Turn with me, if you would, to
Ecclesiastes chapter 4. Ecclesiastes chapter 4. I want
us to read our text first, which is going to be verses 1 to 6. And you'll notice that we have
two paragraphs here. If you see it at verse four,
your Bible probably has a backwards bold P right there. That's a
paragraph symbol. As these translators were translating
this word over, every time they came to a new paragraph, they
put one of these paragraph symbols. And a lot of times, it represents
a new thought. Maybe they wrote something and
then came back and started writing again. And these are, what I'm
about to read, these are two separate thoughts. But, in the
context, they go perfectly together. And we'll see that. They go perfectly
together. Because of the one, Solomon wrote
the other one, alright? So, Ecclesiastes 4 verse 1 says, So I returned and considered
all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold
the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter. And
on the side of their oppressors there was power, but they had
no comforter. Wherefore I praised the dead
which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.
Yea, better is he than both they which hath not yet been, who
hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. Again,
I considered all travail and every right work that for this
a man is envied of his neighbor. This is also vanity and vexation
of spirit. The fool foldeth his hands together
and eateth his own flesh. Better is an handful with quietness
than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit."
Solomon said he considered all the oppressions that are done
under the sun, all of these oppressions, these horrible, horrible oppressions. And he considered the tears of
those that were oppressed. And he considered the fact that
they had no comforter. We see these oppressions done.
And he dwelt on the fact that they have no comforter. None. Solomon was a tender and compassionate
man. Just like our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just exactly like our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord thought on the
poor. And that's our good news, isn't
it? Our Lord thought on the poor.
Isn't that wonderful? That He spent His time dwelling
on the poor and the oppressed. And our Lord became the comforter
for every soul he thought on, every soul he looked on. He delivered
them. He saw them in their condition.
He had compassion on them in their condition and he reached
way down and he delivered them out of it. But Solomon being
just a man, he couldn't do anything about it. He saw it and He couldn't
do anything for them but weep with them. That's all He could
do. And that's the heart that God
puts in every single one of His people, every one of His children. We see these oppressions in this
world, these horrible, horrible, evil things that wicked men do.
It's terrible, isn't it? These kidnappings and murders
and and abuses of every kind. One man committing it against
another man and it's absolutely terrible. Our hearts break for
them. They really do. And the reason is because outside
of Christ they have no comforter. They're just oppressed. They
have no comforter. My heart's desire, I am sincere
when I say that my heart's desire and prayer for humanity My brethren
after the flesh, I have brothers in Adam walking all over this
town, and I was cut from the same lump as them. And what makes
me to differ?" And the answer is the grace of
God, that He would look on this oppressed man, this poor, Man, but my heart, my heart's
desire and prayer for my brethren after the flesh is that they
might be saved. I pray God would save them. The
fatherless and the widows, I pray God would save them. Man,
would God save them. People, this is a hard life.
