 We're in chapter 6 here in the book of Ecclesiastes. We'll begin by just reading verses 1 and 2 and then we'll go through our passage. This may be a shorter Bible study tonight because we only have 12 verses and you know, I can't go long, but I think it'll be a shorter study tonight. So we'll find out. Verse 1, Ecclesiastes chapter 6, reading all the way to verse 2. There is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is common among men, a man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all that he desires. Yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity and it is an evil affliction. Now as we've been going through the book of Ecclesiastes in chapter 5, Solomon had written that a person who rejoices daily in God's blessings has few regrets and that's because God keeps him busy. He said with the joy of his heart. He had said that in verse 20 of chapter 5, speaking of him, he said he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. And so this understanding that God will keep him busy with the joy of his heart should provoke him to store up as many happy memories as are possible. And so he had closed with chapter 5 by saying that and now moves into chapter 6. And so as we move into chapter 6, Solomon at this point returns to his thoughts concerning the futility of wealth. Now he had just said that silver and abundance is not completely satisfying. The thing that is satisfying is understanding that God is the giver of all good gifts. So with that in mind he's saying enjoy your relationship with God. Do not rely on wealth to give to you those things that can only come through the Lord. Again we looked at that but we do have a tendency especially today but I think this is something that is within the heart of all human beings from almost the beginning that we think that the more we have the happier we'll be. And so we always have to take things in perspective. You know if a person who has very little lectures you and says oh don't get caught up with wealth and this and that you may have a tendency of thinking well the only reason you're saying that is because you don't have any. So you have no practical experience concerning wealth and the things that it can buy in and when you say that money can't make me happy I'm happier now than if I were poor so come on give me a break. And you can think that way because this person who's lecturing you or whatever is a person that really doesn't know what it's like to have an abundance. And so you may not listen to that person very closely though their wisdom is accurate. But when you hear somebody like Solomon speaking a very extremely rich man and he's saying I'm telling you I've had it all I never withheld anything from my eyes the things I desired these are the things I had and we've already gone through the list of the things that he's possessed the things that he was able to buy you know in his kingdom silver and gold were like sand they were like dust he had so much of it it really wasn't something that tempted him and that's the point he's making. He's saying in all of your getting there are things that matter more than the material and you have to be careful about that because material goods will never give you soul satisfaction. So the key to join life is pursuing the Lord and it's learning to trust him daily for his provisions and his blessings. In Matthew 6 verse 33 Jesus said that Jesus said seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. And so when you pursue the Lord you learn to be content in whatever estate you're in. When you pursue the Lord you learn the secret of contentment. So the key to contentment is to focus on the giver of gifts and not just the gifts because God is the one who gives all gifts and God is the one who gives those things that are necessary for us and Solomon is pointing that out. So when you receive something from the Lord you receive his gifts with gratitude and you bless others as you have been blessed and when we yield to his will in our lives and we use what he gives us to his glory then we learn the secret of enjoying life and we become satisfied. So with that said Solomon is continuing his thoughts on the vanity of trusting in wealth and so in verses one and two that's the point that he's making verse one again there's an evil which I've seen under the sun it's common among among men and then he says what this evil is a man to whom God is given riches and wealth and honor so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires that God does not give him power to eat of it but a foreigner consumes it this is vanity and it is an evil affliction. Solomon says that there are many wealthy people who cannot enjoy their abundance God has given them riches wealth honor he says they lack nothing so when he says God has given them these things that would be distinguishing him from the one who gained wealth through oppression he has what is called a glorious abundance of treasures and a spotless reputation he materially lacks absolutely nothing in any way all of this honor all of this wealth has come from the Lord yet Solomon says he cannot enjoy it he knows that God has given him all of this and yet God restrains him from enjoying it there are wealthy people who never enjoy the advantages of their wealth they work hard they save they look forward to a comfortable retirement but they cannot in any way make use of it there are those who became very wealthy but become an invalid and and can you imagine I mean it's possible that they had put money away for some time because when I retire or when I get to this certain level of financial freedom I'm going to go to Aspen Colorado and I'm I'm going to ski and I'm going to enjoy myself and they finally reach that point where they have that kind of financial freedom and they have an accident and they become crippled and they had all the money and they put everything away but they're never able to go and do the things that they wanted to do because they didn't get a chance to use it they may have contacted a