And now if you would please take those Bibles
and open them up. To the Old Testament book of.
Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 6 verse 10.
And we're going to take it through about chapter
7 verse. 14 as we continue where we left off.
in this wonderful book of wisdom, Ecclesiastes
6 verse 10. Please listen, for this is God's
word. Whatever has come to be has already been
named, and it is known what man is and that he
is not able to dispute with one stronger than
he. The more words, the more vanity. And what
is the advantage to man? For who knows what is
good for man while he lives the few days of his
vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For
who can tell man what will be after him under
the sun? A good name is better than precious
ointment, and the day of death than the day of
birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting. For this
is the end of all mankind, and the living will
lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of
the wise than to hear the song of fools. For
as the crackling of thorns under a pot so is
the laughter of the fools. This also is vanity
Surely oppression drives the wise into madness
and a bribe corrupts the heart Better is the
end of a thing Than its beginning and the patient
in spirit is better than the proud in spirit
Be not quick in your spirit to become angry for
anger lodges in the heart of fools. Say not,
why were the former days better than these? For
it is not from wisdom that you ask this. Wisdom
is good with an inheritance, an advantage to
those who see the sun. For the protection of
wisdom is like the protection of money, and the
advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves
the life of him who has it. Consider the work
of God. who can make straight what he has made
crooked. In the day of prosperity, be joyful.
And in the day of adversity, consider God has
made the one as well as the other so that man
may not find out anything that will be after
him. The grass withers and the flower fades,
but God's word stands forever. Let's pray. Father,
we once again give you praise and thanks for
the book of Ecclesiastes, but Lord, there are
difficult statements in here, things that might
be confusing to us. And so Lord, would you give
us a spirit of understanding? Would you open
up our ears and our minds and our hearts to hear
from you now these things we ask in Christ's
name. Amen. Maybe you have heard of the ancient
philosopher Socrates. Socrates, ancient philosopher
who taught Plato. Plato goes on to teach Aristotle.
Socrates is known really for two big things.
And I think he would be known for more things
if we had his writings, but we don't know really
what he wrote. We don't have his writings. Most
of the things we know about Socrates we learn
from his students. But Socrates said this statement
according to Plato. He said, the unexamined life
is not worth living. Have you heard that before?
The unexamined life is not worth living. We should
consider the time and the place in which Socrates
said this. He was in ancient Greece in and around
400 BC, and at that time there were many philosophers,
and there were many philosophies going around.
And it was confusing to the common man. The common
man said, well, if these ancient philosophers,
if they can't come to a consensus on what is
true, how can I? And so people seemed to give
up the pursuit. truth, but not Socrates. Socrates
used what is commonly called today the Socratic
method. He asked good questions of people that
they would examine themselves to see what truth
really is. Well, before Socrates, there was a
greater prophet, a greater philosopher, And this
is Solomon, the person that we believe wrote
Ecclesiastes. And Solomon is doing something
the same as Socrates, and that he is trying to
get us to consider life, to consider death, to
consider what true wisdom is. And I actually
think that we live in a similar time as Socrates.
As in Socrates' day, many people gave up the
pursuit of truth. I find today that people are
not so concerned about truth, are they? People
are not so very much engaged with the deep things
of God. People actually aren't engaged with the
shallow things of life. You ever stop and talk
to somebody about Jesus and they look at you
like, how dare you talk to me about such a strange
topic, right? We need to consider who Christ
is. We need to consider the deep things of God.
We need to use our minds better. Coming to the
rescue is this wonderful book of Ecclesiastes
and this wonderful passage that we have just
read. This passage helps us to consider that
which has eternal consequences. So look at verse
10. Whatever has come to be has already been
named and it is known what man is. As we look
at this you may find yourself transported back
to chapter 3. We've made this remark several
times in this book that so many things that we're
reading about in Ecclesiastes seem to take us
back to Ecclesiastes 3 because I believe that
verse 10 actually sounds a good bit like verse
14 of chapter three. For there it says, I perceived
that whatever God does endures forever. Nothing
can be added to it, nothing or anything taken
from it. God has done it so that people fear
before him. There is this understanding as we
look at Ecclesiastes that there are things that
are high above us, things that we can't quite
understand, right? But as our passage says, who
can understand these things? Who is governing
these things? The implied answer is it's obvious,
right? It's God. Once again, we are confronted
with the reality of the very sovereignty of God,
that he is foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.
