WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.240 Thanks so much Gethin. A man told the story of how he'd only lasted five minutes in a shopping centre 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:20.879 ! But it wasn't out of boredom or being in the wrong shops or being dragged around by his wife. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:31.519 He'd just come back from a second tour of Iraq and at home he'd been haunted by images of what he'd seen 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:42.539 in other places in the world. He couldn't last among the heaps of stuff being sold and being bought 00:00:42.539 --> 00:00:53.240 in the aisles of the shops. His friend paused and asked him why and he said, after you've seen what 00:00:53.240 --> 00:01:03.140 the world is really like, it is hard to have patience with a shopping mall. He'd had a realisation. 00:01:03.140 --> 00:01:13.700 He'd seen the world in a new way and the constant chasing after enjoyment from stuff seemed vacuous 00:01:13.700 --> 00:01:23.960 to him. And that realisation is like the realisation that the preacher who speaks to us in this passage 00:01:23.960 --> 00:01:30.819 wants us to have. Here's the preacher we were introduced to last week in chapter 1 verse 1. 00:01:30.819 --> 00:01:37.199 The son of David, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Probably referring to King Solomon. 00:01:38.339 --> 00:01:46.759 And he takes us on a world tour to give us undiluted reality about the world that we live in. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:55.939 So that we might see the world for what it really is. So that like the soldier we will lose patience 00:01:55.939 --> 00:02:05.159 with our way of searching for satisfaction. He wants to burst the bubble so that we will look 00:02:05.159 --> 00:02:14.319 somewhere else to someone else far bigger. And he's already asked with us, is there anything new 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:19.639 under the sun that will satisfy our hunger for satisfaction? 00:02:19.639 --> 00:02:28.539 But now he wants in this next chapter to ask a slightly different question. To ask, is there anything 00:02:28.539 --> 00:02:41.399 pleasurable enough to satisfy us? Can pleasure be my saviour? He asks. What's your pleasure? 00:02:41.400 --> 00:02:52.200 And does it work? He is about to put that question to the test. So firstly this afternoon he tests his heart 00:02:52.200 --> 00:02:57.540 with pleasure. Just have a look at verse 1 of chapter 2 there. 00:02:58.740 --> 00:03:04.860 I said in my heart, come now I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. 00:03:04.860 --> 00:03:13.080 Do you see what he's doing there? He's kind of speaking to himself, isn't he? And there are several 00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:20.140 points where the preacher does this through Ecclesiastes. He does this kind of talking to himself thing. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:30.080 And it's as if we are getting to listen, to read what he writes in his own diary. But notice the 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:38.360 important detail here, who he writes to in his diary. Did you see that in verse 1? Dear diary, 00:03:39.020 --> 00:03:47.939 I said in my heart. He speaks to his heart. Come now, I will test you with pleasure. 00:03:49.600 --> 00:03:57.320 The test he's about to embark on is not a test of his tastes, whether he likes dark chocolate 00:03:57.319 --> 00:04:05.000 or white chocolate, whether he likes classical music or rock music. It's not about testing 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:14.319 his tastes, but he wants to test his heart with pleasure. He wants to work out what lies 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:23.459 beneath his desires, to scrutinise himself and his heart. To pull it apart, to really think 00:04:23.459 --> 00:04:31.339 about what makes him tick and where his desires come from. To take a step away from himself 00:04:31.339 --> 00:04:41.459 and to test himself and to ask what really is the human heart about? What are human desires 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:50.500 about? He wants to know what does his heart really need? What is the human heart really about? 