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Alright, we're in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 here this morning, and we're continuing our series on false philosophies, and we're looking at the philosophy of hedonism, the philosophy of hedonism. You say, Brother Stuckey, what is hedonism? Well, here's a definition from the dictionary. It is a school of thought that argues seeking pleasure and avoiding suffering are the only components of well-being. And so, hedonism is a philosophy that says, just try to fulfill yourself full of happiness. Try to fulfill yourself full of pleasure. And there's kind of different avenues to do this. One of them is removing suffering, which is kind of like Buddhism, right, where they basically get rid of suffering or try to in order to be happy, which it doesn't work, but you already saw that. But another avenue is just basically committing sins and doing wrong and doing what your flesh wants and trying to do that to end up being happy, okay? So that's what I'm preaching against here today. And you know what? You might say, Brother Stuckey, does anyone really do this? Well, isn't that what we just read with Solomon? Solomon himself says that he seeks after pleasure, and it destroys his life, okay? Look at verse number 1, Ecclesiastes chapter 2, verse 1. I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth. Therefore enjoy pleasure, and behold, this also is vanity. So inside of the heart of Solomon, he decides to seek after pleasure, seek after happiness. He's like, Man, my life is so difficult. I'm serving God. I'm exhausted. Maybe I should just calm things down, have a little bit more fun in life, and it's going to make my life better. Now, look, this is something he does inside of his heart, and I think if we're honest, all of us do this from time to time to some degree. I mean, isn't that why we commit sins? We do that to be happy, right? We commit sins because even though we know it's wrong, because we think it's going to make us happy, and does it ever work? No, it doesn't, okay? Well, Solomon goes down this road, and we're actually getting to read from a man who went down this road the end result. Verse number 2, I said of laughter, It is mad, and of mirth, what doeth it? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom, and delay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. So Solomon says, I gave myself to wine and wisdom, okay? Now let me just say this, that wine can mean multiple things in the Bible, so there's two ways to look at this. One way to look at this is wine represents things that are very luxurious or expensive. I don't think that's what it's referring to here though. I believe he's referring to alcoholic wine because he talks about how he's looking at the sons of men that are giving themselves to folly. So that would be alcohol, wouldn't it? But I mean, those things don't go hand in hand. Wine and wisdom. Beer and wisdom. Alcohol and wisdom. I'm pretty sure those things fight against one another, okay? But Solomon basically, he doesn't want to lose his wisdom. He's like, I'm going to still learn and educate, but I'm also going to give myself to sin. And this is kind of like the Christian who says, I'm going to go soul winning and read the Bible and go to church and also commit sins. And just you decide, you know what? I don't want to give up my sinful lifestyle. I'm just going to do both. That doesn't work. You've got to make a choice. You can't say, I'm going to hold on to my sin and live for God. No, you've got to withdraw from one in order to live for God, okay? In order to reach forth onto what's before you, you've got to let go of what's behind you, okay? Verse 4, I made me great works. I builded me houses. I planted me vineyards. I made me gardens and orchards and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits. I made me pools of water to water there with the wood that bringeth forth trees. I got me servants and maidens and had servants born in my house. Also, I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me. So Solomon says, I had everything that the world had to offer. Now, not all of these things are inherently sinful. There's nothing inherently sinful. Thou shalt not have a garden, okay? You're not going to find that verse. Thou shalt not have a pool. You're not going to find that verse, okay? But the problem is when you withdraw from God in order to pursue worldly pleasure. That's the problem. There's nothing sinful about going on a vacation or going to a nice restaurant or having nice things. The problem is when you don't serve God in order to obtain those things. But if God has blessed you with money and you want to have something nice at your house, there's nothing sinful about that, okay? But the problem with Solomon is he's withdrawing from serving God to give himself to the lusts of the flesh. Then it says here in verse number 8, I gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got me men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments and that of all sorts. So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. It's interesting how he says his wisdom remains with him because honestly if you start going down a road full of sin but you already know a lot about the Bible, you're already a spiritually wise person and you've learned and you've grown, you're not going to just immediately lose your wisdom. But once you go down that road, what's the end result of that? If you've read the Bible 20 times and you've memorized the Bible, you know what the Bible says, you're still going to have some wisdom but you know what, over time you're going to start to lose that. It's not going to happen immediately and you can have a false sense of security when you're actually destroying your life. It's interesting in verse 8 he says he had silver and gold. In our modern day it would be Bitcoin and Dogecoin and all those different coins that they have and everything, all those cryptocurrencies. So look, like I've said before, we live a more luxurious life than Solomon did. He buys singers to listen to. You just go to YouTube. All you have to do is go to your computer, go to YouTube, go on your cell phone and you can have things that he wasn't even able to have during his time period. Verse 10, and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy. For my heart rejoiced in all my labor and this was my portion of all my labor. Verse 11, then I looked on all the works that my hands had rotten on the labor that I had labored to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the sun. So Solomon says I gave myself everything that the flesh could possibly want and when he had everything he said it's vanity. It's pointless. It's meaningless. It's like what am I doing with my life? I mean he had everything he could possibly want. I mean just picture yourself being Solomon. You walk outside of a beautiful house. You've got everything, the most amazing thing you could possibly see and he's like it's all vanity. Like what's the purpose? You say why? Everything here on earth is going to perish away. Everything's going to perish away and the only thing that lasts is things with eternal value. