"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." Psa. 37:5.
I believe that it is every man's privilege to be bigger than circumstances. I pity the man who is so weak that he allows circumstances to defeat him. I believe that the man who is yoked up with God -- and any man may be thus yoked -- the devil, or hell, or the world, or circumstances, or all combined, cannot defeat that man. I am confident that God never appointed us to defeat. I believe we were chosen to be holy. To be holy means to be conqueror. "How can two walk together except they be agreed?" The man that walks with God has the best company heaven can afford, and hell trembles in his presence. I am somewhat of the faith of a little boy, who one time knelt at his grandma's knees to pray, and after he went through the usual prayer that he had been taught, he kept on praying for quite a while; and when he rose from his knees his grandma said, "Child, what made you pray so long?" He said, "Well, you know, grandma, we sing, 'The devil trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees,' and I thought I would give him a good shaking." I believe that to be true. It is certainly Scriptural that a man who is yoked up with God is bound to be a conqueror -- master of circumstances, master of the situation, and at last when he passes through all the afflictions of this world, and enters through the pearly gates, the angels of heaven will delight to do him honor, because he has been made conqueror through the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, you can dip your brush in the darkest colors that hell can afford; you can paint the darkest picture that human agency can paint, or that a carnal mind or a man deeply agitated in sorrow can possibly paint, and when you have gotten through I want to dip my brush in the colors of Calvary and write over it all, "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." I believe that God can, that God will bless the man that walks with him, and He will make him conqueror.
Listen to the poet:
"I cannot do it alone, The waves run fast and high The fogs close chill around, The lights go out in the sky, But I know in the end we two shall win -- Jesus and I.
"Coward and wayward and weak, I change with the changing sky, Today so strong and brave, Tomorrow too weak to fly. But He never gives in -- so we two shall win -- Jesus and I."
That makes me master, that makes me conqueror, that assures me that all the way down to the end I shall be more than conqueror through Him that hath loved me. "Well," but you say, "Brother Kulp, are not we sometimes defeated?" Yes, but it is our own fault. Perhaps we did not call in reinforcements quick enough; perhaps we were rather slow in remembering the promises of God. But listen: If you were once defeated, why should you stay defeated? We are in the battle, we are human, we are subject to infirmities, the enemy goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour; but listen to this: There is no need of your trembling; when you are trembling it shows you need the anointed eyes. That old prophet went out one time and the enemies were gathered all around him, and there was a young man with him from the school of the prophets, who seeing the great crowd around him began trembling, and he shook like an aspen leaf. The old prophet said, "Lord, open his eyes!" And when his eyes were opened he saw what the old prophet had seen all the time -- the hilltops were crowded with horses and chariots of fire. He that is for us is greater than all that can be against us. Brother, sister, do not be discouraged! I am here this afternoon to tell you that faith unites a man with Omnipotence and makes him bigger than any circumstances that can be gathered around him. Now, I want to prove it. We will have a class-meeting with a lot of saints together like they used to have. When I was a boy I went to class-meeting with father and mother, and an old leader would come around among them, a man of Christian experience, and he would go to each one separately and say, "Brother, how is your soul today?" And that old saint would get up -- or a young saint, as it may be -- and tell how he was getting along in his soul. He did not talk about the years gone by; did not say God's Word was true and he believed it, but he just held up one bunch of grapes after another, one bunch of pomegranates after another, and then declared he was in the land and had the fruits. Say, I like the old-fashioned Methodist class-meetings. I believe in class-meetings this afternoon, and we will have one. I am going to ask the mother of Moses to stand up and testify. Listen! This preacher has declared this afternoon that faith in God will make you master of circumstances. Women have been encouraged by your faith in the days gone by, and I want to ask you to give your testimony. "I was a mother and God gave me one of the finest boys that was ever given to a mother. The king of Egypt made a decree that all the children of Israel should be put to death, and I remembered the promise that had been made unto Abraham, and after prayer I made an ark and daubed it with the slime of the river, and then I launched that ark out on the bosom of the Nile."
"What! did you put that ark with the child in it out on the river Nile?" "No, no; I launched it out on the promise of God; and there came a day when the daughter of the king came down to the river to bathe, and she saw the ark among the flags, and when she had opened it and saw the weeping baby, she had compassion on it. She decided to keep it and that she would have a Hebrew nurse for it; so they came and called me for that purpose. Thus, by the Providence of God my own baby was restored to me." Faith in God makes us master of circumstances.
