I'll make you sleep. Alright, open back to Ecclesiastes
now. Ecclesiastes, go back to chapter
one. Ecclesiastes chapter one. Let me, if you notice the
title of this message in the bulletin, it probably got your
attention. Keys to Happiness. I didn't give it that title to
attract attention. But that's the subject. Keys to happiness. Are you happy? Or are you unhappy? If you are happy, why? What makes you happy? If you're unhappy, why? what makes you unhappy. Keys to happiness, something everyone is interested
in. This whole world spends their whole lifetime trying to be happy,
trying to find it somewhere. Well, look here at chapter 1,
verse 1. It says, The words of the preacher,
son of David, king The words of the preacher. Solomon is who
this is. God said he's the wisest man
on earth, because he had God-given wisdom. What Solomon is going
to write here is the word of God, not just the words of man. And godly wisdom. This is godly
wisdom. The whole book of Ecclesiastes,
read it, read it. The whole book is, as he said
there at the end of chapter eight, a search, a search for the meaning
of life. That's what he said. He said,
though a wise man try to find out, he can't find it out. He's
trying. And this is something that man
spends all his lifetime. trying to find out, trying to
find happiness. Look at verse 2. He says, Vanity
of vanities saith the preacher. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. All is vanity. Now, vanity means
no real value. no real value, no lasting value. And he says all, all things,
all temporal things, there's no lasting value, no
lasting pleasure, no lasting happiness. It may be a little
bit for a time, but no lasting. It's vanity. It won't last. Everyone in here has experienced
this to a little degree, but we haven't fully learned the
lesson. We've tried to find happiness, and when we think we've found
it, it doesn't last. No real lasting contentment. No lasting beauty. Things that
we think are so beautiful, they change. No lasting peace. Well, I've got peace now. I've
found anything in this life. Because,
now turn over to chapter nine. This is the reason. Did you notice
in chapter nine, he said, this is the reason. Because something
happens to all things. Something takes place. All things
are subject to it. Look at chapter 9, in verse 2. Verse 2, he says, All things
come alike to all. Everything reaches this conclusion. All is vanity because everything
comes to this One event, he said, comes to all. Verse three, the
last line of verse three, he concludes, it's all going to
die. See that? It's all going to die. So whatever we try to find happiness
in, if it dies, then it's vanity. Right? It didn't last. He can't find it in that thing.
It's dead. Now Solomon gives illustration
after illustration about what value is this or what value is
that. Solomon was a man like you and
me. And he said he tried everything.
And read it for yourself. Ecclesiastes is all about Solomon. I'll try this. Now, it's not
that he's an ignorant man, but he's doing this as our representative,
to show us, as an illustration does. He said, well, I'll try
riches. And so, boy, nobody had riches
like he had. Surely, if things and possessions
are going to give a man happiness, Solomon hadn't been the happiest
man on earth. If I just win the lottery, I'll
be happy. You could put all the lotteries
together and they wouldn't equal Solomon's riches. You know that? Surely if this could make a man
happy, Solomon would be happy. When it's all over, Solomon said,
it's vanity. It won't make you happy. Think
about it. Why do billionaires still want to make more money? You think about how foolish it
is. Why would a billionaire want to make more money? Because it's an insatiable thing.
Vanity. Solomon tried this, tried that,
tried possessions. He tried partying. He tried mirth. He tried laughter. He tried things,
chariots, horses, houses, lands. sports. He tried it all. And
he concluded after it was all over. He tried wisdom. Well,
intellect. I'll feed my intellect. I'll read books after books after
books. He said, making of books. There's no end. Humanity. There's no lasting value. Because
everything dies. Listen. Here's the first key to happiness,
all right? First key to happiness, and it
all starts right here. All happiness flows from this. To know God in Christ. Our Lord said this. Now, the
Lord Jesus Christ said this in John 17, 3. This is life eternal. that they
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent." That's a son speaking to the father, and he recorded
it so we could hear it. He said, this is life eternal.
