The End of the Matter

This is the word of the God from Ecclesiastes chapter twelve.

Remember also your creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them, before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain, and the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut, when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low.

They are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way.

The almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets, before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, all is vanity.

Besides being wise, the preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care.

The preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings.

They are given by one shepherd.

My son, beware of anything beyond these.

Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The end of the matter, all has been heard.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man, for God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

This is the word of the Lord.

He may be seated.

Thanks for joining us this morning.

Uh there's a little car up here.

Didn't expect that.

My name's James Rathman, I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver.

Thanks so much for gathering together with us this morning.

Before I move into our text for the day, um I want to invite up uh Mark Luby and uh let's uh let's go Hannah, do you want to come up too?

And Patrick, and then the rest of you guys will have just stand in your place when it's time to pray.

But this is uh uh m Mark and Hannah and Patrick and Tina's last Sunday morning with us.

They've been the crowd in the back left, my left, your right.

And they are going, I'm gonna stand up here because you're very tall.

That's what I want to do.

And I don't want the church to see.

Uh I've known Marx uh for ye years, 10 years, more than that now.

Like 15 years.

Um yeah.

And uh we met in college and it got to disciple Mark in college, and uh his family's meant so much to me.

And uh just uh uh it's been such a joy to have Mark come in and uh I'll explain what they're doing.

So they're planting a church, they've been working together to plant a church.

It's called Crown Hill Church.

And yeah, very cool.

Yes?

Good.

And they're uh this is that while they've been pulling things together and and bringing their uh core team together and establishing what the church will be and figuring out where they'll meet and doing all this stuff, they've been attending here, and they're all the future members of their church have been attending here with them, and so we've gotten to reconnect, hopefully offer some encouragement during this time, and it's been such a sweet thing.

But this is their last Sunday together with us because they are beginning their own services.

Yeah.

So it's just so exciting and so awesome.

Uh you it uh Mark and Patrick should be pastors.

Like there are some folks that you meet and it's like they're they should be pastors.

It doesn't happen all the time.

But this is the this is a no-brainer.

I I think their church is going to be so wonderful.

It's going to be such a blessing to where are you guys meeting?

We're gonna meet at Augustine Classical Academy.

Any of you guys know about that place?

So the the new building on 555 Zang.

So 555 Zhang.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

That's pretty cool.

Wow.

See, things are just coming together for these guys.

The Lord obviously just has his hand on them.

I've seen the Lord's hand on both of these guys' lives just so clearly and so so plainly over uh uh the past 15 years and over the time of this coming together.

And it is so sweet to have gotten to be a part of this for our church in this way.

And you guys are going to have a wonderful church and be such great pastors.

And uh, Mark, I know you had something that you wanted to say too.

Yeah, yeah.

All right.

Yeah, when we first stepped out to Churchplant, the illustration we gave to our core team is we said, we're going to bring the ring to Mordor.

And we don't know what's on the journey, but that's the end goal.

And uh one of the jokes we made was like, well, maybe we'll meet some, you know, maybe we'll stop at Rivendell.

And this has been our Rivendell.

Oh.

To use a nerdy reference.

Um this has been our Rivendell, so thank you for being wise and caring elves.

Um but I wrote uh just a bit of a letter.

I I printed it out actually, but I left it at home.

So it was vanity.

Um so uh Redemption Church Denver.

Thank you for hosting us as a church plant over this last season.

Over a year ago, we moved down to this area to start a new church.

At first, we attended Redemption because of our connection and friendship with James.

We thought this would be a good church for our families in this season.

And at first we were in and out of redemption sum as we explored different ministry opportunities, but it became clear before long that redemption was the partner we needed to help us plant a church.

The blessings we have received from this church community are too many to list, but I wanted to share a few ways we have been blessed in our lives and ministry by your church.

First, we've been consistently fed the word of God.

Redemption Church and Pastor James takes no shortcuts to faithfully expositing the Word of God.

We have been fed a steady diet of meat, week after week, which has strengthened us for the task before us.

We've sat in tears and joy and conviction over the preaching of the word of God as it is cut, bound, and nourishes us.

It has met us in moments where we have been left to marvel at the providence of God and selecting the text and the application drawn from it for our lives, which is an experience I know you all are familiar with being here.

