All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Sermon Outline

1. Introduction

Thomas Watson on discontentment

Main point: Contentment is Christ is safety for our souls

2. The prevalence of discontentment observed

Contentment has more to do with God than our possessions

3. The pain of discontentment illustrated

The blessing of children

The blessing of age

The blessing of wisdom

4. The pleasure of being at peace today

A contrast

A higher joy

5. Application

Philippians 4:4-7, 12-13: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

"Satan takes great advantage of discontent; he loves to fish in these troubled waters. Discontent doth both eclipse reason and weaken faith; and it is Satan's policy; he doth usually break over the hedge where it is weakest; discontent makes a breach in the soul, and usually at this breath the devil enters by a temptation, and storms the soul. How easily can the devil by his logic dispute Christian into sin[.]"
— Thomas Watson, The Art of Divine Contentment

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil — this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

Sermon Outline

1. Money is an oppressive god

2. Money cannot truly be gained

3. Money is a gift that points to true joy

When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear.

Sermon Outline

A call to a presence and posture in worship

A caution against being a church of fools

A contrast with a life of vanity

Sermon Outline

1. Introduction

A marvelous mansion in ruins

Main point: The ruins of this life are meant to lead us to the riches of God

2. An instructive contrast leads

Wisdom does not necessarily come with age

Foolishness can be so destructive that poverty is preferable

3. A pointful plot unfolds

More years made it harder to listen

More money brought relational poverty

More fame did not mean remembrance

4. The wisdom of God is magnified

The best we can hope for from this fallen world

Redemptive historical contrast

5. Applications

1 Corinthians 1:26-27: For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

2 Corinthians 8:9: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Sermon Outline

1. The empty consequences of laziness

2. The abundant reward of labor

3. The necessary use of means the embodiment of wisdom in Christ

Again, I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after the wind.

The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.

Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, "For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?" This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him — a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Sermon Outline

1. Introduction

A brutally honest passage

Main point: Life's deepest sorrows require a supernatural solution

2. Why this world hurts

A twisting of justice

The depth of greed

The extent of loneliness

3. What God will do

God will judge

God will wait

God will build His church

4. Applications

Philippians 2:3-8: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Sermon Outline

1. An unexpected illustration of grace

2. An explicit invitation to rest

3. A powerful foreshadowing of the cross

Matthew 26:38: Jesus said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death."

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil — this is God's gift to man.

I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.

Sermon Outline

1. Introduction

Main characters and side characters

Destroying the delusion that we're the main character

Main point: We grow in worship when we learn to number our days

2. The uncomfortable reality of being bound by time

Life is seasonal

Everything meets its undoing

3. The ultimate reality of a sovereign God

He rules with supremacy

He functions independently

He exists eternally

4. How eternal creatures should live right now

God placed eternity into the human heart

People cannot truly find out by natural inquiry what God is doing from beginning to end

How do we find out what God is doing from beginning to end?

5. How do we number our days?

Acknowledge that treasures on earth are temporary

Adopt a posture of gratitude to God for what he gives you

Revelation 1:4b-6, 8: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come... and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

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

I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

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

I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine — my heart still guiding me with wisdom — and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.

So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God…

<title>Who Is on the Lord’s Side?</title>

<itunes:subtitle>A sermon from Exodus 32:25–29 and 1 Thessalonians 4</itunes:subtitle>

<itunes:author>Your Church Name</itunes:author>

<itunes:summary>

A message exploring Moses’ urgent call in Exodus 32 and Paul’s exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 4.

We see the danger of ignoring God’s warnings, the shocking sight of God’s people out of control,

the gracious call to belong to the Lord, the seriousness of judgment, and the blessing that follows obedience.

</itunes:summary>

<description>

<p><strong>Scripture:</strong></p>

<p>Exodus 32:25–29 — Moses calls out, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” The Levites respond, executing judgment to preserve God’s people, and are ordained for His service.</p>

<p>1 Thessalonians 4 — Paul exhorts believers to holiness, self-control, and brotherly love, reminding us that the Lord is an avenger in all things.</p>

<p><strong>Outline:</strong></p>

<ol>

<li><strong>Introduction</strong><br/>

Failure to heed urgent warnings — The urgent call to us — The main idea</li>

<li><strong>A Shocking Sight</strong><br/>

A people out of control — The derision of their enemies — What Moses saw</li>

<li><strong>A Gracious Call</strong><br/>

From the place of judgment — “Who do you belong to?”</li>

<li><strong>A Particular Judgment</strong><br/>

Levites called to punish the unrepentant — God sometimes uproots to preserve — Some sins are more heinous than others</li>

<li><strong>A Blessed Result</strong></li>

</ol>

</description>

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<pubDate>Tue, 17 Aug 2024 10:00:00 GMT</pubDate>

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