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All right, guys, welcome back to the channel. We hope that you're enjoying this study through the Book of Ecclesiastes. Tonight's sermon, chapter nine, what I'm going to call it is, have a blast while you last. OK, now, obviously, I'm not saying that as somebody in the world would say that, although that's pretty much what this chapter is about. So if you take a look at verses three, four, five and six and even verse one, Solomon is basically looking at death through two different viewpoints from the saved and then the lost versus seven, eight, nine and ten. And he's comparing these different viewpoints. Now, we all have people that we know in the world. We've all met people and have had the conversation come up about what happens after you die. Some people claim they're not concerned. We know deep down inside they are. Some people are concerned. Those are the ones we're after. Because we have the answer. It's clear in scripture right here. Here's what you have to do to be saved. But in this chapter, the preacher, he's basically just making these observations on how the lost see it versus how the saved see it. So in other words, you know, the saved have already factored in death into their life. And so that frees them up to really live life. Whereas the lost, they instinctively know that death is unpredictable. And so one of the things they often will try to do is to add ability to everything. And what I'm going to say is you can't add great ability to unpredictability and still demand success. So in other words, you can take the smartest people in the world, the geniuses and have them work on all of this life saving technology. That's great. We love that. We need to use that. Hey, but at the end of the day, that doesn't guarantee you anything. That doesn't guarantee you another breath. It doesn't guarantee you another day. Nobody knows what tomorrow holds in store. And so another point in this study is that we as the saved ever not to envy the lost, envy the world. They might, you know, seem to have a carefree life. They might seem to just, you know, not have a care in the world. But deep down inside, you're going to see in this chapter that they do care. They are scared. And that's where we come into play. And remember, there's nothing brave about ignoring the grave. God bless. Right. Well, we're back in Ecclesiastes. Getting close to the end. Just got a few more chapters left, really. The title of the sermon this evening is going to be Have a Blast While You Last. Have a blast while you last. And so, of course, you tell that kind of title what the chapter is about. We just read it. Well, basically, it's a comparison of death from the viewpoint of somebody who is saved versus the viewpoint of somebody who is lost. So with that being said, so verses one and two are going to start off with the saved. People that are obviously going to heaven. We're going to talk about that. Verses three, four, five and six are basically how the world views death and one of the traps that they fall into. And then verses seven, eight, nine and ten are about how God has accepted our works because we're saved. And so that teaches us how to live. And so, again, you've got the saved on one end, the lost on the other end, and the common denominator is death. And I guess I'll say this before we start, you know, how the world views death. A lot of us have gone and knocked on people's doors and had people say, you know, yeah, you know, I don't really think about death. It doesn't bother me. It doesn't really concern me. I'm tougher than that. I'm braver than that. And so I would say that there's nothing brave about ignoring the grave. You know, you think because this is an inevitable truth in life that the world would talk more about it, but they don't. They just kind of write it off and basically ignore it or just say, well, because nobody knows, there's no reason to fear. There's no reason to worry. OK, obviously, we know that God begs to differ. So with that being said, if you look down there at the beginning of verse number one, he says, for all this, I considered in my heart. What does he mean there for all this? OK, well, just so that we have context here, let's go back to chapter eight real quick and just kind of refresh where we left off, because it's kind of important for the chapter and the points that he's making. So in chapter number eight, verse 15, we see Solomon says this. He says, then I commended mirth. Now, remember, mirth is like entertainment, laughter, amusement, things of that nature. He says that I commended mirth because a man has no better thing under the sun. Now, remember that phrase because it's going to come up in tonight's chapter. OK, under the sun. So in other words, when he says that, he's talking about life in the horizontal, where we can see how man looks at life. Remember, Solomon is basically doing a quest by experiment. And so through the lens of the unsaved, he's like, well, OK, you know, at this point, I'm basically, you know, there's nothing better for a person to just have amusement and live life. So he says that I committed mirth because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be married for all that abide with him of his labor, the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun. And so, of course, these are abused and people look at this and, you know, twist it various ways. Christians will say, well, see, you know, there's nothing wrong with drinking beer and he's talking about eating and drinking and alcohol as long as you do it responsibly. We learned today that the kingdom of God is not in meat and drink. And there's a whole host of verses in the New Testament that deal with that and