1 00:00:00,086 --> 00:00:02,365 You've got all these people that are searching. 2 00:00:02,365 --> 00:00:03,647 What are they looking for? 3 00:00:03,647 --> 00:00:07,097 That's what goes on in people's minds. 4 00:00:07,097 --> 00:00:09,336 How can I make the next dollar? 5 00:00:09,336 --> 00:00:11,615 How can I get the prettier girlfriend? 6 00:00:11,615 --> 00:00:14,076 How can I get sexual gratification? 7 00:00:14,076 --> 00:00:16,604 How can I get what I want? 8 00:00:16,604 --> 00:00:19,336 How can I get that little white ball 9 00:00:19,336 --> 00:00:23,097 in that hole in fewer strokes? 10 00:00:23,097 --> 00:00:25,772 How can I improve my tennis game? 11 00:00:25,772 --> 00:00:28,256 How can I improve my lawn? 12 00:00:28,256 --> 00:00:30,240 How can I get that new scratch 13 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:32,965 in the door of my car off there? 14 00:00:32,965 --> 00:00:35,165 How can I get a nicer car? 15 00:00:35,165 --> 00:00:37,249 How can I avoid getting old? 16 00:00:37,249 --> 00:00:40,765 How can I avoid getting to this nursing home? 17 00:00:40,765 --> 00:00:44,245 How can I get a nicer house? 18 00:00:44,245 --> 00:00:46,462 How? How? How? 19 00:00:46,462 --> 00:00:49,628 They're thinking how can I have better relationships? 20 00:00:49,628 --> 00:00:51,497 How can I be more liked at work? 21 00:00:51,497 --> 00:00:53,633 How can I be more successful at work? 22 00:00:53,633 --> 00:00:58,087 And you know where it leads in the end? 23 00:00:58,087 --> 00:01:01,139 Weeping. 24 00:01:01,139 --> 00:01:04,905 Christless eternity. 25 00:01:04,905 --> 00:01:08,955 It's futile, futile, futile! 26 00:01:08,955 --> 00:01:11,416 It's a life that leads nowhere. 27 00:01:11,416 --> 00:01:13,484 Everybody's looking for truth 28 00:01:13,484 --> 00:01:15,706 and for explanations as to why the universe 29 00:01:15,706 --> 00:01:16,956 works the way it does. 30 00:01:16,956 --> 00:01:19,236 They're all searching for the meaning of life. 31 00:01:19,236 --> 00:01:21,047 Everybody looking, looking, looking. 32 00:01:21,047 --> 00:01:22,824 What makes life worthwhile? 33 00:01:22,824 --> 00:01:24,625 That's what it is. 34 00:01:24,625 --> 00:01:25,859 Give me my thing. 35 00:01:25,859 --> 00:01:27,565 I'm going to be a race car driver. 36 00:01:27,565 --> 00:01:32,466 I'm going to be successful at this. 37 00:01:32,466 --> 00:01:34,873 I know I'm a great gardener. 38 00:01:34,873 --> 00:01:37,244 Or you fill in the blank - 39 00:01:37,244 --> 00:01:38,465 I've got beauty. 40 00:01:38,465 --> 00:01:42,604 I go to the gym and I've got big biceps. 41 00:01:42,604 --> 00:01:43,947 And where does it go? 42 00:01:43,947 --> 00:01:45,403 Look a hundred years ahead. 43 00:01:45,403 --> 00:01:46,624 Their soul's in hell. 44 00:01:46,624 --> 00:01:49,786 Their biceps are rotted in the grave. 45 00:01:49,786 --> 00:01:51,922 And God just says it's futile. 46 00:01:51,922 --> 00:01:54,424 It's futile. 47 00:01:54,424 --> 00:01:56,548 People trying to put another Hubble - 48 00:01:56,548 --> 00:01:58,816 better than the Hubble telescope out there. 49 00:01:58,816 --> 00:02:00,816 Why? We're going to look out in the deepest realms 50 00:02:00,816 --> 00:02:02,671 and with all our scientists and all our knowledge 51 00:02:02,671 --> 00:02:05,098 and we're going to try to see back to the big bang 52 00:02:05,098 --> 00:02:07,774 and we're going to make sense of it all. 53 00:02:07,774 --> 00:02:09,564 And then they're in hell. 54 00:02:09,564 --> 00:02:12,819 They die Christless and it's all hell 55 00:02:12,819 --> 00:02:15,595 and it's all empty. 56 00:02:15,595 --> 00:02:18,066 All the theories, all the religions, 57 00:02:18,066 --> 00:02:20,536 all the gods - where does it lead to? 58 00:02:20,536 --> 00:02:23,095 Futility. Think about it. 59 00:02:23,095 --> 00:02:24,195 Think about it. 60 00:02:24,195 --> 00:02:25,555 My dad was a farmer. 61 00:02:25,555 --> 00:02:27,345 He worked at GM, but he was a farmer. 62 00:02:27,345 --> 00:02:28,460 You think about this. 63 00:02:28,460 --> 00:02:31,432 You strategize how to plant the field. 