clarify our position.

And look, we can read:
Ephesians 1:1-3 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”

And we see there that the church has indeed been blessed
“with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”

We can read:
2 Corinthians 1:20 “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.”

We can see that Christ is in fact the fulfillment of all the promises of God.

HOW DO WE HANDLE THOSE REALITIES?

Well, first of all, YES, the church has received every blessing.
• We are in Christ and He is the fulfillment, and in Him we get it all.

And YES, the blessings we have in Christ are spiritual blessings.

We don’t deny that we are receiving spiritual blessings.

For example:
Isaiah 53:4-5 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.”

Charismatic circles would read that verse as proof that there is no reason for a believer to ever get sick.
• And look, Isaiah used the word for physical sickness and physical healing when
he spoke of the atonement.

So is that what we see now?
No, we don’t see that believers never get sick.

We didn’t even see that in the New Testament.
• Paul said he left Trophimus sick at Miletus (2 Timothy 4:2)
• Paul said it was “bodily illness” that gave him the opportunity to first preach to
the Galatians (Galatians 4:13)

So was Isaiah lying when he said there was healing in the atonement?
Was Isaiah just speaking allegorically or symbolically?

NO, THAT IS COMING.

Right now we enjoy the spiritual blessing and reality of that.
• We have our souls healed.
• We have spiritual healing.

When Christ comes we will enjoy the physical reality of that.
• In that day there will be no more physical sickness.

Isaiah 35:3-5 “Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.”

There is coming a day when the blessing upon God’s people
Will not just be spiritual blessings,
But will be physical blessings as well.

Even the prosperity that the false proponents of the prosperity gospel
Are always talking about will be reality in that day.

Isaiah 60:6 “A multitude of camels will cover you, The young camels of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba will come; They will bring gold and frankincense, And will bear good news of the praises of the LORD.”

And I just show you that again because I want you to understand
1. What we presently enjoy in Christ through the gospel
2. And what we will one day enjoy in Christ when He comes.

ISAIAH SPOKE OF BOTH.

THERE IS A GOSPEL that gives
• Relief to the afflicted
• Healing to the brokenhearted
• Liberty to captives
• Freedom to prisoners.

BUT THERE IS ALSO A GLORY that will give
• A real and present and physical restoration to this world
• And to the people of God.

We currently enjoy one, we still anticipate the other.

ISAIAH PREACHED BOTH.
• Isaiah preached the first coming of Christ in the gospel.
• Isaiah preached the second coming of Christ in the glory.

We have seen the fulfillment of one,
We wait for the fulfillment of the second.

That gives us a blueprint of how we preach to the world.
We preach both as well.
• We preach that Christ came and that in His coming there is forgiveness and salvation.
• We preach that Christ will come again and in His coming there is restoration and glory.

I HOPE THAT MAKES SENSE.

Well, let’s look at this preaching of Isaiah.
He came to preach THE GLORY OF SALVATION

(2) “To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God;”

As we said, this verse marks the transition.
• Jesus quoted the first to speak of His day.
• He stopped before quoting the second half which speaks of His return.

Jesus first offered to sinners “the favorable year of the LORD”

John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Christ did not come the first time in judgment.
He did not come to condemn sinners.

In fact, it was Christ who was condemned in His first coming.
• It was Christ who bore God’s wrath.
• It was Christ who became a curse.
• It was Christ who was scourged and rejected and crucified.

He came to offer grace and mercy and salvation to sinners.
He came to purchase salvation for sinners.

That was the gospel which Isaiah and Jesus both preached.

BUT ISAIAH DIDN’T STOP THERE.
He also preached THE GLORY OF THE COMING KINGDOM.

What he refers to as, “the day of vengeance of our God”

This is the day of His coming.
The day when Christ will return on a white horse
And destroy His enemies.

This glorious day of the kingdom
Begins as a day of reckoning for the enemies of God.

This day was preached often in the New Testament as well:

John the Baptist spoke of this day:
Matthew 3:12 “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Jesus spoke of this day:
Matthew 13:41-43 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

Matthew 13:49-50 “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”

Matthew 24:30-31 “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. “And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

The apostles spoke of this day:
1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.”

Hebrews 12:25-26 “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.”

2 Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”

TURN TO: REVELATION 19:11-21

Those are all speaking about the same day.
It is “the day of vengeance of our God.”

It is the day when the Lord returns
To take vengeance on His enemies
AND on those who have persecuted His people.

We are unequivocally told in Romans:
Romans 12:19 “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.”

THIS IS THAT DAY.

And let me just show you where Isaiah preached this.

