We come now to the preaching of the word from Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes chapter two, verses one to 11. And as you may know, we've been working very slowly through the book of Ecclesiastes, I trust with profit, as this book has afforded us many opportunities to be reminded of our smallness and of our weakness, our feebleness, our insignificance, really, before the Lord. And this will be no exception as we turn to chapter two. And the title for this message is, A Concentrated Look Upon the Works, Upon All the Works of Men. And so let's give here, as we hear from the Word of God, Ecclesiastes 2, 1 to 11. 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 my 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 kinds 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 treasures of kings and of the provinces. I got 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 I 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 mine heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, All was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. Solomon is continuing in his message to us that there really is nothing to be gained by all the toil, all the labor under the sun. And lest we doubt him, he's already brought forth many reasons to believe him when he says that all under the sun, it is vanity, it is emptiness. He said it throughout chapter one. He's used different illustrations to show us that it's all vanity, that it's all heading to ruin and corruption and destruction. And now in this passage in chapter two, he'll show us how men don't believe him. And even he himself has trouble believing. what he is saying, because he still tries, he still experiments, and men do this, and men still try, and they still experiment, and they still try to gather, and they still try to build, and they still try to do all these things for the sake of holding them to themselves and of increasing their own greatness, for the sake of being great and for the sake of having fulfillment. And Solomon is showing us and teaching us that it's all just like trying to gather in the wind. Maybe you could think of a man, a man today in a dead-end job, and he doesn't enjoy it. And what are his days like? He's not fulfilled. He knows it. He goes through day after day. Maybe he gets a bad attitude about it and he just goes in day after day to a job he hates and it's not fulfilling him. Maybe his managers and his supervisors treat him terribly. And maybe he's required to do work that no one else wants to do. And he's criticized. And maybe more is always expected of him. And maybe he tries to work. Sometimes he tries to gain the approval of others and he tries to work his way up, but he never gets anywhere. He's unfulfilled. And maybe his thoughts turned to some kind of escape from this. Maybe he's so stressed out, he thinks about all kinds of things, different things run through his head. How can he get free of this situation? Maybe the lottery, maybe gambling, maybe some kind of risky investment. And then he wouldn't have to continue in this work that he hates. Maybe some other kind of get rich scheme. And so these foolish things cross his mind because he's not fulfilled. The work has become such a burden to him. He doesn't know what he should do, but he has no way out of it. He thinks, if I could just find something different, if I could find a different position, then I would be fulfilled. And so he goes on with some small hope that he could be fulfilled. But what if there's a man that's unfulfilled with his life? It's not just his job. He can't put a finger on it. He's unfulfilled with everything. He's unfulfilled with his life. He can't point to any one area. That's truly terrible. It's not like he can point to one area and say, this is the problem. This is where I need a solution. This is where I need a remedy. But it's his whole life. He's unfulfilled in everything. Nothing brings him satisfaction. On the outside, everything looks fine. but inside he's falling to pieces. Where would such a man turn? And where would he have a hope of finding fulfillment? The more things that he tries, the more things fail to bring him satisfaction. And so the deeper he goes into a pit of despair and despondency, and people live like this, walking around the world like this every day, all the time. And so, if you're tracking with me a little bit here on the nature of this problem, then you're close to understanding what Solomon is expressing in our text today, in our passage today. Solomon puts it all out there. He puts it all to the test. in a way that few others could. He's the king in Israel, and he has at his disposal such great quantities of wealth, such great experience, such great wisdom, and all the promises of the world before him. And he puts it all to the test, and then he gives us the results. And this is very instructive, and this should guide us. as we look at these things. We'll take up this passage under four headings, looking at the various ways that Solomon experiments, that he puts these things to the test in his search for fulfillment. And so first, the heart. He says he would let his heart loose for pleasure. Second, his mind. He'll let his mind loose for enjoyment and entertainment. Third, his hands. He'll apply his hands. to building and making great and wonderful works. And then fourth, his eyes. He'll take a concentrated look, a deep and thoughtful look upon his works and all the works of men and draw some conclusions. And so to help you remember, boys and girls, if you're doing notes, his heart, his mind, his hands, and his eyes. These are the things Solomon mentions that will be important as we continue through the passage. What will Solomon discover? What will he conclude? What will his experience be? Will he find the fulfillment that