Let us turn to God's Word again
in that second portion that we read, Ecclesiastes chapter 12,
directing your attention this morning to the words that we
find here in verses 10 and 11. Ecclesiastes chapter 12, and
I'll read verses 10 and eleven 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 master of assemblies which are given from one shepherd
these then are the words that I want to endeavor with the help
of the Lord to bring to you for a while this morning. It's a
book that is probably not so familiar with us. Certainly it's
a book that I think I very rarely preach from and yet we observe
that the subtitle of this book is The Preacher. Ecclesiastes
it says or the Preacher. And we read there in the opening
chapter of the book, the words of the Preacher. The son of David,
king in Jerusalem, vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher.
Vanity of vanities, all is Preacher. And here at the end, again, it's
very much the words of the preacher that are set before us in the
verses previous to our text. Verse 8, vanity of vanities saith
the preacher, all is vanity, repeating those words at the
beginning. Again, at verse 9, 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. And so, the theme that I really
want to take up with you this morning is that of the preacher,
or more particularly, in these words that I've read as a text,
verses 10 and 11, it's the power of that Word of God. that is
the subject matter of the ministry of those who are the true preachers
of the Word of God. We read then at verse 10, 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
ghosts and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies
which are given from one shepherd. And I simply want to say something
with regards to the one who is spoken of here at the end of
verse 11, the one shepherd, and then in the second place to say
something with regards to those who are referred to as the masters
of assemblies. First of all then, these words
in verse 11, we're told, the words, the words which are given
from one shepherd. Who is that one shepherd that
he's being spoken of? Well, we know from other Scriptures,
and of course we must always interpret any part of God's Word
by a reference to the totality of that Word of God, we know
that in Scripture it is the Lord who is set forth as the shepherd.
The familiar words of Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, says
David. And only last Lord's Day evening
we were looking at those words at the beginning of Psalm 80,
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like
a flock, Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth. It
is the Lord Himself, Jehovah, who is the Shepherd, the Shepherd
of His people. And there we see Him as that
One who has great authority. It's a lovely figure, of course,
that of the Shepherd who cares for His sheep. David is certainly
aware of that as he refers to God as his shepherd there in
Psalm 23. David himself was the shepherd boy. He knew what it
was to care for the sheep. And he's mindful of God's gracious
care for himself. But oh, God is that one who has
great authority as a shepherd. And we see that in the language
of Isaiah 40, verse 10. It says, Behold, the Lord God
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. As a shepherd, God has a tender
care for his sheep, just as a a shepherd would be very mindful of his
sheep, and particularly the little lambs, and he would indeed carry
them in his arms. But see the context there in
Isaiah 14. It's the Lord God who comes,
it says, with strong hands, his arm ruling for him. He has power,
he has might, he has authority. then is that One who is the only
living and the only true God. The One Shepherd. That's the
language that we have here in the text. Words which are given
from One Shepherd. Oh, it is Jehovah. That God who
declares Himself to Israel in the Old Testament. Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God is, is One Lord. And in comparison to that God,
who is the Almighty One, the Creator of all things, the One
who upholds all His creatures, or in comparison with Him, what
were the the gods of the nations round about Israel. They were
nothing, of course, but vain and empty idols. And now, again,
we see it in the prophecy of Isaiah as he is rebuking the
children of Israel. They envied those nations round
about them. They wanted so much to be like
those various nations. But what were the gods of those
nations? They were as nothing. For example,
in Isaiah 46 verse 5, to whom will ye liken me, and make me
equal, and compare me that we may be like? This is a question
that God puts to the people through his servant the prophet, and
he goes on to speak of the making of idols, lavishing gold, weighing
silver, hiring a goldsmith, making a god, carrying that god around,
Or what are their gods? They are but vanities. And so
God says there, verse 9, 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 are things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Yea, I have spoken it, I will
also bring it to pass, I have purposed it, I will also do it. Or this is the one then that's
being spoken of here at the end of the text this morning. Words given from one shepherds. That's one who is the only living
and true God and all else. All other gods, they are but
