Wisdom Applied | Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

You know, I'm really thankful to be beginning

Ecclesiastes this morning. As Dave noted, Jeff

and Tanya are in Scotland. We have a picture

to show you of them wearing something. If my

clicker can work. There we go. Aw, come on. There

you go. Look at that cute little scarf that he's

wearing. They arrive safe. The weather's cold.

It's rainy. They're taking tours through Edinburgh

right now, or they were, and they were seeing

some of the sites that birthed some of the Harry

Potter stories. So that's why the scarves are

there. And I'm told that while he is eating local

food, he has not yet undertaken mushy peas. I

don't blame him for that one. But please, pray

for him, pray for Tanya to enjoy their time away,

to rest, to recharge. We look forward to being

back with them in a few weeks. Now, it's been

a while since we've been in Ecclesiastes. I want

to give a very brief synopsis to catch us up.

We've been confronted with the vain pursuit of

satisfaction and worldliness and the problem

and the proof of vanity. We've arrived now at

chapter 7 with some hard, hard -hitting truths

about the prescription. How do we live with vanity?

Now the key concept throughout the whole book

is this idea of wisdom, or in Hebrew, chokmah.

And yet today we're going to see that wisdom

alone does not solve the problem of vanity, even

if it does bring an advantage to those who live

under the sun. You see the outline we've been

working with so far. Chapter 1 sets the stage,

the problem that all is vanity. And the second

half of chapter 1 all the way through chapter

6, the proof that all is vanity. Solomon proves

it. And now we've begun in our last couple of

sermons and we continue today with the prescription

for living with vanity. And today, specifically,

applying wisdom. That's our goal today. So open

your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 7 so we can be familiar

with Solomon's brilliance. And let's stand as

we read God's word. There are difficult sayings.

that we need to unpack today. So hear the word

of the Lord, Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verses 15

Ecclesiastes 7:15–29

through 29. I've seen everything during my days

of vanity. There is a righteous man who perishes

in his righteousness. There is a wicked man who

prolongs his life in his evil doing. Do not be

excessively righteous and do not be overly wise.

Why should you make yourself desolate? Do not

be excessively wicked and do not be a simple

-minded fool. Why should you die before your

time? It is good that you seize one thing and

also not let go of the other, for the one who

fears God comes forth with both of them. Wisdom

strengthens a wise man more than ten men with

power who are in a city. Indeed, there is not

a righteous man on earth who continually does

good and who never sins. Do not give your heart

to all words which are spoken so that you will

not hear your slave cursing you. For your heart

also knows that you likewise have many times

cursed others. I tested all this with wisdom

and I said, I will be wise. But it was far from

me. What has been is far away and exceedingly

deep. Who can find it? I turned my heart to know,

to explore, and to seek wisdom and an explanation.

To know the wickedness of foolishness and the

simple -minded folly of madness. And I found

more bitter than death the woman whose heart

is snares and nets, whose hands are chains, one

who is good before God will escape from her,

but the sinner will be captured by her. See,

I found this, says the preacher, adding one thing

to another to find an explanation which my soul

still seeks but has not found. I have found one

man out of a thousand, but I have not found a

woman among all these. See, I found only this,

that God made men upright, but they have sought

out many devices. Let's take a seat. Now you

can see this isn't going to be easy today, but

we're continuing in a vein of thought. If you're

to look up at the previous verses before verse

15. And that sermon, by the way, both of those

sermons are available on our podcast if you want

more context on that. But you're going to see

man is confronted in verse 14 with his inability

to secure outcomes. We cannot straighten what

has been bent, according to verse 13, by the

one who is beyond us. We think that we can live

formulaic lives. We think that we can manipulate

situations to get what we want. And Solomon confronts

that. He confronts when we think we're being

sanctimonious. We think we can control things.

He confronts that with a brutal truth. Don't

try to get what you want when your real aim should

be to fear God and to trust him. Don't sit and

sulk in what you don't have. Let go of what's

not yours and respond to what's been given to

you. And that's when we get the encouragements.

Be of good cheer. Enjoy the little things in

life. Don't let the simple things pass you by.

Today, that thought continues as he helps us

to apply wisdom. He says, don't lean on your

own understanding. Don't lean on your own wisdom.

Don't lean on your own righteousness. Submit

to the Lord. Walk with him. Depend upon him.

Those things we're going to see today. Now, verses

15 and following, they contain encouragements

from Solomon about how to respond to the reality

that outcomes are not in our hands. There's a

bit of theming going on. If you want to take

a look, there's a pastor named Brian Borgman.

