Living Life Backwards pt.10 - Getting to the Point

Hey, good morning. It's good to see everybody. I know this is my first time at Cornerstone in 2021. So our family had our little fun with COVID-19 and, and so we're through that Lord willing, but it's good to be back.

I appreciate all the hard work our teachers have done. If you need a handout, we do have a handout here on the table for this morning's lesson. Let me just make an announcement before we pray and get into the material. beginning next week, we are going to move into a survey of the Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.

If you've never read this book or studied this book, I'd highly commend it to you. I'm convinced that your love for Christ will grow as your knowledge of scripture and theology grows. Pilgrim's Progress is one of the best counseling manuals in the history of the church, and, it's also a great just rubber meets the road apologetic as you get to see how Bunyan. does apologetics with different types of people and it's just full of gospel hope so I hope that you'll join us next week.

you can see on the handout and also the email that I sent the free online text and commentary that we're gonna be using, but if you'd like a hard copy of the book, I do have some, copies to give away. this is the original English version. I'm gonna give a few of these away this week. if you can come up and tell me about the Slough of the spawn, what it is and how Christian got out of it.

I've also got a modern English version that you can see on the handout that you can order. And then next week, we're gonna have a giveaway for the audio drama, the best audio drama version that's put out by Answers in Genesis. You can look at the email. If you can send me an email that basically says what the slough of Despond is, how Christian got out of it, and guarantee that you're gonna be at class either physically or virtually, you can be entered to win the audio drama.

I've got 3 copies. I'm gonna give 2 copies away next week. So look at that on your handout or in your email. let's go ahead and pray, and then we're gonna have our final lesson, in Ecclesiastes living life backwards.

Let's pray. Lord, we acknowledge that we are but a vapor. Our lives are short and, elusive, and we've been seeking to learn from the book of Ecclesiastes, the preacher. We ask Lord, that your spirit would continue to speak to us this morning as we come to the final matter.

We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Let's do a little bit of review. Couple of things that have stood out to me in this class.

One is life is the merest of vapors. we've been saying this many times, we can learn to live by preparing to die. our author has encouraged us to pop the bubbles of life, stop pretending that there are things that are going to last forever. Life is actually gift, not gain.

Carlos Price, encouraged us to that we live in time but God does not. When Alvin Davis taught us, the emphasis was on we, not me, we don't need to climb the ladder of success for ourselves, we live more for one another. Also, we were reminded by Carlos Limtiaco that we are not God. You won't have it all, know it all, you won't be remembered for all time, but we can look at the things that we know from the perspective of things that we don't know, and that reminds us that we are not God and that actually is a great comfort.

Also Jonathan Jones reminded us that in the created world, you can only truly enjoy what you don't worship. If you try to worship things in the created world, you won't ultimately be able to enjoy them. Also we were reminded that you are not the Messiah. You are not the Messiah, so get the vaccine for the messianic virus.

The vaccine is Christ. As Jonathan Gibson as he quoted Michael Horton, said this, we have no legacy. Christ has the legacy, the covenant, which he put into effect by his death and which he now dispenses from heaven by his word and spirit. Pastors need to realize that they come and go, but the legacy keeps on being dispersed.

It's a good word for pastors. It's not about us leaving our legacy, it's about us leaving behind Christ. Also Jonathan Jones reminded us last week that we need to accept death's helping hand. Death is an evangelist rather than living shrouded in death.

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes teaches us to live shaped by death. Well, this morning we come to a final lesson. And when I read this section, it reminded me of my favorite Shakespearean play Hamlet. Where Polonius says to Hamlet, Lamlet, what do you read my lord?

Hamlet says, words, words, words. Polonius says, what is the matter, my lord? Between who? Hamlet says, the matter you read, my lord.

Words, words, words, and the word matter is used differently and confused by Polonius and Hamlet, and words can be confusing without a context. But try pictures. we've got a, a children's Bible at our home that I've read through with all of my children that has very artistic pictures. My oldest son used to sit and stare at the picture of Cain with a big rock above his head, about ready to kill Abel.

And without explanation of words, what does this picture mean? We have to use words to explain what it means that Cain is killing Abel and how that fits into the big story. The preacher hasn't come to us with pictographs or a YouTube blog. The preacher that is Solomon has been spinning out 12 chapters of words.

