God Has Put Eternity in Our Hearts

Today I want to share a short message with you from the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 3…and we are only going to be looking at two verses from that chapter because I believe God has a great message for us from this portion of scripture. So right now if you would please turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and let’s get into the Word…

 First of all, verse 11 says this: 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

 So we can see from this verse that EVERYTHING that God does is beautiful. In the beginning, scripture tells us that God created the heavens and the earth and He declared that they were GOOD. And Friends…I want you to know that not only is EVERYTHNG that God creates beautiful…but also EVERYONE that God creates is BEAUTIFUL! God created YOU and He created Me, and therefore we know that we’re beautiful in His sight.

 And the scripture also says that God put eternity in our hearts. Every person who was ever born has a piece of eternity in their heart. We know instinctively in our hearts that we are supposed to live forever. But many of us don’t know what will happen when this life on earth is over.

 AND we know instinctively that we are supposed to worship, but we don’t know what or who we’re supposed to worship, and so many people create idols to worship. You hear stories about people who are discovered in remote villages or deserted islands and they have no idea about civilization, but they will be worshiping trees, or the sun, or the moon, or some created thing. Even in civilized society, we inherently know that we are supposed to worship something, and so we fill that with things like drugs, alcohol, sex, possessions, money, fame. We can make a god out of just about anything and most of us don’t even realize that we are placing our devotion on those things.

 But, we have eternity in our hearts, and so we try to fill that eternal place that God created for His own presence with other things. We think about life, and we wonder what life is about. We wonder what’s the purpose of our lives…why are we here. We get married, and we have children, and we want a better life for our children, but we don’t know how we can help them to have a better life because we don’t understand what life is really about ourselves…but we have eternity in our hearts, and so we seek for answers. And then, one day, someone comes along and says, “I know what the answer is that you are looking for. I’ve found the answer to the eternity that God has placed in our hearts. I know what our purpose is on the earth…why we were created. I know because I found that answer for myself…and I want to share that answer with you.”

And then verse 14 says, “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.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14)

Whatever God does, it shall be forever. We can’t add to it, and we can’t take away from it. And the reason He does it is so that men and women will fear Him…or a better way to say that is so that men and women will honor and respect Him as God in their lives.

 And so you may ask, “What did God do? What is it that He did that is forever?” Well, let me tell you:

Two Thousand years ago, God looked at the world, and He saw that the world was no longer the same as it was when He created it. It was no longer beautiful, but instead, it was broken, because sin had entered into the world. In fact, He saw that there was so much sin that it was impossible for people to stop sinning. They were not able in their own ability to stop doing the things that were displeasing to God. They were lying to each other, they were killing each other, they were having sexual relations with people they weren’t married to, they were stealing each other’s possessions. They were constantly sinning against God, and God wanted it to stop.

But no matter how hard He had tried to teach them to stop sinning, they kept doing it, and God’s heart was broken because of sin. But He had a plan. He decided that what He needed to do was to send a perfect sacrifice, One who could live a perfect life, and die the death that His righteous judgement required for sin. And so God sent His Only Son into the world so that the people could see Him and learn from Him what God was like, and they would repent of their sins and they would obey Him, and then they could live forever. And so at the time that was right according to God, He sent Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, and He came into the world as a helpless baby, He was born in a stable, and they laid Him in a manger.

Well, the good news is that Jesus didn’t remain a baby, but He grew into a young man, and the Bible says that Jesus went around doing good. He healed the sick, He raised the dead, He performed miracles, He fed people who were hungry and He preached about the Kingdom of Heaven everywhere He went. He demonstrated the kind of life that God wants for His people to live. Jesus lived a perfect life, totally pleasing to His Father, in order to show us the example that we need to follow. And Jesus told the people, “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life…no one comes to the Father except by Me.” (John 14:6) And this was all very pleasing to God the Father, and many people followed Jesus and they placed their faith in Him.

