In the sermon 'Making Sense of It All' by Mike Davenport, the speaker reflects on Ecclesiastes 12:9-14, emphasizing Solomon's journey from seeking worldly meaning to understanding divine purpose. Solomon, in his wisdom, sought knowledge and acceptable words, ultimately concluding that fearing God and keeping His commandments is the essence of life. The sermon draws parallels between Solomon's experiences and the California gold rush, illustrating the futility of pursuing worldly gains. Solomon's wisdom, described as 'goads' and 'well-driven nails,' is meant to guide and secure believers in their faith. Davenport highlights the role of Jesus Christ as the one true Shepherd who imparts wisdom. The sermon warns against the endless pursuit of worldly knowledge and urges adherence to the divine teachings found in the Bible. It concludes with a call to live with a healthy fear of God, adhere to His commandments, and prepare for judgment, emphasizing that true fulfillment lies in aligning with God's purpose.

So Ecclesiastes 12, our text today is verses 9 through 14. We'll begin the reading with verse 8, chapter 12 verse 8. Vanity of vanities, says the preacher. All is vanity. And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge.

Yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find acceptable words, and what was written was upright, words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd. And further, my son, be admonished by these of making many books there is no end And much study is wearisome to the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether good or Evil let us look to the Lord in prayer. Oh Father These are the very things we sung about in the beginning of our service. These are ancient words. Oh, God, may they be changing us today.

Lord, do not allow us to be the same after having looked at this text. For Lord, we have seen that wise man in James 1. It's not the one who simply hears and does not do, but he is a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. Oh God, may our ears and our minds alone not be satisfied. But Lord, may our hearts be filled with all of these words and give us grace to obey.

In Christ's name we pray, amen. You may be seated. With no doubt, you have read or heard about the California gold rush of the mid 1800s. It was termed a rush because the discovery of gold in 1848 brought on massive migration to the area of some 300, 000 people. The greatest numbers came in the year right after the original discovery 1849, thus bringing the well-known term 49ers to all prospectors.

Those who came were not only from the other states, but there were large numbers from Latin America, from Europe, Australia, and even China. Now some died trying to get to California. Even more died in the rough conditions that went along with such prospecting. Some, a few, found large deposits of gold, but many returned home with little more than they had before coming, and others with actually less, having spent more on the journey, the tools, and the necessities than what they were able to acquire from their digging. The world is full of prospectors seeking to find, not gold, but seeking to find the meaning of their existence the purpose of their life what lies ahead and why it all matters Solomon was such a prospector early on in his life, and his wealth and his influence allowed him to stake claims, surpassing almost every other man who has ever lived before or after him.

In spite of his prospecting, he came away with nothing. The opening words of this book are, vanity of vanities, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun.

All that prospecting work, what does it buy him? What does it get him? And when he draws near to the end of his life, his perspective has not improved, nor has it changed. Thus we read in verse 8 of chapter 12 vanity of vanity says the preacher all is vanity and so after 12 chapters we We come to the end of this book and we are left with the task of making sense of it all. And that is the title of this message, Making Sense of It All.

Making sense of it all. The wonderful news is that we don't have to do this on our own. The Lord gives us aid in this endeavor through the pen of Solomon. And so as we come to the close of this book, we shall endeavor to look at the text under the following three headings. First, the purpose of the author, the purpose of the author.

Second, the profit of the book, profit as in P-R-O-F-I-T, the profit of the book, and third, the point of it all, the point of it all. So please consider with me first the purpose of the author stated in verses 9 and 10. And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find acceptable words.

And what was written was upright words of truth. Now, these two verses, I believe, give commentary to the whole idea of what is meant by the phrase vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What we find here in these two verses indicates that Solomon has not come away with the persuasion that all is worthless, that nothing is worthwhile, that whatever will be will be. If that was the message intended, if that was the message that Solomon had learned along this journey, then he would have ended his book with verse 8. Vanity of vanity is all is vanity.

And he would have laid his pen down. There would have been no need for anything more. After all, it is the same theme with which the book was started, chapter one and verse two. And these two verses would have served well as bookends had that been Solomon's purpose in writing the book as Philip Riken put it Vanity of vanity says the preacher all his vanity We should not think however that the preacher that is Solomon merely repeats himself Ecclesiastes 12 eight brings us back to the place where we began, but we are not the same people that we were when we first started reading the book. Studying the Ecclesiastes has given us a bigger perspective on life.

