I appreciate Bill leading our
singing today. You know, when you sing one hymn,
you think, oh, that's so good. And then you sing another one,
and you think, oh, that one's so good. We've got a lot of good hymns. Let's open our Bibles tonight
to Ecclesiastes chapter 8. Ecclesiastes chapter 8, reading
the first five verses. Who is as the wise man, and who
knoweth the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom maketh
his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard
of the oath of God. Be not hasty to go out of his
sight, stand not in an evil thing, for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth
him. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. And who may say unto him, what
doest thou? Whoso keepeth the commandment
shall feel no evil thing, and a wise man's heart discerneth
both time and judgment. Three subjects in these verses
that we've just finished reading that I want to speak to us about
this evening. First, an answer. An answer. Then secondly, wise counsel. And then thirdly, a fact. A fact. First, an answer. An answer to the question in
verse one, who is as the wise man? Who is as the wise man? Now there are three ways that
we may look at this question. First, who is as the wise man? Adam. Who is as the wise man? Adam. The first Adam, the first
man was wise. He was endowed with wisdom beyond
our imagination. Now we mentioned the fact of
his wisdom in his naming the animals, but that was just one
area, one area in which his wisdom was manifested. But who is as
the wise man Adam? Who is like Adam with such wisdom? And the answer, of course, to
that question is no one, no one. If you look above that in verse
29 of chapter 7, Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made
man upright. That was Adam. He was made upright. And he was endowed with wisdom
from his Creator. Wisdom like we cannot imagine. But they have sought out many
inventions. They have sought out many inventions,
speaking of sin. The answer is that there is no
man as wise as Adam when he was created. If you look with me back to Psalm
14, just a moment. I know men like to believe, men
like to believe that we come into this world and we are just
as Adam was when he came forth from the hand of his creator.
But that's not true. That's not so. Adam was created
in the image of God. And yet we read that when he
brought forth a son, his son was in his image. And his image
was now a fallen image. His image, that holy image in
which he had been created, had been marred by sin. Who is as the wise man, as Adam? No one. No one. Here in chapter
14 of Psalms, we read, the fool has said in his heart, there
is no God. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There's none that doeth good. Who is as the wise man, Adam? None. There's none that doeth
good. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of man to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. They're all gone aside. They're
all together become filthy. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. The second way that we may look
at this question is who is as the wise man Solomon? Solomon
is, of course, the writer of these words, who is as the wise
man Solomon. When Solomon, and we're all familiar
with his history, but when Solomon became king, he didn't ask God
for long life, he didn't ask the Lord for riches, and he didn't
ask the Lord for the life of his enemies, but he did ask the
Lord for wisdom. wisdom, because he recognized
that he had not the ability, he had not the wisdom to rule
over God's people. He needed wisdom. He needed help
from God, and he asked for wisdom, and the Lord gave him wisdom.
Gave him wisdom like no other man. In fact, we read in 1 Kings,
and all the earth, all the earth sought to Solomon to hear his
wisdom. which God had put in his heart. Now, apart from the Lord Jesus
Christ, there was never one greater than Solomon for wisdom. And
yet we all know the history of Solomon. He himself played the
fool. He played the fool, didn't he? Who is, as the wise man Solomon? No man today has the wisdom that
Solomon had. A third way that we may look
at this question is, who is as the wise man? And let's look
for the answer to that question from the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
look and let Him answer that question. Who is as the wise
man? And I want you to keep your places
here, but turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew and also the
Gospel of Luke, because we're going to look at two passages
that I believe must be read together. Matthew chapter 7 and Luke chapter
6. Let's take a few minutes to find
it so we can look at these verses together. Matthew chapter 7,
and then in Luke chapter 6. In Matthew 7, the verses we want
to read are verses 24 and 25. These are the words of the Lord.
Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth
them, I will liken him unto a wise man. Who is as a wise man? The Lord Jesus Christ here said,
Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will
liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded
upon a rock. Two things there the Lord Jesus
Christ said about the wise man, the description of the wise man.
