Amen, and if you would take your Bibles now and
open up to the Old Testament wisdom book of Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 and while you're turning
there and some are finding their seats Just a
brief story for you this week. I had a bit of
a garage door issue. I Hate having garage door
issues And because those things are so dangerous,
the spring was broken. I'm not touching that
with a 10 -foot pole. And so I called somebody
to come and look at the garage door and hopefully
fix it. And as I gave him all of my money for
fixing it, he handed me his phone and he said,
put your information in and your credit card
information. And as I did that, I noticed that
there was Hebrew writing within his phone. There
was English and... Hebrew and so I asked him
where are you from? He said I'm from Israel and
I said can I ask you a question? He said sure
I said we're going through Ecclesiastes in my
church preaching a sermon series through that
book and we keep seeing the word Hevel that is
there can you as somebody who really speaks Hebrew
can you tell me what this is and as I had anticipated,
he found that to be difficult. Not because he
doesn't know his language, but translating the
word into English is tough. He just kept saying,
it's very difficult. Hevel, hevelim. Friends,
we continue to look at hevel. We continue to
look at the word that is translated in your text
as vanity, right? A word that shows us the fleeting
nature of things under the sun, that hevel is
something that means something like a breath.
or a mist, a vapor, it is here and it is gone.
And yes, we do see this again in Ecclesiastes
chapter 9. And so would you look there and follow
along with me, for this is God's word. Ecclesiastes
9, But all this I laid to heart, examining it
all, how the righteous and the wise and their
deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love
or hate, man does not know. Both are before him.
It is the same for all, since the same event
happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the
good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean,
to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.
As the good one is, so is the sinner. And he
who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is
an evil. and all that is done under the sun that
the same event happens to all. Also the hearts
of the children of man are full of evil and madness
is in their hearts while they live and after
that they go to the dead but he who is joined
with all the living has hope for a living dog
is better than a dead lion for the living know
that they will die but the dead know nothing.
and they have no more reward for the memory of
them is forgotten. Their love and their hate
and their envy have already perished and forever
and they have no more share in all that is done
under the sun. Go eat your bread with joy and
drink your wine with a merry heart for God has
already approved what you do. Let your garments
be always white Let not oil be lacking on your
head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love
all the days of your vain life that he has given
you under the sun. Because that is your portion
in life and in your toil at which you toil under
the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it
with your might. For there is no work or thought
or knowledge or wisdom and sheol to which you
are going. Again I saw that under the sun the
race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the
strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to
the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge,
but time and chance happen to them all, for man
does not know his time. Like fish that are taken
in an evil net, and like birds that are caught
in a snare, so the children of man are snared
at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon
them. I've also seen this example of wisdom under
the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was
a little city with few men in it, and a great
king came against it and besieged it, building
great siege works against it. But there was found
in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered
the city, yet no one remembered that poor man.
But I say the wisdom is better than might. Though
the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words
are not heard, the words of the wise heard and
quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler
among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of
war, but one sinner destroys much good. This
is God's word. Let's pray. Father in heaven,
we thank you for your word which is truth, and
for Christ who has called the word and his faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ,
we ask you to open up our hearts and our minds
to the glories of your word. And would you use
it to bolster our faith, convict us of sin and
encourage us to pursue Christ who has pursued
us all the way to the cross. We pray it all in
his name. Amen. Perhaps you remember this story
from second Kings chapter 7 There were once four
lepers who sat at the gate of Samaria for a time
Samaria was Israel's capital capital and there
were these four lepers who sat beside the gate
and it was during an awful famine and These lepers
were very hungry. It had nothing to eat But also
they knew that the famine was happening obviously
inside the city gates and so they looked at themselves
and they said what are we to do if we stay here
we will surely die but if we go into the city
there again we will surely die what are we to
do well these four lepers again according to
second kings chapter 7 knew that the syrian camp
was not all that far away the syrians were enemies
of the israelites But they said, what are we
to do? What choice do we have? And so they set
out in search of the enemy camp. They went looking
for the Syrians. And they found the camp. And
when they stumbled into it, hoping for mercy,
what they found was something of a ghost town.
