 Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and let's see. I'll read verse 1 we'll get into our study. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 beginning with verse 1. A good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of one's birth. So notice how Solomon opens this chapter. He is actually letting us know what makes life better. When he speaks concerning a good name being better, the word better speaks of that which is excellent, that which is valuable, that which is better in contrast to something else. And so in the first ten verses of chapter 7, Solomon will use the word better eight times. And so he begins in verse 1 by saying a good name is better, better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of one's birth. We'll spend some time looking at that. So when he speaks of things being better, the first thing that is better is having a good name. When he speaks of having a good name, that's simply another way of saying having a good reputation. So he's saying here a good reputation is better than possessing an expensive luxury item. That's what it means when he says a good name is better than precious ointment. A good reputation is better than possessing an expensive luxury item. Now that's something similar to what he had written in the book of Proverbs. Really Proverbs. In chapter 22 of Proverbs verse 1, a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold. And so when he speaks concerning this good name, this good reputation, and speaks concerning the precious ointment, we need to know that precious ointment was highly regarded in Israel. Possessing precious ointment was an evidence of your financial status. It could even be valued as a source of financial security. You would hold on to it because it would be something that you could sell in a time of need. If I found myself in a financial crunch, I'd sell it and I could live comfortably. So precious ointment was normally applied on special occasions. A good example of this is found in the Gospel of John in John 12 verses 2 through 5. It reads that they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spiked nerd. Anointed the feet of Jesus, wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then one of his disciples, Judas the Scarlet, Simon's son, who would betray him said, why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? And so that was something that she had that had great value. It was something she could use in the case of a financial bind. It had tremendous value. 300 denarii represents a year's wages. And so precious ointment was normally applied on special occasions. It was of great value. And you see an anointing taking place when Jesus had his feet anointed, his body anointed with this fragrant oil. And so when he's speaking concerning value and all, he says it is better to have a good reputation than to be materially and financially rich. And one obvious reason is that rich people don't always have good names. They don't. Sometimes somebody who is very wealthy doesn't have a good reputation. And so when they die, there may be no one to speak well of them at their funeral. And so with that in mind, we need to take whatever the Lord has given to us financially and we need to use it in a generous and caring way. And a lot of times Americans, we Americans do not consider ourselves financially well off. If I were to ask normally if I did this anywhere really if I ask a group of Americans, how many of you are financially rich? If I said how many of you are rich, the average Christian would raise our hand saying, oh, I'm rich in Christ. But that's not what I'm saying. If I said how many of you are financially rich, I don't know if anybody would raise their hand. Maybe there's somebody here who would maybe there is somebody here who would say, yeah, I am financially rich. And the way you think financial riches would probably mean that you had a good amount of money because that's what we think in terms of financial riches, right? You know, so if you only have $100,000 in the bank, do you consider yourself rich? When I said only $100,000, you should have seen your eyes, right? So you would. So you would. You'd say, oh, man, are you kidding me? That's a lot of money. I could do a lot of things with $100,000, right? Well, here's the bottom line. Every one of us in this room is richer than 99% of the world. We all are. Do you have a bed that you sleep in? I hope that you do. And if you do, a lot of people don't. Did you have dinner tonight? I pray that you did, but a lot of people didn't. You know, I can still remember. I could tell you stories. I'll just tell you one of being in India, and we were in a particular village, and we were walking. And as we came around this corner, there was a temple, a Hindu temple that we were going to walk in and look at. And there were kids who were seated outside begging. And a lot of the children, not all, but a lot of the children in India who are begging are actually sold into that lifestyle by their parents. And they begin to work for somebody who will go to where the Europeans or Americans are and will put those children out. And they will come immediately to wherever your bus is, wherever your car is, anytime you're seen, you will have a group of kids around you with their hands out. And many times those kids are actually working for somebody. And believe this or not, sometimes