And now we come. To the end of the matter. In this section, the last few verses of chapter 12, we're gonna consider some frequently used words in the book. We're gonna be considering the word preacher, wisdom, knowledge, proverbs, here, fear, judgment, good, evil, and we're gonna see a few words that we have yet to see up until this point goats, nails, shepherd.

Son Let's go ahead and read the text together starting in verse 9. Chapter 12 verse 9. Not only was the teacher or preacher wise, but he also taught the people knowledge. He pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs.

The teacher searched to find delightful sayings and to record accurate words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and the anthologies of masters are like firmly embedded nails driven by a single shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. There's no end to the making of books and much study wearies the body.

When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this, fear God. And keep his commandments because this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing. Whether good or evil.

At the end Those are the end of the words. Let's ask 5 questions to help us get to our point. 5 questions and the first question I wanna ask of this text. Is who is the preacher.

This is what we started with at the beginning, back in chapter one verse one. The words of the preacher, the son of David, King. In Jerusalem. Who is the preacher?

1 verse 9, he says not only was the preacher teacher wise, that is, he had wisdom unto himself. And here he calls himself the preacher. He doesn't refer to himself here as the king anymore. It's, it's just the preacher.

And if you remember, it's been many weeks ago we talked about this word preacher in the Hebrew, the word is koheleth. And it literally means gathering or gathered, or gathered ones, and it what produces in the Greek our word ecclesia or the gathered ones or the church, thus the word ecclesiastes. But this word koheleth actually could mean a few different things, and people have debated exactly what Koheleth means. Does it mean that That Solomon is, is just gathering together people, so that he can preach?

Is it referring to the gathered crowd? Is it referring to his collecting or gathering words of wisdom to present? Or is it referring to Solomon himself? Some argue that this is actually a proper name for Solomon, that he's the one that has been gathered or regathered by the shepherd.

If you, if you remember Solomon, he had a an interesting beginning. David had set everything up for him and his kingdom. All the wars had been won, and, and David had set up many different materials so that Solomon could build the temple. And in 1 Kings 8 in chapter 9, we see the height of the kingdom as Solomon.

does exactly that. He builds this temple and and offers the sacrifices and makes this amazing sermon and and prayer. But then it's, it's this Koheleth, it's this Solomon, it's this Jedediah that goes off into apostasy and begins to serve other gods, the gods of his multiple wives, and, and this wisest of all men falls into extreme foolishness. So who is this preacher?

Well it's probably Koheleth probably really refers to all three meanings that Koheleth is the one that is gathered by the shepherd. He's brought back in to the fold and delivers this. recantation sermon as it were, he's recanting of his old gods, he's recanting of his apostasy, and so he's the gathered one, but he's also gathering together people, including his own son, as we'll see, so that he can deliver these gathered words of wisdom. So this is a recantation sermon.

Remember he had lived under the sure mercies of David. He had lived under the Davidic covenant. David wanted to build a temple for the Lord, but the Lord says, no, I'm gonna make you a house, and I'm gonna cause your son to rise up, and, and he will reign, and his reign, there will be no end. And there may have been a thought at some point that perhaps Solomon was the Messiah.

Perhaps Solomon was gonna be the one that would bring lasting peace. Solomon does mean peace. And we see that Solomon begins to build this temple, but then it all falls apart in 1 Kings 11, as the one who had loved the Lord in chapter 3 is now beginning to love many women. He falls into extreme pornography, extreme lust, extreme adultery and fornication.

But remember, in the Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel chapter 71 Chronicles 17, we have this promise that if he sins, I will not take away my spirit or my mercy from him as I did Saul. There was a promise that Solomon would still be underneath the sure mercies. Of David and that he could confess his sins and be regathered to his shepherd. When you look at the prayer of Koheleth, when you look at the prayer of Solomon in 1 Kings chapter 8 and 9, read it for yourself at some point, the, the sermon and the prayer is amazing.

And there's a part of us that could look at that prayer and then look at what Solomon did later and ask, was it all a dream? Was it all make-believe? Did Solomon really believe the things that he had prayed, that if, if we turn to the temple and we pray and ask the Lord to forgive us of our sins, for we know that everybody sins, God will forgive us of our sins. Solomon had tried to hold on to bubbles for gain, not gift.

