WEBVTT 00:00:00.810 --> 00:00:06.009 And today we continue in our sermon series through 00:00:06.009 --> 00:00:11.230 the Old Testament wisdom book of Ecclesiastes. 00:00:14.310 --> 00:00:18.030 And so I invite you to turn to chapter two of 00:00:18.030 --> 00:00:25.449 Ecclesiastes and follow along there. Ecclesiastes 00:00:25.449 --> 00:00:28.550 is a difficult book. There's no doubt about it. 00:00:28.589 --> 00:00:31.530 but it is a book of incredible wisdom. And so 00:00:31.530 --> 00:00:35.270 we should take it to heart. And so again, please 00:00:35.270 --> 00:00:39.250 follow along. This is chapter two. The bulletin 00:00:39.250 --> 00:00:40.909 has us going through the end of the chapter. 00:00:40.990 --> 00:00:44.689 I'm actually going to stop that at verse 23. 00:00:45.429 --> 00:00:50.649 Ecclesiastes two, beginning verse 12. So I turned 00:00:50.649 --> 00:00:56.409 to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For 00:00:56.409 --> 00:00:59.520 what can the man do? who comes after the king, 00:01:00.420 --> 00:01:04.040 only what has already been done. Then I saw that 00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:07.319 there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as 00:01:07.319 --> 00:01:09.840 there is more gain in light than in darkness. 00:01:09.959 --> 00:01:14.120 The wise person has his eyes in his head, but 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:17.640 the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceive 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:21.180 that the same event happens to all of them. Then 00:01:21.180 --> 00:01:24.900 I said in my heart, what happens to the fool 00:01:24.900 --> 00:01:28.859 will happen to me also. Why then have I been 00:01:28.859 --> 00:01:31.099 so very wise and I said in my heart that this 00:01:31.099 --> 00:01:35.120 also is vanity? For of the wise as of the fool 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:38.680 there is no enduring remembrance Seeing that 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:42.140 in the days to come all will have been long forgotten 00:01:42.140 --> 00:01:46.439 How the wise dies just like the fool so I hated 00:01:46.439 --> 00:01:49.879 life Because what is done under the Sun was grievous 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:54.099 to me for all is vanity and striving after wind 00:01:54.099 --> 00:01:58.510 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the 00:01:58.510 --> 00:02:00.750 sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who 00:02:00.750 --> 00:02:03.569 will come after me, and who knows whether he 00:02:03.569 --> 00:02:07.849 will be wise or a fool, yet he will be master 00:02:07.849 --> 00:02:11.150 of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom 00:02:11.150 --> 00:02:15.629 under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned 00:02:15.629 --> 00:02:18.689 about and gave my heart up to despair over all 00:02:18.689 --> 00:02:21.569 the toil of my labors under the sun, because 00:02:21.569 --> 00:02:23.889 sometimes a person who is toiled with wisdom 00:02:23.889 --> 00:02:28.349 and knowledge and skill must leave everything 00:02:28.349 --> 00:02:31.389 to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for 00:02:31.389 --> 00:02:35.949 it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What 00:02:35.949 --> 00:02:38.229 has a man from all the toil and the striving 00:02:38.229 --> 00:02:40.870 of heart with which he toils beneath the sun, 00:02:41.449 --> 00:02:45.550 for all his days are full of sorrow and his work 00:02:45.550 --> 00:02:49.590 is a vexation, even the night his heart does 00:02:49.590 --> 00:02:59.060 not rest. This also is vanity. Let us pray. Father, 00:02:59.180 --> 00:03:04.000 we come gathered around your text and we ask 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.379 that you would illuminate it for us and that, 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:09.719 Lord, you would help me to be faithful to this 00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:13.719 text and apply it well for the sake of all who 00:03:13.719 --> 00:03:16.180 hear it. We pray these things in the name of 00:03:16.180 --> 00:03:18.939 the one who is the word, Jesus Christ. Amen. 00:03:26.729 --> 00:03:32.569 Do you ever have that situation where you know 00:03:32.569 --> 00:03:36.889 something is wrong with a loved one, and you 00:03:36.889 --> 00:03:39.169 want them to tell you what's going on, but they 00:03:39.169 --> 00:03:44.310 won't? Spouses, we have this. You know something 00:03:44.310 --> 00:03:46.669 is going on with your wife. Something's