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Good morning. Open your Bibles again to the book of Ecclesiastes. Let me move this because I know I'm going to spill it. I'm not one of those preachers that does a lot of drinking up here. I don't have a problem with a dry throat or, uh, raspy throat, but I do have a problem with spilling water. I, I remember one of the first times I ever spoke in Hollywood Bible Chapel. I was so nervous as it was, and, um, I went to get up and speak, and as I did all the pages with notes, I have all these loose-leaf pages in here, fell out all over the floor, and then I started to speak, and they had water there, and I slapped that all over everything.
Then they had a tensor lamp. You know what they are? They have a little neck, a little, one of those necks you can move like this, and I went to say something like that and knocked the light up and, and they had me back. I don't... Stewart's looking at me. I was going to say it doesn't show much discernment on their part after that, but maybe it was, I don't know. Ecclesiastes chapter one. we're going to look at the second half this morning of chapter one. I apologize for not getting my subject matter to you earlier so that they could have stocked in the bookstore some, some books that might have been helpful for you in the study of Ecclesiastes. Um, but they do have a wonderful bookstore here, and uh, s- some really wonderful books in there.
I can't remember last year I went home with some, and I'll probably go home with some this time too. And you never can have enough reading of the Word of God. And so I hope you'll take advantage of the bookstore. Sounds like I'm on commission, doesn't it? But I'm not. But I'm not. I remember T. Ernest Wilson saying one time at a workers' conference, the thing that he valued most in his life, next to his Bible, was the books in his library. And I know we're not followers of books or men, but still it's nice to use the gift of other men, isn't it? Okay, in Ecclesiastes chapter one, we saw yesterday that he is looking at the cycles of life and finding himself, as James would say, in the wheel of nature, and just turning over and over again.
I mean, this is a... it could be a very disheartening time for Solomon. And one of the things we want to look is this, that Solomon, although sitting in perplexity, looking at, looking at certain events of his life, doesn't mope, he doesn't run, he doesn't quit, but he keeps on looking. Uh, we're, we're living today in an age, a generation is arising of quitters. I'll never forget when my son and I, when he was very young and we'd do things together, if he wasn't winning, he would soon just quit. I mean, we would be playing volleyball against another youth group, and since we were two points behind, he'd just walk off the court.
And it used to be frustrating to me. But, you know, people are doing that today with life. We see them on the streets, we see them on our corners, we see them laying in drunkenness, we see them all over this world. Our, our country is strewn with people, littered, just like we litter our streets with cans and papers, with human life of people that have quit. Just given up. Solomon doesn't do that. He will say now in verses twelve through eighteen that since he looked out and saw there was a monotony to life, that he will pursue something else. And the other thing he's going to pursue is this, human wisdom and the value of it. And we'll see what that is today, this morning, and also tonight.
Let's read verse twelve through eighteen together. I, the preacher, was king over Jerusalem, in Jerusalem, excuse me, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I gave my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under the, under heaven. This sore travail hath God given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. I commune with mine own heart, saying, lo, I am come to great estate and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem.
Yea, my heart hath great experience of wisdom and knowledge, and I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly, and I perceive that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. We said yesterday that as he looked out into the cycles of life, he saw that nothing has changed. He saw that there was nothing new, and that there was nothing really remembered properly. And now, when it comes to human wisdom, he's going to say this: there's nothing that is really fully understood. Think about the things that have changed in your lifetime, as far as man finding them out, even scientifically or through philosophy or through, through the avenues of the human mind.
How we thought this was the cure all for this, and we found out it caused what? This, and then this did this, and we really don't fully understand all things, and the limitation of human wisdom is that it can't. It is impossible. And the reason he's going to say is twofold. He's going to say because we don't actually in life have a reason for everything. And we don't have God, God isn't under obligation to give us all the answers to everything. Deuteronomy twenty nine twenty nine, that great verse, says the things that are revealed are for us and for our children, but the things, the secret things that aren't revealed belong to the Lord. God hasn't seen fit to reveal everything about himself.
Could you imagine the size of our Bible if God revealed everything about himself? Just imagine, we wouldn't be able to carry it. It would be impossible. And so human wisdom has this weakness. The other point is that God has ordained that we live by faith and not by total intellect and by sight and the senses. The just shall live by faith. And so we are to live by faith, simply believing in the character and the person of our God, and not necessarily all the explanations, just like our children. Get in the car, we're going. Where? Just get in the car. Why? I mean, this is, that's what we do to the Lord. Finally, do you remember Job?
