Ecclesiastes 8

The main ideas from this information are: - The book of Ecclesiastes helps us to look at life not just with our heads, but also with our hearts. - Life may seem meaningless, but God has made everything beautiful in its time. - When the wicked rule, it is important to live righteously and be wise. - Obedience to the king's commands is crucial, even if the king is wicked. - Avoiding duty or resigning abruptly can have negative consequences. - God's judgment will come to both the righteous and the wicked. Dillard, thank you so much for the study and enthusiasm, and we pray that your hand of blessing would be upon each of us, and your hand in your Holy Spirit would be upon us as well. And thank you for your Word, which is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword divides to the soul and the spirit joints and the marrow, the discerner of the motives and intents of the heart. Pray that you would open our hearts to your Word. Pray that Ecclesiastes chapter 8 would help us in helping us to think about your righteousness versus man's righteousness. And thank you, Dillard, for giving us the ability to think with our hearts. Help us to trust you with all our heart. Help us to lean not on our own understanding, but in all our ways, we pray that we would acknowledge you and you would direct our path. Pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. Thank you. All right, David. No, no introduction or anything? Well, the only introduction is the fact that this book, Ecclesiastes, you know, is probably one of the most challenging books in all the Bible, because it's probably the only philosophical book that we have that helps us to look at life, not just with our heads, but also with our hearts. And so that's why it's so challenging. So we go back to one of the earlier chapters in Ecclesiastes where Solomon is saying life is meaningless and empty, because with all of our sophistication that we have, you know, mentally, we and our sophistication has come against a blank wall. And so that's why life is meaningless. But then Solomon has an answer in chapter three, he says, God has made everything beautiful in its time. He's placed eternity in the hearts of all men. And eternity is, like Pascal says, eternity is like having a God-shaped vacuum and only God can fill it. Now we're starting in the right track. So now chapter eight starts us on the right track of really realizing that life is really not empty. But when we look to God for his righteousness, then all life opens up. So that's great. Thank you, David. Yeah, for helping us. Sure. All right. All right. Let's see what we can do tonight. What really matters? Living righteously. We're going to look at chapter eight. So I think we're going to have a little fun tonight. I really enjoy working through this, and I think it's going to be insightful. So when the wicked rule, what really matters? Living righteously when the wicked rule. You would think that some of us might feel like that we're in that situation right now in our culture, in our nation, right? We feel like perhaps the wicked are ruling, and there might be some truth to that, okay? I'm not going to, I'm not here to debate that tonight. I'm just kind of saying, you know, kind of setting the stage for what I'm about to say. We hadn't seen nothing, okay? We hadn't seen nothing. And so we're going to look at a couple of situations, one in particular tonight, where there's a wicked rule, and there's a guy named Daniel that had to live in the midst of it. And so we're going to see how he lived in the midst of a ruler who was wicked. And so I'm introducing that because we're going to get to that really quick here in just a second, and see what it means to live righteously when the wicked rule. So Solomon starts off by saying, who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man's wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed. Keep the king's command, because of your oath made before God. Do not be in a hurry, leave his presence, and don't persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. For the king's word is authoritative, and who can say to him, what are you doing? The one who keeps the command will not experience anything harmful, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. For every activity, there is a right time and procedure, even though man's troubles are heavy on him. Yet no one knows what will happen, because who can tell him what will happen? No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there is no authority over the day of death. There is no furlough in battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. So living righteously when the wicked rules, our first segment tonight. And if you look at verse one, let's look at it, if you pull out your scripture references, we're going to look at, first of all, I want to look at the New Living translation of that verse. How wonderful to be wise, to analyze and interpret things. Wisdom lights up a person's face, softening its harshness. As Ron has said, as we've introduced, as we've discussed, Ecclesiastes, wisdom is what it's all about. Wisdom is what it's all about. And Solomon wrote Proverbs and all the wisdom literature, a lot of it comes from Solomon. So this is no exception here. Solomon's saying this wisdom that comes from above, and we're going to get to that in a minute, that wisdom is what is wonderful. If you have that kind of wisdom, then you can analyze and interpret things, and that changes your attitude, it changes your outlook, it changes the way you view things, right? If you've got God's wisdom, you can see things from his perspective, and it's going to change the way you look at your circumstance, right? So that's what that verse is saying. So right off the bat, on our answer sheet here, the first fill-in-the-blank is be wise. Be wise. It affects your blank, and I'm going to, we're going to go to Nehemiah in just a second, we're going to look at Nehemiah first. And so Nehemiah was another one who lived under a wicked king, all right? But before we get to Nehemiah, going back up to verse 1, it affects your countenance. It affects your attitude, right? It affects your outlook. Yeah. All right. Other ways, other ways you can find this blank are in Nehemiah 2. So let's look at Nehemiah 2, and let's see how Nehemiah handled a situation that was difficult with a king that was not a righteous king, all right? He wasn't God, he was, he was, he was, he was the king at the moment because God had put him there, and the member in Nehemiah, the children of Israel in exile, and Nehemiah is concerned about the welfare of Jerusalem. The wall's down, the city's burned, he's concerned about the welfare of his homeland. So Nehemiah 2, as you walk through this together, let's look for other ways to fill in this blank, all right? And it came about in the month Nisan, the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence, sad countenance, right? I had not been sad in his presence, so the king said to me, why is your face sad though you are not sick? There's nothing but sadness of heart, and I was very much afraid. I said to the king, let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's tombs lies desolate and his kings have been consumed by fire? So right off the bat, I see wisdom in the way he approached the king, wisdom in the way he approached, all right? Now next, I said to the king, if it pleases the king, and the king said to me, what would you request? So I prayed to the God of heaven, there's wisdom there, and that he sought God's perspective, help, insight, understanding, whatever you want to say, he prayed to God. There's wisdom in prayer, all right? I said to the king, by the way, have any of you ever said a prayer, like instant prayer when you're going in to face something that you're going, I need really, right now I need help. Okay? One of my favorite times, and you know, my kids are great kids, but all kids have their moments, right? All of a sudden, there was this situation with one of my children, and I knew I had to address it, and I knew it could be a powder keg, and as I'm walking towards the room, I'm saying, God, give me the words to say, give me the words to say, and God gave me the words to say. Instead of a powder keg, it was a