Preserving your voice, dear God, for this generation,
we thank you for this church,
we thank you for our pastor,
and we ask that you please bless him tonight
as he preaches your word.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Okay, this evening we're gonna start a brand new book
on Thursday nights.
We're gonna go through the book of Ecclesiastes,
and so this evening we're in chapter number one,
and you know, when you read the book of Ecclesiastes,
it's a great book, obviously, but when you read it,
you know, you can basically, you know,
have this perception that Solomon has this despondent,
kind of moody, sad, melancholic,
gloomy type of attitude, right?
You read through these 12 chapters, it's like,
man, this guy sounds like he's just not doing too well,
you know, he's at the end of his life,
and I guess he just didn't like the riches that he had,
you know, and one of the reasons that
you can often come to that conclusion
is the fact that he uses this phrase,
vanity and vanity, all is vanity,
and it's just like, everything is just meaningless,
everything is just empty and vain,
and you can kind of walk away when you read this
at face value and think, well, man,
this is a pretty depressing book, you know,
it just seems like he's not really enjoying
the latter end of his life, but one thing you gotta realize
is that the book of Ecclesiastes is actually like a sequel
to the book of Proverbs, okay, and of course we know
that the book of Proverbs was also written by Solomon,
and we understand that according to the Bible,
God gave Solomon a lot of wisdom, right,
during the time when he became a king,
instead of asking for riches and wealth
and the life of his enemies, he asked the Lord
for a wise and understanding heart
to lead the children of Israel,
and so God gave him that wisdom,
he had more wisdom than all the men of the land,
and he not only gave him wisdom,
but he also gave him riches and honor
because of the fact that he asked for something
that was very noble, and so obviously we see
that the book of Proverbs is a byproduct
of that wisdom that God gave to him,
and the book of Proverbs gives us a lot of wisdom
in areas of practical living, you know,
you can read the book of Proverbs every single day
and receive a lot of nuggets of truth for practical living,
you know, relationships, marriage, child-rearing, finances,
being employed or being an employer, an employee, et cetera,
and all these things are important.
I mean, if you wanna just learn some practical advice
for just regular life and just dealing with marriage
and child-rearing, read the book of Proverbs, right?
There's a lot of good wisdom found in the book of Proverbs,
and it has a lot of categories filled
with all types of prudence on there,
but so if you read that and then you follow that up
with the book of Ecclesiastes,
they almost seem like they contrast one another
because of the fact that Solomon is first telling you,
hey, wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom,
and he gives you a bunch of good advice
and prudence and wisdom and how to be successful in life
and how to excel and succeed,
but then you go into Ecclesiastes,
and it's almost like he's also giving you a reality check
because a lot of what we see in the book of Proverbs
is like a cause and effect.
He says, look, train up a child in the way you should go,
and when he is old, he will not depart from it, right?
He's saying, all profit, there is labor,
very just adamant statements that says
this is what God says, if you just do this,
this is the product, this is the result
that you will receive, but the book of Ecclesiastes
is basically giving you the exception to that rule,
and it's telling you that although you can exercise wisdom
in this world and succeed and implement
these biblical principles, there's gonna be times
when the race is not to the fastest, right?
You know, the battle's not to the strong.
There's times that chance happeneth to them all,
the Bible tells us, so it's basically telling us,
hey, yeah, exercise wisdom, but Ecclesiastes
is reminding us, but just know this,
there's always an exception to the rule,
and at the end of the day, the wisdom
that the book of Proverbs gives you
is so you can succeed in this life,
Ecclesiastes is telling you, but just know
that that life will one day end, you understand?
So it's gonna give you a reality check,
like, yeah, you can be successful,
you can become rich if you're diligent,
you can raise godly children, you can succeed
in your marriage and at your job,
and then Ecclesiastes comes and says,
but just know this, is that all is vanity,
it will all one day end, so don't think
that you're just gonna be able to exercise
these principles forever, don't think that
you're just gonna be on this earth forever
being able to implement these principles forever
because it will all one day come to an end,
that's what the book of Ecclesiastes
is basically telling us, it's giving us
the exception to the rule, and then it's telling us,
understand that all these things,
these principles that you're learning
in the book of Proverbs can only be done under the sun,
you understand, that's why you see that term,
under the sun, okay?
So it's a great book, it's a great reality check
is what it is, and you know, when you read
the book of Ecclesiastes, you may think to yourself,
man, this is the same writer, Solomon,
but it almost seems to contradict what he says
in the book of Proverbs, he's not contradicting,
he's just telling these are the exception
to the rules that I said in the book of Proverbs, okay?
This is how life really is, you understand?
Now go to verse number one, so read verse number one here,
he's gonna define what vanity is,
he says, the words of the preacher,
the son of David king in Jerusalem,
vanity of vanity saith the preacher,
vanity of vanities, all is vanity,
he's just like, let me just start off by saying,
everything is just empty, empty,
everything is just empty, everything is just vanity,
and it's like, this isn't very edifying,
what profit hath the man of all his labor
which he taketh under the sun?
So he's saying like, what kind of profit
are you gonna make under the sun?
Now again, at face value, you may automatically think
that these are the words of a person
who just lost the will to live.
Like, what's the point of life?
Everything's vanity, this guy owns peacocks
and gorillas and all these things,
he's at the end of his life and he's just like,
it's all meaningless, and you know what,
I've heard a lot of preachers, even in the old IFP,
they would use ecclesiastes to say,
see, this is what happens when you gain riches,
at the end of your life, you're just kinda,
just miserable, but I don't really see that with Solomon,
I think he actually learned something else.
