gains intelligence. If you ignore the instruction of others, literally you are despising yourself. Can you say with the psalmist, it is good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn your statutes? Will you welcome the wounds of a friend, or will you lash out for them for exposing your sins? John Calvin had, some people say, the undeserved reputation of being cold and harsh. He was a man who dealt with people honestly, perhaps a little maybe too honestly according to some people, but he was not shy in correcting people's faults, even his closest friends. But if you look at his writing, you will see that he had a rich appreciation for friendships. In fact, the French Reformed historian Richard Stauffer reckoned that there are few men at the time of the Reformation who developed as many friendships as Calvin did. And in their letters to one another, Calvin with Ferrell, there were not only theological problems that were dealt with and other friends, as you look at their writings, not only ecclesiastical matters that were discussed, but there was an openness in relation to the problems of their private lives. In fact, in one letter to Ferrell, who he ministered alongside with, he's almost like a co-pastor, he told Ferrell very starkly, he said, Ferrell, I want to admonish you, you're preaching too long. He said, You need to shorten your sermons. And this came from Calvin. Calvin would preach at rarely 60 minutes. I don't know how long the Pharaoh was preaching. But he was very frank with his friends. And we should embrace the wisdom of godly friends. We need some Calvins in our life. We need some John Calvins to surround ourselves with. Don't surround yourself with fools. All right, before I move on to the next point, I want to point out one word in this text, and that is the word wise. The text says here that we should listen to the rebuke of a what man? A wise man. Sometimes you'll have a person come and tell you something very harsh and unloving and hurtful. And their only motivation is simply this. It's their pride. It's their sense of superiority over you. And you just have to say, you know what, God, give me the grace. Give me the grace to respond in a kind way. Because these folks are not wise. They're not wise. They're not coming to you in a loving, humble way. Why? Well, because ultimately they're fools. They're not wise. They're not the wise men in this verse, even though they think they are. See, the person rebuking you may or may not be wise, so you simply have to realize that if someone comes up to you like this, you need to simply pray for them. Take their counsel, be kind to them, and pray for them. For the person who genuinely loves the Lord comes to you and gently rebukes you in the spirit of grace to refuse to listen to them would not only be unwise, but destructive to your spiritual walk. God wants to use these painful corrections in your life for spiritual gain. Christ says, woe unto you that laugh now, for you will mourn and weep in Luke chapter 6. Woe unto you that are laughing right now, world, because you will mourn and weep. What does it say there? It might all be fun and games right now, the crackling of the pot, the thorns of the laughter of friends, but one day you will face your creator. And he will demand that the truth come out about your heart. His friends are so impactful in our lives. They sing our praises, but they also need to point out our faults. There are some friends and family and co-workers who act more like enemies because they try to keep us under their thumb. These are folks who, you know, these folks can even get the best of those who are wise. If we're not careful to use our wisdom, they even use their praise and flattery to keep us under their thumb of oppression. Sometimes wisdom simply means acknowledging that we respond to sinful ways when we live under that reality. Look at verse number seven. A wise man, as our next point, a wise man acknowledges his sinful condition. Verse seven, surely oppression, sometimes it's translated extortion or even blackmail, drives the wise man into madness. Or we could say makes him, another way it's translated is makes him foolish. Drives the wise man into foolishness. And a bribe corrupts the heart. Now this is surprising. Does this text surprise you, verse 7? You would expect Solomon to say that this happens to what type of a man? Look at verse 7. Look down in your text of scripture. For oppression makes a what man mad? Or what man foolish? Well, you would expect there to be the word the foolish man. That the foolish man would succumb to what in the second part of the verse? Would succumb to bribes. But no. What word does he use? Well, he's talking about the wise man. And so here we see that wisdom is weakened by extortion, by bribery. The wise man experiences the heartaches of life under the sun. Extortion requires payment from someone in return for silence, often offered by friends or people who call themselves your friends. Bribery is the receipt of money. from someone who, in return, wants you to do something for them. In Ecclesiastes, throughout the book, the wise man takes the things of life and uses them to their fullest, enjoying life to its fullest, and contrary to the fool who does not enjoy life to its fullest. But no matter how great it is to be a wise person. In Ecclesiastes, we have to recognize that wisdom by and in and of itself is not the key that unlocks life. It has advantage over folly. It has advantage over wisdom. It is better to be wise than a fool. But the only thing that can satisfy is not wisdom in and of itself. It's not that ability to make wise decisions. It is actually and ultimately God himself who is the only one who can