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

Okay, we're continuing this evening with the book of Ecclesiastes. We're in chapter number six. Chapter five, if you look at verse 13, this is a common theme that we see throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, is this evil that people experience that they work and they labor, but they're not able to enjoy the fruit of their labor for whatever reason. It says in verse 13, it says, there is a sore evil which I've seen under the sun. This is chapter five, verse 13. There's a sore evil which I've seen under the sun, namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their herds. We see that when someone has riches, if obviously we've seen this, just the Bible teaches this, but sometimes people don't know how to handle abundance, they don't know how to handle riches and wealth, and they keep it to their own herd, they become covetous, they become greedy, and they end up destroying themselves. They end up having the love of money, which is the root of all evil. It says in verse 14, but those riches perish by evil travail, and he begateth the sun, and there is nothing in his hands. One of the common themes that we see throughout the book of Ecclesiastes is this matter of having wealth but not having it with the right biblical perspective. The reason it's important to have a biblical perspective when it comes to finances is because money has wings and it flies away. It goes away, it's either stolen by someone or it can consume you, you can lose it, God can take it away from you. It's monetary, it's temporary, and it's not going to last forever. Now in chapter number six, we see a similar thought, and it's also referring to wealth and riches, but now it's not the person who is destroying themselves because of the riches, it's actually a foreign person, a stranger as the Bible puts it. Look at verse number one, it says, there is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men, a man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth them not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease. So the first thing I want you to notice is there's three things here that God gives to a man. He says he gives them riches, wealth, and honor. Now all three of these things require a considerable amount of effort to gain, right, to obtain. I mean, if you want to become rich, if you want to get wealthy, if you want your business to succeed, if you want to have an abundance of resources, it requires a considerable amount of hard work and effort and diligence in order to obtain those riches and abundance, right? And God gives you that opportunity to do so, you know, he gives you the wisdom, he gives you the skill, he gives you all those things, but the person has to put the effort into doing it, right? It takes work to do those things. No one hands you riches, no one hands you wealth, and no one hands you honor, you have to earn it, right? And so he says he gives them riches and wealth, and then he also gives them honor. Now honor is not necessarily referring to money or resources of that nature, although there's times, you know, the Bible says to honor thy father and mother, and that could be synonymous with providing for them, taking care of them financially, but honor in this context is just referring to respect, okay? When someone honors another individual it's referring to the fact that they hold them in high esteem. This could potentially be a person of authority, position, you think of someone who is a king, someone who is a pastor, a father, some type of ruler of a group of people, sometimes people, these people are worthy of honor, in fact the Bible says let them, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially today the labor and the word and the doctrine, the Bible tells us that in a multitude of people there is honor for the king, and so, you know, this could be referring to position of authority where they have honor, they're respectable people, they've earned that honor, they've earned that respect because of their leadership, exploits, whatever it may be, and all three of these can't be just given to you. You can't just ask people, hey can you just honor me please, can I get some honor from you, right? You have to earn it. You have to earn someone's respect, okay? You know, and there's people who are like, well, you know, why don't people respect me? Because you haven't earned it. You have to build up a reputation, you have to build up character and diligence, and this is done via your godliness, walk with God, hard work and diligence, and over time people will begin to exalt you and the Lord will begin to magnify you in the eyes of people and begin to honor you. This is a valuable thing here, right? I mean, honestly, if you were to think about it, in my opinion, honor is actually more important to me than riches and wealth, because I'd rather be broke and still have my wife respect me, right? But what if I'm rich? I'm rich, I have wealth, I have abundance, I have all these things, but my wife and my children don't respect me, it's worth nothing. Now, you know, if I wasn't a pastor, give me all three, you understand? Give me riches and wealth and honor, okay? But here's the thing, is that honor, what I'm saying is that honor is a very valuable thing to have, and it's not something that can be just handed out. People have to earn honor, okay? The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 10 verse 4, he becometh poor that dealeth with the slack hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. Chapter 12 verse 24 says the hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute. So what is the Bible telling us? You know, a person who is diligent, a person of character, will end up becoming a ruler of some sort, a leader, right? They'll end up ruling a group of people, governing a group of people, why? Because they're diligent, but someone who is lazy, someone who is slothful, someone who doesn't want to do anything, they're the ones who are going to be under the tribute of the ruler. And what the Bible's teaching us here is that there are classes of people in a society. There are those who are rulers, there are those who are servants, there are those who are bosses, there are those who are employees, there are those who are in charge, and those who are not in charge, right? This is the system that God has set forth within his word. Now what's the worst thing that can happen in that type of a system? Well Proverbs 30 verse 21 says this, for three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear, for a servant when he reigneth, and a fool when he is filled with meat. So you see, you know one of the worst things that can happen in a society that God has set forth where a ruler is supposed to rule, and a servant is supposed to serve the boss? When you switch those around, when you make someone who's not worthy of leadership become a leader, like a servant. Now in chapter 6 in verse 2 it says that God gives people riches, wealth, honor, so that he wanted nothing for his soul of all that he desired, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it. Now this isn't saying