If you would, open your Bibles
with me to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 7. This
will serve as our text this morning. We've completed our study in
1 and 2 Timothy. I may bounce around a little
bit before we settle on the next book to go through verse by verse.
We'll look here at Ecclesiastes chapter 7 this morning. Remember,
next Sunday at two o'clock, we'll be having our baby shower. And
also this week, Lord willing, Tuesday, I'll be preaching in
Danville again. Covet your prayers as we travel
and preach. And Shelby Fortner asked me specifically
to give her love to all of her friends here in Ashland. All
right. Ecclesiastes 7. We'll read the
first six verses. A good name is better than precious
ointment, and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
It's better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the
house of fasting, for that is the end of all men, and the living
will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better. The
heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of
fools is in the house of mirth. It's better to hear the rebuke
of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as
the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of
the fool. This also is vanity." All right. Let's stand together as Shawn
leads us in singing our call to worship. When oceans vast their depths
reveal, And moons have ceased to wane, The Lamb who died and
rose again On Zion's hills shall reign. His name shall evermore
endure, when songs have ceased to shine, and through eternity
the saints will sing His praise divine. As countless as the drops
of dew or sands upon the shore, are blessings which the ransomed
have in Him forevermore. Every other name recede, His
name alone extol. In Him reserved there is the
grace to satisfy If you would now, turn to song
number 129, At the Cross. Alas, and did my Savior bleed,
and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? At the cross, at the cross where
I first saw the light And the burden of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight And now I am happy all
the day Was it for crimes that I have done Amazing pity, grace unknown,
and love beyond degree. At the cross, at the cross where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, And now I am happy all the day. Well might the sun
in darkness hide, And shut his glories in, When Christ the mighty
Maker died, For man the creature's sin. At the cross, at the cross
where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled
away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. The drops of grief
can never of love I owe. Dear Lord, I give myself away,
tis all that I can do. At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Turn with me, if you would, to
Psalm chapter 46. Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble, therefore will not we fear. Though
the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. There is a river. The streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that
right early. The heathen raged. The kingdoms
were moved. He uttered his voice. The earth
melted. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Come behold the works of the
Lord. What desolations he hath made
in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto
the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow, cut off the spear and sunder.
He burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still. and know that
I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen.
I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Let's pray together. Our heavenly father, we bow before
you, our holy heavenly father. We consider your name and ask
that you make it known in this place today. Give us faith to
be still, to be still, to be still in salvation, to be still
in our works, to be still and behold your glory. And we pray
that it be your will that you show us this, this, this morning,
your glory and your mercy in Christ and for his sake, and
that you give us the, the faith and the wisdom and the heart
and the mind and the eyes to be still and to see your glory
and to rest in Christ's completed work and to see again, as we've
never seen before, that Christ is all, that we see him and be
brought to love him and to trust him, to see his finished work,
his sacrifice, even yet more clearly and yet again today. for you alone are worthy. We
pray that you give us faith to see. We pray for those that are
going through trial at this time. We pray the same thing, that
you give us faith to be still and to trust. Father, we do.
We trust that trials are from you and that you know what's
best for us and that you're in control. You're in the whirlwind
and you're in control. Father, remember that we're dust
and give us faith to believe and to gladly endure and to seek
and to see your face through the trial. We pray for those
that are grieving, those that are heartbroken, those that are
troubled, that you be with us, Father, according to your will. We pray for continued strength
for our pastor. Father, we thank you for him.
