Life Under The Sun - [Ecclesiastes]

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Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Ecclesiastes. We are going to start in chapter 1, verse 1.
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We're going to wind up in chapter 12, verse 14. So you can say we're going to go verse by verse to the book of Ecclesiastes.
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We are going to skip a few verses though. So we will get out before tomorrow morning at 8 a .m.
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Ecclesiastes, also called the preacher. This is Solomon's diary at the end of his life.
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He wrote Song of Solomon when he was a young man. He wrote Proverbs when he was a middle -aged man.
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And now we come to the reflections of an old man. He's at the end of his life. And Solomon, perhaps uniquely in all of history, is the one man who can say, been there, done that, to anything you want to name.
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Whatever it was, he's done it, he's experienced it, he's tried it, he's got an entire room in the palace full of t -shirts for all the things that he's done.
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And so he is in a unique position to comment on the futility of life, if you will.
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Right now, Israel is at the height of her power and he is the king. He is richer, wiser, more famous than any of his contemporaries.
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And so when Solomon outlines the futile efforts of men in the pursuit of happiness and the ultimate disappointment that results, he can say more than any other,
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I was there. William Arnault put it this way, this is the man whom
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God has chosen as the schoolmaster to teach us the vanity of the world when it has made the portion of a soul.
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And he has done all things well. The man who has drained the cup of pleasure can best tell of the taste of the dregs.
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Let's open in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that in your word, you have presented to us instructions about life and what life is really like and how empty life can be apart from yourself.
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And so Father, may the Holy Spirit minister to us tonight and open our hearts to receive your word in Jesus' name, amen.
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Ecclesiastes outlines like this. The first 11 verses, Solomon is going to present his primary thesis, which is that everything is transient.
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The King James uses the word vanity, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
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The Hebrew word is habel, which means steam or vapor, that which is totally without substance, it just dissipates.
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Other translations use other words, but the whole idea is that life has no intrinsic value.
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There is nothing about it that gives it value in and of itself. It is all just transient.
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We just go away like steam, like bubbles, you know, it just disappears.
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And then he's going to try to prove his thesis from verse 12 of chapter 1 all the way to the end of chapter 6 practically.
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He's going to talk about his investigations of life, all the things that he's tried. And then we come to what
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Pastor Mike this morning called the so what of the sermon, where Solomon begins to draw his conclusions.
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And for chapters 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, most of 12, he's going to present his conclusions after all of this investigation.
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And finally, he's going to give us some final advice at the end of chapter 12. And there are two basic themes.
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If you want to hear the whole book of Ecclesiastes summed up, here it is. Number one, apart from God, everything is vapor.
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Everything is emptiness. But with God, everything becomes a gift from his hand.
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And it is to be accepted that way. It is to be enjoyed. It is to be lived as a gift from him.
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There you go. Let's close in prayer. No, don't leave. There are also two options that are presented in Ecclesiastes.
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You have two choices in life, God or nothing. You have
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God on one side, nothing on the other. The thing of it is, the natural man refuses to choose either one of those options.
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I don't want to choose God. I don't want to have a sovereign God to rule over me. But somehow, I've got to find meaning in life.
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There's got to be meaning there somewhere. And I'm going to chase around until I find it. And so, we launch off into this great search for happiness.
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And we try all kinds of things to try to find satisfaction and meaning and happiness in our lives.
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Now, Ecclesiastes is part of the inspired word of God. But when we look at Ecclesiastes, you have to keep in mind the distinction between what is descriptive in the scripture and what is prescriptive in the scripture.
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A great deal of Ecclesiastes is descriptive of man's reasoning, which means it is not to be adopted for our own life.
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But it's Solomon talking about what human reasoning produces and his analysis of that.
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He's going to present the human worldview. And he's going to trace it to its ends to ultimately reveal its futility.
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And at the end of what is a rather gloomy book, frankly, he is going to end on a positive note where he sums up the only correct approach to life, which is fear
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God, keep his commandments. But first, he's going to set forth the viewpoint of human thinking.
