The End of the Matter

[0:00] The following message is given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.! For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com.

[0:12] We are concluding our study. I don't know how many weeks it's been. It's been too short, in my opinion. It's been a fabulous book. Ecclesiastes chapter 12, narrowed down on five verses this morning.

[0:29] The word says, besides being wise, the preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings. They are given by one shepherd.

[1:06] My son, be aware of anything beyond these, of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter. All has been heard.

[1:27] Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God abides forever. May God bless the hearing and preaching of his word.

[2:01] Well, as you know, football is back. How about them Vols and the Mountaineers and the thundering herd of Marshall? What a day. Football's back. But you know, along with football comes the post-game interviews. There are few things less fitting after a thrilling game than a post-game interview.

[2:27] The coaches are jumping up and down. The players are hugging and celebrating. The fans at the game and at home are going nuts. But moments after the game, the cameras rush to midfield to interview the winning coach. And as one writer says about these interviews, there are few things in life as uninsightful as a post-game interview. Don't get me wrong. They aren't always bad. But in general, you don't expect to hear original insights surface 30 seconds after the game has ended.

[3:01] What do you expect is a lot of talk about how we never gave up, how we always believed in ourselves, how we gave 110 percent, and how these kids deserve all the credit in the world. Really?

[3:15] All of it? The whole world? No credit left for anyone else? He continues. Part of the problem is that interviewers usually ask absurd questions like, you caught the pass at midfield, slipped past the safety, and then sprinted to the pylon. Take us through your thoughts.

[3:34] Even last night after the Vols won a heartbreaking game, you know, or well, not heartbreaking. It was wonderful to win, but it was a hard one to watch. The reporter asked Josh Heupel, you lost to Pitt last year at home. You beat Pitt tonight on the road. You seem emotional. Tell us how you feel.

[3:56] You're like, what? What's he supposed to say? Well, I'm a little down tonight. You know, I'm anxious about next week. No, he's going nuts. There are few things less fitting at a thrilling game than a post-game interview. They're often so unencifle, so unexciting, and so out of place.

[4:17] In some ways, the end of Ecclesiastes seems a bit like that. Unexciting, uninsightful, a bit out of place.

[4:31] The preacher has led us on a 12-chapter journey through the sights and smells of the crooked world we call home. A place where jobs are lost, promises are broken, dreams die, where nations rages and pain cripples, where good people lose and parents bury their young, where young folks give up in disappointment, and where folks who seem to have it all call it quits because it never satisfies. So much of the Bible puts God and all his mighty acts front and center, but again and again and again, the preacher puts God in the background and the problems of life front and center. And yet, as this book concludes, Scripture says it can be summed up in these words, fear God, keep his commandments.

[5:29] Everyone who's been reading this book is left scratching their head. How could this be the ending of Ecclesiastes? Shouldn't the ending be a little bit more exciting, more insightful, more fitting?

[5:42] How does fearing God help a family who loses everything in a freak fire? How does keeping God's commandments control the child who's abused, or the individual who's been canceled because of gossip and slander? How does waiting on God's judgment strengthen the man who has lost the business to the wicked? The athlete who's lost the race in sudden injury? The wise leader who's lost the capacity to lead through Parkinson's, the mother who's lost her child to tragedy. How does this ending give an answer to the crooked world we live in?

[6:22] All throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, the preacher's counsel has been surprising, and this conclusion is as well. I want to argue why I think it seems to be perfect. In a word, where we're going, the way to be wise in this crooked world is still by fearing God. The way to be wise in this crooked world is still by fearing God. We're going to break this out in three points. The first one is fear God.

[6:54] Fear God. The first thing we're commanded to do in this passage is to fear God. Now in these final verses, just like we saw in the beginning, it's clear that we saw this narrator, this editor enter the scene.

