Other than the Lord Jesus Christ,
Solomon, David's son, king of Israel, was the wisest man that
ever lived among the fallen sons and daughters of Adam. It was
concerning Solomon that the queen of Sheba said unto the king,
it was a true report that I heard in my own land and of the acts
and of thy wisdom. Howbeit, I believed not the words
until I came and mine eyes had seen it. And behold, the half
was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceeded
the fame which I heard. From that verse alone, there's
little doubt that Solomon very beautifully pictures the Lord
Jesus. And even when we preach the gospel
of Christ and Him crucified in the truth and in the power of
the Holy Spirit, the half is not told concerning His wisdom
and His goodness and His mercy and in His grace. We all, even
those who preach, we see through a glass darkly. But then, that
is after we receive these, our sinless glorified bodies, then
we'll see Christ face to face. Now we know in part, we just
can't fathom His mercy and His grace and His love toward His
people. But then we shall know even as
we are known, if the half had not been told concerning Solomon,
I can assure you dear friends, that the half has not been told
concerning the Lord Jesus. This morning, I hope that God
will enable us to see that without Christ, without the Lord Jesus
Christ, this world and the life that we have in it is nothing
but vanity. I've entitled this message, Vanity
of Vanities. All is vanity. That word vanity,
means more than what you might initially think. It means empty. It means worthless, useless. To be without Christ is to be
a stranger from the covenant of promise. And to be without
Christ would be to have no hope and to be without God in this
world, according to Ephesians 2, verse 12. And it's amazing
to me how many people there are who never give a single thought
to the truths about God and eternity in their whole lifetime. I know
people that I've never heard of mention God. And if God is
mentioned, they quickly excuse themselves from the conversation.
People today say things like, Go for the gusto, or you only
live once, or if it feels good, do it. How about this? Go ahead,
you deserve it. You know what we deserve? Hell
and condemnation. That's all that we deserve. Everything
else is a free gift of mercy and grace to us. Vanity of vanities,
all is vanity. Nothing but an empty existence
if we live in this world without the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I
want you to turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter one, if you would, right
after the book of Proverbs. Psalms, Proverbs, and then Ecclesiastes. At the top of the page of my
Bible, it says Ecclesiastes or the preacher. Here in Ecclesiastes
chapter one, In verse one, we read the words of the preacher,
the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Now Solomon refers to himself
here as simply the preacher. And this was his message as the
preacher. Verse two, vanity of vanities,
sayeth the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. And what Solomon is saying here
is this. Everywhere I look, everyone I
see, all I see is nothing but vanity, nothing but emptiness,
nothing but unsatisfactory, useless things that will never satisfy. All of it is vanity. Verse three,
what profit hath a man of all his labor, which he taketh under
the sun. One generation passeth away,
and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever."
You know, my grandfather was a young man once, and he had
a son, my father, and my grandfather died, and my father had me, and
my father got old, and my father died, and now I'm old. My father
got old and died, now I'm old and I'll soon die, and the cycle
continues. You know, life, we say this so
often, but life has just flown by. Those of you my age or older
know that to be so. I remember being a young boy.
I remember growing up, being in grade school and middle school,
and then high school. I remember graduating. I remember
getting married and having children, and now I have grandchildren.
And it seems just like that. I've worked most of my life,
but what have I profited all these years if I don't have Christ? If I don't have Christ, then
I have nothing. My life has been in vain and
full of vanity. For to have Christ is to have
life. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son hath not life. Solomon is saying
that a life without Christ is vanity of vanities, and it is. Look at verse five. The sun also
ariseth, and the sun goeth down and hasteth to his place where
he arose. The wind goeth toward the south
and turneth about into the north. It whirleth about continually,
and the wind returneth again according to his circuit. And
the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. And
to the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return
again. This world makes a full turn
every 24 hours, with or without our consent. We have no part
in the matter. A generation passes and another
one comes. The sun rises in the East and
it goes down in the West 365 times. And that makes a year. They just keep on clicking. Just
seem like a little faster every year. The seasons come and the
seasons go. Look at verse eight. All things
in the world and in this life are full of labor. Man cannot
utter it. The eye is not satisfied with
seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. I've lived long enough
now to know that men by nature want to see things their way.
