We're going to read one more place before I start to preach. Turn if you would to Psalm chapter 2.
Psalm chapter number 2. Of course we just read in Ecclesiastes chapter 1, the beginning of the great book of Ecclesiastes,
talking about how vain and meaningless many things in life are.
And that's what chapter 1 is all about. That's really what the whole book is about.
But in Psalm chapter 2, I want to show you this passage where I take the title from my sermon tonight.
But in Psalm 2 verse 1 the Bible reads,
The Lord had said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings, be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and he perish from the way,
when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
Now the part of the chapter that I wanted to preach on is that statement in verse number 1.
Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? That's the title of my sermon tonight.
The people imagine a vain thing. What does vanity mean? What does it mean to be vain?
Something that's vain is something that's empty, something that's worthless, something that doesn't have any real lasting value.
Have you ever heard people spoken of that care a lot about their appearance and they say,
Oh, that person's very vain? Because they stare at themselves in the mirror all the time and you say,
Oh, that's a very vain person. Why? Because the way that you look is really not that important.
It doesn't really matter. And so that's why people who feel that way are called vain.
Anything that's vain is something that's worthless, meaningless, it's of no value.
Now here in the book of Psalm 2, and turn it through into Acts 4, but in Psalm 2,
David is talking about how the heathen are enraged, they're angry.
They want to fight against God. They don't want to accept his lordship.
You think about Jesus Christ tells the parable about the man who goes off into a far country
and he lets out his vineyard to husband men and they build a tower and so forth.
Well, you remember that as soon as that Lord who represents God was in that far country,
they sent a message after him saying, We will not have this man rule over us.
And that's what the world says tonight. They say, Let's break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.
We don't want God to tell us how to live. We don't want God to tell us what's right and wrong.
We don't want God exercising any authority over this earth.
And he says they can get enraged and they get angry about it, but he says it's a vain thing. Why?
Look at Acts 4 and we'll see that this is being quoted by the apostles.
They had just been arrested and they were before the Sanhedrin. They were threatened and so forth.
And in Acts chapter 4, as they're praying to God, they quote back to Psalm chapter 2.
And so look if you would. Let me turn here. Verse number 24 of Acts 4, the Bible reads.
Look at verse 23. This is when they were just sent out. They've been arrested. They're finally let go.
In verse 23 it says, In being let go, they went to their own company and reported all the chief priests and elders that said of them.
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said,
Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in the midst.
Now watch this important phrase in verse 25. Who by the mouth of thy servant David has said.
Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things?
Now let me ask you, who was it that was speaking in Psalm 2?
Was it David? Not according to this verse here.
Because it says here that the Lord, God, was the one who spoke by the mouth of his servant David.
And many people today will say, oh, man wrote the Bible.
They'll take certain parts of the Bible and say, oh, well that's just Paul talking.
Or, oh, that's just Peter talking when we're in 1 and 2 Peter.
Oh, well that's just, you know, David talking in the book of Psalms.
My friend, the Bible is not written by man. It's written by God.
Exodus 20, verse number 1, the famous passage where the Ten Commandments are found.
The first verse states, and God spake all these words, saying.
And that is the message of the Bible. It's spoken by God.
It's not man's word. The Bible says that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
They didn't just dream this out. They didn't, well, we'll put our own spin on it.
You know, this is Matthew's perspective. This is Mark's perspective.
Many times I've been given the Gospel to somebody.
And I open my Bible, and I remember when I first started going soul-building,
and first started giving people the Gospel, I would stick with the Roman's road.
Who's ever heard of that? The Roman's road.
You know, it's really common, you know, Romans 3.23, Romans 3.10, Romans 6.23, Romans 5.8, Romans 5.12, Romans 10, 9, and 13.
And that's how I learned soul-building. That's how I started. It's great, you know.
Today I do it a little different. I use a lot of verses out of the book of John.
But the Roman's road is a great way to, you know, make the Gospel clear to people and break it down to them.
And I remember I would be giving the Gospel to someone, let's say there was a Catholic,
and I'd be showing them Romans, and they'd say, well, that's just Paul.
You know, we need to see what Jesus said, because that's just Paul's words.
No, Paul said, if any man among you seems to be spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you,
he said basically, I'm paraphrasing, called the word of God.
It was God's word in the book of Psalms, chapter 2. He was speaking by the mouth of David.
