Ecclesiastes chapter 1. I forgot to turn this on. You remember that we are going
through these books. We're trying to preach or teach
what our Lord did on that road to Emmaus. And it says, I'll
remind you what he said, he says, all things must be fulfilled
written in the law of Moses. That's five books. And then the
prophets and the Psalms. It's like those five loaves and
two fish. This is what he feeds us on. And the next book is Ecclesiastes. The word Ecclesiastes, you'll
see at the title, means preacher. Verse 1 begins the words of the
preacher. You notice preacher is capitalized. That's never so in God's Word
unless it applies to Christ. No, there's no titles in front
of any man's name. You won't find prophet in front
of the man's name, especially capitalized, The Prophet or Apostle. It's only capitalized when it
applies to Christ. Hebrews 3, He is The Apostle,
capital A, and High Priest, capital H, capital P. These are not the
words of Solomon, but rather the words of Christ. Notice preacher
is capitalized and king is not. Solomon was a preacher first
and then king. And you notice the emphasis where
our Lord puts the emphasis, which position or which office, which
man is more important? The preacher or the President
of the United States? The preacher. That's what God's
Word says. The world is foolish. Believe
me, I know the two occupations that most men are the most corrupt
and deceitful today is preacher and lawyer. And they're the cause
of all the ills in our society. They really are. But now, God
has not left himself without a true witness. And we need a
preacher. How shall they hear without a
preacher? Now, that's what God said. The
world calls it foolishness. And the longer it goes, these
last days, this is just going to be done away with. Okay. But
not in God's purpose. Okay. The preacher. Preaching. What does he preach?
God's Word. The Gospel. Paul said, Woe is
unto me if I preach not the Gospel. So this book is God's Word through
a preacher. Preacher, King, Christ is both,
Preacher, King. The Word of God through, and
He's called the Son of David, verse 1. Son of David, King in
Jerusalem. What a description of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He came to preach, He was born
King, He was the Son of David, declared to be the Son, with
power, Son of God, and King. King of the Jews. All right,
Ecclesiastes, this whole book, most of you have read it, we've
gone through it together, is the book of life. From chapter
1 through chapter 12, it gives us the meaning of life. The whole
book is all that we go through in this life. This life. All that we accumulate. Okay? Everything that we do, all of
this around us, everything in this world, it tells it briefly
in this book. And look at verse 2. Vanity of
vanities. It begins that way. It begins
that way. Vanity of vanity. And so does
our life here on this earth. Vanity. We come forth from the
womb speaking lies. Believing lies. The God of this world. tempts the flesh and people with
lies, telling us that this is all there is, and this is happiness,
and this is life. No, it's not. This book begins
with Vanity of Vanity, speaks of the vanity of this life. Vanity
means unsatisfactory, means unfulfilling. Men, women, young people try
to accumulate, get things to fulfill them, to fill up this
need, they think, their wants, their desires for happiness and
for joy and for peace and for security and for contentment.
And they think the things of this world are going to give
them that. No way. It's vanity. Why? Because you
lose it all. Then what? And no matter what it is, people,
things, we lose it all. Peter said in his letter, he
said, seeing, 2 Peter, the last chapter, seeing that all these
things shall be dissolved. what manner of persons we ought
to be. Meaning, what should we really be looking into? Now here's
what this book says about life. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Right? Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and The life. So this book is all about Jesus
Christ. Advantage of this world. Wisdom. Solomon writes and speaks of
wisdom 25 times, I believe it is. I wrote it down somewhere. 25 times. And in the Proverbs. How many times in the Proverbs?
