 Chapter four, beginning at verse one, reading to verse three, Solomon writes, I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun. And look. The tears of the oppressed, but they have no comforter. On the side of their oppressors, there is power, but they have no comforter. Therefore I praise the dead who were already dead, more than the living who were still alive. Yet, better than both, is he who has ever existed, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. Now, let me summarize for you a few of the things that we've already been looking at as I normally do on Sundays. I'll do that here for a moment so that we can catch up to this chapter and get a glimpse of what Solomon wants us to know. He uses a phrase, for those who take notes, he uses a phrase under the sun. And he's speaking of life under the sun. That's a phrase he uses about 27 times in the book of Ecclesiastes. And what it speaks of is the things that are occurring in the world in contrast to those things that are above or those which are in heaven. And the reason that he uses it is to illustrate that life is vain, it's futile without God. He had said in chapter 1 verse 3, what prophet has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun. Now, he was an immensely rich, a very powerful man and Solomon had a depth of experience. And as we've seen, he could have anything he desired. Anything that he saw could be his. He said in chapter 2 verse 10, whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure. There was not a single thing that I could want that I couldn't have. Now, part of, I think the pleasure of life can be a desire to have something because at least it's a goal and you can work towards that and feel certain satisfaction when achieving it. He didn't have that, he didn't have to. Anything I saw, I could have. Now, it didn't matter what it was and so he's a very powerful man and he didn't keep his heart from any pleasure. So, as he's been laying this out for us, he's made it clear that achieving all of our worldly goals will never produce satisfaction. We can become very successful, but he's saying even in your success you discover there's an emptiness. The result may be entirely different than what you expected, that the chasing was really the pleasure, but achieving had no satisfaction. And so, you'll find that that is really very often what you experience. Instead of enjoying life, he began to see it as tiresome and even boring. That's why in chapter 2 verse 17 he had said, therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was grievous to me, all his vanity, grasping, he says, for the wind. So, he came to understand what many today need to find out. Achieving personal goals never results in peace when you don't know the Lord. For us in New Testament terms, achieving all of your personal goals never produces any pleasure or peace when you don't know Jesus. So instead of striving for things constantly, we ought to be seeking God for contentment. And he had already pointed out, we should remember that ultimately God is in control and his work is perfect and his work is permanent and that kind of knowledge ought to be what guides us. He has already pointed out that God is a supreme judge and that all who live will give an account to him and in the end everything ultimately dies, both animals and people. He pointed out that the spirit of man goes upward, but the spirit of animals go down to the earth. There are those who ask the question and I'll answer it even for those who perhaps wonder and others who don't care. I'll answer it for you too. You know, is my dog going to be in heaven? Yeah, somebody said yes. No, you've got a bad dog. I don't see any indication in Scripture that my pet will go to heaven. You know, are there going to be animals in heaven? Yeah, it seems to be. I won't go into that too deeply, but they don't have souls and they were not redeemed in the same way that human beings were. So that's why he would say the animal soul goes to the ground, but the soul of the human goes to the one who gave it. That's why he uses that phrase. And so, man is to enjoy life. Man is to enjoy the time that he's been gifted with and under the sun, using natural reasoning, well what happens later he has already said to him is a mystery at least at this point. So keep eternity in mind. Why is that? Today all will die and stand before God who is the judge. And so that's what he's been bringing us to here in chapter 4. He's returning to the theme of life under the sun. So he said in verse 1, I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed, but they have no comforter on the side of their oppressors. They have no power, but they have no comforter. And so he's noted that in place of judgment, wickedness and iniquity is there. He had said that in chapter 3 verse 16. So now he begins to speak concerning oppression, not all the oppression that he sees. Notice how he says, I returned and considered all the oppression that's done under the sun. Well, he's speaking about that. He's speaking of the oppressed. The word oppressed is speaking of the one who has been wronged. It's a word that can be translated, extorted, exploited, even crushed. So he's saying, I have seen how the weak, the powerless, the defenseless are crushed by the powerful. And he says, they cry, but they have nobody who cares enough to cry for them or comfort them. No one helps them. No one hears their cry. Why is that? Because he's saying no one really cares about them. And so this oppression, and he points it out, on the side of their oppressors, there's power. So that kind of oppression can happen on all levels of life. Governments can oppress people through their laws. Unjust criminal charges or the unjust taxes. And it's very, and I won't go into this, I'm tempted to. I'll just say it this way. A lot of people love California and I do too. Why are we taxed? And I don't agree