Ecclesiastes 2, 17 through 18. Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And chapter 3, verses 11 through 13. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. It is the gift of God. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word. We pray that you would help us to understand it and to make this scripture a part of our worldview, even our apologetic against this sinful world. And I pray that you would guide me in the way in which I speak it. May you be glorified as we continue to worship you in Jesus name. Amen. Many of you have listened to Dr. Greg Bonson's two debates with atheists, the first one with Dr. Gordon Stein and the other one with Mr. Tabash. And at least some of you have listened to Doug Wilson's two debates with atheists as well, Van Barker and Christopher Hitchens. And if you haven't heard those, you really need to. I think those are four of the most outstanding examples of apologetics out there. But each of those four lectures, I think, captures aspects of the brilliant apologetics that is happening in the book of Ecclesiastes. Now, you may not have thought of Ecclesiastes as a book on apologetics. It is. Eaton's commentary, I think, demonstrates that it is. This was kind of the older viewpoint on this book as well. And like Bonson, Solomon argues that if you leave God out of your thinking, your words, your actions, your plans, your dominion, your life will inevitably be reduced to foolishness and or pointlessness. Every book of the Bible is even positioned within the canon in a certain order, especially in the Hebrew canon. But Ecclesiastes comes immediately after Proverbs. And the purpose of Ecclesiastes is to be a textbook case on the proper presuppositional apologetics and how to answer a fool. Now, Proverbs has already given us the positive, the first part of the paradigm. It's giving us a comprehensive worldview that makes sense out of everything in life. And when that is rejected by the unbeliever, Ecclesiastes comes along and shows the foolishness of the fool who rejects that revelation. In fact, at the end of this book, he's going to be pointing us back to the book of Proverbs again for a comprehensive biblical worldview. And this book does not just answer the foolish atheist. It also answers the Christian who has excluded God from compartments of his life. His life is going to be empty too. This book is an apologetic against the pragmatist, against the secularist. It is an apologetic against anyone who aims less high than what Christ has called us to aim in the Sermon on the Mount, which is to seek God's kingdom and his righteousness rather than pursuing after all of the other things that secularists tend to pursue after in order to find meaning in life and satisfaction. If you don't take that approach to the book of Ecclesiastes, you will be constantly puzzled by how this book alternates back and forth between apparently contradictory statements. Now, they're not contradictory at all. He's answering a fool according to his folly, and I'm not answering a fool according to his folly, lest he be like him. So there are certain keys in this book that we're going to be looking at that show us how we avoid seeing these as being contradictory. But I have read through quite a few commentaries on Ecclesiastes, and they are all over the map. Robert Johnston catalogs the bewildering variety of opinions that result when commentators try to integrate every word of this book into one worldview. You can't do that. You really cannot do that. Here's what he says. There's two worldviews, but if you try to integrate everything into one worldview, he asked, well, what is going on here? Was the author a pessimist, a skeptic, a practical atheist, a relativist, a preacher of joy, a dialectical thinker, an existentialist, a realist, someone who has simply resigned? All these interpretations have been seriously entertained. The interpretive quagmire, the book of Ecclesiastes, has existed right up to the present. But if you take this book as an apologetic that illustrates the two-fold approach to apologetics that we looked at in the book of Proverbs, I think everything falls into place. Proverbs 26 verses 4 through 5 says, Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. He's saying you've got to start with the Word of God. You cannot argue independently or you're going to become just like the fool. But then the next verse says, answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. Once he rejects the word of God, then you have to show within his own worldview, he can't account for logic, for ethics. He cannot account for anything. And it's important to realize that there are places in this book where Solomon is answering a fool according to his folly and showing the utter foolishness of leaving God out of any parts of your life. And those are often immediately contrasted with paragraphs that are not answering a fool according to his folly. In other words, they're applying the law of God, just like the book of Proverbs did. All of the words of this book come from God. They're all inerrant, they're all inspired, they're all true, and they are presenting two worldviews. Either way exposes the fool's folly. Solomon negatively exposes the folly of secularism by showing, hey, that worldview will never satisfy you. It's never going to give a comprehensive meaning to life. And then he positively exposes the foolishness of the fool by showing the joy and the full satisfaction that comes from living all of our life under God's throne. So those two worldviews are very vividly contrasted, juxtaposed with each other in beautiful language. So I'm telling you where I'm going before I get there, but I want to show you how I got to that conclusion. First presupposition is that Solomon wrote this book. Verse one says the words of the preacher the Son of David King in Jerusalem now it is very popular in modern commentaries for people to deny that you're not considered very academically with it if you deny if you accept Solomon as being the author and Yet Walter Kaiser vigorously defends the Solomonic authorship, and it says if you deny Solomon is the author, it is guaranteed that you are going to get yourself into trouble. There's going to be some problems in your exegesis. For example, most of those authors who deny