I'm glad no one told me how long I had to preach tonight. Brother Carter, a fine man that will stick to his appointed time and brought us a worthy message. I'm thankful to be here if I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be here, but I wanted to be here to this meeting. And I'm thankful to be among my esteemed brethren that are here. Glad to see Brother Hutchison, Brother Bryant, and of course, Brother Johnny and the pastor here. And it was well, if I've missed anybody who's a pastor, I apologize, but I'm thankful to be here. I'm going to speak tonight for an antidote of three sister sins that we can fall under and struggle with, and it really defeats us for a time. And that is envy—they're all three related—envy, jealousy, and self-pity. And I want you to turn with me because this teaching addresses this issue. When I first preached from this passage, this parable, I misinterpreted it. I tried to preach the guys that were called at various times of day to represent the Lord's call to an individual in salvation, that He called some early, some later, and some very late in life. And there is a truth to that, but this is not what this parable teaches. This parable does not teach, and is not meant to teach, again, that God calls some early and some late, which He does. And also it does not teach, and is not designed to teach, the quality of Christian rewards. But it's designed to teach us when God's dealings in our life is not to our liking. It's designed to teach us truths that bring our equilibrium back and help us to understand what the Lord's purpose is and what's the Lord's rights. Now let's read this. This is from chapter 20 of Matthew. I'm going to read this parable. The Antidote for Envy, Jealousy, and Self-Pity. Or I could give it another title, Critical of God's ways. I'll tell you right up the bat if you haven't, and you older Christians, you know it's true. God doesn't always deal with you according to your likings. He is not always going to baby you. He does it first. But as you progress, God is interested in one thing in making you. It's already been mentioned. He's making you, conforming you to the image of Christ Jesus. And for that, you have to die to self. And dying to self requires that you die to your will. Die to your desires. God is not concerned about your plans for your Christian life or your even ministry. especially in the context of what is happening to the other guy. And this is part of the story is our temptation and our fall into jealousy, envy, and self-pity always comes about because we are looking in the wrong direction. We've got our focus where it shouldn't be. We're making a comparison to the other guy. The Lord does not say to any of us, do you want this sort of suffering or do you not want it? Do you want this kind of ministry or that kind of ministry? He doesn't say that. Do you want this size of church or do you want this size of church? He doesn't say to you, do you want to be blessed this sort of way or that sort of way? What will make you sweeter, humbler, gentler, conformed to the person of Christ is God's destiny for you. And it's hard to deal with at times. For every Christian that I know, if you live long enough, you will get in a sour mood against God. You will You will express that sour mood. Now, you wouldn't come out and say, God, I'm mad at you. You wouldn't say that. You wouldn't be so blasphemous and bold to say that. But you do it in other ways. You do it in a subtle way. Murmur, murmur, murmur, murmur, murmur, murmuring. Complaining. Groping. Let's read this parable. Matthew 20. Verses 1 through 16. For the kingdom of heaven is like... This is the kingdom of heaven. This is how God does things. And if you're a part of the kingdom of heaven, you're going to experience this. It's going to be a sphere in which you will have entered. And this is not, of course, the whole story. In fact, This is just part of the story and this is part of the truth. But the kingdom of heaven is like this. All of the parables tell us an aspect of the kingdom's life. And this is telling us an aspect. The kingdom of heaven is like a man that is a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny, the word penny is the Greek word for the denarius, which was a common day's wage. When he agreed with the laborers for a denarius, a penny, a day, he sent them into his vineyard. This was early in the morning, six o'clock in the morning. And he went in about the third hour, that's nine o'clock in the morning, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again, he went out about the sixth, that's noon, and the ninth hour, that's three in the evening, 3 p.m. And he did the same. And about the 11th hour, that's five o'clock in the evening, that's one hour before quitting time. In the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and said unto them, Why stand ye here idle all the day? And they said unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatever is right, that ye shall receive. So when the evening was come, the lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, these are the last guys, they