- This evening is number 100, Savior.
- We'll sing there, starting on the 1st.
- Father, we thank you for this day,
for the many blessings that you've given unto us.
I just pray that you would be with
and strengthen those salvations that we had this evening,
and thank you for just leading us
to so many that were receptive.
Lord, I pray also for our service this evening,
that everything would be done decently and in order,
and that you just would have your hand of protection
on us for today and the coming weeks,
and really for our whole lives that we have serving you,
Lord, that we would continue in service to you,
and that you would continue protecting us as we do so.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
For our next hymn, number 139,
"I Know Whom I Have Believed," 139.
39, they're on the 1st.
♪ Wondrous grace ♪
Song this evening is in your white handout.
Holy, holy, holy in your white handouts.
Holy, holy, holy.
They're on the 1st.
♪ Holy ♪
Ecclesiastes chapter, Ecclesiastes chapter number,
Ecclesiastes four, the Bible reads.
So I returned and considered all the oppressions
that are done under the sun,
and behold, the tears of such as were oppressed,
and they had no comforter,
and on the side of their oppressors there was no power,
but they had no comforter.
On the side of their oppressors there was power,
but they had no comforter.
Wherefore, I praise the dead which are already dead,
more than the living which are yet alive.
Yea, better is he than both they,
which hath not yet been,
who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
Again, I considered all travail and every right work,
that for this a man is envied of his neighbor.
This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
The fool foldeth his hands together
and eateth his own flesh.
Better is a handful with quietness
than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.
Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun.
There is one alone, and there is not a second,
yea, he hath neither child nor brother,
yet is there no end of all his labor.
Neither is his eye satisfied with riches, neither saith he,
for whom do I labor and bereave my soul of good.
This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor;
for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow;
but woe to him, that is alone when he falleth,
for he hath not another to help him up.
Again, if two lie together, then they have heat;
but how can one be warm alone?
And if one prevail against him, two shall stand with him,
and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Better is a poor and a wise child
than an old and a foolish king,
who will no more be admonished;
for out of prison he cometh to reign,
whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becomeeth poor.
I considered all the living which walk under the sun,
with the second child that shall stand up in his stead.
There is no end of all the people,
even of all that have been before them.
They also that come after shall not rejoice in him.
Surely this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
Let's bow our heads forward to prayer.
Father in heaven, we thank you for today,
and we thank you for the spirit of this good life.
- Men, we're in Ecclesiastes chapter four,
and as a reminder, Ecclesiastes is a really
philosophical book.
He's kind of walking us through the vanity
that's under the sun and just how vain,
vexatious and evil life is in this world.
And of course, at the end, he realizes
the only thing that's important is fearing God
and keeping his commandments.
But it's gonna get a little black-pilled again,
because again, he's just showing us
how life under the sun is just evil and vain.
It says in verse number one,
so I returned and considered all the oppressions
that are done under the sun.
And behold, the tears of such as were oppressed.
They had no comforter, and on the side of their oppressors,
there was power, but they had no comforter.
So, of course, you read something like this
and your heart kind of breaks.
You just think about what an unfair, sad situation this is.
And you know, it's true.
This is what the world is like.
The world is full of wickedness.
The world is full of sin.
The world is full of unfair situations.
I mean, he's looking at these people that are oppressed.
They have no comforter.
And the people who are doing the oppressing,
the ones that are doing the evil,
power is on their side.
Boy, that reminds me of our government today a lot.
People who are oppressing, doing wrong,
but all the power is on their side.
And he's saying, man, there was no one to help these people.
There was no one to comfort these people.
He's just considering and thinking upon these things.
But you know, the silver lining of this situation
is that we as Christians are the only people
situated in this world to actually do something about it.
Because yes, he's explaining just the reality
of this carnal world and the sinful state that is in.
And it's just like, hey, people are getting oppressed,
you know, taken advantage of, hurt.
And when I look at these people getting oppressed,
I see there's no one to help them.
There's no one to comfort them.
And all the power is on the side of the oppressors.
But here's the thing.
We as Christians actually do have something
that can help and comfort the afflicted.
It's called the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And the Bible talks about how pure religion
and undefiled before God is this,
that we visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction, right?
Sometimes people wanna get down on that word religion
and say, oh, you know, religion's a bad word.
You don't wanna be a religious person.
You got tons of preachers.
They're constantly preaching against religious people.
It's like the Bible literally says that pure religion
and undefiled before God is this,
that we visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction
and that we keep ourselves unspotted from the world.
There's nothing wrong with pure religion.
Pure religion, helping people that have a need.
Preaching the gospel to people,
following God's commandments, living a holy life.
You know, religion is not the problem in this world.
False religion is the problem.
The problem with this world is religions
like the Catholic Church that are oppressing people,
that are keeping people in bondage
and all the powers on their side,
and the people that are stuck in the Catholic Church,
they have no one to help them, no one to comfort them.
They're being told, hey, keep all the commandments
and you can go to heaven.
Repent of all your sins and you can go to heaven.
Confess to the priest, take the sacrament,
do this long list of things to get to heaven,
and guess what, no one can do that.
And every single Catholic, if you believe the doctrine
of the Catholic Church is unsaved.
Does that mean that we hate them?
No, we love them, that's why we want them to be saved.
That's why we go and preach them the gospel
and we show them, hey, I know you're afflicted right now,
I know you feel oppressed right now,
but guess what, there's liberty in Christ
when you put your faith in him.
Now you're free, now you're saved,
now you can actually keep God's commandments out of love,
not out of fear of going to hell.
You know, we actually could do something about
the people that are oppressed in this world,
but when you think back about this verse,
just from a carnal perspective,
it is true that life in general is just unfair.
Life is unfair, life is hard,
a lot of just terrible things are happening
to people in this world,
and the wrong attitude would be to see all the evil
that's done under the sun and then start to blame God.
To look at the horrific things that happen in this world,
like Epstein's Island, or warfare, or poverty, or disease,
and a lot of foolish people will then turn their anger
or their pain around at God, that is a foolish idea, folks.
Why is it that evil exists in this world?
It's because of sin, it's not because of God.
God created this world perfect,
the Garden of Eden was perfect, there was no sin,
there was no death, why is it that there's oppression
and evil and harm and disease and murder?
Because of sin, that's why.
It's foolish to sit there and charge God.
Go to John 16, but here's the thing.
Number one, why is there sin in the world,
or why is there evil in the world because of sin?
Also, the Bible never said that life would be perfect.
God never claimed that your life would be perfect.
The Bible doesn't say that you are owed happiness,
or wealth, or health, or things going well for you.
God never even promises that to you.
So why, if you don't have those things,
would you be mad at God?
It'd be one thing if you read the Bible
and God said, hey, if you're saved,
you're never gonna have health issues,
you're never gonna have financial issues,
you're never gonna have marital issues,
everything's gonna go well for you,
and then those things don't happen,
you'd be like, God, what's going on?
Why are you lying to me?
But here's what the Bible actually says
as you're turning to John 16.
Listen to this, Psalm 34, verse 19.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
The Bible says many are the afflictions of the righteous.
So you could be a righteous person,
you could be a good Christian,
and still have a life full of afflictions.