I liked his outline here for this passage. There's

some more Hebrew parallelism. So you see this

kind of the breakdown for today. Wisdom avoids

perfectionism. Wisdom remembers one's own sinfulness.

Wisdom avoids sensuality. And wisdom remembers

the sinfulness of others. That's probably a lot

more simple to understand than what we read,

given the complexity of wisdom literature. We're

going to see today that wisdom itself is not

salvation. Even if there's a great benefit to

the believer in wisdom, and there is value, but

that value is limited. So in this close of chapter

7, wisdom teaches us to avoid two things, perfectionism

and sensuality. And wisdom reminds us of our

own sinfulness and the sinfulness of others.

So taking a look at the passage that we're digging

into. today, the first few verses. We're going

to focus on verses 15 through 18. Solomon is

going to point out the backwards nature of things.

Things don't work the way that they ought to.

The one who does righteousness perishes while

he does the right thing, while the wicked one

prolongs his life while doing evil. Shouldn't

it be the other way around? Doesn't that frustrate

us? I don't even think I need to mention recent

events, but you have it in your mind. You have

it in your mind because it's not the way that

things should work. If you do good, it should

go good, right? And if you do evil, it should

go bad. But Solomon gives you an exception here.

He says this life is bent, but he gives a prescription

for how to respond to it. Don't be overly righteous.

Don't be overly wise. Now, there are times when

you read wisdom literature and you're just stumped.

You have to pause. You have to consider, what's

being said, what's actually being encouraged.

Now, maybe you've been on that Indiana Jones

ride at Disneyland. Have you? Okay, I'm seeing

some head nods. It's awful, by the way. For me,

anyways. It's famous not because of the connection

to the franchise, but because of how much it

wildly throws the riders around. People need

back adjustments afterwards. It gives whiplash.

See, that's what Solomon's doing with this statement

here. He's shoving you awake. We're moving along

God's sovereign who can straighten what is bent

and then all of a sudden he gives us a hip check

and he throws us off balance by telling us to

consider moderation in wisdom and righteousness.

Man, how do you begin to understand that when

he's saying it without sarcasm? Don't be excessively

righteous. Don't be excessively wise. Isn't that

the opposite of everything that you've heard

if you've grown up in the church? Have you grown

up in a church that said, hey, you know what?

Don't worry about this whole righteousness thing.

Don't worry about going God's way. Just do whatever

you want. If you did grow up in a church like

that, oof. Pay attention to how he writes, though.

He doesn't say, don't be at all. Verse 17 is

going to refute that. He cautions an extreme

focus of righteousness and wisdom that some may

undertake. Here, let me put it in context or

something easier today. He's speaking to the

perfectionists. He's speaking to the control

freaks. That's not my term, by the way. That's

just one we understand, right? The sanctimonious,

the self -righteous, defenders of their own honor.

The people who always make the right decision,

at least in their mind. The ones who always want

to justify their actions and never own up to

any mistake. That's who he's speaking to. He's

speaking to the ones who expect that life should

not work like verse 15 describes. The ones who

are struggling when their righteous perish in

their righteousness. The ones who want their

perfect life. The ones who want a perfect home.

the ones who want perfect kids, a perfect job,

a perfect boss, the ones who are shocked when

the righteous perish. He's speaking to them,

to the ones who think they can control outcomes

with their actions, who think that they can get

people to do what they want by their effort,

the ones who think that if they do Christian

things, they can get the life they want, the

spouse they want, the family they want. the business

they want, the work they want, the future that

they want. But the end of verse 16 points out

that this perfectionist, outcome -driven lifestyle

only leads to self -ruin. It makes someone desolate.

What does it mean to be desolate, to be ruined,

to be destroyed? That Hebrew word literally means

uninhabitable, deserted, and to be made to tremble.

Think of that controlling and self -righteous

perfectionist. How can they enjoy life when things

don't go their way? When they're confronted with

their own sinfulness, when they can't control

outcomes? They don't enjoy life, right? And though,

you know, there's probably very few people who'd

be characterized as being solely that, we know

ourselves, do we not? So many moments, perhaps

this past week or month, where you and I have

been exactly like that. Pursuing things that

destroy our ability to enjoy the life that God

has given. Being critical of things and others

that don't live up to our own impossible standards.

Fearing things won't turn out in a favorable

way for us. And it makes one miserable. Now without

taking us down a large rabbit hole, let's just

acknowledge that is where an awful lot of depression

in our society stems from. But before we can

apply anything, Solomon swings at the other extreme.