He hears the Lord's sayings and he does them. Now look in chapter
6 of Luke, parallel passage we might say, and he adds something
here which is important. Luke chapter 6 and verses 47
and 48. Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth
my sayings, and doeth them. You see, he's added something
here, hasn't he? Whosoever cometh to me. He didn't
say that, that's not recorded in Matthew's gospel, but these
three things. Whosoever cometh to me, heareth
my sayings, and doeth them. I will liken him unto a wise
man. How do we come to Christ? How
does a person come to Christ? Well, we come to Christ by faith,
by faith. How do we hear his sayings? Through
the word of God, he speaks to his people. And we practice,
we put into practice his sayings. It's not just storing up information
in the brain, is it? But it gets into the heart. It
changes a man's life, and he desires to practice, to do the
things of the Lord. And the Lord Jesus Christ said
he's a wise man because he digs down deep. He lays the foundation
deep. It's not some superficial profession
of faith, my friends. But he digs down. He recognizes his need. that if He is to be saved, it
must be completely by the grace of God. And there's only one
Savior. He cannot contribute to His salvation. There's not good, no, not want.
He digs down deep and lays the foundation upon the rock, and
that rock is Christ. The rock is Christ. There's a
wise man. And you notice the Lord doesn't
say now, once he does this, he's going to be exempt the rest of
his life from the winds, from the floods, from temptations,
from trials. Oh, no. Doesn't say that at all. That's what false religion tells
people. It really does. It tells people
if you'll just believe in Christ, your life is going to be downhill
from now on. Never any problems, never any
difficulties. No sicknesses, no trials, no
sorrows. Oh, no. The winds are going to
come. The rain's going to come down.
The water's going to rise up. It sure is. But he that is built
upon the rock, his house is going to stand. Remember that story
we told the children about The wolf who wanted to blow the house
down, I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down.
He finally came to a house he couldn't blow down, didn't he?
And that's true of every child of God, everyone who's built
upon the rock. Let the winds come, the rains
come, the floods come, huff and puff, but it will not move a
person from the rock, the one who's founded on Christ. All right, back in our text.
That's the first thing, the answer. An answer to the question, who
is as the wise man? Second, I want us to think for
just a moment about this counsel. Solomon says in verse two, I
counsel thee to keep the king's commandment. Now, in Solomon's
time, he knew what he was talking about. He did, he was a king. And the king was the supreme
ruler of the nation. There was no one above him. There
was no Supreme Court to go to. There was no Congress to go to. No, the king was the king. And
no one could say unto him, what are you doing? Why do you do
this? Now, the counsel is, keep the
king's commandment. Keep his commandment. And we
recognize that there is a limit to this. Solomon, his counsel
is keep the king's commandment. But what if the king, or whatever
civil authority you may be living under, what if that authority
tells you to do something that is contrary to the word of God? Well, we know where there's the
exception. And we see that, don't we, in
the case of the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. If you want to turn to Daniel,
we'll look at a verse or two here in Daniel chapter 3. The king was a wicked king, Nebuchadnezzar. He was an idolater, and he constructed
a great idol, and he commanded that when the music played, everyone
in his kingdom was to bow down. And of course, the first time
I think they inaugurated his idol, there were three men who
did not bow down, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Well, his command
was to bow down. Why did they not bow down? Because
they were servants of the Most High God. And his command was,
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. What Nebuchadnezzar
commanded was to worship this idol. Notice that in verse 13
of chapter 3. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage
and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before
the king. And Nebuchadnezzar spake and
said unto them, Is it true? Is this true? Could this be true? That you would dare to disobey
my command? Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, do not you serve my gods, nor worship the golden
image which I have set up? You must have misunderstood.
You didn't hear the music. I'm going to give you another
chance. Now if you be ready, that at what time you hear the
sound of the music, you shall fall down and worship the image
which I have made. Well, but if you worship not,
you shall be cast the same ire into the midst of a burning fiery
furnace. And who is it? Who is it? Is there any God, any idol that
can deliver you out of my hand, that can deliver you from the
fiery furnace? Is there? Who is the God that
shall deliver you out of my hands? Well, I'll tell you about that
God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful
to answer thee in this matter. We don't have to take any time,
consider it. You've commanded us to do something
that is against God's command. If it be so, our God, whom we
serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace. God was God and could deliver
them. They knew it. They believed it.
If these soldiers had thrown Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
into the furnace and they had been burned to ashes, God would
still have been God. He would still have been God.
