Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

The book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 4, verses 1 to 3. So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done unto the sun. The old tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter. And on the side of their oppressors there was power, but they had no comfort. Wherefore I praise the dead which are already dead, more than the living which are yet alive. Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. May God bless to us His sacred and holy word this. evening. On December 12, 1938, Soviet leader, Joseph Saul, Stalin signed 38 lists of death sentences. On that very night, the callous tyrant went to his own personal theater and watched two comedies. Stalin’s biographer Dimitri Volko Gonoff wonders how any human being could have a heart that calloused. that he could sign a death warrant for so many people and then go laugh at some comedies that he watched. Some 5,000 people were put to death. And many he knew personally of the 5,000. Down through the centuries, we have found calculated cruelty, murderous revenge, Even ghastly torture have made history a long tale of tragedy and tears. Solomon is still dealing with the harsh realities of life that he sees. And if God is in control, which certainly Chapter 3, 1 to 14, emphasized to us, why does he do something about it? Where is God when you need him is what people sometimes ask? How can we say there’s a good God? have all this evil going on in our society. Stalin’s biographer is not the only one that’s puzzled by the behavior of one human being to another. I think we all sometimes are shocked by the way people treat one another. Solomon’s first three chapters have set the scene for us, giving us a sweeping survey of the the general realities of the human predicament. He has spoken of your need to grapple with why you exist and to make some sense out of this life that you’re living on this earth. In doing so, he has spoken here of the spiritual bankruptcy and the vanity of living under the sun, the human perspective of life. A way of contrast, he has also provided a statement here on several places about living a life of faith in God and trusting in the Lord. Finally, he’s argued the certainties of God’s providence of God’s providence and his judgment. And so we. Look tonight at this one special problem that sticks out, and as he looks around him, he sees oppression is a big problem for man in this life. You find oppression common in this world. I wish it were not so. But when he returned here and looked around him and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and behold the tears of such, as were oppressed, and they had no comforter. And on the side of their oppressors, there was power, but they had no comforter. Now, it’s not very hard for us to look around us and see the oppression that takes place in our society. The preacher certainly is thinking here about the rich men exploiting the poor and so forth. In Solomon’s Day was not uncommon to have slaves that would work seven days a week, never have a break, never have a holiday, and in many cases never had a Sabbath off eater. Many were beaten by cruel taskmasters, deprived of a family life, and only given scarcely enough food to keep them alive. Not a lot really has changed when we look at the oppression. and exploitation that still takes place in our world. The world is full of oppressive governments that ruthlessly rule over people. Even at times starve their people to death, as Stalin did, the people of Ukraine during his reign. The exploitive business practices of some, where workers are abused and placed in dangerous situations. even some of our famous companies like Nike are actually using slave labor from China. Those that are in prison in China, slave labor can make their shoes, and nobody, you know, calls them up for it, calls them on the carpet for it. They rarely are condemned for such a thing. People take advantage of others. We see that those who run away from home, or sometimes forced into sex slavery. We see the elderly preyed upon by con artists in this society in which we live. Even when UN workers are supposed to go in and make peace, they’re raping the young women of particular countries in which they’re supposed to be creating peace. Do you remember the legend of Robin Hood? You know, the guy in Green who lived in Sherwood Forest with his merry men and made Mary and Friar tuck. Why do you think that story is so popular with the masses? What was the one thing that set him apart? He stole from the rich and he gave it back to the poor. The rich exploited the poor, and he was sort of eveninging it up. That’s how I think he looked at. He was the helper, the oppressed, the little guy. So he would rob oppressive governments, and the rich. rich and powerful landowners and aid the poor and helpless. So this is why this man running around the forest in green tights with a feather and his odd-looking hat became so popular in folklore. The Swiss business organization, Christian Solidarity International Society, which is supposedly committed to supporting Christians under persecution, lists no fewer than 57 countries that persecute Christians, confiscate their goods, burn their places of worship. A lot of Asia, half of Africa, a good part of Eastern Europe, even the Middle East. A number of countries in Latin America are also listed. Frankly, lately, the