WEBVTT 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:02.640 We're in a in the Ecclesiastes chapter seven. 00:00:02.780 --> 00:00:04.780 If you brought a Bible with you this morning, go ahead and turn there. 00:00:05.300 --> 00:00:08.850 And if you want to use one here at the church, feel free to grab one on the seat in front of you. 00:00:09.180 --> 00:00:13.770 A quick way to find Ecclesiastes, if you've never found that book before, is to flip right to the middle of your Bible. 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:15.250 It's going to end up in the Book of Psalms. 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:17.210 Or at least it should be fairly close to Psalms. 00:00:17.620 --> 00:00:21.800 Ecclesiastes is two books past the book of Psalms, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. 00:00:22.400 --> 00:00:28.300 So the theme to the book of Ecclesiastes, we are a few, over halfway into this book, a few messages into this series together. 00:00:28.680 --> 00:00:34.260 And the theme of this book is life under the sun and apart from God is vanity. 00:00:35.380 --> 00:00:41.480 And the big solution to Solomon's conclusion in Ecclesiastes he he's written this book much like a journal. 00:00:41.500 --> 00:00:46.020 We've described it as a Solomon, as being a glass half empty kind of guy. 00:00:46.820 --> 00:00:54.000 And he gets to chapter 12, and he reminds us that in all the things he sought after, he lived life like a rock star being king, the world coming 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:59.090 to him, seeking all the direction that he had and all the wisdom that he possessed. 00:00:59.480 --> 00:01:02.030 And the Bible tells us that that's good timing. 00:01:02.060 --> 00:01:06.180 And the Bible tells us that everyone wanted to see Solomon. 00:01:06.180 --> 00:01:11.480 I mean, he lived at the heights of life and his conclusion in this book. 00:01:12.920 --> 00:01:15.360 And that all apart from God is vanity. 00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:23.840 And the solution to life, to living it to the fullest, is to seek after the Lord in order to live 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:30.580 a life in a godly way, seeking after the Lord what it requires of us as people who walk in wisdom. 00:01:32.360 --> 00:01:32.800 In chapter seven. 00:01:33.080 --> 00:01:33.550 In the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:37.730 That's exactly what Solomon hits on in his topic. 00:01:38.900 --> 00:01:39.700 The idea of wisdom. 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:41.610 How do we gather it? 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:44.160 Where does it come from, and how does the Lord use it in our lives? 00:01:46.060 --> 00:01:47.420 You know, the hope. 00:01:47.460 --> 00:01:51.510 And in the book of Ecclesiastes is the book is a proverb. 00:01:51.660 --> 00:01:54.580 It's all about Proverbs, and Proverbs are all about wisdom. 00:01:54.600 --> 00:01:57.380 And you think about what the alternative is to wisdom. 00:01:58.740 --> 00:02:00.080 The Bible uses the word foolishness. 00:02:01.460 --> 00:02:02.620 Today we kind of just say it's stupid. 00:02:04.260 --> 00:02:10.560 If you choose not to be wise, the path that you're choosing for your life is ignorance and stupidity. 00:02:12.100 --> 00:02:13.320 You know, everyone watches. 00:02:13.320 --> 00:02:16.620 I don't know if everyone watches, but people watch Homer Simpson on TV. 00:02:17.100 --> 00:02:18.820 But they're not laughing with him. 00:02:18.820 --> 00:02:20.120 They're laughing at him. 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:20.300 Right? 00:02:20.700 --> 00:02:21.970 No one wants to be a Homer Simpson. 00:02:24.910 --> 00:02:26.580 And the avoidance of that is wisdom. 00:02:29.200 --> 00:02:31.750 And our desire in our heart should be one of wisdom. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:33.580 And you'll see. 00:02:33.580 --> 00:02:40.580 As you read in chapter seven, Solomon constantly refers to a better life in chapter seven and in the back end of referring 00:02:40.580 --> 00:02:46.160 to this better life, he says that better life is brought to us through a life that's lived in wisdom. 00:02:48.220 --> 00:02:55.320 And I got to say, one of the things that pains me as a father raising a young child, thinking about his schooling and education, the responsibility that 00:02:55.320 --> 00:03:02.340 God places on my shoulders as a parent, to see him growing in the Lord and growing in understanding in this world and 00:03:02.380 --> 00:03:08.160 how to live, is that I feel like our society has established and set up to really fail in educating our children in wisdom. 00:03:10.140 --> 00:03:12.160 We're really good at head knowledge. 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:13.850 Make you smart. 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:14.500 We're really. 00:03:14.900 --> 00:03:15.700 We're really good at athletics. 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:20.850 But we've divorced ourselves from the idea of living in wisdom. 00:03:22.340 --> 00:03:29.240 And the reason for that is because we've divorced ourselves from the idea of God and God being the source of wisdom. 00:03:29.240 --> 00:03:36.660 When you separate yourself from God and your identity in him, you separate yourself from the source of all wisdom, and 00:03:36.660 --> 00:03:38.160 with wisdom comes character. 