he's looking for, the purpose that he's looking for in any of these things that he tries? Well, let's begin with the heart. Verse one, Solomon says he essentially pulls out all the stops and removes all the restraints that he had put upon his heart. in terms of pleasure, in terms of relationships. I said in mine heart, go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. The words go to now, this language is a way of saying get right to it. This is a way of saying, I urge you to. And so he's ready to cast off whatever inhibitions he had had on his heart and just let it go. Let it see if it's possible to be fulfilled by pleasure or by romantic love. Maybe he's been too reserved. Maybe he's been too stiff before. Maybe he hasn't learned to let go. Isn't that what all the books and all the movies are telling us when we see the books and we see the movies and there's this character in them and what's their problem? Their main problem is they don't know how to open their heart. They don't know how to let go and learn to love. Isn't that the problem? They're afraid of what will happen if they put their heart out there and they give it to others. And so they hold on to it. And so that's presented as a problem in these books and in these movies. And usually in the movies, the character does learn how to let go and remove some inhibitions and they do find a fulfilling relationship. And so it's considered a very happy ending in these books and these movies. But is it true to life? Is it real? This is what Solomon is testing when he says he's going to give his heart to no mirth and to no pleasure. And he's wondering, can it really be like the books, like the movies, like the songs, like the poems? Can it really be like that? He casts it all off and he tries as much as possible to obtain this sense of fulfillment that so many are seeking. So many are walking around this world. wondering if it's true. Can I have fulfillment if I had pleasure, if I had those relationships? Well, we're told of Solomon, we know about Solomon, that in his life he had 700 wives. He also had 300 concubines. He had every opportunity, he had every possibility to search out romantic love, to know intimacy, to know pleasure, to know relationships, to know whatever he wanted in his pursuits. And he says that he gave his heart to search out after pleasure. But he concludes right here in verse 1, and behold, this also is vanity. And so what's he telling us? He's exposing the lie that so many are out there believing, maybe even some in here. He exposes the lie. that there's a happy ending to be found in your life, that you'll find that fulfillment. If you just have that right relationship, if you can just have that fulfilling relationship, it's a lie. And this lie is so damaging. It's led so many people into terrible sins, awful situations, because they're willing to do anything to just have these relationships and this pleasure that they're after. It's so often fueled just by sinful lust, let's be honest. But what about marriage? What about in its pure form? What about marriage? He who finds a wife finds a good thing, right? But we see that even in a biblical marriage, even in a pure relationship, there is still not enough in romantic love to answer the needs of the soul, to give all that the soul needs for fulfillment. It's not even in biblical marriage. And so this is why Solomon concludes, it's also vanity. A husband and wife will not make a good God, but they'll make a terrible, a terrible idol. You see, I love my wife very deeply, but if anyone's love for their husband or their wife becomes their source of fulfillment in life, then they're in for a great disappointment because people will disappoint us. And because nothing, as Solomon is going to show us, nothing is going to fulfill the soul as that fellowship with God, our Creator. No matter how excellent your wife or your husband is, they are not God. No matter how fulfilling you think it might be, if you could have that perfect relationship, that perfect partner, it's not going to answer the real need that you have in your soul for fellowship, which is only satisfied with the Lord, with God. And so Solomon is discovering these things. This experiment has been a failure. Next, he goes for the mind. We're calling this the mind in verses 2 and 3. Solomon speaks of experiences of the mind as he continues to prove and test whatever the world would have that would fulfill him. He says in verse 2 and 3, I said of laughter, it is mad, and of mirth, what doeth it? I sought in my heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what that was good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life." And so Solomon says he gave laughter a try. He put that to the test. See, there are those that think that they can weather any storm, weather any challenge in life, if they just joke their way through it. Maybe we've known people like this. They think they can turn any situation into a joke, and that's how they cope with it. Some people cannot go one minute without trying to make some kind of joke. You could even be in the middle of a very serious and a sober event, and someone will say something funny about it, usually a very immature person. Well, God did make laughter for us a good thing. God made laughter like a medicine for us. And in Ecclesiastes 3, in the next chapter, we're told that there is a time for laughter. But you see, Solomon tries out laughter, he tries out levity as a way to cope with the world, as a way to fulfill him in his soul. And he says, it is mad. It's mad. It doesn't get you anywhere. It's more suited for fools than for serious people. It's like that song of fools we'll read about later in the book of Ecclesiastes, the song of fools that is like the crackling of the nettles under the pot. It might blaze