WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:09.679 So we are making our way through this book of Ecclesiastes, which on the surface is incredibly depressing, but it leads us somewhere. 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:11.679 It is pointing us somewhere. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:14.640 So Ecclesiastes is a book in the Old Testament. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:16.480 It's King Solomon's life. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:18.079 Some people think King Solomon wrote it. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:23.199 Other people think somebody else wrote it in the voice of King Solomon about his life. 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:32.320 And he's letting loose raw feelings of a guy toward the end of his life who has tried a lot. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:42.079 He has just gone for and he has tried a lot, and he is feeling incredibly disillusioned with all the pursuits he's gone after. 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:47.520 So he has money, incredibly like Bill Gates' money, that kind of money. 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:49.600 Incredibly, incredibly rich. 00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:50.799 He's revered. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:52.479 He's powerful. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:53.920 He's insightful. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.399 Remember, he wrote the book of Proverbs. 00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:00.320 I mean, quite a book to write, the book of wisdom. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:08.000 And I'm not sure what your Edward Jones account statement's saying when it comes in the mail or your job title, but the guy has you beat. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:11.680 He has you beat, he has me beat, he's got us all beat. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:15.840 And he says to all of that, he says, Havel. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:21.439 That word vanity, vanity of vanities, Havel, which means vapor. 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:24.480 He says it's it's like it's here. 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:29.840 All those things that Jin just read, just it's just like one after the next. 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:34.079 It's like they're here and then they're just gone. 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:42.079 That next thing you want so badly because you just know, you know, this is this one. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:44.079 Not the last one, but this one. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:49.120 This thing will be the thing that solves all my problems. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.159 And he says, Vapor. 00:01:52.799 --> 00:02:02.319 The question we've been asking is what do you do when everything you thought that would give you meaning doesn't deliver? 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:03.920 What do you do? 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:05.200 What do you do then? 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:07.760 Uh last week we were at dinner in our kitchen. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:10.479 I think Christy and I were sort of eating around the kitchen island. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:21.599 Our girls were sitting at their stools around the island, and we asked them, we just said, hey, uh, if you got a day and you got to make every decision within the day, what would you do? 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:27.039 And so you got an eight-year-old, a six-year-old, and a three-year-old, what would you do with this day? 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:33.680 And so one said, 'You know, I didn't do swimming, there's something about movies, or something about a jumpy place. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:38.479 But all of them, all of them talked about candy. 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:44.319 I mean, candy was this huge part of this day that they have autonomy. 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:45.919 Candy was a big thing. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:49.439 It was, and it wasn't just like I'm to have some candy in the afternoon after lunch. 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:52.159 It was like, no, I'm waking up, I'm having candy. 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:54.800 You can tell what we don't give our children too much of. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:03:01.280 I'm having candy for breakfast, I'm having candy all day, lunch, afternoon, dinner, I'm having candy, candy, candy. 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:04.479 And I you we've told them it's horrible for you. 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:06.080 You don't, you don't want it. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:07.759 It's not gonna deliver. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:09.280 We've told them this. 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:12.719 You know, and they're just being so childish. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:13.919 These children. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:15.360 And I don't know what I thought. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:19.360 You know, I was actually standing there thinking, they are so ridiculous. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:28.400 These my children, they're so like I thought they were gonna choose, you know, like, well, I'd like to go to the high museum and then maybe a k maybe a kale salad after that. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:30.960 Like I thought that was gonna happen or something. 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:34.080 So I've been thinking about that because they were so childish. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:39.840 Uh I've been thinking about that and reading this Ecclesiastes 2, and then thinking about my life. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:45.599 And it's it's like it's just a whole bunch of candy, is what it feels like. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:54.159 Like me thinking that something will be so great that it's gonna finally deliver me from this place. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:04:00.560 This place of discontentment or inadequacy or shame. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:03.840 And it never quite works. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:06.879 And I'm even told this, right? 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:12.080 I mean, you're even told that we're told this and we still do it. 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:16.639 So, three points this morning as we work our way through this passage. 