What In The World? - [Ecclesiastes 7:5-29]

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Which sounds better to you? Life's but a walking shadow a poor player that struts and frets upon His hour on stage and then has heard no more
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The tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing or Come unto me all who labor and heavy laden and I'll give you rest
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Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls
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For my yoke is easy And my burden is light Which one sounds better?
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Twain before he died a myriad of men are born they labor sweat and struggle they squabble and scold and fight
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They scramble for little mean advantages over each other age creeps upon them
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Infirmities follow loved ones are taken from them and then the joy of life is turned to aching grief or as John Flavel said
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Thinking he's overhearing the son talked to the father father in eternity past. Oh my father
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Such as my love and pity for sinners that rather than they perish eternally
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I will be responsible for them as their surety father bring in all their bills that I may see what they owe you
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Lord bring them all in that there may be no after reckonings with them at my hand father
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You shall require it I will rather choose to suffer your wrath than they should suffer it upon me father be upon all their debt
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Which one sounds better Leonard Wolfe who said I clearly see that I've achieved nothing in life the world today in history of the human anthill during my past 57 years would be exactly the same as if I had played ping -pong instead of writing books
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I Have therefore to make the rather horrible confession that I must have in a long life ground through between 150 ,000 and 200 ,000 hours of perfectly useless work or Truly truly
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I say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life
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He does not come into judgment, but it's passed from death to life. I mean the choice is clear
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Is it not we either trust in life and find the meaning of life in life?
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Which is going to be very frustrating to us or we find the meaning of life in? The giver of life and that's really the book of Ecclesiastes if you'll take your
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Bible and turn to Ecclesiastes 7 we are marching through the book of Ecclesiastes Wisdom so that we can act wisely as Christian People the world is fallen yet.
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There is a Redeemer Jesus God's own Son Lamb of God Messiah, and he saves and he helps us to live so when you think about commands like we're going to see in the book of Ecclesiastes because the second half of Ecclesiastes has a lot of commands in it five times more than the first six chapters
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You're gonna see these commands, and here's how you should think about the law for you the Christian How do we look at imperatives and commands?
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Well, here's how you look at them There's a need that we have for good news and that need is we're sinners and we're going to go to hell unless we're rescued
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That's the need for the gospel. It's not the gospel. It's not good news. You're a sinner. It's true, but it's not good news
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It's the need of the gospel The way you receive the gospel is by faith and faith alone not baptism
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Not anything else you strictly with with an instrument of faith that receives it doesn't earn anything you receive the good news
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But receiving the good news is in the gospel There's fruit and evidence in your life once you're a
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Christian and of course God has regenerated you and saved you and you begin to Show fruit and evidences of that life.
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That's good It's fruit and evidence that you're a Christian, but that's not the gospel It's the evidence of the gospel the gospel is in fact what you've heard about and sung about even today
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That it's all about the Lord Jesus good news is about Jesus and so you can talk about Jesus in eternity past where Jesus in fact is the
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Eternal Son and in that great counsel with the Father and the Spirit he sent by the
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Father's love comes to rescue us and he needs to live a perfect life under the law because that's what
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Adam was supposed to do and didn't and he's also going to have to die on behalf of our sins because we can't get to Heaven with sin and then of course to confirm that he's not only buried
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He really died and then he was raised and then he ascended and so we have a need for the gospel.
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We're sinners That's not the gospel. We have a way to get the gospel faith alone That's not the gospel.
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The gospel is in fact Jesus and Jesus alone Grace incarnate and you understand because most of you here are
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Christian people and you're saying to yourself Yes, he sought me and bought me with his redeeming love.
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He's the Savior. He's the rescuer He initiates now because he's done all that.
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What's our response? Yeah, no big deal. See you next Sunday. I Can't see the
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Patriots are on the leader today. Can I because they're on tomorrow, right? How did I know that? When we realize how great our sins were and the need of the gospel
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Then we realized how great our Savior is our biggest problem in all the world was we're sinners and we're on our way to hell and God is
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Intercepted and interrupted and he the father has poured out the the wrath not on me not on you
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But on the son and then we think well now I want to obey the fruit and evidence of the
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Gospels work in my life Is I'd like to obey I'd like to walk by faith. I'd like to obey
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I'd like to trust I'd like to work hard I'd like to evangelize Lord, whatever you tell me to do
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I receive from your hand not as a judge to an unbeliever who says you better do this or else
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But from a father who says son, I want your best daughter I want your best and it'll be for your good and it'll also be for my glory.
