YouTube Transcript:
Unlocking the Old Testament Part 35 - Ecclesiastes

Skip watching entire videos - get the full transcript, search for keywords, and copy with one click.

AutoDub

Understand YouTube Foreign Videos

Immersive YouTube Voice Translation

Break language barriers, embrace global quality content

Solve Foreign Video Barriers Instantly

Video Transcript

it's the story of how God was seeking a

bride for his son each book is different

from every other book I'm trying to give

you the keys for you to unlock it for [Music]

[Music]

yourself I'd like to play a game with

you to begin this session I'm going to

read some quotes I won't tell you where

they're from but I want you to put your

hand up quickly if you agree with the

sentiments that are expressed all right

if you don't agree keep your hand down

here's the first Generations come and

generations go but the world stays just the

the

same anybody agree with that oh half a

dozen here's another a man is no better

off than an animal because life has no

meaning for

either you don't agree with that one it

is better to be satisfied with what you

have than to be always wanting something

else oh you all agree with that a

working man may or may not have enough

to eat but at least he can get a good

night's sleep a rich man though has so

much that he stays awake

worrying you think that's you agree with

that don't be too good or too wise why

kill yourself but don't be too Wicked or

too foolish either why die before you have

have

to does that make

sense no here's another one I found one

man in a thousand that I could respect

that fast Runners do not always win the

races and the brave do not always win the

battles you agree with that one right

one more put your investment in several

places many places even because you

never know what kind of bad luck you're

world you not sure about

that you should have agreed with

everyone that's all in the word of

God I've been reading from

Ecclesiastes all those came straight out

of the Bible and yet you didn't agree

with half of

them what I'm trying to show you is that

a text out of a context is

dangerous you can make the Bible prove

anything you like if you take texts out

of context and I'm sure you've heard

this that a text out of context becomes a

pretext well now when you read the book

of Ecclesiastes it really is the

strangest book in the Bible the problem

is not how to to understand it it's only

too easy to understand the problem is to

agree with it it says the most

outrageous things it's too easy to

understand it doesn't sound like the

word of God at all it sounds more like

those little slips of paper you get out

of Christmas crackers you know sort of

homely bits of wisdom in fact it doesn't

sound much different from for example

Alfred Lord

Tennyson whose uh centinary of death it

was last year I just picked things up at

random part of his uh poems is better to

have loved and lost than never to have

loved at all for men at most differ as

Heaven and Earth but women worst and

best as Heaven and

Hell Authority forgets a dying King

knowledge comes but wisdom lingers

because right is right to follow right

where wisdom in the scorn of

consequence what's the difference

between Alfred Lord Tenison and

Ecclesiastes there's not much difference

at all is there when you look at

both in fact the Book of Ecclesiastes

has a very contemporary ring it's full of

isms I'm always wary of isms anything

that ends in ISM a little red warning

light goes on in my brain there are only

two isms I'm happy with baptism and

evangelism but apart from those isms all

the other isms really give me the

willies they become obsessions with

people and here are some of the isms I

found in Ecclesiastes fatalism

whatever will be will be

existentialism live for the present

moment who knows what the future is it's there

there

chauvinism well I read one or two

statements out that are clear chauvinism

Hedonism Living For Pleasure eat drink

and be

merry cynicism there's a lot of cynicism

in the Book of Ecclesiastes and that

seems to me the mood of our age we live

in a very cynical age that cannot

believe good things of people that

always believes there's something wrong

or something bad in motives behind good

acts we're a very cynical people and the

general impression is one of pessimism a

gloomy view of life it really is quite

depressing in a sense to read

Ecclesiastes here is a man who has

reached the end of life and is

disappointed disillusioned and hopeless

I say reach the end of life because it's

very easy to

tell how old an author is by what he

writes we've just read the song of songs

and study it how old was Solomon when he wrote

wrote

that when he extolled the love with this

girl I mean he was quite young but when

you read The Book of Proverbs which he

also wrote he says now son watch the

women now how old is he now you see he's

middle-aged isn't he he's trying to stop

his son doing the same things he did I

remember once hearing a girl say to her

mother what did you do at my age that

makes you so worried about

me which is most devastating question so

when Solomon says you know watch the

women son that's a middle-aged man but

here in Ecclesiastes remember your

creator in the days of your youth before

the teeth are few and the eyes are dim

