I was thinking after I sat down,
speaking of Rupert, some of you will remember him when I mentioned
the fact he sang a special here a couple of times when he preached
here. Other than Pastor Milton Howard,
I think that's the only preacher we've ever had here who preached
and also sang. If you will, let's look tonight
again in Ecclesiastes. And tonight we're turning to
chapter nine. I would just remind us this evening
that the book of Ecclesiastes is a written sermon. And the
preacher was Solomon. And his text, vanity of vanity,
all is vanity. Tonight, verses 13 through 18
of chapter nine. This wisdom have I seen also
under the sun, and it seemed great unto me. There was a little
city and few men within it, and there came a great king against
it and besieged it, built great bulwarks against it. Now there
was found in it a poor wise man and he, by his wisdom, delivered
the city. Yet no man remembered that same
poor man. Then said I, wisdom is better
than strength. Nevertheless, the poor man's
wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. The words of wise
men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among
fools. Wisdom is better than weapons
of war, but one sinner destroys much good. Men have looked at Solomon's
story of a little city delivered by a poor wise man, both as a
literal accomplishment and also as a parable. And that's the
way we will do tonight. We will look at it first as a
literal history and then second as a parable. A literal history. It's possible. It's possible
that Solomon knew of this being a true historical event. It did not happen in his kingdom,
of course, but you will remember that leaders from other nations
came and sought out wisdom from Solomon. And it's just possible
that one of those leaders told him this story. Now, there is
a similar case recorded in the history of the nation of Israel
during the reign of David. It's similar, but it is quite
different. If you look back in 2 Samuel
with me this evening, 2 Samuel chapter 20. Immediately after, Absalom's
rebellion was put down. You remember Absalom was the
son of David and he stole the hearts of the people of Israel
away from his father and tried to usurp the reign, tried to
take charge of the nation of Israel. And Joab and the armies
went out and of course, he was defeated in battle. His son was. Absalom, he was
put down. But just as immediately after
he was put down, there was this other man by the name of Sheba.
And you notice in verse 1, we see that this man was a man of
Balao. And there happened to be there
a man of Balao. In other words, a man of Satan.
This is 2 Samuel chapter 20, verse 1. There happened to be
there a man of Balao. that is a man of Satan whose
name was Sheba. And this man, he raised another
rebellion against the throne, against David and his forces. And they chased this man, that
is Joab and the armies, they chased this man and he entered
into a small city. And this small city was named
Abel. Notice that in verse 14, And
he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Beth-malach,
and all the Baraites, and they were gathered together, and went
also after him. And they came and besieged him
and Abel, and they cast up a bank against the city, and its It
stood in the trench and all the people that were with Joab, that
is the armies of David, those who were for David and the crown,
all the armies that were with Joab battered the wall to throw
it down. Now they're after one man, one
man, but they're going to destroy this whole city to get to this
one man. But we say that God intervened. Then cried a wise woman out of
the city. Now in Solomon's story, it is
a poor wise man, but here it is a wise woman, a poor woman. Then cried a wise woman out of
the city, here, here say, I pray you unto Joab, come near hither
that I may speak with thee. And when he was come near unto
her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? He answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear
the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. Then
she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying,
They shall surely ask counsel at Abel. And so they ended the
matter. I am one of them that are peaceable
and faithful in Israel. Thou seekest to destroy a city. You and your armies, Joab, are
here to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why wilt thou swallow
up the inheritance of the Lord? And Joab answered and said, Far
be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy.
The matter is not so, but a man of Mount Ephraim, Sheba, the
son of Bichara, by name, hath lifted up his hand against the
king, even against David. Deliver him only, and I will
depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab,
Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. Then the
woman went unto all the people, and her wisdom And they cut off
the head of Sheba, the son of Betra, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they
retired from the city, every man to his tent, and Joab returned
to Jerusalem unto the king. So we know from the word of God
that there was a similar situation in which a wise person delivered
a city, but the The one, of course, the wise person was a wise woman. And in Solomon's story, it was
a poor wise man. But the lesson is the same. If
you turn back to Ecclesiastes 9, the lesson is still the same. And that lesson is found in verse
16 that we read. Solomon said, Wisdom is better
than strength. The lesson is still the same.
