An Honest Look At The World

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Solomon is honest about the fallen world and you should be too.  

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the
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Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.�
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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.
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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the
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Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.
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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. Mike Abendroth here at the helm.
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Engage. Oh, what are we doing? Gospel Assurance, Amazon, compiled by Mike Abendroth, 31 -day guide to assurance, both looking at the person and work of Christ, and the doctrine of assurance.
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They go together, right? Too often it�s subjective assurance, �Do I have enough fruit and evidence in my life ?�
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Certainly, that�s a good question, but it�s not the primary question. Let�s look at who Jesus is and what
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He claims. What are the promises of God? What did Jesus actually accomplish at Setherah?
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Off to Israel with Uncle Pat, Pat Abendroth of the Pactom. If you don�t listen to the Pactom, you ought to.
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These days, it�s kind of been, you know, the Pactom, Theocast, Heidel, what do
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I want to call it? Heidel, well, these are radio shows, podcasts.
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Heidel pod? The Heidel pod.
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Scott, that�s a free one for you. Heidel blog, Heidelcast, sorry, podcast.
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Seriously, my brain, after all the COVID stuff and probably just age, it isn�t what it should be.
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But between the Heidelcast, Pactom, Theocast, NoCoRadio, who knows?
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Circle of Wiccans, especially after having
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Aldo on. You can always email me, mike at nocompromisedradio .com.
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All right, and if I come on your podcast and then you have somebody in your network write an article against me,
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I won�t be back on, allegedly.
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These days, I�ve been preaching through the book of Ecclesiastes, and of course, we get the word ecclesiology, same root, ecclesiology, ecclesiastes, and here we have the preacher, and the preacher has a lot of wise things to say.
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Matter of fact, it�s in wisdom literature. Remember the Old Testament, 5, 12, 5, 5, 12, right?
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Five books of Moses, twelve historical books, five books of poetry, five major prophets, and twelve minor prophets, 5, 12, 5, 5, 12.
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And in these five wisdom books, guess what they�re trying to do? They�re trying to get you to be wise.
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Now we can think about the ultimate wisdom, Christ Jesus, we can think about 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, who became to us wisdom, that is, redemption, sanctification, and righteousness, something like that, righteousness, sanctification, and now
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I have to look it up. This is bad when your memory doesn�t work anymore, then what do you do?
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You turn on the heidel pot. I don�t know why I think that�s so funny.
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Okay, he became to us wisdom from God, and in the
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Greek it would read, that is, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. There you go. As it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the
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Lord. And I�ve been preaching through Ecclesiastes, and I�m up to chapter 4 on Sunday mornings, and so this
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Sunday morning I�ll be preaching Ecclesiastes 4, and it�s grim. Not the weather, although it�s been grim here this week, but the weather.
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You can tell it�s definitely fall here in New England. We�ve really changed from the hot summer to kind of cold at night, 45 at night or something like that.
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It�s not like Canada or Montana, but still. And then you look at the passage and you think, oppression, envy, isolation, revolving doors of government, that�s it, that�s chapter 4.
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And if you�re not careful and if you�re preaching through the Bible verse by verse, I mean, that�s it. See the world as it is, full of oppression, rivalry and envy, isolation, and rotating, revolving governments, the end.
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Nothing about Jesus, nothing about hope. But thankfully, you,
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No Compromise radio listeners, understand that Ecclesiastes is in the Christian canon and we realize something happened.
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Jesus really did die on the cross and was raised and he ascended and he�s promised to come back.
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And we read the Bible in a Christian manner, right? We know what happened at the end.
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We�re not like Walt Kaiser, that you can�t have any subsequent revelation helping you understand antecedent revelation.
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I mean, if that was the case, you don�t even know it�s Satan when you�re reading Genesis 3. You only know it�s
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Satan later he�s called Satan. You don�t even know if it�s called sin in Genesis 3. It�s called sin later.
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And we don�t do that. We know the book. And you come to the passages of the Bible, do you not, you�re a
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Christian, with presuppositions. Oh no, I come, I want to come with no presuppositions.
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Really? So, when you read now the
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Old Testament and you read Psalm 139, �Oh
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Lord, you�ve searched me and you know me.� You�ve searched me and you know, literally. Do you not think, when it says �Lord� all caps, that�s
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Yahweh, the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit? Don�t you read the Bible that way? I sure hope you do.
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We know better because of progressive revelation. Maybe �know better� is not a good way to phrase it.
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But we know, because of progressive revelation, fuller, right?
