Ecclesiastes 7:1-8:17

try this again see if it's going to make its way to the servers or not hey it looks like it's going this time i don't know why it didn't work last time good evening good evening we're at ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse rc ecclesiastes chapter seven and eight i hope you have some tea or coffee it's so good to be with you tonight let's go ahead and make sure everybody's live over here good all right well good evening good evening good evening welcome to coffee and devotions this is where every day we get together we get into god's word and we grow in our love for the lord together and this year 2021 we'll make it through all the wisdom literature well let's go ahead and have some tea we'll pray and we'll get into god's word let's pray father we thank you so much for this day we thank you for your word and we thank you for the rich blessing it is to follow after you to hear from you lord we pray that we would love you with all of our hearts today and that you might teach us your wisdom in jesus name we pray amen okay i'm gonna go ahead and go over here and grab my bible grab my bible we're at ecclesiastes chapter seven and eight tonight ecclesiastes chapter seven and eight so i'm gonna pull this microphone a little bit closer here try to make it uh not so uh well not so quiet there okay here we go ecclesiastes chapter seven and 8 a good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of one's birth better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will take it to heart sorrow is better than laughter for by a sad countenance the heart is made better the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of myrm you know we learn a lot in grieving we learn a lot in the hardships of life and this is what the preacher is trying to tell us you're going to grow a lot more when you're in the house of mourning it's better to go there it's better to have a sense of sobriety about life this is where the book of ecclesiastes is like a giant kick in the teeth to the western mind and to the world in which we live where everybody wants to be happy happy happy and the reality is the lord wants us to know what the truth is verse 5 and 6. it is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools for the crackling of thorns under a pot is so is the laughter of the fool this also is vanity surely oppression destroys a wise man's reason and a bribe debases the heart up we got a little dude in with us hey buddy are you doing coffee and devotions with us oh i was just going to uh pet my cute cats oh you're just going to go pet try to find smoke oh can you do me favor can you use the other door oh that's the god can can you go out that door please thank you buddy all right thanks big man all right so daniel just wants to go and pet his cute cats uh well it's better to hear the rebuke of a wise than them from than a man to hear the song of a fool for like the crackling of thorns under a pot so it's the laughter of the fool so also as vanity surely oppression destroys a wise man's reason and a bribe to bases his heart it's better it's better to hear the rebuke from a wise man than to get the praises of a fool what's it talking about with the thorns underneath the firepot well it's like if you're just using a whole bunch of kindling to light a fire that makes a lot of noise crackle assists pop it might throw out little embers of flame but there's really no heat underneath it to bring it to a boil versus the wise man's like a log that is going to burn a long time and be extremely hot verse 8 through 10. the end of a thing is better than its beginning the patient and spirit is better than the proud in spirit do not hasten in your spirit to be angry for anger rests in the bosom of fools do not say why were the former days better than these for you do not inquire wisely concerning this you know there's a there's one way in which to take these proverbs as disjointed but i think as a whole what is this saying don't be angry with the lord's providence you don't know why things are happening we don't know why things come about the way they are and the foolish person gets mad at it right away but the wise man waits waits to hear from the lord waits to see how things plays out waits to understand things at the end of a matter rather than getting mad at a situation at the beginning of it actually the the folly of fools is that they get angry angry quickly verse 11 and 13 wisdom is good with an inheritance and profitable to those who see the son for wisdom is a defense as money is a defense but the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it go get wisdom that's what this is talking about but there's going to be a little bit of of curtailing of that in a little bit we're going to keep reading to get there consider the work of god for who can make straight what he has made crooked in the day of prosperity be joyful but in the day of adversity consider surely god has appointed the one as well as the other so that man can find out nothing that will come after him consider what god does and once again you don't know what the end of a course is you don't know what the manifold wisdom of god is we don't know why he's bringing us down the path he's bringing us why he's made a way straight in another way crooked i know that in my mind this is the way i'm supposed to go this is the end that i'm trying to achieve and often what i find out is the path is far more circuitous than that it's more serpentine than that there's a lot more switchbacks up the mountain than i ever anticipated i have seen everything in my days of vanity there is a just man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness he's just saying i've seen wise men die and foolish men live until their 90s i see this all the time at nursing homes i see this all the time when when there are people at church who die when there's people in the christian community who die and they're wise godly people and then i'll go visit in the nursing home and i'll preach the gospel and go into rooms and talk with people about the good news of jesus and even though they're old and advanced in years they're still too busy to care about god even though death is knocking at their door do not be overly righteous nor be overly wise why should you destroy yourself do not be overly wicked nor be foolish why should you die before your time it is good that you grasp this and also not remove your hand from the other for he who fears god will escape them all wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten rulers of the city don't be overly legalistic and don't be so consumed that you're so bookish that you have no good we're going to find out later that the preacher is going to say in the writing of many books there is much hardship he's saying you got to live your life in the balance here you got to realize that you can become so moral that you actually become more moral than you actually really are and you just become a legalist or you can become so wise in your understanding that you end up being a fool in your in everybody else's eyes you just are wise in your own for there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin that's romans 3 23 all over it this is the reality we all sin there's no one on earth who's perfectly righteous and does not sin if somebody wants to come up and say well hold on not everybody's a sinner go read coaleth go read the book of ecclesiastes hear what the preacher has to say this is what god says about man no we're all sinners also do not take to heart everything people say lest you hear your servant cursing you for many times also your own heart has known that even you have cursed others don't pay attention to what everybody says you might hear your servant curse you you might think i have the best employees in the world and then you overhear what's being said in the break room and all of a sudden they're talking bad about you or you might