It's just, it may not be like shockingly loud, it may just be kind of quiet and you're just trying to figure out what on earth is going on. And in these cases like this, you know, you can run tests, right? If it's physical, if it's in your body, run tests. If it's spiritual you can run some tests as well. Some years ago I was having some trouble being, I was just dizzy all the time. I mean just couldn't figure out what on earth was going on. I got to the point I just stopped, I stopped being in the choir. I couldn't go, I couldn't stay in the choir. I'd feel like I was going to pass out. Got to just the congregational singing time. I'd feel like I was going to pass out and I just kind of have to stop and just kind of Just sit there and hope I didn't go out, you know. And so it got bad enough, I just thought, okay, I need to go figure out what's going on. So I had to go get a doctor first, because I didn't have a doctor. So I had to go get a doctor. And the doctor had to get you, you know, he said, okay, you're going to have EKG and all these fun things, because you're probably about to drop over dead. had an EKG, and then they're like, you're gonna have an echocardiogram, and you're gonna have all these blood tests, and now you're gonna go to a cardiologist, because I hadn't had one of those in like 30-some years, and you're gonna do this, you're gonna do that, right? So I went to that, and they come back and say, oh, no, nothing's wrong, nothing's wrong, everything's great, everything looks good. I'm like, great, but I'm still dizzy. So I went to ear, nose, and throat, and I thought, well, maybe it's an inner ear thing, and you know, it's just something's going on inside, and went to ear, nose, and throat, and they're like, nothing wrong with you, you know? And I tell you what, it felt like I tried everything. I could not figure out what was going on. It was all these tests I was going through to figure out a problem that was going on. And the problem was actually really simple. I'll tell you in two things. And it just so happened to coincide with a couple things, and it just worked. And I got off sugar and carbohydrates. I was probably about 90% sugar free, carb free. It just happened, it was one of these things like our daughter says, hey, we're going sugar free, who wants to try? I'm like, okay, sure, I'll do it. And then we had a time at church during Outdoor Revival, the week of, in August, so we'd have a month of fasting, and one of the weeks that happened to coincide with the week of, the starting of no sugar in the diet was the week of, a week of fasting any type of breads. So like cold turkey one day, I just, you know, started it, I mean, I just got rid of everything. And I didn't even think about it. I was not even thinking about anything about my problems. But a couple weeks in, I thought, I'm not dizzy anymore. And I thought, oh, I feel better, right? And now all the money I paid the doctors didn't help. I mean, they didn't find anything. But anyway, but we do this, right? We search. And when you find the remedy, it's like, Finally, right? Finally. How many know with an automobile, sometimes you'll take it to a mechanic and they'll go, I don't know. And they'll tell you these wonderful words. Well, we probably won't be able to find it until it breaks. Well, I don't want to hear that. Right? But sometimes it's just true, right? Sometimes it happens. And that happens in the physical realm, but it happens in the spiritual realm as well. sometimes you can be going through life, you can be going through the motions, you can be going to church, you can be singing the songs and participating and giving and all these things and there's this nagging sense that there's just, I mean, there's something, there's something wrong and I can't put my finger on it. And in the text that we have here tonight, Ecclesiastes, would you go there, chapter 2, this is what Solomon is going to do. but obviously it's not a health issue that he's looking at, it's a heart issue. And we're gonna see the absolute wrong way to go about it, right? But it's gonna show us something about our own heart and about our own life. Look at chapter two, Ecclesiastes chapter two, look at verse one, Solomon speaking, the preacher, he said, I said in mine heart, go to now, I will prove thee with mirth. Now he's talking to his heart. I'm going to prove thee, I'm going to test thee with mirth. Therefore enjoy pleasure, and behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, it is mad, and of mirth, what doeth it? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom, and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men, which they should do under heaven all the days of their life. and I made me great works, and builded me houses, I planted me vineyards, I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit. I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees. I got me servants, and made servants, and had servants born in my house. Also I had great possessions of great and small cattle, above all that were in Jerusalem before me. I gathered me also silver, and of the province, I'm sorry, silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got me men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men and musical instruments and all of that and that of all sorts. So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy for my heart rejoiced in all my labor and this was my portion of all my labor, verse 11, then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. Wow. Let's look at this tonight. Father, would you teach us tonight? I pray your Holy Spirit