The Limits Of Wisdom And Knowledge Ecclesiastes 1 1218

Amen. If you have your Bibles with you, please open them to the Book of Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes chapter one. You're still in Ecclesiastes chapter one. The title of Messages Morning is the Limits of Wisdom and Knowledge. The Limits of Wisdom and Knowledge. As I thought about this, and we're just beginning in the we're still introducing this book. It's a rather unpopular book in the Bible. I don't think I've ever met anyone who's said that their favorite book in the Bible was Ecclesiastes. But there are many people who don't like the Book of Ecclesiastes, and they don't like it for a number of reasons, and we've tried to help you understand those as we begin this series. But I would explain one of those reasons this way. We don't like the Book of Ecclesiastes because we've learned to read wisdom as law, and reading wisdom as law is a grave error, and Ecclesiastes exposes that error. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Proverbs twenty two to six. Train up a child and the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Now, Proverbs is wisdom literature. It's not law. That's not a law. That's wisdom. That's a principle. It's a principle about being wise in the way that we raise up children. But because we read wisdom as law, we do something like this, train up a child in ways you go. When he's old, he will not depart from it. A child raises up right, become as an adult, and then you know, goes often and lives a life that is completely counter to anything that we wanted or anything that we desired, or anything that we tried to put into that child. Well, because we read wisdom as law, here's how we explain that. Number one, I must have done something wrong, because if it's a law, train of a child and the whay should go when he's old, he would not depart. If the child departed, then I must not have done what rism and the way should go right or even worse, we say that God is somehow not able to keep his promises. And really what has happened is we have read wisdom as law. Wisdom literature is just that, it's wisdom literature. It gives us principles that explain in general, how the world works. It does not give us a series of laws that promise us the good life. If we just do the steps. That's not wisdom literature. And you don't have to take my word for it. All you have to do is read the book of Ecclesiastes, because the person who gave us Proverbs also gave us Ecclesiastes. And at the end of chapter one he talks about the vanity of wisdom and knowledge. He strikes a blow at anyone who wants to read the Book of Proverbs like it's a series of laws. When I think of this, I always think of Job's friends. You know, Job is an upright man. God himself refers to him as a man who is upright and perfect. Satan's going to and fro. God says, have you considered my servant Job? God gives Satan permission to wreak havoc in Job's life. Horrible things happen to Job. Then after he loses everything that he has, Satan comes back. God's you know, and he says, he that's just because you didn't let me touch his body. Then they are the terrible boils and everything else. And when Job's friends show up if you pay attention. What they're doing is they're going through proverbs and they're saying, you must have done something wrong, because people who live rightly don't experience what you've experienced. So confess, tell us what you did, because they have that mentality that many of us have when we read wisdom as law as though somehow the Bible lines itself out and says, if you do ABC, you are guaranteed x y z, and nothing could be further from the truth. Monsem Bewet died unexpectedly just a few short weeks ago, and some of you are still trying to figure out where to pin the blame, Like the disciples when the man who was blind from birth? What did they ask Jesus who sinned this man or his parents? Because it can't just be that this happened, because the world must work in this way. You do ABC, you will get x y z. And the Book of Ecclesiastes is here to say that is not so. That is not the way the world works. Stop looking for hidden sins every time something goes wrong. Not to say that they are never hidden sins, but stop it. Stop looking for curses every time something goes wrong. Instead, learn to think biblically. There's a second thing that we have to do if we want to understand Ecclesiastes rightly. You got to learn how to read it backwards. And I mean read it backwards in two ways. First, read all of Ecclesiastes from the standpoint of the final thought. He goes through eleven chapters giving us these truths that he's learned, and then in chapter twelve he gets to his point, listen to this in Ecclesiastes twelve, thirteen, and fourteen. The end of the matter, all has been heard, So he's saying, I'm finished, right, the end of the matter, all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. That's the end. He doesn't say, throw up your hands because nothing matters. He says, fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. In other words, God is sovereign. God is in control, not you. You don't control your circumstances, you don't control your future. And he makes that point over and over and over again and He makes that point in our text this morning, Ecclesiastes chapter one, beginning in verse twelve. By the way that second way say two ways that we read it backwards. Right. First, we read it backwards in terms of keeping in mind Ecclesiastes twelve, but also keeping in mind the truth of the rest of God's revelation. We can't read Ecclesiastes as though the rest of the Bible never came amen. We have to read it in that context. Ecclesiastes one, beginning of verse twelve. Either preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun. And behold, all is vanity and striving after the wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, what is lacking cannot be counted. I said to my heart, I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, And my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I applied my heart to no wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Again. For us, as Christians, we are not used to