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Ecclesiastes 1:1-3 What Really Matters - When Everything Seems Meaningless Cross City Church 1000 W Airport Fwy Euless, TX 76039 Ron Yamamoto, David Ingram
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Ecclesiastes 1:1-3 What Really Matters - When Everything Seems Meaningless Cross City Church 1000 W Airport Fwy Euless, TX 76039 Ron Yamamoto, David Ingram
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Ecclesiastes 1:1-3 What Really Matters - When Everything Seems Meaningless Cross City Church 1000 W Airport Fwy Euless, TX 76039 Ron Yamamoto, David Ingram
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The transcription discusses the book of Ecclesiastes and its themes of wisdom, suffering, and the pursuit of happiness. It emphasizes the importance of humility and the challenges of comparing oneself to others. It also explores the different levels of happiness and the idea that true happiness is found in the gift of God. considered a wisdom book. There are five Old Testament wisdom books and Ecclesiastes is one. So the other ones are Job and Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Psalms. So those are the five wisdom books. And in the New Testament, there's only one. And we studied that the last time. It's the book of James. So now we realize that the whole idea of coming together with God's word is really a challenge because now we have someone who's honestly assessing his own life in the mid-lifetime, midlife crisis of his life. But sometimes midlife can happen anytime, you know, bad things happen. Job is going through some problems. And, you know, some of you read the book of Job and that's a long treatise of what happens to some people, even though you're doing what's right. And why is it that good people have to suffer, you know, and why God permits that. So we have the whole idea of why do good people who are doing right before God, God permits them to suffer probably more than even bad people, you know. So philosophically speaking, you know, we realize that what Job is going through is exactly what God wants him to do, to realize that the only thing that draws someone in regard to a relationship with God, there are three things. The first thing is a thing called humility. You know, God mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble like Proverbs 3.34 says. So 1 Peter 5 says the same thing, 5.5, he says the same thing. And so basically, then he says, Peter says, after he says God gives grace to the humble, then Peter in verse 6 says, chapter 5, verse 6 says, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, because he cares for us. He loves us. But be alert, because the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Verse 8. But then verse 9 says, this is outside of our notes, I'm sorry. The notes are going to be easy to follow once we get started here. But in verse 9, verse 8, 9 says, but resist him, stand firm in your faith in Jesus Christ, because verse 10 of God of all grace has called us to the eternal glory that after we suffered a while, he'll restore us, complete and perfect us and make us firm, strong and steadfast in him. See, the whole point of what Peter is saying, is he just repeating exactly what God is saying in regard to this whole idea of suffering. And so, suffering and death is one of the major players in the book of Ecclesiastes. Because in Ecclesiastes, you know, he's really talking about the idea of the mysteries of life, why we have to go through barnyard fertilizer in life, and what is that all about? And how does that draw us near to God? And so we're going to be talking philosophically about that. As we go through the study, though, if there's any questions, you know, we want to, it's only a 12-chapter book, so we have time to address the questions that we have, particularly the questions, you know, of the heart. Because, you know, the whole idea of what happens in all of life is really because of things called Indian strife. Indian strife comes from a problem called pride. And so, because we're competitive, we compare our lives with other people. And because our lives don't measure up, you know, the devil is in our ear and he says, oh man, you just blew it again. You're not going to do anything significant or anything right in life, so you might as well give up, you know. And people do. But that's a lie, and we believe a lie. You know, Satan came to steal, kill, and destroy our lives, because that's in John 10. But Jesus came to do just the opposite. He came to build us up, to give us life, and to give it to us abundantly. So, the abundant life can only be with him, and the life without him is a life of vanity and emptiness. So, you see that that's exactly why Solomon says everything is vain and empty. Because in 1 Kings 1, you know, he asks God, you know, God asks Solomon, well, what is it that you would like for you to be king of the nation Israel? Ask anything. And so, Solomon asks for wisdom, so that he can lead the nation Israel well. And because, in God's response, he says, because you asked for wisdom, I'm going to give you wisdom and everything else thrown in. But he said, now, you must not do a few things. This is in 1 Kings 3. Don't collect wives. So, he collects 700 wives and 300 concubines. Don't collect horses and staples of 20,000 horses that are a little bit over the top. And don't collect gold. And he has gold shields worth today's, you know, I guess in today's value system, one shield weighs about 60 talents or something like crazy. It would be worth a million dollars. And that's what he had decorating his palace wall. So, he did all the things that God asked him not to do. And because of that, you know, he comes in with at the end of his life and saying everything that I've done, which is what I thought was significant is meaningless and empty. So, now we realize that now we see that what a life lived without God is like, you know, and all of us are guilty of this. So, all of us have walked without God to some degree. I'm the oldest one here, and I've been at a whole lot more than you all can even thought of. So, now, I'm just telling you that Solomon is right. And he's right in the sense that, you know, all the things that we thought were going to make us have success in life, because see, the world tells us one thing. And the world tells us you have to look good, feel good, make good, do good, or you know good. See, the life of comparison and competitiveness causes us to be bent out of shape because we're all ever striving to be just as good and better than everyone else. You know, medicine, we know, right? Because that's the way medicine works. But you have to be perfect in delivery. But the whole world tells us you have to be the same thing. There's going to be a football game played this weekend. Us guys know that. But the problem with that is that the competition, and some of you girls are good about this too, because some of you are cheerleaders and all