Ecclesiastes 5-6, Questions

All right, Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and 6, hear the word of the Lord. Guard your steps when you go to the house of God to draw near to listen is better Than to offer the sacrifice of fools for they do not know

That they are doing evil Be not rash with your mouth Nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before god for god is in heaven and you are on earth

Therefore let your words be few For a dream comes with much business and a fool's voice with many words

When you vow a vow to god do not delay Paying it For he has no pleasure in fools

Pay what you vow It is better that you should not vow that you should vow and not pay

Let not your mouth lead you into sin and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake

Why should god be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands For when dreams increase and words grow many there is vanity

But god is the one you must fear If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness do not be amazed at the matter

For the high official is watched by a higher and there are yet higher ones over them

But this is gain for a land in every way a king committed to cultivated fields He who loves money will not be satisfied with money nor he who loves wealth with his income

This also is vanity When goods increase They increase who eat them

And what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer whether he eats little or much

But the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep There's a grievous evil that i've seen under the sun riches were kept by their owner to his hurt

And those riches were lost in a bad venture And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand

As he came from his mother's womb. He shall go again naked as he came and shall take nothing for his toil

That he may carry away in his hand This also is a grievous evil just as he came so shall he go

And what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger behold

What I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and to drink and to find Enjoyment and all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that god has given him

But this is his lot Everyone also to whom god has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil

This is the gift of god For he will not much remember the days of his life because god keeps him occupied with joy in his heart

There's an evil that i've seen under the sun and it lies heavy on mankind a man To whom god gives wealth possessions and honor so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them.

This is vanity It's a grievous evil If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years so that the days of his years are many but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things and He also has no burial

I say that a stillborn child is better off than he For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness and in darkness.

His name is covered moreover It has not seen the sun or known anything yet.

It finds rest rather than he Even though he should live a thousand years twice over yet.

Enjoy. No good Do not all go to the one place All the toil of man is for his mouth

Yet his appetite is not satisfied for what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite This also is vanity and a striving after wind

Whatever has come to be has already been named And it is known what man is and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he

The more words the more vanity and what is the advantage to man? 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? What will be after him? under the sun

May the lord add his blessings the reading of his holy word Well, I don't know about you but I have some questions

I'd like to know who's going to be the starting quarterback for alabama this season You don't care about that A lot of the questions people care about aren't the important questions many people spend their lives trying to answer questions that are just Completely unimportant even when it comes to the bible.

A lot of people are asking The wrong questions they're trying to get the bible to answer questions that it doesn't

Like how to attract a spouse or how to make my child a millionaire something like that Now some preachers try to use the bible to answer those questions for the sake of drawing in a crowd

But what you win them with? Is what you win them to? and so people who are one with seeker sensitive

Topical sermons, you know about the things people really care about their felt needs Answering those questions that they want to answer if you win them with that What you win them to is that when it comes to really learning the word of god what it says about the kingdom of god justification the messiah predestination

They aren't interested. They're going like wait. I didn't sign up for this. I'm not there's not my questions

But I have questions. What about you? You got questions It's good to have questions.

Actually, it shows that you're paying attention. It shows that you're interested Good teachers like questions from students

Now when I was in seminary, I took a class in christian education that is teaching the bible teaching theology how to teach

There were about 40 students in this class and the professor was big on trying to get all the students involved

You're making comments asking questions, and I was seated right up front in this amphitheater style classroom

When the student next to me a japanese man asked a question and the professor Commented yes answered the question then they commented that asian students tended not to talk as much as the others

And that he was glad that this japanese man had just spoken And then he said as of that moment

Every student has commented or asked a question except for one me and he said

It's good for students to to ask questions or comment, isn't it john? and I went

And then he asked me if I had anything to add you have anything to add john and I went And then he asked why not?

and I went And everybody laughed One thing I've heard a lot about in the past few years

About covid about vaccines about men who say they're women or vice versa other things Is that some say with exasperation?

Well deserved exasperation. You can't ask questions. Why can't we ask questions?