He did not live his life backwards as he's teaching us here now. He did not accept death's helping hand at that point in his life. And yet here he is at the end of his life, fearing the Lord. Speaking to his own son.

He had now become wise. Where did he get this wisdom? And what did he do with this wisdom in his old age? What is this parting word and why does he give us this parting word?

So let's let's just remember that the person that is preaching and ending this book. is one who had been regathered by the shepherd, and had recanted from his apostasy, and had now become wise. Let's ask a second question. What did he do with this wisdom?

In the second half of verse 9 and verse 10, it says, not only was the teacher wise unto himself, but he also taught the people knowledge. He pondered and searched out and arranged many proverbs, verse 10. The teacher or the preacher search to find delightful sayings and record accurate words of truth. Kheleth, the gathered one, did not just keep his wisdom to himself.

He did not just sit in the shame of his apostasy. He began to share the good news of the wisdom that he had learned just as David confesses his sins, his father in Psalm 51. And towards the end of Psalm 51, he says, then I will teach sinners in the way. David's life was not over after Bathsheba, Solomon's life was not over after his pornography and addictions.

He shares the wisdom that he had learned, the regathered one. What is it that he He taught, he teaches them to have a true knowledge of themselves that they are impure and weak. He taught them. The knowledge of life in creation that life is.

Is It's a vapor. It's, it's evasive. It's repetitive, but we can prepare. To live by looking at our own death, he taught them of true wisdom, he pointed them to the Messiah, he's teaching them of the fear of God as we'll see in future judgment.

And he taught them continuously. Notice that our text says that he pondered, literally this is he gave ear to or he hearkened to, he listened. Remember the Christian religion is, it's a religion that the primary organ is our ear. We listen, we hear the words of the Lord.

And so he listened and he gave attention. To these words. He searched them out like like going to search throughout a land or to search for hidden treasures, and he arranged them. He made straight many proverbs, he put proverbs into an arrangement, and in the book of Ecclesiastes he's arranged things in a certain way by the by the inspiration of the spirit to punch us from behind as we've talked about.

He doesn't come right out and tell us the answer at the very beginning. He, he arranges them in a way for maximum impact. Verse 10, he, he searched to find delightful sayings. He's, he's looking for, delightful, beautiful, acceptable words.

It's the same word here that's used in Psalm 1, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. These are are sayings that bring pleasure, and then he records them, he writes them down in a straight way to give us these words of truth. So Koheleth, the preacher, the gathered one, gathers together words of wisdom, and he gathers the people together, and he shares this wisdom rather than just sulking in his shame, he comes out in forgiveness and begins to share. These words.

With those that are gathered around. Let's ask a third question, where did he get his material? He tells us in verses 11 and 12, verse 11, the words of the wise are like goats. The anthologies of the masters are like firmly embedded nails driven by a single.

Shepherd Where did he get his words? We got his words from other wise men like his father and and his father and Job and Noah and the Torah, the instruction that we see, the anthologies of the masters, the collections of the bals. And these collections and these words all ultimately come from an ultimate source. They're like embedded nails that are being driven by a single shepherd, and this is the only time we see the word shepherd in this whole book.

Shepherd. Solomon would have been very acquainted with the word in the life of a shepherd, for his dad was a shepherd. His dad was pulled out of the fields as a shepherd by the Lord to go shepherd Israel, and it's his own dad that wrote that very famous song, The Lord is my shepherd. And so these words come ultimately from the ultimate shepherd.

The one who had shepherded his dad. And the one who had shepherded him. So the material didn't come from Solomon himself. The material came from Solomon as he researched other wise people, and as he lived out his own life and adventured into foolishness, but then the good shepherd had brought him back into the fold as a regathered one, and he recanted from his apostasis and was brought back by the good shepherd.

Notice he tells his son in verse 12, he says, my son. Beware of anything beyond these. Beware of any words beyond the words of the shepherd. Those are not gonna do you any good.

He says there is no end of making of many books. You can read book after book after book, and you can study, and it's just gonna weary your body. But if you will focus your attention on the words of the shepherd, that's where true wisdom lies. That's where wisdom begins with the shepherd.

So we've answered, we've asked the question, who is this preacher? Who is Koheleth? He is the one who's been gathered himself back into the fold to. To give gathered words out to the gathered people.

