# Dead Flies

Key Passage: Ecclesiastes 10:1
Date: June 7, 2024

Ecclesiastes chapter 10. Ecclesiastes chapter 10 has already been worth it being here just the song service. I’ve enjoyed it. And I always enjoy their playing on the first Sunday night of the month. It’s been great. And looking forward to the choir, getting back in there and getting everyone back in there and hearing the choir sing on Sunday morning. Working on Sunday nights, the choir coming up singing, and that’ll be a blessing. I’m excited about that, looking forward to hearing them sing, and they do a great, great job. I don’t think it’ll be long tonight. I don’t plan to be long tonight. I did not do that in sync with the Super Bowl. Actually, I got all prepared, and I was thinking it was next Sunday, and I looked on McCallner, and it was saying, today, is it today or not? It’s next, okay, I was right, it is next Sunday. Okay, all right, good.

I didn’t want y’all think I’m preaching short because the Super Bowl. Man, we go longer on the Super Bowl night, you know. But, okay, so it’s next Sunday. All right, I wasn’t sure. And so a good deal.

Ecclesiastes chapter 10. I don’t think we’ll be long tonight. You think we’ll be long tonight, but I don’t think we will be. We’ll see what happens on, you know. But would you please stand as we read God’s word together? Please ask you, chapter 10. Just that first verse, we’re going to try to just be right to the core a little bit tonight. Ecclesiastes 10, verse number one. The Bible there says, “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor. So doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.”

Would you pray with me that God would speak to our hearts if we have dead flies and help us get them out of there? Would you pray with me? Father, Lord, I sure don’t want to send forth a stinking savor, Lord, to the world, those around me. Lord, I like to be one that represents you well and draws people to you, not sends them away.

So, Father, tonight, would you reveal to me and to us if we have dead flies? Lord, give us desire, give us wisdom, give us direction about them, how to confess, and then, Lord, how to forsake them, Lord. Father, as you bless tonight, would you, as we mentioned this morning, give us a washing of the water by the word? And Father, we’ll thank you for what you do. And we ask for this in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

Another apothecary there. Maybe the word most like it in our day and time is a pharmacy. Every once in a while, you’ll still see a pharmacy that has a sign up there, apothecary. It’s someone that makes or prepares medicine. Now, you see, these dead flies, it makes the ointment or the medicine of the pharmacy of the apothecary send forth a stinky favor. Now, here’s the thing about it. People need that medicine.

Yesterday, Aaron and Cassidy, they were sitting here this morning. They usually always sit on the front row. They were sitting on the second row. I said, what in the world’s going on with y’all? You know? And they said, we’re backsliding, amen. You know, but I teased with them this morning. But their daughter turned two yesterday, and they had a birthday party here. They had planned it a month or two ago. We’d schedule whatnot. And at two years old, she’d been doing so good, but just like a little one, a little before the birthday party, she had taken an app on purpose, you know, so they’d be feeling good. And she woke up sick, and they kind of had seen it was coming on. And so it’s just a shame. I’m coming over a little before and I just talk with her getting everything ready to go, you know, and this had a lot of people here, and the birthday girl, two years old, is sick, and you could tell it. She was over there in her grandpa’s lap at the beginning sleeping, you know, and I was like, oh, what a bummer, you know, it’s a birthday, I’ve got this big birthday party.

And Cassidy was like, yeah, I put all the balloons up in decorations and everything, and she’s sick now, you know, we’re joking about it and all that. But a little before, to maybe 1:30 or so, I don’t know, they got that Tylenol out. And the liquid one you put in the tube of the syringe and all the ones you put in their mouth. And boy, they were putting it in there, you know, and waking her up a little bit and putting medicine in there. And we were all saying, well, maybe this will perk her up a little bit for the party. And I stayed a little bit after, I don’t know, 2:15, 2:30. I left, you know, a lot of people here, whatnot, and glad for them. And so I was talking to them this morning. I said, hey, did that medicine kind of perk her up? And they said, praise the Lord, that medicine just perked her up long enough where she was able to enjoy her birthday party, and everybody was able to talk to her, and she was smiling, and the medicine.

