Let us commence our services today by singing together hymn number 208 to the tune Lord 677. Jesus, lover of thy nation, saviour of thy people free, visit us with thy salvation. Let us, Lord, thy glory see. O revive us, that we may rejoice in the hymn 208 tune lord 677. Jesus, Mother of Thy Nation, Savior of Thy people, pray. Visit us with thy salvation Let all souls with glory sing Thou revive us, Thou revive us God's love has rejoiced in thee. Let us find thy love surrounding us like little children living, and thy mighty Christ the Lord be with us today.

Jesus, my God, Jesus, fill our souls with heavenly peace. I am here, facing the future with you Because we found our almighty God in Adam, our sheltered King, He gave the God-man He was ordained to profit in the free. ♪ Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! ♪ they will give thee all the praise.

All the glory, all the glory, Let us read together from the Holy Word of God in the book of Ecclesiastes chapters 1 and 2. Ecclesiastes chapter 1 and reading down to verse 11 in chapter 2. The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, said the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north, it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

All things are full of labour, man cannot utter it, The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done. And there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said, see this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works which are done under the sun and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. I commute with mine own heart saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem.

Yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge, and I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceive that this also is vexation of spirit, for in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow. I said in mine heart, go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure, and behold this also is vanity. I said of laughter it is mad, and of mirth what do with it? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquaint in mine heart all wisdom, until I hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

I made me great works, I built me houses, I planted me vineyards, I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits. I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees. I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house. Also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me. I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings, and of the provinces. I gat me mensingers, women singers and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments and that of all sorts.

So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem, also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eye desired I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labour, and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on the works that my hands had wrought, on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the sun. May the Lord bless the reading of his own precious word and grant to us a spirit of real prayer. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which is an art, an art to come.

We do thank Thee that Thou hast taken to Thy great power and has reigned in the person of Thy Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We do pray that Thou would come and reign in our hearts today and that thou wouldst hear the prayer of our opening hymn, that we may have the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may have joy and peace in believing, that we may lay hold of that hope that is set before us in the gospel. For we come, Lord, as poor and needy sinners, no help in self I find, yet oft have sought it well, The native treasure of my mind is sin and death and hell. Gracious God, we do pray that thou wouldst come and meet with us today. Come and set our affections on things above. Draw my soul to thee, my Lord, let me love thy precious word.

Graciously deliver us from the sink of iniquity and unrighteousness that dwells in each one of our hearts and grant that we may know that preserving and delivering mercy and grace that is in Christ Jesus that we may be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last day We pray, most blessed spirit of truth, that thou wouldst graciously work faith in our hearts, guide us into thy truth. As many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And we pray that we may have that witness here today, that we are indeed the children of God, that we are joint heirs with Christ, graciously Grant, Lord, that we may be delivered from the enmity of the carnal mind which each one of us possesses. Thy word declares unto us, the carnal mind is enmity to God, is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

For we pray that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God our Father, and the sacred fellowship of the Holy Spirit, May rest and abide upon us today. May we be favoured to enter into the sacred substance of that beautiful word. Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, that therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. May we be drawn by our Heavenly Father unto his Son Jesus Christ, that there Thou hast said in thy word, I will draw thee with the cords of a man, with the bands of love, all that we might know, these sacred spiritual truths by sweet experience as we gather around thy word of truth.

We pray that thou would remember us as a church and congregation and work mightily and powerfully and effectually among us that we may see thy work and thy power and thy glory as thou usest to be in the sanctuary, that thou wouldst arise and may bear thine holy arm in the gospel, that thou wouldst pull down these strongholds of Satan, set up the kingdom of the Lord Jesus in the hearts of sinners, that thou wouldst send out the glory, light, and power of gospel truth into this village and the surrounding villages and hamlets, that thou wouldst bring our sons from far and our daughters from the ends of the earth, even as I have promised.

They shall come from the north and from the south and from the east and from the west. We pray, O Lord, that we may see these wonderful, precious gospels spread We see a day of declension, Lord, a day of falling away. If you come to Zion's feasts to arise, we humbly pray they intern our captivity as the streams in the South. Lord, we do pray that thou would remember our brethren, the deacons, and give them grace, wisdom, and help. Remember, Lord, our church, our congregation, and work mightily and powerfully and effectually among us.

