Please stand and join me as I read this passage.
Starting in chapter 7, verse 14.
In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider,
God has made the one as well as the other, so that men may not find out anything that will be after him.
In my vain life I have seen everything.
There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness,
and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evil doing.
Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise.
Why should you destroy yourself?
Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool.
Why should you die before your time?
It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand.
For the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.
Wisdom gives strength to the wise man, more than ten rulers who are in a city.
Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you.
Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.
All this I have tested by wisdom.
I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me.
That which has been is far off and deep, very deep.
Who can find it out?
I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things,
and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness.
And I find something more bitter than death.
The woman whose heart is snares and nets and whose hands are fetters.
He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.
Behold, this is what I found, says the preacher,
while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things,
which my soul has sought repeatedly but have not found.
One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found.
See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.
Who is like the wise and who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man's wisdom makes his face shine and the hardness of his face is changed.
I say, keep the king's command because of God's oath to him.
Be not hasty to go from his presence.
Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases.
For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him,
What are you doing?
Whoever keeps the command will know no evil thing,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way.
For there is a time and a way for everything,
although man's trouble lies heavy on him.
For he does not know what it is to be, for who can tell him how it will be?
No man has power to retain the spirit or power over the day of death.
There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.
All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun,
when man had power over man to his hurt.
Then I saw the wicked buried.
They used to go in and out of the holy place
and were praised in the city where they had done such things.
This also is vanity.
Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily,
the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.
Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life,
yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God,
because they fear before him.
But it will not be well with the wicked,
neither will he prolong his days like a shadow,
because he does not fear before God.
There is a vanity that takes place on earth,
that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked.
And there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous.
I said that this also is vanity.
And I commend joy,
for man has nothing better under the sun,
but to eat and drink and be joyful.
For this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life
that God has given him under the sun.
When I applied my heart to know wisdom,
and to see the business that is done on earth,
how neither day nor night do ones I see sleep.
Then I saw all the work of God,
that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun.
However much man may toil in seeking,
he will not find it out.
Even though a wise man claims to know,
he cannot find it out.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
You may be seated.
Not all people in the world are perfectionistic
or live with fear of failure or abandonment
that make them desperate to control the circumstances of their lives.
But all human beings, to varying degrees,
all try to control the outcomes of their lives.
Some people do that by micromanaging or maneuvering,
manipulating others.
Some people do that by driving themselves really hard,
working hard late into the night.
Some people try to control the outcomes of their lives
by cheating, taking shortcuts.
But no matter how hard we try,
no matter how intricate our plans
and how consistent our efforts to control the outcomes of our lives,
in the end, it is Hevel,
a mere breath,
chasing after the wind.
Bad things happen to good people
and good things happen to bad people.
These are the empirical, indisputable facts of life.
But we don't like that fact.
And so every generation has new fads
and new schemes to try to make the world work
the way we think it should,
to make our lives work the way we think it ought to.
But Ecclesiastes 7.14 to 8.17 reminds us
that we cannot control life,
but we should fear God and enjoy life
knowing that He is in control.
That's the main point that I want to drive home this morning.
We're going to first talk about how bad things happen to good people
and vice versa,
and how God works all things together for good.
We concluded last week's passage with verse 14,
and that serves as a transition and begins this passage.
We cannot control when the days of prosperity come
or when the days of adversity come in our lives.
We are not the master of the times of our lives.
God is.
God has made the one as well as the other,
and it is not for humanity to find out what will come after,
what will happen tomorrow.
Today's passage flows naturally from that thought.
It says in verse 15,
In my vain life, I have seen everything.
There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness,
and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evil doing.
Chapter 8, verses 10 to 13,
speak of the same theme of this unfair reality.
It says in verse 12,
that a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life.
It's the exact same word used in 715.
Our sense of justice suggests that the wicked should die prematurely,
that they should be punished somehow.
But no, they often prolong their lives.
Chapter 8, verse 14 says the same thing in different words.
There's a vanity that takes place on earth,
that there are righteous people to whom it happens
according to the deeds of the wicked.
And there are wicked people to whom it happens
according to the deeds of the righteous.
I said that this also is vanity.
There's a 1968 song written by Dick Holler
entitled Abraham, Martin, and John,
which is about Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr.,
and John F. Kennedy.
They're all leaders of significant social change here in our country,
but were assassinated at a relatively young age.
And each of the main verses feature one of the titular characters,
but apart from the names, the verses are identical,
and it goes like this.
Anybody here has seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
but it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around, and he was gone.
That refrain, the good they die young,
captures the sentiment of Ecclesiastes 7.15.
