Good evening, everybody. It's
great to be here. Last time I was here, I told
you how long it had been since I was here. And I was going to
do the same thing. I was driving up here thinking
it has been too long. It's just too long. When I was
called to go to Kingsport and pastor, I had it in my mind I'll
go up and see dad three or four times a year and he'll come see
me three or four times a year. And what I didn't realize is
before I worked all week and had the weekend off. And now
I work all week and I work all weekend. And so it's just tough. But I'm thankful to be here and
I'm so glad to see each one of you. And I hope it's not as long
next time. It was a year ago, your conference.
That was the last time I was here. It's just too long. Turn
with me if you would to 1 Kings chapter 4. 1 Kings chapter 4. There is a man in the Scripture
that the Lord greatly blessed, greatly blessed him and used
him in the writing of His Word and
in the preaching of the Gospel. And that man's name is Solomon. Solomon, the Lord greatly blessed
him. And Solomon was a great man. He was truly a great man. And even though his natural greatness,
the things that God gave to him, the possessions that God gave
to him, and the authority that God gave to him, and the power
that God gave him, No king was like Solomon. No king. And no kingdom was like
Solomon's kingdom. No other kingdom. Right here
in 1 Kings 4 verse 22 says, And Solomon's provision for one
day, what Solomon set out on his table for one day for whoever
wanted to come eat, was 30 measures of fine flour and 3 score measures
of meal, 10 fat oxen and 20 oxen out of the pastures, and 100
sheep every single day. Can you imagine that? A hundred
sheep. Besides hearts and roebucks and
fallow deer and fatted fowl, For he had dominion over all
the region on this side of the river, from Typhsa even to Asa,
over all the kings on this side of the river, and he had peace
on all sides round about him." And Judah and Israel dwelt safely,
every man, under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan
even to Beersheba all the days of Solomon." That sounds wonderful,
doesn't it? And who is he picturing? And
what does that tell us? That's Christ. And that's what
life is going to be in His kingdom. Verse 26 says, Solomon had 40,000
stalls of horses. Can you imagine? Can you literally
visualize the barns, the roofs, for 40,000 stalls? 40,000 stalls
of horses for his chariots and 12,000 horsemen. And those officers provided victual
for King Solomon and for all that came unto King Solomon's
table. Every man in his month, they
lacked nothing. Barley also, and straw for the
horses, and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the
officers were, every man according to his charge." The natural greatness
of Solomon far exceeds anything that anybody will ever do or
ever attain. But even so, Solomon is a man
we can all relate to. He's a man we can all relate
to. He recorded his innermost thoughts and his innermost struggles
just like his father did, David. He wrote his heart. And the way
that Solomon viewed the world and the way that Solomon viewed
Christ is a way that every believer can relate to. Every single one. God gave Solomon the exact same
heart that He gives to every single one of His children. The
exact same heart. And as a type of Christ, that's
who Solomon is. As a type of Christ, God gave
Solomon something in greater measure than He's ever given
any other man. And that's wisdom. Wisdom. True wisdom. Look back
one chapter, chapter 3. Verse 5, In Gibeon the Lord appeared to
Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, Ask what I shall
give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast showed
unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he
walked before thee in truth and in righteousness, and in uprightness
of heart with thee. And thou hast kept for him this
great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his
throne as it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou
hast made thy servant king instead of David my father, and I am
but a little child. I know not how to go out or come
in." You know, if we're going to talk to the Lord our God,
that's the way we ought to talk to Him. He said, I'm a little
child. I don't know how. I don't know
how to go out. I don't know how to come in. Verse 8, He said,
Thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen,
a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an
understanding heart. I'm asking for a hearing heart. A heart that hears the people,
and a heart that hears you. When they come to me, Lord, give
me a heart that waits for your... just let me hear you, and then
let me give that to the people. Verse 9, Give therefore thy servant
an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern
between good and bad, for who is able to judge this thy so
great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord
that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because
thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long
life, neither hast thou asked riches for thyself, nor hath
asked the life of thine enemies, but has asked for thyself understanding
to discern judgment. Behold, I have done according
to thy words. Lo, I have given thee a wise
and an understanding heart, so that there was none like thee
before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that
which thou hast not asked, both riches and honors, so that there
shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days."
