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Ecclesiastes 9, look at verse number 16. It says, Then said I, wisdom is better than strength. That's the title for the sermon. Wisdom is better than strength. Do you believe that? You know, wisdom is better. You know, I mean, strength is good, being physically strong, being active, right? I mean, this is great. You know, the kids for youth group on Friday. Hey, there was some strength being shown there. We were in tug of war. All right. Isabel told me she had some blisters on her hand afterwards. I don't know if anyone else had any blisters. I mean, strength is great, but you know what's going to win the tug of war? Not always strength. Sometimes it's the wisdom. It's the technique, knowing how to push and how to pull. That often, you know, is much better. Well, in this case, of course, when we look at the Bible here, it is better than strength. And so, you know, we want to apply ourselves to the wisdom that God has in His Word. You know, the Book of Ecclesiastes is a lot of great wisdom. You know, there's a lot of learning that we can get out of this. The desire to live a life without God, the desire to live a life where we are chasing the riches of this world. We don't need to experience it because we have the Book of Ecclesiastes to give us the wisdom of saying, hey, this is not good for you. You're not going to be satisfied. It's not going to give you joy in life if you're just chasing this world. And so we want to learn from the wisdom of God. And, you know, I promise you, it's going to make your life so much easier. You know, it's strange to me when Christians reject God's Word when they rebuild against God's Word. And they say, well, that doesn't work in my life. Well, I'm in a different situation. I mean, that's your choice. You know, God gives you the freedom to decide whether you want to apply the wisdom of His Word or whether you want to apply your own wisdom. It's up to you. But you're going to face the consequences of those actions. You know, to me, why don't we just listen to what God says? Why don't we just do it? And when we realize we come short of God's standards in His Bible, why don't we just put our hand up and say, yes, God, I fail in that area. Can you help me do better? Lord, I'm not ready to do that just yet. Why don't you help me, Lord, to bring my mind, my heart, to trust your Word and to have a desire to follow your Word, Lord, even though right now in my life, I don't, I just seem so far from it. You know, to me, it just makes, if we're saved, if we go into heaven, if we know that's what's more important than what this life contains, then we should just obviously take the wisdom that God gives us and apply it. It's God's wisdom. It's not the wisdom of man. It's God's wisdom found in His Word. Let's start during verse number one. Ecclesiastes 9-1. For all this I considered in my heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise, so that's kind of where you want to be, righteous and wise, and their works are in the hand of God. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All right, so look, we desire to be righteous. How do we know to be righteous? How do we know what the standard of righteousness is? Well, first of all, if you're saved, you already know that you can't meet righteousness. You'll never achieve it. Okay, you failed. You've made mistakes in life. Okay, and so you're a sinner. All right, that's obvious. Okay, but we know that by God's Word. We know that by His laws, and then for us to walk in righteousness, again, we're instructed by His Word. Hey, wisdom. All right, we understand there's the wisdom of man, but we understand that the wisdom of God, again, found in His Word. So we know by God's Word, we know what is righteous. We know what is wrong. We know what is wisdom. We know what is foolishness. It says, and their works. Hey, we know what God wants us to do with our lives. You know, God doesn't just give us information. He wants us to take that information and do something with it. He wants us to improve our marriages. He wants us to improve our children. He wants us to take His Word and improve our righteousness. He wants us to take His Word and improve our soul winning. He wants us to take His Word and improve our service in the house of God. He wants us to take the Word and improve our work and our employment, all areas of our life. God wants us to take the words and put our work toward it, right? But then it says this at the end of verse number one, no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. The only way you can also truly know what love and hatred is, is through God. Society kind of has an idea of what love is. It has an idea of what hatred is. You know, there would be many that would label our church a hate group. You know, just for preaching God's Word. Just for saying this is what God says. This is what God's standard is. Our desires to line up with God's Word. If we just preach God's Word without compromise, people will say you're a hate group. You know, and here's the thing. Yeah, we do have hatred. You know, we learn what hatred is. Hey, what we need to decide is what God hates, we're going to hate. That's the standard. And what God loves, we're going to love. And look, if you love something that God hates, and you hate something that God loves, there's something wrong with you. Again, just put your hand up and say, God, I failed. You know, I've got issues. I've got failures. Lord, I don't fully understand your word in some places. Help me understand. Help me come to the same point that you are. But the point that we learn out of this brethren is that society, the world cannot really truly teach you how to love or truly teach you what hatred is. The society doesn't know. It's mixed up. The only place that we truly know how we can experience these emotions is again found in God's Word. If you can keep your finger there. Actually, yeah, actually, yeah, keep your finger there. Go to 1 John. Go to 1 John in your New Testament. Go to 1 John chapter four. I'll read to you a few other passages while you turn to 1 John chapter four. And people often in the world, there's a common saying that says, you know, follow your heart. Brethren, let me encourage you. Don't follow your heart. Don't follow your heart. Okay, the Bible says in Jeremiah 17 nine, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? You want to follow your heart. You don't even know your heart. You know, when you preach the gospel to people, you know, people say, well, God knows what's in your heart. You know, even Christians say this sometimes. Well, God knows what's in my heart. Yeah, that's a pretty scary thought. Okay, because your heart is desperately wicked above all things. I mean, think about everything in this world that can deceive you. Your heart is even more deceptive than all those things. So don't rely on your feelings. Don't rely on your heart. Okay, again, what do we rely upon? We rely on what God's Word says. Okay, and listen, if we're walking the new man, if we're walking the Spirit, then you know, our heart is righteous. Our heart is going to line up with God's heart. But a lot of our life is spent in His flesh, you know, and the idea that we need to take and crucify that flesh and put away that old man. That's a constant thing. Every day of our life, we constantly wake up with a heart that is desperately wicked. Who can know it, though? Who can know the heart truly? And, you know, sometimes people, you know, and I understand, I'm a pastor, people kind of come up to me sometimes about relationships. And, you know, what do you think I should do? And you know what I tell people, you know, when it comes to the matters of the heart, I'm probably not the best person to come to and speak to. Make sure she's saved. Make sure he's saved. Make sure he loves the Lord. And he loves you. That's a good place to start. All right. I mean, if they don't love you, if they don't love the Lord, that's going to be a bad relationship. I