He is teaching, even though he could sulk in shame, he's sharing wisdom with us and with Israel. And he got his material from the shepherd, the single shepherd. But let's ask a 4th question, and that is, what is this parting word? What is the conclusion of the matter?

Look at verse 13. When all has been heard, this is the word Shamah. The conclusion of the matter is this. Fear God And keep or guard his commandments because this is man's all.

This is the whole duty. Of man. Notice he says when all has been heard, when all has been hamad. Solomon, the gathered one, he listened, he pondered, he, he listened to the words, and he says, when, when we've heard it all, when we've shat it all, it comes down to this, Fear God and guard his commandments.

It harkens back to Deuteronomy 6, that great Shama, where we see, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart. And then in verse 13, you shall fear the Lord your God and serve him. The shama, what is the end of the matter?

To fear God. What does it mean to fear God? I wanna suggest to you to fear God means nothing more. Than to love God, to fear God.

is to love God. And I wanna try to demonstrate that from the book of Ecclesiastes and from other places where we see this concept, the fear of the Lord. I've already demonstrated the connection between the Shamah here of Ecclesiastes 12 and the Shama of Deuteronomy 6. To love the Lord your God with all of your heart is equivalent to the fear of the Lord your God.

Fear is used 6 times in the book of Ecclesiastes, 1 here in chapter 12. But we first see it back in chapter 3, where Solomon says, I'll start in verse 11. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work of the Lord.

Verse 12, I know that nothing is better than for them to rejoice, to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of his labor. This is the gift of the Lord. I know this, verse 14. I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever, this gift of God.

Nothing can be added to it, this gift of God, nothing can be taken from it, this gift of God. God does it, does what this gift of God, that men should fear before him. God gives gifts to be enjoyed with the result that men should fear him. There's a connection in this context between joy.

And fear Next we see in chapter 5 verse 7, for in the multitude of dreams and many words, there is also vanity, but fear God, the context here is you can blabber at the mouth with your own words, but we need to come and hear Shama God, and that's where we find the fear of God. Those who fear God worship God by listening to God. So fear of God enjoys joy. It it it it entails listening.

Then in chapter 8. Starting in verse 12, Koheleth says, though a sinner does evil 100 times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know it will be well with those who fear God and who fear before him. So whoever fears God, it's gonna be well with him, but verse 13 in contrast, it will not be well with the wicked. Nor will he prolong his days, which are a shadow because he does not fear before God.

So fearing God is something that will cause, it will go well with people fear him. Those who are wicked, it will not go well with them because they don't fear God. And then in the context again, we won't read it, if you look down at verse 15 of chapter 8, there's more eating and drinking and joy. So just from the book of Ecclesiastes, the fear God involves rejoicing, it enjoys hearing.

And and it enjoys a sense of knowing that things are going to go well with the person who fears God. But let's, let's talk for a moment here about probably one of the, the most instructive chapters in the Bible on the fear of the Lord. It's in 2 Kings 17, if you want to, you can open up there. I'm gonna give a summary, you don't have to open up there.

In this chapter, it's really the latter half of the chapter, the fear, the word fear is used 11 times in just a few paragraphs, and here in this chapter we see right and wrong fear of the Lord. We could call this chapter the schizophobia of the Lord chapter. The schizophobia of the Lord chapter because you see this back and forth use of the fear of the Lord, and it's used in the right and wrong way continuously in the chapter and just by way of summary, this is where it's summarizing how Israel had been taken up in Assyria in 722 BC and the king of Assyria had repopulated the area of of Israel with pagans.

But when the pagans came in from Sephervium and other places, they did not fear the Lord, so the Lord sent lions that killed them.

And then they appealed back to the king of Assyria and they say, hey, we don't know the rituals of the land, please send us a priest so that we can learn how to fear the Lord, fear Yahweh. So the king of Assyria sends them a priest to teach them how to fear the Lord. So the text tells us in verse 33 that they feared the Lord, but served their own gods. They feared the Lord, but they worked for their own gods.

Verse 34, so to this day, they do not fear the Lord. They feared the Lord, but they do not fear the Lord, right in the exact same context, it's saying they feared the Lord, but they didn't fear the Lord. So they feared the Lord in a wrong way, and they did fear the Lord in a right way. Now listen to verse 35.

