In the sermon 'The Pursuit of Two Fistfuls of Wind,' Mike Davenport examines Ecclesiastes 1:12 to 2:11, focusing on Solomon's reflections on the futility of human pursuits. Solomon, once a wise king over Israel, dedicated himself to understanding wisdom, knowledge, and pleasure, only to find them ultimately vain and akin to 'grasping for the wind.' Davenport emphasizes that without God, worldly endeavors are empty and lead to grief and sorrow, as illustrated by Solomon's experiences. The sermon references Solomon's unmatched wealth and wisdom, yet his realization that these did not bring lasting fulfillment. Davenport warns against the temptation to seek satisfaction in temporary things and highlights the importance of seeking God for true meaning. The sermon concludes with a call to find contentment and joy in Christ, rather than the fleeting pleasures of the world, and reminds listeners of the eternal inheritance awaiting believers.

As was mentioned, our sermon text this morning is from Ecclesiastes 1, verses 12, down to 2, verse 11. Hear the word of the Lord. I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven, this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and indeed all is vanity and grasping for the wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.

I communed with my heart, saying, Look, I have attained greatness and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge. And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this is also grasping for the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief.

And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure, but surely this also was vanity. I said of laughter, madness, and of mirth, what does it accomplish? I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. I made my works great.

I built myself houses and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards. And I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to draw, from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants and had servants born in my house.

Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers the delights of the sons of men and musical instruments of all kinds. So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and This was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled. And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.

Let's pray. Oh gracious Savior of our ruined lives, we come before you to thank you for plucking us from the fire, Lord, for pulling us out of such purposelessness and emptiness. Lord, we pray today that as our brother or elder, Mike Davenport comes to preach your word, oh God, that you would rest upon him by your spirit, Lord, that you would fill him with your power. Lord, that you would speak through him directly to our hearts, Lord, that you would awaken those of us that are drifting to complacency, drifting to the world. Oh Lord, We pray that you would awaken and bring to life those who have never tasted all the joys and the beauty that is in Jesus Christ.

Oh father, may you be mighty among us. We we call out to you because we need you so much lord and we ask you now to keep us alert, awake, and aware as your word goes forth, Lord. May you please bless us. We so need you, and we thank you, Lord, that you come down to visit with your people. So be with us now we pray in Jesus name amen.

Well as a means of review of what we have already seen and a means to approach the text before us today. I quote the following from David Gibson from his commentary entitled, Living Life Backward, How Ecclesiastes teaches us to live in light of the end. Mr. Gibson says, people who follow Jesus often lose sight of the world to come. We become resident Christians rather than nomadic Christians.

We become fully integrated in this world rather than viewing ourselves as passing through. And we do this by living as if our greatest treasures are here and now. We display our sense of permanence by our lifestyle choices, the homes we live in, the money we spend, the churches we build, the investments we pursue, and the priorities we live for. We hold the good things of this world too tightly and lavish our affections on them too freely. We strive and strain for the same kind of gain as everyone else around us.

Jesus knew this would always be the temptation for his disciples. He warns us, do not lay up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And to stop us from doing the wrong kind of storing and to help us begin to do the right kind of storing, God has given us the book of Ecclesiastes.

In his first 11 verses, the preacher taught the world, how the world itself shows that there is no lasting gain in all our human toiling. He sought to end the games we play about the permanent significance of our lives. It was an argument from the brute fact of nature. But now the preacher is going to mount an argument from bitter experience. He continues his demolition job by bursting bubbles.

Well, Solomon opens this portion of our text today with a reminder of who he was. Chapter 1 verse 12, he says, I the preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. Solomon was at the very time of the pursuits he is getting ready to share with us. He was at that very time king of the entire nation of Israel, God's people, and ruling from Jerusalem, God's holy city. Solomon's reign was a reign of peace, and he sat on the throne for 40 years.

His reign is described in the following way in 1 Kings 40, 20 to 25. Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing. So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river to the land of the Philistines as far as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life, for he had dominion over all the region on the side of the river from Tifsa even to Gaza, namely over all the kings on this side of the river, and he had peace on every side all around him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon." Solomon wants us to understand that his pursuits were unencumbered by lack of funds or by distraction.

