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you you you Well good evening everyone welcome to Mountain Baptist Church Take your song books and turn to song 389 Song 389 and your song boasts will sing bring them in if you would stand we'll sing song 389 Heart is the shepherds voice I hear out in the desert dark and drear Calling the sheep who've gone astray Far from the shepherds fold away bring them Bring them in from the fields of sin bring them bring them and bring the wandering ones to Jesus Who'll go in front help this shepherd time Help him the wandering ones to find Who'll bring the lost ones to the fold? Sheltered from the cold bring them bring them and Bring them in from the fields of sin bring them Bring them and bring the wandering ones to Jesus I'll put in the desert here their cry on the mountains wild and high Heart is the master speaks to thee Go find my sheep where they be bring them and Bring them and bring them and from the fields of sin bring them and bring them and bring the wandering ones to Jesus And let's break Father Lord again, we just want to thank you guys just for a great Sunday You've given us thus far God with I want to thank you Lord for the sermon this morning and also for those souls That were saved this afternoon and throughout last week Lord and again I pray Lord that you would just be honored and glorified of everything said and done. We love you for it's in Jesus name We ask all of it. Amen All right. All right, you may be seated and take your mountain Baptist song books Your mountain Baptist Psalms hymns and spiritual song books and turn to page number 18 Page number 18 will sing Psalm chapter number Psalm 3 on page number 18 Lord how are they increase that trouble increase that trouble me Many are they that rise up against they that rise up against me Many there be which say of my soul there be which say of my soul There is no help for him there is no How for him and God say law? But the whole Lord are to shield for me. Oh Lord are to shield for me My Glory and the lifter up the lifter above my head I Tried unto the Lord with my voice unto the Lord with my voice And he heard me and he heard me out of his holy Hell say law I Laid me down and slept I away for the Lord sustain in me I Laid me down and sat die away for the Lord Sustained me I Will not I will not be afraid of Ten thousand of people That have set themselves against me against me round Arise O Lord save me. Oh my god for thou hast met and all mine enemies Upon the cheekbone thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly Salvation belongeth salvation Belongeth unto the Lord Thy blessing is upon thy people Upon thy people say love Amen well welcome back to Mount Baptist Church on this Sunday afternoon And just going through the announcements everything is pretty much the same as this morning And so we have our Sunday morning, or I mean our obviously we're Sunday afternoon service right now, but we'll have a Sunday Wednesday evening service Lord willing we'll be continuing through Second Samuel on that study through that And then I do want to get the soul winning numbers here For the week What we had during the week No brother Jim you guys had two right Was there any else during the week till we come up to today During the week yep, yep, so that's two during the week and then today One Two and then there was another one wasn't it great so yeah, I thought it was three okay, so so five total Keep up the good work with the soul winning Yeah, I think we're gonna crush the last year's record when it comes to the soul winning numbers so it's and we're Yeah, we have plenty of time to do that too, so just give us a good work with that Obviously a lot of soul winning marathons and everything so that's a testament to just the hard work there of everybody doing extra on top of that so praise the Lord for that And Then as far as the regional selling times to be on the church group there as far as that times locations everything The prayer meetings are on the list here so many marathons Moorfield on the 24th and Cannonsburg on the 21st of September and then our memory or chapter memory for the month is first John 1 memory verse for the week is first Thessalonians 5 22 and We got the birthdays anniversaries pregnancies Being prayer for the McCloy family there congratulations to them, but also just prayer for Getting into the swing of things and just pray that everything goes well with the recovery process there with crystal and all that And then the hyles family me a prayer for them obviously sickness is going around all that stuff, but being prayer for Rachel specifically with her pregnancy Everything goes well there I think that's about all I have for announcements that I can think of Like I said just being prior for the church building stuff I think it's gonna work out With that so just being prayer that everything goes in a timely manner and all of that so Anyway Battle I have for announcements We're gonna be taking our our series if you will overviews of the books of the Bible so we're gonna be in Ecclesiastes tonight, and so Who's reading tonight Yes, so but Shane we reading Ecclesiastes chapter 1 after we did another song I Take your song books and turn to song 227 Song 227 in your song will sing saved by the blood song 227 Say by the blood of crucified one now Ransom from sin and a new work be gone sing praise to the father and praise to the son Say by the blood of the crucified one Saved My sins are all part and my guilt is all gone say Saved I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one saved by the blood of the crucified one the Angels rejoicing because it is done My child Join air with the Sun say by the blood of the crucified one My sins are all part and my gift is all gone say Saved I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one say by the blood of the crucified one the Father he spake and his will it was done great price of my part and his own precious son Saved by the blood of the crucified one Saved my sins are all part and my gift Saved I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one Saved by the blood of the crucified one all hail to the father all hail to the son To the spirit the great three and one Saved by the blood of the crucified one Saved My sins are all part and my gift is all gone say Saved I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one All right to your Bible's in turn to the book of Ecclesiastes number one The Ecclesiastes number one in your Bible's and we'll have brother Shane come and read that for us Ecclesiastes chapter 1 Ecclesiastes chapter 1 and the Bible reads the words of the preacher the son of David King in Jerusalem Vanity of vanity saith the preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity What prophet hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the Sun? One generation passeth away and another generation cometh But the earth abideth forever the Sun also ariseth and the Sun goes down and haste it to his place where? He arose the wind goeth toward the south and turneth about unto the north it Whirleth about continually and the wind returneth again According to his circuits all the rivers run into the sea yet. The sea is not full Unto the place from whence the rivers come thither they return again All things are full of labor man cannot utter it The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear filled with hearing the thing that hath been It is that which shall be and that which is done is that which shall be done And there is no new thing under the Sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said see this is new It hath been already of old time Which was before us there is no remembrance of former things neither shall There be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after I the preacher was king over Israel In Jerusalem and I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven This sword travail hath God given to the Sun sons of man to be exercised therewith I have seen all the works that are done under the Sun and behold all his vanity and vexation of spirit That which is