Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Meaningless, all is meaningless, so says Kohaleth, or the preacher, or the teacher. In everything that man does, in all his activities, is there anything done that really matters? Is there anything that really is meaningful? The preacher in verse 3 asks what advantage or what profit does man have in all his work which he does under the sun. And then in verse 2 what I just quoted at the very beginning is his theme, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. We saw last week as he sought to prove by looking at a series of examples taken from nature and human experiences that it is all meaningless under the sun. He considered the natural things in the world, the earth, sun, wind and water. And then he looked at human experience to see if there really was any gain, any advantage that could be taken from these things that he observed. It is his quest. What makes life worth living? Is there any meaning to life? He's trying to make sense of life under the sun. And he comes to that conclusion in verses 9 and 10 last week that there is absolutely nothing new under the sun. And then he goes on even opening the door for the topic of death by saying that no one is remembered who has gone before trying to find their own significance in life. One's life, if lived truly under the sun, is fundamentally without any meaning and of no lasting value. Life is short. James says it's a vapor, a breath. and it is really, if it's without meaning, a wasted life." Tragic, if that is the case for any here tonight that has not seen the conclusion of the whole matter and knows the end of the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon's life is an example to all who seek only what the world offers rather than seeking what God has promised to give. It's a profitless and a meaningless life. And lest we forget, that's the purpose, that the author wants us all to be driven to God, His goodness, His generosity and His promise of eternal life. Our text tonight, verses 12 through 18, which has been read, the futility of wisdom. Look at verse 12, I, the preacher, Notice that this is a shift to a first person whereas the first 11 verses was written by what would be known maybe as a narrator, as an introduction in the third person. Is this an autobiography written by Solomon or is it by an unknown writer who gives the impression that it was written by Solomon? It was fairly common in the ancient times to take the persona of someone famous and write a fictional autobiography based on his life from history. It's equally likely that Solomon wrote this book, but whoever did, truly the life of Solomon provides the biblical context for Ecclesiastes. He introduces himself, I. the preacher, have been king, or was king, over Israel in Jerusalem." The word kohaleph means also the convener. because one of the king's royal duties was to gather his subjects to teach them spiritual wisdom. We see that in 1 Kings chapter 8 when Solomon gathered the nation of Israel in the dedication of the temple. It says that he convened the assembly, he gathered them. Only Solomon could say this. I have been king over Israel in Jerusalem, because he was the last king over Israel. We know that after Solomon the kingdom was divided to the northern and then the southern tribe of Judah and Benjamin. No other king after him reigned over all Israel in Jerusalem. I want us to see these texts introduced by the preacher here who has been king with two main thoughts. His search that leads to a shocking conclusion in verses 13 through 15. And then verses 16 through 18 that even with a shocking conclusion he devotes himself again to the search for what's it all about. that also will prove to be futile as well as frustrating. Verse 13, the preacher sets his mind, I set my mind. Now the word mind is the Hebrew word lib and it can also be translated heart. The new King James that Pastor Thomas read from said, I set my heart. Heart or mind is referring to one's center of life. It's an intensive referent to one's inner being, his whole self, the intellect, the emotions, as well as the will. When Solomon became king, God gave him a great blessing by saying, Solomon, choose anything you wish and I will grant it. He chose wisdom. so he could govern God's people rightly. And God granted it to him. 1 Kings 3 and verse 12, Behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. Now Solomon didn't gain instant knowledge, wisdom of everything. He still had to apply himself in the pursuit of gaining knowledge, gaining wisdom. And He did that from the very core of His being, His inner self. So must we, today, apply ourselves, apply our mind, apply our hearts, our whole being, to have our mind engrossed in the Word of God and His truths, to have our emotions, our affections, more to love Him and to desire to please Him, so that the will, with the mind illuminated and filled and a heart with a desire, might be granted in how we act and conduct ourselves. Solomon applied himself to this with his whole mind, his whole heart, to seek out or to seek and to search out by wisdom all that has been done under heaven. That's his purpose, simply to seek and to search out, to seek and explore. Two words that are basically synonymous. They give