Well let us turn again to the
chapter we've just read the last chapter here in the book of Ecclesiastes and I direct you tonight to the
passage that we have from verse 9 through 11 Ecclesiastes 12
verse 9 through 11 and moreover Because the preacher was wise,
he still taught the people knowledge. Yea, he gave good heed, and sought
out and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out
acceptable words, and that which was written was upright, even
words of truth. The words of the wise are as
goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies,
which are given from one shepherd." And really taking those words
in verse 11, As a text, as we turn for a little while here
to the Word of God, the words of the wise are as goads and
as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies which are given
from one shepherd. Of course, the subtitle of the
book, as I'm sure you're aware, is The Preacher, Ecclesiastes
or The Preacher. the opening words, the words
of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. And I want us, as we consider
the content of this 11th verse, I want to say something with
regards to the power of that word that is being spoken of.
The power of the words And we see that power when we think
of the one from whom that word comes. The words of the wise,
it says, are as goats and as nails fastened by the masters
of assemblies which are given from one shepherd. And so, to say something with
regards to the one shepherd, and are spoken of as the masters
of assemblies and also referred to as the wise. First of all,
to say something with regards to the shepherd, and of course,
as I'm sure you're aware, God himself is compared to a shepherd. He's spoken of as a shepherd.
Many times here in scripture we have that passage in Isaiah
40. Verse 10, Behold, the Lord will
come with strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold,
his reward is with him and his work before him. He shall feed
his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. We have this comparison then.
God is said to be that one who will come and he will feed his
flock like a shepherd and of course we think of the Psalms
and out there David the Psalmist who was the shepherd boy speaks
of his God as a shepherd the familiar words of Psalm 23 the
Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he maketh me to lie down
in green pastures he leadeth me beside quiet waters. We're familiar, I'm sure, with
the way in which David takes up then the idea of the shepherd
when he thinks and speaks of the gracious ministry of his
God. Again in Psalm 80, give ear,
O shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock,
thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth before
Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up thy strength and come
and save us, turn us again, and we shall be saved. God is the
one then who is very much the shepherd of his people. Now, we are reminded those many
times then here in Holy Scripture of the gracious ministry of God
in those terms. Now, the book, of course, is
part of the wisdom literature. It's written by King Solomon,
who was the wisest of all kings. And he says, there in the opening
chapter, the preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. Solomon is the one who is the
human author of the book, but he is speaking here as one who
is very much the instrument of the Lord God, because Ecclesiastes
is part of the canon of Holy Scripture. It's not simply the
words of King Solomon. It's the words of God himself,
those holy men. Peter says they spake as they
were moved by the Spirit of God. As we've said many a time, the
word that we have there in 2 Peter 1, which speaks of those holy
men being moved, it's a very strong verb, having the idea
that they were being carried along by the Spirit of God, driven
along by the Spirit of God. The same word that is used in
Acts 27 where we have the Paul on that journey from Jerusalem
to Rome is appealed to Caesar and he's going to Rome and he's
on the ship and there's a great storm, Europtodon, and the ship
is out of the control of the mariners. They simply have to
commit the vessel to the elements, to the winds and to the waves,
and we are told on two occasions how they let her drive. She was driven. The ship was
driven along by the elements. Well, that's the same verb that
is used by Peter. Those holy men, they spake as
they were being born along, driven along by the Spirit of God. And therefore, this book that
we're considering, our text from this book as part of the canon,
is God's Word. and it's part of the Old Testament. And we know that the emphasis
here in the Old Testament Scripture is to set before us something
of the oneness and the uniqueness of the only living and true God. Besides him there is none other. And we read of one shepherd,
one shepherd, The words of the wise are as gold and as nails
fastened by the masters of assemblies which are given. These words
are given from one shepherd. And who is that one shepherd?
It's the Lord God. As I say, that's the emphasis
in the Old Testament. The unity that is God. The simplicity. The gods of the nations are but
idols. They have their pantheon. There are many gods,
but there's only one who is the true God, and that is the God
of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Hear, O
Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, we have there in Deuteronomy
6 at verse 4. And though the prophets continually
remind the people that the idols that they see all about them
in the various nations, They have vanity. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. That's the theme
that runs continually through the book of Ecclesiastes. And
though the prophets are reminding Israel, they want to be like
the nations round about them, and though oftentimes they will
follow the foolish ways, the sinful practices of those nations. The prophets challenged them.