crooked cannot be made straight and that which is wanting cannot be numbered I communed with mine own heart saying lo I am come to great estate and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem Yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge and I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit for in much wisdom is much grief And he then increases knowledge increases sorrow. Let's pray dear heavenly father. Lord Thank you to be gathered in your house tonight I pray we could just learn from your word and fill pass with your spirit and in Jesus name. Amen Amen so you're there in Ecclesiastes chapter 1 and this is an overview of the book of Ecclesiastes And this is still in the poetic books if you will And so Solomon is the author of this obviously the Holy Spirit is the ultimate author But obviously Solomon is the one that wrote the book of Ecclesiastes and there's 12 chapters It's very much like Proverbs, but it's coming from a different perspective if you will more of a negative perspective of Things that if you're to sum up the book of Ecclesiastes, it's really in the fact that everything that's done under the Sun is basically vanity and What that means is that it essentially is worthless in the end because it doesn't abide forever It only it only lasts for a short period of time. You can't take anything with you Basically, we're all gonna die. This book is really getting into just like the physical temporary type of world that we live in okay, so Now Ecclesiastes you say that's an interesting word. Well, it really just means The preacher or things written or things spoken by the preacher. You can see the word Ecclesiastes like ecclesiastical You know dealing with a church or an assembly and all of that But you can even in my Bible says Ecclesiastes or the preacher which that's pretty much what you're dealing with You're dealing with a preacher and the first verse here tells you that the words of the preacher I mean, that's what Ecclesiastes is really really means and so Don't get caught up on that be like what am I getting myself into you know with this book? But the words of the preacher the son of David King in Jerusalem, so we're dealing with Solomon Obviously, this is Solomon that's writing this it says vanities of vanity set the preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity What prophet hath a man of all his labor? Would you take it under the Sun one generation passes the way and another generation cometh? But the earth abideth forever and what this basically saying is like the earth keeps going but people are dying and Then new new generation is coming up Who here has ever? You know gone on YouTube and like salt and salt videos of people that live that were Walking around let's say New York City in like 19 The night early 1900s and you're just watching them like walk around you're like they're all dead They are all dead like all the children are dead everybody's dead, right And because video obviously is a fairly new thing, right? So you're not like looking back in the 1600s and looking at videos of King James or something like that But but now we're so far, you know, we're as far as when video and all that stuff started that You look back at that It's interesting to see like how people dressed what they were driving and most most of them were like horse and buggy and there was a mixture of it and All I'm thinking is like the everyone's dead They're all gone Which is kind of like if you're to look at the Ecclesiastes kind of what's getting into is that like hey this generation Eventually, we're all gonna be gone. It's gonna be a whole new generation. Not one person that's living right now Yeah, and obviously unless the Lord comes back in our day right barring that Right. We all we all have a short lifespan. Our life is but a vapor, you know It appears for a little time and it vanishes the way, you know The idea is that really in the grand scheme of things especially with eternity You know, it's a very short life. But even if you just look at the scale like how long the Earth's been here, right? You know over 6,000 years, but what we're like, you know live 70 80 90 hundred years old You know, it's a hundred years old I mean, that's like a little little portion of that time. And so this book is really getting into Different avenues on how things that are in this life that that people hold very dear and things that people will strive to get and how in the end it all just is vanity and in the end what you're gonna see in this book is the fact that There's a lot of stuff that you need to realize. Hey, that's not that important But this book also even though it's got it's gonna focus on how things in this life Don't mean that much compared to things that God does or things that are of eternal value But it does also give light to say hey enjoy Enjoy life, right? Yeah, it's temporary but just enjoy it and just know that it's temporary and so though everything's Vanity and vexation of spirit in this book, there'll be little little spots where it'll say hey enjoy the wife of your youth Hey eat drink, you know and enjoy that and all the days of your vanity and the fact that In the Christian light. Yes, we need to realize that All this stuff in the world whether it's cars whether it's houses whether it's you know Just stuff that you that that we do that's on this earth. That's not an eternal value though Yeah, that is vanity and it's not something we should put a whole bunch of focus on doesn't mean we can't it doesn't mean That we need to live this austere hard life where we just hate everything about our lives Okay, because even in the book of Ecclesiastes where it's just constantly kind of saying this is vanity This is vanity. This is big. This is horrible. This is you know Basically you you work all your life and it's just all given to someone else and it's just like man that's depressing but then Just know this is that hey just enjoy the stuff that you have while you're here in this life. Enjoy food Enjoy, you know, enjoy being married enjoy, you know, like having kids enjoy this type of stuff while you're in this life you don't have to basically hate everything about Things that are going on down here. It's just a perspective that you need to have Okay, don't have this perspective of thinking like everything is about these temporary things because It's all gonna go away soon. Okay, so The one thing that I see in chapter 1 here is chapter 1 is obviously setting you up for what the whole book's about But the one thing that I can't not state here is that in verse 9 it says The thing that hath been it is that which shall be and that which is done Is that which shall be done and there is no new thing under the Sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said See this is new it has been already of old time which was before us In some way say well, you know, there's all kinds of new inventions computers That's new. But what you understand is that what this book is about is not inventions. It's not about like Things like that. It's talking about basically what humans desire like what do we desire? What do we always after right and that stuff has never changed? Okay That type of stuff has never changed. I don't care what kind of new toy there is out there What kind of new vehicles out there or anything like that? the desires of humanity They've been the same from the very beginning the sins and and all that stuff of humanity has been there from the fall and There's nothing new under the Sun okay, so that being said is that I Feel like I'm always saying this in sermons because it's just stuff that you see in the Bible Which is like it's like reading a newspaper and what it really comes down to is that the Word of God is timeless Right. It's not like it's outdated or it you can't apply it to all everything's so new today And there's so much different stuff. It's like no there's nothing new under the Sun Holistically when you think about what everybody's after everybody's after money and power aren't they? The love of money is the root of all evil Has that changed? I don't care