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Amazing Grace
Psalms 106
May 23, 2021

In the 9th, 10th, and 11th chapter of Romans
We have some of the most remarkable truths in all of Scripture.

• We learn of God’s sovereignty
• We learn of God’s salvation
• And we learn of God’s faithfulness

Primarily it is a section of Scripture that deals with the salvation of Israel.
• We learn that they are lost having stumbled over the stumbling stone.
• We learn that they can be saved if they will call on the name of the Lord.
• We learn that their rejection served a greater purpose; namely the salvation of the Gentiles.

And the section concludes with us learning about
The return of Israel to Christ and their future salvation.

Romans 11:25-29 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery — so that you will not be wise in your own estimation — that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

God has promised that Israel will be saved.

And this is a very important text even for the Gentile church.

WHY?

Because it is the faithfulness of God that is on the line.
• God promised the salvation of Israel.
• God promised that one day they would “look on Him who they have pierced”
• God promised that they were His elect, chosen for salvation.

Now, we also know that Israel most certainly does not deserve it.
Just in reading Psalms 106 tonight you are aware of that.

• There has never been a more stubborn or obstinate people on the face of the planet than the Jewish people.

• Beyond that, these people rejected and ultimately murdered their King, the Messiah, the Son of God, their only hope for salvation.

• If ever there was a people who should just be cast aside it is those people.

BUT…
• God promised them salvation.
• Romans 11 tells us that God will fulfill that promise.

And that is important to us because it reassures our heart
That God is a faithful God who saves those whom He has chosen
Even if they don’t deserve it.

Isn’t that good news?
• I mean, if God all of a sudden decided to back out on His promises to
Israel…
• What hope do you have that you won’t offend Him in the same way and
He might back out on the promises He made to you?

Instead, God proves His faithfulness time and time again
Because the promises He made, He keeps.

And now we have confidence that God will be faithful to us
Because He has never failed to be faithful to them.

Well, that is a fitting backdrop to Psalms 106.

• We don’t know who wrote the Psalm,
• But it was clearly written by someone in affliction.
• It was written by someone who was under the punishment of God
• And who had been dispersed among the nations.

But the Psalmist here now wants mercy.

But the question is: ON WHAT GROUNDS DOES HE COME THINKING THAT GOD WOULD GIVE IT?

And the answer is that same faithfulness of God.
God’s proven Amazing Grace

Tonight we walk through what might be called “Israel’s Sin Hall of Fame”
• It is a quick read of some of the most arrogant blunders in their history,
• But even more than that, it is a testimony of God’s unmerited favor; His Amazing Grace.

3 main points
#1 HIS DISCERNMENT
Psalms 106:1-5

This is an important way to open this Psalm because it helps us realize
That the Psalmist is not coming in ignorance.

• Many people in our day lives in sin and genuinely think that God is cool with it.
• Many a person demand grace as though they are deserving of it and God is obligated to give it.
• But that is NOT at all the mindset of the Psalmist.

Let me show you 3 things he knows here.
THE GREATNESS OF GOD

(1-2) “Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the LORD, Or can show forth all His praise?”

• You certainly see the themes of praise and gratitude.
• You certainly agree with the statement that “He is good”
• We have seen many times that “His lovingkindness is everlasting”

I really like that last question:
“Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the LORD, Or can show forth all His praise?”

That’s a great question and the answer is obviously “no one”

We can’t even begin to fathom all that God deserves.
• All we know of Him is what He has chosen to allow us to know
• And that is far short of His full glory.

The Psalmist is certainly aware that God is deserving
Of much more honor than He ever receives.

He knows about the greatness of God.

THE VALUE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

“How blessed are those who keep justice, Who practice righteousness at all times!”

Well that is certainly a true statement.

Even based on a limited knowledge of God
We are certainly able to discern the simple truth
That God is Holy and that God demands Holiness.

The Mosaic Law has made it abundantly clear that
There is a tremendous blessing from God poured out upon those who are righteous.

Those who “keep justice” and who “practice righteousness at all times”
Can certainly expect a life full of wonderful blessing.

All you have to do is live perfectly
And God will most certainly be pleased with you and bless you.

Righteousness is that valuable.
It causes a man to be totally pleasing to God
And to obtain all of God’s blessings.

The Psalmist also discerns
THE BLESSING OF SALVATION

(4-5) “Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor toward Your people; Visit me with Your salvation, That I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, That I may glory with Your inheritance.”

This would be the blessing of being one who is in God’s good favor.
This would be one who God has delivered.

And you see the benefits of such a salvation.
• PROSPERITY – “That I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones”
• JOY – “That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation”
• SATISFACTION – “That I may glory with Your in inheritance”

Those are the blessings that are upon the man
Who has obtained God’s favor.
Those are the blessings that are upon the man
Who practices righteousness at all times.

• God will deliver that man
• God will prosper that man
• God will cause that man to rejoice
• God will satisfy that man

The Psalmist knows that.
God is more than good to the righteous.

And that is actually even found in the preaching of Jesus.

Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler that if he would simply “keep the commandments” then he would have treasure in heaven.

In John 5 Jesus preached to the Pharisees:
John 5:28-29 “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

Paul reminded us of the same thing:
Romans 2:9-11 “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”

That is fact.
• If you “keep justice”
• If you “practice righteousness at all times”

Then you also can expect from God to see prosperity,
To rejoice in gladness and to glory in His inheritance.

That is absolutely true.
And the Psalmist knows that.

But there is a problem.
#2 HIS DILEMMA
Psalms 106:6-46

(6) “We have sinned”

Well that just throws the whole offer into the trash then.
• That blessing and prosperity and rejoicing and satisfaction all hinged upon you keeping justice and practicing righteousness at all times.

But what about when you blow your end of the deal?
(And you already know you have.)

Well then you are at the mercy of God.
Then you’re only hope of salvation
Rests upon God being merciful and gracious.

Obtaining salvation is now totally out of your hands.
You will merely have to accept the ruling that comes down from on high.

And that is where the Psalmist finds himself.

Well, why would this Psalmist think that God
Would be willing to save and bless a man
Who has not upheld his end of the deal?

And the answer is because of who God is.

Now the Psalmist is about to go on a long journey through history.
And his journey actually builds for us the backdrop
Through which we better see the grace of God.

The Psalmist says:
“We have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly.”

• Well what do you mean?
• What kind of sin did your fathers commit?

He lists 8 of them here.
It is quite an embarrassing journey of failure and rebellion.

I DON’T THINK it’s the intent of the Psalmist TO DIVE DEEPLY into every one of these stories, rather it is more important to hit them all back to back in sort of rapid fire pace in order to feel the legacy of their sin.

So that’s how we’ll hit them.
THE SIN OF DISREGARD (7-12)

I would point out to you an obvious problem,
Especially based upon the last three Psalms we’ve studied.

In Psalms 103-105 we found out
The importance of remembering God’s benefits and goodness.

Well clearly one of the problems of Israel is that they did not.
• (7) “They did not remember…”
• (13) “They quickly forgot…”
• (21) “They forgot God…”

That again is a strong incentive not to forget the goodness of God in your life.

Well here we read:
(7) “Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses, But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.”

The “abundant kindnesses” here would be a reference to
God’s plagues and His great deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

• Do we not remember how the plundered the Egyptians?
• Do we not remember how God carried them out with a mighty hand?

Sure, but it didn’t take long for them to turn on God.
They left Egypt, went straight for the Red Sea
And immediately turned on God.

Exodus 14:11-12 “Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? “Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

• They totally disregarded the power of God to save.
• At the first sign of trouble they turned on God and opted to go back to their slavery.

And yet, God saved those fickle people.
(8-11) “Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, That He might make His power known. Thus He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up, And He led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness. So He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them, And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. The waters covered their adversaries; Not one of them was left.”

• Certainly you remember the story of how God parted the Red Sea
• And how the Israelites crossed on dry ground
• And how God drowned the Egyptians in that same sea.

God saved them anyway.

Now, their response to this newest salvation was certainly great.
(12) “Then they believed His words; They sang His praise.”

All of a sudden they were believers and singers.
All of a sudden they were filled with praise.

Exodus 14:31 “When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.”

• And if you read Exodus 15:1-21 (we won’t) then you’ll find what is called “The Song of Moses” which is a great song of praise to God for His deliverance.

Yep Israel was sold on their great God.

But then came the next sin.
THE SIN OF DISCONTENTMENT (13-15)

(13-15) “They quickly forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, But craved intensely in the wilderness, And tempted God in the desert. So He gave them their request, But sent a wasting disease among them.”

The Psalmist says “They quickly forgot”

How quickly?
TURN TO: EXODUS 15.

• You see there in the first 21 verses that song of praise for deliverance that I just told you about.

Now look at verses 22-24.
“Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

THREE DAYS!
• It only took 3 days for the children of Israel to completely forget about the great miracle of God to part the Red Sea.
• It only took 3 days to turn on God.
• It only took 3 days to turn on Moses.