That's actually what the Bible teaches.
And of course, out of those all, the Lord will deliver us,
whether that's in heaven someday,
we're delivered from all of our troubles, right?
Oh, you got health problems someday, we'll get a new body,
we'll be delivered from those things.
Oftentimes, the afflictions we go through
aren't necessarily a lifelong thing,
they're a season of life,
and you've got to have some faith and trust in God
to get you through those times
and see the Lord deliver you out of those times.
But look, my friend,
do not expect life to have no afflictions.
The Bible says, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous."
Look at John chapter 16, verse 33.
Look what Jesus said, "These things I've spoken unto you,
"that in me ye might have peace."
In the world, ye shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
So notice, in Christ, what do we have?
Peace, isn't that a blessing?
Having peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
But in the world, what's that?
Life under the sun.
What is Solomon analyzing in this book
as he's looking at life under the sun?
And what is he seeing in life under the sun?
Tribulation, affliction, oppression, heartache,
problems.
But here's the thing.
Jesus told us that's what it's going to be like.
So why would I get mad at God for life ending up
looking exactly like how Jesus said it would?
He said, hey, in me, you have peace.
That's why you shouldn't just live your life for the things
under the sun, because then your heart's just always going
to be stressed.
You're always going to be worried.
You're always going to be sad.
You're always just going to be upset.
You don't really want to spend your whole life considering
the affliction, right?
We should care about it.
But you don't want to be like Solomon.
We're just like in a permanent state here
of just thinking about the negative, and all the evil,
and all the bad, and all the sorrow.
No, no, no, what we should be thinking about is Christ.
Because in Christ, we have peace.
Yeah, in the world, we have tribulation.
But what did he say?
Be sad about all the issues?
No, he said be of good cheer, for I've overcome the world.
So we as Christians, yeah, this world sucks because of sin.
But should we be sad about that?
Should we constantly be whining and complaining about that?
We should be joyful in Christ.
That's actually what God said to do.
Go to Galatians chapter number three and think about this, instead of just, you know, complaining
about how hard life is and all the problems that we have and how evil this world is under
the sun and all the oppression and all the afflictions, why don't you just be thankful
that Jesus Christ was willing to leave the perfect life in heaven to take on the curse
of the sin of this world so that we could be saved?
Because here's the thing, he already had it all.
He I mean, he's God, he's eternally existed in heaven with the Father.
He had all the riches, he had all the glory, he had all the fellowship with God.
You know, he came and gave all of that up and became sin for us so that we could be
saved.
You know, instead of getting mad at God for the evil of this world, why aren't you thankful
to God for dying for the evil of this world?
Look at Galatians 3 verse 11, "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of
God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith.
And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them."
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.
Notice this, "Being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree."
You know, we didn't deserve Christ's mercy.
We didn't deserve Jesus Christ to come down from heaven and become a curse for us and
to endure the mocking and the scourging and the betrayal and the loneliness and the nails
through the hands and His feet and being put on the cross for six hours.
You know, we deserve hell and Jesus loved us so much that He's willing to become a curse
for us.
You know, we shouldn't be mad at God at the evils of this world.
We should be thankful that He was willing to save us from the evils of this world.
And let's just be honest, folks.
Verse number one of Ecclesiastes four, you can go back to Ecclesiastes.
Verse number one of Ecclesiastes four, I'm just speaking for my life right now.
This does not describe my life.
My life is not one of just constant oppression and evil.
And there's no one to comfort me, no one to help me, and just the enemy has all the power.
That is not what my life is like.
Here's what my life is like.
I live in this great anomaly of the history of humanity called the United States of America
in 2026.
I mean, folks, we have it better than people have ever had it ever.
I mean, why are you black-pilled?
Why are you so depressed?
Why are you such a complainer?
You live in the best time in the history of the world.
In the best place in the history of the world.
I mean, folks, I'm just, I'm so sick and tired of everyone acting like they're this poor
little house slave.
I'm so sick and tired of everyone acting like they're this poor little, you know, 1920s
black lung factory worker.
I mean, folks, whether you're a man or woman, whether you're working to provide or you're
keeping the house, look, let's just be honest, we've got it better than we've ever had in
our entire, in the history of this world.
We do, right?
And so instead of just constantly being black-pilled and just considering all the evil and just
thinking about all the problems, why don't you be thankful?
Why don't you focus on the good?
Why don't you rejoice that we live in this time, in this place?
Look, I wouldn't want to live any other time, any other place.
I thank God for the time that I live in.
I thank God for living here in Oklahoma.
You know, we need to rejoice in that.
Go if you would to Revelation 20.
But you know, let's be honest, the evils of this world, it does eat at us.
It is sickening to see the Epstein list.
It is frustrating to know how evil this world is.
But here's the thing.
We just have to take comfort in knowing the fact that God will settle all scores someday.
And if Pam Blondie doesn't do it, God certainly will.
You know, if the attorney general and the president and our government doesn't want
to take care of business, there's a great judge, there's a great courtroom coming called
the great white throne judgment.
Look at Revelation 20 verse 11, "And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on
it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for
them."
I mean, there's coming a day in history where this will just be the only event going on
in the universe.
Heaven and earth flees away, it's just like this great court trial.
Who likes to watch trials on YouTube or something?
I like to watch trials.
This is going to be the coolest trial ever.
And look, we're going to be there.
We're not going to be being judged, but we're going to be there because it says heaven and
earth fled away.
Where else is there to be?
We're in this courtroom.
We're watching the judge take care of business.
Notice it says, and I saw the dead both.
I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another
book was open, which is the book of life and the dead were judged.
Notice out of those things, which were written in the books according to their works.
You know, people today that want to justify themselves and tell you, oh, I'm going to
heaven because I'm a good person, because I keep the law and they're trusting in their
works to get them to heaven.
Someday God's going to open up the books.
He's going to open up the book of life and he's going to judge what's written therein
and weigh it against their works.
And guess what?
Every single person trusting in their works is going to be found wanting.
Those of us who have trusted in Christ, hey, Christ's righteousness is imputed unto us
and God sees nothing but pure righteousness because of Jesus on our account, not because
of our works.
It says in verse 13 in the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works.
People will go to these verses to try to like act like it's a slam dunk for work salvation.
It's just like, I don't think you actually want to be judged according to your works,
buddy.
It's like that verse is not on your side.
You're going to be judged according to your works.
Exactly.
You're going to fail, man, like you're going to come up shore.
Why are you excited about that?
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was
cast into the lake of fire.
Right.
So the wicked is not going to get away with it forever.
Someday every secret thing will be made known.
Every work will be judged.
And you know what?
The wicked, the unsaved will be cast into the lake of fire.
Go to verse number two of Ecclesiastes four, verse number two of Ecclesiastes four.
So remember he's considering all the evil and all the oppression in this world.
In verse two he says this, "Wherefore I praised the dead, which are already dead, more than
the living, which are yet alive."
He's saying life is so bad, you know, I'm happy for the people that are already dead.
They have it better than the people that are alive.
"Yea, better is he than both they which have not yet been, who have not seen the evil work
that is done under the sun."
