I invite you to turn back if
you will if you have your Bible to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter
6. Ecclesiastes chapter 6. I'd like
to read verse 10 through 12. That which hath been is named
already and it is known that it is man. Neither may he contend
with him that is mightier than he. Seeing there be many things
that increase vanity, what is man the better? For who knoweth
what is good for man in this life? All the days of his vain
life which he spendeth as a shadow. For who can tell a man what shall
be after him under the sun? My subject this morning is the
unknown known by God. The unknown known by God. Let us have prayer. Father, we
thank Thee that we are privileged to gather here in this place
this morning to read a portion of Thy Word, to sing these marvelous
and glorious hymns together, receive the message of them into
our soul, and then, our Father, to be able to eat and partake
around Thy table, the table of Thy Word, and to be able to have
this time of fellowship together in Thy presence. We thank you
this morning for this great blessing. Our Father, we ask that you'll
be pleased to use the word today and bless it to each one of our
hearts. Encourage us, our Father, by
the word today. And may we be strengthened, our
Father, to give less time, less concern to those things that
are happening in our lives more concerned with worshiping the
God who knows the whys and the wherefores as to what's going
on in our lives. Strengthen us, we pray, and give
us today the ability to receive thy word. We pray a blessing
on those who were not able to come this morning. We ask that
you be with them, those that are traveling. Give them thy
mercy and thy blessing. And then our Father, we ask that
you will bless all those who have come out here today expecting
to receive a blessing. I pray that they may be helped
and encouraged and blessed in this meeting. And they should
go out of here today praising the Lord, glorifying the God
of the Bible. We ask it in Jesus' name and
for His sake alone. Amen. I'm sure as I've meditated upon
our subject this morning, that there may be those of you who
say, our preacher preaches a whole lot about things like this. Spends
a lot of time preaching about the vanity of man and the inability
of man to understand his way. You know the scripture says,
it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. And you
may think, well, maybe the preacher spends too much time preaching
on things like this. But I was reminded of a story
that I heard one time about a fellow in a Pentecostal church. And
he was up at the altar and he was begging God to fill him with
the Holy Spirit. And there was an old lady in
the service. She knew this particular fellow. And she was heard to
say in her prayer to God as he was praying, Lord, fill me with
the Holy Spirit. And she said, Lord, I wouldn't
do it if I was you because he leaks. And one of the reasons
why that I keep preaching these things is because I feel that
we all leak. We leak and we lose the truth
of God and we need to be persuaded to keep coming back if we're
going to have comfort and if we're going to have some real
solid rest in the Lord and joy, we need to keep coming back to
these things. So our text this morning is from
verse 10 down through verse 12, and let me begin by saying, opening
up this subject in this way, that man at his very best is
only a man. He is only a man. Now David asked
on one occasion, he said, what is man that thou art mindful
of him? man whose breath is in his nostrils. Now Solomon tells us here in
this 10th verse of this chapter that that which hath been is
named already. He says that which hath been
is named already and it is known that it is man. Now whoever has
lived and however wise and good and great he may have been He
has only been a man. That's all he has ever been.
Now, sum him up. Take man and sum him up and add
all together the beauties of his body, the skill of his mind,
and even the virtues of his spirit. And what he is then is just a
man. That's all He is. He is man. And man is but a vapor. We're told in the book of James.
What is our life? It is even as a vapor that appears
for a little time and then it just vanishes away. And as man
is so thin and airy and unsubstantial, He is so as His own breath. He
just appears for a little time and then He just vanishes away. He comes and He goes. He is here
such a little while that He can scarcely be said to be. because
his days are just a few, and the scripture says are full of
trouble. Man's life on earth is very brief. Now in verse 10, it says as man
is as light and vanity as vanity itself, it implies this. Solomon
says that it is vain for this man that is light and vain, unsubstantial,
here just a creature for an hour, It is vain for that individual
to contend with him that is mightier than he. It is vain for him to
quarrel with, or to contend with, the God that made him. Shall the poxit of the earth
strive with his maker? Well, it is always unwise for
one to contend with one who is mightier than himself. But when
the disparity is so great as between man and God, man the
creature of an hour and God the self-existent creator, the poor
feeble warm call man thinking of contending with the almighty
the invincible God of heaven and earth. So man is indeed foolish
who would contend with God, who would contend with his maker.
