I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes, chapter one. I'd like to look at verses 12
to 18, finish this first chapter. Now Solomon had previously spoken
upon the vanity, the emptiness, the nothingness of even all of
the fleeting actions that happened in the world. Meaning this, he
said, the sun, according to God's good pleasure and purpose, it
rises but then it kind of hastens to the other side to rise again.
The wind blows to the south, turns to the north, returns to
the place from which it came. Rivers flow into the ocean. The
oceans are never filled. Water returns back to the source
of its origin. The eye never is satisfied. The
ear never satisfied. That which has been shall be. There's nothing new under the
sun. Nothing. There's no remembrance
of former things We might pick up a little hint of something
that happened. Recently, we had that anniversary
of 9-11. In our minds, we can recall the
airplanes hitting the towers, towers falling, smoke. But what happened? with everyone
that was involved there. What happened? What happened
in their lives? I don't know. I don't know. I don't remember. Those that
went through it, they don't remember all the details. The things that
have been, we won't remember. We don't remember. Even man by
nature doesn't remember the wrath of God in the flood, Sodom and
Gomorrah. Well, with these things in mind,
let's pick up in verse 12. The wisest man born in Adam introduces
himself here in verse 12, and he said, I, the preacher, was
king over Israel in Jerusalem. Now, I noticed something about
this. I didn't say anything last time, but I noticed that that
title, preacher, is capitalized. And I looked it up. I looked up to find out why is
that title capitalized? Well, it's a title that I found
that was used one time in the book of Ezra and the rest of
the times it's in this book. And it seems to mean one who
gathers hearers for the reason to instruct them in divine words. A beautiful picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ. But the preacher, one that gathers
people to instruct them in divine things. Now that's what we're
doing right here. I'm repeating what the Lord has
said in these scriptures. That's all I'm doing. That's
what a preacher does. A preacher repeats what God says. He expounds the meaning, searches
out the meaning, and says what God says. Well, this preacher
was a king in Israel. God had raised him up to set
him on the throne and gave him wisdom. He had asked for wisdom
and the Lord gave him wisdom to be able to practically, experientially see and experience the things
that would be taught. wisdom. You're going to have
to learn them. And he's going to now expound them. He's going
to tell you, this is wisdom. I pray that God give us some
understanding right here. As I was going over these notes
this morning, I was thinking, what instruction we're being
given. Verse 13 says, And I gave my
heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things
that are done unto heaven. This sore travail hath God given
to the sons of man to be exercised or afflicted with. Solomon gave
his heart. What he did was he gave his affection,
his understanding, and his intellect to seek and search out by wisdom. Now listen to this. All things that are done unto
heaven. He had a heart. He wanted to
know and search out all these things that had been created
by Almighty God and to consider and muse and meditate upon the
depth of all things. His heart as well as his head,
his understanding was locked in to not only investigate the
facts of things, but to investigate the cause and the condition,
the meaning of all things, all things that are done unto heaven.
Not just physical things in nature, but human circumstances, all
things to search out the interest and the behaviors and the circumstances
of men's actions and conduct and political, social, private
life. He said, I wanted to know not
only what they did, but why they did it and how it came about. He knew something of the preciousness
of all things didn't just lie on the surface, but rather it
was found in the depth and the depth of it. And that's what
Solomon wanted to know, that driving desire to seek out and
search out by wisdom all things. And this was his conclusion,
that this sore travail to want to, I wanna know, I wanna know
what makes everything tick. That's what he's saying. I want
to know, I want to look at a tree. I don't want to just see that
that's a tree. I want to know everything from the roots of
it. How does it, and the makeup of
it and the composition of it. I want to know, I want to know
everything about those leaves. I want to know why do they turn
different colors and why? He said, this is what I realized.
This sore travail hath God given to the sons of men to be exercised
therewith, to afflict man, to afflict him. Man is afflicted
with that kind of desire. Give me wisdom, Lord, and I'm
going to give it to you. And you're going to experience
it. And this is what he's experiencing. This is what he knows. The Lord
is said here to afflict the human race by forcing upon men the
painful problems of life, causing them to have to attend to the
distracting business of this laborious investigation with
no promise of satisfaction. We're gonna have a survey on social
reform And we want to find out why do people act like they do? Let's do a study. Let's get some
grants from the government. Let's just find out. Let's find
out about animal behavior. I know that, you know, the Canadian
geese, I know they migrate to the south. That ain't enough.
I want to know what their heart, what causes a Canadian goose
to think that. Let's do some research on it.
Global warming. Oh, listen, I mean, let's just
find out El Nino. He said, I gave my heart to seek
and search out my wisdom concerning all things. I wanted to know.