with all the ways the tax money is being spent. And so I see that as a form of oppression, to be honest with you. Unjust taxes, and if you resist, you can be placed in jail for years without trial. Businesses can exploit the impoverished. How did they do that? Price gouging. Things that you can buy someplace else for half the price. They'll just gouge it. Especially when we see it with motor fuels, you know, gasoline and things of that nature. All of a sudden, the prices go up and they gouge. Husbands can oppress wives. Wives can oppress others. Children can be crushed. They can be oppressed by the powerful. They can be exploited physically. They can be exploited through even the schools. And sometimes they're bullied in the classes or in the schools that they attend. So there is exploitation. There's oppression. He's saying it's everywhere at all levels. And so as I have seen this verse 2, I praise the dead who are already dead, more than the living who are still alive. He's saying I praise the dead. In other words, it would be better to be dead than to live in a world like this. Yet, in verse 3, better than both is he who has never existed who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. If you were never conceived, you would never have to see the works of evil men. My mom, prior to going home to be with the Lord, said to me on more than one occasion, she said, you know, Dave, I'm ready to go to be with Jesus. And it wasn't simply because she longed to see him. Part of what she was saying to me is, I just don't understand the world that I'm living in today. It's not the world that I grew up in. And it's not a world I'm at peace with. My mom saw so many things and over her life. And many understand that. And so he's saying, you know, it would be better to never have been born than to see the things that I see. It would be better not to have been conceived and come into this world than to see this. Now, when it came to the judicial system, the justice system of Israel, we need to remember that it was established by God. And therefore it was to be fair and impartial. In Leviticus 19, verse 15, in the law of Moses, you shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness, you shall judge your neighbor. So you don't give to somebody because he's poor and you don't judge in favor of the one who is rich. You're not to pervert justice. He says in Deuteronomy 16, 19, you shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. We see people who do things that are absolutely wrong, that if you or I were to do it, we'd be in jail right now. Who get away with it? Have people covering up for him. And that's what he's talking about. He's seen the oppression and the lack of justice. Now, even though God gave a just system, human corruption, wood surface, power-hungry officials could be bought and the weak would suffer for that. Proverbs 17, 23 says, a wicked man accepts a bribe behind the back to pervert the ways of justice. So he saw the lives of the weak consisted of oppression and sorrow and tears. He says there's a lack of concern on the part of those who could have done something. But under the sun, it seems nothing can be done to help them. Now, he's speaking concerning what he's seen, but we see with the eyes of those who've been redeemed and we have the New Testament revelation that gives to us hope because we know that even when things are oppressive and they are, our help comes from God. And we have a trust in him. When man won't or a man can't help us, we call on the God who can. Psalm 3417, the righteous cry out and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. So Christians know that ultimately God is a righteous judge and he does judge fairly and we trust in him. It says in Psalm 102, verse 17, he shall regard the prayer of the destitute and shall not despise their prayer. And so he's speaking concerning what he has seen. He's speaking of the tears of the oppressed and now he goes on into verse four and he says again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This is also vanity and grasping for the wind. That's interesting. Now I'm going to develop this for a moment. He said in chapter three, verse 13, that hard work is its own reward, that there's satisfaction in working with your hands and accomplishing tasks and that's true. And he also has said that a person should enjoy the labor of their hands. They see it as actually a life as a gift from God. They enjoy it because they know him. But here he's contemplating the result of working hard and accomplishing much, but instead of having neighbors who rejoice with you, instead there are neighbors who envy you. You come pulling up into your driveway and you have a newer model car, maybe a new car and your next door neighbor sees you. And you talk to that person, you know that person and all of that, maybe you're not best friends and all, but you know each other and he says to you or she says to you, oh, I've got a new car, huh? And you go, oh yeah, you and I saved up for a number of years. And I just afford it and I just love it. I just drive in my car and they say, yeah, that's great. Then they go in the house. They say, do you see what that dirt bag over there has? Got a new car. He didn't deserve it. I know he's a liar. He's a scoundrel and whatever. They envy. They wish they had what you have. You know, envy is a little different than jealousy. Jealousy is that I wish I have what you have. Envy is a little worse because it's, I wish I had what you had and you didn't have it. So envy is, it's an horrible thing and that's what he's saying. You work hard, you achieve much, good things are happening but people end up envying you for that. It's envied by your neighbors because not all neighbors rejoice at your blessings. Some don't want you to succeed and that's true. Sometimes envy is what you feel when others are successful and envy really is really a