1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,160 We're picking up in chapter six, the final argument from Solomon about the 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,320 reality that all is vanity. 3 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:11,520 And for the last five chapters, he's helped us to see the futility of 4 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:13,840 chasing things that don't last. 5 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:19,760 The soap bubbles of life that are at one moment so enticing and yet all at once 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:20,320 fleeting. 7 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:26,240 At the close of chapter five, last time, we were taught about gratitude and about 8 00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:30,240 treasuring the creator more than creation. 9 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:35,680 Now in chapter six, we're going to be confronted with very intense statements 10 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:41,040 that are intended to wound our pride, our self-reliance, and even make us question 11 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:45,440 our own willingness to press on in this life. 12 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:49,600 Chapter six may be the most discouraging of the entire book. 13 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:51,840 As Solomon, and you're probably like, really? 14 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:53,680 It's been rough already. 15 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:55,200 Yes. 16 00:00:55,200 --> 00:01:00,320 Solomon takes every point from the previous chapters and he fashions them so 17 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:05,440 that they exert the greatest amount of discomfort here in chapter six. 18 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:10,560 In short, chapter six is a summary of his entire argument and it's pointed to the 19 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:15,760 heart of a person who finds trust in what they have or the life that they've 20 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:21,280 built, showing the reader that not even the supposed blessings of this life will 21 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:26,080 result in ultimate satisfaction apart from God. 22 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:31,360 You can have the best that this life has to offer, but if God doesn't enable you 23 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:33,760 to enjoy it, then it's pointless. 24 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,240 Some of you may be familiar with the famous quote I'm going to put on the 25 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:38,640 screen. 26 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:44,560 "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." 27 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:46,080 How many of you are familiar with that one? 28 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:50,560 That is a shocking amount of people that are not familiar with this. 29 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:51,840 Do you not read? 30 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,280 I don't want to offend you in here, but this was a very common one. 31 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:57,120 Well, now you know it. 32 00:01:57,120 --> 00:01:57,920 Now you're exposed. 33 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,680 Now that line was made famous by Alfred Lord Tennyson in the mid-1800s and he had 34 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:05,680 a friend die when they were in their early 20s. 35 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,000 But it's presumed that he took the line from that other quote, a famous play by 36 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,360 William Congreve. 37 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,680 Over 100 years prior, there was a play called The Way of the World and the 38 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:17,200 character makes a similar statement. 39 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:21,440 "'Tis better to be left than to have never been loved." 40 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:27,280 In other words, even losing the love of another person is better than to have 41 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,000 never received it in the first place. 42 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,600 A taste of life is better than no life at all. 43 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:35,520 Would you agree? 44 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:38,160 Would you agree with those statements? 45 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:42,320 Now both presume that suffering loss is likely. 46 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:47,600 And yet the risk of loss is worth that gain of momentary experience. 47 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,080 But there are detractors to these statements. 48 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:56,960 They would counter with, you can't miss something that you never had. 49 00:02:58,320 --> 00:02:58,800 True. 50 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:06,160 Maybe somebody says that the bitterness of loss and grief can outweigh any 51 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,160 positive impact of love. 52 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:11,840 I find it interesting to think about, especially in light of today's passage. 53 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:16,560 Solomon is going to provoke us to think about this in his final push to prove 54 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:18,240 that all is vanity. 55 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,000 Now here again is the outline that we've been working through. 56 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:26,160 And you can see after today, after today, one more hard one, we'll get to the 57 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:31,440 third section of the book and really the turning point for the entire work. 58 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,800 But we have to finish Solomon's penultimate argument today. 59 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,480 That all is vanity. 60 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:42,160 So go ahead, if you have your Bible's turn to Ecclesiastes chapter six. 61 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:45,760 Today we have to do some heavy Hebrew work. 62 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:50,000 You probably noticed as Jeff was reading the passage, there are difficult 63 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,480 things in this passage today. 64 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:55,760 Like many before us, this, this is foreign to us. 65 00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:00,560 We don't think with the ancient Near East mind, nor do we speak in ancient 66 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:05,200 Hebrew syntax and words. 67 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:08,800 And part of the reason Ecclesiastes is often misunderstood and avoided is 68 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:10,800 because it is difficult. 69 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,720 So my endeavor throughout this whole study has been to help make this book 70 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:16,720 understandable. 71 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:21,120 Trying to bring those concepts to today and helping us to grasp, grasp the 72 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:23,120 wisdom that's contained. 73 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:25,680 But it requires us to do linguistic and cultural study. 74 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:30,160 We need to understand what God has said so we can know what is in the book. 75 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:32,160 So we can know how to live. 76 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:38,960 So in verse one, Ecclesiastes chapter six, Solomon points out another 77 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:40,960 observation. 78 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:43,680 He says there is an evil I have seen under the sun. 79 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:47,280 There is an evil or a tragedy that is prevalent among men. 80 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:51,280 Now some of your translations, they may phrase it this way, that it lies heavy 81 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:53,280 on mankind. 82 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:55,280 But I don't think that's accurate. 83 00:04:55,280 --> 00:04:59,360 Now most other places, that same Hebrew word is used to, to connote great or 84 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:01,360 vast or numerous. 85 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:03,360 And that's how we should understand this. 86 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:10,160 There is an all too common misery that occurs among mankind. 87 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,160 So what is it? 88 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:17,040 Well verse two then explains this common evil calamity is a person receiving 89 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:24,400 from God riches and wealth and honor so that he lacks nothing that his soul 90 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:31,920 desires and yet God does not empower him to eat from it. 91 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:34,240 Now there's a couple things to note here. 92 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:38,640 First, notice how Solomon clearly identifies that God is the one who gives 93 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:44,400 things like riches and honor and yet God also is the one who either enables or 94 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,480 doesn't enable a person to enjoy such things. 95 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:54,000 Now this focus on God's authority over life shows us yet again this book is not 96 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,640 the ramblings of an old bitter man. 97 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:01,600 This is a man who has seen so much and he desires to confront the materialistic 98 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:07,920 desires that plagued him in his youth and to help others to avoid his pitfalls. 99 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:12,000 Solomon knows that not only does the Lord give and take away but even 100 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,800 enjoyment cannot be had outside of God's sovereign gift. 101 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,720 Now second, the phrasing about eating that you see there, it's another example 102 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:23,920 of these words and phrases that are common in the day but they're not common 103 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:25,120 with us today. 104 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:28,640 Now in verse two when he spoke about lacking before we get to the eating, 105 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,240 the word for desire, the soul desire there, 106 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:34,960 it could also be rendered as appetite. 107 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:38,480 The desire is the appetite so his soul is hungry 108 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:43,360 for things, craving things. Think about how helpful that is 109 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:47,440 for us to understand. Now in the personal ministry of the word 110 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,800 we seek to help people identify their desires, 111 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,480 their wants so they can understand their inner person 112 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:58,880 and learn to worship God instead of their desires. Wouldn't it be helpful 113 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:03,200 to think of your desires not as those things that just make you happy 114 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:10,160 or content but those things that you hunger and thirst for, the things 115 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,040 that you crave. 