April 29, 2025 • 26 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire, Here's what's coming up.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
In today's edition.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
We preach Christ and him crucified. We harp on the blood.
Speaker 4 (00:10):
We will never depart from the Cross, never from the Blood,
never from Jesus being the one and only way. Because
I look at that judgment coming, and I say, Dear God,
help us.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
To reach as many people as.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
We can in as many ways as we can, as
fast as we can, as creatively as we can, as
urgently as we can, because it's coming. It's coming. That
judgment day is coming.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
When was the last time you came across a street
preacher or someone witnessing in public. Maybe you cringed inside
as you walk past them, or tried to hide away
from their gaze as you cross their chosen street corner.
But faster, Jeff wants you to realize that these people
understand the urgency of the great commission. No one knows
the day that Jesus is going to return for his bride,
(01:03):
but it is the responsibility of every believer to make
sure that as many people are saved as.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Possible before that happened.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Well, let's join bestor Jeff in the Book of Ecclesiastes
Chapter twelve as he continues his message remember your Creator.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Where he goes next shows me.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
It excites me, and I'm so glad that chapter twelve
is here because chapter the first eleven chapters, this man's
in a dark place. This man's in a struggling place.
This man is really struggling with things. But in chapter
twelve you begin to see real glimpses of spiritual breakthrough,
in spiritual understanding. That let you know Solomon made it
(01:45):
to the other side, because once again he's going to
reveal greater clarity about life after death and the reality
of eternity. Verse seven says, then the dust, once you've died,
then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
and the spirit will return to.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
God who gave it.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Everybody say with me, wow, Amen, See that's a revelation.
He has not been there the first eleven chapters, but
he's there now. He's talking about death, he's talking about
the end of everything. He's talking about life coming.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
To a close. He says, here's where I am in
my faith.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
My body is going to return to the ground, but
my spirit that God gave to me is going to
go straight to him. What if, Paul say in the
New Testament, absent from the body, present with the Lord.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Two things happen at death.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
One, the body returns to dust, whether by cremation or
over time. While in the ground, it returns to that
from which it came dust. We all came from dirt.
Hate to break it to you, but you are not
made of fairy dust. We all came from dirt. We
came from the dust.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
So by Jeffiahs, don't believe that we're not made of dirt.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Genesis two, verse seven says, then the Lord God formed
the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed
the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the
man became a living person. That was the impartation of
his soul. But he was first formed out of dust.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
And to the dust.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
The body returns until the voice calls it out of
the grave. And when the voice calls it out of
the grave, it comes back together into a glorified body,
like under the glorified body of Jesus Christ, and it
lives forever and forever and forever. That's what he's talking about.
(03:44):
My spirit is going to go to God. But the
resurrection is going to happen one day. And this is
the crux and the center of the Christian faith, resurrection, Resurrection.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I am the Way, the Truth, the Life.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
He that believes in me shall not die, but have
everlasting life. And though he were dead, yet shall he live.
I am the Resurrection and the Life. The trumpet will
blow and the dead in Christ will rise. First, as
Jesus looked into lazarus grave, and the voice called to
(04:24):
Lazarus and said, come forth, we have a picture of
what's going to happen one day with billions of people.
Because Lazarus, dead four days and nights, came out of
there wrapped in his grave clothes, a man resurrected from
the dead. And right before that happened, Jesus had told
Martha and Mary, I am the Resurrection. Let me show
(04:45):
you what I mean. I'm about to give you show
and tell. And so he walked right over to and said,
move that stone away. I'm about to show you who
I really am and who you're talking to. And he
called a dead man out going to call billions of
dead people out of the grave.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
That's the promise of the gospel. That's it.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
So the body returns to the dust, waiting the resurrection.
But then second, the spirit within us, that eternal part
of our constitution, our soul, immediately returns to God. You
are an eternal creature, person, entity, your eternal and your
(05:30):
eternal life isn't going to begin one day.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
It has already begun.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
If you're a Christian, your eternal life has already started.
But you're not like other creatures that God created.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
God gave you.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
He breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life. We
don't read that he did that with anything else He
gave him that he had created. He gave to him
a living It says he became a living soul. So
the stunny, awesome thing about people, and most don't realize it, is.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
That they are eternal.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Moses said, let the Lord, the God of the spirits
of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Now you notice the theology of Moses.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
There, even Moses understood that we had a spirit within
us that was eternal.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
And that God was God over our spirit.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Our spirit would answer to God, would go to God,
would return to God.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
What Moses said, Echoes.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
What Solomon said, and what the whole Bible teaches that
we have an eternal soul, and that when our body quits,
it immediately goes to the one who made us.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
The God of the spirits of all flesh. What a
powerful statement.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
Our God, the God of the Bible, is the God
of the souls of every human being ever conceived and
at conception, that conceived child, at conception is a living soul.