tell you from the very beginning. All right, but really, when it comes to the matters of the heart, it's hard because who can know it? Well, the only one that truly knows it is the Lord God. Verse number 10 says, Jeremiah 17, verse 10, I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. You see, the Lord sees our heart. And it's good to pray sometimes, Lord, can you try my heart? Can you search my heart? It's a scary prayer. I don't like to pray that prayer, you know, but sometimes we have to, because you don't really know your heart. And you know your heart needs to be clean. You know your heart needs to be pure. You know your heart needs to love what God loves and you need to hate what God hates. And sometimes it's good to go before God and say, God, can you check my heart out? You know, we go to doctors to check our hearts, don't we? We go to doctors to make sure that things are working well in our physical bodies. Well, the heart is more than just something that pumps blood. You know, in the Bible, the heart, you know, refers to our emotions, you know, our feelings, how we perceive life. And we need to make sure that we go to the great physician, we go to our doctor and say, God, can you check my heart condition right now? You know, does it love the things that you love? Is it lined up with you, Lord? Or is it love in the world? You know, you're there in 1 John 4, look at these words. It says, he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. God is love. How can the world who does not love God, give you any information about love, tell you what love is? It cannot, because they do not know God. If you reject God, you're going to reject love. The only way they can truly love is to truly know God, and to truly know his word, then you can truly love. Pastor, I don't know if I love my spouse. Well, you know what, first thing you need to do is love God. Know God. And once you know God and you know the love of God, then you can love your spouse correctly. You can love your children correctly. You can hate the things that you are, that are to be hated in this world correctly. But you need to know God. God is love. How can you know love if you don't know God? You don't know what God wants. You don't know what God says. You don't pick up the Bible. You don't read it. You've never read the Bible cover to cover. How can you truly say that you love God? So we need to get into his word, amen, to know truly how we ought to feel about certain things. Can you please turn to Ecclesiastes, back to Ecclesiastes, and just back to chapter number three. Chapter number three is very much the bedrock of a lot of the chapters in the book of Ecclesiastes. But just a reminder there, Ecclesiastes chapter three verse number one, just a reminder to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Look to everything there is a season, right? Look drop down to verse number eight. A time to love and a time to hate. A time of war and a time of peace. You know there are some pastors, there are some churches that tell you that that hatred is a sin. But look there's a time to love. There's a time to hate. When is hatred a sin? When you hate the things that God loves. That's the sin. Is it ever sinful to love? Yes. When you love the things that God hates, that's a sin as well. You know just love for love's sake can be sinful if you love the things that God hates. But if you hate the things that God loves, that's sinful as well. Hey we want to live a righteous life, a life that pleases God, that lines up with his word. Well there's a time to love, there's a time to hate. If you truly say to me I don't hate anything, I don't hate anyone, then you've got a problem. Okay you're not righteous. You need to go to God and say God teach me to hate. Teach me to hate the things that ought to be hated. Teach me to love the things that ought to be loved. Okay that's the right approach when it comes to God's word. Verse, back to Ecclesiastes 9 please. Ecclesiastes 9 verse number two. Solomon takes another view here. He goes in verse number two. All things come alike to all. What he's talking about here is that problems come to everybody. You know everyone again, everyone has problems. Okay and why do you keep saying this pastor in different sermons? Because I grew up in church thinking that some people don't have problems. You know I just thought that you know for some people they're just they've just got a bad lot in life and other people just have a good good good in life. It's not even like that. Everyone has problems. You know especially when I became a pastor, I mean I've learned that a long time ago, but especially when I became a pastor I realized and people you know people as a pastor again people talk to you about things and you realize that everyone's got problems. Everyone's got hardships you know truly. I mean I mean even you know you're probably even familiar with some of the hardships and problems that people go through your brothers and sisters in the Lord but I'm telling you it's even worse than that. You know pains and emotional scarring and some histories that are just unbelievable to me. You know and well that's what Solomon realizes. All things come alike to all. Everyone goes for problems. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked. He goes even if you're righteous or you're wicked you're still gonna have problems. You've seen that this is all about problems okay. To the good and to the clean and to the unclean. If you try to live a good life or if you just try to live a wicked life you still have problems. To him that sacrifice and to him that sacrifice of thought. You know this morning you're sacrificing. You're coming to the house of God. You're sacrificing your time right. You're sacrificing your lips of worship toward God. Those are sacrifices of praises but there are some people that don't sacrifice. There are some people that do nothing for the Lord but it seems like those that do things for God and those that do nothing for God they still have problems. As is the good so is the sinner and he that swearth as he that fearth and of. People that make promises. People that are too scared to make promises. Just seems like problems happen to all right and I want you to take you know this is again a truth in the world right. You know even if you live the righteous life the good and clean life. One that offers sacrifices. Someone that overcomes sins. Someone that keeps all their oaths. You're still gonna have problems. You're still gonna go through trials and difficulties. God that's really sad. That's really depressing. Only if you have an earthly attitude. Only if you have a carnal attitude to life. Okay I've said this over and over again and please remember this. Your trials and your problems have been God has allowed you to have those things. Yes problems can come from the devil. Absolutely they can come from a world. They can just come from the natural consequences of sins. You know just being born a sinner or committing sins and the consequences that come out of sins but sometimes God just sends you trials and difficulties and again as hard as it is we need to learn how to rejoice when these things happen. Just as much as we rejoice when we're blessed. We have to turn around and say God I rejoice when you let me go through problems because again these are learning opportunities. Times to grow and but look problems happen to all. Okay so you can either get downcast. Solomon gets downcast or you can learn how to rejoice about it. Okay it's up to you. You know it depends how you want to live your life. You can either complain you know blame God you know or think other people don't go through problems it's just me and have a pity party. You can have that attitude but I tell you what you're going to be pretty depressed. You're gonna be pretty cast down. You're gonna be pretty much you're gonna be a negative person. You're gonna have a negative outlook you know to life. People aren't going to like your presence if that's your view of life. Okay or you take the view well God what are you instructing me to do? What a blessing brother Michael problems blessings constantly saying that but it's true though right. I mean sometimes you look at that right these are blessings but they actually are blessings. Okay and you know what if you are living a righteous life again God has looked down upon you and he says you know what it's time to prune you a little further. It's time to make you a little better. Here's a problem to refine you. Here's a fire to go and clean out that dross so you can come out a little more pure on the other side and you know what that'll give you a positive outlook to life. You know you can be a blessing to others that are going through problems. It's just about having the right outlook. Again King Solomon has a negative outlook. He's very pessimistic because he's trying to live our life without God. He's trying to find meaning and purpose in the world without God. Let's keep going to verse number three. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun that there is one event unto all. Yea also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil and madness is in their heart while they live and after that they go to the dead. So he goes look life is all about problems it's evil right. I mean it's just issues after issues then you just die. I mean that's a pretty pessimistic life right. You're born, you get old, you have problems and you die. And is that what life is? Well kind of. It kind of is isn't it right. It kind of is. But you know what life can be so much more right. God has come to give us, Christ has come to give us salvation. Not just a temporary life. If you're saved today you have eternal life. You'll never die. Truly you'll never die. Your soul and spirit will live forever. I mean and Christ has come to give us a life that is abundant. A life that is free. A life that we can have meaning and purpose. You know not just for today but for all eternity. I mean God has done so much for us. Yeah you know what try to remove God from that equation. Try to remove God from your life and even as a Christian you'll start to despise life. You'll start having a negative outlook to things. You know it's going to happen because we don't forget you still have the flesh. You still have the old man. You know that old man knows the old way of living. The old man is very pessimistic okay. The old man does not rejoice in the Lord. That's why you need to walk again in that new man. Can you please keep your finger then. Go to Psalm. Go to Psalm chapter one. Go to the first Psalm. Psalm one. I'll just read it quickly to you. Because I don't want you to be pessimistic. Go well what's the point of being righteous if I'm going to have problems anyway. Yeah but you have God to help you through the problems okay. And in fact if you've got to just let's read this one quickly because one of my favorite Psalms. Psalm one. Psalm one. It says blessed is the man that worketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor siteth in the seat of the scornful. You see you are blessed if you don't follow the way of the sinners. You are blessed if you don't seek after wickedness. I want you to understand there is still wickedness. There is still sin. There is still problems but God will bless you through that through that journey. God will bless you in life. Verse number two. But his delight. This ought to be you brethren. Your delight is in the Lord of the Lord and his Lord doth he meditate day and night. Is that where you delight? I mean tell me right now what is your favorite thing? What do you delight in the most? You know what if you could just do anything right now what would it be? I think a lot of us would not even say pick up our bibles and read it. But his law that ought to be our delight. That's what we need to get to in life. We really just enjoy picking up his word. First thing in the morning do it brethren. Pick up the bible and say Lord I want some sweetness here. I want to be blessed. I need some guidance. I need some direction because there's so much wickedness in life. Look at verse number three. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. You see you still have problems in life but you stand sure and secure. You're unmovable. You're stable right and you're being nourished by the waters as it were. You know you've been fueled by God you know to continue in life a positive outlook even in the face of problems. Look at verse number four it says the ungodly are not so. They are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous for the Lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish. We all have problems okay but if you live in a righteous life if you're saved a child of God and you're living after his ways he will get you through the problems. He'll keep you stable and secure. You know people are going to look at you and go I don't understand. How do you continue? How do you continue being positive? How do you continue just loving the Lord even in the face of problems? And you say you know what because it's a blessing. Blessed is the man okay if I seek after righteousness if I walk in his ways. Truly brethren when we start to set God as our priority eternity in mind life changes completely. You can be stable, secure, positive. Everything has purpose in life when you put God first. We move God out of the equation yeah life is a misery truly okay. Back to our Ecclesiastes 9 verse number 4. Ecclesiastes 9 verse number 4. Again Solomon very pessimistic all right he says for to him that is joined to all the living there is hope for a living dog is better than a dead lion. I mean that that's kind of obvious like obviously a lion in many ways is better than a dog well I don't know I guess if you wanted a pet around the house the dog's going to be better okay but when it comes to a creature of power and strength okay the lion is better okay the lion will rip that dog apart but if the lion is dead the living dog is better. What is strong and look this is kind of strange like he's basically saying that you know what life is better than death and again that's true okay I mean at least in life you get to experience things in in death your body's there stuck in the grave. We know of eternity we know there's eternal life we know there's a heaven and hell okay but again just consider where Solomon is at he's just thinking earthly just thinking carnally he's not thinking about eternity at this point in life that's fine okay yet life is better than death in many aspects if that's all we have to live for I mean again when we think about what what we read about in Philippians you know for me to live is Christ but to die is gain you know again when you come when we add God to the equation life is great but even better is when we go to be with the Lord right I mean you kind of again you have a flip there okay like if this was all we had there was no eternity there was no God then obviously being a living dog is better than a dead lion okay life is better yeah and and look when we take this view that you know for me to live is Christ and to die is gain we're not saying that life is meaningless and this is die no life is still good but it gets even better after you die okay it gets even better again if you put God in the equation of your life if you live for God you know things will be better not only did he come to give us a life that is more abundant on this earth but eternal life in heaven in the presence of God it's the best life you'll ever live best life that you'll ever live it continues I'll just read it to you Philippians 1 then it continues in verse number 22 but if I live in the flesh this is the fruit of my labor yet what I shall choose I whatnot for I'm in a straight betwixt two having a desire to depart and be with Christ and to be with Christ which is far better nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you see abiding in the flesh we're still on this earth right why did not why did God not just take us