Ecclesiastes chapter 7 beginning verse 16 going through verse 29. Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Do not be overly wicked, nor be foolish. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp this, and also not remove your hand from the other. For he who fears God will escape them all. Wisdom strengthens the wise, more than ten rulers of the city. For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. Also do not take to heart everything people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. For many times also your own heart has known that even you have cursed others. All this I have proved by wisdom, I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me. As for that which is far off and exceedingly deep, who can find it out? I applied my heart to know, to search and seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness, and I find more bitter than death. The woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters, he who pleases God shall escape from her. but the sinner shall be trapped by her. Here is what I have found, says the preacher, adding one thing to the other, to find out the reason, which my soul still seeks, but I cannot find. One man among a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found. Truly this only, I have found, that God made man upright. but they have sought out many schemes. Amen. So far, the reading of God's inspired and inerrant word in which we are taught and reminded that genuine righteousness comes only by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. There's much foolish interpretation of verse 16 and verse 17 as if to say that you shouldn't try too hard or have too high a standard for actual righteousness because it's not worth trying because you can't get there anyway. Verse 16, you shouldn't however allow yourself to fall into too much wickedness because that can kill you too. Verse 17, so there's this happy medium of Kind of like the Goldilocks just right amount of caring about righteousness or just right standard of righteousness. Now, that is insane in light of the whole rest of the teaching of the Bible. And it's also insane due to the grammar of verse 16 and the context not just being verse 16 and verse 17, but verse 18 giving the resolution. Verse 18 presents itself as the solution to the problem in verse 16 and verse 17. It is good that you grasp this and also not remove your hand from the other, for he who fears God will escape them all. So don't remove your hand from being righteous, but the solution to the problem in verses 16 and 17 is the fear of the Lord, that God gives the righteousness by which you escape death. Now this we would also be able to see in verse 16 if we noticed that the verbs here are reflexive, particularly the verb for being righteous in verse 16 is reflexive, which means it is to be translated with reference to something done for or unto or in oneself. Do not be righteous for yourself. Do not be righteous unto yourself. Do not be righteous in yourself. Now, which of these I cannot choose because they're all true from the whole rest of the Bible. Our righteousness is not unto ourself. The scripture condemns him who is righteous in his own eyes or who tends to be righteous in his own strength. Do not be righteous unto yourself. Do not be righteous for yourself. We are not to be righteous for our own glory or for our own praise, for the eyes of others do not be righteous in ourselves by our own strength. So it's condemning self-righteousness. It's condemning the Phariseeism that the Lord Jesus was condemning, not only in chapter 23 of Matthew, although that's where we have been recently, but warning at the beginning of chapter six about charitable deeds and praying and fasting. And doing all of these for the eyes of others rather than in a secret place unto the Lord. And Scripture, of course, teaches us and warns us against trying to be righteous in our own... And someone who does that is not only going to destroy himself trying, but he'll destroy himself achieving. because he'll achieve a standard that seems to him to be very high, but it can't be higher than God's standard. And of course, if it's something that he finds attainable in his own strength, then it's not the actual righteousness that God requires. And so that's something for you to wrestle with. whatever standard you are trying to attain to. If it's something that can be done in your own strength, if it's something that seems achievable, then it's the wrong standard. And if you are trying in your own strength, then you're trying in the wrong strength. And if your hope is that you will feel good about yourself or that others will admire you, then it's the wrong goal. Because the hope is that God will be pleased and he will glorify himself by what he does. And so that's what verse 16 is warning against, self-righteousness. And that's why verse 18, in the fear of God, is the solution. Now Solomon had tried to do this in the area of wisdom. and a huge part of his life had been the extreme bitterness of his failure. Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten rulers of the city. Verse 19, hold that in mind because he's going to come back to that with respect to himself in verse 23. But he concludes, there's not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. So if you think you have this attainable standard that the one in verse 16 is working so hard in his own strength and done to his own praise to attain to, if you think you have this attainable standard, verse 20 just flat out tells you you're wrong. And it's good to remember that you are not so righteous as you think you are because other people are not so righteous as you are tempted to demand them to be. So he says, do not take to heart everything people say. They are sinful and their sin is going to come out of their mouths. And you should not be surprised or devastated when it does, lest you hear your servant cursing you. And in verse 21, the implication is not that it's like some wayward, froward servant. It's your servant that you value, your near servant, and yet your servant is a sinner, and you will sometimes require things of them, and they will respond bitterly in their heart. This applies to children and parents and sisters and brothers and spouses. lest you hear your servant cursing you, and if you are not factoring in the reality of their remaining sin, you will be overly hurt and maybe hardened, and there will be extra conflict. But if you keep in your mind the ongoing sinfulness of all of us and our dependence upon the grace of God and have proper expectations, then you won't take it to heart. and you can forgive and you can give that up to the Lord, to whom you ought to be giving up your own sin. He says, lest you hear your servant cursing you, for many times also your own heart has known, even you have cursed others. Maybe you haven't let it slip out of your mouth, or maybe you haven't let it slip out of your mouth in a way that they can hear or around them, but it's been in your heart, and so don't take it to heart when it comes out of somebody else. Now he returns to one of the greatest virtues that man can have, wisdom. Wisdom strengthens the wise. More than 10 rulers of the city and Solomon, even by God's own testimony, had had the greatest wisdom. Indeed, God gave him such wisdom as not only to lead Israel, but as we were thinking when we introduced the Song of Songs, to be the writer of that book, to be the writer of this book, to be the writer of the Book of Proverbs, to be the writer of Psalm 72. What wisdom he had had, this wisdom that strengthens the wise more than ten rulers of the city. All this I have proved by wisdom. I said, I will be wise. And compared to men he was wise, but compared to what is necessary before the face of God he wasn't. He says, verse 23, It was far from me, for that which is far off and exceedingly deep, who can find it out? The wisdom of God, the righteousness of God is so much higher and so much deeper than we could ever attain to. And so he says, I applied my heart to know, to search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things, to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness. And still, for all his wisdom, what did he do? He married foreign women, and he married a thousand women, 700 wives, 300 concubines. They turned his heart from the Lord. If God had not called him beloved from his birth, if God had not made promises about him, he would have been lost. And he says, and I find more bitter than death. Here's the one who sought out wisdom and achieved it to a certain extent or in a certain way more than anyone else in the history of mankind. He says, and I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets. Doesn't seem like snares and nets when you're in biochemistry with her. The woman whose heart is snares and nets and whose hands are fetters. iron clasps that chain you, bind you. He who pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be tracked by her. Here is what I have found, says the preacher, adding one thing to the other, to find out the reason which my soul still seeks, but I cannot find. One man among a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found. He is not saying that males are wiser and more righteous than females. He's saying that Jesus is the only righteous human that there is. That if righteousness could have been attained by wisdom, Solomon would have had it. But there was so much sin in Solomon, and Solomon is so finite, that righteousness was not to be found in mankind at all, except for the one man, the God-man. And that's because everyone else has the nature of Adam. Truly, this only I have found. God made man upright. He created Adam in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. And Mrs. Adam in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. But they, Adam and Mrs. Adam and all their children in them now, which is you, have sought out many schemes. Jesus is the only righteous man because he's the only one with an unfallen nature. And the fear of God and faith in Jesus Christ, union with Him by His Spirit, blessing the use of His Word, giving you spiritual life and spiritual light to see Jesus and believe in Jesus, the Spirit unites you to Christ, makes you right with God in Christ, and begins to form in you a righteousness that will conform to God's standard. because it's not in yourself, it's in Jesus. It's not from yourself, it's from Jesus. It's not for yourself, it's for Jesus, and it's not according to your standards, it's according to Him. And that is the righteousness that we should pursue, a righteousness that is by grace, through faith into Christ, out of union with Him, in fellowship with Him, in dependence upon Him, unto His glory, and ultimately conformed entirely. Christ, our only righteousness. And it's possible, even after you've believed in him, to slouch into, slide into a way of living in which you're aiming at a standard that is your own, and you're trying to do it in strength that is your own, and you're trying to do it for praise that is your own. And as soon as you're doing that, you're engaging in that which is self-destructive. Rather, we should be zealous for righteousness that is according to His standard, done in His strength, and done to His praise. Amen. Father, thank You for this portion of Your Word. Please write its truth on our hearts by Your Spirit. Give us to continue resting upon Christ and living by faith in Him. make us to aim not at that which pleases men but that righteousness that is yours and pleases you and grant that we would do so unto your glory even as we do so in your strength so help us please by your spirit we ask through christ amen