 Let's begin reading here in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 3 And I'll give you a brief review and then we'll move on into our study Ecclesiastes chapter 2 Beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 3 Solomon says 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 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 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 So as we're going through the book the book Ecclesiastes I mentioned to you But I'll review this with you that the word Ecclesiastes is the Greek Translation of a Hebrew word and the Hebrew word that is being translated is the word preacher So the book of Ecclesiastes is literally the book of the preacher and the preacher is one of the Titles of King Solomon in this particular book Solomon is actually giving his testimony Well preaching a message Now often messages have a great impact when a testimony is given and you can see that and I took a few moments To develop this as I was thinking about this as an introduction and you can see that in scripture You can see that there there's actually a call to give testimony in the Bible for example Psalm 66 verse 16 It says come and hear all you who fear God and I will tell you what he's done for my soul He's saying I want to give a testimony. I want to share and I'm asking you to come and for you to listen There's a king in the Bible. He's found in the book of Daniel His name was Nebuchadnezzar and he gave a testimony in chapter 4 verse 2 and he said this The king said I want you all to know about the miraculous signs and wonders the most high God has performed for me Now Jesus himself gave testimony in John 8 38. He said this he said I'm telling you what I've seen in my father's presence And you're doing what you've heard from your father He was speaking to enemies and he said you're doing things according to your own father, which he is saying is Satan He gave a testimony in Luke 10 verse 18 when he said I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven When you look in the New Testament there are writers who speak in such a way as to give testimony John chapter 1 verse 1 He said it like this that which was from the beginning which we've heard which we've seen with our eyes Which we have looked at our hands have touched this we proclaim concerning the word of life He's saying I have had a personal experience. These are the things. I'm testifying about Apostle Peter and first Peter 1 16 said it like this. He said we did not follow cunningly devised fables When we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we're eyewitnesses of his majesty When you look into the book of Acts and various other books of the Bible The apostle Paul gives his testimony a variety of times in the book of Acts will be seen this in chapter 22 and chapter 24 and chapter 26 The apostle Paul gives the testimony when he was writing to the Philippians in chapter 3 verses 5 through 8 He gave his testimony as he did in 1st Corinthians 15 verses 7 through 10 In Galatians 1 13 reading the scripture. He said it like this. This is his testimony He said you've heard of my former conduct in Judaism how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it He's giving testimony. This is who I was. This is what I did in 1st Timothy 1 13 He said it like this I was formerly a blasphemer a persecutor and an insolent man But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief And so you see testimony after testimony after testimony and of all who ever lived Solomon Had the greatest outside of Christ had the greatest of life's experiences More than any man. He's able to say life without God is vanity Throughout the book he shares that a life's not centered on God is futile That's because he wants us to know the meaning of life. That's why he why he wrote he wants us to know What our purpose is and he makes it clear everything that we see is temporary and we ought to see things that way The world and all that is in it is winding down and it shouldn't rule our lives Unthanksgiving We have a bit of a family tradition we go to the auto show on Thanksgiving and look at cars. We can't buy But my family's been doing that forever my my father when I was a little boy took me to the auto show and when my kids were small I took them there and I we do that and and you'll see these cars and and you'll look at a car This there was a for example, there was a Lexus I forget what it was but its model is but I do know it costs a hundred and eight thousand dollars You know, that's almost twice as much as the first house. I ever bought and You can see all these things and these toys and everything and and and some of you You know scraped you worked hard you you wanted there's nothing wrong with by the way working and and achieving a goal Nothing wrong as a matter of fact is a good thing But you discover after you've had it for a little while that the smell of that leather eventually wears off you get tired of going to the gas station having to fill that thing up and You begin to realize that this model was nice But I'm looking forward to the new one and that's kind of what happens, right? As you get something you like something you buy something you get tired of something And you buy something else some people do that with cars some people do that with people They marry somebody get rid of somebody marry somebody else get rid of somebody marry somebody else They do that over and over and over again Why because they're looking for something that can't be filled by a human being or a material object? And that's basically what we're looking at here It's like what Paul said again in 1st Corinthians 7 verse 31 the