the people who are their bosses will use that term will actually maim those children. There have been times where they have cut their hands off. There are times when they have gouged an eye. There are times when they have broken their leg and allowed it to heal improperly so that the child limps. And they do that because it gets them more money because of the compassion of people who will see this poor child like that. And that's what they do. They use these children. And so any money you give to one of these kids is going to be handed to their handler. So when we went, I've been there twice, I spent a month in India. And when we went there the first time, we were told by the people who we were serving alongside of don't be giving money away because not a dime gets into the hands of that child, not a dime. So if you want to help him, give him something to eat. So we brought bags with us. We had candies and we had various bars and all food bars that we could give to them so they could have food because that was a more practical thing to do. And so as we were walking into this particular temple, there were children outside of the temple who were begging and they're starving. But if you step into the temple, the people who were quote-unquote the pilgrims were making offering to their God were bringing grain. And they were putting grain on this platform and the rats were coming and eating it because their God that they worship is a rat. That's what you see. I saw a lot of that, a lot of that. And so are you rich? Do you have shoes? Do you have more than one pair? Do you have socks? Do you have t-shirts? Do you have a jacket? See, Americans don't think like that because we have been so abundantly prospered and we simply don't think we have enough when in fact we have been blessed in so many ways and we do take it for granted. That's why Paul would say we need to be taught to be generous. In 1st Timothy 6, 18 and 19, Paul said, let those who are rich do good, that they be rich in good works ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life. So when you have a life like that, that normally results in somebody saying something nice about you at your funeral. Now when he says a good name is better than precious ointment, my father did his best to teach me to have a good reputation. My father taught me that a man's reputation, his integrity, was a very high personal priority. And my father did his best to instill honor and integrity in me, his son. And at first, I have to be honest with you, it didn't appear that he succeeded, but through the Lord, he actually did. There are lessons that you can learn about having a good name. So my dad taught me, pay your bills on time. He taught me work hard, live moderately. He said to me through the way he lived, not through the lecture, he taught me to take care of my wife. My father made sure that he paid his bills. He made sure that we ate. He made sure that we were clothed. But my father never did spend needlessly. For us, vacations were seen as luxuries. Going out to eat just didn't happen. I don't know about you, but I grew up in a time when we didn't go out to eat. We actually had something called a Sunday afternoon supper. And there really was some roast that was made on Sundays at my house a lot of times. That's what we did. We would actually not go out. I didn't go to a restaurant and order for myself until I was 16. We didn't go to restaurants. And so I didn't know how to order. So I remember being in a restaurant eating breakfast at 16 and at the roast parade. And I remember as I was seated there, the waitress approaches me and says, what can I give you? And so my mom never told me anything about sunny side up or anything like that over easy, over medium, over hard. I didn't know any of those things. So when my mom would say, how do you want your egg? I'd say with the ball on top. And she knew what I meant. And I still remember being in this restaurant there. And here comes this waitress and she says, what would you like? I'd say some eggs. She says, how do you want them made? I said with the ball on top. And she looks at me. I thought that was the way you ordered. I thought everybody orders with the ball on top. And so she says, I don't have a clue what you're saying. And I said, okay, over easy. I don't know what that was. I saw that in a movie. Some guy. And then they bring these runny eggs. I got grossed out because I don't eat runny eggs. Where's the ball on top egg? Right? See, so we didn't do that. We didn't go out and eat. I didn't know how to order. My wife couldn't tell you. Marie taught me. She says, you need to put your fork here and your knife needs to go there. She had to teach me that because for me, a tortilla is all I need. I mean, why do you need silverware? Right? Just pull the meat apart. Stuff it in. It's good. Wash your hands. But it's all right. See, so my father taught me a lot of things, but one of them was not to spend needlessly. So we didn't go out and do all of those things. And for my dad, a respect was to be expected, but it was also earned. And once it was earned, it was retained by consistency. And so for me to be honest with you, this verse means a lot. A good name is better than precious ointment. A good name is better than having material possessions. Your reputation really matters. It really, especially in ministry, your integrity