Ecclesiastes 9

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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 divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Some difficult things in Ecclesiastes 9, but there's been difficult things in Ecclesiastes 1 through 8, right?

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Ecclesiastes wisdom literature. And this wisdom literature is designed for you, dear

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Christian, to live a wise life. The opposite of wisdom is foolish, or if you're a child here today, be careful when you say this, but pastor can say it.

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If you're a Christian, God doesn't want you to be stupid. Some of you are looking at me, at least

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I have your attention. Wisdom literature found in Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes encourages us to be wise.

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And remember, when we hear commands from God, and there are plenty of commands in the Bible, including a bunch in our passage, we receive those commands from God because He wants to guide us and He wants to lead us.

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He wants us to honor Him with our lives, and He wants what's good for us. I can remember my dad giving me advice, and he wanted me to keep that advice because I have a last name, my father's last name, and he wanted

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Abendroth to be honorable. And he also wanted it to be good for me because if I obeyed my dad and took this wise path, then it would go right with me.

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And for us as Christians, it's even better because we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us to help us, so we're not left on our own.

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We don't receive these commands from God and, you know, hope you succeed, you know, kicking your little bird out of the nest, and I hope you can fly.

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No, we have the Spirit of God in us, and we also are reminded to obey these commands because God is so good.

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Charles Spurgeon said, when I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin.

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But when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion,

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I smote on my breast to think that I ever could have rebelled against one who loved me so and sought my good.

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God, the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit have so loved us, and they have proven that.

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And you think about the Father's electing love, and the Son's redeeming and dying love, and the

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Spirit's sealing love. We receive these commands and we think, we're not going to do these because we could get saved because we'd have to perfectly obey.

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We're not going to do these to keep our salvation because that's God's prerogative. He keeps us to the day of redemption.

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We're going to do these because we're grateful, and we want God to be honored, and we want our lives to go well.

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So we come to Ecclesiastes chapter 9, only four probably sermons left before we finish

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Ecclesiastes 9, and then we're going to get into the book of Luke sometime early next year,

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Lord willing. We come to Ecclesiastes 9, and like I said, there's some bad news to start, then there's some good news, and then maybe a little bit more bad news.

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But for us, we come as Christians looking at this passage in the middle of Ecclesiastes which has the refrain, vanity of vanity all is vanity.

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Jesus has redeemed us from a vain life. Jesus has come to this world. He's lived the life under the sun.

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He's lived a life under the sun, striving after when the whole world is, and on this life,

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He earns your salvation. On this earth, He earns our salvation. He dies on the cross, and we have been redeemed, not with perishable things, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

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And so without Jesus, everything is ultimately vanity. With Jesus, the world is full of all kinds of vanity and frustration, but we know what to expect in the life to come.

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Ecclesiastes 9 verses 1 through 18, I'm really going to try my best to get through it.

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We're going to see what we're going to do. Okay, Ecclesiastes chapter 9 has a theological center.

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It starts off with some talk about death. It ends up with some talk about death, and in the center, there's something that's important.

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This may be a dumb illustration, but I can't think of anything different than this. If I was a child, and I got some bread out of the cabinet, what we could afford growing up in Nebraska was

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Wonder Bread. As a matter of fact, my professor, not at seminary, but at the University of Nebraska said,

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Wonder Bread is so breadless, they have to actually put in a chemical to make it smell like bread. I hope no one here works for Wonder Bread.

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I used to kind of joke about McDonald's, but then I saw Bruce Bolivar sitting right there, and I thought, so much for the free sausages on the men's breakfast.

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And what was in the center was the most important part of the sandwich. That was the centerpiece. That was important.

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Yeah, the bread is kind of just filling for the kids. And so what was the most important was the middle, was the meat, was the pimento bologna.

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That was the important part. So in this passage, joking aside, you're going to see, okay, death, and death, and then in the center, enjoy life, enjoy

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God's good gifts. That's going to be the theological center. So it's going to go from pessimism to optimism, back to pessimism.

