Life Is Hard And Then You Die (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

Ecclesiastes and the Vanity of Life Under the Sun

Mike Abendroth. Sorry for the stuffy nose today, but still a little residual pneumonia, and I appreciate you listening. I don�t need any home remedies, though, thanks. I got enough of those when I had prostate cancer, and people were sending me unsolicitedly their special remedies.

So that�s okay. I appreciate you wanting to help, but I think I have a fairly good handle on it. And if I don�t, then I guess it�s glory, right? What is this? I think that could be new No Compromise intro music.

I need to figure out some of that right away. That�s more our style on No Compromise Radio. I think we found it. Yep. What do you think? Okay, what are we talking about today? What are we talking about?

We�re talking about practice. We�re talking about Ecclesiastes. We�re talking about, as Eugene Peterson calls him, not the preacher, but the quester. Remember a Quisp cereal? Of course you do. Christian Harris, do you remember Quisp?

Of course. We loved Quisp. I think they actually had Quisp come back out again. You know, these days you can get Lucky Charms, only the charms. You don�t even have to get the other bad stuff, the brown stuff.

I can�t really have cereal anymore unless it�s gluten-free. Then I can have gluten-free cereal with my non-dairy yogurt made of almond milk or coconut milk. I think I�ve probably bought more almond stuff and coconut stuff in the last two months with my gluten-free, dairy-free diet than ever before.

It doesn�t even prevent you from getting pneumonia. How does that all work? Taking all kinds of lung rehab pills and none of that worked. None of it. But we try, do we not? We try. Ecclesiastes is one of those books that we all need to be reminded of.

If I was going to do a college group, I would teach Ecclesiastes. Because basically what�s happened is, you know what? It kind of mirrors the college experience. Freshman, sophomore, junior year, it�s kind of like sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

Right? Wine, women, and song. Or ecstasy, men, and I don�t know, what�s the other option? You just like, okay, I don�t have to report to anybody. I don�t have to be at home at a certain time. And I�m just going to go for it.

Everybody else seems to want to go for it, so off we go. In my day, it was probably less crazy than these days, right? With all the Tinder and swiping right and everything else. It just, you know, sex is utilitarian.

You have a need, I have a need, and then off people go. But does it give meaning? I mean, do possessions give you meaning in life? You all know this, because this is just who we are. You go shopping, and you find something cool.

Some cool shoes. I like jackets. There�s a little really cool jacket. You think it just fits nicely, and you think, okay, I like this jacket. And you buy something, I don�t know, a new suit. I bought a new suit a while ago.

I usually wear sports coats, but I got a new suit. You put it on, you feel good, you look good, at least in your mind. And then, how long does it last? I mean, the thrill is gone. About the time you get it home, cut off the tags, wear it once, and then it�s just part of your wardrobe.

And that�s just the way it works. So what are we going to do? Can we find any meaning in life? Can you have meaning while you�re in life? That�s another question. But the writer wants you to go, you know what?

Everything�s vanity. Everything�s purposeless, meaningless, futile, fleeting, transient, frustrating. Whatever way you want to translate the word vanity in the three main ways. Riddle, futile, and temporel.

Did you see what I did there? That�s not too bad. That�s not too shabby. We used to say that all the time in Nebraska. That�s not too shabby. We used to have shag carpet too. Remember that burnt orange shag carpet?

That�s not too shaggy. All right. Shaggy carpet. All right. Ecclesiastes. Under the sun. When you read that in Ecclesiastes, you should be thinking, fallen world. How can we extract joy, peace? What�s so funny about peace, love, and understanding, as Elvis Costello would say?

How can we get those things in a fallen world? Adam, the federal head, not a private man but a public person, actually did something and it affected all of us. And then now what? Remember what the curse was in terms of the ground and thorns and thistles and pain and childbearing for the lady?

Things are difficult. And besides the difficulty, we ended in verse 10 last time of chapter 1. Verse 11. It says there�s no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of latter things, yet to come among those who come after.

