For our last speaker this weekend,
Pastor Marvin Stoniker, Katie Baptist Church. Marvin, we're
looking forward to hearing what the Lord's given you. I pray
the Lord bless you and bring the message he's given you. It has been such a joy to be
with you. I thank the Lord that He's given
me a heart to want to be here. I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes. I want to look I'm going to just
touch on the verses of this chapter, make a comment on each one, Lord
willing, and I want to read a verse of scripture out of this, and
it's the conclusion. It's the conclusion of what the
Spirit of God moved upon Solomon to say concerning this chapter. And then I want to look, go back
at the beginning and I want to find out how did he come to that
conclusion? Then I want to look at the conclusion
again. Here's the conclusion, Ecclesiastes
2.24. There's nothing better for a
man that he should eat drink, that he should make his soul
enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw that it was from
the hand of God. Nothing better, nothing better.
And that a man should be able to rejoice in the fruit of his
labor. Well, this man, and I want you
to turn with me to 2nd Chronicles. Hold your place in Ecclesiastes.
Turn back to 2nd Chronicles, chapter 1. 2nd Chronicles, chapter
1. And I want us to read what the
Lord did for this man Solomon. a real blessing that God bestowed
upon this man, Solomon. The scripture says in 2 Chronicles
1, 7, it says, In that night did God appear unto Solomon and
said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said unto
God, Thou hast showed great mercy unto David my father, and hast
made me to reign in his stead. Now, O Lord God, let thy promise
unto David my father be established. For thou hast made me king over
a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. Give me now
wisdom and knowledge that I may go out and come in before this
people for who can judge this thy people that is so great.
And God said to Solomon, because this was in thine heart and thou
hast not asked riches wealth, honor, nor the life of thine
enemies. Neither hast thou asked long
life, but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou
mayest judge my people over whom I have made thee king. Wisdom
and knowledge is granted unto thee, and I will give thee riches
and wealth and honor such as none of the kings have had that
have been before thee. Neither shall there any after
thee have the like. God blessed this man with wisdom. Wisdom. He said, because you
didn't ask for the life of your enemies, I'm going to give you
what you didn't ask for. I'm going to give you what you
asked for. I'm going to give you also what you didn't ask
for. I'm going to give you wisdom. Well, the wisdom that the Lord
gave this man was wisdom that came at a great price. It cost him something to be able
to possess the wisdom given from above to realize some things. Solomon said back in Ecclesiastes,
Chapter 2. After he had come to the conclusion,
nothing better for a man that he should eat and drink, that
he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. Now let me
tell you what God proved to him by wisdom. That without the Lord,
you can do nothing. And God was going to show this
man just how frail Man is. And God did it through giving
this man wisdom. He said there's nothing better,
nothing better, than to enjoy the fruit of a man's labor. Nothing
better than that. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes
chapter 2 and verse 1, knowing, knowing what the Lord had taught
him, that nothing better, nothing better, He said, I said in mine
heart, go to now, I will prove thee with mirth. Enjoyment, pleasure. Therefore, enjoy pleasure and
behold, this also is vanity. Solomon resolved to seek by wisdom. Understand something. He is going
to experience something. by the wisdom of God. Now this
is not a man that's going through some things, an unbeliever that's,
you know, he's setting his heart and his affection on things of
this world and his pleasure is just etc. No, he's doing this
through wisdom. He resolved by wisdom. to find out if he could enjoy
the fruit of his labor. And he's going to do it through
a way that he's going to make himself just happy through entertainment,
vacation. You know, we get to a point,
Frank, but you know, not you yet, me, I am. I'm getting to
a point, I'm getting old. And you know, you start thinking,
you say, well, I'm, you know, Somewhere along the line, I'm
going to have to consider the possibility that maybe I'm not
going to be continuing to do this just through my mental,
you know. And you kind of start thinking,
well, maybe, you know, that like he's saying right here, I'd set
my heart to prove by pleasure, vanity. He said, that's vanity. I realize it's vanity. But here's
what he's going to do. I want to see, he said, what
it's like just to have a time where I can take it easy. You
know, it's, Bruce, you guys know, any of you that's preached, I
mean, it's a labor of love. I want to be in that study and
I want to get, and you wake up in the morning. I woke up, I'm
going to just share this with you. I woke up this morning. preaching this, this message
in my mind. I had it in my mind. I had my
phone off to the right here and I couldn't reach it. I had to
get out of the bed to touch my phone, see what time it was.