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But I don't want you to forget the center, because you're going to go, oh, I don't get it at all. In addition, that center there, that theological center, is full of all kinds of commands, the kind of commands that you're going to love.

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Some commands you might not like in the Bible. Some of God's laws you might not like, because you want to do the opposite.

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And you think, God, you're restricting me. Maybe you've got a bad view of God's law. You're holding me down.

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You're telling me I can't do these things, and I want to do them, and your law restrains me. Well, the laws we're going to see in the theological center of the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 9, are coming from a generous

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God, with a wide open hand, who wants his children to be blessed, and to enjoy his creation.

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Pretty amazing when you think about it, isn't it? I mean, if you just think about the character of God, and who he is.

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I wonder if Jesus was on earth, we live back in Bible times, when he was on the earth, and we went up to Jesus, and we would say, could you be merciful to me?

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What do you think he'd say? Shoo! You'll see in the scriptures, when people go to Jesus and ask for mercy, what does he do?

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He gives them mercy. And somehow we think now Jesus has passed through the heavens, he's in the third heaven, he's at the right hand of Father, and now we think maybe he's less merciful today.

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He's too far away, he's too removed, he's too austere, it's kind of a different Jesus. Do you know

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Jesus never changes? And if you ask Jesus for mercy on earth, and he would give it to you,

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I wonder if you ask him for mercy now, what would he do? I wonder if you ask him for help in a certain situation where it was difficult for you.

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I wonder if you ask him for guidance in the midst of pessimism, and death, and sorrow, living under the sun.

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I think we know the answer. So we're going to read Ecclesiastes as people that believe that Jesus is alive.

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Because the only option for people reading this book, if Jesus isn't alive, is pretty bad.

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Matter of fact, it's suicidal. Let me give you from the book of Ecclesiastes for our outline today, four exhortations so that you will be wise.

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Four commands or exhortations so that you won't be fooled, to show you glorify God. With the center being the wonderful set of exhortations.

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Okay, number one, verses one through six. Trust the triune God, even though you know death is inevitable.

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Trust God, even though death is all around you, you're going to die, your friends die.

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Short of the Lord's return, what are we going to do? Death is real, the wages of sin is death.

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Adam sinned, in him we all sinned, and there's a consequence to that. So we want to walk by faith, even though death is everywhere.

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Let's take a look at verse one. But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, Ecclesiastes 9 .1,

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how the righteous, and the wise, and their deeds, are in the hand of God.

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Whether it's love or hate, man does not know, both are before him. And then he talks about death, it's the same for all.

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Since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrificed, and him who does not sacrifice.

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To one the good one, to the so the sinner, the one who swears, the one who shares our shuns and oaths.

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Back up to verse one. He's trying to say, you know, I've examined everything, sounds like chapter one to me, and I know people are in the hands of God.

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Just to be a general statement of Solomon, he understands that people are in the sovereign control of God.

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When you see that in the hand of God, you ought not to be thinking this. God is a spirit, he doesn't have hands, so what's the

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Bible trying to communicate? A hand of God, an arm of God. When you read the arm of God, what do you think of?

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I hope you don't think of my arm. Because my arm, when I start doing bicep curls like this,

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I get this big sagging thing under here now. I can't stop it, I mean, come on. When you see hand of God, or power of God, or arm of God, it's all relating to God's strength and control.

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Doesn't mean he has a real hand. It means he's got creative power. It means he has judgmental power.

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It means he has saving power, protective power. God is sovereign. Even the picture of Jesus with his creative power in Hebrews 1.

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And you, Lord Jesus, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the works of your hands.

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Creative, strong, Christian. Your hope, matter of fact, in this dying world where you're dying, is in the hands of God.

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The sustaining hand of God. The pitying hand of God. Peter knew it, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he might exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, because what?

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He cares for you. When you're in the hand of God, you're subject to his reign, and dominion, and sovereignty.

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And what Solomon does is this. Back at verse 1. I looked around. Love, hate, all these actions.

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I just look at the world, and I can't tell who's really good and who's really bad, because the same end happens to all.