Now remember, in Ecclesiastes, of course, every word of Ecclesiastes is accurate and
inspired by God, but you have to read this whole book in context because he's walking
us through a process of his philosophizing and his thinking.
He's examining everything under the sun and he comes to the right conclusion at the end
that you know, the conclusion of the matter is to fear God and keep his commandments.
But look, I don't think that this is the right attitude that he has right here, okay?
Some people just act like every single thing that he says is just 100% the right attitude
to have.
No, no, no.
It is true that people do feel this way sometimes, right?
That it's better to be dead than to alive, to be alive, or this, that it's better not
to have even existed, right?
Some people have this attitude like I don't want to bring kids into this evil world.
I don't want to bring kids into this sinful world.
I'm not going to have kids or something like that.
But look, yes, this world is evil.
Yes, it's bad.
But again, we shouldn't be sitting here just focusing on all the negative in life and just
obsessing on all the negative.
Why don't you do something about it?
Why don't you do something positive in the situation?
How about go be a soul winner, right?
It's like, yeah, this world is full of sin.
It is full of oppression.
There is evil.
Yeah, people could be so vexed that they wish they weren't even alive because they have
no comfort.
They have no hope.
But here's the thing.
We do have comfort.
In fact, we have the Holy Spirit, which is literally called the Comforter.
That is one of the duties of God the Holy Spirit is to bring comfort to believers.
Now, guess who has the Holy Spirit?
Save people.
So here's the thing.
If someone's not saved, do they have the Comforter?
No, they don't.
So why don't we go give them the Comforter by preaching them the gospel?
I just don't think this is the right attitude to sit here and just be like, you know, we
should just all be dead.
We shouldn't have even been alive.
Life's just so terrible.
It's like, no, why don't we preach the gospel and get people to go to heaven?
Right?
I mean, every single person who's in heaven right now, do you think any of them wish that
they were never born?
No, they're loving heaven.
They're enjoying it.
It's great.
Yeah, obviously we don't want people to go to hell.
That'd be awful.
Do something about it.
Be a soul winner.
Don't complain about people going to hell if you don't even preach the gospel.
Don't sit here and judge God.
God is so mean for sending people to hell.
Hell is so terrible.
Yeah, it is.
Why don't you do something about it?
But if you're not going to, don't sit here and get mad at God and impugn his character.
You know, the right attitude is to be thankful for your life.
Go to Psalm 118, Psalm 118.
This is the right attitude.
Regardless of your situation, the right attitude is for us to be thankful for our lives and
not have this attitude, well, well, they're happy with their life because they've been
given more good than me.
They've been given more blessings.
And if I just had their blessings and their good, then I'd be happy.
Then I'd rejoice.
That's the wrong attitude.
Look at the Psalmist in Psalm 118 verse 18, it says, "The Lord hath chastened me sore,
but he hath not given me over unto death."
Right?
Hey, there's always a bright side.
It's like, yeah, God is chasing me sore.
Man, I mean, God's really came down, but I'm alive.
You can always look at the bright side.
You can always look at the silver lining.
It's like, yeah, maybe God has to come down on us pretty hard every once in a while.
But did you die, though?
Because that's what the Psalmist is saying, he's like, "I didn't die."
Verse 19, "Open to me the gates of righteousness.
I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord.
This gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter, I will praise thee, for thou
hast heard me, and are become my salvation.
The stone which the builders refused is become the head of the corner.
This is the Lord's doing.
It is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord hath made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it."
That's the inspired word of God right there.
Sometimes you read just verse 24.
I'm sure when we've heard this verse, it's usually just quoted by itself.
This is the day which the Lord hath made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
But when you actually read it in context, it's not like everything's going great in
the psalmist's life.
It's not like, well, I'm rejoicing because everything's great with my car and my house
and my job and my money and my relationships.
He said, no, no, no, God has been chastising me sore.
Like God has really been coming down on me.
I've been really having a lot of issues, but I didn't die, but I'm still alive.
And so, hey, if I'm alive, I'm going to rejoice in the day that God has made and be glad.
And again, it's like we often get so depressed and so sad about how our life is doing under
the sun, but our life under the sun doesn't matter.
It's all going to go away someday, right?
It's like, oh, I just got health problems and debt and all of that will be wiped away
in heaven.
Your debt will not go with you into heaven.
Your relationship problems will not go with you, you know?
Your ex-wife may not go with you, but seriously, like we just need to have a good attitude,
right?
I mean, doesn't it say in Philippians chapter four that we're supposed to think on things
that are good, pure, lovely, of good report, you know, we're supposed to think on those
things, right?
So I wouldn't recommend going down Solomon's, you know, philosophical quest of just like
let me just think about vexation and vanity and evil and folly and just everything that
can be known under the sun.
It's like we don't have to stay too long there because really what the Bible says is to focus
on the positive, to focus on that which is good.
If you look at verse number four of Ecclesiastes four, it says in verse number four, "Again,
I considered."
So notice, is he thinking about the positive?
No, he's just thinking about all the evil.
He says again, "I considered all travail and every right work that for this a man is envied
of his neighbor."
This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
So he kind of shifts gears.
Here's another evil.
Here's another, he's just going to list everything that sucks about life.
All right.
He's like, "Here's another thing that's bad about life.
If you work really hard, if you're successful, even if you do good things, even if you do
that which is right, you'll still be envied of other wicked people.
You'll still be hated of your neighbor."
Right?
And look, that's a bad attitude.
Of course, that's vexing.
That's annoying.
Like, imagine you're doing right.
You're succeeding.
You're serving the Lord.
You know, God's blessing you.
And then people hate you for that.
People are envious, you know, towards you for that.
You know, that's a vexing thing to go through.
That's not something we should be.
We should not be envious people.
I'll read for you Galatians 525.
It says, "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another."
Right?
So someone who is consumed with envy, it's just 100% guarantee that person's not walking
in the Spirit.
Because the Bible says, "Hey, let's walk in the Spirit."
Not doing these things, what?
Being full of vain glory, right?
Being so obsessed with your image, obsessed with what people think about you, what you
look like.
Right?
That's someone, and someone who's obsessed with vain glory, you know what they do?
They envy people who have the things that they want.
Like if you're vain and shallow, you know what you do, you hate people who have what
you want.
You know, girls can be like this.
A lot of girls are just really vain and shallow about their appearance.
And so they just hate pretty girls.
Like if there's another beautiful woman out there, it's just like that girl will just
hate that beautiful girl for no reason whatsoever.
They may have never even spoken to each other.
They're just like, "She's terrible.
She's..."
Why?
Because this woman is actually vain in her heart.
This woman is actually really envious and vainglorious.
And so she just hates.
Guys can be this way too.
There's a guy that's successful in the workplace.
He makes good money.
And people who are just lazy but covetous, they'll just be like, "Oh, that's a terrible
person.
He's evil.
He's wicked."
That's the wrong attitude as well.
That's someone just walking in the flesh.
And, you know, one of the biggest problems with Gen Z is vanity.
It's like we kind of like swung the pendulum way too far one direction.
Like 10 years ago, it was like fat pride, body positivity, and hey, isn't it just like
so great and so healthy to be 600 pounds?
And let's celebrate being 600 pounds.
Woo, great!
