Let us turn to Ecclesiastes once again as we continue this exposition of this book of the Bible. We find ourselves in chapter six and verse seven. Let us hear the word of our God. All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. And what hath the wise more than the fool? What hath the poor that knoweth to walk before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man. Neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he. Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? May the Lord bless the reading and especially preaching of his holy word. Well, with our text tonight, we come to the end of the first major division of the book of Ecclesiastes. The book is commonly seen as divided into two parts. Up to the end of chapter six, the book deals with the vanity of things in this world. From chapter seven to its end, the book looks to the blessedness of a life of godliness. It will contrast a life of ungodliness with a life of godliness, and you will see the blessedness of a life of godliness coming to really what Solomon sees as man's all, which is to fear God and follow His commandments. And so he will, at the beginning of chapter 7 to the end, consider a godly life in contrast to a life of unrighteousness. And so, we being in chapter six, in the end of this first portion, though, of the book, the conclusion of this first portion is signified in verse 10, which begins with, that which hath been is named already. Now, some of this can seem a little obscure as you read it, but what Solomon is saying is that all the vanity of this world has been named already in the preceding chapters. He has done a survey of the vain things of this life, and we've considered that, from an earthly perspective, to live for those things, a life lived under the sun, to consider those things the sumum bonum, that is, the greatest good of man is falling. And yet that is how man often lives, isn't it? Solomon showed us that riches, fame, fortune, trusting in men, and even the justice of man in this life, to look to those things as your highest and greatest good is vanity and vexation of spirit. And so we are not to live for a life under, purely under the sun. Striving for any of that is a striving after the wind. And so that leads us to a consideration that only a life lived for God could be our greatest good. Even from a selfish perspective, right? Even if you took out, and you must never do this, right? The glory of God. Even just from a creaturely perspective, the greatest good is not living for the world, but living for another world. if you just consider what is good for you. Now that also does bring glory to God, which is primary, right? So what Solomon is establishing is that the man's chief end is to glorify God, his creator, and to enjoy him forever. Not really to enjoy the things under the sun as our greatest good and our highest good. Solomon, of course, has shown us that we can enjoy a competent portion of the good things of this life. That is not evil, that is not wicked. However, to consider any of the things under the sun as our greatest good is a great evil. It is vanity, it is vexation, even your own soul will be destroyed by that. And so tonight, we conclude a look at the first portion of Ecclesiastes and come to the end of a survey of a life solely lived under the sun and not for heaven. We will do so tonight under three heads, and the first will be an unfilled appetite, an unfilled appetite. Verse seven, all the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. Well, let's try to understand what is meant here before we apply it. Well, for his mouth, right, all the labor of man is for his mouth means for our food. That should be pretty obvious, right, children? However, that probably stands in place of everything we need for sustenance in this life, right? And the Bible mainly lists two, which is what, children? It is food and raiment, or food and clothing, right, covering. Those are the two main things that man needs in his life. And so we would say here, all the labor of man is for his sustenance. That is the fundamental and basic aim of our labor. And we can't forget that. Solomon reminds us that labor is for what we need in life. And that is why Paul reminds us, doesn't he, in 2 Thessalonians 3.10, that if any would not work, neither should they eat. It is because labor is intended for our sustenance. It is the means that the Lord has provided for us to gain our daily bread. And so when we pray, give us this day our daily bread, we're not praying that a loaf of bread will materialize straight away from heaven and fall on our table, is it, children? But rather that God would also supply the means by which that bread makes it to our table. And for most of us, that is going to be our labor in this life. And it is good for us to frame our labor that way at the core, that its most essential element is meant to be the means to our food and covering. you're going to find that this is going to drive then contentment with your work, isn't it? That if I have food and covering, then I should be glad and I should feel blessed. That the Lord has given me my work in order to provide that and as proof of it, as I find on my dinner table, there is food and I find that there is a roof over my head and I have clothes on my body, then I would find contentment, not just in the things that I have, but even in the labor that has been given to me. And the problem sometimes we have with a lack of contentment in the means is