This morning, as we're going along, if you have questions that you'd like to get answered, you can send a text to that number on the screen, or you can email me, jerry at harvestcharlotte.com, and we'll try to answer those, either with a direct response back to you, or put it in the next week in the sermon, or something like that. The way we're gonna open up this morning, our passage is going to be Ecclesiastes chapter 8 verses 9 to 17, not 19 to 17. I just noticed that. It's amazing how many times we edit this and something always slips by, and now we notice it at 10.30 on Sunday morning. Ecclesiastes 8, 9 to 17. We're going through Ecclesiastes, but I want to I want you to try to answer this question. I'm gonna invite you to turn to three, four, or five people around you. And let's think about situations in life that you either have seen or experienced where people didn't get what they deserved. Okay, maybe it went to the good or to the bad. Maybe a bad situation or a bad person didn't get what they deserved, and they got something good instead. Or maybe it works the other way around. A person was doing good and they were right, but then they got something bad. So if you can think of any situations at all, whether small or large, in life or in the world, where people don't get what they deserve, just talk about those a little bit with each other. Turn, take two or three minutes to share with people around you, and that'll launch us into the scripture in just a minute. Okay, if you'll wrap that up. How many of your groups were able to come up with at least one situation? Can I see your hand? I heard a lot of discussion. It didn't seem like we had a hard time thinking about that. Those types of situations I think are what led a lot to the writing of Ecclesiastes chapter 8. As we go through it, we're going to see that the speaker, who we're calling the teacher, it's the way he's identified in the original language here, the teacher, talks about some of those kind of situations. And we'll walk through them, but let me set the stage for these exact verses. Last week Pastor Corey spoke on the beginning of chapter eight, and at the beginning of chapter eight, the teacher was focusing on our response to authority, how we are to obey authority. And now this section transitions away from that. It includes part of that for a few verses, but it also then starts talking about the discrepancy between what he sees with his eyes. what he knows by faith. So I want to invite you to focus today on this truth. When you see, or when what you see doesn't look right, focus on what you know to be right. When what you see doesn't look right, focus on what you know to be right. So Ecclesiastes 8 beginning in verse 9 invites you there if you have a Bible electronic device and it will the verses will also be on the screen. Let's stand together beginning in verse 9 all this I have seen. Applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm. In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place. And they were praised in the city where they did those things. This too is futile. Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly. The heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil. Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life. I also know that it will go well with God fearing people for they are reverence before him. However, it will not go well with the wicked and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow for they are not reverent before God. there is a futility that is done on the earth. There are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile. So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself. For this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun. When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the activity that is done on the earth, even though one's eyes do not close in sleep day or night, I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it. Even if a wise person claims to know it. he is unable to discover it. This is the Word of God. You can be seated. Now, the beginning verse of this section, verse 9, functions as something of a transition. It refers back to the discussion of authority that he has been talking about, but it it comes up with kind of an interesting thought. He's been talking about how people should obey authority, but notice he says, at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm, leaders themselves sometimes get hurt. We talk about how sometimes bad leaders inflict pain and punishment on people and that happens, but sometimes even the leaders, those in authority, exercise leadership to their own harm. Notice the first few words that begin this verse, all this I have seen. And that's very important because in this section, it's gonna be like being on a roller coaster. You know, you get on a roller coaster, maybe other amusement park rides, you're going along and it's like, it turns this way and you slide to this side of the car and you go back this way and you slide to this side and you go back and forth. And there's gonna be a little bit of that. And it's gonna really, we can really break it down into two major areas. Things that he has seen, and things that he knows and we'll apply them to us today. We'll contemporize them by by building not really an outline but kind of like a chart between things that we see and things that we know. Sometimes the things we see and the things we know match up and that's great. The challenge becomes when what we see doesn't match what we know and then we have to make a decision. So What we see is going to be all through the morning in gold letters, and what we know is going to be in blue letters. That's no shout out to Michigan, it just happened to turn out that way. We see that wicked people are praised, verse 10. In such circumstances I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, that's the temple, and they were praised in the