Now, when you think about life, when I say life, when I say life, a person's full
of life. When I use the word life, what
do you think of? You think of what makes life,
life. Huh? Don't you? Love, laughter,
good times. You don't think about the bad
times. Folks, when you think back on the good old days, you
think about the sadness and the sorrow? No, no, no. You think
about, your mind blots out bad things. You try to. Right? You think of, when you think
of your children, you don't think about their rottenness. You think
about the sweet, the good times. Life, when I say life, you think
of, Lord, laughter, friends, family, fun, good time, don't
you? Come on. Yeah, you do. Life! Get a life! That's what people say. Get a
life! They mean, what they mean is, why don't you, why don't
you cheer up and do something? Be something now. Quit being
a nothing, a deadpan. Get a life! Life. Our Lord called what he's talking
about. This is life eternal. Now, that
doesn't mean just you're going to live forever, and you're going
to continue playing golf forever, or you're going to hunt forever,
or you're going to fish forever. That doesn't mean just the duration
of it. When our Lord talks about life
eternal, he talks about the quality of it. He's talking about spiritual
life. This is life that they might
know to be the only true God. Paul says, in Him we live. and
move and have our being. God is life. Really, unless you know God,
you don't know love. You don't know true love. You
don't know mercy. You don't know grace. You don't
know goodness. You don't know joy. You don't know life. You
don't have life. Pigs don't have life. Cows don't
have life. Do they? Well, look out there at that
big fat cow. Boy, he's got a good life. He never looks up once. He's
just chewing grass. He's getting fat room for the
slaughter. Boy, he's got a good life for
a while, but it ain't eternal. It's going to end real soon.
And then what? Our Lord, when he talks about
eternal life, he's talking about the quality of it—spiritual life,
real life. And only this enables you to
enjoy this temporal life. Life is not only the duration
of eternal life, but our Lord said that they might have life
more abundant—abundant life. This is the life and the blessedness
or the happiness or the joy or the contentment that God alone
must give, that if all the things of this life are gone, you can
still be happy. Paul was sitting in jail, didn't
have a home. Here's a better illustration
of that. Never on the home, never on the
horse, never on the chariot, never been on one suit of clothing,
one pair of sandals. When his horse had been on, his
friends forsook him. Because he's sad and unhappy
and it's all a waste of vanity. He is life. He's the only one
standing on the earth really living. Right? He ate and he drank and he and
he did all these things, but he didn't have anything, but
yet, oh, was he blessed to the Father. The word blessed means
happy, joy, life eternal, life more abundant,
knowing God, knowing the Creator. David was a man after God's own
heart. David, the sweet psalmist, sat
out on the hillside watching sheep. That's a good thing. We all need to do it. You put
man in the midst of concrete and steel all his life, and he'll
be like a caged animal. And he'd sit out on the hillside
a little bit and enjoy some of God's creation. You won't find
out God there. I mean, you won't come to know
God there. You won't come to know salvation.
He's only known through this Word. But David sat out on the
hill, thinking about God's Word, looking at God's creation. Oh,
he said, the heavens declare thy glory, the firmament showeth
thy handiwork. Day unto day others speak, night
unto night. That big ball of fire rising
in the sky, he'd say, God is. A big full moon come up. Oh,
the moon. Stars. He orders the stars. He calleth them all by name,
by number of them. Look at himself. Oh, I'm fearfully
and wonderfully made. I have a creator. Blessed be
God in everything that's within me. Bless his holy name. God
made this day for me to enjoy. You can't enjoy a day unless
you realize, unless you believe God made it for you. Do you believe that? I know it's so, people. I lived
years without even looking at a sunset. You look at it, oh,
it's perfect. Give me a drink, and blot everything out. Know
in the Creator, when I consider the heavens, the works of thy
fingers, what is man? Know in the Sovereign, David
said, thou art my God, and my times are in thy hands. Look
here at Ecclesiastes 9, verse 1, he says, to the wise, to the righteous,
to the wise, their works are in the hand of God. The world
that doesn't even believe God, they don't believe God's work
in anything. They sure don't believe their times are in His
hands. They have no hope, no peace, no comfort. They believe
if they're going to get it, they're going to have to get it. If they're
going to make it, they're going to have to make it. If they're
going to have happiness, they're going to have to make it. And strive though
they will, they can't find it. That's what Solomon said. They're
going to keep trying and trying, but they can't find it. Solomon said, I had it. I didn't
find it, though. Knowing the Sovereign. Lord,
here's it. Here's happiness. You want contentment?
Here's a man, Job. Now, he had it all then. Job.
