Can God Take Away My Regret? From Regret to Redemption: Ecclesiastes 11:7 - 12:7

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a

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Chris, Jeff, it's a big day.

It's Friday. That's right, Friday, Friday.

It's it's the day after the day after New Year's

is it? Yeah? I thought that was two days ago,

So I said, it's the day after the day after

New Year's.

Oh, I thought you were like stumbling. Yeah, you're stumbling,

and you thought it's the day after day after New Year's. Hey,

so when we get to Monday, it'll be the day

after the day after the day after the day after

the day afternoon years.

Yeah, yeah, very very much. This is this is our

poor listeners and sixty five more of those Oh yeah wow. Okay,

So anyways, the reason why I wanted to highlight that

is not only is it the day after the day

after New Year's, but it's also the most important day

of the week. Yeah, because this is it's the.

First one of the year, one the year of the year.

With what made Chris mad this week dumb the most

important segment we did.

Yes, it's very important. People. People must log this away

in their brains.

So what made Chris mad.

Well, I have to tell you, Jeff, it happened yesterday.

I have one ready to go. So we're coming out

of the Christmas season.

By the way, I've noticed most of the things that

make you make you mad this week are very fresh. Yeah,

you have a lot of that. You have a lot

of things. I mean, it's it's it's always fresh wounds.

Well, you know what it is. People are just dumb, Jeff.

And that's what makes you mad.

Yeah, okay, there's just no shortage of dumb people.

You're right, You're right, you know.

And by the way, you mean that with all the

love you can.

By the way, by the way, the last time I shared,

we got Chris mad. I shared the guy with hanging

the lights right, and I said something I didn't want

to say.

Oh yeah, you got Yeah, don't say it again.

I'm not gonna say it again. Okay, but but I

remember I said.

Oh, we should be record that people and then and

then you were like oh no, no, no, no, They loaned it.

They loved it.

I didn't have a single person that didn't come up

to me and say, oh, you shouldn't done that.

They all came up and be like, oh my gosh,

that was so funny. But I felt so bad.

Because I was like, I was in the church lobby

after a service and I got like twenty five comments

of people saying stuff, and you know you sort of

want to say, wow, that message that you just gave

was really powerful, right, No, no.

No, didn't want to talk about what makers mean.

Said about that guy, And I was like, okay, all right.

Anyways, anyways, so here's the thing. We have no shortage

of done people. I were coming out of the Christmas season.

I made a significant purchase. Okay, it wasn't like over

the top significant, but it was pretty significant.

Especially for me.

It was your biggest gift this year by far.

Yes, and uh and so and and and so. What

I discovered through the I'm trying to get non specific here,

but what I discovered was is that the salesman sold

me things that I did not need. Clearly he upsold

he sold you and and so.

I mean, hey, the best salesman are taught to upsell.

Yes, but looking back, it was all careless, Like he

sold me the wrong things, Jeff.

So not only the upsell you stuff where it costs

you more, he sold anything wrong stuff.

Is the things that did not work did not work.

They did that work got he got a Christmas bonus

because of you.

Well he did, because I have I know for a

fact that the more you sell, the more you get

in that particular job.

Right. So anyway, so yeah, he's.

Like, oh yeah, add this at this, ad this, and

you could you could get this special little thing.

It's so cool. It'll be like, you know, mounted and

all this.

So so anyway, he sells me this mount that doesn't

even work, doesn't didn't even check. And so basically I

look back and I thought to myself, I now know

what he did, which was and I hate say it

this way, but I do believe it, so I'm going

to say it. He was not thinking of me in

those moments. He was thinking of him, yes, And so

that made me mad.

He had he had a he had a live whale

on the hook and he's reeling him in. That's all

they do.

And now I.

Have yet still, because I have thirty days, I have

yet still to go back. And now I have to

like take this, you know, this box that was opened,

it was pulled apart, that is now taped shut, and

it's like bulging because I can't fit everything.

Back in the box right and I got you know, I.

Couldn't even you know, And that makes me mad all

by itself. Yes, affect it now it's another trip. Yes,

And you're lugging this stuff. Yes, And now you're hoping

and it'll take it back.

And I'm almost positive he won't get a deduction, He'll

still get that sale, which makes me even more mad.

