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LIFE UNDER THE SUN VS. LIFE IN THE SON.
ECC 1:14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
1JO 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
1JO 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; [and] he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
I. SOLOMON DESCRIBED LIFE UNDER THE SUN, WHICH IS LIFE IN THE FLESH AND AFTER THE THINGS OF THE FLESH.
A. Solomon lived the flesh life to its fullest.
1. He said, "I have come into a great estate, I have more wisdom than all who have ever lived in Jerusalem before me, but in much wisdom is much sorrow."
2. He gave himself to partying but found it was madness.
3. He built great monuments, planted vineyards and orchards, and made irrigation systems to water them.
4. He had an abundance of servants. The provisions for his household for one day were: "And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl." He had choirs and orchestras to entertain him.
5. He had everything that he desired. He indulged himself in every joy, he held back nothing from himself.
B. These are the things that he discovered:
1. Nothing of eternal or true value comes from all your labor under the sun.
2. That which is crooked cannot be made straight.
3. There is nothing new under the sun thus life becomes dull and monotonous.
4. In the text, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
5. At the end you have nothing to show for all your labor and vexation that you went through in your labors.
6. In the courts of justice there is wickedness.
7. In the place of righteousness there is iniquity.
8. People weep over the oppression and there is no comforter.
9. The oppressors have the power.
10. Material things are empty and vain.
11. You might as well seek to enjoy what you have gained under the sun for that is all you are going to get from it.
12. The race is not won by the swift, nor the battle by the strong, bread is not always on the wise man's table, nor riches to the man of understanding. Time and chance are the determiners of all things.
13. That God will make all things beautiful in His time.
14. That which God does is forever.
15. That one day God will judge the righteous and the wicked.
16. That the man who lives under the sun, lives like the beasts, for one thing happens to them all, death.
17. Riches can never satisfy.
C. The end result of life under the sun, the life of the flesh was.
1. 2:17 "Therefore I hated life, because all the work has become grievous to me."
2. I hated all my labor for I have to leave it to the man that comes after me.
3. He despaired of all his labor under the sun.
4. It eventually leads to cynicism and despair.
II. LIFE IN THE SON. THIS IS THE RECORD, GOD HAS GIVEN TO US ETERNAL LIFE, AND THIS LIFE IS IN THE SON, HE THAT HATH THE SON HATH LIFE.
A. This eternal life is age-abiding life, it is more than just quantity, it is a quality of life.
B. It is life after the Spirit, vs. the life after the flesh.
C. It is a life that can only be described with superlatives.
1. Peter speaks of indescribable joy that is full of glory.
2. Paul speaks of a peace that passes human understanding.
3. He speaks of love that is beyond human knowledge.
D. It is a life that is rich and fulfilling, for it pays eternal dividends.
1. Paul said that we do not look at the things that are seen, (that is the material world) but at the things that are not seen, for that which is seen is temporal, but that which is not seen is eternal.
2. John said for all that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life is not of the Father but of the world. And the world will pass away with the lusts thereof, but he that doeth the will of God will abide forever.
ISA 40:6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh [is] grass, and all the goodliness thereof [is] as the flower of the field:
ISA 40:7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people [is] grass.
ISA 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
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