64 00:02:31,432 --> 00:02:32,848 When am I going to plant it? 65 00:02:32,848 --> 00:02:34,385 How am I going to plant it? 66 00:02:34,385 --> 00:02:36,429 I'm going to have a tractor ready. 67 00:02:36,429 --> 00:02:39,236 I'm going to go out and till that field. 68 00:02:39,236 --> 00:02:42,295 I'm going to haul in the fertilizer. 69 00:02:42,295 --> 00:02:45,868 I'm going to make sure the irrigation is in place. 70 00:02:45,868 --> 00:02:48,572 I'm going to harvest that crop. 71 00:02:48,572 --> 00:02:50,306 And I'm going to grind that wheat. 72 00:02:50,306 --> 00:02:51,685 I'm going to make the bread. 73 00:02:51,685 --> 00:02:53,275 I'm going to set it on the table. 74 00:02:53,275 --> 00:02:54,922 I'm going to sit the family down 75 00:02:54,922 --> 00:02:57,371 and we're going to eat. 76 00:02:57,371 --> 00:03:01,814 And then we die and we go to hell. 77 00:03:01,814 --> 00:03:12,666 And you say, well, you're being awful graphic. 78 00:03:12,666 --> 00:03:14,076 You think about Donald Trump. 79 00:03:14,076 --> 00:03:17,696 Unless he repents... 80 00:03:17,696 --> 00:03:19,665 you can fight to have all your billions 81 00:03:19,665 --> 00:03:21,877 and be successful and make it to president 82 00:03:21,877 --> 00:03:25,465 and you die and you go to hell. 83 00:03:25,465 --> 00:03:26,635 You can be religious. 84 00:03:26,635 --> 00:03:28,666 I decide I'm going to get religious. 85 00:03:28,666 --> 00:03:32,786 I'm going to start going to Grace Community Church. 86 00:03:32,786 --> 00:03:37,217 You can get impressed by the preaching. 87 00:03:37,217 --> 00:03:39,417 But you don't ever learn Christ. 88 00:03:39,417 --> 00:03:41,673 There's no reality. 89 00:03:41,673 --> 00:03:44,070 You play the hypocrite. 90 00:03:44,070 --> 00:03:46,015 And then what happens? You die. 91 00:03:46,015 --> 00:03:47,856 And you know what, it's more tolerable 92 00:03:47,856 --> 00:03:51,147 for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you. 93 00:03:51,147 --> 00:03:53,595 The whole thing was futile. 94 00:03:53,595 --> 00:03:55,496 You see so many religious people. 95 00:03:55,496 --> 00:03:59,933 They're thinking that they're building up the credit, 96 00:03:59,933 --> 00:04:02,245 but in the end, it's futile. 97 00:04:02,245 --> 00:04:04,655 Have you ever seen Catholics 98 00:04:04,655 --> 00:04:08,236 just pray their "hail, Mary's"? 99 00:04:08,236 --> 00:04:10,890 It's just futile. 100 00:04:10,890 --> 00:04:13,505 It does no good for the soul. 101 00:04:13,505 --> 00:04:15,586 It leaves nothing for the soul. 102 00:04:15,586 --> 00:04:16,685 It's hollow. 103 00:04:16,685 --> 00:04:17,975 It's futile. 104 00:04:17,975 --> 00:04:19,175 It's aimless. 105 00:04:19,175 --> 00:04:23,434 It just leaves you in the end like a husk. 106 00:04:23,434 --> 00:04:25,571 Ruby and I saw it. 107 00:04:25,571 --> 00:04:26,713 We went on this cruise. 108 00:04:26,713 --> 00:04:28,301 Thank the Lord we had a balcony. 109 00:04:28,301 --> 00:04:30,523 We were able to spend lots of time in the room 110 00:04:30,523 --> 00:04:32,717 and just be together for 7 days. 111 00:04:32,717 --> 00:04:34,506 But we'd venture out. 112 00:04:34,506 --> 00:04:35,936 We'd venture out of the room 113 00:04:35,936 --> 00:04:38,006 and we'd look at people. 114 00:04:38,006 --> 00:04:39,391 The last day of the cruise, 115 00:04:39,391 --> 00:04:40,825 you should have seen the look 116 00:04:40,825 --> 00:04:42,456 on the people's faces. 117 00:04:42,456 --> 00:04:43,857 Empty. 118 00:04:43,857 --> 00:04:45,597 Hollow. 119 00:04:45,597 --> 00:04:47,626 Why? That's their heaven. 120 00:04:47,626 --> 00:04:49,449 And in the end, all the anticipation, 121 00:04:49,449 --> 00:04:51,385 all the places they were going to visit, 122 00:04:51,385 --> 00:04:53,831 all the stuff, it just left them empty. 123 00:04:53,831 --> 00:04:55,387 That's what this world does. 124 00:04:55,387 --> 00:04:58,054 It just takes from you, takes from you, takes from you. 125 00:04:58,054 --> 00:04:59,845 We saw a documentary on Mike Webster. 126 00:04:59,845 --> 00:05:01,015 Do you know who he was? 127 00:05:01,015 --> 00:05:03,535 18 years professional football player. 