It was a time of wealth and it was a time of peace. All the days of Solomon, he wants his readers to understand that they will never be able to give themselves to these pursuits as he did, nothing stood in his way. We should approach this passage with great soberness and humility before God. Listen to the sobering comments of Charles Bridges. But how, how could Solomon thus fall?

Could he, who so highly exalted wisdom, degrade himself into the lowest folly? Could he who was so conscious of the snares of sin and worn so wisely, so earnestly, could he fall so as to become a proverb of apostasy? He who had tasted such gracious manifestations of the Savior's love leave the beloved of his soul for abominable idols? Only those who have been taught by experience, no less than by scripture, the total corruption of the heart can solve the mystery. But to such, the lesson is most valuable.

The moment that utter weakness loses its hold and forgets the need of habitual dependence, that is the moment of a certain fall. The most exalted Christian attainments, the longest standing in the church, the most extensive usefulness in the world, the richest store of spiritual gifts, all furnish no security against the crisis, the most experienced is exposed no less than the weakest babe in the family. Oh, what need is there to watch unto prayer and to walk closely with God. And so Solomon, in spite of all his past privileges, he sets his heart on two pursuits, armed with wealth, peace, and prosperity. One pursuit focuses on the mind, the intellect.

The second focuses on the body and pleasure. As Mr. Gibson said, now the preacher is going to mount an argument from bitter experience. He continues his demolition job by bursting bubbles. And so First in our text, we find the preacher bursting the bubble of unrivaled knowledge.

Bursting the bubble of unrivaled knowledge. Verse 13, and I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven, this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man by which they may be exercised. Note here in this verse several things. First, there was a firm commitment. There was a firm commitment.

He set his heart. That is, he devoted his heart. He dedicated his heart. He delivered up his heart. There was a firm commitment.

Secondly, there was a vigorous pursuit, a vigorous pursuit. His heart was dedicated to seeking and searching out. The first word here, seeking, is from a primitive root and carries the idea of frequenting or treading. The second word, searching out, carries the idea of traveling about in order to explore. So there was a vigorous pursuit.

Third, there was a determined method. There was a determined method. His heart would seek and search out by wisdom. This is Solomon, after all. A pursuit of knowledge would have to be carried out in a wise way.

And so the method was very determined. But fourthly, there was a broad scope. There was a broad scope. His seeking and searching concerned all that is done under heaven. Every road investigated, every stone turned over, every movement observed, every occurrence examined.

We also here have the first mention of God in the book of Ecclesiastes right here in verse 13. And he will not mention him again until the end of chapter 2. Yet we also have here in these six verses, verses 13 to 18, the words wisdom and knowledge occurring seven times. It is worth noting that although God is mentioned once and wisdom and knowledge seven times, absent is the instruction or reminder that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. He said, God has given the sons of man the burdensome task of figuring out everything that is done under the sun.

Could it be that this task is burdensome only because of man's sin and the curse that it brought as we read in Genesis 3? What was called very good was distorted by man's rebellion. And so Solomon's pursuit of knowledge begins without the benefit of the first motions toward fruitfulness, the fear of God that defines everything in life. At the beginning of his pursuit, the fear of God has been abandoned. Charles Bridges, in his commentary on Ecclesiastes, said, the sethedral is the heart, the main power.

The strength of the principle lies deep within. It is the apostasy of the heart from God, the cleaving of the heart to the things of time and sense. Ah, Christian professor, this may consist with a very sober exterior or even with total indifference to outward show, but look well to it. See whether in this more quiet atmosphere there may be not the same revolt from him who claims thy first love, who must be as everything to thee as thine only satisfying rest." In verses 14 to 15, Solomon says, I have seen all the works that are done under the sun. And indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

What is crooked cannot be made straight. And what is lacking cannot be numbered. Have you ever had one of those projects, you know the kind I'm talking about, a project where there is much upfront work that is to be done, a lot of work, Before that moment when you flip the breaker back on, or you turn the water supply back on, or you turn the key in the ignition, Well, here we have the early returns of Solomon's pursuit of knowledge. He has seen all the works done under the sun. And what is his assessment?

All is vanity. All is vanity and grasping for the wind. As we stated when we were in the first part of chapter one, the word vanity signifies futility and frustration. The word for vanity is most often translated in our Bible, breath or vapor. So Solomon in these verses before us now couples the word vanity with grasping for the wind, with grasping for the wind.

