Alright, Ecclesiastes chapter
9. And as I said in the reading,
I took my title from verse 4 of these first six verses. Living dogs and dead lions. And of course, you're going to
see as we go through these verses that the living dogs are symbolic
of sinners saved by the grace of God, who have life in Christ. Those who we know our frame,
we know what we are by nature, and that is dogs. We're born
dead dogs, and Christ gives us life. We'll see more of that
later. And the dead lions are symbolic
of the proud, self-righteous who come before God seeking His
blessings and favors, seeking salvation by their works, by
their own goodness, by their own power. And so we'll see that. But what this chapter actually
deals with is the reality of death, physical death. That's what he's dealing with.
Now, there is the reality of spiritual death, too. We're all
born dead in trespasses and sins. And God is pleased to give his
people spiritual life, eternal life in Christ. That verse in
Romans chapter eight that speaks this way, that the The body is
dead because of sin. That's the physical body. And
that's what Solomon is majoring on here in this passage when
he deals with that one event that comes to all. The one event
is death. Even the righteous have to face
it. And even the wicked have to face it. So it's one event
unto all. That death that we must die.
But the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And that righteousness
is not the righteousness of men, it's the righteousness of Christ
that is freely given to God's people, imputed to us, charged
to us. But what he's talking about in
chapter 9 here is how we, in the wisdom of God, the wisdom
that God gives us in Christ, who is our life, how he teaches
us to face death. And so let me just give you two
points here. The first three verses speaks
of the universal judgment of death. Death is the result of
sin. Even the physical death is the
result of sin. You remember when God gave Adam
the commandments of that covenant that he entered into with Adam,
I believe it was a covenant before the fall, where he forbid Adam
to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And he said,
in the day that you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. Literally,
it goes this way. In the day that you eat thereof,
dying, thou shalt die. Now, Adam didn't die physically
immediately. But the process started. But
he did die spiritually. And that's proven in the way
that he reacted to thoughts in the presence of God. He ran from
God. He hid from God. And he tried
to cover his shame. his nakedness with his own works,
big leaf aprons. And we'll see that in just a
moment, too. But that's the universal judgment of death that is upon
all men. And I'm careful to say this because I've been called
on a couple of times to say, well, now those who are alive
when Christ comes back, they won't have to die physical death.
And I believe they will. Now, it won't be like what we
go through, but it'll be in 1 Corinthians 15, what is called that change.
You see, this corruptible, that you see before you must do what? Must put on end corruption. And
so this body's got to go. And that's physical death. That's
what that's all about. I don't know how to describe
all the intricacies of that change that those who are alive at the
time Christ comes back goes through, but it'll be the equivalent of
physical death. I've often said it this way,
I say, I hope we're all not going to stay eternally in these bodies.
The body of this death, that's what Paul called it in Romans
7. But the judgment of death is
upon all. So that's a universal judgment. But in verses 4 through
6 of this chapter, chapter 9, he gives us the hope of the living. The hope of the living. And that's
where he says, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. Now,
there is an application there to physical life, but the greater
application is to spiritual life in Christ. And we'll see that.
So let's look at this universal judgment of death. In the first
three verses, listen to what he says now. He says in verse
1, For all this I considered in my heart, even to declare
all this. Now, he's talking about what
he's about to say, but it's based upon what's been said before
concerning God's providence and how we can't figure it out. We
see things that look unjust to us. Sometimes justice gets its
due here on this earth. A lot of times it doesn't, and
we don't know why. We don't know why God does this
in the providence of His sovereignty in one life and in the next.
Why does righteous Abel get killed and wicked Cain live on and have
many children? We don't know why, but God has
a purpose for it. God is sovereign. God knows what's
best. God never makes a mistake. Everything
is for His glory and the good of His people, whether we live
to be 30 or we live to be 300. It doesn't matter in that realm.
God has a purpose and we're in the hands of God. And so he says,
for all this I considered in my heart. I set my heart to considering
this, he says. This is not something, this is
not just a fleeting thought. This is not just a passing fancy.
But this is a lifelong consideration, that's what he's talking about.
