WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.639 You know, I'm really thankful to be beginning 00:00:01.639 --> 00:00:05.019 Ecclesiastes this morning. As Dave noted, Jeff 00:00:05.019 --> 00:00:07.160 and Tanya are in Scotland. We have a picture 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:10.779 to show you of them wearing something. If my 00:00:10.779 --> 00:00:14.480 clicker can work. There we go. Aw, come on. There 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:18.239 you go. Look at that cute little scarf that he's 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:22.649 wearing. They arrive safe. The weather's cold. 00:00:22.769 --> 00:00:25.289 It's rainy. They're taking tours through Edinburgh 00:00:25.289 --> 00:00:28.089 right now, or they were, and they were seeing 00:00:28.089 --> 00:00:30.550 some of the sites that birthed some of the Harry 00:00:30.550 --> 00:00:32.990 Potter stories. So that's why the scarves are 00:00:32.990 --> 00:00:35.609 there. And I'm told that while he is eating local 00:00:35.609 --> 00:00:41.869 food, he has not yet undertaken mushy peas. I 00:00:41.869 --> 00:00:44.689 don't blame him for that one. But please, pray 00:00:44.689 --> 00:00:47.350 for him, pray for Tanya to enjoy their time away, 00:00:47.490 --> 00:00:50.070 to rest, to recharge. We look forward to being 00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:52.049 back with them in a few weeks. Now, it's been 00:00:52.049 --> 00:00:54.390 a while since we've been in Ecclesiastes. I want 00:00:54.390 --> 00:00:56.770 to give a very brief synopsis to catch us up. 00:00:57.450 --> 00:01:00.090 We've been confronted with the vain pursuit of 00:01:00.090 --> 00:01:03.090 satisfaction and worldliness and the problem 00:01:03.090 --> 00:01:05.489 and the proof of vanity. We've arrived now at 00:01:05.489 --> 00:01:08.450 chapter 7 with some hard, hard -hitting truths 00:01:08.450 --> 00:01:12.430 about the prescription. How do we live with vanity? 00:01:12.939 --> 00:01:14.700 Now the key concept throughout the whole book 00:01:14.700 --> 00:01:17.859 is this idea of wisdom, or in Hebrew, chokmah. 00:01:18.500 --> 00:01:20.439 And yet today we're going to see that wisdom 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:23.680 alone does not solve the problem of vanity, even 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:26.000 if it does bring an advantage to those who live 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.900 under the sun. You see the outline we've been 00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:32.319 working with so far. Chapter 1 sets the stage, 00:01:32.379 --> 00:01:34.280 the problem that all is vanity. And the second 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:36.439 half of chapter 1 all the way through chapter 00:01:36.439 --> 00:01:39.640 6, the proof that all is vanity. Solomon proves 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:42.340 it. And now we've begun in our last couple of 00:01:42.340 --> 00:01:44.840 sermons and we continue today with the prescription 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:47.939 for living with vanity. And today, specifically, 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:51.579 applying wisdom. That's our goal today. So open 00:01:51.579 --> 00:01:54.739 your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 7 so we can be familiar 00:01:54.739 --> 00:01:57.260 with Solomon's brilliance. And let's stand as 00:01:57.260 --> 00:01:59.700 we read God's word. There are difficult sayings. 00:02:00.090 --> 00:02:04.469 that we need to unpack today. So hear the word 00:02:04.469 --> 00:02:07.870 of the Lord, Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verses 15 00:02:07.870 --> 00:02:11.650 through 29. I've seen everything during my days 00:02:11.650 --> 00:02:14.650 of vanity. There is a righteous man who perishes 00:02:14.650 --> 00:02:17.169 in his righteousness. There is a wicked man who 00:02:17.169 --> 00:02:20.590 prolongs his life in his evil doing. Do not be 00:02:20.590 --> 00:02:22.969 excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. 00:02:23.469 --> 00:02:26.979 Why should you make yourself desolate? Do not 00:02:26.979 --> 00:02:29.080 be excessively wicked and do not be a simple 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:31.639 -minded fool. Why should you die before your 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:34.780 time? It is good that you seize one thing and 00:02:34.780 --> 00:02:36.939 also not let go of the other, for the one who 00:02:36.939 --> 00:02:40.139 fears God comes forth with both of them. Wisdom 00:02:40.139 --> 00:02:42.479 strengthens a wise man more than ten men with 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:45.620 power who are in a city. Indeed, there is not 00:02:45.620 --> 00:02:48.699 a righteous man on earth who continually does 00:02:48.699 --> 00:02:53.469 good and who never sins. Do not give your heart 00:02:53.469 --> 00:02:55.289 to all words which are spoken so that you will 00:02:55.289 --> 00:02:57.789 not hear your slave cursing you. For your heart 00:02:57.789 --> 00:02:59.889 also knows that you likewise have many times 00:02:59.889 --> 00:03:03.050 cursed others. I tested all this with wisdom 00:03:03.050 --> 00:03:06.370 and I said, I will be wise. But it was far from 00:03:06.370 --> 00:03:09.530 me. What has been is far away and exceedingly 00:03:09.530 --> 00:03:13.509 deep. Who can find it? I turned my heart to know, 00:03:13.629 --> 00:03:16.250 to explore, and to seek wisdom and an explanation. 00:03:17.030 --> 00:03:19.189 To know the wickedness of foolishness and the 00:03:19.189 --> 00:03:22.710 simple -minded folly of madness. And I found 00:03:22.710 --> 00:03:26.030 more bitter than death the woman whose heart 00:03:26.030 --> 00:03:29.969 is snares and nets, whose hands are chains, one 00:03:29.969 --> 00:03:32.210 who is good before God will escape from her, 00:03:32.310 --> 00:03:35.949 but the sinner will be captured by her. See, 00:03:36.110 --> 00:03:39.689 I found this, says the preacher, adding one thing 00:03:39.689 --> 00:03:42.110 to another to find an explanation which my soul 00:03:42.110 --> 00:03:45.909 still seeks but has not found. I have found one 00:03:45.909 --> 00:03:49.169 man out of a thousand, but I have not found a 00:03:49.169 --> 00:03:53.139 woman among all these. See, I found only this, 00:03:53.259 --> 00:03:56.840 that God made men upright, but they have sought 00:03:56.840 --> 00:04:04.620 out many devices. Let's take a seat. Now you 00:04:04.620 --> 00:04:07.460 can see this isn't going to be easy today, but 00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:09.919 we're continuing in a vein of thought. If you're 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:12.800 to look up at the previous verses before verse 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:17.079 15. And that sermon, by the way, both of those 00:04:17.079 --> 00:04:19.040 sermons are available on our podcast if you want 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:20.939 more context on that. But you're going to see 00:04:20.939 --> 00:04:23.319 man is confronted in verse 14 with his inability 00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:28.220 to secure outcomes. We cannot straighten what 00:04:28.220 --> 00:04:31.100 has been bent, according to verse 13, by the 00:04:31.100 --> 00:04:35.240 one who is beyond us. We think that we can live 00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:38.399 formulaic lives. We think that we can manipulate 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:41.980 situations to get what we want. And Solomon confronts 00:04:41.980 --> 00:04:44.040 that. He confronts when we think we're being 00:04:44.040 --> 00:04:46.439 sanctimonious. We think we can control things. 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:50.019 He confronts that with a brutal truth. Don't 00:04:50.019 --> 00:04:51.939 try to get what you want when your real aim should 00:04:51.939 --> 00:04:55.139 be to fear God and to trust him. Don't sit and 00:04:55.139 --> 00:04:58.319 sulk in what you don't have. Let go of what's 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:01.339 not yours and respond to what's been given to 00:05:01.339 --> 00:05:04.139 you. And that's when we get the encouragements. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:06.879 Be of good cheer. Enjoy the little things in 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:09.800 life. Don't let the simple things pass you by. 00:05:10.410 --> 00:05:12.610 Today, that thought continues as he helps us 00:05:12.610 --> 00:05:15.149 to apply wisdom. He says, don't lean on your 00:05:15.149 --> 00:05:18.250 own understanding. Don't lean on your own wisdom. 00:05:18.910 --> 00:05:22.490 Don't lean on your own righteousness. Submit 00:05:22.490 --> 00:05:24.550 to the Lord. Walk with him. Depend upon him. 00:05:24.569 --> 00:05:27.430 Those things we're going to see today. Now, verses 00:05:27.430 --> 00:05:29.709 15 and following, they contain encouragements 00:05:29.709 --> 00:05:32.670 from Solomon about how to respond to the reality 00:05:32.670 --> 00:05:36.329 that outcomes are not in our hands. There's a 00:05:36.329 --> 00:05:38.089 bit of theming going on. If you want to take 00:05:38.089 --> 00:05:40.629 a look, there's a pastor named Brian Borgman. 