“The Whole Duty” – FBC Morning Light (6/10/2024)

Ecclesiastes 10–12 and the Search for Lasting Satisfaction

Well, a good Monday morning to you, I hope you had a great weekend and that the Lord blessed your gathering with God's people at church yesterday and worshiping Him, and I hope you learned of the Lord yesterday and He challenged you in some way that helps you to grow in grace and knowledge of our Savior.

Well, today we're reading Ecclesiastes 10 -12, and I mentioned Friday, talked about the opulence of the Biltmore Estate and how all that that money could buy George Vanderbilt. It could not give permanent, lasting satisfaction.

George Vanderbilt passed away, I think he was in his 50s, and left the estate to his wife and then eventual other heirs, and now none of those heirs actually live in the estate, in the home itself, the castle, if you will.

It's a tourist destination. So they could not find true, lasting satisfaction in the opulence that their money could buy and all the pleasure that was associated with it. So where do we find lasting satisfaction?

The Whole Duty of Man in Ecclesiastes 12

Where do we find it? The book of Ecclesiastes ends with the answer, chapter 12, verses 13 and 14. The writer, I think it's Solomon, he says, let's hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Fear God and keep His commandments. This is the whole duty of man. You say, well, that sounds rather slavish, doesn't it, to fear God and to be like a slave? Well, there is an element of that, I suppose, if you think about the imagery in the New Testament where we are called the bond slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But to fear God, it doesn't mean that, it's not referring to that slavish kind of fear where you're constantly bent over, hunched over, doing the work of a slave and afraid to stand up or you're going to get a whip across the back.

It's not that kind of fear. It's the loving, reverential fear that a child has toward his loving father, the father who provides for him, who protects him, who nurtures and disciplines him as it's needed.

But it's that kind of fear. It's a filial fear. So have that kind of fear of God and keep His commandments. Well, again, that sounds like a legalism, that I've got to obey all these commandments or God isn't going to accept me.

Loving Christ by Keeping His Commandments

But I want to encourage you, again, thinking from a New Testament perspective, what did Jesus say? He said, if you love me, keep my commandments. And my commandments aren't grievous, they're not burdensome.

What were the commandments that Jesus offered and emphasized in that last night before He was crucified? One of those commandments was to believe in Him. He said, you believe in God, believe also in me, John chapter 14.

This was one of His commandments. And another one of them was, as I have loved you, so love one another. Then think of the question that Jesus received. What is the great commandment? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Love your neighbor as yourself. This is the whole duty of man. All of the law is encapsulated in those two commandments. Love God, love your neighbor. This isn't a burdensome thing. This is the logical conclusion, the logical way of life of one who truly has that filial fear of God.

One who has believed in God the Father and put his trust, belief in God the Son. So this is the whole duty of man, and this is how we find lasting satisfaction. We find it by expressing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, faith in God as our Father, and trusting in Him as our Savior, protector, provider, trainer, nurturer, discipliner, and our guide, the one who has commanded how we are to live.

It is in living this way that we find true, lasting satisfaction. So let's accept the conclusion of the matter, that which is the whole duty of man. Fear God. Keep His commandments. Father, I pray that we would realize that though this sounds so simple, it's not simplistic.

There's so much encapsulated in that whole duty, and I pray that we would pursue it with all of our being. We ask in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. All right, listen, have a good rest of your Monday.

Hope your week gets off to a great start. God bless.