Remember the little ones and the children. May the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, be placed in their hearts in their young and tender years. Lord, remember the young friends in all their concerns, in all their burdens, Help them to cast their burden upon the Lord. Trust also in Him. Help them to continually watch unto prayer. Help us to lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us, and to run with patience the race that is set before us.

And there are those, O Lord, that would desire a partner in life's journey. We pray that those graciously grant their request. that great God that did bring Rebecca to Isaac and Ruth to Boaz. We pray that thou wouldst so work, we do beseech thee among us here. We lovingly commend them to thee. We pray, most gracious Lord, that thou wouldst remember all in the midst of the journey of life and knowest, O Lord, the needs of each one.

Remember the prodigals that have wandered away, and graciously bring them back as poor, needy, penitent sinners. Remember those that appear to be as far from God as sheep can run. But Lord, the appointed time rolls on apace, not to propose but call by grace, to turn their feet to Zion's hill, Lord, let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children. Remember all in affliction and undertake for them and be Jehovah Rophi.

I am the Lord that healeth thee. And Lord, we do pray that thou in thy great mercy would remember those of us that are now come into the evening or in the evening time of life's journey, we pray to be prepared for that great change. May it be the language of each soul in this chapel. Prepare me, gracious God, to stand before thy face. Thy spirit must the work perform, for it is all of grace. In Christ's obedience, clothe and wash me in his blood. So shall I lift my head with joy among the sons of God.

Lord, we pray to be delivered from temptation. The enemy, Lord, is a very powerful enemy. We pray that whether he comes as an angel of light to deceive us or as a roaring lion to devour us, remember, Lord, that wonderful promise When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

May it be so today. We do humbly beseech thee for thy great namesake. Lord, we do pray that thou, in thy great mercy, wouldst hear prayer for all thy servants as they labour in word and doctrine upon the walls of Zion. Wherever thy people gather, We pray that thou would pour forth thy blessed spirit, that thou would return to Jerusalem with mercies. Do hear us, O Lord, we humbly beseech thee. We pray that thou, the great Lord of the harvest, would send true labourers into the harvest. We pray for those who at this time are serving three months with a view to taking the pastorate that thou wouldst be with them and guide them and direct them and pour forth thy spirit upon them, we do humbly beseech thee. We pray, most gracious Lord, that thou wouldst remember those that labour in word and doctrine among the churches and those that go forth in the nations of the earth.

We think of thy servant Ian Sadler, and that great and tremendous work that he is doing in so many different countries in the distribution of the word of God. Supply, Lord, their every need. We do humbly beseech them. And graciously remember them on my mission and my servants at labor there.

And grant at the appointed time an abundant harvest that will redound to the great glory of thy holy name. Remember the Savannah Education Trust and that great work that they are doing in Ghana. And that Lord, we pray that it may be to the glory of thy holy name and the increase of thy church there in Ghana.

Lord, we do pray that those, remember those of thy people that are in those countries such as China, And in the Middle East, where the name of Christ is hated, and where thy people are persecuted, even unto death, we pray that thou wouldst be with them and send them help from the sanctuary, and strengthen them out of Zion. Lord, do hear us, we humbly beseech thee.

And we see in our own nation, O Lord, the terrible corruption and the spirit and power of Antichrist that is so prevalent in the nation, in those that rule over us. We pray that those give wisdom and guidance and direction unto them. We pray for our king and the royal household that the wonderful blessings of thy grace may be given there. Lord, do hear us, we humbly beseech thee. Is not thy chariot hastening on? and that we see the signs of the times and the love of many waxes cold and iniquity abounds. Gracious God, arise, we do humbly beseech Thee. Lord, we pray that Thou wouldst bring a stop to war and bring to naught the counsels of the ungodly. Remember Thy people in the Ukraine and draw near to them and undertake for them in this time of great trial. Hear us, O God, we do beseech thee.