Without God in the picture, there is futility in and a senseless nature to everything. Solomon also uses the words me, my, and I over 50 times in the passage today, they scream loudly of self-centeredness and self-indulgence. When these 50 plus times of personal reference are set against the one mention of God, we get a glimpse of the problem. In Solomon's pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, he discovered that there were things outside of his control, like it or not. He came across things crooked and things missing.

The fallen world in which we find ourselves is a world full of crookedness and defect. That which is crooked has been made so by God and cannot be made straight. It cannot be sorted out and set in order. That which is lacking does not, yea, cannot find itself within the final count. Yet man in his attempt to be his own God presses on in areas outside of his control.

One of the next verse, Solomon steps back and he assesses the progress that he has made in this pursuit. Verse 16, I commune with my heart saying, look, I have attained greatness and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge." Solomon's wisdom and knowledge were unrivaled. Having dedicated his heart to the pursuit of knowledge, he now communes with his heart regarding all of his accomplishments. He had reached his goal.

His heart, like never before, grasped great wisdom and great knowledge. None could compare. Maybe you're listening to this sermon this morning and you're thinking that you, you will discover the very thing that Solomon was unable to find. Solomon, he fell short of his goal, but you, you won't. If that's you, consider the resume of Solomon, 1 Kings 4, 29 through 34.

Listen to some of these things. And God gave Solomon, God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding and largeness of the heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezraite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahal. And his fame, his fame was in all the surrounding nations.

He spoke 3, 000 Proverbs and his songs were 1, 005. Also, he spoke of trees from the cedar tree of Lebanon, even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And you think that you're going to be able to attain something he was not.

As if this pursuit of knowledge wasn't enough, he also tells us that he devoted his heart to a new endeavor, an endeavor at the same time, running parallel with this pursuit of wisdom. In verse 17, he says, and I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. To the pursuit of wisdom is added the pursuit of madness and folly. Richard Belcher Jr. Writes this, Solomon takes his investigation a step further.

He not only wants to understand wisdom, he also seeks to understand maddening folly. In other words, he seeks to investigate by experience how maddening folly operates in life and the consequences that come from it. Mr. Hubbard concludes that the phrase refers to behaving badly, wildly, or irresponsibly. Even though Solomon stands in the wisdom tradition and is called a wise man, he no longer operates with the same foundation of wisdom as in the book of Proverbs.

Otherwise, he would privilege the position of wisdom and would allow the theological affirmations he makes to explain the problems and tragedies of life. Herein lies the danger of speculative wisdom. The ESV Study Bible explains this as an intent to come to a better understanding of wisdom by simultaneously examining wisdom's opposite foolishness. He takes both paths. The path that he writes about against in the book of Proverbs, he says, I'll take that path too.

Simultaneously, I'll take the path of wisdom and madness and folly at the same time. He's looking at the facet of the diamond from every angle. Even this approach that Solomon took to grasp all knowledge and understanding left him with this assessment in the end, verse 18. I perceive that this also is grasping for the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow." Solomon's perception has not changed.

The increase of wisdom and knowledge did nothing but generate an increase of grief and sorrow. And so the bubble of unrivaled knowledge, It burst. Solomon glances down at his closed fists. Parents, you know what I'm talking about. You've seen your young child reach out and grab those bubbles as they're blown, right?

Well, Solomon, a grown man, looks down at his closed fists and he opens them with joyous anticipation, joyous expectation, but his hopes and dreams are dashed as he finds but two fistfuls of wind. The ESV Study Bible puts it like this, Wisdom is a mixed blessing. To gain wisdom and understanding is to gain a clearer view into the tragedies of life in a world marred by sin. And so we turn the page of Solomon's personal journal, and we find him on the next page devoting his heart to a new pursuit, The pursuit of pleasure. Having burst the bubble of unrivaled knowledge, we now find secondly the preacher bursting the bubble of unmatched pleasure.

Bursting the bubble of unmatched pleasure. Chapter 2 verse 1, I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure, Enjoy pleasure. Having come short in his pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, Solomon's hopes remain high. All is Not yet lost, he thinks. As David Gibson puts it, in the opening verses of chapter two, the preacher runs out of university to try a new approach.

Let's hit the town, buy a ticket, and watch a comedian. The expensive wine bars line the streets, and he sits outside in the sun, savoring a glass of wine, glass after glass. Life is short. I should enjoy myself. Live for today.

