Proverbs - Wisdom For Troubled Times

If you've got a hard copy of the bible with you, then turn first of all. If you would to Proverbs chapter 21, just gonna be reading the first verse, Proverbs 21 verse 1, and then be ready to turn to 1 king's 10. And we're gonna read 1 king's 10 versus 1 to 13. The reading will appear on the screen if you don't have a bible.

But if you do, turn that up. In the Lord's hand, the king's heart is a stream of water. That he channels towards all who please him. In the Lord's hand, the king's heart is a stream of water. That he channels towards all who please him.

And 1 kings 10. When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold and precious stones. She came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. Solomon answered all of her questions.

Nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the lord, she was overwhelmed. She said to the king, The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true, but I did not believe these things. Until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me.

In wisdom and wealth, you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your people must be? How happy your officials who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom. Praise be to the Lord your God. Who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel.

Because of the Lord's eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness. And she gave the king a hundred and 20 talents of gold, large quantities of spices and precious stones. Never again, were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. Hirem's ships brought gold from Opia, and from there they bought great cargoes of Almegwood, and precious stones. The king used the Almagwood to make supports for the temple of the lord and for the royal palace and to make harps and liars for the musician So much Almirwood has never been imported or seen ever since that day.

King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country. Welcome for me. My name is Ben. I'm 1 of the pastors here at the church.

I'm just going to lift this up a little bit. Really lovely to have you. Welcome the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's just pray. And then we'll get stuck into this single proverb.

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it breathes life into us as you speak. Father, we acknowledge that without you, we are spiritually dead and dry. And so we need you now to fill us with life. We pray.

Thank you for your Holy Spirit, who does this in us, as we read your word. And I pray for his help now as I speak, and as we listen, fill us again with life that we might see the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our life. Like we've just sung. So thank you for that. Help us now in Jesus' name.

Our men. Oh, men. Okay. This week, well, Tom mentioned it's been quite an interesting week for for politics around the world. But for British politics, it's been quite interesting.

This week, this very week, I was actually at the annual parliamentary prayer breakfast at the palace of Westminster, houses of parliament. And I went there on Tuesday this week, and they do this every year, this annual parliamentary prayer breakfast. It's quite amazing. Really, because anyone who's anyone in British politics has has to be there. And they invite church leaders from around the country and also around the world to attend.

And Pete got the invitation. He didn't wanna go. So I took I took the invitation off him and took the opportunity to go. It was quite amazing. If you ever get the opportunity to go to the houses of parliament look around.

It's it's an amazing it's an amazing building. But there there I was in the grand hall and there were all these big round tables out. And it's just I didn't really expect it, but we're all just there together. So I was sat on the table with the Bishop of London. I turned to her and I and I said, who are you?

And she was like, I'm dame so and so. I was like, oh, dude. And I was sat opposite of reverend this. There was sir Ed Davey on my table who's our local MP. And I was sat to a couple of other brothers actually from our comission network, so that was nice.

But that, you know, when you go to a wedding or 1 of these events, and there's like the the table place name There's like a list of who's on that table. It was like, dame this person, reverend that most honorable this, then I was at the bottom, it just said mister Ben Reid. I have no title or honors with my name, but they put mister in. Thank you for that. Otherwise, it'd just be Ben Reid.

Anyway, Mister Ben Reid was there. But I was I was, you know, Stone stray away from Sir Lindsey Hoyle, speaker of the house, and he got up and said order order, which is probably most favorite joke when he gets up to stand anywhere. And there was Tim Farren just in a couple of seats away who prayed a magnificent prayer. Really grateful to the Lord that he's in British politics. He prayed the most clearest presentation of the gospel of this whole thing was his prayer.

But Boris Johnson was there. Keyr Starman was there. Ian Blackords, a number of other people that I recognized, but I don't know their names. And we were all there, and it was amazing, and we were praying we were praying for our leaders to have integrity and honesty. That was Tuesday morning this week.

Later that day, we know what happened. Number of MPs actually Sajid Javid mentioned in his resignation speech in the House of Commons, I think later that day. He'd mentioned the prayer breakfast. And he mentioned the prayers that we've been praying. 700 people.

