Latest / Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons / The Vanity of Death (Ecclesiastes 9:1-18)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

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The Vanity of Death (Ecclesiastes 9:1-18)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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Amen, and if you would take your Bibles now and
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open up to the Old Testament wisdom book of Ecclesiastes
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Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 and while you're turning
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there and some are finding their seats Just a
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brief story for you this week. I had a bit of
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a garage door issue. I Hate having garage door
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issues And because those things are so dangerous,
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the spring was broken. I'm not touching that
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with a 10 -foot pole. And so I called somebody
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to come and look at the garage door and hopefully
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fix it. And as I gave him all of my money for
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fixing it, he handed me his phone and he said,
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put your information in and your credit card
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information. And as I did that, I noticed that
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there was Hebrew writing within his phone. There
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was English and... Hebrew and so I asked him
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where are you from? He said I'm from Israel and
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I said can I ask you a question? He said sure
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I said we're going through Ecclesiastes in my
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church preaching a sermon series through that
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book and we keep seeing the word Hevel that is
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there can you as somebody who really speaks Hebrew
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can you tell me what this is and as I had anticipated,
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he found that to be difficult. Not because he
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doesn't know his language, but translating the
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word into English is tough. He just kept saying,
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it's very difficult. Hevel, hevelim. Friends,
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we continue to look at hevel. We continue to
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look at the word that is translated in your text
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as vanity, right? A word that shows us the fleeting
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nature of things under the sun, that hevel is
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something that means something like a breath.
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or a mist, a vapor, it is here and it is gone.
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And yes, we do see this again in Ecclesiastes
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chapter 9. And so would you look there and follow
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along with me, for this is God's word. Ecclesiastes
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9, But all this I laid to heart, examining it
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all, how the righteous and the wise and their
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deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love
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or hate, man does not know. Both are before him.
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It is the same for all, since the same event
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happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the
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good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean,
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to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.
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As the good one is, so is the sinner. And he
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who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is
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an evil. and all that is done under the sun that
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the same event happens to all. Also the hearts
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of the children of man are full of evil and madness
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is in their hearts while they live and after
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that they go to the dead but he who is joined
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with all the living has hope for a living dog
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is better than a dead lion for the living know
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that they will die but the dead know nothing.
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and they have no more reward for the memory of
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them is forgotten. Their love and their hate
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and their envy have already perished and forever
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and they have no more share in all that is done
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under the sun. Go eat your bread with joy and
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drink your wine with a merry heart for God has
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already approved what you do. Let your garments
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be always white Let not oil be lacking on your
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head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love
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all the days of your vain life that he has given
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you under the sun. Because that is your portion
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in life and in your toil at which you toil under
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the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it
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with your might. For there is no work or thought
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or knowledge or wisdom and sheol to which you
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are going. Again I saw that under the sun the
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race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the
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strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to
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the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge,
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but time and chance happen to them all, for man
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does not know his time. Like fish that are taken
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in an evil net, and like birds that are caught
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in a snare, so the children of man are snared
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at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon
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them. I've also seen this example of wisdom under
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the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was
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a little city with few men in it, and a great
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king came against it and besieged it, building
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great siege works against it. But there was found
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in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered
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the city, yet no one remembered that poor man.
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But I say the wisdom is better than might. Though
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the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words
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are not heard, the words of the wise heard and
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quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler
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among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of
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war, but one sinner destroys much good. This
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is God's word. Let's pray. Father in heaven,
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we thank you for your word which is truth, and
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for Christ who has called the word and his faith
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comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ,
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we ask you to open up our hearts and our minds
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to the glories of your word. And would you use
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it to bolster our faith, convict us of sin and
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encourage us to pursue Christ who has pursued
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us all the way to the cross. We pray it all in
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his name. Amen. Perhaps you remember this story
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from second Kings chapter 7 There were once four
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lepers who sat at the gate of Samaria for a time
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Samaria was Israel's capital capital and there
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were these four lepers who sat beside the gate
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and it was during an awful famine and These lepers
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were very hungry. It had nothing to eat But also
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they knew that the famine was happening obviously
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inside the city gates and so they looked at themselves
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and they said what are we to do if we stay here
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we will surely die but if we go into the city
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there again we will surely die what are we to
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do well these four lepers again according to
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second kings chapter 7 knew that the syrian camp
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was not all that far away the syrians were enemies
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of the israelites But they said, what are we
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to do? What choice do we have? And so they set
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out in search of the enemy camp. They went looking
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for the Syrians. And they found the camp. And
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when they stumbled into it, hoping for mercy,
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what they found was something of a ghost town.
