Good morning, everybody. We are good to be back. I miss you guys. And we're back in Ecclesiastes. If you will turn to that and let's get let's get going. Go back at the top here. Ecclesiastes 8 verses 14 through 17. We'll start with that. There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this is also vanity. And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful. For this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun. When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on the earth, how neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out. Praise the Lord for his word. And again, that was Ecclesiastes chapter 8, verses 14 through 17. So, one of the ways that you can see that Christianity is true, and I think we're all on apologetics, especially in a culture where the hits are coming at us fast and furious, is mankind is constantly trying to set up a humanistic state, a humanistic worldview. Everyone has asked the question, whom will you serve? What is ultimate? So I'm going to use the term Christian philosophy again and again today. And what I'm saying is that you have to have a theory of ultimacy. What is ultimate? What's the final standard? Okay, you have to have a theory of knowledge or epistemology. Where does knowledge come from? How do we know anything? And then a theory of ethics. What's good and evil? What's beautiful and what's not beautiful? And so metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics are always running in the background. We can't think without them. R.C. Sproul would say everyone's a theologian. Cunelius Van Til would say everyone has a set of presuppositions. Okay? Well, what Solomon does right here is he says, man's not going to find it out. And not only is he not going to find it out, Greg Monson says everything that man says outside of scripture is arbitrary. Because they're running in the background. Remember, metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics are running in the background. You have a theory of ultimacy, you have a standard. You have a theory of where knowledge comes from. You have a theory of what's right and wrong. And the fun thing about this, every time we get the legalities of it with Bobby Goes True, is that these things are running in the background, and they're fully arbitrary, and you can reduce them to their absurdity. For example, take the word tolerance today. If tolerance must mean that you champion someone else's worldview, in particular, a type of worldview, that in this case, let's say, transgenderism, you not only must say the Christian view is being told that you're hateful if you disagree with them. So you either have to advocate for them or you're hateful. And of course, that's illogical. That's a false dilemma. The Christian worldview is that you love them in Christ. You share the gospel with them. You adhere to the fact that the creature created a distinction. Everyone's made in the image of God, but you tell them there's sin there. You don't hate them. You love them. Love your enemies. You never advocate for any violence to be done to them. That's the Christian worldview. That's the Christian philosophy. Their worldview is you have to champion what they're doing. Boy, that's hate. But you can't apply that very philosophy of tolerance back around. Well, you're hating me, right? You're hating me. And it also doesn't make any sense with Darwinism, which is their basic metaphysic. Everything is accidental. Darwinism is their base. Everyone's got that running in the background. Everybody evolved. Well, if everyone evolved, what's with all the ethics? Do you realize that what's going on in culture is in an election year, a bunch of Republicans are going to lose political debates on moral grounds to people who don't believe in morality. That's pretty funny. Right? I mean, that's like losing a boxing match to a dude with no arms. You've got to really work hard to do that. And you're doing that because we have rejected God's moral law, God's word, as the standard of everything. And so we're fighting their fight. So Greg Bonson, the disciple of Aquinas Vantil, of course a disciple of Christ, would say that's the myth of neutrality. Never start midstream and engage the culture on its own terms. Though the Antillian apologetic, the reformed apologetic coming to his own is a nuclear strength apologetic which just blows up everybody's worldview. By what standard? You can just walk around and just do that all day long. By what standard? By what standard? Everyone is making a philosophical presupposition or argument based on what is ultimate, how do they know anything, and what's good and evil. And no one wants to talk about it because of why. Not because they can't, but because they dare not do it. If they do it, it's gonna sound pretty bad. I'm the final senator, right and wrong. I just know. And my happiness is my highest good. And if you get in my way, look out. That's why there's conflict. Enmity between God and man, unless that's settled through Jesus Christ at the cross, there will forever be enmity between all of us. That's the message here. So Solomon says right here, you're not going to find it out. No matter how much you toil, you're not going to find it out. He says there's mystery in life. Now, if that's wrong, somebody would have figured it all out by now, wouldn't they? There's a lot of big guns facing the Bible. They're trying to punch holes in it. They can't do it, can they? The foolishness of man, based on a flawed presupposition, right? If you get in a car and you go like, OK, vacation time, let's go down to