Ecclesiastes 8
UNDISPUTED
This will be a verse by verse look at Ecclesiastes chapter 8. We will look at the topic of “Jesus Christ The Undisputed Champion”
- HE SHINES
Ecc 8:1 Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
In Genesis 40:8 Joseph said “do not interpretations belong to God?” In Daniel chapter 2:28 Daniel says…
“ But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;”
2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
When it comes to INTERPRETING the scriptures and giving you enlightenment about doctrine, it is JESUS CHRIST Himself that SHINES.
He is the God in heaven that revealeth secrets. He knows the “deep and secret things and the light dwelleth with him.”
Just like any UNDISPUTED champion HE SHINES. If you don’t know which preacher is right than go to the scriptures and let the Holy Spirit of God shew you the INTERPRETATION.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Isa 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Isa 28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, andthere a little:
So Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 8:1 “wisdom maketh his face to shine.” If we are going to shine than we get around the one who REALLY SHINES. Spending time with the LORD is how your face can shine like Moses in Exodus 34:29. Jesus face SHINED in Matthew 17:2.
You know how your car gets dirty and you spray it down, throw some dawn dish liquid on it, throw some wax on it and it shines like new. You have to do that with your walk as a Christian. Crawl up close to Jesus Christ and let him knock some of that gunk off of you so that you can shine and know the interpretation of the scriptures.
Psalm 119:9 says “wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way ? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.”
Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 8:1 that man’s wisdom “maketh the boldness of his face to
be changed.” If you get close to Jesus Christ and “walk in the light as he is in the light” your prideful face will be humbled. The boldness of your face will change. God hates a “proud look.” When you stand next to the undisputed champion you’ll find out that you ain’t “all that.” When your get in the scripture it is like looking in a mirror. It shows you your flaws. It will cause your boldness to be changed. I think I look alright until I get next to a mirror.
Jesus Christ shines and exposes our sins.
2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Our wretchedness is never more visible than when we are standing next to the UNDISPUTED CHAMPION.
Next, he is the undisputed champion because he is…
- King over both kingdoms
Jesus Christ is king of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Heaven.
Ecc 8:2 I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
When it comes to living on this earth we are to obey the laws of the land as long as they don’t do against GOD’S laws.
Acts 5:29 says “we ought to obey God rather than men.”
1Pe 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
This world doesn’t have a perfect king yet. Soon there will be a perfect, sinless, absolute dictator on the throne and his name is Jesus Christ. He will be the UNDISPUTED CHAMPION on the throne. He will rule with a rod of iron. You can’t impeach him. He comes in and takes the “kingdom of heaven” by force and brings his army of born again believers that make up his “kingdom of God.”
Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 8:2 “I counsel there to keep the king’s commandment.” It was wise counsel not to go against Solomon. It is even more wise counsel not to go against the “King of kings.”
Ecc 8:3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
Men tried to get out of the sight of Solomon. You might could get out of his sight. He is mortal man. However Jesus said in Matthew 12:42 “a greater than Solomon is here” and he was referring to himself. You can’t get out of the sight of the undisputed champion.
2Ch 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth
Next he is the “Undisputed Champ” because…
- His Words Are Weapons
Ecc 8:4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
Jeroboam was a “mighty man of valor” and he fleed from Solomon. Where the word of a king is, there is power! When a man uses the KING JAMES BIBLE and quotes scripture he has POWER behind what he is saying. My preacher, pastor Donnie Dalton quotes the King James Bible so many times in a sermon that it’s like bombs raining down from a big thunder cloud. When John MacArthur quotes the ESV it is just “cloudy …with a chance of meatballs.”
“Where the word of a king is , there is power!”
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Jesus Christ is the head of all things and by him all things consist. When he made the worlds he spoke it into existence. Where the word of a king is, there is power.
He is the undisputed champion because “His words are weapons.”
Rev 19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
Ecc 8:4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
God is going to give every lost man a chance to question him at the great white throne judgment. Everyone wants to question why God does what he does and they will finally get their opportunity.
- Every man will be compared to him at the judgment.
