Let's look together tonight at
Ecclesiastes chapter one. Ecclesiastes chapter one, this
is the book that follows the book of Proverbs. The title of the message tonight
is Vanity of Vanities. Ecclesiastes chapter one. May the Lord bless us by his
spirit to hear his word tonight and speak to our hearts, not
only those of us here, others who will hear the message through
the streaming or downloading the messages. We're so dependent
on God. Without him, nothing will come
of us coming together, but with his blessing, everything can
come of us coming together. Ecclesiastes chapter one, verse
number one. The words of the preacher, the
son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the
preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. You see, Solomon calls himself
here the preacher. You know, in the book of Ecclesiastes,
he actually calls himself the preacher seven times. And that
word preacher, it actually means the assembler, the gatherer.
Makes me think of the Lord Jesus Christ when the thousands came
to hear him speak the word, the prince of preachers, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, here Solomon calls himself
the preacher, and he has a message for us here tonight. It's believed
that Solomon wrote this book at the end of his life. At the
end of his life. Look, if you would, down to verse
number 12. This was at the end of his reign
when he was an older man. Verse number 12, I, the preacher,
was king over Israel and Jerusalem, and I gave my heart to seek and
search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under
heaven. This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man
to be exercised therewith. He wrote this book, I believe,
once he had recovered from the awful sin that he had fallen
guilty of. You remember, as you read in
the scripture, Solomon had married many, many wives of many of the
countries around him. And he set up places of worship
for his wives to worship these false gods, to worship someone
other than Jehovah, the only true God. And I believe that
it's after he had recovered from that that he wrote this book
of Ecclesiastes. And if you think about it, how
far Solomon had fallen. It's a real, I believe there's
a real, these things happened to them in samples to us. There's a real lesson here for
us. several lessons. You think of
the beginning of Solomon's reign, oh how bright it was. You remember
David, his father, he desired to build a house for the Lord,
for Jehovah in Jerusalem. And He gathered everything for
that, but God did not allow him to do so. God said, no, you won't
build the house for me, because David, you've been a man of war.
You've been a bloody man. It's one who is a man of peace,
your son Solomon, that will build the temple for me. And how brightly
his reign started in the building of that beautiful temple in Jerusalem. We see when he wrote the book
of Proverbs, this was one who had a keen understanding of the
snares of sin. and the dangers of sin. You see
that throughout the book of Proverbs. Then we see in the book of the
Song of Solomon, one who was acquainted with walking with
the bridegroom of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ, and enjoying
fellowship with him. He was recognized to be so wise. He was thought to be so wise,
can you imagine people would take journeys And that time it
wasn't like today, you know, getting in the car and having
satellite radio and the air conditioner. They would take journeys to come
and just to sit and listen to Solomon, a man so wise. And yet he fell so far and so
deep into sin that many will not acknowledge him to even have
been a believer. Many will say that Solomon was
an apostate. That's how far Solomon had fallen. And there's no doubt a lesson
for us. We may ask the question, how
could Solomon, stop and think about this, how could Solomon
who had tasted of that fellowship with God and all the things that
I referenced there, how could Solomon fall as far as he did? How is that possible? Charles
Bridges wrote a book on this book of Ecclesiastes, and he
made a statement in there that was so good, I just want to read
it to you. Definitely can't improve upon it. He said, only those
who have been taught by experience No less by scripture, the total
corruption of the heart can solve this mystery. The moment that
utter weakness loses its hold and forgets the need of habitual
dependence on his God and Savior, this is the moment of certain
fall. The most exalted Christian attainments,
the longest standing in the church, the most extensive usefulness
in this world, the richest store of spiritual gifts all furnish
no security. The most experience is exposed
no less than the weakest babe in the family. Oh, what need
there is for us to watch unto prayer. I say amen to that, don't
you? The heart is desperately wicked,
isn't it? Who can know it? As Paul wrote
to the Corinthians, he said, wherefore let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed lest he fall. But I'm glad this message doesn't
end here. God made a promise to David,
Solomon's father, didn't he? He made a promise to him, first
of all, that Solomon was going to reign in his place. And he