Even to declare all this, and here's what he says, that the
righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. No man knoweth either love or
hatred by all that is before him. And then in verse 2, He
shows something that's real important here. There is a distinction
between the righteous and the wicked. He says all things come
alike to all. There is one event, now that
one event that he's talking about is physical death. And he says
there's one event to the righteous, that's one class of people he's
talking about, and to the wicked. There's the distinction. And
he says, to the good and to the clean and to the unclean. Now,
the good and the clean are the same as the righteous, and the
unclean the same as the wicked. Then he says, to him that sacrifice,
and to him that sacrificeeth not. To him that sacrificeeth,
that's the righteous, that's the good, that's the clean. And
those who sacrifice not, that's the wicked. As is the good, so
is the sinner. A sinner would be one who is
an unbeliever here. We're all sinners. But in the
context, what he's talking about are those who are unbelievers.
And he that sweareth, that's the righteous, that's the good,
that's the clean and the wise. And he that speareth an oath,
that's the unbeliever. And so what he's showing here,
there's a distinction between the wicked. Now, here's what
we've got to understand. If we're going to understand what the
Holy Spirit has for us here, we've got to understand who are
these folks that he calls righteous? Who are the righteous? Who are
the wise? He says that the righteous and
the wise, it says they're in the hand of God, and even their
works are in the hand of God. And that literally means that
they're of God. In other words, it's not just
that God controls them, but the source and originator of their
state and standing is of God. And what he's saying there is
the same thing that the prophet Jonah learned in the belly of
a whale. That salvation is of the Lord. So if you can confidently, based
upon God's word, include yourself in with the righteous or the
wise, and that God accepts your works, then you have to say you're
a creation of God. You are of God. You're not a
self-made person there. So who are the righteous and
the wise, and what are their works? And who are the wicked?
Well, we know that by nature, the Bible teaches us that among
men, by nature, in our natural state, fallen and ruined in Adam,
the Bible says this, there are none righteous, no, not one.
Romans chapter 3 and verse 2. A multitude of Scripture, how
many we could go to. There's none righteous. It goes
on to say there's none good, no, not one. to be found among
men. None clean. Verse 3 there, look
at it in chapter 9, says this, it says that the heart of the
sons of men is full of evil. That's not just the wicked there,
that's the righteous too. You remember back there when
Solomon made the statement, he said, there's not a righteous
man on earth that sinneth not. Back here in Ecclesiastes 7 and
verse 20, there's not a just man, that's a righteous man upon
earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Only two types of people
here on this earth, sinners yet in their sins, and sinners saved
by the grace of God. But all sinners. All sinners. So there is none good, no, not
one to be found among men. Scripture says, who are the wise
there? Man by nature is a fool. The
natural man will not receive the things of God because they
are what to him? Foolishness to him. Those who
are perishing, he's talking about unbelievers there, and he says
that the preaching of the cross, the preaching of God's grace
in Christ, how God saves a sinner by mercy and grace, that's foolishness
to them who are perishing. Man by nature is a fool, that's
what we are by nature. Only God can make us wise. And
he gives us wisdom in Christ. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians
1 and verse 30, we are of God. Christ is of God made unto us. And the first thing that crops
up there is wisdom. There's no wisdom, no godly wisdom,
no spiritual wisdom. No eternal wisdom without Christ.
And the Bible tells us in the book of 2 Timothy that the Scriptures,
that's the Word of God, can make us wise unto salvation. That's
in the hands of the Spirit who reveals the realities of the
Word of God, who God is, who we are by nature, sinful creatures,
nothing, and who Christ is. He talks about the clean here.
Do you notice that in verse 2? He says, to the good and to the
clean. And when I saw that, I thought about the book of Job. Remember
those questions that were asked by Job and his three friends
in Job chapter 15 and verse 14. Listen to this. What is man? That he should be clean. And
he which is born of woman, that he should be righteous. You know
what the question begs there. It's showing there that man by
nature is not clean. And he can't clean himself up,
and he cannot make himself clean. He's not righteous, and he cannot
make himself righteous. And then in Job chapter 25 and
verse 4, it asks this question. How then can man be justified
with God? How can man be not guilty in
the sight of God who knows the heart, who looks upon the heart?