And then Gen Z is like, "Hey, let's do bone smashing.
Let's get a hammer and smash my face with a hammer to try to get a chiseled masculine
look."
That's so gay.
That's so faggity as a man to care that much about how you look.
You are vain glorious, my friend.
I mean, what has possessed you to hit your own face with a hammer?
There is a guy who is super popular all over the internet.
His name is Clavicular.
He's like this streamer, and for years he's literally beat his face with a hammer.
He has all these drugs, takes all these performance enhancing drugs, and he's trying to do this
thing called looks maxing.
Who's ever heard of looks maxing?
Let me tell you, that is gay.
Oh my goodness, folks.
Look, we don't want fat pride, but we also don't want looks maxing, where it's just all
about how you look, and it's just like, as a guy, look, brush your teeth, dress nice,
do some pushups, all right?
But guys who are overly obsessed with their appearance, that's just so effeminate, it's
not even funny.
It's just cringe, it's weird, and look, young people are following guys like that, you
need to stop, 'cause the Bible says we're not supposed to walk in the flesh, and you
know what it is when you're walking in the flesh?
You're obsessed with vainglory, oh, looks maxing, making myself look as much like a
Hollywood actor as possible, and just maxing on money, and maxing on cars, right?
Andrew Tate's the same way.
Oh, you need to get rich, you need to get a Bugatti, you need to have 10 girlfriends,
you need to do all these things.
Why don't you, like, godly max?
Why don't you Bible max, why don't you load up some Bible verses on the bar, why don't
you squat some Bible verses or something in your life spiritually, why don't you go soul
winning, why don't you go to church, why don't you stop going to an effeminate church with
a woman pastor, why don't you stop going to a gay church, you know, why don't you start
caring about the things that God actually cares about, not your stupid looks.
Guess what, your looks are going away, everything under the sun is going away, and for some
of us it's going real fast.
For me it's going real fast, I'm just like, am I thinning already, I'm 28, what is going
on?
But hey, who cares?
It's under the sun, it's all going to disappear someday, I'm worried about rewards in heaven.
Go if you would to Ecclesiastes 4.
So hey, what's one thing that's just kind of vexing about life?
It's like well, if you're successful, if you do well, people will envy you, because they're
vain and they're envious and they're walking in the flesh.
Well, here's another thing, in verse number 5, the fool foldeth his hands together and
eateth his own flesh.
You know there's a certain vexation about being successful, is that often times you'll
have clingers on, you'll have haters, you'll have envious people.
But you know there's a certain vexation with being someone who's just like poor and lazy
too.
It's called being a loser.
And it's like, verse 5, who wants to be this guy?
The fool foldeth his hands together and eateth his own flesh.
This is just the lazy do nothing, who doesn't achieve anything, he's not doing anything
with his life.
And it's like, these are like opposite sides of the coin, but they're both vain.
They're both vexatious.
It's like you don't really want either one.
The Bible really hammers that we should be aiming towards that middle ground.
Because look at verse six, it says better is in handful with quietness than both the
hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.
It's like, you know, you don't want to be the poor lazy guy.
The poverty of the poor is their destruction.
The Bible says, you know, being poor is not something that's cool or exciting.
That's terrible.
But also you don't necessarily want to have both hands full in life because that could
be full of vexation and travail that that could be, you know, none of your friends
are real.
That could be none of your family members actually love you.
That could mean people are just always trying to get something from you to get an advantage
of you and people are flattering you and they really just envy and hate you.
That's not a fun life.
Right.
Like, do you think these Hollywood actors actually have a fun life?
Like, they can't just go out for ice cream with their kids.
They can't just go to a coffee shop.
They can't go to a restaurant.
They have to wear these weird disguises.
You know, it's like that's not a fun life.
You know, people are constantly stalking them at their house.
Oh, look, look at this person without makeup.
[HUMMING]
Breaking news.
Here's Sydney Sweeney without makeup.
She was caught at a grocery store.
It's like, that's not a fun life.
No one wants to live that type of a life.
But you know what better is than handful with quietness.
Go to Proverbs 15.
Proverbs 15.
And this is a big theme in Proverbs,
how we're not supposed to desire to be rich.
You know, we don't want to be poor.
We don't want to be rich.
We want to have convenience, right?
We want to have that food, which is convenient for us.
It says in Proverbs 15, verse 16,
better is little with the fear of the Lord
than great treasure and trouble therewith.
Right, hey, I'd rather be around people
who have no means or low means,
but they're godly people, they're God-fearing people,
than be over at some rich Hollywood actor's house
who worships the devil and some abortion-loving Democrat.
It's like, who wants to be around that type of person?
I'd rather be around the lowly.
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.
You'd rather eat a vegetarian dinner
than be at some, you know, what's the restaurant
where they just bring endless meat?
Brazilian restaurants.
Yeah, like Brazilian-style restaurants.
They just bring like endless meats.
I love those restaurants.
But here's the thing.
You'd rather literally just have a salad
with normal, good, godly people.
You know, you'd rather just have a salad
with the wife of your youth that you love
than be around all these vain, evil, wicked people
just gorging on the best food.
Why, because you know what?
The things of this world don't matter, right?
The things under this sun does not matter.
Flip the page, Proverbs 16, verse eight.
Better is a little with righteousness
than great revenues without right.
You know, never trade your righteousness for money.
Never trade your integrity for money
because it's better to have little with righteousness
than great revenues without right.
Go back to Ecclesiastes four,
Ecclesiastes chapter number four.
He's gonna kinda continue on this financial theme
for a little bit.
In verse number seven, he says,
"Then I returned and I saw vanity under the sun.
"There is one alone, and there is not a second.
"Yea, he hath neither child nor brother.
"Yet is there no end of all his labor.
"Neither is his eye satisfied with riches.
"Neither sayeth he, for whom do I labor
"and bereave my soul of good?
"This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail."
So notice there's this man, he's just alone, right?
And it's like, when I read this,
I'm not really thinking about a teenage boy
or a young man in his 20s, because we wouldn't be like,
wow, how vexatious and travail that you're single
at 21 years old or something like that.
You can't expect that, that's not that rare.
I kinda get the idea that this is maybe an old man
or a guy, upper middle age or something like that,
and he just has no people in his life.
And there are people like this in this world,
sadly, there are some people where they go to old age
and they have no one in their life.
Not a friend, not a brother, not a child,
not a spouse, not a parent.
That's a horrible situation to be in, right?
That's really sad.
My heart breaks for those types of people.
We should minister to those people.
We should love those people.
We should take those people in.
But notice, why is his life vain?
Well, it's like he's working super hard.
There's no end of all his labor.
It's not like when you don't have people in your life
that you get to just like not have to work or something.
Like he still has got to go to work.
And he says, neither is his eye satisfied with riches.
You know, he gets all these riches.
That doesn't make him happy, right?
Some people, they don't want to have kids
because they want to make as much money as possible.
That will not make you happy.
You will not be fulfilled in life, you know,
by getting your tubes tied or doing whatever
so that you don't have to have kids.
And it's like, okay, you serve money.
Money doesn't serve or doesn't please you still.
Notice, neither save he for whom do I labor
and bereave my soul of good.