received every man a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more, and they likewise received every man a denarius, a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, the homeowner, the householder, the boss, saying, These last have worked wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong, Did not thou agree with me for a denarius? Take what is thine, and go thy way. I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? So, and this is the conclusion, and this is the epicenter of the meaning of this parable. So the last shall be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen. May we pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You for the Word that has already been preached, and we ask for supernatural help now to open Your Word. And dear Lord, may You come and deal with us at the point of our need tonight. And if we are in any way crossed with Your dealings, if we are in any way murmuring or complaining about something that we ought to be very grateful for, Help us, dear Lord, to set our souls in order. Enable us to repent of our bad, sour mood. Help us, Lord, to get out of the wrong spirit. Lord, You know our fallacies. You know our weaknesses. You know our sins. You know that we are but dust and ashes. And Lord, You've got to help us with this business, Lord, that we keep a right perspective. I pray that You will give us an attitude adjustment. You'll give us understanding tonight. And we're thankful, Lord, that you've had mercy upon us. And we're thankful, Lord, that you've given us, oh God, we thank you for giving us what, not what the law demanded, but what your grace has given us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Everyone is concerned about justice, equity, and fairness, especially when you feel that you are being cheated. No one likes to be in a position where you feel like somebody who is less worthy is getting a better deal than you are. The laborers here in the vineyard were outraged. These guys who were hired at six o'clock in the morning were outraged with a sense that they had been cheated and wronged. In fact, if you consider their ways in comparison, if you consider that they did labor the entire day and they said, we've been out here in this hot sun and we've labored all this time. And you've made these guys that you've hired at the last hour of the day, you've made them equal to us? We're going to see that in the economy of the Lord, in the economy of the kingdom of God, how He governs things, that He is absolutely, and we know this, He's absolutely Lord. He is absolutely sovereign, and no one is cheated whatever they get. But the differences that we find many times when we're living and experiencing the inequities, the visible distinctions, and the way the Lord administers His blessings often strikes a tender nerve with us and leads us into this self-pity and murmuring stage arising from Jealousy and envy. The laborers who worked but one hour and got paid the same as those who labored the whole day. Think about this. If this scenario would happen in this day, boy, some lawsuits would be coming on, wouldn't there? I mean, this is not fair. This is not justice. Let me give you an illustration kind of what this would be like. I remember several years ago I had some silver coins that I had saved, and I think I cashed them in at that time. But it would be like you needed to raise some cash, and you'd been saving these silver coins up, and you had a few silver dollars. And you read an ad in the paper, a businessman ran this ad saying, I'm paying, and this was several years ago, I'm paying $20 an ounce for coin silver. And you call this guy up and you say, I've got five old silver dollars I've been saving. You know, silver dollars were used when the silver standard of currency, you could take a dollar in. Do you remember that brother? Carter, when you could take a dollar bill into a bank and get a silver dollar, a real literal, was a silver standard. There used to be a gold standard. But the silver dollar, at that time, when you cashed in at the bank and wanted a silver, you could get a dollar's worth of silver that was worth at least a dollar. So therefore, there was a solid foundation for your money being backed up with some real currency. But anyway, you've been saving up these five long-held silver dollars, and you said, I've got five silver dollars. He said, well, I'm paying, and that's about an ounce a piece. He said, I'm paying $20. So you come in the day that you made the arrangement, and ahead of you, are three young men who's got there before you, and you got your five dollars jingling in your pocket. This first guy walks forward and lays down ten dimes, silver dimes, which makes approximately an ounce. And down on the table comes a hundred dollar bill. Wow. That's nice. You're thinking. The next guy comes with four quarters. He lays his four silver quarters down, which also makes about an ounce. And the businessman lays down a crisp $100 bill. Wow! Then a guy comes, the next guy in line, the third fellow, has two silver half dollars. They're old ones. They're 90% silver, and