Heavenly Father Lord, thank you for this evening. Thank you for each and every person who's come out tonight, Lord. And I pray that you would help us to learn from your word, to have hearts that would glorify you tonight, that we wouldn't be focused on ourselves, Lord. I pray for the word that goes out, Lord, that it would be your words, not mine, Lord, my words of no power, but yours do, Lord.
And thank you for your word and for the tremendous power that it has and your living words, Lord. I just pray for strength as I teach your word, Lord, and that you would just be glorified tonight. And Jesus name him in. So we're turning to Ecclesiastes chapter two, and I'm going to be reading in the ESV.
I'm just going to give a quick little overview of what the chapter is about. So basically, this chapter, I've titled my message. Sorry, I just lost my notes. I've titled this message, The Futility of Pleasure, Wisdom, and Labor.
And it talks about the vanity and the futility of what we do under the sun, basically, of the actions that we have under the sun. And what's been spoken before is that the term under the sun means basically living without God, living without a view of anything above, but living with a view of everything below, so under the sun. So with that in mind, I'll read the chapter, starting verse 1 in the ESV version. I said it, and this is Solomon speaking.
I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. But behold, this was also vanity. I said of laughter.
It is mad. And of pleasure, what use is it? I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine. My heart's still guiding me with wisdom, and how do I hold a folly till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven for the few days of their life.
I made great works. I built houses. I planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks and planted them.
It all planted in them, all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water, to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.
I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, many concumines, the delight of the sons of man. So I became very great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them.
I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil. And this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done, and the toil that I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and surviving after wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.
I'm going to stop there for the first part. The first part is the vanity of pleasure and wealth. You'll notice in the first few verses, Solomon has a very, very much a self-focus. And through this chapter, he's experimenting with different ways to find the meaning of life or find what is useful for people to do.
And so he says, come now, I will test. He said, I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure, but behold, this is also vanity. He has very much a focus on himself. And so he wants to satisfy himself with pleasure, which as we can see, he actually leads to self-destructive behavior.
When he starts indulging in wine, it says that in verse 3, it says he was cheering his body with wine. And we know that from other scripture, and I'm sure some of us know from experience that that can be a very damaging way of finding pleasure. It says, self-focus can lead to self-destructive behavior. And it's like the prodigal son in Luke 15, where the prodigal son was very focused on himself.
He really wanted to have for himself all the inheritance that his father had laid aside. And he went and used it. It says in reckless living in Luke 15. And it talks about how he squandered it all on living for himself and probably in the form of alcohol and parties and things like that.
And whatever it may be, it may not be alcohol, but it may be something else. And it can lead to self-destruction, when we're focused on ourselves. And it's kind of an ironic thing, almost, because when we focus on ourselves, we think that we're giving ourselves the best thing. But we don't actually know what's best for ourselves.
Our hearts are very deceitful. And it says, my heart still guiding me with wisdom. We know that when our hearts guide us and lead us, it tends to end badly. And it's because our hearts are very deceitful.
The second section of this, the second part of this section here talks about wealth. It talks about Solomon's great wealth, the many things that he was able to do. He was the king of Israel. He was able to do anything.
He had many riches. He was very wise. And he was able to take on a lot of projects. A lot of, you can see he planted vineyards.
He built for himself some houses. He had some slaves. He had many concubines. And there's a section of this that stuck out to me a lot.
And it says in verse 10, whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure. My heart found pleasure in all my toil. And this was the reward for all my toil.
This is something that's very relatable for many of us. When we start to focus on ourselves, when we start to focus on what we want, instead of what God wants, it becomes an obsession. It becomes something where we, if we see something that gives us any pleasure, we take it. And I can speak from experience that sin is something that's very addictive.
It's something that we can get addicted to, basically. And we have naturally an attitude that I'm not going to withhold anything from what I see and what my heart wants. And this is why, at the end of this, Solomon says in verse 11, then I considered all that my hands had done. And the toil I had expended in doing it.
And behold, all was vanity and surviving after wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun. This brings up the question of what truly is gain. And when we look in the Bible for what the Bible defines as gain, what God defines as gain, we can look in 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy, chapter 6 and verse 6.
It says, Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world. We cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we'll be content.
For those who desire to be rich, fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through craving. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
There's actually a verse in Hebrews as well. I believe it's in Hebrews 3. It talks about keeping ourselves free. Is it chapter 3?