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Now, he opens by identifying himself as the author. He says, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
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And then he states his premise. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
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Now, he doesn't call himself by name, but he calls himself the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
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And there's only one person that fits that description, and that's Solomon. And right from the get -go, he states his thesis that everything is emptiness, everything is
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Hebel. Nothing has any substance, nothing has any lasting value. And when he does this, he beats
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William Shakespeare to the punch by several millennia. Some of you may remember that Shakespeare described life as a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
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But Solomon beat him to the punch. Now, Solomon reinforces his point.
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In verse 3, nothing has any intrinsic value. In verse 4 and 5, he says nothing ever changes.
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Now, uniformitarianism is the signature philosophy of modern times, that everything continues the way it always has.
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That's the way they make, in their minds, they make evolution work. If you have billions and billions of years, well, just about anything can happen in that length of time.
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But Solomon comes up with uniformitarianism first, thousands of years before everybody else.
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He also comes up with the idea that, verses 6 and 7, that humanity is temporary and nature is permanent.
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And this, too, is a hallmark of this present day. Now, it puzzles me sometimes why, in the minds of so many people, man and his works are not part of nature.
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You know, we are perfectly willing to accept that a beaver's dam built by a beaver for a beaver's purpose is part of nature.
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But so why isn't Hoover Dam that is built by men for men's purposes part of nature? But it's not.
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This whole idea, earth first, that's a modern slogan, but Solomon came up with that first. And then in verse 8, he says human desire is never satisfied.
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Human desire is not satisfied. All things are full of labor, he says. Man cannot utter it.
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The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. Nothing ever satisfies.
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No matter what one does, no matter what one accumulates, it's never enough. They say that someone once asked
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John D. Rockefeller, how much is enough money? And he said, a little bit more.
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You know, that may be an apocryphal statement, but it certainly, I think, accurately reflects his attitude towards life.
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And then in verses 10 to 12, he says nothing's new. Things only appear to be new because there is no accumulated wisdom.
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But compare what God says in Revelation 21, verse 5. And he that sat upon the throne said, behold,
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I make all things new. I make all things new.
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But after stating his thesis, Solomon goes on to present his proof. Solomon is going to try to figure out what's it all about.
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To steal a line from the songwriter. He wants to know, is that all there is? It's another song.
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I know I'm getting blank looks so that, you know, I'm dating myself here. But he is going to search out concerning everything under the sun, all of man's activities in the weary round of life.
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He's going to check it all out. But note this.
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Apart from a proper view of God and a proper relationship to him, it is impossible for anyone to figure out what's going on.
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You cannot figure out what's going on. It's hopeless unless you have a proper relationship and a proper view of God.
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But Solomon is going to try. And first he tries wisdom. Solomon was the wisest man of his day.
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He's probably one of the wisest men to ever live in all of history. But remember also there's a difference between education and wisdom.
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The world is full of educated fools. But his conclusion, verse 18, for in much wisdom is much grief.
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And he that increases knowledge increaseth sorrow. And so after that, he decided, all right,
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I'm going to try pleasure. Chapter 2, verse 1, I said in mine heart, come now,
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I will test thee with mirth. Therefore, enjoy pleasure and behold, this is also vanity.
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But he tries pleasure. And so many today, that's where they are looking. They are trying to find satisfaction.
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They are trying to find happiness, something in pleasure. Western society, much of our modern society is convinced that pleasure is an end in itself.
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Pleasure is an end in itself. And so Solomon tries the endless search for diversion. But he finds that pleasure feels good, but it uses you up.
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It consumes your resources. It drains you away. It doesn't work.
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So, okay, if pleasure is not the answer, maybe we should try wine. And in our modern setting, we could say drugs too, you know, put that in there.
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So he's going to try that. And I think it's safe to say that whatever
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Solomon had for a vintage, it was the best stuff available. You know, he wasn't drinking the stuff that came at the bottom of the barrel.
