Book: Ecclesiastes

In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia examines the epilogue section of Ecclesiastes. Pastor Dave explains how, in these last verses, Solomon provides five final clarifications so that you will not miss the message of Ecclesiastes but instead put God’s wisdom into practice:

1. These Words Were Carefully Prepared by a Discerning Teacher (v. 9)
2. These Words Were Written Both Attractively and Accurately (v. 10)
3. These Words Are Consistent with True Wisdom (v. 11)
4. These Words Are Sufficient for the Subject (v. 12)
5. These Words Direct You to the Essence of Life (vv. 13-14)

Full Transcript:

It’s good to get to share the Word with you again from a pulpit. It’s actually been a while since I’ve gotten a chance to do this because of our time away. In some ways, it feels like a long-expected party. To invoke a statement from Lord of the Rings, we come to the last passage in Ecclesiastes today. So I actually want to start by reading the sermon text. Please open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 12:9-14. The last word from Solomon, our author, in this book. The last word from God in this section of Scripture. Let’s hear the Word of the Lord to us this morning,

In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body. The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

Let’s ask God to open His word to our minds. Father in heaven, reveal to us this Word. Let it find its way deep into our hearts. Help us, God, to be those that tremble at Your Word and are not too familiar with it, in the sense, God, that we no longer are struck by the amazingness of it, the power of it, the fearfulness of it, and of the One who gives it. You are God. You speak to us from heaven. You speak to us even right here in this church. Help me to be able to declare this Word as is proper, and let Your people put them into practice. Amen.

When I was little, I was a pretty avid reader. I liked to read a lot about history, especially World War II. I also read some fiction, especially science fiction. I was really into Star Wars. But I still remember when I encountered something in a book for the first time, something I’d never seen before, and it was an epilogue. Immediately, I felt some excitement. I thought the story was over. There’s more? But I also felt a little uneasy. Wait a second. Why is this part separate from the main part? Is this unofficial? Should I even read it? Truly there’s something about epilogues in books or stories that makes them hard to figure. If the information is important, why is it not included in the main part? But if it’s not important, why is it included at all? How are we supposed to relate what’s in an epilogue to the main text or the main part of a story?

This is the same puzzle we face today as we examine the epilogue of Ecclesiastes. I think epilogue is a good term for it, even though our english translation uses the word conclusion in verse 13. I would argue that we’ve actually already seen Solomon’s conclusion in verse 9 of Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Just as Solomon basically began the book with a certain phrase or phrases. Ecclesiastes 1:2 he says,

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

He ends his discussion with almost the exact same words. In Ecclesiastes 12:8,

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”

You can see there’s this pleasing symmetry here, two equal bookends to Solomon’s discussion. Though if you remember from the last sermon, which was a little bit of time ago, I argued that the tone and context of these two statements is different. Whereas vanity of vanities, or literally vapor of vapors, in the beginning of the book it’s a depressing statement. It’s something that destroys our confidence to find any lasting or ultimate gain in the world and in the things of the world. But at the end of the book, vapor of vapors is a call to action. It is actually optimistic, a charge to make the most of our brief lives while we can.

We already saw that conclusion from Solomon. Furthermore, there’s a clear shift in the text as we cross over to 12:9. In this last section, we see the author again referring to himself in the third person, the Preacher. For most of the book, he’s been referring to himself as I. I saw this under the sun. I concluded. He also switches from that empowering carpe diem message in 12:8 and before to talking about himself and the book.

Giving more background information, there’s actually some symmetry in this even to Ecclesiastes 1:1, where we also got background information. Ecclesiastes 1:1 says,

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

This is extra information. It’s not the main message. Plus, I would argue Ecclesiastes 12:9-4 is an epilogue to the book’s central teaching. The great question is why? Why this separate extra word if the message, the main message, is already complete?

The answer from many modern biblical scholars is that the epilogue was written by someone else. Not Solomon or whoever they say the book’s main author was. In the minds of these modern interpreters, some pious editor wanted to protect the teachings of an ancient Hebrew sage, but felt the sage was a little too disgruntled and unorthodoxed to just present all by himself. Therefore this editor or some comically say editors, more than one. He not only cleans up some of the main message of Ecclesiastes, but he also tacks on this epilogue to counter the ancient sage’s cynicism. This is a very popular view today. Yet it is fundamentally flawed, as I tried to share with you before, because it fails to pay close attention enough to the united message of this book. Yes, Solomon has examined some extremely difficult realities and some provocative words in Ecclesiastes, but nothing he’s said in this book is truly unorthodox. I’ve tried to show you as we’ve gone through, the other scriptures agreed, even with some of these seemingly extreme statements from Solomon.

Additionally, a shift in the text, like we see here, does not necessarily mean a shift in authorship. Biblical author might have good reason and certainly good ability to shift his subject or style, especially at the beginning or ending of a book. We see this in other books. For example, the book of Habakkuk, which ends with the song, or the book of John, which has its own epilogue, or the book of Revelation. We should not be surprised that we see something like this.

Finally. There’s nothing in this last text that is fundamentally new to this book. If we’ve been paying attention to what Solomon has been saying throughout Ecclesiastes, we should not be surprised at all at what we see in the epilogue. So no, this final section is not some effort to save an otherwise problematic or uncertain book.

What then is the purpose of this epilogue? I think it’s simple. It’s to provide some final clarifications so that you and I don’t miss or ignore what Solomon has already written. After all, Solomon knows that he has written true but sometimes difficult words. And he knows that some might be inclined to dismiss them by saying, well this is just one perspective. I feel differently, and let me see what other people say, other wise men. Or he meant well, but he just couldn’t find the right words, couldn’t find a real answer. Or this author doesn’t even believe in God or an afterlife, so why listen to him? And this is what people say about the book of Ecclesiastes today, what some people say. Just like Peter says about Paul’s writings in 2 Peter 3:15-16, even today the untaught and unstable distort the wisdom of Ecclesiastes because of some things that are hard to understand. Solomon is aware of this possibility. And so to help prevent this, he adds this final section, an epilogue or we could call it an “in case you missed it” section.

This is where I get the title for today’s sermon – in case you missed it. Ecclesiastes 12:9-14, here’s the main idea. Solomon provides five final clarifications so that you will not miss the message of Ecclesiastes but instead put God’s wisdom into practice. I’ll say that again. Solomon provides five final clarifications that you will not miss the message of Ecclesiastes, but instead put God’s wisdom into practice.

Let’s look at this. Let’s take a look at these five clarification, starting with the first in verse 9. Number one – Solomon says about this book, these words were carefully prepared by a discerning teacher. Number one, these words were carefully prepared by a discerning teacher. Look at verse 9,

In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs.

One of the easiest ways to dismiss someone’s word is to attack his character and credentials. What is He? Just a senile old man, disgruntled wannabe teacher. Forget about him. Such unkind and unreasonable attacks are unfortunately common in public discourse today, and I’m sure they were back then. But Solomon has been keen throughout Ecclesiastes to underscore his credibility as the consummate wise man. Just to remind you what he said in the beginning in Ecclesiastes 1:16-17,

I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.” I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind.

He already was the wisest, and he did everything he could to be wiser still, more than anyone before or since. He says also the same in Ecclesiastes 7:15 and Ecclesiastes 8:16-17 and in other places. No one has pursued wisdom or knowledge like Solomon did, but even he could not discover the fundamental scheme or secrets of the world and confirmed that no one. So Solomon knows what he’s talking about in this book and he reminds us of such here at the end. Our author, he says, is a wise man, full of knowledge and skill for life. But he’s more than that. Notice here in verse 9. He again refers to himself as the Preacher. This has been his preferred title in Ecclesiastes when he speaks about himself, not king, but preacher, someone who is the speaker of the assembly, one who preaches, one who teaches.

Actually Solomon further draws attention to his teaching role here in verse 9. It says the Preacher also taught the people knowledge. You see, Solomon is no ivory tower intellectual with little experience of the real world or people. He’s also not someone who just doesn’t care, a grumpy old but smart hermit who just tells you like it is and is very blunt with you. No, Solomon is not only a wise man, but he’s an experienced teacher. He’s quite familiar with the world and with people. He knows how to teach. Furthermore, he’s quite familiar with various teachings and sayings and advice that passes for wisdom. Notice here it says that Solomon pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs. The word translated pondered here probably more literally means weighed. You can imagine weighing something. He not only knew various proverbs, but he weighed just how helpful they were. Is this really true? Is this really helpful? And he did not content himself merely with the proverbs he happens to know or came up with. It says that he searched them out. He scoured the landscape for any bits of real wisdom.