that we don't, first of all, see who has ordained the means to us, God, and the ends for which those means are ordained, which is, in this case, our sustenance. And so, of course, we're dissatisfied, and our eyes are not satisfied, and our desire wanders about because we don't see who has ordained the means, what the means are for, and if we have both, then we should be happy. doesn't mean we can't strive for more in a right proportion and in a right way or to advance ourselves career-wise, but we're speaking of contentment. We're not speaking of striving for advancement and such. Now, if that is driven from discontentment with what we have, that's a problem. But if it is a seeking to advance herself, even as our brother prayed, so that we may advance our estate in a godly way and we can also support the work of the church, of Christ's church, and also have something extra to give to them in need, praise God. But let it not be a lack of contentment in what we have. And so as we consider our labor, and we've considered this before, Though we may be pained by the sweat on our brow, it may be unpleasant, it might be difficult at times, it might be flesh-provoking, I will raise my glass, whether it has water or wine in it, to the Lord in thankfulness. That what I need in this life has been provided for, and I will find the Lord may very well bless my labors if I am thankful. So often we wonder how it is that the Lord might not be blessing our labors, and we have to ask, have we ever given thanks to the Lord for Him even giving? It's such a basic thing, isn't it? How little thankfulness there is in our life, right? We want the Lord to bless our marriage. Have we thanked the Lord for our marriage? We want the Lord to bless our children. Have we thanked the Lord for our children? We want the Lord to bless our labors. Have we thanked the Lord for our labor that he has provided for us? And on and on and on and on it can go in our life, can't it? We ask for more blessing, but we've never once thanked him. And that's the great sin, isn't it, in the book of Romans. Neither were they thankful. Okay, so we can be thankful for what we have, and Solomon then adds, and yet the appetite is not filled. Now, what we have to understand is the thrust of what Solomon is saying. He's going to make a spiritual point, not really a point about our daily bread, but we have to understand where he begins so that we may apply it rightly. Solomon is making a point about our own appetites for the things of this world. from this analogy of appetites being unsatiated for common things, we can make a line of reasoning for our appetite for the things that we believe will satisfy us in this world under the sun. And so there are two things we can consider in this analogy that will help us with the consideration of our spiritual walk before God. So let's consider two things here. The first is this, though we have our daily bread by God's grace, it is in our flesh to want more than that. That is, our appetite is never filled. Whatever we have, we can say this doesn't satisfy us. We're like the children of Israel on the way to the promised land, children. God gives manna, what do they say? Not good enough. Our appetite's not filled by this stuff. We want more than that, though it is meant to typify and signify the bread of heaven, the bread of life, who is Christ himself. Children, has it ever been, it'll come down to a practical thing, that your mom maybe has made a wonderful meal for you, right, yet you might be unhappy, you'll come to the end of the meal and you'll ask her, where's the dessert? And you'll get. You'll grumble, won't you, at times? Maybe not all of you, but some of you surely. Where's the dessert? How come there's not more? And yet we should be thankful, shouldn't we, with what God has given us? My stomach is full, right? And I shouldn't have to grumble. Now, if the Lord gives us dessert, praise God, but to be dissatisfied. That's a huge problem. The appetite is not filled. You see this. This is a significance to us because even when we receive good things from the Lord, our appetite is not filled. Or we will say, we eat something good, and none of us are immune from this, and we are satiated, and yet we want more. And that leads to the sin of gluttony that we talked about a little bit on the Lord's Day. I have so much good food in front of me, I eat it, I'm full, and I want to get more and more and more and more to the point where I'm actually now sick. Sick of what is good. And what happens next? That's rather interesting when you think about this even from a material perspective or just a physical perspective. As your appetite is not filled, you fill it more and more, you're not content, And now your appetite grows. You might want to talk about obesity, right? Some of the cause of obesity is a person's appetite has grown and grown and grown without balance. So it is for the one with not a careful watch over their own soul when it comes to the enjoying of anything in this world, right? You might have a competent portion of what you need and you say, I am not satisfied, I am not content with that. And so what happens? Your appetite is not filled. Now I need to have more. And it's a craving, isn't it? It's an insatiable appetite. for more and more of the things of this world. We become unbounded and unconstrained. And so Solomon says, right, all the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. So we can say that we're not satisfied with