We thank you for the messages you've seen fit to deliver from
this pulpit and from others. And we pray that you continue
to bless according to your will. Be with us today. Bless this
time and that your name be glorified, that you give us, give us your spirit that we may
see Christ, his sacrifice. We thank you for Christ. We thank
you for the fact that it is finished. We pray this thankfully in Christ's
name for his sake. When this passing life is done
When has set yon glaring sun When I stand with Christ in glory,
Looking o'er life's finished story, Then, Lord, shall I fully
know, Not till then, how much I owe. When I hear the wicked call On the rocks and hills to fall
When I see them start and shrink On the fiery deluge brink Then,
Lord, shall I fully know Not till then how much I owe When I stand before the throne
Dressed in beauty not my own, When I see thee as thou art,
Love thee with unsinning heart, Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
Not till then how much I owe. Oft the nights of sorrow reign
Weeping, sickness, sighing, pain But a night thine anger burns
Morning comes and joy returns God of comfort bid me show to
thy poor How much I owe Chosen not for good in me Wakened
up from wrath to flee Hidden in the Savior's side By the Spirit
sanctified Teach me, Lord, on earth to show by my love How
much I owe How much I owe How much I owe of Sidney and Tara, you can play
that song and sing it as often as you want. I don't know that I could think
of a better thing to be reminded that might help our hearts to
worship and be reminded what debtors we are and that prepare
our hearts to worship. Thank you. Thank you for that
song. All right. Open our Bibles again, if you
would. Ecclesiastes chapter seven. I titled the message this morning,
Bitter is Better. The bitter is better. There's
a general rule that you'll find throughout scripture that anything
that is bitter to the flesh is better for us. Even though the
flesh doesn't realize it, that's true. The believer knows that
that's true, but the flesh never will learn it. And Solomon gives
us four examples I want us to look at this morning. These are
things that the, The believer inherently knows, but we need
to be taught and we need to be reminded about these things. Number one is this. A good name
is better than enjoying temporary pleasures. In verse one, Ecclesiastes
seven, Solomon says a good name is better than precious ointment.
Now the ointment here represents the things of this life that
soothe the feelings of the flesh, make the flesh feel better. The
ointment represents the perfume of the world that the flesh enjoys
to smell so much. And your name, he talks about
here, is your reputation. What do people think about when
they hear your name? Hope they think good things,
don't you? And Solomon tells us a good name, a good reputation,
is better than enjoying some temporary pleasure, some temporary
gain, in this world. He's telling us it's better to
have a good name no matter what you've got to give up to get
it. No matter what you've got to give up, no matter what pleasure,
what gain you've got to give up in order to do the right thing,
that's better. That's better than what gain
that you could get. Now the world that we all live in tells us
the opposite of that. The world tells us Do whatever
it takes to make yourself feel good about yourself. Doesn't
matter who you hurt, if it makes you feel better, if it gets you
some gain somehow, you do that. And you could. You could do that.
You see people do it all the time. You could lie and cheat
and steal your way to the top. You could seek happiness at the
expense of others. You could put somebody else down
to make yourself look better. I saw that in the workplace all
the time. It drove me absolutely nuts. If you want to make yourself
look better, do a good job. Don't put somebody else down
to make yourself look better. You do a good job. It drove me
crazy. You could steal the credit at
work for something you didn't do. Somebody else did. You could
steal somebody else's spouse just to make yourself happy.
You can own a business and not pay people a fair wage just so
you get a bigger profit. I've seen people do that, too.
You could do all that and you would have some temporary gain. You certainly would. But tell
you what, that's what you'll be known for. That kind of dishonesty,
that kind of just the way you conduct yourself, that is what
you will be known for. When people hear your name, they'll
think of a dishonest person, a person who has no morals, who
has no integrity, who doesn't operate by any principles whatsoever,
who doesn't care about anybody else and who they'll hurt. And
Solomon tells us now it's better, it's better to be known as a
person of honesty and integrity and have less of this world's
things. and have some honesty and integrity about you. So when
somebody hears your name, they think of somebody who's honest,
who's kind, who's got integrity. Now, that is good, true advice,
and I hope we all take it to heart. But that's not the primary
meaning of the text. The primary meaning of the text,
every verse of scripture, as I tell you often, the primary
meaning is Christ. Here's what Solomon is telling
us. There's nothing in this world that can compare to knowing Christ. The religions of man. You know
what they are? They're ointments. They're perfumes. To use the old saying, it's putting