00:05:40.629 --> 00:05:44.629 I liked his outline here for this passage. There's 00:05:44.629 --> 00:05:47.529 some more Hebrew parallelism. So you see this 00:05:47.529 --> 00:05:49.649 kind of the breakdown for today. Wisdom avoids 00:05:49.649 --> 00:05:53.569 perfectionism. Wisdom remembers one's own sinfulness. 00:05:53.670 --> 00:05:57.490 Wisdom avoids sensuality. And wisdom remembers 00:05:57.490 --> 00:06:00.269 the sinfulness of others. That's probably a lot 00:06:00.269 --> 00:06:02.310 more simple to understand than what we read, 00:06:02.430 --> 00:06:05.920 given the complexity of wisdom literature. We're 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:08.879 going to see today that wisdom itself is not 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:12.980 salvation. Even if there's a great benefit to 00:06:12.980 --> 00:06:16.060 the believer in wisdom, and there is value, but 00:06:16.060 --> 00:06:20.040 that value is limited. So in this close of chapter 00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:24.379 7, wisdom teaches us to avoid two things, perfectionism 00:06:24.379 --> 00:06:28.439 and sensuality. And wisdom reminds us of our 00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:31.540 own sinfulness and the sinfulness of others. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:34.439 So taking a look at the passage that we're digging 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:37.360 into. today, the first few verses. We're going 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:40.279 to focus on verses 15 through 18. Solomon is 00:06:40.279 --> 00:06:42.000 going to point out the backwards nature of things. 00:06:42.100 --> 00:06:44.040 Things don't work the way that they ought to. 00:06:44.100 --> 00:06:46.420 The one who does righteousness perishes while 00:06:46.420 --> 00:06:48.560 he does the right thing, while the wicked one 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:52.800 prolongs his life while doing evil. Shouldn't 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:56.600 it be the other way around? Doesn't that frustrate 00:06:56.600 --> 00:06:59.720 us? I don't even think I need to mention recent 00:06:59.720 --> 00:07:03.899 events, but you have it in your mind. You have 00:07:03.899 --> 00:07:06.060 it in your mind because it's not the way that 00:07:06.060 --> 00:07:08.560 things should work. If you do good, it should 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:12.019 go good, right? And if you do evil, it should 00:07:12.019 --> 00:07:14.360 go bad. But Solomon gives you an exception here. 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:17.439 He says this life is bent, but he gives a prescription 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:21.180 for how to respond to it. Don't be overly righteous. 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:26.620 Don't be overly wise. Now, there are times when 00:07:26.620 --> 00:07:29.300 you read wisdom literature and you're just stumped. 00:07:29.819 --> 00:07:32.800 You have to pause. You have to consider, what's 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:35.660 being said, what's actually being encouraged. 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:38.480 Now, maybe you've been on that Indiana Jones 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:42.139 ride at Disneyland. Have you? Okay, I'm seeing 00:07:42.139 --> 00:07:46.500 some head nods. It's awful, by the way. For me, 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:49.199 anyways. It's famous not because of the connection 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:52.279 to the franchise, but because of how much it 00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:55.839 wildly throws the riders around. People need 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:59.180 back adjustments afterwards. It gives whiplash. 00:07:59.949 --> 00:08:02.189 See, that's what Solomon's doing with this statement 00:08:02.189 --> 00:08:06.870 here. He's shoving you awake. We're moving along 00:08:06.870 --> 00:08:09.589 God's sovereign who can straighten what is bent 00:08:09.589 --> 00:08:12.209 and then all of a sudden he gives us a hip check 00:08:12.209 --> 00:08:15.009 and he throws us off balance by telling us to 00:08:15.009 --> 00:08:18.389 consider moderation in wisdom and righteousness. 00:08:20.709 --> 00:08:23.870 Man, how do you begin to understand that when 00:08:23.870 --> 00:08:27.370 he's saying it without sarcasm? Don't be excessively 00:08:27.370 --> 00:08:29.930 righteous. Don't be excessively wise. Isn't that 00:08:29.930 --> 00:08:32.389 the opposite of everything that you've heard 00:08:32.389 --> 00:08:36.330 if you've grown up in the church? Have you grown 00:08:36.330 --> 00:08:38.450 up in a church that said, hey, you know what? 00:08:38.529 --> 00:08:40.169 Don't worry about this whole righteousness thing. 00:08:41.730 --> 00:08:44.330 Don't worry about going God's way. Just do whatever 00:08:44.330 --> 00:08:46.570 you want. If you did grow up in a church like 00:08:46.570 --> 00:08:52.169 that, oof. Pay attention to how he writes, though. 00:08:52.769 --> 00:08:58.620 He doesn't say, don't be at all. Verse 17 is 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:01.039 going to refute that. He cautions an extreme 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:05.179 focus of righteousness and wisdom that some may 00:09:05.179 --> 00:09:07.059 undertake. Here, let me put it in context or 00:09:07.059 --> 00:09:09.879 something easier today. He's speaking to the 00:09:09.879 --> 00:09:13.519 perfectionists. He's speaking to the control 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:16.100 freaks. That's not my term, by the way. That's 00:09:16.100 --> 00:09:19.600 just one we understand, right? The sanctimonious, 00:09:19.639 --> 00:09:22.299 the self -righteous, defenders of their own honor. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:24.960 The people who always make the right decision, 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:28.080 at least in their mind. The ones who always want 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:31.539 to justify their actions and never own up to 00:09:31.539 --> 00:09:37.480 any mistake. That's who he's speaking to. He's 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:40.700 speaking to the ones who expect that life should 00:09:40.700 --> 00:09:43.440 not work like verse 15 describes. The ones who 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.360 are struggling when their righteous perish in 00:09:46.360 --> 00:09:49.039 their righteousness. The ones who want their 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:51.700 perfect life. The ones who want a perfect home. 00:09:52.279 --> 00:09:55.139 the ones who want perfect kids, a perfect job, 00:09:55.220 --> 00:09:58.580 a perfect boss, the ones who are shocked when 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:01.940 the righteous perish. He's speaking to them, 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:05.740 to the ones who think they can control outcomes 00:10:05.740 --> 00:10:08.899 with their actions, who think that they can get 00:10:08.899 --> 00:10:10.759 people to do what they want by their effort, 00:10:10.919 --> 00:10:14.440 the ones who think that if they do Christian 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:18.200 things, they can get the life they want, the 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:22.279 spouse they want, the family they want. the business 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:27.000 they want, the work they want, the future that 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:31.340 they want. But the end of verse 16 points out 00:10:31.340 --> 00:10:34.279 that this perfectionist, outcome -driven lifestyle 00:10:34.279 --> 00:10:38.840 only leads to self -ruin. It makes someone desolate. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:42.200 What does it mean to be desolate, to be ruined, 00:10:42.259 --> 00:10:44.899 to be destroyed? That Hebrew word literally means 00:10:44.899 --> 00:10:49.340 uninhabitable, deserted, and to be made to tremble. 00:10:50.220 --> 00:10:52.700 Think of that controlling and self -righteous 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:57.179 perfectionist. How can they enjoy life when things 00:10:57.179 --> 00:11:01.100 don't go their way? When they're confronted with 00:11:01.100 --> 00:11:02.740 their own sinfulness, when they can't control 00:11:02.740 --> 00:11:10.440 outcomes? They don't enjoy life, right? And though, 00:11:10.539 --> 00:11:12.980 you know, there's probably very few people who'd 00:11:12.980 --> 00:11:16.039 be characterized as being solely that, we know 00:11:16.039 --> 00:11:20.740 ourselves, do we not? So many moments, perhaps 00:11:20.740 --> 00:11:24.480 this past week or month, where you and I have 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:29.100 been exactly like that. Pursuing things that 00:11:29.100 --> 00:11:31.500 destroy our ability to enjoy the life that God 00:11:31.500 --> 00:11:35.500 has given. Being critical of things and others 00:11:35.500 --> 00:11:38.779 that don't live up to our own impossible standards. 