All right, thank you so much, ladies. My, the music's been marvelous tonight. We thank the Lord for it. The children, the ladies, all that we've been able to experience here, good congregational singing. The choir did a marvelous job, and the orchestra, and they're special for the oratory. What a blessing to be in a place where we can have that kind of our hearts encouraged before we even open the Word of God. So take your Bibles tonight. Let's go to the book of Ecclesiastes once again. We'll be finishing up the ninth chapter tonight as we're talking about life as it can be uncertain. Life can be uncertain. I want to introduce the message, and then we'll use the scripture, obviously, as we move from our thoughts here this evening. We have looked at this study, and we have come to the understanding that the human author, of course, Solomon, in this study, has learned these, what we call, life lessons. Lessons that had greatly impacted his life. And we understood that God had given him early in his life this measure of wisdom where as we obviously take the book of Ecclesiastes into consideration with other passages of scripture, we know that God did something unusual in Solomon's life when he first came to the throne and God gave him the option of asking for whatever he would. I've often thought to myself, what would I ask for if God would give me whatever I would ask for? And obviously, God gave Solomon that opportunity. And he said, Lord, I need to have wisdom. I need to have understanding. And so we want to define that word. We often define wisdom, because many people perhaps misdefine it. They maybe define it in a secular vernacular. But when we talk about wisdom in the context here, we're talking about the ability to discern life and respond properly to it with decisions and choices that are made rightly in accordance with truth, godliness, and righteousness. It's really if you want to just boil it down It's the ability to behave in such a way in every circumstance and every choice that brings honor and glory to God So we ought to pray for that. We ought to pray God help me to have wisdom so that when I'm traversing through life when I'm facing the various Circumstances and the choices that I deal with that every choice every decision number one would be in alignment with your word but number two would because it is alignment with your word would bring honor and glory to Christ and That ought to be the heartbeat of every believer, everyone who obviously loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we know that Solomon was given this great ability from God to see these things in proper light. However, at a point he allowed his heart to get turned away. You know, we don't realize when we take these little turns in life, we don't always think that they're that big a deal. It's just a little sin. It's just a small little thing that I've allowed to touch my life. It's really no big deal. I can break away from it anytime I want to. I suppose the first time Solomon married what the Bible terms as a strange woman. The Bible uses that term. It's obviously not talking about strange the fact that she looks strange or that she was weird in her behavior. The fact of the matter is she was a woman from a different area, a woman who was not a Jew, a woman who was not a Hebrew, whose heart was an after God who worshiped false gods. And I suppose the first time that Salmon entered into one of those political affinities that brought him into conjunction and brought one of those political marriages that he thought, well, it's not really a big deal. I can control this. We soon learn that Salmon wasn't able to control it. And by the way, let me tell you something about sin. It's a slippery slope. You think once you get on that hill, you know, I can stop this sled any place I want to. You cannot. And Solomon came to realize that. He went much further than he ever thought he would go in that. But at some point, again, Solomon seems to recover. He seems to get to that point in his life, perhaps in his old age, as he's made all these life choices and has drifted far away from God, there's not a peace, there's not a tranquility, there's not a contentment in his heart. We often think don't we that if we just have enough stuff and just get the right stuff Somehow some way we'll have some peace and tranquility. Well Solomon went down that path He had it all He had wine. He had women he had song he had had frivolity had education. He had he had the material element He said I want to tell you that it's empty vanity of vanities all is vanity and He begins to retrace his life and comes and he begins to give us these life lessons and understands that he comes the understanding that life apart from God you can live everything you want to from your own perspective under the Sun But unless you live above the Sun for something higher than yourself unless you live for the Son of God for God himself There's no peace or tranquility in your life And so we're at a point in this book where Solomon's wrapping it up. He's giving us some of these, you know, if you would, these final thoughts or instructions or conclusions to the messages that we've been looking at. And I want us to look tonight about this fact that life can be uncertain. And I want us to look, if you would, at three particular thoughts that are contained here in this particular section about the uncertainty of life. We dealt a little bit with some of this last Sunday night and