petty sin because it undermines things that matter like love and humility. Envy steals your joy and it causes you not to be blessed when others are blessed. It's like it says in Proverbs 14.30, a sound heart is life to the body but envy is rottenness to the bones. It's not a good thing at all. Remember this, it's the sin of envy that motivated the religious leaders to put Jesus to death. How do we know that? Matthew 27.18, it says that he knew that they had handed him over because of envy. So if the result of your labor is neighbors who were envying you, he's saying this too, is vanity. Verse five, the fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh, better a handful with quietness than both hands full together with toil and grasping for the wind and so the fool holds his hand and consumes his own flesh. What he's speaking of is he had just mentioned the industrious, the one who works hard, the one who achieves goals. He's now contrasting that with the person who is lazy. You see, people who refuse to work end up with nothing and ultimately they can starve themselves to death. Proverbs 24 verses 30 through 34, I went by the field of the lazy man and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding and there it was, all overgrown with thorns, its surface was covered with nettles, its stone wall broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well, I looked on it and received instruction. Then he goes on to say a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, so shall your poverty come like a prowler in your need like an armed man. When the early church members were generous, we've been going through the book of Acts, many of you have been traveling through that book with me and we see how they were very generous, they cared for the needs of those who had genuine needs. In the book of Acts, we see in chapter 4 verse 34, 35, it says, nor was there anyone among them who lacked for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, laid them at the apostles feet, they distributed to each as anyone had need. It was a very generous group of people, they took care of one another, but over time, people began to take advantage of the generosity of the believers in the body of Christ, and what they started to do is they began to refuse to work, expecting other people to care for them. So when you read your Bible, you'll read 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 10, where Paul says, even when we were with you, we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. And so even that started creeping into the body of Christ. People can be lazy. I was extremely lazy, lazy enough to, well, one, I didn't work, and two, I had a car, and I would climb into trash bins behind gas stations to find tires that would fit my car, so I didn't have to buy new ones. And then I would take it to a gas station in front of mine's father-owned and have him mount the tires on the rims. So I didn't buy tires. I didn't want to work. I hated working. I still do. But I learned early, you know, that you're not going to get ahead if you have a lazy heart. And so he's pointing that kind of thing out. He says in verse 6, better a handful with quietness together with toil and grass full, together with toil and grasping for the wind. Moderation is better than both envy as well as laziness. Verse 7, then, I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun. There is one alone without companion. He has neither son nor brother, yet there's no wind to all his labors, nor is his eye satisfied with riches, and he never asks, for whom do I toil and deprive myself of good? This also is vanity and a grave misfortune. So he says, if you want to see the vanity of work, look at the man who's alone. This is a man, he says, and notice this, who has no joy and he has no satisfaction in life. This is a man who has married his job. And as a result, he's empty and he's alone. This is a man, he's pointing out. This is someone whose whole life is simply to work. He says in verse 8, this man has no one to care for but himself. Basically, why? Because he has no companion. The word companion would be speaking of a partner. So he has no partner, no companion. He doesn't have a son and he doesn't have a brother. He has a lot of money, but he has no one to share it with. And ultimately, no one to really leave it to. You know, being the Christmas season, I'll say this briefly, this brought up to my mind for some reason, Charles Dickens' book, A Christmas Carol with Ebenezer Scrooge. And the whole moral of that story and the backdrop of that story, you know how Scrooge had to discover the true meaning of Christmas because he'd been embittered over a lifetime. And he's a good representative of this image here, of somebody who's worked a whole lot, gained a whole lot, but doesn't enjoy the fruit of his labor. Kind of basically it's for himself. He doesn't have anything that he wants to share or anybody to share with in all. And the bottom line though, he says in verse 8, is basically his eyes never even satisfied with what he has. He never has enough money. He's that one who's always working for just a little bit more like that rich man. And that rich man was asked how much is enough, and he said just a little more. He's that one. This is pointing out that he has deep-rooted covenessness. He has a longing that is never satisfied. He makes money, but he doesn't use it. He never enjoys it. He never makes use of the finances. He just hoards it. He has no partner because he wants it all for himself. But ultimately you leave it behind, don't you? You have no one to leave it to. In fact, he's saying all of his labor's in vain. Now earlier in chapter 2 he had said this in verses 18 and 19. He said, I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he'll be wiser or full, yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I've shown myself wise under the