and the legs shake how old is he he's

very near the end of life he's reaching

his long home as he calls it and he's

looking back on life and he's

desperately disappointed disillusioned

and depressed with what he's done about

it or with it and these insights in this

book are the result of his

observations uh he keeps using the

phrase I saw I saw I

saw and he observed life he watched

people and he came to certain

conclusions which he includes here now

this does not mean that God sees life as

Solomon sees it that's very important

and that's why you don't just quote

texts from Ecclesiastes as if God is

saying it we've got to ask why God put

it in the Bible but nevertheless so here

we have Solomon and he gives himself a

title in Hebrew

calet what does it mean it's sometimes

translated preacher or philosopher or

lecturer I think the nearest translation

would be speaker

particularly because we use this word

for the one who presides over the

debates in the House of Commons and this

old man is presiding over a debate but

the debate is going on in his

mind and like every good speaker he

allows the pros and the cons to have

equal speech and he listens to a

negative thought in his mind then a

positive and the debate is about the

motion life is worth

living and he cannot decide whether his

life has been worth living or not and he

keeps listening to the pros and the cons

the Y and the Nay trying to decide

whether the motion is carried or

defeated now it's awful to reach the end

of life and to be to be debating that

question because you only get one bite

of the Cherry you only get one chance to

live yesterday has gone you can't have

it back again you only get one time

around and to get to the end of life and

feel that you've missed it that's

terrible it explains the midlife crisis

many men have they they often reach

their goals in their 40s and they get to

the top and look around and there's

nothing what's it all been for what's it

all been about and many men in Middle

years try and start all over again and

they trade in the family Saloon for

sports car and they trade in the wife

for a later model and they you know they

they go crazy because they they feel

I've missed it got to start again and

second and third marriages trying to

capture life trying to make the most of

it before it's gone it's a very very

common problem all right well Solomon is

debating what are we here for what's

life all about is life worth living how

can we make the most of life and that's

probably the most important question any

human being can

ask precisely because we only get it

once many I'm afraid don't even bother

to ask they just feed their bodies keep

their job going and they're just

existing what a tragedy to waste a life

just existing and just keeping Body and

Soul together many people just doing

that their sole concern is how to keep

going but why keep going if there's

nothing worth keeping going

for well now let's look at the negative

side of the debate first have I have I

wasted my life what's it all been and

his opening statement Vanity Vanity all is

Vanity now unfortunately that's a bad

translation because the word vanity

today means

Pride most cars have a vanity mirror on

one of the um Sun Shields you notice

which side it's usually on by the way

but um it simply means a pride mirror

and the word vanity today simply means

pride and nothing more but in older

English vanity means

emptiness it's to do a thing in

vain useless wasted and I think the

nearest English word to vanity is

pointless here's a man who gets the end

of life and says

pointless pointless it's all been

pointless now that is a very very sad

conclusion or useless useless utterly

useless as one modern translation puts

it now he had been in a position to have

anything he

wanted and to do anything he wanted

first he was King so he had the power to

do anything he wanted he also had the

wealth he was a very rich man if money

could buy it he could buy

and he did he had Fame too now these are

the things most men want wealth power or

fame to find some meaning in life to

make life worth

living well he was fabulously wealthy

and so famous that the Queen of Sheba

came on a pilgrimage just to meet him

and see what he was like and she said

the half has not been told now he said

I've tried everything and he gives a

list of his interests and they cover a

huge range of human activity the first

thing he tried was science and the

particular branch of science he studied

was Agriculture and he went in for

cattle breeding and he really studied it

and he bred some fine

cattle but it didn't satisfy him it was

interesting while it lasted didn't

satisfy so he then turned to the Arts

and he tried two branches of the Arts

music was the first and of course he

inherited a love of music from his dad

but he he really went into music studied

the instruments had orchestras playing

in the court and yet it began to pull so

he then moved into architecture that is

satisfying to build a great building and

to feel it'll be there long after you're

gone it's very satisfying as

architecture except you have to live

with your mistakes and then he tried

collecting pictures and he built

Galleries and he collected pictures from

all over paid a fortune for them but

they're all mine and he would walk along

