Learning The Hard Way
Ecclesiastes 3:11-22
June 20, 2021
Well, I’m sure that simply upon reading the title of the sermon,
There are many of you who either immediately nodded your head
Or perhaps were elbowed in the side by your wife.
We all know what it is to learn our lessons the hard way.
Someone even once said that “Experience is what causes us to recognize our mistakes when we make them the second time.”
There are likely many of us
Who know a thing or two about learning the hard way,
And those of who do are more than willing
To tell the next generation: “Don’t do what I did.”
Well there again you understand the preacher.
• He is begging and pleading and warning at this young man
• To pay attention and not make the same mistakes in life that he did.
The last couple of weeks we’ve been discussing the issue of time.
It has been a rather EVANGELISTIC time
As we are all asked to contemplate, “What Time Is It?” in our lives.
We are really in an application/invitation section of the book.
Let’s ZOOM OUT a little in our look at Ecclesiastes
And see again his big picture point.
• So you know by now that he started out addressing those great temptations of wisdom and pleasure.
• You are well aware of what he had to say about both of those being a mirage.
• And you remember his lament about how he had no control over his legacy and how he lamented that.
And then at the end of chapter 2
The preacher made his first application of the book.
He got to his first point.
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.”
I hope you remember that.
When he said in (verse 24a) “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good.”
His point was that there literally is nothing better.
That is all there is.
If you’re expecting something more out of the work of this life,
I hate to disappoint you, but it won’t happen.
And I hope you remember the reason.
He went on to say, (24b-25) “This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him.”
Remember the reason?
• It is because God has so ordained that
• There is no true or eternal satisfaction apart from Him.
• He will not allow it.
All true satisfaction both in this life and certainly for eternity
Comes only through a relationship with the God who created you.
And so the preacher went on to say:
(26) “For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.”
So his point was that
• Your chief ambition should definitely be to please God
• And do what is good in His sight
• To seek satisfaction in Him
• For He alone has the ability to make life pleasant or difficult for you.
And He certainly has the ability to make eternity pleasant or difficult.
I hope you remember that point that the preacher made.
Because that point is still on his mind.
LOOK AT OUR TEXT THIS MORNING,
The preacher has returned right to that point now again.
Look at it in verses 12-13
“I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God.”
Look at in verse 22
“I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him?”
Do you see that we are still on that same point?
He is still trying to drive through to the young man
That there is only one real objective to this life
And that is to live it in a way that pleases God,
And to find you ultimate satisfaction in Him.
So that’s where we’ve been.
THIS MORNING, LET’S MOVE FORWARD
And talk about those who ignore that warning
And are still intent on learning lessons the hard way.
There are 4 points to be made in our text this morning.
#1 THE CALLING OF MAN
Ecclesiastes 3:11-13
I went ahead and included verse 11 here again because it is a good reminder.
“He has made everything appropriate in its time.”
• Which is to say that God alone determines what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior.
“He has also set eternity in their heart”
• Which reminds us that all we do today we instinctively know is also for eternity.
“yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.”
• Which reminds us that God has not told us everything. We are on a “need-to-know” basis.
Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”
SO AGAIN,
• God has not revealed to us everything,
• But He has told us what we need to know in order to prepare our heart for eternity and judgment
• And to find our satisfaction in Him.
And to that point the preacher continues.
(12-13) “I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor – it is the gift of God.”
IT IS THE SAME POINT.
• “there is nothing better”
Wisdom and pleasure and legacy and all that
Is simply going to leave you empty
When you realize that all they promise is a mirage.
However, the satisfied life…
• The fulfilled life…
• The happy life…
Is the life that learns to simply live and enjoy the good things
Which God gives daily to those who find satisfaction in Him.
You have a “lifetime” here.
• It is your life’s span
• We called it your allotted time
And that “lifetime” is filled with good gifts from God.
• Did you plant a field?
• Did you harvest a crop?
• Did you eat from your harvest?
That’s a good thing, it is a “gift of God” you should rejoice in it.
Those are the simple pleasures that you must learn to enjoy.
But even more than that,
It is an understanding of the fact that all good things come from God
AND THAT THE CHIEF CALLING OF MAN IS
To draw near to the One who gives all good gifts.
The New Testament echoes this:
James 1:13-18 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 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. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.”
• Do you hear James reminding that there is no lasting satisfaction in following temptation?