The Bible says the problem was “They did not wait for His counsel”

That is to say, God was at work in their lives
But they wouldn’t wait on Him.

Remember what Moses would tell them later:
Deuteronomy 8:1-5 “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your forefathers. “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. “Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. “Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.”

• Part of letting Israel get hungry and thirsty was so that God could teach them about His provision.
• But they wouldn’t even give Him time to complete the lesson before they turned on Him.

They “craved intensely in the wilderness”

Numbers 11:4 “The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?”

• Remember God gave them quale until it came out their nose.

(15) “So He gave them their request, But sent a wasting disease among them.”

These were sinful people who just offended God every chance they got.

Their Disregard, Their Discontentment
THE SIN OF DEFIANCE (16-18)

(16-18) “When they became envious of Moses in the camp, And of Aaron, the holy one of the LORD, The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, And engulfed the company of Abiram. And a fire blazed up in their company; The flame consumed the wicked.”

Here they simply rebelled against Moses,
Which was a rebellion against God.

• God had appointed Moses.
• All authority comes from Him.
• So to reject God’s leader is to reject God.

You remember the attack:
Numbers 16:1-3 “Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took action, and they rose up before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, chosen in the assembly, men of renown. They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”

They challenged God and Moses and ultimately “The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, And engulfed the company of Abiram.”

They dropped alive into hell.
Ouch!

Disregard, Discontentment, Defiance
THE SIN OF DEFAMATION (19-23)

(19-23) “They made a calf in Horeb And worshiped a molten image. Thus they exchanged their glory For the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt, Wonders in the land of Ham And awesome things by the Red Sea. Therefore He said that He would destroy them, Had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him, To turn away His wrath from destroying them.”

This was the glorious event when they made the golden calf and said:
Exodus 32:4 “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

• It was idolatry.
• It was a graven image.
• It is an extreme insult to God.

It was Isaiah who asked,
“To whom would you liken Me, declares the LORD”

Any representation of God
Is an insult to His nature and to defame His character.

But the children of Israel did it and then they worshiped it.

And God would have destroyed them if Moses hadn’t interceded on their behalf.

But that’s still not all.
THE SIN OF DERISION (24-27)

(24-27) “Then they despised the pleasant land; They did not believe in His word, But grumbled in their tents; They did not listen to the voice of the LORD. Therefore He swore to them That He would cast them down in the wilderness, And that He would cast their seed among the nations And scatter them in the lands.”

Then we find that glorious event
When God took them to the border of the land of promise
And they refused to go in.

Remember the spies brought back a negative report:
Numbers 14:1-2 “Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!”

• They hated the land that God had chosen to give them.
• The Psalmist says “they despised” it.
• The same language that is used regarding Esau and how he despised his birthright.

Esau chose a bowl of pea soup over his birthright.
The children of Israel preferred slavery in Egypt over the land of God.
WHAT A SIN.

Disregard, Discontentment, Defiance, Defamation,
THE SIN OF DEFECTION (28-31)

(28-31) “They joined themselves also to Baal-peor, And ate sacrifices offered to the dead. Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, And the plague broke out among them. Then Phinehas stood up and interposed, And so the plague was stayed. And it was reckoned to him for righteousness, To all generations forever.”

Remember when they abandoned God altogether
To go and marry those Moabite women?

• Even after God’s anger broke out against the Israelites one man was so bold so as to bring a Moabite woman right into camp; into his tent to marry her.
• That is when “Phinehas” went in and stabbed them both through to the ground.
• And God was so pleased that He “reckoned to him for righteousness”

Amazing that these totally dependent people
Would so quickly abandon God for false gods.

Disregard, Discontentment, Defiance, Defamation, Defection
THE SIN OF DISSENSION (32-33)

(32-33) “They also provoked Him to wrath at the waters of Meribah, So that it went hard with Moses on their account; Because they were rebellious against His Spirit, He spoke rashly with his lips.”

Here they were rebellious again.
Again they grumbled about water.

Only this time
• Instead of defending the LORD, Moses sought to defend himself.
• Instead of speaking to the rock, Moses struck the rock and “it went hard with Moses on their account”
• Moses didn’t get to enter the Promised Land.

But again we see people rebelling against God.

THE SIN OF DEPRAVITY (34-39)

(34-39) “They did not destroy the peoples, As the LORD commanded them, But they mingled with the nations And learned their practices, And served their idols, Which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with the blood. Thus they became unclean in their practices, And played the harlot in their deeds.”

It was just more unthinkable rebellion against God.
• Every time He said to go right they went left.
• Every time He said to go left they went right.

• He told them to clear out the Promised Land
• Instead they assimilated with them.
• He told them not to conform to the sinful practices of the world
• Instead they copied them.

They fell right into the same sin of the people
They were supposed to destroy.

“they mingled with the nations”

Judges 3:5-6 “The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.”

And those people “became a snare to them”

Deuteronomy 7:16 “You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.”

Numbers 33:55-56 “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live. ‘And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.'”

It brings to mind Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” statement

But these people simply rebelled against God repeatedly.
• They weren’t grateful for God’s deliverance
• They weren’t patient for God’s provision
• They weren’t submissive to God’s leaders
• They weren’t satisfied with God’s Promised Land
• They weren’t loyal to God alone
• They weren’t committed to being separate from the nations

It’s just one thing after another.
Sin after sin after sin after sin

And God was rightly angry.
(40-43) “Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against His people And He abhorred His inheritance. Then He gave them into the hand of the nations, And those who hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, And they were subdued under their power. Many times He would deliver them; They, however, were rebellious in their counsel, And so sank down in their iniquity.”

And certainly you’ve read the book of Judges.
It is a painful cycle.
• Sin, punishment, crying out, deliverance, prosperity, sin, punishment, crying out, deliverance prosperity, sin, punishment…
• It’s over and over and over.
• The reason is because they fell short of the glory of God.

God demanded righteousness and justice
And they didn’t uphold their end of the deal.

And that’s exactly the dilemma the Psalmist is in.

• He said right off the bat that he was well-aware that the path to blessing is
found in justice and righteousness.
• The man that does those things can expect good from the LORD.

But his problem, if you will remember:
(6) “We have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly.”

• We are just like our fathers.
• We are chip right off the old block.
• We sinned like they sinned.

And so we don’t deserve the blessing we desire.
We have not earned it.

HOWEVER, that has not stopped this Psalmist from coming to God.
• Even though he knows about God’s holiness
• Even though he knows about his own sin
• Even though he knows God’s propensity and right to punish sinners

HE STILL COMES TO GOD.
WHY?
Because he also knows that God’s grace is amazing.

(44-46) “Nevertheless He looked upon their distress When He heard their cry; And He remembered His covenant for their sake, And relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness. He also made them objects of compassion In the presence of all their captors.”

That is the Ephesians 2:4 of the Old Testament.

Ephesians 2:1-4 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God…”

That is what you read here.
“Nevertheless…”
• “He looked”
• “He heard”
• “He remembered”
• “He relented”
• “He made them objects of compassion”

They did not deserve it, but God did it.
Over and over and over.

That is the Amazing Grace of God!
He gave those people what they did not deserve
And He did it over and over again.

Now, that fact is the driving fact behind this Psalm.

Because here we have a Psalmist who has offended God
Just as badly as they offended God.

Here we have a Psalmist who also DESERVES God’s wrath.
But here we have a Psalmist who WANTS God’s mercy.

And based upon what he knows about God, He is now going to cry out for it.
#3 HIS DESIRE
Psalms 106:47-48

Isn’t that great!
“Save us”

Do we deserve it? No
But You are the God who saves people who don’t deserve it.

“Save us, O LORD our God, And gather us from among the nations, To give thanks to Your holy name And glory in Your praise.”

Save us like You saved them.
• Not because we deserve it, but because you are gracious.

• Save us and we will give thanks
• Save us and we will glory in Your praise
• Save us so that we can be yet another chapter in the book of Your great grace.

Have you considered your life as a chapter in that book?
“The book of God’s amazing grace.”

We sped through 8 chapters of it this evening,
But if we read far enough
We would get to the chapter with your name.

It could talk about your sin and failures and how you offended God.

• Mine would be about teenage years of terrible hypocrisy,
• Pretending to be a Christian but with a heart filled with adultery and cruelty.
And yet God saved me.

But even after being saved, I still have entries in that book
• Because I have often failed to keep promises
• And often done that which He commanded me not to do,
• And often fallen short.

And my life just becomes another chapter
In the book of God’s Amazing Grace.
YOURS DOES TOO.

Now, it is not my desire to keep making entries into that book.
• I certainly do not wish to sin so that grace may increase.
• But, I will join the Psalmist in praising God for His unmerited favor.
• I will join in praising God for His Amazing Grace.
• And I will continue to trust in it even when I fail.

“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. And let all the people say, “Amen.” Praise the LORD!”

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Contemplating Your Legacy – Part 1
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26 (12-17)
May 23, 2021

By now you are settling in to the mindset of the preacher
Here in the book of Ecclesiastes.