would just have free access to us. that even now that our hearts would be tender and open to you, that we would receive what you have for us personally, that we would be looking at your word tonight just purposed and ready to make changes in our life. from what you put a finger on tonight, what you reveal to us tonight in our own life, not in somebody next to us, but in our heart and our life. And we'll pray you do that tonight. We'll thank you for that. We lift up those and we thank Brother Neil tonight and preparation of surgery. Just pray you would just give doctors wisdom as they prepare for that. And we'll thank you, Father, for what you do tonight in Jesus' name. Amen. If you notice here, Solomon has a problem in verse 1. He said, I said in mine heart, go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. And behold, this also is vanity. It's vanity. You know, it's one thing to have the right thoughts about God. It's one thing to have the right doctrinal beliefs about God. It's one thing to check all the boxes and say, yeah, I believe this, and this is right, and that's right, and this right, right. You've got the right doctrine, the right Bible, the right church, so you have all of these things that look right, but it's quite another thing to have a heart and a desire for God. It is possible to check the boxes, yet not have the heart in tune with God. Amen? Have you ever been there? Yeah. Solomon may have started out with a heart for God, but something has changed in his life, and we know what it is. We can see it back over in, I'm going blank now, but back in the Bible. with that one book that talks about his life that I just went blank about. You can see it back there, I believe it's over by verse 6 or whatever, chapter 6 or so of that one book that I can't remember where it said, But he loved many strange wives, and they took his heart. And we can see what was going on there in Solomon's life. And so here he is, Ecclesiastes, as we know, is the view of life. I call it the view of life through the eyes of a backslidden man. This is life under the sun. One has called it this way. He's called Ecclesiastes to secularism and back. just a secular life, a life apart from God, a life with a heart away from God. And he may have started out well, but something happened to his heart. Something got his heart away from God. And here he is in Ecclesiastes reporting to us that he is telling his heart now, he knows there's something wrong. He's trying to figure out, look what he says, I said in mine heart, go to now, I will prove thee. Look at that word prove. I'm gonna test you. I'm going to run some test on the heart. I'm going to run that EKG, that spiritual, well it wasn't spiritual what he did, but he's going to run the EKG, he's going to run the echocardiogram, he's going to run the test to see what on earth is going on in the heart and he said, I'm going to prove it. You see, the heart is the seat of our emotions. It's our soul. It's where our mind and our will and our emotions reside. We're talking here about the natural man, not the spiritual man. Solomon is trying to figure out what's wrong in his life by checking all the boxes in the natural life, but not in the spiritual life. So Solomon says to his heart, go to now, right? And I'm going to test you. He's going to put his heart to a test. And what is the test that he's doing? Well, he's trying to fulfill all of his desires. But he still doesn't know what the problem is. So look what he tries. Here's a list of things that he's going to try to satisfy his heart with. Here's a list of things that he is going to try to bring into his life, watch, to fill a void that he has that he can't quite put his finger on what it needs. Have you ever been hungry? And you just go, I don't know what I need. I don't know. Nothing sounds good, right? When I would do a lot of work in the summertime and outside, I had these one projects I would have for a couple years, and I'd be outside, it was blazing hot. We'd be all day on a roof for day after day after day in the summer, and I would get off that roof at suppertime, and my body, I would crave, get this, I would crave broccoli. what? No, I just, I just had to, I would go to this one place and I'd get a steak and broccoli. I just needed meat and vegetables. Why? I had got rid of so many minerals out of my body from the sweat all day. My body was telling me what I needed. Now, sometimes your body doesn't do that and you go, ah, I don't know. Let me try the ice cream. Ah, that didn't do it. Now I feel worse. Let me try the... No, that didn't do it, right? And sometimes we try to just throw the dart at the food chart. Ha! You like that? The dart at the food chart. And we try to figure out what we need, and sometimes we just can't come up with it. And this is what Solomon is doing with his heart. He's just chucking the dart at his heart at the things out there to see what actually works, but he doesn't really know what it is. So look at what he does. Verse 2, he says, I'm going to start with mirth and laughter. I'm gonna hit the comedy clubs. I'm just gonna yuck it up. I'm just gonna find everything that makes me laugh. I'm gonna find everything that just, I just, I mean, I tell you what, I'm gonna leave there so happy and leave there so fulfilled. I mean, it's just wonderful. I mean, the jokes and the, they're so funny and it makes me forget life and makes me forget the thousand wives I somehow got at home. And I'm just gonna laugh it away. And he leaves the comedy club. I mean, they're all over the country, aren't they? I mean, I've got XM radio and they have ads on