[7:08] It's clear that Solomon is done preaching. In these final verses, someone takes up and summarizes all that Solomon has found and said. Look in verse 9. He talks about the preacher, that's Solomon, who taught with people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs. So he sought these things out. He sought to write words of delight and word of truth. And we know Solomon's been on the search for meaning, a search for wisdom since the beginning of the book. He's trying to understand how the world works, and he wrote it down in these words. But then it ends with these two commands. The first one is to fear God. Look at verse 13. Fear God and keep his commandments. Now the book of Proverbs famously begins with the commandment to fear God. The beginning of wisdom is found in fearing God. And now at the conclusion, after journeying through the crookedness of this world,

[8:09] Ecclesiastes ends where Proverbs begins. We could ask, what's the point of the whole book if it ends with what Proverbs began with? What's the point of the search, the point of seeking, the point of the whole journey? Couldn't we just have began where Proverbs began? And it's a great question. Solomon really is wanting something to have happened to us throughout this book. He wanted us to see the emptiness of pleasure, prominence, and wealth. He wanted us to be awakened to the crookedness of this world, to realize that wisdom won't answer all the knowing question, and godliness won't eliminate life's difficulties. Solomon took us on a journey for a reason. In J.R.R. Tolkien's book, The Hobbit, the story begins and ends in Bilbo Baggins' house around a tobacco pipe with the wizard

[9:10] Gandalf. But Bilbo is not the same person at the end as he was at the beginning. He was just kind of a blumbering dope at the beginning. And then he was drug through all sorts of things, even seeing and facing down the dragon smog. And so it ends and begins in the same way. But Bilbo is different now.

[9:37] In many ways, we're ending where Proverbs began, but we should be different now. We have gotten a hard look at a hard world, a crooked world, an upside-down world, a world that's gone sideways, and so we're commanded to fear God. What exactly is the fear of God? Now, the fear of God is mentioned several times in Ecclesiastes, but I think the best definition is still Proverbs 1 7.

[10:09] Look there, and we have it with you, have it for you. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, fools, despise wisdom, and instruction. You can keep that up. The relationship between the two lines point to the meaning of the fear of the Lord. Despise here is a strong negative word for refusing and hating something. It's not merely dislike. It's disgust and disdain. The word, though, despise, helps us understand what the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the opposite of disdain.

[10:45] It's the opposite of disgust and despising the Lord. The fear of the Lord then is not what we often think. It's not terror. It's not cringing dread. It's not cowering fear. The fear of the Lord is firstly an openness to instruction and a readiness to receive and learn. It's an openness to the living God, a willingness to surrender your claim on your life and to open your hands to receive whatever the Lord gives. And why do we need to fear God is often a question we should add and wonder, because fearing God frees us from every other fear. There's a lot of fears in this crooked world, and that's what Solomon's trying to get to when ending this way. Fear God. You know, often fear doesn't seem like the right response to the God who did not spare his own son. Fear seems to be a step in the wrong direction. But fear, fearing God, frees us from every other fear. You guys know the way fear works. You know how it works in your life. Fear makes mountains. Fear keeps adding to the list of things you cannot do. Fear tells you all the things you could not take if they happened to you. But fear falls before fear. I love one of the, one of the ways this, this, this principle is illustrated very well in our Bible is a story of Moses and the snakes, the fiery serpents. And you remember that story.

[12:10] The people are in the wilderness. They've, they've been, they've been provided for. Their shoes didn't wear out. The Lord provided every one of their needs, and yet they sin and grumble against it. And the Lord sends fiery serpents to attack them. They bite the people, and many of them die. I mean, we just stopped right there. It's a very curious story in our Bibles. Then they cry out to the Lord for help.

[12:35] The Lord says, make a bronze fiery serpent, raise it up on a pole, and when the serpent bites, tell them to look at the bronze serpent, and they will live. So they die by being bit by one serpent, but they live by looking to another serpent. He's illustrating this point. Why, why look at a snake?

[12:57] Why not look at a bear, a lion, or a giraffe, or something like that? No, what, what's going on is God is freeing them from every other fear by calling them to fear Him. Fearing God conquers the fear of dying in the wilderness, which is what they're afraid of, because of lacking food or water, because the fiery snakes were coming to bite them, because they begin to fear and trust and follow God. Paul Tripp says, a very helpful quote I've shared before, he says, the only practical and lasting solution to the fear of situation, locations, or people is the fear of God. Only a fear of someone more powerful than what you're facing, and the assurance that this one of scary power has chosen to unleash his power for your benefit has the power to give you courage in the face of something or someone more powerful than you. Fear falls before fear. The same idea is taken up in Ecclesiastes. Look, Ecclesiastes 3, 14, I perceive that whatever God does endures forever. Nothing can be added to it, nor taken from it.