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So here in Ecclesiastes 7 We're going to see commands on how to be wise, but I want you to realize if you're wise you're not more
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Justified if you're wise God doesn't love you more if you're foolish and you're still a
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Christian you act foolishly at times You're still not any less of a child, but you say because of what
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God has done for me I'd like to respond with gratitude and obey and when he says here's a law
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I want to do that law if he says Be honest. I want to be honest if he says don't commit adultery
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I want to not commit adultery if he says go evangelize I want to do that out of gratitude out of fruit and evidence
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Does that make sense because what I don't want you to do is what happens in evangelicalism people are saying you're justified by faith alone
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Sanctification process as you become more holy and righteous on earth and obey what religions tend to do is to blur these two and Sanctification and justification are blurred and they're commingled and here's what happens when that happens to you
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You begin to think you're standing before God is based on how holy you are You begin to think you know what my standing before God is not
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Jesus perfect life and death burial resurrection My standing is do I pray enough?
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Do I read enough? Have I evangelized enough? Am I wise enough? Do I obey? Ecclesiastes enough and of course we want to obey.
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Of course we do out of gratitude to God But your standing dear Christian is not based on your holy living.
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It's not based on your obedience It's not based on anything you do because God is holy and he's perfect And if you want to stand before God you better be perfect, right?
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So when you think about laws and I'm going to give you five laws today Five ways to be wise you think
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I received them from a father who's given me his best Romans 8 32 He didn't spare his son and now he wants to have me
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Be wise and guide me as I live my Christian life on earth on my way to glory to make sense
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That's how you look at the law and here we come to the book of Ecclesiastes wise living as fruit and evidence as gratitude
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Unto the Holy God our Savior Well when you come to chapter 6 verse 10 in some of the notes of the original
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Jewish People who gave gave us vowels in some of these words and all these words
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This is the turning point in chapter 6 verse 10 and just to give a little review
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We're gonna look at chapter 6 verse 10 and work our way through chapter 7 and here's the outline I could ask a question.
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How do wise people act? How do wise believers act? How should you act in this world that's full of vanity futility vexation sin?
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How do I act five wise ways to live in this fallen world for you dear
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Christian? How do I how do I kind of navigate through the world? I don't want to be a fool who wants to be a fool I pity the poor fool
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Just seeing if you're awake once I walk past mr. T. I think I've told you the story and I had two thoughts
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One he's pretty short Number two, I think I can take him but I just kept walking
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Five wise ways we looked at two last time We'll have a quick review and then we'll try to get through three more How do
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I live a wise life in light of a great Savior who loved me ere? I knew him and all my love is
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Do him that's exactly right Well, we saw last week in verses 10 11 and 12 found in chapter 6.
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The first wise way is to trust a sovereign God You must trust a sovereign
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God Remember when you see the word man four times in this section You should be thinking of the
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Hebrew word Adam because he's talking really about Adam here early on Especially whatever has come to be has already been named
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You're sovereign when you name things and it's known what Adam is We know what Adam is and that he
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Adam is not able to dispute with one stronger than he and we know who that is As well while Adam names things while Adam sovereign over naming the animals.
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He's not the creator There's somebody stronger than Adam The more words the more vanity and what is the advantage to man
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For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life Which he passes like a shadow for who can tell man or Adam what will be after him?
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Under the Sun in other words God's sovereign you try to snoop and find out what the future will bring
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You cannot find it out for the future snoopers who read the newspaper or articles. You can't find it out because you're not sovereign
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I'm not sovereign though world says yes, we're in control God says no, he's sovereign and that's a theme of course in the book of Ecclesiastes that God is in the heavens
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And he does whatever he wants you cannot say God is sovereign, but God is sovereign and he can't be frustrated by anyone's plans
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Additionally, we saw the second way to live a wise life in light of your redemption in Christ is learn from death verses 1 through 4
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Learn from death foolish people want to ignore death wise people while it's hard while it's sad
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They need to think through Death verse 1 a good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of birth
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When you're a baby There's a lot of potential But your reputation will be sealed when you die
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And so as wonderful as ointment might be and precious ointment and wonderful perfume might be
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You want to have a good reputation in light of who God is not not to get into heaven But I got to save me and I'd like to have a good reputation
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When I die of a godly man of a godly lady I had a friend and I saw him one time hadn't seen him for a long time
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And I gave him a hug and I said to him you smell great And he said thank you.
