Living Life in the Fast Lane

It is so good to have you with us tonight. If you've got your Bible, turn to the book of Ecclesiastes, the second chapter.

Ecclesiastes chapter two. And as you're turning there, I want to remind you of a dominant virtue that has permeated our society. It is the most predominant virtue today. It's the virtue of self-love. In other words, the world is absolutely consumed with themselves. So much so, that it's hard to believe that anybody can think of anything else other than themselves. In fact, one author said it this way. He said, we live in a culture of self-love. To put it simply, a culture that is consumed with self-love, ego-building, self-esteem, feeling good about yourself, thinking you're important, thinking you're valuable, thinking you're a hero, thinking you've achieved something, thinking you're worthy of honor.

We're drowning in awards for everything imaginable and unimaginable. Parents are consumed with boosting the egos of their children with every imaginable means, as well as boosting their own sense of self-value. This is a generation of self-lovers. So true. But we were told this is the generation of self-lovers when Paul said these words in 2 Timothy chapter three, verse number one.

When he said, but realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self. Paul told us that this is going to be a generation of self-lovers. I don't think he understated that. I think he was just telling Timothy that this is the mark characteristic of the last days. It's mentioned first.

He gives us a lot of things that are going to happen in the last days, but the very first one he mentions is that man is going to be a self-lover.

He's going to be so in love with himself that nothing else really matters. You heard it in the sandbox when you were a kid. It's all about mine. Give it to me. I want that. That which we heard in the sandbox when we were kids has now become the soapbox of everybody who is living today. It's all about self-love. It's all about me, myself, and I. It's even crept into the church. For people say, well, you really can't love others unless, of course, you love yourself. And they take it from the book of Matthew when Jesus says these words, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And they take it as a command. You shall love your neighbor. And the command is as you love yourself, you should love yourself. But it's not a command. It's an assumption. Christ doesn't make a command for you to love yourself. You already do love yourself. He's not going to command you to do something you're already doing anyway in your sinful state. And how do we know a man already loves himself?

Well, the Bible tells us, Ephesians chapter 5, verse number 28, So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. Paul makes it very clear that nobody hates themselves. You'll hear people say, well, I'm worthless or I'm valueless or I just hate myself. But they say that just because they want you to respond by saying, oh, no, that's not true. You love yourself. You're good.

They want to have an affirmation come back to them. They don't really believe that. Because the Bible says no one ever hated his own flesh.

You nourish it. You cherish it. You take care of it. You feed it. You give it water. You pamper it because it's your own flesh. So Paul says you're to love your wife, gentlemen, as you love your own self. Christ says you're to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

It's an assumption that's known to everyone. But in today's churches, we say, well, you really can't love others until you learn to love yourself, so you have to learn to love yourself. No, you already do that. And Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3 that that becomes the overarching virtue of the last days, self-love. So we come along, we preach a gospel that says, Luke 9, 23, if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. We preach to a culture about how you need to deny yourself, and they believe they need to delight in themselves.

You preach a gospel that says that you need to take up your cross, and they believe they need to take in all they can get. So you preach a gospel that says you need to follow Christ, and they say, no, I'm going to follow my heart. I'm going to follow what is best for me. And so we come to preach a gospel to a culture consumed with self-love and telling them about a God who loves them and wants them to deny themselves. In fact, Christ would say, if any man come after me and does not even hate his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

That's what he says to a whole group of people, a whole multitude of people in Luke chapter 14 that are following him, and he stops dead in his tracks and says, look guys, I'm glad you're here, but know this. If you're going to follow me, and you're not willing to hate your own self, you can't be my disciple. It's impossible. He says that to a culture that's enamored with themselves, like every culture has been enamored with themselves. In fact, it was Augustine in his book, The City of God, who wrote these words, Two cities have been founded by two loves.

The earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God. The heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glorifies itself. The latter glorifies the Lord. It was John Calvin, in his Institutes, who wrote these words, For so blindly do we rush in the direction of self-love, that everyone thinks he has good reason for exalting himself. There is no other remedy than to pluck up the roots, that most noxious pest of self-love. Paul would go on to say, that not only will you be lovers of yourself, you're going to be lovers of money.

