Brother.
All right, so if you keep your Bible open there
in 1 Samuel chapter 12, we had a really great sermon there
within that chapter from the prophet Samuel.
And the context of this chapter is that King Saul
is about to be given the kingdom, right?
Because the people of Israel demanded a king
and the Lord had allowed them to go with that option.
And so that's the context of this, okay?
We get this great sermon from Samuel.
But notice verse number 21.
1 Samuel 12, 21.
It says here, and turn ye not aside,
for then should ye go after vain things,
which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain.
The title for the sermon this evening is vain things.
Vain things.
For then should ye go after vain things.
We've got to be careful, brethren,
that we, as Bible-believing Christians,
that we don't go after vain things.
What does vain mean?
It means empty, it means worthless.
You know, you can spend your life,
you can spend your time on empty and worthless things.
That's not a good use of our time.
That's not a good use of our resources.
The Lord wants us to be focused and doing works, okay?
So what I want you to, what we're gonna go through,
basically, are several things that I see in the Bible
that speak about things that are vain,
things that ourselves, we might get ourselves involved in,
and we need to change that about ourselves.
Now, it was very tempting when we look at the topic
of things that are vain, things of vanity,
it's very tempting to look at the book of Ecclesiastes,
because that's what the entire book is, right?
But I've decided not to go to the book of Ecclesiastes.
We will touch upon it right at the end,
but I decided not to, otherwise,
I'd have to preach the whole book there, okay?
But let's turn to the book of Psalm.
We're gonna spend a lot of our time in the book of Psalm.
Let's go to Psalm chapter two, Psalm chapter two,
and verse number one, Psalm chapter two,
and verse number one.
So we're gonna be looking at several vain things, okay?
Now, the first one, what is vain?
Vein, or vanity, is living without God's laws.
Hey, that's vanity, that's vain.
If you try to live without God's laws,
in Psalm chapter two, verse one, it says,
why do the heathen rage,
and the people imagine a vain thing?
Hey, there are heathen, unbelievers,
people that do not like God, do not like His word,
and the Bible's telling us here,
they imagine a vain thing.
Say, what are those vain things?
Look at verse number two.
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord,
and against His anointed, that's the Christ,
that's Jesus Christ, saying,
let us break their bands asunder,
and cast away their cords from us, okay?
And so they do not want to, these kings of the earth,
those that are trying to eventually usher in
the one world government, usher in the Antichrist,
they do not want to be constrained by the word of God.
They don't want to be constrained by His commandments,
and by His laws, the Bible tells us
that if you want to live that way,
this is a people that imagine a vain thing.
It is vanity to live without the laws of God, all right?
Now, you can say that, I'm going to read to you
from Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 45,
Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse number 45,
it says, and Moses made an end of speaking
all these words to all Israel, and he said unto them,
set your hearts unto all the words
which I testify among you this day,
which you shall command your children to observe to do,
look at this, all the words of this law, okay?
Then verse 45 says, 47 says this,
for it is not a vain thing for you,
because it is your life, and through this thing,
you shall prolong your days in the land,
whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
Now, brethren, I don't know how much time you spend
in your Bible reading, I don't know how much time
you spend teaching your children the words of God,
hey, any time you spend time in the words of God,
Moses tell us now, this is not a vain thing.
Hey, this is good, this has substance,
this is profitable to you,
to the point that it'll prolong your days.
That's a promise, if you can delight yourself,
spend time in the word of God,
it takes time, I don't have 15 minutes a day to do that,
I don't have half an hour, I don't have an hour,
listen, if you spend time in God's word,
it's said here, you're gonna prolong your days,
you're gonna have more time on your hands,
if you spend time, any argument, I don't have time,
it's not good enough, okay?
Because God promises He's gonna give you longer days,
of course, a better life by living after His law,
after living by His commandments.
So brethren, please, never think reading your Bible,
spending time in God's word is a vain thing,
it is profitable unto you, and the heathen of this world,
yes, they wanna break the bands of sun,
they cast away the cords of God's laws,
the constraints of God's word,
because they want to do wicked things,
they want to live a life of vanity, okay?
And so that's the very first thing,
living without God's laws is a life of vanity,
I don't want you to be that person, all right?
Now let's go to the next one,
you're in Psalm, Psalm 127, verse number two,
Psalm 127 in verse number two,
Psalm 127 in verse number two reads,
it is vain for you, okay, what is vain for you?
To rise up early, say what, to get up early?
I get up early, that's vain, no, let's keep going.
To rise up early, to sit up late,
to eat the bread of sorrows,
for so he giveth his beloved sleep, okay?
What else is vain?
A lack of sleep, you know, getting up super early,
staying up super late, only sleeping a few hours a night,
that's vanity, okay?
Now you say, what is that, what is this teaching?
Well, listen, what this is teaching is,
when it says here, to eat the bread of sorrows,
it's the work that you have to do, right?