satisfy. And that's the message of enthusiasm. And Ecclesiastes does a good job of communicating to us that wisdom, even by itself, is not the key to unlock this life. Wisdom has limitations. You can't take your under-the-sun wisdom with you when you move on past this life. Both wisdom and folly cease at death. Both the wise man and the foolish man end up dying. They can't take their foolishness or their wisdom with them. Wisdom doesn't allow you to see the future, right? So ultimately, although wisdom is more beneficial than this life, the wise man experiences the difficulty and oppression of the realities of life under the sun. And this is what this text, verse 7, is communicating. Even someone who is wise can't stop himself from being turned into, really the text says, a madman or into a fool, going mad because of his circumstances. The only thing that can assure that you rightly respond to external circumstances of oppressiveness, whether it be friends or foe, is this, guys. It's a relationship with the Lord. Submitting to his grace. You know, if a government oppresses you, even a wise man's going to feel that impact, right? I mentioned Jeffrey at the beginning of this missionary, and he felt the impacts of the communist oppression. If a boss or a family member is oppressive or takes advantage of you, it causes even the wisest of people sometimes to give in to feelings of sorrow and frustration, causing him to look foolish. And the second part of the verse explains the first. Even the wise person's heart is susceptible to a bribe. Sometimes it appears actually to be the wise, we could say, decision to maybe cut a corner. To cut a corner is the wise thing to do because there's no immediate solution ahead of you. You know, it's like you're trying to get this permit for this land to build on, and you're in this builder, and you just keep on running up and up into brick wall after brick wall with the city. And there's this guy who can just cut a corner for you and get this thing done. But you know it's not the right thing to do. Well, sometimes the human wisdom would say, OK, well, OK, maybe. Even the wise person can be made a fool when money becomes involved and he gets caught up in something that he shouldn't. And so Solomon says, beware. In the NLT, extortion turns wise people into fools, and bribes corrupt the heart. One author said this, oppression makes a man mad and frustrated and may cause even a wise man to lose his head. Why does a bribe tempt the heart of even a wise Christian? What do you think that is? I thought a wise person was supposed to deal with everything in a perfect manner. Are wise people perfect? There's only one person that's perfect, and that's Jesus Christ. Why does a bribe tempt the heart of even a wise man? Because your scriptures, our scriptures, tell us the heart is desperately wicked. We can know it. We have to come to grips with the reality of our heart, of our flesh, and understand that we can never put confidence in ourselves. And that's why Solomon says that there is wisdom in a multitude of what? In a multitude of counselors. Yeah, you could think it's the rise move, the rise decision, But even in the face of difficult oppression, you might make the wrong decision, or you might feel the effects of the oppression. It might drive you into foolishness. And so you need to live life in relationship with God, not just in wisdom. The person who says, I would never do that, I would never get caught up in that, you're not being honest about the power of your simple human flesh. Paul says, if you think you stand, take heed, because you might do what? You might fall. Davey's asked this question, so do you have a price this morning? Are you a person that can be bought off? When the pressure of doing the right thing is driving you mad, do you think, why not slack off just a bit? Do you, you know, do I always have to take the high road? Right? Everyone else is taking the other road. Why can't I just go along with the flow? Everyone else is doing it. The boss, he's looking the other way. The guy at my church, no one's ever going to know. I don't understand. Christians are doing this. Professing Christians are doing this. Why not take a little something under the table? And Solomon is warning us all. of chasing after the quick fix of compromising in order to get a little bit more comfortable in life. Proverbs 16 says this, better is a little righteousness than much gain with injustice. It's better to have a little in life and do the right thing, rather than get a little bit more, but do it through injustice. Where he says the long haul is better than the short cut, beware of easy routes. They often become expensive detours that will be difficult and painful. We were reading a book this week to our children. Laurie reads this to them in the mornings during the homeschool time. And I've had the opportunity to read a few chapters as well when I'm home in the morning. And it's called Created for Work. I don't know if any of you have read that book. But he goes through these arguments that we were created to do what? We were created to work ultimately for God. And he relates a story about a friend of his who was a truck driver. And he found himself in a very difficult life circumstance. He was in debt. His wife and him were having a difficult time in their marriage. And he started driving more hours than he was supposed to in his truck beyond the government regulations. And he found out that actually the company, most of the drivers were actually keeping two books. In other words, they would record their hours and they would get stopped from time to time with a way station or even by a policeman. And they would look at the book to make sure