And then he says he arranged many proverbs. Literally, he made straight many proverbs, which is an interesting choice of words because twice that idea of making straight has come up in Ecclesiastes, but in reference to correcting something that’s crooked. He says what’s crooked cannot be straightened, especially if God has made it crooked. What this likely means here, by Solomon using that phrase again, is not merely that he came up with the correct order, the best order for presenting proverbs and wisdom, but actually that he corrected a certain amount of judgement and revision on the proverbs that he found. He was able as a truly wise man to judge what was correct and to revise what wasn’t.

All this is true of Solomon’s teaching ministry in general and we hear more about that in the book of Kings and certainly we see it in the book of Proverbs. It certainly must also be true of the book of Ecclesiastes as well, and he wants us to remember that. Solomon is telling us, don’t miss the main message that I’ve written. I know what I’m talking about. I searched out the world and its wisdom. I’m quite familiar with other strands of thinking. Nothing truly new occurs under the sun. And I tell you this, this is it. I’ve long been a teacher. I’ve weighed everything before I put together this book. Therefore, listen, this is the fundamental wisdom that you are to put into practice into your life. Now such words are poignant in and of themselves, but we know that they are also spoken by the Spirit of God. So we must pay even more attention. This is Solomon’s first clarification.

Let’s now look at the second. In verse 10, we see number two – these words were written both attractively and accurately. These words were written both attractively and accurately. Look at verse 10,

The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.

Here Solomon reminds us that his words were not only the result of a life dedicated to studying and teaching wisdom, but also that they were purposefully chosen for their aesthetic and trustworthy qualities. Solomon says that he’s sought to find delightful words, words that evoke or inspired joy. Now you may ask, now wait a second, I remember some of the things Solomon said in Ecclesiastes. What about Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 that says, paraphrasing, those who suffer injustice without any comforters are better off dead or never having been born. Are those delightful words? That’s a fair question. I think the answer is you have to consider the work as a whole. It’s kind of like the line of that song we sing, Christ the sure and steady anchor. A line near the end says, and the calm will be the better for the storms that we endure. Want to really enjoy the kingdom of God with Christ? You’ll enjoy it more, you’ll appreciate the beauty more, if you’ve endured storms, if you’ve dealt with hardship and suffering and sin in your life.

It’s similar in this book of Ecclesiastes. To appreciate the bright and beautiful and inspiring parts, we also have to walk through the dark and painful parts, the hard reality. Furthermore, the form of this book, the words, the sentences, the paragraph, the structure as a whole, has been put together in a pleasing way. I’ve mentioned already that satisfying symmetry at the beginning and end. But also, how about that famous poem in Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 about the various times and seasons of life. It’s ponderous. It’s a little sad, but it’s also obviously beautiful. And we may not understand all of Solomon’s aesthetic choices, and this is a work of translation so some of it is obscured for us. Just like we do not understand all of God’s choices for what happens in the world under His sovereignty, we will confess in the end that the author has made everything beautiful, appropriate, even delightful in its own way. Solomon sought to do this and he accomplished it.

But perhaps the most pleasing quality of this work is that it’s true. Notice verse 10, he says the author sought to write words of truth correctly. It’s a double emphasis on reliability here. Do you see that? Words of truth, words about what is actually right and real and correctly, or we could translate it honestly, uprightly, straightly. Our author and teacher Solomon hasn’t written out some exaggerated fantasy for us. He’s written about what is really true, and he wrote it in a way that is itself fair and faithful to that truth. You see, the words of Ecclesiastes are not some kind of unhappy accident, as some assert today, the confuse meditations and ravings of an agonized wise man. No, rather, Solomon is reminding us they are words carefully crafted to be both enjoyable and instructive in truth. Now shouldn’t all teaching and preaching be that way, the form complimenting and recommending the function to the audience. So my brothers and sisters, let us not miss just how right these words are for us to hear and put into practice. They, again, come not just from an excellent teacher who purposely arranged them and decided all, but they come from the Spirit of God. It did so in an even deeper way. God is the ultimate authority on what is both delightful and true.

Now Solomon knows that some of his words have been painful. Overall it is pleasing, but there has been pain involved. But the pain actually was purposeful, as Solomon remind us in the next verse and in the next clarification. Number three – these words are consistent with true wisdom. These words are consistent with true wisdom. And we see this in verse 11,

The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.

Notice immediately in verse 11 that Solomon broadens his discussion here beyond himself and beyond this specific book to wise men and their words in general. And by doing this, Solomon is implying something, that whatever is true about wisdom and wise men is also true about Solomon and what he’s written for us. Now which aspect of wisdom does Solomon highlight as applying to his own work here? Well look at the beginning of verse 11. He says the words of wise men are like goads.

What’s a goad? When you think goads, think cattle prod. In ancient times, a goad was a long stick, either sharpened on one end or fixed with a nail. What was it for? For poking animals, to remind and encourage them to go to the right direction. Now, this goading cuts a little bit, just like cowboy spurs do as they dig into the side of a horse. But the goad is ultimately for the good of the animal and for the good of the animal’s owner. Solomon reminds us that this is actually consistent with the way wisdom works and is meant to work. Solomon’s wisdom and wisdom, in general, true wisdom is like a goad, and it includes some wounding. The wounds have a purpose – to move the listeners, even us, to right action and the blessed path. To use a goad is not unkind, for wise man to speak as if using a goad is not unkind. That is true kindness and it’s like the verse we mentioned in Sunday school this morning. Proverbs 27:6,

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

And don’t we see this truth illustrated even when it comes to discerning true and false teachers. Do false teachers want to wound you with the truth? No, they want to soothe you, even tickle your ears with what is not true. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Now true wisdom is not only wounding, let’s not misunderstand, but it is partly wounding, even as it heals and helps.

So consider Solomon’s work in Ecclesiastes. Did you find some of his words like a goad? Did any of Solomon’s words ruffle your feathers, challenge your expectations for life, confront false beliefs, even sin in your heart? Well don’t dismiss him on that basis. Rather, gain the benefit that was meant for you in that wounding by changing. Notice by using this metaphor, Solomon indicates that the wise Solomon included are not merely interested in educating you but to move you, to cause you to change, to cause you to walk in a new direction after God and in the path of blessing. You haven’t and I haven’t really profited from Ecclesiastes until we’ve actually been goaded into new and good action. So we should ask ourselves – have we changed? Have we changed the way that we live and act and think based on this book? Solomon meant for you to do so, and of course God did also.

The words of the wise not only pierce you to move you to good action, but also notice the second part of verse 11, where he says masters of these collections are like well driven nails. Your Bible translation might be a little bit different. I’m using the New American Standard. You might see something along the lines of the collected sayings are like well driven nails. Why is there a difference? The reason has to do with the choice by some Bible translators as to whether the text should be amended or not. The Hebrew text that we have today does indeed say masters of collections. That does seem odd in the context, especially where everything else is talking about the words of wise men. Also, when you infer the Hebrew parallelism, which is apparent in the text, some would say, whatever masters of collections is, it must have something to do with the words. It must be maybe collections of sayings.

I understand the argument. I’m not sure there’s enough evidence to make that kind of emendation. I’m going to go with what the NAS says here. It may seem a little odd to say that masters of wise sayings, that is wise men, are themselves like well driven nails, but it is true. It’s true that there’s often a close association between a teacher and what he says. And when we really take a particular teaching the heart, it’s almost like we take the teacher himself with us, almost like he’s still there talking in our heads. Have you ever felt this way or had this experience with your first teachers, i.e. your parents? Even if they’re not with you, even if they’re long gone, you can still hear them in your mind, approving, advising, reproving you based on what you do or don’t do. And you know what, Solomon says that such is consistent with the nature and purposes of true wisdom.

Solomon alters the goad metaphor in the second half of verse 11. Rather than a temporary wound to move you to action, Solomon says that wise men themselves are like well driven nails, literally planted nails. Your teachers by their words are driven into your heart, into your mind, and meant to stick with you, planted in you, not just a goad to drive you in a direction once, but to keep you going in that direction. A good teacher wants himself by his words to stay with you. And isn’t this true in a more profound way of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why is it that we want to take in the Word of Christ into our hearts, have that planted within us? So consistent with that, we want Him to be there. There’s such a direct connection between a person and his words.