He is cutting through all deception and lies
Of the great salesman this world faces.

We understand how this life works.
• We have an enemy who is a deceiver and a tempter. (the salesman)
• We have humanity with a fallen flesh that wants the world (the consumer)

And it is amazing how often
The world buys the sales pitch of the enemy hook line and sinker.

Because the salesman is offering what the consumer desires
It is far too often A VERY EASY SALE.

Paul spoke of it to the Philippians
Philippians 3:18-19 “For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”

• Paul said their “god is their appetite”
• He said “their glory is their shame”
• He said their focus is “on earthly things”

That about sums it up.
We have a world filled with humanity
Who are seeking to find enjoyment and happiness in this life
And they are willing to sacrifice their conscience and morality to get it.

For this group of passionate consumers we have the salesman.
And he merely offers to the consumer that which they want.

James said it like this:
James 1:14-15 “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

It is a story that plays out in front of us daily.

How often have we seen humanity take the bait of the salesman
And purchase that which only brings momentary pleasure
But not lasting satisfaction?

We’ve seen it more times than we can count.
At times we have even been participants in it.

Well, TO SHED SOME LIGHT ON THE LUNACY of it all
The book of Ecclesiastes introduces us to the preacher.

We might better consider him the critic.
• He has also tried all that the salesman told him to buy
• Now he is writing the review for the young man to read.

And over and over and over we find that his assessment is the same.
“This too is vanity.”

HEBEL in the Hebrew (mist or vapor or smoke)
• It’s a mirage.
• It doesn’t bring the satisfaction it promises.

And we’ve already seen him write the review
On two massive attractions for the young man.

THE FIRST – is the one most commonly endorsed; KNOWLEDGE
The young man is most often promised that knowledge is power and the secret to success is an education.

• An education isn’t bad, but in and of itself it cannot satisfy.
• Namely because it cannot straighten what is crooked, nor can it supply what is lacking.
• You cannot educate a man into the kingdom of heaven.

So to sell knowledge as the all-satisfying objective of life
Is nothing but a mirage.

THE SECOND – is the one most commonly tried; PLEASURE
The young man may be offered knowledge, but far too often what he first pursues is pleasure.

• Like knowledge, pleasure isn’t bad. God created it and created you with the capacity for it.
• But if pleasure becomes the all-satisfying objective of life then again you are chasing mirage.

For one reason sin can be pleasurable as we saw with
The Preacher’s pursuit of wine, works, wealth, and women.
AND THAT LEADS TO JUDGMENT

But also pleasure is short-lived.
Seeking it LEADS EITHER TO FRUSTRATION OR BOREDOM.

It is a mirage.

Those where the first two attractions that the preacher sought to review, THIS MORNING WE MOVE ON.

And the issue contemplated by the preacher this morning
IS NOT typically one that is initially sought by the young man.

In fact, most young men don’t give much thought to it at all,
But the older a person gets the more they naturally begin to think about it.

And it is the issue of LEGACY
• Something that will last.
• Something that will cause men to remember me.

It is typically the last attempt of the old man
To leave his mark on the world.

But like the rest, he’ll find no satisfaction here.

Now again, don’t get me wrong,
THE BIBLE SPEAKS VERY HIGHLY OF LEAVING A LEGACY.

Exodus 20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

Again:
Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;”

Often in the book of the Kings
• We read about how God’s favor rested on Judah,
• Not because their King was so good,
• But rather because the blessing of David trickled down.

1 Kings 15:1-5 “Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. He walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, like the heart of his father David. But for David’s sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem; because David did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.”

Legacy is important, so long as it is the right kind of legacy.

When Paul wrote to Timothy he wrote:
2 Timothy 1:5 “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.”

The write kind of legacy is very valuable.

But pursuing the wrong kind of legacy
Will only cause you to end up in frustration and despair,
And that is the message of the preacher here in Ecclesiastes.

There are actually 5 points to be made in our text.
And I warn you this morning that his outlook
Can appear very depressing and dark.

But I will say it to you again that
The book of Ecclesiastes is only depressing
If you are seeking to make this world your treasure.

If instead you are like Paul who has said:
Galatians 6:14 “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

• If you can say that with Paul then you’re not going to have any trouble at all with this message.
• But if you are also holding on to a foolish hope of somehow finding satisfaction in this world then the words of the preacher may rightly cut and sting you this morning.

But it is needed discipline to set right the mindset of God’s people.

So let’s begin to contemplate our legacy with the preacher this morning.
#1 HIS EPIPHANY
Ecclesiastes 2:12-14

An epiphany is an illuminating discovery or realization.
• In short, the Preacher is about to tell you something he learned.
• It is a conclusion he has come to.

He had given his heart to pursuing knowledge or philosophy.
He had given his heart to pursuing pleasure (even drunken folly).
And he had said that both of them were vanity.

Well after pursuing them to their full end
The Preacher then decided to compare them
So as to be able to tell the next generation about them.

(12) “So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done?”

• So in one hand he is holding “wisdom”
• And in the other hand he is holding “madness and folly”

And he sees them as the 2 great temptations of life
Which men continually pursue as the means of finding satisfaction.

And he knows that the person coming after him
Will LIKELY PURSUE one or both of them as well.

“for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done?”

This is what Paul was talking about when he brought up the past failures of the children of Israel.
• He mentioned how they craved evil
• He mentioned how they were idolaters
• He mentioned how they acted immorally
• He mentioned how they tried the Lord
• He mentioned how they grumbled

And Paul told us about them
Because he knew something about the way the tempter works.
1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man…”

That is to say nothing has changed.
All the way back in the garden
Satan was tempting men with KNOWLEDGE and PLEASURE.

Genesis 3:4-6 “The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”

Well the Preacher knows that too.
He knows that wisdom and folly are the two great offers of the salesman and he knows that he’ll offer them again to the man who comes after him.

Now, what you are seeing is the FIRST APPEARANCE of the Preacher’s CONCERN ABOUT HIS LEGACY.

• He has already started thinking about what is coming after him.
• He has already started thinking about the temptations the next King will face.

And his objective is to build a legacy
By basically steering humanity in the right direction.

SO HE’S GOING TO COMPARE WISDOM WITH FOLLY.

Well, what was his epiphany?
What was his revelation?
(13-14a) “And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.”

So in all his searching he did come to one conclusion.

If you must choose between wisdom and pleasure, which should you take?

Wisdom.
• It’s better.
• It’s better like light is better than darkness.
• It’s always better to know where you are going than to be clueless.

And we have no problem with that.
• No one applauds ignorance as a virtue.
• No one applauds foolishness as a desirable trait.

If I read Ecclesiastes 2:13 anywhere in the world
It would be the general consensus that it is true.

“wisdom excels folly”

And if we had the time we could insert the entire book of Proverbs here
As that is precisely the point made there.

Proverbs 3:13-26 “How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding. For her profit is better than the profit of silver And her gain better than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways And all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who hold her fast. The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, By understanding He established the heavens. By His knowledge the deeps were broken up And the skies drip with dew. My son, let them not vanish from your sight; Keep sound wisdom and discretion, So they will be life to your soul And adornment to your neck. Then you will walk in your way securely And your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden fear Nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes; For the LORD will be your confidence And will keep your foot from being caught.”

“wisdom excels folly”
• If you’re going to pick one or the other, obviously pick wisdom.
• If you’re going to college and you are offered there both an education and a good time, then by all means take the education.

No one argues with that, and certainly Scripture affirms it.

But even in that obvious evaluation
There was something else the Preacher learned,
And this is what is going to crush him.

(14b) “And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.”

And all of a sudden we jump right into
What is the ultimate futility and even insanity of life.

Take two young men,
• Both of them about to graduate high school.
• They are both offered the same two temptations of wisdom and pleasure.

“Young Man A” chooses wisdom and knowledge
• He goes to college and takes his studies seriously.
• He graduates with a high average
• He becomes an expert in his field
• He makes good decisions about life
• He succeeds in life’s endeavors

“Young Man B” chooses pleasure and folly
• He goes to college and skips class
• He stays out late partying and drinking
• He fraternizes with girls and sows plenty of wild oats
• He eventually drops out of college
• He spends his life paycheck to paycheck working a manual labor job

WHO WON?
Well the world tells you “Young Man A” won by leaps and bounds.

But did you catch what the Preacher said?
NOBODY WON, THEY TIED.

“one fate befalls them both.”
• How can that be?
• How can you say they tied?
• How can you say they all ended up dead even?

• We just said that it is obvious in the world and everywhere else that wisdom is way better than folly.
• We just said that wisdom was better than folly like light was better than darkness.

So how can you now say that they both end up in the same place?

Well let’s keep listening.
His Epiphany
#2 HIS ENIGMA
Ecclesiastes 2:15-16

An enigma is a mystery;
It is something that is hard to understand or explain.

And here is his.
(15a) “Then I said to myself, “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?”

