The Appetite Set Aside — Fasting

Fasting buys nothing . . . it clears the table so prayer can have the whole plate.

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A note on the Scripture in this study: every verse is printed WHOLE. The words set in ordinary type are the ones this lesson leans on and emphasizes . . . the words in italics are the rest of the verse, printed so that nothing is ever handed to you as a fragment with the remainder missing.

I want to start this one with an admission.

In thirty years behind that pulpit I have said very little about fasting . . . not because I decided it was done away with – I never decided that. I just never got around to it, and the subject makes people uneasy . . . and it was easy to leave alone.

That is my fault, and this is where I go back and fix it… And the reason it belongs in a study on prayer is that in the Bible you can hardly find one without the other…

THE LORD ASSUMED WE WOULD

Start with the plainest thing in the New Testament about it - which is that the Lord never once commanded fasting and never once treated it as optional either…

Matthew 6:16 — “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.”

Matthew 6:17 — “But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;”

Matthew 6:18 — “That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”

When ye fast... NOT IF... And look at where this sits – it is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount - in the same run of teaching where He said when thou prayest and when thou doest thine alms . . . three things - all three are assumed - all three governed by the same rule… do it for your Father and not for those in the room – to be noticed...

And they asked Him about it directly:

Matthew 9:14 — “Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?”

Matthew 9:15 — “And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.”

Then shall they fast... He is talking about now… The Bridegroom is not here – He is at the right hand of God - and today - we are between ‘His going and His coming’ . . . that is the season He said the fasting belongs to…

WHAT FASTING IS NOT

Now let me clear the road - because there is more bad teaching on this subject - than almost any other…

Fasting is not some type of a diet... Not one man in Scripture ever fasted to feel better or to look better . . . it is not about the body at all - except that the body is the thing being put on hold and being told to wait…

Fasting is not a hunger strike against God... We are not refusing to eat until He gives in – and gives us what we are praying for... That is the example of the boat and the rock again - and Part Three settled it – God does not move…

And Fasting does not buy us anything... This is the big one… Fasting has no purchasing power at all . . . fasting is not a coin we put in a machine . . . and the man who thinks he is trading meals for answers - has turned fasting into a work – in his attempt to win his desires… and God has already told us where that road goes…

Isaiah is where God says all this Himself - and He does not say it very gently…

Isaiah 58:3 — “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.”

Isaiah 58:4 — “Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.”

Ye fast for strife and debate... They were fasting and fighting at the same time - and then – they were complaining that God did not seem impressed with their fast…

And then God says what He was actually after…

Isaiah 58:6 — “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”

Isaiah 58:7 — “Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?”

That is the guard on this whole lesson - and God put it there Himself . . . a man who skips lunch and will not help his own kin has not fasted… He has just been hungry…

✍️ AUTHOR'S NOTE

Now on the surface – we might be asking – why in the world has the preacher all of a sudden – chosen to mention FASTING… Doesn’t the practice of fasting belong back with the laying on of hands – miracles – and speaking in tongues – that we have always been taught were done away with AFTER the Bible was completed…

Well the direct answer to that question – is that there are scriptures which teach us that the age of miracles ended with the completed Word of God – when that which is perfect is come – but I cannot find any scripture that lumps FASTING into those things like miracles - which have since been done away with…

FASTING is not a third ordinance – think of it like this… When we give to God through the church – we are told to give God our firstfruits and not our leftovers… That concept was taught throughout the OT – and continued into the NT until the present day… We understand this – we accept this – we freely practice this… God does not want – nor does God deserve our LEFT OVERS…

OK – now as we consider PRAYER - let’s shift gears for a second – Giving God an offering out of what is left after we have bought what we wanted – explain how this is any different than offering God a prayer during a commercial while watching our favorite show – but not being willing to offer that prayer INSTEAD of watching that favorite show… In both cases – we are guilty of giving God our leftovers – instead of giving Him our firstfruits… One leftover is our money that we used selfishly – the other leftover - is our time (appetite) that we used selfishly…

So – NO fasting is not a 3rd ordinance any more than our tithes and offerings are a new type of ordinance… Fasting is GIVING the firstfruits of our time to God when we PRAY… Literally building our lives around our prayer time – instead of building our prayer time to fit our lifestyle… — C.T.

SO WHAT IS IT FOR?

Here is the way I understand it, and it is a plain picture.

When something big is going on in a house, the cooking stops . . . not because the food is bad – but because there is something in that house MORE URGENT than supper . . . nobody has to explain it… Everybody in the family just knows… It is what we would refer to as a DUH moment… If the smoke detector is going off – we suspend our normal routine and deal with the issue at hand…

Fasting is telling the body to wait - while the soul does business.

Fasting is telling our normal routine to wait – while we deal with the smoke detector issue…

The appetite of our flesh - is not the enemy… God made our body with an appetite built in it - and He made our appetite strong for a reason . . . our appetite for food is loud . . . and our appetite runs on a schedule . . . and our appetite is not bashful – it will interrupt anything… Fasting is a man saying to his loud – strong – appetite… not right now – I’ll get to you later...

And there is something else in this concept of fasting… Hunger is a reminder that will not let up… Every time that the stomach speaks - a man is pointed back to the thing he set the meal aside for . . . it is a bell that rings all day…

Simple truth: Fasting does not BUY the answer . . . fasting CLEARS the table . . . so prayer can have the whole plate.

AND IS IT ALWAYS FOOD?

Now somebody is going to ask the question I asked - so let us take it head on... Is fasting ALWAYS a meal – or is it the same thing when a man prays instead of watching a ball game… allowing prayer to “interrupt” his normal routine…

The honest answer has two halves - and we need both of them.

FIRST – in the Bible - fasting is FOOD... Every single time… Moses – David – Elijah – Esther – Daniel – Nehemiah – Paul - and the Lord Himself… When Scripture says fast - it means a man did not eat… I am not going to soften that . . . because the minute we make fasting mean anything we feel like giving up - we have made it mean nothing.

SECOND – the PRINCIPLE reaches further - and Paul is the one who reaches out with this principle… There is exactly one place in the Bible where something other than food is set aside for prayer - and Paul wrote it…

1 Corinthians 7:5 — “Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.”

Look at what Paul does there… He takes a thing that is GOOD – the marriage relationship - which God made and which God blessed – and he says a husband and wife may set it aside by agreement - for a time - so they can give themselves to prayer . . . and then he says - go back to the marriage relationship afterward...

So - the pattern is not about food ‘particularly’ . . . the pattern is this… a GOOD thing - set aside on purpose - for a set time - so that prayer can have the room it was not getting before...

And Daniel did more than just skip meals . . . read what he says…

Daniel 10:3 — “I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.”

No pleasant bread . . . no meat . . . no wine… And no anointing – which in that country - was the “ordinary comfort” (the normal routine) that a man gave himself – similar to a hot shower and clean clothes... Daniel set aside food - and he set aside comfort – both - for three weeks.

So yes – praying instead of watching the ball game - is the same principle at work . . . it is a good thing - set aside on purpose - so prayer instead of self - can have the hour...

BUT LET ME BE HONEST ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE - because I do not want anybody trading down - and thinking he came out even…

A ball game is a pastime... Food is a need . . . that is why fasting bites the way it does – a man is telling his body NO about something that his body actually has to have . . . and the body argues back every hour on the hour . . . the ball game does not argue . . . it just goes on without us...

So - giving up the game is like the porch… Giving up the meal is the house . . . and a man who has never stood on either one - ought to start with the porch and not despise what this is teaching – but he ought not to equate it – to Daniel’s fast either…

THE TEST IS WHETHER IT COSTS... For one man that is the ball game… For another it is the phone - or the television - or the two hours he spends in the shop on a Saturday . . . The point is – for us to set aside something we would actually miss . . . because a thing that costs nothing - was never a sacrifice - and God has never been impressed by a sacrifice that has no value… the leftovers…

WHO DID IT, AND WHEN

Now look at when fasting shows up in Scripture - because the pattern is worth seeing…

When a decision was too big to make alone

Acts 13:2 — “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”

Acts 13:3 — “And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.”