People have to go through some difficulties and it would all
be worth it if God would save them. I don't care what they
go through, it'd all be worth it if God would save them. Man,
may God save them. May God save them. Verse 1 says,
So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are
done under the sun, and behold the tears of such as were oppressed,
and they had no comforter. And on the side of their oppressors
there was power, but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised
the dead which are already dead more than the living which are
yet alive. Go with me over to Revelation
chapter 14. Revelation 14, and look with
me at verse 13. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest. from their labors, and their
works do follow them. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord, in the Lord, that they may rest. There's rest for
those that die in the Lord. Rest from their labors, and their
works do follow them. Now the dead who do not die in
Christ The dead who do not die in Christ, they cannot be praised
more than the living. Sometimes we see people suffer
and we think, oh, it would be better for them if they just
died. That's not true. That's not true. A lifetime of
the worst sickness and the worst oppression this earth has to
offer is better than one second in hell. One second. A lifetime of it. If a man or
a woman doesn't have Christ, oh, I pray he stays on this earth
as long as he can. I'd replace all the body parts
I could replace. Stay on this earth as long as
you can. The only way that we can praise the dead is if they
die in the Lord. That's the only way. Paul said,
for me to die is gain. But the only reason he said that
is because for him to live was Christ. Isn't that right? That's
the only reason he could say that. His life was Christ. His all was Christ. Now go with
me back to Ecclesiastes 4. Verse 1 says, So I returned and
considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun,
And behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had
no comforter. And on the side of their oppressors
there was power, but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised
the dead, which are already dead, more than the living, which are
yet alive. Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not
yet been. who hath not seen the evil work
that is done unto the Son." He said it's better for the soul
who was never born. In order for that soul to be
a he, God had to cause a conception to take place, a life. Life happened. And he said the soul that was
created in the womb but never born is better for that soul. Now look with me at chapter 6. Verse 3 says, If a man beget
an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days
of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good. Now in just a minute we're about
to hear our Lord say there's none good but God. There is none
good but Jesus Christ, our God. So if he lives many years, and
his soul be not filled with Christ, and also that he have no burial,
if he was not buried with Christ, I say that an untimely birth,
a miscarriage, is better than him. It's better for a soul to
be miscarried than to have an entire life without Christ. Go with me over to Job 3. Job
3 verse 1 says, After this, opened Job his mouth
and cursed his day. And Job spake and said, let the
day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was
said, there is a man child conceived. Let that day be darkness. Let
not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon
it. Let darkness and the shadow of
death stain it. Let a cloud dwell upon it. Let
the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, let darkness
seize upon it. Let it not be joined unto the
days of the year. Let it not come into the number
of the months. Lo, let that night be solitary. Let no joyful voice come therein. Let them curse it, that curse
the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning, their sorrows.
Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark. Let it look
for light, but have none. Neither let it see the dawning
of the day, because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb,
nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost
when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent or
allow me Or why did the breast that I should suck, why was I
fed? For now should I have lain still
and been quiet. I should have slept. Then had
I been at rest, I would have been at rest. With kings and
counselors of the earth, which built deathly places for themselves. Or with princes that had gold
who filled their houses with silver. Or as in hidden untimely
birth, a miscarried birth, I had not been, as infants which never
saw light, there the wicked cease from troubling. And there the
weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together. They hear not the voice of the
oppressor. The small and the great are there,
and the servant is free from his master. Free. What he's saying
is right there, if I could just go be with God, right there,
captivity, all this captivity is led captive. Set free at perfect
peace and rest. Now look with me back at Ecclesiastes
4. Everything here is sorrow and
oppression. That's what he's saying. It's
all sorrow and oppression. So verse 4 he says, Again I considered
all travail and every right work, that for this a man is envied
of his neighbor, This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. If a man lives right throughout
his life, if he lives the way a man ought to live, if he tries
to live honestly, if he works hard, if he gains some things,
he is going to be envied for everything that he's accumulated.
But that's all he gets out of the deal. That's what he's saying. He's going to be envied of his
neighbor, and that's what man wants. I want you to envy me. That's part of the reason why
I want stuff. Number one, I want it because I want it. And number
one, I want it so you'll think good of me. And he's saying that's
all he gets. That's all he gets. Verse 5,
he says, The fool foldeth his hands together and eateth his
own flesh. The fool has nothing. This one
man's gained it all, but the fool has nothing. He does nothing. Whatever his hand finds to do,
he doesn't do it with all his might. The fool hath said in
his heart, there's no God. There's no point. The fool does
not press toward the mark. The fool does not come to Christ. The fool does not bow the knee. The fool doesn't do anything.