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I said what kind of cologne are you wearing? and he said Armani and I said you smell good.
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I got to get some of that Three years later left his wife
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You can smell like Armani you can have a bad name So while you have a potential when you're a baby for all kinds of things
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We want to live walk by faith in the Son of God who loved us so that our reputation by the grace of God Is going to be good
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It's important to have a good name And by the way, remember last week when we talked a little bit about this the day of death than the day of birth
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Besides sealing the reputation for us as Christians. It is going to be better the day of our death, right glory heaven eternal life
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Thomas Boston said in the day of his birth. He was born to die. But in the day of his death he dies to live
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Oh the fellowship and the worship and heavenly glories That will be a better day than our birth
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When by sight we can say blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ The day of death is better than the day of birth.
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It goes on to say in verse 2 It's better to go to the house of mourning that probably wasn't a funeral house Although it could be it probably wasn't a mortuary
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It was somebody's house where there'd be the dead body and you would go there to express your condolences and it's better to go there lots of betters in Ecclesiastes then to the house of feasting and So the writer is simply saying this
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Solomon knew that it was wise and especially inspired by the Spirit of God to think about death
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You go to a party you go to a frat party. You go to a Christmas party. You go to a graduation party You don't really think
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I'm gonna die one day When you go to a funeral you think you should think well one day
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I'll be there and of course we've seen in the last two years. Have we not the complete?
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Fear not necessarily of kovat but the fear of death That's what we've seen the last two years.
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It's not a fear of kovat It's the fear of death and no matter where you are on the scale of of liberal or conservative or wherever Jabs can't save you boosters can't save you
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Ivermectin can't save you hydroxychloroquine can't save you mass can't save you triple mass can't save you you are going to die
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Now that doesn't mean we can't do medical things to help us along the way. That's true But sin causes death and now
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Solomon says just you have to deal with it. You have to think through Did you know it wasn't that long ago when adjacent to every church?
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Was the cemetery We missed that not because it's fun because it's wise
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Not because it makes you feel good But it's not foolish and you would walk in to every church service and you'd walk past that cemetery
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And you think my first two wives are there who died in childbirth My children are there, you know
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Thomas Boston this this great preacher that I've referred to many times He's one of the merrow men the merrow of modern divinity men
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Thomas Boston Six of his children die one little boy died. His name was
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Ebenezer. God has been faithful. What thus far? Then they she was pregnant with another baby and they thought you know what?
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Let's name him Ebenezer too because we'd like to have a son named Ebenezer But maybe if we name him Ebenezer, he might die too and they said we're gonna trust the
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Lord Anyway, they named the boy Ebenezer and they bury Ebenezer in the church cemetery There's a lot of sorrow but when you walk to church, you're not thinking oh
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It's it's about consumerism. Oh, the music is what I want. Oh, here's what
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I think and this is what should happen No, no, you think to yourself when I walk in a church service when the cemeteries right there
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I want to hear about life eternal life I want to hear about the hope of heaven where my mom who's buried right out.
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There is absent from the body But present with the Lord Sin is so terrible.
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It causes death That's why we need to point the ones that listen to the remedy and even those that don't listen
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Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us. I Mean if the wages of sin is death
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Jesus has to die to bear the sins of many Hebrews chapter 9
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It's better to go to the house of mourning the house of feasting verse to be for this is the end of all mankind
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And the living are the wise will lay it To heart Of course, it's good to go to a wedding.
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Of course, it's good to go to a party in a feast But you learn more Elsewhere and if you're 40 50 60 years old time is going fast and it's good for us to think
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All right, as I walk into Times Square in New York City, it's bright. It's hot
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I should be thinking you know what this truth is bright and hot and you have my attention Verse 3 sorrows better than laughter in this context for by sadness of face the heart is made glad The heart's made better.
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We learned The heart of the wise verse 4 lastly to review is in the house of mourning
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But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. I don't know if you know this or not
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But we've probably talked more about death felt more last week and this week than most people talk about their entire lives
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Or at least they don't want to talk about it. Do you know they have drive -through casket showings?
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You don't have to go to the funeral home. You can have a drive -through open casket viewing
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One of the promoters of that said quote once you push the button the register box will open up at that time
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You may sign your name in the register book And when you proceed forward the curtains will draw back and you pay respects to the loved one
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For three minutes in the privacy of your vehicle, you know what
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I say to that fools fools One person actually said it.