It's the labor that you have to do,
sometimes the labor and the work,
the life that you live does bring sorrow, all right?
And I know, because I've been like this,
where I've been at work,
and I've been snowed under with work,
and I've been snowed under with life,
and I'm getting up early, I'm sleeping late,
and I'm trying to make, you know,
trying to live as many hours of the day as I can,
reduce my sleep, because I've got a lot to do, all right?
And then, you know, you're not getting the sleep,
but the Bible's telling me, this is vanity.
Hey, this is empty, this is worthless, you say, why?
Because God wants to give his beloved sleep.
Now, I don't know about you,
I need a good eight hours a night, okay?
Maybe some of you can be seven,
but I'd say, you'd need at least seven hours,
and you say, why?
Because this is why, if you get a good amount of sleep,
and this is what God wants for you,
a good amount of sleep, so you're not always sorrowing,
okay, you get the sleep, you're gonna be more effective,
your brain's going to rest, your body's going to rest,
so even though you have less hours in the day
than, you know, staying up late,
you're gonna be more effective,
you're gonna be able to do a lot more, you know,
in your life, if you get proper sleep, okay?
And I know, it's very tempting,
you know, if I stay up late, I'll do more.
No, you won't, you're gonna be so exhausted the next day,
you're gonna be less effective,
and the next day, you're gonna be doing less, okay?
Listen, not getting sleep is vanity.
It's empty, it doesn't help you, okay?
The Lord wants, you know, his beloved to sleep.
Now, I know what it's like, because I've, you know,
there were some Sundays where I'm still working
on a sermon, it's not Sundays,
some Saturday nights where I'm still working on a sermon,
you know, there's been times that I've been up
to like two in the morning, just working on a sermon,
you know, for the next day, right?
And I'm there for hours and hours and hours,
and mentally, I'm so tired, mentally,
my body's saying, go to sleep, right?
But I need to get that sermon done.
And this was the earlier days when I was a pastor,
because I had a lot to do, right?
You know, I wasn't used to writing so many sermons
and things like this, but what I've learned is,
if I just go to sleep at a decent time and wake up earlier,
my brain's fresh, I've rested, I've had a good sleep,
and first thing in the morning, many times Sunday mornings,
I've just, you know, because of what I thought
about last night, I can get up early,
I'm starting to write things down, I'm much more fast,
I'm much more fresh, I'm much more effective,
I'm much more productive, because I got the sleep.
And I've noticed when I don't get the sleep,
I'm not as effective, and I don't feel like
I've preached as well, you know, when I come to Sunday.
You know, and you know, not just as a preacher,
but even in my previous jobs, you know,
when I've had long nights and I've stayed up late,
sometimes I've been in the office till very late,
trying to do work, and my body's getting tired,
and I've got to finish this today.
You know what, if I just got that sleep,
if I just got up earlier the next morning,
and I'll be more productive.
And so listen, it's vanity to reduce your sleep,
to get rid of your sleep.
You need your sleep, you know.
Yes, you have less hours in the day,
but you'll be more effective, more productive.
You ought to get more done, okay?
And you know, in Matthew 6 verse 34, it says,
take therefore no thought for the morrow,
okay, that's tomorrow, for the morrow shall take thought
for the things of itself,
sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
You know that's teaching, take one day at a time.
One day, you've got stuff to do today, get it done.
The things for tomorrow, yeah, just leave them for tomorrow.
You know, you don't need to be thinking about the future.
You don't need to be thinking about
what's going on next week or next month.
I mean, things can change so quickly.
We're living in days when these COVID restrictions
come and go, they get lifted, further restrictions.
I mean, right now, we can't live like that.
We can't, it's difficult to plan ahead.
So what we're commanded to do
is just live for one day at a time.
There's enough things to accomplish today,
you don't need to be thinking about the things tomorrow.
Okay, get the sleep that you need.
Now please go to Psalm 26 verse four.
Psalm 26 and verse four.
The next thing that is vain, the vain things here,
in Psalm 26 and verse number four,
and before I read this, I remember Brother Matthew,
you know, preaching a great sermon on this topic,
but it says here, I have not sat with vain persons,
neither will I go with dissemblers.
All right, so the next thing that is vanity
are vain persons, all right?
Now many times when you're reading the Psalms,
okay, because Psalm is a book of poetry,
it's a book of song, many times it repeats.
You're gonna have a statement, comma,
and it states it all over again, just in a different way.
And so when you look at verse number four,
it says I have not sat with vain persons,
empty persons, worthless persons.
What are these vain persons?
Neither will I go in with dissemblers, okay?
So the dissemblers here are the vain people, okay?
That's what's being told us here.
You say, what is a dissembler?
Well, let's have a look at verse number five.
It says, I have hated the congregation of evildoers
and will not sit with the wicked.
Remember he said he will not sat with vain persons
and he says sit with the wicked.