And I had, I'd gone through this thing and I was, you know, going,
getting points and everything. And finally I thought, it must
be getting close to five. I got to get up, you know. 318. I thought,
oh my. This is something, it's a labor. Your heart is, you want to be
obedient, you want to be respectful. These are God's people. You want
to be here. He said, I was going to have
a time when I could just try to satisfy the longing of pleasure
that was not seeking vanity, but to be able
to have A vacation. And I'm going to find out if
I can just have a perpetual vacation. I'd like to do some things. He
said, I said in my heart, go to now. I'll prove thee with
mirth, with pleasure. And behold, he said. That's empty. Empty. Verse two, I said of laughter,
it's mad and of mirth, what what? do with this. He concluded that
laughter, it mocked him, mocked him. Mirth, that continual pursuit
of merriment and pleasure at the expense of the responsibility,
he said it's a treacherous delusion. And there's nothing wrong, there's
nothing wrong with having a little time of relaxation and rest.
I look so forward. Linda and I like to go every
once in a while. We go up the Amish country. Y'all ever do that?
Go up there around Sugar Creek area and stuff like that. We
love that. Do the same thing, Bruce, every time. Go to the
same places, eat at the same restaurants, order the same thing.
I like it. I'm so excited to go. And I get
there, and we do that. And I'm telling you, the next
morning, I get up, I'm ready to go home. It wasn't, it just,
you know, I thought this will satisfy me. Verse 3, I sought
in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine
heart with wisdom, and to lay hold and folly till I might see
what was that good for the sons of men which they should do unto
the heavens all the days of their life. It was merriment, a banqueting. to be able to get together and
just have... We had a great time yesterday.
You know, we did. We got together. And he said,
I wanted to see within the bounds of wisdom. Notice what he said
there. I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine banqueting,
yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom. He knew. He knew. It wasn't out of control. He said, I sought to I enjoy
eating. I enjoy a nice steak. I enjoy eating. But he said,
I wanted to set my heart on that which would be pleasurable for
the rest of my life. He said in verse 4 to 6, I made
me great works. I built me houses. I planted
me vineyards. I made me gardens and orchards. I planted trees in them of all
kinds of fruits. I made me pools of water to water
wherewith the wood that bringeth forth trees. He said, I made
these great works. All of his works were great,
is what he was saying. He did what he did with zeal. He didn't do anything halfway. And what he did was according
to his ability. to wealth and nothing was spared
because of expense, he said, I'm going to create a paradise. Paradise. I'll tell you what
my mind went to. If y'all have ever gone to the Biltmore in
Asheville, Mr. Vanderbilt built, I mean, just
a fabulous, if you've been there, I mean, it's just unbelievable. And I mean, I enjoy antiques. I like to see that stuff. And I just, I enjoy going through
there. I've only gone one time. You
know, I couldn't afford it. But I just, oh, it was so wonderful,
the architecture. And I thought, this is, and he
died a young man. I just, you know, and I thought,
This is what Solomon said. He said, I made these... I mean,
the works that he did were great works. He didn't cut any corners. He said in verse 7, I got me
servants and maidens. I had servants born in my house.
Also, I had great possessions of great and small cattle above
all that were in Jerusalem before me. He said everything he built
had to be maintained. This stuff doesn't keep itself. And so he bought servants along
with those that were born into his house to attend his works. And the daily provision for his
household was no problem. He had magnificent possessions. He said, I had great and small
cattle. He had beef, he had sheep, he
had goats above. All that came before him in Jerusalem.
I had it all. Then he said in verse 8, I gathered
me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and
of the provinces. I gat me men singers and women
singers and the delights and sons of men as musical instruments
and that of all sorts. He had tributary money. That's
what he said. I gathered me silver and gold. And I had treasures that were
treasures to Kings. I mean, it wasn't, you know,
I've got some little things, little trinkets and this, that
and the other, you know, but he said, I've got those things
that Kings saw as being magnificent. And he said, I got all of this
stuff together and he had He had money. He had tributary money. I want you to hold your place
there. Turn to 1 Kings 10. 1 Kings chapter 10. And he said, I gathered me also
silver and gold. Well, let me show you how much
he gathered. 1 Kings 10.14. 1 Kings 10.14.