talk about that, that that's not his point for the Christian. OK, he's basically saying under the sun, people who can't think out of the sun, who don't have life out of the sun. That's the best option that they have is to just live life with amusement and entertainment because they're going to die. So he says in verse 16, when I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done upon the earth, for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes. OK, so what is he saying here? So now he's transitioning into the wisdom of man. So he's like, OK, so because life under the sun, you know, is basically terrible. There's oppressions, there's all these different things. People, you know, work and slave away and they build up and then they leave it to somebody and they're forgotten. So I'll turn to the wisdom of man here. So he says, I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done upon the earth. OK, that didn't help him. So what does he do next? Verse 17, then I beheld all the work of God. So he's like, OK, well, that didn't pan out. So now I'm going to look at all the work of God and see how that helps me. And he says that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun because though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it. Yea, farther through or farther though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. So he's like, I've got this problem here. I've got the wisdom of man, the wisdom of world, and that doesn't quite satisfy. And then I try to put all my time and energy and focusing on the wisdom of God. And I learned that, wait a second, the things that are before me in the physical are unpredictable. And I don't know if that's going to solve my problems, solve my issue. So then go to verse number one of chapter nine. And he says, for all this case, so for all that conclusion that he came to in chapter eight, he says, for all this, I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous case, that key word there, the righteous. And the wise and their works are in the hand of God. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. So in other words, nobody really knows what's coming. Okay. And if we're going to compare the righteous to the unrighteous, we're going to say this, okay? I don't know. We don't know what the future holds for us, but we know who holds the future for us. And that is God. And that is basically what he's saying for all this. I considered in my heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise and their works look at this are in the hand of God. Okay. And so his point in this chapter basically is this, that life is unpredictable and because it's unpredictable, it's going to cause different, uh, emotions, different feelings towards different people. Different people are going to act out in different types of ways. Now look down here at verse number two. He says, all things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the clean and to the unclean, to him that sacrifices and to him that sacrifices not as the good. So is the sinner and he that swereth as he that feareth an oath. And so what he's trying to say there is that death is not a respecter of persons. Okay. The wise aren't going to out do death. The righteous don't have to worry about it because our future is held by God and the evil ones, the wicked ones, they can't stop it. Okay. There's one event that happens to all of us. Okay, now I have to bring this up because as we progress through this chapter here, Jehovah Witnesses in particular, they like to use verses five and six to try to prove their false doctrine of annihilation or soul sleep. And so we're going to get into that here in a minute, but the point is that death comes. We don't know when, okay, but we know that this is a matter to be taken seriously, which is why it grieves all of us when we knock on someone's door and they're just don't care. They're just like, whatever, you know, I don't, I don't really need to worry about it. It happens to everybody. I'm just going to do the best that I can. And if there is a God, he'll probably forgive me and blah, blah, blah. That's the wrong way to look at it. Now look at verse number three. So he says this, this is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event that there's one event unto all. Ye also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil. Okay, now again, who are the sons of men? Remember, you have the sons of God, you have the sons of Adam, and then obviously you have the sons of Belial or the sons of the devil. And so he's saying that the best that's going to come from the heart of man, unsaved, unregenerated man is evil. That which hurts, okay, does not help. They do not have the answers to life after death like they claim to have. They cannot figure it out on their own without the word of God. That's what we, that's where we basically leave off in chapter number eight. Man tries to seek out the wisdom of God without the instructions of God and therefore falters. Okay, so verse three again, he says this is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all. Ye also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil and madness is in their heart while they live and after that they go to the dead. So all of that madness does them absolutely, positively no good whatsoever. Okay, but verse four, he says, for to him that is joined to all the living, there is hope. That's us. That is the saved, the born again. Okay, we have the ability to live life properly because we're joined to the living. He says for a living dog is better than a dead lion. And that's obviously, obviously true. You know, the world throws things out like that. Well, it's better to be dead than alive. And we get that to a