the gallery looking at his

pictures but pretty soon that began to

bore him so he tried entertainment now

he didn't have TV couldn't so he got

caught Comedians and they came in and

they put on a sitcom for him regularly

in the palace and he laughed himself

silly to go to bed and laughter became

comedy have a good laugh that's that's

what life's all about have a good laugh

if you you heard that anyway and he

tried that and it was fun while it

lasted but it didn't last so then he

went into business and he am Master

fortune in the commercial world and he

really was good at buying and selling

and he really found he could make money

hand over fist more than he needed and

yet somehow that didn't satisfy so then

he tried pleasure and he tried the usual

forms of it food wine and women and he

certainly went into all three at debt

and still he was

empty so he then finally went into

philosophy and he bought a library full

of books and he he searched for wisdom

books all over got them from Egypt there

was a lot of wisdom literature in Egypt

and he got a lot from there and he

filled this library and he studied all

the wisdom and he studied all that great

men had written and finally instead of

making books there is no end you can't

read them

all and all these things failed

him they

stimulated but they didn't

satisfy now listen there's nothing wrong

with many of those

things but if they are the main purpose in

life they will

fail to interpret life for you don't we

need to hear this there's something very

modern about this he's saying look I

have tried it all and it's all pointless

now you see when you found real life you

can get joy out of all those

things but if you're trying to find the

meaning of life in any of

them one of the problems is you grow

old and you can't do them all as you used

used

to or else you just get tired of doing

them and we live in a frenetic age when

people are constantly trying something

new the biggest section of bookshops is

the cookery

section trying to find some new

gastronomic experience that might

titivate us you know we'll go to the Tha

restaurant tonight we'll have Chinese

tomorrow night and we'll do Indian the

next night you know as if Yorkshire

pudding isn't good enough for us as if

we must have some new experience to

stimulate us we might be satisfied if we

explore all the cafeterias of the world

it is really quite sad to see people

trying to find meaning to life in these

ways instead of having found meaning

into life able to enjoy them in their

place but when they become number one it

leads to what he calls vexation of

spirit we would say

frustration you just become frustrated

they are not meeting the need now can we

explain his failure to make sense of

Life yes we can he has tunnel

vision he has observed too much and seen

too little now tunnel vision is when you

can only see a part of what normal site

can see you only see a bit of the

picture and Solomon had tunnel vision

here in two ways he was limited first of

all everything he saw was under the

sun favorite phrase of his I saw Under

the Sun and if you never lift your eyes

above the sun if all you can see is

what's under the sun you will never

understand the meaning of life I think

the saddest people my wife and I have

met recently were out on the cost of Del

Soul people had had a lovely fortnite's

holiday in Spain and sold up here to

retire there and live under the

sun that's about all you can do out

there no wonder El Dorado was such a

flop because life is a flop out there

and we met these sad people who can't

afford can't sell their villain now and

they can't afford to come back they're

stuck under Under the Sun for the rest

of their existence now you see life

can't be lived under the sun you need a

much higher

perspective if all you see is Under the

Sun you don't see what life is all about

and the other limitation to his

observations was he only looked at this

life he never mentions the

next now if your vision is limited to

this earth and this life you will never

understand what life is all about or

what makes it wor living you need the

perspective of God outside these

limits both limits in space and time

give you too little a view of life it's

only when you see life under

heaven in the light of Heaven's

perspective and this world in the light

of the next that you begin to see what

life is all about you follow me and this

was his tunnel vision and this led him

to negative thinking now because we live

in a scientific age we've em bibed the

scientific way of observing things and

science only observes this world and

this life and the scientific age has the

same tunnel vision that Solomon has and

we're all brought up with it we all

suffer from it and we can't see beyond

you need in a sense to be outside of

life and look back at it to see it

properly and God is outside life and he

can see it

properly and it's very interesting that

uh whenever Solomon brought God into

Ecclesiastes he became positive and

Optimist whenever he was limited to

human observations and left God out of

his thinking and just observed human

beings Under the Sun and in this world

he got more and more

depressed but when God came into it he

begins to be positive and to see life in

a different perspective and there are

two chapters in Ecclesiastes where God

