His Perfect Love

Matt VanderVen: Today on His Perfect Love, we are reminded of our true identity in Christ. You are heirs and co-heirs of Jesus Christ. That's your identity, and no one can steal that from you.

I'm going to blow it. I'm going to make mistakes. I'm going to be fearful. But my God is bigger than any circumstance that I will ever face. Declaring that truth and walking in that light can't help but lift up your soul and your spirit to be exactly who you are supposed to be in Jesus Christ, a son and daughter of the King.

Guest (Male): It's been said that when your outlook is bleak, try an up-look, for a little perspective goes a long way. Well, today's His Perfect Love will help us have an eternal perspective, and what a difference it makes. Welcome, we're very glad you've joined us. We continue making our way through the book of Ecclesiastes with Pastor Matt VanderVen.

In chapter three, we gain a heavenly perspective on life. If we carefully consider what happens after this life, it will greatly impact us in this life.

Matt VanderVen: We can't judge things by what we see in glimpses. Our brains don't operate that way; God's brain does. We see little touchpoints throughout life and we try to correlate them and bring them together so that we can form some level of understanding.

We do it in medicine and science through classification. We do it through language, the art of communication, so we can understand feelings and emotions. It's always our attempt to bring this understanding. But what he's finally realizing is he's saying there are some things in this life we will never understand, and we have to be okay with that because God does.

There's something really important about the equation of that. If you are in control of the gods you carry, if you were to make yourself a few idols and put them in your pocket and you're carrying them, then you are in control of your gods. Your gods can do nothing without your direct interaction and intervention.

But if you have a God that's all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere, and you don't carry him, he carries you. I don't want a God that I can completely figure out. Because if my mind can figure out everything God's mind can, then one could argue my mind is equitable or equatable to God's.

God's mind is infinite, all-knowledge, and eternal. It's not possible. You know what that should do to every human being? It should humble us. It should put us in that rightful place as a child. Much like if you had a parent that was very loving and protective and that parent would guide you, there was safety in being with that loving parent.

Maybe it was a friend or a relative, somebody you knew that you trusted. When you went out with them, they said, "Stay close to me, hold my hand." What did that bring you? Comfort, security, and trust. That's what God does for us if we take Dad's hand. Abba, Father.

I know nothing is better for them than to rejoice and to do good in their lives. He says, "Look, I know life is meant to be enjoyed." Doing good and being a part of God's plan should bring joy and rejoicing in life. Do you see that in verse twelve?

I'm going to go back to verse eleven for a minute. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity in their hearts. That's why we have this desire to understand who God is. No one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end, as I mentioned already.

Take that and couple that with twelve. I know nothing is better for them to rejoice. What he's saying is that God knowing everything and us realizing we don't should not bring anguish or anger. It should actually bring joy to realize that we have a God that is all-knowing and we don't have to figure it out.

What a big weight. How many of you have seen Pilgrim's Progress? The rumpsack, the backpack that's being carried around. Basically, what God's saying is you can set the backpack down at Calvary and you don't need to pick it up again because I've got you. Follow me.

That's discipleship. To disciple means to lead. God is a leader and we are followers. He says that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of his labor. It should be good. It is the gift of God.

Do you think that way about your life here this evening, that your life is a gift from God? No matter what you've been through, no matter the difficulty, the turmoil, or the heartache, there's also been joy. There's also been very wonderful times.

But sometimes as humans, we're pre-wired to focus on the negative instead of taking time to always have a heart of thanksgiving and focus on the positive. He's saying that every moment in this life is a gift from Jesus Christ. Because it's a present, what do you do with it? Will you receive it or will you reject it?

On Christmas, when many of us exchange presents, usually it's a time of smiling and joy. Little children are very happy. When you receive the present, it's supposed to be a gift from God that brings great joy and a smile to our faces.

I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it that men should fear before him. That which is to be has already been, and God requires an account of what is past. Remarkable. He cannot help but bring God into the conversation.

But he's still settling into his understanding of faith. Verse sixteen: "Moreover I saw under the sun..." Remember, he's used that time he will some twenty-seven or so times. That idea of under the sun, the day, the earth; that's how he's using it. He goes back to trying to figure out what is happening all over again without using God or the Old Testament scriptures.

In the place of judgment wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, iniquity was there. He says, "Wait a minute. Bad things happen to good people if there's such a thing. Why is God allowing that?" I said in my heart, "God shall judge the righteous and the wicked. For there is a time there for every purpose and for every good work."

Why is man wicked and sinful? Why does wickedness seem to prevail over justice? Sometimes it can seem that way, but it's temporal. We're looking at it like a timeline. You all know what timelines are. If I was to take a timeline and I was to put a dot, that's your life. That's my life.

This earth has been here for five to six thousand years that humanity has existed. We in a hundred years, if we even are to live that long, it is but a dot. Now that timeline of six thousand years is still limited because we have eternality.

We have a time that's going to go on forever and ever. Do you want to focus on the dot and how things aren't fair at the point of the dot, or are you going to step back and look at the larger picture of forever? Forever means forever. I promise you when you're in heaven, you're not going to go, "But the little dot."

