Video Transcript: The Last Word

Today we end a series of a dozen messages on Ecclesiastes. And in one sense, we're going to  look at a very small chunk of it the very last chunk. But in another sense, we're going to look  at the whole deal. You know, you've heard a lot of sermons already, and some of them plenty  long. How are we going to cover the whole book? In one sweep? Well, we'll try and I'll try not  

to linger too long on any one part. The book began simply by telling us who wrote it, and  basically what it's about the words of the preacher, the son of David King in Jerusalem.  preacher is the one who gathers people together the convener, that teacher that people  gather around in Greek, it's Ecclesiastes, in the original Hebrew, it's koheleth if the person  doesn't give his name. It is almost certainly King Solomon, but he never describes himself as  King Solomon, anywhere in the book. And then he goes on to say what his book is going to be  about Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. The Bible  translation that I've used throughout the message, it renders it as Meaningless, meaningless,  everything is meaningless. That is maybe a shade of it, but probably isn't quite as accurate as just taking the word vapor of vapors, hebel, hebel, hebel, that's how it goes.  And it doesn't just always mean utterly meaningless, and empty. But it does mean that life is  a lot like a mist, or a vapor or a fog. Fog is hard to see in you can see a little something but  not very far, and not very well. Fog is something that is you can't really get a grasp on it. It's  frail, when the sun comes out, it kind of melts away, and life is a little like that to where it's  there. And then it's not. And it's very, very fleeting. So when you read this, or that translation  of Ecclesiastes, just remember that the original word is Life is like a vapor, or a fog, or a mist.  And that has various shades of meaning. Interestingly, I don't want to get too much into  numerical games. And sometimes the thing about hidden numbers in the Bible can be very,  very far fetched, but not in this book. Have all the word for fog. When you take Hebrew  letters, they would also use them as numbers and the numerical value of hebel is 37. The  words for hebel or fog appear 37 times in the book of Ecclesiastes think that was just kind of a total accident. The the phrase habel havalim hakkol habel Vanity of vanities,  all is vanity, has a numerical value of 216. There are exactly 216 Hebrew verses from the first  verse of Ecclesiastes till the last time he says people have Aleem hudco Humble. Again, it's  not a total accident that the value of the word is 37. And it appears 37 times or that the value of the whole phrase is 216. And there are 216 verses on that theme before he rounds it out  again, we're going to see at the very end it says he chose his words carefully. You bet he did.  There have been some liberal scholars have tried to say that, Oh, he just kind of threw this in  that together. Dream on? Well, when you get into chapter one, you have the Sisyphus  syndrome. He doesn't use that term. But he talks about what's the use? If you see what goes  on in creation or in the world. And you see the sun goeth comes up and goes down and comes up again, the waterfalls down and goes out from the rivers to the sea and evaporates and  round and round around and all goes, your life goes round and round and round. You work at  this, you work at that. And then nothing seems to change. You change one diaper and there's  another one waiting for you. Before you know it, you clear the dishes from the table and  there's a whole nother pile of dishes waiting for you. You go to the office, you get your stack  of work down and then all of a sudden it's up again. And you're like old Sisyphus that figure in  Greek legend who was sentenced for his crimes forever to push a round boulder up a  mountain and then when it gets to the top, have it roll down again and then have the  privilege of pushing it back up to the top so it can roll down again. And that's how Chapter  One goes these cycles that again and again and again. You do the same thing and at the end  of the day you seem to have accomplished nothing. What a heavy burden God has laid on  man I've seen all the things that are done under the sun. All of them are meaningless a  chasing after the wind. A couple of phrases that he uses often under the sun. Again, he's  looking at life horizontally, not up, but around. And from the perspective of just looking  around, it seems like things just go in endless cycles and your life goes in an endless cycle.  And what you accomplish doesn't seem to amount to much. And there's value in  understanding that even though it's a little depressing if you think about it too hard, but he's  portraying what work is like without God's grace, and without God's vision in your life, what  wisdom is like as you try to think through these things, and don't have the benefit of the light  of God's revelation, but you're just grappling and wrestling with these things under the sun, is 