00:03:39.660 --> 00:03:46.680 So I wonder when you see these young people grow up, especially in athletic and public world, where we all have our eyes on them, how they continue 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:50.600 to mess up in society and they flounder and they fault. 00:03:50.600 --> 00:03:57.680 It's because we teach them knowledge and we teach them athletics and how to take care of their body, but we lack the ability to teach them wisdom. 00:04:00.140 --> 00:04:04.560 And Solomon says, for us to live a better life, it's a life of wisdom. 00:04:06.060 --> 00:04:08.060 Martin Luther King Jr wrote this. 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:11.800 Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. 00:04:12.940 --> 00:04:17.630 There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half baked solutions. 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:21.959 Nothing pains some people more than having to think. 00:04:24.060 --> 00:04:30.420 And so this pursuit of us this morning as a group should be one that desires the wisdom of the Lord. 00:04:31.880 --> 00:04:38.900 As a matter of fact, if you turn to chapter seven, in the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon hits on the idea of the significance of wisdom in verse 12 00:04:38.900 --> 00:04:43.220 and verse 19 he says, for wisdom is protection, just as money is protection. 00:04:43.740 --> 00:04:48.160 But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its possessors. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:53.400 It's interesting when you when you study the history of people who win the lottery. 00:04:54.100 --> 00:04:58.420 I heard Idaho had a lot of money to give to people, like $400 million, right? 00:04:59.160 --> 00:05:01.880 It was almost worth arriving there for me to win that $400 million. 00:05:02.260 --> 00:05:07.520 But it tells us in this verse that if you've got no wisdom and you've got lots of money, it's not going to matter. 00:05:07.540 --> 00:05:08.570 You're going to blow it anyway. 00:05:08.780 --> 00:05:10.690 The wisdom is what's important. 00:05:10.700 --> 00:05:12.240 The wisdom is what educates you in life. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:16.200 It's what equips you for living in this world, regardless of how much wealth you have. 00:05:16.440 --> 00:05:20.900 When it comes to wealth, when it comes to wisdom, wisdom is more important than wealth. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:25.860 He says in verse 19, wisdom strengthens a wise man. 00:05:25.860 --> 00:05:29.080 More than ten rulers who are in a city. 00:05:30.180 --> 00:05:31.380 Wisdom is important. 00:05:32.960 --> 00:05:36.860 I love the way Jesus Taught Us comes in Mark chapter 12. 00:05:36.860 --> 00:05:38.320 And he doesn't even bring up the word wisdom. 00:05:38.660 --> 00:05:44.600 But he says in chapter 12, beginning in verse 14, teacher, some people coming to Jesus to question him. 00:05:44.960 --> 00:05:49.700 We know that you are truthful and defer to no one, for you are not partial to any. 00:05:49.760 --> 00:05:51.340 But teach the way of God in truth. 00:05:51.840 --> 00:05:54.720 Is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar or not? 00:05:56.200 --> 00:06:00.340 Now I would wish Jesus said no here, right for no right. 00:06:00.580 --> 00:06:03.920 Irs did some bad stuff this past week, and so we just we're not touching them ever again. 00:06:04.460 --> 00:06:07.380 So verse 15, should we pay or shouldn't we? 00:06:08.260 --> 00:06:09.440 But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. 00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:12.100 Why are you trying to trap me? 00:06:12.580 --> 00:06:12.740 He asked. 00:06:13.780 --> 00:06:16.080 Bring me a denarius and let me look at it. 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:16.980 And they brought one. 00:06:18.020 --> 00:06:20.280 And he said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this? 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:22.440 And they said to him, Caesar's. 00:06:23.460 --> 00:06:29.000 And Jesus said to them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. 00:06:30.220 --> 00:06:31.090 Excuse me, that God possesses. 00:06:31.460 --> 00:06:33.200 And they were amazed at him. 00:06:35.460 --> 00:06:41.950 At first glance, we read this passage of Scripture, and oftentimes you've probably heard it in a financial discussion at church at some point in your life. 00:06:42.960 --> 00:06:45.380 And I think this passage can be used to talk about money. 00:06:45.380 --> 00:06:49.290 It's the example Jesus has, but I don't think that's the primary thing Jesus is trying to teach us here. 00:06:50.320 --> 00:06:56.260 When Jesus refers to this passage of Scripture, the thing that Jesus points out to the individuals asking the question is what? 00:06:57.900 --> 00:06:58.200 It's the imprint. 00:06:59.760 --> 00:07:01.260 Whose image is on this coin? 00:07:02.540 --> 00:07:03.660 Whose ever image is on this coin? 00:07:04.020 --> 00:07:05.480 Then let that coin belong to them. 00:07:06.440 --> 00:07:13.880 And what Jesus is signifying to the individuals who gathered there is for them to take a moment and just recognize whose 00:07:13.880 --> 00:07:14.940 imprint is on your life. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:18.150 Whose image do you bear? 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:21.980 So the image that you bear is the one to which you belong. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:25.880 And if God's imprint is all over you. 00:07:26.900 --> 00:07:27.830 He belonged to him. 00:07:29.460 --> 00:07:31.030 Render to Caesar what is Caesar's. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:31.840 It doesn't matter. 00:07:32.860 --> 00:07:34.650 Give to God what belongs to him. 00:07:36.440 --> 00:07:39.120 And in order for us to walk that way in this world. 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:42.900 And especially in our society today. 00:07:44.300 --> 00:07:45.610 It requires wisdom. 00:07:47.200 --> 00:07:48.100 God teach us. 00:07:49.720 --> 00:07:56.600 The Bible tells us in Psalm 90 and verse 12, teach us to number our days, that we may apply our heart to wisdom. 00:07:58.700 --> 00:08:05.800 God allow us just to see that this life is short and let us live it to the fullest in wisdom, living as an 00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:07.920 imprint for you in this world. 00:08:10.540 --> 00:08:11.060 In this passage. 00:08:11.440 --> 00:08:18.560 In Ecclesiastes chapter seven, Solomon outlines for us just three ingredients for life in gaining 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:21.260 wisdom in God. 00:08:21.420 --> 00:08:26.320 And I got to tell you, when I became a young man, I wanted to stand for something. 00:08:26.700 --> 00:08:27.110 You got to believe this. 00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:28.340 You can laugh about this with me. 00:08:28.380 --> 00:08:35.460 But as a young kid, not having a lot of role models in my life and a lot, a lot of things that I felt like I could really stand for, the first thing as 00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:41.470 a young man that attracted me because I had no good example or godly influence was rap music. 00:08:42.860 --> 00:08:43.880 That's. 00:08:44.059 --> 00:08:45.020 That's weird, isn't it? 00:08:45.040 --> 00:08:45.740 I mean, look at me. 00:08:45.760 --> 00:08:46.700 I can't even dance. 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:48.740 Rap music. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:50.600 And. 00:08:50.640 --> 00:08:54.050 But the thing that struck me about rap music is that it was it was hard. 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:57.540 And as a young man looking for something to get in, it stood for something. 00:08:57.540 --> 00:09:00.100 It wasn't necessarily godly, but it stood for something. 00:09:00.100 --> 00:09:00.620 Even today. 00:09:00.900 --> 00:09:01.820 You tell me a Tupac song. 00:09:01.920 --> 00:09:03.080 I can quote you the lyrics, right? 00:09:03.500 --> 00:09:04.440 I mean, it stuck with me. 00:09:04.440 --> 00:09:05.720 I don't want it, but it's with me. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:08.120 I want it to stand for something. 00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:15.020 But I found as I as I followed in that steps, and I listened to that garbage and filled my mind with it. 00:09:15.020 --> 00:09:16.480 And I'm not saying all rap music has to be bad. 00:09:16.540 --> 00:09:20.230 I think there's some godly rappers out there that do a good job in teaching some really good theology. 00:09:21.560 --> 00:09:25.490 But as I I followed in those steps, I realized that it's still it didn't satisfy. 00:09:27.280 --> 00:09:28.760 And eventually I came to know the Lord. 00:09:29.900 --> 00:09:32.070 And the first church that I went to wasn't this church. 00:09:32.780 --> 00:09:36.380 I walked in and I, and I, and I said, or our church. 00:09:36.920 --> 00:09:44.120 I walked in and I said, I just want to know this, Lord, that I, I've come to put my salvation in and my trust in and my hope. 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:45.300 And I want to know him. 00:09:45.300 --> 00:09:46.980 I, I want to stand for what he stands for. 00:09:46.980 --> 00:09:53.030 You know, when I, when I first went into that facility and came across individuals, no one, no one could help me. 00:09:54.540 --> 00:09:56.940 No one there really knew what it meant to be a disciple in the Lord. 00:09:58.900 --> 00:10:00.320 No one could teach me. 00:10:01.640 --> 00:10:08.900 Eventually I found a church where another young man, a few years older than me, said he would teach me, and he sat me in a building on 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:10.660 Sunday morning with the rest of the church. 00:10:10.680 --> 00:10:14.560 But we had this entire gymnasium, and we had a little table and it sat in the middle. 00:10:14.560 --> 00:10:19.220 It was just he and I discipling in the Lord someone who's hungry to learn. 00:10:19.280 --> 00:10:20.940 Let's pour into them wisdom. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:23.880 And I began to learn all about the Lord. 00:10:23.900 --> 00:10:29.740 And as I grew in my faith, I came across an individual that just struck me as encouraging in the Lord. 00:10:29.740 --> 00:10:36.740 I wanted to see the type of life that he lived and learn a little bit from him, because I hadn't had very many godly examples to look after in my 00:10:36.740 --> 00:10:37.180 own life. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:39.600 And it was a man by the name of Jonathan Edwards. 00:10:43.700 --> 00:10:45.100 And Jonathan Edwards was born in the early 1700s. 00:10:45.220 --> 00:10:48.980 He's considered by many to be the greatest theologian in American history. 