that God removes their ability to enjoy these things, he's just saying that the stranger takes it. And what does it mean when he eats it, and it refers to the fact that he steals it. He steals the riches, he steals the wealth, he steals the title, he steals the honor, the respect that this person deserves, and he says this is vanity, and it is an evil disease. Now what this reminds me of, and in fact I remember reading this years ago, and I thought to myself, this sounds like a lot like communism. Because communism is an evil disease, and this is exactly what communism does. You have someone who has riches, wealth, and honor, and then you have a stranger who's not worthy of those things, want to take those things from the bourgeois, or whatever you want to call them, you know the rulers of this world, to take it from them, even though they don't deserve it. That's what communism is, right? Communism is the ideology that advocates for a classless society, where they take from the rich, and they give to the poor, they put the servant in charge, they abase the person who is the ruler, who is qualified to be a ruler, and they put the, what do they call it, the proletariat's in charge, the servant's in charge, even though he doesn't deserve it. The reason they put these humble people in charge is so that they can take the wealth and the riches from others, disperse it amongst every single individual in society, and therefore everyone will have community, or they'll have a communal booty or whatever, where they can just dip into the resource fund. And this is what they try to play communism as, they try to say, well this is great, this is great for a society, but the Bible says it's an evil disease. Because a disease is something that will degenerate your body, something that will destroy your body, and that's a great way to describe communism. Because it has destroyed and degenerated every society that it has influenced in this world. You look at Russia, for example, the Soviet Union and all that took place there, you look at China, you look at North Korea, you look at Laos, you look at Venezuela, right? You look at Cuba. I don't know, what's another country out there that still practices communism? No, not Guatemala. It's not yet. Yeah, you look at Canada, no I'm just kidding, I don't know if they, they're close to that. I'm talking about someone at the level of like a China, you understand? I said North Korea, Vietnam, that's the one I was thinking of. You know, these people are not doing well. And you look at that society and when you analyze it, you say to yourself, it looks like they have an evil disease there, because the people are dying, there's no wealth, there's no happiness. Oh wait, I'm sorry, yeah, there is wealth, but it's amongst the elites. It's amongst those who are actually advocating for communism, the leaders, you know, these proletariat's, right, who have placed themselves in a position of authority to take the wealth from the rich and give it to themselves. And the Bible says this is an evil disease, it should not be, okay. Now go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 10, I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 27 verse 18, who so keepeth the fig tree, shall eat the fruit thereof, so he that waiteth on his master shall be honored. You know the Bible teaches that it's biblical to have a boss in every aspect of society, in the workplace, in the home, in government, and in the church house. You know, a person who is in charge, and God honors those who actually labor and keep the fig tree, they can eat the fruit thereof, the Bible says, and it says so he that waiteth on his master shall be honored. And in fact, we're not saying that no servant is worthy of honor, because every leader was at one point a servant, but here's the thing, when they were a servant, they were laboring, they were honoring their master, they were honoring their boss, they were working hard, they were promoted, and eventually got the position of authority, but they didn't take it by force. They didn't take that authority by force. They didn't take the wealth by force. What did they do? They earned it, which is something that communism doesn't understand. Look what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 verse number 5, there is an evil which I have seen under the sun as an arrow which proceedeth from the ruler. Folly is set in great dignity. What does that mean? Stupid people just bearing rule. Sounds familiar, what is it? Oh yeah, Joe Biden. Isn't that exactly what we see today? Joe Biden is the embodiment of folly. Like if you were to take the word folly and make it into a person, if you throw the word folly into a machine, press all these buttons, Joe Biden would come out, right? The guy is a fool, but he is set in great dignity. Yeah, you have a lot of people still, I don't even know how, I mean they just think he's like the greatest thing ever because he's not Trump or whatever, but this is the evil that we see today that folly is set in great dignity, right? I mean good night, every speech that you hear from Joe Biden, it's like decoding hieroglyphics, right? You're just like, what, wait, what, what did he say, where is he going, what is he saying? He's slurring words or something, I can't understand what he's saying and I think sometimes he speaks and he just trails off and he just like forgets everything that he was just saying. He's just kind of like, where am I again? Vaccine dot gum, I mean you've seen that video, he talks about vaccine dot gov and he says vaccine dot gum and he corrects himself, it's dot gov and then he says vaccine dot gum again. It's like, what in the world? It's a mockery, right? But you know what it is, it's God showing us what we deserve as a nation because the land is set on folly, the land has become foolish, the land has become stupid, the land has accepted evil, the evil disease and the land has accepted the vaccine of communism. They're injecting themselves with the vaccine of communism, therefore they get that type of a ruler. Folly is set in great dignity and the rich sit in a low place, the Bible says. I've seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth and what is Solomon saying? This is evil, this is not right, this is backwards. Can't put a servant as a ruler if he hasn't earned that position yet. And look, don't we see that today even with churches where you have these so-called Baptist pastors who are not even married, they're not even qualified, they don't have children and yet they're ordained to be a pastor. Even though they're not qualified to be a pastor, they put themselves in a position of authority even though they haven't deserved it. They haven't deserved that honor or that title but they take it by force because they feel like they deserve it. They haven't earned it, they haven't paid their dues, they can't get a wife to follow them, and if they do have a wife they don't have children so how can they rule the house of God well if they haven't ruled their own house? And how can they rule their own house if they don't even have a house? But this is a sore evil. That is democracy right there