This is also vanity, yay, it is a sword travail.
See, when you're really working hard,
but you know that it's benefiting other people,
it kind of gives you something to motivate you, right?
It gives you something to work for.
It's like, hey, sucks to wake up early,
sucks to put in this much labor, but you know what?
I love my wife, I love my kids,
and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to take care of them.
You know, that can keep you going, right?
Or just friends that you have in your life, other people.
But if you have none of those things,
it can be very difficult.
Go to Genesis two, keep your place there.
Genesis chapter number two.
And I think one of the lessons this verse
is trying to teach us,
is that people are more important than things.
It's more important to care
about the relationships in your life
and the people in your life,
rather than things.
And living a life where you prioritize money,
career, net worth, assets,
is a very sad, shallow, empty life.
This is what the boomers did by and large.
The boomers by and large,
they just gave themselves over to money
and their stock portfolio and chasing riches.
And that's why the old folks home today
is filled with people that are lonely,
that have no one to take care of them,
no one to love them,
'cause a lot of these people just didn't have kids,
or they didn't care about their kids,
or they forsook their kids.
Like, it was just a really selfish generation,
let's be honest.
And they just found themselves in this position.
Look, some people are in this position
because they're wicked.
Look, I feel bad for people that are in this position
through no fault of their own,
but here's just the honest truth.
Some people die alone because they were wicked.
Some people die alone because they burned every bridge
in their life, and look, that sucks,
but that's the reality of this world.
You know, it's not good for man to be alone.
The Bible says in Genesis two, verse 18,
"And the Lord God said it is not good
"that the man should be alone.
"I will make and help meet for him.
"And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam,
"and he slept, and he took one of his ribs
"and closed up the flesh instead thereof.
"And the rib which the Lord God had taken for man
"made he a woman and brought her unto the man.
"And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bones
"and flesh of my flesh.
"She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother
"and shall cleave unto his wife
"and they shall be one flesh."
You know, it's not good for a man to be alone.
The Bible says, "Whosoever findeth a wife
"findeth a good thing."
The Bible says, "A prudent wife is from the Lord."
Look, we need to encourage people today to get married.
There's been a lot of bad advice from previous generations
where they told you, "Hey, you know,
"focus on the riches first."
No, no, no, focus on the money.
Build up the nest egg.
Make sure you've got a savings account.
Make sure you've got the college degree.
Then get married.
And that's why we're in this weird situation
where there's so many people in their late 20s,
early 30s, beyond, that have never had kids by choice,
that have never gotten married by choice.
And I've told you the story.
You know, recently I had my 10-year anniversary
of my high school graduation,
and I went through the Facebook group,
and I'm just like blown away by the profile pictures,
how I went to the largest high school in Idaho,
and it's like five pictures, someone's married.
It's like three pictures, someone has a kid.
And it's like, what is happening to my generation?
I'll tell you exactly what's happened,
is that we've been brainwashed
to care about money more than people.
And you get this bad advice, it's like,
no, you can't afford to get married.
Oh, you can't afford to have your wife stay home
and start having kids.
Let me tell you what,
you'll never be able to afford to do anything,
and then you'll die, the end.
That's just the reality of this crazy world
that we live in, okay?
But it's like, look, I would rather, you know,
not be alone and have my wife and have children,
and look, I thank God that I'm 28 years old,
and by God's grace, I've got four beautiful girls.
I wouldn't trade that.
Oh, do you make a lot of money?
No.
Do you have the best financial situation in the world?
No, I don't, but I don't care,
because I've got those four beautiful girls,
and I've got my wife.
And it's like, it's a foolish endeavor today
that people are making
where they're trading money for people.
Don't do it.
Do not make that decision.
I would encourage young people, get married.
Now look, don't be an idiot, okay?
Don't work at McDonald's and be like,
"Oh, that'll be files, work at McDonald's."
Start pumping out 10 kids at McDonald's.
No, no, you should take your career seriously.
You should work as hard as you can.
You should, as a man, provide the best you can
and make as much money as you can without compromising,
without skipping on church.
But look, you do not have to be rich to have a family, okay?
You do not have to,
making just tons of money hand over fist.
You don't have to have $100,000 in your savings account.
You don't have to have an engineering degree.
Okay, what you need is to seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness,
and all these things will be added unto you.
That's what you need to do.
Young people today need to be told,
hey, you wanna provide for your family, put God first.
You wanna provide for your family,
type 10% to the church.
You know, you wanna, you take care of your family,
go soul winning, preach the gospel, be godly,
read the Bible, then God'll take care of you.
You know, people just wanna divorce God from their life.
It's like, don't you believe in God?
Don't you believe that that God who's holding this world
upon nothing in the universe can provide
for you and your family?
Then just obey him, right?
Be fruitful, multiply, have kids, get married.
Go to Matthew 19.
Now I do wanna say though,
because of course there are people in this world where,
hey, you know, they didn't get married in their 20s,
they didn't get married in their 30s, right?
They're past that, maybe they're still single,
or maybe tragedy has happened in their life
and their loved ones have died and they're alone,
or just the circumstances of life
that were kind of beyond their control,
whatever transpired happened,
and now they're just kind of alone.
Well, here's the thing.
Don't give up and don't get black-pilled
because God can give you a new family.
Look at Matthew chapter 19, verse 28.
"And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you,
"That ye which have followed me in the regeneration,
"when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory,
"ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones,
"judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
"And every one that hath forsaken houses,
"or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
"or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake,
"shall receive an hundredfold,
"and shall inherit everlasting life."
You know, if the relationship aspect of your life
isn't everything that you have hoped it to be,
don't give up on life.
Don't just get black-pilled on life and just give up,
and, you know, God forbid, commit suicide
or something like that.
That's why a lot of people commit suicide.
They're alone, they're lonely.
But here's the thing.
Okay, you don't have, you know, a brother.
Okay, you don't have a son.
But here's what you do have.
You have a church.
You have a room full of people that love you.
You have a church here that's willing to take you in.
And it's like, look, we should also be sensitive
to people that are in those positions.
People that, you know, they're in life,
they don't have a wife, they don't have brothers,
they don't have family members.
You know, don't ignore those people, love those people.
Because God gives spiritual family to those people
to fulfill those needs in life.
And look, if you have great friends,
if you have great church members,
but you don't have those other things,
you still have more than a lot of people in this world.
And it's like, if you've got Anchor Baptist Church,
if you're in a new IFB church in the United States
of America, you know, your life is still pretty great.
You still have it better than a lot of people,
and you should thank God for that
and not get all black-pilled.
Verse number nine of Ecclesiastes four,
go ahead and go back there.
Ecclesiastes four, verse nine, it says two are better
than one because they have a good reward for their labor.
Right, when you're working for someone else,
when you're thinking about, oh, I gotta provide
for my family or, you know, I gotta take care
of the house of God, there's a good reward for that.
You're working for that.
You're excited to see the fruits of that.
Right, two are better than one.
And notice it says, for if they fall,
the one will lift up his fellow.
But woe to him that is alone when he falleth,
for he hath not another to help him up.
Look, we need other people.
We need other people.
You know, we get more encouraged
and we have more accountability in our life,
the more people that we have in our life.
