Ecclesiastes 1: The Preacher’s Problem

“Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”
Ecclesiastes 1:2

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Sermon notes:

Ecclesiastes is the perhaps greatest sermon in God’s eyes. It is a sermon by a wise preacher who sees both sides of a the issues of life. The problems with life that the preacher sees are:

I. A Problem of Pride vv. 1, 14, 16

II. A Problem with the Passage of Time vv. 4, 9-11

III. A Problem of Man’s Perspective vv. 3, 8, 13, 17

The summation of these problems is an issue too severe for man to fix by himself.

“That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.”
Ecclesiastes 1:15

The solution to this problem, though not fully revealed in this chapter, lies in a Saviour:

“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
Isaiah 40:3-5