Now, that’s what the Bible’s talking about here when he says, the ointment of the apothecary. You know, they say in 2022, thousands—it’s according to who you read—many say thousands of people died in Afghanistan simply because they did not have the medicine they needed. People need medicine. And they’re talking about now how we’re living longer simply because of the medicine. And he’s talking here about the ointment of the apothecary, that the medicine people need.

Now, you know, there’s around 380,000 people in Rutherford County now. Boy, getting close to half a million people in Rutherford County. And I was thinking about, I wonder how many of those people are going to hell. A little bit on my mind here lately. You know, just hell. If I’m not careful, I got saved when I was a boy, and praise the Lord, I never have to worry about going to hell because of the blood of Jesus Christ. He saved an old sinner like me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t think about it. It’s just kind of out of my mind as far as me going to hell because I know I’m going to heaven because of Jesus’ blood. Amen. That’s what he wants it to be. We know that we have eternal life. First John 5:13, you know the verse. That’s what it ought to be, but sometimes it could be the point where I forget there’s a whole lot of people going to hell. Hell is reality. I mean, there is a hell. There is a place where people are screaming tonight and they’re gnashing their teeth and they’re in outer darkness. And the thing about hell, the worst thing about hell is it’s forever and ever. They don’t burn up when it’s all done. No, the Bible says the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever. And sometimes it’s good for me just to think about hell. People are going to hell. I wonder how many of those 380,000 people in our county that you and I live in, where Brotherford County Baptist Church is in, I wonder how many of those thousands of people are headed straight to hell. I mean, they’re going to burn forever and ever.

The thing that just kind of makes it real to me is my grandpa on my dad’s side—we don’t know that he got saved. My dad kind of held out that he did, but he never openly professed Jesus. And we’ve witnessed him many times and whatnot. But my grandpa, he just seemed like all my memories of my grandpa, he was already old. Grandpa on my mom’s side, I never met, passed before I was born, and whatnot. But anyway, the grandpa. And he died. I was a teenager. And let’s see here, I’m 35, so that’d be, you know, no, 54. So if I was, I don’t know, 16 or so, you’re talking, you know, close to 40 years ago. And I think about it, if he did not get saved, my grandpa is still in hell burning tonight. I think about all these 40 years, 38 years, whatever it is. And I just think about him old. And, you know, he’s one of those old school guys who grew up in the coal. He’s a coal miner in West Virginia all his life. He retired, moved to Florida. And he’s old school. He had those old sweaters on, patches all over it. You know what I’m talking about? And we would buy him sweaters for Christmas. He had, I don’t know how many new sweaters, but he would not use a new one until they completely wore out those old sweaters, you know. That’s old school, you know. I mean, just the tinfoil, you don’t throw it away. You fold it up. You’re going to use it again. You understand what I’m talking about? They lived through the Depression, you know. And my grandpa, but I think about him, if he did not get saved, he’s burning tonight. And that makes it real to me. Just hell. I never want to get over hell. The fact is there’s people around in my neighbors, people in my neighborhood, people that I go to the store with, the banquet, the people that I see every day, they’re either going to go to heaven or they’re going to go to hell, and they’re going to be there forever and ever and ever and ever.

We stopped. I went home, picked my wife up, we were coming into church. We stopped at a very important place on the way into church. It’s called Dunkin’ Donuts. Somebody say amen right there. And a young man gave us that liquid gold called coffee, you know. And that young man is either going to heaven or that young man’s going to hell.

And, friend, here’s what I’m getting at: all the thousands. And by the way, they’re moving in from all over. All over America and all over the world. I mean, the Lord is truly bringing the mission field to us. And all those thousands of people, they’re either going to go to hell forever or they’re going to go to heaven forever. And here’s an amazing thing about it: you and I, we have the medicine they need. We’ve got the liquid Tylenol, if you will. We have the penit—all the medicine they need. We’ve got the answer for them not going to hell. We have the answer.