Verse 17 warns us not to be excessively wicked,

not to be a simple -minded fool. The end of such

would lead to an untimely death. And this harkens

back to a teaching in Proverbs chapter 10. We're

Proverbs 10 · chapter mention

taught that the fear of Yahweh prolongs life

and the years of the wicked will be shortened.

And doesn't this seem to contradict verse 15

that we just read? This is where you'll get people

to say the Bible contradicts itself. If you're

a fool, and I don't mean to be mean, I'm being

honest. If you're a fool and you have no understanding,

then yes, God's word contradicts because you

don't understand, not because he is confusing.

Not because he is misled. Not because he contradicts

himself. There's any being in the universe that

doesn't contradict himself. It is Yahweh. Remember,

Solomon deals with the exceptions. The general

truism is this, Proverbs 10. But he's not afraid

to address those whataboutisms that we bring

up in our ignorance. And he preempts that simple

-mindedness to bring us a great measure of wisdom

and clarity. The reason he gives for not being

excessively wicked or a fool is that it leads

to an untimely death. Now, it's possible that

a wicked person may live a long time. He says

that in verse 15 of Ecclesiastes 7. But that's

the exception. Generally speaking, the wicked

and foolish have a shortened time span. So don't

swing to the extremes. He's cautioning against

wickedness. He didn't say, don't be wicked. That

would be impossible. We're going to see that

in verse 20. And he's also not encouraging us

to just be a little bit wicked. Rather, he's

saying, don't swing the pendulum that a person

is prone to when they don't get what they want.

So if perfectionism and self -righteousness can't

attain your desires, you might be inclined to

say, well, forget it. Why was I trying so hard?

I might as well sin or not care because I didn't

get what I wanted when I thought I was doing

the right thing. Do you see how he's counseling

the heart? Solomon knows the heart. He knows

that's a likely response of a person when they're

going the perceived right way and they don't

get what they want, that they might be prone

to forsake it. And so he cautions. and reminds

that such a pursuit of wickedness and folly will

absolutely lead to an untimely demise. We continue.

Why make yourself desolate? Don't be excessively

wicked. And then we get to a really tough verse.

It is good that you seize one thing and also

not let go of the other. Let's take a look at

that. That seizing, at first glance, you might

think, involves righteousness and wickedness.

But the grabbing and seeming, I think, relates

to righteousness and wisdom. Because you don't

come forth with God with wickedness and folly.

Knowing God's character makes it easier to discern

what you should come forward with. Now he's speaking

in an unfamiliar way to our sentence structure.

We don't speak this way, but he's telling the

reader, grab one thing and don't let go of this

other thing. It's good to hold on to righteousness,

to grasp it, to hold fast to it. It's good. And

it's good to not let go or literally not rest

your hand, meaning you don't loosen your grip

from wisdom. We shouldn't abandon or depart from

wisdom, even if an excessive pursuit of it would

lead. Now the key to grasping righteousness and

holding on to wisdom is right there in the text.

Fearing God. Fearing God. You look to him. You

don't look to your outcomes. When we rightly

fear God, you submit to his ways, even if they

look bent from your perspective. So Solomon tells

us to avoid the extremes. Don't pursue a vain

life of perfection. And don't demand that everything

measures up to your own standard, whether that's

yourself, your spouse, your kids, your church,

and life itself. Instead, fear the Lord. Don't

fear failure. Live in the fear of the Lord. Don't

live in the fear of not getting the right formula

to get what you want or to get what you think

you should have. And then he continues. And this

section may seem like he pivots, but he doesn't.

If you take a look, First, he said, don't let

go of righteousness and wisdom. Previous verse

18. Now, why? Why don't we let go of it? Because

wisdom gives strength. Wisdom gives strength.

Now, how is strength and might measured in Solomon's

day? You know, today we'd use something like

a strongman competition. I don't know if you've

ever seen that guy with the massive arms with

the, you know, arm wrestling. His hands don't

make sense. You should look it up sometime. It

really is incredible. Maybe an endurance race.

Maybe you're like, no, it's not that strength.

It's the strength to persevere Ironman triathlon.

Sure, that might be how we measure strength today.

But in Solomon's day, strength was measured by

a multitude of men banding together. Banding

together to exercise leadership and authority.

A king could be mighty, but 10 men committed

to a certain way would be invincible. That's

what it looked like in Solomon's day. And he

says, yet wisdom, is greater than such strength.

So what is that strength then? What does it look

like? Well, think about what 10 men would be

strengthened toward if they committed together.

Ecclesiastes 4 speaks of this as support for

one another. Remember the three -chord strand?