In contrast, consider Mao Zedong,
the Chinese communist leader,
responsible for the death of an estimated 40 to 80 million people
through starvation, persecution, prison labor, mass executions.
But he himself died in peace at the ripe old age of 82.
The preacher of Ecclesiastes observed this in his own time.
He says in chapter 8, verses 10 to 11,
Then I saw the wicked buried.
They used to go in and out of the holy place
and were praised in the city where they had done such things.
This also is vanity,
because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily.
The heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.
There were wicked people who went in and out of the holy place
as if they were God-fearing, righteous people.
And they went in and out about the holy place
with their heads held high,
and they enjoyed a good reputation among the people in the city,
but they were never punished for their wickedness in their lifetime.
They are now buried and forgotten
so that their evil deeds will never be exposed and brought to justice.
They will never be remembered as evildoers that they were.
They are now left to rest in peace.
This is a vanity, the writer says.
Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily,
the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.
Think of Pol Pot,
the dictator and leader of the Cambodian Khmer Rouge,
which slaughtered about two million Cambodians in about four years.
Despite being put under house arrest toward the end of his life,
he died in peace at the ripe old age of 77
before the planned trial for genocide at the Hag Ward,
the war crimes tribunal could take place.
And because in this fallen and broken world,
good things happen to bad people,
and bad things happen to good people,
it's heavil,
breath,
futility,
chasing after the wind
to try to control the outcomes of our lives.
Chapter 7, verses 16 to 22,
catalog the various ways that people try to ensure
that good,
only good things will happen to them.
Some people do this by pursuing righteousness.
They think if I live rightly,
if I'm an upstanding citizen,
that good things will happen to me.
While other people pursue wickedness.
I'm going to cheat and get my way
so that I could have a good life.
But neither method,
according to the preacher of Ecclesiastes, works.
The preacher says in verses 16 and 17,
Be not overly righteous,
and do not make yourself too wise.
Why should you destroy yourself?
Be not overly wicked,
neither be a fool.
Why should you die before your time?
Neither being overly righteous
or being overly wicked
will ensure your health and wealth
and success and happiness in life.
Neither being too wise nor being a fool
will ensure your health and wealth
and success and happiness in life.
If your understanding,
if this sounds to you
like something your non-Christian relative would say,
I'm fine with you being religious, okay?
Just don't be too religious.
Everything in moderation.
If that's how you're hearing the preacher,
that's not what he's saying.
The preacher is not saying here
that it's possible to have too much righteousness
or too much wisdom.
That's impossible.
The Bible does not teach us
to follow Christ in moderation.
Jesus said in Mark 8, 34 to 35,
If anyone would come after me,
let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me.
For whoever would save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and the gospels will save it.
In other words,
you need to be willing to lay down
your very life to follow Jesus.
That's not religion in moderation.
The greatest commandment in the Bible
is not to love God in moderation.
It's to love God with your whole heart
and soul and mind and strength.
It's for total commitment.
Jesus didn't say,
follow the scriptures in moderation,
make sure you obey the really important commandments,
and then don't sweat the details.
Don't worry about the small commands.
No, when he is rebuking the Pharisees
in Matthew 23, 23, 24,
because these Pharisees
were taking painstaking care
to tie the smallest things that they had,
the mint and the dill and the cumin.
They're tithing to God,
giving a 10% of even the smallest spices
that they have as an offering to God.
But while they were doing that,
they were neglecting the weightier matters of the law,
justice, mercy, and faithfulness,
that Jesus says.
But Jesus does not rebuke the Pharisees
for tithing the mint, the dill, and herb.
He rebukes them for not keeping justice,
mercy, and faithfulness.
He says, these things, the small things,
you ought to have done
without neglecting the others.
The Pharisees' problem was not
that they obeyed small things in the Bible.
Their problem was that they didn't obey
the big things in the Bible.
So be not overly righteous
does not mean don't be too concerned
about obeying God's word.
No, we should be very concerned
about obeying the whole counsel of God
in the scriptures.
So then what in the world does it mean
to be overly righteous or too wise?
I think one way we can be overly righteous
is by requiring things of ourselves
and of other people that go beyond
the demands of scripture.
Colossians 2, 20 to 23 comes to mind.
If with Christ you die
to the elemental spirits of the world,
why, as if you were still alive in the world,
do you submit to regulations?
Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch,
referring to things that all perish
as they are used,
according to human precepts and teachings.
These have indeed an appearance of wisdom
in promoting self-made religion
and asceticism and severity to the body,
but they are of no value
in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
There are many ways in which Christians
have promoted rules
that go beyond the bounds of scripture,
saying do not handle,
do not taste that,
do not touch that.