within a church when some guy can just get up and say well I'm just going to be in charge. I'm going to be in charge, everyone has to follow me, we're going to have all things common but even though I don't deserve this honor, I don't deserve this position, I'm going to take it by force. Communism is wicked and the Bible tells us in 2 Thessalonians 3, 10, for even when we were with you this week commanded you that if any would not work neither should he eat. Now the funny thing is communism actually enforces people to work, they make people work because they're working for them. They're just like yeah you have to work but you've got to make sure you work for me and if you stop working then we're bringing the guns to your house right? But actually that's not what the Bible teaches you know if someone decides not to work the government's not supposed to burst in through the doors with M16s or whatever threatening their lives if they don't obey communism, Marxism, no in fact it just says they shouldn't eat. So the remedy to a lazy person is just that you don't feed them and that hunger should be a motivation for them to get a job. Tell that to these gypsies out there with their husbands and their little children right? Embarrassing themselves just with no shame with a sign even though they have a fade, they got a mid fade, they got nice clothes on and yet they have their family there saying that they want you to give them money okay? Grown men who are able bodied, it's wicked, but this is communism okay? Proverbs 13 and 11 says wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished but he that gathereth by labor shall increase and this is the thing with communism is that you know people think well it's peaceful you know it's just this will be such a utopian society perfect society if we had communism. If you don't give it to them when they ask for it then they'll take it by force and let me just say this they'll take it by violent force. I mean what have we had in 2020? All these riots, all this violence, all this stealing and theft and who is it by? A bunch of Marxists. No they're done by college kids, yeah Marxists. All these college kids are all communists and Marxists that's what they've learned. But you know the Bible teaches us that that is the mentality of a Marxist and even a communist it says in Proverbs 1 verse 15 my son walk not thou on the way with them refrain thy foot from their path for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird and they lay wait for their own blood they lurk privily for their own lives so are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. And so verse 1 and 2 we see the evil disease of communism and it should be rejected. You know churches need to preach on this and in fact I remember hearing that in the 70s 80s and 90s independent fundamental Baptists would preach against communism all the time. I remember my wife's uncle talking about being in Bible college and that was during the time when like communism was you know the hippie movement and all that was taking place and he was out soul winning and he saw these guys and he was like are these guys street preaching or what and he kind of went over there to kind of listen to what they were saying and they were preaching the gospel of communism and it ticked them off so much he took off his jacket threw it at his friend he was like hold this for me I'm going to go preach at these guys and he just ripped their face off in regards to communism embarrassed them and they just like walked away. He's like we don't accept communism here it's not what the Bible teaches it's anti-bible he just ripped their faces off but today we don't have churches that preach against communism they don't preach against anything. They'll like indiscreetly preach against Joe Biden without saying the name or something but communism is wicked now here's the thing is that you say is this an issue we have today well obviously it's an issue we have today but if we were to look at one of the groups that is notorious for this is BLM black lives matter and in fact you know modern day example of someone who has succeeded in doing this is the co-founder of BLM Patrice I think her last name is Coulores I can't even pronounce her name right Coulores I believe that's her last name and you know this is she's the lady who claims to be a trained Marxist she's a communist she's leading about this social you know group known as BLM and they're fighting for social injustice and all these things and yet you know it's come out that she owns like four mansions all in Los Angeles and most the most recent one is about 1.4 million dollars 1.4 million dollar mansion in Los Angeles in a neighborhood that's 88% predominantly white okay you know and it's come out that she's purchasing all these mansions and and you know and now members within BLM are like you know she needs to be under investigation is she using resources from BLM to purchase these homes and obviously it's yes you know what I mean like because look BLM makes a lot of money I mean they get a lot of donations they get a lot of people that believe in that movement movie stars that promote it you know all these things they're constantly talking about they're constantly giving to these things and BLM throughout the nation has different chapters and you know they have their little powwows or whatever and they collect money they send them to the head which is this person right here and this person Patrice is purchasing mansions I mean she not only has them here in Los Angeles but in Georgia and I think I've even heard don't don't don't quote me on this but even like the key highlights she has like a mansion there as well last one was in Los Angeles 1.4 million dollar house so people begin to say hey what's going on with this why do you have these mansions you know and then she came out and said I can't believe you would think that I would do this she's like I haven't received a paycheck from BLM since 2019 I've only collected a hundred and twenty thousand dollars from 2013 to 2019 but 2019 was the last time it's like okay so where are you getting where are you getting these millions of dollars to pay for these things right but here's the funny thing okay well let me just read some of this right here communist BLM founder Patrice Cullors defends three million dollar property portfolio including private jet hangar and garden and claims she's not she's not been paid since 2019 and questions about it are a tactic of terror to silence her okay let's see here the organization confirmed that she has not been paid since 2019 and color is a best-selling author recently signed a deal with Warner Brothers she's believed to own four homes in Los Angeles and Georgia the most recent purchases a 1.4 million dollar home and Topanga Canyon Los Angeles the district in which BLM founder will now live is 88% white and 1.8% black critics accuse her of abandoning her social justice activist roots no she's she's acting like a Marxist that's what Marxists do why are you mad that's what they do she's not she's not promoting the ten planks of communism yes she is that's exactly what they do now here's