But here's a flip side to this sharing, okay, okay,

is that I have had a lot of sales jobs,

and I mean a lot. I mean a lot, and

I only got sales jobs in college, and I had

just a tremendous amount of variety sales jobs, more than

any one person should have. And I am guilty of

doing what this man has done. I've done the same

thing in fact when I was and almost so.

Is this kind of a what goes around comes around?

It could be.

I think what I'm doing is I'm humanizing cathartic confession.

I'm humanizing this man. I'm humbling myself. I'm confessing and

I'm saying.

With some confession with Chris Sarbo.

I'm saying that what he has done that made me

mad I am definitely guilty of doing as a salesman

in the past. In the past, Oh yeah, of course,

in the past. Yeah, a long time past. Yeah, when

I was a college kids, right and so and so

I understand it, like really well, because I've done it,

and now I feel extra bad about the things that

I did to people now that I'm.

On the receiving end of it.

Oh well, so.

You learned, well, you know, that's right. That's right. So anyway,

I've done the same thing.

I remember one time there was an older woman who

I knew very well as a part of my church,

and I was working at a selling used cars. I

actually quit the job of that church, went to another church,

quit that job, and then worked at this place selling

used vehicles before I moved to Michigan. And so I

worked there for like nine months. I was selling used cars,

and I know that the lady from my first church,

she was like literally like eighty something years old, and

she's like, yeah, I want this car, and I'm like, oh,

here's all the extras you want. And I gave her

so many extras that she didn't need it. I knew

she didn't need it, and she called me back out

and said, I don't need this this side steps. It's

actually in the way getting into this car. It's not

high off the ground. I have this side step, it's

too low. I can't believe you sold me the side step.

Oh I don't know. I don't have to tell you.

Go back in and try to get your money back.

But I knew she didn't need that.

I knew it. But it was a lot of money

for me.

Well, there you go.

I feel bad. So even saying it, Miss Peggy Brown.

So what do we do, she said, us, those that

are uninformed consumers. What should we do when people are

upselling us?

Probably just assume that the salesman doesn't necessarily have your

best interest at heart, which means, guess who's the Guess

who's the person to trust the most when you're buying something.

It's yourself.

It's you. Yeah, yeah, Do you buy? Do you buy

the warranties and stuff?

Uh, extra warranties?

No? I almost never do because the manufacturing warranty covers

most of what you're going to need. And I've learned

over the years that they make a tremendous amount of money.

We well piles of money with the extended warranties.

Yeah. I feel like if you never buy an extended warranty,

you're going to get ahead of the game. Yes, so

at some point you're going to get burned. You have

to buy something, you have to pay for something. But

over the life of all of the opportunities at home

Depot and Walmart and best Buy, best Buy and all

those places want to upsell you warranties, at a point

you're going to save money if you don't buy them

all correct, I agree? Oh good, Well see, there you go.

So learn it from from the resident salesman scammer. Don't

buy the warranties. Is that what you're saying.

Yes, thank you for calling me the resident sales reformer,

the reformed he's the reform she wow.

Yeah, okay, all right.

Ecclesiast, Chapter eleven. Oh speaking of speaking of people who,

dang it.

Do dumb things when they're young. Oh, here you go,

I have some advice for the old.

Speaking of learning things when you're old, Solomon is about

to give advice for both young and old.

There you go, there you go.

That's that was the kind of transition I was going

to do better.

Job you made off the cuff.

You made it. Yeah, Okay, So we're gonna read Ecclesiastes

chapter eleven, and we're gonna start off in verse seven.

And here's what it says. Light is sweet, How pleasant

to see a new day dawning. When people live to

be very old. Let them rejoice in every day of life.

But let them also remember there will be many dark days.

Everything still to come is meaningless. Well, thanks Solomon. Young people,

it's wonderful to be young. Enjoy every minute of it.

Do everything you want to do, take it all in,

but remember that you must give an account to God

for everything you do. There it is so Refuse to

worry and keep your body healthy, but remember that youth,

with a whole life before you, is meaningless. Again, Thanks Solomon,

Back and forth. Don't let the excitement of youth cause

you to forget your creator. Honor him and your youth.