matters. People want to know they can trust you. You need to be a person of integrity. And so my father taught me lessons. He did it by, by, by living a good life. He goes on to say in verse one, the day of one's death and the day of one's birth. Well, he speaks concerning those in a contrast. These are really two important days. And what he's doing is he's contrasting a birth announcement, if you will, with an obituary. Everything that happens between these two days, your birth and your obituary will say determines what you were known for. If you lived righteously, your day of death is better because it reveals the life you lived. We need to remember that if you go into a cemetery and you see a headstone will say, the headstone has two numbers, 1950 and we'll say 2018, two numbers, 1950, 2018, and a dash, a hyphen. And that hyphen, that dash represents your life. Everything you did is in that dash, everything. So you walk and you look at it and it says, wow, 1948, 1999, that's the dash. And what you want to do is make sure that that dash says something about you, if you will. You need to realize that being a good person is an amazing and important thing to be. And so Solomon is saying for a good man, his death announcement is when that's filled with honor. The things said about him will reveal a life that was well spent. So I've made it my goal not to have my children lying about me, saying good things about me when they eulogize me. I want them to be able to walk up to this platform perhaps one day and say, this is the Father I knew. And I don't want them to be out there trying to make up something good about that man. I would like them to flow and say, this is what he was about. And that to me is a goal in life. The day of death is better than the day of one's birth. He goes on in verse two, better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men. The living will take it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter. For by a sad countenance, the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. And we'll look at this for a moment. Solomon is saying better to go to the house of mourning. Why is that? Well, because funerals remind us that this is the end of all men. In other words, we all one day will die and that awareness should produce sobriety. We are not to eat and drink for tomorrow we die. But in reality, we should be preparing for its inevitability. He says in verse three, that sorrow is better than laughter. For by a sad countenance, the heart is made better. Sorrow has a way of refining our faith and sharpening our vision of eternity. And the result can be a sober awareness of how brief life is. And again, causes you to prepare. Psalm 39 verse four, Lord, make me to know my end. And what is the measure of my days that I may know how frail I am? Psalm 90 verse 12, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Now, when you think about it, if you were given a choice, where would you rather go, a funeral or to a party? Well, parties can be filled with friends and laughter. It can be refreshing, a lot of fun. Yet the deeper lessons we learn often come through times of sorrow and difficulty. I want to give you something. I want you to think about this for a moment. When you go into the Old Testament, Book of Genesis, when Adam fell, sin was introduced into the world. And in Genesis three, 17, God was pronouncing curses and he's now cursing the man. And in Genesis three, 17 to Adam, he said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. And in that curse, cursed is the ground for your sake. There are two things that you can see. One, he's saying the curse is coming because of what you have done. That's the obvious interpretation and understanding. Cursed is the ground for your sake. The ground is cursed will bear thorns because of the sin that you have committed. And the ground is now cursed. And in toil and sweat, you will labor. But there's a second application I want to speak about for a moment. You said cursed is the ground for your sake. So that gives us the insight that the cursed ground is going to result in an unsatisfied life. Your labor, you sweat, you hardly scratch out a living. The ground is cursed. Hard toil ultimately will produce dissatisfaction with life under a curse. God had put eternity in our hearts according to Ecclesiastes 311. We have an awareness of its end. You go to a funeral and you see a friend who is being buried and there's sorrow in your heart. And it awakens you to an awareness of how limited life is, how your days are very short. And I'm telling you, when you're 20, you think you'll live forever. When you're 40, you still think you're just middle age. When you're 50, you think, you know, I'm slowing down a step. But if I worked out a little bit, I'd be okay. You lie to yourself at 50. 60. You, you begin to say, well, you know what? I'm getting to the end of my journey. 