But there were some people who hated Jesus. They thought He was a fake and that He was not who He said He was. Others were afraid that He would take their position as ruler of the people, and so they plotted to killed Him. And when the time was right, these people arrested Jesus, they put Him through a mock trial, they lied about Him and they found Him guilty. And even though Jesus never did anything wrong, God allowed Him to die in our place to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. And God allowed Jesus to take upon Himself the sins of the whole world. God allowed His only Son to suffer and to die for the sins that you and I have committed. They beat Him and they pressed a crown of huge thorns into His head, they spat upon Him, they mocked Him and they nailed Him to a cruel cross…and there He hung and there He died…to pay the price for your sins and for mine. But Friends, I wanna tell ya that before He died, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

And as He hung there and died for you and for me, He paid the price of death for every sin that has ever been committed. I want you to think about that for a minute. Imagine every sin that has ever been committed from the beginning of creation until this very moment, and even until the end of time. The lies…the murders…the adultery…the anger…the self-centered attitudes…the deception…Jesus paid the penalty for every sin that has ever been and will ever be committed for all time…and He died there on the cross.  And then they took Him down from the cross and they laid His lifeless body into a borrowed tomb.

I want to ask you…why do you think God provided a borrowed tomb for Jesus’ body? Why do you think God didn’t give Him His own burial place? I’ll tell you why…because He wasn’t planning for Jesus to need it for very long! Because let me tell you that the story does not end there in the tomb…NO! Because 3 days later, Jesus rose from the dead. The Son of God came back to life, and He walked with His Disciples on the earth for 40 days, and then He returned back to Heaven to take His rightful position as our Intercessor…our Savior and our Lord.

But before He left, Jesus gave His Disciples these instructions, He said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18)

Friends, as Christians, it’s our duty to share the Gospel with others so that every man, woman and child will have the opportunity to KNOW Jesus Christ, to repent of their sins, to receive the free gift of salvation, to have a right relationship with God and to inherit eternal life. And it’s OUR responsibility to tell them, otherwise…how will they know?

And so…to answer that question of why we’re here, the answer is this…God has created each of us with a purpose to live out in our lives, and He wants us to seek Him daily. He wants us to read our Bibles every day…He wants us to talk to Him every day…He wants us to obey what He tells us to do, and in that way, each of us will learn and grow…and as we do, we will find out what His purpose is for our lives and then we can fulfill it while at the same time building this amazing relationship with God…the Creator of the Universe.

And so today Friends, I want to give you the opportunity to know Jesus as your Savior and Lord. Today, if you have never repented of your sins and placed your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins and to give you eternal life, then I want to ask you to do that right now. You CAN receive eternal life and you can live with Jesus forever. If you want to do that,  I’m gonna ask you to pray this prayer with me from your heart. Now this is not a magical prayer…there’s nothing magical about it. It’s simply a prayer of repentance and surrender. So let me ask you if you will to pray this prayer:

Father God, I know that I have done things in my life that are not pleasing to You. I know that I have sinned against You, and I am truly sorry for my sins, and I ask You to forgive me of my sins. I don’t want to live that way any more Father. I want my life to be different, and I know that I cannot do that on my own. I ask You to send Your Holy Spirit to help me to live my life the way that You created me to live. I ask You to teach me and guide me, and to the best of my ability Father, I commit right now to live the rest of my life for You. Thank You for giving me the gift of eternal life. I praise You Father…in Jesus Name…Amen.

Now Friends,  if you prayed that prayer and you meant it in your heart, I want to ask you to go one step further. I’m going to ask you to spend time everyday in prayer. Just talk to God and tell Him whatever is in your heart. He understands and He will hear you and help you. And also, I’m going to ask you to spend some time every day reading and studying your Bible so that you can grow in your knowledge of who God is and what He desires for your life. If you’ll do that, you’ll begin to grow closer to God in your relationship with Him, and you’ll learn more and more about Who He is and what His plan is for your life. I would suggest that you begin with the book of John, because in that Book, John explains in more detail about God’s love for you and what Jesus did on the cross for you.  Okay?? I’m so happy for you and I’m proud that you’ve made the most important decision of your life today. God is with you…so surrender everything in your life to Him.