The Syrians were not there. But all of their
stuff was. All of their food and their drink
and their gold. and all of their stuff and so
they these four hungry men began to eat and they
began to drink but then they came to their senses
and said what are we doing our brothers our sisters
our people are back in samaria and they're starving
let us go to them and tell them what we have
found and so they went back to the city They
went and they told the king in his household
what they had found and the king sent men To
go and look for the Syrians because the Syrians
no doubt had come upon them in order to do battle
So they went looking for the Syrians, but he
also sent others to that camp To plunder it and
take back the food so that the people of the
city were saved They were saved from battle They
were saved from starvation yet there's a sadness
about this story and the sadness is this you
don't hear any more about those lepers you don't
hear any more about these unnamed forgotten heroes
and something similar is also going on within
our text for you see it in verses 14 and 15 there
this story of this little city with a few men
in it and a great king coming upon it and this
wise but poor man delivering the city. But yet
you don't see anything else about him. He's not
named. And as the text says, he is forgotten.
Friends, the wise do not always receive the reward
or the recognition that they deserve in this
life before death comes. This chapter is about
how to live in light of pending death, but to
do so with joy and with wisdom. Let me set the
stage for it by looking in the first two verses.
All this I laid to heart examining it all, how
the righteous and the wise and their deeds are
in the hand of God. And that sounds good, right?
We like to think that we are in the hands of
God, but what comes next maybe isn't so encouraging.
It says, whether it's love or hate, man does
not know both are before him. What he's getting
at here is showing us that, yes, we are in the
hand of God, but we do not always know what's
going to come next, do we? The unexpected. This
is also communicated in verse 11, if you look
there. Time and chance happen to them all. Now,
we should understand that as this says this word
chance, chance is nothing. Chance has no status.
It's not a real thing. What's actually being
communicated here is that things happen, we don't
always know why, but God does. But the one thing
that is communicated that we know will definitely
happen if the Lord continues to tarry. Is that
friends, we will all die. We will all die. That's
the event that this text is talking about that
happens to every single person. But we already
know this from studying the book of Ecclesiastes
that it all happens in God's time. And so yes,
you're in God's hands. You're in his time. Even
if you don't know exactly what tomorrow will
hold. Now the way that this text speaks about
death, I think is very interesting Look back
in verse 2 This event that happens to the righteous
and the wicked to the good and the evil to the
clean and the unclean to him who Sacrifices and
him who does not and then on and on it goes and
then it says that death is an evil Do we really
think of death as being evil Quite literally,
the word that is used here is bad. Friends, death
is bad. Death is wrong. Death is unnatural. And
death hurts. And we know this from the Scriptures
that the wages of sin is what? It is death. And
so children, you remember what you heard this
week. You remember how when God created Adam
and Eve, He created them happy and holy. things
were right with the world until they weren't.
Because of what? Because of sin. Children, you
remember what the serpent did. He came to Eve
and he said, you will not surely die. He tricked
them. He lied to them. That's what Satan does.
That's what the devil does. He is a liar. And
they listen to the lie and their disobedience
cost mankind life. But here's the thing. Here's
why the scriptures are so good. Because they
communicate truth and they communicate hope.