Solomonic authorship agree that the author looks like he is, some of them actually say it, pretending to be Solomon. That is not, that is not anything good or godly. It is deceitful. And I won't get into all of the argumentation. I just want you to know my presupposition, having read all of the proposed, you know, authors of this book, those who reject the traditional view that I hold to. Get themselves in trouble and I agree with Walter Kaiser This book was written by Solomon towards the end of his 60 to 70 years Nobody knows exactly when he was born And so a different chronologist say, you know died at the age of 60 or 70 somewhere in that range now when you hold to that view That Solomon was the author. There's a lot of conundrums in this book that completely dissolved The second presupposition relates to the word words in verse one. I believe that every word in this book is inspired and inerrant. We are not dealing with false quotes of a secularist pitted against the true words of Solomon. That's the way some people take it. But verse one indicates that every word comes from Solomon, the prophet, and the conclusion in chapter 12, verses nine through 10, is that every word is inspired. So, for example, 12.9 says that the knowledge he taught here is the same as the knowledge that he taught in the book of Proverbs. It's not contradictory to it. In fact, he's referring people back to the book of Proverbs so that they can get a fuller biblical worldview. Well, we saw in the book of Proverbs that there can be no true knowledge, no true wisdom if you reject the revelation of the Bible. Okay. Then in chapter 12, verse 10, Ecclesiastes 12, 10, he calls the words upright words using the Hebrew word yashar. They are yashar words. And the dictionary defines that as quote, an attributive adjective that is used to emphasize an attribute of God. So they come from God. All of the words of this book come from God. Third, the same verse calls those words, words of truth. an expression that points to the inerrancy of Scripture elsewhere. And then fourth, the words are said to be given by one shepherd referring to the Son of God. And then fifth, he connects all the words of Ecclesiastes with the commandments of God. Well, if that's true, then you cannot pit the negative statements against the positive statements as if some come from a secularist and some come from God. The whole book comes from God as an inspired record. And both sides of apparently contradictory statements are critically important to understand. Once you see this book as a book on apologetics, it all makes sense. Okay, next presupposition. Chapter 1, verse 1, calls this son of David the Kohalath. That's the Hebrew word, Kohalath. And it is variously translated as preacher, teacher, philosopher, and apologist. Now, the word literally means one who gathers. So if this guy is gathering students, then he's a teacher, and that's the way some translations have it. If he is gathering wisdom, he's a philosopher, and that's the way some translations have it. If he is gathering people in the church, he's a preacher. That's the way the New King James has it. If he's gathering people who have wandered far from the fold or people who are total unbelievers, he's an apologist. He's trying to bring those people back to God. And all four of those words are very legitimate translations of that. I don't think you have to really choose between them, but he definitely is acting in the role of an apologist. Now, the last presupposition is that the meaning of the word vanity cannot be turned into a positive, as so many commentaries do. Too many commentaries try to incorporate that phrase, all is vanity, into the Christian worldview. Okay? But that word is far worse than you might think. When you understand the meaning of that word, verse two is actually a shocking statement. Vanity of vanities, says the apologist. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. How could everything be vanity? I mean, the things that I engage in in life are filled with meaning. Christ has filled everything in life with meaning. In fact, the book of Ecclesiastes will later say everything has meaning. We'll get to that in a little bit. But Some commentators have pointed out that this word means false hopes, vain hopes, emptiness, meaninglessness, worthlessness, being without any purpose whatsoever. It's used quite a number of times in the Bible as a synonym for gods or idols. In fact, some translations just translate it as gods or idols. Why? Because they are so worthless. They are so empty. That's the kind of connotation that this word has. And there's no English word that adequately brings this All of the meanings together. And so Fox and his commentary says, you know, this is really difficult. We ought to just incorporate the Hebrew word Hebel into our language, just like we incorporated agape into our language. But in any case, this word Hebel occurs 38 times in Ecclesiastes. In some contexts, it requires it to mean absurdity. Other contexts require it to mean emptiness. Others show that it contains the idea of uselessness. So just to give you a flavor for this word, let me read you some of the translations that the modern versions have given that go beyond the phrase vanity of vanities. The expanded Bible tries to stuff as many nuances into this as they can. rendering it, the teacher or preacher or assembler says, useless or meaningless or absurd or enigmatic or transitory or vanity or vapor or bubble, useless, completely useless, everything is useless. Now, of course, translations don't flow very well if you try to expand on the meaning of the words, so most versions have to opt for one nuance or another when they translate it. And so let me just give you 12 different modern translations of this word that go beyond all is vanity. The NIV has the phrase, everything is meaningless. Now that ought to be shocking to you because everything has meaning for us. Christ has invested everything with meaning. And as I mentioned earlier, Ecclesiastes will say everything has meaning later. Several versions render it absolutely pointless. Everything is pointless. And without taking the time to name the translations, let me just read these translations. All is to no purpose. Everything is futile. Nothing matters. Nothing