(07:21):
On the Great Day of Judgment that's galloping our way,
every person who rejected his son, or who refused to
walk in the light God gave them, will be brought
before the God of all spirits. They will be Every
person that ever lived is going to be resurrected. Not
just Christians. Everyone's going to be resurrected. Everyone Hitler is
(07:42):
going to be resurrected. Mussolini's going to be resurrected. I
don't care you name any person of infamy and history,
any atheist, any god hater, any wicked, evil person. They're
all going to be resurrected and brought before God. There's
going to be a resurrection of every human being. That's
the awesome message of the Great White Throne Judgment, and
(08:05):
the God of all spirits is going to judge each one.
If you're covering the blood of the Lamb, you're not
judged for any sin whatsoever. You're free, home free. But
if you didn't come to Christ, if you resisted him,
if you suppressed the truth, if you pushed it down,
if you did not allow him into your life, if
(08:25):
you denied him, walked away from him, ignored him, which
our country is doing today in spades, then there's going
to come an awesome day, folks. There's going to come
an awesome day. This sits on my spirit every day.
It sits on my spirit.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
I know this. There's an awesome day of judgment coming.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
It's terrifying and it's jaw dropping, and it's almost it
is it's incomprehensible.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
What it will be like. But your spirit, my spirit,
the spirit of.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Every human that ever live, is going to go before God,
the God of all the spirits. And what a horrible
thing to fall in the hands of the living God.
It's a fearful thing to fall in the hands of
the living God and face that judgment. That's why we
preach Christ and him crucified. We harp on the blood.
We will never depart from the cross, never from the blood,
never from.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Jesus being the one and only way.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Because I look at that judgment coming, and I say,
Dear God, help us to reach as many people as
we can in as many ways as we can, as
fast as we can, as creatively as we can, as
urgently as we can, because it's coming. It's coming, That
(09:45):
judgment day is coming now, he says in verse eight.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Vanity, vanity, says the preacher, All is vanity. Here we
go again. This is verse eight, the same way that
he began the book. He's ending the book. All is vanity.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
But let's clarify what he means now at the end
of the book and what he says, what I'm about
to share with you. He's right about it. All is vanity.
All things in the world are vain. All creatures are
subject to vanity, all of them, All of God's created order, dogs, cats,
(10:17):
all the mammals, lions, tigers, bears, all the marine life,
all are subject to vanity. They have been subjected to
vanity because of sin. The entire creation is suffering because
of sin.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Let me just blow your mind on something.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
You know that God did not create carnivores in the beginning.
He did create animals to go tear each other to.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Pieces and eat each other.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Do you know if you go to Genesis and you
look at what God says, is heated as he created
everything says he looked at everything and said it was good.
And he said to Adam, I have given to you
every herb of the field for food, as well as.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
To all the animals. Read it.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
All the animals, lions were originally herbivores, not carnivores.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
God didn't create animals.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Say now, go ahead and tear each other to pieces
and need each other up, and it is good. Don't
tell me God did that way. They die, that terrible death,
the fear of the terror that wasn't a part of
God's original creation. You know that in Paradise lost, we
got to get in our heads that creation went nuts.
(11:32):
The soul of people went crazy, our thinking got skewed,
and the.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Whole created order got out of order. And so we
see Paradise lost.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
But when Paradise is regained, what do we find In
Isaiah the lion lays down with the lamb, and it
says the lion.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Is eating straw.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
I look forward to that day because I love God's
created or I hate the way they suffer when they
eat each other up. I look forward to the day
if that line is laying down with the lamb, that
a child can pray, can play in a cobra's den,
and the cobra will not bite him.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
That's what Isaiah said.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Isaiah showed us the recapturing and regaining of lost paradise,
and it's found again in and through and because of
Jesus Christ. All right now, all the creatures are subject
(12:31):
to vanity. Man in every state, and in his best estate,
is altogether vanity.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
Thanks for listening to Hardwired. We're exploring the wisdom of Solomon.
Solomon entertains thoughts related to the futility of life. Something
that stands out is that without God, that 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.
(12:58):
Each sermon is complimented by 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 4 (13:21):
Now, the wise man, the preacher Solomon, can affirm with
confidence these things, because after he had shown that not
only childhood and youth.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Are vanity, but even old age, the.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Infirmities, the sorrows, the distresses of which he is just discussed,
that's all vanity. But and then everything ends in death.
