Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26

We are in Ecclesiastes chapter uh number uh one still.

We're gonna start in verse 12 and we're gonna work our way through the end of chapter two.

And I just wanted to say this before we get started.

A lot of times, like pretty much every time that I get up here, I feel like I'm saying just the same thing, just a different way.

And that's kind of just what you're gonna get for like the next 50 years or as long as we're here.

Because we really believe in expositional preaching where we see the text and we preach through it.

And sometimes, if you're reading through the Bible, you'll see that it just keeps saying the same thing.

And we believe in the sufficiency of scripture, and that is to say, if the Bible says it 50 times and we come to it 50 times, that's what we're saying.

We're not trying to invent little neat things to say uh so that we can have a new way of looking at it.

Or we're not trying to interject what we think into the text, we're trying to say, here's the text, you wrestle it out with God.

So if we say the same thing over and over again, it's because that's what the Bible says, and we believe that that's what you need to hear, and you don't need to hear a ton of little stories from us, even though we add little stories, I get it.

But that's the gift of expositional preaching.

You're gonna get whatever the word says.

So with that, Ecclesiastes says that everything's vanity, like a bunch.

So you're just gonna hear that, and that's just what you're gonna get dealt.

So here we are in Ecclesiastes chapter 1, verses 12 through chapter 2, verse 26.

Ecclesiastes 1:12

And I just would like to pose this question to you, and that is what do you find yourself running to to find purpose or satisfaction in life?

What is it that outside of Christ that you think, man, this is this is where I hunker down?

Like, is it sports or is it what is it entertainment?

What is it that you cling to for identity or purpose or satisfaction?

Solomon, we're gonna, I know last time I said we don't know if Solomon wrote this or not, and we really aren't 100% sure, but we're gonna say it's Solomon because it just really does seem like it is.

So today we're gonna assume that it's Solomon.

Solomon is going to give us a glimpse of his attempt to find purpose in life, and he's gonna give his conclusions to those efforts in the text today.

Uh he tries going in three different directions to give himself some sort of purpose with his time here on earth.

And I think as we go through these three different things that he goes to to find purpose, these three different directions, that many of us today could relate to that.

We're like, yeah, I think I turned to some of that to find purpose or fulfillment or satisfaction.

Because, see, today in our culture, especially here in the good old USA, we are fed a lie.

And that lie is contrary to what the Bible actually says on how we are supposed to live our lives.

The lie is something like this you get one life, you get one life to live, so make it the very best that you can for yourself.

Like grab your own life and make it what you can for yourself.

And that sounds pretty good.

I mean, it doesn't even sound all that sinful.

But the problem is we're conditioned, the way that we're conditioned to go about having our best life is for us to indulge in whatever we want to indulge in.

And I'm I'm I'm gonna read some quotes that some people may find inspirational and others may find less so, uh, that kind of prove that the the air that we breathe is, you know, me, me, me, me, me.

This is a quote, I don't even know who this is from.

I just found it.

It says this do not live for the expectations of people around you.

Live for yourself, for your dreams, for your happiness.

Very deep and thoughtful there.

Uh Michael Bliss, I don't really know who he is, but this is what he said.

Life gets a whole lot more beautiful once you start living for yourself and accept the fact that you can't please everyone.

So, company slogans, taglines, uh, themes to popular movies and books, conferences held to inspire us, uh, many with the same theme that this life is about you and get what you can get out of it.

So, we're gonna take a look in Ecclesiastes at a Solomon at Solomon's attempt to do this.

This is what he's trying to do.

Solomon heads down three different roads to try to find fulfillment.

And I'm gonna read verses 12 through 18 and talk about his first attempt at finding purpose and fulfillment.

Uh, Ecclesiastes 1, 12 through 18.

I, the preacher, have been king over Israel and Jerusalem, and I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven.

It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

I said in my heart, I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge, and I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly.

I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind, for in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

So the first road that Solomon heads down to find some sort of satisfaction is a road of really education.

I think many of us today can relate to that.

We we see right off the bat that Solomon is interested in figuring out everything.

He wants to learn as much as he can.

Verse 13 says he searched out to know all that was done under heaven.

He wanted to learn everything, a craving for more and more knowledge.

Verse 16 says that he had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

Now, personally, I've had great experience and very little in life, and knowledge is definitely not one of the things that I've had great experience with.

But here a man that has great experience and knowledge.

Solomon's wisdom and knowledge surpassed all previous rulers in Jerusalem.

And generally, rulers are wise and knowledgeable, and his knowledge surpassed all of those.

