In his sermon 'A Peek Behind the Scenes,' Mike Davenport delves into Ecclesiastes chapter 9, reflecting on themes of human experience and divine wisdom. He explores the paradox that all events, whether good or bad, happen to both the righteous and the wicked, emphasizing that life's circumstances do not determine one's standing before God. Davenport introduces the metaphor of 'goads and nails,' where goads are meant to move us from complacency and wrong worldviews, while nails secure us to eternal truths. He categorizes life events as unexplainable, unstoppable, unpredictable, unimaginable, and unexpected, examining how they challenge human understanding. Despite the certainty of death and life's unpredictability, the sermon highlights the hope that comes with being alive, encouraging believers to live joyfully and purposefully. The sermon concludes with a call to embrace the constancy of God amidst life's changes, finding peace and assurance in His immutable nature.

Ecclesiastes chapter 9. This is the word of the Lord. Open up your hearts to listen and to believe. Ecclesiastes chapter 9. For I considered all this in my heart so that I could declare it all, that the righteous and the wise in their works are in the hand of God.

People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. All things come alike to all. One event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good, the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner. He who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that one thing happens to all. Truly, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil. Madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. But for him who is joined to all the living, there is hope. For a living dog is better than a dead lion.

For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward. For the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished. Never more will they have a share in anything done under the sun. Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already accepted your works.

Let your garments always be white and let your head lack no oil. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life and in the labor which you perform under the sun. Whatever your hands, whatever your hand finds to do, Do it with your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. I returned and saw under the sun that The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill. But time and chance happen to them all.

For man also does not know his time, like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare. So the sons of men are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them. This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seems great to me. There was a little city with a few men in it, and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city.

Yet no one remembered that same poor man. And I said, wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. Words of the wise spoken quietly should be heard rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war but one sinner destroys much good.

Let's pray. Our Father we thank you for the good word which you've given us today. O Lord, it is so good for our souls. Lord, now I strengthen Mr. Davenport as he comes up and explains it to us and exposes your true word.

In Jesus' name, amen. Why did Solomon write the book of Ecclesiastes? Why is it included in the canon of Scripture? What is the ultimate purpose and message of Ecclesiastes? Have these questions or similar ones arisen in your thoughts as we have worked our way through this book?

On the surface, Ecclesiastes can be such a difficult book to understand, and it sometimes seems to almost contradict itself. Well, when we come to the end of the book, I think we're given an interpretive key to better understand the book. It's actually found in chapter 12 verses 11 and 12. Look at it with me together. Ecclesiastes 12, 11, and 12.

It says, The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd and further my son be admonished by these Solomon says that we are to be admonished by the words of this book Because these words have a twofold purpose, to be goads and to be nails. Children, do you know what a goad is? A goad was a stick that a farmer with oxen would carry. At one end of the stick, the wood was whittled down to a point, a very sharp point. And the farmer would sometimes have to poke the back end of that ox to get him moving.

Well, it was pretty effective, as you can imagine. It got their attention, and it got them moving. I think you know what nails are, right? Nails are, in a sense, kind of like a goad. They're long, slender, and pointed at one end.

But the purpose of a nail is different than the purpose of a goad. A nail is to fasten something, to secure something, to keep it from moving. And so, some of the words of this book are like goads. Moving us away from a life of complacency, moving us away from a wrong worldview, moving us along to a more profitable place. In other words, are more like nails, fastening us to eternal and immutable principles, searching or securing us in truths and realities from which we should never turn, and bringing a sense of stability in the present and yet also preparedness for the future.

And these words that act like goads and nails are given by one shepherd. These are ultimately the words of Jesus Christ, inspired words, God-breathed words, and it is our duty to be admonished by the words of this book. Once again today we are going to experience in the words of this book both goads and nails, we're going to feel those today, to both move us along and to fasten us tight. The title of my sermon is A Peak Behind the Scenes. A peak behind the scenes.

You see, everything is not as it appears on the surface. And so Solomon here gives us a peek behind the scenes. And rather than seeing all of life from the perspective of under the sun, which is the way he began this book, we are now lifted up for a peak above the clouds and beyond the sun. Such a sight will help us deal with the ups and downs of this life and with the things we just can't make sense of. We will use the following outline as we work our way through the text.

The unexplainable, the unexplainable, then the unstoppable, unstoppable, then the unpredictable, the unpredictable, then the unimaginable, and then lastly the unexpected. So first, the unexplainable verses 1 & 2. For I considered all this in my heart so that I could declare it all, that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God." Now I trust that your doctrine of the triune God comes from His Word alone, and not from what you experience in this life. Solomon here has right doctrine that the righteous and the wise and all of their works are in the very hand of God, that nothing is happening to them outside of his sovereign control. We receive and embrace that doctrine because it comes to us through the pages of Scripture.