00:11:40.139 --> 00:11:42.940 Fearing things won't turn out in a favorable 00:11:42.940 --> 00:11:48.320 way for us. And it makes one miserable. Now without 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:50.720 taking us down a large rabbit hole, let's just 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:53.580 acknowledge that is where an awful lot of depression 00:11:53.580 --> 00:11:58.220 in our society stems from. But before we can 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:00.679 apply anything, Solomon swings at the other extreme. 00:12:01.220 --> 00:12:03.980 Verse 17 warns us not to be excessively wicked, 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:07.039 not to be a simple -minded fool. The end of such 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:09.639 would lead to an untimely death. And this harkens 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:13.120 back to a teaching in Proverbs chapter 10. We're 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:15.179 taught that the fear of Yahweh prolongs life 00:12:15.179 --> 00:12:16.779 and the years of the wicked will be shortened. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:19.580 And doesn't this seem to contradict verse 15 00:12:19.580 --> 00:12:22.659 that we just read? This is where you'll get people 00:12:22.659 --> 00:12:25.860 to say the Bible contradicts itself. If you're 00:12:25.860 --> 00:12:31.139 a fool, and I don't mean to be mean, I'm being 00:12:31.139 --> 00:12:34.519 honest. If you're a fool and you have no understanding, 00:12:34.700 --> 00:12:38.080 then yes, God's word contradicts because you 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:41.720 don't understand, not because he is confusing. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:46.899 Not because he is misled. Not because he contradicts 00:12:46.899 --> 00:12:50.820 himself. There's any being in the universe that 00:12:50.820 --> 00:12:56.700 doesn't contradict himself. It is Yahweh. Remember, 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:01.200 Solomon deals with the exceptions. The general 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:04.600 truism is this, Proverbs 10. But he's not afraid 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:07.360 to address those whataboutisms that we bring 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:10.210 up in our ignorance. And he preempts that simple 00:13:10.210 --> 00:13:12.250 -mindedness to bring us a great measure of wisdom 00:13:12.250 --> 00:13:15.269 and clarity. The reason he gives for not being 00:13:15.269 --> 00:13:17.870 excessively wicked or a fool is that it leads 00:13:17.870 --> 00:13:20.769 to an untimely death. Now, it's possible that 00:13:20.769 --> 00:13:23.009 a wicked person may live a long time. He says 00:13:23.009 --> 00:13:25.970 that in verse 15 of Ecclesiastes 7. But that's 00:13:25.970 --> 00:13:29.269 the exception. Generally speaking, the wicked 00:13:29.269 --> 00:13:32.870 and foolish have a shortened time span. So don't 00:13:32.870 --> 00:13:35.919 swing to the extremes. He's cautioning against 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:38.100 wickedness. He didn't say, don't be wicked. That 00:13:38.100 --> 00:13:39.460 would be impossible. We're going to see that 00:13:39.460 --> 00:13:41.879 in verse 20. And he's also not encouraging us 00:13:41.879 --> 00:13:45.360 to just be a little bit wicked. Rather, he's 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:48.039 saying, don't swing the pendulum that a person 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:50.820 is prone to when they don't get what they want. 00:13:52.620 --> 00:13:55.740 So if perfectionism and self -righteousness can't 00:13:55.740 --> 00:13:59.580 attain your desires, you might be inclined to 00:13:59.580 --> 00:14:02.860 say, well, forget it. Why was I trying so hard? 00:14:03.289 --> 00:14:06.269 I might as well sin or not care because I didn't 00:14:06.269 --> 00:14:08.429 get what I wanted when I thought I was doing 00:14:08.429 --> 00:14:11.750 the right thing. Do you see how he's counseling 00:14:11.750 --> 00:14:17.370 the heart? Solomon knows the heart. He knows 00:14:17.370 --> 00:14:20.029 that's a likely response of a person when they're 00:14:20.029 --> 00:14:22.370 going the perceived right way and they don't 00:14:22.370 --> 00:14:24.929 get what they want, that they might be prone 00:14:24.929 --> 00:14:28.330 to forsake it. And so he cautions. and reminds 00:14:28.330 --> 00:14:31.049 that such a pursuit of wickedness and folly will 00:14:31.049 --> 00:14:38.330 absolutely lead to an untimely demise. We continue. 00:14:40.049 --> 00:14:44.590 Why make yourself desolate? Don't be excessively 00:14:44.590 --> 00:14:48.690 wicked. And then we get to a really tough verse. 00:14:48.970 --> 00:14:52.669 It is good that you seize one thing and also 00:14:52.669 --> 00:14:55.529 not let go of the other. Let's take a look at 00:14:55.529 --> 00:14:59.220 that. That seizing, at first glance, you might 00:14:59.220 --> 00:15:03.179 think, involves righteousness and wickedness. 00:15:04.779 --> 00:15:08.559 But the grabbing and seeming, I think, relates 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:12.419 to righteousness and wisdom. Because you don't 00:15:12.419 --> 00:15:15.139 come forth with God with wickedness and folly. 00:15:15.799 --> 00:15:19.620 Knowing God's character makes it easier to discern 00:15:19.620 --> 00:15:23.929 what you should come forward with. Now he's speaking 00:15:23.929 --> 00:15:26.450 in an unfamiliar way to our sentence structure. 00:15:26.570 --> 00:15:28.690 We don't speak this way, but he's telling the 00:15:28.690 --> 00:15:31.990 reader, grab one thing and don't let go of this 00:15:31.990 --> 00:15:34.809 other thing. It's good to hold on to righteousness, 00:15:34.970 --> 00:15:38.929 to grasp it, to hold fast to it. It's good. And 00:15:38.929 --> 00:15:41.470 it's good to not let go or literally not rest 00:15:41.470 --> 00:15:43.710 your hand, meaning you don't loosen your grip 00:15:43.710 --> 00:15:47.429 from wisdom. We shouldn't abandon or depart from 00:15:47.429 --> 00:15:51.149 wisdom, even if an excessive pursuit of it would 00:15:51.149 --> 00:15:56.230 lead. Now the key to grasping righteousness and 00:15:56.230 --> 00:15:58.029 holding on to wisdom is right there in the text. 00:15:58.490 --> 00:16:04.129 Fearing God. Fearing God. You look to him. You 00:16:04.129 --> 00:16:06.649 don't look to your outcomes. When we rightly 00:16:06.649 --> 00:16:09.490 fear God, you submit to his ways, even if they 00:16:09.490 --> 00:16:14.889 look bent from your perspective. So Solomon tells 00:16:14.889 --> 00:16:18.009 us to avoid the extremes. Don't pursue a vain 00:16:18.009 --> 00:16:21.440 life of perfection. And don't demand that everything 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:24.340 measures up to your own standard, whether that's 00:16:24.340 --> 00:16:27.039 yourself, your spouse, your kids, your church, 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:31.159 and life itself. Instead, fear the Lord. Don't 00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:34.559 fear failure. Live in the fear of the Lord. Don't 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:36.919 live in the fear of not getting the right formula 00:16:36.919 --> 00:16:39.679 to get what you want or to get what you think 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:44.539 you should have. And then he continues. And this 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:47.720 section may seem like he pivots, but he doesn't. 00:16:48.259 --> 00:16:51.169 If you take a look, First, he said, don't let 00:16:51.169 --> 00:16:53.429 go of righteousness and wisdom. Previous verse 00:16:53.429 --> 00:16:57.409 18. Now, why? Why don't we let go of it? Because 00:16:57.409 --> 00:17:02.529 wisdom gives strength. Wisdom gives strength. 00:17:03.169 --> 00:17:06.029 Now, how is strength and might measured in Solomon's 00:17:06.029 --> 00:17:08.390 day? You know, today we'd use something like 00:17:08.390 --> 00:17:10.750 a strongman competition. I don't know if you've 00:17:10.750 --> 00:17:12.950 ever seen that guy with the massive arms with 00:17:12.950 --> 00:17:15.089 the, you know, arm wrestling. His hands don't 00:17:15.089 --> 00:17:17.109 make sense. You should look it up sometime. It 00:17:17.109 --> 00:17:19.579 really is incredible. Maybe an endurance race. 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:21.039 Maybe you're like, no, it's not that strength. 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:23.579 It's the strength to persevere Ironman triathlon. 00:17:23.700 --> 00:17:26.519 Sure, that might be how we measure strength today. 00:17:27.160 --> 00:17:30.740 But in Solomon's day, strength was measured by 00:17:30.740 --> 00:17:34.220 a multitude of men banding together. Banding 00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:36.539 together to exercise leadership and authority. 00:17:37.339 --> 00:17:40.759 A king could be mighty, but 10 men committed 00:17:40.759 --> 00:17:44.500 to a certain way would be invincible. That's 00:17:44.500 --> 00:17:46.319 what it looked like in Solomon's day. And he 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:49.880 says, yet wisdom, is greater than such strength. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:52.059 So what is that strength then? What does it look 00:17:52.059 --> 00:17:54.619 like? Well, think about what 10 men would be 00:17:54.619 --> 00:17:57.160 strengthened toward if they committed together. 00:17:58.619 --> 00:18:01.140 Ecclesiastes 4 speaks of this as support for 00:18:01.140 --> 00:18:03.880 one another. Remember the three -chord strand? 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:08.059 Not easily broken. Help when one is weak. Comfort 00:18:08.059 --> 00:18:10.640 when one is going through difficulty. Shared 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:14.819 resources. Strength would also be seen in a willing 00:18:14.819 --> 00:18:18.240 commitment to see things through. Knowing that 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:20.119 those other nine are going to push you forward 00:18:20.119 --> 00:18:23.779 when that way is hard. See, that's the strength 00:18:23.779 --> 00:18:27.240 of wisdom. Pushing you forward, supporting you 00:18:27.240 --> 00:18:30.720 toward righteousness, even when it's difficult. 00:18:32.019 --> 00:18:34.880 Wisdom strengthens you to continue living even 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:37.920 when the days are bleak. Even when you don't 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:41.759 get what you want. Wisdom strengthens your resolve 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:44.640 to live through both good days and bad. And wisdom 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.519 pushes you through. Now think about this. You 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:50.259 don't need strength if things aren't difficult. 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:57.500 The implied purpose of strength in verse 19 harkens 00:18:57.500 --> 00:19:01.779 back to verse 14. God has made the good days 00:19:01.779 --> 00:19:06.059 and the days of calamity. We need wisdom to strengthen 00:19:06.059 --> 00:19:10.859 us to navigate the ups and downs of life. But 00:19:10.859 --> 00:19:14.720 as good as wisdom is, as noble as it is to pursue 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:19.089 righteousness, There is not one man, not one 00:19:19.089 --> 00:19:22.609 righteous man who continually does good, who 00:19:22.609 --> 00:19:26.930 constantly holds to wisdom, who never sins. And 00:19:26.930 --> 00:19:28.730 in that statement, Solomon is drawing us back 00:19:28.730 --> 00:19:31.150 to creation. And he's done this many times because 00:19:31.150 --> 00:19:35.450 he uses the word for mankind, Adam. He draws 00:19:35.450 --> 00:19:39.450 us back to the creation account to consider the 00:19:39.450 --> 00:19:43.869 garden, to consider Genesis 3, to consider Romans 00:19:43.869 --> 00:19:48.240 3. No one is perfectly righteous. We all would 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:51.259 have sinned just like Adam and Eve. We all do 00:19:51.259 --> 00:19:57.000 sin. We all do disobey God. Now verses 21 and 00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:59.940 22, they preempt another straw man argument that 00:19:59.940 --> 00:20:01.819 we might be prone towards. What if it appears 00:20:01.819 --> 00:20:05.339 to you that someone is always kind, is always 00:20:05.339 --> 00:20:08.180 gracious, always forgiving? Are they sinners? 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:12.420 And Solomon brings a regular occurrence to prove 00:20:12.420 --> 00:20:15.579 his point. Whether you've said things out loud 00:20:15.579 --> 00:20:19.180 or not, in your heart, in your heart, you've 00:20:19.180 --> 00:20:24.019 cursed others. That's what verse 22 says. Now 00:20:24.019 --> 00:20:26.640 that cursing is not swearing. It's not casting 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:29.740 a hex. The better connotation here is complaining, 00:20:30.039 --> 00:20:34.480 criticizing, belittling. And now you see the 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:36.559 connection with the perfectionist and the self 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:40.079 -righteous desires from earlier. These things 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:41.940 are all too commonplace. Friends, think about 00:20:41.940 --> 00:20:44.210 it. Even for the believer. When someone cuts 00:20:44.210 --> 00:20:47.490 you off on the freeway, man, that person's an 00:20:47.490 --> 00:20:51.410 idiot. When your boss is committed to an exercise 00:20:51.410 --> 00:20:55.089 in redundancy, I can't believe how foolish they 00:20:55.089 --> 00:20:59.250 are. Students, when your professor asks for an 00:20:59.250 --> 00:21:02.190 assignment you see no point in, do they even 00:21:02.190 --> 00:21:06.369 care what we're learning? Husbands and wives, 00:21:06.529 --> 00:21:09.269 when your spouse forgets to do something you 00:21:09.269 --> 00:21:12.390 think is important, they're just not loving me. 00:21:12.779 --> 00:21:16.640 They're being selfish. When a church leader does 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:19.799 or says something you disagree with, I can't 00:21:19.799 --> 00:21:21.900 believe what they said. They think they're wise, 00:21:21.980 --> 00:21:24.940 but I know better. Now, if that one hasn't happened 00:21:24.940 --> 00:21:27.140 for you this morning, just wait. It might in 00:21:27.140 --> 00:21:32.980 a few moments. So for us, it might seem like 00:21:32.980 --> 00:21:35.420 he takes this sharp detour to talk about words, 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:39.019 but he's encouraging us with part of his case. 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:42.049 There is no one righteous. Because even in your 00:21:42.049 --> 00:21:44.630 heart, you're going to say evil things. And he 00:21:44.630 --> 00:21:46.569 does encourage, don't listen to those things. 00:21:46.650 --> 00:21:48.950 We'll get to that in just a moment. But he's 00:21:48.950 --> 00:21:51.390 saying, even if the outward appearance of a person 00:21:51.390 --> 00:21:55.690 is righteous, the own heart will condemn. Because 00:21:55.690 --> 00:21:59.170 the heart knows that he's cursed others. That 00:21:59.170 --> 00:22:01.589 reveals our control loving, our perfectionist 00:22:01.589 --> 00:22:03.970 desires. Now, how many have fallen into that 00:22:03.970 --> 00:22:05.630 trap when you're trying to pursue a good way? 00:22:06.970 --> 00:22:09.940 You hold others to impossibly. high standards. 00:22:10.019 --> 00:22:13.019 You sinfully judge others that you fail to meet 00:22:13.019 --> 00:22:17.960 even yourself. There's a not so subtle hidden 00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:21.819 truth here in verse 21 when he says, be careful 00:22:21.819 --> 00:22:25.259 of pursuing these things. Be careful of listening 00:22:25.259 --> 00:22:29.160 to these words. If you're just trying to please 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:31.759 others, recognize their heart is just like yours. 00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:36.880 Even when you think you're kind, they're going 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:42.289 to say something bad about you. So don't be ruled 00:22:42.289 --> 00:22:45.349 by people's opinions because they're always going 00:22:45.349 --> 00:22:47.890 to find a way to tear you down. That's part of 00:22:47.890 --> 00:22:52.369 our sin nature. But he's not done teaching us 00:22:52.369 --> 00:22:54.609 about applying wisdom in this section. As difficult 00:22:54.609 --> 00:22:56.990 as it is in general, the remainder is going to 00:22:56.990 --> 00:23:02.029 be a doozy. He says this, verse 23, he tested 00:23:02.029 --> 00:23:05.049 all these things with wisdom. Earlier in chapter 00:23:05.049 --> 00:23:08.430 1 and chapter 2, Solomon said he was endeavoring 00:23:08.430 --> 00:23:10.990 to search out wisdom and simple -minded folly. 00:23:11.029 --> 00:23:13.869 He has put himself to the task to understand 00:23:13.869 --> 00:23:16.829 these things. And so he's telling us he didn't 00:23:16.829 --> 00:23:19.829 just come up with musings. He's not just saying 00:23:19.829 --> 00:23:23.190 something and asking you to believe it. He's 00:23:23.190 --> 00:23:26.890 tested it. How many people love evidence -based 00:23:26.890 --> 00:23:30.710 research? How many people love things to be tested? 00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:34.160 I think we prefer them to be tested, do we not? 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:38.680 What Solomon's saying is he has. He's tested 00:23:38.680 --> 00:23:41.900 it. More than any doctor you could ever trust, 00:23:42.180 --> 00:23:45.660 he's tested it because he was given wisdom from 00:23:45.660 --> 00:23:48.720 on high. So when he speaks of there not being 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:52.680 one righteous man who continually does good and 00:23:52.680 --> 00:23:56.380 he seeks out to prove it, we can trust his assessment. 00:23:57.700 --> 00:23:59.839 Because he's seen that even if the outer man 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:02.160 appears righteous, the inner man provides that 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:05.680 condemnation because sin begins in the heart. 