Orlando. We're going to go to go to Magic Kingdom. And you get in the car, and somebody asks you, well, are we passing by Atlanta? I have no idea. Huh? I have no idea. I just started driving. You don't know if we're going to pass by Atlanta? Beats me. Oh, maybe we will. Oh, look, there's a sign for Philadelphia. That's the way most people are living philosophically. They're just driving along, hoping it'll come to them. And so we're out there saying, repent. Jesus Christ is the only way. So Solomon's mode of expression is, at first glance, pessimistic. It looks pessimistic. And I think that's one of the problems with reading Ecclesiastes, is it sounds pessimistic. But we've got to be aware of that. We should be on guard against the emotionalism of our day. That is the subjective nature of modern life. I, of course, in teaching, I ask people some questions sometimes. And every time somebody says, I feel, I walk up to them and poke them. Did you feel that? I don't care what you feel. What do you think? Okay, and this is all over the place. A bit of my little joke. I don't care what you feel. I tell them all the time. Are your feet itchy? Right? Are you a little hot, a bit warm? Maybe you have a headache. One may feel quite well while falling from a great height. Right? You're going to feel great, especially if you're a thrill seeker. It's the sudden stop at the bottom that's going to stink. Your feelings are not tools of cognition. They have no power over reality. We all know that. We're supposed to know that. But that sudden stop is a reality that Solomon keeps hitting us with. So anyway, Solomon lays down a beautiful hammer of Christian stoicism. Now, I'm going to ancient stoicism in Greece, Marcus Aurelius, and the Romans, and Seneca, that virtue is the good that we're pursuing. Now, some Christians, especially when Christianity basically took over Rome in about the 4th century, 5th century, Stoicism sort of fell out, but they had a lot of parallels in that you couldn't put all of your hope in outward things. You had to have emotional maturity to handle the ups and downs of life. You had to have emotional control. Today we use Stoicism as sort of like the stiff upper lip, don't be emotional. But the ancient Stoics basically thought that virtue was its own highest good. To live well, you had to live with virtue and develop virtue and you had to be prepared for life to sometimes just basically sink. So in light of John Piper writing about Christian hedonism, I'm taking that and saying Christian Soicism. Okay, so virtue is not the highest good, Christ is. And so his righteousness is the highest good and it's imputed to us through faith alone. So that's going to be running in our background the whole time of the Christian story. So Christian philosophy is the great truth of life in Jesus Christ. It's not mindless or impersonal fate. We're not taking things because that's just the way it is. This is why we have a great joy and we see beauty both in the sunsets and the beach and bad rainstorms. We'll see that God has made everything beautiful in his time and that is amazing. No matter what he does, he does it well. He does it well. We just heard that a few weeks ago in a sermon. Solomon wants us to know the truth, and this truth sets us free. We should enjoy our lives, truly and completely, without guilt, reservation because those things are all at the foot of the cross and we're forsaking sin we're leaving sin behind because they're gifts from the Most High God so he's not saying eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die he's saying enjoy your life eat drink and be merry because Christ died for you you have life in Christ totally different story it's not oh it just is what it is so our lives are aren't mere accidents as one One of my favorite theologians said, your thoughts are not brain farts. I'm still a 12 year old boy in my soul, so anytime I hear that word I giggle. Anyway, that got my attention. Our lives and loves and struggles aren't in vain so long as they're in Christ who has saved us to himself, to himself. He hasn't saved us, it's like DMV gives you a driver's license and off you go. And that uses a number. He saved you to Himself for true fellowship. And everything that you're aching, every part of your life that's flawed, that is hurting, is because you're made for Him. That's the other big message of the Christian Soixsism. So, are we going to be able to make sense of all this? Well, right now, we're probably doing it right now. Your mind is probably whirring. Now, let's be on our powers. Is the truth logical positivism? Is it Marx's dialectical materialism? Is it existentialism? Transgenderism? Were you born in the wrong body? All this stuff, all those things that are haunting the culture. The story of the so-called great philosophers, all the way, you know, Socrates, Hegel, whoever, nobody figured it out. Nobody has figured it out. It's right here in the word, which is why we respect the word. We're humble before the word. and we love the Lord in his word, man can't figure it out. So that no human being might boast in the presence of God, and because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1, verses 29 through 31. So yeah, be prepared for mystery. We're like privates, and corporals, and sergeants, and so forth, depending on where we are in the church. But the commanding officer isn't going to bring us into his office and tell us everything he's doing. We're not going to know all that. That's the idea of the end of Romans 11. For from him, and through him, and to him are all things. Who's known the mind