You'll Never Understand It All

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 in 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 7 and 8 tonight. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and 8. So I'm going to pull this microphone a little bit closer here, try to make it not so, well, not so quiet there. Okay, here we go. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 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 murmur."
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.
Oh, 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 cat. Oh, you're just going to go pet him? He tried to find Smokey. Oh, can you do me a favor? Can you use the other door? Oh, that's the garage. 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.
Well, it's better to hear the rebuke of a wise man than a man to hear the song of a fool for like the crackling of thorns under a pot. So is the laughter of the fool. So also is vanity. Surely oppression destroys a wise man's reason and a bribe debases 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 fire pot? 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, 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 in 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 one way in which to take these proverbs as disjointed, but I think as a whole, what is it 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 play 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 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 sun. 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 curtailing of that in a little bit. We're going to keep reading it. Forget 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." Right? 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 and 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 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 gotta live your life in the balance here. You gotta 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 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 Coeleth. 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, so pardon me. You might think that, oh, I, 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 know, 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 Then death, the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God will escape from her, 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 a 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 interpretation of a thing. A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the sternness 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 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 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 sat on the throne. I know what this is like. I'm telling you, it's going to go better if you follow him. 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 lawgivers, when the rulers were the enforcers of 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 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 court 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 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. It's the reality of life. that even though you might fear God, health, wealth, and prosperity preachers are giving you 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 know 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 not what you were intended for. You were intended not to be the omniscient one or to seek after pleasure for pleasure's 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. that he's given us Christ and 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. Lord, we pray that you 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's name. Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you tonight. May you go with joy and peace. May you 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.