The Vanity of Death (Ecclesiastes 9:1-18)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

Amen, and if you would take your Bibles now and

open up to the Old Testament wisdom book of Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 and while you're turning

Ecclesiastes 9 · chapter mention

there and some are finding their seats Just a

brief story for you this week. I had a bit of

a garage door issue. I Hate having garage door

issues And because those things are so dangerous,

the spring was broken. I'm not touching that

with a 10 -foot pole. And so I called somebody

to come and look at the garage door and hopefully

fix it. And as I gave him all of my money for

fixing it, he handed me his phone and he said,

put your information in and your credit card

information. And as I did that, I noticed that

there was Hebrew writing within his phone. There

was English and... Hebrew and so I asked him

where are you from? He said I'm from Israel and

I said can I ask you a question? He said sure

I said we're going through Ecclesiastes in my

church preaching a sermon series through that

book and we keep seeing the word Hevel that is

there can you as somebody who really speaks Hebrew

can you tell me what this is and as I had anticipated,

he found that to be difficult. Not because he

doesn't know his language, but translating the

word into English is tough. He just kept saying,

it's very difficult. Hevel, hevelim. Friends,

we continue to look at hevel. We continue to

look at the word that is translated in your text

as vanity, right? A word that shows us the fleeting

nature of things under the sun, that hevel is

something that means something like a breath.

or a mist, a vapor, it is here and it is gone.

And yes, we do see this again in Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9. And so would you look there and follow

along with me, for this is God's word. Ecclesiastes

9, But all this I laid to heart, examining it

all, how the righteous and the wise and their

deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love

or hate, man does not know. Both are before him.

It is the same for all, since the same event

happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the

good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean,

to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.

As the good one is, so is the sinner. And he

who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is

an evil. and all that is done under the sun that

the same event happens to all. Also the hearts

of the children of man are full of evil and madness

is in their hearts while they live and after

that they go to the dead but he who is joined

with all the living has hope for a living dog

is better than a dead lion for the living know

that they will die but the dead know nothing.

and they have no more reward for the memory of

them is forgotten. Their love and their hate

and their envy have already perished and forever

and they have no more share in all that is done

under the sun. Go eat your bread with joy and

drink your wine with a merry heart for God has

already approved what you do. Let your garments

be always white Let not oil be lacking on your

head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love

all the days of your vain life that he has given

you under the sun. Because that is your portion

in life and in your toil at which you toil under

the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it

with your might. For there is no work or thought

or knowledge or wisdom and sheol to which you

are going. Again I saw that under the sun the

race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the

strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to

the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge,

but time and chance happen to them all, for man

does not know his time. Like fish that are taken

in an evil net, and like birds that are caught

in a snare, so the children of man are snared

at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon

them. I've also seen this example of wisdom under

the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was

a little city with few men in it, and a great

king came against it and besieged it, building

great siege works against it. But there was found

in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered

the city, yet no one remembered that poor man.

But I say the wisdom is better than might. Though

the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words

are not heard, the words of the wise heard and

quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler

among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of

war, but one sinner destroys much good. This

is God's word. Let's pray. Father in heaven,

we thank you for your word which is truth, and

for Christ who has called the word and his faith

comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ,

we ask you to open up our hearts and our minds

to the glories of your word. And would you use

it to bolster our faith, convict us of sin and

encourage us to pursue Christ who has pursued

us all the way to the cross. We pray it all in

his name. Amen. Perhaps you remember this story

from second Kings chapter 7 There were once four

2 Kings 7 · chapter mention

lepers who sat at the gate of Samaria for a time

Samaria was Israel's capital capital and there

were these four lepers who sat beside the gate

and it was during an awful famine and These lepers

were very hungry. It had nothing to eat But also

they knew that the famine was happening obviously

inside the city gates and so they looked at themselves

and they said what are we to do if we stay here

we will surely die but if we go into the city

there again we will surely die what are we to

do well these four lepers again according to

second kings chapter 7 knew that the syrian camp

2 Kings 7 · chapter mention

was not all that far away the syrians were enemies

of the israelites But they said, what are we

to do? What choice do we have? And so they set

out in search of the enemy camp. They went looking

for the Syrians. And they found the camp. And

when they stumbled into it, hoping for mercy,

what they found was something of a ghost town.

