 Here we are. Ecclesiastes chapter 2. We'll begin reading at verse 1, read to verse 3, and get into our study. Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Now what we find in in this chapter, and I chose to entitle this particular installment of our study, is the quest for satisfaction. And you'll see this in just a moment, even as Mick Jagger said he could get no satisfaction. But anyway, that's a blast from the past. A lot of you young people have no idea what I just said. So beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 3, I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with mirth. Therefore enjoy pleasure. But surely this also was vanity. I said of laughter, madness, and of mirth. What does it accomplish? I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. And so obviously, as a reintroduction, we're studying the book of Ecclesiastes. And Ecclesiastes is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word preacher, as I mentioned before. And so the book of Ecclesiastes is literally the book of the preacher. And the preacher, as I mentioned, is one of the titles of King Solomon. So the preacher, or Solomon, is basically giving his testimony while preaching a message. And of all who had lived, Solomon had the greatest of life's experiences. More than any other human being, he was able to say that life without God is pure vanity. And throughout this book, he shares concerning the futility of life that is not centered on God. And that's because he wants us to know the meaning of life. He wants us to know our purpose. And our purpose is much higher than simple material satisfaction. It has been said that our purpose is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. So he makes it clear everything we see is temporary and should be viewed that way. The world, and all that is in it, is gradually winding down. And it should not rule over our lives, like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 731, the form of this world is passing away. So man's purpose is much greater than simply accumulating material possessions. And our quest to possess things, the things we accumulate end up possessing us. And it ultimately diminishes us as human beings. It clouds the purpose that we were created for. That's why Jesus in Luke 12 15 said, take heed and beware of covetousness for once life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. In John 17, verse three, he said, this is eternal life that they may know you, the true God and Jesus Christ, your son. So he's already made it clear that life's purpose is to pursue God. And when you ignore God in your pursuit, it's futile because physical labor alone is unsatisfying. Our lives are brief and experience reveals there's nothing new under the sun and injustice and a sense of longing is basically all you will ever experience without God. So now he's continuing his thought. And it says in verse one, I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with mirth. And so last time you used the word mirth. I will test you with mirth. Therefore, enjoy pleasure. But surely this also was vanity. Now I will test you with mirth. The word mirth is another word for joy or with pleasure. I'm going to test you with pleasure. He had already said, and or rather he will say in verse 10, whatever my eyes desire, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure for my heart rejoicing all my labor. And this was my reward from all my labor. He's already pointing that out to us and we'll say that in a moment. But he's saying, listen, I want to make sure or at least this is what I tried. I tried to make life into one long party, an ongoing party, whatever I wanted. I made sure that I got I could afford it. So why shouldn't I have it? You know, many of us can't relate to that. I can't. And I'm pretty sure most of us in this room can't. Whatever I want, whatever my eyes desired, that's what I got. I mean, there's one thing for us to walk into some place and say, I would like to have that. And there's like I told my kids, you know, wanting something is free. Doesn't matter, you know, you don't have to pay for it. You can want it if you want, it's free, but be careful with the things that you want because some people do almost anything to get something that won't satisfy them. So there's nothing wrong with wanting, wanting is free. But be careful, you might be able to get it. And with him, he got it. He is able to get anything that he wanted, anything that he desired he could satisfy himself with. And in in our day, we'll say, and I can't imagine it. This is why I kind of I say this on and off because it still blows my mind. But, you know, you walk into a store and you look around and you have some money in your pocket and. But you have to be selective. You can't buy everything. You have to buy whatever it is that you can afford. At least I've taught my kids don't don't don't live outside of your ability to pay. Be careful with that. Don't get yourself into a lot of debt. And and all it's just why it's not to do that. But this is a man who could walk into a store and say, I want it. And the