bothering 00:03:46.669 --> 00:03:49.870 her husband, right, or vice versa. And you want 00:03:49.870 --> 00:03:52.610 to know what's going on with them. Or children, 00:03:53.090 --> 00:03:56.840 sometimes. Brothers and sisters, you know something's 00:03:56.840 --> 00:04:01.180 up with your sibling or a friend at church or 00:04:01.180 --> 00:04:03.400 at school. You want to know what's going on, 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:05.800 and you feel like you have to pry it out of them. 00:04:05.819 --> 00:04:10.039 Do you ever have that situation? Something is 00:04:10.039 --> 00:04:14.419 eating at your loved one. Well, something is 00:04:14.419 --> 00:04:19.060 eating at Solomon here in Ecclesiastes. And along 00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:21.560 the way, he has told us what's bothering him. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:25.500 But we perhaps get a clearer picture in the second 00:04:25.500 --> 00:04:28.439 half of chapter two with what is really going 00:04:28.439 --> 00:04:34.379 on with Solomon. He's going to return to wisdom. 00:04:34.939 --> 00:04:37.620 He's going to share with us that that ultimately 00:04:37.620 --> 00:04:41.160 doesn't solve his biggest problem. Earlier in 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:44.399 chapter two he went after self -indulgence. He 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:46.959 tried to cheer himself with all sorts of things. 00:04:47.899 --> 00:04:50.579 And he said that this also is vanity and is striving 00:04:50.579 --> 00:04:55.399 after wind. didn't really help him. And so there's 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:58.439 something more that's going on. And we need to 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:04.759 hear what it is. And it's this. It is death. 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:08.779 The second half of chapter two is about death. 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:12.800 The hevel of life, that word that gets translated 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:17.459 to vanity, the hevel of life is that it ends. 00:05:18.089 --> 00:05:21.449 And that when life ends for our loved ones, it 00:05:21.449 --> 00:05:23.850 hurts. Many of you know that this week I was 00:05:23.850 --> 00:05:26.810 up in Connecticut visiting my grandmother. I 00:05:26.810 --> 00:05:30.329 love her very much. And she is, she's not doing 00:05:30.329 --> 00:05:33.709 well. And that was probably my last time of seeing 00:05:33.709 --> 00:05:37.209 her, this side of glory. We had a good time together. 00:05:37.629 --> 00:05:40.870 We drove around, saw the sights of Madison, Connecticut. 00:05:41.009 --> 00:05:44.470 It's a beautiful little coastal town. She pointed 00:05:44.470 --> 00:05:46.970 out to me where her church is and where the senior 00:05:46.970 --> 00:05:49.350 center is. We went by the old house where I used 00:05:49.350 --> 00:05:53.569 to play. And it was a great visit. I took her 00:05:53.569 --> 00:05:55.810 to her favorite seafood restaurant. We had fried 00:05:55.810 --> 00:05:59.709 shrimp. It was delicious. But when we got back 00:05:59.709 --> 00:06:03.689 to her apartment, her assisted living home, there 00:06:03.689 --> 00:06:06.689 was this heaviness, this weightiness over the 00:06:06.689 --> 00:06:09.810 thing. Because she knows what's ahead for her. 00:06:10.009 --> 00:06:14.620 She knows that she's going to die. You all know 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:17.980 what that's like. You have experienced loss, 00:06:17.980 --> 00:06:21.120 and if you haven't, you will. That there is just 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:26.379 this fallenness to humanity and it's death, right? 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:30.300 And it's not supposed to be this way. For you 00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:33.420 remember that death is a consequence. It's a 00:06:33.420 --> 00:06:40.560 result of sin. Romans 6, 23. For the wages of 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:46.060 sin is what? It's death. Today, we're gonna see, 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:48.920 like I said, that death is really what is bothering 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:53.759 Solomon. And wisdom and toil, also known as work 00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:58.139 here, cannot deliver him, and it can't fully 00:06:58.139 --> 00:07:02.939 deliver us from evil, from death. And so what 00:07:02.939 --> 00:07:07.500 we're looking at is wisdom