what the Lord has put before us, even through our labor, our appetite is not filled. That's one, the first place that we can go with this. The second reality is to consider that once you eat your food today, you will be hungry tomorrow. The appetite is not fully satiated. Your appetite is not going to be fully satiated with the meal that you eat tonight, children, will it? In this way, which is that tomorrow morning you will wake up likely hungry and you'll want to eat something tomorrow as well. And so it's the same thing with our craving for the things of the world. You will find that your craving doesn't end when you get that next thing in this world. How many of us have fooled ourselves thinking if I would get that thing, or that house, or that property, or that car, or that device, or whatever it may be, or even that book, then I'll be content and I'll be satisfied. What happens? You get the thing, now you're on to the next, aren't you? Now you're no longer satisfied with what you had today, but now you're looking for something else tomorrow. That's something to be on guard over as well. So, the question comes, can we use the things of this world as not abusing them? Absolutely so, but like we heard in 1 Peter 4, let us have a watch over our soul. Let us make sure that nothing is pulling our soul away from the Lord, first and foremost. We can use the things in this world as not abusing them, absolutely so. However, let's make sure that our affection and our appetites are not set on the things of this world. Each man and woman then must be regularly considering their appetite for the things of this world, and whether you and I have gone from a lawful, right, and proper use of them to a craving and obsession over them. Wanting more and more, and in that way, we are no longer in control of our soul's appetite. This is something for regular self-examination. You know, the covetous, The more that they have, strange to say, causes them to want more. And so, you know, unless that covetousness is mortified, it will not end. And that's something you have to know about yourself, right? If you think that you want, your desire, you're coveting more and more, that doesn't stop unless it is mortified. It is very much, and the analogy is apt, like the drug user who gets that gateway drug. It doesn't stop there. It grows, and it grows, and it grows, and it grows, and suddenly you are doing unspeakable things. So, let's come back to the question, though. Are riches and the things of this world inherently evil to use? No, but it is the appetite of the soul in relation to them that is the problem. Covetousness. There's a wonderful quote I discovered from Augustine while researching this sermon, and he summarized the matter in this brilliant way. He says, riches, lest they should be thought to be evil, are given also to the good, and that they should not be esteemed great or the chiefest jewels, they are given also to the bad. That is wonderful wisdom there, isn't there? Right, God gives riches to the good, that is to the righteous who are in Christ, to show you that riches themselves are not inherently evil. But he also gives them to the bad, that is the evil, lest they be esteemed great or the chiefest jewels. I think the prosperity gospel folks need to hear that, don't they? Right, because what is their cue, which is that if the Lord has blessed you, he will make you wealthy, won't he? But I think Augustine shows you that right balance. Riches are given to the good and to the bad. Well, the question for us tonight, though, would be what is our appetite for the things that are not of this world? That's where our appetite needs to be, doesn't it? What is our appetite for the things of God? And so we, in a negative sense, we consider our appetite for the things of the world, and then, as it were, it hangs in the balance compared to our appetite for the things of God. And that's really the question for all of us, isn't it? This is the analysis that needs to be done. We can say all day long, it is right to use the things of this world. If it doesn't have mastery or power over us, absolutely, I would give a hearty amen to that. But all of us must ask, where is the appetite for the things of God in relation to the things of this world? And that's really where the rubber meets the road. That's really where the Christian has to spend time thinking. Do I have an appetite for the things of God? Or can I say all day long, it doesn't really matter. I can use the things of this world, but I have no appetite for God and the things of God. This is what needs to be tested in our life. You know, I'll come back to the physical analogy. If a man has no appetite for his daily bread, you would actually become very concerned. A friend of mine has a son who was born with a condition in which this child does not feel hunger. And he is wasting away until the doctors found the condition. And they recognized that this child actually doesn't feel hunger. and didn't realize that he was dying. And so they had to force feed the child, they had to put in IV, they had to find ways to put right into his stomach his nutrition because he had no appetite. Now take that spiritually. If you have no appetite, if you do not hunger and thirst for righteousness, brethren, you will waste away and you won't even realize it. Just like that child didn't recognize he was dying. That's a solemn thing, isn't it? Children, it's a good thing that you feel hunger, isn't it? It's a good