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I thought at least they say it and they're honest. Why do you do drive -through funerals? I mean they might say well people who are sick can attend or are elderly or disabled, but they finally got to it
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Some people are afraid of going to funerals they may feel more comfortable when viewing a dead body through two panes of glass and Perhaps some mourners want to avoid the religious aspects of a funeral wake are viewing
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They want to see the body for the last time But they don't want to feel forced to participate in religious rituals while doing so Like you're gonna die and there's only one
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Savior how many people remember that movie?
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I actually never saw it 1980 the movie Fame I'm gonna live
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You pagans know it. I'm gonna live forever. I'm gonna learn how to fly high
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I feel it coming again. People will see me and cry I'm gonna make it to heaven light up the sky like a flame fame.
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I'm gonna live forever, baby. You remember my name and I just think That's where we would all be if it wasn't for the grace of God in our life that that now we see things rightly
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Death shouldn't end us with us what death shouldn't end with us thinking that's the end It should drive us to the one who's conquered death.
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Who's the resurrection and the life? Heidelberg catechism, what's your only comfort in life and in death?
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That I with body and soul both in life and in death am not my own But I belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ who with his precious blood
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Has satisfied for all my sins redeem me from the power of the devil and save me from the devil
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So preserves me that without the will of my father in heaven Not a hair can fall from my head
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Everything must work together for my salvation. I like fight songs.
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I think Michigan probably has the greatest fight song Nebraska's is pretty bad, but Michigan's is pretty good, but there's a better fight song
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Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death. Where is your victory? Oh death? Where is your sting?
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The sting of death is sin But the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our
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Lord Jesus Christ, right? We have victory in Jesus our Savior forever
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Sounds like a good hymn. Somebody should put some music to that Third how do you live wisely as a
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Christian trust a sovereign God? Learn from death Number three now found in verses 5 through 12 respond to well
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Respond well, here's what I mean by respond. Well, Solomon is moving into a bunch of kind of pithy
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Proverbs It's kind of like oh, how would I outline Proverbs 9? How would
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I outline Proverbs 10 when there it's not really as cohesive as we might think Versus 1 through 4.
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Well, that was simple. That was about death. I mean simple to outline So now we're just going to kind of move through and he's throwing out things
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Proverbs so that you might live rightly in light of life in light of death to think in a way that would
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Honor God as fruit and evidence of salvation in your life respond.
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Well You see here. He says respond. Well by listen by listening
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Verse 5 and 6 it is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise
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Than to hear the song of fools for as the crackling of thorns under a pot
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So is the laughter of the fools? this also is vanity and It's pretty simple.
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It's easy to read. It's better to be rebuked by wise people Than to go around and be unrebuked and be left in your way
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I think if even Peter getting rebuked by the Lord Jesus we read this morning get thee behind me Satan or Paul rebuking
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Peter It doesn't feel good, but it's better wisdom receives rebuke It listens and he uses really neat kind of analogy here the crackling of thorns under a pot
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He's using some language here that that it probably is best translated If you want to get the sense of the rhyming and the the
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Hebrew wordplay, it's like nettles crackling under kettles Nettly nettles crackling under kettles.
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It's good to listen to wise rebuke What's the opposite that people don't want to be rebuked?
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What do they listen to to hear the song of? Fools silly songs.
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I don't rebuke me. Don't confront me in love Don't try to come along and help me.
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I just want to hear silly songs. So I just typed in Google No, I typed in duck duck go silly songs
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There's a lot of silly songs Oh daddy, dear, you know, you're still number one, but girls they want to have fun
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Don't stop me now. I'm having such a good time. I'm having a ball. Don't stop me now You know, it's fun to stay at the
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YMCA. I mean, did I just say that that's as idiotic as you get
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But you're like that's what I want because it it tickles my ears And I don't want to be boxed.
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I've been boxing before and got hit in the ears and it hurts So I just want to you know, come on Hey, I I just met you and this is crazy, but here's my number
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That's what this is What's better? What one feels better? Hey Andrew Smith, I really like what you're doing.
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I see the Lord's work in your life I like this that of the other but it was a father and a son. May I just help you? Would you just please stop doing this and start doing that?
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That's theoretical it's a hypothetical or Ice ice, baby.