immediately as soon as we're saved why did not take us to heaven where it's far better because it's so needful for you to be on this earth if you're still living right and you're saying well man I got I got major sickness because I can't even get out of bed all right but you still have life then God has a need for you on this earth okay life is not meaningless okay never have the attitude I just can't wait to die because I mean can't wait to die to speak with the Lord that's great but to die I can't wait to die because life is just miserable no you're wrong okay God has a need for you all right I mean just think of what that is I don't know what my what God wants from me well you know the very minimal thing that we ought to be on this earth for is to see others come to Christ is to give them the gospel the very minimal thing right is to tell people how to go to heaven and by doing that you'll earn great rewards in heaven God has a need for you you know you're here for a purpose you know I know what my need is it's to pass the two churches it's to be a loving husband it's to raise godly children I know what God I know there's a need here last thing I'm going to do is commit suicide when God has work for me to do on this earth I mean it would be far better the moment I cross you know to eternity far better but there's still a lot to do here okay but again if you remove that from the equation then you know what you're going to just think that you know life is miserable problems what's the point okay if you remove again God from the equation but I want to you know tell you that your life is needful you are needed your importance you're useful by God I don't care how horrible you feel about yourself you might think you're you know you can't amount to much but God has a need for you on this earth as long as you're breathing you're important to God verse number five it says for the living know that they shall die but the dead know not anything neither have they any more a reward for the memory of them is forgotten now again these are verses that if you're not careful you can take them out of context and you start teaching things like the Jehovah witnesses the Jehovah witnesses believe that the moment you die your soul and spirit remain in the body and then you experience what they call soul sleep okay or that if someone dies without Christ and then they get judged that they they no longer cease to exist they don't believe in hell like eternal torments they believe the moment you're thrown into hell you just cease to exist okay what they do is they take a verse like number five where it says but the dead know not anything it's like see once you die there's nothing to know that's it you cease to exist neither have they any more reward for the memory of them is forgotten it's like that's it they're done for that's not the reality okay again what is Solomon saying if we just look at earth from a carnal perspective that's how we see things we see a body in the grave well they can't do anymore they can't think anymore they don't have any memories because that body is dead but again we understand that there's eternity in mind okay now if you die without the Lord yeah one day the memory of them is forgotten okay but I want you to remember that that's not really all that life is about it's not just you live and then you die and you're forgotten and yes from an earthly kind of perspective that is the reality you know we probably don't even remember we don't know like history books capture some names and some people but I'm sure there are people in history that have done great works but they're completely forgotten in history you know what they achieved was never written down or if they were written down those books have probably perished okay but don't forget what God says in Hebrews 13 verse 5 he says I will never leave thee nor forsake thee the world can forget you you know if God can taris and you know what the Lord comes back in 100 years you know 100 years from now after we're all long and perished people aren't going to remember our names okay but the Lord says he will never leave us he'll never forget us okay the Lord does not forget his people you're a child of God your names are written down in heaven in fact God says that he's got new names for you in heaven you're never forgetting in God okay again if you just live earthly carnal yeah you know what what's the point of life you get forgotten anyway yeah but if you have God in mind if you're saved your name will be remembered forever it's written down there in the lamb's book of life can't be forgotten okay it's written down for all eternity verse number six also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun all right so again we all get forgotten we all have problems you live righteously you live as a sinner we just have problems we all die so what's the point of life against solomon's pessimistic attitude then he says this words in light of this in light of seeing the world through this lens he says in verse number seven he goes go thy way so this is what you shouldn't be doing then all right go thy way eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart for God now accepteth thy works all right let's explain verse number seven very quickly i'll turn the second part this is for God now now accepteth thy word well what it means by now accepteth is basically saying that you know God is receiving your works now like your your earthly works now you know God is blessing your earthly works now now it's accepted again if you have an earthly perspective that is true you know that what we do for life now just matters for now so just might as well just enjoy what you have now okay but again we know as Christians that what we do has lasting effects for eternity okay it's not just the now that God cares about but God cares about us laying up treasures in heaven for eternity again what we do today makes a difference for eternity you know when we say on this earth to get ahead in life we say to people you know get an education right get experience work hard right apply for those promotions all right get your studies and we talk about this we say look better yourself in your future you know start applying yourself and that's all good that's all fine got no problem with that okay but we often forget that we have a greater future we have eternity there are rewards all right heaven is not a communist society God's not going to take from everybody and give everybody an equal share that's not heaven okay the more work you do for the Lord today the greater your rewards will be in heaven okay and that's going to matter for eternity again we talk about how important it is right to get your education work hard provide for yourself and again I'm not against that that's all good right it all has a place but it's just temporary it's just temporary even more important is that you apply yourself for God you serve him okay you're going to get to heaven you've got you're going to have some type of bank account I don't know how that bank account is going to look like and it's not going to be the same we're going to have different levels of authority you can read about this in the book of Revelation when God creates the new heavens and the new earth you know God still has kings God still has nations God still has authority in the new heavens and the new earth and those authorities are made up of people of Christians you know what I want you to further your life I want you to have a good job I want you to have a good paycheck but I'm talking about heaven okay you know I want you guys I want your life Baptist church to have some you know some authority in that new heaven new earth some riches in the new heaven new earth okay so start applying now children you have your whole life you know a lot of your parents got saved later in life you know you've got a lot more time if you apply your heart to serve the Lord to maximize your treasures in heaven I don't care if my children are rich on this earth do you guys