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The Syrians were not there. But all of their
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stuff was. All of their food and their drink
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and their gold. and all of their stuff and so
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they these four hungry men began to eat and they
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began to drink but then they came to their senses
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and said what are we doing our brothers our sisters
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our people are back in samaria and they're starving
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let us go to them and tell them what we have
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found and so they went back to the city They
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went and they told the king in his household
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what they had found and the king sent men To
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go and look for the Syrians because the Syrians
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no doubt had come upon them in order to do battle
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So they went looking for the Syrians, but he
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also sent others to that camp To plunder it and
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take back the food so that the people of the
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city were saved They were saved from battle They
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were saved from starvation yet there's a sadness
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about this story and the sadness is this you
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don't hear any more about those lepers you don't
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hear any more about these unnamed forgotten heroes
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and something similar is also going on within
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our text for you see it in verses 14 and 15 there
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this story of this little city with a few men
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in it and a great king coming upon it and this
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wise but poor man delivering the city. But yet
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you don't see anything else about him. He's not
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named. And as the text says, he is forgotten.
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Friends, the wise do not always receive the reward
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or the recognition that they deserve in this
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life before death comes. This chapter is about
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how to live in light of pending death, but to
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do so with joy and with wisdom. Let me set the
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stage for it by looking in the first two verses.
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All this I laid to heart examining it all, how
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the righteous and the wise and their deeds are
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in the hand of God. And that sounds good, right?
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We like to think that we are in the hands of
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God, but what comes next maybe isn't so encouraging.
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It says, whether it's love or hate, man does
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not know both are before him. What he's getting
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at here is showing us that, yes, we are in the
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hand of God, but we do not always know what's
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going to come next, do we? The unexpected. This
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is also communicated in verse 11, if you look
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there. Time and chance happen to them all. Now,
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we should understand that as this says this word
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chance, chance is nothing. Chance has no status.
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It's not a real thing. What's actually being
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communicated here is that things happen, we don't
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always know why, but God does. But the one thing
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that is communicated that we know will definitely
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happen if the Lord continues to tarry. Is that
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friends, we will all die. We will all die. That's
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the event that this text is talking about that
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happens to every single person. But we already
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know this from studying the book of Ecclesiastes
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that it all happens in God's time. And so yes,
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you're in God's hands. You're in his time. Even
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if you don't know exactly what tomorrow will
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hold. Now the way that this text speaks about
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death, I think is very interesting Look back
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in verse 2 This event that happens to the righteous
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and the wicked to the good and the evil to the
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clean and the unclean to him who Sacrifices and
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him who does not and then on and on it goes and
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then it says that death is an evil Do we really
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think of death as being evil Quite literally,
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the word that is used here is bad. Friends, death
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is bad. Death is wrong. Death is unnatural. And
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death hurts. And we know this from the Scriptures
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that the wages of sin is what? It is death. And
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so children, you remember what you heard this
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week. You remember how when God created Adam
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and Eve, He created them happy and holy. things
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were right with the world until they weren't.
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Because of what? Because of sin. Children, you
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remember what the serpent did. He came to Eve
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and he said, you will not surely die. He tricked
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them. He lied to them. That's what Satan does.
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That's what the devil does. He is a liar. And
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they listen to the lie and their disobedience
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cost mankind life. But here's the thing. Here's
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why the scriptures are so good. Because they
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communicate truth and they communicate hope.
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Right? God does not leave us hopeless. No, not
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at all. Instead, what the scriptures show us
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is that Jesus came to live and to die in order
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to give life back to us. So that even as death
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hurts, and death is bad according to Solomon
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here, What Jesus does is to remove the sting
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of death. It's such that the Apostle Paul is
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able to say to live is Christ and to die is gain.