there for the comedy club station and it's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week of something to get you to laugh, right? You know, this is what the world does, but that's not their problem, right? That's not the solution to the problem. Well, how do you know? Because they go back to it every day. They have to get more. It never satisfies. And this is what Solomon was saying, right? He's gonna enjoy, He said, He's gonna with mirth, verse two, I said of laughter it is maddened, of mirth what doeth it? You're right. These joyful banquets, the joyful cry, He's going to a party. Who decides what pleasure is? Well, the world decides what they believe pleasure is, which is invariably an unrighteousness. Or God decides what our pleasure is. and it's always in righteousness. Notice, Solomon is searching after pleasure in unrighteousness. Let's go on. He starts out this series of tests. He's at the party, right? And now verses 3 through 11, he's going to chronicle all of the things that he tried. Look at verse 3. I sought in my heart to give myself, he's going to the heart again, give myself unto wine. Isn't it amazing at the comedy clubs they mix the comedy with the alcohol? Yeah, let's drown the sorrows and just yuck it up and try to just tune life out for just a little bit. I love it. You've heard those people, maybe you've worked with them. They said, ah, that Christianity, it's just a crutch. It's a crutch. While they're drinking their alcohol every night, laughing their woes away. No, they have crutches. The world has a crutch, don't they? They absolutely do. You know what the difference between their crutch and our crutch is? Our crutch is Jesus. Amen. It's a good crutch. Amen. Are we awake tonight? That's a good crutch. Thank you. That's good. It's a good crutch. It absolutely is. Amen. He's going after wine, this word here. It's the Hebrew, the translator here, wine, it's an intoxicating beverage. He was trying to mask what was going on in his life, to alter and numb his mind from the realities, to try to find some pleasure for his heart. And he finds out that doesn't work. Look at verse 3, he checks out folly. I sought in mine heart to give myself to wine, look at this, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom, and to lay hold on folly. till I might see what was good for that, that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. And Webster's 1828 defines folly this way, weakness of intellect, imbecility. So if somebody calls you an imbecile, it's a dictionary word, right? Imbecility of mind, the want of understanding. So here it is a test to see if maybe, maybe it's a test to see if mindless entertainment would fix the heart. Watch this, Solomon is, he's smart. He's smart. So maybe it's going through his mind possibly, let's see if stupid will fix this. Because smart's not fixing it. I thought that of our government, right? I mean, the wizards of smart have run our country into the ground for some time. Maybe we should let the dumb people try it, right? See how they, anyway. I can't help but think they may not do that bad of a job. Could we be worse than we, all right, well, okay. alcohol, folly, verse 4, great works, his houses, his personal house. He spent 14 years on his house, 7 years on the temple. You see where the priorities are changing, right? Right, his personal home, the homes in the north, his house for his wife of Pharaoh that he shouldn't have married. I mean all of these things he's building, houses and vineyards, verse 5, gardens and orchards and trees. Boy, he loves the horticulture, Brother Earl. Look at verse 6, "...pools of water to water the tree." Well, I planted all these trees in somewhat of a desert, so now we've got to water them, so I'll build these incredible... No, we're not just going to get a 100-yard hose from Walmart and bring it over to the spigot over here and sit here and water the thing. No, we're going to dig our own ponds and we'll just dig our own springs and get into those and whatever. I guess you don't dig a spring, but dig into a spring and we're going to make this thing fit for a king. We're doing everything at the top, right? And why is he doing this? Well, not just to be excellent in what he does. Watch this now. Not just to be excellent in all that he does, he's trying to fill a void and a problem in his spiritual life. There is a big difference. There's a big difference. Look at this. He's verse 7 got wealth. We just read the servants. Servants all over the place. He had them so long that their children are being born in the house. I mean, His servants are multiplying. He's getting more and more and more. He amassed cattle, large and great, cows, sheep. I mean, He's got stuff all over the place. Verses 8 and 9, He is amassing gold and silver, peculiar treasures, things that are not normal there in Israel, the apes and the peacocks. that it talks about in that other book that I can't remember the name of. And he amasses musicians and, you know, let's go to the symphony, let's go to the rock concert, let's go to this. I mean, all of the things that he's adding to himself, instruments of all sorts, of all kinds. I wonder if he, I wonder if they figured, could you imagine if they had a banjo? Boy, that would have been fun to add to the list of stuff. I don't know, that would have been kind of neat. But why is he doing all of this? He said, verse 10, I held nothing back. Look at verse 10. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. Watch these two words he's going to use. He kept nothing from his eyes. Look at, I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion in all my labor. He kept nothing back. Anything he saw, he said, here heart, try this, try this, try this, try this. Can I tell you what, do you notice this? He did enjoy what he did. Don't be mistaken and think, well, they're rich, they're not happy. They're rich, they don't find any fulfillment. Sure they do. Sure they do. We'll look at this here in just a little bit. Because the problem with riches is they don't last. The very preacher here told us at another time in Ecclesiastes that money makes like wings and it flies away. It's called vanity. Look at the test results. Look at the test results. Verse 11. After coming to the end of everything and looking it over, after assessing everything that he led into his life, he took a little time and went to the back porch and sat in the rocking chair and looked out over all of his stuff, just took it all in. He went, Empty. What was going on? There was still something missing that wasn't satisfying his heart. He thought he put his finger on it multiple times over the years. Here it is. No. Okay. What? No. No. And he says it here in verse 11, vanity. Vanity, emptiness, nothingness. Like capturing air in a jar. What you got in the jar there, air? I mean, okay, the scientist is gonna go berserk and say, well, there's lots of stuff in there. I know, but you know what I mean, right? Nothingness, vanity. Look at this, vexation of spirit. Do you remember what God told Israel over in the Psalms? It says that God gave them the desires of their heart, but he sent leanness unto their soul. No, sometimes God gives us what we want. Sometimes He allows you to have what you're looking for, what you think you need, and what you think you want, and you come to the end of it, and it's just this vexation. It's just this emptiness. It's just this leanness. It's just this like, I really thought it would do this, and I spent all of this money, and all of this time, and all of this effort, and it looks great, but something is still not right inside. Come on, you been there? He said, there is no profit, look at this, and no profit under the sun. Well, certainly there's profit in animals. Certainly there's profit in the spices and the trading of things and the building of instruments and the servants and all the work that was accomplished and the trees that were grown. Certainly there's profit in there, yeah, but not for the soul. Not for the heart. And so we see here, when Solomon allowed his heart to have what it wanted, It left him empty. No, he had enjoyment for a little time, but it ran out. It ran out. You know what one of the issues is, one of the problems is with trying to find satisfaction for the heart from this world? You know what one of the problems is? One of the problems is that we have a finite mind. We are finite creatures. We are not all knowing, right? And so when the good times are going, it's kind of hard for us to imagine that they're going to come to an end. But they do. So you know what we do? We just continue down the empty road. Well, it's growing great. This is wonderful, right? Going here, going there, doing this, doing that. Yeah, just loving life. Loving it, loving it, loving it. But you realize it doesn't satisfy. And sometimes, unfortunately, when you come to the realization that what you thought would fix what was missing in your heart doesn't work. Have you ever noticed this in some people's lives? When they finally come to the realization of that, it's too late. They've wasted so much life. They've wasted so much of what God has given them. Oh, no, don't get me wrong. God forgives and joy comes back. And the Bible says they'll even restore that which the canker hath eaten. I mean, this is the mercy and the wonderful grace of God. But you know what you can't get away from is looking back and going, I could have done more. I could have done more. Brother Dean Herring says this, I heard him say this one time, Satan will let you have all the fun you want, but he won't replenish it. He won't replenish it. When the barrel runs dry, it stays dry. Boy, isn't that true? Can I tell you this tonight? Let me encourage you tonight. God doesn't leave us empty. No, God satisfies, and that satisfaction is so good, we just want more and more and more and more and more of the same thing, not of something different. But it satisfies. It satisfies. Proverbs 10.22, the blessing of the Lord. I find this fascinating when you go between Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and you see here what Solomon said over here and then what he is saying over here in Ecclesiastes. And here in Proverbs, he's saying the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it. The blessing of the Lord. I've told you this before, don't forget this. The blessing of the Lord, it, it make a thritch. See what we do? We look at the things. Remember Jesus said Sunday night, I mean, what we read Sunday night, right? When they said, look at the temple. And he said, you know, all of these things are gonna be, they're gonna be fallen, one stone upon another won't be left. He called the temple, he called the buildings, just things, things. So the things aren't what is the blessing from God. See it says the blessing, singular, it's the action of God, the fact that He blesses, the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich. Here's what this is saying, the very fact that God blesses, that's rich. And you know what? He satisfies. God doesn't leave us empty. Lamentations, I love Lamentations chapter 3, 22 and 23. It is because of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Every morning you get up, you