Folly-ology or Follow-ology?

[0:00] that's a wonderful promise Jesus strong and kind you can always run to Jesus well Greg spoke prophetically it will prove to be true we won't have to stone him at the ends he spoke a true prophecy this is and will be much to my sorrow the final message in Ecclesiastes we've come to the end of the book and there are many other books to explore if God gives us breath for life so I don't despair too much there's more truth to be had the title of my message for today from the final part of Ecclesiastes follyology or followology

[1:02] I admit I stole that we were at our conference a couple weeks ago down in North Carolina and one of the speakers mentioned follyology in one of his talks and we latched on to that I told Greg he asked me he said you think that'll show up and I said yeah that'll probably show up in a sermon pretty soon so here you go follyology or followology I thought that was very apt for where we are let's read together beginning in the first verse of chapter 12 in Ecclesiastes to kind of get the flow of the context from when we were here last time and what we'll do is we'll center in on verses 9 through 14 for our message today beginning in verse 1 remember also your creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say I have no delight in them before the sun and the light the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble and mighty men stoop the grinding ones stand idle because they are few and those who look through windows grow dim the doors on the street are shut the sound of the grinding mill is low and one will arise at the sound of the bird and all the daughters of song will sing softly furthermore men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road the almond tree blossoms the grasshopper drags himself along and the caperberry is ineffective for men for man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street so here he says it again remember him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed then the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to God who gave it vanity of vanity says the preacher all is vanity so we spent a couple of messages on that section and now this one for today in addition to being a wise man the preacher also taught the people knowledge and he pondered searched out and arranged many proverbs the preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly the words of wise men are like goads and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails and they are given by one shepherd but beyond this my son be warned the writing of many books is endless and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body the conclusion when all has been heard is 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 such sobering words so I understand from our absence last Sunday that you sang a hymn a particular hymn that I want to reference because we sing that hymn often we sing a hymn that declares at least in part this my hope is built on nothing nothing less than Jesus

[5:04] blood and righteousness that is a declaration of faith that is a life built on Jesus blood and righteousness it expresses a saving faith not just any faith a saving faith now you would ask and I want to say these things to you right up front the front of my message while you're still a fresh listener alright I want this to to drive right in like well driven nails a saving faith the question then saved from what exactly if that's an expression of saving faith what are we saved from exactly here it is you are saved from a wasted life here and you are saved from an eternity of living separated from God in a devil's hell where there will be no end to the suffering you will experience for your unforgiven sins that is truth you might ask at that point well what do I do about my unforgiven sins since that seems to be the issue of my suffering now my life being wasted and my eternity being spent in a devil's hell how can I be forgiven by God for the wrong that God sees in me for the wrongs that I've done in my life well the Bible gives one answer to the question of how we can be saved from and forgiven for our sins but it gives that one answer in multiple ways and forms one answer but the Bible says it in multiple ways and I want to share some of those just a small sampling of those with you and let what

[7:17] Solomon speaks of here and what Peter spoke of and are called to worship about remembering the words of God and allowing the impact of the word of God to be like a well driven nail right into your heart so here is the first one that I want to share with you therefore Jesus is able to save forever those who draw near to God through faith in him and the next one and he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds you were healed and next for Christ also died for sins once for all the just for the unjust so that he might bring us to God having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit and then this one by this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent his only begotten son into the world so that we might live through him in this is love not that we love God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation or the satisfaction for our sins and then finally this one we have seen and testified that the father has sent the son to be the savior of the world whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God

[9:03] God abides in him and he in God so if we take the first one I gave you and this last one as the brackets the parameters for what I'm trying to tell you here's what we come up with therefore Jesus is able to save forever those who draw near to God through faith in him we have seen and testify that the father has sent the son Jesus to be the savior of the world whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God God abides in him and he in God the issue of the forgiveness of sins and being made right with God is not a formula or a plan it's a person and it's relationship it is captured in the ideas of drawing near to God it is captured in the idea that God has sent his son and those who confess his son in relationship of faith in his son will be forgiven forever for their sins saving faith trusts in

