 Tonight, we're in Ecclesiastes. We'll begin at verse 1 in chapter 9. I'll begin at verse 1, give an introduction, and we'll move into our study. Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Solomon writes, I considered all this in my heart so that I could declare it all that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. And so Solomon has been speaking and writing concerning a variety of things and in the chapter prior in chapter 8, he had concluded that life itself is beyond comprehension and in verse 17, he had pointed out there are simply many things that we can never expect to know. He had said in chapter 8 verse 17, I saw all the work of God that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the Son. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it. Moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it. And so he's simply pointing out that there are things that we can never expect to know. And as he had been writing, he has also pointed out that sometimes life just doesn't seem fair. In chapter 8 verse 14, he said there's a vanity which occurs on earth that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said this is also vanity. And so sometimes some receive rewards in life that should be reserved for the righteous and sometimes the righteous seem to receive less out of life than they deserve. And so as we looked at chapter 8, we closed with him pointing out that growing in wisdom helps us understand that there will always be more that we need to know. And so we need to learn to accept the things that we can't change. It's that old serenity prayer that some of you learned in AA. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. And so that's a fact. We need to know what we can and cannot really impact and affect. And so that's how we had left off last time. And now in verse 1 and chapter 9, he continues by saying, I considered all this in my heart so that I could declare it all, that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. And so with that in mind, he continued by saying, I considered all this in my heart. I've considered that life doesn't seem to be fair. I've considered that wisdom itself should be pursued. And these are things that I gave my heart to dig through. The word considered in the Hebrew literally means to dig through something. So these are things that I gave my heart to dig through, to explain, to understand. And as I've done so, as I've continually looked through these things and dug through these things, considered these things, well, I've concluded that ultimately the wisest thing that I can do, seeing that I can't know everything, is to learn to just trust God. You see, he says in verse 1, the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. Ultimately, we need to understand our lives are under the divine control as well as the supervision of God himself. And though we may not understand why things happen, we can still trust the Lord. My pastor Chuck Smith one time said that there are things I can't understand. And because there are things I can't understand, he says I've chosen to just trust in the things that I do. And there are some things that the Lord may not reveal to me this side of heaven, but I have one knowledge and that is my God is good. And I trust that he loves me, knowing that my God is good and that he loves me is enough to help me to get through the trials that I go through. So we may not understand why things happen, but we still can trust the Lord. It's interesting in verse 1 how he says in the last portion, people know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. Earlier it had written, sometimes the good seemed to suffer more than the righteous, or rather the evil, the good seemed to suffer more than the evil. So we must not use outward circumstances as our measuring rod of God's love for us. Because you can, you can see that you do the best that you can with your kid if you're a parent. You raise them, you give them devotions, you're loving them, you're bringing them to church, and they turn the other way. They cause problems in school, they don't do well in their getting bad grades and all, and some child down the road whose parents don't care about them, who seems to just let that child live the way he wants or she wants. You know, they're honor roll students and everything seems to go good for them. And there are times that you can sometimes wonder, how come that is? Why is that going on? And then you can say, well, maybe it's just me, maybe the Lord just doesn't love me. You see, ungodly people can have great jobs. They can have good kids. They can have productive marriages. And here we are struggling. So it provokes us. Sometimes we wonder whether the Lord loves us. There are times that you may even go so far as to wonder what you've done to make him mad. Why is God displeased with me? Sometimes outward circumstances, well, they don't necessarily reveal God's disposition towards us. There are some things that are simply the adversities that actually will strengthen our faith and develop our character. You know, it's that old saying, it's that old story about that, that guy who was walking, and as he was walking, he saw a cocoon and it was moving and he was a curious sort. And so he walks up and he sees this cocoon as it's moving everything. And then he discovers that there's a butterfly that's trying to emerge from it. And so he's fascinated by it and he watches it and he sees now it splits and then he sees how the head comes out and everything. And it seems to be struggling so much that it bothers him. So he kind of snips the cocoon a bit. And as he does so, it makes it easier for that butterfly to come out. And as the butterfly begins to emerge from the cocoon, he looks more closely at it and he discovers that the wings are dwarfed, they're misshapen, and doesn't know why. And