All right, let's open our Bibles
back to Ecclesiastes chapter 11. And I want you to find another
passage in the New Testament, Mark chapter 4. I want you to
turn there, too, because I'm going to read a few verses from
Mark chapter 4 in just a moment. Now, I've entitled this message,
Wisdom in Sharing the Wealth. Wisdom in Sharing the Wealth. Now, if you don't have a huge
bank account, and I don't, I'm still talking to you and to me. Because I want you to see tonight
that the wealth that I'm going to be talking about and sharing
is not money. It's not material goods. But
it's the wealth of God's grace that we have in Christ. It's
the salvation and the message of God's grace. What we have
here in Ecclesiastes 11, I believe essentially and ultimately is
a parable of evangelism. What is evangelism? Well, it's
spreading the gospel of God's grace forth. It's telling out
the message. and praying that god will use
it to his glory and the good of his people that sinners will
come to christ and every every true believer the church of the
living god should have a fervent zealous heart for evangelism
our purpose in coming together in this body of believers here
is not to form some kind of a tight knit community or circle that
people cannot get into unless they meet our standards and things
like that. You see, God brings his people
together through the preaching of the gospel and he keeps us
together and we're to have a heart and a desire to see sinners saved,
to see people come to believe Christ. We know this is our only
hope and it's the only hope for any any sinner that they come
to hear and believe the gospel of Christ. Now we cannot save
people. We cannot cause people to be
born again. But we have the responsibility
that God has given us in his word to go forth into all the
world and preach the gospel. Now God is responsible for the
results. And he says that here in Ecclesiastes
11. I'll show you that. But there's several reasons why
I take this approach to Ecclesiastes 11. First of all, Solomon's talking
about wisdom. And he's made it clear through
these chapters that worldly wisdom, the wisdom that'll get you by
in this life under the sun, is ultimately vanity. It's going
to go away. When you die, when the world
is destroyed, that's gone. And he points us, ultimately,
to a wisdom that is eternal. A wisdom that outlasts this life,
this earth. And that's the wisdom of God
in Christ, who is our wisdom. So that's the first reason. The
second reason is what the Bible states, what our Lord himself
stated in the book of John, chapter 5, when he spoke of the scriptures. Meaning at that time the Old
Testament and then ultimately the New Testament also when he
said in verse 39, he says, you do search the scriptures for
that in them you think you have eternal life. They are they which
testify of me. The Bible has a lot of moral
lessons. There's a moral lesson in this
chapter. For example, when most commentators and preachers go
to this passage here, cast thy bread upon the waters. You've
heard that statement. This is one of the few passages
in Ecclesiastes that you might be familiar with because that's
a familiar statement to a lot of people. It's used in a lot
of literature. Cast your bread upon the waters. It's like Ecclesiastes
3 when it talks about there is a time for every purpose. That's
one of the most familiar passages too. And when most preachers
and commentators go to that, they talk about generosity. We need to be generous with what
the Lord has blessed us with. And let me tell you something,
we do. I mean, there's no argument there. Paul told Timothy, in
1 Timothy chapter 6, He cautioned Timothy to tell those who are
rich in this world's goods, he says in chapter 6 and verse 18,
that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready
to distribute. Not stingy and selfish and miserly. He says willing to communicate.
That means willing to share. That's what that means. He says,
laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the
time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life. They're
to realize that everything they have is a gift from God. They're
to realize that it's not going to last, the things of this world.
That the important things are the things of eternity, the things
of Christ, the things of God's grace. So, there's no argument
here that those, we who have been blessed materially are to
be a generous, sharing people. And that's a moral lesson. but
i listen to me the book is more the bible is more than a book
of morality it's a book of christ And if you don't see Christ in
this book on every page, you're going to miss the main message.
That's what I believe Solomon is telling us, you see. Solomon
was a generous man. He was a wealthy man and he distributed,
but he realized that everything under the sun, everything on
this earth is temporary, fleeting, it's vanity. He even speaks of
youth that way. Speaks to the young people. And
he says youth is vanity. You know what that means? It
means that you're not always going to have it. It's going
to go away if the Lord lets you live long enough. That's just
the way it is. So don't live in that kind of a mindset that
keeps you from looking to the eternal matters. And so when
we speak of wisdom, this is a book of Christ. And then the third
reason I believe that we should take this approach to this parable,
that's what this is, this is a parable of evangelism, is that
he goes right back there in verse 9, he talks about the young man
rejoicing in his youth, and there's nothing wrong with that. Debbie and I were walking down,
I think we were up at the mall sometime, and she was talking
about all the young people up there, and she said, oh, youth.
