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.
