Ecclesiastes 7:20 - The Vain Search for a Righteous Man

Ecclesiastes 7:20
Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.

Message: The vain search for a righteous man

Time: Ecclesiastes: Solomon's authorship is not stated. Solomon's reign as king of Israel lasted from around 970 B.C. to around 930 B.C. The Book of Ecclesiastes was likely written towards the end of his reign, approximately 935 B.C.

What the Lord is Saying:

From Tabletalk lesson of the same title:

The doctrine of total depravity emphasizes that sin corrupts everything about us, including our hearts, minds, and wills. Consequently, since wickedness has perverted us so thoroughly, not one of us will make it through life without having sinned. We will commit sins of omission (failing to do good) and sins of commission (transgressing what is good), for no one “does good” (omission) and “never sins” (commission).

I notice this at my job, at work, especially in the discipline that I find myself to be in, accounting, and government accounting at that, which is generally under the rule of auditors and reviewers. These individuals of oversight are constantly reviewing work to determine what you are not doing right, what rules you have failed to follow in carrying out your duties. It's interesting because it doesn't matter how well we might be doing something, if we goof up one time, and they happen to check on it, then it is assumed we have not done anything right.

This can be difficult because we want to be viewed as above reproach. We measure ourselves often by having adhered to all the rules. It's hard at times as it knocks at our pride, at our since of hard work, and the reality that our best is not ever viewed as enough.

Scripture is clear that mistakes will happen. We will live in a way that is not right. As hard as we try, we are not perfect. Yet, people view themselves often by noting they are good enough or have done more wrong than right -- and so they get a good grade. They view their spiritual condition like sitting in a school classroom, with the teacher passing out the grades from the recent test. Everyone in the class, except maybe one is hoping that they at least didn't fail, but others have higher standards. In the end, the performance expectation is not perfection, but generally passing with a high grade. This is somewhat hard to digest because we as people tend to view ourselves similar to the way the world defines it, arriving at the pearly gates with a perspective of being more right than wrong, in how our life has been lived.

Yet, it really looks more like the accountant and the auditor and finding one error. The intent of salvation and being accepted by God is not on the basis of how good we are. But, rather, whether there is any sin in us. One imperfection makes us unacceptable, even though the reality is we have many more than one imperfections. Solomon here, the Preacher. simply notices something that he has noticed throughout this 7th chapter, that what we see or know is not always the truth, and no one never sins. Yet God is holy and so everyone needs a substitute or a way to be redeemed. That is the simple truth of the Gospel: I have sinned. I am not perfect. I need a Savior. God has provided the means for me to be accepted by Him. I have a decision to trust and obey. There is no other way.

Promise: We can find no person that has never sinned.