makes sense. All is useless. There is nothing to anything. It is all smoke. Nothing has meaning. All is for nothing. Completely meaningless. Everything is empty and futile. Now, it is my contention, and the contention of older commentaries, that Solomon is not calling us to see everything as meaningless. Instead, he is making the observation that everything is already and automatically meaningless unless something is in place. Okay? You don't need to work at life being meaningless. You don't have to be commanded to see it as me. It's automatically meaningless and less something is in place. And there are several keys in this book that tell us of what that something is. But right from the get go, verse two immediately sets up some rather striking contrasts in this book, no matter which way you translate this word. I don't care which translation you pick. you're going to immediately see absolute contradictions later on in this book. And if you don't see these contradictions, you're going to try to reconcile that. You cannot reconcile this phrase with the other phrases of the book. So for example, if you translate it as all is to no purpose, then it appears to contradict chapter three, where everything has a purpose. If you translate it as all is hopeless, which some do, It appears to contradict chapter 9, verse 4, which says that there is hope. Which is it? All is hopeless or there is hope? Well, it depends on which way you're living your life. Ecclesiastes is not presenting one worldview. It is presenting two views of life, and it wants us to strongly avoid the view that leads to Hebel. According to verse one, Solomon is looking backward in time and speaking about himself objectively as if he is another person. He's now repented of his backslidden days, and he's no longer the person that he used to be for a few years. He has come back to the Lord after a period of backsliding. And that's why so many of these chapters use the past tense. So even if you translate it as all is hopeless, he later makes clear he no longer thinks that way. He says there is hope. If you translate it as all is meaningless, it appears to be contradicted by chapter 3, which not only speaks of purpose and a time for everything, but also says God shall judge the righteous and the wicked for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work So he is saying all of history without exception is providential history that is moving Irresistibly to a meaningful conclusion. That's exactly what he is saying Likewise it appears to contradict chapter 5 verse 20 God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart or 718 he who fears God will escape from them all and Those are quite different statements. Verse 2 of chapter 1 is absolutely true of one group of people. The other statements are absolutely true of another group of people. Which group do you want to be in? And Solomon is going to be trying to motivate us to abandon the things that make all of life vanity. I utterly reject the idea that this book is putting Christians at ease with cynicism and enabling them to say with confidence, yeah, life is meaningless. All of life is vanity. I'm going to prove beyond any shadow of a doubt later on that the New Testament, which alludes to Ecclesiastes, forbids us to say that about ourselves and commands us to say all is vanity about any worldview that springs from unbelief. I'm going to try to demonstrate that beyond any shadow of a doubt. If the Hebrew word is translated as all is pointless, which some translate it that way, several versions actually, it appears to be contradicted by 3.11 where God says, He has made everything beautiful in its time. Everything. Well, that's not pointless. That's beautiful. 8.12 says, it will be well with those who fear God. It's not pointless. It will be well. And indeed, Solomon gets to the whole point of life at the end of this book when he says, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is man's all. So there is a point to life. It is not pointless to the person who fears God. It is the opposite. If it is translated as all is vanity or all is worthless, which amounts to the same thing. Then it is contrasted by numerous verses that show a God-given task, 3 verse 10, or the gift of God, 3 verse 13, and other passages. If you focus on transitoriness by translating it all as breath, all as transitory, or nothing lasts, which you can find translations that translate it that way, You appear to be contradicting 3 verse 1, which states that God has put eternity in their hearts, or 3.14. I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it. Nothing can be taken from it. God does it that men should fear before him. If you focus on the misery that is involved in that word, then it is contradicted by 2.6, which says that God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in his sight. He's saying, if you're good in God's sight, then you can have joy in absolutely every circumstance. Or 5 verse 20, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. Or 9 verse 7, go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already accepted your works. I mean, that's what gives meaning and joy to life. It's the knowledge that your labors in the Lord are not in vain, that God has already accepted all of our works. You see, those are quite different statements. And the New Testament highlights exactly what I am saying about this phrase. The New Testament uses a very unique and very rare Greek word that the Septuagint used to translate this word Hebel. It's so rare that you can think of these New Testament verses, and I'm not going to quote to you, as direct allusions to Ecclesiastes, interpretations of Ecclesiastes. And every one of these says, this is a negative thing we need to put off. We need to get rid of. Let me read some of these for you. In Ephesians 4.17, Paul says, no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility, there's that word, in the futility of their mind. He is saying, hey guys, it is possible for you Christians to put off this vanity thinking by stop thinking like the Gentiles think. Like Solomon, there were some people in the church of Ephesus who were thinking like the Gentiles, the futility of their mind. But he said, put it off. You can put this off. OK, let me give another verse. Romans 121 