December 5, 2025 • 29 mins
When life doesn’t play by the rules—when the righteous suffer, the wicked prosper, and laughter feels thin—wisdom becomes more than a virtue. It becomes survival. Walking through Ecclesiastes 7, we explore how Solomon, late in life, turns from image and excess to a rare, grounded wisdom that faces sorrow honestly, embraces humility, and trusts God’s sovereignty when answers stay out of reach.
We unpack four patterns that reshape everyday living. First, wisdom rejects perfectionism: no one arrives at moral flawlessness, and the gospel frees us to repent quickly and grow steadily. Second, wisdom refuses to be paralyzed by criticism: we learn to sift words with courage and humility, asking what might be true and letting God use it for change. Third, wisdom recognizes the limits of intellectualism: knowledge is precious but not ultimate, and discernment blooms where prayer and thought meet. Fourth, wisdom resists hedonism’s empty promises: Solomon’s pursuit of pleasure drained his capacity for covenant joy, reminding us that ordered loves—rooted in God—turn desire into durable delight.
Along the way, we draw a surprising line to Johann Sebastian Bach, whose marked-up Ecclesiastes 7 and quiet margin prayers reveal why sorrow can tutor the heart better than easy days. The benefits of wisdom prove practical and visible: a unique steadiness in a noisy world, clearer choices amid life’s riddles, and a softened face that signals a softened heart. If you’ve felt the tension of unanswered questions and the pull of quick fixes, this conversation invites you to a wiser way—one that steadies your steps, restores purpose, and keeps you close to the God who knows the end from the beginning.
If this message helps you think and live more wisely, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review so others can find it.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:34):
Is it any wonder, by the way, that Solomon will say
wisdom is the most importantthing you can ever get?
Wisdom draws you to the creatorof wisdom, it draws you to the
word of wisdom, it draws you towalk in wisdom, it gives you the
joy of having the gospel ofwisdom, that Jesus took all of
(00:56):
that dishonor upon himself.
Jesus will forgive your emptypursuits and will fill your life
with purpose.
SPEAKER_00 (01:32):
Today, Stephen Davy explores hard questions like
these from Ecclesiastes 7.
You'll learn what wisdom reallylooks like in an imperfect
world.
Wisdom won't eliminate life'stension, but it will teach you
how to live through it.
Solomon shows you how to avoidthe traps of self-righteousness,
(01:57):
perfectionism, cynicism, andpride.
And how to live with humility,discernment, and trusting God.
If you want to know how to makewise decisions, keep listening.
SPEAKER_01 (02:13):
Johann Sebastian Bach composed wonderful music
for the church, for the worldfor that matter.
He composed over 200 cantatasfor the church, choral works for
the church on the life, death,and resurrection of the Lord
(02:34):
Jesus.
He composed songs for his twentychildren, teaching them biblical
truth.
He lived from 1685 to 1750, andas you can imagine, a large
number of original documentswere preserved and have been
over the years.
Most of them are his originalmusical compositions.
(02:58):
But only one document hassurvived all these years.
In fact, it wasn't discovereduntil about 80 years ago, that
he never intended to publish.
These were the notes that hemade in his Bible.
More than likely seen by hiswife Anna and his children.
(03:19):
These notes were written in athree-volume German Bible.
We would call it today a studyBible.
What I found interesting in anarticle I read on the subject is
the fact that the book ofEcclesiastes was evidently his
favorite book of the Bible.
It's the most marked-up book inBach's Bible.
(03:40):
And Ecclesiastes, chapter 7,where we are today, has more
verses underlined than any otherchapter in his Bible.
Bach would often compose a pieceof music.
And for those of you musicians,you probably know this.
He would often write on thefront of that composition the
(04:03):
words, Soli Deo Gloria, to theglory of God alone.
That mattered most.
Verses 2 and 3 of chapter 7 isstatement that sorrow is a
better teacher than laughter.
The end of life is better thanthe beginning of life, all the
way to verse 13, where Godknows, God alone knows why life
(04:25):
has so many twists and turns.
Bach was evidently deeplyconsoled by this.
He marked it up.
More than likely, it's becausehe buried 10 of his 20 children
before they reached adulthood.
Life depended on trusting in thesovereign plan of God for life.
(04:48):
There were times, by the way, itwas interesting, when Bach would
have difficulty writing a pieceof music and he would write in
the margin, Yesu Yuva, Jesushelp me.
That'd be a great caption, bythe way, for life as a believer.
Just to write those in themargins of your life.
(05:21):
Doesn't get any better thanthat.
Well, we're in this chapter,evidently a favorite of Box.
After almost 70 years now,Solomon has come to define life
along these same lines.
For much of his life, as youknow, he lived for his own
glory, and he had a lot of it.
