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Ecclesiastes
8:1-17
“Who is as the wise man? and
who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face
shall be changed. 2 I counsel thee to keep the king’s
commandment, and that in regard of
the oath of God. 3 Be not hasty to go
out of his sight: stand not in an evil
thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. 4 Where the word of a
king is, there is power: and who may
say unto him, What doest thou? 5 Whoso keepeth the
commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment. 6 Because
to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. 7 For
he knoweth not that which shall be: for
who can tell him when it shall be. 8 There
is no man that
hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness
deliver those that are given to it. 9 All this have I seen,
and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there
is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt. 10 And so I saw the wicked buried,
who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in
the city where they had so done: this is also vanity. 11 Because sentence
against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons
of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12 Though a sinner do evil an
hundred times, and his days be
prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God,
which fear before him: 13 but it shall not be
well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a
shadow; because he feareth not before God. 14 There is a vanity
which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked;
again, there be wicked men, to whom
it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity. 15 Then I commendeth
mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to
drink, and to be merry: for that shall
abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under
the sun. 16 When I applied mine
heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there
is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:) 17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is
done under the sun: because though a man
labour to seek it out, yet he shall
not find it: yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.”
Introduction: Keep The King’s Commandments
“Ecclesiastes
chapter 8, Solomon in the earlier chapters, put a template down further, he can
never get God out of his equation, and that’s what troubles him
throughout. It isn’t that what troubles
him is that he doesn’t believe, what troubles him is that he does. And he sees inequity, he sees unfairness, he
sees the wicked prospering, the righteous suffering, he sees man eeking out a
living in his short span of life, and he’s asking himself ‘What’s the point of it all?’ I mean, he has everything, I mean he’s the
guy who has experimented in every regard. He says, chapter 8, “Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man’s wisdom
maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.”
(verse 1) “the strength, the countenance of his face” and of course we
think of Moses or Stephen, the light of God on the face. But he’s just saying someone who understands,
someone who has wisdom, their attitude is different, the way they present
themselves, their countenance, they’re not filled with doubt, there’s a
certainty about them, there’s something wonderful. You know what it’s like to talk to somebody
whose 85 years old, and he’s been walking with the Lord for 65 years, and they
tell you about his love, and there’s something glistening in their eyes, a
certainty, it makes their face shine, he says here, he’s taking note of
that. So, he says “I counsel thee to keep the
king’s commandment, and that in
regard of the oath of God.” (verse 2) he’s looking at civil government, he
himself being a king would certainly appreciate what he’s saying. Those who were around the throne swore
allegiance to the throne, and in ancient Israel they understood to a degree
what the throne was. Look, wherever
there are monarchies around the world today, there is tyranny usually, they’re
a despot. And there was much of that in
Israel, certainly when the kingdom split, the northern [10] tribes didn’t have
one good king [some were better than others, but they were all bad in God’s
eyes]. But he also knows this is an
institution of the LORD, there was no
nepotism, you wanted to be a king you had to be a king’s kid, there was a line,
there was going to be the line of David. You weren’t just swearing allegiance to the king himself, you were
swearing allegiance to an institution of God, in there was another king coming
through that line, God had made a promise to David. The counsel is to keep the king’s
commandments, and that in regard to the oath of God, understanding, you pledge
your loyalty to the king, there is a spiritual side of that.
Don’t Oppose The Civil Leadership
He
says “Be not hasty to go out of his
sight: stand not in an evil thing; for
he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.” (verse 3) the idea is “persist not” don’t be persistent
in something that is contrary to the leadership that God has placed there, “stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth
whatsoever pleaseth him.” “Where the
word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What
doest thou?” (verse 4) i.e. ‘who may say unto him, What’d
you think you’re doing?’ “Whoso
keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time
and judgment.” (verse 5) King James
says “time and judgment” which kind of indicates, and it can, temporal and
eternal, the sense of it seems to be ‘the wise man’s heart discerns the proper
time and procedure of a thing, the way it’s rolling out.’ Look, Jesus himself, when he walked among us
and being questioned by the Scribes about whether it was lawful to pay tribute
to Caesar, of course, came to them and said “Render unto God the things that
are God’s and render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” So when we hear things like Solomon is saying
here, that we should be listening to a king, Paul will tell us in 1st Timothy chapter 2, we’ll be there if the Lord tarries, not in the distant
future, he says that we should pray for those in authority, and the reason he
says that, is so that we might lead peaceable lives, that we might have the
freedom to share Christ in the culture that we’re in. I’ve been several times to the Calvary Chapel
in Zegan, in Germany, that’s a socialist government, the church is thriving,
it's on fire, it’s wonderful to see what’s happening there. I think we have to pray for those in
authority. Paul said that when Nero was
on the throne. It’s when you want to
pray imprecatory prayers at that point in time. He says, no, pray for him. He
will say in Romans chapter 13, he says ‘Let every soul be subject unto the higher
powers, civil government, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be
are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore
resists the power resists the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall
receive to themselves judgment. Rulers
are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Wilt thou not then be afraid of the power, the authority, governmental
authority, do that which is good, that thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for
good. If thou do that which is evil, be
afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a
revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil, wherefore ye must be
subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.’ So, there is order, there’s authority, you
walk in some measure of it, you have kids, you have a job, you have some
measure of authority that you exercise, and you need to be subject to it. And believe me, whether we think much of
about it or not, to the greater degree we are thankful that there is authority
around us in the world that we live in, that there’s some order. We see here the necessity of pledging a
loyalty to the king, and certainly in our lives, that first is Jesus
Christ. The loyalty that we pledge to
that King supersedes any loyalty we have to a civil ruler. How do you know when we’re not supposed to listen
to the government? When the government
tells us that can’t do what you’re supposed to do, what the Bible teaches, when
the government says you’re supposed to do what the Bible says you’re not to do,