up and give a little bit of light, but it will do nothing. to warm the contents of the pot. It is mad. It serves really no true purpose other than to amuse for a moment. And so this is similar to what he says about mirth and what he says about merriment. What doeth it? Now again, there would be a right place to have mirth and merriment. It says again in the book of Proverbs that a merry heart can be like medicine. But what if that is your ultimate goal? What if that's what you're after in the world? There's so many people and you ask them, what are you after? What do you want in your life to be fulfilled? And they'll say, I wanna be happy. I wanna be happy. Well, that's a feeling. That's a pursuit of a feeling. It's a pursuit of mirth, merriment. Maybe if you thought you could just live like your life is a constant party, then maybe you could be happy. It's not true. It's not true. And people will still believe it and people will twist around their lives and put themselves in all kinds of terrible and compromising situations and do terrible things. And they'll say, I did it because I wanted to be happy. I wanted to be happy. And so it highlights something for us. Pursuit of an emotion, pursuit of happiness. It's a foolish pursuit. It's nothing like joy. Joy is lasting. Joy is real. Joy that we're given through having a right relationship with the Lord, with the Lord Jesus Christ, is the strength of believers. The joy of the Lord is my strength. But that's not an emotion that's here now and gone later like a bird that just flies away. It's not an emotion. It's lasting. It's enduring. very different from mirth and happiness, which is here and then gone. And so whoever would set their sights and arrange their life so that they could be happy is a fool. Frivolity, levity, foolish laughter, partying, How many are after that in this world? How many songs are there where the person is saying, I want to party all night. I want to party every day. I want to party forever. What are they after? What are they looking for? It's all so trivial. And so the question that hangs over it, this is what Solomon asks. He says, what do with it? Okay, you've got your party. What do with it? How is that going to actually fulfill you? How is that actually going to bring you into a restored relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? How is that going to bring you your true joy? It's not. What do with it? We could ask the same questions about all kinds of entertainments. Solomon will speak of entertainments also. He'll say that he got himself male singers, man singers, and women singers. He got himself the delights of all the sons of men as musical instruments. Solomon, he had access. to the best entertainments anyone could ever have. He had access to musicians that would pack out stadiums night after night. He could have it in his own throne room. He could have it in his own court night after night. And so he's also searching after entertainments, diversions. And he says, it's all a dead end. It's all vanity. It's all madness. And he says, what do with it? It was nice for a time, but what do with it? Yet people are out there living for these things, in pursuit of these things. There's an example from James Durham. He relates an account about a wealthy English woman. She's a wealthy English woman. She spent much of her life at plays and at the theater and attendance on stage plays and falling at last into a dangerous sickness, I'm quoting James Durham here, whereof she died in 1631. Friends in her extremity sent for a minister to prepare her for death, who beginning to instruct and exhort her, to repent and call on God for mercy, she made him no reply at all, but cried out, Geronimo, Geronimo, oh, let me see Geronimo acted, talking about a play that she hadn't seen yet. And so calling for a play, instead of calling on God for mercy, closed her dying eyes and had a fearful end, answerable to her miserable life. That's the end of it. It would be like somebody laying sick, ready to die. And a minister comes to exhort them and to open the word of God. And all the person can think of is, now I'm not going to see that movie premiere that's coming out next month. What foolishness? What idiocy? But this is how people are. This is the way they live. These are the lies they believe. It's a dead end and Solomon is here to expose it. The experiment has failed. Well, moving on, his hands. He applies his hands to all great and wonderful works. In this next section, Solomon, he puts his hands together into a mass, works, excellent works, surpassing anyone in the world. Now, if anyone thought up to now that Solomon's experiments, his attempts to find fulfillment were just obviously doomed to fail, they're shallow. If anyone thought that, they might find it harder to say that of this one. Because Solomon is making a great estate. He's doing wonderful works. He's building a kingdom. And he's talking about all the things that he's done to build his kingdom. This is the stuff of legend. This is what men who are ambitious are after. And so if anyone thought that these other experiments are shallow, it's hard to say that about this one. What would we think about it if a young man spent many years of his young life wasting it and caught in the clutches of some kind of addiction, wasting his life. Maybe he's just playing video games throughout his life. And then he gets a little older and he becomes a little more sober and he makes change. And he goes out and he works hard and he builds a business and it takes off and it's successful. He becomes wealthy. He becomes powerful. He builds an empire. He gets a family. He's got a loving family. And we would look at that example and we would say, that's a rags to riches story of perseverance and hard work. Isn't that great? Isn't that wonderful? And