Fanny Crosby had several songs where she referenced seeing the Lord or that reference vision of some sort and Fascinating woman and indeed God's hand was on her Ecclesiastes chapter 8. We're back to our study in a book of Ecclesiastes we're working our way verse by verse through the book and and An amazing book, just a little review to get us back where we're at. Now you need to get my wired up here. What's the key? There's a little statement, three word statement throughout the book that we said is the key to understanding the book, to having it make sense. What is that three word statement? Under the sun, under the sun, under the sun. I took a highlighter, went through my Bible, in the book Ecclesiastes, he's highlighted that phrase over and over and over, under the sun, under the sun. And really, if you don't grasp that, what he's talking about, if you don't grasp that statement, the book really is a lot of confusion. It seems to contradict other statements in scripture. But we understand he's talking about viewing life and living life and trying to find fulfillment and purpose and meaning simply under the sun, just by what we see, hear, and feel, living by the here and now, and excluding God. And his conclusion was, to try and find some sort of purpose or meaning under the sun, it was all what? Vanity and vexation of spirit. Empty and frustrating. And we live in a world, you don't have to look very far, and you find people whose lives are empty and their lives are absolutely frustrating. They're angry about everything, they're focused on themselves, they're looking at everything as what it does for me around me. And it is absolutely an empty life. And how tragic that is, because we don't have to be that way. Amen? God has created us with a vacuum in our heart and soul, our very soul. He has created us with a hole in our soul that only Jesus Christ can fill. Anytime we try and find that fulfillment apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing Him as our personal Savior, There's going to be frustration. So that's the the book now. We're up to chapter 8. I'm going to read verse 1 We already preached on this a couple weeks ago back before the missions conference And I'm going to pick up in verse 2 as far as the message is concerned But I want to start reading in verse 1. I'm going to go down through verse 5 Everybody got it there? Look what the Bible says. Who is 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. Now he starts making some statements. This is what I want to zero in on. I counsel thee. Now I don't know about you, but if Solomon says, hey, I want to give you some advice, I don't know about you, but I'm going to pay attention. He says, I counsel thee. 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. I want to speak, and I believe he's teaching us here about wisdom and authority. Wisdom and authority. Let's pray together. Father, I ask you to bless now our time in your word. Please speak to our hearts. Lord, it's very clear, we understand that you are the one that has established authorities. in our lives and in our world. And I pray you give us wisdom to recognize that and to respond properly to that. So I ask that you fill me with your Holy Spirit. I present my body anew. I yield my will. With all my heart I pray you'd speak through me and God challenge and help us, teach us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Christian Herter. Christian Herter. He was a governor of Massachusetts. Does that name mean anything to you, Brian? Christian Hurter. He was running for a second term of office, campaigning very, very hard. And one busy morning, he was out campaigning, and he missed lunch. And he showed up later in the day at a church barbecue. It was late in the day. He was famished. He hadn't eaten anything in line. He moved down the serving line. Now remember, he's already governor. He's running for his second term, campaigning for his second term. He held out his plate to the woman serving the chicken. She put one piece of chicken on his plate and turned to the next person in line. Governor Hertler said, excuse me, do you mind if I have another piece of chicken? The woman told him, sorry sir, I'm supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person. The governor said, but I'm starving. She said, sorry, only one to a person. The governor, they said, was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided one time he's going to throw his weight around a little bit. He said, do you know who I am? I am the governor of this state. And the woman without flinching said, sir, do you know who I am? I'm the lady in charge of giving out chicken. Move along. Authority. Authority. I don't know about you, but before I take someone's advice, I want to know a few things. Before I take someone's advice, did you see there? He says, I counsel thee. Before I take someone's advice, I want to first of all know, I want to know, do they know what they're talking about? Right? Do they know what they're talking about? This may come as a surprise to you, but I am not a mechanical type person. I sometimes am able to change flat tires, Tom. Sometimes I can get the spare out. If I want to know about how did something on my car, if I want to know something mechanical, I want to know that person I'm asking, do they have any experience with mechanics? I'll go to Tom and a couple of different guys around here if there's a question about mechanics. I don't know much about electricity. I almost was electrocuted when I was about six years old as a kid. In fact, I was electrocuted, I just didn't die. And so I want to know something about electrical, I'll go to Ed or or Chucky or somebody like that. Because I want to know, do they know what they're talking about before I give advice? In my entire life, nobody has come to me and asked me advice about wiring a house. Plumbing. I've done a little bit of plumbing. I want to know, before I take this person's advice, does this person know what they're talking about? And the second thing I want to know, and it ties in closely