Shrug my shoulders. Be happy. Why worry about life? These verses are the stuff of the fridge magnet and the bumper sticker. Forget it all.

Enjoy yourself and laugh." Having pursued life with all vigor of seriousness and study, he now turns to a pursuit of life with all vigor of lightheartedness and enjoyment. Once again, Solomon engages his heart, communing with his heart on this new pursuit of pleasure. Before describing for us the actual pursuit, he gives us his assessment at the outset. He doesn't want to leave you wondering. Picking up in verse 1, going into verse 2, he says, but surely, but surely This also was vanity.

I said of laughter, madness, and of mirth, what does it accomplish? In case you are not paying close attention, Solomon says with emphasis, but surely, but surely, this also was vanity. In his pursuit of pleasure, he took hold of laughter and of mirth. His assessment of laughter is that it is pure madness. It's actually the Hebrew word halal, which has many different meanings.

But I believe the usage of halal here is like that which is used to describe David when he sought to take refuge from Saul among the people of Gath in 1 Samuel 21, 12 to 13. We read there, now David took these words to heart, that they were starting to figure him out. Isn't this the guy who slain thousands and ten thousands? So David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So David changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva fall down on his beard.

That's the word halal, this madness, as if he had lost his mind. And so he says of laughter, madness, madness. Of the mirth that he sought, Solomon could only say, what does it accomplish? What does it accomplish? Having taken hold of laughter in one hand and mirth in the other, Solomon opens his hands to find out that his hands are empty again.

David Gibson described Solomon's pursuit like this. His was a quest for satisfaction and meaning in life and he pursued it by giving himself to wisdom, comedy, pleasure, alcohol, projects, and possessions. As he did so, he held happiness in his hands and then felt it slip through his fingers like water and vanish down the drain forever. Well, the next six verses show all that Solomon did in pursuit of his pleasure? All that Solomon did in pursuit of his pleasure.

You children, most of you are probably taking a break from school, but I still have a question for you. Do any of you like math? Do any of you like math? I liked math when I was in school. And when I was doing math problems, it was never acceptable to just give the answer.

Maybe some of you adults had teachers like that. Maybe some of you are those teachers like that. It's not acceptable just to give the answer, even if the answer was correct. What did you have to do? Show your work.

You have to show your work. Show how you got to that wonderful correct answer. Well the math problem here before Solomon is X to the power of 10 times life equals satisfaction. X to the power of 10 times life equals satisfaction. His first answer, knowledge, got him a failing grade.

But now, Solomon's hopeful answer, what is X? Pleasure, possessions, and accomplishments. And here in the next verses, Solomon's going to show his work. This is how I got to my answer that pleasure's going to be it. It's going to show me the meaning of life.

X has to be this. And I'm going to take it to the power of 10 and multiply it times my life and I will find satisfaction. So here in these next verses, Solomon's going to show his work. He's going to describe the many ways he pursued pleasure, verses 3 through 8. I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine while guiding my heart with wisdom.

Don't you worry. Yes, I'm going to take some bottles of wine with me but not apart from wisdom. I'm going to analyze this thing. I haven't let go of that. Maybe it's the two together, he's saying.

So while guiding my heart with wisdom and learn how to lay hold on folly till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. I made my works great. I built myself houses, plural, and planted myself vineyards, plural. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. And he got his engineers on board.

I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants and had servants born in my house. Yea, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. He had greater possessions than all who were before him. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and special treasures of kings and of the provinces, high acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.

Solomon had it all. He had the world by the tail. Whatever he said is mine to do, he did it. My friend, our American dream, American dream, is nothing in comparison to Solomon's Jerusalem reality. If you think he may have left something out in this pursuit, Solomon has a few more words for you.

Verses 9 and 10. So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remained with me. Yes, I went hard after these pleasures, but my wisdom remained too. I had that combined, the combination.

I had them combined together. I had the wisdom and the pleasure. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor. And this was my reward from all my labor.

None among us can say, I'm great. Maybe there are some who think they can. He was not boasting. He was great. None of us can say that we've excelled more than all who've gone before us.

The wisdom of any one individual here pales, it pales in comparison to that of Solomon. What he's been able to accomplish in all of his life, what we can accomplish pales in comparison. Who here has access to and can also afford to provide themselves with everything their eyes desire. Which of you can say that your heart has been fed every pleasure known to man, that nothing has been withheld from your heart. Is not this the pursuit of the worldly?