And so what he's saying is these vain persons,
they're dissemblers, they're evildoers,
and they're wicked people, okay?
You know what?
There are some people in your life that are just toxic.
They're vain persons.
And you know, you might even have friends.
You might have family members that are vain persons.
You know, I call these your black hole friends.
You know, any effort you make,
any kind of friendship you try to strike up,
you know, it all just gets sucked into that black hole
and it's very consuming, but you get nothing in return.
Okay, in fact, they might be very wicked people.
They might be wasting your time on purpose, okay?
And you need to be careful about the people
you surround yourself with.
You see, the Psalmist, he wanted to be around good people.
He didn't want to be around vain persons.
You say, what is a dissembler?
Well, he kind of sounds like the opposite of an assembler.
So an assembler is someone that builds up,
but that's not right.
The opposite of assembler is a disassembler, okay,
that breaks something down.
But a dissembler has a different root word
and it's kind of like the word, like sem, dissem,
is like the word seem, okay?
So they seem to be one way, but they're really not.
They seem to be doing good.
They seem to care about you.
They seem to be a godly Christian, perhaps.
They come into church,
but inwardly they have wicked motives.
Inwardly they have selfish motives, right?
And that's why they're, you know,
I have hated the congregation of evil doers, right?
And have not sat with the wicked.
Now, look, I'm not a very discerning person in this area.
You know, generally speaking,
I give people the benefit of the doubt.
And I think even as a pastor,
you probably should err on the side
of giving people a benefit of doubt anyway, okay?
But I know some of you guys are pretty much on board, right?
As soon as somebody comes in, you know right away,
red flags, you know, some weirdo comes in,
or, you know, we talk about something,
red flags, I'm not so much like that, okay?
I think it can be dangerous if you're too much like that
because there can be people that are genuine.
It might just be a little awkward or whatever, right?
They're genuine, a bit awkward,
and then you've got the red flags,
and then you might, you know, set up a wall
and not invite that person in and be friends with them.
So there is a danger in both ends, right?
But you can see that Simon really tries
not to waste his time with vain people.
If you can keep your finger, or not finger there,
let's go to Proverbs, it's not too far.
Next book, Proverbs 26 and verse 24.
Proverbs 26 and verse 24.
Don't forget the dissembler, you know, seems one way
and he's not the other, so they're very hard to identify.
All right?
Hard to identify.
In Proverbs 26 verse 24, it says,
he that hateth, dissembleth with his lips.
There's that dissembler, right, dissembleth with his lips.
And layeth up deceit within him.
For he speaketh fair.
Hey, he's got great speech.
Believe him not, all right?
For there are, look at this,
for there are seven abominations in his heart
whose hatred is covered by deceit.
His wickedness shall be showed
before the whole congregation.
You know what I'm saying there?
Eventually, they're gonna be found out.
You know, the dissembler comes in,
the vain person comes in, the wicked person comes in,
and they flatter you, and they seem like a great person,
they seem like they wanna help the church, all right?
And before you know it,
there are seven abominations in his heart.
I mean, he's a wicked person.
He's coming in to hurt the church.
Hey, that's a vain person.
We're not supposed to spend time with that person.
All right, now listen, it's hard to figure them out, right?
But then what did it say?
It says right at the end,
his wickedness shall be showed
before the whole congregation.
So eventually, after a while, it takes a bit of time,
we might all be fooled for a while.
Hey, you know Judas Iscariot,
exactly the same situation, right?
But eventually, their wicked motives come out.
Eventually, they're found out,
and their wickedness will be shown
throughout the whole congregation, right?
I mean, that person needs to be called out
so the congregation knows,
hey, this man was a wicked person.
Look what he tried to do, okay?
So vain persons are vain things that we should go without.
Now, I just wanted to read a portion to you in Galatians 2.
You don't need to turn there.
I just wanna show you how these vain people,
how deceptive they really are.
In Galatians chapter two, verse 12,
it says, for before that certain came from James.
Oh yeah, he did eat with the Gentiles,
but when they were come,
he withdrew and separated himself,
fearing them which were of the circumcision, okay?
So look, James is spending time with Gentiles, he knows,
but then there are a certain group of people,
he feels pressured and he doesn't wanna eat with Gentiles
because, you know, Gentiles are supposed to be unclean
under the old covenant,
but hey, we're in the new covenant now.
But then in verse number 13, it says,
and the other Jews dissembled likewise with him
in so much that Barnabas also was carried away
with their dissimulation.
Barnabas, hey, Barnabas is a great man of God.
Hey, if not for Barnabas, we would not have Paul, okay?
Barnabas was the one that supported Paul
when nobody wanted to touch Paul, right?
With a 10-foot pole.
Barnabas came along and said, no, Paul's legit,
we need to give him a chance.
You know, it's Barnabas that got John Mark right
and Mark eventually was able to write the gospel of Mark.