No, you're going to step back and go, "Lord, if I would have only listened. If I would have only looked at things as you do on the macro." So often I get so micro. Because I get so micro, I miss. I'm doing what Peter's doing. I'm focusing on the wind and all these other things and I take my eyes off you.

This is what he's doing again. He's saying, "But there's wickedness, and why does God allow wickedness?" Because it's a fallen world. He says that for every purpose and every good work, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked.

For the righteous, we know in our New Testament we are going to go to a Bema seat judgment. That's a rewards banquet. But the wicked, they're ultimately going to end up according to Revelation in something called a Great White Throne Judgment. They are two different things.

Those who are born again have their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I truly believe everybody starts with their name written in that book. The reason I believe that is because the scriptures tell me that in Revelation chapter three, right around verse five, he was talking to one of the churches and said if you don't do these things, I will blot you out.

How do you blot something out that's not already there? If you've seen that passage, you know what I'm talking about. Revelation three. Go back and look at it. I really believe that God's desire and heart is to have all saved.

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before my Father and his angels. He's talking to the church of Sardis, which, by the way, was the plastic church, the dead church.

This is important. We can't walk away or misunderstand. There's truth to this. There is a judgment for righteous believers, but it's called the Bema seat banquet. There is a judgment for those that reject Jesus Christ, and that will ultimately be the Great White Throne Judgment.

God has offered the gift of salvation, but those that have rejected that gift of Jesus Christ will be separated from him eternally. It's actually what they want, which is maddening to some extent when you think about it.

He said, "I said in my heart concerning the condition..." He maybe has in his mind Genesis one through three. Man and woman were created in the image of God, but now they're in a fallen state. Genesis chapter five says they were created in the image of Seth, which is the Adamic nature.

I said in my heart concerning the condition of the sons of men, "God tested them that they may see that they themselves are like animals." You see, this is what happens, and we're seeing it today. PETA and some of these other organizations. It's our job. We've been given dominion over the earth. We absolutely should protect animals and the most vulnerable people.

But please don't equate an animal to the same as a homo sapien or a human being. They're not equal. There is an order of operation according to the Lord. We were originally created in God's image; animals were not. We must at least agree upon that.

What happens is when we start becoming debased and deluded, we take humanity and begin to downgrade it and say, "Well, we're just like animals." Sometimes we actually can act that way. It says that they may see themselves like animals.

What happens to the sons of men also happens to animals. One thing befalls them. As one dies, so dies the other. Surely they have one breath. Man has no advantage over animals for all is vanity. Solomon is saying that when he looks at the things that are happening in the temporal, he sees what happens to animals.

A squirrel can get run over by a car, and a man can get run over by a chariot in Solomon's time. Don't they all end the same? All of us in this room are more intelligent than that to realize there is a vast difference.

First of all, can animals be saved? This should be an easy answer for all of us: no. Why? Because they don't have spirits. Your Bible never says otherwise. God is spirit. Jesus came in the likeness of God so that you and I could relate to a spirit that we could see in human form. Emmanuel, God with us.

Caro is the Latin for flesh. Incaro means flesh. He came in flesh. Emmanuel, God with us. He came and it says very clearly in the New Testament that he is the likeness and image. He is the unseen God, Jesus is, before us.

That's how we can relate. We understand him. But God the Father is spirit. Animals are not spirit. Animals are body, they're physical, and they also have a soul. You ever see a dog walk into a room, look around, forget why they did it, and walk out? Sometimes we can do that too.

At the end of the day, we have spirits and can be redeemed. Can angels be redeemed? No. Hell was created for angels. If we stick to the doctrine of the word of God, we don't end up where Solomon is. We don't fall to man's wisdom if we stick with the word of God because the word of God educates us in our proper dominion and place.

Angels were immortal beings just like humans were at one time when we were in the Garden of Eden. Death didn't enter in until original sin in Genesis chapter three. Then we became mortal. We were moved out of the garden so we didn't eat a tree that would make us stay immortal forever and ever into that depravity of sin nature.

This is why God kicked humans out of the garden, put angels in front of it with a fiery sword and said, "You're not going in there because I love you." The answer is no. You mean you can tell people no? Yeah, no is no. Sometimes no is good. You're not going to stay in a state like that. I love you enough to not compromise.

So he turns around and says you're not going into the garden. At that point, Genesis chapter five says that every human being thereafter was born in the image of Seth. Then Jesus Christ went to the cross and there was a spiritual transaction that took place. He said "Teleo" or "Telestai" in the Greek. He says, "It's finished."

Something else happened there. Because after that point, we read in our New Testament that you and I are being conformed into the image and likeness of Christ. When Jesus was on that cross and he was crucified, the shroud was torn in two. We now could enter into the presence of the Father as far and deep as we want to.

Before, he had to keep us at a distance because of our own holiness. There was only a covering for sin. Yom Kippur or Yom Kifor in the Hebrew is the Day of Atonement. All it did was cover. He now says, "I remove sin past, present, and future." That's what he did on the cross.