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I can't see through their hearts, into their hearts. I can't look at them. I just have to say this. God's sovereign.

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God is sovereign, and if the king's heart is in the Lord's hand, and he turns it whatever way he wishes, God's sovereign in the midst of all this.

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God's the judge. I can't judge on externals. God is the judge. And matter of fact, this judge in the midst of death, in chapter 9, he's got the whole world in his hands.

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That's why we sing that song, right? He's got the little bitty what? Baby in his hands. He's got you and me, brother, in his hands.

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I pulled up the song on lyrics .com. Matter of fact, that's a great pastoral research website, lyrics .com.

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He's got the wind and the rain in his hands. He's got the sun and the moon in his hands.

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He's got the whole world in his hands. Yeah, but I see everybody dying.

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I see good people die young. I see old people, and they're frail.

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I see wicked people. They have everything. Everything is under control. Wisdom says, don't walk by sight.

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Wisdom says, don't play the fool. And to try to determine where everybody goes, no, they're in the hand of God.

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And for Christians, we're in the hand of a God who cares so much that he sends his son. And we know that's of first importance, that Christ died for our sins, was raised on the third day.

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We know Hebrews 13, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the

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Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? What can death do to me? God's sovereign.

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Nothing is certain in this world except death and taxes.

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Who said that? Well, I just said it. But I mean, who originally said it? Most people think Benjamin Franklin said that.

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Some people think Mark Twain said that, but it was actually Christopher Bullock, an actor, in England in 1716.

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"'Tis impossible to be sure of anything but death and taxes." Then later,

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Ben Franklin said, "'Our new constitution is now established and has an appearance that promises permanency.

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But in this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.'" But you know that theologian

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Will Rogers, I think he was on to something. The difference between death and taxes is death doesn't get worse every time

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Congress meets. Or Bruce Dickinson.

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Apart from death and taxes, the one thing that's certain in this life is that I'll never be a fashion icon. Kind of interesting.

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The richest people in the world don't pay taxes. Or they don't pay many taxes. And the richest people in the world invest in how to live forever, freezing your brain, freezing your body.

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And you look at verses 2 and 3, I mean, the fall affects everyone and everyone's going to die. You can see what happens to the righteous, the wicked, the good, the evil, clean, unclean, the one that sacrifices, the one that doesn't, the good one, the sinner, the one who swears, the one who shuns an oath.

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And at the end of verse 3, it's madness. It's a mad world.

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Sin is crazy. Sin is insane. Solomon looks at the world and says,

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God, are you for me? Are you against me? And of course, we as Christians know God is for us.

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No one can be against us. We know that we're trusting in Jesus for our eternal life.

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The last enemy has been defeated. Sadly, you watch the world in the midst of all this, and they must sense the frustration of the world.

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They must sense how fleeting things are. They must understand what age does and what death is like.

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And it seems like they will do anything in the world except just bow the knee to the Lord Jesus. I mean, they'll do anything.

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They fight and squabble and overdo life. He gives a little slogan here, a little saying.

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I don't know if I like the saying, but I'll read it. Verse 4, But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

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What in the world? Remember the old cartoons you used to read in the newspaper?

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Had little frames. The Peanuts cartoon with Snoopy and Charlie Brown had a cartoon called

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Theology and the Dog. Snoopy's typing away on his doghouse.

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Charlie Brown shows up. Snoopy says, look what I've been typing. He reads it and it says,

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As it says in the ninth chapter of Ecclesiastes, a living dog is better than a dead lion.

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Charlie Brown gives the paper back and says, what does that mean? Snoopy looks at it a little bit more.

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I don't know, but I agree with it. What in the world?

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Here's what he's saying. Think like a Jew. Dogs weren't sweet and cuddly like we like them now.

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Dogs were awful. Dogs were low on the totem pole.

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Dogs were ferocious. Dogs were unclean. Dogs were just the worst thing. And what was really good back in those days?

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Cats. Well, to be more in particular, lions. I hate to admit it, but here, a cat family would be better than a dog family.