This might be a little bit controversial.
I hope it's not too controversial.
One of those things is to say,
don't drink alcohol, right?
Scripture often warns
of the expensiveness of alcohol
and the dangers,
the intoxicating effects
and the addictive nature of alcohol
that it makes many people poppers
and drunkards.
I know enough people
who struggle with alcohol
that I don't take it lightly
and I don't personally drink alcohol.
With that said,
getting drunk is condemned in scripture,
but drinking alcohol
is not condemned in scripture.
The abundance of wine
is seen as a sign of God's blessing
in Proverbs 3.10.
Psalm 104.15 says that
God has given wine
as a good gift
to gladden the heart of man.
In fact, Jesus himself partook in wine,
as we see in the Last Supper.
Similarly, some Christians
broadly condemn dancing as sinful.
It's true that dancing
is sometimes associated
with debauchery and lechery
and idolatry in scripture.
For example, in Exodus 32,
when the Israelites broke loose
in idolatry around the golden calf
and it says that they were eating
and dancing and getting up to play,
promiscuous play,
and that they were dancing.
There is a kind of dancing
that inflames our lusts and passions,
and that kind of dancing is not good.
But in other parts of scripture,
dancing is seen as good
when David rejoices
when the ark of the Lord
is being brought into the city
and rejoices and dances
before the Lord with abandon.
When Miriam the prophetess
and other women along with her
join with tambourines and dancing
to celebrate the Lord's deliverance
at the Red Sea.
If you want to be careful
with dancing,
that's all good,
but you shouldn't say
that dancing is sin
and condemn others for it.
Maybe one more example.
There are some Christians
who would give me a hard time
for reading fictional books
and letting my kids
read fantasy books
like Lord of the Rings
or Harry Potter
because they're fictional
and they involve witchcraft
or sorcery or magic.
I think the sorcery
that is condemned in scripture
are ones that circumvent God,
give people a way
to access spiritual things
apart from God,
but I think that
in some of these fantasy books,
they're couched in,
they're situated
in a thoroughly biblical worldview
where the good
and the evil is very clear.
That's not a hill
I'm going to die on,
so don't worry.
If you don't think
we should read those things.
I do want to qualify this
because I think
I have respect for people
who say this,
Christians who say these things
because they're serious
about their convictions
and I agree with them
even that nowadays
the bigger issue
is that Christians
not exercising enough
discernment and self-control
about what they consume.
I do think that's
a bigger problem nowadays
than being overly righteous.
However,
it is possible
to be overly righteous
or too wise
when it comes to these things.
Some of you,
I think depending on
how you grew up,
I'm sure you can come up
with a long list
of man-made rules
that were enforced
in your house
as you were growing up.
this might be another way.
You might be over-righteous.
Are you wracked
by paralyzing anxiety
or pathological guilt
about moral issues,
spiritual issues?
All those around you
think that you are faithful,
you're obeying God,
but you're deeply worried
about being punished by God
or going to hell
and you're excessively concerned
that you're sinning
when in fact
you're not sinning.
Maybe you engage
in compulsive rituals
to make yourself feel
like you have control
over these things
and you feel like
you have to confess
every little tiny thing
because otherwise
you think something bad
is going to happen to you.
Don't be overly righteous.
And you don't have to be
a religious person
to deal with these problems.
Over-righteousness
is not the exclusive purview
of religious people.
For example,
diet and exercise regimens
can be good for your health,
but there are people
who are over-righteous
in their observance
of these regimens.
And they think
that their strict adherence
to them
will ensure health
and longevity.
Here's another example.
Working hard
and studying hard
in school.
Yes, that's a wise
and good thing to do,
but there are parents
and students
who are over-righteous
and too wise
in these things,
almost turning
academic excellence
into an idol.
Similarly,
wise financial stewardship
is a good thing,
it's a righteous thing,
but it's possible
to be over-zealous
and too wise
in your saving
and investing
and growing money.
As wide-ranging
as these examples are,
they all have
a common underlying theme.
They are all attempts
to control
the outcomes
of your life,
to ensure health
and wealth
and success.
but the preacher
says in verse 16,
be not overly righteous
and do not make yourself
too wise.
Why should you
destroy yourself?
Over-righteousness
does not guarantee
good outcomes in life.
There are righteous people
who get what the wicked
deserve,
and there are wicked people
who get what the righteous
deserve.
In fact,
over-righteousness
can be self-destructive,
says the preacher.
You can wear yourself down
and sabotage your own life
through over-righteousness.