65, 70. Should you live to 80? I'm telling you, when you're 20, a 30 year old is old. They're old. When I was 20, Chuck Smith was 43. My pastor and he was ancient. I thought, man, that man's an old man. He was 43 years old. And so there's this gap. But as you grow older, you begin to realize that you've got more behind you than you have awaiting in front of you. You begin to be aware of that. And as you begin to be aware of that, you need to learn to number your days. And if you go through hardship, if you go through struggle, so many people kick against those and don't realize that part of the curse was for your sake. What am I saying? I'm saying that a sense of dissatisfaction can often drive you to the one who satisfies. The sense of life isn't fair can lead you to the one who gives you life in abundance. It causes you to be aware of the fact that things don't go the way you want. The plans don't always get fulfilled. The satisfaction isn't always there. You worked hard. You were told, do well in school and you did. And that's a good thing. You decided to go to college. You went to college. You got your degree. Now you've got your bachelor's. But as you're looking around, you realize a bachelor doesn't get you far. So I should pursue something else. I go for a master's. So two, three years later, I get my master's degree. But I'm realizing that that's not really going to take me to where I want to go. So I'll put a few more years in and I'll get my doctorate. And so all of these years that you go to college, 30 years old or older, you get that diploma, you walk. It's a great thing. And now you're working and you got it all, but you have nothing. You've got the PhD. You've got the letters, but you got no joy. You gave up so much of life to get this. Once you've got it, it's not satisfying. And it doesn't have to be, that's not a real negative. It's just a reality. Or you save your money. You save your nickels. You save your dimes. And you do it for years. And you finally are able to buy whatever it is that you wanted. We'll say it's a car. You finally get that classic. I want that car. For me, a 56 Chevy. It's got to be black. It's got to have the 327 just because and you get it. And you drive to go get some coffee and somebody swings their door open and dings your door and you go all ballistic because this is my God. And that's what happens. Things perish with the using. And so life is dissatisfying very often, very often it's filled with it. Cursed is the ground for your sake. Why? Because in your dissatisfaction, you will go to the one who satisfies completely. In Christ he gives me life and that more abundantly. So the dissatisfaction that I have through this curse is actually God given to me a sense of a need for grace. And so you go to a funeral and you see the sorrow and it awakens you to the fact that you too one day will be in that pine box. And you begin to wonder, have I lived a life that had value? And that dissatisfaction awakens you to say, you know what? I want I want to be a person that's remembered for good things and it can actually point you in the proper direction where your life becomes something of value to other people. You begin to die to yourself realizing that I have these things, but they didn't satisfy. And you know what? You go to a funeral and you actually take these things to heart. You actually do. Now, we had seen that Solomon had pointed something out that is wise and practical. He said in Ecclesiastes chapter six verse seven, all the labor of a man is for his mouth, yet the soul is not satisfied. Again, you can have everything material but be empty spiritually. Money will never be the source of peace and contentment. Ecclesiastes six, twelve says ultimately all the days of our vain lives passed like a shadow. So I was reading, Marie and I were just talking about this about Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft. He died at the age of 65. He had a net worth of $20 billion. Yeah, does anybody know what that means? I don't. I haven't got a clue. I can't grasp that number. It's much higher than my mind is capable of being wrapped around, to be honest with you. I'll give you an example of that in just a moment, but when you look at his life, I began to read about him. He owned the Seattle Seahawks, the Portland Trail Blazers. He had shares in the Seattle Sounders. Paul Allen owned three of the world's largest and most expensive yachts. The most expensive and best known of them named Octopus is equipped with two helicopters, a swimming pool, a basketball court, 10 man submarine, and a remotely operated underwater vehicle. He owned a 10,000 square foot waterfront home in Mercer Island, Washington valued at over $18 million as well as 10 other properties on the island. He owned a $27 million home in West Atherton, California, a 10 acre property in Kailua, Kona valued at seven and a half million dollars, a $25 million penthouse in Upper East Side Manhattan. He owned homes in France and England, as well as an art collection with works by Monet and Rodin and various artists valued at $800 million. And in the end, he left it all behind, all of it. And when we were reading about it, my wife said something to me that is just so simple, but it's so true. She said, I wonder if he was happy. And you want to know something? Who knows? Who knows? But the Bible seems to indicate that's all you have, then you can't be happy. You can't be content. You're going to be wanting more. He never married, had several girlfriends. He never had children to anybody's knowledge. All he had was material things. And guess what? He left them all behind. He left them all behind. And see, again, when you talk about these things, and I just get intrigued by it, to be honest with you. I say, my goodness, what do you buy with $20 billion? And if you added all of that that I just mentioned, that's interest in a