don't get used mercy. You don't get leftover mercy from God. You get new mercy every single morning. I'm telling you God satisfies, amen? He doesn't leave us empty at all. During the years that Solomon gave his heart to every desire, watch this, not one time did he give his heart to seek God. Not that's recorded. But can I tell you this is what we learn from this? Is that emptiness can be hard to detect because God doesn't take everything away. Look at verse 9 again. Would you notice this again? So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remained with me. Do you see that? It's not the only place. He says that also up in verse 3. His wisdom remained with him. Why did he say this? because it's possible to mistake God's long-suffering for His approval. It's easy to go through life and thinking, I mean, I'm still doing this and I'm still doing that. You know in the back of your mind, you know in the depths of your heart, the direction you're going is not of the Lord. It is not closer to God, it is away from God, but everything else seems to be trucking along just fine. Sometimes God allows us to keep some things, right? Like Solomon here. He said, see I've still got my wisdom. How could I be going the wrong direction and still have wisdom? You know, this is a good lesson here. This is why we base our life on the Word of God and not circumstantial evidence. Just because things seem to be going well and the hammer hasn't fallen, it doesn't mean the direction we're going is right. It doesn't mean it's biblical. It doesn't mean we have pointed our life towards our relationship with God. In Ecclesiastes, the evidence that God's long suffering eventually came to an end. He tried it all. He tried it all. And he was empty. It's an incredible contrast, actually, to his father. The contrast between Solomon and David is really striking. Though David had some serious problems. He had some serious sin in his life. He had some serious, I mean, it just wrecked his home. He wrecked his home. God told him, the sword is not going to depart out of your house. And it didn't. But the difference between David and Solomon With Solomon, well I think here's a pretty uncanny difference. I don't see a record of where Solomon set up somebody like a Nathan in his life like David did for his. I don't see a preacher in Solomon's life. There was a preacher in David's life, he came and put his finger in his face and told him he was wrong. But we don't see a preacher coming in Solomon's life. But here's the difference between Solomon and David, his father, is David had a yearning, a yearning in his heart for God. Listen to Psalm 9 and verse 1, David said, I'll praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth all Thy marvelous works. Psalm 13, 5, But I had trusted in Thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation. Psalm 19, 14, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Listen to Psalm 27, 7 and 8. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy upon me and answer me. Listen to what he says here, what David says. When thou sayest, Seek ye my face, my heart set unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek. What a heart. You know, God is telling us, God calls us every day to seek Him. God is saying that to us on a daily basis. Would you seek me? Would you seek my face? I want that relationship with you. I want that deep interaction with you. And He asks us to seek Him. What does your heart respond when He calls you? Have you ever had those mornings when the Spirit of God is calling you to prayer and you rush off? No, He's calling you to His face. And your heart says, oh, I've got to do this. You see, David's heart desired God. He wanted Him so badly. You see, was there anything wrong with some of the endeavors that Solomon engaged in? Some of them. argue about the alcohol part, but with some of them, was there anything wrong in and of themselves? No. Many of these things were necessary. Many of these things were okay. Hey, God is a creator, right? God creates, God fixes, God tells us to be fruitful and multiply, God has told us to work and to labor and all of these things. God is the giver of witty inventions and I think God is the most pleased when His creation operates the way He created it to operate. I think He's the most pleased when we are working and laboring and creating and doing and being busy about our Father's business. He loves that. We're created in His image. And He likes that. I think He's built us to explore and to be busy and productive in life. But in Solomon's life, he sought all of these things out to fill the void in his heart. Now this wasn't, hey, this wasn't an unbeliever trying to find out, you know, this whole God thing is, right? This was a guy who was backslidden and away from God. His heart was, he allowed, we just read in discipleship Sunday night over in Hebrews about setting aside, laying aside every weight in the sin that does so easily beset us. Setting aside those weights and I said it then, I said not everything, there are things that we need to set aside that aren't necessarily sin. They're just weights. They're weights that keep us from moving forward and keeping our heart right with God. Sometimes those things need to be set aside. But Solomon was looking at all of these things to fulfill his heart. He wasn't a lost guy. He was a saved guy who allowed things to take his heart. He didn't own these things. They owned him. They owned him. And what he found out was they didn't work. Listen to what Solomon's dad said. How many know who Solomon's dad is? You don't usually say it that way, do