a very difficult place to be if that's all you've got, and if that's your only perspective. Well, in  chapter two, the Solomon goes on a wild Chase using all of his vast resources of wealth, and  wisdom, and ability. And he tries out three things, just every kind of pleasure you can  imagine. With his many, many women with all of his vast gardens and houses and, and  wealth, he decides to pursue trying to be the smartest guy and of course, he was the  smartest guy. But just learning one thing after another to see if wisdom and brainpower is  what life is all about. But he discovered, yeah, you know, you do all that. And then you get a  gravestone just like any dummy. So, you know, wisdom isn't everything, whatever its value  might be, it's not the ultimate value, and achievement and work, don't cut it. And so he  summarizes that I denied myself nothing my eyes desired. Yet, when I surveyed, all my hands  have done what I toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless a chasing after the wind,  nothing was gained under the sun, you work your fingers to the bone when you get bony  fingers. So he says, Without God who can eat or find enjoyment. That's the result of his big  experiment, he keeps a journal of it in Ecclesiastes two of the one person who had the ability  to chase everything he ever wanted, and actually to get it, and then find out who was wanting the wrong things. We need to understand that even if we could get our dreams, there is one  thing worse than not being able to get your dreams and that is to get them and find out  they're a nightmare, and that you had been chasing the wrong thing, your whole life. Then in  chapter three says, A, there's a time for everything, and a season for every purpose under  heaven, a time to be born a time to die a time for this a time for that. And God has made  everything beautiful in its time. But at the same time, he has set eternity in the hearts of  man. So there are these times that you live in. And those times are not enough to satisfy that  eternity, that God has put inside you this eternity size, emptiness that only God can fill. And  so when we look at eternity and begin to grasp eternity, then the times are not quite so  frustrating for us either, we begin to see what they're about time and our experiences in  various times our appetizers, so that we will reach out to God and perhaps find him and find  satisfaction for that terrible emptiness that otherwise eats away at us time on our hands  eternity in our hearts, chapter four. One of the most profound things about human life. And  the saddest things about it is loneliness. And he saw the tears of the oppressed. And when  you're oppressed, whether you're a first grader getting picked on, whether you're somebody  at the office that nobody really wants to associate with, or whether you're one of those people who was hunted by your government, if you're getting picked on, it often gets very, very  lonely because nobody else wants to be near you when you get zapped. And it is lonely being  oppressed. It's lonely at the bottom, but it's also lonely at the top, you rise in the ranks and  people envy you, you get super rich and you might have an entourage but they're hanging  around mainly for your money, not because they liked you so much or at least you never  quite know whether they liked you very much because you just got too much stuff that they  might want. So it's lonely at the bottom it can be lonely at the top and Ecclesiastes four  shows us how tough loneliness can be and and then the importance of companionship. Think  about your life. Do you have companions? Do relationships matter to you? Because there's  going to come a point where being the loner just doesn't cut it. Two are better than one  because they have a good reward for their work. If one falls down his friend can help him up  but pity the man who falls down and has nobody to help him up. If to lie down together, they  can keep warm together. But how can one keep warm alone, though one may be overpowered to condescend themselves, a cord of three strands is not easily broken. Those classic words  about the reward of experiencing stuff together of helping each other up after you fall of  warming each other in a pretty chilly world, and of having somebody to stand with you  against the various attacks and arrows that come at you in life, just the importance of the  friendship factor, whether that dear friend is your spouse, or somebody else that you're very  close to, or a cluster of people who stand together with each other. Don't try to make it  through life under the sun, all by yourself as that splendid alone or who has everything you  need in and of yourself, it's not going to work. Chapter Five begins by saying, You better take  God seriously. Watch your steps when you go near to the house of God and don't go there to  offer the sacrifice to fools. Take God, seriously. And when you speak in God's presence, take  yourself very seriously. Don't go off as Oh, that was a mistake that I made that promise. If you