salesperson would say, what was that that you want? And he'd say the store. I mean, he could buy anything he wanted. He could look at he could go to a Mercedes dealer and say, yeah, I'll take them all. He could walk into a Rolls Royce place and yeah, I'll take those. You know, he could do that. See, that's beyond me. But there are human beings right now can do that. Bill Gates can do that. Bill Gates can walk in and buy anything he wants, anything that's for sale. Everything usually has a price. And and Solomon is saying, listen, I tested my heart with pleasure. Whatever I wanted, I got I enjoyed it. He said, but I discovered that this also is vanity. So enjoying life is something we've been created to be able to do. And the Jewish people rightly understood that God made man to enjoy the blessings of life. Jeremiah 17, verses seven and eight says, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when he comes. Its leaf will be green, will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. Clearly life is something God intends for us to enjoy. He wants us to be blessed, but his quest turned out to be vanity. He said earlier, my quest for knowledge has left me unsatisfied. And my quest for happiness and pleasure did, too. I said in my heart again, verse one, come now, I will test you with birth, therefore enjoy pleasure. But surely this also was vanity. Verse two, I said of laughter, madness and of mirth, what does it accomplish? I searched in my heart, how to gratify my flesh with wine while guiding my heart with wisdom. How do they hold on folly till I might see what was good for the sons have been to do under heaven all the days of their lives. So I said of laughter, its madness, even when you're attempting to enjoy life, it's still possible to be sad and to be unsatisfied. We saw in Proverbs 14 verse 13, even in laughter, the heart may sorrow, the end of mirth may be grief. So building your life on the pursuit of pleasure disappoints you. It will always disappoint you. There is a term that is used. Many of you are familiar with it's called the law of diminishing return. Searching for pleasure always results in dissatisfaction. You can seek to have pleasure in the alcohol and the drugs in the in Saxon in money. You can seek to have pleasure in the gambling or in the fame, the intellectual achievements, but they leave you empty because they never satisfy spiritual hunger. They never do. So he says in verse three, I searched in my heart, how to gratify my flesh with wine while guiding my heart with wisdom. I wanted to yield my flesh to wine while guiding my flesh with my wisdom. I tried to indulge in alcohol and yet guide my use of alcohol with spiritual wisdom. I tried to live in the flesh and in the spirit. I used wine to sweeten my life. I tried to use wisdom to guide me as I drank and it just didn't have the kinds of effects I thought it would have. He says to lay hold on folly till I might see what was good for the sons of men. I pursued carnal pleasure and this was foolish for me to do. I did it because I wanted to know the true way of contentment and satisfaction. So in verse four, I made my works great. I built myself houses, planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards. I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the Grove. So I began massive building projects. I tried to build paradise on earth. As God created Eden, I built massive buildings. I planted vineyards. I planted orchards that were beautiful fruit trees and water pools. And I did all of this for my pleasure. I created a landscaper's paradise, but it was empty. Starting projects are exciting. They really are. We've had quite a number of projects over the years in our ministry. Starting projects are exciting. But once you've accomplished them, once that project is complete, there can be an emptiness like what is there next, what else can we do? Being a workaholic is never going to be rewarding. And that's one of the reasons why when people have worked all of their lives and found pleasure only in their work, that's why they have such a difficult time when they retire because there's nothing to do anymore. And so at the end he's saying it's all emptiness. I had the gardens. I had the orchards. I had the fruit trees. I had the water pools. I had everything, but it was all vain. In verse seven, I acquired male and female servants, had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. In other words, I was extremely wealthy. I purchased servants. I had voluntary bond servants. And when the voluntary bond servants had children, the children belonged to me. And I had a large amount of people who were working for me. I had all of this. In verse eight, I gathered for myself silver and gold, the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, musical instruments of all kinds and just all of these things that he had. I was very, very wealthy. Notice in verse eight, he gathered silver and gold, the special treasures of kings. I was wealthy. I received tribute from other kings in first Kings nine, twenty eight. It says they sailed to offer and brought back to Solomon