he lays them down, and the same $100 is laid down. Now, you got these five silver dollars jingling in your pocket, and you said already, bingo! You get them out, it's your turn, you lay them down, and in your hand is placed a $100 bill. This is what the parable is saying. Would you feel cheated? Would you feel wronged? Would you feel like calling the attorney general with a case of being defrauded? But hold on here. We're talking about how the Lord, this sovereign God, governs his world, and listen carefully, the ethics by which God governs his kingdom transcends common sense, transcends moral ethics and common laws of this world. Not that God's ways ever violate any consideration of what is truly right or truly wrong. But let me tell you this about God. He functions on a higher level than you. His sense of justice is different than yours. His understanding. And we find again that this is again such an important parable. Because in the Kingdom of God we are going to run up against this. We're going to find that sometimes God is blessing the other guy a whole lot more than He's blessing me. Or that other situations seem to be very much favorable in comparison to my situation. You'll have to admit it that the ways of God in dealing with you, if you're honest, and you need to be, are not always to your liking. Now, this particular parable, this passage, goes as far as possible. There are some secret things belonging to the Lord that we cannot dive into. But as far as possible, this parable explains why God permits things to happen, not necessarily to your liking or your approval. But if you will acknowledge these things, it will give you comfort and stability and it'll get rid of the gripe, it'll get rid of the complaining, it will level out your equilibrium, and it'll cause you to, instead of saying, why me? It will cause you to say, thank you, Lord. Praise your name for your goodness, your kindness to me. Now, I know that you sovereign grace people, you know these truths. I'm not telling you anything you won't know, It helps us all to be reminded. Now this parable contains several bold, short statements of truth that can be applied to every situation, every difficult providence, every bewildering experience that we go through in life. When we are tempted to murmur and complain and say it's not fair, It's not right. And this is what I want to do tonight. I want to use these biblical statements of truth as our points of interest, our points of concern. Number one, let's look at this particular statement in verse four. We're considering these things tonight. And he said unto them, go also into the vineyard. Now this is said to those who were hired about the third hour. Go into the vineyard. And whatever is right, I will give you. And he also says that in verse 7 to those that were hired in the 11 there, whatever is right, you shall receive. Now here's the first point. The Lord is always doing you right. Irrespective of what is happening to the other person. The Lord is always doing you good. irrespective of what might be happening to the other guy. The Lord is always doing you right, regardless of your lot in life, regardless of your problem, regardless of your trouble, regardless of the apparent inequity, regardless of the place that you're serving, regardless of your complaining or your comparison. And my friend, that's where the problem, as we will see, comes in. comparison. Get your eyes off the other situation. Get your eyes where they belong, upon the Lord. You do not judge what's right for you by what's happening to the other person. Do not get the Peter syndrome when he said to the Lord Jesus, what shall this man? You tell me I'm going to have to stretch forth my hands and I'm going to be led in a way that I shouldn't, that I won't like. What shall this man do? And what did the Lord say to him? What is that to thee? Follow thou me. You see, what the Lord is doing with someone else is none of your business. The Lord may be saving the next guy's children, but your children are still going to hell. That's a hard thing to bear. The Lord may be healing that sister's husband of his cancer and letting your husband die of cancer without any healing. I'm telling you, God's ways are not always to our liking, and we can't explain His ways. But know this, whatever is right is right for you. Get your focus off the Lord's other servants. Sure, it's true. You see it all the time. You see, the inequities. Why doesn't the Lord bless me? Why doesn't the Lord bless our church or our situation or our ministry? Why doesn't it happen like it's happening? What are we doing different? What are we doing wrong? Where's the problem? God, don't you pay any attention to us? We're trying to be faithful to your Word. Why are our numbers dwindling? Why are we not increasing? Yes, the Lord may be blessing or using others or healing or saving or making prosperous friends and fellow servants more than you're getting, but that doesn't mean you're being cheated or done wrong. Quench this feeling sorry for yourself. thinking you've been appointed something that is... you are never by