00:04:50.500 --> 00:05:01.439 And does pleasure under the sun fill that need? As he does this, as he tests his own heart, 00:05:01.560 --> 00:05:10.620 he invites us to do the same. To scrutinise the make-up of our own hearts. To review all of the 00:05:10.620 --> 00:05:19.360 ways that we have sought pleasure in this life and to examine how our hearts have responded 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:27.800 to those pleasures. He asks the question with us, have all of those pleasures really worked? 00:05:29.019 --> 00:05:38.060 Have they filled up my heart? Have they saved me? So he tests the heart with pleasure. 00:05:38.060 --> 00:05:49.339 So as he does that, secondly, see him enjoy a palace full of pleasure. See him enjoy a palace 00:05:49.339 --> 00:05:58.639 full of pleasure. He wants to test his heart with pleasure and so he dives in completely. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:08.159 He's in a unique position to be able to run this experiment. Solomon was a very, very wealthy 00:06:08.159 --> 00:06:17.819 man and money is no object to him to make his pleasure shopping list a living reality in verse 00:06:17.819 --> 00:06:26.439 2 to 10. So he's going to test his heart with as many different pleasures as he can imagine. 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:37.360 You see, he tests his heart with comedy and with laughter in verse 2. He says, if I want comedy, 00:06:37.459 --> 00:06:47.120 I don't need to just watch the DVD. I can have live comedians at my live parties. I can have 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:58.560 Tommy Cooper at my house. I can have Del Boy and Rodney 24-7. I can get everybody round and we can have a good 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:08.379 old laugh. We can have a blast. We can enjoy ourselves. But from pretty early on we can see where this 00:07:08.379 --> 00:07:17.699 experiment is going. Pleasure and laughter is great for enjoyment. He knows it. But it's a poor saviour. 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:26.120 Comedy and laughter is a great thing, isn't it? And we enjoy a good laugh. There's medical evidence to show 00:07:26.120 --> 00:07:34.100 that it's just good for us to have a good old belly laugh with each other. But he knows that laughter can 00:07:34.100 --> 00:07:43.920 only go so far. It's great for enjoying, but it's poor for saving us. And we know that, don't we? That 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:50.640 people who are obsessed with laughter, people who are only laughing all of the time, can actually be 00:07:50.640 --> 00:07:59.480 quite boring, annoying people. Laughter is good to a point. He says in verse 2, laughter is mad. 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:09.480 The line between laughter being a good thing and laughter being folly is very, very thin indeed. 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:19.259 Laughter is often used to cover up our own folly and our own foolishness. Laughing about things that 00:08:19.259 --> 00:08:28.939 should shame us. Laughing about a drunken episode. Laughter keeps us from keeping our responsibilities to one 00:08:28.939 --> 00:08:34.220 another. If I wrong somebody. If I wrong somebody, what do I do? I'll just say, well, lighten up. 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:42.759 The Proverbs says, like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows and death is the man who deceives 00:08:42.759 --> 00:08:53.259 his neighbour and says, I'm only joking. But he sees laughter itself cannot fulfil him. It cannot 00:08:53.259 --> 00:09:03.679 save him. Laughter needs a saviour too. Neither is music enough to save him, is it? In verse 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:11.080 8 he says, I've got singers, both men and women. Again, if I like music, I don't have to download 00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:19.259 it. I'll just buy the band. I'll just buy the orchestra. He can cancel out all of the noise 00:09:19.259 --> 00:09:27.379 and arrange his own personal soundtrack that gets him through life 24-7. He can put on the 00:09:27.379 --> 00:09:37.059 headphones and close his eyes and lose himself in the music. But we know, don't we, that as 00:09:37.059 --> 00:09:43.759 soon as we open our eyes, the world is still the same. The washing up still needs doing. 