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:10.579 Now, even while testing it, he admits wisdom 00:24:10.579 --> 00:24:13.720 is far from himself. Think about that. Guys, 00:24:13.779 --> 00:24:17.079 think about that. Solomon is the man gifted with 00:24:17.079 --> 00:24:19.500 wisdom. Of whom it was said, there had been none 00:24:19.500 --> 00:24:23.500 wiser. And he states the difficulty of testing 00:24:23.500 --> 00:24:26.799 all these things. He says it's just... Doesn't 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:30.579 this remind you of Romans 11 .33? Scripture says, 00:24:30.759 --> 00:24:43.359 Doesn't that remind you of that? Even with immense 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:47.339 God -given wisdom, one cannot search out all 00:24:47.339 --> 00:24:52.240 things. It's just too vast. There are many mysteries 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:55.460 too great for us to comprehend. Can you comprehend 00:24:55.460 --> 00:24:59.619 the size of the universe? Can you comprehend 00:24:59.619 --> 00:25:04.039 time? I don't just mean tell time. Hopefully 00:25:04.039 --> 00:25:09.160 you can do that. Time. Why are we so fascinated 00:25:09.160 --> 00:25:11.440 with alternate timelines, which aren't real, 00:25:11.559 --> 00:25:17.660 but God being outside of it? That's hard. Do 00:25:17.660 --> 00:25:19.859 you understand how laughter can lift the heart? 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:26.490 How does it happen? Do you understand why and 00:25:26.490 --> 00:25:29.869 how the comfort of an embrace can bring such 00:25:29.869 --> 00:25:34.789 relief? It does. You know these things, but do 00:25:34.789 --> 00:25:38.710 you understand it? Even with great wisdom, we 00:25:38.710 --> 00:25:42.069 have our limits to our comprehension. But when 00:25:42.069 --> 00:25:45.609 we run up to mysteries, it should cause us to 00:25:45.609 --> 00:25:49.740 return to God. When he speaks of knowing the 00:25:49.740 --> 00:25:51.900 wickedness and foolishness here in the text or 00:25:51.900 --> 00:25:54.200 the simple -minded folly of madness, he's not 00:25:54.200 --> 00:25:56.839 saying that he pursued those things. The Hebrew 00:25:56.839 --> 00:25:59.220 word for knowing here doesn't have the same connotation 00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:01.599 as the words, the verbs really that he used earlier 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:04.000 when he cautioned don't be excessively wicked, 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:07.980 don't be a fool. What that means is Solomon did 00:26:07.980 --> 00:26:11.299 not aim to experience wickedness and madness, 00:26:11.559 --> 00:26:14.940 but he sought to understand it. He sought to 00:26:14.940 --> 00:26:18.619 explain it. Searching it out is more like a trail 00:26:18.619 --> 00:26:20.900 mapper. If you've ever been to a national park, 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:22.640 you know there are these trails. Somebody had 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:25.019 to go through that to map the trail before you 00:26:25.019 --> 00:26:27.799 could go on it. He's like a trail mapper who 00:26:27.799 --> 00:26:30.599 goes along the way. He's looking for the pitfalls 00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:32.900 and the dangers to the other travelers so they 00:26:32.900 --> 00:26:35.980 can benefit from his exercise of studying the 00:26:35.980 --> 00:26:40.779 trail. Now, we can't avoid being a sinner. He's 00:26:40.779 --> 00:26:43.420 already said that. But with wisdom, we can avoid 00:26:43.420 --> 00:26:45.859 the pitfalls of being given over to wickedness. 00:26:46.329 --> 00:26:49.089 into madness. And like a helpful guide, he's 00:26:49.089 --> 00:26:51.990 trying to keep us from being entrapped by such 00:26:51.990 --> 00:26:55.029 things. Just a really quick note here on simple 00:26:55.029 --> 00:26:58.289 -minded folly of madness. This word is used five 00:26:58.289 --> 00:27:01.650 times in Ecclesiastes. And to picture it today, 00:27:01.750 --> 00:27:05.490 you need to think of a medium or a voodoo witch 00:27:05.490 --> 00:27:08.869 doctor. You might have seen this with a TV show 00:27:08.869 --> 00:27:10.690 or movie or something. Unlikely you've seen it 00:27:10.690 --> 00:27:13.410 in real life, but maybe you have. They convulse. 00:27:13.900 --> 00:27:16.900 when they profess to be messengers from the spiritual 00:27:16.900 --> 00:27:21.279 realm. They do unhuman, erratic movements to 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:23.440 give the perception like they're out of their 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:25.660 mind and controlled by something else. It's fake. 00:27:26.140 --> 00:27:31.019 Or it's demonic. One of the two. But in the Old 00:27:31.019 --> 00:27:33.779 Testament, people were very confused by such 00:27:33.779 --> 00:27:37.099 displays because every religion had it. Every 00:27:37.099 --> 00:27:39.700 one. Sometimes they would even wonder if the 00:27:39.700 --> 00:27:43.200 prophets, those sent by God, were out of their 00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:46.099 minds in a similar way. And there were clear 00:27:46.099 --> 00:27:49.160 examples of madness in the Old Testament. Nebuchadnezzar, 00:27:49.220 --> 00:27:52.660 when he ravaged about like a beast, he was mad. 00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:56.440 How about Saul, when he wrongly was paranoid 00:27:56.440 --> 00:27:59.720 about David conspiring against him? He was mad. 00:28:00.859 --> 00:28:03.119 What about when David chose to appear insane 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:06.779 before King Achish while fleeing Saul? He was 00:28:06.779 --> 00:28:09.980 pretending to be mad. Even King Achish said, 00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:12.329 do I not already have mad men? Do I need more? 00:28:13.369 --> 00:28:17.970 Because that was the way of religious activity 00:28:17.970 --> 00:28:22.349 in the day. So out of confusion, people in the 00:28:22.349 --> 00:28:24.269 ancient Near East thought madness was either 00:28:24.269 --> 00:28:27.230 a gift from God connecting a person to the spiritual 00:28:27.230 --> 00:28:30.410 realm or a judgment from the Most High because 00:28:30.410 --> 00:28:32.609 that person is exhibiting foolish and irrational 00:28:32.609 --> 00:28:35.849 behavior. So that average person, the average 00:28:35.849 --> 00:28:38.769 person that Solomon's writing to, They're considering 00:28:38.769 --> 00:28:41.230 that pursuing the simple -minded folly of madness 00:28:41.230 --> 00:28:45.029 may have been an option on the table. It may 00:28:45.029 --> 00:28:47.150 have been an option to deal with life under the 00:28:47.150 --> 00:28:52.210 sun. So Solomon sought to know this, to explore 00:28:52.210 --> 00:28:55.329 it, to seek explanations, and he confirmed that 00:28:55.329 --> 00:28:58.910 such madness has no merit. You know, Old Testament's 00:28:58.910 --> 00:29:00.730 actually, there are texts that did prove the 00:29:00.730 --> 00:29:04.170 same. Prophet Jeremiah specifically called out 00:29:04.170 --> 00:29:06.609 the madness of pursuing idolatry and the madness 00:29:06.609 --> 00:29:10.089 of pursuing You can see the text on the screen. 00:29:11.190 --> 00:29:14.369 These are just more examples that they're painkillers 00:29:14.369 --> 00:29:17.950 that people chase to, they run to, to dull the 00:29:17.950 --> 00:29:21.109 difficulties of life. But isn't that how the 00:29:21.109 --> 00:29:24.789 unsaved act? The ancient mind, they might have 00:29:24.789 --> 00:29:26.549 wondered whether madness was a gift or a curse, 00:29:26.630 --> 00:29:29.490 but in the New Testament, madness is always an 00:29:29.490 --> 00:29:33.029 affliction for the unsaved. You think of Luke 00:29:33.029 --> 00:29:37.289 chapter 8, the story of Legion. The man who was 00:29:37.289 --> 00:29:40.210 mad. That was not an evidence of God's blessing. 00:29:42.529 --> 00:29:45.549 Now Solomon didn't care to pursue being a madman. 00:29:46.170 --> 00:29:49.109 But people were confused. He wanted to know what 00:29:49.109 --> 00:29:51.789 it was about. And that madness is the direct 00:29:51.789 --> 00:29:54.589 context for verse 26. It almost seems to hit 00:29:54.589 --> 00:29:56.829 us out of nowhere again. Whiplash after whiplash. 00:29:56.930 --> 00:29:59.849 But he's a good trail mapper. And he's warning 00:29:59.849 --> 00:30:05.289 us of a severe pitfall. He makes a claim. that 00:30:05.289 --> 00:30:07.549 amidst searching out the explanations for wisdom, 00:30:07.750 --> 00:30:11.589 for evil and foolishness and madness, he found 00:30:11.589 --> 00:30:17.809 something more bitter than death. Now that part 00:30:17.809 --> 00:30:20.910 alone should shock you. When you hear Solomon 00:30:20.910 --> 00:30:23.089 say he found something more bitter than death, 00:30:23.190 --> 00:30:25.130 the whole time Solomon's been pointing out that 00:30:25.130 --> 00:30:29.190 death is the sharp needle to pop our misunderstandings 00:30:29.190 --> 00:30:32.089 about life. He's been pointing to death. Death 00:30:32.089 --> 00:30:34.490 has been the dark cloud, the great enemy. And 00:30:34.490 --> 00:30:38.109 yet now he says, I have found something more 00:30:38.109 --> 00:30:44.869 bitter than death. So listen, a woman whose heart 00:30:44.869 --> 00:30:51.170 is snares and nets and hands are chains. Now 00:30:51.170 --> 00:30:54.069 think about Solomon's testimony. How many wives? 