reconciliation. I'm just saying, that brief prayer right there does what? One, it says, I need him. Number two, I depend on him. Number three, there's no way I can do this myself. Humility and dependence, all right? So here you go with Nehemiah. He is concerned about his people back home, and he's going before a wicked king, and the king says, what would you have me to do? He says, okay, God, give me the words, give me the insight, give me the understanding, give me favor, and look what happens, look what happens. So prayer, right? Let's look at the request. So I, what was your request? So I prayed to God, I said to the king, if it please the king, look at the way he approached him, right? If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah to the city of my father's tombs that I may rebuild it. What there is, he got, he had wisdom in his request, right? Then the king said to me, the queen is sitting beside him, how long will your journey be, and when will you return? So I pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. Again, discernment, wisdom gives you discernment. And I said to the king, if it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the provinces beyond the river that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah. And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's fort, that he may give me timber to make beams to the gates of the fortress, which is by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house to which I will go. Again, his discernment, his request, and the king granted them to me because what, and the king granted them to me because what? The good hand of my God was on me, the good hand. Now that started with wisdom and prayer, right? And God granted the request. Then I came to the governors of the provinces down the river and gave them the king's letters, and the king had sent with me the officers of the army and horsemen. When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel. So he got opposition, right? So I came to Jerusalem, and there was three days, and I rose in the night, I had a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem, and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding. So I went out at night by the valley gate in the direction of the dragon's well to the refuge gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed by fire. And I passed on the fountain gate and the king's pool, but there was no place for my mouth to pass. So I went up at night by the ravine and inspected the wall, and I entered the valley gate and began to return. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done, nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who did the work. Again, he's got wisdom here in his assessment, the way he's doing his assessment. Then I said to them, you see the bad situation we will no longer be in, that we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire? Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach. His leadership, there's wisdom in his leadership. I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me, also about the king's words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, let us arise and build. So they put their hands to the good work. But when Sam bowed to Horonite and Tobiah, the Ammonite official, and Gethsemane, the Arab heard of it, they mocked us and despised us and said, what is this thing you're doing? Are you rebelling against the king? So I answered them and said to them, the God of heaven will give us success, therefore we as servants will arise and build, but you have no fortune writing a memorial in Jerusalem. He also had wisdom in his response to opposition. He didn't, notice what he didn't do. He didn't draw his sword, right? What did he do? He said, my God, my God will give us favor. We're here because God has put us here to do a work and he is going to make it happen. That's wisdom, guys, that's wisdom. So be wise when the wicked rule, all right? Secondly, verse two, keep the king's command because of your oath made before God. Keep the king's command, that's be what? Obedient. Be obedient. Why do you have to be obedient to a wicked king? All right, so let's read Romans 13, one through seven, and let's just see how Paul answered that question. All right. So who's up? Morgan, you haven't been here in a while. Have at it. Therefore, whoever resists authority and opposes the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same. For it is the minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword for nothing. For it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore, it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscious sake. For because of this, you also pay taxes for rulers or service of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them, tax to whom taxes due, custom to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. So, back to your answer, Noah and Susan. Right. Paul said that, basically, right? He said, God commands it since he established the governments. Now, would you like it or not? All right. The government we're under right now, God has established and he has ordained that it be in charge right now. Okay. So, we have a response to that. Our response is to obey. Now, I might have a question here about obedience in a second. We'll get to it. I know Susan's already thinking what that question is. I know she is. But, so, let's look at verse 2b up here to get the answers to these little fill in the blanks here. So, keep the king's command because of your what? Oath. You made an oath, all right, before God. Do not be in a hurry to leave his presence. Don't persist in bad, we're getting ahead of ourselves. For the king's word is what? Authoritative. And who can say to him, what are you doing? The king's word will prevail. Now, you can go out there and you can do all of the anti-government you want to do on the street, all right, but if you violate the law while you're doing it, you're going to jail. And there's quite a controversy right now over something that happened a couple years ago, right, when there was some civil unrest in the wrong time and the wrong place with bad results. So, we're not going to get into the politics of that, I'm just saying laws were violated and they went to jail, all right. The king's word will prevail. Verse 5a, the one who keeps the command will not experience anything harmful. Well, there's another reason to obey because you want to avoid what? Harm. Harm, punishment, right. Verse 7, yet no one knows what will happen because who can tell him what will happen? You don't know the what, future, and you don't know how the king will respond. You don't know the future or how the king will respond. And finally, verse 8b, no one has authority over the winds to restrain it. There is no authority over the day of death. Death is what? Sure, certainly, right, sure, certainly the one. There is no furlough in battle and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. There is judgment that will happen to all, including kings. Let's see what Galatians 6, 7 says. Noel? Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever man sows, he will also reap. All right, and then Susan, your verse from last week that you didn't have a reference for, but you have it this week. The verse from last week? Number 3223 right there in front of you. Okay. But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. That was the verse my mother often quoted, the last part of that. So here's the reality, guys, right? You might, they might, wickedness might think it's going to win the day. It's not. It's not. There is judgment. And if you don't act right before God in the way you live, you will face the judgment that's coming. I'm going to tell you a secret, too. There's different disciplines from God when you're his child and when you're not his child. Be careful if you claim to be God's child, a Christian, and you choose on your own to knowingly do the wrong thing. Do not think that's gone unnoticed and that you've gotten away with it. And I promise you, based on some experience I've had when I was younger, God will not allow his child to get away without being disciplined. That's true. That's true. Because also, in the Lord's love, he's right. Exactly. That's right. That's right. Although I don't like, because these are some of the ones that I was struggling with, because I've had people who I consider wicked, some of you know them, that they haven't seen anything. They're living sanctuaries. And the thing that I've had to, and I'm still trying to work through, letting go of, is it might not be something, A, either I see, or it might not happen in this lifetime. There you go. But if they're not God's child... Judgment will come forever. His judgment is delayed. Just like I don't discipline your child, but I discipline my own. And so, when someone's not God's child, they may not be getting the discipline. Wow. That was deep. That's my mic, right there. You get an A plus. JJ? When you talk about Nehemiah, you need to think about this. What was the position Nehemiah had, and how did he get there? He's a cupbearer for the kings. Now, think about this. You know, look at the kings. They were always worried about people killing and poisoning them. And anybody that handles the wine or the food that comes by him... Is trustworthy. Is trustworthy. And how do you become trustworthy? You become obedient. You know, and so he earned that by his attitude. And that put him in that place where he could go and build the wall. Had he not all done all that stuff beforehand, you know, he would never have been there to have the opportunity to do that. And to where God could use him and the king. And you know, it's funny because you can have a non-Christian person that can really bless, bless, use it. God doesn't always use Christian people to bless him. You see, out of church, they said that. And who's another one? You know, yeah. You remember Cyrus? Yeah. And but people, I mean, but the people that God used to put him in that position did so by becoming trustworthy. Now, if he had been a rebel, a rebel, I doubt if he would have praised this wine. No. You know what the cupbearer did before he gave the wine to the king. Yeah. Yeah. There was another reason why he was a cupbearer. But you're right. You're right. Okay. So when the wicked rule will live righteously, we talked about being wise and being obedient. Next, we'll look at verse 3a. It says, do not be in a hurry, leave his presence. So do not resign abruptly or avoid your duty is the way you fill in the blank there. And let's look at how it reads in the New Living Translation. Don't try to avoid doing your duty. Don't try to avoid doing your duty. And I ask the question, why? Well, what do you think? If you try to avoid doing your duty, what might happen? The king's giving you something to do, or the boss is giving you something to do. You could lose your job. Yeah. You're going to offend the king. You're going to offend the king. And if a king, again, what does he have the authority to do? Back to the point about the boss, he can fire you. The king can have you killed. He can punish you. He can end your life. He can put you in the stocks, you know, whatever. Right? No. Yeah. Well, the king saw his sad face in the guy's attention. And that's what got his attention. That's what was interesting. When is it acceptable to resign, Susan? That's the question you wanted to ask, right? When's it right for you not to do your duty or to do your... When's it right? I would agree with that. Your integrity. Yeah, absolutely. When it goes against God's word, absolutely. It came out that they could go pray to any other god. Yeah. And he was a high-ranking official in an ungodly kingdom. Yeah. And he goes right upstairs, opens the windows, gets down, and prays. That's because he finds the higher authority. That's right. That's right. So, yes, when... To maintain your integrity due to your beliefs and loyalty... I can't say it. Beliefs and loyalty to God. So, all right. Next point. Verse 3b in the New Living Translation reads, And don't stand with those who plot evil, for the king can do whatever he wants. In other words, don't join a plot to overthrow the king. Not a good idea. But I asked the question, when is civil disobedience justified? And that's a cousin to the other question. Let's see when civil disobedience actually happened. And that's in Acts 5.29. Who hasn't read it? Kat, have you read tonight yet? No. But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than men. Okay. So, the answer is civil disobedience is justified when what you're being required to do by the government is requiring you to disobey God. Now, you understand when you go down that path. All right. You need wisdom. You need wisdom to know how, when, where. You need wisdom to understand what might happen. And you need wisdom to know how you respond when it happens. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. All right. So, don't join a plot to overthrow the king. The final part of this living righteously when the wicked rule is in verses 5B through 6, where it says, There is no authority over the day of death. There is no furlough in battle. And wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. So, the answer is B, am I looking at the right thing? Yeah. Oh, wrong verses. A, 5, I did. That's right. Go back to 5, 6, 5B. Thank you. And a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. For every activity, there is a right time and procedure, even though man's troubles are heavy on him. Again, let's go to the New Living Translation and see how that reads. It's on the back page. Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right. For there's a time and a way for everything, even when a person is in trouble. So, I kind of alluded to that in my previous comments. Be discerning is the blank. Be discerning. There is a time and a way to do what is right. Now, let's look at Daniel. I thought this part was going to be kind of fun, I think. So, here we go. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God. He brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his God. Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and the nobles, youth in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king's court. And he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king's choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years at the end of which they were to enter the king's personal service. Now, among them were the sons of Judah, were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them. To Daniel, he assigned the name Betheshazzar. To Hananiah, Shadrach. To Mishael, Meshach. And to Azariah, Abednego. But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank. So he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. Now, God granted Daniel favor and compassion on the side of the commander of the officials. And the commander of the officials said to Daniel, I'm afraid if my lord, the king, has appointed your food and your drink, for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than they used to in your own age? Then you would make me forfeit my head to the king. But Daniel said to the overseer and the commander of the officials that appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, please test your servants for 10 days. Let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink. Now, let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king's choice food and deal with your servants according to what you see. So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for 10 days. At the end of 10 days, their appearance seemed better. They were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king's choice food. So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink and kept giving them vegetables. As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom. Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams. Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them and out of them all, not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the king's personal service. As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm. And Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king. So looking at Daniel chapter 1, what was the time and way used by Daniel in this difficult circumstance with authority? First of all, he had a private conversation. Right? He takes the leader aside and says, can I talk with you? He asked permission. He asked permission. And instead of just saying, we don't want to do this, I'm not going to do it and throwing a fit, he says, can I give you an option, an alternative way of doing it? So he presented an alternate way of doing it. That alternate way of doing it was both doable and testable. It was designed to achieve the desire. In other words, he said, look, what's at stake here is the desired outcome. And I want to propose that we do it a different way. Just the four of us, let us do it a different way and see if the desired outcome isn't achieved the way that we propose. If it's not, then fine. You know, we'll have to figure out something to do from there. Right? But he knew that God would give favor. Look at the wisdom in that. There was a time and there was a way. He didn't do it. He waited for the king to set things up. He waited for the ruling authority to be given the assignment, the commander, whatever it was. Right? And then he went to that commander in a very non-threatening way, respectful way with an approach that was very doable. There is a right time and a way when you're in a difficult circumstance under a wicked ruler to approach everything. That's being wise and living righteously in a wicked rule. So how can we know the right time and way? Ron, two of your favorite verses out of James. ...any wisdom that you have for God, who gives to all gently and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, full of good fruit, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. How do you know how to do the right time and the right way? You ask God. And you understand, right, that God's way has certain characteristics. Look at that. You ask God for the need of wisdom and you understand his wisdom has characteristics. Those characteristics right there, pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. Look at those characteristics of his wisdom. And what's the result of those characteristics? The seed whose fruit is righteousness. Now, we're talking about righteous living. The seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in what? Peace. It's designed, God's wisdom results in peace. Peace by those who make peace. There's a right time and a way. And that right time and way has an objective of maintaining peace even under a wicked ruler. That's living righteously under a wicked rule. J.J. That's not like the way God prepared, that God was in authority over them to listen to him. Yeah. So when he negotiated with him. So it wasn't all just Daniel's knowledge. It was God's intervention in his, the one authority over him that prepared his heart because he hung it out, really, you know, for Daniel. Because if it didn't work, it's his head, he can't do it. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, if we have the right relationship with God, he can work in mysterious ways and taking those people that are in authority over there and change their heart towards you. I think that's really important, you know. I think it is, too. Again, but it was Daniel's approach that facilitated that. Yeah. There you go. There you go. Good work, J.J. Good work. All right. Was that good or what? I just enjoyed that. All right. Living righteously when the wicked are honored. This part is kind of, you know, I mean, gosh, I hate when wicked get honored. But, you know, we got to live righteously when they get honored. All this I have seen applying my mind to all the work that's done under the sun at a time when one man has authority over another to his harm. In such circumstances, the solid wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place and they were praised in the city where they did so. This, too, is futile because the sentence against a criminal act is not carried out quickly. The heart of people is filled with the desire to commit crime. I'm going to come back to that in just a minute. OK, although a sinner commits crime 100 times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people for they are reverent before him. However, it will not go well with the wicked and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow for they are not reverent before God. There is a futility that is done on the earth. There are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this, too, is futile. Sometimes things don't make sense. You know, sometimes they don't make sense. I want to go back to that real briefly what I said about when the criminal action is not carried out quickly or the sentence is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit crime. There was a news report on Portland, Oregon. Portland, Oregon has turned into a very crime-infested city. Because of their change in the way they enforce the law and in what they have allowed to be considered non-criminal, if I could say it that way. And it was one of those, I'm going to call it a social experiment, you know, where let's just see if we can't just let freedom have its way and see what happens. Well, it's happened. And there's a flight going on and it's out of the city of Portland, on the one hand, and there's an immigration going on that's into the city of Portland on the other. And what's coming in is not good and what's going out is what you don't want to leave. And so, and I say that just because this, I had not planned to say that until I saw that news article and report and I saw this verse again. I thought, there you go, a live example of what happens. Now, what's the reality of it? Portland is now in the process of trying to clean up the city. And the officers are going, oh, this didn't work, you know? But in this case, in this application of this verse here, what's the reality? The reality is, it's very often where we see people get away with what we call murder, right? They're getting away with murder, you know? They're getting away with murder. It doesn't make any sense. But, yeah, yeah. So, that's what this is talking about right here. So, how do you live righteously when the wicked honor? First of all, you have to understand the circumstances. Understand the circumstances. In verse 9, you see that the wicked rule and they had the power to hurt people. It's a circumstance. How about verse 10? What do you see there? Verse 10, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place. They may appear to be what? Religious. They may appear to be religious. And get this, and they were what? Praised in the city where they did so. So, the wicked may appear religious and be praised by people, yet live ungodly lives. They're wicked. They're wicked. Yet, they appear religious and they're getting praised. You know, all because someone goes to a church doesn't mean they're godly in their walk with God, right? There's people who go to churches for lots of reasons besides having a relationship with God, you know, photo ops and all this type of stuff. I mean, yeah. Oh, yeah. I hate to say it, but it happened here. And yeah, I don't want to say it. Anyway, it's a long time ago. There's a person here that came to visit our church. I happened to engage him in conversation. And the course of the conversation is either that conversation or overheard him talking to someone else. I can't remember if it was me or someone else. It's so fuzzy. But his question was, how many movers and shakers are there here? And he's wanting to make business connections. That was his purpose for coming here. So people show up at church because they want to see if they remember. Yeah. Oh, the politicians would come. Yeah, yeah. Now, a white church, that's not the place to be. That's a good point. That's a good point. Right. That's a good point. But anyway, yeah. So that's my point. Not everybody goes to church. It's godly. So they appeared religious, and they were praised by people. Yet they lived ungodly lives. It's another circumstance. Verse 11, because the sentence against a criminal act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people still desire to commit a crime. So the wicked continue to live wickedly when they think they can get away with it. And then finally, that little verse in verse 14, which we already talked about briefly, the righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and vice versa, the wicked people get what the actions of the righteous deserve. There appears to be inequity. The righteous get what the wicked deserve. The wicked get what the righteous deserve. So those are the circumstances that you can