June 21, 2026-Morning Service

Don’t be a fool!  Ecclesiastes 10:1-20

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

You have your Bibles. If you turn with me to the Book of Ecclesiastes, pick up in Chapter 10. Just give you a little heads up where we're heading. Today we'll do Chapter 10. And next Sunday we'll do chapter 11. The following Sunday, July the 5th, I think that would be. We'll do the chapter 12. Then that'll conclude our uh walk through Ecclesiastes. After that, we're going to switch over to the New Testament. I would encourage you to be watching for your phones. We're going to talk to Rusty later or tell him now, I guess. We're going to maybe send out a text a little bit later this week to get your thought on what uh New Testament book you'd like to walk through. Uh so be praying about that, thinking about that, which one, and then we'll take a look at that and see where the Lord leads. Uh I like Ecclesiastes, but I'm okay, Lord, this is good, but let's let's let's get to the New Testament here pretty soon. So we're gonna be doing that. Um I put it there. Title for today, Do Not Be a Fool. Okay, and when I'm talking about being a fool, I'm not thinking like doing something like foolish. I mean, you shouldn't do that. We've got to be mature, we've got to be careful. But I'm thinking about the concept, biblical concept of about doing, about not being a fool in the eyes of seeking after God instead of seeking after the things of this world, being foolish in that sense. Uh, to explain a little bit more what I'm talking about, look at what it says in Proverbs chapter 1, verse 7. It says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom instruction. So when I say don't be a fool, these first couple verses I want to look at remind us the difference between somebody who is wise versus someone who is foolish. That's what we're gonna look at as we walk through the passage in Ecclesiastes today. And as we do that, again, we're gonna cover some bases where uh Solomon, as the king and as a teacher and as a preacher, is going to remind us that sometimes uh his writings are more about political leaders. So we're not gonna put any names of any political leaders in place. Uh we all know that we have political leaders who are very wise, but we also know that times come when you get some unwise political leaders for different reasons. And this the same can be said not just politically, but like in your local jobs. Uh you get people, your boss that you know, they just know their stuff and they're wives. But sometimes, somehow, maybe somebody's nephew or something. I don't know. People get in these positions and like they really don't know what they're doing. And that can be kind of difficult. So that's we're going to look at some of that today as we walk through this. But just thinking about the difference between someone who is wise and someone who is foolish, uh, someone who fears the Lord, that's the beginning of wisdom. That's the beginning of knowledge. Let's be like that. Let's have a reverent fear for the Lord and not be like one who is a fool who will ignore or despise wisdom and instruction. And when I say wisdom and instruction, I'm not just talking about your boss telling you to open up the manual and read the instruction manual, how to make it work. I'm talking about God's word. Make sure that we receive God's word. We read it, seek to understand it, and we can be instructed by it. Another verse that we look at would be in Proverbs chapter 17, verses 7 and 8. Gives us another comparison of wise and foolish people. It says, Whoever restrains his words has knowledge. He who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Verse uh 28, or verse, excuse me, I should say, verse eight there. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise when he closes his lips, and he is deemed intelligent. Okay, something to think about here. Wise people aren't those people who are kind of quiet oftentimes hold back. When we need a quick answer or something, they're gonna be the last ones in the room to speak. And those who are foolish sometimes are people of many words, whether or not they know what they're talking about. We're gonna see that as we walk through this. So just kind of keep that in mind. But let's walk through this. We're gonna pick up in uh chapter 10. I want us to pick up in verse 2, uh, mainly because we hit verse 1 last week as a conclusion to chapter 9. So let's walk through these a couple sections here of Ecclesiastes. Verse 2 says, A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left. That doesn't necessarily mean if I'm wise, I'm gonna walk in this direction. Well, that's that's the opposite. For you guys, if I'm wise, I'm gonna walk in this direction here. If I'm foolish, I'm gonna walk on the left hand side. Think about it in terms of moral choices, doing what is right. A wise man whose heart's in the right place, who's seeking after God, will be led in correct places and do things that are of God. One who is a foolish person who doesn't listen to God, they're not gonna walk in the ways of God because they don't heed his instruction and they don't necessarily read it. So they're gonna walk in ways that would be what I would just simply call incorrect, ways that are not of God, ways that are foolish. And describing those that are foolish, it says in verse 3, even when a fool walks on the road, he lacks sense. He says to everyone that he is a fool. Now think about that for a second. Do you know people don't answer this, just process this. Do you know people who are foolish