00:30:56.670 --> 00:31:04.599 700. How many concubines? 300. I'll let you do 00:31:04.599 --> 00:31:09.059 the math for the next verses after this. Now, 00:31:09.079 --> 00:31:11.619 we've been in the story of Esther. As Jeff likes 00:31:11.619 --> 00:31:15.539 to say, King Ahasuerus. I don't say it that, 00:31:15.619 --> 00:31:18.759 I normally say Ahasuerus, but it's okay. Now, 00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:20.859 as prolific as that guy may have been in his 00:31:20.859 --> 00:31:25.319 own court, King Solomon was something else. 1 00:31:25.319 --> 00:31:29.660 Kings 11 tells us that these wives turned Solomon's 00:31:29.660 --> 00:31:33.400 heart away from God. Deuteronomy 17 warned the 00:31:33.400 --> 00:31:35.319 king was supposed to learn the fear of Yahweh, 00:31:35.420 --> 00:31:39.420 was supposed to obey his words. But Solomon loved 00:31:39.420 --> 00:31:45.220 many women. In that, he found out something more 00:31:45.220 --> 00:31:49.180 bitter than death, an adulterous woman who does 00:31:49.180 --> 00:31:53.940 not fear God. Look at these passages from Proverbs. 00:31:54.039 --> 00:31:55.740 I'm sorry that they're small. You might just 00:31:55.740 --> 00:31:57.660 need to look up the reference and pick them up. 00:31:57.700 --> 00:32:00.140 I wanted them to be all together, though. You 00:32:00.140 --> 00:32:02.259 can look those up later, but I want you to notice 00:32:02.259 --> 00:32:05.539 some similarities about the dangers of an adulteress. 00:32:05.700 --> 00:32:07.740 And I underlined some of the statements so you 00:32:07.740 --> 00:32:11.059 can see how serious these cautions are. And I 00:32:11.059 --> 00:32:13.319 want you to know that these are written by Solomon. 00:32:13.400 --> 00:32:15.960 These are authored and penned by him, specifically 00:32:15.960 --> 00:32:19.140 after learning from David and who's his mother? 00:32:20.700 --> 00:32:24.079 Bathsheba. Look at some of these statements. 00:32:24.579 --> 00:32:28.940 Her end is bitter as wormwood. Her feet go down 00:32:28.940 --> 00:32:35.559 to death. Don't let her capture you. An adulteress 00:32:35.559 --> 00:32:39.660 hunts for the precious life. The one who commits 00:32:39.660 --> 00:32:41.859 adultery with a woman is lacking a heart of wisdom. 00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:50.720 He who would destroy his soul does it. He does 00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:54.180 not know what will cost him his soul. Don't let 00:32:54.180 --> 00:32:57.230 your heart go astray. Don't wander into her pathways. 00:32:58.630 --> 00:33:03.009 Numerous are those killed by her. Solomon wrote 00:33:03.009 --> 00:33:06.869 these things. So in chapter 7, when he says that 00:33:06.869 --> 00:33:09.029 he's found something more bitter than death, 00:33:09.130 --> 00:33:11.690 he's found a woman who is hunting for the heart 00:33:11.690 --> 00:33:17.569 of man. And how is she more bitter? Let's be 00:33:17.569 --> 00:33:22.109 honest here. We're humans. Men often look for 00:33:22.109 --> 00:33:25.029 love in all the wrong places. I'm sorry, men. 00:33:25.369 --> 00:33:28.750 Is that not true? Now you may say, in righteousness, 00:33:28.970 --> 00:33:34.390 no. Okay, without it, without it, do men look 00:33:34.390 --> 00:33:37.150 for love in the right places? No, what do they 00:33:37.150 --> 00:33:40.150 do? They prize corruptible beauty. They ignore 00:33:40.150 --> 00:33:43.029 character. They're blind to the devious nature 00:33:43.029 --> 00:33:45.849 of a seductress. They want an easy life. They 00:33:45.849 --> 00:33:49.849 want somebody who serves them. Now men are not 00:33:49.849 --> 00:33:52.430 innocent, but Solomon is making a point clear 00:33:52.430 --> 00:33:55.140 when it comes to something he's seen. And he's 00:33:55.140 --> 00:34:01.779 saying this, that man is sensual. So acquiring 00:34:01.779 --> 00:34:04.640 wisdom, it's difficult. And even when you pursue 00:34:04.640 --> 00:34:06.859 it wisely, you may not be able to actually acquire 00:34:06.859 --> 00:34:10.380 it. He says it's too deep. But wisdom can be 00:34:10.380 --> 00:34:15.619 so elusive and yet so profound. In seeking to 00:34:15.619 --> 00:34:19.619 understand it, what he finds is not that God 00:34:19.619 --> 00:34:27.849 bent our desires, but that our desires Now the 00:34:27.849 --> 00:34:30.730 resulting bitterness from our bent desires is 00:34:30.730 --> 00:34:34.590 great. Solomon's desire for the love of women, 00:34:34.670 --> 00:34:38.769 that was his own sin. But he's also noting the 00:34:38.769 --> 00:34:41.170 danger of a woman whose heart is seeking such 00:34:41.170 --> 00:34:45.949 sensuality as well. If you're chained to such 00:34:45.949 --> 00:34:48.869 a life, he says that's worse than death. And 00:34:48.869 --> 00:34:56.280 wouldn't he know it? 700 wives? 300 concubines 00:34:56.280 --> 00:34:59.019 that 1 Kings 11 tells us turned his heart away 00:34:59.019 --> 00:35:03.940 from the Lord. Looking for love in all the wrong 00:35:03.940 --> 00:35:08.659 places. Now, you know, we make love seem so noble, 00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:10.599 right? You think of the Princess Pride, love, 00:35:10.780 --> 00:35:16.079 true love. We make it seem like that's the thing. 00:35:16.179 --> 00:35:18.860 And life without God, man, maybe that's all you 00:35:18.860 --> 00:35:23.139 can chase. But when you undertake a pursuit of 00:35:23.139 --> 00:35:27.019 loving, without the fear of the Lord, it leads 00:35:27.019 --> 00:35:30.420 to a trap devoid of wisdom, devoid of meaning. 00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:33.099 And that is the most dangerous part of the trail. 00:35:33.860 --> 00:35:36.420 Solomon has avoided many other pitfalls, but 00:35:36.420 --> 00:35:40.539 that one, think about it. That one, even with 00:35:40.539 --> 00:35:44.059 his great wisdom, that was the pitfall for him. 00:35:45.639 --> 00:35:50.159 That's his warning. Now this may be the absolute 00:35:50.159 --> 00:35:53.380 briefest testimony. of what happened with his 00:35:53.380 --> 00:35:56.239 heart when he turned away from Yahweh. He says 00:35:56.239 --> 00:35:58.420 that though it's difficult to escape, it's possible 00:35:58.420 --> 00:36:01.539 for the one who is good before God to escape. 00:36:03.300 --> 00:36:06.579 He's saying so many things he avoided, so many 00:36:06.579 --> 00:36:08.739 things he learned before they were a devastation. 00:36:09.179 --> 00:36:12.380 With much wisdom, he evaded the common pitfalls. 00:36:12.440 --> 00:36:14.699 He followed the trail, mapped it along the way, 00:36:14.820 --> 00:36:17.760 but there was one thing that was more bitter 00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:20.659 than death. And he wants us to know what he found 00:36:20.659 --> 00:36:26.239 in that pit of despair. Proverbs 6, you see it 00:36:26.239 --> 00:36:28.739 on the screen, the front part of the passage 00:36:28.739 --> 00:36:30.840 there on the top. I bolded it. It teaches us 00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:33.579 the way out of the snare. The light of God's 00:36:33.579 --> 00:36:38.619 words. Loving discipline that he provides. Friends, 00:36:38.719 --> 00:36:42.079 isn't that true of all temptation? God teaches 00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:45.039 us the way in righteousness. He reproves. He 00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:48.760 corrects us so we can go the right way. He redeems 00:36:48.760 --> 00:36:53.380 us from our foolishness. Now, the primary application 00:36:53.380 --> 00:36:55.780 here, though, is sensuality, being led by sexual 00:36:55.780 --> 00:36:59.440 passion. But it also relates to the temptations 00:36:59.440 --> 00:37:03.820 that plague us toward any disobedience. May we 00:37:03.820 --> 00:37:07.780 have ears to hear, hearts to learn. Because even 00:37:07.780 --> 00:37:10.139 with great wisdom, there is a dangerous part 00:37:10.139 --> 00:37:17.010 of the trail, and we need to be cautious. As 00:37:17.010 --> 00:37:19.050 we arrive to the last section of this passage, 00:37:19.190 --> 00:37:21.630 this last part, it might not sit well with you. 00:37:21.789 --> 00:37:25.489 And ladies here, I'm especially thinking of you 00:37:25.489 --> 00:37:27.969 because he shares a thought and it seems to cast 00:37:27.969 --> 00:37:31.650 a shadow over all women. But I want you to do 00:37:31.650 --> 00:37:34.110 me a favor before we walk through this. Before 00:37:34.110 --> 00:37:36.650 you cast judgment on what you think is right 00:37:36.650 --> 00:37:40.550 or wrong, I would appeal, endeavor to comprehend 00:37:40.550 --> 00:37:44.880 God's word from God's perspective. and from the 00:37:44.880 --> 00:37:47.539 perspective of a human scribe, in this case, 00:37:47.559 --> 00:37:50.780 Solomon. So with that, we're going to read the 00:37:50.780 --> 00:37:56.579 final few verses. The preacher says, See, I have 00:37:56.579 --> 00:37:59.780 found this, adding one thing to another to find 00:37:59.780 --> 00:38:02.800 an explanation, which my soul still seeks but 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:05.639 has not found. I have found one man out of a 00:38:05.639 --> 00:38:08.239 thousand, but I have not found a woman among 00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:12.840 all these. See, I found only this, that God made 00:38:12.840 --> 00:38:16.780 men upright. but they have sought out many devices. 