Just to satisfy and delight the heart. Great success and happiness is measured by your ability to satisfy every craving and every desire. My friend, was this not what the devil sought to do with Adam and Eve in the very beginning? To cause them to be discontent with the creation that God himself says very good? You still lack one thing, the devil said.

You still lack one thing. Has God given you all this? Nice. Nice spread. Nice variety.

Lovely, too. But you're missing something. You're missing something. God forgot to tell you about something. If you want to excel in greatness and be like God?

Let me let you in on a secret." And the heart grew discontent, latching out for that bubble blowing by. Adam and Eve reached out. They had nothing. It's not that these things that Solomon engaged in brought no pleasure. That's not the case.

Solomon's heart, he says right here, knew rejoicing and he called it rewarding. Indeed, It was for the moment, for the moment. But then comes the sober assessment of the end. And as he looks back at everything accomplished and acquired, what does he say? Chapter 2, 11.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled. And indeed, all, all, he wasn't able to point to one individual thing that didn't fall under this category. All was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun. David Hubbard makes the following observation concerning the pursuit of such pleasure.

Young people, I want you to hear this. You adults, I want you to hear this as well. Pleasures Advertising Agency is much more effective than its manufacturing department. Do you understand that? Pleasures advertising agency is much more effective than its manufacturing department.

In other words, what pleasure promises it cannot deliver. It's not like that Amazon package that got delivered a day late. It cannot deliver. But boy, the advertising really makes it look so. All the so-called fountains of worldly pleasure are nothing but broken cisterns that can hold no water." Philip Ryken helpfully reminds us that pleasure is only safe for us when God is there.

Pleasure is only safe for us when God is there. This never happens when we take pleasure for ourselves or make it our passion of life. It only happens when we receive every pleasure as a gift from God. It's a mercy of God, it's a mercy of God when he allows our hearts to come to the right conclusion that all the works, all the works done under the sun and apart from him, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Consider the choice that Moses made.

We read about it in Hebrews 11. By faith, Moses, when he became of age, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward." Was Moses' estimation correct? The reproach of Christ greater riches than all the riches in Egypt? Is the reproach of Christ that great? The Apostle John would say so.

He faithfully reminds us that all that is in this world, here's that word again, all, all that is in this world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world, and the world is passing away. It's passing away. And what else? And the lust of it. Are you in the middle of similar pursuits as Solomon?

Are you in the middle of similar pursuits as Solomon? Are you in the middle of such pursuits? If so, it is a pursuit that will provide you two fistfuls of wind at the end of the day. As I was preparing this message during the week, a certain news headline grabbed my attention, and as I read it, I couldn't help but think of Solomon's assessment. This is what the news source had to say, several different ones.

Had to do with Anthony Bourdain. I didn't know anything of the man. I don't spend much time in the kitchen, never heard his name. We don't have television that we get channels from the outside. So this man was a complete stranger to me.

But my heart broke as I read about this man. He's in eternity now. The fixed state that he wanted is fixed, but it's not what he wants. Anthony Bourdain, a gifted storyteller and writer who took CNN viewers around the world, has died. He was 61.

CNN confirmed Bourdain's death on Friday and said that the cause of death was suicide. Bourdain was in France working on an upcoming episode of his award-winning CNN series. His close friend, Eric Riper, the French chef, found Bourdain unresponsive in his hotel room Friday morning. Bourdain was a master of his crafts, first in the kitchen and then in the media. Along the way, he received practically every award the industry has to offer.

In 2013, Peabody Award judges honored Bourdain and parts unknown for expanding our palates and horizons in equal measure. The Smithsonian once called him the original rock star of the culinary world, the Elvis of bad boy chefs. In 1999, he wrote a New York article, Don't Eat Before Reading This, that became a best selling book in 2000, Kitchen Confidential, Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. The book set him on a path to international stardom. First, he hosted a Cook's Tour on the Food Network, then moved to Anthony Bourdain, no reservations on the Travel Channel.