when it comes to the ways of the Lord? You see them in the street, are they walking around holding a sign saying I'm foolish? Sometimes I wish they would. I would catch them in advance. It'd be easier to deal with them. But no, it says here, uh, he said he says to everyone that he's a fool, that he's a fool. He doesn't go around saying, Hello, my name is Mr. Fool Smith or something like that. No, but his actions and the things that he says let people know, and it becomes quite obvious that this person is a fool that's not living uh for the Lord. Something to think about here is fools, as based off the last verse, fools are self-evident. In other words, they give themselves away by their actions, the things that they do. Can that be true of those who say they are believers? They say they walk with Jesus, but then their actions don't match. They do things that are against the Lord, they're not heeding instructions, like we saw in Proverbs 17 a minute ago, that would mean they're being foolish. They kind of give themselves away by the way that they act. Verse uh four if the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place. For calmness will lay great offenses to rest. Think about that for a second. In a situation, maybe with your work, something happens, the boss gets mad, and they come to you. How do you respond? Well, you want to defend yourself, right? Say, hey, it's not my fault, or so-and-so did this or this. But what's Solomon saying here? Stay calm. Be calm and collect. You see, sometimes people that get put in positions of power are not the most wisest of people, and definitely a lot of times they don't follow after Jesus. So when they come to you, if you can be calm and collect, watch and see how these great offenses, these problems can be solved, can be taken care of. Verse 5, Solomon goes on to say, There's an evil that he has seen under the sun, as it were, an error proceeding from the ruler. So now he's kind of talking a little bit more about politics here. Verse 6 says, Folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in low places. So now we're going to look at the difference between folly, and in a minute we'll see the word slaves versus those who are rich and those who are nobles or princes. Okay. Think about it not so much in the title that you would think of as a social status, somebody who's foolish or a slave versus a prince or nobility. Think about it in terms of moral character, the way people should act. Fools and slaves may not act very wise, to where those who are rich or those who are rulers should be ones who are acting uh very wise. Uh, verse 7, it says, I have seen slaves on horses and princes walking on the ground like slaves. So it's almost like there's an opposite of how things should be. Shouldn't it be that slaves should be walking on the ground and the princes and nobles should be the ones riding on horses? Sometimes that kind of gets mixed up. But like I said, let's think about this in terms of uh the moral character, not necessarily the social status. The idea with fools and slaves, those who are not worthy of advancement, they shouldn't be up riding on the horses. They should be walking on the ground. And those who are rich or those who are princes, those people consider them as those who have moral character. Now, from this point on, there's a little bit of a change in the book of Ecclesiastes. We've gone through rich, poor, we've gone through politics, things like that. But now he's going to finish out the book, 98% of what's left of it, looking at verses 8 through the end of the book on different types of traditional wisdom sayings. We know about wisdom sayings, things that our grandparents or parents told us. Apple today keeps the doctor away. We know the little stories. Well, verse 8 and following is going to be full of these little sayings. So let's walk through some of these. Um, as we look at these, verse uh eight says, He who digs a pit will fall into it. A serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall. Now, what are you trying to say here? He who digs a pit will fall into it, a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall. Could it be that sometimes people have bad intentions? People want to hurt other people, and instead they're the ones that get bit. They're trying to do evil on others, but it turns out that they're the ones who get in trouble. Think about it for a second. What would be a good biblical story that would match what we're talking about here? Remember the book of Esther? Go to be the next queen. Mordecai was helping her out, but Haman was upset with the Jews. Haman went so far as to go to the king and say, Look, this is what you got to do. You need to punish these people, and for the person who does right, you need to do this A, B, and C and D to bless them, right? Well, when the king had gotten that advice, that's exactly what he did. But come to find out, we won't read the whole story now, but go back and read the book of Esther, you'll see that uh Esther and Mordecai were saved and protected, and Haman ended up losing his life. So sometimes you dig a pit to do damage to somebody else, you're the one going to pay the price for it. Just like as you, as a serpent would bite somebody who breaks through a wall. Okay, get somebody to go through this wall, you're gonna surprise them. There's something bad on the other side, you could be the one getting caught by that. Uh the next one, look at verse 9. He who quarries a stone is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them. Little phrase we say, we don't