(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're here in Ecclesiastes chapter 2, and before I get into this sermon, let me just kind of give you a bit of a brief overview of the Book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is in the section of the books that are known as the Books of Wisdom. So it's right there with Proverbs, Solomon, and Job, and these are the books that we're going to give you a lot of wisdom. Now, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, it's only 12 chapters, but the word wise or wisdom appears in 45 different verses. So that is basically four times per chapter, and if you're familiar with the book, the chapters are not really that long. So it shows you that this is a book that can help give you wisdom, but because it's very poetic, it can be very misunderstood. You could look at a verse by itself and not understand the context. A lot of the verses and what Solomon's talking about, he's writing from man's perspective here on earth. So you get kind of confused in the poetry and what is he really trying to say, but it's a great book to give you wisdom. Now, what we're going to be focusing on are verses 13 and 14, primarily verse 14 in this sermon. Here's what it says in verse 13. Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness. For those of you that were in Cebu for the missions trip, if you remember, I preached from Ecclesiastes chapter 2, and I talked about how to hate your life. And what you see in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 is that Solomon just kind of goes after everything. Let me just go after possessions and gold and silver and whatever I want and just see if this makes me happy or if this makes me happy. And of course the end road is hating your life. Living a life of sin is going to make you miserable. So he says in verse 13, then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness. So basically he tested out sin and foolishness, and he realized, you know what, wisdom is actually much better than living a foolish life. And all of us could be tempted and think things like, well, what if I just started drinking? Because everybody who gets drunk seems so happy. Everybody else seems like they're doing so great. Let me just test this out or try this out. And what the Bible shows us is you're going to realize what a foolish and stupid way to live your life. It is going to make you miserable. It's going to destroy your life. Then he makes a statement in verse 14. The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walketh in darkness, and I myself perceive also that one event happeneth to them all. He says the wise man's eyes are in his head. And you might think, aren't everybody's eyes in their head? Right? This is where you could kind of get confused by the poetry, because everybody's eyes are right here in their head. Well, if your eyes were in another location, would you be able to see if your eyes were right here? No, you wouldn't, because God designed your body in a specific way where your eyes are meant to be right here. And in a physical way, if your eyes are anywhere else, then you're not going to be able to see anything. Right? And he contrasts the wise man's eyes are in his head with, but the fool walketh in darkness, because if your eyes were here, you'd be blind. You wouldn't be able to see. You wouldn't know where you're going. Right? Your eyes are in a specific place for a reason. Now, before we get into this, I want you to pay attention to the word eyes, and I want you to pay attention to the word walk or walketh in verse 14, and let's look at those words in other places in Ecclesiastes. For eyes, go back to verse number 10. Just four verses earlier, Ecclesiastes 2, verse 10. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them, and 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. You see, verse 14 is basically mentioning your eyes and saying, I'm not going to be the person from verse 10 that has their eyes directed right here. The wise man keeps his eyes up here. He doesn't have it, because what does it mention in verse 10? The heart. It's saying the fool has their eyes right here with their heart and their emotions and their feelings, but the wise person has their eyes right here. It also talks about walking. Go to Ecclesiastes 11. Ecclesiastes 11. And it says in Ecclesiastes 11, verse 9, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes. So do what your heart wants, do what your eyes want, but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. So go ahead and do what you want in your life. If you feel like doing something, go for it, but just remember that judgment is coming if you choose to live a sinful life. You say, well, you know, I just feel like going out and getting drunk. Well, go for it, but realize you're going to be held in judgment for everything you do, so you better make sure that your heart and your eyes are leading you in the right direction, right? I mean, whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. I mean, you can do whatever you want. And look, if your heart wants to do something that's clean and okay, well, great, but if you want to do something that's sinful, go for it. Just realize you're going to be held in judgment for each and everything that you do. Go back to chapter 2. And when he says in verse 14, the wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walketh in darkness, what he's basically saying is the fool is letting their heart guide them. The fool is letting their emotions guide them. The fool is letting their feelings guide them. The wise person is letting their mind guide them. They're using wisdom. They're using common sense. For example, you woke up here today and you say, Well, I didn't feel like going to church today, but you came. You say, Why? Because your eyes are in your head. You're not letting your heart guide you. If you live your life by just letting your heart guide you in any direction, Well, I don't feel like going to work today, so I'm just going to call in sick. Well, prepare to be out of money very quickly. I don't feel like reading the Bible, so I'm not going to read the Bible. You're going to destroy your life if you let your heart guide you. Go in your Bible to Jeremiah 17. You say, Pastor, what's wrong with letting your heart guide you? Well, point number one, your heart cannot be trusted. Your heart, your emotions, your feelings cannot be trusted. Notice what it says in Jeremiah 17, verse 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The Bible says your heart is deceitful. The Bible says your heart is dishonest. Your heart will lie to you. It will deceive you. It's deceitful. And it says it's desperately wicked. I mean, it doesn't really sound like good advice to follow your heart when your heart is lying and