Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Hardwire with Jeff Wickwire. Here's what's coming
up in today's edition.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
So I really do believe I've seen this in life,
just myself, in my own observations, the unexpected rise to
the top, and those I fully thought would unforeseen things
stop them and they're taken down and never achieve what
you thought they would.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Success comes from God. Well does that mean, Pastor Jeff,
I shouldn't even try. Sure, you should try, But all
the while I.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Have a humble heart before God and say, Oh God,
bless my way, bless my day, give me a clear path.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Sometimes you find yourself in a hole with no possible escape.
When you are in that deep dark situation, you need
to look to the Lord to free you. That's exactly
what Joseph had to deal with, because even though he
did not send it against Potiphar, he ended up locked
up in prison. But Pastor Jeff teaches you in today's
message that God can change any situation.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
In the blink of an eye.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Just when all hope seems lost, you may look up
and see the beam of life that symbolizes the end
of your trial. Well, let's join Pastor Jeff and the
book of Ecclesiastes chapter ten, as he begins his message
the ironies of life.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
All right, we're going through Ecclesiastes ten. Now, last time
we closed chapter nine was Solomon concluding that wisdom is
more powerful than weapons of war. How many of you
say that's true?

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Oh? Yeah, because there's more wisdom in the world. We
have so much war.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Right now, in chapter ten, he's going to point out
some of the ironies of life. And I'm getting a
little bit of feedback up here, guys, thank you some
of the ironies of life. How many of you have
ever experienced a real irony in your life? Like, I
can't believe things have turned out this way?

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Okay? Now, Chapter ten.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Also feels a whole lot like we're walking through the
Book of Proverbs. I don't know how much you've read
the Proverbs. It's one of my favorite books. I love
the Proverbs, and right about now in Ecclesiastes, it feels
like Proverbs, there's these you have these the wise person
compared to the fool, which happens all the time in Proverbs.

(02:16):
The folly of laziness and other negative character traits are
pointed out, which he does all the time in the Proverbs,
so it reminded me of that. Now, starting in verse one,
Solomon points out how easily a good reputation can be damaged. Now,
you remember the verse we went over a while back,

(02:38):
that a good name is better to be chosen than
choice silver. Remember that a good name keeping your good reputation,
because the minute you tell somebody you're a Christian, immediately
there are certain things that they expect to see and
expect to not see.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
And you have a reputation. I have a reputation. You
have a reputation.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Now he's gonna show us how easy they can be damaged,
and he uses a very very graphic example verse one.
Dead flies putrefy the perfumer's ointment and cause it to
give off a foul odor. So does a little folly
to somebody who's respected for wisdom and for honor. Now,

(03:20):
the Hebrew expression for flies is literally flies of death.
That's the Hebrew expression flies of death, which may mean
either dead flies or deadly poisonous flies. Now, the flies
that he's talking about are probably the latter, the ones
who actually carry some poison in their bite or.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
The carry infection with them.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Such insects corrupt everything and anything that they touch.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
Okay, so here's the deal.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
The Christians expected to live an upright, moral, ethical life,
life which fits the person who claims to follow Christ.
Open sin in the life of the believer is like
a fly of death. That's the picture that poisons their
testimony and soils their wisdom. It's hard to listen to

(04:18):
wisdom from somebody who you know is and walk and right.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
You know, who are you to counsel me? You know?
It's like Jesus said, remove.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
The two by four from your own eye before you
go trying to operate on the eye of someone else,
to remove the speck in their eye. So you've got
to be clean to really have your wisdom appreciated. All right,
that's the idea. So guard your reputation. Can you say
that with me?

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Guard your reputation, it's the only one you've got. Now.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
The next two verses deal with one of Solomon's favorite subjects,
the wise man compared to the fool. Like I said
in Proverbs, he does this all the time. He compares
the wise man to the fool, and he talks about
the fool a lot. He's gonna do it more later
in this chapter. Now, verses two to three read like this,
The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but

(05:11):
the heart of the fool to the left.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Oh where I could go with that one? Isn't it true? Oh? Man?

Speaker 2 (05:23):
And that's a proverb. I didn't make that up. So
if you're a conservative to the right, you have wisdom.
If you're a leftist, oh well, even as fools walk
along the road, they lack sense and show everybody how
stupid they are. Now, I'm just reading the Bible, and

(05:45):
I think that's the NIV or the nlt uh.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
But it's a translation. That's what it means stupid. Now.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
In the Bible, the right hand is pictured is the
hand of action, and that's why you hear the you
hear the right hand.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Of God talked about in the Bible.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Because the right hand is the hand of action, the
hand of warfare, the hand of strength, as is the
right eye. The left hand is seen as inferior and weaker.
So all you south Pall's in here, don't feel bad.
We're not saying that because you're a south Paul left
handed person that it's weaker and you're inferior. I'm just
saying that as a rule, the world's made up primarily