a wise God appointed anything that's not right. Now, it may not be to your liking. It may be hard to bear. But it's always right. Have you ever noticed the 73rd Psalm? when his feet was almost slipped when he was considering the prosperity of the wicked and considering his own lot in comparison, that he was plagued and troubled and chastened every morning. Doing this, his steps were almost slipped, he had almost fallen, he had almost turned away from the Lord. He says later when the Lord opened his understanding, what a fool he had been and what a fool we are. when we start comparing ourselves and looking at the other fella. So the fact is right now, whatever you're going through providentially, the right hand is being dealt you by all wise, all knowing, omnipotent, sovereign God, and you need neither less nor more of what you're getting. It's right! And He has the right to govern things as He pleases. In fact, probably all things considered, you're having it better than you deserve. Because let me tell you this, right technically might mean if you really considered true justice and true righteousness. Right is suffering. And so let me tell you this, if you're outside of hell and can still breathe God's air and still think with your mind, you've been dealt with pretty good. What's the mercies he's had? on you. So, thank the Lord. It's very easy to come from our mouths instead of murmuring against the good man of the house. This isn't right. You are getting paid what is right. The second stanza found in verse 14 and verse 16, Take what is thine, and go thy way unto thee. Well, of all the cheek, of all the high-handed things to do, you give to this last, even as you would unto me. And then in verse 16, So the last shall be first, and the first last, for many are called This is not smart business, as far as the world is concerned. Odd way of managing people and affairs. This principle, the first shall be last, and the last first. You remember the coin illustration? Let me give you another couple of illustrations. It's like the teacher saying to the students, those who have made F's this week, on their tests shall go first to lunch today, and those who made A's shall go last." That's an odd thing to do. Well, I studied hard for that A. Aren't we more deserving? Aren't we more worthy? Aren't we more capable? How about this illustration? How about those who didn't make quota in the factory? The boss comes by to everyone who hadn't made their quota, and he says, you're going to get a raise next week. And everybody that did exceed their quota, he said, you're not getting a raise. In fact, we're going to reduce your salary 10%. Now, wouldn't that touch a nerve? What are we talking about here? The last shall be first, and the first last. It says this, beloved, our God does not govern this world. This applies in the natural world as well as the spiritual. But He doesn't operate with the attributes of a smart businessman. But He operates and runs things by the lofty Inconceivably high attributes of the living God which are past finding out. He governs things according to His own wisdom. Hosea 11 and 9, For I am God, and I am not man. God said in Isaiah 55 verse 89, My thoughts are not your thoughts. The way you think is not the way I think. My ways are not your ways. I operate on a higher and different scale than you do. God is not bound to operate by human justice, human wisdom, or human law. God governs and directs events and providences, and He governs and gives even salvation. according to his own sovereign wisdom and authority and grace." Think about this. Let me give you a translation. The first shall be last and the last first. Think about the whole entire ministry of Jesus. Here the poor, needy, publicans and harlots, tax collectors, fishermen, get grace. The first scholars and teachers of Israel and scribes and Pharisees got law. The scribes and Pharisees got what was right and just. The harlots and publicans got what was grace and a gift. And you see, in a sense, this entire parable is designed to teach us the distinction between law and grace. Two different things. Law. Grace. Here it is. It's free, sovereign grace. You see, if you would use, that's why I said, when I preach this, is all these guys called, were representing the saved? No. But what this is, if anybody represents the saved, it is those that are called at the last hour, if you please, and labored. It is they who received grace. You see? Those that labored the whole day, got what was lawful, but some who labored but an hour or two got what was gracious." And again, it's so important to interpret this parable, do not make all of these day laborers represent saved people. Many indeed are called to get law and shall, but a few are chosen to get grace. Some or many will get exactly what they deserve. There will be a few in the human family that will get what they don't deserve. Oh my! What a principle to operate on! The first shall be last, and the last first. How does God determine who gets the law and who gets grace? I don't know. It's a God thing. Brother Carter told us. It's the Lord's