to this, I want to know do they have any experience in this area? One thing I found out, everybody has ideas. Somebody said, I found out everybody has an opinion, right or wrong? Somebody said they're kind of like armpits, everyone has one and most of them stink. So just because someone has an opinion or an idea about something, I want to know do they have some experience in that area before I'm going to take their advice. One thing I learned early on, and God just helped me, I guess, was merciful, but I learned very, very early on in my ministry, if I was going to have advice in the ministry, I was going to go to somebody who had been in the ministry for an extended period of time. I've had over my years now, several of them are with the Lord now, But over the years, I've had about five men that I considered my mentors. People that I would go to if I had a situation, I needed advice, I had something I needed to know, I would go to them. And every single one of them were 25 or more years older than me. I learned early on not to go to my peers for advice on something because my figuring was they didn't have any more experience in this than I do. I want to go to somebody that has some experience more than what I have, so maybe they can help me. I want to illustrate that in the Bible, and I'm not going to get through my message, so we'll just go till 10 and I'll quit. Come with me, if you would, to 1 Kings 12. Here you have Solomon's son. Now it looks to me, if he grew up under Solomon, he saw all these Solomon's ups and downs, he saw his great wisdom, he saw his great foolishness, he learned something. but sons of wise men are not always wise. And in 1 Kings chapter 12, you have Solomon has passed away and now his son is taken the throne. And they approach him in verse number four. They're speaking to Rehoboam and they say, thy father made our yoke grievous. Now, therefore, make thou the grievous service of thy father and his heavy yoke which he put upon us lighter, and we will serve thee." All right, it's reasonable. Solomon was pretty demanding. And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed. Now, I'll stop right there. I'll say that's pretty good action on his part. He took his time. He says, give me a few days to think this through, get some advice. And I want to advise you, before you ever make any significant decision in life, before you ever make a decision that's going to affect your life, your direction, or have a significant influence on your life or others, you ought to take your time in making that decision. It's a good idea. So he says, give me a little time. Verse 6, And King Rehoboam consulted with the old man. Alright, that's good action, he's getting advice. Look who he consulted with, the old man that stood before Solomon his father while he lived. And he said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people? So far, I think he's doing good. And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever. That's pretty good advice. Now look at that statement that these older men advised Rehoboam. He's just caught on the throne. They're wanting the people approach them. And what is the focus of that advice they gave him? What are they telling him to focus on? Look at it carefully there. Focus on what? On others. You focus your administration, your quote-unquote ministry as king of God's people, you make it focused on the people. You make it focused on others. You work towards their well-being. And if you do that, you meet their needs, you work for their well-being, then they'll serve you. Now here's where it goes bad. But, I circled that word, he what? Forsook the counsel of the old man. I put in the margin foolish. which they had given him. And he consulted with the young men, now I underline this next phrase, that were grown up with him. You know what that tells me? They had no more experience than he did. They had no more to go on than he had. They had nothing to offer him other than what his own experience was. And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people who have spoken unto me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father put upon us lighter? And the young men that were grown up with him, his peers, spake unto him, saying, Thou shalt speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us. Thus shalt thou say unto him. my little fingers shall be thicker than thy father's loins. Now whereas my father laid you with heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father hath chastised you with whips, I will chastise you with scorpions." I want to suggest to you, their advice was focused on himself. What the people will do for me, do for me, do for me. And so I said all that, if you'll come back to Ecclesiastes, I said all that to say this, Rehoboam was foolishly simply going to somebody that had no more experience than he did, didn't know what they were talking about. They had never ruled a kingdom. They had never served anybody that had ruled a kingdom successfully. But they knew how it was. And he listened to them. He listened to them. When we come to Ecclesiastes chapter 8, we find Solomon addressing two significant areas that he knew something about and that he had tremendous experience with. And so I come back to my first statement, when Solomon says, I wanna give you some advice, I'm gonna stop in my tracks, I'm gonna listen very, very carefully to it, because one, he knows what he's talking about, and two, he's had tremendous experience. Now, what are these two areas? It's the title, wisdom and authority. Solomon knew something about wisdom, and he knew what it meant to exercise authority. And so we want to pay close attention to that. Now, he's telling us here how a wise man responds to authority. Number one, if you'll jot this down, I want to at least get through my first point. Number one, a wise man, wisdom, recognizes legitimate authority. Wisdom recognizes legitimate authority. Look with me, if you would, at verse two. I counsel thee to keep The King's commandment. That word keep is significant. It