And I said, yes, it's wasted on the young, and we all know
that. Youth is wasted on the young. Now, you young people,
you really haven't entered into what I mean by that, but you
will one day. And there's nothing wrong with you enjoying your
youth. I wished I would have enjoyed it more than I did, in
a good way now, in a right way. But here's what he says, he says,
but for all these things, God will bring thee into judgment.
And my friend, you know and I know that the only thing that will
hold us up at judgment is the grace of God in Christ, where
God says he's going to judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained and that he hath given assurance
unto all men and that he hath raised him from the dead. Our
only hope now and in judgment is to stand before God in Christ,
washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness. And that's
a message for young and old. We have no other hope. So this
is not just a morality tale or a morality parable. There is
morality here. Yes, be generous. Yes, be wise. Yes, make good use of the time
that God's given us. That's here too. But ultimately,
this is about Christ. And yes, we should share our
wealth in any way and opportunity that we have. and are given.
We should never be stingy or miserly. But the main thing that
we're to share as the people of God is the gospel of Christ. That's the main thing. Now look
at Mark chapter 4. He'd just spoken the parable
of the sower and the seed here. And I want to read these verses
because I believe they state out the same message that Solomon
is stating in Ecclesiastes 11 in sharing the wealth. wisdom
and sharing the wealth. Let's share the wealth. As one
fellow said one time, he said, when Christ told the disciples,
he said, I'm going to make you fishers of men, not keepers of
the aquarium. And I agree with that. Now, I
know that we're to be responsible for the edification of the church.
Don't get me wrong. We're to take care of one another,
love one another. We're to keep unity, the spirit
of unity and love and grace and growth. But we're not just here
to watch each other like an aquarium. We're not here just to have that
one little complete circle which we call our church. This is Christ's
church. It's not Bill Parker's church.
It's not Henry Mahan's church. It's Christ's church. And it's
built upon the rock Christ Jesus. And if we shirk in our desire
and zeal and responsibility to get this message out, then we're
going against the Word of God. We're not honoring God. Well,
that's what he says here in Mark chapter 4. Look at verse 21 of
Mark chapter 4. And he says in verse 21, and
he said to them, now again this is after the parable of the sower
and the seed, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, hidden
under a bush? Is the light there to be hidden
or under a bed and not to be set on a candlestick? For there's
nothing hid which shall not be manifested, neither was anything
kept secret but that it should come abroad. You see, if this
gospel is hidden, Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 4, it's hidden
to them that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not. We're not to hide it. I remember one time years ago,
a fella who was arguing with one of the members of the church
in Albany called us a cult. He says, you all are a cult.
And he didn't know what a cult was. But I told him this. I said,
well, I'll tell you one thing. I said, we're open and above
board to everybody. I don't care. Bring the TV cameras
in. We'll tell everybody what we
believe. I don't think for these people. I don't think for you.
And if you let me do your thinking for you, then you're wrong. This
is not a cult. This is a community of sinners
saved by the grace of God. And we're not hiding it. We're
not keeping it secret. We don't have codes. You know,
you hear these things about the Bible codes. The Bible is not
written in code. It's written in plain, simple
language that a little child can understand. But the natural
man will not receive the things of the Spirit of God. Neither
can he know them because they're spiritually discerned. He doesn't
want them. I'll never forget when I first began to really
listen to Brother Mayhem preach, I knew exactly what he was saying.
I just didn't want anything to do with it. And that was my problem.