really care I care I want them to be rich in heaven I want Jesus Christ to say thou good and faithful servant what's that word servant you're a worker you're there to serve Jesus if you don't serve Jesus in this life how can God say to you when you see him thou good and faithful servant how can God call your servant if you don't serve Jesus everything you do to serve Christ will be rewarded in heaven and the bible says even a cup of water even a cup of water you come and serve somebody a cup of water you will not lose your reward just every little thing that we do as long as we're serving Christ you know what makes a massive difference in eternity you say but to serve Christ I can't chase the things I want in this world well good number one I mean this world can hurt you you know what Jesus Christ says that what we give up in this life that God's going to reward us a hundred fold in the life to come a hundred fold think about that interest rate that's awesome and put your yeah put your deposit put your money down in heaven if it's a hundred fold I want in and that's life eternal again just thinking about this life alone is I mean it's okay but make sure you're serving Christ you're thinking of eternity let's keep going there verse number eight let thy garments be always white that means let your garments be clean and let your let and let thy head lack no ointment man I've got a bit of ointment in my hair this morning got a little bit of gel all right let me just see all right make sure your hair doesn't lack some ointment all right if your hair's a little dry all right get a little what is this teaching us look he's saying look Solomon saying this if if life is just about problems and dying well you know enjoy your life that you have now okay he said there in verse number seven go thy way eat thy bread with joy all right enjoy your food there's nothing wrong with that drink thy wine that's your juice right with a merry heart enjoy what God gives you you know not only that let your garments be always white have some clean clothes right and let thy head like fix yourself up look presentable and again he's just taking this from an earthly perspective it's not saying these things are wrong or sinful it's not wrong or sinful to have clean clothes okay but what he's saying is look if if if we're all gonna die and there's nothing more we should just appreciate what we have and enjoy ourselves you know you've labored hard for your bread for your food enjoy your food hey we should enjoy our food we should be thankful right enjoy your drinks I'm not talking alcohol here we're not talking alcoholic wine here and a wine in the bible can be used many times just as juice it's not always it's not sometimes about alcoholic wine sometimes it's just about juice all right and yeah have some clean clothes in fact keep your finger there and go to Matthew chapter six go to Matthew chapter six and verse number 31 so this should be a reality whether you're saved or you're unsaved this should just be a reality for everybody right just to enjoy what you have you know make sure you're clean and tidy and in Matthew chapter six verse number 31 I just want to remind you of this thought because we're coming again this is Queensland this is the Sunshine Coast we're not far from the coast all right the weather's getting warmer we're coming to the we're in spring now we're coming to the summer months and I know how people start dressing when it gets pretty hot out here okay I mean the clothes is not modest all right and we're Christians we're not trying to follow the world remember we're here to love what God loves God does not love the bikini okay don't dress yourself with in a bikini ladies be careful how you dress the bible says in Matthew 6 31 therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or whether we're whether we've all shall we be clothed the reason I took this is because that's what Solomon's talking about eating drinking our clothing okay but why did I turn here look at verse number 32 for after all these things do the gentiles seek look at this I want you to not forget this for your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of all these things of what food drink clothing amen verse number 33 but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you what should your priority be God's kingdom his righteousness you prioritize things God will make sure you've got enough food drinks and clothing okay what we learn in in the book of ecclesiastes that our clothes should always be white think about that for a moment what is it saying we should be presentable you know as Christians our clothing communicates to others how God has blessed us I want you to think about that because it's God that gives us the rain it's God that gives us you know okay the food and the drink that's nourished the inward man to nourish the body inside okay but what what what nourishes the body on the outside is our clothing that covers our body on the outside all right God is the one that gives us our clothing I want you to think about your wardrobe does it please God as we come to these summer months how are you going to dress you know you're going to have some money to go to the shops and buy clothing okay are you going to take the world standards or you're going to take God's standards are you going to love the things that God hates we're going to hate the things that God loves which one are you going to love what God loves you know what ladies your thighs are your nakedness men the same what are you going to do are you going to wear shorts or a skirt that's going to show your thighs look how God clothed me today because it's God's job to clothe you God promises you arraignment if you put his kingdom first in his righteousness you know what's going to happen when you start lowering your standards when you start not to be presentable or clean you're basically communicating to your brothers in the Lord that I'm not seeking his kingdom or his righteousness you know what I'm hating the things that God loves that's what we're communicating your clothing also represents who God is how he's blessed you okay and look I'm not talking about dressing like some monk or some nun or some Amish woman okay where there's like you all you can wear is blue and black or something because we're too scared to look pretty or something there's a lot of clothing that's pretty on ladies okay there's a lot of nice clothing a lot of fresh summer clothes that you can put on okay that is beautiful to look at okay but we need to understand what God standards are understand okay to dress modestly God is the one that gives you clothing okay when you come when you when you dress and you're out in public make sure your clothes are always white make sure you've put on some clothes you've had a wash you've had a shower you know your clothes have been washed they've been ironed or whatever it is to be presentable the more you present yourself I'm not saying put on the brands put on the brand clothing and we're out of that and become like a billboard for some organization I'm not talking about that I'm not sure about bling bling and whatever but hey how you dress ought to be presentable you know and every time we come to that warm months in the sunshine coast I have to remind the church I have to remind us that we need to stand out differently from this world okay it's very tempting to just go it's just Queensland pastors you don't understand you're from Sydney you know this is how we are in Queensland okay that's how you are in Queensland but you love what God loves you're a Christian you're a Christian first not a Queenslander first you're saved hey you know what enjoy good food as well buy some nice nice food all right enjoy what God has given you put on some nice clothes show yourself to be presentable you know God that's what God wants in your life back to Ecclesiastes chapter nine verse number nine Ecclesiastes nine nine what else is important in life live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity which he have given thee under the sun listen God has given you your spouse all the days of thy vanity for all thy portion in this life and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun now again you say well it says vanity maybe marriage is vain and empty in purpose yeah again where is Solomon pessimistic not thinking about eternity all right but even in that state he goes well even if that's how life is it's worth having a joyful life with your life it's worth having a happy marriage even if life is meaningless in purpose it has no meaning and we all just die and go to the grave and nothing matters it's still worth having a good marriage it says his wife Solomon's married to a thousand women here he realizes man one wife is the way to go okay I mean he could say wives here you know he says look a wife joyfully all the days of your life how is your marriage do you say look I'm happy today I'm enjoying my marriage today you know every day of my life pastor Kevin is joyful with my spouse if you say no I can't say that pastor I know you can't I can't always because the life is problems I understand that right I understand that thing we don't always see eye to eye with our spouse I know sometimes we're going to argue or whatever back and forth but the aim is to live a joyful life if you can say most of my days are just misery with my with my spouse then you're not even living a life that is worthless because even the life that is worthless and that in vain deserves a happy marriage you gotta prioritize your marriage you gotta fix your marriage you gotta find joy in your spouse you married that person you said till death do us part this is who I want to be with for the rest of my life so maybe it was a mistake well it's not a mistake now you said I do that's the person that God has given you what did it say here it says uh yeah which he have given thee under the sun God has given you your spouse are you going to find join your spouse you have to you know go out on a date go out and enjoy yourselves we've got nothing to talk about we'll talk about the bible talk about the kids talk about your future talk about your goals sometimes husbands and wives don't even know each other anymore they've lived with each other for so long they don't even know each other okay brethren we need to have happy marriages strong happy marriages if you love your children you need a strong happy marriage you need to set a good example for your children to see dad loves mum mum loves dad my parents the parents love the children because then your children are going to feel valued and they're not going to try to find love from some loser that wants to just use them for one thing now when you set a good example of loving families it's important God has given us marriage okay God has given us a spouse I mean just take that God has given that spouse to you think about that God has gone here you go here's your spouse it's God's gift to you what are you doing with that gift is marriage important to you do you love your spouse you have to love them okay so please please work on your on your marriage if you're not having joy in marriage you're actually living a life that's worse than vanity because even in the days of vanity he says it's worth having a joyful marriage think about that think about you know the bible is so different to the society so different that's what we have to line up how who can know God's word who can know God's ways you have to get into God's word and you need to fix the things that are broken fix it don't ignore it I sometimes ignore things that are broken my toilet doesn't flush properly you know I'd rather just ignore it but I don't want to ignore my wife though like that's actually vastly more important eternally more important than my toilet let's not treat our spouse like the broken toilet okay that we're trying to ignore no she's she's important he's important to you verse number 10 whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest again that that mindset you know temporary life means nothing because even then we should just do the best we can whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might again don't take this view that well if life you know that's just vanity I shouldn't do the best I can because there are many other passages in the bible that confirm that these things are things that we need to do okay loving our wife is not just found in the book of ecclesiastes as a point of vanity of life but we find many passages in the bible about loving our wife okay we find many aspects of the bible about enjoying our food and our meals and our drinks and our clothing that God gives us when it comes to putting our hand and giving the best we've got we've got other passages in the bible once again I'll just quickly read to you in colossians 3 23 it says and whatsoever ye do do it heartedly as to the Lord and not unto men whatever you're doing do it with all your hearts give the best you can children in your studies in your school do the best you can I don't care about being rich and being it doesn't matter just do it unto the Lord do it like the Lord's asked you to do it then you're going to give your best when I come to preach I try to do it to the Lord I want the Lord to be pleased with the preaching I can do the 10 minute sermonette and just give you a pat on the back and say well done off you go okay but you know what we need to do the best we can I tell you as a pastor I do the best I can I honestly do with the time that I've got I do the best I can you know what if I don't meet your standards I'm more than happy for you to find another church I'm not offended you know I hope there's a good pastor out there a good church that's going to feed you God's word and it's going to be praying for you and loving you and encourage you in God's ways that's fine I want you to live after the Christ but I tell you now as your pastor I do the best I can okay with two churches in two different states I do the best I can all right because I do it to the Lord not unto men to the Lord I know if I do it to the Lord it's going to benefit men okay in the long run let's keep going to verse 11 I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swifts nor the battle to the strong neither yet bred to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favour to men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all something else is observed is that the strong doesn't always win the battle the swifts the fastest runner doesn't always win the race now again if you're strong you're going to win most of your battles if you're a fast runner you're going to win most of your races okay but this idea is that you know life is not fair okay is there again okay because problems fall on everybody okay Goliath was much stronger than David much stronger than David but David wins okay the story of the tortoise and the hare the hare was much faster than the hare but the hare wins the race yeah that's just a story that's a favor that's a fable by the way that's not real okay that's a fable hey but there's a lesson to be taught there okay it's not saying that trying to be strong trying to be fast is a bad thing it's just you need to understand that you're not always going to win okay you're going to face problems you know things are going to be interrupted in life and you know life is not logical in that sense always right like the swifts not always going to win the race that doesn't sound logical because sometimes the swiftest can be running and in their in their race they might break their leg and that's that's it it's over for them all right and then someone that is slower will win i mean we often you know sometimes when we think about sporting events some of the greatest sporting games are usually when there's like a David and Goliath battle and David wins like the team that you think is just going to be wiped out they got no chance in the world of winning they end up winning these are usually the games that are most remembered