Now go back with me to chapter 4 and look at verse 29. And God gave Solomon wisdom and
understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even
as the sand that is on the seashore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled
the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all
the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men,
than Ethan the Ezraite, and Heman, and Calchol, and Darda, the sons
of Maol. And his fame was in all nations
round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs,
and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees,
from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon. That's the strongest
tree in the world. That's the greatest tree in the
world. And that's Christ. The cedar tree that's in Lebanon,
even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall. That's what
they used to dip in that blood and sprinkle on the mercy seat.
That's what Solomon talked about. He spake also of beasts and of
fowl and of creeping things and of fishes. And there came of
all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon from all kings of
the earth which had heard of his wisdom." Solomon was so wise. He was so wise. And therefore,
we would be wise. We would be so wise to listen
to the wisdom that God gave him. God gave Solomon some true, true
wisdom. And we would be wise to hear
it, just like all those kings who came to hear what he had
to say. Now God used him to pen three
of the books in this Bible. Three of the books. We're going
to look at the beginning of two of them. Ecclesiastes and Song
of Solomon. Those two books. And here is
the message that I want us to see tonight. This is what I want
us to get a hold of. This is what Solomon is going
to tell us. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon tells
us what life is without Christ. In Ecclesiastes. He's going to
tell us what life is without Christ. Don't you feel so sorry
for the souls that walk around this town without Christ? They probably have really good
jobs, but they don't have Christ. They don't have Christ. And He's
going to tell us what life is without Christ. And then in Song
of Solomon, he is going to tell us what life is with Christ. How full this life truly is in
union with Christ. Let's see if we can see this
in the beginning of these two books. Here's the title tonight.
Life without Christ and Life with Christ. Now turn with me
over to Ecclesiastes chapter 1. Ecclesiastes 1, verse 1 says,
the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Now here's what life is without
Christ. Verse 2 says, vanity of vanities
saith the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. It's all empty. It's all empty. It does not matter
what we attain. It does not matter what we attain.
It is all empty. It's all empty. Job said, naked
came I into this world. The Lord's given me three score
and ten. And what I'm going to do is I'm
going to spend all my energy, all my effort, all my time, all
my talents, gaining and getting and hoarding up Only to leave
it all and go back the same way I came in. Naked. Right? It's empty. It is vanity. It is nothing. The vanity of
this flesh, and that's why we do that. Mine. I want it. I'll take that. The vanity of
this flesh, is just a wasted existence. It is a ruined, wasted
existence. Verse 3 says, What profit hath
a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun? Without
Christ, all of our works are useless. They're useless. They are pointless. Without Christ. Our physical works don't matter. I don't believe I'm going to
leave a name for myself. It doesn't matter though. It does not matter. Our spiritual works won't help
us. They will not help us. Not at
all. Absolutely useless. Verse 4 says,
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh,
but the earth abideth forever. The earth keeps going, and this
one thing keeps happening. People just keep dying. They just keep dying, and it's
sad for a minute. And then we get over it. We move on. And then somebody else dies.
They just keep dying, they just keep dying, they just keep dying.
And the reason they do is because of sin. It's all because of sin. By sin, death came. Had sin not entered this world,
nobody would have ever died. Nobody. Verse 5 says, The sun
also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place
where he arose. That sun keeps coming up and
going down. The wind goeth toward the south and turneth about unto
the north, it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth
again according to his circuit." That wind blows around, we've
got a jet stream, and it goes right back to the same place
it started. Verse 7, "'All the rivers run into the sea, yet
the sea is not full. Unto the place from whence the
rivers come, thither they return again.' Nothing is satisfied."
The ocean is not satisfied. Nothing is satisfied. Without
Christ, there is no rest. There's no rest. Men rely on
works, you know, for their salvation, but they can't ever stop. There's
no end. There's no rest. Verse 8 says,
All things are full of labor. Man cannot utter it. The eye
is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be, and that
which is done is that which shall be done. There is no new thing
under the sun. Is there anything whereof it
may be said, See, this is new. It hath been already of old time
which was before us. There is no remembrance of former
things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that
are to come with those that shall come after." You all know that poem that John
Newton wrote. It says, when I turn my eyes
within, all is dark and vain and wild. That's all it is. That's all
it is. It has always been that way and
it will always be that way. It will always be that way. Every
time I look to myself, you know, the Lord saves a soul and then
that soul has a heart to obey Him. But every time I turn and
look right here, I'm just going to be disappointed. It's just
not there. This flesh doesn't have it. Verse
12 says, I, the preacher, was king over Israel and Jerusalem,
and I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning
all things that are done under heaven. This sore travail hath
God given to the sons of man to be exercised thereby. Life
without Christ is a sore travail. And that means an evil work.