But as we walk out of the church on Sunday afternoon with that doctrine folded neatly and tightly placed in our pocket, we face the real world. These same righteous and wise ones who are in the hand of God. Even we ourselves experience days of adversity as well as days of prosperity. Unexplainable things happen to us, at least unexplainable in light of our neatly folded, comfortably pocketed doctrine. So here we are holding these unexplainable things in our hands, trying to make sense of it all.

And Solomon anticipates our inability to explain these things and declares, things and declares, people know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. The very thing that we see before us is from the hand of God. We know that, or at least we say that we know that, But do we believe it? Do we believe it?

If it is indeed from his hand Does it come to us as a reflection of his love or his hatred? How are we to interpret that very circumstance right before our eyes? If we try in our own strength and understanding to make sense of the circumstances, we will end up with the proverbial endless plucking of the petals of the flower. He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not.

But a peek behind the scenes reveals to us that all things come alike to all. One event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good, the clean, and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner, he who takes an oath as he who fears an oath." Our circumstances in this life do not relegate us to some specific place as our standing before God. Our standing before God is not to be determined by the circumstances that we're in. Unexplainable things happen to all.

Consider righteous Job, righteous Job, whose circumstances that came into his life, those circumstances did not at all reflect God's disposition towards Job. He bragged to the devil, have you seen my servant Job? And then the next thing we see, all of these circumstances coming as it were against Job, without a peek behind the scenes, we will fare no better understanding the occurrences of life than Job's friends who miserably got it all wrong. Dear brothers and sisters, unexplainable things will occur in your life. Be assured of it.

They will. And when they do, remember what you have seen behind the scenes. This very circumstance, this very time of your life has come to you, yes, yet you abide in the very hand of God. That's where you are. You are not out of His reach.

You are not out of His sight. Be still, my soul. The Lord is on your side. But not only will we have to deal with the unexplainable Secondly, we will have to deal with the unstoppable the unstoppable verses 3 to 6 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that one thing, one thing happens to all. Now, at a quick glance, this seems to be a mere repeating of what he has already said, but I think that the verses that follow indicate a more specific one thing that Solomon has in mind.

You see, the previous verses flowed out of the realization that all things come alike to all. All things. And so the one event in the previous verse was a hand-picked event from a box of all things. Now, the word translated evil, a noun here in our verse, is probably better translated misery or tragedy or calamity. You see, this one thing that happens to all is death.

It's death. So even if we did stick with the word evil, death as the wages of sin comes to us firmly connected to our own evil, the evil of our sin. Well, this happens to all. All. It came to all who have gone before us.

It will certainly come to us, and it will come to all who come after us. It happens to all. It's unstoppable. Solomon wants to take us behind the scenes as we consider this unstoppable event. The unconverted do not want to discuss death.

They try to put it as far as they can from their minds. We read, truly, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil. Madness is in their evil. Madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. My friend, is that a description of you?

If you have never repented of your sins and trusted in Christ, then this is a description of you. It may not be comfortable to hear. You may even want to argue against it, but Solomon states that these things are true about you. First, your heart is full of evil. Full!

Full! You may not like hearing that. You may think, well, not me! My heart's not full of evil. God declares in Jeremiah 17 9 through 10, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Who can know it? And then he turns around and says, "'I the Lord search the heart. I test the mind.' This, my friend, is the Lord's verdict. Your heart is deceitful above all things, so deceitful that you can't even grasp how evil it is. The second thing he says, your heart is full of madness.

It's full of madness. This madness is actually tied to the third thing that is true about you, which is you are going to die. You are going to die. Death is unstoppable. It is coming for you at God's appointed time, and it is madness to go about your business in this life as if the unstoppable event death will not find you to think that you'll escape somehow.

It's madness. It is madness to pursue a world that will ultimately pass away. And it is madness to gain that whole world and in the process lose your own soul. Madness. Madness.

But there is something else That is true about you. There is something else that's true about you. There is hope. There is hope. Even though your heart is full of evil and madness, even though death will find you in God's time, there is hope.

Hope. But for him, verse 4 said, who is joined to all the living, there is hope. For a living dog is better than a dead lion." Now pause a moment to consider where Solomon now is in his thinking. While still under the sway of a worldview that was limited to just what was under the sun, Solomon came to the following conclusion back in chapter 4 verses 2 and 3 when trying to grapple with the unexplainable and the unstoppable. He said, therefore I praised the dead who were already dead more than the living who are still alive.