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I Hope nobody cuts and pastes sermon and puts it out there. He's off the deep end
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Solomon wrote elsewhere Proverbs 12 whoever loves discipline loves knowledge and he who hates reproof is stupid
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Proverbs 17 a rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows and a fool
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I could use the silly songs. You can listen to a hundred pop 40 top 40 songs pop songs
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It's not gonna do anything to you. I'm not saying it's wrong to listen to music That's not what I'm saying, but it's better to hear the rebuke than it is to listen to that.
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That's for certain I am saying that how do I respond as a
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Christian? Well, I listen. He's got some more responses here Can you see it in verse 7 and 8? She ought to be patient So listen to rebuke and you ought to be patient Surely oppression drives the wise into madness and a bribe corrupts the heart
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Better is the end of a thing than its beginning and the patient in spirit
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I don't have to get a quick fix and bribe my way out of this The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit
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Here's what he's saying. You have a temptation. There's the easy way out or there's the way through that you have to be patient to get through Could be with money.
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It could be with anything else instead of the easy way out We look long -term and and we trust
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Oh God works everything together for good. I don't have to Manipulate the situation in addition.
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There's more aspects of responding. Well verse 9 Watch your anger check your anger. Don't be angry
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Do not be quick in your spirit to become angry verse 9 for anger lodges in the hearts of fools
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I mean this world is so awful. This world is so wrecked Our government is so completely out of control what's going on with finances?
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What's going on with my 401k 4033? I 403 be I am angry But I'm righteously angry
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And he just saying yeah, the world's fallen You can be angry at sin, but a lot of this other stuff
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You know what? The world has fallen The world is corrupt.
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The world's crooked The world's affected by the fall. The world is groaning to the day of its redemption
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Romans 8 and so we not just Respond with I'm just mad.
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I'm angry and I'm not gonna take it anymore Remember Jesus with his disciples the days drew near for him to be taken up.
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He set his face to Jerusalem That is Jesus and he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the
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Samaritans to make preparations for him but the people did not receive Jesus because his face was set toward Jerusalem and When his disciples
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James and John saw they said what they say Let's have a prayer revival for them.
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They need some prayer dear Lord Jesus Lord do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them and Jesus turned and rebuked them and they went on to another village
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It could be the world it could be I am angry when things don't go my way I'm angry when things don't
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Happen the way I want. I'm angry when my spouse my children my this my job
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And it kind of leads into the next one of responding well to doesn't it verse 10
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We ought not to be complaining Goes for me and it goes for you. You shouldn't complain wise people don't complain verse 10 say not
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This is what we're not supposed to say. Don't say this Why were the former days better than these?
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the good old days I Grew up when gas was 25 cents One day we ran out of gas and didn't have anything did you know what we were doing?
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We were bumper skiing and so you get the snow kids don't listen and You hold on to the bumper and you have your converse on your old converse that you don't use anymore and just fly
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You know skiing behind that car Down the street ran out of gas.
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What do we have? We scour the floors of that 67 Nova We found a quarter and we got one gallon of gas for more bumper skiing
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By the way bumper skiers are fools. They're not wise See if I was in Florida, I wouldn't have to say that because you can't do it there
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Hey the good old days What when there were morals? When that when things weren't so crazy what they taught in schools
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I'm looking for those good old days kind of like back in Rome 2 ,000 years ago What's he say for it is not from wisdom that you ask this
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I Read one guy. He said quit airbrushing the past You can remember good things in the past.
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That's certainly true Wonderful things that the mercies of God in the past but to always say this is no good and I long to be in the past That's not realizing
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God's here today in the present and God's sovereign now One writer said if you think you're living in a world where things are getting worse all the time then cheer up At least you'll be dead before they get really bad
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Why were those days better ever ask yourself the question? Why were those days better? God was in more control back then we don't want to forget about God.
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What's that old phrase wherever you are be all There we're not escapists.
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We're realists. We're living in the fallen world. It's hard. Yes, but we're gonna walk by faith and not by sight We're not gonna airbrush the past and idolize it
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God's sovereign. He's got some more responses here in verses 11 and 12 Maybe we could just say actually use wisdom take advantage of wisdom you
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Christian Use money to your advantage So use wisdom to your advantage verse 11 and 12 wisdom is good with an inheritance an advantage to those who seek the
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Sun For the protection of the wisdom is like the protection of money He's actually saying something good about money here for one of the first times and the advantage of knowledge
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Is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it? It's pretty simple
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I use money to help me I use money to protect me I use money for Housing I use money for other things
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And so if I'm gonna use money to help me And I can use wisdom to help me if I can use money to help me get through Temporal things in life, then
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I'll use wisdom to help me with spiritual things Well, let's move on to the fifth.