the thing let's say for let's say for for a minute let's go to Candyland for a minute and say well maybe she didn't take all that money let's just say that okay she didn't take the money from BLM to purchase these mansions you know and and purchase all these luxurious homes in white neighborhoods or whatever well who cares what neighborhood you live in men but they care you know this is something that they fight against you know they hate white people be less white hey you white folks in our church be less white that's what they'll tell you right be pale or something be see-through but let's say for example that she didn't take the money okay well doesn't Marxism teach that everyone should have everything in common like the same amount right so let's just say okay fine we'll give you that you didn't steal the money from BLM to purchase these mansions why do you have mansions to begin with well I think I deserve this okay so are you gonna distribute mansions to every person in your organization because that's the gospel that you preach right I mean don't you believe in the abolition of property so should we abolish your property too abolition of property and inheritance confiscation of property of all immigrants and rebels this these are the ten planks of communist Marxism okay you know if they really believe she really believes this then first of all that that's the least of your issues the one number one issue is your hypocrisy this hypocrisy that says that you can have all these luxurious homes that are worth millions of dollars and yet you're preaching that people should not have that okay but this is what a Marxist is this is what they do they don't want to take money from the rich and give to the poor they want to take money from the rich and give them to themselves and keep the poor poor well you know do you think poor people should be poor I think poor people if they're poor should just work and provide for their families well what if they can't do that then they need to like leave a communist country or something and come to a capitalist country where they can do something like that right obviously it's not as simple but in America it is right if you're in America if you feel like you don't make a whole lot of money what you do is just make a make better wages you can get skills you're not limited in America for how much money you can make right but instead what this group does it says no I'm just going to take from that person's wealth and it's funny because this lady over here is talking about oh this is just an attack this is a racist attack by conservatives you know accusing me of having these homes and mansions and stealing from BLM organization it's just a tactic to it's just a racist tactic from the from the right you know to to try to defame my reputation or whatever it may be but that's so stupid folks I'm sure there's plenty of black people out there that have owned mansions in fact I personally know someone who's black and he's a millionaire he's owned I mean a lot of property and guess what he did it righteously you know he's a real estate agent he worked hard for years he was very frugal okay he didn't spend a whole lot of money he was just very frugal with his finances and you know he got like millions of dollars in property and everything okay not a Christian but I'm saying he's a black guy who I know he's in my family okay and he is a millionaire you know what I'm not over here saying to him hey how come you don't you know give me some of that it's not right for you this is racist for you to have that and not to give to me I should have that okay stupid okay but she should have her property abolished for sure because she gained it unjustly now folks this is not saying and look I don't support BLM obviously I don't believe any Christian should support Black Lives Matter I think it's a wicked organization and all it is is what this lady's doing and what Marxists are doing all across the world but specifically the United States they're using black people to advocate for communism and socialism and Marxism that's what that's all it is they don't care about black people they could care less about black people they're using them as an instrument to make themselves richer okay that's what it is and it's an evil disease okay but it goes to show you the democracy does not work you know Marxism socialism communism does not work in any aspect of society it never works it doesn't work in government okay you know the Bible tells us that people who are placed in positions of governmental authority should be people who hate covetousness people who fear the Lord people who read the Word of God righteous people why because when you give power to an individual who doesn't deserve it they abuse it you know they abuse it they begin to steal and do all types of wickedness and you know the Bible is not against government it's just for small government that is deputized to punish evildoers in order to protect the innocent not to tell you what to eat or how much money you can make when you can go to work or to take care of you for the rest of your life that's not what the government's for okay but government you know democracy doesn't work in the government democracy doesn't work in church but you have churches that operate this way it's called a what a deacon board isn't that what it is a deacon boards that will we're all equals here even though you're the pastor you preach God's Word but you know we all decide as a church we take a vote in church what in the world and I was a part of a church that did that and you know it's not in my opinion it's not right you know the pastor should have the say so and that's not to say that the pastor cannot ask for wisdom and opinion of other people in the church if you wanted to but at the end of the day he has the last call it's not like hey guys do you think I could get a raise or something can you guys vote on that please it's like what in the world hey guys do you think it's okay for us to purchase more invites to to purchase more tracts or more materials it's like why would you ask for permission for that but this is what they do and this is why pastors who are part of churches like that don't preach the Word of God unfiltered because they're afraid the deacon board might fire them remove them from the position of authority democracy does not work in the church house you need one ruler you say yeah but isn't that power abused yeah sometimes it is by people who are wicked who people who are not qualified people who shouldn't have the pastor and to begin with where they begin to steal the money or they begin to abuse the people in the church they begin to do wickedly okay they're an evil disease in that church because of the fact that you know they have a wicked heart or whatever but still that doesn't make it right to have a democracy in church and have a deacon board that's that's communism in the church that's socialism in the church is when you have a group of people voting for what color the carpet should be it I heard those sound effects that you guys just threw out right there those are some great sound effects and I agree with you but