Ecclesiastes chapter 2, and our
text will be found in verse 24 to 26. I think I'll just title this, Nothing
Better. There ain't nothing better. Ain't
nothing better. As found in verse 24, there is
nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink
and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw that it was from
the hand of God. For who can eat, or who else
hasten unto more than I? For God giveth to a man that
is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy. but to the sinner he giveth travail,
to gather and to heap up that he may give to him that is good
before God. This also is vanity and vexation
of spirit." Here the wise man Solomon set his heart to know
madness and folly, being given by God great wisdom, great power
as king of Israel, given great riches and treasures to possess.
Yet in all this searching, he maintained his wisdom. In verses
1 through 3, he gave himself to pleasure and mirth. He enjoyed
laughter and entertainment as only a king could demand. He
gave himself to all the carnal pleasures of the flesh. This
man had 700 wives and 300 concubines. He gave himself to wine, but
not so as to lose his understanding or his knowledge. In verse 4
through 10, Solomon gave himself to labor, to building houses
and vineyards and gardens and trees full of all types of fruit.
He obtained riches and servants and singers and music. Whatever
his eye wanted, listen, he took. He got everything his eye wanted
under the sun. He did not withhold anything
from himself, yet in his great wisdom, verse 11, in his great
wisdom, he looks around. He said, I turn myself to behold
wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do that
cometh after the king? He turns around and looks at
all this pleasure and works and his labor, and you know what
the conclusion of it is? Here it is. Vanity. That word just means empty. That's
all it means. Vanity of vanity. Emptiness of
emptiness. There is nothing there. And it's
vexation of spirit. Wouldn't that be true? You wanted
something, you got it, you found out it was empty, and what? It
vexes you. You worked so hard, you labored
so much, you wanted it and you got it and it wasn't what you
thought it would be and you're vexed. He was vexed in his soul. Solomon had given was given of
God all these pleasures that a man could possess, silver and
gold in abundance, he said, servants, to fulfill his every need. He
was the most powerful man in the world. He had the most beautiful
women in the world, the most intelligent women of all the
kingdoms. He had this in his possession.
and having the greatest wisdom that God could give a fallen
son of Adam, he found out this, that it is empty, that all things
under the sun have no lasting value, that none of these can
satisfy." None of these can satisfy. Yet, knowing this and reading
this in this text of Holy Writ, men still tried to prove him
wrong. Well, that's Solomon. That's not me. No, I'm going
to get it and I'm going to be satisfied with it. No, you won't. No, whatever it is. The natural man still believes
he can be satisfied. He thinks that. He really does.
He believes that the things of the world can satisfy him. If
I just had blank, I don't care. Put anything you want there. If I just had this, then I would
be happy. Who has not said that? Even the
smallest child has said that in their heart. Ooh, if I could
just have this, Mommy, then it'll be all right. I'll be happy.
I'll stop throwing a temper tantrum then until they get it. And then when they get it, they're
not happy and they want something else. Why? It was empty. It was empty. Is this not our heart still?
You who believe. Come on. Is that not right? You
do the same thing still. We do it. It is still the heart of our
minds, the thought of our minds. Are we wiser than Solomon? Therefore
God, knowing we would attempt this, that's why He included
this in verse 11. Look at that again. It says this, all is vanity and
vexation of spirit. Now, I looked around. That's
it, verse 11. And I looked all around the works
that my hands had wrought, and on the labors that I had labored,
Behold, it was all vanity and vexation of spirit. I turned
myself. Behold, wisdom and madness and
folly. For what can a man do that cometh
after the king?" Think about it. The most powerful
men in our world right now. Think of them. Were they more
powerful than Solomon? We have a president, the most
powerful nation in the world. A very powerful man. Yet he had
not a tenth of the power of this king. Think of the riches of
men. This man had more riches than
them all, more wisdom, more power than this man. Now there may
be some who have power, some who have riches, some who have
pleasures, some who have lands, but none of them have it all.
Solomon had it all. He said, do you think is going
to come after me? And you who would seek to find
satisfaction in the world, what can you do that Solomon has not
already done? What more can you find? What
more can you add to what he has found? And what did he found? He said this, look at verse 13. Then I saw that wisdom excelleth
folly, as far as light excelleth darkness." He found this to be
true as he was searching. He said, no doubt, wisdom is
better than foolishness. Wisdom is better than food. You
cannot see a wise man who gives himself to his work, to his labor.