Other times he spoke by Isaiah the prophet. He used man to deliver his word.
Holy men of God's faith as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
And by the way, you can go to Jesus. You know, if they say, well, that's just Paul.
Jesus himself said that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
You know, it's not his work. Salvation's not by works. You can't earn your way to heaven.
If you had to be good enough to go to heaven, I wouldn't go to heaven, because none of us is good enough to go to heaven.
The Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
There is none righteous, no, not one, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
I'm going to heaven because I believe on Jesus Christ, not because I'm better than anyone else,
but because we believe on Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven.
That's what Romans teaches. That's what the whole Bible teaches.
To him give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him should receive remission of sins.
But here in Acts chapter 4, I got hung up on that because it's such an important phrase here,
showing that the book of Psalms is inspired by God, not man's word, but God's word.
And that's why it says in verse 24, in verse 25,
Who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, Why did the heathen rage?
He's looking back to Psalm 2.
Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine main things?
The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ,
for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together,
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
by stretching forth thy hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together,
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
Boldness! You say, what's the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit?
Speaking God's word with boldness, that's what it is.
When you're filled with the Spirit, you speak God's word with boldness.
And this is what they prayed for, boldness.
They said, look, we're being threatened. We've been arrested.
We're in danger here. We're in trouble here.
And we don't want to back down. We don't want to somehow not have the courage to preach what we need to preach,
or to do what we need to do, or say what we need to say.
We are going to need your help, God.
And that's why they got on their knees, and they encouraged themselves with some of God's word from the book of Psalms,
and said, hey, give us boldness, dear God, please, so that we can preach what we need to preach boldly.
You see, when people imagine their devices against God's people, they're imagining a vain thing.
And that's what I want to preach about tonight.
People who want to threaten God's people and imagine devices against God,
the Bible says it's a vain thing. Why?
Because Jesus said it this way.
Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.
But rather, fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
You see, what's the worst thing that somebody can do to you in this life?
And the Bible says, what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appearth for a little time, and then vanishes away.
And so, what's the worst thing that can happen?
The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Paul said, for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor.
Yet what I shall choose, I want not, for I am in a strait betwixt two,
having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.
Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more than equal for you.
And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all
for your furtherance and joy and faith,
that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.
You see, the Bible is clear.
For the Christians, death has no sting.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
You see, to the believer, death does not exist.
Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live,
and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
You say, you believe in the eternal security of the believer?
Yes, I do, because Jesus said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
He said, I'll never leave you, nor forsake you.
And so I'm never going to die.
When I breathe my last breath, people will say, Stephen Anderson's dead.
It won't be true.
I'll be alive up in heaven.
The flesh will be dead.
And the body is nothing but a shell.
The Bible calls it in 2 Corinthians 5, just a tabernacle that we dwell in.
A tabernacle is like a temporary dwelling place, but the soul lives on.
Those who are unsaved will be in hell.
Those who are believers will be alive in heaven.
And so there's nothing to fear for the believer in death.
What can they do?
They can kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul.
God is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
And so we have nothing to fear.
They haven't answered everything.
What can they accomplish?
Let me ask you this.
What did they accomplish when they stoned Stephen?
What did they accomplish?
Think about who was watching.
Who was holding the coats when they stoned Stephen?
Saul.
And you know what?
He later went on to do more than probably Stephen ever would have done.
I mean, think about what a great preacher the apostle Paul was.
How many people he brought the gospel to, all throughout Asia, all throughout Europe,
preaching the gospel.
I mean, he said, I labored more abundantly than they all about the eleven disciples of Jesus.
I mean, he was preaching more than any of them.
But you know why he acts as boldness?
Because he saw the boldness of Stephen, who stood up and preached,
and they stoned him to death, and he looked up and saw Jesus Christ
standing at the right hand of God.
And he said, and it's amazing how you better be reading a King James Bible.
Are you in Acts chapter 4?
Flip over to Acts 7.
I just want to show you this.
Let me go into my pulpit here.
This is just an example, because all these modern Bibles,
whether they're the New International Version, the New American Standard,
the NIV, the NLT, the STD, the HIV, you know, whatever these versions, you know,
and they're coming out with a different version every week.
The RSV, the HIV, the STD, the MICKYMOUSC, whatever,
whatever they're going to come out with this week, you know,
the Bible of the Month Club, where they're constantly changing and corrupting God's Word.
You say, why would somebody change God's Word?
Well, the love of money is the root of all evil.
And in order to copyright your Bible version,
it's got to be 4% different than any other Bible on the market.
So this is a scary thought.
You've got 400 English versions and they're all 4% different from one another?
That's a scary thought.
And then you wonder why there's confusion among churches.
You wonder why people can't agree on what the truth is.
It's because these modern corrupt Bibles have come in and they've changed God's Word.
Fifteen verses in the New Testament alone are missing from this so-called NIV,
the non-inspired version, and 15 whole verses where it skips over.
You'll be reading on and you'll go, verse 34, 35, 36, 38.
Where's 37?
God. And they don't even change the numbering.
Fifteen places like that in the New Testament alone.
Tens of thousands of phrases and words removed.
No mention of hell one time in the whole Old Testament in the NIV.
Every reference has been removed.
The word hell does not occur until Matthew chapter 9, I believe, in the NIV.
This version is so corrupt that it actually calls Joseph Jesus' father in Luke 2.33.
Taken away from the deity of Christ.
It removes the blood.
It removes salvation by faith alone in a few places.
But listen to this.
In Acts chapter 7, I love what Stephen said when he was being stoned.
I didn't plan this for my sermon so I have to find the scripture quickly.
But it says in verse 59, this is what I was looking for.
Acts 7, 59 says,
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
So who was he calling upon?
God.
And what did he say?
Lord Jesus.
You know, another great, just another one of the 500 places in the Bible to prove the deity of Jesus Christ.
He's referring to God as Lord Jesus.
Just like when Thomas fell at the feet of Jesus and said,
My Lord and my God, and worshiped him.
And Jesus received that worship and blessed him for realizing that that's who he was.
But see, the NIV, while it's calling Joseph Jesus' father,
while it's saying that Jesus had an origin in Micah 5-2,
when the Bible says Jesus had no beginning, he is the beginning.
He's equal with God.
While they're making all these changes that weaken and attack the doctrine of the deity of Christ,
and you say, why would they do that?
Well, it's not just the love of money.
It's also just because the devil has always been a business of changing God's word.
All the way back to Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden.
Yea, hath God said?
He's always tried to twist and change what God's word says.
Listen to it in the NIV.
Acts 7, 59 says,
While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
So no reference to God.
They take out that place there where he's calling upon God,
saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
And so what did they accomplish when they stoned Stephen?
Nothing.
What did they accomplish when they attacked and persecuted the early church?
All it did is that it says that they that were scattered abroad
went everywhere preaching the word.
All it did was just spread it out even more.
You see, they imagine a vain thing
when they think that they're going to fight against God,
fight against the Bible, fight against God's word.
Hey, this is the rock of ages.
This was here before you were ever born.
This book will be here after you're gone.
Hey, this is God's eternal word.
No one can defeat it.
No one can silence it.
It's God speaking.
Now look if you went to Psalm 33.
Psalm chapter 33, back in the book of Psalms, in the middle of the Bible.
Psalm 33.
Psalm chapter 33.
We're going to get into the Ecclesiastes a little bit too about vanity,
but Psalm 33, the Bible reads in verse 16.
I love the book of Psalms.
Lately I've been doing a lot of reading in Psalms.
Psalm 33, 16, the Bible reads,
There is no king saved by the multitude of hosts.
A mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
A horse is a vain thing for safety.
Remember, we're talking about vanity, vain things.
Things that people rely upon or trust and really don't matter.
A horse is a vain thing for safety.
Neither shall he deliver anybody's great strength.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him,
upon them that hope in his mercy to deliver their soul from death
and to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waiteth for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield,
for our hearts shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his holy name.
By mercy, O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee.
See, God's protection, the Bible says in Psalm 34,
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him.
God will protect you.
God can keep you safe.
People who try to imagine violence against you,
the Bible says the wicked bend their bow
that they might privily shoot at the upright in heart.
But you know what?
If God be for us, who can be against us?
The Bible says we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Now look at Ecclesiastes.
That's what we're going to get into.
And while you're turning there, let me read this one verse.
Matthew 16, 26.
And you're turning to Ecclesiastes.
For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world
and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
So what's the most valuable thing that you possess?
Your soul.
What would you give in exchange for your soul?
I mean, what if you could have all the money in the world,
all the fame, all the popularity,
and then you lose your soul?
You know, you go to hell.
Is it worth it?
Absolutely not.
