Amen. Turn with me if you would
to, first actually I want you to
turn with me to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. We've been going through Ecclesiastes,
and Solomon is writing on wisdom. And if we want wisdom, if we
truly want the wisdom of God Almighty, which is the only wisdom
there is, we find it right here in this word. We find it right
here in this word. All true wisdom is right here. It's all right here. If a man
wants to know how he ought to live in this world, then we find
that answer right in here, right in this word. And we grow up
with the idea, and I'm speaking from experience being a man,
But we grow up with the idea of what a man ought to be. We have it in our minds what
a man ought to be. And almost every single time,
in every single case, it's wrong. You remember, you know, thinking
as a teenager, well, I'm a man now. So I'm going to act this
way. I'm going to do this. I'm going
to do that. We have it in our minds, this is what a man ought
to be. And it's wrong, almost every time it's wrong. If we
want to know, if a man wants to know what a man ought to be,
look with me right here at Matthew 11, verse 29. The man says, take my yoke upon you
and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall
find rest unto your souls." If a man wants a hard life with
a hard way and a hard end, he just needs to be a hard man.
He just needs to be a hard man or a hard woman. The only true
man said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek
and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. Do you want rest for your soul? rest for your soul, not only
in the life to come, but in this life right now. Then our Lord
said, I am meek and lowly in heart. Take this upon you. I'm
meek and lowly in heart. You'll find rest unto your souls.
Meek means gentle, mild. Lowly in heart means humble. He said, I'm meek and I'm humble. That's what wisdom himself said. Our wisdom is a person. Christ
is our wisdom, and that's what he himself said. The one who,
through his humiliation, his own humiliation, he humbled himself. And through that humiliation,
he truly did provide for us rest, didn't he? Eternal rest through
his own suffering. Through everything he endured
as a man, he humbled himself. And he provided eternal rest
for our souls. And men, if we want to be husbands
after his own heart, our Lord said, David is a man after my
own heart. Which the main thing I love about that is God said,
I have a heart. And this is what I love. David,
he said, is a man after my own heart. If we want to be husbands
after his own heart, then may we model ourselves after the
husband. If we want to be sons after his
own heart, let's model ourselves after the son, the son. If we want to be a friend and
a brother after his own heart, let's model ourselves after the
brother. We have a friend that sticks
closer than a brother. We'd be so wise to do that. The reason I told you that is
because that is what Solomon is saying in our text. Now go
with me over to Ecclesiastes chapter 4. Ecclesiastes 4, we are going
to pick up with verse 13. Solomon says, better is a poor
and a wise child than an old and foolish king who will no
more be admonished. Won't listen to anybody. Can't be reasoned with. Just
cannot be reasoned with. My way or the highway. That's this flesh, isn't it?
My way or the highway. Solomon said, it's better to
be dealing with a poor and wise child than an old and foolish
king that cannot be reasoned with. And Solomon knew what he
was talking about. He was the king. At the time
that he wrote this, he was the king in Israel. And he said a
king, someone who is in a leadership position, ought to be approachable. That's what he's saying. That
king, that leader, ought to be approachable. A pastor is in
a leadership position, and a husband is in a leadership position,
and a father is in a leadership position. I believe one of the
highest honors that can be given to a man is that he's approachable. I believe that's one of the highest
honors that can be given to a man, that he's approachable. Look
with me at 1 Kings chapter 3. 1 Kings chapter 3 and look with
me at verse 5. In Gibeon the Lord appeared to
Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, Ask what I shall
give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast showed
unto thy servant David my father great mercy. according as he
walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness and in uprightness
of heart with thee, and thou hast kept for him this great
kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne
as it is this day. And 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." Didn't Solomon say it's better to be a poor and wise
child? Verse 7, he said, 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. And thy servant is in the midst
of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot
be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an
understanding heart." If you have a center margin in your
Bible, mine says, hearing heart. Give thy servant a hearing heart. What he said is, when people
come to me, Give me a heart that will listen to them. Give me
a heart that will seek you for your will and your answer. A hearing heart, an understanding
heart. Just let me listen. Let me listen. That's what he prayed for. Let
me listen to the people. Let me listen to you. And then
just let me deliver to the people whatever it is you have to say.
That's what he asked for. Now look at verse 10. And the
speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.