year. This is a man who can go to Monterey, to some of these custom car auctions and buy all of them. All of them. I'll take the whole lot. Everything. Oh, that Ferrari is $10.7 million. I'll take that. Do you have anything else? And he doesn't even think about it because he's got $20,000 million. See, did you get that number? I didn't. I didn't. $20,000 million. If I said, would you like $100 million, you'd say, yeah, yeah, why? We can get our mind around that. How about $20,000 million? What's that mean? I don't know. But that's what he had. So the question is, and this is not a knock on this man, I hope that somehow he came to faith in Christ. I do, of course. That's where satisfaction comes. But see, how much did he leave? Everything. Everything. Everything. In 1975, Ernest Becker wrote a book called The Denial of Death. He wrote, the idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else. It is the main spring of human activity, activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for man. The fear of death that grips our hearts is defeated through faith in Christ. This fear is overcome by our knowledge that Christ overcame death on our behalf. In Hebrews 2, 14 and 15, inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. You see, Christian funerals will serve to remind us of the reality of death. We do sorrow, but we don't despair because there is joy that awaits us, and that's why you can gain wisdom by going to a funeral. Again, verse 3, sorrow is better than laughter for by a sad countenance the hardest made better. I've done many funerals. I've done funerals of my own father and mom, and I can tell you that it is a very sobering time, you know, where you're on the freeway after conducting the grave side, and it's just me in the car and God driving, and I see cars speeding past me and people busy with life, and I think within myself how busy everybody is not realizing that we're all moving in the same destination. We're all going to die. We're all going to die, and are you ready? Are you prepared? Funerals do that for you. You go to a party, you come home just, yeah, that was fun. You go to a funeral, and you come back saying, I better do something with this life here because that's where I'm going one day, and that's what Solomon is saying. And then finally, in verse 4, the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. The truly wise live with sobriety, aware that life is but a vapor, and this has given them the ability of enjoying life, but preparing for eternity. When he says the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, that's my home. I live in that place because it produces sobriety. It's not a place I visit, it's the reality of my life, an awareness that I'm just passing through, and therefore the days God gives to me should be used for him. Verse 5, it is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools, for like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity. So Solomon compares wise correction with the sound of thorns that are burning. Crackling thorns produce noise, but don't produce any lasting good. So he's saying, be a person who's able to be corrected. An ability to receive deserved correction will be blessed and you'll grow. Proverbs 17 verse 10 says, rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool. Verse 7, surely oppression destroys a wise man's reason. A bribe debases the heart. Oppression, when he says oppression destroys, oppression speaks of injury, it can speak of extortion. It gives you an excuse for taking what is owed to you. Even a wise man's judgment can be clouded, he's saying, when money's involved. And so Exodus 23.8 says, you shall take no bribe for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous. In verse 8, the end of a thing is better than its beginning. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. You don't know what the results of something will be when you first begin to do it. So patiently wait for the results because in the end you're going to see whether or not that was something that was good. You see, sometimes something seems pleasant at first, but ends up anything but good. So you never really know if it's good until it concludes or runs its course. So when we create our own path, we do suffer eternal consequences. When we begin to do something hastily without thinking in terms of the future, that's not a good thing to do at all. Verse 9, do not hasten in your spirit to be angry for anger rests in the bosom of fools. Do not say, why were the former days better than these? For you do not inquire wisely concerning this. During trials and afflictions, it's easy to get angry at the Lord and our circumstances. You blame God. God, how come you allowed this to take place? Why? Over the years I've discovered that I do have a tendency of reaping what I've been sowing and sometimes I have gotten upset with the way things worked out and I have blamed the Lord, but I haven't taken into consideration that it was just a natural course of events. If I do this, something's going to happen like that. And over time, I began to become wiser in my decision making and thus I began to say, no, I'm not going to make any movement or do anything until I actually consider what the repercussions might be because I don't want to be one who's guilty of blaming God for things I brought on myself because it's possible for us to do