Isaiah, there in Isaiah 46, 5, To whom will ye liken me, and
make me equal, and compare me that we may be like? It's God,
as it were, speaking through His servant, the prophet. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, And there
is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My
counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. O let God
be God!" This is what Isaiah is saying to the people, in all
the foolishness of their idolatrous ways. And it's the same message.
that Jeremiah preaches at the time of the Babylonian captivity. Why were they being taken into
exile? Well, the great sin of the nation
was idolatry, and thereby that terrible judgment God weaned
them from all their idols. And here is Jeremiah ministering
at that time, and he says much the same as Isaiah. There in
chapter 10, Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto
you, O house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the
way of the heathen, Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the
heathen are dismayed of them, For the customs of the people
are vain. For one cutteth a tree out of the forest, The work of
the hands of the workmen with the axe, They deck it with silver
and with gold, They fasten it with nails and with hammers,
But it move not. They are upright as the palm
tree, but speak not. They must need be born, because
they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they
cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. For
as much as there is none like unto thee, O LORD, thou art great,
and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, O King
of nations? And so Jeremiah, like Isaiah,
is reminding them that all that they see about them are the vanities
of men. That's what their idols are. As it says there in verse 3 of
that 10th chapter, the customs of the people are vain. They're not to be like those
people round about them. There is but one living and true
God. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord, one Shepherd, one Shepherd. But of course in
the Old Testament we also recognize that because it's a revelation
of God there are also those intimations that whilst God is one, He really
subsists in three persons. We have the doctrine of the Trinity
there in the Old Testament. It's not as plain as when we
come to the New Testament, of course. But nonetheless, there
are those intimations. The very name of God, Elohim. It's a plural. The I am ending
indicates that. The I am ending is the equivalent
to the letter S that we would normally put on the end of a
word when we make it a plural. So you have cherubim and seraphim,
and God's name Elohim. It's not singular. It's not dual. There are dual endings sometimes
in the Hebrew, but the name of God is a plural. And doesn't
that indicate to us that God is more than one, more than two,
that God is in fact three? And we have that consultation
between the persons in the Godhead right at the beginning. God said,
let us make man in our image. after our likeness. Oh, this
is that one who, in the beginning, God made the heavens and the
earth, it says. And then when he comes to create
the man in his own image, after his own likeness, there is that
consultation. Let us make man in our image. So there are three persons in
the one undivided and indivisible Godhead. And we see the Lord
Jesus, of course, as that one who is the image of the invisible
God. When God, in the fullness of
the time, gives that final revelation, it's in the person of his only
begotten Son. And as a shepherd, Christ is
distinct from the Father. the promise that we have there
in the 34th chapter of the book of Ezekiel concerning the shepherd,
how the Lord God is rebuking the shepherds of Israel those
men who should have been caring for the sheep the Lord's sheep the prophets and the priests
and the princes, the kings and how they were miserable failures
and then we have the promise that God will send them his true
shepherd even his only begotten son. Verse 23 of that 34th chapter
I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them even
my servant David he shall feed them and he shall be their shepherd
and I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David, a
prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it."
We see that there is a distinction here between God, God the Father,
and God the Son, the One who will come in the fullness of
the time. And then we have those quite
remarkable words, really, in another of the prophets, the
words of Zechariah 13, And verse 7, Awake, O sword, against my
shepherd, and against the man that is my fallow, saith the
Lord. Smite the shepherd. He is God's
fallow. He is the Eternal Son of the
Eternal Father. Well, this is the revelation
then that we have. The Word of God. It's the power
of this Word of God that's being spoken of here in the text. We have reference to the words
which are given from one shepherd. They're given. Given from one
shepherd. And we're told, aren't we, in
the New Testament all Scripture is given. It's given by inspiration
of God. the language that we have there
in 2 Timothy 3.16. And the expression, given by
inspiration of God, is literally a single word. It's a compound
word. It's two words that have been
wedded and welded together, as it were, but it stands as one
word there in the original. Given by inspiration of God simply
means God's breath. God's breath. And the fascinating
thing is that when we come to the Old Testament, in the Hebrew of the Old Testament,
the word that is translated spirit, or wind, or breath, is the same
word. It's the word Ruach. And it's
the context that will determine whether the reference is to the
wind, or the breath, or the spirit. But of course we know that in
creation it's a work of God in all the fullness of His three
Persons. It's the work of the Son as well
as the Father. It's the work of the Spirit as
well as the work of the Son. By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath or
the Spirit of His mouth. The Word is there. in the beginning
was the Word. Remember the language of the
opening chapter of John's Gospel. By Him were all things made,
without Him was not anything made that was made. The Word
is there, the Spirit is there. The Spirit of God, we're told,
moved upon the face of the waters. And so there are these indications