Notice the intriguing last phrase of verse 11,

they are given by one Shepherd.

Anytime we see a pronoun in the biblical text, we want to make sure we understand to whom or to what it refers. Who are the they here, or what is the they? The most logical antecedent to the pronoun they in the context would be wise words. That’s the main topic of verse 11. The wise men themselves could also function as the antecedent. Wise words makes more sense. We also must determine the identity of this one shepherd. The assertion of a singular source, one shepherd, is odd here for at least two reasons. First, Solomon has not mention a shepherd anywhere else in this book. And second, Solomon was just talking about a plurality of wise people, the words of the wise men. Why is he suddenly restricting the source of wisdom to one? From these few observations, I think there’s only one possible identity for this Shepherd. And as many have concluded, it’s not Solomon. It’s God. Even the New American Standard capitalizes the S for shepherd. There’s only one way to make sense of multiple wise People all having one source and one consistent message, and that is they speak the wisdom as given by one Shepherd – God. Many Bible verses emphasize that God is the ultimate source and giver of wisdom. Job 12:13,

With Him are wisdom and might; to Him belong counsel and understanding.

Speaking of God. James 1:5,

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Or even right here in Ecclesiastes 2:26,

For to a person who was good in His sight, He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy,

So what is Solomon saying in all this here in verse 11? Namely this – I may have written some goading words and intended my words and myself to remain with you, but I did not do it according to my own opinions and knowledge. I stand with all the other wise men who pass on the wisdom given to them by God from the one Shepherd. Therefore my words are not unique or contradictory to what other truly wise men have said, including the other writers of Scripture. We speak, Solomon says, according to the one source of wisdom that there is for this life, God. Now brethren, since this is true, are we letting the words of the one Shepherd goad us to right and blessed action? Are He and His word planted in our minds like nails? They were not given to us in cruelty but in sincere pastoral care. David, as you know, calls God his Shepherd in Psalm 23. Jesus claims the title of good Shepherd in the New Testament. God knows how to shepherd. Like sheep who look to their shepherd, we should trust and abide by the words of our God enough to remember them and do them.

But perhaps we’re looking for more. Yeah Solomon’s wisdom is good. God’s wisdom them is good, but I need something more. Solomon’s fourth clarification has a response to that thought. We see this in verse 12. Number four, these words are sufficient for the subject. Number four, these words are sufficient for the subject. Look at verse 12,

But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.

Ecclesiastes is, of course, the favorite verse of those were tired of doing school work. Look, he says it’s wearying to the body. Why are you making me do all this work? I’m sorry you young ones who are still in school. This verse is not warning against learning in general or demeaning the value of gaining practical knowledge for life. You still need to do your school work. Rather, this verse is a warning against looking for greater or more ultimate wisdom for life than what God has provided through the Scriptures, even through Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. Again, this reminder in the epilogue should not surprise us because Solomon has been saying the same thing throughout the book. To remind you, Ecclesiastes 6:11-12,

For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a man? For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life?

Ecclesiastes 7:24,

What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it?

Ecclesiastes 10:14,

Yet the fool multiplies words. No man knows what will happen, and who can tell him what will come after him?

Those are all rhetorical questions. We should understand the answer. Nobody can do these things. Yet there will always be those who think they can. Always be those who think they have discovered or will discover what Solomon could not. They can figure out the fundamental scheme of the world, the way to sure success and security in every situation of life. But Solomon tells us again, addressing this time even tenderly as children by saying my son. He says – my son, don’t believe it. Don’t waste your time, and don’t be one of those people wasting other people’s time. If you really want to be wise, recognize the farthest that our wisdom can take us and facing the hevel nature, the vaporous nature, of this life is what’s written here. Notice the way Solomon expresses this in verse 12. He says, beyond these be warned. These are the words of wisdom given by wise men, by the one Shepherd God, even what’s written in Ecclesiastes. Beyond these be warned, he says. be careful. Be on guard against what? He tells us the writing of many books is endless and excessive devotion to books is wearing to the body. There is always more to say, more to learn, more proposed solutions for the fundamental frustrations and problems of this world that people are suggesting and trying to implement. But remember Ecclesiastes 1:15,

What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

Therefore, just one more reminder in case we missed it, don’t try to search through all the books, all the blogs, all the podcasts and movies, to discover some kind of grand truth or complete knowledge that’s somehow Solomon and God have missed. You’re never going to find it, and you’ll just weary yourself in the search. Don’t misunderstand, learning is good and useful. Solomon has show us that. But remember learning’s limits. Recognize the limits of what knowledge can do for you. We’re facing the hevel reality of this life, including frustrations, utter frustrations like death and uncertainty. There is no greater wisdom than what God gives us in His wise word. Even in Ecclesiastes. So, listen to this book and put it into practice. Don’t keep searching for other opinions or offering your own. These words are sufficient for the subject.

Part of the sufficiency of these words has to do with Solomon very clearly giving us the most important advice that we could hear. And he’s going to remind us about it one more time before the book ends. Here’s the fifth and final clarification as Solomon closes Ecclesiastes, that you and I don’t miss the message of this book or fail to put into practice. Number five, these words direct you to the essence of life. These words direct you to the essence of life. Look at verse 13 just to start,

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.

Solomon has said much in this book. But now that we’ve arrived at the end, literally the end of the matter, all being heard, what is the most important takeaway point? He tells us – fear God and keep His commandments. Now, as I said, this concluding advice should not surprise us. Oh that’s it, Solomon, I didn’t get it until now, until you said it. Wait, if you’ve been paying attention to Solomon’s words throughout Ecclesiastes, you know he’s been telling this to us the whole time. Solomon has constantly been showing us in this book God’s greatness and our smallness so that we would fear God and order our lives rightly. He tells us. He shows us – you cannot overcome death. It equalizes even the kings and the paupers, but God has power over life and death. So what should you do? You should fear Him. You cannot discover the secrets of the world, even though you want to, but God knows them all. So what should you do? You should fear Him. You are not in control of the time, seasons, and circumstances of your life. One change and all of a sudden and you don’t even know what was coming. But guess who is in control – God. So what should you do? Fear Him. Solomon even directly speaks about the wisdom of fearing God explicitly, directly at different points in the book. Ecclesiastes 3:14,

I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it. And God has so worked, that men should fear Him.

That’s the whole point. Why has God done what He has done? So that you would fear Him. Ecclesiastes 5:6-7 exhorts us to fear God rather than prattle to God in prayer. Ecclesiastes 7:16-18 says the one who fears God avoids the perils of both simple living and over-righteous living. The whole book has been a drive, a goad to get us to fear God.

What does it mean to fear God? We’ve talked about this, but let’s consider it again. It is such a central concept in both the Old and New Testaments. To fear God is not merely being frightened of God’s power or terrorized by His wrath or judgment, though that is included in godly fear. To fear God is, in the more basic sense, to rightly regarded God for who He is and all that He is. This is always a danger for us as Christians, right? We get so familiar with the Bible’s language and the concept of God that we forget that God is God, so different from us, so great, so transcendent and unreachable, and yet somehow mysteriously right near to us, caring about our lives, sovereignly arranging every circumstance of our lives. We can become too familiar with these things. We have to stand back and say, wait a second. Let me consider. This is God? This is the God with whom I have to do, and with whom we all do? I need to regard Him rightly. So what does that mean? It is a fear of His power, a terror of His judgment, but also a reverence for Him, a respect for Him, awe of Him, love for Him, reliance on Him, trust in Him, worship of Him, belief in Him, treasuring of Him, and of course obedience to Him. There’s a direct connection between fearing God and obeying His commandments, and we see it right here in verse 13 so explicitly from Solomon. He says fear God and keep His commandments. That’s the one summary bit of wisdom.