disease and and and they and they may have just become bedridden they may even die suddenly they never get a chance to enjoy it they may lose their family none of their family inherit their wealth and so he says this is something that's common a man to whom God has given riches wealth and honor so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires yet God does not give him power to eat of it a foreigner consumes its vanity and evil affliction someone not related to him a foreigner gets it all and completely exhausts it he doesn't have the ability to enjoy it and so he leaves it for someone else to enjoy he had said in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 21 there is a man whose labor is with wisdom knowledge and skill yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it this also is vanity and a great evil and so he's saying this is common he doesn't have the power to to use his wealth the way that he had designed and desired and he leaves it to somebody who didn't work for it and that person just uses it up and this man never has an opportunity to use it in the way that he had planned and so what is it he says in verse 2 it's vanity and it's an evil affliction he goes on in verse 3 and he says if a man begets 100 children he's an idiot no if a man it's hard enough to have a couple if a man begets 100 children and lives many years so that the days of his of his years are many but his soul is not satisfied with goodness or indeed he has no burial I say that a stillborn child is better than he for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness its name is covered with darkness though it has not seen the sun or known anything this has more rest than that man even if he lives a thousand years twice but has not seen goodness do not all go to one place and that's another thing he's speaking about he's speaking about long life he's speaking about finance he's he's speaking about children and he speaks about living many years this long life this finance children there are regarded as blessings from God to man all of them let's talk about children for a moment shall we let's not no let's do so in scripture children are regarded as a blessing and they were extremely valued I was reading concerning the Jewish perception of marriage and and having children and all and and one rabbinic teacher said that in Jewish thought the man and woman are two halves that join together to become complete so in marriage parents were considered partners in God's creation of a human being so to be able to have children was therefore regarded as a tremendous blessing in Psalm 127 verses 3 and 4 behold children are a heritage from the Lord the fruit of the womb is a reward and blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them and so Solomon is making a simple point a man can have many children and that is a blessing from God because when you consider the fact that they really didn't have what is called social security what would happen would be if I as the husband and my wife were able to be get several children especially males because men are better if we had many males well my sons had an obligation to care for me as their father and so they would take care of me in my older age and they would make sure I was taken care of because that was their responsibility it was part of honoring their father and their mother and so if I had several sons and they were all productive the chances could be if they were obedient to the law that they would make sure that their mother and I lived in comfort to the end of our days and that was a great blessing if we had no children that was a much more difficult situation because if I were to die and leave my wife alone as a widow and she had no one to support her that would have been extremely difficult thing for her so in the mind of the Jewish individual during this time and even up to the state to some degree to have many children it was quite a blessing because it was going to provide for them in their old age they would be taken care of so they regarded it as a blessing and that's why children are in heritage of the Lord the fruit of the womb is his reward and blessed is one who has many children because they'll have a quiver full of them and so the children are in the hand of a are like arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior there there are the protectors for the old and they're the providers and it was an extremely important thing to have many children and that's the point that he's making and so children when you have your children are intended by God to carry on godly heritage and when you look in the book of Malachi one of the reasons God states that he hates what's taking place he said I hate divorce the reason part of the reason that he hates divorce is because it's breaking up that that unity that man and woman becoming one it's breaking that unity and thus is destroying what God intended to be a source of blessing to to the earth through the family in the new testament divorce is looked at as being a terrible thing not only because it leaves the children absent of two parents to raise them in the home but because it also does an injustice to the image of Christ in the church because the husband and the wife are a picture of Jesus Christ in the church which are to bet to be together never to be dissolved because the church is to be in unity with its husband Christ and so that's one of the reasons why today there is an extreme attack on family it is a spiritual war that is taking place that many people are not recognizing the attack on your home is not simply a culture war the attack on your home if you have children married with children the attack on your home is a spiritual war where the enemy is attempting to destroy the godly heritage that is intended to be a demonstration of the unity of Christ with his bride the church which shows the solidity of God's work in humanity and the production of godly offspring and so all the way in the old testament there was a sense that children