Right? God does not leave us hopeless. No, not
at all. Instead, what the scriptures show us
is that Jesus came to live and to die in order
to give life back to us. So that even as death
hurts, and death is bad according to Solomon
here, What Jesus does is to remove the sting
of death. It's such that the Apostle Paul is
able to say to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Dying can only be gain if you are in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jesus provides for us eternal life,
never to be interrupted by death again. And yet
it costs nothing less than the very blood Jesus
Himself. For you may remember these words from
Hebrews chapter 9 that says without the shedding
of blood there is no forgiveness and then it
says Christ was offered once to bear the sins
of many. It happens by His blood. There's a Christian
contemporary artist named Matt Redman who sings
a song called Your Blood Speaks. He sings, Your
blood speaks a better word than all the empty
claims I've heard upon this earth, speaks righteousness
to me, stands in my defense. Jesus, it's your
blood. Or perhaps you're more of a traditionalist
and you like this one, What can wash away my
sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can
make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of
Jesus. Oh, how precious is the flow that makes
me white as snow. No other fount I know. It's
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Friends, this
is the good news that Jesus gave himself up on
the cross so that you would have life. And what
Jesus does is he reverses the curse and gives
eternal life to all who would trust in him. And
my second point this morning shows why this was
necessary because it's not just that death is
a bad thing. There are tremendously bad things
in our hearts. Look at verses, say three through
six. This is an evil under the Sun the same event
happens to all also the hearts of the children
of man are full of evil. I think here that actually
what's going on is Solomon is reflecting upon
the book of Genesis once again because Genesis
chapter 6 verse 5 says the law the Lord saw the
wickedness of man was great in the earth And
that every intention of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. Friends, until the
Holy Spirit gives us that new heart, we carry
a heart that is just full of sickness and violence,
malice, evil. And this is why we need to be careful
with some of the phrases that people say. Have
you ever heard someone say, Just follow your
heart. Have you heard that? Yeah. Well, what
about when your heart is full of evil? We need
our hearts cleansed. What we need to do is not
to follow our hearts, but to follow Christ. Christ
is our only hope. And hope is also communicated
within this text. Look at verse four. But he
who is joined with all the living has hope. For
a living dog is better than a dead lion. Now
we read that and we think, what's that about?
Especially dog lovers might say, what's that
about? What's being communicated here is that
while you have life, you have hope. Have any
of you paid attention to your license plates
recently? I see some smiles. While I breathe,
I Hope, South Carolina license plate. People
seem to attribute this to ancient philosophers,
maybe ancient Roman philosophers, maybe ancient
Greek philosophers, but maybe it needs to be
attributed to Solomon. While I have life, I have
hope. And friends, as people who are full of
hope, this text also tells us how to live. We
are able to live with hope and enjoy the good
things of God. Look at verses 7 through 10. Go
eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with
a merry heart for God has already approved what
you do. This is written as an imperative, meaning
it's written as a command. How interesting is
it that we have to be commanded to enjoy things?
We're being told here, God has approved what
you do, meaning God has given you good gifts
to be enjoyed. The next verse kind of illustrates
this. It's got white garments and oil on the
head communicating festivity and celebration,
perhaps cleanliness. What is not being communicated
here is to wallow in our sorrow. Now, certainly
Solomon here has spoken of our sorrow and he
acknowledges there are times to be sorrowful.
But friends, there is also a time to enjoy what
he Gives to us and you can see this as well in
verse 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love
all the days of your vain life Quite literally.
This is something like see or experience life
with the wife whom you love We are reminded here
that marriage is a pre fall gift before Adam
and Eve ever disobeyed God they were Married.
Married is a great thing. I did a wedding just
this week and was reminded of the goodness of
marriage. I recognize today is Father's Day,
but if I can speak to husbands for a minute,
enjoy your wives. Date your wives. Cherish your
wives. Compliment your wives. Do fun things together.
Do not take your marriages for granted. Love
your wives, men, as Christ loved the church and
gave himself up for her. Additionally, wives,
remember you are to submit. You are to respect.
You are to pray for your husbands as they seek
to lead you. Remember that as husbands are to
love their wives, as Christ loved the church,
that you in that analogy are like the church.
You are to receive that kind of love. And we
need to do it now. We need to love our wives
now. Wives, you need to love your husbands right
now because look at verse 10. Whatever your hand
finds to do, do with your might. Do it now. For
there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom
and shield to which you are going. This is telling
us to enjoy what God gives to us right now because
death comes. And I know that there are those
of you sitting in the pew right now who have
lost your spouses. And so perhaps a text like
this is hard to hear. It brings back that sorrow.
But maybe your hearts can be encouraged by this,
that those who die in the Lord are with the Lord,
and they are okay. God is near to the broken
-hearted. And so please, would you take that
to heart? But also take this next portion of
text to heart look in verses 11 and on this is
getting back especially in verses 14 15 and 16
to that opening illustration right with the four
lepers And so I compared that to what's happening
here. You've got this poor but wise man. He is
unnamed here in this text, but isn't it interesting
what it says? This is a small city in verse 14,
a very small city with few men in it and yet
a great king comes against it and besieges it.
