a. Education 

b. Wealth 

c. Pleasure 

d. Work 

2. Yet many are filled with disbelief, disillusionment and despair 

a. Can't afford college 

b. Not enough money to make ends meet 

c. Sadness on a daily basis 

d. Out of work 

3. Many are asking: 

a. "What is the true meaning to life?" 

b. "Is happiness really attainable?" 

C. In the book of Ecclesiastes we have recorded one man's search for happiness and the true meaning to life 

1. Solomon, at the end of a long and exhaustive quest, concludes that life is meaningless and vain 

a. Notice Solomon's confusion … Ecclesiastes 1:3-11 

³What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?   ⁴One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. ⁵The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.   ⁶The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.   ⁷All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. ⁸All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.   ⁹The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.¹⁰Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.¹¹There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

b. His conclusion … Ecclesiastes 1:2 -²Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

Vanity (def) - Excessive pride in one's appearance or accomplishments; conceit; Lack of usefulness, worth, or effect; worthlessness.

2. Only at the very end of the book are we given any hint of an alternative 

a. "Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" stands as the only alternative to utter vanity of life (Ecclesiastes 12:13) 

b. For Solomon, it seems the answer came too late. 

c. But it was Solomon's gift to us that his own wasted life becomes the ultimate object lesson for listening to God rather than our own wisdom. 

d. Proverbs 14:12 ¹²There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

e. Jeremiah 10:23 ²³O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

D. As with all Old Testament scripture, it was written ... 

1. For our learning … Romans 15:4 ⁴For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

2. For our admonition … 1 Corinthians 10:11 ¹¹Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

3. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 

¹⁶All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 

  ¹⁷That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

DISCUSSION:

A. SOLOMON'S REIGN 

1. Upon the death of David, Solomon was appointed king in his father's stead. 

a. He entered his kingship with deep reverence and a spirit of humility as he communicated with God 

b. Solomon prayed … 1 Kings 3:7-9 

⁷And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.⁸And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. ⁹Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people; that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

c. In turn, God gave him wisdom … 1 Kings 4:29-31 

²⁹And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. ³⁰And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.³¹For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.

2. Notice Solomon's concept of a righteous king 

a. Psalm 72:1-8 

¹Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. ²He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment. ³The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.  ⁴He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.  ⁵They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.⁶He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.   ⁷In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.  ⁸He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

b. Solomon was a great king who cared for God and God's people. He was a man of wisdom and deep spiritual devotion 

c. But something horrible happened – Solomon strayed away from God 

3. Sadly, Solomon goes into apostasy 

a. In view of all that Solomon had going for him, how do we account for the wise and humble king falling away from God? 

b. The answer is "women" – he had become a degenerate immoralist. The foreign women whom he had married had turned his heart away from God. He large harem was a transgression of all conceivable bounds. 

c. 1 Kings 11:1-8 

¹But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites:   ²Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.  ³And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.   ⁴For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.   ⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.   ⁶And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.   ⁷Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.   ⁸And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.

d. Notice the Lord's response … 1 Kings 11:9-13 

⁹And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, ¹⁰And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded.  ¹¹Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. ¹²Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.  ¹³Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.

e. Solomon had missed the true meaning to life! It was not in sex. It was not in wealth. It was not in power. It was to be found somewhere else. 

B. THE TERM ECCLESIASTES 

1. The word or term "Ecclesiastes" had as its immediate meaning, "The Assembly Speaker" – that is, "The Preacher." 

a. The Hebrew word is Qoheleth 

b. In the LXX it was translated "Ecclesiastes" from the Greek word ekklesia (assembly) 

2. Ecclesiastes 1:1, 12-13 

¹The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

¹²I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.

3. Thus, from the title we can see that a very important message is contain therein 

C. AN OVERVIEW OF ECCLESIASTES 

1. We can fool ourselves into ignoring the important questions of life – until it is time to face death 

a. We can live any way we please – until a brush of death makes us reevaluate 

b. We can curse God and deny Him and ignore Him – until we lay on our death bed and stare Him in the face 

2. Death is a judge who questions the worthiness of our lives 

a. Death is a litmus test, indicating the quality of the way we have lived. 

b. Death is a knife that divides the world into the fearful and the unafraid, the remorseful and those at peace, the angry and the accepting, and the hopeless and the hopeful 

c. Death separates the men from the boys 

3. A man facing death writes Ecclesiastes. 

a. Solomon is old by the time he writes this book, and he sees all too clearly that his time is short. 

b. Solomon becomes obsessed with death – he is angry at death and fearful of death 

c. For Solomon, death is a defeat not just of the physical body but of all the hopes and dreams and ambitions of life. 

d. Because man dies, nothing in life means very much at all. 

e. If one cannot come to grips with death, he cannot ever come to grips with life. 

4. Ecclesiastes falls into six basic divisions: 

a. The prologue (1:1-3) 

b. The futility of knowledge and wisdom (1:4-2:26) 

c. The uncertainty of life beyond death (3:1-22) 

d. The manifold oppressions that are done under the sun (4:1-6:12) 

e. The vanities of life (7:1-11:10) 

f. The conclusion (12:1-13) 

CONCLUSION:

A. Ecclesiastes has to do with three fundamental questions: 

1. Why am I here? 

2. What is the meaning of life? 

3. How can I be happy 

B. This book challenges every popular notion of what leads to fulfillment and the "good life." It is one of the most relevant books in the entire Bible for the society in which we live. 

C. The message of Ecclesiastes is simple: Life without God is pointless.