Now, you clean up the outside, Christ said to the Pharisees,
but you can't clean the heart, the conscience. the mind, the
spirit, the inner man, you can't do it. And God, that's how He
looks at things, the Scripture says. So He says, how can man
be justified with God? How can a man, a sinner, born
of woman, the sons of men who are full of evil, how can they
be justified with God? How can they be righteous in
the sight of God? And then He goes on in verse
4, He says, or how can he be clean that is born of a woman
That is, man born through the woman from Adam. How can he be
clean? It's impossible for a man to
clean himself up in the sight of God, or a woman. Well, Solomon
gives us the answer. Now, who are the righteous? Who
are the good? Who are the wise? Who are the clean here, as distinguished
from the wicked? Well, he gives us the answer
in verse 2. Look at it again. Let's read it again. He says,
all things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous
and one event to the wicked. That's physical death. To the
good and to the clean and to the unclean. Listen to this. To him that what? Sacrificeth. There's your answer. Who are
the righteous? He's the one who sacrifices.
Who's the wise? He's the one who sacrifices.
Who's the clean and the good here? He's the one that sacrifices.
Why does he sacrifice? Because he sees his sinfulness
and his wretchedness and his depravity and his deservedness
of damnation, and he sees he needs a substitute, a mediator. He needs a surety. He needs a
lamb. He needs one to die in his place
to satisfy the justice of God. That's what sacrificing is all
about. It's not just a ritual, you see. It's not just something
they did to look religious. It's not just something they
went through the motions. It meant something. And that
whole issue of sacrificing is what God instituted immediately
after the fall. Remember that? Adam and Eve hiding
from God, trying to cover their nakedness and their shame with
their fig leaf aprons representing man's efforts. And all man can
do is cover it over. The sin's still there. The shame
is still there. The wretchedness is still there.
The uncleanness is still there. But God said, what's got to happen?
Well, God took an animal and slew that animal, shed blood,
because sin demands death now. Justice has to be satisfied without
the shedding of blood. What? No remission, no forgiveness,
no pardon, no righteousness. And God slew the animal. shed the blood and make them
coats of skin and put on them represented the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how man can be clean.
Washed in the blood of Christ. What can wash away my sins? Nothing, nothing, nothing but
the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
And that's what he did, and he instituted the sacrificial system
right there, I'm sure of, because the next thing you see, after
Adam and Eve were cast forth out of the garden, by the judgment
of God, is the story of Cain and Abel. Abel bringing the lamb,
shedding the blood, sacrificing, Abel coming before God as a sinner,
saying, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. I myself, I'm
unrighteous, unclean, not good. foolish. But in your wisdom,
in your wisdom, you promise to send forth the seed of woman,
the Messiah to come and to die. You see, that's the issue to
him that sacrifice. And then he goes on. Now, he
says those who don't sacrifice, those are the ones who don't
see their need of a savior. They don't see their need of
grace and mercy. That's the unbeliever. That's
the wicked. You see, that's the unclean. That's a picture of
man in his own religion, in his own works. He won't sacrifice
because he's not a sinner. He doesn't need sacrifice. He
doesn't need one to stand in his place and give him a righteousness
that he can't produce. But look on, he says, and he
that sweareth as he that feareth an oath. Now what does that mean?
Well, I'm convinced of this. You know, you can go all around
this thing in the Old Testament and And somewhat in the new about
swearing oaths and taking oaths like that. But I believe this
is in the context of making a distinction between the righteous and the
wicked. And in the context of making the distinction between
those who sacrifice, those who come before God, pleading the
blood of Christ. You know, we're sacrificers.