[10:32] Jesus Christ as your savior and lord to forgive you for your sins committed against him and then to credit you with the perfect sinless life that Jesus lived on the earth as if you lived it so that when God sees you through faith in Christ he sees the righteous spotless blameless life of his son God makes you holy so that as you stand before almighty God you stand in the life of his son he is your life he isn't just your brother or your friend he is your life let me say it a different way folks to help sober us even further in this Jesus Christ is who you are he is the essence he is the sum he is the all you don't get a little bit of spirituality you don't get a little bit of goodness you don't even get a little bit of

[11:52] God you get the son of God living in your life and that's the best I can do in the way of an explanation Paul said I no longer live he lives in me in the life that I live I live in him now in complete contrast to what I've been saying to you there is another much more popular version of the hymn that I mentioned earlier instead of my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness this version of the hymn goes like this my hope is built on nothing less than my own pride and righteousness that is also a declaration of faith this is faith in yourself this is self righteousness it's not saving faith it's condemning faith it's condemning faith because it's built on self righteousness and it leaves you guilty before

[13:09] God and unforgiven for your sins that declaration is built upon an ancient deception has been handed down since God made man it's a counterfeit view of what is wise good and meaningful in life it came into the world and into the hearts of all people by a very simple devastating lie and here's the lie you surely will not die for God knows that in the day that you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil that's Genesis 3 verses 4 and 5 this counterfeit counsel has plagued mankind since

[14:16] Adam and Eve believed it and acted on it what I have just summarized for you is nothing short of false worship and it is false worship that plagues mankind it is false worship that will get you a devil's hell and a wasted life the rebellion of Adam and Eve against God was birthed by believing the twin lies you surely will not die and your eyes will be opened and you will be like God that is what all of us come into the world believing it's in our nature to believe it to want to hear it and to be reinforced in it it's another way of saying do your own thing be your own God carve out your own life do what you want to do it's your life you surely will not die and you'll be like

[15:26] God this was pure deception and it was aimed at getting Adam and Eve to trust themselves to doubt God and to separate them from the truth of what God had already commanded them about life and death these were two immortals they didn't know what sin and death were the earth had never experienced it before and God told them if you do this one thing you will die and Satan said no you won't in fact if you'll do it you'll be like God that same strategy is precisely what Satan employed against God's people in the days of Jesus the days of Peter the days of the apostle

[16:27] Paul I'll take you to just a couple of places and show you real quickly what Paul said about this and what Peter himself said in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 this is a verse that if you haven't underlined it if you underline or mark up your Bible as I do I would encourage you to have this one at hand Paul speaking of this ancient satanic strategy was very concerned for the Corinthians and in one verse he summed it up this way I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to whom Christ God God that was Paul's concern and then in first Peter chapter five right near to where we were reading in our call to worship first

[17:32] Peter chapter five beginning in verse eight Peter's concern is summed up this way be of sober spirit be on the alert you have an adversary the devil he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour but now notice what happens in verse nine but resist him firm in your faith there it is resist him by being firm in your faith that's saving faith that is the faith that looks to God's word the truth that is a life defined by and founded on and based upon God's truth knowing that the same experiences of suffering those same experiences they are having are being accomplished by your brothers and sisters in Christ who are in the world that's the encouragement that Paul and Peter in just two very brief places gave to the people they were ministering to because this ancient strategy has been carried forward into their time and that strategy hasn't changed it's with us today in our modern time

