Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire. Here's what's coming
up in today's edition.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Sin is deceitful. It promises what it can't deliver. It
tells you if you do a certain thing, go a
certain route, pick up this habit, go with this person,
do this certain lifestyle, and it's going to fulfill you.
Bless you, make you happy, more content. But sin is deceitful.
It never delivers, it can't. It always ends up burning

(00:30):
you in the end. There's pleasure in sin, the Bible says,
but only for a season. What begins as pleasure ends
in pain.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Whenever you lay a trap for an animal in the woods,
you need to leave some sort of bait to attract
your target, or the trap may never be triggered. And
just like a piece of meat is attractive to a
wild animal, the pleasures of the world are debate that
the enemy uses to lure humanity into sinful behavior. But
Pastor remind you to be on your guard because even

(01:02):
though the temptation of sin has a sweet and pleasant aroma,
it becomes dangerous and painful if you draw too close
to it. Well, let's join Pastor Jeff in the Book
of Ecclesiastes chapter eleven, as he continues his message, cast
your bread on the waters.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
The other day I had this well, as a matter
of fact, it was the Saturday night we had the
meal out here, meals on wheels, and I went out there,
or not meals on wheels, food trucks, not meals on wheels.
But I was out there and this big bruising oh,

(01:40):
a young man comes up to me. Hey, Goster, Jeff,
remember me, I said, you know, I really don't. I'm
playing baseball now, about to become professional. Praise God. He said,
you dedicated me when I was a little baby. Here
he is about to be a professional baseball player. And

(02:03):
I held him in my arms and dedicated him to God.
Cash your bread on the water. It comes back to
you after many days. Amen. And that's just one example.
Happens to me all the time I marry people. I dedicated.
You're only as old as you.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Feel, and I feel, depending on the day, I feel.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Thirty eight somewhere in there after I get off my bike,
ride twenty five. When I get up Monday morning eighty
all right, in the morning of your life. I think
this is another way to look at it. In the
morning of your life, when the sun of your youth

(03:00):
is rising and your future stretches before you. So the
kingdom seed. In the evening of your life, when the
sun is setting on your days, So the seeds of
the Kingdom. Still. That's been my philosophy. It could be,

(03:22):
says the preacher, that your best harvest will be in
your youth, or it might be that your best harvest
will come into your latter days. He's saying, you don't know,
so so so so you don't know. So go forward
in your youth, and go forward in older age, and

(03:43):
go forward in between. Be a souler all your life. Folks,
live for God. That's what I'm saying to you. That's
what he's saying to is live for God. Always, starting young,
Live for God. He's gonna end this chapter talking to
the young people. Start now living for God. Because it
goes in a blink. They asked Billy Graham, what's the

(04:04):
biggest shock to you about all that you've seen, everywhere
you've been. What's the biggest shock to you? Without even pausing,
he said, the brevity of life, the briefness, the brevity,
the quickness of life. In the next verse, Solomon says
life is worth living verse seven to eight. Truly, the

(04:25):
light is sweet, and it's pleasant for the eyes to
behold the sun. Now. The light that he mentions represents life.
Only living eyes take in the light of the sun.
And even though life is full of difficulties and it is,
always has been, always will be, it's still sweet to

(04:47):
be alive. He said, life is sweet. Life is a gift.
You know why you got up today because God let you.
I'm serious, David said, My times are in your hand.
The Bible talks about God holding your very next breath
in his hands. You got up todaycause God let you.

(05:10):
You'll get up tomorrow if God lets you. And if
He lets you, then he's given you another day of
the light of life. And he says it's sweet. He says,
enjoy it, thank God for it, Be thankful for it,
Utilize it, redeem it, use it to sew and live wisely.
Commentator Matthew Henry writes, quote, life is sweet to bad

(05:34):
men because they have their portion in this life. You
see what he's saying, right, He's saying bad men have
nothing to look forward after this life. But hell, I
heard somebody say the reason God Lets some wicked people
live long because it's the best they're ever going to
have when they die. That's it. That's it. So God,

(05:59):
lets live long. He's a good God, merciful God. Maybe
they'll turn, Maybe they'll turn. So life is sweet to
bad man because this is their portion, But it's sweet
to good man because it's the time of preparation for
a better life. Yet, sweet as it is, guess what, folks,

(06:21):
it's not gonna last forever. How many of you are
aware of that? One day you will go? Anybody in
here think you're not gonna go. I want to talk
to you at the end. Okay, we're all gonna go
one time, either in the catching away of the church,
or we're just gonna die. Our bodies are gonna stop. Now.