you? Listen to what David said, Psalm 1750. As for me, he said, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied. David said, I will be satisfied. Here's when I'll be satisfied. When I awake with thy likeness. Yeah. As for me, he said, I will behold thy face in righteousness. David, how are you going to get to the face of God? By righteousness. What is righteousness? Right living. ordering your life according to the Word of God, living a life of obedience. You know what it sounds really familiar to? It sounds really familiar to what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 when he said, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Happy are they, content, filled, right, are they who hunger and thirst for rightness, for righteousness, for godliness, for the will of God for your life. Blessed are they. You say, well, how do I hunger and thirst after righteousness? Well, I'm telling you this, that's natural. If we're not hungering and thirsting after righteousness, that is a test right there. And the doctor's report comes back and says, sin, sin, sin. The only thing that keeps us from hungering and thirsting after righteousness is sin in our life. Have you lost your appetite for the Word? Have you lost your appetite for prayer? Have you lost your appetite for the house of God? Have you lost your appetite for just getting close? Have you lost your appetite to the songs on the hymns? Spiritual songs, do they roll off your tongue anymore or are they just kind of silent and the other tunes are coming? Hunger and thirsting after righteousness. David said, this is how I will behold your face. What Jesus said. This is where you're filled. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. David said, I'll be satisfied when I awake with high likeness. Have you ever just thought, or maybe let me ask it this way, when was the last time you had a deep heart desire to be more like Jesus than you are right now? That's what David was. He just wanted to be like God. You know, it's possible we go through ebbs and flows in our life spiritually. We all do it. We all do it. We have highs and we have lows. And it's possible maybe there's been something wrong in your walk with the Lord. I don't know. You would know this. Because sometimes things can click along and our wisdom is with us and all of these, our ability to quote scripture and come to church and all of these things and read our Bible and pray somewhat intelligently and things like that. And that can all be intact and it can still yet be true that there's a part of our heart that is far, far away from God. Maybe there's been something wrong in your walk with the Lord and you thought, I just can't put my finger on it. I see the symptoms, right? I see the symptoms, maybe you're not getting victory over sin. Maybe there's just an attitude there of complacency and irritation and just some type of an attitude that you're like, where is this coming from? Why can't I get away from this? What is going on? Maybe God has felt so distant. Maybe you're just bored with the things of God. No, you come to church out of duty, but you're bored. Bored with the services, bored with the singing, bored with the songs, bored with maybe other things. I don't want to go there. You're just bored. You're bored with serving the Lord. I've already done it. Been there and done that. I'm over with that. How do you get over with serving the Lord? No, no, no, I get that. Sometimes it changes the way we serve. I mean, you know, the avenue of our service changes over time, right? Not everybody pastors their whole life, right? Obviously, it's not possible. But it doesn't mean service stops. Maybe service is a drudgery to you. Maybe you've been going to something other than God to fix the problem. No, it doesn't have to be anything vile and gross and just sordid and evil and dark. I mean, it doesn't have to be anything like that. We can choose all sorts of sin-lite things to fill the void that we're trying to fix, that we're trying to fill. We can do it all the time. Maybe it looks like this. Maybe you wouldn't say it out loud, but it might come this way. If I just had, fill in the blank. I'd be satisfied. If we could just get out of debt, if we could just get the car paid off, if we could just, you know, get the mower fixed and get this, if we could just, you know, whatever. If we just had this relationship or fixed that relationship or did this or did that, all of these things. None of those things are wrong in and of themselves. But watch, when we are looking to them to fill the desire and the need of our hearts, you are going to come up every time empty. Because the only thing that can fill that is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're looking for something else to bring satisfaction, The glaring truth is, is that it is evidence that our heart is not completely satisfied with God. Remember when you first got saved? I mean, you were just satisfied with God. Your house could have burned down, you went, well, oh well. I mean, you had the joy of the Lord. I mean, people thought you were a wacko. Now you're just slightly less of a wacko. They thought you were crazy. Tragedy came in your life, and you said, well, you know, Lord's will. Lord knows what's going on. And they're going, what is with you? What was that? Well, your heart was full of God. So it can't be the circumstances, right? Can I say it in just one word? If we're looking to something else to fill the place that God should have in our heart, you know the Bible word for that? Well, it is sin, yeah. There's another word that we don't think of this