later on, he asks and they say, well, the person he asks says, well, he says part of the way that the fluids in the body are placed or actually squeezed through that opening, it's intended for those fluids to squeeze into the wings. And so as it struggles to get out of the cocoon, body fluids are being pressed and the wings that are small and undeveloped really, are not fully developed, are receiving the juices that flow and it causes the wings to be able to take shape. And that's how the butterfly is able to survive. So what this man had done is he actually had killed that butterfly rather than helped it because by removing it of its struggle, he also removed it of its wings. And there were things for us that we will go through, that we wish somebody would bail us out, can't you help us? But sometimes the Lord would say, no, this is the process that is going to give two wings to fly. These are the things that I'm doing in your life that will strengthen you. So some things are simply that we consider adversities are really the things that strengthen us. They will shape our faith and develop our character. In James in chapter one, verses two through four, James said, consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. So instead of kicking against the prods, it's a good thing for us to realize that the Lord is involved in all of this. And so outward circumstances never really reveal God's love for you or even his anger. You don't get it. That's not how you perceive these things. Verse two, all things come alike to all. One event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good, the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner. He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath. So it's interesting how he says that all things come alike to all. One event happens to the righteous and one also to the wicked, etc. So this event he's speaking about occurs to everybody. It happens to the righteous, it happens to the wicked, it happens to the good, it happens to the clean, the unclean, the churchgoer, non-churchgoer, the oath taker. An oath taker is revealing spiritual life, the non-oath taker. In other words, one who doesn't fear God. So he's speaking of one event that happens to everybody and you know what that event is, it's death. One event happens to all, no matter what and that event is death. In Psalm 89.48 the question is asked, what man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave? And so we share a common destiny on earth in that both saint and sinner die and both saint and sinner are buried. So if all people, Christians should have the greatest courage in facing death. We recognize its inevitability and we are prepared to face it because we know what it is. There are those who will say that death is your friend, but the Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches that death is our enemy. That's what it says in Scripture, 1 Corinthians 15, 26. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. So we know we die. Well, if you know you die, isn't that going to bum you out? Well, no, not necessarily. We know we're going to die, yet we can live with joy because we don't have a fear of what's going to happen. You know, those who fear death, sometimes you might say, you know, it's not death so much. It's how it's going to happen. You know, and I think we could talk a lot about weirdnesses and fears about like that. Because we've been in interesting situations when it comes to mind, you know, we were flying home one day from Israel. Now this is going to cause people who are going to Israel with us to be afraid. So let me encourage you. But we're flying home from Israel. And as we were flying, we were approaching New York because we had a layover in New York. We're landing in New York. And as we were beginning to approach, there was a tremendous storm that we were flying into. And as we were flying into this storm, the plane that we're in, it's a huge plane, 747, is beginning to shake. And as it's beginning to shake, and again, that's a huge plane, there are people who are beginning to get nervous. And as it shakes even more, and it becomes even more violent, it gets everybody, you can hear people very nervous all over the plane. And then it gets so bad that the oxygen masks begin to fall from the, yeah. And people at that point are a bit afraid. It's all airlines. And so this is how afraid people were. We had Jewish people, Orthodox Jews approaching us saying, please come into the back and pray with us. You know, I mean, that's a big thing when an Orthodox Jew asks a Christian to sit to pray with them. It's a big thing. And people that you can hear women screaming and men screaming who are kind of like women. And as the, and as I mean, they're getting nervous. It's a nervous time for a lot of people. And as this is taking place and I'm sitting there, I had a newspaper and I'm reading it. And my daughter, Corinne, who was 15 at the time in her seatmate, who was also 15, and you need to know if you know my daughter, Corinne, you'll, you'll understand what I'm saying right now. All of a sudden I could hear her singing, rejoicing the Lord always, and getting, she's singing. And at that point at 15, she wasn't one who was singing to the Lord a lot. So all of a sudden I'm saying, I can hear this little quiver in her because if she's going to heaven, she wants to go singing, right? Maybe, maybe she thinks that'll get her in. I don't know. But as she's doing that, she's right here behind me and I'm reading the newspaper. And, and, and we go down and then we have to come up again. And we come back and we go down and we're going close to the waves and you can see the white caps as we're going over the waves. It's a real, really thrilling time, quite exciting. And we, how many times, two or three times, we went and then we have to go back up three