make marriage vows, if you make vows out a profession of faith and baptism, if you make  other promises in God's name, and before God, any words, in fact that you speak, says Jesus,  the better your yes, the better mean Yes. And you're no better mean No, because your words  spoken in God's presence in your attitude toward God is very, very important. And  Ecclesiastes, he says, You've got to take God seriously. Because God in an instant, can destroy everything you've done. You know, at this point, he's still not necessarily viewing God as a  good friend, but as a major, major factor in the outcomes of your life. So take God seriously.  And that's really not just a depressing insight, as we saw many of the greatest and most  beautiful and splendid things are also pretty dangerous. And so when we deal with God, God  is great, and splendid, and beautiful. And life, walking with Him is fantastic in many respects.  But it's also a dangerous pursuit to be that close to someone that great, that terrible, it's like,  fooling around just playing a little game, when something live with 10,000 volts is not very far away, you want to be a little bit cautious or climbing a great rock face, it may be wonderful,  but you better respect it, to say the least. So he's getting he's gaining insights about God, not  even with the full revelation of God having come yet but nonetheless, showing us some  important factors. And then, of course, having considered God he considers a bit about  alternate gods. And as he, as he says, in one of the Proverbs A money is the answer for  everything. Sorta, not quite. And so he shows some of the things that money really can't buy,  it can't buy a fair system, governments that money is the main factor in are almost invariably  corrupt. It can't buy happiness, it can't buy friends, it can't buy peace of mind and get rid of  all your worries, it can't secure your future because you never know what's gonna happen in  the markets, and you never know what's going to happen to you. And it certainly can't buy life after death. The Bible says that no amount is ever enough to ransom a person's life. It's with  not with silver and gold or other things like that, but with the precious blood of Christ, that  you've been purchased. So again, to review what money can't buy is a pretty important thing, when you're walking through life, because you can get into a fog where you think all would be solved, if only I had more cash. And if I could just get enough money to make ends meet, then my problems would be over. Sometimes having enough money is important. But it is not the  solution to all of our difficulties. And amid all that, what money can't buy, there's an insight  that keeps coming up again and again at various spots in Ecclesiastes, then I realized that it's  good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor  under the sun. During the few days of life God has given them for this as his lot. Moreover,  when God gives any man wealth and possessions and enables him to enjoy them, that's the  key, not just giving you stuff, but also the ability to enjoy that. That is and to accept his lot  and be happy in his work. This is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life,  because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart. He's not somebody who's just  always just tearing away at himself and wondering why he can't be happy because God has  given him the ability to rejoice in the good things that have come into his life. This gift of  gladness is not something that you can just chase after and grab on your own. It's Something  that has to come as a gift from God. Chapter Seven talks about the school of hard knocks, it's  better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting for death is the destiny  of every man, the living should take this to heart sorrow is better than laughter. Because the  sad face is good for the heart. It talks about these good times that are a gift of God. But it  says if you really want to grow in wisdom, be paying special attention in the places of  mourning, and at the really sad times in your life. Because those are where wisdom really  gains weight and significance and becomes clear for you. And if you live very long in the  school of hard knocks, you kind of come up with the upshot that he does, there is not a  righteous man on earth, who does what is right. And never sins. This only have I found God  made mankind upright. The men have gone in search of many schemes. And a life and the  school of hard knocks will teach you that they will teach you some of the schemes of your  own wicked heart. It'll teach you a lot of the other schemes that are out there. And so you  learn these lessons about not just oh, life is kind of meaningless and empty, or God seems  distant. But if you'd get really down to it and think about it hard, you say, Yeah, an awful lot of that is because we are really messed up. And amid all that, he says, okay, don't be over  righteous, neither be over wise, Why destroy yourself, don't be over wicked. Don't be a fool. 

