Ecclesiastes 9

The speaker begins with a prayer, expressing gratitude for the opportunity to study God's Word and live with an eternal perspective. They discuss the importance of living with the right perspective, particularly in regards to death and life. They emphasize that death is a reality and cannot be avoided. They also mention that living a godly life does not guarantee a positive reaction from others. The speaker highlights that everyone, both the righteous and the wicked, will face death. They delve into the reasons for living a godly life, including one's identity in Christ, the hope of heaven, and the heavenly rewards. They stress the importance of living a life that pleases God and the desire to hear the words "well done" from Him. The speaker concludes by discussing the promises of eternal life and resurrection through faith in Jesus Christ. Let me begin. Dear Lord, thank you so much for today. Thank you for this time and opportunity to study your Word, and especially in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, because the topic is going to be really what really matters, is living with the right perspective, and that's living with an eternal perspective. Help us to look at your Word deeply. Help us to open our hearts to your Word. Help us to remember that the only thing that counts in life is faith in you, expressing itself through love. So pray that you'd help us to study your Word so we can express and speak your truth and love this day and every day to everyone that we meet and greet and serve. Pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. So what really matters, David? Yeah. Let's just go ahead and dive in. What really matters is living with the right perspective. Now, we're going to look at the right perspective about death on the first side of the page, and on the back side we're going to look at the right perspective about life. Right? So about death and about life. So, indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all. The righteous, the wise, and their works are in God's hands. People don't know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them. Everything is the same for everyone. There is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner. As for the one who takes an oath, so for the one who fears an oath. This is an evil and all that is done under the sun. There is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live. After they go to the dead, after death they go to the dead. But there is hope for whoever is joined with all the living, since the live dog is better than the dead lion. I thought that's an interesting comment. Yeah. Yeah. A live dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead don't know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate, and their envy have all disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them and all that is done under the sun. Go, eat your bread with pleasure, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works. Let your clothes be white all the time, and never let oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life, which has been given to you under the sun all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life, and in your struggle under the sun. Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your strength, because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom to show where you're going. Wow. Okay? So, to try to get a handle on this, you have to kind of back up a little bit, and first of all, take a look at what death is. All right? So we're going to start with Hebrews 9, 27. So who's got Hebrews 9, 27? All right. Noah, go ahead. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes death. All right. So what is death? It is a what? It is appointed. It is an appointment. It is an appointment. Now, you don't know for sure when you want to schedule death. All right? And you're not sure that you know when it's going to be scheduled. Then we cancel it. But the one thing you can't do is you can't cancel it. And it is scheduled. It is scheduled. Yeah. All right? So first of all, we have to understand that death is a reality. It's a reality. And we've already talked about my father's death recently. It came fast. I knew he was at the stage in life where when it came, it was going to come. It was one of those things where – but, boy, when he took a turn, he took a turn. And I didn't see that coming. I didn't. One week he's coherent. He's talking as if we're having a good conversation. He's mobile. The next week he's in the hospital. He's incoherent, and he's become immobile. And from there, within a matter of days, he was gone. Can I add to that? Go ahead. This is personal, but it's interesting to me. My mother lived with me 100 years and 10 months. And at her 100th birthday, all the grandkids told Grandma we're going to do this next year. And she looked at them and said, y'all might, but I'm not. And 10 months later, she was gone. She just sits there and her spirit is over. Yeah. I was going to add to that, too. I believe that God gives everybody a glimpse of grace as an alertness of when they're getting ready to transition. I believe for the righteous and the wicked. I feel like even the wicked, God gives them a grace period like, hey, death is coming. It's up to us to be prepared for, like you said, an appointment. An appointment, yeah. And then from there, judgment. Well, so death's a reality. That's really what it's saying. Death's a reality, right? So how are you going to live with that reality in mind? So we're going to look tonight at two different groups of people. The people who have hope, when I say hope, I'm talking about hope that is sure, that is confident, that's eternal. That would be who? Us. Yeah. Right. Those of us who have a relationship with God. We have hope. We're going to look at the people who don't have hope, and that's everyone else. And we're going to see how they view death and how we should view death and how we should live in the light of the reality of death, okay? Living with the right perspective. So, first of all, verse 1. Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all. The righteous, the wise, and their works are in God's hands. We are in God's hands. But also, people don't know whether to expect love or hate. We don't know what to expect from others. We don't know. Even when living a godly life. So you can live your life as godly as you can live it, which you should. That doesn't mean that you can expect a reaction and take it to the bank, right? Sometimes a godly life is an offense to others, and the reaction is a negative reaction. Sometimes a godly life is accepted by others, and the reaction is a positive reaction. But you don't know whether it's going to be love or hate. So we've got to live with this in mind, that we're in God's hands. We don't know what to expect from others, even when living a godly life. Okay, so, verse 2. Everything is the same for everyone. There's one faith for the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, etc. Ultimately, all the righteous and the wicked have the same fate on earth, and that is what? Death. Death. So now I ask the question, why live a godly life? If we all have the same faith, then why should we live a godly life? And I'm listening for answers. Because