He did the same thing. Why and where and how and why? And finally the Lord says, Job, be quiet for a second. Put your hand over your mouth. Actually, God called him an ignoramus. He did. He said, who is this that darkens counsel, right? He was saying, who is this ignoramus who's standing in front of me? And Job said, I'm vile, I'm unclean. He put his hand over his mouth. And then he simply didn't give Job the reason why it was happening, just revealed more about himself. Were you there when I founded the world? Were you there when I planned the ages? Were you there? Can you do this? Can you do what I can do? Finally, Job said, Lord, you've shut my mouth. I'm simply going to trust in you. I don't need to know why, I'm just simply trusting in my God.
Now, the first thing we have to remind ourselves is this. He's talking about human wisdom as seen as under the sun. Now, turn with me, if you will, please, and we're going to turn quite a bit this morning, and if there are people that aren't here tonight, they're g- you're going to be ahead of them, because this is really important. Look at James chapter three. You know where I'm headed. James chapter three. because we have to realize this. There are a lot of different philosophies in life, but there are only two sources of those philosophies or wisdom. That's all there are, two sources. There might be Confucius, and there might be Mohammedism, and there might be, uh, the wise saying of grandma and grandpa when they raised us.
Uh, there might be different types of philosophies, but realize that there's only two sources. You put them all in a big pot and boil them up, there's only going to come out two elements. And in James chapter three, that's what we're told. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? That's a good question. We think a wise person amongst us is somebody who looks good and carries a big Bible and always is at meeting, but that's not what he's going to say. Who is wise, let him show it out of a good lifestyle with his works of meekness and wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and glorying and lie not in your hearts, and excuse me, and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish.
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable and gentle, easily to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now, the point that I'm making from this portion this morning is simply this. God says there's only two types of wisdom, wisdom that is from above, which comes from him, and wisdom that comes from below, which comes from the devil. Now, that's all there is. It might look good, it might sound good, it might sound sensible and intelligent, but if it doesn't come from above, it comes from below.
There's only those two sources of human wisdom, um, excuse me, of wisdom. Now, when it comes to Solomon, you'll remember Solomon, when he was beginning his reign, was overwhelmed by the immensity of his task and was granted by God a prayer. And he prayed, Lord, give me an understanding heart, a heart of wisdom, that I might lead these people skillfully and wisely. And God was pleased with that prayer. He was asking for wisdom from above. You know what James chapter one says? If any of you a- lack what? Let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally. I'll never forget at the end of a Bible study, the greatest compliment I ever got was at the end of a home Bible study.
A person came up to me after the study and said, you know, for a young man, you have a lot of wisdom. And my first reply was, that's because it comes from the Lord. We have people that immerse themselves in human education, and by the way, tonight and today, I am not preaching against human education. I'm not going to do that. I don't believe in that. But I believe this, if I am the kind of person that is seeking fulfillment and satisfaction and happiness from, from the education and wisdom that this world can give me, I am going to be utterly, utterly dissatisfied. And I know people, I know a man who at the age of thirty eight graduated from college, just kept going back to school and back to school and back to school.
But it doesn't satisfy. And that's what he's, he's going to say here. S- he- when, when Solomon asked for God that wisdom, God gave it to him. And he was more wiser, it says, than any of the kings. People came from all around to test his wisdom, to see how wise he was, to see how skillful he was, and he was wise. Wise, because he had wisdom that came from above. Let's ask this question then. Why is it so difficult then? Because let's face it, we don't just sit down and or get on our knees and say, Lord, give me from wisdom from above, and we get up and the Lord's given it to us in a little lightning bolt, right?
That's not what happens. Why is it then that so many people who have the word of God don't seem to have a grasp on that wisdom? Look with me for a second to, uh, Proverbs chapter two. Here's an interesting thing too. Solomon, writing Proverbs as a young father to his son, uses wisdom from above, but by the time he's older, and as many people feel, writes Ecclesiastes at the end of his year in defeat, is using what kind of wisdom? Human. And the danger is that we can be wise from above one day and what? Foolish by having the wisdom of the world. In Proverbs chapter two, verse one, my son, if thou will.