form of this world is passing away Everything in this world is winding down and therefore should not rule our lives So we know that man's purpose is greater than accumulating material possessions and in our quest to possessions We accumulate the things that end up possessing us our society once understood it Our poets would make it very clear in many ways poets were almost prophetic in some ways They would speak of common experience. They put words to to that experience that people would memorize and But they had something to want it to say and and you see that in In a lot of songs. I mean I'll jump into ancient history for a moment For some of you too young to know these songs and all of that But the old ones you'll kind of remember them or pretend that you do There was a song and it's interesting. This may be something that's somewhat current for some who are younger There was a song that was brought out by this interesting vocal duo by the name of Simon and Garfunkel. What a name, huh? Who likes the name Simon? But anyway? It was called the sounds of silence and I had a young young man in our fellowship. I actually had a I was going to use this song and not done by Simon and Garfunkel, but a more recent one I don't forget the name of the person who brought it out I'll try to remember it even as I'm sharing, but I wanted disturbed. Are you disturbed? Don't be disturbed John Disturbed and some of you heard it. It was it was a redo But I had asked them take some pictures I'm gonna use it as a Song with pictures that kind of create an image and at a certain point They didn't know how to show pictures of this one line and it was the line that I wanted I wanted to use where it says the people bowed and prayed to the neon God they made the people bowed and prayed to the neon God they made and No discredited of my my my guys. I love them very deeply and they did their best But they didn't know what that meant because they didn't understand the generation that put together that song It was speaking about plastic materialism Things that guided people's lives achievements that had no actual fulfillment and the people bowed and prayed to that materialism had become such a great thing in our society that was Looked at as being bad that is now cherished and valued even by pastors who preach that you should always have the things that you desire See so it's Twisted, but the Bible doesn't teach that There was a song Again, I'll jump into ancient history that was called mr. Businessmen many of you've never even heard of that But there's a line in it. I've never forgotten since I first heard it and and it's a question. He says this The singer says did you see your children growing up today? Did you hear the music of their laughter as they said about to play? Did you catch the fragrance of those roses in your garden did the morning sunlight warm your soul brighten up your day? Then he goes on to say do you qualify to be alive? Or is the limit of your senses? So as only to survive mr. Businessman you've got it all and you've got nothing you planted a garden in the backyard You don't even take the time to smell the roses that you planted People bowed and prayed to the neon God they made This ultimately diminishes us it clouds the purpose that we were created for Jesus and Luke 12 15 said it like this. He said take heed to beware of covetousness For once life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses our purpose is Much higher Than the material than the sensual it's much higher than having the attention of people Our purpose is to know and glorify God and to enjoy him forever Jesus in John 17 3 said it like this. He said this is eternal life That they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent this is eternal life to have Relationship with God not to be bound to this earth by the things we possess So Solomon has made it very clear that Life's pursuits without God our vanity physical labor But what may achieve certain things is still unsatisfying and Because our lives are brief experience reveals that there's nothing new under the sun without God Injustice and longing Is all you're ever going to experience and that's what he's been saying and that's what he said in chapter Chapter one, but now he continues his thought into chapter what we call chapter 2 And so he said in verse 1 I said in my heart Come now. I will test you with mirth Therefore enjoy pleasure surely this also was vanity greatness and wisdom Knowledge madness folly None of that satisfies The more he knew the greater the grief and the greater sorrow he experienced So he's thinking if these things don't satisfy well, perhaps pleasure will I'll try to find satisfaction and pleasure and sensual experience In other words, I'm gonna try to live life as if it's just one long Party, so he's saying that he's whatever I wanted. I make sure I got After all I had so much money. I could afford it. So why not have it? You see obviously on the one hand enjoying Life is something we were created to do that Jews rightly understood that God made man to enjoy the blessings of this life It's part of the fruit of knowing and worshiping him in Jeremiah 17 verses 7 and 8 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord whose hope is in the Lord He shall be like a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes Its leaf will be green will not be anxious in the year of drought nor will cease from yielding fruit I want you to have a blessed and abundant life. God is saying and God wants us to enjoy the life that he gave us and he wants us to be blessed But as he's saying that notice verse when he says in the end surely this also is vanity My quest for