Duty

A Sermon For You

A Ministry of Huckaby’s Evangelism

Today’s Sermon Title

Duty

By-Evangelist Gary Huckaby

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." Ecclesiastes 11:13.

The words of our text, were written by one of the wisest men who ever lived. They were written by king Solomon, the son of king David. He also wrote, the Proverbs, and The Songs of Solomon.

The wise man in this verse is telling us that the whole conclusion of the matter of life is to Fear God and obey God’s commandments. This is the whole duty of man.

Eight verses in the Bible tell us of this word Duty.

Exodus 21:10; -her duty of marriage,

Deuteronomy 25:5; -the duty of an husband’s brother .

Deuteronomy 25:7; -the duty of my husband’s brother.

2Chronicles 8:14; -as the duty of every day required:

Ezra 3:4; -the duty of every day required;

Ecc 12:13;- the whole duty of man.

Luke 17:10; -we have done that which was our duty to do.

Romans 15:27; - their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.

Inspiration or Obligation

Do you remember when you were first saved? The joy that you experienced in knowing that your sins were forgiven? I remember my day of salvation, and the change that took place in my heart and life. It was like when I first met my wife, we were only teenagers, I couldn’t see her enough, touch her enough, be with her enough. The same is true with my new birth. I couldn’t get enough teaching on the Bible, or spiritual things, but as time passed, that hunger and thirst began to grow smaller. After several years as a Christian, it seemed I had no desire to read the Bible as much, nor pray as much. This is when I realized that something had to replace the initial excitement that I experienced as a new believer.

Then during a "Sword of The Lord" conference in 1976, I heard Dr. Jack Hyles preach on our text from Ecclesiastes. I remember his remarks well, as he repeatedly cried out, "When you read the Bible because God tells you to; even when you don’t want to, then you are becoming a pretty good Christian. When you pray, when it doesn’t make you tingle, but you pray because God tells you to pray; then you are becoming a pretty good Christian. Obligation, must drive us, not inspiration, for inspiration is a temporary state; but obligation is a continual state. It is our duty, to obey God and keep His commandments. It is your duty!

The late Fanny Cosby, wrote the song; "Rescue The Perishing" and I would like to begin by giving you the rest of verse four:

"Rescue the perishing, Duty demands it; Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide; Back from the narrow way Patiently win them; tell the poor wander a Savior has died."Duty demands it! To become a soul winner, we must make it a part of our duty and obligation to do. Many think they must wait for some sign, before they go and witness,but this is wrong. When we receive Christ, we are commanded to go and witness for Him.

The great commission, given by Jesus was; "Go ye unto all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15.

Feelings, are a natural inborn desire, we all want to feel good, but feelings should come after we do our duty, not before. If you are waiting for a feeling before you go and witness, you may never go; but if you go and tell someone what Christ has done for you, more often than not, feelings will follow that obedience to obligation to duty. If it is inspiration, that drives you to witness, it won’t last until you have the first door slammed in your face. Or someone says, "Don’t give me that junk." Then

your inspiration is gone, and you may never be the soul winner that duty will cause you to be. I personally, never want to go soul winning, but when I start because I am commanded to, then I want to go and win more to Christ.

"Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Daily Duty

"And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the priest to their service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the priest, as the DUTY of everyday required: the porters also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded." 2 Chronicles 8:14

Next we look to a portion of scripture which points to the daily duty of the offices of the priest. King Solomon is the one here who is appointing the daily duty of the offices of the Old Testament priest, and the Levites. They were to praise and minister before the priest,as David, God’s man had commanded them.