Ecclesiastes 9
Everything's Empty: A Study in Ecclesiastes • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 36:17
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Colossians 3:1-17
Colossians 3:1-17
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
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Ecclesiastes 9
Ecclesiastes 9
Turn to and read Ecclesiastes 9:1-6. Let’s pray.
For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
“…in the hand of God...”
The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever he will.
God is omnipotent; He is sovereign. We can all agree on this.
Ryrie’s Basic Theology G. Omnipotence
Omnipotence means that God is all-powerful and able to do anything consistent with His own nature.
Ryrie’s Basic Theology L. Sovereignty
Ultimately God is in complete control of all things, though He may choose to let certain events happen according to natural laws that He has ordained.
We should praise the Lord for His omnipotence and His sovereignty.
It provides us with the ability to trust Him in the midst of uncertain times.
It provides us with the ability to experience the peace of God in the midst of uncertain times.
It enables us to rejoice in the Lord. It enables us to be able to say, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.”
However, that is not how Solomon “sees things.”
“…no man knoweth...”
Solomon seems to indicate here that people are not masters of their own fate; people and “what they do” are subject to God’s sovereign will and that they - he - had not control whatsoever. What Solomon had forgotten was the fact that God has given to every individual a free will.
Ryrie’s Basic Theology II. The Terminology of Election
No human mind will ever harmonize sovereignty and free will, but ignoring or downplaying one or the other in the interests of a supposed harmony will solve nothing.
Ryrie’s Basic Theology L. Sovereignty
one can try to harmonize the apparent contradictions in an antinomy, which inevitably leads to overemphasizing one truth to the neglect or even denial of the other. Sovereignty must not obliterate free will, and free will must never dilute sovereignty.
It seems that Solomon was allowing the omnipotence and sovereignty of God to obliterate his free will. In so doing, Solomon seems to be using God’s sovereignty and omnipotence as a way to “excuse” his behavior. “I can’t be held responsible; I’m not in control; I’m couldn’t help myself!”
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
We must remember that each of us must choose how we are going to act; how we are going to respond. Yes, God is omnipotent; He is sovereign but we also have a free will.
Possibly you have heard it put this way: While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences!
Before we move on to the next verse, I want to look at vs. 1 from a slightly different perspective.
For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
“…no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.”
This statement shows just how distraught Solomon was at that point in his life. The finality of his life was “in the hand of God,” yet Solomon did not know whether his future would be filled with love or hate when he entered into the presence of the Lord. Can you see the hopelessness? Can you see the struggle? Can you see the distress of this so-called righteous and wise man named Solomon? He did not have one work that he could rely on that promised his future.
Philips, John. Exploring Ecclesiastes (John Phillips Commentary Series) . Kregel Academic & Professional. Kindle Edition.
From this perspective, it seems that Solomon had no confidence - no assurance - of his eternal destiny. (We get this sense from this verse as well as the verse that follows.)
Now, we understand that Solomon was a saved individual.
How is it, than, that an individual, who was used of God to pen portions of the Bible, come to the point where he was unsure of his eternal destiny?
Turn to and read 2 Peter 1:3-9.
But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Back to Ecclesiastes chapter 9...
All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
“All things come alike to all: there is one event...”
What is that one event? It is death.
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
We all understand the inevitability of death. We may not like to think about it, but we accept it none the less. The older we become, the more we think about it.
Solomon had figured it from every angle: man is incapable, man is powerless, man is impotent to change anything about the inevitability of death. It will come “alike to all.”
Philips, John. Exploring Ecclesiastes (John Phillips Commentary Series) . Kregel Academic & Professional. Kindle Edition.
To Solomon, who’s entire perspective was “under the sun,” the inevitability of death was somehow unfair! In vs. 3 Solomon says that it “…is an evil...”
This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
To Solomon, as long as he was alive, there was hope! (What is your hope? Is it physical or spiritual? Where is your hope? is it in this life or in the life to come?) For Solomon, we know the answers to those questions!
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Death, for Solomon, held no hope. Why? Because he left God out and because his entire perspective was “under the sun!”
There is coming a day
When no heartaches shall come
No more clouds in the sky
No more tears to dim the eye
All is peace forever more
On that happy golden shore
What a day, glorious day that will be
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
“…the dead know not anything...”
Solomon is here stating that death is the cessation of everything!
However, if truly know God’s Word, we understand that death, for the saved, is truly the beginning of life!
Some day you will read in the papers, “D. L. Moody of East Northfield is dead.” Don't you believe a word of it!
At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now;
I shall have gone up higher, that is all,
out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal --
a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint;
a body fashioned like unto His glorious body.
I was born of the flesh in 1837.
I was born of the Spirit in 1856.
That which is born of the flesh may die.
That which is born of the Spirit will live forever.
Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
“Also their love…is now perished...”
Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
Death is not the end; it is merely the beginning!
But...
[Solomon] Your example became the folly of the day. Solomon, to your people, everyday life was just that. You had made it permissible. You had made it the norm. You had made it the road of evil and madness to the grave.
Philips, John. Exploring Ecclesiastes (John Phillips Commentary Series) . Kregel Academic & Professional. Kindle Edition.
Because of Solomon, every day living had become a chore; it had become pointless. Life held no joy. Why? Solomon had removed the source of all joy - God!
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