describes unbelievers that although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile. There is the same Greek word futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. The Apostle Paul reflected the meaning of Ecclesiastes 1 verse 2, again, with exactly the same rare word that the Septuagint uses, when he said, if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. There's that word, if Christ is not risen, but he is, right? So it shouldn't be futile. Two verses later, he says, If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men the most pitiable. In verse 14, Paul said, And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty. Right? And in verse 17, Paul said, And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. Without Christ and His power, His grace in our lives, All is vanity of vanities. That is exactly what the apostle Paul was saying. That is exactly what the book of Ecclesiastes is teaching. And I know that this may seem like overkill, but there is so much misinterpretation of the book of Ecclesiastes that I wanted this to be crystal clear. So back to Ecclesiastes chapter one. In verses 2 and following, Ecclesiastes sets before us the doctrine that all of life is empty, useless, pointless, and meaningless unless something is present. Something is different. What is that something? Well, it's indicated by a contrast between the phrase under the sun and the words God and or the phrase under heaven. Under the sun and under heaven are not synonyms, as many commentaries assume. But certainly, under the sun and God are not synonyms, under God. So take a look at chapter 1, verse 3. What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? Now that phrase, under the sun, occurs 29 times in Ecclesiastes. And so the question I have is, do we have profit from our labors in the Lord? Well, absolutely yes, because 1 Corinthians 15 at the very end says that our labors in the Lord are not in vain. Well, here it says everything's in vain. All your labors are in vain. What profit is there? So he's just saying the same thing that the Apostle Paul did. Even for a Christian, if your works day by day are not done in the power of Christ, everything you do is going to be burned up as hay, wood, and stubble. Everything. If God is not in your thoughts, then the highest thing in your sky is the physical sun, not God. Psalm 10 verse 4 describes the wicked this way. The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God. God is in none of his thoughts. Now, if God is in none of your thoughts, hour after hour, day after day, then the highest thing in your life is the physical sun, or if you happen to be indoors, I guess it's the ceiling, right? With Jesus, it was the exact opposite. All of his thoughts, words, and actions were related to the Father. He sensed the father's power and his presence in his life moment by moment He had a constant awareness of that God was in all of his thoughts and he related all of his thoughts to the kingdom of heaven Christians line up somewhere in between I don't think any of us are as bad as the atheist and I don't think any of us are as good as Christ but that's the trajectory that this book is sending us in and And this book does present Christ as the answer, just as the New Testament does. So we'll look at the Christ of this book. We've been, every book of the Bible, we've been seeing Christ is in it. And it presents Christ in two ways. First, in chapter 12, verses 9 through 11, Solomon points people back to his earlier book of Proverbs to discover the true wisdom of Christ that gives meaning to life. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes belong together as an apologetic method. Proverbs is not answering a fool according to his folly. Ecclesiastes is, at least in part, answering a fool according to his folly. Now, as we saw in Proverbs 30, Agur the prophet said that he was stupid and utterly without knowledge and wisdom apart from the divine revelation of the Bible. Well, that's presuppositional apologetics, right? That's where we get wisdom and knowledge. True knowledge, justified knowledge comes from the Bible. In him, the giver of the scriptures are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And when we seek wisdom and knowledge or anything else apart from him, it is Hebel. It is vanity. And thus Proverbs 13, 11 speaks of wealth gained apart from Christ as vanity or Hebel. There's actually other verses that do the same. Proverbs 31, 30 says that even Beauty, even beauty, is Hebbel if it is done apart from Christ. It says, charm is deceitful, beauty is Hebbel, that's vanity, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. And so Proverbs calls us to reject the wisdom of the world and submit to the wisdom of Christ. And this was the answer to the problem that started in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve were tempted by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, actually they weren't tempted by that tree, they were tempted by Satan who said, hey, you can get wisdom, you can get meaning in life apart from God's revelation. Why don't you just test it out? Ignore what God had to say and see if you can't find meaning in life. And that plunged this world into the vanity of vanities that it currently has, the eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And so they were barred from the tree of life. Well, Proverbs offers us the tree of life. Those who embrace lady wisdom, which is what? Revealed scriptures. Those who embrace lady wisdom are embracing a tree of life. It reverses the Garden of Eden temptations of Proverbs 3.18 says she is a tree of life to those who take hold of her. And later Proverbs indicate we become trees of life when we have the scriptures on our lips. So again, it's a reversal of the temptation in Genesis three, but it all flows from Christ and his wisdom and a rejection of the wisdom of the world, which is symbolized by Lady falling. So how does this all fit into, into Solomon's life? Well, about 20 years into his reign as king, 1 Kings 11 says that Solomon gave in to sexual desires and abandoned the monogamy that Proverbs and Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes all command us to have and disaster resulted. And by the way, we're going to see next week that he was a monogamist