The last end of man is for his body to
return to the earth and his soul to God. Now,
if we stopped right there, if you just stopped right there,
then you could actually agree with everything he taught in Ecclesiastes.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
When it comes to vanity, it's all vanity. What's it
all for. You're just gonna die, somebody else is gonna
get what you earn. You're just going to return to
the dust. And that's it. What's it all for? Its vanity.
But we have a savior.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Who undid and reversed the curse. So the vanity far
is only for the godless, only for those who reject Christ.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Then, and indeed everything everything you touch is going to
be vanity.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
But for those who have trusted in Christ, there is
redemption from the curse, the paradise that was lost in
the garden, is paradise found again in him.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
That's why the Bible says in Revelations at the very.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
End, behold, I make all things new, glory to God. Well,
I could stop right there and go home, because that
excites me. Where would we be without Jesus? Where would
we be without the blood of the Lamb. Where would
we be without the spirit of grace and the Holy
(14:57):
ghost living on the inside of us? Where we be
without the God of hope. Where would we be without
the promises in the Bible? It would be vanity. Vanity
all is vanity. But praise God, amazing grace, How sweet
the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once
was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now
(15:17):
I see glory to God. So I don't live in vanity.
I live in hope. Now we come to the epilogue
of the Book of Ecclesiastes. Here's the epilogue, Verses nine
and ten and moreover. Now he's talking about himself. He's
(15:38):
kind of summoned things up. He's summing things up and
so moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught
to people knowledge. Yes, he pondered and sought out and
set in order many proverbs.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
You got the Book of Proverbs in here.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
The preacher sought to find acceptable words, and what was
written was upright words of truth. He's telling us that
what he shared was inspired. Solomon still taught the people
knowledge after his fall into idolatry and his recovery.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
On his way through recovery, he gave us Ecclesiastes.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
In his better days, he gave us the Proverbs and
the Song of Solomon. He communicated his knowledge. He didn't
hide his talent into the earth, nor in a napkin.
But having freely received, he freely gave and kept back
nothing from his people.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
What he shared were words of truth. I love this Bible.
I'm holding my hand gold.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Silver, precious stones, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, all waiting for
you to dig it up out of this word. This
is a precious word. There's no book like this in
all the earth. The word of God, the word of God.
So he says, what I share with you were words
of truth. They were inspired.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
He taught them the knowledge of themselves.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
He told them the truth about themselves. You're falling, you're impure,
you're impotent and you're unrighteous. That's the truth about men.
The knowledge of the creatures, of God's creation. He told
the truth about that, and the vanity that they're all
subjected to. He taught them about riches, honor, and pleasures.
(17:32):
He taught them that there was no real answer in money,
no real answer and sensuality, no answer in hedonism, no
real answer in other philosophies. That the only answer was
fearing God and obeying his word. He taught about Christ
as the wisdom of God. Did you know that Solomon did?
(17:53):
Taught about Christ as the wisdom of God, told about
the eternal nature of his person, his glories, his excellencies,
and his beauties. And you find those truths in the Proverbs.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
And in the Song of Solomon. This man was an
incredibly gifted man, though he fell verse eleven. The words
of the wise, he's talking about his own wisdom now,
and the wisdom of the Bible.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
The words of the wives are like goads, and the
words of scholars are like well driven nails given by
one shepherd. Now I pulled that out from another version
because it makes a little bit better sense.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
The NLT puts it this way. The words of the
Wise are like cattle prods. Catch this so we're in foe.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Woof, So we understand cattle prodze right, how about a taser.
The words of the Wise are like cattle prods, painful
but helpful. Their collected sayings, everything in this book are
like a nail studded stick.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Which is what shepherds would use in the Old Testament.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
They would have a stick that was had nails in
it and they would prod the sheep into the direction
they needed to go.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
And it hurt, but it got them going in the
direction they needed to go.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
He said, that's what the Bible is like. That's why
some people won't come to a church that preaches the Bible. Well,
they read the Bible. I'm not interested. I'm not going
to go there. You know why you're not going to
go there because the Bible convicts you. There are churches
you can go to for a year and never once
be convicted of sin because they're never going to minister
(19:24):
the Bible.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
But here is like a cattle prode. This is what
he's saying to us.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
The words of the Wise in here are like cattle prods.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Here we are dumb sheep.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Straying, always going off in the wrong direction of left
to ourself, and he says, God comes along with his
word and prod you or swatch you. Even in the
Old Testament, when David said in the twenty three Psalm,
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me, he wasn't
necessarily talking about something that was pleasurable, because.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
That Old Testament shepherd would take that rod and he
he was an expert at hurling that thing through.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
The air at a strange sheep and whacking him from
behind with it, or that sheep would turn around and
get back in with the flock. Thy Rod and thy
staff they comfort me. They get me into where I
ought to be. Before I was afflicted. I went astray,
the Psalma said, But now I have kept your word?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
What has made me keep his word? I got afflicted?
