You'll see in verses 9 to 12. He describes the book and then in verses 13 and 14 he concludes it Verse 9 and moreover because the preacher was wise. He still taught the people knowledge Yes, he pondered and sought out and sat in order many proverbs The preacher sought to find acceptable words. What was written was upright words of truth The words of the wise are like goats, 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. Now he comes to his conclusion in a proper sense. 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. Well, I've said there's basically two parts to this passage. There's a description of the book, verses nine to 12, and then a conclusion of it, verses 13 and 14. Now there are some commentators who suggested that someone other than Solomon has written these verses. And the largest reason is because Solomon refers to himself in verses 9 and 10 in the third person. And that's possible. I would suggest it's not probable. Solomon basically here is describing himself. speaking of himself in the third person. This is not uncommon for biblical writers to do this. In fact, our Savior himself did the same thing. Listen to one commentator. Solomon is speaking about himself by using another voice. Jesus sometimes did this, and he quotes from Matthew 20, and as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the 12 disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over, and so on. Jesus is talking about himself. Therefore, my educated assumption is that Pastor Solomon wrote everything in Ecclesiastes, even the ending. as an author today might be asked to write a brief bio and book summary for the back of his own book, so Solomon gives an honest appraisal of himself and his work. Now, it really doesn't make any difference, quite frankly, because we believe in divine inspiration. We believe that the Holy Spirit enabled us, we'll see, the human author to write the book. If it's Solomon all the way up to verse eight, chapter 12, and somebody else, it's equally authoritative and divinely inspired, but I do believe, according to the older view, that Solomon is the author of the entirety of the book, and that includes this epilogue. Again, he does two things, verses nine to 12. He provides a description of the book, and verses 13 to 14, a conclusion. Notice the description of the book. Solomon describes in verses nine to 12, first the nature, verses nine and 10, and purpose, verses 11 and 12, of the book. Notice it's nature, verse nine. 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. Verses nine to 10 are actually wonderful verses that describe the nature of divine inspiration, the spirit used human authors to write scripture. And that's what verses nine and 10 describe. The Holy Spirit used human authors to write divine scripture. So sometimes we speak of scripture as having a human and divine component that can or cannot be misunderstood. Well, let me put it this way. It can be misunderstood. And so it's possible that it's not the best way to describe it, though it's a common way to describe it. But either way, it's important to keep clear of the dictation view, which understands the human author as merely a robot of sorts. The spirit just fills him in such a way that he overrides his humanity. We don't believe that's true for several reasons. Well, this text is gonna go contrary to that view here in a second. But we know that the writings of Moses and David and the prophets, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Peter, Paul, all of these are different, James. All of these are unique because their humanity is intact. So the Holy Spirit so filled the human author that he ensured that the human author would write without error. and ultimately all that which the Spirit intended, and yet would do so as a person, drawing upon his own influences and his own experiences, so that you can tell Peter from Paul in terms of the writing. So Solomon describes himself here as pondering, seeking, and finding acceptable words. This means that he sought after wisdom in general, and in particular, he says, to write many Proverbs. Now by many Proverbs is meant, obviously, the book of Ecclesiastes, though it's very likely that it includes the book of Proverbs. Remember, he wrote many other Proverbs, too, by the way, that were not inscripturated in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. But nevertheless, here we find that he himself sought after these particular sayings. That simply means that the Spirit utilized his own search and personality in writing what we now call the book of Ecclesiastes. While the spirit gave Solomon wisdom to write scripture, he used his personal experience to obtain it. That is wisdom. And so he's writing all through the book of his own experience, isn't it? Or his own experiences. What he's learned. How many times have we seen him say something like, I have found this out, or I have concluded. I've sought out the matter and this is what I've learned. So the Holy Spirit used all of the experiences of Solomon, even his sinful experiences, collectively, in order to educate him and prepare him to be a wise man who would write down these many