of the Lord? The real problem comes in because we're demanding full, comprehensive knowledge of things. The philosophers start with, I want to try to make sense of something. You look at what Hegel did, you look at what Descartes did. I think therefore I am. So again, he just drops metaphysics completely. Where did everything come from? Well, I know this truly. I think therefore I must exist. There's vanity in that. That's what Solomon is saying. There's vanity in vexation. So what, Descartes? You're going to die. That's what he hits him back with. The great king is in charge and this is enough so we see the world as always through his lens and through scripture. So here's a couple of essentials of the Christian philosophy that Ecclesiastes is presenting. Now you might be wondering why I'm doing this now instead of in chapter 12 because this is a great summation as he just did. You're going to see a lot of pain and disappointment and injustice in this world. He repeats the same thing here as he did at the end of chapter 2 when he showed hedonism is not the path forward. And he's going to wrap it up in the geyser chapter in chapter 12. The geyser chapter is when you start getting old and everything's starting to ache, and before you can't hear anymore. And the almond tree blossoms. Wonderful poetry. You're gray-haired. Somebody sent me a photo of myself from about 14 years ago, and I didn't think I'd look that much older. Man. And I'm preparing this at the same time going, God is not mocked indeed. So here are the essentials, ready? Number one essential is the fear of the Lord is both the purpose and power of human life. It is both the purpose and the power of human life. We can't be wise if we miss this most elemental thing, and that's what Christian presuppositionalism tells you. If we're not assuming God's word is true at the bottom of everything in the glory of God, what's the purpose of life? To glorify God and enjoy him forever? Chapter 12, verse 1, we have to remember our Creator in everything that we do. Verses 13 and 14, the end of the matter, all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Number two, our lives are short and sometimes brutal. Now this is not going through a marketing campaign right here. No one's going to sit down and say, you know, look at the number of things Jesus says. He is not trying to win friends and influence people. He skipped Dale Carnegie's book right there. He's not. He's laying it down. Your life, our lives, are going to be brutal sometime. And they're short. Terribly short. Ecclesiastes 9, verse 3, this is an evil and all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Buddhism avoids this. It starts with life as suffering. Solomon would come back and go, yeah, well, so what? You avoid suffering right now, you know you're going to die. What's up with that? Also, the hearts of the children of men are full of evil and madness is in their hearts while they live. And after that, they go to the dead. That's not, you're not putting that on a church bulletin. When I'm driving down Devonshire Road and I see these nice happy little things on Pelham Road about the church stuff, that one's never been on it. Never been on it. Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good, do not all go to one place. Again, that's chapter 6, verse 6. So what? Even if you live a very long life, how much do we lament when somebody dies young? Oh, that was too young. I saw somebody die the other day at 42 years old. That's so young. That's so young. Solomon would say, who cares if he lived 400 years? He's still dead. You're going to the same place. Be your God. Keep His commandments. This is the whole duty of man. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness, and yet I perceive that the same event happens in them all. He's just keep punching us in the face with this. He's not backing down. He's not saying, oh, yeah, yeah. That's verse 14 out of chapter 2. Verses 17 through 20 in chapter 3, I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and every work. I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them. There you see where he's going? He's testing us. That they may see that they themselves are but beast. In reference to, not morally, but in the same plan we're going to pass away. We are clearly separate creature-creator distinction. We're made in His image, made for fellowship with Him, but we're going to the same place. We have a short life. But what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beast is the same. As one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beast for all is vanity. All go to one place, all are from the dust, and to dust all return. We've turned that into a little thing that we say at funerals. And then people will go at a funeral and go, yep, it puts things in perspective. What perspective is that? Well, you know. No, I don't know. Tell me. Suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. You're moving inexorably every moment, hurtling through time and space to the great interview you're going to have with the judge, where you're going to see him either as a judge or you're going to see him as your Savior, which will it be? So you stop looking at everybody as mortal flesh, you stop seeing everybody as an eternal soul. When somebody says something, does something, cuts you off in traffic, that is an eternal soul, that is an immortal person. How will you look at them? You call out for the ruination? Or do you go, Lord bless them, Lord bless them, they're all going to the same place, they're all going to judgment, so are we. That keeps us both focused and it keeps us humble. Right? So we preach the cross to ourselves every day. Because if I don't have the cross, I'm going for an interview and it's not going to go well. We saw the end of Job. He takes a chapter of questions and he says, I'm done. And the Lord says, hey, I'm not done with you yet. Let me give you another chapter of questions. Don't put him in the dock. Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and your years draw near, of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them. Some of us struggle with a lot of ailments. Like I said, the Gezer chapter 12. It says it right here. We act like it's a big surprise. This isn't fair. He's told us. How many times does the Lord have to tell us something before it's, right? My father had that whole thing about, I tell you once, that's it. If I have to tell you twice, that means you were insubordinate. That was his way of looking at life. All right, that's how I got through life not getting grounded by a guy who had a pretty quick temper and very little tolerance for stuff. If he said something, that's it. And I was the youngest of five. Remember, you can always learn from your experience or everyone else's experience. I was a quick study. I watched my oldest brother and sister, and I went, pfft, not them. So every time, that's why Ecclesiastes says, go look at the graveyard. They're all dead. There's a great scene in Dead Poets Society, where Robin Williams, Professor Keating, brings the kids out and says, look at all these old photos of these old students. They were full of life, just like you. And now they're fertilizing daffodils. That seems like a depressing thing to say, but it's not. Because Jesus Christ walked out of a tomb. Alright? So, we don't have to sift up her lip, because that's just the way it is. No. We live in a sin-sick world, but we have a great Savior. So, This is a fallen world. Point number three. Sin is the cause of life's many and diverse sorrows. This is a sin-sick world. So we're redeemed in Christ and we must never naively forget the fact that it's still a sin-sick world. All of us have this problem, right? We all have this challenge. Something bad happens and what is the Lord? What's going on? Why is this happening? I had somebody tell me before, after an election went the wrong way, the Lord did not want this to happen. I see where he was going. The Lord doesn't want that to happen. And that's such a weak and feeble Christianity. Righteousness is not living in a false simplicity before God. God is not Santa. All right, the great mug. The reform mug for everyone's naughty and nice. But living in hope of the age to come and the resurrection of our bodies must include the realism that this is a sin sick world. But we're living the resurrection life right now. The resurrection life is bursting forth from us right now. Over against this is Romans chapter 8. We have that assurance of Christ. He walked out of a tomb. He saved you. You will not die the eternal death. How then shall you live? That's the big message here of this is a sin-sick world, but we live backwards because we know where it's going. And you wonder what's going on. You've got to wonder why did Jesus do the dally, it seemed, while Lazarus was sick? I don't know. He says, so you'll see. So he goes and he goes out and he goes, you know, father, he prays loudly to the father. He goes, and I'm saying this loud so you guys can hear it. And I read that now and go, cause I'm a knucklehead and I'm going to come, I'm going to forget you and all of your promises and all of your power when I'm really hurting. And when he says Lazarus come out, he says Lazarus, cause if he doesn't say Lazarus, everyone's coming out because we're talking about Jesus Christ. And so when he finally delivers you from whatever is ailing you, can you imagine the outpouring? Can you imagine how that's going to be? That's true feeling because it's going to be centered in him, not your emotions flying all over the place. So not remembering this causes us to be at war with reality. the root of so much suffering, so many heresies. I mean, think of Karl Marx. I mentioned dialectical materialism earlier. Marx saw life as a class struggle. We're now on a kind of a racial Marxism now, but they're trying to make straight what God made crooked, aren't they? They're trying to fix man's problems without fixing sin. They're like somebody running around in the Titanic with a bucket and trying to bail the water out. That's literally what man's doing in all of his politics. So you can see the vanity in what they're doing and you can have compassion for them and try to bring them to the gospel. Anyway, nothing's going to fix what's crooked but the cross of Christ. Whatever, we're not going to fix sexism, racism, oppression, whatever, without fixing sin, because all of man's problems are coming from sin. Ecclesiastes 7.13, consider the work of God, who can make straight what he's made crooked. And again, same 7, verse 20, surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. And this always keeps us from becoming arrogant. This is contradiction, self-righteous Christian. You have the imputed righteousness of Christ, lighten up. Number four, it isn't sin or a sign of weakness that you don't know what God is doing in your life right now. I always like to let that settle in. It isn't a sin or a sign of weakness that you're sitting there going, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do here or what he's up to. In fact, that's a blessing. But it is a sin to assume you should. It is a sin to assume you