an emphasis to his method and what he wants to do. The words heart and wisdom appear together often, especially in the New Testament, and especially in the wisdom books. The proverb Solomon wrote says that the seed of wisdom is the heart, and the heart of wisdom is a listening heart. because they are so closely related. So when Solomon of Ecclesiastes says he sets his mind to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven, he is saying to us that he has applied his heart, that he is going to give himself totally to seeking to know. How? By reading everything he can get his hands on that had been published. By listening to others, to the sages, to the councils, to the prophets. to investigate and interview everyone he possibly could. That's seeking. And then to exploring or to search out everywhere that he might discover and learn what he could learn about everything. everything. He wants to talk to, listen to, seek out everyone so that he may explore everywhere to learn everything. He really wants to know everything about everything under the sun. What an ambitious man, what a pursuit to acquire that much. What is it that is concerning, that word concerning all that has been done under the sun? It means that which is studied to be investigated as well as physically exploring. The kind of wisdom that he has in mind here is not divine wisdom but purely human wisdom. The very best human wisdom that has been ever uttered by word or thoughts under heaven. What did he discover? What did he discover in all his seeking and searching out in his pursuit of knowledge concerning all that had been done? What was it that he saw? It's said at the end of verse 13 that it is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. It's a grievous task, an unhappy business. One put it, a bad business. Literally, the sentence in Hebrew is attentionally redundant. It's a grievous task God has given to the sons of men to be tasked with. The word task means occupation, to be busily occupied, to be busy about something. But that's a grievous task. It's something that has afflicted the sons of men to be occupied with something that the preacher says God has given. The King James calls it a sore travail, a bad business to deal with. You know, there are many things that make us as people unhappy. Anything that deviates from what we had in our mind or desired or thought about achieving to get there, and it doesn't happen, causes unhappiness. If it isn't the enjoyment of something, then we're unhappy. If we don't receive the fullness of something, then we're unhappy. We feel put out by not getting what we desire. The preacher's mood is kind of gloomy here. It's a grievous task that God has given to be afflicted with. But it's even more than just gloomy. It's actually even depressing because the word grievous or unhappy is actually a more negative connotation. The root of that concerns a state that's detrimental to one's enjoyment of the fullness of life. It refers to something that would be considered not only bad but evil. It describes a moral category, not something only emotional. So if you want to take and say, okay, it's not only what makes people unhappy in life, but they have to be occupied with something that is a task that has to be done, and that it's a grievous task. Wouldn't that make you unhappy if you thought that through? You have something you've been tasked with by God to do, and it's a grievous task that you've been tasked with, afflicted to be occupied with. Now the word task has to be interpreted, and it can be interpreted in two ways. The task is that everything that people do, all human activity in general, There was a consequence to the fall that we still realize today in our lives. Work that used to be a delight in tending to the garden has now become a toil. they toil some work. It becomes grievous to us. It's no longer something that is delightful, but it is indeed a curse, a result of the curse. And it became now by the sweat of man's brow that work is to be done. So the task can be everything in general that man has to do. in his work, or perhaps a preferred interpretation is that it entails the preacher's quest to understand the meaning of life. The longer he searched, the longer he was looking to discover answers to his questions, the harder that he tried, the more afflicted or unhappy or miserable he became. This grievous task, the preacher negatively sees it as a misfortune perpetrated against the human race, resulting in frustration and pain. Look with me at chapter 2, verse 23. Because all his days, his task, same word, is painful and grievous. Even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity. The Creator, God given, He says, has arranged it to be so. Now look with me at chapter 3, verses 10 through 12. I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has made everything appropriate or beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime." I have seen the task which God has given with which to occupy themselves, and that is according to the writer here, a grievous task with which to be tasked. Ever since the fall, a part of being human is to strive for knowledge by which God's design is to humble us. so that it might prepare us for redemption. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. No one is content. No one is content if they see themselves in this life as a nobody with nothing. We want to be somebody with something. Everyone seeks fame in something. It's an occupation. It's a career. It's fame, wealth, popularity. There's something that, for significance, people want to latch on to. It's part of trying to understand and figure out life under the sun, to be someone who has something to show for all that they have put into their life. But that's all just part of God's design. It's a God-given, grievous task with which we must be afflicted. This constant pursuit to try to gain knowledge and wisdom apart from God under the sun. It's meaningless, fruitless, profitless, and without any value. In verse 14, he goes on and says, I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun. And behold, all is vanity and striving. after the wind. Having set his mind to pursue what life is all about, he says he's seen it all, and behold, he says, behold, which is to draw attention as an emphasis there, behold, it's meaningless. It's meaningless. Notice he adds now a second phrase just to vanity of vanities, all is vanity, he adds now, and also striving after the wind. striving after the wind. It is a futile effort. It will lead to emptiness without any results. He's returned to his theme about all is vanity and says that there is only more of the same vanity once you have tried to take it all in under the sun, all the works, and still see it as meaningless. Meaninglessness and more meaninglessness is to pursue something that you know is futile. The poor hamster in the cage doesn't know. He's never going to get off of that thing. He might think there's going to be an end to it. And I think there couldn't be any worse torture to a human being than to put them on that treadmill and say, run until you get to the end. It's futile because it's impossible. Striving after the win is futile because it's impossible. You cannot catch what isn't there, what isn't seen. If you try to catch your breath, how long would you strive to try to catch your breath and to hold on to it? You'll never accomplish it. He says, all of my seeking and all of my searching out to find meaningful purpose under the sun is empty vanity striving after the wind. I shouldn't even try. There are such parallels between verses 13 and 14. Notice that he says in verse 13 about the nature of his search, I have applied my mind, all that is done under heaven. In verse 14 he says, I have seen all things that are done under the sun. The parallels there about the nature of his search. And in verse 14, he comes to the same conclusion at the end of verse 13. He says, it's a grievous task that God has laid on the human race. And at the end of verse 14, he says again, it's all vanity. It's all meaningless. It's a chasing after the wind. He knows. And this is what really gets to him. He knows that all of his attempts to know concerning the works done by men under the sun to learn the meaning of life is as unattainable to him as striving after the wind. He knows. And this is God's given task. It makes his wanting to learn the meaning of life all the more difficult. It's an enigma. An enigma is something that's hard to understand, hard to explain, hard to put your arms around and grasp. The dictionary gives the example of Thomas Jefferson. He could be both a slaveholder and a champion of liberty. He was a slaveholder and a champion of liberty. It's an enigma. How do you explain that? Well the preacher comes to the same conclusion in verse 14 that he came to in verse 13 and he sums it up with a proverb. Goes back to that verse where it says that man is not able to speak it. All things are wearisome, verse 8. All things are wearisome. Man can't speak to it or address it. Here he senses the wearisomeness of his seeking and searching out and he can't speak to it so he has a proverb instead. What is crooked cannot be straightened. What is lacking cannot be numbered or counted." You know those things in life, don't you, that are crooked? And you're always wanting to straighten them out? We're not dealing with sin here. We're not dealing with immoral things in this proverb. It's just that things can be so bent out of shape that any effort that you apply to straighten them out is futile. Now we know we're not able to change anybody else. We're not able to change circumstances in life. There are people that we cannot manage, problems that we cannot solve, desires that we cannot satisfy. certainly not by exercising our human wisdom. Now if Kohalath, Solomon of Ecclesiastes, failed in seeking to find wisdom and knowledge, and if his human wisdom, that no one else on this earth ever would exceed what God gave him, If he failed to come up with an answer to the meaning of life, how do you or I think that we can do any better? What is crooked cannot be straightened. What is lacking cannot be numbered. So, you would think, as I thought, the preacher's search has finally come to an end. I get it now, he says, I get it. I'm not going to be able to answer the question. I'm not going to be able to seek it out and search out what the meaning of life is. No, that's not what he does. In verse 16, he talks with himself. He has a heart to heart talk with his own