I want to thank you, Pastor Kazi,
and this congregation for hosting us here this weekend. It's a
delight to be with you again, and I trust that God will cause
his word to bring forth fruit in our lives in the days to come.
Pray for me, my wife, our congregation in Danville, and we seek to pray
for you as we together serve the cause of our Redeemer, the
interest of his kingdom in this generation. When we got here
Thursday after taking a short nap, I went to work on my messages,
knowing I'd be preaching three times, and I had no idea what
the other men would be preaching. But last night you heard the
excellent demonstration from Scripture of the teaching with
regard to the blessed, glorious gospel doctrine of free justification
in Christ. And then this morning, Brother
John, following up with that on the matter of that peace that
is ours because of that free justification. And I want to
just pick up right where Brother John left off. Our Lord Jesus was delivered
for our offenses. He was delivered to death under
the sword of divine justice. with no mercy, because he was
made sin for us, our sins made him, made his, made him worthy
of death. And he was raised again for our
justification. That is, he was raised again
from the dead because he, by one sacrifice for sin, forever
put away our sins. He didn't just cover them up.
He didn't pretend they don't exist. He, by the sacrifice of
himself, has forever put away our sins, all our sins, past,
present, and future. Therefore, being justified, we have peace
with God. Oh, if God would give us a real
sense of our absolute righteousness, justification, in, by, and with
Jesus Christ, His Son, we would walk through this world in peace. Peace. I'm not talking about
something put on, pretend. I'm talking about peace. When
I talk about joy in the Lord, I'm not talking about going around
acting like you're crazy and, you know, just smiling, grinning
like a possum eating briars and pretend that you got some joy.
I'm talking about a life of joy and peace. That's what is a life
of faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Turn with me, if you will,
to Ecclesiastes, the book of Ecclesiastes. I once heard a preacher attempting
to expound the book of Ecclesiastes, and this is how he began his
exposition. He said, if you read the book
of Ecclesiastes, you can only understand it as the expressions
of a frustrated man, a man frustrated with life, a man who had a real
problem with depression. I thought, what a shocking way
to introduce the Word of God. Ecclesiastes is written by the
preacher. A preacher inspired of God. A preacher who was the wisest
man who had ever lived to that time. A preacher who understood
things as they really are. He understood things as they
really are. Now, I want you to hear what
I'm saying. Oh, I pray that God will graciously cause you to
hear it and understand it. God's elect are accepted and
saved and are worthy of heaven in the last day. because of our
union with Jesus Christ, his son. God's elect are accepted
and saved and worthy of heaven at the last day because of our
union with Jesus Christ. We are accepted in the beloved. how we ought to rejoice, accepted
in the beloved, how we ought to give thanks to God, accepted
in the beloved, how freely we ought to live. Religion is designed
to control people. Almost all forms of religion
designed to manipulate, Designed to keep people in bondage. Designed
to get you to do things you wouldn't otherwise do. Designed to get
you to be afraid of God. I was talking to a pastor friend
just the other day. We come to the Lord's table, we treat the
bread and wine almost, almost as horribly as the papists do
in a sacramental way. Our Lord gave us this ordinance
to remember him by. That ought not cause you to just,
oh, I don't know what I should do. I'm not worthy. Oh, I couldn't
do. No. He commands us to eat the
bread and drink the wine in remembrance of him. I had difficulty, frankly,
for many years, up until just a couple of years ago, understanding
in this age of spirit worship, why did our master give us two
carnal ordinances. Two carnal ordinances by which
to remember Him. Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Baptism is simple enough. You see a clear symbolism of
the fulfillment of all righteousness in the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ which we attest in this symbolic picture. But why
the bread and wine? As Peter made very clear, the
bread representing his holy humanity, the wine representing his sin-atoning
blood. But why these elements given
for us constantly to take them and remember him? Brother Marvin
Starnaker, who pastors in Katy, West Virginia, went there after
Scott Richardson. Scott had been pastor there for
54 years. And Scott remained in the church
there until the Lord took him home about eight years. Just
before he died, Marvin told me this story just a little after
he died. He said, Brother Scott came into the office one day
and he said, Marvin, I want to give you something to remember
me by. And he pulled out a pocket knife. And Marvin said, I looked
at that and I said, Brother Scott, I don't need something to remember
you by. He said, put the knife in your pocket and you'll remember
me. And Marvin sitting at the dinner table, Shelby and I were
sitting there, he was telling me a story. He said, brother Don,
I took that knife, and he said, I never pick it up that I don't
remember Scott. He said, if I get dressed in
the morning, put it in my pocket, I remember Scott. Get it out and clean my
fingernails, I remember Scott. Pull it out and open an envelope,
I remember Scott. Go home at night, enter in my
pockets, lay it on the dresser, I remember Scott. That's the
reason. It's impossible, absolutely impossible
for you and I to eat that bread and drink that wine without remembering
our Savior. Everything about the worship
and service of our God ought to be just that free, just that
easy, just that comfortable. How would you like to go out
tomorrow morning, you men and women, Y'all have a holiday tomorrow,
don't you? Make it Tuesday morning. Go out
and go to work, and you go through the day, and all the stuff that
goes with it. And come home at the end of the
day, tired and weary, and know that through the day, you've
walked with God, under the smile of God, with
the approval of God, accepted of God. Oh, you can get rid of
your value now. God smiles on me. God accepts
me. Let's see what the book says.