if the government's more sophisticated Or they have more technology they can do zoom calls now. It's like yeah that yeah, that's new Right as far as the technology is concerned But the idea of money power lust like all those different things that has not changed. Okay? So but verse 12 there we see really what this book is entailing or what the purpose of this is And So it says I the preacher Was king over Israel and Jerusalem and I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom Concerning all things that are done under the Sun So the one thing that you need to understand is that this is written from a certain perspective Okay, so if you're going into this thinking like spiritual spiritual wise You're going into it with the wrong idea. Okay, you need to go into this thinking in the physical realm Okay So when you see verses where it's talking about like how a man doesn't have any preeminence over a beast You have to understand perspective is just about dying in general Animals die humans die. That's all that's what you're getting to there. Yeah, we're talking about what's under the Sun What's here on earth and this book is really focusing on that Okay, so if you try to go super spiritual with it, you're in that you're in the wrong book. Okay? This is really just brass tacks. What happens here on earth how it sucks a lot of times What's going on here on here that's essentially what the book of Ecclesiastes is that's the modern vernacular Okay, it says vanity of vanities, but you know That's essentially what's going on. Okay, but keep reading there Where did I did I read verse 13? Yeah It says in verse 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the Sun and And behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit that which is crooked cannot be made straight and that which is Wanting cannot be numbered. I communed with mine heart my own heart saying lo I am come to great estate and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem. Yea my heart Had great experience of wisdom and knowledge and I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly So notice that he's obviously Solomon has a lot of wisdom But he's basically saying I'm gonna make myself know madness and folly. I perceive that it is also That this also is vexation of spirit for in much wisdom is much grief and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow and really what what Solomon is diving into is This temporal world. That's how Scorby says it so get over it This temporary world, okay temporal is that is that how is that how you kids say here in America? Going with the British version anyway It's really getting to that now just to kind of jump forward to the end of the book Look at Ecclesiastes 12 and see how the book ends Yes, throughout this it's basically hitting on just things of this world things that are going on in this world and You're like this is very depressing. I Mean just keep reading. You're like this is depressing depressing depressing, okay But isn't that the world we live in it actually is very depressing if you think about it and the fact that we're in A fallen world, you know bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people, right? It's just like this stuff. It's just reality If Ecclesiastes points out anything it's just the reality of the situation But then just knowing that that's vexation and it's vanity. So why worry about it? right and So but the conclusion of the book is in verse 13. It says let us hear so Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13 let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments But this is the whole duty of man For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing Whether it be good or whether it be evil and no, this is that we're all gonna appear before the judgment seat of Christ as say people and as believers and Whether we did things that were good or or bad It's not talking about our sins. It's talking about whether you did things that were temp for temporary Use as far as the things of this world Or whether you did it for eternal value, which is obviously things of God and all of that. Okay, so The whole conclusion is fear God and keep his commandments, okay, so that's You don't want to live a vain life You don't want to live like and just be in this vanity and vexation spirit live for the Lord But while you're doing that, you know what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes is basically You can still enjoy like you still enjoy that steak dinner. Amen Right, you still enjoy like when we go out so many. Hey, you can still go We can go out to eat and have fun and fellowship. We don't have to just be like Just living an austere life to live in austere life, right and Those are the extra over spiritual people that think that well We just need to give up everything and just like and live in a loin Loin cloth on the floor and just go out soul winning at 24-7 and never enjoy anything about this life Okay, those same people will be burned out in like two weeks okay, and so This book shows reality, but it also shows that hey You're not taking it that far to where you're saying like hey, I can't even enjoy eating something I can't even have a family and enjoy having a family, right? It's just the idea that you need to be Cognizant of the fact that all this stuff's gonna burn all the stuff's gonna fade away and just know that and you can live a Great life just knowing that okay, so chapter 2 You know what's vanity vexation spirit that stupid music that's going on outside what in the world Thought brother Nick was Coming rolling up in his van with that music playing when we stopped after soul winning and I realized it was the neighbors out there Hey brother, Nick, you know, you know It's like I didn't know that band could hit like that, you know Anyway that speaking of vanities Ecclesiastes chapter 2 Really starts hitting on just self indulgence, right? Solomon can speak from experience and so look at verse 10 and obviously it goes into more detail on this in chapter 2 But I mean the idea here is that Solomon had everything so he's writing this from experience Knowing that hey, he's been given all the riches in the world. He basically kept back nothing from him himself to where When you have everything you're still not satisfied Right. I mean, that's the idea and that's the vanity of it All is that it doesn't matter how much you get you still want more and your flesh is never Satisfied. Okay, and so yes, he's 210 and says and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them I withheld not my heart from any joy for my heart rejoiced in all my labor and this was my portion of all my labor Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labor that I have had labor to do Be all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the Sun It's very depressing when you think about it But he's speaking from experience that he had everything and yet He had nothing and you'll find this to be true when you look at Celebrities, you know, they'll talk they'll none of these celebrities are happy. They have all the money in the world They have everything but yet the suicide rate I they're they're constantly on drugs they're there's other things that are going on and it's just the fact that having material things and having money isn't Gonna it doesn't buy you happiness Okay, and so obviously money answer with all things and Ecclesiastes talks about this it's not that money's bad It's not that God gave Solomon a ton of money right but the idea is that you shouldn't love money You shouldn't desire money. You shouldn't desire to be rich but You know when it comes to celebrities, that's just a case in point on how having all that fame having all that that That wealth doesn't buy happiness, okay, and And I don't know why Why people care what a bunch of actors think anyway You know, we're basically we care what a bunch of drama kids drama school kids that did plays in high school cared I did a play in school in high school But then I repeated on my sins, you know, I'm just kidding That's the only time repentance of sins if you