He doesn't do anything. Considering the fact that hell
is greater oppression than this world will ever know, the fool
does not cry out to God for mercy. He just folds his hands and eats
on his own flesh. What it means is his life is
consumed. with his own flesh. He's absolutely
consumed. He just folds his hands and he
just eats on his own flesh. He's just absolutely consumed
away with his own flesh, with himself. So here's what Solomon
has to say about it. Verse 6, better is a handful
with quietness. than both the hands full with
travail and vexation of spirit." Everything this world has to
offer is travail, vexation of spirit. Oppression is just terrible. And better is one hand full with
quietness than both the hands full with travail and vexation
of spirit. The one who has nothing. You
don't want to leave this world with nothing. You really don't. You don't want to leave this
world with nothing. The one who has nothing is a fool. The one
who tries to lay hold of everything his eye sees is going to be met
with travail and vexation of spirit. What he's getting at
is there is one thing needful. There's one thing needful. That's
the message of the entire book, isn't it? And our Lord keeps
telling us this through all of these prophets and all of these
apostles and all in himself. And maybe the Lord will let us
at some point get it, lay hold of it. There's one thing needful. Our Lord said the exact same
thing over in Matthew 16. Look with me over there at Matthew
16. Matthew 16 verse 26, our Lord said, for what is a
man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? What a question. What a question. Better is one handful. one handful
with quietness, the quietness and the peace and the rest of
Christ. What that's saying is take one
hand and lay hold of Christ. Knowing that we have been found
in Him, that's better than both the hands full trying to gain
this whole world. With travail and vexation of
spirit, if we don't believe that's so, just try to lay hold of it.
You start getting it. See if it doesn't come with travail,
vexation of spirit, losing our own soul over this oppressive,
wicked world. What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? Now I want us to see something
that every one of us needs to see. And the Lord, I thought
about this entire congregation, the Lord has blessed us with
children. I'm so thankful we have little children here. It's
a real blessing, it's a real encouragement to have the chaos
of these little kids running around here. And the Lord has
blessed us with some young adults here. What a blessing it is to
have young adults in this church. The Lord might send families
through these young adults. And the Lord has blessed us with
some experienced adults. Where would we kids and we young
adults be without the experience of men and women who have gone
through this world a little while? But whether we're going to embark
on this world one day down in the future or whether we're about
to step out into it, make some commitments, get involved in
life right now, ourself, or whether we've been in it for a while,
May God teach every single one of us this right here, this right
here. Solomon just told us that the
oppression of this world and the sorrow of this world and
the fact that there's no comfort in it, that's all we can expect
out of it. That is literally all we can expect out of it.
He told us and he's going to continue to tell us about the
emptiness of it, the emptiness of it. And trying to gain it
all, he said, it's just better to have one handful with quietness. Now, turn with me over to Mark
chapter 10. And I mean this. I pray the Lord
would let me get a hold of this. Pray the Lord would let all of
us get a hold of this. Now, Mark 10, this is our text. We're about to, in just a minute,
in our message, this is our text this morning. Mark 10, these
very verses. But this is the result of what Solomon is saying. One thing needful. And our Lord
is going to confirm to us that it is better to have this one
thing needful and to lose everything else, let it go, than to gain
everything and lose that one thing. And the one thing is Christ. The one thing is Christ. And
I tell you why I'm saying this. We are flesh, we are men and
women of the world, and we have the mindset that I've got to
go get it while I can. Time is wasting. Sickness is
coming, old age is coming, wrinkles are coming, decrepacy is coming.
I've got some strength right now. I'll deal with that later.