[14:07] God has done it so that people fear before Him. That's right after. He said there are times for everything under the sun, a time to be born, a time to die, time for peace, a time for war, time for casting out, time for gathering in. Fear God.

[14:26] Don't be caught up in things that are happening. Fear God. Fearing God frees us from every other fear and also frees us to put God front and center in our lives. Look at verse 11. He says, the words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings.

[14:47] They're given by one shepherd. The sayings are like goads. That's just a wooden shaft used to herd a cow or cattle along to direct it where to go. So the sayings of the wise are like that, a shaft of wood to point us in the right direction. But they're also like nails firmly fixed, immovable, unchanging, any culture. The same forever and ever. One writer says, the sayings of Ecclesiastes spur the will like a goad and stick in the memory. But look at what it says next. They're given by one shepherd. This word's never used in all Ecclesiastes.

[15:43] And yet it's very clearly a reference to God. The way of wisdom, what he's saying, the way of wisdom is not the discovery of man. It's the gift of God. These sayings of the wise are given by one shepherd.

[16:04] The God who is far off, who set eternity in our hearts, who has set a time for everything and a place for everything under the sun is at hand, is what he's saying all throughout the Bible. Though there are prophets and priests and kings, it is ultimately the Lord who shepherds his people.

[16:20] The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Psalm 100, it is the Lord who made us. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. I am the good shepherd. Jesus said, I lay down my life for the sheep.

[16:34] So Ecclesiastes is saying, all this teaching is from him. Now this is very important. This helps us understand what is the fear of the Lord. In learning the fear of the Lord, we're not learning our manners. We're not learning where to put the napkin and where to put the fork and which fork to use because it's so confusing when you eat a nice dinner. We're not learning a code of conduct.

[16:58] We're not learning a book of rules. We're taking the right hand of God, our shepherd. That's what's going on in all these sayings of the wise. That's what's going on in the wisdom of the world. We're taking the right hand to walk us through the crookedness of this world. So the fear of God is not cringing dread. It's openness to the living God. It's friendship. It's the friendship of the Lord. The friendship of the Lord is with those who fear him, what the psalmist says. And so we fear him by listening and by taking his right hand. Point two, keep the commandments of God. Keep the commandments of God.

[17:41] The first command, fear God. Second, follows. Keep his commandments. Keep his commandments. Fear God by obeying God.

[17:58] The fear of God then is firstly an attitude, an openness to instruction, a willingness to receive. I mean, the unpardonable sin in Proverbs is being wise in your own eyes, being convinced in your own mind.

[18:12] It's unpardonable because you can't listen to anyone else and you will die because of it. And so the fear of the Lord is firstly an attitude to listen, but it's not just an attitude. The fear of God must flow out in clear, visible acts of obedience. This is the end of the matter, he says in verse 13.

[18:31] All has been heard. Fear God. Keep his commandments. This is the whole duty of man. We know Solomon has been comprehensive in his search. He said, I've searched out all that he's done in the sun. I've observed all of it.

[18:46] I've examined all of it. I laid all of it to heart. And yet he's concluded, fear God and keep his commandments. This is the whole duty. This is the only, this is all there is to man. All is vanity. All is striving after the wind. But this is all there is for man to do under the sun. Similar way, fear, fearing God sounds and feels, keeping his commandments often seems like we're going backwards.

[19:13] It seems like we're being told to do certain things that God will love us, to check certain boxes so that God will bless us and things will go well with us in our life. But that's not what's going on at all.

[19:25] That's not what Ecclesiastes has been about. The world is crooked and you can't be good enough or wise enough or strong enough for everything to go well with you. So Solomon is not saying keep these commands so that life will go well with you. He's saying keep these commands because they're the gift of God. In a crooked world, the commands of God are his gift. They are his blessing. They are your good.

[19:51] If the fear of the Lord is putting God front and center, keeping the commandments is living in such a way that he is front and center. And so we live life as we've been learned throughout this series.