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He was getting the very best. And yet, what does he say?
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It doesn't satisfy. It doesn't satisfy. In a modern setting, if you go out off on a drug trip, when you get back, you know what it is?
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It's the same world as when you left. So then he's going to try stuffing things.
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Well, maybe I can accumulate possessions, and I can get all the toys. And we all know that whoever dies with the most toys wins.
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And so I'm going to try to accumulate things. And so now
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Solomon is wealthy beyond imagining. If there's ever a person on the face of the earth that had instant gratification, it's
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Solomon. Whatever he wanted, he got right away. And he lists off all of this stuff here in Chapter 2 that he got.
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But first of all, there were houses and great works. Now, Saddam Hussein had, depends on who's counting, but he had somewhere between 70 and 80 palaces scattered across Iraq.
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I've seen some of them. Nothing on Solomon. Nothing on Solomon. He had vineyards and gardens and orchards.
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That's verses 4 and 5. He had waterworks. Now, I say, why did he put that in there?
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Well, remember, Solomon lives in a desert. And to be able to use water just for your enjoyment, that's wealth untold to be able to do that in that spot.
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And he's got servants. And he means he's got armies of servants. He didn't just have a butler and a couple of maids.
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I mean, he's got 24 -hour -a -day servants to take care of anything that pops into his mind.
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There it is. And he's got flocks and herds. Solomon's living in an agricultural society.
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And wealth is largely measured by the size of your herds and your flocks, what you've got.
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And he's got all of that. He's got all of that. But he's got the gold too. Because he says,
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I've got silver and gold. And we all know the golden rule. You know, whoever has the gold makes the rules.
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And so Solomon had the gold, and he has the power and influence that goes with it. He had all of this at his fingertips.
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And he had the ultimate stereo system. He had singers and musicians, live music 24 hours a day whenever I wanted.
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I don't even have to have my house wired because these guys follow me around, playing away, whatever
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I ask them to play. I've got it. And then, just for good measure in case he missed something, he throws in verse 10.
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Whatever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. He had everything.
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He had it all. And for a while, it all felt great. Solomon rejoiced in all that he had built and all that he had acquired.
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And don't get the idea that there isn't some gratification in getting a new toy. Or landing that big sale.
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Or getting that big promotion. That there's not pleasure to be had in the world. There is temporary pleasure to be had in the world.
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The trouble is, it's temporary. Earthly pleasure is cyclical. And the zero point escalates.
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So that if you get a $5 ,000 bonus this year and it makes you zing, you know, it really gives you the boost, next year it's going to take $7 ,500.
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And the year after that, it's going to take 10. Because the zero point keeps going up.
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And so, in verse 11, chapter 2, he says, Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on all the labor that I had labor to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
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In the end, it's all vapor. Nothing has any permanent value.
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Nothing has any permanent worth. It's all transitory. It does not bring happiness on a permanent basis.
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It does not bring satisfaction on a permanent basis. He probably had a bumper sticker on the back of his chariot that said,
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He who dies with the most toys is dead. You may have seen that one. That's an answer to,
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He who dies with the most toys wins. But in the chapters that follow,
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Solomon is going to write about the rest of his investigation. He finds, in verses 12 to 15 of chapter 2,
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While education is better than folly, certainly, it's a lot better than folly, in the end, it's vapor.
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Why? Because both the fool and the wise man reach the same end. They both die.
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And in the end, reputation counts for nothing. When you die, you're ancient history.
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And within a generation, nobody's going to remember you. Think about that. People try to endow great buildings and endow libraries.
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And if I ask you in this room, Who's ever heard of Andrew Carnegie? I bet a substantial number of you have not.
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And yet, he gave away literally millions of dollars. In fact, in today's money, he gave away billions of dollars to build libraries that still exist all across the
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United States. But who's heard of Andrew Carnegie? Unless you're a historian. So, you know, reputation counts for nothing, ultimately.