I can’t understand the commentators who look at this and say, oh, the author never talked about keeping commandments before, only fearing God. So this must be a different author. Come on. Keeping commitments is implied in fearing God. What, you’re going to fear God without keeping His commandments? What kind of fear is that? Solomon doesn’t need to mention commandments every time he talks about fearing God, but he does here. Why? For emphasis, so that we won’t miss it. Solomon says, if you’re wondering what the wise way to live life is in a vaporous world, let me make it clear for you so that you don’t miss it. The greatest wisdom for life comes down to this – fear God and keep His commandments. Rightly regarded God in your heart and then let it show up in your actions. Faith without works is dead. Fear without keeping commitments, that ain’t fear.

Love God and obey Him, that’s another way to say it. That’s sum of the Law and the prophets. And notice the reason. We get two reasons, but notice the first reason Solomon gives for this commanding advice at the end of verse 13. It says because this applies to every person. Or more literally in the Hebrew, and this is very intriguing, for this is all of man, or we could say for this is every of man, or for this is whole of man. Now that doesn’t sound totally great in English. The Hebrew phrasing is a little ambiguous and need some extra words in the translation for us to understand the meaning. And that’s why we see in the New American Standard “this applies to” in italics. The translator is saying, here’s some extra words to understand the meaning.

Actually, there’s some debate as to what the best sense is here. Interpreters generally fall into three different camps. What does it mean for this is all or the whole of or every of man? First we have the what is consistent with the New American Standard translation the sense of this is the duty of every man. Every man must do and is being called by God to do this, to fear God and keep His commandments, to emphasize the universality of the commandments. A second campus is along the lines of this is the whole duty of man, So rather than emphasizing this applies to everyone, that this is the entire duty. This is everything right here. Then you have the third group, with the sense of along the lines of this is the whole of humanness. This really is what it means to be truly human, to fear God and keep His commandments.

Now these senses aren’t all that different from each other. No matter what you take, you kind of get the general idea. But I think the sense that best fits here is the third. Fearing God and keeping His commandments is the all of man. It’s what life is all about, for all creation but especially man. It’s what we were designed for. It’s the way we were created. It is essence of life. Therefore, of course it applies every man and is man’s entire duty. You know, in Ecclesiastes we’ve seen this theme of man so frequently, even Solomon himself trying to live like gods and even create their perfect Edens in this fallen world. In a way that’s what we all do outside of Christ. We’re trying to be God and create our own perfect paradise. But what is the result of this effort? Is it true and lasting profit for men and women? Is it full satisfaction in this life? No, rather it is dissatisfaction followed inevitably by death, proving once and for all that we are not gods.

But you see, man was never meant to be his own god. He was never meant to find life and lasting satisfaction in pretending to be a god. True life, man’s all, instead consists of what? Knowing God and living in right relationship with Him. And don’t the other Scriptures say the same? I’m going to quote it again – John 17:3. Jesus says,

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

What’s the essence of life? That’s it right there – eternal life. What does David say about God in Psalm 16:5?

The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

Solomon in Ecclesiastes has been trying to get us to embrace our portion in this life. Again and again, he’s been urging us to embrace your portion and embrace your portion and enjoy life. What is your portion? Rather, who is your portion? God. If you’re in Christ, it’s God. And part of embracing God as our portion is, of course, fearing Him, keeping His commandments, and enjoying all the good gifts He’s given us in our brief lives.

Consider how simple but profound this one commanded philosophy is from Solomon to us at the end of the book. Again, it’s not new. He’s been telling it to us the whole time, but he’s made it very emphatic right here at the end. Consider how simple and profound it is after lifetime of wisdom, all sorts of experiences and searching, when Solomon must share what he has found to be the wisest, most soul satisfying way to live. He does not say become a king and have all your wants and desires fulfilled. Self-actualize. Help create utopian society that abolishes private property and the police. He does not pedal any philosophy or theory like we hear from the world in ancient or modern times. But what does he say instead? Here’s your portion. Here’s the full essence of life, fear God and keep His commandments. As we read earlier from 1 Corinthians, has not God made the wisdom of the world foolishness by what is true wisdom? Do you want profound wisdom? You want to get real deep, discover the ultimate secret for life. Guess what? There’s nothing beyond this. Fear God and keep His commandments. Beautiful, simple. And because this is true, Solomon is good. The Spirit of God is good to direct us to not let us miss this essential wisdom.

But have we listen to it? Solomon’s words direct us to the essence of life. Do we listen, do we change, do we heed them, or do we rebelled against them? We still insist – no, I’ll be my own God. I think I’ll find satisfaction that way. It’s not going to work. You can’t go against God’s design and win. You’ll only hurt yourself and hurt others.

Now there’s one more truth from Solomon, one additional reason to fear God and keep His commandments. It is the essence of life, but along with that look at verse 14,

For God will bring every act of judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

You see, depending on whether you embrace God as the essence of life or not, that will determine whether verse 14 is a comfort or something frightening to you. God will bring about a full and final judgment one day. And Solomon is sure about this, and he’s told us multiple times in Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 3:17, to remind you,

I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.

Ecclesiastes 8:12-13. I’m paraphrasing here. Solomon says, one day it will be well for those who fear God, even if their lives are not good right now, but it will not be well for those who do not fear God, even if their lives are great right now. And then one more – Ecclesiastes 11:9. Again I’m paraphrasing here. Young man, enjoy your life, do whatever you want. But know that God will bring into judgement for all these things. This is not some new thing that an editor supplied at the end. It’s been all throughout Ecclesiastes. Solomon knows. There’s a lot of things he doesn’t know, a lot of things we don’t know. But he knows there will be a judgment one day. And this we all sense. It’s deep in our hearts. God imprinted it there. There will be a judgment, and consider what that means. It means, on the one hand, that if you persist in trying to live as your own god, serving your self, serving false gods, craving and striving after the treasures of the world in contradiction to your duty and design from God to enjoy Him as the essence of life. If that’s your path, then not only will you fail to enjoy the essence of life as God designed you to, but God will bring you to judgement. For everything you did or refused to do, everything you said or refused to say, everything you thought or refused to think, it says here he will judge what is secret. He will even judge the secret thoughts and intentions of your hearts, and actions that seemed good on the outside, maybe ones that you’re even trust in. Yeah I’m a pretty good person. Actually you just seemed good on the outside, but really weren’t because of what’s going on in the inside, God will know and God will judge accordingly.

The rest of the Scriptures are quite clear that if you have lived kind of life and have never come by faith and repentance to find salvation in Jesus Christ, the one Savior. His life, death, and resurrection save all those who believe in Him. If you live that kind of life and never come to Christ, then when you go to the judgment, and you will, it will not go well. It will not go well for you in the end. Rather, the Scriptures say you will be thrown into eternal fire. Do not exalt yourself before God. Humble yourself and He will exalt you.

For those of us who are in Christ, however, who fear God and keep His commandments, who live lives of righteousness, not perfectly but in an increasing direction, and not to save themselves or to keep themselves saved, but because Christ already saved us once and for all. For such persons, even for you dear brothers and sisters here, there will be a judgment for us as well, but not a judgment of punishment, but of reward and vindication, a judgment where all injustices will be set right, and every secret act of righteousness be rewarded. Didn’t Jesus say that? Your Father who sees what is done in secret, He’ll take note and He will reward you. If you fear God in Christ, a judgment is coming, but you know what? It’s going to go well. It’s going to go well for you by God’s grace. Therefore, fear God, keep His commandments.

Consider all that we’ve heard in this final section of reminder clarification. We must not miss the message of Ecclesiastes or fail to apply it. After all, number one – these words were carefully prepared by a discerning teacher. Number two – these words were written both attractively and accurately. Number three – these words are consistent with true wisdom. Number four – these words are sufficient for the subject. And number five – these words direct you to the essence of life.

Let’s ask ourselves today – do we fear God and keep His commandments? Do we enjoy God and whatever He’s decided to give us as our portion during our vaporous lives on earth? This is not the ultimate end, but we can fear God and enjoy Him now. If you’ve been doing that, keep on. Don’t grow weary. Excel still more. If you’ve not been doing that, it’s time to change. God is speaking to you this morning, even through my mouth. It’s time to change. Let this goad from a wise ancient author, also from the Spirit of God, let it prick you. Let it cut you for your good, to move you to action, to move you to repentance and then be transformed to walk with Christ in the path of blessing. You may not experience all the blessing in this life, but you will one day when God’s judgment is revealed. May you be transformed. May our whole church be transformed and moved to holy zealous action for the Lord while we still have time.