You see a man over here? He's diligent in his home. He's
loving to his family. He's wise in the things of the
world. And yet, you see that man over
there? He's given to pleasure and instant gratification. And
look at his life. It's ruined. It's a mess. That's true. A man who has wisdom
and diligence, he's going to live a more comfortable life
than a man who cannot control his lusts. Isn't that so? Have
you found that to be true? That's just so. That's the way
Solomon found it out. Yet Solomon perceived something
that most people miss. He says this, one thing happens
to them all. He said, it's better to be wise
than to be foolish. But truly, this one thing happens
to both the fool and the wise. They both die. Surely that wise man in his life
may receive more comforts and more pleasures than the foolish
man, but one thing happens to them all. It is appointed unto
men once to die, and they must meet God. They must meet God. Verse 15, Then I said in my heart,
it happened as a fool, so it happeneth even to me. And why
was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, this
also is vanity. For there is no remembrance of
the wise men more than the fool forever, seeing that which is
now and the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth
the wise man as the fool? Therefore I hated life. Because
the work that was wrought under the sun was grievous to me and
all is vanity and vexation of the spirit. I believe it was
said this materialism leads to fatalism. That's just so when
you find an end to everything if you can grab a hold of this
wisdom this is this can be grasped by a carnal man as if there's
nothing in this world worth anything. And Solomon said, I hated life. I hated life. Oh, how this moved the wise man
to hate life, that even the best things of life are vanity, even
because they are all fleeting. All labor and success and pleasure
and accomplishments of life are empty. All who are rich in this world
must leave their wealth. All who are rich in family must
leave their family. All who are rich in friends and
pleasures must leave them all in death. So what good were they? Vanity and vexation of spirit. Pretty bleak. Can you not see
that that's dark? That's why Solomon said this,
Wisdom, in much wisdom is much greater. That's true. Is there any hope? Since there's nothing in this
world but vanity and vexation of spirit, is there anything
better? Oh yeah. something much better. Look at what he says in our text
in verse 24. Because of everything being vanity
and vexation of spirit, he says this, There is nothing better
for a man that he should eat and drink, and that he should
make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that
it was from the hand of God. There's any joy to be found,
it's in this text. Any comfort, here it is. It is
good for a man to consider that all he has is a giving of God. The best for a natural man to
do is to be content with what God has given, to be content
with his food and his drink, to enjoy the labor of his works,
even so because it is of the hand of God. And so seeing that
all things are vanity and vexation of the Spirit, seeing that all
is given of God, the best thing that a man could do is enjoy
what God has given and be content. Praise and give thanks to God.
Psalm 117, verse 1, it says, O praise the Lord, all ye nations. Praise Him, all ye people. Is
that just not what man should do? Praise God. Give thanks. for the things that
God is to be content with what God has made provision." That's
just wise. That's wise. Yet this joy and
peace here is not spoken of natural things, but rather the soul.
Look at the text. It's not just talking about being
thankful for your outward possessions or your outward good. That, my
friend, even is vanity, isn't it? but look at this he said
there's nothing better for a man that he should eat and drink
that he should make his what? soul in joy these things that
are written in this are not carnal bread and drink and labor but
spiritual Jesus said, what does it profit
a man if he gained the whole world and loses on what? Soul. His soul. There is a meat and drink that
can satisfy the soul of man. There is a labor that can satisfy
and cause joy in the soul of man, but it is not carnal, it
is spiritual. It is spiritual. This meat, this
labor and drink is none other than Jesus Christ. Listen, there
ain't nothing better than Jesus Christ. That a man should eat
the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God and enjoy His
labor. His labor. Behold, the text is
not speaking of carnal, but spiritual things. There is nothing better for a
man who is dying to must he meet God except he have the blood
and righteousness of Christ to cleanse him and to robe him to
make him acceptable unto God. Now behold, this world and its
pleasures are vanity. All the labor and success of
life and lust and pleasures are only vexation of the spirit.