perhaps maybe just a tad bit repetitive of where we were, but I really believe that we're going to perhaps go in a completely or at least a partially different direction. And I want you to notice, if you would please, verse number 11. Would you notice, first of all, that God is at work to accomplish His purpose. He says in Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse number 11, I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet riches to the men of understanding nor yet favor to men of skill notice that last phrase but time and chance happeneth to them all it happeneth to them all and I When I read this, and I have to just be honest with you, I spent a lot of time this week just contemplating this passage of scripture because sometimes we read these passages, you know, you say, well really, Lord, what are you trying to say? What are you saying through Solomon to us? When I read this, and I read this section trying to get the context, the main thought that's here, the main thought that's contained to me in this section is the fact that life is uncertain. And when he talks about the fact of life being uncertain, he says, I want you to understand that God is at work in life to accomplish His purpose. Though it may be uncertain to us, God is at work to accomplish His purpose. You know, we often think about things not always working out the way that we think they will. Notice what he says here. He says, you know He said I've come to understand he says in verse number 11 that I saw in his son that the race is not to the swift No, the battle to the strong neither yet the bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding or yet favored to men of skill The idea is that we often expect do we not that the fastest? Strongest the biggest will win the contest yet. That's not always the case. I We look at time and circumstances. We look sometimes at things that we just, again, you know, if you're talking about a sporting event, you always just think that somehow the team that's the stronger team, the team that has a better ranking will always come out on top. I thought it was quite interesting last week, and as I've shared with you, I am somewhat interested in football. I like to watch it, but I honestly did not even start to watch the football game last Sunday when the Cleveland Browns were playing the New Orleans Saints. I thought to myself, there's not a chance in the world that the Cleveland Browns will beat the Super Bowl champs from last year. There's not a chance in the world. The way they're playing, it's not even going to happen, so why even bother? Well, was I surprised. Got about the went upstairs as it's getting ready for it to come to the church and The last few moments of that football game and saw that they were just putting a whomping on New Orleans Well, we just expect that that's not gonna be the case. We just don't expect that It will be I I suppose that Solomon could have been thinking about his father David in his battle with Goliath I mean, honestly, when you thought about that from a human perspective, I mean, here's a guy who's almost 10 foot tall. He's got this armament on. He's skilled in battle. He's not a novice. And here comes David who, from all, you know, from all human perspective, we would say he's a shrimp. He's not a match against Goliath. How on earth could you possibly match up? Well, there is a way, isn't there? That way is not from a human strength. That way comes from a strength that God can provide. And I read in the book of Psalms, chapter 33, verses 16 and 18. There is no king saved by a multitude of an host. A mighty man is not delivered by much strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety. Neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him and upon them that hope in his mercy. I'll tell you that many times we get ourselves in circumstances and situations and we look and we say what hope is there? Ladies and gentlemen, let me remind you something tonight. Please don't ever forget this as long as there's a God in heaven There's always hope in this world when we're doing the things that God wants us to do and when we need a miracle God is specializes in miracles And oftentimes the circumstances though we may not Get ourself in those circumstances God thrusts us into circumstances that we did not ask for or invited to our life And yet God has used those things to make us focus on him and his great power and his great ability We just assume the person with the most talent and gifts and charisma will be the one that makes the biggest impact in life I go back to my Bible college training days years and years and more years ago now. There's a sense in which that seems like almost another lifetime. 