Unfortunate Realities in an Ungodly World

Last week we considered adversity. We dealt with the fact that because we live in a fallen world we will face adversity. This morning we are going to see that Solomon lists some unfortunate realities we face because we live in a sinful world.

Look at verse 15. “In my life I have seen everything.” Solomon says “I’ve seen it all.” He’s an older man when he writes this so he has experienced a lot of life. In context he’s talking about seeing stuff we don’t want to see. To prove to you that Solomon is talking about the unfortunate realities of an ungodly world I want you to notice a couple of passages here.

Look at verse 29. Solomon says God made man upright but man has sought out many schemes. In other words, man has gone his own way.

Look at verse 20. He sees there is not a single person on earth who does not sin.

This is our problem. We live in a fallen world filled with sinful people. Because of that we experience things that upset us and even break our heart. Solomon lists four realities of living in an ungodly world in this section. There’s way more than four unfortunate realities of living in an ungodly world but these are the one Solomon lists in this section.

1. Sometimes the righteous die young (15).

A. Death is promised to all.

Hebrews 9:27- It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment.

As we said last week, the sooner we acknowledge that the better.

We are not told when we will die.

We are not told how we will die.

We are told that we will die.

Sinner and saint alike are given this promise.

We all have an appointment with God. God made the appointment and He will be sure we keep it.

B. The unrighteous sometimes live long lives.

This is only by God’s grace. 2 Peter 3:9 “God is longsuffering not willing that any should perish…”

Illustration: Barrabas and Jesus.

Jesus was righteous and He died young.

Barabbas was unrighteous and he was allowed to live.

Why? The grace of God.

If the unrighteous live a long life they should recognize it is only by the grace of God. If you are an aged person and are still unsaved you are tempting the Lord. My granny was almost 70 years old when she was saved and I thank God I was there for it!

The truth is those who die lost did not really live long. When you consider their eternity without Christ compared to the years they spent on earth they didn’t live long.

C. When the righteous die young it hurts.

Imagine Adam and Eve. They had two sons.

Cain was evil.

Abel was righteous.

The first person to physically die was a righteous person. He was killed by an unrighteous person.

I would imagine Adam and Eve wrestled with that. They knew Cain wasn’t a good man. They knew Abel was a good man. They probably wondered why the Lord took Abel and left Cain behind. In their minds I’m sure the world would have been a better place with Abel in it.

Illustration: Davey Hoffman. Young man in my youth group who loved the Lord.

He started a Bible study at his public High School.

He was a straight A student.

He was evangelistic.

He was going into ministry.

He chose the school I graduated from. I was very excited for him. One night coming home from a ministry event he was killed in a car crash. Davey was 18 years old and an only child. His family, his church and his school were devastated.

I wrestled with that. I thought Davey would have been much better in this world. Here was a young man who was giving his life for the Lord. Here was a young man who was serving God.

How many teenagers were out smoking dope and drinking that night but would make it home? Why did they live and he die? Those are hard questions.

We live in a fallen world and that means we will all die. The unrighteous may outlive the righteous. In our eyes that seems unfortunate but it is a reality.

2. Sometimes the religious are hypocritical (7:16).

A. The overly righteous are hypocrites.

Solomon isn’t condemning righteousness. He’s condemning hypocritical righteousness. He’s condemning those who present themselves as more righteous than they actually are.

This can be one of the most shocking things a new believer experiences. Those who don’t grow up in church may assume that everyone who goes to church is sincere. The presence of hypocrites in the church is something Satan uses to discourage people from following the Lord.

There has always been hypocrites in the church and there always will be until Jesus returns.

It began with Judas.

We have seen headlines of well-known so called men and women of God who fleeced the flock. Hypocrites cause scandal within the church.

There will be goats among the sheep.

But there are sheep as well. People don’t counterfeit that which isn’t real. The counterfeit exists because the real thing exists. There would be no counterfeit money if there wasn’t real money. Satan creates counterfeit Christians because the real thing exists. His intention is to infiltrate the church and turn people away from Christ.

B. The hypocrisy of the legalist.

These were the Pharisees in Jesus day.

They believed through their good works they deserved heaven.

They prayed.

They fasted

They attended synagogue.

They dressed the part.

They worked.

But

Their heart was far from God.

They hated people.

They were prideful.

They had a list of rules and they believed as long as they kept those rules they were righteous.

Illust: I remember when I first got saved I was going to some holiness revivals. They taught women had to wear a dress and men had to wear sleeves. They had lots of rules. I didn’t mind it. They seemed like perfect people to me.