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Dogs were just full of scurvy or who knows what they've got. But you don't want them rabies. You don't want anything to do with them.

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And lions, even Jesus in Genesis chapter 49 comes from the tribe of Judah, the lion of the tribe of Judah.

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And so things are kind of switched around here. It's a little weird. You'd expect it to say something like, you know what?

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The dogs aren't very good, but lions are. But you know what? It's better to be a living dog than a dead lion.

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What's the point? As long as man is alive, as long as women are alive, there's hope.

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You can reread the passage. But he who is joined with all the living has hope. And temporally, looking under the sun only, not thinking about eternity, people have hope to start doing the right thing and the wise thing and not the foolish thing.

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And of course, if you extend that on to the spiritual aspect via the resurrection, you're not a believer as long as you're living.

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There's still hope until your dying breath to trust the Lord, right? There's always hope until,

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I mean, and that's why I've been called and Kim and I have been to somebody's house where they've said, you know, we've got a loved one and they're in a coma and they're brain dead and the family needs to arrive to say goodbye, then they're going to unplug the person.

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And would you please go before the family gets there because of their Roman Catholic background and this, that and the other, and they're different than we are.

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Would you please go there and preach the gospel to my brain dead father -in -law?

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Well, whether they're alive, and I don't know what the Lord was going to do, but it sure doesn't hurt to stand there and talk about Jesus, the resurrection and the life.

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Sure doesn't hurt anything to say Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth and the life and you believe on me, you won't be disappointed.

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And there Kim and I just sat and read John chapter 1, John chapter 2, John chapter 3, John chapter 4.

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God saved this person. Do you think God could do it? I'm certain he could. You think about hope at the very end, the thief on the cross, there were two thieves, right?

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And one does repent. Verse 5, for the living know that they will die.

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And again, this is just talking about life under the sun. This is not talking about purgatory or eternal states or anything like that.

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People living know they're going to die. We all know that, but the dead know nothing. I mean, they're not on earth. They have no more reward for the memory of them is forgotten.

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He's not teaching soul sleep. He's not teaching anything. He's just saying life under the sun. You will look at people.

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They're alive. There's hope. They're dead. Nothing. That's all he's saying. Remember, we have the rest of the

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Bible to teach us about after from the body, present with the Lord, eternal rewards, etc. Verse 6, their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, right?

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They're not on earth to do any of those things. And forever on earth, they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.

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That's the idea. When human beings who are image bearers, the pinnacle of God's creation die, it's very, very difficult.

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We know, though, the New Testament teaches in the book of Revelation, blessed are the dead who die in the

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Lord, right? You have a loved one dying, trusting in the Lord Jesus. They're rejoicing now in the presence of God.

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They don't need faith anymore. They have sight. They don't need trust anymore. They're they're worshiping full confidence in the

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Lord. So Solomon says, you want to live a wise life? You look at death. You look at all the crazy stuff, still trust in this

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God, the hand of God. Number two, here we come to the theological center. The second exhortation so that it will go well with you so that you'll glorify

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God. Since you're a Christian, you can obey. You have the spirit of God. Enjoy every gift from a generous triune

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God. That's what I'm talking about. I like those kind of commands. Enjoy God's gifts.

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Life is short. There's going to be an end to your time on earth one day. So while you're on earth, enjoy

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God's good gifts. I mean, verses one through six, there's a lot of grim stuff in there.

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There's a lot of difficult issues. So now we come to some commands. I'm going to read the section.

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There are five Hebrew commands. I wonder if you can spot them. Go eat your bread with joy.

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Drink your wine with a merry heart. For God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white.

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Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love. All the days of your vain life which he has given you under the sun.

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Because that is your portion in life. And in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.

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For there's no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom and shield to which you are going. So we come to this passage.

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There's a lot of commands. There are other gifts that God has given. Of course, spiritual gifts. Things in the spiritual realm.

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And there are other gifts that God gives us on earth. So this is an exhaustive list of things that God gives us.

