and to be here. Well, let's bow before the Lord before we begin. Our gracious God, God of glory, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we are happy to bow before you today, to gather under your word, to hear from you, to learn of you, I ask you to please work in and through your word. Lord, renew our minds, help us, strengthen us in the faith. And most of all, we pray that you would be glorified and worshiped, for you are worthy. We love you and ask your blessing upon this time now. In the name of the Lord Jesus, your son, amen. Okay, we'll turn back with me to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes, first book right after Proverbs, would be considered wisdom literature. And I'll read today the first 11 verses. Ecclesiastes 1. The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanity, says the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun goes down and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes round to the north. Around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full. To the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness. A man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, see, this is new? It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things, yet to be among those who come after. Amen. This is the word of God. Well, the preacher, Solomon, is making his point that all is vanity. And the way I described vanity to be understood primarily in this book is the idea of something vaporous, a puff of wind, something passing. And in its right context, vanity can mean other things, even in English, right? But his focus here is all is vanity, and he's using nature, and he's using human experience in this first chapter here for his examples. And the focus is life under the sun. He mentions that a lot in this book, life under the sun, the here and the now, life as we know it, life in the earth, in our day. life on us on which the sun shines. He also says it another way, life under heaven. And the question he sets before us is, what does a man gain by all the toil? at which he toils under the sun. That word toil is interesting to me, toil. Do you toil? Yeah, you do, you toil. You work at things, you strive, you labor at things. That's part of the curse, is we have to work and labor, we have to toil. Well, that's the question, what's to be gained by all the toil? It's not just a little bit, there's a lot in a person's lifetime. Then he describes certain or some aspects of the earth and its toiling. He even kind of gives the example of the sun. It goes down, in a sense, as it says, it goes down almost weary. It goes down to where it started and it comes back. And the rivers flow and all of these pictures. And the earth is the place where the story of mankind is being played out, right? And really, it's the story, it's the place where the story of redemption is played out. This earth, almost as a stage, it's the same stage for all of mankind. And even though one generation comes and another generation goes, the earth continues on just the way it always has. From the very beginning until now, it continues on the way it always has. Continues on in its course, on and on and on. And even though that's the case, it's not as though the earth is self-sustaining. Biblically, even Solomon would have known that. It's God who's upholding the earth. And as he promised Noah, way at the beginning, after Noah's flood, he promised that it's going to be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will not cease. It's gonna continue on. And he's the one upholding it. And in this earth is where the providence of God unfolds. Providence is He's in control, but He's in control also with a purpose. Solomon here is showing Everything's just going on the same in the earth. The wind, the rivers, the sun up and down. And those things could represent other aspects of life too. There are other things in life that don't stop. There's this cycle, this flow, this unceasing aspect of the earth. But God is at work faithfully. In a sense, there's this idea as the sun rises, from the rising of the sun to its setting, what does the psalmist say? You are to be praised. Well, it's rising and setting, it's another example, another picture of Him sovereignly working, and Him, everything's working according to His plan. It's something you can't stop. Whatever He's ordained in His providence, there's no stopping it. It's like you trying to stop the sun from rising and setting each day. You're not gonna do it. Stop the wind from blowing, you can't. It's just going to be ongoing. In Psalm 75, the psalmist says, We could get off into some of the other aspects of environmentalists and their ideas. God is going to keep the earth functioning and going the way He wants it to. It's the way it's always been. It's the way it's always going to be. And now in verses 8 through 11, Solomon brings human experience into the picture. He starts in on saying in verse 8, Everything is full of weariness. It just is. Everything's full of weariness. At the end of every single day, we all need sleep, don't we? No matter what day it is, no matter how good the day went, you need sleep at the end of the day. You're weary. We're tired. Work takes energy, and it's a wearisome thing. Even playing, children at play, they can only play so long until they just plop down, right? Out of weariness. Hobbies, recreation, it's all eventually tiresome in this earth, in this world. Cooking, cleaning, you name it. Travel, fighting wars, establishing politics, policy, all kinds of things. Exercise, working out, these things all produce a weariness in us, in this earth, in this life. And the older you get, the