Ecclesiastes 1 "The Search For Purpose"

[Music] Ecclesiastes chapter 1 beginning at verse 1 reading 2 verse 3 the words of the preacher the son of David King of Jerusalem vanity of vanities says the preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity what prophet has a man from all his labour in which he toils Under the Sun and so we're about to begin a series taken from the book of Ecclesiastes and the reason why I decided to teach this book is because of the timeliness of its message I believe we're living in days that this can this the contents of this book we're living in days that the contents of this book can apply to can inform us about and so as I was considering what book we ought to move into and study after we finished the book of Proverbs it it became obvious to me that the book that would be an important first look at would be the book of Ecclesiastes because this book encourages us to discover what we would call our our highest purpose and he's going to make it very clear as we go through Ecclesiastes that everything that eliminates God is without purpose and ultimately is meaningless the word vanity speaks of something that is worthless and you can see that he begins even from the beginning in verse 2 by saying vanity of vanities vanity of vanities all is vanity the point he's making is that life without God has no purpose and has no meaning and that would include every human endeavor and he speaks concerning every human endeavor and uses a phrase under the Sun so you're going to see that phrase repeated under the Sun some 29 times as we go through the book of Ecclesiastes and so all human endeavors that exclude God from anything is all vanity the word vanity itself is use 37 times and it used to describe a variety of things that vanity is used to describe human Labor's human wisdom prestige it speaks concerning pleasure it describes youthful strengthen and it even goes so far as to describe human knowledge so everything done under heaven without God is completely useless everything done under heaven without God is vanity and that's the point he's making now at the end of the book Solomon will conclude with what is the purpose of our lives and so we'll see that when we get to chapter 12 because in verses 13 and 14 he'll say it to us let us fear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of man for God will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether it is good or whether it is evil so he concludes and we'll see that when we get there in Chapter 12 with what matters what matters is fearing God and keeping his word so as we look at this I'll continue my background and then we'll look into the study this book is attributed to whom it refers to the words of the preacher the son of David King in Jerusalem is attributed to King Solomon eight times he gives clues to himself as the author in verse one notice how he calls himself son of David notice in verses 1 as well as verse 12 he refers to himself as the king of Jerusalem in Israel in chapter 1 in verse 16 he is identified as the wisest man in chapter 2 verses 4 through 6 he's identified as a builder of great works in chapter 2 verse 7 he possesses great herds chapter 2 verse 8 he has great wealth and in chapter 2 verse 9 he was great greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem all of this describes King Solomon saw Solomon Solomon was the son of King David and a woman by the name of Bathsheba and he is the wisest man of his time it is believed that he was born around 990 before Christ he was crowned in 970 before Christ he died around 930 before Christ when we read first Kings first Kings records that God appeared to Solomon and when God appeared to Solomon he asked him a question that that is to me it's always been an amazing question because he asked him this what shall I give you now if you were asked that question by God say God would appear to you and he said to you what do you want what shall I give unto you can you imagine what you would ask for what would you ask for you know I I've said this before some of you might remember when my children were small we read first Kings together I gave my children devotions and we were in first Kings and we got to the portion of Scripture where where God is speaking to Solomon in and he says to him what is it that I shall give unto you ask as high as the heavens you ask what is it that you want and now my kids were very small I think that the youngest when Tana may have been around for years old at the time and that would have made the oldest one around 10 so I'm not expecting especially profound things to come out of them you know I wouldn't really expect from a 10 year old or whatever you know I just wanted them to think if you were asked what is it that I can give anything that you can think of anything you want what do you want so I just wanted to see where my kids were spiritually and so I still remember you know Corinne and David and Joseph all answering in a way that they thought would be pleasing to me oh I would want to know you more God or things like that you know and I'm thinking right you know the only one who was really upfront and honest was onna she was only around 4 so I said ok baby God is going to give you any thing that you asked him for anything what is it that you want I'll never forget she looks at me and she says gum that was it you know she's still that way she still loves gum and so does her daughter I mean that was my honor I mean but you want to know something I think many of us are pretty much like that to this day we ask for things that are used up momentarily but when God said to Solomon what is it asked of me what do you desire what shall I give you first kings 3 verse 9 gives us his answer give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people