That was my sin, you see. That was my depravity. And then
one day God got my attention by His sovereign power and grace
and goodness and brought me to Christ. And that's the way it
happens. So we're not hiding anything
here. He says there's nothing hid which shall not be manifest,
nothing kept in secret, but that it should come abroad, spread
it out. That's what Ecclesiastes 11 is
about. Verse 23 of Mark 4. If any man have ears to hear,
let him hear. Any man. Anyone. Somebody said,
Somebody asked me a while back, said, if so-and-so asked you
to come and preach, would you go preach? I said, well, of course
I would. I don't have any choice in that matter. If God opens
the door, am I, as a preacher of the Gospel, not to walk through
it? Any Gospel preacher who refuses to go where he's asked to come
and preach the Gospel, and I'm going to tell you something,
at best, he's just in error. Sad error. Preach it abroad. I'd like to stand at the Vatican
and preach the gospel. How about you? If they ask me
to come, I may get one time. But I'd love to do it. And not
just to beat people over that, to tell them of God's grace and
the freedom and the liberty that's in Christ instead of that bondage
of legalism. You see what I'm saying? And
then he says in verse 24, and he said to them, take heed what
you hear. With what measure you meet, it shall be measured to
you and unto you that here shall more be given. Somebody says,
practice what you preach. Okay, I preach salvation for
sinners by the grace of God in Christ. And he says in verse
25, For he that hath, to him shall be given, and he that hath
not, from him shall be taken, even that which he hath. What
I believe he's showing there is that the person who doesn't
have a heart of evangelism doesn't really believe what he claims
he believes. And then he says in verse 26, he says, Solomon's
gonna deal with that too. He says, For the earth bringeth
forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, and
then after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit
is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because
the harvest is come. And he said, Whereinto shall
I liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall
we compare it? It's like a grain of mustard
seed, small beginnings. which when it is sown in the
earth is less than all the seeds that be in the earth. But when
it is sown, it groweth up and becometh greater than all the
herbs, and shooteth out great branches, so that the fowls of
the air may lodge under the shadow of it." Now go back to Ecclesiastes
11. That right there, I believe,
is a good commentary. that the Holy Spirit gave in
Mark 4 of Ecclesiastes 11. It starts off with bread. Well,
think about it this way. Christ is the bread of life,
isn't He? Read about Him in John chapter 6 sometimes. The bread
is all our sustenance. Bread back then represented that
which man needs, but that which God provides to meet all his
needs. Everything you need is right
here. Just like if you had a certain type of bread that could give
you all the protein and all the vitamins and all the minerals
that you need to sustain physical life. This is the bread that
we need to save us and to sustain spiritual life. Christ, He said,
I am that bread of life. Just like, He said, just like
God gave through Moses, manna in the desert and they ate and
they were filled and it sustained them. He said, God sends bread
from heaven. He said, I am that bread of life.
That manna was a type of Christ. And he says, cast thy bread upon
the waters. That means tell sinners of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Spread the message. Share the
wealth. Don't keep it to yourself. Be
like Jeremiah. Jeremiah got frustrated. You
remember about him, how he had so much opposition from false
preachers, accusations. You know what? You know, we get
so down and out sometimes about our situation, about people coming
against us saying all manner of... That's nothing new. All
of God's preachers, all of God's people have had to suffer like
that throughout. Haven't they? I was watching
a program the other day and talking about brothers that were arguing
and somebody said, well, brothers don't murder brothers. And I
said, the first murder was brother against brother. The very first
one. Cain killed Abel. Over what? Over the gospel. Over how God
accepts a sinner. Abel had the bread of life, and
he proved that when he brought the blood of the Lamb, saying,
I'm a sinner, I have no hope but the promised seed of woman. And Cain brought the best efforts
of his hands and his work, the sweat of his brow, and he was
rejected. Cast thy bread upon the waters.
That word cast also means to send out. It doesn't mean just
to haul out. It means to send out. As to send
it in ships across the sea to other countries. Christ the bread
of life and the abundance of eternal life. All the righteousness
you need. you'll find in Him. And my friend,
you need it and I need it. All the wisdom you need, you'll
find in Him. All the holiness you need, you'll
find in Him. All the redemption you need,
you'll find in Him. All the forgiveness you need,
you'll find in Him. All the life you need, you'll
find in Him. What an abundance! Cast thy bread
upon the waters, he says there in verse 1. Waters may speak
of a well-watered field whereupon the bread or the seed which grows
and from which bread is made will produce life and abundance. And it could also refer to the
oceans, meaning the nations all over the world divided by the
waters. And he says, cast it upon the surface of the waters,
the face of the waters. That's what it literally means.