lipstick on a pig. That's what man's religion, it's
just an ointment. It makes the flesh feel better
for a little while, but there's no healing for the soul in them. Man's religion tells us We're
good little boys and girls, and it makes us trust in our own
works of righteousness, and we eat it up. The flesh eats it
up. It makes us feel real good about
ourselves, doesn't it? But that's a lie, and believing
it will damn your soul. It's a lie. That ointment might
feel good temporarily, but it'll damn your soul. That kind of
preaching, I liken it to rubbing hand lotion on skin cancer. I
mean, maybe it'll make it feel better for a minute, but it'll
never cure the disease. And that's what man's religion
is, it makes the flesh feel better, but it'll never cure your sin
sickness. Now all of us are gonna go into
eternity bearing one of two names, either the name of Adam or the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the flesh will choose the
name of Adam. The flesh loves the name of Adam,
the nature of Adam. The nature of Adam is what can
I do to make myself God? To make the rules. That's the
nature of Adam. That was Adam's problem in the
garden. He wanted to be God. Satan said,
you'll be like God. Adam said, I like that. I want
to be the one making the rules. The nature of Adam is what can
I do to make myself righteous? That's the nature of Adam. That's
the name of Adam. And Solomon warns us very seriously,
oh, it's far better to bear the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. His name is the only good name
that there is. Look with me, Jeremiah chapter
23. If we bear the name of Christ,
tell you how precious, how good it is to bear the name of Christ. If you bear the name of Christ,
you are what he is. Jeremiah chapter 23, verse five. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch and
a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In his days, Judas shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness, Jehovah Sidkenu. He's coming. I'll look over a
few pages of chapter 33. of Jeremiah. What a glorious
prophecy of the coming savior. And Jeremiah writes again about
him here in chapter 33 verse 14. It says almost the exact
same thing. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I promised
of the house of Israel and to the house of Judah in those days. And at that time, will I cause
the branch of righteousness to grow up under David He shall
execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall
Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this
is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord, our righteousness,
Jehovah Sidkenu. That's the name of the Savior,
Jehovah Sidkenu. Why is she going to be called
the Lord, our righteousness? Why will she be called Jehovah
Sidkenu? It's not just a name change.
That's not just a name change. Jay and I went to a wedding yesterday. Sometime in the coming weeks,
that bride's got to go down to the DMV and all these different
places. She's got to change her name.
She's got a new last name. Her last name used to be Vandal. Now it's Valentine, just to keep
the initials. But she's got to change her name.
She's got a new name. This is not just a change of name on
a legal document. You know why she, the Bride of
Christ, those who Christ came to save, you know why she's called
Jehovah's Sake, the Lord our righteousness? Because that's
who she is. She is righteous. She is one
with Christ. She cannot perish. To bear the
name of Christ is to be made what he is, the righteousness
of God in him. Oh, that's far better than the
name of Adam, isn't it? It's far better to bear the name
of Christ. If you bear the name of Christ,
you know what that means? You're a child of God. Children
bear the name of their father. If you bear the name of Christ,
you're a child of God, a son and daughter of God. You'll always
be accepted. Always be accepted. Our daughter
Holly was telling her mama last night about the first time she
heard brother Mike Walker preach and she still remembers his message.
And he said in that message, he said, when I travel, go somewhere
to preach, he said, I get to the hotel room, he said, I go
in the room, I take that do not disturb sign and hang it on the
door so I can study and people know, don't come in here and
bother me. I'm off limits to you. He said, now if I'm in a town
where my daughter is with my grandbaby, that granddaughter,
she knows that sign doesn't mean her. She doesn't pay any attention
to that sign. She comes right on in. And Mike
says she's always accepted. I'm always glad to see her. You're a child of God. You're
always accepted. Come before His throne at all
times. Oh, that's far better, isn't
it? To bear the name of Christ. To not bear our worthless name
anymore, but to bear His name. Oh, the blessings from that.
You think how the name of the Lord is. God's name tells us
who God is and what he's like. His name is Jehovah. God, my
Savior. Get ahold of your seat. God,
my Savior. He came on purpose to save a sinner like me. Oh,
what a name. His name is Emmanuel. God with
us. God who promised, I'll be with
my people. I'll never leave them to forsake
me. His name is Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide. He'll
provide everything that he requires. If you believe on the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, you have every blessing God has for you.