face at times. So how do you live righteously when the wicked are honored in those circumstances? You have to understand the reality. Understand the reality. Back to verse 12a and 13. All right. The reality is, although a sinner commits a crime 100 times and prolongs his life, however, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow. Why? Because they're not reverent before God. Reality is, even though it appears the wicked have prospered, it will not go well with them. And the question I've already answered, why? They're going to face judgment, and they do not revere or fear God. When you don't revere or fear God, judgment's coming, boys. Judgment's coming. I heard a sermon one time by an old professor out of Southwestern. I heard a sermon a long time ago. He was preaching out of Philippians chapter 2. And, you know, it gets to that point, you know, in every, you know, the name of Jesus, every knee will bow. And every tongue will confess, both in heaven and earth and on the earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord and Lord God the Father. He started going down this list. He says, he says, Adolf Hitler's knee is going to bow. Benito Mussolini's knee is going to bow. Joseph Stalin's knee is going to bow. And he just went down a list, and he just kept going and going and going. And I thought, you know, the reality is, that's the truth. And guess what? David Ingram's knee is going to bow. But when it bows, it's already bowed once. See, it bowed here before it bows there. Yeah, so because David Ingram's knee bowed here, when I get there, that's not the bowing that I'm going to have to do. Not the same. That's a grateful bow. It's a grateful bow. There you go. That's right. So live righteously, knowing even when the wicked appear to get honored, right? Live righteously, but the reality is that it's not going to go well with them. And in verse 12b says, where he said that, right? I also know they will go, oh, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people. Well, they are reverent for God. Those who live righteously will be better off. Let's look at the New Living Translation of that. You're fine. You're fine. So those who fear God will be what? Better off. Better off. Better off where? In the end, yeah. We're going to be better off in eternity. Eternity. Look at Proverbs 9.10. Anna, would you like to read that? Look at Proverbs 9.10. Anna, would you like to read that? And so, let's answer the question of why. They revere and fear God, right? While seeking to know him. And what does that result in? Wisdom and godly living. Wisdom and godly living. They revere and fear God, right? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So the fear of God results in wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. So they understand how to live. Godly living. They revere and fear God while seeking to know him, which results in wisdom and godly living. So the reality is, even though it appears the wicked have prospered, it will not go well with them because they don't fear God. But those who live righteously would be better off because they do. And they revere and fear God while seeking to know him, which results in wisdom and godly living. Okay. So, when it appears that the wicked are honored, and you're going to live, how do you live righteously? We talked about that. What can we do to make a difference in those circumstances? How can we make a difference? By living differently and doing honorable, that you're being honorable at your job, obeying the rules, not taking too long for lunch. I'm trying to think of examples. Doing your job and... As unto the Lord. Yes. Yes. You're right on top of it. It's exactly what I'm thinking. When I asked that question, here's where I was going with that. Right down that path. All right. When you go ahead and live righteously, no matter when the wicked appear to be getting honored, right? It's noticed. It's noticed. And there are those out there who are looking at the wicked that are getting honored, and they're looking at you. They're going, that doesn't seem right. What makes him different? The next thing you know, you've got the opportunity to do what? Share your faith. Share your faith. And it changes a life. It changes a life. When you live righteously, when the wicked are honored, it makes a difference because people notice you're different, and they want to know why. And you get the opportunity to share the gospel. Now, I'm sure if I asked in here, has anyone ever had that experience before? Somebody raise your hand besides me. Okay. Ron, would you like to tell a testimony? How you live righteously? And someone asked, what made you different? As we treat our patients and treat them with dignity, what happens is a transition happens. I think that even happens when you're sick, right? Because now the thing is, is that most of it was done by my translator. Because I'm attempting to show a patient compassion and really a lot of love in regards to dealing with them. And as we do so, we realize that what they want is a touch of affection. They want to touch it. But also they want to be cared for. And I do that because I ask the questions. But the great thing is I have a new translator who communicates that with compassion and empathy and graciousness. And because of that, when I finished the evaluation, I asked a question. And I asked, may I pray with you? And virtually everybody said yes. Then I asked the question, if they die today, do they know for sure they're going to heaven? Or is that something they're still working on? So a lot of the patients there have fantastic backgrounds. So they're really great workers. They're wonderful people. They're the nicest people you'll ever meet. And she said, well, I think I do really well. Because I live well, so they're good. But then I said, well, fine. But they ask another question. And I say, yes. And I say, well, if you did die today and God asked you why he should let you into his heaven, what would you say? And of course, a good answer is they've done their best to live rightly. And we're talking about that righteousness here. But I say, well, let me give you a few thoughts. So I present the gospel. And what I say is, well, God is the God of love. So he's everybody that they gave to him. So but the problem is that there's only one requirement. And that is that you be perfect. Because God's perfect. And that's what I'm serving on about. But I also add that nobody's perfect except for Jesus Christ. So the second point is that God has to help us to be perfect in his eyes. And our second point is John 1.1. And it's giving us the word. The word was the God. The word was God. He became Christ to live among us, to do one's will. And that is, he said, Jesus came to serve, not to be served, but to become the payment for our imperfection. And so on the cross, that's where he went. He wanted to pay for our imperfection. You go to the cross. And on the cross, he asked God, his father, to forgive us for our imperfection. And to prove that. And then he says, it is finished, which means paid in full. Very. But then to prove that God forgave us, he raised Jesus on the third day. So that means that God offers forgiveness for our imperfection. So the third point is that God wants to exhibit his perfection through Jesus Christ, only by grace to faith. Jesus to ignite, for by grace are we saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, but through the gift of God, not of works as any man should boast. Because we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus. And then Romans 10, 9, and 10 comes into play. If in our heart that Jesus is Lord, and we confess with our mouth that he's raised from the dead, God says, welcome into my kingdom. Because it's with your heart that you believe that I'm made right and perfect with God, it's with your mouth that you confess and you're saved. So I asked, do you understand? And of course, my French interpreter said that even better than I did. And then the patient said, yes, I understand. So then the next question is, would you then say more? And the patient said, yes. Well, I didn't jump up and down, but I said it. First John 5, 12, 13 says, the Father says, these things have been written to you that believe on the Son, Jesus Christ, that you may be certain