This is the end of the matter. We have finished looking at the book of Ecclesiastes and yet we’re not quite done. We will take one more last look at Ecclesiastes next week. One last special look to help make sure that Solomon’s nail of wisdom, given by God, really is well-placed in our hearts before we move on.

Let’s close in prayer. Thank You, God, for this kind word. Thank you for this book. What an amazing book – 12 chapters, very carefully chosen, put together, to cut us but also to delight us, to instruct us and to move us to action. But God, how sad if we could be exposed to all this preaching, exposed to this reading, and never change. That would only increase our judgment. Lord, how good to take these words just as you’ve urged us to, and other Scriptures and to do them. It’s not mere hearers who are justified but those who do them. So God help us to do them, to take real stock of our lives and say, does this accord with wisdom, even the wisdom of God. Lord, You are good to want to give us the best. You do that even through Your Word and through Yourself. Thank You, God, that You are our portion and we embrace You everyday. Amen.

In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia looks at Solomon’s teaching in Ecclesiastes 9:11-18 regarding the need for wisdom in light of life’s uncertainty. Specifically, Solomon provides four poignant observations about life so that you will seek the limited but real power of wisdom.

1. No Outcome Is Guaranteed (v. 11)
2. Disaster Falls Down Suddenly (v. 12)
3. Wisdom Can Powerfully Deliver (vv. 13-15)
4. Wisdom Faces Substantial Hindrances (vv. 16-18)

Full Transcript:

Thank you so much musicians. Let’s pray so you’re prepared to hear God’s word. Lord, your salvation is so great. Yet we are to walk worthy of it and You give us Your word to teach us what that looks like. Speak to us from Your word this morning. Enable me to explain it clearly. And Spirit, work in our hearts that we will not be mere hearers but doers also. In Jesus name, Amen.

Well, if you’re new with us, you might not know, but we’ve been going through the book of Ecclesiastes. It’s that book of wisdom in the Old Testament, written by King Solomon. And one of the things that struck me as we’ve gone through this book. I’ve been wanting to say this in multiple sermons now, but finally I get to tell you. One of the things that struck me is how similar sounding the teaching of Solomon frequently is in his book to some of the popular mottos and phrases of our culture, and cultures throughout history. For example, I mentioned to you in my sermon last time the phrase carpe diem, which is that Latin phrase, that famous Latin phrase, translated to seize the day or better translated, pluck the ripe day. When you hear somebody advocating carpe diem, maybe doesn’t sound very biblical. We think that represents worldliness and a heart enamored with idolatrous enjoyment of the vain treasures of the world. But even though Solomon never spoken Latin, in a sense he agrees with the carpe diem concept. And as we saw last time, he teaches life is uncertain, death is certain. Therefore pluck the ripe fruit of each day.

Here’s another example. When you hear someone who says eat, drink, and be merry, does that sound like the advice of a godly wise man? Is it not rather the ignorant pleasure seeker? The Bible twice uses this kind of phrase in a clearly negative context. Isaiah 22:13, God there reproves the people of Israel for instead of mourning and repenting of sin, actually feasting and saying to one another, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Furthermore, in Jesus’ parable exposing the vanity of wealth in Luke 12:19, the rich man in that parable says to himself,

Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.

In these two examples, we might think eat drink and be merry doesn’t represent good and godly advice. Yet Solomon literally counsels those words in Ecclesiastes 8:15. We’ve already seen this. Solomon says,

So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry,

Here’s one more example. Back in 2012, a certain phrase started to become popular in America, “yolo”, short for you only live once. Still today, you might see people justifying certain choices with a cry of “yolo”, choices that would probably make most of us shake our heads. Yet in a certain sense, Solomon would agree with the phrase you only live once. Indeed, we could paraphrase the instruction of the passage we saw last time in Ecclesiastes 8:16 to 9:10 in this way. Solomon says, you only live once and all opportunity in this world ends at death. Therefore, make the most of your life while you can.

Now why is this parallel? Is Solomon really just saying the same thing as the people of the world today? Well, despite the surface resemblance of Solomon’s instruction to these popular mottos, there is one big difference between what’s Solomon teaches by the Spirit of God and what most others advocate in these phrases. And that difference is wisdom. Wisdom. See, what’s missing from most of the carpe diem type calls that have appeared throughout history is genuine wisdom and by extension, because what is the root of wisdom? The fear of the Lord. It’s not there. Among the people of the world, carpe diem is often used to justify the pursuit of idols. Life’s uncertainty and death’s certainty is often used to justify sin. Hey, we are all going to die soon anyways, might as well sin and enjoy yourself. And yolo is often used as a justification for dangerous and downright stupid behavior.

This is not at all like Solomon’s instruction in Ecclesiastes. No, rather, as Solomon continues to his conclusion in this last portion of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 9 to 12, he is careful to remind us – yes, you should stop waiting around and instead work and enjoy God’s good everyday. Yet, you must absolutely do so in the wisdom and fear of God. Life is full of pitfalls and unexpected reversals. And God will, be assured, judge every thought, word, and action of your life. You only live once, so proceed in wisdom. It’s amazing how even a little wisdom can deliver you from many of life’s painful snares.

That’s where Solomon is going to focus our attention next, as we go to the next passage of Ecclesiastes. We’re in Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verses 11 to 18 today. So if you haven’t yet, please open your Bibles and turn there. The title of the sermon is the delivering power of a little wisdom. The delivering power of a little wisdom. I’ve given you the context already in my introduction, so let’s go straight to the passage. Ecclesiastes 9:11-18. Listen to the word of God as spoken by Solomon.

I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all. Moreover, a man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.

Also, this I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and it impressed me. There was a small city with few men in it and a great king came to it, surrounded it and constructed large siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor wise man and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man. So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words are not heeded. The words of the wise heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

In this text, we see Solomon grappling again with one of the great frustrations of life that he’s brought to our attention in the book of Ecclesiastes – life’s uncertainty. It’s just the fact that you never know for certain how a situation is going to turn out or how it might change. However, this time as Solomon engages again with this topic, and he reminds us of wisdom’s limitations in the world, in our fallen world. It shows us that life’s uncertainties and its sudden calamities actually make wisdom all the more important. He teaches us that we need wisdom for this life. You need knowledge and skill for living. You need the very wisdom of God. Indeed, because nothing is totally guaranteed in life, you never know when just a little wisdom might be able to deliver you from a situation that otherwise seems absolutely impossible.

I’ve organized our passage here in Ecclesiastes 9:11-18 into 4 parts. Here’s the main idea. Solomon gives us four poignant observations about life so that you will seek the limited but real delivering power of wisdom. I’ll say that to you again. Solomon gives four poignant observations about life so that you will seek the limited but real delivering power of wisdom. Let’s look at those observations.

We’ll start with the first one in verse 11. The slides we’ll catch up soon, but our first poignant observation about life so that we seek the delivering power of wisdom is number one – no outcome is guaranteed. First observation we need to remember about life is no outcome is guaranteed. And look at verse 11.

I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all.

You may know that the summer Olympics just started in Tokyo. One of the most dramatic happenings in any sport is the upset, when the clear favorite, the champion team, the master athlete, doesn’t win. Instead, he’s beating by the underdog, someone unexpected, even an inferior team. Shouldn’t the best player or team always win? Usually they do, but not always. Sometimes the outcome is an upset. History is filled with these kinds of upsets and not just in sports, but really every category of life.

Solomon begins verse 11, he too is observing this truth about life under the sun. The fastest person doesn’t always win the race. The strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. Why not? Solomon tells us at the end of the verse – for time and chance overtake them all. In other words, sudden changes in circumstances and seemingly chance events often cause unexpected results, even upsets.

You know, a french woman made news headlines this year at the Tour de France when at the beginning of this bike race, she accidentally intruded onto the roadway with a large cardboard sign. A cyclist ran into her sign and crashed. And because the rest of the cyclists were so tightly packed together at the beginning of the race, they crashed too. It’s a whole pile up of bikes right at the beginning of the race. Between that crash and another one later in the day, four participants, top cyclists in the world, had to withdraw. They didn’t even get the chance to prove that they were the fastest or the strongest cyclists. And why? Time and chance.