Your soul is saved and you can never perish. Oh, what a name
that is. What a blessing that a son or
daughter of Adam could bear that precious name. Now that name
won't get you very far in this world. The world doesn't know,
doesn't appreciate that name. But that name of Christ means
everything to the father. It will mean everything in eternity. So nothing that you could ever
have in this world could compare to knowing Christ, to having
his name, to laying hold upon him. The name of Christ is better
than all the sweetest things this world has to offer. That
sweet perfume. that sweet ointment, that, oh,
the flesh loves it. It's sweet to the flesh, isn't
it? Oh, but to have the name of Christ. You have every spiritual
blessing that you could never lose. That's why we preach Him,
why we preach His name, so that you'll know Him and trust Him.
Look over in Isaiah chapter 62. Do you know if you bear the name
of Christ and you believe on Him, Do you know God has a name
for you? He has a name for you. Isaiah
chapter 62 verse one for Zion's sake. Well, I not
hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest until the
righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation
thereof is a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy
righteousness in all kings like glory. And thou shalt be called
by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. If he
calls you this name, that's what you actually are. Thou shalt
also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal
diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed
forsaken. That's what we are in Adam. That's
our name in Adam, isn't it? Forsaken. Neither shall thy land
anymore be termed desolate. That's what we are in Adam and
we're desolate, but thou shalt be called Hefseba. That is my
delight is in her and thy land should be called Bula. That is
married for the Lord delighteth in thee and thy land shall be
married. Now believers who know Christ,
this is what they know. There's nothing better than to
be called the bride of Christ. He said, y'all, you're going
to be called married cause I'm going to be married to you. There's
nothing better, the believer knows this, than to be called
the delight of God. Christ is my delight. How can
he delight in me? How's that possible? Only if
I bear the name of Christ. Oh, to be called the delight
of God is to be found in Christ. All that can only be true if
we bear the name of Christ. Oh, how precious, how precious
to have that glorious name, called Jehovah Zikinu, the Lord our
righteousness. All right, here's the second
bitter thing, and it's better. Death is better than birth. Verse one, back in our text,
Ecclesiastes 7, a good name is better than precious ointment,
and the day of death than the day of one's birth. Now obviously,
this can only be true for a believer, that the day of your death is
better than the day of your birth. Yet even for believers, We've
got this thing the other way around in our minds. We just
do everything we can to keep these bodies alive, and God made
it that way. You ought to take care of your
body. It's a body God gave you. You
ought to take care of it. But we still, we take these things
to extremes. We have it backwards. We celebrate
the day that a baby is born. We celebrate birthdays. We want
to celebrate a birthday today. Celebrate. Happy. And we mourn
funerals. Now listen to me. Don't get such
a false religious veneer that you start mourning when a child
is born and start throwing a big party when a loved one dies.
Because that's false. That's just not the way that
we feel. We're happy when a new baby comes into our family. Here
in a little bit, we're gonna have a new baby, and we're gonna
celebrate. We're so happy, we're gonna be
so happy that little thing comes in. We're gonna be so happy,
and we should be. We should be happy. The birth
of children are celebrated all throughout scripture. Think of
the song of Hannah's praise. Children are celebrated, their
birth, and we thank God for them. And we should mourn at a funeral.
We've lost something. We mourn for ourselves, we've
lost something. We just lost the presence of
a loved one in our life. Someone that we love. We miss them. We miss their company.
We miss those things. We do mourn for, not for them.
Not if they're a believer. They're with God. How can you
mourn for somebody that's with God? We're mourning for ourselves.
For ourselves. And you just, there's something
wrong with you if you're not sad when you lose a close loved
one. A widow told me just last week
whose husband recently went to glory. And she told me, I saw
her and I hugged her and I said, how are you? She said, I'm okay.
I said, you can tell me really. I said, we've known each other
long enough, you can tell me really how you are. And her eyes filled up with
tears. She said, I'm okay sometimes.