30 some years now in the ministry and go back to those days of being in Bible college. And you know you, when you walk on the campus, when I was in Bible college, I walked on the campus of Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri in those days. I believe that that's where God wanted me to go. It was kind of at the turning point in that school and things began to change there even when I was there. But you know I walked on the campus and there were 2,400 students. When I walked on the campus there were 1,500 in my freshman class. And you know I looked around and I saw people who had a whole lot more talent and ability than I have. I mean, quite frankly, they're people who just, you know, they just, they had it all. They had the whole package. They had the looks, they had the charisma, they had the ability to communicate, they had talent to be able to sing. And you look at yourself and think, my goodness, what am I going to do here? I mean, how do you measure up in those respects? But you know, we've got to come to understand, it's not about us. In fact, quite frankly, the people sometimes that we expect are going to succeed in life because they seemingly have it all. are people that end up making the littlest impact in life. Because they're working on their own ability and their own talent, and they're not depending upon the ability or the talent or the gifts that God can give to them. So I think to myself about that tonight, that we often expect, we expect that somehow things are going to work out, but they don't always work out the way that we think, but things will always work out the way that God wants. Look at that last statement, please, in verse number 11. He says, but time and chance happeneth to them all. Now, Solomon states that time and chance are going to happen. He's not saying that life is one big roll of the dice. You know, that somehow you just kind of get lucky in life. Somehow, you know, that it's just the luck of the draw. So, you know, you're in the right place at the right time and it just seems to happen. I want to tell you something. That is not what Solomon is saying here. And it's important that we understand that because it's important that as God's people we don't realize or we come to realize that there's no such thing as luck for us. God is sovereign. He has a purpose. And His purpose will be accomplished. And we need to yield our life to God so that we can be in the places and allow God's circumstances. In fact, that word chance there means occurrence. And so time and occurrences, he says, happens to all of us. All of us have circumstances that unfold in our life that if we're there and we're in the right spot, in the right mindset, and we're walking with God, God can do great things in and through our life. That's what he's seeming to say here in this particular passage when he makes that statement at the end of verse number 11. We see some pretty unlikely things unfold in the Bible, and all of them accomplish the great purpose of God. I mean, quite honestly, the Old Testament and even the New Testament is just filled with story after story after story that speaks of God doing some unusual things through people because they were yielded to God and in the right place that God was going to take their life at that moment and use them. I was thinking about Joseph, that youngest child of Jacob, the youngest of, at least at a point, the youngest son of Jacob. And his brothers are bothered, of course, by the gifts and the abilities that he possesses. And the fact that he, even through dreams, and I believe they understood by his dreams what God was saying. They understood that here was a young man who was marked and destined for God to do something significant through his life. We look at Joseph's life and we understand that he's attacked and his brothers sell him into slavery and his father's led to believe that he's been killed and they think, these brothers think they've gotten rid of him and now they can go on with their life. But I want to tell you, I don't suppose those brothers had any clue, I don't think they had any idea how difficult life would be after what they did. It's a lesson for every teenager here. Don't plot to get rid of your brother or sister. Life can be a little bit more difficult than you think it's going to be. But I think to myself that time and time again, they saw the grieving heart of their father. And they realized that they had created this situation. Now, how are they going to go back to dad and say, well, dad, here's what happened. They have no idea where Joseph is at this point, but aren't you glad God does? God moves him and puts him in places and moves him from place to place until one day God gets him to that role that he's going to fulfill and the day will come when God unfolds those circumstances and God's will and purpose is accomplished through his life. I was thinking about Esther who is minding her own business, living in Persia, a lovely young lady, no intention of competing for a crown or to be a queen, when all of a sudden she's selected to be among the many young virgins that King Ahasuerus will consider to be his wife. She is selected and God put her in that place and I love that statement that her uncle says we don't know that God has not put you in the kingdom for such a time as this and we know don't we as we look back at it that it was God's time in her life and time and occurrence time and circumstance happened to all Paul is sitting in prison in Jerusalem. He's been arrested in the temple. He's placed in jail awaiting his trial and I read this the other day. I've been reading often through the book of Acts and just continually this year just probably now about 10 or 12 times been reading through the book of Acts and read again about how Paul was arrested there in Jerusalem. He loved his country. He wanted them to know Christ and yet they misunderstood his desire. He's arrested and put there and held in that spot and he didn't realize that when he was arrested there would be over 40 men who would take a vow. They'd not eat until they had the opportunity to kill Paul. But God just happened to have Paul's nephew standing by and overhearing the conversation. And he came in and