Now we're going to discuss in this portion, just quickly, steps on how to gain wisdom from above. And the first point is this, it starts with a willing, uh, the willingness, a willing heart. If thou will. You see, that's the hard thing. We can't force our children or any of us, we can't force our loved ones, as hard as we will, to seek that kind of wisdom from above. Solomon is saying, look, I'd like to force you to be wise in the things from above, but I can't. If thou will. This is, it, it, it, it starts with a willingness to absorb. You know, I know many Christians, they carry notebooks, they go to meetings, they, but they don't absorb, they don't have any, they don't have any wisdom.
And the reason is this: some point in life in their time, if I dig far enough, I'll find where the Lord was dealing with them about some truth, and they didn't want to obey that truth. So if you don't have the willing heart, guess what happens? School stops. The Lord said in John seven seventeen, "If any man wills to do of my will, he'll know of the doctrine, whether it's of God or not." And I know many, many, um, good, fine Christian people in my town in Danville, Virginia, in the Bible Belt, and their depth of the scripture is so superficial, and it's because when you come to them about a truth, they say, well, that's the way you interpret it, that's the way you see it. I say, no, no, no, look, this is what God's saying right here. What do you do with this? Well, when God opens my eyes, then I'll respond.
Don't ever pray that. When somebody tells that to me, you know what? I have a lot of young people do that. Well, you know, I see that, but I'm really not convicted when the Lord convicts me, then I'll apply it. I say, well, good, let's get on our knees and ask God to convict you right now. And then I stand away so when the tiles and the lightning come through, you know? We don't want to do that, though. Those are all excuses. God says, a person who has the will to know of my will and to obey my will, they'll have wisdom from above. James says, first pray, he'll give it to you. The fact that you're praying denotes what? If I'm on my knees praying, Lord, give me wisdom from above, what does it denote, first of all? It denotes, first of all, that I must have a willing heart because I want it, right? And so it starts with the will. If you will receive my words.
See the word receive? It comes from the word to marry. If you will re- literally join yourself to these words. That's the thought of obedience and making them your own. If you will join yourself to my words and hide, the word means lay up as a treasure, my commandments with thee, so that you incline thine ear to wisdom. You know what incline means? It's the idea of... I- I think I hear something. It- it denotes a willingness, a turning of your ear, a focusing of your attention, and apply thine heart to understanding. The word apply there, the word natat in the Hebrew means to stretch out.
It's the idea of really making an effort for it. You know, I wonder sometimes if we really want to know and do the Lord's will. When we don't, we're not gonna grow. He says this, yea, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding, that is ask for it. Verse four, if you seek her, there's effort as silver, and search for her as hidden treasures, then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Verse six, for the Lord, circle it, giveth wisdom. You can go to every human institution that you want.
You can go to the best, you can go to Oxford, you can go through Harvard, you can go through all the best education. If you don't get the wisdom that only God gives, you're getting wisdom that we're going to see tonight, yes, is profitable. It is profitable. It can make you see clearer, it can make you see life better, it can make you stronger in life, but it will never bring you to a full place of fulfillment and satisfaction. It falls short. It only deals with the earthly things. It only deals with the temporal things. It never touches into the eternal, and therefore can't satisfy the inner man. But he says this, it, the Lord giveth wisdom. I believe that's repeated five or six times in the Old Testament, in the Proverbs, in, in the Psalms, and in, in the wisdom literature.
It says that God giveth wisdom. God gives wisdom. So when Solomon asked God to give wisdom, he was going to the right source, and he was asking for something that God himself delights in giving. How many times did Paul said, be not ignorant, brethren? God wants wisdom. He doesn't want ignorance. Now, notice one thing, and here's where we have to look again this morning. At verse four, it says, if you seek her as silver and search her out as a hidden treasure. Look with me for a second to the book of Job. In Job chapter twenty eight. While you're doing that, let me reinforce the fact that God and God alone gives the wisdom from above.
In Job thirty two eight, it says this, but there is in a spirit in a man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. God gives understanding, God gives knowledge, God gives wisdom, the ability to apply that knowledge, those facts, and that understanding. And that's the difference, by the way, between knowledge and wisdom. We have many people have a lot of knowledge. They're very knowledgeable. That means they've acquired a lot of facts. I remember one time visiting my uncle in New York, and every time I would go to visit him, he'd always have something for me to fix in the house. He was a retired Navy man. He had a lot of experience, he had a lot of facts that he acquired in his life, but he could never apply them.