[19:00] Satan uses it to great effect it is the counsel of the devil for us to live a life of folly ology folly ology that is to foolishly follow our own wisdom and desires as we define for ourselves what will bring us meaning and fulfillment in life that's folly ology another way that the bible describes folly ology is this everyone did what was right in their own eyes i'm going to chart my own way i'm going to live my own life i'm going to do my own thing i'm going to believe what i want chase what i want do what i want it's my life if god wants to tag along that's fine with me just don't get in my way and don't rain on my parade what we're talking about is this i want to put it up on the screen for you so you can see it it is the contrasting counsel to god's counsel instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly righteously and godly in the present age that's titus 2 12 so this is what solomon has been telling us in ecclesiastes sunday after sunday you cannot know meaning you cannot know fulfillment in life apart from knowing god as your savior and apart from then living your life as god's gift to you know god as your savior devote your life to him and live that life back to him as his gift to you now that is in contrast to foliology that's followology followology is when you follow god from a high and holy reverence for him so that everything in your life is measured against is this pleasing to god am i doing my job in a way that's pleasing to god am i ministering to my family and shepherding my family in a way that's pleasing to god do i even care what god thinks about it am i even accountable to god each day is my relationship to god's word and truth is it pleasing to him do i demonstrate in my life that i have a heart for his truth and that i want his truth to transform the way that i think about life the way that i relate follow ology we cannot live that life apart from following god through faith in jesus christ so in in solomon's shorthand he can sum it up by saying this fear god and keep his commandments that's the shorthand fear god and keep his commandments that's follow ology anything short of that is wasting your life in folly ology foolishness judgment is coming solomon says judgment is coming like a freight train it'll soon be here don't let that drive you into despondency and depression and fear of the things of life let it motivate you in the fear of the lord to grab all of life that you can and live it back to god as his gift god wants you

[23:00] to live a full life friends christians aren't supposed to be sad and grumpy and scared and despondent we are sober minded about life but we don't need to be fearful about it so what we did in verses 1 through 8 had this in mind this is the first point that I gave you in verses 1 through 8 the reality of God's judgment the reality of God's judgment that's the first thing Solomon wanted us to see as he spoke in the first part of chapter 12 remember also your creator judgment is coming this creator who made you you will one day stand again before him to give an account of your life and it's either going to go really well for you or really badly for you and that has everything to do with your relationship to God in that moment now in verses 9 through 14 they are about my second point and it will conclude the book for us the response to

[24:11] God's judgment the response to God's judgment once again let's just look at those verses and then I'll come back to them and rehearse them with you as we go through them in addition to being a wise man the preacher now the preacher refers to Solomon he's the preacher the preacher also taught the people knowledge now that's a specific kind of knowledge and then this is what the preacher did he pondered he searched out and he arranged what many proverbs wise sayings pithy wise sayings about life proverbs sum up the wisdom living in life that we need to know and adhere to verse 10 the preacher then did this he sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly the words of the wise men are like goads and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd

[25:19] I hope that if you have the word shepherd it's capitalized it should be but beyond this my son be warned the writing of many books is endless and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body the conclusion when all has been heard is 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 you know the Masoretes the people who copied the Bible different people along the way who copied and interpreted the scriptures and Jewish tradition they didn't like the fact that Ecclesiastes ended with verse 14 so they would make the people go back up and read 13 again to end the book but how does verse 14 end what's the theme of verse 14 and you'll see why they didn't want to do it judgment judgment they didn't want the book of

[26:22] Ecclesiastes to end on the theme of judgment that's exactly the point judgment is coming what are you going to do about it while you have time to do something about it an opportunity to do something about it Ecclesiastes he's challenged us with what many people refer to as the ultimate questions of life where do we come from why are we here what is the purpose of life how do I have a meaningful life the ultimate questions of life Solomon answered all of those in these 12 every one of them thoroughly constantly pointing us to our creator constantly showing us that our lives are gifts from God and if they're to be meaningful they need to be lived for God that's why we're here we're here because he made us we're here because he wants us to live for him we're here because he wants to bless us with a full life the purpose of our life is to honor him but if we boil it all down to what

[27:39] Solomon has been most concerned with we could ask these questions to get at his answers all right let me put these up on the screen for you first of all how are we to live given that we will all die one day and then face God to give an account of how we've lived the life he gave us as his gift did we live life for him or for ourselves and then this did we live life loving and serving God and his agenda for our lives or did we live it doing what was wise in our own eyes while pursuing our own agenda for our lives you see now Solomon knew better but what he did was not what he knew he knew better but he lived most of his life striving after wind and experiencing the futility the vanity and the emptiness of living to please himself instead of living to please the