You're going to be infatuated with possessions. And then he concludes it with this phrase, Men will be lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God. Think about it. Lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God. So, he begins by talking to us about last days, telling us, that men will be consumed with self-love, and loving money, because money contributes to his love for self. And he will be so in love with pleasure, he won't even love God. Now think about that. And think about the life of Solomon, who in 1 Kings chapter 3, verse number 3, says, And Solomon loved the Lord.

And then 40 years later, in 1 Kings 11, it says, And Solomon loved foreign women. You can't love God and love foreign women. And yet it says, even though he disobeyed the command of God, he clung to his love for foreign women. I had the opportunity to speak at Arrowhead Christian Academy today. A.J. teaches there. They had a cancellation, so he called me at the last minute, and said, would you fill in? So I said, have Bible, we'll preach. I'll fill in, not a problem. And boy, that's a tough crowd, boy, I tell you.

I thought I was pretty funny, but they didn't think I was funny at all. I'm just some old geezer from off the street coming in, preaching the scriptures to them. But I thought I was hilarious at times, that they just could not even break a smile. But I was giving it all I could. And I was talking to them about the heart. You've got to guard your heart, Proverbs 4, verse number 23. Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of the flow all the issues of life. Everything in life comes from your heart.

We know that your language comes from your heart. For Christ says, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

We know that your love springs from your heart, because that's the root of where your love is. Everything in life springs from your heart, because He would say, watch over your heart, because out of it flows everything in life. And I talked to them about having an undivided heart, and I took them to the life of Solomon, because he had a divided heart. And Solomon said in Psalm 86, verse number 11, Unite my heart, O Lord, that I might fear your name. He knew that his heart was going in every direction possible.

But because he loved the Lord, he wanted God to bring his heart together, united in one direction, for one purpose, and that was to love his God. Unite my heart to fear your name. And I told them, in today's culture, we love everything else but God. And the Lord says, if you love father or mother more than me, in Matthew chapter 10, you're not worthy of me. If you love son or daughter more than me, you're not worthy of me. Why did he say that? Because if you love something more than God, then the object you love is your God.

That's why he says that. And the Lord knows that. If you love something more than God, the object you love is your God. So the Lord says, you've got to love me. I want undivided loyalty. I want undivided attention. I don't want there to be any division in your life. I want all of you. And Solomon becomes the classic example of somebody who had a divided heart, who at one point in his life loved the Lord, but something happened between that time and 40 years down the road in 1 Kings 11, when now he loved foreign women.

How sad. How sad. And Solomon was a man who, if any man, would be the one who developed fast, lean living. He was the one who could live in the fast lane. I mean, he had all the resources to do so. After all, his father had spent four decades as a man of war and bloodshed, King David. He left him a kingdom of peace. Solomon's name means peace. And he had 40 years of peace during his rule. Think about it. No wars under the reign of King Solomon. It was the easy street. It was, in his own words, life under the sun.

In fact, if they had bumper stickers back then, they wouldn't call them bumper stickers. They would call them chariot stickers. And they would put them on the back of their chariot. It would read, come to Israel and live life to the fullest. Or it would read, having fun, living life under the sun. Because that's what he promoted. That's where he was at this point in his life. It was a pursuit to live life without God. And he tells you, I lived that life. And Ecclesiastes is the result of that life.

The following verses in Ecclesiastes 2, verses 1 to 12, help us understand where we get the phrase, wine, women, and song. It comes from Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Solomon would push aside every restraint, ignore every guilty feeling, set out on a quest that would lead him in the fast lane of lust and pleasure. And that's the life he lived. He drank in limitless excess. He laughed and probably laughed louder than anyone else and longer than anyone else. His meals were beyond human comprehension. His sexual escapades would far out rival anyone else who ever lived.

He tried it all. For Solomon, all of his dreams came true. For Solomon, all of his fantasies came to fruition. Because he had all the resources to accomplish whatever he wanted to do, whenever he wanted to do it. He literally had no accountability. He was the king. And therefore he could do whatever he wanted. But he comes to the conclusion that maximum pursuit of pleasure leads to monumental problems in life. Unfortunately, we don't really believe him. That's why we engage in the sinful behavior that we engage in.