that, especially going through trials and difficulties. We get angry at the Lord, how come you haven't removed this from me? But he's saying, listen, don't fall into this trap because if you fall into the trap of thinking like that, it'll lead you down the path of backsliding and you can actually get anxious or depressed over all of that. So the key is going to be remain close to the Lord, trust in him, and he will bring you through whatever it is that you're experiencing and understand that when you go through something, if you yield to him, he actually has a way of conforming you into his image. He changes you and he begins to work in you so that you become more like him. And I've discovered that and I'm discovering that perhaps you have too. Have you ever said, God, make me like you. I want to be like you. Your word says you're conforming me to the image of Christ. How does he do that? Sometimes he does that through affliction. Sometimes he does that with my thinking of what he's like and then him revealing to me that he's nothing like that at all and teaching me what he really is all about. It's like when Abram was there and the angels began to visit him in the book of Genesis and they began to share with them that they were going to see whether or not the things that had risen to heaven were true, meaning they were going to Sodom, Gomorrah, the other cities, and judgment is about to come. And as Abram is there speaking to these angels, he's got concern because he has a nephew and the nephew's wife and he's got some children, nieces there, relatives, a number of them. And that's where that famous story comes from where he begins to speak and says, for the sake of 50, would you spare the city? Yes, for the sake of 40, 30, 20. I've already spoken to you. Let me speak to you one last time for the sake of 10 because in his mind he's got 10 relatives there in the city in Sodom. And what's happening is he's beginning to learn things about the Lord that God is extremely gracious for the sake of 10. He would save an entire city. And what happens is when you're going through things, sometimes the Lord is going to remove from you false expectations so that you see what he really is. It's like when John the Baptist is in prison and he's hearing of the works of Christ and he begins to be a bit confused and sends a couple of his men to go speak to Jesus and he says, ask them, I ask them, are you the coming one or should I be seeking another? Now how come John, who is the one who baptized Christ, who saw the Holy Spirit descend on him, who knew that God had said, the one whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he, he already had had all of that. He was one who was in the wilderness from his youth. He was walking the Spirit filled with the Spirit in his mother's womb. Now, but what's going on? Well, I'm about to lose my head. I've been preaching righteousness. I said this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, but there are things about him that I don't think I get. I thought he would be in a different way than he is right now. And, and you know, I thought he'd be after my, after me, because when you look at John, you see that John is one who says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He's the one who's pointing at people and he's calling them names and things. And he's expecting Christ to be like that. That's what he thought about God. He thought, you know, he's going to bring law and, and, and now I've got somebody who's gentle and gracious and I'm not quite sure I'm losing my head for the right person. So could you please ask him, are you the coming one or should we look for another? And then Jesus speaks concerning the things that he's done and he speaks about the blind scene and, and, and, and leopards being cleansed and the lame walking, which are all messianic prophecies out of Isaiah. And, and blessed is the one who's not offended concerning me, Jesus says. Think about that. Blessed is the one who doesn't try and put God in a box and say he has to do it this way or else he's really not God. I've learned a long time ago that God does what God wants to do. C.S. Lewis said, Aslan, he called Aslan the lion. Aslan is not a tame lion. He's not something you can put in a box. He is all powerful and he does what is right in his own sight. And so if we grow up and begin to understand that, we'll stop blaming God for every trivial thing we go through that disappoints us. Solomon's just basically reminding us of that. Just be careful that you don't blame him for things in that way. Now, when he says in verse 10, why were the former days better than these? That's not a good thing to do. It's kind of like saying, wow, those old days were the good old days. Are they really? Were they really? I have, I've known guys who have gone back or wanted to go back to the, to the vomit, you know, back to the, to the mud. They want to go back to that because they say, oh, I had more fun and more friends before I was saved than I do now. But you know what the Lord has taught me to do to remember what those days were and they really, they weren't the good old days. They were the bad old days. They were the days of depression, the days of sorrow, the days of sin, the days of hangovers, the days of just bad, just bad days. Why do I want to go back to something like that? But yet he's saying it. Do not say why were the