certain extent, but we also understand that to be absent from the body is to be present from the Lord. And Paul also explains that to us that death for the believer is actually a gain. It's actually something that we gain in life, whereas the world, they don't gain anything because they don't know. It's unpredictable and it's unviewable from their standpoint. Okay, so look at this here in verse number five. He says, for the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything. Neither have they any more a reward for the memory of them is forgotten. Okay, and this is where you start to get into false doctrine. The J-dubs love to throw this out there. If you haven't had them hit you with this, you probably will. Look at verse six. He says, also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished. Neither have they any more a portion for ever and anything that is done under the sun. That is true. So verse seven, he says, go thy way, eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart. For God now accepteth thy works that thy there is the believer, that the person who has joined himself on to the living or the righteous. Okay, so we have the right viewpoint in life. Now, the unsaved, the, let's just take the J-dubs because they love to use these verses here to teach soul sleep or annihilation or whatever. Of course, they basically say that, you know, when a person dies, if you're a part of the club, okay, you just soul sleep, I guess that's what it is. And there's only room in heaven or the afterlife for 144,000. Now we know that's not true and we've audited them. But just to give you some things real quickly to think about or to come back at these people with, we're going to park it right here for a minute. But go to Genesis chapter number 25 real quick, Genesis chapter number 25. And I think this is probably a pretty good chance to just kind of review some things about the afterlife since it's here in this chapter. And so for anybody who would say, well, you know, afterlife, you know, there's no knowledge in the grave. There's no wisdom in the grave, which is what it says in the chapter. You know, you have to explain to them, okay, there's obviously something you're missing here because there's what Solomon is saying, which is true. And then there's all these verses in the Bible about people being conscious or alive in the afterlife. Okay, let's look at that here. Genesis 25, let's just, we're just going to do Abraham. Okay, there's all kinds of things we could go to. Let's just do Abraham. Look at verse number eight. Okay, at the end of Abraham's life, look what it says. It says, and Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years and was gathered to his people. Verse nine. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar, the Hittite, which is before Mamre. Okay, now go to Luke chapter number 16. So very clearly, we see that Abraham died. Genesis 25 tells us that very clearly Abraham died and was buried. Okay, now our enemies, okay, they like to bring up Ecclesiastes, say, well, no, once you go to the grave, that's it, it's over. You know, it's kind of funny how they claim to believe that part of scripture. But all these other scriptures we give them, they're like, well, you know, according to our prophet, he didn't really say it like that. This just absolutely preposterous. Okay, look at verse 19, Luke chapter 16. There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. Verse 20. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores. You got a rich guy who lived well. You have a poor guy who obviously lived very poorly physically and monetarily. Verse 21. In desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. Verse 22. And it came to pass, now look at this, that the beggar died. Okay, so we've got Abraham, and we're going to get back to him in a second here, who's dead. Now we've got this beggar who has died, and look what it says. It was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Now, I don't have time to get into this, but bosom is a body part. It is not a place. It is not a compartment. Okay, it is a body part. So in other words, this Lazarus here is getting an orientation, okay? He's meeting Abraham. He's being comforted by the man, Abraham, in heaven. And look what it says next. Verse 22. The rich man also died and was buried. So we've got two guys that were died and were buried. One guy is mentioned being carried to Abraham's bosom. Now look at this next guy. Okay, he's died and buried. Verse 23, rich guy, look what it says. And in hell, he lift up his eyes. So in hell, this rich man has what? He has eyes. He has the ability to see. He can see and process information. What did the J-Dub say? After you're dead, it's over. It's game over. There's neither good nor bad. Two, sorry you weren't part of the 144,000. Better luck in the next life. I don't know if they say that, but they might as well. So in hell, he lift up his eyes being in torment. So what does that teach us? Well, not only does he have eyes, not only can he see, view information, but he can feel pain, okay? If I were the devil, I would definitely agree with the Jehovah witnesses by saying, yeah, don't worry about it. There's no use to be concerned about the grave, okay? It's just game over. You're not conscious, okay? Neither good nor bad, it's just over, that's it. It's a done deal. This is far more terrifying than what they teach, right? Being in torments and see if Abraham a far off and the Lazarus in his bosom. So now you have a guy who was in hell. He can see, he could process information. He can feel extreme pain, but also there is a level of emotional pain in what he missed out on because he's burning in hell and he can see a far off a man who was poor