Why die before your time, it's good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who  fears God will avoid all extremes. If you fear your God, you know that it's not going to do you  much good to try to be the super most righteous person in the world. Because when you see  your god you know, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and you're not going to  be able to make it to that level of righteousness on your own. If you know how great God is  and how deep and vast his wisdom is, then to try to think that your wisdom is going to carry  you up to that divine level is just lunacy, you are never going to be that wise. But on the other hand, if you fear God you also know well, I may not be able to be as righteous as he is or as  wise as he is. But obviously, to be a wicked dunce is not the answer. You have to there is an  all righteous and all wise God who is running all things so, so live with a sense of balance  before God with reverence before him, that puts your own efforts that wisdom and  righteousness in their proper place without getting too snooty about them. At the same time  preserves you from just flying off the handle into a wild and wicked life. Enjoy what God gives  you I commend this is again, this is a thing that comes up again and again, I commend the  enjoyment of life, because nothing's better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad the joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life. God has given him  under the sun, it is a gift and it's a gift to be enjoyed. And you're living with limits. You're not  Batman, you're not James Bond, who can always outsmart the villain who can always make  the ending turn out the way you were wanting it to. You're not a superhero. There are many  things you cannot understand many things you do not control. And hey, you can get  frustrated about that. Or you can say phew It's a relief not to have to run the universe. Like I'll leave that to somebody else. I'll leave that to God. When I applied my mind to know wisdom,  and to observe man's labor on her, his eyes not seeing sleep day or night, then I saw all that  God has done, no one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to  search it out. Man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a man a wise man claims he knows he cannot really comprehend it. A big part of wisdom is knowing the limits of wisdom, and being  able to live within the limits that are on your abilities, and on what you can know. And in that  whole thing where he's thinking about the limits. He says, Hey, nobody has power over the  day of his death. There's this problem that wickedness once you're into it, it just won't let go  of you. It's got a grip on you. And there's this problem that bad people seem to get what good people deserve. And good people sometimes get what bad people deserve, what a rotten  deal. And then in the deeper mystery of God, it turns out that there is one who has power  over the day of his death. He says nobody takes my life from me. But I lay it down on my own  accord and I do that for the salvation of the world. Wickedness won't release those who  practice it but there's one who was never wicked, and he can force wickedness to release its  grip on sinful people. We may get frustrated when things aren't fair. And when the destiny of  the wicked sometimes falls on the righteous. But that is the salvation of the world. When it  turns out that God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become  the righteousness of God. So sometimes the things that we are frustrated by and wish were  different, and God always made sure the bad guys got zapped, and the good guys got  rewarded. Oh, wouldn't that be nice? Yeah, except I'd be the zappee. You know, that's the only downside of that. So, you know, this frustrating thing that people don't always get exactly  what they had coming to them. Well, Jesus, God, what we had coming to us, and we get what  he deserved. And that turns out to be God's wisdom, His secret wisdom revealed in our Lord  Jesus Christ. You move on to chapter nine, and you find these still thinking about hard things.  That's the mark of a great thinker, a great philosopher. Some have called Ecclesiastes, the  greatest book of philosophy in the history of the world, not the only one to think about these  hard things. The Buddha grew up as a prince protected from every problem never saw a sick  person, because his dad always kept him away from that always was fabulously wealthy and  his palaces and have this perfect protected life. And then one day, he made out from his  palace on his own and saw a sick person, and an old person, and a dead person. And these  things shocked him and he got to thinking about them. And then he saw a hermit meditating  and realize he needed to think about the hard things in life. And he thought about many of  the things that are considered and pondered in Ecclesiastes. But he reached some different  conclusions because he was operating within more of a Hindu and Eastern worldview. So he 