What afflicts us sometimes the word of God.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
I can't tell how many people come up to me,
all the times they boy pastor that message really stung,
But it was good, I said, I didn't mean to
sting you. To see, when the word is really preached
the way it ought to be preached, it lovingly, graciously,
mercifully prods us and corrects us. And gets us going
in the right direction. This is the beauty and the
(20:58):
power of God's word. Though it sometimes stings with conviction,
it prods us towards life. It's good for us. And
as a shepherd drives his sheep toward greener pastures, so
God's word drives us to the green pastures of righteous living.
Now we're coming to the last verses, chapter or verse twelve.
(21:20):
But my child, let me give you some further advice.
Be careful, for writing books is endless and much study.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Where's you out?
Speaker 4 (21:29):
You're looking at a guy that can amen that I
live studying. I study all the time. My constitution is
kind of built for it. I've been a reader since
I was a little kid. When my friends were off
playing marbles, I was grabbing Encyclopedia Britannica and run off
into the woods to learn the names of all.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
The birds and creatures.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
So picture me at eight in the woods with an encyclopedia,
and you've got me.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
But here's what he's saying. He's telling us that not
all study is advantageous to our soul. There's an endless
number of books to read, most of which will do
nothing at all to strengthen your mind or your spirit.
You can live just reading junk, and it's a weary
(22:20):
weariness to your flesh. So the best advice is that
more of your reading than not should be that which edifies,
like the Bible and other books that have to do
with the things of God. I rarely, except when I
read history, rarely read something that doesn't speak to my
soul and feed my soul.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
I read a lot of history.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
I love history, and I read a lot of philosophy
only so that I can speak to this generation. Now
the close, Solomon sums up the book with one final admonition.
Here's the end, last two verses, and this is out
of the NLT New Living Translation. That's the whole story.
(23:03):
Here now is my final conclusion. Fear God and obey
his commands. Can we say that together, Fear God and
obey us. After all this searching and seeking and sensuality
and drunkenness, hedonism and philosophy and depression and disillusionment and pessimism,
he finally comes down to this. He says, here's what
(23:26):
I've got to say at the end of my book,
Fear God and obey his commands. For this is everybody's duty,
and then verse fourteen, God will judge us for everything
we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad. So,
(23:48):
in light of the reality of coming judgment and accountability
before God for how we lived our life, wisdom advises
we fear the Lord and live a life of obedience
and honor to Him.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
As we finish this series on the Book of Ecclesiastes,
Pastor Jeff hopes that these messages have been an encouragement.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
To our spiritual lives.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Ecclesiastes has taught us that in order to feel close
to God, we need to spend time in his presence.
None of the world's pleasures can amount to the joy.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
That we can feel in the Lord.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
When we put aside our meaningless things and pursue god fully,
he rewards us with a greater awareness of His majesty.
Here's some more information about Hardwired.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
If these messages have proven to be a blessing and
benefit to you each time you listen, we're hoping you
might want to learn more about partnering with us financially.
If you're interested in donating, we have a few ways
you can do that. First of all, by tapping on
the present icon on your player that will take you
to the Hardwired Giving page. Another way to donate is
by simply tapping the give button on Pastor Jeff's profile.
(24:55):
We're so thankful this ministry as possible, and it's all
because of you. Before we go, we'd like you to
hear what's coming up on the next edition of Hardwired.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Doesn't it always feel like we're our own worst enemies
No matter how hard we try and live for God,
our own fleshly desires get in the way and we
choose to satisfy ourselves before doing what God has told
us to do.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Well.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Pastor Jeff is going to start a series about the
battles that every Christian faces as we must deny the
cravings of our flesh that lead us into sin. When
we walk in the ways of the Holy Spirit, we
can say no to our own bodies cravings. That's all
we have for today's edition of Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire.
If you'd like a copy of today's message, you can
(25:40):
download it from our website hardwired dot org. Be sure
to tune in again as Pastor Jeff continues teaching through
the Book of Galatians.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Next time on Hardwired
You're listening to Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire, Here's what's coming up.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
In today's edition.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
We preach Christ and him crucified. We harp on the blood.