Wisdom is better than strength. David's army had the city surrounded,
had it besieged, and they were definitely going to destroy the
city. But through the wisdom of this
woman, the city was delivered. And in Solomon's story, it was
the same, only in his story, it was a poor, wise man. But the wisdom, the principle,
the lesson is the same. Wisdom is better than strength. Solomon expressed this truth
several times in the book of Ecclesiastes. You look back in
chapter two, we saw this a number of weeks ago. But in chapter
2 and verse 13, he extolled wisdom. He praised wisdom. He said, then
I saw that wisdom excelleth folly. As far as light excelleth darkness. That's a big difference, isn't
it? between light and darkness. There's a big difference between
light and darkness, and Solomon saw that wisdom excelleth folly
more than light excelleth darkness. And we might say the same thing
in this case, that wisdom excelleth strength as much as light excelleth darkness. All the strength, if you look
at the story, all the strength was in the hands of the great
king. He had all the power, he had
all the strength, and he came against a few men in a little
city. Everything, the strength, rather,
was all on the side of the great king. And those few men who were
in the city, they were no match for him. They were no match for
his power And yet they were delivered. They were delivered because wisdom
is greater than strength. Wisdom is greater than folly. What are some practical lessons?
When we think about this, if it was an historical event that
took place, what are some lessons for you and I from this? Some
practical lessons. Let me mention three. First of
all, great men of the world often manifest great folly. Great men
of the world, men who are in great places. When I say great
men, I mean places of great authority. They often manifest great folly. When I read here in verse 14,
these words, there was a little city and few men within it. And
there came a great king against it and besieged it and built
great bulwarks against it. What I cannot help but see is
that here is a great king who had no control over his own spirit. He had no control over his own
spirit. You know, that proverb says this,
he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken
down and without walls. I see a man who in his anger,
what other reason could there be other than this, that he would
build great bulwarks against this small city? He could have
easily, he could have easily defeated this city, conquered
this city. But what else can account for
his actions other than his pride? No doubt. His pride in some way
had been hurt. And so he's going to show just
how powerful he is. Remember Nebuchadnezzar. He was
a great man. When I say a great man, I mean
God raised him up. He ruled over Babylon, a great
a great country, a great power at that time. They defeated Egypt,
they defeated Israel. He was a world leader, great
power, but you know he had no control over his own spirit.
And as the proverb says, a man who has no control over his own
spirit, he has a anger, he has a temper problem. And I would
just say this, the flesh, many men have problems, many of us
have problems with the temper, some more than others, but it's
like every other sin and it may be overcome by the grace of God. But the scripture says, Nebuchadnezzar
in a rage, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, how dare they? Listen, he had no more loyal
subjects in his kingdom than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were God-fearing, honest
men, and they honored the king. But when the king commanded them
to do something that was against the law of God, that is to worship
that golden statue, The Scripture tells us, well let's look at
it in Daniel, turn over a few pages, Daniel chapter 3. Verse 12 of chapter 3 tells us,
there are certain Jews, this is what was reported to Nebuchadnezzar,
there are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of
the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These
men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods,
nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Now notice
this. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage
and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. See, what I'm saying is that
great men, men in places of authority, raised up by God. And remember,
it is God who raises men up and puts down men. He's the one. He's the one who raises men into
places of authority and power, and He's the one who puts men
down. Promotion comes neither from the East nor from the West,
but from the Lord. This man, Nebuchadnezzar, he
was raised up, but he had no power over his own spirit, to
rule his own spirit. And the Scripture says, He that
hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city, that is broken
down without walls. A city without walls at that
time was an easy city to defeat. And so a man who has no control
over his own spirit. And I see that in this great
king who comes against this small city with few men in it, and
against it he raises these great bulwarks. His pride, no doubt,
had been touched. Something had offended him, probably
some small action. had offended him, but he shows his authority. King David, as great a king as
he was, and a man after God's own heart, he was a great man,
but he too, he showed his folly when he commanded Joab, who was
certainly, certainly not a godly man, who was his commander-in-chief
all those years, Joab. But he commanded Joab to number
the people, number the people, take a census. I want to know
how many people that I'm reigning over. Now, we don't see that
in the scripture, but he wanted to take the number, a census.
I just added that, he wanted to know. And he got some of the
best advice from this man, who I said was certainly not a godly
man, Joab. Joab told him, don't do it. He
knew God had commanded not to number the people. To number
the people, when God commanded, was one thing. And to pay Shekel
for the tax, the redemption of the firstborn, that was one thing. but just to number the people
out of pride. Great men, what I'm saying is
this, that great men of the world often manifest folly. Wisdom is better than strength. Wisdom is better than folly. David insisted, didn't he? He
insisted, even though Joab told him to. However many it is, let
it be double. But don't number the people.
And David, he insisted, and he was a king. And he brought judgment
upon the nation of Israel. And I forget how many people
were destroyed because of his folly. King Uzziah, he was a
great man. He was a king of Judah. But he
also did a very foolish thing, didn't he? when he decided one
day that he was going to burn incense in the temple, even though
God had commanded that that work was done by the priest, only
by the tribe of Levi, only by the family of Aaron. But this
great man, he showed great folly. And that's the first lesson.