Not easily broken. Help when one is weak. Comfort

when one is going through difficulty. Shared

resources. Strength would also be seen in a willing

commitment to see things through. Knowing that

those other nine are going to push you forward

when that way is hard. See, that's the strength

of wisdom. Pushing you forward, supporting you

toward righteousness, even when it's difficult.

Wisdom strengthens you to continue living even

when the days are bleak. Even when you don't

get what you want. Wisdom strengthens your resolve

to live through both good days and bad. And wisdom

pushes you through. Now think about this. You

don't need strength if things aren't difficult.

The implied purpose of strength in verse 19 harkens

back to verse 14. God has made the good days

and the days of calamity. We need wisdom to strengthen

us to navigate the ups and downs of life. But

as good as wisdom is, as noble as it is to pursue

righteousness, There is not one man, not one

righteous man who continually does good, who

constantly holds to wisdom, who never sins. And

in that statement, Solomon is drawing us back

to creation. And he's done this many times because

he uses the word for mankind, Adam. He draws

us back to the creation account to consider the

garden, to consider Genesis 3, to consider Romans

3. No one is perfectly righteous. We all would

have sinned just like Adam and Eve. We all do

sin. We all do disobey God. Now verses 21 and

22, they preempt another straw man argument that

we might be prone towards. What if it appears

to you that someone is always kind, is always

gracious, always forgiving? Are they sinners?

And Solomon brings a regular occurrence to prove

his point. Whether you've said things out loud

or not, in your heart, in your heart, you've

cursed others. That's what verse 22 says. Now

that cursing is not swearing. It's not casting

a hex. The better connotation here is complaining,

criticizing, belittling. And now you see the

connection with the perfectionist and the self

-righteous desires from earlier. These things

are all too commonplace. Friends, think about

it. Even for the believer. When someone cuts

you off on the freeway, man, that person's an

idiot. When your boss is committed to an exercise

in redundancy, I can't believe how foolish they

are. Students, when your professor asks for an

assignment you see no point in, do they even

care what we're learning? Husbands and wives,

when your spouse forgets to do something you

think is important, they're just not loving me.

They're being selfish. When a church leader does

or says something you disagree with, I can't

believe what they said. They think they're wise,

but I know better. Now, if that one hasn't happened

for you this morning, just wait. It might in

a few moments. So for us, it might seem like

he takes this sharp detour to talk about words,

but he's encouraging us with part of his case.

There is no one righteous. Because even in your

heart, you're going to say evil things. And he

does encourage, don't listen to those things.

We'll get to that in just a moment. But he's

saying, even if the outward appearance of a person

is righteous, the own heart will condemn. Because

the heart knows that he's cursed others. That

reveals our control loving, our perfectionist

desires. Now, how many have fallen into that

trap when you're trying to pursue a good way?

You hold others to impossibly. high standards.

You sinfully judge others that you fail to meet

even yourself. There's a not so subtle hidden

truth here in verse 21 when he says, be careful

of pursuing these things. Be careful of listening

to these words. If you're just trying to please

others, recognize their heart is just like yours.

Even when you think you're kind, they're going

to say something bad about you. So don't be ruled

by people's opinions because they're always going

to find a way to tear you down. That's part of

our sin nature. But he's not done teaching us

about applying wisdom in this section. As difficult

as it is in general, the remainder is going to

be a doozy. He says this, verse 23, he tested

all these things with wisdom. Earlier in chapter

1 and chapter 2, Solomon said he was endeavoring

to search out wisdom and simple -minded folly.

He has put himself to the task to understand

these things. And so he's telling us he didn't

just come up with musings. He's not just saying

something and asking you to believe it. He's

tested it. How many people love evidence -based

research? How many people love things to be tested?

I think we prefer them to be tested, do we not?

What Solomon's saying is he has. He's tested

it. More than any doctor you could ever trust,

he's tested it because he was given wisdom from

on high. So when he speaks of there not being

one righteous man who continually does good and

he seeks out to prove it, we can trust his assessment.

Because he's seen that even if the outer man

appears righteous, the inner man provides that

condemnation because sin begins in the heart.

Now, even while testing it, he admits wisdom

is far from himself. Think about that. Guys,

think about that. Solomon is the man gifted with

wisdom. Of whom it was said, there had been none

wiser. And he states the difficulty of testing

all these things. He says it's just... Doesn't

this remind you of Romans 11 .33? Scripture says,

Doesn't that remind you of that? Even with immense

God -given wisdom, one cannot search out all

things. It's just too vast. There are many mysteries

too great for us to comprehend. Can you comprehend

the size of the universe? Can you comprehend

time? I don't just mean tell time. Hopefully

you can do that. Time. Why are we so fascinated

with alternate timelines, which aren't real,

but God being outside of it? That's hard. Do

you understand how laughter can lift the heart?

