In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith emphasizes the inevitability of death and the inability to escape it. He also discusses the misuse of authority and how those in power often suffer the consequences of their actions. Pastor Chuck encourages listeners to surrender to the Son of God and allow His Spirit to fill their hearts and bring wholeness. He concludes by urging believers to commit themselves to God and trust in His plan, even when faced with difficult circumstances.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that mold you And His Spirit like a dove Will descend upon your life And make you whole Solomon also said, Take no heed unto all of the words that are spoken, Lest you hear a servant curse thee. Don't listen to everything. Don't be an eavesdropper, is basically what he's saying. You're liable to hear someone curse you, you know. And so, just don't be trying to, What did they say? You know. Don't try to be listening to everything that's being said. You might not like what you hear. For oftentimes, you know in your own heart that you likewise have cursed others. You know that. You know that you've been angry and you've said things, you know. I'd like to get him and bury him. So, don't take heed to all of the things that are spoken. All of this, he said, I've proved by wisdom. I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me. And that which is far off and exceedingly deep, who can find it out? We oftentimes are guessing at reasons and purposes, but who really knows? I applied my heart to know and to search, to seek out wisdom, the reason for things, even the reason for foolishness and for madness. And I find more bitter than death is the woman whose heart is a snare and nets and her hands are like a trap. Whoever pleases God will escape from her, but the sinner will be taken or trapped by her. Behold, this I have found, says the preacher, counting one by one to find out the account, which yet my soul seeks, but I do not find. That is, one man among a thousand I have found. If you're looking for really a good man, honest and upright in the whole thing, he said, I have found one among a thousand. Now, that's not a very good percentage. But he said, a woman among all those have I not found. Now, you have to realize that having a thousand wives, there was no doubt all kinds of problems. Jealousies, rivalries, the whole gamut was going on. I don't envy him at all, his position. It was an unscriptural thing to begin with. The Bible said when you have kings, they are not to multiply wives, lest they will turn their hearts away from the Lord. And that's exactly what Solomon's wives did. They turned his heart away from the Lord. The Bible warned about that, but Solomon didn't take the warning of the Bible, and he did that, which was foolish. And as a result, he had a very jaded attitude towards women. Had he taken just one wife, he probably would have found one among a thousand. But having a thousand created too many problems. He said, this is the only thing I've found. God has made man upright, but oh, how they have sought out many inventions. How man schemes, how man devises. He's made us upright, but man, we sure turn to scheming and to devices to get our will done or to accomplish our purposes. I think that the real lessons for us are number one, commitment of ourselves to God and to the circumstances that God brings into our lives, knowing that God loves us and God knows what is best for us. Recognizing that with our limited foresight, we don't know what's best for ourselves. We don't know what the future holds. And so, God knowing what the future holds and God knowing what is best for me, I should not be arguing with God over those things that he has brought into my life, but I should be seeking to discover the will and the purpose of God for these things in my life. You see, to fight with God will make you a bitter person, and many people have become bitter against God because they did not understand the purpose that God was seeking to work out. God has a plan for you, and God is working out his plan in your life if you've surrendered your life to him. And the true rest is in commitment. Lord, I don't know, but I just commit myself to you. I'm not demanding that God do certain things. I'm just committed. Lord, whatever you know is best, you do that. And that's an extremely important lesson, that of complete commitment of yourself to God. The accepting of the things that God brings into your life, not contending with the one who is mightier than you, but recognizing my limitations, my limited understanding, submitting my way to him. And then, I think it is so very important that knowing that I have sinned and that sin alienates me from God, and knowing that my life will only be fulfilled as I live in fellowship with God, the most important thing is that I seek to live in harmony with God, in fellowship with him, one with him, by receiving the forgiveness of my sins through Jesus Christ. Only then can I live a fully satisfying life. All of man's labor goes to his appetite, and yet he is never filled. You'll never find satisfaction in the world, in worldly things, in material things. You'll never find full satisfaction until you're living in fellowship with God. Important to know. And so he said, Who is