Because we really don't take to heart the things that Solomon says. And somehow we think, you know, things are different today than they were in Solomon's day. And I'm not Solomon. I'm somebody else. But the end result will always be the same. So if you're in the book of Ecclesiastes, and you're at the second chapter, let me read to you the first 11 verses.

And then we'll spend time talking about them this evening. I said to myself, come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself. And behold, it too was futility. I said of laughter, it is madness and of pleasure. What does it accomplish? I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely. And I'll take hold of folly until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives. I enlarged my works. I built houses for myself.

I planted vineyards for myself. I made gardens and parks for myself. And I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and I had home-born slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds, larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Also I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men, many concubines.

Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor, and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities, which my hands had done, and the labor which I had exerted. And behold, all was vanity and striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun. Three points. Point number one, a perspective that man embraces.

Number two, the pursuit that man enjoys. And number three, the problem that man encounters. First of all, a perspective that man embraces.

You might not readily admit this out loud, but every one of us in the room has a mission. We have a perspective that we truly embrace. It begins when we are very, very young. It serves us well for a period of time, and we hang on to it vehemently. And that perspective that drives us is this. If it truly feels right, it must be right. Now, like I said, you're not going to admit that out loud. You're not going to say, well, if it benefits me, I'm doing it. But I want you to think about your life and how you govern each day by how you feel.

You made me, we say, feel this way. Or I want to make you feel a certain way. This or that makes me feel this way. And we don't even think about it. We just are governed by our feelings, by our emotions. We are driven by what makes us feel the best. After all, why would we do something that doesn't make us feel good? Right? That's why I don't exercise. It doesn't make me feel good. Why would I engage in sweat and exercise and running and lifting weights and go through all that pain? Why would I do that?

I look okay. I mean, I don't look great, but I'm good. I'm 66. I'm good. Why would I do something that makes me feel pain? I'd rather sit down and watch a football game and complain about all the athletes who can't do what I used to be able to do. I feel better doing that. We do what makes us feel the best. Listen, if you don't want to eat black-eyed peas, you don't eat them. Why? Because you don't like them. If you don't like vegetables, you don't eat them. But when you're a kid, your mom makes you eat them because she says to you, they'll make you bigger, they'll make you stronger, they'll make you wiser, eat your vegetables.

That's not true. I ate my vegetables. I wasn't stronger, nor was I wiser. But yet, we don't eat vegetables. I don't eat them now.

I don't like them. Who likes peas? Green beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts. Nobody likes that stuff. So why eat it? Steak? Yeah. Mashed potatoes and gravy? Yes. Fried chicken? Absolutely. All that good food? Yeah, I'll dive into that white because it makes me feel good when I eat it. I feel better with steak going down my throat than black-eyed peas. And so we do what makes us feel the best. That's a perspective that man embraces when he's very, very young. We only want to do the things that we truly enjoy.

I mean, just watch TV. Go on social media. Everything is about the instant satisfaction. Now you can have it. And we're like, wow, we can? Well, let's buy that. Let's do this. Let's go there. Let's make it happen. So we do that which feels good, whether it be sexual, physical, financial, social. But this has been happening for a long time. The Greeks called it eros, erotic love. They lived by erotic love. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you'll die. That's how they lived their lives. That never-ending feeling of trying to satisfy the inner part of your life, that there's something that's ultimately going to satisfy, and I'll be happy.

I'll be joyous. Things will be fine. It'll be all right. But it never delivers what it promises. Because it can't. It simply just can't. So man lives a perverted lifestyle based on a perception that he has about life. If it benefits me, yes. If I feel better, yes. If I feel good, yes. If I feel right, yes. That I will do. That perspective that man embraces becomes the pursuit, number two, that man enjoys.

And that was Solomon. Solomon had the same perspective that we have. He had a perspective that, you know what, if it makes me feel better, I'm going to do it. And so he begins, very easily, in verse number one, I said to myself, come now, I will test you with pleasure.

So enjoy yourself. Think about it. Simon didn't ask anybody their opinion. Solomon didn't come back and say, you know what, I think that you guys gather around me and let me ask you guys what you think.