that I may discern between good and evil for who is able to judge this great people of yours what do I want more than anything anybody use I don't have wisdom I don't know how to go out and I can't even come in when it's raining I don't have any wisdom therefore give me wisdom because I've been placed in a position of being king over your great people so what I desire more than anything is a heart of wisdom and God responded in 1st Kings chapter 3 verse 12 and he said I have I have done according to your words see I have given you a wise and understanding heart so that there has not been anyone like you before you nor shall any like you arise after you and in first Kings 429 through 34 God gave Solomon wisdom an exceedingly great understanding largeness of heart like the sand of the seashore the Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt for he was wiser than all men then Ethan the Ezra hide and Haman chaco and Dhara the son of Mahal and his fame was in all the surrounding nations he spoke 3000 proverbs his songs were 1005 he spoke of trees from the cedar tree Lebanon even to the hyssop that Springs out of the wall he spoke also of animals of birds of creeping things and a fish and men of all nations from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom came to hear the wisdom of Solomon can you imagine that people were coming from everywhere just to hear this incredibly wise man and that's why he says that he was the wisest I going on I should say that Ecclesiastes was written probably around nine hundred and thirty five years before Christ it is one of three books that are attributed to Solomon it's been said and if you think about it makes some sense that he wrote Song of Solomon when he was a young man when you read the Song of Solomon you can see a young man would write like that he is a young man but then it goes on and and he more than likely wrote the book of Proverbs when he was in his middle age but you can see in the book of Ecclesiastes this would have been a book that was written in his older age and so he wrote three books and this is the one that was written as he was an older man this is the book of Ecclesiastes again beginning at verse one the words of the preacher the son of David King in Jerusalem so Solomon identifies himself notice as the preacher the son of David the word preacher in the Hebrew language speaks of a public speaker it speaks of a speaker in an assembly and so the preacher is a title it's repeated variety of times here as we go through Ecclesiastes you'll see him use that that titled various times as a self add identifier he is someone who is speaking openly and this is what the preacher has to say verse two vanity of vanities says the preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity what prophet has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the Sun so he begins by saying everything is vain all is vanity so he begins with a strong statement everything that he's encountered in life can be categorized as futility as vanity his opening thought is a life not dedicated to God is aimless it's empty its unsatisfying Jesus would ask the same kind of question he did so in in Matthew chapter 16 verse 26 Jesus asked this question he said for what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul or what will a man give in exchange for his soul what would you give in exchange for your soul and when we're young we don't think of our soul very much when we're middle-aged we may begin to start thinking I'm growing older I wonder if I've accomplished the things that I would have liked to have accomplished I wonder if I moved in the right direction then we have that middle you know midlife crisis you know I I should have bought a motorcycle I should have worked gold chains and opened my shirt up more and we go through a midlife crisis you know when you get old you begin to think about a life that you've lived and you begin to wonder did I do the right thing did I go in the right direction did I choose the things that had value because I always pursuing the things that didn't last did I always want things that really perished were they using what did it profit me and what does it profit me so he begins with that question a question that many people relate to he begins with a question that the majority of people have asked or will ask and that question verse three what profit as a man from all his labor in which he toils Under the Sun what's the use of all of this why am i working in the first place I can attempt to find meaning in my physical labor but it will always be unsatisfying if it were possible I could become rich perhaps famous but you can have a nine ache an ache in your heart an emptiness in your heart you could have everything that money can buy and still be very lonely you can have enough money to purchase anything in any store at any time and still be empty somebody in this room says well let's give me a chance to find that out on my own but it's true but it's true you can have so many things than you discover at the end that things did not make you satisfied my father as a young man was in the Navy he and he served in World War two and he had a chance to travel a bit he was on a battleship called the USS Pennsylvania and my father had a chance to see some of the world and when he got out of the military he had the travel bug my dad had always wanted to travel than to see things and and never had an opportunity really to do as much as he would have liked and one day when I was a young man my mom was speaking to me and my mom said something to me that I've never forgotten it bears repetition at this point to emphasize the point that I'm making my mom said to me you know son when your dad was young he wanted to travel and he had a friend and his friend traveled