So, you know, the prayers of people were heard that morning. And there was, you know, history has been changed because we came before our lord and we prayed for our leaders. Now, that was, you know, that was quite an amazing thing to be amongst these these people. 1 thing really struck me was and I wasn't expecting this, was at least in word and lip, rather than heart, but there was a constant recognition that our government is under the authority of God. That was that was said again and again and again.

There was a recognition lord, you've put us in charge of this nation, and yet you are the king and thrown on high. And actually, I felt humanity was very small at that point. I was shoulder to shoulder with Boris Johnson and Keith Starmer and global, you know, church leaders. And here we all were in this what brick room standing shoulder shoulder together looking up and acknowledging actually that our father in heaven is the king of kings. But that was something I wasn't expecting.

Our government, our authority is an authority under the lord. But actually, in the bible, we see that that is the pattern that God has set for this world. That is the pattern he set for this world. We're not made to live in anarchy. He's actually put systems in place that we might be ruled by people under his overall rulership.

So you see that with Adam in the garden. Here's the Lord, he's got all authority on heaven and earth, and he names and creates Adam. But then he says to Adam, you go and name the animals. So the Lord has Ultimate Authority and names Adam, but he delegates authority to Adam and says, now you go and name the animals. You rule over the Earth with Eve together.

And then later on, you've got the Father's Abraham Isaac Jacob. Then you've got Moses and Joshua, who lead the people out of slavery into the promised land. And then you've got the judges and then the kings. And in each case, there's a same pattern and promise, which is this. Here we go.

This is the pattern and promise. When God's people live in God's place under God's law, then they're at rest. They're at rest. When everything is as it should be, they're at rest. Doesn't just mean they put their feet up.

Rest is a biblically rich word. It means like shalom, it means peace, it means satisfaction, It means everything that we desire is satisfied. And then also, not just to the God's people at rest, but they then become a blessing to the world. To all the nations. And this is my first point, when God's people live in God's place under God's law, they're at rest.

And you see that with Adam in the garden. So on the seventh day, when Adam is ruling with Eve and God has made all of creation, what does God do? He rests. And he rests among his people and the world is blessed because Adam and Eve are ruling over it as they should be. People are at rest, and there's a blessing to the world.

Later on, the Lord says to Abraham through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed. Why? Because you have obeyed my voice. The nations are going to be blessed when God's people are living rightly under God. Later on, Joshua leads God's people into the promised land.

And we see the blessing to all nations being extended very specifically to the prostitute Rayhab If you know that story. Here's Rahab. She's a foreigner. She's not 1 of God's people, and yet when God's people come into the promised land, we're told that she comes to rest among the Israelites. When God's people live in God's place under God's rule, they're at rest and the blessings come.

And now I think the clearest example of all of this is King Solomon in the Bible. Which is why we've we've we've had a section of his of his story read, and we're gonna look at another bit again in a minute. But he famously asks for wisdom. So here's a ruler under God. And he knows that he's under God.

And the Lord sort of says to him, whatever you want, I'll give to you and he asks for wisdom. And under his under his rule, this wise king's rule, so many things have happened. So many blessings come to this world. The glory of the Lord fills the temple, that Solomon builds. The spirit of the Lord is at rest again among the people.

And through this king, all nations on Earth are blessed. And we saw that with with Queen Sheba, the Queen of Sheba. From 1 kings chapter 10. Let me just read this little section again. This is what the Queen of Sheba says to King Solomon, who's reigning under the lord rightly.

The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and wisdom is true, but I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me. In wisdom and wealth, you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your people must be? How at rest your people must be.

How happy your officials who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom Praise be to the Lord your God who is delighted in you, placed you on the throne of Israel because of the Lord's eternal love for Israel. He has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness. So here is a foreign queen, not part of Israel, who is coming to the king, who's reigning under the lord, and she's saying, praise be to the lord your God, the king of Israel. Praise is erupting from the nation's lips. To Yahweh because of this king.

