The scripture reading this evening comes from the book of Ecclesiastes. It goes Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and we'll be looking at Ecclesiastes 2, verses 1 through 11 tonight. Ecclesiastes 2, 1 through 11. I said in my heart, come now. I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, it is mad, and of pleasure, what use is it? I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine, my heart still guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the children of man. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil. And this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done, and the toil I had expended in doing it. And behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind. And there was nothing to be gained under the sun. Will you pray with me? Our Father, we are acutely aware of the fact that we are dust, that we are men, and we often do not listen to your word as we ought to. And so we ask that you would come by the power of your Holy Spirit into our hearts to transform our hearts and to realize the better kingdom that you have granted to us. And it is in your Son's name that we pray. Amen. Well, the book of Ecclesiastes has been quite a neglected book in the history of the preaching of the church. And that is understandable in some ways because it can be hard to decipher the perspective sometimes that the writer of Ecclesiastes is coming from. He'll say in the first chapter, vanity of vanities, everything is vanity. Now that is a pretty bleak outlook on life, but it's true in a sense, in a sense. the writer of Ecclesiastes is pulling back the cover of the futility of humanity after the fall. He's showing us the real truth of what it means, as Paul says, to be without God and without hope in the world. Since the fall of humanity, the world was, as Paul says, subjected to futility and the inhabitants of the world who have not been brought near to God by the blood of Jesus Christ are bent on finding some sort of satisfaction. They're bent on finding some sort of fulfillment and joy in life. The Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. But what happens when we don't glorify God? Well, we end up glorifying ourselves. And what happens when we don't enjoy God? We seek out sinful, twisted pleasures. And we make idols out of created things. It's a restless pursuit. but the world is fully involved in it, and we see it all around us in men and women who are in the very same pursuit that we are looking at this evening. Perhaps some of you at some point in your lives have been engaged in the same pursuit. And maybe, just maybe, some of you tonight are engaged in that pursuit now. We're constantly craving. We're constantly craving the next vacation, the next relationship, the next weekend, the next party, the next beer, next, next, next, next. And we have a constant craving. A constant craving for something that we cannot hold onto. Since the beginning of Ecclesiastes, our teacher or our preacher has not simply tried the pursuit of pleasure. He's also tried the pursuit of wisdom. And this is something very, very important for understanding the book of Ecclesiastes. The teacher is not saying that he is using the wisdom of God. Rather, he is using the wisdom of man, seeing if there is any joy in the pursuit of worldly wisdom, but he finds that with much wisdom comes much vexation and with much knowledge comes much sorrow. This can only be the wisdom of man after the fall of Adam because it merely shows to him that there is nothing to be gained under the sun, that everything is vanity, which is not true for the Christian. And if the world would just stop and think for a moment in their busy lives, they might come to a different answer. The teacher is looking objectively into things to see if they will satisfy him. As one commentator said, and I really love this, secular man is being shown the failure of his lifestyle on its own premises. That all we have is life under the sun. That there is no God. And our man pays into the bank of wisdom, but he receives no dividend back. And so if wisdom brought only sorrow and vexation, then maybe, just maybe the pursuit of pleasure would bring some type of enjoyment, some type of satisfaction to his life. Where does the writer of Ecclesiastes ultimately desire to bring us? Well, look at verse 24 of chapter 2. There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw was from the hand of God. So that's ultimately where the writer of Ecclesiastes wants to bring us. Because the pursuit of pleasure, the pursuit of the teacher has been all about finding pleasure and enjoyment in the toil or the business that God has given man to do. And he wants to bring us to the point of realizing where true enjoyment comes from. And so to that end, we want to ask about the nature of the pursuit of pleasure and what that looked like for this man. look at verse 10 and whatever my eyes desired i did not keep from them i kept my heart from no pleasure notice that he says it was both with his eyes and with his heart this was not merely an outward pursuit and this was not merely an inward pursuit this was an all-out pursuit of pleasure with anything that he could get his hands on. Anything his eyes saw, he was going to take and see if it would bring some sort of fulfillment or satisfaction or joy. So what does he end up doing in this pursuit? Well, he ends up building his own kingdom. Look at verse 4. I made my great works. I built myself houses and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. Now what does all that imagery evoke for you? All kinds of fruit trees, gardens, orchards, water to water the trees. Takes us back to Eden. This man is literally trying to build himself another Eden. And I think we could admit tonight that it's very, very impressive what this man accomplishes. And when we look out at the cities of man that man creates, they're very, very impressive. Do you remember the Tower of Babel? Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. Do you see how the city of man talks with no regard for God? And our writer here, I made, I built, I planted, I bought, I gathered, I got. Do you see the pride and the selfishness of man? One commentator actually called this section intense consumerism. And that is so applicable to our American context because we're all trying to build our kingdoms on earth. And the thing is, we don't even need real silver and gold anymore. All we need is a credit card. And you can have whatever you want. And so we could add a little narcissism into this whole mix too. Listen to this little piece of a poem by Walt Whitman. I celebrate myself and sing myself. I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least. Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself. And it hasn't gotten better since the time that Walt Whitman was writing. In fact, let me read for you just this little section of a book here called The Narcissism Epidemic. Loving yourself means knowing how great you are and not letting any person, any place, or anything ever get in the way of that, writes Diane Mastromarino in her book The Girl's Guide to Loving Yourself, a book about falling in love with the one person who matters most, dot, dot, dot, you. And then these writers who aren't Christians say, Joel Osteen, pastor of the largest church in the United States, writes, God wants us to have healthy, positive self-images. He wants us to feel good about ourselves. Now, in Joel Osteen's paradigm, does he really need the cross of Jesus Christ? No. And so what it comes down to is all we need is us. We no longer need God anymore, at least we think. Listen to these lyrics by a band called Portugal the Man. Don't pray for us. We don't need no modern Jesus to roll with us. The only rule we need is never giving up. The only faith we have is faith in us. You see, the world is in a process of building up their kingdoms on earth, and they don't need God any longer. We don't need God to give us ultimate, definitive significance and meaning, At least we think, right? Because God is dead. God remains dead, and we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become God simply to appear worthy of it? That was Friedrich Nietzsche. And Nietzsche understood that once you pull God from the picture, there is no ultimate meaning and significance. So we have to pave our own. Something must be worth living for. Something must satisfy us. Something. And in this kingdom, our man is building in Ecclesiastes. He's not only building, but he's also filling. He is filling his home with slaves. silver and gold, both men and women, singers for entertainment, concubines to fulfill his sexual desire, wine to gladden his heart. This is the man the world looks at, and they wish they could be him. Look at how lavishly this man lives. He must not have a care in the world. Look at verse 9. I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil. And this was the reward for my toil. His heart finds pleasure in the toil, and pleasure was the reward for his toil. In other words, my pursuit of pleasure was initially pleasurable. I mean, look at all that he'd accomplished. It was an exciting pursuit. All the works of his hands as he looks down at the empire that he himself has created. Certainly like the rich young fool in the Gospels, he can now retire and take his enjoyment and live the good life. But then he steps back. Verse 11. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it. And behold, all was vanity and a striving after the wind. And there was nothing to be gained under the sun. He steps back and he surveys all that he's accomplished, but the journey turned out to be more satisfying than the completion of the pursuit. And we know what he's going through because in a smaller way, we have gone through the same thing. Sometimes the idea of something is actually better than the accomplishment of the idea. It's the joy of seeing things come together for the future that is sometimes better than actually having what we desired in our hands. Greek mythology tells of a King Midas who wished that everything he touched could be turned to gold. And when he was granted his wish, he found out very quickly that he couldn't eat, he couldn't drink, he couldn't hug his children, he couldn't touch his wife, What seemed so promising initially was actually foolishness and utter ruin. The man of Ecclesiastes has figured out that as a secular man, with all the toil and the work that he has done under the sun, that there is nothing to be gained. This man had everything, but he had nothing. As Shakespeare's Macbeth said, life's but a walking shadow. A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. There's a fantastic contrast between the man of Ecclesiastes and the people of our culture today. because the teacher ultimately realized this, that under the sun, there is nothing to be gained. But people in our day don't think that far. They're satisfied with the pursuit. And they don't take a moment to think about what lies at the beginning, what lies at the middle, and what lies at the end of that pursuit, which is no gain. utter futility there is perhaps some temporal enjoyment to be found in our labor but there's no ultimate meaning there's no ultimate significance to our pursuits our savior warned against worldly pursuits when he said take care and be on your guard against all covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of one's possessions. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. 1 John, for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world, and the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. As man is building up his possessions on earth, as the inhabitants of the world are erecting their kingdoms of worldly pleasure, there is another kingdom that is offered to us with joy inexpressible. But this kingdom comes on different terms. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Where do you hear that in our day? Come and buy without money? Come to the bounty? But here's the thing, you can't pay for it? Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Who is the answer to our futility? Who is the solution? Well, it's Jesus. It's Jesus Christ. But we all know that. Many of us have sat under gospel preaching our whole lives. We've been to catechism. We know the answer. And so the real question is, have you believed in the one who delivers us from the futility of Adam? Have you trusted in the one in whom God is satisfied? Have you accepted God's answer to our problems as the kingdoms of the world rise and fall? Have you entered the kingdom of God by means of Christ's blood? Have you feasted on him who came and said, I am true drink and I am the bread of life, connoting satisfaction? Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest from your worthless pursuits. I am the way, the truth, and the life. John Calvin said this, without the gospel, everything is useless and vain. Without the gospel, we are not Christians. Without the gospel, and then think about Ecclesiastes, All riches is poverty, all wisdom, folly before God, strength is weakness, and all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God. But, by the knowledge of the gospel, we are made children of God, brothers of Jesus Christ, fellow townsmen with the saints, citizens of the kingdom of heaven, heirs of God with Jesus Christ, by whom the poor are made rich, the weak strong, the fools wise, the sinner justified, the desolate comforted, the doubting sure, and slaves free. It is the power of God for salvation for all who believe. Is it the cry of your heart to say, like the psalmist, satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love that I may rejoice and be glad all my days? The kingdoms of the world strive in vain, but we have been brought into a kingdom where no thief can steal what is rightfully ours. The kingdoms of the world boast great things, but we have a kingdom imperishable, unspoiled, and unfading. The kingdoms of the world offer us fading pleasures, but God makes known to us the path of life. In His presence, there is fullness of joy. At His right hand are pleasures forevermore. The kingdoms of this world offer us the delights of man, but these pale in comparison with our pure bridegroom who has wedded us to himself and will never leave us or forsake us. And so we have one final question to touch on, which is, can we enjoy our lives now? You'll remember that was the question that the writer of Ecclesiastes was trying to answer. Can we find real enjoyment in our lives? Remember that the Westminster Shorter Catechism told us that our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Is that possible to do now? To begin to do? Well, if you have entered into the kingdom of God, then that answer is yes. A thousand times yes. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, Do all to the glory of God. How is that possible? How is it possible that we can go home today, having been blessed by God, and we can go home and be with our families, we can live lives of love shown to those inside and those outside the church, and we can find enjoyment in our labors? How is that possible? It is because under the reign of our merciful Savior, we realize that every gift of God, of food, of drink, of relationship, of family, of community, these are all things to give thanks to God for, because the futility of the curse of Adam has been repealed in Jesus Christ. This is why Paul can say, Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. If your labor weren't in the Lord, it would most certainly be in vain. But because your labor is in the Lord, it's not futile. if you have entered the kingdom of God through faith in the son if you have received the promised spirit as the down payment for the inheritance which is ours then you can enjoy everything which comes from God everything is to be had with thanksgiving underneath his lordship underneath his command and that means that when things go well we can praise the Lord for his grace and his mercy and his blessing. And when things go against us, we can be patient in adversity, knowing that we have been made partakers of a different kingdom. We can exclaim no matter what part of our lives we are in. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Amen. Shall we pray? Lord, you have redeemed us from the futility of life under the curse of Adam, and you have become our new representative. Christ is now our identity. We are identified in and by him through his righteousness, through his life, through his death, through his ascension, and we have been brought into a kingdom so wonderful, O Lord, that you have given us and bestowed upon us, and for that we praise your name. Give us eyes to see that kingdom and long for that day when we will see it in its fullness at the second coming of your Son, and it's in his name that we pray. Amen. Thank you.