when you discover your identity in Christ and what your purpose is, you tap into this feeling. You realize, like, hey, it is in our nature to love. It is in our nature to be light in this world. So it's not like, even in 1 John, it says that God's commandments is not burdensome. Yeah. God's commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Because when you love your neighbor, it's a reflection of the love you have for yourself, which is a reflection of your love for God, because you're made in His image. Yeah. So, I'm with you. Perspective number one you ought to have is your identity, who you are, right? You live your godly life because of who you are, who you belong to, right? Perspective number two, let me ask you this question. Where's home? Heaven. Yeah. That's why you live a godly life. It's in your home. You're living this life with that home in mind. Thank you, Lord. Right? You're living your life knowing that your eternity is already set in heaven with God. And so, you're going to live this life with that as a backdrop and a foundation on which you're going to live, right? So, homes in heaven are destiny's eternity. We live for others because we want them to go with us, right? We want to live a godly life because we want others to go with us. And finally, where's your reward? Heaven. Heaven. So, you want to live a godly life because the rewards here on earth aren't worth living for. Yeah. That's all there is to it. Yeah. So, let's live a life that pleases God. And as a friend of mine and I agree, this has been a passion of mine for a long time. There's two words I want to hear. Well done. Well done. That's all. If I could just hear well done, right? Man, that's what drives me, just to hear those two words. So, ultimately, all of us have the same fate, and that's death. We live a godly life. Our homes in heaven are destiny's eternity, and our rewards are heavenly and eternal. So, when facing death, people with hope, we feel the confidence they have in the promises of God. See, you've got some promises that you've already taken to the bank. All right? Let's look at the first one, Romans 6.23. Somebody knows that by heart, I'm sure. The wages of sin is what? But what? The free gift. What kind of gift? The free gift. The free gift of God is what? Eternal life. Promise number one is eternal life, right? Promise number one, eternal life. Promise number two, John 11, 25 and 26. The backdrop there is Lazarus has been dead. Jesus goes four days after his death. Martha says, have you been here? My brother would not have died. Jesus says to Martha, I forget how he put it, but basically, you know, do you believe that I can raise you from the dead? Yes, Lord. You know, I believe in the resurrection of the dead. Right? Right? I believe in the resurrection of the dead. He says, he says this, right? John 11, 25 to 26. Go ahead and read that, Rick. He said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Yeah. So promise number two is what? Eternal life. You're going to live forever. Right? You're going to live. Even when you die physically, you're going to live spiritually eternally. Right? Promise number three. First Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18. Kat? But we do not want you to be uninformed brethren about those who are asleep so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of our Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not perceive those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself who descends from heaven shall with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort on the neck with these words. Yeah. What do you think about that promise? Oh man, I love this promise. Don't you now? Don't you? What confuses you? Oh, it's talking about those that are physically dead. Okay. But I'm always under the belief that when you die, you went to heaven. And this sounds more like there's this intermediary area that people are waiting in until the second coming. I understand what your confusion is. What it is, is that you don't have a physical body. Okay. But you're with the Lord. But you're with the Lord. To be absent from the body, Paul says, is to be present with the Lord. So spiritually you're with the Lord, but there's going to come a day when you're going to be resurrected and you're going to be given with a new body. And that's what this is referring to. Okay. There's going to come a day. JJ? What knowledge he has. The thing that David's pointing out is we've got a lot of knowledge. And for him to die, you know, he didn't know a lot about that because that just wasn't information that was available to him. And to him, everybody's going to go to a place of the dead. We've seen this before. And a lot of what he was talking about, he didn't know. And a lot of it was wrong. I think David's pointing this out. I'm not sure what you're talking about being wrong, though. I don't want to. We're all going to jail. Oh, well, okay. She's talking about Thessalonians. Thessalonians is by Paul. I thought you were talking about what Thessalonians was here. No. Okay. Okay. If he views things, what he had was not what we have. And what you're doing is a perfect explanation of why we're doing it. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Cat, did I get it right now? It's basically our resurrected body united with our spirit. That's correct. You get a new body. I'm looking forward to that. Yeah. Yeah. See, there's your big one right there. Yeah. I want some abs when I get there. Yeah. You know, all I know, John says what? When he appears, we're going to see him as he is, and we're going to be as he is. Okay. We are going to have a glorified body, and it's going to be without sin. I don't think we can even conceive of that. We can't even fathom that. No. But that's what we're going to have, a glorified body without sin. No shame. No shame. Eternal. Because there's no sin, there's no death. Eternal. Hallelujah. That's crazy. Sometimes we are afraid to just even be ourselves in the earthly realm. So just imagine when we get to heaven, we can be who we truly are in Christ Jesus. Amen. Amen. You preaching? I like it. Yeah. All right. So the promises. We face death as those that have hope with the confidence and promises of God. But those that don't have hope, let's see how they face death. All right. Verse 3. This is an evil and all that's done under the sun. There's one faith for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of what? Evil. And madness is in their hearts while they live. After death, they go to the dead. So looking at verse 3, people without hope reveal the evil within them. What are some examples of evil things people do to avoid facing the reality of death? Well, I can tell you several. Gene has testified before in his former profession. He observed some things that people did when they didn't have hope. Gene, you want to elaborate? I did that. Yeah, you did. Talk about your funeral home experience. Oh, well, you could cut me. Okay. I guess what you're saying is you can tell in their reactions. Yeah. Where they're going or what they're doing. I caught you by surprise. I apologize. Well, I did. I'm sorry. Okay. All right. Well, let me just give you a couple of examples. All right. Okay. So one example, right? You ever seen a nasty fight with