knowledge left me unsatisfied as Did my quest for pleasure? I? Said verse 2 I said of laughter madness and 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 do they hold on folly? Till I might see What was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their life? So I searched I Searched my heart. I said of laughter Even when you're trying to enjoy life We know this I'm speaking to people who will understand this if you're young and haven't learned this you will You can have everything you want in life and still be unsatisfied in Proverbs 14 verse 13 Even in laughter the heart may sorrow and the end of mirth may be grief So building your life on the pursuit of pleasure Always ends up falling short searching for pleasure results into satisfaction Whether it's alcohol or drugs Whether it's sex and money, whether it's gambling or fame Whether it's intellectual achievements all of this will leave you empty Why because these things do not satisfy your spiritual needs and so he's speaking of that He says in verse 3 said 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 of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives I wanted to heal my flesh to wine while being Guided by my wisdom. I tried to indulge in alcohol and Yet guide my use of alcohol with spiritual Wisdom that's taking place even in our day by the way in many churches. There are pastors who Enjoy their alcohol and still are trying to guide their lives with spiritual wisdom Well Solomon can say that doesn't work He's saying I tried living in the flesh and in the spirit using wine to sweeten and wisdom to guide in other words I tried to party and yet remain spiritual at the same time. I Wanted to know if I could drink my fill of wine and still be a spiritual person Could the mixing of the two Result in satisfaction in life. I'm drinking the wine and wine is pleasurable, but I have my wisdom That's also pleasurable He says in verse 3. He says delay hold on folly until I might see what was good for the sons of men. I I pursued my flesh. I pursued carnal pleasure But this is folly. I Did it because I wanted to know the true way of contentment and Satisfaction by going deeply into these things. I thought I might learn something He says in verse 4. I Made my works great. I Built myself houses planted myself vineyards. I 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 These things that I was trying Previous to this didn't satisfy. So I began looking other places. I began massive building projects. I tried to build a paradise on earth as God created Eden. I built massive buildings planted vineyards and orchards I had beautiful fruit trees and I Water pools and I did all of this for my pleasure. I created a landscaper's paradise But it was empty Anybody knows that starting a project can be fun and exciting. It can be yeah, we're gonna do it We're breaking ground. We've done that many times in this church many times and the first day is always the exciting day All right, let's do it I remember when we who purchased some property of the first property we as a church Purchase was on Maple Street in Ontario and and I was excited my my sons were both little boys And so I brought them to the the building site. We're tearing down some walls and I am I'm not a I'm not handy with the hammer and the saw, you know, I'm just not but I thought I'd pretend to be a man for a while and I I Went to do some destruction because that's I hear that that's a lot of fun So I did I went to this little building that we had and I Still remember I was telling my son, you know, you can just use a hammer and break this and now we're tearing this all down and I still remember going up to this light switch and I had a hammer and I peeled it out and and Two of the wires came out so I stuck my hand in to remove the box Yeah, and the wires One on one side the other and the other and I got the shock of my life I still remember just like that, you know, you can see my skeleton. It was really amazing To kind of show you something. I Remember pulling my hand out from between these live wires and my fingernail was on fire There was a blue fire and I got to remember I was a hippie and so I had a flashback. I looked at it going. Oh I'm moving it back and forth Then I realized I'm on fire We've done a lot of building projects the stage that I'm standing on right now Hardly any of any of you would remember this we built this stage This stage actually went to the edge of both sides of the walls here and and on one side on either side here There are some phony stained glass windows that we covered up and you know, we ripped up cart We've we've gone into building project after building project after building project. I could tell you it's exciting when it begins And after a while, when is this gonna end? I am so tired. We've got to get this done, right? Solomon understood that he had so many things that he did so many projects But there's an emptiness once it's completed. What's the point? Well being a workaholic isn't rewarding and Those who are workaholics find retirement very difficult He said in verse 7 he goes I acquired male and female servants and had servants born in my house Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks and all who were in Jerusalem before me. I was wealthier Than the wealthiest that's what he's basically doing here when he's speaking of this. I I have wealth he purchased servants He had voluntary bond servants and when the bond servants had the children the children belong to Solomon So I had many in verse 8 He says I gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces I acquired male and female singers the delights of the sons of men and