there comes a time. Because both Peter
and Paul told the Church to be submitted unto and pray for the civil
authorities that were in the world they lived in, and both Peter and Paul were
slain, Paul beheaded, Peter crucified for not doing it. Because that point just came finally in their
lives, when they were told not to preach the Gospel, not to share Christ, not
to teach their kids the Gospel. Who
knows what’s going to come here, ‘Don’t teach creation, don’t teach marriage is between a man
and a woman, don’t teach the Bible is inspired, don’t teach Jesus is the only
name given among men whereby you must be saved,’ who knows where this is
going to go. Right now we have
incredible freedom, incredible freedom. I guarantee you if those freedoms are taken away we’ll complain a lot
more about not having those freedoms than we are rejoicing right now in the
fact that we do have those freedoms. And
we should use them to the best of our abilities. We have sworn allegiance to a King also, our
King of course is Jesus Christ. It says “Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth
whatsoever pleaseth him.” (verse 3) now it’s very interesting, Luke chapter
10 tells us that, Martha, she was fast to go out of his sight, Mary was sitting
at his feet, and Martha was bugged, you know the story, that Mary wasn’t helping, and ends up accusing not only Mary, but the Lord, ‘Don’t you care, you let
her get away with this, that Hippie, sitting out in the living room while
there’s work to be done.’ And
sadly, sometimes the service, the ministry, becomes lord over the Lord
himself. And when people do that, and
they’re angry at other people who don’t see it the way that they see it. And the Lord said ‘Hey look, she’s chosen the
better part, it’s not going to be taken away from her.’ Sometimes you know, you know, we get in
ministry, and we want everybody to do it the way we do it, and we’re 44, I’m sure you’re all familiar with, when
the Millennial reign of Christ is established, he says to the Levites, he says ‘Because
you turned away from me [cf. Malachi chapters 1-3] and you served other gods
and so forth, you’re not going to draw close to me, you will stand in the
Temple courts, you will stand before the people, you will sacrifice for them
and you will serve them. But the house
of Zadok, the priests of Zadok, where they were loyal to me, they are going to
be with me and minister to me.’ And it’s a funny thing, in the church, a lot of people, all they want to
do is get in front of the people. When
God sets up his Kingdom, he says the lesser places is going out and standing in
front of the people, the superior place he says ‘is being alone with me in
ministry.’ That’s accessible to
all of us tonight, the more superior place belongs to all of us tonight, to get
home, get on our knees tonight before we go to bed, or sit somewhere in the
dark, just get alone with him and talk to him and minister to him and thank him,
you know, all of that is ours now. It
says “Be not hasty to go out of his
sight:” the King’s sight, “stand not
in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.” the word of the King has this power, we
understand all of this, because we’re the children of the King. “Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?”
(verse 4) “Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time
and judgment.” (verse 5) there’s a reason, “Because to every purpose there is a time and judgment, therefore the
misery of man is great upon him.”
(verse 6) I know, if you have the
NIV it says “because to every purpose there is a time and a judgment, though the
misery of man is great upon the earth.” The Hebrew actually says “When the misery of man is great…” it seems to be saying ‘Even though there are great difficulties,
even though there’s brokenheartedness, the times we go through, very difficult
things, still the purpose, the timing, the procedure and judgment of God is
being executed,’
There’s No Escaping Death
“For he [man] knoweth not that
which shall be: for who can tell him
when it shall be?” (verse 7) Man doesn’t know what’s coming down the pike,
what’s ahead of him, except this, in verse
8, “There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the
spirit; neither hath he power in the
day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.” now I
know if you have the NIV or New American Standard [both of which have errors in
translating the Hebrew] it says “breath” because “ruach” is both spirit and
breath [in the Hebrew]. But our context
here, speaking of death, and the spirit being released from the body, demands,
the context is what tells us here, the translations I have, the
transliterations, from Hebrew also say the “spirit” here. “There is no man that hath power over the
spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness
deliver those that are given to it.” (verse 8) So it seems to say, ‘Man doesn’t know what’s ahead of
him, a wise man understands this, there’s authority, we go through life, we
should be loyal to the authority, the powers that God has established in the
world, we live in this context,’ and
he says ‘even in the most difficult days, there’s still timing and judgment
involved in those things, for man doesn’t know what’s going to be, he doesn’t
know what’s coming after this, except this, the thing the haunts us, the human
animal, our entire lives, is the perception of our own mortality.’ It’s funny, my dad, you know, just kind of
healthy most of his whole life that I can remember. And I think he was shoveling snow, and he got
out of breath, so he was 78, he was shoveling snow, and so he put the shovel
down for awhile, then my mom yelled at him to go to
the doctor, and the doctor said ‘What you
do?’ and he said ‘I waited till I caught my breath and I
finished shoveling the snow,’ and they put him on a treadmill, and in three
minutes they had him in a bed in the hospital, for a triple bypass. And it’s funny, I was with him about two months
later, and we were down somewhere in Kensington, some hardware store that were
going to have this pipe and fitting that nobody else in the city was going to
have, and we were driving back and tears running down his face, and I said ‘What’s up?’ and he said ‘I don’t know,’ he said ‘I never thought much about my mortality,
I’ve been healthy my whole life,’ he said ‘becoming a member of this zipper club has put me in a different
place.’ But the truth is, it hangs
over all of us, it hangs over all of us. We’re kind of different, that’s why we get
nipped and tucked, trying to keep our hair dark [what hair?], trying to keep
our weight off, try to keep thin, try to keep young, get our teeth replaced,
but something’s wearing away, something’s wearing away. And there’s no discharge in that war, there’s
no putting down the weapons in that war, there’s no, nobody gets away from
that. And by the way, I believe there’s
a wonderful side to it, man doesn’t have any power over the spirit [what the
Bible calls “the spirit in man” or “spirit of man,” cf. Ecclesiastes 3:19-21;
Ecclesiastes 12:7; 1st Corinthians 2:9-13], the physical frame is
going to die. The spirit then goes to be
with the Lord. He can’t retain the spirit, he doesn’t have any power in the day of death. [for a description of what the “spirit of
man” is, see the article about it titled “Soul vs. Spirit: What Is The Difference” at this link: https://unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm] And every man is subject to that, no
human being has authority over that. That is something that rules over us our entire lives, realizing we are
so frail. You see these shows on TV,
somebody gets a fungus and dies, somebody gets a bacteria, you need to look in
a microscope to see it, and they’re gone. Somebody else falls out of the 13th story of a building, and
they walk away. So nobody really
knows. You may not know what’s coming,
but one thing we do know, this in one form or another, comes to all of us, and
man has no ability in that day to retain the spirit, he doesn’t have power over
the day of death. And the struggle we
have thinking through it, there is no discharge in that war. And “neither
shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.” (verse 8c) don’t get
the wrong impression, people aren’t getting it over on anybody, they’re not
getting away with anything.