I'm okay sometimes. I think that's how it should
be. I really do. I really do. There's nothing
wrong with mourning the loss of a loved one. There's nothing
wrong with celebrating the birth of a child, of a baby. But that
being true, for the believer, our death that folks will mourn
is far, far better than the day of our birth that everybody celebrated. Think about that. When a child
is born, we're happy, aren't we? But that child has just been
born into a body and a nature of sin. When the believer dies,
they leave sin behind. I mean, completely, they leave
the body of sin behind. They leave a nature of sin behind
and they go to perfection. And you tell me which is better. We went, I told you, we went
to this wedding yesterday and we celebrated. I was happy. I'm
happy for this new young couple, but this is what I know. This
is what I know. Yesterday is such a happy day.
Days of sorrow, days of heartache, days of difficulty are coming.
And it is my prayer that it brings them closer together. Now those
days are coming. Those days, those hard, difficult
days are coming. Well, I'm not going to mourn
about them just yet. We'll celebrate. We'll celebrate
this today. We'll mourn when it's time. But what's better? To leave all
that behind? or just start out a long journey
facing it. Which is better? When a child
is born, that child comes into a world of sin. What kind of
world have we made for our children? What kind of world did Adam make
for us? And what kind of world do we make for our children?
They come into a world of sin and heartache. When a believer
dies, they leave this world of sin and go to a place where there
is no sin. When a child is born, I think
all babies look alike. A lot of women seem to look at
the baby. Oh, it looks like their mom. It looks like their daddy.
You're able to see things. I don't say, I think they all
look alike, but this is what I do know. They come into this
world bearing the image of Adam. They got his image because they
got his nature. When a believer dies, they leave
that image behind and go be made just like Christ, which is better. When a child is born, they begin
a long, hard journey through this world of sin. Just constant
heartaches and storms and difficulties, one right after another. When
a believer dies, they enter into rest. They rest from all their
labors. They rest from their weak faith.
They rest from their tears. They rest from their darkness.
They rest from seeing through a glass darkly. See Christ face
to face and enter into his rest. When a child is born, everybody's
happy, aren't they? Everybody's happy. And that child's
soon gonna know a lot of sorrow. It won't take long. When a believer
dies, we enter into a world of perfect joy, never a tear. You see, when a believer dies,
only their body dies, the body flesh. They go be with the Lord. That new man goes to be with
the Lord, and they can't be condemned. They can't die the second death,
because Christ already died for them. So when you consider that
death, what death really is for the believer, that true life,
the believer's death is far better than the day of our birth, isn't
it? I reckon if we're going to celebrate the day of our birth,
we could celebrate it in this way. I sure am glad I was born. I am. I'm glad I was born. Even
if it was in sin, I'm glad I was born. Because when I was born
in sin, now Christ can come and redeem me from my sin. I'm glad
of that. I'm glad I was born. Even though
I was born lost, I'm glad. Because that way Christ can come
find me and carry me on his shoulder all the way home. I'm glad I
was born, even though I was born blind. Even though I was born
blind in the back and can't see one spiritual truth whatsoever. I'm glad, because that way Christ
can come and give me insight to see him. The day of a believer's
death is better than the day of our birth, isn't it? To go
be with the Lord. Then number three, it's better
to mourn than to party. It's better to sorrow than to
laugh. Verse two, it's better to go
to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting.
For that's the end of all men. and the living will lay it to
his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness
of the countenance, the heart is made better. The heart of
the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in
the house of mirth. In our world today, people just
want to be happy all the time. I mean, just happy, just whatever
it takes to be happy, You know, if you can't be happy, take a
pill, you know, that makes you be happy, at least not make you
not be able to think about things that are sad, you know. And I'm
not mocking those things. I have a doctor friend told me
how helpful those medications are, you know, for people, anxiety
and depression. And I'm not talking about people
that are just really need that. I'm just talking about just taking
these things to an extreme. Just, I mean, anything, no matter
what side effects, is to make you happy. And I tell you the
reason that they just want to be happy. You know why? Sins made everything so sad. Sins made everything so difficult. People just want to be happy
all the time, but you can't be happy all the time in this sinful
world. It's just impossible. Sin causes
so much sorrow and heartache and just nothing can change that. Nothing can change that. Now,
again, it's just like I told you, don't start mourning the
birth of a baby. There's nothing wrong with feasting and enjoying,
laughing together. We're at this wedding reception
last night. There's a lot of laughing. There's a lot of feasting.