In his very first sermon Isaiah said:
Isaiah 1:27-28 “Zion will be redeemed with justice And her repentant ones with righteousness. But transgressors and sinners will be crushed together, And those who forsake the LORD will come to an end.”

In his second sermon:
Isaiah 2:12-17 “For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning Against everyone who is proud and lofty And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be abased. And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, Against all the oaks of Bashan, Against all the lofty mountains, Against all the hills that are lifted up, Against every high tower, Against every fortified wall, Against all the ships of Tarshish And against all the beautiful craft. The pride of man will be humbled And the loftiness of men will be abased; And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,”

These represent the false believers
• They infiltrated Israel from within and sought to lead her astray through influence.
• They are the tares among the wheat
• And the Lord will come and destroy them.

But not just them,
There are also those enemies who afflicted Israel from the outside.
• Enemies like Assyria and Babylon and God will destroy them too.
• You remember all of those oracles Isaiah referened.

Isaiah 10:12 “So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness.”

Isaiah 14:22-23 “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity,” declares the LORD. “I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of hosts.”

Isaiah 24:21-23 “So it will happen in that day, That the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on earth. They will be gathered together Like prisoners in the dungeon, And will be confined in prison; And after many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And His glory will be before His elders.”

Now I know that is a lot of verses
To chew and swallow there in a really short time.

I simply want to show you that
The preaching of the glory of the return of Christ
Was just as important to Isaiah and Christ and the apostles
As preaching the gospel of salvation.

THEY DID BOTH.
This is the commission.

Isaiah was called to go out and preach to sinners
• The very message of salvation
• And that this message was not optional.

He was to show them
• The glory of the coming of the Lord.
• The danger in rejecting Christ.
• The danger in offending the Lord.

He was to show them that
• There is a coming day of reckoning for all those who refuse and reject God’s offer of salvation.
• And a day of reckoning for all those who afflict God’s people.

There is a coming “day of vengeance of our God”

And look, if you are one who has rejected Christ and you are walking in rebellion of His commands THIS TRUTH SHOULD TERRIFY YOU.

The return of Christ should be the most terrorizing truth in the world.
He will come and crush His enemies.

AND CERTAINLY THAT WAS PART OF ISAIAH’S MESSAGE.

However, that WASN’T the main thrust of his message.

For here in verse 2 we see precisely WHY Isaiah preached “the day of vengeance of our God;”

Do you see why?
(2b-3) “To comfort tall who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD that He may be glorified.”

The chief reason Isaiah preached about God’s “day of vengeance”
WAS NOT to terrify the wicked, thought it should have.

The chief reason Isaiah preached bout God’s “day of vengeance”
WAS to comfort God’s people.

There is a comfort that can only be found for God’s people
In the truths of the return of Christ.

Look at what Paul told the Thessalonians:
2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 “For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.”

And we will talk about this more tonight,
Tonight we will enjoy that Christ has promised to return and comfort
Those of us who grieve over our sin
And who grieve over the sin of our culture.

BUT THIS MORNING I simply want to encourage you church that we are messengers of both truths.

We are commissioned to go into the world and tell sinners
• How forgiveness can be had through the atoning death of Christ.
• That rejecting Christ will come with a day of reckoning.

We are commissioned to tell the afflicted of God’s people
• Not to fear, for their God is coming with vengeance to deliver them.

This is what Isaiah was sent to preach.
And because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, it was his passion to do so.

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The Conclusion
Ecclesiastes 12:9-14
October 27, 2024 – D-Now

This morning we come to the end of the book of Ecclesiastes.
• The end of D-Now we had to skip to the end.

As we said from the beginning Ecclesiastes has an author.
It is a man who heard the sermon of the preacher
And was so moved by it that he was compelled to publish what he heard.

• THE PREACHER, we said, was an older man who had a message for the young man, all about life and wisdom and what to pursue.
• THE AUTHOR heard that message, published it, and is now giving it to his son.

You see the reference to “my son” in verse 12.

So here’s the best way I could explain to you what we see in this text.

• The author heard this sermon (or sermons) from the Preacher.
• The author was moved by it and wrote this book called “Ecclesiastes”
• It is a book recounting the sermon (or perhaps sermons) of the preacher.

And then, (figuratively) tucked inside the back flap of the book
It’s as though the author LEFT A NOTE to his son.

The note explains why the author wanted his son to read this book.
The note explains what the author hoped his son would learn.

It is a perfect way to bring this wonderful book to a fitting conclusion.

WHAT WE READ HERE IS VERY MOVING.
You sense the heart-felt passion of a father
Who desperately wants his son to hear this powerful message.

It is fatherly, it is sincere, and it is incredibly serious.

IN MY MIND, it would be the kind of note
• A father would write to his son
• As he hands him a Bible
• And sends him off to college.