00:10:49.900 --> 00:10:51.940 So if that's a new name for you, go read a little bit about it. 00:10:53.340 --> 00:11:00.460 And Jonathan Edwards, as he grew up and being the greatest theologian, he was considered one of the wisest men in pursuing of 00:11:00.460 --> 00:11:02.120 the Lord in American history as well. 00:11:03.420 --> 00:11:07.030 At 12 years old, he entered into Yale University. 00:11:08.800 --> 00:11:13.540 At 16 years old, he graduated valedictorian of his class. 00:11:13.920 --> 00:11:16.800 He eventually went on to become the president of Princeton University. 00:11:18.140 --> 00:11:25.400 Not only that, he also pastored several churches he led and some of the great revivals in American history the First and Second Great 00:11:25.400 --> 00:11:26.020 Awakening. 00:11:26.020 --> 00:11:31.400 He preached one of the greatest sermons in American history that's remembered the sinners in the hands of an angry God. 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:37.800 He was a missionary to Native Americans, and at 19 years old, you guys jokingly sometimes call me kid pastor. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:38.530 But listen to this. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:42.660 At 19 years old, he pastored a church in New York City. 00:11:44.540 --> 00:11:51.360 And at 19 years old he determined, as he began his pastorate in 1722 to write some resolutions. 00:11:52.920 --> 00:11:55.690 Resolutions of wisdom that he would stand for his entire life. 00:11:56.920 --> 00:11:58.760 Resolutions that I found at the same age. 00:11:59.900 --> 00:12:05.320 Looking at a young man who, at 19 years old, has more wisdom than many 50 year olds. 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:07.680 How did he get so wise? 00:12:09.460 --> 00:12:11.720 One of his resolutions, resolution 52. 00:12:11.800 --> 00:12:18.520 He said this I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live if they were to live their lives over again. 00:12:19.860 --> 00:12:25.820 Resolved, that I will live just so that I can think I shall wish I had done. 00:12:27.040 --> 00:12:29.500 Supposing I lived to old age, he said, wise. 00:12:29.580 --> 00:12:30.410 I can't even understand him. 00:12:33.380 --> 00:12:35.740 But what he's saying is, I've got one life. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:38.210 It's not a do over, and I'm going to make it count. 00:12:39.240 --> 00:12:41.440 And these resolutions, I'm writing for that purpose. 00:12:41.540 --> 00:12:48.560 But the one resolution of Jonathan Edwards that just always struck me as odd, the one thought of him, I thought if I ever met him, I'm thinking I'm going to 00:12:48.560 --> 00:12:49.390 think he's a little weird. 00:12:50.180 --> 00:12:51.060 His resolution number nine. 00:12:52.560 --> 00:12:52.880 He said this. 00:12:54.260 --> 00:12:58.220 I'm resolved to think much on all occasions of my own dying. 00:12:59.980 --> 00:13:04.420 You know, the common circumstances which attend death. 00:13:04.760 --> 00:13:07.000 What a weirdo, right? 00:13:07.040 --> 00:13:07.440 Who? 00:13:07.620 --> 00:13:09.220 We live life to be happy. 00:13:09.560 --> 00:13:10.460 What's done this moment? 00:13:10.460 --> 00:13:11.020 Let's be happy. 00:13:11.020 --> 00:13:11.200 Okay? 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:12.300 Let's look for the next moment. 00:13:12.420 --> 00:13:13.160 Let's just be happy. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:14.740 That looks painful. 00:13:14.860 --> 00:13:15.780 Let's just avoid it. 00:13:16.140 --> 00:13:17.160 I'll pay to avoid it. 00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:18.270 Let's just be happy. 00:13:18.440 --> 00:13:18.620 Right? 00:13:18.920 --> 00:13:22.160 And here's Jonathan Edwards talking about thinking about death. 00:13:23.900 --> 00:13:25.540 I mean, where is the wisdom in that? 00:13:27.500 --> 00:13:28.690 And then when you turn to the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:13:30.920 --> 00:13:31.300 In chapter seven. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:38.660 You find that Jonathan Edwards found this line of thinking from the wisest man to ever live, which was Solomon. 00:13:39.900 --> 00:13:46.940 And so it says to us in chapter seven and verse one, A good name is better than a good ointment, and the day of one's death. 00:13:48.140 --> 00:13:50.340 Is better than the day of one's birth. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:58.380 It's better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart. 00:13:58.540 --> 00:14:00.060 Sorrow is better than laughter. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:02.630 For when a face is sad, a heart may be happy. 00:14:02.800 --> 00:14:09.270 The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure. 00:14:12.620 --> 00:14:14.480 Solomon's idea for us. 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:18.810 Is that the opportunity of death allows us to examine our lives. 00:14:19.900 --> 00:14:27.260 It gets us to the place in our thinking that we say to ourselves as we stare at the face of death, what kind of person do I want to be remembered 00:14:27.260 --> 00:14:29.380 as living in this world? 00:14:30.560 --> 00:14:34.680 It's been said in life that we get three names the name your mother gave you. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:38.940 The name your friends call you, and the name that you earn through the way that you live. 00:14:41.100 --> 00:14:42.480 What kind of name are you going to leave behind? 