That's all it is. Our Lord said, even the plowing
of the wicked is sin. It's even the plowing of the
field. It's just an evil work. Verse 14, I've seen all the works
that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and
vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot
be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. Without Christ, sin can never
be remedied. cannot, cannot be remedied. It cannot. That which is crooked
cannot be made straight. It cannot. That which is wanting,
lacking, it cannot be numbered. There's no hope. There is no
hope. Well, don't you think that if
I would change my ways? Nope. Don't you think if I would give
my heart to... Don't you all have a baptistry? I could get
baptized or something. No. No. Cannot. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? No man without Christ. No man
without Christ. Daniel told King Belshazzar,
thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. You just don't
stack up. And that'll be every soul that's
without Christ. Every single soul. Verse 16,
I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great
estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have
been before me in Jerusalem. Yea, my heart had great experience
of wisdom and knowledge, and I gave my heart to know wisdom
and to know madness and folly. I perceive that this also is
vexation of spirit, for in much wisdom is much grief, and he
that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." Everything about life
without Christ is absolute misery. It is absolute misery. It's sin,
it's death, it's emptiness, it's vanity. Life without Christ is
worthless. There's no value. Worthless. And it will only leave a man
or a woman ruined. Absolutely ruined. Alright, now
let's look at life with Christ. Don't you love when the page
turns? Time to turn the page? We preach
the truth in the gospel, don't we? That was the truth. Now here's
the gospel. Life with Christ. Turn with me
over to Song of Solomon chapter 1. We're only going to look at
the first four verses here in Song of Solomon chapter 1. Song of Solomon 1 verse 1 says,
The song of songs which is Solomon's. Now this right here is what life
is with Christ. Verse 2 says, Let him kiss me
with the kisses of his mouth. Have you ever been in love? Have you ever been in love? I mean true love. Middle school. You know what I'm talking about. Just hurting in love. The kind of love that you just
can't stop kissing. True love. Love that's overtaken
your heart. It's just all-consuming. You
can't wipe the smile off your face. Nothing could ruin me. That's what life is with Christ.
That's what life is with Christ. God made Adam and Eve and He
brought them together in a covenant of marriage. And He said, this
is what life with Christ is. The only reason that God ordained
marriage, the only reason was to show us what life with Christ
is. The only reason God ordained
marriage was to show us what life with Christ is. The only
reason God ordained marriage was to show us what life with
Christ is. Look at Genesis 24 with me. This is what life with Christ
is. This is Isaac and Rebekah. Abraham
sent his servant to go find Isaac a bride. And we know that story. And Rebecca
came and this servant told her all about this promised son. He told her all about Isaac. And she willingly went with this
servant. They asked her, will you go and
be the wife of this man? And she said, yes, I will. She
wanted to marry him. She wanted him. And verse 61 says, Genesis 24
verse 61, it says, And Rebekah arose in her damsels, and they
rode upon the camels, and followed the man. And the servant took
Rebekah and went his way. And Isaac came from the way of
the well, lay Hyrule, for he dwelt in the south country. And
Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the even tide, and
he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes,
and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said
unto the servant, What is this man that walketh in the field
to meet us? And the servant said, It is my
master. Therefore she took a veil and
covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all
things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his
mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife,
and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after
his mother's death." Why did God write all that down? Why
would He record that in His Word, this Holy Word? This God-inspired
word. It was to show us what life is
with Christ. That's the only reason. To show
us what life is with Christ. Look a couple of pages over at
Genesis 29. Genesis 29. This is what life
is with Christ. This is Jacob and Rachel. Verse
20 says, And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed
unto him but a few days for the love he had to her. Don't you
love that? He served seven hard years to
marry her, and they seemed like a few days. We call a few three. Two is a couple, a few is three.