13. Chapter 13. I knew there was a 3 in there. It talks about keeping ourselves free from the love of money.
And what's interesting about that, and maybe slightly ironic about it, is that contentment is actually a form of freedom. It gives us the freedom and ability to please God, and to use our resources wisely for him, and not to squander them, and not to worry about, are we doing things right? And so contentment is actually a form of freedom. And in this first section of Ecclesiastes 2, Solomon realizes that in self-focused, in wealth that is self-focused, and wealth that, and pleasure that is self-focused, is vain and is empty.
He also, so really at the end of the day, that the issue is not necessarily pleasure, and it's not necessarily wealth. The issue is selfishness. And these things under selfishness. There, in a way, pleasure is a good thing.
It's created by God. It's given by God. Same with wealth. Wealth is something that's provided by God.
It gives us things that we, sometimes that we need, and sometimes more than that. And so these are both things that are given to us by God. They're gifts from God. But the issue here is selfishness.
It's not necessarily that wealth and pleasure are bad things. But for them to become the be-all and end-all of our lives are what is not right before God. The next section is verse 12 to 17. I'll just go over that and read that.
So starting in verse 12 in the ESV, so I turn to consider wisdom and madness and folly for what can the man do who comes after the king, only what has already been done. Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I perceive that the same event happens to both of them.
Then I said in my heart, what happens to the fool will also happen to me? Why then have I been so wise? And I said in my heart that this is also vanity. For of the wise, as of the fool, there is no enduring remembrance.
Seeing that in the days to come, all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool. So I hated life because what was done under the sun was previous to me for all this vanity and striving after wind. It does get better, just FYI.
This is a very heavy chapter and very difficult to read in many ways because it emphasizes the futility of our earthly lives, of how the things that we worry about, the concerns that we have here, are not really, they're not really worth worrying about really. And in a way it's a freedom, but in a way it's very hard to come to terms with the reality of how futile our earthly worries are. Solomon says that there is more gain in wisdom. So this is similar to pleasure and wealth.
Wisdom is a gift from God. It's something that in James it talks about how God wants us to ask for wisdom, if we want wisdom, we ask for it. And he gives it liberally. It's a good thing.
It comes from God. And it's a good thing to have. It's good. There's lots of proverbs about keeping wisdom and cherishing wisdom.
But in here it says that wisdom without God is vain. It says that if this is all we have here on Earth, then death happens to both. Death happens to the fool and death happens to the wise people. So in a way Solomon is kind of implying the idea of eat and drink and be married for tomorrow we die.
Basically he's kind of implying that idea. And that is a normal thing to do without God, without the focus on God. He concludes at the end that life is hateful under the sun. I hated life because what is done under the sun was grievous to me for all his vanity and striving after wind.
He just found so much emptiness in this life. What is the opposite of emptiness? Fullness is the opposite of emptiness. And in John chapter 7.
And this is Jesus' teachings. John chapter 7 and verse 37. Jesus says, on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. This is Jesus speaking of coming to God and coming to himself. He is God. And the fact that there's fullness, there's overflowing, endless amounts of joy.
And his spirit is, he pours out his spirit without measure. And also in John 15, 10, 11. I think on every single one of my messages, I've mentioned John 15. But it is one of my favorite chapters.
It says in verse 10, if you keep my commandments, and this is Jesus speaking, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. This is something that is unexplainable in a human flesh way. You can't explain God's the joy of the Lord in our own human terms, in our own flesh.
We can't even begin to describe what the joy of the Lord is like. But it says that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full. So our joy actually can be full. Our lives can be full of joy rather than striving after wind, rather than emptiness.
And it's all about having our focus on the Lord Jesus and having our focus on following God. The last section in Ecclesiastes 2 speaks about labor. So Ecclesiastes 2 and starting in verse 18, Solomon says, I hate it all my toil, which I toil under the sun, seeing I must leave it to the man who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or full?
Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This is also vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toils of my labors under the sun. Because sometimes a person who is toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it.
This is also vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow and his work is a vexation. Even in the night, his heart does not rest.
This is also vanity. This is the third thing that, or I guess it's the fourth thing that Solomon talks about as vanity and that's labor and work and toil. His point is very similar to his point of wisdom, that the results of his work is actually temporary. Another illustration of this is in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12.