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Work doesn't get it. Trying to find identity through work is pointless, although we have, you know, how many people do you know, personally, that are running around, that's their whole identity, is their job.
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What they are. I am the vice president of whatever, you know. And I have the corner office, and I have this, and I have that.
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They're looking for their identity in that. But ultimately, what? Verses 18 to 22, you're going to have to leave it all to somebody else.
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Whatever you amass in this life, you're going to leave to somebody else. And you know what?
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It might be somebody you don't even like. And you know what? That somebody might be an idiot who's going to get rid of all of you, who's going to fritter away all of the stuff that you got.
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So, you know, what's the point to it all? And so in verse 23,
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Solomon sums it up, the results. Grief, hurt, a feeling of being cheated, despair.
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You feeling built up in the faith yet? Isn't this edifying? You know, it gets better. Because Solomon states his overall conclusions.
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He starts in verses 24 to 26. And you'll see this pattern.
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Don't forget, Solomon is an eastern writer. And eastern writers write often in a circular pattern.
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It's not the strict linear progression that western writers use. He will come back to his thesis, and he will come back to his conclusion several times.
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He'll cycle back to it. But here, he presents it for the first time. He says, there's nothing better for a man that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor.
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This also I saw that it was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto more than I?
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For God giveth to a man what is good in his sight, wisdom and knowledge and joy.
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But to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God.
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This also is vanity and vexation of spirit. But he's starting to come around to the right answer.
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He's not there yet, but he's starting to come around to the right answer. And so, he hits these two points.
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Every man should live his life as God has presented it to him. And everything is a gift from God to be enjoyed.
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Now, labor and its rewards, wisdom, knowledge, joy are all good things, but they are not ends in themselves.
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They are gifts that God gives his children for them to enjoy. Now, in chapter 3,
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Solomon continues his proof. There is an underlying order to things, but not meaning, he says.
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One Bible teacher that I encountered, called the first eight verses of Ecclesiastes chapter 3, the tyranny of time.
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And when you read this, to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die.
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You can hear, you can almost hear the pendulum swing. Pendulum of a clock swinging back and forth as he gives you these contrasting things as he goes through there.
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But Solomon sees that God does determine men's times. Physically, number one, that's verses 1 to 3.
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And emotionally, that's verses 4 to 6. And spiritually, that's verses 7 to 9.
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And in the final analysis, God will judge. And so, recognizing
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God's hand in all things is the only proper response to his immutable plan.
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Wherefore, I perceive that there is nothing better than a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his portion.
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For who shall bring him to see what shall be after him? Verse 26 of chapter 3.
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Now, in chapter 4, Solomon takes up the subject of fairness. And he determines that life isn't fair, after all.
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There's a news flash for you. And evil really exists. But since that's a whole sermon subject in itself,
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I'm going to skip chapter 4 and move ahead to chapter 5. With some other things that Solomon looked at.
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First of all, in chapter 5, Solomon addresses religion. And he finds that religion isn't the answer.
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Mere religious practice doesn't satisfy. What is important is to think correctly about God.
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That's chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil.
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Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon the earth.
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Therefore, let thy words be few. James sort of struck the same idea.
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You know, be swift to hear and slow to speak. Now, he also goes on, great wealth does not satisfy.
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In fact, it brings hardship. We are told not to put our faith in money.
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And it seems to be a curious fact of life, that most of the people that I know, personally, that have their faith in money don't have any.
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But somehow, they are convinced that only if they did get a little money, that all their problems would be over.
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Absolutely convinced of this. But Solomon knows better. And he's certainly in a position to know.
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Money doesn't bring happiness. It brings trouble. First of all, it's never enough.
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Verses 9 and 10. It's never enough. And secondly, it brings worry.
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It brings anxiety. An ordinary laborer rests easy. But the rich man can't sleep, because he's worrying about the stock market, and his money, and what's happening.