when it's wicked. You know, in today's world, you'll commonly hear things like this. Well, you know, the heart wants what the heart wants. Right? Who's heard phrases like that? I mean, they often talk about that in romance. It's like, well, you know, the heart wants what the heart wants. Right? There will be like a young lady that is dating some guy, and, you know, the lady is, you know, a nice young lady, and the guy is a loser. He drinks. He smokes. He's rude. He's lazy. He doesn't treat her well. There's nothing about him where you would say, that's a good guy to marry. And everybody tries to tell her, hey, just look at this logically. You're not making any sense. He's not the right guy. He doesn't care about the Bible. He doesn't care about you. He doesn't treat you well. It's like, but the heart wants what the heart wants. You're going to destroy your life. Or maybe you have a young guy, and he's single, looking for the right person, and the guy loves the Lord. He loves the Bible. He's going to church. And he meets a girl that shows some interest, and she's got a pretty face, but she's not interested in the Word of God. She's not interested in serving God. She doesn't even believe on Christ. And you try to talk to that guy and say, hey, what are you doing? She doesn't believe on Jesus. Not only is she not living godly, she's not even saved. It's like, you better give her the gospel and make sure that she wants to serve God. And then you'll see that guy end up marrying someone that does not even believe in Jesus. You say, well, does that really happen? I know multiple friends from college that married people that do not believe on Jesus. And I had this conversation with them like, what are you doing? Just wait for the right girl. Wait for someone at least that's not Catholic. I mean, one of my friends married someone who's Muslim. It's like, what are you doing? There's plenty of girls with a pretty face. What are you doing? And you're going to marry some Muslim, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Yeah, but the heart doesn't have to get what the heart wants. Do you understand that? Yes, that is a true statement. The heart wants what the heart wants. That does not mean that you have to give in to the desires of your heart and the desires of your flesh. Because if you give in to every desire that your heart has, you are going to destroy your life. Go to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2. And one of the problems is people are spending way too much time watching Hollywood and all these movies and TV shows. And you know what? I'm going to sound like an old man when I bring up TV shows and movies as an example because I don't know the modern ones, okay? When I was in college, though, I remember there was this Facebook group. It's like, why can't I have a love like The Notebook? The movie The Notebook was the biggest book that every girl was obsessed with, and they think it's the greatest love ever. I seem to remember in the movie that the two of them are together. They get separated for years, and he goes out and sleeps with woman after woman after woman, and she's engaged to another guy. And then after just sleeping around with all these people, then they come back together. That sounds like a great romance. Is that what you want in your life? That the person you married has just slept around with, like, 50 different people? Why can't I have a love like The Notebook? No, actually, I'm just kind of happy just meeting the right person and just only having been with one person in my life. That sounds like a much better romance than just sleeping around and sowing all your wild oats and then finally end up marrying somebody. See, the world is lying to you, and people believe this. They buy this. They're going out and doing what the world does. They say, hey, just go in college, and before you settle down, just kind of sleep around until you find the right person. I mean, I remember I was in college one time, and they had this debate on stage between this Christian and a non-Christian, and they were talking about this idea of premarital sex. And the guy who's the non-Christian, well, he's like, you know, you wouldn't buy a car without test driving at first. And that's the sort of garbage you hear from wicked and sinful people that want to justify their actions. Or you know what you can do? You can just do what God says and follow what the Bible says? I mean, go out and live like the world does and good luck, but realize God's going to bring you into judgment for each and every thing that you do. And you know what you're going to find yourself happening if you go down that road like the world does? You're going to be living your life with regret for decades because of choices you made when you were young and foolish and when you listened to the garbage that the world has to offer. And look, I want you to realize when I preach like this, I'm not trying to make you feel bad for any choices you made in the past, but here's the thing. There are plenty of young people in this room, and I want to spare you the pain that a lot of people in this room have felt from the lies they were taught by the media and from their friends and from the movies and from all the garbage that's out there. Ephesians 2, verse 3, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Now, look, before a person's saved, especially if you don't grow up in a Baptist home, you probably did a lot of things in your life that you wouldn't do now. The music you listen to, the movies you watched, the places you went, all of these things, and you're just kind of going down the road of what everybody else is going down. But as a saved person, especially in a church like this where you know the Word of God, it's like, you know, how foolish was that? And here's the thing. Solomon in this book, he talked about going down this road of sin to just kind of test it out. Maybe it's going to give me happiness. And here's the thing. There are young people that are growing up in this church, and when they get older, they are going to be curious in their minds, and they might wonder, what if? What if I choose to live like the world? Maybe I will be happier. In fact, in the Bible you have people like Demas. You have grown adults that know the truth, that are serving God, but in the back of their mind they wonder, what if I went back to my old life? Maybe it'll bring me happiness. You know what's so foolish about this? Many people go back to their old lives, and they are not happy at all. I mean, all of us, we backslide. Our life is up and down. Even if we're getting closer to God, we're not going to just be a straight shot, a linear shot. It's going to be up and down, up and down. But it's like, if you go back to your old life, there's not any