All Is Vanity – Ecclesiastes 1

SPEAKER 02 : 0:00

There’s a lot of folks who think we’re going to change things, man. We’re going to change it. I mean, we’re going to change it. We can do it. And then you read these testimonies of people who’ve started all kinds of stuff, trying to change things. And they wound up at the end of their life and saying, there’s nothing new under the sun. And there’s some things that cannot be changed. There are a lot of things that can be changed in terms of the mundane routine. Don’t read too much into this. But it’s talking about the basic facts that God has in the order and the system of the universe. There’s something that just don’t change. And you’ve got to live with it. You’ve got to face it.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:46

This is Hope for Today. For the past two days on the program, Ecclesiastes has refused to let us look away. Chapter 1 is compelling. It forces us to face life as it is, not as we wish it were. The endless cycle, the weariness, the honest admission that nothing under the sun can satisfy the human heart. least not very long and today Bible teacher David Hawking brings this opening message from Ecclesiastes chapter 1 to a very important conclusion not to leave us in despair but to show us where real meaning cannot be found and why God must be at the center the center of everything From the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter one, this is day three of a study called All is Vanity. And we’ll get back into the passage in just a moment. Before we begin, let me invite you to sign up for the Hope for Today ministry letter. It comes out every month. This is a simple way to stay connected with what God is doing through this work. Each letter includes ministry updates, special offers, and specific prayer requests. Ask for the monthly ministry letter when you get in touch, and we’d love to hear from you. And we’re always grateful for your prayers as we continue to proclaim God’s word here on Hope for Today. Call us at 800-75-BIBLE to sign up for the Hope for Today monthly ministry letter or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. You can also go to our website, davidhawking.org, and request to receive the monthly letter on a regular basis. That’s davidhawking.org. Now go to Ecclesiastes chapter 1, and here’s David with day three of All is Vanity.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:50