Why would he do that? He's the wisest man who ever lived. Who actually is going to give him counsel, right? So he's not actually asking anybody for counsel or for wisdom because he's the wisest man who ever lived. Who's going to give the wisest man who ever lived wise counsel? He's the king. And we think, wow, how arrogant is that? But hold on a second.

How many times do you do things without ever seeking wise counsel? How many decisions have you made without ever seeking wise counsel? Because in your own mind, in your own thought processes, you thought it was the right thing to do. Without ever seeking counsel from anybody else. We want to rag on Solomon because he didn't. But after all, he's the wisest guy who ever lived and he's a king. You're not the wisest guy who ever lived and you're not a king. You're not even a queen. So Solomon sets out on a journey, a pursuit to enjoy everything in life.

Yet he so quickly forgot the historical story behind his father and his father's pursuit in life and where it took his father. He didn't even think about that. So you begin to think, how wise was he? Not to even go back in the annals of time and realize that the pursuit of his father led to disaster. He didn't even ask the Lord for wisdom. He didn't even pray about his decision. He just set out on a journey. He didn't say, Lord, what do you think about this? Lord, should I engage in these pursuits or not?

Well, he's not going to ask the Lord because he knows they're wrong. Why would he talk to the Lord about those things? And here's a guy who says to his son 40 years earlier, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your path smooth. You know that verse, Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. It was Solomon who said it. It was Solomon who wrote it under the inspiration of God. And yet he did not trust in the Lord with all his heart.

But what did he do? He leaned on his own understanding of if it feels good, I'm going to pursue it. I'm going to do it. So that's exactly what he did. He went down the path of perceived delight. I say perceived delight because the path led to devastation. It led to devastation. That's what he says. And behold, verse 1, it too was empty, purposelessness in the journey. There was nothing there that made any difference. There was no gain. There was no advantage. And certainly there was no delight. Let me just say a word to those of you who think that you can live in the fast lane.

It's all a lie. None of it's true. No matter what the world says, no matter what your friends say, none of it is true. If you're in the fast lane of pornography, the fast lane of sexual escapades, if you're in the fast lane of alcohol or drugs or entertainment, none of it will deliver what it promises. I promise you that. That's because the word of God speaks so clearly on these issues. Solomon would say, you know what? I said to myself, I'm going to test you with pleasure. I want you to enjoy yourself.

I want you to feel good about yourself. I want all the benefits to come your way as he talks to himself. If you're the wisest man in the world, who are you going to talk to? Except to yourself. And try to convince yourself that this is the best route possible. But Solomon had no earthly accountability, did he? No one to hold him in check. If you recall the purpose of the book of Ecclesiastes, we told you two weeks ago when we started, the purpose simply was a revelation, a recognition, and a realization.

The revelation of Ecclesiastes is the futility of earthly pursuits. The recognition is the joy in heavenly pursuits. And the realization is the accountability no matter what you pursue. And Solomon makes that very clear. And that's why he concludes in chapter 12 with those old familiar words, very last verse of his last chapter. That's how he concludes the book of Ecclesiastes. Although he had no earthly accountability, he would come to realize there was a heavenly accountability. That every one of us is accountable to God for the way we live our life.

Every young person, every inexperienced person, every virgin needs to read the words of Solomon. The end result is futile. Empty. It does not bring what it promises. He wants you to know that. 75 years ago, 75 years ago, Dr. Bertram Sorokin, the former professor of sociology at Harvard University, wrote a book. The book was entitled The American Sex Revolution. This is what he said 75 years ago. He says, The sex drive is now declared to be the most vital mainspring of human behavior. In the name of science, its fullest satisfaction is urged as a necessary condition of man's health and happiness.

Sex inhibitions are viewed as the main source of frustrations, mental and physical illness and criminality. Sexual chastity is ridiculed as a prudish superstition. Natural loyalty is stigmatized as an antiquated hypocrisy. Sexual profligacy and prowess are proudly glamorized. The traditional, quote, child of God created in God's image is turned into a sexual apparatus powered by sex instinct, preoccupied with sex matters, aspiring for and dreaming and thinking mainly of sex relations. Sexualization of human beings has about reached its saturation point.