James, thank you for consistently preaching Christ as our only hope and for setting our eyes on him week after week.

It has been deeply encouraging.

Second, we've been blessed by your hospitality.

Thank you for receiving us into your church and loving and caring for us over this time.

I personally have benefited from meals provided for us after the recent birth of our daughter, and our team has benefited from the care that you've shown to us and the ways that you've welcomed us.

Even a cup of water given to a little one in the name of Christ will be honored, and the Lord has seen your care for us.

So thank you.

Third, we want to say thank you to Zach and the music team at Redemption for leading us in songs of praise to God.

We've enjoyed worshiping together, singing praises together, and we will miss being here even as we joyfully step into what's next.

Thank you, Zach, also for helping answer questions that we've had, Patrick and myself, and for working with our team to begin to set us on a path.

Uh, your wisdom and insight has been a blessing to us, and it will bear fruit for years to come.

So thank you.

Uh, fourth, Megan and the whole team at uh Redemption Kids, thanks for your leadership in children's ministry, which has been a blessing to us and the children on our church with our church.

And thank you also for sharing resources and wisdom as we prepare for our own children's ministry at Crown Hill Church.

Uh finally, thank you all for your relentless encouragement to us in this ministry.

James has served on our advisory team, a team that provides some wisdom and insight.

Um and he's exemplified the spirit of Barnabas, who's called a son of encouragement.

Uh even what you heard him say today is consistently with what he's been saying.

You guys should do this.

You should plant a church.

Um that's been encouraging.

So then just hearing someone say it, you're like, I guess we should, yeah.

We moved down here to do it, but we should do it.

Um has been encouraging because there are times of doubt and frustration.

Uh his confidence has stirred us to confidence, and his eagerness to risk it all for the kingdom of God has strengthened us with steel in our bones to the task of head.

Task ahead.

If we would ever seek to send six or even seven ships on to gather the cedars of Lebanon, for those who were here last week, um, we know James would encourage us to send eight.

And that's what you've done in our ministry.

You said send eight.

James' confidence has given us confidence, but I know that your confidence, James, is not in us, but ultimately in the Lord who is working more than we could ask or imagine.

Uh, thank you for being a church that has exemplified a heart for the kingdom of God and planting another church.

Uh, that you've sought not your own interests, but the interests of Christ Jesus.

And for this, we're filled with gratitude, sadness at leaving this fellowship, and eagerness for what's ahead.

May the Lord bless redemption with unity, joy, and fruitful ministry in the years ahead, and we're confident that he will do it.

See, shouldn't he be a pastor?

No-brainer.

Thanks, dear.

Thanks so much.

We love you.

Love you guys.

So happy.

Um pray for them as they go.

Tina Taylor Soldier Spy.

No longer Taylor, but that's what I called her in college because her name's Tina Taylor.

Back then it was, and I called her Tina Taylor Soldier Spy.

Um so let's uh let's pray for this group.

So uh as they go out to on this new grand adventure, we need new churches.

We need more churches so badly.

And we need men that are willing to rise to the call to do this this work for the sake of the kingdom, and and they are.

Um and wives that are willing to say, yeah, we'll do that, which is insane.

And friends that are willing to go with them.

And they have that.

They have all they need for the church, and the Lord will bless that.

So let's pray for that.

Um, for them.

Why don't you uh all the uh you guys all stand up, come down here really quick.

We'll pray so that you everybody can see the yeah, see?

Look at that.

This looks like a church.

Yeah, for sure.

The seed is blossoming.

There's all right, let's pray together for them.

Lord Jesus, you promise that you will build your church and that the gates of hell will not stand against it.

Lord, gates are for defense.

That means we're on offense and we're here to take new ground.

And Lord, you are the one who will take that new ground for your name and your glory and your honor.

Lord, we pray that the lamb that was slain would receive the reward of his suffering.

The greatest cost has already been paid, the price has been met, the purchase is done, Lord, and you send out your church and the people in your church to collect the harvest that is already yours.

Lord, the harvest is plentiful, you say, the laborers are few.

Lord, we pray that you would send out these laborers into your harvest, that you would raise up new laborers to join together with them.

Lord, that you would bless them in wisdom that they will require in order to care for your church, Lord.