times and then we came back, had to go back up, came back, and by the third time, everybody's screaming and I'm still reading the paper. And so we were, we were diverted to Montreal, came back, were able to land. My daughter approaches me afterwards and she says to me, dad, I have to ask you a question. I said, what? Why weren't you afraid? Why were you reading the newspaper calmly like that when everybody around you was freaking out? And I said, well, baby, because I knew that the Lord is not through with me, with our church. I knew that God is not through with our church. And with her 15 year old wisdom, she looks me in the eye and she says, has it never occurred to you that He doesn't need you to finish with the church? I said, now that you mention it, you know, it's a fact that it really is, it really is a fact that when you're, when your, your eternity is settled in your heart, when you know your God and you know your relationship with Him, where, oh death, where is your sting? Oh death, where is your sting? The fear of death is sin. But thanks be to God, because Jesus Christ overcame. See, this is the Christian faith and the Christian hope that we have. We are overcomers because of Him. And so the fact of the matter is, yes, one thing does happen to all, to the sinner and the saint alike and to everything in between. And that one thing, that one event is death. And that's what He's talking about. One event happens to the righteous, the wicked, the good, the clean, unclean. The one who sacrifices, the one who doesn't sacrifice, the good. So the sinner, he takes an oath, he who doesn't, he who fears an oath. And so one thing happens, we know that we're going to die. And that's, you know, that's not something that I want to bum you out with. That's not news though that you've never heard before. When I was a kid, before I came to faith in Christ, I was one of those kids who began to think, you know, where am I going? I mean, I've lived all of these 16 years, you know, and I thought I was old at 16. And so I think, where am I going? I've got nothing. I still remember when I was around 17, maybe 18, I was in the back seat with some friends, you know, we were driving. I was seated in the back. My two friends were in the front seat, driving and passenger. And we were, I'll be honest with you, you know, we were smoking pot. And when that happened, you know, I used to get very pensive and very thoughtful. And I still remember being seated back there. And I said, with all of my teenage wisdom, I said, Hey guys, we're not living. We're all dying. From the moment we were conceived in our mother's womb, the death process has been within us all this time. I used to think that was deep and heavy, but they turned and they said, shut up, man, you're bumming us out, man, you're a bummer. But I was thinking about that in my teen years. I was, I was thinking, you know what, we're slowly winding down. And so that's one of the things the Lord puts in your, in your heart, this eternity is in your heart, this knowledge that, that, that we're proceeding in a certain direction that all will go to and that's death. And so it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, it doesn't matter if you're an oath taker or a non oath taker. The whole point is, is there something waiting for all? And it is an enemy and it is death. And yet we know that enemy that is destroyed is death. Jesus conquered the grave. And because we have a living savior, we have a living hope. And so we have of all people hope because our hope is in our God who is alive. In Psalm 49, 15, God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. He shall receive me. When Jesus was speaking on one occasion to one of his disciples whose brother Lazarus had died, Jesus in John 11, 25 and 26 said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me though he may die, he shall live and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. And then he asked this question, do you believe this? That's the question we all have to answer ourselves, right? Do you believe this? It's one thing for me to say, well, theoretically I do. But no, practically, do you, do you honestly believe that if you have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, is you're just passing through and you're moving on to his glory? Because if you do, you've got hope. And that's the whole bottom line. Everybody dies. But what we do is we continue life with him. And that's the promise of life we have in Christ. And verse three, this is an evil in all that is done under the sun that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil. Madness is in their hearts while they live. And after that, they go to the dead. He's in a cheerful mood, isn't he? So how do people react to the fact that they will die? Well, some live as if there's no tomorrow, and they sin to their heart's content. They reject the Lord, they end up living debauched lives and die. They have the model, 1 Corinthians 1532, where it says, if the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, tomorrow we die. For them, life is a party, just party, party, party on, because you're going to die. And you see that kind of mentality in many ways in various festivities throughout the world. You can see Mardi Gras, where it's that mentality and all of that, eat, drink, for tomorrow you die. Well, he goes on in verse four, but for him who was joined to all the living, there is hope for a living dog. For a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, the dead know nothing. And they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also, their love, their hatred, their envy have now perished. Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun. And so others just look at death as another obstacle. They accept its reality. They have no faith in God. They cling to the model where there is life, there is hope. Though they know they're going to die, they put thoughts of death on the back burner. They live as though they'll not die. They don't prepare for it. There is a guy, some of you have heard his name for others. This is a reference in a history book. There was a guy named Woody Allen, great philosopher, Woody Allen. And Woody Allen, a Hollywood actor, and all said, I'm not afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens. And that's kind of how they think. They know they're going to die, but they don't think about it. They put death on the back burner. In Luke 12, 16 through 21, Jesus spoke a parable. He said, the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. He thought within himself, saying, what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops? So he said, I'll do this. I'll pull down my barns and build greater. And there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry. God said to him, fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then who's will those things be which you have provided? So is he who lays up treasure for himself. And it's not rich toward God. Fool, you have spent all of your life saving this up, only to leave it behind. You didn't get rich in your soul. You just had material riches. And here you are thinking that you're going to live another day when tonight your soul shall be required of you. As I've said to some of you for this before, my cousin's husband, his name was Manuel. Manuel worked many years and finally got to the point of retirement. And Manuel had his retirement party and his friends and everybody were at his house and he and my cousin Eleanor were preparing to start living, to travel together and all. And so Manuel had his retirement party and he went to bed that night and died in his sleep. He never had one day of retirement. He put his head on his pillow and never opened up his eyes. You don't know. You have no guarantee for tomorrow. He says the living know that they will die. The dead know nothing. The living on earth can see death approaching and prepare for it. Those who have already died don't know what's happening on earth, nor can they add to their reward or their reputation once they have died. Verse 7. So go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart. For God has already accepted your works. Let your garments always be white. Let your head lack no oil. So don't wash your hair. No, that's not what it means. That was dumb. Since death, since death is inevitable. Instead of brooding over it, enjoy your life. Now he's already stated that. He has said it more than once. Let me see. In verse 15 of chapter 8 he has said, I commended enjoyment because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be a merry. For this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun. He's already said, enjoy life. In chapter 2, verse 24, he has said there's nothing 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. And so he's not encouraging his readers to go out looking for unusual experiences. He's advising them to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Listen, if you can learn, by the way, to enjoy the simple pleasures, that's a very good lesson to learn. I can't explain to you. Some of you know what I mean. Others will discover what I mean. When you learn to enjoy the simple pleasures, that's a secret of contentment. And I know this is going to sound stupid. And I hesitate to say it because it's going to sound stupid. So I will, I'll tell you, and sound stupid. But it's just true. I don't know how to say it. It comes to mind as I'm saying this, enjoy the simple pleasures. You may be blessed over a lifetime as you're growing older to experience many things. You may have a chance to do a lot of things that others may not ever get a chance to do. You may have chances that others aren't afforded. And you might even take them for granted. And I can tell you as somebody that the Lord has blessed in many ways. I began traveling when I was 25 years old. I spent three months backpacking Europe. I spent almost a month in Greece alone. I saw 13 countries traveled. And I drove a Mercedes Benz from Athens, Greece to Frankfurt, Germany, drove straight through Yugoslavia. I've traveled a lot. I've seen a lot of cities and places in the world by God's grace. I've seen places like Manila, Philippines. I've seen Paris, France, London, England. I've been to Brussels, Belgium. I've seen Edinburgh, Scotland. I've been around the world. I've seen Bangkok. I've been, you name it, I've been all over the world, traveled the world, ministered in Thailand, gone to Mexico several times, South America. I've been around the world, seen a lot. And there are times when people have been very kind and have taken us out to eat. And we've eaten at very, in very nice restaurants. And it's not, it's not like, like, oh, we deserve this has been the grace of God and the kindness of others. And it's been a blessing. And so I've had a chance to eat snails and they go down slow. But I've had chances to do those kinds of things, you know, to be in the Champs-Elysees and in Paris and to be drinking a bottle of pariette that's about six ounces that costs seven dollars. That's a one-time thing for me. But I've seen, I've gone to Jordan. I've been to Egypt. I've been 26 times to Israel. So I've seen the world, Tokyo, Japan. Yeah. But you know what, Marie made me dinner on Monday. And man, it's better than anything else I eat anywhere. And what is it, honey? It's hamburger meat and potatoes. Yeah. And bell pepper and onions, some beans, some tortillas. Oh man, I was eating. It's, it's, that's my favorite food. It doesn't cost anything. It doesn't cost anything. Enjoy the simple pleasures. I'm telling you, it's true. You can try things in different places and, and there's nothing wrong. I'm not saying it's wrong. Please forgive