[28:50] Lord that was his experience and he's writing right out of it he's telling the young people that he's writing to don't make the mistake I made and waste your life living for your own pleasures you will not find meaning there purpose there you will not find hope there you will certainly not find anything there to help you with the judgment that is coming so don't do that friends I want to tell you not just from the experiences that I've had with other people in ministering to them over the last three decades but in my own life I want to say this to you emptiness emptiness is a horrible horrible feeling you know Christians experience that sad to say emptiness is a horrible feeling now human wisdom man's wisdom and answers to this dilemma of human emptiness in the sense of meaninglessness and a wasted life the dark fears that plague our hearts as we contemplate that waste that futility that sense of striving after when does my life even count what matters most that emptiness human wisdom misses a crucial reality about the nature of every human being ecclesiastes clearly teaches us that

[30:26] God has designed us to be empty without him human wisdom misses that we are actually manufactured into our DNA to feel a sense of loneliness meaninglessness and emptiness without God and there's no human cure for that the cure has to come from heaven and his name is Jesus and God sent him God sent him Solomon was so committed and convicted and determined to communicate this message to us that he goes even so far as to describe the method the method that he went to to pull all of this information together and impress it on our hearts and minds so he's finishing the book and he said yeah

[31:27] I've told you all this stuff now I just want to give you a brief synopsis of the effort that I went to to do this and maybe that will go even further in helping to impress on your heart how critically important this is for you and so he comes to verses 9 and 10 and what does he say in addition to being a wise man speaking about himself the preacher Solomon also taught the people knowledge and he pondered searched out and arranged many proverbs the preacher sought to find delightful words he wanted to write these words of truth correctly he's taking some pains here what he's saying is this this is no haphazard collection of human musings and opinions and philosophies of the day that's not what I've done these are not mere human observations which is what the entire field of psychology and psychiatry are based upon human observations

[32:35] I dare you to do something I'll prove it to you very simply get go online and look at it or get a copy of the latest diagnostic and statistical manual for mental disorders I think it's the fifth edition now turn to any mental disorder listed in the book and read through the description of symptoms and you're going to come running to me and say I have this why because you listen have you heard of medical student syndrome medical students study all of these illnesses and diseases and they start getting paranoid and hypochondriacs about it because I've got this I have these symptoms that's exactly what happened to me when I studied psychology for all those years I spent five years in my undergrad doing it and I spent three more in my master's level so that's eight years of studying this nonsense and as I did I came away going if I read this DSM the right way

[33:36] I have half of these things because I show most of the symptoms here they're based on human observation not scientific reality they're based on things that people have looked at in other people and said people who typically suffer with what we've labeled here exhibit these kinds of symptoms okay fine maybe that's helpful now they're going to diagnose it now they're going to prognose it now they're going to tell you how to cure it or how to deal with it and it's all based on coping strategies and behavior modification of course if Solomon had put together a collection of human musings and opinions and philosophies we'd have something very different prescribed for us here that wouldn't have really anything to do with God here's what he says no the preacher me taught the people knowledge and

[34:44] I did it carefully I pondered it I searched it out and I arranged it for you to here here's what he says a wise man is a designation of Solomon as God's instrument and servant it's like saying a prophet I'm a prophet I'm a priest like Moses or Aaron he's putting himself into that category the wise man the purveyor and sayer of the wise things of God that's what he's saying and again I'll back this up with you in just a moment Solomon is thus speaking pastorally he's speaking on behalf of God to God's people just like I'm doing now these are not my words this is not my wisdom I'm just like you I put myself under this wisdom because

[35:45] Jesus is my Lord as well so I'm right there with you Greg and I as we pastor we try to speak to you the wisdom and words of almighty God who is your king and your shepherd Solomon will use that word in just a moment according to Michael Eaton one commentator I've read throughout this experience Solomon is concerned with this can I throw this up there for him Josiah Solomon here in saying this is concerned with fellowship knowledge I put this up here because I thought it was just wonderful fellowship knowledge that is knowledge that comes in the context of knowing a person so when Solomon says in verse nine that he taught the people knowledge it's fellowship knowledge it's God knowledge it's how to know God and walk with God and relate to God it's about a person Solomon wants us to know and follow