So when we hear the same statement at the end that we heard at the beginning, It strikes us with greater force. It means something more to us now. And so at the end of all his bitter and failed prospecting, Solomon has not given up hope. He has not thrown in the towel. He has not become a bitter cynic.

He has become rich indeed. He has hit the mother lode, But it was not as a result of his prospecting. That's where he thought he would find it. Solomon declares himself to be the preacher in the opening verse of this book. And as he comes to the end of this book he remains the preacher wise with the wisdom which God had granted him in the beginning and knowledgeable from the hard lessons Learned from a failure to find the answers from all his prospecting endeavors in this world Commentator Matthew pool writes the preacher was wise which he affirms not out of vain ostentation, but partly to procure the more credit and acceptance to his doctrine and counsel here delivered, and partly to declare his repentance for his former follies and God's great mercy in restoring his wisdom to him.

He had walked away from the giver of that wisdom from his God and he's repenting he's coming back to that wisdom that he had hidden there in Christ. Dear ones we are benefiting today this morning from the openness of Solomon to share his experience in this book, to expose his own sins and failures, and to not remain silent. Solomon here seeks to turn people away from the empty paths that he himself traversed, to turn them away from the fistfuls of wind that he was left with after all of his grasping, to turn them away from the experiences that he now knows will never satisfy. In spite of his failures, or one could argue In light of his failures, Solomon seeks to teach the people knowledge. He is taking the same prospecting tools that he used in his pursuit of fortune, fame, and satisfaction, And he is now using those tools for the glory of God and the good of his church.

He is still pondering. He is still seeking out. He is still setting in order. But it is no longer the things of this world that have his attention. It's these proverbs, this wisdom found in these proverbs.

Josenius's Hebrew lexicon defines the meaning of proverb as a sentence that consists of an ingenious comparison of two things or opinions. And after reading Ecclesiastes, Proverbs should be much richer as he talks about the wise and the fool. My friend, he's been both. It's not that he chose to be wise and he looks down at those who have chosen to be fools, to follow after the things of this world as if they would satisfy. He's been there.

He's been there. The end goal of Solomon regard to these Proverbs is stated for us in the opening of the book of Proverbs to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding to receive the instruction of wisdom justice judgment and equity to give prudence to the simple to the young man knowledge and discretion That's why he is still the preacher and he's teaching people Knowledge He is now trafficking in heavenly things, beneficial things, eternal things, profitable things. He says here acceptable words, or as the original language seems to indicate beautiful words and the inspired assessment of what came from his own pen is that what was written was upright nothing less than words of truth. That's not just him saying that. This is divine, God-breathed scripture.

God Himself, through the pen of Solomon, is saying these words are true. These words are true. And so through divine inspiration the preacher Solomon is still teaching people knowledge. We gathered here this morning are the recipients of the things he learned. If, if indeed we heed the things that we have studied in this book, how relevant it is still to us in 21st century America, the purpose of Solomon is still being carried out.

Secondly, we move from the purpose of the author to the prophet of the book, the prophet, that which can be gained. Verse 11, the words of the wise are like goads and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd Now I would like to first in this verse identify the shepherd. Most likely in the text that you have in front of you the word is capitalized and There's a reason for that. I believe it's important to identify the shepherd, for it is the one shepherd who is the one giving the wise and the scholars, plural, their words, and then giving those words the very power to operate like goads or prods, like well-driven nails. And I propose to you that this shepherd is none other than Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, who is declared a shepherd multiple times in the Old Testament.

Note several things about this shepherd here in the text, things that I believe point to Christ. First of all, there's only one shepherd, just one. It all traces back to this one in contrast to the plural distinction of both the wise, the scholars, the singularity, the aloneness of this one, it stands out. It's stark. Secondly, this shepherd has authority.

He has authority. The wise and the scholars give what they receive from the shepherd third This shepherd is a giving Shepherd he's a giving shepherd and he gives with certain objectives in mind. Fourth, this shepherd gives words. He gives words. This is the means of his shepherding.