thing that you feel hungry, so you know I need to take food and I need to take drink, otherwise I would die. But it has to be that way for the Christian. It is a dangerous thing if you don't feel stirred in your soul to feast on Christ, to take his ordinances, to walk with him, to commune with him. It ought to be a terrifying condition for us spiritually. to say I have no appetite for the things of God? If you don't have an appetite for the things of God, cultivate it, pray, go to the Lord, ask, give me a hunger for thee, O Lord. Don't stop in that prayer till the Lord answers. Wrestle like Jacob did until he gives you the victory. And in that, if you will, you will find an appetite for the Lord if you are in prayer. But you must, as Job did, esteem the words of his mouth more than your necessary food. And that seems radical to say in a day of spiritual minimalism, but it has to be said, right? We ought to esteem the words of his mouth more than our necessary food. It comes first, it comes, it is greater. So children, cultivate an appetite for God more than your appetite for fun and games. That's what you need. Pray that the Lord would supply it. I want to hunger and thirst for God. You know, he is not keeping you from enjoying a competent portion of the good things of this life, but he is calling you to something greater and deeper communion with himself, the greater pleasures. Verse eight. For what hath the wise more than the fool? What hath the poor that knoweth to walk before the living? Now, to put a fine point on the doctrine thus far about necessary food and labor, at the end of the day, Solomon says the wise, the fool, and the poor tend to have what they need for life. A poor man still often has his daily sustenance. The fool often does, and so does the wise man. You know, you look at our city of Fredericksburg, and can't help but laugh sometimes when you look at the condition of the so-called homeless, right? There'll be panhandling on the streets, and I know there are real homeless people who have real needs, but they are often obese. You look at the condition of the wise, the fool, and the poor person in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and they all tend to have what they need. Man's external condition is rather normalized, food, clothing, and so on. So the things that we chase in the world really have no material benefit to any of us. The real distinction, right, is whether we know how to walk before the living. The real distinction is do we know Jesus Christ? Have we taken the bread of life? That's where the distinction is. We have to know the one who is the way, the truth, and the life, who gives food no man knoweth of, but those to whom he has revealed himself to. So you can see that many labor, and many have what they need, whether they are foolish, wise, or poor. So that cannot be the distinction between men. The distinction is, do we walk before God? And so we have to have an appetite set upon Christ. You can see why he ends this first portion of the book with these considerations. So that you would be driven to a life lived for God. As you consider, what is it that really distinguishes men and women in this world? It's not their external state. Well, may it not be then for us brethren that we would be like many, many in this land who have, who would call themselves Christians and yet have no spiritual appetite. You've likely known those who identify as Christians and yet have no appetite for Christ. When have you last gone to church? I can't recall. What is your favorite Bible verse? I don't know, but maybe it's in John 3, 16, something like that. Well, how often do you pray? Well, you know, I pray when I can and I remember, so on and so on and so on, right? That defines the vast majority, likely, of those who are Christians in this place. spiritual minimalism, right? Hoping that because they said a prayer at some point in their life that they're right with the Almighty. That's not so. There is a shallow, lukewarm Christianity all about us, all form, no substance, having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. And may it not be us, Christian. Let us never also think that we have obtained, right, and attained, comparing ourselves to those who perhaps are spiritually lukewarm. That would be our danger, right? But we must continue to press forth just as the Apostle Paul did, right, to attain what is before us, the high calling, the high prize of Christ, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, our Lord, by which all other things are done. We press forward. This is the good appetite that is never, in some sense, fulfilled in this life, and yet causes us to hunger and yearn for Christ all the more, having had a taste of Him. There's no such thing as a spiritual glutton, in a way. We can feast on Christ all we want and chase after Him, exercise that grace to godliness. but let us strive after him, and let us not be on spiritual life support. Well, with that consideration of those first two verses, verses seven and eight, let's consider our second heading, which is the wandering of the desire, the wandering of the desire. Verse nine, better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. So here's another verse considering contentment. And you note that this is the great theme of this portion of Ecclesiastes, be satisfied with the things the Lord has provided for you. We can seek more, but we will be content with what we have. So the sight of the eyes here