So he is, we're talking about the best of the best, the smartest of the smart.

Uh in politics, often we're in a very political season right now, in politics, often a candidate will promote a certain idea and they will use that as their platform.

They will say, you know, I'm going to go after healthcare.

They pick these various platforms on which to promote themselves.

And I am one of the least political people you'll ever meet, probably to a fault, but I can tell you that when I was a kid at least, I don't know, it seemed like people used education as a platform.

We're gonna uh put a bunch of money into the schools, we're gonna improve the education system.

They promote this in a way that says a better education leads to a better life.

It will solve many, if not all, of our societal problems if we just are more educated.

And I'm not opposed to this.

I'm not opposed to education being better and improving on things, but the answer to our societal problems ultimately is not more information.

A better education is not the fix.

And Solomon exhausted himself trying to get more knowledge as if the way to purpose or fulfillment in this life was just more information.

And at the end of it, everything was still vanity.

One thing that I really like about Jesus, and that sounds really weird because like I like everything, but like one thing that I like about Jesus, I don't know, can you say that?

I think, is he came here.

Like, he did stuff.

Jesus did stuff.

He he came to earth.

That like that was a move.

He did that.

He he didn't have to do that.

He moved to earth.

He moved, he he walked from town to town, he worked as a carpenter, he healed people, he preached sermons, he prayed, he cried with people, he riled people up, he invited people places, he fished, he cooked, he he did a lot of stuff.

He did stuff.

And it seems like we live in this society where rest is like all the rage right now.

And people are like, man, it's really important to rest.

And Jesus rested and God rested, and we don't know how to rest appropriately.

And the thing about rest is it requires work.

If you don't work, you're not resting.

You don't you don't wake up from a night's sleep and then you're you're up and you're like, man, you know what?

I haven't done anything, but I'm gonna take a rest.

That's not rest.

That's something else.

For sure, that's something else.

You can work that out with your spouse or God on what that is, but it's not rest because rest, you can't have rest without work.

And and and think about this with education and knowledge.

Some people want to accumulate knowledge, uh, they they want to do everything they can do to get more knowledge, as if that's going to make them more wise.

You don't get wisdom without applying the knowledge that you're doing.

So, in other words, a wise person has done some stuff.

They haven't just accumulated knowledge, they've applied the knowledge, and now that has created wisdom.

So, you don't get rest without work, and you don't really get wisdom without, or you don't really get a true sense of wisdom without actually having to do stuff to apply your knowledge.

So we're created to do stuff, not just attain the information.

Uh look how Solomon concludes his findings here on chasing knowledge in verse 18.

Uh he says, For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

As we increase knowledge, we become more and more aware of the tragedy and sorrow of this world.

We become more and more aware that more knowledge and more education can't actually fix these problems.

And if our focus is solely under the sun, if we are fixed on this world as our greatest hope, then that leads to great sorrow.

Think about a deep thinker.

Think about a thinker.

Uh people that think deeply about stuff are generally less exuberant or less active.

They they become, now this is that's a generality, so don't come at me and say, now I'm a great thinker, but I do a bunch of stuff.

That's fine.

I'm saying generally, generally.

They are more sorrowful because you can't think too deeply about this world without realizing that it is broken and in need of a savior.

And I this is a spoiler alert, so if you haven't read through it, the the savior is Jesus Christ.

It is it is not education.

Education is not the off-ultimate answer.

So I please don't get lost in your mind right now thinking, you know what, I can't even hear the rest of the sermon because he's dogging on education as if it's a bad thing.

I'm not saying that.

Crave knowledge, go after and learn stuff, but it is not your ultimate, it is it is not a sufficient savior.

More education is not a sufficient savior.

Solomon went down that road and he said, It's vanity.

This this knowledge that I have is all just vanity.

So he heads down a different road.

He goes down education, and I'm gonna read um verses one through three of chapter two, and then I'm gonna skip down and read verse eight.

It says, This I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with pleasure, enjoy yourself, but behold, this also was vanity.

I said, Of laughter, it is mad, and of pleasure, what use is it?

I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine, my heart still guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

And then in verse eight, I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces.

I got singers, both men and women and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.

So before you applaud too heavily and be like, Yep, you know what?

Education is not the answer.

I told you that when I quit school back in the eighth grade, like it was not the answer.

Before you like applaud too loudly, Solomon stands on the flip side of this.

He goes the opposite way.

And he says, maybe a light-hearted approach to life is best.

So he tests his heart with all manner of pleasure.