(05:42):
He never thought he needed God'shelp.
But now here in chapter 7, hebegins to transition and bring
God clearly back into thepicture.
We're at verse 15 now.
And he's going to say something,by the way, he's already said 10
times.
This is the 11th time.
In my vain, fleeting life, Ihave seen everything.
(06:07):
I've been there, I've done that,I've seen it all.
And with that, he's going tolaunch into another series of
observations and proverbs thattake us all the way to chapter 8
and verse 1, which I believeconcludes the series.
These are difficult passages topreach or teach for those of you
(06:29):
who teach the word because theyseem so random.
However, on closer inspectionand just kind of reading over
and over and over again, itstrikes me this common theme
occurs.
It is the theme of wisdom.
Solomon is saying, I've seeneverything, but boy, do we ever
need wisdom, especially whenwhat we see doesn't make any
(06:54):
sense.
Notice, again, there is therighteous man who perishes in
his righteousness, and there isa wicked man who prolongs his
life in his evil doing.
In other words, I don't get it.
I don't get this.
Godly people die young, andungodly people live a long time.
(07:22):
Sometimes life doesn't play bythe rules.
Solomon is essentially sayingthat without an understanding of
God's sovereignty who designslife from beginning to end, who
designs our lives, you might endup with the wrong conclusion
that it doesn't matter.
Now Solomon goes on here tomention two extreme ways of
(07:45):
approaching life.
This is perhaps, by the way, oneof the most misunderstood
passages in the book ofEcclesiastes.
Look at verse 16.
He says here, be not overlyrighteous.
Do not make yourself too wise.
Why should you destroy yourself?
Be not overly wicked, neither bea fool.
(08:07):
Why should you die before yourtime?
It is good that you should takehold of this, and from that
withhold not your hand, for theone who fears God shall come out
from both of them.
Now, at first glance, it mightappear that Solomon is telling
you not to get too carried awaywith trying to live a holy life
or a wicked life.
(08:27):
By the way, that happens to bethe plan of salvation for a lot
of people I talk to out thereover the years.
You probably heard the samething.
I'm not all that perfect, butI'm not all that bad.
I found the middle road.
I think God's gonna let me in.
That plan of salvation, by theway, has nothing to do with
Jesus.
It has everything to do withthem.
(08:47):
It also has nothing to do withwalking in wisdom.
God isn't suggesting here thatSolomon doesn't try to be too
good or too bad.
In fact, in the Hebrew text, theverbs in verse 16 carry the idea
of reflexive action.
Both extremes are descriptionsof self-centeredness.
(09:12):
So verse 16 could could beunderstood to read: don't go
around claiming to be sorighteous.
Don't go around trying to be, tomake yourself out to be so wise.
All he's doing is describingsomeone who wants to appear to
(09:34):
be righteous.
Don't go around making yourselfout to be perfect.
Solomon is essentially tellingus here that a wise person
doesn't present themselves toother people as having
spiritually arrived.
Did you notice the danger at theend of verse 16?
You're not gonna build anythingup, you're gonna tear everything
(09:55):
down.
You're not gonna encourageanybody that way.
He's also telling us it'sdangerous to try to make a name
for being entirely wicked.
I've bumped into those peopletoo.
Let me tell you what I've done.
Let me tell you how bad I am.
Solomon says, don't be a fool.
That's destructive as well,verse 17.
(10:18):
Then in verse 18, he says,essentially, walk with God.
Godly wisdom will keep you, notwalking down the middle, but
godly wisdom will help you avoidboth extremes.
That's the idea.
Wisdom enables you, beloved, towalk in godly balance.
(10:40):
Avoiding both.
Since if Solomon says now inverse 19, I've seen it all, let
me show you the value of wisdom.
Notice verse 19.
Wisdom gives strength to thewise man more than 10 rulers who
are in a city.
Let me break that down quickly.
In other words, one wise personin town is worth more than ten
(11:04):
rulers, political leaders.
One paraphrase I readinterpreted it, ten mayors.
You could paraphrase this toread: one wise person is more
valuable in their community thanten unwise politicians.
Now, what Solomon does next islaunch into rapid-fire proverbs
(11:27):
and principles, and essentiallyshows us not just the balance of
wisdom, but the behavioralpatterns of wisdom.
Let me give you four of them.
Number one, wisdom rejects thepursuit of perfectionism.
Look at verse 20.
Surely there is not a righteousman on earth who does good and
(11:51):
never sins.
Solomonism being cynical.
The verb for being or doing goodmeans continually, without
interruption.
No one ever continually doesgood.
No one lives a life that isnever interrupted by sin.
(12:17):
Solomon warns us to avoid theextremes of selfish wickedness
and of self-righteousness.
