The Issue (Verses 7-14)

  • We Can’t Avoid Death (Verses 7-12)
    • We can’t pay our way of death (verses 7-9).
    • In our 21st century American society, we may find a way to slow it down but we will not stop it.
    • There is no price you can pay that can solve your problem of eternity.  God alone sets the price and there’s not enough money to pay that price.  “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness”! (Hebrews 9:22b)
  • Death comes for all of us (verses 10-12)
    • Death is the result of our lives.  This was not the way God intended it to be but as a result of the fall, this is the way it is. 
    • Wealth, whether gained through wisdom or foolishness, does not stop the inevitable ticking of our life’s clock.  It will, eventually, strike 12 and our time will be up.
    • In this way, we are like the animals.  If all we live for is here on earth without an eye towards eternity, we are no better than the animals.
  • Wealth has a dangerous temptation: Self-Reliance (Verses 13-14)
    • The result of self-reliance is still death.  Long after we are dead and gone, others will come and take our place and we will be a whisper—if that—on the pages of history.
    • In spite of what we might have here on earth, whether a palace or a shack, our end result if death and our bodies will decay no matter what station we had in life.