If you would, please open your copy of God's Word to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 7. at verse 15, and we'll go to verse 22, and then in the second service we will complete this section. Here once again God's Word. Ecclesiastes 7, beginning at verse 15. I have seen everything in my days of vanity. There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness. Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Do not be overly wicked, nor be foolish. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp this. and also not remove your hand from the other, for he who fears God will escape them all. Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten rulers of the city, for there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. Also, do not take to heart everything people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you, For many times also your own heart has known that even you have cursed others." We'll take up the rest in the second service. As we looked at the previous passage last Lord's Day, you'll recall that the preacher taught us that things or circumstances or situations aren't always what they seem. That was what we learned last week, or at least one of the things we learned last week. He showed us that being rich isn't all it's cracked up to be, how it is that experiencing hardship and affliction also doesn't negate the joys that one might experience in this life, especially, of course, those who belong to the Lord he's speaking of there. But not only is it the case that circumstances and situations aren't always as they seem, it's also the case that people aren't always as they seem or what they seem. There's much truth to that old adage, never judge a book by its cover. That's true of people as well. people might look righteous on the outside, but be utterly wicked on the inside. And though it may seem like wicked people oftentimes live long and fairly easygoing lives, the truth is that's not always the case. And there's always more going on in such people than meets our physical eyes. As we look at the opening verse of this new section, we do well to understand that it does in fact have a connection to both what came before it and also to what comes with it here in our passage. Let's read verse 15 once again. Solomon says, I have seen everything in my days of vanity. There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness. Well, this is certainly something that people have seen going on through practically every generation that has existed on the face of this earth. It's true that there are examples of just men dying earlier than those who are wicked. It's true that there are a number of wicked people who live very long lives in their wickedness. This is something that can be quite troubling to those who witness this sort of a thing. This is definitely the kind of thing that troubled Asaph's heart, and he recounts how it troubled him in Psalm 73, and I encourage you to look at that later on. And it's actually quite understandable why God's people would be troubled by seeing this kind of a thing. After all, we know that the Scriptures are filled with passages that indicate that the Lord will grant long lives to those who walk according to His ways. Think for instance of Proverbs 3, 1 and 2. My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands. For length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. And most of us are familiar with the promise that is tied to the fifth commandment. Apostle Paul puts it like this in Ephesians 6, 1-3. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother. which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. So when we see righteous people dying earlier in life than those who carry on in wickedness, how should we understand this sort of a thing? How should we understand these promises that God has made? Let's not forget the fact that the preacher has already said in the passage prior to this one, where he reminded us that God is sovereign. He reminded us that God is the one who has marked out the days of our birth and our death. That he is the one who gives wealth and brings adversity. That he is the one who has made some things crooked in this life. So the first thing for us to understand in light of that question is the fact that God is sovereign. God is sovereign. Secondly, we are taught that man really doesn't know what is good for himself. We read that last week as well. Only God knows what is good and what is best in a person's life. So therefore, if the Lord chooses to take one of his children home at an earlier age than the wicked, then he has good reason for doing so, and we ought not to question it. He alone knows what is best, and he always does what is best. Thirdly, just because there are exceptions to a general rule, doesn't take anything away from the general rule. The general rule still stands. Or indeed, as many times as we might point out to this exception, we have 10 other times where we point out the rule, where God has been pleased to grant long life to those who have followed his ways. And then finally, keeping in mind what the preacher is telling us in both sections, we do well to understand that not only are the circumstances not always what they seem, but we need to remember that people aren't always what they seem either. So that being the case, while it may seem like there are righteous people