I believe that right there is the highest compliment that could
be given to a man. The highest that he's a hearing,
approachable man. Now, why do I say all this? Why do I say all this? The reason
is because that perfectly describes our King. Isn't that wonderful? If you want to know what our
King is like, that right there perfectly describes our Lord
Jesus Christ. David was constantly saying,
Bow down thine ear, O Lord, and hear me. Constantly saying, Would
you hear me? For I am poor and needy. Isn't
that what the Psalms continually say? Isn't that what every believer
says? Isn't that all we want? Would
you hear me? Hear me when I cry. and help me. I'm just poor and
needy. I'm so poor and I'm so needy. I need help. And I need for my
king to hear. I need my king to be approachable. That's what I need. If I cannot
enter into his presence, there's no help for me. Now turn with
me over to Exodus chapter 2. Exodus chapter 2, look at verse
23. And it came to pass in process
of time that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel
sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried And their cry
came up unto God by reason of the bondage, and God heard their
groaning. And God remembered His covenant
with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. You think about Abraham
as the father, the father of the faithful. Isaac is the promised
son. You know what Jacob is? He's
just the sinner. God the Father made a covenant
with the promised Son concerning a sinner. That covenant with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's our salvation. And it
says in verse 24, God heard their groaning and God remembered His
covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked
upon the children of Israel and God had respect to them. I thought
God didn't have respect. He was no respecter of persons.
In Christ He is. He respects Christ. And every
soul that is in Christ, he'll have respect unto him. Now look
with me at Exodus chapter 3 verse 7. It says, And the Lord said,
I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt,
and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know
their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that
land unto a good land and a large unto a land flowing with milk
and honey. That's what our hearing king
did for us. Now turn with me if you would
to Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16 says, let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. The verse right before that,
verse 15, says, He was touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He bore our sin. He made us clean. And therefore, we can approach
Him. We can approach Him. Because
of everything He did, He's approachable. He is approachable. We can come
boldly. That does not mean arrogantly.
Boy, we would never, never march into His presence arrogantly. It means we come with the confidence
that He will lovingly receive us. He'll receive us and He'll
hear us and we don't have to be afraid. You know the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Nobody fears God.
That's the problem for man is nobody fears God. Oh, I love God. Me and God have
a good thing going. Me and God are like this. I can't
wait to go meet Him. Really? Really? The one who said, I kill and
I make alive, I wound and I heal. The one who says, depart from
me, I never knew you, cast him into outer darkness. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. We ought to fear the God of heaven
and earth. But in Christ, because of Christ,
because of what he did, our God is approachable. And we don't
have to be afraid to walk right up to the throne and make our
partition known. And he'll hear us. We don't have
to be afraid to go to him and pour our hearts out to him. And
because of that, that's how we ought to be. Because he's so good and so kind. Because if God will do that for
us, I ought to do that for us. Isn't that right? He said, you take my yoke upon
you and learn of me. Learn of me. Now go with me back
over to Ecclesiastes 4. Ecclesiastes 4 verse 13 says, Better is a poor and a wise child
than an old and foolish king who will no more be admonished.
For out of prison he cometh to reign, whereas also he that is
born in his kingdom becometh poor. That my way or the highway
attitude, that is a prison of bondage. That's all it is. You
know, our Lord in mercy, everything he did for us, when he led captivity
captive, when he became our, the king of our salvation, he
set us free. I mean, He set us free. We were
in prison and we were in bondage. And the truth, He said, I'm the
truth. As soon as the truth comes to a sinner, He said, if you
know the truth, He said, this is life eternal that they might
know thee. And as soon as a sinner comes to know the truth, the
person, He said, you know the truth, the truth will set you
free. He will set you free. And this This hard leadership attitude
is just miserable bondage. It's just a miserable prison
of bondage. And every soul that's born into
that and every soul that comes up under that won't thrive. Grace
does not thrive in that. Grace just does not thrive under
that. So verse 15, Solomon said, I
considered all the living which walk under the sun with the second
child that shall stand up in his stead. There's no end of
all the people, even of all that have been before them. They also
that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity
and vexation of spirit. What he's saying is this foolish
king will come and this foolish king will go. And they that come
after him will not rejoice in him. There's nothing lovely about
him to remember, nothing to respect. But that's not our king, is it?
That's not our king. That's not the true king, the
altogether lovely king. He said, this do in remembrance
of me. And there is nothing we would
rather do. That's the whole reason we're
here. That's the whole reason we're here, to remember Him,
and honor Him, and thank Him, praise Him, rejoice in Him. Now, I'm going to be very quickly
here. There's much more to say in the
first three verses of chapter 5 than I'm going to say this
morning. If the Lord is willing, we'll look at them again next
week or whenever we're in it again. I want to finish out this
study, give it a second part by seeing something in these
first three verses. Solomon just gave us a lesson
for leaders. That's what he had to say at
the end of chapter four. A lesson for leaders. Don't be
a king like this. Be approachable. Be one who's
able to be admonished. Now he's going to give us a lesson
for followers, which is all of us. I'm a follower just like
everybody else is, a follower. And he says the same thing to
followers that he says to leaders. Chapter 5, verse 1, he says,
Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more
ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they
consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and
let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God.