116 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:20,240 So Solomon says this evil is that a man hungers and thirsts for earthly things 117 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,520 and God appears to give those earthly things to him but then a foreigner or 118 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:27,200 stranger comes to eat the things that were provided. Now there's 119 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:31,440 a similarity here with first Kings chapter three verses 13 and 14. I'm not 120 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,000 going to put them on the screen but I'm just going to paraphrase for you. 121 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,200 God is speaking to Solomon and to Solomon he says, 122 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:40,400 I will give you both riches and honor and I'll prolong your days 123 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:46,960 if, if you walk in my ways and you keep my statutes and my 124 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:52,480 commandments. But we know Solomon did not. 125 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:59,120 Now that eating, that eating is more like devouring. It's not just a very nice 126 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:02,400 fancy meal where you have the courses set out and all of your 127 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,360 silverware. No it's like a ravenous wolf tearing into 128 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:08,880 something or if some of you know that book or the movie Hook, 129 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:11,920 right, and the Lost Boys they have the feast on the table. 130 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:15,120 Now okay none of you knew you know the love quote. How many of you have seen 131 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,080 Hook? More of you have seen Hook than know it's 132 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:22,800 better to have loved and lost and never to have loved at all. Okay 133 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:26,640 but you know the scene. They have that feast sitting in front of them and they 134 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:31,760 just tear into that thing, right? That is what's described here. That 135 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:37,040 eating. Could you imagine God gives a feast, a beautiful feast, 136 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:40,480 lays it out in front of you showing the desires of your heart that can 137 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:44,400 be met, your appetite can be satiated and you sit down at 138 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:50,640 the table ready to enjoy the feast and then God doesn't allow you to eat 139 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:55,600 from it. Somebody else comes along, a stranger, 140 00:08:55,600 --> 00:09:00,640 to enjoy that feast not just to eat it but to tear it apart. 141 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:04,080 That thing that you thought was for yourself. 142 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:08,160 And so all the man received was a longing of the ice 143 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:13,920 but never the satisfaction of the soul. Now can you imagine that God may give you 144 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:17,280 everything you want just within arm's reach 145 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:21,520 but then you're not allowed to enjoy it. Not that you don't get it but somebody 146 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:27,600 else comes along to receive what you wanted so badly. 147 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:32,400 Now we're going to come back to this theme. Solomon calls it a sickening evil, 148 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:36,400 a plague that can't go away. When you think about it your stomach should turn a 149 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:40,560 little bit. It should be a sickening evil. Now this 150 00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:45,120 third and final point regarding verse two is about that phrase 151 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:48,400 because Solomon puts such an extreme emphasis 152 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,760 on it. It's not as clear in English. When you read it in Hebrew the sentence 153 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,080 structure is different, the pacing is different. 154 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:57,360 Even those of you that have studied you know the way that you read is different. 155 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:00,320 You read from right to left instead of left to right. 156 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:05,360 But the words, the ideas expressed within the words, this is where we need to focus. 157 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:09,280 When verse two closes, Solomon isn't just giving a commentary 158 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:14,720 about life. He's slowing us down. He's speaking with the pace not of a Ben 159 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:20,640 Shapiro, you know he talks so fast, but with measured words. 160 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:26,960 Measured words intended to make a point. He wants us to consider what is being 161 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:29,680 said. So in Hebrew if you're trying to convey 162 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:36,480 the idea, it reads more like this. What vanity this is. 163 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:42,320 An absolute sickening evil. 164 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:47,120 You can't just pass by it. You have to wrestle with it. 165 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:51,040 And he said the same thing in chapter five. We covered this verse 13 166 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:55,280 when he talked about the tragedy of a person whose riches lead to their own 167 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,960 demise. He spoke of this. What was pursued to 168 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:05,840 bless ultimately brought about a curse. Now Solomon is defining this evil as 169 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:09,120 not being able to eat or not being able to enjoy 170 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:15,760 what one has. Now to contrast that, we just read 171 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:22,000 the other week Titus chapter one verse 12 about those gluttonous cretins. 172 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:26,320 They should come to mind. They filled themselves with the desires 173 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,280 that they had. They kept nothing from themselves. So you 174 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:33,840 should ask why would God do that for the cretins 175 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:37,680 and yet seem to torture others according to verse two. 176 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:46,080 Hmm. We can look to Romans chapter one to understand. Beginning of verse 24 177 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:50,160 we see that the passions and the desires that people crave 178 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:55,200 they're used by God to lead to a person's destruction 179 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:59,600 unless God rescues a person. But we need to be clear. God is not evil. 180 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:04,000 When he doesn't empower somebody to enjoy their possessions or when 181 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,200 he gives them over to their own selfish desires 182 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:11,760 rather when that happens that's evidence of an evil heart 183 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:15,120 that has desires to find enjoyment in creation 184 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:18,800 rather than the creator. The Solomon's not done 185 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:22,720 drawing our attention to the futility of life. 186 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,480 Oh there's Romans for you. God gave them over. God gave them over. 187 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:33,680 In verse three he begins a series of comparisons and this is the hard part. 188 00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:36,880 He's drawing us back to that theme of soul or 189 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:42,240 inner desire satisfaction. Now the first case he brings is this. A man who 190 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:45,360 fathers a hundred children. Now in those days 191 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,880 fathering so many children would be seen as an immense blessing. 192 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:52,400 Today fathers in here you're thinking how can I afford that? 193 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:56,960 A hundred children that's a lot of mouths to feed right? 194 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:00,480 But in the ancient Near East fathering so many children would have been seen as 195 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:03,840 God's blessing as the almighty bestowing riches and 196 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:08,240 wealth and honor and long life was seen as an immense 197 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:12,320 blessing as well. But if a person receives good things 198 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:17,520 let's say today those things are a nice house 199 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:21,440 wealth to enjoy the best family vacations a job 200 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:28,080 that's fulfilling a spouse that loves you children that honor and respect you 201 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:32,400 a person can receive all these things but if his soul 202 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:40,480 isn't satisfied and he dies alone forgotten not honored 203 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:44,080 then according to Solomon it would be better to have never 204 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:50,800 lived at all. Now we're going to address the thoughts about a miscarriage or a 205 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,360 stillborn child in a moment but don't miss this 206 00:13:53,360 --> 00:14:00,480 thought. Earlier I brought this this quote that only half of you knew 207 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:05,280 but here it is again think about this at the core of this thinking 208 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:12,880 is that love is worth the cost of loss yet here Solomon's offering a 209 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:16,800 different idea he's saying it would be better to never 210 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:23,760 see anything good than to see it and not be satisfied. 