The Syrians were not there. But all of their

stuff was. All of their food and their drink

and their gold. and all of their stuff and so

they these four hungry men began to eat and they

began to drink but then they came to their senses

and said what are we doing our brothers our sisters

our people are back in samaria and they're starving

let us go to them and tell them what we have

found and so they went back to the city They

went and they told the king in his household

what they had found and the king sent men To

go and look for the Syrians because the Syrians

no doubt had come upon them in order to do battle

So they went looking for the Syrians, but he

also sent others to that camp To plunder it and

take back the food so that the people of the

city were saved They were saved from battle They

were saved from starvation yet there's a sadness

about this story and the sadness is this you

don't hear any more about those lepers you don't

hear any more about these unnamed forgotten heroes

and something similar is also going on within

our text for you see it in verses 14 and 15 there

this story of this little city with a few men

in it and a great king coming upon it and this

wise but poor man delivering the city. But yet

you don't see anything else about him. He's not

named. And as the text says, he is forgotten.

Friends, the wise do not always receive the reward

or the recognition that they deserve in this

life before death comes. This chapter is about

how to live in light of pending death, but to

do so with joy and with wisdom. Let me set the

stage for it by looking in the first two verses.

All this I laid to heart examining it all, how

the righteous and the wise and their deeds are

in the hand of God. And that sounds good, right?

We like to think that we are in the hands of

God, but what comes next maybe isn't so encouraging.

It says, whether it's love or hate, man does

not know both are before him. What he's getting

at here is showing us that, yes, we are in the

hand of God, but we do not always know what's

going to come next, do we? The unexpected. This

is also communicated in verse 11, if you look

there. Time and chance happen to them all. Now,

we should understand that as this says this word

chance, chance is nothing. Chance has no status.

It's not a real thing. What's actually being

communicated here is that things happen, we don't

always know why, but God does. But the one thing

that is communicated that we know will definitely

happen if the Lord continues to tarry. Is that

friends, we will all die. We will all die. That's

the event that this text is talking about that

happens to every single person. But we already

know this from studying the book of Ecclesiastes

that it all happens in God's time. And so yes,

you're in God's hands. You're in his time. Even

if you don't know exactly what tomorrow will

hold. Now the way that this text speaks about

death, I think is very interesting Look back

in verse 2 This event that happens to the righteous

and the wicked to the good and the evil to the

clean and the unclean to him who Sacrifices and

him who does not and then on and on it goes and

then it says that death is an evil Do we really

think of death as being evil Quite literally,

the word that is used here is bad. Friends, death

is bad. Death is wrong. Death is unnatural. And

death hurts. And we know this from the Scriptures

that the wages of sin is what? It is death. And

so children, you remember what you heard this

week. You remember how when God created Adam

and Eve, He created them happy and holy. things

were right with the world until they weren't.

Because of what? Because of sin. Children, you

remember what the serpent did. He came to Eve

and he said, you will not surely die. He tricked

them. He lied to them. That's what Satan does.

That's what the devil does. He is a liar. And

they listen to the lie and their disobedience

cost mankind life. But here's the thing. Here's

why the scriptures are so good. Because they

communicate truth and they communicate hope.

Right? God does not leave us hopeless. No, not

at all. Instead, what the scriptures show us

is that Jesus came to live and to die in order

to give life back to us. So that even as death

hurts, and death is bad according to Solomon

here, What Jesus does is to remove the sting

of death. It's such that the Apostle Paul is

able to say to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Dying can only be gain if you are in the Lord