Now the weight. of gold that came to Solomon
in one year was 603 score and six talents of gold. Now, I looked that up and I mean,
you've got some discrepancies on, this one says this was a
talent and this one said this was a talent, but the general
consensus was what he brought in in a year was 25 tons of gold. Twenty-five tons. I don't know what gold was then,
but I, I mean it, what is it, eighteen hundred, nineteen hundred
dollars an ounce? Twenty-five tons. I told somebody,
I took my phone and I tried to compute that. Frank, I, I didn't
even understand the number. It was a strange number that
came 25 tons, he said, I gathered me silver, gold, peculiar treasure
of kings. And he did this according to
wisdom. If money increases, treasures
increase, don't set your heart on it. He did this, Bruce, according
to the wisdom of God. It wasn't that he was out of
control. And he had choirs. men and women,
the likes of the sons of men, concerning these musical instruments.
He said in verse 9 and 10, So I was great and increased more
than all they that were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom
remained with me. I mean, this man, he's speaking
with a man whose mind has been made under control, Aaron, by
God. He said, my wisdom remained with
me. 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. This was my
portion of all my labor. He said, I was enjoying what
I was doing, but I was doing it according to the wisdom of
God. The things that he sought after,
he was going to be used of God to prove a point concerning things
and mess and stuff. He said in verse 11, Then I looked
on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor
that I had labor to do, and behold, all vanity and vexation of spirit,
and there was no profit under the Son. He, by the wisdom of God, not
out of control, not by a settled heart, made so by God's grace,
he was taught the reality of the foolishness of pursuing things
that we think are going to give us pleasure in this world. We think, I've got this. When I was in college, I had
a man, I took some art classes and I had a man that wanted me
to letter his boat. He had a boat, he had kind of
a yacht looking thing. And he came over to the art department
and he was going to get somebody to, you know, to letter the name
of his boat. And this is what he wanted on
that boat, the cat's meow. The cat's meow. And you know,
this is what we think by nature. I got this. I got this, you know,
I got this little 14-foot bateau boat, you know. But if I could
get me, you know, a nice bass boat with a nice Evan Rood on
it, that'd be the cat's meow. Solomon looked at this and he
said, I looked, verse 11, all the works at my hands at raw,
the labor, I'd labor. And he said it was empty. It
was just empty. 12 to 16, I turned myself to
behold wisdom and madness, folly. But what can a man do that cometh
after the king? even that which hath been already
done. Then I saw that wisdom excelleth
folly, as far as light excelleth darkness. The wise man's eyes
are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And I myself
perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. Then I said in my heart, is it
happeneth to the fools or it happeneth even to me? And why
was I then more wise than I said in my heart? Vanity for there's
no remembrance of the wise more than the fool forever Seeing
that which now is in the days to come shall be all Forgotten
and how dieth the wise man as the fool is what he said. He
said I've come to the realization of something I've got I've got
all of this God has by his grace mercy power He's maintained in
my heart, in my soul, which I ask Him for. I ask Him for wisdom. I'm asking you for wisdom. And
God said, I'm going to give it to you. I'm going to give you
all these other things too. But I'm going to give you wisdom.
And that's why I said a while ago, through that wisdom, by
the wisdom of God, God showed him something. And He maintained
that wisdom to see A man without Christ, he goes through all this
earth right here and he gets all this stuff. I think if I
just had me a better this, and he's blind to the end of it. Solomon knew it. He saw by wisdom. He said, I see that I've tried
it. I've done it. And he said, I
know it's better to be wise than foolish. You know, wisdom excels
folly as far as light excels darkness. It's better for a man
to have some integrity going through this world like a fool.