But does this mean
that the wicked
are better off
than the righteous?
Will pursuing
a life of wickedness
guarantee better outcomes
in life?
Of course not.
The preacher says
in verse 17,
be not overly wicked,
neither be a fool.
Why should you die
before your time?
Once again,
the preacher does not mean
that we should be
moderately wicked.
Don't be overly wicked,
just be moderately wicked.
That's not what he's saying.
In the same way
he wasn't saying
be moderately righteous.
We should not be wicked at all.
But the preacher
is using the parallel structure
to teach us
that people on both ends
of the spectrum
are trying in vain
to control the outcomes
of their lives.
People who engage
in over-wickedness,
like the people
who engage in over-righteousness,
do so to ensure
their well-being,
their happiness,
but it's ultimately futile.
They lie on their resumes
and cheat on their taxes
to enhance their future prospects
and to secure their wealth.
They steal and rape and murder
in order to acquire
what they want
but cannot rightly have.
They pay bribes
to people in high places
in exchange for various favors,
to get a promotion
from a boss,
to get a judge
to turn a blind eye
to their crimes.
These are all attempts
by the wicked
to prolong their lives.
But the preacher warns
in 717,
be not overly wicked,
neither be a fool.
Why should you die
before your time?
Seeking to control
your life through wickedness
doesn't work either.
No matter how wise
or industrious we are
in our righteousness
or wickedness,
we cannot control life.
Of course,
it's still better
to live with wisdom
and righteousness
than to not.
Verse 19 qualifies
what the preacher
has been saying.
Wisdom gives strength
to the wise men,
more than 10 rulers
who are in a city.
Yes, wisdom is precious,
more precious
than power and control.
However,
the main point
of the preacher
in this passage
still stands.
Bad things happen
to good people
and good things
happen to bad people.
No matter how righteous
we are,
we are not righteous enough
and we can't control
what other people
do to us
or say about us.
It says in chapter 7
verses 20 to 22,
surely there is not
a righteous man on earth
who does good
and never sins.
Do not take to heart
all the things
that people say
lest you hear
your servant cursing you.
Your heart knows
that many times
you yourself
have cursed others.
Don't pay attention
over much
to what other people
say about you,
whether that's
in the form of likes
and reposts
on TikTok
or Instagram
or X
or people in person
gossiping about you
behind your back.
Of course,
this doesn't justify
gossip in any way,
but don't lose sleep
over what people
are saying about you
because you know
in your heart
that you have also
spoken ill of people
in the past.
Instead of trying
to police
or control
what other people
are saying about you,
let it be,
knowing that surely
there is not
a righteous man
on earth
who does good
and never sins,
not even you
or me.
Moving on to chapter 8,
the preacher gives us
yet another example
of how life is
heavy,
a mere breath.
We can't grasp
control of it.
He begins first
with the benefits
of wisdom in verse 1.
Who is like the wise
and who knows
the interpretation
of a thing?
A man's wisdom
makes his face shine
and the hardness
of his face is changed.
This brings to mind
wise men in scripture
like Joseph and Daniel
who had the gift
to interpret things,
visions and dreams,
prophecies.
They served effectively
in the royal courts
of Egypt and Babylon
respectively
and attained high ranks
and prestige
because of their wisdom
and the ability
to interpret things.
And the counsel
of the wise
is valuable.
Proverbs 25, 15
says,
with patience,
a ruler may be persuaded
and a soft tongue
will break a bone.
However,
the preacher
of Ecclesiastes
turns this proverb
on its head
as he characteristically does
and he says,
yes,
it is true
that a wise counselor
can change the king's mind
sometimes.
Other times,
he says,
even giving counsel
to the king
is heavy.
He says in verses 2 to 3,
I say,
keep the king's command
because of God's oath
to him.
Be not hasty
to go from his presence.
This is similar
to Ecclesiastes 10,
verse 4,
which says,
if the anger
of the ruler
rises against you,
do not leave your place
for calmness
will lay great offenses
to rest.
The exhortation
is to do
what the king says
and if the king
opposes your counsel
and is angry with you,
stay calm
and stay put
because if you try
to exit too hastily,
his anger
might be kindled
and you might be worse off.
Verses 3 to 4 continue,
do not take your stand
in the evil cause
for he does
whatever he pleases
for the word
of the king
is supreme
and who may say to him,
what are you doing?
The word translated
evil cause
in verse 3
is literally
bad word
and so it's being
contrasted
with the king's word
in verse 4.
Your bad word
versus the king's word.
For the word
of the king
is supreme
and who may say
to him,
what are you doing?