211 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:28,240 Now remember Solomon is poking that person with a materialistic mind the 212 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:31,040 person whose mind is set on the flesh the 213 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:34,240 person who hungers and thirsts not for righteousness 214 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:39,040 but for selfish desire the person whose best life is now 215 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:43,440 with all the common grace so Solomon is pointing out to that person that if 216 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:48,400 your best life is here then it would be better to not 217 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:52,400 even see the sun than to experience the potential 218 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:57,840 blessings and ultimately be left unsatisfied in the end. 219 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:04,400 Now this is the reality for unbelievers but it is also the reality for lukewarm 220 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:06,880 Christians. 221 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,520 The best life that one can hope for then is here and now 222 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:16,080 and that's why it's a tragedy a sickening evil vanity. 223 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:21,280 A person can live their whole life amass wealth and fame and live many years 224 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:25,440 but in the end they have no rest and they will not be satisfied because they 225 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:31,360 focused on creation rather than the creator. 226 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,120 Now within this passage Solomon makes the comparison 227 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:41,440 of a person living unsatisfied versus the miscarried or stillborn child. 228 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:45,440 Now I want to acknowledge the pain and the heartache that this may bring to 229 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:49,840 some of our families. For those of us in Christ we know that 230 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:55,520 ultimately in Christ it is better to love and to suffer loss. 231 00:15:55,520 --> 00:16:01,440 We know that in our need and our longing we run to Christ who meets us in our 232 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:07,040 desperation who will one day wipe away every tear. 233 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,920 I don't want to upset families due to the nature of the passage but 234 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:12,320 as Jeff noted these are the holy scriptures 235 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,760 and God has something here for us to learn. All scripture 236 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:19,840 is profitable and though it may be uncomfortable 237 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:23,760 and wisdom literature is just uncomfortable. 238 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:30,400 These things that are said are needed for us. We need to learn we need 239 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:34,000 to hear. Now let me be clear this passage is not 240 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:38,880 a doctrinal statement on the eternal state of the unborn. 241 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:43,520 It's not a doctrinal statement. There is however an encouragement 242 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:48,400 about the nature of an unborn child and it's that Solomon sees the child as a 243 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:52,080 person and one to whom there is an advantage 244 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:57,680 over the person who lives a long life and yet whose soul is not satisfied. 245 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:02,000 I think it reasonable to say that Solomon's opinion of the miscarried 246 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,200 child is similar to that of his father David. 247 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:09,520 And many of you know in second Samuel chapter 12 David states his infant child 248 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:14,000 cannot be brought back to life but that one day he would go to see him 249 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:18,960 to be reunited with him. But that is not Solomon's point here. 250 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:22,240 In Ecclesiastes 6 Solomon is focusing our attention 251 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:28,960 on the ultimate reality of an unfulfilled life. 252 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:35,760 Now the phrasing of verse 4 is that the miscarried child never saw light. 253 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:39,440 They came in darkness and they left in darkness. 254 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:43,200 In other words they never experienced even the dull glimmers 255 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:48,080 of goodness that this life under the sun offers. 256 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:51,600 Now the materialistic mind to the person that is so focused 257 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:55,920 on here and now living that would be the worst life to not even 258 00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:59,520 enjoy one thing. 259 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:04,480 So his point is not to wound grieving parents. 260 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:09,200 His point is to strike fear in the one who finds their treasures 261 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:13,120 here on earth. 262 00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:17,200 Verse 5 says the miscarried child never sees the sun 263 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:21,200 and that one will have yet that one will have more rest 264 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:25,680 than the person who had wealth and who had children and long years of life 265 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:29,920 but was focused on earthly things. And if you look back at verse 3 266 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:34,560 such a person who focused their on their earthly appetite they were never content. 267 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:38,480 They were constantly striving after wind grasping for things that could never 268 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,520 be held in their hands and they live in a constant state of 269 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:46,320 restlessness. They never experienced true joy or lasting satisfaction. 270 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:52,480 And so the miscarried child is better off than that person. 271 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:56,880 Now if you look back to chapter 5 if you remember where we were Solomon 272 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,280 has been teaching this theme to us over and again. 273 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:03,040 In chapter 5 verse 10 you see a person can't be satisfied with wealth. 274 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:06,160 Verse 11 says the more you earn the more is consumed. 275 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:10,560 At the close of chapter 5 he says there is something good. There is something good. 276 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:14,080 This side of glory he says see good in your labor 277 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:21,440 and your toil appreciate what God gives. As the clay don't expect more than the 278 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:25,600 potter more from the potter than you ought to. 279 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:29,360 Says if you do this you won't remember much of the bad times 280 00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:34,480 because you'll be occupied or kept busy with the gladness of enjoyment in your 281 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:38,640 heart because of the treasure is not what you have and what's been taken away. 282 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:43,040 But your treasure is whose you are. 283 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:48,000 Now his comparison in chapter 6 is similar to chapter 4 284 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:51,520 verses 1 through 3 we covered that many moons ago. 285 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:55,200 That the miscarried child has an advantage over the one who sees light 286 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:58,640 but goes into darkness because even though they don't see light 287 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:04,560 they also never see the evil work done under the sun. 288 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:09,200 Now the thought that Solomon expresses here is similar to Job 289 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:14,960 chapter 3. Job expresses the heartache of living through loss this side of 290 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:19,280 glory. He had a family. He had children. He had wealth. He had 291 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:23,120 cattle and in a moment it was all taken away. 292 00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:26,800 Then he on top of all of that he received the pain of physical boils from 293 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:30,560 the bottom of his feet to the top of his head and even his 294 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:35,120 wife thought it better to curse God and to die. 295 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:39,200 But after seven days and seven nights of dwelling 296 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:43,520 of thinking wrestling and enduring his own misery 297 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:47,280 the first thing that Job did the first thing he spoke 298 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:54,240 was to curse the day that he was born. The opening of Job 3 focuses on the 299 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:58,480 lament of a person who feels as if it would have been better to have never 300 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:02,400 seen goodness than to have seen it to have tasted it 301 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:07,280 and have it ripped away so painfully so violently. 302 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:11,040 A person who in his distress thought it better to have never loved 303 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:15,920 at all. Job states there's no rest for the one 304 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:21,120 embroiled in turmoil during the vanity of life's difficulties. 305 00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:25,120 I put this passage of Job 3 up on the screen. You can read it. 306 00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:30,640 You can make a note for it for later. Now at this point you should be you 307 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:37,200 should be feeling a sense of vanity. You should. What's the point? Why press on 308 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,640 when it seems to be better to not even see the light of this life 309 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:45,040 if all that's left in the end is bitter disappointment. 310 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:50,400 If we can't enjoy life perhaps we're better off dead. 311 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:55,440 And that's precisely what Solomon is prodding you to think about. 