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Excuse me the fourth way to live in a fallen world wisely trust a sovereign God Learn from death respond rightly number four
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The fourth way to live in a world that's corrupt consider.
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God is working Consider God is working Kind of hinted at that in our last little section.
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Let's make it very plain consider God is working haven't talked a lot about God in this section so far.
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Maybe you can go through and look at verses 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
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And I don't think you're gonna see the word God there if I'm looking properly But now we're talking about God again
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Elohim the great powerful God and we're to consider that he's working That's what a wise person does
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The fool says God's just office thrown in a deist verse 13 and 14 both have that keyword in there consider
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Not just kind of think about but really sit down and think about consider the work of God Who can make straight what he has made crooked in the day of prosperity
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Be joyful We've seen that in Ecclesiastes 2 Ecclesiastes 5 we'll see it in chapter 9
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Enjoying the gifts of God under this difficult setting and in the day of adversity consider think
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God has made the one as well as the other so that man may not find out anything that will be after him
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Now if you go back to chapter 1 verse 15 Something similar has been asked but God's not in the picture there of chapter 1 verse 15
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What is crooked cannot be made straight and what is lacking cannot be counted but now in chapter 7 verse 13
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God is in the picture And it's a thing to do Wrongly is to look at the world without God in the picture and look at the world with God in the picture
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So here's an imperative Sit and think contemplate Meditate muse on God is sovereign and God is sovereign over prosperity.
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He's prosper He's sovereign over recession. He's sovereign over everything
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What does he say in verse 14? Isn't that fascinating? And in the day of adversity run
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Is that what he says? in the day of adversity run bomb shelters No, what's he say when things are hard and there's a day of adversity what
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You better be thinking I better think about the the God who is sovereign I have to just kind of let this settle in as death needs to do its work in my life
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And thinking about it. I I need to let this settle in as well It's so free and I can just submit and yield to God's good pleasure
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You say how fatalistic is that? No. No, it's talking about the sovereignty of God Do you really believe
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God works everything together for good if so Live like it
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Think about it so you can live like it. That's what he's saying He's saying children of the living
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God. Here's what I want you to do I've redeemed you I've saved you and here's how you need to respond a trusting a trembling trust
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Otherwise, the options are despair hopelessness futility I mean just think if God's not real then what?
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Consider the work of God. So you consider what he does and then it says
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Consider in the day of adversity God has made the one as well as the other so that man may not find out anything that will be after him
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There is a point that we've seen earlier in joe, but in this passage as well I I just don't know the answers
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God, you know the answers and i'm gonna have to trust you You're doing work. Jesus is the embodiment of wisdom you're working everything together.
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I can't see it, but I trust in your sovereign hand We are supposed to as bethlehem bible church accept prosperity and adversity from the god who holds our future
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And then now fifthly number five fifth Wise people see the universality of sin
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Trust a sovereign god learn from death respond rightly consider. God is working and see how universal sin is
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I can't figure out what god's doing But I know the problem
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That's his point here. I can't figure out all god's making crooked things straight things adversity all these other things
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I don't know. I don't understand it But I know what caused it and it's not god who is unholy it's not god who's sinned
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We have sinned adam sinned And this rest of the section this whole section verses 5 through 29 just talks about how bad sin is
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He says sin is so bad. It affects the world verses 15 through 18
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In my vain life i've seen everything There's a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there's a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evil doing
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Hey, this is kind of good. I don't have to be too righteous might die Is that what he's saying?
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You know what he's saying? He's saying Do you ever notice that sometimes unbelievers live longer than believers?
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You ever notice that only the good die young It's fascinating There's a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness there's a wicked man who prolongs his life in evil doing
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What causes that sin Verse 16 so don't be overly righteous and do not make yourself too wise.
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Why should you destroy yourself? Well, that's a relief now with all this bible preaching
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I just have to be a little righteous I think I could do that I don't think he's talking about that. I think he's talking about self -righteousness.
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I think he's talking about pharisaical righteousness I think he's talking about Legalistic over righteousness we have arrived.
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We know everything we do everything and we're going to do it the way we want Is not our real problem at the heart of much of our christian living is we think we're more righteous than we are
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So we don't need the righteousness of christ as much Did not john bunyan say in the 1700s?