told Paul, who Paul sent to the man who was in charge of the jail, and they moved Paul. I'm just simply saying we understand, don't we, that God has a time and a circumstance. I think of Paul and Silas arrested in Philippi for doing good things. They're beating and thrusting the stocks. The devil, no doubt, thought, you know what? That'll send these guys packing. That'll be the end of the missionary journey. Here they sat there at midnight singing praises to God, and God shakes the prison house. Now don't you have to wonder that when that jailer came in and said to Paul Sir, what must I do to be saved after God did that great work there? And Paul said don't do yourself any harm. We're all here Don't you have to wonder if maybe that wasn't the man that Paul saw in his vision? Come over to Macedonia and help us and God set up the circumstances to make it all happen I'm just simply saying to you tonight that when we look at God, and we look at His work in this world, understand this, that God's will will be accomplished. We need to understand that that's what we're seeing here, that while it's not always the way we think it's going to work out, it always works out the way God wants it to work out. There's a second thought that I believe is a conjoining thought here to this text. We find it in verse number 12. And that is the uncertainty of why it ought to cause us to seek and live for God. Look at verse 12. For man knoweth not his time. As fishes are taken in an evil net, as birds are caught in a snare, so the sons of men snared in evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them. We've talked about this uncertainty of life and man, I believe that's what the first part of verse number 12 is all about. For man knoweth not his time. It speaks of the uncertainty that we face each and every day. We understand that James spoke of that in James chapter 4 verses 13 and 14. Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow. We will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. James says, whereas ye know not what shall be on the mouth, for what is your life? It's even as a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away. We were shocked last night when we got the phone call about Steve Currington. No one expects a young man in his prime, a young man who God is using greatly to die what we would call an untimely death. My understanding was Brother Currington was on his way to the airport. He was getting ready to fly someplace to preach. See, we don't know our time. We don't know what God is doing. Proverbs 27, verse 1 says, Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. We make our plans, but we have no idea that we'll see them realized. He uses this illustration of fish that are swimming through the sea. You know, they're just kind of swimming along, meandering, just minding their own business, just being fish. And all of a sudden, they run into the net of the fishermen. They had no clue that day when they got up, whether fish get up or not. I had no idea. When they got up that morning and went about swimming that they were going to run into a net. The bird flying through the heaven. Going around, minding its own business, just doing what God has made it to do, and no doubt hungry and, you know, scavenging for food, and all of a sudden comes upon a snare that's been set, having no idea that that's going to happen. So we look at that, we just never know what we'll deal with in life. I was thinking about those 33 miners in Chile. I don't know how many years or days or months. I know at least one of them hadn't been in the mine very long. You know, there's a lot of things a person could do in life. But I don't know if that's one that I'd want to do. Be a miner. Go underneath the earth and dig out in dangerous and difficult situations. But I suppose if you're hungry enough and you need to feed your family and take care of your family, you'll do whatever you need to do. Let's think about those 33 miners. They got up that morning and got there to the mine bit went about their business and you know this You know again, I don't know if they go down as a team they go down one by one but they get down in their work spot going about doing what they do there in that that mine and and all of a sudden everything changes for them and I suppose when that mine collapse the first thing they thought to themselves is we may never get out of here. I know that they none of us would think that 69 days later all 33 would still be alive and they'd be brought to the surface through some really some really in some respects miraculous ways and methods. But it happened to them and, you know, you just, you know, it was August the 5th and it wasn't until, you know, late into November that they're, you know, relinquished from this mind. We just have no idea what evil and difficulty we may face as we make our way through life. Tomorrow, and I'm not trying to be a prophet here, I'm not trying to be a doomsday prophet, I'm just simply saying, you and I don't know that tomorrow we may not face some of the most difficult circumstances of our life in our time. Well, here's my thought. Since we know not our time, we need to walk with God. I mean, honestly, if God has so created the circumstances of my life, and in some respects, you know, people say, I wish I knew what the future holds. Not me. I struggle enough with what I deal with today for this moment, and what I dealt with yesterday. I don't really want to know what