Our civilization has become so preoccupied with sex that it now oozes from all pores of American life. 75 years ago, this was his assessment on his culture. 3000 years ago, Solomon gives us his assessment on his pursuit when it came to sexual pleasure. Solomon tells us the answer that in all your pursuits, in the perspective that you embrace, that if it feels good, you can do it, and it will accomplish everything that you dreamed of. So his pursuit was to engage in all the affairs possible to make joy a reality in his life.

And so he begins to tell you his journey. It begins in verse number one, but he begins to list them for you, these things that he tested for his own pleasure on how he could enjoy himself.

He says in verse two, I said to laughter, it is madness. And of pleasure, what does it accomplish? The first pursuit in life was all about fun and laughter.

And if anybody could buy comedians, it would be Solomon. He would have them come to the palace or he would have them come to Jerusalem and he would fill his palace with comedians to make him laugh, just to have fun, enjoy life. Think of the happy hour. Who goes to the happy hour? Unhappy people, right? Why do unhappy people go to happy hour? Because they somehow want to find happiness, happiness at the bar, happiness with the alcohol, happiness with someone they meet. Or if they can't find happiness, at least drown the dreariness of their lives.

Because having gone through a long day, there's got to be something better than what I'm doing. So why not go to happy hour and laugh, have fun? Listen, I'm all for laughter. I'm all for joy. As long as it's rooted and geared toward the things of the Lord, then it's great. But he says, of laughter, it's madness. In other words, moral perversity. Think about it. If you remember the late Jerry Lewis, he died back in 2017. I grew up watching all the Jerry Lewis movies because he could make people laugh.

He was called the king of comedy. Nobody could make people laugh better than Jerry Lewis. And it's said that in his dressing room, he had these words written down. There are three things that are real. God, human folly, and laughter. Since the first two are beyond comprehension, we must do what we can with the third.

And that's how he lived his life. Thinking that God and human folly are beyond comprehension, but laughter, we can understand that. The story is told of a man who went to see a doctor in Manchester, England in 1808. The man was sick, frightened by the terror of the world, depressed by his life, unable to find happiness anywhere, and with nothing to live for. He confessed that he was suicidal. The doctor decided that there was nothing physically wrong with the man. So he advised him to lighten up, get out, enjoy himself, and go and see Grimaldi, the clown in the circus, because he was the funniest man alive.

And the man looked even more downcast and helpless and confessed to the doctor, I am Grimaldi. What did Solomon say in the book of Proverbs, the 14th chapter, the 13th verse? Even in laughter, the heart may be in pain, and the end of joy may be grief. Just because you hear and see someone laughing doesn't mean they are pain-free. Usually those who laugh the loudest and laugh the most have the greatest amount of pain on the inside. So Solomon says, I pursued laughter. I pursued fun, pleasure, enjoyment.

But there was nothing there. I asked, what does it accomplish? Verse 3, I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely. I've heard about alcohol and how that can dull the senses, how it can lift you into another realm. So now I go from laughter and fun to alcohol, to drinking excessively. All the while, the Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs, no less, chapter 31, it is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to desire strong drink, for they will drink and forget what is decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

Solomon even forgets what he wrote, that somehow I can engage in an avenue of alcohol. I recall probably 28 years ago now, our church had just started. It was just in the infancy stage. We were less than five years old and I was going to Stater Brothers to pick up a few things. And as I was going in the double doors of Stater Brothers, out came another man from our church with a grocery cart filled with alcohol. He turned as white as a sheet. I said, to break the ice, how's it going? He said, I know what you're thinking.

But my wife is having a party. She is? With the people of the church? No, no, the people she works with. And so she sent me out to get the drinks. And I said, do you think you have enough? He said, I think so. I said, okay. He went on his way, I went on my way. It was a few years later, he and his wife came to see me over all the results of the alcohol they were consuming and the problems in their marriage. And unfortunately, that marriage ended in divorce because all the consumption of alcohol and wine that they were drinking could not fill the void of emptiness in their marriage or lives.