And then the whole world we're told later, the whole world comes to hear Solomon's wisdom. The wisdom that God has put in his heart. So when God's people are living in God's place and under his rule, they are at rest and they're a blessing to the world. That's the first point. Now, this is the same wise King Solomon who wrote this proverb that we read, the single proverb In Proverbs 20 one:one.

In the Lord's hand, the king's heart is a stream of water. That he channels towards all who please him. Now, it's a hot day today. So let's just think about that picture of a stream of water for a minute. We particularly will like that picture today.

Won't we? Stream of water, I mean, I don't know how your lawn is looking at the moment. My lawn is is yellow and dried. The Fairfield park is yellow and dry and is crisping up a little bit, but if you notice the banks of the river and the banks of a stream, Oh, green, aren't they? There's life there.

I love seeing sort of the the the rich vegetation almost like leaning over. You see those trees, don't you that, like, just grow that way and into the water because they just wanna drink deep, don't they? From the stream and there's rich vegetation of all kinds, even if all the other land around is arid and parched, there's a strip of green either side of this stream that's running through this dry land, and there's life there, there are creatures, there are animals. And guess what? Animals from far away come to that stream, to get water and to get food and to get nourishment and life.

Stream of water is a beautiful thing. Whatever it touches, it brings life to, doesn't it? And it brings shelter and rest. And that in the Lord's hand is what a good king's heart is. Says King Solomon.

Solomon says in a good king's heart, the heart is like a stream of water, bringing life to the world, to people. So what we see here in this proverb is that Solomon understood this this pattern of authority, God's people in God's place under God's law. But he also recognized 1 other thing, which is quite important. And a big point of what I'm trying to say this morning. He recognized that the means by which this blessing comes to the world the means by which this blessing is gonna come to the people and to the nations is the king.

And so this is my second point. The King's heart is the source of this blessing. Because when you read scripture, blessing doesn't just universally randomly fall down on people for no reason. It comes from a source and it comes more often than not from a king's heart or a leader's heart It comes from somewhere and it's channeled. In the lord's hand, the king's heart is a stream of water that he channels towards all who please him.

I mean, there's always a close connection in the scriptures between the king who rules and then the prosperity of the people. Look at this from 1 kings chapter 4. The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashell. They ate, they drank, and they were happy. That sounds good, doesn't it?

That sounds like me on holiday. They ate, they drank and they were happy under the stewardship of this king and Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of Filistines as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon subjects all his life. It's such a lovely little snapshot. We get these oasises in the bible, throughout difficulties, and throughout of dry periods.

You get these little oasis, and this is an oasis right here. And in this oasis, we've got echoes of the fulfillment of promises made to Adam and to Abraham, haven't we? Because God said to Adam, you may eat of any tree in the garden. You may eat and be happy. And here under this king, the people are eating and are happy.

And they're ruling over the earth. The Lord said rule over the world, bring it, you know, into and subdue it, rule over it over the birds of the air, the fish of the sea. And here, Solomon is ruling over his subjects. And then we've got your offspring. We've got this echo of your offspring will be as numerous as sand on the seashore.

That was a promise that God made Abraham. And so here in King Solomon, we've got the echoes of fulfillment. When God's king is living in God's way, You see how God blesses the people? Because the king's heart is right and flowing with life. To the people.

So here under this king, the stream of God's blessing is flowing. To the people and to all nations, as they bring tribute to the king. In the Lord's hand, the king's heart is a stream of water and he channels it towards all who please him. That's my second point. The king's heart is the source.

But there's a condition there's a condition here, my third point. As a condition. The Lord also says to Solomon in 1 kings chapter 9, he says, if you walk before me faithfully, with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David, your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and my laws. I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever. So if you continue to walk before me faithfully, that stream ain't gonna stop.

The stream's gonna flow and pour and flood if you continue to walk before me. But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I've given and go often serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land I've given them. I will reject this temple I've consecrated for my name, Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who passed will be appalled and will scoff and say, why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?

People will answer because they have forsaken the Lord they've got. Who brought their ancestors out of Egypt and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them. That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster. On them. Okay?