And Luke, chapter 12, and it's the rich fool starting in verse 13. Someone in the crowd, and this is people speaking to Jesus. Actually, sorry, I'm going to start in verse 16. Jesus is speaking to the crowd.
Someone asked him to settle an argument between him and his brother, and so Jesus is now answering him. He says, he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man produced plentyfully, and he thought to himself, what shall I do for I have nowhere to store my crops? And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns.
I will build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said to him, you fool. This night your soul is required of you. And the things you have prepared, who's will they be? So this so is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.
It's pretty amazing how closely related Jesus' teachings are to Solomon. He even says the phrase, who's will they be? Basically, where is your possessions? Who are they going to be passed down to?
It could be a wise man or it could be a fool. And in this section, the rich fool is also very self-focused. You can see where he says, he said, what shall I do for I have nowhere to store my crops? I will do this.
I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. I will store up my grain and my goods. Everything is focused on himself. And this is just so much like how we can be.
We can really naturally, we're just very self-focused and very much not desiring to give anything up, not desiring to give anything up to God, whether it be control of our lives or maybe our riches or it might be just anything that we have. And this is the truth because all the things that we have here and all our belongings, all of our labor, everything we have is temporary. And so when it becomes the sole focus of our lives, it's really vain. Solomon doesn't stop there.
He actually concludes in this chapter something very interesting where he comes to many of these conclusions in Ecclesiastes. This is one of them. And this isn't verse 24 till the end. It says, there is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil.
This also I saw is a gift from the hand of God. Apart from him, who can eat or have enjoyment? For the one who pleases him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy. But to the sinner, he is given the business of gathering and collecting only to give to the one who pleases God.
This is also vanity and striving after wind. At the end of this chapter, Solomon comes to the conclusion that these things that he is frustrated about, these things that he is realizing are vanity, are actually not bad things. They're actually good things. They're a gift from God.
It says, eat and drink, that there's nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also I saw is from the hand of God. It's something that God provides. But notice the focus is different.
His attitude is different towards his things and towards who is providing his things. He's not talking about the things that he has provided for himself. He's not talking about the things that he will provide for himself. He's talking about how this is from the hand of God.
And aside from God in verse 26, for to the one who pleases him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy. But to the sinner, he has given the business of gathering and collecting only to the one who pleases God. Aside from God, life is actually just a cruel cycle. It's just get up, go to work, go home, eat supper, go to bed.
Get up, go to work. It's just that over and over again. And at the end of your life, you get nothing from it. But in a life that is God focused, where we turn our hearts toward him and rely on him for the needs that we have, that's a life that is joy beyond what we can imagine.
And it's like John 15, the joy that is full. And in John seven where it says we'll be overflowing. It's important to have this attitude of thanksgiving and to realize that all that we have is a gift from God. And in the Lord there is lots of blessing.
There is fullness. There is a contrast between this where Solomon is talking about such emptiness and such vanity in our everyday lives. I'm going to turn to Psalm 103, because this is talking about the fullness of the Lord. And I just want to end my message on a note praising God for his fullness and that life is not vain when we have him as our Savior.
Psalm 103 in the ESV, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good, that your youth is renewed like the eagles.
The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He may know his ways to Moses and his acts to the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great as his steadfast love towards those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass. He flourishes like a flower of the field.
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him. And his righteousness to children's children. To those who keep his covenant and remember his commandments, the Lord has established his throne in the heavens.
And his kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, O you, his angels, you, his mighty ones, who do his word, obeying the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all you, his hosts, his ministers, who do his will. Bless the Lord, all you, his works, all his works, in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul. Let's close in prayer, and thank the Lord for his fullness, and for his awesome love. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for your teaching, Lord.
Thank you for this sobering message of the vanity of our earthly, toil, Lord, and our earthly worries. Lord, I pray that you would help me, and you would help us to have our focus on you, and know that our provision is from you, Lord, and that you are the one who rules over all. Lord, I pray that you would help us to trust in you fully. And to have your joy, Lord, that overflows, thank you for this amazing Psalm, Lord, that teaches of the fullness of your forgiveness, and just all the blessings and all the wonderful things that you are, Lord, in our lives, and in the world.
Thank you so much, Lord, and in Jesus' name, amen. I was gonna sing one song before we go, and that's 10,000 reasons.