Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

15 In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. 16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them. 19 Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. 20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. 21 Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. 22 Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others. 23 All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. 24 That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? 25 I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. 26 And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. 27 Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— 28 which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. 29 See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

I.WHO IS TO BLAME?
A.Bad stuff is the result of sin but not necessarily your sin.
B.To believe in a karma based world puts too much stock in our own righteousness.
C.That does not mean there is profit in sin.

II.WHY DO WE OBEY?
A.We obey God for His glory, not just for our good. (Matthew 5:16)
B.The Great Exchange is a swap of sin for righteousness not morality for prosperity.

III.BREAKING BAD
A.We deal with sin by being wise enough to not deal with it on our own.
B.We deal with sin by being honest about who we really are.
C.We deal with sin by leaning on grace and avoiding self-righteousness.
D.We deal with sin by beginning each day again in the Gospel and embracing a lifestyle of repentance.

IV.KNOWABLE BUT NOT EXPLAINABLE
A.God is knowable but not always explainable.
B.Not only can we know God we can know how to please Him and that we have not pleased Him.

NEXT STEPS:
1. To be happy I don’t have to be omniscient. I only have to please God.
2. God is the Gospel.
3. Embrace a lifestyle of repentance. Don’t let grace go sour on you.