No reservations was a breakout hit earning two Emmy Awards and more than a dozen nominations. In 2013, both Bourdain and CNN took a risk by bringing him to the news network, to a news network that was still best known for breaking news and headlines, Bourdain quickly became one of the principal faces of the network and one of the lynch linchpins of the prime time schedule. He says, there have been times, honestly, in my life that I figured I've had a good run. Why not just do this stupid thing, this selfish thing, jump off a cliff into water of indeterminate depth, " he said, referencing a thrill-seeking act he did for his former Travel Channel show, No Reservations. He said the only thing that kept him alive was his daughter, who I think was about 11 years old.

And then the article goes on, Bourdain's death comes three days after American designer Kate Spade, who built a fashion empire on her signature handbags, was found dead in her New York apartment of suicide on Tuesday. She also hanged herself. And then the article closes by saying suicide rates rose in nearly every U.S. State from 1999 to 2016, according to the data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 45, 000 people committed suicide in 2016, making it one of three leading causes of death in the United States along with Alzheimer's disease and drug overdoses.

Do those numbers grip you? Do they grip you? In one year, 45, 000 people, like those swine on the cliffs of the Gatarenes, plunging themselves forward into everlasting damnation, 45, 000 having no idea what they were really doing. Suicide is on the rise among every age group, but most among young people, most among young people. Why?

Because the social media cannot satisfy you. Solomon had it all. He didn't have 25 likes. He had it all. He had it all.

Many are unable to cope with the reality that Pleasure's manufacturing department cannot produce what its advertising agency sold them. How is it with you this morning my friend? What are you pursuing? What are you pursuing? Are the two fistfuls of wind worth the cost of a heavenly inheritance and the well-being of your very soul for eternity?

Do you remember Esau? Hebrews 12, 16, and 17 tells us that Esau, for one morsel of bread, he sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought diligently for it with tears. Don't make the same mistake as Esau. Don't make the same mistake as Esau.

He is no fool. He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. As Solomon describes life from the viewpoint of a man apart from God, Ecclesiastes leaves us feeling empty, down, discouraged, despondent, hopeless. It strips us of the folly of thinking that we will find anything of significance in this world, anything of lasting satisfaction and fulfillment. It just strips us until we're standing naked and bare before the sight of a holy God.

It reminds us that we were created for something greater, certainly something greater than two Fistfuls of wind. And you know what? This is where we need to be. This is exactly where we need to be. It's the place where a soul must be in order to see the far exceeding glory of Jesus Christ and what he offers sinners like us.

I close with the rich words of Richard Belcher, Jr. In his commentary on Ecclesiastes. If someone like Solomon could not find meaning in the pursuit of pleasure, There is little hope that anyone else could. However, people are constantly trying to find meaning in the pursuit of things, perhaps not on the same scale as Solomon, but in many smaller ways. The temptation is there all the time, and it's easy to fall into it.

Solomon had it all, and he did not find meaning in anything under the sun, not even in the little amount of enjoyment he received from his labor, which he identifies as his portion. One could contrast Solomon's situation with Jesus, who really did have it all at his fingertips but gave it all up to enter this sinful world, to deliver people from the bondage of sin and the attitude of thinking that having it all brings fulfillment. As followers of Jesus, who will one day truly have it all when Jesus returns. We should be willing to give it all up now for the sake of Christ's kingdom and his glory. Only Christ can restore what was lost in the Garden of Eden.

And one day in the future, he will, he will restore a paradise where having it all and full satisfaction will exist without fail. Go to Christ, my friend. Go to Christ. He's the only one who can bring this satisfaction. Wait for your good things.

They're coming, Christian friend, my brother and sister. As the world dangles its carrots of pleasure before you, even in the coming week, look up. Look up. Lift your eyes and see the crown of life that Jesus will give to all those who love his appearing, who will run their course, finish the fight, and keep the faith. Look up, my friend.

Look up. Don't chase the dangling carrot of pleasure from this world They can't deliver They can't all you will have at the end of the day is two fistfuls of wind and you'll be no different than your two-year-old thinking that he just grabbed that bubble and he's got it. Father we thank you for the wisdom of Solomon and Lord that you restored this man that he might for our benefit record these words. Oh Lord, save us from the idea that we can find any satisfaction outside of you. Oh, Lord, there are people here today who are pursuing one of these, if not both.

Oh, show them that it's a worthless pursuit. And show them that only Jesus Christ can bring true pleasure as many of us in this room can attest. Oh, we thank you for Jesus Christ. Make him precious to all here today. In Jesus' name, amen.