00:14:44.140 --> 00:14:51.200 And Solomon is saying to us, by looking at the face of death, it reminds us to look at what type of individual we want to become, 00:14:51.380 --> 00:14:52.900 and we live backwards from that moment. 00:14:53.560 --> 00:14:55.480 What steps will it take to get there? 00:14:56.020 --> 00:14:57.900 And I'm not saying, daddy, when I grow up, I want to be an astronaut. 00:14:59.660 --> 00:15:02.650 What I'm saying is, what type of person of integrity do you want to be? 00:15:03.780 --> 00:15:06.520 In the very first verse, Solomon is actually giving us a play on words. 00:15:06.900 --> 00:15:09.000 He says A good name is better than a good ointment. 00:15:09.740 --> 00:15:13.000 The word for name in the Hebrew is Shem, and the word for ointment is Shimon. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:21.240 And so Solomon is saying to us that the name that you're giving at birth, when it's lived the right way, it's an ointment to life. 00:15:21.460 --> 00:15:23.760 It's a it's a good name to be remembered by. 00:15:23.760 --> 00:15:29.800 And the reason that you're looking at death is that name that you desire to have in this world would become a godly name. 00:15:31.420 --> 00:15:38.900 That in the moments of pain and the moments of loss, that God can literally use such grieving moments to remind us of what's important 00:15:38.900 --> 00:15:39.440 in life. 00:15:41.800 --> 00:15:46.920 When I look at God, I don't expect God to be some individual that likes morbid endings to life either. 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:48.140 I don't think God likes pain. 00:15:48.180 --> 00:15:49.600 I don't think God likes death. 00:15:49.700 --> 00:15:54.340 And the reason I think that is because when God comes back, he's taking away all pain and all death. 00:15:56.160 --> 00:16:01.400 But the beauty of the Lord is that the Lord can take the suffering of our lives and use it for his goodness. 00:16:02.860 --> 00:16:04.560 And the example that we always look to is the cross. 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:13.440 The Lord can take the cross, the most grievous of deaths, and make it the most prominent symbol in our society of victory for 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:14.380 his people. 00:16:15.980 --> 00:16:17.700 When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. 00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:21.620 The suffering that they endured, God proclaimed it. 00:16:22.820 --> 00:16:29.520 The ground would bear thorns and the women would suffer in childbearing, and the marriage relationship would have tension. 00:16:30.820 --> 00:16:35.360 And the reminder to us in the midst of that suffering is our need for God. 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:40.620 God uses suffering for his glory. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:48.920 In the midst of the trials that we're facing in life, it is an opportunity for us to examine what we're encountering and seek the 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:51.320 face of the Lord, that we may grow in wisdom. 00:16:52.780 --> 00:16:56.140 I don't think God loves pain, but the Lord can certainly use it. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:16:58.700 Solomon goes on from there. 00:16:58.700 --> 00:17:03.300 The first ingredient that God uses is his death and suffering and pain in our lives. 00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:05.560 And he says, Ecclesiastes seven five. 00:17:05.560 --> 00:17:12.020 It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man than for one to listen to the song of fools. 00:17:13.260 --> 00:17:15.460 For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot. 00:17:16.300 --> 00:17:17.520 So as the laughter of the fool. 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:20.380 And this too, his futility. 00:17:22.940 --> 00:17:24.819 Solomon saying this to us. 00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:29.060 What you allow to speak into your life shapes your life. 00:17:30.700 --> 00:17:32.770 Show me who your friends are and I'll show you who you are. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:41.480 If the environment that you surround yourself with is on a one track success to nothing, The Life that you'll lead is a one 00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:43.140 track success to nothing. 00:17:44.980 --> 00:17:48.440 The people that you surround yourself with become your identity. 00:17:49.600 --> 00:17:56.760 And Solomon is saying to us in this passage of Scripture that if you desire to seek the things of the Lord, get with people who desire to 00:17:56.800 --> 00:17:57.860 seek the things of the Lord. 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:02.380 Better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man than a bunch of fools telling you what you want to hear. 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:04.920 When I first became a believer. 00:18:06.520 --> 00:18:08.680 I read this passage early on as a as a Christian. 00:18:09.760 --> 00:18:10.680 And so this is what I decided. 00:18:11.940 --> 00:18:19.040 I found one friend that I trusted, and then one friend that I knew who desired nothing more than to see God's goodness in his 00:18:19.100 --> 00:18:19.990 life and in mine. 00:18:20.540 --> 00:18:20.980 This is what I said. 00:18:22.260 --> 00:18:23.150 We all have blind spots. 