The lesson was supposed to be
Matthew 15, but I wanted, usually there are more people in the
next hour here, and I wanted more people to hear that one.
Same message, really. Ecclesiastes 1. Scriptures testify of the Lord
Jesus Christ. These are all about him, and
they are his words. Look at verse 1. It says, The
words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
This is Solomon, but yet it's not Solomon's word. This is the
word of the king, the Lord Jesus Christ, king of kings, Lord of
lords, who is himself called son of David, the Christ King
of Israel. And the words of the preacher,
the title of this book is Ecclesiastes or the preacher. And notice the
Lord puts the occupation or the place of a preacher above that
of a king. You see how preacher is capitalized,
capital P, king is a small K. That's how God places preaching. That's the place He gives to
preaching. Scripture says He pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching. That is what the world calls
foolishness. But to us which are saved or
being saved, the preaching of the gospel is the power of God,
the wisdom of God, our necessary food. And the Lord Jesus Christ,
Scripture says, when He ascended on high, He gave gifts to men. And the gifts that He gave were
not talents and things and health and wealth, but it says He gave
some prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors and teachers. That's
it. So that's the gifts that He gave
to men. The greatest gift that God can
give a person is a true preacher of the gospel. I know I'm a recipient
of that blessing, that gift. How shall they hear without a
preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? They won't preach the truth unless
God sends them. But if they do, oh my, then you
have a God-sent preacher. What a gift. The words of the
preacher. People in Fairmont used to call
Brother Scott Richardson that. That's how they referred to him.
The preacher. They didn't call him Scott. They
didn't call him pastor. They just called him the preacher. What a lofty title. Not to this
world. Not to this world. There's nothing
more foolish and no one more useless than a preacher to this
world. Oh my, but God's people esteem
them highly for the work's sake. The preacher. Our Lord was a
preacher, though he was the king. And here's the words of the preacher.
Here's the words of God that the preacher is to declare. Verse
2. Vanity of vanities, saith the
preacher. Vanity of vanities. All is Vanity. Vanity means empty. Vanity means
you won't find anything there that you're looking for. Whatever
it is you're looking for in whatever you're looking at or into, you
won't find it. If you're looking for peace,
if you're looking for happiness, if you're looking for contentment,
if you're looking for joy, if you're looking for whatever,
real wealth, you won't find it in things. Vanity of vanity. All is vanity. All things. That
which is flesh is flesh. It'll never be anything but that.
People, things, places, it's all flesh. And it all corrupts. And it all fades away. Like the
leaf. Like the flower. It blossoms
for a while. It's beautiful. Gives you some
happiness. But then it dies. And so it doesn't
give you what you're looking for. It doesn't. What does? Who does? All is vanity except
Christ, because Christ is all. Christ is all. The Lord, the
preacher, the words of the book tell us this over and over and
over again. This book, Ecclesiastes, is the
book of life. Ecclesiastes is a summary of
life. All the questions of life are
answered here. When's the last time you read
it? Read it, read it. Questions that no one is asking,
which everyone should be asking. People are asking questions that
are of no value. Vain words. But listen to Moses. Listen to that in Deuteronomy
32. He says this, let me find it for you. He says, set your
hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day.
And me, too. I'm just repeating what he said. Which ye shall command your children,
tell your children these things, to observe this. It's not a vain
thing for you. These are not vain words. These
are not empty words. It's your life. And through this thing, that
is, these words, you'll prolong your days in the land, and on
and on it goes of blessings. True blessing. True blessing. And over and over throughout
this book, he says, vanity of vanities. Vanity of vanities.
And the last chapter he says that, he concludes this, vanity
of vanities, said the preacher. All is vanity. A true preacher. is going to stand up and declare
what God's Word says about everything. What's that? Manatee. A false
preacher is going to talk about health and wealth and all of
these things and speak all the... Preaching today is so shallow
and so ridiculous and so foolish. little sermonettes, little moral
stories, you know, how you ought to live and all that. And true
preachers, the Word of God is not telling us how to live so
much as how to die, because everything dies. We're going to die. This
is the question. This is the thing that we need
to answer and be faced with daily, because we don't know if we'll
live tomorrow. We don't. And that's why today
is the day of salvation. Whenever the Word is prayed,
every time the Word is prayed, it's a day of salvation. Vanity
of vanity. Everything in the world is vain
except the truth, the gospel, Christ. Look at verse 3. What prophet hath the man of
all his labor which he taketh unto the Son? These are questions
that no one is asking but should. Life or death. questions. This is proof that man is an
utter fool. Right from the beginning, God's
Word proves man to be an absolute fool because he tells us there's
nothing lasting, there's nothing satisfying. What does it profit
you if you work your whole life and then you die? What good is
it? Nobody's asking that question.