A lot of feasting. There's a lot of laughing. It's
a good reason to celebrate. When they have good reason to
celebrate, celebrate. Celebrate. There's a lot of sorrow
in this world. I mean, there's so much sorrow.
You just don't have to even go looking for it. There's so much
sorrow in this world. But who has a better reason to
feast and to laugh and find a reason to be happy than a believer who's
trusting Christ? God made all this for you. He's
made it all for you. We just need to learn to keep
both sorrow and feasting, sorrow and partying in their proper
place. There's a proper time for sorrow
and there's a proper time for joy. But Solomon is not just
talking about that. He's talking about spiritual
things here. He says that the end of all men is death. Now that's the end of all men,
the time of mourning down there at the funeral home. That's the
end of all flesh. And he said the living will lay
that to heart. The living are going to remember that and apply
themselves to that. Since the end of all men is death,
now that's true, since the end of all men is death because of
sin, it's far better to go to the house of mourning than to
laugh all the time with fools. So you know why fools can just
laugh all, you ever wonder sometimes, why does somebody just laugh
all the time? How come there never seems to be any sorrow,
any heartache, any seriousness in this person? Why does somebody
just laugh all the time? I'll tell you why. Because they're
ignoring sin. They're ignoring death. They're
ignoring eternity. Just fools laughing all the time
and laughing their way to hell. And that's what man's religion
gives them. Man's religion does absolutely everything it can
to make people happy. I was drinking my coffee this
morning. And I normally watch SportsCenter
while I'm drinking my coffee. But they were advertising. I
hate commercials. So I started channel surfing and I saw this
thing on my on my digital cable there about this preacher telling
you how to be happy. OK, well, I got to see this,
you know. And I just, well, I couldn't
stand it for very long. I never saw anything what you're
saying to make you happy. You know what they're telling people?
it's just going to be okay. Just, just ignore it. Just, you
know, and they tell you, you should be happy. You should be
happy. God wants you to be happy. And the fatal flaw in that is
this. They don't deal with the problem of sin. They don't deal
with the fact you and I are sinners. God's angry with the wicked every
day. The Holy God cannot accept us in our sin. There's no reason
for us to be happy if we're still in our sin. God's condemnation
is upon us if we're still in our sin. All that is is this
man's religion just laughing and telling y'all be happy. That's
just laughing and drinking wine in the Titanic's ballroom while
that ship's going to the bottom of North Atlantic. That's all
it is. Solomon said it's better to go
to the house of mourning. If you look at Matthew chapter
five, our Lord tells us why that's true. It's better to go to the
house of mourning if we're mourning over our sin, if we're mourning
over our sin. Matthew five, verse four. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Now the mourning we're talking
about here is not just having a bad hair day, sorry about that,
you know. It's being broken hearted. Broken
hearted over sin, over your sin. God says those people who mourn
over their sin, God says they're the blessed people. They're blessed. You know why? Their sin's forgiven. Their sin's forgiven. The morning, our Lord promises
to comfort. Like my friend here just lost
her husband. There's a morning, the Lord will
comfort. I know the Lord will comfort, but you know, that comfort
that we talk about there is just, you learn to live with it. You
learn to live with it. You adjust. I bet every widow
in this place will tell you, I miss my husband every day.
I miss him every day. I've heard many of them say just
like yesterday, just like yesterday. So you don't, you're not comforted
in the fact that you just forget about it. But the morning our
Lord promises to completely comfort is the morning over our sin.
When a person mourns over their sin, what they are, what they
are is sin. The Lord will comfort that person.