sixteen tons of gold. Can you imagine that? Sixteen tons of gold. As somebody wrote, Solomon inherited wealth from his father, David, regularly received gold and silver from the kings of Arabia, governors and merchants, heavily taxed his own people. Solomon received tribute money from countries and kingdoms plus gold, silver, ivory, animals every three years due to his business partnership with the king of Tyre. He garnered gifts of gold, spices, precious stones, garments, armor, and so on each year from a variety of others. He ruled Israel for 40 years and brought in approximately one point one billion dollars of gold each year. So we can safely assume his assets were in the billions and billions of dollars. So he's speaking as a very rich man. But what is especially revealing is what he thought about having such riches. Remember in Proverbs he had said in chapter three versus thirteen and fourteen, happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver and her gain than fine gold. So he's speaking as a man with experience. He's speaking also here of his decor and his special entertainment that he had on a daily basis. And I was reading on this and studying this. I saw that Solomon knew how to throw a party. He knew how in First Kings chapter four versus twenty two and twenty three, Solomon's daily provisions were about a hundred and eighty bushels of fine flour, about three hundred and sixty five bushels of meal, ten head of stall fed cattle, twenty of pasture fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, robux and choice fowl. That was daily. And he didn't eat all that by himself, by the way. This is a man who had everything. Um, I made a note to myself. I don't think this will make much sense here, but I wrote, he ate at Ruth's Chris every day. He drank, he drank, he drank the best wine. He saw the best entertainment and he dined in luxury as a way of life. He specifically mentions that wine and laughter were two avenues of pleasure. He says also, notice in verse eight. With wine and song came the delights of men. That's an interesting phrase. Notice that I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men. That's an interesting phrase there. The delights of the sons of men. What does that speak of the delights of the sons of men is a reference to harems. He's speaking here of sexual pleasure in First Kings chapter 11, verses three and four. Listen to this. He had 700 wives of royal birth, 300 concubines. PMS thing about that 700 wives, 300 concubines. I can't even imagine that I don't want to, but it says his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods. His heart was not fully devoted to the Lord, his God. As a heart of David, his father had been wine, women and song did not satisfy him. That's what he's saying. It left him empty. He said, this is vanity. This is futile. This is worthless. This is without meaning. He threw a party and you can imagine the people who would jockey for position at his parties. He would be there and people would be there drinking and eating and join themselves. And he would learn certain things and he would write them. Remember Proverbs 17, one better is a dry morsel with quietness than a house full of feasting with strife. He must have seen quite a bit of that at those tables when they had their banquets in verse nine. He says, I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure for my heart rejoiced in all my labor. This was my reward from all my labor. I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled. Indeed, all was vanity grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun. So he had stated he had done this while guiding his heart with wisdom in verse three. In other words, he retained his reasoning through it all and he evaluated its results. He did all of this with no restraint, no self-denial, whatever he wanted he took, but it left him completely empty. There is simply no lasting profit in it. And so, verse 12, I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly for what can the man do who succeeds the king only what is already done. So he contrasts now the value of worldly wisdom and with madness. He says, I returned to considering if wisdom is fully satisfying, drinking, building, wealth, the accumulation of pleasure isn't. So I began to consider the value of worldly wisdom and I'm contrasting it, he's saying with madness and folly to see if worldly wisdom is more satisfying that. So verse 12, what can the man do who succeeds the king? Only what he's already done. In other words, he knows that what he will accomplish is simply duplicating what's already done. This would include the fact that the previous king is dead and he also will die. So he goes on in verse 13. I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. So he quickly disposes of madness and folly by simply saying wisdom excels it. Wisdom alone doesn't make us happy, but it excels the folly of vain pleasure. It is like the light is more beneficial than the darkness. While on the outside folly seems acceptable, but it's obviously a life that's being lived in darkness and thus has no value. So