Yet better than both is He who has never existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the Sun. That was his view while just simply seeing circumstances from an earthly worldview. That the dead is better than the living, in fact better than both is the one who's never existed before, because he doesn't have to deal with the unexplainable and the unstoppable and the unpredictable and the unimaginable. But now, now, with a peek behind the scenes, he considers that being among the living gives one hope. Hope?

Here is a challenging question for you. It may take you a few moments to come up with the answer. Are you still among the living this morning? I know that's hard, but are you still among the living this morning? Then there's hope.

There's hope for you. It may be small, it may be desperate, it may be weak, but there is still hope. A dog, an unclean scavenger in Solomon's day, has more hope in regard to just about everything in this life than the lion, the powerful king of all beasts who now lies dead. The now lies dead. The dog, the scavenger, it's his day.

There is hope for the dog simply by virtue of the fact he's alive. He's alive. And then we see why, we see why there is hope for us. Verses 5 and 6, For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished.

Never more will they have a share in anything done under the sun. You are still alive. Therefore, you can still repent of your sins and of your folly. You can still go with Solomon behind the scenes and consider the fact that you will die. And where you go after death is a place of permanence.

It's a place of permanence, not short-term permanence, eternal permanence. My friend, what keeps you from Jesus Christ? What keeps you back? Is there something ugly in his being? Is there something lacking in his sacrifice?

Have you found a better way to God? An easier way? Have you found a bigger door and a wider path to eternal life? Why will you continue to thirst? Why will you continue to pay money for what is not bread, for what will not satisfy?

Why will you press on in this life with a heavy burden upon your back? What is it that's keeping you from Him? Christ bids you to come. He bids you to come. And He'll receive all who come.

He won't turn any aside. It's not Him who's keeping you back. It's not reformed doctrine that's keeping you back. It's you. What is it that's keeping you from coming to a Christ who says, come, come unto me?

Well, at this point, I'm going to do something a little out of the ordinary. I'm going to skip over the next four verses and come back to them as we near the end of the message. And so I would like for us to jump down to verse 11 and to take up our third point for consideration, the unpredictable, the unpredictable verses 11 and 12. I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill. But time and chance happen to them all.

Chance happen to them all. Because we are not holding the blueprint of our life in this fallen world, we become frustrated when the unpredictable happens. The unpredictability of the circumstances of this life declares rather loudly and strongly that we are not God, that we are not holding the blueprint, that we are not preserving or governing anything in this world. We all too quickly spout off like those men in James 413, today or tomorrow we will go to such-and-such a city, Spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. We would relish such predictability.

We would relish that. The reality is that we do not know what will happen tomorrow, for our life is even a vapor that appears for a little time, vanishes away. We read elsewhere in King Solomon's writings, a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Proverbs 16, 9. There are many plans in man's heart.

Nevertheless, the Lord's counsel, that will stand. Proverbs 19-21 and Proverbs 27-1. Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. The unpredictability of our lives grounds us deep in our humanity and our place among the created. The cyclical patterns of creation that undermine all hopes and anticipation of permanence in this world are further interrupted by our inability to predict what will happen.

The toughest pill to swallow in all of this unpredictability is what Solomon says next, for man also does not know his time. Like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them. How suddenly upon them. How ironic! The one certain and only predictable thing in this life, death, most often comes to us at an uncertain and unpredictable time.

It is certain that we will die. When? How? We don't know. Man does not know his time, just as a fish swimming freely in the ocean does not know that that net lies right in front of him.

And just like the bird freely flying wherever he desires doesn't know the snare that is about to fall upon him just like these man is snared in an evil time when the net and snare fall suddenly upon him. So we have been Given a peek behind the scenes in order that we may have wisdom to deal with the unexplainable wisdom to deal with the unstoppable Wisdom to deal with the unpredictable Now fourthly we come face to face with the unimaginable, the unimaginable, verses 13 through 18. This wisdom I have also seen under the Sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man and he by his wisdom delivered the city yet no one remembered that same poor man Solomon here uses the means of a parable to teach us a lesson, a hard lesson to learn.

We are told about a city. This city is described as little, and the men in it are described as few. Adjectives are inserted in the story to give us a sense of the hopelessness that lay within this little city for a king came and besieged that little city with few men in it. Note the contrast to this little city with few men. This was a great king who built great snares around the city.

