[0:00] I was going to say something about that myself. I was not in a good way that night. I was hurting for certain. We were playing disc golf, of all things. I went to throw that disc and my back just said, nope. Boy, I was done. That's what happens, man. I'm only 36 years old and people tell me it only gets worse from here. I don't like hearing that. But I broke my back 10 years ago, 11 years ago. And sometimes it just sneaks back up on you.
[0:31] I told the brother just a little bit ago, there's been times I have sneezed and thrown my back out. It's pathetic. Man, I want that new body now. But anyway, it's good to be back here.
[0:43] I was here, I think, February of this year, February or March, something like that. Last minute, kind of a meeting on a Wednesday night. Very thankful to be able to have that. And glad to be back here again this morning. My name is David Zraik, by the way, a missionary going to Papua New Guinea. We are leaving a week from Tuesday. I cannot believe that. It seems crazy to us, but we'll be flying out from L.A. And I'll tell a little bit more about that in the next hour. I want to go ahead and get right into the lesson. So let's go ahead and open up to Proverbs chapter 19, verse 23. I got a very practical lesson this morning.
[1:21] I believe, in my opinion, I think that verse by verse teaching is the best method, in my opinion, for the best method for this year, typical, you know, everyday Sunday school type stuff.
[1:34] You get all the doctrine with that, all the practical, all that kind of stuff comes with that. You're going to hit verse by verse. You're going to hit everything. But, you know, I got a very practical lesson, basically a word, almost a word study type deal. But look at Proverbs chapter 19, verse 23. The Bible says, the fear of the Lord tendeth to life, and he that hath it shall abide satisfied. He shall not be visited with evil. And I want to give a lesson on how to abide satisfied.
[2:05] How to abide satisfied. Let's pray. Father, I am thankful, Lord, for this day. Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to be here. God, I thank you for being so good to us. I thank you for saving our souls. Thank you for giving us a reason to wake up and a reason to breathe, a reason to live on this earth and help us to fulfill the purpose you've given to us. God, help us to look into your words and see some things about this subject, about being satisfied. I think it's a very important thing to be thinking about and trying to work on in our lives. So help us now as we study, Lord, and I ask it all in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. One of the modern, one of the plagues of the modern society that we live in today is dissatisfaction. I mean, it really is a plague. It really is a cancerous sore. It just eats away. And we live in a society that is just dissatisfied with life, dissatisfied with everything.
[3:01] Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 5. Ecclesiastes chapter 5. Look at verse 10. One of the leading causes for dissatisfaction is right here. Ecclesiastes 5.10, the Bible says, He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase is also vanity. If you're going to love silver, the Bible tells you right there, you're not going to be satisfied with silver. Silver cannot satisfy. Gold cannot satisfy. Things cannot satisfy. They just can't. It's impossible. The physical things cannot placate what's inside of you. Your soul, your spirit cannot be satisfied with tangible objects. And if you're looking for silver, if you're looking for that, those greenbacks, the money and all that kind of stuff, you'll never be satisfied. You're always going to want more. So they cannot satisfy. Look at Ezekiel chapter 16 real quickly. Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel 16 and verse 49. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister
[4:14] Sodom. Pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and her daughters. Neither did you strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. You know why Sodom was the way Sodom was? And we all know what Sodom was and sodomy and all that wicked sexual perversion going on. Do you know why they ended up the condition they were in? Pride, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness. They had way too much and they were proud. And they didn't do the right things with what they had. The end of that verse says that they did not strengthen the hand of the needy. So the very reason Sodom was the way they were, number one, pride. And they had abundance of bread and abundance of idleness. They had way too much. And they were not satisfied and they turned into being just sexually perverted people, the whole nation. So you see that when people have all the, and that's, boy, that doesn't describe America. I don't know what does. But you go to the modern, the average American home, you open up their refrigerator and their cupboards. I mean, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness. I mean, we, Americans live for Friday. They live for the weekend. They live to get off the clock. Abundance of idleness. This whole idea of working eight to five, that's a modern idea. That's a pretty new thing. And people live for the idleness. They live for the abundance and they, they're full of pride and they're dissatisfied.
