WWUTT 1734 Wisdom Has the Advantage (Ecclesiastes 10:1-10)

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It's not easy seeking after wisdom in a fallen world. Just because you want to do the right thing doesn't mean it will always go successful for you.

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But we should always want God's ways above our ways or the world when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible teaching podcast that we may be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

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Lord. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Well, today is our Old Testament study, so we come back to the book of Ecclesiastes.

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We're in chapter 10. If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there, I'm going to read Ecclesiastes 10, 1 through 20, the whole chapter here, out of the

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Legacy Standard Bible. This is the word of the Lord through the preacher in Ecclesiastes 10.

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Dead flies make a perfumer's oil stink, so a little simple -minded folly is weightier than wisdom and honor.

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A wise man's heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man's heart directs him toward the left.

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Even when the simple -minded fool walks along the road, his heart lacks wisdom, and he says to all that he is a simple -minded fool.

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If the ruler's temper rises against you, do not abandon your position, because calmness causes great offenses to be abandoned.

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There is an evil I have seen under the sun, like a mistake which goes forth from the one in power.

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Folly is set in many exalted places, while rich men sit in humble places.

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I have seen slaves riding on horses, and princes walking like slaves on the land.

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He who digs a pit may fall into it, and a serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall.

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He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, and he who splits logs may be endangered by them.

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If the axe is dull, and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength.

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Wisdom has the advantage of giving success. If the serpent bites before being charmed, there is no advantage for the charmer.

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Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, but the lips of a fool swallow him up.

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The beginning of the words of his mouth is simple -minded folly, and the end of what comes from his mouth is evil madness.

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Yet the simple -minded fool multiplies words. No man knows what will happen, and who can tell him what will come after him.

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The labor of a fool so wearies him that he does not even know how to go to a city.

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Woe to you, O land, whose king is a young man, and whose princes eat in the morning! Blessed are you,

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O land, whose king is of nobility, and whose princes eat at the appropriate time, for might and not for drinking.

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Through indolence the beams sag, and through slack hands the house leaks. Men prepare bread for laughter, and wine makes life glad, and money is the answer to everything.

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Furthermore, in your bedchamber do not curse a king, and in your sleeping rooms do not curse a rich man, for a bird of the sky will bring the sound, and the winged creature will tell of the matter.

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So what are we talking about here? These are all very proverbial statements over the course of chapter 10, with the exception of verses 5 through 7.

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That's kind of its own statement, but everything else could stand alone as its own proverb. We've gone back to kind of the proverbs format here with Ecclesiastes 10.

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But everything has a context, so what is the context here? Well, it helps if we ignore the chapter division.

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Sometimes chapters can make us lose the context. So consider the last verse of chapter 9, which we finished up last week.

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Chapter 9, verse 18, Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

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Dead flies make a perfumer's oil stink, so a little simple -minded folly is weightier than wisdom and honor.

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So do you hear the connection there? Does it keep the context a little bit better? We read that a sinner destroys much good, and then we go from there to this picture of dead flies in a perfumer's oil, which makes it to stink.

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Now what are these dead flies? Well, it's like carrion flies, like dung flies. So they smell anyway.

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They're the kinds of flies that gather around a carcass. And so when they get into a perfumer's oil, well, it no longer smells fragrant.

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It just stinks like the flies, especially when the flies get in it and die, and it just ruins the fragrance.

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So a little simple -minded folly, even a little foolishness, will destroy that which is wise and honorable.

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It will undo whatever you think of this wise man. He does one thing foolish, and where does his reputation for wisdom go?

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Where does the honor that people hold him in if he does one foolish thing?

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You just think of a pastor who gets caught in adultery. As much as we regarded that man as somebody who led a godly and upright life, and here he has gone and done this foolish thing, and it taints his entire ministry.

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You could no longer say of him that he meets the qualification of 1 Timothy 3 .2,

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that he's above reproach. That's the first qualification of a pastor. He has gone into a little simple -minded folly, and just through one act has ruined the reputation of wisdom and honor that he had held before.

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Just think of what would happen if you take a highly revered preacher of today, and suddenly it were to come out that he had been in an affair 20 years ago, though it had been two decades ago, yet this act of adultery taints even everything that you've seen of this guy in his ministry over 20 years, because he's lied.

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He stood in the pulpit and pretended as someone who was qualified, but he was a liar. He was deceitful, and so that little bit of foolishness has undone all of this wisdom and honor.

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A little simple -minded folly is weightier than wisdom and honor. Just a little bit of foolishness, how weighty it is, how much just that one act can undo years and years and years of wisdom and honorable character.

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So we continue on here in chapter 10 with the same thing that we had been considering in chapter 9.

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We're looking at the contrast between wisdom and folly in a fallen world.

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So it's the fact that there's never going to be anybody who's truly wise, who is perfectly honorable, only

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Christ. He is the only one who had perfect wisdom and perfect honor. He is the only one who lived a sinless life.

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There was nothing you were going to find in his past that undid anything he had done over the course of his earthly ministry.