this week holds. Now again, we sit down, we make our plans, and we put things on a calendar, thinking at some point, if God wills, we'll be able to see it. But I'm telling you that we have no idea what you and I may deal with tomorrow. And as such, I want to tell you, we're going to face time. We're going to face our time. And sometimes people deal with hardship and difficulty because they're not walking with God in fellowship. We know God has said that when we're not living for Him, He's likely to bring chastening into our life. In fact, He said He will if we're His children. I'm thinking about being a boy raised in the home of my parents, and one thing I did not want to happen was chastening and chastisement. It wasn't a pleasant experience. It wasn't one that I got up every day and said, well, I just can't wait till my dad puts a whooping on me today. No, no. That wasn't the way it was whatsoever. So as a result of that, we think about those things. I would just simply say that if I'm going to deal with a time, an occurrence, a time, a circumstance, and a chance, I want to be in a place that when God brings those things to bear, I'm walking with God so I have His help through those circumstances. Joseph had no idea the kind of difficulty and the turns his life would take the day his father sent him to check on his brothers. As far as he knew, he was just going out there, going to get a report, bring it back to dad. He had no idea when he left home that he'd not see his father or his brothers for years. And yet God had ordained these things. And Joseph walked with God and had provision and protection all the way through. Isn't it a whole lot better, if we're going to have to face adversity and affliction, isn't it a whole lot better to face it with God's protection and provision than to face it as having God as our adversary rather than our help. I think to myself about Goliath. I got a feeling that Goliath, when that battle was over, had a wish that he was on David's side and rather on the side of the enemy. Don't you? Don't you think he wished he was on David's team rather than opposing David? Well, you know, why would we want to oppose God? Why would we want to walk in opposition to God? Why would we want to, you know, live our life as if we're shaking our fists in the face of God? We say, well, preacher, I'd never do that. Really? You don't think sometimes by our attitude, our spirit, our hardness of heart, our disregard of God's word, that it's as if we're saying, God, I just don't really care. I've got to the point in my life where I pretty much want to drive this car myself. I'm tired of you driving. I'll drive it. I'll go where I want to go. I'll do what I want to do. And I'll tell you, when you begin to think that way, you're in for a heap of trouble in your life. Because listen, God will let you drive the car. And He will let you go to your destinations. But it's not a pleasant experience. It never ends up better in the life of God's people. It's a whole lot better to say, God, I don't know where I'm heading in life. I just know that you've got a plan and a program, and I'm content to be the passenger. You drive the car, and I'll know that we'll get there safe and sound. We need to live our life with that kind of mindset that these things that happen in life, Lord, I want to live in such a way that I've got your blessing upon my life. I want you to notice finally, please, that number three, the wisdom that God provides is not always looked upon favorably. We find that in verses 13 to 18. It says, This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city and a few men within it, and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. And there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. The words of the wise men are heard and quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroyeth much good. I think when I look at this, I see that Solomon is sharing what I would call a timely parable. Now it's obvious that wisdom is better than strength. We see that here in this parable by wisdom. But wisdom is not always appreciated. You know, we live in a world in many respects where loud, powerful, and the popular seem to rule the day. You know, we live in a time when a man has a voice, he's given an opportunity, perhaps has some popularity, and has some power, and he rules the day. The entertainment industry spews in many respects from my perspective and I believe I have a godly perspective about this I believe the entertainment industry and perhaps not all of it but a good portion of it spews out filth and garbage that destroys the morals of our people Jade's our young people and our teenagers and causes our families to be destroyed and yet because it's loud and packaged properly it gets people to follow I Mean think about the rock and roll crowd I'm going back in my mind and I'm thinking when I was a teenager about a group, and of course it was even in my preteen days when they first came across the ocean, the Beatles. Came to America, this new music that began to set a tone and a pace in America. They brought a message, it was a message that was anti-God, a message that began to change the face of our culture and our people. And as a result of that, because they were popular, because they were packaged well, they got a hold of this country and ushered in a whole new mindset. The country crowd sings about nonsense, and because they have a tune and a voice, they can sing about a lack of morals