the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom will make his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed, or the strength of his face shall be changed. So I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment. Talking about a wise man? Keep the king's commandment, and that in regards to the oath of God. Now, he had said earlier that you should be careful when you come into the presence of God, not to be too ready to speak or to make a vow. It is better, he said, not to make a vow at all than to make a vow and break it. And so he is exhorting to keep the commandment, especially in regards to taking these oaths before the Lord. Don't be hasty to go out of his sight. And don't make a firm stand in an evil thing, for the king will do whatever pleases him. So where the word of the king is, there is power. And who may say to him, What are you doing? Now, God is king. The kings were sovereigns. They were the sovereign rulers. Probably the most efficient form of government is that of a monarchy. But the success of the monarchy is dependent upon the king. If you have a good king, you've got a perfect form of government because look at all of the hassling that we have in our democracy. Look how long it takes to get laws inaugurated or laws changed. All of the, you know, filler bustering and everything else that goes on. And it's a good form of government, but it's extremely inefficient because look how much it's costing you. You see, we can hardly afford government anymore. Every time I see these cars with the E's on the license plates, I think, well, there's another one I'm paying a salary, you know. And the government employs so many people and it's extremely inefficient democracy. It's good, but it's just costly and inefficient. Whereas a king, a monarch, who has a sovereign reign, he does what he pleases. If he is a good king, you have an ideal kind of a situation as far as efficiency in government. Now, God reigns as king. Jesus Christ shall reign as king of kings and lord of lords. And because of his righteousness, that's going to be a glorious, glorious form of government when Jesus reigns. His word is sovereign. It will be a righteous reign. It will be a glorious reign. And speaking of a king, you are then, of course, speaking of God and it says he does whatsoever he pleases. That's one thing about being a king. You can do whatever you please. And then, where the word of the king is, there is power. And who may say to him, what are you doing? And God, as he speaks, there's power. And who can really say to God, what are you doing? Paul the apostle, in speaking of the sovereignty of God, said, or used the figure of the potter and the clay. And he said, what right has the clay to say to the potter, why have you made me thus? Speaking of that awesome, sovereign power of God. And so, kings are sovereigns. God is sovereign. What would apply to a king, as far as his ability to rule or his word not being challenged or his works not being challenged, so it is true of God. In the word of God there is power. And we have no right to challenge the ways of God. And whoso keeps the commandment shall feel no evil thing. And a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment. The timing, again, we've dealt with that for the last couple of weeks. But a wise man will consider timing and good judgment. So, he declares then, because to every purpose there is a time and judgment. Therefore the misery of man is great upon him. It's hard for us many times to wait for that perfect timing. We are so anxious to see things done. We move out ahead so often. And we experience the misery of our impetuousness so many times. Because in moving out ahead of God, without waiting upon God, we don't know what the future holds. And thus we can make grave mistakes. For he knoweth not that which shall be. For who can tell him when it shall be? Timing, again. I don't know what's going to be. I don't know when it's going to be. And so it's a matter of timing. And for you to jump ahead of God, or try to move out without directions from God, without waiting upon God, you're just cruising for a bruising, really. Now he looks at life and death. And he said, there is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit. The Bible teaches that man basically is spirit. We live in a body. The body is not us. The real me isn't this body. The body is designed and intended by God to be the medium by which my spirit expresses itself. There will come a day, there will come a time for each of us when our spirit will leave our body. When that time comes, no one has the power to retain his spirit. My time comes to go, I'm going. I'll have no power to prolong my life. No man has the power to retain his spirit. Neither has he the power in the day of death. When death comes, we must yield to it. We can't fight it. And there is no discharge in that war. There is a war that is going on. There's no no discharge from the service. One day we will face death. We can't escape it. And neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given over to it. All this he said I have seen. I've applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun. And there is a time wherein one man rules over another to his own hurt. I've watched and I've seen people given authority. And they don't know how to use authority. And