There's this historical review of the children of Jacob and Israel, and it says, the Lord had made a covenant and charged them saying, you shall not fear the gods. Nor bow down or serve them, nor sacrifice to them. Verse 36, but the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and outstretched arm, him you shall fear, him you shall worship, and him you shall offer sacrifice. So listen what's going on there, is to fear the Lord properly, is to worship the Lord and to sacrifice to him, not to bow down to false gods and sacrifice to them.

It entails worship and sacrifice, worshiping the true God, sacrificing, why do we sacrifice? Well, we sacrifice largely. As a commemoration of the forgiveness of sins, we're coming to the Lord because he's promised to forgive sins. Now verse 41, the chapter ends this way, so these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images and their children, their children's children to this day.

So we call this the schizophobia of the Lord chapter. These pagans were fearing the Lord, but they were not fearing the Lord, and so God is reminding the people of Jacob, here's what true fear of the Lord is. It's to come and worship him and sacrifice to him, not your false gods. So where does true wisdom begin?

Koheleth, in verse 9, he's wise, right? Where did that wisdom start? Where did that all begin? Well, the Bible tells us.

We have Proverbs, we have David himself. Remember, Psalm 111:10 says the fear of the Lord is the what? Beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 1:7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Proverbs 9:10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, over and over again, even Job picks us up in Job 28, we have this idea that the very beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Well, is this fear of the Lord just an Old Testament thing? I thought fear we put all that away in the Old Testament. Doesn't the New Testament tell us that perfect love cast aside all fear?

Well listen to Acts 9:31. Write this down. You don't have to move here, but Acts 9:31, the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace and were edified, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Listen to how these two words are juxtaposed, fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Spirit.

We get right here in this one verse in Acts chapter 9, a good definition of what it means to fear the Lord. When one fears the Lord, they're comforted by the Holy Spirit. So whatever fear of the Lord means for the true biblical Christian, for the one who knows Christ, it involves comfort. By the way, Isaiah 11 predicts that the Messiah himself would fear the Lord.

Isaiah 11 says, then the chute. will spring up from the stump of Jesse and a branch from the roots will will bear fruit. This branch is the Messiah. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.

Now listen to verse 3, and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. The Messiah Himself will fear the Lord and delight in the fear and the worship of the Lord. So whatever the fear of the Lord means, it involves delight, it involves love. Psalm 2:11, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

So it involves rejoicing and delight. But this is the verse I wanna pay particular attention to Psalm 130, and I'd like you to open up here to Psalm 130. Because Psalm 1:30 just gives us an excellent definition of what it means to fear the Lord, and where the fear of the Lord comes from, and then John Gill does gives an excellent summary to help us to find this. Psalm 130 verse 3 says this.

If you, O Lord, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand? Think about that. Imagine Solomon saying this, Lord, if you were to keep track of all my iniquities, could I stand before you? Imagine David saying, if you were to keep track of all my iniquities, who could stand?

Think of your iniquities. If the Lord were to keep track of the pluses and minuses of your iniquities, could you stand? Answer, no. But look at verse 4, but with you, there is forgiveness.

Our God is a forgiving God, so that with the result that you may be feared. Think about that with you there's forgiveness. So that you may be feared. Forgiveness results in fear.

I don't know that I've really made that connection before. Forgiveness results in fear. What are we talking about? Listen to this wonderful definition from John Gill as he's commenting actually in Proverbs 9:10.

He says this, for fear is an awe and reverence of the divine being. Joined with love to him. Trust in him and a desire. To serve and worship Him in the right manner.

No sooner has a man been converted. But presently there is in him a fear of offending God from a principle of love to him. For not a slavish but a filial fear is here intended. That's such a wonderful connection that in the Old Testament and the New Testament, that the fear of the Lord, pagans had a fear of their gods.

But what we have here is the Bible rips off that term, applies it to Yahweh, connects it to his forgiveness, and makes it all about love. That fear of the Lord emits from an understanding of forgiveness. Consider this analogy, the Lord brings to you and to me, the Father gives or serves us a hot meal. We're gonna call that hot meal forgiving love.

God brings to us a plate, whatever it is that you like the most, right now I like chicken tikka masala. So Lord brings us some chicken tikka masala, and we just call this this forgiving love. We didn't ask for this meal, we didn't deserve this meal, but he gives it to us. And what arises from this hot meal of forgiveness is the aroma of fear.