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We understand more because we have all the Bible. And we realize what Revelation 22 says and how
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Jesus is coming back, �Lord, come quickly.� And when I read Ecclesiastes, I have to read it as a
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Christian, right? That there is a risen Savior. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
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There�s more to this world than the fallen world. And I think, actually, if you read Ecclesiastes in context, 1 through 12, it will help you with that.
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It will help you to see some of those things right before your very eyes.
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If somebody�s calling me, I have to say, �I�ll call you later.�
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You have to say to yourself, �Huh, Ecclesiastes 1 to 12 helps me with fear of God, and I�m to fear
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God and keep His commandments. And it�s going to help me with, oh, everything I have is a gift from God�s hand.
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Oh, I can enjoy God and I can enjoy life. I can eat and drink and be merry.
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There are certain things I can enjoy as a gift from God�s hand, yes. And therefore, when we see
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Ecclesiastes 4, we don�t want to just rip it out of context and say, �Here it is.� Therefore, dear listeners, when you�re reading
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Ecclesiastes, it�s a little bit different than Proverbs in the sense that you could go to a random
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Proverb chapter, like chapter 10. Let�s say it�s the 10th of the month, and you read
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Proverbs 10, the 5th of the month, you read Proverbs 5, etc. You can do that, and it�s no problem, because there�s a bunch of wise, proverbial sayings.
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So it�s within wisdom literature, but it�s proverbial. These are generally true statements.
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This is the way the world works. Don�t be foolish, be wise. But when you read
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Ecclesiastes, don�t do that the same. If you�re going to read a chapter of Ecclesiastes per day,
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I don�t want you to forget what you read the prior days. I don�t want you to forget about chapter 2, verses 24 and 25 when you read
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Ecclesiastes 4. Otherwise, it�s just going to be gloom, despair, and agony on me, deep, dark depression, excessive misery.
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If it weren�t for bad luck, I�d have no luck at all. I can�t believe I just quoted
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HeHaw. The number to call is BR -549.
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Now, you young people have no idea what I�m talking about, but you older folks, and there�s some older people that listen to No Compromise Radio, you know exactly what
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I�m talking about. If you look at the world for what it is and only see that, that there�s no heaven, the only reality that you see is what you see, smell, taste, and touch.
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If you imagine there�s no heaven, it�s easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky.
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Imagine all the people living for today, no judgment, no God. That�s what foolishness says.
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Wisdom literature, all 12 chapters of Ecclesiastes, is trying to get you to think, �Hmm, this world is in heaven.
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This world is fallen and can only be overturned by the risen Savior. I need to look at the world through the lens of God�s Word.
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I need to walk by faith and not by sight. The just shall live by faith.�
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I need to say with wisdom, �I have been crucified with Christ.
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It�s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh,
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I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.�
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Wisdom says, �Long for the return of Jesus.� Wisdom says, �Store up treasures in heaven.�
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And we all need wisdom, that�s why we read wisdom literature. I like Proverbs when it says in chapter 4, �Get wisdom.�
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Proverbs 4 goes on to say, �The beginning of wisdom is this.� What would you tell somebody? Here�s the beginning of wisdom.
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Here�s the beginning of wisdom. Get wisdom. It is better to get wisdom than gold, did you know that?
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It�s better to get understanding than silver, that�s Proverbs 16.
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Five books in the Bible designed for you to be wise, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomons, and these words from the preacher that we call
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Ecclesiastes. And this is important for us because the world is a good salesman, the world is a good marketer, the world fueled by the father of lies dupes many people, and if you�re not careful you�re going to look at the world and you�re just going to be depressed.
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For you people that incessantly watch Fox News, for you people, let�s just be fair, you people that incessantly watch
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CNN and MSNBC, this is a good dose of reality for you because I don�t think you�re going to be very happy if that�s your main focus.
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You can watch TV as much as you want and as often as you want. As you know, this is not Legalist Radio, Compromise .com,
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it�s not that at all. But I�m just saying that the views of Fox News and CNN are going to be the views of Ecclesiastes 4.
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There�s no other realm, there�s no invisible world, there�s no faith in things that you can�t see and truths that are eternal.
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You�re just going to see what you see and what you see is going to be a fallen world. And in the middle of the fallen world, yes, there are some wonderful times that you can have.
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Somebody called me today on the phone and I picked it up by accident and it was basically,
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Jesus didn�t please himself in Romans 15, therefore when I have a cup of coffee I�m convicted because I was pleased with having that cup of coffee.
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So I tried to help the person. Ecclesiastes, designed to make you wise.
