ECCLESIASTES 1-12 BUBBLES AND BUBBLES2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ecclesiastes 1-12 Bubbles And Bubbles

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013. Well, as we begin the book of Ecclesiastes this evening, I would ask you, what is the most important thing to understand as we read through and study the poetic books?

Think about what is, as far as interpretation is concerned, what's the most important thing that we need to be able to accurately and rightly interpret these poetic books that we've been studying. Hopefully, in your mind, you've been already thinking, the most important thing that we need...

is context. I've been talking about it for quite a while. In the Psalms, we talked about it with Pastor Sisko, the importance of the context. Specifically in the book of Job, we talked about it a lot, the necessity that we have a grasp of the context of what was going on because, well, some of the things that are said in the book of Job are flat out wrong.

The words of Job's friends, if you remember, if you were here, you know, we'd put them on the screen as they were sharing them as we went chapter by chapter, right? And put the words of Job's friends on the screen and we'd stamp a big false sign on it to help us remember that what Job's friends said...

is not accurate. It's not consistent with what God actually says. Now the word of God, the Bible accurately records those words of Job's friends, but not everything that Job's friends, in fact pretty much everything that Job's friends said was incorrect and God rebuked them at the end. And so the context is essential because if you start quoting from the book of Job,

And you're saying, all right, this is what the Bible says, but you're quoting Job's friends who God rebuked

You have to understand you're not accurately representing God when you quote from those who do not accurately represent God. And the beginning of the book explains the whole situation for Job. The end of the book resolves the whole issue of the book of Job. And so the context of that and knowing where you're at in the book is essential for interpreting and understanding the text.

Now, as we move into the book of Ecclesiastes, I would say it's exactly the same. It's essential that you understand the context of the book of Ecclesiastes. You have to know the context. Otherwise, if you start pulling verses out of the middle of the book of Ecclesiastes, well, you might be doing so, and it might be, well, let me put it this way.

There's a whole lot of nonsense in this book. A whole lot of nonsense. In the same way that Job's friends were not accurate in their representation of God, the book of Ecclesiastes, yes, it's in the Bible, but that does not mean that every verse accurately represents eternal truth. And I would suggest to you that this book is in the Bible, not from the value that we can get from each verse.

But this book is included in the Bible because God wants us to see the journey. He wants us to see the whole thing, the whole process, the journey that is taking place in the book of Ecclesiastes, not really the individual verses. And so...

You have to have the context because there's a whole lot of nonsense that we will see as we go through the book of Ecclesiastes. And perhaps you noticed that this week as you've been reading through the book as we go through the Bible in three years. And now hopefully we'll bring some clarity to all of this nonsense that is found. So we start out in chapter 1 of Ecclesiastes and we pick it up in verse 1. It says...

The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. And so right now we begin the book and we understand this book is written by Solomon. He refers to himself as the preacher, but he is the son of David who is king in Jerusalem. This is how Solomon refers to himself. He is the preacher. Now the name of the book, Ecclesiastes...

means preacher. It comes from the Greek word preacher, and so that's why we get the name Ecclesiastes. But it means preacher because that's how he refers to himself throughout this book. It's one who addresses an assembly. And so he's gathering people together, he's speaking to them, addressing them, and he's going to take them on this journey that he

to help, you know, bring some understanding into what life is all about. Verse 2. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. This is, of course, a predominant theme throughout this book.

The word vanity is found in over 30 verses here throughout the book. And so we're going to see this word a lot. And to help us understand this word, I have a little bit of an illustration for you. Now, this is one that I used back in 2007 when we went through Ecclesiastes the last time. And if I can get it to work, there we go.

You see what it is. Now, what is this? What's happening here? Bubbles, right? Now, one scholar defined vanity as what's left over after a bubble pops. That's what vanity is. That's what we're talking about. When Solomon says vanity of vanities, he's saying it's all like bubbles, right?

That it's there for a moment. It's there for a flash. It doesn't last very long. You see, where'd they go? They're all gone. They don't last very long. And once they pop, there's nothing left. They're gone. And that's what Solomon is going to be saying over and over and over again throughout this book. It's bubbles. Bubbles and bubbles and bubbles, says the preacher. It's all bubbles. It doesn't last long.

It's meaningless. It's pointless. It's worthless. And as we talk about bubbles, and Solomon makes reference to the vanity throughout the book, it's the lesson that we need to learn. That you cannot find happiness, you cannot find fulfillment apart from God. What we're learning from Solomon through his experience is that the things of this life cannot satisfy. And this evening I would like to

and help us get it through our heads and into our hearts that if you are thirsty, if you are thirsty, no matter what you think it is that is going to quench that thirst, if you have a thirst, if you're unsatisfied, if you need something, you need to understand that that thirst is only quenched by Jesus.