And all must die and face God. The reason that no man is able
to enjoy this life is one reason. Sin. Sin. When God made this world, He
made it for man. He made it for the pleasure of
man. Yet when our Father sinned, what
was stamped on all this creation? Corruption and death was stamped
on everything. He said, Cursed is the ground
for thy sake. Everything is stamped with the
curse. We are all born dead in trespasses
and sins, and the things of the world cannot give us life. Therefore, they cannot satisfy
us. You remember that old king, Balak,
he asked this question. He said, Wherewith shall I come
before the Lord? Wherewith shall I bow myself
before the Most High? Shall I come before him with
burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord
be pleased with ten thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers
of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
the transgression, for the fruit of my body, for the sin of my
soul? That man understood something
about vanity. He understood he had to meet God. He didn't know
how. You know what the answer was
to him? God showed you. that law written in your heart.
God showed every man how it is he should be pleased. O man, what is good? He showed
thee what is good. And what doth the Lord require
of thee but to do justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with
thy God? You know what God demands? Here
it is, holy perfection. Perfect righteousness and obedience And none of us are able to perform
what God demands. You see why we're not satisfied?
Even because you cannot satisfy God. This is because all of us were
born in sin. We have sinned and come short
of the perfections of God. Yet man is so depraved as to
think carnal and fleshly things will satisfy his soul. Man thinks
that he can be content by worldly things, but the root of his trouble
is not lacking worldly things. Your trouble doesn't stem from
lacking worldly things. Your trouble stems from one reason.
You lack righteousness to meet God. Therefore God sends us His Word
concerning His satisfaction and joy. All in the world and the things
of the world are vanity, but here's something better. There's
nothing better than this spiritual Word that a man should eat the
flesh of the Son of God and drink His blood. Go to John chapter 6. Our Lord
tells us this in John 6. Remember, the Lord fed those
5,000 men, those five loaves and two fishes, and He left them. He left them there. And they
sailed across the sea. They worked, they labored to
get across to Him. You know what they wanted? They
wanted more physical bread. They wanted more physical bread. They sought Him across the sea.
But Jesus said unto them, in verse 27, labor not for the meat
which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life. Listen, what is this meat? That
the Son of Man shall give unto you. For Him hath God the Father
sealed, anointed, chosen. This meat that the Son and drink
that the Son shall give is His flesh and His blood. He said, I am the bread from
heaven. My flesh is meat indeed, my blood is drink indeed. He came down from heaven as the
chosen of the Father for this purpose, to save His people,
to save them. So He united Himself to human
flesh, and Christ did so as a representative man, as a high priest and mediator. Therefore, in the flesh, the
Son of God did what none of us could do. He satisfied God. He obeyed the law of God that
He demanded of you and He demanded of me. He obeyed it in absolute
perfection in the flesh, as a man, as a representative man. And look now. He who is holy,
harmless, the sinless Son of God was nailed to the cross,
and it was there that the Father took our sins, imputed them to
His Son. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us, for this one purpose, that we should be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And in justice God swiftly fell
on His Son and poured out all the holy wrath, and justice do
the sins of His people. And when justice could demand
no more, look at Him, He died on the tree. And when justice
could demand no more, when God said it was enough, Jesus yielded
up the ghost. And behold, the high priest of
God has brought now the blood payment before God, and all the
sins, all the sins of His people, God is forever satisfied with
His one offering, His one offering. In Hebrews chapter 10, He said
this, Every high priest standeth daily ministering, offering oftentimes
the same sacrifice, which could never take away sin. But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, sat down. In other words, God was so pleased,
the sin was so far removed from him that God raised him from
the dead, sat him on the throne of heaven where he is now ruling
all things right now for this one purpose, to save his people.
He's moving everything in time and eternity for this, till his
enemies be made his footstool. or by one offering he alone by
himself hath perfected forever them that are sanctified what's better the meat of the
world this it is better for you, sinner,
to forsake all the vain pleasures of this world and the flesh and
its false religion, and eat and drink the flesh and blood of
the Son of God." This is a better thing. "'Except
you eat my flesh,' Jesus said in John 6. "'Except you eat my
flesh and drink my blood.'" You have no life in you. What is it to eat and drink of
His flesh? So many silly religious people think it's eating a cracker
and drinking some wine. That's nonsense. Jesus said,
these words I speak, they are spirit. They're spiritual words. So what is it to eat His flesh
and drink His blood? It is this, believe on the Son
of God. He says in John 6, verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Now then, have you seen the vanity
of this world? Have you seen that there is none
in the world that can satisfy this need? Have you now come and eat the
flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God by faith? Well then, what is it to believe?