happiness in that. It's going to make you miserable. Go in your Bible to Jonah 2. Jonah 2. See, what the Bible said is the heart is deceitful. That means it's dishonest. That means it lies. Here's what you have to understand about your heart. Your heart is willing to lie and deceive you and destroy your life to get what it wants. There is the battle on the inside of every one of us, and your heart on the inside is desperately wicked. Look, I'm not standing up here saying, I'm any different than you. That is what's on the inside of our hearts, the Bible says. This is why you need to get a book that's actually going to go down to the inside of the heart and fix how desperately wicked your heart actually is. But if you just let your heart guide you, and it's wicked and it's deceitful, it's going to mess up your life. I mean, look, if you're around my age or older or just a little bit younger, you probably know people that you went to school with, and their lives are a mess. You say, why? Because they're letting their heart guide them. They're letting their emotions guide them. They're letting their feelings guide them. And their feelings and their heart and their emotions are destroying their life. Here's what Jonah said in Jonah 2 when he's inside the will's belly. Verse 7. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto the end of thine holy temple. He says, they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. And what Jonah says is, if a person observes a lying vanity, he forsakes his mercy. What is he saying? He's saying, I am inside of a will's belly right now. I've just got to face reality and say, you know what? I deserve this. It's my fault. I rebelled against God. I didn't do what he said. I deserve this. And because he's willing to admit it, God gives him mercy. But what if inside the will's belly he's saying, well, this isn't fair. This isn't right. I shouldn't have had to go to Assyria. Why did God send me? Okay, observe a lying vanity, but your mercy is going to be gone from God. Look, you know, some basic advice that everyone should learn at a young age, even before you're saved, you should learn this advice, is you wake up and you start your day off early in the morning. You pray to God and say, God, I messed up yesterday. There's a lot of things I did wrong. Please forgive me. Give me a new start and help me do better today. And guess how you end your day before you go to sleep? God, I messed up today. Again, please forgive me and give me mercy and help me do better in the future. You say, pastor, is that how you live your life? Yeah, every morning and every night. You say, why? Because I mess up every day. Because we're sinners. And I want God's mercy. I don't want his wrath. You say, why do you do that? Because it's like your kid rebelling against you. Your child sins and they do wrong. What do you expect as a mom or a dad? Mom, I'm sorry. I messed up. Dad, I'm sorry. I messed up. And what do you do as a parent when your kids come to you and sincerely apologize? You give mercy. You hug them. You say, I love you. It's like you're forgiven. That is what God expects us to do with every day. But you could observe a lying vanity. And here's the thing. It's fun to lie to yourself. It's fun to pretend that you're doing everything right in your life. If your life is a mess right now, the fun thing is to say, well, I didn't do anything wrong. I mean, everything I'm doing is right. Anybody can look on the outside and see all these problems, but people like to lie to themselves. Like, well, I did everything correct. I didn't do anything wrong. It's not my fault that I got fired. It's like you fell asleep at work. What do you mean? It's not my fault that my neighbor's suing me. It's like you crashed into his car, and then you did a hit and run, and you left the scene. Of course he's suing. What are you talking about? People mess up their lives, and all the evidence is there. Everything's right in front. But they do not want to admit, I'm at fault. I mean, it's a humbling thing to say, I'm sorry I messed up, isn't it? In the Bible, we have King Saul, the tallest man in the land, and he started off so humble, but he was not willing to say, you know what? I messed up. I'm at fault. And here's the thing. He got no mercy from God. Then you've got this other guy, King David, and what he did was so much worse than King Saul. But when he was rebuked, he said, you know what? I messed up. I'm sorry. I did wrong. What's the result? God showed mercy. If you observe lying vanities in your life, you will forsake the mercy that God would have given you. Go in your Bible to James 3. James 3. James chapter 3. See, what you have to understand is that on the inside of your heart, your heart will actually lie to justify its actions. And I remember just maybe seven or eight years ago, I was reading the Bible, and I think I was memorizing the Bible, and I was thinking about this, and it's like this phenomenon where it's like, you know, people actually lie to themselves. It's like on the inside, people know the truth, but they do not want to admit it in order to justify their actions. And I'm going to give you a basic example in the secular world that just shows that people lie when they know the truth. How about the topic of abortion? Everybody knows it's murder. Everybody knows that inside of the woman's belly is a living child. I mean, the baby's breathing. It has a heartbeat. You can see the baby on an ultrasound. Well, it's not alive until it leaves the womb. You are a liar, and you know that on the inside. But people on the inside don't want to admit the truth. They will lie to themselves. They'll do anything in the world that they can. Why? They do not want to accept responsibility. And Jonah said, if I observe a lying vanity, my mercy is gone. James 3, verse 13. James 3, verse 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife, notice this, in your hearts. We're talking about your heart cannot be trusted. Your heart is deceitful. Your heart is wicked. And if you have strife and envy in your hearts, notice this. Glory not and lie not against the truth. I mean, the Bible is saying that you can know the truth and just lie to yourself to justify your actions. Glory not and lie not against the truth. Because here's the thing. In your life, you actually know whether or not you're a very prideful person. Deep down on the inside, you actually know the truth about yourself. But people don't want to admit what the truth is. I mean, if you're filled full of envy, you know whether that's true. If you're filled full of strife, you know whether that's true. But what we like to do is lie to ourselves so we can justify our actions. And the Bible says if you have envy and strife in your hearts, don't lie to yourself. You say, why? Because