The message has inspired the father.
The preacher has hit the nail on the head.
And the father now is giving it as the finest of gifts to his son.

There is such a weight of emotion here.

But it could almost move a man to tears
As he seeks to express how huge this advice as been.

As we conclude Disciple Now, I want each of you to know that
THIS IS THE HEART THAT EACH OF THE ADULTS HERE HAS FOR YOU.

This is why we do D-Now.
This is our heartfelt plea to you as well.

Let’s read this “Note” from the father to his son
Regarding this sermon he has heard.

We’ll break this text up into 3 points that this father has for his son.
#1 HIS COMMENDATION
Ecclesiastes 12:9-10

You will immediately notice that “the Preacher”
Is now being referred to in the 3rd person.

This isn’t “the Preacher” talking here, now this is the author.

And the note begins on somewhat of a light-hearted tone
With the author basically commending this Preacher to his son.

It’s as if to say, “Son, you really ought to listen to what this Preacher has to say.”
Or, “This guy knows what he’s talking about.”

He begins to sort of give the credentials of this preacher
That he is recommending to his son.

And the point is simple.
You should listen to this guy because he is telling you the truth.

Now, it is apparently understood that this preacher is “a wise man”

But the author wants his son to know that this guy
IS NOT just some “random philosopher” with a unique spin on life.

This preacher is a devoted, studying, seeking, proclaimer of truth.
He’s more than just “a wise man”

BUT “In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs.”

This guy is no shallow scholar.

Son, listen to this man, he knows what he’s talking about.
• He teaches “knowledge”
• He “pondered”
• He “searched out”
• He “arranged many proverbs”

HE’S NOT the kind of guy
That speaks without knowing what he’s talking about.

• He’s done the work, he’s done the research.
• He’s wrestled in prayer.
• He’s meditated all night.
• He has found the truth.

(10) “The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.”

As the father gives this recorded sermon to his son,
He opens with a commendation that the son should listen to this sermon
Because this preacher knows what he is talking about.

#2 HIS COUNSEL
Ecclesiastes 12:11-12

THE AUTHOR CONTINUES WITH
Why the son should listen so intently to this Preacher.

The author says:
(11) “The words of a wise man are like goads…”

A “goad” is a stick with a sharp point on it used to drive livestock along the road.

Ever hear the statement,
“They where goading him along” or “Stop goading me”

IT MEANT “Stop poking me with that sharp stick”

Remember before the apostle Paul was saved,
The Lord commented on his stubbornness and said:
Acts 26:14 “And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’”

Why do you fight the prompting of God?

So a goad is that which is meant to stimulate you
To do what you are supposed to do.

And the author says “The words of a wise man are like goads…”

• The words of this Preacher are the types of words that are going to push you to be the man you are supposed to be.

• The words of this Preacher are the words that will push you down the path you are supposed to walk.

ALL FAITHFUL PREACHERS CARRY A GOAD INTO THE PULPIT

WE KNOW THAT we are born in sin.
WE KNOW THAT foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.
WE KNOW THAT a father’s job is to extract foolishness and to instill.

You can’t leave a child to their own logic or devices.
They’ll wreck their life if you let them choose their own path.

Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

And the truth is that sometimes that young man or woman
Has to be goaded into the right path.

This father wants his son to recognize the goad of the preacher.

He goes on to say:
“and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails;”

“collections” there is a confusing word translation.

It is a word that can mean “congregations”
It can even be a sort of figurative reference then to like “a heard or a flock”.

And that’s the idea in this verse.

When he says “masters”,
• He’s talking about those who are “masters” at “using the goad.”
• He’s talking about those who are “masters” at “directing the heard.”

When you have a wise man who is really good at using the goad
And pushing the herd down the right path
You’ve got the kind of guy you should listen to.

The Preacher was that kind of a guy.

The author said:
He is like “well-driven nails”

What does that mean?
What he builds lasts.
• His wisdom is tried and true.
• His wisdom is time-tested.

“Listen to this guy, he’ll goad you down the right path.
And the wisdom he gives you will last.”

But that’s not all.
“they are given by one Shepherd.”

• We have a guy here who is really good at using his goad to drive the flock
where they need to go.
• He puts them where they need to be and his direction lasts.

BUT THERE IS A REASON HIS ADVICE IS GOOD.
IT’S NOT because this particular Preacher is so smart or so astute.

Why is this Preacher so good at pushing you down the right path?
Because he got all of his instruction from the true “Shepherd”.

The “Shepherd” referred to here is none other than God.

AND THAT IS THE POINT OF THE AUTHOR TO HIS SON.