Big family. Big farm. You name it. Was he
happy when he had all that? Sure he was. The Lord took it
all away. What did he say? Oh, the Lord gave, the Lord taketh
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Oh, there's contentment, isn't
there? No one is sorry. This is my God. My God. You see,
That's the only peace and happiness you'll have is that God gave
it to me. Well, thank you, Lord. God took it away. Well, it's
His. You see? If you got it and you
lose it, you've lost it. You will lose it. You follow that? knowing the
Sovereign, Thou art my God." And our Lord went on to say,
this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom He sent. This world revolves because
of a person named Jesus Christ. He's not only the one spinning
it, but it's in existence because He came to this world. All things
were created by him and for him. He's ahead of all things. By
him all things consist, the scripture says. He's the sun, the center
of the universe. Everything revolves around him.
Man, in his foolish ignorance, though he doesn't know or believe
Jesus Christ, he will acknowledge that one lived here on this planet
years ago. And funny and ironic though it
may be, he measures time by this person's life. The man condemns himself. Every time a man looks at a calendar,
A.D., it's measured by this one that lived on this planet years
ago, Jesus Christ. Though he gives no thought to
this Jesus Christ, he's sitting in Jesus Christ's hands at that
moment, right there, to do with as he pleases. This is life,
that they might know thee. the one whom thou hast sent."
Why he came? Why'd he come here? Why'd God
come to this earth? What'd he do when he got here? Huh? Who
is God? Who is this Jesus Christ? Men
and women don't have a clue unless they know the answers to these
questions. This is life eternal, that they might know thee. You'll
understand that this—you'll understand why this world is spinning. at
the word of Jesus Christ and why it's been. Because he has
a purpose for it's running its course. Every night. I'm outside nearly
every single night looking at the stars. There's a. There's a configuration of stars
we call the Big Dipper. It's just amazing. And just to
think, all this just evolved, you know. The end of that dipper points
to the North Star. It has for thousands of years. Exactly, you want to know how,
Walter Hoover told me how to do this. I never did know. You
men know this? The end of that big dipper, the
end of that ladle, that square ladle, the end of that ladle,
on the end of it, you'll take your finger and hold it and expand
those two stars. And run a straight line five
times from there. One, two, three, four, five.
There's the North Star. Right there. And you'll know
how to get home. North Star. It's always, it's
always that way. I go out, I went out one night
and there was a Big Dipper. It's upside down over here on
the west. One, two, three, there's the North Star. Went out the
next morning before the sun came up. Well, there's the Big Dipper.
It's right side up. It's over here on the east. One,
two, three, four, five. North stop. Upside down, inside
out. There's the victim. There's the
north stop. Ain't we lucky? Man's a fool. I look at that
and say, oh, God is marvelous. God is glorious. God is infinite
in his wisdom. Man sails his boats and plants
his garden and all that by God's order. doesn't give God a thought. This is life, life eternal, life
more abundant, real life, spiritual life, understanding. Man's in
search of understanding, so he builds these big edifices. We're
going to fill up our heads with knowledge. Repent and let themselves
be wise, they become utter fools. They educate God by other minds. God, listen to this. After that,
in the wisdom of God, man by wisdom knew not God. He pleased
God with the foolishness of the preacher. An uneducated fisherman,
stand up and baffle the ancients. Why? He knows God. He knows Christ. He knows the one who put the
stars out there. The Redeemer, to know Christ. I am come that
they might have life." Christ didn't come to show us how to
live, but to be life. We're dead without him, dead
in sin. He said, I'm unrighteous. Christ
is righteousness. If you know this, this is life. I'm a guilty sinner. Christ is
my substitute. I'm helpless. I can't do anything.
Paul said it's not even sufficient to think anything right. except
Christ be made unto us wisdom. I am poor and needy, helpless
and needy, yet Christ thinketh on me. He hath regarded my helpless
state. I rejoice in the Lord. Paul said,
Rejoice in the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he's known,
God the Father, God the Creator, God the Son, is known one way. Not by looking at the stars. Not by looking at the stars.
If so, astronomers would be the most godly men on earth. Oh,
no. Not by looking at creation. Right here. Faith, that's knowledge of God,
belief in the true God, belief in Christ, knowing Christ. Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by what? The Word of God. And this is by design. This is
marvelous. This is God's wisdom. Why? Because we all have the same
source. And it doesn't change. It stays
the same. And we all have the same source.
And the laborer in the ditch, he has to hear it from here.
And the lawyer in the courthouse, he has to hear it from here.