If you are thirsty, you must go to Jesus and drink deeply of the water of life. He is the only one who can satisfy you. Now we try to fill and quench that thirst with all kinds of things, even as believers. We think that this other thing, this one thing, over here, once I get that, then I'm going to be satisfied. But the lesson of Ecclesiastes, as Solomon talks about all these bubbles, the lesson is, if you're thirsty...

You must go to Jesus. He's the only one who could quench your thirst. And so he says it's vanity. Verse 3. What profit has a man of all his labor which he takes under the sun? What's the value? What's the profit of all the labor that man does?

Now, he uses the word there at the end of verse 3, under the sun, or the phrase under the sun. This is a word that's also repeated about 27 times throughout this book. Now, this is really important. And when I talk about context, this is key here. Solomon's look at life is with a specific scope. He sets specific parameters. In all his evaluations, in all his thoughts, Solomon

What led him to the conclusion that vanity of vanities, all is vanity? Well, he looked at life and all aspects of life with these parameters. I'm only going to look at things under the sun. And we see that repeated throughout the book. Under the sun, that's all that we're looking at here. Now that's essential because he's eliminating from his picture eternity. He's eliminating the whole idea of God's eternal work.

He's only looking at this life. Even when he talks about God, he's not talking about God as God has revealed himself. He's talking about his own understandings or concepts of God under the sun.

He is not looking at God as God has revealed himself, and he's not considering eternity when he speaks. And so as he looks at life, I would say that Solomon here in the book of Ecclesiastes is the biblical equivalent of Dr. Phil. Mostly nonsense. Sometimes there's little patches of general truth here and there that maybe are a little bit beneficial.

But for the most part, when you limit your scope of life to under the sun, you're going to come up with a lot of nonsense. It's not going to be eternal truth. The way that we determine eternal truth is by examining the word of God and seeing how God has revealed himself and what he has taught consistently throughout his scriptures. But Solomon takes a different approach.

He's examining everything under the sun, using human reasoning, using logic and his own understanding, so that even when he talks about God, it's not really based on God's revelation, but on his own reasoning and understanding. Warren Wiersbe puts it this way, Solomon's big mistake was to leave God out of the picture and forget that God has broken into creation and done new things.

If God had not reached out to mankind and revealed himself and worked miraculously and brought new life and spiritual life, then Solomon's assessment of life would be accurate. But that's not what has happened. God has brought life and promised life. He has given hope and meaning to

So Solomon says it's all meaningless. It's all vanity. It's all bubbles. And God says, no, I give meaning to your life. It has meaning. There is purpose. There is value. I like what Paul says in Romans chapter 8 verse 18. He says, I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

Paul says, think about eternity. You might be suffering right now and you might conclude like Solomon, it's all vain. It's all just bubbles. It's just worthless. Why am I suffering so much and getting nothing for it? But Paul says you have to consider eternity. And the suffering that we have here, it doesn't compare. It's of much greater value in eternity. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

Now as you consider this idea of looking at things under the sun, a lot of people consider and ask, well how could Solomon be so foolish? Because he asked for wisdom and he wrote the book of Proverbs. How could he be so foolish? And the answer is quite simple and important one for us to learn and that is you have to continue to choose obedience. It doesn't matter how wise Solomon was before. It doesn't matter how well he was before, how great he was, you know, in walking with God and

building the temple and, you know, involved in the worship of God. It doesn't matter. Later in Solomon's life, he walked away from God. And when you walk away from God, when you stop choosing to be obedient, you'll be surprised at how quick foolishness overtakes you. You have to choose obedience. No matter how far we've come in this Christian life, Harvey's been a believer for a long time. David's been a believer for a long time.

If they stop choosing to be obedient, they'll become great fools. Not much different than Solomon. All right, so that's kind of a long introduction. We won't spend that much time on all the verses, but we're going to kind of jump around a little bit. So let's jump down to verse 9 and start looking at what Solomon says. He says in verse 9, "...that which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."

Part of Solomon's frustration as he looked at life is that, well, it's just circular, he says. As he looks around, it's like the things that have been done are the things that are then done again. And the things that are going to be done in the future are things that have already been done. There's this repetition. It's just the same things over and over and over again so that there's nothing new under the sun. And we can see that truth, can't we?

There's the same family issues today that have existed since the beginning. The same social issues we face today are the same social issues. Also, you could look and consider the same promises that were given are the same promises that were given before. The same mistakes that I make are the same mistakes that other people have made for centuries before me. The same lies that are told today are the same lies that have been told for thousands of years. The same truths...

are the same truths that have been existing and being told by the Lord for centuries. We face the same kinds of temptations that everybody else has faced throughout history. The same sins since Adam and Eve in the garden. The same ideas, same excuses, same victories, same defeats. There's nothing new under the sun. We see this cycle, this circle that continues on under the sun. And so Solomon looks at this and he's frustrated by it.