You see, your soul is the most valuable thing that you have.
Well, I was thinking about yesterday,
and I wanted to touch on this in the sermon
because yesterday we went out and did our small town soul-winning marathon,
as we always do,
and this was the fifth town.
We've done Hula Bend, we've done Miami,
Coors Lakes, Congress.
This time we went to Strawberry.
And, you know, this was a rough town.
I mean, the other towns we went to, we had a big success.
We had a whole bunch of people saved.
We had just a great reception
and people who wanted to hear the gospel.
But, you know, at this town,
it was a lot of people that were just really set in their ways.
And so people weren't really receptive as they usually were.
But, you know, I was thinking about it,
and, Brett, you know, you won that guy.
What was the guy's name?
John.
Brett got a guy named, saved, named John.
And let me say this.
Isn't that worth the whole trip up there to get one person saved?
I mean, that's more than worth it.
And I've said this before, and I'll say it again.
If we went to church three times a week for the whole year,
we came Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night,
and we read our Bible every day, you know, for an hour.
We prayed every day.
We, you know, we did everything that the church had offered.
We went out and did the door-to-door soul-winning,
and we were involved, and we knocked those doors every week.
Week in, week out, church, we were in prayer,
we were reading the Bible, we were going out soul-winning,
and we did that for 52 weeks straight,
and one person got saved.
It would be worth it.
Now, thank God we have a lot more people than that saved in this church.
We're out knocking doors.
We go out and we put in the hours.
We're not part of the 59-minute, 59-second club.
You know, we go out and do some serious soul-winning.
I'm going to tell you something.
We get a lot of people saved.
But thank God for just one person getting saved.
I mean, if the whole world is not of the value of the soul, the Bible says.
And what if that soul was your soul?
What if it was your best friend?
What if it was your mother, your father, your brother?
And that, you know, I said to you about it yesterday, praise God.
Praise God for John that got saved.
Thank God. It was worth it.
It was more than worth it.
And so your labor, because we're talking about vain things,
the people out there, the heathen, the world,
they imagine a vain thing.
Oh, they're going to make all this money.
Oh, they're going to retire.
And the Bible talked about a man in Luke 16,
or maybe it was Luke 15,
but he basically worked his whole life
and he earned and he earned and he laid up all his treasures
and he had all his barns filled with grain
and he finally had so much, he said, I need to build another barn.
And he laid up all these treasures for himself
and he said, boy, now I'm ready to retire.
He said, soul, you know, you have many goods
laid up for many years.
He said, just take thine ease.
You have got it made.
And you know what God said to that man?
In the book of Luke, Jesus told a story.
He said, thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required.
And what shall become of all thy possessions?
What shall become of all thy possessions?
Vanity. It's vanity. It's war and it's waste.
You can't take your money with you.
It's all going to crumble to dust one day.
Your house will be gone, your boat will be gone,
your car will be gone.
You've got to live a life that has eternal value.
What do you have to hope for in this world?
Nothing that lasts.
Nothing that's permanent.
People have their money in the stock market.
The stock market crashes, it's gone.
You know, there's no, oh, it's FDIC.
Well, oh yeah, well, they'll take care of you.
Okay, yeah, I'm sure you trust them, right?
If you do, you know, you're crazy.
Anyway, I'm going to say this.
We get caught up in a vain thing when we're just,
when our life's about money, when it's about,
you know, more popularity accolades.
Have you ever done something and you got a lot of accolades
and a lot of praise and a lot of popularity?
There's nothing that's a more empty feeling
than getting the praise of man.
You know, and that's what people desire.
It's worthless. It's vanity. It's vain.
Oh, people love me. People like me.
They just, you know, they love Pastor Stephen L. Emerson.
What's that word? Nothing.
But you know what?
Serving God is never a vain thing.
Listen to this.
He said, be steadfast, this is 1 Corinthians 15,
unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord
for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Now, I've done a job before
where I worked really hard on a fire alarm job
because that's what I do for a living.
And I installed this fire alarm system and I worked hard.
And man, I did a really good job
because I knew this was a really strict municipality
and everything had to be perfect.
And so I worked really hard.
I did the best job I possibly could.
We passed the inspection first time.
I was so happy. I was so glad.
And guess what? The customer never paid us.
Not even one cent.
And you know, anybody who's a businessman
knows trying to go out with people for money is very hard.
It's almost not even worth it.