And they all get it from the same place. And it's all right by revelation. And our knowledge and our communion
with God. Our understanding of God. Our
understanding of Christ. And our cognizance, is that too
big a word? Our recognizing that he is and that we're with him,
our communion. It's right here. It's all right
here. It's all right here. Desire the sincere milk of the
word that you might grow thereby. Spiritual growth comes by you.
Why are we dull of hearing? You never eat carrots all your
life, you go blind. Huh? My parents used to tell
me that. You've never seen a rabbit wearing
glasses, have you? Any of you? Ever seen a rabbit
wearing glasses? You'll get fat on grass. I've got horses that'll tell
you that. You'll get a big old belly. Grass! This is called the green pastures
of His Word. This is the milk, the meat, the
honey, the water, all these things. It's called. The believers, bread. Man doesn't live by bread alone. You're going to die no matter
how much you eat and how well you take care of this body. You're
going to die. But man, he said, liveth by every word which proceedeth
out of the mouth of God. You grow in grace and the knowledge
of Christ hath by the milk of the word. And those who started out nursing,
They're pretty healthy babies. Thou hast known the Scriptures
that were able to make thee wise, I'm saying. It's a real head
start. The Word of God, which liveth
in his life. All right, this happiness, this
key to eternal happiness, knowing God, knowing Christ, comes through
this Word. It's really a mystery. It's a
mystery. that you can observe some who
have it. You'll ask them, what's your
source of joy? How come you're so happy? How come you have this peace?
I don't understand it. This peace you have passes understanding. How can you go through this?
How can you, how can you, how can you, how can you? This is life. You can lose everything in this
life and have life. All right, now let me give you
some more keys. The keys, this key of eternal
life is also the key to temporal happiness. Would you stay with
me? I can read some of you like books. I've been preaching to
you too long and you can't fake it. I know when you're with me. Please. Everybody here needs this. This is the key also to
temporal happiness. Joy and happiness in this life.
Joy and happiness. There's never going to be any
peace or any joy or any happiness in your heart, in your mind,
in your soul if you have guilt on your soul. No, none. And there's only one place guilt
is removed. Christ said, their sins and iniquities
I will remember no more. This is a profound statement,
but it's so. There's never going to be any
lasting peace, joy, happiness in your heart, mind, soul, in
your life here if you have this sin issue hanging over your head. Uh-huh. This is something God puts in
the heart of man. He's not going to have peace
because there's this thing between him and God. God is peace. is a wall, is a separation between
God who is life. And unless this barrier is removed,
unless this sin issue is resolved, some of you know what I'm talking
about. And that's the best I can say about it. It's only done
away in Christ. You take this and you chew on
it for a few days. Only if you see your sins absolutely
gone in Christ, your guilt removed, Peace over the past sin, peace
over the present sin, and yes, there's going to be future. You
can still have peace. This whole world, storms and
this and that and the other of life, and everything's brewing,
troubles, terrorism, whatever it may be, is by design, by God's
design, because man is not at peace with God. God does not
love every human being. That's why we die. If God loved
everyone, why would he kill them? Sin! I ain't talking about drinking
a beer. That ain't sin. Sin is not being
interested in Jesus Christ. Says not giving God a thought,
drinking his water for forty years, and not even saying thank
you. Says having everything given,
to give, give, give, give, and not giving him one word of acknowledgement. Well, thank you, Lord. Drinking a beer. smoking a cigarette. How ridiculous. That's not the
issue between God and man. It's this absolute rejection
of God in the heart of every man that won't even acknowledge
God, and there's a universal conspiracy to try to do away
with it. No, there's no creator. We just happen. Big bang, we know. Man is going
to finally hear a big bang. No, there's no peace. There's
no joy. There's no happiness. There's not ever going to be
between God and men as long as this sin issue doesn't And it
can't be done away with by, oh, I'll quit my drinking, I'll quit
my smoking. Well, I'll just attend church. Will you attend church?
Well, good for you. God is so happy. Aren't we happy
to have so-and-so? Church can't be church without
you. He says it over and over again.
These people draw near to me with their lips. They're going
to church to play church. People that go to church, really
go to church, go to worship God, go to thank God, go to hear from
God. God, teach me. I don't know anything.
God, help me. God, enlighten me. God, thank
you. I'm ignorant. I'm undone. I'm
unclean. I'm sinful. Help me. Have mercy. Have grace.