United States and Canada could place on that list, too, oppressing the church. of Jesus Christ with their restrictions, telling us we can’t sing aloud and so forth. Solomon sees all the tears of the exploited people around him. The sadness in this world is overwhelming. It doesn’t take much. You can pick up any newspaper, you’ll see it, but you know yourself, perhaps from a personal experience. You’ve seen it with your own eyes. This world in which we live, It’s full of selfishness. It’s every man for himself. And if you have to trample people underfoot to get ahead, that’s what you do. You ever go on fishing and I used to catch all these crayfish. I didn’t catch too many fish, but I guess my line was too low. I would be catching these. I catch big buckets full of crayfish. And the crayfish would try to get out. They would, like, get up on their tails and try to get out of the bucket. You know, other crayfish would grab a hole, and pull him down and try to pull themselves up. So, and that’s the way it is in society. One guy gets ahead of him, we’re going to pull him down. I’m going to get ahead of him. I’m going to get out before he does. I’m going to get, I’m going to be first. So you trample all over others just to get ahead. So you can see the problem of exploitation and oppression. It’s nothing new under the sun. I remember when they used to have the Black Friday sales, people would be trampled to death trying to get in the stores. I mean, it was just craziness. You are grieved by the helplessness of the oppressed here. You see the second part of verse one touching on this. Now, if you go through the Bible, you’re going to find God condemns those who oppress others. He does not condone this. He indeed will punish it. The scriptures condemn all exploitation. By the state, Proverbs 2816, says the prince that wanteth understanding is a great oppressor. This is why King Ahab, when he wanted Nabos Vineyard, just framed him, had him put to death, and took it for himself. That’s way exploitive government. government’s work. That’s a way of press of governments work. We have governments that persecute Christians killing ministers. Just as Ahab was killing the prophets of the Lord. We have the wealthy exploiting their workers. Remember in James chapter 5, it talks about the rich, exploiting their poor laborers, not paying them their wages, holding it back. when it comes to the law, Amos 512 says, for I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins, they afflict the just, they take a bribe, they turn aside the poor and the gate from their right. That’s the way it is. We talked about this before. Look at Samuel’s sons who took bribes to pervert justice. We look at religion. read Matthew chapter 23 and what Jesus said about the scribes and the Pharisees are supposed to be the real religious people of their day. The ones that spent their time writing on the law of God, the ones that had such a careful, meticulous, legal, uh, mindset with regard to keeping every little detail of the law. And yet we find that they devired widows’ houses and exploited widows and took money from them. We find that they would deceive people by false oaths. We find also that they would admit a weightier matters of the law. Aren’t these the very ones that hired false witnesses to put Christ to death? We could talk about merchants. Back in the day, they used to shave the coins. You know, if you had a gold coin, you know, everybody takes a little bit off. Steals a little bit. Before you know, the next thing you know, the coins gets out of shape. It’s not as like it should be. They kept stealing part of the gold or the silver. They had false weights and measures that they, you know, used to cheat people. Josea 12-7 says he’s a merchant. The balances of deceit are in his hand. He loveth to oppress. He loves to oppress the poor. These people had a little concern for the battered, the bruised of society. All authority, all political pool was with the rich. The powerful. Psalm 142 says, I looked on my right hand, and there was no man that would know me. refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul. The effect of sin in people’s lives is the lack of compassion. Talks twice here about there’s no comforter for these people. They’re exploited. They’re downtrodden. They were oppressed. You remember the story that Jesus told about the Good Samaritan, how he went from Jerusalem. He was going down to Jericho. And we find that he is battered by robbers left as a victim along the road half dead, we’re told, bloodied and bruised. And you think about the calloused indifference in that story of the scribe and the Levite. They spotted the battered victim laying there on the road but what did they do? They just walked by on the other side. Walked by on the other side. They didn’t care if the man died. Now, friends, these were the religious men. These were not the common, ordinary people. These were the people that professed to be keeping the law of God and obeying God and things of this nature. What does it tell you about how compassionate man is? Even religious men. They plainly weren’t. concerned they were too busy. Maybe I got to get to my lecture on the law. I got to get there and teach people the law of God. Or maybe I don’t want to be contaminated by this guy laying on the side of the road. Don’t want to be bothered. After all, I’m untainted. No one cared for their soul. That’s