(06:22):
of right handed people. And so this is the plan
on words that he's making.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Now.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
Solomon's point is simply this, that wisdom leads to strength
and victory like the right hand, and foolishness leads to
weakness and defeat as with.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
The left hands.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
To guarantee, if you have wisdom, you are going to
have some victories. If you don't have any wisdom, you're
going to go from defeat to defeat until you wise up.
Very important to have wisdom. Remember, it's more powerful than
weapons of war.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
Wisdom.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
So over and over again proverbs, you're gonna see Solomon
constantly encouraging and exhorting and reminding us to search for wisdom.
Mind for wisdom, Pray for wisdom. James, if any man
lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to
all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be

(07:20):
given him.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
Only.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Let him ask in faith, nothing doubting, For he that
doubts is like the wave of the sea tossed to
and fro.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
So even James says, if you lack wisdom, ask.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
God for wisdom. He'll give it to you without upbraiding you.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
For asking.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
The fool has a habit of telling everybody else how
stupid they are. Have you ever noticed that, Turn on
the news, listen to some of the talk shows, while
he himself is actually the stupid one. That's what this
verse is saying. I'm going back to it.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
He says.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Here, even as fools walk along the road, they lack
sense and show everybody else how stupid they are. They're
always telling you how stupid you are. And that's what
fools do. They're like the insane person who thinks that
everybody else is insane except them. I'm the only sane one.
These voices I'm hearing are really there. You're crazy because

(08:19):
you don't hear them. Now, that's what the fool is like.
The fool thinks everybody else is stupid, when in fact
he's stupid.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
And this is what happens when you depart from God.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Now I don't call anybody stupid, but I will call
somebody unwise, all right. And the Bible says in Romans
chapter one, which I think is one of the most
and this is I'm branching off a little bit here,
but let me digress them. In I think Romans one
is one of the most profound things ever written.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
It reads the History of Man, and.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
One of the things Romans one says, when you decide
to put God out of your thoughts, thinking that you
are wise, you become what fools. So to reject God
and his wisdom is to actually become a fool.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
And then you do moronic.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Foolish, stupid things, because stupid is as stupid does.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
Okay, so the fool.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Is very taken with himself he's the smartest one in
the room, when in fact he's not. Now the proverbs
I like this proverb twenty six, Verse twelve says there's
more hope for fools than for people who think they're wise.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
Isn't one of the most difficult people to be around?
The know it all? I mean, how long can you
tolerate and know it all? Not long?

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Ten minutes? Fifteen? And God bless you if you live
with one. Don't look right up at me, don't look
next to you. But if you live with then know
it all. God be with you, and God give you
amazing grace, because that would be very difficult.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
Now Verse four.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
Says he's really switching gears. Now Verse four. If a
ruler's anger rises against you. Don't leave your post. Calmness
can lay great offenses to rest. Now what's he talking about?
If a person over you and I always have somebody
over us, a boss, a government official, or some other

(10:30):
authority figure. If that person to whom you answer becomes
offended at something that they either think you did or
that you actually did, here's the counsel and advice of Solomon.
He says, don't react in anger, don't react in haste
by leaving your position. Don't be a quick quitter, Wait

(10:55):
a while, give it time. I never thought that I
would say this, but here we go. As you get older,
you begin to see some things. And one thing you
do begin to see is this when you wait on something,
when you don't react, but you respond. There's a difference

(11:16):
between reacting and responding. You can react in anger, or
react in the flesh, or respond in wisdom. Often wisdom
will say, just hang tough, give it time, wait a while,
let the water settle. Solomon says, set yourself to continue

(11:37):
in your duty with a good attitude and a servant's heart.
And he says, if you do that and give it time,
a submissive, meek approach brings healing, and it appeases the
wrath of the person over you. Now that's just practical
everyday advice. So somebody over you gets offended at you,

(11:59):
don't stack, don't get angry, don't don't pick up your
marbles and run home and quit. Give it time, give
it time, give things time, give God time to work.
You never know, things can change.

Speaker 4 (12:18):
Thanks for listening to Hardwired. We're exploring the wisdom of Solomon.
Solomon entertains thoughts related to the futility of life. Something
that stands out is that without God, you're left in
a place of emptiness and potentially despair. Instead of that,
let's navigate the complexities of life with wisdom and peace.

(12:39):
Each sermon is complimented by a devotional designed to help
you as you relate to the things written in this book.
If you're seeking a deeper understanding about this series, text
the word edge to eight one seven four eight four
four seven sixty seven. Join us as we explore the
edges of life's mysteries and find guidance for today's world.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
Now Here again.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
After dealing with the inequities of life several times so
far in this book, Solomon revisits some other inequities. Again,
he always refers to inequities as evil under the sun.
He sees all kinds of inequities, and we all do
we see them every day. We see inequities all the time,
all right, So he calls them evil under the sun.