apply there and I'm just kidding Ecclesiastes chapter 2 in verse 15. Like I said it gets into this idea of just Down bare bones like how We're all on the same playing field if you will Whether you're a wise person in this world whether you're a fool in this world Okay, and this is where you can't take it super spiritual because If you take this super spiritual be like a safe person and an unsafe person no difference It's like that's not what this is saying. Okay knows what says here Ecclesiastes 2 15 then said I in my heart in my heart as it happened it to the fool So it happened at the even to me and why was I then more wise then I said in my heart That this also is vanity for there is no remembrance of the wise man More than the full forever seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten And and how diet the wise man as the fool Therefore I hated life because the work that is wrought under the Sun is grievous unto me for all his vanity and vexation of Spirit and basically what it's saying is that whether someone's wise in this world or whether someone's a fool in this world We all died We all die we lose everything and basically in the end when you think of that finality, what's the difference right? And obviously we're not talking about spiritual like having hell We're just talking about in this world being wise in this world and that could be for a safe person unsafe person Right because there's there's foolish Christians That live a foolish life or they're just not wise and and they go through life being a fool Right, and then there's obviously wise people that are saying that are unsaved I mean wise people that are unbelievers in the fact that they're wise in this world You know, they obviously make a lot of money they do, you know, they they're very successful, but they're unsaved And in the end they all die right again think about people back in like 1900 they're all dead every single one of them and It didn't matter if they're wise they were fools whatever when it comes to just the things of this life. They're all gone okay, and it's just Showing you the reality of the matter Look at verse 18 there. It says I hated all my labor, which I had taken under the Sun because I should leave it unto a man that shall be after me and if there's just a verse right there to kind of sum up with a Lot of the Ecclesiastes is talking about is that you're laboring for all this stuff and then it's gonna be given to someone else One place would be like, yeah, you don't even know if that person gonna be wise or a fool Right, so you're basically building all this stuff up for someone else and Basically what the Bible saying is that that's that's vanity right there Obviously serving the Lord is not vain and we know that be true And that's why the conclusion of the matter is if you're God and keep his commandments There's the whole duty of man because the work of the Lord we know that the work of the Lord is not vain Okay, and that we will be rewarded and that's gonna last forever and that it doesn't stop in this life. Okay, I Go to chapter 3 chapter 3 And verse 1 here, I wish every Baptist preacher would read this chapter and then I Want I want them to explain to me that that we should never hate anybody You know, it's just amazing to me that it's like have you never read Ecclesiastes chapter 3 You know the proverb of the day but maybe it should be the Ecclesiastes of the day And there's only 12 so you get it twice, okay At least probably more than that actually if you start from 1 to go to 12 So get chapter 3 three times a month and then tell me And what it comes down here verse 1 here and this is what it comes up You need to know there's a balance in life in Reality, there's a balance There's not this just like all everything's roses No There's a balance and it says in verse 1 here It says to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven And it goes through a lot of different examples. There's a time to love there's a time to hate There's a time of war and there's a time of peace. There's a time to kill and there's a time to heal Going down the line there's a time to speak and there's a time to keep silence and This is why Proverbs and Ecclesiastes is such important books because these books will teach you When those times are appropriate like when is it a time to speak when is it a time to keep silence? when is it a time to love and when is the time to hate and That's something you need to learn and not just say well, I'm just gonna be safe and just stick on the one side Well, that's not safe actually, you'll find yourself in the judgment of God if you just stick on one side and That's not balanced and when it comes to your life in general There needs to be a balance in your life when it comes to things that are Physical things that are in this life and things that are spiritual You can't just say everything's spiritual and nuts to the physical Because then you won't have any food. You won't have a house to live in You're not taking care of your family because you're just focused on spiritual There has to be a balance, but you don't want everything to be on the physical Because then that's all gonna be vain and burned up in the end So you need to have enough time over here in the physical stuff to take care of your family Be able to live be able to pay the bills so that you can do the things that are for eternal value Okay, and there has to be a balance there and that's something that's we're cut You're constantly having to find where that where you're in balance with that and listen, no one's perfect. No one's just like right there balancing on that beam perfectly at all times every one of us has either gone a little too spiritual to where we're letting things of The physical whether it's relationship whether it's yours your marriage whether it's your kids whatever the case may be whether it's your job That you go over here to the spiritual too much to where that stuff's kind of fallen by the wayside a little bit You got to pull back me like nope I need to take care of this stuff over here and we've all been The also where we're we're we're over here in the physical so much that we're letting the things of the spiritual kind of slip a little bit Just know that we've all been in that realm. Okay, and we're constantly just trying to be right here We're hey, we have enough of the physical stuff taken care of to where we're going strong the family strong We're paying the bills all that stuff going on so then we can just hit the spiritual stuff as well and go down the line and You can't just go on one side of the other You go all the way spiritual you burn out And then you won't end up doing anything for the rest of your life in a lot of cases Just burn out and then you're just full throttle, but then you're like a firecracker that goes off and you're done Or you just live this carnal life And then when you die, you don't have anything to show for what you did for the Lord you're in heaven But you don't have any rewards Everything's burned up at the judgment seat of Christ Instead you need to be here in the middle where hey, we're all gonna suffer loss. I guarantee it But obviously I believe here in the middle where you are balancing The physical things of this life the temporary things of this life to where you can be the most Effective that you can be in the spiritual realm there, so And I think everybody's different in that too, so this isn't like a one-size-fits-all It's not like I tell you my schedule and tell you what I do and be like do likewise I think everybody's got to have to figure that stuff out themselves and see where they're the most efficient Okay now Ecclesiastes 314 kind of dips into this where You'll kind of see this in here where yeah all this is vanity this stuff is all this temporary stuff Vanity and vexation spirit, but then you see verse 14. I know that what's ever God do it. It shall be forever Nothing can be put to it or anything taken from it and God do with it that men should fear before him so you'll see that kind of Peppered in throughout the book of Ecclesiastes where it's like