Wisdom. And you know. Those of you who know the Son,
see, this is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom God sent to give us life. Life that doesn't end. Life more
abundant. It's not vanity. No, it's not
vanity at all. It's life. Satisfying. Everything in this life, Solomon
had everything a man or a woman or a young person thinks that
they need and want. He had everything that a human
being wants, that he thinks he needs, she needs to make them
happy. Everything that money can buy. And money can't buy happiness. No, no. But he said in verse
8, look at verse 8, all things are full of labor, man can't
utter it, But the eye is not satisfied with seeing, the ear
filled with hearing. In other words, you work all
your life for things and it's never enough. It just won't fill
you. You know, you get hungry, we
all get hungry and thirsty and then we, this big plate of this
big table full of food, and you look at the look, whoa, you know,
and you just eat it up until you say, oh, I'm satisfied. I'm full. I can't take in one
more thing. I'm happy. How long has that left? It was
out in the draft. Y'all know what that is. And
then you're hungry all over again. And that's his word. And Solomon
got his full fill of it, he thought, tried to fill himself up. He
said, it won't fill, it won't fulfill, it won't. And Solomon
searched for wisdom, the answer of wisdom. What is wisdom? Who
is wisdom? Who knows? That's the title of
this message. But first, let me say something to the young
people here. I wish every one of them were here, but no, I'm
not. Chapter 5, go over to Chapter
5 with me. And old people. What's old? I don't know now. I don't know. Maybe 80, 90. But I still feel like I'll be
18 years old. Because my fleshly appetites
have not changed. I still foolishly try to fulfill
this flesh, and it just won't do it. When are we going to learn? Chapter 5, verse 18. Look at
it, everybody, young and old. Behold, that which I have seen
is good. It is comely for one to eat, to drink, to enjoy the
good of all his labor. He taketh under the sun all the
days of his life. This is what God gives. It's
his portion. Every man to whom God has given
riches and wealth given power to eat thereof, take his portion,
rejoice in his love. This is a gift of God. God gives
us all things richly to enjoy. God made everything. Marriage. Nothing wrong with marriage.
In fact, everything right with it in the Lord. You're going
to have trouble in the flesh, especially if you you don't know
the Lord, and they don't know the Lord, and neither one of
you know the Lord. You have trouble in the flesh, and you don't know
if that marriage is going to last. But in the Lord now, it's
good. Our Lord says it's not good for
a man to be alone. It's not good for a woman to be alone. So he
made marriage. Marriage is a good thing. And
the Lord. Having a home and children. You know what the first thing
the Lord told The man and woman multiply, have children. Aren't they enjoyable? Grandchildren
are better. So it was such a blessing, but I can't imagine having a wayward,
rebellious child. I didn't have to go through that.
I can't imagine. The heartache. But that's us. Our Heavenly Father. Isn't that wonderful? But children and houses and lands. houses and lands and things and
possessions. Nothing wrong with these things.
Our Lord gives us these things. To enjoy, there's no evil in
things. Our Lord created things. There's
no evil in things. It's evil to not thank God for
these things. It's evil not to acknowledge
God in all these things. It's evil when you care more
about these things than you do the one who gave them. It's evil. It's not evil to have
possessions. It's evil when they possess you. When you give yourselves to things.
Ecclesiastes 11. Go over there real quickly. Ecclesiastes
11, verse 9. Rejoice, O young man, in thy
youth, that thy heart cheer thee. Chapter 12, verse 1. But remember
now, right now. Remember now, right now, the
days of thy youth, for the evil days come not. Our Lord said,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in his Sermon on the Mount, said, Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these
things will be added to you. Because if you know Christ, if
you have Christ, you have it all, you really do. If you have
Christ, you know Christ. You know what? If you know Christ,
you will enjoy things more than you would if you didn't have
Him. If you see these things as a
gift, that you don't deserve them, and He gives them to you
anyway, bountifully, you'll appreciate Like that woman just wanted some
crumbs from our Lord's table. She thought, I don't deserve
crumbs, but if you just give me some crumbs, you'd be so good
to me. Our Lord never gives crumbs to His dogs, never. You don't
either. I knew a man who took his dog,
his wife had died and his dog was all he had at home, his only
companion. Every morning, You knew this
man. He was down in Victory Chapel. He took his dog to McDonald's
every morning. And he got him a Big Mac and
he got his dog a Big Mac every morning. Our Lord doesn't give crumbs. But when you see how undeserving
you are, if you're the prodigal son, if you're that wayward child
and the Lord brings you back, I don't deserve anything but
wrath, but oh my, you've been so good. The goodness of God
leads you to repent. I mean, you children, y'all are
getting to be a young adult, but I'm a little child. If the Lord allows you to grow
up and be married and have children, you're going to look back And you're going to curse yourself
for being so unthankful and ungrateful to your parents. It's such a
hardship. Right? Every one of these parents
admit that. The grief I put my parents through.