Speaker 4 (00:10):
We will never depart from the Cross, never from the Blood,
never from Jesus being the one and only way. Because
I look at that judgment coming, and I say, Dear God,
help us.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
To reach as many people as.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
We can in as many ways as we can, as
fast as we can, as creatively as we can, as
urgently as we can, because it's coming. It's coming. That
judgment day is coming.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
When was the last time you came across a street
preacher or someone witnessing in public. Maybe you cringed inside
as you walk past them, or tried to hide away
from their gaze as you cross their chosen street corner.
But faster, Jeff wants you to realize that these people
understand the urgency of the great commission. No one knows
the day that Jesus is going to return for his bride,
(01:03):
but it is the responsibility of every believer to make
sure that as many people are saved as.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Possible before that happened.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Well, let's join bestor Jeff in the Book of Ecclesiastes
Chapter twelve as he continues his message remember your Creator.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Where he goes next shows me.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
It excites me, and I'm so glad that chapter twelve
is here because chapter the first eleven chapters, this man's
in a dark place. This man's in a struggling place.
This man is really struggling with things. But in chapter
twelve you begin to see real glimpses of spiritual breakthrough,
in spiritual understanding. That let you know Solomon made it
(01:45):
to the other side, because once again he's going to
reveal greater clarity about life after death and the reality
of eternity. Verse seven says, then the dust, once you've died,
then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
and the spirit will return to.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
God who gave it.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Everybody say with me, wow, Amen, See that's a revelation.
He has not been there the first eleven chapters, but
he's there now. He's talking about death, he's talking about
the end of everything. He's talking about life coming.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
To a close. He says, here's where I am in
my faith.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
My body is going to return to the ground, but
my spirit that God gave to me is going to
go straight to him. What if, Paul say in the
New Testament, absent from the body, present with the Lord.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Two things happen at death.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
One, the body returns to dust, whether by cremation or
over time. While in the ground, it returns to that
from which it came dust. We all came from dirt.
Hate to break it to you, but you are not
made of fairy dust. We all came from dirt. We
came from the dust.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
So by Jeffiahs, don't believe that we're not made of dirt.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Genesis two, verse seven says, then the Lord God formed
the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed
the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the
man became a living person. That was the impartation of
his soul. But he was first formed out of dust.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
And to the dust.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
The body returns until the voice calls it out of
the grave. And when the voice calls it out of
the grave, it comes back together into a glorified body,
like under the glorified body of Jesus Christ, and it
lives forever and forever and forever. That's what he's talking about.
(03:44):
My spirit is going to go to God. But the
resurrection is going to happen one day. And this is
the crux and the center of the Christian faith, resurrection, Resurrection.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I am the Way, the Truth, the Life.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
He that believes in me shall not die, but have
everlasting life. And though he were dead, yet shall he live.
I am the Resurrection and the Life. The trumpet will
blow and the dead in Christ will rise. First, as
Jesus looked into lazarus grave, and the voice called to
(04:24):
Lazarus and said, come forth, we have a picture of
what's going to happen one day with billions of people.
Because Lazarus, dead four days and nights, came out of
there wrapped in his grave clothes, a man resurrected from
the dead. And right before that happened, Jesus had told
Martha and Mary, I am the Resurrection. Let me show
(04:45):
you what I mean. I'm about to give you show
and tell. And so he walked right over to and said,
move that stone away. I'm about to show you who
I really am and who you're talking to. And he
called a dead man out going to call billions of
dead people out of the grave.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
That's the promise of the gospel. That's it.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
So the body returns to the dust, waiting the resurrection.
But then second, the spirit within us, that eternal part
of our constitution, our soul, immediately returns to God. You
are an eternal creature, person, entity, your eternal and your
(05:30):
eternal life isn't going to begin one day.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
It has already begun.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
If you're a Christian, your eternal life has already started.
But you're not like other creatures that God created.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
God gave you.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
He breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life. We
don't read that he did that with anything else He
gave him that he had created. He gave to him
a living It says he became a living soul. So
the stunny, awesome thing about people, and most don't realize it, is.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
That they are eternal.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Moses said, let the Lord, the God of the spirits
of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Now you notice the theology of Moses.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
There, even Moses understood that we had a spirit within
us that was eternal.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
And that God was God over our spirit.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Our spirit would answer to God, would go to God,
would return to God.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
What Moses said, Echoes.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
What Solomon said, and what the whole Bible teaches that
we have an eternal soul, and that when our body quits,
it immediately goes to the one who made us.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
The God of the spirits of all flesh. What a
powerful statement.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
Our God, the God of the Bible, is the God
of the souls of every human being ever conceived and
at conception, that conceived child, at conception is a living soul.