are a heritage of the Lord and that's why you'll see people like Hannah who's crying and her husband is saying what's wrong and you have given me no children who am I who am I in the place of God to give you children how can I do that because she felt that she being barren was not being blessed by God because they saw children as a blessing not an inconvenience not something that gets in the way of you enjoying life but actually producing the substance of your life the joy of raising one created in the image of God into a worshipper of God what a great challenge and what a great thing to accomplish to see your child following God because of the faith that you've exercised and yes there is a war on your family right now some of you are going through some pressures some of you are going to the place I've gone to the place where you're saying I don't think I can do this any longer what's the point what's the use and then you hear this this this story of well you know God's gracious he wants you happy well the funny thing is is that I don't know a bible verse that says God wants me happy he wants me blessed but that's not the same thing as being happy because the word happy relates to the word happenings which speaks of my circumstances which means that when my circumstances are good I can be happy God gives you joy and God gives you blessings and he gives to you the ability to have joy in the midst of the deepest sorrow because you know that you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death but you will fear no evil for he's with you and when you understand that as a Christian you can go through hell and high water because you're never alone that's what Christians know but the enemy wants to say you can't make it life isn't worth it let it go life is short you need to enjoy it while you got it and this person's not making you happy and after all isn't everything supposed to make you happy and if it doesn't well get rid of the person who's making you unhappy and find one who will but the problem is nobody does because nobody can make me happy you know why because I'm a monster amen I'm selfish it's got to be about me and that's why you die to self that's why he says pick up your cross daily follow me why because the road to life is the other way of death and when I die to my selfishness I can live like him because he died for me I need to learn to die to myself and to live for others and so when Solomon is speaking here concerning a man having all of this he has he has wealth he has everything he has children he says a hundred children which was another way of saying he's going to be well cared for in his old age it's another way of saying he has quite a bit of individuals who will be providing for him he's saying if he doesn't have a relationship with the Lord if he doesn't have satisfaction in the things that really matter it doesn't matter at all his soul he says is not satisfied with goodness he's not content in what he has he has no pleasure in them he has no enjoyment of them he has not understood that his blessings are from God and because he hasn't understood that he's not thankful to know that the Lord has blessed you should motivate all of us really but should motivate you to thankfulness in Hebrews 13 verse 5 the writer says let your conduct be without covetousness be content with such things as you have for he himself has said I will never leave you nor forsake you he himself has said I will never leave you nor forsake you every material thing that you've ever had it leaves you leaves you stranded on the side of the road when it won't start it's stolen and forsakes you everything we have that his material has a shelf life everything but one thing that doesn't have a shelf life because it's eternal is our relationship with God and so when we have a relationship with the Lord it's ongoing you know he who believes in me Jesus said to Martha shall never die do you believe this now that was the big question he who believes in me shall never die speaking concerning Lazarus and speaking concerning the hope of resurrection she says well she was I know that when Jesus says your brother will live again she says well I know he will in the resurrection of the dead that's when Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life you see Martha you've got things wrong you don't understand you're living by what you see and and you're not walking by faith and of course it's it's understandable in grief we become blind we only see the pain I understand that we all do but you have to see beyond the pain you have to see beyond that because you have to realize that what you see right now is not forever you need to understand that that it goes beyond that and and your walk with God will provide for you a welcome into into heaven itself where there are no tears there is no sorrow there is no pain there is no disease where there's nothing but life and you need to understand that you see and that spirituality that's Christian spirituality it's knowing that that what what gives me life is not the things that that perish with the using that what ultimately gives me life is my relationship with God and and what gives me comfort in the times that I feel alone is the remembrance of the fact that God says I will never leave you nor forsake you yeah my wife could someday leave me and forsake me she could she better not but she could my children definitely could one day just say daddy I'm moving to North Carolina and I never see him again because that does happen my grandchildren they could one day just say I got things to do and I don't feel like hanging around with an old goat like you and and they could do that and and that's fact we all know that that's nothing new to any of us it's true but there's one who never will leave you and there's one who never will forsake you and that's why you love him with all that you have that's why you yield completely to him he's the only faithful one that you have in your life that is 100% faithful at all times that's Jesus Christ that's our Christian faith and and it's immeasurable we need to understand that in 1 Timothy 6 verses 7 and 8 Paul said it like this he said we brought nothing into this world and it's certain we can carry nothing out you've never seen a hearse with a u-haul in other words and and having food and clothing with these we shall be content with the basic things of life we can be content why because the secret of contentment is a relationship with God it's trusting and knowing him well instead of having the sense of joy and pleasure and blessing he is miserable and as he's saying he's as miserable as a stillborn child if you will and a stillborn child actually seems better off than he is why is that why could a stillborn child be better off than him i'll read it again if a man begets a hundred children and lives many years so that the days of his years are many but his soul is not satisfied with goodness or indeed he has no burial i say a stillborn child is better than he how is that possible for a stillborn child to be better off than he well neither one of them enjoyed life but the baby didn't live years in misery he says in verse three this man had no burial which is another way of saying he died as one who was unloved he died as one unloved there have been times where we here in this fellowship have conducted funerals and are sad to see that this person who died had just maybe a handful at the most of people who showed up to grief and to show their respects you know when you have this room here has 760 seats here and then a number in the back when you see three or four or five people scouted here who came to pay their respects that's kind of what he's talking about there was nobody there to mourn there was nobody there to say this is how this person affected my life this is there's nobody there to shed a tear nobody came to his funeral he had a long life he had many wives he had many children none of them showed up none of them had anything to do with him he died alone he had money children but without love in his home he had nothing he had nothing there's a song that was sung many years ago um i don't remember the name of it anymore but it speaks about a man who had a a table and he was a carpenter and he built a table and and and he had with his own hand etched underneath the table where nobody had known it was just his little secret he had etched underneath the table for my children and this table that he had made with his own hands as a carpenter was a place where in the earlier days his family would sit around and they would have meals together and they would laugh and they enjoyed one another but in the end his wife died and his children went other places he didn't see him and uh he finally died and he he died alone and in the end nobody the song goes on and says in the end no one would claim that table it just was left there unclaimed because nobody cared about it and at the very end of the song it says and underneath it had said for my children but none of his children wanted it and that's sad because that does happen doesn't it it does happen where where we can get caught up with so many different things that take us away from the more important things and and and even though we may have oh a Thanksgiving dinner where we're all together but we don't see each other again until another holiday and then we've got our separate lives well that's a picture here he had a hundred kids he had wives he had money he had it all but he had nothing and at the very end when he dies he died alone there was nobody there to mourn him and so we remember Proverbs 15 verses 16 and 17 where it says better is a little with the fear of the lord than great treasure with trouble better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fatted calf with hatred so as Solomon considered life under the sun he saw the unbalanced scheme of things and he wondered why someone would be given riches and yet not be able to enjoy them and so the answer is the ability to enjoy life will always come from within from within that person nothing that is outside can give you joy joy comes from the inside and so possessions never will do that for you in verse seven he goes on to say all the labor of man is for his mouth yet the soul is not satisfied for what more has the wise man than the fool what does the poor man have who knows how to walk before the living better is the side of the eyes than the wandering of desire this also is vanity and grasping for the wind so he he spoke of a rich man and now he speaks of a laborer an average guy and so he's saying man works long hours to satisfy his physical appetite all the labor of man is for his mouth so man works long hours in order to satisfy physical appetite yet physical appetites can never be completely satisfied as long as we are alive which is true i mean you might you might have a big meal you might have had one tonight before you came you had a nice big meal and you're patting your stomach saying oh i ate too much you know honey bring that bigger shirt out i gotta wear that tonight or whatever you get those stretchy pants you know but you'll be hungry tomorrow you know we had on on one of the water fountains i haven't even looked recently it may not be there anymore but we had placed above the water fountain if you drink this water you will thirst again because that's what jesus taught us if you drink so this water will thirst again if you drink so the water that i give him you'll never thirst again right so material water quenches your thirst temporarily that's the whole point physical food will quench your hunger temporarily but you will once again be hungry so man works long hours to satisfy physical appetites but physical appetites are never completely satisfied as long as we're alive so this is what he's saying when he says yet the soul is not satisfied enjoying life will always be a matter of the heart and not simply the circumstances and contentment comes from a life that is centered on eternity and not a life that is caught up with our present