And you might think, well, maybeI could arrive at sinless
perfection.
I've actually met people whothink they did.
I remember a guy telling me onetime he didn't sin anymore, and
I really wanted to talk to hiswife and get the real story.
(12:38):
No one, even among thosefollowing after God, will arrive
in this lifetime at sinlessperfection.
That's why the gospel is suchgood news.
Jesus Christ is the perfect,sinless Son of God, who died on
behalf of the fact that youcan't get through one day
(12:59):
without sinning, and neither canI.
That's why the blood of Jesus,John writes, the tense is
continually, constantly,never-endingly cleanses you from
all sin.
You entered that bath, as itwere, as a believer, and the
faucet is never turned off.
If we could ever make it to astate of sinless perfection,
(13:22):
Jesus wouldn't have had to die.
Wisdom is when you understandyour sinfulness in light of
Christ's forgiveness.
Perfection in holiness, by theway, isn't going to be achieved
in this lifetime, but it is yourfuture glory.
It's our goal, it's thedirection we have our toes
(13:45):
pointing.
We agonize when we sin.
We run quickly to the cross, butit is our future glory when we
are one day perfected in thelikeness of Christ.
How great is that gonna be.
(14:21):
And your heart knows that manytimes you yourself have cursed
others.
The word here for cursed meansslighted.
It can mean to dishonor.
It hurt, didn't it?
Or isn't anybody in thisauditorium that hadn't
experienced the sting of thosewords?
(14:46):
It might have been critical orcondescending, it might have
been crude, it might have beencruel.
Solomon says, don't take it toheart.
(15:08):
Now, what's interesting here isthat Solomon doesn't say if you
hear somebody slighting you,don't worry because it's not
true.
Take another closer look atverse 29.
Do not take to heart, notice,all the things that people say.
In other words, some of it mightbe true.
(15:28):
Some of it might be aninvitation from God to repent.
It might be a change, it mightbe a step of real growth to come
to terms with that.
It might be to go to God andsimply say, God, is it true?
Repent of it and then say, nowwould you help me to walk wisely
so that I can prove it in thefuture to be untrue?
(15:52):
Take criticism with a grain ofsalt, and while you're at it,
remember your own faults.
That'll keep your feet on theground.
Walking with balance and wisdomallows you to work through these
issues.
Wisdom rejects the pursuit ofperfectionism.
(16:12):
Wisdom refuses to be paralyzedby painful criticism.
Now, thirdly, wisdom recognizesthe limitations of
intellectualism.
Look at verse 23.
All this I've tested by wisdom.
I said, I will be wise, but itwas far from me.
That which has been far off,very, very deep, who can find
(16:37):
it?
You don't get up in the morningand decide, I shall be wise.
It emanates from a relationshipwith the Lord.
Notice verse 25 elaborates, Iturned my heart to know and to
search out and to seek wisdom inthe scheme or explanation of
things and to know thewickedness of folly and the
foolishness of his madness.
(16:58):
In other words, I set my heartand my mind on figuring out the
human condition.
I was gonna track it down.
I'm gonna figure out the worldaround me.
I'm gonna nail it down.
I didn't get very far.
I often think of Isaac Newton,the brilliant physicist.
For 200 years, his mathematicalformulas and equations
(17:19):
controlled scientific thought.
He'd be the first scientistknighted by the crown.
This guy was bright.
He was a committed believer.
In his later years, he wrote,and I quote, I have only
discovered the edges of God'sways.
There is a great ocean ofknowledge, and I have but been
(17:43):
paddling in the shallows.
If he's been paddling in theshallows, I'm thirty miles
inland.
Wisdom recognizes thelimitations of even our greatest
intellectual achievements.
One more, fourthly, wisdomresists the invitations of
(18:06):
hedonism.
Now, hedonism is a worldview.
Hedonism is a way of life.
Hedonism says the pursuit ofpleasure is the best pursuit in
life.
That's, you know, the mantra isget all you can, you're only
(18:27):
going around once.
That's the idea.
That's hedonism.
Beloved, you happen to live in aworld totally convinced that
hedonism is the way to live.
Notice verse 26.
And I find something more bitterthan death, the woman whose
(18:48):
heart is snares and nets, whosehands are fetters.
He who pleases God escapes her.
But the sinner is taken by her,he focuses on one aspect of the
hedonistic lifestyle, theinvitation to elicit sexual
activity.
(19:10):
Behold, he writes, this is whatI found, says the preacher,
while adding one thing toanother to find the scheme or
explanation of things, which mysoul has sought repeatedly, but
I haven't found.
See, this alone I found, thatGod made man upright, but they
(19:33):
have sought out many schemes.