Jesus Christ. Jesus provides for us eternal life,

never to be interrupted by death again. And yet

it costs nothing less than the very blood Jesus

Himself. For you may remember these words from

Hebrews chapter 9 that says without the shedding

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

of blood there is no forgiveness and then it

says Christ was offered once to bear the sins

of many. It happens by His blood. There's a Christian

contemporary artist named Matt Redman who sings

a song called Your Blood Speaks. He sings, Your

blood speaks a better word than all the empty

claims I've heard upon this earth, speaks righteousness

to me, stands in my defense. Jesus, it's your

blood. Or perhaps you're more of a traditionalist

and you like this one, What can wash away my

sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can

make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of

Jesus. Oh, how precious is the flow that makes

me white as snow. No other fount I know. It's

nothing but the blood of Jesus. Friends, this

is the good news that Jesus gave himself up on

the cross so that you would have life. And what

Jesus does is he reverses the curse and gives

eternal life to all who would trust in him. And

my second point this morning shows why this was

necessary because it's not just that death is

a bad thing. There are tremendously bad things

in our hearts. Look at verses, say three through

six. This is an evil under the Sun the same event

happens to all also the hearts of the children

of man are full of evil. I think here that actually

what's going on is Solomon is reflecting upon

the book of Genesis once again because Genesis

Genesis 6:5

chapter 6 verse 5 says the law the Lord saw the

wickedness of man was great in the earth And

that every intention of the thoughts of his heart

was only evil continually. Friends, until the

Holy Spirit gives us that new heart, we carry

a heart that is just full of sickness and violence,

malice, evil. And this is why we need to be careful

with some of the phrases that people say. Have

you ever heard someone say, Just follow your

heart. Have you heard that? Yeah. Well, what

about when your heart is full of evil? We need

our hearts cleansed. What we need to do is not

to follow our hearts, but to follow Christ. Christ

is our only hope. And hope is also communicated

within this text. Look at verse four. But he

who is joined with all the living has hope. For

a living dog is better than a dead lion. Now

we read that and we think, what's that about?

Especially dog lovers might say, what's that

about? What's being communicated here is that

while you have life, you have hope. Have any

of you paid attention to your license plates

recently? I see some smiles. While I breathe,

I Hope, South Carolina license plate. People

seem to attribute this to ancient philosophers,

maybe ancient Roman philosophers, maybe ancient

Greek philosophers, but maybe it needs to be

attributed to Solomon. While I have life, I have

hope. And friends, as people who are full of

hope, this text also tells us how to live. We

are able to live with hope and enjoy the good

things of God. Look at verses 7 through 10. Go

eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with

a merry heart for God has already approved what

you do. This is written as an imperative, meaning

it's written as a command. How interesting is

it that we have to be commanded to enjoy things?

We're being told here, God has approved what

you do, meaning God has given you good gifts

to be enjoyed. The next verse kind of illustrates

this. It's got white garments and oil on the

head communicating festivity and celebration,

perhaps cleanliness. What is not being communicated

here is to wallow in our sorrow. Now, certainly

Solomon here has spoken of our sorrow and he

acknowledges there are times to be sorrowful.

But friends, there is also a time to enjoy what

he Gives to us and you can see this as well in

verse 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love

all the days of your vain life Quite literally.

This is something like see or experience life

with the wife whom you love We are reminded here

that marriage is a pre fall gift before Adam

and Eve ever disobeyed God they were Married.

Married is a great thing. I did a wedding just

this week and was reminded of the goodness of

marriage. I recognize today is Father's Day,

but if I can speak to husbands for a minute,

enjoy your wives. Date your wives. Cherish your

wives. Compliment your wives. Do fun things together.

Do not take your marriages for granted. Love

your wives, men, as Christ loved the church and

gave himself up for her. Additionally, wives,

remember you are to submit. You are to respect.

You are to pray for your husbands as they seek

to lead you. Remember that as husbands are to

love their wives, as Christ loved the church,

that you in that analogy are like the church.

You are to receive that kind of love. And we

need to do it now. We need to love our wives

now. Wives, you need to love your husbands right

now because look at verse 10. Whatever your hand

finds to do, do with your might. Do it now. For

there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom

and shield to which you are going. This is telling

us to enjoy what God gives to us right now because

death comes. And I know that there are those

of you sitting in the pew right now who have

lost your spouses. And so perhaps a text like

this is hard to hear. It brings back that sorrow.

But maybe your hearts can be encouraged by this,

that those who die in the Lord are with the Lord,

and they are okay. God is near to the broken

-hearted. And so please, would you take that

to heart? But also take this next portion of

text to heart look in verses 11 and on this is

getting back especially in verses 14 15 and 16

to that opening illustration right with the four

lepers And so I compared that to what's happening

here. You've got this poor but wise man. He is

unnamed here in this text, but isn't it interesting

what it says? This is a small city in verse 14,

a very small city with few men in it and yet

a great king comes against it and besieges it.