who die young and many wicked who go on living long lives, we need to remember that just because it might seem like a man has died in his righteousness, we can't know with any certainty that those who appear righteous on the outside are actually righteous on the inside. Only God knows that. So things might not be as we are seeing them. We need to take record of that, take note of that. As Jesus so clearly teaches us, and we read about it in Matthew 23 earlier, the outside of a cup can be clean, while the inside remains filthy. True righteousness is rooted on the inside of a man, and from that root, good fruit is born on the outside. But only God knows who is and who isn't truly righteous through and through. People aren't always what they seem. And that's the point that the preacher then goes on to illustrate in the next section, wherein he says this in verses 16-18, but let's pick up at 15. I have seen everything in my days of vanity. There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in wickedness. Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Do not be overly wicked, nor be foolish. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp this, and also not remove your hand from the other, for he who fears God will escape them all." Now this is yet another instance in which the preacher says something here in the book of Ecclesiastes that would make most of us at least take a pause and scratch your head and say, wait a minute, what are you saying? How do I process what you are saying here? How can he tell us to not be overly righteous and to not be overly wise? How can a person ever be too righteous or too wise? Not only that, but he also tells us to not be overly wicked. What is he prescribing here? Is he proposing that we undescribe for moderation in our lives between good and evil? Is that what he's saying? Well, let me answer this. That is not what he's recommending. You see, there is a righteousness and wisdom that is under the sun that are counterfeits to the real thing. Indeed, they look a lot like righteousness and wisdom, but in truth they are not. There are moralistic people in this world who like to think that they are righteous, and there are people in this world who are wise in their own eyes. Living a life of counterfeit righteousness and wisdom Kohelet tells us, will result in destruction. That's why the preacher cautions us with the fact that this sort of a thing can destroy a man. Can destroy a man. If you're having a hard time seeing this, perhaps it would help to consider how Jesus used this same sort of language in his admonition when he said, I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. What did Jesus mean by that statement? I did not come to call the righteous. Are there any righteous that existed that really did need to come to Jesus? No. Everybody needs Jesus. Everybody needs Jesus. Everybody, all people are sinners. And every one of us needs Jesus to be forgiven for our lack of righteousness. And to also receive that perfect righteousness that only He can give. But those who think they're righteous already, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, these are deluded. And the delusion will lead, and is leading people, to their ultimate ruin, to their ultimate destruction. This is also true of the wisdom of which Gohelet speaks. He's not talking about true wisdom any more than he was referring to true righteousness. Rather, he's talking about those things that often pass as righteousness, those things that often pass as wisdom in this life under the sun. Now, as for wisdom here, he is speaking of that wisdom which men pretend to have in their own eyes. And in actuality, this kind of wisdom is actually the foolishness that the Apostle Paul describes in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where he compares the foolishness of men to the wisdom of God, and the wisdom of God to the foolishness of men. Our Hebrew professor puts it like this, he makes it all the more clear for us when he says that, interestingly, the verb in verse 16 is translated to be wise, and that this is in a conjugation with a reflexive sense. And so then the point, or the way you would translate that then, is wise unto yourself. It's reflexive. Wise unto yourself. The verb form gives verse 16 the sense of Proverbs 3 and verse 7, where it says, do not be wise in your own eyes. So then thus, he says, verse 16 can be translated this way. Do not multiply your righteousness, nor be wise unto yourself. Why destroy yourself? So then our preacher is warning us of the danger of looking to our own good works and trusting in our so-called self-righteousness for deliverance from sin and death and trusting in our own human wisdom to see us through in this life. And this is the very root or the foundation under every false religion and every path of life that is outside of Christ. Those are the things that they have in common. They're looking to themselves. They think they're wise enough to determine themselves how to get to God, how to get to heaven, how to be righteous in and of themselves. So then in the end, all false religions and all worldviews outside of Christianity err in these two areas. In all those cases, people are trusting in themselves to either earn their way to heaven, or again, use their so-called wisdom to dream up an alternate path to heaven. Nevertheless, all those people are on a