Uh, many, many people that aren't all that into education will stand on the other side of the fence and almost scoff at the idea of knowledge.

And they think, you know, I'm just here to enjoy the ride.

I'm just gonna enjoy the ride.

Solomon tried that.

And in verse 3, he says that his heart was still guided by wisdom.

So he's he's enjoying the ride and he still has his wits about him.

Like he's still there, he's all there.

And he is writing here saying that that also is completely empty.

He went from wisdom to wine and women and still has the same conclusion.

I want to look at at verse eight as we consider how Solomon pursued hard after pleasure, as if it was going to bring him ultimate satisfaction.

I'm gonna read verse eight again.

I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces.

I got singers.

Is that grammatically correct?

I'm not an English person.

Can you say I got singers?

But the Bible says it, so I'm going with it.

I got singers, both men and women and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.

Um, I'll bet most of us have had a conversation like this.

I I have many times.

If I ever won the lottery, and then it's like dot, dot, dot, like fill in the blank.

This is what you're gonna do if you win the lottery.

And I guarantee, I'll bet you, I can't guarantee, but I'll bet you, you would be the first person that would like save the world with your lottery winnings.

Like you would, you wouldn't hardly spend any money on yourself.

You would like just give to the poor and just do all the right things.

My point is like we fantasize about being rich.

Uh, what we would buy, how we wouldn't have to work anymore, how we could just soak it all in, take life easy, have whatever we need and whatever we want, and yeah, like for sure, absolutely give away like trillions of dollars.

And we we act like that's the answer.

And here's Stan Solomon, the richest man in the world.

Verse 8 says that he gathered silver and gold.

Like he just gathered it.

Uh you've never gathered treasure.

That that's still not it.

That's still not the the money and uh the pleasure that that brings is still not it.

He still feels empty.

You you can't like you can you can go ahead and try to find yourself and find your purpose and all of that, but pleasure is not the path.

Pleasure will lead to emptiness.

Look at the second part of verse 8.

It says, I got singers, both men and women and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.

Um, if you turn to 1 Kings, you don't have to do this.

I'm just gonna read it.

You're welcome to, if you don't think I'm telling the truth.

But 1 Kings chapter 11, verses 1 through 3 describes a little bit of Solomon's love for women.

1 Kings 11:1–3

It says this, now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, you shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall you go with go, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.

Solomon clung to these in love.

He had seven hundred wives who were princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned away his heart.

It's it's super hard.

I'm gonna I trust God's word, but it is hard to believe that Solomon was truly wise with seven hundred wives.

That sounds like a lot.

But just from this text alone, Solomon had 1,000 women at his disposal.

That's that is every skin tone, body type, hair color, every personality of any type that you could possibly imagine.

And some of you, some of us, we live inside of our minds like this.

We're trying to imagine for ourselves what Solomon actually lived out.

Some of you may be trying to live out online what Solomon lived out in real life.

We pursue every type of woman created under heaven to try to fulfill some desire inside of us so that as if women were created for us to just devour and please our appetite.

And I find it very necessary and pressing to warn you.

God does not take lightly sexual sin.

You getting alone and pretending that you're in secret is no secret at all.

Proverbs 616 says, There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that divides wit devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among the brothers.

You know that you have to partake in at least two or three of those things that were just listed when you indulge in pornography.

Two or three things that God says, I hate, you have to do to indulge yourself in pornography and pretend like you're getting away with it.

1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 10 says, Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

This is serious.

Sexual sin turns your heart from God.

It hardens your heart in a way that causes you to fully indulge and pursue it.

And you turn your back on God, missing out on his kingdom because of a very fleeting pleasure.

Don't deceive yourself.

The text literally says that.

Do not be deceived.

If you are wrapped up in this, it will destroy you.

Repent.

A lot of times we live in our mind.

If she was just a little bit different, or if I could just try out someone else, or if I could just fantasize about this in my mind and indulge myself with someone that looks a little bit different, then I would be satisfied.

That will help me.

And Solomon is here saying, I have had 1,000 different women.

The pleasure that leads to that is empty.

It's vanity.

I've pursued wine.

I've pursued women, and I've pursued just having a good old time.

And I've had unlimited resources to get that done.

And he still can't pull it off.

He still comes to the same conclusion that this is empty.

Pleasure is not the answer.

Education is not the answer.

Pleasure is not the answer.

So Solomon turns to yet another road.

In verses four through eight, he turns to work and accomplishment.

There are yet some of us that will say, Amen, not pursuing pleasure.

That's we shouldn't do that.