Don't be surprised. Don't be surprised when you see
men in high places, high positions, do some very foolish things. It's always been that way. And
you know, if God leaves us to ourselves, there's none of us
that will not play the fool. If God just takes his hand away
or off of any of us, we might do something that we would have
never thought we were capable of doing. A second lesson that I see in
this is great deeds of men are often forgotten and go unrecognized,
and especially if these great deeds are done by a poor person. In this case, the crisis was
passed, the city was delivered, the poor wise person was overlooked,
was forgotten. I looked in the book of Esther
as I thought about this. Remember Mordecai? He overheard
men plotting the death of King Ahasuerus, and he communicated
that knowledge, and the king investigated, and sure enough,
those men were sentenced. They were punished. But Mordecai,
from all appearance, he's forgotten. He saved the king's life. And
he just goes forgotten. No one thought about Mordecai
until, and of course it's all in God's providence, isn't it?
And we know that God's providence is God working out in time what
he's ordained in eternity. But in God's providence, king
Ahasuerus one night, he had insomnia. He couldn't sleep. And so what
did he do? He demanded that the Chronicles,
the books of the Chronicles, the history be brought before
him and began to read. And, and, you know, they read
about Mordecai and he said, well, wait a minute. What did we ever
do to honor that man? Nothing. Nothing. He's just a
poor wise man who did a lawful and an honest deed, but he was
forgotten. And you know, King Ahasuerus,
there comes Haman, and the king said to Haman, what can we do
to honor a man that needs to be honored? And he said, well,
put a royal robe on him, let him ride on the king's mule,
and let him be led through the city by a great man Proclaiming,
like this, God, or the king, will honor the man. Haman thought
he was talking about himself, didn't he? He could just see
himself on that arse and somebody leading that arse through the
street and bow down, bow down, here's the man. This is what
the king will do for the man he wants to honor. But what Haman
didn't know, he was talking about Mordecai. And Haman, you take
the horse and you lead him through the city and you proclaim, this
is the way the king will honor the man. But many times, the
work, the wisdom, the deeds that are done by men, and as I said,
especially poor men, are forgotten and overlooked. No one takes
notice of them. Sometimes we read, sometimes
we see a news report of someone who receives a Medal of Honor,
and the deeds that he is being recognized or she's recognized
for happened years ago. And sometimes, even at the time
the deeds were recorded and sent up the chain of command, somehow
they got lost. And then years later, sometimes
even after the person has died, they recognize the heroic deeds
of this particular person, and he's awarded a Medal of Honor.
That's not unusual. It's not unusual for great deeds
to go unrecognized and forgotten. And the third lesson, we should,
you and I, we should be willing to receive wisdom from any source,
from any source. If it's from a child, we should
be willing to receive wisdom. You know, we read in the Proverbs
that God sends men to the ants. Go to the ant, thou slugger. God sends men to the ants, that
tiny little insect. God sends men to the ants to
learn. Every time I read that, and I've
just finished reading through Proverbs, so I saw that two times,
I believe, at least, when we're told to recognize the ants and
go to the ants. I think of two things. First
of all, the fact that God sends a man to the ants to learn how
far has man fallen. Man who was created in the image
of God. with great wisdom, great understanding,
and yet because of sin, we've fallen so far that we are sent
to the ants to learn. And of course, the great lesson
is they provide. They say that they're in the
day of summer and fall and there's food everywhere, but it's not
always going to be like this. Winter's coming, and man is in
this world, and we're alive, and yet out before us there's
death, there's eternity, and yet men make no preparation. Reminds me of the story of that
king that had that joker in his court. Remember Charles Spurgeon
told about this man. And everyone made fun of the
joker. And he entertained the king with
his foolishness. And one day the king rewarded
him with a walking stick. It had some kind of silver end
on it or something. And the king told him, said,
you take this, and if you ever meet a man that's more of a joker
than you, give it to him. And so years went by. One night,
they said the king's on his deathbed. And the joker goes in, and they've
been sort of friends over the years. And he asked the king,
he said, I hear you're leaving on a journey. And he said, yes,
I am. Where are you going? I don't
know. Well, I'm sure you have palaces
there prepared for you. No, I don't know. I don't know
where I'm going. I don't know what I'm going to
meet. He said, here's a walking stick. Here's a walking stick. You told me if I ever met a man
a greater fool than me. No preparation, no concern for
eternity. Go to the ants. I see how far
man has fallen. And a second thing I see, how
all of God's creation, not just the animate, but the inanimate
creation as well, all may teach us, we may learn from God's creation. That hymn we sing sometimes,
this is my father's world. It really is, isn't it? And even
under the curse, we see beauty, glory, and God's creation. Now, if we consider Solomon's
story as a parable, and some men have done this, some Christian
writers say this is a parable, and it is a parable of the church. attacked by Satan and delivered
by Christ, who is, after all, as John Gill said, ungratefully
used. First, the little city may refer
to the church, which is many times compared to a city, the
city of God. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
22, we are told that his believers are come to Mount Zion and unto
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. When we are
commanded in the word of God to pray for Jerusalem, we're
not commanded to pray for that city over there in Palestine. We are to pray for the church,
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jerusalem, the city of
God, Mount Zion. The heavenly city, as John saw
it coming down out of heaven like a bride adorned for her
bridegroom. The church is the city of God
in which saints, believers, we are fellow citizens. Our citizenship
is in heaven. And in comparison to the world,
it is little. It's a little city. In some ages,
it's larger, but always, in comparison to the world, it is a little
city. In the eyes of the world, it's
always a little city. They are a little flock, according
to our Lord's words in Luke 12. Fear not, little flock, for it
is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So if
we look at this as a parable, the little city represents the
church. The great king, the great king
may refer to Satan, the apostle Paul. He says this about Satan,
he calls him the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Satan besieges,
builds bulwarks against the city, against the church. And the Lord
promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his
church, but Satan and his powers are always, always fighting,
always coming against the church. He would have no greater joy
than to destroy God's people, but they shall not prevail. But
Satan and his hosts continue to fight against it. And then
the poor wise man may refer to Christ. He is a man. We know that. He's more than
man. He's God. He's a God man, but he is man. And it was as man that he became
poor. He's certainly not poor as God. As God, all things are his. Always
have been. He's the creator of all things.