Obviously we understand that he's the man
who had a lot of wisdom, and I think we misunderstand
what he means when he says, all is vanity, okay?
Now we understand that vanity means empty,
and he's saying, when he talks about
the profit of his labor, we need to understand
what he's saying, he's basically telling us,
there's only profit under the sun, okay?
So he's giving you this understanding
that anything you do is only gonna profit you
if you're still alive, and anything you do,
you need to make sure you do it now.
You need to do it today, you need to do it in your lifetime,
why you still exist under the sun.
Okay?
You know, he's referring to your lifespan
when he says under the sun, here on God's green earth,
and what he's saying is this, is that once you're dead,
there's no more profiting from your labor.
Today you can work overtime, today you can work hours
and make money and succeed and exercise these principles
and be diligent and labor, but you gotta understand
that you can only do it while you're under the sun,
while you are alive.
And so he's not saying like, hey, don't labor,
because that would obviously contradict what he's teaching
in the book of Proverbs.
In fact, in Ecclesiastes chapter nine, verse 10,
he says, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do,
do it with thy might.
For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge,
nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest.
So he's like, hey, I'm not saying don't labor,
I'm just saying, as you're laboring,
since you have this time to labor under the sun,
you need to do it with all your might,
because you're not gonna be able to labor in the grave,
which is exactly where you're going.
We're all going to the grave one day.
We're all gonna die, okay?
Our bodies will be buried in the grave.
And so when he says under the sun,
he's referring to our life span.
And this is why we gotta, you know,
it's good to think upon death.
It's good to think upon the fact that we are still
under the sun, because one day, especially us
that are saved, we're gonna be above the sun, right?
We're gonna be in heaven with the Lord,
but at that point, there's no more laboring.
You know, you can't labor anymore,
you can't profit from your labor anymore.
And so that's what he means when he says all is vanity.
Look at verse number four.
What else is he teaching here?
He's teaching that life goes on, with or without you.
That seems kind of harsh, but it's true though, isn't it?
Look what he says in verse four.
One generation passeth away,
and another generation cometh,
but the earth abideth forever.
You know how many generations have come
through these doors of earth throughout thousands of years?
The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down,
and hasteth to his place where he arose.
The wind goeth toward the south,
and turneth about into the north.
It whirleth about continually,
and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea,
yet the sea is not full.
Unto the place from whence the rivers come,
thither they return again.
All things are full of labor.
No man, or excuse me, a man cannot utter it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
What he's saying is this,
is that everything is gonna continue with or without you.
So if you stay in this earth, life continues on.
The wind continues to go through its circuits,
the sun will continue to rise and set.
If you die, those winds will still continue
to go through its circuits.
The rivers will continue to feed the ocean.
Everything will continue with or without you,
because that's how God made it, okay?
The natural systems that have been set in place
by the creator does not cease or stop when you cease,
when you're deceased, okay?
And he says in verse seven,
all the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full,
until the place whence the rivers come,
thither they return again.
And he says at the end of verse eight,
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
Now hold your place here,
go to Proverbs chapter 30 if you would,
Proverbs chapter 30.
The point that he's making is that there's always more to do.
There's always more to do, right?
You ever feel like, oh man,
I just didn't get enough done today.
Well, even if you thought you got enough done,
there's still more to do.
Oh, you know, the moms are just like,
oh man, I just feel like I never get done at home.
There's always, you know, I never finish that home.
I'm always behind on my work, and I'm always behind.
Yeah, but here's the thing,
even if you felt like you did accomplish
whatever your task list, did I say that correctly?
I've been saying that backwards.
Task list says, you know, there's still more to do.
There's always going to be more to do, okay?
That's the point that he's making.
And he uses the rivers going into the ocean.
As an example, he says,
he tells us the rivers go into the sea,
yet the sea is not full.
You can never fill the ocean enough.
There's always more work to do.
Hey, there's always more to see.
There's always more content to hear,
more preaching, more sermons,
there's more ideas, more souls.
Like, oh man, we didn't win enough souls this year.
Yeah, but even if we thought we won enough souls,
there's always more.
I just didn't do enough.
Yeah, but even if you thought you did enough,
there's always going to be more to do.
Because what he's saying here is that
the earth is never filled.
There's always more to do, it's never enough.
Look at Proverbs 30, verse 11.
He says, there is a generation that cursed at their father
and doth not bless their mother.
There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes
and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
There is a generational how lofty are their eyes,
and their eyelids are lifted up.
There is a generation whose teeth are as swords
and their jaw teeth as knives
to devour the poor from off the earth
and the needy from among men.
So, first and foremost, when you read that,
you're like, well, that's today.
But Solomon's prophesying of that,
of the generation in his day.
Why, because there's no new thing under the sun.
There's never a lack of a wicked generation.
There is a wicked generation in his time.
There's a wicked generation today.
Hey, there's 7,000 prophets who have not bowed
the knee to Baal in those days.
There's 7,000 who have not bowed the knee today.
All things will continue as they were.
He says in verse 15, the horse, Leech,
hath two daughters crying, give, give.
There are three things that are never satisfied.
Yea, four things say not, it is enough.
The grave, oh yeah, that's true.
You know, death is never like, all right, no more vacancy.
Now, the cemetery could say that, right?
Especially during the coronavirus,
a bunch of people are dying.