business. But the principle by which God makes the last first and the first last is mysterious and infant and past finding out. The only thing you can do is bow to it. Stomp your feet, blaspheme all you want to, it doesn't change it. It's so. In the temporal affairs, it's true there are others that are blessed and favored and gifted above you, but know this, it does not rob you or take anything away from you. And consider also that even in temporal things there are others, plenty of others, who are not half as blessed and favored as you are. Do you realize to be able to sit there at a length of time and listen to sermons and understand most of what's being said, do you realize what a favor that is? In the parable, a few labored, as it were, only an hour and received a full day's wage, and everything in between. It doesn't seem fair because it's not fair. But that's the nature of grace. Not law. Not merit. Not works. Who is sufficient? Who will do right and good in making such calls as who gets the law and who gets the grace? Not me. I can't do it. Third stanza, verse 10, When the first came, listen to this, When the first came, they supposed that they would receive what? More. Here it is. They suppose. Our frustrations anger, complaining, and murmuring springs from supposition. That is, we have false expectations of how it ought to be with us and what's going to happen. I know I had it one time. I suppose. I thought that I should receive more presumption is a root of our disappointment in the way we are dealt with. Also, our pride in life, esteeming ourselves. Well, Lord, it just blew my mind when I was a college student. I'd go, and I was a young ministerial student, and I'd go out to these different churches, and I would go to this big church, and this fellow couldn't hardly Couldn't hardly preach his way through a wet paper bag. But man, here they are, his congregation was full. Now he was a good man, and don't get me wrong, he had good sound Baptist beliefs, but then I'd go and visit sometimes the old country preacher that lived on the edge of town and pastored a small little church, and man, I'm telling you, I was bewildered, amazed, profound, depth of understanding and preaching the word in just a handful of people, and I thought, what's going on here? I suppose that the preacher could, the one that I thought was really doing well, that he should have the big congregation, that the people should be listening to him. It doesn't work that way, folks. You know it doesn't. But we have this pride, don't we? We think maybe we're more deserving. And that's out of our pride that we become jealous and envious and angry. I wonder how much through the years if the Lord gave you a catalog of your murmurings so you could read them. Wouldn't it humble you to think how often the good man of the house has had to hear your murmuring and your calling into question the administration of the kingdom of God? Indeed. That's not right. That's not fair. This is not easy. Our complaining has three forms, generally complaining and fault-finding. When you get in the wrong spirit, let me tell you, you're not happy and joyful, are you? Let me tell you, when you get jealousy and envy in your heart and self-pity, the first casualty is the joy of the Lord. You lose your joy, and you fall in this murmuring spirit, not happy. Then next, your prayer life is infringed on. You don't pray. When you're in the wrong spirit, you don't pray like you ought to. You're crossed with things. You're not of a thankful heart. You're not giving thanks unto the Lord. You're finding fault with certain things and you're bewildered why it's happening like this. You're not praising the Lord for every good thing. You're not serving the Lord, rejoicing in the Lord always. And then our complaining, our bad spirit takes this pouting spirit. I'm being ignored. People do not compliment my sermons. I remember one time preaching a conference way up north, and there was a list of people who wanted. There were two preachers in this conference. I was one of them. And there was people lined up to get this other guy's sermon. There was only one or two who wanted my sermons. And I heard, the Lord let me hear it. There was some guy, some couple come up, and they said, we want Brother so-and-so's, but we don't want Brother Johnson's sermons. That touched a nerve. Why don't they want my sermon? You see, if we're not properly complimented or praised, if we're not in the limelight and if we're not sufficiently taken notice of, it hurts us, doesn't it? Don't we tend to murmur? God let me see that and God let me experience that for my own good. Let me tell you, I had to have an attitude adjustment. This thing of feeling overlooked, bypassed, seeing that somebody is advanced or promoted and that person obviously is less qualified than you are. And then there is this general critical spirit we fall into. When you get in the spirit of jealousy, envy, and self-pity, you soon begin to articulate how dissatisfied you are with people and you don't mind telling people about folks that you feel are doing wrong. In fact, we have this checkout