it happens in churches all the time it sounds like a joke but it's true people will literally fight over what flower decoration goes in front of the the communion table whatever what color the carpet or the wall should be so how do you decide that I say Ulysses what do you think we should do with this Albert comes and says I recommend this I'm like I guess we'll do that go buy it a Home Depot slap the paint on there if we like it we like it we don't we don't we just move on but we don't on a Sunday night come and say all right we like to vote do you like pearl gray or would you prefer an eggshell can I get a show of hands or something but there's deacon meetings listen to me there's deacon meetings where literally the pastor has to come before the people and ask them permission to buy a coffee pot and then and then the you know these these wicked infiltrating ladies in the church well pastor actually I see that uh you purchased some sprinklers for the church you know last week or so why did you do it because I want the grass to die and they literally have to go through this whole rigmarole of asking permission from the congregation to do that so that's communism that's socialism it's communism it's Marxism the Christian version of it and it's wrong folks in the church democracy doesn't work you know what you have and look you don't a dictatorship doesn't work either it's proletariat dictatorship as they like to call it that's what they call it you know where a servant who's not worthy of that position who has no business being a pastor no business being a leader takes the position of leadership and just destroys the church it's not what God wants God wants able people behind the pulpit not perfect men I'm not perfect well able people people who are qualified to rule and that's how a church can succeed democracy doesn't work in the government doesn't work in the church and let me say this democracy doesn't work in a family either but that's what's being promoted today right oh we got to split everything 50 50 you know split everything 50 50 and you take care you have your bank account I got my bank account you know and and folks that's not the way God put it you know God has said that the husband is the head of the wife and if you have a problem with that then you're going to have a problem with the next statement even as Christ is the head of the church so if you have a problem with this phrase that the husband is the head of the wife you spoke too soon because it says that Christ as Christ is the head of the church so that would mean that you would have a problem with that statement as well well I don't believe Christ should be the head of the church I think I think it should be 50 50 it doesn't work that way right you know just as ridiculous as that notion is as that thought is just as ridiculous for you to say that the man is not the head of the home right now the people do men abuse that position of authority yeah there's people who do that they abuse that you know they abuse their their family their wives their finances or whatever it may be and that's wrong but that doesn't mean that you should swing on the opposite side of the pendulum and say well we're just going to do everything 50 50 what it means is this is that that guy needs to just get right with God okay and adhere to biblical principles because obviously you know when we say that the man is the head of the home he's the ruler he's uh not just a dictator he's a benevolent dictator someone who actually loves his wife as Christ loved the church he wants to raise his children and the nurture and the admonition of the Lord you know he loves his family and is willing to sacrifice himself and in fact it literally says that just as Christ gave himself for the church so the man should do should do so also if it ever comes to it right that's a lot of love take a bullet from our wife if I ever have to amen but that's not what communism says communism is like no wife you take a bullet for me communism says hey you uh work and I stay home and you do all these things and if you have to die then you die and I'll just move on to someone that's communism right there that's the coldness of communism okay it's wicked or as the bible says it's an evil disease you understand and so uh this lady's wicked and you know it's it's hilarious though it's hilarious that this is happening and you know people are so bothered by this and they're just like they need to be investigated she needs to be invested it's like this is what happens folks when and I think she's a sodomite too if I'm not mistaken strike three she's out go back to Ecclesiastes if you would so we see the evil disease known as communism we can't have communism or democracy in the government in church or in family there needs to be one ruler in each of these institutions and in order for the institutions to flourish in a righteous manner you have to have one rule and obviously that one ruler has to be righteous well how do you make sure well you make sure that he's qualified that he hates covetousness that he's a righteous person but obviously it's it's a joke to try to find that in government today you can find that in for a church you can find that in a family but it's a joke to ever try to find it in government it's never going to happen this side of eternity obviously there's going to be one day when Jesus Christ the government shall be upon his shoulders and at that point it's going to be awesome all right let's move on here so we see the evils of communism and then we see the reality of the cutoff point look at verse number three he says if a man beget a hundred children and live many years so that the days of his years be many and his soul be not filled with good and also that he have no burial i say that an untimely birth is better than he now this is a pretty extreme statement he's saying that like a still birth would have been better than living a full life with many children in many years with no fulfillment in life it's like it's better to just have a still birth than to just have a bunch of children live for a hundred years but you're unfulfilled okay now a couple things that this passage is reminding us of is that it is appointed for man once to die and after this the judgment okay it's reminding us that our life is but a vapor that appeared for a little time and then it vanishes away okay and the main point that it's trying to get across is this is that what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul you know what profit is there for you to have a hundred children live a hundred years but you're not even saved right you die and go to hell what profit is it for you to gain the whole world you're successful in your business you're successful your marriage you're raised good law-abiding children you raise a godly family or a not a godly family but a good family in the eyes of the world but you're not even saved you lose your own soul it's not worth anything right an untimely birth is better than that okay because at least an untimely birth means that the baby the child goes to heaven whereas this individual who lives out his years for a hundred years has