more weariness you experience. I see some nods. The more weariness. So it's an ongoing, as children, we reach a peak, and then it's this more and more weariness. That's reality. That's how it is. It could also be understood as this idea of monotony, monotonous. You know what that means? This uniform sameness. No variety, nothing really changes. The sun, the wind, the water cycles, they may only represent other things in the earth. I was thinking of, you go to a beach and you see the waves coming and crashing on the shore. They just never stop, do they? They've never stopped since the oceans were created. They just come in, they wash in the tides. Different levels, but they're just constantly. You're just there. If you're out, you notice that. That's something obvious. They won't quit. It's almost monotonous. It is a monotonous thing. It's ongoing uniformity, a sameness. And he's talking about now the eye and the ear and the senses. In a sense, they represent the senses. Sometimes biblical writers will use just a couple of things to represent a lot of stuff, right? And the eye and the ear, the senses, he says, they cannot be filled or satisfied. Satisfied with seeing or filled up with hearing. You can never hear enough or see enough. You remember Jesus says, he who has eyes to see, let him see. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. In his context, but it's just another example of this awareness. And what we see and what we hear in this world simply can't satisfy. It just can't. We always want more. And whether it be more music to listen to, more to be heard, more news, or more pictures, more art, the number of gigabytes that most of us have of our family photos or family events is astounding in amount. We want more. We want to take another picture of that. Take a picture of that and that. I want to look at that again. Or I want to go there again. I want to see that again. There's this sense of, he's saying, we want more things to gratify the senses. And there's this innate, innate dissatisfaction with what we have, or what we see, or what we know. There's just something about this world. It doesn't complete or satisfy. And this is common to all of mankind. This is a general reality. This is how wisdom literature works. There may be some rare exceptions, but this is the general truth of the matter. I thought of Acts 17, verse 21, and the scene is in Athens, Greece, which was a major metropolitan city and hub of the day and multicultural, a lot of things going on there and a lot of smart people there. And Acts 17, 21 tells us, now all the Athenians And the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. So this is true of the Athenians, and it's true of the foreigners. It includes both. This is common to mankind. No matter what country you're from, where you're from, this is something common to mankind. They wanted to hear and tell something new. Something new. Tell me something new. We don't even talk to each other like that. If you haven't seen someone, I'm all, hey, what's new? This is something in us. And there are Proverbs about this. For example, Sheol and Abaddon, these underworld, the world of the dead, even Sheol and Abaddon, he says, are never satisfied. And he makes a comparison. And never satisfied are what? The eyes of man. Can never see enough. You can never take in enough, so to speak. And it reminded me of a quote that, it may be the only C.S. Lewis quote I ever memorized. It just stuck with me and it made so much sense. And he said, if I find in myself a desire in which nothing in this world can fully satisfy, that means I must be made for another world. And that registers, and I think that's getting to part of what Ecclesiastes is moving towards here, but we'll get to that later. But this is drawing out the fact that nothing really satisfies in the earth, and there's no human explanation for it. No one can really tell you why it's this way. An addict can't tell you why they're addicted to this. They just are. Or why is it that the eye can't be filled with seeing and the ear filled with hearing? It can't be uttered, as he says here. Well, I want to keep going, because I want to get through verse 11. Now in the next section here, verses 9 through 11, I want us to see three main things. Three human, three characteristics, put it this way, three characteristics of the human experience. Three major characteristics of the human experience. And number one is it's repetitive. Human experience is repetitive. Number two, it is ordinary. And number three, it is apparently profitless. Okay, first one, human experience is repetitive. Look at verse nine. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done. We'll pause right here. This is the repetitive reality of all human nature. What has been will be, what has been done will be done. In other words, the things people did a long time ago, are the same things people are going to do today, and the things people do today are the same things people are going to do in the future. That's how human beings are. That's how humanity is. Same desires. There will be the same general ambitions. There will be the same temptations. There will be the same sins. and there will be the same hopes, on and on. You get the idea. The humanity is bound to this uniform sameness. The way things were then are the way things will be now, and the way things are now are the way things are going to be in the future. This is quite a statement. It's quite a statement for him to make, isn't it? It is repetitive through all generations. Life just endlessly repeats itself. Nothing seems to change or improve. And this leads to the next point, which is human