Ecclesiastes #020 - Learn the Bible Broadcast - Ecclesiastes 1:15-18
Bro. Jonathan D. Judy

Antioch Baptist Church
5709 N. Broadway St.
Knoxville, TN 37918
http://www.LearntheBible.org

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c. Its Inability to Straighten (Ecclesiastes 1:15a)
i. Worldly wisdom (learning, education, philosophy, and human reasoning) cannot straighten that which is crooked.
1. In scripture several things are called crooked:
a. Things that God hath made crooked (Ecclesiastes 7:13)
b. Leviathan (Isaiah 27:1) – “that crooked serpent”
i. This is a reference to Satan (Revelation 20:2)
ii. Tons of education and learning cannot wipe out the influence that the devil has in this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4) In fact in today’s education they are teaching exactly what he wants.
c. The ways of man (Psalm 125:5; Proverbs 2:12-15)
i. You can clean a man up, give him a nice house, a car, and put him through school, but this will not change his crooked ways.
ii. Whether you look at the man in the gutter or the man on Wall Street, but his ways are crooked.
d. A crooked and perverse generation, or nation (Deuteronomy 32:5; Philippians 2:15)
i. When an entire generation, or nation goes crooked, all the education in the world cannot make them straight. (Job 14:4; 15:14)
1. As far as knowledge, there has never been a time when it has been so prevalent; it is increasing at alarming rates.
2. But who can claim that the world is any better for it? This once again shows the failure of it.
ii. The education and knowledge of this world cannot save it.
ii. The One Source that can Straighten it All (Ecclesiastes 1:15; Isaiah 42:16; 45:2)
d. Its Inability to Solve Problems (Ecclesiastes 1:15b)
i. Shown in the Lives of Men (Daniel 5:22-28)
1. King Belshazzar was found wanting before God (Daniel 5:27)
a. All of the education, learning, and knowledge that Belshazzar and his wise men had could not save his kingdom.
b. Their knowledge was limited to earthly (under the sun) wisdom. (Daniel 2:26-28; Ecclesiastes 1:3)
c. Daniel’s wisdom was from above (Daniel 2:28)
2. The poor of the land (Mark 14:7)
ii. Shown in the Problems of this World (Proverbs 30:15-16)
1. The grave – Men are still dying
2. The barren womb – There will always be people that want children
3. The earth that is not filled with water – Man has not solved the problem of drought.
4. The fire that saith not, it is enough – Man has not found a way to stop forest fires.
iii. In conclusion; around 1,000 BC a Hebrew king wrote down two absolutes that are as settled as the sun “rises” and the sun “sets.” (Ecclesiastes 1:15) No matter how educated men become, they cannot solve the problems of this world. Education does not help. Man alone cannot make it right.
C. The Curse of Learning (Ecclesiastes 1:16-18)
a. Solomon’s Great Estate (Ecclesiastes 1:16)
i. Because of his wisdom (1 Kings 4:29-34; 1 Kings 10:1-10)
ii. His excellence of riches (1 Kings 4:20-27):
1. Reigning over all kingdoms from the Philistines to the border of Egypt.
2. From Tiphsah to Azzah, and peace on all sides.
3. His provision for one day:
a. Thirty measures of fine flour for one day
b. Sixty measures of meal
c. Ten fat oxen
d. Twenty oxen out of pasture
e. One hundred sheep
f. Harts, roebucks, fallowdeer, and fatted fowl.
b. The Extent of Solomon’s Experience (Ecclesiastes 1:16)
i. Not just head knowledge
ii. He has experienced it (He lived it)
1. He spoke of many things (1 Kings 4:32-33)
a. Three thousand proverbs
b. One thousand and five songs
2. His running of the affairs of the state (1 Kings 3:16-28)
a. He tested both women to see which one was the real mother
b. His test guaranteed that the right woman received her child
c. Solomon’s Pursuit to Know Folly and Madness (Ecclesiastes 1:17)
i. Solomon set out to not only to know wisdom but also to know its opposite (Ecclesiastes 2:12; 7:25; 10:12-13)
1. Folly is foolishness or lack of understanding
2. Biblically it includes evil against God
a. Achan wrought folly in Israel when he took of the forbidden objects in Jericho (Joshua 7:15, 18-26)
b. You see this even in the life of Solomon when he allowed the worship of other gods, and took strange wives; which was not allowed by the Lord (1 Kings 11:6-12)
ii. In the end this vexed Solomon’s spirit (Ecclesiastes 1:17-18)
d. The Grief and Sorrow of much Wisdom (Ecclesiastes 1:18)
i. Solomon concluded after years of study, that much learning and getting of wisdom would result in grief (Ecclesiastes 1:18)
ii. Much learning would weary the flesh (Ecclesiastes 12:12)
e. The Two Wisdoms Defined (Ecclesiastes 1:18)
i. Worldly wisdom (Ecclesiastes 1:18)
ii. Godly wisdom (James 3:13-17
1. One is “pure,” and “peaceable” (James 3:17)
2. The other “earthly, sensual, and devilish” (James 3:15)
3. Godly wisdom is to be desired (James 1:5)