You Reap What You Sow, Eventually
Now
here’s the wisest man who ever lived, “All
this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the
sun: there
is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.” (verse 9) he says, ‘I sit around, I think about this stuff.’ You know, he didn’t have a television, he
couldn’t watch Foxnews, he didn’t have facebook, he didn’t know how many likes
he had, he wasn’t doing Snapchat, he didn’t have any of that stuff. He sat around and thought all day, imagine
that, being the wisest guy that ever lived, and you got nothing to distract
you, and you sit around all day and you think about these things. He says ‘All this have I seen, I’ve applied it to my
heart, every work that is done under the sun,’ “there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another
to his own hurt.” the guy whose in charge ends up not to be good for him to
rule over somebody else. [Now think of a
few leaders where that was true, Abraham Lincoln, ended slavery in the United
States, but his health was destroyed, grew old before his time, and then was
assassinated.] “And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place
of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.” (verse 10) King James says “from the place of the holy,” the
Hebrew says “from the holy place” which Solomon was well aware of, because
he had built the Temple. He says “And so I saw the wicked buried, who had
come and gone from the holy place, and they were forgotten in the city where
they had so done: this is also vanity.” (verse 10) he says,
so the wicked, ‘Let me tell you, they go up, they can play the role, in the Holy
Place, I’ve seen them come and go, I watched them get buried, and then they’re
gone, they’re gone, they aggravate people, people watch them come out of church
on Sunday, they’re waving at everybody with their Bible in their hand, and
everybody saying ‘ah what a hypocrite, how can he be going out of there, he’s in
favor of abortion, he’s in favor of homosexuality, and what’s he doing waving a
Bible,’ and he says ‘Look, understand, this all goes by, this
all goes by, what goes on in your life? We can see the wicked, they go up to the Holy Place, that act, they play
the role, they do this, and they get buried, they’re gone, nobody remembers
them.’ And he says, the problem
is, in verse 11, they talk about how
the wicked can get away with that, “because
sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of
the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Remarkable. “Because the sentence against an
evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is
fully set in them to do evil.” (verse 11) We see in our culture, you know, somebody is up for rape, the 5th time, and everybody sits around scratching their heads, ‘What shall we do with him?’ [during WWII if a US soldier was caught raping a girl, he was tried and
hung, or shot instantly], where they have molested children, or somebody’s up
for murder the third time, ‘What should
we do?’ And in a culture where the
perpetrator becomes the one with more rights than the arresting officer or the
person that has to handle them has to be more worried about everybody, you know,
all the rights, and reading the Maranda rights, in other parts of the world
reading Maranda rights on the battle field, we’ve kind of lost our minds a
little bit. [Comment: applied to our children, this verse spells
big trouble, and leads to a criminal mind.] You know, there are countries in the world, I’m not endorsing it, I’m
just telling you, there are places where if they catch you stealing, they’ll
take you to the center of the square, people will come out and watch it, then
they cut your hand off, that still goes on. I’m not endorsing it, I’m just saying, when we live in a neighborhood where
there’s people walking around with one arm missing, you feel a little safer
going out at night. There’s still places
where adultery is a death sentence. There’s places in the world where if they catch you with a joint, one
joint, you’re going to jail. You ain’t
coming out. There’s places where you
throw a gum wrapper on the ground, you get caned in front of people, beaten
with canes. That place is clean, I
guarantee you. I’m not endorsing any of
that, I’m just saying there’s a principle here that Solomon is taking note
of. He says “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, it
doesn’t happen, it doesn’t get dealt with, it says “therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do
evil.” You say to your kids Don’t do
that!’ Now, here’s what you have to
learn, parents, don’t yell at your kids, walk softly and carry a big stick
[chuckles], you don’t ever want them to have warning. Look, you never spank your kid for being
nuts, because they’re all crazy. You
spank them for disobedience. They’re
going to do things, that you’re going to think, ‘I never thought I had to make a rule for that.’ Who’d have ever thought you have to make a
rule for ‘Don’t do this in the bathroom,
to the wall, but the next time you do this you’re going get it.’ Because if you become a yeller, what they
know is, ‘Don’t do that!’ it doesn’t
mean anything to them, because they’re watching your meter go up, your
temperature. The next time ‘Did I tell you not to do that!! The next time you do that you’re going to get
it!!!’ now even then, they know you’re not at the edge yet, because you’ve
become a screamer, and they learn to read you, and because they realize ‘because
the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore their
hearts are set to do all kinds of evil.’ If you love your kid, don’t do that screaming, and here’s why,
let it be discipline, never punishment. Discipline has to be relative to disobedience, not just because they’re
doing crazy stuff, kids do crazy stuff their whole lives. ‘The
next time you swing out the back car door into the street while I’m driving’ you’d never think you’d have to make a rule about that [I know kids where you
would]. ‘Do not throw those sticky things on the ceiling anymore,’ you know
how it goes. We see that in our kids, so
the same thing plays out in an adult. Now look, God is slow to anger, he’s
plenteous in mercy. He’s not saying you
just smoke somebody as soon as they step across the line. In fact, the Bible tells us that people
misinterpret God’s longsuffering as approval. Because God doesn’t deal with them right away, Romans chapter 2 says,
the goodness of God, his longsuffering is to lead men to repentance, to make
room for that, but men misinterpret that as God’s approval in the way they’re
living. ‘Hey, ya, we’re sleeping together, but business is doing good, we’re
taking everything under the table, but ya, we smoke dope every weekend, but we
don’t smoke during the week, and everything’s going fine,’ nothings going
fine, you’re running out of room, he’s slowly tightening your reins, he is slow
to anger because he’s hoping his goodness and his mercy will make a space to
bring you, to lead you to repentance because he loves you. But ultimately because he does love you, he can’t let you flourish in your sin. He’s bringing a picture of civil government
here. He says in verse 12, “Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know
that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: but it shall not be well with the wicked,
neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he
feareth not before God.” (verses 12-13) ‘Hey, I don’t have to listen to those
Bible-thumpers, look at the way I’m living, I get away with it, there’s no
problem,’ circle “yet” “yet surely I
know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:”
(verse 12b) The truth is, verse 12b, these are going to
be the folks that see God’s blessing, not the person who does evil a hundred
times. “but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.”