very often. It's covetousness. It is the sin of covetousness. looking for something else beyond what God has given us to satisfy a need that we think that we have. It's covetousness. I'll warn you now, I am writing a message on covetousness because it is rarely spoken of. And you know what the apostle Paul says at the end after saying, covetousness is what? Idolatry. And this is what happened to Solomon, right? What is idolatry? Well, it's making a god out of somebody that is not God. Well, who's the god in idolatry, in covetousness? Well, I am. You are. That's wicked. isn't it? We don't think about that. This is what Solomon has done. He's made himself God. He has determined what is going to fulfill him and what is going to satisfy him and what is going to make his life better. Listen, that is covetousness and idolatry and it's sin. And so what do you do? You just stop being covetous and be content with such things as you have and watch and turn your face to God alone and let Him fill that void in your life. When we become satisfied with God, all of the other things become enjoyable, but they don't have to satisfy. They don't satisfy. They can become enjoyable, they're not wrong, but they don't satisfy. Watch, because they don't have to satisfy anymore, because now you're satisfied with God. So the big question is, is what has got you to the place to become dissatisfied with God? Life didn't turn out like I thought. But I wanted this, and I thought I wanted that, and I thought if I had this, that would make it better, but I didn't get that. You know, if only Solomon had come to the place that, remember, Leah. You know, she started having children and she kept saying, well, maybe my, maybe my husband will love me. And now my husband will love me. And now, and after I forget which number child it was and came to the end, I think towards the end of her childbearing years. And she eventually came to the place where she said, well, God is enough. God is enough. But if Solomon had gotten there, things would have been a lot better in his life. What about you tonight? Let me ask you tonight. Are you satisfied with God? Is he enough? Is he really enough? Or is there something out there, it's just this, this unknown, that you thought, if I could just, if I could just get there, things would be fine, things would be good. I don't know. Paul sang in a prison, right? Sitting in a Roman jail, he thought, well, I guess I'll write some letters. How does somebody live like that? Well, they're satisfied with God. Are you satisfied? Is He enough? Or are you like Solomon tonight and you're just trying to find one more thing that'll fix the emptiness that's in your life? If you're a child of God, listen to me, if you're a child of God here tonight and you're saved, the emptiness in your life is your relationship with God and sin somewhere severed that. And you know what you need to start asking the Lord? You need to start saying, I don't see it. I can't see it. I don't know what it is. And I want you to show it to me. I'll tell you, He will. He absolutely will. What is filling that place in your life? Our Father, it's easy. to click along in our machinery of religion that we've become so accustomed to and have a heart far from you. I mean, you know, it's not like we're antagonistic about things. but we just start filling spaces and just doing what we're supposed to do to make sure the preacher doesn't call and ask where you've been and things like that. We can be engaged, but looking for lots of other things to fill the void that we've created in our life. So Father, we ask you tonight that your Holy Spirit would do that work tonight And if somebody is here tonight and they have realized, you know what, it's been kind of this slow nagging, this quiet nagging that something's wrong. Something is wrong, and I don't know what it is. Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit would point that out tonight. And Lord, that tonight they'd get victory. And they could turn their heart back to you again. and have the joy of the Lord again and be totally satisfied with you again. And you'd have that place in their heart that you desire. Lord, we'll thank you for what you do tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. Why don't we stand tonight? And the instrument's gonna play tonight. I don't know how the Lord has spoken to you tonight. The Holy Spirit of God is I've spoken to you. Would you respond to Him tonight? Maybe you need to come tonight or right where you're at in your chair and you need to just get alone with the Lord and say, Lord, show me. I'm not saying everybody in here is feeling this way, but I know we're all human and we all go through these times. You might need to spend some time with the Lord tonight and ask Him to show you what it is. What is it? Sometimes it's like Solomon with his wives. It's just things. It's people. It's the world. It's other things that we grow and that we give our heart to that we never should have. They draw us away. Maybe you're Somebody's watching online tonight and the emptiness and that void that you're trying to fill is because you've never been born again to the Spirit of God. You've never known that intimacy and closeness with God. You've never known that. And I would tell you tonight that you need to be saved. You need to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to put your faith and trust in Jesus and go before God and confess you're a sinner and ask Him to save you tonight. You need to do that tonight. Amen. All right, we're going to be closing a word of prayer tonight. Don't forget, if you're