“LIFE ACCORDING TO THE WORLD” “SOLOMON’S EXPERIMENT”

Services

Sunday
10:30 AM Worship Service

Wednesday
6:30 PM Bible Study

May 10, 2023

“LIFE ACCORDING TO THE WORLD”

“SOLOMON’S EXPERIMENT”

ECCLESIASTES 1:4-18


If life is only a part of a great cycle over which we have no control, is life worth living?


  1.   Nothing Is Changed  Ecclesiastes 1:4-7


Solomon present four pieces of evidence to prove that nothing really changes:


*The Earth- the course of life


Ecclesiastes 1:4 “One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever.”


Thomas Carlyle called history “a mighty drama, enacted upon the theater of time, with suns for lamps and eternity for a background.”


*The Sun-the circle of the sun


Ecclesiastes 1:5 “The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose.”


Rise, set, rise, set- every day the same thing.


*The Wind- the circuit of the wind.


Ecclesiastes 1:6 “The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit.”


Jesus said to Nicodemus:


John 3:8 “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”


Solomon’s point is this: the wind is constantly moving and changing directions, and yet it is still- the wind!


*The Sea-the cycle of the water


Ecclesiastes 1:7 “All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again.”


Joshua 10:12-13


He moved the sun back as a sign to King Hezekiah- Isaiah 38:1-8


He opened the Red Sea and the Jordon River for Israel- Exodus 14, Joshua 3,4


He turned off the rain and turned it back on for Elijah- 1 Kings 17, James 5:17-18.


He calmed the wind and the waves for the disciples- Mark 4:35-41.


Christians live in the world as pilgrims, not prisoners, and therefore they are joyful and confident.


2.   Nothing Is New Ecclesiastes 1:8-11


Now Solomon looks at history and the futility of life. Nothing is fulfilling, life is boring:


*Man Wants Something New


Ecclesiastes 1:8 “All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.”


They are like the Athenians in Paul’s day:


Acts 17:21 “For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.”


Solomon explains why men and women are not satisfied with this life:


Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”


Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.


*The World Provides Nothing New


Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 “That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. 10Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us.”


Dr. H.A. Ironside, longtime pastor of Moody Church in Chicago said, “If it’s new, it’s not true, and if it’s true, it’s not new.”


Ecclesiastes 3:15 “That which is has already been, And what is to be has already been; And God requires an account of what is past.”


Only God can create new things, and He begins by making sinners “new creatures” when we trust Jesus Christ to save them:


2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”


We can walk in the newness of life:


Romans 6:4 “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”


*Why We Think Things Are New


Ecclesiastes 1:11 “There is no remembrance of former things,
Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come
By those who will come after.”


3.   Nothing Is Understood Ecclesiastes 1:12-18


Ecclesiastes 1:14 “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.”


Solomons Conclusions:


*Life Is Tough, But It Is A Gift Of God


Ecclesiastes 1:12-13 “I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.” 

When God first gave life to man, the world had not been cursed because of sin:


Genesis 3:17-19


*Life Doesn’t Get Easier If You Try To Run Away From It.


Ecclesiastes 1:14 “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.”


*Not Everything Can Be Changed


Ecclesiastes 1:15 “What is crooked cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered.”


It’s likely that Solomon, who was an expert on proverbs:


1 Kings 4:32 “He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five.”


In short Solomon is saying, “The past can’t always be changed, and it is foolish to fret over what you might have done.”


Matthew 12:9-13


Man cannot do it by his own power and wisdom.


Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing will be impossible.”


*Wisdom And Experience Will Not Solve Every Problem.


Ecclesiastes 1:16-18 “I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.” 17And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind. 18For in much wisdom is much grief,
And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”


John 20:29 “Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”


True, we can’t explain everything; but life is not built on explanations; it is built on promises and we have plenty of promises from God’s Word!


Psalm 73:26-28


Romans 4:21 “And being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”


But Jesus Christ is:


1 Corinthians 1:24 “But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”


John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”


True happiness cannot be achieved, it can only be received through a right relationship with God, because only God knows what is really best for us.