Did you catch the riddle?
“Why then have I been extremely wise?”
• What is the point if we both end up at the same place?
• What is the point if there is really only one fate?

Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”

We learned it way back in the garden; all men die.

• You can go to school and you can learn all there is to know.
• You can graduate at the top of your class.
• You can have all sorts of intellectual breakthroughs in your field of study.
• You can turn that education into success and wealth and prestige.

And you will still die just like the kid who learned nothing.

WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE CANNOT DEFEAT DEATH.

Think about it.
• Despite all our research and scientific advancement.
• Despite all our understanding of diseases and medication.
• Despite all our innovation of medical machines and procedures.
• Despite all our knowledge about diet and exercise.
• Despite all our investment in safety and precaution.
• Despite all our focus on prevention and testing.

Death remains our nation’s number 1 killer.

Wisdom cannot stop death.
If you believe in the sovereignty of God you know
It can’t even delay death.

Psalms 139:16 “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

Acts 17:26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”

IT IS THE SIMPLE TRUTH THAT DEATH IS COMING.

And it is indiscriminate.
• Death hits the wise and the foolish
• Death hits the moral and the immoral
• Death hits the cautious and the reckless
• Death hits the healthy and the sick
• Death hits the young and the old
• Death hits the hard working and the lazy
• Death hits the famous and the insignificant
• Death hits the useful and the useless
• Death hits the family man and the bachelor
• Keep going…

And this realization punched the preacher right in the gut.

“Here I thought that I was really doing something by pursuing wisdom, but in the end that wisdom could not keep me from dying.”

“Why then have I been extremely wise?”

But listen, IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT avoiding death here.
There’s a BIGGER FRUSTRATION here that the preacher is feeling.

(16) “For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die!”

Do you see the issue?
• It’s not just that wisdom couldn’t keep him from death.
• It’s that wisdom couldn’t even keep him from being forgotten.

Through wisdom he couldn’t escape death,
But he also couldn’t protect his legacy.

HE HAD NO CONTROL OVER IT.
• “no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool”
• “all will be forgotten”

How many people in here recognize these names?
(just raise your hand if you know who this person is. Don’t answer Peggy, just raise your hand if you know them)

Zachary Taylor
Chester Author
John Tyler
Benjamin Harrison
William Harrison
Those men were all presidents of the United States.

How about this guy?
Martin Cooper

• I promise you that our culture is captivated by the work of Martin Cooper.
• Teenagers wonder how their lives would have ever existed without his
accomplishments.

Martin Cooper invented the cell phone.

Sure there are exceptions to the rule.
There are some famous people or wise people that we haven’t forgotten.
Solomon is one of them.

But by in large, the truth remains
“there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool”

Not only can you not escape death,
But you can’t even create your legacy.

Our culture is filled with broken records and forgotten feats
• Massive buildings and structures that once were a testimony to their architect have long since been torn down.
• Fortunes built through enterprise blown by future generations.

Or think about this, it is especially relevant in our current culture.
• Men who history remembered as great men, and how easily that history can be rewritten to see those great men as evil.
• Did you ever think you’d live to see the day when George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or even Abraham Lincoln would be considered racist?
• Did you ever think you’d live to see the day when Mt. Rushmore was under attack?

Even a legacy is not safe.
• I don’t care how wise you are.
• I don’t care how much you accomplish.
• I don’t care how much good you think you are doing.

YOU CANNOT PROTECT IT.
Because you will die and you will be forgotten.

The history of this church
• Shows 24 men served here as Pastor before me,
• And if you can name 10 that means you’ve probably been here your whole life.
• Men who served God’s people in this church and they are forgotten.
• Someday my name will move up that list into oblivion as well.

And as the Preacher contemplated that
It broke his spirit and he cried, “Why…?”

WHAT’S THE POINT?

So the preacher figured out that wisdom is indeed better than folly,
But the sad part is that it’s not enough better
To keep you from death or from being forgotten.

Does that hit you sort of sideways?
• Were you under the impression that all your studies and wisdom and labor were worth more than that?

It crushed the Preacher.

His Epiphany, His Enigma
#3 HIS EMOTION
Ecclesiastes 2:17-21

It just threw him into a pit didn’t it?
• (17) “So I hated life…”
• (18) “Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor…”
• (20) “Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor…”

• All of a sudden he hated his education.
• All of a sudden he hated all his work.
• All of a sudden he hated all his accomplishments.

THERE WAS NO BENEFIT TO THEM.
At the end he was still no better off than the lazy, foolish, drunken bum.

They all ended up the same place – DEATH & OBLIVION.

(17) “So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.”

That is a pretty good pit he just fell into wasn’t it?

REMEMBER THAT
He is here talking about all that “which had been done under the sun”

Remember the differing perspectives.
• There is under the sun and there is above the sun
• There is under heaven and there is in heaven

And when he talks about
All the labors and dreams and ambitions and efforts DONE IN THIS LIFE
He realized that “everything is futility and striving after wind.”

THINK ABOUT IT.
• Can anything you do here cause you to skip death?
• Can anything you do here guarantee you’ll be remembered?

• How many of you know the name of your great-great grandfather?
See how fleeting it all is?

And HE’S NOT DONE lamenting, not by a long shot.
There’s more to hear that we’ll talk about next time.

But this morning it is enough that
You understand the truth about your earthly existence.

As you know we take our high school students to Glorieta, NM for Camp REGEN every year.

Well we recently found out that this year’s theme passage is
Psalms 90:12.

Psalms 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”

Psalms 90 was written by Moses and in that Psalm he contemplates
• The temporary nature of human life,

But then he says:
Psalms 90:3-6 “You turn man back into dust And say, “Return, O children of men.” For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew; Toward evening it fades and withers away.”

Do you hear Moses talk about how transient and fragile life is?
He compares us to grass.

And so he says “teach us to number our days”.
That is to say: give us some perspective here.

Well that is what the Preacher just poured out on your head.
He just dumped out a 5 gallon bucket of perspective on us.
• You are the hamster in the wheel…
• You are the goldfish in the bowl…
• There is a real temporariness to our lives…

• Sure wisdom has value, this life will be better for you if you live it wisely
instead of foolishly…
• Sure knowledge and hard work and morality are virtuous things that can
make this life better…

Basic wisdom and proverbs says that the hard working humble wise man
Is going to have a better life than the lazy stubborn fool.

We are not discounting that.

You clean your house and wash your clothes,
Not because it will last forever,
But because it makes today more enjoyable.

There is truth there.

But what has the preacher frustrated is that none of it lasts.
• It’s all temporary.
• None of it can stop death.
• None of it can preserve your legacy.

Regardless of what you do on this earth,
You will die, and this earth will forget you.

Genesis 3:19b “For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

THAT’S THE TRUTH.

And as I said the preacher has much more to talk about here,
But we always want to end with a gospel perspective as well.

The problem explained here by the Preacher
Is a problem that is solved in Jesus.

The Preacher looked at the wise and the foolish and lamented that they shared the same fate:
• (14b) “And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.”
• (15) “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me.”
• (16) “And how the wise man and the fool alike die.”

That was his enigma, his mystery, his riddle.
Namely that the fool and the wise man both die.

But when we listen to Jesus, we have the solution to the problem.

In fact Jesus took the story a little further.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 7:24-27

There we see our two men again.
• We see the wise man.
• And we see the fool.

• Both men built houses, both men lived life.
• Both men faced death.

That’s what the storm is there, it’s death.
Death came for the wise man and the fool just like the Preacher said.

However, we learn from Jesus that one man survived the storm.
It was the wise man.

But it wasn’t because he had great knowledge,
But rather that he had obedience and faith.

Here we see the wise man who heard the words of Jesus
AND acted on them.

He built on the rock, who incidentally is Christ.

The true wise man
• Wasn’t wise in worldly wisdom or secular knowledge.
• Wasn’t trying to avoid death, but was preparing for it.

The true wise man believed that Jesus had the answer for death
And so he tied his life to Christ

He built his house on the only thing
That was going to survive the coming storm.

If wisdom for you is a means to a good life and a lasting legacy
I’m sorry to disappoint you, it will do neither.

But if you will embrace the wisdom that leads to Christ
Then there is life found on the other side of death
And your legacy is the glory of Christ.

Download Here:

He Is The Lord Our God – Part 2
Psalms 105 (16-45)
May 9, 2021

Last Sunday night we began looking at this great 105th Psalm of David.

It is the final Psalm in a trilogy of pure praise
In which David commands his soul to “Bless the LORD”

Each of these Psalms shares some common distinctions.

1) They are nothing but praise
• No complaints
• No requests
• No contextual indicators
• Just praise

2) They focus on something God has done as deserving of praise
• 103 – personal redemption (David looked inwardly)
• 104 – majesty of creation (David looked outwardly)
• 105 – God’s work on behalf of Israel (David looks historically)

3) They share a common method to motivate the soul to worship
• REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE

Psalms 103:2 “Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;”

Psalms 105:5-6 “Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!”