and profanity, and people flock to hear. They buy the message, even though it's utterly foolishness. I mean, think about it. If you're a Christian, you sit by the hour or even spend any time and listen to some of this music from the world and the message that the world is conveying through that music. It's not a message that glorifies God. It's not a message that encourages you in your walk with God. Here we find a truth of wisdom being able to do great things. It can defeat a mighty enemy, and yet because it's not packaged in fine clothing or perhaps living in a popular neighborhood, it's not appreciated. I remember years ago, Dr. Thompson preached from this very passage that I just read just a moment ago, verse 13 to verse number 18. I remember distinctly the message and how he brought the application as a message that had to deal with that this passage perhaps could be applied to Jesus Christ. Christ being this poor man who defeated a mighty king, and yet his wisdom was not appreciated by the masses. I want you to think with me for just a moment. Listen to this passage of Scripture in alignment with that. Mark chapter 6, verses 2 and 3. The Bible says, When the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogues. And many hearing him speaking of Christ were astounded, saying, From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him? And even such mighty works are wrought by his hands. Now listen, is not this the carpenter son of Mary, the brother of James and Joes and Judah and Simon? Are not his sisters with us? Listen, and they were offended at him. I mean, here was, they marveled at the message, they marveled at the words, they marveled at his abilities. And yet, because they said, well, we know where he comes from. We know who he's associated with. We know what town he's from. They said they were offended at him. I think the truth, we obviously see it's relayed in verses 17 to 18. Again, verses 17 and 18, he says, The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. You know, there's a lot of noise and nonsense in our world. stop to think how difficult it is just to get someplace where it's quiet. We almost resist quiet. We don't want hardly to get by ourselves and begin to think and contemplate and to be able to meditate on things. So we get in our cars and first thing we do is we turn the radio on or we put a CD on or we listen to some kind of music and I'm not saying that's necessarily wrong. I'm just simply saying that's what we do. And you see people today all over the place, you know, walking around with little ear buds in their ears, just, you know, sound just going all the time. And we understand that we're living in this society where there's a lot of noise, a lot of nonsense in the world, a lot of voices clamoring to be heard. You know, go to the average restaurant. I talk about restaurants, I mean, obviously there's all kinds, there's McDonald's and you've got whole raft of things down the street that you can choose from. But if you go to a restaurant in some respects that perhaps caters to a younger clientele, you walk in there and the music's blaring. I mean, it's just almost overpowering. I've been to restaurants where I've had to say to a waitress, could you turn the music down? Don't be afraid to ask that. I mean, you're a paying customer just like everybody else, so you might as well get your wishes like anybody else. But, I mean, could you just turn the music down a little bit? I mean, I'd like to be able to think myself. I'd like to be able to carry on having a conversation. But, you know, you go there. I was thinking, you know, there have been times when I've been called out in the middle of the night, and I mentioned a week ago, and I went to the hospital early in the morning, and I was driving down Lorain Avenue, and it was Sunday morning, about 2.30 in the morning, and I'm going by these bars on Lorain Avenue. The doors are hanging open, people are spilling out in the streets, and the music is blaring. This overpowering, you know, just message that's being pounded, pounded, pounded into people's hearts and into their minds. It's so loud and pounding you can't hear, and you can even hear it in the street. The average sporting event is loud and people are loud with voices and with their nonsense and their foolishness. You know, God doesn't have to shout to get our attention. You say, well, preacher, how come you're shouting? Because I'm a preacher. I'm not God. I'm trying to help you to listen to His still, small voice in your heart tonight. Preaching is designed to be loud and with a sense of urgency, but God's voice is still and quiet. God uses preaching, God uses that message to speak to our hearts, to get us to begin to contemplate. His Spirit speaks softly to our hearts and deals with us about His wisdom. So, you know, we think about these messages that are being propagated. You'll hear them tomorrow. You'll hear them tonight. You'll hear them in various places. The message is live your own life, do your own thing, live however you want to live. That's the message that's being sold by the world. You determine your own destiny. Ladies and gentlemen, we have to listen to another voice. A voice who says God determines our destiny. We need to walk with Him and fellowship with Him. Now I want you to notice, please, the last statement in verse number 18. I want you to notice what it says, Wisdom is better than weapons of war. But notice that last statement, But one sinner