Son, listen, you need to pay attention to this Preacher.
• He’s a hard working, hard-studying wise man.
• He has done the work to bring you wisdom.
• He will drive you down the right path.
• And His counsel will last.

Because the wisdom and counsel he is imparting to you has come to him from God.
• His wisdom is NOT a secular wisdom.
• His wisdom is NOT even primarily an experiential wisdom.
• His wisdom IS supernatural wisdom.
• His wisdom IS divine wisdom.

We don’t have time to go read the whole chapter,
But you can write Job 28 in your margin.

It is the chapter where Job talks about mining for gold and other precious treasures.
And Job basically says if you want gold or silver or diamonds then man knows where it is and how to get it; you have to go dig for it.

But then Job asks the question, but where do you get wisdom?
• Can you dig for it?
• Where do you find it?

Job 28:20-28 “Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? “Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living And concealed from the birds of the sky. “Abaddon and Death say, ‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’ “God understands its way, And He knows its place. “For He looks to the ends of the earth And sees everything under the heavens. “When He imparted weight to the wind And meted out the waters by measure, When He set a limit for the rain And a course for the thunderbolt, Then He saw it and declared it; He established it and also searched it out. “And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.’”

Wisdom only comes from God.

And the author here is telling his son,
You need to listen to this Preacher
Because he is imparting to you wisdom from God.

And I love what he says next:
(12) “But beyond this, my son, be warned…”

• There is a wisdom you need to hear and that is God’s wisdom.
• You should devote yourself to knowing that.
• But “beyond this” be careful.

God’s wisdom is necessary, but anything “beyond” God’s wisdom
Should be examined very carefully.

For while God has true wisdom that must be heeded
There is a whole lot of false wisdom that should be avoided.

And that is what he means here:
“But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.”

NO, this isn’t some lament against reading.

It is a warning that there is NO END to “knowledge”
And “wisdom” that the world will throw at you.

The world will never quit writing books that tell you how to live.

When Paul preached in Athens.
• He went into the Areopagus and started preaching.

But this is how that crowd was described.
Acts 17:21 “(Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)”

Translation?
• There was no truth there.
• They never settled on anything.
• They just kept questioning and kept debating.

Listen there are a lot of highly educated people in this world
And they know a lot about a lot of things.

And NOT ALL of their knowledge is useless.
A man doesn’t have to be a Christian
To know how to build a bridge or remove an appendix.

BUT I WOULD REMIND YOU OF THIS.
If a man or woman does not believe in Jesus
Then regardless of what else they know
They are deceived at the very most important level.

So be very careful reading their books
And taking what they say to be true in every regard.

Some of it may be truth, but I promise you that some of it is not.

Don’t believe everything they tell you.
There is God’s wisdom and then there is everything else.
Saturate yourself with God’s wisdom and be very skeptical of everything else.

Paul summed up the difference:
1 Corinthians 2:7-8 “but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;”

You want the true value of the world’s wisdom?

The world is so smart and so educated and so knowledgeable
That they couldn’t even figure out why Jesus is so important.

THAT IS NOT WISDOM, THAT IS FOOLISHNESS.

1 Corinthians 3:19-20 “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS”; and again, “THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.”

Can you feel that plea from this father?
Can you hear the desperation he has?
He’s like a dad afraid of what the college will teach his kid.

We haven’t even gotten to the message yet.
I just want you to see how badly this father wants his son to listen.

SO YOUNG MAN LISTEN UP

His Commendation, His Counsel
#3 HIS CONCLUSION
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

In your life you’ll learn a great many things.
In your life you’ll process great amounts of information.

But if you can start to filter through it all
And start to rank it in order of importance,
Here is the truth that you should put at the top of your list.

We’ll call it the “absolute most important thing” you could ever know.

This is “The conclusion, when all has been heard:”

“Fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

If you learn nothing else, learn that.
GOD (the Creator of the universe, the Sovereign over all)
GOD IS A RIGHTEOUS JUDGE

He will judge every single person.
• “this applies to every person”

He will judge every single deed.
• “everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil”

GOD KNOWS YOU.
• You have not escaped His radar.
• He meticulously and purposely created you.
• And He had kept extensive records on your entire life.

That thing you did that no one knows about.
You thought you were alone and no one was watching
God knows about it.

And in the great courtroom He will bring it light.
There is nothing hidden that God doesn’t know.

You may have your momma fooled (doubtful)
You may have your grandma fooled (probable)
But you don’t have God fooled.
HE KNOWS.

And because He will judge every single thing
The author tells his son the best advice he could possibly give.

“Fear God and keep His commandments”

Son, nothing is more important in this life
Than that you have such a fear of God
That you are motivated to obey Him at all times.