God Almighty. God's ways are past finding out. And we see things and experience
things that we just cannot understand. Things that God does. And God
does it. He does it. But God shows, in
this case, to save Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now they
were convinced, they knew, our God whom we serve is able to
deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace. And he will, he
will, one way or the other, he will deliver us out of your hand,
O king. If he chooses to let us burn
up, you're not going to have any more control over us. Your
word's not going to touch us. If he chooses for us to burn,
we know he's able. But if it's his will, be it known
unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship
the golden image which thou hast made. Nebuchadnezzar, his vision
was changed. And the soldiers, I felt sorry
for the soldiers, don't you? This old wicked king commanded
them to take up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into
the fire, and the soldiers perished at the whim of this wicked man,
this wicked king. The Lord Jesus said, fear not
them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul,
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and
soul in hell. Nebuchadnezzar, he might kill
their bodies, but he and his fire could not touch the soul
of these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I counsel
thee, keep the king's commandment. Now, if you will, look with me
in Romans chapter 13, because Actually, what we see in these
verses here in Ecclesiastes is expounded to us by the Apostle
Paul in Romans chapter 13. Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers, for there's no power but of God. No power
but of God, Nebuchadnezzar. He was a king, he was a wicked
king, but who put him in that place? Who set him upon that
throne? God did. God did. Whosoever therefore
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they
that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Now notice
this, for rulers, rulers are not a terror to good works. When
you're driving down the freeway and you're driving 10 miles over
the speed limit and you see a policeman sitting over there, he's a terror
to you. But if you're driving down the
freeway and you're driving the speed limit, you wave at him.
Go on by. Maybe you shouldn't wave at him.
But he's no terror to you, is he? Why? because you are obeying
the law. That's what Paul tells us here. Rulers are not a terror to good
works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same. For he is, notice this, the policeman,
the civil authority, he is the minister of God to thee for good. Can you imagine what this city
would be like if there were no policemen, if there was no authority,
no civil authority in this city? It's bad enough with civil authority,
isn't it? Sometimes you look at the news
and it seems like we're back in the old Wild West. And maybe
the Wild West wasn't as wild as we've been thought, been brought
to believe that it was. You know, you just look at a
person wrong driving down the street and they may pull out
a pistol. Road rage. Road rage. Must be careful. But if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid. Be afraid. He's God's minister
and he does not bear the sword in vain. He has that authority. to try a person in our case,
to put a person on trial, and if he is convicted, then to punish
him. And every law has a punishment. Any law that doesn't have a punishment
is not worth the paper it's written on. Every law, there's a penalty. You break the law, you pay the
price. Wherefore, you must, now he's
talking to children of God, isn't he, to believers. You must, needs
be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
For for this cause pay you tribute also, for they are God's ministers,
attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore
to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to
whom custom, Fair to whom fair, honor to whom honor. O no man
anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law. This is a council. Keep the commandment
of the king. Keep the king's commandment.
That's what Solomon is saying. Now let's go back and Let's look
at one other thing here, and this is a fact, a fact. In verse 4, where the word of
a king is, there is power. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. Solomon, he was a king, and when
his word was given, when he spoke his word, There was power that
went along with it. He was anointed, you know in
the history, Solomon was anointed king just a little time before
his father David actually died. And David told him before he
passed away, he told him there are two men, two men here you
deal with. You deal with these two men.
One man was named Joab. Joab had been the commander-in-chief
of David's armies for years. But Joab was a man who was guilty
of taking the lives of innocent men. Abner was one of them. I forget the name of the other.
But especially those two men, Joab had killed in cold blood. And David said, you take care
of Joab. So when Solomon came to the throne,
he took care of it. Where the word of a king is,
there's power. Execute Joab. Well, Joab runs
to the tabernacle and grabs hold of the horns on the altar. No,
he's not going to kill me. I'm here seeking mercy. Solomon
said, well, if that's his desire, just bring him on down and slay
him. Where the word of a king is,
there's power. And Joab was executed. The second man was a man by the
name of Shimei. Now he was of the tribe of Saul,
the tribe of Benjamin. Saul, the first king, was of
that tribe of Benjamin. And Shimei was of that tribe.