Gonna work a whole lifetime, 60, 70, 80 years, even 90 years,
work hard for what? For what? And then what? Then what? It's over. It's over. Then what? If a man
die, will he live again? It's hope of a tree. Oldest book
in Scripture, Job. Job 14. Ask those questions. You know why he's asking them?
What a fool man is. A man goes to his long home. Where is it? Where is it going? After he dies and all this is
for naught. It's for naught. What shall it
profit a man if he gained the whole world? Then he dies. And if he has a soul that lives
on and it perishes, Read on. Verse 4. One generation
passeth away, another generation cometh. The earth abideth forever. In other words, no one is going
to remember any of us ever. It doesn't matter who you are
or what you are or what you do. I could ask you to name five
presidents of the United States, and you'd be hard-pressed to
name three. I'd ask you to name one vice
president. You probably couldn't name him.
The most powerful man on the earth. Kings. Who was the greatest
king on earth back in the 8th century? Anybody? 9th century? 10th? 11th? 12th? Anybody? Kings!
Come and go. And nobody remembers them. What
prophet was it? What profit was it? And people
strive to attain and strive to rise to these levels of power
and fame and fortune for what? Let us not be fools. Oh, how
blessed we are that we're hearing this this morning. Once it passes
away, the earth is just going to keep revolving. Verse 5, the
sun rises, the sun goes down, hasteth to its place where he
arose. The sun's going to rise in the morning? We might not.
If a man die, will he rise again? Job asked that. Will he rise? The sun's going to. No one is going to remember us, and
nothing and no one depends on us. It's going to go on without
us. People and things that we think
depend on us, you'll see. You'll see it's just all going
to keep revolving. The sun's going to come up and go down
and we're going to perish forever. Forever. I have thousands of
sermon notes and in books and all that. I don't know why I
keep them, except every now and then I'll look at them for reference
sake. Some of the greatest messages
that ever have been preached by mortal man are in books that
nobody will ever open. I've got volumes after volumes
by Thomas Manton, John Newton. The only thing people know about
John Newton is Amazing Grace. The messages he preached, there's
none better. And on and on it goes. Might
as well throw them away, except for a few people that use them.
Verse 6 says, The wind goes toward the south, and turns to the north,
and whirleth about continually. The wind returneth again according
to its circuits. Winds of change come and go,
don't they? Winds of change. Different generations
and different eras come, and old things change, don't they? Surely as man keeps going and
that he gets better, look around you. It can never be worse. Winds of change. Change is not
good unless the Lord changes your heart. Kingdoms come, kingdoms
go like the wind that carries them away. Where are they? All
the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. And
unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return
again. Talking about there's no fullness in anything. All
the labor, this is what he's going to talk about, all the
labor that goes on, everybody works so hard, and the things
of this earth, nothing fulfills. Nothing fulfills. fills us with what it promises. Read on, verse 8. All things
are full of labor. It cannot utter it. It can't
be declared. But the eye is not satisfied
with seeing. We behold wondrous things, but it's
just not enough. We've got to see more. The lust
of the eyes. The lust of the eyes. The eye is never satisfied. Read
on. The ear is never filled with hearing. The mouth, the belly, the cravings,
the desire. Man, you cannot flesh, you can't
satisfy this flesh. You can't do it. Verse 9, what
about, surely there's something new. No. The thing that hath
been is that which shall be, and that which is done is that
which shall be done. There's no new thing under the
sun. Nothing new. Nothing new. Is there anything whereof it
may be said that this is new? No, it hath been already of old
time which was before us. Nothing new. Nothing novel. Nothing satisfies. Nothing helps
us. Nothing makes us better. Nothing
is improving our life. Really. Verse 11, there's no remembrance
of former things, neither shall there be the remembrance of things
that are to come with those that shall come after. No remembrance.