00:18:24.340 --> 00:18:29.660 I live my life in such a way that I can't even see sometimes the places where I'm lacking in my growth in the Lord. 00:18:30.840 --> 00:18:31.580 But other people can. 00:18:33.020 --> 00:18:40.140 And so I went into his office one day and I said, listen, I desire to see Jesus, and I want him to be made known in 00:18:40.140 --> 00:18:40.640 my life. 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:41.650 And I want to walk in wisdom. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:49.610 So as my friend, I'm giving you the freedom to speak into my life at any moment, no matter how painful it may be. 00:18:50.460 --> 00:18:53.200 I want to know where I'm lacking because I want to know the Lord. 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:56.960 I encouragement to you this morning. 00:18:57.380 --> 00:18:58.830 Don't tell everybody to do that. 00:19:02.020 --> 00:19:03.360 But look for that person who can. 00:19:05.080 --> 00:19:11.900 Look for that person who's going to care enough about you to say things to you, even when it's hard because they love you. 00:19:13.640 --> 00:19:15.270 Allow them to speak into your life. 00:19:16.140 --> 00:19:21.760 You know, there's probably some friends in your life that do want to say things, but they're afraid because of the reaction you might give. 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:24.640 You need to give them an opportunity to say. 00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:27.800 I'm going to give you as a friend that freedom. 00:19:29.100 --> 00:19:29.540 Please share. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:31.620 And when they share. 00:19:32.600 --> 00:19:33.300 Take it in grace. 00:19:35.080 --> 00:19:36.280 It may not always be true. 00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:40.560 But it's a good opportunity from that wound to examine your own life in the Lord. 00:19:42.300 --> 00:19:44.160 The way that God gives us wisdom in this world. 00:19:45.300 --> 00:19:46.560 As in our suffering and pain. 00:19:47.820 --> 00:19:49.680 And friends that love us enough to say something. 00:19:51.580 --> 00:19:53.300 Solomon goes on for us as well. 00:19:54.740 --> 00:19:56.180 He says an ingredient number three. 00:19:58.220 --> 00:20:00.620 In verse seven to be consistent. 00:20:01.460 --> 00:20:07.400 Now I put in your notes, consistent in blank, because Solomon just lists these different areas of our life where we need to be consistent. 00:20:08.360 --> 00:20:13.940 So you just fill in the blank with whatever consistency that you like from these verses, but just be consistent in these areas. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:19.420 And he says in verse seven, for oppression makes a wise man mad, and a bribe corrupts the heart. 00:20:20.380 --> 00:20:23.320 And what he's saying to us is bribery is going to come into your life. 00:20:23.340 --> 00:20:25.320 And what it's going to do is to tempt you from being wise. 00:20:26.140 --> 00:20:28.360 And so the idea is knowing that the world is going to bring that. 00:20:28.740 --> 00:20:32.600 Equip yourself in wisdom, be consistent in your wisdom. 00:20:32.670 --> 00:20:33.900 Don't fallout from that. 00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:39.960 And so he says in verse eight, the end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience of spirit is better than haughtiness, of spirit. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:42.040 And so he's saying, the end is better than the beginning. 00:20:42.700 --> 00:20:45.150 Listen, if you're consistent, you don't fall victim to the bribery. 00:20:45.340 --> 00:20:47.430 You don't fall victim to the oppression. 00:20:47.780 --> 00:20:54.180 If you're faithful in that and you're faithful in the Lord, in the end, you learn far greater things than just simply taking a bribe. 00:20:54.420 --> 00:20:56.240 A bribe is just a shortcut to nowhere. 00:20:57.300 --> 00:20:59.970 Be consistent in wisdom. 00:21:00.940 --> 00:21:07.100 He goes on in the second half of verse eight and he says, this patience of spirit is better than haughtiness, of spirit. 00:21:07.580 --> 00:21:10.500 Listen, if you're the type of person that flies off the cuff at any drop of the hat. 00:21:11.580 --> 00:21:13.760 You're full, or at least in that moment. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:14.100 Foolish. 00:21:15.780 --> 00:21:17.380 Seeing the patience of that moment. 00:21:18.320 --> 00:21:19.360 God teaches you wisdom. 00:21:20.620 --> 00:21:22.900 You should also thank the Lord for the person who's teaching you patience. 00:21:24.460 --> 00:21:28.160 Because you're beginning to learn the same patience that God has had upon you. 00:21:29.940 --> 00:21:37.020 And that patience and learning and rather than flying off the cuff, but just saying, God, I'm being tempted in this moment to just react in 00:21:37.020 --> 00:21:37.820 my emotions. 00:21:37.860 --> 00:21:39.890 But, Lord, I know that you're going to teach me in this moment. 00:21:40.040 --> 00:21:41.800 Help me to exercise patience. 00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:44.140 Be consistent in patience. 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:46.560 The Lord uses that for your wisdom. 00:21:47.860 --> 00:21:55.300 He goes on and says, verse nine, do not be eager in your heart to be angry, for anger resides in the bosom of fools, 00:21:56.280 --> 00:21:57.740 meaning the anger gained no wisdom. 