They want to hear things their way. Man is satisfied with nothing
but his way, unless God does a work of grace in his heart.
It's labor that can't be uttered, a labor that can't be explained.
All of it is vanity. It's empty. It's useless. It's worthless vanity. That's
what the preacher said. The wisest man other than Christ
had ever lived. He said, vanity of vanities,
all is vanity. Look at verse nine. The thing
that hath been is that which shall be. And that which is done
is that which shall be done. And there is no new thing under
the sun. "'Is there anything whereof it
may be said, "'See, this is new. "'It hath been already of old
time which was before us, "'and there's no remembrance of former
things, "'and neither shall there be any remembrance of things
"'that are to come with those that shall come after.'" You
know, you read these verses and I can't help to think to myself
what a sad existence it is for those who are without God and
without hope in this world. Sad existence. If all you get
out of your years on earth is what you've carved out by yourself,
or accomplished by your own efforts of picking yourself up by the
bootstraps, and I'm telling you, you don't have much. You have
nothing at all, really. Solomon continues in verse 12,
and he says, I, the preacher, was king over Israel and Jerusalem. That in and of itself was vanity
of vanities. He said, I gave my heart to seek
and to search out wisdom concerning all things that are done under
heaven. This is what he found. This sore travail hath God given
to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. Because of sin, this
life is sore travail. Verse 14, I've seen all the works
that are done under the sun and behold, all, all of it, is vanity
and vexation of spirit. It's all empty, useless, unprofitable,
frustrating, and annoying. That's what the word vexation
means. in this life of time in which
we live, this physical life, this time we have here on earth.
Naturally speaking, there's no hope for us. That's what the
preacher Solomon is saying here in verse 15. He says, that which
is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot
be numbered. You see, naturally and physically
speaking, that is so correct. We have to be perfect to be accepted
by God. We cannot make ourselves perfect.
So that which is crooked cannot be made straight. One who is
wanting cannot be numbered or perfected. But that's why God
sent His Son into this world. He came in the world to save
sinners. Christ came to make the empty
life full. Christ came to make useless dead
sinners righteous. God has purposed a way that the
crooked can be made straight and the insignificant can be
numbered as the people of God. Are you interested in that way?
Well, let me begin by telling you there's only one way. There's
only one. There's not many ways, just one. And that way is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Surely every spiritually dead
sinner would run to that one way of eternal redemption. Surely
every lost soul would cry out to Christ who did for chosen
sinners what they could never do for themselves. But if you
assume that, you would be wrong. Very few do compared to the multitudes
of folks living in this world today. Turn back to Proverbs
chapter one, if you would please, the previous book, Proverbs chapter
one. Here in Proverbs chapter one,
verse one, we read the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David,
king of Israel, still speaking of the preacher, to know wisdom
and instruction to perceive the words of understanding, to receive
the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity." Now,
Solomon here is talking about what it is to know God, or what
it is to know God's Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, wisdom
and justice and judgment and righteousness are only found
in Him. You won't find them any other
place. He's made into us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, is he not? In verse four, he says to give
subtlety or discretion to the simple, the foolish. By the way,
that's all of us by nature. to the young man knowledge and
discretion. A wise man," now look at this,
a wise man will hear and will increase learning. And a man
of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. A saved man
or woman is a teachable man or woman. They don't know everything
and they confess that they don't. One who is wise will hear and
increase in wisdom. They listen and they seek wise
counsel. Wise counsel is found only in
this holy book called the Bible. This is where we find it. This
is God's word for us. That's what the Bible is. It's
the record of God. The Bible declares the way that
God declares things to be. You should have an interest in
this book. It's the words of life. This book contains the
wise counsel of God himself. And if you don't believe that,
then I don't have any good news at all for you. But if you believe
this book is God's word, then we ought to have our nose in
it, seeking God's wise counsel. Not what we think, not what we
imagine. God said, you thought. That's
where we get in trouble every time. Naaman came to God's prophet,
and God's prophet sent his servant out. He didn't even come to see
him. He drove up with all his horses and his chariots. Boy,
he was somebody, Naaman was. And the prophet said, go outside
and tell him to go dip in the River Jordan seven times. And
he got mad, and he said, I thought I thought he'd come out here
and wave his hand over me or anoint me with oil or make some
big prayer. Well, that's what you thought.