I'd have to, one time he said, could you change this switch? I undid two screws, pulled the, the plug off the back of the switch, plugged a new one in, put the two screws back in. He says, I don't know how you know how to do all these things. We know people, they have a lot of facts, but they just can't apply them. The application of facts is wisdom. Wisdom. Now let's talk a little bit about effort. In Job chapter twenty eight and verses one through eleven, Job makes this fact, this statement of truth. Look at the effort to which men will go to, to glean out of the ground little pieces of stone, silver, gold, diamonds, sapphires. He will say that, you know, what he will basically say, because we don't have time to go through the whole thing, is this.
They will flood it with water to drive out of these caves. They will hang with ropes by their ankles down to dig out of holes. They will go to all kinds of extremes and effort to get little, little pieces of valuable stones, but to what effort will we go to to get the eternal gems out of the word of God? And he's making a terrible contrast. You know, sin takes a lot of effort. Did you ever think about that? It really does. One of the most astounding verses to me, when it talks about Sodom and Gomorrah and those, and the men trying to get at those two angels, it says that even when they were blinded, uh, by the Lord, uh, it says that they groped and worked hard for the door.
In other words, they were still working real hard to get to that door. But when it comes to spiritual things, we take second effort. Well, right? Well, if I get five minutes, I'll do this tonight. If I get this. And we live in a society that kind of plugs their relationship with the Lord into just the spare times of their very busy lives, and it's a shame. It's a shame. So look what he says in verse, uh, twelve, In contrast, but where shall wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of the living. You know what he's saying there? We will never fully appreciate on earth the value of eternal truth.
And we do at times, don't we? Doesn't it overwhelm our hearts sometimes when, when the truth does burn in us like it did to those disciples on the road to Emmaus? And yet he says, still, we don't really fully know the depth and the, and the wealth of it. He goes on to say, the depth saith, it is, it is not with me. The sea saith, it is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither can shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. But then look down at verse twenty three, God understands the way thereof, and he knows the place for it. Verse twenty eight, and unto man he said, behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil, this is understanding. And his, and his great conclusion is that God and God alone knows where it's found.
He has it, he wants to give it, but we must be willing to take it and make an effort for it. Make an effort for it. Turn back to Ecclesiastes now. By the way, we could go to Proverbs eight, and we might do that tonight, because somebody might say, well, is it available? How come can everybody get the wisdom that is from above? And you know what it says there? Wisdom crieth in the streets. It's out there. It's crying. It's begging people. Begging people. Now, in Ecclesiastes chapter one, in the portion we're looking at this morning, he is going to say this. He is going to say that human wisdom is going to fail because it's inadequate. And the first point that we have to ask ourselves is this.
Now, the man that's doing the inquiring here, is he qualified? Wouldn't that be your question? We have so many books in Christian bookstores today, written by so many people. The only thing I have to do is look at the publisher to know whether or not it's good. I mean, the lines are that clear. There are certain publishers that I just, I won't write, I mean, I won't read. And when people have to publish their books themselves, then that makes me a little bit questionable. That doesn't mean that everyone that publishes a book themselves isn't good, but it makes me a little bit questionable. But the point is, whenever I start to read a book, I always ask myself, is the person qualified to write this book? Well, I mean, you wouldn't want me to write a book and give it to you on, on ten secrets to crocheting, right?
I mean, you'd be questionable right away. Or twenty beauty tips on how to have a better, you know, I mean, you, you right away would know, I don't know if I want this fellow to be talking to me about this. Qualifications. You know what Solomon is going to say? I was a king. I'm the king, he says. You weren't always saying that? In their day, they didn't have public schools. You paid for education, or you were educated in the home. At home, I have a, a journal that was my great-great-grandfather's. It starts in, in, in eighteen thirty four and it goes all the way through the Civil War, kept in account every day. And you know what they did back then?
They taught in their family education. And he put down every day what he taught his children and how he taught them. You know what the major learning book was back then? Word of God. That's how they learned to read. That's the way they learned their English. That's where they learned their science. But it's interesting to me to find out that, that back then and there, that they actually trained and taught their own children, and they kept record of it, and it's, and it's interesting to find out that, that the, that they did this. But the point I'm making is this. Back in their day, the greatest, most educated people would be the royalty, because they would have the money to bring in teachers and educators, and they had to be educated to lead.