path that leads to destruction. Sadly, that path we are told is wide and many there are who travel upon it. Now before we chalk this sort of thing up to the kind of thinking, sort of thinking to ourselves, well this is a critique of what goes on out there in the world. Let us be careful. We do well to understand that there are people also within the visible church that are overly righteous and overly wise in the way that Kohelet means it here. Listen folks, there is more to being a true Christian than simply being a nice person who faithfully does his daily devotions and family worship because he fears he's going to go to hell if he doesn't do those things. There is more to being a true Christian than simply being orthodox in Christian doctrine. or in being able to fully subscribe to the standards of the church because one fears that he'll go to hell if he doesn't have a perfect understanding of these things. There's more to being a true Christian than keeping the Sabbath day holy because one fears he or she might go to hell because they're not a faithful Sabbatarian. It's so easy for us to look at these things in such a way that our salvation begins to look more at what we do by way of righteousness than what Jesus has already done for us. We need to guard ourselves. It's easy for us to look to our own works, isn't it? And to get so focused on them that we fail to remember the work of Christ for us. It's easy for us to get to the point that we we end up practically, in a practical way, trusting in ourselves instead of Jesus. Now folks, you might think it's a bit over the top to suggest that people in the church can be so off the mark when it comes to knowing what the true gospel is. But I can assure you There are people in the visible church who fall into doubt as to their assurance of salvation because they have failed to live as they know they should live. And it causes them to doubt their assurance of salvation because they're looking to themselves. And they're recognizing that they fall short, time and again, of the standard that God has placed before us. There are people whose assurance of salvation is weakened and perhaps even crushed because they've missed a day of daily devotions. There are others who feel a strong assurance of salvation in the other direction, and they think they're assured of their salvation so long as they don't watch TV, or have a TV in their home, or don't drink, or smoke, or dance, or listen to secular music, and they make it to church every Sunday. So they think, well, I'm a good Christian. Sure, I'm saved. I don't drink or smoke. Do you see the problem here? The gospel is missing. When people live like this, While it's not likely a deliberate thing that they are doing, they are trusting more in themselves and what they are doing than what Jesus has already accomplished. But let's not forget what Jesus taught us about such things. One preacher offers us the following reminder. He says, the fact that Christ did a marvelous demolition job on the reputation of the Pharisees often obscures for us the fact that before his assaults, They generally had a good reputation among the people for their piety. They were a well-respected group of conservative theologians. What men like in religion is not necessarily what God likes, and what men admire is not necessarily what God admires. Luke 16.15, And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Also recall the words of Jesus in Matthew 23 that we read from earlier. In verse 23 of that same chapter, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, For you pay tithe of mints and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel." Then in verses 27, 28, "'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, But inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." At the end of the day, folks, if we're looking to our own works as the basis of our acceptance before the true, holy, and living God, then we will be destroyed. We will be destroyed. This is what it means to be overly wise and overly righteous. But the preacher also warns us of the danger of being overly wicked. And of course, in saying this, he doesn't mean that it's okay to be a little bit wicked or to be moderately wicked. He's not saying that. What he is saying is that while we shouldn't be self-righteous by setting out to be accepted by God on the basis of our own imagined good works and wisdom, Neither should we go out the other direction and simply have no concern at all about how far we might fall into sin and wickedness. We need to be concerned about the wickedness in our lives. We do well to understand that with God, any wickedness is too much wickedness. There is no such thing as a permissible or acceptable amount of wickedness when it comes to our standing before the Lord. Now the point here, and this is a simple one, the point here is that it's never wise to indulge in sin. It's never wise to indulge in sin. It's never okay to think that it's okay to just let loose and run headlong into sin for a season. It is along these lines that The preacher asks, why should you die before your time? To go in that direction, to have no regard for the sin in our lives, is to be headed in the way of destruction. To go in that direction is to go in a way that could very well lead to your sudden death. It happens. So then, if we go to the left or go to the right of the path the Lord has