this amen. For us, as Christians, we don't think like this, we don't talk like this. In fact, we try to stay away from people who talk like this. If you had a friend who started speaking Solomon speaks in Ecclesiastes, you'd find excuses not to be around them. If you can't say amen, you ought to say out, you would not want to be around this person. What terrible things to say. It sounds hopeless unless you understand the book in its entirety, unless you keep the end in mind. Then he's not talking about hopelessness. He's talking about the limits of wisdom and knowledge. It's amazing, you know. I think as I thought about this text, I thought about things from the perspective of my grandparents. This bridget sent me a story that she found the other day. Some of the body was thinking about stuff that their kids, you know, wouldn't believe, And I was thinking about life from the perspective of my grandparents, and they are just things that my grandparents. I'm fifty five next month. They are things that my grandparents would just never have been able to wrap their heads around. For example, a phone that has about as much computing power in your hand as they had when they put a man on the moon. Your phone is as powerful as the most powerful computers back then, and you hold it in your hand. My grandparents would not have been able to fathom that. Or driving in a city or a neighborhood that they'd never been in before and finding their way around without a paper map or an atlas. Amen, some of the young people are in here going what is a paper map or email. We were going through some things the house the other day and we pulled out a box with some letters in it. Listen to this, young people. People used to sit down with pen and paper, write letters, fold them, put them in an envelope, put a stamp on them, and then mail them to each other. And then you would wait and the mail would come and you would open it and it would be a letter from a loved one telling you how much they love you, how much they miss you, Not in an email, not on WhatsApp, not on social media. There was a time when in order to find out how someone's vacation went, you had to wait until they got back, Amen. And then when they got back, they opened up a pile of actual photos and they would show you photographs, one by one by one. There was a time before that when in order to see the photographs you had to wait until they took them in to get them developed, and then got them back so that they could show you the photographs. I say all this to say technology has advanced tremendously, Amen. I mean, we could go on and on and on, but technology has advanced tremendously, and wisdom and knowledge have grown immensely, and yet there is still so much that we do not know. There are a couple of errors that people make when they think about wisdom and knowledge. On the one side is anti Christian intellectualism, the idea that the pursuit of knowledge is antithetical to the pursuit of Christ. On the other end, there is anti intellectual Christianity. Anti intellectual Christianity finds itself to be more spiritual to the degree that it stays away from all of those technologies, all of those new things that are out there. In fact, there are some sects of people in different parts of the world who won't use an automobile, who won't have a television, who won't use a telephone, because those technologies are worldly technologies, and there's a ditch on both sides of the road. There's a proper way for us to think about wisdom and knowledge, and it starts with knowing and understanding the limits of wisdom and knowledge. From our text. First, acquiring knowledge and wisdom is good and necessary. Look at verses twelve and thirteen. I the preacher have been king over Israel and Jerusalem, and I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. Now the language that he uses their poetic language. Right, he applied his heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. In other words, he wanted to know everything that he could possibly know. He says, it's an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man. Let's forget the unhappy business part for a moment, but he says, a business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with God intends for people to seek wisdom and knowledge. God does not intend for his people to be anti intellectual. So regardless of what we find here, and regardless of what he's saying about, you know, striving after the wind and so on and so forth, he's not saying that it's wrong to seek wisdom and knowledge. In fact, Solomon was famous for his knowledge. Look at First Kings, chapter ten, First Kings, chapter ten. Now, the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord. She came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great red new with camels bearing spices, and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind, and Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. Now, oftentimes we air at this point, and at this point we say that what was happening with Solomon and the reason that people were coming from all over the world to meet with Solomon and to talk with Solomon is because Solomon was just endowed with supernatural intellect. Well, when you read Ecclesiastes, what does he say? He devoted his heart to searching out everything was wise and knowledgeable because he was a relentless student. He was relentless in studying everything he could get his hands on, architecture, agriculture, science, math, medicine, everything he could get his hands on. That's why people came, not because he just fell out of the womb, quoting algebra equations verse four. And when the Queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the sitting of his officials, and the attendants of his servants, there, clothing his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her. And she said to the King, the report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom. But I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told to me. Your wisdom and your prosperity surpass the reports that I heard. Happy are your men, happy are your servants who continually stand before you? And hear your wisdom. Bless me the Lord your