we would think that man could go and give lectures. That man could go across the world and give motivational speeches, couldn't he? You see, it's hard to dismiss great works done. it's hard to ignore them. Because if that man just pulled himself up from his own bootstraps and doesn't have Christ, what will it profit him? And especially if he's looking at his success as the key to fulfilling himself, to his soul, as the key to fulfilling his soul. Like the rich fool who said, I will build for me bigger barns. I'll tear down these ones. I'll build for me bigger barns. And then I will be at ease. And then I will say to my soul, soul be at rest. Christ says he is to be pitied. Because in Mark 8, 36, he says, for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? So this is a very convincing experiment. Because many would seek to fulfill themselves through their own great works in this world, through their accomplishments. Many people wear their accomplishments on their chest. as a badge of honor. And so you can tell this is what fulfills them. Solomon says of himself in verse nine, so I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remained with me. And so he's becoming greater and greater and greater. What parent would not be proud of a child who grows up to make something out of themselves, really great. And so you see how deceptive this one can be. You see how acceptable and how well-pleasing in the eyes of men it is to build for yourself something great. But the problem is if you trust in it. The problem is if that's your soul's desire, your soul's fulfillment, like that rich fool. That's the problem. And this is what Solomon comes to see. This is the grand experiment. This is what he examines very carefully, brings us to point four here, a concentrated look on all the works of men, starting with his own. Verse 11, then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on all the labor that I had labored to do and behold, All was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no prophet under the sun. And so Solomon, with his eyes, with his wisdom, he looks on all his great works. And so he's running it through that experiment to see, could this fulfill me? Could this be that part that's missing? that if I do this, then I'll have it all, then I'll have peace, then I'll have that sense of relief, that sense of freedom. If I do all of this, and he looks at it very, very deeply, and his conclusion is, it didn't matter, not ultimately. And he'll talk about this further. He'll talk about this further in the book of Ecclesiastes. It didn't matter. He'll say, I know not where it will go when I depart. I know not whether the man after me shall be a fool or not a fool. It didn't matter. He could have done it. He could have not done it. He could have done something different. He could have done a hundred times more than he had done, and it will not matter. It's going to be destroyed. It's going to be ruined. Matthew Poole puts it like this when he sums it up. He says, the pleasure was past and gone, and I was never the better for it, but as empty as before and had nothing left but sorrow and reflections upon it. And so this is something, a truth that we should get fixed in our minds, thanks to Solomon and thanks to the Word of God. Get it fixed in our minds. Young people, I do not know. Boys and girls, I do not know what your dreams are in life and your ambitions, but you should know this. If you have not chosen the kingdom of God first, it will not matter. Whatever you choose. If you have not chosen Jesus Christ first, it won't matter. Whatever else you would like to do with your life. And you see, the spiritual truth that's very foundational to understanding this is that Christ is first. His glory, His greatness, His kingdom, and everything else, Christ says, He'll add it to you. It shall be added to you. And so don't be this fool that is after all these great things in life. Take a lesson from the book of Jeremiah. When the Lord says to Jeremiah's servant, he says to Baruch, Seek thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. Take a lesson. Don't seek great things for yourself. Just seek the honor and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. See, this is a truth that the world does not want people to know. The world is happier if you believe the lie. You know, some of those things you might see on the internet, these catchy titles that are trying to get you to click on things. It says things like, like, doctors do not want you to read this. Or it says something like, you will not believe what this ex-CEO is saying about this corporation. And they're furious about it. It's trying to make you click on it by telling you not to click on it. Well, you could write one of those for this passage. And it would be true. You could write one for this passage because it would say something like, Solomon's shocking message that the world leaders do not want you to know. And that would be true. The world would prefer if you believed the lies, and if you acted like a lemming, and if you acted like a cog in their machine. The world does not want you to know this message. The world does not want you to pull back the curtain and see how empty it all is, and how shallow it all is, and how meaningless it all is outside of Jesus Christ. And so, look at it like Solomon. Open the curtain and see your fulfillment is not gonna be found in the world. The deepest desire of your soul will never be satisfied by anything under the sun in the world. This is a message that you need to get into your mind. It's a painful message for anyone who's still in love with the world, because it's like pulling off something sticky from a bunch of hair. It's a painful message. Because people are in love with this world. People do believe these lies, but