(verse13) ‘Which are as a shadow’ here’s the wisest man who ever lived. He’s saying this thing is over so fast, the days of the wicked, they
think they’re getting away with something, he says their days are like a
shadow, “because he feareth not before
God.”
In This World We Live In, The
Just Suffer And The Wicked Prosper
“There is a vanity which” he
says ‘I’ve
seen this, I know what you’re going to say,’ “There is a vanity which is
done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be
wicked men, to whom it happeneth
according to the work of the righteous: I said this also is vanity.”
(verse 14) You see a just man, you
think ‘Well if God is in heaven, and
God’s just, how can this happen?’ How
can Joseph be sold into slavery, and he was one of the kids that was really
upright, how can he do the right thing in Egypt and not sleep with Potiphar’s
wife and get thrown in prison for that? How can Job, who was upright above all the men on the face of the earth,
be going through all of this suffering, with his “friends” around him, chewing
him up alive, and he’s a righteous man? Solomon says, ‘You know, I’ve seen this, I’ve seen, I know
there’s a vanity,’ he says ‘there’s a vanity which is done upon the
earth, that there be just men unto whom it happens according to the work of
wicked men,’ you think, ‘Why are
bad things happening to these good people?’ Jesus tells us about Lazarus, sitting at the gate of the rich man, in
Luke chapter 16, begging for crumbs, and yet, when they entered eternity, it
was Lazarus who was in Abraham’s bosom, and the wealthy man was in Hades. He says, I know, these things do happen. “again,
there be wicked men, to whom it
happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.” (verse 14b) It looks like they’re blessed, all the time. There are Ahab’s, there are Haman’s, they
flourish, there are Nebuchadnezzar’s, there are Sennacherib’s, there are these
that, they’re wicked, everything goes their way, he says ‘I understand that those
observations can be made, the conclusion then becomes ‘life is unfair,’ and
then if you believe in God, then it becomes, ‘Well if he’s in charge of
everything, he’s unfair, or ‘he doesn’t care,’ or ‘he can’t control these
things.’ Solomon says, ‘I’ve
worked through all of these things, and there’s wicked men whom it happens
according to the righteous, and I said, this also is vanity, this is nonsense,’ and the reason it is, is because he knows God is just. [Jesus in Luke 16 took this question, where
we tend to view things in the horizontal, what’s happening to the good and evil
on the horizontal, and applies it to the vertical. And when you apply it to the vertical true
justice is achieved in these situations, when justice appears to be lacking on
the here and now horizontal.]
Don’t Try To Figure God Out, His
Ways Are Above Our Ways
“Then I commended mirth, because
a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be
merry: for that shall abide with him of
his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.” (verse
15) ‘eat, drink,
and be merry,’ if you wonder where that came from, that’s where is came from. He’s
wrong, there’s more in life than to eat, drink and be merry. “for
that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth
him under the sun.” (verse 15b) again,
“under the sun,” earthly existence. And “When I applied my heart to know wisdom,
and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there
is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:) then I beheld all
the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the
sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it: yea,
farther; though a wise man think to
know it, yet shall he not be able to
find it.” (verses 16-17) He said, ‘When I wanted to understand this, see the
business, see the way things operate on this ball of dirt, understand there are
those, where they work day and night, never give any sleep to their eyes,’ then he says, ‘Then I beheld all the work of God that a man cannot find out, the work
that is done under the sun, because, though a man labour to seek it out, yet he
shall not find it.’ “yea, farther; though a wise man think to
know it, yet shall he not be able to
find it.” he realizes, he
searched all this out, sit around with his cogitations, work though all of
this, I see those, they don’t even give themselves sleep, working and working
and working, and you look at all this, does it work out, you can’t even
understand how all of the Providence of God overrules all of this. His ways are above our ways, they’re passed
finding out. Man doesn’t live on understanding
God, man lives on the promises of God. If we could understand everything he does, we wouldn’t need a God,
because we’d be as smart as he is. We
live on his promises. He says here that
he sought to know all of this, but there was more than he could find out. Look, the great thing is, we have a
Book. Solomon no doubt had the Torah,
probably had the Book of Job, he had some of the historical books, he had his
father’s Psalms, we’ve got the whole story, Old Testament, New Testament, we
got the whole thing. So we can look at
Solomon’s frustration and realize that we do know the end of certain things, we
do know the final analysis of certain things that he says he didn’t know. And as I look at all of this, and I’m sure
it’s the same for you, I’m more troubled by what I do know than by what I don’t
know. He’s all frustrated because of the
things he can’t figure out. I’m a little
more frustrated by the things I have figured out. I mean, ‘husbands love your wives the way Christ
loves the Church,’ that’ll keep you busy for awhile. Any husband here doing that, please raise
your hand so I can see the problem you have with lying. [loud laughter] ‘Wives, submit to your husbands as the
Church submits to Christ,’ Charles Swindoll says “We don’t lack for knowing, we lack for doing.” Yet wonderfully, we know the grace of Christ,
wonderfully we know he’s raising us as his children, wonderfully we know him,
we’re going from glory to glory, as we behold him, we’re being changed, and the
Father’s committed to the good work he's begun in each of us. Solomon doesn’t have any of that chemistry in
his equations. [i.e. the entire plan of
salvation, in it’s entirety, was not revealed to Solomon at this point in time
in Biblical history.]