This is showing us incredible power coming against
a very insignificant city with an insignificant
man in it and yet what does this man do by his
wisdom? He delivers the city, doesn't he? This
man is a forgotten legend, a hero, right? Who
delivers the city by his wisdom. Friends, sometimes
wisdom goes unnoticed, sometimes wisdom is ignored,
and sometimes the shouting of the fool is much
louder than the words of the wise. But friends,
even As you continue to pursue wisdom, you know
that God knows what you pursue. Even if people
ignore you, you are not seeking the approval
of men. Wisdom's reward is the good that it brings,
not a pat on the back. And so yes, Solomon is
very correct here. The wise are often forgotten
or despised. But Solomon also says this in Proverbs,
that fools despise wisdom and instruction. And
so if people will not listen to you, know that
it is fools who despise these things. And so
press on sharing the wisdom of the gospel. And
if I can illustrate how this is so incredibly
true, that story of the lepers that I shared,
I didn't share the entire story. Because actually
what happens before those lepers ever go and
find the Syrian camp, before they ever find the
food that will save them, the prophet Elisha
predicted the victory. The apostle or the prophet
Elisha predicted the end of starvation for Israel
and yet the captain of the king mocked him. The
captain of the king did not believe him and so
Elisha said to him, you will in fact see it with
your own eyes, but you won't eat any of it. Friends,
ignoring God's wisdom is a heinous sin. Do you
ever feel the burden of needing to share the
gospel with somebody who just won't listen to
you. Do you know people? Maybe it's a brother
or a sister or a neighbor or a co -worker and
they need to believe in Jesus, but they will
not listen to you. Friends, do not be discouraged
about this. Because if that person is going to
come to faith in Jesus Christ, it is all the
grace of God, isn't it? And so be obedient. Do
not be discouraged. Continue to press on sharing
the gospel, even as people ignore what you have
to say. Because actually, if I can give you one
final encouragement on this, Jesus told a story
about this once. Jesus told the parable of the
wedding feast in Matthew chapter 22. Within that
story there was a king who was giving a wedding
feast for his son and he sent out invitations
to all kinds of people he said come to this feast
and the people wouldn't do it and You know when
a king tells you to come to a feast you come
to the feast But they wouldn't do it according
to Jesus. They gave flimsy excuses They the people
mistreated the servants of the king even killing
them. So not only did they ignore wisdom, but
they rebelled against it. And rightfully so,
the King in Jesus' parable is enraged. He is
mad and he punishes the wicked. And then he does
something incredible. The King sends out the
invitation to the people in the streets. He sends
his messengers to the streets and and tells them
to get all kinds of people from all kinds of
places all kinds of the the walks of life to
come and be a part of this wedding celebration
and they come But one man comes and he's not
dressed right he's not wearing wedding clothes
and the king identifies him and Says get him
out of here And that man is cast into outer darkness
where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Friends, the story that Jesus tells there is
relaying Israel's history. God's prophets called
the people to repentance and the people mistreated
them. They disrespected them. They ignored them.
And they even killed some of the prophets. Just
those men. proclaiming the Messiah to come but
also within that story you have the man without
the wedding clothes that man came into the wedding
celebration the feast he came not to honor the
king or his son he came to insult the king and
he came as one unprepared he came as one without
the righteousness of Christ friends we've already
seen this especially from Ecclesiastes chapter
7 Your self -righteousness will not save you.
It is only the righteousness of Christ. And so
today, do not ignore the wisdom of the gospel.
For perhaps someone in this sanctuary today is
the day of salvation. And so let me ask you,
are you prepared? Are you clothed with the righteousness
of Christ? Because you don't know when your days
will be up. You're told to number your days according
to the Scriptures. You do not know when your
days will be up, but if you are in Christ, you
know where you will be. That you're in God's
hands. You have a place at the banquet. You have
a place to use revelation at the marriage supper
of the Lamb. You see what Jesus has done for
the believer by His wisdom. He has turned the
vanity of life into everlasting life in Him and
Him alone. Amen. Let's pray.