it's one you need. So in summary, Solomon has let his heart run loose for pleasure. He's let his mind run loose for entertainment. He's let his hands build the greatest kingdom. The greatest works that a man can build under the sun. He's had palaces. He's had orchards. He's had pools. He's had treasures that only kings can have. Peculiar treasures from the provinces. Only kings could ever have them. Everyone was in awe of him. Everyone was impressed. In verse 10, he says, whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion of all my labor. However, when he stepped back and he took a look at it all, with wisdom, in light of eternal things, he had to face the reality that none of it profited him, not really, not ultimately. And so what are we to conclude? What are we to conclude? Is Solomon giving us a Buddhist message? Is he saying just don't care about anything in this world to the point of freeing yourself from earthly desires? You untether yourself? Is this a Buddhist message? Well, no. The Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible does acknowledge our earthly needs. The Bible does acknowledge that we need things in this life. And there is a right way to use the things in the world with Christ as the cornerstone, with Christ as the foundation. There is a right way. You could think back to what Paul was saying in 1 Timothy. He says that there's a fool in a perverse mind that believes that gain is godliness. And so, the more you have, the godlier you are, because people will say, oh, he's blessed. Oh, he's blessed. That's a fool. There is a godly mind that says godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out, and having food and raiment let us be there with content. Well, what's this food and raiment part all about? I thought we weren't supposed to set our minds on anything in this world. Well, we have necessities. We have necessities, we do need food, and we do need raiment. And so Paul is honest about it, having food and raiment. Let us be content. And so he's saying, don't seek after all of the grandest things in the world that those of the world are looking for, but just be content having that which is necessary. Just be content and thankful for having those things in your life that you need to sustain you so that you can serve God in this world. And so when we put things in proper order, when we put things in proper perspective, then we can be content and fulfilled with whatever we have. We don't have to strive. We don't have to exert ourselves and conduct all these experiments, trying to go after this or that, like we're gathering up wind in our own hands. We don't have to do it. We can just be content. God knows what we need, and he knows that we have needs, and he says he'll provide them. He'll give us all we need as we trust in him and as we put Christ as the cornerstone, as first. He says, all these things shall be added to thee. Don't run after the world like the world does with cares and concerns saying, what shall we eat? What shall we drink? With what shall we clothe ourselves? For the Gentiles, the Gentiles trouble themselves with all these things. Just be at peace. Just trust. Just serve the Lord and all these things will be added to you. All these things will be given to you richly. Generously. The Lord God, he's not stingy with us. He loves to bless us as we put our hope in him. I'll leave you with this. This is how Peter puts these things. He sums these things up. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excessive riot, speaking evil of you, who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. And so this is Peter's summary. Maybe you have spent time in your life experimenting and running off all of these things, running after these things, looking for fulfillment, just like the Gentiles do. Maybe that has been in your life. Peter says, let it be enough in the past. There's a difference now. You don't do that anymore. And other people see it, and they hate you. And they say, why aren't you doing these things that we do? Because they're not understanding. They're still living in that mode of experiment. They're still living under that false assumption that they can have fulfillment from the things of this world. And they're looking at you, and they're hating you, and they're saying, I don't understand this person. Well, of course they don't. Because Peter says, submit yourselves under God. Be satisfied in God. Be fulfilled in God. You're going to give account to Him. He's going to judge the quick and the dead. Appeal to Him. He will bless you. Do not pursue all those things like the Gentiles do. Use the things in the world as they're meant to be used. And bless God. May the Lord bless His word to our hearts. Let's stand together as we seek Him in prayer. O God, our Father in heaven, we give thee thanks. The entrance of thy word giveth light. And we pray that we would be understanding. We pray that thou would remove from us the fog that clouds our minds. concerning so many different pursuits and different ambitions and desires that there are in the world, deliver us from these things. Help us to set our sights on the Lord Jesus Christ, His honor, His glory, His purposes, His cause in the world. Help us to be content. Help us not to be as fools, not to be as the Gentiles, but help us to be thy Holy people that live for Thee and bless us with all the things that we need in this world so that we would be ever more rejoicing in Thee and trusting in Thee. Lord, give us help in these things. Forgive our sins in these things as we have spent time pursuing that which is unprofitable for us. Forgive us and give us healing and give us renewed purpose. Bless us in our day today, seeking to give Thee honor and praise, for Thou art worthy. We pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.