that. But you see, the thing is that when we start competing, the goal is to be perfect in your delivery. Now, how many perfect people have you seen playing football? Well, but see, even him, he gets intercepted every now and then, you know. But even then, you see, the thing is, no, there's not many guys that have won like seven Super Bowls, okay? So obviously, he's one of the best ever to play the game. But you see that all of them, you know, like in basketball, there's Jordan, Michael Jordan, right? And you know, in all the sports, there are men, key figures. But you see, the problem is that they were perfect in the delivery of time in their life. See, and now, I always ask this question about doctors being perfect. Some doctors really do think they're perfect. But there aren't any perfect doctors, okay? And when the doctor says, well, I'm perfect, because I do this, that and the other thing, they're lying, or they believe a lot, see? Because now we realize that because of this ideal in life, it's unattainable. So usually, you find anyone in any field, whether it's basketball, football, medicine, and law or whatever, we're ever striving for something that's like striving for the wind. You know, we're grasping ever for it and never reaching it. So what is true happiness? We have a happiness misunderstanding problem because of that. Because we know, we talked about in James, the problem with the misunderstanding of happiness. You know, happiness, there are four levels of happiness. But the problem is with happiness, one is the fact that this is the happiness of satisfying our own emotion, our own, like hunger and thirst, our own appetites. And the problem is that with our appetites, that we go find food, consume food, we're happy one. But if we eat food for any other reason than to satisfy our appetite, it's called an eating disorder. So it's unhappiness one. So you have to go to happiness two to satisfy that, you know, that longing. Happiness two is to say, oh, you can control or discipline your appetites. And that's like sports, you can discipline your body so that you can train to maintain a high level of whatever the sport activity is. And by doing so, by discipline your body, you satisfy those appetites, you know, to achieve what you really desire, and that's to win. So happiness two is if you win the game, but unhappiness two is to lose the game. So we're going to have happy two people at the Super Bowl and we're going to have unhappy two people at the game because they're the losers. But the problem with that is that there is a, in other words, the unhappy two people have to go to happiness three to overcome that unhappiness. And happiness three is to say that there is good in and of itself. You know, there's the good that we do in life is to do things that help other people to be better or to see a person in need and meeting those needs. For example, raising a child, you know, you see all the needs of the child and all of a sudden, you know, you realize that they start, you devote yourself and you invest your resources and your emotions to this person. And then they're raised very well. And what happens is they then they become of age to leave the home. They got their college degree or whatever degree they had or the training. And so they leave. And so now what happens? It's happiness three when you've done the good that you could do in a person's life. But the problem when it ends, then that's unhappiness three. So the only way that you can to get over that unhappiness is to go to happiness four. But that's the pursuit of happiness. And the problem is, with happiness four, it's not a pursuit. See, so it's politically incorrect to tell you what it is. But if you smile, I'll tell you what happiness four is. Okay. Happiness four is the gift, because what happens is happiness four is the fact that it's not happiness. That's a pursuit. It's joy. That's a gift. Does that make sense? So the joy that you have is because of the gift of grace from God for by grace, so you say through faith and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of worthless any man should boast because we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus. So receiving the gift of grace is giving us the gift of joy. See, so now joy is something then that we can, you know, appreciate, because now the joy that we have is not because we're pursuing a goal of being happy, because that's an unachievable goal, because it's beyond us, whether it's a degree that you're going through studies, or whether it's a life goals that you have. So now we realize that that's why we have a king who knows everything that's really unhappy. He's been out of shape because he has been pursuing happiness 123. And he knew God at the very beginning. Now, how did that happen? What do you all think? Why did he end up saying chapter one, verse one, all is vanity. Okay, as we think about that, I want to pray that God just oversee our time together, because this is a small group, so it's going to be great, because we can have lots of questions, a lot of interaction. And then after we pray, Chris, would you read the like the first, let's say the first few verses of chapter one of Ecclesiastes, just to get us in the door. So yeah, so why don't you read like the first eight verses, or nine verses of chapter one? Okay, I'll pray. Dear Lord, thank you so much for the study of Ecclesiastes. And as we look to your word and realize that you are the author and finisher of all things. And you're the author of this, the word that we're going to be studying through through Solomon. And dear Lord, we pray that you would help us to take your word in to our hearts. We pray specifically Psalm 91st 12 for us that you would help us to number each moment of every day, right, so that we would continue to gain a heart of wisdom. We pray that you'd help us to realize that things in life is not meaningless, but purposeful, and meaningful. And we pray that you would help us to, and we pray specifically, that you would help us to remember that the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, divides to the soul and the spirit, joins to the marrow, is the discerner of the motives and intents of the heart. And we pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. So Chris, would you read us the first nine verses of, what version are you reading? The travel Bible. Okay, go ahead. They have it blocked up, like they have it cordoned off to number 11. Okay, well go ahead and read the first 11 verses. Thanks. The words of the teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem. Meaningless, meaningless, says the teacher, utterly meaningless. Everything is meaningless. What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? Generations come, generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south, turns to the north, round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, and yet the sea is never full. To the place where the streams come