That shouldn't be our ultimate goal.

And they will scoff at the idea of education and say, that's definitely not the answer.

But yet they they take this stance that they have worked really hard to make this life what they've wanted it to be.

And they will continue to work and to build on their little kingdom here here on earth as if their accomplishments have become their ultimate means of fulfillment.

And listen to chapter four or chapter two, verses four through the first part of verse eight.

I made great works, I built houses and planted vineyards for myself, I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.

I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.

I bought male and female slaves and had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.

I also gathered For myself, silver and gold and the treasures of kings and provinces.

It is it is the American way to have your own little kingdom, to have just a sliver of property and build it out just the exact way that you want to.

You go to work and you make your money and you spend it, and that money goes to your little kingdom, and you just you customize it.

You just get it a little bit more like the way you want it to, as if if you just can get it the perfect way, that's gonna bring satisfaction.

And generally in our culture, we're pretty proud of this.

We're we're quite proud of this.

And I'm gonna guess, just this is just I haven't been to everyone's house, but I'm guessing nobody has an estate quite like Solomon's place.

Uh some people, we you love messing around with their landscape.

That's great.

We plant flowers, we put down mulch, uh, shoot, we might even plant a garden.

I don't know.

You may get crazy and put in one of them little koi ponds that have a little waterfall, and then we step back and we like hike up our pants and we're like, man, look what I've created.

We like put post it online and we invite people over and we give them a tour of our place, as if it takes a long time to walk around an acre, and you like you're like, look at all this that I've done.

Solomon planted vineyards, he had gardens with every kind of fruit in them.

I mean, we planted a pear tree, and like when it got one pear on it, we had a party because it was we were so pumped.

He had every type of fruit, he planted a forest, an actual forest.

So big was his forest that he had to dig up lakes to create a watering system to water the forest that he made.

This is more than your little sprinkler system.

He, by the way, he hired all of this out.

He he was too busy gathering silver and gold.

He was like, I don't, my time's taken up.

I'm gathering too much silver here, I'm gonna have to hire somebody to take care of the forest.

And we're like, yeah, but he had, you know, he probably had a better climate.

I'll bet he had a better climate.

That's why I'm struggling with my marigolds, because the climate's just not right.

No, he had a better everything.

Everything was better for Solomon.

And maybe it's your actual work that you run to to provide fulfillment.

If you could just move up a little bit or make just a little bit more money, you could have a bigger impact and that would satisfy you.

Solomon was the king.

You can't, there is no promotion.

When you make it to king, that's it.

Like you are no longer able to be promoted.

He was, by all worldly standards, better than you, and he was better than me by everything, on every measurement.

I don't know what he looked like, but he's probably good looking.

He was better than us.

If you read through uh 1 Kings, you should read through like the first 11 verses sometimes and get a gauge on uh Solomon's wealth.

It's literally astonishing.

He had 40,000 stalls of horses.

Like when I see somebody that has one horse, I assume they're rich.

I'm like, yep, horses are too much work and expensive.

That person's rich.

He had 40,000 stalls of horses.

You cannot accomplish the things that Solomon accomplished.

You can't make as much money as he did.

You can't be with as many women as he was with.

You can't do it.

You won't do it.

Your new retaining wall is really neat.

It would go completely unnoticed at Solomon's place.

No one would see it.

They would walk right by it into his forest.

Whatever job you have, whatever thing that you think is so cool with your job, Solomon hired people to do what you do for a living.

This is so much bigger than anything that you can accomplish.

And yet, this is what we talk about.

We're like, yeah, we're doing a little addition on the house.

We're getting new carpet.

We just bought a new dishwasher.

Yeah, work, work's been crazy.

Paperwork piling up.

Who cares?

It's fine to talk about that stuff.

That's part of life.

It really is.

I come home every day and complain to my wife about work, which is a terrible examination.

Like that's a look into my heart that's awful.

But still, but when those things become some sort of flex, when we start flexing about our little kingdom and what we're doing, uh, and how we asserve our work and our accomplishments.

Solomon is saying, I'm better than that, and it is empty.

It's it's not fulfilling.

You you can't do it.

Look at verses uh nine through eleven in chapter two.

He says, This so I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem.

Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.

I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil.

And this was my reward for all my toil.

Then I considered all that my hands had done, and the toil that I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity, and the striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Nothing to be gained, vanity.

You won't have your place looking as nice as Solomon's place, you won't accomplish as much as Solomon accomplished.

Nothing's gonna be as amazing as it was for Solomon's life.

It's not fulfilling.

