That the righteous, and remember you can't be righteous unless you've been made right with God by God. And notice these three things. The righteous who are the wise and their works. That's the point he's making. The three things. The right man, the wise man, and what they do. What they do are in the hand of God. He's the one directing their steps. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. Remember, it's always a matter of the heart. See, the righteous do what the righteous do because their heart's different. Because somebody's got their heart in their hand, guiding them. But the ungodly sons of men, their heart is not in the hand of God. So they don't see life rightly. And then he says, all things come alike to all. That would be everybody experiences the same thing. But even more than that, The righteous and the wicked are going to die. That's the common thing that comes upon them both. Verse three, this is an evil and all that is done unto the son that one thing happens to all truly the hearts of the what sons of men, that is people who are without God, a son of man. Our sons of men are children in this world functioning without the Lord. He's making a distinction between the product of man and the product of God. Verse one tells us the product of God, the righteous, the wise, and their works. But verse three is telling us the product of what man has produced. And remember, wisdom among men is rare. So as a whole, God made man upright, but man has many schemes, man's fallen. that are still sons of men and not sons of God, there's a danger in misapplying wisdom. And that gets into the parable of the old poor wise man who brought victory, but nobody gave him the credit for it. Who got the credit? The king who ordered it or the soldiers who fought it. But you see the wise man come up with the plan, but he was a nobody. And that's what he's teaching that those nobodies out there that has an ounce of wisdom are much better than those that have power and authority that operate with no wisdom. But here's the catch to it. Men are not gonna remember you. They're not gonna remember you for that sweet wisdom. Why? Because they can't recognize it. They gonna give credit to the soldiers. They gonna give credit to the king. They're gonna give credit to everything else, but it was the wise plan of a wise man that wrought this victory. God got involved in it. But you see, man points it to man, and they're gonna miss it. That's why the poor wise man's never remembered, because the society he lives in doesn't see the hand of God upon him, because they can't even recognize God in it. All they see is what man does. So I think that's what the heart of what he's helping us with, but you know, We don't do things so people notice us. We do things because it's the right thing to do. And it's God's guidance that's guided us. And we know we're going to have to give an account to Him one day for the love He's given us, for the light He's given us, for the light that He's transferred to us. We're going to give an account for what we did with it in and for His glory. Amen. All the duty of man. All the duty of man. Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Let's look at it. Let's look at it. Ecclesiastes 12. Isn't it amazing that he's gone through this book, and he's mentioned God several times through the book. Yeah. But not all the time. I mean, he goes in, this is evil, and this is vanity, and this is vanity. But then he mentions, you know, this is what is God, and whatever is God is good. Yeah, and that Solomon, it would be impossible for him to do what he's doing without God in view. Yeah, so we know that everything he's writing and everything he shares with us, he's got that concept of who God is and how he should function in everyday life, but he tested the wisdom that he had and everything without asking God what to do next. in all this, so you see that he brings up, because you can't escape, there's gonna be righteous people around him, he's already brought that to light, he sees that, so we can't mistake in the book in the sense that he doesn't know who God is, because he does, and he knows what God requires, but he, as a unique experiment, And this is how God used him. He's telling us, don't do what I did. I was used by God to do this. God allowed me to do this so that you don't have to. Right. Yes. Well, and he took his practical knowledge, knowing things, how to put things together, his understanding and what to do in circumstances, but not asking God to join in and lead him through this. He went and experimented with all these things out there without him, though he knew who God was and he knew what God required the whole time. That would be evil work. It was work that wouldn't count. And he tells us, look in chapter 12, which is there, look in verse number nine. In verse number nine. This gives us some help with this. He says, moreover because the preacher, and the word preacher is the word that we get the word Ecclesiastes from. It's the word koheleth. In the Hebrew exclusively used only in the book of Ecclesiastes, where the book Ecclesiastes, that word. comes from a Latin word that means a gathering, the gatherer. So we see the preacher who is the collector, the gatherer of all these things, who wants to gather an assembly of people to teach them the conclusion in life, life