Sermons by Founders Ministries

Pastor Tom Ascol continues his series on Ecclesiastes with a message centered on Chapter 3:16 through Chapter 4:6 entitled “Work and Wealth in a Fallen World.” Injustice, oppression, and hopelessness have characterized the life of countless numbers over the centuries. It remains the lot of many today. The Preacher observes this theme in today’s passage. Without God, the Preacher’s point in his use of the idiom “under the sun,” men can hope only to enjoy their work and its fruit. Injustice is so rampant we sometimes fail to take notice. Siblings intentionally hurt each other, employers are less than fair in dealing with employees, marriages fall apart, people are wrongly convicted of crimes they did not commit, and the list goes on. Even in the places of justice and righteousness (v. 16), courts and churches, there is injustice. Christians must ignore these injustices. We should face up to these evils and try to remedy them, recognizing a time is coming when God will render judgment. On that day every injustice will be exposed and righteousness will finally prevail. Jesus spoke about this judgment in Matthew 25:31-46. Making it personal the Lord indicated judgment for the righteous and the evil. There is only one remedy for our evilness. It is wise to remember that the remedy, the provision of God, is available. Verse 20 emphasizes the inevitability of our coming death. Mankind needs to turn to the work of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary to be saved and to be given the righteousness of Christ against which there will be no judgment; God freely offers salvation. The author of Ecclesiastes continues. The early verses of Chapter 4 teach the world is a place of oppression and abuse. People abuse power. Greed exercising dominion over some. The oppressed have no one to comfort them, “under the sun.” Despair sets in, as Preacher notes, it is better to have never lived than to be born to such abuse. He goes on. The world is a place of toil and envy. He generalizes the futility of life but notes all man’s striving ultimately is “vanity and a striving after the wind” (v. 4). All the envy (4) leads to the impossibility of a contented life. Finally, Ecclesiastes turns to three attitudes toward work. The fool opts out of the workforce, a path Scripture teaches against: “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). The second attitude is one of workaholism, two hands constantly busy striving for more, indicating a life out of balance. Psalm 127:2 teaches, “It is vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil.” Finally verse 6 encourages us to a hand at work and a handful of quietness. There ought to be a balance between work and enjoying or resting in the fruit of one’s toils. The world is indeed fallen. The believer in Christ, understanding this, should seek to live quiet, productive lives in balance between work and enjoyment “according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).   This sermon was given by Dr. Tom Ascol on November 13, 2016 at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL. Join the FAM at press.founders.org/fam to support and enable Founders Ministries to continue producing free content. Follow Founders Ministries: Website: https://founders.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoundersMin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoundersMin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersministries/ Subscribe to Founders Ministries: https://founders.org/enews/ All Founders Ministries resources are copyrighted and any use and distribution must be approved by Founders Ministries.

Pastor Tom Ascol continues his series on Ecclesiastes with a message on Chapter 3:1 – 15 entitled “God Rules Our Times.” Time is a fascinating concept. It unfailingly moves on, people can remember the past but not the future. Things happen and cannot be changed back. Time passes, seasons change. Ecclesiastes invites us to consider these things so we can learn to live wisely, and see in the broader context that God rules our time. There are three questions today’s text helpfully answers as it seeks to assist us in fearing and understanding God. The first asks, “What is true of time.” This chapter describes life as it is, there is a time for everything. The list in vv. 1 – 8 contain both good and ill. We are not told all that happens in time is necessarily good but rather, just that these things do happen. There is an undeniable reality to the revolving seasons of human life as one time, birth for instance, is canceled by another, death. There is no gain from human toil, at least none “under the sun” (v. 1:3), that is without God. Question number two is, “Who is responsible for time.” While God is not mentioned within the chapter’s first eight verses, in subsequent verses we see God rules everything. Yet, though God has put “eternity into man’s heart” (v. 11), people cannot make sense of the world apart from God. It is God who rules our times and without light from Him humankind “cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (v. 11). In fact, the words of Ephesians 1:11, “the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,” indicates God has purposed all that has come to pass and has a purpose for all He does. The fact that God is providentially and meticulously ruling in our lives should lead us to both comfort and humility. “Why does God rule our times” is the third question. Verse 14 answers, “whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.” God’s purpose is for men to fear Him, that is, to be in awe of His majesty, His love, His care. Because of sin men do not fear God as they ought. Romans 3:10-18 correctly sums up mankind’s estate, “‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’ ‘Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.’ ‘The venom of asps is under their lips.’ ‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’” God recognizes our need for a savior and has made provision for that need in Jesus Christ. It is only a holy, reverential fear of God that enables mankind to recognize their need and turn to the Savior. This sermon was given by Dr. Tom Ascol on November 6, 2016 at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL. Join the FAM at press.founders.org/fam to support and enable Founders Ministries to continue producing free content.   Follow Founders Ministries: Website: https://founders.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoundersMin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoundersMin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersministries/ Subscribe to Founders Ministries: https://founders.org/enews/ All Founders Ministries resources are copyrighted and any use and distribution must be approved by Founders Ministries.

