| 9 July, 2000 | Half-Truths From A Gloomy King | Ecclesiastes 2:11 |
When Satan came to tempt Eve, the things that he told her are
truly and accurately recorded in the Scriptures; nonetheless they
are still lies, or even worse, half-truths.
When Job was suffering under the various trials that he had, his
friends came to him and told him a number of reasons why he was
suffering, and how and why God was letting him get put through
the wringer.
They were wrong. All their arguments were flawed, incorrect, they
didn't have a clue. They were looking at things from man's viewpoint,
not God's, and they were all way off base.
Nonetheless, the Bible accurately records the things they said.
The Bible is utterly reliable, and it even records things that
people say which may be in error, as well as things that are entirely
accurate.
That is why the Bible must always be read in context, you have
to get the background of who is writing, who is being written
to, and what is the purpose.
Some verses, like John 3:16, can stand alone with no background
framework, but many others should not be used that way.
Something I want us to consider today, there is a whole
book in the Bible that needs to be put into context.
There is a book in the Bible, that unless we understand the context
that it was written in, it will not give us the
message from God that He would want us to have, and that is the
book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes is a book filled with the best of human wisdom, written
by a man that was once close to God, but who became disobedient,
backslid, and in his later years, became spiritually unprofitable,
unfruitful.
Ecclesiastes was written by king Solomon, and before we can understand
the book, first we need to understand Solomon, and where he was
spiritually when he wrote it.
If you have your Bibles with you today, and I hope you do, turn
to 1 Kings 2:10: " So David slept with his fathers, and was
buried in the city of David."
Verse 12:
"Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and
his kingdom was established greatly." Chapter 3, verse 1:
"And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and
took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David,
until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house
of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about."
Verse 5:
"In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night:
and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father
great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and
in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou
hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him
a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead
of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how
to go out or come in. (Actually, Solomon was about 30 years old,
but when God appears to you, you tend to be humble)
And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast
chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for
multitude.
Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy
people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able
to judge this thy so great a people?
And the speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing.
And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and
hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches
for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast
asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;
Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee
a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like
thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto
thee.
And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both
riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings
like unto thee all thy days."
Turn to chapter 11 and verse 1: "But king Solomon loved many
strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of
the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites:
Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children
of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come
in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their
gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.
And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred
concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.
For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned
away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect
with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians,
and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully
after the LORD, as did David his father.
Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination
of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech,
the abomination of the children of Ammon.
And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense
and sacrificed unto their gods.
And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned
from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,
And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not
go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded."
This is the background, this is the context upon which Ecclesiastes
was written.
Solomon; the wisest man in the world, a godly man, but later in
life a man that has corrupted himself away from God so that eventually
he no longer has the spiritual wisdom or insight that he once
had.
Solomon had written the Song of Songs, the greatest love story
in the world, a wonderful illustration of love, faithfulness,
and the joy of a man and woman together, but then look what happened
to him:
Pharaoh's daughter was not enough, he added to himself a thousand
women, and the majority of them had no covenant relationship or
love for Solomon's God, and he did not convert them, they
subverted him.
If Solomon were alive today, I think we would see him at the time
when he wrote Ecclesiastes as a discouraged old man, a believer
that had backslidden and fallen far from God, and no longer had
the spiritual discernment that he once had.
The Book of Ecclesiastes is a tremendous object lesson to
us of what happens when a person disobeys God, and then tries
to makes sense out of life.
With this as our context, turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 1 and verse
1: "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in
Jerusalem.
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all
is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh
under the sun?"
There are two phrases in these first verses that set the tone
for the whole book; "vanity", and "under the sun."
"Under the sun" is a perfect description of how a wise
man might work out his philosophy of life when he gets away from
God.
When you read through Ecclesiastes, it seems to have a different
flavor than the rest of the Bible. It is gloomy, it is full of
bitterness and melancholy; there is something lacking in it that
makes it different from the rest of the Bible.
It is God allowing us to see what happens to the wisest
and most thoughtful man in the world, that has gotten away from
God, and then tries to make sense out of life on his own.
It is man "under the sun", a natural man, without revelation
from God, looking at the world, and looking at man, and all mankind's
troubles and cares, and not being able to come up with a satisfying
answer.
The only answer that he can come up with is "vanity of vanities,
all is vanity."
What does he mean by that? He means it is empty, it is unfulfilling,
it is a life of frustration and dissatisfaction.
It is a life that has done everything, and none of it gives any
satisfaction. Anybody here today that can relate to that?
We live in a world today where we have a lot in common with Solomon:
we have an abundance of knowledge and goods, we have the ability
to learn many things and keep track of them.
At the same time, our culture has turned away from a knowledge
of God, and has gone after the gods of this world, and now is
having trouble making sense out of why nothing makes sense.
We have a lot of stuff, but nothing satisfies like it should,
and it is hard to make sense out of life. Especially for young
people. Life seems pointless. Vanity of vanities; frustration,
disappointment.