By the way, you realize the children of God, we’ve got the major questions of life. Where do we come from? We know where it came from: in the beginning, God, amen. What are we supposed to be doing while we’re here? Hey, well, we’re created for Him. Revelation 4:11 tells us that. We know what we’re supposed to be doing here. We know where we’re going one day because of Jesus Christ’s shed blood, praise the Lord. Absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, amen. We have what they need. They need it. It’s a needy world we live in. The marriages—so many people got in church and gotten saved or got right in the Lord. And so many, over the years, so many people say, “Man, my marriage is so much better than it’s ever been because the Lord is in the middle of it.” I’m just saying we have the medicine they need. We’ve got it for us. And nothing about us is special, but we serve the One that is special. And we have the medicine they need.

But here’s this sad thing about it. Look back at that verse, the sad thing about that verse right there. He said, “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinky savor.” Now, what’s the comparison? “So doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.” You know, that person at work, they may listen to you. They may be saying, you know what, I see that lady, I see that man, and boy, just I think they’re really genuine. I think there’s something about them. I need to hear what they have to say. And yet that dead fly. And the sad thing is that dead fly sends forth—it causes the medicine to stink.

We were traveling. We took a little trip last week. We were traveling on a road I don’t know if I’ve ever been down. And my wife said, “Fool, what in the world stinks?” And I said, “Well, we just passed by the trash dump over that big mountain over there. That’s the trash dump.” And boy, it stinks for sure, you know. And I said, “Woo,” you know, I mean, we’re going to hold our nose next time we go through there, you know. I held mine a little bit too much right on that one side there, you know.

But can I put it in everyday language about what he’s saying here? That little folly in my life and your life, it turns the world off. When they see that self-righteousness, that know-it-allness—is that a word? We’re making up words tonight, you know. They see somebody just a Christian that thinks they know everything, or they’re just argumentative if they want to argue everything, whatever it may be. And that little folly in our life, it turns the world off. They say, “I don’t want anything to do with that.” Maybe I go to work every day, I’m a complaining Christian. That little folly just sends forth a stinky savor, and the world says, “You know what, I’d really rather not hear about what you had to say.” And it’s a sad thing. It sends forth a stinky savor. Wow. That little folly in my life.

We used to live on the north side of Jacksonville as you head into the city on one of the major interstates there. There’s a paper plant. Anybody know where I’m going with this? Anybody know what I’m talking about? Paper. Oh, yeah. A lot of you know, my goodness. You get, you know, a mile or two around a paper plant. Whoa, wow, something stinks around there. You know, there’s a skunk and all. It’s a paper plant over there. And some people will—they wouldn’t go down that road. They wouldn’t go close. They would just avoid it because they just don’t want to go by the stench of it. Now, that may be what happens to our neighbor if I have a little folly in my life. And we have the ointment of the apothecary, we have what they need, and yet just a little folly. Dead flies.

Now, it’s interesting how God words it. He first of all, he says dead flies. Well, flies are not big, just a little bit of an old thing. Maybe a touch different, the type of flies. Some of the commentaries think it’s talking about a little fly that stings, maybe like a sweat bee type thing. We’re not sure. Or just imagine like house flies having to do it. Either way, the very small little bitty animals, he said, these dead flies. Then he says this thing, little folly. He’s not talking about big old huge things, just little things that we are not willing to take out. We’re not willing to get rid of those.

It may be—I’ll never forget, years ago, worked at a little factory, a little shop, back in the back fabrication shop, metal fabrication, and just a couple of Christians back there. And one of our Christians, a man, I won’t say his name, but everybody knew he was a Christian. And I’ll never forget, he had the sports—and I was just a young 20 years old, whatnot—and he had the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. And I remember all of us going to the, you know, back of the day, he had the clock out on the time card and all that. And that man had that. And one of the lost men said something about that guy having that, and him being a Christian and whatnot. And he said, “Well, I’m just admiring God’s creation.” And I tell you what, friend, that sent a stinky savor to all those men around me. Friend, I’m saying this little folly, whatever it may be in our life. Just sometimes just a bossy complaining, you know, talk about the boss, whatever may be—just this little folly sometimes can just send forth a stinky savor.