condition i've said this before i'll repeat it somebody asked me when is what is what would you say the the greatest lesson you have learned in your years of walking with the lord what would you say is the number one lesson you've learned and if i were to ask you that question you might want to supply an answer for that what is the number one thing you have learned in your time of walking with the lord how many years that may be for me it'll be 48 years in december what have i learned in 48 years and i'll tell you and it's a very simple thing it all works out it all works out what i'm so worried about right now i don't worry about next week normally it all works out god is in control he works all things together for good to those who love him to those who are the called according to his purpose now at that moment it did not feel good whatever it may have been and we've all gone through terribly painful things i'm not i'm not minimizing pain at all i'm not forgive me if it even sounds that way i'm not but i've discovered that even the things that broke my heart the deepest god was able to turn around and use for a deepening in my soul i have learned compassion in a way that i never thought i would through breaking through god breaking me allowing things in my life to put me on my knees where i belong all the time to the point where i couldn't even hardly look up but then i finally learned to because from whence come with my help my help come with from the lord who makes heaven and earth he is my shield he is my defense he is my provider he will never leave me i had to learn that not through walking in the sunshine i learned that by walking in the shadow i learned that that he's an umbrella he shades me from the heat he's the one who provides the water when i'm thirsty and he satisfies my hungry soul i had to learn that and i'm learning that now i'm still learning that one lesson god is good and god loves you and god will provide for you and if you've ever said god make me like you remember he is the wounded healer he was broken for us and he will break you too but didn't you ask him to oh not really i wanted him to just kind of make me no you gave him permission you said jesus make me like you and you forgot that he was hated and you forgot that he was rejected and you forgot that he was crucified and here we are saying to him make me like you but don't give me a cross to carry i'm sorry but that's how you become like christ is by being broken and then refashioned by him now i'm turning a lot of you off because you don't want that to happen but if you want to be like him yield to him you had a guy come in for a meeting many years ago now and he used to work with clay he was a potter and uh he wanted to talk to me about something or other this is 30 plus years ago now and uh as we were talking he said that he works with clay and i know nothing about working with clay or anything like that so i was interested and he started sharing some things with me but i'll never forget one of the things that he said i'll always remember this he said you know some of you i wonder if there's anybody here who works with clay if so you'll know what he was talking about because he said to me he said you there's something called willful clay i said and what is that willful clay is we call it willful clay because it seems to have a mind of its own he says no matter how we try to shape it it will go in its own pattern and never fully yields to our hands and i'm thinking oh that can be me i can be clay because thou o lord our our our father we are the clay you are the potter i say it says so i'm thinking of that and i think oh i can be willful clay and then he goes on to say you know that the he said when i'm when i'm shaping a pot he goes i i never take my hand off the clay my hands are on the clay and the only time i remove my hands from the clay this is the way he throws uh clay and all he says is is i will remove my hands from the clay so i can moisten them with water and then i return to my work and i'm just listening to him and i'm getting insights into what god does because there are times when it seems to me that he has taken his hands off of me then i realize that so he can pour his spirit the water of the spirit into my life so he can finish shaping me into what he has created me to be you're never alone you're never without help he's always working and sometimes you may be thinking where is the lord he hasn't moved he's there he's just getting prepared to moisten your willful little heart so that he can shape it into the image of his son because we are being conformed into the image of jesus christ and that occurs through the word of god as you read it and that occurs through the power of the holy spirit who works within you and that works when the holy spirit convicts you and you say god whatever it is that you would have for me please make me in your image and he says you want to be like me and you say yes i do and he says then get ready because i will take you through things that will remove from you those things that are not necessary so that i can shape you into the one you want to be so don't feel that god isn't working in you when some things are happening that you don't want because he's using all things to work together for good so that you ultimately will come out after you are tried you'll come out like pure gold and all of that dross that that non-necessary element of the gold will have been refined and then that craftsman the goldsmith will look into the gold and see his image and that's when the goldsmith knows that the gold is pure so when he looks into it and sees his own reflection peering back at him that's what takes place when you go through your hard times you're being molded into the image of jesus christ and your prayers are being answered but they're not being answered like you wanted because you wanted it to come the easy way but you said make me like you and that was a hard way and so if you don't have a relationship with the lord you won't understand