And you know how he comforts them? by showing them the remedy
for their sin, by bringing them to his house where Christ crucified
is preached, where Christ crucified is a sacrifice for the sin of
his people that puts their sin away forever. That gospel comforts
the heart of those who mourn, mourn over their sin. And it
is a blessing to be in a place where we can hear over and over
and over again how the Son of God gave himself for our sins. to put our sin away. That comforts
your heart, doesn't it? It comforts the hearts of those
who mourn. And it's better to sorrow, to sorrow over sin. Don't just ignore your sin. It's
better to sorrow over that than be surrounded by foolish, unfounded
laughter. Godly sorrow. That's what we're
talking about. Godly sorrow. That mourning is
repentance. And that godly sorrow is Oh,
it's so much better than laughter. Because that godly sorrow, when
you mourn over your sin, you know what that forces you to
do? You're only mourning over your sin because you can't do
anything about it. You can't make it go away. You mourn over your
sin. You know why that's so good?
You know why that's better than laughter? Because that kind of
godly sorrow and mourning forces you to turn to Christ. Because
He's your only hope. Oh, that's way better than laughing,
isn't it? To turn to Christ and to trust Him. And here's another
reason, sorrow over sin is good. Do you know God only chastises
his children with sorrow? He only chastises his children.
If God doesn't chastise you, just leaves you laughing all
the time, you're not a child of God. The writer of the Hebrews
said in chapter 12, verse eight, if you're without chastisement,
we're of all our partakers. We're of all God's children are
partakers. He said, then you're bastards and you're not sons.
Oh, godly sorrow is good because he afflicts only his children
with that. And even sorrow in trials and
heartaches is good for a child of God. Now, I would just at
my bottom dollar, there's not a person here that would say,
I can't wait till God sends me the next trial. I wouldn't say
that. I'm not looking forward to the
next heartache. But you know, as bitter as that
is, that's good for a child of God. It is, because it draws
us closer to Christ. He's our only comfort. Tribulation
worketh patience, and patience experience and experience hope,
and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.
Now that ends up, with the love of God being shed abroad in our
hearts. Where to start? Tribulation. Now those trials
and heartaches are good for us. It teaches us more of the Savior.
It teaches us to rely on Him more. It teaches us where true
comfort is really found. And godly sorrow is better than
the laughter of fools. Because the fool's just laughing
because they're ignoring sin. They're ignoring the problem
of sin. But godly sorrow always produces a good hope. because
we're trusting, it forces us to trust in Christ. And then
fourthly, it's better to hear a rebuke than a song. Back in our text, Ecclesiastes
7 verse 5. It's better to hear the rebuke
of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as
the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of
the fool. This also is vanity. Now the
rebuke that Solomon's talking about here is the rebuke of the
gospel. And the gospel always rebukes
the flesh. It rebukes the flesh for wanting
to trust in the works of the flesh. It rebukes the flesh for
wanting to trust in the arm of the flesh rather than trusting
in Christ. And we all need to be rebuked
about this. Our flesh needs to be rebuked about this constantly,
constantly. We need to be rebuked for trying
to earn God's favor by what we do or what we don't do. Our flesh
needs to be rebuked about that, because even the flesh of the
oldest believer here is constantly trying to bring you back into
captivity of the law, isn't it? Constantly trying to get you
to earn God's favor. And the Song of Fools flatters
the flesh that way. The Song of Fools makes the flesh
feel real good about itself and what it can do. And the flesh
loves that song. They come back and sing me another
chorus of that song. It's a song of fools, but it
makes my flesh feel better about myself. And believing in that
song, oh, it makes you feel good for a minute. It'll send you
to hell if you believe it. And the gospel rebukes the flesh.
The gospel constantly reminds us how sinful we are. And I thought about this matter
of our sin. And this is the conclusion I've come to. We can't paint
the picture black enough. We can't paint the picture bleak
enough. We just can't truly say how vile
and corrupt and helpless and hopeless that our flesh is. But
hearing that rebuke is always good for the believer. The believer's
always thankful for it. Because that rebuke makes me
come to Christ again. Peter said, to whom? Oh, I came
to Christ once, but hearing that rebuke makes me come to Him again,
and come to Him again, and come to Him again, and follow His
feet. Hearing that rebuke makes me
trust Christ and put all my hope in Him. And that Song of Fools,
you know, it'll be a lot more impressive than the message of
the Gospel. Impressive to the flesh than the message of the
Gospel. Plain preaching of Christ. The
Song of Fools makes a lot of noise. Makes a big show. But
all it is, is just burning thorns. It's just, you know, when you
burn a thorn bush, it just pops and crackles and makes a lot
of noise, but it doesn't produce any heat. Doesn't produce any
heat. Last year for maybe, was it the
first time in our married life we had a real Christmas tree?