Just like in any field the people will be compared to the CHAMPION. When a lost man stands at the Great White Throne Judgment he will be lined up against Jesus Christ and will quickly find he is out of his league.
Ecc 8:5 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.
What’s the basic commandment for you today? Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved! If you don’t do that than your lost and on your way to hell & then one day the great white throne judgment.
A wise man’s heart discerns time and judgment. Time is a gift. God gives us time and then rewards us if we use it right. A wise Christian will realize this and use it wisely so that he will do better at the judgment seat of Christ.
Ecc 8:6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
Deep down sinful man knows that death & judgment are coming. For this cause he is miserable without God because without God he is hopeless in these matters.
The greatest thing you can do is get saved and Jesus Christ will apply his righteousness TO YOU. Imagine if you were a boxer or any kind of champion of fighting. Imagine if you could give every type of skill, expertise, unbeatableness, perfection, & perfect attributes to your trainee. Imagine if you could just transfer those things over to him so that he would also be VICTORIOUS. That is exactly what Jesus Christ, the undisputed champion does for you when you got saved.
Rom 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Rom 4:6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
This is imputed righteousness. The moment you got saved the LORD gave you the righteousness of Jesus Christ. When it comes to your eternal soul it became perfect at that moment. He put you in the LORDS army and made you a warrior.
So therefore when you get to the judgment seat of Christ you aren’t judged like they are at the great white throne judgment. Your eternity is settled. When your placed next to Jesus Christ you come out as sinless as he is because when God sees you he sees the righteous blood of Jesus Christ that has been applied to your record.
Jesus Christ is the saviour and champion of the whole world. He is undisputed because…
- He Knows Your Next Move
Ecc 8:6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
Ecc 8:7 For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
Man doesn’t know what will happen from one second to the next.
Pro 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Jas 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
You don’t know when death or judgment is going to hit you. The only future you know is what is written in the scriptures themselves.
Jesus Christ knows your next move. For this reason he is undisputed. He can see you coming in slow motion. He knows what you will do before you do it.
A good boxer or athlete studies their opponent. Just like we need to know some things about the devil so that we are not “ignorant of his devices.”
The LORD automatically knows everything about everyone. Matthew 10:30 says “the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Psalm 147:4 says “He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. “
If you are limited on what you know than wouldn’t you want to join up with the ONE who knows everything?
Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Jesus Christ is UNDISPUTED because…
- He DEFEATED DEATH
Ecc 8:8 There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
There isn’t a man alive or dead that had the power to “retain the spirit.” You don’t know the day and hour of your death. You have no control in the matter. You can’t even raise yourself up from the grave. There is no “discharge” in the war of life and death. Every man born participates and the only way out is death itself.
The devil had “the power of death.” (Hebrews 2:14) Jesus Christ gave a knock out punch to death when he rose again the third day. (1 Cor 15:1-4) Jesus Christ had power over death to defeat it.
The moment you get born again he also gives you victory over death.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is undisputed because he is…
- THE ULTIMATE RULER
Ecc 8:9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.
Solomon applied his heart to do everything under the sun. He found out what it was like to be the wisest man on earth and what it was like to live for the flesh.
One of the things he found out was that some men rule to their own hurt. When some men get in leadership he can go to their heads. They will destroy themselves and hurt others in the process.
This is why one of the qualifications for a pastor in 1 Timothy 3:6 is to not be a novice.
1Ti 3:6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
Jesus Christ, the champion of our salvation, will be the ULTIMATE RULER on a physical throne. All men will abide by his rules or else.
Jesus Christ is undisputed because his…
- Enemies Are Forgotten
Ecc 8:10 And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.
All the enemies of God and the saints one will day be forgotten. Many of them already are. They are dead and buried. My pastor is always saying “Buddha is dead, Muhammad is in the ground, but Jesus Christ is alive.”
If you look in the scriptures you’ll see Jezebel got ate by the dogs. Pharaoh died along time ago. Haman got hung out to dry. Absalom, the rich man in Luke 16, Ahab, Cain, Alexander the coppersmith, and the wicked are dead and buried.