You know, Barnabas is a great man.
I tend to think sometimes I'm more of a Barnabas
than a Paul, right?
But, and then what's Barnabas like, right?
He's given everybody the benefit of doubt,
he's thinking the best of everybody,
but then even he can get affected by those dissemblers,
okay, by those vain people.
So even if a great man like Barnabas can be fooled,
well, so can we, okay?
You're close to Psalm, go back to Psalm 62.
Psalm 62, verse nine, what else are vain things?
Psalm 62, verse nine.
The next vain thing is social status.
Boy, people love their social status, right?
I mean, just the last few weeks,
because I've been soul winning pretty much every day,
you know, knocking doors, you know, I've heard too much.
I'm educated, right?
One woman told me, I have four degrees.
Wow, wow, you know?
Someone else told me, I've already studied
all the religions, I've studied all the cults.
You know, there's plenty of boasting,
plenty of people trying to tell me how they've risen
that social class, right?
Social status or social class is a vain thing.
Look at Psalm 62, verse nine.
It says, surely men of low degree, okay?
These are, you know, low degree is the low social class.
So let's read it again.
Surely men of low degree are vanity.
Say, whoa, hold on, even low degree?
Yeah, even men of low degree, the Bible says, is vanity.
They're empty, okay?
They're useless, they're worthless.
You say, why, because they're sinners.
That's why, you know, any form of righteousness,
even within the lower class,
it doesn't meet God's standard, right?
Even their righteousness are like filthy rags.
Of course, from God's perspective,
even lower class people, you know, are vanity.
But look at the next bit.
And men of high degree, oh yeah,
these are the high status ones.
Men of high degree are a lie.
Why?
Because those of high degree, high status,
hey, I got four degrees.
Well, I'm really intelligent, I'm really something.
You're a lie, you're nothing, okay?
That's from God's perspective.
Hey, social class does not matter.
Upper class, lower class, doesn't matter.
Now, I love the next bit.
I love the next bit.
It says, to be laid in the balance, they are all together.
You take the low degree people, low status, high degree,
or they're all together, lighter than vanity.
Hey, you take everybody, high class, low class,
middle class, you weigh them in the balance, all right?
And on the other side, you put vanity, okay?
They're still lighter than vanity.
There's more worth in vanity, what's that saying?
They're lower than vanity, they're less than vanity.
This social class stuff is vanity lower than vanity.
Burn, right?
Anyone that thinks there's something
because of their wealth or whatever, hey, God doesn't care.
God is not a respecter of persons.
Acts chapter 10, verse 34.
Then Peter opened his mouth and said of a truth,
I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.
That's the truth.
We're all sinners.
How can you respect an unsaved, non-God-fearing person?
Okay, but what does he respect?
Verse number 35 says, but in every nation,
he that fearth him and worketh righteousness
is accepted with him.
Hey, you want God to accept you?
You wanna make sure that what you do is not vanity,
boasting in your class and your education
or whatever it is that you think gives you status.
Listen, just be God, do the commandments,
live after his righteousness, work righteousness.
This is acceptable with God, okay?
Not your social class.
Social status, social class is vanity.
You're still in Psalm 62, right?
Well, we're gonna go to the next verse, number 10 there.
Psalm 62 and verse number 10, what else is vanity?
Now, the next one here is earthly wealth, okay?
Having earthly wealth is vanity.
Verse number 10, it says here, trust not in oppression
and become not vain in robbery.
And what is the context here?
If riches increase, set not your heart upon them, okay?
Now, is this teaching that it's wrong to have riches?
No, it's not teaching that, right?
Because it says here, if riches increase,
so God is expecting that we would increase in riches,
right, on this earth, but even when our riches do increase,
set not your heart upon them, okay?
We should not be trusting in riches
and thinking this is what's gonna help me.
No, it's the Lord God that helps you.
It's the Lord God that gives you riches
if you have some level of riches,
but do not become vain in robbery.
Of course, this is, you know,
taking riches in an unlawful way,
but overall, you know, the context here is earthly wealth,
this is vanity, right?
Can you please keep your, not keep your finger,
but go to Psalm 23.
I'll get you guys to just turn between Psalm and Proverbs
because it's so close.
Go to Proverbs 23, please.
Proverbs 23 and verse number four.
And look, you know, don't mistake.
We all need jobs, we all need money.
Money's a tool to provide, you know, to feed ourselves,
to clothe ourselves, right?
To give to the work of God or whatever it is.
You know, even, you know, sometimes you need a holiday.
Sometimes you need to, you know, go and relax
and have a bit of a rest, recharge your batteries.
You know, we need to use our, you know,
labor with your hands.
You know, if you get some riches, praise God,
don't set your heart upon those things, right?
Proverbs 23 verse four says this.
Labor not to be rich.
Cease from thine own wisdom.