It just doesn't do that. It might numb you to it, but it doesn't bring you what it promises. So he moves on. He moves on to achievements. And notice what it says.

They're all in the plural. Okay? He says these words. I enlarged my works, plural. I built houses, not a house. Houses. Now remember, he built his palace. It took him 13 years to build his palace. It took him 7 years to build the temple of God. But he's a master achiever. He's a master architect. So he says, I built houses. But notice, he didn't build houses for the homeless.

Houses for the needy. Or houses for his family. He bought houses or erected houses for himself, it says. I planted vineyards. Not a vineyard, but vineyards for myself. I made gardens and parks. For who? Myself. And I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made ponds of water for myself. From which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. Wow. Everything was for himself. It wasn't for anybody in need. It wasn't for anybody who had a problem. It was all for him. Why? Because somehow in my achievements in life, I can somehow find satisfaction.

It's ultimately going to bring me some sense of, ah, I made it. But it didn't. No matter how many ponds he dug or how many trees he planted, or how many houses that he built, no matter what his works were, no matter how great his achievements were, they never brought him what he thought they were going to bring him. Not even close. So, from the grand scale of all of his achievements, he moves on and says, I bought male and female slaves, and I had home-born slaves. Also, I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.

I just began collecting slaves. I just began collecting herds and flocks. I just got all I could, thinking that that somehow would bring me satisfaction. Verse 8, also I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. It wasn't enough that God said to him, you didn't ask for anything but wisdom back in 1 Kings 3. And because you only ask for wisdom, guess what? I'm going to give you riches, and I'm going to give you wealth. But that wasn't enough for Solomon. He had to have more.

So I collected more treasures, more gold, more money. Because what God gave me wasn't enough. But if I had more, well, maybe that would be enough. Yet it wasn't. So I said I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men and concubines. I mean, Vegas has nothing on Solomon. Vegas could not duplicate what Solomon would have in his palace. He would get the finest of singers, the finest of comedians, the finest of acts. He would bring them to Jerusalem. He would bring them to his presence.

He would have them do all his desires. But again, he's just telling you about his journey. You would tend to believe that he truly lived life to the fullest. He ran out of pursuits, so he married more women, 700 wives, 300 concubines. All of his sexual fantasies could be fulfilled at any time, at anywhere, whenever he chose. But again, no satisfaction. How tragic. You see, we think that, well, that was Solomon. I have my own journey, my own pursuits. But remember, that no matter how negative things were for Solomon, he could still buy his way out of any situation he found himself in because he had all the money to do so.

You can't do that. You can't. And even if you could, because you had all the houses and all the vineyards and all the slaves and all the money, it still would not provide for you as it did not provide for Solomon that which he so desperately wanted and needed. That's because his whole pursuit was without God. The writer of Hebrews said it well, the passing pleasures of sin. They never last. They're only as long as the act itself. Once it's over, emptiness, futility. There's nothing left. Back when I was a college pastor at the King's College in New York, we realized that there was a great need to preach to the students in chapel on the purity of their lives simply because there had been 11 abortions in the first semester that we knew about.

If there were 11 abortions in the first semester that we knew about, how many did we not know about? And how many of the students were actually engaged in sexual activity but never were pregnant? So I, along with the president, embarked on a journey of what the Bible says about sexual purity and holiness.

The students were not very pleased, and so they decided to have a student council meeting. And the topic was why the college pastor would preach on this topic to us. So they gathered in the amphitheater area, which was inside an inside amphitheater, and packed the place out. And so they asked me to come. So I said, sure, I'll be glad to come. And the president of the student council came to me and said, we're going to address these issues publicly. We want you to answer them publicly. I said, fine, that's okay with me.

I can do that. So I went, and they asked me questions, and I answered them back with Bible verses, taking them back to the text of Scripture, showing them about God's call upon our life, telling them about all the abortions that we knew of in the first semester, that we were concerned that more students were having abortions that we didn't know about, and that there was much sexual activity on our campus.

We were concerned about that. That was over. Student body president would graduate in May. She came to me after her graduation, and she says, I need to apologize to you. I said, what for? Remember the student council meeting we had back in the fall? I said, yeah, I remember.