First time. At the end of Christmas, we chopped
that thing up and we saved, Jan likes to have a fire pit night,
you know. And we chopped that thing up
and we had all these the greenery, you know, on that thing. And
it chopped up in piles, you know. And I banged and piled that together
and I throw it on that fire. And whoosh, just, I mean, the
flame and the sound. But there's no warmth to it.
It impressed Jane. She's like, see that big fire,
you know. But it didn't make you warm. Now, give me some of
them good logs. She said, get those logs that
Alec brought us. We'll put them on there. That makes a fire.
The rebuke of the gospel. Oh, it offends the pride of the
flesh. It offends the righteousness of the flesh, but it's the only
message that gives life, that gives life and warmth to the
soul. Look at Proverbs chapter 15. Proverbs chapter 15. Verse 31. The ear that heareth the reproof
of life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction
despiseth his own soul. He that heareth reproof getteth
understanding. Oh, I need the Lord to make me
wise. So I hear the rebuke of the gospel. So my flesh is rebuked
and I don't trust in myself. Now one more scripture, Psalm
141. In verse five, let the righteous smite me and
it should be a kindness. Let him approve me and it should
be an excellent oil. What should not break my head
for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. Now let,
let the righteous smite me. It'll be a kindness. Let the
gospel smite me. It'll be a kindness. I'll let
the song of fools like false religion let them soothe me and
rub me and tell me it's all be okay That'll be a meanness Let
the gospel smite me and it'll be a kindness because when the
gospel smites us our head won't be broken We won't be killed
by it Sin will do that, but the gospel When the gospel smites
us the flesh is smitten the flesh is killed. So the spirit looks
to Christ and has life That's the rebuke of the gospel. The
rebuke of the gospel doesn't kill you. It gives life and healing
and cleansing and comfort. That's what the believer needs.
That's the oil that the gospel gives. It doesn't break our head.
When it breaks on our head, it's just soothing all the way down. See, that rebuke is far better
than the song of fools and the song of false religion. Oh, it
makes a person feel better for a minute, but ignores the problem
of sin. ignores the problem of death.
I don't see how you can take that song of fools to your deathbed
and find any comfort in it, can you? And that's the end of all
men. But you can take this gospel
that rebukes the flesh, you can take it even to your deathbed,
can't you? Because there, where are you
going to find comfort? The same way you are right now
by looking to Christ, by looking to Christ. Oh, may God be pleased
to make us see that the bitter is better than the sweeter, so
that we look only to Christ. Let's bow together. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. We thank you for this clear instruction from your word,
and Father, I pray you'd apply it to our hearts, that you'd
make us to apply our hearts to wisdom, that we might seek Christ
seeking, finding, and finding him rest in him. Father, cause
these words to ring forth to the hearts of your people, to
the glory of Christ our Savior, so that we find it utterly impossible
to put any hope, any trust, any confidence anywhere but in his
precious name. It's his name. For the glory
of his name, we pray. Amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, please stand
and turn to song number 304, Savior More Than Life to Me. Savior more than life to me,
I am clinging, clinging close to Thee. Let Thy precious blood
apply, keep me ever, ever near Thy side. Every day, every hour,
let me feel Thy cleansing power. May Thy tender love to me find
me closer, closer, Lord, to Thee. Through this changing world below
Lead me gently, gently as I go Trusting thee I cannot stray
I can never, never lose my way Ev'ry aye, ev'ry ow Let me feel
Thy cleansing power. Dame of youth, tender love to
me. Bind me closer, closer, Lord,
to Thee. Let me love thee more and more,
till this fleeting, fleeting life is o'er, till my soul is
lost in love in a brighter, brighter world above. Every day, every hour, let me
feel Thy cleansing power. May Thy tender love to me bind
me closer, closer, Lord, to Thee.