Ecclesiastes 9:1-18
“For all this I considered in my
heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their
works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. 2 All things come alike to all: there
is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the
clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth
not: as is the good, so is the
sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. 3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is
full of evil, and madness is in their
heart while they live, and after that they
go to the dead. 4 For to him that is
joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For
the living know that they shall die: but
the dead know not any thing, neither have they
any more reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also
their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither
have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. 7 Go thy way, eat thy
bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth
thy works. 8 Let thy garments be
always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. 9 Live
joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity,
which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy
labour which thou takest under the sun. 10 Whatsoever thy
hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, wither thou
goest. 11 I returned, and saw
under the sun, that the race is not
to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor
yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to the men of skill; but
time and chance happeneth to them all. 12 For man also knoweth
not his time: as the fishes that are
taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil
time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. 13 This wisdom have I
seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me: 14 There
is 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: 15 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. 16 Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not
heard. 17 The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry
of him that ruleth among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.”
Everything’s In God’s Hands
Chapter
9, he says this, you know, here’s a guy who was never held back from anything,
as far as finance or pleasure, he’s a guy whose done everything, he says “For all this I considered in my heart even
to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.” (verse 1) he can’t escape that, he can’t
get away from that, that everything’s in God’s hands. He says ‘I gave myself to know this, even in wisdom
and the righteous in their works, all of that’s really in the hands of God,’ and he says ‘and no man can really look at the circumstances of life and measure
love or hatred there.’ ‘Well God must hate me, look what’s going on
in my life,’ and you let that go and in another month or two, and all of
sudden you find yourself in the situation you had never been in if you hadn’t
gone through this storm that he let you go through. Or sometimes you think, the fat city, the
most wonderful things happening, ‘and I’m
at leisure,’ and a terrible thing happens because you let down your
guard. He says ‘who can know that?’ What he’s saying is, we need more than the
natural revelation, we need more than observation, we need more than what we
can take in, we need something apart from human observation. And that’s the beauty of the Book that we
hold in our hands, as we study through. Solomon is saying that. Look, he
says in verse 2, “All things come alike to all: there
is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the
clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth
not: as is the good, so is the
sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth on oath.” There’s wicked men that prosper, we
looked at that. There’s righteous men
that suffer, there are ungodly men like Ahab that get killed in battle, there’s
godly men like Josiah that get killed in a battle. All people sweat, all people work, all people
get headaches, Christians and non-Christians, get sickness, get cancer, I don’t
know anybody that died of good health [except Moses and Aaron, God took them
while they were in good health]. All
things come to all, in one sense, he’s making an observation. In the other sense, the eternal sense, that’s
not true at all, because there are two destinations, there is separation from
God, and there’s eternity in the presence of God. So there is a measure of truth in what he
says, all things come to all alike, there’s truth in that, there’s also error
in that. Look what he says here, “there
is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the
clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth
not: as is the good, so is the
sinner; and he that sweareth, as his that feareth an oath.” they both
experience things with life and family and illness and weather, as is the good,
so is the sinner, he’s on thin ice there, a measure of truth in that, but he’s
also told us before that the man who is righteous and fears God, God will
protect him and God will keep him, so there is a difference. “and
he that sweareth, as he that feareth
an oath.” the same thing happens, “This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is
full of evil, and madness is in their
heart while they live, and after that they
go to the dead.” (verse 3) well, ya, everybody dies. So Solomon is saying things, you have to
understand, there’s things in the Book of Ecclesiastes that were recorded
inerrantly, it doesn’t mean that Solomon, everything he’s saying in his frustration
is true. But the Bible has accurately
recorded his errors in his thinking for us. He says all end up in one place, all go to the dead, that’s not true,
because there are those, Jesus, the rich man and Lazarus, one of them is in
Abraham’s bosom, the other one is in Hades. One man experiences physical
death and spiritual death, but all experience physical death, but the sinner,
the lost person experiences physical death, then spiritual death, spiritual
death is eternal separation from God. So
there is a great divergence in the final analysis, of course he does not have
some of the light that we believe in. [There are differing views about heaven, hell and eternal rewards within
the Body of Christ, and about the interpretation about Lazarus and the rich