• Do you hear James remind that there is only One good gift giver?
• Do you hear James revealing that God’s greatest gift is to bring us forth by His word (born again) and change our lives into “first fruits among His creatures”?
James is preaching the message of the preacher here.
There is no satisfaction in the lusts and temptations of this world,
They all end in death.
But there is a good God who gives good gifts
And your chief aim should be to draw near to Him.
THAT IS ACTUALLY THE CALLING OF MAN.
• Turn from sin, resist temptation
• Draw near to God, call upon Him
• And God will accomplish His will in and through your life
This is what the preacher wants for the young man.
Why would you pursue the world and all its lies when you can instead be satisfied in the life that God gives you?
That is the calling, and that really isn’t new.
That’s the same point he made back at the end of chapter 2.
But you see he is now revisiting it.
The Calling of Man
#2 THE CONTROL OF GOD
Ecclesiastes 3:14-15
This is also not really a new point.
• As evidenced by the fact of him saying, “I know…”
• It’s sort of a recap.
He is reminding us again that God is the One who is really at work.
God is the One who is sovereign over all things.
We tend to think our labors and tasks are so important,
But it is really God who is at work and who is accomplishing things in this life.
And we listen as the preacher talks about the work of God.
We see THE PERMANENCE of God’s work
“I know that everything God does will remain forever;”
• When God does something it lasts; it endures.
God ISN’T LIKE a president who may fill spiral notebooks full of executive orders
Only to have his successor come in and undo them all.
• No, if God does something it lasts forever.
• There is a permanence to His work.
We see the PERFECTION of God’s work
“there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take away from it,”
• What did God ever do that you felt the need to undo?
• What did God ever do that you felt the need to fix?
When God does it; it is perfect.
We see the POINT of God’s work
“for God has so worked that men should fear Him.”
• All that God has done has been for the purpose of teaching men to fear Him.
• All that He does is meant to show that He is God and you are not.
And we see the PRESENCE of God’s work
“That which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by.”
I know that’s a little mysterious verse, but it simply is saying this.
That God refuses to let His standards and His laws and His works
To just fade into the past.
Instead God continually brings His past truth
Back to the forefront for humanity.
If man could, they would gladly throw God’s Laws behind their back, vote them out, and do away with them forever.
• But God doesn’t allow that.
• The world cannot rid itself of what God has determined will always be the
governing truth of the world.
“That which is has been already”
• The Law today was the Law yesterday.
“and that which will be has already been.”
• The Law that will be tomorrow is that same Law that was yesterday.
“for God seeks what has passed by.”
• God keeps bringing His truth back to the forefront.
You never can escape it.
Now let’s just make the simple observation of what has been said so far.
• We have a sovereign God who is in control of all things.
• His Law is the Law.
• He is in charge and He will always be in charge.
• And the calling of man is to fear God and draw near to Him and to please Him
and to enjoy Him in this life.
That is the calling of man and the control of God.
Now that is simple, but I hope you understand it.
You were placed here on this rock
That you might know and fear and trust and enjoy God.
That is how you are to live this life.
Listen again to Paul’s sermon to the people of Athens.
• They were totally pagan
• They had no knowledge of the true God
• They were wrapped up in idolatry
Acts 17:24-27 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 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, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;”
The God of the universe sits in control of all things
And you were created and put on this earth that you might seek Him.
And of course Paul would go on to say that
• It is even more imperative that you do this
• Since in the end, you will stand before Him and be judged for whether or not you did that.
Acts 17:30-31 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
BUT YOU SEE THE POINT.
• God created man for His glory.
• Man was intended to seek and know and fear and trust and enjoy God.
I don’t know what else you think you were put here for, but that’s it.
That is the purpose of your life.
Now, that isn’t necessarily new information from the preacher.
He’s been all over, under, around, and through that.
Here is where he starts making his newest point.
• You were put here that you might seek, know, fear, trust, and enjoy God.
• But some people insist on learning this lesson the hard way.
#3 THE CORRUPTION OF HUMANITY
Ecclesiastes 3:16-21
• Men should fear God
• Men should seek God
• Men should trust God
• Men should obey God
• Men should enjoy God
But that is definitely not what we see when we look at this world.
The preacher knows what you see,
Because it’s the same thing he saw.
(16) “Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.”