00:38:18.039 --> 00:38:20.579 And we noted earlier that Solomon has been looking, 00:38:20.679 --> 00:38:22.880 he's been searching, he's been seeking to explain 00:38:22.880 --> 00:38:26.460 and to understand how things work. And in this 00:38:26.460 --> 00:38:29.360 regard, here's what he's found. Wisdom against 00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:34.139 temptation is rare among men. Wisdom against 00:38:34.139 --> 00:38:38.059 temptation is rarer among women. And wisdom against 00:38:38.059 --> 00:38:43.800 temptation is rare for a reason. Now, the way 00:38:43.800 --> 00:38:47.000 that Solomon phrases verse 27 is very difficult 00:38:47.000 --> 00:38:50.880 to render in English. But he's saying that in 00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:53.280 his attempt to explain things, he's uncovering 00:38:53.280 --> 00:38:56.300 observation after observation, and he's adding 00:38:56.300 --> 00:39:00.760 them up each time to find the sum of the whole. 00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:05.179 In this endeavor, though, it yields some insight, 00:39:05.260 --> 00:39:08.719 but it's been elusive. It's been difficult. But 00:39:08.719 --> 00:39:10.860 then he comes to an observation that is very 00:39:10.860 --> 00:39:15.780 uncomfortable. Verse 28, if you were to read 00:39:15.780 --> 00:39:18.639 it from the Hebrew more literally, it would say, 00:39:18.719 --> 00:39:22.900 one man from a thousand I found, but a woman 00:39:22.900 --> 00:39:27.039 among all these I have not found. That's a literal 00:39:27.039 --> 00:39:30.659 rendering of that verse. One man from a thousand 00:39:30.659 --> 00:39:33.460 I found, but a woman among all these I have not 00:39:33.460 --> 00:39:37.219 found. So what was he looking for in verse 28? 00:39:38.380 --> 00:39:41.019 Well, I think the context in general is still 00:39:41.019 --> 00:39:43.670 a wise and righteous person. but specifically 00:39:43.670 --> 00:39:46.929 where we are in the context, he's talking about 00:39:46.929 --> 00:39:50.369 somebody who is cautious regarding sensuality 00:39:50.369 --> 00:39:54.210 and personal sin desires. So I don't think he's 00:39:54.210 --> 00:39:57.489 just referring to general wisdom. He's specifically 00:39:57.489 --> 00:40:01.449 speaking to those who apply wisdom to resist 00:40:01.449 --> 00:40:07.510 temptation. And he's saying it is so rare. He 00:40:07.510 --> 00:40:09.769 makes an observation and his statistic may not 00:40:09.769 --> 00:40:15.420 sit well with you. Among 1 ,000, he's able to 00:40:15.420 --> 00:40:20.920 find one man who wisely resists temptation. One 00:40:20.920 --> 00:40:24.719 out of 1 ,000. Now maybe he's counting himself. 00:40:24.980 --> 00:40:28.500 If you're thinking he's counting those 700 wives 00:40:28.500 --> 00:40:31.159 and 300 concubines. But if so, this would still 00:40:31.159 --> 00:40:33.900 be subsequent to his repentance. Because he wouldn't 00:40:33.900 --> 00:40:36.820 be able to count himself righteous and wise while 00:40:36.820 --> 00:40:39.139 he was pursuing his dealings with his wives and 00:40:39.139 --> 00:40:44.130 concubines. But in trying to observe those in 00:40:44.130 --> 00:40:46.809 his day, those around him, I think that extended 00:40:46.809 --> 00:40:49.969 beyond his personal experience. Seeking to find 00:40:49.969 --> 00:40:53.550 a man who would wisely resist temptation, he 00:40:53.550 --> 00:40:56.949 could only find one man in a thousand and not 00:40:56.949 --> 00:41:02.489 even one woman. Now, before I get labeled a misogynist 00:41:02.489 --> 00:41:05.809 or enforcer of the patriarchy, just consider 00:41:05.809 --> 00:41:08.849 this for a moment. Solomon is not saying that 00:41:08.849 --> 00:41:12.010 in the whole entire world, There is only one 00:41:12.010 --> 00:41:16.050 man who wisely avoids temptation and not even 00:41:16.050 --> 00:41:20.050 one woman. But he's pointing to a rarity in his 00:41:20.050 --> 00:41:24.469 day of both men and women who wisely resist temptation 00:41:24.469 --> 00:41:28.170 in their heart. So he gives women at an observable 00:41:28.170 --> 00:41:35.550 rate of 0%. And then men are at 0 .1%. I don't 00:41:35.550 --> 00:41:40.019 think there's any room for male boasting. If 00:41:40.019 --> 00:41:43.000 anything, you consider the opportunity and role 00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:45.659 as a factor in this. Think about men in Solomon's 00:41:45.659 --> 00:41:48.880 day. They were prepared to lead, prepared to 00:41:48.880 --> 00:41:51.860 serve as priests. The kings who were men were 00:41:51.860 --> 00:41:54.760 required to write out the law as a copy for their 00:41:54.760 --> 00:41:57.980 own self to follow. And surely Solomon would 00:41:57.980 --> 00:42:00.239 have had his own copy even if he didn't follow 00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:05.119 it for part of his reign. Women, while we never 00:42:05.119 --> 00:42:08.179 give an excuse to sin, were simply not presented 00:42:08.179 --> 00:42:11.440 with the same opportunities. Culturally, women 00:42:11.440 --> 00:42:13.619 were required to submit to their male family 00:42:13.619 --> 00:42:15.460 members in many respects, including religion, 00:42:15.719 --> 00:42:17.960 hence the pushing of idolatry through marriage 00:42:17.960 --> 00:42:20.000 with other tribes outside of Israel. And isn't 00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.099 that what happened to Solomon? Again, there's 00:42:24.099 --> 00:42:26.059 always personal responsibility, but we should 00:42:26.059 --> 00:42:28.699 consider opportunity as well when it comes to 00:42:28.699 --> 00:42:32.820 training in righteousness. So he doesn't give 00:42:32.820 --> 00:42:36.190 us a final tally on all the numbers. But he's 00:42:36.190 --> 00:42:38.590 pointing out his intentional study, his observations, 00:42:38.849 --> 00:42:43.289 that wisdom to resist sin and sensuality is rare. 00:42:44.050 --> 00:42:48.409 So there's a lot of sin out there. Why is it 00:42:48.409 --> 00:42:52.550 rare among men? Well, simple answer is that men 00:42:52.550 --> 00:42:56.030 cater to their feelings in the moment. They don't 00:42:56.030 --> 00:42:58.369 believe the end of Psalm 16. You remember Dave 00:42:58.369 --> 00:43:00.449 read it in our call to worship that with God 00:43:00.449 --> 00:43:03.289 are pleasures forevermore. Men don't believe 00:43:03.289 --> 00:43:06.530 that. They don't think. They don't remember. 00:43:06.730 --> 00:43:08.909 They act based on what they want in the moment. 00:43:10.190 --> 00:43:12.650 And while that may be very true of carnal men, 00:43:12.750 --> 00:43:17.730 it is also true of carnal women. The same temptations 00:43:17.730 --> 00:43:22.349 can be there for both men and women. Why would 00:43:22.349 --> 00:43:27.309 wise resistance be rarer among women? Before 00:43:27.309 --> 00:43:29.190 I answer, I want to urge you to guard your hearts. 00:43:30.530 --> 00:43:33.710 Men, don't be boastful. that Solomon's observation 00:43:33.710 --> 00:43:39.210 yielded a 0 .1 % advantage. You may think there's 00:43:39.210 --> 00:43:40.730 that stupid saying, but you're saying there's 00:43:40.730 --> 00:43:43.829 a chance, right? It could be zero, but if it's 00:43:43.829 --> 00:43:47.010 0 .1, I mean, there's a chance, right? No, it 00:43:47.010 --> 00:43:53.150 is still abysmal. 0 .1%. And ladies, remember, 00:43:53.369 --> 00:43:57.889 these are observations from the wisest man. The 00:43:57.889 --> 00:44:01.369 wisest man. And he's not using a statistic just 00:44:01.369 --> 00:44:06.260 to wound. but to warn. Remember that wisdom literature 00:44:06.260 --> 00:44:09.760 often does just that. So why is it more rare 00:44:09.760 --> 00:44:11.800 among women? Well, it goes back to the fall. 00:44:12.239 --> 00:44:15.320 Paul references it in 1 Timothy 2 .14. He says, 00:44:15.460 --> 00:44:18.320 it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman 00:44:18.320 --> 00:44:21.239 being deceived fell into trespass. But this is 00:44:21.239 --> 00:44:24.619 not a point to blame women and to absolve men, 00:44:24.760 --> 00:44:27.860 but to clarify his points earlier in the chapter. 