What you thought doesn't matter. Life in cleansing is as dipping
yourself in that river of Jordan. He said, well, we got a whole
lot better rivers and cleaner waters where I'm from. It doesn't
matter what you think. You better dip in the river Jordan
that God told you to dip in. God has a prescribed way of cleansing
the leper. and saving the lost. And it's
in Christ. My, my. We thought we were all
together such a one as God, but we thought wrong. We're not. what vanity for us to think that
we are. In this book, God says there's
only one way that a sinner can be saved. And I'm telling you
to look for another way is empty, it's worthless, it's useless,
and it's nothing but vanity of vanities. It's like chasing the
wind. It's useless to try. You ever
tried chasing the wind? I wouldn't waste my time if I
was you. This book says that Jesus Christ is the way, the
way. There is no other way. Well,
now preacher, that's being pretty narrow minded. Well, the Lord
Jesus himself said this. He said, no man cometh to the
father but by me. That's pretty narrow. That's
pretty dogmatic, as they say. I had a fellow tell me one time,
he said, man, you're awful dogmatic. No, I'm not. God is. This book
is. It's dogmatic. It's not that
folks don't understand it, it's pretty direct and simple. It's
that folks don't believe it and that folks hate it. How do I
know that folks hate it? Solomon, the wise man, tells
us so. Look down at verse 24 here in
Proverbs. God says, because I have called,
God says, I've called you. God says, I called you and you
what? Refused. No man will ever be
able to stand at the judgment of God and lay the blame of his
condemnation on God, because God has called and men have refused. Again, verse 24, God says, I
have stretched out my hand and no man regarded. And you women
aren't off the hook either. When God says man, he means you
too. He means man and woman. No one
hears the gospel. Now listen, no one hears this
gospel when it's preached in power, in the truth of scripture. No one hears it without it affecting
them in some way or another. It's either a savor of life unto
life to some, and it's a savor of death unto death to others.
Hearing the gospel will affect you for glory or it'll affect
you for eternal judgment and condemnation. But when the true
gospel is preached, you cannot and you will not remain unaffected. You'll either love what you hear
or you'll hate it. You'll either bow to it or you'll
refuse it and run from it. Now to clarify, I'm not talking
about the effectual call of God that makes sinners willing to
come to Christ in the day of His power. You won't be able
to refuse that. If God sets His affection upon
you and calls you by His grace, you'll come. I can assure you
that. I'm talking about the call of
God that's seen through creation. I'm talking about that general
call. I don't really like that term,
but that's somewhat what it is. That general call that's seen
in the things that God has done. Every man and woman that's ever
lived can look at the display of God's sovereignty in the stars
of the sky and this earth and how everything revolves perfectly
and in order. to see the sovereign and powerful
hand of God in the things that we see day to day. And those
things leave us without excuse in trusting this amazing almighty
God of the Bible. God said, you're without excuse.
A man can't look at God's wondrous creation and not believe there
is a God, a creator, one who is supreme in every way to man.
is enough to condemn every man and woman who do not believe
and leave them without excuse. God's voice is heard in sickness. God's voice is heard in death.
God's voice is heard in famine. You know, I was reading a week
or so ago in the book of Amos chapter four, and God said this.
He said, I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. I thought, what's he talking
about? And as I read on, I saw he was talking about famine.
God sent famine. Your teeth don't get too dirty
if you don't eat. That's talking about famine.
God said, I've given you famine in your cities and want of bread
in your places. And yet you have not returned
to me, saith the Lord. The prophet is saying you ought
to have heard God's voice in that famine. But you didn't. You ought to have seen God's
hand in that famine, but you were blind. It was a call that
you refused to see and hear. God said, I've smitten your gardens,
your crops with blight and mildew. Who struck them with this heavy
blow? God did. God sent the palmer
worm to devour. Yet they did not return unto
the Lord. God said pestilence the same
way that he did in Egypt. God said, I've slain your young
men with the sword. I've taken away your horses.
