INTRODUCTION:<\/p>\n
A. Previously in Ecclesiastes 7:1-10 Solomon provided counsel for a better life showing that:<\/p>\n
1. Honor is better than luxury<\/p>\n
2. Death is better than your birth<\/p>\n
3. A funeral is better than a party<\/p>\n
4. The end is better than the beginning<\/p>\n
5. The present is better than the past<\/p>\n
6. This counsel is designed to make the best of life, especially since life “under the sun” is vanity<\/p>\n
B. Now in Ecclesiastes 7:11-29 Solomon provides us with even more counsel to help us in life “under the sun”<\/p>\n
DISCUSSION:<\/p>\n
A. WISDOM IS BETTER THAN RICHES<\/p>\n
1. Ecclesiastes 7:11-12<\/p>\n
2. There are advantages to wealth<\/p>\n
a. Money can serve as a defense in life (7:12) … Proverbs 10:15<\/p>\n
b. Money can attract many friends … Proverbs 14:20<\/p>\n
3. Wisdom is better than riches in that:<\/p>\n
a. Riches do not profit one in a day of wrath … Proverbs 11:4<\/p>\n
1) The presence of wealth often makes things worse<\/p>\n
2) As when marriages and business partners fight over who gets the money<\/p>\n
b. Wisdom gives life to those who have it (7:12)<\/p>\n
1) Wisdom will make the best use of one’s wealth as a defense<\/p>\n
2) Wisdom will help one weather the storms of wrath<\/p>\n
B. COMING TO GRIPS WITH THE PURPOSE OF GOD<\/p>\n
1. Ecclesiastes 7:13-14<\/p>\n
2. There are some things we cannot change<\/p>\n
a. God has His purpose, which we cannot change (7:13)<\/p>\n
1) Isaiah 14:27<\/p>\n
2) Daniel 4:35<\/p>\n
b. His purpose allows for both days of prosperity and adversity (7:14)<\/p>\n
3. We need to deal with this in the best way<\/p>\n
a. Enjoy the days of prosperity<\/p>\n
b. In days of adversity, consider what lessons might be learned<\/p>\n
c. It does no good to get angry about things we cannot change. As we saw earlier, there is both a time to weep and a time to laugh (3:4)<\/p>\n
C. BE CAREFUL NOT TO GO TO EXTREMES<\/p>\n
1. Ecclesiastes 7:15-22<\/p>\n
2. Extremes cause difficulties<\/p>\n
a. One of life’s vanities is that the righteous don’t always prosper, nor do the wicked always suffer (7:15)<\/p>\n
1) Here Solomon saw that which Job’s friends did not a) They reasoned that righteous never suffer, only the wicked … Job 4:7-8<\/p>\n
b) Yet Job, like the Preacher, knew that was not always the case … Job 21:7-9<\/p>\n
2) Of course, both Job and Solomon knew the ultimate end of the wicked<\/p>\n
a) The wicked are reserved for the day of doom and wrath … Job 21:30<\/p>\n
b) It will be well for those who fear God … Ecclesiastes 8:12-13<\/p>\n
b. One should avoid extremism in seeking to be righteous and wise (7:16)<\/p>\n
1) There is a righteousness to be avoided (i.e., “self-righteousness”)<\/p>\n
a) Avoid righteousness born of pride – e.g., Luke 18:10-14<\/p>\n
b) The Pharisees were a classic example of being Hypocrites in righteous … Matthew 23:1-3<\/p>\n
2) There is also a wisdom to be avoided<\/p>\n
a) Wisdom of this world … 1 Corinthians 3:18-20<\/p>\n
b) It too is born out of pride and arrogance<\/p>\n
c. One should also avoid extremism in wickedness and foolishness (7:17)<\/p>\n
1) Not that “a little wickedness and folly” is ever acceptable to God!<\/p>\n
2) But God may be longsuffering and provide opportunity to repent for some – 2 Peter 3:9<\/p>\n
3) Yet, His anger and wrath is moved to cut off those who arrogantly and openly despise Him – e.g., Acts 12:21-23<\/p>\n
3. Don’t refrain from true righteousness and true wisdom<\/p>\n
a. One should still fear God (7:18)<\/p>\n
1) Understanding the dangers of extremism is important<\/p>\n
2) But the fear of God remains the key to true knowledge and pleasing God … Proverbs 1:7<\/p>\n
b. Wisdom does have its place (7:19)<\/p>\n
1) Wisdom is better than mighty men of a city!<\/p>\n
2) Wisdom is better than strength … Ecclesiastes 9:13-18<\/p>\n
c. We also need to realize that no one is perfect (7:20)<\/p>\n
1) Even as the Psalmist declared … Psalm 14:1-3<\/p>\n
2) As the apostle Paul taught … Romans 3:21<\/p>\n
4. Don’t believe everything people say<\/p>\n
a. You may sometimes hear others say bad things about you (7:21)<\/p>\n
b. You have said things that were unkind about others (7:22) So don’t take what you hear too seriously (i.e., don’t be so “righteously” indignant)<\/p>\n
5. The sense of this section seems to be one of being “balanced”, not over-reacting missing your true goal, which is to please God.<\/p>\n
D. WISDOM IS NOT THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING<\/p>\n
1. Ecclesiastes 7:23-29<\/p>\n
2. Some questions wisdom just can’t answer<\/p>\n
a. Solomon had proved some things by wisdom (7:23a)<\/p>\n
b. But others things were just too deep (7:23-24) – Isaiah 55:8,9<\/p>\n
3. A wicked woman is certainly to be avoided<\/p>\n
a. He applied his heart to know wisdom and folly (7:25)<\/p>\n
b. What he found more bitter than death was the wicked woman (7:26);<\/p>\n
cf. Proverbs 7:21-27<\/p>\n
4. Solomon realized that good people are hard to find<\/p>\n
a. Seeking for a good man, he found only one in a thousand (7:27-28a) cf. Psalm 12:1<\/p>\n
b. A good woman was even rarer (7:28b)<\/p>\n
1) Perhaps Solomon was reflecting upon his experience with his 700 wives and 300 concubines; certainly not a good sampling! … 1 Kings 11:1-3<\/p>\n
2) A good woman was hard to find Proverbs 31:10<\/p>\n
c. Of course, the problem is not with God…<\/p>\n
1) He made man upright (7:29a)<\/p>\n
2) But they have gone after many evil things (7:29b) – Jeremiah 4:22<\/p>\n
CONCLUSION<\/p>\n
A. Man’s pride seems to push him to go to extremes<\/p>\n
B. The solution, though, is not to refrain from righteousness and wisdom – but to seek after it with gentleness, patience, and humility<\/p>\n
C. A balanced life is need as we live “under the sun”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INTRODUCTION: A. Previously in Ecclesiastes 7:1-10 Solomon provided counsel for a better life showing that: 1. Honor is better than luxury 2. Death is better than your birth 3. A funeral is better than a party 4. The end is better than the beginning 5. The present is better than the past 6. This counsel … Continue reading “The True Meaning to Life #9. A Study in Ecclesiastes – Bible Outlines”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}