We don't slay animals, but every time we seek God's favor and
God's blessing, What do we plead? The blood and righteousness of
Christ. That's why we come in prayer through our great high
priest. And when he talks about swearing
an oath and fearing an oath, I believe he's talking in that
context. And what this oath has to do with, I believe, is to
do with faith and assurance in God through sacrifice. It would
be a similar oath, you might find it in, for example, Galatians
6.14. Now, Paul says, I glory in nothing but the cross of Christ
in Galatians 6.14. But do you remember how he started
that? He started it with an oath. And
it goes something like this in Galatians 6.14. But God forbid
that I should glory, save, or accept in the cross, the death,
the blood, the righteousness, of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." That's
the oath, right there. And, you know, people swear oaths
like that. The moment a person says, for
example, I know I'm saved, they have something in their mind
that gives them assurance. And that's the same thing as
swearing an oath, in essence. I know for sure. Well, what's
your surety? Well, I made a decision when
I was 12 years old. Well, you're swearing by your
decision. Or I got baptized when I was so and such and such. Well,
you're swearing by your act of baptism. I'm certain that I'm
saved. I know I'm saved. God forbid
that I should perish eternally. That's what they're saying. Well,
upon what is your oath? You see, our oath, we have an
oath that we swear. Just like Paul the Apostle, God
forbid that I should have confidence, assurance, peace, safety, except
in one thing. And that's where God swore his
oath in the person and finished work of Christ. That's the difference
between the righteous and the wicked. The righteous, he says
here, the good, the wise, and their works are in the hand of
God. They're of God. They're the work of God. They're
the work of God's power. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation to everyone that believe it. If you believe
you're the work of God's power, you're of God, you're in the
hand of God, but you're you're the work of God's hands. Because
by grace are you saved through faith, and that's not of yourself.
You're not you're still just the fact you say, well, I believe
that, you know, people will they'll they'll roll that over in their
minds and you listen. Listen, if you're a believer,
you are the work of the hands of God. That's not of yourself,
it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
bow. We're the work of God's grace,
for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works
which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.
We're a work of God's goodness. Salvation is of the Lord in its
beginning and in its final glory. And our works are nothing more,
and I shouldn't say nothing more because that kind of belittles
it, doesn't it? Our works, listen, they're great works because they're
the work of the Spirit of God by His grace. Christ working
in us to do His will and His good pleasure. It's not ours. We're just fruit bearers. The
life is in the vine. We're the branches. We bear fruit. Fruit unto God. And even our
works are in the hand of God. And our persons and our works
are accepted before God because of one thing. And that is our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And by His blood alone. Notice
back here in verse 1. Now again, he's talking about
the reality of physical death. And he talks about the righteous
and the wise and their works in the hand of God. And then
he says this, he says, No man knoweth either love or hatred
by all that is before them. What he's saying there is this,
we cannot know and judge or be assured of God's love or God's
hatred towards us by what we see happening around us. You
can't judge it. You can't know the love of God
by what you see around you. And you can't know the hatred
of God by what you see around you. If we judge based upon what
we see, you have to judge that God hated Abel and loved Cain. But we know better. We know better. If we judge by what we saw, we
have to judge that God loved Esau and hated Jacob. But the
Bible says, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. You can't
judge the righteous and wicked by what you see in circumstances,
in all that's around us. And mainly he's speaking of that
one event, death, here. That one event. The Bible says,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and the
wages of sin is death. So that tells you something about
all of us, the righteous and the wicked. Here's what it tells
you. That in ourselves, based upon our best efforts, we all
deserve to die. You know that's so, isn't it?
You pick out the worst man on earth and you'll see readily,
well, he deserves to die. Well, the best man too. The wages of sin is death. The body is dead because the
soul that sinneth must surely die, Scripture says. You can't
judge it. Death is a reality for all. Death
was just as much a reality For Abel, who was struck down in
the prime of life, worshipping God because he worshipped the
true and living God and trusted in his grace in the promise of
Christ to come, as it was to Methuselah who lived to be 969
years old and he died. That's still reality. That's
so. There's no exemptions. There's
no exceptions. I don't care what anybody says.
I know people today in religion, they don't like absolutes. But
here's an absolute truth. You're going to die. That's right. Physical death. So how can it
be that the righteous sometimes suffer what people call fate? We know better. It's not fate. It's not kismet, it's providence. What Job said when he talked
about the death of his sons and him losing his children, he said,
the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. So how can it be that sometimes the righteous suffer
that way, what the wicked deserve, and the wicked get only what
the righteous deserve? You think about it, God's people
sometimes suffer greatly in this life. Sometimes God's people. Sometimes the children of God,
believers, the work of God, have colossal failures in this life. You ever experienced that or
seen it? Somebody says, well, I thought when God saved you,
it's a bed of roses. Everything's going to come up
roses. Everything you touch is going to turn to gold. Oh, no. And then the first thing we do,
and we all do, and that's, I mean, this is the human thing now,
and we can't be anything more than human. I don't care what
anybody says. Sinners still lost in their sins,
and sinners saved by the grace of God. We sit back and we say,
why? And we don't know. We can't figure
it out. Sometimes after the fact, sometimes
years after the fact, we might know a little bit more than we
knew at the time we were going through it. Might be a lesson
to be learned or whatever. But you want to make an assessment
of all this based on observation? Well, you have no ground based
on observation to conclude that God loves the righteous any more
than the wicked. And you know what the Bible tells
us about that whole situation? It says this, walk by faith,
not by sight. Look back at Ecclesiastes chapter
8 there. Look at verse 12, you remember?