We had this back in Part One . . . One of the greatest missionary campaigns ever came out of a room where men were ministering to the Lord and fasting – and then they fasted a second time before they sent them…

Acts 14:23 — “And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.”

The pattern is the same when they set men in office… Prayed with fasting... That was how the early church handled a decision - it could not afford to get wrong...

When a man was carrying something too heavy

Nehemiah 1:4 — “And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,”

Nehemiah gets word that the wall of his city is broken down… He does not organize anything... He sits down and stops eating and prays - for days . . . and the building of that wall started right there with his prayer - and not later with a shovel…

When a man was pleading for other people

Daniel 9:3 — “And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:”

And read what Daniel prays after that verse – it is one of the great confessions in the Bible . . . and every bit of it is we and our - not they and theirs… He was not confessing anybody's sins but his own people's - and he put himself right in with them…

That one leans straight into Part Twelve – which is next - and we will pick it back up there...

📖 FROM THE PULPIT

One of the standing jokes I always use – is my relationship with SALLY SUE… Well – truth be known – sally sue is actually a mixture of several ladies that had “set their hat” for me so to speak… I figured out real quick – that I was not smart enough to see past all the female tricks used to “trap” a man… Every version of Sally Sue had her strong points – things that were attractive to a young man… but when it came down to it – there was just something that was not quite right in every lady that makes up “mythical” Sally Sue… What should I do about this one – should I get serious about that one – how will I know when I meet THE ONE… This was the first time I realized that I was faced with a problem – that was significant enough to take my appetite away… It was a problem I was unable to solve – I couldn’t see the future – I couldn’t know what this girl would be like in 20 years – would she be a good preacher wife – would she be a good mother… This was one of those “fasting moments” for me – and I didn’t really fast on purpose – but I certainly had no appetite during these soul searching moments… Some of the problems we face in life – some of the decisions we are faced with – are simply beyond our capability to choose the RIGHT path… When we are faced with this type of thing – this is a really good time to think about what fasting is – and to give God our firstfruits instead of our leftovers… and pray that we don’t settle for Sally Sue – when if we are just patient – someone who is FAR better than Sally Sue ever thought about being – is out of sight - just around the next corner… — C.T.

HOW A MAN WOULD ACTUALLY START

I am not going to lay down a rule . . . because the Bible does not lay one down . . . The church is not given a specific schedule regarding The Lord’s Supper… Jesus simply says – as oft as ye do this – do in remembrance of Me… The concept of fasting is similar to this…

But for somebody reading this who has never fasted before – in case they might want to know where to begin . . . let me say a few plain things…

Remember – it is similar to our offerings to the church – it is either our firstfruits – or our leftovers…

Start small and start private... One meal . . . and the Lord was emphatic on this point – wash your face and comb your hair and let nobody know . . . the minute other people know - He said - that is the reward . . . and there will not be another reward waiting for you in judgment…

Use the time... This is the piece many people miss . . . if a man skips a meal and spends the hour the same way he spends every other hour - he has not fasted – he has dieted . . . TAKE THE TIME the meal would have taken - and pray in it… That is the whole point…

And be sensible about your health... There is not one thing spiritual about a diabetic putting himself in the hospital... God is not honored by that . . . there is more than one appetite a man can set aside . . . and food is only the most common appetite...

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

When ye fast... He said it the same way He said - when ye pray - and most of us have taken one of those two seriously - and we have let the other one alone…

Fasting buys nothing . . . fasting moves nothing . . . fasting is NOT a lever and it is NOT a payment... Fasting is nothing more than a man “clearing his table” on purpose - because there is something at that table - more important than supper…

And that is not a strange thing for a Christian to do... It is a strange thing that we so seldom do it…

TRY IT THIS WEEK

Two levels here... Pick the one that is honest for where we are…

THE PORCH… Pick one evening this week and give up the thing you would ordinarily do with it – the game - the television - the phone - whatever it is you reach for without thinking . . . do not fill the hour with something else . . . take one thing you have been carrying – a decision - a person - a burden – and give the hour to what-ever that is - in prayer…

THE HOUSE... One meal... Pick the same one thing - and pick one meal this week - and give that “meal hour” to it instead… Tell nobody what you are doing... Wash your face – like Jesus told His disciples to do… act as if nothing has changed…

And when the hunger comes and interrupts you - let the hunger do its work . . . every time your hunger speaks - take your hunger back to the thing you set the meal aside for to begin with . . . that interruption is the whole difference between the porch and the house – the television does not come looking for you at noon . . . but our stomach will…

If our health will not allow the meal - then do not force it – God is not honored by a man in the hospital . . . set aside something else that costs us, and let it cost…

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NEXT — Part Twelve: Standing in the Gap. Intercession is the most Christlike thing a Christian ever does . . . because it is what Christ is doing at this minute.

Keep Knocking — The Prayer That Will Not Quit

God is not worn down by persistence . . . He is honored by it, and He appointed it.

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A note on the Scripture in this study: every verse is printed WHOLE. The words set in ordinary type are the ones this lesson leans on and emphasizes . . . the words in italics are the rest of the verse, printed so that nothing is ever handed to you as a fragment with the remainder missing.

If God already knows - and if the Spirit already helps - then here is the question that comes next - why do I have to ask twice?

And that is not a small question . . . it is the one that quietly stops more praying than doubt ever did . . . a man asks for a thing . . . and nothing happens - and he asks again . . . and about the fourth time he asks - he starts to feel like he is pestering God - So he quits asking at all…

The Lord knew we would do that… So He told two stories about it – and both of them are about somebody who would not go home…

THE FRIEND AT MIDNIGHT

Luke 11:5 — “And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;”

Luke 11:7 — “And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.”

Luke 11:8 — “I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.”

Importunity… That is the word - and it is worth stopping on - because it does not mean what it sounds like…

The word behind it means shamelessness . . . not rudeness – shamelessness . . . it is the man who is past caring how it looks... He has a need in his house - and it is midnight and he is standing out there knocking anyway...

And notice that the Lord tells us the man got what he came for - and He tells us WHY . . . not because of the friendship… BUT because of his importunity…

Let’s be careful how we read that…

This is where a lot of people take it wrong - so let us slow down here…

The Lord is not saying – that God is like that grouchy neighbor… He is saying just the opposite - and He says it in the very next breath…

Luke 11:11 — “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?”

Luke 11:13 — “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

How much more. That is the argument . . . and it runs from the lesser to the greater . . . if shameless asking gets bread out of a man who did not want to get up . . . how much more out of a Father who was never asleep and never annoyed?

The neighbor is NOT a picture of God. The neighbor is the WORST case, put there so we would know that even at the worst, persistence works.

THE WIDOW AND THE JUDGE

The second story is the same lesson with the reason attached at the front - and Luke tells us the point before he tells us the parable – which he almost never does:

Luke 18:1 — “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”

Pray, and not to faint. Those are the two roads . . . there is no third one . . . a man is either STILL asking or he has fainted, and the Lord told this story to keep us off the second road.

Luke 18:4 — “And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;”

Luke 18:5 — “Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.”

A widow with no money, no standing . . . and no husband to speak for her – against a judge who feared neither God nor man. She had exactly one thing - and it was that she kept coming back . . . and she won.

Luke 18:7 — “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?”

And there it is again – though he bear long. God put the waiting INSIDE the promise. He did not hide it from us and He did not apologize for it.

✍️ AUTHOR'S NOTE

Well the most obvious “long term” prayers that I can think of would either be one of two things… 1) the prayer for restored health 2) the prayer for a wayward loved one… We all pray for friends and loved ones who have never been saved – or who are not faithful in church… Most of us also - either have health issues ourselves – or someone we love - has poor health… I have offered prayers toward both of these goals – as long as I can remember… The point is not to pray until we “see” the one we are praying for – be cured… The point I have come to learn about the prayer for health – takes me back to Paul and his thorn in the flesh – it is the single line of foot prints in the sand – it is the shepherd who breaks the leg of a wandering sheep – who carried the little wounded sheep on his shoulders – when the leg is healed – the relationship between the shepherd and the little sheep ‘because of how he was carried’ - remains strong as the little sheep’s wound heals… Without the wound – the sheep would have spent his life drifting – and the relationship between the shepherd and the sheep would be a more distant relationship – than the relationship that exists because of the wound… So – are my health problems punishment for wandering – or are they simply a blessing from God – to keep me focused on God’s grace – instead of becoming distracted by the thought of leaving the shepherd a few moments - and wandering over to see what is around the next corner… God LOVES US – and literally EVERYTHING GOD does – is for our benefit… — C.T.