(13:24):
Now he's gonna talk about another one here. In five
through seven of chapter ten, he says, there's an evil
I have seen under the sun, the sort of error
that arises from a ruler. Fools are put in many
high positions.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
Can I have an amen?

Speaker 2 (13:46):
While they're rich or really not just rich, but the
capable occupy the low ones. How is it the fools
rise to the top and the capable go unnoticed. It's
an inequity, He says, I've seen slaves on horseback verse seven.
I have seen slaves on horseback in a promoted position,

(14:09):
while princes are the capable go on.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
Foot like slaves. He says, what's the matter.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
This is a topsy turvy, This is upside Now the
capable ought to be in charge, not these fools. But
he says, this is an iniquity and is an evil
under the sun. And I can go with him on
that one.

Speaker 3 (14:33):
Here's the deal, here's what he's addressing.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
A tyrannical ruler of people will often place foolish and
unworthy people into positions of authority and honor. You can't
believe that so and so has been appointed to this
or that position.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
You can't believe it. Okay.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
When they do this, their appointees often bring embarrassment to
them and almost always vex the population at large. I'm
getting a lot of aim. I'm getting more ams and
on a Sunday morning here tonight. But you see what
I'm saying here, Listen, there's nothing new under the sun.

(15:16):
Solomon is seeing something that we see today that, through
favoritism or for whatever reason, the incapable, the fool the
amateurs are placed into positions of high authority and esteem,
and the ones that really could do the job well
are passed over.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
That's what he's talking about.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Solomon says, I've seen unworthy peasants who were utterly incompetent
and ill prepared for the positions in which they were placed.
And I've seen the capable and competent slighted due to
the whims of the tyrant.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
He says.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
Man, He says, this is hard to take and I'm
going to tell you, it's hard for me to take sometimes,
I mean it's clearer.

Speaker 3 (16:04):
You can see people put in positions of.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Authority who don't have a clue what they're doing, and
you have to suffer for it. That's hard. And what
about where you work? You should have been appointed.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
And you weren't.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
And when you learned who got appointed instead of you,
it was all you could do to not pop your brain.
How did they get appointed over me? And then it
made it even worse when you realize it was the
buddy system. It was cronyism, it was favoritism, and you

(16:44):
should have been the one appointed and you weren't.

Speaker 3 (16:47):
And that's hard to take. It's like chewing sand. So
what do you do with it?

Speaker 2 (16:54):
Well, servants on horseback while the confident walk on foot, inequities,
some of the ironies of life. And let me give
you a word of hope and encourage me. If God
wants you promoted, my friend, you are going to be promoted.
And I listen carefully, timmy, because there's a god who's
bigger than the one who is doing the buddy system.

(17:15):
There's a god bigger than the buddy system. And if
you get passed over, there is a God.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
Who sees it.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
And if you stay humble and seek his face and
walk with him and honor him. God can move a mountain,
he can listen, he can bring up a valley, he
can bring a mountain down.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
He can make a straight path for you.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
And if he wants you promoted, nothing will stop your promotion.

Speaker 3 (17:38):
Look what the Bible says. Scripture teaches that the Lord
can overrule all, as was in the case of Joseph.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
Remember Joseph, who was brought from prison to pinnacle in
a day by the providence of Almighty God. One day
he's sitting in prison where he's been for years. The
next minute, he's got a ring, he's got a robe,
he's got authority. He's second only to Pharaoh. And the
whole nation of Egypt must bow down when he rides by.

(18:08):
That happened in one day. The Bible says, for exaltation
comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor
from the south. But God is the judge. He puts
down one and he exalts another.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
Amen.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
The Bible says, the humble shall be exalted and the
proud will be made low.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
Now that's the promise.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
So even if you have been passed over by the
buddy system, you have not been passed over by God.
All right, now, The next two verses give four warnings
pertaining to vengeance. And I love these next passages. They're
some of my favorite. They're hard to understand, but you're
gonna get it. The next two verses watch carefully give
us four warnings that pertain to venge and dishonoring god

(19:03):
given boundaries. Look at verse eight and nine. Whoever digs
a pit may fall into it. Whoever breaks through a
wall may be bitten by a snake. Whoever removes stones
may be injured by them, And whoever splits logs may
be endangered by them.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
Would you like to understand that?

Speaker 2 (19:28):
Because in that kind of a dove, if I'm removing stones,
I might get hurt. If I'm splitting logs, I might
be endangered by one of them. But it means more
than that. Let me show you the digging of the
pit here. We all get that one digging of the
pit here is speaking to the folly of taking vengeance.
You got somebody you don't like, You dig a pit
for their downfall. You are trying to set them up

(19:51):
for pain for vengeance for a retaliation for hurt.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
So you dig a pit for them?