I've made the stink come up in your nostrils. Yet have you not
returned unto me? This saith the Lord God of heaven
and earth. God withheld the rain from them,
and it was yet three months to harvest. I can just imagine that
their crops looked so good, the corn was tall, the beans looked
good, everything, and God sent a famine three months before
the harvest, and it all withered, done away with, it was worthless.
The seed died, the crops failed, and God said, you still didn't
return unto me. God said, I've overthrown some
of you like I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a
firebrand plucked out of the burning coals of fire, yet you
have refused to return unto me. You refused. You will not come
to Christ that you might have life. And then God said these
sobering words that I pray that you and I never hear. And that
was, prepare to meet thy God. The time's coming. You can either
meet him now in mercy and grace in Christ, or you can meet him
in the judgment when his eternal wrath and condemnation and anger
will be as the fire of hell against you. On their way to the promised
land, Moses told his father-in-law, I was a man that he loved, no
doubt. Moses told him that God had dealt in grace with Israel.
And he said, he will with you too. God had promised them a
kingdom on earth, a place of rest, a place of mercy and beauty. And Moses said to his father-in-law
and whom he loved, come and go with us. I want this for you. Don't you want it for your family?
Sure you do. Come and go with us. God will
do you good. That's our bidding and preaching.
Come to Christ. God will do you good. He's the
only one who can do you good. And what did Moses' father-in-law
say? He stood there for a moment or two and he said, no, thank
you. I'll stay right here. God sends
his messengers. God sends his ministers and even
sends men, their own family and friends. And they tell folks
about the great things that God has done for them. They say,
come and go with us. And the majority say, no, thank
you. I'll stay where I am. God said,
I've called and you have refused. I have stretched out my hand
and you have not regard. Verse 25, you have set at naught
all my counsel. You've made my counsel nothing
and you would have none of my reproof. Now then, verse 26,
one of these days, God's gonna cease to call and God's gonna
withdraw his mercy. That's what the Bible's telling
us here. God says, I will laugh at your calamity. I will mock
when your fear cometh. Verse 27, God says, when your
fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a
whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, there's
a day coming, friends. When you call upon the name of
the Lord, he will not hear. He says he'll laugh at your calamity.
He's going to withdraw his mercy. Then shall they call upon me,
but I will not answer. Verse 28, they shall seek me
early, but they shall not find me. For that they hated knowledge
and did not choose or bow to the fear of the Lord. They would,
none of my counsel, they would have none of my counsel. They
despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the
fruit of what their own doing. their own way and be filled with
their own devices. Nobody's fault but yours. Verse
32, for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the
prosperity of fools shall destroy them. Well, let me give you some
good news. Look back up at verse 23. God said, turn you at my reproof. And behold, I'll pour my spirit
unto you and I'll make known my words unto you. And now the
last verse of the chapter tells us this, verse 33. God says,
but whose soul hearkeneth unto me, obey me, shall dwell safely
and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Oh, there was a day
when if you had called, God would have heard you. If you had sought
him, you would have found him, but now you're going to call
and God says, I will not answer. Verse 28, then shall they call
upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me for they hated knowledge and did choose
or bow to the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsels.
They despised all my reproof. They shall eat the fruit of their
own ways and be filled with their own devices. I cannot find one
single scriptural example of God dealing with a sinner for
a great length of time over a long period or number of years. It
seems that most of the time in scripture, when God confronts
a man with the truth, with who he is and who God is and his
need of a Savior, that that person comes to a saving knowledge of
the Lord, it's almost always pretty quickly. When everyone
whom God says and comes face to face with the gospel, they've
either bowed to the gospel or they've refused it right then
and there. Give you an example. Moses and
Joshua stood and cried, who's on the Lord's side? You remember
that? Let him step forward right now. And those who did live and
the rest went to hell. The Lord opened up the ground
right there and swallowed them up. The Lord Jesus said, There's
a straight and a narrow gate that leads on to life, and few
there be that find it. but there's also a broad way
that leads to destruction and many go in there. The Lord said,
strive to enter in at the strait, the narrow gate, for many shall
seek to enter in and shall not be able. Now, why is that? Why
won't they be able? Well, that's why we preach the
gospel. It's the glory of God so that
men and women and sinners might come to a saving knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the way and the truth and the
life and the only way to God. Christ in him crucified is the
narrow way into life everlasting. It's the only way. In Romans
10 verse 13, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation. The preaching of the gospel is
what points men to who Christ is and who is the only one that
can save them. He that believes the gospel,
trusting in Christ and His righteousness and is baptized shall be saved."