We just got to accept it You know, where did it come from? Is it really that dangerous? Is it necessary to close schools?

Are kids really at risk? Does remote learning work for small children?

If you don't know the answer to that question, you probably shouldn't be a teacher Do masks really work? Can someone change his sex?

Is she a he? Who should be able to vote? What you've heard is that some people are just hostile to to the questions you're saying these things and You just have to accept them they're unquestionable their assertions have to be unquestionably

Accepted then people will complain over and over i've heard this same phrase, you know, it's it's like it's a religion

You can't question the dogma now that annoys me Not because I don't agree that there's a lot of nonsense now that's being

Asserted that we're just not supposed to question just accept it I am annoyed by that because at least for the true god the true religion

You can't ask questions You know, I hear that it's like a religion. That's not putting down religion

You know, at least there's some there's some good religion that actually invites you to ask questions

And these sometimes like that professor at seminary god wants you asking questions. He's asking you to ask questions

Like if you're in these two chapters we read how many questions were they did you notice? And we're supposed to be asking these

It's better to be asking questions. Like if why is life like this? What's worth working for?

What's worth depriving myself of some short -term pleasure? Now what is worth that?

Better to ask that those questions Than to be too busy Or just too uninterested

Too occupied absorbed by your work by your pursuit of money and success and the things and the rat race to ask questions

So What are your questions? here Ecclesiastes We have some of them

I'm not going to tell you how many I didn't even try to make them rhyme or alliterate five points and they rhyme they alliterate precious

It's impressive how much thought I put into it, isn't it? I'm not going to even do that today It's ecclesiastes after all why spend my time

Making up alliterating or rhyming titles that you're just going to forget. Anyway, that's my chase after that wind.

So forget that here we have questions first There's a question about words

Why should god be angry at your words? Guard your steps in verse one by guarding your words

You come to the house of god here in ecclesiastes That means to the temple where the priests were supposed to do

Some teaching instruct people in the law how to obey god and for us is the house of god is the church now

It's not the building. It's wherever we meet For us it happens to be a gym when you come to the church.

You watch your steps by watching your words now I particularly got to watch my words

Because I say a lot of them And that's why I carefully prepare mine instead of just speaking off the cuff

You you watch your step you draw near that is the god of verse one by Listening draw near to listen doing that he says is better than the sacrifice of fools

If you don't listen Here you might sacrifice the wrong thing

You might sacrifice in the wrong way and it's not a sacrifice that god accepts and he says they they give these wrong sacrifices they

Remember from first samuel to obey is better than sacrifice they give these sacrifice of fools and they don't even know he says

That they're doing evil and yet they're being religious about it to listen and obey Is better than sacrifice better than?

sacrifice of fools Now there's people in church culture today who have no idea that they should be listening Oh, they understand though they probably won't be talking much at least not in the service that they'll be passive and quiet And well, they get to sing but besides that they don't talk

But they aren't really listening We had one person. I had one person once who had been taught this fiction

In place of the bible that the bible taught a succession of ancient kingdoms, which after there's a long gap

That's almost over. It's always almost over. It's going to come any time now It's on that long gap is almost up for any succession of kingdoms and there's a long gap

Which will then lead to a revived coming very very soon a revived roman empire

My youth the european common market had 10 nations. Aha. It's the beast with 10 heads.

Well now it has like 27 They they never kind of admit. Hey, we were wrong about that. Maybe we should go back and rethink our whole

Theology. Well, the person who was raised on that and I could see is I was describing the prophecy from daniel about this series Of empires which that part is actually true.

There is a succession of kingdoms. He was eager. He was eating that up He knew the series is the babylonians and the persians of the greeks and the roman empire

But no one really cares all about that stuff because they're interested in what's they're sure is going to happen next this revived roman empire

And I could see that he was he was just He was really into it leaning forward. He's staring intently

Me paying close attention and then he he was sure of what was next

The revived roman empire coming soon with an antichrist at the top, right all that stuff and when

I ended though From daniel with the old roman empire Saying that it was all fulfilled at the first coming of christ

He's kind of slinked back Like he had shrunk Looking down at the floor

He's bored Because I wasn't Answering the right questions he thought

Because he wasn't listening Instead of being rash with your words instead of spouting off instead of being hasty Even if just with your heart just in your own mind to give your opinions in verse 2 instead of being so full of your opinions

You refuse to listen. Remember he says god is in heaven He sees the big picture

He's answering the right questions and you are on earth. You are under the sun.