from, they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough to see nor the ear, it still is hearing. What has been will be again. What has been done will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, look, this is something new. It was here already, long ago. It was here before our time. No one remembers former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them. Wow. It takes your breath away sometimes when you read something like that and you realize that the wisest king that ever lived is talking about an issue that is such a major, major issue in all of life. And that is the fact that things are vain, because he's talking about the cyclical aspect of life. And that is something that is really a problem. Have any of you heard of this saying that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny? It's one of the basic principles. Hey, lover, do you have my notebook over there? Oh, there it is. Is this really depressing sounding? It is very depressing. No, it's supposed to be sort of depressing, because the best is yet to come. Oh, thank you. The guy that wrote this, this is back in the 1800s. This is right around the time that a guy named Darwin wrote a book called Origin of Species. And the quote comes from a guy named Heichel. And Heichel was the guy that diagrams all of the drawings that Darwin stated in his book, Origin of Species. And it was a brilliant book. It's this wonderful book. The problem is, is that it misled us into thinking that evolution was the main focus of the way that how the body was developed. So the whole idea is that the embryological development of a person was developed by the fact that the issues that we have in life are caused because of walking by sight, and not by faith. And so this is called the recapitulation theory. Okay, we have long names for all the scientific stuff that we have. So it's a biogenetic law of embryology. It's called embryologic parallelism. Okay, the whole idea is, is that what Darwin stated in the Origin of Species is that the development embryologically of the different species, there are about seven, eight different species, they all went through similar developmental processes that were very similar. So as you went through embryological development, that he, he said that it would go through similar changes, so it would look the same. So that's why as we developed embryologically, that ultimately, a catfish became a man, okay. Okay, which we all know that the creational theory, we believe in creationism. And so that would be false. But what happened was, as he's writing the book, Heiko, he asked Heiko to do the diagrams. Okay, and Heiko made it such that the whole parallelism looked like it was very similar in development. So in other words, the whole idea of this organism, the development of the organism, is a recapitulation evolutionarily of the fact that it would end up as a advanced organism. Heiko knew that he fabricated the data, and Darwin knew that also, but Darwin published it anyway. So we're publishing a falsehood, all right. So that's what that, this whole idea of the recapitulation theory is, that we've been misled scientifically into thinking that something was true, you know, scientifically, but it was false, because the data was falsified. Okay, now even today in medicine, or as a physician, I get to read lots of articles, but the thing is, is that about 30% is fabricated. So now we see, we have a lot of data, but we see that we're misled in many ways. So now we see that now, what happens is, when you walk by sight and not by faith, it's a problem. Okay, so now we see that we're headed sometimes in a wrong direction, because sometimes we realize that we're misled in many ways. Now, how do you think the wisest king and man ever to planet Earth got misled? How did that happen? What are your thoughts? Women. Okay. I mean, that's what it says, that, you know, his, whatever, three billion women. Oh, you're, okay, that's an A-plus response. But you know, how is it that a woman figures this out now, see? He lost sight of his faith, and he started walking by sight. And then another A-plus response. Yeah. So now we realize that sometimes we're taken in by things that are not true. And so we know, so rationally, we say, well, there are certain truths that we have to live by. Now, is there something called rational, a, a absolute moral truth? Is there such a thing as that? Yeah. Good. Why do you say that? Because we have a Bible. Okay. Okay. Now, that's an A-plus infinity. Okay. So now, so now we realize that now we're headed in the right direction. But then there's that thing called that says that truth is relative. And that's even today. Okay. And that's what this Darwinistic theory says, you know, that's this whole idea of, of what Darwin is teaching in regard to, and this is in the 1800s. Okay. So we're being misled by the fact that now we're, we're being misled by, by relative truth and not absolute truth. So, and, and of course, there's arguments that support that. And so relative truth now is a problem. And why do we buy into relative truth today? Because by nature, we're feeling faithful to people and relative truth usually has a feel-good aspect to it. Yeah. Maybe it depends on the situation, like how we, we perceive and what we want it to be. Yes. Amen. The truth, you know, like, you're like, you're looking at them, looks pretty good to me. Sure. Sure. You know, that's, that's rationalizing that the relative truth that we see around us, we walk by, by sight and not by faith. And that's easy to do, isn't it? Because the fact is the world is very accepting of that. So now we realize that now we have a problem. And the problem is not only intellectual, it's also, you know, spiritual, spiritual problem. Because, you know, there's a I'm a Proverbs guy. So Proverbs 23, seven says that we, what, as we think heart, so are we. So the real us is the heart that thinks with their heart. See, the only transition and getting away from walking by sight, like Paul says it best, I think he says it in Romans 10, nine and 10, he says, if we believe in our heart, that Jesus is Lord, and confess with our mouth, he's raised from the dead will be saved, because of the heart that we believe and are made perfect with God and righteous with God. So mouth we confess and we're saved. So what he's saying is from what we say in our mouth, this emanates from our heart. Okay, now, how many of you have made a had an accident and you hit your finger with a hammer or something and where you stub your toe and it hurts like crazy, and something comes out that you never intended for it to come out? Okay, you're all smiling. So you're guilty, just like I am. All right. Or someone cuts you off in traffic. Okay. And then you say something that you shouldn't say. No, I say things like you stupid moron, you know, but actually should come back to me because I drive the same way. But you see how that happens. But what happens then is we're walking by sight, not and not by faith again. So