that you're going to pursue things but you won't pursue the creator of all things so contentment comes from a life that's centered on eternity and not a life that is centered on the temporary jesus said that luke 1215 take heed beware of covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses one's life does not consist the word consists i looked that up in the original language just to see the the meaning of it and when he says one's life does not consist it speaks about one's life not being held together to consist speaks of being held together your life is not held together made given substance by your material things your life consists in your relationship with god who keeps you together so enjoying life is the result of a hope that's beyond your present condition in john 10 verse 10 jesus said that thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy but he went on to say i have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly when paul was speaking concerning this in philippines 4 11 through 13 he said not that i speak in regard to need for i have learned in whatever state i am california arizona nevada whatever state whatever state i am to be content i know how to be abased i know how to abound everywhere and in all things i have learned both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need and then he went on to say i can do all things through christ who strengthens me now he's not sane and i should hasten to say this that it's wrong to work in order to eat a working to eat is something god requires of us we're not to live off the labor of others while refusing to work ourselves we'll be looking at that this upcoming sunday but in proverbs 21 verse 25 it says the desire of the laze man kills him his hands refuse to labor his point is simple life consists in more than simply eating and working and if this is our whole purpose of life then we are basically on the same level as a mere animal in reality we've been created with a higher purpose and and that higher purpose is what defines our lives so our real hunger is spiritual and can only be satisfied through a relationship with god through jesus christ now in verse eight he said for what more has the wise man than the fool what does the poor man have who knows how to walk before the living well he says the poor man who knows how to walk well that's another way of saying that this is a man who is wise if all a person does is satisfy their natural appetites then those professing to be wise have no advantage and that's because both exist to simply satisfy their basic needs so it's better to pursue the lord in verse nine better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire this also was vanity and grasping for the wind that's an interesting an interesting thing to say better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire it's better to have little and enjoy it than to desire much and never have it you've got a home i hope you do and as you go home you go into your house and you have a bed and if you're thirsty you can turn on the faucet you can get some water and but you see somebody in a palace a mansion and and you just look at that and cover that and wish you had that and he's simply saying you know what why don't you be content with what you have because in looking and desiring there's no contentment in that i i i think that covetousness and envy is something that is real subtle it's so subtle we don't even realize that we can have it and a few years ago i went to visit somebody they invited us over and i went to their house and marie and i and spent the night they had a what was called a mother-in-law cottage and and in this beautiful home gated community you know and we went in and and when we went home i turned to marie and i said so that's what envy is that's what it feels like i said i envy them i want them to die no i and leave it to me see because sometimes you don't even realize you can do that i mean wow that what a wow you know what a beautiful courtyard and this and that wow so yeah i the lord said see this is what i'm talking about you know learn to be i am content lord well you just revealed to me you're not as content as you think you are well then lord give it to me and make me content for you you are the giver of all good things so be satisfied with what you have be thankful for it that's a secret of contentment dreams and ambitions can be great motivators in your life and chasing a dream can lead to success and we all hear the success stories of those who pursued and accomplished their dreams and sometimes our personal ambitions can lead us not to the accomplishments of the things we want but to disappointment and heartache because we can pursue something and achieve our goal but end up hurt and disappointed so make sure that your ambitions are grounded in a desire to bring glory to the lord like it says in first crinthians 10 31 whether you eat or drink whatever you do do all to the glory of god in clausians 3 23 and 24 whatever you do do it heartily as to the lord not to men knowing that from the lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance you serve the lord christ in verse 10 whatever one is he's been named already for it is known that his man and he cannot contend with him who is mightier than he interestingly notice how he says whatever one is has been named already that's another way of saying everything that a person does is previously known god is not surprised in other words by anything that we can do he's speaking of the essential nature of man it is known that he is man it's what he's saying so because we're human it's always unwise to attempt to argue with god notice he it says he is known that he's man he cannot contend with him who's mightier than he i can't win every argument that i have with a human being let alone god let alone god and yet you see in scripture a lot of illustrations of those who contended with god the book of Job is the greatest example of somebody who contended with god he even went so far when you