and work. Now, we 00:07:07.500 --> 00:07:11.629 saw this earlier in chapter two. Solomon... being 00:07:11.629 --> 00:07:14.250 weighed down with all of these things, he sought 00:07:14.250 --> 00:07:18.149 to self -indulge. And if Solomon cannot find 00:07:18.149 --> 00:07:20.790 ultimate meeting and self -indulges, then guess 00:07:20.790 --> 00:07:23.529 what, you can't either. Because Solomon had it 00:07:23.529 --> 00:07:26.990 all at his fingertips. Solomon had access to 00:07:26.990 --> 00:07:29.670 everything a person could possibly want, and 00:07:29.670 --> 00:07:33.529 he says, no, it's fleeting, it goes away, it 00:07:33.529 --> 00:07:37.110 does not have lasting permanence to it. And so 00:07:37.110 --> 00:07:39.860 after checking out all of that, He goes back 00:07:39.860 --> 00:07:45.660 to wisdom. Look in verse 12. So I turned to consider. 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:50.519 The word turn here has this idea of facing something. 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:55.939 He is facing yet again wisdom head on to see. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:59.980 Maybe I need to retrace my steps. We saw it at 00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:02.379 the end of chapter one. So I'm gonna retrace 00:08:02.379 --> 00:08:05.120 my steps. I'm gonna go back to wisdom and see. 00:08:05.470 --> 00:08:09.009 Maybe if I contrast wisdom with madness and folly, 00:08:09.069 --> 00:08:12.610 I will realize that yes, it really is all about 00:08:12.610 --> 00:08:16.769 wisdom. And he seems to show to us that as he's 00:08:16.769 --> 00:08:19.389 looking at wisdom, he does this for the benefit 00:08:19.389 --> 00:08:22.850 of others. He says, for what can the man do who 00:08:22.850 --> 00:08:27.110 comes after the king? Only what has already been 00:08:27.110 --> 00:08:30.230 done. So he's saying here, I've tried this for 00:08:30.230 --> 00:08:33.909 you, and all you can merely do is copy what I 00:08:33.909 --> 00:08:37.610 do. He's trying to figure it out, not just for 00:08:37.610 --> 00:08:41.210 himself, but for others. And when he looks at 00:08:41.210 --> 00:08:43.610 wisdom, he sees there is incredible gain there. 00:08:43.669 --> 00:08:46.730 Look in verse 13. There is more gain in wisdom 00:08:46.730 --> 00:08:50.110 than in folly. And this is a really important 00:08:50.110 --> 00:08:52.750 statement for us to consider. Because he has 00:08:52.750 --> 00:08:56.250 previously said that wisdom can't solve, it can't 00:08:56.250 --> 00:08:58.570 fix everything. And he's going to say it again 00:08:58.570 --> 00:09:02.870 later. But he still upholds the goodness of wisdom. 00:09:03.289 --> 00:09:09.019 Look in verse 15. So he upholds wisdom, but then 00:09:09.019 --> 00:09:11.639 he notes something about it. I said in my heart, 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:15.320 what happens to the fool will happen to me also. 00:09:15.740 --> 00:09:19.879 Why then have I been so very wise? So Solomon 00:09:19.879 --> 00:09:24.000 indeed is the wisest man, but then he recognizes 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:28.159 the limits of wisdom and says, it can't keep 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:32.519 my heart ticking, right? Because death is coming 00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:37.570 for us all. But he still says it's better to 00:09:37.570 --> 00:09:41.929 walk in the light than in the darkness. It's 00:09:41.929 --> 00:09:46.690 better to be wise than a fool even though wisdom 00:09:46.690 --> 00:09:50.750 will not ultimately save you. And actually as 00:09:50.750 --> 00:09:52.789 we go further into the book of Ecclesiastes, 00:09:53.129 --> 00:09:55.549 you'll see something that's even more perplexing 00:09:55.549 --> 00:09:59.250 than this. You'll see that sometimes those who 00:09:59.250 --> 00:10:04.590 exhibit the most wisdom will die and die first. 00:10:04.830 --> 00:10:10.230 I want to take you to Genesis chapter four. If 00:10:10.230 --> 00:10:13.169 you want to turn there, we have noted all of 00:10:13.169 --> 00:10:16.110 the parallels, not all of them, there's still 00:10:16.110 --> 00:10:20.990 more to go, we have noted many parallels between 00:10:20.990 --> 00:10:24.009 Ecclesiastes and Genesis. We've actually, each 00:10:24.009 --> 00:10:26.549 Sunday that we've been in Ecclesiastes, we've 00:10:26.549 --> 00:10:31.330 also been in Genesis. And so Genesis four, You 00:10:31.330 --> 00:10:34.009 probably remember this situation. I'm going to 00:10:34.009 --> 00:10:39.769 read verses one through about eight. Now Adam 00:10:39.769 --> 