signifies what we have in front of us. What we have, what we can see that we already possess. The sight of the eyes, right, I think about my house, my clothing, my computer and my vehicles and everything else that I possess. The wandering of the desire, though, is a remarkable picture of what covetousness is. The wandering of desire. Our desire wanders away from the things that we have to what we want in our imagination. We're prone to wander, as a general rule. Rarely do we find that our souls are anchored and our soul is fixed. And it's striking that the more that we accumulate by way of a covetousness, our desire wanders away from the things that we have already procured. We look less on the things that we have procured that just yesterday we had coveted. We get that thing, we put it before us, and now our eyes are not fixed on it, but our desire wanders to other places. So this is what covetousness is like and how evil it is. It's never satisfying. It's like the leech's two daughters, give and give. You just want more, you want more, you want more. How often have you received something that you had thought, and children, I'll ask you this, maybe it was a toy, maybe it was a gift, and you said, oh, if I could have that thing. You get that thing, maybe a few days go by, and now your eyes are no longer on it, and your desire has wandered to something else. Maybe even something your brother or sister have. So there is, This is the way of the flesh, right? Once things go from imagination to sight, desire wanders away. So there's a value judgment here that Solomon brings forth to us. Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. Now there are two remedies to a wandering desire. The first is found here plainly in the text. What can you do, brethren, when your desire wanders? Fix your eyes on what the Lord has already given you. Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire. What he means by that is that you ought to consider long and hard every day what the Lord has put before you already. To go and do a survey of the things the Lord has put in your life and bless the Lord for them and then resolve to use them for the end that he has ordained for these things. Right, if we would be busy about using the things, here's, you know, how many times, and I've been guilty of this kind of thing too, right? The Lord even gives you a Bible, and you're not happy with it, you've gotta have the more fancy binding. And then after you get that binding, you find that there are other additions that have other things in the Bible that you desire. And yet, how often is it that we have actually used the Bibles that we have procured already? That's just a simple example, common in the Reformed Church, so I will use it. Same thing with books we accumulate and everything else. Even things that we might say have a holy end, right, as soon as we receive it and those books go on the bookshelf, our desire then goes to the next book that we've heard about. And we don't fix our eyes on what we have already had. And I can say that with a measure of guiltiness myself in these things. But what is the remedy here is fix your eyes on what you have, be grateful to God for them, and use those things. Actually use those things for the aim that they are intended, the glory of God and whatever the purpose is that that thing was built for. And be grateful that you have such a use of such things. And then you will find that your desire will not so much wander if you will fix your eyes on what God has already given you. This is a great remedy. The second remedy, and the true anchor of our soul, is to root our desire where it ought to be. You think of Psalm 27 verse 4, one thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. So this is where desire has to be rooted first and foremost. It has to be rooted in a desire for God. Again, it goes back to the first heading. Where is your appetite? What is your appetite for? Can you say with David, my appetite is, my desire is, that I would dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life for what purpose? To behold the beauty of the Lord. And when my wandering desire goes about, I have to ask my soul, where is your desire for the Lord? Why am I not satisfied in Him? Psalm 73, 25, whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none, you can say there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee. In contrast, which is not to say you can't desire certain things rightly, in contrast to our desire for God, I really have no other desire if you would measure it out. You could say of the Christian then, I look at the Christian soul and if it is rightly ordered that his desire or her desire for God is such that really nothing else really measures on the scale in terms of desire. Now that is something that we need great help in, brethren. That's not how it is for us typically day by day. But if we desire that thing, if we ask for it, do you doubt that the Lord will give? He will. You know, we admire the words of godly men who have come before us. I've used Augustine before. I'll use him again, because you know this quote so well. He memorably put this biblical truth this way in his confessions. Thou movest us to delight in praising thee, for thou hast formed us for thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in thee. Now, I'll pause there for a moment, but this is a diagnostic, isn't it? Is my heart restless? Is my desire wandering? What does that show me? I have not rested in