thought that life just goes around and around and you go through one life after another after  another in a whole bunch of reincarnations. And your karma follows you. And you always end  up getting exactly what you deserve, if not in this life, then in life number 473. So there,  that's how things go. And your ultimate goal is to escape that whole thing, lose your personal  identity, realize that you're just one with the whole universe, which is an impersonal force.  And this is what you want to seek. And you realize that desire is a bad thing. And you need to  extinguish all desire. Very different viewpoint from that in the Bible, which says that desire is  a good thing, but not the ultimate thing. But desire can lead us beyond the things of this  world, to even greater things. And that there is not just one life after another after another  after another, there's exactly one life here under the sun. And then comes eternity. You only  live once. And so the instruction of Ecclesiastes is because you only live once, enjoy what you  have while you have it. Enjoy the simple things in life, because many of the simpler things are not what you have to pay oodles of money for. A good spouse can't be bought with money. A  great drink of water doesn't cost you anything. Going outside in the sunshine on a beautiful  day, you don't have to pay a fee for that you just have to enjoy it. So enjoy what you have.  And while you're here in this one life on Earth, that God gives you do what you can, whatever  you do, do it with all your heart. That's what Ecclesiastes says, do what you can, and then live with the fact you can't control everything, and be ready to meet your maker. As it says later in the Bible, it's appointed the man who wants to die. And after that, to face judgment not to go  through one life than another than another to work off your karma and eventually lose your  personal identity entirely. But to be a person forever, in the presence of the eternal person  who created you. Well, sometimes we read in Ecclesiastes about limits of wisdom. There are  some things wisdom just can't do. True enough. But that don't mean it's good to be a dunce.  Stupidity stinks, as dead flies, gift, perfume, a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom  and honor. So if you want to think of life as a school, it's good to learn while you're in that  school of life. And he goes through various things, I won't go into them in detail stupidity and  command and then the whole chain of command where the wrong people get promoted,  where the king is often out for his own self interest and not for the good of the people where  the boss at work, again, doesn't know what he's doing. These things happen in the chain of  command, their stupidity at work, and various other forms. I won't go into them all and one  example he gives is, don't try to get your profit before you've done the work. Don't try to  close the deal before you're sure you've made the sale. And don't try to reach out for that  money. If you haven't yet charmed the Cobra he may nail you or may get your customer and  either way you're not gonna get paid. Yes, you're reaching for the cash before the Cobra has  been charmed. And he says, Be a little careful with your complaining, you can gripe about the boss, you can gripe about the people or the authority and say, Ooh, I'm just whispering it in  my little bedroom here. But a little birdie will fly away. And somehow what you said, will get to the person you were talking about. So don't be announced when it comes to complaining  about others. And all of that stuff about stupidity. So thinks, shows, again, that wisdom of a  certain sort, may be limited in value, but it still is valuable and is vastly superior to stupidity.  And ultimately, we just need to be saved from stupidity, and to receive the spirit of wisdom  and of counsel of understanding and knowledge, the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's  where ultimate wisdom is going to come from. Then he moves into kind of wrapping things up chapter 11, is dealt with the fact you don't control everything. And the fact that some stuff  just happens that you couldn't have prevented. And you can get frustrated about that. Or you  can say, Isn't life exciting? Life's an adventure, I'm gonna go for it. And he says, Cast your  bread on the waters, you send your ship out with grain and be a merchant out there on the  waters, it's risky. But it'll come back to you after many days. So, so send your ship out, or he  says sow your seed in the morning. And that evening, Let not your hands be idle, because you don't know which one is going to prosper whether this or that, or whether both are going to  do equally well. One thing you do know, if you don't risk failure, you guarantee failure. So  keep on venturing, keep on taking your risks. Life is an adventure, faith is risking boldly. And  that's supremely true even in our walk with the Lord in our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ have  a life to come. If you wait until you have every last answer to every question you ever had  about the Bible. If everything that ever made you scratch your head about your life has got to

be solved. If you're not going to believe in life after death until you get there. Well until you  see it exactly, and you want to eliminate all risks. You're never going to venture on the most  important things in life is a willingness to risk boldly, rather than to cower in a little corner and bury the talent God has given you in a hole. Because, after all, he's kind of a harsh master. So I'll just bury it there and not risk it anywhere. I'll just bury it because that's the safest thing to  do. Jesus says if you play it safe, you lose your life. If you risk your life, you get a life. And life  is a gift. Faith is receiving gladly, again and again throughout Ecclesiastes. The blessings of  this life are a gift, the ability to enjoy those blessings are a gift and rather and say boy, I wish  I could push all the buttons that make it happen. See, I am glad that I have a giver who gives  such things and I am going to receive them with gladness and enjoy them to the max while I  have them. Be joyful young man while you're young and follow the way of your heart. That's  what it says. And also be accountable. Remember that you're going to answer to God, but  you're not going to answer to everybody else. Who are the overexspecters who are always  treating you as an underachiever. You're not going to answer to everybody else is trying to  judge you, you will answer to one. But in the meantime, remember Him and follow the ways  of