The Search for Pleasure
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When you go on a spiritual search, there are problems people always run into. One of them is the problem of pain. But there’s also the problem of pleasure.
I don’t think I’ve ever really talked to anybody who said, “I have trouble believing in God because of pleasure. Why is there pleasure in the world?” But my thesis, and the Ecclesiastes writer’s thesis, is that it should bother you, because pleasure is a huge problem.
The Ecclesiastes writer teaches us three things about pleasure: 1) what pleasure promises, 2) why it fails, and 3) how it points beyond.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 20, 1998. Series: When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough. Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:1–11, 3:10–14.
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Released on 22 Sep 2025
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