But it is as man that he became poor. That verse in 2 Corinthians
says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that
though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor that you
through his poverty might be made rich. It was also as man
that Luke tells us he increased in wisdom. That's a miracle just
to read that about the Lord Jesus Christ. He who is wisdom personified
in Proverbs chapter eight, the wisdom of God. Yet as a man,
the scripture tells us when he went home to Jerusalem from Jerusalem
at the age of 12, remember there in Luke chapter two, I believe
it is. He was subject to Mary and to
Joseph, and he increased in wisdom and stature. Increased in wisdom. This man in the parable was a
poor, wise man. The Lord Jesus Christ was man,
he became poor, and he was wise. He was wise as a man. And notice in verse 15 what we
read here, if you still have your Bible open to Ecclesiastes
9. Now there was found in it a poor
wise man, and now notice this, if this is referring to Christ
in our parable, he by his wisdom, by his, this one man by his wisdom,
delivered the city. How does that refer to Christ?
Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3 tells us that when he had by himself by
himself just like this man by himself by his wisdom he delivered
the city so Christ by himself when he by himself purged our
sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. The man
in the parable delivered the city by wisdom. And the apostle
Paul tells us this about Christ. He is both the power of God and
the wisdom of God. Now, the fourth thing, if we
look at this as a parable, no man remembered the same poor
man. Now this may be considered to
speak before, before the poor man delivered or after the poor
man delivered. If we think of it as before,
here's a man living in this city, he's poor, he has wisdom, nobody
noticed him, nobody thought about him. Here this great king comes
and he's besieged the city, built bulwarks against the city. How
are we going to be delivered? No one would have thought the
wisdom's going to come from this man. No one would have ever thought
that. So the Lord Jesus Christ, he
was in this world. And before he died to deliver
his people, the leaders of Israel, the majority of the nation, they
did not recognize him. They did not see him as the promised
deliverer. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 2,
the apostle Paul said, which none of the princes of this world
knew. Everyone who was somebody put,
turned thumbs down upon Christ. He wasn't recognized as the deliverer
that God had promised, not by the leaders of Israel, not by
the majority of the people of Israel. None of the princes of
this world knew, for if they had known it, they would not
have crucified the Lord of glory. So if this is saying, or speaking
before he delivered the city, we see how it may apply to Christ. No one looked at him and said,
well, You know, Isaiah said he's a tender plant, a root out of
dry ground. There's no beauty in him that
we should desire him. But if this is speaking of after,
after the deliverance, after the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself
for his people, then comparatively to what there should be, Comparatively
to what there should be, there are few who remember him. There are few who recognize him. Just like that day he cleansed
those 10 lepers. How many returned? How many returned
to give him praise? One, one. So if this is speaking
of after After, by his wisdom, he delivered the city, comparatively
speaking, in the case of our Savior, he's recognized by very,
very few. His flock is a little flock. Well, I pray that the Lord would
bless these thoughts to all of us here tonight, and we go away
from this passage of Scripture, recognizing the truth of what
Solomon saw, wisdom, is better than strength. Wisdom is better
than strength. Let not the strong man glory
in his strength, and the wise man glory in his wisdom, or the
rich man glory in his riches. But he that glorieth, let him
glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth that I am God. That's what the scripture says.
that he understandeth and knoweth that I am God. May the Lord bless
his word. Let's sing a verse or two of
a hymn, Bill.