Who can care for such people, Lord?

Who could who could serve such wonders, Lord, but you will provide the wisdom that they need.

Lord, I pray that you would give them encouragement, that they would have a uh just a constant rest in the truths that they proclaim, that they would know that those are theirs and they belong to them, that the graciousness which they proclaim to others, Lord, that you have done for them, that the qualities which you require of them, Lord, that you give to them by the fruit of your spirit, the love, the joy, the peace, the patience, the kindness, the goodness, the gentleness, the self-control, that those are all the ways that you already treat them.

Lord, that is your disposition towards them.

You have raised them up for such a call as this, Lord.

I pray that you would give them courage to pursue it, a courage that comes from you.

Holy Father, nobody knows how to run a church, but you do.

You do, and you preserve your church.

I praise you for that, Lord.

Pray that you would bless Crown Hill Church in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Love you guys.

All right, let's clap for them.

Pretty exciting.

It's really wild to go from zero to one on a church plant and then to say, okay, now's the time.

We're gonna do our own services, and it's it's now is the time.

It's uh an awesome thing to get to see.

And uh yeah, I think it's gonna be a cool story to get to watch.

It's gonna be meaningful for our area.

All right.

This is the end of Ecclesiastes.

So as we reach it here, let's pray together.

Holy Father, we praise you for your word.

We praise you that it continues to work in our hearts.

Lord, that your word is like the rain, that wherever it falls down, it waters.

So effective is your word, Lord.

You send it out, and it always accomplishes exactly what you desire it to accomplish.

Lord, we pray that that would be true this morning as we conclude Ecclesiastes.

In Jesus' name, amen.

The final chapter, and this is the end of the matter.

And in order to show it to us, Solomon takes us to the end of our lives.

Now, one way to understand this text in Ecclesiastes itself is it's a book about limits.

It's a book about the limit of the good things in the world to be able to satisfy us.

It's a book about the limits of our reason to be able to understand the world.

It's about the limits of our wisdom to know how to rightly live in the world.

It's about the limits of our own lives, as it brings us into confrontation with this plain reality that our own lives end in death.

And in dealing with these limits, it finally, today, brings us to a final point, the limit of the book.

And here at the limit of the book, at the end of the matter, he shows us exactly what he has been leading us to the whole time.

There is a conclusion to Ecclesiastes.

You have not been wandering around for nothing.

And I won't bury the lead.

The conclusion is that the end of all things is the judgment of God.

At the end of the matter, finally, is the judgment of God.

And so, how should you then live?

You should fear God and keep his commandments.

That is the end of the matter.

There are three exhortations that this book has concluded with.

We looked at two last week.

We looked at be bold and be joyful.

This final one is be godly.

And Solomon will show us this final call in our lives is to be godly.

And to show us that, there are three ends.

There's a lot of nested threes this morning.

There are three ends that he brings us to, three limits.

It's the end of our lives, and then the end of study, which is good at the end of a book.

And the end of the matter.

So the end of your life.

The final limit.

Ecclesiastes 12, 1 through 2, 1 through 2.

Remember also your creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near, of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them.

Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain.

Now it's the end of the book, and he's speaking plainly now.

Towards the end here, it's almost as though he steps out from his category of under the sun and he speaks plainly of transcendent things.

And he says, remember your creator in the days of your youth.

Remember your creator in the days of your youth.

In those days when you are intoxicated by the sowing and by the harvesting that are available to you, remember winter is coming where you will not be able to sow and you will not be able to harvest.

And so the days of your youth, you should think of those as right now.

Remember your creator right now while you can.

Because Solomon will show us plainly, old age is coming.

And you are getting closer to the end of your life.

All the time.

Solomon will paint a vivid picture of this end for us.

And I want us to see what he's showing us here.

It's one of the most beautiful poems of death that I think you could ever read anywhere.

And so I want us to follow it cleanly so I want us to follow it together so that we might see clearly what it is that Solomon wants us to see.

He describes death as like the closing of an old house.

You could think of like an old productive household.

Like our houses now, they aren't like there's not a lot of action around them during the day.

They're quiet.

Then we come back in and we watch Netflix and stuff.

But you think of like an old house.

Like um, what's that show about the old house?