Have goodness. Spare me. Teach me. Show me. Lead me. Guard me. Help me. Those are God-seekers. God shows him the deep things
of God, what life is all about. No, there's no peace for the
godless. Let me tell you this, but listen
to this. If this isn't so, tell me if this isn't so. Happiness
is dependent on something you look forward to. Is that not right? Happiness—everybody
in here is working towards something. You're working toward retirement,
not Henry. He ain't never going to retire.
There ain't a rocking chair anywhere around your house, is there? Seriously. And it's the same
with all strong, robust men. As long as you got health and
strength, you ought to do some work. Our happiness, most of life,
is in the mundane things. Wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed,
go to work, come home, eat a little bit, play a little bit, sleep
a little bit, get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, go to work, come
home, eat a little bit, play a little bit, go to sleep. But
you're looking for something. You're looking—we're working
five days a week. What are we looking for? The weekend. Ah, boy. Boy, that
doesn't last, does it? It's Friday. Oh, it's Monday. Is that not right? Oh, it's Friday. Whoo, man, it's Friday. Ding-a-ling-a-ling.
It's going to be all right. Monday. It sure didn't last. Something we're looking for vacation. I'm going to work. Well, I'm
going to work. I'm going to work 35 years, so
I'm going to have two weeks vacation. That'll make me happy. Whoo,
man. Vanity of vanities. Two weeks. Home. I'm going to work real
hard, and I'm going to have me a home. Yes, you will. Yes, you will. But trust me, it won't make you
happy. A woodpecker can drive you crazy. If your house is wood, retirement,
I'm going to retire. None of these give lasting happiness. You're looking forward to it,
looking forward to it, because it ends. And in this life, nothing
will give lasting happiness because it's going to end. It's going to end. And nobody looks forward to death except, except who? Those that have life. Are you with me? Those that have life be on their
death bed. and say, it's all right. It's all right. If you don't
have this life, you're going to kick and scratch with every
fiber of your being to hang on to this. I need some more happiness. It's going to end. And then what? For those who have life, it really They shuffle off this death,
this body of death, like a worm who's entered into the cocoon,
shuffles off this mortal coil, and he's got new wings, finally. Scripture even says that, he's
going to fly into the face of God. No, no tears, no sorrow, no sickness,
no sadness, no nothing like that. Eternal joy. Enter thou, beloved
of the Lord, into the eternal joy of the Lord. Happy. Rest in peace. And it starts here. It starts here. And this is the savor of life
to the life. Life to life I mention death
to some, and I mention death to others, the savior of life to those who
have eternal life. Christ in you, the hope of glory,
no secret. I'm going to worship you. If I say let me let me think
of an illustration. Let's see let me think of a good
illustration here. American saddle breads. Some of you don't even know what
that's talking about. But those that are interested.
Let's see here. Ten point buck. I see some real eyes raised up
there, about a hundred of them. No, we don't have a hundred. Five pound bass. T.J. Maxx. I bring that up every time. I
want to quit saying that. I'm sorry, honey. You're just there. Name something. If it's what's in you, what you
like, right? Jesus Christ and him crucified. It's either there or it's not,
you know. But God gives it to those that desire it, and life—let
me give you—I've got to quit, all right? I've got to quit.
I have many things I wanted to say to you. He says here, I didn't
even—oh, my. OK, chapter 9, look with me,
verse 1. He says, say this to the righteous.
I'm going to declare this, verse 1, that the righteous and the
wise, well, who's that talking about? There's none righteous,
no, not one. There's no, there's not a just
man on earth. There's not a sinless person on the earth. But they
are in Christ. Those that are in Christ are
righteous. He's made unto us righteousness and wisdom. Those who are wise know him.
That's who this is talking about. Tell them their works, verse
one, their works are in the hands of God. And we know that all things work,
who knows? Those who know Christ. We know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
who are called according to his purpose. Tell them their works
in the hands of God, that everything about them is ordained by God,
that they're in the hands of God, that they're hedged about by
God. It's God that worketh in them, both the will and the do.
Tell them that. I'm here to declare it, Solomon
said. It's God that worketh in us, both the will and the do.
If we fail, we're in God's hands. If we succeed, you didn't do
it. You've got to do it. Failure, success, good, bad,
old, young, you're innocent. It's all right. It's going to
be all right. Tell them. I'm here to declare
it. Tell those that believe Christ it's going to be all right if
you're in God's hands. I can't say that to everybody.