Well, do you want to hear from Moses? Moses, I want you to testify this afternoon. Will faith in God make a man master of circumstances? And I see Moses, the old lawgiver of Israel, the man who had all the learning of the Egyptians, the man who was reared in Pharaoh's court -- I see him stand up there and I hear him testify, and he says: "There came a time when I had to choose between a throne and a race of slaves; I had to choose between being the son of Pharaoh's daughter and casting in my lot with an army of slaves. I looked upon the backs of the slaves, and there were the scars of the task masters; but I remembered the promise that God had made, and I esteemed the reproaches of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt, and I cast in my lot with the people of God." Did it pay? "Let me tell you; forty days I was shut in with the Infinite and He let me sit in His presence and He talked to me, and at last there came a time when I should die, but I did not die the ordinary death; my soul said good-bye to the body and I went up to be with the redeemed." Hallelujah! Faith in God makes a man master of circumstances.
Well, here is a man from Uz; an old white-bearded patriarch -- I want to hear from him. Job, Job, will faith in God make a man master of circumstances? Job can hardly talk for shouting. He gets up and begins to testify: "I have proven the thing to be true all in one day; a messenger came to me and said, 'The oxen were plowing, and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them away; yea, they have slain all the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped to tell thee.' He had not gotten through speaking when another messenger came and said, 'The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped to tell thee.' Before he had finished speaking another messenger came and said, 'The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped to tell thee.' While he was still speaking there came another and said, 'Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped to tell thee'" But, Job, I want to ask you: Does faith in God make a man master of circumstances? What did you do that day? "I lifted my hands and my eyes to heaven and I said, 'Naked came I out of my mother' s womb, and naked shall I return thither: The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'" Oh, brother, faith in God makes a man master of circumstances!
And that is not all. Here is a man I think a great deal of and I want to get him in this class-meeting. Daniel, I want to ask you, will faith in God make a man master of circumstances? And old Daniel gets up and says, "I was in the land of captivity; I was far away from home, my people had hung their harps on the willows, and we very seldom heard the song of rejoicing. When we exhorted them to sing they would say, 'How can I sing the songs of God in this land of captivity?' Then my enemies went and had an edict passed and said that if a man should pray to the God of heaven he should be cast into the lions' den; and I kept my windows up and prayed three times a day, and they took me and cast me into the lions' den, and there I slept all night, but the king passed the night without sleep, and came to the mouth of the lion's den very early the next morning and said, 'O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?' And I shouted, 'My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me.'" Hallelujah! Faith in God makes a man master of circumstances.
Say, let us get this little fellow up. He has sore eyes; nothing very attractive about this fellow, but every time he testifies the saints catch fire. Oh, I want you to look at him! Paul, I have made this proposition to this congregation, that faith in God will make a man master of the situation. And I see Paul, who has been many years on the way, has been shipwrecked five times, has had forty stripes save one laid on him, and I want you to be very still now, while Paul testifies. Paul gets up and says: "Forty men took an oath that they would not eat nor drink until they had taken my life -- and, hallelujah! I do not know where they are, but I am here! And I was out on an old ship, and for days the sun and stars and moon were not seen, and every sail was gone, and the sailors had lost all heart and were wanting to put the prisoners to death; and when everything was the darkest I threw my arms around the old mast and said, 'I believe God.' " Oh, hallelujah! When everything is dark, faith says, "I will make you master of circumstances."
Isaac Watts, thou poet of Methodism, will faith in God make a man master of circumstances? Isaac is accustomed to giving his testimony in song:
"Thy saints in all this glorious war Shall conquer though they die They see the triumph from afar, By faith they bring it nigh."
Charles Wesley also sings his testimony:
"Thou, oh Christ art all I want; More than all in Thee I find." Hallelujah! "More than all in thee I find."
I know of a preacher who has been in Africa the greater part of his life. Alongside of him has been an educated woman, his wife. They both came out of the finest circles of Christian society. When he was home for a short time someone asked him concerning his going back to Africa, and he said, "Wife and I are going back to our black friends; we are going so far into the interior that we will never see a white face again. We are going to live and die not only for Africa but in Africa, and we are doing 't for Jesus' sake." Faith in God made that man master of circumstances.
I was at the Springfield camp in Ohio, and on missionary day there was a man there that was asked to talk, and I looked at that fellow and I thought to myself, "Are they going to put that fellow up to talk?" He did not look as though he knew an adverb from a shad, but they put him up and he began to talk, and I wish you had heard him. It was not five minutes until he was rubbing his eyes and was getting blessed, and had everybody else blessed. That fellow came from India and every day on his way he wrote a letter, and after he got here he mailed them all; and in the last letter he wrote he said to his wife, "I have something to tell you that will make your heart laugh: when I come back to India I come back not only to live in India, but to die in India."