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 1. Ecclesiastes 1. I would say this is probably the number one most destructive philosophy for an actual saved person because this is something that can enter into your heart. And look, I think if we're honest here today, every single one of us goes through stages of life where we start thinking to ourselves, man, I'm just so exhausted from church and reading the Bible and soul winning. Maybe there's more happiness if I go back to my old lifestyle. Not the whole way, but just a little bit. But you know what? There is no happiness in that old lifestyle. And that's a foolish philosophy, but that enters into all of us from time to time. All of us start thinking in our heads or in our hearts. Maybe if I just calmed down a little bit, I'd be happier. Well, we're going to see this man Solomon and see what the end result of that is. And point number one is this here today. Sin never satisfies. Sin and worldliness will never satisfy you. Ecclesiastes 1 verse 8. All things are full of labor. Man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing. The eye is not satisfied with seeing. You say, Brother Stuckey, I know you preach against these worldly movies, but there's just this one last movie I want to watch. And then I'll be satisfied, right? I mean, I saw the first 27 Spider-Man movies. I've got to see Spider-Man 28. I've got to know how the end of it is. Then you get to the end of Spider-Man 28, and it's like, to be continued. It's like you're not going to be satisfied. You get to the end of that movie, and instead of just one movie you've got to see, now you've got three movies you've got to see. Your eye will not be satisfied with seeing, the Bible says. And look, I'm preaching about in a worldly way, but look at the world that's addicted to pornography. And you hear these stories of these people that commit violent crimes, and it started with something small, and their eye was not satisfied. And it got worse and worse and worse and worse until they became a crazy criminal, and oftentimes become reprobates because they allowed their eye to look upon something that they knew was wrong. And they figured they'd be satisfied, but their eye was never satisfied. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. Same thing with your ear. You say, Brother Stuckey, just this one last CD I've got to listen to, this one last song I've got to listen to, and then I'll be satisfied. No, you won't. Your ear is not satisfied. Your ear is going to want more and more and more, and your eye is going to want more and more. It's like feeding a virus. It's like, here's some sugar. Here's an energy drink. Here's a Coke. Yeah, that's going to get rid of your virus. You're just feeding it and making it worse. You say, how do you get rid of it? You've got to kill it. How do you kill off the desire to smoke? Quit smoking, right? That's the secret. Quit doing it, and your desire starts to slowly die out, but when you keep feeding it, you say, man, I've just got to do this this one time, and I'll be satisfied. You smoke that cigarette 20 minutes later, guess what? You need another cigarette. Now, I've never smoked a cigarette, but you know what? Just based on how you see people, I remember my old office in Maryland, and there were certain people that had to take a 15-minute smoke break like six times a day, and it's like they were addicted to it. I just thought to myself, man, if I just got addicted to cigarettes, I'd get to relax for an hour and a half during the day rather than having to work. How is it when you're addicted to smoking, you get to not have to work? It doesn't make any sense to me, but people would always be outside, and look, many of them, they would talk about that they wanted to stop, but they were addicted. Look, your eye, your ears, they will not be satisfied. They will always want more and more, and that is what Solomon is talking about. Solomon wanted to stop, but his eye was never satisfied. It's like, man, I got this, this, now I've got to have this. I got this animal from this other part of the world, now I've got to get this animal, and his eye was not satisfied. His ear was not filled with hearing. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 4. Ecclesiastes 4. I mean, have you ever read about these athletes or these musicians who make like $100 million and they lose every cent of it, and they're bankrupt, and they talk about the stuff, and you're curious, how did you spend $100 million? What did you spend it on? And all these ridiculous things. Mike Tyson spent like $100,000 on a tiger. It's like, why do you want a tiger in your house? He's like, there's nobody else to fight. I've already beaten up everybody. I'll just buy a tiger and see how I do. How could you waste your money on something so foolish? But they get one thing, and then all of a sudden their eye is not satisfied. And then some other rich person has a nicer car than me. It's like, man, I got 11 cars. I need 12, though. I got to have the nicest car in Hollywood. And their eye is just never satisfied. Or people that are covetous. They're never satisfied. Look, Donald Trump, if you want one word to describe Donald Trump, right, this is what everybody said. And this is what people said before he was the president, okay? You'd say he was either prideful or covetous. Those were the two words. That's what everybody said about him. And all he wanted to do was be the richest person. And you have all these people that are so rich, they make so much money, and they want more and more and more. Look, I don't understand these celebrities that are the richest in the world, and they're always starting all these new businesses. It's like, wouldn't you just be happy with the fact that you already have a billion dollars and just focus on your family and spend time with them? But no, it's all about money, money, money. You say, what's wrong with that? The same people that are the richest in the world have been divorced four times. Look it up. Look up Elon Musk. Look up those people. Divorce after divorce after divorce. Look at CEOs of companies that work 100 hours a week, and guess what? Very rich. And then they lose half their money to the divorce settlement to their wives. It happens all the time. Is that the road you want to go down in your life? Ecclesiastes 4 verse 8. There's one alone and there's not a second. Yea, he hath neither child nor brother, yet is there no end of all his labor. Neither is his eye satisfied with riches, right? So we talked about worldliness. We also talked about riches. People that are covetous, they always want more and more and more. And look, Solomon was a very rich person. He obviously became a very covetous person. He wanted more and more and his eye was never satisfied. Go to Proverbs chapter 27. Right before Ecclesiastes in your Bible toward the end of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 27. Proverbs 27. And look, I'm not saying it's wrong to have something nice. I'm not saying you've got to have, you know, just absolutely nothing, the