This is not a passage you'regoing to put on your wedding
invitation.
Don't misunderstand Solomon tomaking a universal rule that
rates women as less trustworthythan men, because he couldn't
find one woman among a thousand,but one man he could trust.
(19:56):
You read his writings, Solomonspeaks highly of women in the
book of Proverbs.
In fact, he even personifieswisdom in the form of a woman in
chapter 1, chapter 8, andchapter 9.
There is some discussion as towhether or not Solomon is
referring to a prostitute, itseems to fit Proverbs chapter 7.
(20:21):
More than likely, and I wouldthrow my hat on the ring with
this particular interpretation,that what he's saying is that he
has gone looking for love.
He's gone looking for pleasure.
He's gone looking for somethinglasting.
He's wanting companionship.
(20:45):
He found one friend among men.
He tried a thousand women andcouldn't find one among them.
And you need to understand, inorder to understand this text,
the context of 1 Kings 11.
That number 1,000 is not just arandom number.
If you're older in the faith andyou understand a little bit of
(21:07):
his biography, he had eithermarried or had concubines
totaling 1,000 women.
1 Kings 11, 1 to 8.
He had 1,000 women in hispalace.
And all he did was turn hisheart away from God.
(21:27):
He walked in with his eyes wideopen, too.
Now, here he's a 70-year-oldman, and he comes to the
conclusion that there wasn't onewoman whom he could trust.
In fact, pursuing pleasurerobbed him of genuine pleasure.
(21:53):
A relationship with the wife henever had.
But he will describe in Proverbs31, in fact, he will say of her
in verse 11, in her the heart ofhis the heart of her husband
(22:14):
does safely trust.
It doesn't get any better thanthat.
See, Solomon is looking in allthe wrong places.
Where are you looking?
Where are you looking?
Hedonism is going to be a deadend.
(22:38):
Solomon wraps up his comments.
Now he's given us the balance ofwisdom, the behavior of wisdom,
and now there are three addedbenefits of wisdom.
Chapter 8 and verse 1, I think,finishes off this theme.
Who is like the wise?
And who knows the interpretationof an issue, a matter, a thing?
(23:01):
A man's wisdom makes his faceshine, and the hardness of his
face is changed.
Let me give you three addedbenefits quickly.
Number one, wisdom will help youlive uniquely.
Go back to verse one, just thefirst phrase.
Who is like the wise?
(23:23):
That's another way of saying,where can I find a wise person?
Can I tell you something?
When you walk wisely, you haveno idea how rare you are.
You have no idea how unique youare.
To walk in wisdom, you're thatrare family member, you're that
(23:49):
rare student, you're that rareneighbor.
How rare you are when you walkwith the balance of behavior of
wisdom.
Secondly, wisdom will help youmake decisions correctly.
You could add the word manybecause we don't make all of
them correctly.
Verse 1, the middle part, whoknows the interpretation of an
(24:09):
issue?
The word for interpretation canbe translated solution.
Who can come up with a solutionto the problem?
Who's got some discernment?
Life is filled with riddles,with questions, with
difficulties, with dilemmas.
A wise person will think throughit biblically, will pray through
(24:35):
it carefully, then entrustthemselves to God and be
thankful.
Even when every decision isn'tcorrect.
Number three, wisdom will helpyou live more graciously.
A man's wisdom makes his faceshine, and the hardness of his
(24:56):
face is changed.
You know what that means?
That means that wisdom is gonnashow up on your face.
It's gonna show up in yourpersonality, it's going to
improve your relationships.
It's gonna be displayed in yourattitude.
(25:17):
He has a way of saying it herethat means it's going to soften
the hardness of your heart.
Anybody here recognize thattheir heart is hard?
If you do, you're probablypursuing wisdom.
(25:39):
And that's going to show upeventually in your temperament
and disposition.
And is it any wonder, by theway, that Solomon will say,
wisdom is the most importantthing you can ever get?
Wisdom draws you to the creatorof wisdom, it draws you to the
word of wisdom, it draws you towalk in wisdom, it gives you the
(26:04):
joy of having the gospel ofwisdom, which is that Jesus
alone is perfect.
Which is Jesus took all of thatdishonor upon himself, which is
Jesus is all-knowing, he isomniscient God the Son, which is
(26:27):
Jesus will forgive your emptypursuits and will fill your life
with purpose and meaning.
As an old man nearing his death,Johann Sebastian Bach was
totally blind, entirelydependent on his family to write
(26:51):
anything.
As he neared the end of hislife, the very last song he
composed, we'd call it a chorus,just a short lyrical statement
of his greatest desire.
It reads, Before your throne, Inow appear.
(27:13):
Turn not your gracious face fromme.
A sinner.