How does it happen? Do you understand why and

how the comfort of an embrace can bring such

relief? It does. You know these things, but do

you understand it? Even with great wisdom, we

have our limits to our comprehension. But when

we run up to mysteries, it should cause us to

return to God. When he speaks of knowing the

wickedness and foolishness here in the text or

the simple -minded folly of madness, he's not

saying that he pursued those things. The Hebrew

word for knowing here doesn't have the same connotation

as the words, the verbs really that he used earlier

when he cautioned don't be excessively wicked,

don't be a fool. What that means is Solomon did

not aim to experience wickedness and madness,

but he sought to understand it. He sought to

explain it. Searching it out is more like a trail

mapper. If you've ever been to a national park,

you know there are these trails. Somebody had

to go through that to map the trail before you

could go on it. He's like a trail mapper who

goes along the way. He's looking for the pitfalls

and the dangers to the other travelers so they

can benefit from his exercise of studying the

trail. Now, we can't avoid being a sinner. He's

already said that. But with wisdom, we can avoid

the pitfalls of being given over to wickedness.

into madness. And like a helpful guide, he's

trying to keep us from being entrapped by such

things. Just a really quick note here on simple

-minded folly of madness. This word is used five

times in Ecclesiastes. And to picture it today,

you need to think of a medium or a voodoo witch

doctor. You might have seen this with a TV show

or movie or something. Unlikely you've seen it

in real life, but maybe you have. They convulse.

when they profess to be messengers from the spiritual

realm. They do unhuman, erratic movements to

give the perception like they're out of their

mind and controlled by something else. It's fake.

Or it's demonic. One of the two. But in the Old

Testament, people were very confused by such

displays because every religion had it. Every

one. Sometimes they would even wonder if the

prophets, those sent by God, were out of their

minds in a similar way. And there were clear

examples of madness in the Old Testament. Nebuchadnezzar,

when he ravaged about like a beast, he was mad.

How about Saul, when he wrongly was paranoid

about David conspiring against him? He was mad.

What about when David chose to appear insane

before King Achish while fleeing Saul? He was

pretending to be mad. Even King Achish said,

do I not already have mad men? Do I need more?

Because that was the way of religious activity

in the day. So out of confusion, people in the

ancient Near East thought madness was either

a gift from God connecting a person to the spiritual

realm or a judgment from the Most High because

that person is exhibiting foolish and irrational

behavior. So that average person, the average

person that Solomon's writing to, They're considering

that pursuing the simple -minded folly of madness

may have been an option on the table. It may

have been an option to deal with life under the

sun. So Solomon sought to know this, to explore

it, to seek explanations, and he confirmed that

such madness has no merit. You know, Old Testament's

actually, there are texts that did prove the

same. Prophet Jeremiah specifically called out

the madness of pursuing idolatry and the madness

of pursuing You can see the text on the screen.

These are just more examples that they're painkillers

that people chase to, they run to, to dull the

difficulties of life. But isn't that how the

unsaved act? The ancient mind, they might have

wondered whether madness was a gift or a curse,

but in the New Testament, madness is always an

affliction for the unsaved. You think of Luke

Luke 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8, the story of Legion. The man who was

mad. That was not an evidence of God's blessing.

Now Solomon didn't care to pursue being a madman.

But people were confused. He wanted to know what

it was about. And that madness is the direct

context for verse 26. It almost seems to hit

us out of nowhere again. Whiplash after whiplash.

But he's a good trail mapper. And he's warning

us of a severe pitfall. He makes a claim. that

amidst searching out the explanations for wisdom,

for evil and foolishness and madness, he found

something more bitter than death. Now that part

alone should shock you. When you hear Solomon

say he found something more bitter than death,

the whole time Solomon's been pointing out that

death is the sharp needle to pop our misunderstandings

about life. He's been pointing to death. Death

has been the dark cloud, the great enemy. And

yet now he says, I have found something more

bitter than death. So listen, a woman whose heart

is snares and nets and hands are chains. Now

think about Solomon's testimony. How many wives?

700. How many concubines? 300. I'll let you do

the math for the next verses after this. Now,

we've been in the story of Esther. As Jeff likes

to say, King Ahasuerus. I don't say it that,

I normally say Ahasuerus, but it's okay. Now,

as prolific as that guy may have been in his

own court, King Solomon was something else. 1

Kings 11 tells us that these wives turned Solomon's

heart away from God. Deuteronomy 17 warned the

king was supposed to learn the fear of Yahweh,

was supposed to obey his words. But Solomon loved

many women. In that, he found out something more

bitter than death, an adulterous woman who does

not fear God. Look at these passages from Proverbs.