And it's like, hey, when two are together,
if one falls, the other can pick him up, right?
But woe unto him that is alone when he fallen.
Sadly, when people start to get backslidden
or they start to kind of get cold
or things bad happen in their life,
you see them kind of just withdraw from church,
which is the worst thing you could possibly do.
To withdraw from God's people,
to withdraw from your family.
Look, those are the times
that you gotta let people encourage you,
let people love you, let people help you out
in those times and not back away
because woe unto him that is alone when he falleth.
You know, I'll tell you a story about one time
when I was hunting and I got lost in the woods.
Mom, I'm sorry if you've never heard this story.
I don't mean to give you a heart attack,
but it's over, I'm safe now, okay?
Just letting you know.
So here's the thing, getting lost in the woods in Idaho
is not like getting lost in Texas or Oklahoma, okay?
Like here's the thing, it's just flat here,
there's roads everywhere, there's civilization everywhere.
You know, when people hunt here,
it's like you're in a tree stand, you're in a blind,
you kind of wait for a deer to walk by.
That is not how it is in Idaho.
When you hunt there, it's like you're in places
untouched by human beings oftentimes,
or where just no people live within like hundreds of miles.
I mean, the Frank Church Wilderness in Idaho
is the largest uninhabited wilderness area in the lower 48.
So you think about like Alaska,
there's places where just no one lives.
Okay, well like Idaho is like mini Alaska.
So when you hunt there,
it is literally a deadly thing to be doing.
Like you have to take it super serious.
You don't go hunting alone because woe unto him
that is alone when he falls.
When people go hunting alone and they break their ankle,
you're like, oh, they just broke their ankle.
No, that's a death sentence.
Like you'll freeze to death.
You'll get eaten, you'll get killed, right?
You don't wanna go out in the snow, you know,
in a vehicle alone 'cause if you get stuck,
that's a death sentence literally oftentimes.
So it's like woe unto him that is alone when he falls.
You know, I was hunting and my dad,
I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry, okay.
My dad thought it'd be a good idea.
Hey Dylan, you go with this guy.
And this guy's like a really experienced hunter.
I'm a young teenager.
This guy knows what he's doing.
He's moving fast and he tells me, he's like, all right,
you know, you're gonna go on this side of the river.
I'm gonna be on this side of the river
and we're just gonna go, you know, towards each other.
I'm kind of like on the top of the ridge.
He's on the bottom because the goal is if there's any elk,
I'll push him down to him or he'll push them up to me.
It's honestly a pretty good plan.
But I was an inexperienced teenager and I got lost.
And when I got lost, I started to panic.
I started to get scared.
You know why?
Because here's the thing.
I've been charged by a black bear before,
when I was even younger than that.
I've ran into mother moose, like a mama moose,
with its babies.
We've seen mountain lions.
Like, it's a scary world out there
in the woods of Idaho, okay?
And when you're a kid alone, you start to panic.
And here's the thing, it's not like,
oh, I'm just walking through a field.
There's all these dead fall trees
that are all over each other and these things are huge.
I'm having to like hoist my whole body over them,
flopping myself down, slowly going through the woods.
I've just got a 270 rifle,
or it might have been a 30-06, I can't remember.
But I've got a rifle that's not great for like bears
or wolves or something like that.
And what I start to do when I panic
is I start to go fast, that idea to go fast, right?
What you wanna do is stay calm,
but I was a teenage boy or whatever.
So I start going super fast.
I'm just going over these trees.
I've got a gun, I'm alone or whatever.
Finally, I end up making it to a road.
But let me tell you, during those times,
I was scared, my heart was racing.
I could have broken my leg.
I could have gotten in serious trouble there.
But here's the thing.
If I would have just had someone with me,
do you think I would have been panicking like that?
Do you think I would have been throwing my body
over the trees and worried about things?
No, if someone was with me, we could have been like,
all right, we're lost, but let's make a plan.
Let's figure this out.
Let's do something together, right?
Well, that's exactly how life is.
It's like the Bible says, "Woe unto him
"that is alone when he falleth."
Because you start doing stupid things.
Look, don't make decisions when you're discouraged.
Don't make decisions when you're backslidden.
Don't make decisions when you've withdrawn from people
and you have no friends in your life.
You have no one that's giving you good counsel.
That's a bad time to be making those decisions
because woe unto him that is alone when he falleth.
You wanna make sure, hey, I've got friends with me.
I'm getting good counsel.
I'm doing the right thing.
And it's like, if I would've just had
that experienced hunter with me and we'd gotten lost,
we could've just took a nice, easy stroll.
I wouldn't have risked getting injured
or anything like that and it would've been just fine.
So look, let me just tell you, hey, if you ever feel
like you're lost in the woods spiritually,
you're going through a rough time,
you know, that's not the time to quit serving God.
That's not the time to quit church or to not, you know,
talk to friends or people in your life that love you.
Make sure you use the buddy system in life.
Don't just go solo.
It's too dangerous out there.
Now, look at verse number 13.
It says this, better is a poor and a wise child
than an old and foolish king
who will no more be admonished.
I like how God looks at things
differently than this world does.
Because of course, this world,
if they're presented with the option,
hey, do you wanna hang out with this kid or this king?
They'll like always say like, oh, the king's better.
We want the king's favor.
But God can see the heart
and he could actually see that a young child,
a child who's wise is better than an old and foolish king.
You know what that tells me, by the way,
is that children can be wise.
Children can decide to put away vanity and stupidity
and just emptiness in their life.
And children could actually be very wise.
You know, there's children soul winners here.
That's great.
That's what the Bible literally says.
He that win his souls is wise.
You know, it's better to listen to the words
of a five, six, seven, eight-year-old soul winner
than to listen to the words of the old pope.
I mean, the old pope, he might be old.
He might be a king in some religion,
but he's a fool, he's evil, he's wicked.
You know, it's better to listen to the young, wise person.
Right?
So just 'cause you're a child, just 'cause you're young,
it doesn't mean you have to be foolish, vain, empty.
You know, you can't actually choose to be wise.
And how do you do that?
You do that by actually learning things, right?
'Cause the child is contrasted against the king.
What does it say about this old, foolish king?
He will no longer be admonished.
One of the worst traits anyone could have
is getting to a point where they stop learning,
where they're not willing to take correction,
where they're not willing to investigate things,
learn, hear truth.
You know, and often, who is it that does this?
Old people, right?
Oftentimes, it's the older people
where they've just shut off their mind,
they've made up their decision,
and facts, evidence, logic, Bible verses,
won't convince them.
You know what that person is?
A fool, right?
I mean, one of the easiest dogs to kick right now
is the pre-trib rapture.
Because you know what?
The pre-trib rapture is only believed
by old, stubborn, foolish preachers.
Because the pre-trib rapture doctrine
is dying amongst the new generation
because it's not biblical.
And it's like, hey, we're living in the day and age
of the internet and AI.
And we don't have to go to John Nelson Darby's notes
or John Schofield, whatever his name is, notes.
We can actually read the Bible.
We can actually get great documentaries
like After the Tribulation.
We can hear good preaching on this.
And a lot of people are waking up to the fact
that the Bible teaches that it is after the tribulation.