In the Old Testament, where we have the beginning of the revelation
of God, that's what we find in Holy Scripture, God revealing
himself, yes, we see that God is one, that's the great emphasis,
there is one living and true God, but there are intimations
of it. The intimations are also there concerning the great mystery
of the doctrine of God, the doctrine of the Triniton. And of course,
we have the full revelation of of God when we come to the New
Testament. And the coming of God's eternal
Son without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. We've already referred to those
words that open John's Gospel, in the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. It's so plain
when we come to the New Testament Scriptures. And the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace. and truth. These remarkable statements
that we find, and how John is continually bringing this blessed
truth before us, not only in the gospel that bears his name,
but in his epistles. Those much disputed words that
we find in the last chapter of his first epistle, 1 John 5,
7, there are three that bear record in heaven. The Father, the words and the
Holy Ghost and the three are one. The three are one. This
is the word that is being referred to, the words of the wise are
as gold and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies
which are given from one shepherd. It's all given from the Lord
God Himself. And of course when we think of
that final revelation In the Lord Jesus, the image of the
invisible God, He is the Word of God incarnate. The Scriptures and the Lord bear
one tremendous name, the written and incarnate Word. In all things
are the same. Or the power of this Word that
God has given. And then we read here of the
masters of assemblies. The words of the wise are as
goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies." Now,
who are the masters of assemblies? Well, aren't these those men
whom God makes use of to bring His words? The doctrine of inspiration
of Scripture is a remarkable doctrine, really. How those holy
men of God spoke being moved by the Spirit. All Scripture,
the breathing of God. They're breathing out the words
of God. But it isn't that the words are
simply dictated to them, and they write down the words without any feeling at all. No,
inspiration isn't like that, because They write their own
words in so many ways, and there are distinctive styles to these
men who are the authors of the books of Holy Scripture. And
when we come to the New Testament, John's writings are different
to Paul's writings, and so on throughout the Word of God. It's
these holy men, the patriarchs, and the prophets and the apostles we're told aren't we that preaching
came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Spirit of God it wasn't the will of
man it comes by the will of God it's God's God's words but Ultimately, it's the word of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that one who is the great
prophet. Oh yes, the law was given by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And we see there
in Deuteronomy 18, twice at verse 15 and again at verse 18, that
he is that prophet that the Lord speaks of through his servant,
Moses. The Lord God promises he's going
to raise up such a prophet like unto Moses. And God says I will
put my words in his mouth. Christ is that one. The testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And so all of the all of the
masters of assemblies are those who are speaking as it were as
the as the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Spirit
of all prophecy, the Spirit that's in all the Word of God. He is the true Master, the true
Master of assemblies. It's interesting in John 3 when
that man Nicodemus, who's the teacher of the Jews, comes to
the Lord Jesus and remember how the Lord deals with him and speaks
with him concerning the necessity of the new birth and he addresses
him as a master, are thou a master in Israel he says, are thou a
master in Israel and knowest not these things Strictly speaking, we know that
no man is a master. No man is a master in Israel,
only God is that. The prophet Malachi, in his day,
is rebuking the priests the wicked priest, and there in the opening
chapter of his book he says, A son honoureth his father, and
a servant his master. If then I be a father, where
is mine honour? And if I be a master, where is
my fear, saith the Lord of hosts, unto you, O priest, that despise
my name? And ye say, Wherein have we despised
thy name? And they challenge God. But he
is the one who is their master. He is the true master of his
people. And again, the Lord Jesus, in
the course of his own ministry, remember how he speaks to his
disciples? He tells them quite plainly,
Be not ye called rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ.
Now not to call any man rabbi or father, but the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. He says again, you call me Master
and Lord and you say, well, for so am I. Oh God, is that one
who is the Master? And we see it demonstrated in
the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And the ministry
of the Spirit also. It is the Spirit, is it not,
who is the Master? It's the Spirit who comes to
lead and direct me. as many as are led by the Spirit
of God. They are the sons of God. Oh,
it's all the persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. God Himself is the true Master
of His people. And how vital is that ministry
of the Holy Spirit, and Paul recognizes that. in the manner in which he addresses
the churches. He writes to the Corinthians
and reminds those at Corinth. He says, We preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and
not of us. It is that ministry of the Spirit
that's so vital. When he is ministering the Word
of God, when he's speaking the truth, of Holy Scripture. Even words of truth as we read
here at the end of verse 10. It's by the Spirit that that
word becomes efficacious. Our gospel came not unto you
in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much
assurance he says to those Thessalonians But in the work of the ministry
of the Word of God, and of course God has appointed His work to
be preached, He pleases God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. Faith cometh by healing, healing
by the Word of God. God's Word is to be preached,