What Solomon wrote here, Ecclesiastes 8 verse 12, he said, Though a
sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet
surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God,
which fear before him. Now, how do you know that, Solomon?
By what you see around you? No, I know it because God said
it. Those who worship Him by sacrifice,
those who come to Christ, it shall be well. I know that so. I can think on it, I can be assured
of it, because God said it. And you may be going through
a hard, hard, hard time of trial today, but my friend, if your
hope is in the Lord, in Christ and Him alone, it will be well
with you eventually, ultimately, eternally. Isn't that right?
Is God for me? I'll tell you who God's for and
who God is against. I can tell you that right now.
God is for any sinner who comes to him like Abel pleading the
blood of his son. And God is against everybody
else. Mark it down. He's against Both righteous and
wicked end up the same way under the sun, all die. But there is
a judgment now coming. Now, Solomon is not saying this,
and you'd be amazed at how many commentators read these verses
as if Solomon is some kind of a pessimistic, cynical fatalist,
you know. But that's not it, you see. Solomon
had already dealt with the thing of judgment, time and judgment.
The last verses of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, talks about this
is the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his
commandments, for God is going to bring every work into judgment.
Solomon is saying all this in light of the fact that even though
we die physically, there's a judgment to face and there's an eternity
to spend. And he's saying it right there.
He knows that God is going to judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom God has ordained, and that in Solomon's view, his
future, he would give assurance unto all men, and that he would
raise him from the dead. And that is Jesus Christ the
righteous, who is our advocate. God is already bringing his judgment
on men, and we see that in physical death. That is a judgment. It
is. The body is dead because of sin.
But death means eternal damnation for the wicked, but oh, not for
the righteous, not for those in Christ. But now, you know,
he laments not just death itself and the judgment of death, he
also says this, look back here in verse 3, he says, this is
an evil among all things, that are done under the sun, Ecclesiastes
9, verse 3, that there is one event unto all, yea, also the
heart of the sons of men is full of evil." It's not just that
we sin one time and then we die as a result, a judgment on us.
Our hearts are full of evil. And that's why we die physically. Again, the body is dead because
of sin. But what about eternity? Well, go back to 1 Corinthians
15 that I read. Here's the answer. Here it is
in verse 55, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is
thy victory? I can't remember which of the
old writers, but he said, Christ, like that wasp that has the stinger
that brings death, that stinger went into our Savior on the cross. And he died that death. And so
he says the sting of death is sin. Now the law of God pronounces
not just physical death but eternal death where sin is charged. Where the charge of sin is there
and it sticks. So he says the sting of death
is sin and the strength of sin is the law. The power of sin
to condemn a person is because the law says the wages of sin
is death. The law pronounces judgment,
the judgment of eternal death, where sin is charged. So what's
our only hope? Well, verse 57, But thanks be
to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's our hope. Our sin was
charged to Christ. Imputed to Him, accounted to
Him. He willingly took it and went to the cross. That perfect
God-man had sin laid to his charge. That's what happened. He was
made sin in that sense. Christ who knew no sin, who never
at any time was ever contaminated in his mind, his affections,
and his will with sin. But he became guilty in our stead. That's what he did. He was made
a curse, the scripture says, for us. And that perfect God-man
went under the death blow of the law of God to satisfy the
justice of God against my sin. He took that stinger upon himself,
and he died, and he was buried, and he arose again the third
day. Now go back to Ecclesiastes 9. Now here's the hope for the
living then. He says in verse 4, For to him
that is joined to all the living, that's united in fellowship with
the living, there is hope. And he says, for a living dog
is better than a dead lion. Now some say this refers only
to those who have not yet died physically. And listen to me
now, there is a sense in which we can say that's true in this
way. We can say that there's hope for anyone who's still breathing,
who's still living, I'm talking about brain dead now. but who's
still living because there is still a possibility for them
to hear the gospel and believe it by the power of God's grace.