city where they did those things, this too is futile. So in that day, kings were very prominent, kings were very visible. In the leading city, they would go into the temple and they would go in and out, and they would do wicked things. And it's not 100% clear if they're being praised while they're alive, or even after they die, they're being praised. It may be true that maybe more lives are told at funerals than any other place. But these people who have done, these bad rulers, these wicked rulers are being praised. And the teacher says, that's futile. That's meaningless. You know, we want people to do right. We want people to do good. And yet, sometimes leaders don't do right and good, and they still get praised for it. That's futile. That's meaningless. That's vain. And I'll get praised as well by some. So that's something we see. Another thing we see is in verse 11, that delayed punishment results in more crime. Verse 11, Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil. Now, many legal systems are notoriously slow to carry out sentencing and then to execute whatever that sentencing is. Depends on the DA and their investigators, their calendars, the court calendar. Just to go to trial in America can take between 4 and 30 months. In federal court, a felony system-wide takes an average of 606 days from the formal charge to the disposition. And then, of course, in more serious crimes like that would involve capital punishment, those proceed even much more slowly. Over the last 30 years, the average time that elapsed between sentencing and execution was 233 months. So, it's He looked around at his day and said, you know, when I see people doing crimes and they aren't punished for them, it gets delayed. What does it do? More crime happens, right? This could be big, serious crimes like that or small things like how you treat your substitute teachers in high school. Some of you are smiling. You know what I mean. Some of you, or I should say us, are guilty because we knew the substitute was not going. I guess I should be quiet. We got some high schoolers in here. And I don't, I'm joking a little bit about it and not happy or proud of it. I do remember hearing about people doing that. But it's a principle. That if, and parents, if you wanna see it happen at home, just delay any correction and then you'll see. It's the principle, he looks around and he sees it. But what does he know? Well, now we jump over in verses 12 to 13 at something he knows, and what he does know is that fearing God matters most. That's the most important thing in life, is to fear God. Although a sinner, verse 12, does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, and here's the wording, look at it. Read the next four words with me out loud. I also know that. So he's going to tell us what he knows. It's true a sinner might do a hundred times and that's of course figurative, that's hyperbole, it doesn't mean 100 exactly, verses 99 or 101, but somebody could do evil a lot, it seems like, and they might live a long time, but I know this, it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before Him. It's interesting that this verse follows verse 11. Verse 11 talked about how in human courts, sometimes justice is delayed and therefore more crime happens. Now, it may seem that God is delaying justice, right? It's like, oh look around, bad people are doing wrong and they're living a long time sometimes. But what do we know? Let's focus on what we know. Over and over and over again in the Bible, we are called to have a deep reverence for God. That's what fearing God is, and not being afraid of Him. It's not like, oh, I'm afraid God's going to zap me. No, it's understanding He's holy, and He's right, and He's pure. And I want to fear him. Every decision in my life, every thought in my mind, every word that comes off my tongue, I want it to please and honor this holy God. That's what fearing the Lord is. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, not evildoers, but evil. Thinking about people, and I've been able to think, what would God think about this? What's God's view on this? So that's what it means to fear the Lord, because when we say yes to sin, we say no to God. And when we say yes to God, we say no to sin. That's the essence of the life of faith. It's believing what we cannot always see. We cannot always see the outcome, We might look around and see some people seemingly get by with evil behavior, but we know ultimately in the long run. It is going to go well with those that fear God because all we can see is this life. We can't see all of eternity. And even the things we see in life. We don't always see the whole story. Some of those people that look like they're really having a great life. walk out the next day and commit suicide because they were struggling with guilt and all kind of angst inside. This attitude which results in inaction, fear in God, that's the huge divider in life that's going to determine whether things are going to go well like finally and ultimately with you or not. Now, verse 13. Remember, we're still in the roller coaster. Now we're going to around another curve. Verse 13 kind of gives us the other side of it. However, it will not go well with the wicked and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow for they are not reverent before God. The most fundamental problem that people have who live sinful lives is not the actual sin, but it's that they don't fear God. And that's what leads them to take the actions that they take. And so you put these verses together and it's like, it's not a contradiction. It's just giving us some different perspectives. Yeah, they might live a long time physically. He said that earlier, but their days are not going to lengthen like a shadow. And I think this verse contends that they're not going to end up well. And it could refer to God's judgment that's slated to come to them later. The doctrine of eternity