Pastor Tom Ascol continues his series on the book of Ecclesiastes with a message entitled “A Meaningful Life in a Fallen World” centered on Ecclesiastes 1:12 – 2:26. Ecclesiastes takes an honest look at things people do in order to make their lives work addressing head on the cultural complaint heard decades ago from the Rolling Stones, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” The author proclaims all is vanity. This is true in a life without God. However, the author recognizes God is good, gives all gifts to enjoy, and, for His own people, eliminates the apparent futility of life. At the end of today’s passage Solomon (assuming he is the author of Ecclesiastes) draws this conclusion: in a broken world real joy can be found in God’s provision. He reaches this conclusion after unsuccessfully trying to find meaning living by wisdom (1:12 – 18). The world is so fundamentally flawed we cannot fix it. Wisdom alone cannot be the answer since those that live by wisdom and those by folly all ultimately come to the same end. The benefits of wisdom, genuine as they may be, are limited since even the wise understand “what is crooked cannot be made straight.” Neither wisdom nor folly prevent death. At this point the reader must pause and ask himself if all die what is to become of me. Solomon saw the futility of life without God. In fact, the closing verses of the book indicate the only meaning in life is coming to God, establishing a relationship with Him, and living life in obedience to His commands. Though Ecclesiastes never mentions Jesus Christ, it clearly points to the futility of life without Him. It points to a coming time when, rather than looking forward to salvation, people will look back to the work of the Cross as the one means of establishing a salvation relationship with God and finding meaning rather than futility in life. Living for pleasure is also meaningless. With the vast resources at his command, Solomon claims to have denied himself nothing, riches, slaves, concubines, wine, creativity, only to again find meaninglessness. Solomon, however, is not done. He finds working hard to get wealth is also meaningless. All our possession will go to someone else. Not only will your wealth go to someone else but according to vv. 22 – 23 working without proper regard for God inevitably diminishes the quality of life. What has been lacking in the author’s search for meaning through wisdom, pleasure, and work is God. A meaningful life recognizes and embraces God’s grace. There is joy in the routines of life, joy in the provisions of God, and a right relationship with God results in real blessings (v. 26). Solomon concludes that the meaninglessness and futility of life can only be overcome by a right relationship with God. Life “under the sun,” that is without God, living only horizontally not vertically, is vanity, a chasing after the wind. And yet, God’s Word tells us we can draw near to God in faith and enter into a relationship that puts meaning into life, even today, and can eliminate the sense of futility present without the Creator. This sermon was given by Dr. Tom Ascol on October 30, 2016 at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL. Join the FAM at press.founders.org/fam to support and enable Founders Ministries to continue producing free content.   Follow Founders Ministries: Website: https://founders.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoundersMin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoundersMin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersministries/ Subscribe to Founders Ministries: https://founders.org/enews/   All Founders Ministries resources are copyrighted and any use and distribution must be approved by Founders Ministries.