said that if he stayed, if he strayed and committed iniquity,
that he would chasten him. But God said, my mercy shall
not depart from him as I took it from Saul. God did not take
the kingdom of Israel away from Solomon. And I don't believe
that God took his mercy from Solomon because God said he wouldn't
take his mercy from Solomon. And if you think about it, God
says, like, I took away from Saul. Saul lost the kingdom when
he had fallen. But when you look at the life
of Saul and the life of Solomon, I would venture to say that most
of us would see the life of Solomon as a much greater failure than
the life of Saul. What made the difference? God's
mercy and grace. God had chosen Solomon. God loved
Solomon. And even though he fell, God
brought him back. It's God that makes the difference. You remember, now Solomon calls
himself a preacher, you remember what the Lord Jesus Christ told
Peter who had fallen. He told him even before he fell
and denied the Lord Jesus Christ with an oath, swearing that he
did not know that man. The Lord said to him, Peter,
when you're converted, strengthen your brethren. And like Peter,
Solomon denied the Lord through his backsliding and by setting
up these places of worship for these false gods. But I believe
God called him back. Why? Because of God's grace. God's grace. Now as a preacher,
Solomon attempts to keep others from falling into the same things
that he had fallen into. This word of exhortation for
us to keep us from dishonoring our God as Solomon did. And you know, I was thinking
about this this week as I was preparing this message. When
you think of Solomon and all the wisdom and light that he
had, does not compare in any way believer to the light that
we have living on the other side of the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Us who have not only heard that
a Messiah was coming but have seen that he has come and lived
a perfect life and died a perfect death and yet how often have
I failed my Lord. But Solomon would strengthen
his brethren here. There's so many lessons for us
here. First of all, Solomon's recovery is proof of the power
of God to bring back one who has fallen. Believer, we could not bring
ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ in the first place, and we cannot
bring ourselves back when we fall. It takes God's mercy and
grace to bring us in his power, and we see this in the life of
Solomon. His recovery is proof of God's mercy, that he would
take him back. Oh, the mercy of God. All the
times that we fall and backslide, and we come back asking for mercy,
and God receives us back. Great is his faithfulness, isn't
it? And great is his mercy. Solomon
is a warning to us to take heed lest thinking we stand, we should
fall. And Solomon is a lesson to us. Listen, it's a lesson
to me, to you, to not be so hard on other believers and on ourselves
when we fall. If Solomon, as wise as he was,
could fall like he did, how about us? Let us be merciful and kind to
other professing believers who fall. As we know, but for the grace
of God, every fall that anybody could do could be true of us. So Wednesday nights, it's a fairly
short time. The message, I want to keep moving
forward here. So every preacher must have a
message, right? So what was Solomon's message?
You see it in verse two. His message, as he tried to help
others to not fall into the same things he had fallen into. Vanity
of vanities, saith the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. You know, the English word vanity
and vanities come from the same Hebrew word. And that word actually
means empty, something that's transitory or unsatisfactory. And that can be said about everything
in this world. Empty, it's transitory, it's
unsatisfactory. The main thing that runs throughout
this book is that anything and everything that we may have in
this world, whether allowed of God or forbidden by God, is insufficient
to make us happy. If you were to summarize this
whole book of Ecclesiastes, that's the theme of the message, that
anything and everything that we may enjoy in this world is
insufficient to make us happy, whether it be good things or
evil things. They're insufficient to make
us happy. And listen, nobody was more qualified
than Solomon to make this statement. You read about his life, the
wealth the wealth of the world, the riches and wealth that Solomon
had. It was amazing, the amount of
riches that he had. The pleasures of sense, sensual
delight and sinful delight. Solomon, probably more than any
other man that you could read about in the scripture, had all
of those things. The attainment of wisdom and
human knowledge. There was none as wise as him,
and he learned things well beyond his time. Honor, power, everything,
everything, whether allowed or forbidden by God. And yet at
the end of exploring and delving into all of these things, Solomon
at the end, in disgust of himself and all around him, says, vanity
of vanities. All is vanity. Everything that
this world has is empty. That is as far as being able
to make us truly happy. So how did Solomon conclude his
message? Look over in Ecclesiastes chapter
12. Let's go to the end of this book. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13. Solomon said, let us hear the
conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man. After everything that he
wrote in these other chapters, this is how he summarizes this
book. Fear God and keep his commandments. Keep the instruction of God. And I want us just very briefly
to hear the instruction, the commandment of our Lord Jesus
Christ tonight. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, labor
not for the meat that perishes. Stop with me for a minute tonight
and think about that. The Lord Jesus said, labor not. Solomon said the whole conclusion
of that whole book Fear God and keep His commandments. And the
Lord Jesus Christ is our God and Savior, isn't He? And what
has He commanded us? Labor not for the meat which
perisheth. And you can write that over everything
in this world. Meat that perisheth. Anything
and everything. It's vanity of vanities. Our
best and most precious relationships, they can be taken from us, can't
they? Our health and strength, we may be feeling good and strong
tonight and not be able to get out of bed tomorrow. That great
paying job that we think if we could just get and those wonderful
benefits that they were going to make us so happy, they won't
make us happy. They cannot make the soul of
man happy. It's vanity. That beautiful house,
anything and everything in this world, all of it, You can write
the description on it, meat that perishes. Labor not for the meat
that perishes. Now what's the Lord Jesus Christ
saying? He's saying, okay, you know,
all these things are temporary, they're transitory, so don't
go to work, you know, don't try to provide for your family, don't
try to have a house, don't try to have good relationships. Absolutely
not. What's he saying? He's saying
don't set your heart on these things. Don't waste your life
thinking that those things are what's going to make you happy
in this world. That's what he's saying. Labor
not for the meat that perishes. What's he saying? He's saying
don't live for this world. Don't live for this world. And
my friends, I'm not preaching to you. I'm preaching to me,
first of all. But this message is for all of
us. I know we all need this. He said, labor not for the meat
which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life. That is our relationship with
God, our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Labor for
that. Set your heart upon that. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the bread of life, the bread of life that
satisfies. He's the water of life. He's
the one who can actually make us happy. The things of this
world, they perish. They cannot make us happy. Why?
Because they're temporary, they're transitory. We need something
more firm for our souls, the rest of bones. Someone more firm.
And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, which the Son of Man
shall give unto you. That's strange, isn't it? Labor for the meat which endureth
unto everlasting life. But then he says that the Son
of man shall give unto you. For him hath God the Father sealed. And these Jews that he spoke
to today, just like all of us by human nature, the first question
that came out of their mouth was, you know, what work shall
we do that we should work the works of God? He just told them
that the Son of Man shall give it to you. Salvation is a gift. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is
the giver of life, the bread of life, the water of life. He
said, I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never
hunger. And he that comes to me shall
never thirst. This world will keep you and
leave you hungry and leave you thirsting. But the Lord Jesus
is the one who can truly satisfy our souls. The main point, I guess, of the
message tonight is, really, it's a prayer for me and a prayer
for you, that God would give us the grace to live in this
world, but not to live for this world. We have to live in this
world. This is where the Lord has us,
right? To live in this world, yes, but
not to be of this world, and not to live for the world. to
live as strangers and pilgrims on the earth. That's what we're
told about Abraham and Sarah, aren't we? They lived as strangers
and pilgrims, and they were seeking another city. You know what's
amazing when you think about Abraham? Abraham had been promised
the promised land, right? And they had not even inherited
that one yet, and he was already looking to the next one. Even
though God had promised them that land, He looked for a city
which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God. That's
how I want to live. Oh, that God would give me the
grace to live that way, that he'd give you, my brother and
sister in Christ, the grace to live that way. Yes, to live in
this world, but not for this world. Only he's able to give us the
grace to live that way. And you know, Solomon, I believe
he wrote this book as a warning, but I also think he wrote this
book as an encouragement to those who had fallen. Have we fallen? Have we fallen?
Oh, I know we've fallen. Have we fallen away? I think
this is an encouragement to all of us to return, return unto
our rest. unto the Lord Jesus Christ. May
God bless this word. Bill, if you would, dismiss this
in a song.