When David's son Absalom rose up in rebellion, tried to take
the throne, you remember David and some of his people, they
had to flee. They had to run for their lives. And here's this
Shimei, kind of up on a hill, throwing rocks at David and cursing
him. And he accused David of being
disloyal to Saul. And you know, you read that history
and on at least two occasions, David could have taken Saul's
life at one time in a cave, another time they were camped out and
Saul was asleep. And David's right-hand man said,
let me just speak the word and I'll put him to the ground. He's
not gonna move again. David said, no, the scripture
says, touch not mine anointed. They cut off part of his garment,
I believe one time, and they took his water. canteen one time
so that David could show Saul, I mean thee no harm. But Saul
hated David, didn't he? But anyway, Shimei was of that
tribe, and he cursed David and accused him of doing what David
would not dare have done. And so David told Solomon, he
said, take care of that man. Don't let his whore head go down
to the grave in peace. And you see the wisdom of God
that was given to Solomon because he called Shimei and he said,
build your house here in Jerusalem. And as long as you stay in Jerusalem,
you're safe. But if you ever go out of these
gates, you're a dead man walking. And you know, it wasn't long
before he went out the gates and when he came back, he was
executed. Where the word of a king is,
there's power. That's the reason that mother,
When they brought the baby, those two women brought the baby to
Solomon, and one woman said, that's my baby. The other woman
said, no, that's my baby. Solomon said, well, cut the baby
in two, give both a half. Now the mother, whose baby it
was, she knew that where the word of a king is, there is power. And his soldiers would have cut
that baby in two. Now, if that's true, and it is,
of a king like Solomon, an earthly king, how much more true is that
of the king of kings and the Lord of lords? Where the word
of the king is, there is power. Let's look at just a couple of
examples. Turn with me, and we won't come
back here to Ecclesiastes, but turn with me to Luke chapter
6. A couple of examples where we see where the word of a king
is, there's power. Luke chapter 6, and beginning
with verse 6. And it came to pass also on another
Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and taught And
there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes
and the Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the
Sabbath day, that they might find an accusation against him.
But he knew their thoughts and said to the man which had the
withered hand, rise up, stand forth in the midst. And he arose
and stood forth. Now, how many times do you think
this man had tried to stretch forth his hand? I don't know, you don't know,
we don't need to know, but I guarantee you, many times he had tried
to stretch forth that withered hand, but he couldn't. It was
paralyzed. It was useless. But where the word of a king
is, there's power. Then said Jesus unto them, I
will ask you one thing. Is it lawful in the Sabbath days
to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it? And
looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so. When you read
that, and he did so, That doesn't surprise you, does it? Not at
all. Doesn't surprise you at all.
Why? Because the Lord Jesus, the King
of kings, he said, stretch forth thy hand where his word is. There's power
when we go forth preaching the gospel. And we call upon men
and women to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
say, well, they can't do that. They don't have the power. That's
true. Natural man doesn't have the
power in and of himself, but where the word of a king is,
there's power. And when his word goes along
with the written word, the preached word, then a person believes. A person turns from his sin and
believes in Jesus Christ. The praise, the glory, goes to
the king, doesn't it? Sure. All right. Notice another
example in John chapter 5. And here's a man who's been waiting
at a pool for 38 years. Or he'd been sick, rather he'd
been paralyzed for 38 years. I'm not sure if he had been there
all this time. But in chapter 5 and verse 8,
He was paralyzed and he couldn't get into the pool. They said
an angel would come at different times and stir the water and
whoever was first into the pool was healed. And this passage
tells us it was like a hospital with five porches and in these
porches there were a number of sick people. All kinds of sickness
there. That was the only hope they had
of healing was to get into that water. And the Lord Jesus Christ
went to one man in particular. There was a lot of them there,
but he went to one man. What does that show? That shows
God's grace, doesn't it? God's grace. Who hath made thee
to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
hast not received, thou hast not received? Who makes you to
differ from another? This man was paralyzed and the
Lord told him, rise, verse eight, rise, take up thy bed and walk. Well, what do you think we're
going to read next? You know what we're going to
read. He arose, wound up his bed and walked. Why? Because the king said, rise,
take up that bed and walk. And one other example in John
chapter 11, this may be one of the most amazing of all. Here's
a man's body that is laying in the grave for four days. His
sister said, oh, it's already started Decomposing, whatever
you do, don't remove that stone. There'll be an awful stench that
will come out of that grave. The Lord said, remove the stone. And notice in verse 43, he said,
Lazarus, come forth. He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus,
come forth. And he that was dead came forth. How is that possible? Where the
word of a king is, there is power. When Paul and Silas were brought
out of that jail that night, and that jailer asked them this
question, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said unto
him, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And he believed, and he was saved. Now that was the Lord speaking
through an apostle. God speaks through preachers,
doesn't he? Speaks through his word, not
just through preachers, but Christians. He speaks through other men.
And when you hear his voice, you will believe and you will
have everlasting life. I pray that the Lord would bless
this word to all of us here tonight. We've got a wonderful Savior,
don't we? I mean, the more we learn about Him, the more we
hear about Him, this gets better, better all the time. Let's sing
a few verses of a hymn and we'll be dismissed.