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:52.179 The nappies still need changing. The world hasn't really changed. Music is good for enjoying, 00:09:52.379 --> 00:10:01.919 but it's poor at saving. He looks at sex and alcohol, doesn't he? There's alcohol in verse 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:10.080 3. I search with my heart how to cheer my body with wine. He gets many concubines in verse 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:18.740 8. Sexual partners. The delight of the sons of men. He indulges in uninhibited sexual pleasure. 00:10:19.780 --> 00:10:28.080 If he can think of it, it's as good as done. And all of these things are delightful to him, 00:10:28.860 --> 00:10:36.480 but they don't bring the gain he'd hoped for. With each partner and with each bottle of wine, 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:46.120 he finishes with it and he says, I'm done with that. And it doesn't work. The beer adverts and the 00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:54.860 movies never show, do they, what happens at 3am after a heavy night. He tests his heart with parties. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:11:02.159 He lays on parties. And if you know anything about Solomon, he lays on the biggest parties you've ever 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:14.419 seen. Extravagant masses of indulgence. Thousands of people there. But once one party has been done, 00:11:14.419 --> 00:11:24.279 once one extravagant thing has been done, it feels a bit lame the next time. We did that last time and 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:32.559 it just feels a bit lame now Solomon. So he has to do another party, even bigger and even better than 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:39.740 the last one. He has to get more women and more drink and more music to keep the excitement going. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:50.639 They pleasured me but they could not save me. So he tries a different pleasure in verse 7 and 8. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:12:04.539 He amasses material goods. Silver and gold and slaves. He sees it. He clicks on it. He buys it and he gets it 00:12:04.539 --> 00:12:14.620 delivered. And after all of that, he says in verse 9, I became popular. I surpassed all who were before me 00:12:14.620 --> 00:12:24.000 in Jerusalem. He enjoys popularity. People love him and his parties and all of his wealth. 00:12:26.580 --> 00:12:33.120 I'm sure most of us have heard the story that Jesus tells about the prodigal son in Luke's gospel. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:42.539 In that story, the son leaves home and he spends his father's inheritance on extreme living, doesn't he? 00:12:42.539 --> 00:12:51.559 He squanders his property on reckless living, Jesus says. And as we see what the preacher is doing in this 00:12:51.559 --> 00:13:00.519 experiment, we might think that the preacher is like the prodigal. But he is not. The difference between 00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:07.579 the preacher and the prodigal is that the prodigal goes to those pleasures, believing that they will 00:13:07.580 --> 00:13:15.680 satisfy him in the end. But as the preacher starts this experiment, he is more sceptical than that. 00:13:17.259 --> 00:13:19.440 Do you see in verse 3, he says, 00:13:19.580 --> 00:13:24.580 All the while, my heart was still guiding me with wisdom. 00:13:24.580 --> 00:13:36.300 And in the end, in verse 11, he sees that it was a striving after the wind. There was nothing to be 00:13:36.300 --> 00:13:44.259 gained under the sun in this great pleasure-seeking project. It was like trying to catch the wind in a net. 00:13:44.259 --> 00:13:55.740 In the chest of his heart, he was pleasuring himself, but he couldn't save himself with these pleasures. 00:13:56.860 --> 00:14:04.240 He was always having fun, but never happy. Describe so many people today. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:14.360 I wonder when we see this kind of thing in the Bible, our moral sensibilities kind of shrink back a little bit, don't they? 00:14:14.460 --> 00:14:25.879 What's this doing here? But don't get the preacher wrong. This test of pleasure is not just a test of immoral pleasure. 00:14:25.879 --> 00:14:36.039 You see, he does the respectable pleasure too, doesn't he? He enjoys art and architecture and work. 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:43.019 He's a lover of nature in verse 5. He's got the kind of country lifestyle. 00:14:44.299 --> 00:14:48.279 Sculpted trees and gardens and exotic flowers. 