We thank thee, O Lord, for every mercy, for every favour. We thank thee for all thy goodness that has passed before us in the way. We thank thee that thy mercies to us are new every morning, and great is thy faithfulness. We thank thee for our house of prayer, for the Word of God, for the supply of all our many returning needs. But above all, we thank Thee for that wonderful glory of the incarnation of the Son of God. We thank Thee for the holy life He lived as a man here upon earth, when He was made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem them that are under the law, We thank Thee that in Him the law has been fulfilled and honoured and magnified, and everlasting righteousness has been brought in for Thy people. We thank Thee for that wonderful and sacred synatonin sacrifice of Calvary. Oh, we pray that today we may behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, We thank thee that in that holy sacrifice, sin has been put away.

Divine justice has been satisfied. God and sinners are reconciled. The precious blood of the Redeemer has been shed. The sins of thy people are taken away. He rose again for our justification. He left our sins in the grave and we desire to bow in Thankfulness for that wonderful glory of a risen saviour, of death swallowed up in victory. We thank thee for a saviour that has bodily ascended into heaven and that we have a great high priest that sitteth at thy right hand. Touched with the sympathy within, he knows our feeble frame. He knows what sore temptations mean, for he has felt the same. Oh, do hear us, Lord, we humbly pray thee. Come and touch one's lips with a live coal from off the heavenly altar. Make up in giving where we do so fail in asking, as we ask for Jesus Christ's sake.

Amen. Let us now sing together hymn number 127. The tune is Gopsal 542. Rejoice, the Lord is King, your God and King of all. Mortals give thanks and sing and triumph evermore. Lift up the heart, lift up the voice, rejoice aloud. Ye Saints, rejoice. Hymn 127, Tune Gopsal, 542. O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, ♪ Pick up the cup ♪ ♪ Pick up the voice ♪ ♪ Rejoice, all you heavenly saints ♪ ♪ Rejoice ♪ ♪ Rejoice, all you heavenly saints ♪ ♪ And honor to your name ♪ ♪ And keep them for the joyous days ♪ ♪ For you to be the Savior and Lord of all ♪ Hear the thunder, hear the thunder voice, Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice! ♪ This day black and white ♪ ♪ Echoes of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ Black is hope and black is light ♪ Lift up then, O lift up the voice, Rejoice, O happy day, rejoice!

♪ In all things good shall come to you ♪ ♪ When all your sins destroy you ♪ ♪ When every word's not true ♪ Lift up your heart, lift up your voice, Rejoice, for heav'nly sight ♪ Hail, all ye glorious ones ♪ ♪ Angels and lads shall come ♪ ♪ And take their song as home ♪ His truth shall be the faithful's voice, the temple of God. greatly feeling to need the Lord's gracious help, direct your attention to the Ecclesiastes chapter one, and we will read verse one for our text. The book of Ecclesiastes chapter one, verse one.

The words of the preacher, the son of David came in Jerusalem. Firstly we need to look at the what you might say the setting, the context of the book of Ecclesiastes and then we will also look at this earth because there is a greater than Solomon here. So Solomon was the writer under the divine influence of the spirit of the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon was called by divine grace as a very young man.

He was placed on the throne of Israel, probably the greatest and certainly the most wealthy of all the kings of Israel. And the Lord gave him great wisdom. It's recorded how the Lord appeared to him when he was a young man and how he asked the Lord to give him wisdom. And the Lord said to him, because thou hast said unto me that you desire wisdom and you haven't asked for wealth and honour, he said, I will give unto thee wisdom but I will also add unto thee wealth and honour.

It is said that in the days of Solomon the great wealth that abounded in Israel under his reign that silver was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. The only thing that was worth anything was gold and they had it in abundance. But sadly as we look at Solomon We have to think of that word, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. That is one of the great lessons of the life of King Solomon. He had tremendous wealth and power and wisdom in his early days. He knew much of the love of Christ.

Probably the most spiritual book in the whole of scripture is Solomon's Song. It is beautiful Hebrew poetry. And it speaks of the wonderful glory of the union between Christ and the church. And it speaks in such intimate language. Now Solomon, by God's grace, wrote the Song of Solomon.

He wrote it from his own personal experience of the love of Christ. He knew that union, he knew that my beloved was mine and I am his. He wrote the vast majority of the Proverbs, the book of Proverbs. So he was a man of great integrity and uprightness when he was a young man. But there's a very telling word in the book of Nehemiah.