Unimaginable. And that's us with our Heavenly
Father. Some of you went 40 or 50 years
before you knew the Lord. That was in His purpose, but
still. Man, that's a long time to thumb your nose at God and
Him not... That's it. Oh, He's so merciful. So, remember now. Our Lord said,
Seek ye first. And if you know Christ, you'll
enjoy these things more, seeing them as a gift. And you'll wisely
use them. He won't abuse them. And you'll not want so much. You shouldn't. And you'll realize
what you really need. Having food and rain, you'll
be more content. And if you have Christ, if you
lose everything, you lose nothing. Paul said,
I've suffered the loss of all things, but it just went out
in the draft. It's going out in the draft anyway.
The Lord just took it away from me. Job said, The Lord gave it,
and the Lord taketh it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job said, I know my redeemer
liveth, and I'm getting ahead of myself. This is... But Job
said, Though he slay me, I'll trust him. Our Lord said this, What shall
it profit a man if he gain the whole world? And what? Lose his soul. The soul is what
man's trying to fulfill. Inner man is what man is trying
to fulfill. And he can't do it with things.
Only can do it with God. Man in the garden didn't have
any of these things. He had food. He didn't even have
rainbows. He had food. And it wasn't to live on. He
didn't live on that food. He lived on God. He was happy. She was happy. Had the Lord,
had each other, they were happy. Didn't need anything, didn't
have any of these things. When the Son of God came to this
earth, he's the blessed man, he's the happy man. He had none
of these things. None of them. He didn't have
a house. He was a homeless man. Was he? Was he homeless? He had a home waiting around.
He just left there for us people. That's his people. Oh, man. So, what does it profit to gain
the whole world? You really haven't gained anything. To live is to know Christ. To die is what? Gain. It's then, oh, joy unspeakable.
All right, here's the question running throughout this book.
Look at chapter 6. Here's the question. It just jumped out
at me. Who? Who can tell us? Chapter 6, look at it. Verse
11, seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is
man the better? Who knoweth what's good for a
man? Who can tell us? Chapter 8, who's as a wise man
that knows all this? Look at verse 12. Though a sinner
do evil a hundred times a day to be prolonged, surely I know
it will be well with them that fear God. Verse 13, Not be well
with the wicked. And down in verse 16, he said,
When I apply my heart to wisdom, see all that's done on the earth.
Verse 17, Behold all the work, no man can find out the work
that's done under heaven. So he says, who can tell us?
Is there anybody? All through this book he keeps,
is there anyone can tell us the truth? Who really knows? Is there a wise man who can tell
us the meaning of life? Is there a God? Is there life
after this? What is life all about? Is there
anyone? Who? Who? Remember? Remember the story about the owl? The wise
owl? Why is the owl wise? You ask
him anything, he says, hmm. Any questions? Okay, go with me to Chapter 3. Go to Chapter 3. Does anyone know what this is
all about? Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Robin Kelly. Chapter 3, all right? And throughout
chapter 3, he talks about God's purpose. You have it? She needs her oxygen. It's okay. Okay, she's okay. All right.
Chapter three begins this way. You with me? You with me? Chapter
three. So everything is a season, a
time, every purpose under heaven. Everything, scripture says, God
does everything on purpose. Are you with me? For something
to have a purpose, it means there's got to be someone who made it. Are you with me? Okay. She's
okay. For there to be a purpose, someone
has to make that purpose, decree that purpose. If there's no purpose,
there's chaos. Things just happen randomly.
There's no rhyme or reason to anything. It's what will be,
will be. Okay? But if there's purpose, there
has to be a person who made that purpose. And the thing that opened
my father's blind eyes, and my mother's, at about the same time,
Romans 8, that preacher, preacher, preacher, told that young free
will Baptist preacher, didn't know God, didn't know Christ,
said, stand up and quote Romans 8, 28. And he stood up. He said, for we know all things
work together for good for them to love God. And he sat down.
And that's religion for you, isn't it? That's all they think
about. God loves us all and has a wonderful plan. He doesn't
say plan. Plans can change. We make our
plans and they're probably going to change. And he sat down, and
Barnard said, you didn't quote all of it, son. Stand up. And he stood up. Now this time,
he's real nervous, my dad, 22, 23 years old. For we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, who
are called according to His purpose." And when he said that, Barnard
screamed at the top of his lung. Purpose. Purpose. God does all
things on purpose. When you find out who God is,
you'll know the purpose of all things. There's no purpose to our existence. Unless we know God, unless we
know Christ. He goes on to talk about the
time to be born, time to die. Who does that? Who's a giver
of life? How does life start? Time to
die. Who takes life? What takes life?