a lot and his friend would bring movies and show my dad these little video clips movie clips of Italy or Spain or the various places he saw and my mom said your dad would would come and talk to me and my and she said your dad would say to me how he wished he could have traveled he wanted to travel and my dad at one point when we were young little kids had told my my mom you know i i've got these small kids band i've got kids and and and my whole life is going towards you know them my paychecks go towards you know bind them clothes and feeding them and i my dad went through like you know buyer's remorse with his kids you know you know can i turn them back you know because he had four of them and three of them were no good and then my mom was telling me this and she said you know your dad was jealous of his friend because his friend bought things his friend traveled never had children it was just my dad's friend and his wife and one day his wife died and he wasn't that old and he came and spoke to my dad and he told my dad something like Frank I am so jealous of you he said I only had a wife and I never had children he said and now I'm alone he said you at least we'll always have your children and my mom said your your father learned the value of his family from one who didn't have one you know you can travel there's nothing wrong with it if you have a chance it's always great I I think it's a good thing you expand your horizons you learn new things this is not a knock on traveling what I'm saying is these things are great the experiences are wonderful but they don't fill you up there are other things that matter and those are the things that we need to discover in our search for purpose you see labor in and of itself will bring a certain level of satisfaction but labor in and of itself leaves us empty Ecclesiastes we'll see this later in chapter 6 verse 7 says all the labor of man is for his mouth and yet the soul is not satisfied so a material thing does not bring you spiritual satisfaction physical labor alone cannot produce spiritual abundance and physical labor alone cannot produce completeness your job in and of itself can never bring spiritually abundant satisfaction and so from the beginning he's simply saying life without God is a life lived without meaning it is simply a grasping for straws you'll see in chapter 2 verse 11 how he says I looked on all the works of my hands all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled and indeed all was vanity grasping for the wind there was no profit under the Sun again Jesus in mark 8:36 and 37 made it clear he said what will it profit a man if against the world and loses his own soul what will a man give in exchange for his soul so the point he's making is obvious a life lived without God has no purpose therefore we labor for the things that last beyond a lifetime again john 6 27 jesus said do not labor for the food which perishes but for the food which endures to everlasting life which the Son of Man will give you because God the Father set his seal on him don't labor for things that don't last ultimately you end up leaving everything you labored for behind again in chapter 2 verse 18 he says I hated all my labor in which I had toiled unto the son because I must leave it to the man who will come after me and in chapter 2 verse 21 he went on to say there is a man whose labor is with wisdom knowledge and skilled yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it this also was vanity and a great evil I have to leave it all behind not a single thing will be taken with me and so the only thing that lasts eternally is what we have done for the Lord and again Matthew 6 19 through 21 that's why Jesus said do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy where thieves break in and steal lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also a life that is live without the Lord is vain it is aimless it is without purpose Paul said that in Ephesians 2 in verses 1 through 3 he said you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and we're by nature children of Wrath just as the others he said he made you alive were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked that word walked in the original language means to meander you once walked aimless that's what he's saying you once wandered aimlessly but when Christ saved you he made you aware of what eternity is and what purpose is and there he discovered the meaning of life and it came through a relationship with God through Jesus Christ so we are wise when we labor in pursuit of the Lord that's why Colossians 3 verse 2 says set your mind on things above not on things on the earth pursue the things that last and from the beginning the preacher Solomon would be making that very clear vanity of vanities says the preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity what prophet has a man from all his labor into which he toils under the Sun verse 4 one generation passes away and another generation comes but the earth abides forever the Sun Also Rises and the Sun Goes Down in hastens to the place where it arose the wind goes toward the south turns around to the north the wind whirls about continually and comes again on its circuit all the rivers run into the sea yet the Seas not full to the place from which the rivers come there they return again and so he continues on to share in all and he's comparing here in verses 4 especially 4 through 6 TS comparing the permanence of the earth with the impermanence of man from outward appearances alone nature indoors longer than human flesh nature he's saying seems to be an an endless cycle of activity goes on forever bit in con crass man is simply passing through verse seven all the rivers run into the sea at the Seas not full to the place from which the rivers come