How many times do we read that? And I am more convinced now than
ever that unbelief is not a lack of commitment. It's a lack of
need. It's a lack of need. Every man
and woman that feels themselves to be a sinner will feel themselves
to be without hope. And the Bible's clear. The soul
that sins, it shall die. The wages of sin, His death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. And there you have it again.
The cause of sin were rendered helpless and hopeless creatures
in need of atonement. How can a sinner call upon one
in whom they've not believed? That's the question Paul asked.
Sinners can't call on an unrevealed Christ. You cannot call upon
an unrevealed Savior. How can you believe on a Savior
in whom you've not heard? There are people meeting on about
every corner in this town today. And I can assure you that many
of them have never heard of the Jesus Christ that you've heard.
How are you going to hear? How are you going to believe
in one you haven't heard? And how are you going to hear
without a preacher? This is God's ordained means
of hearing. You won't find God on a camping
trip in the mountains, I'm sorry. If you're going to enjoy the
mountains, then go. But if you're looking for God
there, for some experience, just cancel your trip. You won't find
him there. You won't find God on a trip to the Holy Land. If
you've got it booked, go ahead and cancel it. You won't find
God there. You won't find God walking the
streets of Jerusalem or going into the temple over there or
anything else. You find God through the preaching
of his gospel. How can they believe in one they
haven't heard? And how can they hear without
a preacher? And how can a man preach unless he'd be sin of
God? The seminary sinning won't do him any good. Well, his grandpa
was a preacher and he always wanted him to be a preacher.
It won't do you any good. He won't. But if God called him
and gave him the message of grace and put it in his heart, oh,
hear what he has to say. Telling you the truth about God.
You find God under the true preaching of the gospel. There's a way
that seems right to the natural fallen and sinful man, but the
end of that way is the way of death. What is that way? Well,
it's been the same all through history. Let me give you this
in closing. Judges 21, 25. In those days,
there was no king in Israel, and every man did that which
was right in his own eyes. That's what we got going on today.
Men don't like what the Bible says, so they make up their own
little bylaws and little things and add to the scriptures, and
they say, now we can do this. Proverbs 12, 15. The way of a
fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel
is wise. Proverbs 21.2, every way of a
man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord pondereth the hearts.
We look on the outward appearance of man, but God looks on the
heart. The way of death is the way of self, friends. It's all
vanity of vanities. All of it is vanity. The way
of life is the way of Christ. No man comes to the Father but
by Him. That's the narrow way. Many will
strive to enter in and shall not be able. Why? Because the
door will be shut. The door is still open. It's
still open. For 120 years, Noah was also
a preacher. He was a preacher of righteousness.
And Noah bid sinners to come into the ark for 120 years. Every
time that hammer struck a spike, it was God saying, come to Christ,
come to Christ, get into the ark. Wrath is coming, judgment
is coming, get into the ark. But when the wrath and judgment
of God began to pour down in the form of rain, the door was
shut. The wrath and judgment of God
is coming. God said it was. My encouragement
to you this morning is get into the ark and you shall be saved. Get into the ark. Today is the
day of salvation. Nobody's promised tomorrow, none
of us are. The door is Christ. Come into the door, Christ, the
believer's ark, safety and refuge is still open today. Come on
in. I leave you with the words of
our Savior. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. You'll find it no other place
than in Christ. And that's the gospel, the good
news for sinners. If you live and die in this life
without Christ, it's all been vanity of vanities. All is vanity.