God said, Christ said, I kill. I make the life. Time to kill,
time to weep, time to laugh, time to get, time to lose, time
to rent, time to love, time to hate. Everything is a purpose. Who's
doing all of this? Who knows? You may die very soon. I may die. You may have in you
right now what is going, the Lord sent to take your life. Yes, that's what makes what I'm
saying right now the most important thing you'll ever hear. This
really is a message of life or death. It really is. Young people
died too. My best friend, 15 years old, I carried his dead
body out of a room. And I was supposed to be with
him at the time. I carried his dead body in my arm. Dead. Now what? Now what? All right, you live
70, 80 or 90 years, go like that. Now what? They might tell us, is this all
on purpose? Who kills, who makes alive, who
wounds, who heals? Now go to the book of Job. Long
before this book, long before Solomon, Moses said, in Psalm
90, he said, we might live 70 years, we might live 80. He said,
oh, that we were wise. He said, teach us to number our
days that we might apply our hearts unto wisdom. What's wisdom? Christ is wisdom. And long before Moses, Job, the
book of Job 14, go there with me, Job 14. Long before Moses,
Job is the oldest book in the Bible. And Job, all through this
chapter, asks, if a man dies, will he live again? Oh, my, I
don't want to read the whole chapter. Man, verse 1, is born
of a woman who is a few days and full of trouble. He comes
forth like a flower, and then he's gone. And verse 3, does
God even think about such a woman? How can God bring a clean thing
out of an unclean sinner? A whole world full of sinners
against God, and God's going to be done with it all someday. There's a judgment to pay. That's
what this book's in. Days are determined. The number
of our months, verse 5, are with the Lord. That's not fatalism.
That's the truth. And he goes on to say, man dies,
verse 10, and wastes away. Man gives up to go. Where is
it? Who can tell us? If a man dies, shall he live
again? Who can tell us? Well, Job, long before Christ
came, said in chapter 19, I know this, my Redeemer liveth, and
He's going to stand on this earth at the latter days, the giver
of life, the sustainer of life, the giver of all things. The
Creator walked this creation. Came down here to give life to
dead sinners. Now, this is old-fashioned. This
is what you hear every single Sunday, don't you? This is the
meaning of life. We're dead. Until we have life
and cry. Ephesians 1. Let's go over here. Who can tell us? And we keep
quoting 1 John 5.20, don't we? Why? Because it's just so. The Son of God has come and given
us an understanding that we might know the true God. Him is true.
We're in Him. This is the true God and eternal
life. Ephesians 1. Did you turn there?
Do you ever get tired of turning there? I don't. The Lord gave me life through
Ephesians 1 and 2 and 3. Romans 9. Ephesians 1, see the one who
wrote, made this world, wrote this book. And this book's about
Him. And He came to earth. Jesus Christ,
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, the Creator. The world
was made by Him. The world knew Him not. But He
said, His own know Him, because He reveals Himself to. And look
at Ephesians 1, verse 9. Verse 9 says, He's made known
unto us Not everyone, but us, the mystery of His will according
to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself. What is
it? Verse 10, that in this dispensation
of the fullness of time, when everything's done, when this
world is wrapped up like a vesture and thrown away, when all these
things be dissolved, our Lord Jesus Christ is going to gather
together all His elect, all His people in Christ, in one, and
a great gathering, verse 10, gathered together in one all
things in Christ in heaven and in earth, even in him, to a new kingdom, a new heaven,
and a new earth. And the former things won't even
be remembered. The story of the children of
Israel in Egypt. Children of Israel and Egypt
is the story of all God's people in this world. They're in a pit. Psalm 107, we're going to read
that. You notice how many times I talk
about the pit. Job 34, the pit. People were in a pit. They didn't
know it. For a while they were enjoying it, but the Lord sent
hard taskmasters. The Lord made them realize they
were in bondage. The Lord made them realize, I'm in a pit. I
want out. And the Lord came to take them
out. He said, I've come down to bring
them out of the pit, to bring them up into the land. The whole book's about that.