He does it through words. And then fifth, this shepherd is concerned with the effect of these words and not simply the words themselves. Yes, they're words of truth and for some that's enough. Not for this shepherd. These words must become goads.

They must become well-driven nails. And when you stand back and you look over the course of Solomon's life, taken from the historical sections of Scripture as well as what we have learned from him here in this book of Ecclesiastes when you look at the whole picture I believe you find the reality of what Peter described in first Peter 2 25 for you were like sheep going astray but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls." That I believe was Solomon's testimony. Solomon was a true prodigal son, the son of a man after God's own heart who went into a far country who sought to find satisfaction away from his God. But now in his latter days, having repudiated everything he once sought, he has returned to this one shepherd, the overseer of his soul. And Solomon's message, these words that he's bringing to us, they're in harmony with, they're in step with, in agreement with the words of other wise men and scholars.

He's not introducing new ideas and thoughts. He, like them, gives the words he has been given. Now, these words of the wise and scholars, these words of Solomon, What is it that the shepherd desires out of these words? That they would be like goads and nails in our lives. Children, do you know what goads are?

If you were on a farm, you would know it was often a stick, a long stick, that they would carve with their knives with a point on the end. Sometimes they would even melt some metal on that point to make it so it stayed sharp. And they would have to go and sometimes poke the cow, poke the oxen to try to get them moving. They're big and sometimes they can be stubborn and that goad would get them moving. That's what a goad is And I think you know what nails are.

Most of you have probably played around with some, built some things, had for fun with the hammer and nails, right? You know what those are. Well, Bridges so beautifully puts it like this, quote, Solomon illustrates the power of the words of the wise by goads so needful to urge home the sluggish oxen in their forward pace turning neither to the right hand nor to the left. And who of us, he says, does not need the goad, slumbering as we are in cold formality, hearing the word as if we heard it not? What a mercy it is to feel the piercing point of the goad Experimentally to know the scripture as profitable for reproof awakening Alarming stirring up the cry of anxious distress.

What shall we do? And then he says if the smart of the goad is felt yet how light how transient transient means how passing it's not lasting that goad it just comes and once the oxen starts going, put the goad back by your side again. So he says, if the smart of the goad is felt, yet how light and transient. We want the fascinating impression, the nails driven home to the conscience a steady divine influence fixing our hearts in the ways and service of God You see these two things The goads and the nails are in the right hand and the left hand of the scripture. These scriptures, they go about as if in one hand carrying the goad and in the other hand carrying the nails.

The Word of God is one or the other. It's either a goat or a nail. Far too often we stand in need of being moved from a comfortable place, a place of danger or complacency, an unsafe place. We need to get moved out of there and we stand in need of either being fastened to the only safe and secure place, the place from which we too often roam, or we need the principles of God's Word fastened in our heart so that we will not forget them. It's one of those two things.

It's either keeping us fastened once we've been goaded where we aren't supposed to be, now fastened in the place where we're supposed to be, or the Spirit taking this word and and fastening it to our hearts which is part of the new covenant right I will put my word my law in their hearts we need that To put it in scriptural terms all scripture Being the words of wise men and scholars is given by inspiration of God the one shepherd and is profitable for the fastening aspects of doctrine for the goading aspects of reproof and correction and then again for the fastening aspects of instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped, prospecting tools, but for every good work because we have found the meaning of life. We have found Christ, the great treasure. This, my friend, is the reason why we here in this place preach to you nothing but the Word of God, not our thoughts, not our ideas, not our wisdom, but rather Scripture, for it is alone profitable for the goading and the fastening that the Holy Spirit wants to do. He does it with the words of one shepherd.

Well, that begs a question. Where do you get your advice from? What wise men and what scholars do you turn to? If Their words are not the words of the one shepherd. It will be of little profit.

And what profit you may receive, it will be short-lived and not lasting. If I'm not giving you the words of this shepherd, you might as well pack your belongings and go on home. Pull up your favorite TV show. Pull up your favorite blog. Read the thoughts and impressions there.

Listen to the local news stations editorial section in order to figure your way through this life that you find yourself in. If I'm not given to you that, that's as good as what I've got. But dear people, I'm wanting to give you the Word of God. This is it. This is all we've got.