So when we come upon statements in this passage
that might be difficult or when we come upon
things in life that are very very hard for us
Friends we are to trust God Because he is in
control of our every moment of life. He knows
what is good But thankfully he does clue us in
to things about himself and about this life And
that's really what chapter 14 is doing. It's
giving us a number of things for us to consider
in this life. And the way that it does this is
these better than statements. Look at your text
here. You can see these better than, these good
statements in verse one, two, three, five, eight,
and 11. And the way that it goes about doing
this is quite literally in the Hebrew, it just
uses the word good over and over again. It uses
the Hebrew word of tov. But saying something
is gooder is not good grammar today, so we use
the statement better than. It's a little bit
like children in school. Have you learned about
those greater than, less than, equal to statements?
I see heads nodding, right? 10 is greater than
five, where the kind of sideways V is pointed
towards the larger number. That's a little bit
about like what's going on in the first half
of chapter seven here. And so let's look at some
of these greater than, better than statements.
I won't be able to cover them all, but look in
verse one. A good name is better than precious
ointment. Now, you might say, well, in what way?
I think we are to understand that this precious
ointment is something that's costly. It's expensive.
And so we should consider how a good name is
better than that. Well, we already saw last Sunday
this discussion on wealth. And sometimes wealth
is just not all it's cracked up to be. But what
Solomon wants us to see here is that a good name
is what it's cracked up. to be, our reputation,
right? Now, I know some of you women have been
wearing the same perfume for years or even decades,
and sometimes we get to know the women in our
lives by their scent, right? You smell their
perfume on somebody else and you say, hold up
a second, that's my wife's perfume, right? Or
that's what my mother used to wear. Well, guess
what sticks with you longer than your scent?
It's your name. It's your reputation. And so
consider this. How are you known? When people
say your name out loud, what do they think of?
What is your reputation? Now be careful with
this a little bit because people's opinions are
fallible, but how are you known? And if there
be ways in you that maybe are not the most wonderful
ways, remember that the Lord is sanctifying us,
right? And so as we look at these further better
than statements, if you see some that describe
you a little bit, take those things to the Lord.
Be humble enough to pray about them. Be humble
enough even to talk with a brother or sister
in Christ for help. on these things, right? Because
we can see something like this in the next statement.
Look in verse five. It is better for a man to
hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the
song of fools. Solomon says something similar
to this in Proverbs chapter 12 verse one. Whoever
loves discipline loves knowledge. But he who
hates reproof is stupid. Friends, are you humble
enough to receive reproof, correction, even discipline?
The fool wants nothing to do with this. The fool
says, I don't want to hear it. You're wrong.
I'm right. But a truly wise person can receive
gentle and loving criticism and correction. And
so ask yourself, am I able to receive this kind
of correction because a fool cannot, right? And
so once again, if you are coming short in this
area, take it to the Lord and ask for his humbling
work upon you such that you could receive reproof
in order that you would continue to look more
and more like Christ Jesus. Because you see what
it says next. It uses this description here.
For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so
is the laughter of the fools. This also is vanity.
What this is showing us here is that there are
people who are foolish, who would rather not
hear any kind of correction, but instead would
rather surround themselves with foolish laughter
and talk and chatter, right? And the way that
it expresses this I think is important. The crackling
of thorns. Have you ever tried to make a fire
out of thorns? How long does that fire last?
Usually not very long, right? But it can make
a lot of noise here. And so that's the fool who
makes a lot of noise but without a lot of substance.
Those thorns will not keep the fire going. but
the correction of the Lord will be good for the
soul here. But also we need to be careful with
how we address the fool. Proverbs does this again
and again. Do you ever try and correct a fool?
Sometimes it's a fool's errand to correct a fool,
right? And so before we go correcting anybody,
we need to ask ourselves, am I humble? Can I
receive this kind of correction? Or, when somebody
seeks to correct me in a gentle way, do I just
get angry? Look at verses 8 through 10, especially
verse 9. Be not quick in your spirit to become
angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.