man. To read about some of those, see https://unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm]
About The Dead And Death
He
says in verse 4, “For to him that is
joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Now this is funny for
him, because he had said before ‘better is the day of death than the day of
birth,’ that was kind of wrangling his way of saying ‘ya,
well you know, it’s better to be a living dog than a dead lion, because as long
as you’re alive there’s hope.’ As long as you’re still breathing, there can still be repentance, there
can be turning to God. Once you’re gone
you’re gone. Born once, die twice, born twice, die once, you know
that whole thing, it’s a great sweat shirt. Plenty to think about, should be a bumper sticker that everybody has,
born once, die twice, born twice, die once. He’s basically saying, as long as there’s still life, there’s still
hope, a live dog is better than a dead lion, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any
thing, [Comment: that
statement right there tends to prove soul-sleep, that the spirit in man, as
shown elsewhere in Ecclesiastes, goes to God, all the spirit’s in man, upon
death, go to God. But upon death, that
“spirit in man” is unconscious until the person is actually resurrected back to
either physical or spirit existence, in one of the two major resurrections prophecied
in the Bible. That is what Ecclesiastes
apparently doctrinally teaches on the subject. Now Calvary Chapels don’t use Ecclesiasts for doctrinal teaching and
interpretation. Again, see https://unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm] neither have they any more reward; for
the memory of them is forgotten.” (verse 5) the
dead don’t know that, he’s going to say. The person that’s still alive, they know they’re gonna die. “For
the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more reward; for the
memory of them is forgotten.” (verse 5) most do, some of them think
they’re going to be frozen in liquid nitrogen and reawakened when technology
advances to the point you can wake them up. [haha, they’ll wake up in the 2nd resurrection, back to
physical life, and their first thought will be “it worked!” before the resurrected, immortal, shining as the sun
Jesus tells them it was he who resurrected them, joke’s on them.] Don’t know what’s going to happen if there’s
a power outage in the mean time, some of them are
going to wake up with frostbite and freezer burn. “the
living know that they shall die” you want to think about that when you’re
in sin, think about that when you’re alive. Before I was a believer, I didn’t want to
think about that, I was aware of it, but I didn’t want to think about it. Then one of your friends O.D.’s or commits
suicide, and all of a sudden you’re standing near a casket, and there’s no way
to escape it, you have to think about it. It’s something God’s given to us, God has placed
eternity in our hearts. And that’s the
equalizer, it doesn’t matter what’s happening with the Sixer’s or the Eagles or
the weather or the Democrats or the Republicans, when you stand at that box, it
preaches a sermon. And it says something ‘If you’re not saved, there’s something
you really don’t like to hear.’ The
living, at least they know that they’re going to die, that’s why a living dog
is better than a dead lion. “but the dead know not any
thing,” and again he’s wrong there, because we see those, again, in
Abraham’s bosom, we see those, Revelation chapter 6, under the altar saying ‘how
long O Lord before you avenge us, those that are slaughtering your saints on
the earth,’ we see ‘Revelation chapter 5, a multitude of
nations, kindred and tongues gathered around the throne of God and the Lamb,
thou who wast slain and hast redeemed us, with thy blood, those of every
nation, kindred and tongue, made us kings and priests,’ so he’s wrong,
there is knowledge after death. [Comment: different parts of the body of Christ have differing takes on
this. Those that believe and take this
verse literally believe, as Solomon says in these chapters, that the spirit in
man that goes to God at death is unconscious, until they are resurrected, in
either one or the other of the two major resurrections prophecied in the
Bible. If that is the case, then the
dead, until they are resurrected, do know nothing. Either way, it makes no difference in the
final outcome. For more on these variety
of beliefs about the dead and resurrections, see https://unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm.] “neither
have they any more reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” Well Peter says he wants to see us have an
abundant entrance into the Kingdom of God, we stand at the Bema Throne of
Christ, our rewards. So he’s wrong in
these things, great frustration as he’s putting these things out in front of
us. “Also
their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have
they any more portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” [this is true if soul-sleep is true, all
emotions and knowledge of those who die perishes with them, their spirit in man
goes dormant, according to Solomon, which the Calvary Chapels do not use for
doctrine, but other parts of the Body of Christ do.] It’s not true, isn’t it amazing, we’re going
rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years [yes, after our resurrection to
immortality. But that’s after we’ve
waited, unconscious, in the grave up until our resurrection to
immortality. Again, it doesn’t matter
which interpretation you believe, we all end up experiencing the same outcome,
alive, resurrected back to life, but this time as immortal sons and daughters of
God.] The nation of Israel is going to
serve them for a thousand years. We have
a remarkable portion in things that are to be done under the sun, after our
physical frame dies, in the resurrection [just as I’ve been saying]. Again, Solomon doesn’t have that. So he didn’t understand, somebody as
brilliant as him, working through the frustrations that he has here, as he
looked at things. [But for some strange
reason king David understood he was going to be resurrected into God’s immortal
Kingdom, Psalm 16:10-11.]
So While You’re Alive, Enjoy It
So
he says “Go thy way, eat thy bread with
joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.”