verse 15, I said in my heart as it happens to the fool, it also happens to me and why was I then more wise than I said in my heart, this also is vanity. And so I forgot verse 14, didn't I? I ought to read that because I said, no, wait a minute. I forgot something. The wise man's eyes are in his head. Now, that's an interesting phrase. I'll talk to you about that in a second. But the fool walks in darkness, yet I myself perceived that the same event happens to all. When I read this the first time, the wise man's eyes are in his head. His eyes are in his head. Does that ring a bell to anybody? That phrase, have you ever heard that phrase? Some of you are old enough to, if you think, let me get, I'll let your old brain work for a moment. The first time I ever heard that phrase was in a song by The Beatles, Fool on the Hill. How many of you have ever heard that song? Okay, the rest of you are lying. Everybody has heard it, The Fool on the Hill. Day after day alone on the hill, the man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still, but nobody wants to know him. They can see that he's just a fool, and he never gives an answer. But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down, and the eyes in his head see the world spinning round. The eyes in his head, where do you think they got that term from? Verse 14, the wise man's eyes are in his head. Now, that's an interesting way of saying that a wise man walks with clear understanding. And he does so because God has enlightened his darkness. You see, the Bible teaches us that prior to coming to Christ, we walk in darkness, we are without the light. We walk in darkness. God is light, and him is no darkness at all. But prior to us coming to faith in Christ, we walk in spiritual darkness. Paul in the book of Ephesians in chapter two speaks of the fact that we basically are meanderers. We are moving from thing to thing in life, trying to seek purpose and meaning. And so we may stop at one place for a moment, and rest for a while, take all that we can from that moment in that place, then we realize it's empty, and we meander to something else, but we're aimless in our pursuits. We are walking according to the lusts of our flesh, and we're basically being blown about by every wind of doctrine and every slight cunning of men. And the result of that is, is that we are perpetually in darkness. But when the Lord comes into our life, he enlightens us. He illuminates us by the power of the Holy Spirit. And when that takes place, our eyes are now opened up. And Psalm 1828, it says, you will light my lamp. The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. And so when you come to faith in Christ, you are actually spiritually enlightened, or you are illuminated. And so he's saying, God enlightens darkness. And so the wise men's eyes are in his head. The fool walks in darkness, yet I myself perceive that the same event happens to them all. They die, in other words. So verse 15, I said in my heart, as it happens to the fool, it also happens to me. Why was I then more wise? I said in my heart, this also is vanity. So the pursuit of the world's wisdom didn't lead me to peace and contentment, because worldly wisdom does not exempt me from the daily pains of life. So what good is it? It's all vanity. Now he's not speaking of the wisdom that comes from above, by the way. It's becoming acquainted with worldly wisdom. He says in verse 16, there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool, we all die, in other words. Therefore, verse 17, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me for all his vanity and grasping for the wind. I hated life. I hated life because it offered me nothing of lasting satisfaction. And that is where so many are today, hating life, but not wanting to die. A long time ago, there was a song. Again, I guess I was in a mood to remember old songs as I was putting together my message, but there was a song, a change is gonna come. And one of the lines, it's been too hard living and I'm afraid to die because I don't know what's up there beyond the sky. And there are a lot of people who are saying, life is hard, but I don't see the value of it. I don't gain anything from it, but I don't want to die either. I hated life for 17 because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me all his vanity and grasping for the wind. I have no joy or satisfaction. Life has become a burden to me. Everything I reach for is not something I can keep. So verse 18, I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun because, and I'll look at this with you for a moment. I must leave it to the man who will come after me. Who knows whether he will be wiser or fool, yet he will rule over all my labor in which I told and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun, this is vanity. Therefore I turned my heart into spirit of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun for there is a man whose labor is with wisdom and 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 for what has man for all his labor and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun for all