I've known people who lost their family members,
and they literally have to push out their funerals
almost like months ahead because of the fact
that there's no room.
But death is never like, hey, hey, hey, whoa,
no more deaths, no more.
Because the grave never says that's enough, okay?
The barren womb, he says in verse 16,
the barren womb never says enough.
The barren womb wants babies.
You know, and it's funny because you have
these feminist, liberal, wicked ladies out there,
I don't even call them ladies, women, females.
Not males, okay?
That, you know, it's not enough for them
that there's women out there who are barren,
they can't bear children, and they have to take it
a step further and try to encourage people
to kill the children, encourage the women
who can have children to kill their children.
The earth that is not filled with water
and the fire that saith not, it is enough.
Hey, you know what's never satisfied?
Hell.
Hell never says enough, right?
It never has a sign that says no more souls,
no more damned, we're filled to capacity
here down in hell, it's never gonna happen.
We know that for a fact because the Bible tells us
that hell and destruction are never satisfied, right?
And it tells us that even when people begin
to descend down into hell, if hypothetically
it does get filled, hell will enlarge itself.
It'll make room.
It's never enough, okay?
He says the eye, that mocketh that his father
and despises to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley
shall pick it out and the young eagle shall eat it.
So this is telling us that, you know,
there's never a lack for rebellious children.
They're always gonna be around.
So the concepts that he's giving here
is he's basically saying that there's,
when we talk about vanity, the synonym for vanity is empty,
it means it could always be filled.
There's always a need, right?
And he says in verse 16, the earth that is not filled
with water, now go back to Ecclesiastes chapter one.
Ecclesiastes chapter one.
Hey, that's why it's important that we go sowing
as much as we possibly can, right?
And preach the gospel on a weekly basis,
on a monthly basis, throughout the year.
Why, because hell's not stopping, you know,
it's gonna continue to receive people.
That's why the Bible tells us that broad is the way.
Because the vast majority of the people in this world
are going down that broad road
that's gonna lead them to destruction.
People are gonna reject the gospel,
they're gonna die and go to hell.
You know, hell awaits them, the wrath of God awaits them,
and it's not gonna say it's enough, okay?
Verse seven of Ecclesiastes one says,
all the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full.
Now, what is he talking about there?
Well, he's referring to the water cycles, right?
Because you have, I don't know, what is it,
like 165 major rivers out in the world,
and they all feed the ocean, okay?
They all feed into the ocean, but you know
what's interesting is the ocean never overflows
into, you know, major lands or anything like that,
that never happens, you know, global warming
is not a real thing.
Because here we have the rivers constantly feeding
the oceans, and the ocean never says,
okay, we're too full, we're gonna drown the entire earth
if you just keep feeding the ocean.
It's never gonna happen, why?
Because God has created a system,
you know, whatever that is, the evaporation,
the condensation, precipitation thing,
where, you know, it evaporates into the clouds,
take it to the mountains, it rains there,
and rivers continuously feed the ocean.
The same water that we have today
is the same water that people have had
for thousands of years.
The oceans never say it is enough.
And you know, people wanna use, you know,
global warming and say, oh man, we need to make sure
that, you know, we take care of the environment,
and obviously this is a political scheme to make money.
They don't care about the environment.
They can care less about, you know, the trees or whatever.
The only trees they care about
is the kind of money that the trees produce, okay?
It's a political scheme to make money,
and they try to make it seem as though,
oh, you know, we're so close to global warming
because we're not taking care of the earth,
you know, we're not taking care of it or whatever.
They say that, you know, the polar ice caps are gonna melt,
and then the sea levels are gonna rise
20 to 30 feet above sea level, and you know,
life as we know it is gonna be changed,
the coral reefs are gonna die,
everything's gonna be destroyed,
you know, these natural cataclysmic events
are gonna take place, and the world's gonna be destroyed
if we don't take care of earth.
You know, this is what they believe.
Now let me just say this, is that global warming is real.
Yeah, you heard right.
It's real.
But here's the thing, it's not the natural global warming.
It's not because of pollution.
You say, what kind of global warming exists?
Well, how about the one where all the elements
shall melt with fervent heat?
Called the Lord's day.
Because the Lord's day cometh as a thief in the night,
the Bible tells us, into which the heavens shall pass away
with the great noise, and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat.
The earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up.
That's a literal global warming.
When God burns his world, you know,
during the last three and a half years of the wrath of God
during the seven trumpets and seven vials
leading up to the millennial reign,
that's actual global warming, okay?
You say, but aren't you like, you know, afraid that,
you know, maybe we aren't taking care of the environment
and we're releasing all this pollution and, you know,
the polar ice caps are gonna melt and the coral reefs
and life as we know it is gonna change.
No, because the Bible actually says in Genesis chapter eight
that while the earth remaineth, sea time and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night,
shall not cease.
That's what the Bible says.
So we don't have to worry about global warming, you know,
this climate change or whatever these stupid ideas
that people bring up to try to scare people
in order for them to make money.
We don't have to worry about those things
because of the fact that God has said
these things shall not cease while the earth remaineth.
And this is the promise of God, okay?
Now think about this because the people who promote this
are the radical left, right?
Global warming and all this, climate change and whatnot.
And the radical left, they always have a double standard
when it comes to these things.
Think about this, okay?
Because they say global warming is a product of us
not taking care of our environment and therefore
the environment will change one day, okay?
They say the environment will change.
But isn't it interesting that the Bible actually says
in 2 Peter chapter three, referring to the scoffers
of the last days, what do they say?