sun. This is vanity. So he's already been toying with that. Notice how he says again in verse 8, he never asks for whom do I toil? For whom do I deprive myself of good? I don't have a wife. I don't have children. I don't have a brother. I don't have a partner. I have riches, but I have no one to bless and I have no one to leave them to. And all of this work, Solomon is saying, ends up being for nothing. That's why in Proverbs 23 verses 4 and 5 we read, do not wear yourself out to get rich. Be wise enough to restrain yourself when you glance at wealth that disappears. It makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky. Don't forget that. Remember how Jesus spoke of this kind of man, one who was laboring and laboring and laboring until it was time to retire and at the end of his life he speaks within himself and he says, I have enough to live on for years. He says to himself, take life easy, eat, drink and be merry. But in Luke 12.20 God said to him, you fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you then who will get what you have prepared for yourself. Tomorrow is promised to no one. I've said this before, some of you perhaps have heard me but it's a true story out of my own life. I had a cousin named Eleanor and her husband had his retirement, a retirement party and the next day after the party the next day was his first day of being retired and he died in his sleep. He died in his sleep. He never got a single day of retirement. Tomorrow is promised to no one and if you're not wise towards God you're a foolish, foolish person. In the end we should labor for the benefit of others. Proverbs 13.22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. A good man leaves an inheritance for his grandchildren, for his grandkids and that's a wise thing to do. Now these verses in front of us 9 through 12 are very familiar with many of us. Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor for if they fall one will lift up his companion. One to him who's alone when he falls he has no one to help him up. Again if two lie down together they'll keep warm. But how can one be warm alone? And though he may be overpowered by another two can withstand him and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken. And so two are better than one in labor because you have more workers if you will and you make greater profits. Two are better than one in life because if one falls down the other can pick him up and help him. And verse 11, again if two lie down together they can keep warm. Two are better than one because when it's cold the other will provide warmth. I was 20 years old, 21 years old and some friends of mine and I I was in the military decided to go from Fort Bragg, North Carolina north into the state of Virginia to the mountains, it was winter. And when we arrived into this camping site we didn't have any tents or anything we just came and it was like two in the morning, three in the morning the ground was rock hard, it was frozen and so we got there and just took out our sleeping bags and put them on the ground and you know I'm a California boy I'm not much on camping out and all I was doing that just because I wanted to but I have never been so cold in my life. You know I'm in this sleeping bag that it's not really that warm and I have my boots on, my jacket on even my hat on, I'm inside of it and I'm shaking all night. My friend Danny says to me oh you need to you know just sleeping your boxes and t-shirt because you're going to be sweaty and I say you're crazy man it's cold out there. He's got me and he he strips down to his shorts and t-shirt and I'm just freezing and about an hour later I hear his teeth chattering as he's putting on his clothes it was freezing and so the next day we got some of our equipment that we have military equipment and we put some pine needles down and then we put some something to cover it over and we made a little tent and there were three of us and I got in the center of them see they were homophobic I'm not so they didn't want to be next to each other I said that's good with me so I got in between them and I know this I know the scripture I've lived it two are better than one I can tell you that for a fact what is he saying two are better than one because you have a friend who can help you remember this God created us to have fellowship and friendship I say this often I'll say it again because it matters the first thing God ever said in scripture that was not good is that the man should be alone God did not create us to be lone ranger Christians he did not call us to forsake the assembling of ourselves together but he has called us as a body of Christ so each one of us who has gifts from God can exercise those gifts with others and create an environment where much good can be done and so it's not good to be alone now there are those who perhaps have a gift of salibacy and for them like the apostle Paul said it's better for me not to be married because the one who's married has a lot of problems it's not that they're bad problems but they're there but at the same time the reason he says it's better that you're not married is so that you can use all of your time to serve the Lord and a man who is married needs to please his wife because that's what God intends for marriage for us to love, trust and serve him together so when you get married and have relationship that's the closest thing that you can have in relationship is you have become one with somebody else and God has created us to have fellowship and friendship it's not good to isolate myself and it's not good to always be alone and when you read your Bible the value of relationship is a constant theme in the Bible it's a constant theme Proverbs 17 says a friend loves at all times a brother is born for a time of adversity so the blessing of having friends sustains us in times of loss I'll see it briefly but it's true I have seen people