your heart. Enjoy the gifts of life and don't get too frustrated by the fact that Yeah, you  can't make them last forever. The stuff you're having fun with now will melt away like vapor,  vapor vapors, all vapor. Never forget that. But while you've got it, enjoy it, and then see what  comes out to that when God gives it to you. And supremely life is a relationship phases  walking with God Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. And if you're not a youth  remember him anyway because you're not getting any younger. Get a life while you have a  life and walk with God while you have the opportunity life is meant to be lived in relationship  with Him not under the sun, not with God just as a distant, distant factor, but with God as a  friend. And as a father. These are the insights that come out as you work your way through  the book of Ecclesiastes. And then remember him when you're young because your health is  eventually going to deteriorate. A time is going to come when you say I find no pleasure in  these things the various parts of your body start deteriorating and you near death and then  death comes remember him before the silver cord is severed and the Golden Bowl is broken  before the wheel is smashed at the well and the dust returns to the ground. And it came from  and the spirit returns to God who gave it. That reality of death is something that again comes  up again and again throughout Ecclesiastes, because it is the one sure fact that we know  about ourselves, we're going to die. And we had better understand that fact, if we want to  know what life is all about. There's a song that says, someday the silver cord will break. And I  know more is now shall sing, but oh, the joy when I shall wake within the palace of the king.  And I shall see Him face to face and tell the story, saved by grace. That's what happens when  the spirit returns to God, who gave it if your spirit is in tune with God, and then back to  habel havalim hakkol hebel Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, Vanity of vanities all is  vanity, verse number 216, for the phrase that adds up to 216. This is, this is it. This is the  book that he has put together to say life is like a mist, or a vapor. But there's something about it that's very precious and beautiful and important. It is an adventure. And faith is taking the  risk. It is a gift and faith is receiving that gift gladly. It is a relationship and faith is walking  with your Creator and trusting him while you have the opportunity. And so live with that kind  of vapory life and realize that it's pointing you towards something much greater. And then we  get to this point. He goes, he's done his 216 verses on Vanity of vanities, and then we get  kind of the aftermath. And it It begins by telling us why should we listen to this guy. One really good reason to listen to this guy is he was a genius. It is not smart to ignore the great  geniuses and the towering intellect and the people who have experienced a lot more than we  have. Not only was the teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He  pondered and searched out and set in order. In many proverbs, the teacher searched to find  just the right words. And what he wrote was upright, and true. He was wise. And he knew how to impart knowledge. That's not as easy as it sounds. There are some people who are very  smart, and who know tons of stuff. And they cannot communicate. They, they have a gazillion degrees and their knowledge is vast, and what comes out of their mouth are words so long  that you go huh. And then you have other people who have the gift of gab, and they really  know how to talk and communicate. It's just that, well, it's a little empty up here. They just 

don't know very much. And although they can, they have a tremendous flair for  communication, they just don't have much to say. That's the situation with a good deal of  what you'll find in our media. today. We have never had such gifted people at making things  flashy, and looking fantastic. And writers have clever scripts. But not all of them have a lot to  say. So you have the geniuses who know a lot. You have the communicators who don't know  much. When you get that blended together in one, somebody who was not only wise but  imparted knowledge to the people. Then you have somebody very precious and King Solomon had that gift of understanding and at the same time communicating. He pondered and  searched out and set in order many proverbs he was very careful. He was a craftsman and all  this I've already mentioned that he used the word Hevel 37 times and its value is 37. Or that  the phrase had a value of 216. And that's how many verses he put he put things together  very carefully. He chose just the right words. Mark Twain said the difference between the right  word and almost the right word is the difference between the lightning and a lightning bug.  Well, Ecclesiastes is lightning. He chose the right words. And what he wrote was upright and  true. He was faithful in what he said. And he was honest, in what he said it was true. When he did his pleasure tour. He didn't do a nice creaturely thing and say, pleasure is really a drag. He said man did I have fun? But it didn't turn out to be quite what I needed or what I was looking  but he was very honest. That it was a blast while it lasted. It's just that he came up Be empty  when it was all over. So you have somebody who's upright and true and tells us the exact  truth about things. So one reason to listen to the message of Ecclesiastes is because one of  the great geniuses in the history of the world, in fact, probably the greatest genius in the  history of the world, save our Lord Jesus Himself, wrote it, the words of King Solomon, are  worth listening to. And there's an even greater reason to listen to Ecclesiastes. Solomon is a  very