Confer on me this blessed end,Lord, that I may see you
eternally.
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (27:37):
Trust God, live humbly, and let wisdom reshape
your heart and your choices.
Stephen's message today iscalled The Balance and Behavior
of Wisdom.
And it's part of a series fromEcclesiastes entitled Pursuing
Wisdom Under the Sun.
I'm glad you joined us todayhere on Wisdom for the Heart.
(28:01):
You can hear more of Stephen'sBible teaching at our website,
wisdomonline.org.
In fact, for this series,Pursuing Wisdom Under the Sun,
you can watch the full-lengthvideos from when Stephen first
taught this series.
Just navigate to Ecclesiastes inour teaching archive, and you'll
(28:22):
find this series there.
Again, it's wisdomonline.org.
We'll continue through thisseries next time.
So join us then here on Wisdomfor the Heart.
Is it any wonder, by the way, that Solomon will say
wisdom is the most importantthing you can ever get?
Wisdom draws you to the creatorof wisdom, it draws you to the
word of wisdom, it draws you towalk in wisdom, it gives you the
joy of having the gospel ofwisdom, that Jesus took all of
(00:56):
that dishonor upon himself.
Jesus will forgive your emptypursuits and will fill your life
with purpose.
SPEAKER_00 (01:32):
Today, Stephen Davy explores hard questions like
these from Ecclesiastes 7.
You'll learn what wisdom reallylooks like in an imperfect
world.
Wisdom won't eliminate life'stension, but it will teach you
how to live through it.
Solomon shows you how to avoidthe traps of self-righteousness,
(01:57):
perfectionism, cynicism, andpride.
And how to live with humility,discernment, and trusting God.
If you want to know how to makewise decisions, keep listening.
SPEAKER_01 (02:13):
Johann Sebastian Bach composed wonderful music
for the church, for the worldfor that matter.
He composed over 200 cantatasfor the church, choral works for
the church on the life, death,and resurrection of the Lord
(02:34):
Jesus.
He composed songs for his twentychildren, teaching them biblical
truth.
He lived from 1685 to 1750, andas you can imagine, a large
number of original documentswere preserved and have been
over the years.
Most of them are his originalmusical compositions.
(02:58):
But only one document hassurvived all these years.
In fact, it wasn't discovereduntil about 80 years ago, that
he never intended to publish.
These were the notes that hemade in his Bible.
More than likely seen by hiswife Anna and his children.
(03:19):
These notes were written in athree-volume German Bible.
We would call it today a studyBible.
What I found interesting in anarticle I read on the subject is
the fact that the book ofEcclesiastes was evidently his
favorite book of the Bible.
It's the most marked-up book inBach's Bible.
(03:40):
And Ecclesiastes, chapter 7,where we are today, has more
verses underlined than any otherchapter in his Bible.
Bach would often compose a pieceof music.
And for those of you musicians,you probably know this.
He would often write on thefront of that composition the
(04:03):
words, Soli Deo Gloria, to theglory of God alone.
That mattered most.
Verses 2 and 3 of chapter 7 isstatement that sorrow is a
better teacher than laughter.
The end of life is better thanthe beginning of life, all the
way to verse 13, where Godknows, God alone knows why life
(04:25):
has so many twists and turns.
Bach was evidently deeplyconsoled by this.
He marked it up.
More than likely, it's becausehe buried 10 of his 20 children
before they reached adulthood.
Life depended on trusting in thesovereign plan of God for life.
(04:48):
There were times, by the way, itwas interesting, when Bach would
have difficulty writing a pieceof music and he would write in
the margin, Yesu Yuva, Jesushelp me.
That'd be a great caption, bythe way, for life as a believer.
Just to write those in themargins of your life.
(05:21):
Doesn't get any better thanthat.
Well, we're in this chapter,evidently a favorite of Box.
After almost 70 years now,Solomon has come to define life
along these same lines.
For much of his life, as youknow, he lived for his own
glory, and he had a lot of it.
(05:42):
He never thought he needed God'shelp.
But now here in chapter 7, hebegins to transition and bring
God clearly back into thepicture.
We're at verse 15 now.
And he's going to say something,by the way, he's already said 10
times.
This is the 11th time.
In my vain, fleeting life, Ihave seen everything.
(06:07):
I've been there, I've done that,I've seen it all.
And with that, he's going tolaunch into another series of
observations and proverbs thattake us all the way to chapter 8
and verse 1, which I believeconcludes the series.
These are difficult passages topreach or teach for those of you
(06:29):
who teach the word because theyseem so random.
However, on closer inspectionand just kind of reading over
and over and over again, itstrikes me this common theme
occurs.
It is the theme of wisdom.