It�s hard enough in this life. And then will anybody even remember you? There�s no gain for you and there�s no gain for anybody else because nobody cares about you. Nobody cares about me. Mike Abendroth, who?

I mean, how many significant people have made it in the annals of history? Oh, yeah, there are some. A lot of bad ones. But for us, for most people, we�re going to be remembered no more. That was not a good thing back in Israel�s day.

Back in those days of the Old Testament, names are cut off, they�re remembered no more. That�s a lot different than in loving memory of. Things are bleak, things are gloomy. That�s a problem. That�s the first 11 verses of Ecclesiastes chapter 1.

Life is frustrating, fleeting, vain. That�s problem one. Problem two, there�s no answer to be found in wisdom. Human wisdom doesn�t help. I mean, if we could use human wisdom to solve the problem, okay, then it would help.

But there�s no problem solved with scientific investigation or the study of philosophy. You�re going to use reason? Can�t figure it out. It just doesn�t work. Solomon, or whoever the writer is, knows there�s a bunch of frustrating things and futile things and meaningless things and purposeless things.

So, I got to get out. The way I get out is by learning. And so, if anybody could learn, anybody could investigate thoroughly, it�d be the king. Verse 12, the preacher, the king over Israel in Jerusalem.

And now he moved to first-person account. A lot of �I�s, a lot of �myself�s, a lot of �me, myself, and I. The �me monster as Brian Reagan calls him. The unholy trinity, �me, myself, and I. As Johnny Rotten would say, �My beautiful selfish.

That�s from Pat Abenroth. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

That�s the first time God has mentioned and it seems like only in passing. We�re not going to get to God until later, which is going to solve the problem. I know I�m not going to get to it at this show, but that will solve the problem if you look at things through God�s perspective.

But for right now, the writer is not doing that. He wants to solve. He wants to think. He can reason. You know, dogs, cats, animals, instinct. Men have been made in the likeness and image of God. Women have been made in the likeness and image of God.

And you know what? We�re going to try to figure this out. We�re going to try to use our minds, reason. I mean, whatever he, the king, needed, he could buy. And if he needed volumes of wisdom, whatever he could buy back in those days, he could do it.

Obviously, God gave him wisdom. But the other obvious thing is, Solomon intermarried, loved many foreign women, and God was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord. 1 Kings 11 9.

Hmm. So he�s going to use wisdom. Let�s find some collections of wise sayings. Let�s try to figure this out. Everything I�ve seen, it is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.

Now we have extra metaphors. Not just done under the sun, but it�s done under the sun with vanity? No, it�s not just that. It�s done under the sun. It�s like striving after wind. He�s seen everything.

Say, some hyperbole there? Okay, fine. But he�s seen a lot. And now it�s striving after wind. Say, what�s striving after wind? Just go try it and see how it works. See if you get anything. See if you catch it.

See if you have an advantage. Of course, we know, which you can�t. What�s crooked can�t be made straight, and what�s lacking cannot be counted. I mean, try to find the meaning of life in life. Try to find the meaning of life when it�s what Churchill said, like a riddle wrapped up in an enigma covered by a mystery, put in a cryptogram.

Something like that. Bodyguard of lives. I said in my heart, �I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had a great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was but a striving after the wind. The quester, the whisper. It�s not going to work. Because you know what?

Let�s think about it. The smarter you are, the more troubles you�re going to have. The wiser you are. In life under the sun, in this fallen world, it says in verse 11,. �For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

We�re going to learn, learn, learn, learn, learn. We�re going to figure out the secrets of the universe, secrets of the multiverse, secrets of the metaverses. And that�s what we�re going to do. We�re going to figure this out.

Epictetus. Epictetus? I don�t even know how to pronounce his name. It says, �Only the educated are free. No, no, no. Don�t buy it. Salvation by education. Our society pushes that all the time. Ah, don�t buy it.