In verse 13, he says, I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven. This burdensome task God has given the sons of men by which they may be exercised. Solomon here explains, I began my journey. And here's the journey that Solomon goes down. I want to search out and understand and discover. What is life really all about? What

What is the meaning of all this that happens under the sun? Now, as Solomon begins this journey, he begins this study, you could say, or this experiment. He's beginning, get this, he's beginning with unlimited resources. Can you imagine having unlimited resources? I mean, we kind of

think about or kind of like hold up in in awe this idea of like winning the lottery you know it's like can you imagine being set for life having unlimited what would you do with unlimited resources what would you buy how excited do you get at that thought oh man if i had unlimited resources if i could afford anything if there if i never had to worry about money that no matter what i purchased i wouldn't have to worry about the bank account

I wouldn't have to worry about next month's bills. If I could buy anything that I want, if I had unlimited resources, what would I do? That's where Solomon was. Remember in his day, the Bible describes, we saw it earlier as we were studying earlier in the year through the reign of Solomon and Kings and Chronicles, that Solomon made gold and silver abundant in Jerusalem. So abundant that

that silver was regarded as nothing. There was so much gold that silver was, ah, that's silver. You know, it's like you kind of maybe toss the pennies. You don't keep much track of them. That's how silver was. It's like, ah, who needs silver? We've got all the gold that we could want. I mean, Solomon really had unlimited resources. And so he says, I set out to seek and search all that's done under heaven. I wanted to figure out

What's really valuable? What brings fulfillment? And so I searched out by wisdom all that is done. Now notice he calls it a burdensome task. I like this quote from Ernest Hemingway. He was an author a while back. He says, happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. Think about that. He's saying intelligent people generally are not happy. If you find someone who's intelligent and happy...

That's rare. Solomon has all this wisdom and we see he's not happy. He's not fulfilled because he has wandered away from the truth. And now he's looking at life only considering the things under the sun. Verse 14.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun. He's all, I searched it out. I sought it out. I studied it. And I saw everything. There's nothing that I didn't think about. There's nothing that I didn't study. There's nothing that I didn't try. And his conclusion, he says, indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Do you believe that? He says, all is vanity. Even the bubble gun is vanity. It doesn't produce bubbles. There we go. It's vanity.

It's worthless. It's meaningless. It's empty. There's no point. I studied it all, Solomon says. And there's nothing there. Now,

The context is important, remember? The very end of Ecclesiastes, we'll see he comes to a conclusion that's the only bit of nonsense, or the only bit of, you know, what he says that's really not nonsense. And so we'll get to that. But in the meantime, we have to work through and follow him on this journey, wandering through the nonsense of all that he searched out and studied under the sun. Now, because it's under the sun, it's

He's discouraged. He's depressed. He's frustrated. Concluding that life is meaningless. It's just like bubbles. It's worthless. There's no value in it. For that reason, a lot of people wonder, why is this book in the Bible? And again, I would say, it's the journey that is important. That we need to see. Somebody's already been there. Someone's already done that and discovered.

That does not satisfy. Now, I really like the book of Ecclesiastes personally. And I don't know, maybe it's just because I'm cynical and I like cynical works. I'm not sure. But I like this book because I think the reminder is so important. Haven't you ever gone back to something even though you've done it before and regretted it? Think about it. You know, there's that food perhaps, that

You know you shouldn't eat that food. You know what it does to you. You know how you feel afterwards. But why do you go and eat it again? I mean, we know what that's like. In the same way, when you look at life, there's patterns. There's lifestyles. There's habits. There's practices. There's actions that we take. We know the results. We know how we feel afterwards. We know the regret afterwards.

But we still get deceived and think, man, if I only was in that relationship, if I only was practicing that, if only I did this, you know, then I would be satisfied. That would quench the thirst that I have. And we need this reminder. No, no, no. If you're thirsty, even as a believer, don't chase after and wander after things under the sun. No, no. If you're thirsty, if you're not satisfied, you need more of Jesus. The things of this life cannot satisfy you.

You must go to Jesus and drink deeply of the water of life. Well, we continue the journey going into chapter 2 now of Ecclesiastes. In verse 1, Solomon says, you know what I tried? I tried laughter. In verse 1, he says, I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with mirth. Therefore, enjoy pleasure. But surely, this also was vanity. Solomon says, I will test you with mirth.

The word mirth means joy or gladness or pleasure. All right, let me fill my life with joy. Let me just get all the joy and the funniness and the happiness and the comedies and the pleasures of life. Let me just fill my life with mirth. Let me just fill my life with entertainment. Let me fill my life with annual passes to Disneyland and Magic Mountain and Knott's Berry Farm.