SEVEN TRIPS UP THE HILL

We have already been to Mt. Carmel twice in this study, and we are going back one more time - because this is the plainest picture of importunity in the Bible.

Elijah has the promise of rain from God's own mouth… He prays and then…

1 Kings 18:43 — “And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.”

There is nothing. That is the report that he hears - six times in a row...

And I want us to think about that . . . because that is where MOST OF US quit . . . not at the first nothing – but at the fourth or fifth “nothing” . . . there is a point where a man decides that the silence is the answer - and he stops sending the boy up the hill.

Elijah sent him back . . . and on the seventh trip there was a cloud out there the size of a man's hand – which is to say - almost nothing… But Elijah knew what he was looking at - and he sent word to the king to hitch up his chariot – because it was about to start raining...

The answer - when it came - came small… it did not come as a thunderhead . . . it came as a smudge on the horizon that a man had to be watching for to be able to see it…

AND THE ONE WHO WOULD NOT TAKE NO

And then there is the Canaanite woman - and I do not know a harder passage in the Gospels.

She comes about her daughter - and the Lord does not answer her a word… Then He tells her that He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel… Then He says this…

Matthew 15:26 — “But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.”

Matthew 15:27 — “And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.”

Silence - then a limit - then what sounds like an insult – and she does not argue with any of it... Truth, Lord... She agrees with every word - takes the lowest place in the room - and then asks anyway.

Matthew 15:28 — “Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”

O woman, great is thy faith… He said that to two people in the whole Gospel record, and this is one of them – and He said it about a woman who would not leave…

And Jacob is the same thing at the ford - wrestling all night with a hip out of joint - saying I will not let thee go - except thou bless me… He came away limping - and he came away blessed . . . and the limp was part of the blessing… The limp was a continual reminder – of where BLESSINGS came from…

📖 FROM THE PULPIT

Let’s consider our prayer for good health – the health issue doesn’t vanish – the cancer is not “cured” – but it goes into remission… The idea here – is that the broken leg of the little sheep and the relationship which resulted between the sheep and the shepherd because of that break – has now reached a point where the little sheep can take a few steps on its own – the leg is still wounded – but it has been splinted (put in a cast)… This does not mean that God is unable to provide a complete cure (He can raise the dead) – what this means is that we are still in need of the continual REMINDER of who God is – who we are – and that without Him we would be nothing – even if we did regain the health of our youth… It all goes back to the single line of footprints in the sand… To teach us – that when we look at God – we see nothing but love… — C.T.

SO WHY DOES HE MAKE US ASK TWICE?

The Bible never lays out a list of reasons - so I will not pretend to have one . . . but three things show up plain enough in these accounts to clearly point out…

One... It sorts out what we actually want… Most of what we ask for once - we did not want too much . . . a thing a man is STILL asking for in April - that he started asking for in January - has become something different to him - and he has become something different than he used to be – also…

Two… The asking is doing something in the man... Elijah on that mountain with his face between his knees - was not the same man at the seventh trip - as he was at the first trip . . . the waiting was not wasted time . . . the waiting was the work…

Three... It keeps us coming... The example of Manna ‘again’ that we saw - from Part Five – daily bread - gathered daily - and God would not let them stock up... He was not being tight... He was keeping them at the table… He was the shepherd carrying the wounded sheep…

Simple truth… God is not worn down by our asking… He is honored by our continual asking . . . and He appointed the asking - and He appointed the waiting that is in the asking...

NOW LET ME GUARD THIS

Persistence is not a lever... We are not wearing God down – that was Part Three . . . and it still stands . . . the widow DID wear down a wicked judge . . . but we are not dealing with a wicked judge - and the Lord went out of His way to say so...

And persistence does not overturn a no… Paul asked three times . . . and the third time God answered - and the answer was settled . . . there is a difference between a silence that means ‘keep asking’ - and an answer that means we are done here – and Part Four is where that gets handled . . . a man learns to tell them apart by walking with God - not by a rule that we could write down...

What I can say is this… nobody in the Bible was ever rebuked for asking too much… Not a single one . . . but the Lord told two whole parables - to keep men from asking too little.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

Men ought always to pray - and not to faint . . . two roads - and every one of us is on one of them right now – regarding something in our prayer lives...

And if we have been on the second road about something – if we quit asking somewhere back there because nothing came – I want us to realize – that there is nothing in this Bible that says we cannot start again – TONIGHT...

Go again seven times.

TRY IT THIS WEEK

Go get the thing you quit asking for…

Most of us have at least one . . . something we prayed about for a while - and then let go of quietly - without ever really deciding to… A person – most probably... Sometimes a situation that has been the same for years…

Put it back on the list this week . . . and ask for it every day for seven days . . . not to twist God's arm – because we cannot do that - and we would not want a God whose arm could be twisted . . . ask because He said ask - and He said not to faint.

And watch for a cloud the size of a man's hand . . . and understand – that it will not look like much when it comes...

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NEXT — Part Eleven: The Appetite Set Aside. In thirty years I have said very little from that pulpit about fasting . . . that is my fault, and this is where I go back and fix it.

The Advocate and the Obedience Test — The Deep Study

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Wednesday evening service, November 4, 2026 1, 2 & 3 John · Unit 3 Deep Study · 1 John 2:1-6

► Watch this lesson on video (37:25)

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This is the lesson the way it was preached on Wednesday evening — near word for word. The “uh”s and the starts-over are taken out; the sentences are left the way they were said. Bible verses are printed exactly as they read in the King James. Anything marked GOING DEEPER was NOT preached on Wednesday evening — it is extra study for anyone who wants to dig further.

Our last lesson on First John, we sort of skimmed the surface, and we learned that Jesus is our Advocate — and that an advocate is the same difference as a lawyer. And Jesus, being God’s Son, it is like the son of the Judge is pleading our case in the courtroom of heaven.

And so this evening we are going to look at verses 1 through 6. Again, the same verses. We are going to go a little bit slower, and we are going to look at some of the words that John decided to use in these Scriptures. When we read these verses, I want you to notice that he says why he wrote this — that you sin not. He mentions an Advocate. He throws out the word propitiation. And then he says, if we keep His commandments — okay, that is proof of something. And then he says we are supposed to walk the same way that Jesus walked.

Let us begin — chapter 2, verses 1 through 6:

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

Why did he write this? That you sin not. Not so that we will be sinless — but we will uncover exactly what that means. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate. There is that word. A lawyer, a go-between, with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

And hereby we do know that we know Him — the way that we recognize that we are familiar and have a close relationship with Jesus — the way that we know that is if we keep His commandments. That is not saying that this is how we know we are saved. All right? It is talking about our fellowship with the God that saved us. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in Him — and that is how we know that we are in Christ. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked.

So the one point of our lesson this evening is that Jesus pleads our case — and knowing this, we should walk the way that Jesus walked. In other words, we cannot live in sinless perfection, but we can pattern our life after the pattern of Jesus’s life. A simple way to connect to that is: put the people that you see around you — put them before yourself. That is a quick summary of the pattern of Jesus’s life. He did unto others the way that we all want others to do unto us. He actually lived that law. Now, we will never actually be able to achieve that, but the point is we should strive — we should point our lives in that direction.

The goal comes before the safety net

The goal of this book of First John is that you sin not. And we are going to mention here, in a second, something like a safety net.

You have all seen a circus. Maybe you have been to a circus, and they have got the high-line walkers, the trapeze artists, and they have got this line stretched out from this pole to this pole, and they walk on that line. Well, underneath there is a safety net. The net is placed under the wire. It is not — they do not put the net there under the wire so that the person walking on the wire will fall. They put it there because the man might fall.