Downton Abbey.

Downton Abbey, thank you.

I was actually thinking of this old house.

No, Downton Abbey is actually exactly what I was thinking of.

Thanks for being there on that one, fam.

Um it's this, you know, there's a lot of hustle and bustle, and there's the servants down gossiping about the people upstairs, and people upstairs gossiping about the servants and stuff.

You know, like a house should be.

And he gives us an image of that, and it's closing down.

That house is closing down.

That's the image of death.

You can hear it.

Verses 3 through 4 In the days when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut, when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low.

Remember your creator in the days of your youth, because the days that are coming are the days when the keepers of the house tremble.

It's the old woman's hands.

The keepers of the house.

They tremble now.

The strong men are bent.

You see an old man who can't stand up straight anymore and he's bent over.

And you remember that he was once a strong man.

He once moved just like you.

The grinders cease because they are few.

At the house, there's not much productivity like there used to be.

The harvest is not so great.

There are not many grinders on staff anymore.

And the teeth, of course, have fallen out of the old man's head.

Those who look through the windows are dimmed.

Your eyes can't see like they used to.

The beautiful things that you used to see and behold, the views that you used to love to take in, they are dim.

You catch glimpses of them now in your periphery.

The doors on the street are shut.

There's not much to do with the public space anymore.

The sound of the grinding is low because your hearing is going, and one rises up at the sound of a bird because you can't sleep through the night anymore.

You used to be able to just lay down and sleep through the night.

And one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low.

Those beautiful songs that you love to hear, they're faint now in the distance.

Those days are coming.

If you're lucky, if by reason of strength you make it, those days are coming.

Verse 5, they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way.

The almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets.

They are afraid also of what is high.

Because suddenly they could fall, my grandpa drove a white Chevy Tahoe, Z-71.

And if you were going to meet him somewhere, then his wife would have to put him in the Tahoe because it was too high, he couldn't get up into it.

And you'd have to be there to let him out of it.

Because it was too high for him to get in and out of.

You know, you see a grasshopper is it, you know, they're pretty jumpy.

And so when you see one dragging itself along, you think, man, that's all that's not really the way a grasshopper should move.

You can move now.

Now's the time to remember your creator.

In the days of your youth.

And desire fails.

It's one of those uh translations where it's a it they the the translator got a little interprety, which is okay.

It's not great, not ideal.

But it actually says the caperberry, the caper berry fails.

You can see why they said desire.

The caperberry fails because it that's uh the uh a berry that was supposed to give you, it's almost like caffeine, um, would give you some some vitality and it would work.

Um my kids' great grandparents uh drink coffee before bed.

Never seen anything like it.

Like real coffee, like regular old coffee.

If it doesn't, like, don't worry, we'll sleep.

And if we don't, we will be able we'll be able we'll barely sleep anyway.

Desire fails.

Why?

Because man is going to his eternal home.

And what's the last thing that your friends can do?

It's just mourn in the streets.

Just mourn in the streets.

If you're lucky, this will happen.

That's what you'll experience.

Everyone will.

My in-laws tell this story, they're from like Southeast Texas, might as well be Louisiana.

And uh so when they go back for funerals, they come back with just incredible stories.

And one of one of their relatives died in his mid-80s, and everyone in the family agreed it was because he ate too many eggs.

If he didn't eat all those eggs, now I'm not a nutritionist.

But we put cause of death, everyone gets one.

Everyone gets a cause of death.

I think the reason that we do that is so that we can play this trick on ourselves when we're in our youth that we might miss it if that thing doesn't happen to me.

You know, later on we'll it like that generation said it was all those eggs, you know, you ate too many eggs.

Our generation will be like, uh, how much zone two cardio was he doing?

Because you know, if he was doing enough of that, he wouldn't have to be dead right now.

We play tricks on ourselves.

As though it's not inevitable.

It is inevitable.

You will decay and you will die.

Before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

It's a golden bowl, and then it's broken.

It can't be put back together again.

Look at how ordinary these places are.

The pitcher is shattered at the fountain.

How many times had the pitcher gone to the fountain?

You know, when we we broke our coffee thing, carafe, our coffee giraffe?

How many times have I gone to the sink or to the you know fridge thing to fill up with water and then come back?