In other words,
no one can question
or challenge
what the king decrees
because he has
supreme authority.
So then,
do not take your stand
in an evil cause
means don't take your stand
in,
not in a moral evil cause,
but don't take your stand
in a doomed cause,
a bad cause,
a cause that the king
will oppose.
The New International Version
of the Bible
captures this well.
It says,
do not be in a hurry
to leave the king's presence.
Do not stand up
for a bad cause
for he will do
whatever he pleases.
Since the king's word
is supreme,
who can say to him,
what are you doing?
Whoever obeys his command
will come to no harm
and the wise heart
will know the proper time
and procedure.
So he's saying,
don't oppose the king
when it's not the right time
and place
and then you will be spared
the harm that might come
to you from his wrath.
Do what the king says.
It's the typical realism
and pragmatism
of Ecclesiastes.
The preacher is not telling
all wise men
and all wise counselors
to be yes men,
but he is telling them
to be shrewd
in what they say
and when they say it.
He says in verse five
that the wise heart
will know the proper time
and the just way
for there's a time
and a way for everything.
But even when you know
the time and the way
to speak,
it says man's trouble
lies heavy on him.
Verse six.
And why is this so?
Verse seven tells us,
for he does not know
what is to be
for who can tell him
how it will be.
Even the wisest of counselors
who know the right time
to speak and how to speak
does not always know
how the king will respond,
cannot control
how the king will respond.
Verse eight again
employs the metaphor of wind
to describe this futility.
No man has power
to retain the spirit
or literally no man
has the power
to retain the wind
or power over the day of death.
There is no discharge from war
nor will wickedness
deliver those
who are given to it.
No one can override
the king's word.
If he says you're going to war,
then you are going to war.
There is no discharge from war
and you will die there.
This is reminiscent
of first Kings 22
when Ahab,
king of Israel,
plans to go to war
against Syria
and prophet Micaiah
warns him,
you're going to lose.
God is against you.
You're going to lose the battle.
In fact,
you are going to die yourself.
But then the king Ahab
dismisses prophet Micaiah
saying,
you only say bad things.
You never say good things.
And then he goes to war anyway
and leading to the death
of many people in Israel,
including his own death.
That's an example
of Ecclesiastes 8, 3 to 4.
The word of the king
is supreme.
Who can say to him,
what are you doing?
This is why the preacher
concludes in verse 9,
all this I observed
while applying my heart
to all that is done
under the sun
when man had power
over man to his hurt.
A monarch having absolute power
over his subjects
to their hurt
is another example
of the hevel of this world.
Rulers having power
over their subjects
to their hurt
is another example
of the futility of life here.
How bad things happen
to good people
and good things happen
to bad people.
That's the main point
of this passage
and there's a key word
that threads
the entire passage together
and it's the word find.
It occurs 17 times
total in the book
of Ecclesiastes
and 12 of those
are found in these two chapters,
chapter 7, chapter 8.
Remember how the passage began
in chapter 7, verse 14.
In the day of prosperity
be joyful
and in the day of adversity
consider,
God has made the one
as well as the other
so that men may not
find out anything
that will be after him.
Why has God subjected
the creation to futility?
Why has God ordained
that good things happen
even to bad people
and bad things happen
even to good people?
So that, he says,
men may not find out
anything that will be after him.
If everything that happens
in life is according
to neat rules and patterns
and it's predictable,
then humanity would be able
to figure it out
and game the system.
But that would further
fuel human pride,
arrogance,
self-righteousness.
The vanity
and the futility
and the transience
of life here
under the sun
in this fallen world
is meant to humble us
before God
and make us fear him
and to defer
to his sovereign rule.
Relentlessly,
if you've been with us
in this series
in Ecclesiastes,
the preacher is relentless
in hammering home
this point
that we cannot
figure out this life.
Chapter 7,
verse 23 to 24,
all this I have tested
by wisdom.
I said I will be wise,
but it was far from me.
That which has been
is far off
and deep,
very deep.
Who can find it out?
No one.
The conclusion
at the end
echoes the same point.
Ecclesiastes 8, 17,
then I saw
all the work of God
that man cannot
find out the work
that is done
under the sun.
However much man
may toil in seeking,
he will not find it out.
Even though a wise man
claims to know,
he cannot find it out.
If you meet
a wise philosopher
claiming to have
figured out life,
this is how life works.
You do what I tell you
and your life
will be good and perfect.
They don't know
what they're talking about.
Solomon,
the greatest philosopher
to have ever lived,
obviously not counting
Jesus who is
the wisdom of God
incarnate,
says that you cannot.
You cannot find it out.