We are accepted and worthy of heaven, not shall be, but right
now worthy of heaven made me to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light because of our union with Christ. And
yet the book of God tells us, plainly and repeatedly, that
we all shall be judged according to our works, judged worthy of
heaven or of hell according to our works. Listen to the scriptures. Our Savior said plainly, they
shall come forth They that have done good to the resurrection
of life, they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation. He tells us that we shall be
judged every man according to his works. But pastor, we believe
in salvation by grace alone. Indeed we do. were saved by God's
free grace, eternal, free, sovereign, unconditional, unalterable, immutable
grace. And yet the scriptures tell us
repeatedly, repeatedly, shall he not judge every man according
to his works? Are we not told plainly over
and over again our God says I will recompense them according to
their needs and according to the works of their own hands.
He shall reward every man according to his works. Turn to Revelation
20. Hold your hands in Ecclesiastes.
Turn to Revelation 20. Our Lord says in Revelation 2,
I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts and I will give unto
every one of you according to your works. Look at Revelation
20 verse 12. And I saw the dead small and
great stand before God and the books were opened and another
book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books according
to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man,
according to their works. All right, back to Ecclesiastes. We shall be judged according
to our works. Is that what the book says? Of
course it is. Now, which of you, which of you
in this house now is ready to meet God in judgment with his
works? That thought generally fills
our minds with terror. Meet God and be judged at the
great white throne of the all-seeing, omniscient God. He who knows
everything from whom nothing is hidden. Shall we be judged
according to our works? Somehow we've got to read that
another way. If you read it another way, you
read it in rebellion to God. We shall be judged. every one of us according to
our works. Let's look at Ecclesiastes chapter
9 and verse 7. I'm going to try as God will
enable me to preach to you on this remarkable soul-cheering
subject. God now accepteth thy works. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 7. Go thy
way Eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart,
for God now accepteth thy works. These words are not addressed
to everyone. They're specifically addressed to the righteous and
the wise. They're addressed to those whose
works are in God's hand. to those who being the objects
of God's mercy, love, and grace had been made righteous and wise
in Christ Jesus. Look at verse 1. For all this
I considered in my heart, even to declare all this, that the
righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God.
No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before
him. To those people who are described
here as men and women whose works are in the hand of God, the Spirit
of God says in chapter 8 and verse 15, then I commended mirth,
I commended happiness, because a man hath no better thing under
the sun than to eat and to drink and to be merry For that shall
abide with him of his labor the days of his life, which God hath
given him under the sun. Now we've read those words somewhere
else, haven't we? In the twelfth chapter of Luke's
gospel, Our Lord tells us about a rich man who did not know God,
a rich man who was lost, a rich man who was not wise, a rich
man who was not righteous. He said, soul, thou hast much
goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink,
and be merry. And God called that man a fool.
But here Solomon speaks of the righteous and the wise whose
works are in God's hands. And he says, a man hath no better
thing under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry for that
shall abide with him of the labor of his days of his life, which
God had given him under the sun. If God accepts my works, If God accepts my works, I have
every reason to eat, drink, and be merry while I walk through
this world in anticipation of eternity. If God accepts my works,
because my works shall abide with me all the days of my life,
and they shall follow me to glory. Now, I am very strict in my the
way I approach scriptures. Let's look at the context. Our
text is Ecclesiastes 9, 7, but you'll never understand the text
to write if you don't see it in its context. So we'll begin
back here in chapter 8 in verse 15 that we read a moment ago.
