Living Under The Curse
Ecclesiastes 9:1-12
October 3, 2021
Well you’ll be happy to know we have concluded chapter 8 and the preacher’s call to submit to the immoral and corrupt king.
We actually now go to a topic that is much EASIER to handle;
The absolute and certain death of every man.
The preacher certainly isn’t interested in light-hearted topics.
His objective is to instill wisdom in a chaotic world
And this requires him to address the difficult issues.
Again I remind you that starting in chapter 7 we entered the second half of this book which focuses on THE NOBLE PURSUIT OF WISDOM.
He spent 6 CHAPTERS outlining the FUTILE PURSUITS of life
NOW he would encourage the young man TO OBTAIN TRUE WISDOM.
Chapter 7
• Don’t shy from difficult things because they produce wisdom (funerals)
• Don’t expect that righteous behavior will keep you from suffering.
• Don’t assume that you can get away with wickedness.
• God’s governing of the world is incomprehensible; submit anyway.
THAT IS WISDOM.
THIS MORNING we learn more wisdom
And it is the wisdom of when we face the certainty of death.
TURN TO: GENESIS 2:15
Genesis 2 is the chapter that renders Adam totally without excuse.
Everything about Genesis 2 speaks of God doing everything possible to help Adam succeed.
• In verse 7 God creates Adam
• In verse 8 God plants a perfect garden for Adam
• In verse 9 God causes all plants to grow and even waters them
• In verse 15 God makes His expectation of Adam extremely clear.
(15-17) “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
And then God even determines to IMPROVE upon Adam’s situation
By giving him a SUITABLE HELPMATE.
(18-25) God creates Eve because it was not good for man to be alone.
And the point of chapter 2 is that God did everything possible to prepare Adam for success in the garden.
And then we come to chapter 3 and everything blows up.
(READ: 3:1-7)
Well that was disastrous.
• Satan tempted, Eve ate and gave some to Adam who also ate.
• And instantly shame and separation entered their lives.
AND THEN THEY FACED GOD.
(READ: 3:8-19)
We call it “The Curse”
Enmity – Pain – Labor – Death
What began as a paradise was now a wilderness.
And then the tragic evictions.
(READ 3:22-24)
One can only wonder what that must have felt like for Adam and Eve.
• All they had ever known was a life of comfort and paradise in the garden of God and all of a sudden they were evicted.
• They were thrown out into a cursed planet where nothing would come easy.
And the effects of the curse were immediate.
• Eve’s PAIN in childbearing shows up first in 4:1 when she has two sons.
• Next implied is LABOR as Cain spends a lifetime farming the cursed earth.
• Then comes ENMITY when Cain begins to hate his brother.
• And certainly we see DEATH when Cain strikes Abel dead.
It didn’t take long for the curse to be full force.
And then things really begin to go downhill.
The world becomes a terrible place to live.
• We get this man named Lamech in 4:19 who introduced POLYGAMY because
he decided to take 2 wives.
• Then Lamech commits MURDER in 4:23 and justifies it.
And things get so bad on the earth that by the end of chapter 4
Men are now beginning to cry out to God for help and salvation.
Genesis 4:26 “To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.”
But the real sting of the curse comes in chapter 5
When we get Adam’s descendants
And one phrase rings in our ear over and over and over again.
“and he died”
(4, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31)
THE CURSE IS HERE.
Not only that, but for the first time we begin to GET INSIGHT
Into exactly what it was that men were seeking from God
As they called upon His name.
Genesis 5:28-29 “Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.”
Man wanted relief from the curse.
The enmity, the pain, the labor, the death.
Fast forward 3,000 years or so
And the preacher in Ecclesiastes is still talking about it.
THAT IS THE REALITY WE APPROACH THIS MORNING.
The preacher cuts through all the frivolous talk
He walks right up to the elephant in the room.
And around that elephant’s neck the preacher hangs a sign which reads, “ONE FATE”.
The truth that humanity CANNOT AVOID.
The truth that humanity CANNOT CONTROL.
The truth that humanity CANNOT FORGET.
• Eat right, exercise daily…
• Buckle your seatbelt…
• Get a mammogram…
• Don’t run with scissors…
• Don’t play with matches…
• Watch out for snakes…
• Drive carefully…
• Wear a helmet…
• Look both ways…
AND STILL DEATH WILL FIND YOU.
There is no avoiding it.
IT IS THE CURSE.
Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”
Well there’s three things you should know about this one fate this morning
#1 IT IS A SINGULAR FATE
Ecclesiastes 9:1-2
Verse 1 serves as sort of a BRIDGE into a new thought.