you see that one of the things to think about, too, is when we look at the New Testament, first, john chapter two, it says that the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is a problem, because that's what the world looks like. See, walking by against sight. See, so so we have a problem that we see we get into trouble that way. So the idea, though, is the fact that the purpose of examining this kind of perspective is the fact that, that we really want to examine microscopically, what's happening to the heart, because normally we walk by sight. So we're looking through the telescope, what's happening in the world. But God says, I want you to change your perspective of changing your perspective from a worldly perspective to a eternal perspective. So when we start looking at life eternally, then what happens is we come to a conclusion like Solomon does at the end of Ecclesiastes. You know, I'm going to give you the good part now, because the best is yet to come. But it's chapter 12. This says, and here's the conclusion. Okay. Fear God and obey his commandments. Okay. Now the reason he says fear, the fear God, he's known in Proverbs, it says, what does it say about what the fear of the Lord does? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of, you all are right. The beginning of the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. This is in Proverbs 1, 7. In Proverbs 9, 10, it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Now we realize that the only understanding we can have that's true and right is from God and his word. So A plus to infinity, you all, so you're on the right track. I should really have you all teach this class because this is a fun part of it because we have to go through all of the world's reasons for not believing in God. Okay. Because, you know, you see, when we look at the book of Ecclesiastes, the book of Ecclesiastes is what atheists take, like Voltaire takes, and he says, well, there are so many contradictions that are brought forth in Ecclesiastes that the word of God must be not right, not true. And is that valid? And the answer is not really. Okay. Because they have used God's word and just taken partial of the word and using that for their own purposes. Now, that's what Satan does. Okay. Remember when Jesus is in the wilderness for 40 days, 40 nights, and he's hungry and thirsty. And so Satan comes to Jesus and says, well, you turn these stones into bread. I'll believe that you are God. Okay. And so what did Jesus respond? He said, you can't live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the word of God. Okay. Plus. Okay. Because now we realize that the word of God, that's the response to Satan's approach to life, life's dilemmas. And this book is full of dilemmas. Okay. So that's why we want to sort of address that as a Satan's ploy to try to bring us into. Yes. I was just thinking, you know, when we have problems of what the first thing we usually do, we just say, Lord, help me pray and say, help us. And when Jesus came out of the wilderness, back a long time ago, he just came to me. He didn't say heavenly father. He didn't pray. He spoke the word, you know, get me behind me. It is written. He spoke the word. Amen. He didn't pray. And most of us, Lord, help us. And he spoke the word. Yes. And the reason for that, he was, he is the word, you know, John one, one Jesus, you know, and that's so neat. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. He became flesh and dwelt among us to do one thing. He did one thing. He came to serve, not to be served and to become a ransom for our imperfection. And yes. A long time ago when I was much younger, you know, I was very Baptist. And so I thought, can you speak to the devil? I just didn't know. And then it was some type of fear or something that the children were young. And so I just remember that, you know, it is written, God has not given us a period of fear, but lost power, power, love, and a sound mind. And it was there and I just spoke that word, you know, I don't know what the fear was, but it was so fearful. And I thought, can you speak the word to the devil? And Jesus did that. And it really spoke to me. And, and when I did, I actually, I just actually saw something kind of dark and never came back again. Sure. Sure. But I didn't know that. And that's, and that's exactly right. Because now we realize that, that we only have, you know, there, Carol just, you know, epitomized and paraphrased Ephesians six, and also second Peter chapter, chapter one, verse seven, you know, which says, God is not the author of fear, but of power of love and a sound mind. So the sound mind principle comes from God's work. And so your response was very appropriate. And the other thing is that we only have, you know, the taking upon ourselves the full armor of God, you know, is Ephesians chapter six, which is 10 through 20. And, you know, there are five defensive pieces of armor, and there are two offensive weapons. Okay. And the two offensive weapons you referred to, both of those, sword of the spirit, which is the word of God and prayer. Amen. A plus infinity. So now we realize that there's how we are able to bring into reality, the fact that what God wants us to do is to realize that when we see the ploys of Satan to distract us, and to take us out of a walk with the Lord, you know, because we realize that there's only three things that God asks of us. And what does the Lord require of us? Micah 6, 8. He asks us, first of all, to live justly, to love his merciful kindness or grace, and then to walk humbly with the Lord. See, so a humble walk of the Lord always walks, you know, a walk that is honoring, glorifying to him. So, you know, this is where the best is yet to come when we do it that way, God's way. Now, Solomon chose not to do it that way, because he chose because of, now what, what did these women that he'd married, he married 700 wives, what did they bring into his household? He, yeah, idolatry, right? They brought into his household, cherubim, which are household idols. So as a consequence of worshiping God, he worshiped idols. And so that took him down a downward spiral. And, yeah, so now he's, at the end of all that, he's saying, you know, that's, you know, that's a real, a real problem. So there are, the word vanity means empty, meaninglessness, purposelessness, and that's used 37 times in the book of Ecclesiastes. And another key, key phrase is, under the sun, and that's used 29 times. Under the sun means he's looking at life, but what he sees in life, he's walking by sight again, and not by faith. So we see that then we realized that now he's gone down a very dark, dark trail in life. Now, we could have probably interrupted him and his, he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, said, you know what, I think we probably ought to reconsider, and reconsider his path, and tell him, but, but you see all, as you read Ecclesiastes, you'll see every, every now and then God will just sort