Even Solomon did strange women cause to sin. Even Solomon, even that great king, he fell into sin. It was in the law of Moses that an Israelite or a Jewish person could only marry a Jewish person. And yet Solomon married many strange women. He had 700 wives or 300 wives and 700 concubines. And they turned his heart away from serving the Lord. I've got no doubt that Solomon thought that because he had this wisdom and because he had much grace and because he was so spiritually minded that he would be able to marry all these women and everything would be fine. But they turned his heart. He married the daughter of Pharaoh. He married many strange women. they turned his heart aside from following the law and he fell into sin and unrighteousness.

It's a very sad thing when we read these things but they're written for our instruction. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. We all need to know that. It's a great mercy my beloved friends, it's very uncomfortable but it's a great mercy when the Lord continually convinces us of our sin. It's a great mercy when the Lord continually teaches us our weakness. It's a great mercy, I'm speaking now to those of you that are spiritual, it's a great mercy when the Lord really gives us to feel that carnal mind is enmity to God, is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. It's a great mercy when the Lord teaches you that. And we need to be taught it all the time. Because by nature we get lifted up in pride. What a mercy.

You know we mustn't run away with the common idea among Christian churches that the conviction of sin is just at the initial stages of the Christian journey. We have to prove that the heart of man and the child of God has to prove this. As it says in Jeremiah, the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. It doesn't matter how great you are, it doesn't matter how much grace you have, it doesn't matter what wisdom you have.

See, we've read together here. To put this book in context, it is believed, and I believe it to be so as well, that Ecclesiastes was written when Solomon was brought to repentance to realize just how he had so grievously sinned against the Lord. In spite of all the abundance of the Lord's of the blessings that the Lord had given him and yet he grievously backslid from the Lord and from the ways of God and the ways of truth and of righteousness, even Solomon. And so we notice here he begins this book, vanity of vanities saith the preacher. Vanity of vanities all is vanities and then if you look into chapter 12 This book closes with the same conclusion vanity of vanities All is vanity All is vanity you might say what does vanity mean well it means vain things It means If I understand correctly, the meaning of the word vanity is like a cloud, or it's like a shadow.

You know, a shadow looks as though it's got substance. And from a distance you may think there's something there. But when you get there, there's nothing there, it's just a shadow. There's no substance to it. It's like a cloud. There looks to be, we know clouds are water, But it's just you can go through it. There's no substance there.

And this is what Solomon proved with his great wisdom and living through this life and then he proved. He says here in verse 13, I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven. This saw traveleth God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit. You might be tempted to say well Solomon was a very cynical man.

My beloved friends, he was brought to see the reality when God brought him to repentance. He was brought to see what we are by nature, when left to ourselves. And then when he comes to the conclusion at the end of the book, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, honour the King. for God will bring every work into judgment of what sort it is, you see, of what sort it is.

It's in that last chapter of Ecclesiastes, it is an exhortation to the young and it begins, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them, while the sun or the light or the moon or the stars be not darkened. We have a description in that twelfth chapter of old age and coming down to the grave.

It speaks of being darkened, it means loss of sight. The clouds return after rain. It means that one thing after another comes. So as soon as one storm is gone, another storm comes. The clouds are like trials and perplexities. And when we come into old age, you have one thing after the other. The clouds return after the rain.

The keepers of the house, he says here, shall tremble. That means the arms, the hands, the strong men shall bow themselves. And the grinders, that's the teeth, cease because they are few. And those that look out of the windows be darkened. You see. And the doors shall be shut in the streets when the sound of the grinding is low.

He shall rise up at the voice of the bird as the dawn chorus. Can't sleep so at the voice of the bird at the dawn chorus he wakes. All the daughters of music shall be brought low and when they shall be afraid of that which is high and fear shall be in the way. The almond tree is white in its blossom, the almond tree shall flourish, the hair turns white and the grasshopper shall be a birder. any little thing is a burden and desire shall fail because man goeth to his long home that's his eternal home and the mourners go about the streets or wherever the silver cord that's the spinal cord that runs from the brain right down through the spine sending messages from the brain throughout all the body wherever the silver cord be loosed That means when the neck breaks, the cord is loosed, the golden bowl, that's the skull, is broken, be broken, or the pitcher, that's the heart that pumps the blood around the body, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave him.

Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity. You see, my beloved friends, these things are written for our instruction. I often say, heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. is a prepared place for an unprepared people. Or that the Lord would impress these things upon our hearts and upon our minds.

It says here in Ecclesiastes, to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die. Time to be born and a time to die. Death is the most certain thing in this life. And then man goeth to his home as it is appointed unto man once to die. So after death, the judgment. These are the important things, my beloved friends. We can get so taken up with things in this world and in this life that we become completely engrossed in them. But there's one thing is needful. One thing is needful. You must be born again.

Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. It's to be brought to living faith in Jesus Christ and become a follower of him and of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises That's the vital thing, my beloved friends. One hymn writer says, doesn't he, give me Christ or else I die. And the Word of God says concerning Christ, in him is life. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These are absolutely vital things, my beloved friends, that we might know and become true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, let us look more closely here at the words of our text. The words of the preacher, you'll notice a capital P, the son of David, King in Jerusalem. Now we know Solomon wrote it, and we realize that in the first sense of the word, it refers to Solomon. But my beloved friends, there's a far greater than Solomon here. The words of the preacher, the son of David, King in Jerusalem. Even our Lord Jesus Christ. It said of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he is here upon earth and he's preaching, no man spake like this man, the man Christ Jesus. No man preached like Jesus Christ. No man lived like Jesus Christ.

He lived a life that was pure, a life that was holy, a life that was righteous. He himself encapsulates the law of God in a very short compass. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself. That's the law of God. Now, the only person who's ever fulfilled it is the person of the Son of God that was manifest in the flesh, even our Lord Jesus Christ. He did no sin. Sin is any transgression of the law of God. He did no sin.

And when he became a man, when he was born of the Virgin Mary, she was of the seed of David. That's why Joseph and Mary were found at Bethlehem, because Caesar Augustus ordered that all the world should be taxed. Now, you might think, well, that was just a Roman emperor. It was the time appointed when Joseph and Mary should be in Bethlehem, because it was spoken by the prophet in the prophet Micah how that thou Bethlehem Ephrata how that Christ would be born there in the little town of Bethlehem and that so Caesar Augustus ordered the taxing of the world you see it gives us an amplification of that word the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord and as rivers of water he turneth it with us wherever he will. God is in control and we see in all these little things that happen in the birth of Jesus Christ in the place where he was it says there in Micah that he would call his son out of Egypt And that literally happened because Herod the king was seeking to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord warned Joseph and Mary in a dream that they were to take the child into Egypt to be delivered from the hand of Herod.

You see my beloved friends, everything's ordered. My life's minutest circumstance is subject to thine eye. Nothing happens by chance. There is a divine purpose. There is a needs be. We read about Lord Jesus Christ. There was a needs be that he went through Samaria. Why? Because that woman, by the way, You see, everything in the life of Jesus Christ was divinely ordered. And everything in the life of the Lord's people is divinely ordered.

The words of the preacher, the son of David. Son of David. Of course, we have that beautiful prophecy in Isaiah chapter 9 concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And it bears out this, it says there in Isaiah 9 verses 6 and 7, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God. everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. This is the glorious person of God manifest in the flesh of Jesus Christ of the increase of his government and peace.

There shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. the words of the preacher, the son of David. You know, it was a common phrase among the Jews that the Messiah, they used to refer to him as the son of David because the Lord gave a promise to King David that they would not fire a man to sit upon his throne forevermore. And therefore when they referred to the Messiah, the coming of Christ, they always referred to him the son of David.

That of course is opened when the blind man sitting by the wayside in Jericho. And he'd heard of Jesus Christ. He heard of the wonderful things that he did. He heard that he could heal sicknesses and diseases. He'd heard that this man could cause the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak. And it was revealed unto him. It's very obvious in the way that he speaks.

He sat by the wayside, and when he heard that Jesus was nearby, he cried out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me. And the people, because he kept on, they said, be quiet, man. but he kept on them all vehemently, Jesus thou son of David have mercy upon me. You see how it brings out this the son of David, David's greater son. He would sit upon the throne of David, the eternal throne in the spiritual sense.