IT is a little TRANSITIONAL in nature.
He reminded us at the end of chapter 8 that no matter how hard you search, you will not understand the reasons why God governs the world the way He does.
He said that “man cannot discover the work which has been done under the sun.”
And from there we get to verse 1, where he reiterates that again,
Only this time he reiterates it in regard TO MAN’S FATE.
(1) “For I have taken all this to my heart and explain it that righteous men, wise men, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Man does not know whether it will be love or hatred; anything awaits him.”
There are a couple of points there.
One is that God is sovereign over our fate.
The wise man and the righteous man’s “deeds are in the hand of God.”
The other is that we have no control over how that plays out in our lives.
“Man does not know whether it will be love or hatred; anything awaits him.”
The expectation is that if I live righteous or if I walk in wisdom
Then it should result in being loved and approved.
But the fact is that there are no such guarantees.
• The holiest and wisest man who ever lived was hung on a cross at 33.
There is so much about our future or our fate that we cannot know.
We like to think that if I live right then tomorrow is guaranteed to be good,
BUT THAT’S JUST NOT HOW LIFE WORKS.
We’ve read the story of Job
We’ve read about the life of Joseph
While righteousness and wisdom are certainly to be chosen and pursued,
They are not a guarantee that bad things won’t happen in life.
Even righteous people get cancer.
Even wise people have accidents.
IT’S JUST LIFE.
There is so much about our fate that we cannot know.
BUT…
There is one aspect of our fate that we can all be sure of.
(2) “It is the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and for the unclean; for the man who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as the swearer is, so is the one who is afraid to swear.”
There is one singular fate that all men can expect.
• And it doesn’t matter if you are righteous or wicked.
• And it doesn’t matter if you are good or a sinner.
• And it doesn’t matter if you are clean or unclean.
• And it doesn’t matter if you are religious or irreligious.
• And it doesn’t matter if you swear an oath to God or don’t swear an oath.
ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE SHARE IN THE EXACT SAME FATE.
It is a singular fate.
There is one fate for all.
The point to be understood is this:
WE ALL LIVE UNDER THE SAME CURSE.
• Adam and Eve were both created in an uncursed world, but their sin brought about the curse.
• And every single human born since that day is born into the same cursed world that Adam earned.
Every person on a sinking ship shares in the fate of the ship.
Every person on a falling airplane shares in the fate of the plane.
It doesn’t matter if you are young or old; good or bad; rich or poor.
That boat will sink for everyone…
That plane will crash for everyone…
And this world is cursed for everyone.
And so far the point is this.
• It is impossible for you to know what your future holds except in 1 regard.
• There is only one thing in your future that you can be sure of.
IT IS A SINGULAR FATE.
WHAT IS IT?
#2 IT IS A SAD FATE
Ecclesiastes 9:3-10
The preacher starts by categorizing this fate for you.
“This is an evil all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men.”
We all share in one singular fate, and it is not a pleasant one.
• It is a sad one…
• It is a bad one…
• It is an evil one…
WELL WHAT IS IT?
“Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.”
WHAT IS MAN’S SINGULAR FATE?
A life of struggle that ends in death.
“Insanity” there is the word HOLELA (ho’-lay-la)
We tend to think of it as mental illness, and it can contain that,
But it has more to do with utter foolishness.
Like a man may say, “I’m going to take my paycheck and use the whole thing on lottery tickets.” And you’d say, “You’re out of your mind!” or “This is madness!”
THAT’S THE WORD.
A man’s life will be full of evil and foolish and mindless activity.
A.K.A. – THE CURSE
Men are going to spend their lives doing evil and foolish things
And then they will die.
Now, I know that is a HARD ASSESSMENT, but it is an ACCURATE one.
We’ve read it too many times how God assesses humanity.
How man’s only thought is always evil continually.
How there is none who does good, there is not even one.
We are all in the SAME SINKING SHIP.
We are all in the SAME CRASHING PLANE.
We are all born in sin and headed for death.
IT IS THE DOCTRINE OF TOTAL DEPRAVITY.
David said:
Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”
We remember Paul’s explanation in Romans 5
Romans 5:12-14 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
Adam’s sin introduced death and it affected everyone.
And it is important to understand what Paul meant when he said, “death reigned from Adam until Moses.”
That is significant because before Moses there was no Law.
THERE WERE NO COMMANDS.
IT’S EASY TO SEE why Adam was punished,
He broke the Law (don’t eat from that tree).
But no one else ever ate from that tree.
And God’s Law was not here yet.
And, just as Paul said, “sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
So in effect there were no law breakers between Adam and Moses
BECAUSE THERE WAS NO LAW TO BREAK.
“Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam…”
Adam didn’t just wreck himself, Adam wrecked us all.
• Adam fell into sin, and we were all born in Adam.
• We inherited a sinful nature from him, and thus we were born in iniquity.
• And even though we weren’t breaking any particular laws, we were intrinsically sinful and thus every man died.
• You could say that Abel was a better man that Cain.
• You could say that Noah was a better men than Lamech.
• You could say that Abraham was a better man than Lot.
But what did they all have in common?
THEY ALL DIED
WE ALL SHARE THE SAME FATE.
A life in a cursed world which ends in death.
AND IN CASE YOU DIDN’T REALIZE IT,
The preacher then goes on to point out that death is a negative thing.
He actually gives you 6 crushing realities about death as it relates to this life.
1) NO HOPE
(4) “For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.”
• Dogs in the ancient east were not loved they were filthy and hated.
• Lions were noble and majestic.
The point is that even a despised living thing
Is better off than a dead noble thing.
Death represented the end.
A sick person has hope of recovery, but death brings with it finality.
2) NO ESCAPE
(5a) “For the living know they will die…”
Everyone knows this day is coming.
3) NO KNOWLEDGE
(5b) “but the dead do not know anything…”
He is speaking purely in matters of this life, but you see his point.
Once a person dies they are cut off from the land of the living.
• They don’t watch the news…
• They don’t read the paper…
• They are separated from the matters of the living…
4) NO REWARD
(5c) “nor have they any longer a reward”
He is not speaking in an eternal sense here, but in an earthly one “under the sun”.
If a man spent a season planting cotton and working his crop
BUT DIED TODAY, he would not receive in this life the reward of his labor.
You don’t reward or pay a dead man.
You may pay his family, but not him.
5) NO REMEMBRANCE
(5d) “for their memory is forgotten.”
Obviously there will be those close to them who remember them,
But in a general sense, the world goes on.
• How many men and women have died from this world that you don’t even know about?
• How many people lived on the land you call yours that you don’t even know their name?
Death erased them from the awareness of the living.
6) NO PARTICIPATION
(6) “Indeed their love, their hate and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun.”
They don’t participate in life anymore.
I cover those quickly because the sting is too much to bear.
None of us want to think about those things.
They represent the harsh cold realities and the bitter sting of death.
DEATH REMOVES A PERSON FROM THIS LIFE.
It doesn’t matter if they are good or bad, rich or poor, clean or unclean, religious or irreligious, committed or lazy death claims them all.
We all at one point get removed from life as we know it on this planet.
THAT IS THE ONE FATE OF ALL MEN.
BUT WE ARE AFTER WISDOM IN VIEW OF THIS FATE.
And here comes the preacher’s FIRST OFFER OF WISDOM.
(7-10) “Go then, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works. Let your clothes be white all the time, and let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.”
Those are 4 bittersweet verses, but they represent wisdom.
You know how people love anachronyms today.
• LOL – laugh out loud
• SMH – shake my head
Well one I’ve seen circulated the past couple of years is YOLO
“You only live once.”
And the point is that because you only live once
You should live life to the fullest.
Sometimes granted the world uses it to endorse foolishness,
But at it’s root it is a reminder to make the most of every opportunity.
Well, certainly in a NON-FLESHLY OR CARNAL SENSE,
The preacher gives the same advice.
YOU ARE ONLY ON THIS ROCK FOR A SHORT TIME
SO YOU MIGHT AS WELL MAKE THE MOST OF IT.
You might as well seek to find joy and satisfaction and solace
In the everyday good gifts of God.
For example:
“eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart;”
Enjoy your good meal.
And the preacher says, “for God has already approved your works”
That is another way of saying,
“For God has already decreed that it is ok for you to enjoy life.”
God created bread for you to eat it.
God created wine for you to drink it.
That DOES NOT CONDONE gluttony or drunkenness, and that is obvious.
Only a fool offends God in such offenses.
BUT THE POINT IS
God didn’t create those things and then expect humanity not to partake.
They are given to soften the burden of living in a cursed world.
He goes on:
(8) “Let your clothes be white all the time, and let not oil be lacking on your head.”
• Those were comforts and enjoyments and relaxations.
• And again, God has endorsed that you can enjoy them.
This life is full of pain and it ends soon enough in death
So enjoy the blessings and comforts of life.
(9) “Enjoy life with the woman you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.”
It’s the simple joys of love and marriage and a good relationship.
You live in a cursed world with plenty of pain and enmity and toil.
And soon enough you will be dead.
So enjoy the simple little things in life while you can.
And he culminates with one last thought:
(10) “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it will all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.”