What are you talking about?
The Bible says it's after the tribulation.
The Bible literally says that the man of sin
has to be revealed before the day of the Lord,
that he has to stand up in the temple of God
and declare himself to be God.
The pre-trib rapture is a lie.
And look, I'm not mad necessarily
at someone for believing that,
but I am mad if they're being corrected with the Bible
and they just won't listen because that is foolishness.
Anything that's in the word of God
should be able to be presented to you
and you should be able to change your mind.
Evidence should be able to be shown to you
and you should be willing to change your mind.
Why are flat earthers such retards?
'Cause they won't accept reality.
They won't accept facts and evidence.
And it's like, it doesn't matter how much facts
and evidence you show a flat earther, they deny it.
They reject it.
That's a foolish person.
Whereas a child who may not know much about the way
that the solar system works.
They don't know about, you know, the Apollo missions
and the Artemis missions, but you teach them
and they're just like, oh, that's interesting.
Oh, that's cool.
Oh, that's how a lunar eclipse works.
Oh, that's a solar eclipse.
Wow, isn't it interesting how it's always
in the form of a circle?
Yeah, 'cause the earth is a sphere
and children get this.
Why?
Because they're not wicked and stubborn, right?
And so we don't want to have that same mentality
as the old and foolish king that can never be corrected.
Go to Proverbs one, Proverbs chapter one.
And you know what, to be a wise person,
you must not assume that you're right about everything.
It is a fool that thinks that they are right about everything.
That's a bad attribute, folks.
Don't assume you're right about everything,
but the fool does assume they're right about everything,
so they're hard to correct.
Look at what a wise man does in Proverbs one verse five.
A wise man will hear and will increase learning,
and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.
Notice there's three things that the wise man does.
What does he do?
He hears.
You know what that means?
He's not talking.
He's listening.
He's ingesting information.
He's trying to learn.
He's trying to see other points of view.
That's what a wise person does.
The fool's known by the multitude of his words.
He wants to discover his own heart.
He wants his heart to discover itself,
and that's how he's known to be a fool.
Also, notice, he increases learning.
You know, you want to be a lifelong learner.
You never want to be content saying like,
I have reached the pinnacle of Bible knowledge.
I have reached all the knowledge in my trade.
I know everything there is to know about the Apollo.
I'm not even close to it, folks.
You know, I'm gonna keep learning
just to piss everyone off.
I'm just gonna keep learning about it.
Right, we want to keep learning.
It says, and a man of understanding
shall attain unto wise counsels, right?
So it's important to seek advice from otherwise people.
Right, that takes humility to say,
hey, I don't know everything about this.
I am not the expert in this.
Hey, I've never been through this situation before.
Let me go find a wise person.
Look, if there's no one in your life
that you ask counsel of, you're living foolishly.
Like there should be some people in your life
that you ask counsel from.
And look, wise people, they're not always
just gonna go up to you and say,
hey, I've noticed here's everything wrong with your life.
And if you just listen to this,
this would fix a lot of your problems.
And hey, you've got this giant blind spot
that you don't see, but let me just tell you,
that's what preaching is for.
I'm just saying people won't do this
like on an individual basis.
That's why you need to ask wise people.
You need to go seek wise counsel.
You need to ask someone who's wise saying,
hey, what do you think about this?
And look, when you know someone is wise,
you should take their correction very seriously.
And a fool, again, it's easy to pick on the flat earthers.
We're gonna pick on them
because it's the week of the Artemis mission
and they're all over the place right now.
It's like people will say things like,
"Oh man, the new IFB pastors,
"they're so well read and well educated.
"They know the Bible so well.
"And man, they preach really good sermons.
"They're leading churches.
"They're getting lots of people saved.
"But man, they're just wrong on the shape of the earth.
"Man, they've just never researched it.
"I mean, man, they still don't know
"that NASA means to deceive."
And it's like, or you're an idiot, okay?
It's like, or it's like Pastor Anderson
actually is really smart
and he does preach really good sermons,
and he is really wise, he has read the Bible a lot,
and he has studied science a lot,
and he's right and you're wrong!
It's like, maybe you're wrong and your pastor is right!
It's like, whoa, I mean, I know that these pastors,
man, they've read the Bible 20-something plus times,
40-something plus times,
but man, he's never seen that verse.
He must've never seen that one.
Now look, like, pastors should never be
like the Old Foolish King either,
where they can never be admonished,
but I'm just saying, when you know someone's wise,
you should really take what they say to heart,
and not just be like, oh man, good in this area,
but man, they're wrong about the shape of the earth.
It's like, you are an idiot.
You just are.
Look, if you're a flat-earther, you are an idiot.
You deny the Artemis program, you are an idiot, my friend.
You're just a stupid person or wicked or both.
And it's like, no, no, no, you're wrong.
No, you're wrong.
You're a fool.
And the Bible says that the thought of foolishness is sin.
Why do you talk about this stuff?
Because it's sinful to be stupid.
And my job is to preach against sin.
And if you told me that the moon was actually an apple
or a cheese, I'd preach against that too.
But sadly, there's actually real human beings
that think that the earth is flat.
And that is stupid.
All right, Proverbs 12.
It says in Proverbs chapter 12, verse one,
"Who so loveth instruction, loveth knowledge.
"But he that hateth reproof is brutish."
If you don't like being reproved,
what does the Bible say?
You're stupid, you're brutish, you're like an animal.
Oh, I don't like you using those words.
The Bible uses it.
Brutish, what does that mean?
Stupid, animalistic, like a dumb animal,
is what you are when you don't like to be reproved.
Proverbs 17, verse 10, I'll just read for you,
a reproof entereth more into a wise man
than in a hundred stripes into a fool.
See, a wise person, when they hear a reproof,
they're saying like, oh, this actually is a wise person.
This person is a golly person.
I'm gonna take that reproof because I'm probably wrong.
Oh, but that means that I'm dumb.
No, no, the Bible says that's what the wise person does.
The dumb person, you could literally beat the crap
out of them and they still don't get the message.
A hundred stripes into a fool is not as effective
as just a reproof to a wise man.
So what does that tell you?
Be the wise man that could take the reproof
and not need the stripes of life to teach you.
The stripes of God's chastisement to teach you.
Go back to Ecclesiastes 4.
Now, speaking of that young child, it says in verse 14,
"For out of prison he cometh to reign,
whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becomeeth poor."
So it's like, hey, the wise person versus the foolish king.
You know, the wise child, he can overcome adverse situations.
Like, even if you throw a wise person
into a negative, disadvantageous situation,
I mean, they can come out of prison and succeed in life.
Someone who is wise, they can lose their job and succeed.
Someone who's wise, they can have people turn on them
and succeed, where it's like, this foolish king,
he can literally be born into the kingdom.
He can literally be born into the position of being a king,
and he will destroy it and ruin it because he is a fool.
So hey, wisdom, the Bible says, is the principal thing.
With all thy getting, get understanding.
Seek it as buried treasure.
Be a wise person because that's how you're
going to succeed in life.
That's how you're going to overcome these situations.
By the way, this is why what people need today
is wisdom, not handouts.
Because if you give a fool a handout, they'll ruin it.