all right or if there's a team that's losing and like they have this massive comeback right at the end and they suddenly win they're the games that people remember okay because it's sort of not normal you expect the stronger teams to win all the time you know and this just reminds us of a few things and you know when it comes to God again God looks at our hearts doesn't he he can see the wickedness in our hearts God sees things differently to how man sees things and if you can please turn to first Samuel 16 turn to first Samuel 16 first Samuel 16 and I just want you to remind you of this story here when God has asked Samuel to pick a new king for the nation of Israel and we know that new king would become king David all right but Samuel goes out and he looks at all of David's brothers in fact David's not even there David's out there looking after sheep because David's father you know thought well there's no way that that David the youngest will be king you know so he puts the other guys you know my strong boys they're all there first you know Sam is going to decide surely with one of these men who's going to be the next king but it says in first Samuel 16 verse 6 and it came to pass when they were come that he that's Samuel looked on alive and said surely the lord's anointed is before him so same with sees alive because man this this guy surely this must be the king like what you're probably tall probably handsome strong right you can just see something about this man he's definitely going to be the king verse number seven but the lord said unto Samuel look not on his countenance nor on the height of his stature because I have refused him for the lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the lord looketh on the heart you know I want you to think about this we can't change our outward appearance you can't change how tall you are okay you can't change the color of your hair I mean unless you die but you know what I'm talking about okay God has created you of characteristics that you cannot change on the physical but one thing that you can be working on is your heart you want to start winning the battles you want to start winning the race you want to start doing well in life and being the underdog the David that beats the Goliath what you need to be doing as Christians is fixing your heart God looks upon the heart okay so it's desperately wicked exactly so fix your heart okay go to the lord and say lord help me have a heart that is after you David was a man after God's own heart David did not just want to follow his heart he said you know what I'm going to follow God's heart I want God's heart in my heart that was David's approach listen and he was made king nobody thought they would be the one selected God was looking at the heart of men as Christians you know what you can't necessarily change your outward appearance you can't you can't add your stats to your stature you can fix your heart you can fix your heart God will then look at your heart and bless you you'll start to win the race the spiritual race you'll start to be strong you'll stand out you'll be different God will bless you but you've got to fix your heart okay we talked about raiment hey be clean be clothed hey show people that God has blessed you that you're trying to serve God with your outward appearance that's fine but no one sees your heart except God you know what if we're going to fix the outward make sure we fix the inward as well the inward in fact is the priority because that's what God looks upon okay I'll just read you another passage in first Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26 and this is to all Christians for ye see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after flesh not many mighty not many noble accord saying that not many that are wise men in the flesh like wise in the world not many that are mighty or strong in this world not many that are noble highly respected in this world are the ones that actually get saved okay verse number 27 says but God have chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God have chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things that's the lower things of the world and things that are despised hey you might be despised in your family have God chosen ye and things which are not to bring to naught things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence you know what when you realize that I'm just a weak human being I'm not righteous I can't make it to heaven based on how good and mighty I am that's when you can finally make the switch and say well God you must be the only way of salvation you have to weaken yourself you have to lower yourself and realize it can't be me Lord it has to be Jesus and then God will use you you know I stand behind this pulpit preaching to you guys sometimes yelling all right sometimes saying some hard things and you know I get feedback like also who you I don't get this from you guys because you love me but I get this sometimes like who are you to say that what do you know you're right I don't know all right you're right I'm foolish in this world's eyes I'm weak in this world's eyes but God has used me because it's his word that gets proclaimed it's his might it's his power it's his Holy Spirit that does the work you know what we just let God use us as an empty vessel Lord you use me for your glory I don't think I'm much but I know I can do a lot if you use me in your hands Lord I can do achieve a lot again you're important to God please don't think I'm saved but I'm nothing God needs you you're still breathing on this earth today you're needed you're needed by God to do something great for him on this earth fix your heart though love what God loves hate what God hates and then God can use you in a mighty way verse number 12 Ecclesiastes 9 12 it says for men also know if not his time as the fishes that are taken in an evil net so fish don't know when they're going to be fished out right as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it fall off suddenly upon them again the same thoughts that came in verse number 11 that you know as much as you prepare you might prepare to be strong and win the battle you might prepare to be the fastest runner to win the race but you don't know the times when evil come you don't know if tomorrow is going to be a good day or a bad day you know if there's going to be problems that come in that day but I say to you it doesn't matter if it's a good day or a bad day you still rejoice in the Lord man you're going to change your life if you just do this it's a good day today's a good day praise God tomorrow's a bad day praise God Lord thank you for the bad day help me for your bad day help me to learn what I need to learn help me to be more like Jesus today Lord you've given me a hardship you're refining me you're making me better Lord thank you praise God doesn't matter okay again if you're just living for this earth you're not thinking of God you're not thinking of eternity you're going to be cast down on the bad days yeah you're going to be excited on the good days but you're going to be cast down on the bad days you got a 50 50 chance tomorrow if it's going to be a good day or bad day all right I don't know I don't know but I can say you can be positive every day of your life if you think about the Lord if you're thankful for everything that God has given you even the bad days verse number 13 this wisdom have I also seen under the sun it seemed great unto me there was a little city and few men within it and there came a great king against it and besieged it and built great bulwarks against it now there was found in it a poor wise man and he by his wisdom delivered the city yet no man rememberth that same poor man so this is where we get to this idea that wisdom is better than strength Solomon's observed a battle at some point he's seen a powerful king powerful nation great army going besieged a little city with very few people probably not even prepared for this battle he goes but they