How could I forget? She said, of those 11 abortions that you knew about, and that there were so many you didn't know about, I was one of the individuals you never knew about. I had multiple abortions during my time at the college, and I was irritated that you would address that issue that so confronted my sin. But you were right, and I was wrong. Because when it was all said and done, I was never, ever satisfied with any one person. They never met my expectations. And I kept being devastated over and over and over again.

So she said, I just want to let you know that you were right, and I was wrong. And I thank you for your stand on holiness and purity. Where she is today, I have no idea. But she set out on a pursuit. Because she had a perspective. If it feels good, it must benefit me. It must be to my advantage. But it wasn't. Solomon makes that very clear. And so you move to our third point, and that is the problem man encounters.

Verse 9 says that I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. In other words, fame didn't work either. He was famous. I became great and increased more than anybody else who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor. And this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities, which my hands had done, and the labor which I had exerted.

And behold, all was vanity and striving after wind, and there was no profit in the end. None of it delivered. It promised much, but delivered absolutely nothing. Happiness will never be found in a bottle. It will never be found in a new home, a new car. Happiness will never be found in another individual. It can only be found in Christ. There is no other place. Joy is found only in Jesus Christ, our Lord. The psalmist said in Psalm 119.37, Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things. What a great prayer.

Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Our pursuits in life, even if we excel in them, even if we explore everything there is, even if we enjoy that which we've accomplished, we will still remain empty on the inside. Most of you know who Tom Brady is. He's probably the greatest quarterback to ever play in the NFL. He's won seven Super Bowls. After his third Super Bowl, he had an interview with 60 Minutes.

In that interview, he was asked a question. After winning your third Super Bowl, what now? He said, why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, hey man, this is what is. I reached my goal, my dream, my life, me. I think it's got to be more than this. I mean, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be. When the interviewer asked him, then what is the answer, Mr. Brady? He said, I wish I knew. I wish I knew.

He did not know. Because all the fame, all the glory, all the MVPs, all the accolades, all the accomplishments, there's got to be something more. This can't be it. He goes on to win four more Super Bowls. But still, the end result is the same. Emptiness. Because there's only one who can satisfy the soul. Only one. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to the words of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 31, 25. God says, Wow.

Only one can do that. That's the Lord God of Israel. That's why in Israel's anticipation of the Messiah, in Malachi 3, verse 1, In Haggai 2, verse 7, A phrase used quite frequently in many Christmas songs. One you know well. Come thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free. Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art. Dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart. Peter would quote from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 28, verse number 16. In 1 Peter 2, verse number 6, He would say, He who believes in Him will never be disappointed.

Never. Isaiah 28, verse 16 says, Hurry to do what? To run away. He who believes in Him will never, never be disappointed. Why? Because He is the great I Am. As the great I Am, He is the bread of life. As the great I Am, He is the resurrection and the life. As the great I Am, He is the door. He is the way, the truth, and the life. As the great I Am, He is the one who translates God to us. He is the one who indwells our lives. He is the one who can fill the longing of our soul. That's why He says, O ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you. Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. To all who are here tonight, or to all who will one day be listening to this, there is only one answer to your loneliness, to your emptiness, to your unhappiness, to your sinfulness. It is Jesus Christ, our Lord. And my prayer, that if you've never embraced Him, if you've never given your heart to Him, that you would do so. Let me pray with you.

Our most gracious Heavenly Father, we say that reverently, for You are gracious, and You are our Heavenly Father. And you know the needs of all who are here tonight. You know what's happening in their homes, in their lives. And my prayer, Father, is that You would do a mighty work as only You can. I'm sure that there are those who are here or one day will be listening, that they really believe that their pursuits will bring them the ultimate pleasure in life. It's all a lie. It does not. And it seems like no matter how many times we say it, there's always that one person who says, Yeah, but I'm different.

They're not. They just think they are. So we're asking, Lord, that You would do a great and mighty work in every heart, mine included, that, Lord, You would direct us solely toward life beyond the Son, the Son of Righteousness, the messenger who is our delight, the satisfier of man's soul, the joy of all the earth, Jesus Christ our Lord. For that, we say thank You. And again, we say thank You. In Jesus' name, amen.