there they return again your your life span is short in comparison to these things to the mountains to the Seas the rivers the deserts it's like what job said in chapter 14 of the book of Job verses 1 & 2 he said a man who was born of woman is a few days and full of troubles he comes forth like a flower and fades away he flees like a shadow and does not continue compared to the centuries some things exist man's lifetime is brief Psalm 90 verse 10 tells us that Moses said that the days of our lives are seventy years and if by reason of strength they are 80 years yet there boast is only labor and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we fly away seventy years maybe if you're strong 80 and then you're gone now that's not a real cheery thought is it especially to some of my gray hairs out there including me that's not a cheery thought but the point is it should cause us to consider making best use of time in James 4 verse 14 you do not know what will happen tomorrow what is your life it's even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away we have to understand that teach us to number our days teach us to realize I was just speaking to someone just recently just within the last couple days a young man you saw I think he's around 45 that's a child to me now he's a baby he was in his pampers and as we were talking I asked him I said what are you doing for your retirement and he says I said you ought to do something in the event that the Lord tarries you gotta do something if you can yacht - well I said listen I said I didn't begin doing anything till I was 50 51 years old I have a friend of mine who didn't start preparing for a retirement till he was 62 he's not gonna retire so we were talking and I said it's a wise thing to make sure that and we'll see this by the way next next time we're together we'll look at this in chapter 2 because the wise man leaves something for his children's children and it's a wise thing to think in terms of future because your life is just a vapor and I said you know I can remember when I was 45 and I felt like I had so many years ahead and and yet you really don't so you have to be aware of that from the moment a person this is cheery here's a cheery thought for you from the moment you are conceived you begin to die and it may end 80 years later but it does end and so we need to learn to number our days and to use them with wisdom and to realize that we are a vapor and and this is coming from the pen of the wisest man on the face of the earth Solomon and he's saying this is what I know and we are wise if we listen to his wisdom and he's saying that he's making it very clear when generation passes away another generation comes the earth abides forever it seems to be permanent the Sun rises the Sun Goes Down hastens to the place where it is there are cycles of life the wind goes toward the south turns around to the north the wind whirls about continually seems to be without cessation of any sort constantly moving all the rivers run into the sea the Seas not full to a place from which the rivers come there they return again then verse 8 all things are full of labor cannot express it the eyes not satisfied with scene nor the ear filled with hearing so that communicates again the vastness of creation nature's in the constant state of activity it is constantly changing and never seems to be at rest so man for all his activity is constantly in motion but never simply at rest he will never really have it outside of the rest you have in the Lord so the eye isn't satisfied with seeing the ear is not filled with hearing in an entire lifetime you never completely exhaust your ability to see in here as long as you have eyes to see and ears to hear they never get full there's nose there's no sign like used to seeing some old cartoons where the eyes would suddenly say full that doesn't happen you are never completed until you go to be the Lord you know on this earth you never it's never full and your ears are always constantly hearing your you're always listening there's always sounds even when you're asleep and you think you're not listening you're always hearing that's what's taking places like Google there's always listening to you there's a big thing going on with that some of you are aware of right now because your phone is constantly recording everything if you got a phone it's constantly recording everything you you're everywhere you're going and and it's it's all locking in there's all kinds of information on you that if they wanted to if people wanted to they could tell you where you went at what time getting out of your car and and all the locations right now and all of us have our phones and it's one of those ways that we are and I'm not preaching by the way something for you to be afraid of you know I'm not we're not going to have a phone burning I'm just saying I'm just saying that you are being tracked 24/7 and you can say something like man I need to get to a gym man I gotta get to the gym and tomorrow you're going to have some kind of feed that's going to give you the locations of gyms and some of you have discovered that haven't you you say how come on Gideon thinks about a gym did you - it's because there's an information source of constant thing they're always listening well it's never full and so no matter what it is that we see no matter what it is that we hear you always desire to see and to hear more beauty doesn't necessarily fulfill us you're gonna always want to see something a bit different in in proverbs 27 verse 20 the eyes of man are never satisfied so it's just it's constant you can see can walk more you can see you can want more it says in verse 9 and that which has been is what will be that which is done is what will be done there's nothing new Under the Sun is there