comes right into the picture and life is

focused the first is chapter

3 it's the best known and the most

frequently quoted section you all know

it a time to do this a time to do that

Melvin Bragg gave a title to his latest

novel which was serialized on TV a time

to dance he took it straight out of this

and it's amazing how many authors have

taken a phrase out of Ecclesiastes 3 is

a title for a novel or a film very

popular in fact it's the only bit of

Ecclesiastes that most people could

quote but it's a very important part

unfortunately people don't quote it all

you see it is a poem it's got rhythm

it's a real poetic song about

times but the important bit of it is

just after the Poetry ends when it goes

back to pros and it says that God orders our

our

times as the psalmist says our times are

in his

hand and when you believe that your life

is in God's hands and that he knows the

right time for you to dance and the

right time for you to

weep then the things that happen to you

are not chin they're God's choice for

you and he's we leaving a pattern out of

your life and life won't be one long

picnic and life won't be happiness all

the way because that's bad for you do

you realize that if our feelings were

always on the same level we wouldn't

have any

feelings do you ever think about that

it's only because we have lows that we have

have

highs if your feelings were always the

same you wouldn't have any feelings

thank God for

feelings there are times when we'll feel

like dancing and there'll be times when

we don't there's a time to kiss time to

stop see now then uh I've written A

Chorus about this we're going to sing

it um I put it to a well-known tune

you'll all be able to sing and uh it's

about times but it begins and ends where

Ecclesiastes 3 begins and ends with God

deciding the right time for us to go

through a particular experience isn't it

a lovely thought thing that if something

happens to you that because you're

life's in God's hands then it's the

right thing to happen at that time this

is not

fatalism fatalism believes in an

impersonal fate that nobody can affect

that's quite different from God's free

choice of what he will allow happen to

you and he will vary our lives so that

his purpose is fulfilled in them well

let's sing it together all right God is

Sovereign sets the season

date of

birthday day of

death time for

planting time for

reaping time for

killing time to

heal time for

Wrecking time for

building time for

sorrow time for

Joy time for m

time for

dancing time for

kissing time to

stop time for

finding time for

losing time for

saving time for

waste time for

tearing time for

mending time for

silence time to talk

time for

loving time for

hating time for

fighting Time For

Peace have your fun then but

remember God is

Sovereign he

decrees that is why the Bible says when

you make plans for the future always say God

God

willing my father always used to put in

a letter somewhere

DV in Brackets it stood for a Latin

phrase Deo Valente God

willing letter after letter I've seen

him just put DV I'll be with you next week

week

DV that's a person who knows that our

times are in God's

hands and actually all the plans you may

make may come to nothing because God has

other plans for you

and uh that's a positive note it's not

fatalism it's not saying whatever will

be will be because God can change his

plans there's no doubt that God changes

his mind he

repents the Bible says that he interacts

with our attitude to him if we change he

does if we repent he does and time and

again you find people like Moses

changing God's mind for him and pleading

with him God is not just a a mechanical

force gotting it all laid out he's a

person and he's interacting with us and

as we interact with him he can change the

the

times he can give you a time of dancing

when you expected a time of weeping and

he can do the opposite that's the first

chapter in which God comes and Things

become positive and what he's saying is

there can be a pattern to

life and God can set the pattern and God

can make sure his purposes for your life

are full fulfilled another favorite

saying of my father was uh life is long

enough to live out God's purpose but

moment well that's what he's saying in

Ecclesiastes 3 our times are in his hand

and he will decide not in an arbitrary

predestination kind of way but he will

decide what is best for us in the next

time next part of our life

isn't it good to have somebody looking

after us like that and to know that if

the next part of the road is tough and

unhappy well he has decided that's going

to be for our good and he has brought it

and he will see us through and our

character will be formed by that for our future

future

blessing see this is where the longer

view of happiness in the next world

really makes a lot of difference really

does see this world is so brief and so

fleeting uh I've Got a Theory as to why

when I was 20 one year was a 20th of my

memory when I was 40 one year was a 40th

of my memory when I was 60 one year was

a 60th of my memory next week I'm 63 so

one year is a 63rd of my memory and so

that's my theory life gets compressed in

your memory it seems to go quicker and

quicker and quicker doesn't it seems no

time at all since we were last here