(verse 7) I don’t know if this is
morose, he’s just saying, we do have this, again, Thanksgiving, Christmas, all
the kids and the grandkids with all their spouses, the house, it’s a
circus. Now I just love to sit there and
watch everybody screaming, fighting, yelling, crying, laughing, it doesn’t get
any better than that, on earth. I’m the
richest man in the world. A couple years
ago Cathy in surgery, it was an oncologist down in Hopkins, we thought she had
ovarian cancer, ended up not to be that, though the surgeon thought it was, and
you’re sitting there a number of weeks later, sitting in the living room there
watching like a chickflick, Hallmark or something, I’d rather watch Rocky
beating somebody up. She says ‘You’ve watched this 100 times,’ I said ‘I’ve watched it 200 times, and I’ll watch
it 200 more times, I can watch this Rocky movie forever, what’s wrong with
you?’ But, I just remember sitting
there with her, thinking, ‘I don’t envy
any man on the planet.’ I don’t need
to be George Soros or any millionaires, I don’t envy anybody. I’m sitting here on a cold night, watching
the Hallmark channel, next to my wife who doesn’t have cancer, junk food in the
refrigerator if a commercial comes on, this is as good as it gets. I think Solomon, in the middle of all of
this, I think he’s affirming this, ‘go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, drink
thy wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth thy works.’ “Let thy garments be always white; and
let thy head lack no ointment.” (verse 8) you know, smell good while you can, anointing the head was a sign of joy. And I think his heart twinges when he says
this, “Live joyfully with the wife whom
thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee
under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou
takest under the sun.” (verse 9) ‘thy wife whom thou lovest,’ it’s
singular, he said he couldn’t find one in a thousand, and he had a
thousand. He knew frustration. He looks at a man who walks by, he sees a guy
sitting in his living room watching the Hallmark channel with his wife, he says ‘that’s
good.’ A guy loves her, she
loves him, they have peace, that’s good. Do that, that’s a good thing. We
throw so much of it away, “live joyfully
with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity,” I
think he feels certainly his failures as he says these things, “all the days of the life of thy vanity,
which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in
thy labour which thou takest under the sun.” (verse 9)
While You’re Alive Whatever
You’re Doing, Do It With All Your Might
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” (verse 10) we have that in the New
Testament, that’s a good ideal, whatever you have found to do, do it with all
your might. Paul will say it this way, “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?” Solomon
has none of this, “which is in you, you have of God, and you are not your
own, for you are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in
your spirit, which are God’s.” just whatever you do, do it with all of your
might to the Lord, you’re a purchased possession, you have a destiny ahead of
you, do whatever you do with all of your heart to the Lord, you only get to do
this one time. You look around this
room, you have friends here. Let me tell
you something, time goes by like that, snap! Don’t ever miss a chance to tell them you
love them, that you care about them, ask them what you can pray about, what’s
going on in their life, because we only get to do this once, we only get to do
it one time. Whatever you find to do
with your hand, do it with all of your might, “for there is no work, nor
device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” (verse
10b) and that’s where you’re going, he says. ‘There’s no finishing the undone duties when
you’re there, all of the duties that can be finished can only be finished now,
there is no finishing of undone duties when you’re there.’ And only what’s done for Christ will
last.
God’s Providence Overrides All
These Things, Our Lives Are Not Happenstance
He
says, “I returned, and saw under the
sun, that the race is not to the
swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet
riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and
chance happeneth to them all.” (verse 11) Now, here he is again, in error here, but he’s making an observation
[depending on your doctrinal stance, he is making far fewer errors than some
think. If you include Ecclesiastes as
inerrant Word of God, you have to use what Solomon says as an additive modifier
for your doctrinal interpretations, which modifies what the Bible has to say
about soul-sleep, or unconscious spirit in man upon death until a resurrection
has occurred. If you don’t allow God’s
Word through Solomon to be that additive modifier, you end up with a different
interpretation in that area of Scripture. This is why so many different parts of the Body of Christ differ in the
secondary interpretations of Scripture, whereas they all agree on what the
simple Gospel of Christ is, so they’re all genuine parts of the Body of
Christ]. He’s saying ‘I’ve
seen the best athletes, through one thing or another, lose the race, I’ve seen
the strongest not succeed, I’ve seen the wisest not get riches, I’ve seen men
with the greatest understanding and the greatest skill not succeed.’ But what he does here, is he assigns it then
to fate, everything in life is chance. Is it all chance? Charles
Spurgeon said “Were you saved by fate, or
were you saved by faith?” You’re
walking down the street one day and God decided he was going to save somebody,
so he dropped salvation down, and you walked faster than the guy behind you, so
it hit you on the head instead of hitting him on the head, and you got saved
and he didn’t, so you’re saved by fate? Solomon’s saying here, this is fate. The ancient rabbis said that coincidence is not a kosher word. In all of these things there’s God’s
providence. It doesn’t say don’t be
skilled. We should be skilled in the
things that we do, we should do things to the best of our ability. Chuck Smith, my pastor, used to say “Do your best, commit the rest.” We should use wisdom, we should use
understanding. If you’re in the race, if
you’re in the NFL, I’d want to be the best receiver, so that when they put the
mic in my face I’m going to talk about my Saviour. You want to be a quarterback, be the best
quarterback so you can talk about Jesus, you want to be a heavyweight boxer, be
the heavyweight champ of the whole world, so when they put the mic in your face
you can talk about Jesus. You succeed do
it with all your might, because you have a purpose. You’ve sworn allegiance to a King, that’s
what we talked about in the beginning of this study. And there’s a reason to succeed. But he says here, but there are, in life,
when the swiftest one doesn’t win the race, the strongest one doesn’t win the
battle, the wisest one doesn’t accumulate riches, and the one with the greatest
understanding and greatest skill doesn’t succeed. The truth is, in some of those circumstances,
there is the providence of God, holding us back, when he might steer us in
another direction. And that is
true. [I hate being guided that way,
there are less painful ways to be guided by God.] Those things do happen. I don’t feel like my life is a happenstance, like
I just got here coincidentally, I don’t ever live thinking that. [I know my dad was protected from ever seeing
battle by being assigned to degauss ships at Pearl after the threat of
invasion from the Japanese was over with in Hawaii. I look at circumstances that guaranteed my
line leading up to me, and the protection I received in my early years through
my 20s. Look up on this site Psalm 139
and read it, that God designed us before we were ever conceived, and wove us in
the womb, yes, at the molecular level, protein level, DNA level, gene level,
right up through birth, that’s in the Hebrew of what David was inspired to
write in Psalm 139. We are not
happenstance, God knows the beginning from the end, in my opinion, having
studied the Bible for over 40+ years, for all of mankind. We’ll learn more about that at the Wedding
Feast of the Lamb.]…I remember we started this study in 1981 in November, Cathy
and I looked for a church to go to, we couldn’t find one, we were used to going
and listening to Pastor Chuck, underlining our Bibles, going to church in our
genes, we just couldn’t find that flavour, we were spoiled. [I think he was attending Calvary Chapel out
in Costa Mesa, before he moved back to Philly with Cathy, and there were no
Calvary Chapels around.] A lot of great
Christian people, with a lot of churches in the area. So we said ‘Let’s start a pilot study,’ so we started a Bible study, 20
people. A few of the people here were
there. And then it started to grow, it
was November ’81, June ’82 we were saying ‘Let’s
have Sunday morning,’ there were about 100 people coming, so June ’82 our
first Sunday morning service, about 80 adults, and then it just kind of grew
from there [up to where it was 30,000, and then he trained other pastors, so it
divided up into a number of congregations throughout Philly, making it more
manageable for Pastor Joe, I’m sure.] People started saying ‘Hey Pastor
Joe, hey Pastor Joe,’ so I’m kind of riding home after church saying ‘OK Lord, what’s the deal? they’re calling
me Pastor Joe. If I was you, I wouldn’t
pick me, this could turn out bad. I
wouldn’t do this.’ And then finally,
you kind of say ‘Alright, ah, if you’re
willing I’m game, I wouldn’t do this if I was you, but you don’t make mistakes,
so if you’re willing I’m game.’ And you go through this, you kind of look
at things, this is not happenstance, this is not coincidence, you finally say ‘Alright Lord, something’s happening here,
you’ve led me, you put my feet in a certain place, you’ve given me children,
you’ve given me, like in Exodus 21, put the ring in my ear, take me to your
door, I’d rather be a servant in your house, I’ve gotten me a wife, I’ve gotten
me children, finding you as Master and slaving for you is kinder than any
freedom I’ve ever known.’ Solomon
says, ‘God’s providence overrides these things.’