And what's the intended
effect of understanding
that life is but a breath?
How do we live
in such a world
where bad things
happen to good people
and good things
happen to bad people?
The same twin answer
is given
throughout Ecclesiastes.
One,
fear God.
Two,
enjoy life.
He says in 7,
18,
it is good
that you should
take hold of this
and from that
withhold not your hand
for the one
who fears God
shall come out
from both of them.
The one who fears God
will come out
from both
being overly righteous
and being overly wicked.
When we recognize
that we finally
cannot figure out
and control
our outcomes,
we surrender
to God
his sovereignty
and entrust
our lives to him
rather than trying
to be masters
of our own fate
and captains
of our own souls.
And here's what you do
when you're at a low point
in life
and when your life
is full of suffering
and sorrows
and you start to wonder,
God,
are you really here?
God,
are you really
in control?
Please look at
chapter 7,
verse 15
with me
and contrast it
with chapter 8,
verse 12 to 13.
In 715,
the preacher
shares his observation,
what he has seen.
He says,
in my vain life,
I have seen everything.
There's a righteous man
who perishes
in his righteousness
and there's a wicked man
who prolongs his life
in his evil doing.
The preacher
is a good scientist.
He makes careful observations
about life,
how it works,
and he has concluded
that life doesn't
follow the rules.
A wicked man
prolongs his life
in his evil doing,
but contrast that
with chapter 8,
verses 12 to 13.
Though a sinner
does evil
a hundred times
and prolongs his life,
yet I know
that it will be well
with those who fear God
because they fear
before him.
But it will not be well
with the wicked,
neither will he prolong
his days like a shadow
because he does not
fear before God.
Notice that these are
two seemingly
contradictory statements.
on the one hand,
he says that the things
do go well for the wicked
sometimes.
They prolong their life.
He has seen it,
but then now he says
that they will not
prolong their days
like a shadow
because they do not
fear before God.
So what's the deal?
Which one is true?
7.15
is the preacher's
observation of life,
what he has seen.
Chapter 8,
verses 12 to 13
is the preacher's
declaration of faith,
what he knows
and believes
to be true
despite everything
that he sees.
He says,
though a sinner
does evil
a hundred times
and prolongs his life,
yet I know
that it will be well
with those who fear God
because they fear
before him.
Yes,
your life is full
of futility.
Yes,
your life is full
of suffering
in this fallen world
and it doesn't
make sense.
we walk
by faith
and not by sight
and believe
as Paul says
in Romans 8.28
and we know
that for those
who love God
all things work
together for good
for those who are
called according
to his purpose.
We might not
see it.
It might not seem
like everything
is going according
to plan
the way it's supposed
to work out
for good
but we know
this to be true
because that is
what we believe.
We believe
in the sovereignty
of God
and in the goodness
of God.
Everything in life
will ultimately
tend to his glory
and to our good,
the good of his people.
Maybe not good
as we imagine it
but good according
to his purposes
when we are justified,
sanctified,
and glorified.
So that's the first effect
that this passage
should have on us.
We're not going
to find resolution
to this tension
in this life
but we will find
the resolution
to this tension
in eternity
and at the final judgment
when Jesus Christ returns.
And so the first effect
that this should have
on us
is to make us
to fear God
and submit to him
and to his sovereignty.
And here's the second effect
that it should have.
Enjoy life.
It says in verse 15,
and I command joy
for man has nothing better
under the sun
but to eat and drink
and be joyful
for this will go with him
in his toil
through the days of his life
that God has given him
under the sun.
As the preacher said
early in chapter 5
verses 19 to 20,
the person who learns
to enjoy the gifts
and the blessings of God,
the simple pleasures of life,
will not much remember
the days of his life
because God keeps him
occupied with joy
in his heart.
Enjoy a delicious barbecue.
Enjoy a juicy bite
into that red delicious apple.
enjoy a game of frisbee
out in the green field
in the sun or in the rain.
Enjoy the fall foliage
of beautiful New England.
Enjoy the laughter
and companionship
of your friends
and significant others.
Enjoy the silliness
of your children.
These simple gifts of life
are intended by God
to be a comfort
and a joy to us
in the midst
of a fallen
and broken world
that doesn't work
as it's supposed to.
And both of these
main commands
in this passage
find their ultimate
fulfillment in Jesus Christ,
which brings me
to the most difficult
section of this passage,
which maybe you guys
thought I would skip,
but I'm not going to skip it.
Look at chapter 7
verses 25 to 29 with me.
Again, the key word find
occurs seven times
in these five verses.