Look at verse 18 of Ephesians 1. It says, Oh, that the eyes
of your understanding would be enlightened, that you may know
what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory
of His inheritance and saints is, exceeding greatness of His
power to us who believe according to the work of His might and
power. You know what it takes for God to turn the eyes of a
flesh and blood human being that turned their eyes toward Him
and turned their eyes away from these things, you know what it
takes? A new birth. It takes power. It takes the
power of God. A new birth. 1 Corinthians 15, and I close
with this. 1 Corinthians 15. The book of
Ecclesiastes begins with vanity, it ends with vanity, and it ends
in chapter 12 by saying, here's the conclusion, fear God. Well, God was manifest in the
flesh. Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15, and this chapter
sums it all up, doesn't it? The gospel. Are you with me? We began with vanity. All right,
I want you to look at this. 1 Corinthians 15, look at verse
16. If the dead don't rise and Christ
is not raised, if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. What
we're doing is foolish. We need to be out there in the
world. If that's all there is, we need to be out there getting
it. If this is all there is to get, then we need to get it.
Because, you know, the dead don't enjoy this. That's what Solomon
said. Let's get it. But the proverb says, with all
you're getting, get understanding, get wisdom. And look at verse
18. And they also which fell asleep
in Christ are perished. were believers in all their lives,
they trusted the Lord, believed Christ, and believed God, and
believed this book, believed God's Word, and they died that
way. They're just dead as a dog. That whole life was useless, wasted. The Lord says wisdom
knows the opposite is true. That a life lived just for things
is wasted. Read on. Verse 19, if in this life only
we have hope in Christ, we're of all men most miserable. But now, I love the buts in the
Bible, don't you? Verse 20, but now is Christ risen
from the dead? Yes, he is. He said in Revelation
1, for everybody to read the beginning of Revelation, I'm
alive. I was dead, but I'm alive. I live forever. I'm the first. I'm the last. I'm the beginning.
I'm the end. I'm the way. I'm the truth. I'm the life.
You don't have me, you don't have life. I am life, he said. So he said, look at verse 21,
since by man came death, by man came the resurrection of the
dead, and Adam all died. Here's the meaning of life. In
Christ, alive, made alive, made alive. You don't accept life,
you don't choose life, you don't decide to have life, you made
life in Christ. You who are dead and trespasses
in, have to be quickened and put where? In Him, alive. He talks about order, verse 23,
every man in his own order. It's going to be our time one
of these days. Pleasest is seven. Seven, perfection. One, death
is better than birth. A good name better than Norman.
Death better than birth. Solomon, what do you mean by
that? I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ in me. Every man in his own order. It's
going to come our time. Who decided that? Who purposed
that? God did. And as your bounds are set, the
number of your days with the Lord, you can't pass it. You
can't pass it. You'll be glad you didn't. My
dear old mom thinks, why can't I go? The world doesn't want
to ever go. The world doesn't want to ever
leave this place. Paul said, I have a desire to depart. And
what do I want? Be with the Lord, which is far
better. He said to live is Christ, but
to die is what? Gain. Stay here. Say, I don't understand. Well, if
you put you in Christ, Christ in you, you will. You will. Verse 51, I'll show you a mystery.
I'll show you a mystery. Scripture talks about the mystery
of Christ, the mystery of the gospel. Good news. The world
thinks death is the worst news you can ever hear. I'll show you a mystery. We shall
not all sleep, but we shall all be chained in a moment in the
twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, and trumpets shall sound. Yes, it will. The dead shall
be raised incorruptible. We shall be changed. This corruptible
must put on incorruption. Got to get old. Got to die. Got
to, if it goes 70 or 80 years. This mortal will put on immortality. When this mortal and this corruptible
have put on incorruption, verse 54. Are you reading it with me?
You just might shout at the end of it. This mortal will put on
immortality. Then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, death Death, the worst thing man thinks
can happen, is swatted up! Victory! Christ came to give
the light of the knowledge that brought immortality and life
to life! Death is not death, it's life!
Oh, death! You know what Henry Mahan said? Henry Sword said? Oh death, where's
our victory? What Joe Park said. Sting of death is sin, you see.
Strength of sin is the law. Well, who's going to deliver
us from this? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, He gave
us the victory over death. Read on, last verse. Verse 58,
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable. Always
abounding in this right here, what we're doing. Why? For as
much as you know, your labor is not in vain. This is not a vain thing, Moses
said to the people right before they went in to go in a promised
land. This is life. It's vain. Everything. Name something, I'll tell you
just how vanity it is. Right? Who can tell us the Son
of God has come and given us an understanding? He said, He
that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe
that? Oh, and I tell all of us, like
the young and old, seek the Lord while He may be found.