This I commend, the wise man, the preacher, writing by divine
inspiration, I commended mirth, happiness, Because a man hath
no better thing under the sun. This is the best thing you can
do. This is the best thing you can do. This will make your life
easier than to eat and to drink and to be merry. Well, anybody
can do that. Let's see. For that shall abide
with him of his labor of the days of his life, which God giveth
him under the sun. In other words, whatever the
number of the days of our lives are under the sun, they're appointed
by God and given to us by God. This obviously is true, both
of the righteous and of the unrighteous, both of the elect and of the
reprobate. Verse 16, when I applied mine
heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done upon
the earth, For also there is that neither day nor night seeth,
sleep with his eyes. Now here's something no man can
ever discover. No matter how diligently he searches
it out, no matter how he speaks of it, this defines everything
in the context. Verse 17. Then I beheld all the
work of God. that a man cannot find out the
work that is done under the sun. Because though a man labored
to seek it out, yet he shall not find it. Yea, father, though
a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find
it. The thing that God calls for
us to eat, in which he calls us to eat and drink and be married,
is his work. His work that cannot be discovered
by human wisdom. His work that man cannot find
out because he set the world in man's heart. Man can't discover
this, therefore he's got to go to the street. He's got to go
get some pills. He's got to go find out what's
wrong with him. He's got to have somebody help
him treat him, get him through the world. He's got to have some
crutches to walk on. He can't find out the work of God. I'm talking redemption, absolute
deliverance, complete deliverance from the fall, from sin, from
death, from hell, from all the consequences of sin and death
and hell. This is redemption by Jesus Christ
our Lord. Verse 1, chapter 9, for all this
I considered in my heart. even to declare all this, that
the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of
God. No man knoweth either love or
hatred by all that is before him." Well, everybody knows what
love and hatred is. Ask them. Just ask them. Nobody knows. You can't find
that out in this world. Neither love nor hatred. can
be known, measured, or understood except by God's work. Here is
both love and hatred. Jacob have I loved. Esau have
I hated. Everything is good for Jacob. Nothing's good for Esau. This
is the work of God that man can't discover. Verse two. All things
come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous
and to the wicked. You and I, who are believers,
go through and experience all the things that other men and
women go through and experience in this world. The pains, the
heartaches, the trials, the troubles, the ups, the downs, the domestic
trouble, heartache with children, heartache with husbands, heartache
with wives. You and I as believers have all the same things in life
experience that other men and women have. To the good and to
the clean, to the good and the clean, to the unclean and to
him that sacrifices, and to him that sacrifices not. As is the
good, so is the sin. And he that sweareth, as he that
feareth an oath. This is an evil among all things
that are done under the sun, that there is one event to all.
Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness
is in their heart while they live, and after that they go
to the dead. For to him that is joined to
all the living, there is hope. For a living dog is better than
a dead lion. For the living know that they
shall die, but the dead know not anything. Neither have they
any more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their
love and their hatred and their envy is now perished. Neither
have they any more portion forever, for anything that is done under
the sun. Now, let's look at our text.
Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, drink thy wine with a merry
heart, for God now accepteth thy works. Remember, Solomon
is talking about God's work of redemption, God's grace, God's
salvation, that which is hidden from the men of this world. We
read in chapter three, verse 11, he hath made everything beautiful
in his time. Also, he has set the world in
their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from the beginning to the end. All right, now let's stay right
here with verse seven, and I want us to look at it line by line.
Go thy way. How often we're brought low and
made downcast by distressing providence. Often looking at
outward things, we begin to think like brute beast. Do you remember
how David expressed himself? He said, is I saw the prosperity
of the wicked, Psalm 73. Their eyes bug out with fatness.
Their children, all their children come home for all the holidays.
All the grandchildren are sitting around the table. They've never
had one boy in prison. They've never had one daughter
on the streets. They've never had any trouble. He said, I looked
at that and I thought, I'm serving God for nothing. I've washed
my hands in innocence. I thought it's stupid for me
to serve God when these folks live like that. And I look at
my family, look at my house. He said, I would have said it,
but I didn't dare offend against the generation of your children.