the vanities of men's minds. And men even make idols of themselves. They make idols of themselves,
they make idols of their imagined righteousnesses. They make idols
of their supposed wisdom. When Paul writes to the Thessalonians,
he reminds them how they were delivered from all those idolatrous
ways. He says he turned from idols
to serve the living and true God. When we think about ourselves
and how puny we are, and how puny men set themselves against
God, how the fool says in his heart there is no God, how men
deny the very reality of God, and they dream up their theories. Theories whereby they think they
can discount the Day of Judgment and the Day of Reckoning before
Him who is the Creator of all things. All men love to believe
the lies of the devil. And so we have, of course, the
whole theory of evolution. Everything happens merely by
chance. There's nothing of design in
this world. It just appears out of nothing. No creator. Men make idols, I
say, of themselves. And men cannot really begin to
understand the greatness of God and the glory of God. Oh, remember
the language that we have back in Job chapter 11. Canst thou
by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection? It is highest. Heaven, what canst
thou do? Deeper than hell, what canst
thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, broader
than the seas. Oh, the vastness, the glory that
belongs unto God. And God is truly to us incomprehensible. There's a mystery. The first,
the greatest of all mysteries is the doctrine of God, the doctrine
of the Trinity. That there is one God, and yet
one God who subsists in three persons, not three gods, and
yet three distinct separate persons, God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, not three gods, Let us be clear on
that. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and the three
are one. The man says, how can one be
three and three be one? That is an impossibility. And
yet that's what's revealed to us here in Scripture when we
read of the way in which God creates. we go back to the very
opening chapter there in Genesis 1 God creates all things of course
simply by his word by his faith, God said and it was done and
so God works, let there be life, there was life let the dry land
appear, the dry land appears but when God comes to create
man in his own image after his own likeness. He doesn't just
speak man into being. No, we read there in Genesis
1.26 how there is a council in the Godhead. What does God say?
He addresses himself, let us. That's a plural, is it not? Let
us make man in our image after our likeness. There's a a consultation
between the persons in the gardens. You see, God is Father, God is
Son, and God is Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is there
right at the beginning of Genesis chapter 1. We read about the
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And how the
persons, you see, are so distinct one from the other. Again, we
have the language of Psalm 33. It says, "...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." There we have the spirit. Spirit, breath, it's really the
same word that is being used. The same
word as we have there at the beginning in Genesis chapter
1 concerning the Spirit moving upon the face of the waters. The Spirit of his mouth, that's
God the Holy Ghost in creation. But then also we read how God
creates by the works, by the word of the Lord, were the heavens
made. And who is the Word of the Lord? Isn't that the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself? 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.
Without Him was not anything made that was made. The point that we must understand
clearly is that this one shepherd who is being spoken of here in
the text is really a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ and
he is quite distinct from the Father and he is quite distinct
from the Holy Spirit. As I said there are these three
persons And yet, not three gods, one God subsisting in three persons. And time and again in Scripture
we see how that there is a distinction being made between one person
and another person. And we see it, for example, in
the language that we have in Ezekiel 34, speaking of the shepherds in
Israel. The whole chapter is a reproof
of the shepherds in Israel. Who were the shepherds in Israel?
They were those men who were to be the rulers over the people, be
it the kings, the princes, be it the prophets who were to speak
the word of God, be it the priests who were to attend to the ministry
in the tabernacle and in the temple, but they were not They
were not faithful in their service to God and their service to God's
ancient covenant people. And so, this faithful prophet
is commanded, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,
prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds,
Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves, should
not the shepherds feed the flocks. Or they were not faithful men,
What does God do? He goes on to make this remarkable
promise. In verse 23 it says, 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." Now, clearly there are two distinct persons here.
There is the Lord, who is giving this word of promise, and this
promise concerns another person who is referred to as the Shepherd.