[20:03] Before God every day, we receive our circumstances as his gift. Not as a random package of events, but as our lot. We receive our daily delights as his blessing. We press into our daily distresses as his instruments. We work in the morning and in the evening. We continue to fill our hands. We laugh at things that are funny. Weep at things that are sad and grieve at things that are heartbreaking.

[20:28] We rest. When we encounter the unimaginable, the inexplicable, the unexplainable, we pause and remember that there's a good God in heaven who knows everything. Like Jesus Christ in so many ways, the will of God becomes our food. The commandments of God become our delight. The presence of God becomes our deepest comfort. So if we take the right hand of God by fearing him, we walk with him by obeying him.

[21:01] It's no wonder Jesus said in John 14, 23, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My father will love him. We will come to him and make our home with him. It's not by keeping the commandments that he becomes our God. It's by keeping the commandments that he stays close and walks with us.

[21:29] Keeping the commandments is especially important at the conclusion of Ecclesiastes. Look at the other command in this passage. Look in verse 12. He says, my son, beware. That's an imperative. Beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books, there is no end. My wife would say amen. And much study is a weariness of the flesh. Beware. Be on your guard. Be on your lookout. What?

[22:02] What are we looking out for? Too many books? No. Solomon has led us through every nook and cranny of this crooked world and he's saying, this is what you must live by. This is all you need.

[22:22] There's nothing outside this that you need. He's saying, don't keep looking for answers to life's questions. Don't keep searching for knowledge about life's mysteries. Don't keep trying to solve life's riddles. Who can make straight what God has made crooked? Who can find it out? No one.

[22:41] He's saying, don't live in the past. Don't ask why. Don't get caught up in conspiracies. Don't get caught up in finding answers to all your questions. In the book by C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, Lewis captures this attitude when it's taken final hold of a man. On the borders of heaven, a lifelong searcher is being invited in. He's told by the white spirit, I can promise you no place for your talents here. Only forgiveness for having perverted them. No atmosphere of questioning. For I bring you to the land, not of questions, but of answers. And you shall see the face of God. That's all we want, right?

[23:30] The searcher says, ah, but we must all interpret those beautiful words in our own way. For me, there is no such thing as a final answer. The free wind of questions must always continue to blow through the mind. Must it not? Spirit says, listen, once you were a child, once you knew what questions were for, there was a time when you asked questions because you wanted answers and were glad when you had found them. Become that child again, even now. Ah, says the searcher, quoting 1 Corinthians 13, and when I became a man, I put away childish things. Right. The spirit said, happiness lies in the path of duty. The searcher eventually gets bored with the conversation, makes a few apologies, and goes to his discussion group in hell. Now, we may think we would never refuse heaven for more questions. But we're similarly vulnerable for failing to obey, delaying obedience. It's not wrong to ask questions. It's not wrong to wrestle with life's distresses, but it's wrong to stay there. There's a danger in always asking questions, always searching, always thinking, always wrestling, but never obeying.

[25:09] In our culture, it's cool to seek, but not cool to find. It's cool to be open, but not cool to be decided. It's popular to pursue community, but not to commit to community. Before long, you can become like those who are always learning, Paul warned, and never able to arrive to the knowledge of the truth. And so, beware.

[25:28] It's a fitting word. Beware. Be on your guard. Wisdom won't answer all the questions. Righteousness won't help you evade them all. Knowledge won't solve it all. And so, he's saying, live, what he's saying, live in light of what is plain. Live in light of what is clear. Alistair Begg says, the plain, the main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things. So helpful. Start with the plain things. You know, so after we climb into the deep end, try to figure it out. No, start with what is very plain. Live in the plain things, and there you have enough life to live in the world. If you're a Christian, it's the will of God for you to grow in grace. If you're married, it's the will of God for you to love your wife and not be harsh.

[26:15] If you're a parent, it's the will of God to train them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. If you're single, it's the will of God for you to be pure, to treat ladies as sisters and fellows as brothers. If you are an employee, it's the will of God for you to be happy, joyful, hard-working, and easy to employ. If you are a child, it's the will of God for you to honor and respect your parents imitating their life. If you're a believer, it's the will of God for you to live out your faith, committed to a local church. Whatever you're facing, it's the will of God that you rejoice, that you pray without ceasing, you give thanks in all circumstances. The plain things are enough. Live in them. Don't delay.