and eternal judgment's not fully developed yet in the Old Testament or at this point of the Old Testament. Obviously, we who live today after the life, death, and burial and resurrection of Jesus, we have a lot more information in the Bible. And we have a full doctrine of all of that. So, they're going to be fleeting. As one commentator, Derek Kidner, puts it, the wicked man's career is all show, no substance. Well, we come back to verse 14 now. Again, he's just writing, I know this, but now he's something I see. And that's sometimes people don't get what they deserve, verse 14. There is a futility that is done on the earth. There are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile. You know, sometimes people look around and see injustices and inequities in life, and they blame God. It's like, oh, well, how can there be a good God if this happens? Well, I would say it's not easy. There's no easy solution or easy answer to those kind of questions. But God is perfect, and he created a perfect world, and then humans came along and messed it up. We sinned, right? In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve sinned, and then it passed down, and all of us, so we're in this intermediate phase where life isn't all perfect, and sin is wreaking a lot of havoc. And ultimately, one day, God's gonna set everything right. and His eternal kingdom, everything will be perfect. But we're in this intermediate phase and God is not pulling every single string. God is allowing human beings to make decisions. Good decisions sometimes, bad decisions sometimes. That's part of the love of God. It's a mystery. God is sovereign and God is loving. He gives us free will. And sometimes we see that people don't get what they deserve. It seems like the bad guys do win. Sometimes nice guys do finish last. You can look around. Sometimes I see people that are mocking God with their lives and with their words and it seems like they're on top. Why does God allow it? I think here's another way to think about it too. If every single time everybody made one action and it was a good action, there was an immediate reward or there was an immediate punishment right in that moment, we'd kind of be like Pavlov's dogs, right? Where we might be doing it for the wrong reason. We might be just focusing on the consequences and not really loving God from the heart. And that's what God wants for us, to love him with all of our heart and soul, not for fear of wrong consequences. A really good person doing right, maybe you're a student at school and you do right and you get shunned by other kids at school. Maybe you're at work and you get passed over for promotions because of your moral values. Maybe your team leader takes credit for the work that your team actually does and the team leader gets the credit when the people who really did all the work should be getting some credit. Maybe your health goes south versus a proud evil person who wins the lottery, literally or figuratively. At the end of the verse, as we see these things, what do we say? I think we say what this guy would say, this too is futile. Now we're going back to something we know. We know that life is a gift from God. So we've got life over here, that there's injustice and inequity, but we also know that life is a gift from God. And look what he says. This is the Maybe the third time, maybe the fourth time in the book of Ecclesiastes, he's given a similar advice. So I commended enjoyment because there's nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun. In light of uncertainties and futility under the sun, focus on the good. the simple gifts of God like food and drink and pleasure and work. And if you today are able to work if you're able to sit down and have an appetite and enjoy a meal. If you have friends any simple pleasures in life realize they come from God. These are gifts from God. This isn't trying to solve the problem that we just talked about in verse 14. It's not an escape mentality like, oh, life is so hard that I'm just going to eat myself to death or drink myself to death. He's not talking about that kind of extreme response, but he's just talking about recognizing, you know, Every day, every moment, every hour, every opportunity is a gift from God. If you can see the pages of a Bible, that's a gift, right? If you can feel the warmth of a handshake or a hug, that's a gift. William Barrick says, Human beings ought not to waste their God-giving joys by seeking to usurp the authority and work of their creator. Fretting over the brevity and seeming unfairness of life brings no joy, no peace, no rest, and no solution. So don't miss out on the gift. I think that's the point. Don't miss out on the gift. There are competing realities here. So I read this week about a small community of believers in Costa Rica who understand and wrestle with both of these competing realities. They themselves are comprised of several broken and needy and hurting people. Many times people will say grace before meals, say a prayer of thanksgiving They sing it and don't worry. I'm not going to sing it for you today in English or in Spanish, but the English translation of it would be this and notice how it it addresses both sides bless. Oh Lord this our bread. Give bread to those who are hungry. and hunger for justice to those who have bread. Bless, oh Lord, this our bread. I think that's good, don't you? Lord, you gave us this bread, bless it, bless it. But also, Lord, give bread to those who are hungry and hunger for justice to those who have bread. Well back to Ecclesiastes, the teacher wraps up chapter 8 with two verses that again demonstrate our human limitations. And so we'd put it on the category, the side of what we know. We know we cannot understand everything. When I applied my mind to know wisdom, and to observe the activity that is done on the earth, even though one's eyes do not close in sleep day or