Well, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation.
And that's what they'll say.
When you bring up the second coming of Christ,
biblical prophecy and the fact that God's gonna
destroy the world, what do they do?
They mock at it?
Where is the promise of us coming?
For all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation
and what are they mocking?
The worldwide cataclysmic flood that God brought
as judgment back in Genesis chapter six.
So their response to that, because they're willingly
ignorant of that, they know what took place,
but they're willingly ignorant of it.
Their response to it is, well, all things continue
as they were from the beginning of the creation.
So here's my response, don't worry about global warming,
then, because all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation.
Oh, no, no, when it comes to that, though,
now you're messing with my money.
Yeah, at that point, yeah, things will change, you know?
So it's a doctrine of convenience, is it not?
And look, they don't believe in global warming.
Obviously we understand that they're doing it,
there's a financial motive behind it,
but we understand that all things will continue
as they were from the beginning of the creation,
not excluding the fact that Jesus Christ
is going to come back.
And look, even through the great tribulation,
through the wrath of God,
through the thousand year reign of Christ,
all the way even up until the new heaven and the new earth,
seed, time, and harvest shall not cease.
Summer and winter shall not cease.
Day and night shall not cease.
It will continue on forever and ever
because of the fact that the earth will abide forever.
Now, shall it pass away?
Yes.
Shall it be transfigured and changed?
Yes.
Shall it be glorified?
Yes, we know that according to Revelation chapter 22.
But what we do know is this,
is that these things will never change.
But these haters of God, these scoffers at the Bible,
they'll say, well,
when it comes to the second coming of Christ,
no, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation,
nothing has ever changed,
then stop promoting global warming.
Stop saying that that's going to happen.
Stop trying to instill fear in people
to say that, oh, the climate's going to change,
and haven't you seen the day after tomorrow,
and all these things that can take place?
It's a lie, folks.
Amen.
And the point that Ecclesiastes is making is this,
is that everything will continue as it was.
It's the same.
Now, you have cycles of seasons where the summer,
just kind of, the heat from the summer
just stays a little longer.
We've had that over the last couple years, right?
Where literally it's still hot, like in October, right?
But I remember being a kid, and it wasn't like that.
And you know, the earth goes through those cycles,
where it's a little hotter later,
and then it resets itself, and then it's fine again,
it's back to normal, and then it changes again.
But look, summer's still summer.
Winter's still winter.
And so we have that hope and that understanding
that God has set forth in his word
that things will continue.
He's set forth a system in this world
that's not gonna change.
Look at verse number nine.
It says, the thing that hath been, it is which shall be,
and that which is done is that which shall be done,
and there is no new thing under the sun.
Is there anything whereof it may be said,
see, this is new, it has been already of old time,
which was before us.
So what he's saying here is this.
Look, any new idea that you think you have,
just know this, someone already came up with it years ago.
Okay?
You know, if you think you came up with a new concept,
some new way of doing things,
if you think that this certain false doctrine is new,
know someone preached that false doctrine
probably thousands of years ago as well.
Why?
Because the same devil's feeding it to the modern guys,
the same devil was feeding it to the person
2,000 years ago.
And look, we often say, well, dispensationalism
is a new doctrine.
You know, it came with John Nelson Darby in the 1800s,
but let me just say this, is that that's been around
long before John Nelson Darby.
It fleshed itself out again with John Nelson Darby.
You know, Preterism is old.
How about this?
I'll go as far as to say this.
The pre-tribulation rapture was taught before the 1800s.
It was.
The Bible proves that.
But it was taught by false prophets.
Let no man deceive you by any means, right?
Talk about the day of Christ is at hand.
That means there was someone in those days
that was teaching that.
For that day shall not come except to come
a falling away first and the man of sin be revealed.
Why is it that Paul thought it necessary to mention that?
Well, because of the fact that there was someone
in his day teaching a preacher of rapture, that's why.
Oh no, you know, Zionism.
That's new.
No, it's not.
There's been problems with the Jews over many centuries.
Starting in the New Testament, folks.
Hey, even the New Testament is still old.
We call it the New Testament, it's 2,000 years old.
And so, you know, the thing that hath been,
it is that which shall be.
And here's the thing, you know, you have people who are like
they believe the Bible, they believe the King James Bible,
they believe everything that the Bible says,
but, you know, they'll say, yeah, but there's no false
prophets like that today, though.
What?
You know, we call out some false prophet,
and they're like, well, just give him a chance,
he's probably just mistaken.
Folks, the Bible specifically tells us
there are false prophets also among the people,
even as there shall be false teachers among you
who privately shall bring in damnable heresies,
denying even the Lord God that bought them, okay?
And so, the caliber of false prophets 2,000 years ago
is the same caliber of false prophets today.
And in fact, I would even go as far as to say
they're more dangerous today because of the internet,
technology, they're able to spread
their false doctrine faster, but it's the same thing,
there's no new thing under the sun, okay?
And here's what really gets me, because people,
obviously, new IFB, New Independent Fundamental Baptists,
which we would consider ourselves to be a new IFB church,
I consider myself to be a new IFB pastor.
I'm not ashamed of that, okay?
But people will look at us and say, oh yeah, that's new.
Everything you guys are teaching is new.
No, it's not.
There's no new thing under the sun.
It may be new to you.
Oh, that doctrine of hate!
The hate doctrine, the hate you guys preach,
you think we made that up?