for Creation Ministries International thinks up to 30 of the 60 to 70 years when you compare all of the different scriptures. He was a monogamous. First 13 years or so, he was married exclusively to Naama. And after Naama died, he was married exclusively to the converted daughter of Pharaoh, who later apostatized. There was evidence that she was initially a convert. Now, the early Solomon was a faithful man, but in any case, it was only in 1 Kings 11 that he started getting wives, the text says, in addition to his second wife, whom he had been living monogamously with for up to 17 years. So that's just a little bit of background there. But once his backsliding happened, it happened with a vengeance. His pagan wives that he multiplied to himself turned his heart away to idols, and his wisdom was turned into foolishness. He was still smart. He still had the brainpower to be able to have the wisdom of the world, but it left him empty. He tried pursuing many other things. They, too, left him empty. And it was not until he turned back to the Lord that he rediscovered the fulfillment and the joy in the Lord that he once had. And so chapter 12, verses 9 through 11, refers readers back to the wisdom of Christ in the Proverbs. But then chapter 12, verse 11 points people to submit their lives to the one true shepherd, Jesus Christ. It says the words of the wise are like goads and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd. And the word shepherd there is rightly capitalized because it refers to Jesus, God, the son. That good shepherd guarantees that he will seek the lost sheep who have been wandering away from him. And that's exactly what God did with Solomon. Eventually pulled him back. He repented of his polygamy, of his dull heartedness, of his rebellion. And he had a heart that was restored to the Lord. He then wrote, by inspiration, this book designed to convince people not to imitate him during those years. And so let's do a quick overview of the book to see how this apologetic works. And let me highlight, first of all, the things that Solomon tried in order to find satisfaction during his Baxlan years. Initially, no one actually knew that he was Baxlan. He worshipped at the temple. He went through all of the motions. It was a heart backsliding that started. Later, it became much more visible. So during those years, he worked very hard, yet chapter 1, Ecclesiastes 1, verse 3 says, what profit is a man from his labor in which he toils under the sun? Despite the fact that 1 Corinthians 15 says that all of our labors in the Lord are not in vain, he was beginning to see it as being in vain. In verse 8, he seeks to satisfy his curiosity with new things. Some people are always buying new things to make them feel good. Or they're looking for new things, new entertainment, new kinds of things to fill the spiritual void inside. But Solomon comes to discover in verse 9, that which has been is what will be, and that which is done is what will be done. And there's nothing new under the sun. So constantly seeking something new did not satisfy. It was new to him. But what was the point? In verse 13, he tries to research everything done under heaven. Notice that phrase, under heaven. So he was initially researching with God in mind. He recognized in verse 16 that God had made him wiser than the ancients. But in verse 18, he concludes, for in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. So the drifting actually started even while he acknowledged God, and before he started worshiping or serving idols. Even slight drifting from the Lord, such as occurred in 1 Kings 10, leads to Hebel. It's not just the major compromises of 1 Kings 11 that leads to Hebel, even slight drifting of the previous chapter does. In Ecclesiastes 2 verse 1, he tried laughter and comedy, similar entertainment, and that too left him empty. When he tried every kind of fine wine out there in verse three, he was still doing it with a consciousness of God, but without a heart for God. And so his sliding was initially more subtle. You can backslide even while you're praying and worshiping. You could be backslidden while you're worshiping right here in this congregation, and things beginning to become meaningless. In verses four through eight, he had access to everything that the world thinks might satisfy him. He had the finest houses, finest buildings, the best gardens and lakes and servants to tend those possessions and massive amounts of wealth and entertainment. And more and more, it left him empty. Now, so far, we are still in the very subtle forms of backsliding that he had in First Kings 10. Chapter 10 of First Kings is where he meets the Queen of Sheba. Okay, that's when it all began unraveling and some people believe that his first Compromise was actually sleeping with the Queen of Sheba giving her her heart's desire all that she requested and when he did not repent he began sliding the Ethiopians certainly claimed that their kings descended by an illicit relationship between Solomon and their Queen that we can't know for sure the text only hints at it, but the statements before verse 10 are happened before 1 Kings chapter 11, okay? So from here on in, Ecclesiastes is documenting 1 Kings chapter 11 kinds of experiences. So in chapter 2, up through verse 9 is 1 Kings 10. From verse 10 of chapter 2 and following, you're already progressing into 1 Kings 11, if you're wanting to divide it up chronologically. Verse 10 says whatever my eyes desired. I did not keep from them I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure. That's a pretty frank admission to sin It was this experimentation with every pleasure including the unlawful sexual pleasures that first Kings 11 speaks of that led him further and further from God and he says that initially he had a lot of fun, you know rebellion compromise can be fun initially till you get yourself in trouble and But over time, his conclusion in verse 11 became, Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done, and on the labor in which I toiled, and indeed all was vanity, and grasping for the wind, there was no profit under the sun. In the next verses, he comforted himself with the pursuit of more wisdom, and then concludes in verse 16, For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool. The more Solomon