that you have eternal life. So that patient ended up with a smile and a laugh. That's a good thing. The great thing about that experience is that I asked Anna, has she ever heard that before? And she said, no. And I said, did that make sense to you? And she said, yes. Then I asked her, would you be willing to trust in Jesus Christ? And she said, I am. Actually, she introduced two other people to the Lord. And so that was great. You know, for sure. Can I say something? Yes. I hope that God's conversation happened with you. Every text that I receive from her, because I have plenty of it, God bless you. I am so blessed today. I want to know how long it's been. I want to know how long it's been since I just wrote tears to my heart. Because she really, really helped me. And I mean, I have my faith, and I see everything. But just to hear her saying it and feeling it, I was like, what happened so much, and I know they did it. I want to go. There you go. Thank you for sharing that. I didn't know we were going to have that kind of share time, but I love it, right? That made it worthwhile. We're having church. You know, we've all had, I hope we've all had something similar. You know, it doesn't always turn out that well, right? Sometimes you just plant the seed, right? So in my case, it was a co-worker at my insurance office. And it was a very difficult customer that we had to deal with. And she watched how I handled that situation. And she comes into my office and says, what makes you different? Literally, those are the words. What makes you, how did you not lose your temper? And I was able to share with her that I have God living within me, you know, and discuss what that meant and got to share the gospel with her. She didn't receive Jesus at that point in time, but the seed was planted. Later on, she comes back in after another situation and says, I want to know more about this. And, you know, you said something about that God's given you a purpose. She said, how do you have purpose? So I said, I happen to have a purpose driven life with me. So I gave her a copy of the purpose driven life and told her, just read that and see what that says to you. And, you know, and so over time, I hopefully, you know, she finally gave her life to Christ. She quit a lot longer after that and went to another place. But I was, you know, again, you don't know, but you make a difference. When you live right before God, others see it and it has an influence. Yes, sir. I was going to say, I feel like as Christians, we get discouraged when we don't see immediate results. And it's like, that's when we're challenged. You know, we truly love the way God loves. So God's love is patient. You know, so we have to trust that God is going to save them. Yep. That God is going to allow that seed to grow in their life and they're able to walk on their true identity in Christ. You know, so we can't get discouraged. We have to continue to be who we are and allow that to speak for them. And I've been in situations where, you know, as a young person in the faith, you know, I was given the opportunity to minister to a group of youth. And in my mind, I'm like, God, I don't know how to be a minister or be a teacher. Because in my mind, I'm like, I'm just a minister in music. You know, I don't have the swing and mannerisms that most teachers and pastors have. So I was like, I'm going to just, you know, be myself. And in the midst of that, one gentleman, he came to me. It was in a small country town in Oklahoma. And he was like, man, I don't like Black people. But you, I like you. And I didn't really understand it because in my mind, I was like, oh, okay. And I felt like that sense of uncertainty on my end that, God, you know, if the words that I'm speaking is going to reach them, but yet this young gentleman in his own weird way, I got a vibe that, okay, God is working on you. There you go. You know, so I don't look at stuff on a surface level, even though I was like, okay, but I know God is working on a young man's life. And I'm praying that he's walking in God's grace and being a light to his community. So, yeah. Well, thanks for sharing that. This is the first time here. You get an A plus for that. Yeah, yeah. All right. Good testimony. Good testimony. So what can we do? Be active in righteous living, looking for the opportunity to share the gospel when it presents itself. All right. Finally, we're going to look at living righteously when you don't understand. Oh, my. When you don't understand. So, I commended enjoyment because there's nothing better for man of the son than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun. When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the activities done on the earth, even though one's eyes do not close in sleep day or night, I observed all the work of God and concluded that man is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a man labors hard to explore, he cannot find it. Even if the wise man claims to know it, he's unable to discover it. So, verse 15 again. So, I commended enjoyment because there's nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life, right? Enjoy life and the work God gives you to do. So, let's look at the how and the why. First Timothy 6, 17. First Timothy 6, 17. Oh, Claire. So, how do we do this? Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertain riches. So, we're not going to fix our hope on our wealth, right? We're not going to be conceited about our wealth. There you go. It all comes from God. But we're going to do it with enthusiasm and thanksgiving. We're going to fix our hope on God, back to Cat's point right there, because He abundantly provides all you need for life. God gives you everything you need. He does it primarily through the work He gives you to do. So, enjoy life and the work God gives you to do. Secondly, when I applied my mind to know wisdom, and I forgot to put the verse in there, didn't I? No, I did. Verse 16. When I applied my mind to know wisdom and observe the activities down the earth, even though one's eyes do not close in sleep day or night. So, the word is diligently, diligently pursue wisdom and knowledge. Even though He's going to say there's no way we can understand everything, He still says go for it. Why? Why do you want to have the wisdom to know how to live righteously? Because if you don't, what results? You live unrighteously. You live unrighteously. So, you want to know all you can know about how God would have you live. So, how do you do that? This is just one of those dumb answers, you know, one duh, right? But, you know, how do you do that? Living. Yeah, somebody's somewhere around, it's got, besides the phone, it's got a leather band, right? Somewhere or? elsewhere. There you go. Who's got one? Hold it up. There you go. That's how you do it. That's how you do it. That's how you do it. He tells you how to do it, but you don't know how to do it unless you do what? Read. Number one. What's the next thing you do besides read? Pray. About what? About what you read. Great. Study. Is there a difference between reading and studying? Absolutely. Absolutely. Right? Study. Meditate. Meditate. What do you do when you meditate? Yeah, and you keep, it keeps going over and over as you're trying to fully comprehend it. But what are you thinking about when you're trying to fully comprehend it? What am I going to do with it? Right? Obey it. Obey it. Yeah, obey it. Bill, you said something? Application. Live it. Live it. And I also think in addition to these, because you brought up mental health levels, also thinking with fellow believers and vice versa. Oh, okay. How about share it with each other? Right? Share it with each other. And then we haven't said one word that when you think of Ron Yamamoto, you know. Memorize it. Memorize it. Memorize it. That's how you diligently pursue wisdom and knowledge. All right. Third point. Understand that you, back to verse 17, I observed all the work of God includes the man is what? Unable. You can't know everything or explain all that God is doing. Why is that? Because his race are higher than our race. Yeah. His thoughts are higher than ours. Yeah, but I got a verse there, Deuteronomy 29, 29a. Who hasn't read it yet? The secret things belong to the Lord. Oh, did y'all know God has some