Two Final Lessons
“For man also knoweth not his
time: as the fishes that are taken in an
evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil
time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.” (verse 12) now of course he’s thinking, he’s looking at the unjust, he comes to this last
lesson about wisdom, this last thing that he says here. He says “This
wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:” (verse 13) he says ‘it really made an impression on
me,’ “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: 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.” (verses 14-15) Now Solomon
thinks about those things, because he is a great king. And he understood in his day, you would lay
siege to a city, and if you laid siege to it long enough, normally the people
inside would begin to starve or die because they didn’t have a water
source. He understands the process of
laying siege to a city. So he said,
little city, few men, great king comes against it, besieges it, and built great
bulwarks against it. Now, there was a
man that was found in it, a poor but wise man. And he, by his wisdom, delivered the city. So this poor person inside, extremely wise,
contrives something to deal with the forces that are outside, Solomon says ‘I’ve
seen this,’ and he delivers the city, then he says ‘yet, no man remembers that same
poor man.’ Nobody remembered
him. [Henry A. Wallace was FDR’s VP from the great depression through most of
WWII, many of his policies and great skill helped deliver the US out of
financial and farm depression, and helped us win WWII, but he was
unceremoniously replaced by Truman in FDR’s 4th term, where he
became, in spite of all he had done and his great social, economic and farming
wisdom, a forgotten man in our nation’s history.] He
said “Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not
heard.” (verse 16) [that’s just exactly what happened to the wisdom of
Henry A. Wallace, it became politically despised after all the power-brokers,
the elite in Washington and Wall Street took him down in the smoky back-room
politics during the Democratic National Convention in 1944. Thereafter his wisdom became despised by the
American people, who quickly forgot Henry A. Wallace, as Truman quietly shoved
him aside. This is real, it happens folks. By the way, Wallace was not a politician.] Everybody’s forgotten about what he
said. “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 destroyeth much good.” (verses 17-18) he will go on in chapter 10 to say that dead
flies will cause the ointment to stink, you get a couple dead flies in your
perfume, it gives it that old dead fly smell. He says this, ‘I’ve seen this, I’ve seen a great army, a great
king come, he’s got in the natural all of the advantages, and yet in this small
city, the siege has been laid against it, there’s a poor man, nobody really
knows much about him, and yet he has great wisdom, he comes up with a plan that
they yield to, and through that, they vanquish the enemy, they have victory by
one means or another. And when that’s
all over, nobody remembers the poor guy, he’s gone. And then I said,’ now look, he has
two practical lessons here, alright, verses 16 and 17. So let me ask you something, just remember
this if you’ve done something for somebody, and you’ve bailed them out of a
jam, you’ve helped them, and you think ‘That’s
Stanley, I’ve shoveled their snow, they were going down the street, they had a
flat tire, I stopped, I worked on it, I took the tire to the gas station, got
it fixed, blown back up, and then they have a barbeque and they invite that
jerk and they don’t invite me,’ look, there’s a lesson here, he said. Two things, he said. First in verse 16, he says this, he
says ‘Learn
to estimate men [and woman too, by the way] by their wisdom and their godliness, and not their outward appearance.’ City, besieged, ready to be destroyed, great king, great army,
an individual that nobody ever thought had much potential and much to
contribute, a poor wise man delivers the city. So first he says to those that are the beneficiaries, learn
to judge men and women by their wisdom and their godliness, not by whether
they’re on a billboard or television show. Secondly, he says to the one whose exercising wisdom, he says, ‘we
should spend ourselves, we should work in the best interests of others, but not for their approval.’ He says, ‘Understand this, in this earthly journey, give yourself, that’s what
our Saviour did, he left his place in glory, and he came, was made in the
likeness of man, not just like a man, but like a servant, gave himself unto
death, not in a hospice, not in a hospital, but the death of the cross.’ Each realization about it as he steps further
and further and further down. So we
finish to the beneficiaries, look around, there will be people around you, you
need to understand…[tape ends]…[transcript of an expository sermon on
Ecclesiastes 8:1-17 and Ecclesiastes 9:1-18, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary
Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]
related
link:
For
the differing interpretations about soul-sleep within the greater Body of
Christ, see https://unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm
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