00:14:49.799 --> 00:14:54.620 He is the respectable expert on gardener's question time, isn't he? 00:14:54.620 --> 00:14:58.820 Don't picture him as a renegade hedonist. 00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:04.500 He is refined and tasteful. He is upper class. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:11.259 He turns his palace into an art gallery to satisfy his heart. 00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:17.220 He enjoys the wonder of seeing wonderful good things. 00:15:18.259 --> 00:15:23.759 The wonder that we've all felt when we see a floor-to-ceiling da Vinci painting, 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:26.399 or we go to St. Paul's Cathedral. 00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:33.639 They're all good things, but he wants us to see again that with all pleasures, 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:37.519 whatever it is that we look to, they cannot save us. 00:15:38.580 --> 00:15:41.679 The pleasures themselves need saving. 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:48.399 And the bottom line is that whatever you do to get pleasure, 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:52.939 whether you drink too much, or you're a connoisseur, 00:15:53.779 --> 00:15:58.759 whether you sleep around, or if you keep the marriage bed holy, 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:03.859 whether you do pleasure immorally or morally, 00:16:03.860 --> 00:16:10.720 pleasure itself is not enough for your heart or my heart. 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:16.180 And as good people, as respectable people, 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:21.000 we make the mistake, don't we, of thinking that we are not hedonists. 00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:27.060 But if we are seeking pleasure in this life to fulfil our hearts, 00:16:27.139 --> 00:16:31.000 then we're just doing it a bit more respectively than what he's doing here. 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:37.360 He is saying that even good and right pleasure is not enough. 00:16:38.700 --> 00:16:42.639 Even good sex in marriage is not enough. 00:16:43.940 --> 00:16:46.500 Even a healthy attitude to alcohol, 00:16:47.580 --> 00:16:49.820 or being on a gluten-free diet, 00:16:50.100 --> 00:16:51.740 or eating the right foods, 00:16:51.860 --> 00:16:53.139 or going to the gym, 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:56.840 or reading good books that make us feel virtuous. 00:16:56.840 --> 00:17:02.240 Those things that are good and bring pleasure to us, 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:04.079 they will not save us. 00:17:06.460 --> 00:17:09.600 Vincent van Gogh, I didn't know this about him until this week, 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:13.600 but apparently he did most of his artwork in an asylum. 00:17:14.740 --> 00:17:16.319 He suffered from mental illness, 00:17:17.059 --> 00:17:19.759 and was kept away from the rest of society. 00:17:20.740 --> 00:17:25.799 One Bible commentator uses him as an illustration of our search for pleasure. 00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:27.819 He says, 00:17:27.819 --> 00:17:34.259 We and what we create resemble the marvellous but troubled Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. 00:17:35.339 --> 00:17:40.039 He painted majestic beauty from within an asylum. 00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:44.180 The paintings bless and reveal 00:17:44.180 --> 00:17:47.799 that they could not preserve his sanity, 00:17:48.579 --> 00:17:51.220 and they cannot free us. 00:17:51.220 --> 00:17:57.600 So we must wait for gain from another source outside of the prison. 00:17:59.500 --> 00:18:03.660 And this is what the preacher discovers about his heart, 00:18:04.600 --> 00:18:08.579 and about trying to gain pleasure and fulfilling it under the sun. 00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:10.279 He could enjoy pleasure, 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:12.860 but it couldn't save him. 00:18:14.460 --> 00:18:17.279 Nothing he could provide for his own heart 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:18.799 would satisfy his heart, 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:20.480 because it came from himself. 