Though nothing is truly chance from God’s perspective. Proverbs 16:33,

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

From our perspective, random unknown factors sometimes skew expected outcomes and make the one who should succeed not. But this truth doesn’t just apply to contests of agility or strength, but also to matters of wisdom and knowledge. Notice in verse 11 after those first two descriptions, Solomon uses three terms to describe what is essentially the same group of people. He calls them the wise, the discerning, the men of ability. Someone from this group is a person who is skilled at life, who is knowledgeable about how to live and how to speak and even how to lead. He conducts himself well, even with righteousness and integrity. Such a person, such a wise person, should be rewarded for his conduct. He should be placed in an important position, be given food, wealth, honor. Actually the book of Proverbs, it proclaimed that food wealth and honor generally do come to those who live and speak wisely according to God’s wisdom. The thing is, those outcomes aren’t guaranteed. Even wisdom is not surety of success under the sun.

You may put together a truly awesome school presentation. You worked hard on it. You stayed up in the night just to make it perfect. And inexplicably, the day of you get sick and you can’t do your presentation well, and you get a low grade. Or maybe you are a truly safe and conscientious driver. You follow all the rules. You’re very, very safe. But then one time as you’re going through a traffic light for no apparent reason, it’s red but you forget to stop. What happens? You crash into an oncoming vehicle. You might live a life of true wisdom, outstanding discernment, righteous behavior. But for whatever reason, your efforts are never really acknowledged or appreciated, and you don’t receive much food wealth or favor. How can this be? A sovereign God ultimately knows none of that happened truly by chance. He works all things out for the good of His people, Romans 8:28. But from our perspective, when we see that happen, it kind of just looks like chance. You just fell into unfortunate circumstances. The fast don’t always win the race. The strong don’t always win the fight. And the wise don’t always receive the prosperity and honor that they should. It’s frustrating, but it’s reality. This is life under the sun because of the fall. This is the vapor of vapors world in which we live.

Now, Solomon is going to say something that will comfort us a little bit about that reality. But before we get there, it’s going to get a little bit worse. In this fallen world, not only number one is no outcome guaranteed, but also number two – disaster falls down suddenly. Number two, disaster falls down suddenly. You see this in verse 12. Look at verse 12,

Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.

Solomon follows up his first poignant observation with another one that is similar. In life, no one knows when the time of disaster or crisis will fall. Solomon begins by saying man does not know his time. And some interpreters think that his time refers to the time of one’s death, and we even have phrases that are along those lines. It was his time. I guess it was just his time. It’s possible that death could be in mind here, but I think it’s broader than that. His phrasing need not refer only to the time of death, though certainly no one knows that, but really any time of great danger or disaster. And this is really what we see illustrated in the rest of verse 12. Solomon gives us two images of animals in great, even deadly danger.

First is a fish, a fish caught in a treacherous or evil net. Fishnets, from a fish’s perspective, they often fall down suddenly. The fish can’t usually tell there’s a net somewhere until they’re already caught in it. Once a fish is caught in the net, he will die unless somehow he discovers a way out. A second pictures is of birds trapped in a snare, which is actually another kind of net, a fowling net, a net trap for birds. The birds also, they can’t detect a hidden trap or net until usually after they’re in it. And once held in this snare, disaster will overtake a bird if not for some incredible escape.

Now Solomon provides these somewhat bleak images to help us see what man’s situation is like, what our situation is like. In the same way that fish and birds are suddenly trapped in harmful death, so the sons of Adam find themselves suddenly ensnared in evil times, times of trouble, times of deadly danger, times when we face wicked schemes. These times fall like nets from above or spring-like traps from below. And what can be done.

It’s sobering to think about how quickly a net of disaster could fall on any of us. In the moment, you seem fine and healthy. In the next moment, you’re experiencing a heart attack and need someone to get you to the ER fast. One moment, you’re respected and well-liked. Next moment, some secret malicious gossip has circulated and turned your entire family, your workplace, or your church against you. For one moment, you’re feeling a little bit low about your life circumstances. And then in the next moment, someone is inviting you to find comfort by going back into life dominating sin, a return to immorality, a return to drink, a return to drugs. You’ll feel better. No one can foresee the arrival of such times of crises, just as no one can foresee the times of great good and blessing. Every time and season is in the Lord’s hands, and it’s past any human scrutiny. We saw that in Ecclesiastes 3. An inability to fully understand our times and what will come next is just another difficult aspect of living in this vaporous world.

At this point you might say, okay, so what? What’s the point of talking about all this frustrating state of affairs? Why depress us by talking about the falling of sudden disaster if we can’t even do anything about it? Ah, but sometimes you can. Sometimes you can do something about it. A lot of interpreters, even preachers on this passage, they split Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 from verses 13-18. I think that’s a mistake because the sections are actually purposefully tied together, both in terms of the overall ideas and even in terms of the language, which I hope to show you. You see, even as Solomon gives us these sobering observations about frustrating aspects of life, it reminds us that sometimes, even in the face of disaster, you can find deliverance. You can escape. After all, no outcome in life is guaranteed, even those that are terrible. What’s the key? What’s the key to rescue and escape? What can deliver you even in the face of clear calamity? The answer is wisdom, even the wisdom of God.

This is a third poignant observation about life from Solomon. Number three – wisdom can powerful deliver. Wisdom can powerfully deliver and we see this in verses 13 to 15.

Also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and it impressed me. There was a small city with few men in it and a great king came to it, surrounded it and constructed large siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

In this section, Solomon tells us a brief story regarding wisdom. He says, also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun. That is to say, I saw this one example of wisdom in life. I want to tell you about it. Solomon further says, and it impressed me. Literally, it was great to me. It really astounded me. It blew me away. I took special note. Now, where did Solomon get this story? We don’t know. There’s no set of events in the Bible that exactly follow what Solomon describes here, but some are similar. Yet clearly, this isn’t something that Solomon merely heard about or made up because he says I saw it and I took note of it. He learned some lesson from it, and he wanted to pass it on to us. So this can’t be fictional. What’s so notable about this story? Why does it grab his attention? Well hearing it, I think you might see, the story has a very unexpected outcome. And the key factor is wisdom.

In verse 14, Solomon lays out the situation of a contest that looks totally hopeless for one side. That one side is the small city. We have this small city, probably walled. A lot of cities had walls back then. But this is not a very big city, so not a very big wall. And we’re told that this small city had few men in it, and few men means few soldiers. So we’ve got a small city with small walls and a small army. What are they up against? Well, Solomon says, a great king, and the great king means a great army, a large and impressive force that probably has a strong track record of conquering cities because that’s after all how you became a great king back then. You just went around and conquered. This great king and his great army, they surround the small city, and they construct large siegeworks against it. Literally great mountain fortresses, that’s the word for large siegeworks there.

The Hebrew word for fortresses is metsudim. I tell you that for a reason because interestingly the Hebrew word for fortress has nearly the same spelling as the word for net back in verse 12. In verse twelve when he mentions the net that comes down all of a sudden. It’s the Hebrew word metsudah. So you’ve got metsudim and metsudah. It’s almost the same word. I think Solomon is actually making a play on words here. He’s drawing attention to the fact that these siege towers, these siege fortresses around this small city, they function like an ensnaring net from which there appeared to be no escape. That makes sense, right, almost even visual. The city is caught in a net. Indeed, when we account for the two sides, doesn’t it look obvious what the outcome is going to be – a small city, small wall, small army against a great king with great siegeworks and a great army. The people of the city, they’re just like a small fish in a net, birds in a snare, they are clearly doom. Except that they’re not. There’s a plot twist. Verse 15,

But there was found in it a poor wise man and he delivered the city by his wisdom.

What? What are the chances of that happening? Certainly we have a lot of questions about this. Where does this guy come from? How did he appear? We’re only told he was poor. A poor man? You can imagine the people in the city – what’s this poor guy going to do for us? And maybe they were so desperate that they’re willing to give any guy with an idea a shot, poor or not. Well we don’t have anything to lose. Long behold, this poor man appears and a miracle happens. The poor man delivers the city, this nobody. Now there is a footnote in the New American Standard provides an alternate translation. The phrase could be – he might have delivered the city. He didn’t but he could have. That is possible grammatically and it does connect a little bit with some words in verse 16, but I don’t think that’s the best way to take it. Grammatically, the more likely sense is that the poor man in fact delivered the city. And that would appear to me why Solomon finds this event so fascinating. The poor man actually did it. And why would Solomon care if the poor man actually didn’t deliver the city? That’s not very much a notable story. In fact, how would you even know he could have delivered the city if he didn’t? So I think he actually did. The poor man, this poor wise guy save this tiny town from a great king and the great king’s net. How did he do it? Great tactics, charismatic speech, brilliant diplomatic negotiations? We don’t get the specifics. Solomon merely says, the man delivered the city by his wisdom. He’s just applying wisdom. Can you believe it, just one guy and a poor one at that, he pulled this off, saved himself and his compatriots out of a net.