relatives? Yeah. The surviving relatives of a dead person get into a nasty fight. Yeah. Okay. And I think you said you actually seen that happen at the funeral home. One piece of the pie. Yeah. The big problem is when you have two people who have had a divorce and they're remarried and want to die, then you've got their kids, her kids, his kids, and their kids. And in some cases, you have to have boxes to set them and keep them apart. But that's the issue. Yeah. Or there'll be situations where after death you're arranging the funeral, then you run into real fights that are difficult. Or you always have a distant cousin that comes from somewhere that he was gone for 18 years. This is a side thing, but one of the things is if we were good at the funeral, if the guy stood up and said, is there anybody here who would like to say something? No, we don't want to do that. That adds about an hour and a half to the funeral because there's always the hunk or a hand or somebody that has a guilty type feeling because of what they've done and they talk forever. And I guess that might be one of the things for a survivor to cover his feelings. Yeah. They deal with it also. There's those that get drunk, right? Get drunk? Yeah, they get drunk. I can't tell you all the things that I've seen. Yeah. There's people that spend money on just spending. There's a lot of spending for just to spend. There's people that will pursue senseless pleasures. There's all sorts of things people do to try to cope with death because they have no hope. Verse 4. Verse 4 says, but there is hope for whoever is joined with all the living. Now, you look at that and you say, well, that means that, you know, hey, there's hope because you're alive. Well, what it really means is they hope for the best while living. They hope for the best while living. And then I ask the question, what makes that hoping for a best a false hope? To be sure this is a fallen hope. Right. So how do you know if a hope is a confident hope or a false hope? If it's in Jesus' name. That's right. If it's destroyed at death, it's a false hope. And if they're saying, I'm hoping for the best. Right. They're hoping for the best based on what? Based on what they can do or what they think they can accomplish or what might happen or whatever, but it's not based on what God says. They're hoping for the best based on something other than God. That's a false hope. Because the moment they die, that hope dies. It's destroyed. Okay. That's a false hope. They know that once dead, they will be forgotten. Look at verse five. For the memory of them is forgotten. For the living know that they will die, but the dead don't know anything. There is no longer work for them because the memory of them is forgotten. They know that they're going to be forgotten. You know what the difference between those that have hope, they know that when they die, they're forgetting that they're forgotten. They're immediately embraced. Right. I mean, I won't even think about who's back. I'm going to be in his presence, guys. I don't think my dad's thinking. Well, I can't say he's not, but I just don't. I just can't imagine him being in the Lord's presence, even though he loves me. I know he loves me. I just can't. I just can't imagine him not just enjoying every moment. I agree with you because Susan and I were talking about my mom and her parents and all that. And someone had said to us, well, I bet they're looking down. They look down and see their great grandkids, you know, and great things that happen. And I said, you know, I don't think they're looking down at all. I mean, we don't understand. From his word, we can see what it's going to be like. But our parents that have preceded us are experiencing the presence of God. They are not concerned about looking down and seeing a grandkid or looking down and seeing how their kids are doing. I just don't believe that they have any concerns at all. And when my mom was near death and there was the pastor up where they live, wanted to pray for God to heal her, and she shook her head no, said she's ready to go, looking forward to being in the presence of God. And the next day she was gone. And I think that's the thing that is so cool about knowing Jesus is that we don't have to fear. We can be near death. We may be sick. We may not feel good. But we're going to be in the presence of God. Steve Timber, who passed recently, that was a real good friend, real good friend. We shot guns together and all that stuff. And he was at a point, he said, no, I'm not doing any more chemo or whatever. I'm ready to be with the Lord. And in a few days he was gone. And I think he made a good decision. Well, theologically it doesn't make sense because we're a fallen world. Heaven is perfect. So why would God allow glimpses into an imperfect world by his creation? Because, you know, if I was looking down on my kids or my grandchildren, I would see them, you know, in struggles. Or like when my mom passes, she's going to heaven, but my sister is an atheist. And so looking down on her. Yeah. And so theologically, if heaven is a perfect place, allowing that glimpse in doesn't seem to make it. It goes against the perfection of heaven. Then you're bringing sadness in. There's no marriage in heaven, that's for sure. Yeah. I don't know if it says we won't recognize each other, but there's no marriage in heaven. Yeah. We have to realize when we're part of God's, you know, body, he answers the prayers of the righteous. So just because, like, for example, my grandmother, you know, in present day, her grandchildren, we're already in different phases of our lives. Some of us, we're probably still wondering. For me, on the other hand, you know, I set the call. You know, I said to Jesus, that's my Lord and Savior. You know, so I believe that, you know, they have nothing to worry about. If God has already given that comfort that I'm going to look out for them. Your prayers have been answered, my child. So we may look at the presidency like, man, this person is not where we want them to be. But that doesn't mean that God is not. Yeah. God got the final say so. Yeah. You bet. Yeah. Okay. We got to move on. It's good discussion. Thank you. So while alive, they seize opportunities to live for themselves. And that's seen in what they love, what they hate, and what they endure. All right. But once dead, all the opportunities are gone. So this is the guy without hope. He doesn't, again, his perspective is temporal, as JJ says. It is a temporal perspective. So I better grab all the gusto I can get because once it's over, it's over. Whereas we who have hope have an eternal perspective. And we're not worried about grabbing all the gusto we can get. What I'm concerned with, as I said before, I want to hear two words. Well done. Well done. That means I've got work to do here for him. We see it in the advertisement, don't we? Oh, yeah. Of the world. They're not advertising heaven. They're saying you better get all the gusto and everything you can now because that's all you get. When you're done, it's over. And that, to me, would be a horrible thing to look forward to. All right. So let's look at what makes believers different. All right. What makes believers different? 