Musical instruments of all kinds. I became great Excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also My wisdom remained with me. I Was wealthy extremely so I I Received tribute from kings In first Kings it gives a lot of information about Solomon and his wealth and And for example in first Kings 9 verse 28 it says They sailed to offer and brought back to Solomon 16 tons of gold So he had quite a bit of money Somebody said Solomon inherited wealth from his father David Regularly received gold and silver from the kings of Arabia governors and merchants and 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 40 years We can safely assume his assets were in the multiple billions and billions of dollars. So Are the richest people satisfied to know Not if they seek contentment through money in Verse 8 and I want you to see this I Gathered for myself silver gold special treasures of kings and provinces I acquired male and female singers the delights of the sons of men Musical instruments of every kind. What is he speaking about? Well With wine and song came the delights of men though the lights of the sons of men speaks of sexual pleasure It speaks of his his harem First cream first Kings 11 verses 3 and 4 listen to this He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines and his wives led him astray Solomon grew old his wives turned his heart after other gods His heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God as the heart of David his father had been 700 wives 300 concubines He ain't that wise What if they all had PMS, can you imagine that at the same time? Unbelievable he knew how to throw a party in First Kings 4 22 and 23 listen to this Solomon's daily provisions Were about a hundred and eighty bushels of fine flour daily a hundred and eighty bushels of fine flour about 365 bushels of meal 10 head of stall-fed cattle 20 of pasture-fed cattle a hundred sheep and goats as well as deer gazelles robux and choice fowl daily a Bushel weighs 48 pounds He had 8,640 pounds of fine flour and 17,520 pounds of regular flour daily And that made a lot a lot of tortillas This is a guy who Whose meals rivaled the best restaurants were probably surpassing the the best restaurants. I Don't even know what the best restaurants are so I just came up with a list. I Hear that this there's a place called a French laundry Our governor likes it I Hear it's amazing Lowry's Ruth's Chris Fleming's whatever whatever you like He had that every day Every single day he got kind of boring not only that he had the best wine the best entertainment and the great Greatest luxurious dining you could imagine wine women and song And he's saying here Didn't satisfy me. I was empty. It's vanity. It's feudal. It's worthless. It doesn't mean anything Having great parties became tiresome They'd be noisy and people would be jockeying for his attention and that's one of the reasons I'm sure when he wrote Proverbs he said in Proverbs 15 16 and 17's better is a little with the fear of the Lord Then great treasure with trouble Better is a dinner of herbs where love is then a fatted calf with hatred in Proverbs 17 one better is a dry morsel with quietness Then a house full of feasting with strife It's like Thanksgiving so I Became great and I excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. I Enjoyed my feasts. I tempered them with discretion I didn't yield myself completely to to heathenism or what used to be called debauchery Yeah, I did this while guiding my heart. He had said in verse 3 with wisdom In other words, I retained my reasoning through it all and what I was doing it was evaluating its results Verse 10 whatever my eyes desired. I didn't keep from him I didn't withhold my heart from any pleasure for my heart rejoicing all my laborer. This was my reward from all my laborer I Did all of this without denying myself Whatever I wanted I Could have There are there are people that we know of by perhaps you know him personally I I can't say that I know anybody exactly like this, but I can tell you I see him on the news all the time The different people that are spoken of it. They're incredible wealth and all of that you know and the Jeff Bezos and And and musk and others like that. I can't imagine What it would be like to be an Elon Musk will say he's very very very wealthy I don't know how much money he has but he has a lot to walk into a Car dealer sells Ferraris and To walk in and say I want it and the salesman will say which one all of them I Can buy them all it won't even you know He could drop a million dollars, and he's he's wasting money and time by bending down to pick it up I Mean this man has more money than we can imagine And I'm pretty sure if he had an honest moment an honest conversation I'm pretty sure he'd he'd say something similar to what Solomon said in that it doesn't really satisfy Because what satisfies me now isn't the money. It's the challenge And there were things like that that people people understand and so he's saying I became frustrated I I saw pleasure in and of itself for itself was was empty So what did I do? Well, I I return to considering if wisdom is fully satisfying You see drinking and building and and wealth and unending pleasures. Well, they're not he said Verse 11 I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled indeed always vanity Grasping for the wind. There's no profit under the Sun and Then he says 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 he's already done So he's contrasting madness and folly to see if wisdom is more satisfying He'd be especially speaking of the world's wisdom So we asked the question what can the man do who succeeds the king only what's