One time for that carafe was the last time.

The wheels broken at the cistern.

How many times had the pictures been rolled to the cistern?

And then one time was the last time.

There is a last time for everything you do.

There is a last diaper you will change.

You might not know when it is.

There's a last time where you'll you'll lay your keys down and you'll be able to take them back up again to go get in the car.

You'll you'll put it in park and you'll get out, maybe be helped out.

You'll never drive again.

There's a last time for all of this.

And at the end, the dust that you are made of will return to the earth.

And the spirit that is in you, the Lord will have back.

Remember your creator in the days of your youth.

Why?

Because the end is coming.

And if you don't remember him now, it will be a terrifying revelation to discover him at the end.

He quotes scripture, dust returns to the earth as it was.

He reminds us of that story in the garden, the sin that plunged the world into death and decay, the punishment that is, remembering that you are dust, into dust you shall return.

He places us in the story, the one that you're in right now.

If I gave you three guesses to guess how he would conclude that section, you would get there into.

Ecclesiastes twelve, verse eight.

Vanity of vanities, says the preacher.

All is vanity.

We've learned that word.

Says the preacher.

All is vapor.

It just goes away.

Time swallows it up.

Vapor of vapor.

All is vapor.

It's the perfect way to end the book.

There's a perfect symmetry to it.

If you draw a chiasmus of this book, you can fold the first, the opening of the book, Vanity of Vanities, all is vanity.

And it would fold perfectly over to tie up to this verse, verse 12, 8, Vanity of Vanities, all is vanity.

The whole thing drives us to this conclusion, to this recognition.

In the most final, most personal place.

You can even think of it like this the opening poem of the book is Vapor of Vapor.

The rivers run into the sea, and the sea is never never full, the winds blow around, and then they just come back again.

And it's like he's seeing the vapor of the world at this cosmic scale that he's showing it to you in creation itself.

And then where does the book end?

He shows it to you in you.

He shows you that this vapor that's out there, when he says all is vapor, he means all.

And he says, look at the vapor that's out there, that same vapor is in you.

It's all going away.

It's all coming to an end.

It's the perfect way to end the book.

It's like this tight argument.

But there's a remainder.

Almost like an epilogue to Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 12, 9 through 10.

We jump out of the book a little bit.

We even change perspectives a little bit.

We start to talk about the preacher who's been saying all of this.

And we we look at him.

It makes sense.

You know, this is what it makes sense that we would we would the book would force us to look at ourselves.

When he's saying all, it must include us.

But he's wise, you know, so he says, you know what?

When it says all, you know who else it includes?

It includes me.

And so we jump out and we see this perspective on the preacher.

And he says, it says, besides being wise, the preacher also taught people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care.

The preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

And he should be the patron saint of writers.

You know, you read through Ecclesiastes, and have you have you heard a more beautiful poem of death?

Could you see more visually the closing down of the house and then sense it in your body?

Well, uh I've all week I've been looking at my hands and I've been saying, the keepers of the house.

What a great way to describe your hands.

Just completely nailed it.

And that's what the that's what Solomon was like.

He's a teacher and he was looking for the right words for the right thing.

That way it might stick.

That way you might believe him, and you might not be seduced by the goodness of the world.

That you might not be seduced and taken in by it, but instead you might plainly be able to go to the very limit of what could be known.

And at the limit of what could be known, you would see I have that same limit.

They're words of delight.

That's what he looks for.

The preacher sought to find words of delight.

And uprightly he wrote words of truth.

We underestimate delight as a means of discovering truth.

You know, that's what that's what a it's not enough, it's not enough for a solution to be accurate.

You know, it's that that's that's not enough.

The solution has to be accurate, yes, for it to work, but doesn't it also have to be elegant?

You know, look at this.

This is a look at how I've pieced this together.

It is a it is not just uh, it doesn't just work, it's also beautiful.

The preacher sought to find things there.

And you might think, well, that sounds like uh uh quite a task, you know, and he's shown us this beautiful book.

Perhaps we should just we should just plunge right back in to where we were.

There was delight in there, and there was beauty in there, and there's this there were these insights that he has in Ecclesiastes that I don't think you can get anywhere else.

And we see that the words of the wise, what we're what we're being shown here is that these delightful words of the wise, there's something about them that's not like vapor.