who are developing deeper relationships with their dogs than they do with other human beings and I don't say that to speak in a weird way of those who love their animals because my sister Becky she's an animal loving woman and you know what I respect she loves her animals and I get it and we were having a conversation the other day about that I was saying you're crazy she says it's not you know it's one of those actually we're just talking about that you know why people love their animals sometimes more than they love people and I said and why would that be fountain of wisdom she says because their animals don't hurt them there's some truth to that when's the last time your dog gossiped about you right? because your animals she said don't hurt you some people say well my dog is my best friend we have that phrase a dog is a man's best friend and I heard somebody say that's not true when's the last time you saw a dog help somebody move relationships I could go on about this and I really want to in some ways and I'll share a couple thoughts with you um to are better than one there's nothing like having somebody and God by the way provides friendships for us if you pray and seek the Lord maybe you're like me I'll be honest with you don't want to give a lot of testimony but I'll tell you this I'm one of those people who doesn't trust easily I just don't you know even before I became a pastor and people burn you because you're a pastor they expect more from you than they would anybody else and they get disappointed in things that you may or may not do that's just a life and you chose it it's okay I can live with it but it's true so what can happen is you can begin to be burned by so many people you expect it so much from you that you just withdraw that's not a good thing because who do you have to pick you up when you're hurting who do you have that you can say this is where I really am this is where my soul actually is this is how I really feel who do you have like that now I can do much of that with my wife but my wife doesn't need to hear all the things that I may feel some things it's not good for her to know some things she shouldn't know so that means that I either make a choice to one cast my cares on the Lord which I do or two and two have friendships and relationships that help me to have a healthy mental understanding of life to have somebody in your life that will weep with you when you weep and rejoice with you when you rejoice somebody that you can call up and say just want you to know not doing so good today don't want to really talk a lot about it but would you pray for me would you pray for me sometimes somebody who just makes their presence known to you can lift you when my father went home to be with the Lord back in 2001 you know it's very shattering for me and I got a phone call from Raul Reese most if not all of you know of him or know him and he called me up out of the blue he just calls me up and he says David he said I heard your dad went home and then he got quiet didn't say a word didn't say a word just let me talk and that was one of the greatest acts of ministry that I received somebody just said let me talk but I have people like that in my life I have friends like that I pray that you do too and I was in another fellowship I was an assisting pastor in it and I didn't have friends and I've never had a lot of them in my entire life anyway and I told the Lord find the window I said Lord I'm I'm lonely I need somebody to visit with somebody to laugh with somebody to have coffee with somebody like that and I prayed and the Lord brought somebody into my life his name is Dan Renshaw who Dan ultimately became my first assistant that I had in this church and the night that I resigned my position as the assisting pastor in the church and there were several men who were on the board and every one of those men accepted my resignation every one of them except for one and it was Dan Dan said you're called by God and I cannot accept your resignation you're called man David and I said that's kind of you to say that but I am resigning and I went outside I've told this story before I went outside after the conclusion they accepted my resignation from ministry the pastor that night had said you're not a pastor you're a counselor and so I said there's only one thing I know I'm called the pastor but it's just not here and I still remember going outside and I was 30 years old and Dan was standing there next to me outside he walked out when I did and I literally just he held me like I was a kid as I wept on his shoulder I have friends like that I hope you do too I hope you do too somebody who just listens and believes in you and encourages you and is there for you because it's just a good thing why because of all these things he's saying they have a good reward for labor one will lift up the companion they can keep warm though one may be overpowered by another two can withstand him and the three fold cord is not quickly broken we use that phrase very often when we're speaking concerning marriage and in the Christian perspective because a three fold cord is very strong we say that you have the man you have the woman and you have Jesus and it's tied together with Jesus in the center if you will and that's an unbreakable cord weave Jesus into your work weave him into your friendship weave him into your marriage and weave him into your daily life in verse 13 and concluding he says better a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more for he comes out of prison to be king and although he was born poor in his kingdom I saw all the living who walk unto the sun they were with the second youth who stands in his place there was no end of all the people over whom he was made king yet those who come afterward will not rejoice in him surely this is also this also is vanity and grasping for the wind and what I chose to do is simply to