it doesn't do you any good. Look, if you've got major problems in your life and you lie to yourself to make yourself feel better, it doesn't fix the problem. Right? You might hide the problem from other people, but that's not going to fix the problem in your life. You've got to just face reality and face the truth. But the Bible says people will lie to themselves. Lie against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish. For where envy and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. Go to Proverbs 14. Proverbs 14. Proverbs 14. On the inside of your heart, your heart is deceitful. It will lie to you to justify its actions. Because the heart wants what the heart wants, and it will do whatever it has to to get what it wants. But the problem is your heart is wicked. I mean, it sounds like let your heart be your guide or follow after your heart. It sounds like that's some pretty bad advice, doesn't it? Just follow after your heart. Whatever your heart wants, just go after it. It sounds like that's going to destroy your life. Maybe the wise man's eyes are in his head. You might have a temptation to do something. It's like, whoa, I'm not going to do that. It's wrong. I might have a desire on the inside of my heart, but that's wrong. That's wicked. I'm going to destroy my life. Look, I'm sure that if you're in this room and you used to smoke regularly and you quit smoking, I'm sure there's a part of your body that says, hey, I would like to smoke that cigarette. Why don't you do it, though? Because your eyes are in your head. You're wise. You realize, I smoked that cigarette. I'm going to go back to a pack a day and destroy my health, die at a young age, get cancer or whatever. It's like, I'm not going to do that, even though I have a desire, even though it would gratify the lusts of my flesh and what my heart wants. Proverbs 14, verse 12. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. The Bible says there's a way which seems right to someone, but the end of that is death. A great example of this is before a person is saved, what seems right to them is that by living a good life and by repenting of all their sins, they will go to heaven. That's what I used to believe. I thought as long as I do good, I thought, hey, I was a homeschool kid and my parents were strict. I didn't do the things that other people did. I say, I'm sorry. I give tithes of all I possess. I fast twice in the week. I'm not like this guy over here. That's what all of us thought before we were saved. If you got saved as an adult, you believe in a work salvation. It seemed right. And then you realize the truth. You're like, that's just the truth. Well, what if you just deny the truth, though? It's like, I don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear that. Because isn't it true we go soul winning and some people we talk to, it's making sense to them. They're hearing it. But they do not want to believe it on the inside. And they shut off their mind from actually listening to what you have to say. Why? Because they don't want to accept the truth. People can hear the truth and just say, I don't want that. I don't want to accept it. I don't want to believe that. And I'm telling you, your heart is like that. Your heart is deceitful above all things. Turn in your Bible to Proverbs 3. Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs 3. I mean, most of the time it's not a matter of that people don't know the truth. It's just that they're denying reality. And even on the inside they know the truth, but they just don't want to believe it. And what the Word of God does is it hits to the inside and it hits your heart. And it kind of forces those things out of you. It forces you to make a decision. It forces you to admit the truth. That's why you need preaching. That's why you need to read the Bible. That's why you need to memorize the Bible. You say, why? Because you've got a wicked heart. And you've got to fix that heart. See, point number one is this, your heart cannot be trusted. But point number two, God's Word is our only guide. God's Word is our guide. Because your eyes are going to guide you to where you're going. You know, when I pick up this, I did not pick up this book with my eyes. What I did is, with my eyes, I looked at what I wanted to do and then I picked it up. My eyes guided me to pick up this book. If I were to walk down here, my eyes are going to guide me not to fall. Hopefully, right? My eyes are my guide. But you know how people are living their lives in complete darkness and just stumbling around? They don't know what they're doing. I mean, look, you see how people act in this world that are not letting the Bible be their guide? Do you not know a lot of people that are just destroying their lives? And I can't figure out, what am I doing wrong in my life? I mean, I'm doing everything right. Why is all this happening to me? It's like, I can look at your life and tell you if you want me to. You're not doing what the Bible says. If you would let the Bible be your guide, it's going to spare you from those problems. Here's what the Bible says in Proverbs 3, verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. This is a very famous verse. It's a great verse in the Bible. And what the Bible's showing you in this verse is that our own understanding, what seems right to us, can deceive us. It can destroy us. It can mess up our life. Our own understanding is going to cause us to fail. Our own understanding is not good enough. Our own understanding is going to mess up our life. That's why the Bible says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. And what that means is, when you're hearing sermons preached, and you see what the Bible says, and you know what the Bible says, don't trust in your own wisdom. Don't trust in your own heart. Don't trust what your friends or neighbors are telling you against what the Bible says. Trust what God says. You say, why? Because God's Word is the guide to help our life. And if you don't have God's Word as the guide to help your life, you're essentially just walking blindfolded through this world. Look, if you close your eyes and just start randomly walking, you're pretty soon going to get hurt. You're going to fall. You're going to mess up your life. Imagine trying to cross a busy intersection in Metro Manila with your eyes closed. Good luck. It's like, I'm just letting my heart guide me. I'm just letting my heart guide me. Good luck with that. And here's the thing, when people are walking through life blindfolded, yeah, they're going to get hit along the way by a lot of cars. Their life is going to get destroyed along the way. But you know what most people do? If your life is a mess, it's like, I don't understand. I did everything right. It's like, no. Look at the