You're small. You're limited You're so ignorant that without god's word. You don't even know the right questions to ask

Ever come across some field. You don't even know what? You don't even know what the questions are to ask.

How does You know if I was trying to be if I try to learn the guitar, I don't even know what questions to start with Therefore because of that let your words and your opinions be few

Dreams illusions that is the illusion of knowing something when you really don't gives you much He says business.

It doesn't mean the good kind of business that can make you a profit means Busyness makes you chase after the wind

Keep running like a hamster on a wheel and never getting anywhere in verse 3 a fool comes with many words

It's characteristic of a fool a lot of words, how does god feel about the fool's voice?

Watch your words If you vow a vow to god in verse 4 like from judges verse 7 or in psalm 76.

Did you notice that? Those I think it's the 11th verse If you make a vow you keep it

But if you vow a vow to god, that is if you make a promise to god if you god will give me

Whatever you're asking him for i'll give you Whatever more money get more involved in church

And then if he does what you ask him in your vow Pay it like hannah remember she

Paid her own son If you make a pledge to support some missionary or to give to some ministry

Pay it Do what you pledged you would do I once had a man who pledged that he would raise so much money for me to take a trip to singapore

And he even printed a certificate In which he promised To get the money from my trip to singapore and he said that if others fell short

That he'd make sure that I got the money that he would pay out of his own pocket

He was making a firm promise in print And then when something in the church didn't go the way he liked he reneged he never paid a cent

If you make a vow a pledge a commitment, you must keep your word that fact

Should help you keep watch over your words And if you know you absolutely must fulfill your promises then you'll be very careful about what you promise

Don't delay paying your vows because at the end of verse 4 god has no pleasure in fools

God has anger. He has regret. He has delight and pleasure Fools here who are people who make vows they don't keep

Don't give him pleasure They're foolish because they don't understand the purpose of vows of promises or like wedding vows commitments covenants

Are just assurances that i'll raise so much money. What's what's the purpose of all that fools don't know

Fools think it's to look good to sound good. The truth is we make commitments when we feel like making them

So that we will keep them when we don't feel like keeping them We don't make them because we like the sound of the words forsaking all others till death do us part because You know,

I want to be seen as the one who raised the money for the trip But now

I don't care about that. So i'm not going to keep my word That's a fool We make commitments when we feel like making them so that We will keep them

When we don't feel like keeping them So it's better in verse 5 not to vow

If you're not going to keep it now, it's okay to vow But if you do make a promise you better keep it

But if you're not going to keep it don't don't make it in the first place Don't make the promise if you're not going to follow through that way in verse 6

You're not letting your mouth lead you into sin There would be no sin if the man hadn't promised to raise money for the trip to singapore

If he hadn't promised And then hadn't done it Well, there's no sin

There's no expectation. There's no obligation. There's no sin, but when he promised Complete with a certificate to prove it

And then he walked away that was sin So don't make promises you aren't going to keep

Don't say after you promised Well, that was just a mistake. I was manipulated. I was carried away by my feelings, whatever.

No There's this excuse is not to keep it. It's too late You're bound to keep your promises

I have a question first question in verse 6 Why should god be angry at your voice?

That's a question ever thought about that Some people want to know when's the when's the rapture going to be? Well, here's the question god's more interested in Why why should you be angry?

Why should god god's saying why should I be angry at your voice now? He's not just here.