cheapest apartment, the cheapest clothes. I'm not saying it's wrong to have something that is nice. But I'll tell you what, if you allow your heart to go after these things, you're going to destroy your life. Job was a very godly man who had a lot of money. Nothing wrong with that. But here's the thing, you need to make sure you're still serving God rather than forsaking God in order to pursue money and happiness. It's going to destroy your life, my friends. Proverbs 27 verse 20. Proverbs 27 verse 20. Hell and destruction are never full so the eyes of man are never satisfied. You want more and more and more and more. That's the way it works. Go to Habakkuk chapter 2. Habakkuk 2. Habakkuk 2. And look, Solomon was a saved person. He had eternal life. He didn't lose his salvation. He's in heaven today. Solomon was a saved person and he went down this road. And I'll tell you what, there's a lot of people that say, Brother Stuckey, you preach against pornography. I would never do that as a Bible-believing Christian. But you allow your eyes to start looking at something that you know you shouldn't. It's not that bad. And you know what, the end road could be down that road of pornography. You say, why? Your eyes are not satisfied. That's why Job made a covenant with his eyes and he said, I will not think upon a maid. But if you allow yourself to start looking and hearing things that you should not, it could get worse and worse and worse. Look, when you get saved, your flesh doesn't just die off and all you want to do is serve God. It doesn't work that way. When you get saved, you still have the same sinful flesh and you now have the Spirit of God inside of you. And you've got a choice each day what you want to do. But look, when a person gets saved, if a person is a drunk and they get saved, guess what? They're still a drunk. Their flesh still desires to drink. And when you got saved, you didn't just kill off every desire of your flesh. You've got to make that choice to just not allow yourself to see it, to hear it, and start serving God. Habakkuk 2, verse 5. Habakkuk 2, verse 5. Yea, also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied. Cannot be satisfied. When you go down this road of trying to pursue pleasure, you will never be satisfied with it. I mean, this is such a dumb philosophy. Because even unsaved people should be able to figure this out, that when you do wrong, you feel guilty about it, right? I mean, unless you're a total reprobate, when you do wrong, you're going to feel guilty. And kind of the philosophy is, well, in order to get rid of the guilt, just keep doing wrong. Just keep doing wrong. Just try that approach with little kids. Just give them everything they want, and just keep doing that, keep doing that, keep doing that. Yea, that's going to work out well for those kids when they grow up. But that's kind of the philosophy here. Here's the thing, though. This is something that Solomon kind of just did within his heart. He might not have openly admitted, hey, I'm going to start living a sinful life. He just was curious, and he started to partake in these things, and it got worse and worse and worse. And look, Solomon was not satisfied with 200 wives. He needed more than that. 300 wives, not enough. 400 wives, not enough. Now look, I doubt any of us are going to go down that road where he married just a multitude of women or men or whatever. But it's like, that's what Solomon did. You say, why? I was obviously not satisfied. He just wanted more and more and more and more. Where are we at? Hebrews 11? Hebrews 11? Hebrews 11? Hebrews 11? This is why you need to understand something. It's not just that for a saved person sin doesn't satisfy. It's not like all those verses say, for a saved person sin doesn't satisfy. Sin doesn't satisfy the unsaved world. They're not happy living a sinful life. I mean, the people in this world that are most depressed are the people that are reprobates that hate God. Many of those people, they go to jail after being caught being a pedophile, and they hang themselves in prison. You say, why? They hate their lives. They're not happy. Many celebrities commit suicide. You say, Brother Sucky, if I was rich, I'd just be so happy. Well, look at all the rock stars that drank themselves to death in their early 30s. I mean, if you're so happy, Jimi Hendrix, why did you drink yourself to death? Because last I checked, when you drink and you get drunk, you basically black out a long section of your life during that day. Look, I enjoy life. I don't want to just forget about every single day. I like living my life. If they were so happy, why are they getting drunk and doing drugs all the time? But they go down that road, and it gets worse and worse and worse and worse. Hebrews 11, verse 24. Hebrews 11, verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God – notice this – than to enjoy the pleasures for a season. You say, Brother Sucky, are you saying that sin is not fun? No, sin is fun because obviously we do it when we know it's wrong, right? What I'm saying is it pleasures for a very short time. It pleasures for a season. Look, if sin wasn't fun, then we would live a perfect life, right? I mean, if there was no enjoyment in sin, and it was just so much more fun, just always serving, you know what? We would only serve God. We would never do wrong. But the reality is, obviously, sin is pleasurable because we commit sins. But it pleasures for a season. It pleasures for a short time. It doesn't pleasure forever. When you do wrong, it makes you feel good during the time period, but guess what? You feel terrible afterwards. This is what the world is like that goes out and they get drunk. While they're getting drunk, it's fun to forget about the rules and do whatever, and you don't feel bad about it. Then they wake up, and according to the Bible, I mean, you have all these problems. You wake up with a black eye. You got in a fight and everything blacked out. You don't remember what happened. But then they wake up again, and then they seek it yet again. You say, why? Their flesh is not satisfied with a little bit of sin. They want more and more and more and more. Those people aren't happy, though. I want you to realize something because sometimes you look at the world, and they'll put a smile on their face. You think, oh, man, they look like they're having so much fun at the club. Yeah, but check in with those people at 2 in the morning where they're lying in vomit. Check in with those people when they get fired because they can't do their job. Check in with those people where they have kids all over the place because they're just fornicating with everybody, and tell me if they're happy. Yeah, they look happy. Everybody puts a smile on their face. Look, we have a church full of plenty of people here today. Go around to people, and they'll say, hey, how are you doing today? Everybody responds, I'm doing great. Isn't that true? You ask seven people here today, how are you doing? Everyone is like, I'm doing great. It's like I lost my job. I've got to have surgery in a couple days. It's just like my house burned down. I'm