Ecclesiastes says, fear God. Solomon, at the height of his glory and wisdom, says over and over again in Proverbs that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, and knowledge of the Holy One is true understanding. To know God is the highest pursuit we could ever desire in our lives. It is a mark of maturity when a Christian can finally settle down from all the glorious experiences that other Christians and ministries have promoted him to and can finally rest and relax in one thing. And that’s to know God better today than I did yesterday. And to stop all the other trips and all the other divisive things in Christianity and come down to one ultimate question. Who is God? Do I know Him? Do I know how to worship Him? God is spirit, and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. For God the Father seeks such to worship him. And we’re enamored with ourselves, with our minister. We’re entertaining ourselves. We’re looking at it in the sense of what we can gain from it. And all the time I keep asking that basic question, why are we here? The Bible teaches that whether we eat or we drink or whatever we do, we’re to do all to the glory of God. The Bible says that everything that God created was for his own pleasure. And what’s wrong with us today is that we are not remembering our ultimate accountability to God. Fearing God is not the question at all. We’re concerned about man and what man can achieve, what rights he has, what privileges he has, how great is his freedom. We want to go clear to the borderline of testing everything God ever told us was wrong and trying it and seeing if it is wrong, all because we don’t fear God. Therefore, we don’t reverence what he says. And that second issue is very powerful in Ecclesiastes. Not only fearing God, but the fact that God will bring you and every work into judgment. Look back at chapter 3 again. Let’s just trace that thought. That God will bring us and every work into judgment. In chapter 3, verse 15. It says, that which is has already been, and what is to be has already been. And God requires an account of what is past. Verse 17, I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked. There shall be a time there for every purpose and for every work. Chapter 11, please, verse 9. This whole idea of God judging. In Ecclesiastes 11.9, when it says, Rejoice, O young man, in your youth. Let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these, God will bring you into judgment. Powerful. In chapter 12, verse 14, God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil. Awesome. Noah Webster said that the greatest thought that ever controlled his life was his accountability to God. Went on to describe how man wants to flee from that. That man, even though he believes in it, in the moments in which he’s tested in pressure, wants to run away from that. That awesome thought that somehow God will bring me into account for the things that I have done. And the message of Ecclesiastes is you can count on it. We must remember our ultimate accountability to God. Thank God for the glorious gospel of Christ whereby Jesus our Lord bears our penalty and takes our judgment. My friends, God is going to have every one of us, including believers, give an account. That isn’t the sense of fear in the sense of loss of salvation to the believer. But there is a sense of fear that ought to belong to that question. There is a time, according to the Bible, at the judgment seat of Christ when Christ will take what we have done. And the Bible says whether good or bad. And he will evaluate it. Praise God, eternity is based on our faith in Jesus Christ. But what will it mean? Is it the loss of reward and the loss of fulfillment, the loss of joy? What is it? I don’t understand all the questions, but I know the fact. The fact of both Old Testament and New Testament is that God will bring into account all things. How he’s going to do that and what the consequences are, men and women debate over. But the truth has to remain. God is going to cause us to give an account to him. Every one of us, Paul wrote to believers, will give account of himself to God. Whether it helps you to think of reward in that sense, or whether it means some sort of disappointment or sadness, that is in the counsel of God. I know the fact remains. And what the culture is doing is running away from it. Fear God and know that he’s going to bring you into judgment for everything you have said, done, or thought. You say, man, that’s kind of negative. Absolutely. It’s time we face some negatives in our life and understand that God wants to give us more joy than we ever knew was possible. God wants you to go to work tomorrow and know that your life can be filled with joy no matter how many hassles and struggles and problems you face because you’re properly related to Him. He’s the one in control of the human heart and He can bring you joy even in the midst of trouble. It’s interesting when you get sick, everybody’s sorry. But there are a lot of blessings of being sick. Do you know that? There are a lot of blessings. And you know the thrill of having time to study. Nobody bothering you because you’re sick. They’re all crying over you and weeping over you. And I got to thinking about, I got just laughing with joy some days. You know, God has blessings in everything, doesn’t he? A lot of it is our attitude, let’s face it. It’s what we see about what we go through. And here he is, the eternal God, wanting to fill our lives with joy. And what are we doing? We’re all hung up on all the worldly pursuits that he says are vanity. Chapter 1 starts with a whole issue of the futility of life. Chapter 1 deals with the first purpose, and that’s to reveal the futility of all earthly pursuits. The key verse of the whole book is in verse 2. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Seven times in the book it says all is vanity. Seven times in the book it says all is grasping for wind. And that applies to everything under the sun, which is used 26 times in the book. Everything under the sun means what’s going on on earth. There’s a companion question also in verse 3 when it says, What profit has a man? What advantage has a man from all his labor? And Solomon will ask that question three times. What’s the profit to what we are doing? What are we achieving by what we are doing? And he’s saying all is vanity. Vanity is translated even when it speaks of man being like a breath. Same word. It speaks of man’s dreams as fleeting fantasies in the book of Job, and it’s the same word. When it speaks of something that’s absolutely nothing, it’s the same word. The Hebrew word Hebel, we get our Hebrew name Abel from. Something that is vanity, it’s temporary, it’s transitory, it does not last forever. And that’s the theme of the whole book, that life, what it’s really all about, all the things that we’re trying to achieve, it’s vanity. There’s nothing there. What you’re after is not there. What’s behind it all is the eternal God who made it and knows why it’s there. Interesting point. I would turn it around and ask this question. What is Solomon’s answer to the question, what profit is there of all these things? Look at chapter 2, and we’ll just give it to you quickly, though we’re going to go into great detail in our series. But in chapter 2, verse 11, here’s his first answer. What profit, what advantages are there to everything you’re doing in your life? And the answer, last phrase of verse 11, there was no profit under the sun. But above the sun, with God, there’s a lot of profit, a lot of advantage. You see the point? Under the sun, all the activities of life, what advantage is it to pursue all those things? You’re after them, you’re hot on it. We call them climbers or whatever. You see them everywhere. What are you after? What are you trying to achieve? Why do people have midlife crisis? Sometimes a simple point is because they haven’t read Ecclesiastes. And nobody put that in anybody’s book yet. You see, if you read Ecclesiastes, you wouldn’t have a midlife crisis. You’d have a young people’s crisis, a 30 crisis, a 40 crisis, a 50, a 60. You’d have a crisis your whole life because you’d learn that everything we’re pursuing is vain. There’s nothing to it. There’s no substance. Without the Lord, it’s zero time. And when we come to Ecclesiastes, that message is firmly implanted. I would turn it around and ask this question. Is life worth living? And if only to pursue these goodies that he talks about in Ecclesiastes, then the answer would be, no, it’s not. That’s the way Solomon deals with it. Is life really worth living? If what I’m doing is pursuing all these little goodies and goals and things of life that I think will somehow bring me happiness, if that’s the motive, if that’s the reason, then Solomon’s answer is no. And you’re headed for a tragedy in your life at some point. You will wake up someday and discover you were all wrong. you didn’t achieve it. If only to make a profit, if only to have greater knowledge, if only to have more pleasure, etc., etc., the answer to the question is no, life is not worth living. Let me quickly show you the reasons in verse 1. Verse 4, I’d have to say, because what you do doesn’t last forever. Have you been able to deal with that yet? I mean, it’s almost amusing. It says, one generation passes away, another comes, but the earth abides forever. The earth stays, but we just come and go. So the reason why life isn’t worth living, if you’re pursuing all these things, why it’s futile, why it’s vain, why it’s empty, why it’s nothing, is because what you do doesn’t last forever. So why are you so excited with what you do? Interesting, isn’t it? Secondly, in verses 5 to 8, I like to call this, or 5 to 7, I like to call this the restless ones. The sun, the wind, and the rivers. Verse 5, 6, and 7. You see, the reason why life is meaningless, if all you’re doing is pursuing the things that life offers, is because what you do does not satisfy. And the illustration is in the sun, wind, and rivers. The sun rises, it goes down, and hastens to the place where it rose. And you know something? It’s going to do that tomorrow again. You say, boy, the writer wasn’t too scientific because the sun does not rise at… Hey, don’t… You know what he’s doing? He’s writing from man’s point of view only. What we see. Life under the sun. We’re looking at life. And we see every day it looks like the sun’s coming up. Even though I know the earth is rotating. Okay. So the sun comes up. And it goes down. And you know, you talk about boring monotonous. That thing is going to do that again tomorrow. And that’s what he’s saying there. The restless ones. The sun… The wind and the rivers. You talk about a problem. The rivers run into sea, yet the sea never gets full. And the place from which they come, they return again. You say, well, I don’t understand that scientifically. That’s just evaporation. But have you ever thought about it this way? Boring. You know what I mean? Boring. I mean, it’s a process. Goes on all the time. Nothing is achieved. And God says, from the sun, from the wind, from the rivers, we learn one lesson. What you do does not satisfy. Do you understand? Hey, I think about this in food. I love eating, man. I think it’s a great thing. You know what I mean? I hate people