We preach the gospel so that men can hear it physically and
mentally on the surface. But only God can make it effectual
to the heart. That's right, and we'll see that
in just a moment. But he says in verse 1 there,
he says, for thou shalt find it after many days. You know
what he's saying there, I believe? He said, don't ever think, you
know, don't ever think that it will not accomplish the purpose
for which God sends it. I think about Stephen in Acts
chapter 7 when he stood up and preached and there wasn't one
convert. Nobody walked the aisle. Well,
I guess you could say they walked the aisle, but they had rocks
to throw at him on the way up. And it seemed like it was fruitless.
But there was a man in that audience named Saul of Tarsus, and at
the time Stephen preached his message, and of course Stephen
told him the truth. He told him that you cannot be
saved by your works, it's by the grace of God and all your
efforts to make yourself righteous before God are evil deeds. And
they got upset. and they wanted to kill him.
But there was a man in that audience named Saul of Tarsus, and he
even held the coats of those who picked up the rocks to kill
that precious preacher of the gospel, that precious messenger
who was casting the bread upon the waters. Stephen, were you a failure? Absolutely not. I don't know
how many later on out of that crowd was saved, but I know Saul
of Tarsus was saved on the road to Damascus and became a great
evangelist and a great apostle whom God used to write over half
the New Testament. Was Stephen's message fruitless?
No. It was found after many days. I don't know how many days, but
it was found. cast your bread upon the waters.
Look at verse 2 he says give a portion to seven and also to
eight for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.
I love that this numbering here because you know in the Bible
number is a symbol of perfection or completeness and eight is
the number of new beginnings. That was the day upon the eighth
day. That's why Christ rose on the eighth day. That's why the
male children in Israel were circumcised the eighth day. It
signified, that picture of the new birth signified new beginnings. But what I believe he's saying
here is we're to preach and we're to witness and we're to share
the gospel of Christ to all. And Christ is going to bring
his people to himself. It's going to be a complete salvation. It's going to be a new beginning
for everyone he brings to himself. And he says, for thou knowest
not what evil shall be upon the earth. That evil there, I believe,
is referring to the calamities and disasters and death that
come upon man and destroy his substance. In other words, there's
no eternal hope. There's no salvation in this
earth. You don't even know the day of
your death. You don't know when you may be abundantly wealthy
in material things today, and it'll be gone tomorrow. But now
I've got something that you'll never lose. And that's the bread
of life. That's the salvation that God
provides. Here in the next few verses,
listen to this. He says, if the clouds be full
of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth. The cloud that's
full of rain, it doesn't have that rain in it by God's power
and providence just to be a full cloud and stay up there so that
you can admire it and look at it. It has a purpose. And that
purpose is to water the earth, you see. We've been needing rain
around here. We got some last night. We need more. We need
a steady rain, don't we? Don't need those storms. But
you see, the farmer, when he looks up and he sees his ground
all parched and he looks up and he sees that cloud full of rain,
what's he expecting? He's expecting the rain to come
down and water his field so that the crop will grow. If the cloud
would just pass over and hold the rain, what is it? He's disappointed.
The farmer's disappointed. And that's what he's teaching
here. He says in verse 3, and if the tree fall toward the south
and toward the north in the place where the tree falleth there,
it shall be. Now, that sounds like he's saying whatever shall
be, shall be. Well, that's true. What he's
saying here is this. We're not going to change God's
purpose. God's plan. God works all things after the
purpose of his own will, after the counsel of his own will.
We're not to walk around here even in our sharing the gospel
as if we're going to change things and if it all depends on us.
Where the tree falls in the forest, if it falls to the north, you
know what? That's where it stays. Falls to the south, it stays
there. But God's in control of it all. And God's gonna work
his sovereign will and his purpose. What are we to do? We're to do
whatever God says to do. I've heard people say, well,
if I believe what you all believe, I wouldn't go preach. God's gonna
do what? Let me tell you something. You know why we go preach? Because
God said to. And that ought to be enough.
Ought to be enough for anyone. It shouldn't. If God said to
do it, you do it. He told Ezekiel in a vision,
he said, there's a valley of dry bones down there, Ezekiel.