I understand that. But he said, when it's all said
and done, this is what it's coming to. Look back here in verse 15. Then said I in my heart, as it
happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me. And why
was I then more wise? I said, in my heart, this is
vanity. He had that latter part of verse
16. He said, how dieth the wise man? Just like the fool. Scripture says in verse 17. Therefore,
I hated life. Because the work that is wrought
under the sun is grievous unto me. For all is vanity and vexation
of spirit. He said that he hated life, not
in the sense of hating that which the Lord had graciously given
him, but he said, I hated what this life in this world promises,
and it can't give. He hated what the world promised. It's vanity. He said, he hated
what he couldn't satisfy, couldn't give, peace. What do you hate? He said, there's no solid happiness. He said in 18 to 23, yea, I hated
all my labor which I'd taken under the sun because I should
leave it unto the man that shall be after me. And who knoweth
whether he shall be a wise man or fool, yet shall he have rule
over all my labor wherein I've labored, wherein I've showed
myself wise under the sun? This is vanity. Therefore I went
about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took
under the sun. For there is a man whose labor
is in wisdom and knowledge and equity, yet to a man that hath
not labored therein, shall he leave it for his portion? This
also is vanity, a great evil. For what man hath of all his
labor, all the vexation of his heart, wherewith he's labored
under the sun for all his days are sorrows, and his travail
grief, yea, his heart taketh no rest in the night? This also
is vanity. He said, here's where I've come. I've had it all. God's given
me everything that this world could possibly afford. I got
money to burn. I mean, come on now, 25 tons
of gold is a lot of gold. He said, I've got it. I've got
it. I can afford it. I've bought
it. I've built it. Now, I've come
to this conclusion. I'm going to die. I'm going to
die. How does a wise man die? Just
like the fool. He's going to die just like the
fool. And he said, what's going to
happen? He said, I'm going to end up leaving all this stuff
that I've, through wisdom, attained. And I've been able to see it.
I've seen that it's vanity. Saying that it didn't give me
anything. And what's going to happen is,
what if it goes to somebody that has no wisdom? Now what are they
going to do with it? It's going to be nothing to them
but a distraction? He said here, the latter part
of that last verse, verse 23. All his days are sorrows, Travail
is grief, his heart taketh no rest in the night. Have you ever
noticed that things are always worse at night? He'd wake up
during the night and he's thinking, I can't even relax for worrying
about what's going to happen to all this. This has done nothing
but cause me grief and pain. Now he's come back to the conclusion.
Verse 24. He said. There is nothing better
for a man than that he should eat and drink and that he should
make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw that it
was from the hand of God. Here's. Here's the conclusion. With man to behold the good and
to find pleasure in the work of his labor. It'll never happen
with man. It happened one time, one time,
one time. Solomon concluded that there
is but one man whose soul truly rejoiced. in the work of His
labor. And it was the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, He said,
My meat, My heart, is to do the will of Him that sent Me and
finish the work. And the Father rejoiced in the
work of His hand. This is my beloved son and whom I'm well pleased. You
hear him, you hear him. One man, one man rejoiced in
the fruit of his labor and at Calvary in the rejoicing of the
work of his hands, his labor. He said, It is finished. It's finished. Solomon said, verse 25, for who
can eat? Who else can hasten hereto more
than I? He said, I've done it all. I've done it all. And for all
of us here, this man, it cost this man grave grief. to learn. We all enjoy. There's some things
we enjoy. We do. We enjoy. We enjoy some
labor work. You got a garden or something.
You want to go out there and work. That's good. That's good.
Enjoy the fruit. Eat it. Enjoy it. And rejoice
in it. But don't set your heart on it.
We're going to die, just like everybody. Everybody is going
to die. One man. The scripture says,
verse 26, God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom
and knowledge and joy, but to the center he giveth travail
to gather and to heap up that he may give to him that's good
before God. This also is vanity and vexation
of spirit. There's there's one. There's
one pleasure. realizing that the Lord Jesus
Christ and his labor, made flesh, came into this world to save
his people from their sins. His labor bore all of their guilt,
what you said, took all of their guilt, laid down his life. This is his labor, his labor. I lay down my life for the sheep.
laid down his life and bore their guilt before God Almighty and
paid their debt before the broken law of God. And he rejoiced. God giveth to a man that's good
in his sight wisdom, knowledge. Three things we have the wisdom. We have Christ, who is the wisdom
of God. First John 5.12 said, He that
hath the Son hath life. He that hath the Son. What about
all this other stuff? It's vanity. It's vanity. Secondly, God gives him knowledge. Knowledge is a treasure. Knowledge to know something about
me, first of all. Who I am. Paul said in Romans
7, 18, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good, I find not. God giveth a man wisdom, gives
him knowledge, Knowledge to know something about salvation. Let
me tell you, you want to know a treasure? Listen to this treasure. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
a treasure. That's a treasure. Knowledge to know something who
God is. Nebuchadnezzar stepped out on
the balcony one night and overlooked Babylon. And he said, look at
this great Babylon that I built. Man, look what I have done. And
God took his mind from him. Put him out to pasture for seven
years. And God was pleased to give his
mind back. Listen to this treasure. He doeth as he will in the army
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And nobody, nobody
stays the same. That's a treasure. That's a treasure.