What’s the moral of the story? Behold, the delivering power of wisdom. Even a little wisdom, even the wisdom of just one person. Life is uncertain. Crises appear suddenly. So wouldn’t you want the wisdom that can potentially pull off this kind of rescue? This is what Solomon has been emphasizing to us in the second half of Ecclesiastes, isn’t it? he’s been talking to us about the value of wisdom. Wisdom may not be able to do everything you’d like for it to do in your life. It can’t fix certain fundamental frustrations in this world, but it can do a lot. It can save you from certain disasters if you know it and you apply it. Therefore, seek wisdom. Act in wisdom. Seek the wisdom of God. Listen to His wisdom. Listen to His Word of wisdom. Put it into practice.

But let’s stay sober. Wisdom does have limitations and Solomon reminds us at the end of verse 15. Look at the end of the verse,

Yet no one remembered that poor man.

Typical humanity, right. This poor man is a hero. He helped the city pull off the spectacular victory. But did his amazing wisdom yield him the proper reward? Apparently not. The people forgot about him. They didn’t honor him with food or wealth or position. They didn’t even lift him out of his poverty. They just said thanks and went on with their lives. It’s true. Wisdom cannot totally fix the frustrations of life, but wisdom still has great power to deliver.

Now look now at your own lives. Consider how you might make the most of the rest of the days that God has given you, that He has set before you. You must make sure that you are seeking wisdom everyday. Wisdom can help you take certain basic precautions so that when disaster does strike, health-related or otherwise, you still have some ability to act and recover. Wisdom can help you keep your cool when everyone turns against you. It can also teach you those gentle words which can calm kings and diffuse murderous anger. Isn’t that what Proverbs say? Proverbs 15:1,

A gentle answer turns away wrath,

Wisdom teaches you that. God’s wisdom teaches you that. Wisdom can also give you wings to escape the alluring enticements of sin so that you don’t, in a moment of trial or weakness, plunge yourself back into binding ruin, back into a trap. That’s why we read Proverbs two earlier in the service. Solomon says explicitly, this will protect you from devious men and this will protect you from devious women. They are going to spring the trap in your weakness. If you’re armed with wisdom, you can escape. If you’re armed with God’s wisdom, you can escape.

Under the sun, no outcome is totally guaranteed and disaster falls down suddenly, but the wisdom of God can many times provide powerful deliverance in this life. Certainly, the wisdom of God in Jesus Christ will provide sure deliverance in the life to come. He will bring us safely into His heavenly kingdom, as Paul testifies. But even now, wisdom can protect and deliver you so many times. So don’t face life without wisdom. Value wisdom. Just as we were reading from proverbs two, value wisdom more than silver, more than gold, more than jewels, more than reputation. Read God’s word of wisdom. Hear God’s word of wisdom preached. Repent and believe in He who is wisdom incarnate, Jesus Christ. Seek discipleship among the brethren who also love God’s Word of wisdom. They can teach you how it works out in your life. And also, you yourself teach God’s wisdom to others. It’s life-saving, both now and eternally.

I told you there was some comfort coming. But after this inspiring story of wisdom’s rescuing power, Well Solomon is going to balance our thinking just a little bit more. One final poignant observation about life. Yes, wisdom is powerful to deliver, but number four – wisdom faces substantial hindrances. Number four, wisdom faces substantial hindrances. Versus 16:18, if you just glance there, you may see that Solomon provides three better than comparisons that involve wisdom. Solomon likes to use these in Ecclesiastes. Each of these contrasts highlight why wisdom is valuable and should be sought while at the same time identifying hindrances to wisdom that we must guard against, hindrances that would otherwise prevent wisdom’s delivering power from manifesting.

First hindrance appears in verse 16. I didn’t put these on the slides, but I’ll mention them to you. These are kind of like subpoint. Four A, what’s the first substantial hindrance? Prejudice. Look at verse 16,

So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words are not heeded.

Solomon notes at the beginning of verse 16 what was obvious from the story he just told us – wisdom is better than strength. Having knowledge about what to do in a situation is better generally than having any physical strength or army. Wisdom is better than strength. However, Solomon notes, even if you have wisdom, you need to realize a lot of times people won’t listen to it. In fact, they will come up with flimsy excuses as to why they should dismiss your words as not worth heeding. Notice the poor man is mentioned again in verse 16. Apparently, even though his wise words once rescued the city, people didn’t really listen to his words after that. They might be willing to take a chance on a poor man while they were in desperate straits, but when time’s not so tough, they don’t care what he has to say. What does the poor man know. He just got lucky that one time.

Indeed, people come up with all sorts of reasons to not listen to wisdom, to disregard those who are telling the truth. He’s too poor. He’s too rich. You can’t believe a rich person. He’s a male. She’s a female. He’s white. He’s black. He’s a Democrat. He’s Republican. He’s too young. He’s too old. What does he know? He too intellectual. He’s not intellectual enough. You come up with many other common excuses. But the ultimate cause of such prejudice, these excuses against people and against the wise words that they speak, is really just pride. In our flesh, we’d like to think that we are already wise. We already have all the answers. We don’t need counsel or correction. We resent the spoken wisdom of others because heeding it, even listening to it, makes us look bad, makes us feel bad. So we avoid it. People avoid it even though such represent self-destructive folly. It is stupidity to let pride and the consequent prejudice to prevent us from benefiting from the delivering power of wisdom. You could be delivered by the wisdom that a brother or sister is telling you, but you’re too proud.

So verse 16 really has two implications for us from Solomon, two takeaways. On the one hand, don’t be surprised when people around you make excuses and don’t listen to wisdom. It’s just a fact of life. It’s a fact of falling man that proud heart, that prejudiced heart, that foolish heart, which is just the way we all come and easily slip into. On the other hand, even though we know to expect that, we must fight against that. Don’t be one of those people who can’t listen. Be open to wisdom coming, even from people you don’t expect. Remain humble and teachable. Seek out wisdom, counsel, discipleship from those who love God’s wisdom, who know it and live it out. Because if you do these things, then you will remain better armed to face the difficulties and crises of life. It can come suddenly. You have to be armed beforehand. You can’t just wait for the crisis to be like, oh I need wisdom now. It’s too late. You don’t have time to get that. You’re facing the crisis. Got to get on beforehand.

So prejudice is one hindrance to wisdom, but Solomon identifies a second substantial hindrance in verse 17. This will be point 4B – competition. Competition is another hindrance to wisdom. Look at verse 17,

The words of the wise heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

This verse, verse 17, features multiple contrasts within the comparison. There’s contrast involving wisdom and foolishness, also quietness and shouting, and mere men and a ruler. Now once again, solemnly clearly affirms that wisdom is better. Wisdom is good. You should listen to wisdom quietly spoken, even over the loud cries of a leader among fools. Wisdom is better. But in making this absurd affirmation, Solomon illustrates something that is frequently the case in life, that is there’s competition, competition between the voice of wisdom and the voice the folly. Solomon actually says the same thing in Proverbs 9. It’s the way he concludes that introductory section in the book of Proverbs. He personifies wisdom and folly as if they were two wealthy ladies in a city who are inviting the untaught people of the city to come in and have a feast. Lady wisdom calls out and says, there’ll be good and blessing if you come to me. And lady folly comes out and says the same thing. They’re competing voices. Now lady wisdom is actually able to deliver. Her guests receive life. But lady folly, her promises are deceitful. Her guests receive death.