Go preach to those dead, dry bones. Son of man, can these
bones live? Only you know, God. I don't know. I can't give them life. But God
can. Had a primitive Baptist tell
me one time, he said, well, we can't preach the gospel to dead
sinners. That'd be like going out and watering a dead lawn. And I told him, I said, let me
tell you something, fella. God is able to give life to that
dead lawn. And he's able to give life to
dead sinners. And if he tells me to go preach
to a bunch of dead, dry bones, then I'm gonna do it. Why? Does it make sense to me? It
doesn't matter if it makes sense to me. Does God have to have
me to do it? No. God does what he will. He, listen, nobody can question
him or compare him, but here's what he says, for my glory, you
go preach the gospel. And that's what he does. And
look at verse four. He says, he that observeth the
wind. He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth
the clouds shall not reap. It's not enough just to sit around
looking at the cloud and looking at the wind and admiring it and
even feeling the good effects of it. Just watching and waiting
for signs or what we perceive as the right time, that won't
bear fruit. Go preach the gospel. You know, somebody said this,
the world is full of things over which we have no control. That's an understatement if I
ever heard one. The world is full of things over
which we have no control. The older I get, do we have control
over anything? Ultimately, no. But I know this,
whatever God's will and purpose is, it's going to be accomplished.
And that ought to be a comfort to all of us in everything we
do, even in preaching the gospel. We're to obey God's revealed
will by way of commandment and go into all the world and preach
the gospel. Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things belong to God,
the revealed things belong to us. He talks about sowing and
reaping here. He says in verse five, look at
this. And I want you to compare this, turn to John chapter three.
And I want you to see how this is so much like what Christ told
Nicodemus about the new birth. Turn to John chapter three and
then keep your finger there at Ecclesiastes 11 and verse five. And I want to read verse five
and then we'll read John chapter three. But listen to this. This is a good exercise in comparing
scripture with scripture here. Let me read Ecclesiastes 11,
five. Now listen, he says, as thou
knowest not what is the way of the Spirit. Now you could say
we could say that as much of the Holy Spirit himself. Where
he's going to go. What he's going to do. But now
the word spirit there is the same as the wind. We don't know
the way of the wind. You don't know which way it's
going to blow. You don't know how fast, how strong it's going
to blow. You know, I thought about this one, when Christ,
when he's speaking to the Pharisees, and he was exposing them for
their false doctrine. which was the way of self-righteous,
works-oriented religion. He told him, he said, you know,
you can discern the signs in the sky. And I think it was that
same kind of little poem that we were taught as children. You
know, red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning,
sailors take one. It was that kind of thing. And
what he simply told him, he said, well, you can watch the elements
and you can make a fairly good judgment about what the weather's
going to be like, but ultimately you don't know. I mean, how many
times have we seen the weather report one day and it's totally
different? the way it comes. But here's what he told them.
Basically, he says, you're better weathermen than you are theologians.
You can hit it right on the weather a whole lot better than you can
on this thing about a relationship with God because you're trying
to be saved by your works and that's not going to fit. That's
not going to make it. It's just not going to go. So
he says, as thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit
or the wind, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that
is with child. We know something about the birth
process and all of that, but ultimately we're ignorant of
this thing. And he says, even so thou knowest
not the works of God who maketh all. Well, look at John chapter
three, verse three. Here's Nicodemus, a rabbi. Nicodemus,
the Pharisee. Nicodemus, the member of the
Sanhedrin. And he came to Christ by night,
and he said, nobody could do the things you do if he weren't
sent from God. And Jesus answered him and said unto him, verse
3, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Seeing there meaning understanding
and knowing it savingly. Nicodemus saith unto him, how
can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Now what's the problem
there? Nicodemus's mind was on earthly things, not spiritual
things. Now that's the way it is with
most religious people. Minds on earthly things and not
spiritual things. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Well, verse five, Jesus answered,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water
and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
He's talking about the new birth there. You must be born again.
And he says in verse six, that which is born of the flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of the spirit, meaning the Holy
Spirit, is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh. That's the same thing Solomon is saying in Ecclesiastes
11 5. And whether it goes, so is everyone that is born of the
Spirit. Now go back to John chapter 1.