Shall the wax wage war with the fire? Shall a man spit into the
wind? One preacher said one time, he
said, a man who spits into the wind. No, it wasn't a preacher.
It was Benjamin Franklin that made this statement. He said,
a man that spits into the wind or a man that fights against
God and the sovereignty of God is like a man who would spit
into the wind because he spits right in his own face. And so
a man to contend with God, this feeble worm called man to think
of contending with the Almighty God, how foolish that is. Now there is no hope for a man
in such contention as this, yet how frequently, how frequently
do we find even the children of God contending with their
Lord. The children of God quarreling
with their God. Now if the Lord chastens us,
and he does, the Bible says, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth.
And if he takes away our comforts, and oftentimes the Lord does
indeed take away our comforts because the Lord is more interested
in our character than he is our comfort. And so the Lord sometimes
removes our comforts. If he permits us to be disappointed
in our aspirations, then we begin to inquire, why is this? Why is this, Lord? Why are you
doing this to me? Why are you dealing thus with
me? Why are you contending with me? We think God is in a quarrel
with us and we think hard thoughts toward the Lord and we actually
believe that somehow or other that God is out to do us a wrong. But my friend, listen, some carry
this a long ways and I know that there's a lot of people who keep
their mouth shut but in their hearts they have very serious
and hard thoughts against the living God. They believe that
somehow or other God has done them a great injustice and they
will not forgive God. They will not forgive Him for
the way He has dealt with them, for the bereavements they've
suffered in their life, for the crosses that they've been made
to bear, for the trials that have come their way, the disappointments
that they've had to deal with in their lives. They just absolutely
feel that God somehow or other has not been mindful of who they
are. He's not took account of their
goodness. He's not took account of who
they are, what their name is, and of what family they came
from. They somehow or other believe
that God has been unkind to them. Now that kind of a rebellious
spirit, I think, creates ten times more pain than the affliction
itself did in our life. If we have a rebellious spirit
against God, if we will not submit to God, if we will not bow our
knee to God, if we will not forgive God, When we have trouble and
when we have difficulties in our life, then my friend, we're
going to bring upon ourselves ten times more trouble and ten
times more grief than what we would have if we would have just
submitted ourselves unto the living God. Now listen, are we
wiser than God? Are we wiser than He? Do we understand
providence better than He? Could we direct the Almighty? Can we bring Him into judgment
and question Him as to the whys and the wherefores of our life? Can we sit in judgment upon Him? Can we contend with Him that
is mightier than we? No. When we're right, We must
say with David, I was dumb, I opened not my mouth because thou didst
it. The Lord did it. And like Eli
of old he said, well let the Lord do what seemeth good unto
him. That's when we're right. But
when we're rebellious, we will question God and say, why Lord? Why me? Why this in my life? Why at this time is this situation
in my life? And by the grace of God, if we're
right, we will go even further than David did, and we will say
what the old patriarch Job, the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken
away, blessed be the name of the Lord. That is when we're
right. And you see, we want to be right. We want to have the
right attitude in our hearts. We want to be able to deal with
things as God would have us to. As believing people, as trusting
people, people that know the God of the Bible. Shall we receive
good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? at the hand
of the Lord, the same God? Absolutely. Now then, complete
submission to God is what we need. And it's indeed the need
of the hour, is to submit ourselves, to be completely submitted unto
the living God. Submit yourself therefore, James
says, under the mighty hand of God, and He will exalt you in
due time. Submit yourself unto God. I know that's a big word. But
beloved, and it's not easy to do, and you cannot do it apart
from the divine enablement, but submit yourself unto God. That's
the posture of a believing soul in the day of trial, in the day
of adversity, in the day of circumstances which we cannot receive and we
cannot understand. Now who knoweth what is good
for man in this life? all the days of his vain life
which he spendeth as a shadow. That's the question asked in
verse 12. For who knoweth what is good
for a man in this life? Who is it, is there any among
us that wants to take upon himself the question, who knows what
is good for us in this life? Each one of us, wherever we live,
whatever be our circumstances, whatever be our situation, who
knows what is good for us? Now then, the wise preacher Solomon
said, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow. Now there's a couple things here
I would like to point out to you. First of all, he does not
mention all the years of our vain life. He does not say, who
knoweth what is good for a man in this life, all the years of
his vain life. He said all the days of his vain
life, because man's life is indeed very, very brief. And he says,
which he spendeth as a shadow is spent. We know that as the
sun moves, the shadow is cast, but then very, very quickly the
shadow is gone, and so is man's life. The rising morning can't
assure that we shall end the day, for death stands ready at
the door to take our lives away. So man's days are as he spends