Solomon is saying, I've seeneverything, but boy, do we ever
need wisdom, especially whenwhat we see doesn't make any
(06:54):
sense.
Notice, again, there is therighteous man who perishes in
his righteousness, and there isa wicked man who prolongs his
life in his evil doing.
In other words, I don't get it.
I don't get this.
Godly people die young, andungodly people live a long time.
(07:22):
Sometimes life doesn't play bythe rules.
Solomon is essentially sayingthat without an understanding of
God's sovereignty who designslife from beginning to end, who
designs our lives, you might endup with the wrong conclusion
that it doesn't matter.
Now Solomon goes on here tomention two extreme ways of
(07:45):
approaching life.
This is perhaps, by the way, oneof the most misunderstood
passages in the book ofEcclesiastes.
Look at verse 16.
He says here, be not overlyrighteous.
Do not make yourself too wise.
Why should you destroy yourself?
Be not overly wicked, neither bea fool.
(08:07):
Why should you die before yourtime?
It is good that you should takehold of this, and from that
withhold not your hand, for theone who fears God shall come out
from both of them.
Now, at first glance, it mightappear that Solomon is telling
you not to get too carried awaywith trying to live a holy life
or a wicked life.
(08:27):
By the way, that happens to bethe plan of salvation for a lot
of people I talk to out thereover the years.
You probably heard the samething.
I'm not all that perfect, butI'm not all that bad.
I found the middle road.
I think God's gonna let me in.
That plan of salvation, by theway, has nothing to do with
Jesus.
It has everything to do withthem.
(08:47):
It also has nothing to do withwalking in wisdom.
God isn't suggesting here thatSolomon doesn't try to be too
good or too bad.
In fact, in the Hebrew text, theverbs in verse 16 carry the idea
of reflexive action.
Both extremes are descriptionsof self-centeredness.
(09:12):
So verse 16 could could beunderstood to read: don't go
around claiming to be sorighteous.
Don't go around trying to be, tomake yourself out to be so wise.
All he's doing is describingsomeone who wants to appear to
(09:34):
be righteous.
Don't go around making yourselfout to be perfect.
Solomon is essentially tellingus here that a wise person
doesn't present themselves toother people as having
spiritually arrived.
Did you notice the danger at theend of verse 16?
You're not gonna build anythingup, you're gonna tear everything
(09:55):
down.
You're not gonna encourageanybody that way.
He's also telling us it'sdangerous to try to make a name
for being entirely wicked.
I've bumped into those peopletoo.
Let me tell you what I've done.
Let me tell you how bad I am.
Solomon says, don't be a fool.
That's destructive as well,verse 17.
(10:18):
Then in verse 18, he says,essentially, walk with God.
Godly wisdom will keep you, notwalking down the middle, but
godly wisdom will help you avoidboth extremes.
That's the idea.
Wisdom enables you, beloved, towalk in godly balance.
(10:40):
Avoiding both.
Since if Solomon says now inverse 19, I've seen it all, let
me show you the value of wisdom.
Notice verse 19.
Wisdom gives strength to thewise man more than 10 rulers who
are in a city.
Let me break that down quickly.
In other words, one wise personin town is worth more than ten
(11:04):
rulers, political leaders.
One paraphrase I readinterpreted it, ten mayors.
You could paraphrase this toread: one wise person is more
valuable in their community thanten unwise politicians.
Now, what Solomon does next islaunch into rapid-fire proverbs
(11:27):
and principles, and essentiallyshows us not just the balance of
wisdom, but the behavioralpatterns of wisdom.
Let me give you four of them.
Number one, wisdom rejects thepursuit of perfectionism.
Look at verse 20.
Surely there is not a righteousman on earth who does good and
(11:51):
never sins.
Solomonism being cynical.
The verb for being or doing goodmeans continually, without
interruption.
No one ever continually doesgood.
No one lives a life that isnever interrupted by sin.
(12:17):
Solomon warns us to avoid theextremes of selfish wickedness
and of self-righteousness.
And you might think, well, maybeI could arrive at sinless
perfection.
I've actually met people whothink they did.
I remember a guy telling me onetime he didn't sin anymore, and
I really wanted to talk to hiswife and get the real story.
(12:38):
No one, even among thosefollowing after God, will arrive
in this lifetime at sinlessperfection.
That's why the gospel is suchgood news.
Jesus Christ is the perfect,sinless Son of God, who died on
behalf of the fact that youcan't get through one day
(12:59):
without sinning, and neither canI.
That's why the blood of Jesus,John writes, the tense is
continually, constantly,never-endingly cleanses you from
all sin.
You entered that bath, as itwere, as a believer, and the
faucet is never turned off.
If we could ever make it to astate of sinless perfection,
(13:22):
Jesus wouldn't have had to die.