They seemed like three days for the love he had to her. Do you know why Boaz redeemed
Ruth? Do you know why Boaz redeemed
Ruth? It's the exact same reason Hosea married Gomer. Love. Love. The very same reason. The fullness of love. Every one of those accounts in
this Word describe life with Christ. Every single one. Go
with me back to Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon chapter 1 verse
2 says, Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. How
does our Lord kiss us? He kisses us with His Word. He
kisses us with His Spirit. Every child of God has felt His
kiss. Every single child of God has
felt his kiss. Verse 2 says, Let him kiss me
with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine.
It's better than wine. Wine makes the heart glad, you
know that? But his love is better than wine.
Verse 3 says, Because of the savor of thy good ointments,
because of the savor of thy good ointments. Thy name is as ointment
poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee." The Apostle
Paul said, I have espoused you to one husband that I may present
you as a chaste virgin to Christ. That's why. Those who have been
espoused to Christ, every single one of them have smelled the
same sweet-smelling savor that God the Father smelled. When our Lord redeemed His people,
when He redeemed His bride, every single one has smelled the same
sweet savor of His sacrifice. Those who have truly heard His
name, truly heard His name, He's not just Jesus. He's the Lord
Jesus, isn't He? He is our Savior. He's not just the one who came
to show us the way. He's not just our example. He's
our Savior. He's our Redeemer. The one who
paid the price in full. His name is the Lord, our righteousness. His name is Emmanuel. God is
with us. God is with us. And all who are
joined into this loving union with Christ, they fall in love
with Him. They truly do. They fall in love with Him. This
is what every single one of His people cry. Every single bride
cries this. Verse 4 says, Draw me. Draw me. I can't come. I can't
come unless you draw me. Don't we say that? I'm so lifeless. I'm so dead. I know I'm dead. Would you talk to me? Would you just speak to me? Would you touch me? Draw me? Lord, you have loved me. You've
redeemed me. You've married me. Verse 4 says,
draw me. We will run after thee. Lord, if you'll draw us, we'll
come running. We will. If you draw us, we'll
come running. We'll come running, crying, draw
me nearer. Don't you love that song? I am
thine, O Lord. I have heard thy voice and it
told thy love to me. but I long to rise in the arms
of faith and be closer drawn to Thee." I believe you've called
me to yourself. Could I sit closer, please? Draw
me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast
died. Draw me nearer, nearer, Didn't
David say, I'm not going to be satisfied until I awake with
His lightness? Draw me nearer and nearer to
Thy precious bleeding side. Would you please pull me closer? That's our hope. That's our comfort. That's all our life, is that
He will draw us nearer to Himself. Verse 4 says, Draw me, we will
run after Thee. The King hath brought me into
His chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in
Thee. We will remember Thy love more
than wine." We'll remember Your love more than wine. What is
His love? All of His people say, Lord,
we're going to remember Your love more than wine. What is
His love? The King of kings. has said himself,
the greater than Solomon, said himself, greater love hath no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. Lay down his life for his friend.
We'll remember your love over everything that makes our heart
glad. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lays down his life for his friend. Look at
chapter 5. Song of Solomon chapter 5, verse 16 says, His mouth is most sweet, yea,
he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved and this is
my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. He's my friend. Life without
Christ is emptiness, it's vanity, it's death, it's waste, and it's
ruin. But life with Christ is love,
and it's peace, and it's joy, it's happiness, it's redemption,
it's acceptance, it's everything. It's everything. I'll tell you
what life with Christ is. It's heaven. It's heaven. Life with Christ is paradise. It's paradise. Back in chapter 1, Song of Solomon,
chapter 1, the end of verse 4 says, The upright love Thee. Those who have been made to be
upright. Lord, we acknowledge what we
are by nature. We acknowledge how we came into
this world. But you loved us. And you did something for us.
You made us upright. And we love you. Why? It's because you first loved
us. That's the only reason. Life
with Christ is a love affair. That's what it is. It's a love
affair. Those who have received His love
are going to spend eternity crying unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins,
washed away our emptiness, washed away all of our vanity and all
of our ruin in His own blood to our husband and our spouse. Be glory and dominion forever
and ever. Amen. That's what every single
soul in glory is going to say. Unto Him that loved us, be everything. Amen.