me if it sounds like I'm not saying it's wrong. But what happens over time is you begin to see that the simpler things really are the better things. They are the more, they make you content. You know, I'm not sitting there saying, this costs me 50 bucks. No, what it costs? A couple of bucks. I mean, it costs anything to make you so. It's good. I like it. So simple, learn to be content in the simple things. That's what I'm trying to say. Who would make some sense? Because that's what Solomon is saying. From the mouth of the richest man and wisest man, he's teaching us simplicity and moderation. Escape the clutter of life. Enjoy the simple pleasures. Listen, life is to be lived at peace with God. And when that happens, there's peace within. When you enjoy the simple pleasures of life as a gift from God, stress is eliminated. The clutter simply produces anxiety. It robs you of your joy. You've had, my dad used to call these clunkers, beaters. The cars that when you're driving down the street, it's like smoke signals coming out of the exhaust. They hardly ever start when they do. They hardly ever run. And so you save your nickels, your dimes. Again, there's nothing wrong with this, but you save your nickels in your dimes and you buy your first newer car. And then what happens? You take up two parking spaces. You don't want anybody near it. You're nothing but anxious. You pull into the parking space and you see somebody pulling, oh, they're too close, they're too close. And they swing the door open and bang and hit your car. And you're looking at them with daggers in your eyes. You're so mad because you just killed my God. And you climb out and you look at it and say, oh man, if you look at it this way, you can see the dent. I'm so mad. It's true. It's true. What happens is we get caught up with that thing and we can live without peace. It's true. So be careful. Be careful that the things that you own don't own you. Be aware of that. Much of our activity is little more than an anesthetic to dead in the pain of an empty life. What we need to do is simplify our lives. He says in verses seven and eight, God has already accepted your works. In a New Testament sense, because you have faith in Christ and you are right with God, it means that God accepted you. And that includes the works that you have even yet to do. You see, in a sense, it simply reflects that God has totally accepted you for all time. The good works that you have yet to do, this is interesting, but they're already known by God. Good things you have yet to do are already known. In Psalm 139, verses 14 through 16, listen to this. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame was hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. God knows you even before he were created. Think about that. So instead of living a stress-filled life, learn to live at peace with the Lord, because he's aware of what you do for him and he does reward your good works. In Hebrews 6, verse 10, it says, God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love, which you've shown towards his name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. God doesn't forget the good things and he rewards you properly. In verse 9, he says, Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life. Isn't that sweet? Which he has given you under the sun all your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life and in the labor which you perform under the sun. Now, he had just said people should enjoy life, enjoy simple pleasure. In verse 7, he said, Eat and drink with joy and a merry heart rest in God's grace. And so the best meal that you can have, really the best thing that you can find on your menu is love and love in the family. And so love makes an ordinary meal into a joyful banquet. So enjoy simple pleasures and that would include enjoying your marriage. That's what he means when he says, Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life, which he's given you under the sun. Joy should fill everything and so enjoying simple pleasures includes enjoying your husband or your wife. God has given you your wife, husband, so lover completely and lover with a full commitment. This upcoming Sunday, I'll be speaking on the role of the husband in the Christian home and hopefully I'll be able to give more concerning that. But God gave you a wife if you're married and lover, lover completely. Remember Proverbs 18 22, he who finds a wife finds what is good and receives savor from the Lord. Proverbs 19 verse 14, houses and wealth are inherited from parents. Prudent wife is from the Lord. Well, as is true in the case of so many, Solomon didn't live up to his own ideals. He understood marriage, but he also forsook God's pattern for marriage. And ultimately, when you look at the life of Solomon, you'll see that he actually disobeyed the rules that the Lord had given concerning marriage. You'll find this interesting because even before there was a king in Israel, God had given laws that were to be related to the behavior of kings. It's found in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Old Testament. And when God was giving laws to the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 17, one of those laws was neither shall the king multiply wives for himself. Let's just heart turn away. Kings are not to have any wives. God said that in the law. And that law was there long before Solomon. But in first Kings chapter 11 verse three, it reads Solomon had 700 wives. He wasn't that wise, was he? He had 700 wives, princesses and 300 concubines. Yeah, I'll let that set for a while. And he never slept. No. And his wives turned away his heart. I may have authority. My wife does have influence. And these women turned his heart from following perfectly after the Lord. He actually began building places of worship for them and their false gods because many