should. It is a sin because you'll start getting into some weird heresies. Anybody talk to somebody that believes in like some of the, I've seen some weird ones, some of the numbers in the Bible are all like lining up and they've got all these conspiracy theories. And I have some old friends, and this is the problem with social media, I've moved here to get away from some of those people. I'm kidding. Partly. But man, social media, I get messages from some of these guys and they've got a conspiracy for everything. I mean, they're ready for the grand apocalypse to be coming. And it changes its coat. Sometimes it's Obama, sometimes it's Biden, sometimes it's Trump, whatever, whoever. Depends on where they're coming from with it. But they want to know. They want the inside track and the secret info. Here's the info we're supposed to know. The scripture. That's the info we're supposed to know. So if we're experts on the news, and we're experts on the latest conspiracies, but not scripture, we're looking at it wrongly. Even in all of his stuff, Ecclesiastes 3.11, he has made everything beautiful in his time. Also, he has put eternity into our hearts. Isn't that wonderful? Yet so that we cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. It goes right back to that. It's not a sin to not know. There's beauty in that, because we're relying on him. We're like the kids in the backseat of the car. How much longer? That's 74 miles and a kid's like, I have no idea where we're going. Trust me, we'll be there in a little while. Calm down. Okay? So we were, how much longer? You're fine. When you get up every morning, you look in the mirror and go, you're safe. The kingdom isn't shaken. The kingdom isn't shaken. It's not under assault. China's not going to get it. Russia's not going to get it. Iran's not going to get it. The border to the kingdom of heaven is not wide open. It is controlled by Jesus Christ. There is no other way in or out of this without Jesus Christ. And that teaches us great godly humility. See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they've sought out many schemes. And that's verse 29 of chapter 7. Then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he can't find it out. That's verse 17, chapter 8. For man doesn't know his time. That's chapter 9, verse 12. As you do not know the way of the Spirit, it comes to the bones in the womb of a woman, with child, so you don't know the work of God who makes everything. Ecclesiastes 11, 5. Is it clear to us yet? It is not a mistake. There's no flaw. You don't need a recall to go back into the shop because you're confused and you're worried and you can't figure things out. You go to him in prayer. You go to his word. You wait on him and wait on him. When you're not sure, wait on him. And the little matters. There's a great book called Just Do Something. The little matters. We make a big thing out of downstream issues. We'll deal with that another time. But the major thing is, in philosophy and overall life, we're not in charge, he is. And that's beautiful. We should say that with a smile, not with resignation. But he is both sovereign, completely, Completely good and loving so much to the point where he literally endured death by crucifixion for you That's gotta change us. That's what the Christian power is. Remember we lose the gospel if we think God loves us because I obey No, I obey because he loves me. He's poured that love in my heart Number six all of that's true. I And yet work is commended and commanded. We should work, not for self, but for the Lord. This is what Karl Marx needed to hear. But Karl Marx, of course, his parents were Jewish, his dad was Jewish, was a business owner. Then he moved, and he kind of converted to Lutheranism because he thought it would be better for business. So Marx took that and went, see, religion is just about money. It's just an economic struggle. Ecclesiastes 11.1, cast your burden upon many waters, upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Chapter 10, verse 10. If the iron is blunt and one doesn't sharpen the edge, he must use more strength. But wisdom helps one succeed. Verse 10, chapter 9. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom and shield to which you are going. In other words, work. Do it the best you can in his name. Do it with wisdom. Do it with honor for him, because he gave you these opportunities. Remember, he's sovereign. Don't worry about the money, as long as you're not forcing other people to pay for you, that you're good. But what do we do? We start going, we have to have an X. That's, again, an arbitrary thing, and we're establishing on that. We're forgetting the principle. The scriptures are a divine set of principles that we apply to the particulars of our lives. That's paraphrasing Cornelius Van Til, by the way. So, despite our struggles, number seven, in our toil and the inevitability of our deaths, we aren't to live as those without hope. I know. In fact, we should live thankful lives before God, enjoying everything deliberately and prayerfully. Enjoy every single moment deliberately and prayerfully, because it is a gift from God. That's a major issue running over Ecclesiastes. Christianity is not a life of suffering, but of joy and a spirit in the midst of suffering. Talk about a tough truth. I'm telling you that, and I'm not fit to be standing here telling you that. Stuff starts going bad for me, and I'm, you know, hey, we're all together. That's what we need to church for and fellowship. Enjoy, mark this, this is a big thing, is a gift from God. Ecclesiastes 2, verses 24 through 