anything of which it may be said see this is new it has already been in ancient times before us man's desires man's complaints man's pursuits are always basically the same as far as something completely new ultimately we don't necessarily create we innovate people constantly look for something new and different but there's really no such thing as something that is completely new and somebody says don't no wait a minute you know look at the latest cars you know well before there were cars there were carts before there were carts there was something that had some form of wheels I mean it's just innovation it's not a new creation that's the point he's making is we simply innovate but we're not really we're not really creating anything that's new and completely different it's all basically the same and so you know styles and and music are constantly recycled you know that you know in our society you know that I I kind of I find it interesting now to watch the recycled things because you know I've lived long enough to see something come in and become popular and then fade in popularity then suddenly it's back again and it was it was goofy then and now it's goofy again you know I get entertained by pseudo hippies by the kids today or trying to act like they're hippies and they talk like they're hippies you know they're not hippies they're dip ease there yeah it's just recycled things that's all it is and he says in verse 11 there is no remembrance of former things nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after history is soon forgotten and I never ending quest for something new and improved you're here today you're gone tomorrow and nobody remembers your accomplishments Ivers 12 the preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven this burdensome task God is given to the sons of man by which they may be exercised so he says I set my heart to seek when he says I set my heart the heart speaks of intellectual faculties he's saying I applied my mind to seek I determined to search out by wisdom all that was done under heaven I searched out the meaning and purpose of life here on planet Earth I wanted to understand why men do what they do socially politically privately and he said in verse 13 this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man so these things in the garden were already known but after the fall it became a task it is something that we are trained by as we seek out purpose and we seek out meaning and in many ways this life is difficult and this life is filled with pressures he says God has given this task to the sons of man by which they may be exercised it's a difficult task to discover the purpose of life so in verse 14 I've seen all the works that are done under the Sun indeed all is vanity grasping for the wind I've looked at how human beings behave and what drives them they all seem unsatisfied life on Earth is painful and life because it is difficult can break a person's spirit so human efforts and achievements he's saying ultimately our vanity they're meaningless they don't have any purpose or meaning without God he says in verse 15 what is crooked cannot be made straight what is lacking it cannot be numbered you see frustration does arise when we try to correct the problems of man without God when we encounter problems we try to solve them without moral directions a lot of people try to help other people to get well or to gain purpose but they don't consider God's Word and they don't ask God for his help so we tried to fix lives we can even try to fix our own lives without him but what happens is you come to a place of frustration I got to that place you did too if you have any testimony of ever remembering to be without Christ some of you were raised in Christian homes you have a different path that you took but for those of us who didn't get saved until we had lived for a while I can tell you life was difficult I can tell you it was a pressure I could tell you that it had no meaning I could tell you that as a young person I had no purpose I had no hope I had no joy I had I had no plans for the future I had no hope for the future because in my day it's similar to what it is today things don't really change what was is and what is was once it don't it doesn't change he makes that point yeah we had questions about climate when I was 20 21 years old yeah but at that time it wasn't that everything was getting too hot at that time everybody said we're going to freeze that's what they said back in the 60s late 60s and early 70s some of you may know that it's you were there's going to be another great freeze but climate was a question we had questions about justice we had questions about you name it whatever is going on now we had the same kind the questions they don't change the questions don't change what are you going to do about the unjustice in society what are you going to do about the impoverished what are you gonna do about wars what are you going to do and we would talk about those things and how we're going to handle inequities and how are we that was our generation that's this generation it's not brand new the things that are happening well they all have been done under the Sun all is vanity all is grasping for the wind he's saying it's all basically the same we have encountered problems we try to solve them when you go to school and some people go to school and I'll tell you this I know this for a fact and it's been demonstrated and things that have been printed but there are many people who go to college for example and they they want to be a psychologist so they're taking psych 101 and whatever and they go on to get their degrees you know in psychology but the teachers will tell you this I don't know because I was a psych major that's how I know and they said you know the reason people