1 Peter 1, 3 through 5. Ron knows this by heart, but I'm going to let him read it if he doesn't want to say it by memory. Okay. 1 Peter 1, 3 through 5. Amen. Well, he's more than welcome. That's right. Thank you for coming. There's a handout for you right there. Yeah. I'm glad you're here. All right. So what makes believers different? The hope is what kind of hope? A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. 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A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. A certain limit. Back in those days, on special occasions, you wore white. White was the celebratory garb, okay? It was what you wore when you wanted to celebrate. And the oil on the head is, you know, in the anointing kind of thing, but it's more of a ceremonial thing, where you're basically, you're rejoicing and celebrating the moment or whatever the occasion was. That's what made it special. So I asked a question. So enjoy every occasion and make it special was the answer there. And I asked the question how. Let's see what Philippians 4 tells us about how. Dean? That's usual. Yeah. Philippians 4.4. So how do you make every occasion special? You rejoice in it. You rejoice in it. Absolutely. Rejoice in it. Point number three. Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life. So enjoy life with your wife is what I put down. Now, obviously, it meant spouse, but that was, all right? So I asked the question why. And I have this. I know I'm corny, okay? But there's about half a dozen verses in Proverbs that address a man and his wife. All right. And one of them is the one we're about to read. He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. So I don't do it every month, but I do it often. On the 18th day of the month, I look at my wife, and I say, you know what? You're my favor from the Lord. You're my favor from the Lord. Now, I know that's corny, okay? I know that. But I want her to know she's special. She means the world to me. You know what, David? It's not corny. It's not corny. Okay. I mean, it is really, really important to men especially. We think, man, I had to learn this. But I would look at Susan, she's ready for church. I said, man, she is beautiful. I think it. And it took me a long time. I'm kind of dense, but it took me a long time to learn. When I see something that she's done for me or dressed up or ready for church, now I verbally, on purpose, say it to her because I want her to know that she's valuable and special. And people don't know if they don't hear. Okay. How long have we all been married? 46 years. Well, that's the first one she's done. David, you've been married for 46 years. And you have no idea what an incredible feat that is. We ain't got time for that story. That'd be true of all of us. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I love that verse. He who finds a wife finds a good thing. Yeah. And things favor from the Lord. I mean, I look at that and I go, look at what God did. He took a couple of teenagers and they didn't know any better. Oh, my God. Okay. I was 20 and she was 19 when we said I do. Babies. We're babies. We thought we knew a lot. Didn't take long to find out we didn't know any of that. I was just thinking that. But we grew up together. Yeah. I have a philosophy about being married. I think the guy wakes up and figures it out about after 10 or 11 years. I think most guys, it takes a long time for them to figure out. Well, I was a quick study. It didn't take me that long. Yeah. On average. On average. Yeah. It could be. It could be. But, again, point being, man, there's nothing like having a godly spouse. Okay. Whether wife or husband. All right. There's nothing like having a godly spouse. And a godly spouse is favored from the Lord. Okay. So, enjoy life with your spouse. All right. Point number four. Now, this one's a little more difficult. Hmm. Whatever your hands find to do, do with all your strength because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom to show where you're going. So, enjoy your work and give your best effort to it while you can. Why? See what Paul says in Colossians. So, you want to enjoy your work and give your best effort because you're working for the Lord. You're representing the Lord. The worst thing you can do is tell people you belong to him. Then act like the devil. Then act like the devil. Okay. That's just not good. Or don't try. Oh, that's the worst part. All right. And I'm going to start the meddling, guys. Okay. Now, just get your toes ready. You're about to get stepped on. Okay. Let's think about this just a minute. Have you ever shopped online during office hours? Yeah. Think about what that means. You don't have to shop online. Okay. Have you ever gone to the water cooler and had a 15-minute conversation within one break time? I don't want to. I'm just trying to get the point across. It applies to all of us in terms of are we giving our best effort. Okay. Now, I'm not going to judge you. I'm not here to judge. I'm asking questions to get you to think. What about me? How am I doing in this category? Where do I sit in this? If you claim Christ, if people know that you go to church or that you're claiming to be a Christian, then they're watching you. If you try to cut corn or you take a longer lunch or you show up late or you go home early, I'm just using all the easy examples. Then they are going to look at you differently than someone that doesn't know the Lord that are like them because they're going to say you're claiming to have something and you're living. You're not even living the way as good as I do. It's important when you claim Christ that you live a godly example so that they have some reason to want to talk to you or want to serve the same master you serve. Okay. I'm going to take it back because there's two words I want to hear. Welcome. See, I want to hear from him. All right. If I can hear from him, it doesn't matter what you're saying down here. I just want to hear from him. Yeah, that's what matters. Okay. So we've talked about living with the right perspective about death. So with death in mind, enjoy your meals together. Enjoy every occasion. Make it special. Enjoy life with your spouse. Enjoy your work and give your best effort. Now let's look at life. Let's talk about having the right perspective about life. Ecclesiastes 9, 11 through 18. Again, I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, for the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful, whether time and chance happen to all of them. For man certainly does not know his time. Like fish caught in a cruel net or like birds caught in a trap, so people are trapped in evil times as it suddenly falls on them. I've observed that this also is wisdom under the sun, and it is significant to me. There was a small city with few men in it. A great king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege works against it. Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he delivered the city by his wisdom, yet no one remembered that poor man. And I said, well, wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised. His words are not heeded. The calm words of the wise are heeded more than the shouts of a ruler over fools, and wisdom is better than weapons of war. But one sinner can destroy much good. Okay? So the right perspective about life. First of all, abilities don't always determine results. Okay? Abilities don't always determine results. Why? And we're going to see how it reads in the New Living Translation. I kind of like the way that reads. All right? The second doesn't always lead to success. And the strongest warrior doesn't always succeed. The wise sometimes go hungry. And the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don't always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by fate, and by right in place, as it were. People can never predict when hard times might come. Like fish in a net. You see how that kind of gives you a different look at it? I think it kind of clarifies it, doesn't it? I think it clarifies it. Abilities don't always determine results. One factor is being in the right place at the right time. Another way of saying that, timing is everything. Okay? Being in the right place at the right time. Another factor is the unpredictability of sudden tragedy. Right? Anybody ever experience tragedy and you didn't see it coming and it hit? Yeah. Yeah, I know. I know. Another factor, or another, then the question is, if that's the case, then whom should be our confidence? Jesus. And what should be our perspective? Let's look at James 4, 13 and 17. I should have had you read this, Ron, since you are teaching it right now. Oh, okay. I'll let Chris read it. Look here, you say. Today or tomorrow we're going to a party town we'll stay there for a year. We'll do business there and we'll make a profit. How do you know your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog. It's here for a little while and then it's gone. What you ought to say is if the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that. Otherwise, you are boasting about your own pretentious plans and all such boastful people. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do. And what's too bad is what's too good. It's fine. So what should be our perspective then? I'm talking about based on what James says here. It's all up to the Lord, isn't it? It sure is. Right? Go ahead, Amanda, what? God's not ours. The Latin version of that is Deo Volente, which means that the Lord wills. Right? The Lord wills. So that has to be our perspective about life. We can have our plans. As a matter of fact, another verse says man makes his plans, but what? God does what? Orders his steps. Right. Yeah, how's that read? Okay. Okay. It's not good. It's not good. That's right. Destruction. But the point is, right, we don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. That's right. You don't know. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. You can go back tonight and be in heaven before morning. We had a member of our BSF, two weeks, three weeks ago, Thursday night, a couple went out to eat for work. Two of them got run over. She got killed and 10 big guys in the hospital. Serious injury. Think about that. You just went out to eat. There you go. Whew. Wow, you're not in the spirit of fear, but a power blow. Well, the one that's gone is in heaven. The one that remains, think about what they have to do now, what they have to do. Oh, my. Tragedy. Tragedy. My goodness. So we don't know. So, again, the Lord's will has to be our perspective. We're in his hands. We're trusting him with our lives. Right? Abilities don't always determine results. It's up to God. Verses 13 through 16, wisdom is not always appreciated. Yeah. Yeah. Who was able to deliver the city by his wisdom? It was who? The poor man, the wise poor man. Right? But once the city was safe, what did the residents fail to do? Acknowledge him. Acknowledge him. Thank him. Didn't even thank him. Didn't even recognize him. So Solomon said, well, what's better, wisdom or strength? It's very clear. Wisdom is better, right? Yeah. Wisdom is better. Well, it's proven here because, what, you had this big, this king that came, a great king that came and surrounded the city. What that means is this great king had a great army. Right? So you've got this huge strength of numbers and force that surrounded the city, and you've got this poor man who in his wisdom somehow, right, delivers the city. What's better, wisdom or strength? Wisdom. Wisdom. That's where that's coming from. Okay? Just wanted to give you all, make sure you got the insight there. Okay? Wisdom. But why was the wise man despised? Now, stop. We need to grapple with this a second. Why was the wise man despised? Because he was poor. Because he was poor. In general, if you were poor, you weren't blessed. That, yes, I agree with that. And what else? Our generation, people will only value the advice of people who have more followers, more likes. Oh! Versus the person who have little to no followers on Instagram. Their wisdom is overlooked. They won't be telling the perfect truth. That's incredible. I like it. That's the foolishness of politics. That's what a good faith person does. A little bit of a different perspective. So, if there is, I'm just thinking, if there was the wisdom of a poor man, and he's wise, the world says that you should be successful. So, if you're not successful, I don't know if I can trust you. Because what you're trying isn't working for you. You get the gold star, because that's what I have written down on my notes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. I like both of those. The bottom line is what? Wisdom is still most important. That's right. Values of men. In here, even today, you have this great king. This great king has followers. And he's got wealth. And he's got money. And he's got power. And people see these things and be like, well, he must be somebody. He must be smart. He must be all of these things that I want to be. So, they're looking at their external, all the external circumstances and characteristics of this guy, as opposed to the internal characteristics. I mean, I've trained some time. I've got 55 followers on Instagram. I'm a lot wiser than some of the others. Right. So, back to the last, what does this tell us about the values of men? It's superficial. It's superficial. Bill's right. The values of men are superficial. Let me also say, what do they not line up with? The values of what? God. The values of God. If you look around this culture, right, you see what man values, it's not hard to see it doesn't line up with what God values. So, David, are you saying that I need to line up my values with God if I want to? If you want to hear the words, well done, yes. So, as far as eternity is concerned, I want to line up my values with God because this is a fleeting life. It's like a moment in the sun and we're gone. It'd be better to line up with the values of God and be despised here. Yep. So, we've got the last segment, which you're segueing into, which is a great segue. Thanks, Noel. First segment, the first part was abilities don't always determine results. Second is wisdom's not always appreciated. But thirdly, wisdom is always better. It's always better. Since the calm words of the wise are heated more than the shouts of a ruler over fools, wisdom is better than weapons of war. But one sinner can destroy much good. All right. So, wise words lead to success and produce better results than weapons of war. And I asked the question, why? Let's see what Proverbs says. Solomon is making us ask questions and he