Let me just tell you, Pastor Anderson did not make that up,
I guarantee you, 100% there was someone
who was preaching that back in the day.
I would even go as far as to say 200 years ago
someone was preaching that.
Definitely people in the Bible were preaching that.
Why, because there's no new thing under the sun.
The sermons, the doctrines, the teachings
that you hear today, whether false or biblical,
it's all been preached.
By someone thousands of years ago, hundreds of years ago.
I would even say this, there's probably people
in this world today who have no internet
that are preaching the same doctrines that we're preaching
that have zero contact with us.
How do we know?
Because of the fact that, I mean,
all the information has stayed on this earth.
All the doctrines have stayed on this earth.
Oh, but I know someone who got in contact with aliens.
They're getting messages from aliens out there.
They're just a drug addict, folks.
They're into psychedelics.
And you know what, they think they're communicating
with some alien on Jupiter, but the reality is
they're just communicating with some devil in their room.
So, you know, people say, oh, what you're teaching is new.
You know, the Zionism is new.
This post-trib pre-wrath rapture thing is new.
And let me just say this.
The new IFB did not start the post-trib pre-wrath rapture.
And in fact, we have to go back that far
to find someone who preached that.
There's a guy by the name of Pastor Rasmussen
who went home to be with the Lord, okay,
who wrote a book on the post-trib pre-wrath rapture
and was persecuted just as much as we were.
He was completely blackballed by a lot of the preachers.
In his day, they disassociated themselves from him.
They no longer invited him to come preach
for his conferences.
And that wasn't even that very long ago.
Amen.
And somehow, oh, you guys are the ones who created.
There's plenty of people out there,
even 20 years ago, who preached this.
Amen.
Okay.
But why does our doctrine and our movement
seem new to people?
Why?
Well, look at verse number 11.
I'll tell you why.
Because there is no remembrance of former things.
Neither shall there be any remembrance of things
that are to come with those that shall come after.
You know why?
Because people forget.
People forget preachers.
They forget sermons.
They forget doctrines.
They forget great movements of times past.
I guarantee you, there was some new IP movement
back in the day.
200 years ago, 100 years ago, 1,000 years ago,
I guarantee you there was a movement,
because there's a movement in every generation,
because every generation has a chosen generation
who believes the Bible.
I've never heard of anybody who's ever taught this.
I've never.
Well, that's because there was no remembrance
of former things, that's why.
So just because you don't remember it,
just because people haven't passed it down orally
or through story or through books,
doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Just means you don't know about it.
But we know this for sure.
If you heard it out of my mouth, guess what?
Someone else was preaching it back in the day too.
How do you know if these doctrines have been preached
in times past, if they're being preached today?
That's how you know.
How do you know?
I've never heard anything like that in my life.
Well, because you're only like 30 years old, 40.
How long have you been alive for?
Have you been around for a long time, 100 years?
Okay then, so don't make it seem as though,
oh, this is the first time I've ever heard
something like this.
Yeah, but you've only been saved for like 10 years.
You've been alive for 30, saved for 10 or five.
That's not a good way to indicate
whether a doctrine has existed for that long.
Yeah, but I research and I look for things
and I try to investigate.
I know what I'm talking about, but even then,
you don't know, you haven't interviewed
every single saved, born again Christian
that has ever existed.
The former things, sometimes people don't remember
the former things.
Neither shall there be any remembrance
of the things that are to come
with those that shall come after.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes nine, verse five,
for the living know that they shall die.
If you don't know that, if you don't know, now you know.
For the living know that they shall die,
but the dead know not anything.
Neither have they any more a reward,
for the memory of them is forgotten.
Now, you know, these seven-day Adventists
and Jehovah's Witnesses want to teach soul sleep,
want to use this to teach soul sleep.
It said the dead know not anything, right?
But what this is referring to is the body.
Once the body goes into the grave,
which is the part of our being that's actually dead,
when we die, we can go home to be,
our soul goes home to be with the Lord.
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord,
the Bible says.
Our carcass, our shell stays here.
And you know what?
That carcass, that shell doesn't know anything.
Try to give it whatever math problem
that he or she can answer when they're alive,
they won't be able to answer it.
Try to ask them the dates of whenever,
and these doctrines, they're never gonna answer you.
Why?
Because the dead know not anything.
They can't answer you.
And to make matters worse, the memory of them is forgotten.
I remember going every, I think it was like every Easter,
I used to go with my mom to the cemetery
to go visit my grandma, and she would put
like a fresh set of flowers there.
And we would go there as far back as I can remember.
Even up until like I was a teenager, I'd go with her.
I remember the cemetery, and you'd go to different graves,
and some of those graves, they've been there for,
those people have been there for a long time.
A long time.
And I remember my brother and my sister used to say,
you see this person?
This person's family's family's family's,
like their descendants, they're probably all gone too.
That's how long that person's been dead.
This person probably has, no one has any memory
of this person probably that's still living today.
They would often tell me that.
They'd say this person's been dead for so long
that they probably don't even have descendants,
even if they have descendants that are still alive,
they probably know nothing about this person
because this person died so long ago.
Think about that.
There is no memory of them, the memory of them is forgotten.
And you say, man, this sounds so depressing.
No, because here's the thing, what is this referring to?
Everything that's under the sun.
The life that we live here in this earth
will one day be forgotten,
but it's not gonna be forgotten in heaven.
God knows all these things.
We still have a reward in heaven.
We're not talking about the life which is to come,
we're talking about the life which now is.