Pastor Tom Ascol continues his series on the book of Ecclesiastes with a sermon entitled “No Profit from Toil” explaining Ecclesiastes 1:3 – 11. “All we are is dust in the wind” is the theme to a popular ballad of the 1970’s. That theme echoes the theme of Ecclesiastes which seems to be vanity, all is vanity. Knowingly or not, both reflect the futility of a life without God. A life without God is described as being “under the sun.” That is, there is no inclusion of things above the sun. It is a life without God, the very God who rules over all, above and under the sun. The preacher, Ecclesiastes’ author, sets out to prove the futility of life without God. First, toil without God is futile. Generations come and go but the fundamental things of earth just continue on. The “War to end all wars” did not. The war on poverty provided no fix. Things continue on basically unchanged as generations come and go. Nature also proves the futility of life without God. The sun continues on just as it always has. The winds come and go, man can only chase it. Even the rivers flowing to the seas never fill it. And all continues as it has. All this points to the futility of life “under the sun,” life without God. The contrast between this perspective and claims that creation is a theater for God’s glory is stark. The constant activity the world sees as being in a rut when seen through the perspective of a believers shows the beauty of God’s handiwork: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). First toil, then nature, and now human experience demonstrates the futility of life without God. The observations of vv. 9 – 10 bear this out. On a fundamental level nothing seen, felt, heard, tasted or smelled have any lasting merit or benefit without God. These sensory perceptions, like all else in the world, come and go. Without God they are futile, they have no eternal worth. Humans don’t change, we have been broken since the Fall and no effort of our will change that. Verse 11 continues the despair. In a few short generations all memory of us will be gone, just as dust in the wind. Jesus makes this same point. He asks “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). What Jesus and the preacher are both warning against is living a life without regard for God. A life “under the sun” is meaningless and futile. But there is hope. A life lived in relationship with the God of Creation, the God offering salvation, brings meaning to life. The way to this relationship is through the work accomplished on the Cross by the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone has defeated sin, death, hell, and the futility of this world. This sermon was given by Dr. Tom Ascol on October 23, 2016 at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL. Join the FAM at press.founders.org/fam to support and enable Founders Ministries to continue producing free content.   Follow Founders Ministries: Website: https://founders.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoundersMin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoundersMin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersministries/ Subscribe to Founders Ministries: https://founders.org/enews/   All Founders Ministries resources are copyrighted and any use and distribution must be approved by Founders Ministries.

This panel with Dr. Voddie Baucham, Dr. Tom Ascol and Pastor Travis Allen was on January 19, 2022 at the IOPT Pre-conference on Calling and Vocation, preceding the 2022 National Founders Conference in Southwest Florida. All Founders Ministries resources are copyrighted and any use and distribution must be approved by Founders Ministries. Join us for our 2023 National Founders Conference: What is Man? | https://founders.org/2023conference/ Become a part of the F.A.M. https://press.founders.org/fam/ The Institute of Public Theology: https://www.instituteofpublictheology.org/ Wield The Sword: https://founders.org/wieldthesword/   Follow Founders Ministries: Website: https://founders.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoundersMin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoundersMin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersministries/