answers them. He's already answered them in his other writings. All right. So, Proverbs 8, 12 through 16. Who has not read? Somebody in here hasn't read yet. I know that's a catch. Go ahead. Proverbs 8, 12 through 16. I, wisdom, share a home with truthless, truthless, truthless, and have knowledge and direction to fear the Lord. It is to hate evil. I hate everything that has pride, evil content, and preserve speech. I possess God's advice and confidence. I have understanding and strength. It is by me that human, which I am, and who is, interacts just as well. By me, hence, we as nobles and all rights reserved. Okay. So, I, wisdom, share a home with shrewdness. So, first of all, what does it say? We're going to see. We're going to identify why wisdom is better. First of all, the word shrewdness. All right. Shrewdness. What does that mean? Who knows what shrewdness means? Humility? It's an... Isn't it like discernment? Yeah. Discernment. It's a kind of discernment. Chris, you're... I can't put into words. Okay. Shrewd, yeah. Crafty? Crafty. Crafty. Yeah. The NLC version says good judgment. Good judgment. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Shrewdness. It sounds about right. It's not bad. No. It's not bad. All right. Second word I see in there. I, wisdom, share a home with shrewdness and have what? Knowledge. Knowledge and discretion. So, knowledge and discretion. See, that's... This is where wisdom comes in. You've got shrewdness, knowledge, discretion. Third word, verse 13. I, wisdom, share a home with shrewdness and have what? Knowledge. Knowledge and discretion. So, knowledge and discretion. So, this is where wisdom comes in. You've got shrewdness, knowledge, discretion. Third word, verse 13. I, wisdom, share a home with shrewdness and have what? Knowledge. Knowledge and discretion. So, knowledge and discretion. So, this is where wisdom comes in. Fear. To what? Fear the Lord. Fear the Lord. Now, that word fear is not fear is to shake in your boots. Fear is to reverence, to be in awe of, to understand who He is and bow before Him, to acknowledge Him as being your God. That's fear. Okay. That's reverent fear. All right. Fear the Lord. Next one. Fear the Lord is to what? Hate evil. Hate evil. Again, this is all about wise here. You hate evil. And the next one. In perverse speech. Right? Right. Arrogant pride. Evil conduct. I hate evil. I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech. Those three things. Right? All right. Then I possess what? Good advice. Possess good advice. And you possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. 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You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. You possess competence. Now, Almond tells us in Proverbs 1-7, Ron, you know what that is? The fear of the Lord is what? The beginning of knowledge. The fools hate wisdom and discipline. Fools hate wisdom and discipline. The Proverbs goes with that in Proverbs 9-10. It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Right. But my sub point is about fools, not about the wives. Okay. JJ, don't leave. You sent us tips. This guy has been coming to class because of the fact that he has a disease. Oh. And it's called plantar fasciitis. And he can barely walk. But here he is. I couldn't stand that one. Much better this one. Okay. Much better this one. So basically what we want to do is carry on the thought because of the fact that, you know, the wisdom that we have is both Solomonic wisdom, which is the Proverbs 8, 12, 13, 14 that we just looked at. But also we have wisdom from above. We'll be talking about that in just a moment. But the key is to realize that God gives grace to the humble. Right. And with humility, this is Proverbs 11, 2, it says with humility comes wisdom. So now we realize that God wants to have us to have a heart adjustment in regard to how do we look at life in a way that we know that we're going to be not falling into the hands of Satan who wants to destroy us, who wants to steal, kill, and destroy us. John 10, 10. But Jesus came to save, to come, to build us up, right, to help us to be all that we were intended to be. And so the question that we have is the fact is why do we live or choose to live with an eternal perspective? And it's not so much how to, but why to. Because why should we live with an eternal perspective? Because we see what not living with an eternal perspective can do. It drives us into a state of envy and strife. And envy and strife is very, very, you know, it's destructive in the sense that it destroys the relationship. Envy and strife causes arguments, dissension. And that's something that God hates, dissension. Someone who causes dissension is someone who is argumentative, critical, and we see what critical spirits can do in the world today. You know, the government is filled with it. You know, schools are filled with it. Medicine is filled with it. And the problem is we have conflict in every aspect of life. How does one stop that? What is God's way? And why does he do this? Why does God want to put a stop to all of this? And it is really the question that we have, you know, why be wise? J.J.? Because it beats being unwise, right? I mean, I always try to start with the simplest answer, you know. Is it better to be wise? And really, what's the binary of wise? It's a fool, right? And does anybody want to be a fool? Because we have all kinds of warning against fools, you know. And, you know, we look at Solomon here, and Ron was talking about solemnistic wisdom. That is wisdom from above. Because if you understand where he got his wisdom, you know, where he got wisdom, you know, the type of wisdom that we see in Proverbs, that came from where? From God. Yeah. Why? Do you remember where he got it? Because that's what he asked for, right? And, you know, to me, when I read Ecclesiastics, I think, to me, Ecclesiastics is a very difficult book in a lot of ways. Because a lot of the stuff you read, you've got to wonder, you know, what's he trying to say? And, you know, what, you know, and who is this guy Solomon, you know. And just from my perspective, take it for what you want, I want to know something about the person that's telling me something, you know. And, you know, how do you vet a person? How do you know a person is trustworthy? You do that by learning something about them, right? And so I think it's interesting to know something about Solomon and where he got his wisdom. And we see that in Proverbs. But, you know, if you look at Solomon's life, what was Solomon's life like? Okay, do you think he applied all the wisdom that he had? This is, to me, this is the dichotomy of Solomon. Here you have the smartest person that's ever lived, that's lived probably one of the most unwise, you know, life that one could live, you know. So wisdom is something, it's not just something to know. It's something to, A, number one, like Ron says, is to understand. And even beyond that is to apply it, you know, so we apply it. So, you know, whenever I, whenever somebody, you know, tells me something or I read something, you know, I try to read it with a filter, okay? And what's the first filter that we ought to have in life as well as what we read in the Bible? What's the first thing you should ask yourself? Well, how about is it true? And how does that, and how do we know it's true? And then we have to take, like David was saying, you know, we read some of this stuff in the Bible, you know, and what Solomon says, and David does a great job. He says, yeah, okay, but what's the real truth? You know, what does the New Testament say about it? You know, what does Jesus say about it? That's the test, you know. To add to what you were saying, J.J., one thing I've learned as a Christian, a lot of stuff that I read in the beginning, I didn't understand it. But God allowed me to go through life and create a situation where that scripture that I read that I didn't understand, the Holy Spirit brought it back to my remembrance. And I was like, oh, that's what that scripture means. That's where the wisdom comes. Because now you know, like, live that experience. I know what it was like to fail, to be the opposite of what God wanted me to be in that situation. Now, on the grace that I have, I'm able to live it based off the knowledge and the experience. Yeah, and you know when you don't, yeah, I'm sorry. I said it worked. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And so we need to go in and test this against what we know is the truth. And where does the truth come from? Out of His Word. Okay, who is the truth? Jesus. Jesus is the truth. All truth comes from Him. So when He says something like that, it's, you know, what does He mean? It's better to be a live dog than a dead lion. Duh. Would you rather be alive or dead? That doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure this stuff out, right? And the thing about it is that you have to understand Solomon also. He's seeing things from a world point of view. And so a lot of the stuff that he's saying is he's looking back over his life now and saying, look, this is what I found. And a lot of this is man's wisdom that he's saying, right? A lot of that stuff is not true. But that's where, to me, where this Ecclesiastes takes you to go back to the New Testament and see what Jesus has revealed to you. You know, Solomon didn't have a lot of information. He didn't have anywhere near the information we have. You know, he says, well, we can't know anything of God. Well, was that true? Well, go back and look at Solomon's life. What did he have? One of the few people that God actually spoke to, he had the law. He had all these other things that God said. You know, he said, you know, what did God tell him? You know, number one, a king should not what? Yatter horses? Yeah, he shouldn't collect wives. You know, you can talk about him, you know, love the wife in your vain life. Which one? Yeah, well, he believed in that. About 700 of them. Yeah, about 700. Yeah, he had about 700 wives, so he must have really believed in that. You know, I don't know. I have a hard enough time just giving my wife, you know, the proper love that she needs. You know, and I'll try to do that 700 times. Maybe he got something wrong. You know, so what I'm saying is what we need to do is, is this is a challenging book. And it's exciting to read this because, you know, usually there's a test. You know, I say, well, is this true? What does it say? You know that we all go to the same place. We all go to see you. That's what he said. Is that true? No, it's not true. The problem is, you know, for those that have accepted Christ, we're going to be with them. And here's here's another truth. Those that don't are going to hell. That's another truth. You know, and we don't speak of that very often, but that's true. And why should we live a Christian life? You know, all these other things he talks about, you know, that, you know, the, the, the, you know, the, the wise don't get their credit and all this other kind of stuff. I think what he's saying is, hey, man, we live in a world where we can't justice is not guaranteed to us in this world. But we're called to live a Christian life in spite of it. Okay. You're not always going to get your, your, our rewards are not going to be here on Earth. You know, this is basically, you know, for the annihilist, you know, that that's the way the world. If you don't have Christ, all you've got is this life. You know, eat, drink and be married. You know, as a matter of fact, that's addressed. Do you remember? You remember in Matthew 5? Jesus tells this tells a parable about the rich man, right? What does it say about him? He had it made. You know, he was a rich guy, kind of like Solomon, right? He gathers all this stuff. He's got these barns full, man. He's going to build more barns. What does Jesus say? You're drinking to be married, right? And what does he say? You fool. You know, because there's a lot more to life than eat, drink and be married. What does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 15, about down around 32? If Jesus didn't arrive, wasn't raised from the dead, we have no hope. And what? You might as well eat, drink and be married because tomorrow you die. If that's your only hope is this life. And we don't. That's no hope at all. And why do you have hope? Because Christ lives. And why do we have hope? Why do you have hope that you're going to heaven? Because it's based on God's promises. That's right. What do we have in chapter 14 of John? I go to prepare a place for you. There is a place. You know, how do we know that? Jesus said it. Is he trustworthy? Absolutely. How do we know he's trustworthy? Everything he said he did and then he died and he rose from the dead. The resurrection proved it. Everything. That's the linchpin of Christianity. We know that. You know, our hope, the hope for a Christian is really delayed certainty. It's not wishful thinking. You know, we're going to go there because Jesus said we're going there and Jesus proved it. He proved who he was. He was God. He rose up. How do we know we're going to have, like David said, how do you know we're going to have this glorified body? Jesus said it. He's the truth. So we've got, what we believe in is solid. It's on solid ground. What does the lost person have? He's got nothing. You talk about death, you know. We had a friend of ours that, next door neighbor, her father passed away here this last week or so. And, you know, people talk about that. I think what's worse than having nothing, think they go to nothing, is fooling themselves that they're up there just having a good time. Well, I can tell you one thing according to the truth. Unless you know Jesus Christ, you're not going to be having a good time when you die. No, you're not. No, you're not going to be having a good time. You know, you can deceive yourself. And that's very important. So the only way we can keep from deceiving ourselves is know how do you keep from being deceived? We know the truth. How do you know the truth? You know Jesus, right? Yeah, and the thing is, is that there's two kinds of wisdom. And this is one kind of wisdom, Solomonic wisdom. And there are seven points of this, as well as the negatives that David pointed out. The first thing is prudence, which is common sense. The second thing is knowledge, cognitive. And the third thing is discretion, knowing how to tell the intentionality of people. You know, women are a whole lot better than us guys, really. I'm fooled every time. And then counsel, know what to give good advice, sound