He's not just not taking pleasure in you If you're a promise breaker

You're actually making him angry Your many words your voice is getting on his nerves ever heard somebody's voice gets on your nerves

Well, this is what what kind of voice gets on god's nerves so to speak god doesn't really have nerves, but you know my point

It's when you don't keep your promises And so he'll destroy he promises there and verses six and seven he'll destroy whatever you make

Your business your family your reputation and verse seven dreams that is illusions your fantasy life what you dream of They increase

You dream of being rich you dream of being successful you dream of being widely regarded They increase and that's increasing your busyness as you're running after this thing

You're dreaming of and as you're dreaming of it, you're saying all kinds of words and making all kinds of promises You don't keep Like that hamster on a wheel you're working and working and your words grow many you're talking too much because If you don't keep your word talk is cheap

That is vanity The key word in ecclesiastes vanity emptiness is vapor

We're seeing vapor somebody vaping and just there for a second. It just disappears into the air that's what a lot of people are living for something that's just There for a second disappearing.

You can't nothing to grab hold of and so the question Why should god Be angry at your voice

Be afraid of that God is the one you must fear The one who will hold you to account for every careless word you utter.

I'll have another question I don't have a title for it because that's chasing after the wind

But starting verse eight we have another question What advantage are you getting? If you see oppression somewhere

The poor are downtrodden and justice and righteousness are being violated some government is just crushing people

Well, don't be amazed at that It's an evil bureaucracy at work the leviathan

Trying to control all of life The bureaucracy enforces the edicts from on high

To oppress the people and one official near the top Can force the bureaucrats under him

To apply the suppressive edict whatever it is to the bureaucrats under him and so on and so on until it crutches people

A little over three years ago was closing down churches. I was sympathetic at first, you know, 15 days to slow the spread

Okay, 15 days. That's not bad. It's two weeks of two services for us That we cancel that's not really closing down, right?

Most a lot of most people take about two weeks vacation. They can bear away So we take a vacation all at the same time. I'm glad we didn't fall for it by the way

Partly thanks to shannon. We did try to keep the regulation, you know from on high to keep fewer than 10 people

Trying to abide by that regulation But when 15 days had 30 more days added to it and then indefinitely

And the local dollar general is allowed to have over 100 people In half our floor space and about a quarter of our ceiling space, but somehow we're restricted to 10 now that doesn't make any sense

So I thought we're not doing this anymore If the county wants to keep us under 10 people here

They'll have to send deputies and stand at the door and enforce it themselves. I'm not being their bureaucrat

Then thanks to our system of separation of powers Our caswell county sheriff openly stated that he's not going to enforce the governor's regulation against church's meeting.

That was good for him And they'll only the only one in our system Over the sheriff is the voters

But what is an advantage in verse 9 Is when the king? Is the government for us is committed to?

cultivated fields for us and prosperity productivity flourishing

Yes, we like cultivated fields. We like busy stores with lots of customers making big orders leaving big tips bonuses

Raises, it's good for the government to be about that. That's to our advantage It's to our advantage if they can be like that For cultivated fields or at least get out of our way so that we can cultivate our own fields

But if that's what you love If that's what life is all about for you

Cultivated fields profits business. I have a question for you.

Here's another question When will you be satisfied When will your income be enough?

And so this is enough money coming in i'm fine you offer you a raise that's all right. I don't need it You can keep your money.

I'm satisfied with what I got. When will you say that's all I need I've saved up all the money.

I need i'm just going to relax Do other things When will your income be enough? When is enough enough john d rockefeller?

The first american billionaire was asked by a reporter. How much money is enough? He replied

Just a little more More In verse 10 we're told he who loves money will not be satisfied with money nor he who loves wealth with his income

It's not that money or riches are bad But that you should get rid of your money if you're really spiritual like some medieval monks thought wealth is not the problem

Here it is. He who loves money He who loves wealth

Our desires are the problem. It's what we love The love of money is a treadmill on which you run and run and you never get anywhere

It's a trap That never lets you get enough and so at the end of verse 10

It is It's vanity It's that vapor again That that mist is there and then just dissipates

It tantalizes you with all the things you can get with it The nice house and the luxury cars the watches the purses the vacations the gadgets the subscriptions but in verse 11 when goods increase

You got a lot of stuff They increase who eat them That is money is a magnet for false friends

If you get rich You'll have a lot of hangers on And you won't know they're just hangers on Until you lose your money and then they disappear

So what advantage there's the question what advantage Has their owner the owner of all this stuff the rich owner?