That's the reason that Solomon next in our text makes the following exhortation verse 12 and further my son being admonished by these these these words Of making many books there's no end and much study is wearisome to the flesh. Be admonished by these words. The Hebrew word used here for admonished is used 22 times in the Old Testament. Of those 22 uses, 18 times the translators of the King James Version translated that word as warn or warning. Solomon is directing us to be admonished to receive do warning by these words of the shepherd get near and feel the sharp point of that goad.

Experience the fascinating aspects of the words of this shepherd. My friend, do the words of this book have an impact upon you? What we sang earlier, changing me, changing you, is it doing that? Sometimes that change is to go, just to get us out of this place. Sometimes it's to fasten the Word to us and fasten us to that Word.

Are these words changing me? Are they changing you? Do you know what it is to be admonished by the words of Christ given to us by wise men and scholars? Do you tremble at the warnings spoken to those who are outside of Christ and to those who continue to sin willfully, to those who ignore His demands. I came across a statistic on the internet regarding the number of books sold in the United States in the calendar year 2016 the number sold it's staggering 675 million books sold one year and just in the United States.

Another statistic from another website states that in the year 2010, the United States published 328, 259 books. I can only imagine that number has increased with the technology that we have in computers and software and the platform that people have been given to write all kinds of things. I think these numbers would make even Solomon stagger. I think they go far beyond what he ever thought of as being written. They certainly prove the point that he's making here of making many books.

There is no end. The study of these books would be worrisome indeed. So as you sit there this morning, Ask yourself truthfully, are you a student of this book, the Bible? Are you a student of this book? Are you being admonished by these?

Is it like you, like it was with the psalmist. Your delight. Your delight. Listen to the words of truly wise and scholarly men regarding this verse. Quote, do not be like the person Paul warned Timothy about always learning and never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth.

Be content with what the Bible says, not accepting anything less and not demanding anything more. Another says, quote, verse 12 is not intended to discourage us from all study but is a warning against useless and tiring reading and studying which seeks to unravel life's mystery. There's no need for it. The answer for what we are searching is here in this divinely inspired, humanly transmitted book of Ecclesiastes. Another points out the fact, think of all the books written and think about the one book that's necessary for all of life and eternity.

It's portable. We can carry it with us wherever we go. It's all right here, all we ever need. But we've considered the purpose of the author and the profit of the words given. Now thirdly and finally, the point of it all, the point of it all.

For we now come in our text to the author's final conclusion of the whole matter. Solomon has sought to find acceptable words, and what he has written here is upright. These are indeed words of truth. So let them be to you as a goad. Let them be to you as a well-driven nail, fastening this very thing.

We're getting ready to hear the conclusion, fastening it to your heart, and fastening you to the will of God here revealed verse 13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and Keep his commandments for this is man's all This is it This is the conclusion of the entire book. How do we relate, if you think back through what we've studied, how do we relate to an ever-changing cyclical world, a world in which men come and go as actors on the scene of a play here today for this act gone the next? New actors coming on. How do we relate to this? Fear God, keep His commandments.

How do we cope with the reality that death is certain? And whatever differentiates us in this life, Death has a leveling effect. How do we relate to that? Fear God and keep his commandments. How do we interact with the ups and the downs of this life, the joys and the pains, the thrills and the disappointments, the gains and the losses.

Fear God and keep His commandments. How do we deal with the seemingly unpunished injustice we find in the world and the temporary prosperity of those who disregard God and their neighbor? Fear God and keep his commandments. This is the conclusion that the second wisest man who ever lived comes to, the wisest being Jesus Christ. And the wisest man said, what does it gain a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?

It's no different than the second wisest man saying it doesn't matter about all of this stuff. Fear God, keep his commandments. His conclusion stated here is inspired. It's God-breathed. It's accurate.

It's true. And note this as well, my dear friend. It's freeing. It is freeing. Not only is it true, not only is it accurate, it's freeing.

You can drop your tools. Lay them down where you are. Lay them down. Just fear God and keep his commandments. That's man's all.