I think it's in the in the Gospel according to Luke in those lovely words of Zachariah when he sang that song when it was the Lord revealed unto him. It says in Luke chapter 1 verse 67 and his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. See thou, son of David. As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, and that he would grant us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. And thou, child, thou shalt be called the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. to give the knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet in the way of peace.

How wonderfully then these things were fulfilled, thou son, of David, David's greatest son. There's that beautiful scripture, of course, in the last chapter of the Holy Scriptures, when the Lord Jesus speaking to his servant, John, and he said, I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star. You look at that word, you take a glance at that word and it appears to contradict itself. But of course it doesn't. And the reason it doesn't sit as the root of David, so you might say, how can he be the root and the offspring?

Well then, that's what opens to us the wonderful glory of the person of Jesus Christ. He's God and man. He's the eternal Son of God that was manifest in the flesh. 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 so as david's root that is referring to his godhead he's the son of god and david when he was king here and fighting all his battles the lord jesus the lord jesus christ was his wisdom, was everything he stood in need of. David became a great king because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in many places he's a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. See, my beloved friends, these things are written for our instruction, the words of the preacher, capital P. The people marveled, the people marveled at the preaching of Jesus Christ, at the wisdom that came forth from his mouth.

The scribes and the Pharisees, of course, they hated him. hated him. Why? Because his holy life and his holy words exposed, because they were looked up to as being the most religious men of their generation. But here comes along the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and they rejected him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. and they opposed him at every turn. But what they rejected was the light that shone in him.

Jesus said, I am the light of the world. And in his holy life, there was a light that shone in that holy life of Jesus Christ. And there was a light that shone in the sacred words of our Lord Jesus Christ. And there was a light that shone in the miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the people saw the lame to walk and the blind to see and the deaf to hear, they marveled. When the man that was sick of a palsy, that means he was paralyzed. And the Lord told him to take up his bed and walk.

See the light, the glorious light that shone in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the work that he did. And of course, in that holy life is the fulfilling of the law of God. You know, the life of Jesus Christ, the witness of Jesus Christ, the way he lived is the fulfilling of the law. The law was fulfilled and honored and magnified.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. That's exactly what Jesus did all the days of his life. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. That's what Jesus did as he walked here below. He loved his neighbor as himself. He healed the sin. He was full of love, full of kindness, full of compassion. We meet many times, I think it's perhaps more in the Gospel of Mark than any other, of the compassion of Jesus Christ. His kindness, his compassion.

The words of the preacher, the son of David, King in Jerusalem. And the fulfilling of this, of course, as we look at it in the light of the glorious person of our Lord Jesus Christ, King in Jerusalem. That's what led me to our second hymn, Rejoice the Lord is King, in Psalm Number two, we read of the heathen raging and the people imagining a vain thing. And the kings of the earth, they set themselves against the Lord's anointed. And the Lord's anointed, of course, is the glorious person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Why do the heathen rage? And the people imagine a vain thing. We see exactly the same today. It always has been so. Why do the heathen rage? And the people imagine a vain thing. The kings of the earth, the rulers, set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. That's against the Lord Jesus Christ. They still do it today.

And they say, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. You speak to men and women of the Word of God and the Law of God and the Gospel of Christ and they say away with it, we don't want anything to do with your God or with His Holy Law. Let us break their bands asunder. Cast away the cords from them.

You speak to men and women today about the morality of the Bible. about sin against fornication and adultery and they say we don't want any of that. And all the immorality that goes on today in the world. We don't want anything to do with your laws. We don't want anything to do with your morals. Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cause from us. Now there's a most solemn word here friends.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. We see that sore displeasure on Sodom and Gomorrah when their sins became so great and their immorality became so great that the Lord was determined to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And he poured fire and brimstone from heaven upon those cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them. You see, the apostle speaks of it, about them suffering eternal vengeance.

You see, he that sitteth in the heavens shall Lord shall have them in division they shall then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sordid pleasure and then we have this statement of divine truth yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion the Lord sitteth king forever.