they abuse that authority that they have. But in reality, they themselves are the ones who ultimately suffer from the abusing of their position of authority. They rule over another to their own hurt. And so I saw the wicked buried who had come and gone from the place of the holy. And they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. And this too was just emptiness. Now, he had seen others. He was getting old. He realized that the time of his departure was coming along before too long. He realized that he wouldn't be able to escape death. All of his wisdom wasn't going to prolong his life. He had bemoaned the fact that his wisdom will do him no good when he faces death. How dies the wise man? Like a fool. I die, the fool dies. So what am I any better than the fool? So I know so much, but what good is it going to do me? It won't prolong my life. And he saw the emptiness of all of the amassing of wisdom that he had applied himself to. Now he watched others come and go. I watched them as they went into the holy place. They went in and worshipped the Lord. But I saw them buried and soon people forgot them. Life goes on. And so you may have, you know, accomplished wonderful things. But sometimes you're forgotten even before you die. If you live too long. And then after you die, it isn't long before you're forgotten except by maybe family relatives and they'll point in the photo album and say, that was Grandpa so-and-so and he, you know, built the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. Oh. You know, I mean, the memory passes. You know who built the Bay Bridge in San Francisco? I don't either, but I mean. You know, I was quite a, you know, I imagine the guy felt pretty proud over that thing. Men who designed it and all, but you know, you forget. They pass on. And so the emptiness of accomplishments. Now, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. Therefore, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Talking about the nature and the character of God. We know that as God is described his nature. There are aspects of the nature of God. Such as he is long suffering. He is slow to anger. He is plenteous in mercy. He's very patient. That is, God puts up with an awful lot of guff. Look how he's put up with you. And it seems that we're so slow to learn. And yet God is so patient in teaching us. But many times people make a grave mistake in misinterpreting the patience of God as weakness. God won't punish evil. That's a tragic mistake to make. God is slow to anger but God will not keep his patience forever. It is possible to step over the line. And God will judge righteously. And because it isn't executed speedily many times people take advantage by misinterpreting the patience of God and they set themselves fully to do evil. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us. But right now, I'd like to remind you that if you'd like to secure a copy of today's message simply order Ecclesiastes 7, verse 21 when visiting thewordfortoday.org And while you're there, we encourage you to browse the many additional biblical resources by Pastor Chuck. You can also subscribe to the Word for Today podcast or sign up for our email subscription. Once again, all this can be found at thewordfortoday.org If you wish to call, our toll-free number is 1-800-272-WORD And our office hours are Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time. Again, that's 1-800-272-9673 For those of you preferring to write our mailing address is The Word for Today, P.O. Box 8000 Costa Mesa, California, 92628 And now, on behalf of The Word for Today we'd like to thank all of you who share in supporting this ministry with your prayers and financial support. And be sure to join us again next time as Pastor Chuck continues his verse-by-verse study through the Bible. That's right here, on the next edition of The Word for Today. And now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck with today's closing comments. I pray that God will make this a very special week for you. That you might follow after the things of the Spirit. That He'll protect and shield you from those influences of the world that are so prevalent. We're surrounded by them on all sides. But may the Lord just put a shield around you. And may you walk in holiness and in purity and in righteousness before Him. And may the love of Christ just dwell in your hearts richly. As you experience His love and power working in and through your life. In Jesus' name. You know, for thousands of years Israel has been the heartbeat of our world's history. From the shout of victory that brought the wall of Jericho tumbling down to the tortured cry of Jesus on the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? No other nation has ever had a history so vibrant as Israel. The Word for Today presents a series entitled Israel, a biblical study of the history, covenants, and the people of the nation of Israel. This collection of messages contains ten biblical studies by Pastor Chuck Smith and guest speakers Brian Broderson, Dave Hunt, Chuck Missler, and David Hawking. To order your copy, call the Word for Today at 800-272-9673. Or write us at P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California, 92628. Again, that number to call, 800-272-WORD. This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.