Solomon and Paul Comparing Life Attitudes Kathryn Kuhlman

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.