think that you know some pardon me you might think that oh you know my children are absolutely wonderful and then you overhear the stuff that comes out of your mouth and whoa hold on don't be overly concerned about what other people say all this i have proved by wisdom i said i will be wise but it was far from me and as for that which is far off and exceedingly deep who can find it out i applied my heart to no to search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things to know the wickedness of folly even of foolishness and madness and i find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets whose hands are fetters he who pleases god will escape from her but the in but the sinners shall be trapped by her go read proverbs chapter 7 and he's saying the exact same thing he said to his boy when he was growing up stay away from that adulterous woman son just stay far away from her door stay away from her there ain't nothing good going on by her house son i'm telling you right now turn off your internet you might need to throw away your phone stronger men than you have failed there's no wisdom in the harlot's house get far away from her here is what i have found says the preacher adding one thing to the other to find out the reason which my soul still seeks but i cannot find one man among a thousand i have found but a woman among these i have not found truly this only i have found that god made man upright but they have sought out many schemes we are those who god has made upright in the garden with the capacity to sin or not to sin and yet we are the ones who have corrupted our ways we are the ones who our hearts are always scheming new ways of breaking god's law of turning away from his paths of seeking our own desires rather than his own glory the fault is ours this is what the preacher is saying who is like a wise man and who knows the interest in sorry and who knows the interpretation of a thing a man's wisdom makes his face shine and the stirredness of his face is changed i say keep the king's commandment for the sake of your oath to god do not be hasty to go from his presence do not take your stand for an evil thing for he does what pleases him where the king or sorry where the word of the king is there is power and who may say to him what are you doing he who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful and a wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment because for every matter there is a time and judgment though the misery of man increases greatly for he does not know what will happen so who can tell him when it will occur no one has power over the spirits to retain the spirit and no one has power over the day of death there is no release from the war and wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it all this i have seen and applied my heart to every work that is under the sun there is a time in which in which one man rules over the other to his own hurt this is romans 13. this is the preacher saying hey look don't be hasty to run out of the king's presence but do his will you made an oath to god to support that king support that king you know kings don't often take well to when somebody tries to correct them now the wise king will but we know when we read in the history books of the old testament that's not often the case bide your time use wisdom do what's commanded stand up for what's right but at the end of the day obey and this is coming from i'm convinced this is solomon writing and i think this is the end of his life he's writing and he's saying look i've i've sat on the throne i know what this is like i'm telling you it's going to go better if you follow now remember this is a monarchy this is not our american democracy this is when the rulers were the judges when the rulers were the law givers when the rulers were the enforcer the law where the rulers were the generals of the army where they were to go out in front of the fighting men the king had a lot of authority a lot of power and it was of the wise person to know that power and to and to be careful about it i think this is what the book one of the things that the book of esther shows us when we read through that book and we see her mannerisms in the court as well as daniel's in the chord as well let's go ahead and finish up this last section then i saw the wicked buried who had come and gone from the place of holiness and they were forgotten in the city which they had done so this also is vanity because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil though a sinner does evil a hundred times and his days are prolonged yet surely yet i surely know that it will be well with those who fear god who fear before him but it will not be well with the wicked nor will he prolong his days which are as a shadow because he does not fear before god do you fear god do you walk before him in humility there is a vanity which occurs on earth that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked again there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous i said that this is also vanity that's the reality of life that even though you might fear god health wealth and prosperity preachers are giving you a bail a bill of goods it's a bag of lies sometimes the righteous are persecuted and die and sometimes absolute hellions and fools reign upon the throne and live long and fat lives this is the beauty of the book of ecclesiastes i just need to tell you that's what happens in real life and it's what's going to continue to happen until jesus christ returns so i commend enjoyment because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat drink and be merry for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which god gives him under the sun when i applied my heart to no wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth even though one sees no sleep day or night then i saw that all the work of god that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun for though a man labors to discover it he will not find it moreover though a wise man attempts to know it he will not be able to find it you're never going to exhaust knowledge you're never going to be able to accumulate all the wisdom that there is to accumulate you're never going to be able to figure out the paradoxes and the mysteries of this world because it's not for you it's it's not what you were intended for you were intended not to be the omniscient one or to seek after pleasure for pleasure sake but god made you to be content god made you to fear him god made you to walk in his ways and to accept in your heart that he does everything for your good even though you might not understand it to be able to go home and love your wife to be able to play with your kids and laugh at them when they just want to go pet their cute little kitties to be able to sit down with a meal with your family and even though things in life just seem like they're not the way they should be that you can look and you can see this world and you can know that god's in control and enjoy the good things that come from his hand to have thanks in every situation because if he has not spared his own son how will he not also with him freely give us all things that's not what the health wealth and prosperity teacher is going to try to sell you but say he's given us christ and if he's given us christ he has given us all things let's pray father we thank you so much that we can come before you our king and we can sit at your feet and we can obey you or we pray that we would teach us contentment we pray that you would teach us to have peace in our souls that we don't know why things happen in this world but we know that you are sitting on your throne god we pray that we would walk in faith and not by sight in jesus name amen well may the lord bless you tonight may you go with joy and peace may have contentment that god is with you and if he's with you who could ever be against you i'll see you tomorrow bye