January 7, 2024; Sunday Evening Worship

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 95:1-7
• Hymn — I Sing the Almighty Power of God (#119)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Psalm Reading — Psalm 24
• Hymn — Marvelous Grace of Our Loving Lord (#465)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Sermon
• Hymn — To God Be the Glory (#55)
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

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Sermon Title: Learning from the Lessons of Your Limitations

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 7

I. Learn from the Lesson of Your Limited Days

The teacher of death — Ecclesiastes 7:1-10

A. The shocking claim of verse 1: the day of death is more valuable than the day of birth

1. Death is a better teacher than birth; a coffin is a better preacher than a cradle (David Gibson)
2. Solomon invites us to live life backward from our death, seeing through the lens of our limited days

B. The house of mourning clears our vision (Ecclesiastes 7:2, 4)

1. Death unclutters our perspective, helping us see what is truly important
2. Better is the end of a thing than its beginning — the full picture comes into view (Ecclesiastes 7:8)
3. Death is the destination of all mankind; the fool lives as though he will never die

C. Three areas of life to view through the lesson of death (Ecclesiastes 7:7-10)

1. Money (v. 7): Bribery and corruption reveal how money can enslave even the wise; viewing life from death's vantage corrects a heart lured by love of money
2. Character and reactions (vv. 8-9): In light of limited days, is prideful impatience or habitual anger really worth it? The end of a thing reveals whether our life was defined by self-sufficiency or humble trust that God is in control
3. Nostalgia and time (v. 10): Longing for former days is not wisdom; nostalgia can be a denial of God's providential good for the present and a distraction from future hope

D. Believers see through two deaths

1. Our own death remains a teacher, training us to live well in light of our limitations
2. Christ's death removes the terror of our own — his righteousness is imputed to us, and one day there will be no more tears
3. Death remains the last enemy yet to be defeated (1 Corinthians 15), but it will be

II. Learn from the Lesson of Your Limited Deeds

The teacher of sin — Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

A. The key verse: Ecclesiastes 7:29

1. God made man upright, but mankind has sought out many schemes
2. Since Adam, humanity continuously and deliberately invents new ways of sinning
3. Compare Romans 3:23: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; and Ecclesiastes 7:20: there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins

B. Sin instructs us against a wrong kind of righteousness (Ecclesiastes 7:16-28)

1. Self-secured righteousness: pursuing more and more moral effort in one's own strength to feel acceptable
2. The danger: self-blindness — we cannot see ourselves rightly and forget our own failures while judging others (v. 22)
3. The hole of sexual temptation (vv. 26-28): those who trust in their own strength let their guard down and fall; very few escape — compare Joseph's example in Genesis 39
4. The lesson: know your heart, remain honest about it, keep your guard up, and learn to ask for help

C. Sin instructs us toward a renewed love for God and the things of God

1. The fear of the Lord (vv. 18, 26) guards against both self-righteousness and excessive wickedness; it is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10)
2. Fear of God fuels a genuine desire to please him — not to manipulate his love or feel better about ourselves, but to glorify him
3. In Christ, our righteousness is already secured; we walk in good deeds because of what he has accomplished, not to earn his favor
4. Honest awareness of our sin readies our resolve to please the God we love and drives us to depend on his strength, not our own