Ecclesiastes is a book by some one who has been there, done that,
and shows us that without God, nothing satisfies. It's in vain.
Vanity of vanities.
This is one of the most beautiful books in the Bible in the way
it reads and flows, follow with me as I read a little of it. Chapter
1, verse 12:
"I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I
gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all
things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God
given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold,
all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which
is wanting cannot be numbered.
I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great
estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been
before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of
wisdom and knowledge.
And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly:
I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge
increaseth sorrow.
I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth,
therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.
I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting
mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might
see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should
do under the heaven all the days of their life.
I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:
I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of
all kind of fruits:
I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth
forth trees:
I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house;
also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all
that were in Jerusalem before me:
I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure
of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women
singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments,
and that of all sorts.
So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me
in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld
not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour:
and this was my portion of all my labour.
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and
on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was
vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the
sun.
And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly:
for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that
which hath been already done.
Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth
darkness.
The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness:
and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.
Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth
even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart,
that this also is vanity.
For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool
for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all
be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.
Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under
the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of
spirit.
Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because
I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet
shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured,
and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also
vanity.
Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the
labour which I took under the sun.
For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge,
and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall
he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his
heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his
heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity."
Let's stop for a second:
Have you noticed something curious here? Where is God in all this?
The only time God even gets mentioned, is at the beginning, and
Solomon has Him as part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Anytime you don't understand the problem, you will come up with
the wrong solution. And that's just what Solomon does;
next verse:
"There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat
and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his
labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God."
Nothing better? This almost sounds like a paraphrase of "Eat,
drink, and be merry, and try and die with the most toys."
Solomon sinned, he got away from God, and it messed up his
head. When we read Ecclesiastes, we need to let it be a great
object lesson to us of what can happen to us if we get away from
God.
What we need to do now, is see how we can profit and learn from
Solomon's mistakes, and not make them ourselves.
Several times Solomon uses the words vanity, vexation of spirit,
and travail to describe our lives on the earth.
Travail means pain, agony, like birth pangs, that cause a person
to writhe and twist in torment, that is how he sees the condition
of man, and he says that it is vanity.
He sees it accomplishing nothing. He sees us living lives of grief,
and to what end? Apparently none. He sees it as pointless vanity.
Some of us have lives that are difficult, we seem to have our
share of travail, but we have an advantage over Solomon:
God's Word tells us why things are the way they are, and if we
stay obedient to God, life is not pointless at all.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 5; "Ye have forgotten
the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son,
despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou
art rebuked of him:
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son
whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for
what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?"
Verse 11;
"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous,
but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable
fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
The problems and griefs that we go through have a reason and a
purpose, they are not vanity at all; Solomon was wrong!
There is a big difference between a severe travail that is pointless
and useless, and a discipline that God is using to make us what
He wants us to be.
Imagine coming out here to the school 4 nights a week and doing
the workout if there was nothing to be gained by it, who would
want to do such a thing?
If we all had to come out here 4 nights a week, run around the
block in 85 degree heat, then do the workout, torture, and then
run around the block again, and all we got out of it was sore
muscles and wet, sweaty underwear, we'd figure out a way to burn
this place down, right?
But we know that bodily exercise gets rid of stress, it improves
our breathing, our hearts, our joints and muscles, it helps us
sleep better, helps us live a stronger and more vigorous life,
so it is worth the trouble.
Turn to John 15 verse 1; Jesus tells us: "I am the true vine,
and my Father is the husbandman. - the vinedresser-
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away; and
every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it",- He prunes
it - "that it may bring forth more fruit."
The travail that believers go through in their lives is part of
the pruning process, and it is not vanity, it is not a pointless,
frustrating waste of time.
It is the way that God trims away our useless branches so that
we can bring forth more fruit.
Verse 4:
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except
ye abide in me."
I doesn't matter if you are the wisest person in the world, it
doesn't matter if you are the richest person in the world; if
you do not stay in Christ, you will not bear Christ-like fruit.
Verse 5:
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me,
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without
me ye can do nothing."
Solomon thought that the travail that we go through was pointless,
purposeless, simply a frustration.
Right here, Jesus tells us why Solomon felt that way; he did not
abide in the presence of God.
He disobeyed God, he went his own way, and the things he did from
then on amounted to nothing, exactly as Jesus said. Vanity. Frustration.
Disappointment. No fruit.
Jesus tells us in these verses that if we abide in Him, then there
will be a pruning process, and we will
bear fruit.
There will be problems, there will be frustrations, but it is
to accomplish a specific purpose, to bring us into Christlikeness,
and God knows what He is doing.
Not only is He planning for your life to blossom and bring forth
spiritual fruit, but He plans for there to be a lot of it.
Look at the progression from verses two through five: verse two
says that if we bear fruit, (and all true Christians
do) then He will prune us so that we may bring forth more
fruit.