Say, why do people labor?
Why do you go to work?
Because I want to be rich.
Hey, that is the thought of somebody, okay?
Now that is vain, okay?
Don't labor to be rich, labor to provide.
Labor to have, right?
Labor so you can, you know, work an honest job, right?
To look after your family.
Those are the reasons why you should labor.
Verse number five.
Will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?
What is not?
Well, the context here will be money, why?
For riches certainly make themselves wings.
They fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
Look, it doesn't matter how much money you have,
it's going to fly away.
There's always a bill, there's always a tax,
there's always something to pay, okay?
And you think, ah man, if I just have more,
more of it's gonna fly away.
You know, there's gonna be more bills to pay.
There's gonna be more things to spend it on, okay?
Don't set your heart on these things.
And Brevin, I know a few of you have been dabbling
in gold and silver recently,
and we've seen the prices going up quite a lot
the last few weeks.
Don't set your heart on those things.
Hey, if your riches increase, praise God.
You know, praise God, but don't set your heart
on those things.
In Matthew chapter six, verse 20, it says,
but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven,
for where neither moth nor rust are corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal,
for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Listen, if your heart is in your wealth,
your investments, you know,
that's where your heart's gonna be.
Your heart's not gonna be for the Lord.
You know, if you're focused on your treasure.
Later on in verse number 24, same chapter,
it says, no man can serve two masters,
for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or else he will hold on to the one and despise the other.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
What's mammon?
Riches, wealth.
Your money.
Listen, you can't serve wealth.
You can't serve riches.
You know, what did the Bible just say?
If you're someone whose heart is set
on how rich you can become,
the Bible's telling you you cannot serve two masters.
Hey, if you're loving the money,
it says you're gonna hate the one.
Listen, you can't love money and think you can love God.
No, you love money, that's fine.
You can do that if you want,
but that means you're gonna hate God.
That's not where you wanna be as a Christian, right?
You love money, you hold on to money.
What's it gonna say?
Despise the other, despise God.
Is that what you want in your Christian life?
No, it would rather love God,
rather appreciate who God is,
hold on to God and let him provide the riches.
Let him provide the wealth in an honest day's job.
Please do not live for wealth
because you cannot serve two masters.
Please go to Psalm 33.
Go to Psalm 33 now.
We're going to the next thing that is vanity.
And the only reason I call it,
the next thing that's vanity,
I call it the watchdog, okay?
The reason I say this is how many times
do we go door to the soul winning, right?
You ring the bell.
Whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, whap.
Right, so something like, oh man, that dog's just barking.
Makes it hard to talk to people, right?
The watchdog, the watchdog is vanity.
Say, what do you mean?
Let's look at Psalm 33 verse 16.
Psalm 33 verse 16 says,
there is no king saved by the multitude of an host.
Look, he's saying, look,
it doesn't matter how big your army is,
the king's not saved by how big your army is, okay?
That's what he's saying.
A mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
Hey, a mighty man, a powerful warrior,
it's not his great strength that delivered him in battle.
Look at verse number 17.
And horse is a vain thing for safety.
You know, in our modern day, the watchdog, right?
The watchdog is a vain thing for safety, all right?
Look at this.
Neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
Verse number 18.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him,
upon them that hope in his mercy.
Hey, you want safety?
You want protection?
Hey, it's gotta come from the Lord.
It doesn't come from the watchdog.
It doesn't come from how big your army is
or how strong you are or how powerful your horse is
in the day of battle, okay?
It's coming from, it's the same thing as the wealth, right?
It's a very similar thing.
Your heart should not be on wealth.
It should be on the Lord and he'll provide the wealth.
Hey, your heart should not be on the watchdog
and the horse is on how big your army,
your heart ought to be on the Lord.
That's not vanity and the Lord will protect you.
Are you saying it's wrong to have a dog past the cabin?
No, it's fine.
Oh yeah, okay.
It is wrong then, okay?
No, it's not wrong, okay?
Now, when I think about this,
I think about Proverbs 21, verse 31, which says,
the horse is prepared against the day of battle,
so we should prepare our horses, okay,
for the day of battle, but then it says this,
but safety is of the Lord, okay?
What's gonna keep you safe?
It's the Lord.
The Lord's watching over you.
Hey, but if you've got a horse,
then get it prepared for battle, okay?
Because it might be the horse that's going to help you.
It might be the horse that the Lord allows to deliver you
out of the hands of the enemy.
It might be the strength of the mighty man
that delivers him.
It might be the great host, the great army
that delivers the king,
but that's not what we should be trusting in.
If you're trusting those things, it's vanity.
It's vanity.
We've gotta have our trust, our eyes,
our hope upon the Lord, all right?
So I'm not against having a watchdog, okay?
Prepare it for the day of battle if you have to.
Prepare it for the thief that breaks in,
but listen, if the Lord is not protecting you,
the watchdog's gonna do nothing, okay?
