YP Sing Address—D. VanHolstyn
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You know, I look here, I look at everyone and I see.
A number of young people, and I think, you know, everyone here must be a Christian.
But you know.
I think of the the book Pilgrim's Progress. There was a young man Christian dream, a dream about a young man named Presumptuous.
Presumptuous, he traveled the pilgrim's path.
All the way to the Celestial City.
And he knocked at the door and they didn't let him in.
And then he heard those words. I never knew him. Depart from iniquity.
Oh, I pray that each one in here.
That they when they were younger, they acknowledged that their Sinner and they came to know the Lord as their Savior. They came through the cross, the wicked gate.
They didn't come any other way, you know, I met a young lady. I asked her. She was about maybe 22 years old. I asked her how she got saved.
And she said I was born a Christian.
No, you're not born a Christian.
You had to, at one time or another, put your trust in Him. You had to acknowledge you're a Sinner.
The Lord Jesus, He washed away your sins, and then and only then are you on your way to glory, your fit for God's presence.
That's all I have to say about you. If you're like presumptuous, you need him.
But I really want to talk a few minutes about those that know the Lord as their savior.
You know.
This is the end of a school year and.
I know my one of my boys is graduating in 8th grade. They're gonna have a graduation ceremony. My other son, he's graduating from high school and two other young ladies from Grand Rapids are graduating from high school this year. And also my other son and another young lady are graduating from the university.
And you know, I was thinking on that line.
You know if.
They never asked me. I'm not a velvet Torian, so they never asked me to give a speech when I graduated. Maybe some of you they have, but you know.
If I were, if I was the bell, Victorian and I were to talk to each one of you.
I wanna talk to you in LA in light.
Of we're going to a a graduation and there's some advice valedictorian has only I want to not talk in view of.
Man's wisdom, but what God has to say to each one of you and me.
Let's just first turn.
To the book of Ecclesiastes. This is good advice for each one of us.
It says Ecclesiastes 1.
What profit hath a man of all his laborers, which he taketh under the sun?
We'll go down to verse 9.
It says the thing that he ha, the thing that hath been. It is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done. And there is no new thing under the sun.
You know, we always like to do exploring and we like to think that we're the 1St to do this.
And we're the 1St to climb this, you know?
The wisest man that lived on the earth beside the Lord, he said. It's all vanity.
There's nothing new under the sun.
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It says also, Solomon said in.
In chapter 2 and verse one I said in mine heart, go to now I will prove thee with myrrh. Therefore enjoy pleasure, and behold, this also is vanity.
Solomon could say all the pleasures.
That are in this world, they're all vanity.
Vanity is emptiness.
It says.
In verse chapter 2, verse 11. Then I looked on all the works that my hands hath wrought, and all the labor that I have labored to do, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
And there is no profit under the sun. Oh, you know this world.
In all that it has to offer.
Is all vanity. It's emptiness. It leaves us empty.
It it cannot satisfy. God has made me and you so that this world only Christ can satisfy the heart.
You know, it says there's a verse in.
Jeremiah.
Jeremiah chapter 45 verse five, it says seek thou. Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not.
You know.
The people that lived during.
The time when Babylon, when Babel was built. It says in believe it's.
Genesis about chapter 19 it says they built a tower.
They built a tower. I can.
To reach to heaven and it says that.
That they might make a name for themselves.
You know, this world would have to would try to. It's Genesis 19.
The world would say you know when you leave, when you leave this school, that you have the whole world before you.
You might say the whole world in your hand, but Solomon says it's emptiness.
But the whole spirit is to make a name for himself, you know, and.
You can do that. Perhaps you would make it very well in business and perhaps you would even.
Get a building named after you. I know we have in Grand Rapids, uh, Van Andel Arena.
And we have many other buildings that are named after people.
But in view of eternity, what good is it?
It isn't it? It doesn't. It does nothing for us.
Oh, I might say what you and I, Those are things to avoid.
Those are pitfalls that we can fall into. But you know, I wanna look at just a few verses.
And something that can satisfy your heart.
It says.
In Proverbs.
Proverbs.