You have a similar situation of competing voices in this verse, verse 17. In life, there are voices of wisdom and voices of folly. They’re actually all around us, aren’t they? And all too often, it’s the foolish voices that are the loudest and coming from the highest place. Think about our country, our society. Who has the most influence? Who garners the most attention? Celebrities, politicians, billionaire CEOs. What kind of lifestyle do they advocate, life of wisdom or life of folly. What do they promote? Isn’t it usually folly? They Are the ones who frequently are parading and promoting sin. This is good. What God says is good, no that’s evil, just like Isaiah 5:20 says. These are the ones who have the loudest voice, the most influence in. The insane people of the world. And we talked about that last time. All those who don’t fear God really live in insanity. They love to hear this kind of foolish voice. They flock to it. Meanwhile, where’s the voices speaking truth? Where are the voices speaking wisdom, and even calling out foolishness for what it is?Well, you can hardly hear them. You can’t even find them. After all, speaking wisdom is considered impolite today. And those who insist on doing so are often attacked and dismissed by society.

Here again, in Solomon’s comparison in verse 17, it’s meant to move us, I think, in two fundamental ways. On the one hand. We should not be surprised by the reality that exists in the world. Folly competes with wisdom and often succeeds in being louder and more distinguished. This has always been the case and generally will be the case until Christ returns. People love to have their ears tickled. On the other hand, we should be those who actually look for and listen to quiet wisdom. It won’t always be popular. It won’t always be loud. It won’t always be esteemed, but it has the power to deliver our lives, to save us from calamities. It’s worth listening to. It’s worth looking for. Bend your ear to wisdom.

Solomon mentions one more substantial hindrance that wisdom faces in verse 18. That’s point 4C – sabotage. Wisdom faces the substantial hindrance of sabotage. Let’s look at verse 18,

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, the one sinner destroys much good.

Verse 18 begins with another affirmation of wisdom based on the story of verses 13 to 15. Wisdom is better than weapons of war. Hopefully, we saw that. Knowing how to live well before God, how to react appropriately in times of crisis is far more valuable than mere swords, chariots, or siege towers. True wisdom can even overcome an abundance of advanced weapons. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but wisdom has a vulnerability, Solomon points out. It can be easily ruined or sabotaged by sin. Wisdom is easily sabotage by sin. In our story, it was just one wise man who saved the city, but in verse 18, Solomon says just one sinner, one wicked fool can destroy much good.

You know, in ancient and medieval times, many cities fell to siege, but not because their walls were overcome in some sort of assault and not because the city actually starved and the people died out due to disease. Many times the cities fell for a different reason – betrayal. It would take just one desperate person in the city, one person who was looking out for himself, concerned for his own life, to secretly contact the enemy and arrange for the gates to be opened at a certain time. This one man turns the entire city over to defeat by betrayal. Even a well fortified city could be defeated from within, just one man. And this is true of life in general, isn’t it? It just takes one person in a foul mood to ruin a fun gathering. It takes just one bad child to lead a whole group of well-behaved children into trouble. It takes just one proud and stubborn man to split an otherwise solid church. One sinner can indeed destroy much good. Solomon is going to say more about this. This is really the transition verse taking us into chapter 10, where we’re going to see the destructive power of even a little folly. That’s coming next time.

But what’s the takeaway for now? Again, I think two implications. On the one hand, don’t be surprised. Don’t be surprised when you see wisdom and good sabotaged in life. The best laid plans are often undone by one sinner, one fool. Don’t be surprised when you see it, but guard against it. Though no one is omniscient, no one can foresee all times of calamity, you can still act wisely. You can be cautious. Have a healthy amount of caution against those who proclaim themselves to be good and wise when they actually aren’t. We looked at that in Ecclesiastes 7.

But also you can guard against yourself. You can be the sinner who destroys much good by folly, even the good that you yourself did. If you built up your relationship with your spouse more and more, you’ve been acting wise, you been acting self sacrificially. And then in a moment of anger, you can throw it all away. Don’t do that. Guard against yourself becoming the sinner who destroys much good. And when there is someone in your group, in the church, who is committed to a path of sin, don’t just leave him there. Paul says in the book of 1 Corinthians – a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. For his soul’s sake and for the church’s sake, confront him. Plead with him to repent. Don’t just let it go because one sinner destroys much good.

In this whole passage then, Solomon is reminding us not to be naive. Wisdom does face some substantial hindrances in the world. Wisdom faces prejudice from pride. Wisdom faces competition from folly. Wisdom faces sabotage from sin. For these and for other reasons, wisdom is not a sure guarantee of success, though it is good, though it honors God, though it will have an eternal reward. Nevertheless, even now wisdom is still extremely valuable and therefore each one of us must seek it. Wisdom can often protect and save your life when there seems to be no way out. It’s true in life disaster often fall suddenly, but a little wisdom goes a long way toward rescue.

I will close the sermon today with a story. It’s September of 1983. Tensions in the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union had reached an all-time high. Russian officials believe that war with America was imminent and they were particularly paranoid that America might launch a sudden nuclear strike. Soviet military was therefore on high alert, determined to hit America preemptively, immediately with nuclear missiles if Russia detected any American missiles being launched toward Russia. It was like their finger was on the trigger. Shortly after midnight on September 26th 1983, Russian officer Stanislav Petrov was on duty at the missile monitoring station near Moscow. His computer suddenly reported with the highest confidence that America had launched one and then four more nuclear missiles toward Russia. It was Petrov’s duty to immediately pass on this computer report about American missile launches to his superiors, since there’d only be about 23 minutes for Russia to respond before the American missiles arrived.

But Petrov hesitated. Despite his computer’s high confidence of the missile attack, Petrov knew the computer system and its satellites were new and relatively untested. Moreover, ground radar had picked up no corroborating evidence of American missiles, though granted radar can only say so much. But perhaps most strikingly, if America really was preemptively attacking Russia with nuclear missiles, wouldn’t America launched hundreds of missiles to prevent a Soviet response instead of just five?

So considering these factors, Petrov breached protocol and did not notify his superiors. He decided to do nothing about the missile warning and simply waited the 23 minutes to proposed impact. The minutes ticked by but no missiles arrived in Russia. It turns out that the Russian computer system had indeed given a false alarm. It was caused, they later found out, by a chance alignment of sunlight reflecting off of high-altitude clouds that align with a particular satellite’s orbit. Talk about time and chance. Many people believe that the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident was the closest that the United States and the Soviet Union came to all-out nuclear war. Many believe that if it weren’t for Petrov’s wise decision to disobey orders and dismiss his computer’s report, that real missiles would have been launched by both sides, and America and Russia would have experienced massive loss of life and devastation. Who know how different the world would be today if not for one wise man in a time of crisis. God was so gracious to let Petrov to be the one who was serving on missile surveillance that night.

But there’s more. Despite his great service to his country, Petrov never received a reward from the Soviet government. And you know why? Because such would have embarrassed some of the top Soviet military officials and scientists. So he was never awarded. Few even knew about Petrov’s life-saving act until he published his memoirs in 1998. And still today, most people in the world have never even heard of Stanislav Petrov. Yet, he is an illustration to everything we just taught today. Stan’s another example of the value of wisdom, even a little wisdom to deliver. Life is uncertain. You only live once. Make sure therefore, that you live it in the wisdom of God.

Let’s pray. Lord again, we praise You for Your wisdom. You are a wise God and You do all things well, but we don’t know all the time what You’re doing. In this world, trials and crises are inevitable. Often in those situations we’re not sure what to do. Some disasters cannot be avoided, but some can. And actually You give us the wisdom to do so. Certainly Lord, we can avoid the disasters of sin. We can avoid so much the disasters of foolishness and naivety if we’ll just pay attention to Your wisdom. So Lord, I pray that we would, that this church would, that it wouldn’t just be one man of wisdom among us but every man and woman here, every child who is growing up, that they would know wisdom. So not only they can save themselves, but they can save each other. We can protect one another from being led astray. Lord, if there are any here today who’ve heard this message and don’t know the wisdom of Jesus Christ, who’d never been saved from a life of enslaving sin that will result in hell wrath forever, I pray that they would repent. That is the beginning of wisdom, the fear of the Lord unto salvation. But Lord, after that, and for those who already trust in You, I pray that they would seek and actually do wisdom in their lives. No longer just paying attention to how they feel or what’s considered popular, or what someone else wants them to do, but trusting Lord that You know what You’re talking about, that, Your way is wise and You will vindicate Your people many times in this life and certainly in the life to come. Thank you for being a good God. Lord, we know we have to humble ourselves. We won’t understand all the times. We won’t even necessarily see the reward in this life. But it will come. You will show us good because You are good. Thank You Lord. Amen.