We read of our Lord Jesus Christ that upon his vesture there is written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He's the King of Kings, yet have I set my King. In that glorious person of our Lord Jesus Christ we see the works of Satan destroyed We see the sin of the Lord's people put away in that holy sacrifice of Calvary. We see everlasting righteousness brought in, in that holy life that Jesus lived. And when he entered into death, he rose again and swallowed up death in victory. He had destroyed the works of the devil, the apostle says in the Hebrews. This glorious King, Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.

You see, the wicked view Christ with terror. Why? Because he's the King of kings and the Lord of lords, because he's the mighty God. But the Lord's people are brought to see him in love, by faith that worketh by love. They see him as their savior. They see him as their law fulfiller. They see him in his glorious sacrifice as that one that has put away sin. They see his precious blood that cleanses from all sin. They receive it by faith. And they receive that sin atoning sacrifice by faith. Jesus has made an end of sin. He's made an end of sin.

Yeah, haven't I? set my king upon my holy hill of zion and then he gives these promises to the church in verse 8 of psalm 2 ask of me and i shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession this is he that sits as the king of kings and the lord of lords Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. How by the gospel! That David, he says in the book of Psalms, in that beautiful Psalm 45, and he prays there unto Jesus as the great King, and he says in the third verse, gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty, and in thy majesty ride prosperously. because of truth and meekness and righteousness, and thy right hand shall teach these terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under thee."

See, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. No, they're not guns and swords. It's spiritual. The weapons of our warfare, they're spiritual. They're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies. That's the arrows of conviction. The Lord, when he stopped Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, he said, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Those pricks of conscience. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies whereby the people fall under thee.

And then he's been these beautiful words, thy throne, oh God, is forever and ever The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. The apostle Paul in Hebrew chapter one, he quotes that verse and he says, unto the son, he said, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness. This is the glorious person that is in our text. The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

He's the King Eternal, the Apostle, when he reflects on the wonderful grace of God that stopped him in his mad career. When he writes to Timothy, in Timothy 1, Timothy 1, and he breaks out in that beautiful verse, now unto the King Eternal, immortal and invisible, the only true God, be honour and glory everlasting. You see, he saw the glory of Christ. the honour and glory everlasting. In Psalm 72, it's another one of those beautiful messianic psalms which particularly highlights the wonderful glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Give the King thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the King's son. He shall judge thy people. Who? Christ. He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgments.

The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills by righteousness. It says in verse six, he shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish, and the abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea.

See this abundance of peace, peace by his cross, as Jesus made the church's ever-living head. It says in verse 13, he shall spare the poor and needy and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight. And he shall live, this is speaking of a resurrected saviour, who has destroyed death and him that had the power of death. He shall live, this glorious Saviour.

And then it says in verse 17, his name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun and men shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things, and blessed be his glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and amen.

The words of the preacher, the son of David, King in Jerusalem. Now this precious Jesus, who the apostles saw ascending into heaven, And the angel said, this same Jesus shall come again in like manner, in like manner. He's coming again. He's coming to gather his people unto himself. The very first act at the second coming of Christ is recorded in the gospels. He will send his angels to the four corners of the earth and he shall gather his elect unto himself.

That's the very first act. of our Lord Jesus Christ, the words of the preacher, the son of David, King in Jerusalem. May the Lord add his blessing. Let us now sing together hymn 539, The tune is Darwall's 537. Christians rejoice and sing, your Maker's lovely praise. He is your God and King, ancient of endless days. He lives, He reigns and sits above, the King of kings and God of love. Hymn 539. Tune Darwall's 537. ♪ And I can not stand still ♪ ♪ The wayward silence ♪ ♪ Peaceful, calm, and peaceful ♪ ♪ How can I stand still? ♪ ♪ Give him peace ♪ ♪ Let it ever be ♪ ♪ A pink temple of light ♪ ♪ No man's land ♪ Him contain, in entity He bears.

He measures where the sweat, the blood, whereo'er it fairs. In him be faithful Your God and King And with you to his love we pray He saves you by His grace. O man, let grace declare That such a man always From sin and Satan free His mercy true, and justice joined to make him King of all creation. The time will surely come when you, with sweet surprise, will find yourself at home with Christ at your side. with Him to heal, with Him to make and make good, make the world Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the sacred fellowship of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us each. Amen.