So what they would do is, is if you were the prince of the king of Babylon, or you're the son of the king of Babylon, they would bring in magi from over here, and they would bring in scientists and soothsayers and astrologers from over there, and they would bring in people from over here, and when they took over a country, they would take their most educated teachers and bring them in here. And when he says, I was king over Jerusalem and Israel, what he's saying is this: if I'm setting my heart to wisdom, realize this, he had the natural resources available to him to know and have the fullest picture of what the human wisdom was available at their time. Not only that, when he talks about money later on tomorrow, when we see about the money and the, and, and the emptiness of really money and wealth, there, there's no one more than a king that has those resources, right?
And so, when he says, I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, next to that I just simply wrote he had the resources to do the research. He was qualified. The only other question about his qualifications is this, did he have a willing heart to do it? Because I'll tell you this, if I went to college and they told me when I was there that I had to do a paper on liver, uh, my heart wouldn't be in it. It's just as simple as that. And there's a lot of people today getting government grants and doing research on things like, uh, like the effects of cactus on sand in the desert. I don't know, I'm just making that up. But the point is, and and if their heart's not in it, you know this, their research is going to be less than valuable.
Because really, it's only when our hearts are really in something that we really thrust our whole attention and our whole body and life into it. So what does he say in verse thirteen? I gave my what? Heart. He's going to say that in verse seventeen. I gave my heart. So he had the natural resources to write. He had the, the, the willing heart and the enthusiasm to do it, so he's qualified. We can take him from a human perspective and say that he's qualified. Now here's the results of his, of his research, and here's the thrust of our message this morning. Verse thirteen: life is tough, but it's a gift of God. Nobody ever said life is easy, and even as a Christian, it doesn't get easy, is it?
And the reason is, human wisdom does not take into account one event in the past that made life a lot more tougher than it really had to be. Right? The fall. It was after the fall that the Lord said, cursed is the ground for your sake. Could you imagine what farming would have been like? Because he was, he was ordained and commissioned to till and to take care of the garden and take care of the land before the fall. It would have been a pleasure. He probably would have just had to go out and just pick all the fruit all day. That's all he would have. But now the thorns and thistles come in, and now the curse of the ground. And then he said to the woman, in childbearing, you will have pain. It'll be a painful experience.
Life is tough. Sin has made it that way. Rebellion has made it that way, and the effects of it has made it that way. But listen, type is love, excuse me, life is tough, but still we have to look at it as a gift from God. Look at verse thirteen: I gave my heart to seek and to search out wisdom concerning the things that are done under heaven, and it is a sore travail that God hath given life and to search to be... See the word exercise? In your margin, you might have a note of clarification. It literally is this, afflicted by. You say, why would God do that? Simple point. As I'm out in life, and I see life as a gift for God, from God, and yet it's hard, and I can't find answers in wisdom in the monotony of life and everything around me, I come to the place where I feel like I've been flogged, beaten, and that's a good place to be.
Because when I get to that point, the only other resource I have is to look up and to say, Lord, what is this all about? And as soon as we do, and we look up, and we cry to the Lord, then he can work. The problem is most of us never get to the point, because of our self-sufficiency, that we ever look up and say, Lord, I need help. See, that was Israel's problem. Israel never needed the Lord. Israel never thought she needed the Lord. She always ran around and... One day there's coming a time in the future when all the nations of the world will turn and press down on Israel, and it says in Zechariah fourteen that they will be dividing the booty in her midst. That's how defeated she'll be. She'll have nowhere to go but up, and it says finally she'll lift her head up and cry, Lord, help.
And it says that they will look upon me whom they pierce, and they will realize that Jesus Christ is the Jehovah of the Old Testament, and they'll mourn, they'll weep. They put those truths together. So he says, life is tough, but it's a gift from God. Verse fourteen: I have seen all the works that are done under the sun. Behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. He's just simply saying here that life isn't easier if you run. Address it. Because he could have easily, at this point, came to a place of frustration. Okay, I looked out at nature, I've looked around at life, it's monotonous. I'm seeking human wisdom now, and it's vanity. I'll just quit, throw in the towel, and give up.
But he doesn't, he keeps pressing forward. He's not a quitter. By the way, neither was Job either. Job cursed the night in which he was conceived, he c- c- c- he cursed the day he was born, but he never ever attempted to take his life. He never was a quitter. Never was a quitter. I remember Warren Wiersbe conveying a message one time about how he was sitting one day in the wintertime at his house, and he was a little bit, uh, a little bit dis- disheartened and a little bit discouraged about the trials of life and how life seemed to be very hard. And he said he looked out, and as he looked out on the end of the day, snow on the ground, he looked up and saw a bird sitting on an antenna singing.