Well, the outcome seems clear. It seems a rather predictable. It seems rather predictable. Certainly the battle will be to the strong. I'll remember what we just read.

In this story we are told that there existed within that city a wise man He was a wise man Perhaps he is one whom Solomon had referred to already as one among a thousand This wise man was not a great man. He was described as a poor wise man. And the unpredictable occurs. The little city with few men is delivered by the wisdom of the poor wise man The great king with his siege army and many great snares is defeated. The city is delivered.

Strangely, when unpredictability does not affect us personally, when it does not mess with our intentions and expectations, we actually like it. We like to see the underdog win. With the unpredictability of the deliverance gained, we settle back into our world of predictability well certainly this this poor man is is is placed on this on the City Council He's probably given a key to the city as part of a big parade. He's granted riches and honor, right? No.

No. Instead of all of this, the unimaginable happens. No one remembers this poor man. No one remembers him. He is forgotten.

He is not appreciated. He is overlooked. Perhaps word started going around the city of how great and mighty the city is. We have defeated King So-and-so. We are great." Verse 16, then I said, wisdom is better than strength.

Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. Words of the wise spoken quietly should be heard rather than the shouts of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner, one sinner destroys much good. This parable demonstrates what Solomon has already said back in in chapter 7 verse 19 wisdom Strengthens the wise more than ten rulers of the city but such wisdom is Despised by this world That is why Solomon could find only one man among 2, 000 men and women who had such wisdom, even though it is better than strength, better than weapons of war, and better than the foolish shouting of a ruler, it's despised by this world. But yet this man's poor wisdom brought about a great deliverance.

But the alternative is true as well. One sinner can destroy much good. One wise man can deliver a city, but one sinner, one, can destroy much good. And I believe you have here a seed of the gospel. Through one man, sin entered into the world.

One man. And death came upon all because of one sinner's sin. God had created the world in perfection. All was good, he declared, and Adam destroyed everything that was good by one sin. Because of Adam, we are no match for our great enemy, the devil who seeks to besiege us and ensnare us with great snares on every side.

But a poor, wise man in that city, without hope, He comes forward and by His wisdom He delivers that city. The prophets and the gospel writers describe Christ in His humanity, in his humanity as unattractive, as poor, as meek and humble. He came to his own, and his own did not receive Him. His entrance into Jerusalem was on the back of a donkey. But it is this one who through and according to divine wisdom from all eternity suffered and died in order to deliver his people.

He was beaten. He was whipped. He was spat upon he was mocked He was ridiculed He is still today despised and forgotten Rejected by men His own people crucified him. The God of glory. This, my friends, is is the truly unimaginable.

Unimaginable. Well, we have considered the unexplainable, the unstoppable, the unpredictable, and the unimaginable. These considerations have acted like goads to move us away from false notions about God's dealings in our lives, to move us away from false notions about death and its impact upon us, to move us away from the notion that we know best how things should turn out, and to move us away from a fear of being overlooked or forgotten. Having received the many sharp points of the goads of this wisdom, we turn to the very middle portion of this passage to consider fifthly and lastly the unexpected. The unexpected.

It is unexpected primarily because right in the middle of this painful but helpful goading, Solomon lays down the goads and picks up a hammer and nails. He is ready to fasten us to a place where we need to always stay. The chief shepherd has moved us, his sheep, away from the edge of the cliff, away from the noxious weeds that we're so ready to consume, away from the predators. And here we are in the middle of this text in pleasant pastures and beside still waters. Here we should be fastened, never more to be moved in this life.

Here in verses 7-10 we have the words of wisdom that come to us as well-driven nails. Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already accepted your works. Let your garments always be white, and let your head lack no oil live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which he has given you under the Sun all your days of vanity For that is your portion in life, in the labor, and in the labor which you perform under the sun, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. For there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going David Gibson sets before us the following wisdom He writes so the question for us is what does a life of beauty and meaning and purpose look like poised as we are between these two extremes? On the one hand, my death is certain.

On the other hand, the timing of my death is uncertain. So what should life in the meantime look like? The answer the preacher gives us here is not the kind of answer that you and I are very good at giving. His answer is very simple. Life between now and then looks like a life lived well.

If one day you will be dead, live today. If you do not know when you will be dead, live now while you can. The path of wisdom along life's road is to enjoy the gifts God has given you, the simple things that give you pleasure. Well several things stand out in these verses. First, note the overarching attitude that we are to have as God's people.