moves from God, the more miserable God ensures that he becomes. Look at how low Solomon sank in chapter 2, verses 17 through 18. Therefore, I hated life, because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me." I mean, verse by verse, God is taking away his enjoyment of life. He had worked so hard to build up the glories of his possession, the glories of his kingdom, and then he became depressed in verses 18 through 19 when he realizes that his son, Rehoboam, who apparently, according to the CMI article, and a couple of other articles, was his only male heir, which as many wives as he had, that's pretty astonishing. But Rehoboam was his only male heir and he realizes he is utterly unworthy of inheriting all of this stuff. In verse 20 he says, therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. These kinds of admissions are not the norm for the Christian life, but they always accompany those who live life only under the sun. Now in verses 24 through 26, Solomon gives one of his many contrasts between those who serve God and those who do not. I want you to note the repetition of the word God. Now, just to make it easier for tracking, what I've done is I've circled every occurrence of the word God in Ecclesiastes, and then I've underlined every occurrence of under the sun and under heaven, and it vividly shows the downward slide that parallels the progression from 1 Kings 10 through chapter 11 and following. Anyway, look at verses 24 through 26. Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who can enjoy more than I? For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in his sight, but here comes the contrast, but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. So who is it vanity and grasping for the wind for? It is not for the person who is good before God. It is grasping for the one who is a sinner. Okay. In contrast to the Hebel or vanity for the sinner, look at chapter three's description of the one who walks before God and seeks the kingdom of heaven. This is an incredible chapter. To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck what is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to gain and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to sew. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time of war and a time of peace. And then comes several other contrasts between the two worldviews. I'll just read a couple of verses here. Verses a chapter 3 verses 11 through 13. He says he has made everything beautiful in its time Also, he has put eternity in their hearts except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of his labor. It is the gift of God." See, enjoying life is a gift of God. That's why Solomon couldn't enjoy life when he was a bachelor. God's not going to give enjoyment. He's not going to give His grace to people who are in rebellion against Him. Enjoying life is a gift of God. If you're miserable, it's easy. Just repent of your backsliding, turn to the Lord, and seek from Him your full joy. You cannot fully enter into the enjoyment of a flower, a sunset, poetry, without God's grace's help. But anything, even sweeping the floor, can be joyful when you do it as unto the Lord. It's a gift to our loving God, a gift of service. Now back in chapter 2, verses 24 through 25, Solomon had said, there is nothing better for a man that he should eat and drink and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw was from the hand of God. That's the only place that it can come from. So when you truly receive food and drink from the loving hands of a personal God, there's nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink. and that his soul should enjoy the good in his labor. It's wonderful. It is not Hebel. This is said by a man who knew vexation of spirit. And I think it was in part because his first compromise opened him up to the demonic, demonic influences. And each new wife opened him up to more demonic influences until he was almost blind, almost blind. But this was also a man who knew what living under heaven with the full joy of the Lord was all about. If you're living life under heaven, it doesn't matter what your circumstance, whether rich or poor, you can enjoy life and you need nothing better. Don't be looking for something better. Just like Elder Schwab, you know, began the service this morning with that story of that man who's looking for something better and then realizing, you know what? I have it. I have that something better. Chapter four shows the discouragement he saw over changing corruption and politics. It seemed hopeless. Now, of course, the compromises that he had gave Satan a stronghold in his kingdom. So apparently there's nothing new under the sun. That is a true statement in here until you get to Christ, right? And the resurrection. But he observes the puzzle that in the midst of that mess of tyranny of government, You had poor people who had fun and were enjoying their relationships. And you had powerful people who are absolutely miserable. He notes that he recognizes that. And I'll skip over several chapters that contain similar back and forth contrast. I'm just going to give you two more from later chapters. Chapter nine, verse nine says, Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your fleeting life. God is not against pleasure. In fact, he wrote an entire book of the Bible, the Song of Solomon, to help couples find maximum pleasure from their married life. He wants us to enjoy life in all of its facets, all of our days. And by the way, that is a call to monogamy right there. Live joyfully with the wife singular whom you love all the days of your fleeting life. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon are all strong, strong calls to monogamy. Say, don't do like Solomon. That is disastrous. Nobody can find meaning in that kind of a circumstance. Chapter 11, verse 7 says, truly the light is sweet and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun. He says, when you got a right worldview, even things like the sun and the light just bring you such joy and gladness of heart. But he, when he was backslidden, hated everything. He didn't find that joy and sweetness in the light, in the sun. Now let's get to the practical How to enter more and more into the state of fulfillment and joy all of our days And I'm going to get this from chapter 11 verse 9 through to the end of chapter 12 First thing he indicates is that enjoyment doesn't just happen Vanity does Vanity will happen all by itself, but not enjoyment if we're to learn to enjoy life We need to take the responsibility squarely upon our own shoulders and not blame others not blame God He just commands us here rejoice That don't wait for other people. This is your responsibility. It's a command. Rejoice. Doesn't say beg God to make life less miserable. Doesn't say hope that a friend will come along. Doesn't say get married so that you can start to enjoy life. It doesn't say pray for healing so that you can begin to enjoy life. Ecclesiastes assumes you're going to have pain and troubles and aging, but it still gives you the responsibility to rejoice all of your days without exception. And of course, that's the constant refrain in the rest of scripture. Paul said, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I will say rejoice. You might think of circumstances in your life where you say, well, I can't rejoice in that circumstance until it changes. Well, you're going to have to take that up with God and with the apostle Paul, because he said, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. By my computer count, we are commanded to rejoice well over 100 times in the Bible. So My takeaway from that is God does not want us to have a dull and dour Christianity where we're miserable all the time. He wants us to have the joy of the Lord in all of our circumstances. And if you have the right worldview, you can rejoice. Secondly, Solomon says that there is no need to wait until you are older before you begin to enjoy life. Unlike the 20th century, when youth is admired and we hate getting old, people really look forward to getting old back then. They might have thought you're really living when you can get off and get your own farm. You grow up, you get your own farm, and you say, you know, I'd really be living if I could get married. And you get married, you think, I could really start enjoying life if I could be an elder in the gates. And Solomon says, no, forget that. Don't ever wait to enjoy life or you're going to be forever waiting. The last phrase of verse 10 says, for childhood and youth are vanity, and in chapter 12, verses 1 through 8, he says, old age is vanity. Waiting is not going to solve anything. You could be bored and empty as a youth. You could be bored and empty as an adult and as an old man. And so in chapter 11, verse 9, he says, Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. I mean, back in those days, they were saying, well, really, I'm looking forward to getting old. That's when all the privileges come. He says, no, forget that. Start right now. The key to enjoying life when you're old is learning to enjoy life now. The key to enjoying life with a donut in your hand is learning how to enjoy life when the grocery store is empty, the pantry is empty, and the donut store is closed. The key is being focused on, enamored with, and centered on God. I think one of the chief problems that Christians have is they keep waiting to enjoy life. Some are longing for the day when they'll be able to pay off their debts and they can really start living or get a car or get married or whatever it might be. Christ warned us, take heed and beware of covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. Luke 12 verse 15. I am convinced as I've told you before, that if you need even one more dollar in order to be happy, you will never be happy. You will never be happy. Because not even when you have an abundance, does your life consist in your possession. Some people think, you know, I'd be really happy if only I could have a child. And the irony, according to Mark chapter 10, is we only enjoy our children, enjoy our wives, our houses, our lands, and all of these other things as we give them away to God. Say, Lord, I'm no longer going to hold onto these things. They belong to you. And the Lord gives them back now as a stewardship trust. Verse nine goes on to say that having the right attitude and planning is key. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, or as the margin says, as you see best. In other words, your attitudes and planning will make all the difference in the world. You cannot allow life to just happen to you. You must be a dominion taker. We need to evaluate what is the best use of our time, of our energies, evaluate what resources we have. We need to make decisions consistent with that. Too many people come home And they've really not made any plan for what they're going to do when they come home. They're tired, they plop into a chair, and they start channel-surfing the TV, and whatever hits them, hits them. Okay? They're not taking dominion so that they can maximize life. Things, including the TV, are taking dominion of their life. And before you know it, their home is falling apart and other things are beginning to fall apart. Same people walk into the kitchen without thinking or planning what they will eat. They just graze as the notion hits them. Well, this verse indicates our heart must guide our eyes into a life of enjoyment. And as the margin indicates, we need to evaluate what is best. So your attitudes, your planning make a huge difference. But Solomon doesn't want to be misunderstood as saying that any impulses of the heart or any way that we think is right will bring enjoyment. He says, but know that for all these, God will bring you into judgment. It is when our heart and our plans conform to God's law, to the previous book of Proverbs, Okay, that true enjoyment comes as psalm 37 4 says delight yourself also in the lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart So when your heart and your plans are as they should be far from being frustrated You're going to constantly be given the desires to life But what are the steps for enjoying life? We're just going to go through these quickly He says in verse 10 therefore remove vexation from your heart That's a fascinating word, that word vexation. The idea in the Hebrew word for vexation is heart resistance to something that cannot be resisted. Okay? This is a major hindrance to enjoying life. It's getting frustrated and anxious and resentful or angry about things that