inspired, infallible proverbs. Thus we find that Solomon is the author of these proverbs, and he describes them, notice, as upright and true. He says what was written was upright, and then he describes what was written as words of truth. These statements mean that what Solomon wrote was in opposition to false, but I think also that means that it was equal to previous written revelation. The truth. In other words, what Solomon wrote was the truth. That's how he calls it. Words of truth. He understood to some extent that he was the author of this book and that it was equal in authority to previous books. Solomon knew of the previous books. He knew of the books of Moses the Pentateuch He knew of his father's Psalms. For example, he knew of other historical books and He knew that these were all truth and he knew that what he was writing was also truth He knew Psalm 119 160 the words of his father the entirety of your word is Truth now turn back to Proverbs for a second and look at verse chapter 22 If you remember some weeks ago, I preached from Proverbs 23 23 by the truth and said it not I In that message I drew your attention to Proverbs 22 and verse 20 where remember the same person that wrote Ecclesiastes wrote this I have not written to you excellence I have not written to you excellent things of counsels and knowledge that I may make you know and I'm sorry, verse 20. Have I not written to you excellent things of counsels and knowledge that I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth? He's speaking specifically to his son, to whom he's writing, that you may answer words of truth to those who sent you. In other words, Solomon was educating his son in such a way to equip him to answer others who would seek answers from him. But notice the point I wanna draw your attention to specifically is verse 20, excellent things, and how that's equated with verse 21, the words of truth. Excellent things or the words of truth. These are excellent words of truth. That is the book of Proverbs. If you go back to Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse 10, the preacher sought to find acceptable words and what was written was upright words of truth. So what Solomon writes here in Ecclesiastes is of equal authority to that which he wrote in Proverbs and that in both of those were of equal authority with that which David wrote in the Psalms and Moses wrote and all the other Old Testament authors wrote. In short, what Solomon is writing here in Ecclesiastes is equal in inspiration and thus authority to all of the other Old Testament writings. So you have a wonderful description here of divine inspiration. The Holy Spirit enabling the human author to draw upon his experiences and then write the findings of those experiences in an infallible and inerrant way. Solomon wrote words of truth because he was indwelt with the spirit of truth John 16 that Indwelt and thus inspired the New Testament writers to write their books of truth. And so there's one truth Comprised of 66 books. We call the Bible 39 in the Old Testament 27 in the new. All right. Now that's a little bit of the nature the nature of the book It's a divine book God breathed through the human agency of Solomon. Now the purpose, verse 11 and 12, the words of the wise are like goats and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd. Now here Solomon describes the purpose of the word. He speaks of the words of the wise and the words of scholars. That latter word scholars can mean a few different things. Master, lord, educator, teacher. He's obviously referring to himself and to the words of this book. These are the words of a wise scholar. He says they're like goats and like well-driven nails. It's likely that these two phrases are saying the same thing or speaking of the same thing. Goads were sticks with pointed nails. Used by masters, I think that's the word scholar, meaning master, used by masters to nudge, direct, motivate, and or correct their beasts. It was used by farmers to correct their ox, It was also, as we'll see here in a minute, used of shepherds to correct their sheep. Thus, the phrase well-driven nails refers to the effectual use of the word as applied by the spirit through human agency, i.e. masters or scholars or preachers. The word of God in general, in the books of Solomon in particular, are like goats and well-driven nails. The word of God is sharp like a two-edged sword to borrow a New Testament imagery. It cuts down into the deepest recesses of a man's soul. And so, too, the Book of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, the writings of Solomon in particular, and, of course, the Old Testament scriptures and the whole of scriptures in general, are like goats. They're like well-driven nails when applied to the conscience of a man by the spirit. Listen to Mr. Gill. He says, as the goat teaches the ox, not the words of the wise philosophers of that age, or of ages before or since, but of the inspired penmen of the scriptures, as Moses, David, Solomon, and other sins, and of all good men whose doctrines are agreeable to them. These are like goads or pricks, sharp-pointed sticks with which men push and prick