doing great. Never better. Everybody says they're doing well when somebody asks that. Isn't that true? That's just what we do. Look, of course the world will say they love their lifestyle. Of course they're going to put a smile on their face. It doesn't mean that they're actually happy. It's foolish to think that they're actually happy because why else would they be blacking out and not wanting to remember what's going on unless they are actually miserable? Turn to Judges 16. Look, this seems like an innocent philosophy. Oh, just pursue pleasure. Just have fun. Well, how far are you going to go down that road? Because sin pleasures. Sin is fun. If you just allow yourself to do everything that you want, you're going to destroy your life. Imagine taking this philosophy with your health. I mean, look, what tastes best to you? Dessert or vegetables? Let's be honest about it. What tastes better? Gouli or cake? Gouli or ice cream? Of course the ice cream tastes better, right? But you know what? If you just pursue everything that your flesh wants, you're going to destroy your health. Man, I'm just going to eat chips and ice cream and have pop and energy. That's what a kid does. That's what a one-year-old does. That's what a two-year-old does. Ask my son after the service, do you want chips or do you want broccoli? Do you want chips or carrots? He's going to say chips every single time. But I'll tell you what, when you get older, you realize, no, wait a minute, there's problems with doing this. What ends up happening is you start eating a little bit of ice cream. You're never satisfied with that, though. Now you want more ice cream, right? You go on a big diet and then you break it. You eat some ice cream. The next day, man, I want two bowls of ice cream now. Next day, I want three bowls of ice cream. That's the way it works, but you know what? That's the way it works with sin. You get a little bit of sin and you want more and more and more. So point one is this, sin never satisfies. But see, it gets worse than that. It's not just that sin does not satisfy. Point number two, there are consequences for sin. It would be one thing if you do wrong and it doesn't really leave you being happy, but here's the thing, not only does it leave you not being happy, now you've got consequences for the actions that you made. Judges 16 is a great example. Look at verse 20. Judges 16, verse 20. Here's the end of the life of Samson, or towards the end of his life. Verse 20. Of course, we know the story of Samson and Delilah and how he committed adultery and everything. He fornicated with Delilah and everything like that. So he's obviously committing a sin. He knows it's wrong and he's doing it day after day after day. Basically, Delilah was trying to trick him. It's like, why are you with this woman who's trying to destroy you? But every day she would try to figure out what's going to bind this man and stop him and he kept lying to her and he'd wake up and he'd just shake it off and he'd be okay. Well, notice what it says in verse 20. And she said, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times before and shake myself. And he wished not that the Lord was departed from him. See, God will be longsuffering with us when we do wrong. I mean, if you screw up today, it doesn't mean He's just going to destroy your life overnight. But here's the thing. If you do this over and over and over again, God's the God of the second chance. It doesn't mean He's the God of the one millionth chance, though. Eventually, God's going to rain down on you and you're going to reap what you sow. And Samson wakes up. He tries to shake himself. He's the strongest man in the world. Well, not anymore. Verse 21. But the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of brass and he did grind in the prison house. So they put out his eyes and it says he's in prison, basically. So he lost his eyesight. He's blind and he's in prison. This is the end result of the sin of Samson. And of course, the very end is, you know, he killed himself. Right? That's pretty much the worst possible way to go to heaven. Just sin and sin and sin and then kill yourself and you're in heaven. But that's what Samson did. Now you say, Brother Stuckey, this is a story in the Bible. This would never happen, though, like in real life. Well, first off, this is real life. Okay? But secondly, you know, I don't know about that because I know a lot of people that committed sins that were much less like, for example, smoking and they got lung cancer and then you talk to them after the surgery and like they have, you know, they have permanent problems as a result of that. I'm not trying to mock those people. I'm just saying that's the consequences of sin. Drink and drink and drink and see what it does to your health. Man, I have all this liver disease and all of these problems. Yeah, you went down the life of sin. Sin has consequences. If you remember a couple years ago, I read that article from this doctor that was talking about Wilt Chamberlain. Who remembers that? I read that article about Wilt Chamberlain. This guy was the greatest athlete of the last 150 years. I mean, literally, the guy, if you know anything about him, was 25 times the athlete of LeBron James or Michael Jordan. I mean, he was like the best at volleyball. He wanted to challenge Muhammad Ali to a boxing match. He was like a world fast track runner in high school or college or whatever. The greatest basketball player. It's like, what in the world? And I mean, he was in the greatest shape of anybody. And the doctor went down the list and they said the reason why he died was, well, I mean, it was known. He bragged about sleeping with just, I don't know how many women, 10,000 women or whatever. And then they said, well, it was probably an infection caused from sleeping with all those women. And the doctor, who was not a Bible-believing Christian, at the end of the article said, well, the moral of the story is, promiscuous sex has its price. In Bible terms, you reap what you sow. And that was just a worldly doctor who basically just wrote, yeah, you know, you fornicated a bunch of people, then you might end up dying from it. And he died at a young age. Even though he's in tremendous shape and the greatest athlete, you say, why? Sin has its price. And just because you're saved doesn't mean that you're going to escape that. Notice what it says in 2 Samuel 12, verse 5. Now, this is after David has committed adultery with Bathsheba. Obviously Bathsheba was a married woman. And the whole story of Uriah in 2 Samuel 12. And then Nathan comes to rebuke David for the sin that he committed. And David is oblivious that he's in sin. He's just not aware of it. You say, how could you not be aware of it? Because we have a tendency to lie to ourselves. We have a tendency to want to justify our lives. And so David has committed these terrible sins and he's not right with God at all. Nathan comes to him. He rebukes him. Verse 5. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. Because Nathan basically tells him a parable. And he's talking about David. And David doesn't realize this. And David's like, man, this guy's a wicked person. Right? And he said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die. And David hears this story and he's like, this man deserves the death penalty. Verse 6. And he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, thou art the man. And Nathan rebukes David. Of course, we know this story that David gets right with God. And he asks for forgiveness. He begs for forgiveness. But here's the thing. He still had consequences for his actions. Look, if you committed some terrible sin and you pray to God and ask for forgiveness, God can and will forgive you. But that doesn't mean that there's no repercussions for what you did. You still have to pay for that. You say, what happened to David? Well, notice how what David said out of his own mouth in verse 6, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold. And David had four sons that died at a very young age. And then he had one of his sons raped his daughter. One of his sons killed another son. He had a son that tried to kill him and take over the throne. I mean, he paid for it. All of it goes down to this adultery with Bathsheba. So here's the thing. Not only did that sin not fulfill David, but you know what? There were consequences for his actions. Go to Luke 15. Luke chapter 15. I mean, it's up to you. If you want to go out here and say, Brother Stuckey, man, it's so tough living for God, reading the Bible and church and everything. I just want to see what the world has to offer. Well, go out there, start getting drunk, start fornicating, start doing drugs, and let's see what you look like five years from now. Let's see the result of your life. I'm pretty sure you're going to lose your job. I'm pretty sure you're going to have kids out of wedlock all over the place. I'm pretty sure your health is going to be destroyed. I mean, you're going to leave here at the age of 28, you're going to come back at 33, or you're going to look like an old man, because sin has just destroyed your body. I mean, have you ever seen people that did drugs for a large portion of their life? They look old. It destroys their body. I mean, in the U.S., in the United States, everybody who's homeless is pretty much a drug addict. You look at these people, and you have no idea how old they are. I remember somebody that actually came to our church, and they were homeless, and they got saved and baptized, but they still had a lot of problems and everything. But she was not even that old. She looked really old, though. You say, why? Because it ages you. Sin actually ages you. I mean, the Bible talks about when you drink, your beauty is as a fading flower. A flower looks great when it's perfect, right? And then as it starts to get old, it becomes decrepit and old. And look, you can age your body and make yourself look old at a young age if you commit a life full of sin. Luke 15, here's the story of the prodigal son. It says here in Luke 15, verse 11, and he said, A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me, and he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered altogether and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. Now, let me just say this. If you're a 14-year-old son, if you're rich, if you've got 100 million pesos and your 14-year-old son says, Can I have my inheritance now? Don't give it to him. I mean, that's not really the main point of this story, but that's certainly something that you can gather that someone who's young just doesn't know what to do with it. And he says, and you assume that his dad seems to be pretty rich. He's got workers. He seems to have a big house, probably a farm and stuff like that. And his younger son says, Can I have my inheritance now? And his father gives it to him. Verse 14. And it says at the end of verse 13, And he went into a far journey, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. When you look up riot in the Bible, it's often associated with alcohol and partying and getting fights and violence. So you kind of assume that this person, however old he is, is out there getting drunk and just destroying his life. Verse 14, And when he had spent all their rows of mighty famine in that land, he began to be in want. So he had a lot of money. He spent all of his money. There's a famine. And if there's a major famine, that means there's no jobs. Right? Just think about during the lockdown in 2020, you know, 2020, 2021, whatever, it's like, you know, companies just aren't hiring as much because there's just not as much money. I mean, financially, the country just tanks. Companies aren't going to be hiring. Right? And so there's a mighty famine. He doesn't have any money. So he's in want. He has no means to survive. Verse 15, And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. So basically, he gets in touch with someone, a citizen of that country. And, you know, he's basically working for this man. We don't really know how much he's working for, but it seems like it's pretty low. And it says this, And he sent him into his fields to feed swine. So his job is to feed the pigs. Okay. You probably don't make the most money doing that. I mean, his dad was rich. He has this major inheritance. And then all of a sudden, six months later or a year later, what is he doing? He's feeding the swine. He's feeding the pigs. That is his job. Okay. You say, how do you know he didn't make much money? Well, verse 16, And he would have fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave on to him. He's at the point where he says, I have such little money and food that I'll eat what the pigs are eating. I'll eat the slop that the pigs are eating. Now, look, I don't think, I mean, I know people have different sorts of diets out there and people have different taste buds. I don't think this is what a normal person wants to eat, though. But he has such little money and the pigs are just eating this slop. And all of a sudden he says, man, I'm getting paid 10 pesos per day. It's like, I'll just eat what they're eating. That's the point that he's at. And that's when he realizes, what am I doing? I need to humble myself and go back to dad. Okay. Go to verse 29. Verse 29. Now, I understand this story is famous because you think of the prodigal son and how it's never too late to return to God and his father gives him a second chance. And all of that is true and that's great, but it's also missing a large piece of this story. Verse 29. And his other brother ends up getting mad. And notice what it says in verse 29. And he answering said to his father, lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. So his brother's mad because the dad forgives the son who lived the riotous life and the sinful life. And he gets home, kills the fatted calf. They have a big meal. They celebrate. The other brother is envious who was doing what was right and working hard. He's envious at the brother that lived a sinful life. Notice what it says in verse 30. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots. So that indicates he's sleeping around, right? Harlots, drunkenness, fornicating with a bunch of prostitutes, right? Thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. This is kind of like the Christian that gets envious at the person who's out there getting drunk, right? Here's the Christian who says, look, I've done what's right. I've come to church. I've read the Bible. I've been trying to serve you, God. And look at this other person lives a wicked and sinful life. And it's not fair. It's not right. Well, what does it say in verse 31? And he said unto him, son, thou art ever with me. And all that I have is thine. He's saying, don't you realize something? I'm forgiving your brother, but he lost his inheritance. You're not losing your inheritance. All that I have, the inheritance, belongs to you now. It's like, look, I had two million pesos. I gave him a million pesos. He wasted it all. All that I have now belongs to you. It's like, so what are you envious about? It's like, you still got a nice life. You worked hard. You're successful. You're going to have a lot of money. It's just like, but I'm just going to forgive your brother. He's going to be allowed to work for me and have a job. But you know what? You're not losing your inheritance. And so I want you to realize as Christians, sometimes we can look at the world and get envious. Look, they have consequences for their actions. What are we envious about? You say, brother Saki, it's not fair. You know, that person, he gets to go out and drink and party. Well, first off, that doesn't make you happy anyway. And secondly, they have consequences. So what are you envious about? It's not fair. I got to come here to church and they get to do whatever and watch TV and relax. Look, you're not missing out on anything. That's not going to make you happy. And they have consequences for the actions that they do. So look, the son returned and praise the Lord for that, but there's also consequences for his actions. His dad forgave him, but he doesn't just take the inheritance from the other son and then give it to him. So look, why are we envious as Christians when we see people living a worldly sinful life? Look, if somebody from our church decides, you know what? I just don't want to serve God as much anymore. I'm going to come to church, but I'm going to be half in and half out. I'm going to live like the world and have fun and watch all the same movies and music and just kind of half serve God and half serve, you know, my flesh. The Solomon approach, right? Give myself to wine and wisdom, right? You have no reason to be envious. They're destroying their life. There's going to be consequences. You're not missing out on anything. Turn your Bible to Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Ecclesiastes chapter 2. I mean, the world will tell you things like this. Well, you know what? Instead of being pure until you get married, just sow your wild oats before you're married. That's the secret to being happy. And they just say, you know what? It's so ridiculous. Just wait until you're married to sleep with someone. You're missing out on so much. Well, I hate to break it to that person, but if you've gone and slept with 20 people before you're married, you have permanent consequences in your marriage as a result of that. It's like, oh, man, they get to live such a fun life. They're destroying their life. They're going to harm their marriage forever because of their actions before they were married. Look, any young person here who gets addicted to pornography, they're destroying their future marriage. They're not going to have as much value in their spouse because they destroyed their eyes and defiled their minds. You're not missing out on anything if you live a clean and godly life. There's nothing the world has to offer. It's a lie. It's fake. It's going to destroy your life. Look, happiness is in serving God, and the world is not happy. It's called a fake smile. They're pretending they enjoy life. They don't enjoy life. They're miserable, and sin never satisfies, and there's consequences for sin. Point number three, the end result is you will hate your life. You will hate your life. Notice what it says in Ecclesiastes 2, verse 17. You say, Brother Sucky, how do you know that you'll hate your life if you do this? Ecclesiastes 2, verse 17, therefore I hated life. I mean, maybe if I had a Bible commentary, I'd interpret it differently, but it just sounds like Solomon says he hates life. Why? Well, I think we read Ecclesiastes chapter 2. You went after the sins of the flesh, and what's the result? You hate your life. Like, man, my life is terrible. My life is miserable. I'm not happy. Therefore, I hated life. Why? Because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Yeah, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. And what Solomon says is this. He's like, man, I hate my life, and the reason why is I accomplished all these things in the flesh. I built all these buildings. I had orchards. I had gardens. But when I die, it's gone. Right? You know, the ancient Egyptian religion, they believed that anything that you did, you got to take with you to the grave. So they would bury the rich people in bracelets and gold. Instead of leaving that money to their family, they would just be buried in all of their wealth. So basically they took all the potential wealth of the next generation and just took it away because they wanted to be buried in their gold and fancy clothes and things like that to take it to the after world. Well, it doesn't work that way. Right? Solomon realized, you know what, I'm going to go to heaven, and everything I've done in the flesh is meaningless. Now look, realize Solomon was a godly person, and he was a very wise person. Who becomes wise according to the Bible? He that winneth souls is wise. The fruit of the rice is the tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. So look, Solomon was a man who got many people saved in his early life. I think we could conclude that from the Bible. He got many people saved, and that is something that has eternal value. Then as he gets older, he decides to live a life full of sin, live for God and for his flesh. Well, when you do that, what does the Bible say with the parable of the sower? When you get choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, you bring no fruit to perfection. Meaning, you don't get people saved. So look, Solomon was a great soul winner, and he did things of eternal value. Then he lives a sinful life, and guess what? He no longer gets anybody saved. And what does that tell us? It means he is doing nothing with eternal value. That's pretty depressing. I mean, isn't it pretty depressing to do all of these things in your flesh, and it doesn't really mean much. I mean, it's going to vanish away. It's going to be gone. See, when you're serving God and doing right, you're doing things that have eternal value. They have real lasting impact. So no matter how bad your life gets, you can still be happy in the fact, man, I've done things that actually matter. That can never be taken away because it's eternal life. But here's the thing. If you live for your flesh and satisfy your flesh, you're going to start to get older and