obvious. Verse 6, in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. See, the Bible says if we acknowledge God, if we let God's Word be our guide, He will guide our paths. He's going to direct our path. He's going to put us on a path that's going to help our life. If we don't let God's Word be our guide, good luck. Verse 7, be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. Go in your Bible to Psalm 119. You know, when I got saved, I didn't really know a whole lot about the Bible. I mean, I was very blessed to live in a home where my parents were very strict, and I lived a pretty clean life compared to other people. But obviously, you know what? I believe like most people believe in a lot of things. I was in college when I got saved, and a lot of things in the Bible when I started reading them, I had never heard that before. I had never seen that. I didn't realize that's what the Bible said. I started reading the Bible when I was 19. A few months after I got saved, I started reading the Bible. I start reading a lot of things in the Bible that are the opposite of what I believe, or the opposite of what I thought was correct. I would read something in the Bible, and it's just like, really? Because I always thought that this were the case. And then certain things seemed right to me, and I would read what the Bible said, and it's just like, that's not what I believed before, right? All of us that are serving God, we have to be willing to do this. We see things in the Word of God, we learn new things, and we have to be willing to say, you know what? What seemed right to me and what I thought was right and what my heart wanted, you know what? It's wrong. I always thought this, but you know what? I'm wrong. When a person gets saved as an adult, they realize that what they always believed was wrong, correct? But it does not stop there. Because after salvation, there's going to be a lot of new things that you learn, and you're going to have to realize and admit, you know what? I was wrong about this. I always thought this, but this is not what the Bible says. Let me give you a couple examples of things that might seem unfair to people. The Bible's very clear that husbands are the heads of their homes, right? Nobody really disputes that. The Bible says, wives, submit to your own husbands. It's pretty clear in the Bible, wives, submit to your husbands. And when it says submit, what that means is a submarine that goes under the water. And here's the thing, if you say, Pastor, I'm submissive to my wife because I came to church today. Well, if you wanted to come to church, that's not submission, because you already wanted to do it. Submission is proved when your husband says this, and you don't agree, and you willingly just say, You know what? I'm going to submit to what my husband says. That's what submission by definition is, okay? You know, a lot of ladies would hear this in the Bible, and maybe in this room, you first start reading the Bible, you're like, That's not fair. Marriage should be 50-50. It's not fair that my husband's the leader. It's not fair that he's the one that's running the house and making the choices and guiding us. I should have just as much say as him. And what I want to remind you, ladies, is the Bible also gives a requirement to the husbands as well. For husbands, it's like, Lay down your lives. Love your wives. And a guy could see that and say, Well, that's not fair, because then my whole life is about pleasing other people rather than myself. And both sides could think this is unfair, or we could just say, You know what? This is what God says. I didn't realize that was true before. I'm just going to do what God says. But you can follow your heart if you want. You can walk through life blindfolded and good luck. Just do the opposite of what God says, because your heart is telling you something else. And see if it will work for you. I mean, I think we've got plenty of Bible that will tell you it's not going to work, but you can go for it if you want. Because remember, give in to what your heart wants, but just remember that God's going to bring you into judgment for every action that you make in this life. And you know what? One thing you should realize is that God has your best interest at heart. Do you believe that? I mean, I believe in a God that... You know, of course, we talk about God being holy and just and righteous and all those things, and those things are true. But let's not forget, God is loving. And if you're saved, you're His child. Look, I want the best for my kids in life. I want them to have a good life. I don't want them to make mistakes that I've made in my life. I want things to turn out well for them. Do you realize that God is not trying to harm your life? God is not trying to make you miserable. God wants you to have a nice life. Do you realize the Bible says that if you do what God says, you're going to be happy and it's going to go well for you and you're going to have good success? God's not trying to destroy your life. But the way people live their lives, they see something in the Bible. It's like, oh, God just wants to rain on my parade and make me miserable. No, no, God wants you to be happy. God wants you to have an abundant life, the Bible says. He wants you to have a nice life. But you have to be willing to trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do what God says. Yes, I get it. What seems right to you is not what God says in certain cases. God is right, and you are wrong. God is right, and I'm wrong when I see things that are the opposite of what I thought. Psalm 119, verse 97. Go to verse 97. And I will say this. As wicked as the world is becoming, there is still some semblance and sanity from most people. And just a basic proof of this is both here in the Philippines and in the U.S., we had presidential elections where one of the main candidates was a guy and one of the main candidates was a woman. And in both cases, the guy just absolutely blew out the woman in the election. And what that shows is, and I don't really care if you disagree with me. That's fine. The Bible says it's a curse when a woman rules over you. And if a woman was ruling this country, it would be a disaster. It would be a mess. And you know what? People have some semblance of sanity because they obviously realize some traditional values of men being the head of the home, men being the leaders. I mean, look, we live in a day-to-day where you've got men competing in women's sports. We've got men wearing dresses here in the Philippines. I mean, in the Bible, it's the men that are going out to war. Doesn't that just make sense? The men being the leaders, the men being the protectors. And the world we live in today is crazy, but people want to take their advice from a world that is just so