Our fear of the Lord arises from the realization of forgiveness. It seems that love would be a synonym for the fear of the Lord. We love Him because He first loved us. And so let me, after all this, let me give you this definition of the fear of the Lord that I think arises out of Ecclesiastes, the Old and the New Testament.

The fear of the Lord is this, it's a reverential affection for God. A reverential affection for God that arises from the forgiveness of sins. To fear God, to fear the Lord, a reverential affection of God that arises from the forgiveness of sins. Wisdom begins when the Spirit comforts us by drawing us to the Father's side for forgiveness through Christ.

Why can Kohela Why is the preacher wise? Why is the gathered one wise? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Solomon I don't know about you, but.

Solomon, the book of Ecclesiastes in some ways from, from a long time it's bugged me that we're reading this book that's supposed to come from such a wise man, and yet you look at Solomon's life and you say what? This is a wise man. This man that went out and basically lived a life of pornography and lust. He, he was given everything by David, right?

I'm sure David, having, having fallen into his, his fell into his own sins. The last thing David would have wanted. Is for 1 Kings 11 to be pinned. That Solomon would love many women.

And yet Solomon had his own path. And so let's ask this final question in our final few minutes, and that is why is this the whole duty of man? Why does. Why is Solomon saying this is the whole duty, fear the fear God.

Verse 14, for God will bring every deed into judgment along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil. And this just seems like a weird way to end the book, doesn't it? When I read that last verse, I don't immediately get a sense of comfort. Why does Solomon end like this?

It's almost like I'm bringing Vanessa and Ephraim up to Jacob, and I'm saying, put your hands on this one and this one, and Jacob just crosses hands and gives us another sucker punch from behind. Why is, why does Solomon end like this? If I wouldn't end like this, I would say, please put your hand on grace, not on judgment. But this is the way wisdom works.

Remember who is preaching. This is Kohele. This is the gathered one. This is the one who had apostatized.

This is the one who has just preached us his recantation sermon. How would Solomon fare in the judgment if God were to recount his sins, his secret sins, and Solomon's sins aren't so secret, they've been broadcast for all of us. How would he fare? Well, according to the sure mercies of David, look at 2 Samuel 7, look at 1 Chronicles 17.

The fear of the Lord is a reverential affection for God that arises from the forgiveness of sins. I think Solomon ends like this, because he wants us all to look at that last verse and say, I am toast. Unless the Lord comes on my behalf. And grants me a fear of the Lord.

And the Lord comes. And he says to each one of us, he has not dealt with you according to your sins, nor punished you according to your iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards those who. Fear him.

Love him, worship him, acknowledge that they must come to him for forgiveness. And so I just ask you all today. That one we be renewed like that we we find hope that Cohele was regathered and he was not ashamed to share of the fear of the Lord. And I don't know what sins you've committed that are hidden that you're ashamed of, but your sins cannot keep you from your shepherd.

If you'll simply come to him and humble yourself and ask for forgiveness, the fear of the Lord will arise in your heart, as you understand that forgiveness. Again, Psalm 130. If you, Lord, keep track of iniquities, who Lord could stand with you there's forgiveness, so that you may be feared. Let's go ahead and pray.

Lord, we thank you so much for this wonderful book that we've been able to experience together. We thank You, Lord, for Solomon, Jedediah, the one who's been loved by you, the son of David, who was treated according to the sure mercies of David. And while his, he was given everything, all goodness and all grace, and you appeared to him and and he built the very temple by which he met with your people. He had fallen into sin and to love and to worship other gods, and gave himself over to his lusts, and yet you as the good shepherd, regathered him.

You had regathered this one who had apostatize, and he, by your grace was able to recant, and we've read about this recantation in Ecclesiastes. And we thank you Lord, for the fear of the Lord that brings us true wisdom. We pray, Father, that You would help us to grow in that wisdom, that we would find ourselves coming to you for forgiveness, that you produce in us a true fear of the Lord. Lord, that you would also help our children, Lord, we know that we cannot live our lives for them, but they also must come and, and travel their own path and find forgiveness, through Christ.

we ask Lord that you just continue to be with us this day as we worship you on this Sabbath rest. We pray this in Christ's name. All God's people said, Amen.