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But I think it's pretty good representation. And so, we come to the first command.

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Go. What do you mean, go? It's like the Matthew 28

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Great Commission. Go therefore and make disciples. What do you mean, go? You know what he's doing?

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Instead of sitting around every single day of your life. Saying how bad the world is.

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And how all your loved ones and friends are dying and are dead. How sick you are. How difficult life is.

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Stop it. Stop it. There's nothing wrong with mourning. There's nothing wrong with mourning.

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There's a way to mourn that doesn't have hope. First Thessalonians. And here he says, go. It's time to go and live your life.

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You lose a loved one. They're in heaven. They're in heaven. And you think, okay, now what am

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I supposed to go do? What am I supposed to do? I've done all these other things. Now what? Well, you can still give

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God glory. And you can still give him thanks. By enjoying the things that he's given you to do under the sun.

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Like what? Here's another command. Eat your bread with joy. Maybe that might be my life verse.

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Except I'm on low carbs. Now what? This is my favorite life verse for Lent.

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You know, people say, well, we're spiritual. We're out in the monasteries. We're out in the wilderness. We're out in the desert.

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We don't eat things. We don't drink things. We starve ourselves. We fast. We this. We that. There's a command in wisdom literature.

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Life is very, very difficult. Have a nice meal. Yeah, that's a command right there.

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Eat your food. Have a nice meal. Don't sit around and mope all day long. Brood all day long.

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Be depressed all day long. Death is awful. That's right. Death is an enemy.

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That's right. But Jesus has conquered it. And so now you say he gives me the greatest gift.

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I don't have to fear death anymore. Hebrews 2. Because I have a great high priest. And now I can eat.

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Gracie has been sending us pictures. She's on a one -week holiday from school overseas in the

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Middle East. And so she went to Rome yesterday. And she's sending us pictures of pasta that she's eating in Rome.

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And I'm saying, I love it when my children are obedient to God's word. It just gives me joy.

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Some nice pasta. Nice meal with your family.

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He's not saying you have to go to Rome. That's kind of nice. It's like a $100 round. You know, the kids are like,

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Dad, can we fly to Rome for our vacation? What's dad's knee jerk every single time? No.

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Okay, so then they call mom. Well, you know, it's only $88 round trip.

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You know, an easy jet. Okay, let's do it. I'm going to help you obey. Eat your bread with joy. We don't have to travel like that.

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I mean, you think about even the one son that realized the best place of all was just back at the father's house.

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It doesn't have to be expensive. You can hear flickers before the fall here, can't you?

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About eat from every tree in the garden. And he says,

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I want you to enjoy your meals. Now the Jews would have a tiny snack in the morning. They'd have a little tiny light meal at brunch.

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And then they would wait till after sunset. That was the big meal. And he usually had a lot of bread and some vegetables, maybe a little milk and a big occasion.

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They'd have some meat. I mentioned one cartoon.

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I might as well mention another cartoon. Calvin and Hobbes. The boy and his tiger, right?

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First frame, Calvin. I don't understand all this business about death. Second frame, same

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Calvin. If we're just going to die, what's the point of living? Third frame, they both stare at the viewer.

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Fourth and final frame, Hobbes said, well, they're seafood. I thought that was funnier than the other one.

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How many things you think in the Bible are not approved by God? You can go to the vice list of Galatians chapter 5.

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You can go to the vice list of 1 Corinthians chapter 6. You can go to all kinds of vice lists. Revelation chapter 21, fornication, homosexuality.

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The list goes on and on and on. Lying, stealing, being bitter. There's all kinds of things we're not supposed to do.

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I wonder if there's something that would be approved by God. Oh, there it is, approved by God. Eat your bread with joy and drink wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.

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That's approved by God. Many things aren't approved by God. That's approved by God.

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Some people did not call them guilty pleasures. They call things like this godly pleasures.

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Approved by God. Because God accepts you in Christ. Therefore, He accepts all your works.

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And He accepts what you do. Luther said, Solomon is not urging a life of pleasure or luxury, characteristics of those who do not sense this vanity.