God granted to him that which no prospecting on his own would ever have revealed, and the same goes for you, my friend. Listen to these words of Solomon and be enriched the first of this two-pronged conclusion is to fear God to fear God and we should not think of this word fear as a drawing back because of being filled with terror. Now, if you don't know Jesus Christ, that's the kind of fear you better have. You better have a fear, A terror of God your judge. We'll see that in the next verse Because that kind of fear is going to grip the hearts of men on the last day that will call for the mountains fall on us Hide us from the wrath of the lamb That's the kind of terror you should have if you don't know Christ.

But if you know Christ, it's not a terror that it's talking of here. This fear that Solomon is exhorting us to as believers has been defined as follows, fear is all the inward worship of God, reverence and love and trust, and a devotedness of heart to serve and please God, and a loathness to offend him, and an atness to tremble at his word and judgments. That's the kind of fear that he says is the conclusion of it all. The second of this two-pronged conclusion is to keep God's commandments. To keep God's commandments.

This points us to the sum of the entire law given by Moses in the Ten Commandments as found in Exodus 20. And it points us as well to the summary of those ten commandments as stated by Christ Himself. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. The keeping of God's commandments has been described like this. Keeping His commandments is fitly added as a necessary effect and certain evidence of the fear of God.

Make conscience of practicing whatsoever God requires, how costly, how troublesome, or how dangerous so ever it be Charles bridges reflecting on this verse goes even a step further He says for one to truly obey the commandments of God one must obey the great command as he calls it not the greatest command as given by Christ but this great command the keeping of the commandments He says at least in the case of the disciples of the Lord Primarily regards the great Commandment to believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ The gospel therefore he says is not obscured even when the terms of the gospel are not expressly given in this text, so that rightly understood we fully identify the free grace and spiritual obedience of the gospel with the more legal exhortation to fear God and keep His commandments. By faith in God, the heart is purified to fear and to love God, and by that fear and love it is inclined to obey His commandment." He goes on to say, quitting therefore the world with all its vanities, we betake ourselves to that which is alone, free from vanity, the fear and service of God.

These two points the preacher pronounces to contain the whole of man, not his duty only, but his whole happiness, his whole business, the total sum of all that concerns him, all that God requires of him, all that the Savior enjoins, all that the Holy Spirit teaches and works in him. So note those words, That little phrase, this is man's all. It's very interesting. Your translation may say this is the whole duty of man. And if your version has that word, the whole duty of man, that word duty should be italicized in your text because it's not in the original in Fact this phrase this is man's all or if in your text This is the whole duty of man.

It actually comes from just one word, just one word, Adam, the Hebrew word Adam, A-D-A-M, as it's translated in English. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is Adam. This is Adam. This is mankind. This is every man.

In other words, this is what man was created for. This is God's purpose for mankind from the very first man created, Adam. This is man's all. This is man to fear God and keep his commandments. So take everything that you are, everything that you are.

Take everything that you do. Take everything that you think. Put it in a pot. Boil it down. This is what you should end up with in the pot.

The fear of God and keeping His commandments. Is this what we would get if we boiled you down? A fear of God and keeping His commandments. When dear sister sent me an email earlier this past week in which she stated the following, the good Christian life is hid in these two principles of fearing God and loving His law and so much grief is unleashed when we forsake them. That grief, my friend, is known first in this life.

It's known first in this life. Apart from the fear of God and keeping His commandments, you will, like Solomon in his younger years, pursue the world with reckless abandon. You will seek unsuccessfully to fill the craving for something greater that eats at your soul. You will be frustrated with the things that come into your life because you're not holding the blueprint. God is.

You want that blueprint to make your life go the way you want it to go. You don't have it. You will not be able to thoroughly enjoy God's good gifts. You will not be able to experience God in the difficult seasons. You will gather more and more questions and be left with fewer and fewer answers.

But that's just grief has experienced here and now in this world. It's nothing nothing compared to that grief that is to come. Look with me at the last verse of this book. It's been our theme through Ecclesiastes. If we want to know how to live well now, we have to consider our end.

We have to consider, we have to live life backward. Where do you want to be on that last day? Where do you want to be? Work your way backwards so that you will have a clear path to that Verse 14 for God will bring every work into judgment Including every secret thing whether good or evil The first word in this sentence is an important word, for it ties the teaching of this verse to the previous thought. We should pursue a life of fearing God and obeying God because of the at the last day every work of ours will be brought into judgment.