realize, man, what's the point of this? What's the purpose of this? This is why many athletes, when they reach the age of their late 30s, or their even early 30s sometimes, they start to get very depressed because of the fact they lost their speed, they lost their power, they lost their quickness. And guess what? You can't be a pro basketball player and be 60 years old. It just doesn't work. You're going to start to slowly lose your ability. And look, I am someone who grew up and all I did was sports, sports, sports. I still like to work out. I still like to stay in shape. But the reality is, I'm just not as fast as I used to be. I can't jump as high as I used to. And it is a little bit frustrating when you love to play sports. But here's the thing, though. When you're serving God, it's not like you have to retire when you're 35 years old. You can go soloing when you're 35. You don't have to retire when you're 45 years old. You can go soloing when you're 45. Now of course we realize as you get older, you might not be able to go out for soloing marathons the whole time. We understand that. We're not going to expect somebody who's a lot older to go soloing seven straight hours. But you know what? You can still go soloing some. And you do things that have eternal value. Look, your life always has meaning. But then you see a lot of these pro athletes and a lot of them commit suicide and they're like, well, maybe it's because of head trauma. No, it's because they hate their lives now because their whole life is kind of gone because all they cared about was sports. And it's done now and so now they're miserable. As a Christian, you never have to reach that point. Go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Now I want you to understand, all of us realize this is true, everything I've said. But you can still allow this philosophy to enter into your heart. That's what the problem was with Solomon. He allowed it to enter into his heart. And look, if I'm honest with you, I can definitely say I've had times in my life where that thought comes into your mind like, man, I'm so exhausted. I just want to take a bit of a break. I just want to relax a little bit. You know, man, I'll go to church here in a couple of weeks. I just need to take some time off or whatever. You're going to be miserable. It's not going to make you feel good. And look, when I was younger, when I was in college, when I first got saved, I remember one time specifically. Because as I said, sports was my thing. And I remember my dad and I, we went to watch the U.S.-Mexico soccer game in Philadelphia. It was on a Sunday. It was during church time. And I was like, man, this is the U.S.-Mexico game. And I had been saved for like six months and everything. And you know what? Of course I knew I should go to church, but I was like, this is U.S. versus Mexico, right? This is a big soccer game and everything. But you know, I remember just feeling miserable. You say, why? I felt guilty. I was like, it's wrong what I did. It's like, why wasn't I in church? And it's just like, you know, we drove up like four and a half hours. And I had a good time with my dad. At least I have that memory there and everything. And I'm not saying it's the worst sin in the world. But I'm just saying, it's like, you know, you start going down that road, well then the next week you might miss because of something else. And the next week you might miss because of something else. And before you know it, you're out of church. And find out if you're happy or not. You're not going to be. Actually, I wouldn't even suggest you try that because you're going to be miserable. And hopefully you'll humble yourself and just come back to church. And let me just say this. If you go down that road and you're gone for months or whatever, for whatever reason, I don't even care. Just come back and lie and say, I've just been really sick the last couple months. Just come back to church. Right? It's like, because I understand. And let me just explain something to you. If somebody's been gone from church for a while, never, never, never ask them, hey, where you been? I've seen people do this and I'm just like, oh my goodness, what are you doing? It's like, what are you trying to do? Embarrass someone? It's just like, you know, just pretend, you know, like nothing happened. It's like, hey, great to have you. You know, how are you doing? Just, I mean, just talk to them like they're a normal person. Don't try to make them feel bad. Okay? All of us can go down this road where, you know what, we try to fulfill the desires of the flesh. We get exhausted and we try this philosophy. But look, this will leave you miserable, especially if you've partaken in the most exciting things that the world has to offer. You say, Brother Stuckey, what's the most exciting thing that the world has to offer? Is it winning the NBA title? You know, game seven, the game winning shot? Nope. It's going soul winning. And you know what, it's pretty exciting being a saved person and understanding how soul winning works that, you know what, you can partake in the most exciting thing this world has to offer. You say, Brother Stuckey, man, I'm never going to be the CEO. I'm never going to be Donald Trump. I'm never going to be swimming in a bunch of dollar bills. But you know what, you can partake in the most exciting thing and that's called winning souls. And you can do that your entire life. 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Corinthians 15. Verse 17, and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, yet in your sins. So right there in verse 17, if Jesus never rose again, then we would all die and go to hell, which should be pretty obvious. But sometimes people think, well, you know, it was all finished on the cross. Well, he had to rise again. Okay. If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, yet in your sins. Verse 18, then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. Verse 19, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. See, the Bible says, you know, let's just say theoretically, let's just say that Jesus never rose again. Well, that would be pretty depressing. If you found out, man, everything you've been doing in your life has no value because there is no God. That would be pretty depressing. It's like, man, what have I been living my life for? Now, of course, we know God is real. That's never going to happen. But I'm just saying, we would be of all men most miserable. That's why some people look at our lives that do not understand, that are not saved, and they're like, what are you doing? It's like, and then they're like, we're singing hymns? I mean, those went out of style like 300 years ago. Like, what in the world? I mean, what about our God is an awesome God? Can't you, you know, do, or, you know, what's wrong with singing Knocking on Heaven's Door? Or, you know, Living on a Prayer, you know, the Bon Jovi song. It's like, and I've been in churches that have sung both those songs, Living on a Prayer and Knocking on Heaven's Door. But see, the world doesn't understand because they're not saved. They don't get it. And