When I am old, I'll just sit in the pew. Right now, I've got
to go do this. Oh man, may the Lord show us
something right here. Here's the result, okay? Better
is a handful. Verse 28, then Peter began to
say unto him, said to the Lord, lo, we have left all and have
followed thee. You think about what he's saying
right there. We have left all. Some of you can enter into that. We've left the luxury of the
world. I could have had that. I could
have. But it just wasn't what it was
cracked up to be. The Lord put some repentance
in here. He changed my mind. Thank God. I could have gained
that. I could have been this. I was
offered a job out there. Peter said we have left all. He said, Lord, I had a boat with
nets. I just made the last payment
on it. I was finally about to start
making money, equity. And we walked away from it. And that's what they did. They
walked away from it. We've left all and followed you, verse 29,
and Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you." Now if
God says verily of a truth, You can bank on this. Sometimes somebody
will ask me something and I'll try to give them advice based
on what our Lord has said. And my flesh inside is saying,
I hope that's so. Let me tell you something. It's
so. It is so. If God says, verily,
he said, verily, I say to you, there is no man that hath left
house or brethren or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,
or children, or lands for my sake and the Gospels. But he
shall receive an hundredfold now in this time houses and brethren
and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and
in the world to come he's going to get eternal life. I literally
just can't afford to come right now. I have some bills and I
just can't afford to be there. Here's what God says. I would
come, but it's causing a lot of problems in my family. My
wife and I are just not getting along over this. Here's what
our Lord said, I would move to where the gospel is. I would
move to where there's a church where God has raised up a pastor
and he's put his word and he's put his name there, but my children
won't come. They're saying they want to stay
here. Here's what our God said. Anything that is walked away
from, anything that's given up for the sake of Christ and His
gospel. Laying hold of Christ and having
and hearing His gospel. He said, He shall receive a hundredfold
now in this time. Houses, brethren, sisters, mothers,
children, lands. Children in the gospel are all
of our children. They're all God's children, and
God just loans them to us. My children are not my children.
I call them my children. They're God's souls. They're
God's bodies. They're God's minds. They belong to God. These are
our children. They're all our children. Your
children are my children. I care about your children just
as much as I care about my children. There's a certain amount of flesh
that honestly prefers our own flesh, but I want God to save
our children. These are our children. And he
said, you will have all these things a hundredfold right now
and in the world to come. Eternal life. What he's saying
is you lay hold of that one handful. Better is one handful with the
quietness of God than trying to go after all these things.
It will not go well. It will not end well. Whatever a soul lets go of, the
Lord said, you honestly will not be letting go of anything.
It's all emptiness, it's all vanity, it's all oppression.
If you lose a sister, if you lose your sister over the gospel,
the Lord said, I'll give you a hundred sisters right now in
this lifetime. And it's true. It's true. Brothers, I've never had a brother
A hundred doesn't even come close. Doesn't even come close. If you
end up losing your house, if you do not have a bed to lay
down on because you've laid hold of Christ and you can't let him
go. Jacob, poor old Jacob, God said,
I'm about to break your hip if you don't let me go. And he said,
I will not let you go except you bless me. Just break it all. Break it all. Break me. If you lose your house, if you
don't have a bed to lay on, the Lord said, I'll give you a hundred
houses. And that's not a figure of speech. Let it be known that
there's a child of God who literally does not have a bed to lay on
tonight. No money for a hotel, no place, nowhere, nothing. And
you see how many brethren come running. This one's crying, you're
coming to my house. This one's crying, I got two
beds at my house. Honestly, if God took my house,
somebody take me in. Here's the conclusion of the
whole matter. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Our little children,
I want them to grow up and grow up and grow up here and seek
ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. You lay hold
of this one thing. And I want our young adults who
are about to get married, about to have families, and about to
get into careers, and about to do all these things to hear,
I don't care what the world says, and I don't care what your mind
deducts, you lay hold of this one thing and seek this one thing
first. And I want all of our aged adults
and experienced adults who've been through all this and now
said, I had a career. Buddy, it didn't turn out like
I thought it was going to turn out. Forget all that. Lay hold
of this one thing. It's better to have one hand
full. I mean full. And let everything
else go. Seek ye first the kingdom of
heaven and his righteousness, which is Christ. Everything else
will be taken care of. I promise. Everything else will
be taken care of. You'll have the one thing you
need to get you through the rest of this life and you'll have
the one thing you'll need for all eternity. You'll have it
all. You will have it all. Lay hold of Christ. Let's all
lay hold of Christ and let's let everything else go. Okay,
you're dismissed.