Then I went to the house of God and I understood their end. God has set them in slippery
places. God's fattening them like calves
for the slaughter. Why should I envy the prosperity
of the wicked? God's chosen me. God's accepted
me. God's redeemed me. God's forgiven
me. I am one with God's Son now and
forever. Let me then mark what God has
done and rejoice. Blush my soul with shame before God every time
we think about life in this world as brute beast. Whom have I in
heaven but thee? There is none upon earth that
I desire beside thee. When my heart and my flesh shall
fail me, the Lord shall take me up. Here in our text, we're
urged to set our hearts upon God our God, grace, his grace,
and watching God and his grace, observing God and his grace,
believing God and his grace. Solomon tells us to march through
this world with triumph, with the joy of absolute conquest. The word translated, go thy way.
has many shades of meaning. It might be translated, pursue
your way, march in your way, or even vanish in your way. The admonition carries with it
the sense of joy and the victory. That's how God's people ought
to live in this world. That's how we ought to walk through
this world, joyful, triumphant, and confident, through faith
in Christ our Savior. Joyful, triumphant, and confident
all the time. You see, Christ is our way. If Christ is my way, I have no
reason to fear, no reason to live in fear, no reason to experience
fear. Christ is our way of acquaintance
with the Father. Christ is our way of access to
the Holy God. Christ is our way of atonement
for all sin. Christ is the old way, the narrow
way, the only way. Christ is the way we walk to
God. Christ is the way we walk with
God. Christ is the way wherein we
stand in acceptance with God. Though our way is the way of
the cross, The way of the cross leads home, so let us walk in
it with joy. The way of the righteous is made
plain, Solomon said. For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish,
our way. God knows it. God ordered it. God prepared it. God guides us
in it. God smiles upon it. God approves
of it. But the ungodly, their way shall
perish. Now what was it you envied about
them? What was it they got that you wish you had? He is with
us in the way. He holds us in the way. He carries
us all the way. Our way is the way appointed
for us every step of the way by our blessed God and Savior.
It's called the highway of holiness. The highway of holiness by which
the ransomed of the Lord return and walk to Zion with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads. And the wicked shall not walk
in this way. Look at the next line. Eat thy
bread. Eat thy bread. Understand this
both spiritually and physically. Understand this in a very real
spiritual sense and in a very real natural sense. The wise
man speaks to us by the spirit of inspiration and says eat thy
bread with joy. That admonition may refer to
the bread of providence He said in chapter 8 verse 15, we read
it again. I commend mirth, because man
hath no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink
and to be merry. For that shall abide with him
of his labor the days of his life, which God giveth him under
the sun. Believing men and women, you
and I who are bought with the blood of Christ, you and I who
are loved of God, you and I who are born of God, ought to be
We ought to be, Peter, we ought to be the happiest, most careless. I don't mean careless in the
sense of irresponsible. I mean careless in the sense
of not having a care in the world. The most happy, careless, carefree
people in the world. Everything we possess is blessed
to us by Christ. And our God has promised that
we shall be blessed in the basket and in the store. Blessed when
we lie down at night and blessed when we rise up in the morning.
Blessed in our home and blessed when we go out to the field.
Blessed when we're resting and blessed when we're laboring.
Read the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy. Blessed of God going out and
coming home. Blessed of God today, tomorrow,
and forever. We are one with Jesus Christ. blessed of God in Jesus Christ,
accepted of God in Jesus Christ, one with Christ. But we have
other bread to eat other than just providence and the experience
of providence. We are ever to eat that bread
with joy. Christ is our bread. He is manna
for our souls. He's the source of all blessedness.
It is by eating his flesh and drinking his blood that blessedness
is ours. I have, for the last, what, 25
years, had to deal with diabetes. Not a problem, that's just one
of those things you have to deal with. It's part of dying, part of living,
however you want to put it. But I lived all my life, my favorite
food was bread. Mmm, bread. It's good stuff,
especially the homemade stuff she'd make. You could smell it
outside the house. And she'd make a couple of loaves
of her yeast bread and, oh man, we'd take that bread and get
a stick of butter, not that margarine stuff, butter, real stuff. And
I'd take a loaf of that bread, hot out of the oven, and eat
it. Man, that's good. And it was
suitable for the day. If I did that today, tomorrow
morning, I'd have a diabetic mess. But bread, this bread,
the sweetest bread there is. Christ, the bread of life. He
is suitable for every day and every need and every hour. This
bread is satisfying. Eat this bread and you're satisfied. The more you eat this bread,
the more satisfied you are. Eating this bread, you have a
greater hunger for the bread, but the hunger itself gives satisfaction. This bread is sweet bread. Oh, how delightful is the sweet
bread, Christ Jesus our Lord. Let us go our way and eat our
bread with joy. For Christ is our way and he's
our bread. Look at the next line. drink
thy wine with a merry heart." Drink thy wine with a merry heart. I have to say this because there
are a lot of folks who have strict rules and they say you got to
be a teetotaler, you can't have any wine. Drunkenness is horrible,
but if you want to have a glass of wine, go ahead and have it.