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Remember the context of the book. Remember the theme of the book. Remember what the book is saying.
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Remember that of course in this life under the sun, this futile life, this vain life, this vexing life, this fleeting life, we are to fear
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God and then enjoy the good things in life from his hand.
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Yes, there�s going to be very, there are very many trials and tribulations and issues and life is fleeting under the sun, but you can fear
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God and enjoy him forever. How do you enjoy God in such a world?
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And so at least Ecclesiastes, chapter 4 especially, will at least tell you, oh, this is the way it is.
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And by the way, for the binge news watchers, this is what you get. I mean, it�s rare that you get any kind of hope.
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And I want you to read Ecclesiastes 4 in light of Ecclesiastes 1 to 12 and in light of all of Christian scripture.
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And you�ll begin to see the meaning of life is not in this life, but in the one who gives life. You are not going to be driven to despair as you see the world.
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It�s going to drive you to trust in the risen Savior, Jesus, and it�s going to be interesting for you to go, huh, even though the world�s like this,
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I can be fulfilled, I can have meaning, I can have satisfaction if I have my focus and fix my eyes on the risen
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Savior, the Lord Jesus. Yes, life is vain. Yes, there�s toil.
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Yes, under the sun is difficult. But even 17 times in the book of Ecclesiastes, you see joy and the different words associated with joy.
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Rejoice, enjoy, enjoyment, 17 times. In the middle of all this,
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Gleason Archer said, �Ecclesiastes is written to convince men of the uselessness of any worldview which does not rise above the horizon of man himself.�
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So when we go through Ecclesiastes 4, I know it�s a long introduction, but as we go through it, I want you to say, you know what, it�s useless if this is it.
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If this is it, then we�re in big trouble. But we as Christians know this isn�t it.
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And I hope you read Ecclesiastes 4 and I hope you feel sorry for the unbeliever. I hope you have mercy for him and pity and want to give him the good news about one who comes to redeem and to give meaning and to give his life a ransom for many.
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Chapter 1, as you know in Ecclesiastes, life is frustrating, fleeting, and vain.
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Human wisdom doesn�t help. Pleasure in chapter 2 and possessions, they�re not the answer.
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Everybody dies. And life is full of hatred, despair, and mind racing.
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You have any good news for me? Yes! God is good and He gives good gifts.
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And Ecclesiastes 2 .24 says, �There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink ,� that�s language of satisfaction, �and find enjoyment in his toil.
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This also I saw is from the hand of God. For apart from Him, who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
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And with Him you can.� That�s the point. Life is difficult. Life is hard.
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But there�s no vanity in God. There�s no fleeting nature in God. There�s no vexation with God.
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And that eating and drinking metaphor, there�s satisfaction to be had in this life. Difficulty yes, but there�s satisfaction.
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Chapter 3 goes on to talk about how we can have that satisfaction because God�s sovereign. And using poetry, there�s a time for everything, a time for every matter under heaven.
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Chapter 3, verse 1. There�s appointed times, and God has a plan, and we can�t read
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Providence in the future. We just look back and see His marvelous hand. God is sovereign.
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So since He�s sovereign, verse 12 of chapter 3, �Do good.� Be joyful and do good.
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Since He�s sovereign, who�s sovereign? And people just go, �Oh, I can manipulate that God.� No, since He�s sovereign, fear
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Him, verse 14. And some people say that�s like a trembling trust, and the best way to think through fear of God.
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For an unbeliever, they should fear God as judge, jury, and executioner. They�ve sinned against God and His holy nature, and they�re going to have to pay.
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But thankfully, because of Jesus, we understand that we are now children of God, and we don�t have to fear
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God as judge. We don�t have to fear God as executioner. We don�t have to fear
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God that way, that servile fear that Luther called it. We fear God. The command still applies to us, but our relationship to God, the lawgiver, changes, and now we fear
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God, not in a servile way, but a filial fear. Filial, I�ve been taking
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Latin from my duplex, my du -lingo, duplex gratia. Duplex is Latin.
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Hey, we redeem that. And we say to ourselves, hmm, self,
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I don�t have to fear God like I used to because Jesus has paid for all my sins, so I don�t have to cringe and be afraid.
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But since God is so good, since He�s such a great Father, He loved me so by sending the
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Son, that I want to honor Him, and I want to respect Him, and I want to revere Him, and I want to adore
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Him, and I want to obey Him because of what He�s done for me, guilt, grace, gratitude.