of say, well, this is a gift of God, this is a gift of God. He repeats that term, but I think one of the major turning points is the time chapter, chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes. He says, in chapter 3, verse 11, he says, God has made everything beautiful in its time, and he's placed eternity in the hearts of all men. So Pascal says it best, he says, God has placed a, a God-shaped vacuum in every heart, and only God can fill that vacuum, like Pascal says. So therefore, when we look and seek after God, then what happens, he fills that vacuum in our hearts. And so that's why the heart is so important. So let's look at, I think I'm going to have to start this lesson, I don't think David's going to come. Yeah, so, so when everything seems meaningless, it's according to Solomon, of course, in Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 1.1, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem, and the word is koheles. It's a Hebrew word that means preacher, and, or teacher. And the thing is that, what does he have to preach? No, because he's now, he's coming to the assembly to say, you know, I really, really have something to tell you. And it really is a, a preaching to himself, actually. And so it's a debate that he's having with himself. And the topic, you know, is the fact that he is looking at life and the conclusions that he has in this assembly and talking to the people and saying that, I don't think that life is worthwhile. I think life is vain. And, you know, so it talks about the things about, about him. And, you know, some of you already looked at some of the notes on 1 Kings chapter three, you know, he asked for wisdom. So God gave him everything that he had to govern the nation Israel well, but not only all the wisdom to govern the nation Israel, but all the trappings that came with it, the money, the fame, the name, everything else. And so he built temples, he built palaces, he built shifts, he built gardens, he built, you know, zoos. He had a great army and great horses, 20,000 horses. And so he, and he was rich with gold. He had everything. And so now we see that he then set up this whole idea of taxation. So he had plenty of money and he taxed all of his, all of the districts of the nation Israel. And he had all these wives and 700 wives, 300 concubines. And so as a consequence, you know, he, he, Deuteronomy 17, he totally disobeyed God. So now we see that what a disobedient person looks like, you know, and the good side of that is John 14, 21 says, he that has my commands and keeps them, he, it is that loves me. And he that loves me will be loved by the father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. So the whole idea is that we see that the blank pieces in the first section is the term carries the word, coalesce, carries the meaning of a debate within oneself. And then the conclusion that he's reached it, that's less blank. And then the Greek term for assembly is ecclesia, which gives the English title to the book of Ecclesiastes. So it's a, it is an assembly that he's speaking to, and that's assembly of his people, which the son of David reigned as the king in Jerusalem. And that is, that's Solomon. So asking for wisdom, building all that he built on setting up all the taxation processes and having all these wives. So how is it defined? Ecclesiastes one, two, vanity of vanity says the preacher, all is vanity. And hovel in, in Hebrew is translated vanity. And it's also translated as uselessness and uselessness is, is the other meaninglessness and nonsense and absolute fertility of our trying to live a life without God, a life of foolishness, a fool like some 14, one says a fool says in his heart, there is no God. And also in Psalm 53 one. So if we live a life, as if there's no God, what happens is it has the meaning of emptiness, you know, and futility. The word vapor means that it's, it's empty. It's like a bubble. And so when you have like a soap bubble, you know, you're, you're, you're happy that little thing that they have this little thing that you blow and it has these little bubbles. So what happens is if you, if you feel that bubble to beyond this capacity, then what happens at birth and what do you have left is nothing. So the emptiness, that's what that, you know, that hovel means is that it's vanity and empty. And it does not satisfy, you know, there's no satisfaction in it because we realize that everything is useless and empty. And it's used, vanity is used 38 times in Ecclesiastes. And what's missing when everything you do is meaningless, and that's God and his will. See, the eternal purposes of God are so valued. And so like Proverbs, let's see, Proverbs, it's coming to me. The verse I'm thinking of, it says, there's no wisdom, no plan, no purpose that can succeed against the Lord. Did I ring a bell with anybody? I think it's 2130. I better check. But, you know, I'm thinking, you know, that's why when we look at life without God, that he takes away the meaning of life. And so, yeah, you're right. 2130. Oh, really? There's no wisdom or understanding or something that can prevail against the Lord. Oh, thank you. Which version is that? The Amplified Version. Okay, that's good. That's still an A-plus version. Any version is fine, I think. The only one that, you know, comes into question is sometimes I have a friend that is sold on King James, okay? And some of us are, and that's not a bad thing, because the book of the King James Version is a direct translation from Latin to English, and the Latin Vulgate. And, yes. It's a canonical version, it's not copyrighted. Yes, that's good. That's a great point. It doesn't have to be copyrighted. Yes, that's great. But, you know, we see that who are we depending upon when we live a meaningless life, see? We're depending on ourselves, see? So now we see that that's a dead end street. Crash and burn every time. So, you know, I think in my years in medicine, it's been a problem because of the fact that we study so hard, all of us who have been in the discipline of medical degrees, is that we study really hard. And we learn all this information. And some of my, I've been mentoring some medical students that are taking an exam, actually today. And they have a step exam where, in order to get to the next phase in their medical training, they have to pass this test. And when I was going to medical school way back before you were born, we only had one test. And that was at the end of the medical training, just to give us a license to practice medicine. If you don't pass, you don't get to practice medicine. So that's basically what it was. But now they have tests at every step of the way. So you have to pass each step to be able to progress on through your medical training. And then once you pass all your tests, then they have these recertification examinations every 15 years, 10 or 15 years, and you have to pass that. Now for me, in orthopedics, I have been grandfathered in. So they feel like I'm so dumb that