I turn my heart
to know
and to search out
and to seek wisdom
and the scheme of things
and to know
the wickedness of folly
and the foolishness
that is madness.
And I find something
more bitter than death,
the woman whose heart
is snares and nets
and whose hands
are fetters.
He who pleases God
escapes her,
but the sinner
is taken by her.
Behold,
this is what I found,
says the preacher,
while adding one thing
to another
to find the scheme
of things,
which my soul
has sought repeatedly,
but I have not found.
One man among a thousand
I found,
but a woman among all these
I have not found.
See, this alone I found,
that God made man upright,
but they have sought out
many schemes.
It's a lot of back and forth,
right?
I found and I have not found,
I have found,
I have not found.
And the preacher is saying
he explored wisdom
and folly
to try to find
the scheme of things.
The word scheme
means device
or plan
or explanation,
and it comes from the verb
to think
or to account.
This is the preacher's attempt
to make sense of life,
to gain wisdom
that will finally explain
all the mysteries of life.
And then he,
what he finds in the end
is disappointing,
to say the least.
He says in verse 26,
and I find something
more bitter than death,
the woman whose heart
is snares and nets
and whose hands are fetters.
The Bible often personifies
wisdom and folly
as two women.
If you were with us
in our series
through the book of Proverbs,
you have seen this repeatedly.
In chapter 9 of Proverbs,
for example,
he contrasts lady wisdom
with lady folly.
And Proverbs 5
depicts lady folly,
the woman folly,
as a classic literary character,
the femme fatale,
the attractive,
seductive woman
who brings ruin
and destruction
to all who engage with her.
So the preacher
is not here
speaking of all women,
and I don't think
he's even speaking
of a specific individual woman.
I've read some commentators
who said he's talking
about his wife.
I think that's definitely
not true.
I think he's speaking here
of woman folly,
whose heart is snares and nets
and whose hands are fetters.
In his exploration
of wisdom and folly,
the preacher did not find
lady wisdom
from the deep places of God,
wisdom that will explain
all these mysteries
and inequalities in life.
But you know what he did find?
He found lady folly.
She was not hard to find.
And then again,
in verses 27 to 29,
the preacher tells us
what he found.
But ironically,
he didn't find much.
Verses 27 to 29
has a chiastic structure.
Verse 27,
mirrors,
is almost identical
to verse 29.
They both begin with,
behold,
this is what I found.
Or see,
this alone I found.
Both speak of trying
to find out
the scheme of things
or many schemes.
The effect of this structure
is to sandwich
verse 28,
which stands alone
in the middle.
And that device
is intended to highlight,
emphasize what's in the middle,
verse 28.
And this is the point
that he's driving home.
Not that he found something,
but that he actually
didn't find something.
Which my soul
has sought repeatedly,
but I have not found.
One man among a thousand
I found,
but a woman among all these
I have not found.
Many commentators
and critics of the Bible
have pointed to this verse
as an unmistakable example
of misogyny.
That here he's saying
that one in a thousand
you could find
a righteous man
or a wise man,
but zero in a thousand
have I found.
That's how some people
interpret it.
But I beg to differ.
I wrestled with this verse
for a long time,
prayed God to help me
to understand it,
and he brought to mind
an obscure thing
that I learned one day
in a class,
in my Hebrew class
in seminary
that I hadn't thought about
in a long time,
and that's this
Hebrew rhetorical device
called graded
numerical parallelism.
I'm sorry,
that sounds really geeky,
but stick with me
for a little bit.
There are whole journal articles
dedicated to this
rhetorical device.
By using increasing
or decreasing numbers
in parallel poetic fashion,
Hebrew authors create
a sense of escalation
and tension
which serves to
heighten the emotion
and to drive
that progressive point home.
So I'm going to give you
some examples
to prove to you
that I'm not making this up.
Amos 1-2.
God repeatedly uses
graded numerical parallelism
when he speaks
of his judgment
eight times or so
to highlight
the many sins
of the nations.
It says in Amos 1-3,
for three transgressions
of Damascus
and for four
I will not revoke
the punishment.
Is God pronouncing
judgment upon Damascus
because of three sins
or four?
Did God lose count?
No,
the point of it
is that it's not
the exact numbering,
the precise number of it,
but the progression
of it.
Damascus has multiplied
sins,
which is why God
will not relent
in his judgment.
That's the point.
Proverbs 6,
16-19 says this,
there are six things
that the Lord hates,
seven that are
an abomination to him.
Does God hate six things
or seven things?
Once again,
the point is not
the precise number,
but the progression
of it,
the escalation of it,
that the earth
is full of sins
that the Lord despises.