For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let thy
words be few. For a dream cometh through the
multitude of business, and a fool's voice is known by a multitude
of words." He said, keep thy foot when thou goest to the house
of the Lord. What he's saying is remember
where you are. Remember whose you are. Remember whose presence you're
standing in. God told Moses and he told Joshua,
take your shoes off of your feet. Humble yourselves down. I think
about a man taking his shoes off of his feet. He has to drop
down a little bit, doesn't he? And that cushion from the gravel
and the dirt and the rocks, he has to get his foot down in that
dirt. Take your shoes off and humble
yourselves down. You get into the dirt. The presence
of God is holy ground. There's nothing holy about this
sheet rock and these studs and these lights. There's nothing
holy about that. But our Lord said He's chosen a place to put
His name there. A place where He would gather
His people together to worship Him. And He said, when two or
three are gathered in My name, I'm in the midst of you. And
it's holy ground. So He tells us, don't go into
the place where God is worshipped. Demanding that everything be
My way or the highway. Same thing. In the same way that
the leader needs to be a reasonable man, the follower needs to be
a reasonable man too. Verse 1, he said, Keep thy foot
when thou goest into the house of God and be more ready to hear
than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not
that they do evil. The sacrifice of fools is what
comes out of this mouth. What comes out of the heart is
what comes out of the mouth. And before we speak out, what
he's saying is, let's seek the Lord. Whatever it is, before
we speak out, let's wait on the Lord. Look to Him. Everything
that needs to be done, everything that needs to be handled, let's
go to Him on it. Just listen to this. There's
a proverb. It's Proverbs 15, verse 8, and it says, The sacrifice
of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. That's me rambling. The sacrifice of the wicked is
an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is
His delight. Go to Him. Go to Him. Whatever it is, go to Him. Verse 2, He said, Be not rash
with thy mouth. We get to a place, His flesh
is an ugly thing. Sin is an ugly thing. This flesh
is sin. And after a while, this flesh
really shows itself and we get this attitude of, I'm going to
tell you what I'm sick and tired of. And I ain't taking it no
more. He said, you won't rest for your
souls. Come to me. Don't come in and be rash with
your mouth. Come to me. Go to the Lord about
it. Take it into His hands, not into our own hands. Don't take
it into our own mouths. Take it to the Lord. Take His
yoke. Learn of Him. Verse 2, Be not
rash with thy mouth, let not thine heart be hasty to utter
anything before God. The king needs to be approachable.
He needs to be the type of man where someone can come to him. Let his partitions be made known.
I think we ought to consider this. A man needs to be approachable. But we also ought to weigh what
we are approaching with. Does that make sense? We ought
to weigh and really consider what we approach with. What is
my reason for it? What's my motive in it? Is it
wise? Is it necessary? And the reason
is because whatever we utter, we are uttering it in the presence
of God. When I go like this, it's in the eyes and the ears
and the heart of God Almighty. So he said in verse two, be not
rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter
anything before God. For God is in heaven and thou
upon earth. Therefore, let thy words be few.
He said, you remember God's in heaven. He knows all. He sees
all. He does all. He's the judge. The judge will do right. The
judge shall do right. We are of the earth. We're on
the earth, we know nothing, we see nothing, we do nothing. Not as God knows it, not as God
sees it, his ways are not our ways. So he finished by saying,
let thy words be few. Let's be careful with them, be
deliberate with them, be prayerful with them. Let's be thankful
with them, praiseful with them, glorifying with them, comforting
with them. An old commentary writer, Matthew
Henry, said, let our words be few that they may be well chosen. Well chosen. In verse three he
said, for a dream cometh through the multitude of business, and
a fool's voice is known by a multitude of words. The more we say, the
more we have the opportunity to say the wrong thing. I love
that old saying, let me take every advantage that I have,
every opportunity, let me take advantage of every opportunity
I have to close my mouth. That would be a good thing for
me to do. And I'm just going to leave this
study with this. I'm going to leave you with this.
It crushes me. I've been thinking about this,
you know, clearly we see what he's talking about. I titled
this, A Lesson for Leaders and Followers. And it crushes me
to think that I might say something to offend you. And I'm not talking
about the gospel, the gospel of God's grace. That is an offense.
That is a spiritual offense to this flesh. You start telling
man that he's a sinner and man's going to get offended by it.
And you tell him that Christ is the only way and it has nothing
to do with anything you add to it. All your additions do is
ruin it. You start telling men that salvation
is by the grace of Christ alone and the work of Christ alone.
And it's an offense to this flesh. So that's not what I'm talking
about. I'm talking about me. The gospel is an offense to the
flesh, but I don't personally want to ever be an offense to
you. And if I've ever said something or if I've ever done something,
I'm sorry. I want to take this opportunity
to say I'm sorry. I don't want to. And last thing
on earth I'd ever want to do. The last thing. May God give
both of us, all of us, a approachable spirit. A truly approachable
spirit. May he give us grace and a hearing
heart. May he keep our foot. May he
cause us to not be rash with our mouth. I don't want to be
rash with my mouth, not at all. And may he allow us to carefully
select our words. Just be an encouragement to each
other and a comfort to each other. Okay, you're dismissed.