placed before us, we will either fall into the error then of legalism or antinomianism. Trusting in our own works, legalism, or living lawlessly, not caring about what God has taught us in his word, how we ought to live. But both ways, whichever way you go, if you go to the left or you go to the right, you're going on a road that leads to destruction. What is the antidote then? The antidote to these things is given to us in verse 18. The antidote is the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord, we are told, is the beginning of wisdom. And true wisdom would point us to the wisdom of our Lord as it has been given to us in His holy work and as it is personified in His Son Jesus Christ. True wisdom would have us to define then what is truly righteous and to define that according to His Word instead of allowing men to make up their own standards of what is righteous and what is not. Living according to true righteousness as is provided for us through Jesus Christ is something that offers freedom, that is freeing, isn't it? But living according to man's own standard is enslaving. It's to live in bondage. Likewise, true wisdom teaches us that the way of sin, the way of lawlessness, leads to death. That's what wisdom teaches us. If we're going to be truly wise, If we're going to have the fear of the Lord and be truly wise, we will understand that going in a way of lawlessness leads to death. We must be wise in the fear of the Lord if we would steer clear of these dangerous extremes. Let's move on to verses 19 and 20. Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten rulers of the city. For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin." It's my conviction that the value of wisdom is all too often undervalued and underestimated by God's people, and I include myself in that. It's undervalued and underestimated. Of course, when I'm referring to wisdom here, I'm not talking about the kind of wisdom in verse 16, but rather the kind of wisdom mentioned in verse 18, which is tied to the fear of the Lord here. This kind of wisdom provides strength. And it provides strength in some wonderful ways. In this instance, the preacher provides us with a simple illustration. He tells us of a city that is governed by ten rulers. And indeed, while there is strength in numbers, ten rulers is a good amount of rulers to oversee a city, the psalmist Kohela tells us that even one wise man, one man who fears the Lord is stronger than ten rulers of a city. Folks, we need to really and truly recognize our need of wisdom. Every one of us is in need of it, without exception. And that's made plain as day by what is said in verse 20. But in verse 20, the preacher here, he's intending more than simply providing us with a blanket statement about the universal nature of the depravity of man. He's saying more than that. And he brings up depravity here, the depravity of man, to write us with the basis as to why we have such a great need for the wisdom of God. It's because all of mankind is depraved in all of his being that he must seek wisdom, he must find that wisdom that comes from God. You see, because sin is present everywhere in this fallen world, even in ourselves, We need wisdom from above in order to be able to gain that discernment that we need to examine ourselves rightly and to also be able to make proper judgments about the world around us in which we live. To put it more plainly, we are all prone to be deluded about ourselves and to be naive about others and the world in which we live if the wisdom of God is not our guide. Left to ourselves We don't know what to think. We don't know how to think. We don't know how to live or how to worship. Left to ourselves. We need wisdom from above. We need an objective wisdom from outside of ourselves. A wisdom from God himself in order to instruct us in the ways of life. Phil Rankin explains the important role that wisdom plays in life when he says, Wisdom governs thought. And so the wise person knows how to think about things in a God-centered way. Wisdom governs the will, so the wise person knows what choices to make in life. Wisdom governs speech, so the wise person knows what to say and what not to say. Wisdom governs action, so the wise person knows what to do in every situation. Take hold of wisdom, and it will make you strong. So then suffice it to say, this wisdom doesn't only point us to everlasting life as it's offered in Jesus Christ, which it in fact does, but it also has some very down-to-earth practical application as well, which we find the wise man Solomon providing for us in verses 21 and 22, where he says this, also do not take to heart everything people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. For many times also your own heart has known that even you have cursed others. How is that for some practical application for us to take home with us? After reminding us that everybody sins without exception, He then shows us how to act wisely, knowing that we ourselves are sinners living among sinners. And so then, knowing this to be the case about our situation, we would be wise to be gracious with respect to dealing with the sins and with the faults of others who are around us. If we're not wise in our dealings with one another, then we can expect our lives to be filled with unrest and strife. Consider the preacher's example. He says, we shouldn't take to heart everything