videoing and I've had had two

conferences here since then one or two

of you men came to our Men's Conference

in January but life just rushes by but

we've got all

eternity to benefit from what we've

learned in this life all eternity to

enjoy the good things of God without all the

the

hassle we've got everything to live for

the other chapter which has a strong

sense of the presence of God in it is of

course chapter 12 and chapter 12 really

is worth reading to you because uh it's

written by this old

man and I do want to read it because

it's such a good description of old age

and since I'm now one foot in the grave

and the other on a banana skin it's good

to read chapters like this listen to it

young man he says I'm starting in

chapter 11:9 because oh these chapter

divisions are so messed up aren't they I

wish we could all have a Bible without

chapter and verse numbers in it would

really know the Bible then now I'm going

to begin with chap with chapter 11: 7

it's a wonderful thing to be

alive if a person lives to be very old

let him rejoice in every day of life but

let him also remember that eternity is

far longer and that everything down here

is futile by

comparison young men it's wonderful to

be young enjoy every minute of it all do

all you want to take in Everything But

realize realiz that you must account to

God for everything you

do so banish grief and pain but remember

that youth with a whole life before it

can make serious

mistakes don't let the excitement of

being young cause you to forget about your

your

creator honor him in your youth before

the evil years come when you'll no

longer enjoy living it will be too late

then to try to remember remember him

when the Sun and light and moon and

stars are dim to your old eyes and there

is no Silver Lining left among the

clouds for there will come a time when

your limbs will tremble with age and

your strong legs will become weak and

your teeth will be too few to do their

work and there will be blindness too

then let your lips be tightly closed

while eating when your teeth are gone

and you will wake at dawn with the first

no to the birds but you yourself will be

deaf and tuneless with quavering voice

you will be afraid of heights and

falling a whad withered old man dragging himself

himself

along without sexual desire standing at

death's door and nearing his Everlasting

home as the mourners go along the

streets yes remember your creator now

while you are young before the silver

cord of Life snap LS and the Golden Bowl

is broken and the piter is broken at the

fountain and the wheel is broken at the

syst and the dust returns to the earth

and the spirit returns to God who gave

it all is futile says the preacher all

is futile but then because the preacher

was wise he went on teaching the people

all he knew and he collected Proverbs

and classified them for the preacher was

not only a wise man but he was a good

teacher he not only taught what he knew

to the people but he taught them in an

interesting manner the wise men's words

are like gos that spare to action they

nail down important

truths students are wise who Master what

their teachers tell them but my son be

warned there is no end of opinions ready

to be expressed studying them can go on

forever and be very exhausting here is

my final

conclusion fear God

and obey his Commandments for this is

the entire duty of men for God will

judge us for everything we do including

every hidden thing good or

bad what a message for young

people now just notice what he says

number one he says remember remember God

remember him and what he's admitting is

I forgot him and of course that's why

Song of Songs doesn't mention

God when he was so young and so much in

love he forgot all about God he only

thought about this

girl he says to young people just

remember God while you're young before

it's too

late second he says fear

God not only don't forget him but fear

Him the wisdom literature of the Bible

constantly says it's the fear of the

Lord that is the beginning of wisdom

the Bible will not make you clever but

it will make you

wise now if you're clever you'll make

more money but if you're wise you'll

make more of Life Would You Rather Be

Clever or wise well one of the first

steps in wisdom is to be more afraid of

God than anything else amazing what

people are afraid of afraid of AIDS

they're afraid of redundancy they're

afraid of all sorts of things but I tell

you if you fear the lord you're not

afraid of anything or anyone else that's

a big fear and big fears cure little

fears why should we fear the lord

precisely because he's going to ask for

an account of what you did with the life

he gave

you and the fear of him saying you

messed it

up is a healthy

fear and it's important to fear God it's

right be amazed how many comments I've

had for writing that

book we live in a generation where even

people inside the church don't want to

hear a thing about that and yet God said

or Jesus said to Born Again Believers

don't fear those who can kill your body

rather fear Him who can throw Body and

Soul into

hell and if people outside the church

don't fear God that's because people

inside don't either fear is contagious

and when people inside don't fear the

lord people outside have no fear of him

at all they think he's a nice old guy