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But he is speaking of godly people who sense the trouble of the world. It's their downcast hearts that he wants to encourage.

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I think Luther's right. Solomon tried to fill his life with hedonism and food and wine and pleasures, chapter 1 and 2.

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That didn't work because the meaning of life isn't found in life, it's found in the giver of life.

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And now that we realize, God, you gave me life and I can be content in you and have joy in you, now you get to enjoy all

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His gifts. They're from the hand of God, chapter 2. They're God's gift to man, chapter 3.

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God keeps you occupied with joy in your hearts, chapter 5. Here's one more what they call carpe diem passage in the book of Ecclesiastes.

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And he brings up something else now. He says, go, eat. And he brings up something else that's right there in the text.

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The command to drink wine with a merry heart. Now, the other enjoyment passages, he hasn't said anything about wine.

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And now he brings wine up. Wine was very popular back then. It had alcohol in it.

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Certainly, Jesus turned water into what? Grape juice. Saved the best grape juice for last.

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Listen, if you don't want to drink, don't drink. You're not disobeying God's command here because it says you have to drink wine.

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If you don't want to drink for whatever reason, you don't have to drink. I'm not trying to promote drinking by telling you there's a command in the scripture.

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If you think that if you don't drink wine, you're more godly, you're more holy, you're more set apart than everybody else.

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Well, then you want to repent because that's simply not true. Remember Romans 14 and 15? It follows

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Romans chapter 3, 4 and 5. Romans 3, 4 and 5 say something about justification. Romans 14 and 15 say, since I'm justified and I can't be any closer to God, I can't be any more justified.

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I can't be any more regenerated. I can't be any more set apart. Then what I put in my mouth doesn't matter.

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It doesn't affect my relationship. So Romans 14 and 15 on Christian liberty follow chapter 3, 4 and 5.

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If you understand justification, you get liberty right. It doesn't say get drunk.

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Obviously, that's sin. But 1 Timothy 4, it says everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.

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We are not the do not handle, do not taste, do not touch people. If you don't want to drink, don't drink.

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If you want to drink, cheers. Seriously, it means nothing with the godliness.

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Drunkenness is a sin. Being abstinent is many times wise. Do you get where I'm coming from?

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Do you know me well enough by now? The visitors are going, oh, great. Both offend me.

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What's the point? Here's the point. It's not about what kind of alcohol can I get in my wine or not.

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What kind of calories do I have in my food? And what if I want to eat food beside bread? No, no, it's the world's hard.

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Life is difficult. God has saved you. God has given you eternal life. You can trust in his promises. So don't miss times around the dinner table to say,

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God, you're great. God, you're good. I'm hurting. I've got difficulties. My loved ones are sick.

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I'm sick. All these other issues. There's trials and relationship issues. But I'm just going to enjoy a pleasure, a basic pleasure.

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And I'm going to be content, not with a luxury, but just even a necessity. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

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Let your garments be white, verse 8. He's talking about an attitude. It doesn't say you have to wear white all the time.

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This is wisdom literature. This is not prescription -like in doctrinal epistles like Romans. Let not oil be lacking on your head.

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This is like special occasion stuff. It's like weddings and reunions. And you're getting together.

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And this is language of rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. Verse 9, it gives us another command.

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If you're not married, one day probably you will be. And then you can obey this.

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This is for married people here. It's not a suggestion. It's a command.

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Enjoy life with the wife whom you love. All the days of your fleeting... It's going by fast, isn't it?

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Fleeting life that He's given you under the sun. It's difficult under the sun. Going by fast, but you're to enjoy your life with your wife.

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Because that is your portion in life. God has ordained it. God has approved it. And in your toil at which you toil under the sun.

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Isn't that good? Isn't that wonderful? Don't you think God is a good, giving God, a benevolent

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God? Do you think wives are a gift from the Lord? Of course.

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Husbands are a gift from the Lord as well. Of course, Solomon is not thinking about two men together, two women together.

