Ecclesiastes 10, beginning in verse 1. I remind you again that this is God's holy and inspired word, so let us give our attention to its reading. Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left. Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest. There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler. Folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses and princes walking on the ground like slaves. He who digs a pit will fall into it, and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall. He who queries stones is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them. If the iron is blunt and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed. If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer. The words of a wise man's mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness. A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him? The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, We come this morning to this 10th chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes, and I must confess to you that I had intended this to be the week when I would preach my final sermon on Ecclesiastes. I had timed it just right. I had planned that things would go well over the summer, and that we would be finishing with, I don't know, the words of Solomon, of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Wouldn't that be a great passage to welcome our freshmen? But much like we have learned from Ecclesiastes, things don't always go according to the plans that we set. And so this morning we are faced with this series of Proverbs. And let me give you then the context, particularly for those who have not been with us over the summer laboring through this book together. This book of Ecclesiastes is written, there's various views. Solomon is the historic assumption, the historic view, but others who are faithful, conservative scholars, have considered it to be written by an unknown author or one writing in the voice of Solomon, but many years later. For our own part, we have taken our view, or at least I have taken the view, and preached it according this way, and that this is written by King Solomon, probably toward the end of his life, reflecting upon his sin, upon his foolishness, and upon his need to repent. And perhaps the material was reworked later by another author, although that's fine if it was, sometime after the exile, sort of as an explanation of life in exile. After all, there seems to be a different person writing who introduces and who concludes the book. I think those kinds of questions, while interesting, are not germane to an actual exegesis or interpretation of the book, and particularly of understanding this book and what it says to us, and where it fits in the story that leads to Jesus Christ. There are many views of the meaning of this book, but one of them that we've interacted with a bit over the summer together, it's summarized this way, it's, so live life while you can, enjoy what you can enjoy, food, drink, luxuries, marriage, but enjoy it now. For this meaningless life which God gives you will soon be over. Put away anything mournful or serious and live life to the full, for soon you will not be able to. You are going to the grave where there is no activity, no planning, and no wisdom." It's not surprising that we have, as we've interacted with this view, that this is not the way that we have understood this book. This is not a book that gives to us this sort of, life is meaningless, you're going to die, and so you might as well get as much joy out of it as you can. It's interpreted that way, it's read that way by some, but we have sought to understand, rather, the book in its historical context, and really in its redemptive historical context, to see how it fits in the grand story that God tells in Scripture. And the way that we have done that is we've compared it to the book of Genesis, and particularly the opening chapters of Genesis. To remind you of what we studied so long ago, that word that is used here for meaningless or vanity as the ESV renders it, is the Hebrew word Hebel, which is the name Abel. It's in the very same form that we find Abel in Genesis chapter 4. And it's that idea that life is short. It doesn't always mean meaningless, though it can. But it has more to do with the fact that life is short, things are difficult, and so what is the solution? And we're driving toward the solution, at least as it's given in Ecclesiastes. Remember, this is where we were supposed to end today. Verse 13, the end of the matter, all has been heard, fear God and keep His commandments. This is the whole duty of man. You see, this book is not written as some sort of existential crisis where we just give up on life, but rather it's a book written to refocus our attention upon God. And we've seen that over and over again throughout the book as it drives us to acknowledge our own weakness, our own frailty. That's what the vanity is all about. It's not about God. It's not about this world necessarily. It's about our ability to control things and our need to rely upon God throughout our whole lives. For He is the one who knows the end from the beginning. And so our conclusion has been something like this, that nothing in this life that we deal with, that we go through, is eternal, but that doesn't mean that nothing matters. After all, there have been repeatedly brought to our attention throughout this book the matters of love, of rejoicing, of working. These are things that God has given to us. We are to explore throughout our whole life. And so long as we center our lives upon God, it helps us to understand when all those things struggle. Because they will struggle. Because sin is real. Last week we finished in chapter 9, verses 17 and 18. The words of the wise, heard and quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. And this is where our passage picks up today. Wisdom is better than folly. Matthew Henry writes on the difficulty of understanding this particular chapter. He says, yet the general scope of all the observations in this chapter is to recommend wisdom to us and its precepts and rules as of great use for the right ordering of our conversation and to caution us against folly. We can summarize our sermon this morning by the simple title that wisdom is better However it is you might seek to live your life, wisdom, according to God's Word, is going to be better. However life might fall out, whether those things that Ecclesiastes speaks of will happen in your life, that is, the tragedy, the struggle, the strife, and by the way, they probably all will happen, though God willing, not all at the same time, though sometimes at the same time. But wisdom remains better. So let's explore this chapter together and see how it points us to our Savior. So we begin first with the heart of wisdom and its fragility. Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench. So a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. This is a very descriptive verse, isn't it? Literally it means, it could be translated, the flies of death cause a stench to bubble up from the perfumer's precious oil. That sounds repulsive. It's because it's supposed to. You see, ointment or oil, actually is the word that's being used here, was a precious commodity in Bible days. It was difficult to make it and it was not readily available. You can find descriptions of it throughout scripture that talk about where you're supposed to get the ingredients and how it's supposed to be blended and so on. And if you had some, you treasured it. In fact, you wouldn't use it every day. It wasn't like us in our various body washes and things like that that we use daily. You wouldn't use it every day, which is probably why the flies of death could be there long enough to cause fermentation or bubble up. The point of the verse, of course, was that once this happens, the perfume, the ointment, the oil, it's ruined. And likewise, wisdom and honor are outweighed by a little folly. And so wisdom is a matter of the heart. Verse 2, a wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left. Now this is not a political statement. And anybody that tries to use it that way should have their, well I was going to say their Bible taken away, but really they should probably be given long classes in proper exegesis and hermeneutics and all those other things. No, the right hand was associated with strength in Scripture. It saves, it supports, it protects. The right hand was used to convey a blessing. Think of Genesis 48, verses 13-20, where Jacob blesses Joseph's sons. And what does he do? He takes his right hand and he switches it and puts it on the younger son's head. And Joseph is surprised and he says, No, Father, not that one, this one. Because he knows that right hand carried with it the primary blessing But the right side is associated with authority. After all, Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father. And the left hand is often associated with weakness and judgment. For judgment, to think of the sheep and the goats. And on the right you had the sheep, and on the left you had the goats. For weakness, you think of Ahud, the left-handed judge in the book of Judges, who was able to sneak a long knife in to stab the king Egelon because they didn't expect a left-handed man to be able to do anything. The point of this verse, though, seems to be that wisdom and folly are issues of the heart. It's not about riches or intelligence. This is something that we know from the book of Proverbs. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fools despise wisdom and instruction. Or chapter 9 and verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. Moreover, verse 3 in our chapter tells us that even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense and he says to everyone that he is a fool. Now, walking on the road is most likely a reference to simply going about his ordinary life. This is the idea of saying wherever he goes, everywhere he goes, he says to everyone that he's a fool. This phrase, he says to everyone he's a fool, is ambiguous. It could be that the fool is saying to everyone else that they are fools. thus underline his own ignorance of his problem. Again, remember that folly is a heart issue. Or it could be that he metaphorically says that he himself is a fool. Or perhaps another way to render it would be that he shows that he is a fool by his actions, by his words, by everything that he does. And so, perhaps this verse is drawing out the reality that while wisdom and folly are matters of the heart, they work themselves out in every area of our lives. And so the point here being that his lack of sense, his foolishness, is apparent to all. This is helpful for us to ponder, because everything that we've learned so far in Ecclesiastes reminds us that this folly, or those who are foolish are going to be with us until the end. Look at verses 4 through 11. This is where it sort of lays out these various proverbs or this explanation of what's going on in life, wisdom in difficult circumstances, as I've called it, when you are tempted to revolt. Verse 4, if the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest. Now perhaps what is in mind is what we read in Proverbs 25 and verse 15, with patience a ruler may be persuaded and a soft tongue will break a bone. I actually think that what is being encouraged here is kind of a long game approach to working with various rulers. An angry ruler will not be in power forever and one can often do more by staying where they are than by rebelling. And in this way, it could be looking back, and I know that a lot of this ties together with what we've already studied in Ecclesiastes, but in chapter 8 and verse 3, where we read about the relationship one has with the king, it says, Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause. for he does whatever he pleases. And at that time we talked about how that idea of being hasty to go from his presence kind of denoted a sense of rebellion, of being angry at the king and therefore going away to plot to overthrow him. And this would of course have been a very real situation in Solomon's day and all throughout the Old Testament. as kings were challenged for their authority, as there was an attempt to overthrow them. I mean, even one like King David, his son Absalom, seeking to overthrow him. And so this verse seems to give some kind of wisdom in dealing with this angry ruler or the anger of the ruler. And particularly it says, if it arises against you, do not leave your place. The great offenses that are laid to rest here are most likely those of the angry ruler, or maybe even the offenses that the person commits. Simply saying that by remaining faithful, by staying in your place, that you will do more good than you would by storming out. Moving on. Difficult situations. First, when you're tempted to revolt. Second, in understanding the world there, verses five through seven, there is an evil that I have seen under the sun. As it were, an error proceeding from the