(06:42):
Sweet as it is, it's not gonna last forever. And
that's what verse eight tells us. Chapter eleven, Verse eight.
But if a man lives many years and rejoices in
all of them, yet let him remember the days of darkness,
for they will be many. All that is coming is vanity. Now.
The days of darkness that Solomon mentions could be talking

(07:04):
about old age, But I don't think that's really what
he's addressing. I think he's talking about eternity. We should
remember here that till the Gospel of Christ brought life
and immortality to light the view of the future amongst
the ancients, what was dark and gloomy. See the Gospel

(07:26):
Jesus Christ. When he appeared, he let us know, I
fear not little flow. It's your father's good pleasure to
give you the kingdom. Let not your heart be trouble,
neither let it be afraid. In my father's house, there's
many mansions. Now the disciples have never heard anything like this.
Mansions in my father's house, there's many mansions. If it
wasn't true, I would tell you it wasn't true. But

(07:48):
since it's true, I'm telling you the truth. And I'm
going there ahead of you to prepare a place for you.
That where I am there you may be also. And
if I go to prepare a place for you, I
will come back and receive you to myself, that where
I am there, you may be also. Until Jesus uttered

(08:09):
words like that, man's view of eternity was dark and gloomy.
There was not a full revelation of what comes after
death until Jesus made it crystal clear. The days of
darkness for them signified life in Hades, far from the

(08:31):
light of the sun, gloomy, uncharted, and uncheered. When I die,
of going to Hades. It's all through Greek mythology. They
all believe this. Read the Greek writings. Homer talked about Hades.
Many of the other Greek writers talked about Hades the
sort of the waiting room, the dwelling place of the dead.

(08:52):
For instance, look at what Joe wrote, quote, I go
whence I shall not return, even to the land of
darkness and of the shadow of death. A land of
thick darkness as darkness itself, a land of the shadow
of death without any order, and where the light is
as darkness. Does that sound to you like John fourteen one? No,

(09:16):
because they didn't have the revelation of eternity that we
do in the New Covenant because of the coming of Christ.
So that's why Solomon was so gloomy. Hey, you know,
enjoy your life now, because when you die, when you
kick the bucket, it's all going to be gloomy and dark.
So Solomon advises enjoying life while it's here. If that's

(09:39):
why I believed about eternity. I would have a hard
time enjoying life here. That's what he says. Make the
most of it. Of course, here's the deal. Those of
us living in the blessed light of the New Covenant
know that real life, splendid life, on paralleled life is
waiting on the other side. Isn't that what Jesus taught?

(10:01):
Oh yeah, that's what the New Testament shows us. Look
how Revelations ends. We enter the garden again. Paradise lost,
Paradise found, Paradise given up, Paradise regained because of the

(10:23):
second atom. First atom messed up, took the whole planet
to hell. Second atom live the way the first atom
should have, and redeemed everyone who puts their faith in him,
and took us back to the garden. Now he closes
out this chapter with a warning for the young person.

(10:44):
But just because you're not a young person, believe me,
you need to hear this. Look at verse nine. Rejoice,
o young man, in your youth, and let your heart
cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in
the ways of your heart. Now he's being sarcastic. Here,
catch this. Go ahead, Let me help him. Go ahead,
young man, Let your heart cheer you when you're a

(11:05):
young person, Walk in the ways of your heart, Do
whatever your heart tells you to do, do whatever your
eyes go, chase after whatever your eyes want. Go ahead,
live a sensual lifestyle, live a godless life. But know this,
if you do that, God will bring you into judgment. Now, look,

(11:27):
if you should decide to pursue He's saying to young people,
if you should decide to pursue a sensual lifestyle devoid
of God, which the vast majority of youth in America
have done and are doing, walking in the sinful promptings
of your own heart, chasing after the lust of your eyes,
know this, God's going to bring it all into judgment
on that great day. Folks, Boy, we need more preaching

(11:50):
from pulpits that there is a judgment day coming. Do
you know that preachers used to get up and just
rail and thunder out warnings about judgment. What do we hear?
God wants you with a better car, God wants you
in a bigger house. Man. The old preachers, they consider

(12:10):
if they were in a shack but were right with God.
They were wealthy, and they warn people of what is coming.
They warn people of approaching judgment. They warn them that
if you live wrong, you're going to come into judgment.
If you reject Christ, you're going to be judged. Let
me just there's a judgment coming to all who have

(12:32):
rejected Christ, called repentance of salvation. It will come as
certainly as the sun rises tomorrow. It's a guarantee.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
Thanks for listening to Hardwire. We're exploring the Wisdom of Solomon.
Solomon entertains thoughts related to the futility of life. Something
that stands out is that without God you're left in
a place of emptiness and potentially despair. Instead of that,
let's navigate the complexities of life with wisdom and peace.