hey, I know that those that fear of God will be well do well Right I know the thing that what God does that's forever and so you kind of see that Sprinkled in there as he's basically giving you all this depressing everything's vanity stuff And that's kind of the premise of the book is that hey in the end fear God and keeps Commandments That's what you need to do But one of his commandments is that thou that that you'll bring up your children in inertia and admonition to the Lord One of his famous is that you don't that you provide for your own Especially those of his own household, right So You know keep his commandments and all that stuff will be taken care of Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 just kind of dealing with that 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and really I think this really does sum up What we're dealing with here when it comes to things that are temporary and things that are eternal 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 17 It Says for our light affliction which is but for a moment working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory While we look at not at things which are seen but at things which are not seen but the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal and Really Ecclesiastes is that Like all these things are temporary these things are vanity But the things that you forgot that's eternal and Just knowing that going through life is going to help you in your Christian walk there so And again chapter 3 gets into Just the fact that we're all gonna die, you know, and that obviously that's kind of depressing But it's just the facts of hey Ecclesiastes 3.20 says all go into one place all are of the dust and all turn to dust again Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth So even though it's saying like hey, there's no preeminence over a beast and the fact that we all die it does Tell you though that the spirit of man goeth upward the spirit of the beast goeth downward to the earth So there is a difference between an animal and a human in the spiritual realm, right? But physically speaking we all die, right? and so chapter 4 chapter 4 Again, I'm not gonna get into every little thing in these chapters But I'm just gonna I'm gonna kind of point out what when I go into these chapters the things that just stick out to me And the thing that sticks out to me is two are better than one so chapter 4 look at verse 9 there So when you're in this this light that's just full of vanity and everything Companionship is great. Obviously this can be Getting into marriage obviously marriage is companionship, but also just friendship in general Having friends all that that is all good things to have and we're not even though this world is depressing We don't have to go through it alone. Like there's obviously Some good things that we can cling on to as we go through this wicked and perverse nation and everything else that we're living in right and Ecclesiastes 4 9 it says two are better than one because they have a good reward For their labor for if they fall the one will lift up his fellow woe to him that is alone when he falleth For he hath not another to help him up again If two lie together then they have heat But how can one be warm alone and if one prevail against him two shall withstand him and a threefold cord is not quickly broken And so just kind of giving you some hope in there and the fact that hey, you know having friendship having companionship Obviously marriage this would apply to marriage as well because obviously the woman was made to be and help meet for the man and Going on from that now in chapter 5 Always think about the fact of Just sparing your words Now Proverbs sits on a lot of this stuff, too But it just gets into different avenues obviously in the book of Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes 5 1 says keep thy foot When thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give The sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they do evil this again James the book of James is a lot like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, you know Swift to hear slow to speak that type of thing And this is kind of the same same thing be more ready to hear than to Give the sacrifice of fools because then it's gonna go on to say verse 2 be not rash with thy mouth and let Not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God for God is in heaven and now upon earth Therefore let thy words be few for a dream cometh through the multitude of business and a fool's voice is known by a multitude of Words and this is obviously talked about in Proverbs chapter 17 Even a fool is it even a fool is kind of wise when he when he shut his lips and going on, right? It also gets into bowels and stuff like that the New Testament hits on as well So One thing that I always I like this person in verse 8 here So I'm just kind of pointing out things that stick out to me in these chapters again This is an overview. So I'm not hitting on everything a book of Ecclesiastes is talking about but in verse 8 here It says if thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province Marvel not at the matter For he that is higher than the highest regardeth and there be higher than then they and this is just a comforting verse Okay, because there's constantly injustice that's done in the world where people that are in authority are Perverting judgment and all that and what this verse is is basically saying basically don't marvel at it And know this is that if it's going on back then is going on today and or if you're thinking wow This is just something new. It's like no, there's no new thing under the Sun Okay, when you're reading Ecclesiastes, is there anything in the clear that Ecclesiastes were like, well that doesn't apply today Everything applies today that you're reading a book of Ecclesiastes So but no this is that he that is highest so the highest authority which is obviously God he's regarding it and know this is that there's always someone in higher authority and So Anytime you see perverse judgment really just need to put it in the Lord's hands that hey He sees that he regards that and that's just the comforting verse knowing that there's just constant injustice that's going on in the world chapter 6 Ecclesiastes chapter 6 This is just Kind of pointing out things that happen that are very That Are just horrible and any idea of when you're working for all this stuff That sometimes this can happen where you work For let's say a wealth or fortune, but you can't even enjoy it Right you you lack maybe the capacity to enjoy it right, it'd be kind of like if you You just worked your whole life So you could have all this food that you want to taste and then you lost your taste Your sense of taste or something like that, right? Or Like I wanted this vehicle over here, but now I can't drive it I've lost the ability to drive or whatever the case may be right like you have all this stuff But you lose your health you have all these things, but you can't enjoy it In Ecclesiastes 6 one there is an evil which I have seen under the sun and common among men a Man to whom God had given riches wealth and 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 This is vanity and it is an evil disease There's a lot of cases actually in a new or not a new set but in in the Bible just in general Where it talks about how the righteous shall Obtain the habitations of the wicked and the idea there Is that these people work all their lives to get all this stuff in and it's given to someone else. They can't even enjoy it and This is something that happens it says and notice how it says it's common among men That people get all the stuff that they want and then they can't even enjoy it They lack the ability to enjoy it. They could be like the man in the New Testament where He says he says to himself soul You know and I always love that story But basically it's the rich man that basically tears down all his barns builds bigger and basically just soul Let me just take my ease Eat drink and be merry and it's like doubt fools