He doesn't describe them like vapor at all.

Listen to the description that he gives to the words of the wise.

In verses 11 through 12, he says, the words of the wise are like goads.

It's like a sharp stick to get you.

You know when your cow won't move?

Take out your stick.

I just looked at Zach's face and he just like was just cringing.

He's like, I can't believe I have to work with this guy.

But that's a that's sharp, that's structure.

It's not like vapor.

That's not like vapor.

That's the words of the wise are like goads and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings.

You know, so what do the words of the wise do?

Vapor, it's like, does it even it doesn't make you move?

But the words of the wise, they like cut through and they they make you move.

Say, I've got to take action now.

When is the time for our church to start?

Next week.

Next week is the time.

The words of the wise are like goads.

And then they're like nails.

And nails, they fix things together.

They make a structure hold.

That's very different from vapor.

The words of the wise, this scripture that he's showing to us.

And then here's a weird one.

They are given by one shepherd.

These types of sentences don't make sense in the body of Ecclesiastes.

But we've stepped outside.

We're in a new space.

There's an epilogue to Ecclesiastes.

And you won't understand the book unless you read the epilogue.

My son, beware of anything beyond these.

He says, of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

So he's saying, beware of anything beyond the words of the wise.

Beyond the words of the wise, you know what you're doing is you're just entering back into that vaporous swirl.

You're at the place of never-ending questions.

And if Ecclesiastes has taught us anything, it is that you can continue searching for the bottom.

You always can.

You can always keep wondering.

You can always keep trying to piece together.

You can always keep saying, I don't have enough information yet, I need to keep looking.

It's like, remember in the Great Divorce when he talks with that one academic that he's trying to get into heaven?

And he says, uh, the the time for asking questions is past.

Now is the time to arrive at answers.

And this academic says, Well, but will there ever really be a time when there aren't questions?

Aren't questions really the loveliest thing?

Isn't this really the only thing that we truly have is just to ask the questions?

And then Lewis in his genius says, You've forgotten how to ask questions like a child.

Because children, they ask lots of questions, but the reason that they ask questions is to get answers.

There is a time where you must say there is an answer to the question.

He's saying, don't keep looking.

Of making many books, there's no end.

Much study is a weariness to the flesh.

Sooner or later you have to decide.

This I'd say is the end of the book.

He showed us the end of our lives and he wrapped it up with vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

And then here I think he brings us to the end of the book.

He's saying, like, I've shown you the swirl of vapor.

And I've shown you what it looks like, the quest for meaning inside the swirl of vapor.

And I hope you can see that it is never ending.

And it's almost like he's saying, don't just go back in there.

Don't re-enter the swirl.

Instead, there's something final to be said.

Verses thirteen and fourteen.

The end of the matter.

All has been heard.

He said enough.

The teacher has said enough.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

The swirl of Ecclesiastes, that beginning which begins in vanity, and that almost end which ties up together in this swirl of vanity.

He steps outside of that and he says, There's an end of the matter.

There is something final.

There's a final conclusion to the swirl of the mysteries of life.

Here it is.

Fear God, keep his commandments.

Our translation says, for this is the whole duty of man.

It adds the word duty.

It just says, this is the whole of man.

Fear God, keep his commandments.

All of Ecclesiastes, this whole inquiry, has taken place under the sun.

That's what can be known within time.

The time that you've been given, it's been allotted to you.

Began at your birthday, which most of you don't even remember.

And within that time, there's knowledge and wisdom that can be gained, it can be understood.

But you'll see that it's never ending and it's a vicious swirl.

What could break into that?

See what he's describing here?

Fear God, keep his commandments.

You know what commandments are?

Do you know where you go in the world to find the commandments of God?

Do you know what experiments you have to perform in order to discern what the commandments of God are?

You can't.

They have to be told to us, they have to be revealed to us.

God, of his own accord, must show them to us.

We cannot reason or understand or make our way up to him to discern what the commandments of God are.

They have to be told to us.

They had to have been revealed.

And so what Solomon is saying is they have been.

God has shown himself to us.

His commandments have been revealed.

God, of his own accord, has made himself known to us.

Remember your creator.

In the days of your youth, remember them now.

Remember your creator now.