Wisdom is when you understandyour sinfulness in light of
Christ's forgiveness.
Perfection in holiness, by theway, isn't going to be achieved
in this lifetime, but it is yourfuture glory.
It's our goal, it's thedirection we have our toes
(13:45):
pointing.
We agonize when we sin.
We run quickly to the cross, butit is our future glory when we
are one day perfected in thelikeness of Christ.
How great is that gonna be.
(14:21):
And your heart knows that manytimes you yourself have cursed
others.
The word here for cursed meansslighted.
It can mean to dishonor.
It hurt, didn't it?
Or isn't anybody in thisauditorium that hadn't
experienced the sting of thosewords?
(14:46):
It might have been critical orcondescending, it might have
been crude, it might have beencruel.
Solomon says, don't take it toheart.
(15:08):
Now, what's interesting here isthat Solomon doesn't say if you
hear somebody slighting you,don't worry because it's not
true.
Take another closer look atverse 29.
Do not take to heart, notice,all the things that people say.
In other words, some of it mightbe true.
(15:28):
Some of it might be aninvitation from God to repent.
It might be a change, it mightbe a step of real growth to come
to terms with that.
It might be to go to God andsimply say, God, is it true?
Repent of it and then say, nowwould you help me to walk wisely
so that I can prove it in thefuture to be untrue?
(15:52):
Take criticism with a grain ofsalt, and while you're at it,
remember your own faults.
That'll keep your feet on theground.
Walking with balance and wisdomallows you to work through these
issues.
Wisdom rejects the pursuit ofperfectionism.
(16:12):
Wisdom refuses to be paralyzedby painful criticism.
Now, thirdly, wisdom recognizesthe limitations of
intellectualism.
Look at verse 23.
All this I've tested by wisdom.
I said, I will be wise, but itwas far from me.
That which has been far off,very, very deep, who can find
(16:37):
it?
You don't get up in the morningand decide, I shall be wise.
It emanates from a relationshipwith the Lord.
Notice verse 25 elaborates, Iturned my heart to know and to
search out and to seek wisdom inthe scheme or explanation of
things and to know thewickedness of folly and the
foolishness of his madness.
(16:58):
In other words, I set my heartand my mind on figuring out the
human condition.
I was gonna track it down.
I'm gonna figure out the worldaround me.
I'm gonna nail it down.
I didn't get very far.
I often think of Isaac Newton,the brilliant physicist.
For 200 years, his mathematicalformulas and equations
(17:19):
controlled scientific thought.
He'd be the first scientistknighted by the crown.
This guy was bright.
He was a committed believer.
In his later years, he wrote,and I quote, I have only
discovered the edges of God'sways.
There is a great ocean ofknowledge, and I have but been
(17:43):
paddling in the shallows.
If he's been paddling in theshallows, I'm thirty miles
inland.
Wisdom recognizes thelimitations of even our greatest
intellectual achievements.
One more, fourthly, wisdomresists the invitations of
(18:06):
hedonism.
Now, hedonism is a worldview.
Hedonism is a way of life.
Hedonism says the pursuit ofpleasure is the best pursuit in
life.
That's, you know, the mantra isget all you can, you're only
(18:27):
going around once.
That's the idea.
That's hedonism.
Beloved, you happen to live in aworld totally convinced that
hedonism is the way to live.
Notice verse 26.
And I find something more bitterthan death, the woman whose
(18:48):
heart is snares and nets, whosehands are fetters.
He who pleases God escapes her.
But the sinner is taken by her,he focuses on one aspect of the
hedonistic lifestyle, theinvitation to elicit sexual
activity.
(19:10):
Behold, he writes, this is whatI found, says the preacher,
while adding one thing toanother to find the scheme or
explanation of things, which mysoul has sought repeatedly, but
I haven't found.
See, this alone I found, thatGod made man upright, but they
(19:33):
have sought out many schemes.
This is not a passage you'regoing to put on your wedding
invitation.
Don't misunderstand Solomon tomaking a universal rule that
rates women as less trustworthythan men, because he couldn't
find one woman among a thousand,but one man he could trust.
(19:56):
You read his writings, Solomonspeaks highly of women in the
book of Proverbs.
In fact, he even personifieswisdom in the form of a woman in
chapter 1, chapter 8, andchapter 9.
There is some discussion as towhether or not Solomon is
referring to a prostitute, itseems to fit Proverbs chapter 7.
(20:21):
More than likely, and I wouldthrow my hat on the ring with
this particular interpretation,that what he's saying is that he
has gone looking for love.
He's gone looking for pleasure.
He's gone looking for somethinglasting.
He's wanting companionship.
(20:45):
He found one friend among men.
He tried a thousand women andcouldn't find one among them.