Especially if it's a small amount.
It's not even worth it.
You just can't do it.
It was in vain.
I mean, my labor was in vain
because I expended money, I expended resources,
I bought the materials, I worked,
and then I didn't get paid.
It was in vain.
But when you work for the Lord, your work is never in vain.
That's a terrible feeling.
You know, to do a really good job,
we're going to have something to not get paid.
It's a terrible feeling.
Because you say, man, I wasted my time.
My labor was in vain.
But God said, when you work for me,
you know your labor is never in vain.
Be steadfast.
Be unmovable.
Always abound in the work of the Lord
for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain,
in the Lord.
And so we went out yesterday,
we worked and we worked and we worked,
and some of us kind of felt like at times,
oh, this is in vain.
What are we doing?
But we know it's not in vain.
And that guy got saved.
And you know, a lot of other people,
we planted the seed.
Some day somebody might reap that seed and thank God.
And those people will be saved as well.
We're never, you're never wasting your time
when you're out preaching the gospel
and your gay people say,
it's never a waste.
It's never in vain.
It's always, always going to be something
that's going to be profitable for eternal value.
Not just some temporal, you know,
blessing that's just going to wear off and be gone.
But let's look at Ecclesiastes.
We know when we serve God, our labor is never in vain.
But we also know that the Bible says,
people imagine the vain thing.
Now, the immediate context was
when they were imagining a vain thing against God's people.
You know, they thought they were going to squelch Christianity.
They thought they were going to crush the disciples.
They thought they were going to crush King David.
It wasn't happening.
In the Old Testament, it wasn't happening.
In the New Testament, it wasn't happening.
God protected his people.
God took care of them.
But then we can see further,
and we can look at the world,
we can look at the heathen,
we see their anger about God's wrath being preached
or God's commandments being preached
because they say like those that said in the book of Luke to Jesus,
we will not have this man to rule over us.
You know, they don't want any kind of authority from God.
Well, look at the flip side.
This is Ecclesiastes.
This is where Solomon basically decided,
and let's look at chapter 2.
We already read chapter 1,
and really, if you go to almost any chapter
in the book of Ecclesiastes
and see these concepts taught,
but we'll look at chapter 2
and understand the mind of King Solomon here.
He says, I said in my heart, go to now.
I will prove thee with myrrh.
Therefore, enjoy pleasure,
and behold, this also has vanity.
So basically what Solomon is saying is
he just wants to find happiness in this world.
So he's just going to try to enjoy
all the pleasures that life has to offer.
Look at some of the things that he goes through,
some of the ways that he tried to find pleasure
and happiness and fulfillment in this life.
He said in verse number 2,
I said of laughter, it is mad,
and of myrrh, what doeth it?
I sought in my heart to give myself unto wine,
and tried drinking, is what he's saying,
yet acquainted my heart with wisdom,
and to lay hold on folly.
He said, I tried being stupid.
I tried acting like a fool,
getting drunk, being stupid,
you know, partying, having fun.
He said, till I might see what was that good
for the sons of men,
which they should do under the heaven
all the days of their life.
Look at verse 4.
He begins to try some other aspects
of happiness in life.
He says, I made me great works.
I builded me houses.
I planted me vineyards.
You know, there's something fulfilling
about building something with your hands,
working.
He said, I made me gardens and orchards,
and I planted trees in them
of all kinds of fruit.
I made me pools of water,
the water there with the wood
to bring forth trees.
I got me servants and maidens
and had servants born in my house.
Also, I had great possessions
of great small cattle.
Above all that were before me,
or above all that were in Jerusalem,
before me.
I gathered me also silver and gold
in the peculiar treasure of kings
and of the provinces.
Music.
Then he goes into music, right?
You know, it wasn't enough.
He tried drinking.
He tried the partying, the stupidity.
You know, he was back in the pool
and laying a lot of folly.
You know, he's trying to build great works,
construction projects.
He's trying to make more money.
He's trying to go after riches,
and then he's trying to get wisdom
and education.
Now he says,
Music.
I'm going to try music.
So he says,
I got me men singers and women singers
and the delights of the sons of men
as musical instruments
and that of all sorts.
So that I was great and increased more
than all that were before me in Jerusalem,
also my wisdom remained with me.
And whatsoever,
listen to this,
and whatsoever my eyes desired,
I kept not from them.