God, who is delighted in you, and set you on the throne of Israel. Because the Lord loved Israel forever. He has made you king that you may execute justice and righteousness. So this is the business that God has given to the children of man, to seek out wisdom, to seek out knowledge. Don't let this text fool you into believing that we're being called to somehow be anti intellectual, because we're talking about the limits of wisdom and knowledge. The Bible speak favorably about acquiring knowledge Psalm nineteen one. In two, the heavens declare the glory of God. The sky above proclaims his handiwork day to day, pours out speech, and night tonight reveals his knowledge. There is knowledge in creation that we are called to pursue. It's interesting, you know, children are always asking questions. You know, why don't have to do this? Why don't have to do that? And you know, why do I have to go to school? And why don't have to study this? And why don't have to study that? Some nineteen one and two, the heavens are declaring the glory of God. Why do you need math? And science. You need math and science because God reveals himself in two books. He reveals himself in the Book of Scripture, but he also reveals himself in the Book of Nature. He reveals himself in his handiwork. And so we pursue a greater knowledge of the world that God has created, so that we can know that God who created the world. Proverbs four and five. Get wisdom, get insight, do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Proverbs four seven. The beginning of wisdom is this. Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Proverbs sixteen sixteen. How much better to get wisdom than gold. To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. It is a good thing to pursue wisdom and knowledge. Christians have always, by the way, led the way in the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge. Listen to this and Growthius's book Christian Apologetics. As part of a long and fascinating research project concerning the relationship of Christian monotheism to Western history, sociologist Rodney Stark claims that the medieval Christian worldview provided a wellspring of intellectual resources for the development of science, technology, and commerce. He argues that the later achievements of the scientific Revolution were not the result of an eruption of secular thinking, but were the culmination of many centuries of systematic progress by medieval scholastics, sustained by that uniquely Christian twelfth century invention the university. Yes, my friends, Christians invented universities, not Muslims, not secular atheists. Christians invented universities. We are not, and have never been anti intellectual failures to pursue nob and scripture is viewed as folly Proverbs one twenty two. How long, oh simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing? And fools hate knowledge Proverbs eighteen fifteen. And intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. Far from running from knowledge, we ought to be running to it. We ought to pursue it. In fact, that ought to be known what we're known for. That ought to be what we're known for, and what we're known by as individuals who seek truth, beauty, and goodness to the glory of God and for its sake alone. But remember this is about the limits of wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom and knowledge alone can lead to despair Verses fourteen and fifteen in our text, I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, what is lacking cannot be counted. He recognizes that wisdom and knowledge have their limits. He's tried, but he's failed to be fulfilled by wisdom and knowledge alone, because no one can ever be fulfilled by wisdom and knowledge alone. This is the mistake that the atheist makes. The atheist argues that there is no God, and that that's okay because we have everything we need through wisdom and knowledge and scientific discovery. But we cannot solve every problem. That's what the author means when he says what is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. No matter how smart we are, we always come up against problems that we cannot solve, and utopia is not coming. With all of our wisdom, and with all of our gadgets and with all of our technology, this generation is among the most miserable that the world has ever known. It amazes me that children and ages gone by had none of the gadgets that children today have, and yet they found ways to entertain themselves. And children today are constantly saying I am bored. Amen. Somebody they've got everything, all the gadget you can imagine, and they say, I am bored. I can remember some of the people in the room can remember when television meant you sit down and you watch what's on, Amen, and you watch what was on two or three channels. That's all. Now there are streaming services that literally have thousands upon thousands of things that you can watch, and we sit down in front of them and we say, nothing's on. This is his point. This is his point. By itself, wisdom and knowledge just lead to despair because there are limits to human wisdom and knowledge. We learned that a couple of years ago. All it took was a little microscopic bug, and it derailed the global economy. Amen. We didn't know what to do with ourselves. We were running around scared afraid because of a little microscopic bug. By the way, the microscopic bug is still around and it's not going anywhere. Why Because in all of our sophisticated wisdom and knowledge, we still don't know how to get rid of a virus. What is crooked cannot be made straight, what is lacking cannot be counted. There are limits to human wisdom and knowledge. One Corinthians three eighteen through twenty one of my favorite passages of scripture. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written he catches the wise in their craftiness. And again the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile. That's why it leads to despair. Jesus was not speaking particularly about wisdom or knowledge in Matthew chapter eight, but his words, his words ring true even here. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospels will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? He's speaking there. We know about money, but you can also apply that to wisdom and knowledge. You will never be wise enough to defeat death, you will never have enough knowledge to defeat death. Thirdly, knowledge is insufficient without the knowledge of God. Knowledge is insufficient without the knowledge of God, and it will always be insufficient without the knowledge of God, which is why knowledge alone leads to despair Leave verses sixteen through eighteen. I said in my heart I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me. And my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. In much wisdom, it is vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Is this not true? The more we learn, the more we realize we don't know. You know, it's one thing, for example, a person to die when we have no idea what is going on with them, or no idea how to help them. But it bothers medical professionals when someone comes in and with all of their training and with all of their experience, and with all of their knowledge, they do and we hear it right. We did everything we could, and yet it wasn't enough. This is Solomon's thesis and Proverbs the idea that knowledge is insufficient without the knowledge of God. Proverbs one p. Seven. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Amen, fools despise wisdom and instruction. There's also clearly in scripture the idea that there is wisdom that is wicked. There's wisdom that is wicked. It's amazing that we split the atom. And on the one hand, we split the atom, and it has given us an amazing, abundant, clean, almost endless source of energy known as nuclear energy. It's the cleanest, most abundant energy that there is. And yet in splitting the atom, we also got the most destructive weapon that the world has ever seen. Knowledge doesn't just come in a vacuum. James three thirteen to eighteen. Who is wise and understanding among you by his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy, selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder in every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere, and the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. There is wisdom from above, but there is also earthly wisdom. There is also, as James says, demonic wisdom. That is why our wisdom and our knowledge are always insufficient apart from the knowledge of God. And at the end of the day, that knowledge of God is more specific, and that it is the knowledge of His son Jesus Christ. Paul says it this way in Colossians one through three Colossus two one through three. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, and for those at Laiadicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance, of understanding and knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. Why wouldn't they be, Why wouldn't they be? He is indeed the god Man who spoke the world into existence. He is indeed the Savior of the world. He is indeed wisdom from God, the wisdom of God, the very word of God is who Christ is. How could we ever hope to have any true wisdom apart from Christ, in whom all wisdom is hidden. No wonder, our knowledge and our wisdom are limited. This is why, at the end of the day, we absolutely pursue wisdom and knowledge, but we pursue wisdom and knowledge to the glory of God, recognizing that apart from God, our wisdom and our knowledge will lead us to despair, because all it will ever teach us is that we can't know enough. We can't be wise enough, we can't be smart enough, we can't invent enough, we can't discover enough, because what is cricket will never be made strict, and what is lacking will never be counted in our quest to have all knowledge. When we realize that we can't, we are left with despair unless and until we recognize that the true end of knowledge is the knowledge of God through the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is only then that our knowledge is sufficient. It is only then that our knowledge and our wisdom are put to proper use and toward right ends. And it is only then then we can ever find satisfaction only in Christ. Are you walking intospair because things are not working the way you think they ought to work. Or are you walking in despair because you turned wisdom literature into law and you're living your life as though there's some guarantee that if you do ABC, you will be guaranteed xyz and it hasn't worked out, and you're shaking your fists at God. Or you're looking inwardly to find out what you did wrong because you didn't get what you expected. That is despair, And it is the despair that always comes when you turn wisdom into law instead of recognizing that the fullness of wisdom is found only in Christ. Only in Christ. See if I turn wisdom into law and I do what I'm supposed to do and I don't get the right result, I don't have an answer, I don't know what went wrong. But if Christ is the end of allward of wisdom, and if God is the sovereign Lord of the universe, I pursue wisdom and knowledge to the glory of God, and it becomes an end in itself, not a means to an end. And I'm satisfied in God and in the wisdom that I've pursued, so that even when things don't go the way I desire for them to go, I still know that God is on his throne and that he is enough. And there's the key. Are you pursuing wisdom so that you can get stuff or are you pursuing wisdom so that you can know God? One of those will never satisfy you. One of those will never fail to satisfy you. Let's pray our good and gracious God, God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the God of all wisdom, of all knowledge, the God who created the world and everything in it for his glory. Before you. We vow to you, we offer thanks to you, we offer our praise to you. We ascribe glory and majesty and strength and power. Thank you for reminding us today of the limits of wisdom and knowledge, and in doing so, reminding us of glory of wisdom and knowledge when put to proper use, and that proper use is knowing and serving You, the True and Living God, Grant by your grace that we might find our wisdom in Christ, and that in doing so we might be found in Him, satisfied in him. For this we pray in his name and for his sake. Amen,