[36:46] God it's that straightforward that's no big shock no big revelation unless you sing the version of the hymn my hope is built on nothing less than my own pride and righteousness now we got a problem because that's not knowing God Solomon was deeply committed to teach God's wisdom knowledge to God's people so what did he do then he did what any man of integrity who wanted to honor God will do listen to what he did he pondered he searched out and he arranged many proverbs both here and in the book of proverbs any man who cares about the things of God who knows God and loves God will take God's truth seriously and so he did he diligently gave himself to this task I'm so glad he said this at the end of the book it's challenging to me what kind of time does

[37:54] Jeff Jackson spend even as a pastor diligently pondering searching out and arranging the truth of the Lord so that I can live it and know God better my friends I'm saying this is diligent hard thoughtful careful precise work which Solomon did on behalf of the Lord he labored to make his writing of this wisdom notice in verse 10 delightful and dependable do you see that the preacher sought to find delightful words and then here aren't words of truth dependable the truth is dependable so we have delightful and we have trustworthy truthful dependable words why because so much is at stake what's at stake Jeff God's glory in your life just that dependable words are words of truth then notice with me friends in verse 11 the words of wise men are like goads and masters of these collections are like well driven nails they are given by one shepherd so these wise words carefully and diligently and precisely collected and arranged for maximum effect on the heart and mind are like goads and nails goads move us encourage us forward it's kind of like what you would do if you were herding sheep you goad them along or if you have a gaggle of children you goad we're walking we're walking that's goading that's goading sometimes we have to take their little heads and point them in the right direction and say move your feet right i remember we had a teacher that taught what first graders

[40:03] Suzanne Lynn i think they were first graders and she was constantly telling us hilarious stories about how she gave directions to them to go places and do things and how she had to tell them what to do with their mouth what to do with their minds what to do with their bodies and what to do with their feet and I that's pretty much it go go go go move us along and nails emphasize Solomon's intention to nail or to help fix or to skillfully drive this wisdom into the mind and heart I've used this example with you before if you've ever seen a master craftsman use a manual hammer and to great effect it's wonderful to watch I love it they'll take a big old nail 20 penny nail or whatever and they'll hit that thing twice and in it goes whereas I'm tap tap tap tap tap and then I have to straighten it and then tap tap this is well driven skillful precise work

[41:09] Solomon says I want to drive it into your heart and mind with great skill and so I've worked very hard to pull this together because there's a lot at stake but I can't take the credit we know that because of what he says next and they are all given by one shepherd this is inspiration this is God the Holy Spirit working in the hearts and minds of men to produce the manuscript of the scriptures they are given by one shepherd this is God Solomon gives all the credit to God these are God's words he wants us to know that in all of his efforts to produce this material ultimately ultimately and primarily it is all the work and wisdom of almighty God now doesn't that make a difference that these are not just the words of men this is the word of God so put your life here stake your life on the judgment that's coming and

[42:16] Solomon's answer to how to stand in that judgment and not just survive it but move through it and get to the of it there are a lot of people who are going to come out on the other side of the judgment in the devil's hell God help us and God help them verse 12 but beyond this all right you see what he's doing now he's he's taken all of that and tried to impress it on their minds now remember if we would have taken all the way back to chapter 12 verse one he said all of this up to this point and now he says in verse 12 but beyond then all of this my son that's the first time he said that my son very endearing be warned so here comes an admonishment the writing of many books is endless and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body now keep it in context and here we go his point here seems to fix on the careful diligent and very difficult efforts that he's made to write and arrange all of this for the benefit of his readers but this was his deep labor of love for

[43:37] God and his people he's not bragging then he's warning he's admonishing all of this is intended to express and impress the sober reality of what Solomon says is at stake and now what he says is the great sum of the matter that he so carefully and seriously conveyed so Solomon isn't slamming on books what he's trying to do here is say this this was an exhausting wearying work this took everything I had and I gave it all that I had so know this and be warned about this God has used me to give you my a game and to tell you what's most important how do we know that verse 13 the conclusion when all has been heard is fear