Now the Lord may very well allow that dog to protect you,
but it's where our hearts are.
It's where our minds are.
It's what we're trusting ultimately
that's the difference between what is vanity
or what is profitable for you.
Please go to Psalm 119 now.
Psalm 119
and verse 113.
Psalm 119
and verse 113.
I'll give you a moment to turn there.
Psalm 119 verse 113, 113.
It says, Samech,
I hate vain thoughts,
but thy law do I love.
I hate vain thoughts.
Brevin, you know what?
I don't think I'd go a single day
without some vain thoughts,
some stupid thought,
something that means nothing, okay?
Some wild imagination, some stupid thought.
I don't think I'd go a day with that, right?
And here's the thing, you know, just like the Psalmist,
when it happens, he says, I hate that.
Why is it there?
Why am I thinking that?
You know, you can have vain thoughts in your mind, okay?
Empty thoughts, a waste of time.
If you can please go to, let's see,
I'll get you to turn to,
yeah, go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 for me,
2 Corinthians chapter 10.
I won't read that passage just yet,
but thoughts can be vain, empty thoughts, wasted thoughts.
In Jeremiah chapter four verse 14,
the Lord speaks toward Jerusalem.
Again, they're being judged, they're being very wicked,
and it says, O Jerusalem,
wash thine heart from wickedness,
that thou mayest be saved.
Then it says this,
how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
Okay?
So when Jerusalem, when the people of Jerusalem
were having vain thoughts, it caused them to do wickedness.
Okay?
Vain thoughts will cause you to do wickedness.
And so he's asking Jerusalem, look,
wash your heart from wickedness,
that thou mayest be saved or delivered.
Brethren, did you know that?
That your vain empty thoughts,
spending your times on stupid things,
can cause you to do wicked acts, can cause you to sin.
You know, and God wants you to turn from that, okay?
In Romans chapter one verse 21,
now Romans chapter one,
I know a lot of you guys love that chapter
because it's about the reprobates, okay?
But I want you to notice what it says about,
well, if this is before somebody becomes a reprobate, okay?
But this is the downward spiral that they go down.
In Romans chapter one verse 21, it says this,
because that when they knew God,
they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful,
but became vain in their imaginations.
It's like the thoughts, right?
And their foolish heart was darkened.
What's it saying there?
If we have vain imaginations, vain thoughts, okay?
You know, maybe married men thinking about some other woman
that's not your wife, that's a vain thought, okay?
Your heart will be darkened and you will do wicked things,
okay?
I don't know what vain thoughts
might be going through your head,
might be, you know, becoming rich like we've seen before,
maybe some of these other vain things
that we're going through,
maybe you're spending time thinking about those things.
Listen, it's going to darken your heart, okay?
It's gonna cause you to do wickedness.
This is the downward spiral that ultimately,
for an unbeliever of course,
that will lead someone to a reprobate mind, okay?
So we have to be careful about our thought life.
The Lord can see that, we need to work on that,
and you know, the more wicked things
you spend your mind thinking about,
the more likely you're going to actually do that
in the flesh, okay?
You're in 2 Corinthians 10 and verse number five,
2 Corinthians 10 and verse number five,
because you will have vain thoughts,
you will have vain imaginations that come into your mind,
because then it says here, casting down imaginations.
What does that mean?
As soon as you think something stupid and vain,
you just cast it down and say, no, I hate that.
I'm not going to think about that anymore.
Why did my mind go there?
Okay, and what did the Psalmist say?
When he says, I hate vain thoughts,
but by law do I love.
Brethren, that's going to help you.
You start having vain thoughts,
you cast down that thought,
you go to God's law and you start reading it.
You start washing your mind with the word of God, okay?
When those vain thoughts enter your mind,
casting down imagination,
and every high thing that exalts of itself
against the knowledge of God, that's what it is.
Vain thoughts, wicked thoughts, things that are empty.
Hey, they exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.
I don't know if you think about that in your thought life,
you know, and bringing into captivity,
you got to capture every thought to the obedience of Christ.
Now this is something only you can do.
I can't read your thoughts, praise God.
I want to think the best of you guys.
I'm glad you can't read my thoughts, okay?
But you listen, you know your thoughts,
you know your thoughts.
And when you're thinking something vain, something wicked,
hey, cast it down, capture it like a soldier.
You know, you go and you're fighting a battle in your mind.
Just bring it low, okay?
It's not going to glorify God.
And bring that thought to the obedience of Christ.
And I think just run to the word of God, open it up,
just read something, just clean your mind out
from that nonsense, okay?
Such an important part of our spiritual life.
If you can go to Proverbs 31 now, Proverbs 31.
What else is vain?
Your physical appearance.
Your physical appearance is vain, all right?
Caring about your physical, how do I look, all right?
Proverbs 31 verse 30.