When he did that, the born-again believer also received a new nature. That nature is being conformed into the likeness and image of God. When we pass, we will pass into eternity. Does everybody understand? That is the whole point. This is why we don't arrive at the conclusion that we're like animals.

Vanity, man's wisdom, and self-deception will lead the human mind to conceive all kinds of cults, doctrines, and manipulations to where people will think they're pink ponies. If you don't believe me, I want you to think about the days we're living in where there is a school district not so many miles from here that literally has people that come into that school and believe that they are animals and that they have litter boxes.

It's not a joke. This is what happens when we let the mind degrade and we don't have a check of reality, an absolute reality based on the holy scriptures of God. It causes the mind to degrade and become deplorable that way.

He is now equating them, but we know this not to be true. In his wisdom of man, he is saying man has no advantage over the animal, for all is vanity. Aren't there people walking around like that? There's people walking around saying that their kittens are their kids.

No, your kittens are your animals. You love them dearly, and please do. Take care of them and protect them. But they're not your children. They're not your offspring. I'm sorry if that offends you tonight, but you are created in the image of God. It is not a game. It is not something to make minor.

Jesus went to the cross so that you and I could be back in the image of God. It's not something we just forget. All go to one place. My Bible says that's not true. All are from the dust and all return to dust. Who knows the spirit of the sons of men which goes upward and the spirit of the animals which goes down to the earth?

I perceive that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. He says basically a man becomes known by what he does as far as his history and his legacy. We've already talked about that because two to three generations removed, most people don't know who their relatives are.

So a man is not just his heritage in regards to that. Our identity is in Jesus Christ and we live on that way because our citizenship is heavenly. Who can bring him to see what will happen after him? This is a sorrowful sort of thought. Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun.

This is a very depressive viewpoint without the hope of God. He basically comes to this point where he believes we are like animals. He goes, "And look, the tears of the oppressed, but they have no comforter. On the side of the oppressors there's power, but they have no comforter. Therefore I praise the dead who were already dead."

Again, it's very depressing. "More than the living who are still alive. Yes, better than both is he who has never existed." Do you see how dark this starts to get? It started with we're equal with animals, and then it doesn't stop there. It never stops there. Then it starts going down further into a downward spiral to maybe I would have been better if I was never born.

Better than both is he who had never existed and who has not seen the evil work that is done under sun. Without God, man is left to his own wisdom and the result of that perpetuates all kinds of abuses. Abuse to self because we don't see who we really are.

The biggest problem going on in the United States and around the world really is an identity crisis. The reason people wake up every day and look in a mirror and are so desiring to look like a magazine or all these things is because they're comparing themselves to mere mortals instead of realizing they're sons and daughters of the King.

You are heirs and co-heirs of Jesus Christ. That's your identity, and no one can steal that from you. It doesn't matter what you look like or how you dress. Your weight doesn't matter. Your hairdo doesn't matter. All the things that we try to put as important items do not matter.

It's all divisive. It's all about comparing and contrasting humanity instead of all of us coming together in the unity of God and declaring, "God, you alone are worthy. You are holy and we are being conformed in your image. We are your children and Hallelujah!" I don't need to be sad or depressed about a single thing.

I'm going to blow it. I'm going to make mistakes. I'm going to be fearful. But my God is bigger than any circumstance that I will ever face. Declaring that truth and walking in that light can't help but lift up your soul and your spirit to be exactly who you are supposed to be in Jesus Christ, a son and daughter of the King.

Guest (Male): You're listening to a study in Ecclesiastes from Pastor Matt VanderVen on His Perfect Love. Catch a replay when you visit hisperfectlove.org. We're also at oneplace.com and look for us wherever you get your podcasts.

We've also got a mobile app. This is a great way to take Pastor Matt's teachings with you wherever you may go. You can learn more about the mobile app and start your download when you visit our website, hisperfectlove.org.

Thank you for your prayers and financial support. You can make a contribution to the ministry and send us your prayer requests through the website, again at hisperfectlove.org.

Those of you in the Mechanicsburg, PA area or will be visiting the area, we want to cordially invite you to join us for a worship service. Just like on the radio, Pastor Matt teaches verse by verse through the Bible here at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.

Sunday morning services begin at 8:30 and 10:30. We have a midweek service on Wednesdays at 7:00 PM. You'll find us at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, PA. Go to ccharrisburg.org for more information.

Are you looking for a Christian school that offers a quality education and a nurturing environment for your children? If so, you might be interested in Calvary Chapel Christian Academy, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.

Calvary Chapel Christian Academy is a non-denominational Christian school that serves students from kindergarten to twelfth grade. The academy's mission is to provide a Christ-centered education that equips students to love God, love others, and serve the world.

The academy offers a rigorous academic curriculum, a variety of extracurricular activities, and a caring and supportive staff. The academy is located at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, PA. For more information, please visit our website at ccharrisburg.org/academy.

Set aside another half hour to join us tomorrow at the same time on this same station when Pastor Matt will pick up where we left off in Ecclesiastes here on His Perfect Love. His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.