And then in verse 5, as we abide in Him, and He abides in
us, we bring forth much fruit.
As we abide in Christ, we bring forth spiritual fruit. God prunes
us;
-ouch-we don't like that - and then we bring forth more fruit,
and we abide, we remain faithful to stay where He puts us, we
bloom where we're planted, we bring forth much fruit.
But the key to the whole process is abiding. A branch
that does not abide, withers and produces nothing.
(Display grape vine branch with grape clusters on it)
This is a grape vine branch that I got Friday, and it obviously
has clusters of fruit on it.
It is obviously a useful and productive branch, it is bringing
forth fruit, but is it going to bring forth any fruit in the future?
No.
Why not? It is no longer part of the vine. If we get away from
Christ, if we wander away from Jesus, our spiritual growth next
year will bear very little relationship to our spiritual growth
last year.
The branch has to abide in the vine in order to produce fruit.
That's where Solomon messed up. Wisest man on the earth, but he
failed to abide, and the things of God became hidden from his
eyes.
Are the things of God hidden from your eyes today? Why do you
suppose that is?
Solomon started out wonderfully, he loved God, and there was a
lot of spiritual fruit in his life.
But somewhere along the way, he quit abiding in the will of God,
he began to disobey God, he quit abiding in God and the pruning
process quit.
He went his own way, like a vine that has gone wild. And the spiritual
fruit went away with it.
Solomon's eyes were blinded from the things of God because he
was disobedient to God, out of the will of God, living contrary
to what God had commanded.
Sometimes that happens to Christians. They start out pretty well,
and then they go off to suit themselves, they become disobedient
to the authority of God over their lives.
It is interesting in Ecclesiastes that Solomon refers to God many
times, but never calls Him Lord. Think about that.
That says something.
A lot of people are like Solomon, they know who God is, they even
know that His name is Jesus Christ, and they know that if they
ever expect to get saved, He is the one they will have to deal
with.
But like Solomon, they think they can deal with Him on their own
terms.
Jesus asked those around Him the very pertinent question; "Why
do you call me Lord, Lord, and don't do what I say?"
If you think that perhaps you once trusted in Jesus Christ
for salvation, maybe you walked an aisle, or said a sinners prayer;
but something's not right; in your life today the things of God
are a blank to you?
Let me tell you something: either you never really did business
with God, you never really got saved, you just thought you did;
or you did not abide in God, you are out of fellowship, and like
Solomon, you are no longer producing spiritual fruit.
In either case, you are out of the will of God, and the sooner
you deal with it, the better.
Solomon waited too long, he became an old man, and old backsliders
live and move in old habits; stuck in sinful, frustrating ruts.
Did Solomon lose His salvation? No, those that have truly trusted
God for salvation are kept securely by Him, but I believe Solomon
ended his life as an object lesson of what happens when a believer
goes off their own way.
Vanity of vanities, frustration of frustration, the disappointment
of the pointlessness of his life, the wisest man on earth unable
to find lasting value in his life; blinded to the things of God.
How sad.
What about the person who never knows God? What about the person
who never truly bows the knee to Jesus Christ, ceases their rebellion,
truly calls Him Lord, and receives Him as their Savior?
Now that really is a vanity of vanities. Their life really
is pointless.
Whatever travail they go through, what ever joy and grief, it
lasts only a brief time, and then it is over, and they face a
terrible eternity apart from God.
They might have had meaning and purpose in this life, and in eternity
to come, but they failed to act on their opportunity.
There is a war going on in this universe between the host of heaven,
and the hosts of hell, and all those who attempt to just be neutral,
never choose sides? They default to becoming rebels, keeping company
with the hosts of hell.
By failing to choose Christ, and accepting the salvation that
He offers them, they thereby choose to live a pointless existence,
and die into an eternal destruction.
Vanity of vanities, for them it truly does become an eternity
where all is vanity.
If you have never trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, let me offer
you that opportunity today.
You don't become a Christian by joining a church, saying a prayer,
or reciting some confession.
You become a Christian by repenting of your sins, recognizing
that God is right, and you are wrong, and if you ever expect to
be right with Him, you will need to go along with His way of doing
things.
You become a Christian by trusting and believing that Jesus Christ
died on the cross in your place, He died for you, as you, and
took your sins with Him when He did it.
You have to accept that sacrifice in your place, receive that
free gift of salvation that He offers you.
If you have never trusted Jesus Christ for salvation, let me encourage
you to take that step of faith today.
If you have already trusted Christ for salvation but you have
been walking out of the will of God, if you are not where you
once were, if you are not where you need to be, then let me also
encourage you not to stay away for a minute longer.
Stand together with me, take your hymnbooks and turn to # 187.
I suppose that all of us know; "Just As I Am", but I
want us to sing just the 4th and 5th verses,
and as we sing, if God is speaking to you today, if the Holy Spirit
is dealing with you today, then come down to this altar and do
business with God right now.
Today is a wonderful day to get right with God. Why wait? Why
delay? #187