Stuart Aliott describes that grief like this, the supreme folly of living as they have done, who have not feared God or kept His commandments, will at last be revealed. All that they have ever lived for will have come to nothing, and a life filled with a sense of futility will be followed by eternal disaster. I would argue that the context defines the standard The context defines the standard by which we will be judged every work in your life Everything you do everything you say everything you think Everything done in public everything done in private all of it will be called before the judgment seat of the judge of the universe, And it will be judged by this one standard was it done was it said? Was it thought out of a due fear of God and a desire to keep his? Commandments if this is indeed man's all will not God judge us by that same standard?

If, as Bridges pointed out, these two things are not our duty only, but our whole happiness and business, the total sum of all that concerns us all that God requires of us all that the Savior enjoys and the spirit teaches and works in us then it not should not be surprising that God would judge us accordingly Now Bridges goes on to state how solemn the stamp that this judgment will give to the conclusion of the matter, the blessedness of the fear and service of God, the day will unmask all, all things. Now so inexplicable shall be made plain Solomon has propounded many dark sayings in this book many things which he could not comprehend much that seemed inconsistent with the holy and just character of the divine government Goodness oppressed Wickedness triumphing all these hidden things of darkness will be fully brought to light When the Lord the righteous judge shall bring every work to judgment and good and evil shall be separated forever. What Ecclesiastes does, It does well. It reveals to us both the folly and the danger of interpreting this life and living this life without a due consideration of the God with whom we have to do and the judgment that awaits at the end of this brief life.

Ecclesiastes awakens us out of a stupor. It bursts those foolish bubbles, those fragile bubbles that we put all of our hopes and dreams in. This book does the work of the captain of that fish of the ship that that Jonah found himself on before being thrown over into the mouth of that fish. It's like that captain that comes down and shakes him. What do you mean sleeper?

Arise, call on your God. That's what Ecclesiastes is doing. My dear friend, the book of Ecclesiastes doesn't answer all our questions. It's not meant to. It's but one book of the 66 that comprise our Bibles.

But I believe its purpose is much like that of John the Baptist's. As declared by the angel of the Lord, this is what John was to do, to turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord, a people ready to receive the good news of the gospel. Because my dear friend, if you go to Judgment Day thinking that your level of fear of God and your keeping of the commandments will earn you a spot in heaven. You don't understand the holy requirement of God. He desires perfection.

We don't have it And this book strips us from everything that we seek in and of ourselves to find in this world an answer to a holy God, a meaning of this life, strips it away, and prepares us to be a people ready to receive the Lord, ready to receive this gospel, that Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, came into this world taking upon himself a human body and having fulfilled the demands of the law on our behalf, gave himself up as a sacrifice, a substitutionary sacrifice, thus appeasing the wrath of God and reconciling his people To their creator and the one who will be their judge thereby granting us forgiveness Adopting us into his family and preparing a home for us where we will dwell with him in his presence for all eternity. And so the first command for you, my friend, if you haven't trusted Christ, is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart. Confess that he is God and believe that God raised him from the dead and you'll be saved and then you'll be ready to draw near with a healthy fear ready to obey God.

So that's the book of Ecclesiastes. That is its purpose, helping us to make sense of it all. Has your soul profited from this study? Have you learned anything about yourself and the world that you find yourself in? Will you embrace Solomon's conclusion of the whole matter?

Will you fear God? Will you keep his commandments? And are you ready for the most important event in the world? The judgment. Psalm 34 8 through 9 says, oh taste and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the man who trusts in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints. There is no want, there is no lack to those who fear him. Amen. Let us pray.

Oh God, we thank you for your word. We thank you, oh God, for how it searches and finds us where we are. Oh Father, we pray for grace to heed these words of Solomon. The conclusion of this, our study over many weeks, Lord, help us not to come to any other conclusion but that which he draws from this book, knowing that it is inspired. Lord, give us grace to fall fresh upon Jesus Christ, to trust in Him.

Lord, we're thankful for now this communion table before us. We pray that What we have just studied together would be even a further catalyst to run to the cross where we alone find a shelter from the wrath that we are due. Help us we pray In Jesus name, amen.