former days better than these. The former days were not better. That's why the day you got saved, you might have raised your hand. You may have gone forward. You might have been driving in your car and heard somebody give an invitation and you said, yes, whatever that, however that was, that's why you gave your heart to Christ because you were miserable. And the enemy has the tendency of encouraging your memory to, to be very selective. And you remember some things that you like doing, but you forget what that led to. And that's what he does. Be careful. Verse 11, wisdom is good with an inheritance and profitable to those who see the sun. For wisdom is the defense. There's money as a defense, but the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it. And so Solomon declares wisdom is better than wealth because money can lose its value through inflation, exchange rates. Money can be lost. It can be stolen. So he says, wisdom is good. It's better with an inheritance. Why? Oh, because someone can foolishly misuse their inheritance. And so remember that you are to responsibly steward your finances. Responsible financial choices demonstrate spiritual maturity and eternal perspective. It reveals that you really do believe there's a better place than earth and that's heaven. Now as a parent, you do your best to train your children to put the kingdom of God first. As you watch them grow, what happens if you see that they are irresponsible with money? Well, it's a great error to leave a large sum of money to someone who's irresponsible. They go out and they waste it. They'll buy themselves a car, they'll buy a house or two. They take expensive vacations, buy a lot of clothes. And so your finances cease being used in the kingdom and your rewards conclude. Remember that your finances continue reaping dividends after you die. In Philippians 417, Paul said, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. So be careful that you don't leave large amounts of money to someone who misuses it. Let me give you basic advice. It'll take just a moment. If you can, sit down with a financial planner, develop a strategy of dividing whatever inheritance you might leave behind, establish sums that each person will get, set up a schedule depending on their age and maturity, appoint an executor who will follow orders in your living trust. I have a living trust. We first established our living trust, Marie and I did when my children were young because I thought, what if we both have an accident and we go at the same time? My children will get the house and they're going to get, you know, whatever it is, I leave behind. And if they're 16, 17, 18 and you give them an inheritance, it's a good chance that they're going to use it on things that aren't wise, just a very good chance because they don't have a concept of money. They don't realize how to use it yet, right? So what we did is we got an executor and I had a couple men that I trust and they would be responsible for the distribution of whatever inheritance I left behind for my kids and they would get it in certain increments, not all at the same time. That way they don't get a whole lot and make some silly decisions and just waste all of it. And so that's what we did. And I'd encourage you, some of you are thinking right now, I'm young, I'm, start now, because I tell young people, you know, I was young once too and I'm not anymore. And if I'd have been wise earlier, I'd have been able to have done more than I am now. You need to have wisdom. And by the way, we're going to have a financial kind of thing here in the Church of Seminar. Some of you may want to be part of that because we can help you with this. But remember, you're not doing them any favors and your finances, when wasted, cease benefiting the kingdom. So wisdom with an inheritance is better because the money can be used for the Lord's work. In verse 12, when he says, wisdom is the defense, as money is the defense, money can provide for you in difficult times, but it won't buy your way into heaven. Wisdom from above is what provides you for the here and it gets you there. In verse 13, consider the work of God for who can make straight what he has made crooked. In the days of prosperity, be joyful. In the days of adversity, consider. Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other so that man can find out nothing that will come after him. Learn to cooperate with what you have no power to change. Instead of kicking against God's will, learn to trust his wisdom. In verse 14, in the day of prosperity, remember that wisdom gives us the ability to gain eternal perspective. When our lives are being blessed and all goes well, we can rejoice. When we begin to go through hard times, we learn through the affliction, but God gives us blessings to keep us happy, but he also gives us burdens to keep us humble. In verse 15, I have seen everything in my days of vanity. There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness. There's a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness. Have you seen that too? I'll be real with you in saying this. When my father went home to be with the Lord, one of the things I had to deal with, and it was difficult, as I told my wife this, I said, you know, my dad was a good man. My dad loved the Lord. My dad loved his wife. My dad loved his children. My father provided—he was just a good