Speaker 2 (19:59):
Is the age old picture setting a trap for another,
and then you fall into it yourself. Remember Joseph's brothers
threw him into a pit, but later he was brought out,
taken to Egypt, and later they were brought into subjection
to him, the very one they threw into the pit,
and they would have left him had it not been
for one of the brothers, they would have left him
to die. Yet later all of them had to bow

(20:21):
down to Joseph. He was promoted, they were put down.
I'm telling you, promotion is in the hands of God.
And what about the wicked hayman who built the gallows
for Esther's uncle Mordecai, but was hung himself on the
same gallows. The message is leave vengeance to God. And

(20:42):
I brought this up before because you remember Roadrunner. I
can't ever pass by this verse without.

Speaker 3 (20:49):
Bringing up old Roadrunner. Remember Roadrunner and Wiley Coyote.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
You remember, and Wiley Coyote was always trying to get
road Runner, always trying to trap him away, trying to
kill I guess to eat him. And you remember that
time that Wiley coyote is on top of the cliff
with a big boulder, and you see the cloud of
smoke coming as as Roadrunner is running. He's running through
the valley in which he's going to be crushed by

(21:17):
the boulder. That wiley coyote is going to roll onto him.
So he rolls it down and Roadrunner sees it. He's
too fast. He zips by the boulder, goes down, goes
back up the other side, hangs for a second, comes
back down, comes back up, goes up in the air,
and comes right down and smashes wiley coyote. That is
the idea, He who rolls a stone will have it

(21:41):
return upon him. Cartoons ain't what they used to be.
Every once in a while, I really can pause and
watch a little bit of Bugs Bunny, just for old
time's sake. Now, next we have the metaphor of the
person who breaks through a wall and he's bitten by

(22:04):
a snake.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
Now, what is this about? The wall represents God given boundaries.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
Okay, when we, in our foolishness, decide to ignore God's
word and we break through his wall of protection. Because
that's what boundaries are. Ten commandments are all boundaries of protection,
not to ruin your party, but to save your life.

(22:33):
They are boundaries, They are walls of protection. Now you
break through the wall of protection and you are bitten
by the serpent of sin. It'll strike you because to
go past his boundary as a sin, it's always painful,
always poisonous to our souls, and it's always ill advised.

(22:54):
Now what concerns me about our country is that our
country is breaking down every boundary it confined, breaking down
every God given boundary, every God given wall, breaking it
down and over and over again. Now we're beginning to
be bitten by poisonous serpents. That's what happens. You can't

(23:15):
break God's word without being bitten. On the other side
of that wall is the devil who is called the serpent.
He appeared to Eve as a serpent, and he bites.
His bite is sin and it poisons. Then he goes on.

(23:35):
Whoever removes stones may be injured by them. Now that's
again a warning about breaking boundaries. In Bible times, stones
were often used to distinguish property boundaries. Right, it's like
a fence, but they would stack up stones, say here's
the dividing line, bemong your property and mind. So here's

(23:56):
the idea the preacher is warning about nodding encroaching upon
what belongs to somebody else.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
No matter the choices you make in your life, you
are still going to face trials and difficulties. What Pastor
Jeff is presenting in today's message is that life isn't
fair and sometimes God makes his children go through difficult seasons.
That the Lord is also a merciful God and will
provide you with the strength you need to endure and
overcome the challenges in your path. He will win the

(24:29):
ultimate victory over the forces of evil to try and
trip you up. If you'd like to learn more about Hardwired,
here's some info.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
If these messages have proven to be a blessing and
benefit to you each time you listen, we're hoping you
might want to learn more about partnering with us financially.
If you're interested in donating, we have a few ways
you can do that. First of all, by tapping on
the present icon on your player that will take you
to the Hardwired giving page. Another way to donate is
by simply tapping the give button on Pastor Jeff's profile.

(24:59):
We're so thanks, thankful this ministry is possible, and it's
all because of you. Before we go, we'd like you
to hear what's coming up on the next edition of Hardwired.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Life isn't just a feudal game like some people have
grown to think. The actions that you commit on Earth
will have eternal consequences, but they may not be immediately evident.
Pastor Jeff warns you that those who do evil on
earth will be judged for their sins, and the suffering
that you endure now will be repaid in the last days.

(25:28):
God will not allow evil to go unpunished, and the
unrepentant will be left out of his kingdom. That's all
the time we have for today. Thanks for tuning in
for this edition of Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire. You can
listen to more messages from this and other books of
the Bible by visiting hardwired dot org. Join us next
time to continue our study and the Book of Ecclesiastes

(25:51):
right here on Hardwired