There is a distinction, you see. The Shepherd is the Lord Jesus
Christ, that one who was to come. that one who is spoken of time
and again, spoken of for example in the language of Zechariah
13, a Waco sword against my shepherds and against the man that is my
fellow. Smite the shepherds. Here is
the Lord God speaking and He speaks of this one who is His
fellow. Oh that shepherd, he is the eternal
son of the eternal father. Three persons, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit in the Godhead. And as Christ is the Shepherd,
and the Shepherd that He's spoken of here at the end of our text,
the words given from one Shepherd, so Christ is also the Word. He is not only the Shepherd,
He is also the Word. I've already alluded to those
words that we have at the beginning of the Gospel according to St. John. You're familiar with that
passage. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with
God and the Word was God. And John goes on, 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 of truth. He is the Word. He is the Word incarnate. And what do we have here? Before
us today we have the Word in Scripture. We often refer to
our Bibles as the Word of God. And we sing that lovely hymn,
we sing it many times. 878, the scriptures and the Lord
bear one tremendous name, the written and incarnate word in
all things are the same. Oh, when we come to this book,
who does it speak of? It speaks of Christ. And we're
to see Christ everywhere. You might think, well, this is
a strange sort of a sermon. How do you see Christ here in
these verses in the book of Ecclesiastes? Well, Christ is everywhere. Did
he himself not say to the Jews, search the Scriptures, in them
you think that ye have eternal life? And these are they that
testify of me. There's a book, some of you are
probably familiar with it, by C. H. Burgin on commentaries. It's a very useful book in many
respects. I suppose it's somewhat dated as it was written, of course,
towards the end of the 19th century. But he lists various commentaries
on the books of the Bible and there are some that he highly
recommends, others he might recommend, others he warns men off. It's
a very useful book. But I don't always agree with
Mr. Spurgeon. For example, he speaks of Robert
Hawker's commentary on the whole Bible called the Poor Man's Commentary. And, commenting on Robert Hawker,
Mr. Spurgeon says, as a criticism,
Hawker sees Christ where he is not. Hawker sees Christ where
he is not, because Hawker sees Christ everywhere. Well, I think
Dr. Hawker was right and Mr. Spurgeon
was wrong. He's not unduly critical of Hawker,
to be fair, he does recommend the book, but that's a comment
that he makes in his commenting and commentaries. Christ is everywhere,
because Christ is the Word. The Bible is the Word, Here we
have the Bible in Holy Scripture. In Christ we see Him who is the
Incarnate Word. And what do we read here? We
read of words given, and mark that, we have the words which
are given from one shepherd. As Scripture is given, it's given
by the Lord Jesus Christ, so it comes by the Holy Spirit.
You can think of the language that we have in 2 Timothy 3.16,
all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
and so forth. All scripture is given, given
by inspiration of God. And that expression, given by
inspiration of God, literally means, is the breathings of God. When we form our words, when
we say our words, we have to use our vocal chords, of course,
and breathing is such an important part of of speaking. And the Bible is God's breathings,
as it were. All scripture given by inspiration,
the breathings of God, the words of God. Holy men of God, says
Peter, spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God. And as the Spirit is that one
who is there inspiring those prophets in the words that they're
speaking, they're not speaking their own words, they're speaking
the words of God, the Holy Ghost. So the Lord Jesus is here because
we're told at the end in Revelation 19 the testimony of Jesus is
the Spirit of prophecy. What do the prophets speak of?