are taking psych Clash's classes and in social science classes which were the other classes I took is because they're trying to find purpose meaning and explanations for behaviors and that's true that's absolutely true many people who were going for their degrees in psychology were really self analyzing they wanted to know why they were messed up that's a fact they wanted to know why they think the way they think and why they do the things they do and they were looking for explanations for that and they went to confused teachers who had taken God out of the equation and all they ended up with was more questions and more hopelessness that's a fact more questions and more hopelessness and for those of you who've been to college you know this is true you go into a class expecting to get answers and you leave that class with more questions because the professor's present questions but very seldom present any real answers and then the answers that they give to you if it's a secular college are almost always without God in the equation and Solomon would say vanity of vanities all is vanity everything is futile when you don't have gone in the equation everything is that's what we're seeing here in the quest for purpose what do we do to solve the problems that we see people have what does this nation do I wrote some things down what do we do to solve the problems well we pass out birth control in high school we provide transportation to clinics to high schoolers who want to get an abortion without notifying the parents we legalize drugs we provide clean syringes to junkies we call various sexual partners lovers we reclassify homosexuality and make it acceptable and even normal we say that AIDS is caused by a virus not drugs or promiscuous sex we refer to abortion as a woman's right to choose we call alcohol and drug dependency a disease and we create various genders for people to choose from that's how we handle our difficulties we don't we just create new categories and invent answers that satify satisfies no one so human wisdom excludes what is spiritual and because it excludes God it is bankrupt so in verse 15 what is crooked cannot be made straight what is lacking cannot be numbered what is crooked cannot be made straight means that cannot be said in order what is lacking is something that cannot be provided for by our own efforts someone said human wisdom cannot make straight that which is crooked and human deficiencies cannot be cured through man's vain attempt at solving problems that in their root is spiritual and so verse 16 I communed with my heart saying look I've gained greatness and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem my heart is understood great wisdom and knowledge I set my heart to know wisdom to know madness and folly I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind for in much wisdom is much grief and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow I set my heart to know wisdom because you see I had said in verse 16 I attain greatness I have great knowledge but I haven't applied wisdom to the knowledge that I have and because he had great knowledge Solomon actually became proud of all that he know now that's something to be aware of because you can actually become proud of all that you know in in in in first Corinthians chapter 8 for his 1 Paul very clearly said knowledge puffs up the more you know the greater you may feel yourself to be and that's why I am fascinated with in such a fan of and in love with Jesus Christ because Jesus well he could have gone on Jeopardy and wand forever HIDA never lost I mean think about it and yet read the words of Christ and look at how he handled the questions when the sincere ones would ask them look at how he treated children look at how he treated babies look at how he treated people who tried to keep babies from him look at his compassion look at his wisdom look at how he treated people and I I admire him even when he rebuked those whom he loved he did so with the gentleness Martha Martha remember that situation with Martha and Mary how had Jesus was there at the meal and and Martha was in the kitchen banging pots and pans kind of like a Thanksgiving meal that you've invited your family to and everybody's in the front room visiting and drinking coffee and you're in there all by yourself trying to make sure the turkeys ready and the dressings ready and the salads are ready and and those rolls are ready and you look in the door and you see your sister sitting there just visiting it with the Bible open and you're getting mad and you're walking and you say hey what do you think man come and help me but in Martha's case she went a step further she walked up to God himself and rebuked him think about that I mean think about it don't you care that I'm here working by myself tell her to get up and help me I'm banging these pans in here making matzo ball soup and you're not doing anything about it can you imagine Martha Martha you are overwhelmed and troubled by many things but your sister has chosen the better part you see before you serve me you need to learn from me before you do something for me you need to learn Who I am and why you should do those things and if you think that I'm more blessed by the meal than I am in giving a meal my word you've got things to learn you see even in his conversations there's a gentleness that Jesus knew all things all things that he needed to know and yet he didn't have an arrogance but then on the other hand you see the Pharisees you see the Sadducees the religious leaders and you'll hear the questions and you will see their arrogance in them and that's the knowledge that puffs up that knowledge that makes you think you know more because you have information and so the bottom line is he could have been proud I communed with