it as a shadow, it's very short. And now then as we think upon
the brevity of our lives and our short stay here in our life,
he calls our days, he says this is our vain life. This is the
vain life of man, the empty life of man. Now it is also I think
one of the things here that is clearly brought out is that our
lives, that in our lives there's great uncertainty. Uncertainty. We're certain of nothing but
that life is uncertain. And that we are certain of, are
we not? You cannot predict what's going to come. You cannot predict
how old you're going to be when the Lord calls you home and takes
you out of this world. You cannot say what's good for
you and you cannot predict the length of your days. There's
so much uncertainty in life. Now that makes a lot of people
uncomfortable, very uncomfortable, because they like security, and
they like certainties, and they like to be able to, you know,
as it were, to fasten everything down so they know exactly what's
going on, and when they want to plan, and they want to schedule,
and they want everything to work out as they plan it. and as they
aspire. But my friend, listen, life is
uncertain. And do not forget this fact,
for if the thought of the uncertainties of life and the fact that you
cannot control what comes into your life and what happens in
your life, that you're under the control of another, And this
makes you unpleasant and it makes you somehow or other, you just
feel uncomfortable with this. Well, let me say this is because
there's something wrong in your heart. If you're a child of God,
if you're a believer, if you have been washed in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you are in Jesus Christ, and
if you're joined to Him with a living, loving, lasting union,
as all true believers are, then there's something wrong in your
heart if it makes you unpleasant. because you do not have complete
control over everything that's going on in your life. There's
something wrong. The child of God, when he is
right with his father, he forgets the uncertainty and remembers
that all things are certain in the eternal purpose and decree
of God, and that all changes that take place in the lives
of his children are wisely ordained, and therefore the uncertainty
of life here should cause us no distress. Because our lives
are in the hands of a God that's all wise. And our times are in
His hands. And what falls out to us in this
life is under the control of Almighty God. So man, he knows
not what is good for him in this life. He knows not how long he's
going to live. And he knows not what is good.
Now listen, there is nothing truly substantial in this universe
apart from God Almighty. Nothing, I say, is truly substantial
apart from God. The Everlasting One is substantial. He who liveth and abideth forever. He is substantial. Man is vain
and empty and he's a creature for an hour. Depend upon it. We ourselves shall in a very
short time prove how unsubstantial our own lives are. how very unsubstantial
our lives are. It won't be long before the worms
will be scrambling for our flesh, for our bodies. And if we've
not Christ as our Savior, if we're not in the Lord Jesus,
if our sins have not been put away, if we die unbelieving,
if we die without faith in the Son of God, if we die without
having embraced the truth of God's salvation in the person
of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, then the devils will be fighting
for our souls and we'll find ourselves absolutely unable to
do anything about any of this. It'll all be out of our control.
We are unsubstantial. Now listen to me this morning.
Every man at his best state, the Bible says, is altogether
vanity. He is vanity. Life is vain and
it's vexing to the spirit. And may God help us to lay, to
lay our poor life down at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ
in humility and submission unto Him. Our life, one preacher pictured
it as a flower, but he said if a flower be put into the hands
of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will never fade. It will never
fade. If our poor life is given up
to Christ, then he will keep it for his own kingdom, and he'll
keep it for his own glory, and he'll link his life with ours. And that life of his is immortal. immortal life and give to us
eternal life like unto his own and that's the kind of life an
eternal God gives. He gives eternal life. Now next notice this if you will. What is best for us is not known
to us. Now that is a tremendous statement. You say preacher that would have
been all right to make. back in the days of Solomon to
people, but you're not talking to people that are as barbaric
and uneducated and untutored as those people were in the days
of Solomon. Well, my friend, I'm here to
say this morning that I believe that the Word of God is correct
when it says that what is best for us is not known to us. That we do not know what is best
for us. Who knoweth what is good for
a man in this life? That's exactly what old Solomon
asked here in our text. Now we certainly do not know
as to Temporals what is best for us in this life. As to temporal
things, what is best? Neither do we know, even in spiritual
experience, what is good for a man in this life. Suppose we
were to ask this question this morning, which is better for
a man in this life? Wealth or poverty? Now, is there
anyone here this morning that would want to take that on and
take that question on? Which is better for us, wealth
or poverty? Would it be better for me to
be a wealthy man, a rich man according to the world's standards,
or for me to be a poor man? Which would be better? Well,
you know, I've done a great deal of thinking about that, and I
recognize that it's in the hands of God to make a man rich or
to make him poor. That it's in God's hands to do
with us as He will. Cannot the Lord do with that
which is His own whatever He will? Can't the Lord do that?