00:10:43.330 knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore 00:10:43.330 --> 00:10:47.690 Cain, saying, I've gotten a man with the help 00:10:47.690 --> 00:10:50.610 of the Lord. And again, she bore his brother 00:10:50.610 --> 00:10:54.330 Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain 00:10:54.330 --> 00:10:57.840 a worker of the ground. the course of time Cain 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:00.320 brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:03.919 of the ground and Abel also brought of the firstborn 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:07.100 of his flock and of their fat portions and the 00:11:07.100 --> 00:11:11.759 Lord had regard for Abel in his offering But 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:15.580 for Cain and his offering he had no regard Cain 00:11:15.580 --> 00:11:19.179 so Cain was very angry and his face fell and 00:11:19.179 --> 00:11:22.820 the Lord said to Cain Why are you angry and why 00:11:22.820 --> 00:11:26.549 has your face fallen if you do well? Will you 00:11:26.549 --> 00:11:29.889 not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin 00:11:29.889 --> 00:11:33.730 is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary 00:11:33.730 --> 00:11:38.149 to you, but you must rule over it. Cain spoke 00:11:38.149 --> 00:11:41.250 to Abel, his brother, and when they were in the 00:11:41.250 --> 00:11:44.769 field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel 00:11:44.769 --> 00:11:50.549 and killed him. This is the first murder recorded 00:11:50.549 --> 00:11:56.419 in Scripture, but I want to show to you why Abel 00:11:56.419 --> 00:12:00.759 is a fitting name for this person. Because if 00:12:00.759 --> 00:12:03.820 you were to look at this in Hebrew, you would 00:12:03.820 --> 00:12:08.200 see that actually the name Abel is really Hevel. 00:12:09.100 --> 00:12:11.779 The very word that is used throughout Ecclesiastes 00:12:11.779 --> 00:12:15.799 is the same word that's used for Abel. And so 00:12:15.799 --> 00:12:19.440 how is he like Hevel? Well, we've said what Hevel 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:23.940 means. Hevel is a breath. It is a mist. that 00:12:23.940 --> 00:12:26.159 is there for a time and then goes away. It's 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:29.940 it's vapor. It doesn't it doesn't last. Well, 00:12:29.940 --> 00:12:32.580 we can see from Genesis chapter four that Abel 00:12:32.580 --> 00:12:36.759 does not last. And the perplexing thing for Solomon 00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:39.840 over and over again through Ecclesiastes is that 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:43.440 sometimes the righteous are the ones who are 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:48.080 the have meaning they are the ones who are fleeting. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:52.500 While the unrighteous live on through. Solomon 00:12:52.500 --> 00:12:54.860 through his eyes, you can see that this is very 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:57.700 perplexing to him. It's very much like what one 00:12:57.700 --> 00:13:01.580 commentator said, able of ables, everything is 00:13:01.580 --> 00:13:06.500 able. Because friends, everyone will die. Everyone 00:13:06.500 --> 00:13:10.879 is able. And so Kohelet, the teacher, the preacher, 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:13.340 the one that we call Solomon, he reflects on 00:13:13.340 --> 00:13:16.179 what he observes that all will die. And then 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:21.120 he says, verse 17, look there. that he hates 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:27.720 life. I hated life because what is done under 00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:31.620 the sun was grievous to me. As you come upon 00:13:31.620 --> 00:13:34.919 a statement like that in Scripture, it's shocking, 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:38.600 isn't it? You might think, can you really say 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:41.340 this in the Bible? Can you really say that I 00:13:41.340 --> 00:13:44.159 hated life? Are these really inspired words from 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:48.240 the Holy Spirit? Well, the Bible is full of shocking 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:51.120 statements, isn't it? Like the time that Job 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:54.259 cursed the day that he was born or like the psalmist 00:13:54.259 --> 00:13:58.500 who said how long Oh Lord, will you forget me? 