There's all that he needs what is what's his advantage over other people but to see Them with his eyes he gets to look at all this stuff.

But what's what's the use of that? A rich young hedonist said, you know, you buy a luxury car

Like an ashton martin or a bugatti or a lamborghini you buy it to show off That the other guy can't buy it

I'm thinking what's the advantage of that? You get rich so you can eat a lot And then you can't sleep because you're worrying about all your stuff about whether your stocks are crashing

And meanwhile the hard -working roofer Up driving in screws in 90 degree heat all day

Well, he sleeps sweetly at night So what's the advantage of giving your life?

to be rich That's a good question I have another question

What game do you get for working hard for for wind for vanity for vapor and verse 13

There's a grievous evil use that phrase at least three times in this passage a grievous evil an evil that makes you grieve

You can see it under the sun here on this earth here and now in this world we live in The evil is when riches are kept they're they're hoarded they're saved up by their owner to his hurt

Otherwise, he would have been better off not saving not working hard and saving the money to his heart

He worked hard for it. He saved up And then he lost it in some business venture

Maybe you opened a restaurant or a shop that sells amish goods or a music store

Or invested in rental houses or apartments or in stocks or cryptocurrency or you're like me

You work fast food and warehouses for four summers saving up every cent You could to drive all the way to california and you put it all in a seminary education

And then you lose it all Store goes bankrupt the rental properties don't make enough they're foreclosed on they're closed up stock market crashes

Crypto becomes worthless You can't get a job with your expensive education and then you have to go back To the fast food jobs to pay off the student debt

That's a grievous evil You can't support your family As in verse 14, he is the father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand

What's he what's his gain from everything that he worked so hard for? What's what's the game?

He worked hard. He lost it all Nothing no gain In verse 15 as he came from his mother's womb, he shall go again

Naked as he came and he shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand old

Joke or saying goes Horses never have u -hauls behind them. You don't get to take anything

What's his game again in verse 16, it's a grievous evil an evil that makes you grieve The question what gain is there for him who toils for the wind is zero nothing

He eats in darkness Because he stayed up so late. He's working all day long. And so we only finally gets to eat dinner at night

He gets vexation. That is trouble He has sickness and anger

He's just angry that life didn't turn out Happily like he wanted to the question is why would you live your life for that?

I have another question What are you supposed to do then? Okay Not waste your life on always pushing to make yourself make more money get more more dollars more cash more things not love wealth

Not make empty promises But positively then What are you supposed to do?

That's a big question In verse 18 behold, it was look see pay attention to this see what is good and fitting eat and drink

And find enjoyment in your toil Don't spend your life always hoping

Something else will make you happy i'm doing this for now, but eventually i'm going to get something

They'll make me happy like some people say we're 50 years For save up money and only get 10 years of retirement and then you die how horrible life that is.

Well, yeah Don't live like that. Enjoy what you do now Don't live just to make a little more money a better, you know, hoping to Get a better meal a better house a better city

God has given you work. He says under the sun God's given it to you here and now

And he's given you only a few days to live They will seem very few When you come to the end

You will look back. You can live to 90 years old and you will look back and think that life flew by That's your lot

That's the straw you drew So enjoy Don't wait till retirement or when you can have this or that or some

Accomplishment or graduate or married or whatever? Find enjoyment now You might as well notice.

He says find Enjoyment because it's better than losing enjoyment, isn't it? Well, that's so obvious.

Yeah Some of them have missed the obvious things better find it than lose it now that you have to find enjoyment

Implies that sometimes it will take some looking It's not just laying there out in the open.