hundreds of children of course this is an extreme example but it's unfulfilled does nothing of eternal significance with his life it's worth nothing okay he says in verse four for he cometh in with vanity and departed in darkness and his name shall be covered with darkness go to deuteronomy chapter number nine if you would hold your place there in ecclesiastes now this is something that kind of like rubs you the wrong way sometimes he says he cometh in with vanity departed in darkness and his name shall be covered with darkness what does that mean when it says his name shall be covered with darkness in other words you're not going to be remembered i don't know about you but i want to be remembered it's not promised but i would like to think that i would do a lot of work here one day to the point where you know one day when i die that i will be remembered that i would do enough work this side of eternity the generations to come after me would remember me that my children my great grandchildren would remember who i am that my name would not be in darkness okay look what it says in deuteronomy 9 13 furthermore the lord spake unto me saying i have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people let me alone that i may destroy them and look what it says and blot out their name from under heaven and i will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they this is scary he's like i will blot your name out from under heaven no one's gonna know who you are that's scary to think that where you don't leave a legacy behind now obviously if jesus christ doesn't come back for another 200 300 years yeah we're gonna be forgotten no matter what right i mean that's just bound to happen but you know if it's sooner than that and we can be remembered within the next 50 years that'd be great if the generations after us can remember us and and see our legacy and be inspired by us that would be great okay but what we don't want is for god to say i just want to blot out your name from under heaven you you did nothing for the cause of christ you wasted your life it was a complete life of vanity and so i don't want you to be remembered under heaven or under heaven under the sun understand and i think this is important because the bible tells us if it wasn't important the bible wouldn't have said in proverbs 10 7 that the memory of the just is blessed right the memory of the just is blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot what does that tell us it tells us that it's a blessing to think upon hey i it's a blessing when i think upon jack hiles there's plenty of people that have forgotten him but i haven't forgotten him like i still think about it from time to time when we're doing when we're battling when we're going to war i think upon him and think man you know that guy was a great man of god who fought wars you know when i think of j frank norris his name has not been his legacy hasn't been forgotten i think upon him you know and he's still an inspiration to me today now obviously we want to look to living people to be inspired as well but it's not bad to remember the just of times past to remember their works and their exploits and all that they've done in order to be inspired today so what i'm saying is this is that you know we should seek to live this life for eternity to do something significant and you know what this is going to require sacrifice on your part okay and no this isn't a building program okay you need a sacrifice throw in your wedding rings or something i'm talking about like sacrifice yeah well sacrifice yeah sacrifice your finances yeah you know sacrifice your time your talents your body your life even and let me say this folks you know hey you know the war at the beginning of the year is over or the battle at the beginning of the year is over but the war is not over yet and there's going to be another time of persecution that's going to come so you need to get ready for that time of persecution and you need to jump on board and say well you know if that time of persecution comes i just i just i'm just going to take a break then you know what your name is going to be blotted out from under heaven no one's going to remember you so better to just walk with god be filled with the spirit and get ready for the next interval persecution that's going to come don't fall away by the wayside read the bible don't think well that was just persecution for the beginning of the year you know nothing's ever going to happen here after folks this building might get blown up again we're not promising it's not going to get blown up i'm not i preach against vows i preach against oaths i'm not promising anything this thing might get blown up again okay no joke and now there's more of a building to blow up you say what do i do you live for eternity you get ready for persecution you'd be willing to fight you'd be willing to stand so that your memory shall be blessed so that people think upon you say man i remember that church i remember that brother i remember that person i remember that that mom i remember that that single young man who fought in the fight who's going to be forgotten those who didn't want to fight who like who is that what did he do nothing did nothing you know i i want to go down with like the moses and elijahs not to say that i ever will but you know i like to aspire to go down with them in history of eternity you know but but it's it's going to happen and you know what we're adding more we've added a lot of families to the church i don't know if you notice this i'm all happy i'm like man we got a new building you know more space it's gonna take time to grow into the building sunny morning is like everything's packed people are sitting i'm like what we had this problem again we literally bought more chairs just in case and literally everything just packed out now and now i'm back to square one i'm like what are we gonna do you know but you know what these families in the next couple of weeks and months i need to teach them that persecution is coming i need to teach them hey don't run with your tail tucked between your legs when they come and bomb our church again hey when fox 11 news is outside and they're and they're doxing you and saying they're going to come and kill you saying hey you know hey if they start stealing your vehicle and start camping outside your house and saying that we're going to we're going to come take your life that's not the time to run time to stand well what if i get my life taken then you'll be remembered you will be remembered you'll be remembered but your name shall rot if you run your name shall rot under heaven if you run but if you stand your ground and just take the licks you take the persecution your memory shall be blessed because look folks we think of i mean there's a book called the fox's book of martyrs right fox's book of martyrs what is it it's it's a it's a memory of all the saints who stood for righteousness and died and paid with their lives and they're remembered they inspire generations i mean that's a that's a classic book right and so what i'm saying is this is that you know in order to be remembered you have to do