Now notice the order that John mentions things here, in the first verse we looked at. He says, “I am writing this to you so that you sin not.” He mentions that first. And then the Advocate — the lawyer, the go-between, the one to stand alongside us — he mentions that after. And you might think — well, I thought the first time I looked at this — I thought, is he mentioning these things in order of importance? Is the fact that he is writing this so that we won’t sin more important than having an Advocate if we do sin? The way that he chose to arrange what he wrote does not lower the standard that is mentioned here. In other words, it does not make the Advocate less important. The Advocate is actually what holds the standard of trying to live right. The mentioning of this Advocate is what holds that standard up, so that we are able to see it. And if we do fail, then we have a safety net, like under that trapeze wire.

And if any man sin — now, the way John wrote this, you think, well, if any man sin, what exactly is he referring to? The word, and the way all this is put together, it refers to a single sin. It does not refer to a fallen way of life. There is no way that this preacher can live above sin. But what John is writing here is: now, preacher, if you do stomp your toe, and if you do say “dog gone, Barbara,” then there is an Advocate. There is a go-between. There is a lawyer in heaven to plead your case. And that is the whole point here.

Now, Paul answered the question we sometimes hear others say — and it is like, well, does it really matter, preacher, if I sin, because if I do sin God is going to forgive me anyway. So what is the big deal here? Notice Romans chapter 6, verses 1 and 2:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Now you see, Jesus pleads our case when we fall, when we stumble — but the goal is always that we walk, so that we won’t fall. The goal is — if we were a trapeze artist, the goal would be to do our little thing up there on the high-line wire and have no need for the safety net. But just in case we do trip and fall, that net is there.

Two helpers, called alongside

Jesus is our Advocate in heaven, and He is pleading our case. And if you stop and think about it, as children of God we actually have two helpers that are walking alongside us in life to help us.

Now, “Advocate” literally means one who is called to come and to stand alongside us. And it is interesting — you learn something every time you study, or at least I do. Jesus used the exact same word for the Holy Spirit that John used for Advocate. It is one and the same word, if you go back to the original language. Jesus used “another Comforter.” Notice John 14 and 16. This other Comforter — if we were reading it in the original, we would see the exact same word that John used for Advocate.

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

And how long is this Advocate, or Comforter, to be connected or associated with us? He will abide, or live, with us for ever. So the child of God actually has two helpers, if you will. One helper is standing beside God’s throne in heaven, as our Advocate — and one, the Comforter, is placed inside of our heart, the Holy Spirit, to help us.

When this preacher is just trudging along just fine — I am proud of myself, if I haven’t stumbled or done anything — and I am about to trip, that Advocate inside says: now, preacher, watch where you are going here. You need to raise your feet up higher, because you are fixing to fall flat on your face. It is that little voice inside of our heart that reminds us: yeah, I might ought to pay a little bit better attention. I might ought to look this way instead of that way. And if we fail to pay attention to that, then we always have that Advocate before God’s throne in heaven, Jesus pleading our case.

Notice Hebrews 7 and verse 25. We just mentioned that Jesus is always pleading our case in heaven. We are going to read here that He ever liveth to make intercession for them — for the children of God — and so we could say He is constantly pleading our case. He is constantly making intercession on our behalf.

Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Now, the Holy Spirit — we are going to read about Him in Romans 8:26. The Holy Spirit is also pleading our case down here in this present life. The Holy Spirit is on the job even when we really do not know what to pray for.

I thought about a good way to explain this. And as near as I can determine, this is a blessing that the Old Testament saints did not really get to enjoy. Now, I stand corrected on the particulars of that — but the way I understand the Scriptures, the New Testament saints were given access to this Holy Spirit in a way that the Old Testament saints were not given access. And the way I understand this in my mind — when He says He maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered — it is almost like the Holy Spirit touches the heart of this preacher with one hand, and He reaches over and touches God’s heart with the other hand, and He takes my needs directly to the heart of God. We have a direct access to God, which is something that the Old Testament saints did not. And we will understand a little bit more about that, I think, when we get to heaven — we can look back and see everything clearly.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

He just told us that Jesus is in heaven making intercession for us — He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Now then, likewise — the same way — the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. So there are two helpers. We are being helped on two different fronts.

Now, I tried to think of a time. He mentions here that we know not what we should pray for as we ought. I tried to go back in my life and think of some times when I had a burden, but I really did not know what to say. I did not know how to put my request, or what was bothering me, into words. I really did not know what to ask for.

The first thing I thought of was when I was under conviction to be saved. I did not know what to say. I did not know what words to use. I just surrendered. And the result of surrendering was that God saved my soul. When I was saved, I do not even remember forming any words at all. It was just kind of a picture in my mind. I knew I was lost. And it was like God’s hand was reaching out — and below His hand was death — and I just had to step out onto His hand, believing that I would not even fall through the cracks in His fingers. It was just kind of a visual thing in my mind. Your experience may be totally different. But the point is surrender. Do we surrender? Did we surrender to Christ? If we did, He saved our souls. Salvation does not take place without complete and total surrender.

The other circumstance I remember was when I was under conviction to preach. I was kind of stopped short. I really did not know what words to use — but I knew what it meant to surrender, because I had experienced this concept of surrendering myself to God. And again, as a result of surrendering, God gave me peace, and God uncovered what His will was for my life.

And then the last example — when I was young, and I remember looking for a lifemate. I was just consumed. I’m never going to find a wife. I kind of resigned myself to that, and my prayers were directed in that direction, and I just ran out of things to say. But again, I had learned to surrender. I had learned to just let go of the steering wheel — to let go of the reins that the horses were attached to, however you want to phrase that. I had learned to just let go. And the result was, God took care of my burden — not on my schedule, but on His schedule.

So whatever it is that we are confronted with in life, we never go into the courtroom alone. Jesus pleads our case above, in the presence of God Himself, and the Holy Spirit helps us below, in our present life — giving us enough sense, I guess, to understand that if we are patient, then God’s will will be revealed to us. A whole lot of the time, when we go to find God’s will, it may not match up with this preacher’s will — but when I finally see what is going on, I understand that God’s will is best. That is what faith is for.

He “is” the propitiation

The next thing I want us to look at — John used the word propitiation. And we learned that propitiation is equal to the payment that satisfied God’s justice. In other words, a crime had been committed. Well, that crime had to be paid for. Sin had been practiced, and the penalty for sin was death. Propitiation means that something was given that satisfied God. And what satisfied God was death. But thanks to God, it was not our death.

We are going to look at the picture behind the word propitiation. If we were to look inside the tabernacle — we do not use the word tabernacle much — but if you will just picture it, the tabernacle was a big tent. That is all it was. Just a big fancy tent. And it was a tent where Israel worshiped God. And there was a golden box, a box overlaid with gold, that was put inside this tent. And on top of that golden box there was a lid. The box was called the ark — the ark of the covenant — and they referred to this lid as the mercy seat.

The idea is that the ark represented God’s presence. That is where God was. God dwelt in the ark of the covenant. And that lid, the mercy seat, covered the box where the presence of God was, and shielded everything from the presence of God. Once a year the high priest went into the Holy of Holies. Picture this great big tent — you can read in the Old Testament, it gives you the dimensions and the height and all of this. Inside this big fancy tent there was a small compartment called the Holy of Holies, and that is where the Ark of the Covenant was kept — inside that, behind some more curtains and partitions, inside this little small compartment. Once a year, the high priest went in there with some blood — some blood of a lamb — and what he did, he sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat.

Now, we are getting to a real interesting thing here. Why in the world did they call that a mercy seat? Hebrews 9 and 7. We are going to notice the high priest went in there alone, by himself. He went once every year, and he never went in there without blood.

But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:

Here is what is happening in that little room, and this is why blood was involved. Inside the golden box — which represented the presence of God — inside that box there were two stone tablets. You remember Moses climbed up the mountain, and he brought down the Ten Commandments on two stones, two tables of stone. So inside that ark there are two stone tablets, the Ten Commandments. And the point here is that those Ten Commandments that were inside the ark — that was the precise law that the people in Israel were guilty of breaking. So inside the box is the law that the people are breaking. There is a golden lid on top of that box. And God has said, the soul that sinneth is going to die. So something had to die for all of the sin that had been committed. And God let a little lamb die in the sinner’s place. It is a substitute. Notice Leviticus 17:11.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

That is where the high priest was sprinkling the blood — on the altar — to make an atonement, a payment, for your soul.