That’s pretty much it in a nutshell isn’t it?
“Under the sun” – that is in this world
We rarely see life played out as it was intended to be.
• We don’t see men seeking God we see them suppressing the truth about God.
• We don’t see men trusting God we see men rejecting Him.
• We don’t see men fearing God we see them blaspheming Him.
• We don’t see men enjoying God we see men seeking to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.
Romans 3:10-18 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
At the very least it is safe to say that
Man has totally missed the point of what he was created.
“in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.”
IT IS JUST EVIL AND BACKWARD.
And at the very least it does force a person to question
Why God, who is in control of all things,
Would allow His world to go so far into depravity.
Here we have a God
• Who will not allow His work or His law to pass away or be altered,
• But at the same time He has seemingly permitted men to fall headfirst into sin.
Why?
It frustrates the righteous for sure,
BUT IT ALSO SEEMS TO INVIGORATE THE WICKED
• Men who think they can sin an God will do nothing.
• They’ve been doing it for years, and thus far no judgment.
• What does it matter?
GOD CALLS them to fear and trust and enjoy Him,
BUT THEY have chosen instead to love and pursue and seek sin
And thus far it doesn’t seem that God is doing anything about it at all.
Well the preacher is going to shed some light on that.
There are two things that every human ought to know.
1) THE PROMISE OF JUDGMENT
(17) “I said to myself concerning the sons of men, “God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.”
Just because you get away with it now
Does not mean you won’t be judged for it later.
• That is the simple truth.
• That is actually the truth the preacher is driving toward at the very end of this book.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
• We could go to the book of the Revelation and read about the end when the books were opened, but I hope you get the point.
You’re not getting away with anything.
You’re just storing up wrath until the day of wrath.
But it is the second point you really need to see and understand.
2) THE PURPOSE OF PATIENCE
(18) “I said to myself concerning the sons of men, “God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts.”
The preacher says that God’s allowance of man
To run headlong into sin and depravity and wickedness
WAS FOR A PURPOSE.
What purpose?
God is showing man just how wicked he is.
“in order for them to see that they are but beasts.”
One of the reasons God does not instantly judge sin
Is because God allows men to get into sin
So that He may easily make His case as to how wicked man is.
WE HAVE SAID IT OVER AND OVER,
But it is so important to our understanding even for the gospel.
Today man holds the unyielding belief that he is basically good.
I talk to people all the time who are totally convinced that they are good people.
Now, what they mean by that is that
They are good compared to the human average.
And the reason they are convinced of their goodness
Is because they know that they have had opportunity for greater evil
That they have not taken.
So, because they had a chance to be more evil than they are,
And because they are not as evil as some,
Then the conclusion is that “I am a good person.”
However, human goodness or morality is easily explained.
God has placed in society certain barriers or constraints to help man choose what is right.
• The first line of defense is parents, who from an early age begin to instill right from wrong in us.
• The second line of defense quickly becomes the conscience where we feel guilty for doing what we are taught is wrong.
• Other lines of defense are societal peer pressure, where we know society will react negatively to us if we do things that society depicts as wrong.
• Governing authorities place a barrier to our wicked behavior because we can actually be punished for doing some things.
• Natural repercussions can be a deterrent. Things like smoking can give you cancer, or if you have an affair you can lose your marriage.
Point being there are all sorts of natural constraints
That God has put into effect
To keep man from being as wicked as he could be.
But if you start removing those restraints,
There is literally no limit to the level
That even “good men” can stoop to.
• If you sear the conscience
• If you nullify parental authority
• If you corrupt the societal notions of what is right and wrong
• If you vilify the police
Then man can quickly fall into all sorts of depravity and sinfulness.
In fact, you will “see that they are but beasts.”
Man is in effect nothing more than A STRAY DOG.
Whatever gratifies the flesh at the moment is exactly what he will do.
Now, in order for man to be saved, he must come to this understanding.
• The first criteria for salvation has always been that man become “poor in
spirit”.
• Man has to come to grips with how sinful he is.
• This is the only way he will cry out to God for mercy and salvation.
Well, one of the reasons God allows wickedness to continue
Is not because He is pleased with it,
But because He is allowing man to see just how corrupt he actually is.
I’m sure the prodigal thought he was “a good guy”,
• And as “a good guy” he was a long way away from salvation.