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Oh, the Dow is down, and all of this. And he's lying awake, worrying about his fortune. And finally, you can't keep it anyway.
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It's verse 15. It's transient. You cannot hang on to it. You can't take it with you.
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And so Solomon comes back to his theme. Verses 18 and 19. Behold, that which I have seen, it is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and that's live, living, and to enjoy the good of all his labor, that he taketh unto the sun all the days of his life, which
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God hath given him. For it is his portion. Every man to whom
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God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor, for this is the gift of God.
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If God gives you wealth, enjoy it, but remember where it came from, and use it wisely.
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And if God hasn't given you wealth, don't strive to get it as an end in itself.
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Because as we were talking in Sunday school this morning, the young man who was bound and determined to be a millionaire by age 35,
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I don't know if he made it or not, but if he did, when he gets there, you know what he's going to find? A million isn't enough.
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I've got to have two million. And then if he makes that, well, that's not enough either. I've got to have four.
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And it keeps going. It keeps going. But now, now we come, that's the introduction, by the way, to here.
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Because now we get to the so what portion of the sermon. So what? And Solomon begins to draw his conclusions, starting in verse 10 of chapter 6.
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And in summary, he comes to this conclusion. God's plan is immutable, God's plan is inescapable, and God's plan isn't equal.
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But he comes to these conclusions, and we're going to kind of be skimming here and jumping down. You can take down the references if you want.
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I will leave as an exercise to the student to begin to expand these.
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But first of all, verse 1 of chapter 7, a good name is all we have.
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A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death better than the day of one's birth.
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Why would he say that? When you die, what your life is going to be has been set.
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When you are born, everything is potential. But when you die, that's why in some cultures, they actually celebrate the day of a person's death, not the day of his birth.
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Because whatever he was going to do, whatever he was going to achieve in his life, when he dies, that's all set.
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You know what that is. So a good name is all we have. And it's good to face death, because we're all headed there.
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That's the one thing that is universal in human experience, is that we all die.
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Infants die, young children die, old people die, middle -aged people die, men die, women die, the wise die, the foolish die.
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The one thing that's common to all of us is that we're all going to die.
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We can't avoid it. We can't somehow divert it by speaking euphemistically, saying, well, he passed on, or whatever terms we use, because we're all going to die.
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And so it's a good idea to face death. But live in the present.
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Verse 10, he says, chapter 7, don't waste your time talking about the good old days. They probably weren't that good anyway.
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And see God's hand in all the events of life.
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It leads to happiness and contentment. Things aren't what they seem. The whole first 15 verses of chapter 7 can be summed up by that phrase.
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Things aren't what they seem. But see God's hand in the events of life, because it stabilizes.
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There is a plan, and God sees what it is, even if we don't. It leads to happiness.
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It leads to contentment. How many people do you know are totally discontented with their lives?
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Whatever it is, they're discontented with it. It's because they do not see that there is a sovereign
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God who ultimately is in charge. And fortunately for us, life isn't fair.
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Because if it was, we'd all be dead. That's what we deserve. But none of us gets what we deserve.
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And don't worry about it, because sins are not immediately dealt with. God does not settle
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His accounts every hour of every day, but He keeps very accurate books. And so we don't have to worry that something is going to slip by God.
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So often, I think, we are like little children. We're so afraid that our big brother or big sister or little brother or whatever it is, is going to get away with something, and we've got to go tell
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Mom. Because we will make sure that he doesn't get away with this. And we treat the people around us pretty much the same way.
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God's going to miss something. But God isn't going to miss anything. In due time, and at the proper time,
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He will take care of everything. Long life doesn't necessarily indicate righteousness.
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Because some righteous people live a long time. Some righteous people die young.
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The same thing is true of the wicked. But we are to avoid self -indulgence and self -righteousness.
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Those are verses 16 and 17 of chapter 7. And also, and this is a big one,
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I would emphasize here, just personally, we don't have to respond to everything that comes our way.
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Learn to just let stuff go. Your life will be much easier if you do.