00:18:22.099 --> 00:18:22.579 He says, 00:18:22.660 --> 00:18:23.599 Listen to me, 00:18:23.700 --> 00:18:24.940 I've done it all, 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:25.879 believe me. 00:18:27.019 --> 00:18:29.399 And you cannot change your hobbies, 00:18:29.859 --> 00:18:30.819 or your job, 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:32.680 or your TV package, 00:18:33.339 --> 00:18:34.259 or your car, 00:18:34.460 --> 00:18:35.799 or your holiday operator, 00:18:36.279 --> 00:18:37.779 or your music taste, 00:18:38.619 --> 00:18:39.899 and get satisfaction. 00:18:39.900 --> 00:18:45.860 These things in themselves will never free you from the prison of desire. 00:18:47.360 --> 00:18:51.759 You can fill your heart with more and more and more pleasure, 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:53.800 but you will still be trapped, 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:57.519 and it will be a striving after the wind. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:00.900 But lastly, 00:19:01.259 --> 00:19:02.539 and more briefly, 00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:05.139 he tests his heart with pleasure, 00:19:05.259 --> 00:19:07.059 he enjoys a palace of pleasure, 00:19:07.700 --> 00:19:08.799 but thirdly and lastly, 00:19:08.940 --> 00:19:10.779 he glimpses lasting pleasure. 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:13.000 He glimpses lasting pleasure. 00:19:15.059 --> 00:19:16.900 It was the French reformer, 00:19:16.940 --> 00:19:17.660 John Calvin, 00:19:17.819 --> 00:19:21.220 who said that we are prompted by our own ills 00:19:21.220 --> 00:19:24.859 to contemplate the good things of God. 00:19:24.859 --> 00:19:31.119 And maybe we recognise ourselves in the preacher here. 00:19:32.359 --> 00:19:37.199 We recognise that we are searching for satisfaction under the sun. 00:19:38.539 --> 00:19:39.939 Always having fun, 00:19:40.099 --> 00:19:41.619 but never really happy. 00:19:43.379 --> 00:19:45.000 And he is saying to us, 00:19:45.079 --> 00:19:46.039 along with Calvin, 00:19:46.219 --> 00:19:47.559 that that feeling 00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:51.419 tells us that there must be a good God. 00:19:51.420 --> 00:19:55.600 that there must be something more 00:19:55.600 --> 00:19:57.779 to fill my heart. 00:19:59.580 --> 00:20:02.900 We instinctively try to be happy, 00:20:03.019 --> 00:20:03.380 don't we? 00:20:03.420 --> 00:20:05.200 That's just a common pursuit 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:07.279 for every man and woman on the earth. 00:20:08.820 --> 00:20:10.420 But this is the realisation 00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:12.680 that the preacher wants us to have here, 00:20:13.019 --> 00:20:16.200 to get frustrated with our own search, 00:20:16.300 --> 00:20:18.420 and to look to someone much greater. 00:20:18.420 --> 00:20:22.200 Our problem is 00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:24.980 that we take the pleasure 00:20:24.980 --> 00:20:27.920 that certain things provide 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:30.480 as a sign 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:31.880 that those pleasures 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:34.700 constitute real gain in this life, 00:20:35.700 --> 00:20:37.920 that they can truly satisfy. 00:20:39.560 --> 00:20:41.500 But what the preacher realises 00:20:41.500 --> 00:20:43.100 about his own heart 00:20:43.099 --> 00:20:46.359 is that he has a massive appetite 00:20:46.359 --> 00:20:50.159 that he himself cannot satisfy. 00:20:51.679 --> 00:20:55.159 He realises that enjoyment under the sun 00:20:55.159 --> 00:20:57.240 is to drink in 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:00.139 only what he can provide himself. 00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:03.559 But he cannot do it. 00:21:04.699 --> 00:21:07.039 He cannot fill his own heart. 00:21:08.019 --> 00:21:10.299 It's not that the pleasures he chooses 00:21:10.299 --> 00:21:12.159 in this passage are too great. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:15.180 He's not overindulging here. 00:21:16.140 --> 00:21:18.240 It's that the pleasures he's looking at 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:19.820 aren't great enough. 