The Bible says they are dead in Isaiah 26, verse 14.
They are dead, they shall not live, they are deceased.
They shall not rise, therefore hast thou visited
and destroyed them and made all their memory to perish.
Now look, obviously there's people
that are remembered for hundreds of years,
but I guarantee you there's people out there,
whether righteous or unrighteous,
that are just not remembered anymore, right?
And there's times in the Bible where God specifically says,
I'm gonna blot out their name from under heaven.
And it's not referring to like he's gonna blot out
their name out of the book of life,
he's gonna blot out the memory of them.
When he says, I'm gonna blot out their name
from under heaven, in other words, he's saying,
no one will remember you.
You've displeased me so much that I'm just gonna
make everyone just forget.
Everyone's gonna be like, who?
I don't know who that is.
Because he blotted out their name from under heaven, okay?
And so, you know, people shouldn't take this to an extreme
and think to themselves, well, yeah, well everything is new.
The new IFP is new, your doctrine is new,
your preaching is new, these preachers are new,
everything is just new, it's never been done before,
that is a lie, it's a false doctrine, it's not true.
And look, to further prove this,
I'm an independent fundamental Baptist,
I associate with independent fundamental Baptists,
and I've talked to other independent fundamental Baptists
who are new IFP, when I've talked to them about Jack Hiles,
you guys ever heard of Jack Hiles?
Raise your hand if you've ever heard of Jack Hiles.
Raise your hand if you've never heard of who that is.
Right there, see?
Vitor doesn't know who that is, he's like, who?
I remember I was talking to someone about Jack Hiles,
and by the way, don't feel bad
that you don't know who he is, okay?
He was just like a really big name preacher
in the independent fundamental Baptist circles.
He had the biggest church in America at one point,
the biggest soul-winning church.
How many people did he run, does anybody know?
10,000 people in his church?
And he was a hell-fired, damnation preacher.
He preached fire and brimstone, okay?
And I mean, he preached hard, he did.
In fact, I remember one time, I was at a McDonald's
after soul-winning with my soul-winning partner,
and he was actually a member of First Baptist Church.
Brother Hiles was his pastor at one point,
and he was young, he grew up there,
he grew up there since he was a little kid,
and we were talking about church,
and we were just talking about soul-winning,
and the guy behind him, this was in Los Angeles,
a guy behind him said, hey, are you guys Christians?
And we're like, yeah, yeah, we're Christians,
and he's like, man, I used to go to church long ago,
back in Indiana, okay, he's like, that's where I'm from.
He's like, yeah, do you guys know of a church
called First Baptist Church of Hammon?
And he's like, that's my home church,
that's where I came from.
He's like, yeah, Brother Hiles used to be my pastor.
And my friend was like, that was my pastor.
And then he's like, yeah, man, when I was over there,
I used to think that guy went too overboard, man.
He used to say some things about the homos and stuff,
and it was like, talk about killing them,
that they should kill themselves and all these things.
And I thought to myself, like, man, this guy's overboard.
He said, but then I came to California.
And then I was just like, man, Brother Hiles was right.
And this guy was like backslidden,
like he was really backslidden,
but then he was just like, dude, Brother Hiles was right
about what he was saying.
So this guy was like a hard preacher,
and he made a huge impact
on the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement, okay?
But I was talking to someone about him,
and they're like, oh wow, so what's he doing today?
I'm like, he's in heaven, he's dead.
But this is someone who, I mean, he died in 2001,
if I remember correctly, right, 2001.
But you have Independent Fundamental Baptists
who are soul winning, probably using the same methods
that even he taught, who have no idea who he is.
So it shows you that even in the, you know,
the time span between 2001 and 2011,
people who are part of the same movement
probably don't even know who each other are.
How many of you have ever heard of J. Frank Norris?
Raise your hand if you've never heard of J. Frank Norris.
Okay, consider him to be the father of Fundamental Baptists.
Crazy guy from the 1920s, the Roaring 20s as they call them.
You know, this guy was a hard preacher, okay?
You know, he was in the, back in the days of prohibition
and all that, and there was a time when a car,
this guy, a drunk driver crashed,
and the guy's brains were scattered all over the road.
He went and he picked up the brains
with a broken bottle of glass,
and he went to his church and preached against alcohol.
Yeah, that'll get your attention, right?
You're like, he did what?
Yeah, that's what he did.
He used to put these billboards up and say,
tonight I'm gonna reveal the men in these banks
who are committing adultery on their wife
come to church to hear their names.
And he ran a church of like 5,000 or more,
or something like that, and right before service,
five bankers would come up to him and say,
please don't tell him my name.
And it was only like one guy he knew.
You know, saw a bunch of people saved,
pastor of two of the largest churches in his day,
he killed a man, shot him dead,
because the guy came and threatened him
and he was in his church office,
and you know, because he would preach against everybody.
Preach against everyone.
No one was saved from Jake Frank Norris.
If he found out you were involved in something shady,
he would preach against you hard
and everyone would listen to him.
You know, they didn't have YouTube in those days,
so they had like these, he had a newspaper,
and people would subscribe to the newspaper.
So his subscriptions were really big.
You know, does that remind you of someone?
And you know, the Bible colleges of those days,
the teachers would say, don't go to Jake Frank Norris' church
so they would have to sneak out of Bible college
to go into his church to hear him preach,
because he was a dynamic preacher.
But he shot a man, because you know,
the guy came and he was like, you're threatening my friend,
and he acted like he was going to go for a gun,
and Jake Frank Norris pulled out a gun from his desk
and shot him dead and was acquitted.