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:20.560 Point number one, and you know this, I'm gonna say it, you're gonna be like, I know that, I know that. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:26.639 Point number one, the externals of this world do not deliver meaning. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:30.399 The externals of this world do not deliver meaning. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:32.399 Do you mean something? 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:34.399 Do you as a person do you mean something? 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:35.680 Does your life have meaning? 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:49.439 And where are you gonna find that like secure meaning that doesn't run out when your job ends or your marriage ends or your health ends, or friends end, secure, stable, forever. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:51.920 I mean something. 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:54.480 And so let's work our way through these verses. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:05:00.000 I'll reread them as we go through, because Solomon explains it pretty well because he has tried a lot. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:13.199 So verses one and two, I said in my heart, this is Ecclesiastes chapter 2, 1 and 2, I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure, enjoy yourself, but behold, this also was vanity, vapor. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:14.000 This was vapor. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:17.839 I said of laughter, it is mad and of pleasure, what use is it? 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:20.160 So he says, uh, I'm just gonna have a good time. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:21.199 That's what I'm gonna try. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:26.720 I'm gonna try having a good time, I'm gonna amuse myself, I'm gonna escape a bit. 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:29.519 And he says, uh, maybe that'll do it. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:30.560 Maybe that'll do it. 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:32.639 He says, Yeah, didn't work. 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:33.279 Vapor. 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:34.160 Verse 3. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:38.000 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:40.560 My heart's still guiding me with wisdom. 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:46.800 So perhaps that's his way of saying, like, I'm not a wretched drunk, uh, but I'm trying to escape, right? 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:48.800 You know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:06:01.920 I don't want to be a wretched drunk, but I'll use a substance just to escape, just a bit, 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. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:06.079 He says, I'm trying to elevate myself with a with a substance. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:10.240 Just escape a little bit because I feel discontent or inadequate, I have shame. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:13.279 Or this place, this moment, this present moment. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:15.120 I I need something. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:16.319 I need something. 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:18.480 He says, I tried wine. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:20.480 It wears off, it doesn't work. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:22.000 I need more, I need more, I need more. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:23.040 Verse 4. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:24.800 He says, Okay, here's what I'm gonna do. 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:25.759 I made great works. 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:29.120 I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:33.439 I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted them all kinds of fruit trees. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:36.959 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:40.000 So he says, This I'm gonna surround myself with beauty. 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:41.519 I'm gonna make it all perfect. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:46.079 I'm gonna make my life and my surroundings perfect. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:49.759 And if everything is perfect and then set, I got it dialed in, right? 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:54.560 Like I just have it just dialed in, then, then it'll be okay. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:56.000 Maybe you've done this. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:07:14.240 Like maybe maybe you've you've done this where you go, you know, you know, when we get crown molding in the den, like I know we have it in the dining room, but when we get it in the den, that is really, really gonna help me be content when I'm sitting in my den. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:18.879 Like that's gonna be, that will be the change I need. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:25.439 Or when we get the screened in porch, or the pair of shoes, or that grade, or that job, or that person, or friend. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:27.199 You go, then that'll be it. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:28.480 That'll be it. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:32.959 Or or or like when I get that when I get that bigger house, right? 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:38.079 And then you get the bigger house and you think, man, that small house is really nice, and you go, oh, well, let's get a smaller house. 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:39.120 That was easier to take care of. 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:42.240 You get the smaller house, and you go, those tiny houses look amazing. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:49.519 That we'd be outside a lot, and you get a tiny house, and then of course, immediately you're going, like, I want a really big house, is what I want. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:52.399 And you're like, it's just, it's always another thing. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:54.079 It's always another thing. 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:57.920 You live near the square and you go, it would be nice to live out by the mountain. 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:00.560 You live near the mountain, you go, I wish we were closer to the square. 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:03.920 You live closer to the square, you go, it would be nice just to get out a little bit. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:06.319 Let's go east or let's go west a little bit. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:09.279 See, it's just always another thing. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:12.399 We keep creating another thing. 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:19.040 Verses 7 and 8, I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:24.079 I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who have been before me in Jerusalem. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:26.959 He said, I'm the richest guy there's ever been, is what he's saying. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:32.240 I also gathered from a silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:33.919 So it's all beautiful. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:37.440 And then he says, I'm just gonna fill it up. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:38.879 Just fill it up. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:59.120 I'm gonna gather stuff, I'm gonna buy stuff, I'm gonna keep stuff, I'm gonna save stuff, every gadget, everything new, you know, like I really do need the yacht with the submarine, like I needed the submarine also, or as simple as, I need a new rain jacket, and you got two in the closet, right? 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:06.639 But man, it makes you feel powerful to buy that rain jacket and you wear it for about six months, and then later on you're like, I need another, right? 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:09.279 We just keep doing it. 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:14.960 Second part of verse eight, I got singers, both men and women. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:16.879 Like he bought a choir, right? 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:19.120 You're like, I'm not into choirs. 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:22.879 I mean, this is like he bought he bought cold play. 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:24.960 I mean, he went for it. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:26.480 Like he went for it. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:27.360 That's who I would buy. 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:28.720 That's the only reason why I mentioned it. 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:29.840 And I bought them. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:33.360 Like they're in my house anytime. 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:38.480 And many concubines, the delight of the sons of man. 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:46.559 And I won't go into the crudeness of the language here, but he's saying he had as much as he wanted. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:48.559 He went for it. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:51.279 He denied himself nothing. 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:59.519 And he says to all of it, he says, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:07.360 He's saying, It's like I'm chasing and I'm running and I'm running and I'm running and I'm exhausted. 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:09.919 None of it's delivering. 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:13.759 Last year we went to a boat show. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:15.279 I don't know if you were around. 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:16.960 I think I talked about the boat show at some point. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:18.320 Because I'm a boat guy. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:21.600 My family has owned a boat since I was born. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:25.279 Um, and the best way to have a boat is for somebody else to own it, by the way. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:25.919 That is the best. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:29.840 So if you want a boat, you should talk a family member into owning the boat. 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:30.799 It's kind of like a Jeep. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:33.360 You don't really want to own a Jeep, you want your best friend to have a Jeep. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:34.320 Those are two things. 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:36.399 And so that's just extra wisdom. 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:46.080 So we get to the boat show, we get to the boat show, and we walk around, and finally we see in the back what we came for, a crisscraft. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:47.200 Anybody? 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:48.639 You just know what I'm talking about? 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:50.000 A few of you know I'm talking about. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:53.759 It's the most beautiful boat you can ever imagine. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:55.360 And this is what I came for. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:11:01.919 All everything else is just kind of fun, but to get back there and see a crisscraft, that I I'm gonna get in this thing. 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:03.440 I take my shoes off. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:07.759 I get in it, I sit in the captain's chair. 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:10.480 I made Christy take a picture of me. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:13.679 I send it to a friend while I'm sitting there. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:18.879 I'm I'm like just kind of rubbing things, just kind of real gently. 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:21.120 I mean, it was a worship service. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:23.519 It was a I was emotional. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:26.320 I was happy. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:29.279 I mean, I was very, very genuinely happy. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:38.080 And I began to think, you know, if we if we bought a tiny house and we put it on a shoreline somewhere, it's possible. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:40.320 It is financially possible. 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:47.440 If I bought a tiny house, like when I'm 60 years old, a tiny house, I could own this 24-foot boat. 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:48.559 It is possible. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:12:01.600 And if I owned this boat, I bet, I bet all of my days, all of them, would be incredibly content and happy and filled with friends, and it would be perfect. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:06.559 But here's the thing, and you know it, and I know it too, and I still do this, but I know it. 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:07.360 Here's the thing. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:15.919 When an external thing of this world becomes the focus, we begin a chase that never ends. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:18.240 And that's what Solomon's saying. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:21.759 He's saying, I've been chat, I've been chasing vapor. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:32.000 If we jump to chapter 2, verses 24 and 25, this is sort of his conclusion, and it's not even a good conclusion. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:35.279 I mean, this is not a book full of solutions, by the way. 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:37.440 This is a book hinting towards something else. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:46.159 In verses 24 and 25, he says, There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:52.879 This also I saw is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment. 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:55.279 And this is not full solution here. 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:56.559 It's like he's halfway there. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:00.000 He's like, you know what, we just have to enjoy all these little things. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:03.679 But he doesn't quite know where he is going to find his full contentment. 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:13.279 Like he can't quite communicate that to us because he is living before God's incarnation to us in Jesus. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:14.799 And so he says, you know what? 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:22.399 There's something about God's authority, there's something about enjoying God's gifts, but he doesn't quite know the fullness of the solution here. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:24.720 Here's point number two. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:28.159 You will spend your life chasing something. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:37.759 You will spend your life chasing something, or you can spend your life knowing you have already been chased and are already found. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:45.840 You can spend your life chasing something, or you can spend your life knowing you've already been chased and you are already found. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:49.919 In John chapter 4, this great story, many of us know. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:53.279 Jesus approaches this lady who's going to draw water. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:57.519 It's strange she's there at the time she's there, so she's probably running from something. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:02.639 She has a certain discontentment in her life, and she's thirsting and she's going to get water. 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:20.720 And in verse 10, Jesus steps into the metaphor and he speaks metaphorically and he says, if you knew the gift of God, he's speaking to this woman, this needy woman, if you knew the gift of God, he's talking about himself, and who it is is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:25.919 He says, Drink of me, and you will never thirst again, is what he says to this lady. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:26.720 Right? 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:29.360 What he's saying is, he's not saying everything's gonna be perfect. 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:32.639 What he's saying is the chase can be over. 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:38.799 Like your chase can be over because I'm chasing you. 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:44.879 The thing that brings contentment has chased you and has found you. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:48.960 So at this point, there's just two paths sort of like show up. 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:51.679 And we have this first, which is Solomon's way. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:59.600 This is like Solomon just chasing things, just chasing the next thing, constantly chasing them, vainly hoping the next thing will deliver. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:09.519 And Solomon says to it himself, after all these experiences, he says, he says, vanity, vapor, it's going, it's like he's going nowhere, he's just running and running and running and getting nowhere. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:13.519 And then you have Jesus' way, and he says, I chase you. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:16.480 In my love I come towards you. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:19.519 He says, I am infinite love and righteousness for you. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:23.519 I'm enough for your sin and your shame and your inadequacy. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:26.559 That's what the cross is about, that great exchange. 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:35.600 And all of this, all of our chasing is our love for our autonomy and our wanting to self-deliver and self-save. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:41.200 It's us wanting to be God to determine what will deliver us, what will redeem us. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:42.639 This is what we're doing. 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:45.440 When we're chasing, it's us being God, is what it is. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:47.360 It is the core of sin. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:59.919 And Jesus says, hey, there's another way where I take on your chasing and I chase you, and I give to you righteousness, redemption. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:05.360 And this is not found by you finding it, it's that you receive it. 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:08.240 Will you drink of me? 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:12.799 Will you spend your life knowing and resting in me? 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:35.919 I had my first session this week with my new mentor, sort of like a pastor coach, and he started to talk to me how we're gonna look at practicals in our church and uh all the ways that I don't do things well, and then how he's gonna help speak into that and help me do a better job, which I just constantly, constantly need as we move forward. 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:49.039 And then he says, Well, he says, Hey, by the way, we're also gonna be spending our first like 30, 45 minutes each time and talking about how you self-protect and how you self-deliver and how you self-medicate. 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:56.080 And I and I told him, I said, I said, that all sounds wonderful and it sounds really horrible. 00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:59.919 Like at the same time, it sounds like both. 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:05.200 And he said, you know, this is scary free, is what he said. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:09.759 He said, What we're gonna talk about is scary free. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:15.680 And it made me made me flinch when he said it, because I sort of like self-medicating. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:23.920 Like, like those few things that when I feel sort of inadequate and I can sort of run to, and I can kind of use them to it. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:26.960 Maybe I'm not fully living, but I'm surviving. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:31.599 I'm getting along, and it makes me feel like I'm in control, which I love. 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:35.839 And there's just this illusion, right? 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:43.839 There's this illusion of I create another thing and I just entertain myself with it, and then I can just keep doing this. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:48.480 And this is self-deliverance and self-salvation, is what this is what this is. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:50.720 It's it's sin, it's the core of sin. 00:17:51.440 --> 00:18:00.160 It's my refusal to trust in Jesus as my sufficiency and satisfaction for this moment. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:07.680 So there's this place in scripture where a lame man is lying by a pool. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:10.960 This pool that people believe they could be healed at. 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:14.240 He's laying there and he's begging for money and food. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:19.200 And Jesus comes by and he asks this guy, he says, Hey, would you like to be healed? 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:21.759 And a lot of times we read that and we think, oh, that's crazy. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:22.799 Of course he wants to be healed. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:23.519 He's at the pool. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:24.799 I mean, he's he's lame. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:26.400 Why would he not want to be healed? 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:29.200 But the reality is, maybe he doesn't want to be healed. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:32.400 He's surviving, he's alive. 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:37.039 People are giving him money and food, he's getting along. 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:39.680 Right? 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:42.079 Being healed would change everything. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:44.720 This could be really scary for him. 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:53.359 I mean, he had to let go of a lot of things that he's used just to get through the next moment. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.759 And I'm just asking, like, do we really want to be free? 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:04.160 Like where Jesus is our sufficiency and satisfaction? 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:10.720 Or do we sort of want to say that and just use a lot of other things to get by on a day-to-day basis? 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:17.920 Do we welcome freedom that the Spirit is calling us to, to repent of idols? 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:30.880 Are we willing to face and feel it and repent of all the ways we self-save like Solomon rather than trust in Jesus for who he is? 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:35.440 Lastly, point number three, this is this is this is good news. 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:39.839 Even when Jesus is not your satisfaction, he is still your security. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:52.400 I mentioned this, I kind of broke it down a few weeks ago, but it's important to say over and over and over again, because there's just a lot of moments when we sadfully, sinfully still live like Solomon, right? 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:53.680 All the time. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:20:01.119 And even in those moments where we are not finding our satisfaction and sufficiency in Jesus, he's still our security. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:01.920 And you know why? 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:03.599 Because it was finished on the cross. 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:05.599 It's big enough for that. 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:10.240 When he deems you righteous, he deems you righteous. 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:13.440 And you are righteous even when you screw up. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:31.519 It's good news for us that your eternal well-being and your justification for the core of who you are, your meaning, whether you're living out of it or not, it is secure in God's love for you in Jesus, the finished work of Jesus. 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:36.640 There is nothing left for you to chase. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:43.680 So, my brothers and sisters, you have been chased and you have been found. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:46.240 And you mean everything to Him. 00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:47.920 Let's pray together. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:21:00.400 God, thank you that you love us so much that even while we were not chasing you, you chased us. 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:02.559 And we know it. 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:07.920 We know it in the cross that you come toward us. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:11.519 And you chase and you find. 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:16.799 And it gives us great security even in our sinful moments. 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:18.480 Forgive us. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:27.599 Forgive us for all the ways that we do not trust in Jesus as sufficiency and satisfaction, but rather create our own saviors. 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:32.000 And pledge our allegiance to those and forgive us. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:32.880 Would you show us? 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:34.000 Would you show us those? 00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:36.880 Would you reveal those to us? 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:43.039 Would you break our hearts so that we might joyfully repent? 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:57.440 And joyfully remember and rest in your sufficiency, and would we find great satisfaction in your love toward us, that you have given us meaning. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.440 That the chase is over. 00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:01.359 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:02.079 Amen.