Before you grow old and say life is not pleasant anymore,

remember him. Before the light of the sun, the moon,

and the stars is dim to your old eyes, and

rain clouds continually darken your sky, remember him before your

legs the guards of your house start to tremble, and

before your shoulders the strong men stoop. Remember him before

your teeth your few remaining servants stop grinding, and before

your eyes the women looking through the windows see dimly.

Remember him before the door to life's opportunities is closed

and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at

the first chirping of the birds, but then all their

sounds will grow faint. Remember him before you become fearful

of falling and worry about danger in the streets, Before

your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom,

and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper,

and the caper berry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember

him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when

the mourners will weep at your funeral. Yes, remember your

Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord

of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don't

wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring

and the pulley is broken at the well, For then

the dust will return to the earth and the spirit

will return to God who gave it. He is absolutely

miserable writing this chapter.

But at the same time he's talking about remembering your

creator over and over and over and over.

Yeah, yeah, so it talk about going back and forth.

I mean, think about it.

In verse nine through eleven, just in those two No.

Nine and ten, he says, hey, do everything you want

to do, take it all in, which is which sounds

pretty careless. But then he says, but remember you must

give an account to God for everything you do.

You know what that reminds me.

Of, By the way, Jamestown's motto when they came and

settled in the United States. You know what James Town's

motto was. It says, love God and do what you want. Oh,

isn't that wonderful? And so it says, love God and

then do what you want. So if the prerequisite is

loving God, then you'll want.

To do all the good things, do the right things,

do the right things. Right.

So Jamestown's motto is wonderful, right, and I love it.

And so it's almost like what he says is he

says the opposite. He says, do what you want, but

remember love God first.

Right, you're gonna we're going to give an account.

Which was great. And then he says, so refuse to worry.

But remember that youth and the whole life before you

is meaningless. He goes, he goes wamp womp, and then

he goes, oh, that's really and then wamp again, and

then he goes back and then says, but remember your creator.

And now do you still think that he is writing

this meaning you're going to give an account to God

in this life?

Okay? You don't think it's yeah?

Yeah, because he keeps flipping back and forth with the

idea that when you obey God, good things happen in

your life or should right, and yeah, I think this

is purely that you give an account so while your

judgment is coming in while you're living.

Yeah.

He doesn't seem to have any sense of eternity in

his writings here, So I think about this my dad.

I can remember reading through Ecclesiastes with my family one

time when I was a kid, and my dad grew

up in a good Christian home. They went to the

that we lived in. They lived in Elba, Michigan. My

dad grew up on a farm about three mile two

miles from the house I grew up in, right so

right around the corner, same community, small farming community. All

of the families there was only one church in the area.

All the families went to this little Methodist church like

a block from my house. So they all did. They'd

all come in every Sunday, all the teenagers, all the parents,

all the farmers, all the men would stand around and

they would make plans for the next year, whatever, for

the next season, all the women. It was always some

kind of you know, Sunday dinner after church kind of

a thing they did all the time. And they had

a really good community. They worked together, they helped each

other out, they bailed each other out, all those kinds

of things, everything you can imagine a small, rural, tight

knit community would do. And so my dad grew up

going to church, singing the songs, you know, being a

good boy. And he turns eighteen and immediately leaves everything

that has to do with Christianity. Now, his father died

when he was a junior in high school. Fell over,

had a heart attack out in the field and just died.

So part of that was there was a bitterness and

anger and I'm going to just do what Solomon says.

I'm going to live footloose and fancy free while I'm alive,

because you don't live long. He expected to die when

he was forty nine too. That was kind of his idea.

So he went for so long not serving God. Then

he marries my mom, and you know, he was forty

when he came to faith in Christ. My grandmother said

she prayed for my dad every single day for forty years,

that he'd become a Christian, every single day. And she

lived on the property we lived. We had, We had

some acreage. We had a little tiny eight hundred square

foot house, and then right behind we had like a

six hundred square foot house. Right behind it. My grandmother

lived in that little little apartment, one bedroom, little house.

And so you know, she's only one hundred feet from us.

And so I was around my grandmother times, sneak and

snacks in the middle of day. I go have lunch

at my house and then go have lunch at my

grandmother's house, you know, and whatever. She always had little

uh butterscotches. Yes, always have butterscotch.

It's so funny.

I think every grandma had butterscotches from our generation.