Let me fill my life with great luxuries, funny movies, wonderful cruises. Then I'm going to be happy. Then I'm going to be filled. I filled my life. I tested it out with mirth. Now again, he has unlimited resources. How many cruises could you go on in a year? How many cruises could Solomon go on? He could spend the whole time

He could stop mid-cruise and go on a different cruise if he felt like it. I mean, there was unlimited resources. He could do whatever you want. He filled his life with mirth, with joy, with pleasures. And what was his conclusion? It's an empty bubble gun. It's meaningless. It's worthless. It's vanity. It didn't satisfy. If you're thirsty, remember, this life cannot satisfy. Solomon already tried it.

If you're thirsty, you must go to Jesus and drink deeply of the water of life. Remember in John 10.10, Jesus says, the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. That's what Solomon experienced. But he said, I come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. If you want abundant life, you have to go to Jesus. So he tried mirth. Then in verse 3, we see he tried alcohol.

Here Solomon says, look, I tried to hold on to wisdom and folly and partake of alcohol at the same time. Now you can try that if you'd like, but it's not going to work. You can't be wise and be indulging in alcohol. Those two don't go hand in hand.

He says, but I tried it. It didn't work. I tried pleasure, Solomon says in verse 10. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my reward for all my labor. Here, if you're honest with yourself in this verse, you'll start to see your own covetousness. He says, whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them.

What do your eyes desire? What would you do if you had the capacity to get whatever your eyes desired? To do whatever your eyes desired? I mean, we're limited, right? I mean, you can't do everything that you want to do. Solomon could do everything that he wanted to do. And he did not. He threw off restraint. Whatever I want to do, that's what I'm going to do. With unlimited resources. I tried it, he says.

Whatever my eyes desired. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure. Man, what would that look like in your life? Again, it reveals our own covetousness because you start thinking, well, here's what I would do. If you would be filling your life with the things of this world, you would have the same conclusion as Solomon. It's vanity. It doesn't satisfy.

Solomon tried it. You don't have to do it. You don't have to learn the lesson the hard way. You can try pleasure. You can try gratifying your flesh with wine. You can try entertainment and mirth. Or you can try working hard. Look at verse 11.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and the labor in which I had toiled. And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun. Now keep in mind, this is Solomon who constructed incredible things. The temple that he built is looked upon for the rest of history. We look back to Solomon's temple and marvel at the glorious temple that he built. And then his own house and the gardens that he built. I mean,

He worked hard. He had much to show for it. This temple was glorious. But here, towards the end of his life, he looks back and he's like, I don't get anything from it though. I mean, I'm still not satisfied. It's vanity. It's bubbles. It doesn't matter what you build. It doesn't matter what kind of shopping mall you build or it doesn't matter what type of mansion you could build. It's probably not good for my devices up here. It doesn't matter what you build.

It doesn't matter how hard you work and what you accomplish. If you're looking to that for meaning and purpose and value in your life, well, you're going to find that it's all bubbles. It was there for a moment. Maybe you felt good for a moment. But it's vanished. It's gone. You cannot find happiness and fulfillment apart from God. And so if you're thirsty, you must go to Jesus and drink deeply of the water of life. Because he's the only one who can give life and life more abundantly.

Well Solomon also tried wisdom. Verse 12. Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly. He tried wisdom and madness and folly. Verse 15. So I said in my heart as it happens to the fool it also happens to me. So why then was I more wise? Then I said in my heart this also is vanity. You know when the foolish person has a bummer crop that year I also have a bummer crop that year. Even though I'm a lot wiser than the fool the same things happen to the fool that happen to me.

They get the flu. I get the flu. They stub their toe. I stub my toe. I mean, the same things happen to us. So what's the value of being more wise if we all experience the same things, Solomon says. He says, this is vanity. This is bubbles. I gained all this wisdom, but I experienced the same things as the fool. So in verse 17, he says, I hated life. He's frustrated, discouraged, depressed. I hated life.

The work that's done under the sun is distressing to me for all is vanity and grasping for the winds. So he concludes in verse 24, nothing is better for a man that he should eat and drink and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw was from the hand of God. There's nothing better than to just eat and drink and just enjoy whatever you can because it's all meaningless. So just enjoy life while it lasts. That's his conclusion.

It's a false conclusion. Yet many people quote this verse, hey, eat, drink, and be merry. You know, like that's great. That sounds like a good philosophy of life. And that was Solomon's conclusion. But it's wrong. It's not correct. You cannot be satisfied with this life. If you're thirsty, you must go to Jesus and drink deeply of the water of life. Moving into chapter three.

Verses 1 through 8 is a very familiar portion of Scripture. There's been songs written about it. To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. And he goes through these various things. Time to be born, a time to die, time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones, a time to weep, a time to laugh. It's the times for all these things. And we know this passage. We're familiar with it. But again, a lot of times when the book of Ecclesiastes is quoted...