What are you running to to find fulfillment?

Is it education?

If you and everyone else could just get more educated and we could get more knowledge, we we could really get some satisfaction.

Is it pleasure?

If we all would just relax and live in the moment, we would enjoy this life more.

Is it accomplishment?

If I could just do a little more and add a little more, this would be perfect.

This is Solomon's conclusion.

Verses 11 through 23.

I'm gonna read this.

This is his conclusion to those thoughts.

Verses 12 through 23.

So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly.

For what can the man do who comes after the king?

Only what has already been done.

Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness.

The wise person has his eyes and his head, but the fool walks in darkness.

And yet I perceive that the same event happens to all of them.

Then I said in my heart, What happens to the fool will happen to me also.

Why then have I been so very wise?

And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.

For of the wise, as of the fool, there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have long been long forgotten, how the wise dies just like the fool.

So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

I hated all my toil, in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool.

Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun.

This also is vanity.

So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it.

This also is vanity and a great evil.

What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?

For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation.

Even in the night his heart does not rest.

This also is vanity.

Solomon was left hating life.

He couldn't build anything.

This is this is the whole thing about life being a vapor.

You can't go anywhere, you can't get anywhere, you can't take vapor and stack it on top of vapor.

You can't build anything.

Everything he did will be taken over by someone else who does things differently.

They could destroy all of his progress.

He can't grasp it.

And no matter how rich and how nice and wise you are and how good looking you are, guess what's going to happen to you?

You're gonna die.

That's what he's saying.

I've not done all this, I'm still gonna die, just like just like the guy that's done nothing.

Everything you just did is left behind for someone else to do whatever they want with it.

All of this living for himself, Solomon, all of this living for himself has caused him to see everything as vanity.

All of the things he worked and toiled for seem so meaningless and empty because in the end, you can't take it with you.

He can't take anything with him.

This is the vanity in living for yourself.

You think that you're gonna go get yours and you're gonna end up miserable.

Solomon said he hated his life and he hated his toil because it wasn't fair.

All the things that he struck what he was striving after, he couldn't keep them.

Just like we can't keep them.

We go to the grave with one thing, and it's a big box.

It's a casket.

And nobody's standing around going, have you seen my casket?

It's got a super nice pillow, plenty of leg room.

It's the only thing we're taking with us, but we're not talking about that because that's miserable.

Just as miserable as pursuing yourself in your life, making this life about you.

When we set our lives up to serve ourselves, we are miserable.

Our world is telling us to live for ourselves.

And that message is leading to more depression and more anxiety than ever.

Jesus said in Matthew 10, 39, whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

And again, in Matthew 16, 24 and 25, Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

Solomon gained all that the world had to offer.

All of it.

And he says that this is empty, meaningless, vanity, a vapor that vanishes, that can't be built on, a striving after wind.

To lose this life is to forsake your ideas of building your little kingdom here on this earth and live for the kingdom of God.

Die to yourself, die to your ambitions, to your selfish gain, and live for the only one that can satisfy your soul.

And for crying out loud, do some stuff.

Do stuff, stuff like Jesus did.

Walk around and minister to people, work with your hands, mourn with people, fish, pray.

Let lose your life and service to others, and as you serve the king.

And in doing that, you will find your life.

We we are so quick to think that we know what brings us joy and satisfaction.

And yet, the very author of life says that you want to find your life, you have to lose it.

Lose your life and follow me.

And I'm gonna read chat uh verses 24 through 26 as we conclude.

It says, There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil.

This also I saw is from the hand of God.

For apart from him, who can eat or who can have enjoyment?

For to the one who pleases got pleases him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God.

This also is vanity and a striving after win.

The God says, the one who loses their life, who pleases God with their life, has the ability to enjoy the things that God has provided in this life.

Your work, your food, it's all viewed differently.

You get both.

You lose your life and you have the ability to enjoy whatever he has provided in this life and the next.

But outside of Christ, it's all vanity.

Lose your life and you will find it.

And I'll close with this.

And some 2,000 years ago, Jesus came.

He came with more resources than Solomon could fathom.

He had all the knowledge.

He was omniscient, he knew everything.

He invented pleasure.

Surely, surely he knew how to have a good time.

He invented a good time.

He worked, he was a carpenter, but always busy about doing his father's business.

Yet he laid all of that aside and lost his life so that you and I may gain eternal life.

If you are looking to anything or anyone other than the one to offer you fulfillment and satisfaction and life, it is vanity.

Repent and turn to the giver of life today.

Let's pray.