in this life being comforted by Abraham. So he has to live in eternity with that sight ingrained into his mind. Obviously he still has his mind here. Verse 24, and he cried and said, Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. So not only does he have eyes, the ability to process pain and to see emotional pain, okay, but he can speak, okay? So he still has his voice. He can still communicate, but also notice what he has here. What does he do? He asked Abraham to send the pauper, to send the poor man Lazarus to give him some water. So he still has his ignorance, okay? He's still dumb. So this is just not getting any better, okay? You know, look at verse 25 says, but Abraham said, son, remember that thou in thy life. Wait, Abraham, wait, what? Didn't he die back in Genesis 25 and was buried? What's he doing here talking and comforting another person here, okay? And there's tons of stories about people who were dead, died, buried, and are still alive, okay? Moses and Elijah, for example. And you know, the list goes on here. But Abraham said, son, remember that in thy life time receiveth thy good things likewise, Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. Verse 26, and beside all this, between us and you there is a great gall fix so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from hence. So he's got all these things, okay? So again, the Jehovah Witness, they're not gonna, what are they gonna do with this here? Oh, this just doesn't belong in the Bible here. This, you know, our prophet, you know, who was actually tried in court for claiming he could read hieroglyphics when he couldn't. But anyways, it's beside the point, okay? They're gonna say, well, this doesn't really mean what it says. Well, what does it mean then? They'll say, here's what they'll say. It's a parable, okay? Go read every parable in the Bible and then go read this, okay? You know what you're not gonna find in parables? Names, specifics like this, okay? You're not gonna find this is not a parable. This is a glimpse into the eternal to teach us a lesson and the severity and the seriousness of death and the consequence of rejecting Christ on this earth. This guy can see. He can feel pain, okay? He can see what he's missed out on. So that is an emotional pain. He can communicate. He's still ignorant, has no idea what's going on, okay? He's still, and now he's being told that this is gonna be forever. We can't go from here to you. And so it just compounds and gets worse and worse and worse. Verse 27, then he said, I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren that he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torment. So now there's a little ounce of care that he has. He wants his family to hear the truth, but verse 29, Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. Think about that. They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. It's their choice, okay? They've got the truth on earth. They've got the scriptures. It's up to them, okay? Abraham's not like, oh yeah, quick, let me go contact God real quick and send someone. They got the truth down there. Let them hear it. We'll see what happens. Abraham saith unto them, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. Verse 30, and he said, nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. So again, his ignorance remains with him, okay? Verse 31, and he said unto them, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded. The one rose from the dead. Now again, that's so true, okay? You could get somebody resurrected during this time. If they're not gonna hear the Bible, they're not going to register a miracle, okay? And that's demonstrated throughout the scriptures. Jesus did so many signs, wonders, miracles, things confirming the truth, never once went against the scriptures, and yet people still complained and still would not agree and still just wanted to see something else. And the list goes on, oh, show us another sign, show us this, prove that you're God, okay? He would do that and they just wouldn't receive it. But the underlying root of the issue is they wouldn't receive scripture, okay? That if they're not gonna receive scripture, good luck trying to convince them of any kind of truth. So let's go back now to where we started. Ecclesiastes chapter nine, verse number five again, for the living, okay? For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything, okay? So the living understand this. We realize, hey, there is a chance we could die. We don't know when. And so what I would say is that if you can factor in, okay, you're saved, you're a believer, if you can factor in death to your life, then you can really begin to live. Does that make sense? So if you can factor in death into your life, understand that it is coming for all of us, okay? As a believer, then you can truly live. Why? Well, because you're a believer and you understand that though you may not know what the future holds, you know that God holds your future. That's the preacher's point. That is Solomon's point here for this first really quarter of the chapter. So let's go down to verse number seven. He says, go thy way, eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart for God now accepteth thy works. Okay, now does God accept the works of the natural man? No, the saved man, which is why he confirms that in verse eight. Look what he says. Let thy garments be always white. Let thy head lack no ointment. Just a reference, right? A white robe, white garments, keeping ourselves unspotted from the world. That's what he's referencing there. He's just basically saying, look, your future is in the hand of God. You don't need to know every specific detail about what's going on. You need to walk by faith, not