A fool cannot receive correction because anger
is in his very core. James 119 says, know this,
my beloved brothers, let every person be quick
to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the
anger of a man does not produce the righteousness
of God. And so friends, let's ask ourselves here,
are we angry people? And specifically, are we
angered over selfish things? Or are we angered
over the things that God is angry about? I would
say that most of our anger is not righteous anger.
Most of our anger comes from, you disappointed
me. You did this to me or that to me. We don't
get our way. And in this way, we're actually
starting to see something else that's in here.
We are not patient. Look there in verse eight.
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.
And the patient in spirit is better than the
proud in spirit. When we are inconvenienced,
when people don't get things done according to
our timeline, then we get angry here. But a wise
person looks beyond himself. A wise person considers
others, right? For to be angry and impatient
all the time, this is not a virtue, friends.
It is not a virtue to be angry and impatient
all the time. Why is that? Because of who the
Lord is. God is slow to anger and abounding in
steadfast love. And those who have the Holy Spirit
dwelling inside, those who are receiving his
sanctification are being made more and more into
the image of Christ, right? And so when we exhibit
patience, when we exhibit gentleness, what are
we really doing? We're modeling our savior, the
one who is gentle and lowly, right? God is long
suffering with us. Aren't we not also to be long
suffering with one another? And so again, If
you're struggling with anger or you're struggling
with impatience, take it to the Lord in prayer
and also speak to one another. Have somebody
that you can confide in who can pray along with
you. You see, these are some of the traps of
this life, the life of vanity. But perhaps the
greatest trap that we see within this passage
is avoiding the reality of death. Look at verses
one through four, and this is where I'm going
to focus most of my attention. The trap of avoiding
the reality of death. It says in the second line
of verse one, and the day of death than the day
of birth. It's using that better than statement
once again. And so we need to consider how is
the day of death better than the day of birth?
That sounds perplexing, doesn't it? Right? And
so let's consider how a number of different ways
have been proposed to understand this. Some will
say, well, the day of death is better than the
day of birth because the day of birth is really
just a day of potential. We don't know what's
going to happen with this baby. Right. But at
the end of life at death, we know what has happened.
And so people will say this is talking about
potential and the end of life and all that somebody
has done. The second view on this. has to do
with our reward to glory. People will say it's
better to die than to be born because when you
die in Christ, you go to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, obviously that is correct. But is that what
Solomon is talking about here? I would say he's
not talking about either one of those things.
Instead, what Solomon is talking about when he
says this is that the day of death is better.
because the day of death is a better teacher.
We learn so much through death. Death, the death
of others causes us to consider who we are, our
need for Christ, and in that way, death acts
as an evangelist, pointing us to the reason that
there is death. for the wages of sin is death.
And even more than that, what death does is it
teaches us to look to the one who conquered death
on the cross. Death is a better teacher. Have
you ever noticed how when a popular musician
dies, their music becomes popular again? Even
if it's just for a matter of days or weeks, suddenly
their songs and their albums top the charts,
right? We go back and listen to them. Death does
something like that within us. It causes us to
remember. It causes us to ponder. And really
what's going on within this section is this is
telling us we need to take all of this to heart.
Look at verse two. It's better to go to the house
of mourning than to go to the house. feasting
why because it says the living will lay it to
heart a wise person really thinks about death
a wise person goes to the house of mourning what
does a fool do though a fool wants nothing to
do with it the fool ignores death but do you
want to know why it's foolish to do that I think
Hebrews 927 says it best It is appointed once
for man to die and then the judgment. It is appointed
once for man to die and then the judgment. And
so the point is this, friends, unless Jesus comes
back in our lifetime, we will all die, right?
You cannot ignore that fact. It is foolish to
do so. And so the point Solomon is making is
that sorrow is the point. He wants us to embrace
this sorrow, not because sorrow in and of itself
is good, but because sorrow does something within
us. Sorrow causes us to examine life and death.
Jeff Wint said that sometimes trying to cheer
someone up is the last thing that they need.