[26:53] Don't be half-hearted. Take God's right hand and walk with Him in obedience. Point three, wait for the judgment of God. Wait for the judgment of God. The final point is not a command, but functions well as a point, I think, the implications. Wait. Look in verse 14, for God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. The call to wait for final judgment is actually modifying the commands to fear God. You see that very clearly in your text. Look there with me. It says, fear God, keep His commandments, for, this is the whole duty of man, for, which means because, so keep His commandments, because God will bring every deed into judgment.

[27:46] All the scriptures are clear. There's a day fixed when all humanity will stand before the judgment of God and give an account. We are, He's the creator. We are creatures. We'll give an account for what we've done with the body, done in the body, with our lives. So the preacher reminds us of something that's very clear in Scripture, the day of judgment. It's coming. But the preacher describes the day of judgment judgment in a way we may not realize. God will bring every deed into judgment. Whether we are a Christian or a non-Christian, every deed of everyone be brought into judgment. Daniel Fredericks says, judgment day is an event that the church has nearly implied to be a no-show opportunity for believers washed in the Savior's blood. However, there will be many surprised souls when their acquittal comes only after a public reading of the list of offenses against God and humanity, after charges have been made.

[29:11] God's very glory and honor, His perfect expectations and perfect love require that the fullest extent of our sin be realized in order to appreciate but a fraction of His grace.

[29:29] I think many of us come into and think about the day of judgment a little different than this, kind of a no-show opportunity, an exit right before you enter the stage.

[29:46] That's not what Solomon tells us. On the day of judgment, Son of Man, Jesus Christ, will come in all His glory, riding on the clouds with His angels surrounding Him.

[30:05] He'll sit on His glorious throne, gather all the nations. All people will stand before Him to hear the list of charges against them, read out for all to hear.

[30:19] Every deed, good or evil. Every deed, whether public or private, well-known or secret. Every deed, whether in fleeting thought or in harbored anger.

[30:35] In screamed blasphemies or under the breath grumbling. Every action. There will be nothing to hide.

[30:50] There will be nowhere to hide. For the unbeliever, the description of this day of judgment is a warning. If you do not turn in repentance and faith, when the list of charges are read for everything you have done in the body, no one will stand to plead your case.

[31:09] No one will speak. For you, the Son of Man, will separate the sheep from the goats and cast all those who did not turn to Jesus to hell. Unless you think this is an Old Testament theology.

[31:23] 2 Thessalonians 1, 7-9 says, When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of God and from the glory of His might.

[31:46] And so, this is a warning. It's not fun stuff to preach in some respects, but it's a warning. Are you ready for the day of judgment?

[31:57] Are you prepared? If you died tonight, would you be spared in the day of judgment? Right now could be the day of salvation. If you will but turn if you are not ready.

[32:09] 2 Corinthians encourages, make your calling and election sure. Are you sure? Is Jesus Christ very clearly your Lord, your Savior, and your treasure? Does your life bear the fruit of repentance?

[32:22] You remember what Jesus said to those who do not bear the fruit of repentance? Does your life bear these things? If it's not, come to Jesus Christ. Come to the shepherd. Fall before Him, and He will stand for you.

[32:36] In the end, offering His substitutionary death, His sacrificial blood for your many sins.

[32:49] For the believer, the description of the day of judgment is a comfort. For the Lord, this is not all that Scripture says about the day of judgment.

[33:02] When the list of charges are read for everything we have done in the body, Jesus Christ will stand up and say, that one is mine. All those charges were paid by my death.

[33:17] Then, we who should have received eternal damnation for our sins, will receive a reward for everything good done in the body.

[33:34] 1 Corinthians 4, 5 says, Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart.

[33:46] So, He's talking about the day of judgment. He's talking about everything secret, and everything hidden being out in the open, everything unknown being known before the eyes of all, and all the charges being read out.

[33:58] And then He says, Then each one will receive his commendation from the Lord. Now, those words we should not be able to read over fast, because each one will receive not his condemnation, not his judgment, not the casting out that his sins deserve, but his commendation because of the Lord and all the works that He produced in our lives by the power of the Spirit.

[34:31] Remarkably, God will forgive and forget your sins, but He will remember every little deed done in love.