I withheld not my heart from any joy,
for my heart rejoiced in all my labor,
and this was the portion of all my labor.
He's saying, look,
I just gave myself whatever I wanted.
And he had the power to do this
because he was the king of Israel
during Israel's most prosperous time.
I mean, they were extremely wealthy
when Solomon was the king.
He had all the women that he wanted,
and he sinned with those women,
according to the Bible.
He gratified the flesh.
He had all the money.
He could bring in whatever music he wanted,
whatever foods he wanted.
He had riches.
He had power.
He had the respect of his people.
They feared him.
They looked at him and saw him
as the wisest man in the world,
which he was.
The fear and the dread of him was upon them.
They had great respect for him.
He was looked up to.
He was popular.
He had all the money,
everything that you could want in life,
and all the education,
the knowledge, the wisdom.
And whatever his eyes desired,
he kept not from them.
I mean, he saw something he wanted,
he just could have it.
He never had to say,
oh, man, I wish I could have that.
No.
He did not know covetousness.
It was just what he wanted he had.
And look what it says in verse 11.
Then I looked on all the works
that my hands had brought
and on the labor that I had labored to do,
and behold, all was vanity
and vexation of spirit,
and there was no profit under the sun.
Now, think about that.
Vexation of spirit.
What does it mean to be vexed?
It means you're upset.
It means that, oh, you know,
something's bothering you.
You don't have any peace.
You don't have any rest.
You're just upset.
You're beside yourself.
He said it was all just vexation of spirit.
It was a waste.
It was empty.
It had no value.
He said, and I turned myself
to behold wisdom and madness.
That means it was madness, man.
Insanity.
Madness followed.
For what can the man do
that cometh after the king,
even that which has been already done?
Then I saw that wisdom excelled
with folly as far as light excelled with darkness,
and on and on, you know,
I'm going to go down here.
Look at verse 17.
Look at verse 16.
He said, for there is no remembrance of the wise
more than of the fool forever.
Seeing that which now is
and the days to come
shall all be forgotten,
and how I'll die unto wise man
as the fool.
So what did this man say next in verse 17
who had had everything that you think
might fulfill you in life,
money, education, you know, health care?
You know, comfort, education, wisdom,
you know, the gratifying, the flesh,
the food, the power, the popularity,
the houses, the gardens, the trees.
Look what he said.
Therefore I hated life.
Isn't that amazing?
Therefore I hated life
because the work that is wrought
under the sun is grievous unto me
for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Yeah, I hated all my labor
which I had taken unto the sun
because I should leave it
unto the man that shall be after me,
and who knoweth whether he shall be
a wise man or a fool,
yet shall he have rule
over all my labor wherein I have labored
and wherein I have showed myself wise
unto the sun.
This also is vanity.
You see, he realized the emptiness
that many of the rock stars today
and the Hollywood actors have realized
when they get everything that they want.
They get all the money and the fame
and the popularity.
What do they do?
They go off the deep end.
They're on their fifth spouse.
They're in drug rehab.
They're driving drunk at 110 miles an hour
on the 101 or on Highway 1 or something
and getting in an accident,
getting pulled over,
and they're making up their shoplifting.
They're like multi-millionaires
and they're shoplifting.
Who was it that was shoplifting?
That doesn't narrow it.
Which one, right?
Winona Ryder?
Winona Ryder shoplifting.
Another more recent case than that
that was really famous.
Why?
These people aren't happy that
how many of the bands that you listen to
and love their music and shame on you
because you ought to have a new song in your mouth
even more used to our God,
but if you're listening to the world's rock and roll,
how many of those singers
that are playing on the radio,
they're not even alive anymore
because they committed suicide.
Because they were so happy
because they had millions of dollars,
because they had all the fans
who literally worship them.
I mean, you know these rock concerts.
People are literally bowing down
and worshiping these people.
It's true.
It's like a worship service to these people.
I mean, go down the list.
Jimmy Hendrix, suicide.
I don't know if it's suicide or not,
but drugs, overdose, and choked on his own vomit
and all this stuff.
Pretty much you wonder whether it's a suicide
the way they OD and so forth,
but you think of Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.
That's one that's more our generation
of the kids listened to when I was that age,
when I was coming up.
It was a big thing.
Nirvana committed suicide,
the lead singer, Kurt Cobain.
You think of another 80s band, INXS.
Michael Hudson committed suicide.