Now we preach the gospel. As far as I can tell in the scripture,
there's two elements, two things that are necessary in the salvation
of a sinner to bring a sinner to be born again by the Spirit.
Number one, obviously, is the power and work of the Holy Spirit,
who gives life, imparts life and knowledge and faith, which
is the gift of God. And number two is the Word, begotten
again by the Word of Truth. Well, look at John 1 and verse
11, talking about the Lord. It says, he came unto his own,
and his own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power." That word power is not ability there,
that's the right or privilege to become the sons of God. Even
to them that believe on his name. And he says, which were born
not of blood. In other words, it wasn't by
natural generation. That which is flesh, born of
the flesh is flesh. Nor the will of the flesh. It
wasn't by their free will decision that they were born again. Nor
the will of man, it wasn't by the will of other men, but it's
by the power and will of God. Now Solomon, back here in Ecclesiastes
11, this is what he's saying. God makes all. A sinner saved
by the grace of God is the creation of God, not of man. And look
at verse six, now he uses the seed. The seed, think of that
as the gospel going forth, just like in the parable of the sower
and the seed. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening
withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not whether shall
prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be
alike good. What's the key to that? You just sow the seed. God will bring about the results.
It'll accomplish whatever purpose God sends it forth to accomplish.
You sow the seed. You say, well, I didn't get much
of a response. Maybe I better change my message.
Oh, no. Now that is the philosophy of
modern day false evangelism right there. If you don't get results,
if you don't get them walking down the aisle and get them in
the baptistry, if you can't count the heads that come down on Sunday,
on Monday, if you can't count them, then change your message.
Lighten it up. Make it more palatable. No, you
just sow the seed. Cast your bread upon the waters.
Now look at verse seven. He says, truly the light is sweet
and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. Now
what he's saying is, in light of this, this life that we have,
we have it for a very short time. And in the gospel, it's a sweet
time. There are some bitter times too.
And it's a pleasant thing for us to wake up in the morning
and behold the sunshine. That's all. And so what he's
saying here is use this time wisely. Don't waste it. Redeem
the time, Paul told the church at Ephesus. Look at verse eight.
But if a man live many years and rejoice in them all. If you
live a lot of years, full years, and on the whole you have nothing
but good times, I mean, that's a rare thing. Yet let him remember
the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh
is vanity. This life is not it. It's not
going to last. So use it wisely for the glory
of God. Sow the seed. And then he goes
to youth. And he's going to continue that
in the next chapter. But let's read these two verses here. Verse
9. Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth. You young people, rejoice
in your youth. And let thy heart cheer thee
in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thine heart.
Now he's not talking about evil there. What he's talking about
is the enjoyment of the things of youth while they are young,
the good things. Your energy. You've got a lot
more energy than we old people have. Your mind's clearer. You're
like a sponge. Learn all that you can learn. And even in listening to the
gospel, use that. Enjoy the company of other people. All of these things that you're
able to do that you won't be able to do in your old age. And
that's what he means. He said, in the sight of thine
eyes, but know this, young people, that for all these things, God
will bring thee into judgment. There's still a judgment to face.
And as I said at the beginning, the only way for you or me or
anyone to stand that judgment is to be found in Christ. Not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of
God, which is by faith. I must have Christ. And then
he says in verse 10, therefore remove sorrow, that's anger.
You don't have to spend your time being an angry young person. Some do. We know a lot of angry
young people, don't we? The angst of youth, they call
it. It's really the foolishness. Remove anger from thine heart
and put away evil from thy flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity.
It's not gonna last if the Lord's pleased to take you out of this
world or if the Lord's pleased to leave you. Youth is not gonna
last, it's vanity. And so God sets the standard
for what is truly meaningful. and truly eternal. Judgment is
coming. Cast your bread upon the waters.
Sow your seed. Pray for the salvation of sinners.
Pray for the salvation of our young people. That's why we have
you here. That's why your mom and dad brings
you to church. It's not just to make you mad.
It's not just to make you do something that you may not want
to do because you've got better things to do. It's because they
love you and are concerned for your soul. Because youth ain't
gonna last. Judgment's coming. Christ is
our only hope. Isn't that right? Okay, let's.