Do you feel the Father’s plea?
• Son, please don’t offend God!
• Son, please honor God!

This is a father who loves his son and does not want to bear the thought of his son bearing the wrath of God’s holy judgment.
• “Just do what He says!”
• “Obey Him!”

That’s the plea of this father.

Now, this plea is absolutely true and is absolutely the most important.

BUT, IT IS INCOMPLETE.
• This father lived on the other side of redemption.
• This father lived before Jesus came to earth and before Jesus died on the cross.

His message is 100% accurate, but it is incomplete.
• Jesus finished this message.
• Jesus completed this father’s point to his son.

We remember:
Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”

John 5:22-29 “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

We’ve read it many times:
Acts 17:31 “because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

And of course we are all aware:
Revelation 20:11-15 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Jesus Himself preached that judgment is coming.

But Jesus also offered a way through the judgment
And that was by believing in Him.

John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

AND THIS IS IT YOUNG MAN.
• I want nothing else for you.
• This father wanted nothing else for his son.
• This congregation wants nothing else for you.

We want you to know that God is not joking around.
JUDGMENT IS REAL.

There is a real lake of fire and people will really go there for all eternity.

The only people who escape it
Are those who turn from their sin and trust in Jesus Christ.
It is only for the people who confess Jesus as Lord.

There is not a more important piece of information
That you will ever hear than that.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

That is it.
That is “The conclusion, when all has been heard”

When this father heard this sermon by the Preacher
He heard what he wanted his son to hear before he went into the world.

And this afternoon we conclude Disciple Now
By bringing it to you.

AND THIS AFTERNOON I AM ASKING YOU
To turn from your sin and to confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

I am asking you
• To believe that Jesus’ righteousness if enough to satisfy the Father.
• To believe that Jesus’ death is enough to satisfy the Father.
• To give your life to Him.
• Then to publicly confess Him.

Nothing matters to me or this church more than that.

And when you trust in Jesus the Bible says that
• Your sin will be imputed to Christ and He will have paid the penalty for that you have done – FORGIVENESS

• And not only that, but His righteousness will be imputed to you and you will instantly be made acceptable to God – JUSTIFICATION

• He will place His Spirit within you to set you free from the sin that has plagued your life – SANCTIFICATION

• And one day He will take you home to heaven to be with Him – GLORIFICATION

2 Corinthians 5:20-21 “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

download here

The Futility of Pleasure
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
October 27, 2024 – D-Now

JUST A QUICK RECAP for all of you who have not been a part of our Disciple Now services this year.

In this year’s Disciple Now our them is “Chasing After Wind”

• The book of Ecclesiastes is written by a man who listened to a preacher and
liked what he said.
• He recorded the message of the preacher and is presenting it to a younger
man in order to instruct him.

The entire point is: DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE

Think about 100 million years from now, we’ve your eternity is set,
And you are either in heaven or hell and there is no end in sight.
At that point will you regret how you used this life?

So the preacher is preaching to the young man
And he is giving him the cold hard truth about this life.

WE HAVE LIKENED HIM TO A PERSON LEAVING A REVIEW ON AMAZON.
• You have the advertiser who tells you how great the product is
• Then you have the customer who leaves the review.
• The smart shopper will listen to the customer.

THAT IS THE PREACHER.
He is giving you a review on life
And telling you whether or not the things that are offered are worth it.

LAST NIGHT we heard his first review and that was regarding knowledge.
And he informed us that while knowledge has its place in this life,
Worldly knowledge cannot save you.

1 Corinthians 1:20-21a “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God…”

THIS MORNING WE LOOK AT HIS SECOND REVIEW

And that is PLEASURE

I think it is fairly safe to say that if you could list and rank all of the false promises of fulfillment that are tossed at young people.

• We could say that the most offered promise to young people is the promise
that knowledge brings satisfaction. I think that is probably the most offered.

• But if you wanted to say what is the most tried promise by young people then
we would say it is that pleasure brings satisfaction.

We’ve all seen it in the stereotype of the modern day COLLEGE STUDENT
• Many a student enrolled in college under the guise of getting an education,
• But what they were really after was the wild and raucous pleasure seeking life of the college student.

That is to say, some go to college for an education,
Some go to have a good time.

Well that certainly again makes the warning of the preacher so relevant,
For not only did he at one point give himself to knowledge,
But he also gave himself to pleasure.

This morning we examine his review or critique of that search.

We can break down this text into 4 points this morning.
#1 THE PURSUIT HE MADE
Ecclesiastes 2:1-2

“I said to myself…”

And I want to remind you that what we are talking about here is
A decision in the inner man, a decision of the heart.
• The KJV reads, “I said in mine heart…”
• These quests he’s talking about were not half-hearted searches.
• When he went in, he went all in.