soul. He's not a quitter. I'm not going to give up. I'm going to continue this pursuit. Although I know fully well it is futile. Isn't it amazing that even though he concludes, emphatically concludes, that his pursuit is futile and meaningless, he still chooses to continue. This is exactly what he says he's going to do. I said to myself, I'm not ready to give up. I'm going to have a heart-to-heart talk with my own soul. And he goes on and says, Behold, I have really, in my pursuing, in my seeking and searching out, actually learned more. I have magnified and increased my wisdom in doing this, more than all who were over Jerusalem before me." Just an aside there, how many were before him as king over Israel and Jerusalem? His father, David. All who were over Jerusalem, though, cannot exclude the fact that there were other countries that had kingship and reign over Jerusalem. The most notable one might be Melchizedek, who was said to be the king over Jerusalem in Genesis 14 and verse 18. But he continues and says, besides magnifying and increasing wisdom, my mind has observed, my heart has observed, my heart has understood. This word observed or understood means seeing with the eyes either literally or figuratively. If it is literally, we understand that. I'm seeing you, you're seeing me with our eyes. We're observing, we understand what we see. But if it's figuratively, as it is used here, then it's simply he is taking and advising what appears to him, what appears from the way things look. All my experiences, all my acquired wisdom, this is what it seems to me to be. He sets his mind, to not just know wisdom, but he goes on in verse 17, but to know madness and folly as well. Madness and folly. You see, all of his seeking to acquire knowledge, to gain insights into the meaning of life, never dealt with the thought about what is truly right and what is wrong. He was simply making empirical observations and looking at human experiences, but not asking himself such questions as, is this right? What is the difference between right and wrong? How do I know whether it's right or wrong? That was not part of his equation as far as acquiring and gaining. But now, he says, he wants to set his mind or his heart to understand even wisdom in contrast with knowing right and wrong. Most people like him have the same mind, same heart, even if they're not sure where God fits in it, or whether there's a God at all, they still believe that there is a difference between right and wrong. Most people show that. They recognize that there is this difference because they want to lead a moral life. And that is pure madness and folly. It's foolishness because there are none none who are moral, righteously speaking. It only appears or seems to be right, but inwardly it could be as dead man's bones. The Pharisees, white as sepulchers, looked good, inwardly dead man's bones. In 17, he comes to the same conclusion that he reached after 13 through 15, and he says, I realize that this also is striving after wind. I realize that this, what is this that is also striving after wind? What's it referring to? It does not refer to wisdom. It refers instead to his entire searching the preacher was making. He wanted to find the answer to all that he was looking at under the sun that was done. It was like if he'd put it in a paraphrase, he's saying, since I am more wise than any king as there ever was in Jerusalem, I will apply myself to the quest of knowing wisdom and folly and the difference between them. But even for me, this is a futile quest. Even for me, who had acquired and magnified already what God had given him by applying himself to the task of searching out, of learning, seeking, but it was still striving after the wind. He doesn't leave us in the dark but gives us an explanation in verse 18. He explains himself. Because in much wisdom there is much grief. The reason that the wisest person ever says it's futile to try and answer the question of life's meaning is because the more you know, the worse off you are. Does that make sense to you? The more you know, the worse off you are under the sun. It's futile, not because of what he didn't learn. It's futile because of what he knows. Much wisdom. It's accompanied with much grief. And more knowledge that you acquire is accompanied with more grief or more sorrow or more pain. The word there is vexation and it implies anger or irritation with it. The preacher is telling us his despair in verse 18 over his efforts to search out and not getting what he searched out for. He's indignant about being frustrated. What he knows is utter futility that he again applied himself even to go beyond to either acquire more, and it still ended up meaningless. The more we know about things, sometimes the more trouble or pain it will bring. In chapter 2 and verse 13, he says, Wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. But sometimes wisdom can be pressed too far. And I think that when we continue going through this book, we'll see Kohalath, the preachers, Solomon of Ecclesiastes tempering the appreciation of wisdom. tempering it with perhaps what we need to also temper it with, the truth. Where true wisdom comes from above, not under the sun. It's a far cry from what Solomon declares in Proverbs 4 and verse 