is empty without the Lord. And that this would be a man's all in all. Fear God and do what he says and always remember Every thought and deed will be brought to light. God, you're not gonna get away with what God, what you've done, and He wants us to know that. We're gonna give an account for it. He kept telling that in chapter 12. Remember, remember the Lord in your youth. Chapter 11, He reminds us, say, be young, enjoy life, but remember the things you do, you're gonna have to give an account for. So He keeps bringing that up, because He knows that. He can't get away from it. In His wisdom, He knows That is a reality for all of us. And he tried to, and I'll point it out in a minute, but in verse number nine of 12, notice how he does this. And moreover, because the preacher was wise, because he was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. That is, he never lost his wisdom. He was able to take and collect all this that he learned and do in life with or without the Lord. Now he's able to teach us. And this is what he's saying. I'm able to, I taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many Proverbs, many teachings, many useful teachings. In Proverbs 2. Well, he does use Proverbs as a, we title as a book, meaning it's usually like this. And he's telling us this is, this whole book is one message of a, of a proverbial teaching that says, it's usually like this. If you live without God, it's empty. If you live for him, you will be richly blessed. Everything you do is in the hand of the Lord. And you want that as Psalm 37 would teach us for the steps of a righteous man or a good man are in the hands of the Lord. And he delights in all his ways. Solomon tells us that look in chapter nine, he says that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. So run with what God gives you, enjoy life, enjoy your wife, enjoy what you do because you're being led by God but if you're not being led by God here's a problem, you need to wake up because He's going to remind us that a living dog is better than a dead lion. If you got life You know you need to get things right before you slip off in eternity. And not just get it right so you can keep living how you want to live, you get it right so God then will shepherd your life in a way that would bring glory to Him. But he says that, look in verse 10 of 12. The preacher sought to find acceptable words. So he's using his wisdom and he says, what was written, meaning this entire word that he gave us, was upright words of truth. That is, it's not impure words. He didn't attempt to take anybody down the wrong road. He didn't attempt to misguide anyone. He didn't filter it through an impure filter. No, everything he tasted, everything he touched, everything he experienced, He wanted to give the real life meaning of it. And that without the Lord, it's empty, but this would be the conclusion. This would be a man's all in all. This is where we get to just fear God and do what he says. And remember everything we do, even every secret thing is going to be brought in sight before the Lord. Now here's the thing, whether it's good or evil, that's right. Now, for us that are the believer, we know that we're hidden in Christ. Every aspect of Christ's life was a substitute for ours. So, every facet of His life is covering our life. And therefore, that then puts us in an obligation that we've been bought at a price. Our life are not our own. We're not to live for ourself. And somebody who always lives for themselves, even though they know or have in view Christ paid for their life, There's no transformation going on within them and therefore there's no application of this work in their life and they're only fooling themselves. They've gone back and forth around the proximity of truth, but truth hadn't changed them. They only have ideas about the truth, but the truth is not something real, tangible, living, alive, living out of them. They only can quote certain things about it. And they treat it like this. Look what Solomon says in chapter number seven. Look in seven. Look in verse 23. He says, all this I have proved. And the idea of proved, he said, I tested it, I experimented with it, and I have provened it. And notice how he does this. He said, I said, I will be wise. Okay, that would be like somebody today who just sets out and says, I'm gonna be wise. I'm gonna go learn all I can learn. I'm gonna go get every ounce of education that I can get. I'm gonna go read every book that I can find. I'm gonna go experience what it is about life. I'm gonna find everything I can out about life. I will be wise. I'm gonna be wise. I wanna know things. Well, that's how Solomon approached it. Now watch how he says this, but it, this wisdom was what? It was far from me. As for that which is far off and exceedingly deep, it was out of reach. It was beyond my abilities to find and capture. Why? Because wisdom is given. It ain't something you find. God's got to give it. He goes on to say, who can find it out? So every person that our society cultivates and says, this is what you need, you need to be smart, you need to be kind, you need to get you a good education, get you a good job, raise you a family, and do things rightly and wisely. Well, those are all great admonitions, but they're all impossible without the Lord. Well see that's where he would describe