One night I was following one of them to revival because I didn’t know how to get to the church. I couldn’t keep up. I realized I was going to have to break the law or be lost. It was then I realized this person wasn’t as perfect as I thought he was.

You can be overly righteous by promoting a standard that you pretend to live by.

C. The hypocrisy of the humanist.

These are people who are driven by what they call love. They overlook sin in the name of love.

They refuse to correct in the name of love.

They tolerate everything. They are overly righteous. They want to be considered loving. What they forget is that God is not only a God of love but also of justice.

This is the danger of our day. This is why we see people who claim to be Christians but are ok with:

Abortion

Homosexuality

Transgenderism

Drunkenness

Drug use

Foul language

The humanist is more concerned with offending humanity than it is in offending God.

We see two forms of hypocrisy. One focuses on a false holiness the other on a false love. These hypocrites are in the church. This is why discernment is so important.

Don’t give up on the church because of hypocrisy. It’s an unfortunate reality we have to deal with in this world.

3. People say things they shouldn’t say (7:21).

A. People are going to say things that hurt your feelings (21).

You don’t want to know what everyone says about you. You just think you do. You don’t want to know what the people you think like you say about you.

The servant in verse 21 would be a person who benefited from the one they were talking about.

The servant was cared for.

The servant was paid.

The servant was probably trusted to some degree with information others didn’t have.

I will guarantee every adult in here has had someone they trusted say something hurtful about them. Do you know why that happens? Back up a verse Look at verse 20. There isn’t a perfect person in this world.

Know this: the more you know about a person the more you will have to forgive a person.

B. We have all been guilty of unkindness toward others (22).

We don’t normally get caught when we talk about others. But in our heart we know we have said things about people we would not say to their face.

Solomon is teaching us what to do when we discover someone has spoken ill of us. We are to think about the people we have spoken ill of. Imagine if we did that. Instead of getting angry we began to meditate on all the people we have gossiped about.

Listen to me: People are going to hurt your feelings and you are going to hurt people’s feelings. This is one of the unfortunate things about living in a fallen world. I’m not justifying it. It’s wrong. It’s sinful. But it’s going to happen. It’s our responsibility to forgive those who hurt us with their words and to resist the temptation to hurt others with our words.

4. Relationships are difficult (7:25-28).

A. Solomon addresses a personal problem.

He says the problem for him is more bitter than death. What’s the problem? Women.

Solomon talks about being entrapped and fooled by women. We know he had issues with women. He’s known for his many wives. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. That’s an interesting number because he said in verse 28 he couldn’t find a good woman among 1000.

This was from Solomon’s perspective. It doesn’t mean there was not a suitable woman for him. Solomon’s problem with women was of his own making.

Solomon was able to have some good relationships with men. He could find one in a thousand good men. He struggled with women. The truth is he chased after the wrong women. 1 Kings 11:4 said his wives turned his heart toward other gods. Thankfully he repented of that. But he was much older before he learned his lesson.

B. The relationship between men and women has been affected by the fall.

One of the results of the fall is found in Genesis 3:16. It says of Eve “and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee.”

What does that mean? It means the woman would want to be the leader but God has ordained that position to the man. In a post sin world there will be a struggle between these two, who were to be as one. They would be at odds.

Therefore women will find it easier to be friends with women and men would find it easier to be friends with men.

Feminism and chauvinism are the result of the fall. Just as Adam and Eve blamed one another in the garden men and women blame one another for their problems today.

C. In a fallen world Christians can have proper romantic relationships.

God says He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. God wants your marriage to be a part of His sanctifying grace. Your marriage should make you a better Christian.

You can’t have a perfect marriage but you can have a godly marriage. The Holy Spirit is more powerful than our fallen human nature.

My mother was married five times by the time I was 15. I had no idea what a godly marriage was supposed to look like. When the Lord saved me He gave me the power to be a godly husband. He sent me a godly woman. By God’s grace we have a great marriage. It’s not perfect because we’re not perfect.

I’m not leaving her. If she leaves me I’m going with her. So we’re stuck together. By God’s grace a difficult relationship works.

Listen to me young people:

Be patient.

Be picky. Find a man or woman who loves the Lord.

Be busy for the Lord.

So we see some unfortunate realities of living in a fallen world:

Sometimes the righteous die young

Sometimes the religious are hypocrites.

Sometimes people say things they shouldn’t say.

Relationships are difficult.

The only way to make it in this difficult world is through Christ. He will one day restore this fallen world. Right now He is busy restoring fallen humans. Make sure you have been restored through His sacrifice on the cross.