Christ. If I can find my desire wandering to and fro, and I don't feel rooted, and I don't feel moored, and I have this silly notion that if I had this thing, then I would feel my soul settled, I can say, oh my soul, that just tells me that you are not rested in Christ. Lord, teach me to know and understand which of these should be first, to call on Thee or to praise Thee, and likewise to know Thee or to call upon Thee. Oh, how shall I find rest in Thee? Who will send Thee unto my heart to inebriate it so that I may forget my woes and embrace Thee, my only good? Send Thy Spirit to inebriate me on Christ so that I may forget my woes, I could say, I could forget my coveting the things of this world, and embrace the, here's the sumum bonum, my only good. And that ought to be the prayer of the Christian. And so, diagnose yourself, Christian, if you're coveting, and your desire is wandering, and root yourself in Christ, and then find your delight in the things he's already given you, and make a good use of them. Well, our last heading tonight will be the betterment of man, the betterment of man. Verse 10, that which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man, Hebrew, Adam, neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he, seeing there be many things that increase vanity. What is man the better? These verses are a bit obscure, hard to parse out, but there are, I will point you to two parallel thoughts, One concerns vanity and the other concerns man. And the first thought concerning vanity is this, which Solomon speaks of in this way, that which hath been is named already. Now I introduce the thought to you in our introduction. That's a reference of everything that has come thus far in the book. in its first division, power, wealth, riches, hope set upon earthly justice, youth even, et cetera. It has been named already, he is saying. And what is its name? Its name is vanity. Its name is vanity. Again, the Hebrew is a little hard here, and the translation is a little bit difficult, I think, in the authorized version. But it has been named already, and its name is vanity, which is what we see in verse 11, many things that increase vanity. So that's the first part concerning vanity. The second part concerns man, Adam in the original Hebrew. The question is, can man contend with he who is mightier than he? Now you see that question. And actually, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 22 is Paul quoting this verse when Paul asks, do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Who is it that can contend? What man who is made of the dust, like Adam, can contend with the Almighty? And you see, Paul brings the question to the fore in 1 Corinthians 10, 22. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? You can consider then, right, ultimately the point seems to be this. Instead of contending and wrestling over the vain things of this life, which do nothing to the true betterment of man, but actually provokes the Lord to jealousy, let us instead look to God for blessing. If you looked to purely a life under the sun, looking covetously at all the things under the sun, do you not think, especially even as a Christian, that that provokes the Lord to jealousy? In 1 Corinthians 10, he's talking about partaking at devil's tables as well as the Lord's table. How can we have such a mixture in our soul that we would look to our highest good in the things of the world Would that not provoke the Lord to jealousy? Why are you looking at these things that will perish with the use? And why are you not looking to me for your delight and desire? That's actually a provocation of the Lord as well. And so we are not to set our desire on the vain things of this world, all the things that have been named thus far. Psalm 119.37, this ought to be a prayer of the godly, shouldn't it? Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way. We are prone to look on the vain things of this world with desire. We provoke the Lord by putting our eyes upon things that become idolatrous to us. Let's just think about that for a moment, brethren. Now we are to enjoy the good things of God in the right way. Let's not disavow them or feel guilty he gave them to us. He gives us good gifts. Go ask God for bread or a fish, he will not return, he says, a rock or a scorpion to you. But does he not even in that text point you to the greater gift, which is the Holy Spirit? What are the priorities then in the things we ask for and the things we desire? Especially as we think of ultimately, setting our desire on the things of this world is vanity and vexation of spirit. They don't actually satisfy. They just make us more and more vexed. And covetousness is a great vexation of the spirit, isn't it? Do these things tend to the betterment of man, as the question comes here? Who knoweth what is good for man in this life? All the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow. So what truly leads to the betterment of man in this life are not the vain things of this world, but really God. And who knows, right? This is the rhetorical question, verse 12. Who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? This is a rhetorical question, but it is not meant to remain rhetorical. When the Lord, children, asks a question like this, we ought to have an answer for it. Who knoweth what is good for man in this life? What's the answer, children? Do you know? In fact, we might ask a preliminary question. If you looked on the choices that men