Here's the condition. If the king's line, not the people, interestingly, But if the king's line turns away from God, then this stream's going to stop. And actually, there's a reversal of the blessing that the stream brings, you'll notice in here, because people are cut off from the land, the promised land. Instead of the glory of the Lord resting, he's going to reject to the temple, which means my presence won't be among you. Instead of being a blessing to the other nations, remember the Queen of Sheba who came to Solomon and said, praise be to the Lord your God?

Well, here, They're gonna be an object of ridicule. People are gonna scoff now instead of praising God. Instead of life there's gonna be rubble in the place of blessing It's going to be disaster. You know, God cannot be fooled. We're told I think in verse 2 of Proverbs 21 that he weighs the heart God is not looking at you outwardly.

He's not looking at kings outwardly. You know, Boris can stand up and say, well, we've created x amount, a thousand of jobs. We've we've done this. Another king another leader, the next prime minister can stand up and say, we've increased GDP by this much. God isn't looking at the outward.

He weighs your heart. And if your heart turns away from the Lord, our stream's gonna stop. It's what the Lord says. Now, if you know the story, this actually starts with Solomon himself, which is which is quite condemning of humanity as a whole. Because the Lord says to him, don't take many wives, Solomon.

Don't take many wives because they will lead you astray. They will lead your heart astray. And so what does Solomon do? Take 700 wives. 700 wives.

I'm not just trying to remember all their names. Hello, Emilia? I mean, Ajayla, hello, I don't have no idea. Come in. And 300 concubines.

Probably because he couldn't remember any more names. He was like, alright, I won't marry them, but I'll just have them as a concubine. Look, and it says that that his wives, in his old age, interesting Don't think older people here. Don't think that you have got past the age where you can be led astray. In Solomon.

Yeah. I'm looking at you, Heather. And your parents. Les and Jean, King Solomon was led astray in his old age. It's not just these young people that can be led astray.

You need each other, by the way. So when you see them, encourage them, say thank you for living a faithful life. Yeah? So I've got something to aim at and live for. And then tell him to get on with it.

The Lord said to Solomon, don't take many wives, they will lead your heart astray. And what happens? He had 700 wives and his wives led his heart astray. Now that's not saying wives lead your heart astray, men. Are saying 700 wives will lead your heart astray.

In fact, 2 wives will lead your heart astray. Okay? 1 wife. They led him to serve other gods, and so the kingdom is divided, taken out from underneath Solomon. He's built this amazing kingdom.

And there's a prophet who comes along with a cloak and he tears the cloak into 12 to demonstrate what's gonna happen to the kingdom because his heart has turned away from the Lord. So it's And it's not just the king who's going to pay this penalty. It's not just that Solomon loses the kingdom and the Arboohoo, but the kingdom carries on fine. Actually, the people pay the penalty for the king's sin. There's a repeated line in the book of 1 and 2 kings, which says that this this king and that king clung to the sins of Gerabohim, son of Nevat, which he had caused Israel to commit.

The sin of the king caused the people to sin. The king causes the nation to sin. When the king turns away, the nation turns away. So you get this picture painted very, very, very clearly in the bible. When the king is faithful, The nation is faithful and and they're blessed.

The stream is connected. The king's heart is pouring out water to the people. But when the king is unfaithful, he even causes the people to be unfaithful, and he causes them to sin. And the river the stream runs dry. Now unfortunately for Israel, there's not a single good king.

And so they get drier and drier and drier and eventually they're taken into captivity and exile. Judor has a couple of good kings along the way, so they'll last a bit longer. But ultimately, they dry out and shrivel up and are taken into exile. And captivity as well. Now why are we looking at all of this?

The question I really want to ask you this morning is who is your king? Who is your king? Where is it that you go to drink deeply in the waters of nourishment and sustenance? When you get up in the morning and you guy, I've got to go again. Where is it you're going to to get energy to do that?

To get meaning and guy. There's reason I'm here, let me drink deeply from that that that meaning. And then let me ask you, would you say you're at rest? So your heart at rest in the way that the bible means it? Would you say you're a blessing to the nations around you?

Would you say actually? I'm in a wasteland. I see the stream over there, but I'm not in it. I'm the dry yellow parched grass. I'm in exile.