their cattle when driving them from place to place, or plowing with them and of a similar use are the doctrines of the word when attended with divine efficacy. These are a means of pricking sinners to the heart and of laying open their vileness and sinfulness to them and of repentance and contrition and of awaking them from a sleep and sin and a sense of their dangers. So the Holy Spirit uses the word, the law in particular, to prick the consciences of sinners. Remember what we saw many months ago back in Acts chapter two, they were cut or pricked to the heart. The Holy Spirit was applying the gold-like sharp edges of the law to their consciences and was driving nails into their hearts. But then he goes on, and these are also used to the saints as goads, to stir them up when slothful, to the discharge of duty, and to awaken them when drowsy out of their carnal security. So Gil says that the Holy Spirit uses the word as goads or well juveniles into the consciences of Christians, too, when they get spiritually sleepy. Slothful, or begin to stray from the path. He uses this as would a, a master to his animal, his beast. He uses it to correct them, to rebuke them, to admonish them. He goes on. He does so to correct them for their faults by sharp reproofs and rebukes, as well as to excite them to go on to perfection, who are apt to sit still and lie down, and to direct them to walk straight on without turning to the right hand or left. So this is a really exceedingly wonderful passage because it's kind of a reflection upon the, at least in part, purpose for which Solomon wrote the book. One reason he wrote the book was to be used in the hand, as we're gonna see, of one shepherd, i.e. the good shepherd, through human means, i.e. masters or scholars, to bring conviction to the hearts of his people. to rebuke them and to correct them. Now, the phrase given by one shepherd ultimately refers to God. As Solomon understood, remember, his words were divinely inspired. Now it's possible that he's referring to himself as a shepherd. I mentioned that the goats with the nails at the ends of the stick, which were sticks with nails at the end, were used by shepherds. It's capitalized by the New King James. I can't remember which other translation. But the point being is that at least the New King James translators rightly understood that Ultimately Solomon is here referring to God and to Christ himself While painful these goats these well-driven nails were intended to protect the sheep from their own father Now, you know shepherds use different instruments. They had a staff and they had the other stick with the Half circle on it Can't remember the name of that But they were used to protect the sheep and to correct the sheep. And so too was this stick, these goats, to protect the sheep from going to the left or to the right, from strain. Listen to one commentary, a modern one. Mr. O'Donnell, he said, the words of the wise are given by one shepherd. In many Bible translations, shepherd is capitalized because the translators, or at least the pious publishers, think the word symbolizes God. Indeed, it does. Praise God for pious publishers, he said. In Isaiah and the Psalms, God is called a shepherd. In Ezekiel, the Messiah is called one shepherd. which Jesus in turn calls himself in John 10 and 16, and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Now that's a prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles in addition to that Jewish remnant. Remember Jesus came first to save the elect Jewish remnant and then the Gentiles, and he says they're gonna make up not two folds, But one, and there's not gonna be two shepherds, there's gonna be a shepherd over a flock, or fold. And the good shepherd utilizes his word as a means to correct his people when necessary. The word of God in the hand of the Holy Spirit acts as goads, or well-driven nails, and ultimately this comes from who? The one shepherd. Just as remember how we read it in the New Testament is actually quoting the Old Testament when it says, don't despise the chasing of God. For those whom God has received, he chases not because he hates them, but far from it, because he loves them. And that's why a child disciplines, a parent disciplines his child out of love. It uses goats, as it were. Well-driven nails. into sometimes the backside of the baby, in terms of a spanking, but ultimately in the hand of the spirit, into the conscience, so that the child will be tender and realize that it needs a savior, and that's what he does with us. He corrects us and that's why verse 12 says which is really better fit with verse 11 and further my son be Be admonished by what these the words just spoken the goats and well-driven nails Be admonished the word admonished here means to be warned or instructed in such a way as to be reproved rebuked and or corrected Again, it's a positive correction or admonition to be admonished by the words of the wise, that is, the words of God, as previously described as the words of truth, that act in the hand of the spirit, or perhaps we can say in the hand of the one shepherd, as goads and well-driven nails. So Solomon, again, is speaking