After pursuing knowledge he then shifted to go after pleasure.

“I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility. I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”

That the title of this review.
• I sought pleasure.
• I wanted to laugh
• I wanted to feel good
• I did it, I tried it, I experienced it, and there was no value in it.

What he is talking about here is a very common modern day mindset.
Philosophy actually has a name for this mindset.
It is called HEDONISM

Hedonism basically states that: “The meaning of life is found
Through acquiring pleasure and avoiding pain.”

That is the secret to happiness.
Store up as much pleasure as you can and avoid painful things.

The sort of chant or creed of hedonism would be:
“If it feels good, it is good” or “If it feels good, do it”

This is certainly the cry of our culture.
• Advertising actually runs on that premise.
• “Have it your way” or “Just do it”
• Many a young man or young woman have been lured into drinking or drugs or immorality under the promise of how good it will make them feel.

But LISTEN CAREFULLY here so that we don’t get our wires crossed.

Just as we said with knowledge, we say again with pleasure.
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH PLEASURE.
Pleasure is not intrinsically evil.

When the God of the universe created you,
He did so with a nervous system and with emotions and with feelings.

If God had no intention of you ever feeling any kind of euphoria
Then He would not have created you with the capacity to experience it.
Pleasure is not intrinsically evil or wrong.

Psalms 104:14-15 “He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the labor of man, So that he may bring forth food from the earth, And wine which makes man’s heart glad, So that he may make his face glisten with oil, And food which sustains man’s heart.”

Pleasure is not necessarily wrong or evil.

HOWEVER: THE SOLE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE
AS THE SOURCE OF SATISFACTION WILL GET YOU IN TROUBLE.

And that is what the preacher did here.
• Like he had done earlier with knowledge, now he has done with pleasure.
• He has given himself over to hedonism.

This mentality will fail you every time.

The Pursuit He Made
#2 THE PLEASURES HE TRIED
Ecclesiastes 2:3-8

Here he gives you his list.

He wanted pleasure as the purpose and satisfaction of life;
Well, what pleasures did he pursue?

You can see 4 of them here.
1) WINE (3)

(3) “I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives.”

Again the POINT here is NOT
• That he drank a glass of wine.
• It’s actually not even that perhaps he got drunk a couple of times.

But here the picture is that he gave himself over to alcohol
To find his happiness there.

Again, the KJV says, “I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine.”

We don’t have to have the whole alcohol debate here.
• Jesus turned water into wine.
• Jesus drank wine.
• Paul told Timothy to add a little wine to his water.

And you can dance and spin all you want to call it grape juice or highly diluted or whatever, but if you want to be accurate to the text, it will never fly.
The Bible speaks of people drinking wine.

You also know that the Bible unequivocally condemns drunkenness
And our culture is filled with examples of ruined lives and broken homes
Due to the devastating effects of alcoholism.

Proverbs 23:29-35 “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will utter perverse things. And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. “They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.”

The issue isn’t wine, it’s lingering long there.
You know this.

But the even bigger issue here in verse 3 is that
Wine became for this man the means through which
He would find true happiness in life.

He wanted to understand the attraction to “folly”
He wanted to understand the attraction to drunkenness

It’s a peculiar attraction isn’t it?
• We see and hear people boast about the joys of getting drunk.
• We see and hear people boast about the stupid and even painful things other drunks do.
• And often times those stories are told as if they were the greatest and most fun moments of their entire lives.

Well, the preacher heard those stories as a young man
And he decided to jump in with both feet
To find all the happiness he could there.

He wanted to “take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives.”

He decided to drink it up!

But that wasn’t all he tried.
2) WORKS (4-6)

(4-6) “I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees.”

Here he determined that happiness would be found in building something that lasts.
• He was going to accomplish great projects.
• He was going to build bridges and build parks and build reservoirs, etc.

Now it may seem strange
To link wine and works back to back like this under the same heading,
Because we perceive one of these things to be immoral
And the other we perceive to be noble,
BUT IN MANY WAYS THEY ARE THE SAME.

They both represent a man who is trying
To squeeze fulfillment and happiness out of life.

For a while he tried to find it in the bottle
And then he tried to find it in corporate America

But it’s the same guy.

There was a good feeling from WINE
And there was a good feeling from ACCOMPLISHMENT.

Both made him feel good and so that’s what he pursued.

And that’s not all.
3) WEALTH (7-8a)

(7-8a) “I bought male and female slaves and I had homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces.”

Then he got rich.
Because money makes you happy right?
• He just bought everything he wanted.
• He just built the life of extravagance.