they look at our lives and they think, man, that's so depressing, going to church and reading the Bible. They don't understand though. They are the ones that are living a depressing life and they're not even aware of it. They don't even realize that their lives are miserable. We're actually happy. We actually enjoy coming to church. We actually enjoy reading the Bible. We actually enjoy serving God. The world is never going to understand that. Don't allow this foolish thought. Don't allow 90% of people that don't understand to trick you into thinking that partying and drinking is going to make you happy. It's not going to make you happy. It's going to destroy your life. Let's close up in Luke chapter 12. Luke 12. Luke 12. I mean, when I think of the people that are most miserable in this world, I think of these atheists that are these militant, hardened atheists, like the Richard Dawkins of the world. I mean, Richard Dawkins is like the most miserable e-piece in the world. Right? His whole life is about trying to prove there is no God. And it's like, man, it's got to be pretty miserable when your whole life is a lie. You're fighting for the wrong thing. You're going to wake up burning in hell and then one day you're going to bow before God and just beg for mercy and there's no mercy coming because His wrath abides on you forever. He lives the most miserable life in the world. I mean, Stephen Hawking was the only one who was in competition and he already died. And it's just like, you know, those people have the most miserable lives and they're living a lie. And it's like, you know, what's funny is because in 1 Corinthians 15, if Jesus never rose again, we're the ones living the lie. We know Jesus rose again, though. They're the ones living the lie. They're the ones that are most miserable. Their whole life is about something that isn't even true and they don't even realize it. Living for God is a secret to happiness. And I don't have this in my notes because I've talked about it recently. But, you know, the Bible says, you know, that if you know these things—referring to laying down your life for other people—if you know these things, happy are ye if you do them. If you do those things, you're happy. And I can honestly say that when I'm reading my Bible and memorizing my Bible and going soul-winning and just thinking about the things of God and not feeling myself full of worldliness, I am very happy. And when you allow those other things to enter, for whatever reason that thought comes up, well, maybe I should calm down from the Bible part. No, it's the other part that's the problem. It's like you were very happy when all you did was think about God. The problem is now that you're thinking about the world, now you're like, oh, man, because you're having that battle of the flesh and the spirits. It's like if all you did was just meditate on the things of God, you would actually be happy. The Bible teaches that. Luke 12 verse 16. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? He's like, man, I've got so many things. What am I going to do? Maybe sell some of what you have. It's like, just get rid of some of the stuff. Verse 18, and he said, This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will bestow all my fruits and my goods. Now, let me just explain to you. It probably takes a long time to just build this new barn that he's trying to make. It's not like this happens overnight. He's like, I'm going to tear it down and build a bigger barn. He's spending all of his life accumulating goods, and then the possessions you own end up owning you. I'm not a minimalist. I don't think that would be what Jesus would advocate, because I don't think it's wrong to have things. But I'm just saying, if that's all your life is about, you're going to be miserable. That's what's taking place. Verse 19, And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. This is kind of the hedonistic approach, right? Just fulfill yourself with everything you want, and just relax, and this is the secret to happiness. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. So look, it's not wrong to have treasure. The problem is this person's not rich toward God. Look, if you've got a nice job and you make good money, you know, praise the Lord for it, if God's blessed you in that way. But if you make lots of money and you say, wow, man, I've got to skip church and skip the things of God and skip my Bible reading in order to make that money, you're a fool. You're a fool. You say, why? Everything's going to perish. It's going to be done. And then what's the point of your life? You're going to come to the end of your life when you're 80, 90, 100 years old and just think, man, I could have gone soul winning. I could have gotten people saved. And I'll tell you what, I see this oftentimes with people as their kids grow up, and then it's just like they don't really have much of a relationship with their kids, and it's just like they're miserable, but they don't understand why. It's because you were focused on the wrong things in life. And it's like we would just do what God said. You know what? It's not just that the hedonist approach does not work because sin never satisfies. There's consequences. It leaves you miserable. It's actually the opposite as we've said in every sermon in this series. If you search after happiness, you're going to be miserable. But if you seek after God and put Him first, it's actually going to give you happiness. Now, there's not too many Christians, let me just say this in closing, there's not too many Christians that would say I'm a hedonist because that's obviously against what the Bible says, but as I'm preparing the sermon, I did learn of a famous so-called Christian who apparently is a hedonist is John Piper, the famous false prophet Calvinist preacher, and I guess that's his bread and butter. That's what his desire in God thing is, just Christian hedonism is what he teaches, just pursue after happiness. That is the opposite of what the Bible says. The Bible says put God first, and that is actually what's going to make you happy. You say why? Because your feelings follow your actions. Your feelings follow your actions. You don't wait to desire to read the Bible. You start reading the Bible, and then you start desiring it. You say, Brother Stuckey, I'm going to start coming soul winning when I want to come soul winning. You're never coming soul winning then because you're going to start to desire soul winning when you actually are going soul winning, then your feelings follow your actions. That is the way it works in life. Look, the secret to happiness in the Christian life is serving God. Do not let the world, or John Piper, lie to you about that. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your word on this topic, and help all of us just to dedicate our lives to you. Obviously, we know it's not wrong to go on vacation or have some nice things, but help us to make sure we always put you first and we realize that we will live happy lives if we serve you and obey your rules and do what's right. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.