that don’t like eating. I don’t know what it is. They sit there and they say, I don’t like to eat. You don’t like to eat? Hey, Ecclesiastes says you ought to enjoy it. But you got to watch the fat, right? But hey, loving what you eat. I love to eat. But you notice something? You have a great meal and you feel so satisfied. You say, hey, that did it, man. Permanent satisfaction. No, no, no. A few hours, I’m hungry again. Boring, monotonous. You see, if you’re really pursuing all these things, Solomon is saying, what you do doesn’t last forever, verse 4. And what you do does not satisfy, verses 5 through 8. But a third reason. The reason why it’s not worth living, if that’s your only goal, is because what you do is not new. Now, it takes old people to appreciate this. It really does. You know, I think the older you get, the more amusing it gets. And when you get up in years and get a few gray hairs and you look back on life, and you see all these people running around discovering these new things, you just kind of smile. Yeah, new, sure. Nothing is new. But to the guy that gets it, he thinks it’s so new. Hey, I got this stuff. You won’t believe it. It’s brand new. And you look at him and you say, you’ve got to be kidding. There’s nothing new, but you don’t want to discourage the poor chap. You know, he’s so thrilled with what he’s discovered. But it’s not new. It’s just new to him. Solomon says, there’s nothing new under the sun, verse 9. So what are you after? And then he has a fourth matter in verse 11. Because what you do is not remembered like you think. There’s a lot of guys out there working their tails off thinking that somehow they’re going to have a lasting remembrance. Hey, people even forget what you did last year in the company, let alone a lifetime. And when a generation passes, you think they’re going to remember you? Hey, they’re going to put up a little thing. People even forget. There’s memorials all over the world to various people and what they have done. Do you think people remember what they’ve done? I’ve seen people disagree and argue over what somebody did that happened 20 years ago and he’s dead now and in heaven. We don’t remember. The mind is funny. We forget. We don’t remember. We don’t have the lasting remembrance. That’s one of the funny things. You can use tapes now to even demonstrate that. People say, I remember exactly what was said. Then you play the tape and say, well, I thought I did. You know, it’s amazing, the mind, it plays tricks on you. And you think you remember some, you don’t. And what the writer is saying is that all of life is futile because there’s no remembrance of former things. Verse 11, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after. So why are you so hung up? on trying to achieve things in this life. And there’s another factor in verse 14, because what you learn will not change certain facts, folks. What you learn in life will not change certain things. A lot of people think they will. Verse 15, what is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered. There’s a lot of folks who think we’re going to change things, man. We’re going to change it. I mean we’re going to change it. We can do it. And then you read these testimonies of people who have started all kinds of stuff trying to change things and they’ve wound up at the end of their life and saying there’s nothing new under the sun and there’s some things that cannot be changed. Now there are a lot of things that can be changed in terms of the mundane routine. Don’t read too much into this. But it’s talking about the basic facts that God has in the order and the system of the universe. There’s something that just don’t change. And you’ve got to live with it. You’ve got to face it. And one final thing as to why life is so futile when you look at the things in life and try to pursue it as if those things are the goal. And that’s because what you learn brings so much grief. Look at verse 18. For in much wisdom, you want to know everything? You want to go to school? You want to be top in your class? You want to know everything? You better read this first. In much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. testimony of a friend of mine who decided he wanted to go into counseling. He wanted to go into counseling. He wanted to prepare himself. He went to school. He prepared himself. He got all excited. He learned all these things. He was so fascinated about human nature, understanding people. He got it all down, man, put out his little shingle, and he’s going to be a counselor. He’s going to really help people. You know, after about, well, it was almost two years, but a little short of that, after all this time being in it, he was absolutely shocked with how he reacted to it. He was so excited when he went to school. Learn all these great things about people and everything. But you know what he found out? He found out that Solomon was right in Ecclesiastes 1.18. That in much wisdom and increasing in knowledge brings much sorrow. He said, Dave, there’s a lot of sorrow out there in the world. There’s a lot of hurt. There’s a lot of pain. And he says, you start trying to deal with that, man. He says, it really affects you emotionally. And that’s why you really need the joy of God. What are we after? What are you seeking? And Solomon’s answers are, to the futility of all earthly pursuits, there is joy only in relating properly to God, and ultimately we’re going to be accountable to God himself. Did you think you could live without that? Did you think you could somehow survive, even as a believer, without seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness?