more broadly about one primary purpose of the Bible, and in particular, the book of Ecclesiastes, to bring about admonition. We all need to be warned. Nobody wants to be warned today. But this is contrary to the Bible. It's contrary to this passage. We've seen that the book of Ecclesiastes is replete, is full with wonderful encouragements. Seven times we have those wonderful enjoyment texts. Solomon over and again tells us how to enjoy the lawful things of this world in moderation, in a way that brings good to us and glory to God. Remember I've said over and again, it's a very positive book. It's not so much a pessimistic book as a realistic book. This is how you live joyfully, happily, and wholly, and thankfully, in life under the sun, in a fallen world that, quite frankly, doesn't always make sense. And yet, all through the book, we find that Solomon is warning us, exhorting us, urging us, and even correcting us. So I think he's probably in the first place thinking of the previous eight verses in terms of that which is to admonish us. Remember we saw last week, verses one to eight, remember now you're a creator in the days of youth before the difficult days come, and the years draw nigh when you say I have no pleasure in them. And then he goes on to describe about all of the effects of old age that will come. In light of that, I think he's saying, let that which I've just said be as goads and well-driven nails in your conscience. But I think it's most probable that he's referring to all that's gone before, the entirety of the whole book. And further, my son, be admonished by these, that is the words of truth as found in the book. And then he says, of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh. Here in the latter part of verse 12, Solomon contrasts his books, perhaps just the book of Ecclesiastes, but probably all of his other books, with other books. No book is able to compare with his holy books. So in the latter part of verse 12, of making many books, etc., Solomon isn't downplaying the importance of reading good books that are not the Bible. He's simply saying that there's a whole lot of books that are not the Bible, and you'd be foolish to try to find true happiness in any of them. He's definitely, at least by imprint, saying, don't elevate even the best of books, Calvin, Edwards, Boston, and Bunyan, over the Bible. That's true, but that's not what he's saying. What he's saying is, there's a ton of books in the world. There's a ton of books in the world. And you can wear yourself out in reading them, but you'll never find that which you find in the Bible. That's what he's saying. He's saying that scripture is alone in its unique character. It alone brings conviction. You can read any other books, non-religious books is particularly what he's thinking of, just other books in the world, and they're not gonna bring about the conviction that the word of God does in the hand of the one shepherd. Let me give you a couple quick quotations. Again, Donald, O Donald, and then Reynolds. He said, O'Donnell says, as students, we are warned to rest in this written revelation. There's no need to look to any other books in the hope of gaining better answers. Study the topics of work, time, death, companionship, wisdom, injustice, worship, and policies all you like. It will amount to nothing more than what is essentially taught here. The book of Ecclesiastes is sufficient to instruct us how to talk in wisdom, walk in wisdom, while living east of Eden. That's just a clever way of saying in a fallen world, life under the sun. Then he said, what is required is not more books for more study, but more obedience to what's already been revealed in the scripture. Again, not downplaying the fact that we should and can and should read good books. Paul tells us in New Testament that the Holy Spirit has given the church teachers to instruct him. And these men wrote books to teach us. But nevertheless, he's saying that the Bible is unique. And just again, stop and think of the list that he gave of topics that were thoroughly covered in the book. Work, time, death, companionship, wisdom, injustice, worship, and policies like these. It's an exceedingly practical book. One that I hope we all have become more appreciative of over the months of our study. Mr. Reynolds, 400 years before, said, if happiness He's going to say the same thing just in 17th century English. If happiness were to be sought for in human writings, the volumes are so infinite, the opinion so endless and various, that it would be impossible for any man to find it out of them. When a man had with much curiosity and continual reading, wearied himself and pined his flesh away, he would find it all unprofitable labor, weariness to the body, without any satisfaction to the mind. You can read Plato. You can read Aristotle. And those aren't bad guys to read in their place. You can read all of the ancients. You can read all of the literature that came out of England over the last thousand years. and all of it collectively will do you no better outside of one sentence applied by the Holy Spirit in the hand of the one shepherd. He goes on. Therefore, let these