lady in Kroger's in our hometown. She always is seeking somebody to talk to who will agree with her that she's the only one doing a good job. That all the other employees, she'll always talk about their shortcomings. She'll talk about their failures and how wrong they are and how pitiful the miserable job that they're doing. But she's saying, look at me, look at me. I'm the only one faithful. I'm the only one worth drawing a salary. I'm the only one deserving my pay. How easy it is. Did you know in James 3, let me read this if I can. You turn with me too, James 3. I've got to read to you about this wisdom, the difference between the wisdom that comes from hell and the wisdom that comes from God and comes from above. The book of James chapter 3. Okay. Listen to this. This goes right... Verse 13 through 18. Who is a wise man and dude with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good life conversation his works with meekness of wisdom, humility. Brother, when you're being humble, you're being wise. When you're taking the last spot, you're being wise. When you're low in your own esteem, you're being right and you're manifesting true wisdom. Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envies, and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. You're living a lie. You're not living up to the character and to the Spirit of Christ when you're filled with bitterness and jealousy and envy and self-pity. Notice this wisdom. That is this kind of wisdom that looks at things from a natural perspective and thinks, I'm better than her. I deserve more. I'm more fit to be promoted. That sort of wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual and demonic, devilish. But listen to this. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure and then peaceful. gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy, and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them that make peace. Let me tell you the difference. Wisdom from hell is always negative nitpicking and fault finding. But the wisdom from above is always gracious, condescending, meek, merciful, and tender. This is from above. And Jesus said it like this, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Fourthly, this closely related to my other point, Verse 13. Verse 13. Friend, I do thee no wrong. I'm doing you no wrong. This is my fourth point. This helps us. I do thee no wrong. Now we learn that God does us right But it even goes further than this, God does thee no wrong. That is, whatever it is, however uncomfortable or painful or utterly disagreeable it may be in your life, doesn't mean a wrong is being done to you. In fact, God uses pain disappointment, suffering for very beneficial reasons in your life. You really are so ornery you cannot live this life and become like Christ without pain and disappointment and suffering. And God uses it. He uses pain and suffering in His chastening of us. For what son is there whom his father does not chasten? If God loves you, He will whip you. If He doesn't whip you, you are a bastard and not a child. You do not belong to Him if everything is always turning up roses in your life. He uses pain. as chastening, and he also purifies the dross out of your life. So many impurities, so many errors, so much false notion, so much that needs to be burned out. But rest assure this, beloved, God never could or would do any of his creatures wrong. even though in our eyes there may be great suffering, unexplained misery, tremendous injustice, terrible calamity. You see, we have a tendency to view this world and what is happening to us and others without the sin factor calculated in. Listen, God, it's an amazing thing. God is doing no one wrong. Listen to this. Even when God kills and destroys, when He afflicts and chastens and judges, even when He places people in hell, He is not doing that person wrong. In fact, Romans 9.22, Brother Johnny says that God endured with much patience and long-suffering the vessels of wrath that were befitted for destruction. So even when His dealings involve pain and suffering and loss, for us who are Christians, it's sent to do us good. It works good in the end. He doesn't afflict anyone willingly, but only if it serves you good and brings glory to His name. Let me get to the last point. We're done here. Verse 15, summary. Again, we're talking about truths that we use when we are tempted to fall into this jealousy, envy, self-pity, murmuring state of mind. This does us good to remember these truths. Verse 15, is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own things? Is your eye evil? Because I am good. That statement says it all. Is it not lawful for God to do whatever He wills with any of us? If He wants to greatly use us and set us before men and magnify His name through our ministry, is it not lawful for Him to do that? Is it not lawful if He wills to set us on the shelf and let us be ignored and serve in a place of obscurity? Isn't it? Isn't it right? Isn't it lawful for Him to do... You know, Paul makes a statement about us that's sometimes very hard for us to swallow. He says like this, you