already been done What I'm going to accomplish is duplicating what has been done and That would include that the fact that the the previous king is dead because the previous king is dead I'm going to die also So verse 13 I saw that wisdom excels folly is light excels darkness So madness and folly are disposed of as he's saying the wisdom excels folly Now wisdom alone. He's saying doesn't make us happy, but it does excel the folly of bane pleasure Why is that? Well light is more beneficial than dark on the outside folly may seem acceptable But it's actually simply a life of darkness and He illustrates this this is an interesting phrase look at verse 14. He says the wise man's eyes are in his head But the fool walks in darkness Yet I myself perceive that the same event happens to them all That's an interesting phrase the wise man's eyes are in his head The first time I ever heard that saying wasn't in the Bible The first time I ever heard that phrase was in a song and It wasn't a sung by a believer. It was sung by John Lennon Ancient history again one more tip of the hat to the Beatles this time they had a song called the fool on a hill and It says day after day alone on a 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. That's a biblical phrase That's what Solomon was saying right here when he speaks concerning the wise man's eyes are in his head It's a way of saying that a wise man walks with clear understanding The wise man can see pitfalls He can see possible problems on the path that he's taking but the one who is a fool walks in darkness and John 11 verse 10 Jesus said it like this if one walks in the night. He stumbles Because the light is not in him Because he's not walking in the light. He walks in the darkness and in the darkness. You'll always stumble So the one who's been enlightened by God sees the pitfalls and avoids them There may be a lust of the flesh. There may be a lust of the eyes. There may be a pride of life And we're aware of these kinds of things as believers Our eyes are in our head. We see the things that are going to result It may seem right now for example that if I do that thing whatever it may be That I'm gonna enjoy myself But a man with experience somebody who's gone through something knows that that doesn't always lead to the pleasure you think it will Like that guy who picked up a girl in the bar Took her home for for the night She got up earlier than he did he heard the door close as she left didn't even know her name Didn't even really know her just picked her up in a bar When he gets up he goes to his bathroom and on the bathroom mirror. She had written with her lipstick Welcome to the wonderful world of AIDS What he thought was just a night turned out to be his death and Somewhere along the line We have to learn from the experiences we go through and those of us who have grown and gone through things We can say things aren't always what they seem things aren't always Turning out the way we thought they would If I worked this hard or I do this or if I sacrifice that and we end up by ourselves My dad had a friend that he used to work with And my dad had four brats actually three brats and Me and my mom told me one day she said you know your dad has a friend who travels the world Now my father was in the Navy. He traveled the world and he had the traveling bug in him My dad wanted to travel Mama didn't so they didn't But he was jealous of this guy at work because the guy at work would speak to my father and say let me show you some of the Pictures I took while I was in Rome Let me show you some of the pictures I took when I and he I traveled the world And my my mom said that every time this guy would bring his pictures to show my dad My dad would get upset why because he had four brats and a wife That he had to take care of She says you want to hear something David and I said what mama? She said The man walked up to your dad one day and spoke to him You see the man's wife the one he traveled the world with died Left him by himself. She said you know what this man just told your dad and I said what's that I envy you Frank You've got four kids You have children that you can look at and say that I produced He said I have nothing but an empty house Traveled the world. I saw a lot But the one I traveled with is now no longer with me See the things you see is valuable now Later on you're gonna discover they're not And you may sometimes feel bad man. I wish I could I should have if I would have No You know if you're wise in the way that you live you invest in the things that matter and Solomon's saying a wise man's eyes are in his head He sees the sees the things in the future. He sees things before him But fools walks in darkness and he stumbles because he doesn't have the wisdom to see those things So for us as believers we we know that God is the one who provides light for us in Psalm 1828 The psalmist said it like this. He said you will light my lamp the Lord my God Will enlighten my darkness So what happens well verse 14 he says The same event happens to them all be both the the fool and the worldly wise Go through pain and both of them ultimately die 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 I said in my heart this also His vanity now both the wise men and the fool die and and both are soon forgotten Time has a way of erasing everything that we've done both the evil as well as the good Psalm 4910 says all can see that wise men die the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others We all die. There's one way it was one thing, you know waiting us all, you know, that's not the most cheery thought But it's true. I've said this to you before when I was