I this night thy soul shall be required of me and that's kind of an example of that and the fact that That's an extreme example, but it's basically like they have all these goods and they're just ready to enjoy it and then they die Or something happens to where they can't enjoy it or it's given to someone else or something like that and That's just something to think about if you're Those that will be rich meaning this is that we should not be laboring to be rich and have everything in the world We shouldn't be laboring for that or be covetous because in the end all that stuff's vanity anyway But also something like this could happen, but listen if you don't have everything in the world Like this man, then it can't happen to you. There's always a silver lining, right? It's like if you have not it's kind of like when the IRS comes to like, you know Take everything. Well, if you don't have anything they can't take anything, right? Kind of that idea of you don't have anything you have nothing to lose, right so Chapter 7 I Love this one, especially when you think about soul winning when you think about Obviously you have the idea of like the poor right the poor are Rich in faith, but how about those that are in mourning those that when tragedy strikes? Somebody and how they're more open to the gospel as well and I think about this with the Ecclesiastes 7 verse 1 This is a good name is better than precious ointment in the day of death and the day of one's birth It is better to go to the house of mourning Than to go to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men in The living will lay it to his heart meaning the house of mourning is the end of all men, right? We're talking about basically a funeral Right and Basically what it's stating here is that at a funeral everybody's thinking about death, aren't they? Like their mind they're forced to think about that They're literally staring death in the face of whoever they're going to see or whoever they're burying And what is stating here is that those that are living are gonna lay this to heart that all we're gonna die It's like a it's a reminder anytime that you ever go to a funeral. It's a reminder that this is just temporary We're not all guaranteed the next day and That's why it's better to be in the house of mourning than the house of laughter because then it goes on Sorrow is better than laughter For by the sadness of the countenance of the heart I'm sorry for by the sadness of the countenance of the Of the countenance the heart is made better The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning for the heart of fools is in the house of mirth It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise and for a man to hear the song of fools and it just gets into the idea of Just the state of someone's mind or their heart depending on what they're thinking about. Obviously if someone's just all about Fun and everything else and nothing wrong with having fun, but sometimes you need to focus on things that are sad things that are not Fun and jovial because it gives you gravity right it gets you back into reality Chapter 7 going down Speaking of which dealing with the fact that this is a great soul winning idea Listen, I've won many people to Christ at a funeral It's because everybody's thinking about it. I mean Listen, when you bring up the gospel at a funeral, no one's just like why would you ever bring that up here? Does that make sense? Like no one's like that's out of place Really Life and death is out of place when we're at a funeral Does that make sense? Like it's it's just kind of like an open door to talk about life and death and no one I Mean someone could but in the end I would look at me like why aren't you thinking about this? What are you doing here? If you're not thinking about death, you're not thinking about this person that died right here. And what are you thinking about? right But notice in verse 20 here says for there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not great verse for soul winning Just showing that hey, we're all sinners for all of sin to come show the glory of God and even Even the just man upon the earth right even job who was the most just man upon the earth at his time was a sinner Ecclesiastes chapter 8 Just pointing out some passages that just kind of stick out to me here Verse 11, I think this is a great verse to just kind of know when it comes to why The importance of Capital punishment or just punishment in general when it comes to when people just say well, you know, what's the point of capital punishment? You know, how what's that going to serve? well, it's a deterrent that's what it is and There is a consequence for when you don't do it Notice what says here in Ecclesiastes chapter 8 verse 11 says because sentence Because sentence against evil and evil work is not executed notice this speedily Therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Think about this think about the death penalty, right? Even the states that have death penalty, how long does it take for that to take place? Like years maybe maybe decades before they actually ever do it That's not speedily Okay, I mean in the Bible when when someone's put the death in Moses day It was like the day of or the day after right? They put them into the ward and then they bring them out and they're like stone with stones and obviously they had Diligent Inquisition they would have a judge, you know, obviously it was done justly under two or three witnesses All of that needs to happen, but in the end it's done speedily and those that see will fear That's what the Bible says and so this is a great verse to kind of just show that that hey this is why evil men just keep going further and further because They just know that hey, there's no punishment. There's no real punishment. That's gonna be inflicted. There's not a deterrent And Kind of going into the verse 8 or chapter 8 verse 12. They're dealing with the fact that Remember, it's kind of sprinkled in there that hey Yeah, this is all bad this is all vanity but those that fear God though those that fear God They will do well verse 12 It says those a sinner do evil and hundred times and his days be prolonged yet Surely, I know that it shall be well with them that fear God which fear before him But it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his days Which are as a shadow because he feareth not before God So notice how that's sprinkled in there. It's not taking this out of the equation. It's just showing you that hey Solomon's really focusing on Just the temporary things of this life things about not keeping God's commandments and not doing God's will and not doing things that are of eternal value and verse 14 This if you want a verse that goes with job. It's this verse right here Okay, meaning debunking his friends this verse will do it right here because Job's friends their argument was constantly like Well, whoever perish being righteous Right. That was like one of his friends said and then there was just just constantly like well I mean why else are you suffering unless you've done something wicked? Basically like no one that's ever done good suffers for anything. Well tell that to the Lord Right who was innocent You know No sin, but yet was condemned to death Okay So this verse just annihilates that their friend the friends so-called wisdom when they were coming at job Because it says in verse 14 says there is a vanity which is done done upon the earth that there be just men unto whom it happeneth according to the Work of the wicked again there be wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous I said that this also is vanity There there it is job states this. Okay. So obviously when he when he replies to his friends He's stating this that there's wicked people that live long days And it's just like these people don't his friends is there in this they're in some like fantasy land Where they just think that while good people they just live long don't have any problems. They're never punished They don't have to deal with anything Like we're in some paradise where nothing bad