Proverbs 31 verse 30 reads, favor is deceitful
and beauty is vain, all right?
Now I don't know how many men like to fix themselves up.
Listen, I do a little bit of work, right?
I fix up my mustache and my goatee.
You know, I do have a clean shave.
I do put a bit of gel when I have longer hair,
a little bit, okay?
But I'm telling you, I probably don't spend more
than a minute in the mirror, probably max, okay?
Fixing myself up, whatever, especially before
I come to preach, okay?
But it's not really men that struggle with this.
I mean, some men do, you know some men definitely do, right?
But look what it says in the next part.
But a woman, okay?
This is something that women really struggle with.
This is something, this is one of their, you know,
pet sins that they struggle with.
But a woman that fearth the Lord, she shall be praised.
Listen, the world praises the beautiful woman, okay?
The world praises, in fact, the whorish woman.
But no, as Christians, we ought to praise the woman
that fears the Lord, okay?
You know, a lady, yeah, it's okay, of course,
it's fix yourself up.
We see that even in the Bible.
You know, Song of Solomon, we see, you know,
the wife putting on some ornaments and putting on perfume
and fixing herself up for her husband.
Nothing wrong with that.
But there are some people that are just overboard, right?
I mean, hours and hours and hours
getting themselves ready.
You know, spending hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of dollars at the hairdresser, you know?
And look, that's vanity.
Beauty is vain.
Listen, you might marry the most beautiful woman, okay,
when she's 20 or whatever.
I guess what's gonna happen when she's 30,
she's not gonna be as beautiful.
When she's 40, she's not gonna be as beautiful, all right?
After she has a bunch of kids, right, things change.
Listen, if you're marrying for beauty,
well, you know, you're gonna fall out of love eventually
from that person because she changes, you change.
You know, you're not as handsome as you were, man,
as you were back in your teenage years
and early 20s or whatever, right?
I mean, we age, we get older, right?
That's not what you should be looking for.
If you wanna find a wife to marry,
find a wife, a woman that fears the Lord, okay?
She shall be praised.
That is something that she can have
for the rest of her life.
That is something you can praise your wife for forever.
You can't always praise the beauty.
Now, I'm gonna praise my wife's beauty no matter what,
but I'm just saying, obviously, that changes over time,
but fearing the Lord, hey,
that is something a woman can be consistent with.
Fearing the Lord is not vain,
but a woman just caring all about her beauty,
that is vanity, right?
Look at the next verse there.
Look at the next verse in verse 31.
The woman that fears the Lord, it says,
"'Give her of the fruit of her hands
and let her own works praise her in the gates.'"
Okay, so what should we praise in her once again?
The fear of the Lord,
but also the works that she does, right?
You know, serving her husband, helping other people,
we're raising the children.
Hey, those are the things
that you should be praising your wife for, okay?
Praising a woman for.
Now, we're up to the end,
so please go to the book of Ecclesiastes.
Like I said, we are gonna touch upon this,
but I didn't wanna spend all my time there
because it's the whole book, okay?
But Ecclesiastes chapter one, please.
Ecclesiastes chapter one.
I'm starting to get toward the end of the sermon now,
but Ecclesiastes chapter one and verse number two.
Now, if you don't know what Ecclesiastes is,
you know, it's basically, you know,
the church in Greek is called the ekklesia, okay?
Which is where you get the word Ecclesiastes from, okay?
The church is the gathering, the congregation,
the assembly, right?
Ecclesiastes is basically saying kind of like the church,
the assembly, right?
And so this is a book that I would like to one day preach,
you know, go through.
Probably would be one of my next ones that I go through.
But it also speaks about the preacher,
you know, the preacher at church.
And in verse number two, it says this.
This is what the preacher ought to say.
This is the kind of preaching
the preacher needs to do, right, in the church.
Verse number two says,
vanity of vanities, sayeth the preacher.
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
Listen, I could make this sermon as long as,
oh man, we could go here for hours.
You know, I was looking up in the Bible,
what is vanity, what is vanity?
Oh man, there's so many verses.
It just goes on and on.
I've just taken a select few, yeah?
Just a few things for us to be thinking about, right?
But listen, the preacher preaches vanity of vanities,
sayeth the preacher, vanity of vanities,
all is vanities.
That's how chapter one starts.
Now, go to chapter 12,
go to the last chapter of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse number eight.
So now at the end, so we started with the vanities,
all is vanity, and at the end, verse number eight,
it says vanity of vanities, sayeth the preacher,
all is vanity.
Listen, and that is the job of the preacher,
to come here and tell you guys, hey,
remember that time you spent time, you know,
working for riches, trying to become rich?
Guess what?
That was vanity, that was a waste of your time.
Hey, you know, all that time you're trying to be
somebody in this world and have a high social status,
hey, that was a waste of your time, that was vanity.
Okay, that's what the preachers are called to preach.