just before not just before a couple years before I got saved I was Driving with some friends were in Whittier My drug of choice because it was easy to get and it was very for me recreational my drug of choice was was a smoking weed And we're smoking weed. I said remember and we're driving it was raining and my two friends were in the front seat I was sitting alone in the back and I was very high and As we're driving I said, you know what guys what? We're not living. We're dying They didn't like hearing that I said, man, you're a buzzkill. What are you doing? Why are you saying that? I said cuz I'm thinking about it You know from them and I went into this philosophic thing. I'm 18. What do I know? But I said, you know from the time we were conceived in our mother's womb until this moment every single day We think we're alive. We're actually moving towards death They never got high with me again, but it was true But it's true. It's true So what are we doing to prepare? See that's the kind of things not marijuana didn't do that to me. It didn't make me think these things Be honest with you. I didn't get wise through smoking pot or dropping acid. I didn't It just made me start thinking about where's my life going and why am I doing this? And I came to that conclusion That I'm empty. I Have no purpose I'm just passing through and I'll never impact anybody. I Have no reason to be alive. I have no excuse for living. I Came to that conclusion and it was true Because without God all is vanity. I didn't know that I simply knew I'm lost. That's what brought me to faith in Christ What happens to the fool happens to the one who is worldly wise they both die That's a fact and so It's all vanity. Why was I verse 15 more wise? It's also vanity The pursuit of the wisdom of the world hasn't resulted in peace or contentment Worldly wisdom didn't exempt me from from pain What good is it? Well, he says in verse 17 therefore I hated life Because the work that was done under the Sun was distressing to me For all this vanity grasping for the wind I hated life because it didn't offer lasting satisfaction This is where so many are today hating life But not wanting to die again. Here's another old I was in this music mood forgive me another old one by Sam cook Change is going to come It's been too hard living. I'm afraid to die. I don't know what's up there beyond the sky That's a biblical thought. It's hard living, but I don't want to die. I don't for him I don't know what's waiting me. That's the person who has it all and had nothing and So what does he do? Well? He says in 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 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool Yet he'll rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the Sun. It's vanity I'm working myself to death. I'll die. I'll leave behind everything I work for and Somebody who didn't work a day in his life for this is gonna. He's gonna receive it What good is it? I'm not satisfied with all that. I've accumulated. I actually I'm actually frustrated The fruit of my work is gonna be left to someone who didn't work for it I remember my kids when they were in high school A couple of my kids said this to me. I'll never forget. They they talked to me and they said this They said hey dad my friend is rich My 14 year old kid my friend is rich and and I always had the same answer. I said no his parents are Kid didn't parents are Now he's not speaking about by the way proper stewardship obviously We leave things behind for our children Proverbs 1322 says a good person leaves an inheritance for their children's children a Center's wealth is stored up for the righteous I've made a and I'll say this quickly I encourage every person here who was able to put even a little bit away And this is not the heart of the serve sermon. I'm just kind of sharing this with you just briefly I think it's wise if you can To save Like my dad taught me that I think it's wise to do that. We used to call it for the rainy day You know, I think it's wise to do that and I've been doing that for a long long time So that should the Lord take me home Then I and I just talked to my kids about this recently I said if when he takes me home and more than likely before he Before my my wife goes I'll go I told my kids. I don't want you taking care of your mother. That's my job. That's what I do That's what men do for their families and for the wives That's what I do and I don't want you kids to feel obligated to have to take care of Your mother when her husband should have done that for her and I believe that with all of my heart and So one of my kids said well dad, you know, you got to spend some on yourself Spend it on something you like and I said I am and spending it on your mom Because I like her it makes sense to me Proverbs 13 22 a good person leaves an inheritance for the children's children the sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous It is right to leave something behind for your kids. It's proper stewardship Stewardship and doing so is wise it can be an investment in eternity So you leave things behind in your will for your children your trust for your charities, whatever But why was he in a state of despair? It's because he knew that he couldn't keep what he worked so hard to get He couldn't protect it from somebody who's going to waste it So in verse 19, who knows whether he's going to be wiser or fool Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I told and in which I've shown myself wise under the sun This is vanity Therefore I turned my heart in and a spared of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun Somebody is going to end up with all my