I don't have to redo these tests. And so, because I've forgotten more than I ever learned anyway. But, but you know, that's what medicine is all about. More and more, faster and faster, and there's no way that we can keep up. And so sometimes we feel, you know, that, that it's, it's an endless process. It's an empty process because of the fact that there's more and more to learn. And we don't have enough time or the energy to continue on. So the idea is, well, why don't we just throw up our hands and quit? But God's Word says, don't quit. You know, that's the, that's the idea of what even Solomon in Ecclesiastes is saying, don't quit. And the reason for that, he's saying that, that I like all these women, quotes are really great. Elmer, Elmer Roosevelt is one of the best quotes in that. And that quote came from the panda, the panda, Kung Fu Panda. But there's a quote from her from many years ago. She says, the panda wants to quit and give up trying to become a Kung Fu master. And she says, well, and so the shifu, the teacher says, don't quit. Because the past is history. The future is a mystery. But today is a gift. And that's why they call it the present. See, that's Elmer Roosevelt's quote. But see, we don't quit because today is the gift that God gives. So the prayer that we have is Psalm 90, 12. It's the only, the only mosaic Psalm in all of Psalms. And Moses prays this prayer. He says, I pray that you would help us to number each one with a very good day aright, so that we will gain a heart of wisdom. So the heart of wisdom is really where we springboard into life itself. And so now, Solomon is opening that little window to say, you know, what we need to pray for is God's wisdom. And that's a gift from God, as well, the time that he gives us is a gift. So now we realize that when we describe what vanity looks like, how does God describe it? And says, what advantage does man have in all his work, which he does under the sun? And the Hebrew word is yitron. And yitron, and it is translated advantage. It is also translated profit or gain, or excellency, better, surplus. It basically means that which is left over. And it's used 10 times in Ecclesiastes, yitron. So what advantage do we have that's left over for all of our work? And to have that which is left over is really saying that, you know, now, Romans has a nice response to that. In Romans 5, he says, be thankful in your suffering, because suffering produces what? Perseverance, A plus. And perseverance produces what? A plus again. And perseverance produces what? And hope, yes, another A plus. And hope produces what? Something that never fails. Yes, it's that love of God that's bountifully poured into our heart by the power of God's Holy Spirit. Still an A plus, okay. By the power of God's Holy Spirit. See, we see now that the power that we have to be able to withstand what Solomon succumbed to. See, Solomon succumbed to the fact that he chose to walk by sight and not by faith. So now we realize that the only way that we can combat that issue is the fact that we have the power of God's Spirit to guide us and to help us, to empower us to overcome that which it overcomes us in life. So it's the trident of God. God the Father initiates His love and grace. God the Son mediates His love and grace. And God the Holy Spirit potentiates it and makes it real. So you see what Solomon is telling us to do, even here within the first three verses of James, as he's saying now, what I want you to consider is I want you to know who you are in Christ Jesus. You know, in Christ, we're new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. So he's interested in transformation, not just information to tell us where we're going wrong and things like this. And all of us know that we go wrong every single day. So we're always praying, right? Because we have to. I think I pray that one all the time. I'm always asking God to forgive me first down one night. But you see, the main thing that causes us not to just survive in life, but to thrive in life, is that wonderful option and opportunity that we have to pray. See, now we realize that, hmm, what's ahead for me then? The best is yet to come. And that's more Jesus in our heart. See, so even though Solomon is looking at life pretty negatively, it's pretty sad, right? Because there are a lot of things that are not quite right in the world. Lots of barnyard fertilizer to distract us and to actually destroy us. But now Satan is saying, okay, I'm throwing this little wrench in your gears so you'll mess up again and again. But you see, the point is that God says, no. You see, that requires a thing called humility. So to change from just survival mode to thriving mode, God says, I want you to choose because I give grace only to the humble, to humble yourself under God's mighty hand so that he may lift you up in due time, casting all your care upon him because he cares for us. See, Peter's answer. Now, Peter's the guy that messed up, remember? He's the one that said, oh, I'll never deny you. And Jesus says to him before he denies him, before the cock crows, you're going to deny me three times? No, no, I'm not. You're my best friend. So after he denies Jesus three times, he wept because he realized that he did this all out of pride, just reactionary, because he wanted to show Jesus how much of a great friend he wanted to be to Jesus because that's the way Jesus was to him. Now, when we tell Jesus, I'm going to do this, that, or the other thing by making a vow. Now, the problem is that those vows are sometimes empty. They're vain because of the fact that we're promising him that we're going to do this in the flesh. See, he's making the point now through Solomon that anything that we vow or commit to God in the flesh is not worth anything. It's meaningless and empty. Making sense so far? So now he's saying, okay, now all the way I want you to consider this is the only way that you can do this to get you out of a downward spiral that leads you to misery and to just into the worst barnyard fertilizer that you can have to feel like your life is not worth living. See, and that's Elias, the pillar of hell. He's saying that you will never get out of this rat hole in life. But God, see, through Peter reminds us that after we resist the devil, God says, I want you to remember this, that the God of all grace who's called us to his eternal glory, that after we've suffered a while, he'll restore us and complete and perfect us and make us firm, strong and steadfast in him. Yeah, see, now we realize, now we realize that now the point that we have that Solomon is making is that he's worked to the bone. He's exhausted. He's tired and weary of having to work so hard to achieve all the things that he's achieved. You know, how many of us have worked so hard and studied so hard and be, you know, just done everything that we could possibly do to make, make the world know that, that we can be trusted. Okay. And the question is, can we be trusted in and of