of these marriages were actually political marriages that he had so that he could strengthen himself throughout the world. But in bringing them, he actually grew attached to them. He loved many wives and their idolatry infiltrated the religious beliefs of Solomon himself. Now it would seem that in later years, he embraced what he had once rejected, but you see how that happened in his kingdom. And so live joyfully with the wife whom you love in all the days of your vain life. Love your wife if you're married with a fully committed heart. Verse 10, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. For there's no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you're going. This is one of those verses that the Lord gave to me when my children were young. I like the first portion of it especially where it says whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Be fully committed in what you do. Be fully committed. See, whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. And do it well while you still have strength. Put your hand to it and do it with your strength. You see, ultimately you're going to die and all your labor and accomplishments will be concluded. So if you do things with the right heart, you can actually enjoy your work. So whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all of your might. Don't be half-hearted. Don't be lacking in commitment. If you're going to follow the Lord, follow the Lord with all that's within you. If you're going to follow him, follow him. But there's hardly anything that makes the Lord more disgusted than it is lukewarm believers. Be either hot or cold, he says. But if you're lukewarm, you make me gag. You make me want to vomit. I am ready to spew you out of my mouth is what Jesus said. Luke warmness is ugly. I mean, if you played sports at all, you know that somebody who's half-hearted and what they do, you don't want them. You don't want to play next to them. I played sports for a long time. For a long time. A lot of baseball and a lot of football. A lot. And I enjoyed it. And when we would play, even as kids, we'd play over the line. I don't even know if that's a game anymore, but it was called over the line. Usually we're three. There were two in the outfield in the shortstop and we played against each other. And when we played just even in pickup games like that, somebody would hit the ball and maybe it went over short and that's a hit, you know, and all of that. And it might get past one of the outfielders. And if that outfielder would just kind of walk slowly to go get the ball and lazily throw it in, I hated that. I hated that. I wasn't the kid who liked to play with lukewarm ballplayers. I just, you know what, if you don't want to play, then don't. You want to sit and watch or you want to be a cheerleader, that's good. But don't come on the field. Don't come on the field. Because at an early age, there was this competitive urgency in my heart that God had to deal with. But there was a competitive urgency that if I was going to do it, I was going to be the best I could at it. I wasn't going to be that guy who just kind of makes excuses. Well, I learned that as a kid. And I brought that into my spiritual life. I want to be the best Christian that God can fashion me to be. There needs to be this. Whatever you put your hand to do, do it with all your might. Don't do it half heartedly. Do it as unto the Lord. Do it as unto him. You need to do it with all your strength. In Mark 12 verse 30, you shall love the Lord your God with some of your heart, some of your soul. No, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, with all of your strength. So serve God with everything. And this love for the Lord works itself out in our daily lives. We're to love and serve the Lord with everything. That includes everything we do, whether it's work, whether it's school, whether it's marriage, it's just life. In 1 Corinthians 10, 31, Paul said, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. He wrote the Colossians in chapter three verses 23 and 24, whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, not to men. Knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance. You serve the Lord Christ. Keep that in mind. When you serve the Lord, just serve him with all that you have today. And then when you wake up tomorrow, serve him with all you have tomorrow. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your mind. In verse 11, I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill. But time and chance happen to them all. That's interesting. Time and chance happen to them all. Even the wisest person can go hungry. The rich can experience sudden poverty. Those of understanding or those who are skilled can lose their positions due to downsizing. They can be injured and lose their position. Sometimes they may be overlooked because of favoritism on the job site. Now the fact is time and chance happen to them all. Sometimes, in other words, things just do not go according to our plans. Things can happen that we simply have no control over. And those plans that we once had can be undermined. So when he says time and chance, he's not referring to luck, but rather to unforeseen circumstances. We don't believe in luck because we trust in God who provides for us. So we trust God to guide us, to help us. And we prayerfully make our decisions and we do rely on him. It's like it says in Jeremiah 10, 23, Oh Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself, and it's not in man who walks to direct his own steps. We already saw in Proverbs, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him. He will direct your paths. And so he's simply saying that there are some things that occur that were unforeseen. And these things happen. So time and chance happen to them all. And verse 12, a man does not know his time