[44:51] God and keep his commandments because this applies to every person does your Bible have the word because in the middle of all that mine reads that way fear God keep his commandments because for this is Greg said for this is because that's that's a critical critical juncture in the verse the word because is critical because this is more than a command to obey it is that but it's more than that what do you mean Jeff this fear God and keep his commandments this is life it's life this is relationship this is not just rule keeping this is not legalism this is not oh

[45:51] I'll do some of this stuff and that I'll I'll be fine this is not profess you know God and then live however you want to live no this is life because this is relationship at the end of verse 13 it literally reads this way fear God and keep his commandments because this is the whole of everyone this is the whole of everyone w h o l e what is the whole of every person according to Solomon what is the essence God has built into every human being well here is the grand conclusion from Solomon's question from chapter 1 verse 3 please turn there look at chapter 1 verse 3 here's how we started and now he's going to end the book answering this question by saying beyond all of this here's the conclusion of the matter what advantage does man have in all of his work which he does under the sun there it is what advantage is there to all of this busyness and running around on this planet what's the point of life in everything that we do in life especially given

[47:23] Peter's admonitions it's all going to burn what's the point so he comes to tell us what the point is fear God and keep his commandments that's the answer to chapter one verse three what's the point of all of the life that we live on this planet fear God and keep his commandments not because that's simply something that you must do that is who you are that that is that is the whole that is the essence of life the essence of life is to be rightly related to God and to live for him fear God keep his commandments only people who know and love God do that that is the essence of life that's who you are this is revelation of what

[48:24] God has made us for again it is the essence of who we are and of what it means to be human and living in God's world we could say it this way we are fear God and keep his commandments we are if we know him if we know God we are fear God and keep his commandments any life short of this is a betrayal of who we are now what gets in the way of this sin sin is what ruins this essence and makes it necessary for God to give us a renewed or a regenerated a new essence do you see sin ruins God comes to renew regenerate in his love for us God took the initiative and sent us

[49:27] Jesus so here's the language that we use from the New Testament we are born again by the power of God by grace through faith in Jesus why do we use that nomenclature why do we talk about being born again because we need a new life we need to be regenerated we need to be taken from spiritual death to spiritual life life is fear God and keep his commandments through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was Solomon saved yeah how was he saved the same way you are by grace through faith faith in who Messiah God it's the only way he could know saving faith is by the gift of God as he looked to God my friends please hear this verse 13 is the point of everything

[50:31] I told you that in the first sermon verse 13 is the point of everything because of this verse 13 frames all of life with ultimate meaning verse 13 answers every single ultimate question we can pose about this life why am I here fear God and keep his commandments what is the meaning of life fear God and keep his commandments what is the purpose of me living and breathing every day fear God and keep his commandments what is the end of all things fear God and keep his commandments ultimate meaning it's God's meaning through a personal relationship of faith with God as creator and savior let me put this up here for you to see verse 13 is about life as worship now please if you can take a deep breath and give me a few more minutes this is so critical verse 13 is about life as worship your every action and reaction are more about your soteriology than your sociology and physiology what am

[51:42] I mean soteriology refers to how we are related to God soteriology concerns salvation either we are worshiping God in our relationship to Christ or we are worshiping something other than God leaving us in the emptiness of idols and self some people want to say that life and all that you do in life is about your environment your culture your society you're just a product of what you've been made to be by living in this culture bless your heart you're a victim no that's not what scripture says you might be influenced by your society but you don't have to be defined by it you're defined by what's in your heart that's your responsibility some people on the other hand want to say that all that you say and do is about your physiology your body your chemicals so lots and lots of stuff gets blamed on the chemical reactions and whatever going on in our bodies

[52:43] God says what's most important about you and what you do and say is what comes out of your heart Jesus said that if you want a passage in Mark chapter 7 verses 19 through 23 we live out of our heart which is why Proverbs tells us guard your heart with all diligence for from it flows the matters or issues of life is that 412 412 Proverbs I think what you think and do isn't simply about chemicals and hormones that work in your body this verse verse 13 tells us that it's about what you worship wise follow ology worships and obeys God all right let me put this one up here on the screen you are either fearing God which works out into keeping his commandments you keep his commandments because you fear him that's worship