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That�s right. He�s powerful and awesome, and therefore, for the believer, you Christian, you fear
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God. That�s true, and He says it in chapter 5, fear God. Chapter 7, fears God.
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Chapter 8, fear God, fear God, and fear God, three times in chapter 8.
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And we know the end of the matter, after all has been heard, is fear God and what? Keep His commandments, chapter 12.
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This God is to be feared, and He is not only sovereign and great, but He�s just and He�s going to judge.
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God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there�s a time for every matter and for every work. God�s going to make everything right.
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So that�s Ecclesiastes up until that point, and now we come to chapter 4, the grim picture of reality.
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This is life, the fallen life. This is life looking through the lens of reality, and it is, it�s bad, it�s grim, but at least
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He�s not giving us rose -colored glasses. This should help you by saying, you know what,
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I can�t buy into the world, I can�t buy what the world sells. This world is in heaven.
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There�s a lot of good things in this world, but this is in heaven, and we want to see the world wisely.
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And if you look at chapter 4, verse 1, verse 4, verse 7, verse 15, you see words like observe, look, see, or saw.
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And He is looking at the world, and here�s what He sees. And He�s wise enough to figure out, yep, here�s what
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I see. And this world is fallen, Adam sinned, and it affected everything, including creation.
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You can think of Romans chapter 8. And if this is it, no hope, no faith, no risen
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Savior, then everything is vain. There�s no hyperbole to that.
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Everything is vain. But of course, we know that Jesus is alive, and that He actually came into this world.
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This is the world He came into. Ecclesiastes 4 world, that�s pretty amazing, from the heights of heaven to this world.
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And what Solomon does is says, here�s the world. It�s full of oppression. This is life under the sun.
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This is striving after the wind. It�s a life of oppression. People oppress each other. There�s envy and rivalry.
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There�s loneliness, and there�s a revolving government, some good, some bad. That�s the life we live into, we live in.
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And that�s the life Jesus came into. It�s true, but it�s pretty grim, an honest look at the world.
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But remember, we�re still looking at this book properly, and that is in context. There�s 12 chapters. We�re going to come to chapter 5 next time, at least next
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Sunday for me, and it�s going to be, oh, we�re coming to the house of the Lord, and we�re thinking about things from the eternal perspective, and we�re thinking about things properly, and we better not talk back to God too much.
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It�s better for us to listen, and we need to realize, just like with Psalm 73, you can look at the world one way, and you see the wicked prosper, and then you come to the house of the
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Lord, and you see things from His vantage point, and everything changes. That�s Psalm 73.
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It�s almost the same thing here. Solomon is just setting it up, saying, you know what, I just got done talking about injustices in chapter 3.
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This world is full of corruption, but I want you, Christian, to think about it, that yes, it�s true, and yes,
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I should feel sorry for people who are enslaved to this and this alone. And by the way, if they die and go to hell, this will seem like heaven.
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But this world of oppression, and rivalry, and isolation, this is a mad world, a very mad world.
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If I had a Tears for Fears album here, I�d read some lyrics. I pulled it up, but I didn�t think I�d use it, but see, now
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I need it. Well, what does Solomon do? He says, first of all, the world�s full of oppression, and that�s verses 1 to 3.
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And he sees it. �Again, I saw all the oppressions that are done ,� plural, �under the sun.
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Behold the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them. On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.
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And I thought the dead who were already dead were more fortunate than the living who were still alive. But better than both is he who had not been born, and he has not yet seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.�
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I mean, there�s oppressions, oppressed, oppressors, no one to comfort, no one to comfort. What a life.
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And it�s true. This is what we see as we look at the world.
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And when you think of oppression, and you�re thinking in an Old Testament fashion, you�re thinking about Israel�s slavery in Egypt, oppressed.
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This is horrible. This is awful where people oppress each other. You have more power.
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You have more money. You have more prestige. You�re upper class, and you oppress.
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It�d be one thing if there was somebody to comfort, but like in Lamentations 1, no one to comfort, no one to comfort, no one to comfort, no comforter.
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I mean, I think it says that five times in Lamentations. The fall gives oppression, and then no comfort.
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This is the world we live in. Well, I just looked at the clock. It�s time. It�s time for me to go.
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It�s time for me to call it a day, go home, maybe take a bike ride, have some family in town, and eat and have enjoyment with Him, because it�s a gift of God�s good grace as we fear
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God and keep His commandments, thankfully out of gratitude because of the Lord Jesus. Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio.
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Don�t forget GospelAssuranceAmazon .com. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God�s Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.
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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We�re right on Route 110 in West Boylston.
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You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.