That's just fine. Drink your wine with a merry heart. How
kind, how gracious. how good our God must be. He
commands his children to be merry. He commands his children to be
merry. Like bread, wine is set before
us here as part of our daily diet. Bread speaks of that which
is necessary. Wine represents that which is
pleasurable. Both are to be used and enjoyed
by us freely. Bread represents the body of
Christ the wine represents his sin atoning blood Let us ever
eat this bread and drink that wine with a merry heart But Solomon's
urging us here to enjoy the bounty of God's providence and the bounty
of his saving grace in this world. Christ is our way, so walk in
the way. Christ is our bread, so eat the
bread with joy. His love is better than wine,
so drink the wine with a merry heart. Now here's the reason
for it all. Look at this next line. For God
now accepteth thy works. God now accepteth thy works. You men and women go about your
daily business and you try to live for God. And how your conscience
strikes you and strikes you hard because of all the evil that
pops up around you and out of you through the day. Is that
your experience? I had the blessed privilege of
spending my life studying, writing, preaching. And I had the same struggles
that you have with the same sins in me, the same sin that I am. And I'm going to tell you something
I guess maybe you don't expect the preacher to say. I blush to tell you, John, I
have a greater struggle with it right here than anywhere in Wonder that God would ever speak
through such a dirty pipe as this dirty pipe talking to you
now. But God says, God now accepteth thy works. What's he talking
about? As we make our pilgrimage through
this world of woe, he tells us to eat our bread and drink our
wine with joy, with a merry heart, because God accepts our works. He accepted us in His Son before
ever the worlds were made. He smiled on us. He accepted
us. He said, there's Don Fortner. There's Don Fortner. He's righteous.
He's holy. He's perfect. He has no sin. I smile on him. I approve of
him. He's perfect in my sight, without
spot in my sight. Oh, Brother Don, we know we're
not perfect. We know that. We know that. I want you to know
this. Yes, we are. Stephen, this is
what the Lord Jesus says about you and me, his bride. There is no spot in thee. There's no spot in thee. God now accepts our works. That which He accepted in eternity,
He does not unaccept in time. God now accepteth our works. This is much more than an assurance
that God will accept our works in eternity, or that God accepts
some of our works for Him. Rather, it is the assurance from
God Himself that He presently accepts and perpetually accepts
all the righteous and wise in perpetuity in the totality of
their lives. God didn't save my soul, he saved
me. God didn't save your soul, he
saved you. And God accepts allengelet in
all that you are all the time Perfect. How can that be? Suppose Brother Wickham and his
wife Pam were to come to Danville, Kentucky. You may not know this,
but in our country, things are kind of still divided north and
south. And us southerners are commonly
looked upon as having some problems. And I open my front door, and
here's Wickham and Pam. We've got a bed ready for them,
and they're going to have supper with us if somebody comes by.
And they say, oh, look at Brother Don. He's gotten over that white
Southern prejudice. He's accepting that couple as
a black couple. No, I'm not. I wouldn't think
about that. That'd be horrible. I'm accepting
them as a man and a woman. I received them. as part of humanity,
just as I am. You understand what I'm getting
at? God Almighty accepts us. Brother Peter and I have talked
about this the last several times we've gotten together. I haven't
got my hands around it, I haven't got my heart around it, let alone
my hands or my head, but we're one with Christ. Really and truly one with Christ. indivisible from Christ. It has been that way from everlasting. He says the Father loves us in
the Son, as the Son, for the same reason He loves the Son.
Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. We are forever
accepted in Christ. Our father Adam didn't change
anything. Changes a lot of things in us,
not with God. Our transgression from our mother's
womb didn't change anything. Changes a lot with us, not with
God. Our going forth from the womb,
speaking lies, changes nothing, except in the beloved. Then God
saves us by his grace. And now everything's changed
inside. And we've been reconciled to God. Nothing been changed
with God. Nothing been changed with God. He came and brought
peace, but the peace is already there. He reconciled the world
of his elect to himself in Jesus Christ, his son. already reconciled
in him from eternity. And he comes and proclaims reconciliation
in us and declares to us, you're righteous. That's what free justification
is declared in the soul. Before he was translated, Enoch
had a testimony. He had a testimony. Boy, I want
to have a good testimony, don't you? I want Patrick to look at
me and say, boy, Don's a godly man. Oh, Don's a good preacher. Don's a faithful man. If I ever
saw a righteous man, Don was a righteous man. Sadly, that's
what I want. That's shameful. That's shameful. I want to live in such a way
as honors God. I want to live in such a way
that you're honored to call me your friend and she's honored
to call me her husband. I want to behave like that all
the time. But the testimony that Enoch had was from God. He had
a testimony from God. Before it was translated, God
stepped down from heaven and by the power of his spirit, he
entered into his soul and he said, Enoch, you're righteous. You please God! You please God! That's what God does when He
gives a sinner faith in Christ. Believing on the Son, your conscience
is sprinkled with the blood of Christ and God says, you please
God. Now what was it you told me I
ought to be sad about? What was it that ought to disturb
me? Pleasing God. When I was younger, I used to
print things off, print bulletins, I've told you this before probably,
but it will be a repetition. Isn't that pretty? Everything
just, I like things neat and in order. Younger, we had an
old hand crank, spirit duplicator. He'd make a mess of things. But
the best we had, and Shelby would always do just best she could
what we had to work with, and I'd write the articles out and
then she'd type them. And then when she'd type them, this side
over here would be straight like that. This side over here would
just be all kinds of differences. So she'd take a straight edge
and measure it and count the letters and the spaces. And she'd
go back and retype the whole thing till it got it all evened
out. Did the best she could with the
mechanical means of doing it. But still, if you look very close,
you'd see big gaps between words. because you just couldn't quite
get it just right. It was called justifying the right-hand margin.
Today, we got these computers and you hit control J, it's done,
there it is. There it is. Justifying the right-hand
margin, that means this margin over here is just exactly equal
to this margin over here. Oh God, help you to hear me now. is God Almighty in all His perfection,
in all His holiness, in all His righteousness, in all His justice,
in all His truth, in all the requirement of His law, everything. Here He is. Here is God's darling Son, the
God-man Christ Jesus, who obeyed God unto death Fulfilling all
righteousness, bringing in everlasting righteousness for the people
he represented on this earth. Satisfying the justice of God
for all his people. And now, here I am, exactly as his son. One with his son. Justified, just as if I'd never
sinned. Nope, that ain't it. Justified,
I never sinned. Brother Don, you can't say that.
Ask God about that. Ask him about it. Who quoted
Jeremiah 50, 20 the other day? Was it you? You. Let's see. Let's see. Don Ford. What did you say he did? He did
what? When? I can't find this, it's not in
the book. It's not in the book. So the Lord God looks at me and
says, with regard to the totality of my life. Oh, God says, Well done, thou
good and faithful servant, because everything Christ is and everything
Christ did, I am and I did in Him. God now exists in my works. God now exists in my works. Eat
your bread and drink your wine with a merry heart. I mean he
accepts us in the totality of our lives. We seek to serve him
and we blunder and weep and well we should. Well we should. Let me tell you one more time
about my little girl when she was about four. It was this time
of the year. Y'all don't have dandelions over
here, do you? You got those things? Oh, I didn't know we shipped
those over. This time of the year, we got dandelions all over
our yard. I mow my grass Monday morning,
Monday afternoon. Before I got done with the backyard,
dandelions were already popped up again in the front yard. That's
stretching it just a little. I just missed some. As I said,
I'd been away in a meeting, and Faith, Had a CB radio in those
days and I'd call Shelby when I was on top of the mountain
and say I'll be home in about 15 minutes and Faith would be
outside waiting for me about all the time. And this time I
drove up in my truck and that little girl sitting on the front
stoop right in front of my office and she had something behind
her hands. And as I pulled up, soon as the
engine would cut off, here she came. She had gone out and picked
me a whole fistful of flowers. Those dandelions. The fuzziest
part of the stage. All the seed there. And she came
running with her dandelions, just smiling. And by the time
she got to the truck, there wasn't anything left but those ugly
stems. And she was bawling. And I was
too, for different reasons. Because for her, what she brought
was just so ugly. Prettiest flowers I ever saw
in my life. She got them just for me. Did it just for me. Brought them just to me. I beseech
you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies, the totality of your life, every morning,
every day, every night, a living sacrifice. Holy, acceptable to God. Go now, eat your bread, drink
your wine with a merry heart, for God now accepted thy works. Amen.