Well, the high priest carried that blood of the lamb into the room where God’s presence was, that ark, and the priest sprinkled the blood on the lid that covered the box called the ark of the covenant. Now, I want you to picture it — and here is the main thing. Picture this: God in heaven looking down from above. The broken law inside the box, and the blood sprinkled on the lid, in between God and the law that had been broken. So God, when He looked down, He did not see the broken law. When He looked down, what did He see? He saw the blood on the mercy seat. You see the picture there? The Old Testament may be out of date and old in a lot of people’s eyes and mind, but oh, it paints a very vivid picture of what we see in the New Testament in regard to the sacrifice of Jesus. That is why the lid was called the mercy seat. This is where the blood literally came between God and the law that had been broken. And because of the blood, God showed mercy instead of judgment. So the mercy seat is the picture that is behind the word that John used when he used propitiation.

Now, Jesus, when He went to the cross, He did not bring the blood of some lamb to pour out. When Jesus went to the cross as the propitiation for our sins, He brought His own blood. And that is the payment that was made for our sins. Hebrews 9:24. Jesus went into heaven. He did not go into a little place that was made by some man. And He appeared in the presence of God for our benefit.

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

He is saying Jesus did not go into the tabernacle — which actually illustrates the New Testament truth — but Jesus went into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

Now, I want you to notice. You say, well, what is in a word? John said that Jesus is the propitiation — the substitute, the payment. He did not say that Jesus was, or that Jesus will be. He said He is. That is present tense. In whatever age you want to place yourself, it is always present. It is always with us, and it is always valid. And the One who is pleading the case when this preacher stumbles is literally the One who made the payment. He is the One who paid for the sin of this preacher.

You can just almost hear Him. “Well, no — I know that preacher is guilty, but I have already paid the price.” “Yeah.” “Oh. Okay. All right.” Well, you dodged the bullet, preacher, because somebody paid the price for you. And when we say He is pleading our case as our Advocate, that is what He is doing. He is reminding God — not that God needs reminding, but we have to visualize things in ways that we can understand them — He is reminding God, yeah, he is guilty, but I have already paid the price. That is what being an Advocate means. And that is what He is doing.

What keeping looks like on an ordinary day

Well, shifting gears slightly. In John’s day, these teachers — and you will notice it in these other verses — were claiming to know God in a special kind of way, in a way that the rest of the church did not know Him. It would be like if me and Ken stood up and said, well, we have got the inside skinny with God, and we know something that the rest of you do not know, and we do not have to behave really well, because we have got an inside track with God. But since you do not know Him as good as we do, you have to walk the straight and narrow. You cannot make the mistakes. You have to be good — but we do not have to.

Their idea was that they knew God on a level that the rest of the church did not. And since they knew God on a higher level — in their mind — they believed that what they did with their body really did not matter. It is sort of like, if I know the police chief, then I do not have to obey the speed limit. He is my next-door neighbor. He is my buddy. I do not have to do that. To them, their concept of knowing was more important than the concept of obedience.

Now, John points out this error by using the same word that they used when they made it. Notice the word “know,” or “knoweth.” He that saith, we know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar. But we, in the church — we know Him. We know that we know Him if we do keep His commandments. In other words, we drive the speed limit because the police chief is our friend and we respect his wishes. And if you do not know the police chief, then you do not care if he is offended, so you disobey all the laws, kind of thing. That is the point that John was making here.

He says here, we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. Well, again, this is another word that John chose to use — the word “keep.” What does it mean to keep His commandments? Do we have a list of rules over here, and we have to obey all of them? No, that is not what it is referring to. What does keeping the commandments mean on just an ordinary day in our lives? Well, I have got about three quick, easy examples. Reading God’s Word — and coming back to the Word when we recognize we have drifted a little bit. Letting a verse of Scripture correct us — ouch — and changing what we do. And doing right when nobody else is watching. Nobody is going to know that we did what is right, but God does. Notice the 119th Psalm, verse 11.

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Now — that we walk even as He walked. What exactly does that mean? I know Jesus was perfect. Well, how are we supposed to walk like a perfect man? If a perfect man is walking down Second Street going toward Union, he is walking in a particular direction, isn’t he? We do not have to be perfect like He is to go the same direction that He is going, do we? I have used this example before. To walk this way that Jesus walked is like you have got a father and a little child. The daddy takes big old long granddaddy steps. The child cannot take steps the same size, but his little bitty steps can go in the same direction. And that is the idea. That is the idea here.

And as our musicians come forward, we will prepare for an invitational hymn. Once again — Jesus pleads our case, so, knowing this, we should walk the way that Jesus walked.

Now, I want to leave you with a question: What does our concept of keeping look like on an ordinary day, when we are not in church? I looked inside myself. A few minutes of reading the Bible — or the TV. Well, I know what the Bible says, and I should avoid [fill in the blank] — but, well, preacher, you know nobody is watching. Nobody is going to know. So what is the harm? Well, another person may not see. But the point is, God sees. And the one who does not see is not our Judge. God sees our thoughts. God sees. And God is our Judge.

And that goes back to the very first step. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. It is the beginning of everything. It is the very first step on that staircase that will take us to a closer relationship with God. It is literally the difference. And nobody is able to convince you from the outside that gold, silver, and precious stones are a good thing, and the wood, hay, and stubble is a bad thing. You cannot be convinced of that from the outside in. You have to be convinced of that from the inside out. That is what the Holy Spirit does. It teaches us. It pricks us. It convicts us when our attitude gets out of character — when we start to value things that are worthless more than things that are priceless.

Please consider what you heard this evening.

How to Read the Bible — Lesson 8: When Our Words Are Too Small

HOW TO READ THE BIBLE — a short course from Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church • Pastor Chuck Trusty • Lesson 8 of 13 • a new lesson every two weeks

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Last Time

Last lesson you took 1 Corinthians 2:9 home:

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." — 1 Corinthians 2:9

Did you catch the signpost? "As it is written" — Paul was quoting, reaching back to Isaiah (64:4) and setting it down in the New. One Book, agreeing perfectly: that was last lesson's tool.

But now read the whole verse to its very last words. This great promise is not aimed at everyone in general. Like a command, a promise has an address (remember Tool 3), and here it is plain: "for them that love him."

So a plain question follows: how do we show that we love God? Not by a feeling that rises and falls. The Lord answered it Himself — "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15): love is shown by obedience. And it cannot be a divided heart — "Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24); to love God is to take Him as your one Master. Real love does something. Hold that — it is the heart of today's lesson.

The Verse

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." — 1 Corinthians 13:13

The Question

Look at that word — charity. To our ears, "charity" means giving money to the poor. But read the chapter it closes, and charity "suffereth long, is kind, envieth not" — that is not about coins. And why does the King James say charity here, and not simply love? Is something bigger hiding in that word?

The Tool — walked together

Bring your questions, all five. WHO? Paul, writing to the church at Corinth — and "these three" belong to every believer. WHAT? Three things abide — faith, hope, charity — and the greatest is charity. WHEN? "now abideth" — now, and on and on; these three last. WHERE? The verse does not say — an empty box; but its neighbors (chapters 12 to 14) set it among the gifts, where Paul calls charity "a more excellent way." WHY? Charity is the greatest because it lasts longest — "charity never faileth" (verse 8); it outlives even faith and hope.

Every box accounted for. Now run the rest of the toolbox. Read the whole verse: three things abide, and the last words name the greatest — charity. Every command has an address? This is no command but a statement, so that tool rests. A verse has neighbors: chapters 12 to 14 set charity among the gifts, "a more excellent way" — the neighbors already spoke. Let the Bible define its own words: and it does — the chapter itself tells you what charity is by what it does, "suffereth long, is kind." Is there a dark verse needing a clear one, or two verses that seem to clash? Not here — both those tools rest. What this verse asks is simpler: our word for it is too small. And that is the new tool.