I think about a man who’s a youth director in the church, a very talented man. He’s a good preacher. He knew his Bible, was good with people. He knew how to work with teenagers. And a lot of the teenagers really looked up to him, but he had a flaw. When he got involved in sports, he just had to win. I mean, to the point, you know, he’s going to run over anybody to do whatever he could. He had to win at that thing. And I tell you what, I’ve watched it turn off boy after boy after boy, and that little folly made the ointment of the apothecary stink. Those boys thought, “Hey, if that’s what a godly man’s all about, I don’t want anything to do with that.”

And, friend, in our lives, just dead flies—it sends forth a stinky savor, and the world and those that need the medicine of God and want to receive it through us—they say, “I don’t want a thing to do with that because of the dead flies in life.” What a sad thing. Sometimes, sometimes little sins cause more harm than big sins because more often than not, little sins lead to big sins. That’s somewhat what the Bible means in 1 Corinthians 5:6, where he says, “Know ye not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”

In 2006, I had the opportunity to go to New York City. There was a ministry that would go to New York City, and we would set up prayer stations in the subway and whatnot, and people would come by and try to give them—can we pray with you, whatnot? Your goal is to get them in there and try to witness to them and try to get people saved. And I was really impressed at that time with New York City. I mean, I felt fairly safe. The streets were clean. I repeatedly, I would say this often: I said, “Boy, I’m really impressed with New York,” to the New Yorkers there, all right, and in the city there. And I would say that about it. I was just—I really was impressed. It felt clean and safe, and I spent days in the subway system and all that. And I felt pretty good about the situation. And every time, every time I would say that to a New York City person, they would always say this: “Boy, you should have seen it before Mayor Giuliani got in office. It was horrible.” And I said, “You wouldn’t want to be in the subway system before he got in office. And you want to talk about dirty streets. And you want to talk about problems.” All of them said the same thing. I don’t know since he’s gotten out if it’s went back the way it was before. I’ve heard rumors about that. I’ve not been there, so I wouldn’t say.

But the interesting thing, they all said that. And I think before, somewhere along there, I listened to a book about—I think Giuliani was the mayor or the author of it or someone about him. But this is basically a lot of his philosophy. He said, “Look, we’re going to pick them up for small infractions. Just if they don’t park right, we’re going to give them a ticket. And through that, we’ll be able to find the big ones.” Well, they began to kind of nitpick, if you will. That pretty much was much of his philosophy. We’re going to tighten down and we’re going to get even the smaller crimes and unpaid tickets and cars parked illegally and petty theft. Boy, they really went after that. And in doing that, they got the big criminals. Now, the effect was there. Everybody, all the New York people in the city said the same thing.

Now look, what about if us Christians said, “You know what? I want to take care of the small things in my life. I want to get rid of the—not big things—just the fly.” And I’m willing to take the time and the effort and listen to the Holy Spirit. I want to get rid of that dead fly. It’s just the little things, little folly, the dead flies that cause the ointment of the apothecary to stink. Oh, it’s so vital that we work at even the little things.

By the way, you know, God’s put you where you are for a reason: your neighborhood, your workplace, your relatives. They need the medicine. God has you strategically put there for him to funnel the medicine through you to those people. You have what they need. You are the light of your neighborhood. You’re the one that’s to be shining at your workplace. That’s your school, wherever it may be. You are there for a reason. It’s not a coincidence. You are where you are. And God has you there as his missionary to get the medicine to them. And boy, you are strategic. It’s so vital that we get rid of the dead flies.