(13:01):
Each sermon is complimented by a devotional designed to help
you as you relate to the things written in this book.
If you're seeking a deeper understanding about this series, text
the word edge to eight one seven four eight four
four seven sixty seven. Join us as we explore the
edges of life's mysteries and find guidance for today's world.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Let me just give you a couple of examples. First,
Thessalonians five two to three. For you know quite well
that the day of the Lord's return will come unexpectedly,
like a thief in the night. Nobody's going to think
it's coming. And it'll come when people are saying, everything's
peaceful and secure, everything's good, we're all good, I'm okay,
you're okay, Then disaster will fall on them. Listen to this,

(13:49):
as suddenly as a pregnant woman's labor pains begin and
they hit, Suddenly, suddenly she is in agony. Suddenly she
is in labor pains. Suddenly disaster falls, and there will
be no escape. That's the end of the verse. There's
no escape. Second, that's the audience one seven through nine says.

(14:11):
And also, when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven, he
will come with his mighty angels, inflaming fire, bringing judgment
on those who don't know God and on those who
refuse to obey the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you notice on who the judgment is going to fall?
Those who hear the Gospel offer and reject it. They're

(14:33):
gonna come under judgment, and look what it says. They
will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the
Lord and from his glorious power. That tells us folks,
there is a solemn, serious, major, breathtaking, jaw dropping, indescribable
judgment coming, and the only safe ones will be like

(14:57):
Noah who was in the Ark with his family and
God shut the door, and they alone were safe because
they got into God's answer for their deliverance. There was
only one arc, not ten different options. There was one arc.
And after one hundred and twenty years of labor, and
the people mocking him, ridiculing him, making fun of the

(15:19):
dumb old man down the street who was building a
boat when there wasn't even any water for one hundred
and twenty years, he was the brunt of everybody's joke.
Jesus said. The people so ignored his warnings that they
were eating, drinking, marry and giving him marriage until the
day that Noah entered the Ark and God shut the door,
and the rain fell and the flood took them all away.

(15:42):
So will it be in the days of the coming
of the Son of Man. Now the only arc available
for deliverance from the flood of judgment is Christ. He's
the arc of the New Covenant. And I guarantee you
that Bote floats. So the Council of Wisdom, according to

(16:06):
Solomon is to consider this reality and depart from evil.
And the best time to come to Christ is when
you're young. That's why he's talking to young people. Solomon
addresses these last verses to the young person. And interestingly,
I did a little check. A survey by the International
Bible Society found this. Eighty three percent of all Christians

(16:27):
catch this make their commitment to Jesus between the ages
of four and fourteen. Eighty three percent when they are
children or early youth. That's why with our children back there,
we teach them the Bible. With the youth, we teach
the Bible. We are not back there babysitting. We are

(16:51):
telling them about the Blood, about Christ, about Heaven, hell, resurrection,
the realities of the Bible. And they learn it and
they can quote those Bible verses to put many of
us to shame. We're casting our seed upon the water.
Look at this. The BARNA Research Group also discovered that

(17:11):
American children ages five to thirteen have a thirty two
percent probability of accepting Christ, but youth or teens aged
fourteen to eighteen go down to four percent chance of
doing so. Adults age nineteen and over have only a
six percent probability of ever becoming Christians, because you get

(17:35):
set in your ways, so God can do anything. I
prayed with my dad, who accepted Christ in his seventies,
and two years later he went home. I led my
grandparents on my mother's side to Christ when they were
in their eighties. I flew to New York went out

(17:59):
to their farm. They both had they've been married since
he was fifteen, she was thirteen. I'm serious. He called
her bug and she called him honey. And I sat
in their living room and I looked at them, and
they had both had cataract surgery, and that was back
when cadact surgery was a bigger deal. And they had
these coat bottle lenses and their eyes were fixed on me,

(18:21):
these big eyes just fixed on me. And I said,
Jesus died for your sins, and you need to be saved.
He turned to her and said, what do you think, bug,
And she said, sounds good to me, honey. And I
prayed with them, and they sincerely accepted Christ. They really
did and lived Christian lives. Hey, they lived a few

(18:43):
years longer, but for the most part, best to get
with Jesus when you're young. Verse ten. Says, therefore, remove
sorrow from your heart and put away evil from your
flesh for childhood, youth, or vanity. Now, the sorrow he
encourages the young to remove from their hearts is the

(19:03):
grief that results from sensual, ungodly living. He said, don't
go that route, because you're gonna have sorrow in your
heart if you do. Eventually the day of reaping comes.
And when come, What a contrast it is to the
deceitful beginnings of a sinful lifestyle. When sin is deceitful,
it promises what it can't deliver. It tells you if

(19:25):
you do a certain thing, go a certain route, pick
up this habit, go with this person, do this certain lifestyle,
then it's going to fulfill you, bless you, make you happy,
more content. But sin is deceitful. It never delivers, it can't.
It always ends up burning you in the end. There's
pleasure in sin, the Bible says, but only for a season.