They don�t educate these days at schools much anymore. But you do all this, and it�s just grasping, striving for the wind. Try to figure out the meaning of life. In life, Thomas Watson said, �How unprofitable is the luxuriancy of knowledge.

He who is only filled with knowledge is like a glass filled with froth. What a vain, foolish thing it is to have knowledge and make no spiritual use of it. A philosophy class has to keep going because there�s no answer.

Because once you get to the answer, then you don�t need class anymore. Lovers of wisdom. They�re just book after book after book. You can figure out your own guy that you like for wisdom. Doesn�t give you any real answers.

Well, doesn�t get any better, really. Isn�t this fun? Isn�t this fun? No-compromise radio. Oh, Ecclesiastes. Yow. This collector. This preacher. Maybe if I get stuff, that�ll help. Maybe if I buy stuff.

Maybe if I possess stuff. Maybe hedonism and materialism. Let�s do that. Let�s try that. Let�s be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Maybe that�ll work. Maybe that�s what we�re going to do.

Pleasure, Possessions, and Hedonism Cannot Satisfy

Ecclesiastes 2 .1 I said in my heart, �Come now. I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. But behold, this was also vanity. Come on. No pain. Pursuit of pleasure. That�s ultimate happiness. Huxley said, �Oh, how desperately bored.

In spite of their grim determination to have a good time, the majority of pleasure seekers really are. They�re really bored. Instead of laughter, it�s mad, and of pleasure, what use is it? I mean, I guess there�s short-term relief and you laugh it up a little bit and forget your troubles.

In the old days, you just go to a movie so you don�t have to think about life and its troubles for the next 90 minutes or so. Usually, people that are the laughter folks, the comedian folks, at least many times, they�re hiding something.

It doesn�t really work. I mean, think about the tragedy of Robin Williams. It doesn�t last. I searched my heart how to cheer my body with wine. My heart is still guiding me with wisdom. I�m not going to get drunk.

I�m not going to overdo it, but I�m just going to use wine to see if this will help on how to lay hold of folly until I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

I mean, wine does cheer God and men, Judges 9. Wine does gladden the heart of man, Psalm 104. So, I�m going to just try that. Again, I�m not going to just go overboard. I�m trying to guide my heart properly.

I�m going to get the best stuff. Maybe there�s a little relief somehow. Maybe that�ll work. I make great works. Build houses, plant vineyards for myself. Make gardens for myself and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.

Those are nice. I made pools for myself from which to water the forest of growing trees. Walled gardens, special spots. I mean, nice. Can I get real satisfaction in those things? What else could I buy?

I bought male and female slaves. I had slaves who were born in my house. Great possessions of herds and flocks more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I mean, I got so much money, I can buy things and I can buy people.

He with the most toys wins? Not in your life. Is man made to consume? Now, we do have to consume, that�s true. You have to eat. But man is meant to worship, not consume. And you can try and try and try to be a hedonist and you�ll realize it�s not working.

That�s the best antidote for that. I gathered for myself silver and gold, treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women and many concubines the delights of the sons of man. I mean, money?

I�m going to do that. Singers? Music? I�m going to do that. Sex? I mean, if this is Solomon, he had 700 wines and 300 concubines. That�s a lot. That�s a lot. Harem, scarum. That�s for certain. William Blake said, �Less than everything cannot satisfy man.

Ecclesiastes 2 .9,. �So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remained with me. �Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.

One passing mention of God in chapter 1, verse 13. That�s it. Satisfaction found in the fallen world cannot be had. Here�s that quote I was looking for, McMurray, �The best cure for hedonism is an attempt to practice it.

Education, indulgence, nothing. Verse 11, �Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was what? Vanity and striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Lifestyles of the rich and famous. Remember that old show? There�s more problem, found more problem, when you just keep your head down. You got blinders on, only looking down. Horses, the blinders are for the side.

Here are the blinders so you don�t look up. And come to think of it, to top it all off, you�re going to die. That�s verses 12 and following of chapter 2. �I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly, for what can the man do who comes after the king and only what has already been done?

Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, there�s more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I perceived that the same event will happen to all of them.

I said in my heart, what happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise? And I said in my heart, this is also vanity, for of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten, how the wise dies just like the fool.

You can be as smart as you want, you can have as much wisdom as you want, you can have as many things as you want, as much sex as you want, but it�s not going to stop you from dying. The great equalizer, death.

Some call it the great leveler. Gordon Keady said, �Death is the wall that the under-the-sun secularism cannot climb. Even the remembrance of those who have died perishes with those who knew them personally.

Beethoven may be said to live on in his music, but the truth is we know the music, not the man. You think you got to trick up your sleeve and you say, I�ll pull the wisdom card, well, you�re going to die too.

I mean, there�s problems. This is like, this is bad. What�s the end of all this thinking when you don�t recognize who God is? When you don�t say to yourself, hmm, I have to think about someone else. As a matter of fact, I�m not going to get to the good news today.

That�s the bad news because I�ve run out of time. I don�t have enough, so I�m going to read you something so we can rescue the show at least so I don�t give you the downer show with no hope because his next verse in verse 17 is, �So I hated life.

But for you, dear Christian, there is life under the sun. That�s true. But there�s eternal life. There�s a Savior who loves you and bought you and gave his life for you. And when you listen to him, you hear him say things like this,.

�Therefore, do not be anxious by saying, �What shall we eat or what shall we drink? What shall we wear For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. That�s what we�re to do, seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Then we get everything else.

And I know in context we get food and clothing, but you�re going to get other things too. Joy and satisfaction. You�re going to see in chapter 2, verse 24,. �With him you can have enjoyment. You can eat, drink, and be merry.

You can enjoy simple pleasures of life. With your wife and your taste buds, everything�s from the hand of God. And when you consider it is from the hand of God, with gratitude, with thanks,. �My wife, from the hand of God.

My taste buds, from the hand of God. My children, from the hand of God. My sight, from the hand of God. My smell, from the hand of God. My job, from the hand of God. My friends, from the hand of God. My reasoning, from the hand of God.

I have a Bible in my hand, from the hand of God. The Spirit of God dwells in me, from the hand of God. I have a local assembly, which I worship the Lord Jesus on Sunday, from the hand of God. Once that starts, everything changes.

It�s no longer striving after wind. It�s no longer futility. It�s no longer vanity. It�s no longer perplexing, enigmatic, puzzling riddles. That�s better news. That preaches better. So anyway, my name is Mike Cavendroth, and this is No Compromise Radio Ministry.

We�re talking about the preacher, Ecclesiastes, the predator, the quester, What a dumb name by Eugene Peterson. The quester? No, no, no. It�s not the quester. If you�ve got questions, you can write me, Mike at No Compromise Radio.

By the time you hear this, Israel�s on. You want to send $500 to Bethlehem Bible Church, 307 Lancaster Street, West Boylston, Massachusetts, 01583, to get yourself in line. I think we have until November 1st to get a full refund.

After that, if you don�t get a refund by Sunday, If you drop out by a certain time, it�s going to cost you $100. More later on that, but you want to get your money in. I have 24 spots. My wife and I take two of those, so that�s 22 spots.

You can write me and get more information if you like. No Compromise Radio, Omaha Bible Church, off to Israel, February 21st, 2023, through March 2nd on a tour bus. Pack them up and let�s go have some fun.

Let�s learn about the Bible. But you want to get the Holy Land from Pat or myself. But that�s just between us girls. November 21st, No Compromise Radio trip to Israel. So write us and we�ll help you with that.

Also, the book on assurance that I�m edited, I edited, should be out sometime soon. You can get that on Amazon and just click and hopefully it will encourage you to look to the Lord Jesus Christ before you look to your own fruit and evidence.

Mike Avendroth signing out.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Avendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God�s Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We�re right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

Thanks for listening. We�ll see you soon.