They speak of Christ. Isaiah speaks of Christ. All the prophets speak of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ himself, of course, is that one
who is the greatest of all the prophets. All the prophets are leading
up to Him. He is the last of all the prophets. As we are told there in the opening
words of the epistle to the Hebrews, God who In times past, in diverse
manner, spake unto the fathers by the prophets that in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son. He is the Great Prophet. He is the Prince of all creatures. Now, I said just now how those
prophets in the Old Testament, Peter tells us, spake as they
were moved by the Spirit of God. Well, how does the Lord Jesus
Christ fulfill His ministry? It's all there in John 3.34. He whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God. He's speaking of Christ. The
one whom the Father hath sent. He whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God. For God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him. Oh, he has such an outpouring
of the Spirit of God upon him. that he is speaking the words
of God and so it's not surprising we see him as that one who is
such a remarkable minister of the words the true prophet the
prince of all preachers when we come to the end of his sermon
the Sermon on the Mount what do we read there in Matthew chapter
7 the people were astonished at his doctrine All the common
people, they heard him, they were astonished at his doctrine,
at his teaching, because he taught them as one having authority,
and not as the scribes. When the Jewish leaders send officers
to arrest the Lord Jesus, remember what those men say when they
come back to report to those leaders. John 7, 46, they say
of Christ, never man spake like this man. Never man spake like
this man. The words. The words which are
given from one shepherd. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, never man spake like this man. If the Lord Jesus only comes
and speaks, and He does speak to you. He speaks even today
through the ministry of the Word. All His sheep hear His voice.
He tells us, My sheep hear My voice, He says. I know them,
they follow Me. I give unto them eternal life,
they shall never perish. When Paul is preaching there at Ephesus,
after the Lord Jesus Christ had finished His work, offered himself
as the great sacrifice risen from the dead ascended on high
he was in heaven the Lord Jesus and here is Paul and he is reminding
the Ephesians of their experience under the preaching what does
he say? ye have not so learned Christ
if so be ye have heard him and been taught by him as the truth
is in Jesus the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be heard
he gives words the words given from one shepherd the sheep hear
his voice and they follow him and what a word it is where the
word of a king is there is power we are told here back in chapter
8 verse 4 so establishing at the beginning just whose words they are that the
preacher is to seek to faithfully set forth. It's the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ, it's the words of Holy Scripture. But
let us turn in the second place to what are referred to here
as the masters of assemblies. Verse 10, 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
goats and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies which
are given from one shepherd. It's one shepherd but it's masters in the plural. There
are many masters of assemblies. Who are the masters of assemblies?
Well, We could certainly say that in the Old Testament the
patriarchs, the prophets in the New Testament I suppose we'd
have to say the apostles aren't all of these masters of assemblies? Even more than that, remember
the words of the Lord Jesus to Nicodemus when Nicodemus comes
to him there in John chapter 3 what does Christ say? Aren't they a master of Israel?
They were master of Israel and knowest not these things. Those you see who are in that
position of authority, teaching, ministering, they are to be the
masters, the masters of assemblies. And so we might say the gospel
ministers themselves should be these masters of assemblies.
What do they deal with? They deal with words. They have
to deal with words, and that's what we have here in the text.
Time and again we read of words. Acceptable words. Words as goads. Words as nails. And so I want,
as we draw to a conclusion this morning, to say a little with
regards to these words. What are these masters of assemblies
to do? They are to find out, it says,
acceptable words. The preacher sought to find out
acceptable words. Words of delight is what we have
in the margin. Words of delight. That's a delight
then in the word of God. That's their chief business.