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My righteousness has been in heaven for 1700 years Verse 17 be not overly wicked neither there be a fool.
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Why should you die before your time? I mean verse 16. You're a religious self -righteous and that's no good
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Here the non -religious person the unrighteous. That's no good. What's good verse 18
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It is good that you should take hold of this grab it with both hands and from that withhold not your hand double emphasis for the one who here it comes
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Isn't this his refrain in ecclesiastes? Fear god the one who fears god shall come out from both of them
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Self -righteousness leads to destruction wickedness leads to destruction What's the right way to walk fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom and i've said it
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Most every sermon and i'll say it again for the unbeliever. You ought to be afraid of god It is a fearful thing that fall into the hands of a living god
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Well should the believer be afraid of god not in a condemning sense not as god as a judge sense we're children
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But we should revere him we should be in awe of him so that we might honor him And obey him and make him look good.
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That's certainly true Verses 19 and following did you know sin is so universal it even affects wise people even wise people are affected by sin
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Wisdom gives strength verse 19 to the wise man more than 10 rulers who are in a city Surely there's not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins
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By the way, that's a good verse to memorize when you're evangelizing I've met two people in my life who have come into my home one in massachusetts one in california and have said i've never sinned
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I thought you just sinned by saying that I don't sin
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I don't sin No, everybody's a sinner short of the lord. Jesus christ.
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There's a universality of sin. There's not a righteous man What's righteous mean to do the right thing adam was supposed to do the right thing?
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He did the wrong thing to get to heaven You need to do the right thing and have your wrong things paid for and jesus comes to earth and does the right thing
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By doing righteous things and then he dies for our unrighteousness Verse 21
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Oh, this is good advice I mean sin affects even us the christians do not take it to heart all the things that people say
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Lest you hear your servant cursing anybody ever talk about you behind your back
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Have you ever talked to anybody behind your their back? What's the worst you've ever been called? Don't shout it out
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Spurgeon would say Be happy If they knew the real you they'd say worse things about you
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I've been called stalin I've been called hitler My favorite all -time one is
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I was called the unabomber But you know sin has even affected me
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Look at the next verse. It's affected you too Your heart knows that many times you yourself has have cursed others
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We ought not to make too big a deal about people talking about us because we've in fact talked about them and should not
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That would be foolish This fallen crooked world is filled with sinners and even wise people are sinful
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And doesn't this show you aren't you thankful for the lord jesus I mean if anything shows a litmus test of we're sinners not our hands
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But our tongue our tongues are like a what? fire No wonder jesus said
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I tell you on the day of judgment people will give an account for every careless word they speak That's why you better have jesus's righteousness
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So you don't have to stand before god and give testimony for every one of your words 1908 the times newspaper had an article and said please contribute.
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Here's the question. What's wrong with the world? And the one man wrote dear sirs.
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I am Verse 23 in this i've tested by wisdom
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I said i'll be wise but it was far from me that which has been is far off and deep very deep
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Who can find it? And then this last little section here about the universality of sin sin affects the foolish as well
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It affects the foolish as well, yes the wise Yes the world but also the fools
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Okay. Now this is getting kind of dicey here. You're gonna have to Think about solomon and solomon's experiences when you read this because otherwise you're going to think hey, what's going on with solomon?
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Is he is he a misogynist or what is he? I turn my heart to know and to search out
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And to seek wisdom in the scheme of things and in a wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness And I find something more bitter than death
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The woman whose heart is snares and nets and whose hands are fetters He who pleases god escapes her
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But the sinner is taken by her Behold this is what
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I found says the preacher while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things Which my soul has sought repeatedly that i've not found one man among a thousand
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I found but a woman among all these I have not found see this alone I found that god made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes
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So you see what he's doing at the beginning not very controversial He's saying avoid sexual sin
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You can think of proverbs chapter 5 and 6 and 7 where you to avoid sexual sin You might be thinking okay when it comes to people
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To watch out for solomon could have been thinking about dalilah or jezebel Or probably somebody that he knew from his own personal experience that he had to learn the hard way that sexual sin
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Is awful. I can only think of two sins that we're told to flee from of course We're to repent of every sin and to avoid it, but I can think of flee from idolatry and flee from Sexual immorality because they're so enslaving
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Of course here he's using the woman as a seductive trap But it goes the other way around as well the shoes on the other foot men do the same thing
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And so when it comes to being wise you have to think the world is corrupt and it should not surprise us that it is a sexually sleazy world full of sexual whoredom
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Ephesians 5 here's wisdom be imitators of god as beloved children and walk in love
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What does love do it gives as christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to god
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God's love gives but ephesians 5 but sexual immorality it takes and all impurity or covetousness
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It takes must not even be named among you as is proper among saints At bethlehem bible church let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking which are obvious Out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving
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And so solomon says the world's full of sin be careful avoid sexual sin because she's on the prowl
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But then he says something here. What is this in verse 28 one man among a thousand? I found but one but a woman among all these
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I haven't found I mean, it's not very good odds one out of a thousand.