Like that guy in Jesus’ parable
Who had full barns so he tore them down and built bigger barns
So that he could just enjoy and be at ease the rest of his life.

Surely wealth was going to bring his sole the satisfaction he wanted.

But, like the first 2, it didn’t and so he moved on.
4) WOMEN (8b)

(8b) “I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men – many concubines.”

Next it is simply a search for SENSUAL PLEASURE.
Women to sing and dance and sleep with.

And we could spend a lot of time addressing all the passages in the Bible
About the dangers and consequences of sexual immorality.

Indeed WE COULD talk about the judgment of God on all these things.
• Drunkenness
• Pride
• Greed
• Sexual Immorality

We could talk about God’s judgment on all those things,
And the preacher will a little later.

But his point here is not that God judges those things,
But rather that those things never live up to what they promise.

And this is something that you should know.
Every young person should write this down in all caps.

SIN CAN NEVER BRING HAPPINESS

God won’t allow it.
The God who created you will not allow sin to bring happiness to your soul.

BUT…
Sin CAN bring pleasure…for a season.

Why else do you sin if it isn’t fun?
• That is in fact the lie we deal with when we are tempted.
• We believe that fun is found on the other side of sin, and we believe that if we don’t sin we won’t have fun.
• We actually link fun with sin because in our fallen mindset we think we can’t have fun without it.

And for a season sin does bring pleasure.

Proverbs 9:17-18 “Stolen water is sweet; And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Proverbs 20:17 “Bread obtained by falsehood is sweet to a man, But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.”

How many drunks ever found pleasure in the bottle?
• (All of them, but they never find happiness there)

How many workaholics ever found pleasure in their work?
• (All of them, but they never find happiness there)

How many people ever found pleasure in shopping or money?
• (All of them, but they never find happiness there)

How many men ever found pleasure in sexual immorality or pornography?
• (All of them, but they never find happiness there)

And this is where pleasure leads us astray.
IT CANNOT SATISFY.

And that is what the preacher wants you to understand.
It will leave you just as empty as when you started.

In fact, it MAY LEAVE YOU EMPTIER
Because of the collateral damage you’ll do to those you love.

The Pursuit He Made, The Pleasures He Tried
#3 THE POSITION HE ATTAINED
Ecclesiastes 2:9-10

His point here to the younger man is that
When he pursued this life of pleasure, HE WENT ALL OUT.
He is eliminating the excuse that he just didn’t give it a chance.

HE’S NOT a teenage kid who went out one night, got drunk, woke up the next morning sick and said, “I’m never doing that again.”

Someone might well come up to that kid and say, “You didn’t try it enough, here try this and I’ll show you a good time.”

This guy was no light weight participant.
He went further after pleasure than anyone.

(9-10) “Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor.”

Did you catch that?
“I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure…”

This is what the preacher pursued.
You can’t talk about any pleasure that he didn’t try and try fully.

• You want to talk about drinking, he drank it all.
• You want to talk about accomplishments, he built it all.
• You want to talk about possessions, he made money and bought it all.
• You want to talk about women, he gave himself to it and experienced it all.

This guy is a QUALIFIED EXPERT to give a review on the life of pleasure.

You see that.

Well, let’s get to his conclusion.

The Pursuit He Made, The Pleasures He Tried, The Position He Attained
#4 THE PROFIT HE GAINED
Ecclesiastes 2:11

There it is. This is his REVIEW
“behold all is vanity and striving after wind and there is no profit under the sun.”

The promise of pleasure as the meaning of life was an empty promise.
• It brought no satisfaction.
• It brought no fulfillment.
• It was like grabbing smoke.
• It was like chasing wind.

There was “no profit” in it.
There was no advantage to it.
He left him just as empty as when he started.

I told you that the philosophical term for seeking a life of pleasure
Is called Hedonism.

Well in philosophy there is also a reality called:
THE HEDONISTIC PARADOX

The Hedonistic Paradox states this:
• If you seek pleasure and it alludes you, you are doomed to a life of frustration.
• If you seek pleasure and you find it, you are doomed to a life of boredom.

So even the philosopher realized that in pursuing pleasure
You are doomed to either a life of frustration or a life of boredom.

Can you not see that in our world?
• We see those who live life frustrated in sort of an unfulfilled covetous state where they are upset because they can’t have the pleasures they seek.
• But we also see those whose lives are filled with pleasure and success who also seem to never get enough.

THERE IS NO SATISFACTION.

And that is what the preacher said.
• Listen young man, you’re going to turn on the television and see a beer
commercial and it’s going to show you physically fit models drinking bear in
bathing suits and it’s going to look like the best life imaginable…

• Listen young man, you’re going to hear your buddies in the break room talk
about how much fun they had at the bar chasing women…

• Listen young man, you’re going to see the advertisements of wealth…

And this world is going to tell you that this is where satisfaction is found.
IT’S A LIE!