ourselves? We have that question, right? So in and of ourselves, no, can't because there's no, we can't be perfect. The only perfection that we have is by grace through faith. See, when we do grace through faith, then we have a thing called compassion that only God can give. We open our heart to him. And what he brings into our heart is the love that we're talking about in Romans 5, 3, the best that God gives us is himself. So what would God ask us to do in the time when we're the most empty and when we feel the most valueless and when we feel the most useless and we feel the most vain? See, who do we offer? Here we are empty. We're like nothing, see, but I like Andrew Murray's rendering of this. He says, when we become nothing, God becomes everything. See, now, we realize this is where God wants us to go with Solomon. He wants us to feel the emptiness and the uselessness and total exhaustion of ourselves. We're down on our knees and on our faces before God and saying, God, help me. And that's where Solomon is. Now it gets better because he's giving us the reason why that this is such an important issue. Because you see, the word that he uses for toil and work is amal. That means that we're working to the bone. All that we got, we're giving to him. And the point is, is that we can work to the bone to exhaustion and we're weary and miserable because we've given it our best shot and yet we feel like it's not good enough. And is the work that we do ever going to be good enough? No. A plus to infinity. Because now we realize, what do we have to offer God that's worthwhile? Nothing, except ourselves. You see, but when we offer ourselves, we're so precious to God and so valuable to God that what is God going to do? He's going to give us more of himself to us so we can do that, which is impossible for us to do in and of ourselves. What was impossible for us, Luke 1.37, is possible with you. So you've got, okay, a plus to infinity. See, because now we realize that where Solomon is leading us is to think with our heart where he is. And he is opening the floodgates of grace to us, not knowing it yet that he's going to do this in 12 chapters. Okay, so it's better to walk through this study together because now we realize that he's confessing as a cynic. He's confessing because he's living a life now that's meaningless and empty and vain without God. So now we say, okay, where do we go from here? He's saying, hmm. So under the sun, he's 12, 28 times or 29 times is that it goes along with under heaven. You know, he's looking from the human perspective and God wants us to look through an eternal perspective. So when we look through the temporal or human perspective, it is lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. Pride is the undertow of what's happening to the human heart. And that's when we start looking at life from the temporal perspective. So the only way that we can get out of that rat hole is to change our view of God and ourselves. So true humility is becoming nothing before God. Then he becomes everything. So now we realize that now when we look at that and we realize that that changes the perspective from a human perspective to an eternal perspective and the eternal perspective says to us, how does God view us now? See, he sees us as perfect and he sees us as precious and valuable beyond measure. And all it takes is doing what Abraham did. Abraham believed God and God counted that for him for righteousness. Genesis 15.6. Also Galatians 5.6. See, I'm sorry, Galatians 3.6. Now the thing is that he's saying to us through Paul, through Peter, and through all of the wonderful men of God, that the value and significance of life is God giving us the gift of life. That we can make life so wonderful and so valuable that he says, I will help you to be all who I want you to be. See, that's Romans 8.28.29. God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. And verse 29 says, for whom he foreknew, he also predestined for us to be what? Conformed to the end. That's an A. A plus to infinity. When we're more like God, then what happens is transformation. And that's what he wants. He doesn't want to have more information here. He wants us to change from the inside out. See, now this is where prayer comes in, time of prayer and meditation. So now we come to the fun part of the study. See, so when Solomon, who had an abundance of every needed resource given to him by God, you know, while approaching the end of his life, he paused and reflected on his life's experiences, priorities, and achievements. And he lamented that all of the effort, along with all the accomplishments. And, but because of that, he had accompanying grief and misery and weariness to find meaning and purpose and satisfaction, fulfillment in life apart from God. See, and when you do that, it's worthless and empty. It's of no eternal significance or value and a big waste of the life that God has given him. So why do many people today see life as meaningless and futile? That's right. You know, because when life becomes futile, you know, there's no hope, right? Disappointment, disillusionment, depression. So now we see where it's a downward spiral in life. Then we realize that when there's no hope, then we see that, hmm, where do we get hope? Pardon? Yes. Amen. Amen. A plus infinity. So, you know, so when we have despair, now you've seen what happens in the world today, right? You know, when people are in despair and despondent, you know, in medicine, we see a lot of suicides done, medically speaking, by taking overdoses, driving their car into bridge abutments, jumping off bridges, taking a gun to their head. And we see the futility of life has become such that life becomes worth, not worth living. And is that really true? See, is that really true? It's not, is it? See, because every life is valuable to God. You know, in medicine, we're dealing with this issue of abortion. You know, there's a lot of controversy about that. And there's good arguments on both sides. But the point is, is that God says in the Hippocratic Oath, I will do no abortion or refer to anyone who does. And I will do no euthanasia or refer to anyone who does. Okay. That's the Hippocratic Oath. How did he know that thousands of years ahead of time? And he's a Greek. He's a Greek polytheist. How did he know that life was really valuable? Hippocrates. Hippocrates. Yeah. Did he specifically talk about euthanasia and abortion? Yes, he did. And now the question is, how many medical schools take it now, currently? One. One in the whole nation. See, now we realize it's a problem, isn't it? It's a real problem. There's only one medical school in the country that takes abortion seriously. The abolishment of abortion seriously. That's Loma Linda. And you think that the Catholic schools or the universities would take things more seriously like that. But the thing is, you know, that we have a lot of controversy in medicine because of that. So we have a lot of division. And what does God call