You're under God's wrath. Rejoice, believers, rejoice,
for you're in the Lord. Look, go on down, all the way
down to verse seven. Now, he's talking to believers
here. Did you notice how there's a change here? It goes on down
to say, everything comes to like to all that live and die, whatever
it may be. But now, go on down. Verse seven,
he picks this up again, Brother Sam. He's talking to the righteous.
He's talking about those No God, no Christ. Go your way. Eat thy bread with what? Joy. How can you do that? God gave me the bread. Thank
you, Lord, for the bread, the joy. Thank you, Lord. Drink thy
wine with a merry heart. I ain't supposed to drink wine,
am I? God says do it, and do it with a merry heart. Thank
you, Lord. Thank you. For God now accepteth thy works." Everything about a believer is
accepted. They're accepted. In the beloved,
Scripture says, go your way, whatever you do. Do it with joy. Enjoy it. God giveth us richly
all things to enjoy, Scripture says. Richly all things to what? I have to conclude that these
miserable religious people out there don't know God. I have
to conclude that people out there touch not, taste not, handle
not, can't enjoy anything that are miserable human beings, they
must not know God. God giveth us richly all things. to enjoy! You young people know me a long
time. Am I miserable? Hand it on that side. Everybody
else. Do our students seem miserable? I guarantee you haven't enjoyed,
you don't enjoy things like I do. Richly, all things you eat, drink,
child of God, child of the King. Verse 8, he says, and you know,
that certainly is a spiritual picture there, isn't it? By faith
in Christ, our bread and our wine, oh, there's joy. You see, notice the story within
the story here. This is Christ, the believer's
bread, and the believer's wine gives you joy. and a merry heart,
God accept you in him. Verse 8, Let thy garments be
always white. If we're wearing Christ's righteousness,
they are. Huh? They are. We're righteous. We're accepted in the blood.
And he's also saying here, wash your clothes. Oh, you're not
supposed to wear nice clothes. It's religious to look, you know, You're not religious
unless you look plain. You show me a plain flower on
this earth. You show me a plain anything
that God made. God didn't make this whole world
in black and white and exactly the same. Huh? He talks about the lilies and
being arrayed, and Solomon and all his glory. What? Oh, you're not supposed to like
clothes, nice clothes. If you was religious like me,
you wouldn't like nice clothes, you know. Lift your head like
no ointment. Comb your hair. I know why women
like this beauty parlor. I went in one time waiting on
my wife. It's like a country club in there. Seriously, they
sit in there and spend all day in that. Are you with me? Sure
you do. You go in there not just to have
your hair done, you go in there to have a good time. The women
are talking, there's magazines, there's music playing, there's
whatever, it's just a good time. You know, you linger and linger. I sat in there one time. Magazines
and all that stuff. They leave the housework and
all that and go to, whew, a little oasis. Have your hair done. Huh? Have your hair done. Verse 9, "'Live joyfully with
the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity.'"
Live joyfully all the days of thy life with that wife. One
other place he talks about living with the wife of your youth.
Now, you listen to me, men. You listen to me now very carefully. He said, "'Live joyfully with
the wife of your youth.'" Sitting beside you was the woman
of your dreams when you were a young man. You ate, drank, and slept thinking
about her, and you gave up the world to spend an hour with her. It's the same woman Unless in God's purpose that's
over, whoever you're with now is your wife. Live joyfully. If you're not
a joy to her, you're not living with her or dwelling with her
according to knowledge, God's not happy. And you probably don't
know life. He that loveth not his brother
He doesn't even mention his wife. He that loveth not his wife,
he doesn't even mention that. That goes without saying. Huh? He that loveth not knoweth
not God. How can you say you love God
if you don't love that woman sitting beside you who's your
servant? It's the same one you married,
the same one you were just dreaming of. Maybe she's got a few pounds
on her, and a few gray hairs, but you do too. I had a forehead
of hair when I married my wife. And people, it doesn't matter
if they're an unbeliever or a believer either, it's the same one. That's your wife, that's your
husband. And live joyfully. If you're
miserable, and making her miserable, you don't know misery yet. And take that as a warning, not
from this preacher, but from God Almighty. Live joyfully.
Be there for her. Love your wives, he says it over
and over again, like Christ loved the Church and gave Not the paycheck
himself to her. The same goes for the woman.