efforts. They could care less about it They they don't know what it took to gain these riches and they'll just spend it and won't think he said that's vanity There is a man verse 21 whose labor is with wisdom knowledge and skill yet He must leave his heritage to a man who hasn't labored for it This is vanity a great evil for what has a man What has man for all his labor and and for the striving of his heart with which he's toiled under the sun all His days are sorrowful his work burdensome even in the night his heart takes no rest. It's also vanity We can have sleepless nights Concerned about those things, but our heirs never experience it You can worry about well, what's going to happen and when you're worried about that it brings misery What are they going to do with the money? I left them. Will they be wise? Are they just going to spend it? You know at one time, you know when we're putting together a living trust in all eyes This is 20 some years ago. I told the guy who was doing the work. I said, I'm gonna I said I'm not gonna have them receive Everything in bulk sub in in bulk. I said you're gonna divvy it out to them Because you give it to my my son David. He'll be driving a Ferrari the next day if he can Now you have to be aware of those kinds of things So what's he would see come up to verse 24? Nothing's better for a man than a shitty drink 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 and joy to a man who's good in his sight but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting that he may give to him Who's good before god? This also is vanity grasping for the wind So life He says Is a gift from god What's evil Is having blessings of life and and not enjoying them He says in verse 26 god gives wisdom and knowledge and joy To a man who's good Well god desires to give wisdom god desires to give us knowledge and he wants us to have joy He wants us to enjoy working. He wants us to produce the great works He wants us to enjoy the pleasures that we can have the pleasures of marriage Of parenthood if you will he wants us to have financial security Why because he wants to bless us as we serve him He wants that for us But not so he says with the sinner. Why is that? Well, they left god out Ultimately their lives are toil and no rest That's what happens Again a good man leaves an inheritance to his children children, but the wealth of the sinner stored up for the righteous So enjoyment of life Always will find at its center A relationship with god Psalm 116 verse 7 return to your rest oh my soul for the lord is dealt bountifully with you You can put your head on your pillow at night and you can rest why because Because you're walking with the lord Whatever has come into your life and i'll close it with this thought whatever is coming to your life up to this point Has had a had to go through one thing first and that is the will of god That is one of the more deep lessons that you're going to learn as a believer Because there are things that we may experience That we do not see the value of now We just don't see it Because all we can see at the moment is the difficulty that we may be experiencing and all i've worked so hard It doesn't seem like Anything results But i can tell you God makes it good When you take care of the things he gives you he produces fruit in your life my son My son's son my son grandson david david erin junior Got some seeds And he said let's plant these seeds pop on he said sure why not So i got a little small pot Through some dirt in it took his seeds Put the seeds in it covered it up with dirt watered it put it in the sun Left it there about four or five six weeks later He walks up and says are my seeds growing? They're dead Why? Well, you got to take care of them You got to water them They don't just grow up by themselves And you know what I think that's a lesson you learn in life You take care of the things that god gave to you you use them according to his will You invest those things in other people You may not see the fruit of it immediately because it takes time for the seeds to produce But one day they do And one day you reap the benefits and the pleasures and the joys of the labor Well, you sowed and you watered but god gave the increase And in your life it's very similar a life without god is going to prove to be without meaning But a life that is centered on the lord Even though you may go through difficult times, you're going to come to the conclusion to fear god And to serve him with all that you have why? Because what was meant at one time perhaps to be evil What you've gone through that has been so hurtful that you don't think you can survive it And you put your head on your pillow at night and you can hardly breathe you're in such turmoil and grief and sorrow And one day later on is going to prove to be something god uses in you to make you into the person you wanted to be all along And what you may have used what may have been Something you cried about and heard about and sighed over god can turn that around Because god can teach you to see him in the midst of all the futility that's in the world See with in the world, there's nothing but vanity But in god There's purpose And that's what solemn and his talent is bit by bit little here a little there I've done all of these things And I found and you'll say at the end without god it was nothing But now I know him I know him in a deeper way And I can tell you it's all centered On him and we'll see that as we go through chapter by chapter as it go through so many different things that we'll identify with And incidentally next week as we get into chapter three It'll be another old song that you'll have a chance to see