There's enjoyments obvious. No, sometimes enjoyment is hiding But find it

It's there somewhere And if in verse 19 god has given you wealth and possessions now, hopefully you don't love wealth and possessions

Hoping you to spend your whole life on the on the hamster wheel of chasing all that stuff But you've been given it anyway and then

You get the power to enjoy it. Notice it takes a power to enjoy wealth and possession

We think it's just automatic. Well, sure i'll enjoy if I get that house if I get that car if I get these vacations I'll enjoy it for sure if you can't enjoy what you have now

You're not going to enjoy it when you're wealthy and powerful or what if you have everything you think you want you won't You have the power now to enjoy

Get the power to enjoy Your wealth and your things now now money cannot buy a lot of things it can't even buy the ability to enjoy money

Money can buy a bed but not sleep books But not brains a meal but not a feast employees

But not friends a house But not a home health care

But not health locks But not peace luxury But not love amusements

But not joy a church building But not a church a crucifix

But not a savior to accept your lot Whether you're rich Or not so rich For it is the gift of god

You glorify the giver when his good gifts Give you joy That's one reason we say thanks before a meal to god to remind ourself enjoy this meal

Enjoy it. God has given it to you. Don't think of it as like putting fuel in a car Just something you got to do to keep going.

No enjoy god's gifts You glorify the giver when his good gifts give you joy

If you have the ability to find enjoyment then in verse 20 when you come to the end When you reach that old age and you're near the end you're looking back on this life that's flown by You won't so much remember all the toil and the disappointments and the people who made commitments to you and reneged the bad ventures

The losses the frustrations the whatever it is about your own work. Do you wish you would go away?

the unanswered questions You won't remember all that If you have the power to enjoy you'll forget all that because god will have kept you occupied with joy in your heart

The evil that is the flip side starting in chapter 6 verse 1 here under the sun the evil that lies heavy on us

If we if we lack the ability to find enjoyment It like it's an evil lying heavy.

It's oppressing us. It's pushing us down the inability to find enjoyment

We can't make a house a home or a meal a feast When we go to the beach, the only thing we do is get annoyed by the sand or the sunburn

When the glass is always half empty And every time you eat or you drink something you think

I've had so much better before this other place makes so much better It's always something better always something to criticize when you look at flowers, but all you can see is the weeds

There are some people in verse 2 to whom god gives Wealth possessions and honor so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires

Yet god does not give him power to enjoy them notice by the way

Did you notice the sovereignty of god and all that god gives? the wealth and the honor and the possessions the things the car and the furs and What everything you want?

And god gives the power to enjoy that or maybe he doesn't God gives the wealth And the power to enjoy to some people he gives the wealth but not

The ability to enjoy and we can continue this for some people god does not give wealth but gives them the power to enjoy what little they have

So eventually someone else for those who have everything the rich Who have all they want all the money?

But not the power to enjoy if god gives it to someone else Maybe strangers maybe estranged children

Inheritors And they end up enjoying it That's vanity It's it's vapor

It's a grievous evil Now the example of verse 3 is a man who fathers a hundred children lives a long life

But his soul is not satisfied with life's good things What's the use of that?

Having the things but not enjoying them. No one comes to his funeral not even his hundred children because no one cares

He dies unnoticed unlamented and unfulfilled He'd have been better off.

He says here being stillborn And we grieve for the stillborn because we grieve for ourselves that we lack them but the stillborn never saw a world full of Exertion striving for things empty exertion that ends up at nothing

Not like this man Lived so long had all he want worked hard But ends up with nothing because it

You know the stillborn would have had to work so hard for nothing for vapor

Which is what this man got The stillborn at least don't see all this striving just chasing

It's after nothing They don't waste their life The wealthy the long -lived the successful man with a big family, but no enjoyment and no one who cares he ends in darkness

And like the stillborn his name is forgotten Even if you could live 2 000 years

If you didn't enjoy the good things you've been given It's a vapor life You still got nothing from living

Then he says do not all go to the same place they all go to the grave

Don't they he asked That's a question question We all know the answer to that question

Have a bunch more questions a lot of questions I don't know if you're going to answer them though in verse 7 all the toil of a man is for his mouth

Yet his appetite is not satisfied. It's an endless cycle of getting up early Going to work so we can get the money so I can eat so I can get up early and work and eat all over Again, our appetite is never fulfilled

Always driving us but never getting to any destination. What's the use of that?