But you don't know the man I'm married to. What about yourself? Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Are you Miss Perfect? This is your portion. Look at verse 10. Verse 10, he
says, Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. Whatever your hand finds to do,
do it with all your might. He said in another place, whether
you eat or drink, do it all. If you're going to eat, go ahead
and eat. How do people on diets enjoy
dinner? I don't understand. Get off that
stuff. You tell your doctor, I said,
get off, you can get off that diet. Just don't eat all day
long. But when it's time to eat, eat! Ask John that. Do you
enjoy eating, John? Eat! With all of your heart.
With all of your, eat! If you're going to pray, pray!
If you're going to work, work! Anything
halfway done is just that, half. And you're miserable and it's
miserable, a miserable attempt. If you're going to play, if you're
going to worship, worship whatever it may be, you know
something. Let me close. with with you. You know the happiness is a choice. You listen to. Get up in the morning. And get up in the morning. And
you choose to be miserable. Every morning is the same, and you can choose to be miserable.
Oh, now, it's Monday. I've got to go to work. If you can get up in the morning, you better start shouting to
high heaven. If you can raise your head off
of the You better be thanking God. If you've got a job to go to, you best be thanking God for
it. You remember that little Down syndrome man I told you
about years ago? John. Most of you know him. He
works up here at the little short fella about four foot two. Down
syndrome. He's in his sixties now. One
time he came up to me so excited. And he said, hey, he said, I
get to go to work. I get to go to work, he said.
He said, I get to go to work, and he said, and you know what?
They pay me too. The Lord saved at the temple. The Lord saved at the temple.
The Lord saved at the temple. The Lord saved at the temple.
Love is a cheerful giver. I get to go to work. Try this.
Try this. Would you try this? I said it's
a choice. Wake up in the morning. Alarm comes on. Try this. Hallelujah! Try it! Hallelujah! At least praise the
Lord. I'm just not stopping off here. I've got a job to feed my family. But you're in bed. Everybody's
in bed. That's why you got a job. Huh? Let me try. It's a choice. I'm going to be
miserable. Good morning. What's good about
it? Here's another key. I want you
to. John seventeen. John thirteen. John thirteen. Here's a key to
happiness. Key to happiness. John thirteen.
Look at this. Real quickly. I promise this
is it. I promise. Our Lord here in John thirteen,
verse seventeen. Look at this. John thirteen,
verse seventeen. Our Lord said, If you know these
things, happy are you if you do them. happy. I'll be happy. Our Lord said,
if you know these things, you'll be happy. If you do them, if
you just know them, if you do them, what's he talking about?
What's the whole chapter about? Our Lord was washing his disciples'
feet. He just got through washing their
stinking dirty And he said, if you know these
things, happy are you. You do them. The Lord is not
going to give any peace, any happiness to somebody that lives
for themselves. If you live alone, you will die
alone. If you live to make yourself
happy, You're selfish. And our Lord said a key to happiness,
blessed, is more blessed to give than to receive. Happy, that's
what blessed means, happy to give than to receive. If all we ever do is cook to
feed ourselves, Our bodies are going to grow
fat, and our souls are going to grow lean. If all we ever
do is buy things—people buy things to get happy, don't they? Don't
they? A woman's miserable. I'm going
to buy a new dress. That'll make me happy. I tell
you, our Lord said, you buy somebody else something, and I'll make
you happy. Now, you think about somebody
that you think is happy. You get somebody in your mind
right now that you think is a happy, contented, blessed person, and
they just seem like a happy person all the time. Think about it.
And I'll show you somebody who's a people person. Who's already doing something
for other people. Having them in their home. Serving. And Christ said, you do it unto
them, you do it unto me, and I'll give you peace and happiness.
There'll be happiness. If you show me somebody who's
miserable all the time, I'll show you somebody that's a loner.
A loner. A loner. Keys to happiness. Want to be happy? Make somebody
happy. Want to have friends? Be a fan. He's that man. Happy are if you
notice that. Happy are if you do them. Do
them. Fill that home with saints. Fill
it up. Wake up in the morning. Shout
hallelujah. Give thanks to God. All right. Took too long, but it was necessary. Good food. Brother John, what's
that number we have picked out? Come up. Two fifty-five, blessed assurance. Stand and sing the first and
last verses. Let's stand. Two fifty-five,
first and last verses. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
Blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Blessed is the fruit of
thy womb. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb. This is my song. This is my song.
This is my song. This is my song. There's a good man walking his
way, looking out wide. There's a good man walking his way. This is my glory, this is my
song, Praising my Saviour all the day long. This is my glory, this is my song, Praising my Saviour all the day
long. you.