So then it's all vain. It's all vain. So he says in
verse 12, I, the preacher, I was king over Israel and Jerusalem.
At the time, Israel was the greatest kingdom on earth, though the
smallest, I mean, though the smallest nation. The kingdom
of Israel covered a great area at that time. There was no kingdom
like it, no king like Solomon. Read of Solomon's riches. There's
a reason the Lord gave him all those riches. Ecclesiastes is
why. Because he wrote this book to
tell us, I tried it on. The Lord allowed me. I'm so glad
the Lord made him as rich as he was and gave him all that
he could so he could tell us someone that experienced it could
tell us. Tell us, is there any satisfaction
in this? No, he says, I tried it. Verse
13, I gave my heart to seek and search out my wisdom concerning
all things done under the heaven. No matter what it is, he said,
I tried it. And this is the sore travail that God has given to
the sons of men to exercise with. Everybody is trying it to some
degree, aren't they? Trying to find some some contentment,
some happiness, some blessedness or happiness in people and places
and things. And verse 14, I've seen all the
works that are done unto the Son. I've seen it all, he said. Lots of people say that. I've
seen it all. No, you haven't. But Solomon
did. He did. He saw it all. And what did he say? What did
he conclude? And it's vexation of spirit.
It vexes you. You try it, you think, well,
now I've found it. No, you haven't. So he kept trying
things. Look at verse 15. This is a great
verse. That which is crooked cannot
be made straight. Man is crooked. Our way of thinking
is crooked. This world is crooked. It's perverted. That's what our Lord said when
he looked down upon the world. Right before the flood, it was
full of modern technology. Yes, it was. Read the account.
Artisans and craftsmen and artificers and brilliant. They lived 900
years. Would you know anything if you
lived 900 years? Would you know how to do something?
Would you invent something? Reckon they hadn't run any water?
I reckon they did. I reckon they had every modern
convenience you could think of that we'd need. They lived a
long time. But what happened? They died. And the Lord looked down from
heaven and He said, the whole earth is corrupted in my way.
Corrupt. Crooked. Crooked. Call that which
is evil good and good evil and straight crooked and crooked
straight. How ironic is it that perverts and wicked people today
called people straight. How ironic is that? When I choose
a word for those people that act like and live like the Bible
says, straight. Our Lord said that. Straight
is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto the light.
Everybody else is crooked. You can't make it straight. Man
can't do it. Try as he may. Invent what he
may. Change our circumstances, our
environment. You can't make crooked straight.
God's got to give a man a new heart. That which is wanting,
lacking, cannot be numbered. How are we going to be numbered
with the people of God? We better not be lacking. Can
you provide what you need so that you're complete? So that
you're not wanting or lacking what God requires? Can you? Can
we? I know who can. I know only one
that can. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead body. And you're complete in Him. You won't be lacking anything.
Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. And in Him is peace
and joy and happiness and contentment and cessation from all this striving. The blessing is in Him. I communed with my heart, verse
16, and said, I have come to a greater state. I have gotten
more wisdom than all that have been before me. I gave my heart.
I had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. I gave my heart
to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. And it is all vexation
of spirit, because in much wisdom is much grief. And he that increaseth
knowledge increaseth sorrow. In other words, or in simple
words, the more you know, The sadder it makes you, the more
shamed it makes you of yourself, grief and sorrow. Why have I
spent my life for that which is nothing in vain? Why does he keep repeating this?
Vanity of vanity, vanity of vanity, vanity of vanity. Why does he
keep repeating that? Why does he keep repeating that? Vanity
of vanity, vanity of vanity. Why do we keep repeating the
same mistakes? Why do we keep sinning? Why do
we keep pursuing these things? Vanity, vanity. Because like
his children, like we would tell our children over and over and
over and over and over until they think, you've already told
me that, Dad, Mom. Yeah, but have you learned it?
Have you learned it? And he concludes in the last
chapter by saying, let's hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
Here's wisdom. Fear the Lord. Fear God. Fear God. Trust Christ. Look to Him. OK.