He said, you know, birds spend their whole existence running from their enemies, weariness. He- they spend their whole time searching for food, and still at the end of the day they sing. They said, you know, I'm created in God's image. He said to himself, you know, you're going to be glorified and live eternally with the Lord, that bird won't. How much more we at the end of the day should sing. Now, life isn't easy, but we can't run from it. It's got to be addressed. Even the Christian life, isn't it true? It's tough, it's difficult, but you can't run. Verse fourteen, he says this, excuse me, verse fifteen, he says this, a problem with human wisdom is this, that which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is lacking cannot be added to.
Now, this is a wonderful verse that many people don't understand, and it's simply this. There are some things in life that never ever can be changed. He's going to say there are things in, and it's been said this, God can't change the things that have happened to you in your past, but he can change how it affects you. Right? I, God can't go back now in my life and change all the bad things in my life. The fact that when I was ten my dad died. The fact that I had to get involved with drugs, the effects of my mind that that took place, the, the results of being in Vietnam, the results of going through certain things. Those things are, are, yes, they're bad, and so some of those things had negative effects.
God can't go back and change those things, they're already done, but God can change how they affect me. And what he's simply saying in this verse is human wisdom is limited because there are just some things in life that can't be changed. That's why Paul said, forgetting those things that are behind, I press towards the mark. He doesn't say forgetting the bad things, he says forgetting all things that are behind, press towards the mark. And we've got a lot of Christians that live in the past. And that's discouraging. I hear things like, oh, if we only had another Pentecost again. Never happened. Never happened. The Jews in, in the Old Testament wept because they looked at the temple, and it wasn't like the old one, right?
Forget the things that are behind. Human wisdom only can make certain things right, but it has a limitation. But listen, that's why we look above, because God can change how those things affect us. Then he'll say this in verse sixteen: I commune with mine own heart, saying, lo, I am come to a great estate. I have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem. Yea, my heart hath great experience, wisdom, and knowledge. I gave my heart to know wisdom, to know madness and folly, and I perceive this is emptiness. That's the summary. That's the summary. Then in verse eighteen, the result of human wisdom, chasing education, chasing pleasure, chasing the things of this world.
In verse eighteen he simply says this, and I'll paraphrase it, ignorance is bliss. That's what it says in verse eighteen. Look at it. For in much wisdom there's much grief, and he that increases knowledge increases in sorrow. He's saying this, better off to be ignorant. Better off to be ignorant. Now, what's the summary? Because we have to close. What's the summary of chapter one? Here it is. He's looked at everything under the sun, and he said nothing there can satisfy us eternally. So then the remedy, he's going to say, is going to have to be where? Above the sun. He is, point number two, he has looked, touched, examined, tasted everything that is physical, sensual, mental, and that didn't satisfy.
So if it wasn't material, then he's going to say this, that which has to satisfy is what has to be what? Invisible. You're all right in your own way. You're hitting the right point. Invisible. Summary? If you want to be satisfied, look for something above the sun, look for something that's invisible, and the only one who fits those qualities are... God. And the answer to the book, the last two verses say, this is the chief end, this is the chief obligation of man, fear God and keep his commandments. Now, he's not saying you're saved by what you do, because the first thing is this, if you fear God, you cry to God for mercy, and you receive mercy.
And then, as the Lord said in John chapter nine to that woman, who now condemns thee? No one. Go and sin no more. But human wisdom is so limited, as we'll see tonight. Now, tonight, what he's going to say is this, it's limited, but listen, it still can make you wiser in life. It still can make you stronger in life. But then he's going to bring God in, in God's perspective. Let's pray. Our Father, we're thankful again this morning for that wisdom that does come from above. We pray that we might have that wisdom, we might live wisely and skillfully in this day of age in which we live in, of, of the writing of books and of papers and of doctrines and theses and all these different things.
We pray that we might have wisdom from above. Discernment to take the things of life from God's viewpoint and apply them wisely and skillfully in our lives. We think of the Lord Jesus Christ. He grew in stature and in wisdom. Oh, how wise and discerning he was. Oh, our Father, we, we just rejoice in such a wonderful Savior. We're thankful this morning for what he means to us, because as Paul told the Corinthians, that Jesus Christ is made unto us sanctification and wisdom. And if wisdom comes from above, and if wisdom is only found with God, then truly he is wisdom, because he said, I came from God.
Oh, our Father, as we meditate upon him and as we learn more about him in the ways of the Lord.