You know, sometimes I think this generation knows
all about life and they do not know how to live
it. Life is vitally important. Your life is vitally
important, as is mine. And each of us must answer
this question. Jesus reminds us that he has a
plan for every life. Whether one is humble or
brave, large or small. For the scripture says,
to every man his work. Not to every man a work.
Not to every man some work. But to every man
his work. To every woman her work. Have you found
the plan that God has for you? God has a plan
for you. God has a plan for every life. It's
not a matter of chance or of accident that you're
here. And I still do not believe in luck. We
use that word so loosely sometimes. I do not
believe that there is such a thing as luck. God
made you and put you here. For what purpose?
For what purpose is the eternally important question?
Have you found out what that is? Have you found
out what niche God would have you feel? He has
one for you. Have you found out the work that
God would have you to do? Here's a definite work.
for you to do. And the great important matter
is your attitude toward life. Today I would like
for us to think about the attitude toward life
of two outstanding men. And the Bible speaks
of these two men. Solomon in the Old Testament,
Paul in the New Testament. Through the years,
Solomon made disastrous abuse of life and became
one of the most cynical pessimists the world
has ever known. Although finally, he was recovered
out of it before his day was done. But for many,
many years, his life was wretched beyond words.
Read it. It's in the Old Testament. Oh, how wretched
his life was for years and years. Listen to his
own words. Then I looked on all the works that
my hands had wrought and on the labor that I
had labored to do. And behold, all was vanity
and vexation of spirit. And there was no profit
under the sun. He was right. He was absolutely
right. They revealed his spirit, his attitude
toward life during those years. And every man
living, who is living without a purpose, if he
was dead honest with himself, would cry the same
cry. On the other hand, look how different was
the attitude of Paul. as he looked out upon the
vast beyond toward which we are all traveling
paul said with triumph which we can feel in the
very words this very hour even as we read them
from the holy word the time of my departure is
at hand i have fought a good fight i have finished
my course i have kept the faith henceforth there
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which
the lord the righteous judge shall give me at
that day and not to me only but to all them also
that love his appearing oh what a contrast between
the life of solomon and the life of paul what
a contrast between these two men between their
two lives And so for very few minutes, we're
going to compare these men, even in the light
of the life that one lives today. For a season,
and quite a long season, Solomon was in a group
of pessimism. He was cynical, sarcastic, and
dark despair in his outlook on life. And when
it came to immortality, it never entered his
mind. He was living for today, and only today.
You are a citizen of this world, maybe for 50
years, maybe 60, 70, 80 years, more or less.
And then you shall go to be a citizen of that
other world forever and ever. The doctrine of
immortality is not a dead doctrine. You cannot
close your mind to it. You cannot close your
ears to it. You cannot close your eyes to the
doctrine of immortality. For as surely as there's
life, there is also death. Solomon tried to close
his mind to immortality, but it didn't work.
The doctrine of immortality is not a dead doctrine.
It's not simply some vague philosophy, some abstract
proposition, some misty dream. The doctrine of
immortality is a great, a moral dynamic which
lifts life to a high level and drives it to great
ends. What is your attitude toward life today?
Let me ask you. Step from the stage of action
before the week is over with, before the midnight
hour, and be somewhere else, or before tomorrow's
sun shall rise. We may be in the great beyond.
We have no guarantee of another tomorrow. We
have no guarantee for the next beat of the heart.
You and I are absolutely dependent on Almighty
God. for the next breath that we take into our
bodies. What is your attitude toward life? We're
here for a few fast, fleeting years, and then
we step from the stage here to be somewhere else
forever and ever. What is your attitude toward
life? Oh, for years and years, Solomon was utterly
self -centered in his life. It would seem as
we'd read his story in the Old Testament, his
unfolding and remarkable story, that he was probably
the most self -centered man in all the world
of his day. Probably there was never a more self
-centered man in the world from that day to this.
He began, he built, he carried forward, he planned,
he acted with an eye to his own pleasure, his
own honor, his own ease, go and read the book
of the Ecclesiastes. Read it. It's the most pessimistic
book in the Bible. Turn to it and read of Solomon's
awful plight and then his final recovery and
then his wise conclusion. At the end, at the
last of his life, he said, Let us hear the conclusion
of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments.
For this is the whole duty of man. This is the
whole of man. This is what man lives for. Fear
God reverently. Keep his commandments. Promptly
and faithfully. Look at Solomon's personal life
for a while. He tried everything. He said, I
have tried all of it. A learned man. Called the
wisest man of his day. He was an author. He searched
near and far. Delved into all the sources to
get information. Ransacked all the avenues of
learning. But he came back and said it was all
weariness of the flesh. All is vanity and vexation
of the spirit. I have read those words scores
of times. All is vanity and vexation of the spirit.