are not your own. Now that rubs against the grain oftentimes because how we think we are our own. We naturally incline to think we're free, independent, full of liberties, full of rights. We swallow these lies that's being broadcast by our present society. Oh, you're somebody important. Oh, you can do it. You've got your rights. You can go anywhere you want. You can be anything you want. You can do anything you want. I tell you, that's all a lie. You can't go anywhere you want. You can't be anything you want. You cannot accomplish your own will in life. Let me tell you, God's got everybody hemmed into His purposes. And you know what His purpose is with all of mankind is? He is either in the big picture, either making all men either a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction or a vessel of mercy prepared unto glory. One of the two. That's His design. I didn't write this thing. But it's true! You cannot be anything you please. You cannot go anywhere you like. You are not your own. God is having His way with you and doing as He pleases with you, whether you recognize it or not. You are His property. You serve the ultimate purposes of God. You have been set in your place in time, and you have been given your appointed Time in the vineyard, as it were. You're tightly regulated. You're hemmed in by time, by history. The very hairs of your head are numbered. The very hours that you have been appointed to live, we've already heard it, has been set by the Almighty. Now, is it not lawful for God to do what He wills with you? Is it not right? You can do nothing to prevent it, because He's going to do it whether you like it or not. You can scream. You can stomp your feet. You can swell up with anger. You can curse and blaspheme, Psalm 12. But who art thou, O man, to judge God for what He is doing and how He is leading? and His purpose for your life. I can say this. I can give you this advice. You can do one of two things about the ultimate sovereignty of God and His right to do anything He wills in your life. you can either bow to it and say, Lord, it's lawful for you to do this to me. It's right. In fact, I'll tell you the best thing you could ever say in hell. I don't know what if you die and go to hell, what you will say there. But I'll tell you, even if you died and went to hell, the best thing you could say, the first thing that could come out of your mouth when you were in hell would be to say, Lord, it was lawful for you to do this to me. But I have a sneaking suspicion if you will really bow, and say, Lord, it is your right. I remember that's when God began to show some little, some great mercies to my oldest son who was out in left field, way a prodigal, way deep a prodigal. And I really meant it. I really meant it. I got before God. I wasn't playing with God. One night I was moved. I'd been praying for him for years. He was living like hell. And I got out on my front porch and I bowed up before God. And I say, oh God, oh God. If you were to kill my son tonight and put him to hell, I would praise your name and I would say, God, you have done what's right. Lord, it is your right. It is your right to withhold mercy. You will have mercy on whomever you will have mercy and on whom you will, you will harden. It will be your right. But God, you are a God of mercy. And if you would, would you sow my old boy some mercy? And you know what? The Lord spoke in my heart and said, I've heard your prayer. I come into May and I grabbed my wife and I said, I said, Mama, God's going to save James. He said he heard my prayer tonight. The next day, next day, Brother Pete, the phone rang and it was James who was working on the pipeline in Middle Tennessee and he said, Daddy, would you pray for me? I've got to get right with God. The next day. But I'm telling you this, when you ever come to the point to see that you have no rights, that you're in the hands of a sovereign God and you will bow to His will, the Scripture gives us so many promises that run like this. For whosoever exalts himself shall be abased, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted." You just bow up and exalt yourself against God and see what happens. So may these things be called to our memory as we prod on in this difficult life with the Lord's dealings. May we always be gripped with a thankful heart that we've been given, especially we who have been saved by His grace, that the Lord saw fit to give us not what we deserved in law, not what was legally lawful, but to give us what was mercy. Let's pray. Thank You, Father, for your fine and good and perfect dealings with humanity. We do not govern you. We do not rule you. It is a merciful thing that You've even told us that we can pray, and that we can ask, and we can knock, we can seek. I pray, Heavenly Father, tonight for any who've already been preached to through the first message, who are without You, if they be here in this service, instead of bowing up and running and resisting, that tonight might be the night that they bow before the living God and say, Thy will be done. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.