Well, certainly He can. And if God wanted to make me
rich, He could do that. And if he wants to make a man
poor, he can make him poor too. The Lord can lift up and the
Lord can take down. God is in control. Now let me,
I considered some of the verses that we read in the word of God.
The scripture says it's easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the
kingdom of God. And Paul said to Timothy in 1
Timothy 6, verse 9 and 10, he said, they that will be rich,
fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of
money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through
with many sorrows. And then in the 17th verse of
that same chapter, he said, You know, I read those verses over
and I meditated on them a little bit and I thought, well, It's probably best for the majority
of men that I'm acquainted with, for the majority of people that
I'm acquainted with, for God to keep them, maybe not in poverty,
but for God to keep them somewhere in the middle. And the old wise
man said one time, he said, give me neither poverty nor riches,
feed me with food convenient for me. He said, don't give me
so much that I'll forget God, or that I'll forget you, or so
little that I'll steal and bring a reproach on your name. And
so you see, my friend, you might say, well, I just really believe
it'd be better for me to be wealthy, but God said no. No, I don't
really believe it would. I think we have to leave the
question unanswered, don't we? We have to leave it unanswered.
We have to say we just don't know what would be best for us. Because if the Lord were to give
us too much, We'd forget Him. We'd forget Him. And if the Lord
was to give us so little that we were not able to make it,
and our children were crying around us of hunger, then we
probably would become thieves and steal to feed them. And so
if the Lord gives us enough, If He gives us enough godliness
with contentment, He is great gain. We brought nothing into
this world, it's certain we can carry nothing out. Therefore,
with food and raiment, let us therewith be content. Let us
be content with what God has given us, because He knows what
is best for us, and He gives us just that amount. Now, take
another question, if you will, and see if you can answer this
question. What is good for a man in this life? Is it health or
is it sickness? What is really best? Now I'm
talking about what's best for a child of God in this life. What is best for a child of God? Now it seems at first that it
must be good for a man to enjoy the best of health And we all
wish for that. We all want the best of health,
and we desire it, and we long for it, and we doctor to get
it, and we do whatever we can to maintain it if we have it. Nobody thinks that sickness and
disease can really be in themselves a blessing. Yet, let me say this,
there have been some gentle, holy, devout, matured souls and
spirits that could not have come from any garden but that which
was walled around with disease and grief and woe. Is that not
true? I'm telling you there's some
of the Lord's choice people in this world that manifest the
beauty and glories of the Son of God every day in their life
and they would have never been enabled to do that, never could
they have done that if it had not been that God hymned them
in. if it had not been that God drove
them unto himself, that God so dealt with them in the circumstances
of their life and in their health that they were driven to seek
his face and to cry out unto him. And so, beloved, you see
then, as Spurgeon said, he said, I confess that I owe more to
the hammer and the anvil and the fire and the forge than I
do to anything else. He said, I owe more to my sickness,
I owe more to my pain, I owe more to my afflictions than I
owe to anything else. And did not Luther say that the
best book in this library was Affliction? And did not David
say that the afflictions of God had brought him nigh when he
had gone astray, that they had a purpose in his life, and they
brought him unto the Lord? Now listen, I believe this, that
we cannot answer these questions. And that's exactly what Solomon,
the wise preacher, was telling us, that nobody knows exactly
what is best for them. And so don't quarrel with God.
If God crosses your path and changes your desire and if God
somewhere or another hymns you in and keeps things from working
out like you want, don't argue with God. Don't do that. Don't
quarrel with Him. Because God knows what's best
for you and you don't. You do not know. Now all depends,
I think, upon us being where God puts us. And if God has put
us, if God has brought us, into the place we are, and surely
He has. because we're his and we belong
to him and our time is indeed in his hands. Now any man is
safe if he is where God would have him be. If he's poor, he's
safe if God would have him to be poor because the Lord's not
going to abandon him. The Lord is the poor man's paymaster. God's gonna take care of the
poor. God's gonna do that. His children, David said, I was
young, now I'm an old man. But I've never yet once seen
the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. You may be
troubled and you may have to pray every day for God to provide
your needs and give us this day. Every morning when I wake up,
I see those words. Give me this day. Give us this
day our daily bread. And we need to pray every day.
