Sermon Tone Analysis

Ernest Hemingway, born in 1899, was the epitome of the twentieth-century man.

At age 25 he sipped champagne in Paris, and later had well-publicized game hunts in Africa and hunted grizzly bears in America's northwest.

At the age of sixty-one, after having it all—wine, women, song, a distinguished literary career, Sunday afternoon bullfights in Spain—Hemingway chose to end his life, leaving a note saying, "Life is one [expletive] thing after another."

Today we are still face to face with continued efforts of the world to convince us that life apart from Christ is actually possible.

The continued efforts continue to fail.

It continues to come up short.

There are so many different variations that we all seem to fall for, but in the end we all end up at the same place.

Vanity of vanities.

But its different now.

Because we know better now.

Technology is at an all time high.

Understanding grows exponentially.

We have built upon the foundations of past brilliance.

Progress is astounding.

Our reach today is global.

We have solved many of the mysteries of history.

We know better now don’t we?

All we are doing is coming to the reality of meaninglessness quicker.

This is why today suicide rates continue to climb all over the world.

Lifestyle is more important than even life.

But everything under the sun is meaningless.

That is why we don’t have meaning and purpose.

There is only one way and we will look at this today.

Ecclesiastes 12:8-14

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

All is Meaningless

Logical Clarity

The Wisdom of God

The first thing we will look at today is the reiteration of Solomon that all that is under the sun is meaningless utter meaningless.

The second thing we will see is how Solomon decided to communicate this truth to us in logically clear methods.

Finally, we will uncover, yet again, how all of the wisdom of God is all treasured up in the beauty of the Son of God our Lord Jesus.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to be deceived by the promises given by the world that consistently come up short, it is the wisdom and power of God that will shine His light in the darkness and show us that we can have life and life more abundant in union with our Lord Jesus.

I.

All is Meaningless

- We should hear this with a whole new perspective.

A. All is just vapor under the sun.

It is the preachers first and last words in this book.

If you remember, the Hebrew word for vanity or meaningless (hevel) is Solomon’s multipurpose metaphor to express the futility of life in a fallen world.

Taken literally, the word refers to a breath or vapor, like the steam rising from a boiling kettle.

Such is life.

It is impossible to grasp, and before you know it, life is gone; it vanishes into thin air.

Ryken, P. G. (2010).

Ecclesiastes: Why everything matters (p.