00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:23.660 Later in chapter 3, 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:26.040 and we'll look at this probably next week 00:21:26.040 --> 00:21:27.340 if you want to flick there 00:21:27.340 --> 00:21:28.660 in your Bibles, 00:21:29.800 --> 00:21:32.360 he speaks again about the human heart. 00:21:33.340 --> 00:21:35.460 And he says in chapter 3, verse 11, 00:21:35.460 --> 00:21:39.120 that God has made our hearts 00:21:39.120 --> 00:21:40.180 in a certain way. 00:21:41.620 --> 00:21:44.140 He says God has put eternity 00:21:44.140 --> 00:21:46.259 into man's heart. 00:21:48.259 --> 00:21:50.900 He's saying it's as if there is a groove 00:21:50.900 --> 00:21:53.120 in every single heart 00:21:53.120 --> 00:21:55.240 that is eternal. 00:21:55.240 --> 00:21:59.339 That we have a collective consciousness 00:21:59.339 --> 00:22:02.319 deep down of an eternal, 00:22:02.859 --> 00:22:05.039 infinite source of joy 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:08.259 and we will never be satisfied 00:22:08.259 --> 00:22:10.259 until it finds us. 00:22:10.259 --> 00:22:14.000 It is vanity, he is saying, 00:22:14.119 --> 00:22:16.740 to fill that eternal groove 00:22:16.740 --> 00:22:19.160 with temporary things. 00:22:20.740 --> 00:22:23.200 As he has tested his heart, 00:22:23.619 --> 00:22:25.579 he realises that his heart 00:22:25.579 --> 00:22:27.460 is made for satisfaction 00:22:27.460 --> 00:22:29.240 that is beyond his power 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:30.640 to grasp. 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:35.200 He is the king in Jerusalem, 00:22:35.560 --> 00:22:35.920 isn't he? 00:22:36.259 --> 00:22:37.180 Son of David. 00:22:38.060 --> 00:22:39.580 And as our tour guide, 00:22:39.720 --> 00:22:41.620 he paves the way for us 00:22:41.620 --> 00:22:44.880 for another king in Jerusalem, 00:22:45.220 --> 00:22:47.460 for David's greatest son, 00:22:47.560 --> 00:22:48.759 the king of kings. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:51.800 The one the New Testament calls 00:22:51.800 --> 00:22:53.240 our wisdom, 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:54.920 the Lord Jesus. 00:22:56.700 --> 00:22:58.660 And when the Lord Jesus Christ appears, 00:22:58.660 --> 00:23:00.980 as we hear him saying similar things 00:23:00.980 --> 00:23:02.420 to the preacher, actually. 00:23:03.360 --> 00:23:04.080 He says, 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:07.900 everyone who drinks of this water 00:23:07.900 --> 00:23:09.740 under the sun 00:23:09.740 --> 00:23:12.160 will be thirsty again. 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:15.300 But whoever drinks of the water 00:23:15.300 --> 00:23:16.460 that I provide 00:23:16.460 --> 00:23:19.000 will never be thirsty again. 00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:21.320 He says, 00:23:21.580 --> 00:23:22.340 come to me, 00:23:22.680 --> 00:23:24.480 you who labour and are heavy laden, 00:23:24.600 --> 00:23:26.640 and I will give you rest. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:28.860 He says, 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:30.020 I am the door, 00:23:30.660 --> 00:23:32.480 and if anyone enters by me, 00:23:33.080 --> 00:23:34.100 he will be saved, 00:23:34.180 --> 00:23:35.660 and he will go in and out 00:23:35.660 --> 00:23:37.200 and find pasture. 00:23:37.880 --> 00:23:38.620 He will be filled. 00:23:40.060 --> 00:23:41.000 I came 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:42.640 that they may have life 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:44.640 and have it abundantly, 00:23:44.900 --> 00:23:45.520 says Jesus. 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:48.720 Jesus Christ says, 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:50.820 I am the one 00:23:50.820 --> 00:23:54.100 to fill that eternal groove 00:23:54.099 --> 00:23:55.480 in your heart. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:23:59.339 Just as we close, 00:23:59.459 --> 00:24:00.379 let me just say 00:24:00.379 --> 00:24:01.619 that we have all 00:24:01.619 --> 00:24:02.919 tried this experiment, 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:03.559 haven't we, 00:24:03.639 --> 00:24:05.000 even without the resources 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:06.139 that Solomon had. 00:24:07.500 --> 00:24:08.679 We've all gone 00:24:08.679 --> 00:24:09.500 to at least 00:24:09.500 --> 00:24:10.859 one of these pleasures, 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:13.219 and if we're honest, 00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:14.480 we've been disappointed 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:15.500 at the end of it. 00:24:16.859 --> 00:24:17.879 And those pleasures 00:24:17.879 --> 00:24:19.279 have enslaved us. 