And so in that sense we should never give up on anybody as long
as they're living. There's that hope. Now that hope
would be for us a desire. But anytime the scripture talks
about hope here in this context, I believe he's talking about
the hope of the gospel. Christ in us, the hope of glory.
Christ among us, the hope of glory. Both. And that is the
certain expectation of life, not just here on earth, but beyond
this life that we have in Christ. I believe the living here refers
ultimately to those who are alive in and by Christ. Resurrected
with Him. They died with Him. They were
buried with Him. They arose again with Him. I believe the living
here refers to those who are regenerate. born again by the
Spirit of God, who have come to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works. The Bible says the body is dead
because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Notice the reason the Spirit gives life is because Christ
died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and He comes forth
as the fruit of the death of Christ and gives life to His
people. Solomon, I believe, is writing
here not as a fatalistic unbeliever, but he's writing here by inspiration
of the Spirit, and he himself is a believing Israelite. He
knows what God has revealed. He knows that those who fear
God, it will be well with them. And he says here, look back in
verse 5, he says, For the living know that they shall die, but
the dead know not anything, neither have they any more reward, for
the memory of them is forgotten. Now, the living know that they
shall die. But now let me tell you something,
everybody knows they're going to die, even unbelievers. I don't believe he's just talking
about a knowledge of the fact of a physical death here. I believe
what he's saying here is that the living, those who live spiritually
in Christ by the power and grace of God, those who are righteous
and wise and good and clean because of the grace of God in Christ,
It's not that we just know we're going to die, but we live with
that knowledge of what death really is. What it involves. Why are we going to die? Because
of sin. Therefore, our only hope is what? That the sin issue be
taken care of. And even the dead, those who
are spiritually dead, they know they're going to die, but they
don't have any more reward. What is their reward? Christ
spoke of those religious men who wanted the reward of recognition,
who want the reward of materialism. They don't have that anymore.
They look to it, and the memory of them is forgotten. Their memory
is gone, and the memory of them is forgotten. But those who are
joined to all the living, You know, back there in Genesis,
you read this sometime, we won't turn there because we don't have
time. But you know, right before God slew the animal in Genesis
chapter 3 and made Adam and Eve coats of skin, it was right before
then, I believe it's Genesis 3.20 if you look it up, but it
was right before then that Adam began to call his wife Eve. You know she was not called Eve
before then? You know what she was called?
Woman. I think the Hebrew word is ish, if I'm not mistaken,
but I'm not sure of that, so don't call my hand on these things
now, all right? I'm just going from memory here.
But she was called woman. Adam means man, and Eve was called
woman. But after the fall, in Genesis
3, 19 or 20, somewhere around there, Adam began to call his
wife Eve, and you know why? Because Eve means mother of living. She's the mother of all the living.
Now, this is after the fall. This is after the fact that God
said, Adam, in the day that ye thereof, dying thou shalt die.
So here's fallen Adam and Eve in spiritual death. Dying physically. And yet, He began to call her
Eve, the mother of all the living. Now, how could He do that? With
one wife. And it goes back to Genesis 3.15. bear the seed of woman. She's
going to be the mother of all the living in the sense that
it's through her that life would come through Christ. And those who are joined to all
the living here, you see, there's hope. There's an assurance of
eternal life. Death's not the end for us. And
we'll have a reward, not a reward we've earned or deserve, but
a reward of grace. And our memory will live on and
on. I don't know what all we'll remember,
but we will live forever. That's what I believe it's talking
about. And so he says in verse 6, now look at this. Also their
love and their hatred and their envy is now perished, neither
have they any more apportioned forever in anything that is done
unto the Son. Now you know, why does he say love, hatred, and
envy? I'll tell you why. Because that's
everything that drives a person here on this earth. What drives
you right now? I'll tell you exactly what drives
you. What you love, what you hate, and what you want. Ain't
that right? You have things you love. You
have people you love. And they drive you. And they
affect you. You have things you hate and people you hate. Don't
tell me you don't hate anybody now. I've heard preachers say
that and they're just lying. We're sinners, you say. And you
have things you hate and people you hate, and that drives you,
and that affects you. And you have things you want. That's
envy. That's everything that drives us. What we love, what
we hate, and what we want. You say, well, in physical death,
that'll be gone. That's gone. That's what he's talking about.