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:01.419 There are shocking statements because they reflect 00:14:01.419 --> 00:14:06.139 the disastrous effects of the fall into sin after 00:14:06.139 --> 00:14:08.379 all isn't perhaps the most shocking statement 00:14:08.379 --> 00:14:12.340 the one that Jesus says on the cross my God my 00:14:12.340 --> 00:14:17.559 God Why have you forsaken me? Perhaps it doesn't 00:14:17.559 --> 00:14:20.679 carry the shockiness The force of it because 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:23.259 we're used to that but consider that the father 00:14:23.259 --> 00:14:26.419 really did have to turn his back upon the son 00:14:26.419 --> 00:14:30.200 In order that we would have salvation. And so 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:32.659 yes, there are shocking statements within scripture, 00:14:32.659 --> 00:14:36.620 but there is reason for these things So let's 00:14:36.620 --> 00:14:38.940 understand the context of this statement for 00:14:38.940 --> 00:14:43.019 Solomon Solomon doesn't say that he hates life 00:14:43.019 --> 00:14:47.279 for likes on Facebook He doesn't say this to 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:51.129 get for click bait or to sell newspapers or something. 00:14:51.289 --> 00:14:54.169 No, there's real reason behind these words. So 00:14:54.169 --> 00:14:57.490 what does he hate? Zach Eswine says he means 00:14:57.490 --> 00:15:01.789 that it is right and good to cultivate a distaste 00:15:01.789 --> 00:15:05.710 for the misery, the sin, the death, and the evil 00:15:05.710 --> 00:15:09.230 and the havoc of this life. It's very much like 00:15:09.230 --> 00:15:15.309 what Psalm 97 10 says, oh you who love the Lord, 00:15:15.669 --> 00:15:22.039 hate evil. And so friends, we need to understand 00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:27.580 this, that the wise person loves God. The wise 00:15:27.580 --> 00:15:30.879 person loves his neighbor as himself. The wise 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:35.799 person hates sin, but the fool hates people, 00:15:36.519 --> 00:15:40.399 hates God and loves sin. And so let me ask you 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:44.200 friends, what do you love and what do you hate? 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:48.460 You remember Jesus has two great commands, to 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:50.960 love God with everything you've got and to love 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:54.340 your neighbor as yourself. You can only love 00:15:54.340 --> 00:15:56.539 God though, and you can truly only love your 00:15:56.539 --> 00:16:00.240 neighbor because God has loved you first in Christ 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:03.460 Jesus. And knowing that, knowing the love of 00:16:03.460 --> 00:16:05.860 God and how you cannot be separated from the 00:16:05.860 --> 00:16:08.659 love of God because of Christ Jesus, that's what 00:16:08.659 --> 00:16:11.519 gets us through the heaval of this life. That's 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:13.419 what gets us through the miseries of this life. 00:16:13.549 --> 00:16:16.009 That's what gets us through the loss of a loved 00:16:16.009 --> 00:16:20.190 one. That our hearts are regenerated, we are 00:16:20.190 --> 00:16:25.909 made new. And so we look at death differently, 00:16:26.070 --> 00:16:30.330 don't we? The believer in Jesus Christ looks 00:16:30.330 --> 00:16:34.990 at death differently. We take an eternal view. 00:16:35.990 --> 00:16:39.529 We look beyond the miseries of this life to see 00:16:39.529 --> 00:16:42.669 exactly what Jesus Christ is doing for us right 00:16:42.669 --> 00:16:47.519 now. And he says, I go to make a place for you. 00:16:48.179 --> 00:16:53.980 A place where there's no more death. But I know 00:16:53.980 --> 00:16:56.279 what some may say, well, all that sounds really 00:16:56.279 --> 00:16:59.480 good, but what about the here and the now? I 00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:02.259 live right now in this fleeting world where there's 00:17:02.259 --> 00:17:07.140 all of this sin. How am I to live? And so Solomon 00:17:07.140 --> 00:17:10.319 tries something else here. Look in verses 18 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:16.319 and onward. He looks at the vanity of toil. And 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:18.480 he continues with a difficult statement, just 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:20.619 like he says that he hated life, now