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  COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 7-12
  by Chuck Smith
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CONTENT
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Tonight we want to return again to the book of Ecclesiastes beginning
with chapter 7. And as we return to the book of Ecclesiastes, again, it
is important that we make note of the fact that the book of Ecclesiastes
was written by Solomon in his later years. After he had assiduously
pursued to find the purpose and meaning of life in so many different
things: in wisdom, in wealth, in fame, in building, in pleasures. And
after his pursuit, which carried him into every area and experience of
life, he came up with the conclusion that life is empty and frustrating.
Solomon made the mistake of searching for purpose in life under the sun.
And if your purpose is limited to under the sun, chances are you will
come up, as Solomon, with the conclusion that life is a mistake. That it
is not worthwhile. That everything is only filled with emptiness and
frustration.

But God did not intend for you to live a life under the sun. God
intended that you should experience real life in the Son. In First John
we read, "And this is the record, that God has given unto us, even
eternal life, and this life is in the Son. And he who has the Son has
life" (I John 5:11-12). There is real life. There is real meaning and
purpose to life. When you find the life in Jesus Christ.

The life apart from Him, apart from the spiritual dimension, living a
life on the animal plane of a body-conscious experience and a body-
conscious level will lead a person to despair even as the philosophies
of today have concluded. That man will be led by reason to despair. Life
is hopeless. Thus, man must take a leap into the upper story of
experience and man must have some kind of a non-reasoned religious
experience to save him from the despair of reality. And so the
philosophy led man to the point of despair by reason. And then his only
suggestion for man is jump out of reason. Become unreasonable. Take a
leap of faith into a non-reasoned religious experience in order that you
might not despair because life is hopeless. This is the conclusion that
Solomon drew after trying everything.

Now as we read the book of Ecclesiastes, it is a book of despair.
"Vanity, vanity, all is vanity and vexation of spirit" (Ecclesiastes
1:14). The conclusions that Solomon came to are conclusions of natural,
human reasoning apart from God. Therefore, they are not to be taken as
doctrinal truths. You are dealing with a man searching for life apart
from God and his conclusions are not doctrinal truths. Except that they
do bring to you the end result of natural reasoning, but not divine
wisdom. So they show you man apart from God and the despair and
hopelessness of man apart from God. And the conclusions that are drawn
are in that kind of a background. They\

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/chuck-smith/commentary-on-ecclesiastes-7-12/
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