of all stations make, whether rich, poor, wise, or fool, can we determine that man outside of Christ actually knows what's good for him? Whether he's counted a wise man, a rich man, a fool, a poor man? We look and survey the lives of even the great men so-called of this world, can you say that they know what is actually good for you? The answer is no. Who knows what is good for you and for me but the Lord only? The Lord only. Do your friends know what is good for man in this life? We even talked, we even prayed concerning the election. Do our governors know what is good for man in this life? Do our political parties know what is good for man in this life? And do you outside of Christ know what is good for man in this life? And the answer is resoundingly if any of these, right, do not speak according to this word, there is no light in them. Children, who can you go to who knows what is good for man in this life? Who will teach you how to better yourself even in this life? It is God and God only. And never forget that. As for all others, whether it be your parents, or your pastor, or your president, again, Isaiah 820 says, if they speak not according to this word, there is no light in them. No matter how it seems, they have done well for themselves in this world or even in the church. If they don't speak according to the word of God, there's no light, don't listen. If they do, praise God. You can listen and check everything that is said against the word of God. But will you answer the question that was asked, who knoweth what is good for man in this life, by saying only God? Only God. Can you say that, children, today, tonight? And not just for the children, all of us, but especially for the children. This is wisdom literature. Can you say, only God knows what is best for me. Only God knows what is best for me. Say it tonight of a truth. Sadly, brethren, you think about what he says here. Many resent what the Lord has to say and yet it is for what? Your good. He says it's for your good. And yet how many of us will resent what the Lord has to say? And yet does he mean it for your evil? Or does he mean it for your good or your betterment? Well, this portion of the book concludes with the thought that all the days of our vain life are but as a shadow. Now, vain here does not mean useless or without fruition, but how it has been used in the book, more or less, which is uncertain and transitory. All the days of such a life lived for vanity are but a shadow and not substantial. And so then comes the final question. Who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? And so, remember again the uncertainty of living for vain things. And the thought is connected here from earlier in the chapter. You remember earlier the things we had considered in chapter six and chapter five. We saw what was brought out by the one greater than Solomon who gave the parable of the rich fool. The man who found that his soul was at ease from all the things he had gotten that were good in this life. And Christ says that's not the kind of ease any soul should have. In that parable, God tells the man, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? Luke 12, 20. So right, he's saying, as Solomon does here, who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? All those things you have set your desire on. In some weird way, the covetous man or woman says, these are mine, mine, mine, mine. Are they really? And whose will they be when you die? You have no clue. You have no idea. It might go to a rich man, it might go to a poor man, it might go to a wise man, it might go to a fool of a man. But one thing is certain, they will not be yours. They will not be yours at all. That's the one thing that is for sure. Maybe your children might have a good use of them. I don't know. Oftentimes, the Bible shows that our children may misuse even the things that we leave them. That's on them. It's not wrong to leave an inheritance for our children. But the thing is, if you put your hope in that and not given them an inheritance in the main thing, which is Christ, that would be a fool's errand. The second part of that is one thing is for certain, covetous man or woman. When you die and you're in the grave, right, and your soul comes before the judgment seat, all those things that you had coveted, all those things that your soul had put its desire on will vanish from your possession. They won't be there with you. You will go to heaven having coveted those things. And you will find, or rather to the judgment seat, it's not likely you'll go to heaven if you're coveting the things of this world and not God. But if you come before the judgment seat and you're outside of Christ, nothing that you had, you had set your affections on in this world will be there. You will be devoid of them for all eternity. And if you are outside of Christ, right, and this is the really terrible part for those who had never once desired the Lord Jesus Christ, had never come to Him, right, they won't even have the clothes on their back in the general resurrection as they burn in hell. Then whose will those things be that thou hast provided for? And that really sobers us up when it comes to coveting. Doesn't it? Because these things don't endure. But what the Lord directs his people to is the fact that, and that's how Luke 12 then goes on and says that the point is, he that layeth up treasure for himself is like that and is not rich towards God. So what ought to be our desire? It is to