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It is not up to you to correct every injustice that is done to you. Leave it in God's hands.
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He is aware of it. It is not our job to right every wrong that we see.
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That's verse 21 of chapter 7. Take no heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee.
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Solomon is saying, just let it go. Just let it go. It doesn't matter. And finally, down in verse 29, this is an interesting one.
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Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many devices.
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The fault lies within us. The fault does not lie within our circumstances.
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The fault does not lie within our genes. The fault lies within us, because we are born fallen.
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To quote the great theologian Pogo, we have met the enemy and he is us. I can tell none of you know who
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Pogo is. Your education has been slighted, let me tell you.
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Pogo is a possum, by the way. He is not a theologian. I just made that part up. So then, he goes in though, verses 29 and also 8 -1.
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Those two verses actually go together. Who is as the wise man, and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing?
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A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
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The results of seeking righteousness in the right place, you get an ability to discern, and a visible joy.
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Christians have at least the possibility of figuring out what's going on. Not all of them have.
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But the possibility is there. You can, because you have a right relationship to God, you have
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His word, and by studying His word, you can gain wisdom. And you can gain the ability to discern and figure out what's going on.
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Then he goes on. He goes on. Be loyal to the one in authority, he says.
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Verses 2 and 3. Counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath to God.
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Be loyal to the one in authority. Obey authority as Christians, number one. That's here, and it's also
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Romans chapter 13. And be loyal to the one in authority, and that applies to all authority.
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It applies particularly to the pastor of your church. Be loyal to the pastor of your church, in the church setting.
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But the whole thing of verses 1 to 9 is that even evil authority is better than no authority.
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Anarchy is the worst of all possible situations. And he gives some other advice.
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He says stay away from rebels. One thing about rebels is that they're never satisfied. Rebellion becomes an end in itself.
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The 10 years that I worked for Radio Free Europe, we had a lot of dissidents on our staff because these were the kind of people that came to work for our radio station.
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And one of the things I learned about them was that dissidents are one thing. Dissident. They're never satisfied.
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And so stay away from people like that. They grind you down. They pull you down with them.
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Verse 6 says every situation has a correct solution. Often only
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God knows what it is. Even kings live in uncertainty.
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That's verse 7. And he comes back. We're all going to die.
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The day, time, and manner of our death is set. Therefore, do not worry about it.
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General Stonewall Jackson was asked, after one of the great battles of the Civil War, how he could remain so calm on the battlefield.
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And he said this. My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as I am in bed.
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God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that but to always be ready no matter when it may overtake me.
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And that's a proper statement of a Christian's attitude, should be the proper statement of a Christian's attitude toward the time of their death.
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Not that you don't take reasonable precautions. You don't walk across the street against the light with all the traffic coming and all of that.
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Of course, we take reasonable precautions. We're prudent. But we don't sit there constantly worrying about what's going to happen to me today.
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It is in God's hands. And the time of our deaths is written.
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And God has us in his hands. Until he is through with us, on this earth you are invulnerable.
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So don't waste your time worrying about that. Solomon goes on with his conclusions.
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Evil is always with us. That's verse 8, chapter 8. And to hold power is a heavy burden.
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And by implication, character is essential in a leader. But even if the leader is evil, in the end they die too.
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That's verse 10. He also says something about justice.
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To be effective, justice must be swift and punishment sure. And while you can not perhaps do a lot on the national or local level about that, in your family you can, men.
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Your children need to know that the way of the transgressor is hard and that justice is swift and punishment is sure, and it's going to come.
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Your kids need to know that. And the quicker they learn that, the happier they will be.
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Solomon also says there's no correlation between the manner of one's life and the time of one's death, but death is certain.
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The how and when of death is a mystery, but everybody dies. That is a proof of man's fallen nature and his depravity.
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That's chapter 9, verses 1 to 6. You can also compare Genesis 6 -5 and Ephesians 2, the same ideas.