We have actually even talked about that forgetfulness is a sin.
We are called to never forget what God has done for us.
• If that means a rock pile, then pile up rocks
• If that means a journal, then start writing
• If that means a string on your finger, then put it there

But remember.
Count your many blessings.

And the simple reality is that
As you begin to recount God’s goodness in your life,
It is a natural motivation for the soul to begin to bless God.

When you remember that
• He has not treated you as you deserve,
• That He has forgiven all your sin, and healed all your spiritual diseases,
• That He has redeemed your life from the pit –
Then your soul should be motivated to bless God.

When you remember that
• He has created you, and the world around you,
• That He has provided for and sustained creation and your life forever
Then your soul should be motivated to bless God.

And here in Psalms 105, when you remember
• All that God has done throughout history for His elect,
Then again your soul should be motivated to bless God.

And that is actually where David began Psalms 105.

He doesn’t say to bless God specifically in this Psalm,
But he does spell out for us the things a soul does
When it seeks to bless God.

We saw it last time, we called it God’s Expectation
#1 GOD’S EXPECTATION
Psalms 105:1-7

We won’t spend time commenting on them again,
But you hopefully remember that David gave 8 expectations
That God has for His elect.

• Gratitude – (1) “Oh give thanks to the LORD”
• Trust – (1) “call upon His name”
• Evangelism – (1) “Make known His deeds among the peoples”
• Praise – (2) “Sing to Him, sing praises to Him”
• Meditation (2) “Speak of all His wonders”
• Boasting – (3) “Glory in His holy name”
• Satisfaction – (3) “be glad”
• Dependence – (4) “Seek…His strength”

These are a detailed picture of what a soul seeking to bless God does.

And David outlined them specifically for God’s elect.
• For (6) the “seed of Abraham” the “sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!”

Those who have experienced
The unfathomable grace of God to be chosen for salvation
Should most certainly be motivated to bless and be a blessing to God.

THAT IS GOD’S EXPECTATION

And after that sort of prologue, as he did in 103 and 104,
David began to recount and list the great benefits of God
That should motivate such a response from us.

There’s actually 4 benefits of God that David focuses on here in Psalm 105
We saw the first one last week.

It was our second point to the Psalm.
#2 GOD’S LOYALTY
Psalms 105:8-15

You of course remember that loyalty is different than faithfulness.
• Faithfulness speaks of one who keeps his promises.
• Loyalty speaks of the preference to continue to making those promises.

And God’s loyalty had been obvious to Israel.
• In His selection of Abraham
• In His selection of Isaac
• In His selection of Jacob

None of those men deserved the promises God chose to make to them,
But God made them anyway.

We even saw how God supernaturally protected Abraham and Isaac from the attacks of foreign kings.

And we looked at that marvelous story when Abraham’s servant was sent to find a wife for Isaac. How that man asked God to continue to show loyalty to Abraham and how God did, and how that servant praised Him for it.

The simple fact is that when you look back through history,
It is obvious that God has shown a special loyalty to His elect;
To those whom He has chosen.

And today we in the church enjoy that loyalty.

Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

It is a great reminder and a great reason for your soul to bless God.
• God is for you
• God is loyal to you
• God will not forsake you
• God will not send you away
• You are His, and He is yours.

It is a tremendous reason for your soul to bless God.

Well that’s where we ended last week, so let’s pick up now and see the other reasons David lists.
#3 GOD’S PROVIDENCE
Psalms 105:16-24

The flow of Genesis continues in these Psalms
• Psalms 104 gave us creation
• Psalms 105 first gave us election and loyalty

And now it follows the Genesis account and speaks of God’s providence.

Genesis cleanly breaks into these divisions.
• Genesis 1-11 take us through creation and the separation of the peoples
• Genesis 12-36 takes us through the election of Israel
• Genesis 37-50 shows us the providence of God toward Israel

Genesis 37 is where the Joseph story begins.

Hopefully you remember from our study of Genesis
What is the purpose of those final 14 chapters.

The temptation of most is to see Joseph
As sort of the 4th patriarch in the story, but that is not true.

Joseph is not the 4th patriarch, Judah is.
• Even at the end of Genesis it is Judah who is given the Messianic promise.
• It is from Judah that Jesus Christ will come who is to be God’s King.

Joseph becomes a focal point in Genesis
Because God uses Joseph to save Judah, and by saving Judah,
The lineage of Christ is preserved.

So the Joseph story is all about providence.

You remember the great culminating explanation.
Genesis 45:4-15 “Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come closer to me.” And they came closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. “For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. “You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. “There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.”‘ “Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you. “Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and bring my father down here.” Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.”

There we receive one of those rare “Ah-Ha!” moments in history.
The purpose of Joseph’s suffering was actually revealed to him.

• God sent him to Egypt to preserve the line of Judah.
• God also sent him to Egypt because Egypt would be the sort of incubator that would allow Israel to grow into a people as numerous as the sand of the sea shore.

This is providence.

And that is what David brings to light here.

(16-22) “And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the LORD tested him. The king sent and released him, The ruler of peoples, and set him free. He made him lord of his house And ruler over all his possessions, To imprison his princes at will, That he might teach his elders wisdom.”

It is certainly an interesting note that
God is the One who “called for a famine upon the land;”

• The God we saw as the sustainer and provider of all things in Psalms 104
• Here becomes the God who also deprives the land of His supply
• In order to accomplish His purposes.

We understand that about God.
• He is undoubtedly the sovereign provider of all creation and He is good at it.
• If He withholds that provision it is not because He is somehow failing,
• But it is because to do so fits His eternal redemptive purpose.

Beyond that, even in His famine He did not break His loyalty to Israel.

It’s not like Jacob’s family was the only family living in Canaan during the famine, but Jacob’s family was the family God cared for.

We also recognize that while Joseph ended up on the throne, he began in “fetters”.

David said, “They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the LORD tested him.”

That is a unique perspective on Joseph’s affliction.
• God had promised him that his brothers would come and bow down to him.
• But before that happened Joseph became the lowest of all, even a slave.

And the phrase David used was that
“The word of the LORD tested him.”

It DOESN’T SAY Joseph tested God’s word,
It says God’s word tested Joseph.

God gave a promise and then delayed in its fulfillment
In order to prove the heart of Joseph.

Let that sink in as you walk with God.

God’s promises never fail, genuine faith believes that
Even when it looks like there is no way they can possibly ever come true.

But what you see here is that
• This God who had pronounced so many promises to Israel
• And who had shown such loyalty to Abraham
• All of a sudden placed them in a massive bind.

It sort of reminds of Jesus purposely putting His disciples on that boat,
Calling for a storm, and then going to sleep.

Throughout the trial the loyalty of God never waivered.
He was always for them.

And eventually God’s purpose came to light.
God was using the famine and Joseph to save Israel.

(23-24) “Israel also came into Egypt; Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And He caused His people to be very fruitful, And made them stronger than their adversaries.”

There we see why God sent them to Egypt.

In Canaan they were merely “The Hebrews”

• Remember that was sort of a derogatory term they had hung around the neck
of Abraham. It meant “One who crosses over”
• He was a river jumper
• He was a “wet back”
• He was an illegal alien

In Canaan the family of Jacob was unfruitful and unprotected.

God providentially designed to send them into Egypt
Where they would be protected and be given a chance
To grow into a mighty nation; which they did.

It was the providence of God to fulfill His plan for Israel.

And the beauty is, He did it in spite of them.
None of that plan hinged really on Jacob or Joseph or Judah at all.

It’s not like God told Jacob, “Now listen, you’d better figure out a way to start reproducing and multiplying your offspring.”

No, God did it all for them.
He worked it out.

And through that, God provided a Savior
Who would not only save Israel, but who would also save us all.

THE CHURCH,
• Like Israel, may have started small and seemingly insignificant,
• But as God’s chosen people, He has also providentially grown His church.

Matthew 13:31-32 “He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.”

That sounds just like what God did for Israel.
They entered Egypt 70 in number and came out like the stars of heaven.

1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”

Don’t you love that God is at work to save His people and grow His church?
• We are certainly thankful to join Him in this work through preaching the gospel,
• But we rest in knowing that it is God who is providentially growing His church.

And of course in the end we see the full effects of God’s providential work
To save the people He has chosen.

Revelation 5:8-10 “When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

Revelation 7:9-10 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

I absolutely love that.
The end is set.

God told Abraham
• That his descendants would be like the sand on the seashore.
• To Abraham who was old with a barren wife, that must have seemed impossible.
• But God through His loyalty and providence did just that.

And now God has told us that in heaven
There will be a multitude which cannot be counted
From every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.

At times it might seem impossible,
But our loyal God through His providence
Most certainly will accomplish His purposes.

Certainly our soul is motivated to bless Him for that.

God’s Expectation, God’s Loyalty, God’s Providence
#4 GOD’S DELIVERANCE
Psalms 105:25-36

Here we move beyond the Genesis account
And have now entered the book of Exodus.