(07:21):
On the Great Day of Judgment that's galloping our way,
every person who rejected his son, or who refused to
walk in the light God gave them, will be brought
before the God of all spirits. They will be Every
person that ever lived is going to be resurrected. Not
just Christians. Everyone's going to be resurrected. Everyone Hitler is
(07:42):
going to be resurrected. Mussolini's going to be resurrected. I
don't care you name any person of infamy and history,
any atheist, any god hater, any wicked, evil person. They're
all going to be resurrected and brought before God. There's
going to be a resurrection of every human being. That's
the awesome message of the Great White Throne Judgment, and
(08:05):
the God of all spirits is going to judge each one.
If you're covering the blood of the Lamb, you're not
judged for any sin whatsoever. You're free, home free. But
if you didn't come to Christ, if you resisted him,
if you suppressed the truth, if you pushed it down,
if you did not allow him into your life, if
(08:25):
you denied him, walked away from him, ignored him, which
our country is doing today in spades, then there's going
to come an awesome day, folks. There's going to come
an awesome day. This sits on my spirit every day.
It sits on my spirit.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
I know this. There's an awesome day of judgment coming.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
It's terrifying and it's jaw dropping, and it's almost it
is it's incomprehensible.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
What it will be like. But your spirit, my spirit,
the spirit of.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Every human that ever live, is going to go before God,
the God of all the spirits. And what a horrible
thing to fall in the hands of the living God.
It's a fearful thing to fall in the hands of
the living God and face that judgment. That's why we
preach Christ and him crucified. We harp on the blood.
We will never depart from the cross, never from the blood,
never from.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Jesus being the one and only way.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Because I look at that judgment coming, and I say,
Dear God, help us to reach as many people as
we can in as many ways as we can, as
fast as we can, as creatively as we can, as
urgently as we can, because it's coming. It's coming, That
(09:45):
judgment day is coming now, he says in verse eight.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Vanity, vanity, says the preacher, All is vanity. Here we
go again. This is verse eight, the same way that
he began the book. He's ending the book. All is vanity.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
But let's clarify what he means now at the end
of the book and what he says, what I'm about
to share with you. He's right about it. All is vanity.
All things in the world are vain. All creatures are
subject to vanity, all of them, All of God's created order, dogs, cats,
(10:17):
all the mammals, lions, tigers, bears, all the marine life,
all are subject to vanity. They have been subjected to
vanity because of sin. The entire creation is suffering because
of sin.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Let me just blow your mind on something.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
You know that God did not create carnivores in the beginning.
He did create animals to go tear each other to.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Pieces and eat each other.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Do you know if you go to Genesis and you
look at what God says, is heated as he created
everything says he looked at everything and said it was good.
And he said to Adam, I have given to you
every herb of the field for food, as well as.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
To all the animals. Read it.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
All the animals, lions were originally herbivores, not carnivores.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
God didn't create animals.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Say now, go ahead and tear each other to pieces
and need each other up, and it is good. Don't
tell me God did that way. They die, that terrible death,
the fear of the terror that wasn't a part of
God's original creation. You know that in Paradise lost, we
got to get in our heads that creation went nuts.
(11:32):
The soul of people went crazy, our thinking got skewed,
and the.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Whole created order got out of order. And so we
see Paradise lost.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
But when Paradise is regained, what do we find In
Isaiah the lion lays down with the lamb, and it
says the lion.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Is eating straw.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
I look forward to that day because I love God's
created or I hate the way they suffer when they
eat each other up. I look forward to the day
if that line is laying down with the lamb, that
a child can pray, can play in a cobra's den,
and the cobra will not bite him.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
That's what Isaiah said.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Isaiah showed us the recapturing and regaining of lost paradise,
and it's found again in and through and because of
Jesus Christ. All right now, all the creatures are subject
(12:31):
to vanity. Man in every state, and in his best estate,
is altogether vanity.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
Thanks for listening to Hardwired. We're exploring the wisdom of Solomon.
Solomon entertains thoughts related to the futility of life. Something
that stands out is that without God, that 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.
(12:58):
Each sermon is complimented by 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 4 (13:21):
Now, the wise man, the preacher Solomon, can affirm with
confidence these things, because after he had shown that not
only childhood and youth.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Are vanity, but even old age, the.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Infirmities, the sorrows, the distresses of which he is just discussed,
that's all vanity. But and then everything ends in death.