ever happens to good people But Ecclesiastes brings you back into reality That bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. It just happens and yes, it isn't just it isn't right in a lot of cases that that's happening and So now in job's case obviously is being tried and the Lord was putting him through that trial But there's a lot of cases where it's just a matter of hey People are just getting a raw deal even though they're doing right Now ultimately, they'll be rewarded for doing right. Okay, and just like job came forth as gold when he was tried But just something to note there that really Ecclesiastes just annihilates job's friends and The reality of the situation job's friends were living in in some fantasy land and not in reality. Okay, and Ecclesiastes 9 7 So Ecclesiastes chapter 9 This is where I said Though life is vanity. It's vexation of spirit But yet the preacher here obviously Solomon is still saying hey enjoy life though girls. Look up here and don't talk It says go thy way Eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart for God now accept that thy works Let thy garments be always white and let thy head lack no ointment Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity So it's basically like yeah this life's vanity, but hey enjoy Your bread enjoy, you know, like have nice clothes. It's not saying like you got to live in rags You can't enjoy anything. You can't enjoy being with your spouse like no enjoy that And it says 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 whatsoever thy hand find it to do do it with thy might For there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom nor Nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest and this gets into New Testament where you know What's ever doest doest thou heartily unto the Lord and do it as unto the Lord not unto men, right? So it's still everything's vanity. Don't just be like well, what's the point of even working anymore, right? What's the point of doing anything because you can kind of come out of this and be like, well, that's all worthless Why am I even working for anything? Well, enjoy it It's just you have to have this perspective that it's not all about that So You Going on from that in in Ephesians chapter 9 verse 11, here's one for the Calvinists Calvinists believe that basically God he'll say God is sovereign which isn't in the Bible Not that I'm against the word sovereign but use biblical language God's sovereign which what they mean by that is that God pulls the strings on everything Basically whether it's evil or good as far as like sin or anything God is the doer of it which is completely false and Basically, everything is a part of like some predestined will everything that happens The butterfly flapping its wings in the yard over there is a part of God's will and God is the one pulling the strings of the butterfly wings like that is their mentality and It's just not reality And I'd love to know what they say about this verse it says in verse 11 It says I return and saw unto 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 what they want you to think is that there's no free will and that everything is just basically a plan Purpose plan except for the fact the Bible says that's not true Except for the fact that says time to happen to every man now. I don't I know they don't like the term every Right when it talks about how Jesus tasted death for every man. They don't want to think that that's means every single person But I don't care who you're talking about You have to admit that time and chance happen at the people Okay, if you want to say it's just one group over here. Well, it happens to them So therefore God's not pulling the strings on everything And Also, it's wicked to think that God is pulling the strings on sin So Chapter 10 Chapter 10 Dealing with being righteous obviously trying to live a righteous life as a Christian This is just a harsh truth and that is Even though if you if you're a very righteous person you're trying to do right One slip-up will will basically taint that to where You're basically Now considered not being righteous. Okay, and it's just the facts of life and you just kind of have to deal with it Especially if you're known for being a really good person As soon as you mess up you actually get it harder than the person that just messes up all the time Okay, notes that says in verse 1 here says dead flies caused the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking saver So that's a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor So this what this comes down to is that if you're known for being good and then you'd like do something bad It just shocks everybody to the point where your reputation is just like your reputation is being good Whereas the person that's doing bad all the time and they do something bad. It's just like yeah That's what they do. I Remember this in school because I was a very shy person. I pretty much never got in trouble and one time For whatever reason I started talking when we weren't supposed to be talking Because someone was talking to me and then the teacher just like came down on me hard And I'm just like at that I was really angry because I'm just like listen I've never been in trouble and you're gonna come down on me that hard, right? When this person over here is literally talking every single time, you know We're you know something when you're not supposed to talk and it's very infuriating And so when I read this I just think about that and like how infuriating that is that You're doing right, you're doing right, you're doing right, you mess up a little bit and you're just like you're trash Right and then the person that's just a piece of garbage that's just constantly doing wrong They do something way worse and they're just like yeah, that's what they do Right and it's just you're held to a higher standard and that's really what I see with this Is that you want to live a righteous life, you want to be good and honest You're gonna be held to a to a standard way higher than everybody else and you just have to accept it And don't go into it and be like well I guess I'm just not gonna be good because I don't want to be held to that standard That's just a piece of life. Okay, and so Try not to get angry about it because hey just know this is that Ecclesiastes speaks about it Because it's just facts and everybody deals with that that wants to You know be on the up and up being righteous, you know, you're gonna deal with that chapter This chapter things but is the vanity of youth any idea of People that are young Think they're invincible and they think they're never gonna get old and as I get older I realize that how true that is like that that's vain Because the older you get the more the time goes by faster and all of that But in verse 11 or verse 9, I love this because it's such You ever read a passage where you think it's going one direction and then it switches on you and you're like Oh, I wasn't expecting that. I want you I'm gonna read this and I'm you're gonna see where it catches you off guard Okay, just the way this is written It says rejoice oh young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy Thy youth and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes And when you're reading this you're like man that seems odd That seems like some liberal professor wrote this right like just just follow your heart Walk in the ways of your heart. Just enjoy it But Know thou that for all these things God will bring thee unto judgment or into judgment Every time I read that it catches me off guard. It's like you're reading you're like Okay, and then it just hits you with like but no this Right. It's like yeah. Yeah go go do that It's like it's kind of like if you were to say yeah, you know what? Yeah go commit fornication. Yeah Yeah, fun. Just just fulfill all the lusts of your flesh, but no this Is that you're gonna be judged harshly for it, right? It's that kind of thing where you're just kind of saying yeah go do that and so It says in verse 10 says therefore remove sorrow from my heart and put away