secrets? God has some secrets. Go ahead, Noel. I wasn't going to say anything about this, but I just feel like years ago, it's this place where I still work. I'm not going to say where it is, but it's always here. And there was this main general manager that everybody, I mean, he boomed around and you get his way or the highway. And this is all you knew about him. I mean, you certainly didn't approach it because he was the big boss, but he was having heart trouble and he was fixing to have surgery. And one day I'm working away at work and I feel God say to me, you need to go pray for him. Go ask him if you can pray for God to be with him in the surgery and stuff. I'm like, what? And I said, okay. But I was really, I'm not going to kid you, y'all. I was afraid to go. I'd never even spoken. I mean, he'd spoken to me, but I didn't know this guy. And I reluctantly was obedient. And I went to see him, knocked on his glass door, which his office is up at the front of the dealership. It's glass all the way around. And he raised me in and I just thought, I'm going to look him right in the eye and just tell him this. So I said, can I ask you something? He said, sure. And I said, I really just feel like that God is telling me to pray for you for your serious heart surgery. Would it be okay if I just said a prayer for you right here? And without hesitation, he said, absolutely. And so I just bowed my head and asked God to take care of it. Now, this is before I even knew him. This was several years ago. He got through the surgery. He recovered. The way that he looked at me and treated me and everything completely changed. From then on, I was in with him and he always had something good to say. He brought all of his kids and his cars to me to have them looked at. It just completely changed everything, including we had, during that time, like 10 different service managers. And I found out that there were two guys in the shop that he would tell each service manager, you cannot touch. Guess who was one of them? And that's not the, it wasn't, I didn't go to seek favor. And I'm telling you right now, I went fearfully back then. I'd never gone to a boss and said, can I pray for you for your surgery? But I just had that so on my heart that I felt like I had to be obedient to God. It was just a simple thing. And here it is years later. He has now retired. But because of the way he treated me, and because I had learned because of past bad experiences as a younger man, I chose to do the wrong thing, got fired from a job. God worked with me and changed me. I have a reputation that I will not repair a customer's car if it doesn't need it, even if they want it. And I will only do what a car needs. And, and it has benefited me tremendously. When all it was, was that just one time, I wasn't, I was afraid, but I went in and did what God said. And it had benefits that I have no idea that I would ever see. And all God was saying, I want you to go pray for this man. Isn't that good? What a good testimony. Yeah, that's a great testimony. That's great. Thanks, Noel. So God has secrets, right? We're not God, and there are things that he has yet to reveal to us, right? So number one, I understand you don't, you can't know everything or explain all that God is doing and then apply the last point, apply all that you learn to the way you live. 29, 29B reads, but the things revealed belong to us, to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law. So some things God doesn't reveal, some things he does. And when he reveals our duty and our job is to what? Obey, apply all that you've learned the way you live. Here's, here's the final fill in the blanks. Talking again, we're talking about living righteously when a wicked rule, when a wicked or honored, when you don't understand, the more you learn, talking about God, right? The more you learn, the more you apply, the more you live like Christ for his glory. The more you learn, the more you apply, the more you live like Christ for his glory. Ron, you and JJ are going to take it from here, right? Okay. This is a fun part of our lesson, actually, because now we really get to get down to grass tests, because, you know, one of the main things that we talked about, they come up here. The main thing that we want to talk about is the fact that, you know, what is, what is the problem in all of life? You know, it's really a thing called self-sufficiency. You know, we, we feel like you work, you work once you stay here in all the world. And we work, we spend a lot of time and effort to, time and effort to feel the reputation in our work. I know you have, you know, every one of us have put a lot of hours in, in regard to this. But the problem is with that, we realized that we became very self-sufficient in and of ourselves. And so we think that we have the answers. We become very sophisticated in our work. And so, therefore, we have a lot of knowledge up here. And so we feel like, well, what is it that, that life really demands of us that we, we real, we really can figure life out. And we realized that I've been doing knee surgery for like 37 years. And you think I get really good at it, you know. But there are always an issue that you can't answer, you know. And what do you do? Well, when you're in the middle of a mess, you start praying like crazy, okay. But, you know, the thing is, is that life is a dilemma, you know. It, the thing is, is that life is very uncertain. And how do we handle those uncertainties and, and the fact that the dilemmas in life, you know, because there's lots of things that puzzle us, because life is an enigma. We don't know exactly what the future has in store for us. So now we realize that now we realize that God wants us to realize that we don't have the answers, okay. Because what is it? I mean, life is unfair, right. All of us have been treated unfairly, right. And one of the things that we've talked about is the fact that in the unfairness of life is that we see good people suffering the way that wicked people should. And we see wicked people enjoying the things that the good people should enjoy. But why is that? Yeah, answer that for us, would you? What's that? Yeah, why do good people have to suffer? Maybe that's one of those mysteries that we don't know, right. So how do we handle that? Well, one of the things that, you know, we need to think about, you know, one of the things Ecclesiastes, it's a difficult book, at least for me. You know, because I read this, you know, Ecclesiastes is a book of poetry. And, you know, I always thought poetry was everything had to rhyme. Well, obviously it doesn't rhyme in this, you know, so it's something difficult. And sometimes they present ideas that go very, very deeply. And you just can't pick it up instantaneously. But one of the things that Solomon talks about, you hear this expression, under the sun, under the sun, under the sun, what does that mean? You know, what, everything is happens under the sun. Well, you know, if you think about the sun shining down, what does it shine on? The earth, this, you know, it's the light, it's the temporal light that we're living today. You know, and so the fact of the matter is, you know, this was never the place God really intended us to live in. And so bad things happen to good people, because we're in a very hostile environment. You know, God created the Garden of Eden for man when he put him in there. But what happened? You know, sin entered in the world. And so why does bad things happen to good people? Or, or even why does good things happen to bad, you know, bad people? Why do good things happen to bad people? You know, how do these people get away with it? Well, you know, that's all under the sun. But you know, there's something beyond the earth here. You know, and once you see that we have, we have a temp, an eternal view now. And that's the great thing for any of you, you know, the fact that, you know, you're no longer, you know, restrained by that. We have eternal life. And it goes on forever. There is no end for us. We go on, and we're going to go to a place where it's like the garden was. It's going to be restored. For we're not going to live in this. But, you know, the thing about it is what it says, you know, that, you know, there's once we become a Christian and live in