The last end of man is for his body to
return to the earth and his soul to God. Now,
if we stopped right there, if you just stopped right there,
then you could actually agree with everything he taught in Ecclesiastes.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
When it comes to vanity, it's all vanity. What's it
all for. You're just gonna die, somebody else is gonna
get what you earn. You're just going to return to
the dust. And that's it. What's it all for? Its vanity.
But we have a savior.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Who undid and reversed the curse. So the vanity far
is only for the godless, only for those who reject Christ.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Then, and indeed everything everything you touch is going to
be vanity.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
But for those who have trusted in Christ, there is
redemption from the curse, the paradise that was lost in
the garden, is paradise found again in him.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
That's why the Bible says in Revelations at the very.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
End, behold, I make all things new, glory to God. Well,
I could stop right there and go home, because that
excites me. Where would we be without Jesus? Where would
we be without the blood of the Lamb. Where would
we be without the spirit of grace and the Holy
(14:57):
ghost living on the inside of us? Where we be
without the God of hope. Where would we be without
the promises in the Bible? It would be vanity. Vanity
all is vanity. But praise God, amazing grace, How sweet
the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once
was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now
(15:17):
I see glory to God. So I don't live in vanity.
I live in hope. Now we come to the epilogue
of the Book of Ecclesiastes. Here's the epilogue, Verses nine
and ten and moreover. Now he's talking about himself. He's
(15:38):
kind of summoned things up. He's summing things up and
so moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught
to people knowledge. Yes, he pondered and sought out and
set in order many proverbs.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
You got the Book of Proverbs in here.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
The preacher sought to find acceptable words, and what was
written was upright words of truth. He's telling us that
what he shared was inspired. Solomon still taught the people
knowledge after his fall into idolatry and his recovery.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
On his way through recovery, he gave us Ecclesiastes.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
In his better days, he gave us the Proverbs and
the Song of Solomon. He communicated his knowledge. He didn't
hide his talent into the earth, nor in a napkin.
But having freely received, he freely gave and kept back
nothing from his people.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
What he shared were words of truth. I love this Bible.
I'm holding my hand gold.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Silver, precious stones, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, all waiting for
you to dig it up out of this word. This
is a precious word. There's no book like this in
all the earth. The word of God, the word of God.
So he says, what I share with you were words
of truth. They were inspired.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
He taught them the knowledge of themselves.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
He told them the truth about themselves. You're falling, you're impure,
you're impotent and you're unrighteous. That's the truth about men.
The knowledge of the creatures, of God's creation. He told
the truth about that, and the vanity that they're all
subjected to. He taught them about riches, honor, and pleasures.
(17:32):
He taught them that there was no real answer in money,
no real answer and sensuality, no answer in hedonism, no
real answer in other philosophies. That the only answer was
fearing God and obeying his word. He taught about Christ
as the wisdom of God. Did you know that Solomon did?
(17:53):
Taught about Christ as the wisdom of God, told about
the eternal nature of his person, his glories, his excellencies,
and his beauties. And you find those truths in the Proverbs.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
And in the Song of Solomon. This man was an
incredibly gifted man, though he fell verse eleven. The words
of the wise, he's talking about his own wisdom now,
and the wisdom of the Bible.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
The words of the wives are like goads, and the
words of scholars are like well driven nails given by
one shepherd. Now I pulled that out from another version
because it makes a little bit better sense.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
The NLT puts it this way. The words of the
Wise are like cattle prods. Catch this so we're in foe.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Woof, So we understand cattle prodze right, how about a taser.
The words of the Wise are like cattle prods, painful
but helpful. Their collected sayings, everything in this book are
like a nail studded stick.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Which is what shepherds would use in the Old Testament.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
They would have a stick that was had nails in
it and they would prod the sheep into the direction
they needed to go.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
And it hurt, but it got them going in the
direction they needed to go.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
He said, that's what the Bible is like. That's why
some people won't come to a church that preaches the Bible. Well,
they read the Bible. I'm not interested. I'm not going
to go there. You know why you're not going to
go there because the Bible convicts you. There are churches
you can go to for a year and never once
be convicted of sin because they're never going to minister
(19:24):
the Bible.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
But here is like a cattle prode. This is what
he's saying to us.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
The words of the Wise in here are like cattle prods.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Here we are dumb sheep.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Straying, always going off in the wrong direction of left
to ourself, and he says, God comes along with his
word and prod you or swatch you. Even in the
Old Testament, when David said in the twenty three Psalm,
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me, he wasn't
necessarily talking about something that was pleasurable, because.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
That Old Testament shepherd would take that rod and he
he was an expert at hurling that thing through.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
The air at a strange sheep and whacking him from
behind with it, or that sheep would turn around and
get back in with the flock. Thy Rod and thy
staff they comfort me. They get me into where I
ought to be. Before I was afflicted. I went astray,
the Psalma said, But now I have kept your word?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
What has made me keep his word? I got afflicted?