The coming antichrist and false prophet will be tossed into the lake of fire in Revelation 19:20. The devil is going to the same place in Revelation 20:10. The wicked get buried and forgotten. The LORD laughs last and laughs best.
Everything they did and all their accomplishments were all vanity. The devil accomplished more evil than any being in existence. It is completely vain.
Jesus Christ is undisputed because he is…
- PATIENT
Ecc 8:11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
A great fighter doesn’t have to run straight at his opponent. He is patient. The LORD is patient with his saints and his enemies. He maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good. (Matthew 5:45)
He will be longsuffering and patient with people. For this reason they think they are getting by with it. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” The more you sin and God let’s you get by, the more you’ll think your getting away with it.
Men are dead set in doing evil in this age. They want extra rights to do evil. They get to the point where they have so much and aren’t being checked for their sin they think they have need of nothing.
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
They think they can sin and get by. They don’t realize God is being merciful with them and giving them a chance to believe.
Rev 2:21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
If sentence against an evil work ISNT executed speedily in your life than this isn’t a license to keep going. Go ahead and turn to God now before you face the consequences.
Jesus Christ is the Undisputed champion because of his..
- LONGEVITY
Ecc 8:12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
Ecc 8:13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
The enemies of God will not only be forgotten but their days won’t be long. His days may be prolonged on this earth but verse 13 shows us those days are still a SHADOW. One hundred years on this earth is a shadow compared to eternity. Since he didn’t “fear God”, he rejected the gospel and will spend eternity in the lake of fire.
He says in verse 12 “it shall be well with them that fear God.” You may not have as much as the rich man in this life but you are better off. Gain isn’t godliness. (1 Timothy 6:5) Jesus Christ didn’t have a place to lay his head when he walked and talked on this earth.
But He is ALIVE! He is undisputed because he has “LONGEVITY.” He is the ANCIENT OF DAYS. (Dan 7:9) He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the ending. (Rev 22:13)
Psa 41:13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.
Jesus Christ is undisputed because he has…
- BEEN THROUGH THE TRENCHES
Ecc 8:14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.
In this life some wicked men live healthy, wealthy, and are taken care of. You might think they were righteous. Also in this life some righteous men are drug through the dirt. You might think they were wicked because they are going through such a mess.
Jesus Christ left heaven, where he was rich, and came down to go through the trenches.
2Co 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
Php 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
The devil and his counterfeit gods wouldn’t go through the trenches. If they did they wouldn’t come out as a champion.
The devil in spirit attacked Jesus Christ in the flesh and Jesus Christ WON! This is even after he fasted for forty days and forty nights.
Jesus Christ defeated the flesh. He was tempted by the devil to sin just like you get tempted. He never gave into the temptation.
Ecc 8:15 Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.
That is what the flesh wants to do. The flesh wants to eat, drink, and be merry.
That is what man has always done with his time.
Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
The mind of a man today is on feeding the flesh. He thinks about eating, drinking, sinful pleasures, video games, movies, and ball game statistics. The flesh is kept full, pampered, and entertained.
Jesus Christ is a champion that went through the trenches. He didn’t feed the flesh while he was here.
A real champion will do things the flesh doesn’t like. Running, exercising, eating better, sleeping better, and the list goes on. Spiritually speaking if your going to have a victorious Christian life than you need to go through the trenches and put down the flesh.
Jesus Christ is the undisputed champion because…
- NOBODY CAN FIGURE OUT HIS SECRETS
Ecc 8:16 When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)
Solomon spent so much time thinking about how things work and how God works that be couldn’t find sleep for his eyes. He was up day and night.
Ecc 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Jesus Christ is undisputed because even the wisest man that ever lived couldn’t find out all of his secrets.
Job 9:8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.
Job 9:9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
Job 9:10 Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Ecc 8:17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
Your not going to know everything about the Bible. The day you think you know everything is the day that you prove that you know nothing.
1Co 8:2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
Gal 6:3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
When someone is really good at something people say “what is your secret?” You can’t find out all the LORDS secrets. He lets the saints know a lot of them and then when we get our glorified body he will let us know all of them.
1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