by sight. You need to just trust in him. And when you're doing that, then your works are accepted by God, whereas the world's works are not accepted by God. So move on here to verse number nine. He says, live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life, thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity, for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun. So again, when you see that under the sun, that is this world is what he's talking about. Now let's move on here to verse number 10. So he says, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor, what does that say? No work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whether thou goest. And so it's obvious to us who are saved and just read Luke chapter 16 after reading Genesis chapter 25, what that means, okay? That means that in this body, this physical thing that we're all looking at here, when it taps out, when it's done, okay? You're no longer learning. You're no longer giving your heart to wisdom and doing these things. So while you have breath on this earth, make the most of it, okay? Have a blast while you last, but do it in a responsible Christian way like verse eight describes. That's his whole point here. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whether thou goest. Of course, the JDubs take that verse too and say, well, see, there it is. There's no wisdom, there's no consciousness, there's no nothing. They completely missed the point here of what he's talking about. So, I mean, you know, if you take note, you could write down Ephesians chapter three in verse 10 on the side here and read that and compare, okay? We've gone over that, I feel like a lot over the last six to eight months. And it's basically the verse where Paul says that God uses the body of Christ or uses the church to basically demonstrate the manifold wisdom of God, okay? So as we on this earth study the word of God, learn the word of God, and take the knowledge like we talked about this morning and actually implement it into the world, okay, the Bible says the angels look into those things and they learn from those things. And then the spiritual battle and the unseen so above the sun or outside of the sun actually begins to manifest, take place, and help shape and shift things that are going on over there. And so, you know, there's that whole aspect, which I don't have time to get into. But when you die, I mean, if you get to heaven, you see Abraham, you get to see people, okay? You don't have the need for wisdom because it's just somehow automatically just boom, it's right there, you know what I mean? Like you can now see heaven, you're on the other side, fourth dimension, if you want to kind of use that terminology, hopefully that makes sense, okay? Look down to verse number 11. Verse number 11. And so it says this, I returned, okay? So now he's going to kind of shift gears again. He's going to mention five categories here. He's going to mention athletics, military might, industry, economy, individual proficiency, okay? And he's going to basically say that these things here, though the world trusts in them, though the world respects them, okay, there is still unpredictability in the earth. Let me show you what I mean here. Verse 11 says, I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bred to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all. So basically you could say this, if you add great ability to unpredictability, that does not guarantee you success, okay? A lot of times in this life it does, but there are times when it does not, okay? And why is that? Well, because even for the unsaved, life is unpredictable. Look at this here in verse 12. For man also knoweth not his time, okay? As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men, okay? Snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them. So now he has shifted back to talking about the unsaved. This reads like poetry, and people always like to throw this in there. Oh, this is Hebrew poetry, and be nice if we could really understand it. It's simple. Saved, lost, common denominator is death, okay? There's nothing brave about ignoring the grave, and that's his whole point here. He's basically saying, you know, you people trusting in these five categories, athleticism, military might, industry, economy, individual proficiency, doesn't matter how great your ability is, life is still unpredictable. It doesn't guarantee you success. It increases the probability though. I'll give you that. It does increase the probability, but it's not a guarantee. Life is not fair. Isn't that what the world's always saying? Life isn't fair, you know? We better thank God that life isn't fair, because we don't deserve, according to the law of fairness, eternal life. That's why God had to die for us. So he says this again. Let's look at verse 12 again. It says, For man also knoweth not his time, as the fishes that are taken in an evil net. I'm just surprised the vegans don't get off on that one. Let's see, it's evil to fish. Yeah, it just means hurt. It just means to hurt. And as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them. And we've all heard stories about people who've had these genius inventions and ideas, and all of a sudden they die. Whether that's conspiracy or just natural circumstances. Again, this quote unquote wisdom from the world that basically says, you get what you put into it. And so people that are always charitable and always super smart, they always have everything better. That's not always true. There are often times where people have the greatest of abilities and they just are taken from this earth sooner than later. Why? It's just the way it goes. Verse 13. He says, This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me. Great