TOOL #8: sometimes our language has one small word where the Book has a bigger one. When a word feels too small for what it carries, ask which word the Book actually used. How do you find out which word the Book used? A few taps on your phone — see The Helper page. Our English has just one word, love. We use it for food, for pets, for a husband or a wife — one small word, stretched thin. The language the New Testament was written in was richer. Look closer at that one word.

ONE WORD

CHARITY. Where we have one small word for love, the Book's language had several — and they are not the same.

There is the love of family — the natural bond of parent and child. There is the love of a husband and wife. And there is the warm love of friends — the Bible has a word for it we still hear in the name of a city, Philadelphia, which means "brotherly love." These are good, and God-given. But see the one thing they share: each of them answers something. We love our family because they are ours. We love our friends because they love us back. Even the lost do that much — the Lord said, "if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them" (Luke 6:32).

Now the highest love, and a different kind — agape. Agape does not wait to be loved first. It gives, and looks for nothing in return. It loves the undeserving; it will even love an enemy. That is the word First Corinthians 13 uses. And here is the wonder — remember Lesson 7, where "a new commandment" meant new not in time, but new in kind? This is that new love. Family love and friendship are as old as the world; but a love that pours itself out for those who can never pay it back was shown in its fullness only at the cross — "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). That is why charity is the greatest of the three, and why the King James guards it with a taller word — charity, not merely "love" — to keep it from shrinking back into a feeling.

And watch how the chapter proves it: charity is known not by what it feels, but by what it does. It "suffereth long, is kind"; it "envieth not"; it "beareth all things." Agape is love with its sleeves rolled up — a chosen doing, not a warm feeling.

Try It This Week

Here is your verse. As you read it, remember: the word behind "love" here is that same big, chosen word.

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." — Matthew 22:37-40

Now think. You cannot be ordered to feel something — feelings come and go. But this is a commandment: "thou shalt love." How can love be commanded? Because it is agape — a chosen love, a love that acts, and you can obey it today whether the feeling is high or low. That is why the greatest thing in the Book can also be a command. Love God, and love your neighbour — not merely feel it, but do it. And notice where the whole law comes to rest: on these two.

Your Toolbox So Far

1. Start with the questions — WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY.   2. Read the whole verse — all the way to its last word.   3. Every command has an address — ask who it was spoken to.   4. Let the Bible define its own words — the Book is its own dictionary.   5. Clear explains complex — let a plain verse light up a deep one.   6. A verse has neighbors — read the ones just before and just after.   7. The Bible agrees with itself — when two verses seem to clash, read closer; they lock together.   8. When our words are too small — ask which word the Book actually used.

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Next lesson, in two weeks: the Old Testament has a word so deep it holds a whole nation's rescue — one word, and the Exodus is inside it.

‹ Lesson 7 — The Bible Agrees With Itself  •  The Course Index — all lessons

The Man Who Tried Everything

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday evening service, November 1, 2026 Route 66 · Book 03 · Ecclesiastes 12:13

► Watch this lesson on video (26:52)

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This is the lesson the way it was preached on Sunday evening - near word for word. The “uh”s and the starts-over are taken out; the sentences are left the way they were said. Bible verses are printed exactly as they read in the King James. Anything marked GOING DEEPER was NOT preached on Sunday evening - it is extra study for anyone who wants to dig further.

THE ONE POINT

EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN IS VAPOR - SO FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS.

I. The Man Who Tried Everything

All right. Well, this evening we’re going to continue in the Route 66 thing. You know, every other Sunday night is the First John series, and the other one is the Route 66. Tonight we’re going to talk, from the book of Ecclesiastes, about the man who tried everything. Our text, Ecclesiastes 12:13. Ecclesiastes 12 and 13. Of course, we’ll read a few more Scriptures in Ecclesiastes.

But you remember, so far we started with the book of Proverbs. And again, remembering this concept of the staircase - not taking steps to complete our salvation, but we’re talking about climbing a staircase. The higher we get, the better fellowship we have with Jesus. And the lower we go, the more distant our fellowship with Jesus becomes. So we began with Proverbs, and you remember what that first step was before we do anything else: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Then we looked in the book of Job, and this pretty much proved to us that proper fear of the Lord is effective even in the stormy parts of life. And tonight we’re going to look at Ecclesiastes and learn that nothing else in life works like proper fear of the Lord. That’s pretty much the foundation, pretty much the only foundation that works, or that holds up a life in the world that we live in.

Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. And you remember Solomon was the richest, wisest king that Israel ever had. And near the end of Solomon’s life, he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. And the whole book can pretty much be summed up in the one verse. Remember, each book that we look at is going to have what we call the key verse - the verse that unlocks the remainder of the book. And the significance of that is, when you determine the key verse, we look at every other verse in the book through the lens of that key verse.

All right. Ecclesiastes 12 and 13. The conclusion of the whole matter, we’re told here, is to do what? To keep a list of rules, to do as good as we can, and to remember that as long as we’re sincere we’re okay? No. The Bible says:

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

Now, the one point that we’ll make to our lesson this evening is that everything under the sun is vapor. So, fear God and keep his commandments. In other words, that’s the only thing that lasts.

II. Everything Under the Sun Is Vapor

All right? So what exactly do you mean when we say everything under the sun is vapor? Do you mean my job’s not important? Do you mean my hobbies aren’t important? Do you mean the things that I like to do in life, none of that’s important? No, that’s not what we mean at all. But we’re going to learn here in just a moment: if the whole sum total of my life is my yard, well, one of these days that yard’s going to grow up and have stickers, and then where will my life be? If the sum total of my life is to be the best quarterback that’s ever been, well, what’s going to happen to my life when I get forty-five, fifty years old, or bung up a knee and can’t be that quarterback anymore? You see, if an activity - whatever it is - if everything means everything to us, then everything we are will one day turn to vapor and disappear, because nothing in this life lasts forever. That’s kind of a backdrop of where we’re going with this.

So let’s notice how the book of Ecclesiastes starts. Chapter 1, verse 2. Vanity. Well, what in the world does vanity mean? The Scripture says here:

“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

Well, vanity is equal to a vapor. Now, we’re getting close to the cooler season of the year. When you go outside and you breathe and you can see your breath, that’s vapor. You can’t see it for very long, can you? It, like, totally disappears.

The point here: Solomon tried it all. It’s listed. You can read it in the book. Laughter and wine. It was enjoyable, but it ended. Houses and vineyards, silver and gold, singers and music, entertainment - the greatest man of his day, Solomon was. And here is what Solomon found in all of these things that he tried. Chapter 2, verse 11. Chapter 2, verse 11.

“Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).

He says, I looked at everything that I had accomplished in life. I had the money, the position, and the power to do anything I wanted. And I pretty much did. And I looked back at all of these things that were so important to me at the time, and I looked at the labor that I had labored to do. And behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Now, most of the things that King Solomon did were not wicked. They weren’t bad things. In fact, many of them were actually gifts that God had bestowed upon him. The trouble - and this is what we alluded to just a moment ago - the trouble was that Solomon, he looked at all of these gifts, the works of his hands and everything, he looked at all of this as the purpose of his life. I’m going to say he looked at these things as though they were everything to him. Yeah, I realize a new four-wheel-drive truck is important and impressive, but folks, if we look at something like that as “it means everything to me,” well, what’s going to happen when that truck wears out? And it will. Okay? Oh, I want to be the biggest athlete. I want to be the best dancer. I want to be the best whatever, whatever. Well, I’m not saying that that’s not important. And it may be impressive if you do rise up in the ranks, but do you think you’re going to stay there? If that quest is everything to you, well, what are you going to do when it’s not there anymore? Okay, that’s what it means when it says “vanity of vanities, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” You can’t keep it. Okay? You can just have it in your hand for a short time, and then it disappears. If that’s what your whole life is built on, well, what happens to your life when that goes away? That’s the idea.