destroyeth much good. Do you wonder if maybe Solomon wasn't giving a running commentary perhaps on his own life at this moment? I thought about that this week as I was preparing for this message. And I thought that perhaps Solomon in his mind could reflect upon what had transpired in his own life, in his own family. One sinner destroys much good. I'm thinking that Solomon may be thinking about his daddy, David. David was doing pretty good. He was living for God and he had God's favor and blessing upon his rule in his kingdom. But one night, A little bit of sin. Again, you get on that slope, you think, somehow I can stop the sled. David looked. David lusted. And David fell. David took another man's wife to be his wife. Brought the judgment of God upon his life. Maybe Solomon was thinking about his own life, that he was doing pretty good. He was following God, God's power and blessing upon his life. His wisdom was upon his life. But Solomon's disregard of God. I don't have to live by that rule. I don't have to obey that command. I'm the king. I can do what I want. This will be good for the kingdom. This marriage will be good for the kingdom. I want you to look at chapter 10 in verse number one. Would you notice this please? I probably will pick up here next Sunday night, but would you notice, or the next message, but notice if you would, verse number one of chapter 10. Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor. So doth a little folly him that is in reputation of wisdom and honor. Apothecary was the druggist. He was the pharmacist, if you would, and he was the man that you went to when you had ailments and problems, and he knew how to mix the herbs up. He knew how to put together the mixture so that you could take the medicine. All of us have gone to the doctor. We've all received a prescription. We've taken it to the local pharmacy, or the doctors called it in, and we've gone in to pick it up. I don't know about you, but I've had lots of experiences over the years of picking up medicines and taking them. But I don't suppose I'd be real thrilled with the drug as if I went and picked up my medicine and opened up the bottle and there was a dead fly swimming in it. I don't think that was supposed to be part of the formula, do you think? What he's saying here is that it doesn't take a whole lot, it doesn't take much to ruin our testimony and our living for God. We can have a great testimony, you can spend your, listen to me, you can spend your lifetime walking with God and doing the right things and having a reputation. It doesn't take much. One misstep, one out of line way of being and you ruin your reputation and your testimony for God. The truth is, sir, you can destroy your life and the lives of your family. Listen to me tonight. You can. You say, Preacher, I never purposely hurt my kids. I never purposely hurt my family. I'd never do something that I thought would bring destruction to my family. That's the problem. We don't think that it's gonna lead to that. You can head down that path. There are men sitting here tonight you would never think about the fact that you and your wife would ever be divorced and that she would ever take the kids and leave or that you would destroy your children by the things you never thought that you'd ever do that. It's the farthest thing from your mind. I'm telling you that you're capable of it. And you're capable of going through those type of things if you allow sin to get a foothold in your life. Madam, you need to understand tonight that if you listen to the wrong voices, I've counseled enough, I've dealt with enough women who come and say, well, you know, I'm just tired of it all. I'm tired of it all. You know who they've been listening to? They've been listening to the wrong voices. That's why they are tired of it all. I'm not saying there aren't problems to be dealt with, but I'm telling you many times people, you listen to a voice, it may be in a workplace, it may be on a television set, but they listen to a wrong voice and they bring destruction to their families. I want the Christian teenager to know you can be foolish like the prodigal in Luke chapter number 15. You can walk away from God. You can walk away from everything that's good, everything that's decent, everything that's right. Never thinking that you'd ever get to the hog pen of life, but it can happen. We need to understand that. Now let me conclude tonight by saying I beg you to listen to the voice of wisdom tonight. You say, Preacher, where do we find it? You find it right here. You find it right here. The pages of this book you say Lord. I understand time and circumstance happen to all I understand I'm going to be traversing through life and I don't know what I'm going to deal with but when I face those problems when I face the difficulties when I face the Uncertainties, I want to know Lord. I'm walking with you. I beg you tonight to listen to the voice of wisdom Wisdom that will do you good and help you through those difficult hard times you and I will face in life Solomon, the preacher, said, I want you to know that wisdom, it could deliver a city, but it's not always appreciated. It could defeat the strong man, but it's not always appreciated. And one sinner, one sinner, destroyeth much good. May God help us tonight to understand that God is in charge. There is an uncertainty in life, but there's a God who can help us through and give us what we need as we walk through this veil called life.