• But after his father permitted him to chase his sin and eat with the pigs he then became ready for salvation.
MAN HAS TO LEARN THIS.
And UNFORTUNATELY some people have to learn it THE HARD WAY.
We remember Nebuchadnezzar who literally became a beast to learn this lesson.
Daniel 4:33 “Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.”
• And after that 7 year hiatus as a vile beast Nebuchadnezzar was finally ready to repent and run to God.
We think certainly of the Prodigal Son:
Luke 15:13-16 “And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. “Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. “So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. “And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.”
• These are just two graphic examples of men who had to learn what they were the hard way.
• They put themselves through unspeakable misery by chasing their sin to the max
• And God allowed them to chase their sin and even enjoy it for a time that He might finally show them just how wicked they actually were.
Consider Romans 1 where Paul outlines that God does this very thing.
TURN TO: ROMANS 1:24-32
• You see that repeated phrase, “God gave them over”
It is God letting men have the sin they crave
And the repercussions that come with it
Until they learn “that they are but beasts”
So God lets man in sin until he sees how sinful he is.
But that’s not all.
Through this process man is also forced to learn HOW MORTAL HE IS.
(19-21) “For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust. Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth?”
The simple point here is that
• Though man thinks himself so evolved.
• And though man thinks himself higher than the animals.
• And though man thinks himself superior.
Here’s the simple truth.
On your own, and by following your own desires,
You will live like an animal and you will die like an animal.
The preacher is clear:
• “As one dies so dies the other;”
• “All go to the same place” – death
• “All came from the dust and all return to the dust.”
And he asks:
“Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of beasts descends downward to the earth?”
His point is not to argue eternal things, but merely to point out that
Though man thinks himself so important he ought to realize that
If given the opportunity he will be just as sinful as a stray dog
And someday he will die just like a stray dog.
The Psalmist made this clear:
Psalms 49:10-12 “For he sees that even wise men die; The stupid and the senseless alike perish And leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have called their lands after their own names. But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.”
Again:
Psalms 49:18-20 “Though while he lives he congratulates himself— And though men praise you when you do well for yourself— He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They will never see the light. Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.”
AND SO HERE’S THE POINT OF THE PREACHER.
• There is a calling for man to know, seek, trust, and fear God.
• God is in control of all things doing His perfect work so that you
will fear Him.
• AND YET, SOME MEN ARE STUBBORN.
• They don’t want to trust God,
• They don’t fear God,
• They won’t seek God.
• Instead they resist God and seek sin.
And for a time, though judgment is inevitable,
God actually allows them to walk in the sin they seek.
He does so that He might show them their sinfulness
And teach them their mortality.
NOW,
You who lives in sin.
You who chases the flesh,
whether substances or sexual immorality or whatever else gratifies the nature.
Can you not see that this mindset is no different than a beast?
A stray dog will eat what it can eat and mate what it can mate.
And if God has allowed you to walk in that sin
It is only so that on days like today
You might come to your senses and see that you need a Savior!
• You need the mercy of God to forgive you.
• You need the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to you.
• You need the atoning work of Jesus Christ to pardon you.
• You need the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God to change you.
Can you see that?
The preacher is here again driving men to the gospel.
HOW GREAT IT WOULD BE
If you would simply listen to the word of God and seek Him as He intends, but unfortunately some are determined to go and learn the hard way.
• So they chase their sin…
• They live in their immorality…
• And all the while they are simply moving one step closer to the pig pen and the final judgment.
The preacher is telling the young man not to be that person.
One final point
#4 THE CONVICTION OF THE PREACHER
Ecclesiastes 3:22
So here he has now COME FULL CIRCLE, and we are back to the point.
“I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot.”
Man should seek satisfaction and enjoyment in God
For that is why he was created.
And then the preacher asks:
“For who will bring him to see what will occur after him?”
In other words:
FOR THIS LIFE IS ALL YOU GET.
• You get one life…
• You get one allotted time…
• You were placed here that you might seek and know and fear and enjoy God.
Don’t be one who has to learn that lesson the hard way.
• Some do learn it through a life of pain.
• Sadly some don’t learn it until the day of judgment.
THOSE ARE BAD WAYS TO LEARN THAT LESSON.
We could go on with this subject for a long time, but I hope you get the point.
I’ll close again with that super relevant sermon of Paul:
Acts 17:24-31 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 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, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