Who's your king? Well, the Bible actually says our original king like figure was Adam. And just like the other kings, we connected to Adam so what he does happens to us. If he's faithful, the world is blessed, we're blessed. If he's unfaithful, we're unfaithful, and that's what's happened.

The Bible says, because he sinned, he's also caused us to sin. The Bible says, we have all sinned and all died in Adam. He's our king. And what he's done is affected us, and we've all sinned and all died in Adam, the Bible says. And what that means is that all those warnings we looked at, that condition is now true for us because our king led us down.

And we let ourselves down. So we're now cut off from the promised land when God said I will cut off Israel from the promised land. The glory of the Lord has left the temple. God was meant to dwell here with us but he's he's in heaven and people living here without him. He's the glory left the temple, the rest he had among the people left.

And instead of being a blessing to other nations, now Israel had become an object of ridicule. Who praises the the Lord? Who, you know, where's the Queen of Sheba coming in now and saying, praise be to the Lord, your God. People don't do that. Do they?

People scoff and say, oh, you're a Christian. You believe in stupid things. Get scoffers. There's no praising God. There's arguments.

There's war. There's stormings of parliament. There's there's just there's no rest in this world. In this world. Instead of life and peace, there's rubble.

Ukraine is a heap of rubble right now, isn't it? In the place of blessing there's disaster and death. It doesn't stop there. Ultimately, like Israel, we are all carried off into captivity and exile because our king failed us. We're not carried off into a physical land.

I mean, this would be quite a nice exile to enjoy, wouldn't it? Kingston upon thames when it's sunny. What a lovely place to be taken out to exile. But the Bible says that we are captives of sin, death, and the devil. So look at this from to Timothy.

Aponents must be gently instructed in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to knowledge of the truth and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will. The whole world has been trapped by the devil. Their in captivity. He's taken them captive to do his will. They're in what the Bible calls the Dominion of darkness.

No stream of life running through the dominion of darkness. I feel like we have to explain and justify that all the time, but just think about you know, why do you not have to teach children to lie? Children lie, children steal. Children say mine. And we have to teach them not to be like that.

And then when we grow older, we realize we're still like that, but we are slightly more restrained. Why is it we find it so hard to love and forgive 1 another? It's easy when it's easy. It's hard when it's hard. Why is it that gossip and slander and flattery is so juicy to our ears?

They're juicy. We want to hear some gossip. Love slandering someone else because it means I look good. Why is it we desire our neighbor's belongings? My heart felt this way just yesterday.

Good friend of ours said, he he had a job opportunity that was that meant he was gonna a lot of money and my heart went oh, that's nice. I didn't earn a lot of money. And I thought why is it? Why is that inside me? Why do we seek revenge and hate each other so easily?

Why is it even as Christians we struggle to trust God with our whole lives? We trust God with an awful lot and then something comes along and we don't trust him with it. We're in captivity, aren't we? We're in exile. We need a true king.

That's what we need. We need a true king to rescue us from the dominion of darkness. We need a king who's gonna rule over us in righteousness and truth. He's gonna have a good heart. We need a king who's thrown into us forever.

We need a king who's gonna pour out his grace upon us like a stream of living water. That's gonna bring life to a parched world. That's gonna bring life to a parched heart. We need that stream of eternal life channeled to us, but it doesn't just rain down. It needs to come to us through a king whose heart is weighed and found worthy.

But who is worthy? It's the cry of the Bible when you read it. There's a deeply moving part in Revelation when John is is crying out. Who's worthy? We need that king.

But look, if it's not Adam who knew what it was like to be in Eden by the way, if even he's not worthy, If it's not King Solomon who, in all his wisdom, rebuilt the the temple, and it was almost like a new eden. If not him, the wisest king to ever live, then who on earth can do it? Who's gonna put God's people in God's place under God's Lord again? And the bible gives 1 resounding emphatic answer. Jesus is the true king.

And we've sung about that and we've heard about that all this morning. Jesus is the true king. Just look at this from our colossians chapter 1. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and he's brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Our greatest problem was sin.