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:21.599 But the good news 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:22.160 of Jesus 00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:23.720 means freedom 00:24:23.720 --> 00:24:25.339 to enjoy 00:24:25.339 --> 00:24:27.019 these pleasures. 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:30.019 It is actually 00:24:30.019 --> 00:24:31.680 that Jesus' disciples 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:33.039 are people 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:34.559 who can enjoy 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:36.099 the good things 00:24:36.099 --> 00:24:36.920 that God puts 00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:37.799 in this world. 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:40.899 Jesus' disciples 00:24:40.899 --> 00:24:42.899 can enjoy 00:24:42.899 --> 00:24:44.359 sex in marriage, 00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:45.619 and food 00:24:45.619 --> 00:24:46.559 and music 00:24:46.559 --> 00:24:47.579 and singing 00:24:47.579 --> 00:24:49.219 and architecture 00:24:49.219 --> 00:24:50.439 and art 00:24:50.439 --> 00:24:52.399 actually in a much 00:24:52.399 --> 00:24:53.359 fuller way. 00:24:54.619 --> 00:24:55.819 Because Jesus' 00:24:56.099 --> 00:24:57.359 disciples are no 00:24:57.359 --> 00:24:58.740 longer enslaved 00:24:58.740 --> 00:25:00.059 to those pleasures. 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:02.559 And so we can 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:03.839 enjoy them more. 00:25:05.019 --> 00:25:06.059 When we stop 00:25:06.059 --> 00:25:07.399 treating those pleasures 00:25:07.399 --> 00:25:08.899 as our saviours, 00:25:09.399 --> 00:25:10.759 they can serve 00:25:10.759 --> 00:25:11.399 us well 00:25:11.399 --> 00:25:13.279 and we can enjoy 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:13.559 them. 00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:16.319 Lewis, 00:25:16.419 --> 00:25:17.000 C.S. Lewis, 00:25:17.139 --> 00:25:17.479 he says, 00:25:17.539 --> 00:25:18.299 if we consider 00:25:18.299 --> 00:25:19.319 the unblushing 00:25:19.319 --> 00:25:20.759 promises of reward 00:25:20.759 --> 00:25:22.259 and the staggering 00:25:22.259 --> 00:25:23.799 nature of the rewards 00:25:23.799 --> 00:25:24.719 promised in the 00:25:24.719 --> 00:25:26.019 Gospels by Jesus, 00:25:27.019 --> 00:25:28.240 it would seem 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:29.119 that our Lord 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:30.479 finds our desires 00:25:30.479 --> 00:25:31.959 not too strong 00:25:31.959 --> 00:25:34.000 but too weak. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:36.979 The preacher 00:25:36.979 --> 00:25:37.559 says, 00:25:37.699 --> 00:25:39.399 I searched 00:25:39.399 --> 00:25:41.559 and I searched 00:25:41.559 --> 00:25:42.799 and I searched 00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:44.219 and I indulged 00:25:44.220 --> 00:25:46.880 all that I could 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:47.279 imagine, 00:25:47.380 --> 00:25:48.019 I took it 00:25:48.019 --> 00:25:48.920 to my heart. 00:25:50.660 --> 00:25:51.720 But Jesus 00:25:51.720 --> 00:25:53.120 preaches to us, 00:25:53.339 --> 00:25:54.279 your searching, 00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:56.180 your pleasures 00:25:56.180 --> 00:25:57.140 are just 00:25:57.140 --> 00:25:58.279 too lame 00:25:58.279 --> 00:25:59.960 under the sun. 00:26:00.700 --> 00:26:01.319 They are 00:26:01.319 --> 00:26:02.299 too weak 00:26:02.299 --> 00:26:03.960 for your hearts. 00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:06.740 so come to me 00:26:06.740 --> 00:26:08.400 and be filled 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:09.299 with eternal 00:26:09.299 --> 00:26:10.500 joy. 00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:11.980 Be filled 00:26:11.980 --> 00:26:12.900 with waters 00:26:12.900 --> 00:26:14.039 that will 00:26:14.039 --> 00:26:14.640 quench you 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:15.059 forever. 00:26:15.059 --> 00:26:16.740 Let's pray.