ruler. Folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses and princes walking on the ground like slaves." Now, it seems to be looking back on the same ruler that we've already talked about, as though perhaps explaining just how foolish things can get in this world. Folly being set high and the rich being set low or sitting low. There's actually two different Hebrew verbs that are being used here. To set in a high position, it points to that being placed there. Versus sitting in a low position, perhaps inactivity, there's no place for them. The whole point of it is that sometimes the world is upside down. Sometimes it's the case that those who should be in control are not, and those who ought not to have authority, they are granted authority. This is nothing new to what we've seen in Ecclesiastes thus far. We've had it explained to us that the world often does look this way. And in fact, many stories in Scripture remind us of this reality and teach us how to handle it. Perhaps we can say just being aware of this reality is helpful for us when we face it. When we face a world that is upside down, that does not go according to God's Word, does not go according to the ways that we would expect it to. Rather than being discouraged or rebelling ourselves, we recognize that God has already spoken about this before. Verse 7 drives home the meaning, I think, of what's going on here. Slaves on horses and princes. We're walking. We're meant to understand just how ridiculous such a thing would be. And it's hard for us to really get this picture in our minds of an upside-down world like this. We don't live in a culture with royalty So we can probably at least understand the concept. Slaves were not meant to be on horses. They were meant to walk. Princes were not meant to walk. They were meant to be on the horses, to be guided around. Interestingly, there's not any wisdom that he gives us in dealing with this. It's more preparation that sometimes the world is this way. Wisdom in seeking profit. Look at verses 8 and following. He who digs a pit will fall into it, and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall. He who queries stones is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them. If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength. But wisdom helps one to succeed. Now there's a debate here over the interpretation of what's going on. On the one hand, there are those who believe this is about sort of all these things, the people who dig a pit and fall into it, the person who breaks through a wall, that they're trying to do something wrong. They're trying to, if you will, they're falling into their own traps. And we've seen this before in Proverbs 1, where Solomon warns his son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, come with us, let us lie and wait for blood. Let us ambush the innocent without reason. And he says, my son, do not walk in the way with them. For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, but these men lie in wait for their own blood." So maybe it's that kind of thing where we're being warned against plotting evil and the possibility of falling into those traps. Or simply, it's repeating what has been stated before, that awful things can happen in the midst of normal life, even if you've prepared for them. Now, either one of those interpretations would fit with what we've learned so far from Ecclesiastes. Sometimes those who devise evil are caught. They're caught in their own snare. But sometimes they succeed. Sometimes those who plan things out succeed. And sometimes they do not. The reality is that in this life there is no advantage. This is what he draws out here in verse 11. If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer. Now, I put the stress on that word advantage because we've seen this word before. It's translated elsewhere in Ecclesiastes as the word gain or profit. We've seen it in chapter 1 and verse 3. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? Or in chapter 2 in verse 11, Then I considered all that my hands had done, and the toil I had expanded in doing it. And behold, all was vanity and a striving after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. It's that word gain, advantage, something that will last. And so in chapter 10, what it's saying is if the serpent strikes before it is charmed, and this is not at all recommending that we begin to try and charm serpents, by the way, but if a serpent is, if it strikes before it is charmed, there's no advantage, there's no gain, there's nothing that will last for the charmer. He'll be dead. Wisdom in difficult circumstances. And so plan hits sane, but then again, things might fall apart. And so, plan for that. Well, let's move on. Wisdom in Speech, verses 12-15. First it begins with the graceful words of the wise. The words of a wise man's mouth win him favor. The word for favor here is actually grace. And the idea isn't so much that the wise man wins favor in the sense that he gets everything, but rather that he gives grace. And if you have a different translation, it might render it this way. The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious. And I actually prefer that translation for this verse better. Because after all, if the words of the wise man's mouth were to win him favor every time, that would go against what we've learned throughout the book of Ecclesiastes. Where being wise may not win you favor, being wise may not give you everything that you thought you would get. Because after all, dead flies spoil the perfume. We'll come back to that in just a moment. The consuming words of the foolish. Look there, in the verses it says, but the lips of a fool consume him. In the modern English, the verb consume can have the meaning that it's a person's main passion. It's his interest or his occupation. He's consumed by this. It drives him. But here, the sense is that the fool is destroyed by his foolish speaking. The fool's lips actually eat him up. is the way that it's rendered in the Hebrew. Think again of chapter 4 and verse 5. The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. And why is that? Because foolish words are not innocent. Look at verse 13. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness. The very beginning is foolishness, he says. After all, it's a heart issue. So this makes sense. It takes rise from his own weakness and wickedness. It rises up to fury and tends to the hurt and the injury of others. And the end of his talk, the end of it comes to madness. It begins in foolishness, it ends in madness. It comes from wickedness. Foolish words do not take God into account. Look at verse 14. A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be. And who can tell him what will be after him? Now this is a theme that we've seen all throughout the book of Ecclesiastes. It's that idea that God is sovereign and we are not. And by the way, whenever things don't go right in your life, whenever things don't go according to plan, just repeat that to yourself. God is sovereign and I am not. But the fool forgets this. The fool forgets it because he says in his heart, Psalm 14, 1, there is no God. They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds. There is none who does good, David writes in Psalm 14. Foolish words do not help. Look at verse 15, the toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city. Now, verse 15, it could be translated, the efforts of fools wearies him who does not know the way to town. In other words, the advice of foolish counselors is so bad that they cannot even give simple directions. Their long-winded explanations only wear out the confused traveler. How much worse to take their counsel in affairs of state, which by the way is the context here. And so we have here before us the reality or perhaps the proposition that wisdom is better than folly in this life. But remember, it's just better. Because this is kind of like an under the sun manual. The whole perspective of this book is life under the curse. It takes into account that God has made all things, and He has made them all very good, but that man was not able to maintain all things very good. Ecclesiastes 7, verse 7 and verse 29. See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. We can say that wisdom is better. And if we were able to bring ourselves to obey God's wisdom in every aspect, in every facet of our lives, then perhaps things would go well or go weller for us. Yes, I made up a word, weller. Would go better for us. But who is wise? who is wise. Think of the words that we sang in Psalm 1. That man is blessed, who fearing God from sin restrains his feet. This is how it's rendered in the ESV. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that He does, He prospers. Not so the wicked. They are like chaff the wind drives away. And the question before us this morning, brothers and sisters in Christ, is are we more like the one who is wise, or are we more like the fool? Are we more like the one who prospers in everything, who meditates on God's Word day and night? Or are we like the one sinner who destroys much good? Quite simply, are we like the perfume that smells good or the flies of death that make it stink? Well, the reality is, is that if we were to examine our own hearts, and we were to examine our motives, and we were to examine even our actions, we would see very clearly that we are not wise. We are fools. We are fools because we do not obey God's Word, let alone meditate upon His Law day and night. We are fools because we do not heed what God has said to us. Dead flies make the perfume stink. You ever thought about that? One commentator writes this. Why not the other way around? Why doesn't all that perfume make the flies smell good? Why can one sick person in a room of well people make them all sick? Why doesn't he catch wellness from everyone else in the room? We're so used to this accursed principle that we are not surprised by it anymore. You see, brothers and sisters, if I were to get up here and preach this passage and simply say, there it is, wisdom is better, go, be wise, and everything in your life will be better, that would be a hopeless message. Because we have no wisdom in ourselves. Because we know that one sin can undo everything that we have done, and we can count our sins, and even perhaps more frightening, we've lost count of them. Because there are so many. What we need is a Savior. What we need is the one who is the very wisdom of God. We need the one who touches the unclean man and makes him clean. We need one whose wisdom overcomes all of our folly. We need Christ. You see, our problem is our sin, our folly, the dead flies. We are unclean. The only hope that we can have is that all of this can be reversed. Because brothers and sisters, the reality that everything good can be undone by one sin is part of this cursed, fallen world. Ecclesiastes cannot give us the answer that we seek. It can only point us that way. It can only point us in the right way, and it does so, ironically, in chapter 10 in verse 7. I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves. You see, what was meant here to be this incredible reversal that is so mind-boggling, that is foolish, is the very reality that our Savior comes to give to us. He touches the sick and they get well. He touches the leper and he doesn't become unclean, they become unclean. He brings new life, He brings new creation, and He does it this way, by being the One who was very God, who laid down His life. Think of John chapter 13, our New Testament reading. Now is the Son of Man glorified. Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in Him. There, as Jesus is troubled in His Spirit, as He prepares to go to the cross to die for your sins and for mine, now is the Son of Man glorified. The Prince walking on the ground. And what is the result? But slaves riding on horses. The result is that if anyone is in Jesus Christ, he is a new creation. As Paul says, have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing. Taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. even death upon the cross. Jesus is the one who is struck by the serpent, but is raised to new life, and it is in Him that we find the reverse of this cursed world. In the forgiveness of our sins, our being made the new creation, and our longing for the new creation that is to come in its fullness when He returns. You see, Ecclesiastes gives us wisdom for living in this cursed, sin-stained world. And it is better to have wisdom than folly. But we must confess that apart from Christ, we are part of this foolish world, and that He is our only hope, the One who is the very wisdom of God. For He has redeemed us. And so believer in Christ, trust in this. Rejoice in your salvation. Seek to live according to God's wisdom and remember to walk in humility even as Christ walked. And long for the day when He will make all things new and there will no longer be a better then when it comes to wisdom and folly, but there will only be new creation. Let's pray. Gracious Father in heaven,