man. I could go on and on and on, but that's true. When my dad got saved, his life radically changed. My father was an unemotional man when I was a kid. He wouldn't talk to me. He didn't spend time with me. That was my dad. That's just the way he was. I accepted it. He loved me. He'd show me he loved me sometimes when I walked by. He'd hit me in the back of the head, and that was my mom called me and said, that's your daddy. Love tap. He loves you. And I used to think I wish he didn't love me so much. See, so without going long, but when daddy got saved, he changed. My father didn't say things like, I love you. He never did. That was not a word that he used with his kids. I love you. My dad did not show affection. That wasn't my dad. My dad would buy things. He'd feed you. He'd buy some shoes. If I'm doing this for you, don't you realize that's my way of saying I love you. That was my dad. He was typical of his generation. Chuck Smith was very much like that in some ways. And I remember him like, I'd say, very much like my dad. Very much. That was their generation. But when daddy got saved, he started showing me things. And one of the things he showed me was affection. And one of the things my dad finally said was, I love you son. Which he hadn't said that to me since I was 17. And the only time I remember him saying that to me was when I was 17. Took 17 years for my father to say it one time. And several years later to say it a second. And so you learn things. You see things. And my father's life changed. And now I'm bearing this man that means so much to me. And my heart is broken. And I tell my wife, I say, you know, there are guys out there who are just drinking, abandon their families, don't care, don't work. And they're just living and living and living. And a man like my father, who took a retirement at 65 to take care of a sick woman and cared for her till the day he died, that never went out on her, never was unfaithful to her, loved her like she was the only woman on the face of the earth. And he's dead. Who's going to take care of my mom the way my dad did? And I rest, I'll be honest with you, I wrestled. I wrestled with that father. This doesn't seem fair. I see all these people out there. And they get drunk, they find themselves in an alley and they get them and stagger home. They're unkind to their wife, unkind to their children. I wrestled with the Lord. Concerning those things, there is a just man who perishes in his righteousness. There is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness. And I've seen that. And this is what the Lord taught me and I'll say it to you very quickly. I discovered that the Lord is very long suffering, great in patience and gives him opportunities to get right with him. They need more time so very often so that he can give him more opportunity to come to faith in him. And that's how I began to comfort myself. You know what? My dad, he's with Jesus. He wouldn't want to come back. My mom's with Jesus. She wouldn't want to come back. They're enjoying themselves. But there are people today who still are miserable and the Lord has given him added additional time. And that's why it's very important for us to be faithful as we share the gospel with people. Verse 16, do not be overly righteous nor be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Do not be overly wicked nor be foolish. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp this and also not remove your hand from the other. For he who fears God will escape them all. So do not be overly wicked nor be foolish. It's possible to do something that can end up shortening your life. Do not live such an evil life that you end up having a premature death. Verse 19 says, wisdom strengthens the wise more than 10 rulers of a city. There is an internal strength that comes from wisdom and it's more important than any other human quality. When he speaks concerning 10 important men devoid of wisdom, well, they're not as important as the one who has wisdom. Though they are intelligent or have strength, if they have not wisdom, they're useless. And then finally, verse 20, there is not a just man on the earth who does good and does not sin. We'll close with this because I'm going to pick up with this next time we're together. Not a single person outside of Jesus lives a perfect life. Proverbs 20, verse 9, who can say I have made my heart clean? I'm pure from my sin. No one. Romans 3, 23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 1 John 1, 8 through 10, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. The truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. All of us are sinners. Every human being and all of us need a Savior, Jesus Christ. And that's why we came to faith in Christ so they could wash us clean from our sin, give us the power of his Holy Spirit, guide us with his word, give us a community of believers and to teach us to be like him so that our lives ultimately have great pleasure and joy, not by the material things that we possess, but the sense of having relationship with the God of the universe who one day will welcome us into heaven as his children. And that all comes when we have an understanding. There's not a single one of us that's any good. All of us are evil, but we have a Savior who sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to dine across so we could have relationship with him. Amen.