like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare. So the sons of men are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them. No matter how detailed your plan may be, there are things that come unexpectedly. He uses illustrations like a net that captures a fish, a snare that catches a bird, suddenly. In other words, sometimes events occur beyond our control. We're snared by evil events. So life is out of the control of man. So what do we do? And this is a key, by the way, and this is a key, by the way, we submit ourselves to the Lord and we submit our plans to him. One of the passages that makes this very clear is found in James chapter four, verses 13 and 14, where he says, come now, you who say today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, make a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. Then he asks the question, what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. A little vapor, that's what your life is. How do you illustrate that? It's a cold winter. We may get a few days like that this year. Cold winter. And you take a shower and you didn't heat up the bathroom area, shower area there. You didn't heat it up. So you take a hot shower, you're there in the shower for a while. You step out and all of that mist begins to settle on the mirror. And either you take a towel and dry it off or a hairdryer or whatever you do, or you just leave it alone. You go into another room for a moment, you come back. How long did that vapor last? It just doesn't. It feels like it lasts forever if you're in a hurry. But it doesn't last that long. That's the whole point. My life is a vapor. It is here right now and gone. And when you become aware of that, how transient your life is, we need to make sure that we submit ourselves and our plans to the Lord. We need to make sure. Why? Because like he says in verse 12, a man does not know his time because the Lord's in control. In verse 13, this wisdom I have also seen under the sun. It seemed great to me. There was a little cry with a little city with few men in it and a great king came against it, besieged it and built great snares around it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. I said, wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. Now that's really interesting. He gives an illustration that highlights something that is both unusual and common at the same time. It's highlighting how the battle doesn't always go to the strong and he illustrates it like this. A powerful king comes up against a small, sparsely populated city. The mighty king lays siege to the city. He uses his military strength and though heavily out man, the city is delivered by the council of a poor wise man. Now this is his illustration. Because of this, the man should have been held in honor and should have been remembered. But he was not given proper honor. Eventually, he was forgotten. And so such is the transience of human honor and fame. Honors gained from man will not last. Keep that in mind. That is an important point to make. There are things that you may do that are just noteworthy man. They should be remembered. But they're not. There are things that you've done that should have been commended or sometime in the future you will do that will really be commendable. But you're not going to get the honor for it. That's the point he's making. He said this poor wise man gave advice that saved a city from destruction and he never got the honor that he should have received. He eventually was forgotten. So honors gained from man will never last. So here's your key. Desire, honor from the Lord. Because he honors you properly. When you do something to be seen by men, Jesus said, and men give you credit and give you honor. He said you receive your reward. But when you do something as unto the Lord, the Lord who sees in secret is the one who rewards you openly. And so if you can as a Christian learn that, that your life is not to be filled with you expecting honor and glory from people, you'll be more peace filled. There are even in the ministry, sometimes there are ministers who have to tell you everything they do and all that they know and all that. That's just not a good thing to do. Let another man's mouth praise you and not your own. Let the Lord be the one who says, well done, my good and my faithful servant. Let him be the one who commends you. Do it as unto him, not for the praise of man. Because if you do it to be recognized, honored by others, you'll never be satisfied. Because what happens is once they give you honor, you get addicted to it and you want more and you want more and you can begin to compromise. And as you begin to compromise, you lose that edge that you once had and you stop having the reward of the Lord and you now begin to have the recognition of man. It's a very dangerous place to be. We need to understand that today. Honor gained from man doesn't last. In Philippians chapter 2 verse 3, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each of his mother's better than himself. Verse 17, words of the wise spoken quietly should be heard rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. The wisdom is to be preferred over the fool that shouts. That's often not the case. Wise men are often ignored. You know why they don't draw attention to themselves. Loud and obnoxious people often get attention and glory that they don't deserve. That's true once again, not just in life, but that's just true even in the ministry. You know, I was about to share something with you, I won't, but I can tell you that's very true. I've seen that. So I'll move into verse 17. Words of the wise spoken quietly should be heard. We should look to those with a quiet wisdom and respect them. You see, wisdom, verse 18, is better than weapons. Using wisdom can produce great good, because it can lead to victory, even peace. And listening to one who is