what does 00:17:20.619 --> 00:17:24.720 he say? I hated all my toil in which I toil under 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:30.960 the sun. Now, we should note what's really being 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:33.759 said here. Sometimes we associate toil with work, 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:35.619 and I think that's fine to do, and I will call 00:17:35.619 --> 00:17:38.160 toil work. But we're not just talking about our 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:40.200 nine to five job here. We're talking, when we 00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:43.519 talk about toil, everything that we do under 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:47.019 the sun, be it our job, be it the raising of 00:17:47.019 --> 00:17:49.599 our kids, be it our hobbies, whatever it may 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:52.519 do, all of the things that we do under the sun. 00:17:53.099 --> 00:17:56.759 But because of sin, the things that we do under 00:17:56.759 --> 00:18:00.559 the sun have been cursed. You should see this, 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:05.940 that work is not a result of the fall. Cursed 00:18:05.940 --> 00:18:11.619 work is. Work is not a result of the fall. Cursed 00:18:11.619 --> 00:18:13.880 work is. We know what happened in the garden. 00:18:14.339 --> 00:18:16.819 Adonis, they ate the fruit, they weren't supposed 00:18:16.819 --> 00:18:20.740 to, and God cursed their labor, right? Friends, 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:24.799 you may love your work. You may love what you 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:28.839 do, but it's not frustration -free work, is it? 00:18:29.380 --> 00:18:32.319 No, if it is, please let me know how to do it. 00:18:32.509 --> 00:18:35.509 And so the problem isn't punching the time clock. 00:18:35.890 --> 00:18:39.930 It's that we serve and we work and we exhaust 00:18:39.930 --> 00:18:43.109 ourselves to do the best with all that God has 00:18:43.109 --> 00:18:45.970 given to do. And then Solomon says, but what 00:18:45.970 --> 00:18:49.630 then? I do all of this and then what's the gain? 00:18:49.970 --> 00:18:53.569 Look at the second half of verse 18. Seeing that 00:18:53.569 --> 00:18:57.109 I must leave it to the man who will come after 00:18:57.109 --> 00:19:03.029 me. Where's the gain in that? Death doesn't care 00:19:03.029 --> 00:19:06.809 about your resume. Death does not care about 00:19:06.809 --> 00:19:11.369 your resume. Eventually, unless the Lord comes 00:19:11.369 --> 00:19:15.329 in our lifetime, we will all die. And the wise 00:19:15.329 --> 00:19:18.549 person takes that to heart. So I was trying to 00:19:18.549 --> 00:19:20.569 think about how to illustrate this. How to illustrate 00:19:20.569 --> 00:19:23.390 this point that Solomon is making where we labor 00:19:23.390 --> 00:19:26.029 and labor and labor and then it's just left to 00:19:26.029 --> 00:19:28.329 somebody else. I was thinking about baseball. 00:19:28.890 --> 00:19:31.920 It's spring outside. Right? Baseball's about 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:35.119 to start up. Think of it like this. A manager 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:38.599 of a baseball team. The season lasts forever. 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:43.359 162 games. What happens if the manager dies right 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:47.500 before the playoffs? He's led his team for 162 00:19:47.500 --> 00:19:51.160 games. And that's just left over some other coach. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:53.480 Someone else who will manage the team. And who 00:19:53.480 --> 00:19:55.460 knows whether that coach will be a good coach 00:19:55.460 --> 00:19:58.480 or a bad coach. That's what Solomon is saying 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:02.069 here. that all of our days will come to an end. 00:20:02.369 --> 00:20:05.450 And if we have tried to place our ultimate satisfaction 00:20:05.450 --> 00:20:08.609 in our work and the here and the now, we will 00:20:08.609 --> 00:20:13.269 be left very, very disappointed because it ultimately 00:20:13.269 --> 00:20:19.549 does not satisfy. Solomon knows his reign will 00:20:19.549 --> 00:20:27.430 come to an end. Look at verses 22 and 23. So 00:20:27.430 --> 00:20:31.630 I turned about. and gave my heart up to despair 00:20:31.630 --> 00:20:35.049 over all the toil of my labors under the sun 00:20:35.049 --> 00:20:37.589 because sometimes a person who is toiled with 