00:21:59.180 --> 00:22:04.760 In verse ten, do not say, why is it that the former days were better than these? 00:22:05.700 --> 00:22:08.430 For it's not from wisdom that you ask about this. 00:22:10.320 --> 00:22:14.410 So there's wisdom in seeking the face of the Lord in the moment rather than the past. 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:19.320 Listen, sometimes we like to romanticize the past better than what it was. 00:22:20.800 --> 00:22:25.670 Everyone likes to say, we need to just get back to the days with Leave It to Beaver, right, and leave it to Beaver. 00:22:25.760 --> 00:22:26.860 It was just a happy life. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:29.540 But if Leave It to Beaver was so great, we'd still be watching it. 00:22:30.860 --> 00:22:36.560 He's saying this passage of Scripture don't live in the past, because when you live in the past, you neglect the future. 00:22:36.560 --> 00:22:39.040 And God wants you to be wise in this moment. 00:22:39.060 --> 00:22:41.440 It does no good being wise in the past. 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:47.100 It helps nobody, but the wisdom that you should seek in the Lord is wisdom for the moment and serving him. 00:22:49.260 --> 00:22:54.970 So don't be one that reflects on the past to the point that you isolate yourself from the moment and the future. 00:22:55.580 --> 00:23:00.000 The good old days may have been great, and it's good to recall, but we're not going back to the good old days. 00:23:01.460 --> 00:23:02.860 We need the Lord to obey. 00:23:04.170 --> 00:23:05.860 And we need his wisdom in these moments. 00:23:09.140 --> 00:23:09.480 Sims. 00:23:09.480 --> 00:23:11.760 Excuse me. 00:23:11.940 --> 00:23:12.640 The Lord takes. 00:23:13.900 --> 00:23:17.020 This wisdom and he uses these ingredients. 00:23:18.620 --> 00:23:19.080 Suffering death. 00:23:21.600 --> 00:23:27.380 To sober us up to not cause us to look for every happy moment just to sit in that suffering. 00:23:28.760 --> 00:23:29.760 And contemplate. 00:23:30.040 --> 00:23:30.970 Ask the big questions. 00:23:31.760 --> 00:23:32.840 Seek the face of the Lord. 00:23:33.080 --> 00:23:34.020 See what we want to become. 00:23:35.760 --> 00:23:42.590 The Lord uses wisdom as we culminate our lives with individuals who are also seeking the face of the Lord. 00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:50.480 To encourage us and strengthen us and build us up and to speak into our lives even when it's painful but out of love, because they desire for 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:52.700 us to know Jesus as they seek to know Jesus. 00:23:55.040 --> 00:23:55.480 And be consistent. 00:23:57.600 --> 00:23:59.600 Be consistent in your commitment to him. 00:24:00.760 --> 00:24:07.840 Rather than Solomon, as he's done throughout this book, to seek satisfaction in anything apart from the Lord, to seek satisfaction and remain true 00:24:07.840 --> 00:24:09.210 to him. 00:24:10.320 --> 00:24:14.760 The Lord uses all of these ingredients in the Bible, tells us what he produces in its wisdom. 00:24:14.860 --> 00:24:18.600 And what's important to remember is that wisdom is never divorced from God. 00:24:19.420 --> 00:24:21.340 God is the source of all wisdom. 00:24:21.340 --> 00:24:24.280 And so he says in verse 13, consider the work of God. 00:24:24.280 --> 00:24:28.180 For who is able to strengthen what he has bent. 00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:35.650 And I say to you this morning to be wise, you don't have to be smart. 00:24:36.740 --> 00:24:38.050 You just need to know when, where to start. 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:39.740 That's my rap coming out there. 00:24:40.460 --> 00:24:41.170 You don't have to be smart. 00:24:41.280 --> 00:24:42.790 You just need to know where to start. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:43.460 You know? 00:24:44.220 --> 00:24:46.640 You don't have to know the answer to everything in this world. 00:24:47.020 --> 00:24:50.540 As a young man coming to know the Lord, I wanted to know all that. 00:24:50.740 --> 00:24:51.800 I didn't have godly examples. 00:24:52.080 --> 00:24:53.870 God, how do I live as a man in integrity? 00:24:54.140 --> 00:24:54.240 How? 00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:55.520 How do I live being married? 00:24:55.560 --> 00:24:56.880 How do how do I live with kids? 00:24:56.920 --> 00:24:57.650 How do I do that? 00:24:58.180 --> 00:24:59.180 God, I need all the answers. 00:25:01.660 --> 00:25:03.330 We have to be wise with everything. 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:05.570 I just need to know where to go. 00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:10.870 And Solomon saying in verse 13, listen, you don't have to be smart. 00:25:10.900 --> 00:25:14.480 I wouldn't brag about myself as being this gross intellectual. 00:25:15.020 --> 00:25:17.620 That would just blow you away with all the science that they know. 00:25:17.640 --> 00:25:19.960 I hate science, so it's not me. 00:25:22.460 --> 00:25:29.540 But to be wise, we have a science teacher here, so forgive me to be wise as 00:25:29.600 --> 00:25:36.620 to seek the Lord and to not divorce yourself from the understanding that he is the source of wisdom, and taking the opportunity to 00:25:36.620 --> 00:25:40.180 allow that wisdom of the Lord to pour into your life. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:44.530 Because knowing that what you spend your time around you will emulate, you will become. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:47.800 He is the imprint that holds your life. 00:25:49.500 --> 00:25:51.960 Verse 23, Solomon gives us the description of his life. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:55.720 Apart from that, he says, I tested all this with wisdom, and I. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:59.240 And I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me. 00:26:00.280 --> 00:26:02.820 What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. 00:26:02.860 --> 00:26:03.700 Who can discover it? 00:26:03.700 --> 00:26:10.360 I directed my mind to know, to investigate, and to seek wisdom and explanation, and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness. 00:26:10.980 --> 00:26:16.940 And I discovered more bitter than death, the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. 00:26:17.700 --> 00:26:23.490 One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her. 00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:25.960 Guys, do not hang that on your fridge, all right? 00:26:27.960 --> 00:26:30.840 Solomon's using the description in this passage of Scripture. 00:26:31.400 --> 00:26:38.760 I don't know that he's necessarily talking about women, but when you read in the book of Proverbs, when men fall in the book of Proverbs, he uses as 00:26:38.760 --> 00:26:44.390 an allegory the description of women that captivate the man's mind and causes heart to wander from the things that God desires. 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:50.280 And Solomon is saying in this that wisdom that he sought apart from God trapped him. 00:26:51.820 --> 00:26:58.860 And he went on to say that apart from God, he also sought more wisdom in verse 27, behold, I have discovered this, says the preacher, adding one 00:26:58.860 --> 00:27:03.260 thing to another to find an explanation which I am still seeking, but have not found. 00:27:03.340 --> 00:27:07.900 I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these. 00:27:09.220 --> 00:27:11.550 Behold, I have found only this, that God made man upright. 00:27:11.940 --> 00:27:13.840 Stop right there! 00:27:13.940 --> 00:27:20.940 Solomon saying in his whole life he sought for wisdom apart from God, and the answer to wisdom is only found in God. 00:27:20.980 --> 00:27:28.010 He says in 29, behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices. 00:27:29.660 --> 00:27:33.990 So if your desires to be wise, the encouragement is to seek the Lord. 00:27:35.960 --> 00:27:38.590 So, Solomon, I'll just leave you this concluding thought that he expresses. 00:27:40.500 --> 00:27:42.550 It says in verse 13, back where we started. 00:27:44.260 --> 00:27:46.840 Consider the work of God. 00:27:46.940 --> 00:27:48.780 Knowing the source of wisdom. 00:27:49.260 --> 00:27:53.350 Consider the work of God, for who is able to straighten what has bent? 00:27:54.620 --> 00:27:55.710 In the days of prosperity. 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:56.540 Be happy. 00:27:57.660 --> 00:28:00.280 But in the days of adversity, consider God. 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:07.760 What God has made the one as well as the other, so that man will not discover anything that will be after him. 00:28:10.740 --> 00:28:16.240 Solomon saying to us, listen, you're going to face good days and enjoy them. 00:28:18.340 --> 00:28:19.400 You're going to face hard days. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:21.600 Seek the Lord in. 00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:24.980 And the important thing to remember in all of it. 00:28:25.280 --> 00:28:26.700 Verse 13. 00:28:27.040 --> 00:28:29.480 Is that the hand of God is the source of wisdom. 00:28:30.860 --> 00:28:37.580 Tells us in Psalm 19 and verse seven, the Lord is sure, and he makes wise the simple. 00:28:39.840 --> 00:28:42.780 You don't have to be smart, quote unquote, to be wise. 00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:46.420 You just have to be smart enough to know where to start. 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:49.040 It begins with the Lord. 00:28:51.160 --> 00:28:52.800 You could walk away from today and say. 00:28:55.340 --> 00:28:58.140 If you truly desire to make an impact in this world. 00:29:00.060 --> 00:29:07.280 If you want to seek the face of the Lord and see others and make Jesus made known in this world, the Bible tells 00:29:07.280 --> 00:29:11.500 us to be harmless as doves and wise as serpents. 00:29:13.120 --> 00:29:16.350 Meaning the world that you're in and the problems that we encounter. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:17.180 They're difficult. 00:29:17.500 --> 00:29:18.220 They're difficult. 00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:25.060 But the way to handle that is with the Lord, because he is wise, he is wise, and he has the answers. 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:26.850 And you don't have to know everything. 00:29:26.900 --> 00:29:28.540 You just need to know him. 00:29:28.540 --> 00:29:31.520 And the desire in your heart should be to seek after his face. 00:29:31.560 --> 00:29:37.560 That when you walk in this world, you walk with wisdom, proclaiming his name, that his glory be made known. 00:29:39.740 --> 00:29:41.420 To make an impact for Christ. 00:29:42.860 --> 00:29:44.530 It requires a wisdom. 00:29:45.140 --> 00:29:47.670 It starts with seeking his face.