You know, pretty crazy guy, but you know,
he did a lot of great exploits.
Saw a lot of people saved.
This guy had, well anyways,
he's a pretty, very interesting character, okay?
Very interesting man.
But you know what?
A lot of people don't even know who he is today.
Why, because sometimes a person's,
the memory of someone perishes,
not because he's a wicked person,
just because life goes on.
Some people just don't remember, they don't know about it.
You say, what can we learn from that though?
Because that sounds like depressing.
I want to be remembered.
Well it helps us to realize the importance
of being known of God.
That we are famous in the eyes of God,
because God who dwells in the vastness of eternity
keeps record of everything.
It's important to be famous to God,
that God would say, I know this man.
He's a perfect and upright man.
You know, someone who's like Job, right?
And so, let's continue reading,
because I can go on about that.
Look at verse 12, it says,
I the preacher was king over Israel and Jerusalem,
and I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom
concerning all things that are done under heaven.
This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man
to be exercised therewith.
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun,
and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
So what is he saying?
I've travailed to learn everything.
All knowledge, wisdom, I've searched, I've sought,
and this is the sore travail that God has given
to the sons of man, to just study and to learn.
And he's basically saying, look, learning is like a burden.
Why is it a burden?
Because it's arduous, it's hard,
it's painstaking work to study for anything.
Study to show yourself approved,
the Bible says study to show thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
And so when you study, whether it's for the Bible,
or whether it's for whatever area of your life,
maybe it's your job that you're trying to study,
things that pertain to your work,
it can be very vexing, taxing.
It can vex your soul.
You can grow weary because of that.
Now why is that?
Because of the fact that your brain,
although it only accounts for 2% of your body weight,
it actually takes about 20% of the energy of your body
when you actually study.
So you actually burn at least 320 calories a day
just thinking.
Some of you are like, some people must not think at all.
And in fact, you actually burn 65,
your brain will burn 65 calories
every 30 minutes when you study.
Think about that.
And I know pastor friends who told me like,
when I study I get really hungry.
Just because I'm burning a lot of calories just studying.
You know?
So you can see why the Bible actually says
that of the making of books there is no end,
and by much study is weariness of the flesh.
If you ever had like a five hour study session,
or three hour study session,
you know what I'm talking about.
You study and you're just like, man, this is like taxing.
I'm tired.
I'm like, I can't take no more, kind of thing.
Because it is weary, okay?
And so what he's saying is like,
look, I've sought out all types of knowledge and wisdom,
and you know what I concluded?
I concluded that my spirit is just vexed.
Why?
Because you never reach the end of knowledge.
There's always something more to learn.
So what's another reason why,
and by the way, this is why Daniel said
my cogitations troubled me, okay?
What's another reason why learning is a burden?
Well, because of the fact that the more you know,
the more you realize how much you don't know, okay?
The more you know, the more you realize,
dang, I don't know that much, okay?
There's times when I'm studying for a sermon,
or I'm studying a topic,
and maybe it deals with end times Bible prophecy,
I discover some things, and I'm like,
man, I'm just seeing this now?
I've been saved for like 14 years,
and this is the first time I'm seeing this?
And you know what it shows me?
There's a lot more that I don't know then.
Because it took me 14 years
to come across this specific truth.
So it's shown me the more that I learn,
the more truths that come across,
the more nuggets of gold of the Bible
that I extract from the Bible,
the more I realize, man, the mind goes deeper.
The gold is deeper, there's so much more in the Bible,
I really don't know as much as I thought I knew.
And you know what the Bible tells us?
If any man think that he knoweth anything,
he knoweth nothing, yet as he ought to know.
So hey, if you run into these know-it-alls,
teachers, no, I'm just kidding,
sneeze teachers,
and they think they know it all.
You know what the Bible says?
They don't really know as much as they think they know.
Because there's always more to learn.
There's always more to know.
And that can be very vexing to our soul
because of the fact that you want to learn.
I mean, there's times when I study
something very cryptic in the Bible,
and I can't figure out what it is, that's vexing to me.
I'm like, man, what does that mean?
What does this mean?
I don't know what this means.
And it's like, it's vexing because it's so deep, okay?
I mean, think about this.
The person in the Bible who knew a lot
about end times Bible prophecy was who?
Daniel.
And he didn't know anything about what he saw.
It was actually revealed unto him
what was gonna happen in the end of days.
He saw it as a vision, and he was just like,
I don't know what this means.
And God's like, you're not gonna know,
we're gonna seal this up until the end,
to the time of the end.
So the more he actually knew, the less he actually knew.
That's why it can be vexing.
What's the principle there?
The principle is this.
Just pace yourself when you're learning the Bible.
Pace yourself when you're learning any subject
because of the fact that you're never gonna reach
the end of that knowledge.
You're always gonna keep growing and learning,
learn at your pace.
Look at verse 15.
It says, that which is crooked cannot be made straight.
Can we show that verse to like the old I of B?
You know, hey.
Verse 15, if it's crooked, can't be made straight.
Stop thinking that you can get these sodomites saved,
they're crooked, they can't be made straight.
He's seen this thousands of years ago.
That which is crooked cannot be made straight.
I like how he just threw that in there.
He was like, they can't be made straight.
You think that's what he had in mind?
Yeah?
Or at least that's an application to that, definitely.
And that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
What does that mean?
There's always gonna be a need.