If eating his flesh and drinking his blood is to believe, then
what is believing on Christ? It's simply this, trusting in
his labor. That's what it is. To believe
on Christ, to eat his flesh and drink his blood is to trust in
his labor. His labor. Now, there are many
religious men who believe that Jesus Christ came into the world.
They believe He died for sin. They believe He rose again, and
He sits in heaven. Yet there is something wrong with their religion.
They desire to mix their labor with His. Their work, their will, with
the work of Jesus Christ for the salvation. This is a fatal
error. This is a fatal error to mix
your works with the work of Christ. So many believe that Jesus will
save you, but you must do something. You must add something. His work
is good, but you must make it powerful. You must make it effectual
by some act or volition of the will. Some believe it's by baptism. Some believe it's by eating the
Lord's Supper. Some believe it's by obeying
the law of Moses. But you know what? The scriptures
are plain. If you add anything to Christ at all, if you put
your labor to his labor, it's empty. It's vanity. Paul says,
if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you what? Nothing. Nothing at all. Add one thing. Put one thing
to the Son of God's labor and you've ruined it. It's like that man Uzzah. You
remember they carried that ark? What a good purpose that was,
wasn't it? David had a good purpose, to get the ark of the covenant
back to where it belonged. The problem is, he didn't do
it God's way. And when that ark stumbled, that man Uzziah, very
familiar with the ark, had it for years in his own home, tended
to it daily. And with all the sincerity of
his heart did not want that ark to fall. He put his hand to the
ark and God killed him. And if you put your hand to Christ,
I'll tell you this, God will destroy your soul. I don't care
how sincere you are. Men are really sincere in their
religion, aren't they? They're very sincere. They weep,
they cry, they moan. They're more zealous than we
are. But the minute you put your hand
to His labor, God will destroy you. But listen, there is joy,
there is peace for everyone who eats and drinks of the Son of
God and enjoys His labor. This is the better thing. It's
the better thing, since all else is vanity, is to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the best thing a man could
do. For a man that believes on Jesus Christ, and eats him, and
drinks of his blood by faith, and casts all his soul upon his
labor..." I want you to see how God... Go back to your text.
See how God sees a man that does this. Verse 26, "...for God giveth
to a man that is good in his sight." Oh my goodness. Is there such a man that is good
in the sight of God? Scriptures are clear, there's
none that doeth good, no not one. But listen to this, all that
believe on Jesus Christ are good in the eyes of God. Good. In Romans chapter 3, you
know this well, it says, But now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifest, witnessed by the law and the
prophets, even the righteousness of God, by the faith of Jesus
Christ. How is righteousness obtained?
By the faith and labor and work of Jesus Christ. That's how righteousness
was obtained. Now how is righteousness given?
It is given by the grace of God to everyone that believes. It
is imputed and imparted to all who believe. To all who believe. Oh, the vain and empty. The world
is vain and empty. But in this we may rejoice that
by the work and faith of Christ He has obtained all that God
has required and made us good. You got that? You're good. Not in your sight. That don't
count, does it? You're not the judge. Who's the
judge? God is. And God says He giveth
to those who are good. And those who are good are made
good. John Gill says this, they are made good by the efficacious
grace of God. who are good at heart, who are
good in their hearts, clean hearts, new and right spirits. How? Created in them. Created in them. It is by the good work of grace
upon their hearts. The Spirit is implanted there. They have the good Spirit of
God in them whose heart Christ dwells by faith. who have a good
word of Christ dwelling in them and have good treasure of rich
experience of grace. Let me ask you, am I talking
to you? Do you have this experience of grace? Well, you have if you
eat in the flesh and drank the blood of the Son of God and trust
in His labor. You are the good man in the sight
of God. You are the good man. Why? God
made you good. You didn't do anything. You didn't
ask. Does this describe you? Is all
your treasure and love toward Christ? Or is it toward the vanity
of this world? Paul, I believe, expresses the
heart of every true believer. He says this, Yea, doubtless,
I count all things but loss. Vanity. The vanity of the world, the
pleasure of sin, the vanity of my works, the vanity of my religion,
the vanity of my own righteousness. For what? The excellency of the
knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord, for whom I suffer the loss
of all things and do count them. I didn't just count them then,
I'm still counting them. Duh! for what purpose that I
may win Christ and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but the righteousness of God, which is
by the faith of Christ." There it is again. Same words he used
in Romans 3. The faith of Christ. Oh. And which is given by faith. We believe and God gives us this
righteousness. Rejoice then, believer. For God
has made you in His goodness. And what does God give His good
children? He gives them three things. Look
at your text again. He gives us three things. He
gives us wisdom, knowledge, and joy. The first thing He gives us is
wisdom. Oh, the wisdom of this. Jesus Christ is the wisdom of
God. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? The question no man by nature
can answer, but the good man can answer. Why? God giveth the good man wisdom. He giveth him Christ. And Christ
is all to a man of wisdom. What does wisdom teach? The world
is vanity. The better thing is Christ. That's
what wisdom teaches. You have that wisdom? He also
gives us knowledge of what? The gospel. He gives us the understanding
and knowledge of the gospel. We know our depravity. We know
our depravity, that man by nature is absolutely depraved. We know
this, that salvation must be of the election of God's grace.