Exodus is where God took the people He had chosen and redeemed them.
• He saved them from the pit
• He rescued them from slavery
• He atoned for them and baptized them
• He led them to the land of promise

And again it begins in a way that perhaps we would find surprising.

The story of Israel redemption begins with
A story of how God caused them to be hated.

(25) “He turned their heart to hate His people, To deal craftily with His servants.”

Does that surprise you that the motivation behind Egypt’s hatred of Israel was God?
• Why would God do that?
• Why would God cause His people to be hated?

Well even in our day we understand how God uses things like persecution
To purify His people, to bring revival, and even to grow His church.

But in Exodus the reason is actually given to us.
God caused His people to be hated
So that God might put on display His mighty saving arm.

Paul made this clear to us.
Romans 9:17 “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.”

God made Pharaoh stubborn and obstinate and angry at Israel
So that God might show His great might and power.

Paul also tells us that God does these things
To demonstrate again His great loyalty to those whom He has chosen.

Romans 9:22-24 “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”

Paul says God also does that so that He can save
And show His great mercy on those He has called.

Well God clearly did that in Exodus.
He turned the Egyptians against Israel.

But God also raised up a deliverer.
(26-36) “He sent Moses His servant, And Aaron, whom He had chosen. They performed His wondrous acts among them, And miracles in the land of Ham. He sent darkness and made it dark; And they did not rebel against His words. He turned their waters into blood And caused their fish to die. Their land swarmed with frogs Even in the chambers of their kings. He spoke, and there came a swarm of flies And gnats in all their territory. He gave them hail for rain, And flaming fire in their land. He struck down their vines also and their fig trees, And shattered the trees of their territory. He spoke, and locusts came, And young locusts, even without number, And ate up all vegetation in their land, And ate up the fruit of their ground. He also struck down all the firstborn in their land, The first fruits of all their vigor.”

You remember the plagues right?
• It was God’s way of demonstrating His mighty power both to Egypt and to Israel.
• In those plagues God targeted specifically the Egyptian gods and made fools out of them.
• Their gods that were supposed to protect the crops or who were supposed to protect the Nile or the famous Ra the sun god, or even Pharaoh who was considered god incarnate.
• God humiliated them all with His plagues.
• He gave a definitive statement to the word that He alone can save.

God showed Himself alone to be the deliverer.

And for years following that event Israel would gather every spring
To perform the same ceremony of remembrance.

They called it the Passover.
• They would eat again that unleavened bread
• They would eat again that roasted lamb
• They would eat again those bitter herbs

And they would remember how God delivered them
From the iron furnace of Egypt with a mighty hand.

Well, of course, you know we enjoy that too.
• Only on the night before He died,
• Jesus gathered His disciples to take the Passover
• He said from now on when you do this, don’t do it thinking about Egypt; “do this in remembrance of Me.”

We now are people who have experienced His deliverance.
• He has saved us.
• He has redeemed us.

Not from Egypt, but from our real enemy; sin and death.
He has saved us from that which truly bound us and would kill us.

We all have eaten of that Passover when we trusted in Christ.

And so we, with David and with Israel,
Most certainly are motivated fulfill God’s expectation
And bless Him as He deserves.

#5 GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
Psalms 105:37-44

And after the great deliverance from Egypt
We see the mighty faithfulness of God
As He led them through the wilderness.

(37) “Then He brought them out with silver and gold, and among His tribes there was not one who stumbled.”

This is another one of those areas where Hollywood does us no favors.
• You’ve all seen “The Ten Commandments” with Charlton Heston and all those people leaving Egypt.
• Some were really old
• Some were on canes and stuff like that.

NOT SO.
• They left Egypt rich and they left Egypt fleet of foot.
• “there was not one who stumbled”

God didn’t start them out on their journey as cripples.

And God delivered with a mighty hand.
(38-41) “Egypt was glad when they departed, For the dread of them had fallen upon them. He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to illumine by night. They asked, and He brought quail, And satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock and water flowed out; It ran in the dry places like a river.”

David reminds of the remarkable and supernatural provision of God
For those people in the wilderness.

• The sun in the desert is brutal, so God provided a cloud.
• The night in the desert is freezing and dark, so God provided fire in the heavens.
• Food is scarce, so God sent quail and rained bread from heaven
• Water is even scarcer, so God “opened the rock”

It is the supernatural provision of God to care for His people.

But the real point of David here is not just that God cared for them,
But WHY GOD CARED FOR THEM.

(42-44) “For He remembered His holy word With Abraham His servant; And He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with a joyful shout. He gave them also the lands of the nations, That they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples’ labor,”

God was being faithful to His word.
• This isn’t loyalty, this is faithfulness.
• God took care of these people because He promised He would.

Remember that promise?
Genesis 15:12-16 “Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

God promised and God keeps His promises.
HE IS FAITHFUL.

And in order to keep His word “He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with joyful shout. He gave them also the lands of the nations, that they might take possession of the fruit of people’s labor”

• Not only did those people receive God’s provision in the wilderness,
• But when they finally did enter the land,
• They ate crops they didn’t plant and used vineyards they hadn’t worked.

God was faithful.

Now you understand that as well.

We also understand those wilderness wanderings.
• We have eaten the bread from heaven too, that is Christ.
• We also have drank living water from the rock, who is also Christ.
• We also have received an inheritance which we have not earned, and which we have not worked for.

God is faithful to us as well.

And these are the benefits that David wants Israel to contemplate.
• Can you see how loyal God has been to you?
• Can you see God’s providence in your life?
• Can you see God’s deliverance and salvation?
• Can you see God’s faithfulness to keep His promises?

All of these things are the things David lists
As the things that should cause your soul to bless God.

So let me give you the final point David makes.
#6 GOD’S EXPECTATION
Psalms 105:45

Yes, point 1 and point 5 are the same.
They are both “God’s Expectation”

That is where this Psalm begins and where it ends.

In the beginning we saw the expectations of:
• Gratitude
• Trust
• Evangelism
• Praise
• Meditation
• Boasting
• Enjoyment
• Dependence

And clearly all of those things are deserved.

But as David closes the Psalm he adds one more expectation to the list.

“So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws, Praise the LORD!”

David adds a 9th expectation.
OBEDIENCE

A soul that wishes to bless God
Is most certainly an obedient soul.

There is no scenario in which a believer can claim a heart of blessing
If that heart is walking in rebellion.

Jesus said it far too clearly.
John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”

John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”

John 14:31 “but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.”

The apostle John certainly picked upon the gist of the sermon, for in his first epistle, he wrote:
1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”

• We DON’T obey God because we’re trying to appease Him.
• We DON’T obey God because we’re trying to earn His favor.
• We obey God because we desire to bless Him.
• We obey God because we love Him.

And certainly God deserves this.

• Based on His mercy and grace to save us personally…
• Based on His majestic power to create and sustain this world…
• Based on His loyalty, providence, deliverance, and faithfulness to us as the church…

Then most certainly God deserves
To be blessed from our innermost being.

• He deserves gratitude
• He deserves trust
• He deserves evangelism
• He deserves praise
• He deserves meditation
• He deserves boasting
• He deserves enjoyment
• He deserves dependence

(1-4) “Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad. Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually.”

And He also deserves our obedience.
(45) “So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws, Praise the LORD!”

And we’ll just close tonight
Allowing you to do a little inventory on your own heart.

• Are you walking in obedience to God?
• Is your soul blessing Him?

IF NOT, YOU KNOW THE EXERCISE,
Spend time remembering what He has done
And then respond appropriately.

Download Here:

The Futility of Pleasure
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
May 9, 2021

I realize that there probably aren’t any other churches in the world this morning who are celebrating Mother’s Day while studying Ecclesiastes, but I’ll have to admit I’m totally intrigued and can’t bring myself to go anywhere else right now.

So, we’ll just wish all of our moms a Happy Mother’s Day
And honor them by preaching a message this morning
That godly moms have been preaching for years.

Perhaps there is no other person in our lives who shapes and molds our moral DNA like our mothers.
• She, more than anyone else is the one who cares about our manners and our behavior and our morality.
• She certainly probably prays about those things more than anyone else.

And every boy who grew up with a godly mother also knows that
Moms can do their fair share of preaching too.

• They will warn a young man about the dangers and temptations of life.
• They will correct a young man regarding his choices and the benefits of them.

So while Ecclesiastes may not be the obvious choice for Mother’s Day
I think I can accurately say that it is a fitting choice
Because godly moms have been preaching the message of Ecclesiastes
For years whether they realized it or not.

As you know we are now listening to “The Preacher”
And he is talking to the young man about life.

And he has started the book EXPOSING THE FALSE ALLUREMENTS
That life will often flash before the young man or woman.

In this way, last week, we referred to him as “The Critic”.
• He is the guy at the bottom of the Amazon page giving you the accurate
review of this new shiny product that the advertiser has assured you that you can’t live without.