(19:48):
What begins as pleasure ends in pain. Church, I promise
you can we say that together, what begins as pleasure
ends in pain. When it's sinful. Put away evil from
your flesh, the temptations and the lusts, of youth are
empty vanity. They do not and cannot bring true fulfillment.

(20:09):
They only bring regret. Now, Paul the Apostle urge the
young to quote flee from youthful nus and chase after righteousness, faith, love,
and peace with those who call in the Lord from
pure heart. Put away youthful us. Don't go that way.
You'll end up with sorrow in your heart. Our generation
has not accepted these words. Now. I hate to bring

(20:31):
this stuff out, but I got to tell you the
flip side to the devil's message in our culture, because
the devil's message to our young people now is, hey,
how do everything you want to do? Chase after the
luss of your flesh, have sex with whoever you want
to be free. Don't listen all that stupid Christian traditional

(20:53):
fun killing philosophy. Do what you want to do.

Speaker 4 (21:00):
Now.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
There's always a flip side here. It is STDs are
now at epidemic proportions. Prior to nineteen sixty, this blows
me away, there were only two significant sexually transmitted diseases
two syphilis and gonorrhea, both immediately curable with antibiotics. Now

(21:21):
then came the sexual revolution, where biblical restraints were cast
aside in the name of freedom. Forget all that Christian stuff.
Just go do what you want. If you can't love,
be with the one you loved, and love the one
you're with. That was one of the stupid lyrics in
a song. I mean, tell me what the one who

(21:45):
you can't be with? Or you're gonna go love the
one you're with when the one you supposedly love just
can't be there. What is the one you love gonna
do when you found out you love the one you
were with? It's so stupid, but we all sang it.
Oh yeah, it can't be with the one you love,
love the one you with. That's right, baby, be free,

(22:12):
And the whole thing went up in pop. I'm sorry,
but I look back at some of the things I
used to listen to and think and think we're cool.
Oh man, all right, look what happened. Now. There's approximately
twenty five STDs. Where'd they come from? They came from
breaking God's word. A few can be fatal. Many women

(22:36):
are living in fear of what their future may hold
as a result of STD infection. It's estimated that one
in five Americans between the ages of fifteen and fifty five.
I'm going to read that again because you didn't get it.
One in five Americans between the ages of fifteen and
fifty five are currently infected with one or more STDs,

(23:01):
and twelve million Americans are newly infected every year. But
go ahead, baby, throw away the Bible. Go do your
own thing. Chase after the lust of your flesh and
the lust of your eyes. Forget all that Christian stupid traditionalism.

(23:23):
That's nearly five percent of the entire population of the US.
Of these new infections, sixty three percent are in people
less than twenty five years old. Why do you think
Solomon was addressing the youth. Solomon's advice is good advice
in your youth. Walk with God, obey his word, embrace

(23:45):
his wisdom, and honor his name. Say with me the
last four five words. You will never regret it.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Serving God is a lifelongness assignment, but in the scope
of eternity, your lifetime here on earth is going to
be like a distant memory. Pastor Jeff encourages you to
make the hard decision to serve God's desires over your own,
and you will read the eternal rewards when God looks
on you on the final judgment day and says, well done,

(24:19):
good and faithful servant. There is no suffering that the
enemy can inflict on you. It can't be remedied by
those six words. If you'd like to learn more about Hardwire,
here's some info.

Speaker 4 (24:31):
Wouldn't it be great if everyone had access to hearing
these messages from Pastor Jeff. We're asking our faithful listeners
to be willing to donate to this ministry. Does this
type of impact interest you? If so, there are a
few really simple things you can do at prey dot com.
Do you see Pastor Jeff's profile. If so, you'll notice
a gift button that will take you to where you

(24:53):
need to go to donate something financially. You can also
just tap on your present icon, which will direct you
to the hard Wire giving page. As we close, here's
what's coming up on Hardwired.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Next time on Hardwired, Pastor Jeff will begin to teach
through the final chapter of Ecclesiastes. This whole journey has
led to a final lesson from the author to not
waste your youth chasing after the things of the world,
but instead give your energy to the things of God.
Your body will age and grow tired with the passage
of time, but with the joy of the Lord in

(25:26):
your heart, your soul will long more and more for
the things of Heaven that last forever. That's all the
time we have for today. Thanks for tuning in for
this edition of Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire. You can listen
to more messages from this and other books of the
Bible by visiting hardwired dot org. Join us next time
to continue our study in the Book of Ecclesiastes right

(25:50):
here on Hardwired