And he said, I realized something. All of this sore travail is given
by God to afflict men. Show them the depth of their
ignorance. Solomon, he was gonna search
out all things. And he was gonna do it with the
right method, with wisdom. And the manner of his searching
out was, he said, I gave my heart to this. And this proved to be
nothing more than distressing employment. That's all that is.
Why is that? I'm gonna just read this to you.
Deuteronomy 29, 29. You know what this says. Men are not satisfied with this.
They're gonna have to search this out. They're gonna wanna
know. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those
things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever,
that we may do all the words of this law. There's some things
that God has created and He's not been pleased to reveal them.
And so therefore, if the Lord hasn't revealed them, it is nothing
but sore travail to spend your time doing nothing more than
just going on and on and on and just wasting time. That's all
you're doing. Verse 14. I've seen all the works
that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and
vexation of spirit." Hey, Solomon said, I've seen the actions,
I've seen the business dealings and the products that's been
produced and all the advancements and the accomplishments, and
behold, every bit of it was nothing more than feeding on the wind. That's just, you know. Hosea
12.1, let me, I'll read this to you. Hosea 12.1. Right after the book of Daniels,
find Hosea. Ephraim feedeth on wind, and
followeth after the east wind. He daily increaseth lies and
desolations, and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians
and oil is carried into Egypt. I looked up Ephraim. You've heard
that before, Ephraim. What is that? Well, according
to what I found, it's those that seem to have been regarded as
the religious apostates in Israel. I mean, they were religious.
They'd heard the scriptures, but they're the religious apostates. And they did that which was nothing
more than just acts of vanity, just things that were vain in
their word and their expectation and all of life's aims. They weren't focused on the purpose
of Christ, the glory of Christ. And what he's saying is Ephraim. Feet on the wind. Instead of
seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, they
were just giving thought to things that just didn't matter. He said,
I've seen, I've seen all these works that's done. They're just
nothing. They're nothing. Verse 15, that
which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting
cannot be numbered. I'm so thankful for the explanation
of that verse right there. It's given in this book, Ecclesiastes,
just turn over there, Ecclesiastes 7, verse 13. I'll read it again. That which is crooked cannot
be made straight. That which is wanting cannot
be numbered. Look at Ecclesiastes 7, verse 13. Consider the work of God. Or
who can make that straight which he hath made crooked? So when it says back in Ecclesiastes
115, that which is crooked, number one, who made it crooked? Well,
according to the scriptures, God made it crooked. I'll tell
you what this is in just a second. That which is crooked cannot
be made straight. That which is wanting cannot be numbered.
Now here Solomon said, I gave my heart by wisdom to see all
of these things. I wanted to know not only the
fact of them, but the reason for them. I want to know the
makeup. I want to know what makes everything
work. And he said, I realized something.
That which God has bowed, made crooked, cannot be set in order. that which God has made to be,
and here now, crooked, is in man's eyes. The Lord said something,
he said, can you make something straight that I've made to be
in your eyes crooked? What do you mean? Now this, it
seems to indicate that men began to seek out things that in our
eyes, is an anomaly. Anomaly is something that seems
to deviate from that which is considered or expected to be
another way. You know, in nature, well, in
all creation, men find something that they think that they can
improve on. and something that seems to need
the help of man. It's this something in nature
that's not just right, something that's crooked in our eyes and
needs to be straightened out. And whenever you find man starting
to put his hand on something that God has already made crooked
in our eyes, which is not crooked, it's in our eyes. I go back to
the same thing. I mean, being from the South,
I'm telling you, If you've never seen, you probably, everybody
knows what kudzu is. This is the one that comes to
my mind, so you know. Whenever man decides we've got a problem,
we've got an erosion problem, so we're gonna bring in something
from the other parts of the world and bring it over here, and we're
gonna fix it. Oh, he fixes it all right. I
mean, you know, let's just put some Burmese pythons in the Everglades
in Florida. We'll fix it. Let's bring in
these beetles or these little fish from over in Japan and put
them over here and we'll fix it. That which is crooked cannot
be made straight. You're not gonna improve on that
which the Lord has done. You're not gonna improve on it.
I mean, this started in the garden. When Satan came and spoke to
Eve and told her, hath God said that you shall not eat? She said, that's what the Lord
said. Because in the day we eat thereof, the Lord said that we're
gonna die. Satan said, you're not gonna
die. You're not gonna die. God knows
that in the day that you eat thereof, your eyes are gonna
be open and you will be as God's. knowing good and evil, and this
can be fixed, God is holding out on you. And so she ate and
gave to her husband and he did eat. And when he ate, their eyes
were opened and they knew, they knew that they were naked. And
all of mankind, fell into sin, disobedience. That which is crooked,
that which man thinks is crooked, even man born in sin. Now the scriptures declare that
God saved by grace through faith, that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. And man says, I can fix that. I can fix it. I can fix it. Walk down an aisle. That's all
you got to do. Take my hand, repeat after me,
and you're safe. I can fix that. That which is
crooked, you cannot fix. A man, a woman born in sin cannot
be fixed. It can't be reformed. You say,
well now wait a minute. That which is flesh is flesh.