Chapter 2. Verse 14.
I read verse 13 yeah. If thou cryest after knowledge and lift it up thy voice for understanding. If thou seekest her for silver and searcheth for.
As for hid treasures, thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God you know.
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I remember not too many years ago being in your seat.
And.
Wondering what I was going to do.
And wondering and I looked around me and I saw, I saw people and.
And they?
They were they were rejoicing and rejoicing in the Lord and.
Remember.
I had a a roommate.
And.
When I was working in Toledo.
And I would come home from work and.
He would come home from work and he would get out his Bible and start reading it, and he would spend the evening reading the Bible and I would go out and perhaps play some basketball, maybe some tennis.
And then we both go to bed and we'd do that the next day and he'd get home from work and he'd read his Bible. And I thought, well, that's funny.
There must be something to it.
And we were together for not too long, maybe three months or so, and it was.
I thought, well, you know.
How can he do that? Just come home and work all day and then read the Bible and then he seems so happy and.
So I said, well, maybe I ought to try it.
So rather than going out.
Playing some basketball, I decided I was gonna spend the evening reading the word of God.
To my amazement, it was I had a joy, a joy in my heart.
I said, whoa, this is this is neat.
And I remember.
Pacing back and forth because I found a little gem in scripture by myself.
And I was so excited I couldn't sit in my chair and I got up and I walked around and I came back and sat down. We read for more. And this happened a number of times where I just couldn't sit still. There's something in scripture. There's something that the Lord.
Wants. He wants those treasures when you find them.
The real and they bring a joy in your heart and I want to tell each one of you.
You know, you might say, and you say, well, that person there, he's pretty, pretty square, but you ever tried it? Have you ever sat down just you and the Lord?
And just let him. Let him show you those treasures.
They're they're wonderful.
You'll never regret it.
You know.
Solomon, I mean Paul, Paul could say at the end of his life.
You could say I have fought a good fight.
And what that really means is.
That after all the struggles that he went through.
It was worth it.
And you know, I think of each one here.
Some of you, no doubt, are going through struggles.
But if you do it.
If you seek in a small measure to.
To serve the Lord, it will be worth it.
It'll be worth it, you know?
If you talk to old people.
You'll never meet a person who served the Lord.
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That regrets doing it.
But you can meet many people.
Who at the end of their life they said it was a wasted life.
Perhaps they were a Christian all their life and nobody even knew it. They lived a life of self and it.
It just leaves us empty.
You know, even Jim's meeting.
He spoke about a vision and we need, we need that vision.
If we live for the day.
We're gonna die.
For the day.
It says in.
Corinthians.
First Corinthians, chapter 3.
Verse 13 Every man's works shall be manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's works of what sort it is.
Oh, there's going to be a day, a review day coming.
What are we going to say?
Perhaps we've known the Lord as our Savior. What are we going to say when we meet Him?
You know when, David?
Was in rejection in The Cave of a Dollom.
There was one person who loved David and his name was Solomon.
But you know Solomon, I mean, excuse me, Jonathan, but Jonathan did not.
Suffer with David in his rejection.
And He was the loser in the end, and you and I will be too. There's only the only the little time left here that we can suffer for His name's sake. We can, you might say, during his time of rejection.
Because in glory we'll never have that opportunity again. But now we have that little opportunity where we can identify ourselves with Christ.
Who died and rose again?
Well.
I don't really have.
Anything else to say but I want to tell you that.
If you decide, it says in Proverbs, my son, give me thine heart. That's what the Lord wants is our heart.
We decide we wanna serve the Lord. You know Joshua.
We won't take time to turn, but you could look at Joshua. I was looking about Joshua and his life. And Joshua it says if he he was a the minister of Moses or a servant of Moses, and that's what he did first.
If you follow the life of Joshua, he started out, he served.
Moses and then later on in his life we see he led the people of God.
I think of now is a time where you can, you can serve, serve the Saints.
And if the Lord would leave you, each one of you would.
Perhaps be held in responsible positions responsible in the assembly.
To carry on.
The truth maintain we would pray for each one. And that's all I have to say.