Lord, give us what we need today. But a man is safe if God's put
him there. He's safe. It's going to be all
right. It's all right. And then, if
God has given you of this world's goods and you have the means
and you're trusting in God and not in uncertain riches, it'll
be alright with you. It'll be alright if a man trembles
and if he clings to the strong for strength each day, wherever
he is, in whatever his circumstances are, he's safe. if he just clings
to the Lord, if he just waits on God, if he trusts the Lord.
I think that we had better be content to remain just as we
are and be satisfied and thankful to be where God has placed us
in his merciful, loving providence. Is that right? I think that's
exactly what we need. And whatever we sin to keep must
be bad for us. It must be bad for us and whatever
you fret and say, I'm going to have it, whatever happens. And
I remember who was it that said, give me children or I die. One
of the ladies in the Old Testament, one of the godly women in the
Old Testament said, give me children or I die. So the Lord gave her
children and she died. You best wait on the Lord is
what you better do. You better trust God. And you
better be content with where He has placed you because God
does know better than we know. Whatever we send again, Whatever
we rebel to gain, whatever we sin to keep in our lives, it's
got to be bad for us. But whatever our Heavenly Father
sends to us, it must be right for us to have, and we may well
be content to let His unerring wisdom supply what is lacking
through our ignorance. Just trust the Lord and leave
it all in God's hands. Now, there's a verse of Scripture,
and I'm not going to keep you long. I'm going to leave off
some of this, but I want you to look back in the book of Job,
chapter 23. There's a couple of verses of
Scripture here that I want to give you to show you. what Job,
how he dealt with this very thing in his own life. I want you to
see this. It's in Job 23 and in verse 13
and 14. Now Job says this. In verse 10,
let me read that first. He says, But he knoweth the way
that I take. God knows the way that I take.
And when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Then look
at verse 13, but he is in one mind, and who can turn him, and
what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. Verse 14, for
he performeth the thing that is appointed for me, and many
such things are with him. Now, let us look at this just
a little bit. First of all, Job said, he knoweth
the way that I take. Not only does he know the way
I take, he says, he has been trying me. And God does try his
people. God does send afflictive circumstances
into the lives of his people. God sometime or other may bless
you with much and with great means to try you. And then God
may take you down low to try you. May empty out your pockets
to try you God will try his people but then in verse 13 Job says
not only does God know the way that I take and not only has
he tried me and Not only am I going to come forth from all of this.
I'm going to come forth He says as gold that has been tried in
the fire, but he says the Lord's of one mind God has a purpose
And that's what this scripture teaches, that God has a purpose. And while you and I, one of the
greatest comforts in our life is to know that we were born
into this world and that we were not just born into this world
and left for things to work out however they would with us and
for us, but that God Almighty put us here and that He has a
purpose. in every one of our lives, and that he will work
out that purpose, he will accomplish his purpose, and he is one mind. And then notice, and who can
turn him? Meaning that God's gonna perform his purpose, he
will bring it to pass, and nobody's gonna talk him out of it. God's
gonna bring to pass his purpose, nobody can turn his hand away. And so my friend, what this is
leading up to is, it leads up to this, that we need to be submissive
unto God. And the depth of a man's worship
depends upon the almightiness of the God before whom he bows. If God is indeed our God, the
Lord of heaven and earth, if He's Almighty God, if He's God,
King in heaven and on earth, Then we need to bow before Him
and submit ourselves unto this living God because He has a plan
and a purpose for us and none can turn Him and what His soul
desires, what His soul desires. Somebody asked David one time,
he said, where is your God? And David said, Our God is in
the heavens, and He's doing whatsoever He will. Whatever He pleases,
that's what He's doing. He's in heaven doing whatever
He pleases. And whatever His soul desireth. Says Job. That's what he's doing. That's what he's doing. And so
you bow your knee. Submit yourself. No, you don't
know what's good for you, but God does. And he's sending it
day by day according to his merciful and wise providence. He's sending
it into your life. And it's coming in by God's direction. And then he goes on to say, For
he performeth the thing that is appointed for me. There it
is. There it is. See, you said, well,
my life is so uncertain. The preacher's been talking about
the uncertainty of my life. I got no control. I'm not able
to handle this thing. I don't know what's going to
happen and when it's going to happen. And I'm so nervous about
it all. Well, Job said, the Lord's performing
all things that are appointed for me. God's taking care of
that. God's taking care of that. Now,
I've often told people, I said, you know, the Lord will never
blame us or fault us for trusting Him. Because everything that
I've ever read in the Word of God, from one page, from the
first page in the Bible to the last is that God's people are
to believe Him. How long will it be, God said,
of the Israelites, ere you believe Me? How long will it be? And
they said, well, we can't go into that land because there's
giants in the land. God said, the problem is not
the giants. The problem is your unbelief.