for? See, Augustine said, he said that what I want you to know is that in essentials, unity, in non-essentials, liberty, but in all things, charity, love. See, love is the answer to, agape love is the answer to all of our dilemmas that we have in life. See, and so the alternatives to despair, death versus life, you know, the alternatives that we have, you know, we realize that everybody's going to die. Some people choose to say, well, I'll choose to die when I want to die and do suicide or have suicidal tendencies. But, you know, when we do that, you know, that's a position of pride to control our own lives. And see, that's a problem that we see in Judges 21-25, which says in those days there was no God. So they did what was right in their own eyes. See, God wanted a theocracy in the book of Judges, but the people wanted a king. And since there was no king, they decided to do what was right in their own eyes. And so that we see that's happening today. Did some of you see the President Biden's talk the other day? Did you? Okay. But I humbly disagree with you about people with suicidal tendencies being a pride thing. Because I can personally attest to having, especially as a teenager, problems with depression and suicide. And it wasn't a pride thing. It was a, I just wanted the king dead. Oh, okay. And so that's not why. Sure. And that's a valid response. You know, from my perspective, as a physician, you know, people want to take their responsibility of their life in their own hands. And that's what I see as a position of pride. So that was the reason for saying it. But no, what you just said was very valid. Because you get to the point where that's what despair is. So you just don't know where to go from that. But, you know, and I'm glad we're talking about this because we're going to talk about this more as we go along. Because we realize that when we become, now what Solomon is doing is he's talking in terms of philosophical aspects of life. So when we talk about philosophy, you know, philos meaning love, and sophie, the love of wisdom. Now we realize that now we're talking about the issues that we have to do where rubber meets the road. How do we deal with that? Because, you know, that's a valid feeling. Okay. Now we, granted, we have to say, well, do we walk by feelings or sight or do we walk by faith? So now we have to make that decision. And that's a decision of the heart. How do we come to that conclusion is really where we're headed with this, this whole, this whole process. But I think that one of the major things that we have to do is we have to talk about the emotional quotient of life. The emotional quotient of life is exactly what you just said. So you hit it right, nailed it right. Because now we realize that now we do have a choice in life. And some people choose not so well. One of my really good friends decided to take a gun. And, but there were issues. And he was in despair, just like you, you're thinking. He was in despair because he left a really good relationship with his wife, because he was a member of Jehovah's Witnesses. And he was a leader in this camp. And he became a Christian. And everybody in the camp turned away from him. They just, his wife, whom he loved dearly, just said, you're no longer my husband. I want you out of my life. And so total rejection. He couldn't handle that rejection. He said, better off dead. Now he's a Christian now. How do Christians then rationalize or deal with that issue? See, he's in heaven now. Okay. But the point. Oh yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. A plus. The whole table gets an A plus here. But, but you know, the whole idea is, is that now we get to face it. We don't have to run from it. Now the problem is my friend decided to isolate. That's my favorite proverb. Proverbs 18, one says a man who isolates himself, seeks his own desires and his heart rages against all wise judgment. See a man who isolates himself, seeks his own desires. See, that's a prideful thing. That's a pride thing that he didn't understand that at the time, but he's just a brand new Christian. So it's really hard to deal with that. But the point is how do you face the giants in life? See, so the closing thought is to, to have the courage to face the giants in life. Peter answered this. No, we studied back a while ago. Second Peter chapter one. He said, I want you to know how to deal with life so that not only do you survive in life, but you thrive in life. He says, I want you because I've given you my love. I've given you my fruit of the spirit. You know, Galatians five, I've given you my wisdom from above James 3, 17. You know, I've given all that to you. Now I want you to be diligent to add to your faith. The first thing is virtue. Having the courage to excel in life. See that takes courage to do that. But where does that courage come from? It comes from him. See, Joshua 1, 8, 9 says this book of the law should not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate there in day and night. For then you will be able to do all that is written therein. For then I, God shall make your way prosperous or blessed. And I shall give you good success. Be strong, fear not for I will be with you wherever you go. Now we have to see, we have to take that verse and we have to say, well, how am I going to deal with that? See, we either do it with him or we choose to do it on our own. See that, that tension. So now we're going to, we're going to deal with that because that's one of the major emotional portions of all of life. And we're all responsible for what our choices are. See, and that's the neat thing about life. Now Jesus says in John 8, 31, he says, if you hold to my teaching, you will truly be my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free to make a decision that's with me and not against me. That's close. To be continued, to be continued. We're just getting our feet wet here, but I, but I, but you know, I think that y'all realize that we're going to be able to discuss some really difficult questions. I mean, we don't want to run from them. We want to face them. And how do we face it with the Lord is very key. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you so much for this time together in the study of Ecclesiastes. And we do pray that you would help us to, to just like the Psalm 90, 12 prayer from Moses. Dear Lord, help us to number each moment of everyday life so we'll continue to gain a heart of wisdom. We pray for wisdom from above for each of us. That's first of all, pure and peaceable, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, full of good fruit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, impartial and sincere. We pray that you help us ever remember that the only thing that counts is faith in you expressing itself through love. So help us to speak your truth in love to everyone that we meet and greet and serve. And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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