I'm sorry that they're small. You might just

need to look up the reference and pick them up.

I wanted them to be all together, though. You

can look those up later, but I want you to notice

some similarities about the dangers of an adulteress.

And I underlined some of the statements so you

can see how serious these cautions are. And I

want you to know that these are written by Solomon.

These are authored and penned by him, specifically

after learning from David and who's his mother?

Bathsheba. Look at some of these statements.

Her end is bitter as wormwood. Her feet go down

to death. Don't let her capture you. An adulteress

hunts for the precious life. The one who commits

adultery with a woman is lacking a heart of wisdom.

He who would destroy his soul does it. He does

not know what will cost him his soul. Don't let

your heart go astray. Don't wander into her pathways.

Numerous are those killed by her. Solomon wrote

these things. So in chapter 7, when he says that

he's found something more bitter than death,

he's found a woman who is hunting for the heart

of man. And how is she more bitter? Let's be

honest here. We're humans. Men often look for

love in all the wrong places. I'm sorry, men.

Is that not true? Now you may say, in righteousness,

no. Okay, without it, without it, do men look

for love in the right places? No, what do they

do? They prize corruptible beauty. They ignore

character. They're blind to the devious nature

of a seductress. They want an easy life. They

want somebody who serves them. Now men are not

innocent, but Solomon is making a point clear

when it comes to something he's seen. And he's

saying this, that man is sensual. So acquiring

wisdom, it's difficult. And even when you pursue

it wisely, you may not be able to actually acquire

it. He says it's too deep. But wisdom can be

so elusive and yet so profound. In seeking to

understand it, what he finds is not that God

bent our desires, but that our desires Now the

resulting bitterness from our bent desires is

great. Solomon's desire for the love of women,

that was his own sin. But he's also noting the

danger of a woman whose heart is seeking such

sensuality as well. If you're chained to such

a life, he says that's worse than death. And

wouldn't he know it? 700 wives? 300 concubines

that 1 Kings 11 tells us turned his heart away

from the Lord. Looking for love in all the wrong

places. Now, you know, we make love seem so noble,

right? You think of the Princess Pride, love,

true love. We make it seem like that's the thing.

And life without God, man, maybe that's all you

can chase. But when you undertake a pursuit of

loving, without the fear of the Lord, it leads

to a trap devoid of wisdom, devoid of meaning.

And that is the most dangerous part of the trail.

Solomon has avoided many other pitfalls, but

that one, think about it. That one, even with

his great wisdom, that was the pitfall for him.

That's his warning. Now this may be the absolute

briefest testimony. of what happened with his

heart when he turned away from Yahweh. He says

that though it's difficult to escape, it's possible

for the one who is good before God to escape.

He's saying so many things he avoided, so many

things he learned before they were a devastation.

With much wisdom, he evaded the common pitfalls.

He followed the trail, mapped it along the way,

but there was one thing that was more bitter

than death. And he wants us to know what he found

in that pit of despair. Proverbs 6, you see it

on the screen, the front part of the passage

there on the top. I bolded it. It teaches us

the way out of the snare. The light of God's

words. Loving discipline that he provides. Friends,

isn't that true of all temptation? God teaches

us the way in righteousness. He reproves. He

corrects us so we can go the right way. He redeems

us from our foolishness. Now, the primary application

here, though, is sensuality, being led by sexual

passion. But it also relates to the temptations

that plague us toward any disobedience. May we

have ears to hear, hearts to learn. Because even

with great wisdom, there is a dangerous part

of the trail, and we need to be cautious. As

we arrive to the last section of this passage,

this last part, it might not sit well with you.

And ladies here, I'm especially thinking of you

because he shares a thought and it seems to cast

a shadow over all women. But I want you to do

me a favor before we walk through this. Before

you cast judgment on what you think is right

or wrong, I would appeal, endeavor to comprehend

God's word from God's perspective. and from the

perspective of a human scribe, in this case,

Solomon. So with that, we're going to read the

final few verses. The preacher says, See, I have

found this, adding one thing to another to find

an explanation, which my soul still seeks but

has not found. I have found one man out of a

thousand, but I have not found a woman among

all these. See, I found only this, that God made

men upright. but they have sought out many devices.

And we noted earlier that Solomon has been looking,

he's been searching, he's been seeking to explain

and to understand how things work. And in this

regard, here's what he's found. Wisdom against

temptation is rare among men. Wisdom against

temptation is rarer among women. And wisdom against

temptation is rare for a reason. Now, the way

that Solomon phrases verse 27 is very difficult

to render in English. But he's saying that in

his attempt to explain things, he's uncovering

observation after observation, and he's adding

them up each time to find the sum of the whole.