Only the preacher isn’t talking about some tool or gadget,
The preacher here is giving you an HONEST REVIEW REGARDING LIFE.
• He has heard every sales pitch…
• He has listened to every gimmick…
• He has watched all the infomercials…
• And most of it he has bought and tried…

Now he is saving you the time and the heartache
By telling you what things aren’t as advertised.

LAST WEEK he began by revealing the truth about KNOWLEDGE.
• He actually said he sought out wisdom.
• What he spoke of was earthly wisdom, better known as philosophy.

Why did he seek it out?
• Because he thought he would find fulfillment there.
• Perhaps he was even told he would find fulfillment there.

WE SAID that knowledge was a great place for the preacher to start
Because often times it is the first promise handed out to the young man
As he is about to embark on life.

• The chief question often peddled to young people about to graduate high
school is: “Where are you going to go to college?”

• There is a sense in which this world thinks that the secret to happiness and
fulfillment and the satisfied life at least begins with a quest for knowledge.

• And sadly, many a young person is actually promised that if they will simply
obtain knowledge than they can have the successful life.

The Preacher gave his critique of that promise and called it “Fools Gold”.
It wasn’t true.

That’s NOT TO SAY knowledge is bad; certainly it isn’t.
Scripture affirms that you should get knowledge.

• But knowledge as the end goal
• Or knowledge as the sole pursuit
• Or knowledge even as the means to a fulfilling life
IS A LIE.

There IS a wisdom that brings fulfillment
But you won’t find it in the library or lecture hall of any university.

The only wisdom that brings any fulfillment in life
Is the wisdom that comes through Jesus Christ.

It is a wisdom that FULFILLS
• Because it reveals to us the glorious love God has for us,
It is a wisdom that SAVES
• Because it teaches sinful men how to be justified before God.

If you spend your life seeking the world’s wisdom
But never obtain God’s wisdom
You have successfully wasted your life.

• What benefit could it possibly be to know all this world has to offer but to still go to hell at the end?

So the preacher grabbed the young man and told him that
Worldly wisdom by itself is like striving after the wind.

Well as we begin chapter 2 we move on to the next area of Fool’s Gold
And that is PLEASURE

I think it is fairly safe to say that if you could list and rank all of the false promises of fulfillment that are tossed at young people.

• We could say that the most offered promise to young people is the promise
that knowledge brings satisfaction. I think that is probably the most offered.
• But if you wanted to say what is the most tried promise by young people then
we would say it is that pleasure brings satisfaction.

We’ve all seen it in the stereotype of the modern day college student.
• Many a student enrolled in college under the guise of getting an education,
• But what they were really after was the wild and raucous pleasure seeking life of the college student.

That is to say, some go to college for an education,
Some go to have a good time.

Well that certainly again makes the warning of the preacher so relevant,
For not only did he at one point give himself to knowledge,
But he also gave himself to pleasure.

This morning we examine his review or critique of that search.

We can break down this text into 4 points this morning.
#1 THE PURSUIT HE MADE
Ecclesiastes 2:1-2

Here we get the announcement and the immediate review of his search.

It sort of reads again like the title of his review.

“I said to myself…”

And I want to remind you that what we are talking about here is
A decision in the inner man, a decision of the heart.
• The KJV reads, “I said in mine heart…”
• These quests he’s talking about were not half-hearted searches.
• When he went in, he went all in.

After pursuing knowledge he then shifted to go after pleasure.

“I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility. I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”

That is sort of the title of this review.
• I sought pleasure.
• I wanted to laugh
• I wanted to feel good
• I did it, I tried it, I experienced it, and there was no value in it.

THAT IS THE TITLE OF HIS REVIEW.

What he is talking about here is a very common modern day mindset.
Philosophy actually has a name for this mindset.
It is called HEDONISM

Hedonism basically states that: “The meaning of life is found
Through acquiring pleasure and avoiding pain.”

That is the secret to happiness.
Store up as much pleasure as you can and avoid painful things.

The sort of chant or creed of hedonism would be:
“If it feels good, it is good” or “If it feels good, do it”

This is certainly the cry of our culture.
• Advertising actually runs on that premise.
• “Have it your way” or “Just do it”
• Many a young man or young woman have been lured into drinking or drugs or sex under the promise of how good it will make them feel.

I was in my mom’s store a couple of weeks ago and watched a young woman decide to buy a leather jacket and her statement was about how good she felt now and how she knew that now she was going to have such a good day.

We all understand that.

But LISTEN CAREFULLY here so that we don’t get our wires crossed.

Just as we said with knowledge, we say again with pleasure.
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH PLEASURE.
Pleasure is not intrinsically evil.

When the God of the universe created you,
He did so with a nervous system and with emotions and with feelings.

If God had no intention of you ever feeling any kind of euphoria
Then He would not have created you with the capacity to experience it.
Pleasure is not intrinsically evil or wrong.

Some religious zealots have actually gone way too far the other direction with this thought thinking that to enjoy anything in this world is a sin.

Some even ascribe to things like self-abasement and self-flagellation
And things like that thinking that feeling good would be bad.

NOT SO
• God gave you life and He gave it to you with the ability to have pleasure.
• And when the God of creation gives you things that are pleasurable you do not have to feel guilty about it.
• You should enjoy it.

Two Sunday nights ago we studied Psalms 104 about the glory and majesty of God who created and sustains all things.

Some of you may remember that we read:
Psalms 104:14-15 “He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the labor of man, So that he may bring forth food from the earth, And wine which makes man’s heart glad, So that he may make his face glisten with oil, And food which sustains man’s heart.”

You can’t just pluck such verses out of the Bible.
Pleasure is not necessarily wrong or evil.

HOWEVER: THE SOLE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE
AS THE SOURCE OF SATISFACTION WILL GET YOU IN TROUBLE.

And that is what the preacher did here.
• Like he had done earlier with knowledge, now he has done with pleasure.
• He has given himself over to hedonism.

This mentality will fail you every time.

The Pursuit He Made
#2 THE PLEASURES HE TRIED
Ecclesiastes 2:3-8

Here he gives you his list.

He wanted pleasure as the purpose and satisfaction of life;
Well, what pleasures did he pursue?

You can see 4 of them here.
1) WINE (3)

(3) “I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives.”

Again the POINT here is NOT
• That he drank a glass of wine.
• It’s actually not even that perhaps he got drunk a couple of times.

But here the picture is that he gave himself over to alcohol
To find his happiness there.

Again, the KJV says, “I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine.”

We don’t have to have the whole alcohol debate here.
• Jesus turned water into wine.
• Jesus drank wine.
• Paul told Timothy to add a little wine to his water.

And you can dance and spin all you want to call it grape juice or highly diluted or whatever, but if you want to be accurate to the text, it will never fly.
The Bible speaks of people drinking wine.

You also know that the Bible unequivocally condemns drunkenness
And our culture is filled with examples of ruined lives and broken homes
Due to the devastating effects of alcoholism.

Proverbs 23:29-35 “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will utter perverse things. And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. “They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.”

The issue isn’t wine, it’s lingering long there.
You know this.

But the even bigger issue here in verse 3 is that
Wine became for this man the means through which
He would find true happiness in life.

He wanted to understand the attraction to “folly”
He wanted to understand the attraction to drunkenness

It’s a peculiar attraction isn’t it?
• We see and hear people boast about the joys of getting drunk.
• We see and hear people boast about the stupid and even painful things other drunks do.
• And often times those stories are told as if they were the greatest and most fun moments of their entire lives.

Well, the preacher heard those stories as a young man
And he decided to jump in with both feet
To find all the happiness he could there.

He wanted to “take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives.”

He decided to drink it up!

But that wasn’t all he tried.
2) WORKS (4-6)

(4-6) “I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees.”

Here he determined that happiness would be found in building something that lasts.
• He was going to accomplish great projects.
• He was going to build bridges and build parks and build reservoirs, etc.

Now it may seem strange
To link wine and works back to back like this under the same heading,
Because we perceive one of these things to be immoral
And the other we perceive to be noble,
BUT IN MANY WAYS THEY ARE THE SAME.

They both represent a man who is trying
To squeeze fulfillment and happiness out of life.

For a while he tried to find it in the bottle
And then he tried to find it in corporate America

But it’s the same guy.

There was a good feeling from WINE
And there was a good feeling from ACCOMPLISHMENT.

Both made him feel good and so that’s what he pursued.

And that’s not all.
3) WEALTH (7-8a)

(7-8a) “I bought male and female slaves and I had homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces.”

Then he got rich.
Because money makes you happy right?
• He just bought everything he wanted.
• He just built the life of extravagance.

Like that guy in Jesus’ parable
Who had full barns so he tore them down and built bigger barns
So that he could just enjoy and be at ease the rest of his life.

Surely wealth was going to bring his sole the satisfaction he wanted.

But, like the first 2, it didn’t and so he moved on.
4) WOMEN (8b)

(8b) “I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men – many concubines.”

Next it is simply a search for SENSUAL PLEASURE.
Women to sing and dance and sleep with.