He’s certainly NOT ADVOCATING you quit your job and just sit around eating bread and drinking wine until you die.
In fact he tells you to work hard and give it your best.
Make the most out of your life.
Eat your bread, drink your wine, wear nice clothes, anoint your head with oil, spend time with your wife, and work hard.
Those are the simple little every day pleasures which God has given to lessen the burden of living under the curse.
THAT IS WISDOM.
And it’s NOT THE FIRST TIME the preacher has told you to do it.
• Quit trying to fix things you have no control over and enjoy the simple little every day pleasures of life.
BUT THIS TIME HIS ADVICE WAS A LITTLE DIFFERENT.
This time his advice was bittersweet.
Because this time, even when he was telling you to enjoy today,
He couldn’t help but remind you that death is still coming.
• In verse 9 he told you to enjoy life with the woman you love but he reminded that it is a “fleeting life which He has given you under the sun.”
• In verse 10 he told you to work hard but he reminded that “there is not activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.”
HE GIVES YOU WISDOM ON HOW TO LIVE TODAY,
But the point of the text remains the same.
YOU HAVE ONE FATE.
• It is a singular fate
• It is a sad fat.
#3 IT IS A SUDDEN FATE
Ecclesiastes 9:11-12
In this life it seems that once man realizes that death is coming,
The objective of man often shifts gears.
Man goes from trying to escape death (which he cannot do)
To avoiding it as long as he can.
Think about how much of our thinking today
Is based upon prolonging life and delaying death.
WE ARE CONSUMED WITH IT.
So here’s a question.
• How do you delay death?
• How do you prolong life?
Be extra careful? Eat right? Exercise? Medical advancements?
Will that work?
Listen to the preacher here.
(11) “I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all.”
So let me ask you:
• How do you win a race? (be faster)
• How do you win a battle? (be a more fierce warrior)
• How do you become successful? (be wise or discerning or able)
But the preacher said, “You know what I see when I look at the world?”
“I see that it’s NOT always the fastest who win or the strongest who survive or the smartest who succeed.”
I see that “time and chance overtake them all.”
We think of “chance” as random accidents.
The word here actually means “incident”.
I see that every man is a victim of time and every man is prone to incident
We hear the proverb: “Early to bed, early to rise; makes man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” (Unless he gets hit by a truck)
How many athletes tell stories of having great promise and the prospect of professional greatness…until they blew out the knee.
How many wise men tell the story of business and profession and the expectation of riches…until extenuating circumstances wrecked the business.
How many fitness enthusiasts were committed to eating right and exercising only to find that cancer caught them anyway?
THERE ARE NO CERTAINTIES.
You may think you have a say in death, but do you really?
Are you really in control of your fate? NO
(12) “Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.”
What does he mean?
Death is coming and you don’t know when.
You can, by your own estimation, do everything in this life right,
And still die young or at least premature.
WE LIVE IN A WORLD THAT IS CURSED WITH DEATH.
WE LIVE ON A SINKING SHIP.
And there is a sovereign plan at work that is totally beyond you.
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,”
YOU DON’T KNOW WHEN IT IS COMING.
• We like to think that death only comes when you are old…
• We like to think that death only comes when you make a mistake…
• We like to think that death only comes when you are reckless…
BUT YOU DON’T KNOW.
We all have this one same fate here under the curse.
It is a singular fate – It is a sad fate – It is a sudden fate
Now on one hand wisdom then is to enjoy life.
• Enjoy the little things that God has granted for you to enjoy.
• That is wisdom.
BUT THERE IS MORE WISDOM here than that.
And it is wisdom that Jesus expounded on.
I actually wonder if Jesus finished this sermon.
The preacher said that man is “like fish caught in a treacherous net…when it suddenly falls on them.”
And Jesus said:
Matthew 13:47-50 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
What is wisdom there?
BE READY!
There is death and judgment coming.
BE READY!
You have one fate in this life that you are running towards
And there is no escaping it.
And while on one hand you should enjoy the little things in life
The greater wisdom is that you use this life to prepare for eternity.
That you use this life to find salvation and forgiveness.
Acts 17:26-27 “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;”
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.”
Are you ready for your fate?
Are you ready for death?
It will come, it must come, and it will come when you may not expect it.
BUT THE BEAUTY OF THE GOSPEL IS THAT
God sent His Son to forgive us of our sin and to conquer death.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
AND HERE IS THE REALITY.
Because of the curse you will die.
But through Jesus you need not perish.
He grants eternal life to those who place their trust in Him.
It’s the old little poem:
Life is short
Death is sure
Sin the cause
Christ the cure