driven by sinful foolishness undermines what is good. So when he says wisdom is better than weapons of war, one sinner destroys much good. Be careful who you allow to give you counsel. Be very, very careful who you listen to. My mom tried to teach me that she was fairly successful, not completely, but fairly. And my mom tried to teach me, David, be careful who you hang around with. And she used to use a word when I was a little boy, I didn't even know what the word meant. She said, look out, that person's an instigator. She would say that that person's an instigator. I didn't know what an instigator was, but whatever it was, I had to watch out for it. It's a person that's going to get you in trouble, she was saying to me. The instigate problems. Be careful who you hang around with. Be careful who you allow to influence you. The person who walks with the wise will be wise. But if we walk with the fools, we become foolish ourselves. Be very careful. Be very careful who you allow to influence you in every way. Spiritually, be careful to check out the things that I as a pastor teach, or those who you listen to. Be careful. That's a good thing to do, to take the words and investigate them. Years ago, I was at a pastor's conference, and a man walks up and introduces himself to me and says to me, I want you to know that I went to your church for a while, and he was actually at Bible college. I was teaching at the Bible college, and so he walks up and he was one of the members of my class. So he says to me, I want you to know that I was a member of your church, and it was through you that I decided to come and come to the Bible college. And I said, well, that's great, because I had never met him. So we had a conversation, and this is what he said, paraphrased, but he said, he said, I live in Pomona, but you were in Ontario at that time. We were in Ontario. He said, and so I couldn't get to church. So I came to visit you because you were close by because the church that he would attend was in the LA area, and it was a pastor by a well-known teacher of error. And on one occasion on a Sunday morning, I just happened to reference this particular teacher of error by quoting him. And as I quoted this man, I said, this is what he's teaching, but you have to be careful because this is the error of what he's saying. And so he said, that was my pastor. He said, and when you gave the reference, I got angry at you. He says, I was a visitor to the church. Who are you to speak about my pastor in that way? He said, I've got my loyalties. He says, and I have every one of his tapes and boxes in my garage. He said, when you referenced it, you told me where I could find that quote. He said, and I went home and I played that cassette and I found that quote. And then I discovered you quoted him fairly and accurately. But I was still angry at you. He said, the next week I can get to church again, so I came to visit you a second time. And he said, for some reason, you had to quote him again, which I normally don't do. I actually never do that. But I apparently did it again. He said, you quoted him again and you got me mad again. He says, so I went home and I listened to that tape and you quoted him accurately and fairly. He said, that made me start coming here to listen so I could test what you were saying against what you were teaching and what he had taught. He says, make a long story short. He says, I started coming to your church because I saw that you were teaching the word and I wasn't receiving it where I was going. He says, and now I'm in the Bible college and I'm going to be going out to do works of ministry. And he went out and he pastors Calvary Chapel of San Antonio, Texas now. And he was once, you know, a person who was all offended, but he took time to read and to study and to check. And he saw the accuracy of the division of the word. And he's been serving the Lord there for well over 20 years now. And the God has, and God has blessed him tremendously. And so it's very wise for us to be careful who we allow to influence us. Be very careful. And it can sound self-serving. I don't, I don't mind if you check me, please do. I have no problem with it because you should be a Berean. Check to see whether these things are so whole fast of the things that are true and be careful who you allow to influence you. There are a lot of places. I won't name names today. I don't feel like it, but and I'm about to close, but there are places that I, if I began to mention them, you all know, you know the names of those pastors, but I can tell you those pastors are preaching themselves and not the gospel. And yet they're very popular and people will listen to them, buy their books, get their DVDs or CDs, use them for various things in their own churches. When in fact, these people aren't teaching the truth because what we have done in these last days is we've heaped into ourselves teachers because we have itching ears. They tell us the things we want to hear and we get ourselves teachers who agree with us. We already believe certain things when we get into the church. When they say things we like, it only builds up our own beliefs rather than being challenged and being, you know, caused to be a Berean to check to see whether these things are so. We want it a lot easier. We want it kind of like, like baby food. We don't want anything that we need to chew or anything for ourselves. We want it predigested so that way we can just come out and say we went and heard something and it's changed our lives. But in fact, it's simply agreeing with what we already believe. The studies that have been best for my soul have been the ones that have challenged what I believe so that I can dig deeper to discover what God may really be saying, which convicts me of my own error and helps me to know his truth. Be careful who you allow to influence you.