Our heart was like Solomon, our heart was led astray. We turned toward the gods. We're in captivity. Satan has us. We're in the dominion of darkness.

And our problem is sin. But here with Jesus, we have redemption through the forgiveness of sins. That's the good news of the gospel. You're a sinner, but Christ washes you. Every sin, even your sin of disbelief, he washes you of that.

He cleans you of it. He pays the penalty that God demands for your sin. And so what can the father do now? He can rescue you. He can clutch you from the dominion of darkness and he can bring you into the kingdom of the son he loves.

Kingdom The son is a king. He has a kingdom and is the father happy with this king? Yes. It's the kingdom of the son he loves. At Jesus' baptism, the father says, this is my son whom I love.

In him, I'm well pleased. King Solomon, not so much. Adam, no. You definitely not. Jesus, yes.

I'm pleased with him. And so if you're in Jesus' kingdom, you're under this king who is worthy, whose heart obeys the father, and he will reign forever, having defeated death, just like Tom said at the start of this service. And so every promise God has made, the kings of this world is fulfilled finally in Jesus. In the Lord's hand, or in the father's hand, the son's heart is a stream of water that he channels towards all who pleases. There's a stream of water that comes from Jesus.

Just listen to this from Revelation 22. This is amazing. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life. As clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God and from the lamb. Here's the stream from the Sun's heart, down the middle of the great city tree on each side of the river stood the tree of life bearing 12 crops of fruit yielding its fruit every month and the leaves of the tree for the healing of the nations.

So his food, his rest, here the nations are blessed, and it goes on. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God in the lamb of the city well, sorry, throne of the God and of the lamb will be in the city. God has come back, rest among his people. They will see him, his face.

His name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the lamp of light or the light of the sun for the Lord that God will give them the light, and they will reign forever and ever. Here's the fulfillment of everything. Adam, you need to reign over the earth.

He can't do it, but here's the king who can, and we'll reign with him forever and ever. God says, eat of the tree and be happy, but we couldn't do that in Adam, but in Christ, here we can. We've got every month, this food yielding its crop. And it's just an amazing it's not a stream in heaven. It's a river.

It's a mighty river flowing from this throne. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. So here finally, in heaven, we've got God's people living under God's rule in God's place. So look, I wanna say, do you want Jesus to be your king? Do you want Jesus to be your king?

Do you wanna come out of exile? Do you wanna come into that land that's rich with life? Very finally, very briefly. There's a caveat here. And the caveat in this proverb is to all who please him.

The proverb says, in the Lord, the King's heart is a stream of water that he channels. To all who please him. Those who do not please god are not included in the stream. They're cut off from the river of life. Now how on earth do you please God?

Hebrews 11 tells us, It says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. So very simply, the way you please God by having faith in him. In his son, who's the king, whose stream of water flows into Jesus said it this way, let anyone who was thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, a scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. If you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, rivers of living water will flow within you.

From where? From the Lord Jesus Christ himself. From his heart. That is the simple call of Jesus. And I wanna just say, if you don't consider yourself to have faith, if you say, well, that's very nice, but actually I don't have faith.

And the Bible says, faith is a gift from God. You can't drum it up within you. People say to me, I wish I had your faith. I'm like, well, I didn't make it. Wasn't born with it.

It's a gift from God. So if you don't have faith here this morning, why not ask God in your unbelief to help you believe. Why not say, god, give me this faith if you're real. Give me this faith. That I might have this stream of living water flow within me.

In the Lord's hand, the King's heart is a stream of water that he channels towards all who please him. What an amazing thing. What an amazing king we have. Let me praise as we as we finish. Father we thank you so much for the old testament, for the way we see again and again and again.

That earthly kings can never fully satisfy the demand you require for our king. And so when we get to the Lord Jesus Christ and we cry out who is worthy, we see, he, only he, he alone. Is worthy to be our king. And we thank you that because of him, streams of eternal life, poor out from his heart to us. I pray for us now that we would be people of faith and therefore people who please you.

And that you would therefore channel this life into our hearts today. Pray for anyone here who does not believe. I pray that you'd help them father in your in their unbelief. Give them faith. I pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.