great genius. But somebody, somebody more than Solomon, was speaking to the words  of the wise are like goads, they're collected sayings like firmly embedded nails given by one  shepherd, be warned my son of anything in addition to them, of making many books, there is  no end. And much study, where is the body? One Shepherd, stands behind all of these  sayings of the wise. And as with all of Scripture, there is a human author. And these human  authors in Scripture have their unique experiences and personalities, and astonishing abilities  and insights. But somebody else was always working through them, and guiding what they  wrote, one shepherd stood behind it all. And the words of the wise Well, in one sense, they're  like goads, What's a goat? Well, it's a sharp stick, whereas you've got an ox or something  that's not moving or that snoozing and needs to get moving, you poke it, and it wakes up and  gets going. And there are words in Ecclesiastes that are that are a stick in the rear end, that,  you know, they, they don't always feel good, do they, but they will wake you up from your  drowsy little slumber, and clear away at least some of the fog that surrounds your life. And  also, they're like firmly embedded nails, they give stability, they nail some things down solid.  And so you can you can count on the things that are nailed down by the wise who are guided  by this one shepherd. And as we consider Ecclesiastes, as well as in a wider perspective, the  Bible in its larger context, all written by human authors, and yet all inspired by the Holy Spirit  of God Himself, we need to realize that when God has spoken, be very careful about what  gets added on to it. A general rule of thumb is if it's new, it isn't true. And if it's true, it isn't  new. You will hear many times that we have fantastic new insights never before dreamed of.  And yeah, there are certain kinds of insights. Obviously, certain discoveries have been made  in this or that area of life, and we ought to value discoveries in medicine or technology. But  when it comes to the basics of what life is really about, who humanity is, who God is, why we  live for him, or don't, what our eternal destiny is. If it's new, it isn't true if it's true, and isn't  new, that when God has given His revelation Be warned of anything in addition to it, of  making many books, there is no end and much study, wearies is the body, the favorite of  students everywhere. But that sentence is really one that packs a wallop. In the age we live  in. Now, he was writing in the age when everything was written by hand on scrolls, or  stamped on the clay tablets. That's how they produced books back then. And he said, of the  making of books, there is no end. And much study, wearies is the body? When we have the  printing presses, and the Internet and the gazillion megabytes of information caught all  coming from us from everywhere we can truly say there is no end to the information that will 

come at you. And so what are you going to do? Well, there comes a time, there comes a time,  when you shut off your little smartphone. You turn off the screen on your computer, you put  down the newspaper, you stick the books back on the shelf, you turn off all your other  gadgets, gizmos and put away all your other pieces of paper. And you return to that one book  given by one shepherd. You can spend five hours on Facebook and get less benefit than five  minutes listening to the shepherd. And so consider very carefully in your own life. How much  room are you making for the words of the one shepherd? And how much room are you making for all that other stuff? That wearies is the body and that is is add on? Again, this isn't a call to be intellectually closed and never learn anything new in the realm of technology and science  and the various arts and so on. It is a call to realize what matters most and why book can be  counted on most thoroughly Anyway, listen, listen, because it's written by the greatest of  human geniuses. And it's backed by the genius of the Creator Himself. That's why you listen  to these words. And finally, the last word. Now all has been heard. Here's the last word, the  conclusion of the matter, fear God, and keep His commandments for this as the whole of man, for God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good  or evil, just about any translation you pick up will feel an obligation to fill in the blank, and will often put the whole duty of man, there is no word for duty, in the Hebrew text at all, there is  no word there at all, except this is the whole of man, this is it. This is why we are this is who  we are. We are people who are meant to have a certain attitude towards God, and certain  actions in relation to God. And anything that deviates from that is not human, you're  becoming less who you were meant to be, you're becoming less human. When you don't have this attitude of fearing and revering and worshipping and delighting in God, you becoming  less human. When you're not walking in the owner's manual, the one that is written in the  word and stomped on your heart, you say, Oh, we don't need to keep commandments  anymore, because we're not under the law anymore. Well, the new covenant is that God  writes his law on your heart, and makes you delight in it, rather than it just being words on  tablets of stone, that stand outside you. To be truly human is to have a heart reverence for  God, and a heart for God's commands, and a heart for walking with Him. Because that's what  you're designed for. And anything you know, you can put sugar in the gas tank if you want,  because boy, sugars nice and sweet. But maybe that gas tank wasn't designed for sugar in  your gas tank was designed to fear God and keep His commandments. And anything but that  is going to cause malfunctions. God will bring every deed into judgment, including every  hidden thing, whether it's good or evil. Turns out that life isn't quite so temporary, and futile.  