00:20:37.589 --> 00:20:40.690 wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything 00:20:40.690 --> 00:20:44.809 to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for 00:20:44.809 --> 00:20:49.190 it. And so all of this striving, all of this 00:20:49.190 --> 00:20:51.890 working, trying to find satisfaction in our work, 00:20:52.210 --> 00:20:55.029 what is the result? What does it ultimately give 00:20:55.029 --> 00:21:02.720 us? It gives us what he says in verse 23. For 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:05.160 all his days are full of sorrow and his work 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:09.519 is a vexation. He cannot even sleep. Friends, 00:21:09.559 --> 00:21:12.680 when you lie down your heads at night on the 00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:17.460 pillow, does your mind race sometimes? Do you 00:21:17.460 --> 00:21:21.339 have a hard time shutting off your brain? What's 00:21:21.339 --> 00:21:25.700 the reward for all of the anxiety and the worry 00:21:25.700 --> 00:21:31.329 that we have? The reward for this is just more 00:21:31.329 --> 00:21:38.089 worry, right? Jesus speaks on this in Luke chapter 00:21:38.089 --> 00:21:41.730 12. You may be familiar with this passage, a 00:21:41.730 --> 00:21:44.529 parable of the rich fool, that there was once 00:21:44.529 --> 00:21:49.190 a landowner whose land produced crops just plentifully, 00:21:49.569 --> 00:21:52.450 and he outgrows all of the storage that he has. 00:21:52.529 --> 00:21:55.130 And so he says, what am I going to do about this? 00:21:55.470 --> 00:21:58.799 And so he says, I know. I'll build bigger barns 00:21:58.799 --> 00:22:01.140 and I'll put all my stuff in the bigger barns 00:22:01.140 --> 00:22:04.599 and I will just enjoy it for the rest of my life. 00:22:05.160 --> 00:22:08.279 And then what does Jesus say within the parable? 00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:13.559 God speaks and he says, fool, this night your 00:22:13.559 --> 00:22:16.619 soul is required of you and the things you have 00:22:16.619 --> 00:22:20.359 prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who 00:22:20.359 --> 00:22:23.799 lays up treasure for himself and is not rich 00:22:23.799 --> 00:22:27.849 towards God. Friends, we must be rich towards 00:22:27.849 --> 00:22:31.869 God. We must work, but we must understand the 00:22:31.869 --> 00:22:35.309 limits of our work. We must have the proper perspective 00:22:35.309 --> 00:22:39.609 of our work. So much toil and so much striving 00:22:39.609 --> 00:22:42.589 apart from the Lord only brings frustration. 00:22:43.029 --> 00:22:46.250 It brings restlessness. But what does Jesus say 00:22:46.250 --> 00:22:50.690 in Matthew chapter 11? Come to me, all who labor 00:22:50.690 --> 00:22:56.670 and are heavy laden. We labor, but we do so in 00:22:56.670 --> 00:22:59.730 the Lord, knowing the limits of our labor. But 00:22:59.730 --> 00:23:04.529 with Jesus, we get what we really need. We get 00:23:04.529 --> 00:23:10.309 true rest for our souls. Friends, I hope in your 00:23:10.309 --> 00:23:13.069 labor, in your work, whatever it is God has given 00:23:13.069 --> 00:23:16.309 you to do, I hope that you are so very successful. 00:23:18.119 --> 00:23:20.660 And I hope that you do all to the glory of God, 00:23:20.759 --> 00:23:22.940 but you must keep it in perspective. And that's 00:23:22.940 --> 00:23:25.779 a tough thing to do in this country. In a country 00:23:25.779 --> 00:23:29.440 where we've got the American dream, right? The 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:32.559 American dream is only a dream if you think that 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:35.519 you can have satisfaction apart from God. It 00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:40.180 will not work. Take it from Solomon, who was 00:23:40.180 --> 00:23:43.920 so very successful and yet at the end he realizes 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:47.490 all of his work, all of his life is punctuated 00:23:47.490 --> 00:23:50.029 by the same event that punctuates all of our 00:23:50.029 --> 00:23:56.250 lives, that of death. You remember how as I began, 00:23:56.309 --> 00:24:00.170 I was talking about how we try and know what's 00:24:00.170 --> 00:24:02.730 really going on with a person. We try and figure 00:24:02.730 --> 00:24:07.710 out what's eating at them. The thing that we 00:24:07.710 --> 00:24:10.029 sometimes do when people try and pry it out of 00:24:10.029 --> 00:24:15.869 us is we just say, fine, I'm fine. Solomon here, 00:24:16.150 --> 00:24:20.970 though, is not fine with it. He