They say there was a tree in Colorado. It was over 400 years old, very, very rare. It had been struck by lightning 14 times, still doing great. It survived an earthquake, doing very, very good. Many, many windstorms had blown, stood strong and sturdy. But in the end, just little bitty small bees ate the inside out and caused it to fall. It wasn’t a windstorm, it wasn’t the lightning, it wasn’t all that. It was just little bitty small things that destroyed that 400-year-old tree. Hey, it’s the dead flies.

Look over, if you will, in Proverbs chapter 28. Proverbs chapter 28, just a little folly. Sometimes it takes away this one word we’re going to mention here for just a moment. Proverbs 28, verse number one is a great, great verse in the Bible. Proverbs 28:1. When you find that, would you say amen? Amen. Look at verse number one, Proverbs 28:1: “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” Here’s the thing. The little folly, the dead flies, they take away our boldness. We’re not bold to tell others about Jesus. We’re not bold to stand. We’re not bold to give the medicine out because that little folly takes away our boldness.

You know when they were filled with the Holy Ghost over in the book of Acts? Let me read for you a verse, Acts 4:31: “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” Acts 4:13: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”

Now, here’s my point: when I have that little folly in my life, I keep the dead flies, I won’t get them out of there in my life. It takes away my boldness because I’m not going to be filled with the Spirit like that, and I’m not going to be fellowshipping with Jesus like I ought to be. Boldness. You get Christians that are bold at work—not outlandish, you know, preaching to everybody, no—but bold to let the love and the light of Jesus shine. And people take note of that. But I won’t have that if I have the dead flies in there. When I’m not just right with the Lord, my boldness is gone. And the dead flies, they take away. They rob us of the boldness.

We took a group of teenagers from Alabama. They were L.A., lower Alabama, down there—a bunch of hicks and sticks. I mean, they really were. We took those teenagers to a camp in West Virginia. We took those teenagers—I don’t know if that same trip to Chicago one time—and they were just country as days long. And I told them, “Don’t give money.” These people go out. Sure enough, we were walking through Chicago and somebody wanted some money. They said, “No, no, we’ll give you some food, though,” you know, where the youth pastor said, “Don’t give any money,” you know. And, of course, the person didn’t want any food. I think they gave them their fries, and they threw the fries down, you know. And all these teenagers, they couldn’t believe it. These are country teenagers. What in the world is going on? You know, they’re just country.

Anyway, took them to a camp in West Virginia, and boy, God did a great work in their hearts. I mean, it was just a wonderful week. A lot of them were bused teenagers and whatnot. And God just, man, he just cleaned them up and spoke to their hearts. They were at the altar and just doing business with God. And man, they just got the dead flies out of there. It was awesome. Man, we left that camp. They were fired up, ready to go. I mean, just ready. And we were driving two different 15-passenger vans. And sure enough, they were Independent Baptist Church vans, so you know at least one of them broke down, amen. You know how it is. We were just outside the camp for an hour or two, West Virginia. A little bit in town in West Virginia, we broke down. I think we had to put brakes on it. We’re in a parking lot somewhere, the parts store, putting brakes on this van. And, boy, it was awesome. Most teenagers had got their lives clean. They got rid of the dead flies. And they had boldness. It was worth breaking down, honestly, because those teenagers went all over that little bit of town. I mean, there was a little bit of city, a little bit of town, and they just had gospel. They were taking every gospel tract they could find out of those vans. And man, when they were just covering those streets to give out gospel tracts and witnessing to anybody they could. It was awesome to see how just—it was just amazing to watch them. But they got rid of the dead flies. And you get rid of all the dead flies, the little folly, and the Holy Spirit moves in. You have fellowship with Jesus. That boldness comes.