128 00:05:03,535 --> 00:05:05,875 He was a center for the Pittsburgh Steelers. 129 00:05:05,875 --> 00:05:06,824 You remember him? 130 00:05:06,824 --> 00:05:11,683 He's a guy that got whatever they're finding 131 00:05:11,683 --> 00:05:15,565 in the football player's brains now. 132 00:05:15,565 --> 00:05:17,463 The world just takes from you. 133 00:05:17,463 --> 00:05:18,555 It took from him. 134 00:05:18,555 --> 00:05:20,456 Oh, the people in Pittsburgh loved him 135 00:05:20,456 --> 00:05:21,589 and then what happened? 136 00:05:21,589 --> 00:05:25,094 He lost his brain. He lost his mind. 137 00:05:25,094 --> 00:05:26,845 All that impact with the brain. 138 00:05:26,845 --> 00:05:28,936 Impact. Impact. Impact. 139 00:05:28,936 --> 00:05:31,236 It tears the cells apart. 140 00:05:31,236 --> 00:05:33,070 It releases this protein. 141 00:05:33,070 --> 00:05:34,974 It basically clogs up their brains. 142 00:05:34,974 --> 00:05:37,645 They can't think straight anymore. 143 00:05:37,645 --> 00:05:40,098 Yeah, he had Super Bowl rings. 144 00:05:40,098 --> 00:05:43,993 And he died and went to hell. 145 00:05:43,993 --> 00:05:46,974 You think about what all of it's worth. 146 00:05:46,974 --> 00:05:48,937 You've got people that are going to go 147 00:05:48,937 --> 00:05:50,347 to their classes tomorrow 148 00:05:50,347 --> 00:05:51,975 and they're going to study. Why? 149 00:05:51,975 --> 00:05:53,964 So they can get a good job? Then what? 150 00:05:53,964 --> 00:05:54,916 Another job? 151 00:05:54,916 --> 00:05:57,855 Typically, people change jobs every three years. Then what? 152 00:05:57,855 --> 00:06:00,616 Save up for retirement? Then what? 153 00:06:00,616 --> 00:06:03,197 Then one day you're going home on a wet road 154 00:06:03,197 --> 00:06:04,927 and you get in a head-on collision 155 00:06:04,927 --> 00:06:07,683 and you die and you go to hell. 156 00:06:07,683 --> 00:06:10,886 Brethren, that is what's happening all around us. 157 00:06:10,886 --> 00:06:16,574 Every single Christless life is futility. 158 00:06:16,574 --> 00:06:18,756 It ends in hell. 159 00:06:18,756 --> 00:06:20,487 It ends empty. 160 00:06:20,487 --> 00:06:22,206 Those lives out there - 161 00:06:22,206 --> 00:06:23,930 you know why they look empty 162 00:06:23,930 --> 00:06:25,678 at the end of life 163 00:06:25,678 --> 00:06:28,795 when they had 18 successful years in the NFL? 164 00:06:28,795 --> 00:06:30,368 You know why they look empty 165 00:06:30,368 --> 00:06:35,356 after 7 days on a cruise? 166 00:06:35,356 --> 00:06:38,905 We went diving. 167 00:06:38,905 --> 00:06:41,125 I was trying to talk underwater, 168 00:06:41,125 --> 00:06:42,838 just praising the Lord. 169 00:06:42,838 --> 00:06:47,714 It was so beautiful! 170 00:06:47,714 --> 00:06:48,846 And you know what? 171 00:06:48,846 --> 00:06:51,418 The day after we got back, 172 00:06:51,418 --> 00:06:53,422 I was out at Brackenridge 173 00:06:53,422 --> 00:06:55,569 walking along the side of the river 174 00:06:55,569 --> 00:06:58,265 praying and thinking on the Lord 175 00:06:58,265 --> 00:06:59,496 and I'm thinking 176 00:06:59,496 --> 00:07:02,466 I got to come home to this. 177 00:07:02,466 --> 00:07:06,720 This is glorious! 178 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,618 I saw one woman at the end of that cruise. 179 00:07:09,618 --> 00:07:11,226 The look on her face 180 00:07:11,226 --> 00:07:14,125 was like total devastation. 181 00:07:14,125 --> 00:07:16,576 Why? Because that's the way this world is. 182 00:07:16,576 --> 00:07:20,036 It just leaves you an empty husk. 183 00:07:20,036 --> 00:07:22,064 That's all. 184 00:07:22,064 --> 00:07:26,156 It promises you everything. 185 00:07:26,156 --> 00:07:27,995 And the devil's behind that. 186 00:07:27,995 --> 00:07:30,265 And it just leaves you empty. 187 00:07:30,265 --> 00:07:33,166 Empty. Futile. 188 00:07:33,166 --> 00:07:34,686 Aimless. 189 00:07:34,686 --> 00:07:36,641 Nothing for the soul. 190 00:07:36,641 --> 00:07:42,346 Just futility. 191 00:07:42,346 --> 00:07:45,746 This excerpt was taken from the full sermon: 192 00:07:45,746 --> 00:07:48,619 No Longer Perishing in Futility