Yeah, And she always listened to Christian radio singing amazing Grace.

She'd always be making something in the house and she

made all kinds. She canned a lot. So she's always

canning peaches or canning, you know something. And she always

had freezer jam from you know, the strawberries we grew,

so go get a freezer jam sandwhich whatever. So anyways,

I can remember my grandmother saying, I prayed every single

day for your dad for forty years. But I can

remember my dad early on as a Christian. We read

the Bible every morning and every night. You remember, my

dad would tear up sometimes when we would read passages

like these, and he would say, I wasted so much

of my life because he thought he would die when

he was forty nine. His dad did, right, So he's like, hey,

my people don't live very long. I didn't even give

my life to Christ till I was forty. He's still living, right, yeah, yeah,

he's eighty six now.

Yeah.

So but I can remember in those days in his forties,

and then as he went into his fifties, him feeling

like he'd wasted his life. And so you know what

he did, Instead of wallowing in the fact he wasted

his life, his perspective on eternity was, I don't want

to waste the last years of my life, right, So, man,

my dad got on fire. He'd read through the entire

Bible every year, at least once, sometimes twice a year.

He was studying, he was learning, but he was also

learning how to share his faith. I can't remember my dad.

I've seen my dad personally, seen my dad lead two

or three dozen people to Christ. Strangers. Then my dad

just sit down, you know, my mom's out shopping something,

my dad sitting at the mall, sit on the bench,

and just start sharing the gospel. Some guy lead some

guy to Christ. You know, I can remember going door

to door. My dad would say, hey, Jeff, let's go.

We're gonna go. Thursday nights, we go knock on doors

and just say hey, we're from you know, the church

that we went to in Flint, Michigan. And hey, if

you died to day or one hundred percent, share, you

go to heaven. You know, I don't know if it's

a most delicate way to do it, but my dad

just wanted to lead people to jails.

Back then, people were definitely more open to it.

And I've seen him share the gospel so many times.

And then he was outrageously generous. And you know, I

grew up poor, but then my dad became pretty successful.

He started a business and he was very generous to

the church, but he was generous to people struggled and

were poor. He did everything good. So now my dad

has been a believer longer than he wasn't right, right,

So it was forty years not being a believer, wasting

his life. And he said, listen, I lived for the

devil with all my heart. He said, I wasn't thinking

about the devil. I was thinking about myself. He said.

I lived for myself with all my heart for forty years.

So if God gives me forty more, I'm going to

give him everything I've got. And so I look at

my dad's life now, and my brothers, you know, we're

all in ministry. We look at our dad and we go,

that was a life well lived. Sure he wasted a

few years, but he got it right.

Yeah.

And so the difference between Solomon and my dad is Solomon,

I don't believe, had an eternal view, and so I

just wasted my life. And now I'm at the end

of that. I don't have anything. Whereas my dad saw,

from this moment forward, I'm going to lay up treasures

in heaven. I'm going to do everything I know to do.

He became a holy man. He became a student of

the Bible, he became a sole winner sharing the gospel.

He became generous all those things. He raised a family well.

And so I would say, if you're kind of reading

Solomon and going maybe I've wasted some time. Okay, while

you're breathing breath, do what my dad did. Don't waste

another minute, right, go after it. Go after it with

all of your heart. As committed as you were to

yourself or to living wrong. Now, become that committed to

doing the best you can for as long as you can,

as long as God lets you breathe breath.

Yeah, And I love I love I love that because

there are so many people who I mean, think about

the church patterns that we read about, you know, George

Barnostats or whatever it is. It's like kids who get

raised in church typically not always typically the sort of

exit church when they're able to do it, when they

can exercise their own free will, right, that's the typical pattern.

And then when do they go back to church, Typically.

When they're raising kids.

When they're raising kids, right, so they have this window

of life where you know, all these really important things happen,

and then they go back for the sake of the kids.

In fact, we just we just experienced our Christmas testimony

video that way, right, let's go back because of the kids.

That kind of thing, it's so common. And yet Solomon,

think about what he's saying. He's like, don't wait, He's like,

do it while you're young. Remember your creator, remember all

these things. Don't wait until your hair grows white like

an almond tree. Don't wait until you can't stoop over.

He's like, don't wait until later. They take advantage now.