Even without discussing the ramifications of eternal judgment,
I’m here to tell you that even in this life it will not satisfy.

And so that’s review #2 from the preacher.
1. Don’t let someone tell you that knowledge and education is the secret to the
fulfilling life.
2. Don’t let someone tell you that pleasure is the secret to the fulfilling life.

Both are false advertising.
Both are fool’s gold.
Both are merely a vapor and a mirage.
That’s the truth young man.

Pleasure will not satisfy, but there is One who does.

TURN TO: JOHN 4:1-10

Now, we don’t have to go into great detail about this story for it is a familiar one, but it is suffice to say that we have here a woman who has chased pleasure and come up empty.
• You know all the stories about here:
• Gathering water in the heat of day…
• Married 5 times and now living with a man…
• The life of pleasure alluded her.

I want you to SEE WHAT JESUS OFFERS THIS WOMAN
She had bought the hedonistic lie that pleasure brings happiness.

(READ JOHN 4:1-10)

Did you hear Him?
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

There is a simple analogy there.
Namely that living (flowing) water is better than dead (stagnant) water.

Jeremiah used a similar analogy to describe the difference between seeking God and seeking false gods.
Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.”

• Obviously a fresh flowing spring is preferred over an old cracked cistern.

That’s the same analogy Jesus is making to this woman.

But His analogy isn’t so much to idolatry
(though here worldliness is clearly an idol),
Jesus is talking about the difference between
Seeking happiness through pleasure, or seeking it in Him.

Seeking pleasure is an old stagnant pool.
Seeking Christ is a fountain of living water.
That’s the analogy.

John 7:37-39 “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

There it is again.
• Only Jesus satisfies because only Jesus can put inside of you that which brings satisfaction; namely His Holy Spirit.

Jesus is merely confirming the promise of another prophet; Isaiah.
Isaiah 55:1-2 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.”

You hear that same promise and plea don’t you?
• That’s the plea of the preacher here in Ecclesiastes.
• That is certainly the plea and the offer of Jesus.

Jesus promises satisfaction over this world.
You are familiar with the parable of the treasure in the field or the pearl of great value.

• In both of those parables Jesus reveals a treasure so valuable and so fulfilling
that if you could catch a glimpse of its worth you would part ways with every
earthly treasure to obtain it.

That is the kingdom of heaven.
That is true fulfillment.
Only in Christ, not in pleasure.

In Philippians Paul spoke of finding this same fulfillment.
Philippians 3:7-11 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

• There is Paul’s testimony (just like the preacher in Ecclesiastes).
• I tried it all, I experienced it all, and when I perceived Christ I gladly let it all go!
• Christ satisfied like this world never could.

Listen to the testimony of Moses.
Hebrews 11:24-26 “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.”

• Moses had it all in Egypt, but it was so empty he chose slavery with Christ as a
greater reward.

Listen to them young man, they are showing you the path to walk.
Fulfillment is not found in seeking a life of pleasure, only in Christ.

One more text I want to show you and we’ll end with it.
(There is not enough time for these messages, my goodness the book of Ecclesiastes hits the nail on the head)

TURN TO: PSALMS 73

Again, many of you are familiar and we don’t have to work all through it.
• Basically you have Asaph who was captivated by the world (1-2)
• He saw their pleasure and their comfort (3-9)
• He saw their abundance and even their godlessness (10-12)
• And he decided that by not seeking that life he made a mistake (13-14)

He was buying the lie.
The salesman nearly had him.

But something pivotal happened in his life.
(READ 17-20)

He saw what the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote about.
HE SAW THE END.

And the end was not only futility, but also judgment.
The promises pleasure made, it could not fulfill.

And it changed Asaph’s perspective.
(READ 21-24)

• Only in Christ is there glory.
• Only in Christ is there fulfillment.
• Only in Christ is there eternal life.

And so listen to Asaph’s Review.
Listen to his answer to the false promises of pleasure.
(READ 25-28)

• Asaph learned what the preacher is talking about.
• Asaph learned what Jesus told the woman at the well.
• Asaph learned what Paul was talking about.
• Asaph learned what Moses had learned.

That the only true satisfaction you will find in this life
Is not through worldly knowledge and it is not through pleasure.
It is only found in Christ.

Young man listen!
Don’t let the flashy advertisements of this world drag you into a world of seeking happiness through pleasure.
• Sin brings momentary pleasure, but it cannot bring happiness.
• Seeking happiness anywhere other than in Christ is like chasing the wind.