Job 5-19,
Job's friend Eliphaz
says to him,
he will deliver you
from six troubles.
In seven,
no evil shall touch you.
We know that Eliphaz
is wrong to think
that Job was being punished
because of his wickedness,
but this is a good example
of graded numerical parallelism.
He's not saying
that God's only going
to deliver you
from six
or at most seven troubles
and then you're done
with eight.
There's no more.
He's saying,
no,
six,
seven,
more and more,
that God's going
to deliver you
from all troubles
if you're righteous.
That's what he's promising
to his friend Job.
In Ecclesiastes 7-28,
the graded numbers
decrease
rather than increase
because a point
is not
that there are
some upright people,
but that there are none.
The point of the graded
numerical parallelism
is not that the preacher
found somebody,
but that he found nobody.
The number comparison
goes down from one
in a thousand
to zero in a thousand.
Why?
Because that's the direction
of the preacher's
escalating point.
His point is that
it's nearly impossible,
indeed,
outrightly impossible
to find a righteous person
or a wise person.
This isn't meant
to be a contrast
between males
and females.
It's meant to be
parallel comparison,
like all the other examples
of graded numerical parallelism
in the Bible.
He's not talking
about the relative
moral superiority of man,
but lumping men
and women together
to say that
in the totality
of humanity,
none is righteous,
no, not one.
In fact,
that's exactly
what he said
in the preceding verse
in chapter 7,
verse 20.
Surely,
there is not
a righteous man
on earth
who does good
and never sins.
Not a single
righteous man
or woman on earth
who does good
and never sins.
Paul may be paraphrasing
this exact verse
in Romans 3,
10 to 12
when he writes,
none is righteous,
no, not one.
No one does good,
not even one.
So what's,
so finding
an upright person
is like finding
a needle
in a haystack.
You're not gonna find it.
It's like looking
for one in a thousand.
Nay,
zero in a thousand.
We know that
that's the point
that he's making
because he tells us
that that's the point
he's making
in his summary conclusion
in verse 29.
See,
this alone I found.
What did he find?
That God made man upright,
but they have sought out
many schemes.
Man is singular,
but they is plural
because the word man
is not the word for males,
but it's the generic word
for humanity.
And they have sought out
many schemes.
All we,
like have sheep
gone astray,
we have turned everyone
to his own way.
Instead of living
according to God's
will for our lives,
we have all pursued
our own selfish ends.
This is why
our righteousness
will never be enough.
Surely there is not
a righteous man
on earth
who does good
and never sins.
If you think
that you can ensure
a good future
for yourself
or that you can
attain salvation even,
eternal life
and entrance
into the kingdom
of God
on your righteousness,
then you are
gravely mistaken.
Our credentials
are not good enough
to enter the kingdom
of God.
Our righteousness
is not enough
for us to be justified
in the heavenly courtroom.
We need somebody else's
righteousness.
We need
the righteousness
of Christ.
After paraphrasing
Ecclesiastes 7.20
in Romans 3,
he goes on to say this
in verses 21-25,
but now the righteousness
of God
has been manifested
apart from the law,
although the law
and the prophets
bear witness to it.
The righteousness
of God
through faith
in Jesus Christ
for all who believe.
For there is no distinction,
for all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God
and are justified
by his grace
as a gift
through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God put forward
as a propitiation
by his blood
to be received
by faith.
We need
the righteousness
of God
through faith
in Jesus Christ.
We need to receive
the righteousness
of God
as a gift
that is the only way
that we can be justified
because on the cross,
Jesus took our place
so that we can take
his place.
He absorbed
the just wrath
of God
so that we can be
recipients of the Lord's
favor and mercy
and pleasure.
Jesus,
who knew no sin,
became sin
for our sake
so that in him
we might become
the righteousness
of God.
That's in the end
how we ensure
good outcome,
ultimate outcome,
salvation,
eternal life,
not your righteousness
or mine,
but the righteousness
of Jesus Christ.
So let's cling
to that alone
as our hope
as we go.
Let me pray.
Father,
no one is righteous.
No one does good,
not even one.
That is all of us.
So thank you
that you do not
punish us
as our sins deserve,
but in your mercy,
in your great love,
you sent your only son,
Jesus,
as the atoning sacrifice,
our redeemer
and savior.
And we thank you
and we worship you.
Lord,
help us to forsake
all vain attempts
to control
the outcomes
of our lives.
instead help us
to put all our faith
and hope
in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ
for us.
So that clothed
with the righteousness
of Christ,
we might live life
in confidence
with the fear of God
and with joy.
Help us to do that,
God,
in Jesus' name
we pray.
Amen.