[34:44] Thomas Goodwin, the great Puritan, says, Other friends will forget all kindness is done, no matter how many. But God will forget all your sins.

[34:56] Remember them no more. Yet not one good deed of love, no, not one thought, from first to last, shall be forgotten.

[35:15] What kind of God is this? It's a tremendous comfort.

[35:32] It'll be a tremendous comfort then, but it's also a tremendous comfort now. In fact, this seems to be a most appropriate way to end the book of Ecclesiastes, because we long for things to be made right.

[35:54] I long for God to make straight what is crooked. Sick and tired of it. I long for an end of injustice, oppression, and abuse. I long for a world where evil is not called good, and good is not called evil.

[36:08] I long, we long for a world where bad things do not happen to good people, where the wise do not ache, the righteous do not suffer, and the godly are not persecuted. So in fact, this ending is most appropriate.

[36:20] It's the most appropriate way to end the book of Ecclesiastes, because he's warning about the final judgment, and what he's doing when he's warning about the final judgment, he's saying, I'm coming. I'm going to write the scales. I'm going to set everything right.

[36:32] I'm going to make all things new. I'm going to bring this solvent that will cure everything that's driving you nuts. I'm going to bring the answer you long for.

[36:47] Today we remember the horrors of 9-11. I was leaving the office this morning. A guy drove by with a pickup truck, two flags hanging out. I almost started crying. That tells you something about me, but it also tells you something about this day.

[37:04] When two planes crashed in the World Trade Center and killed thousands of Americans, I'll never forget. I was a junior in college, getting ready for class, going to attend a class on structures in architecture.

[37:18] My mom called and said, turn on the TV. Watch the second plane enter. Second tower.

[37:29] One of the things I enjoy doing on 9-11 each year is reading the minute-by-minute transcript of one of President Bush's White House aides, a guy named Ari Fleischer.

[37:44] He begins, he tweets it out every year, so this is a good reason to get on Twitter today if you want to. He begins and tweets out every movement of the president from that Florida elementary school classroom all the way until he lands at the White House that evening.

[38:03] I also love watching the video of George Bush three days later at Ground Zero. You remember that? He was standing there with a New York fire chief holding a bullhorn.

[38:17] He said, thank you all. Barely audible to the crowd. I want you to know that America today is on bended knee in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn here.

[38:37] The nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens. Video kind of trails off a little bit.

[38:51] A rescue worker says, I can't hear you. President Bush said, I can hear you. I can hear you and the rest of the world hears you and the people who knocked down these buildings will all hear us soon.

[39:08] The crowds are joining, USA, USA, USA. And he says, the nation sends its love and compassion to everybody who is here. Thank you for all your hard work. Thank you for making the nation proud.

[39:19] May God bless America. That's what Solomon, that's what the Lord is saying right here. I can hear you. I can hear you.

[39:35] I know the way it feels. I know what life's like in this world. I see it all. His eyes see, Psalm 9 tells us.

[39:46] I'm coming again. We're coming to clouds. I'm making everything right. I can hear you. Just hold on. Trust me. That's what he's saying. I'm going to come back. I know how you've been kicked around.

[39:58] I'm going to come back and make all things right. So perhaps this is the perfect ending. That we would hold off the search for meaning.

[40:22] Call off the digging for answers. That we would live before the Lord. Fearing him. Keeping his commandments.

[40:32] The only way to be wise in this crooked world is still by fearing God. May God help us. Father in heaven. We can hear you.

[40:51] We praise you that the word of God is living and active sharper than any two-edged sword able to pierce into the division of soul and spirit joint and marrow able to discern the thoughts and tensions of the heart from afar.

[41:06] Our hearts are laid bare before you. Would you come cause your word to produce in us the peaceful fruit of righteousness that we would be a people who walk through the landmines of this world holding our hand by fearing you and following you by obeying you.

[41:31] Help us God. we long for the day where we will face you. We'll no longer walk by what we read but by what we see.

[41:49] Now we offer our lives to you sincerely and completely in Jesus' name. Amen. You've been listening to a message given by Walt Alexander lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.

[42:05] For more information about Trinity Grace please visit us at trinitygraceathens.com B B B