evil from my flesh for childhood and youth are vanity, okay Now here's the thing though knows verse chapter 12 the last chapter here Dealing with with youth is that what you have to understand is that it is good That a man bear the yoke in his youth and that's really what this comes down to is that in your youth? Don't waste your youth. It's really what I believe this is getting into Don't waste your youth and just think well, I'll do that when I'm older I'll follow the Lord when I'm older. I'll read my Bible when I'm older I'll do this all when I'm older one. You don't even know if you're gonna be older Okay, because you don't know if you have the next day or not, okay, but second You're you're basically just kind of sacrificing all those youthful days when you have a lot of energy When you have a lot of you basically your memories better like all these different things Listen, you want to memorize Bible now is the time to do it when you're young As you get older it gets harder to memorize Everything gets harder with age and Chapter 12 is showing you that notice what it says in chapter 12 verse 1 Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth while the day evil days come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them and then It gives all these basically euphemisms to talk about old age Okay And what is it basically it's gonna give you some different things where you think it's talking about something else, but it's really talking about being old, okay Notice what it says here in verse 2 it says while the Sun or the light of the moon I'm sorry, or the light or the moon or the star be not darkened nor the clouds return after the rain It's not just it's not talking about actual Sun and Moon being darkened. It's talking about it's dark for you. I Mean you can't see very well Okay in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble and its strong men shall bow themselves So basically like it's talking about your body is like like kind of like shaky like Joe Biden, you know Like you're shaky, you know, you can't your bow down like you can't do much Don't wait until you physically can't serve the Lord to start serving the Lord It's basically what is getting to like hey, you have youth you have strength use it. Don't waste it. Okay I think the grinders cease because they are few the grinders talking about your teeth, right? You start losing all your teeth or your teeth start going away. Whatever. This is very depressing, isn't it? Says those that look out of the windows, I'm sorry those that look out of the windows be darkened Again dealing with sight and the idea that it's a like you can't really perceive what's going on And the door shall be shut in the streets when the sound of the grinding is low now you're hearing you can't hear very well And he shall rise up at the voice of the bird. I Personally believe that's talking about like sleep like you don't sleep very much like that smallest thing will wake you up Even the birds chirping in the morning And all the daughters of music shall be brought low And when they shall be afraid of that which is high For whatever reason when you get older you start getting more afraid of heights and all that so It says and Fears shall be in the way and the almond tree shall flourish and the grasshopper shall be a burden Meaning like just little things is gonna be such a burden for you to deal with like even a grasshopper, okay? It says and desire shall fail because man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets Wherever the silver and this is just kind of a euphemism for death, okay? We're talking about wherever the silver cord be loosed or the golden bowl be broken or the pitcher be broken at the fountain Or the wheel broken at the cistern then shall dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return on the God The gate who gave it vanity of vanity set the preacher all is vanity And basically the pitcher being broken the cord being loosed is basically like you're done. It's over Your Life is gone. That's basically it's like it's broken. It's done. It's gone and basically what it's saying here is that don't Don't waste your youth because it's gonna come a point where you can't do much of anything anymore Okay, and obviously our church is very young. We have a lot of young people and most churches today are their average age is 90 between 90 and death and In that case they're pretty much in the Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and hopefully they serve the Lord before that But the idea here and I'm not against 80 year olds or 90 year olds Okay, but then in the end listen who's gonna be doing the work today. It's not gonna be the 80 and 90 year olds It's gonna be those that are teenagers 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s and yet I mean if you have good health 70s and 80s you can still do a lot Okay But in the end Don't waste your youth. Don't think well, I'll do that later You know just know that what does Ecclesiastes saying all this stuff that's at the temporary world is vanity in the end But what you do for the Lord, that's eternal and Like I said, look at the last two verses. They're just a conclusion of the matter It says in verse 13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man for God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil and this really gets into for the Christian to judgment see to Christ and The idea of what you do in this life will determine how you're rewarded. Okay, and your rewards are eternal So though all the stuff that you do in this life is temporary and there's burned up and it's vanity Well one the Bible says hey, well just enjoy that while you have it Like you can enjoy that food that's gonna perish. You can enjoy all these different things You can enjoy nice clothes and different things like that. You can enjoy being married You can enjoy all that stuff, but know that hey, listen, that's all vanity and it's all gonna fall away in the end but the things that you do for the Lord that's eternal and And basically in the end of the book is it's stating don't waste your youth to the point where you're gonna be like This person that dies and that they can't do anything. They can't do anything to serve the Lord. Okay, so That's the book of Ecclesiastes And it's very very a lot of wisdom in the book of Ecclesiastes. Okay, and so we have one more book of Poetic books that is and that's Song of Solomon And so and then we get into the major prophets, okay, so And now I'm gonna go on a soliloquy for about 15 minutes just so everybody that I'm just kidding That closed my Bible was like we're done just kidding 15 minutes of me just going off on that. I'm just kidding. So let's say what we're doing father We think today Thank you for your word Thank you for the souls over saved today and throughout the week and just pray to be with our church and just pray that you help us to be wise help us to Obviously live in this world and enjoy the things that you've given us But Lord to focus on things that are of eternal value and to keep your commandments and the fear you Lord Just help us to do that and Lord. We love you. Pray else in Jesus Christ's name. Amen So brother they ever come sing one more song and that will be dismissed You Take your song books and turn to song 152 Song 152 in your sambos will sing security if you would stand will sing song 152 More secure is no-one ever, then the loved ones of the Savior, not young star on high abiding, nor the burden honed as hiding, God is owned, attend, and nourish. In his holy courts they flourish, like a father, kind he spares them, in his loving arm he bears them, neither life nor death can ever, from the Lord his children sever. For his love and deep compassion comfort them in tribulation, for his love and deep compassion comfort them in tribulation. Little flock to joy, then yield he, Jacob's God will ever shield thee, rest secure with this defender, at his will all foes surrender. What he takes or what he gives us, shows the Father's love so great. So precious we may trust his purpose, holy is his children's welfare solely.