meaning very large. So what he's about to say and what he just got done saying is a very big problem on this planet or underneath the sun. Verse 14. There was a little city and few men within it, and there came a great king against it and besieged it and built great bulwarks against it. So he starts off here describing a problem. And this problem is you've got a small city, a great king, basically building against it, just about to overtake it, and the odds are not looking very good for this small town. Verse 15. There was also found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city, yet no man remembered that same poor man. And so this is a great wisdom. This is a great problem under the sun. Not everybody gets recognized for every single thing that they do. We don't know who this guy is. This person was forgotten, but did a great mighty work. And why is that? Well, probably because he was a poor wise man. Now, if a rich or a well-established wise man saved a small city, I bet you we'd be reading about it in a history book or something of that nature. And that Solomon's point here is that oftentimes us who are saved, we do things that are great. We do things that are mighty because God holds us in his hands. He gives us the ability to do things to serve the kingdom of God. And these things often go unnoticed by the world. The world's not interested in the wisdom of God. The world's not interested in learning about these things. They wanna go at this alone. And it's evil. And then when they get taken in the snare, they're just like the rich man. Who was, what's going on? Send that guy to give me some water. Why am I burning? Go tell my families they're gonna come here. They just don't get it. Verse 15. He says, Now there was found in it a poor wise man and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. So even though this happens, you're better off siding with wisdom, okay? You're better off siding with wisdom that doesn't give you any recognition than you are just having strength, which is good, but may not save you in a situation like this. Strength without wisdom isn't really gonna do you a whole lot of good. In this kind of situation, when you're outnumbered, outmanned, outgunned, whatever you wanna call it. So he says, Then I said, wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. So whose words are heard? Well, in the world, the loudest wheel, the squeakiest wheel gets the grease. It's typically, you know, how that works. You've probably noticed this at your job. You keep your head low. You just keep a low profile. You're working hard. You're doing your job. And then the guy that's just always just complaining and always bringing things up, yet he's working a little bit too. And that person's gonna get the extra travel. That person's gonna get the extra perks and benefits because he won't shut up. He just keeps on bringing it up to the boss. Oh, what about me? What about me? And you know, a lot of times that person gets looked at above a poor wise man. But us as being joined to the living just need to respect that and understand that, again, it is God that holds us in his hand. And we have to live life being okay with that. Verse 17, the words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. You know, and of course, you see examples of this today. So he says the words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. You'll look at the news media today. You just go look at the influencers that are out there, the people that have the massive views, the big following, conservative or moderate, doesn't really matter. Where's true wisdom found? It's found in small groups like our types of churches that read, respect and revere the Bible. That's where it is found. That is where it's maintained. But how many people really know about us? Not too many when you look at life in the grand scheme of things. Why? Because we don't have the large cathedral type building and the 10,000 followers. None of us do. Okay, but yet what are we doing? We're literally this guy here who's delivering, you know, a small city against a great king who's built bulwarks. You know, that could also be looked at as a picture of the devil and what he's doing and trying to stop us, which is a small group from actually working, is building against us, you know, all around us. What do we see? We see evil. There's evil laws being passed. There's misinformation being put in front of us. There are all these devices that the devil has to try to shut us up and to try to stop us. And how do we avert that? How do we get through that? Well, we use wisdom that we learn in the Bible when we go out there and we just push forward and we're still getting people saved. We're still edifying people. We're still helping people out. Okay, but you know what? A hundred years now nobody's probably gonna know who we are because by then they're gonna scrub the internet completely clean. All of our videos are gonna be gone. All of our memories are gonna be gone. But God still knows. And those rewards and those things that we did, they might not be remembered under the sun, but they will be remembered and imprinted forever above the sun, okay? So again, verse 17, the words of wise men are heard and quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. And of course, we're gonna stop right here. Verse 18 says, wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroyeth much good. And that's true, you know? And by sinner there, obviously we know that we're all sinners, but the type of sinner that he's talking about here is just somebody who's just completely rogue, no respect for the Bible, no respect for the word of God or anything of that nature. And we just have to realize