312 00:21:55,440 --> 00:22:01,040 If your sense of worth if your desires if your appetite 313 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:06,400 if your identity is rooted in the pleasures and comforts of this age 314 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,120 then wake up. 315 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:15,280 Rust and moth Jesus said will destroy the things you treasure and it will all be 316 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:21,520 worthless in the end. Even if you live 2,000 years that's a 317 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:26,560 thousand years twice verse six says you will one day come to the end of your 318 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:30,400 earthly life and what if you don't see good things even over all that time 319 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:35,760 won't all that you labored for disappear what are you going to be left with? 320 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:39,840 Solomon draws our attention back to verse three that the soul would not be 321 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:46,080 satisfied with good things even a long life cannot guarantee the satisfaction 322 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:52,480 of the soul. Living a long life doesn't mean living a full life. 323 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:56,400 You can have wealth and treasures and honor you can have a full quiver 324 00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:00,400 and many descendants and you can have a long life and a legacy of 325 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:06,240 accomplishments but none of those things brings ultimate satisfaction none of 326 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:10,560 those will fill you up none of those will help you to be fulfilled in this 327 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:16,960 life not on their own. Such things are actually vanity when they can be so 328 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:24,160 easily ripped away. Verse seven underscores this point all man's labor 329 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:30,720 is for his mouth his appetite for personal desire is endless think of the 330 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:34,720 wealthy of this world who don't have an identity in Christ you see them on TV 331 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:39,200 you see them in social media they have everything the eyes could want right 332 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:45,600 they have the houses although those are temporary as fire show us right that's 333 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:49,360 the reality of calamity it can be taken in a moment but then they went to 334 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:54,400 another house they have the money they have the pleasures of this life they 335 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:59,600 may even labor hard for what they have they may work endlessly new endeavors 336 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:06,160 new opportunities new investments they seem busy and occupied with many things 337 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:13,120 but one thing they lack fulfillment in verse two Solomon said God is the one 338 00:24:13,120 --> 00:24:19,280 who gives power to enjoy or really to eat God satisfies God fulfills and 339 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:24,480 satisfies a person can labor to fill their mouth that external appetite you 340 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:31,200 know we desire salty and sweet tangy and spicy smooth and creamy right we can 341 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:35,840 work hard we can taste all the good things but it's just a taste all you can 342 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:40,320 do is you think of the hot summer you get one ice cream cone you just get a 343 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:49,440 hot chocolate you just get a hot chocolate you just get a hot chocolate 344 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:58,320 that's it and it's taken away that is the nature of chasing desires just a 345 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:04,640 taste our appetite for our passions the things that we want the things we work 346 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:11,440 really hard last week we worker and ratio in the last هegs on an original 347 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:16,000 dinner tree those things are essentially just actors we blame them 348 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:20,800 in a single little bit I mean it's it's hard but not for us it's important 349 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:25,440 but these are the things that we try hard to do people beat us 350 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:29,280 people play the game and we are out of steam just can't keep up 351 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:33,120 Labor is so hard and we get so worked up over it, 352 00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:38,120 chasing jobs, houses, vocations, all kinds of things. 353 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:41,260 What else do we work so hard for? 354 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:44,400 Sometimes for relationships. 355 00:25:46,780 --> 00:25:50,940 Yes, romantic ones, yes, friendships. 356 00:25:50,940 --> 00:25:53,320 We work hard, we wanna be liked. 357 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:54,220 Who doesn't wanna be liked? 358 00:25:54,220 --> 00:25:55,320 Don't raise your hand. 359 00:25:55,320 --> 00:26:00,320 We wanna be liked, we wanna not be alone. 360 00:26:02,220 --> 00:26:04,180 God created us for community. 361 00:26:05,300 --> 00:26:07,480 Sometimes we labor in wrong ways too. 362 00:26:08,380 --> 00:26:10,400 You know, those other things may be seen as okay, 363 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,160 at least it provides and it's good to not be alone 364 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:15,060 and so there's some potential goodness, 365 00:26:15,060 --> 00:26:17,900 but you know, sometimes people labor in manipulation. 366 00:26:19,140 --> 00:26:21,940 People labor to get what they want through other people 367 00:26:21,940 --> 00:26:25,660 and lie, cheat, steal. 368 00:26:25,660 --> 00:26:29,660 The point is we work hard for the things that we want. 369 00:26:29,660 --> 00:26:32,540 We work hard for the things that we crave 370 00:26:32,540 --> 00:26:34,780 and all we get is a taste. 371 00:26:35,740 --> 00:26:37,620 Friends, do you see that? 372 00:26:37,620 --> 00:26:39,080 Do you see the futility here? 373 00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:43,560 None of that brings lasting fulfillment. 374 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:46,760 None of it will make us feel as if we're done 375 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:50,300 with our accomplishments, that we can end our story. 376 00:26:50,300 --> 00:26:51,380 There's always more money. 377 00:26:51,380 --> 00:26:54,300 There's always more things to be had 378 00:26:55,540 --> 00:26:58,540 and that's the tragic undertone of the story here 379 00:26:58,540 --> 00:27:00,740 and Solomon even draws us back to creation. 380 00:27:00,740 --> 00:27:03,700 In this passage, he references the first man, Adam. 381 00:27:03,700 --> 00:27:06,760 He doesn't just say man, he's referencing Adam 382 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,140 from the created order and he's drawing us back 383 00:27:09,140 --> 00:27:12,460 to that narrative to remind us that even when every tree 384 00:27:12,460 --> 00:27:15,960 in the garden was yielding fruit, you remember the story? 385 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:17,640 It wasn't enough. 386 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,140 Adam and Eve wanted more. 387 00:27:20,140 --> 00:27:22,020 They were told not to eat of what? 388 00:27:22,020 --> 00:27:26,100 One tree, everything else. 389 00:27:26,100 --> 00:27:27,980 And that word for eat is the same one. 390 00:27:27,980 --> 00:27:30,860 It was used a dozen times in Genesis three 391 00:27:30,860 --> 00:27:32,580 to describe what Adam and Eve did 392 00:27:32,580 --> 00:27:35,580 and it's here in verse two as well, twice. 393 00:27:35,580 --> 00:27:38,260 Do you think that God empowered Adam and Eve 394 00:27:38,260 --> 00:27:42,900 to enjoy their eating of the forbidden fruit? 395 00:27:42,900 --> 00:27:45,100 Do you think he empowered them to enjoy it? 396 00:27:46,460 --> 00:27:48,560 No, they ate it. 397 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:51,560 And then a massive hole opened up in their soul. 398 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:52,400 Did it not? 399 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:56,840 They were not satisfied with what they ate. 400 00:27:58,080 --> 00:27:59,400 But they ate. 401 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,760 You know, verses eight and 11, 402 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:05,080 nearing the end of this passage, 403 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,600 we have some final questions from Solomon about advantages 404 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,520 and as soon as chapter seven arrives, 405 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:13,200 he'll no longer ask these same questions. 406 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:15,720 He will declare to us what is good, 407 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:16,560 what we ought to pursue. 408 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:21,560 But here in verse eight, he's drawing us back to verse six. 409 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,320 If you look in your text, he's drawing us back to verse six. 410 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,680 Do they not all go to the same place? 411 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:28,200 He's reminding the reader, 412 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,480 when your mind is set on earthly things, 413 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,120 that death comes to us all. 414 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:35,920 We've talked about this time and again, 415 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:37,440 to the wise man and to the fool, 416 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:39,640 to the poor man and to the rich. 417 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:42,360 So maybe a person has been looking at chapters five 418 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:44,880 and now six and they're thinking, okay, 419 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,080 so wealth is the problem. 420 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:47,920 Money is the problem. 421 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:52,680 If I get rid of riches, then I'll find joy. 422 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:56,680 And to that, Solomon says, there's no advantage. 423 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:57,520 There is no advantage. 424 00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:01,600 It is not more desirable to live an aesthetic life 425 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:05,240 or a life of impoverished religious piety 426 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:07,160 devoid of the attractions of wealth 427 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:08,680 than it is to bask in wealth 428 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:12,080 when both people end up dying one day. 429 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:13,800 There's no advantage. 430 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,880 You can't win when your focus is on the things of this earth, 431 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:18,880 whether by having all the things 432 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:20,880 or denying yourself all the things. 433 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:24,080 So a person can be diligent to labor, 434 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:28,280 but without God, all their work is not a virtue, but a vice. 435 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:31,240 Solomon is drawing the reader 436 00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:32,720 to think about their cosmology. 437 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,760 What is the end of every person? 438 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,600 What will happen to everyone, someday, sometime? 439 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:43,000 And we've covered this before, death. 440 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,840 Death is the great equalizer 441 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:49,040 to all the soap bubbles of our lives. 