modulo and so messed up, and then they think their life's going to turn out right. Is this country normal or are things insane right now with the way that men are cross-dressing? Is the world normal right now? Because I'm pretty sure everybody's told me that when you were a kid, things were much different than they are today. Is that not true? So if the world is just a mess, why would you take your advice from the world that is just a disaster today? And I'm not saying that we should be depressed because we can get more people saved in today's world and be a shining light and all of those things. But, you know, yeah, there's definitely a part of me that says I wish this world was more conservative like when I was a kid. Why would you take your advice from the world which is so messed up in 2024? Here's what the Bible says in Psalm 119, verse 97. Oh, how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day, that through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me. You know, what the psalmist is saying is that by reading God's word, by loving God's word, by meditating in God's word, it's made me wiser than other people. There's a difference between being intelligent and being wise. There are a lot of fools that have a lot of knowledge. I mean, if you ever pay attention to people that are very smart, I mean, just look at like the atheists of this world. I mean, they have high IQs usually, and they're like the biggest fools, right? I mean, because they know the truth is right there. They just don't want to admit it. You see smart people, and they don't let the Bible be their guide, and they sound like idiots, don't they? This is the reality. But, you know, you have a Bible-believing Christian, regardless of what their IQ is, if they know what the Bible says, and they just follow what God says, you're going to see a lot more wisdom there than you're going to see from a smart person that is not letting the Bible be the guide. You say, why is that? Because the Bible is our only guide in life. This is going to be what makes us walk in light and not in darkness. But if someone's not using this as their guide, they're going to stumble around in darkness. It says here in verse 99, I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy precepts. You know, the Bible says it's not just hearing the Word but being a doer of the Word. You have to keep the precepts. Do what God says. I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word. I have not departed from thy judgments, for thou hast taught me. How sweet are thy words unto my taste, say, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. You know, Pastor, why are you a hate preacher? Because I read God's Word and I do it, and as a result, I hate the false way. But notice what it says in verse 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Remember, the fool walks in darkness. What's the opposite of walking in darkness? Walking in light. Doesn't the Bible say many times that God's Word is light? Jesus is used synonymously sometimes with light. And if you're letting the Bible be your guide, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. So you say, well, why do you make these decisions in life? Because this is what God says. It's the right thing to do. But then there's other people. They just basically close their eyes. It's like, you know, whoops. Just stumbling around. I've got to be careful up here. I'm afraid I'm going to... I can't get too close. But that's how people are literally living their lives. They're in darkness. And then you wonder, why are they messing up their lives so much? Because they're not letting God's Word guide them. It's that simple. They're not letting God's Word guide them. Turn in your Bible to Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah 17. I mean, in this world, you'll hear a lot of very smart people say a lot of really stupid and foolish things. And it's like, how can somebody have such a high IQ and yet be so stupid? Because they're filled with the knowledge of this world. I mean, isn't it true that throughout the Bible it talks about the wisdom of this world versus the wisdom found in God's Word? The wisdom of the world is not the same as the wisdom of the Word. Often the wisdom of the world is in direct opposition to the wisdom of God and what the Bible says. And the thing is, if you are not letting God's Word be your guide, you're probably going to be getting advice from the world. You're probably going to be getting advice from people that are going to say the exact opposite of what God says. You know what that means? It means you're going to be stumbling around in darkness. Or you can just have your eyes in your head and you say, you know what? I'm going to put them in the proper place. I'm not going to let my emotions and my heart and my feelings guide me. I'm going to just do what God says. It's Sunday morning. Where am I going today? I'm going to church. It's like, why are you going to church? You go to church every week because it's the right thing to do. Right? It's like, you read the Bible every day. I mean, why do you do that? Because God says, read the end all the days of that life. It's the right thing to do. Well, why don't you come out here, come to this party, you can drink and have a good time? And you live your life just in a very organized and structured way where this is right and this is wrong so this is what I do. Look, my life, I've got a chart and I have it on my computer. I'll print it off during the week. It's like, this is what I do on Monday. This is what I do on Tuesday. This is what I do on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Now, of course, sometimes your life gets a bit magalo and it changes things and you've got to restructure stuff. What am I going to do today? I mean, I have a piece of paper that tells me, okay, it's like, you're going to read the Bible, check. You're going to memorize the Bible, check. You're going to pray, check. It's like a very boring way to live your life but you know what? That's what makes you successful in life. You just see what God says. You don't let your emotions guide you. You don't let your heart guide you. You just do what's right. Point number one, your heart cannot be trusted. Point number two, God's word is your only guide. Point number three, that success or failure is the result depending on what you let guide you. Now, we saw in Jeremiah 17, 9 where it said, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? In verse number 9, what that shows you is you don't even know your own heart. You say, how is it I could not know my own heart? Your heart is lying to you and it really takes the word of God to get to the inside to drive out the truth from you. But go back to verse number 7. Jeremiah 17, verse 7, blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and is hoped the Lord is. I mean, isn't that kind of the opposite of trusting in your heart, trusting in the Lord, letting God's word be your guide? And it says in verse 8, for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaves shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. And, you know, if you're a soul winner, then you probably get what it's saying, neither shall cease or neither shall stop from yielding fruit. What's that saying is, you're going to be a very fruitful Christian, meaning as you get older in the year of drought, when the sun's out, you go through the storms of life, you go through the problems, guess what's going to take place? You're still bringing forth fruit. You're still getting people saved. Just year after year after year, every season, year after year. Look, in our life, we're going to have time where we're going through difficulties. We're going to have times of drought. And here's the truth. When you're going through difficult times, what does your heart want? I just want to be alone. I don't want to go to church anymore. I just want to sit around and eat ice cream and be bitter and complain and everything like this. That's what your heart wants. Is that going to help your life? You cannot let your emotions guide you. You say, why? They go down. They're all over the place. I mean, people could be married and then they get in a fight with their wife. It's like, I don't want to be married anymore. I mean, if you let your emotions guide you, you will destroy your life. Your emotions change. They go up, they go down. Your feelings go up and down. If you let your heart guide you, you will destroy your life. You will fail in life. But we see here, if you put your trust in God in you, you're going to have success. And when the Bible says, spreadeth out her roots by the river, I just think of being near God's Word and how that water will consistently come and just water you and keep you going. So even though you go through storms, if you're reading the Bible every day, it helps you overcome that. It helps you keep going. You keep hearing the Word of God preached. It helps you get through those difficult times. But if you choose not to live, if you let God's Word guide you and just do whatever your heart wants, good luck. Go to Proverbs 4. Proverbs chapter 4. Now look, little kids, just naturally, all of us when we were kids were the same way. We just kind of just do what we feel like. Like when a child wakes up in the morning that's a young child, they're not really thinking about which of these foods has vitamins. Which of these foods is nutritious? They're just thinking, which tastes good? Right? I mean, isn't that how kids... I mean, it's like every day. Ezra just wants chips and ice cream. It's like, no. It's not going to be good for you. That's the way the kids are. You know, man, or you become a woman, maybe you ought to put away childish things. It's like, yeah, that's how a kid is. That's how a two-year-old is. That's how a three-year-old lives their life. That's maybe how a four-year-old or a five-year-old is. But as you start getting older, you should start saying, you know what? It doesn't matter what I feel like. What's the right thing to do? What's the better thing to do? And in the long run, doing what's better is going to give you success rather than failure. Proverbs 4 verse 10. Here, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom, I have led thee in right paths. Obviously, if you're a godly father or godly mother, you're teaching your kids the Word of God and you're trying to help your kids. Look, if you're a child in this room and you have parents that love God and they're trying to teach you the Word of God, listen to the commandments of your mom and dad. They're trying to help you. They know what they're talking about. They've lived longer than you, they know the problems that are out there. Just trust in what your parents are saying as they're teaching you the Word of God. Verse 12. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straightened, and when thou runest, thou shalt not stumble. Now, here's the thing. It's pretty easy not to stumble if you can see where you're going, but imagine going on the street out there and closing your eyes and you just start running. You're either going to run into something or you're going to just fall face-first in the ground pretty quickly. Is that not true? Because without even thinking about it, we use our eyes to guide us everywhere we're going. And the Bible's saying that, hey, if you're letting God's Word be your guide, you can run and not stumble. You can see where you're going. You can know what you're doing. But if you're not letting God's Word be your guide, you're going to stumble and destroy your life. Verse 13. Take fast hold of instruction. Let her not go. Go not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it. Pass not by it. Turn from it and pass away. You know, when I lived in West Virginia and my parents are in Pennsylvania now, in those areas where they lived and where I grew up, there's a lot of mountains. There's a lot of hiking paths. So I regularly would go hiking in the woods. And you know, you have like a main path that you're walking on. And then along the way, there's a lot of side paths. And it's always tempting, I wonder what's down this path. Because you don't really know, right? You're just thinking, if I start heading down this direction, what's going to take place? But here's the thing. If you're going out on a path, you don't know what the end result is. But here's the thing. If you're believing and trusting in the Bible, you do know the end result of going down a road of sin, don't you? It's going to destroy your life. It's not like it's a question mark. Maybe it's going to be bad. No, it's going to end in failure. You're going to destroy your life. And it says here in verse 16, For they sleep not, except they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more onto the perfect day. See, the Bible says that when you're on the right path, when you're doing what's right in light, the closer you get to God, the brighter and the brighter and the brighter it is. You know, if you've been saved and serving God for a long time, you can probably think back to stuff you got rid of in your life now that it's been many years, and it's like, man, I was so foolish and it's so obvious to you. Right? I mean, I had the picture for my birthday. You saw the Aerosmith shirt. That's the evidence against me. And when I first stopped listening to that kind of music, it was hard because my heart wanted that music. It sounded good to me. It's like, well, it's not really that big of a deal. I mean, yes, they're singing about all this wickedness, but it's not like