summarize this he's saying that there is instability and power and popularity and he compares this he does this by comparing a young man who becomes king with an old king so this young man who is born poor rises to become the king and he begins to prosper now the old king is rich but he's unwise and he loses his power as well as his popularity now at first the people welcomed the young man with open arms and they loved him they admire him, they follow him this is a man who rose from poverty and prison but his popularity is short lived and he's replaced by a successor a second youth so the point is this is inevitable because people are fickle and change allegiance quickly the ones who love one person eventually find someone else to love that's true isn't it it happens it happens in life some people can be praising the president today and then next week they're saying get rid of him and get somebody new it happens in ministry I love this church this is the best church I've ever been there was a time when people would approach me and say stuff like that Pastor David I just love your church and I got into a habit after a while of saying goodbye because inevitably they left very shortly after they had said that remember how that Paul brought the gospel to Corinth when we're going through the book of Acts we're going to see that when it took place in Corinth in Greece and there was no church there but when he came he proclaimed the gospel and a church in Corinth was born but what happened in that church this is verse and second especially second Corinthians but you see this in both but especially in second what happens is false teachers infiltrated the church and began to question Paul remember in first Corinthians Paul had to deal with an awful lot of problems in the church he had to deal with so many things and people began to think that he was overbearing and he was unloving and these new people were coming into the church and as these new people were coming into the church they were bringing in a different form of gospel they were producing things that were not true they were not of the Lord he said that Satan is an angel of light in second Corinthians and even his ministers can transform themselves into ministers of light and what they had done is they came in and they began to question him and in my studies of second Corinthians when I would teach pastors there's something like 21 different accusations Paul answers in second Corinthians his detractors were undermining him from things like he can't preach things like he's just simply ugly that he's not worth paying there were at least 21 different accusations but in first Corinthians he's trying to teach them and sharing with them and as he's speaking to them and this is a man who brought the gospel they were going to hell until this man came and he brought the word of God and they got saved and the church was planted but he says it like this in first Corinthians 4.15 he said though you might have 10,000 instructors in Christ yet you do not have many fathers but Jesus I begot you through the gospel you've outgrown your father you don't need me anymore do you know when I speak to pastors and I'll say this is true just because it is when you read through the exploits the spiritual exploits of a man like Paul the most magnificent believer outside of of course Jesus himself amazing man you might want to read 2 Timothy one more time and get to the end of the book because when all is said and done in 2 Timothy is the last book that Paul ever wrote what does he say in 4th chapter he says I'll have forsaken me this is a man who made it his goal to preach the gospel of Christ where his name has never been heard this is a man who suffered shipwreck persecution he was killed he was beaten with rods he suffered like nobody else and at the end of 2 Timothy what do you end up with you end up with an old man in a jail cell who's saying Timothy please come and see me he says I'm cold I need a cloak and can you bring the parchment I need God's word I need to study because all have forsaken me even his dear friend Demas having forsaken me and having loved this present where all this departed he said for Thessalonica that's what happens that's what happens they will sing and this is Solomon saying they will sing the praises until the new kid comes there is a song called there's a new kid in town they will sing his praises until the new kid comes and then all that this other guy had done is forgotten is forgotten all his labor all his time all his prayer, all his tears all his effort, all his work all his sacrifice and all his love is immediately forgotten for the new person that's absolutely true and that's not a negative that's just fact that's how it works I saw it there was a king who was unwise a young man came came out of prison and out of poverty and people loved him until the new one came he said that's where popularity goes so you never seek the praise of man you seek the praise of God because his praise never ceases in Matthew 25-23 this good and faithful servant his Lord said to him well done good and faithful servant you've been faithful over a few things I will make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of your Lord why is that? because that's the only joy that matters because that's a joy that never ends and so Solomon is showing you how things are fleeting under the sun with positions of power you ultimately yield and somebody else takes over it sounds that sounds kind of like a bummer but it's not when you do things as unto the Lord you hear the well done because that's the only thing that matters in the end right? that's the only thing that matters it doesn't matter how many men or women will use your name and he says enter into the joy of your Lord that's been prepared for you from the foundation of the world enter in my good, my faithful servant that matters keep your eyes on him