who wouldn't harm a fly they're utterly

wrong so remember God fear God and obey

God I was in a Millionaire's home in Dallas

Dallas

Texas and the father in the home had

bought his daughter a Toyota car to go

to school in she'd had it 18

months and this happened while I was

there she walked home and she told her

father that the car had broken down it

had just stopped in the middle of the

road so he sent a mechanic out to find

out what was wrong and the mechanic

telephoned and told him and I was

present when he asked his

daughter have you been putting oil in

the car and she said oil you never told

me I had to put oil in I've been putting Petrol

Petrol

in for 18 months she from that car now

there was a book in the glove box the Maker's

Maker's

instructions she'd never bother to read

it and so she' just run it into the

ground mind you he had pull and he

phoned up Toyota and they promised to

give them a new engine free he was

telling all his friends about this

wonderful Toyota offer so they got their

money's worth out of the advertising but

you see she was an idiot with that car

brand new car she just totally ignored

the Maker's instructions within 18

months it was

finished but people are equally foolish

to leave the Maker's instructions on the

shelf or in the

cupboard remember God fear Him and study

his way to

live I believe this is why the Book of

Ecclesiastes is in our Bible because it

tells you where you finish up if you

don't discover his way to

live that if you don't understand the

meaning of life from Heaven's angle and

from the angle of the next World you

finish up a disillusioned disappointed

depressed person saying well the whole

lot was pointless where has it got me

I'll be dead and gone and people will

have forgotten about me in no time and I

will leave no Trace whatever of the 50

60 70 years I've spent

here well Christians don't feel like

that they know that whatever we do in

the Lord our labor is not in vain

it has Eternal consequences for good or

evil and to know that you're doing

things that things could happen this

weekend in you that will last

forever because there are Turnal issues

at stake I believe that's why it's in

our Bible many years ago I was preaching

my way through

Ecclesiastes and uh I think we had more

conversions during that series than any

other series I've preached yet I

wouldn't have chosen Ecclesiastes as a

good gospel message you're nodding ah

head where you there and you will

remember something that happened there

were even Jews converted during that

series but halfway through my telephone

went Sunday afternoon a voice said we've

got Charles Coulson in England Chuck

Coulson the Watergate man you know from

the Nixon Affair and uh would like uh to

find a place for him to give us

testimony tonight could he come to your

church in Guilford so I said yeah fine

and then I had a real battle I thought

I've prepared Ecclesiastes 5 and I don't

why we should stop listening to God's

word because a star testimony has come

over the Atlantic so I thought I'm going

to preach it anyway and he can give his

testimony afterwards so I preached

through Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and then

said now we have Chuck Coulson here

Nixon's right-and man from water he got

up and he just said I don't need to give

my testimony you've already heard

it and we sort of looked at him he said

that chapter 5 of Ecclesiastes simply

describes my life and he he went through

it verse by verse and Illustrated it

from the way he'd wasted his life under

Nixon especially the verse be careful

recorded and that was that's the heart

of Ecclesiastes 5 because God knows what

you say as well as what you do and what

you think and what you feel never forget

that night well God teaches us

positively in the Bible how to live he T

teaches us also negatively how not to

and he gives us both examples and the

positive and the negative give a good

picture together Ecclesiastes is largely

negative it's saying don't you finish up

like this because if you leave God out

and forget him and don't fear Him and

don't live life according to the Maker's

instructions you will get to the end of

it and you'll feel it's all been

pointless well do you want to do that or

do you want to live God's way and then

you get to the end of it and say thank God

God

remember a prophecy once given to me and

it was a direct word from the Lord and

it ended David I or my son I want you so

to live and work that when you see me

you will say Lord we did

it Lord we did

it then you feel life's been

Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video

Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds

One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps

Paste YouTube URL

Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript

Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds

Get Our Chrome Extension

Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.

Add to Chrome — Free

Works with YouTube, Coursera, Udemy and more educational platforms

Get Instant Transcripts: Just Edit the Domain in Your Address Bar!

YouTube

←

→

↻

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

YoutubeToText

←

→

↻

https://youtubetotext.net/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

YouTube TranscriptPreparing your results…