00:44:27.940 --> 00:44:31.480 And here's the context. Likewise, I want women 00:44:31.480 --> 00:44:33.400 to adorn themselves with proper clothing, with 00:44:33.400 --> 00:44:36.699 modesty and self -restraint, not with braided 00:44:36.699 --> 00:44:39.280 hair, gold, pearls, or costly clothing, but rather 00:44:39.280 --> 00:44:41.780 by means of good works as is proper for women 00:44:41.780 --> 00:44:44.880 professing godliness. A woman must learn in quietness 00:44:44.880 --> 00:44:46.900 and all submission, but I do not allow a woman 00:44:46.900 --> 00:44:49.280 to teach or exercise authority over a man, but 00:44:49.280 --> 00:44:51.659 to remain quiet, for it was Adam who was formed 00:44:51.659 --> 00:44:55.159 first, then Eve, and then he gives the context 00:44:55.159 --> 00:45:00.500 of the garden. Self -restraint. is what Paul 00:45:00.500 --> 00:45:04.980 was instructing in this passage for women. Now, 00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:07.699 do you see the connection with prudence in the 00:45:07.699 --> 00:45:13.119 light of the temptation towards sensuality? Now, 00:45:13.179 --> 00:45:15.159 a woman's responsibility to yield, to submit, 00:45:15.239 --> 00:45:20.039 is it not to follow a godly man? So if a woman, 00:45:20.059 --> 00:45:21.900 and he's appealing to the garden, if a woman 00:45:21.900 --> 00:45:24.800 is not led towards righteousness, is the man 00:45:24.800 --> 00:45:31.039 innocent in the matter? You see in the Genesis 00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:35.760 3 account, even though it was Eve who was first 00:45:35.760 --> 00:45:40.460 deceived, it was Adam's passivity that led to 00:45:40.460 --> 00:45:48.099 his culpability. It was rare for Solomon to see 00:45:48.099 --> 00:45:51.440 a woman wise in resisting temptation because 00:45:51.440 --> 00:45:55.099 it was rare to see a man leading the women in 00:45:55.099 --> 00:45:58.659 his life away from such sin and warning of its 00:45:58.659 --> 00:46:03.840 dangers. And I'm confident that Solomon is pointing 00:46:03.840 --> 00:46:06.659 us back to the garden and the fall because of 00:46:06.659 --> 00:46:12.880 verse 29. In calling us back, Solomon uses a 00:46:12.880 --> 00:46:15.340 singular noun with a definite article. It's a 00:46:15.340 --> 00:46:18.280 nerdy way of saying, he says, God made the man, 00:46:18.539 --> 00:46:25.239 Adam, upright. And then he uses a plural noun, 00:46:25.559 --> 00:46:32.389 they, when speaking about the many devices. So 00:46:32.389 --> 00:46:35.409 if you, as a woman here today, were bothered 00:46:35.409 --> 00:46:39.630 by the statistic, if you, as a man, thought that 00:46:39.630 --> 00:46:43.789 you had an advantage, my aim is to show you now 00:46:43.789 --> 00:46:49.090 there is a benefit to these explanations in seeing 00:46:49.090 --> 00:46:51.210 that our problem is rooted in the fall of man 00:46:51.210 --> 00:46:56.170 into sin. You may have thought that the man had 00:46:56.170 --> 00:47:00.590 a minuscule advantage, but he doesn't. He says, 00:47:00.590 --> 00:47:04.590 I found only this. Even in his observation, a 00:47:04.590 --> 00:47:08.550 thousand and zero, a thousand and one, he says, 00:47:08.550 --> 00:47:12.969 this is the sum of what I've found. He didn't 00:47:12.969 --> 00:47:15.110 find that men were intrinsically more righteous 00:47:15.110 --> 00:47:19.070 than women. Rather, he found a broken creation 00:47:19.070 --> 00:47:23.070 that was made to be upright and innocent and 00:47:23.070 --> 00:47:27.010 has forsaken God's ways and barreled toward destruction. 00:47:28.719 --> 00:47:31.500 And every generation from Adam and Eve follow 00:47:31.500 --> 00:47:34.920 the same pattern of rejecting God's rule and 00:47:34.920 --> 00:47:38.460 reign. Every generation devises plans to pursue 00:47:38.460 --> 00:47:41.460 happiness and pleasure with ever more inventions 00:47:41.460 --> 00:47:49.179 to avoid the harshnesses of this life. Now we 00:47:49.179 --> 00:47:51.599 had that Indiana Jones ride analogy earlier. 00:47:51.760 --> 00:47:58.880 I'm going to come to an unexpected stop. You're 00:47:58.880 --> 00:48:02.179 like, what next? No, we're going to stop here. 00:48:03.480 --> 00:48:06.219 Applying the wisdom of God means avoiding perfectionism. 00:48:06.800 --> 00:48:10.179 You can't attain it. You'll be miserable trying. 00:48:10.960 --> 00:48:14.260 You can't be righteous on your own. It's impossible. 00:48:15.159 --> 00:48:18.760 You need the righteousness of Christ. You need 00:48:18.760 --> 00:48:22.900 the wisdom of Christ. You have to find your identity 00:48:22.900 --> 00:48:27.690 and everything you have in him. Be dependent 00:48:27.690 --> 00:48:30.670 upon Christ. Be careful to not be a hypocrite 00:48:30.670 --> 00:48:34.070 when others sin against you. Be cautious of excessive 00:48:34.070 --> 00:48:39.070 sin. It is destructive. And especially be cautious 00:48:39.070 --> 00:48:43.409 against sexual sin. There is forgiveness, but 00:48:43.409 --> 00:48:48.010 there are also consequences. And know that we 00:48:48.010 --> 00:48:50.889 are wired to plan and to scheme, but due to our 00:48:50.889 --> 00:48:54.869 sin, our plans lead us away from wisdom and righteousness. 00:48:55.599 --> 00:48:59.000 Our plans in the flesh lead us away from the 00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:02.960 Lord. So friends, be suspicious of yourself, 00:49:03.219 --> 00:49:08.920 not God. Fear God, pursue righteousness and wisdom, 00:49:09.119 --> 00:49:12.380 but remember that wisdom has limits, even if 00:49:12.380 --> 00:49:15.019 it can help you avoid ruin. So trust Christ. 00:49:15.519 --> 00:49:19.019 May he be your wisdom as you navigate life under 00:49:19.019 --> 00:49:24.199 the sun. Now, as usual, we have questions, questions 00:49:24.199 --> 00:49:27.539 to ponder. Solomon has likely wounded you today. 00:49:27.599 --> 00:49:31.719 I pray that he has. I pray that you take these 00:49:31.719 --> 00:49:34.079 hard passages not to just agree with me and my 00:49:34.079 --> 00:49:36.380 explanation, but to go to the Lord to try to 00:49:36.380 --> 00:49:39.960 understand, to try to comprehend wisdom, to be 00:49:39.960 --> 00:49:44.460 cautioned, to be warned. Sin is crouching at 00:49:44.460 --> 00:49:49.639 your door. Are you aware of it? So as you look 00:49:49.639 --> 00:49:51.559 at these questions, answer for your own heart. 00:49:53.710 --> 00:49:57.250 How are you striving for perfectionism? I didn't 00:49:57.250 --> 00:50:04.289 say, are you? How are you striving for control? 00:50:06.289 --> 00:50:08.289 How are you striving to control the narrative 00:50:08.289 --> 00:50:12.929 of what people think about you? How can you regularly 00:50:12.929 --> 00:50:16.329 bear in mind your own sinfulness? How can you 00:50:16.329 --> 00:50:21.059 remain vigilant against temptation? What are 00:50:21.059 --> 00:50:22.940 your plans? What are your schemes? What are your 00:50:22.940 --> 00:50:26.559 intentions that draw you away from Christ? What 00:50:26.559 --> 00:50:28.340 are your distractions? What are your painkillers? 00:50:31.119 --> 00:50:35.340 Think about these things and let's orient our 00:50:35.340 --> 00:50:47.840 heart to Christ as we go to him in prayer. God, 00:50:47.920 --> 00:50:51.750 we thank you for your word. Though we don't speak 00:50:51.750 --> 00:50:54.150 the same way as Solomon, though we don't understand 00:50:54.150 --> 00:50:57.110 the ancient Near East mind the same way, though 00:50:57.110 --> 00:51:01.949 we don't even understand Hebrew well, you give 00:51:01.949 --> 00:51:04.769 us wisdom and insight in the ways that we need 00:51:04.769 --> 00:51:09.670 by your spirit and you show us the way to go. 00:51:11.789 --> 00:51:15.030 What's clear today is you have shown us we have 00:51:15.030 --> 00:51:18.650 a desire to control. We have a desire to perfect 00:51:18.650 --> 00:51:24.269 outcomes. So help us to give up. You've shown 00:51:24.269 --> 00:51:26.610 us there's a blessing of wisdom and yet you've 00:51:26.610 --> 00:51:32.889 shown us not to worship it. You've shown us that 00:51:32.889 --> 00:51:37.849 we are so bent towards sin that even with the 00:51:37.849 --> 00:51:43.449 greatest of wisdom, a fate more bitter than death 00:51:43.449 --> 00:51:48.699 can befall us. You've shown us that even if we 00:51:48.699 --> 00:51:52.900 appear righteous on the outside, our heart condemns 00:51:52.900 --> 00:51:54.639 with the words and the thoughts that we think 00:51:54.639 --> 00:52:00.400 about others. So God, help us not be excessive 00:52:00.400 --> 00:52:03.659 in our wickedness. We are sinners. There is no 00:52:03.659 --> 00:52:07.139 one who does righteous. It's why we need to look 00:52:07.139 --> 00:52:11.099 to your son, Jesus, his sacrifice. So help us 00:52:11.099 --> 00:52:13.119 to find our righteousness, not in what we do, 00:52:13.300 --> 00:52:18.219 but in him. Not to avoid doing good, not to avoid 00:52:18.219 --> 00:52:21.519 responding well, but to not find our worth in 00:52:21.519 --> 00:52:25.260 what we've done. May we find worth in what you've 00:52:25.260 --> 00:52:28.840 done in Christ. Help us to see these dangers 00:52:28.840 --> 00:52:35.340 of sensual sin, these temptations. Lord, do not 00:52:35.340 --> 00:52:37.679 let us walk away from here this morning and think 00:52:37.679 --> 00:52:41.699 that this is a mild caution. The wisest man in 00:52:41.699 --> 00:52:44.699 the world to have ever lived said he found this. 00:52:45.960 --> 00:52:52.159 May we be on guard. So give us insight to be 00:52:52.159 --> 00:52:55.119 suspicious of our own hearts, our own plans and 00:52:55.119 --> 00:52:58.059 schemes before you. May you light our pathway, 00:52:58.239 --> 00:53:01.820 light our way towards you, light our desires 00:53:01.820 --> 00:53:06.099 towards you. Use even our songs of response right 00:53:06.099 --> 00:53:09.519 now to cement eternal truths into our minds. 00:53:10.400 --> 00:53:13.659 Help us to proclaim your excellencies. Help us. 00:53:14.090 --> 00:53:18.030 to depend upon your grace in Christ. It's in 00:53:18.030 --> 00:53:20.309 his name that we pray. Amen.