[53:48] God live for God in that order or you are worshiping something else and living for what you are worshiping don't be fooled into a life of folly ology my friends worship creates conduct what you worship in any given moment will determine how you behave it will determine the direction of your life even in that moment for example even as a Christian if Jeff Jackson is in any moment of his life worshiping self and say worshiping comfort what's most important to me in this moment right now I have determined in my heart is my own personal comfort therefore I might begin to sin towards Suzanne by not serving her sacrificially or doing for her in a given moment because

[54:48] I don't have her best interest at heart because I'm not thinking in terms of worshiping God and allowing God to direct me as Suzanne servant I've made myself my servant my comfort is most important I've raised that to the status of an idol and so now I'm going to behave according to what I'm worshiping the idol of comfort you follow me that's how we live that's what we do and it happens from moment to moment to moment that's why you sin even as a Christian because you're still dealing with idols of the heart allegiance loyalty I could go on and on and on with examples about how this happens this is what Solomon is trying to tell us worship creates conduct verse 14 sums it up for God will bring every act to judgment everything which is hidden that's another way of saying

[55:49] I will show you what you've worshipped I will show you what you've worshipped whether good or evil in every moment of your life my friends your life is marching steadily and swiftly to having God evaluate your every thought and deed make it count for God that's his point now I want to leave you with a contrast of wisdom approaches to life this is in summation form it'll only take me a minute or two turn to 1 Corinthians 3 this is how I'll conclude 1 Corinthians chapter 3 let me read verse 20 first Paul comes to the end of toward the end of this what we call chapter 3 and in verse 20 he says the

[56:54] Lord knows the reasonings of the wise that they are what does your Bible say futile useless vain there you go now let me put this up on the screen for you Josiah in the NSB it says this the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise that they are useless in the ESV the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile folks man man tries to reason his way forward in the fallenness of his own mind so there exists in our everyday life the contrasting and competing counterfeit of man's sinful reasons about the matters of life and then this false reason reason or wisdom exists in each of us by nature it competes with the counsel and nature of the Lord it's false it's counterfeit it's the ancient lie brought forward and the scripture says that

[57:59] God knows the reasonings of the wise that they are useless and so this is the last quote I want to put up for you this is from David Wells the vanity emptiness and futility of fallen reason are the affliction visited upon sinners by God's judgment what the postmodern world celebrates in its rejection of all absolutes and in its assumed right to define all reality privately is a sign of God's wrath that is brilliant insight it gave me chills when I read it what the world celebrates is really God's wrath it's his judgment they elevate themselves and how they reason about the matters of life they throw gay pride parties and strut out in the streets in all manner of vileness and tell themselves this is life they run from a virus that's little more than the flu with a 99.9% survival rate and they've let it turn the world upside down

[59:19] I'm not discrediting the lives that have been lost I've lost some people in my own extended family I would never ever say anything to besmirch or devalue the loss of life that's happened because of corona I am applying the wisdom of God's word to say this world in its reasonings has grossly misjudged and overreacted to what's happened around our world with it and folks I am not making comments now about whether you should get a vaccine or a mask I'm telling the truth about how Solomon tells us to evaluate our world man will tell us all manner of things when what we need to realize is what the world celebrates in the way of its reason is actually the evidence of God's judgment on their lives that's what God says anyway the apostle

[60:21] Paul went on in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 to tell his readers this the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God for it is written he is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness that's verse 19 and in good fashion because that's where Solomon ends in verse 14 of chapter 12 with judgment that's where I'm going to end let's pray together father God we are sobered by your word and the truth of your word and we are instructed in our hearts about living a life that honors you we are reminded dear Lord you are our creator fear all all of our life started with you making us forming us in the womb ensuring that we developed giving us life outside the womb allowing us to breathe your air and here we are and so it is that we would embrace the essence the essence of who we are even as you have made us we are fear

[61:37] God and keep his commandments and we are that essence in the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ who gives us his righteousness and breathes into us his very life thank you for the Holy Spirit father thank you for Jesus the son father thank you for you for all that the trinity means to us as we seek to live a life that pleases you in all respects in Jesus name we pray amen