It's completely out of context and it means something else entirely than what the person quoting it is intending. We look at this and we think, oh, this is kind of lovely. There's these seasons of life. Here's how Pastor Chuck explains it. He says, this has been used poetically as something that is very beautiful. And it's been made very beautiful. But in the Hebrew idea, he says, it was monotony. He's saying life is just monotonous. That it's just, well, I call it life in the hamster wheel. Right?

It's the same things, the same seasons over and over again. You weep for a while, then you laugh for a while. You build for a while, then you break down for a while. You lose for a while, then you gain for a while. It's just, there's no real progress. It's just the same things over and over again. It's just monotonous. Verse 16, Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of judgment wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness iniquity was there.

I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every purpose and every work. He's frustrated because he sees where there should be judgment, where there should be righteousness, there's wickedness. And in the place of righteousness, there's iniquity. Things are not the way that they should be. Now he does bring God into the picture here. God shall judge the righteous. But again, as you read through the context there, you understand what Solomon is doing in including God here.

Is he still limiting it to this life and excluding eternity? God will bring justice. But that means more than just the death of an unrighteous person. If that's all that God's justice means, then what do you do with the death of a righteous person? You have some difficulties there. No, you have to understand eternity.

is the fullness of God's plan. And that's where God's justice is accomplished. But Solomon is not considering that. Then in verse 19, he says, what happens to the sons of men also happens to the animals. He's like, hey, the wise and the foolish experience the same thing. The righteous and the wicked experience the same thing. In fact, you know what? We experience the same things as the animals experience. He says, surely man has no advantage over animals for all is vanity. It's all bubbles. It's worthless. It's worthless.

We're from the dust, we return to the dust, he says in verse 20. And how do we know in verse 21? Who knows the spirit of the sons of men which goes upward and the spirit of the animal which goes down to the... How do we even know where the spirits go? So his conclusion, verse 22, I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works for that is his heritage for who can bring him to see what will happen after him. You don't know what's next, Solomon says. So just do the best you can to enjoy life right now.

Because that's all you got. And that's false. This life is not all that you have. In fact, this life is a very small piece of your life. This life is a very small slice of your... Well, you have eternity ahead of you. And when you look at eternity, you see this life, it's just a small sliver. And so if you're only living for this life, you're going to regret it for eternity. But if you live for eternity...

Not only will this life be more fulfilling for you, but you'll enjoy the rest of eternity. But Solomon is not considering that. Chapter 4, verse 1. Then I returned and considered all the oppression that's done under the sun. And look, the tears of the oppressed, but they have no comforter. On the side of their oppressors there is power, but they have no comforter. Therefore I praise the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still alive. You see, Solomon is a tiny bit cynical here.

It's better just to be dead because life is horrible. There's injustice. It's meaningless. It's worthless. It's just bubbles. Verse 7, Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun. There is one alone without companion. He has neither son nor brother. There's no end to his labors, nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, well, what am I working so hard for? He's working hard, but he doesn't get to enjoy the benefits because he's all by himself. And so then he goes on to this verse,

Two are better than one idea. Well, if two people are there, then they can work, they can enjoy the fruit of their labors, they can help each other. So being together is better than being alone. But it's all vanity. Verse 13. Better a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more. Then he starts thinking about people reigning. Old king versus a young foolish ruler. Which one's better?

It's interesting because his son became a young foolish ruler who lost the majority of the kingdom when he refused to listen to wise counsel. That's what happens. You might have a great king, but then the next one is a fool. Or that great king stops being corrected and instructed. And so, well, that's worse than a young fool as a king. But there's this cycle. It's vanity.

It's grasping for the wind, he says in verse 16. It's bubbles. It's meaningless. It's worthless. You can't be fulfilled. It doesn't satisfy. There's no substance there. Chapter 5.

Verse 1. Walk prudently when you go to the house of God and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools for they do not know that they do evil. Now again, Solomon brings in God to the picture but he's excluding eternity and he's only talking about here making vows. He's saying, look, if you make a vow and then God punishes you because you don't fulfill the vow, that's not going to be good for you. So just, it's better that you don't talk. Just draw near to hear. Don't open your mouth.

Now that's not an accurate picture of God. Of course, vows that are made to God need to be paid. We need to fulfill our word. But the way that he's talking about God here would cause us to be fearful. Like, hey, watch what you say because God's going to strike you. We need to fear the Lord, but that fear should not keep you from God. Remember Hebrews 4.16, "...let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace."

that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. You see, again, he's talking about God, but he's not considering how God has revealed himself. He's just thinking his own thoughts, his own conclusions about God. Verse 10. He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with increase. This also is vanity. Here's some more bubbles for you. Do you love silver? Do you love money? You get really excited about that.

