TREASURY OF SERMONS
How to be successful and happy in this world?
By Rev (Dr) Jeffrey Khoo
Text: Eccl 12:1-14
Success and happiness are things that everybody
wants. Anyone here who doesn’t want to be successful and happy? Many
people today are very successful—they make a lot of money, live in
luxurious homes, drive big cars, wear designer clothes, and eat in
expensive restaurants. But are they happy? Let’s hear from the words
of some of the world’s most prominent and successful men:
Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure if anyone
did. He wrote: "The worm, the canker, and grief are mine alone." Jay
Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of money, but when about
to die, he said, "I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth."
Lord Beaconsfield who enjoyed both position and fame wrote about his
life: "Youth is a mistake; manhood a struggle; old age a regret."
Dear friends, are you happy? True happiness is
not something outward. Some people may seem very happy—they smile,
they laugh, they joke—but behind that happy mask is a heart full of
pain, guilt, bitterness, hatred, doubt, uncertainty, hopelessness.
Do you feel this way? What is happiness? Is it something so elusive?
Can I be happy in this life? How can I be happy in this world that
is so full of pain and sorrow? There is one answer, and only one.
You know what happiness is if you know the
meaning of life. What is life to you? Why are you here? What is your
goal in life? Most people adopt this maxim in their life: "Eat,
drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." In other words, live your
life to the fullest in pleasure and revelry before you breath your
last, and when you die that is the end, you go out of existence.
What does the Bible have to say about such a
philosophy of life? Read Luke 12:13-21. If you have such a goal in
life, it is a sure way towards unhappiness and destruction.
What then should be our philosophy of life? Read
Ecclesiastes 12. The Bible says, "Remember now thy Creator in the
days of thy youth." The word "remember" in the biblical sense is not
a passive but an active word. Remembering God requires us to do
something about it. Illustration: When we wake up in the morning, we
look at the mirror, and are reminded that we don’t look very good.
What do we do about it? We wash your face, brush our teeth, comb our
hair, and clean ourselves up.
The Bible is like the mirror. It tells us what
we look like spiritually. How do we look spiritually? Can you
imagine the most ugly thing that you have ever seen? That’s how we
look like. We are extremely deformed, ugly, filthy, and wicked
creatures. Gen 6:5 says, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually." Jer 17:9, "The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know
it." Rom 3:10 tells us, "There is none righteous, no, not one." "For
all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). Ps
22:6 describes us perfectly, "I am a worm."
In our youth, we think we are very handsome, or
pretty, strong, energetic, intelligent, and we think a mighty lot
about ourselves. I don’t need God, I don’t need my parents, I don’t
need my pastors and teachers, I only need myself. I only trust in
myself. I believe in myself. I am my own captain. Don’t tell me what
I should or should not do. I tell myself what I can or cannot do.
It’s ‘I,’ ‘I’ and more ‘I’s. This is Satanic because Satan who was
called Lucifer fell from heaven because of this one letter `I’. Isa
14:12-15 reads, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of
the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken
the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into
heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit
also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the
most high. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of
the pit."
Do you want to be like Satan? Do you want to end
up like him in hell? Satan is the most miserable person in the
world. And if you feel empty, lost, and unhappy in life, it is
because you have chosen to follow him.
How can I get out of Satan’s grip? Put yourself
aside, turn your back on the devil, and remember your Creator.
Remember God. Know that you were created by Him. And He created you
to know Him, to enjoy Him, and enjoy this beautiful world that He
has created. "Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him
forever."
But we have forgotten Him. We have sinned
against Him. We have done things that He told us not to do. Now He
tells us to remember that He is Creator, and as Creator He is also
Saviour. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoseover believeth in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn
the world; but that the world through Him might be saved" (John
3:16-17).
How did God’s Son—the Lord Jesus Christ—save us?
By His life and by His death. "For he hath made him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him" (2 Cor 5:21). When Jesus was on earth, He "was in all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb 4:15). There is no way
that I myself can be righteous in order to get to heaven. As far as
God is concerned, our righteousness are as filthy rags. I am
unrighteous, but praise the Lord, Jesus becomes my righteousness. He
clothes me with His righteousness when I believe in Him, and I am
accepted by God.
"The wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23). Jesus
paid that penalty on the cross. He died, shed His blood to wash our
sins away. But did Jesus remain on the cross? No, He rose from the
dead, and is alive today and forevermore. By rising from the grave,
He proved that His words are true—He proved that He has the power to
give us life and to raise us up from the grave too. Jesus said, "I
am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he
were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in
me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 11:25). You may say,
"Yes I believe, but I also believe that there are other ways." Jesus
said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me" (John 14:6).
You may say, "I want to believe, but not now.
Give me time. I will believe later." "Later" may be too late. You do
not know how long you will live. Don’t say I am still young, I have
a long way to go. If you say that, God might just say this as He
said to the rich man in Luke, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall
be required of thee." You may die tonight, who knows? Your life is
not in your hands, but in God’s. And He allows you to live because
He is gracious. He wants you to have the chance to believe in Him
and be saved. When should I believe in Christ. God’s timing is
now—"Remember NOW . . . IN THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH." Salvation is
today. Salvation is now.
Let us now bow our heads.
Are you sure that if you were to die to today,
or if Jesus were to return today, you will be in heaven? Or will you
be in hell? Are you sure of where you are going? Don’t say, "I am
born into a Christian family, so I am alright." You have to confess
Jesus Christ as your Saviour yourself. Your parents can’t do it for
you. Don’t say, "I am already baptised, so I am OK." Baptism does
not save. Only Jesus saves. Are you sure you were truly saved when
you were baptised? Don’t say, "I go to church every Sunday, and I
give my tithes, surely God I am saved." Going to church doesn’t
save. Giving money to God doesn’t save. Good works do not save, only
faith in Jesus Christ saves. Make sure you are saved today! Life is
meaningless, and this camp is meaningless if Christ is not your Lord
and Saviour.
Do not delay, believe in Christ today! Christ is
the secret and the answer to a successful and happy life on earth.
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