You know, one of the things that I struggled with in my life - I try to come up with a personal example - my job. Okay? Back as an engineer, I had visions of being the owner or the boss of every factory that I ever worked at. But you know, and I was good at what I did. All right? And I’m not just blowing smoke. I was good at what I did. But every bit of progress that I ever made as an engineer was either stolen or ignored. I either embarrassed my bosses because they didn’t think of it first, or I just totally ignored. All right, we’ve got to get rid of this guy. Every step up the ladder, somebody was there ahead of me to saw off a limb so I wouldn’t get to where they are and become a threat. Yeah. And I learned this too late. All right? There is no such thing as the perfect job. It does not exist. And the only people that are ever going to fully appreciate your talents - okay, what you do - is your family, hopefully your spouse, and more than likely your children. You know, I realize my dad was just a normal person, and I told you this story before: I idolized Daniel Boone when I was growing up, you know, about Wyatt’s age. Daniel Boone could do anything. But then my dad could whoop Daniel Boone. All right, that was my mentality. You can depend upon your family, but that’s about as far as it goes. Everyone else has an agenda. All right?

You know, everything under the sun turns into vapor when we ask whatever that is to be the sum total of our life, to define everything that we are in life. Think about all those people. And again, you know, back in the seventies when I was growing up, when you could about believe about half of everything you heard on the news, you know how many news stories I heard about people that worked hard, worked like dogs for fifty years, looking forward to a retirement - a retirement that they put money out of every paycheck they’ve ever made into this retirement account, only to have that retirement fund stolen out from underneath them? You see, they were putting all their eggs into one basket. Their happiness was defined by this one thing. You’ve got to be careful. The point is, when our happiness is defined by one thing, well, what happens when that one thing falls apart? You know, there’s countless people that paid money into a retirement fund their whole life, and then some crook on Wall Street or whatever wound up destroying the retirement fund, and then where were they? Okay? All their eggs in one basket, and they lost everything.

But you know, what we do for God is literally the only thing that is not vapor. What we do for God, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t have to be anything big. Okay? Turning the TV off ten minutes early before we go to bed so we can read our Bible. Saying a prayer, taking time out of our busy days to kneel down beside our bed. Okay? And there’s nothing wrong with kneeling down at our bed at night and saying a prayer. These are the small things that nobody in the world will ever know that you do, but somebody knows that you do them. God does. And these are the kinds of things that will never disappear, okay? They’ll never be taken from us. They are not vapor that will just disappear. They’re the only things that will last.

III. The Bottom Line

Solomon, an old man, when he sits down and writes the book of Ecclesiastes - I want you to picture him sitting at the kitchen table and opening a book, a ledger, a diary. All right? And he’s going to write down everything in his life. And, okay, was this valuable, or is this - now that my life’s about over - was this only something I thought was valuable?

Chapter one. Oh, all the good times that I had. I was king. I had money. I was a good-looking guy. And I had all these good times. I had good times my entire life. Can you carry that to the end? It’s nothing but vapor. Well, what are you saying, preacher? The good times are over. So now how are they valuable?

Chapter two. Oh, he was shrewd. Every business deal Solomon ever made, he came out on top. And he calculates all that. Oh yeah, I made all this money, and - well, it equals vapor. Why? Well, last time I checked, there’s not any money in heaven, is there? Nothing in the Bible indicates the streets are made of gold. So if you make it to heaven with a big bag of gold, you can just go pick up rocks alongside the streets and be just as wealthy, because the streets are made of gold. So what good is it to come out on top on all those business deals when you enter into eternity?

Chapter three. Fame. Oh, I finally achieved my goal. I was the best at, name your poison. I was number one at whatever. I had the prettiest face, when I was a teenager. When I was sixteen, I had the prettiest face - if we’re a girl. Oh, I had the biggest muscles, you know, and women always like to brag about their hair. I had the longest, prettiest hair. Well, all of that is equal to vapor. Why? The grave doesn’t care how pretty you were when you were sixteen or how strong you were when you were twenty-four. I mean, the grave doesn’t care.

Chapter four. Education. I had over a four-point average in college. I’ve got six degrees. I can speak fourteen languages. A mind sharp as a tack. It’s all equal to vapor. In fact, we’re told that in the kingdom of heaven, those in the kingdom of heaven, they have the humility of a child.

GOING DEEPER · THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM

Not preached on Sunday evening — extra study.

The greatest in the kingdom of heaven will possess the humility of a child.

“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:4).

The final chapter in this book of things he’s valuing - the only thing of value in the whole book, he finally realizes - is fearing God and keeping His commandments. Now let’s read chapter 12:13 again.

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

Now you’ll notice in your Bible - and this is not a mistake, there’s not anything wrong, but I just want to point this out - the word duty in your Bible will be in italics. Well, what does that mean? That means the translators added the word. If it’s in italics, the translator added it to make it a little plainer. It’s not wrong. It’s not a mistake. It’s just something they did, and it’s beneficial. But I want to point out, if we leave that word duty out and read the Scripture, see what it says: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man.

Now, what exactly does that mean? Well, fearing God is not just one item on a to-do list of things that a Christian needs to accomplish. Fearing God is what we are for. Keeping His commandments, guarding what is important to God - that’s our purpose. Fear God and keep His commandments. These two things go together. A fear of God which does not motivate us to obey God is not really a respect. It’s not a proper respect for God at all.

You may or may not remember last Sunday night, 1 John chapter 2 and verse 3, we read about how we were supposed to keep God’s commandments, and we learned that it meant to guard and to watch over. That’s the same idea here. And I want us to think about whether or not we fear God enough to value what God values. Do we fear God enough to make sure His commandments are safe and not forgotten?

GOING DEEPER · WHAT LIFE IS FOR, NOT HOW TO GET SAVED

Not preached on Sunday evening — extra study.

A guard on this point: Solomon is not telling us how to GET saved. Solomon is telling us what a life is FOR.

Let’s look at Mark 8 and verse 36. Mark 8 and verse 36.

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

Now, once again, the one point to our lesson this evening is: everything that we can build our life on is nothing but vapor, with the exception of God’s truth. Everything under the sun is vapor. So, we should fear God and keep His commandments, because that’s the only thing that won’t disappear.

IV. Read the Bottom Line Now

Ecclesiastes 12:1. Now, Solomon found what life was for pretty much at the end of his life on earth. But because of the Scripture, we can have this same knowledge that Solomon had at the beginning of our life. Notice what he says. Ecclesiastes 12:1.

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

Now, when you’re young, you have a difficult time making a connection with what comes next. “While the evil days come not.” Well, what do you mean, evil days? Oh, man. We went on a little walk this afternoon, and I thought I was going to die. My hip started hurting and my nerves were all balled up, and it’s like, oh my goodness. A twenty-year-old doesn’t have those kind of issues. All right? “While the evil days come not,” when every day is good. All right? “Nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” You young people, you can have at twenty years old, you can have in your youth, what Solomon only found when he was way, way, way past his youth. And the rest of us, the ledger, the diary on what is valuable in life has already been written. Solomon wrote it down a long time ago. And so there’s no need to spend whatever years we have left rerunning the test that Solomon already made.

Now, I’d ask our musicians to come forward this evening as we prepare for an invitational hymn. I want to remind you what the definition of insanity is. The classic textbook definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Well, Solomon’s already done everything under the sun, and he says it’s all pointless, with the exception of fearing God and keeping His commandments.

So, what I want us to do for homework this week is - you know, are we the only people that have calendars, and we write doctor’s appointments and things that we intend to do on the calendar? Well, I’d like for you to take your calendar and pretend that what I’m about to tell you is an appointment that you need to keep. I’d like for you to write “fear God and keep his commandments” on your calendar just like it was an appointment, or something that you needed to accomplish this week. And remember that everything under the sun is vapor. So, fear God and keep His commandments.

And the one question I want to leave you with this evening: what are we asking to be everything to us? What are we building our entire lives upon? If it’s anything but God and His Word, we’re building it on a vapor that will disappear. Strength and beauty disappear. That first-place trophy always gets replaced the next season. All we take into eternity - and think about this - all we are able to take into eternity is faith in Jesus Christ and love for His truth. I mean, I admire you if you’re the best quarterback, the athlete that ever was. That’s fine and dandy, but you’re going to leave those accomplishments behind when you go to the grave. You can’t take them with you. So, the point is, if we can’t take it with us, what’s the point? Well, what can we take with us? Faith in Jesus and a love for the truth. We can have those in our hands when we walk through those gates. I know that’s just to say we can have faith in one hand and love for the truth in the other when we stand before God in judgment. We can’t have anything else.