If you love money, you won't be satisfied with money. Now that's backwards to us. We think, well no, if I love money and then I get money, I'm going to be really happy because I love money. But he searched it out. He tried it out. So you don't have to do the experiment yourself. You can take him at his word. If you pursue after it, if that's what's important to you, if you love abundance and increase, you will not be satisfied. How many articles have we seen? How many reports have we heard from those who have achieved great wealth and

if only I had a little bit more, just one more dollar. We handed out a study that was done back in 2006 as you came in tonight. They studied it and they found that money doesn't make you happy. And the more you have, really, the more tension, the more worry, the more concern. Money doesn't make you happy. If you love money, you will not be satisfied with it.

I like what Warren Risby says. He says, the poor think all their problems will be solved with more money and the rich have problems because of their money. The poor think, oh, if only I had some money. The rich think, man, all these problems that my money have brought me. It's not going to satisfy. If you're thirsty, if you're thinking, man, if only I had some more money. Listen, you must drink deeply of the water of life that is only found in Jesus Christ. That's the only way.

To be satisfied. More money will not satisfy you. Let's jump to chapter 6, verse 1. There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it's common among men. A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all that he desires. Yet God does not give him the power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is evil affliction. He pictures here. He says, I've seen this happen. Someone has great wealth.

But then they're in a coma and they can't enjoy it. And so someone else enjoys it. Then they experience this and they can't receive the benefits of their hard labor. He says, this is bubbles. This is vanity. They work so hard. They achieve so much. But then they didn't get to enjoy it. He calls it an evil which he's seen under the sun.

Verse 3, if a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he. A tiny bit cynical, right? I mean, it's like, it's better to never have been born than to live a long life and have lots of children and be unsatisfied. And why would you be unsatisfied? Because this life is meaningless, Solomon is saying.

It's pointless. There's no value there. He says in verse 7, all the labor of man is for his mouth, yet the soul is not satisfied. He works real hard, has a lot of kids. You would think, well, this is it. You've achieved. You've arrived. But then his soul's not satisfied. It's pointless. It's meaningless. Verse 11, since there are many things that increase vanity, how is man the better? He looks at life. He says, it's all just a whole lot of bubbles.

And there's so much that's just meaningless bubbles. And sometimes there's not even bubbles. How is man the better? What's life all about? What's the point when I'm still thirsty? And if you're still thirsty, you must go to Jesus and drink deeply of the water of life. You cannot be satisfied with the things of this life, no matter how many things

Kids and grandkids you have, no matter how much gold you acquire, no matter how much you achieve or what buildings you build, there's nothing that you can accomplish that will satisfy you in this life. Let it reveal to you your own covetousness, your own thirst, and recognize how much more of Jesus you need. You think, well, I just need to go to church once in a while. I just need to, you know, maybe read my Bible occasionally and then I'm set.

But no, if there's still a thirst, if you're thinking, hey, I'm not satisfied where I'm at in my job. I'm not satisfied where I'm at in life. I'm not satisfied with my spouse. I'm not satisfied with my family. I'm not satisfied with my income. I'm not satisfied. I'm not satisfied. I'm not. If that's your heart, you need more of Jesus. And you're not drinking deeply enough. You're trying to fulfill yourself in this life. And you'll come to the same conclusion as Solomon.

It might take you longer because you don't have as much resources. So let him learn the lesson for you. It's vanity. Verse 1 of now chapter 7. A good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the one day of one's birth. Here he's not speaking about the day of your own birth or death, but the day of death or birth for somebody else. He's saying, look, sorrow is better.

The day you go to a funeral, it's sorrowful. That's better than rejoicing over the day of someone's birth. It's better. It's more valuable, he says. Verse 13. Consider the work of God, for who can make straight what he has made crooked? Look, God has made things crooked, Solomon says, and you can't make it straight, so it's vanity.

It's worthless. He says, in the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider, surely God has appointed one as well as the other. So there's nothing you can do. So it's pointless. If God's made your life crooked, you can't do nothing about it, Solomon says. You can't change anything. Again, he's only looking at life under the sun. It's not correct, his conclusions. But he says in verse 15, I have seen everything in my days of vanity.

There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness and there's a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness. It's vanity again. The people who are doing right, they perish soon. And the people who are doing wickedly, they live for a long time. It's worthless. It's pointless. So his conclusion is, hey, don't work so hard to be righteous, verse 16. Don't work so hard to be wise because you're just destroying yourself. The really wise people die soon.

Now he goes on to say, don't be overly wicked. So he's saying, try to kind of find the middle. Where you're not really righteous and you're not really wicked, you're just generally a good person. It's not right. It's not what God says. Verse 27. Here's what I found, says the preacher, adding one thing to the other to find out the reason which my soul still seeks but I cannot find. I think there's a song like that, right? Like, I still haven't found what I'm searching for. You too. There you go.

He's still searching. I still haven't found it. I can't find it. Jumping to chapter 8, verse 2. I say, keep the king's commandment for the sake of your oath to God. Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him. Watch out for the king. Do what he says. Verse 9. All this I have seen and applied my heart to every work that's done under the sun. Again, he's saying, look, I've researched this thoroughly. There's a time which man rules over another to his own hurt.