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People that identify as a man, blah, blah, blah. It's born a man, born a woman. They're getting together.

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They make a vow before God and other people for lifelong commitment. Till death do us part.

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And if you have life today, you have a life from God's good hand. And he says,

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I want you to enjoy your wife whom you love. You say, well, I don't love her, so I don't have to enjoy her.

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Well, that would take me to Ephesians chapter 5. It's a command. Husbands, what? Love your wives.

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It's not a matter of feelings. And so I've been thinking about this week. Husbands, love your wives is in Ephesians 5.

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Here it says, enjoy your wife. I asked you the question I had to ask myself this week. Do I enjoy my wife?

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Do you enjoy your wife? Or is she the ball and chain? She's the nagger.

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She's the complainer. She gets in your way of all your plans of what you want to do. You say,

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I used to enjoy my wife. I'm not sure I do anymore. The husband is called to enjoy his wife.

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And I think the same would be true for wives. Do you enjoy your husband? Let me just tell you this if you're struggling.

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You don't have to enjoy your wife forever. That's good news.

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It's only on this earth. I'm not trying to be funny. Well, maybe

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I was a little. It's hard to love a wife.

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It's hard to submit to a husband. And by the way, no joy for husbands that don't love their wives.

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To the extent that you love your wife, you'll have joy. And wives, like it or not, there's no joy for you.

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Little joy for you. If you won't submit to your husbands. To the extent you submit to your husbands is the extent that you'll have joy.

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It's true. It's the way God has designed it. Now, we don't have to obey

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God on earth forever. One day there'll be a return of Christ. One day we'll be in heaven. Instead of seeing the effects of sin in the world, and there's death all around us, seeing the effects of sin even in our spouse, and then saying, you know what?

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I'm just done. I'm out. I've done this long enough. I don't get anything in return. He wants you to enjoy your wife because she's a gift from God.

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You know, I'm tired of the gift you gave me. I'm going to return it. I bought something the other day, and I thought

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I might have to return this. I go into Amazon orders. It says I've got till January 31st to use it, and then return it, or just return it.

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Sorry, maybe I used it. It's not working like I want it to work. No, no.

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This is enjoy your wife. This is enjoy your husband.

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Life is short. There are difficult things, and God knows what's best for you.

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And you ought to enjoy your wife. You ought to enjoy your husband. Verse 10, whatever your hand finds to do, including marriage, including eating, including drinking wine, yes, yes, yes.

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Do it with all your mind. There's no work or thought or wisdom or knowledge in Sheol, the place of death, right?

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He's just talking about under the sun. He's not talking about what happens after we die. Just from our perspective, you're not eating or drinking or doing any of these things once you're dead to which you are going.

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Kind of reminds me of Jesus in John chapter 9. We must work the works of him who sent me while it's day.

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Night is coming when no one can work. So he's talking about who we are living in this world.

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Wise living says, okay, people die. I can't figure out if they're good or bad.

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That's up to God. I just have to trust in his hand. And what I can do though, is instead of trying to be a philosopher,

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I'll try to enjoy my life as God's gift. Now he goes back to some of the bad news.

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And now we're back to the very first exhortation, trust a triune God, even though death is inevitable. Verses 11 and 12.

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It's the exact same point as number one. Trust God, enjoy everything from God, and now trust him still.

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Again, there it is. I saw that under the sun, the race is not to the swift. I mean, once in a while it is maybe.

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Nor the battle to the strong, nor the bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge.

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But time, and from our perspective, seems random. Obviously there's no randomness in the theology of God.

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But from our perspective, time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time, like a fish that are taken in an evil net.

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I mean, they thought they were just going to get some food. They're swooped up like birds that were caught in a snare. They thought they were just going to have a little bite.

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So the children of man are snared in an evil time, when it suddenly falls on them.

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So since we don't know, we don't know. I did find it super fascinating.

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Did you know that psychic back in the 90s, Jean Dixon, on January 2nd, 1997, she predicted, a famous entertainer will leave the nation in mourning within weeks, period.

