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Back when I did electrical work, I was constantly drilling holes and carrying a ladder around and drilling and turning the screwdriver, climbing up and down the ladder. It was a very physical job. Many of you have very physical jobs. Being a pastor is not a very physical job. Think about when you go out soul winning for a couple of hours, you're tired. It's exhausting. I remember we had a guy come visit our church one time. He grew up on a farm and he said, I know what hard work is because I grew up on a farm and soul winning is the hardest work I've ever done in my life. But is it hard physically? It's walking and talking, but virtue goes out of you, as Jesus said. It's mentally and spiritually draining. Preaching a sermon is draining. I wake up the next morning after a church day and I feel like a truck ran over me pretty much every Monday morning and Thursday morning. But yet, I haven't really done anything physical. Although sometimes I look at the thumbnails of my videos and I realize that I actually did aerobics the whole time. So I realize that I'm actually like an aerobics instructor with how much I move my arms in a sermon. But the point is, that's why pastors are often overweight. Pastors are often very sickly and struggle with their health. I have to make a point to try to eat and sleep and exercise and everything because of the fact that the job is tiring. Because much studying to prepare sermons and to learn and to know the material to get up and preach, it's exhausting. It's a weariness of the flesh. And the Bible talks about those who labor in the word and doctrine. And so much study is a weariness of the flesh. So there's a literal interpretation there just saying, hey, studying makes you tired. It's work, but unfortunately it doesn't get you in shape. It just makes you tired. But then there's also another layer of this when he says, of making many books there is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh. He's warning about the fact that some people could just devote their lives to learning. And he's again just kind of explaining that that's really just another source of vanity. Because you're never going to learn everything you want to learn. You know, I look at myself, I'm 40 years old and I think about everything I want to learn. And I realize my life is way too short to even learn everything that I want to learn. Now, fools think they know everything and they're like, what are you talking about, man? I mean, I'm, you know, I'm 20 and I already know almost everything. It's like, well, no, you don't. You know, as you study and learn, the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. You know, like, let's say you never studied astronomy. You'd realize like, I don't know about astronomy. So there'd be like this kind of amount of knowledge that you'd think like, this is what I don't have, knowledge about astronomy. But then if you like spent years studying astronomy, then you'd be like, this is how much I don't know about astronomy. It'd be more. So ironically, the more you learn, the more you realize that you don't know. So you actually know less in a sense in your own sight. This is why people who actually know a lot are more humble. People who know little are proud because they're like, oh, yeah, I know pretty much everything. I remember thinking to myself when I was in my early 20s, this is years before I started the church. Maybe I was 20, 21. I remember thinking to myself, you know, I'm going to keep reading my Bible and I'm definitely learning things at church. But I remember thinking to myself, I don't think I'm ever going to have like another really big revelation in my life as far as like Bible knowledge. I'm not going to have some big epiphany because I pretty much know all the basics. And so nothing's really going to just kind of blow me away ever again. I mean, I'm going to learn, you know, I'm going to tweak things and learn little things here and there. But, you know, I don't think I'm really going to learn anything else super groundbreaking because I've already read the Bible like more than 10 times cover to cover. I don't think I'm going to learn anything like super groundbreaking. You want to know what's funny? That was before I was right on the Jews. I mean, you want to talk about a big, groundbreaking, important subject that pretty much changes everything. And it was before I had learned that. And I remember thinking, I don't think I'm going to learn any other big bombshell. And that's just one example. I could list for you tons of other wonderful things, big things, huge things I've learned. And, you know, I would never make a statement like that now. You know, having read the Bible scores of times more and being, you know, 20 years older and been in the ministry for 15 years. Now I would never say like, you know, I mean, I learn little things here and there, but nothing big. Now I'm like, I got a lot to learn because the subject is huge. The more you study the Bible, the more you realize how deep it goes and how many subjects there are. You will never run out of studying to do even just in the Bible alone, let alone outside the Bible, just all the knowledge in this world. So if you're just on some quest for knowledge, you're never going to be satisfied. It's like the quest for money. It's also endless. Now, it's a better quest than the quest for money, but it's still we need to realize that even though God tells us so many times to gain knowledge and gain wisdom and to learn. We don't want to make that our life. We got to realize that at the end of the day, that's just a tool for serving God. Yes, we need to learn so that we can serve God effectively. Yes, want to gain knowledge so that we can apply it spiritually, but not just learning for the sake of learning. There are many people who make a God out of education and that's just what they live for. But you know what? We need to live for Christ. At the end of the day, it needs everything we do needs to be for his glory or it becomes vain. May of making many books, there is no end and much studies awareness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. And so the reason that our lives are not vain is that every good thing that we do is going to be rewarded by the Lord. It's going to be brought into judgment by the Lord. Now, the good thing about this, what this particular verse does not reveal, but what the New Testament does reveal is that God bringing every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. You know, God's going to bring all these things to life. What we understand more clearly in the New Testament with salvation in view through the Lord Jesus Christ is that those of us who are saved will never have our sins mentioned to us. Again, after we die. As far as the east is from the west, God has separated us from our sins. God has cast all of our sins behind his back. Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more, he says. And so the good news is that although I get chastened and chastised and punished for my sins now on this earth as a Christian, when I get to heaven and I go to the judgment seat of Christ, it's basically an awards banquet is what it is. The judgment seat of Christ is positive only for the believer because we will be judged. The only negative at the judgment seat of Christ is just basically losing out on rewards, just lacking or not having much to show or if your works are wood, hay and stubble and they're burned up and you're kind of left with nothing or very little. Yeah, that's sad, but it's not going to be like, so what about that sin you did 50 years ago? But for the unsaved, when they go before that great white throne judgment, they will have their sins brought out and they will be judged according to their works and they'll be judged according to the things that are found written in the books and they will be cast into the lake of fire. After being accused for their sins, they'll be cast in the lake of fire. And so this is why the things that we do in life matter. Because first of all, if we do evil now, we are going to be chastened and chastised and punished for it in this life. And none of us wants that. We don't want God hurting us in this life. And not only that, the good that we do will be rewarded both now in this life and it will also be rewarded when we get to heaven. It's a mixture of both. And so that is the conclusion of the whole matter. The bottom line is we can think about all the different pursuits that people have, money, education, pleasure, whatever they're looking for in life, relationships, whatever. At the end of the day, fearing God and keeping his commandments, teaching people the word of God, living our lives in a way that's pleasing to God are really the only things that matter. That's really what it all needs to come down to at the end of the day is to fear God and keep his commandments. And one last thing I want to point out about this verse is that, you know, verse 13 is a verse that we would often point to when people try to add things as a burden upon us that are not found in the word of God. Like people will try to add rules or add commandments that are not in scripture, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. They'll try to add rules that aren't in the Bible. What does the Bible say? Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. So if I fear God and I keep his commandments, I've done my duty. I don't need to do other commandments or go beyond what God expects. God has rules. Those are the rules we need to worry about following. Sometimes man's rules will go overboard and go too far and get too strict. We need to follow God's rules and not teach for doctrines the commandments of men. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the book of Ecclesiastes, Lord, just reminding us that we're all going to die someday and that our life is not going to last forever. Our strength is not going to last forever. Our good looks are not going to last forever. Our stamina is not going to last forever, Lord. It's all going to end. And so, Lord, I pray that every single person here would think long and hard about what they spend their life doing. What is it that they do with their time on a weekly basis? And, Lord, I pray that people would prioritize you and prioritize the lost, getting them saved, prioritize teaching the Word of God to their families, to their children, to their friends and loved ones. And, Lord, I just pray that we would keep you first, Lord, and that we would seek you first every single day, every week, put you first, first thing in the morning when we wake up, first thing in the week when we go to church on Sunday. And, Lord, put you first by giving you the best, healthiest, strongest years of our lives in our teens and 20s and 30s and onward, Lord. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's take our hymnals, please, and turn to number 263. Verily, verily, hymn number 263. Oh, what a Savior that He died for me. Hymn number 263 on this first verse together now. Oh, what a Savior that He died for me. From condemnation He hath made me free. He that believeth on the sunset, He hath everlasting life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Verily, verily, message ever new, He that believeth on the sunset is true, hath everlasting life. All my iniquities on Him were laid, All my iniquities by Him was made, All who believe on Him the Lord hath said, Hath everlasting life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Verily, verily, message ever new, He that believeth on the sunset is true, Hath everlasting life. Oh, for He I can trust my Lord, Oh, even simple I believe His word, Oh, glad message every child of God, Hath everlasting life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Verily, verily, message ever new, He that believeth on the sunset is true, Hath everlasting life. Oh, all unworthy and I will not doubt, For Him I come and He will not cast out, He that believeth on the good news shall, Hath everlasting life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Verily, verily, message ever new, He that believeth on the sunset is true, Hath everlasting life. Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.