SPEAKER 01 : 20:45

That’s author and Bible teacher David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back in just a moment to put the finishing touches on our study for today, so stay right there. First, Matt’s here, and we have an excellent study pack, Matt, perfect for our current series in Ecclesiastes, and let’s talk about it for a moment. Ecclesiastes is one of the most profound and needed messages for our culture today. It is written by the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon. Solomon describes himself. As the preacher and his divinely inspired writing in the biblical text is a reflection on all that life offers, which is vanity without a relationship to God. Solomon had it all. He had fame, wealth, wisdom, pleasures in abundance. But he grew to be utterly unsatisfied. Yeah, the accumulation of it all did not bring him happiness or peace. No. No, he learned the hard way what Jesus taught in Matthew 6, 24. Matt, you’ve got that there. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon, which is money. In our Ecclesiastes radio series and in his book, Is Life Worth Living? David Hawking will show you Solomon’s divinely inspired reflections on these matters. You see, Solomon discovered, and this book and radio series will help you discover all of life as God intends. And if your life is rightly related to him, it will be abundantly worth living. And right now we have an excellent value package for you that combines my dad’s book on Ecclesiastes titled, Is Life Worth Living? Plus the complete collections of David’s messages in our current Ecclesiastes radio series. Now we’re going to be in Ecclesiastes, Matt, for several weeks. And with this package, listeners will have the book, which is a powerful study guide. And the complete series saved and secured on audio for years to come. Order the Is Life Worth Living package. How much is it, Matt?

SPEAKER 1 : 22:36

$40.

SPEAKER 01 : 22:36

$40. You can order by phone or online today. To get the Is Life Worth Living Ecclesiastes Pack, just $40, call us at 875-BIBLE. In Canada, our number, 888-75-BIBLE. And Bible, when you punch that out on your phone, is 242-4255. And if you’d like to support this ministry with a gift that is above and beyond the cost of your resource order, well, you can phone that in, you can put it on our website, or write to us at Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7OAKS, Abbotsford, B.C., V2SHP1. You can also give by phone, as I mentioned. In the United States, call 875-BIBLE. In Canada, 888-75-BIBLE. And online at DavidHawking.org. And, you know, as we look ahead to 2026, please prayerfully consider becoming a regular monthly supporter of Hope for Today, as God might direct you to do and provide for you to do. Your faithful support helps keep this teaching on the air and online and the Word of God going forth day by day. Thank you for your prayers and for standing with us here on Hope for Today. Well, as promised, once again, here’s David.

SPEAKER 02 : 24:06

Let’s close with prayer. Father, we look around us and see a world that’s trying to find satisfaction. And they’re gone to everything under the sun. And sometimes when we sit back and look at it from God’s point of view, our hearts just ache for people. As we watch the misery, the sorrow, the frustration, the disappointment, the discouragement. Oh God, our Heavenly Father, our Creator, our rock and our fortress. God, we ask you to help us to return our focus and our understanding back to you. Lord, I know this means repentance, a change of mind and heart and attitude, to stop looking at things merely horizontally and start looking at them vertically, to stop worshiping ourselves and our own pursuits and to start worshiping you. Help us, Father, to start asking the right questions. And God, I pray for all of us who say we know you. God, help us. Help us, Father, to understand we cannot live life without you. Some of us need to return to the God we say we love. We thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Your friend, if you need your relationship with the Lord to be refreshed, renewed, download the book David mentioned called Revival Now. It’s right on the homepage of our website, and that is DavidHawking.org. You’ll find it there. It’s a free download. You don’t need to sign up for anything. DavidHawking.org and look for Revival Now. When you receive this, read it and share it with as many people as you like. You probably already have someone in mind who could really use this kind of encouragement. So don’t wait. Download it. Share it today. Well, what happens when work becomes identity, when success becomes meaning, and when everything you build still leaves you feeling empty? Well, next time on Hope for Today, David turns to Ecclesiastes chapter 2 to begin a message called Living for Your Job. Well, don’t miss that next time here on Hope for Today.