they weren't driving beyond what they were supposed to because they were not allowed to. So they kept two books. And they would just switch on and off of those books to kind of bypass this system. The company was fine with it. They got more freight delivered. And so he started driving double the allowed time. And he started taking stimulants and drugs to stay awake. Eventually, they caught up with him and he lost everything. Evangelist said it's never right to do wrong in order to get a chance to do right. It's never right to do wrong in order to get a chance to do right. Sometimes we have to just endure hard times and oppression and trust that God knows the end. And the temptation is to do something about it apart from God's will. The temptation is to just, you know what, I gotta fix this. I gotta figure it out, right? Instead of just waiting for God and for His timing. And that's our next verse. Look at verse number eight. Better is the end of a thing than its beginning. In the patient in spirit, Hebrew, the Hebrew text literally is the length of spirit is better than the proud in spirit, the height of spirit. It's literally Hebrew. A wise man, thirdly and finally here this morning, a wise man is humble, not proud. You could better translate this more literally, better long patience than soaring pride. Guys, we need to wait for things to play out in God's timing. You know, you don't read the first chapter of a book that's a classic, that's a best-selling book. And then you just put it down and say, well, that's dumb. Right? You've got to give the book a chance. Right? Often, the end is what makes a story awesome. Okay? People get, you know, start so many things in life, and they get frustrated because it didn't go their way, and they just quit, or they don't see the end. And so, you know what? They're proud. They didn't get what they wanted. And so, you know what? They say, I'm just, you know, I'm going to figure it out, or I'm going to cut this detour. I'm going to decide that I'm not going to trust God. And Solomon says, look, patience of spirit is, what does the text say? It's better. Let me tell you something that's better. Bridget says this. The one person waits for the end, the other, in impatience of self-will, in other words, he does things in self-will, he revolts. A prideful person believes that they're under control. A prideful person says this. He says, I got this. Why? Because they think they're in control of the outcome. They think that they know the future. Why? Because they got it. In their mind, they're good. They're guaranteeing success. Second Kings 2011 says this, let not the person putting on armor brag like the one taking it off. What is the author they're trying to communicate? Don't brag when you put on your armor like you're taking it off, like you've already run the battle, because what? You might get killed in the battle. You might die. It reminds me of I'm a basketball fan. I grew up in the Bay Area. And I grew up rooting for the Golden State Warriors before the Golden State Warriors. Really, they weren't very good, all right? Back in the days of Run TMC, and probably you guys have no idea what that means, and that's totally fine. But Tim Richman and Chris Mullen. But anyway, I follow the Warriors. Of course, they've had quite a bit of success recently. And for those of you who know anything about basketball, in fact, this person has kind of transcended basketball. There's a shooter called Steph Curry. Anybody ever heard of Steph Curry? All right. So Steph Curry is a very good basketball player, and he's known for shooting threes. And one of his signature ways that he shoots threes is that he actually shoots the ball and then he'll turn around after the shot and just start running back down the court. Why does he do that? Well, he's got it. Right? He's good. He already knows the ending. The ball is going through the hoop. Okay? Now, if you know anything about basketball, fundamental basketball, every coach will tell you, you know, growing up, that you're supposed to follow your what? follow your rebound, follow your shot, right? In other words, you know, that's not the appropriate way. But now you have all these kids growing up, and they think they know the what? They know the end. Okay? And the text is saying, you know what? Ultimately, Steph Curry is foolish. And I love Steph Curry. You know, I follow him, you know, but thinking you know the future in life, don't be a Steph Curry. When you're facing challenges with health challenges, financial challenges, relational challenges, you need to trust God to see you through the process and believe that the end is what? The end is better. How is the Lord going to use this to bring me closer to Him? One author said this, times of trial may be purposeful. and they are often confined to limited seasons, but it is the end product that makes them worthwhile. Bridges, Jerry Bridges, or no, yeah, he points out this. Patience is the child of faith. Faith is what produces patience. You have to believe that God will work it out. If you don't have faith, you're not gonna have what? You're not gonna have patience. In other words, believe. Believe in God, guys, have faith. Remember, he says, far better than we wait patiently and humbly for God to work out His will than we get angry and demand our own way. How many times have we demanded to get our own way and find ourselves in a ditch because we didn't allow the situation to play out? Remember, God saves the best wine for last. Remember what He did? Jesus, you know? Satan starts with the best and often leads the sinner into suffering and perhaps even death. There's an illustration of two frogs that fell into a tub of cream. Maybe you've heard about this. One looked on the high side of the tub and said, that's too much. Too much effort. It's over. It's hopeless. And so he resigned himself to death. The other one just kept swimming, just kept on churning, kicking, and finally he found a solid platform of butter. relaxed for a bit, gathered his strength, and made a leap and found himself able to get to safety. Sometimes in life, we just have to keep churning, just believing that the end will come and God knows the end. His ways are better than ours. G. Campbell Mormon noted, waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not going to sleep. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort. Waiting for God means, first, activity under command, second, readiness for any new command that might come, and third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given. God often saves the best for last. I think about this in terms of our salvation. What a glorious reality awaits us. We sang about that. this morning. We simply need to wait for the end of whatever God is bringing us through. Maybe, you know, you're going through a trial right now and you're wondering, if God, you know, do I just need to give up trusting God? Do I need to find my own path? You know, following God's Word and doing the right thing hasn't ended up the way I thought. I can't see the path, right? Even if you don't see the end in this life, we know that God is using everything for our good and His what? And His glory. Remember Romans 2, 7. To do to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life. In Tibet, Bull had to go through a three-year imprisonment in this communist regime, in this re-education prison. And during this time, they took his Bible away. They refused to let him have it. They sought to brainwash him. And Bull learned during that time to lean upon the promises of God's word and the friendship that God the friendships that God gave him even there. And he survived to see that God helped him survive. And eventually, he became a witness for Christ in the darkest of trials. And he had the opportunity to minister to Tibetan leaders, Buddhist gurus, local villagers. Eventually, he went on, actually, to get married and spend his life as a missionary in Asia. See, being taken as a prisoner, he wondered at that time, what in the world? I don't know if I'm going to make this. But in the end, he was able to see that Ecclesiastes 7 rang true, that the end was better. Guys, allow God to grant you the wisdom and the patience for the end of his plan, to see that the goodness of God is seen even through oppression. At times, life is hard. Your godly friends might point out your sin. You may feel oppressed by other people and their circumstances. You don't know how a situation's gonna turn out, and you wonder, you know what, I don't know what God's doing, I don't, you know, I wonder if God's working at all. Like bull in that communist place. Simply, you get home, you know, and your wife is frustrated with you, your husband, you know, he's frustrated with you, the kids don't obey coming home from church, you know, maybe they didn't pay attention to the junior church song, O-B-E-E-I-N-C-E, it's, what happens there, you know? Maybe they forgot to sing. Maybe they don't know how to sing. I don't know. What's going on? The boss told you, you know, work, that you're a failure. He just yelled at you because you blew the presentation. The neighbor comes over when you're pulling in, you know, and comes over, yells at you because your kid just kicked the ball into their flowers for the third time this week. You know, what do we do when life is tough? We don't see what God is doing, what we trust God. How do you do that? How do you do that, guys? I'm gonna end with this, you run to Christ. Where else would you run, right? I mean, you don't run to your family, you don't run to the bottle, you don't run to food, you don't run to running, okay, to the gym, you don't run to TV, you don't run to sports. You don't run to your friends who's just going to pat you on the back and say, you know, it's OK. You don't deserve this. It's all the other people. You're a good person. Everyone and everyone around you, everyone else is the problem. No, folks, you are the problem. That's false thought. It's your friends who are fools. Ultimately, we must admit that if we're not patient or godly or trusting, we are the problem. God can help you be fulfilled in this life if you embrace His power, if you submit to His grace that is sufficient to overcome any trial or difficulty. Guys, think God's thoughts, not your own. Don't run to worldly counsel. It's only gonna leave you frustrated and parched like that blast of heat that comes from crackling twigs. And get this, don't even run to yourself. Run to Christ and admit yourself to Him this morning. Let's pray. Father, we ask this morning that you would help us to realize that everything that happens in life is according to your perfect plan. And we ask that you would help us to fear you, that we would keep your commandments. Father, we understand that that is the key to satisfaction, that is the key to a satisfied life, to living life God's way. And we ask this morning that we would commit our hearts to your grace, that we would embrace your grace, that power to be able to live life under difficult times. But Father, that that life is better. It's better. Help us to believe it, to believe It's what God is doing in Father this morning that we would understand the end of the matter is better than the beginning. That we would trust in the end that God is working this thing out. Help us to depend on your grace, that your grace is sufficient, that your power is made perfect in our weakness.