us in that condition as a fool and but Solomon legitimately even in his smarts says I'm gonna go find it but he couldn't find it. And he said, I searched for verse 25. I applied my heart to know, to search and seek out wisdom and the reasons of things. I want to know why they work the way they work. I want to know how the stock market works. I want to know how the body functions. I want to know how. Yes, I want to know all those things and he's going to bring that out. He says, look, there are things you just don't understand, but you still participate in them, even though you don't understand them. Like bones growing in the womb. Even though you can't explain how the baby comes, you still doing what it takes for a baby to come. You follow with me? And there's other, he ties that with other things, but he says, verse 25, let me read it again. I applied my heart to know, to search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things, to know also the wickedness, the wrongness of folly, even of foolishness and madness. In my search though, I found something even more bitter than death. What is it? the woman whose heart is a snare and a net, whose hands are like fetters, and who pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be trapped by her. So he teaches us that in Proverbs, that's carried over in the book of Proverbs, like most all this is. And that's what he's saying, while I was trying to figure out the reasons of things, What I did come up upon, there's something even more bitter than dying, and that's being trapped by a bad woman. And he says, verse 27, here's what I found, says Kohele, the preacher. How did I do it? I added one thing to the other to find out the reason of it, which my soul still seeks, but I cannot find. One man among a thousand I have found. What man? I've only found one upright man among a thousand men. But of a woman who is upright among all these, I have not found. Truly, this is the only thing that I find. God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. He's basically saying, look, you have to be careful who you're gleaning from, learning from, because what's rare is an upright man in this world. And what's even rarer than an upright man is an upright woman. In all honesty, that's what his conclusion is. See, but he said, I was seeking for answers about life. And while I saw it come down just to practical everyday living is that man's messed up. That's what I really found out. We're messed up. We're messed up. You can know a lot of stuff and still be messed up. Yeah, we know how that played out. Yes. Oh, he's the only one that is without flaw. See, he's our substitute in how we put our confidence and trust in him. The New Testament says Jesus is our wisdom. He's our righteousness. He's our sanctification. He's our redemption. He's everything that is needful before God. He's it. That's why we trust him. But if you take the idea that Solomon is helping us with here, he's saying that in my wisdom, I sought wisdom, but I sought it in my own strength. and I come to the conclusion I couldn't find it. Why? Because those who produce wisdom are so rare, it's hard to find if you're looking at it in books. Because people ain't writing about wisdom. People are not giving us knowledge and reasoning that is from above, that is upright and sound with God. What we're reading in the libraries and what we're seeing on the streets is the schemes of men. but not from men who are upright. That's a rare thing. So it goes back to this idea with Job. See, Job 28, God asked Job, where does men find wisdom from? Do they go and mine for it like they do for diamonds and gold and precious stones? He said, men have risked life and limb to go after gold. They have dug in the mountains, they have gone in the crevices, and they have searched high and low, and they will, countless people have died going after the rare jewels of this world, but they can find them. Still doing it today. He says, but where do you find wisdom at? Do you search for it the same kind of way? He says, no, wisdom comes from above. Wisdom is a gift that God blesses us and pours out on us. And that's all Solomon, he recognized that even in his abilities, he couldn't find it in this world. Among men, it had to come from above. Now, Proverbs, he tells us that wisdom cries out in the streets where people gather. That is, in one of a thousand, there's a wise man pointing the way. But the problem is we pass him by and we go by and grab him something that seems more practical in functioning in this world and we miss out on the wisdom of God. Oh yeah, I know what you're talking about. I know what you're talking about. Yes, yes. He brings that out in chapter number, let's see. Chapter number nine. Chapter number nine. This is wisdom. Verse 13. Yeah. break loose here with this prayer. Yeah, well what he's doing is he's showing us that wisdom is the most valuable commodity that we can use but it's one that is most neglected. This has to be Godly wisdom. Yeah, that he's referring to, yes, yes. There is a skill Worldly wisdom, James gives us two dynamics of wisdom, that which is worldly or earthly or sensual or demonic, and then you have the wisdom from above. That's God's wisdom. And they both mean a skill, knowing what to do with a thing. Right, but then there's, the men over here were used and trying