that these people do damage. They do a lot of damage to their organizations, to their jobs, to their families, to their communities, to countries, and the list goes on and on and on. What's the solution? Well, wisdom is better than weapons of war. There's nothing wrong with weapons of war as long as those weapons of war are maintained for justifiable wars, which we don't really have too much going on right now. So hopefully that makes sense. Short chapter, I just wanted to go through that one by itself individually. And just a quick recap here, okay? There's nothing brave about ignoring the grave. That's what the world does. That's kind of Solomon's push there, you know? You read this chapter and we all know this, the world just has this arrogant attitude sometimes, like, well, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't really concern me. I don't really think about it a lot. I have someone say that to me in California. I don't really think about that. I don't need to think about that. I don't have to worry about that, okay? And so you guys are just gonna have to go somewhere else. It's like, you're gonna have to think about that. And I know you're lying to me because everybody thinks about that. And guess what? Death is the common denominator. Nobody can deny it. Elon Musk isn't gonna invent some kind of chip that keeps you alive and conscious forever, okay? If we ever get to the point where you see death being taken away from people, you're in deep trouble because that means you've survived up into the wrath of God, meaning the rapture has already taken place. And you got a whole other host of problems to deal with, okay? So another thing that I said regarding verses three and four is that if you can factor in, okay, you're saved. If you can factor in death to your life, then you can really begin to enjoy living life. And how is that? Because you understand the purpose. You understand that though you don't know what the future holds, you know that God holds your future like verse one tells you. And you realize, you know what? I know that there is life above the sun. I know that that's where I'm headed. And so therefore I'm gonna do everything in my power that God has given me to do life right. Like verse 10 says, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whether that goes. So guess what? We have this one shot, okay, to demonstrate the manifold wisdom of God as believers, as Christians. We gotta hop on that opportunity and take advantage of it and just do life to the fullest, okay? No regrets, better decisions, fewer regrets. And then we said, starting in verse 11, if you add great ability to unpredictability, that does not guarantee you success. And you say, how does that help me? Well, that helps you because when you're out here talking with people, maybe in your family or in the community, you're like, I don't get it. I'm super athletic. I didn't get that scholarship. I was a Navy Seal and I'm just not getting the respect I deserve. Or I'm in this industry and I just keep failing. They're putting all their trust in the economy or their individual abilities, okay? Just realize the world is an unfair place, okay? The world is unpredictable, okay? The only thing guaranteed in life is change. You know, we were taught that in the military. The only thing that's constant in the military is change. And that is so true. Well, I would say the only thing about life that is predictable is that it's unpredictable, okay? But the difference between the saved and the lost is that the saved knows that he or she is held by the power of God, safe and secure. And so we have that to fall back on. We have that to trust in whereas the lost person doesn't have that. They have to keep reverting back to just these physical things to put their faith and trust in. And then when life is over, okay, the world is just like, oh, it's terrible. I can't believe this. And they mourn harshly. They mourn very woefully. There's a Jewish guy. I think he's actor or some kind of a producer. His name's Woody Allen. Anybody know who Woody Allen is? Married his ex-wife's adopted daughter who's way younger than he is. He's famous for saying, I'm not afraid of death. I just don't want to be there when it happens. You know, that kind of sums up a lot of the attitude that the world has. You will be there when it happens. In fact, you're going to be like that guy in Luke chapter number 16 where that event does happen to you because I think he's like almost 90 years old now. And you know, that type of attitude, it's not brave. It's not brave to ignore the grave, to ignore the reality, that one event that will take place on all of us. And unfortunately for him, he's going to learn the harshness. He's going to learn the reality of that and he's going to lift open his eyes in hell, spending a lifetime rejecting Christ and just doing all the horrible things that these Hollywood people do. And it's a tragedy. It's disgusting. But we don't have to worry about that because we have a different path. We decided to join ourselves onto the living. And so again, okay, understanding that, that frees us to live a good wholesome life with joy. We don't have to worry about it. We know that after this body quits, we don't die. Okay. We know that. We trust in that. So we're going to stop right there. We'll pick it up in chapter 10 next week. We're going to do chapters 10 and 11, and then we'll be done in chapter 12. So with that being said, let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you again so much, Lord, for this information, this chapter. Just pray that you would bless the fellowship after the service and bring us back all safely again this week. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.