won the little city they won the battle not because of strength but because there was a man in the midst a poor man what did he say there a poor a poor wise man there was one man with wisdom in that city and somehow through his wisdom you know that man obviously developed some type of tactics some way of defeating this battle you know not every battle is won by might sometimes it's just having the right approach to things the right tactics somehow that little city beat the big city again sorry beat the big king with a big army okay because there was a wise man there reverend the wiser you become the greater the battles that you can win so i'm just a little city yeah that's all you are i'm just a poor wise but great have the wisdom of god you better win amazing battles you'll be extremely successful extremely blessed if you apply the wisdom of god you reject god's wisdom you lose apply god's wisdom you'll win okay you'll win in life and then we get to verse number 16 oh by the way it says in verse number 15 at the university it says yet no man remember of the same poor man sometimes you're going to help other people in life but no one's going to remember you okay and i've experienced this in in business i've experienced this many times where i've improved you know i've i've been able to improve productivity and look because my heart i learned this principle so long ago i'm just serving christ i whatever i do in my in my job i'm just doing that unto the lord so i'm going to do the best that i can i'm going to try to be the best employee that i can okay and then lord you can bless me in your time however you want to bless me well that's in your hands i'm just going to work for you lord so i would look at other places in the business and go man they can do things better you know they can make more sales they can reduce their costs hey we can we can make work much more effective more efficient okay and i would go to people and say hey let's work together we can change this i can help you here you can help me there and then the you know the supervisors or the managers of those positions they would implement the things i would recommend and guess who got the praise not me the managers did the other people did you know because they got increased sales they got the improvements okay they got the praise this employee though as it said there it says uh uh yet no man remember of that same poor man and so my manager would come up to me and say kevin you're making this you're doing this all wrong you need to toot your own horn you need to go around and say hey look at what i've done look what i've achieved because people would get the praise and my manager would get frustrated and they go you know what that was kevin's idea and and my manager's like you gotta do it you know you gotta tell people what you've done i said no i don't want to because i'm just serving the lord i'm just doing what god wants i just want to be a good employee i want this business to prosper and if the business prospers all employees are going to prosper in the long run so is it worth it if you're going to be forgotten yeah don't worry if the world forgets you don't worry if the world does not thank you because if you do it to the lord he's going to reward you amen he's going to thank you very quickly matthew chapter 6 verse 2 therefore when thou doest thine arms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men verily i say unto you they have their reward but when thou doest arms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thine arms that that's good works that thy arms may be in secret and thy father which see if in secret himself shall reward thee openly you'll be rewarded by man or be rewarded by god you know why you want to be rewarded by god he's going to reward you openly then you just be quiet you just apply wisdom you do the best you can you do all things unto the lord if people remember you they forget you who cares god sees all things labor hard work hard apply yourself in whatever capacity you have even in your chores children your chores at home do the best you can oh but my parents aren't going to see that who cares god sees it god sees it he'll reward you if you do it unto him let's keep going there verse number 16 then said i wisdom is better than strength nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard again not heard by who by the world but heard by god god sees the arms that we do verse number 17 the words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools right basically why we're saying here that wisdom is found in quiet in quiet study in conversations okay hey this church service is not being broadcast on on channel 10 this morning okay it's in quiet very few people know this church service is even on but this is where you're going to find wisdom okay rather if you're looking for foolishness yeah the cry of him that ruleth among fools usually where things are boisterous and loud is where you're going to find foolishness sometimes people just love to lift themselves up and lift up the things that they know you know to sound important but so much foolishness is found there you want wisdom you need some quiet study okay you heard a sermon then you go to god's word you turn to ecclesiastes nine this week and read it again say god now that i've heard the sermon help me to pull some further truths from your word help me apply the things that are heard on sunday hey that quiet study with the lord that's where wisdom is going to come from verse number 18 wisdom is better than weapons of war but one sinner destroyeth much good all right so wisdom is a defense you can protect yourself if you increase in god's wisdom okay you say well i don't want god's wisdom i just want to live my life i just want to go and enjoy life and and find the pleasures of this world well yeah once enough destroyeth much good yeah you can chase this world if you want but you're going to destroy yourself okay you're going to destroy much good i often preach to the children because i've got a lot of kids but there's a lot of children at church you know your parents have done much good for you okay they want you to do well in life they want you to be happy they want you to please god okay they're doing a lot for you but at some point you have to make the decision am i going to continue doing that which is good or am i going to seek sin well at that point it's going to be in your hands do you want to destroy your life or do you want to protect your life do you want to honor god with your life you know what you need to get the wisdom of god it's good that your parents bring you to church if you say i don't want to be in church my heart's not in it okay fine acknowledge that acknowledge my heart is not in it this morning i don't want to be in church this morning acknowledge it and say god please search my heart try me lord fix my heart help me to be someone that is seeking your heart lord help me change because i don't want to destroy my life i want to have a happy life i want to please you lord i want to please my parents i want to please those that have invested heavily in my life you know your parents can't bring you to church your whole life at some point kids you're going to have to make that decision that i want to be in god's house i want to gain his wisdom i want to love god myself and not be forced by my parents you've got to fix that in your heart okay and again if your heart is far from the lord don't panic because the heart is desperate desperate wicked for all of us okay we've all had to make a transition after we're saved we then have to make a true transition to go you know what i'm not going to seek my heart but i'm going to seek god's heart i'm not going to love the things that i love i'm going to love the things that god loves start making that transition apply to wisdom get god's wisdom not the world's wisdom and i promise you your life will be blessed you'll have a happy life you'll have a happy marriage okay you'll do well in life let's pray