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Dying can only be gain if you are in the Lord
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Jesus Christ. Jesus provides for us eternal life,
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never to be interrupted by death again. And yet
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it costs nothing less than the very blood Jesus
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Himself. For you may remember these words from
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Hebrews chapter 9 that says without the shedding
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of blood there is no forgiveness and then it
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says Christ was offered once to bear the sins
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of many. It happens by His blood. There's a Christian
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contemporary artist named Matt Redman who sings
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a song called Your Blood Speaks. He sings, Your
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blood speaks a better word than all the empty
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claims I've heard upon this earth, speaks righteousness
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to me, stands in my defense. Jesus, it's your
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blood. Or perhaps you're more of a traditionalist
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and you like this one, What can wash away my
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sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can
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make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of
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Jesus. Oh, how precious is the flow that makes
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me white as snow. No other fount I know. It's
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nothing but the blood of Jesus. Friends, this
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is the good news that Jesus gave himself up on
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the cross so that you would have life. And what
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Jesus does is he reverses the curse and gives
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eternal life to all who would trust in him. And
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my second point this morning shows why this was
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necessary because it's not just that death is
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a bad thing. There are tremendously bad things
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in our hearts. Look at verses, say three through
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six. This is an evil under the Sun the same event
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happens to all also the hearts of the children
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of man are full of evil. I think here that actually
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what's going on is Solomon is reflecting upon
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the book of Genesis once again because Genesis
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chapter 6 verse 5 says the law the Lord saw the
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wickedness of man was great in the earth And
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that every intention of the thoughts of his heart
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was only evil continually. Friends, until the
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Holy Spirit gives us that new heart, we carry
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a heart that is just full of sickness and violence,
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malice, evil. And this is why we need to be careful
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with some of the phrases that people say. Have
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you ever heard someone say, Just follow your
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heart. Have you heard that? Yeah. Well, what
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about when your heart is full of evil? We need
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our hearts cleansed. What we need to do is not
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to follow our hearts, but to follow Christ. Christ
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is our only hope. And hope is also communicated
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within this text. Look at verse four. But he
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who is joined with all the living has hope. For
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a living dog is better than a dead lion. Now
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we read that and we think, what's that about?
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Especially dog lovers might say, what's that
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about? What's being communicated here is that
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while you have life, you have hope. Have any
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of you paid attention to your license plates
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recently? I see some smiles. While I breathe,
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I Hope, South Carolina license plate. People
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seem to attribute this to ancient philosophers,
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maybe ancient Roman philosophers, maybe ancient
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Greek philosophers, but maybe it needs to be
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attributed to Solomon. While I have life, I have
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hope. And friends, as people who are full of
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hope, this text also tells us how to live. We
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are able to live with hope and enjoy the good
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things of God. Look at verses 7 through 10. Go
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eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with
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a merry heart for God has already approved what
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you do. This is written as an imperative, meaning
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it's written as a command. How interesting is
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it that we have to be commanded to enjoy things?
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We're being told here, God has approved what
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you do, meaning God has given you good gifts
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to be enjoyed. The next verse kind of illustrates
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this. It's got white garments and oil on the
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head communicating festivity and celebration,
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perhaps cleanliness. What is not being communicated
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here is to wallow in our sorrow. Now, certainly
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Solomon here has spoken of our sorrow and he
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acknowledges there are times to be sorrowful.
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But friends, there is also a time to enjoy what
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he Gives to us and you can see this as well in
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verse 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love
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all the days of your vain life Quite literally.
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This is something like see or experience life
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with the wife whom you love We are reminded here
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that marriage is a pre fall gift before Adam
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and Eve ever disobeyed God they were Married.
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Married is a great thing. I did a wedding just
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this week and was reminded of the goodness of
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marriage. I recognize today is Father's Day,
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but if I can speak to husbands for a minute,
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enjoy your wives. Date your wives. Cherish your
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wives. Compliment your wives. Do fun things together.
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Do not take your marriages for granted. Love
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your wives, men, as Christ loved the church and
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gave himself up for her. Additionally, wives,
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remember you are to submit. You are to respect.
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You are to pray for your husbands as they seek
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to lead you. Remember that as husbands are to
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love their wives, as Christ loved the church,
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that you in that analogy are like the church.
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You are to receive that kind of love. And we
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need to do it now. We need to love our wives
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now. Wives, you need to love your husbands right
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now because look at verse 10. Whatever your hand
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finds to do, do with your might. Do it now. For
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there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom
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and shield to which you are going. This is telling
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us to enjoy what God gives to us right now because
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death comes. And I know that there are those
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of you sitting in the pew right now who have
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lost your spouses. And so perhaps a text like
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this is hard to hear. It brings back that sorrow.
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But maybe your hearts can be encouraged by this,
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that those who die in the Lord are with the Lord,
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and they are okay. God is near to the broken
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-hearted. And so please, would you take that
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to heart? But also take this next portion of
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text to heart look in verses 11 and on this is
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getting back especially in verses 14 15 and 16
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to that opening illustration right with the four
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lepers And so I compared that to what's happening
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here. You've got this poor but wise man. He is
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unnamed here in this text, but isn't it interesting
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what it says? This is a small city in verse 14,
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a very small city with few men in it and yet
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a great king comes against it and besieges it.