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Three weeks later she died. Donald Peters bought two

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Connecticut lottery tickets on 2008, just like he did for 20 years. Turned out one of those tickets was worth 10 million dollars.

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He died of a heart attack the very day he bought the winning ticket. Man, now is not his time.

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You don't know your time. None of us know our time. I mean, if I was an unbeliever, it's like, well, that's the way the ball bounces.

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It's the luck of the draw. That's the way the cookie crumbles. But we're trusting in God.

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By sight, it doesn't seem to make sense. By faith, everything makes sense.

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And then he goes on, number four, and this is not going to take much time, because it's just interesting the way he gives almost kind of a

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PS. How do we live as Christians to be wise from Ecclesiastes 9? We trust

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God, even though there's sin affected everything around us. Even though sin affects everything, we enjoy everything from God.

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We trust in God, and now we learn that wisdom does benefit. You might be thinking, you know what, why even bother trying to be wise?

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It's a futile world and I'm going to die anyway. No, no, wisdom is helpful.

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Verses 13 through 18. He wants to make sure we just don't throw wisdom out. We're looking at the world.

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We're looking at things under the sun. We don't know our time, time and chance, fate, everything else. Well, then why even bother?

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No, no, wisdom is important. I've also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, verse 13.

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It seemed great to me. There's a little city with a few men in it. A great king came against it and besieged it.

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Building great siege works against it. But there was found in it a poor wise man.

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See, wisdom is helpful. And by his wisdom, delivered the city. Now, wisdom might not seem that powerful.

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Wisdom might seem lost, but wisdom still is good. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I see that wisdom is better than might.

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Hence wisdom literature. Though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard,

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I could say it this way in contemporary language. No matter if everybody else thinks the Bible is foolish and the

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Bible is irrelevant and they stand over the Bible judging the Bible, God's truth wins.

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God's truth is true. And it will one day examine them. The words of the wise, verse 17.

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Heard and quiet. I mean, wisdom is still good. Are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

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Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. Wisdom still is important.

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It has its day. Don't neglect wisdom because of all this fate, chance, random looking things when you see the world.

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So Ecclesiastes 9. It's wisdom literature. It starts off with some pretty bad news.

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It's kind of got some bad news at the end with a little PS on wisdom. And in the theological center, it is not bologna with pimentos.

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What's your favorite meat? What's your favorite kind of sandwich? I don't know. What do you like? Corned beef?

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Do you like pastrami? Sirloin? Sirloin, let's go for something better than sirloin.

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We get whatever cut we want. Some kind of just tri -tip in the middle. That'd be good.

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Do we have tri -tip here? Okay. Tuna salad.

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I'm just kidding. The world is difficult. We are

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Christian people and we realize it's because of Adam's sin and we're sinful too. The wise says to himself, self,

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I see why it's all happening. Hurts my heart still. I still cry.

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I still grieve. I still have emotions. But I see it rightly. And in the middle of all the pain and everything else,

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God is still good. And I'm going to recognize even things like a wife, like wine, like food, are good gifts from God to remind me.

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You want to know your future? In the theological center, on this mountain, the

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Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well -aged wine, a rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well -refined.

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And He will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over the nations.

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He will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.

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And the reproach of His people, He'll take away from the earth. For the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, behold, this is our

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God. We've waited for Him that He might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for Him.

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Let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation. Isaiah 25, let's pray.

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Father, thank You for Your Word. We do rejoice. And we would ask that You'd help us to be obedient.

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I would pray for my marriage and every marriage here. That You would help the spouses die to self and live under righteousness.

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That You would help the husbands love their wives, like Christ loved the church. You would help the wives submit to their husbands.

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Father, that You would help them both together have a home that's full of joy. Father, we want that.

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We know it's right. And Father, our pride gets in the way. Our self -righteousness gets in the way.

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Our habits get in the way. But You're greater. And so would You do a work in our hearts.

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We don't want to be foolish. We'd like to live a wise life. We pray this in Jesus' name,

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Amen. 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.