Then I saw the wicked buried who had come and gone from the place of holiness. They were forgotten in the city and so they had done this also as vanity. It's just the same cycle. It's just the same things over and over again. People rule over one another. They hurt each other. They forget about it and the cycle repeats. Verse 14. There is a vanity which occurs on the earth that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. And again, the wicked men as it happens according to the work of the righteous. It's also vanity. Again, vanity.

The wicked and the righteous, they experience the same thing. So what's the point of being wicked or righteous? I mean, why does it matter? Just do whatever you want, Solomon says. Verse 15, he says that. So I commended enjoyment. There's nothing better that you have than just eat and drink and be merry because you're going to experience the same things as everybody else. Jumping to chapter 9, verse 2.

All things come alike to all. One event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good, the clean, the unclean, to him who sacrifices, him who doesn't sacrifice. You think, hey, I'm awesome because I go to church. Things aren't going to happen to me in this life and then things happen to you in this life. The same things that happen to the person next door who never goes to church. So it's like, what's the point of going to church then? Well, it's not for this life. It's for your soul. It's for your heart. It's for your eternity.

Again, if you're limiting the scope to this life, you don't take eternity into account, you're going to find out that life is vain. It's bubbles. It's worthless. It's meaningless. I like verse 9. Verse 9 is a great verse. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which she has given you under the sun. All the days of your vanity for which is your portion of life and the labor which you perform under the sun.

Starts out really good, like, alright, yeah, live joyfully with your wife. Wonderful. For all the days of your useless, pointless, I mean, just enjoy the time with your wife because your life is meaningless. A little bit cynical. It's pointless. It's bubbles. Worthless.

Verse 13, this wisdom I have also seen 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, besieged it and built great snares around it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man and he by his wisdom delivered the city yet no one remembered the same poor man. This great army comes against the city, this poor wise nobody saves the city in his wisdom and nobody remembers it.

What's the value in that? So why be wise? Nobody's going to remember you. People don't value that. Chapter 10. Dead flies putrefy the perfumer's ointment and cause it to give off a foul odor. So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor. It doesn't matter how wise and honorable you are. A little bit of foolishness in there and man, you stink. Verse 11. A serpent may bite when it's not charmed. The babbler is no different. Verse 12.

When the serpent's not charmed, it might bite you. And when that person who likes to blab and babble and talk all the time, when you don't charm them and make them happy, they might bite you. So maybe you better charm them. Watch out. Woe to you, verse 16, O land, when your king is a child and your princes feast in the morning. Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles.

Just some general commentary on life here he says. And then verse 20. Do not curse the king even in your thought. Do not curse the rich even in your bedroom. For a bird of the air may carry your voice and a bird in flight may tell the matter. Don't curse people. They might find out. The NSA might be spying on you. So when you say those things about the king, it's found out. Chapter 11. Verse 2. He says, give a serving to seven and also to eight for you don't know what evil will be on the earth.

He's saying give generously to people because you don't know what's going to happen and maybe they're going to pay you back one day when you're in need. So give to them because you don't know what's going to happen. Verse 6, in the morning sow your seed, in the evening do not withhold your hand for you do not know which will prosper either this or that or whether both are like will be good. Don't just do one thing and put all your eggs in one basket because you don't know what's going to happen. So do two different things. Do several different things. You don't know what's going to happen. So

Work and labor in various ways. Verse 7. Truly the light is sweet and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun. But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness for they will be many. All that is coming is vanity. Light's good. It's wonderful. And if you have many days, hey, just remember, there's a lot of darkness coming. All that's ahead of you is vanity. It's bubbles. It's empty. It's meaningless. It's worthless. Verse 8.

Verse 9, Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these, God will bring you into judgment. Alright, young person? Go for it. Do what you want. Enjoy yourself. And just remember, God's going to judge you for it. He says, Therefore remove sorrow from your heart. Verse 10, And put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity. What's vanity? Everything. Everything.

Youth, old age, building great things, accomplishing great things, having great wealth, being really smart. Solomon says it's all vanity. Now chapter 12 verse 1. Remember now your creator in the days of your youth before the difficult days come and the years draw near when you say I have no pleasure in them. Again he's just saying enjoy yourself while you can because worse things are ahead. Because life is meaningless and it's worthless.

So just do the best you can to enjoy yourself. In verses 2 through 8, he gives us this picture of old age and death. He says, your eyes are going to fail. Now it's poetic. It's good practice for you. The poetry here in verses 2 through 8, consider that because as we head into the book of Song of Solomon this coming week, it's poetic.

hugely poetic. And so you have to learn to look at these as metaphors and understand. So he says in verse 2, while the sun and light, the moon and the stars are not darkened, verse 3, those that look through the windows grow dim. He's painting a picture there of your eyes losing their sight. In old age, your eyes begin to fail and strength leaves. He says in verse 3, the keepers of the house tremble.