work, we don't eat. Some people have the job, they gotta work in a quarry. Some people are gonna doing log work, uh, doing forestry type work. Yeah, it's true, in your job, it can be dangerous. Is there a saying that goes with this? No good deed goes unpunished. You heard that? Be careful how we use that phrase because sometimes bad things just happen. But understand a wise man, though he may seek to do good to help other people, there could come a calamity. And it's not because they're foolish, it's just how life happens or what God is doing. So no good deed goes unpunished. Another thing to think about for the next couple verses is the idea that preparation can prevent wasted effort and danger. In other words, if we prepare and get ready for different things, that will save us time in the long run. Okay, I don't know about you, but sometimes I like to get going on stuff, but I need to stop, I need to make a plan. If I make a plan that'll help sure make to make sure everything goes through smoothly. Let's look at what we're talking about here. Look at verse 10. It says, if the iron is blunt and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength. But wisdom helps one to succeed. So, how would you succeed with this example? You got a tree to cut down. You go grab your axe. The first thing you do, you want to test it to make sure it's sharp and ready to go. When you know it's ready to go, you go out there and you chop the bad boy down. You're saying, Pastor Billy, we don't really use axes to chop trees down. I get that. But can you say the same for a chainsaw? What do you want to check to make sure the blade's sharp? Make sure you've got the mixed gas in the chainsaw, make sure you've got the uh barb oil in it as well. When everything's done right, and you make plans at the beginning, everything can go smoothly. That's why I said their preparation can prevent wasted effort and danger. You see, people who are wise know this. People who are foolish just jump in. Can you cut a tree down with an axe? That's not sharp. You probably could if you've got enough strength and enough time, a couple days to work on it little by little, you might could do it, right? Look at the next one. If a serpent bites before it is charmed, there's no advantage to the charmer. Now, you know I don't like snakes at all. I don't care for them. I've been to India, I've seen where they do this little snake charming thing. It's supposed to be entertaining. You see, the wise charmer is gonna make all the preparation to make sure that snake is not gonna bite him. Because if you go to watch and you draw a crowd and the first thing the snake does is bite the guy, well, the show's over, right? The show's over, people are not gonna give any more money. It's over. But if he does his plans right, works everything around to make sure he doesn't get bit, the people are gonna be amazed and they're gonna throw money in the pot, and he'll make extra money that day. There's just some things to think about. Look at verse 12. The words of a wise man's mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool will consume him. People can tell the difference between those who are wise and those who are foolish. You just listen to it, it doesn't take long, and you can figure that out. Uh, the wise man he'll have favor because of that. But the foolish man he'll talk and talk and talk and gain absolutely nothing except potential ruin for his own life. Specifically, specifically when it comes to those who are wise in God's eyes and those who are foolish in God's eyes. Now, like I might have said at the beginning, I may have forgot to say, remember, when we look at those who are wise versus those who are foolish, scripture tells us Jesus says not to call somebody a fool. But that concept is when you're saying that out of anger because of the way the person is acting. That's different from somebody who is being foolish because they do not follow the ways of the Lord. So be aware of that. Verse 13. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, the end of his talk is evil madness. Nothing positive to say about a foolish person. All the description we're getting here has to do simply with the fact that a foolish person cannot control their mouth. They just talk and talk and talk. Do you know people like that? Don't answer me, just think about that. Do you know people like that who are foolish? They think they've got it all worked out and they can't stop talking. Something happened. They try to explain what happened, and instead of giving just a few simple details, they try to explain themselves out of the situation when you realize they may have had more to do with it than they thought, than you thought, and they really tell on themselves just by not being able to be quiet. Verse 14, a fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be afterwards? A fool is not all-knowing. A wise man would seek after the Lord to seek direction and guidance, even though no man truly knows what will come at the end except God Himself. Verse 15, the toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city. Uh commentators look at this and you think, well, how could you not know the way to the city if you live in the place? You know how to get there. But the concept is you talk to somebody who's foolish, how can they explain to you to get to the city? It's real simple, turn right, turn left, turn this, but a man of many words who's being foolish goes on and on and on, so much so that he can't even explain or give basic directions on how to get to the next city or to the next town. Verse 16. Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child and your princes feast in the morning. Looking back at the political scene, you want to have good, solid wisdom, things moving forward. Have people who are wise who are in place. You get a young king who's a child, princes are all having a party in the morning, and that should have been later at another time, is going to cause trouble for a nation. The opposite of that, and let's look at the opposite of that, verse 17. Happy are you, O land, when your king is a son of nobility, and your princes feast at the proper time or strength and not for drunkenness. I pray that in our nation that we would have leaders who would be wise. And I'm not talking about smart wise, because in my opinion, and I could be wrong, you could disagree, that's okay. Everybody we got in politics right now leading our country, they're all smart. The problem is the way they use that smartness to glorify God, to glorify our country, versus doing things to get our country off track. Okay, and I'm just gonna leave that there, no matter which side you're on. Nobody's perfect. But oh, how happy a land would be when the people who are there, here it says a king is a son of nobility. For us today, it wouldn't necessarily be the, you know, a case where a leader's got his son coming up to be the next one in charge. But the idea is you've got people who are in charge who are wise, who seek after the ways of the Lord in the decision-making process for their nation, for their country, for their town, city, et cetera, et cetera. And they they, like it says here, they feast at the proper time, not just to be drunk, but to be strong and for the fellowship. Verse 18, through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks. Something to be said about being wise and being at work versus being foolish, sluggish, and lazy. Verse 19, bread is made for laughter, widen a wine gladdens life, and money answers everything. Now, what are we talking about here? We know uh when you have bread, when you're around the table, you have fellowship, you have lots of fun, you cut up and you have a great time of fellowship. We had that this morning. A great time of fellowship. There's laughter, we enjoyed our time. We know that, well, we're Baptists, we don't know this, but apparently wine makes people happy, okay? Don't smile because that means I know you that you enjoy it too much. But wine gladdens the life, but it says here money answers everything. The idea here is you you have bread, you'll have happiness, you'll have wine, you'll have gladness, but you can't have any of that unless you have the means to purchase that, to buy that. So the money is the answer for everything. We think money, we sometimes we think money is the root of all evil. Money's not evil in and of itself, it's how you use it. And you have to have it for the basics of life. So you want to make sure back at verse 18 that you're working to take care of your property and that you're working uh to keep things up and and using um uh money to make those provisions that you need. The last verse there says, even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich. For the bird of the air will carry your voice, and some winged creature tell the matter. You ever heard the saying, if only these walls could talk? Well, we know walls can't talk because the walls are just walls, right? They're they're they're not human, they're not beings. Uh, but you have to be careful because what what comes around goes around. Uh piece of advice for today, since it's summertime. If you've got secrets, don't go out in the cornfield and tell those secrets because there's a lot of ears out there, it'll be heard. Sorry, I just had to get that in there. So think about this: even your thoughts, do not curse the king, or in your bedroom, curse the rich. One who's foolish is gonna do that. It's not gonna listen to instruction like we've already read. To where one who is wise will listen to instruction. You want to be wise? Keep your mouth shut. Keep your thoughts to yourself, seek after the Lord and do what pleases him. Lastly, two things to think about. Do you live like a wise man or a fool? Nothing wrong with being talkative. We like to get together and we like to talk and have fun and fellowship. But biblically, a wise man who follows after the Lord and fears him versus a foolish man who rejects the Lord, and through his own speech, everybody else realizes how foolish he is. So the question would be for today will you commit to fearing the Lord? We say we're God fearers, we're Baptists, you know, we're people of the book, but do we truly fear the Lord to walk in his ways? If we did, how would our lives look different? Because he is holy, and we're not. Let's be wise and seek after the Lord. The beginning of wisdom is to fear the Lord. But a foolish person is going to ignore the instructions. Let's spend time in his word this week, seeking his will, and then being obedient to what he calls us to do. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you, Father, for the wisdom of Solomon, uh, who is uh so wise that he shared so much with us that grants us uh great wisdom, uh lessons to learn. Father, we we've heard the word, it's clear. So I pray that you'll help us this week to be people who will be wise, uh, wise in your eyes, not in our own, but in yours, and not people who are foolish. Speak to our hearts during this time of invitation, and just guide us as we seek to walk humbly before you. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.