my heart saying look I've attain greatness have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem my heart has understood great wisdom and great knowledge I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly I perceived that this is also grasping for the wind I lived as a wise man and I've experienced life as one who's a fool and crazy and I've discovered something verse 18 in much wisdom is much grief and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow happiness is not the ultimate product of an education keep that in mind he who increases knowledge he says increases sorrow happiness is not necessarily the product of an education many college students can tell you that their faith their innocence was actually stolen from them when they were in college their innocence very often has been stolen by a professor who kept on citing statistics and studies and and ridiculing their faith in Christ and their faith in God has been undermined I did my time in college I went to both secular and Christian colleges and in the secular college I had professors who outright told us that they thought we were foolish outright I don't know how you could believe in that little book that little black book that you saves from God the first day of one class I still remember a professor of a sociology class that I took and he said how many of you how many of you believe are our born-again Christians that's that how many of you are born-again Christians there were about thirty of us in the class and about four or five of us raised their hands the very first lecture very first class how many of you are born-again Christians raised our hands I don't understand how you can believe in that little black book I don't I believe in studies he told us I believe in studies and statistics scientific knowledge I do not know how you can walk by or believe these things how do you live like that that was our opening conversation later on I still remember him saying night I pity you guys he said because you've been told that cigarettes can cause cancer he says I have studies in my office I can bring here and show you that demonstrate that there's no correlation between tobacco and lung cancer he died of lung cancer he did he died of lung cancer he had three wives he had been married three times but he pitied me because I was happily married but that's only because I'm stupid I guess because I'm a believer and he didn't respect us I had more than one professor like that and you go to class and you have him making fun or her making fun of you and and and calling the things that you believe in hold most dear calling them foolish and stupid and after a while you start thinking you know that may very well be I've always just clung to these things because I learned it in Sunday school I how would I know whether it's true or not and these have statistical evidence and slowly but surely in your education well he who increases knowledge increases sorrow your joy is stolen from you because it's not centered on God and the wisdom that you receive from him to educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society and that's true the knowledge that ultimately satisfies as the knowledge of God many years ago now I was invited to go to a high school baccalaureate they had asked me to give the the speech at their baccalaureate and I still mean it's been a long time now I still remember going to do it it was a Sunday night and one of the teachers walked up to me and said to me you cannot bench in God and I thought how interesting a baccalaureate it's a worship service that's what a baccalaureate is traditionally in the United States it's a religious service that is there that is tied into the graduation it was it was to encourage people to have morals and on that that's what it was like that's what a baccalaureate is so you please don't talk you can't talk about God or Jesus I said really so I went up and there's all these kids for the baccalaureate and I still remember some of what I said I said listen you went to four years of high school and you've had a lot of classes that have given you a lot of information and they've taught you a lot of things about a lot of things that you will encounter in life but the one thing they haven't told you is this Jesus Christ is the Lord and He died on a cross for you and you can gain all the information you want in life but if you don't have the true knowledge of God and since forgiven you have no knowledge and I never was invited back but guess what that's the truth right that's the truth you don't go up there and say oh boy you're gonna conquer the world now because you guys are world conquerors I mean you you got a C in math you're gonna be a scientist know what they really needed is true knowledge and the true knowledge comes through God and sins forgiven in proverbs 1 verse 7 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge that's where it begins knowing God and fearing him and as we go through the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon is going to give us examples and tell us how vain it is give us examples tell us how vain it is until the end when it says the only thing that matters is fear God keep his Commandments we'll see that as we go through Ecclesiastes

Channel: Calvary Chapel Chino Valley

Views: 1,697

Rating: 4.448276 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, Pastor David Rosales, cccv, Church, Teaching, Worship, God, Christians, Bible Study, Jesus, A Jesus People Community, Calvary Chapel Chino Valley, David Rosales, Pastor, Calvary Chapel, Holy Spirit, Gods Word, Chuck Smith, Teacher, Pastor David, End Times, Rapture, Trinity, Antichrist, A Sure Foundation, Prayer, Pray

Id: jiU-nROjb7Q

Length: 50min 35sec (3035 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 11 2018