That is under the sun. Everything that drives you under
the sun. What will drive us in glory?
Our love for God. Our love for Christ. Our desire
to glorify Him. Our hatred of anything evil.
And I don't know how all that will work out. Somebody asked
me one time, will we remember our sins? I don't know. I don't
know. I don't know. And you don't either. So don't come up and try to teach
me on that. The Scripture just doesn't deal with it. But I know
this. We'll be driven by the glory of God in Christ and a
desire to honor and worship Him and serve Him. Now, based upon
all that, here's what he says in verse 4. A living dog's better
than a dead lion. Now, the kind of dog he's talking
about there, he's not like a South Georgia bird dog. You know, down
in South Georgia, they have a lot of bird dogs. And they're proud. They love them dogs. They feed
them. They put them up. They treat them. They breed them.
I mean, it's a lot of money. Take pictures of them. I accidentally shot one of them
one time, and I didn't kill him. And the fellow almost never let
me live it down, you know. But it's not a South Georgia
bird dog. It's not best in show here. It's
not the pedigree here. This is an old cur dog that everybody
hates, nobody wants, and is good for one thing and one thing alone,
and that's killing. That's the kind of dog he's talking
about. It's the kind of dog that the Jews would call the Gentiles.
Well, you know what that represents? That's us by nature. Old cur
dogs. Just trying to find a morsel
here and there, going through the garbage, and somebody opens
up the bag and says, get! And don't ever come back. What's the line? The line's a
proud animal. Majestic. That's how men by nature think
of themselves. Want a lot, get a lot. They call a group of lions, you
know what they call them? A pride. That's an appropriate
name for this kind of lion here. He lives in a pride, in his own
pride. Self-righteous sinners, that's man by nature. So what's
he saying? It's better to be a living cur
dog that's alive. than to be a line majestic as
dead. That's what he's saying. It's
better to be a sinner saved by the grace of God in Christ than
to be the best person that men look up to on earth, that owns
everything and wants everything, has everything, looks majestic
in the eyes of men, but is an abomination unto God. That which
is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. When
I see this living dog here, I think about old Caleb. Remember Caleb,
Joshua, and Caleb? Caleb's name in the old Hebrew,
some say it means dog. It means a yelping dog. Caleb
followed Joshua, who was a picture of Christ, into the promised
land. Faithful dog. It's better to be a Caleb than
it was to be a Pharaoh. Isn't that right? Who shook his
fist in the face of God. Oh, it's better to be just And
that's humility, you see. That's where God makes us wise
and humble in His ways. I think about Mephibosheth. You
remember when David went down to fetch him or sent his servant
down to fetch him? And you remember what Mephibosheth
said? Let me read to you there in 2 Samuel. What is it? Chapter
9 and verse 8. And I've got this marked now. I know I'm good at this stuff,
but I've got it marked here. I can find it. Here is what Mephibosheth
said, and he bowed himself and said, ìWhat is thy servant that
thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am?î Mephibosheth was a living dog. Remember what happened. He ate
at the kingís table all the days of his life. He was cleaned up
and dressed in the royal robes of the king. I think about that
woman who was plagued with a demon over in Matthew. Chapter 15,
you remember? And she came and she begged the
Lord. She said, Lord, help me. Verse
25. But he answered and said, it's
not me. It's not appropriate to take the children's breath
and to cast it to dogs. And she said, truth, Lord. She
didn't jump up and say, who you calling a dog? No, she said, truth, Lord. Yet
the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.
And then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy
faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour." She wanted her daughter to be healed. The
dogs, yeah, I'm a dog. You see, we know the score here
because we know what we are. And we know it's better to be
a living dog than it is to be a dead lion. Better to be alive
in Christ as a sinner who has nothing to recommend him unto
God, who deserves nothing but death and hell, who can plead
nothing of his own for salvation. A living dog, humble before God,
eating just the crumbs from the table, That'd be enough, wouldn't
it, for the living dog? Oh, it's so much better to be
a living dog than a dead lion, proud in his own works, but dead
in sin and trespasses.