What must happen? You must be born again. God's
going to have to create a brand new man. He's going to have to
create one in righteousness and true holiness. You don't fix
the old heart. That old wicked heart with which
we were born, it doesn't fix. Christ is gonna have to pay the
debt of it or God gonna put us in hell. You don't fix it. I commune with mine own heart,
verse 16. saying, lo, I've come to great
estate. I've gotten more wisdom than
all they that have been before me in Jerusalem. Yea, my heart
had great, wait, I'm sorry. My heart had great experience
of wisdom and knowledge. Here, he's coming to this conclusion. He said, he's repeating what
he had said in verse 13. And he said, I've given my heart
now, to search out all of these things. And I wanted to, I gave
my heart to know madness and folly that I might search out
these things and know better how to avoid folly and how to
avoid sinning against God and how to follow after these things. And I've come to this realization.
Everything that I thought I could figure out by wisdom, by searching
out, It's just trouble, and it's just distress. I'm just feeding
on the wind, that's all I'm doing. I cannot, by wisdom, seek out
these things. For in much wisdom, verse 18,
is much grief. And he that increaseth knowledge,
increaseth sorrow. In having wisdom, And then spending one's time
to get knowledge, more knowledge, more understanding through that
wisdom is only to realize that there's no remembrance of former
things. I'm forgetting. I'm gonna lose
what I have temporarily gotten just as quickly as I got it.
I'm going to see more and more of man's frailty and weakness,
and I'm going to come to this conclusion. Increasing knowledge
is an increase of sorrow, because all I'm doing is I'm seeking
after those things that just don't matter. Apart from seeking first, the
kingdom of God and his righteousness. I've said, how many times have
you heard me say this? It's just things and mess and stuff. We're going to die. And all that
we've ever accumulated or thought we got, all we're going to be
doing while we're going there is putting ourselves in these
great straits All we're going to do is realize the more we
remember or find out, the more we forget. And the more we become
more and more knowledgeable of our ignorance and weakness. And
instead of making men happier with knowing more, all it does
is increase pride and arrogance and then forget it. But thanks
be unto God. There is indeed wisdom, wisdom
and knowledge that's very opposite than the effect that men receive
from seeking after these things that don't matter. It's those
things that by the grace of God give a man light and understanding. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
three. I'll read this one and one more
after this and I'll be done. Philippians. Chapter three, it was Paul, the
apostle, a Pharisee, schooled under the great doctors of his
day, those things that he thought was needful for salvation before
God, circumcised, he said, verse five, the eighth day, the stock
of Israel, tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching
the law, a Pharisee, zealous, oh, persecuting the church, touching
the righteousness, which is in the law, blameless. Then he says
in verse seven, but what things were gained to me, that's what
Solomon's saying, what things were in my mind gained to me,
oh, the things I know, the things I've seen, the things I've experienced,
the things I've heard, the things I've come to understand, I counted
loss for Christ. What does it matter? What does
it matter if a man gains the whole world and loses his soul? A doubtless, I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but done. that I may win Christ and be
found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness,
which is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable unto his death. You think about, I'm gonna read
this last verse here found in 1 Timothy 6. You think about
all the things that men strive after, searching for, doing research
over. I'm thankful. I'm thankful for
the advancements in medicine. I'm thankful for all that. It's
been, what a tremendous blessing to this world, yeah, but to God's
people. But when it's all said and done,
when the last shot's fired, what's it gonna matter? What's it gonna
matter? We come, you know, I hear statements,
you know, we're gonna put an end to cancer. I heard that one
the other day. End to cancer, you know, by 2035, I believe. End to cancer. I think, oh really?
Wow, what magnitude, what, that ain't gonna happen. 1 Timothy
6, 6 to 8. But godliness with contentment. is great gain. For we brought
nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing
out. And having food and raiment,
let us be there with content." You mean to tell me that God
providing something to eat, something to put on, having a place Be
able to stay and knowing God is truly contentment, that's
exactly what I mean. Old Glenn used to tell me all
the time, he said, you know, you can only get so much living
out of a house. I thought, that's true, that's
right. When it's all said and done,
one thing matters. What think ye of Christ? I pray
God bless us to us and teach us for His glory and our good. Amen. All right, let's take a
few minutes break.