And you need to understand, inorder to understand this text,
the context of 1 Kings 11.
That number 1,000 is not just arandom number.
If you're older in the faith andyou understand a little bit of
(21:07):
his biography, he had eithermarried or had concubines
totaling 1,000 women.
1 Kings 11, 1 to 8.
He had 1,000 women in hispalace.
And all he did was turn hisheart away from God.
(21:27):
He walked in with his eyes wideopen, too.
Now, here he's a 70-year-oldman, and he comes to the
conclusion that there wasn't onewoman whom he could trust.
In fact, pursuing pleasurerobbed him of genuine pleasure.
(21:53):
A relationship with the wife henever had.
But he will describe in Proverbs31, in fact, he will say of her
in verse 11, in her the heart ofhis the heart of her husband
(22:14):
does safely trust.
It doesn't get any better thanthat.
See, Solomon is looking in allthe wrong places.
Where are you looking?
Where are you looking?
Hedonism is going to be a deadend.
(22:38):
Solomon wraps up his comments.
Now he's given us the balance ofwisdom, the behavior of wisdom,
and now there are three addedbenefits of wisdom.
Chapter 8 and verse 1, I think,finishes off this theme.
Who is like the wise?
And who knows the interpretationof an issue, a matter, a thing?
(23:01):
A man's wisdom makes his faceshine, and the hardness of his
face is changed.
Let me give you three addedbenefits quickly.
Number one, wisdom will help youlive uniquely.
Go back to verse one, just thefirst phrase.
Who is like the wise?
(23:23):
That's another way of saying,where can I find a wise person?
Can I tell you something?
When you walk wisely, you haveno idea how rare you are.
You have no idea how unique youare.
To walk in wisdom, you're thatrare family member, you're that
(23:49):
rare student, you're that rareneighbor.
How rare you are when you walkwith the balance of behavior of
wisdom.
Secondly, wisdom will help youmake decisions correctly.
You could add the word manybecause we don't make all of
them correctly.
Verse 1, the middle part, whoknows the interpretation of an
(24:09):
issue?
The word for interpretation canbe translated solution.
Who can come up with a solutionto the problem?
Who's got some discernment?
Life is filled with riddles,with questions, with
difficulties, with dilemmas.
A wise person will think throughit biblically, will pray through
(24:35):
it carefully, then entrustthemselves to God and be
thankful.
Even when every decision isn'tcorrect.
Number three, wisdom will helpyou live more graciously.
A man's wisdom makes his faceshine, and the hardness of his
(24:56):
face is changed.
You know what that means?
That means that wisdom is gonnashow up on your face.
It's gonna show up in yourpersonality, it's going to
improve your relationships.
It's gonna be displayed in yourattitude.
(25:17):
He has a way of saying it herethat means it's going to soften
the hardness of your heart.
Anybody here recognize thattheir heart is hard?
If you do, you're probablypursuing wisdom.
(25:39):
And that's going to show upeventually in your temperament
and disposition.
And is it any wonder, by theway, that Solomon will say,
wisdom is the most importantthing you can ever get?
Wisdom draws you to the creatorof wisdom, it draws you to the
word of wisdom, it draws you towalk in wisdom, it gives you the
(26:04):
joy of having the gospel ofwisdom, which is that Jesus
alone is perfect.
Which is Jesus took all of thatdishonor upon himself, which is
Jesus is all-knowing, he isomniscient God the Son, which is
(26:27):
Jesus will forgive your emptypursuits and will fill your life
with purpose and meaning.
As an old man nearing his death,Johann Sebastian Bach was
totally blind, entirelydependent on his family to write
(26:51):
anything.
As he neared the end of hislife, the very last song he
composed, we'd call it a chorus,just a short lyrical statement
of his greatest desire.
It reads, Before your throne, Inow appear.
(27:13):
Turn not your gracious face fromme.
A sinner.
Confer on me this blessed end,Lord, that I may see you
eternally.
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (27:37):
Trust God, live humbly, and let wisdom reshape
your heart and your choices.
Stephen's message today iscalled The Balance and Behavior
of Wisdom.
And it's part of a series fromEcclesiastes entitled Pursuing
Wisdom Under the Sun.
I'm glad you joined us todayhere on Wisdom for the Heart.
(28:01):
You can hear more of Stephen'sBible teaching at our website,
wisdomonline.org.
In fact, for this series,Pursuing Wisdom Under the Sun,
you can watch the full-lengthvideos from when Stephen first
taught this series.
Just navigate to Ecclesiastes inour teaching archive, and you'll
(28:22):
find this series there.
Again, it's wisdomonline.org.
We'll continue through thisseries next time.
So join us then here on Wisdomfor the Heart.
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