his days are sorrowful, his work burdensome, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity. I'll spend a few moments looking at this with you. Instead of having satisfaction with the accumulation of all my goods, all I did was I grew frustrated. I will leave the fruit of all of my hard labor to someone who did not work for it. My kids used to say to me when they were growing up, they used to say, my friend is rich. Anybody here ever have one of your kids say that? My friend is rich. And I used to say to them, no, he's not. His parents are, he's not. You know, the bottom line is this, and see how I can put this because I've been thinking about this and I don't think I'm gonna be very successful in communicating when I'm thinking, but I'm gonna try. I've seen that, so have you probably, but I have seen that. I have seen people labor to produce something that is successful and prosperous, something that they are associated with that has brought them honor in the eyes of others. And they gave their whole life to doing that. They worked several days a week and they poured themselves into it. And their efforts were rewarded. They became well-known. They were highly regarded. They were well-respected individuals that people would call on and speak to, wanted to be associated with, and yet as is the way of the world, ultimately they died. And somebody inherited what they had worked for so long to produce and immediately drove it into the ground with no regard, with no respect, with no remembrance. And I've seen that. I've seen that in life. I've seen that in ministries. I've seen pastors who worked their whole life to produce something for the king, for the glory of God. And then somebody inherits that ministry who has no regard for that pastor whatsoever goes about doing what he wants to do and ultimately just drives the ministry into the ground. One of my friends, whom I'll leave unnamed, Raul shared with me one day something I found appropriate to speak here, though it's not exactly the same. Forgive me, it's not identical of course, but Raul said something many years ago. He said, you know, David, one of these days the Lord is gonna remove me from ministry and somebody else will be placed into my church as the pastor who did not cry one day for that church, who didn't pray one day for that church, really. That person will be brought in and I will be gone. That's life. That's life. That's life with Solomon. That's life in ministry. One of these days, David Rosales is gonna be gone. That's okay with me, cause I know where I'm gonna be and I'm fine with that. But I'm praying that the Lord will bring somebody in who will appreciate the work that God has done for all of these years. I don't need to be remembered cause God knows my name and yet at the same time, I think it's a tragedy when somebody has worked and poured their life into something, at the minute they're dead, somebody else ascends and that's what Solomon is saying. He's saying that, look at verse 18. I hated all my labor in which I had toiled into the sun because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. Verse 21, there's a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge and skill, yet he must leave his heritage to a man who is not labored for it. This is vanity and a great evil. This is what happened. He leaves it to someone who didn't labor for it. Now, instead of having satisfaction with the accumulation of goods, he's saying I have become frustrated. I will leave the fruit of all of my hard labor to someone who didn't work for it. Now, he's not speaking against proper stewardship. Obviously we should care for our families. We should be careful to lay something aside for our children, our grandchildren. To do so is an act of wisdom and it's an investment in eternity. We can leave something in our wills to our children, to our fellowship, to a charity. Second Corinthians 12, 14 says the children, not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And we ought to do that. But the question remains, why was he in a state of despair? Well, one, because he knew that he could not keep what he had worked so hard to get. In Proverbs 23, 23 verse five, it says, will you set your eyes on that which is not? Riches certainly make themselves wings. They fly away like an eagle toward heaven. He had said in Proverbs 27, 24, riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations. So he knew he couldn't keep what he was working so hard for. And second, he could not protect it from somebody who might waste it. Somebody was going to end up with all of his efforts that could care less about it. They would not have the same affection for it or appreciation. The third thing, because of this, he said, I can't even enjoy it. If all we do is think about our wealth and what will happen to it, we're going to be miserable. We can have sleepless nights, yet our heirs will never experience any of this. In Ecclesiastes 5, 12, we'll see the sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. Because he's thinking, who's going to get it? Who's going to take it? How's it going to be used? And