442 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,080 It pops every single one of them. 443 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:58,840 Now in verse nine, Solomon gives a bit of instruction. 444 00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:01,480 Oh, I think I went too far. 445 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:02,320 Let's stay here. 446 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:07,080 He's saying it's better to see something good with your eyes 447 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:09,800 than to have the soul chase after desire. 448 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:12,600 It's better to be content with your desires 449 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:15,760 than to be content with what God gives 450 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,760 than to follow desires that can never be fulfilled. 451 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,760 And that's a note from the Geneva Bible, actually. 452 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:24,160 Better to witness something real 453 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,640 and something good than to chase after things 454 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:27,480 that will never be. 455 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,680 Solomon is addressing the soul again, and very clearly. 456 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:32,760 These past six chapters, 457 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:35,760 he's been confronting the religious person, 458 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:37,360 not the unbeliever, 459 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:40,760 the religious person who half-heartedly acknowledges God, 460 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,840 sometimes loves his neighbor when it's convenient, 461 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:45,960 who chases after all the shiny things 462 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:47,400 that this life has to offer 463 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:50,440 and still doubts what happens in the end. 464 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:55,880 The person who stores up for themselves treasures on earth. 465 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:59,440 The person who gets upset when things don't go their way. 466 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:02,680 And to that person, he says, 467 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:06,440 what your soul chases is vanity. 468 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:09,840 You are trying to grasp things you can't hold. 469 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:11,560 So stop chasing soap bubbles. 470 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:13,800 Stop trying to fill your life 471 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:15,840 with temporary things in this age. 472 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,360 Now, my confidence in that exhortation in verse nine 473 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,280 is because of the verses that follow. 474 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:23,880 In verse 10, he draws us back to creation again. 475 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,880 He reminds us that Adam has already named everything. 476 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:27,880 It's already been done. 477 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,960 Better yet, this is another way of him saying, 478 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:34,960 there's nothing new under the sun. 479 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:36,560 You've heard that before. 480 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,400 Now, that first Adam was no more able to contend 481 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,160 or dispute with God than any of us are today. 482 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:45,400 That word actually, dispute or contend, in your Bible, 483 00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:48,200 it carries a connotation of being a judge, 484 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,960 of actually having some governance, some kind of authority. 485 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:54,680 The sense here is that God controls everything 486 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:59,680 and man cannot tell God what to do or how to do it. 487 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:02,600 And man cannot execute judgment against God 488 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:03,880 for things being the way they are. 489 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,800 We can't say to God, that's not fair. 490 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:09,760 How many of us are guilty of that? 491 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:14,240 Yeah, I think every hand here would go up. 492 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:16,760 And I can't read your heart, 493 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,160 but I know that that's a human condition. 494 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,680 Because at some point in our lives, 495 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,000 we look at the things around us, we look at the suffering, 496 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:25,840 we look at what we don't have that we want, 497 00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:28,800 and we say, that's not fair. 498 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:31,640 And our judgment is not against the thing in this life. 499 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:34,240 Our judgment against the one who is sovereign 500 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:37,440 over all things, because he didn't give it to us. 501 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,240 And we as Christians, in our little bubble 502 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:42,480 of proper theology, we may say, I would never say that. 503 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:44,480 Yes, you would, and you did. 504 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,080 And God will judge you one day for it in love, 505 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:50,320 because he loves you, Christian, because he loves you. 506 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:53,920 So he doesn't want you to persist in that. 507 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:56,560 And that's why wisdom literature is so needed, 508 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:59,760 to wound us, to pierce us, to poke us, to prod us, 509 00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:03,640 to help us to wrestle with these hard truths. 510 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:06,000 The sense is that, in this text right now, 511 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,840 in verse 10, is that God controls everything. 512 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:11,160 Man cannot tell God what to do or how to do it. 513 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:12,640 We can't say that's not fair. 514 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:14,280 And here's the backup. 515 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:16,080 You saw the verses a second ago. 516 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:19,120 Isaiah 45, nine, woe to the one who contends, 517 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:22,200 same word, with his maker, an earthenware vessel 518 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:23,800 among the vessels of the earth. 519 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:26,160 Will the clay say to the potter, what are you doing? 520 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:28,960 Or the thing you are making say, he has no hand, 521 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:32,320 no, you can't contend, you can't contend with the potter. 522 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:34,280 Isaiah 45, 12, a few verses later, 523 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:39,000 it is I who made the earth and created man upon it. 524 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:40,720 I stretched out the heavens with my hands 525 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:42,080 and I commanded all their hosts. 526 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:45,920 Can any of us even fathom what that was like? 527 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:51,240 Psalm 103, man is dust, right? 528 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:53,440 As for man, his days are like grass. 529 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:55,440 As a flower the field, so he flowers. 530 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,400 James one, verse 10, the rich man is the potter, 531 00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:00,240 rich man is the boast and his humiliation 532 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:05,240 because like flowering grass, he will pass away. 533 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:08,240 Wealth doesn't gain you anything in the end. 534 00:34:08,240 --> 00:34:12,000 First Peter one, 24 through 25, all flesh is like grass 535 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:14,840 and all its glory like the flower of grass. 536 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:19,000 The grass withers and the flower falls off. 537 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:19,840 Some of you know this, 538 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,640 but the word of the Lord endures forever. 539 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:26,760 The last one on the screen there, Jeremiah 18 six. 540 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:29,680 Can I not, O house of Israel, 541 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:32,320 deal with you as this potter does? 542 00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,640 Declares Yahweh, behold, like clay in the potter's hand, 543 00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:40,160 so you are in my hand, O house of Israel. 544 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:42,760 So friends, scripture is clear. 545 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:44,640 It's known what man is. 546 00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:45,840 It's known that we are not able 547 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:47,840 to execute judgment against God. 548 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:50,880 We are not able to contend with his ways. 549 00:34:51,720 --> 00:34:56,240 So verse 11 reminds us that even our words become vanity. 550 00:34:56,240 --> 00:34:58,840 When we try to reason with God, 551 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:01,960 when we try to win him to our way of thinking, 552 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:04,320 what we want things to be. 553 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:10,040 Romans chapter nine, verse 20 and 21, 554 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,360 says on the contrary, who are you, O man, 555 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:14,480 who answers back to God? 556 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:17,160 Will the thing molded say to the molder, 557 00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:19,120 why did you make me like this? 558 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:22,480 Or does not the potter have authority over the clay 559 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:23,920 to make from the same lump 560 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:27,840 one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 561 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:33,480 And the Old Testament counterpart to that in Job chapter 40, 562 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:35,960 Yahweh answers Job after all of his suffering 563 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:39,320 and Job begins to say things that he ought not to. 564 00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:40,680 And Yahweh answers him. 565 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:42,840 He says, now gird up your loins like a man. 566 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:48,080 I will ask you and you make me know. 567 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:51,240 Here's the question. 