realizes the 00:24:20.970 --> 00:24:26.009 problem is death. And he wants to know, how do 00:24:26.009 --> 00:24:30.910 I live in light of death? Well, friends, I could 00:24:30.910 --> 00:24:34.950 give you application that says, be wiser. Be 00:24:34.950 --> 00:24:38.269 more knowledgeable. Don't be ignorant. I could 00:24:38.269 --> 00:24:41.519 give you application. that says pray for wisdom, 00:24:41.779 --> 00:24:44.180 read your Bibles, certainly do those things, 00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:46.640 definitely do those things. And I could tell 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:49.319 you for your application to do all of your work 00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:51.839 to the glory of God, be thankful for your work, 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:55.759 serve one another, and do those things. But the 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:59.240 real application of a text like this is not what 00:24:59.240 --> 00:25:05.380 you do, but it's what you believe. I mentioned 00:25:05.380 --> 00:25:09.210 Romans 6, 23. Let me give you the second half 00:25:09.210 --> 00:25:13.250 of that verse. The free gift of God is eternal 00:25:13.250 --> 00:25:17.970 life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Friends, the solution 00:25:17.970 --> 00:25:21.509 to the problem of death, the vanity of life, 00:25:21.809 --> 00:25:25.769 is salvation in Christ alone. Jesus went through 00:25:25.769 --> 00:25:29.069 the death. He went through the hevel to grant 00:25:29.069 --> 00:25:32.150 eternal life to anyone who would believe in Him 00:25:32.150 --> 00:25:35.289 as the Savior of the world and of the Son of 00:25:35.289 --> 00:25:39.710 God. Jesus doesn't take away death completely. 00:25:39.970 --> 00:25:44.650 No, not yet. But he does take away eternal death. 00:25:45.289 --> 00:25:48.430 You remember what Paul says, how Jesus removes 00:25:48.430 --> 00:25:51.910 the sting of death. What Jesus offers is the 00:25:51.910 --> 00:25:59.690 opposite of Hevel. He destroys Hevel. John Owen, 00:26:00.710 --> 00:26:03.650 who is a fantastic Puritan writer, has a book. 00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:05.519 And I'm not going to quote from the book. I'm 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:07.380 just going to tell you the title because the 00:26:07.380 --> 00:26:11.000 title alone sums up what I'm trying to tell you. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:14.940 The title of the book is The Death of Death and 00:26:14.940 --> 00:26:18.099 the Death of Christ. The point is that Jesus 00:26:18.099 --> 00:26:22.279 kills death and he destroys the one who has the 00:26:22.279 --> 00:26:27.359 power over it. And this is communicated, and 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:29.700 I'll begin wrapping up now. This is communicated 00:26:29.700 --> 00:26:36.839 in 2 Timothy chapter 1. verses 8 through 10. 00:26:40.500 --> 00:26:43.720 Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony 00:26:43.720 --> 00:26:47.880 about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but 00:26:47.880 --> 00:26:50.559 share in suffering for the gospel by the power 00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:54.440 of God who saved us and called us to a holy calling, 00:26:54.759 --> 00:26:58.000 not because of our works, but because of his 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:01.329 own purpose and grace. which he gave us in Christ 00:27:01.329 --> 00:27:04.809 Jesus before the ages began and which now has 00:27:04.809 --> 00:27:08.269 manifested through the appearing of our savior, 00:27:08.309 --> 00:27:12.289 Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought 00:27:12.289 --> 00:27:17.250 life and immortality to light through the gospel. 00:27:20.490 --> 00:27:24.789 Jesus comes to do away with death and what he 00:27:24.789 --> 00:27:27.789 grants to you is eternal life. And so, friend, 00:27:27.890 --> 00:27:32.640 the application Believe in Jesus. Believe that 00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:36.059 Jesus was born to save us from our sins. Believe 00:27:36.059 --> 00:27:39.319 that Jesus went to the cross for you. Believe 00:27:39.319 --> 00:27:43.140 that Jesus really died, really was buried, really 00:27:43.140 --> 00:27:46.299 rose, really ascended, and that Jesus really 00:27:46.299 --> 00:27:52.259 is coming again. Why? To take us to himself and 00:27:52.259 --> 00:27:56.640 to grant us eternal life with him forever. Let 00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:57.140 us pray.