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He was perfect from his conception, without sin, did not inherit the sin of Adam or Adam's sin nature because he was conceived of the

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Holy Spirit. And so he lived a perfect life to the glory of the Father, became the spotless sacrifice who died on a cross for us, and by his blood that was shed for our sins, we can be cleansed of our unrighteousness and be made holy before God by faith in Jesus.

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Jesus is the only one to perfectly fulfill the requirements of even our own expectations of wisdom and honor.

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So we're left with this tension here. And I talked about that last week with chapter 9. There's this tension that doesn't get resolved in the

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Old Testament. These things that are imperfect, even those things that we regard as honorable, are not truly without blemish.

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It isn't until Christ comes along who is perfect and stainless and fulfills those things that we cannot find in any man on earth.

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Only Christ is the sinless, spotless sacrifice for us. So, let's continue on here in chapter 10 as we contrast wisdom and foolishness, and even the wisdom that we find in this world is still not perfect wisdom.

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So verse 2, a wise man's heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man's heart directs him toward the left.

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Now I love this just for political application. I had to explain to my kids recently what the political left was and the political right because they heard it on the news, like a news podcast that I was listening to.

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And so they said, Daddy, what is it? What is GOP? What does the right mean? Or something like that. So I explained to them that politically, we're more toward the right.

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And those who do evil and wickedness and their politics are entirely corrupt are more toward the left.

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So here we have this wonderful proverb that kind of goes right along with that. The good man is going to be more toward the right of politics.

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I'm being tongue -in -cheek. That's not explicitly what it's saying here. A wise man's heart directs him toward the right.

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Politically, he's going to go to the right, but the foolish man's heart directs him toward the left.

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Now, in the Bible, in the Old Testament, you've probably seen it come up a few times that a reference to the right hand is a reference to strength and a reference to the left hand is more toward weakness.

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Like in the book of Isaiah, the Lord saying, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Or we think of Christ sitting at the right hand of God.

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So that was a reference to strength. I don't know if it has anything to do with, you know, most people being right handed.

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And so that's the stronger hand. And then the left hand is the weaker hand. I don't know if that's where the picture originates from or not.

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But in the Old Testament, that's generally the way that we see it. A reference to the right hand is a reference to strength.

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So their right hand is going to hold the sword and the left hand would hold the shield generally, since you consider that most men were right handed.

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In fact, so common is right handedness that when someone is left handed, that's often said in Scripture.

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The the Judge Ehud, for example, he was talked about as a left handed man.

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You probably wouldn't think of that as being some trait worth mentioning, but there it is in the book of Judges.

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So most men, their strength is in their right hand and the left hand is weaker. So we have this reference to the wise man goes toward the right, but the left goes or the foolish man goes toward the left.

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This is to say that a man of wisdom pursues strength. A man who is foolish is always weak.

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Verse three, even when the simple minded fool walks along the road, his heart lacks wisdom and he says to all that he is a simple minded fool.

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You can see in the way that he walks that this guy is an idiot. You look at his life and you can tell that he makes foolish decisions.

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Verse four, if the ruler's temper rises against you, do not abandon your position because calmness causes great offenses to be abandoned.

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Now it almost sounds like we've changed subject here and to a certain degree we have. It's a different proverb in verse four than what we read in verse three, but it still flows from the thought.

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The wise are positioned a certain place and the left are positioned a certain place, right? Remember, the wise are on the right.

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They're going to go toward the right. The foolish, his heart directs him to the left. You can tell by the way that he walks, the road that he is on, the way he lives his life, what his position is, that he is a simple minded fool.

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That's what we had in the previous two verses, two and three. So if a ruler's temper ever rises against you, don't abandon your position.

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If you have wisdom and you are inclined to the right towards strength, don't leave your position and start acting foolish to try to appease the ruler.

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Keep wisdom, keep in your spot, in the place where you have been because calmness, which is a wise reaction, don't panic, don't act like you've done something guilty.

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Calmness causes great offenses to be abandoned. If you don't make it into a big deal, then that ruler, that person in charge, he may not make it a big deal either.

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I can speak to this personally. I've experienced this before. There are people that I have worked with and for who have great positions who will turn even the smallest thing into the biggest drama.

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And I have learned that if I'm calm and I don't react like they do, and I have a more even tempered response to this drama, then it will calm the person down who has reacted rashly to it and may even encourage him to abandon it altogether as no big deal.

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I know that is not common to respond in such ways in our world today, but we need to have a little more calmness in the way that we react to things, not flying off the handle about stuff.

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Now verses five through seven go together here. There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, like a mistake which goes forth from the one in power.

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Folly is set in many exalted places while rich men sit in humble places.

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So in other words, the person in charge looks like he's the foolish one, whereas the person who has all the wisdom, he's in a humble position from which he can't influence a whole lot of people.

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So the fool is in a place of great influence where a lot of people are being affected by his foolish decisions.

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I think we can see that in the world around us now, whereas the wise man is in a more humble place, and though he could positively affect more people, he's down here and not as many people are able to benefit from his wisdom.