people say about us. Why not? Well, because first of all, it's usually not worth knowing. Or secondly, knowing it is going to trouble our hearts. Knowing it's going to trouble us. Wisdom tells us that it's better not to know everything people say about us, because you might end up hearing more than you really want to hear, and certainly more than you need to hear. How often has it been? How often has it been a benefit to you to know what others have said about you? Most of the time we don't do anything with that information, do we? We just let it kind of take up presence in our lives and trouble our hearts and just eat us from the inside out. Most of the time we don't do anything about it. We typically don't go after folks who said what they said demanding an explanation as to why they said what they did about us. But again, instead we just keep that matter in our hearts, at least that's what we tend to do. And we think about it from time to time only to feel that sting over and over and over again. Wisdom tells us It's better not to take to heart everything people say about us. Wisdom tells us to let it go. It tells us that whatever we heard wasn't intended for us to begin with. Wisdom would have us to consider the possibility that what was said about us might have been said in a moment of weakness or a moment in misjudgment. It's not good to eavesdrop. nor to be overly concerned about what others are saying about us. It was said by one man, listeners, standing upon the tiptoe of suspicion, seldom hear good of themselves. Again, to quote Riken, he encourages us to know what's to hear and what's to ignore, especially when it comes to criticism. This is one of the ways that wisdom makes us strong. It helps us not to be overly concerned about what other people say. It teaches us to not take offense, but to respond with gentleness and grace, even, when the things that people say may seem unfair. One wise man responded to criticism by saying, he didn't insult me at all. In fact, he was talking about another man, the man he thought I was. And if you do happen to come across something negative that was said about you, perhaps you might find comfort from the words that our Savior spoke when he said this in Luke 6, verses 26-28. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. But in dealing with people who have spoken about you, wisdom would have us to remember the fact that many times also you have cursed others. That's what Solomon says here. You want some help in not being so offended? Remember, many times you also have cursed others. The choice is yours. You can either get really upset with people for what you've heard them say about you, or you can apply wisdom to the situation so that you don't take the matter to heart. That you don't let it trouble you, but instead you allow love to cover over that matter. And to not hold a grudge over the matter, because you recognize that you too have sinned in the same way, and that you too are a sinner saved by grace and in need of grace, just like whoever said what they said about you. We're all in the same boat. We're going to conclude here with some helpful and what I perceive to be convicting words from one brother. And so if you would just listen. This is perhaps the criticism of another should be the occasion of self-reflection, not of self-defense justification. A wise man will consider this, taking the rebuke of a wise man with some self-reflection and taking the rebuke of a fool with a grain of salt. It may be thought that it is out of proportion to give the nature and value of wisdom still waiting in introduction, followed by nothing more than a commonplace counsel to apply this tremendous heaven-sent possession of God-given wisdom merely to restrain yourself when someone criticizes you. It seems a case where a mountain travails and brings forth a mouse. But, he says, it is right in step with Kohelet's purpose to bring the ethereal down to ground level. These high-flying ideas of fearing the Lord and having true wisdom touch down in the stuff of everyday life. And they are expressed in the most ordinary context, like how you react to criticism. And how you react will reveal how much or how little of this true wisdom you possess. If you are easily offended, or find yourself holding things against many of the people you know, this passage calls you to be wiser than that, to be less sensitive and more forgiving. After all, O'Hallett's advice is not just to shrug off offenses or to take them stoically, but to not take them to heart, which is a course of action that finds its conclusion in forgiveness. O'Hallett would certainly not shrink from giving the simple common sense advice for us to simply have thick skin. That's not beyond him. But the wisdom that he commends here is firmly rooted in the fear of the Lord. which calls us to do more than grin and bear it, but to rather be of a forgiving nature as Christ has been toward us. And so he concludes, true wisdom does not simply grow thick skin, but a willingness to understand and to forgive others, even if their sin is directed at you. And it is always self-critical. Verse 22 is an important addition. true wisdom will always feel the log in its own eye, even if the stack in another's eye is hurtfully apparent. Let us give consideration to that, the wisdom that God gives to us in his holy scriptures. Please join your hearts in prayer.