Hey, you know how you had your heart set
on all these things that you thought
were gonna protect you?
Hey, that was vanity.
Your protection was from the Lord, okay?
That's what the preacher preaches.
And look at, and say, well, for what purpose?
Look at verse number nine.
And moreover, because the preacher was wise,
he still taught the people knowledge.
Okay, this stuff is not vanity, okay?
Teaching the people knowledge, yay,
he have a good heed and sought out,
he gave good heed and sought out
and set in order many proverbs.
Hey, we've gone through a few proverbs today,
praise God, right?
I mean, this is the role of a preacher.
Verse number 10.
The preacher sought to find out acceptable words
and that which was written was upright,
even words of truth, okay?
So what did we start, the very first thing that we said,
you know, it's vanity to live a life
without the word of God, without his commandments,
without his laws, okay?
You know what's wonderful about being a pastor?
And if you're a preacher,
you get an opportunity to preach here,
this is what's wonderful about it.
All your study, all your work to get a sermon together,
all the effort you give to preach that sermon boldly
was not vanity, okay?
Was not vanity.
This is what's wonderful,
because there's all these,
I mean, everything else is vanity, pretty much.
Except, of course, what we learn from the word of God.
You know, please, as I said when I started,
you know, don't think time in the word of God
is a waste of time.
God's eyes, hey, that's something profitable,
that is something good.
You're not wasting your time
when you're listening to Bible preaching
or you're doing your own Bible study, okay?
Now, let's go back to 1 Samuel chapter 12,
the chapter that was read to us earlier.
We're gonna end on 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 20.
Because Samuel, as I said, he gave a great sermon.
Hey, that wasn't vanity, wasn't it?
A great sermon to his people.
In 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 20,
1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 20, the Bible reads,
And Samuel said unto the people,
Fear not, ye have done all this wickedness,
yet turn not aside from following the Lord,
but serve the Lord with all your heart.
And turn ye not aside,
for then should ye go after vain things,
which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain.
All right, so this is a, Samuel's a great preacher.
He's like the preacher in Ecclesiastes, right?
He's saying, look, you know, don't turn aside from God.
You know, keep serving,
even though you've done wickedness,
hey, don't turn from following the Lord.
Serve the Lord with all your heart.
Turn not aside, because if you do turn aside,
if you turn away from the Lord,
you turn away from his words,
then you will go after vain things.
Now, brethren, if you have been going after vain,
if you're going after vain things right now,
like from the, and we only had a short list.
As I said, I could have kept going, okay?
You know what this tells me?
This tells me that there was a time
where you've actually turned aside from the Lord.
You weren't following the Lord properly,
because you started to put your heart on vain things, okay?
This is the protection.
If we stay serving the Lord, following the Lord,
even though we are sinful creatures, right?
But we confess those sins before the Lord,
we serve him, that's gonna keep you
from going after the vain things, okay?
You start dropping Bible reading,
you stop going to church, you're gonna start,
your mind's gonna start wandering
after the vain things, okay?
Verse number 22, for the Lord will not forsake his people,
for his great name's sake,
because it have pleased the Lord to make you his people.
Praise God, hey, we're the people of God, New Testament,
the Lord's not gonna forsake us.
Another passage there for eternal security.
Verse number 23, moreover, as for me,
God forbid that I should sin against the Lord
in ceasing to pray for you,
but I will teach you the good and the right way.
So this is, again, the job of a preacher,
especially as a pastor,
it is the job to teach you the good and right way,
but also not to cease to pray for you, okay?
If that's something your heart set on
one day to be a pastor, yeah, preach, great, you know?
People will see you preach
and people know you're doing that, great,
but you know what, people can't see your prayers,
and we need to, as pastors especially,
we need to be praying pastors, praying for the people, okay?
Verse number 24, only fear the Lord
and serve him in truth with all your heart,
and then I love the next bit,
for consider how great things he have done for you,
but if ye shall still do wickedly,
ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king,
that's of course King Saul, okay?
So Samuel's giving them a warning,
but what did he start by saying?
He goes, don't go after the vain things, okay?
Serve the Lord, and then in verse number 24,
it says, for consider how great things he have done for you.
Hey, so don't go for the vain things,
consider the great things that God has done for you, okay?
What has God given you?
He's given you salvation.
He's given you everlasting life.
He's given you the Holy Spirit.
He's given you power in this life to serve him.
He's given you New Life Baptist Church.
He's given you a King James Bible, right?
I mean, he's given you your job.
He's given you a married man.
He's given you a wife.
If you have kids, he's given you kids.
I mean, he's given you so many things,
and listen, when you start thinking some vain things,
remember the great things that God has done for you.
That's gonna help you from searching the vain things.
All right, brethren, vain things, please,
I don't want you to waste your life, okay?
Vain means empty, worthless.
I don't want God to be thinking about you in that light.
Okay, let's pray.