This overarching attitude with joy, with a merry heart, joyfully. The joy and merriment is not merely worked out on the horizontal plane. The joy and merriment is just not simply in me taking pleasure in that thing. It's not worked out simply there. Whatever you may conclude regarding the next phrase, God's acceptance of your works works, one thing is evident.

This joy and merriment that we are to experience is found in conjunction with the vertical. God is in the midst of this expression of joy and merriment. I Believe Solomon is describing the assurance that we can truly have that God accepts us regardless of what is going on in life. The unexplainable, the unstoppable, the unpredictable, the unimaginable. We, in the midst of all of that, can be at peace simply enjoying our God and what he has given to us.

We look at the circumstances and we don't know love or hatred by what God's given us, but we can know and experience full assurance of what God has done through his son Jesus Christ and therefore we can enjoy whatever it is that God brings into our lives. Thirdly, note the things that are to be enjoyed. What are the things that are to be enjoyed? Bread and wine, festive clothing and a refreshing appearance. The marriage relationship, sex, companionship, unity, blessing, completing.

And the very certainty of our own death should not cause us to draw back in despair or to enjoy God's gifts less. We should do the unexpected. We should attend to the things before us with all of our might of all people living Christians should seize the day Christians should be the ones leaving it all on the field. We should be the ones spending and being spent. Of all people, we should be the one to smell the roses.

We should make the most of this very moment in time. We should rejoice always and in all things. And if we are truly living life backward With the knowledge knowing that we will die if we're living life truly backward We will know that we are just are not just finding joy in the present We look forward to a joy that awaits So here we have these three things, the overarching attitude of joy and a merry heart, the reason for that joy. God has already accepted your works. And then thirdly, the things that are to be enjoyed.

David Gibson writes, those without Christ often abandon themselves to eating and drinking because sometimes it looks as if that's all there is to do before we die. But those who love Christ cherish eating and drinking because it looks a little like what we will do after we die. The gifts that come to us are from the real country. They smell and taste and and feel like home, he says. God uses different tools to make us home sick for heaven, and in this chapter he has set to work with some of them.

Death and sickness and uncertainty and disaster and sorrow and grief. All of these are means God uses to dislodge us from seeking security here. But so too are the gifts God gives. His gifts are also meant to make us homesick for heaven precisely because they're so good. He says I find it interesting that verses 7 through 10 are full of wedding imagery.

Food, drink, white garments, oil, a husband and a wife. That is because the Bible's picture of the best that life can offer us is simply a foretaste of a wedding banquet still to come. The beauty and grandeur and glory of which cannot be put into words. These are all things that we as Christians get to look forward to, to get to look forward to. Brothers and sisters, you may this very morning be facing the unexplainable, maybe even the unstoppable, the unpredictable or the unimaginable.

But a peek behind the scenes reveals that there is one constant in all of this instability in the midst of all of the changing scenes of life our immutable God I ran across a song just this week and it really as I listened to it it just it sums up this chapter of Ecclesiastes perfectly Church on the corner my hometown a lot of roses and rice like rain falling down a rented tux in an ivory dress a white Cadillac at the bottom of the steps. Just down the street another church, a spray of carnations and a long black hearse. Family and friends, tears in their eyes. It's never easy saying goodbye, and I realize in two blocks of time, You're the same God. When joy floods the heart, when life falls apart, you're the same God.

When hope shines like the sun, when dreams come undone, when we're blessed, when we're broken, you're there in each moment, the constant in every change. You're the same God. It's easy to see in this life of mine and only a blink it turns on a dime a day that was was sunny is suddenly dim and I'm wrestling my fears and my failures again I am ifs and maybes tossing in the wind. I am shifting sand, and even then you are the same God When joy floods the heart, when life falls apart, you're the same God. When hope shines like the sun, when dreams come undone, when we're blessed, when we're broken, you're there in each moment, the constant in every change, in all things, you remain, you are the same God.

That's a peek behind the scenes. Are we living like that? Or are we being tossed about by all of these uns? The unexplainable, the unstoppable, unpredictable, unimaginable. God wants us to do the unexpected, to be still, know that he's God, and enjoy him and the gifts that he has given us.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your goodness and your mercy to sinners like us. Lord, help us to truly see behind the scenes and to trust in you, even when we can't explain these things, even when we're tossed to and fro we are not God you are and you're the same God each and every day even in the midst of all of this change may we rest in you that immutable one Lord for those who are here today who cannot rest on you who will not rest on you who have nothing but what happens and what they have before their very eyes. Oh, give them grace to flee to Jesus who stands there ready to forgive and to crown with life and goodness and give them grace to find salvation in him. We pray in his great name.

Amen.