All dead flies—never worth it to hang on to the dead flies. I’ve been mentioning a lot tonight, but each one brings one just four weeks away. The key is that we all get involved. We had 187 this morning. Can you imagine of everyone? Now, some of those, you know, are children, whatnot, but just if a hundred of us brought a visitor, well over a hundred in an auditorium. I can’t remember what was in an auditorium. Pretty good crowd. I told him, I can’t remember what I was. But I think it was 146, Brother Keith? 146 in my head. Look, if just the adults got involved and each one of us brought another one. But I’m just saying, it’d be just a wonderful time for us as a church family. Say, “You know what, we just want to get rid of all the dead flies out of our life. The little folly, we want to—Holy Spirit—some things in my life I need to get rid of because I like to be a funnel through which you can flow your medicine this morning. I like someone to get what they need, whether it be each one, bring one or another time.” “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinky savor.”

We, years ago, we moved down here. Curtis Hutchison passed, I think a little before we got here, but Ms. Hudson, she went to Middle Tennessee Baptist Church. We would go there on Sunday night when we first started up. We didn’t have Sunday night for three months, whatnot. Anyway, and my wife got to know Ms. Hudson somewhat. They’re friends. And one time, I don’t know how it happened, they were talking about their church at Forest Hills Baptist Church back in the day, and God just, man, just put his hand on that church, and it just exploded. And it was the fastest growing church in the state of Georgia and ran thousands for a while, if I understand right, and God just blessed that thing and just took off in an amazing way. And Ms. Hudson was talking about how that happened. And that’s what she said. Well, she said, “Curtis just started going out and trying to witness to anybody who could to the Lord and preaching a little bit. And then the people got started on that. And they just started bringing people from all over. And the people, man, they just brought them in scores, left it right everywhere.” Friend, God still does that today. But we’ve got to get rid of the dead flies.

I’m there. I want to get myself clean. I’d hate to be the one that hinders God from blessing the church. Could be. God’s been good to us. He’s blessed. Friend, I’m just saying tonight, let’s just take a little time. Lord, do I have any dead flies in my life? Do I have any little folly I need to get out of my life? Would you bow your heads and close your eyes tonight? I’m not going to ask you to raise your hand tonight, but would you just let the Holy Spirit kind of go through your life a little bit? Would you ask Him, “Lord, do I have any dead flies? I don’t want the ointment to send forth a stinky savor.” Would you stand? Would you stand? We’ll have a word of prayer. Would you just be obedient? Let’s just spend some time seeking and asking the Lord’s leading in our life.

Father, thank you for your word. Lord, help me. I think you’ve revealed already some dead flies in my life. Help me to get rid of them. Lord, I sure don’t want to send forth. I don’t want to kind of mess up, if you would, your ointment, your apothecary. I like for it to send forth a welcoming, inviting savor to those in need. Lord, clean us up for you, make us more usable for you. And Father, we’ll thank you for what you do. It’s in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Would you just spend some time? Lord, I want to be clean so you use me. I want to get rid of any dead flies out of my life. Would you ask him? Ask him that. Would you do that?

An amazing thought: if the reference may be the ointment of the apothecary, maybe the reference to the Holy Spirit. He’s often referred to as oil. And wasn’t it amazing that we can make the Holy Spirit—not that he would himself, but through us—send forth a stinky savor? That’s an amazing thought. But we can, because he lives inside of us; our bodies are temples. And let’s just, oh, Lord, I want to get rid of any dead flies. I say this often, I got to quit—I say this often. You drop a Christian in the middle of a big old factory, a thousand, you know, custom, sinful, you know, worldly men, and they’re either going to repel or they’re going to draw people to the Lord. And it’s a matter often of how they just got to all of the Holy Spirit. It really is.

Glad you’re here tonight. Preacher says it’s going to be done early, and what about that at 7:08? That’s still pretty early for Sunday night now. We’re not too bad now, you know. And next week’s the Super Bowl, so we’ll go to 8. No, I’m talking about that. I am. But I’m glad you’re here tonight. I appreciate you being here. Enjoy the instruments and music, all of the blessing. And it’s been a good night. Good to have in the house, Lord, tonight. Good to have Austin here. That’s wonderful. And praise the Lord for it. Glad, glad you’re here tonight. What a blessing. Brother Stoner, would you dismiss us in a word of prayer, please, brother?

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Dead Flies - Sunday PM 02042024