to use worldly wisdom. and it wasn't making it. But this wise man used godly wisdom and he said it's better than a weapon. Well, he started it out this way that the race is not always to the swift. This is in chapter 9 verse 11. Nor is the battle to the strong. nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all. For man also does not know his time like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare. The sons of men are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them." Now in chapter nine, he makes the distinction between the sons of God and the sons of men. The sons of men are living men that are functioning in this world without God. But the sons of God are the righteous and the wise. He says that in chapter nine, verse one, look in verse one. He says, for I considered all this in my heart. that I should declare it all. That was his point. He wanted to reveal his findings to help people. What? That the righteous, and remember you can't be righteous unless you've been made right with God by God, the righteous and the wise. And the wise are those that's gonna fear God because that's the first thing wisdom's gonna teach us. And notice these three things. The righteous who are the wise and their works. That's the point he's making the three things, the right man, the wise man, and what they do, what they do are in the hand of God. That is God is their shepherd. God is the one who meets their needs in their life. He's the one who provides for them. He's the one directing their steps. If they're not righteous, wise, and doing His work, there's no way they're in the hand of the Lord. You gotta be in the hand of the Lord. He said in the following verses, people know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. Remember, it's always a matter of the heart. See, the righteous do what the righteous do because their heart's different, because somebody's got their heart in their hand. guiding them but the ungodly sons of men their heart is not in the hand of God so they don't see life rightly and then he says all things come alike to all that would be everybody experiences the same thing but even more than that the righteous and the wicked are going to die that's the common thing that comes upon them both Verse three, this is an evil and all that is done unto the son that one thing happens to all truly the hearts of the what? Sons of men. That is people who are without God. A son of man or sons of men are children in this world functioning without the Lord. He's making a distinction between the product of man and the product of God. Verse one tells us the product of God, the righteous, the wise, and their works. But verse three is telling us the product of what man has produced. And remember wisdom among men is rare. So as a whole, God made man upright, but man has many schemes, man's fallen. And then he goes on to tell us about the living dog and he brings it all out. Verse seven is talking to the righteous. Go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart for God has already, what? Accepted your works. Let your garments always be white and let your head lack no wall, that is, You rest in the Lord, you run with Him what He's given you to run with. It's that 12, 13, fear God and do what He's given you. You run to Him and run with what He's given you because God's already placed His hand upon you. You run with it. But everybody else though that are still sons of men and not sons of God, there's a danger in misapplying wisdom. And that gets into the parable of the old poor wise man who brought victory, but nobody gave him the credit for it. Who got the credit? The king who ordered it, or the soldiers who fought it. But you see, the wise man come up with the plan. But he was a nobody. And that's what he's teaching, that those nobodies out there that has an ounce of wisdom are much better than those that have power and authority that operate with no wisdom. But here's the catch to it. Men are not going to remember you. They're not going to remember you for that sweet wisdom. Why? Because they can't recognize it. They're going to give credit to the soldiers. They're going to give credit to the king. They're going to give credit to everything else. But it was the wise plan of a wise man that wrought this victory. God got involved in it. But you see, man points it to man. and they're gonna miss it. That's why the poor wise man's never remembered because the society he lives in doesn't see the hand of God upon him because they can't even recognize God in it. All they see is what man does. So I think that's what the heart of what he's helping us with. But you know, we don't do things so people notice us. We do things because it's the right thing to do. And it's God's guidance that's guided us. And we know we're going to have to give an account to Him one day for the love He's given us, for the light He's given us, for the light that He's transferred to us. We're going to give an account for what we did with it in and for His glory. So man, these things are some kind of good, all of them. They are so helpful, so helpful. So much, so much. Father, we bless you. We thank you, ask you to help us with this today. We need you. We need you now in this service to speak to us and to help us and to shepherd us. And we're gonna praise you in Jesus' name, amen. Love y'all.