judgment, knowing, having some moral compass, understanding how to tie things together in life, and power, influence. And those are all Solomonic wisdom, and God gave him that. And this is from 1 Kings chapter 3. But God also said to him, you know, I'm going to give you wisdom because you asked for wisdom to guide and lead the nation Israel. But you must not do, collect wives, 700 wives and 300 concubines, misses the mark. Don't collect horses, 20,000 horses is missing the mark. Don't collect gold, gold shields on the walls, you know, a million dollars worth of gold hanging on his palace wall, misses the mark. Now, the thing is that God's saying, what is all that about? See, that's all temporal. It's showing what it looks like to have a life that is based upon the mind, IQ, okay, intelligence quotient. We're all given that. But God also says there is wisdom from above, and that's spiritual quotient. That's the moment, that's the kind of wisdom we get when we choose to trust in Jesus Christ alone, okay? And that's James 3.17. And this is just, see, all of the Solomonic wisdom is all measurable. We can measure that by how much money you make, how much fame you have. You have to look good, feel good, make good, do good, or you know good. That's the Solomonic way. But God says there's a better way, and that's wisdom from above, James 3.17. That's, first of all, pure, peaceable, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, full of good fruit, fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, impartial, and sincere. All those 17 qualities are ours the moment we choose to trust in Jesus Christ. Huh. Only seven was Solomon, but Solomon didn't obey God's recommendation that you have to do certain things. He did all the wrong things, so he became an idolater at the end of life. So then he's saying life is meaningless, life is empty. See, without God, like you guys are saying, JJ and David are saying, life is meaningless and empty. But with the Lord Jesus Christ, life is lived to the full. And that's where the action is, right? The action is not here as much as here, but it's both ends. See, God gives us wisdom, Solomonic wisdom here, but he also gives us wisdom from above here. It's the both ends. So we really have seven Solomonic wisdom, and then we have 17 qualities from wisdom from above. So altogether, there are, what, 24? 24, yeah. 24. Plus, it's just the beginning. And we're going to see that as we go through the book of Ecclesiastes. Cool. Isn't that good? See, the best is yet to come, because now we realize that how does God tie all this together? By saying that this is the conclusion. You all read further, I'm sure. This is the conclusion, to fear God and obey his commandments. Love God and love others, even your enemies. So now we have the challenge, how is that going to happen? See, the miracle of life. One of the things, too, about Solomon and stuff like that, some of the great things that he lived in his life, sometimes we can be highly critical, which I am of Solomon. He did a lot of things that weren't wise, but I tell you what, everything that Solomon did, we are capable of doing and being just like him. And we need to learn the lesson of not being like him and living a life for Christ. Solomon didn't have a lot of... We may not have all the knowledge that we need. We need to live the life with the knowledge that we know and apply it. And I think the more we do that, the more God will give us, so the better off we're going to be. Solomon had the knowledge, but God doesn't... He warned Solomon, and Solomon rejected it. That's the worst thing you can do is to be disobedient to God. And the worst thing you can do is to, number one, have other gods before him. And that's exactly the pit that Solomon fell into. And we'll see this as we go on. But if you want to read anything about Solomon, you can find that in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. Some of the great things are, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, seek my face, pray, turn from your wicked ways. All this comes out of what he was told Solomon. Let's forget the other part. If you don't, what's going to happen? There are consequences. And if you look at the life of Solomon, you'll find out what the consequences are. So we've got to remember that. God gives us a lot of good stuff, but he also warns us. And we need to heed him and pay attention to him. And when we start violating that and we fall down in our obedience, we're in for a lot of trouble. There's an interesting quote from John R. Robinson. And he was giving a graduation talk to his ninth grade son's group. And he says, most graduation talks saying, oh, I want to wish you well in life. But he says, I want to wish you some challenges in life. I want to wish you the fact that what I want you to do is I want you to fail in life. I want you, when you're competing in sports, I want you to get your feet to the, you know, to the core. I want you to be slaughtered. I want you to be slaughtered because and have people gloat over the fact that you lost the championship game. And he says, because I want you to have the idea of what sportsmanship is all about. And that's to have humility. He says, God gives grace to the humble. The other thing he says I want you to do is I want you to be rejected. I want you to have moments in your life where people don't even want to talk to you because you can fill in the blanks. Okay. And there are moments right like that. And because I want you to understand what it is to have compassion. I want you to realize that what we need the most is the opportunities to be loved and accepted for who we are, not by what we do. See, this is what you do. This is who you are. The SQ is really the spiritual portion of life. And the only way you can have the spiritual portion is to have Jesus, you know, who is the life. And I think that one of the things that God wants us to do is he wants us to have two major issues in life. He wants us to have compassion, agape love. And that's what this SQ business is all about. That's wisdom from above. So that we can love for the right reasons. Because it is a journey with the Lord. See, all this business about the IQ is all about what we're going to do for God. And God wants us to do everything with him. You know, just like Micah 6-8 says. He says, this is what God requires of us. I want you to live justly. I want you to love his merciful kindness, his grace. And I want you to walk humbly with the Lord. Yeah. So now we're going to learn the process of walking humbly with the Lord. David, would you close us please? Sure. Father, we are mindful of the fact that we can be like Solomon. And the reality is, Lord, we have our tendencies to stray, to not be wise in the decisions we make, the choices we make. To not live with the right perspective about life and death. So, Lord, I just ask that you would take what we've studied and discussed and learn from your word tonight and make it real in our lives. Or it may be that this next week we'll come back together and we can say without hesitation, this week I lived for the Lord. This week I walked wisely. This week I did what the Lord told me to do. And I had a positive influence on the lives of others. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.