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Now the preacher here says in verse five, this is a great evil because the scales have been tipped.

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It's not fair. It's evil, a mistake which goes forth from the one in power.

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Like a mistake. Well, let me let me correct that. It's like a mistake that goes forth from the one in power.

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Now again, we have read previously that we have the wise man contrasted with a foolish man.

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Verse two, we have the simple minded fool continues on his way. Then you have in verse four, the ruler's temper.

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You respond in a calm way, and it may cause the ruler or whoever is in charge to abandon a great offense.

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Now notice here with regards to a great offense, it doesn't mean that the person has done anything wrong.

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The ruler was just greatly offended by something and perhaps unreasonably.

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So we go from there to the from the from the ruler's temper into verses five and six, where you have folly and the exalted places.

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So this is like the ruler who had lost his temper or had become greatly offended at something that he really didn't need to be offended by.

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You the wise man in the humble place, keep wisdom about yourself.

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Be calm, respond to those things calmly, and it may make that great offense to be abandoned.

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But here the wise man or the preacher here in chapter 10 is pondering further about how those who are wise get these humble low places and those who are fools get exalted to these powerful places.

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So verse seven, I have seen slaves riding on horses and princes walking like slaves on the land.

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Now, this is not literally slaves and literally princes, but it's the fools who should be the slaves and the wise men who should be ruling as princes.

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Instead, those who are slaves to their own stupidity, they get to they get to travel along like royalty, like those who hold all the power.

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And again, we go back up to verse three, the simple minded fool walks along the road. You know his way by the way that he lives.

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And yet now we see the simple minded fool. He's even riding on a horse while the prince, he has to mosey along like a slave.

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So he's not getting as far with his wisdom to be able to influence or benefit more people, whereas the fool is able to get to and fro a lot more quickly.

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What's the old saying? It's something like a lie can get halfway around the world while the truth is still putting its shoes on.

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You ever heard that before? This kind of goes along with that. Foolishness is able to get to and fro a lot faster than wisdom is able to in the world.

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Even today. Verse eight, he who digs a pit may fall into it and a serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall.

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Now, the first part is something like we've seen in the Proverbs, Proverbs 26, 27, likewise says whoever digs a pit will fall into it.

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But then we have this extra part here that isn't in Proverbs 26. A serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall.

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We're not thinking about a stone wall here. We're talking about like a hedge. Snakes may actually make nests or climb up into hedges or a wall that is made of dense foliage rather than rather than something that is made out of wood or stone.

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OK, so that's what we're talking about. But you would still grow like a natural wall around a border.

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And if somebody is trying to get through that border to a place where they don't belong, they may get bit by a snake or digging a pit, which you would use to trap an enemy or maybe catch an animal.

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The person who digs the pit may fall into it themselves. Now, that proverb in Proverbs 26 is used to talk about how when a when a person tries to ensnare someone else, well, the trap that they laid for another person may instead be sprung on them.

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In this particular case, though, in the context in which we're reading this in verse eight, this could go either way.

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This could be on the fool or on the wise man. It's not necessarily foolish to dig a pit.

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It may be the right thing to do. But in so doing, even a person who is wise has a risk of falling into it himself.

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And then there is breaking through a wall. It may be necessary to have to go through a natural border.

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But in so doing, you may get bit by a snake. So this is still talking about here how we live in a fallen world and incidents may happen to both the wise man and the fool alike.

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Verse nine, he who quarry stones may be hurt by them. I mean, it's necessary to have to carve stones and shape them in such a way so that you can build a project, but you could get hurt doing it.

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And he who splits logs may be endangered by them. You split logs so that you can cut them down and burn them in a fire.

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But even that work, though you're doing honest, good work, it could still become something that may harm you.

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So this is talking about how even in the world in which we live, whether you pursue folly or you pursue wisdom, both may result in harm because this is not a perfect world in which we live.

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Verse 10, and this goes along with quarrying stone and splitting logs.

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If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength.

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Wisdom has the advantage of giving success. So here's the lesson.

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Whether you pursue foolishness or you pursue wisdom, both the fool and the wise man are going to die.

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But it's always better for you to pursue wisdom. You will have more success in life if you go after wisdom than after simple minded folly.

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And in fact, as we have read at the beginning of the book of Proverbs, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.

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Fear God and nothing else. And though we will die, your body will die.

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Your soul will go to be with the Lord forever in glory. If you have put your faith and trust in the

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Lord Jesus Christ. He is all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge, as it says in Colossians chapter two.

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Let's finish their heavenly father. We thank you for what we've read here in this first half of Ecclesiastes, and I pray we know how this applies and how to live according to this today.

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We pursue wisdom. We pursue the wisdom of God that is given to us according to your word.

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Going after Christ is the wisest thing that we could do. So teach us to put off all the sinful passions of our flesh and the temptations of this world and teach us to live upright and godly lives in this present age to the glory of God, the father in Jesus Christ, our

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Lord. It's in his name we pray. Amen. This has been When We Understand the

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Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

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and let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.