26, there's nothing better for a man than he should eat, drink, and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God. Whoever you are right now, don't become too neurotic, right? Like with Luther going in and giving himself stomach problems because he was so over the top. Give him God. Basically, relax. If I can bring in a JIV, an adjacent international version here I like to joke around with, is that, calm down. Alright, he saved you. You're good. If you're having a good cup of coffee down near the river someplace, sit there and just, Lord, isn't this great? Isn't this fantastic? This is beautiful. He's made everything beautiful in his time. He did it. And then you can sit back and start going, man, but then there's a bunch of sinners walking around out here. The country seems to be going to the bad place in a hurry with no brakes. He's in charge of that too. He'll get you where you need to go. You will get there. Follow him. Don't follow a political candidate or political ideology. Follow Christ. I perceive there is nothing better than for them to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. So also, everyone should eat, drink, and take pleasure in all his toil, for this is God's gift to man. That's chapter three, verses 12 through 13. So I saw that there's nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him? Verse 22, chapter three. And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful. And that's a verse today. For this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun. Again, it's not just one time. He just needs to mention it once, as we said. Number eight, oppression and injustice are part of a fallen world because sin is enmity. Sin is enmity. Sin is hatred. When I say hate, it's hate, don't hate. That means, remember what the world has done, they've turned that into, you disagree with me. Sin is hate. Love is righteousness. Let the scripture define that. Love is in a feeling. Feelings will pass. So don't be surprised when you're seeing all of the oppression. As if God would say, come on, gird yourself up like a man or a woman. Put your big boy pants on. What did you expect? What did you expect? And don't get easily offended at everything going on. Have you read the Bible? Have you read the Old Testament? Judah and Tamar, how'd that go? The sons of Jacob going and slaughtering everybody under the guise of, oh, get circumcised. and we'll all be combined. So they get them circumcised, and then they go in and slaughter everybody. That'd be like us here wanting to get our enemies and trying to convert them and say, now you've got to get baptized. And then holding them down and drowning them. This happened. We've got Christians walking around with, oh, I never. Clutching their pearls. Oh, I never. That's not in Scripture. Righteousness is not my warm fuzzies and my feelings. Righteousness is Jesus Christ. Nine, nothing will satisfy outside the Lord. Knowing this allows us to live wisely, using our time, talents, and property to His glory, rather than making idols of these things. By the way, I mean, I'm not gonna read the entire, but verses one through 11 in chapter two is the answer to hedonism, trying to pursue wherever you are. It could be academics, it could be your job, it could be athletics, it could be something that you put first and foremost to try and get yourself happy. Instead of doing those things in the Lord, you try to use those things to become happy, and verses 1-11 in chapter 2 blows that apart. Okay? Don't try to out-Solomon Solomon. You're not going to get better parks, you're not going to get better gardens, you're not going to get better anything. Solomon out-Solomon's all of us. And so I love the fact that he's here telling you this. Don't try it. Number 10, God is completely in control of life. I could have put this number 1, but you know, I only had a few days to prepare for this, so I apologize. God is completely in control of life. Knowing this is power. Knowing this is peace of mind. In the day of prosperity, be joyful, and in the day of adversity, consider God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will come and be after him. Last thing I'll say, and I'll turn it back over to Bobby, why would he do that? Not an accident. No, no. It's not like, again, it's not like, oops, I messed that up. I got a recall of humanity here. Why would He have us asking these questions but not be able to figure it out? Because we'll boast. And what causes a great enmity between God and man is pride. Remember, when you don't know, you're admitting the reality of life. I don't know. Go to Christ. I don't know. Isn't this great, Lord? Your Word is proven right again. I don't know. But You know. And I know You. And I follow You. So don't let the devil start saying, if you were a better Christian, you would know what he's doing. No, right here, in the day of adversity, why is he doing this? Now, if you have presumptuous sin in your life, and you're coming into consequences for that, repent and turn back. Okay? If you have presumptuous sin in your life, unrepentant sin, and that's causing consequences, that's not what he's talking about. But if you run into problems and suffering in life, and you're like, what is this happening for? Consider, he's made both days. What will he be teaching you? You won't know. But I will tell you this, is that after it's all over, you will know, and it will be beautiful. Somehow, someway, he's bringing glory to himself through that. All right, I know we're late. Hope this was edifying and helpful to you folks. And I'll turn it back over to Bobbie. Thank you.