that's basically what he's saying. He's saying you can work and you can have wisdom and you can have skill. But ultimately, no matter what you do, you're going to leave it behind. And he says, and that's something that causes me great concern. In verse 24, nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw was from the hand of God. For who can eat or who can have enjoyment more than I? For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in his sight. But to the sinner, he gives the work of gathering and collecting that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. Life is a gift from God. What is evil is having blessings of life but never really using and enjoying them. Again, I guess I'm in an old song mood. I don't know why, it just came to mind. There was a song called Mr. Businessman many years ago. Again, I doubt if very many of you remember that song, it wasn't the greatest song ever, but it had a message that I've never forgotten. And he's speaking concerning this guy singing, concerning a man who's a businessman who labors constantly in order to get as much as he can. But the question is asked in the song Did You Smell the Roses in Your Garden? Does the morning sun warm your face and brighten up your day? Do you hear the sound of your children as they're at play? And these are questions that are asked in the song Mr. Businessman. He says, oh, you've done everything you can. You've gotten to the top. You're held up with synthetic crutches. He said, you've climbed and you finally have achieved. He said, and you've never even taken the time to go out into your backyard, enjoy a cup of coffee and listen to your children as they're playing. You have everything and you have nothing. And that's so true. You can have everything that people wish that they had. You can be that model where people say, man, that person knows how to live. They go off to Hawaii. They're able to travel to Europe. They go on all those cruises. They have those fine cars. They go to nice restaurants, nice clothes. I've never seen them wear the same shirt twice. That person's got it all. And yet he's saying, you put your head on your pillow at night and you wonder who's trying to steal it. You wonder who's going to take it. You wonder, how long will I have it? Now he's not speaking against proper achievement. I think that the Lord obviously blesses us as we put our hand to labor and all that he's just saying these things don't have eternal value. And that's true. When my father went home to be with the Lord, my dad didn't have two nickels to rub together. My dad was just, he didn't have much. He left almost nothing behind. And one day I was sharing and I had said, my dad when he went home to be with the Lord, he left his goods to his kids. But to be honest with you, my dad didn't have anything. And my mom heard me say that. And my mom thought that I was speaking ill of my father. And so my mom was not one who would restrain herself from telling me what she was thinking. She had the right to do that. And I had the right to ignore her. But she would, my mom would tell me. And she said, I heard you speak, David. And it sounded like you were insulting your father because you said something about the things that he left behind that you didn't want those things. And I said, no, mama, that's not what I said. What I said is I don't want his things, I want him. And that's the way I think it really ought to be, don't you? It's not the things, it's the person. It's not the things that you accumulate. It's the way you use them. You know, if the Lord gives you something and you steward it properly, it's not just for you. It's for others too, others to enjoy. Because the thing in and of itself is never gonna fully satisfy you. You know, when you're young, you think that if you only had this, if you work hard and get that, I'll be satisfied. Let me tell you what my life goal was at the age of 25. My life goal, and I was a Christian, was to make $5 an hour, because I'd be rolling. Five bucks an hour, are you kidding me? $200 a week? Now that makes sense to nobody other than you old people, because I wasn't making $200 an hour. You could make a buck and a quarter an hour. You know, I was making $200 a week. I was making a buck 45. You know, that's what you would get. If I walked home with $100 in a week, I was rolling. I was making money. My car payment was $74. You know, to live in the apartment, Marie and I lived in was $175 a month, you know? So if I was making $200, I could buy shoes. You know, you could, when I graduated from high school, my dad said, son, if you go on, if you make the honor roll, I'll buy you a brand new Mustang, a 1968 brand new Mustang. You know how much it cost? $2,300. Yeah, $2,300. He never had to buy me it. That was a safe bet. But man, I don't know what your first house cost you. Mine was $47,000. And my monthly payment was $500 a month. And I barely made that every month. Barely made it because I didn't make any money. And my wife, Marie, had to work. When this church began, she had to work for us to survive because I was making from this church $100 a week. And