That car out there, it's rusting already. Here's treasure. Wisdom. Wisdom. Knowledge. Knowledge. And then joy. Joy. Romans 14.7 says this, for the
kingdom of God is not made in drink, but righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. You'll know a treasure being
found in Him. You'll know a treasure that I
might know Him. Paul wrote in Philippians 3.3,
for we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Don
Fortner told me one time, we were talking about being called
of God. He said, Marvin, he said, do
everything in the world you possibly can to the glory of God. Be as kind as you can. Be as
helpful as you can. And don't put one ounce of confidence
in anything you do. That's a treasure. Solomon said,
I tried it all. By wisdom, I had it all. And he said, I came to this conclusion.
There's one treasure, the Lord Jesus Christ, that I may know
him and be found in him. not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, the righteousness by faith. I pray God bless this. I've enjoyed being with you.
Pray the Lord bless us all for Christ's sake. Amen. Frank. Hadn't this been a great weekend?
I was thinking while Marvin was preaching, you know why it's
been such a good weekend? We've been enabled to feast on the
good of the labor of Christ our Savior. We've been able to feast
on his labor of redemption for his people. Our sins forgiven
in his blood. It's all because of what he did.
We've been able to rejoice in the work he's done in his people,
giving us a heart to believe him, faith to believe him. We'd
just been feasting on all his labor. We hadn't done a thing.
We just come here, like Janet says, like little baby birds,
and open our mouth. And the Lord fed us, didn't he? That's what's
made it so good. Bruce and Marvin, I'll tell you
the same thing I told Todd before he left. You remember, we started
this meeting. I said, I didn't invite these
men to come here and preach because they're my friends. I invited
them to come here and preach. Because God has made them gifted,
faithful preachers of the gospel of God's dear son. I sure am
glad you're my friends. I sure am glad. Oh, I thank God
for you. And you know what's really special?
Everybody might not realize this. But Wednesday night, these men,
they're going to be home, Lord willing, standing in their pulpit.
And they're going to treat that message they preach Wednesday
night just as serious as they did both these here this weekend.
And I pray God bless you. God's given you his sheep to
preach to, to feed. I pray God bless you richly as
you go back home. I can't wait till we see one
another again. All right, we're going to have a meal afterwards.
You know the drill by now. Before Sean comes and leads us
in singing a closing hymn, let's bow together in prayer and give
thanks. Our Father, oh, how we thank
you. How we thank you for your mercy
and your grace to your people. How we thank you for your love
to your people that sinful men and women such as we are can
bow before your throne of grace crying, Abba, Father, that we
can call the God of heaven and earth our Father. How we thank
you for your love that moved you to send your son to be the
propitiation for our sins. How we thank you that you've
sent the gospel of your son to us, and that you've given us
faith to believe him. How we thank you for this weekend
that you've blessed us with the gospel of your dear son. Father,
we're so thankful. Oh, we don't deserve the least
of thy mercies by how merciful you've been to us. Father, I
thank you, and pray that you'd cause your word, as we've heard
it preached this weekend, to take root in our heart, that
we might be grounded and settled into faith, believing in, trusting
in, resting in our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us see your glory,
we pray. Take your word as it's been preached
to reveal to each heart here the redemptive glory of Christ
our Savior. Father, we thank you for this
food that we're about to enjoy, this time of fellowship. And
Father, we pray your traveling mercies on those who have to
travel back home. Father, bless your people. Give
them traveling mercies. Bless us as we begin another
week. Bless us again to be able to
meet together again once again on Wednesday, one more time.
Oh, if you'd be, if you're pleased to, Terry, give us one more opportunity
to hear your gospel preached again. It's in the precious name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's for his sake and his glory
we pray. Amen. All right, Sean can lead
us in a closing here.