Fear him.

Because he is the one who will bring you into final judgment.

Do you know what final judgment means?

It means God will say good or bad.

It means that in the eyes of God, there will be a final meaning to everything.

A final meaning to every aspect of your life, every part of existence will be weighed by God.

That's what meaning is.

It's the opposite of vapor.

It swallows up vapor.

Because he's the God of vapor.

He's the God of the glory cloud.

He's the God of the flame.

We can't control the vapor.

We can't make it move or contain it.

There's one God who you ought to fear, where the vapor, the glory cloud, it's his chariot.

And he tells it wherever he wants it to go.

He can blind the Egyptians with it and cover his people with it.

He can cover the top of a mountain with it, and from there tell one man his law.

It belongs to God.

So what is your whole duty?

What is the whole of your life?

What does it all amount to?

Fear God, keep his commandments.

For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil, every minute of every day of every person's life will be judged by God.

Remember your creator in the days of your youth that will be terrifying to discover that you are headed towards him in a way that you no longer have the strength to delay.

Every violation of every commandment, the Lord will judge as good or bad.

Every secret thing that you think is hidden, the Lord sees.

Every injustice that you thought has gone overlooked, it will not go overlooked.

He will see it all.

Every glass of wine that should have been enjoyed and you didn't.

Every taste of bread that should have been met with delight and gratitude, but wasn't.

He will see and he will judge them all.

This is why the translation, meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless, is most certainly wrong.

What could be more meaningful than God being the judge of everything?

What could be more horrifying than God being the judge of everything?

It has all been seen.

He will judge it all.

How can we keep his commandments?

You know, the words of the wise, they are like goads and like nails firmly fixed, are the collected sayings.

They're given by one shepherd.

What is going on?

What is going on?

Where did that come from?

Why no explanation there?

It just shows up like Melchizedek or something.

There's just like out of nowhere, here's this one shepherd that we're supposed to understand or talk about.

And I hope that some sort of shepherd would come to goad us along or help give some structure to our lives that could come in and help us out of this.

Because did you not hear all of your life will be judged by God?

And it is too late to measure up to that.

We've neglected the reality of the graciousness of life given to us by our own Creator.

Might there be a shepherd?

What if there was one?

What if there was one who came on our behalf and every glass of wine he perfectly enjoyed?

And what if that could be counted to me for all the dinners I screwed up?

In John ten, nine through eleven, Jesus says, I'm the door.

To which his disciples said, Go on.

I am the door.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

It's a swirl of vanity.

And throughout the book, there's these strange moments consistently where he says, enjoy it.

Everything ends in death, remember, nothing you do matters, and you can't discern the world.

Have a nice dinner.

Enjoy your dinner.

Take pleasure in your toil.

And do you think, how?

Well, it's not meaningless.

God's going to judge everything.

Do you think?

Not great news for me.

There's a shepherd who has come.

He stood in your place.

He's gone to the limits of this book.

He's gone to the limits of death that have been brought about by our sin.

He went into that death and he conquered it.

He stood in our place so that he would be the one who is judged.

And God looks on him, accepts his sacrifice, and counts it on our behalf so that we might be counted righteous.

This is the gift of the Lord, that he has given us Jesus Christ.

And in giving us Jesus Christ, our hope in him is that we might be able to fear God, keep his commandments, trust his judgment, because he's shown us his mercy in his son.

I think that's the shepherd that he's talking about.

And it's that Jesus who invites us to eat and drink with him in the fullness of his grace.

It's the only way.

It's the only way.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, who can we come to but you?

Who solves this puzzle for us but you?

Who can come rescue us out of this swirl that's never ending and that has no bottom?

Who can rescue us out of this but you?

Who can place their hand on God and on man?

Who can touch us both?

Only you.

Who is a sufficient sacrifice?

Only you.

Who can finally satisfy us?

All the water we drink down here, we get thirsty again.

And it only works for so long.

Eventually, we'll die from all the great water we have.

But Lord, you give us your spirit which wells up into springs of eternal life.

Where is there satisfaction but you, Jesus?

Lord, by your spirit, would you equip us to fear you, keep your commandments, understand the judgment that is coming, and rest in the grace that is offered to us in Jesus Christ.

We lift this up.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.