And the strong men bow down. The legs begin to tremble. The keepers of the house. They grow weak. And your teeth fall out. Verse 3 he says, when the grinders cease. Because they are few. Your hearing goes. All the daughters of music are brought low. And yet at the same time, small sounds disturb you. In verse 4 he says, when one rises up at the sound of a bird. It's like, turn that racket down.

Hey, Grandpa, can I tell you something? What? And then the next moment, turn that down! That's a great benefit of old age.

He goes on to talk about fear comes and then death approaches and all these illustrations of death. But then in verse 8 he says, Vanity of vanity, says the preacher, all is vanity. He comes back to the same thing. It's all bubbles. It's all meaningless. It's all pointless. None of it is going to last. That one worked really good, huh? It's not going to last. He says, I know what it's like to be old. And here's my conclusion. It's all vanity. It's all vanity.

It's all vanity. Solomon has been saying, enjoy life while you're young. Because as you get old, things get more difficult. And then you're going to die and it's going to be all over. Your body goes back to the dust. And so it's all vanity. What was the point? But then he concludes the book in verse 13 and 14. It doesn't make up for all the nonsense that he shared. But it gives us, well, the right direction for what life is really all about. Verse 13 says,

He says, here's the conclusion of all of this. The conclusion is not vanity of vanities, it's all vanity. That's Solomon's conclusion of his experiment as he tried everything under the sun, everything in this life to satisfy himself.

And he found that nothing satisfied. So here's the conclusion. Fear God and keep his commandments. Fear God. Now as we've talked about, the fear of God is not something that should cause you to run away from God. It's the fear, the recognition that you will stand before God. And so it should prompt you then, the fear of God prompts you to approach God for mercy and grace, for forgiveness.

It prompts you to please God, as Richard was sharing on Sunday. Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Be reconciled to God. Because we fear God, we seek to please God by calling other people to get right with God. Fear God and keep his commandments. For this is man's all. This is what life is all about. It's not meaningless and it's not pointless. And as I read through Ecclesiastes, I like to balance it in my own heart with 1 Corinthians 15.58.

Paul says, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not vain in the Lord. There's a lot of vanity that you can invest yourself in. But when you invest yourself in the work of God, it's not vain. So be steadfast, be immovable, and abound. Fill your life with the work of God. Because that will not be in vain. There's great reward there.

There's great purpose. There's great value. If you don't want your life to end up just being a bunch of bubbles, abound in the work of the Lord. And that is the whole point of this book. That's why this book is in the Bible. Like I said, there's a lot of nonsense. But you need to see this journey so that you learn from Solomon's mistakes and you don't follow that path. I would ask you to consider what areas of covetousness

Is God revealing in your heart through Solomon's journey? Your desire and your craving for these various things of this life. And we always have this thought that that thing, once I get that, I get into this place and get that position, have that relationship, have this much money. We always are deceived to think that will satisfy me. Even as believers, we fall into this trap.

So let God reveal this covetousness. And as you see it, recognize, I have this thirst in me. The only way to quench the thirst is by responding to Jesus. As he said, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. If you're thirsty, if you're unsatisfied, if you're unfulfilled, you need more of Jesus. And you say, well, I'm already here on a Wednesday night. What more do you want? Well, it's not more what I want.

It's your own heart and soul that's saying, I'm thirsty and I'm not satisfied. So you need more of Jesus. You need to spend more time with Jesus. You need to abound in the work of the Lord. You need to hear from Him and respond to Him. You need to walk with Him. Fear God and obey His commands. As He speaks to your heart, obey His commands. That is the only way you will ever be satisfied. That's it. Everything else,

It's vanity. It's bubbles. It's worthless. If he tells you to get all the wisdom you can get and he's with you in it, then there's great value. But if you try to get all that wisdom because that's what you want, not because that's what he told you to do, it's worthless. It's bubbles. It's meaningless. You get all that wealth because that's what you want? Worthless. You get all that wealth because you're walking with him and obedient to him? There's value. It all comes back to your thirst for

And are you satisfying yourself with Jesus? Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word and the great reminder that we desperately need. Lord, because we see the advertisements. And Lord, we don't even need those. We have our own cravings and our own hearts. The desires and the constant idea that something else, one more thing, just another way going down that path, that's going to satisfy us.

Lord, I pray that you would bring such clarity to us right now. Lord, by your Holy Spirit, reveal to us those thirsts that we have. Help us to recognize them for what they are. Lord, that as we recognize them, we would turn to you to satisfy us and not try to fill ourselves with more of this world. Because Lord, then we just end up still thirsty, recognizing its vanity, its bubbles. Lord, help us to draw near to you.

And Lord, may you pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. And as we draw near to you, you promise to draw near to us. So Lord, draw near. Speak to us. Lead us. Be magnified and glorified in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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