Scott Brown shares a message about how God draws people into celebration and a better life despite the fall. He emphasizes the sovereignty of God and encourages listeners to rejoice in what God has given them and create a culture of celebration within the church. The sermon ends with a prayer for those bearing burdens within the church.

Please open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Ecclesiastes chapter 9. I'm really bringing a message that has just come out of my morning meditations this morning, reading in the Bible. I have a very simple way in the morning where I will go to a Bible app and it will tell me what to read and I'll read it. And I'm always asking, Lord, how do you want to shape my life? How do you want to adjust my thinking? You know, deal with my emotions or whatever. It's a very simple thing.

And this morning I opened up to Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and I just want to share with you some of the things that came from it. And frankly, you've already heard some of the effects of Ecclesiastes 9 if you're here in the morning service and the thoughts that I brought regarding the Lord's Supper. That it's a celebration. And I've been taken for weeks with the idea of how good God is. He draws us into celebration. He draws us out of our funky moods and He brings us into a better place. And it's really a subset of the song that we just sang, The Love of God. The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell.

But one of the aspects of the love of God is that He draws us into celebration. He draws us into a life that's different. You know, our emotions are affected by the fall. Our thinking has been affected by the fall. Because of the fall, we've experienced hard things. Some have in their lives and those things come up from time to time and would work to discourage us or divert us or suck out our hope. But God's not like that at all. He's always drawing you in to His love. You know, I love that statement that David made in the Psalms. Lord, You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance. That's what You do. You fill my heart with songs of deliverance. And it's the love of God.

And this passage, it has two parts to it, the way I'm going to break it up. Mike preached on this a few years ago. It was such a joy to go through Ecclesiastes. But I'm going to break this up into two simple sections. And, you know, this morning when I woke up, I wrote down what I wanted to carry with me throughout the day. And it was this, Eat your bread with joy, with a merry heart. That's verse 7. Live joyfully with your wife. That's verse 9. Let your garments be white. In other words, devote yourself to holiness. And let your head lack no oil. And that has to do with joy. And God is in control. That's what came to me anyway as I was reading Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Whenever I would see Deborah this morning, I was winking at her because I wanted to rejoice in the wife of my youth. So there you have it.

So I would like to just read first verses 1 through 6. I'll stop from time to time. And then we'll go to the second section. Verse 9, verse 1. For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all, that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. I love that phrase. All of God's people are in God's hand. He holds you in the palm of His hand. And their works, our works, are in God's hand. In other words, if there are any works, it is God who is in control of the works. This is the doctrine of the sovereignty of God.

People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. In other words, if you get in a car wreck, it's not because God hates you. Because you sell your company for $50 million, it doesn't mean that God loves you. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. So don't interpret difficulties or blessings because God loves you.

He says in verse 2, all things come alike to all. Wow. One event happens to the righteous and the wicked, the good to the good, the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner. He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath. You know, I was reading Matthew Henry or John Gill on this. And he says this. I'm sorry, this is Matthew Henry. The little difference there is between the conditions of the righteous and the wicked in this world. Is David rich? So is Nabal. Is Joseph favored by his prince? So is Haman. Is Ahab killed in a battle? So is Josiah. Are the bad figs carried to Babylon? So are the good. That's life. That's the way that God has intended it. God is in control.

And so that's what we find here in these first verses. One event happens to the righteous and the wicked. And then in verse 3, this is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil. Madness is in their hearts while they live. And after that they go to the dead. But for him who is joined to all the living, there is hope. For a living dog is better than a dead lion. A living dog is better than a dead lion. Why? Because God is there.

For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. And they have no more reward. For the memory of them is forgotten.,Also their love, their hatred and their envy have now perished. Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun.

I want to summarize these first six verses by saying that God is in control of everything that happens in your life. And there is nothing that has happened that has not happened because God designed it for each one of us. And he does it for our good and for his glory. This is your father's world.

But then Solomon goes on to talk about what do you do about this. What do you do when you lose everything? What do you do when you gain wealth? What do you do when a very hard thing happens? What do you do? What do you do if you're poor?

Verse 7. Go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart. For God has already accepted your works. Let your garments always be white and let your head lack no oil. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life, which he has given you under the sun. All your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life. And vanity, I want to translate that word vanity as transitory. Everything is transitory, not worthless. For that is your portion in life and in the labor which you perform under the sun.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. For there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. I return and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift. The battle is not to the strong. Nor bread to the wise. Nor riches to men of understanding. Nor favor to men of skill. But time and chance happen to them all. For man also does not know his time, like the fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare. So the sons of men are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them.

So those first 12 verses I think have two critical matters. One is that all of your life is in the hand of God. And what do you do about it? Whatever God has given you, rejoice with it. Whatever God has allowed you to experience, celebrate God's sovereignty for it. And it is right that we would weep with those who weep. It is right that we would recognize that difficult things happen. But the truth is, there is a way to get through this life. And I think verse 7 summarizes it. Go eat your bread with joy.

In other words, whatever bread God has given you, whether it's little, whether it's much, whether it's fine bread or not, eat it with joy, whatever happens. There's one thing I wanted to read. Let us therefore be ready for changes that though they may be sudden, they may be no surprise to terror us. You know, there will be changes and there will be reversals in this world. But what God is doing is He's creating a people who are able to walk through the difficulties of this world. He's creating a culture. This is what the church is designed to do, is to create a culture of people who trust in God. And when you have a whole body of people who do that, they encourage one another in one another's calamities. And they can walk with one another and weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. But at the same time, never to forget that God really is sovereign and He really is good.

And, you know, I was so struck by the preaching this morning because again, we were called out of a world of despondency over our own performances. A true Christian is never satisfied with his performances. And we were drawn out of that to the grace of God, to what God has performed for us. And the passage ends really with entering into heaven. And for the next several weeks, that will be the focus of at least my sermons next week and the week after. And probably for quite some time, we're going to linger in the doctrine of heaven. And I hope you'll see how practical it really is for everyday life here because what you see here is a shadow. And that should give tremendous motivation for greater holiness here as we look at what will be in heaven. The beauty of holiness in heaven is unmixed, unmatched, absolutely astounding, not affected by the fall. But until then, we can enjoy the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

So, Ecclesiastes 9, I think it's so encouraging. Go eat your bread with joy. Go live with your wife and love her. Go to your brothers and sisters and be a blessing to them. Be the church creating a culture of celebration. And I'm really thankful for this church. And I see the contentment before God in this church. And I'm really, really thankful for it. And I think that for us as the years go on, we just need to continue to learn how to celebrate more and more and more. This is your lot in life.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you call us out of ourselves and into your glorious kingdom, that we are in Christ and He is in us through everything that happens. And Lord, there are burdens being borne here in this church. And so we so pray that you would break through the troubles and shine your light on them and show us how we might eat our bread with joy. Amen.,Okay, we are dismissed.