so Marie worked as a substitute teacher in the Chino Unified School District. And she, thank God, got a job. She was making $900 a month. And she was teaching Spanish. And the funny thing about it is she doesn't speak Spanish. And neither did her students at the end of the semester. So a lot of people in this room, all of us really, and one way or another, we set life goals. I would like to have this much so I could do this. I would love someday to be able to go to Israel. You see us advertising it and many of you can't. I understand. I would love to be able to go to Hawaii. My goal was to go to Hawaii someday. You know, the first day I went to Hawaii, the first time Marie and I went to Hawaii was only because it was due to the generosity of some friends in the church who said, we'd like to send you. That's how we were able to go. And all of us know what it's like to not have two nickels to rub together. To wonder, how am I gonna pay this car payment this month? How am I? Marie and I, my son Joseph hates macaroni and cheese. Why? Because that's what we ate a lot when he was a kid. Why? Because you could get the box for less than 20 cents. So I love macaroni and cheese. But he hates it to this day. He won't eat it because, and I, man, I thought we're rolling, man. Are you kidding me? Three times a week. It's good stuff. And once in a while we can eat meat. See, so I discovered early, so did you, I'm sure if not you will, that, oh no, I can finally get two boxes of macaroni and cheese if I want. I can finally have more. And I discovered something. I discovered that my joy never was in any money. It never has been. I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful that I can pay my bills. I'm grateful that I can feed my family. I'm thankful to God because he provides it for me. But I know that it doesn't make me happy. I know that it doesn't give me joy. I know that if you make it like I made that, I finally made five bucks an hour, but guess what? $200 a week, that's only $10,000 a year. It went up and it went up and it went up and it went up. So now if you live in some places, if you live in Irvine right now, you can go and apply for a low income housing if you're making like $120,000 a year. Low income housing in Irvine. Think about that for a minute. Think about that for a minute. I still remember when my father said to me, David, one of these days you're gonna be happy that your house payment was only $500 a month. And I said, I hope to God, I never see the day, but I have seen that day. I have seen that day. And there are a lot of people right now who are thinking if I could only afford this and if I only could have that and Solomon is saying I had it all. I had it all. Name it, I had it. You wanna talk about? I had, I drank. I had women. I had servants. I had best entertainment. I had it all. And I had nothing. I had nothing. It's all vanity. It's all vanity. It's grasping for the wind. Why? Because it doesn't satisfy you. You put your hand on it and it's gone the minute you hold on to it. That's true. And I've discovered and so have you. If you haven't, you will. That the things that matter are the things you can't pay for. They're the things that were already bought for you and that's through Christ and those things matter at the end. And that changed. Like when I came to faith in Christ, it changed my life. And I began to go and realize that isn't the amount of money I have in my wallet. It's the relationships I have. It's the wife that God has given to me that gives me joy. It's the children that God gave to me that bring satisfaction to my heart. Yes, they break your heart. Indeed, they do. But they also give you joy. And it's the grand babies that the Lord I've discovered now. My son, Joseph and his wife, Corinna have been married like eight years and we're finally gonna have a baby from them in March, you know. And looking forward to holding that ugly little baby. It's those kinds of things, guys. It's those kinds of things. You know, money is a tool. It's to be used for the glory of God. He gives it to us. He gives us pleasure. He gives us these things. It's not that they're bad in and of themselves. They become bad when they take the place of the Lord. And he's saying, these things, I've had it. Listen to me, he's saying, I've been there. I've done it. Learn from me. Learn from me. Nothing matters except your relationship with the Lord. He says, God blesses us. He says, in verse, again, verse 24, nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that his soul should enjoy good in its labor. This also I saw was from the hand of God. For who can eat or who can have enjoyment more than I? For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in his sight. But to the sinner, he gives the work of gathering and collecting that he may give to him who is good before God. This also was vanity and grasping for the wind. So enjoy work and enjoy producing great things with your hands. Enjoy the pleasure of marriage. Enjoy the pleasure of financial security. God desires to bless you as you serve him. But that's not true with the sinner. And that