568 00:35:51,240 --> 00:35:54,640 Will you really annul my judgment? 569 00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:58,960 Will you condemn me that you may be justified? 570 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:02,200 Do you have an arm like God? 571 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:04,200 Do you have power like God? 572 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:06,480 And can you thunder with a voice like his? 573 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:12,640 Friends, even if you're unhappy with your lot in life, 574 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:14,480 can you really argue with God 575 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:16,760 and tell him that he is wrong to you? 576 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:20,120 Can you accuse the Almighty of doing something against you? 577 00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:23,360 Who are you to answer back? 578 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:25,760 Who are you to contend with God? 579 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:30,560 See, in these cases, words are just vanity. 580 00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:34,360 The more we speak, the emptier our words become. 581 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:39,480 Notice that in verse 10, Solomon spoke of this contending 582 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:40,600 or this disputing with God 583 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:44,520 as executing a judgment against him, condemning him. 584 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:46,760 So you see in these corresponding scriptures, 585 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:49,080 no one can condemn God 586 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:52,040 and no one can truly do anything against him. 587 00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:54,640 So people are powerless against God. 588 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:57,760 The best we can do is use our words against the Almighty. 589 00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:01,000 And to that, Solomon says, it's just vanity. 590 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:03,800 What advantage can your words produce? 591 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:07,480 Man's words against the Almighty do nothing to the Creator 592 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:10,640 except serve as an indictment to the man. 593 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:12,440 You build your argument against God 594 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:14,600 and you're building an argument against yourself. 595 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:15,800 That's what he's saying. 596 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:18,720 Now there's a potential connection here 597 00:37:18,720 --> 00:37:19,560 with the Tower of Babel. 598 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:21,480 Some of you know Genesis 11, 599 00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:23,400 the whole earth had the same words at the time 600 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,360 and their goal was to build a tower 601 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:29,680 to make a name for themselves to contend with God. 602 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:32,600 Now the pride of mankind reached such a height 603 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,320 that God then scattered the people into this day. 604 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:37,840 We have confused languages. 605 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:41,920 We have confused languages, but they literally 606 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:44,760 built their own indictment as a structure. 607 00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:46,160 They literally built it. 608 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:50,920 Today we often build our own indictment with our words, 609 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:52,320 what we say. 610 00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:56,240 So many words and yet so much vanity. 611 00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:58,440 But the encouragement for us here, 612 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:00,360 I have to go to another passage to prove it, 613 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:03,320 but we don't need to persist in this. 614 00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:05,240 We don't need to persist in this vanity. 615 00:38:05,240 --> 00:38:07,040 We talked about Job a good bit today, 616 00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:09,880 so I wanna show you how Job finally responded. 617 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:14,320 Job 42, it's his repentance. 618 00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:17,720 And he clearly acknowledges that Yahweh can do all things. 619 00:38:17,720 --> 00:38:20,040 And he spoke of things he didn't understand. 620 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:23,880 It was vanity in his words. 621 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:25,920 Now he said these things after everything he suffered 622 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,040 and then he repented in dust and in ash. 623 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:31,520 And so Job answered Yahweh, I know you can do all things 624 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:34,600 and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 625 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:36,840 Therefore I've declared that which I did not understand. 626 00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:41,280 Things too marvelous for me, which I did not know. 627 00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:46,200 Therefore I reject myself and I repent in dust and ashes. 628 00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,160 See this is the proper response for a person 629 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:50,920 when they're humbled. 630 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:54,560 When they see they can't contend with the potter. 631 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:56,880 That their life is completely in the hands 632 00:38:56,880 --> 00:38:58,280 of an almighty God. 633 00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:01,640 And so the response then is to repent, to bow low. 634 00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:07,360 To admit that we know nothing in comparison to his glory. 635 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:09,960 And consider this, ideally everyone who suffers 636 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,200 any grievous loss, every believer that suffers 637 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:15,040 such pain and heartache, even the loss of loved ones 638 00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:19,960 like Job did, would arrive at the same conclusion. 639 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:22,760 That God alone can do all things. 640 00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:26,120 That his will is always accomplished. 641 00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:29,880 And that our complaints against his will are sinful. 642 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:35,760 Because his ways are too marvelous for us to understand. 643 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:37,440 As we're looking at the close of this chapter, 644 00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:40,960 right before the final verse, I want us to pause. 645 00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:44,200 Solomon's been playing a chess game this whole time. 646 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:46,160 He's been reasoning and confronting 647 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:49,520 the mind of the reader since the beginning of this work. 648 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:52,600 In chapter one, he brought that difficult truth to swallow. 649 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:55,600 He confronted us with a statement, all this vanity. 650 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:57,520 And he was calling into question the purpose 651 00:39:57,520 --> 00:39:59,480 or the point of man's toil. 652 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:00,720 Why do we labor so hard? 653 00:40:00,720 --> 00:40:01,480 What advantage? 654 00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:04,840 What do we stand to gain in this life of difficulty? 655 00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:07,360 He even said wisdom was a vain pursuit 656 00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:09,720 without eternal purpose. 657 00:40:09,720 --> 00:40:13,080 Now going into chapter two, then Solomon brought receipts. 658 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:14,040 He showed us. 659 00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:15,560 He gave us observations. 660 00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:18,200 He gave us the proofs that support the claim 661 00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:19,280 that all is vanity. 662 00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:23,400 He pointed out chasing satisfaction proved futile. 663 00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:27,640 Even trying to find your worth in your work was pointless, 664 00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:29,520 he said, it was vanity. 665 00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:31,240 And then he began to drop clear statements 666 00:40:31,240 --> 00:40:33,800 about God's sovereignty. 667 00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:35,800 In chapter three, he addressed the nature of time, 668 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:37,880 that famous passage in appointed time, 669 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:41,120 how all things are given a time, and even how man has eternity 670 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:44,120 written in his heart, yet is unable to find out 671 00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:47,680 God's work from beginning to end, therefore vanity. 672 00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:49,840 Solomon reminded us that we are but dust 673 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:53,600 amidst the difficulties in this life, vanity. 674 00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:55,800 And in chapter four, he gave us some advice 675 00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:58,720 about how to see good in that rat race of life. 676 00:40:58,720 --> 00:41:00,440 And then he reminded us that whether you're 677 00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:03,800 a prince or a pauper, all things come and go and come again, 678 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:08,880 just like a hamster wheel, over and over, vanity. 679 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:10,880 He confronted our half-hearted approach 680 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,280 to worship in the opening of chapter five. 681 00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:16,240 And then he plainly pointed out the vanity of materialism 682 00:41:16,240 --> 00:41:18,120 and of wealth. 683 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:22,840 And now, in chapter six, he underscores everything 684 00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:24,640 that happened previous. 685 00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:30,400 And he points to a question to draw us to listen and to learn. 686 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:34,680 Who knows what is good during man's lifetime? 