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This is showing us incredible power coming against
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a very insignificant city with an insignificant
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man in it and yet what does this man do by his
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wisdom? He delivers the city, doesn't he? This
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man is a forgotten legend, a hero, right? Who
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delivers the city by his wisdom. Friends, sometimes
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wisdom goes unnoticed, sometimes wisdom is ignored,
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and sometimes the shouting of the fool is much
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louder than the words of the wise. But friends,
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even As you continue to pursue wisdom, you know
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that God knows what you pursue. Even if people
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ignore you, you are not seeking the approval
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of men. Wisdom's reward is the good that it brings,
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not a pat on the back. And so yes, Solomon is
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very correct here. The wise are often forgotten
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or despised. But Solomon also says this in Proverbs,
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that fools despise wisdom and instruction. And
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so if people will not listen to you, know that
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it is fools who despise these things. And so
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press on sharing the wisdom of the gospel. And
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if I can illustrate how this is so incredibly
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true, that story of the lepers that I shared,
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I didn't share the entire story. Because actually
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what happens before those lepers ever go and
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find the Syrian camp, before they ever find the
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food that will save them, the prophet Elisha
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predicted the victory. The apostle or the prophet
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Elisha predicted the end of starvation for Israel
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and yet the captain of the king mocked him. The
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captain of the king did not believe him and so
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Elisha said to him, you will in fact see it with
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your own eyes, but you won't eat any of it. Friends,
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ignoring God's wisdom is a heinous sin. Do you
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ever feel the burden of needing to share the
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gospel with somebody who just won't listen to
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you. Do you know people? Maybe it's a brother
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or a sister or a neighbor or a co -worker and
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they need to believe in Jesus, but they will
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not listen to you. Friends, do not be discouraged
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about this. Because if that person is going to
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come to faith in Jesus Christ, it is all the
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grace of God, isn't it? And so be obedient. Do
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not be discouraged. Continue to press on sharing
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the gospel, even as people ignore what you have
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to say. Because actually, if I can give you one
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final encouragement on this, Jesus told a story
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about this once. Jesus told the parable of the
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wedding feast in Matthew chapter 22. Within that
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story there was a king who was giving a wedding
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feast for his son and he sent out invitations
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to all kinds of people he said come to this feast
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and the people wouldn't do it and You know when
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a king tells you to come to a feast you come
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to the feast But they wouldn't do it according
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to Jesus. They gave flimsy excuses They the people
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mistreated the servants of the king even killing
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them. So not only did they ignore wisdom, but
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they rebelled against it. And rightfully so,
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the King in Jesus' parable is enraged. He is
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mad and he punishes the wicked. And then he does
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something incredible. The King sends out the
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invitation to the people in the streets. He sends
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his messengers to the streets and and tells them
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to get all kinds of people from all kinds of
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places all kinds of the the walks of life to
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come and be a part of this wedding celebration
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and they come But one man comes and he's not
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dressed right he's not wearing wedding clothes
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and the king identifies him and Says get him
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out of here And that man is cast into outer darkness
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where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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Friends, the story that Jesus tells there is
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relaying Israel's history. God's prophets called
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the people to repentance and the people mistreated
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them. They disrespected them. They ignored them.
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And they even killed some of the prophets. Just
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those men. proclaiming the Messiah to come but
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also within that story you have the man without
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the wedding clothes that man came into the wedding
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celebration the feast he came not to honor the
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king or his son he came to insult the king and
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he came as one unprepared he came as one without
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the righteousness of Christ friends we've already
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seen this especially from Ecclesiastes chapter
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7 Your self -righteousness will not save you.
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It is only the righteousness of Christ. And so
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today, do not ignore the wisdom of the gospel.
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For perhaps someone in this sanctuary today is
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the day of salvation. And so let me ask you,
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are you prepared? Are you clothed with the righteousness
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of Christ? Because you don't know when your days
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will be up. You're told to number your days according
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to the Scriptures. You do not know when your
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days will be up, but if you are in Christ, you
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know where you will be. That you're in God's
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hands. You have a place at the banquet. You have
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a place to use revelation at the marriage supper
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of the Lamb. You see what Jesus has done for
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the believer by His wisdom. He has turned the
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vanity of life into everlasting life in Him and
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Him alone. Amen. Let's pray.