And I love the fact that he's talking about remembering

your creator and he gives all these scenarios. Remember him,

remember him, remember him, because that's just great advice.

And if you're a young person listening, you don't have to. Yep,

it's common, but you don't have to. As a matter

of fact, most of the best leaders you and I

know in ministry didn't go down that. And I'm not

saying that they were perfect, but they didn't just throw

it all away, right, And so staying in it a

long time, God, God then will raise you up to

be a leader in ministry, whether you're in full time

ministry or serving in the church or whatever. You don't

have to and you can avoid a lot of that

guilt and a lot of that brokenness. You know, when

Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son, the story

is primarily about the prodigal son, but sometimes we could

celebrate the older brother stayed home. Prodigal son got a ring,

some clothes, some sandals, and a party, and his older

brother got everything else right right and every man, because

that's how it worked. He because the prodigal son went

and took half of everything right and then wasted it

and wasted it, and the oldest son stayed home and

had everything that the father had left.

Prodigal son got forgiveness and love, acceptance and honor. But

the next day, after the story get over, he worked

for his brother.

That's right. So so sure it's a beautiful picture and

God will forgive us and bring us back. But man,

I celebrate that older brother. He needs to get a

better attitude, right, we all need better attitudes. But I

celebrate the decision of the older brothers even more, right,

so that there's this opportunity. So in the same way,

we don't have to go off and wighe start life

and then have those regrets. And so if we can,

Like you said, I think you said yesterday or was

it today that you said about Solomon? You know, if

we would, oh, yeah, it was today. We need to

take good wisdom from the people came before us. And

we see Solomon's mistakes and he goes, I chased success

and money and women, and I feel like I've wasted

my life. Yeah, and so we need to learn as

young people. We need to learn from those people. Go,

I don't want that. Yeah.

It reminds me of my wife's testimony. So I had

the testimony of you know, I didn't really come to

Christ until I was, you know, almost sixteen years old,

and I had this crazy family and crazy stories and

things that I you know, walked away from and experience.

And then you hear my wife's story and she's like, well,

except in Christ when I was five at this little

tiny church with some red windows.

And I went down the aisle and then I've been

in church ever since the end.

I love God and served him and been in church

my whole life, you know.

And her parents are still married. And by the way,

get this, so my family.

You've heard all the dysfunction of my family, right, just craziness.

Her dad and mom were neighbors growing up. They started

dating in kindergarten. It was a joke by their parents, right,

or elementary school something like that, where it was sort

of a joke. They were together and they've never been apart.

Wow.

And then they.

Dated, they get married, They bought their starter home before

he went off to war.

Okay, and then they're still in their starter home.

Wow.

They've lived in the same place, which is why I

always make the joke. And I say, okay, I said,

so they've been married like sixty five years or something

like this, and I said, he is grounded like the oak.

Tree, and she is steady as the sun.

Wow.

That's the way it is.

Is that. That's fantastic. Yeah.

And then her story is like that too, right, And

then that's the older son's.

Story, right, Yeah, that's andres there's something beautiful about that.

So you don't have to go down the path Solomon

went down. Right. And then as Christians, we know about eternity.

We have hope and eternity, and so you're living for

more than just this life. And so because you know

that you're living for more than just this life, you're

laying up treasures in heaven, as Jesus said, and this

life has an impact on eternity, then it gives you

a different view. And so you don't have to go

down the path that Solomon went. But if you're saying

I feel the same way, the fact that you're able

to hear Us talking, the fact that you can somehow

function well enough in society to use some technology to listen,

means you still have some sanity, you still have some

physical ability, You have some So then make sure that

every day the rest of your life, if it's fifty

days or five hundred days or five thousand more days,

every day, make it count from here on out. And

this is what Solomon didn't seem to figure out until

the very end. He's going to say it, he's going

to say it at the very end of this book,

but I'm getting ahead of it just a little bit

and saying make every count. Now, it doesn't have to

be the way that he's looking at it. So as

you go into twenty twenty five, as we lean in this,

this can be your best year.

Yep. Titanic.

Yeah, make you count, make it count. That's right, that's

exactly right.

Hey, that's that's all the time.

We have for or no, that's all the time we have,

so hopefully we'll see you on Monday on the Bible

Gush