687 00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:38,800 If it is but a shadow, hear one moment and gone the next. 688 00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:44,000 Who can tell a man what will come after life under the sun? 689 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:48,160 Now, before we answer, don't forget who he was writing to. 690 00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:51,080 He was writing to Israel, the same covenant people 691 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:52,920 that his father David represented, 692 00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:56,480 the same people who easily forget the Lord God, people 693 00:41:56,480 --> 00:42:00,240 just like us, who see the glitz and the glamour of the world 694 00:42:00,240 --> 00:42:04,640 and forget the goodness and the glory of God. 695 00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:08,240 So if you want to know what is good for man 696 00:42:08,240 --> 00:42:11,240 during his lifetime, you need to seek out 697 00:42:11,240 --> 00:42:14,920 someone other than a man. 698 00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:18,680 You need God's thoughts to answer this question. 699 00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:21,800 If you want to know what's going to be after your life when 700 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:24,880 you die, you can't seek a human out 701 00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:29,040 to tell you what's going to come because they died. 702 00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:32,080 You need God's knowledge. 703 00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:34,720 So these questions, they confront the mind 704 00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:37,720 that is set on the flesh, on the materialistic things here, 705 00:42:37,720 --> 00:42:40,280 and now the pleasures of life under the sun. 706 00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:42,080 And Solomon is punching one more time 707 00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:44,800 at those spiritual kidneys that we talked about. 708 00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:47,200 So can you answer these questions 709 00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:52,960 that he posed without God? 710 00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:57,560 Can you say what is good and what will come after you 711 00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:01,360 without God's wisdom and knowledge shared with you? 712 00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:08,120 Here's a simple defining characteristic 713 00:43:08,120 --> 00:43:10,640 of a person who has a materialistic mind. 714 00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:13,840 It's a person who has no absolutes. 715 00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:16,880 It's that person who says, hmm. 716 00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:19,640 It's a good question. 717 00:43:19,640 --> 00:43:22,640 I don't know. 718 00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:25,280 This question is designed to poke that person 719 00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:27,720 to some kind of definition. 720 00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:31,080 Even if they can't be certain about what comes after death, 721 00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:33,280 they can at least try to say what is 722 00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:37,760 good for man's fleeting days. 723 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:42,000 Solomon's pointed out, chasing satisfaction and wealth, power, 724 00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:45,620 legacy, work, it's all pointless. 725 00:43:45,620 --> 00:43:47,320 So who can say what is good? 726 00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:51,620 Do you see how he's backed that person into a corner? 727 00:43:51,620 --> 00:43:53,120 So at the end, the materialistic mind 728 00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:55,800 just has to say things that we hear today. 729 00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:57,280 You know the sayings. 730 00:43:57,280 --> 00:43:58,240 You do you. 731 00:44:00,900 --> 00:44:04,080 Make yourself happy. 732 00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:09,360 Make choices that spark joy in your life. 733 00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:12,560 And say, good is how you define it. 734 00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:14,880 Everyone can have a different definition. 735 00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:18,240 That's why love is love, right? 736 00:44:18,240 --> 00:44:21,680 That's why gender is a construct, right? 737 00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:23,120 Do you see? 738 00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:27,480 You see where this goes without absolutes? 739 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:29,880 Absolute truth helps us. 740 00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:32,520 Now, God doesn't promise to answer every question 741 00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:34,480 that we have. 742 00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:38,160 But he gives us enough so that we can live, 743 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:39,600 so that we can pursue what is good, 744 00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:44,320 so that we don't have to live a vain life. 745 00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:48,080 God can tell us what will be after life under the sun. 746 00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:49,240 Here's something fascinating. 747 00:44:49,240 --> 00:44:52,240 Solomon wrote this some 400 years 748 00:44:52,240 --> 00:44:54,360 before those eschatological visions 749 00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:56,400 that Ezekiel and Daniel had. 750 00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:59,480 Over 1,000 years before John's vision 751 00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:03,640 of the revelation of Christ. 752 00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:06,120 So those things focused on future things, right? 753 00:45:06,120 --> 00:45:08,080 What comes after? 754 00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:11,880 But even without those works being divinely penned, 755 00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:14,840 Solomon keeps pointing the reader to consider 756 00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:19,200 what comes after death. 757 00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:22,160 To wrestle with the reality of eternity 758 00:45:22,160 --> 00:45:25,120 being written in our hearts. 759 00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:27,480 And so for now, it's good to pause, 760 00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:30,840 to consider what we know and to consider how we know it. 761 00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:33,120 If we profess to know what is good, 762 00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:35,920 it must come from God's word. 763 00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:39,440 If we profess to know what comes after this life, 764 00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:43,520 it must come from God's word that endures how long? 765 00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:46,360 Forever. 766 00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:49,200 Now friends, I know this passage is heavy. 767 00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:50,640 It's intended to be. 768 00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:52,760 We have to stretch our reasoning, our ability 769 00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:55,600 to think when it comes to wisdom literature. 770 00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:58,000 But this chapter was necessary because at the end of chapter 771 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:00,400 five, that materialistic person, they 772 00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:03,960 may have thought that they could somehow pursue the enjoyment 773 00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:05,720 of wealth and work. 774 00:46:05,720 --> 00:46:07,520 But they would have missed something. 775 00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:09,600 Because in verse 19 of chapter five, 776 00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:14,840 Solomon said that you could be glad in your labor 777 00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:17,320 to eat from your portion, but not 778 00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:20,040 to just find your joy in the things that are given to you 779 00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:22,440 that you wanted. 780 00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:25,800 We are never given things, this side of glory, 781 00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:28,760 to take our eyes off of God. 782 00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:31,120 If God gives good things, it's so that you're redirected back 783 00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:35,880 to Him to pay attention to eternal realities. 784 00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:40,280 So chapter six then serves as a countermeasure to chapter five 785 00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:45,440 to show that even if a person sees that toil and that trouble 786 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:48,000 even in this life are necessary, that if you 787 00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:51,200 labor apart from God, it's vanity. 788 00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:52,040 Vanity. 789 00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:52,800 And that's the thing. 790 00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:54,520 Apart from God. 791 00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:59,480 Pursuing wealth, pursuing family, pursuing long years, 792 00:46:59,480 --> 00:47:01,360 apart from God. 793 00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:04,400 Living your best life now, YOLO, all of that 794 00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:08,840 is no more than selfish vanity. 795 00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:11,320 So Solomon tells us to see the good things, 796 00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:14,520 to recognize them when they're given, but take heed. 797 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:18,560 Don't chase the desires of your heart for vain glory. 798 00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:21,000 We need wisdom from above to discern 799 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:24,640 what is good during this short shadow of a life. 800 00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:26,960 And thankfully, chapter seven is going 801 00:47:26,960 --> 00:47:29,160 to begin to show us the way forward. 802 00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:31,720 And so Lord willing, we'll get to dig into that in about 803 00:47:31,720 --> 00:47:33,240 a month from now. 804 00:47:33,240 --> 00:47:35,720 But to sum up chapter six, I would say this. 805 00:47:35,720 --> 00:47:40,160 Achievement without God brings no happiness. 806 00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:42,360 And arguing with the Almighty is more pointless 807 00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:44,760 than chasing the wind. 808 00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:47,840 So how does that affect how you live? 809 00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:51,040 Don't marvel at life when it's awful. 810 00:47:51,040 --> 00:47:53,400 Marvel when it's good. 811 00:47:53,400 --> 00:47:55,040 Right? 812 00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:58,400 See, the danger of good days is that you come to expect them, 813 00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:00,680 like Job, and then you're crushed 814 00:48:00,680 --> 00:48:03,560 when they cease, when they end. 815 00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:06,600 So instead of expecting only blessings, 816 00:48:06,600 --> 00:48:09,520 pay attention to the good things that God has given. 