We can lose sight of big automobiles, big dinners, big churches, friends and hosts of friends, when Jesus Christ fills our vision. Oh, brother, I pity the man whose vision can be filled by a man. I pity the man who cannot see anything else but the Apostolic Holiness Church; I pity the man that cannot see anything else but the Methodist, the Baptist, or the Presbyterian Church. Now, wait; do not misunderstand me. I believe everybody ought to belong to a church and stand by it; but there never was a church that was big enough to fill the vision of a man who has once had a glimpse of Jesus -- I do not believe in glimpses of Him either. An old man who was dying was asked, "Do you get a glimpse of Jesus?" He said, "Away with glimpses! For forty years I have had a full look!" Glory be to God! Glad I have a full look, brother. Oh, glory be to heaven's King! I want to thank God for my experience this afternoon. Jesus Christ satisfies me abundantly, abundantly, abundantly! Glory be to God forever! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Satisfied in Jesus, and with Jesus, and expect to be satisfied eternally! Expect to keep on growing! My soul is bigger today than it ever was, and I expect to keep on growing through the eternal ages. God is going to give me an increased capacity that will help adapt me. Glory be to God! I cannot tell you what there is before me, but by the grace of God I am going every step of the way to find out. God said to the people of Israel before they got to Canaan, "I will give you a land that flows with milk and honey; I will give you houses you did not build, and I will give you wells you did not dig," and glory be to heaven's King, I am headed for the land where there is a mansion I did not build, where there is a fountain I did not strike. I am going, I am going to take possession! Hallelujah! I am glad I am in the class-meeting. Hallelujah! Glory be to our God! Let all the people say, Amen!
Well, now, wait a moment! Somebody says, "Brother Kulp, that is the experience I want." Well, my text tells you how to get it. "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." "Well," somebody says, "I have been to the altar, and I have committed and did not get anything." Brother, you did not commit, and I want to say to you on the line of thought that our dear brother had this morning, you cannot commit without you do certain things before. What are they? First, you have to admit. Admit what? "Lord, I am a sinner -- I am unworthy; Lord, I am the vilest of the vile; Lord, if I had my deserts I would go to hell. I am a sinner, I have sinned against light, I have sinned against knowledge, I have crucified the Son of God." You have to admit. That is the first thing. Admit. Now, follow me, what is the next thing? Submit. "Oh, I do not want to submit." I will tell you that is the trouble with us; we are too stiff, we are too proud, we do not like to submit ourselves unto God. You submit yourself to man. Listen! I buy a railroad ticket, I take that piece of pasteboard, I walk into a car, and I sit down and submit myself to the conductor and the brakeman and the engineer, and the foreman. I submit myself. I do not run the train; I do not try to. The great trouble with people now-a-days is that there are so many who are trying to run the train. I came from Pilot Point, Texas, to Texarkana, and when I got on the train I said to the conductor, "I want to get the Cotton Belt for Memphis." He took my ticket and punched it and said, "All you have to do is to sit still and we will do the rest." And all I have to do now is to commit my way unto the Lord and He will do the rest. I have committed myself and I am riding. Hallelujah! I am riding! A fellow was one time walking on a railroad track, and a station man came along and said, "You have no right to walk on this track." He said, "I have," and he pulled out a railroad ticket. The man said to him, "You are a fool; that is not a ticket to walk -- that is a ticket to ride." A great many people do not seem to understand we have a ticket to ride. No, we will not submit; we want to boss. I want to say this, that whenever a man gets the baptism of the Holy Ghost all the desire to boss is taken out of him. There is a man I respect very highly. My shoes needed blacking. He said, "I will black them for you." I said, "I will black my own shoes." "No, I will black them; I want to get a blessing." Well, you can have your choice, washing the saints feet or blacking their shoes -- I do not care which. Man has to admit, then submit, and then what? Commit. If you have admitted and submitted, then commit. What does that mean? Abandon yourself to God. We have some Holiness people that tell you that consecration is not a condition of sanctification, but I stand here to say it is. They say, "Oh, you folks are consecrating over the old man!" But, God bless you, if anything will put the old man to death and mortify him, it is when you abandon yourself to the Holy Ghost. I declare unto you I have no will of my own now-a-days; I have handed it over to God, and have told Him His will is mine, and I tell yon this afternoon that my experience is, that all I have to know is, what God wants me to do, and I will do it. Commit yourself, abandon yourself unto God. Then what, after you admit, submit and commit? Then God will remit. Did you ever get any remittances? One time there was an old lady bowing in prayer, saying, "I have not a bite of bread nor a bite of meat in the house, but Lord, I am trusting you." And there were some wicked boys heard her and went to the store and got some bread and meat and threw it into the house, and the old lady said, "Oh, God, I thank you for sending me some bread and meat." The boys came in and said, "Oh, Auntie, you need not thank God for that; we are the ones who brought it." "Oh," she said, "God sent it, but the devil brought it." A remittance from heaven.
What is our remittance? First, pardon. Has it come this afternoon? Second, purity. I want to ask you, have you received the Holy Ghost? Did you admit, submit, commit and get the remittance? Is this text true? "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass?"