You know, Brother Elise and I,
we've been working on the building,
it's like, we gotta do this, we gotta do this,
but you know what, there's gonna come a time
where we just gotta like stop doing whatever we're doing
because there's always a need.
Something always has to be fixed.
And even though we think we got everything all right,
everything the way it's supposed to be,
there's someone in the church that's like,
I don't know, are you guys gonna put
that carpet strip right there?
I see a hole right there, are you guys ever gonna do this?
See a need, take the lead.
You do it.
That which is wanting cannot be numbered.
There's always something that we need as a family, right?
If we really sit down and think about
all the things that we need,
I'm sure we can compile a list of things that we need, right?
I commune with mine own heart,
saying, lo, I am come to great estate,
and have gotten more wisdom than all they
that have been before me in Jerusalem.
Yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge,
and I gave my heart to know wisdom
and to know madness and folly.
I perceive that this also is vexation of spirit,
for in much wisdom is much grief,
and he that increaseth knowledge increases sorrow.
So, you know, it could be that one of the reasons
God allowed Solomon to prosper so much
is so that he can reach a great estate
and still show everyone, I have everything,
yet I still don't know as much as I would want to know.
I was endowed from God with wisdom.
And still there's more to learn.
I was given great riches, but you know what?
There is, there's still wanting, which cannot be numbered.
He's like, it's never enough.
There's never enough.
So even though he was given possessions and wisdom
and everything that he needed,
and he had the discipline to manage those finances
and manage that zoo that he had and all these things,
you know, at the end of the day,
he still understood there's still more, there's not enough.
There's still more, okay?
And he says in verse 18, something very profound,
he says, for in much wisdom is much grief,
and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
You know what this reminds me?
It reminds me of what the Bible says,
that the Bible tells us to be wise
unto that which is good and simple, concerned, and evil.
You know who I've met, or who I've discerned
are the people who are actually the most vexed
in this world, the ones who are all in the news,
learning all the information, getting all that knowledge,
and everything that's going on, and the vaccines,
and the laws that are being passed, and Biden,
and all these things that are happening,
and you look at them and it's like, they're just vexed.
They're vexed!
Why?
Because of the fact that he that increaseth knowledge
increaseth sorrow, and it doesn't mean
that that knowledge is good knowledge, right?
You know, people are just stressing out,
like, oh man, what are we gonna do with the vaccine?
Ah!
It's like, are they banging down on your door?
Telling you're gonna, no, but I saw this on the news.
I saw a post.
Someone got it.
They're doing this, it's just like.
But you don't have it.
No, I don't have it.
Not yet.
But it's coming, though.
Where?
But this is what happened.
This is the world in which we live in today.
And you know it's true.
Especially over the last year.
And look, some of you may be the ones I'm talking about,
and that's why you're not laughing.
Because you're like.
No!
Some of you are very thankful that this is the last verse
in the chapter.
You're grieved, you're sorrowful.
Why?
Because you've gained much wisdom.
The wisdom of this world, of course.
And you've increased in knowledge,
you've gathered a lot of information.
Because of social media, the news, Fox News.
Sometimes you watch a little CNN just to get yourself
fired up a little bit.
Little mad, little upset.
We have to know what's going on, Pastor.
I mean, we have to know.
Well, yeah, I understand that we have to know,
but sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, though.
So why look into something you can't change, right?
I'd rather just take Solomon's advice,
and understand that when knowledge increases like that,
my sorrow will also increase.
And we've all fell into that trap to a certain extent.
We looked at those posts, and we looked at the news,
and you're just like, oh, these transgender freaks.
Like, what are they doing?
What kind of laws are they passing?
It's like, what's gonna happen to America?
You're just falling apart.
You're falling apart.
So what do you do?
You be wise unto that which is good,
and you become simple concerning evil.
You have to learn all that.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
And you say, well, how do I know when this is actually
going too far for me?
Well, when you stop trusting in God.
Well, how do I know I'm not trusting in God?
When you become fearful over the information
that you're receiving.
If you're just, if this is you at night.
And you just, because you're filling your mind
with all this information, and it's bouncing around
in your soul at night.
And what it is, it's vexation of spirit.
What is Solomon teaching us here?
What he's saying is this.
You know, there's always more.
It's never enough.
But just know this, and it's never gonna be enough
even after you die.
So just do what you can now.
Do it with your might today.
Be simple concerning evil today.
Be wise unto good today.
Learn as much as you can today.
And sufficient unto the day as the evil are up, amen.
Let's bow our heads in our word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the book of Ecclesiastes.
Please continue to give us wisdom, Lord, as we study it.
Thank you so much for the wisdom that you imparted
unto Solomon to pen these words, Lord.
I pray that you'd help us to recognize our lifespan
under this, under the sun.
It's very minimal.
We know that it's 70 years, 80 with strength, Lord.
And, Lord, but at the end of the day,
we're not gonna outlast the sun.
There's many lives that have come and gone,
and the same sun remained.
There's many lives that have come and gone,
and the earth remained.
The rivers still flowed into the oceans.
The wind still blew.
Everything continued its course.
And so, Lord, help us to take, not take for granted
the things you've given to us.
You know, there's always more to do,
but we're not always gonna have our wives.
We're not always gonna have our husbands.
We're not always gonna have our children.
And I pray, God, that you'd help us, Lord,
to take time to stop and appreciate them,
spend time with them, and recognize
that our life is but a vapor.
We love you so much, Lord, and we thank you.
Pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.