after all. It all comes to a day when all of a sudden it has eternal weight and eternal  significance. And the Eternal One is evaluating your life and he's not in a fog. Every hidden  thing is revealed. And he's evaluating the good. He's identifying that good and establishing it  and rejoicing in it because it came from him. And he is evaluating what's evil. That the  thought that oh, the world doesn't work out the way it is. Nobody's in control Ecclesiastes, he  goes there. Um, he, he thinks the hardest thought that can be thought about these matters.  And then the upshot is, Well, God does bring into every deed into judgment, including every  hidden thing, whether it's good or evil, and who is going to be the judge, we know that it's  going to be the one who came to live among us, our Lord Jesus Christ, God will judge men  secrets. Through Jesus Christ, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.  Walking with your Creator, is the way to make the most of this life. And it is the way to rejoice  in an experienced eternal life, to be able to face your judge. And when that judge when you  live through this life of very temporary and small things, he says, You've been faithful in a few small things, I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your masters happiness, this life is an audition. That one is where we truly get to perform in the glory of who He made  us to be. This life is an appetizer, then comes the feast. Or if we reject the gift of this life of  walking with God, and the God who gave it, then we will only behold a face that is a terror to  us because we never loved it or longed for it. In this life. We loved darkness instead of light  because our deeds were evil, and we will forever flee into the darkness. That's what happens  when Jesus the judge returns and Ecclesiastes wants us to know that, that whatever else we  don't know about this here is the upshot. Fear God, keep His commandments. This is what you

were made to be. And God is going to come and evaluate that. And we need the grace of God  Of course, to forgive all our sins in Jesus to prepare us and make us ready for that great day.  And then we need the grace of God by the whole Holy Spirit, to help us to walk with Him and  to live for Him and to be able to appear before him without spot or blemish in the assembly of the lacked in life eternal. George Herbert, a poet of about 400 years ago wrote a poem called  the pulley, which in some respects, summarizes Ecclesiastes in this message. When God at  first made man, having a glass of blessings standing by let us said, he pour on him all we can  let the world's riches which dispersive ly contract into a span, I'm gonna take all the riches of  the world. And in making man I'm gonna pour them all into one little thing. So strength first  made away then beauty flow, then wisdom, honor, pleasure, when almost all was out. God  made a stay, perceiving that alone of all his treasure, rests in the bottom way. And making  man he poured one fantastic thing after another into humanity. And just when he was almost  to the bottom of the glass of pouring out, there's one thing left, I don't think I'll pour that in.  I'm not going to pour in rest. I'm not going to pour in fulfilment, I'm not going to pour in  satisfaction, I poured out just about everything else. But that's one thing. I'm not going to  pour in. Why not? For if I should have said, Hey, bestow this jewel also on my creature, he  would adore my gifts instead of me. And rest in nature, not the God of nature. And so both  should losers be. God would lose humanity and humanity would lose out on God and both  would be losers. If we could just be content with the stuff God gives us. Yeah, let him keep the rest, but keep them with repining restlessness. Let him be rich and weary, that at least if  goodness lead him not yet, weariness may toss him to my breath. Goodness, might not get us there. But even if we don't care about goodness anymore, even if the whole idea of sin, even  though we don't care about that crisis of guilt that the Bible talks about phooey on all that,  that restless heart, that Restless Heart will keep on craving. And if our desire for goodness  won't make us reach out for God, just maybe weariness will toss us to his breast. Why would  you name a poem like that? And the Poli mentioned, a poem, a pulley takes a very heavy  thing, and lifts it up. He made everything beautiful in its time. He also set this restlessness  this eternity, in the heart of man, they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to  end. You made us for yourself. Our hearts are restless, until they rest in you. That is the  essence of the book of Ecclesiastes. You will always have restlessness. I think it was  Springsteen who said, Everybody's got a hungry heart. It was that great theologian, Mick  Jagger, who said I can't get no satisfaction. It was Bonner who said I still haven't found what  I'm looking for. So if you can't read Ecclesiastes for long, there are a few musicians who will  still tell you everybody's got a hungry heart and this is why God put eternity in the heart of  man. And our hearts are restless, until they rest in him. Oh Lord, we pray that you will help us  to hear the truth of your word, and also the longings of our heart. Oh Jesus joy of loving hearts Thou Fount of life, that light of men from fullest bliss that Earth in parts we turn unfilled to be  again. Our restless spirits yearn for thee where air our change for lot is cast. Bless that the  gracious smile we see blessed that our faith can hold this. We taste the oh our living bread  and yearn to feast upon these still. We drink of the The Fountainhead and thirst our souls from the to fill. Amen.