Pastor Tom Ascol begins a series on the book of Ecclesiastes. The message, entitled “Real Life in a Fallen World” based on Ecclesiastes 1:1 – 2, provides both an introduction and first lessons. A main point of the whole book is that life is complicated. Everyone sees life a bit differently due to their individual experiences, temperaments or circumstances. Ecclesiastes is a book that looks at life as it really is in a fallen world. The book’s author opens with an expression of frustration; life without God is meaningless. It may be helpful to understand who the author is. He identifies himself as the “Preacher,” a translation for the Hebrew word “Qoholeth.” He is a leader and teacher of God’s people. The “son of David, king in Jerusalem” as well as the exercise in wisdom in the book leads to the likely conclusion that Qoholeth, the preacher, is actually King Solomon. Further, Solomon’s wealth and lifestyle enabled him to search and experience all the book claims of the author. The book seems to have been written later in Solomon’s life after having sought meaning in pleasure, work, wisdom, and wealth. He found all lacking and desires his readers learn from his experiences. He recognizes, as we shall see later throughout the book, that apart from God all is meaningless. Since we, like Solomon in his pleasure, work, wisdom, and wealth, tend to view the world superficially, that is without much thought and reflection and certainly without an emphasis on God, we need exactly this type of biblical book. We need the message of this book today particularly give the “vanity” about which Solomon speaks. The original word translated vanity literally means “breath” or “vapor.” This metaphor is used by Solomon to emphasize life’s meaningless without God; life is but a quickly disappearing vapor or breath. Since we typically do not think this way we tend to think neither of the brevity of life nor what follows death. Yet, throughout the book the author uses the expression “under the sun” to articulate the vanity of life without God. Indeed, vanity under the sun would be people’s natural understanding without a godly interpretation of life and its events. This is especially so since our fallen world brings circumstances which, without an understanding of God, would leave one to misinterpret events as random instead or God-ordered. While it is true that the world is broken it is equally true that the world will be fixed. The conclusion of the book, still 12 chapters off, tells the conclusion of Solomon, the duty of mankind is to “fear God and keep his commandments.” Only then can we have a true understanding of life. Only then can we enter into a relationship with God that offers joy for this life and hope for the future. Only then can we obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We ought, therefore, come to God through the work of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary. This sermon was given by Dr. Tom Ascol on October 16, 2016 at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL. Join the FAM at press.founders.org/fam to support and enable Founders Ministries to continue producing free content. Follow Founders Ministries: Website: https://founders.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoundersMin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoundersMin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersministries/ Subscribe to Founders Ministries: https://founders.org/enews/   All Founders Ministries resources are copyrighted and any use and distribution must be approved by Founders Ministries.

This sermon was given by Dr. Voddie Baucham on January 19, 2022 at the IOPT Pre-conference on Calling and Vocation, preceding the 2022 National Founders Conference in Southwest Florida. All Founders Ministries resources are copyrighted and any use and distribution must be approved by Founders Ministries. Join us for our 2023 National Founders Conference: What is Man? | https://founders.org/2023conference/ Become a part of the F.A.M. https://press.founders.org/fam/ The Institute of Public Theology: https://www.instituteofpublictheology.org/ Wield The Sword: https://founders.org/wieldthesword/   Follow Founders Ministries: Website: https://founders.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoundersMin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoundersMin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersministries/  

This sermon was given by Dr. Tom Ascol on January 19, 2022 at the IOPT Pre-conference on Calling and Vocation, preceding the 2022 National Founders Conference in Southwest Florida. All Founders Ministries resources are copyrighted and any use and distribution must be approved by Founders Ministries. Join us for our 2023 National Founders Conference: What is Man? | https://founders.org/2023conference/ Become a part of the F.A.M. https://press.founders.org/fam/ The Institute of Public Theology: https://www.instituteofpublictheology.org/ Wield The Sword: https://founders.org/wieldthesword/   Follow Founders Ministries: Website: https://founders.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoundersMin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoundersMin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersministries/

This presentation was given by Dr. Conrad Mbewe on January 23, 2022 at Grace Baptist Church.   All Founders Ministries resources are copyrighted and any use and distribution must be approved by Founders Ministries. Join us for our 2023 National Founders Conference: What is Man? | https://founders.org/2023conference/ Become a part of the F.A.M. https://press.founders.org/fam/ The Institute of Public Theology: https://www.instituteofpublictheology.org/ Wield The Sword: https://founders.org/wieldthesword/   Follow Founders Ministries: Website: https://founders.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoundersMin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoundersMin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersministries/  

Pastor Tom Ascol finishes his series on 2 Corinthians covering Chapter 13 in a message entitled “Final Warnings, Exhortations, and Encouragements.” Paul’s pointed and personal words here to a troubled church, the result of his deep love for the Corinthians, remain applicable to the church today.   This sermon was given by Dr. Tom Ascol on July 17, 2016 at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL. Join the FAM at press.founders.org/fam to support and enable Founders Ministries to continue producing free content. Follow Founders Ministries: Website: https://founders.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoundersMin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoundersMin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersministries/ Subscribe to Founders Ministries: https://founders.org/enews/   All Founders Ministries resources are copyrighted and any use and distribution must be approved by Founders Ministries.