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What's that percentage? I know what zero out of a thousand is But one out of a thousand what he's what is he trying to do go back to verse 20 just in case
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You're wondering Surely, there's not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins men sin women sin equal opportunity sinners
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But I think what's happened is I think solomon is talking about personal things here in solomon's mind and his experiences
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Has he found any men who are wise how many? I think he found one
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I think nathan was wise you think so out of the thousand wives
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And concubines i've asked you guys before what's the other word for concubine? It's not your wife or a concubine.
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What's another word for that porcupine? That's right Porcupine Okay, listen 1st kings 11 now solomon loved many foreign women
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And the lord had said You shall not enter into marriage with them. Neither shall they with you for surely there will turn your heart away after their gods
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Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives who were his princesses and 300 concubines and his wives turned away his heart
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He's not saying women are sinful and men aren't he's saying in my experience Sin affects everybody and I have a thousand of these ladies and they're all sinful and corrupt and they've corrupted me
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And I can think of at least one wise person nathan I mean solomon said wonderful things about ladies in song of solomon elsewhere in proverbs 12 and 14 and 18
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God's wisdom is personified as a beautiful woman. What's he after? He's after total depravity the universality of sin.
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It affects everybody You didn't think we're going to get through chapter 7 today.
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Did you? So here's what solomon's doing. You got two choices
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The meaning of life is found in life But it's not going to work out well for you
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Or the meaning of life is found in the giver of life and that giver of life has given me Physical life.
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I have a body i've been born and he's given me spiritual life Same with all you christians and now that we're christian people.
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How do we walk around? We're just kind of robots and just walking around whatever the the world says we do
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No, no, this is in stark contrast to everything that the world says I mean if I if I said it the opposite here's what the world would say
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There's no god if he is a god. He's a deist avoid death If people step on your toes you teach them who not to mess with And people aren't really sinful.
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They've got they've got like Dysfunctions and they've got illnesses and and they've got gender dysphoria and they're they just don't know about all these things
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No, no, the problem with all of it is sin and we know the solution for all this is the savior
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And so in light of god's creating you and then recreating you in christ. Jesus. How do we walk in this world?
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We walk in a manner that says do you know what what I do isn't going to affect my standing with you god
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Because i'm your son. I'm your daughter I wouldn't I wouldn't kick out my four children if they disobeyed when they're little but I might give them a spanking
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I would never kick them out. But since you're so good to me god and since you've so loved me I want to honor you.
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I want to obey you and I want to say yes I'm going to trust in you even though I can't see your hand
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I'm going to learn from death and realize i'll be in that tomb one day I'm going to try to respond well with I don't want to be angry
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I don't want to be complaining. I want the fruit of the spirit of love joy and peace I want to say to myself
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I should just probably watch the sovereignty of god and read books about the sovereignty of god and pink's book and sproles book
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Sovereignty of god and then I ought to know you know what? There's only one reason jesus came and he came in love and he had to solve the problem of sin the universality of sin
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Aren't you glad we have these words that hopefully convict And then you get the balm of forgiveness
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And restoration unto god as a father after we repent right
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Let's pray. Thank you father for your word Thank you that the lord. Jesus is the door of the sheep
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And that you by sovereign grace have had us enter through the door and we have been saved and we are going in and out and as Jesus said finding pasture
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We're thankful to be rescued from the thief who came only to kill and to steal and destroy
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And your son the lord. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
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I pray for bethlehem bible church Would you help us to walk wisely? Would you help us to be salt and light?
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Would you help us to respond in a way that would be honoring to you? Father thank you for so loving us
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Thank you for giving us your word and may the word do its work in the hearts of the preacher and the congregation
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And we'll trust you'll do that very thing because the word of god works powerfully in those who believe in jesus name.