words, so few and so full, be thy counselors. He that will not be admonished by them shall never be satisfied with any other. If you're not gonna be satisfied with the book, with the scriptures, nothing else can come close. So, I mean, think about it, brother, and this passage is exceedingly, unbelievably instructive with regards to the nature of scripture and the purpose of scripture. It's divine, yes, it's human, in terms of a human wrote it, but ultimately, God the Holy Spirit inspired it, so that the words of truth and in the hand of the good shepherd, or the one shepherd, they're like goats, and well-driven nails to our conscience. Verse 12, and further, my son, be admonished by these, because all the other books in the world collectively cannot come near to the holy and sacred scriptures. All right, that brings us then to a conclusion, verses 13 and 14. Verse 13, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, that is, the entire matter of the book, Having considered all the things mentioned for 12 chapters, Solomon now provides a single response. In light of everything mentioned, the fact that life is fleeting and oftentimes perplexing, this is how we ought to respond. Now remember the reoccurring phrase, vanity of vanity, all is vanity. That phrase, you find it the last time there in verse eight. That phrase doesn't mean meaningless. Life is meaningless. It doesn't mean that. It's true, it is meaningless if you're not a Christian, in one sense, right? But he's not talking to Christians in the book. I mean, he's talking to Christians. And he's telling us, if you remember that word, vanity, it means one of two things, depending on the context. It either means transient or temporary, fleeting. fleeting fleeting all's fleeting Or else perplexing that is we just can never really understand why God does what he does in this world It's both of those that that's sound it's in both of those ways that Solomon utilizes this word In fact, probably if I had to choose out of the two, which we don't the latter perplex Remember how many times we've seen throughout the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon saying I just cannot understand God's words. I Why does he do this? Why doesn't he do that? Remember, I've said over months now, this is why, in a sense, the book of Ecclesiastes has echoes of the book of Job. Now, there's differences, obviously, but the fundamental similarity is this. Both of them were perplexed with God's sovereign providence. That's really a major theme of Ecclesiastes. So my point here is this Solomon in the conclusion isn't making up something new. He's really just collectively summarizing all that's gone before Because in verse 13 as we're going to see here in a second you have basically repeated all of the exhortations that he's given in throughout the book, he just summarizes all of the three major exhortations that he's given in the previous 12 chapters into this final conclusion. Fear God, how many times have we read about fearing God, or how many times has Solomon told us to fear God? I don't know, seven, eight, nine, 10? I have in my notes, we won't look them up, but one, two, three, four, five, six, six times, at least, obedience to God, he makes much of that, and then of course, the reality of judgment to come. Those are the three major things that we find in 13 and 14, and they're the major things throughout the chapters. You see, I bring all this up because a few commentators, yeah, you've guessed it, newer ones, they wanna say that Solomon here is correcting, or not Solomon, they say it's somebody else. Somebody else is writing this and they're correcting all that Solomon has said in the previous 12 chapters. He's talked about fearing God and obeying God and doing so in light of judgment. Here comes somebody who's just said, you know what? I can't believe Solomon is talking like that. All this talk of fearing God and obeying his commandments and keeping mindful that there's a day of reckoning. All of that sounds so legal. It sounds so unproductive. Let me correct it. No, no, no. Brethren, these things that Solomon is writing here at the end of the book are just a collection of the things that he said previous in the book. And there's an exhortation and a motivation. The exhortation, fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all. That is, this is all that God requires of man. The old King James, this is the whole duty of man. What is the whole duty of man? Here it is. Fear God and obey him. Fear God and keep his commandments. This is everything. It's a summary of the Decalogue. It's particularly a summary of the first table. But it includes fear God and obey all that God tells you to do. That's what he says. Now, you know that to fear God is to know God as God. It's to know God in the totality of his divine perfections as a redeemed creature. So I see God in the totality of all of his attributes, of all of his divine perfections, as a creature who's been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. So I see God now from that perspective. I could say perhaps those perspectives. I like better that perspective, namely as a redeemed creature.