is because they've left God out. And ultimately their lives are simple, toil with no rest. Again, in 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. The things that matter are the things that are centered around the love of God and often the love of family. I've told you this before, I'll say it again. Forgive me for repeating an illustration many of you already know. But it's one of those lessons that I wanna leave with you just as a reminder. When my father died and he told me and my brother that I have in my bedroom, a metal box and it has my most important things in it. It was his treasure chest. And I've told you this, so. Well one, I thought when my father was saying that he wanted somebody to do his funeral, he was trying to plan his funeral with me and told me I want so-and-so to do my funeral. I thought my dad was kinda like the Old Testament patriarch, Jacob, Jacob, when you read about Jacob in the Old Testament several times, he says, I'm old and I'm dying and then he continues to live another 15 or 20 years. So I thought my dad was being a Jacob. And so you know Dave, I watch it and he's given me his last orders and I was there at his bedside there at the hospital and I was kinda just smiling, thinking, all right, daddy, if you feel like kinda saying these things cause it makes you feel at ease, be my guest, share what you'd like. So Dave, he says in my room there's a green box, it's metal, it has my most important things, my treasures. He says, you need to know those things are there and so I thought daddy was gonna live forever and I said, remember it was a Wednesday afternoon that I went to see my dad and he had just been released from the hospital and I walked into his bedroom and he was there eating, my mom had made him his favorite meal and I sat next to him and he looked good, his color had returned, he had had a heart attack and they had placed a stint and his color was back and I was sure he's on the road to recovery and I made him laugh for a little while left and then the next day he died. And so it was a Thursday and so it was an evening and I came into the driveway at my parents' house and my brother Frank was standing outside as I pulled over and climbed out of the car and walked towards the house in the dark and he walks up to me and says, Dave, I opened up daddy's treasure box and he said, I expected to find his important papers cause that's what he said was in them, was in them, in the box. He said, but do you know what I found? And I thought he would find the deed to the house, I thought he would find insurance papers, things that are important. It was in a metal box. And so if anything caught fire, whatever was inside that box would have survived. So I figured it must have been those kinds of things. And he says, you know what I found? And I said, what? He said, he said, our report cards. He said, pictures of us when we were children, a card with my brother's hand at the age of six and it said, happy father's day cause he couldn't spell father, he still can't. A clipping from when I went into the army, my report cards, things like that. I discovered what was valuable in my dad's life when he died, when he died. What was valuable was us, his children. He had his wedding license there. My dad and my mom used to argue as to what their anniversary was. They got married in TJ. I don't think they were ever really married at all. But anyway, don't think it counted. Daddy used to say they were married October 6th and my mom insisted it was October 5th. So they always celebrated October 6th until I found the license. My mom was right. They got married October 5th. But those were the things I found. Those were the things. You know, his deed to his house was in a cardboard box. If the house would have caught fire, his deed would have burned up. But our pictures wouldn't have. Our report cards wouldn't have. Our lives were what were my dad's treasures. So my dad taught me that. And he taught me that not just in his life, he taught me that in his death. So when Solomon is saying to us, don't go after these things, guys. They don't last. My dad could say the same thing. They don't go after these things. They don't last. The things that last are relationships. Your relationship with your God, your relationship with your family, your relationship with your brothers and your sisters, those things last. And the one who doesn't have a relationship with the Lord, all of life will be grasping for the wind. Oh, I got the car finally. And then somebody swings their door open and puts a ding in it. You wanna come out with a knife. I finally got it. I finally got it. I finally got it. And then you say it's grasping wind. It doesn't matter. It didn't satisfy me. As a new model came out the next year. And that's what happens, isn't it? And you can see people's treasures in trash cans any day of the week. The thing they needed so much is in that trash bin now. Why? Because it didn't last. The only things that last are the things that are invested in the kingdom and relationships with God and his children. And Solomon is leading us to understand that.