and the men who would handle that Word of God are there to
be diligent in rightly interpreting that word and expounding that
word? We're told, aren't we, in the
previous verse the preacher sought to find out acceptable words
and that which was written was upright even words of truth or
words of the wise or they seek to be wise in the word of God
And so when the Apostle is giving instruction to Timothy, to Titus,
Study to show thyself, he says, approved unto God a workman that
needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of God. The importance of opening up
the Word. The technical term, of course,
is exegesis, studying the Word, seeking to understand the context,
not just the immediate context but the whole context, the analogy
of faith as the old writers say the testimony of all the word
of God bringing it to bear on every individual part of that
word because there's no contradiction anywhere in God's book and so
a man is to lay but in the word and doctrine it says that's the
charge that the apostle gives to those young men with regards
to their ministry However, we know it ultimately must be brought
home by Him who is God, even God the Holy Spirit. We have
here words as goads and words as nails. The words of the wise
are as goads and as nails, fastened by masters of assemblies. That's an interesting expression,
isn't it? Words as gold. Remember what the Lord Jesus
says to Saul, as he was Saul of Tarsus, when he's there before
Damascus. He's a persecutor of Christian
believers, but he will become the Apostle Paul and the Lord
is dealing with him. and the Lord confronts him there,
who art thou Lord he says who art thou Lord? I am Jesus whom
thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks
or as the margin says to kick against the goads the goads it's a pointed instrument we
read in the third chapter of the book of Judges. Shamgar slew 600 Philistines. A man called Shamgar slew 600
Philistines with an ox goad. The horn of an ox, really. It
was a weapon that he used in the slaughter of the uncircumcised
Philistines. the gold, it's a pointed instrument
and there is the Lord speaking to this man's soul and his conscience
is troubled he's kicking against the pricks of conscience he's
being goaded in his conscience he's troubled in his soul and
we see it again, don't we, on the day of Pentecost the preaching
of the Apostle Peter Now, he opens up the Word of God and preaches Jesus crucified,
risen from the dead, ascended on high, the one who was shed
abroad, the Holy Ghost on that blessed day. And when they heard
this, we're told they were pricked in their hearts. They were pricked
in their hearts and said, what must we do to be saved? It's
the work of the Spirit, is it not, that word of conviction? Or when He has come, Christ says
He will convince the world, He'll judge the world of sin, of righteousness,
of judgment. That's the work of the Holy Spirit,
and so here it's the work of the Spirit, really. The words
of the wise are His goads. It's God's Word that brings conviction
into the soul of the sinner. It's the Spirit who opens up
the truth of Holy Scripture and shows what God's holy law is. That law of holy, just, good.
But it's such an awful ministration of condemnation and of death
to those who are the transgressors. But then, besides that reference
to goats, we also have a reference to nails. The words of the wise
are also as nails, fastened by masters of assembly. Charles Bridges, in his commentary
on Ecclesiastes, makes a very simple observation. He says,
whereas the gold pricks sharply, the
nail holds firmly. The one pricks sharply, the other
the nail holds firmly and how we need that that word that comes
from God should not only pierce into the depths of our souls
and bring that conviction of sin but how we need God's word
of truth to take hold to be nailed as it were to our understanding
to be fixed in our hearts and that is what we have here in
the promise and now we read of that blessed man we were looking
at Psalm 112 only the other day, the other week and there in the
seventh verse of that Psalm concerning that blessed man I know ultimately
that man is the Lord Jesus Christ but it's also all those blessed
men and women who are in Christ, his heart is fixed His heart
is fixed, trusting in the Lord. Oh, where there is, you see,
that word that's nailed, as it were, nailed to the understanding,
fixed in the hearts of men. What is it? It's faith. His heart is fixed. How is it
fixed? He's trusting. He's trusting in the Lord. And David cries out in the opening
words of another psalm, Psalm 108. He says, O God, my heart
is fixed. Who are we those whose hearts
are fixed? This is what the masters of assembly
are to do with the Word of God, that Word that comes from one
shepherd. The words of the wise are as
gold and as nails fastened by masters of assemblies. which
are given from one shepherd. And we are to be those then who
would desire to receive this word. In all these various ways,
be it a word that comes to bring that surreal conviction into
the soul, whether it comes as a goat or comes as a nail, to
fasten it, as it were, to our consciences. we're to receive
it and we're to receive it with with meekness it says receive
with meekness the engrafted or the implanted words that's able
to save your soul all that meekness of spirit that coming before
the Word of God in all humility bowing to the authority of Holy
Scripture and at times of course It does
come as an offensive word. It's profitable, it says, for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto every good
work. The words of the wise are as
golds and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which
are given from one shepherd or that we might know that blessed
ministry then of him who is the shepherd and how he goes to tremendous
lengths in order to bring that word not only before our eyes
but to come and set it as it were in the very depths of our
souls. May the Lord bless his word to
us tonight we're going to sing our second praise which is the
hymn 1148. I like the title that it has here
in Gadsby's selection, Imperfection of Nature and Perfection of Scripture. Every word of God is pure. 1148,
the tune is 858, Nativity. Let all the hidden writers join
to form one perfect book. Great God, if one's compared
with thine, how mean their writings look. 1148, Tune 858.