you cannot change. It's the result of trying to take God's providence on your own shoulders. Long as you try to do what is God's responsibility alone like changing your spouse's heart? You're not going to as fully enter into the enjoyment of your spouse Some people get frustrated because they can't change the humanism in American government Okay, others get frustrated because they can't change the way their boss thinks others get bitter from mistreatment and it's true while you can be a Mistreated and abused and other people can absolutely refuse to change no matter what you say only you Can allow them to make you frustrated Angry and bitter refuse to allow your heart to be controlled by all of the evil that is out there remove Vexation from your heart. It won't do any good be faithful with what is your responsibility? Relax and what is God's responsibility? I sometimes give people homework just make a chart and Two, draw a line down a paper. What's your responsibility? What's God's? Almost always the things we're frustrated, angry, bitter about, even what we're fearful and anxious about, that belongs in God's column. You need to give it to God and say, Lord, I'm going to focus on my responsibilities and just praise you for whatever it is you bring into my life otherwise. Second step is to pursue holiness. Chapter 11, verse 10 goes on to say, and put away evil from your flesh. Now, ironically, Christians think, wow, pursuing holiness, pursuing God's law is going to take away my joy. And so they want to temporarily throw off the restraints of God's law. But that is as stupid as a train jumping the tracks because it wants to be free. It wants to have liberty. No, a train was built for tracks just as we were built for the law. And the only way that train can have speed and power and freedom and functionality is as it restricts itself to its maker's design. Well, Solomon knew the misery of throwing off the maker's design for monogamy. God's law is always best. James twice calls the law of God the perfect law of liberty. There can be no liberty when we leave the railroad tracks of the law. Christ says that obedience to his commandments brings fullness of joy. Fullness means you can't fit any more joy in. It's in the way of God's holiness. The next step is seen in the third part of verse 10, to remember that happiness is not dependent on physical vitality. And especially in America, where youth is idolized, we need to remember this. He says, for childhood and prime of life are vanity. So if that's what's meaningful to you, appearing young, it's vanity. Women don't feel good about themselves when they start getting bulges and varicose veins and wrinkles and their feelings of self-worth come from how good they look and men start feeling the blues, you know and they get bald spots and they can't play basketball as aggressively as they used to play it and And we are so focused on physical fitness and beauty that enjoyment of life is lost when those things are lost. And Solomon says, forget that. It's the inner man that is important for enjoying life. So don't equate happiness with physical vitality. He then jumps from calling youth vanity to saying old age is vanity when it is thought for fulfillment. Chapter 12, verses two through seven, there's a graphic description of the deterioration of the body over time. And very poetic language, but it's all designed to show sight loss, hearing loss, taste loss, loss of teeth and strength. And his point is, if you don't start enjoying life in your youth, it's not gonna happen when you get old. And if you don't start enjoying life when you're old, it's not gonna happen before the silver cord is broken. In other words, before you die. Chapter 11 said, if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, that's God's purpose for you. to enjoy life every day of your life. And then finally, he ends the book by calling people to live their lives in submission to God and obedience to God. In verses 9 through 11, we've already seen this, he calls people to the scriptures of Christ and to the Christ of the scriptures. It's only through Jesus that we have union with God. It's only through Jesus that we have every spiritual blessing already reserved for us in heaven. And it's on the basis of being saved and secure in Christ that verses 13 through 14 are even possible. They say, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all for God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. So the simple principle is that seeking after happiness as an end in itself is a sure way to miss out on happiness. When I was in Ethiopia, I collected butterflies, not nearly as many as Dave Rogers, my friend. gorgeous butterflies But I had a hard time catching them until somebody showed me a technique where you're not chasing after them continually In fact got to the place where the butterflies would light on my body. It was just very easy to pick them off Well, that's the way it is with happiness enjoyment of life when we seek it as an end in itself we ironically end up losing it and However, when we seek God as an end in himself, he gives us the by-product of happiness. Happiness is a by-product, not the goal. And I think the apologetics of this book leads us to that conclusion. But never forget that God wants you to enjoy life, not just to be a part of a rat race of productivity. God doesn't need your efforts anyway. You're here to enjoy Him. You're here to learn to be more like Him. Satan will make you doubt that, but God wants you to enjoy life to its fullest. The answer to the first catechism is man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. May each of us learn how to enjoy life by enjoying God. Amen. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the rebukes that it gives, for the promises that it gives. We thank You that Your grace is sufficient for all of our needs and even When our sins are exposed, we thank you for your promise that where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. And so we ask for more of your grace as we humble ourselves before your cross. May you exalt us and enable us to enter more and more into the joy and even the happiness and the enjoyment of life that you have ordained is the heritage of your people. Bless this your people, I pray in Jesus name, amen.