something that's memorable i know that's really deep and profound but it's true in order to be remembered you have to do something that's very memorable and one of the most memorable things you can ever do is just stand for righteousness and when they come after you you just take it like a man okay even if you're a woman because i'm saying you know right now we're enjoying a time of peace but it's gonna come again folks and look you know we need to help the new people too right we need to help them and teach them and tell them like hey you're seeing all this right now but you know it wasn't like this in the beginning of the year and here's the thing is that chapter two is coming soon we don't know how soon it's gonna happen again and you need to get ready to stand because look we should leave no man behind man i'm so thankful for our church that no one ran during that time everyone stood their ground everyone was there front and center everyone was being you know railed on and and cussed at and threatened and all these things and no one no one disbanded no one broke rank you guys remember that no one broke rank well you know we want to keep it that way and teach the new people to not break rank they stick it out you stay in church you stay in your bible you know oh yeah i think i got something to do that sunday when the protest comes you know yeah i got you know uh i have his grandma who just died and uh you know that's not the time to do that now obviously that happens and you know but i'm saying i'm exaggerating here but what i'm talking about is you know stand your ground because it's going to come again it's going to come again okay and you need to be ready for when it comes again and then when that passes it's going to come again after that it's going to keep coming until christ returns you say man i don't know if i can take that much just just hang on because you will be remembered if you do so okay go back to ecclesiastes verse uh verse five moreover he hath not seen the sun or anything that nor anything this hath more rest than the other yea though he live a thousand years twice told yet hath he seen no good do not all go to one place and he's just simply reiterating the fact that you know the eye is never satisfied everyone goes to one place but there's there's always more to do the world is set in their heart look at verse number seven we're going to look at the inevitable dissatisfaction that people experience it says in verse seven all the labor of man is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not filled for what hath the wise more than the fool what hath the poor that knoweth to walk before the living so first he mentions he talks about this emptiness of man he says all the labor of a man is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not filled so you know a man works and he labors and he feeds himself and he and he does all these things but you know there's always an emptiness inside of him and that emptiness is a spiritual emptiness is it not you know for the for the unsaved it's salvation that they need okay and you know i'm sure there's a there's a couple maybe even a couple people in here who prior to salvation maybe everything was going well for you you didn't really experience hardship there wasn't some turning point where you decided to seek after the lord or whatever it may be you know maybe it was just there's just an emptiness in your soul right you're like there has to be something more than this right you know and your appetite was not filled even though you filled it with this world you filled it with the luxuries of this world the money of this world the people of this world whatever may be the entertainment of this world your appetite was not filled and you know that's an appetite that only god can fill and in fact the bible tells us blessed are they which do hunger at theirs after righteousness for they shall be filled and even after salvation if you're not filling yourself with the word of god and righteousness you're gonna feel empty inside right if you're filling yourself up with the entertainment of this world the money of this world the luxuries of this world the friendships of this world first of all you're gonna have your bigger problems than that right if you're a believer because anybody who makes himself a friend of the world is an enemy of god the bible says but if you do those things you're just like i'm just gonna try to get as many friends as possible in this world and as many as much money as i can in this world and just satisfying myself with those things it's not gonna happen because god wants us to be satisfied in him now the liberals have taken that concept and just gone off the deep end right and they made it so emotional and just like oh you know you just you just need god and and how do you do that well little guys sing this praise and worship songs or whatever we know that this feeling happens when we read god's word right take time to open up the bible to read the word of god to sit at the feet of jesus and hear his word and read it carefully and read it with your soul you understand not just read it intellectually read it with your soul what i mean by that recognize that this is god's work allow it to bring you to tears allow it to move you allow it to cause you to have you know uh an adoration for god's word princess that persecuted me without a cause yet my heart standeth in all of thy word you know and it's good to read the word of god and just delve into it and sometimes when you read the word of god you have to read it for information you know you read the book of leviticus you're not gonna cry i mean i don't think so if you do you may wow you shed a tear for leviticus 2013 like yes this is beautiful like you just have that moment and you're barbering he's like this is so beautiful just read it again leviticus 2013 if a man also lied with mankind is alive with the woman they have committed an abomination they should surely be put to death their blood should be upon them and you're just like and then tears and then your wife comes in like you're okay he's like i'm just spending time with god right now i'm not saying that can't happen you know i don't have that experience i'm not saying that experience doesn't exist when i read that i'm just like you know but there's other portions you know when i read the psalms ecclesiastes or just when i read the gospels you know it just comes alive and it speaks to your heart right but it fills you it fills you up so what i'm saying is this is that don't become so preoccupied with being filled with the things of this world you're no longer filling yourself with god's word don't be hasty with your feet that you're not spending time on your knees right on your knees praying communion with god talking to the lord spending time with him in private be filled don't be the empty man who is constantly laboring but is not laboring in the word and in doctrine amen it goes on to say in verse 9 better is the sight of the eyes and the wandering of the desire this is also vanity and vexation of spirits basically saying you know accomplishment is better than the endeavor you know it's