read the book you'll remember this as to say i wish first he's saying i wish i had a an advocate i wish i had a defense attorney and he would plead my cause before god and he would win because he would present me as what i am i am not guilty and you'll see that in the opening pages of Job when he's he's he's getting he's just blown away by all the the bad that's happened to him this is a man who is was according to god the most righteous man on the face of the earth and he has these three guys who are who are the ones that you see the most there are there's one other but there's these jobe's comforters and he calls them miserable comforters because they are because they begin arguing with him and saying you know i've never seen a good man suffer like you job you've been putting on for the longest time that you're good but in fact look at how you really are because you're look at you're just reaping what you've sown in and so job is upsetting he's arguing through the book he argues and finally he says i i would i would tell god myself i haven't done anything wrong and then you get to god who's been silent for all those chapters just answering you wanted to talk to me here i am who is this that darkens council who is this that wants to argue with their creator and this this man who is blustering at one point about how innocent he is discovers that he isn't as innocent as he thinks because though he is regarded as a righteous man he's still not a sinless man and he's speaking to a sinless god and when the lord begins to ask a series of very basic questions job finally admits by saying i'm wrong i repent in sackcloth and ashes he says no i i've been wrong and so nobody's obviously perfect we know that i'm that's something everybody knows but that doesn't stop us from arguing with god that doesn't stop us from saying listen i know that you're busy in this universe running so many things and perhaps this is something you overlook so if i may i really want to let you know how you ought to do this because i'm your counselor and can you imagine the lord looking at you and saying never thought of that you're right i wish i'd have asked you earlier i should have sent you a text message man no and that's the whole point here isn't it you can't contend with him who's miter than you you can't ultimately god is god in and i'm not so human beings do nothing that surprises god and because we're human it's unwise to argue with him we we can't argue that we're right and essentially good when god says otherwise and i say of 43 26 put me in remembrance let us contend together state your case that you may be acquitted god says but we can't we're lost because of our sin nature we need help and direction from the lord and because that's true it's wise for us to seek the lord for his direction and Jeremiah 10 23 Jeremiah said oh lord i know the way of man is not in himself it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps that's why i seek you to give to me direction and then in verse 11 since there are many things that increase vanity how is man the better when he says there are many things uh the word thing speaks of speech it speaks of words in other words man can argue that he's good but his arguments are futile romans 9 20 asks the question it says oh indeed oh man who are you to reply against god will the thing formed say to him who formed it why have you made me like this Job again verse 2 of chapter 40 shall the one who contends with the almighty correct him i've corrected the lord and god has been very kind to discipline me when i have when i was a new christian within the first three years of my walk with the lord i had a terrible habit of getting mad at god if something bad happened in my life i can still remember that's happened more than once especially in my early days but i still remember one thing in particular i used to have a motorcycle and and i had gone to a barbershop to get my hair trimmed because i was going to go back to school and and i had long hair and i had to get my hair cut and i i didn't want to but i was going to biola and biola had a haircut policy and when i was in the military for two years you have to cut your hair but i had gotten out of the military and from the moment i had gotten out i hadn't cut my hair so my hair grows fast and so as my hair was growing fast and i was a long hair and hippies were still around at that time and i was still a hippie in many ways but i went to biola and when i went they said you can come you're admitted but you have to cut your hair and i thought this is this is i was not happy about that and so it hit me they're not asking you to go to school there you're asking to go to school there and seeing that they have rules either you abide by them or find another school to go to that made sense to me so i went to get my haircut now again i've got the long hair prior to becoming a hippie this is ancient history i'm just talking i got a minute you won't know this some of you gray hairs may remember this term the rest of you ancient history lesson we had in i grew up in norwalk we had a group that i was part of called the continental's anybody ever hear of the continental's you're probably continental's anybody at all maybe one continental's what are they but anyway we we wore a hair have you ever seen pictures of the righteous brothers their hairstyles where they had these old pompadours and all of that that's how i did my hair and i and i would take almost a half a can of of starch and i would starch the creases in my Levi's so they were razor sharp and whenever i'd walk you could hear that i wore these sharp shoes we we called them cockroach killers because they were pointed and you kill the cockroach in the corner with them i was a continental that was the style i was real skinny when i would stand sideways and stick my tongue out i looked like a zipper but anyway and so i became a hippie when i became a hippie you know what hippies are and so from continental i went hippie and so my head was still in the hippie