And then he devoted himself to pleasure. Read
his story. See how he spent his life. He gave
full reign to his eye. Looked on all the evils,
pleasures that man can know in the world. He
gave full reign to his five physical senses.
Full reign. He turned to the dissipation of the
body. He turned to drink. Look at his writing
and you'll see where he says, Wine is a mocker.
Strong drink is raging. and whosoever is deceived
thereby is not wise and in so saying he uttered
a great truth what folly there is in drink what
madness America needs to wake up on that matter
before the currents of evil carry us much further
down the stream than we are now. And heaven knows
we're far enough down now. He followed all the
pleasures you could think of. He had his house
full of wives of all kinds, from all the lands,
of all faiths. And he came back and said, all
is vanity and fixation of spirit. And then he
tried power of all kinds. He gathered wealth
from all the end of the great kingdom. He built
up the outstanding kingdom of his day, a powerful
army, a vast retinue of servants. A mighty company
thronged about him and gave him applause and
praise and approbation and bowed before him.
He tried power in all of its form, wealth, rulership.
kingship, and yet he came back from it all and
said, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. His
reaction to it all was, I hate life. I hate life.
It were better never to have been born. He loathed
himself. He loathed life. He loathed all the
things to which he had clung. He loathed all
the power with which he had surrounded himself.
And he looked back on his life and said, I hate
life. Oh, how this man of ability, of tremendous
power and of wisdom, in a worldly sense, had
missed the whole conception of the meaning and
the mission. of life. There are millions living
today who can cry the same cry. We've cried everything.
We've tasted of power. We've tasted of pleasure.
But in the end, it's vanity. It's empty. There's
no real happiness. There's no real satisfaction.
Better that we had never been born. Mm -hmm.
But in his old age, Solomon became conscious
of the fact that he was a citizen of two worlds.
And it was then that he said, Let us hear the
conclusion of the whole matter. Beer, golf...
and keep his commandments. For this is the whole
duty of man. Oh, what profound words. Would to
God I could stand on the highest mountain top
and proclaim it to the whole world again. Let
us fear God. and keep his commandments. For this
is the whole duty of man. And he was recovered
by the might of God before his day was done.
And he gave that great counsel before his son
was sent. Now turn for just a moment and look
to the second man. Paul. Paul, who was the mightiest
man of the New Testament, the greatest single
credential that Christianity has had from the
first Christian until this very hour. His attitude
toward life was as far different from that of
Solomon as the East is from the West. Just as
different, just as far removed, The one from
the other. I doubt not that the most joyful man
who ever lived was this man, Paul. The most joyful.
All his tribulations were overwhelming. He did
not have an easy life. But turn, if you will,
please, to the second letter to the Corinthians,
and there in the eleventh chapter he tells of
his tribulation. He'd been beaten five times.
with forty stripes save one. He'd been shipwrecked
time and time again. He'd been imprisoned time
and time again. He'd been scorned, despised without
number. He'd been hungry. He'd been in fastings.
He'd been betrayed. He'd been through it all,
and yet he had always come out victoriously.
I am more than conqueror, he said. Oh, those
words of Paul thrill me. I am more than conqueror.
And he said those words with such confidence.
He was so secure. Why? Because he was secure
in Christ Jesus. He knew from whom he was getting
his strength. He was not defeated on a single
score. He had the right attitude regarding life.
Again and again, Paul was able to write the words,
Rejoice! Rejoice! And again I say, Rejoice evermore!
Irrepressible! Unconquerable! He was the most
joyful man that ever lived. A man who lived a
full life. because he had a real purpose for
living. Solomon said, I hate life. Paul said,
I rejoice in Christ. Solomon had a long season
of a life without Christ. But oh, beloved, Paul...
had a full life that was yielded to God's perfect
will. How vastly important your attitude toward
life. You and I are eternity bound. What are
you living for? Paul, what are you living for?
And Paul says, I'm living to pay a debt. And
what is your debt? I owe every kind of service
that I can give to everybody. I owe everybody.
I am a Jew, but I owe a debt to the Gentiles.
If I am a wise man, I owe a debt to the ignorant
masses. I am a poor man. But I owe a debt not
only to the poor, but to the wealthy, the ease
-loving, the God -forgiving. I owe myself to
humanity. And while I am here, I must live to
pay this debt. I must do all the good that I
can to all the people I can, just as long as
ever I can. My friend, I pass this way but once.
I have but one life to live. I give my life to
God first. Then following in his footsteps and
following his example, I give my life to humanity.
To you.