Surely these preachers should have their eyes, their minds,
their hearts in the words of God constantly. This is what
they are to seek to bring to the people. But we read here
in the text that they are to be acceptable words. And we think of the language
then of the New Testament in those pastoral epistles where
we find Paul the Apostle giving instruction to those young men,
Timothy and Titus. We call them pastoral epistles
because they are epistles that deal with the business of the
work of the pastor, the work of the preacher. What does Paul
say? Well, he says to Timothy, Study
to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. A very important
text with regards to the responsibility of the person who would preach
the word of God. He's got to study, he's got to
examine the word, he's got to understand the word, he's got
to find out acceptable words. He's not to imagine that he can
just stand before a company of people and the words will just
drop into his mind as it were and he'll have ability to speak
the words without any labour on his own part. No, no. Paul says something very different. Again, right in there, in 1st
Timothy 5.17, he says, labor in the word and doctrine. He
speaks of those who are to labor in the word and doctrine. And
the word that he uses, the word for labor, is one that is normally
associated with the task of a day laborer, a person who is laboring
in the fields, a person who is having to exert himself and use
his strength. That's how this preacher is to
come to the Word of God and to the doctrine of the Word of God,
is to labour in it, is to sweat over it as it were. There is to be that careful examination,
what the theologians call the exegesis of the passage of Scripture,
finding out acceptable words, seeking to understand just what
God's Word is saying. or we profess to believe in the
doctrine of the inspiration of Holy Scripture. We say that this
is the Word of God. This is why we delight in the
Authorized Version, because it is such a faithful rendering
in our English language of what was originally given in Hebrew
and in Greek. Hebrew in the Old Testament,
Greek in the New Testament. But we say it's such a faithful
rendering, it's based on reliable underlying text, and something
of the faithfulness of course of the translators is seen in
the way in which at times we have certain words that appear
in italics. And we know why they're in italics
because they're words that have been introduced by the translators
to bring out the true meaning in the English. If they've had
to add words to bring out the proper sense, they indicate that
these are not words that are a translation of a Hebrew word,
as would be the case here in Ecclesiastes. And often they're
only small insignificant words. For example, here in verse 9,
at the end of verse 9, concerning the preacher, it said, He gave
good heed and sought out and, has been added, and set in order
many proverbs. But coming to verse 10, the preacher
sought to find out acceptable words and that which was written. Those are words that have been
interpolated, introduced, by the translators, additional words. Again, the word, even at the
end of that 10th verse, even words of truth. How faithful,
you see, the translators of our Authorized Version were, how
they handled God's Word with all due reverence. And so, if
we really believe that this is the word of God, it was inspired
of God, and it's inherent, it's inspired every part of it, it's
verbally inspired, we say, every word in the original is God's
words, how the preacher then is to come very carefully to
God's word and seek to make sure that he understands the meaning
of the words that are being spoken. He is to labor over God's words. He is to rightly divide the word
of truth. He is to seek out acceptable
words. The preacher sought to find out
acceptable words, it says. Now, I say that in a sense the
preacher is one of these masters of assemblies but then we remember that really there is only one who
is master there is only one who is master and that that is God
himself and how The Lord Jesus spells that out
in the course of His own ministry. Look at the language there in
Matthew 23. Verse 8, Christ says, Be ye not
called Rabbi? For one is your Master, even
Christ, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your Father upon
the earth, for one is your Father which is in heaven. Neither be
ye called Masters, for one is your Master, even Christ. But
he that is greatest among you shall be your servant." Again,
the language of the Lord Jesus, John 13, 13, "...ye call me Master
and Lord, and ye say, Well, for so I am." Or the Lord Jesus Himself
ultimately, strictly speaking, is only the Master. and God's words and God's word
alone is absolute truth the words of the preacher or the preacher
for all his laboring and trying to rightly divide the word he's
only a man and he might make mistakes what do we read here? at the end of verse 10 that which
was written was upright even words of truth well that's God's
word God's Word is upright. God's Word is all truth. And
what do we need to do then with regards to our attitude to the
words of the preacher? We need to desire something of
that spirit of the Bereans. Or read there of the Bereans
in Acts 17. They were more noble, it says,
than those of Thessalonica. Why were they more noble? because
they examined what they were hearing from the apostles they
brought it to the touchstone of the word of God they didn't
just accept it but they brought everything back to God's word
and surely that is to be our attitude don't believe it just
because the preacher says it but go back to the word of God
and bring everything to that test to that touchstone the spirit
of the Bereans, searching daily all the scriptures to see if
these things really are so. Only God's Word is truth, absolute
truth, as we have it here in the 10th verse, that which was
written was upright, even words of truth. And all the blessing
of that Word of God, the effect that word has upon the sinner
think of the prayer of the Lord Jesus there in John 17 sanctify
them he says to the father sanctify them through thy truth thy word
is truth thy word is truth it is God who must bring to bear
upon us that sanctifying effect of his own word it is God himself
who must apply that word. And so what do we have here?