this world, we're going against the time. Because the world's got a way of doing things that's counter to what God intended for us. And whenever you go against the time, you're going to have problems. And for the Christian, you know, this brings on suffering. And, you know, there's, you know, I keep saying as a Christian, you know, there are the four S's, you know, that we have to learn to submit. We have to separate, sacrifice, and the last one suffer. We may do this, but you know what? It's temporary for us. There's something more. And one day, there is such a thing as cosmic justice. You know, we're not going to see, you know, we can't guarantee we'll ever have justice here in this world, you know, under the sun. But, you know, that's not the whole story. The whole story is eternal, right? And one of the things here in this particular chapter that, you know, David has done a wonderful job, you know, going through this. You know, I look back at this, and one of the things that I see in there is the proper response to authority. And how we are, you know, how do we respond with authority? And, you know, there is only one really supreme authority. That's God himself. And all authority comes down from him. So, we have to learn to operate under authority. And what is the way you operate under authority? You submit to it, right? So, that's where we have to learn submission. But it's not just in, you know, it's, you know, it starts out in the family. You know, God has got a hierarchy of authority. You know, there's always a hierarchy, but each one that's in authority is responsible for a higher authority. And it keeps going up. You start in your family, go to your society, you go to, you know, and you go on up, and pretty soon it ends up in God, right? With God. So, we have to learn how to do that. We're all under this chain of command. But the ultimate, the ultimate authority in everything that controls everything is God himself. So, we need to learn how to do that. You know, the two things you need to learn in life, you know, you know, you raise kids, you know, the two things we've got to learn. Number one, you are responsible for your actions. And number two, the proper response to authority. And the proper response to authority is submission. And what, but there's benefits to that, right? You know, we were talking, David was talking about Portland up there. What happens when you don't have authority? You have anarchy. You know, you either have anarchy, you either have authority or you have anarchy. And if you have authority, you have justice. And if you don't have authority, and if you're in anarchy, there is no justice. Because there's no higher authority to appeal to. So, the thing that we've got here, we've got, you know, we serve a living God, the most powerful, you know, he's the ultimate in power. You know, that's who we serve, you know, and that's who we're responsible to. And he's the one that guarantees us eternal life. He's the one that's going to make things right. You know, you know, I would, I would love for things, you know, to be just here on the earth, but we can't guarantee that. The only guarantee is going to be, you know, when the Lord comes back again and establishes true justice. And all these people that get away with stuff, it's not going to happen. There is justice. There will be justice. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. Let's let him take care of that. And in the meantime, what are we going to do? You know, we're going to obey him and we're going to walk. We're going to learn. We're going to grow. And who's our, who's our role model? We've got Jesus, right? And, you know, like say, you know, don't be conformed to the world. Well, look, you know, we are conformed. We start being conformed. Let's not continue to stay conformed. We want to transform ourselves and be reconformed to the image of Christ. And that's how we work out our salvation. You know, we all started at the beginning. We've all done that. But, but, you know, we want to grow in Christ and be more like the Lord every day. And, you know, that's, that's where we want to be. You know, but, you know, you know, under the sun. Don't don't expect, we're not promised anything. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. But one thing we do know for sure is we have a destination. There's three of the most profound questions that, you know, you need to ask. Man needs to answer number one. What is my origin? Where do I come from? What is my purpose? And what is my destiny? And only through Christ are those three questions answered. Yeah, you know, I am where do I come from? I was created by God. He gave each one of us value. You know, you know, we're valuable. That's why life is valuable because God gave it to us. Okay. And what is our purpose? Why did he, why are we here? You know, we're here to have a relationship with him. That's why we were created. That's our purpose. Now, if you want to have meaning to life, you can have purpose every day. But unless you fulfill that purpose, you won't have any meaning. So if we fulfill our purpose in Christ, we're going to have meaning in this life. And the third thing is what is our destiny? Our destiny is to be with him in heaven. And you know, the sad thing is there's another place to go that people go that don't have that hope. And that's a place of eternal, you know, suffering. That's a place called hell. And you know how wide that gate is to get to him? It's really wide, right? It's Christ and Christ alone. You know, you can't get it by having your one foot in the world and one foot in heaven. You know, we can't live double life, you know, because you won't be successful in either one of them. You know, so our, our, our, our destiny is to number one, to put ourselves under the authority of God. And just like this here with what Solomon's saying, he tried it all, you know, eat, drink and be merry. Well, you know, that doesn't work really. You know, Jesus wants us to have a fulfilled life. He wants us to be, you know, to have that, that assurance. And that's what we, you know, that he can give us, you know, so this is a great lesson in there. Like I say, you know, you keep going back and it's like a diamond, you know, when you start reading the word, because there's little facets. Every time you turn this a different way, God reveals things to us. You know, there's two things that you've got to remember being a Christian. That's mystery and revelation. And this is exactly what it says. We don't know the future. Yeah. So the main thing is to continue reading God's word. Absolutely. And that this time comes up, you know, to be continued, because now we're beginning to unfold the mysteries of all of life. You know, that's, that's the key, because, you know, life really is a mystery, because it's very unfair. It's, it's, it's very, it's unimaginable, it's unmanageable, because we, the people, are unpredictable, because we tend to be very, you know, we waver in the way we live. But the thing is, is that because the future, because we're unreliable, the future is unpredictable, but there's only one thing that's unavoidable, and that's death. And only God has the answer to death. We'll be talking about that more as we go along. And because God has the answer to the problem of death, and sin came into the world because of disobedience, but now we realize that because of obedience to God, what happens is God then neutralizes all the after effects of sin, because, because of sin, see, we realize that death is punitive. Because sin came into the world, God has to punish it and judge it. So we have to quit. That's great. Let me praise Christ. Dear Lord, thank you so much for this time together. Thank you for showing us that our sufficiency is only in you. We thank you that you give us so much truth, because your truth is your word, and your word is Jesus Christ. So dear Lord, I pray that you'd help us to ever remember that the only thing that counts in life is faith in you, Jesus Christ, expressing itself through love. So this day and every day, dear Lord, we pray that you'd help us to speak your truth and love to everyone we meet and greet and serve. Pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, thank you so much. To be continued. Thank you, everyone.