And we could spent a lot of time addressing all the passages in the Bible
About the dangers and consequences of sexual immorality.

Indeed WE COULD talk about the judgment of God on all these things.
• Drunkenness
• Pride
• Greed
• Sexual Immorality

We could talk about God’s judgment on all those things,
And the preacher will a little later.

But his point here is not that God judges those things,
But rather that those things never live up to what they promise.

And this is something that you should know.
Every young person should write this down in all caps.

SIN CAN NEVER BRING HAPPINESS

God won’t allow it.
The God who created you will not allow sin to bring happiness to your.

BUT…
Sin CAN bring pleasure…for a season.

Why else do you sin if it isn’t fun?
• That is in fact the lie we deal with when we are tempted.
• We believe that fun is found on the other side of sin, and we believe that if we don’t sin we won’t have fun.
• We actually link fun with sin because in our fallen mindset we think we can’t have fun without it.

And for a season sin does bring pleasure.

Proverbs 9:17-18 “Stolen water is sweet; And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Proverbs 20:17 “Bread obtained by falsehood is sweet to a man, But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.”

How many drunks ever found pleasure in the bottle?
• (All of them, but they never find happiness there)

How many workaholics ever found pleasure in their work?
• (All of them, but they never find happiness there)

How many people ever found pleasure in shopping or money?
• (All of them, but they never find happiness there)

How many men ever found pleasure in sexual immorality or pornography?
• (All of them, but they never find happiness there)

And this is where pleasure leads us astray.
IT CANNOT SATISFY.

And that is what the preacher wants you to understand.
It will leave you just as empty as when you started.

In fact, it MAY LEAVE YOU EMPTIER
Because of the collateral damage you’ll do to those you love.

The Pursuit He Made, The Pleasures He Tried
#3 THE POSITION HE ATTAINED
Ecclesiastes 2:9-10

His point here to the younger man is that
When he pursued this life of pleasure, HE WENT ALL OUT.
He is eliminating the excuse that he just didn’t give it a chance.

HE’S NOT a teenage kid who went out one night, got drunk, woke up the next morning sick and said, “I’m never doing that again.”

Someone might well come up to that kid and say, “You didn’t try it enough, here try this and I’ll show you a good time.”

This guy was no light weight participant.
He went further after pleasure than anyone.

(9-10) “Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor.”

Did you catch that?
“I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure…”

RC Sproul was discussing this concept and talked about the old movie “Animal House” which was basically a movie about the wild and sinful fraternity life of a college student.

It was quite literally a picture of
A person killing themselves to have fun or pleasure.

This is what the preacher pursued.
You can’t talk about any pleasure that he didn’t try and try fully.
• You want to talk about drinking, he drank it all.
• You want to talk about accomplishments, he built it all.
• You want to talk about possessions, he made money and bought it all.
• You want to talk about women, he gave himself to it and experienced it all.

This guy is a QUALIFIED EXPERT to give a review on the life of pleasure.

You see that.

Well, let’s get to his conclusion.

The Pursuit He Made, The Pleasures He Tried, The Position He Attained
#4 THE PROFIT HE GAINED
Ecclesiastes 2:11

There it is.
“behold all is vanity and striving after wind and there is no profit under the sun.”

The promise of pleasure as the meaning of life was an empty promise.
• It brought no satisfaction.
• It brought no fulfillment.
• It was like grabbing smoke.
• It was like chasing wind.

There was “no profit” in it.
There was no advantage to it.
He left him just as empty as when he started.

I told you that the philosophical term for seeking a life of pleasure
Is called Hedonism.

Well in philosophy there is also a reality called:
THE HEDONISTIC PARADOX

The Hedonistic Paradox states this:
• If you seek pleasure and it alludes you, you are doomed to a life of frustration.
• If you seek pleasure and you find it, you are doomed to a life of boredom.

So even the philosopher realized that in pursuing pleasure
You are doomed to either a life of frustration or a life of boredom.

Can you not see that in our world?
• We see those who live life frustrated in sort of an unfulfilled covetous state where they are upset because they can’t have the pleasures they seek.
• But we also see those whose lives are filled with pleasure and success who also seem to never get enough.

THERE IS NO SATISFACTION.

And that is what the preacher said.
• Listen young man, you’re going to turn on the television and see a beer
commercial and it’s going to show you physically fit models drinking bear in
bathing suits and it’s going to look like the best life imaginable…

• Listen young man, you’re going to hear your buddies in the break room talk
about how much fun they had at the bar chasing women…

• Listen young man, you’re going to see the advertisements of wealth…

And this world is going to tell you that this is where satisfaction is found.
IT’S A LIE!

Even without discussing the ramifications of eternal judgment,
I’m here to tell you that even in this life it will not satisfy.

And so that’s review #2 from the preacher.
1. Don’t let someone tell you that knowledge and education is the secret to the fulfilling life.
2. Don’t let someone tell you that pleasure is the secret to the fulfilling life.

Both are false advertising.
Both are fool’s gold.
Both are merely a vapor and a mirage.
That’s the truth young man.

Pleasure will not satisfy, but there is One who does.

TURN TO: JOHN 4:1-10

Now, we don’t have to go into great detail about this story for it is a familiar one, but it is suffice to say that we have here a woman who has chased pleasure and come up empty.
• You know all the stories about here:
• Gathering water in the heat of day…
• Married 5 times and now living with a man…
• The life of pleasure alluded her.

I want you to SEE WHAT JESUS OFFERS THIS WOMAN
Who bought the hedonistic lie that pleasure brings happiness.

(READ JOHN 4:1-10)

Did you hear Him?
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

There is a simple analogy there.
Namely that living (flowing) water is better than dead (stagnant) water.

Jeremiah used a similar analogy to describe the difference between seeking God and seeking false gods.
Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.”

• Obviously a fresh flowing spring is preferred over an old cracked cistern.

That’s the same analogy Jesus is making to this woman.

But His analogy isn’t so much to idolatry
(though here worldliness is clearly an idol),
Jesus is talking about the difference between
Seeking happiness through pleasure, or seeking it in Him.

Seeking pleasure is an old stagnant pool.
Seeking Christ is a fountain of living water.
That’s the analogy.

John 7:37-39 “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

There it is again.
• Only Jesus satisfies because only Jesus can put inside of you that which brings satisfaction; namely His Holy Spirit.

Jesus is merely confirming the promise of another prophet; Isaiah.
Isaiah 55:1-2 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.”

You hear that same promise and plea don’t you?
• That’s the plea of the preacher here in Ecclesiastes.
• That is certainly the plea and the offer of Jesus.

Jesus promises satisfaction over this world.
You are familiar with the parable of the treasure in the field or the pearl of great value.

• In both of those parables Jesus reveals a treasure so valuable and so fulfilling
that if you could catch a glimpse of its worth you would part ways with every
earthly treasure to obtain it.

That is the kingdom of heaven.
That is true fulfillment.
Only in Christ, not in pleasure.

In Philippians Paul spoke of finding this same fulfillment.
Philippians 3:7-11 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

• There is Paul’s testimony (just like the preacher in Ecclesiastes).
• I tried it all, I experienced it all, and when I perceived Christ I gladly let it all go!
• Christ satisfied like this world never could.

Listen to the testimony of Moses.
Hebrews 11:24-26 “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.”

• Moses had it all in Egypt, but it was so empty he chose slavery with Christ as a
greater reward.

Listen to them young man, they are showing you the path to walk.
Fulfillment is not found in seeking a life of pleasure, only in Christ.

One more text I want to show you and we’ll end with it.
(There is not enough time for these messages, my goodness the book of Ecclesiastes hits the nail on the head)

TURN TO: PSALMS 73

Again, many of you are familiar and we don’t have to work all through it.
• Basically you have Asaph who was captivated by the world (1-2)
• He saw their pleasure and their comfort (3-9)
• He saw their abundance and even their godlessness (10-12)
• And he decided that by not seeking that life he made a mistake (13-14)

He was buying the lie.
The salesman nearly had him.

But something pivotal happened in his life.
(READ 17-20)

He saw what the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote about.
HE SAW THE END.

And the end was not only futility, but also judgment.
The promises pleasure made, it could not fulfill.

And it changed Asaph’s perspective.
(READ 21-24)

• Only in Christ is there glory.
• Only in Christ is there fulfillment.
• Only in Christ is there eternal life.

And so listen to Asaph’s Review.
Listen to his answer to the false promises of pleasure.
(READ 25-28)

• Asaph learned what the preacher is talking about.
• Asaph learned what Jesus told the woman at the well.
• Asaph learned what Paul was talking about.
• Asaph learned what Moses had learned.

That the only true satisfaction you will find in this life
Is not through worldly knowledge and it is not through pleasure.
It is only found in Christ.

Young man listen!
Don’t let the flashy advertisements of this world drag you into a world of seeking happiness through pleasure.
• Sin brings momentary pleasure, but it cannot bring happiness.
• Seeking happiness anywhere other than in Christ is like chasing the wind.