In this endeavor, though, it yields some insight,

but it's been elusive. It's been difficult. But

then he comes to an observation that is very

uncomfortable. Verse 28, if you were to read

it from the Hebrew more literally, it would say,

one man from a thousand I found, but a woman

among all these I have not found. That's a literal

rendering of that verse. One man from a thousand

I found, but a woman among all these I have not

found. So what was he looking for in verse 28?

Well, I think the context in general is still

a wise and righteous person. but specifically

where we are in the context, he's talking about

somebody who is cautious regarding sensuality

and personal sin desires. So I don't think he's

just referring to general wisdom. He's specifically

speaking to those who apply wisdom to resist

temptation. And he's saying it is so rare. He

makes an observation and his statistic may not

sit well with you. Among 1 ,000, he's able to

find one man who wisely resists temptation. One

out of 1 ,000. Now maybe he's counting himself.

If you're thinking he's counting those 700 wives

and 300 concubines. But if so, this would still

be subsequent to his repentance. Because he wouldn't

be able to count himself righteous and wise while

he was pursuing his dealings with his wives and

concubines. But in trying to observe those in

his day, those around him, I think that extended

beyond his personal experience. Seeking to find

a man who would wisely resist temptation, he

could only find one man in a thousand and not

even one woman. Now, before I get labeled a misogynist

or enforcer of the patriarchy, just consider

this for a moment. Solomon is not saying that

in the whole entire world, There is only one

man who wisely avoids temptation and not even

one woman. But he's pointing to a rarity in his

day of both men and women who wisely resist temptation

in their heart. So he gives women at an observable

rate of 0%. And then men are at 0 .1%. I don't

think there's any room for male boasting. If

anything, you consider the opportunity and role

as a factor in this. Think about men in Solomon's

day. They were prepared to lead, prepared to

serve as priests. The kings who were men were

required to write out the law as a copy for their

own self to follow. And surely Solomon would

have had his own copy even if he didn't follow

it for part of his reign. Women, while we never

give an excuse to sin, were simply not presented

with the same opportunities. Culturally, women

were required to submit to their male family

members in many respects, including religion,

hence the pushing of idolatry through marriage

with other tribes outside of Israel. And isn't

that what happened to Solomon? Again, there's

always personal responsibility, but we should

consider opportunity as well when it comes to

training in righteousness. So he doesn't give

us a final tally on all the numbers. But he's

pointing out his intentional study, his observations,

that wisdom to resist sin and sensuality is rare.

So there's a lot of sin out there. Why is it

rare among men? Well, simple answer is that men

cater to their feelings in the moment. They don't

believe the end of Psalm 16. You remember Dave

read it in our call to worship that with God

are pleasures forevermore. Men don't believe

that. They don't think. They don't remember.

They act based on what they want in the moment.

And while that may be very true of carnal men,

it is also true of carnal women. The same temptations

can be there for both men and women. Why would

wise resistance be rarer among women? Before

I answer, I want to urge you to guard your hearts.

Men, don't be boastful. that Solomon's observation

yielded a 0 .1 % advantage. You may think there's

that stupid saying, but you're saying there's

a chance, right? It could be zero, but if it's

0 .1, I mean, there's a chance, right? No, it

is still abysmal. 0 .1%. And ladies, remember,

these are observations from the wisest man. The

wisest man. And he's not using a statistic just

to wound. but to warn. Remember that wisdom literature

often does just that. So why is it more rare

among women? Well, it goes back to the fall.

Paul references it in 1 Timothy 2 .14. He says,

it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman

being deceived fell into trespass. But this is

not a point to blame women and to absolve men,

but to clarify his points earlier in the chapter.