Sometimes we need to simply sit in the sorrow.
I can't remember who it was. that said this,
and I mentioned it a few weeks ago, who said,
man's greatest problem is that sometimes we have
failed to sit in our room quietly. We need to
ponder on these things. We need to examine these
things. We need to take it to heart. David Gibson
writes, when life ends or is about to end, Absolutely
everything comes into focus. The things which
don't really matter, but which we gave so much
time to, seem so empty and pointless. The lives
we touch, the generosity we showed, and the love
that we gave or received now means so much more.
Friends, we need to take it to heart. Now, does
this mean it's wrong to be in the house of feasting?
Of course not. You've seen it so far in this
book. The thing that Solomon talks about just
as much as death is joy, right? And so it is
good to be in the house of feasting. It's just
that death and funerals and graveside gatherings
cause us to ponder things that you don't really
ponder at parties. If you go to that graduation
party, If you go to that birthday party and you
just look sad and you just want to talk about
death the whole time, you're not going to get
invited back to another party. You're not the
life of the party. You're the death of the party.
But that sort of behavior is totally appropriate
at the graveside. It's totally appropriate at
the funeral, right? And sometimes that's just
where we need to be. Theodore Bezos said, it
is better To have some sorrow of mind and to
be grieved for things done amiss Than to be much
given to rejoicing and laughter for of that sadness
at length grows true gladness of mind Friends
isn't it true that after a death After a tragedy
so many of us pray these words that we find at
the end of the Bible come Lord Jesus. Death causes
us to say, come Lord Jesus, right? And speaking
of Jesus, this section right here reminds me
of another section of scripture. It reminds me
of the Beatitudes that we can find in the Sermon
on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain. Phrases
that Jesus taught like, blessed are those who
mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are
you who weep now, for you will laugh. Friends,
if you just try to avoid and minimize pain and
minimize heartache and sorrow, you will miss
the fact that Jesus meets us there in that sorrow.
You will miss the comfort that the Spirit gives
to us. And you know what? Jesus doesn't just
meet us there. No, he endured it himself. This
is actually how Jesus redeems us by suffering
in our place. He shows us then that the miseries
of this life cannot be fixed by us. They are
fixed by the suffering of Christ himself. And
because of Christ, friends, we can mourn as people
with hope. And so when you go through that loss,
When you go through that sorrow When you go through
that time of depression Friends, you can trust
that Jesus knows exactly what you were going
through He suffered through it He he sorrowed
over his friend Lazarus and ultimately he who
is called the man of sorrows went to the cross
for you and By doing so Jesus does something
we could not do Jesus make things right. Look
at verse 13. Consider the work of God who can
make straight what he has made crooked. Maybe
to our minds, it would have sounded better if
the text says that he makes straight what we
make crooked. But again, this is showing us the
very sovereignty of God. You cannot fix the problems
of this life. You cannot fix the vanity, the
hevel, the folly, the sorrow, and the death.
But you must run in faith to the one who can.
Jesus died on the cross to put death to death.
He died on the cross and arose to remove death's
sting. That through Christ, we would have everlasting
life. You see friends in Christ, the grave is
not the end. In Christ, The house of mourning
gets turned into the house of feasting. Well,
friends, as I conclude, let me take it back to
Socrates. I mentioned that Socratic method. Let
me ask you two important questions. You've maybe
heard of evangelism explosion, the two diagnostic
questions that people sometimes ask to do evangelism
are the questions I ask you now. Have you come
to a place in your spiritual life? Where do you
know for certain that if you died today? you
would go to heaven and Secondly suppose you were
to die today and stand before God and he were
to ask you Why should I let you into heaven?
What would you say? If your answers to those
questions are yes and Christ alone then Alleluia
and Amen But if not, friends, I want you to remember
how I began this sermon. The unexamined life
is not worth living. Friends, you must examine
your lives. If you are not sure what to make
of Christ, examine who you are. And examine who
Christ Jesus is. Because he is the only way to
be lifted above the Hevel, the vanity of this
life. Because he said it himself, I am the way,
and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father but through me. Amen. Let's pray.