817 00:48:09,520 --> 00:48:11,120 Cultivate gratitude in your heart, 818 00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:14,320 even with the burdens that life brings. 819 00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:17,040 And don't find your joy in creation. 820 00:48:17,040 --> 00:48:19,320 Don't find your joy and your comfort and your hope 821 00:48:19,320 --> 00:48:21,640 and your security and things that have been created. 822 00:48:21,640 --> 00:48:26,400 Find those things in the Creator. 823 00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:28,800 This past week, we had our Monday night C group. 824 00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:30,520 It just started studying James. 825 00:48:30,520 --> 00:48:32,160 We were only a few verses in. 826 00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:34,160 But we covered through chapter one, verse four. 827 00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:36,160 And I was listening to TJ teach, and I 828 00:48:36,160 --> 00:48:40,520 was fascinated by the phrasing by James at the end of verse 829 00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:41,360 four. 830 00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:42,480 I put on the screen. 831 00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:44,200 I think some of us are familiar. 832 00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:45,920 Was it already on the screen? 833 00:48:45,920 --> 00:48:46,720 No. 834 00:48:46,720 --> 00:48:49,040 It's not on the screen. 835 00:48:49,040 --> 00:48:50,120 It's in your Bible. 836 00:48:50,120 --> 00:48:50,920 That's where it is. 837 00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:56,360 It was going to be on the screen. 838 00:48:56,360 --> 00:49:01,160 James chapter one, verse four, some of us are familiar with this 839 00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:04,480 about the nature of trials and testing and perseverance 840 00:49:04,480 --> 00:49:05,920 and what that brings. 841 00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:08,120 As I was reading, though, I had an aha moment. 842 00:49:08,120 --> 00:49:09,760 I shared it with our group on Monday, 843 00:49:09,760 --> 00:49:11,880 and I wanted to share it with you this morning. 844 00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:14,600 And speaking about trials, as we've been studying, 845 00:49:14,600 --> 00:49:17,760 James encourages believers to count it all joy. 846 00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:19,760 Not that the trial itself is enjoyable. 847 00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:21,320 Trials suck. 848 00:49:21,320 --> 00:49:22,280 Trials are hard. 849 00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:23,600 We can say that. 850 00:49:23,600 --> 00:49:25,920 You don't need to say that a trial, it was so great. 851 00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:26,440 No. 852 00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:28,560 God is great in the trial. 853 00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:30,720 He may have taught you something, 854 00:49:30,720 --> 00:49:32,320 but the trial itself sucks. 855 00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:36,800 Death, for example, death is an enemy. 856 00:49:36,800 --> 00:49:39,440 We come to expect it because we know it's coming, 857 00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:42,360 but it's an enemy, and it's the last enemy 858 00:49:42,360 --> 00:49:44,400 that will be destroyed. 859 00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:46,360 Death is not a friend. 860 00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:48,640 We don't greet death like an old friend, 861 00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:50,840 but we greet the life that is to come through death. 862 00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:51,340 Amen? 863 00:49:51,340 --> 00:49:55,300 So the trial sucks. 864 00:49:55,300 --> 00:49:58,020 But knowing, amen, thank you, Tan. 865 00:49:58,020 --> 00:50:00,780 But knowing that whatever God gives is for our greatest good 866 00:50:00,780 --> 00:50:03,220 enables us to choose joy. 867 00:50:03,220 --> 00:50:06,900 Because whatever he's given is for our greatest good, 868 00:50:06,900 --> 00:50:09,300 and we can choose joy in the storms of life. 869 00:50:09,300 --> 00:50:13,580 So when we're tested, that word tested, 870 00:50:13,580 --> 00:50:14,940 it's that refining metal. 871 00:50:14,940 --> 00:50:15,740 You guys know this. 872 00:50:15,740 --> 00:50:17,620 If you've been in the church, you've heard this. 873 00:50:17,620 --> 00:50:19,900 When you heat up metal, it's that refining metal. 874 00:50:19,900 --> 00:50:22,020 When you heat up metal and the dross 875 00:50:22,020 --> 00:50:24,340 starts to come to the top, it's the dirty stuff, the dregs, 876 00:50:24,340 --> 00:50:24,820 right? 877 00:50:24,820 --> 00:50:26,860 And they can be separated so you have the valuable metals 878 00:50:26,860 --> 00:50:29,380 testing to see what the value and the worth of that metal 879 00:50:29,380 --> 00:50:30,020 is. 880 00:50:30,020 --> 00:50:32,020 And that's the perseverance nature. 881 00:50:32,020 --> 00:50:33,060 It perfects. 882 00:50:33,060 --> 00:50:36,500 It brings up all those impurities, right? 883 00:50:36,500 --> 00:50:39,100 So going through trials refine us, 884 00:50:39,100 --> 00:50:42,020 and they conform us to the image of Christ. 885 00:50:42,020 --> 00:50:44,460 But there's that little phrase at the end of verse 4, 886 00:50:44,460 --> 00:50:46,220 that the conclusion of perseverance 887 00:50:46,220 --> 00:50:50,380 having its perfect work, that we would be complete, 888 00:50:50,380 --> 00:50:52,140 lacking in nothing. 889 00:50:52,140 --> 00:50:53,940 And that's what got me. 890 00:50:53,940 --> 00:50:56,340 So I was looking at that last part about lacking nothing. 891 00:50:56,340 --> 00:50:58,940 And the language wasn't clear in the Greek. 892 00:50:58,940 --> 00:51:01,020 And there's nothing wrong with our English Bibles, 893 00:51:01,020 --> 00:51:02,780 but I was wanting more, so I was studying. 894 00:51:02,780 --> 00:51:03,780 I was looking it up. 895 00:51:03,780 --> 00:51:07,060 Now, that word lacking, it could be rendered as needing, 896 00:51:07,060 --> 00:51:11,620 but it could also be rendered as leaving or left behind. 897 00:51:11,620 --> 00:51:14,500 So as we think about James with the connection of testing 898 00:51:14,500 --> 00:51:17,060 metal to prove something is real and pure, 899 00:51:17,060 --> 00:51:18,860 we can look at verse 4 this way. 900 00:51:18,860 --> 00:51:20,940 As we're tested through our trials, 901 00:51:20,940 --> 00:51:24,940 we rely on God, trusting Him through all of our ways. 902 00:51:24,940 --> 00:51:27,140 And the work of perseverance, notice it says, 903 00:51:27,140 --> 00:51:30,100 perseverance has its perfect work, not our perfect work. 904 00:51:30,100 --> 00:51:36,140 The work of perseverance results in our complete satisfaction, 905 00:51:36,140 --> 00:51:38,380 our fulfillment. 906 00:51:38,380 --> 00:51:39,740 Because God is going to see to it 907 00:51:39,740 --> 00:51:44,140 that all the trials take away only the dross, 908 00:51:44,140 --> 00:51:46,860 the things that we don't need. 909 00:51:46,860 --> 00:51:50,140 We won't lack the good things, according to the Lord, 910 00:51:50,140 --> 00:51:52,700 because He's going to transform us from the inside out. 911 00:51:52,700 --> 00:51:55,540 God is going to give us by the Spirit and the Word 912 00:51:55,540 --> 00:52:00,420 the right desires so that our souls will not be lacking. 913 00:52:00,420 --> 00:52:04,220 God will help us to hunger and thirst for righteousness 914 00:52:04,220 --> 00:52:08,740 as we submit all that we are to Him. 915 00:52:08,740 --> 00:52:13,260 Now, everything He keeps from us is to help us remain in Him. 916 00:52:13,260 --> 00:52:14,700 Isn't that amazing? 917 00:52:14,700 --> 00:52:18,700 Everything He cuts away from us is needed to be cut away 918 00:52:18,700 --> 00:52:21,220 to conform us to Christ. 919 00:52:21,220 --> 00:52:25,500 And in Him, we will lack not one thing needed 920 00:52:25,500 --> 00:52:27,860 to receive the crown of life at the end. 921 00:52:31,220 --> 00:52:32,340 All right, let's pray, friends. 922 00:52:35,300 --> 00:52:39,260 God, as we wrap up studying your Word in Ecclesiastes 6, 923 00:52:39,260 --> 00:52:41,420 we ask for your help. 924 00:52:41,420 --> 00:52:44,660 Please help us to think rightly about our lives, 925 00:52:44,660 --> 00:52:47,660 about what we have, and about what we want. 926 00:52:50,340 --> 00:52:55,580 God, we need your help to convict us of our wrong thinking. 927 00:52:55,580 --> 00:52:59,340 So please help us to look for good things. 928 00:52:59,340 --> 00:53:02,940 The things that you provide that help us to hunger and thirst 929 00:53:02,940 --> 00:53:08,780 for righteousness rather than our own selfish desires. 930 00:53:08,780 --> 00:53:10,580 God, we would ask that you encourage 931 00:53:10,580 --> 00:53:16,220 our hearts amidst trouble, amidst the trials of this life. 932 00:53:16,220 --> 00:53:20,220 Help to empower us to press on toward joy 933 00:53:20,220 --> 00:53:21,420 in the midst of our trials. 934 00:53:21,420 --> 00:53:25,300 We know that the trial is painful and on purpose. 935 00:53:25,300 --> 00:53:27,700 But when you're ripping away things that are not you 936 00:53:27,700 --> 00:53:29,820 and the things we worship that are not you, 937 00:53:29,820 --> 00:53:31,780 may we be thankful. 938 00:53:31,780 --> 00:53:35,020 And so help us to choose joy even in the troubles 939 00:53:35,020 --> 00:53:37,620 of this broken life. 940 00:53:37,620 --> 00:53:41,700 God, we ask you to help us long more for the eternal state, 941 00:53:41,700 --> 00:53:45,220 the perfect home, rather than this temporary life. 942 00:53:45,220 --> 00:53:46,540 This is vanity fair. 943 00:53:49,180 --> 00:53:51,220 Help us to praise your name for the good things 944 00:53:51,220 --> 00:53:53,580 that we receive this set of glory. 945 00:53:53,580 --> 00:53:56,780 Even though they're temporary, may we be grateful. 946 00:53:56,780 --> 00:54:01,420 But may we not expect only blessing. 947 00:54:01,420 --> 00:54:03,540 And God, we ask that you would give us grace 948 00:54:03,540 --> 00:54:06,980 to better understand that we are the clay. 949 00:54:06,980 --> 00:54:08,660 Help us to grow in our understanding 950 00:54:08,660 --> 00:54:12,380 of our position that we are part of creation. 951 00:54:12,380 --> 00:54:16,100 Help us understand your incredible distinctness 952 00:54:16,100 --> 00:54:20,180 as the potter, as the maker, as the creator. 953 00:54:20,180 --> 00:54:23,180 And help us not to contend with your will. 954 00:54:25,900 --> 00:54:28,340 For the believers in here this morning, 955 00:54:28,340 --> 00:54:31,340 Father, help us to remember that eternal rest is 956 00:54:31,340 --> 00:54:37,500 found in Christ, that Christ is the best blessing, 957 00:54:37,500 --> 00:54:40,500 that He's the greatest treasure, that He's the secret even 958 00:54:40,500 --> 00:54:42,140 to true and lasting joy. 959 00:54:42,140 --> 00:54:46,460 And for those who do not know Him, 960 00:54:46,460 --> 00:54:48,460 I pray this morning would be used 961 00:54:48,460 --> 00:54:51,140 to confront that materialistic mind to question 962 00:54:51,140 --> 00:54:56,260 why they're here, and that there is hope. 963 00:54:56,260 --> 00:54:58,060 But it's only found in being brought 964 00:54:58,060 --> 00:55:01,620 to the end of ourselves. 965 00:55:01,620 --> 00:55:04,380 So God, may we turn away from the vanity 966 00:55:04,380 --> 00:55:07,540 of this world, of our fickle hearts, 967 00:55:07,540 --> 00:55:10,020 and learn how to kill our sinful tendencies. 968 00:55:10,020 --> 00:55:11,060 Help us. 969 00:55:11,060 --> 00:55:14,140 By the power of your spirit and by the absolute truth 970 00:55:14,140 --> 00:55:16,660 of your word, our prayer is that our hearts would be more 971 00:55:16,660 --> 00:55:18,380 oriented towards you. 972 00:55:18,380 --> 00:55:21,580 So even now, as we praise your name, 973 00:55:21,580 --> 00:55:24,780 singing together, lifting up our voices in song, 974 00:55:24,780 --> 00:55:29,980 help us to let go of our earthly expectations in this life. 975 00:55:29,980 --> 00:55:32,620 And help us to cling to something that is everlasting, 976 00:55:32,620 --> 00:55:35,660 to cling to the promises of your son, Jesus Christ, 977 00:55:35,660 --> 00:55:37,260 in whose name we pray. 978 00:55:37,260 --> 00:55:57,820 Amen.