what the scripture says here about people. These oppressed people. Do you remember the story of King Herod? One day, you remember that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. And in those days, King Herod was ruling. And Jesus was born in a manger. He was not born in a royal home. He was born to a carpenter. And they had nowhere to stay at the end. So here they are out in the barn with the animals. and that’s where Jesus was born. However, there were three wise men that came from the East seeking him who was the king of the Jews. And so they’ll go to King Herod or repeal to him and say, where is he? We come to worship him. Just the suggestion that a king of the Jews has been born throws King Herod into a tizzy. Now, King Herod was shrewd. He told the wise men, why don’t you go out and see if you can find him and then get word back to me because I’d like to worship him too. He had no intentions of worshipping Jesus, the intentions of killing him. Well, these three wise men were warned in a dream by God not to go back, so they didn’t. They went a different way. He went home. So what did Herod do? They said, well, these guys were just religious fanatics. After all, shouldn’t even worry about this. Is that what he did? No. He used his position and his power to his advantage. He ordered it all the children in Bethlehem and the region roundabout from two years of age and under be put to death. Think about that. In Rama, there was heard voice, a voice heard, lamentation and weeping and great mourning, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and would not be caught. comforted for they are not Matthew 1 or Matthew 218. This is typical the world. Satisfy yourself and hear these people were exploited. And who was the comforted? There was no comforter for them. So you find oppression common in this world. Secondly, tonight, you desire to escape oppression versus two and three. Wherefore I praise the dead, which are already dead, more than the living, which are yet alive, yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. Many people who are that are oppressed in life, hate life, as verse 2 tells us. The Bible speaks about those who seek death as a release. And Solomon here seems to praise those who have passed. beyond the oppression of this world because they’ve died. Life under the sun with all its vanity and vexation is so bad that the worldling thinks about it’s better to be dead than to be alive because you’re beyond your oppressors at that point. And that’s how that it was looked at. Now many people would see death as a complete relief from their terrible burdens in this life. And thus there’s this temptation for people to check out of this life. Derek Comfrey’s in his book, The Final Exit, provided a manual for killing yourself. Think about that. How to commit suicide. Evidently, that’s a theme that appealed to the masses as he sold so many books. More people seem to be. turning to suicide as an escape. However, suicide is not an option for you. It is against the law of God. Thou shalt not kill, applies to you too. Can’t kill yourself. If you believe in God, you certainly cannot be doing this. Yet having a death wish is not uncommon even for believers, at least in the case of the child of God, at least they’ll be going to heaven when they die. And so they wish they were dead at times. You read the story of Job or the story of Elijah, and they pleaded, God, take my life. They didn’t commit suicide. I knew that was wrong. But Lord, take my life. Remember here that Elijah was being hunted down by the wicked Queen Jezebel, and he was going to take my life. off his head. Take my life. Job was tormented by losses and disease and unsympathetic friends. He says, I wish I were dead. In Revelation Chapter 13, or 1913, it says Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord from henceforth. These are the saints who were martyred by their enemies. They were put to death. death, but they passed on beyond this life and away from the oppressors and went into heaven where there was joy and blessing. The present sufferings are not worthy to be compared to the glory that awaits the child of God. Solomon, however, seems to be looking at the whole situation from the eyes of the secular man. Death ends all suffering from that. That’s how they’re looking at. The problem is that’s not really true. Not all go to heaven when they die. Many, in fact, end up in eternal hell where they’re going to be tormented forever and ever. And so it’s like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, so to speak. You think you’re going to escape the torment and suffering you have in this life, only to get somewhere where it’s going to be worse for you. that certainly this is something that a lot of people don’t even think about when they try to escape by suicide in this life. Now Solomon seems to be thinking here that tears the oppressed, and they long for something better. And the world’s view that’s death is your only hope, because they don’t think there’s anything beyond death. They think that ends all existence. As someone oppressed, you may hate. and despise life. Verse 3, here, you may wish you were never born. Here’s something even one step beyond wishing you were dead. Solomon says, in some ways, even better, are those who never existed in the first place because you never suffer at all then. You never be exposed to the evils of this world. If you were never here. Why was I ever born? It’s been solved by many people. Even believers. If you read Job chapter 3 verses 1 to 13, you see him saying that. Why was I even born? Why didn’t I come out dead from my mother’s womb? Jeremiah, the prophet. You look at Jeremiah chapter 20, verses 14 to 18. And notice what he says here. Jeremiah chapter 20 in verses 14 to 18. Cursed be the day wherein I was born. Let not the day wherein my mother bear me be blessed. Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father saying, A man child is born unto thee, making him very glad. Let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew and repented not. and let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noontide because he slew me not from the womb or that my mother might have been my grave and her womb to be always great with me. Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow that my day should be consumed with shame? Think about that. what he’s saying here. When you’re hurting, you may say things do things you later regret. When your suffering is great, you sink into despair. What’s the sense of being born? That’s how the secular man thinks. Now, you as a Christian, I don’t know better than that. As a Christian, you know why you’re born. You’re here, according to God’s purpose and will, even in your trials and your hardships. God has a purpose in it. You remember what God told Paul, I will show you what great things you must suffer for my namesake. From an earthly perspective, you may think it would be best never to exist, but as a Christian, you know that God has a wonderful destiny for you. The sufferings of this present life are not worried to be compared with the glories that are coming. And yet, if this life is, all there is, and that’s what secular man thinks, then Solomon’s point is clear. Better to avoid all oppression whatsoever not even exist. But a child of God cannot think that way. God had a good purpose in bringing you into this life. You are here to glorify his name in one way or another. And therefore, you can’t be thinking about oh, I should never have been born. I know that Job and Jeremiah talk about this, but that’s in their despair. That was really not the right thing to be thinking about. As we close tonight, let me mention a couple of things. One is this. Let us see that man is not naturally inclined to do good to his fellow human beings, else oppression would not be so commonplace. Don’t tell me there is good in man that man is always thinking about how he can do his neighbor a benefit. Man has an evil heart. It needs regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Let that be very clear to us. Secondly, there is a great temptation when under oppression to think in the two ways that Solomon mentions here. One, you eagerly pursue death to escape oppression. That’s not your job either. Your job is to wait God’s time and he will take you in due course. Secondly, is the wish you were never born, which is the denial of God’s purpose and bringing you into life in the first place. Both of these ideas leave God out of the picture. Let me ask you this. Have you ever contemplated Christ in reference to this? of scripture that we read tonight. We read Isaiah 53. We see that he was despised and rejected of men, hated. I remind you that Jesus Christ came into this world to suffer and to die in the place of sinners. That’s why he’s here. He was born to that end. So the ultimate experience and oppression is found. in our Savior, Jesus Christ. He was hated oppressed and he was perfectly sinless. He never did any wrong. People hated him without a cause. His whole purpose was self-sacrifice. He came to glorify his heavenly father by going to the cross and he came to suffer for his people in doing so. for this reason the first evidence of having truly received Christ and the gracious work of the Holy Spirit in your life is a love for God that leads also to a compassion for others. Hebrews 133 remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body. Sympathes with them. Care about. Are you oppressed in this world? Do you demonstrate a caring, loving, considerate spirit? In the world, you’re not going to find a comfort. I looked on my right hand. But there was no man that would know me. Refutes failed me. No man cared for my soul. You remember how Paul stood before Caesar to give an account of his preaching of the gospel. He was arrested by the Jews and persecuted by them and they wanted him put to death. So he had to appeal to Caesar. And when he gets there, everybody fled. Nobody stood there with Paul. None of his friends. He had to stand there alone before Caesar. But what does he say? in 2 Timothy 4, 16, 18. But the Lord stood with me. In the world, there is no comforter. But in Christ, we have a comforter when we are oppressed. Friends, you have a man of sorrows acquainted with grief as your comforter and as your high priest. Touched with the feelings of his people’s sorrows, you can go to prayer to him. He cares for your soul. Remember, the sorrows of this life are short. Compare to the joys and heavenly pleasures that wait you for all eternity. Keep that in mind as you go through this life. Whatever the Lord may call upon us to suffer and maybe we’ll be oppressed, go to Christ to find your comforter. And remember, this life is short. It’ll soon be over. And something glorious awaits you. Let’s close with a word of God.