You go back through these people,
and they committed suicide.
Who was the other one?
Was it Sublime?
Yeah, the lead singer of Sublime.
Did he commit suicide?
I didn't know that.
And then these actors.
I'm trying to think.
I don't know.
I'll draw a blank,
but just go Google suicide famous rock star.
I don't know.
It'll probably come up with a whole list for you.
You know what I'm telling you is the truth.
These people aren't happy.
They're bizarre.
Britney Spears is shaving her head and all this crap.
They don't know what they're doing in life,
and yet I'm happy.
The joy of the Lord is my strength.
I was happy yesterday.
I'm happy today.
I'm going to be happy tomorrow.
Praise God.
But the world doesn't know what it means to be happy.
They're out chasing all this fairy tale of,
oh, if I could just have this, then I'll be happy.
You know what?
So I'm going to have it all.
He said it's a waste of time.
Well, I've read the book of Ecclesiastes so many times.
I can't even count how many times I've just sat down
and just read the whole book of Ecclesiastes in one sitting,
12 chapters, and I just sat down and read it,
and you know what?
Many times I've read it,
and you may not believe this,
I've read it for encouragement.
You say, why?
It's kind of a depressing book,
because it's just everything's vain.
It's a waste of time, and I hate my life.
But you know what?
Whenever things have been going,
well, let me read this,
and then I'll explain to you why I find the book of Ecclesiastes
so positive and encouraging.
Look at the end of the book.
Look at chapter 12, verse 13.
It says in chapter 12, verse 13,
let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
Fear God and keep His commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every work into judgment
with every secret thing,
whether it be good or whether it be good.
He says, look, you can build all your houses and gardens.
It's all about fearing God and keeping His commandments,
living the life that God wants you to live.
But you know why I find Ecclesiastes so encouraging?
Sometimes in life, things aren't going well, right?
And maybe your business is having problems,
or maybe you have health problems,
or maybe you have financial problems,
relationship problems.
You know, read the book of Ecclesiastes,
and we'll just show you how vain all those things are.
And it helps you take encouragement and say,
but you know what, I'm saved.
I got the Bible.
I can win somebody to Christ.
And it can be an encouraging book.
Because when things are going bad in this world,
you can say, hey, this world's not my home.
Even if things were going well,
it would really just be vanity.
Even if my business was where I wanted it to be,
it would be vanity.
Even if my health was exactly perfect
and my family was perfect and my house was perfect,
it would be vain anyway.
Thank God I'm saved.
Thank God I have a home in heaven.
Thank God I have one people in the Lord.
Thank God I'm going to see them in heaven.
Thank God that I'm serving the Lord
and that I know that my labor is not in vain.
Hey, I thank God that no matter what happens to me,
no matter what happens,
I know I'm saved and I'm going to heaven.
And you know what?
Anybody who imagines any devices against me,
they're imagining a vain thing.
What can they do?
Kill me? Lie about me?
Go ahead.
People are always going to lie about you.
They lied about Jesus.
Remember all those false witnesses who came up and testified?
Oh, he said this.
And they're all contradicting each other.
So then they tried to get Jesus
to basically testify against himself
because these witnesses were not agreeing.
They started asking him questions.
And he pled the fifth amendment.
He said, well, ask them.
They know what I said.
Don't ask me.
And then they kept asking him.
He was silent.
And Pilate kept asking him and asking him.
He was silent.
And Pilate said,
don't you know that I have the power to destroy you
or the power to save you?
He said, you have no power at all
except if it was giving you from heaven.
He said, thou canst do nothing against me.
And that's the truth.
Give God before us who can be against us.
You know what?
We are on the winning side.
No matter what happens in this world,
no matter what happens in America,
no matter what happens anywhere else,
we are on the winning side.
Because at the end of the day,
we're going to be in heaven.
We're going to be rejoicing.
We're going to be preserved.
And whatever else happens, you know what?
Leave it in God's hands.
Don't live a vain life.
Let me put it to you this way.
In other words, don't waste your life.
Don't waste your life.
So many people wasting their life.
So many Christians waste their life.
Hey, do something with your life.
And this is kind of,
this is almost like a part two
of the last Sunday Night sermon
all about Amos, remember?
Amos chapter seven.
It's basically the same message
in a different light here.
Reinforcing it.
Don't waste your life.
Don't imagine a vain thing.
Do something that matters.
This power isn't at work forever.