This is showing us incredible power coming against

a very insignificant city with an insignificant

man in it and yet what does this man do by his

wisdom? He delivers the city, doesn't he? This

man is a forgotten legend, a hero, right? Who

delivers the city by his wisdom. Friends, sometimes

wisdom goes unnoticed, sometimes wisdom is ignored,

and sometimes the shouting of the fool is much

louder than the words of the wise. But friends,

even As you continue to pursue wisdom, you know

that God knows what you pursue. Even if people

ignore you, you are not seeking the approval

of men. Wisdom's reward is the good that it brings,

not a pat on the back. And so yes, Solomon is

very correct here. The wise are often forgotten

or despised. But Solomon also says this in Proverbs,

that fools despise wisdom and instruction. And

so if people will not listen to you, know that

it is fools who despise these things. And so

press on sharing the wisdom of the gospel. And

if I can illustrate how this is so incredibly

true, that story of the lepers that I shared,

I didn't share the entire story. Because actually

what happens before those lepers ever go and

find the Syrian camp, before they ever find the

food that will save them, the prophet Elisha

predicted the victory. The apostle or the prophet

Elisha predicted the end of starvation for Israel

and yet the captain of the king mocked him. The

captain of the king did not believe him and so

Elisha said to him, you will in fact see it with

your own eyes, but you won't eat any of it. Friends,

ignoring God's wisdom is a heinous sin. Do you

ever feel the burden of needing to share the

gospel with somebody who just won't listen to

you. Do you know people? Maybe it's a brother

or a sister or a neighbor or a co -worker and

they need to believe in Jesus, but they will

not listen to you. Friends, do not be discouraged

about this. Because if that person is going to

come to faith in Jesus Christ, it is all the

grace of God, isn't it? And so be obedient. Do

not be discouraged. Continue to press on sharing

the gospel, even as people ignore what you have

to say. Because actually, if I can give you one

final encouragement on this, Jesus told a story

about this once. Jesus told the parable of the

wedding feast in Matthew chapter 22. Within that

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

story there was a king who was giving a wedding

feast for his son and he sent out invitations

to all kinds of people he said come to this feast

and the people wouldn't do it and You know when

a king tells you to come to a feast you come

to the feast But they wouldn't do it according

to Jesus. They gave flimsy excuses They the people

mistreated the servants of the king even killing

them. So not only did they ignore wisdom, but

they rebelled against it. And rightfully so,

the King in Jesus' parable is enraged. He is

mad and he punishes the wicked. And then he does

something incredible. The King sends out the

invitation to the people in the streets. He sends

his messengers to the streets and and tells them

to get all kinds of people from all kinds of

places all kinds of the the walks of life to

come and be a part of this wedding celebration

and they come But one man comes and he's not

dressed right he's not wearing wedding clothes

and the king identifies him and Says get him

out of here And that man is cast into outer darkness

where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Friends, the story that Jesus tells there is

relaying Israel's history. God's prophets called

the people to repentance and the people mistreated

them. They disrespected them. They ignored them.

And they even killed some of the prophets. Just

those men. proclaiming the Messiah to come but

also within that story you have the man without

the wedding clothes that man came into the wedding

celebration the feast he came not to honor the

king or his son he came to insult the king and

he came as one unprepared he came as one without

the righteousness of Christ friends we've already

seen this especially from Ecclesiastes chapter

Ecclesiastes 7 · chapter mention

7 Your self -righteousness will not save you.

It is only the righteousness of Christ. And so

today, do not ignore the wisdom of the gospel.

For perhaps someone in this sanctuary today is

the day of salvation. And so let me ask you,

are you prepared? Are you clothed with the righteousness

of Christ? Because you don't know when your days

will be up. You're told to number your days according

to the Scriptures. You do not know when your

days will be up, but if you are in Christ, you

know where you will be. That you're in God's

hands. You have a place at the banquet. You have

a place to use revelation at the marriage supper

of the Lamb. You see what Jesus has done for

the believer by His wisdom. He has turned the

vanity of life into everlasting life in Him and

Him alone. Amen. Let's pray.