experience is ordinary. Human experience is ordinary. Look at the end of verse nine and then verse 10. It says, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, see, this is new. It has been already in the ages before us. Okay, we'll just stop and think about this. The ordinariness of human experience. It's what he's getting at. It's as though someone even challenged the idea. Like, look, this is new. What about this? This is new. This wasn't something that was back in Moses' day or Abraham's day. This is something different, but nothing convinced Solomon that that's the case. You may think that's new, but it's not new. It's actually already been. And this too is only common and ordinary to mankind. Now, he's not talking about technological advances, right? He's not talking about spaceships and submarines Microwaves, Instapots, those are neat. He's not talking about that. Communication devices, these. Or let's think of like a machine gun. One writer said, what's a machine gun but a highly sophisticated and really effective rock thrower? It's true, there are new creations, new inventions, obviously. But these inventions are only created because they're something that fits the common uniformity, the common desire of all mankind. Does that make sense? Let's say this phone. Most of us have one of these. I'll be willing to almost say most people in here over a certain age, in the teenage years, all have one of these. Why? Well, it suits common needs. We wanna know what time it is. You go from the sundial to a watch, to a clock, to a watch, and now we have this a lot for our time device. That's common, isn't it? Or a list of people we wanna keep, a list of people we know, we wanna get in contact with. or we want to know what day of the week it is. Hey, that's what we use this for. We want to send a message to someone. Is that new? No. It's just a more highly sophisticated and efficient way of doing that very thing. We want to keep a record of our finances or what we own. We want to keep a record. Well, there's an app for your bank. There's maps. We want to know how to get places. We want to know how to take a picture of someone, keep a catalog of pictures, photos. There are ancient, ancient caves that have drawings all over it because they wanted to do that very thing. They wanted to keep a photo or some kind of viewable recording of something important, something valuable. Know what the weather's gonna be like. See, you go on and on and on. It's just common to mankind. Inventions are sophisticated, efficient things that meet our needs. But Solomon wants the reader to consider human nature. Human nature is the bullseye, is the target. And when he's saying, there's nothing new. In the late 1800s, the end of the 19th century, the late 1800s, some thought that humanity was on the very verge of a new and golden age where there would be really a great change in the human race for the better in a lasting way. For example, slavery was abolished. The Industrial Revolution was making life better for almost everyone. And there was even what's called a temperance movement that really took a foothold, where the distribution and sale of alcohol was really tampered down. So you got all these things going on. Things looked promising, almost as though they're heading to the millennium. There were some good theologians even in that day that were post-millennial in their view. We're about to head into the millennium, look how things are going, look how things are getting, how much better. We've got sidewalks that have a little curve in it so handicapped people or others can get on the sidewalk easy. Look how humankind is going. But then, what happened? Early 1900s, someone remember? Say that again. World War I, kaboom. World War I, it was awful, awful. We can't even describe the atrocities, the death. But hey, you know what this is? This is the war to end all wars. That's what it is. So when this is over, no more war, right? Wrong. Just a few years later, what happened? World War II. And you had things as awful as the Holocaust. In the 1900s, 1940s, a Holocaust. You see, there's nothing new under the sun. This is how people treat people. In fact, we were talking, Rob, the 20th century, the 1900s, brought in the most Christian martyrs of any century prior. Is that right? My statistics, right? Can you believe that? There's nothing new under the sun. This is an ordinary turn of events in humanity. Wars, rumors of wars. Remember? Nations will rise against nations. There will be earthquakes. There's going to be famines. There are going to be pestilences. These are but what? Birth pangs until the Lord comes. That's the way it's going to be? That's the way it's going to be until the Lord comes. Well, this leads me to the third point. Human experience is apparently profitless. Now think about this. Look at verse 11. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after. Now remember the question Solomon posed in verse three. He said, what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? What does he gain? And now he's talking about this, no one's gonna remember any of it. And nothing will be remembered. There is no remembrance of former things. This is a profound and sobering reality, in my opinion. And we're all confronted with it. It doesn't just have to do with me, it's got to do with you, and you, every one of us. Most events, in the history of the world, on the stage of the world from Adam till today, most events, most people, most accomplishments, all just vanish into oblivion. We don't remember much of it at all, do we? We've not even heard of most of it. Not us. Even the historical artifacts or documents that we have, these are from the writer's perspectives a lot of times, and oftentimes there are competing narratives with that. Or it may be what someone journaled was their view, or may not be completely reliable all the time. This is all assuming any of us even read history. And the history we do read, we hang on to it. We're reading church history right now in our theological training, and I've read quite a lot of pages in our history book, but I'm still kind of baffled at how little of it I'm hanging on to. Can't remember it all. Is that the same with you? I saw a nod. Thank you. I'm not the only one. No, I've got the text too to tell me you're not the only one. And I love what Charles Bridges says at this point. Charles Bridges, by the way, kind of established himself by his work as the go-to commentator with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. He's done an excellent job, but listen to what he says. He says, how few, how easily to be counted up, are the cardinal names in the history of the human mind. How little is the remembrance of the great empire of Nimrod, of the early beginnings of Rome, or the first dynasty of France, The traditionary records are most imperfect, only, as an old expositor stamps them, rugged and rusty guesses at these matters. Much that used to form a part of an ancient history is now cast out of remembrance. Thus the idols and heroes of the world, the mighty and illustrious, with all their titles and grandeur, like a pageant of the world, pass by and are forgotten. A miserable fool indeed is he who has no better stay and portion than this shadowy remembrance." There is another commentator I'm reading. He went to Princeton Theological Seminary in the 1980s, maybe 40 years ago. And he said, while he was at the seminary, he took a job at the library. So this is Princeton Theological Library, quite a place. I've never been there, but they've got a lot of books. And they did a shelf inventory, and they compared the catalog, the shelf catalog, with what was actually on the shelves. Kind of a, hey, talk about monotonous. Well, he said out of curiosity, once in a while they'd pull a book down and just peruse it. And he said, I pulled down a book. It was called Lex Mosaica. And it was essays on Moses and written by very well-known theologians and authors of the day. And they had all contributed to this work. And then he pulled out the card, the card that has the last stamped due date on it, and he said the last stamped due date on that book was 1895. That blew my mind, that hit me. That important book sat on the shelf for nearly 100 years before this library worker has to do a shelf inventory. and pulled it off the shelf. All these guys poured themselves into that book. They labored to get this right. I'm gonna help. I'm gonna contribute. These are, you know, it's a big deal to them. A hundred years goes by, I know at least that book. That's the way it is, folks. That's what hit me too. And I started meditating on this. Human achievement is likely in focus here. And as a general rule, no one will be remembered for what they've done. Comparatively speaking, the ratio among those who are notable, remembered for Thomas Edison, the light bulb, and those kind of guys, You do a ratio between them and every human being that's walked the earth from Adam until now, all over the world, Indonesia, Estonia, Texas, all the Native Americans that lived in America before we even knew America was here. No one remembers. Very, very few are remembered. And they personally don't know. Those guys like Edison, Abraham Lincoln, we know things about him, but we don't know him, do we? Or care for him like his wife or children. Former things and later things. It could also be understood as former or later people. This is what really struck me, and it's that no one's gonna remember me. 50 years, 100 years. 200 years for absolute certain, no one's gonna remember me. No one's gonna know that I lived. No one's gonna care. No one. No one in Texas. No one in Denton. No one in wherever I live. No one. It'll only go as long as my last child or grandchild, Lord willing, I have a grandchild someday, until that last grandchild stops caring. You know? My daughter doesn't even know my grandfather that I loved dearly, loved dearly. She doesn't even know him. She's seen some pictures, but her children for sure won't know him or care, really. I mean, I don't want to sound numb or cold, but they won't care. I'm glad I had a great, great, great, great grandfather, but I don't care about him. I'm glad He's in my lineage and God by His grace gave me existence, but I don't love Him. I can't love Him. I don't know Him. See what I'm saying? We are a little speck of dust on this earth, just for a little bit. We're just gone. That's what He's talking about. You know the hymn, I forget the title of the hymn, but the verse, I don't memorize a lot of hymns, but I remember this verse. It says, time like an ever rolling stream bears all its sons away. They lie forgotten as a dream dies at the opening day. That's everyone. Bears you away, you'll lie forgotten just like everyone else. Now listen, Is this discouraging to you? You're not gonna be remembered. 100 years, 200 if the Lord tarries, granted. 