be rich towards God. The apostle says you can covet the best gifts. Those things are not unlawful to covet at all in order to desire to use these gifts for the glory of God. We ought to be rich towards God. Earthly possessions have a limited duration, but laying treasure in heaven endures. The most wonderful thought really ought to be for any of us that I don't see my treasure in heaven now. I see those things that I have procured in this life. But what will be amazing and ought to astonish us is that when we die and we come before the Lord, and if we are in Christ, then the Lord will reveal the treasure that we have laid up on the earth. Won't that be a wonderful sight, right? That we had laid up on the earth for heaven's sake, rather. I should put it that way. Won't that be a wonderful sight? Whatever it is, right, whether it's souls or the church edified, whatever that treasure is, we will find that the Lord is not unrighteous to forget the works that we had done for his cause and for his sake. He will even open up a book and say, these are your words that you had said to the saints, as he says in Malachi. When others were not speaking about God, I recorded your words in the book of Remembrance. I think that what ought to delight us today is to consider what treasure we might have in heaven. To speak much, we talked about sanctifying the Sabbath day. To speak much of our God on the Lord's day, and then to come into that book of remembrance and see, see, I am not unrighteous to forget all that you have done in my service and all that you have even said. Things that you will forget that you have said and done. The Lord is not unrighteous to forget. He has said, hasn't he, that you will ask, when did we give you a cup of water? When did we do such and such? And yet the Lord remembers and the Lord knows. And I think that ought to be the delight of the Christian as we think about laying up treasure in heaven. That there are even going to be things that I have forgotten about in this life that the Lord will see fit to reward. in the life to come. And the question then is, where is my appetite for these things today? As opposed to my appetite for laying up things that moths and rust will devour. Isn't it strange that our appetite is not often even on the things that endure, but the things that are transitory? And as a brother prayed, will actually be burned up in fire and melt? So again, the question is priority and appetite. And as Luke 12 says, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Another diagnostic comes if you reverse that. Where is your heart? That's where your treasure is. So let's orient our heart and stay it on the things of God and on Christ himself. Psalm 62.10 says, If riches increase, set not your heart upon them. So again, it's not that it's wrong to be rich, but let's not set our heart on those things. Let's bless God for them. Many of us are rather wealthy, especially as it concerns human history. But let's not set our heart upon them, because the proverb says, wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings. They fly away as an eagle toward heaven. So set your heart's desire on the things that endure. And so as this portion of Ecclesiastes ends, let us just take stock of our affection and desire to see if it is set upon vanity or set upon glory, and may we find that Christ is our all in all, and he will give us hope if we desire his help. Praise God for that. Well, let us then go to the Lord in prayer now, standing if able. Lord our God, set not our heart upon riches if they increase, set not our eyes upon vain things, set not our desire and affection on the things of this world, but set our hearts' affections and desires upon Jesus Christ. And we confess before Thee and the holy angels, and before each other as brethren, that our desires are so mixed, O God, that we often find ourselves one day hot for the Lord and then cold towards God and hot for the things of this world. Oh Lord, help us. Oh God, help us so that our affections would be set upon Christ. We know that our hearts are restless until we find our rest in thee. May we say there is nothing and none on the earth that we desire but thee. Oh God, set our affection in heaven. even as we labor on the earth, and we do so for thy glory, give us a godly contentment, and we pray that our children would know, oh God, where it is that man finds the way to go and his own betterment, which is in the word of God. And may the children as well consider their appetite at a young age, that they would be, even as our godly forefathers, and even mothers, as we think of men like Robert Murray McShane, who had an appetite for God as a youth, as a young man, rather, or even as the ladies have been considering Sarah Edwards recently, and how even at the age of six, she had a desire for God. And so, Lord, we pray that thou wouldst do a mighty work in our youth, that they would, as we have prayed and we will continue to pray, that they will excel the rest of us in godliness and piety and desire for the things of God. But for all of us, O God, Help us to set our heart in heaven. help us to find our treasure to be in heaven, and so help us to lay up treasure in heaven, and look forward to that great day where we will come before our Lord, and that thou might say, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord. We anticipate that day, and help us to run our race well, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We ask in his name, amen.