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But life is better than death. Enjoy what God has given you.
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Chapter 9, verses 7 to 9. Interesting verse here. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee unto the sun, all the days of thy vanity, for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest unto the sun.
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Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of your life. I have picked up the habit of reading a chapter of Proverbs every day, and over the last six months or so I've come to notice something.
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Some of you may be aware that in Proverbs, Solomon says it's better to live in the corner of the rooftop than with a quarrelsome wife.
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Well, I have found out he didn't say that just once. He said it over and over and over and over again.
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And you get the idea that all of the royal wives apparently were a royal pain. And so now he's saying, guys, stick with the first one.
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Stay with the first one. You know, that's his advice to young men when you're out finding a wife.
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So he goes on, though. He says, enjoy your work. Enjoy your work.
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Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. For there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in sheol whither thou goest.
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You want to know how to enjoy your job? Every day, thank
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God for your job, for your specific job, men and women.
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If it's a job that just drives you crazy, if you start off the day by thanking God, God, thank you that I have a job to go to.
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You have a boss that drives you nuts? Thank your God for that boss. It will make a difference in your attitude at work.
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Guarantee it. Guarantee it. Enjoy your work as a gift from God.
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Charles Wesley wrote a hymn where he said, Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go,
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My daily labor to pursue, Thee, only thee, resolve to know, In all
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I think or speak or do. And he goes on in that vein, where he is thanking
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God for the work that he has been given to do. See your work as a gift from God.
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This is what God has given you. And then also, keep in mind, you don't know from day to day what's going to happen.
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I, verse 12, I listed under September the 11th, 2001.
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For man knoweth not his time. Like the fish that are taken in an evil net, and like the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared at an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them.
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The 3 ,000 or so people that were killed on September the 11th, 2001, went to work that morning not expecting to die.
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And of a group that size, at least a percentage of those were Christians. And they did not plan to have to stand before God and give an account that day.
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And yet it happened. So, he's saying, don't take things for granted.
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We live in an evil world. And things happen. And we may be caught up in the next things happening.
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Be prepared. Be prepared to face God. And he goes on.
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Human wisdom tends to wrong action. And majority opinion, you can count on it, is almost always wrong.
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That's chapter 10. That's the whole thing. However, seek true wisdom.
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Learn to recognize it and use it. And verse 10 of chapter 10, skills matter.
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Discover, hone, and use what God has given you. Christians are not all gifted alike.
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But all Christians are gifted. You're gifted in some way if you're a Christian.
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Find out what that gift is. Find out what that gift is and start honing it.
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Start polishing it. Learn to use it.
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Pray for the national leadership. Pray for the national leadership. That's verses 16 and 17 of chapter 10.
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Because poor leaders are a curse. If you compare this with Isaiah chapter 3 verses 1 to 5, that's a fascinating passage of scripture.
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Because God is telling Isaiah what he will do as a curse upon Israel.
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And one of the things that's coming is I will take away your leadership.
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And he said, I will give you children to be princes over you. Think about that.
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Pray for the national leadership. Then we get to chapter 11.
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Cast thy bread upon the waters for thou shalt find it after many days. Take proper risks.
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There is a time to be cautious and conservative. There is a time to take risks. And once you have developed the ability to discern and once you have developed a modicum of wisdom, you are then in a position to begin to take risks.
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Take risks. Understand the cause and effect. If clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth.
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And if the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.
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Understand cause and effect. That what happens to you, what you do affects what happens to you.
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Learn that lesson. A lot of children have never learned that lesson. As they are raised, everything that happens to them, what happens?
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Mom and dad is right there shielding them from the consequences of their actions. Oh, you totaled the car.
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Well, that's okay. I'll pay the deductible for the insurance. We'll get you another car. And that nasty old driver that was going through with the green light.
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I mean, how dare he when you ran into him. Or, you know, at school.
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Now, when I was in school, the last thing you wanted to have happen was to have the principal call your father because you knew dad wouldn't even ask what's going on.