What afflicts us sometimes the word of God.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
I can't tell how many people come up to me,
all the times they boy pastor that message really stung,
But it was good, I said, I didn't mean to
sting you. To see, when the word is really preached
the way it ought to be preached, it lovingly, graciously,
mercifully prods us and corrects us. And gets us going
in the right direction. This is the beauty and the
(20:58):
power of God's word. Though it sometimes stings with conviction,
it prods us towards life. It's good for us. And
as a shepherd drives his sheep toward greener pastures, so
God's word drives us to the green pastures of righteous living.
Now we're coming to the last verses, chapter or verse twelve.
(21:20):
But my child, let me give you some further advice.
Be careful, for writing books is endless and much study.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Where's you out?
Speaker 4 (21:29):
You're looking at a guy that can amen that I
live studying. I study all the time. My constitution is
kind of built for it. I've been a reader since
I was a little kid. When my friends were off
playing marbles, I was grabbing Encyclopedia Britannica and run off
into the woods to learn the names of all.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
The birds and creatures.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
So picture me at eight in the woods with an encyclopedia,
and you've got me.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
But here's what he's saying. He's telling us that not
all study is advantageous to our soul. There's an endless
number of books to read, most of which will do
nothing at all to strengthen your mind or your spirit.
You can live just reading junk, and it's a weary
(22:20):
weariness to your flesh. So the best advice is that
more of your reading than not should be that which edifies,
like the Bible and other books that have to do
with the things of God. I rarely, except when I
read history, rarely read something that doesn't speak to my
soul and feed my soul.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
I read a lot of history.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
I love history, and I read a lot of philosophy
only so that I can speak to this generation. Now
the close, Solomon sums up the book with one final admonition.
Here's the end, last two verses, and this is out
of the NLT New Living Translation. That's the whole story.
(23:03):
Here now is my final conclusion. Fear God and obey
his commands. Can we say that together, Fear God and
obey us. After all this searching and seeking and sensuality
and drunkenness, hedonism and philosophy and depression and disillusionment and pessimism,
he finally comes down to this. He says, here's what
(23:26):
I've got to say at the end of my book,
Fear God and obey his commands. For this is everybody's duty,
and then verse fourteen, God will judge us for everything
we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad. So,
(23:48):
in light of the reality of coming judgment and accountability
before God for how we lived our life, wisdom advises
we fear the Lord and live a life of obedience
and honor to Him.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
As we finish this series on the Book of Ecclesiastes,
Pastor Jeff hopes that these messages have been an encouragement.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
To our spiritual lives.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Ecclesiastes has taught us that in order to feel close
to God, we need to spend time in his presence.
None of the world's pleasures can amount to the joy.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
That we can feel in the Lord.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
When we put aside our meaningless things and pursue god fully,
he rewards us with a greater awareness of His majesty.
Here's some more information about Hardwired.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
If these messages have proven to be a blessing and
benefit to you each time you listen, we're hoping you
might want to learn more about partnering with us financially.
If you're interested in donating, we have a few ways
you can do that. First of all, by tapping on
the present icon on your player that will take you
to the Hardwired Giving page. Another way to donate is
by simply tapping the give button on Pastor Jeff's profile.
(24:55):
We're so thankful this ministry as possible, and it's all
because of you. Before we go, we'd like you to
hear what's coming up on the next edition of Hardwired.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Doesn't it always feel like we're our own worst enemies
No matter how hard we try and live for God,
our own fleshly desires get in the way and we
choose to satisfy ourselves before doing what God has told
us to do.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Well.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Pastor Jeff is going to start a series about the
battles that every Christian faces as we must deny the
cravings of our flesh that lead us into sin. When
we walk in the ways of the Holy Spirit, we
can say no to our own bodies cravings. That's all
we have for today's edition of Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire.
If you'd like a copy of today's message, you can
(25:40):
download it from our website hardwired dot org. Be sure
to tune in again as Pastor Jeff continues teaching through
the Book of Galatians.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Next time on Hardwired
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