That God must have chose, that God must have loved us first. or we would have never loved
Him. We know this, that Christ's work was victorious. I know that,
that Christ's work is successful. That everyone He died for are
saved. Every one of them are justified.
Every one of them are redeemed. I know of His victorious work,
of His resurrection, of His ascension, of His coming again. His work
is successful. And I know this, that everyone
He redeemed and the Father chose, the Spirit of God will come and
call them, and they shall eat of His blood, eat and drink of
His blood and His flesh, and rely on His labor." They will
enjoy this. They will see the better thing,
and they will believe on Him, every one of them. And I know
this, all of the elect shall be saved and none of them shall
be lost. They shall all persevere until the end. Who gives this
knowledge? God does. To who? One who is
a good man created by God. And lastly, He gives us joy.
Such wisdom of the person of Christ and such knowledge of
the gospel should give us joy. not he says my peace I give unto
you not as the world giveth give I unto you how's the world give
they give and they take he said I'm giving you this and nobody's
going to take this from my peace my joy I give unto you Isn't it a joy to know that you're
safe? That underneath you are the everlasting
arms. And no matter how low you go,
the arms are lower than you are. Always bearing you. Always holding
you. Carrying you. This brings us
joy. The covenant of God's grace,
His promises, they bring us joy! True joy! Lasting joy! Eternal
joy! Where the world cannot do. This
world cannot provide joy. It's fleeting. It's moving. His
joy. What does He do for the sinner,
those who will not eat and trust? He says to the sinner, He gives
a travail to gather and heap up. Isn't that what men are doing?
Lost men, what are they doing? They're gathering and they're
heaping up the things of the world, riches and pleasures and
joys of the flesh. They're heaping them up, heaping
them up, gathering them together. What is that going to do then?
Travail. pain, misery, and in the end,
what do they have? Vanity. Nothing. And you know
what God says He's going to do with all that they heap up? He
says He's going to give it to them that are good. All the pleasure that men seek
here, God's going to give us the best of it. You want this world as it is
right now? No. I want it as it's going to
be. Without sorrow, without tears,
without trouble, without curse. And God is going to light it
and going to be with us every day for eternity. That's the
world I want. That's the world God giveth to
the good. But to the sinner it is only
vanity and vexation of spirit. That's what he means by the last
part. The vanity and vexation of spirit is there heaping up.
In that what he did with that rich those those men he gave
the talents to. In that one person that took
a talent and he hid it in the earth. That's what rich men do
they take what God gives them and they put all their efforts
into the earth. And what God say he said take
that talent and give it to the one. Oh don't envy them friends. Don't
envy those people who have riches and power and wealth in this
world. Don't envy them. You who have eaten and drinking
of the blood of Christ, who trust in His labor, you have the best
that God can provide. You have a perfect salvation
that can't be taken from you. You have something that you can't
mess up. It's the only thing you can't
mess up. We can mess up anything else. We can't mess up this.
It was done outside of us. It was put in us and it's kept
by God for us. Is that not better? Can you think
of anything better? No. I want Christ. I won't cry. I can have everything else. That's just better. Pray God
will bless you. Stay ambidextrous.