What people need today is hard preaching,
not you bleeding hard, rolling down your window
at the stop sign and giving the crack addict money.
What that person needs is rebuke.
What that person needs oftentimes is the rod, literally.
You know, and that could fix their problems.
People need wisdom, not a handout.
People need Bible preaching, not welfare.
People need the rebuke of the wise,
not the pity of fools, right?
Where we sit here and we just cry and complain,
oh, I feel so bad for these people,
they're in such a terrible situation.
That's not gonna help them, your little pity party.
What will help them is rebuke and correction.
It says in verse number 15,
"I considered all the living which walk under the sun,
when the second child that shall stand up in his stead."
What I think this is saying is saying like,
hey, you know, eventually this young child
can even stand up in the stead of the king.
And the Bible talks about, I'll just read for you,
Proverbs 22 verse 29,
"Seest thou a man diligent in his business,
he shall stand before kings.
He shall not stand before mean men."
So, you know, eventually people get tired
of the old fool, right?
Eventually people get tired of the old stubborn leader.
And this new leader comes in, the young child,
he stands in his place.
But here's where the vanity comes in again,
'cause remember he's explaining the evil under the sun.
Verse number 16, it says this,
"There's no end of all the people,
even of all that have been before them."
Notice this, "They also that come after
shall not rejoice in him."
Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Here's the vexing part of the situation.
It's like, the child can be wise,
he could put off childhood and youth and vanity.
He could be wise, he could be diligent,
he could work really hard, he can get into that position.
But, notice this, "They also that come after him
shall not rejoice in him."
People could end up just not even appreciating him, right?
Where it's like, you had this foolish old king
that totally sucked, and then the young king comes in,
and he was a hard worker, he was wise, he was intelligent,
but the people that came after,
they didn't even rejoice in what they had.
You know, they just take things for granted.
And this is human nature to take things for granted.
This is human nature to not appreciate
the things that you have.
And look, if you're just born into,
let's say you're just born into a country
that has a great leader,
are you gonna know what a bad leader is like?
Right, it's like these young people that love communism,
and then all the old people that escaped Cuba
and came to Florida, they're just like,
you're an idiot, you know, communism's terrible,
don't be a communist.
Why? Because they've lived it, they know it.
And so they appreciate freedom,
where it's like people are just born
into a nation with a silver spoon in their mouth,
they're like, oh man, communism sounds great.
Yeah, 'cause you've never read the Gulag Archipelago.
Yeah, because you've never read the bridge at Andal,
and you're an idiot and you're a fool,
and so you take things that we have in life for granted.
Look, people do this with every area of life.
I mean, how about with Jesus himself?
Jesus himself comes on the scene.
What does the Bible say?
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Talk about taking someone for granted.
The Lord Jesus Christ lives in your day,
in your generation, walking around in the flesh,
in your country, and you don't even appreciate him?
I mean, wouldn't we all, with hindsight especially,
just be like, wherever he's gonna be, I'm gonna be,
I wanna watch all his miracles,
I wanna see what he's doing, I wanna follow him, right?
Guess what?
There was real people that really had that chance,
that squandered it.
There was real people where Jesus came into their town,
and they just didn't care.
Or they brushed him off, or worse, they hated him.
Or worse, they tried to kill him.
Or worse, they told him to leave the town.
That's crazy.
You know, this could happen in family situations.
I'll read for you.
Matthew 13, verse 57.
The Bible says, "And they were offended in him,
but Jesus said unto them, 'A prophet is not without honor,
save in his own country and in his own house.'"
This happens all the time with different family dynamics.
Someone gets saved.
Someone starts preaching the gospel.
And the family, instead of saying, like, wow, what a gift.
Wow, this is awesome.
Wow, what a great thing that you're doing.
Oftentimes, they'll end up persecuting that family member.
And it's like, hey, a soul winner
is a rare thing in this world.
It's something to be honored.
I mean, it's something that we should be cheering on,
someone that's a soul winner.
And yet, guess what?
A prophet, a preacher, does have honor.
But oftentimes, not in his own country, not in his own house.
Now, look, that's wrong.
But that's reality, right?
Here's the thing, familiarity breeds contempt.
That's wrong, but that's reality.
And guess what?
We should know these things.
We should be aware of these things
so that we don't allow our hearts to fall
after that same mistake.
'Cause people are like this with Jesus.
People are like this with family members.
People are like this with church sometimes.
And it's really funny, like, people will, you know,
they'll come from a situation where it's like Zionism,
preach rib, gospel being preached every Sunday.
Pay for all your tracts, all the events you gotta pay for.
You know, Israel flags everywhere.
And then, like, what one time really literally happened,
it said fast, is a family's just like,
we're at a soul winning marathon,
and they walk up to Pastor Shelley and they're just like,
where's the juice for my kid?
Literal real story.
And it's just like, you're an idiot, man.
It's like, you've lost the plot.
You have forgotten to, you know,
appreciate the things that you have in life.
You have gotten a little too familiar
to sit here and just be like,
okay, wait, don't you need to remind yourself
you're in a great church, King James only,
hard preaching, soul winning, missions trip,
great pastor in Pastor Shelley,
doing all these great things,
but you're bad because you don't have a juice box
for your kid.
But you know, this is what carnal people are like.
They really are.
Or it's like this, I remember people leaving church
when I was working for Steadfast Baptist Church,
Pastor Shelley instituted a rule,
no toys for the kids in the seats.
No toys, you're not allowed to play toys.
People literally left the church over that.
That's pathetic.
That is so lame.
I mean, you've just, you're not appreciative
of the things that you have in life.
Because if you think that, you know,
you being content has to be every single thing
that you like being checked off a box.
Let me tell you something.
You will never be happy in life.
You'll never be content anywhere you go.
And look, just wherever you are in life,
focus on the positive.
You know, appreciate the things that you have.
Don't take for granted the things that you have.
Men, when you go to your job,
don't sit here and just be like,
"Oh, vexation under the sun.
"I wish I was dead.
"I wish I was never born."
You know, why don't you remind yourself
you live in America in 2026.
Why don't you remind yourself you have a lot of good?
You know, are you that man who has no brother,
no son, no friend, no one?
Or do you have lots of people in your life that love you?
Why don't you appreciate that?
You know, are you like these people
that email me constantly from Pakistan and India and Africa
where, you know, they just like barely have any Bibles?
It's probably a scam.
But if what they're saying is true,
it's like they barely have any Bibles,
they need all this help, it's terrible.
It's like, or are you in the new IFB?
Like, are you in one of the greatest, you know,
soul-winning movements that I think America's ever seen?
And it's like, hey, we should be thankful for that
and not take things for granted.
And you know what?
Life under the sun can be hard, it can be vain,
it can be vexatious, but guess what?
We're not living for life under the sun.
We are living for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you so much for your word
for the book of Ecclesiastes.
I pray that you would just continue to bless this series,
that you would reveal truth to us,
help us to be appreciative of the things
that we have in life, and we love you very much.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
- Last hymn this evening turned to 143.
Hymn number 143-143, Blessed Assurance.
143. 143 there on the 1st.
This is my song, my state, my soul.
It's a misadventure, but it's my soul.