thing it still really is to this day in a lot of ways so i'm letting my hair grow the way god intended but i have to get my hair cut because i'm going to biola and they're legalistic so i go to this barber i didn't know barbers because hippies don't need barbers but this guy had cut my hair once for a high school prom that's how far back that went and i said you know do this do that do this do that and he says cool cool when he finished my hair and turned me around you to that moment i had i went back to being a continental and i got this kind of it looks like a 53 Chevy hood it's kind of round i was really upset and i got i got on my motorcycle and it drove home i was mad angry at the lord all i want is just an ordinary haircut you couldn't allow an ordinary haircut why did and i was yelling at the lord all the way home then i washed my hair and i tried to comb it it's doing this thing here i was mad and i got on my bike and i took off and i hit the corner i downshifted to power shift around and go around the corner and the bike went out from underneath me in the intersection and spun i was it was a Harley i had a Harley sports car and i was spinning i hit the ground and i didn't hear this but i heard him shut up that was the last time i contended like that with the lord that's the truth it's the last time because the lord's i didn't hurt myself the bike wasn't hurt there was no the paint wasn't chipped there the pipes weren't banned up i mean i hit and spun and it was like the lord said i'm not kidding this is what i thought i thought i i thought i could hear him saying do you want to argue some more who is this that contends with the almighty that scripture means something to me who are you to try and correct me why do you blame me for every small thing that happens in your life grow up that's what he was telling me and you know what he was right that's a right lesson for me to learn and i find it in scripture the question is asked so man's argument that he's basically good his futile he doesn't become better because of his argument you become better when you admit that you need help and agree with the lord that you need his help is it you become better when you listen to psalm 41 verse 4 where he said i said lord be merciful to me heal my soul i have sinned against you and so that's where it happens he transformed when god begins to work in you and finally verse 12 for who knows what is good for man in life all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun who knows well god does and god knows what will happen next and the fact is we all have one appointment that we will definitely keep and that is death that is death i had a friend in the military one last story he was very dear to me he had like three names i i didn't know what his real name was for the long time he introduced himself to me as danny then he was rocky and then he was roland so i called him roland rocky deas danny deas and he he was from california i was stationed with him in north carolina and and so i call him danny but he he liked to be called rocky well danny was very dear to me but was probably one of the biggest liars i'd ever met in my life i mean he lied he lied he lied so much and i loved him terribly because he was entertaining when he lied we were airborne he and i and he didn't talk to me much about the lord but he would on occasion he was also a roommate with me and i was a fresh christian wanting him to be saved and he claimed to know the lord and we would have conversations and he again he was a big old liar and i got silly stories about him that i'll never forget but one day we were in a helicopter and when you're in a helicopter and you jump helicopters they put a strap in front of you they'll put with a color stick there's like three or four of us at the door and and then the helicopter pilot will take you up and then he'll bank and and so you're sitting there kind of leaning out the door and coming back it's a blast it's so much fun but not danny danny was not having fun danny had his eyes closed the whole time and i'm just and i still remember turning to him saying danny man isn't this in his mouth his movie and his eyes are closed and he was praying he became a praying man as he was sitting there because he was afraid he was going to die i'll never forget that he was given extra duty on one occasion the only guy in the colonel's office cleaning the colonel cleaning his office the only guy and he stole the colonel's jump boots the only guy in the office he stole his boots and he ended up doing extra time until he he got kicked out of the army that was my friend danny i had i've told the talk stories of him over the years long time ago marie and i my wife we were in viseal years ago now and i had said god i'd love to see danny again i wish they were away i don't know where he lives and guess who was in that church service that day who came walking up to me and says you remember me i said danny roland rocky the trinity yeah how are you it was nice to see him and then i hadn't seen him and he came and visited me here and he told me he was moving to las vegas so my my memories of danny are fond but today i got word he died my friend died and uh and that comes to mind as i share this that comes to mind who knows what is good for man in life all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun there's one appointment we all keep and that's death he got right with the lord by the way and he's in glory with jesus right now and that gives me great joy to know that but seeing that god knows what will happen next he's saying align yourself with him in in second carinthians five six through eight we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body we're absent from the lord for we walk by faith not by sight we are confident yes well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the lord our our life passes like a shadow it does pass but when we give our heart to him he who believes in me shall never die do you believe this and the answer is yes lord i believe