Besides finding out acceptable words, we read of words as goads. The words of the wise are as
goads. You know what are goads? Well,
they're spiked sticks, aren't they? We're told Back in Judges chapter
3, how that a man called Shangar slew 600 Philistines with an
ox goat. The enemies of Israel, the Philistines,
this man Shangar, slaughtered 600 of them with an ox goat. A goat then is something with
a sharp point on it. and when Saul of Tarsus was under
conviction of sin he does seem even though he was present at
the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts chapter 7 and approving of that
wicked deed the slaughter of that gracious man Stephen but
even there maybe Saul of Tarsus was already troubled and stirred
in his own conscience Remember how the Lord confronts him at
the very gate of Damascus where he's gone now to persecute more
Christian believers. What does the Lord say to him? It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. Or as the margin says, it is
hard for thee to kick against the goats. All his conscience
you see was so active, under conviction. Here we have them words that
are as goads. Wasn't that the experience of
those on the day of Pentecost? When they heard the preaching,
the preaching of Peter, and those who were at Jerusalem were present
for the feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, one of the great
Jewish feasts. There were Jews and there were
proselytes, Gentile converts to Judaism. And here is Peter
preaching, and what does he do? He lays his awful charge against
the Jews. They had killed the Lord of Glory.
Oh, when they heard it, they were pricked in their hearts,
it says. They were pricked. They were
goaded in their hearts. And said unto Peter and to the
rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? This is goad, you see, conviction. And this is a blessed work of
the Holy Spirit, is it not? When He has come, Christ says,
He will reprove the world. He will convince the world of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because I believe not
on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because the
Prince of this world is judged. or that the spirit might come
even into our hearts to convince us to have that conscience you
see that is so tender that we feel the word of God and it finds
us out and the remarkable thing of course is that where God's
word wounds why it's that same word that will come with all
those healing powers where we get our wounding there we'll
find our healing you have to come to the word of God and it's
remarkable sometimes to read of the experiences of the godly
in a previous day they'd come under the word and the word was
so convicting but they couldn't keep away from it they couldn't
stay away from it they had to come again their conscience you
see so tender What a blessing when the Word of God comes without
convincing power. The words of the wise are as
goads, but then also, it says, and as nails, and as nails fastened
by the masters of assemblies. Charles Bridges, in his commentary
here, makes this simple remark. He says, whereas the goads prick
sharply, the nails hold firmly. And you see, there's a sense
in which those who are under God's Word are held fast by that
Word of God. All we need is God's truth to
take hold of us, to take hold of our minds. to be firmly fixed in our souls
we need to receive it James says receive with meekness the engrafted,
the implanted word that is able to save your soul that is set
in us fixed in us or we read of the good man in the book of
Psalms who is the good man his heart is fixed trusting in the
Lord. Oh, where is your heart this
morning? Is it here, there, everywhere,
flying after all sorts of things? Or is it fixed? Are your affections
set upon things that are above where Christ is, at God's right
hand? The guy in the psalmist can say
in his prayer to God, Oh God, my heart is Oh God grant that
we might have a heart then that is truly fixed. And how can that
be? Well, it's not enough to hear
the words of a preacher and you might have your favourite preacher.
And God sometimes does bless us under certain ministry and
naturally there's an attachment to a man if we've been blessed
under his preaching. But we have to learn to look
beyond the preacher, we have to look to that one who is spoken
of here at the end of the text that one who is called the One
Shepherd the Lord Jesus Christ we need to know that experience
of those Ephesians ye have not so learned Christ if so be ye
have heard Him and been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus
or to be those in who are truly taught of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know Him by and through the
ministry of His Word. Oh, the Lord then be pleased
to bless the words of this text to us today for His name's sake. Amen.