I'm doing the wickedness. I'm just listening to it. You say, what's that called? It's called my heart deceiving me and trying to justify its actions? That's what we do. Even though, even though on the inside I just immediately get rid of my music when I got saved, I mean, I immediately just, I mean, I realize, okay, this is wrong and I felt guilty, but I didn't want to change. And what do you do? You justify your actions. Or sometimes, you know, something I did when I was listening to the radio in my car and there'd be a song that had a lot of really bad things in it, I would listen to the song and then turn it off for like 15 seconds and then turn it back on after the part that was really bad was over. So if I didn't listen to the really bad part, it's like, come on, I knew that was wrong. On the inside, we know whether things are right or wrong. We just don't want to admit it to ourselves. Isn't that true? We want to lie to ourselves. We want to justify our actions. But see, the further you get to God, the brighter and brighter and brighter it is. Here's what I'm saying. I've made a lot of choices in my life that when I first made that step, I knew what the Bible said, but I didn't really understand. I didn't really understand why. And now after several years, I can look back and it's like, how dumb was I? It's obvious. I mean, it makes perfect sense now. It's like, man, I'd have to be a fool to do that. When I took that first step, it wasn't so obvious. See, here's what you got to realize. If you have two paths, the first step is not really much different in either direction. But what about the end of that path? See, if you're going hiking, you can't see miles and miles in front of yourself. I can't see 40 years into the future. But what I can do is just trust what God says. You know, I'm just going to keep my eyes in my head and do what's right and just trust that I'm going to have success. And as time goes by, it shines brighter and brighter. But if you choose the other way, at first it doesn't seem so bad. It's just a small sin. It's not that big of a deal. But you keep going and going and going. I'm pretty sure soon you are going to fall off. But it starts. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal. But what about the end result? Notice what it says in verse 19. The way of the wicked is as darkness. They know not at what they stumble. Because if you're in darkness, you have no idea what you're running into, right? You run into something you can't see. You have no idea what you hit. And people, their lives get messed up, and they have no idea why. It's like, how did this happen? It's because your eyes are in your heart and you're not letting God's word be your guide. I mean, that's the reason why. Verse 20, my son, attend to my words. Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes. Keep them in the midst of thine hearts. Why do we need to keep God's word in our hearts? Because of the fact we need God's word inside of our heart to fix our heart. Because it's wicked. It's deceitful. It will destroy your life. Verse 22, for they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. You have to understand what's on the inside is going to come out on the outside. And look, you know whether your heart has problems. If you have bitter envy and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. You need to fix that. You say, well, you know, it's going to be okay. No, no, no, eventually it's going to be okay. You need to fix that. You say, well, you know, it's going to be okay. No, no, no, eventually it's going to be okay. No, no, no, eventually it's going to come out. Eventually the manifestation will take place. Verse 24, put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. I mean, you should greatly consider the direction you're going. I mean, if you're going to church every week and reading the Bible every day, you should really consider before you veer off into some direction where you're doing something wrong. Because the end result, the end result of that path is going to be destruction. Verse 27, turn not to the right hand, nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 12, we'll close up. Ecclesiastes chapter 12. I mean, there's a reason why in the parable of the sower it talks about having an honest heart. It's like, well, what's the big deal? Why does it say an honest heart? Because of the fact we have a tendency to lie to ourselves. Because we do not want to admit that we're wrong. I mean, it's not a complicated... I mean, serving God, it's not complicated what you need to do. It's pretty simple. I mean, God just tells us what to do, what to do and what not to do. It's just a matter of it's hard to actually do it. But it's not hard to understand what we should do in life. The Bible's pretty clear on that. It says in Ecclesiastes 12, verse 13, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. I mean, the book of Ecclesiastes closes just very simply, fear God and keep His commandments. It's that simple. I mean, you just have your eyes in your head. The wise man's eyes are in his head. You just read the Bible. You learn what the Word of God says, and you just do it. You just fear God and keep His commandments. You say, well, what's in it for me? Well, the end result is a lot of success in your life. The end result is it's gonna spare you from destroying your life. The end result is it's gonna spare you from destroying your marriage. The end result is it's gonna spare you from destroying your parenting. The end result is it's gonna be success in your life. Or you can let your heart go to hell or guide you. I don't force anybody to do anything. I tell you what the Word of God says, and it's completely up to you what you go home and do. But here's the thing. When you're doing something that's wrong, and obviously we all sin. I'm not standing here saying I'm perfect. But the thing is, when you do wrong, whether you want to admit it on the outside yourself or not, on the inside, you know. You know what the truth is. You know if you're doing wrong. I mean, when you've got a guilty conscience, you know, okay, I did something wrong. You know whether it's right or wrong. Stop lying to yourself. Let your eyes be in your head, not here in your heart. Let's close the Word of prayer. Your Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today, and thank you for allowing us to see the scripture here in Ecclesiastes chapter 2. God, I ask you to help us to apply this sermon to our lives, help us to make changes, including myself and my family. Help us not lie to ourselves. Help us not to let our emotions or feelings guide us and destroy our lives. God, help us just to follow after what you say. Just fear you and keep your commandments. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.