So consider: what are you building your life on? Please consider as we sing number 400 in the big book. 400.

The Helper We Forget — The Spirit in Prayer

We do not know what we should pray for as we ought . . . and God did not leave us alone with that.

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A note on the Scripture in this study: every verse is printed WHOLE. The words set in ordinary type are the ones this lesson leans on and emphasizes . . . the words in italics are the rest of the verse, printed so that nothing is ever handed to you as a fragment with the remainder missing.

The last two parts have been heavy ones. Asking amiss . . . and a kinked line . . . and six things that hinder a man's praying . . . if a man read those two back to back he could come away thinking that praying is a narrow business and he is likely to get it wrong.

So this one is the relief, and it is not a change of subject . . . it is the same subject from the other side.

Because Paul turns around and admits, flat out, that we do not know how to do this – and then tells us what God has done about it.

THE ADMISSION

Romans 8:26 — “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

We know not what we should pray for as we ought. That is Paul writing . . . the man who wrote Romans . . . if he did not know – I am going to quit pretending that I do.

And be careful how you read that. He is not saying that we do not know what we want – we know that fine. He is saying we do not know what we OUGHT. What this means – is that we cannot see far enough down the road – to know what is best . . . and half the time we are asking for the thing that would ruin us.

Now most preaching stops on that verse and makes it about our weakness. But Paul did not write it to make us feel small . . . look at the first four words. The Spirit also helpeth. The admission is only there to set up THE HELP...

THE WORD PAUL USED

The word behind helpeth – is one of the biggest words in the New Testament – and it is only used twice in the whole Bible.

It is built out of three pieces – along with - over against - and to take hold . . . put them all together and it says: to take hold of a thing ‘on the other end’ alongside somebody.

That is not a man calling advice out to us from the porch . . . that is a man who comes down and gets under the other end of it alongside of us…

And the only other place it shows up is Martha - in Luke 10 - asking the Lord to bid her sister help her… She was not asking for suggestions about the kitchen… She wanted somebody on the OTHER END of the work.

WHAT HE ACTUALLY DOES

Romans 8:27 — “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

Now put the two verses together - because there is a chain running through them - and it is the whole comfort of this passage…

I do not know what I ought to ask for… BUT the Spirit does - and He takes hold of the other end . . . and what He carries up to God - is according to the will OF God – which is the very standard that ‘Part Seven’ said everything has to meet…

So look what has happened . . . the thing I could not do for myself - is being done for me - at the exact point where I was going to fail… I could not get my asking lined up with His will . . . so - somebody else is lining it up…

And notice one more thing… He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit… The Father is reading THE SPIRIT rather than reading my wording . . . my poor words are not the message… They are the occasion for the message.

✍️ AUTHOR'S NOTE

If we go back to the 107 PS… Remember the four groups that were mentioned here – the wanderer – the prisoner – the fool – and the storm tossed… I remember being “the prisoner” guilty of rebelling against the Word of The Lord – being “bound” in affliction and iron – and there was NONE to help… When I recognized my position – I had no words to offer – all I had was a cry ‘in my heart’ – and it was this CRY that The Holy Spirit found when He searched my heart – and this is what He took to God in the form of my prayer… with a request (and words) that I did not know how to make… — C.T.

THE INTERPRETER

Here is the picture I keep coming back to.

A man is standing in an office - in a country whose language he does not speak… He has a real need . . . and it is urgent . . . and every word he owns is the wrong word… He can point . . . and he can say it louder - and none of that is going to help him.

And a man steps up beside him who knows both languages perfectly… He listens to the mess the man is making of it – gets what he actually means - not what he actually said – and turns to the man behind the desk and says it right.

The stammering man did not become eloquent… He got an interpreter . . . and the message that arrived at that desk was accurate - and it was accurate because of the interpreter and not because of the man with the need...

That is Romans 8:26. And notice that a man cannot hire this interpreter and he does not have to… He is already standing there.

Simple truth: God did not answer our not knowing how to pray by teaching us to be eloquent… He answered it by sending Somebody to carry it up for us...

GROANINGS WHICH CANNOT BE UTTERED

Now that phrase . . . it has been made into all kinds of things it isn’t - so let us handle it carefully.

Cannot be uttered means exactly what it says – not able to be spoken . . . whatever this is - it is not something coming out of a man's mouth… Paul is not describing a sound we make… He is describing something too deep for sound.

And the groaning is not new in the chapter . . . it is the third one in a row… Verse 22, the whole creation groaneth… Verse 23, we ourselves groan within ourselves… Verse 26, the Spirit groans with groanings that cannot be uttered.

A world that is not right (groaneth) - a people who feel that it is not right (groan within ourselves) - and a Spirit who takes that ache and carries it to God (groanings that cannot be uttered) . . . that is a chapter about hope, and this is what this concept is talking about…

AND HE IS NOT ONLY FOR THE HARD DAYS

This is not just for the times ‘a man’ is too broken to talk… Paul puts the Spirit in the middle of ordinary praying:

Ephesians 6:18 — “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”

Jude 20 — “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,”

Praying always… All prayer… So ‘in the Spirit’ is not a SPECIAL GEAR for emergencies . . . it is meant to be the ordinary way - a saved man prays.

And He (The Holy Spirit) is the reason a man can call God ‘Father’ in the first place…

Galatians 4:6 — “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

Abba . . . that is what a child in that country called his daddy . . . it is not formal, and it is not grand - and the Spirit is the one who put that word into our mouth…

So - every time a man opens his prayer with ‘Father’ – the way the Lord taught us in Part Five – that word came from the Spirit - before it ever came from the one praying...

📖 FROM THE PULPIT

Think of a small child who cries when ths when they are hungry – when they need a diaper changed… the mother knows exactly what the child is trying to say – and the child cannot even talk yet… Our old dog could say things that I understood – he never uttered a word – but I could tell by his bark – what he was wanting to say… Our prayers will NEVER be heard because of our MUCH SPEAKING – they will only be heard if our heart is humble before God… — C.T.

NOW LET ME GUARD THIS

Two guards - and I want both of them to be plain…

Knowing that The Holy Spirit is going to interpret – is NOT a reason to quit trying to pray well... The Spirit helping does not mean my part is nothing… Paul did not stop praying after he wrote Romans 8 – he prayed MORE . . . and he told churches what he was praying ‘for them’ - in detail . . . the presence of an interpreter does not excuse the man from opening his mouth…

And this is not a license to make prayer strange… Groanings which cannot be uttered are - by Paul's own word - not uttered (not spoken) ... So - whatever a man hears out loud in a room during a prayer - is not what this verse is talking about... I want us to be careful here . . . because this passage gets pulled around a great deal . . . and the plain reading is both ‘plainer and better’ than all the strange things it gets pulled into.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

There are three – who are praying for you – and only one of them who is praying – is you.

The Son is at the right hand of God and ever liveth to make intercession – that was Part Six… The Spirit is inside - taking hold of the other end - carrying up to God what we could not say ourselves – and that is this part… And the Father is reading the Spirit's mind while He listens to our words.

So - a man is not standing at that throne by himself - working up the right words with everything hanging on whether he gets them right… He is the smallest part of his own praying . . . and that is the best news in this whole study.

TRY IT THIS WEEK

Find the thing you have not been able to pray about – and there is usually at least one thing in our life that fits here . . . the thing we start praying about and then quit - because we don’t quite know what to ask for…

Take this to Him this week without a request attached... Say - Lord, I do not know what to ask for here . . . and then be quiet a minute and leave it there…

That is not giving up... According to Romans 8 - that is the prayer with the best help behind it…

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NEXT — Part Ten: Keep Knocking. If God knows and God helps, then why does He make us ask twice? Elijah sent that boy up the hill seven times . . . and the Lord told a story about a widow who would not go home.