means to observe or give heed to. When the authority gives instructions, keep those instructions. Wisdom recognizes legitimate authority. Now, God is the ultimate authority. Can we agree on that? God's the ultimate authority. He is the supreme authority of all that exists. And God in His wisdom and in His province has delegated authority, some of His authority, He has delegated to three institutions that God has ordained. There are three institutions of man that God ordained. The first one is government. You understand, government is not man's idea. Somebody says, I hate government, we shouldn't have any government. That is not wise. God is the one that has ordained government and God has delegated to government some authority. Take your Bible with me if you would and turn to Romans chapter number 13. Romans chapter 13. There's a lot of unrest in our country. There has been now for a number of years. We're still one of the very few countries in the world that can have a transition of authorities, administrations, peacefully for the most part. That seems like it's eroding a little bit. But notice in Romans chapter 13 verse number 1. This is God's word to you and I. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. That is a reference to the governments that God has established. For there is no power but of God. There's the powers that be are ordained of God. Now when he's talking about powers, he's talking about power of authority. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. How many people agree with me it's foolish to resist something God has put in place? That would be very foolish to do. And we see the consequences all around us. He goes on and says, verse 3, For 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 a minister of God for thee to good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain. By the way, that's a reference to capital punishment. It is a legitimate biblical function of government. Beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, there it is again, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Therefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For this cause pay ye tribute, pay your taxes, for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Three times he references government authorities as ministers, ministers, ministers. And so God has ordained in His providence the government and has given to a government authority, certain authorities. When I was in Bible time with Brother Holmstrom, one of my first or second years that I traveled, we were at the old airport in Denver. Some of you remember the old Stapleton Airport. I don't know if anybody's been in and out of there. And we were in there, and the roads crossed the runway, you went underneath the runway, it was kind of a crazy setup. And we were there, and we were waiting for some evangelists, and I was on the bus with them, and there's a policeman standing there. Brother Humster jumps down, and he goes, hey, minister of God! The guy's like, this guy's a freak, what's he talking about? And he went over and started witnessing to them, and went through the whole gospel, and he referenced them as a minister of God. And he pointed this reference here, and he showed them from the Bible, that God is the one that has given him the authority that the government has, that he's enforcing, and he called him a minister of God. So God is the ultimate authority, but he has delegated to man certain areas of authority in government. In the home. God has given authority, delegated authority in the home. I wish we had time, write this down, Ephesians 5, 22 through 33. We have God's instructions in the home. One of my favorite verses in all the Bible says, wives submit yourselves therefore to your husbands. I love that verse. And he goes down through there, and by the way, he does tell husbands have responsibilities also, right? Ladies, relax. But God has ordained in the home that the husband is delegated as the head of the home, as the one with the authority in that home. So in government, in home, and by the way, in the church, God has delegated to the church authority. Take your Bible with me, if you would, and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 3. We live in a day and age where authority is a bad word. The Bible prophesied of a time when a generation would rise up, and I'm putting in my own words, they would refuse, they would rebel, they would resist against authorities that God has put in place. And they pay heavy price for that. And God has given us these authorities. Notice in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse number 7, there's three institutions that God has ordained. Government, home, and the church. All right? And look at verse number 7 of Hebrews 13. He says, remember them. Now the word remember there doesn't mean don't forget who your pastor is. He's saying, all right, just remember your pastor's name. That's not what he's talking about. The word remember there means be mindful of. Regard. Remember them that have the, what? Rule over you. He's talking about the church. Them that have the rule over you. Them who God has given authority, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Look at verse 17. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, that they must give an account. The pastor has to answer to God for his pastoring. that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable to you." And so he's pointing out here the fact that God has in the church, in the assembly, local church assembly, that there is an element of authority delegated by God. Let me point out here very quickly, the pastor is not the shepherd of the sheep. Christ is the shepherd of the sheep. The pastor is the what? Under-shepherd. Delegated authority. Question. Have there ever been rulers in government that abused their authority? Yes or no? Absolutely. Have there been folks in home, men in homes, who have abused that authority? Yes or no? Sure. Have there been pastors who have abused the delegated authority that God has given to them? Absolutely. In fact, Peter addresses that, if you would, turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. I know I'm spending a little bit of time on this, but we live, as I said, in a day and age when authority is a bad word. The authorities are the enemies. In fact, we have an element in our own country, a growing segment of our country, that is advocating anarchy, to be honest with you. And that spreads, that mentality spreads into all areas of life, and even if we're not careful, into the church. Notice 1 Peter and chapter 5, look at the first couple verses. The elders, pastors which are among you, I exhort to them also an elder. He says, all right, I'm one of you. and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed." Look what he says here, "...feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the..." What? "...oversight..." That is being a bishop, that means overseer, that's the element of authority. "...therefore not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind." Not for money, not what you get out of it. He's saying to the pastors, the authority of church, you're not in that so that they will serve you. Remember Rehoboam? He took the advice of the young people, oh yeah, get all you can out of them. Man, you whip them, scorpions, you let them have it and get everything you can out of those people. And Peter is saying, listen, in the office of pastor, you do not do that. You follow the old men's advice and you serve them and you give yourself to them. That's what Peter is saying here. Neither is being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. Then when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. So God has established authority, right? And a wise person recognizes that. Every one of us have some sort of authority over us. Every one of us are in some position where we have authority over us. A wise man recognizes there are authorities established by God that we are to recognize. You know what we're living in a world today? I don't want to blame the coming generation. We're all. It's true for all of us, I think. We live in a world today where this is the mentality. There is nobody telling me what to do, right or wrong. There is nobody telling me what's right and wrong. I'll decide what's right and wrong. Solomon's telling us, you are a fool. You're a fool. You say, that's pretty strong, preacher. That's biblical. I recognize, no, there is authorities. God being the ultimate authority. And He has delegated authorities. And Wiseman says, I recognize that in these positions, in these offices, in these capacities, these people are given by God authority. Is it abused sometimes? Absolutely, and we'll look at that here in a little bit, next message. But it's important for us to recognize that God is the authority. There's a statement in the history books of the Old Testament, and I don't have the reference on top of my head, But it says this, it's mentioned a couple times, it said this. There was no king in Israel. There was no authority. And every man did that which was, what? Right in his own eyes. And it was chaos. And lives were mess, and hearts were empty, and people were angry, and there was fighting, and there was wickedness on every hand. And a wise man, Solomon is telling us in verse number three there, verse number two, I guess, wise men recognize, yes, there is authorities. There is authorities. Now we hold them up to the word of God, of course, but we recognize authorities. I've got to quit there. I wish I could go on, but we're out of time, and so we'll pick that up there. So let's do this. How about we finish out this Lord's day with this attitude? Lord, you are God, and I am not. You are the authority, and I submit to you. Hey, after all he's done for me, how can I do less than give him my best and live for him completely? After all he's done for me, it's God that is the ultimate authority. Let's pray. Father, I pray you'd help us to humble ourselves, die to self. and allow you to be God in our lives, allow you to lead us and direct us, instruct us. Lord, I pray you would help us to recognize wisely your authority and allow you to chasten us and correct us where we're off track. And Lord, break these hard, stubborn, selfish, rebellious hearts, and we live in submission to you. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. Along with me would say, preacher, you know, I see that old rebellion in my heart. I see it. It's there, that old sinful rebellion. And you say, I need God to help me put that down, put that rebellion down. And I need to be submissive to the Lord. Let him be my God. Is there any like that? I see that in my own heart. I see that sinful rebellion against God. And the wise man says, hold it, hold it. You need to recognize God's the authority here. Maybe there's someone tonight, say, preacher, and this is personal, so please, I respect that. Maybe there's someone tonight, say, preacher, I'm away from the Lord. I'm away from God. Oh, you might put on a good show. Down in your heart, the Holy Spirit is saying, hey, that's you. And you're away from God tonight. God's calling you. God's working. God's active in your life. He's trying to draw you back. And I wonder if there's some say, preacher, pray for me, that's me. I want to come back to the Lord. I want to be back where I know I need to be. Is there any like that? Uplifted hand. Preacher, that's where I am. God bless you. A couple around. Is there someone here tonight say, preacher, I'm not saved. I don't know I'd go to heaven. If I die now, I die in my sins. I'd be lost for all eternity. You'd say, preacher, I need Christ as my savior. God's dealing with your heart. Is there any like that? Preacher, pray for me. I need to get this settled. Any at all? Any at all? Now, Father in heaven, bless us. We finished out your day, Lord. We're going into our work week. I pray our hearts would be humble, that you would lead us and direct us this week, and we, like Abraham, would just rise up early and follow your instructions and let you be God in our lives. In Jesus' name.