That's what the problem is. You just don't believe Me. If
you believed me, it wouldn't make any difference if them giants
were ten times bigger than they are. You'd just go right on in.
The question is, do we believe God? Do we believe Him? What
Job said, he performs the thing that is appointed for me. Whatever
God purposed, whatever God planned, whatever He decreed, whatever
God said is right, God's performing that thing for me. He's working
it out. He's working it out. He's bringing
me to His desired end. Do all things, Paul said in Philippians,
without murmuring and disputing, for it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It's God that's
working in His people. You can put a sign up by every
child of God. You know, we often read them
on the street, men at work. Put it up, God is at work in
the lives of these people. God is working. He's willing
and He's doing according to His own good pleasure in your life.
Hush up. Hush up and quit your murmuring
and quit your complaining. God is at work. And Job said,
He's performing all things for me. And then he goes on to say
here, he says, and many such things are with Him. Many such
things are with Him. And you know, You may say, well,
preacher, my life is just not a standard life. My life is unique. My life is a very, very different
life than other people's lives. But many such things are with
Him. God has adapted, and God is able to, and your situation
fits in with God's outworking. God is able to deal with your
case, and there is nothing about you that God don't know. All
things are naked and open under the eyes of Him with whom we
have to do. Everything is open and naked
under His eyes. and off we could begin to deal
with God just like this. How comfortable our lives would
become if we would begin to say, well, Lord, you just know everything
about this situation. You're performing what you have
purposed in my life. And Lord, I'm going to bow to
it the best I can. And I'm not going to squirm. And I'm not going to kick. And
I'm not going to squeal. And I'm not going to rebel. I'm
going to submit myself unto your hand. And though you slay me,
Lord, I'll just trust. That's what I'll do. I'll just
lay myself down at your feet and I'll just trust you to preserve
what is left of this life. It's a vain life. But God said,
I know what's going on in it. I know. Now ain't that a wonderful
thing? If a lost man, if you're lost, you'd have no hope in Christ. If you're not a believer, if
your sins have not been put away, so listen to me. You have no
comfort. Yours is a vain, empty life and
hell is your eternal home. And I can hear the great arm
gates of eternity beginning to swing upon their hinges to close
behind your never-dying soul because you're lost. without
Jesus Christ, having no hope in your soul of eternal glory
and blessing. And may God move upon your heart
the only people that should rejoice and be comforted today through
what we've said, those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust
Him. Now this is my comfort. This is my comfort, that the
Lord is of one mind, And none can turn Him, not even old John
Mitchell. And oftentimes I bowed my knee to the Lord and said,
Lord, don't pay any attention to the rebellion of my old flesh
heart. Don't pay no attention to my flesh. Pay no attention
to it. Just do what you know is right.
And work out your own purpose, Lord, regardless of how this
old flesh, how it would squirm and squeal and set its heels. Lord, you just work out your
will. Now this is my comfort that it's being done. That God
is of one mind, that none can turn him, and that his soul is
doing exactly as he would do, and he's performing everything
that's appointed for me. Who appointed it? God appointed
it. And so you trust him, dear soul. And if you want to have
some rest, If you want to have some peace, then this is the
way to it. Because man, man does not know
what is best for him. I do hope this morning that God
in some way will use these thoughts to enable us to worship at his
feet, to bow, to bow, to bow. at the Lord's feet, and to submit
ourselves to Him, and let Him take our life as a flower, that
it shall never fade. May God bless this morning, this
preached word. Father, in the name of Jesus,
we commit the service to You, commit the message to You, use
it for Thy glory, use it for Thy honor, and bring our Father
unto Thyself, much worshipful trust out of the heart of these
dear souls. We pray it for Jesus' sake, in
His name, Amen.