7. The beginning of wisdom is, acquire wisdom. Love her and she will watch over you. So let us not become frustrated in seeking and searching out to gain knowledge and wisdom in this life. God has given us that as a task. We cannot remain status quo and content. Children, can't stop at first grade and said, I've done it. I've gotten all the knowledge I care to get. I know my ABCs. I know how to spell my name. What more is there for me to know? College graduates, you haven't stopped. You will continue having to learn and to grow in knowledge and wisdom. Peter exhorts us in his second epistle that we must grow. in the grace and knowledge of Christ, or as Christians we are not making progress. It's not meaningless or futile to apply ourselves to that pursuit. Now some of us might say it's kind of foolish and without real significance to pursue things under the sun that we have to learn even to graduate from school. You tell that to your professor. I just don't think that's important enough for me to have to learn and you'll soon get a lesson in real life from that professor. But how does the preacher, again, make you feel after these words of frustration and futility, having set his heart to seek and to search out all the works, it's all pure vanity, striving after win? Do you feel worse than you did before? Are you making a connection between yourself and his frustrations about seeking what is it all about? What's the purpose? Why am I here? What am I doing? He makes it sound hopeless, doesn't he? That you can seek and search out or explore to find an answer and you're not going to get it. It's all meaningless, all without profit or all without gain. There is no making progress because there's nothing new under the sun. And that is his intent. He will have achieved His purpose when you and I begin to see that everything under the sun, apart from God, is truly meaningless, truly futile, without purpose or profit or gain. If we stop seeing the world from the earthly perspective that all we've got is the best that man can give us, then he's done his job. This letter will have done its job. It's to drive us to God, to the source of true knowledge and true wisdom that comes from Him from above. The preacher believes in God. He mentions Him by name for the first time in verse 13, Elohim. The same word and name that he uses for Him throughout this letter. It's Him that will make anyone's search or quest for knowledge or wisdom a reality. The one who seeks to know the Lord in prayer, in studying the Scriptures, before pursuing to understand the questions that come up in life, will find their answers. Don't put the cart before the horse. Seek to know the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Don't seek just to acquire knowledge for knowledge's sake. Don't seek to grow in earthly wisdom. James has a very bad description of wisdom that is earthly, demonic, unloving, other words that escape me. But tonight, He wants us to sense that same hopelessness. Hopelessness that only can be if you are without God in your life. So, the cure to that is to turn to God. Turn to Him in repentance and put your trust in Jesus Christ and Him alone. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Until you are down, you'll never look up. until you sense that you have nothing in life that's gonna achieve anything, that you're not gonna go anywhere, and that if you gained it all and lost your soul, what a waste. You recognize, recognize that you are a nobody and you have nothing. then you can become somebody in Christ and know eternal life through Him. Jesus prayed before going to the cross to redeem His people, to fulfill the task that the Father had given Him, a task that was to Him with much affliction He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you, even as you have given Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given Him He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God. Jesus Christ whom you have sent. If you know Him, you know everything that is needed for eternal life. Let's pray. Father, again, we thank you for turning our eyes to Jesus, that we can look full upon His face, and then the things of this world would soon become dim in the light of His glory and grace. He is our wisdom. He has been sent from above to accomplish our redemption, to deliver us from this futile and meaningless life under the sun that outside of Christ is to be dead into an everlasting destruction of eternal suffering. But with Him and in Him is life eternal and joy above all things. Peace with God. Father, I pray that You might grip a heart tonight with Your grace and out of Your abundant mercy cause a new birth begotten from above by Your Holy Spirit's work. to quicken and make alive the one that is dead in their sins and sees themselves tonight as hopeless, and that all that they pursue after is meaningless, that they might see themselves truly as nobody with nothing and see Christ holding out His arm saying, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. We thank you, Father, that you are merciful and gracious, that you are slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness. You are worthy, O God, to be praised tonight, and we do so through Jesus Christ our Lord. In His blessed name we pray. Amen.