better to get something you can see with your eyes than wonder if you would ever have that thing you know the wandering of the desire basically it's better to try something you know than to wonder what could have been if you wouldn't have tried you know i rather attempt something and just completely fail than not try at all and wonder if i would have succeeded yeah that is the feeling that you get when you try and fail is far more satisfactory feels far better than the feeling of regret which is man i wonder what happened and look don't all of us have a point in our lives maybe we regret something that we didn't attempt yeah yeah you know you're just like man i wish i would have tried this i wish i wish i would have talked to that girl some of you singles out there you know i wish i would have just said something you know who knows what would have happened or i wish i would have like tried to get that job or applied for this or i wish i would have tried this and it's just like it's too late too late it's better to just try and just see what happens you know try because better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire hey when i set my eyes on my wife before she was my wife you know she was the pastor's daughter i was 21 i just came out of the world and you know what i said i'm just gonna try and i went to her dad and i said i'm interested in your daughter and he said you have good taste but no i was like man he's like we don't like mexicans i'm just kidding he didn't say that yeah no i'm just kidding but he told me he said he's like but if you're interested you can come back and ask me like six months if you're so interested in six months and i'm like that's all i need so just give me a give me another invitation i'll come right back why because of the fact that the better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire wondering man i wonder i'm not gonna try it but i wonder what would happen if i did i'd rather just go for it you know what i kept going for it you know what he kept doing kept saying no he said no to me like seven times over a span of years but he kept telling me to come back if i was still interested and i and i'm thinking to myself like if you keep telling me to come back i'm gonna come back i'm very persistent one of my strong qualities is i'm extremely persistent somewhat stubborn but persistent and i just kept coming back and and you know then he put me through the ringer and everything he thought like he was gonna get rid of me or something like he thought he was just gonna scare me away or you know just cause me and i just said you you could put whatever you want i mean you can make me do whatever you want i'm not gonna stop asking you unless you tell me stop asking and now we're married amen and i don't have any regrets on that because i tried and i succeeded and so but you know what if i didn't you know who knows maybe this church wouldn't have gotten started i don't know who knows what would have happened you understand the wandering of the desire accomplishment is better than than just endeavoring or thinking man i wonder what would happen don't wonder just do it within reason obviously too many people hey i'm not against dreaming i think dreaming is great but too many people just remain in the dream it's better to if you dream dream big but then do something about it yeah but what if i fail then fail what's the worst that can happen if you fail you learn from it amen it says in verse 10 that which hath been his name already and is known that it is man neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he seeing there be many things that increase vanity what is man the better for who knows what is good for a man in this life all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun and so what he's basically concluding there is the fact that you know from under the sun this under the sun perspective no one can really tell you what shall be after the sun and as i reiterate as i'm going to reiterate again what we said in a couple sermons ago is that we need a divine intervention in order to tell us what's going to take place after this life under the sun right and so what does this chapter teach us what teaches us that communism is just wicked as hell okay number one democracy doesn't work rulers are needed righteous rulers are needed in government in church and in the family but it also teaches us you know one of the main points that i kept driving here is the fact that you know sometimes you got to realize that you're under the sun thereby and therefore shoot for the goal try something try for that job you know try for that goal try try to manifest that dream you know try to start that business within reason don't quit your day job but start a business amen seek to be successful and you think to yourself yeah but sometimes i dream and i feel like it's beyond my limit well that's perfect because you know what happens when you shoot for the stars you always hit the moon when you shoot for the stars you at least hit the moon you know and you at least succeed in some area okay but you know we should be the type of christians that are trailblazers right trailblazers where we attempt something for god and there's no regrets i don't want to look at the end of my life and say man i wish i would have tried all these things with the church i wish we would have tried going to this country with the church i wish we would have done this every idea that i get it's just like right away let's do it cd for the church let's do it we're creating a cd we're gonna make a hymn book called war songs we're gonna do it amen you know john he's over here buying weird instruments and stuff he's just like you know what let's get a clarinet mixed with a saxophone a a klaxophone but you know what he he brought this in today and but he's trying i rather have him try and just and just believe that it can happen i mean this is weird i don't even think kenny g would mess with something like this yeah i don't want to cast it down because it might become a serpent or something but you know what i like i like the fact that he just steps out and does it you know what i think i think everyone should to a certain extent be that way because i want we should not live life with regret amen risk it fail and succeed in the process amen let's pray father we thank you so much for your word lord and thank you for the admonishments thank you for the instruction and the warning against communism and lord help us to keep communism obviously it's probably too late for our country but help us to keep it out of our homes help us to keep it out of our church and not to run church or our homes as a democracy that's an evil disease that will destroy the church that'll destroy our homes it'll destroy the family and in fact communism one of the things they desire to do is destroy the family and lord we can see that definitely we can see how that's that could be accomplished in the church and even in a family unit and i pray god that you'd help us to continue to have faith and to step out in faith and to risk it all even if we fail and help us to learn through the failures and to that it may