Answer me that we're here to get wise To learn god's word to grow.

I hope that's why you're here verse 8. What advantage is the wise? Let's say you get wise what advantage is the wise over the fool

We'll end up dying just like the foolish person go to that same place that same grave We're up just like the foolish person who slept late on sunday mornings and didn't care about learning and growing

So what advantage do we have? I think we have an answer to that question actually

Still in this life under the sun. Why is it better to know how to conduct yourself? To know how to be moral to be handle your money

Right to make the most of it to be appropriate to be well mannered to be wise to be well thought of What's the advantage of all that if you're poor?

I mean if your morality and your decency does not result in more money in a better house

What does it get you? If it made you rich now, we can see that we can understand that If what you're bought if what you're doing here listening to god's word seeking wisdom does not result in you having more money in the bank

If you're not richer After this sermon, then what good is it? Have we wasted your time?

We're not giving you a more comfortable life under here under the sun So why are we doing this? That's the question people living

Only for what's under the sun They ask and so churches try to package the word of god to promise you benefits under the sun

They're trying to win people with advantages Here under the sun

But what you win them with is what you win them to So people assume if they've been one to the advantages

And then they say maybe there are no advantages here Under the sun, maybe i'm not getting richer for this.

Maybe I won't be better off in my bank account I won't have a more comfortable Retirement because I came to church on sunday morning and so they'll think well, what good is it?

What good is it? That's the question How good is it Let's better be satisfied with what you can see now

What you have in verse 9 We might say well i'm striving to be some something new

Be a new person a new man or a woman to bring a new order of the ages. Maybe seek the new age

Give my family a new start We're starting new in america. We're starting new here

But it's all already been done. There's nothing new under the sun as he said earlier Here he says in verse 10.

It's all already been done We might change the names and we might think we've invented something new

Like someone invented transgender to replace transvestite, but it's the same thing. God has already named everything before he's created and predestined it

We know what man is Or sinners depraved slaves of sin dead in sin.

God is the one stronger than us that we can't dispute with You ask job about that Oh, we can write academic articles and books and give lectures and talk and talk and talk

But it's all empty the more words the more Again, there's a vapor

The mist is there for a second and is gone What is the advantage of to man?

That's the question at the end of verse 11 What's the advantage? Do you know the answer?

Yeah Do you know what is good for you that's a good question in that last verse

What is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow.

How do you like that? We've been given some answers already well find enjoyment don't get stuck on the treadmill of loving money

Don't make promises you can't keep and then we're given a hint Don't look

At what's under the sun But what's good for us During these few days of our vain life, which we live like a shadow

What we want to know Is how to make our life? Not a vapor

Not for nothing So that we lived it and made no more impact Than a shadow makes

That's the question One final question Who can tell us what will be after us

Under the sun You know, we've worked hard. We've saved up this money. We've lived right.

We've been proper. We've been moral We're leaving this legacy

That we hope will change the world Who can tell us whether everything we work for will be for nothing?

All the days the months the years of work the savings to make make for a better future for our family or for others

And then what if they waste it all? They take our inheritance They squander it.

They live like fools. They forget about us What if under the sun? That's what we come to What if?

As we now know the universe dissolves According to the laws of thermodynamics it comes to nothing eventual heat death

So that even the atoms can't stay together any longer There's no there's not enough power binding protons and neutrons electrons together so every exertion we make every pain that we suffered every pleasure we deprived ourselves of For something we thought was better Saved up for something better here under the sun.

It all comes to nothing That's not a question That's a fact

Fact The only solution Is that we don't live

For what's under the sun That we accept sure that we're going to die like the fool we're going to the same grave

But we have an advantage That's over the sun with god

We can find pleasure now Even though we know everything is falling apart Because we did not put our our love did not put our treasure

All in what's under the sun Well, we put it in heaven over the sun

Where christ sits? at the right hand of god If you believe in him now

You'll still have questions But you know He has the answers

Because he is the truth So Do you believe in him?