And here's the context. Likewise, I want women

to adorn themselves with proper clothing, with

modesty and self -restraint, not with braided

hair, gold, pearls, or costly clothing, but rather

by means of good works as is proper for women

professing godliness. A woman must learn in quietness

and all submission, but I do not allow a woman

to teach or exercise authority over a man, but

to remain quiet, for it was Adam who was formed

first, then Eve, and then he gives the context

of the garden. Self -restraint. is what Paul

was instructing in this passage for women. Now,

do you see the connection with prudence in the

light of the temptation towards sensuality? Now,

a woman's responsibility to yield, to submit,

is it not to follow a godly man? So if a woman,

and he's appealing to the garden, if a woman

is not led towards righteousness, is the man

innocent in the matter? You see in the Genesis

3 account, even though it was Eve who was first

deceived, it was Adam's passivity that led to

his culpability. It was rare for Solomon to see

a woman wise in resisting temptation because

it was rare to see a man leading the women in

his life away from such sin and warning of its

dangers. And I'm confident that Solomon is pointing

us back to the garden and the fall because of

verse 29. In calling us back, Solomon uses a

singular noun with a definite article. It's a

nerdy way of saying, he says, God made the man,

Adam, upright. And then he uses a plural noun,

they, when speaking about the many devices. So

if you, as a woman here today, were bothered

by the statistic, if you, as a man, thought that

you had an advantage, my aim is to show you now

there is a benefit to these explanations in seeing

that our problem is rooted in the fall of man

into sin. You may have thought that the man had

a minuscule advantage, but he doesn't. He says,

I found only this. Even in his observation, a

thousand and zero, a thousand and one, he says,

this is the sum of what I've found. He didn't

find that men were intrinsically more righteous

than women. Rather, he found a broken creation

that was made to be upright and innocent and

has forsaken God's ways and barreled toward destruction.

And every generation from Adam and Eve follow

the same pattern of rejecting God's rule and

reign. Every generation devises plans to pursue

happiness and pleasure with ever more inventions

to avoid the harshnesses of this life. Now we

had that Indiana Jones ride analogy earlier.

I'm going to come to an unexpected stop. You're

like, what next? No, we're going to stop here.

Applying the wisdom of God means avoiding perfectionism.

You can't attain it. You'll be miserable trying.

You can't be righteous on your own. It's impossible.

You need the righteousness of Christ. You need

the wisdom of Christ. You have to find your identity

and everything you have in him. Be dependent

upon Christ. Be careful to not be a hypocrite

when others sin against you. Be cautious of excessive

sin. It is destructive. And especially be cautious

against sexual sin. There is forgiveness, but

there are also consequences. And know that we

are wired to plan and to scheme, but due to our

sin, our plans lead us away from wisdom and righteousness.

Our plans in the flesh lead us away from the

Lord. So friends, be suspicious of yourself,

not God. Fear God, pursue righteousness and wisdom,

but remember that wisdom has limits, even if

it can help you avoid ruin. So trust Christ.

May he be your wisdom as you navigate life under

the sun. Now, as usual, we have questions, questions

to ponder. Solomon has likely wounded you today.

I pray that he has. I pray that you take these

hard passages not to just agree with me and my

explanation, but to go to the Lord to try to

understand, to try to comprehend wisdom, to be

cautioned, to be warned. Sin is crouching at

your door. Are you aware of it? So as you look

at these questions, answer for your own heart.

How are you striving for perfectionism? I didn't

say, are you? How are you striving for control?

How are you striving to control the narrative

of what people think about you? How can you regularly

bear in mind your own sinfulness? How can you

remain vigilant against temptation? What are

your plans? What are your schemes? What are your

intentions that draw you away from Christ? What

are your distractions? What are your painkillers?

Think about these things and let's orient our

heart to Christ as we go to him in prayer. God,

we thank you for your word. Though we don't speak

the same way as Solomon, though we don't understand

the ancient Near East mind the same way, though

we don't even understand Hebrew well, you give

us wisdom and insight in the ways that we need

by your spirit and you show us the way to go.

What's clear today is you have shown us we have

a desire to control. We have a desire to perfect

outcomes. So help us to give up. You've shown

us there's a blessing of wisdom and yet you've

shown us not to worship it. You've shown us that

we are so bent towards sin that even with the

greatest of wisdom, a fate more bitter than death

can befall us. You've shown us that even if we

appear righteous on the outside, our heart condemns

with the words and the thoughts that we think

about others. So God, help us not be excessive

in our wickedness. We are sinners. There is no

one who does righteous. It's why we need to look

to your son, Jesus, his sacrifice. So help us

to find our righteousness, not in what we do,

but in him. Not to avoid doing good, not to avoid

responding well, but to not find our worth in

what we've done. May we find worth in what you've

done in Christ. Help us to see these dangers

of sensual sin, these temptations. Lord, do not

let us walk away from here this morning and think

that this is a mild caution. The wisest man in

the world to have ever lived said he found this.

May we be on guard. So give us insight to be

suspicious of our own hearts, our own plans and

schemes before you. May you light our pathway,

light our way towards you, light our desires

towards you. Use even our songs of response right

now to cement eternal truths into our minds.

Help us to proclaim your excellencies. Help us.

to depend upon your grace in Christ. It's in

his name that we pray. Amen.