night. I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it. Even if a wise person claims to know it, he's unable to discover it. These verses remind us that we can ask about the meaning of life. That's what this book is dealing with over and over again. Is there meaning here? Is there meaning here? Can I find meaning in this pursuit? Maybe I'll try this. Maybe I'll try that. And we can do it and we can pursue it and we can seek it. The teacher certainly sought it, but not successfully. not able to ultimately find in this life only on this horizontal plane meaning and purpose. And so he posits that no one will be able to to solve everything and that can be defeating or discouraging. I hope you don't walk out of here defeated or discouraged. That's not the idea of coming to church to be defeated or discouraged. There are a couple of glimmers of hope and I want to I'll start to say conclude, start to conclude. Don't want to give you too much hope. But I do want to give you some hope that there is hope out there. There's a couple of glimmers here. First in verse 17, the teacher does not suggest that this inability to solve everything is due to a lack of design or order in the universe. There is a God. And he recognizes God. In fact, he calls it the work of God. I observe all the work of God. It's interesting. So much of Ecclesiastes has left God's name out of the equation. And now he brings it in. I observed the work of God. It's good to remind ourselves that God is sovereign. and that even though the world as it exists now under the sun has its inequities, we're not here just due to a random sequence of events is like some radical evolutionary theories would have us believe that it's just an accident. We're here because of God. Derek Kidner says, although as time dwellers, only," he didn't say only, I'm adding the word only, we only see God's work in tantalizing flashes. The very fact that we can ask about the whole design and long to see it is evidence that we are not entirely prisoners of our world. There's something more. There's something else. Remember, God's Word that we're focusing on today is when what you see doesn't look right, focus on what you know to be right. And one thing we know to be right in this entire book of Ecclesiastes is that human wisdom is not going to give us the final answers. And people can study, people can research. Ecclesiastes prepares us. It's like a preparatory book. It doesn't give us all the answers, but it prepares us to look for an answer somewhere else. You know, I find this is one of the biggest thing about people in their life, their relationship with God. Some people don't have a personal relationship with God through Jesus because they don't think they need it. And that's step one. You have to understand that you need a relationship with God. You need his forgiveness in your life. You need who God is and what he can do. But if you think your life is fine and you're just going to be fine your whole life without him, you won't seek after him. Ecclesiastes says human wisdom isn't going to do this for us. Many people don't get past that, unfortunately. And although the teacher here did not have the full, there were many stories being told. Some of them were very serious stories. Some of them were silly stories about things like fantasy football. I told one of them. So we can look around and see it. Oh man, the righteous are getting what the wicked deserve. The wicked are getting what the righteous deserve. But where can we really see that? There are a lot of places I'm sure we could see it, but nowhere do we see it more than at the cross of Jesus Christ. Because at the cross of Jesus Christ, the righteous who was Jesus, took what the wicked deserved. And that was separation from God. And in turn, the wicked received what the righteous gave. Let me give you a couple verses. Isaiah 53, surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on Him and by His wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. That's why the cross, as horrible as it is in one level, it is wonderful. because it, at the cross, God is laying our iniquity on Jesus to forgive. In Paul, the apostle, says in 2 Corinthians 5, God made him who had no sin, that was Jesus, to be sin for us. So that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. Praise God this morning for the place, the ultimate place where the wicked got what the righteous could give and what the righteous one, Jesus, took willingly what we the wicked deserved. It's the cross and Ecclesiastes points forward. We can't stop just Ecclesiastes. We look past it. many, many years later and see Jesus on that cross doing this for us. Have you responded to the cross of Christ in your life? Is it just something you read about, hear about, or have you really understood that this was done for you? Jesus died for you personally, to forgive you of sin, and to give you hope and meaning and purpose in life and in eternity with Him. I hope you'll open your heart to that today, and you can do that by faith if you'll admit you need Him. If you admit you've been on the wrong path on your own and you need Him, open your heart to Him. Let me give you just three ways to pray in response to this, and that's how we're gonna close in a minute. We're gonna just pray about different things before we leave. Let's pray for godly leaders and justice. Even though our world has injustice, I think it's appropriate to pray that God will help leaders execute justice. Let's also pray for victims of injustice. There are some people who live in certain places in society, our society, and in the world that are victims of injustice. In fact, next Sunday, the church worldwide honors and remembers those Christians who are living in persecuted environments, and we're going to pray for the persecuted church next week. And then let's pray that believers will fear God, that believers will have this awesome respect for Him. So I want to invite you as we close.