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You know, he was going to take the principal's side, just without question. You know, not anymore.
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Now, it's how dare you, you know, how dare you accuse little Johnny of doing something.
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Well, I found him looking under this. He had this thing stuck up his arm here with all the answers on it.
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You know, couldn't possibly do that. So we shield our children from the results of their actions, from the consequences of their actions, and they grow up like that.
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And then they start their first job. And on the first day, he's late. And the boss chastises him.
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Second day, he's late. Boss gets after him again. Third day, he's late. Boss gets after him again.
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A little bit stronger this time. Fourth day, he's late and he's fired. And the kid is astonished.
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Now, why is he astonished? Because all of a sudden, his actions have consequences which fall on him.
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That never happened before. And now, all of a sudden, I'm out in this big world and you mean what
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I do affects what happens to me? So take pity upon your children and teach them that lesson as they grow up in nice, easy steps before it dumps on them completely, before it dumps on them completely.
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Understand cause and effect. And then be properly daring and not overly timid.
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Verse 4. He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.
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So be cautious, yes. Learn a healthy respect for things, but also be daring.
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And then God requires a response. Take action. Take action. And in the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that, and whether they both shall be alike good.
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God requires a response. Take action on what he tells you to do. Then he gets down to verse 8.
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But if a man live many years and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many.
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All that cometh is vanities, emptiness. Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, that the sight of thine eyes.
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But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
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Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, put away evil from thy flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity.
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Enjoy life. Enjoy life. But obey
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God and avoid evil. Because ultimately there is a judge.
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Ultimately there is a judge. Obey God. Avoid evil.
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Now chapter 12. We won't dwell on this too much. Because chapter 12, most of it, is a rather poetic description of the aging process.
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But the overall message is old age is coming. Old age is coming.
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So be busy while you can. Because the time will come when you can't.
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Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, because old age is coming.
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But then we hear Solomon's conclusions. He finally gets to the end. Solomon's conclusions, verse 13.
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Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole duty of man.
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Fear God, keep his commandments. Faith on one side, works on the other.
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He's got justification and sanctification in the same verse. Fear God, keep his commandments.
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For God shall bring every work into judgment. Judgment's coming. And every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.
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And so by summary, we are to see everything that God brings into our lives as a gift from him.
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Pleasure is not a goal, but a gift. Satisfaction is not a goal to be found in life.
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It is a gift from the giver of life. Now this goes directly opposite to the philosophy of the modern day.
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We're supposed to be out there. How many times, what do you want for your children? I just want them to be happy.
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As if happiness was an end in itself. Happiness is not an end in itself. Happiness is a result of a life lived in proper relationship to God.
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Embrace God's total sovereignty. In the end, the universe is not random.
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Chaos theory is ultimately wrong. Everything from Genesis to Revelation.
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And everything in our individual lives is a result of God's sovereign decree.
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So take everything as a gift from his hand. Whether we think it is good or we think it is bad.
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All of these things have been brought into our lives for God's purpose. Because we have his promise.
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He knows what is best for us. He says, I will supply your needs.
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And I know what your needs are. We tend to think that our needs are just the good stuff, right?
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What we think of as being good. But God knows that no, no, some pain is necessary too.
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Some trials are necessary too. Some hardships are necessary too.
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I know what your needs are. And you can trust me that I will give you what you need. I will bring into your life what you need.
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And so therefore, whatever he brings into our life, our proper response to that is thank you,
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Lord. Thank you, Lord, for bringing this in to my life. For what you are teaching me.
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Employ an eternal perspective. Everything is proceeding according to God's sovereign plan.
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We should exist in the light of our creator and our judge. Let's close.
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Our Heavenly Father, we would ask that you would teach us further.
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And give us the ability, Lord, to accept everything that you give to us in the proper spirit as a gift from your hand.
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Help us, Lord, to look to you step by step of our lives, every day of our lives. And to follow you as eager children following after their father.