500 years, no one on earth will care, you or even here. Does that bother you? It shouldn't bother you. You know who this bothers? The vain. The arrogant. George Whitefield, one of the most wonderful preachers apparently in church history, he said, let the name of Whitefield perish. Ironically, it hadn't perished yet. He's one of those guys. But you see, God wants us to know this. He's written this in the book. He wants us to know this, and he wants us to live in this light, in this reality. He wants you to live under this reality. It ought to really help us focus in how we live. Shouldn't it? In what we're living for. It ought to help you think about what you're living for. It ought to help us rethink even maybe something you're fearful of. Maybe something holding you back. Something that's a snare to you. Hey, let this help you. In a few years, no one on earth's gonna care you're here. You won't be remembered. Maybe that ought to help you refocus on how you're living your life. Psalm 1, this is God's way. I interrupted myself, I apologize. This is God's way, and this is how He deals with fallen humanity. I find Ecclesiastes one of the most helpful books in helping me shape my mind to think the way God thinks, to view things the way God views things. This world is still under a curse, and God simply doesn't let people remember much. I don't know why. It's part of our fallenness. But it's also showing another thing. Life's not about you. It is not about you. It's about someone else. And when we're reading this, we are reading the very mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that wonderful? The Lord wants us to have a clear understanding of the way things are. And that will help us even appreciate how they got this way and even what way it can be fixed, so to speak, or how there can be hope. This is the world the Lord Jesus came to live in, in this world that we're talking about. He came to live in this world, and He came to redeem us out of this world, and to deliver us even from its fallenness and brokenness. He's delivering you from your fallenness, and He's delivering you out of this fallen world. This is salvation. Well, just a few closing thoughts. There's a contrast here, and I want us to see it. We're talking about life under the sun. We're talking about this earth, aren't we? We're not talking about the new heavens and the new earth. It won't be this way there. Nothing will be repetitive, ordinary, or profitless. Nothing. Jesus said, behold, I make all things new. And nothing there will be vanity, not a thing, not a moment, not a person. No one will just come and go like a vapor. Nothing will be weariness. See the contrasts? The eye and the ear will be satisfied. Jonathan Edwards, the theologian in the mid-1700s, he said this, he said, the senses, in other words, what you see, you hear, he said all the senses, which include more than eyes and ears, but your smell, your taste, your touch, the things you physically touch, your emotional feelings, all senses in heaven will only be inlets for delight. That's quite a thought, because that's not true here. All your senses are inlets for unpleasant things quite often, aren't they? But not there. See what he's saying? Your senses, what you see, what you hear, what you smell, what you feel, what you taste, only inlets of delight. And this is what C.S. Lewis is talking about. You're made for another world. We're pilgrims here. This is not our home. You're made for another world. We're to journey on. And if you try to make this world your home, you're gonna end up with the same reality. It's all vanity. Nothing satisfies. Those who are often the most wealthy and who seem to have everything, The most money, or houses, or championships, they're not the happiest people on the earth. They just aren't. Another thing is, you won't be forgotten. Not you, nor any of God's people will ever be forgotten, but you'll be fully known and loved. You will know, too, as you are fully known. See that? That's coming. you will never, ever pass into oblivion in that sense. And Jesus, in John 14, He said, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. See, the world gives certain ways, but it cannot give you this peace. It can't. It won't. It can't do it. You're lying if you say it does. The world can't give you the peace. Only Jesus can give you this peace. And he says, let not your hearts be troubled, nor let them be afraid. Then in Matthew 11, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. The world can't give you this rest. This weariness requires a true rest. And he alone can give it. Again, he says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. When you're reading Ecclesiastes, you're learning from Jesus. You are. And he tells us, I'm gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls in me. Well, lastly, speaking of things that things, people, news, history, things that do pass into oblivion or out of our remembrance, I have a renewed appreciation for the fact or the profound miracle that we have this right here. That is beyond words miraculous. Do you know how old Ecclesiastes is? And we have all of it. We have Moses and what he wrote, David's Psalms. We have the words of Christ all preserved all these years. That is a miracle and it is a treasure. And Jesus promised heaven and earth will pass away, but what? My words will not ever pass away. Well, let this encourage you saints. Like I said in the first study, we need the message of Ecclesiastes. So hopefully we can press on in it and the Lord will bless it to you. Let me pray and then we can break until 10.30. Our gracious God, we love you. Lord, draw our hearts to you. Lord, we need this perspective and Even as Augustine said, what is the purpose of all this restlessness? Is it not our gracious Father pressing upon the backs of his fugitive children to bring them home to himself? Lord, we trust you to bring us home to yourself. Make us feel your love and your wisdom deep in our hearts and in our minds. and let us not enter into any rest but yours, that which Christ gives. Bless this to your people in Jesus's precious name.