[5:47] Now, the Bible has a lot to say about being satisfied. It has a lot to say, a lot of warnings against being dissatisfied. You can look about the, read about the rich man over there in Luke chapter 12.
[6:02] The rich man, he had barns. He had his barns overflowing with grain and whatever he was storing up. And he said, I am going to tear down the barns I have and tomorrow I'm going to build bigger barns.
[6:15] And the Lord said, thou fool, tonight thy soul should be required of thee. Dissatisfied, just dissatisfied with, with what he had. And all he was going after was more and more and more.
[6:27] David, read about him in 2 Samuel chapter 11, when the time for kings to go out to battle, he's, you know, he stays home and he goes on the rooftop and he sees Bathsheba. I mean, he had wives and concubines and he still went after Bathsheba. He was dissatisfied. And it was the ruin of him just about over there in first Kings 10 and 11, you see Solomon, he's multiplying horses. He's multiplying gold and silver and he multiplies himself. Why? 700 wives and 300 concubines.
[6:58] And you see what, how he ended up in Ecclesiastes. Vanity of vanities. All he says, I get me this and that and that and this. And he said, it's all vanity. Dissatisfied. And he ends up bitter and just wayward. And all his heart, the wives that he sought after stole his heart. The Bible says numbers 11 shows you Israel murmuring and complaining about God's provision with the manna.
[7:29] They got dissatisfied and God gave him the quails till it came out their nostrils. Dissatisfaction. Brothers, sisters, it'll ruin you. To be dissatisfied will ruin you. You know, a common thread of these dissatisfied individuals and they're trying to satisfy their desires with selfish and even sinful means.
[7:54] And they just, they start murmuring and complaining and disputing and all this stuff comes. And it comes from dissatisfaction. It comes from dissatisfaction. And you know, Christian, I believe that dissatisfaction and covetousness and envy and lust and all these different inward envy and bitterness and complaining and murmuring, they all go hand in hand. And I believe if we would just simply learn to be satisfied that the covetousness and the envy and the lust and the bitterness and the anger and all these different things would just kind of fall aside because where, where does envy, where does covetousness, where does lust and greed find room in a satisfied heart? It won't find any room in a heart that's satisfied. You don't need, covetousness won't find any kind of room. So I believe if you would learn to be satisfied, that a lot of these kind of inward sins will just kind of fade away after a while.
[9:02] Well, Webster defines satisfied as having one's desires fully gratified, freed from doubt, suspense, or uncertainty, mind rested in confidence by ascertaining the truth. And I've ascertained the truth. I don't know about you, but I've got truth and it's satisfying to have truth. You know, Webster has a pretty good definition, but I think I found a better definition in the truth, the Bible. Turn to Proverbs chapter 30.
[9:34] Webster's a very good dictionary. I turn to, I use Webster's a lot, but man, you really don't need that. Just look at the Bible. Proverbs chapter 30. Look at verse 7. Proverbs chapter 30, verse 7.
[9:47] The Bible says, Two things have I required thee. Deny me them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord, or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain.
[10:10] You know what? That right there is a satisfied individual. Don't give me too much unless I don't need God. Don't give me too little, lest I curse him and get bitter and angry. I mean, that's, that's satisfaction. It's not having the abundance and it's not being down the dregs. It's just somewhere in the middle and someone that can say, don't give me too much or don't get just being satisfied. That's the definition of, of a satisfied man right there. Two things have required of thee. I mean, it's very simple. Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. It doesn't matter what state he's in. Don't give me poverty. Don't give me riches. Just be satisfied with your state. But go to Philippians chapter 4. He's even a better definition of a satisfied person. Philippians chapter 4. Look at verse 11. Here's Paul speaking.
[11:03] Not that I speak in the respect of want, for I have learned whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be a base and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. That's a satisfied man.
[11:25] He said, I know how to abound to the highest of the heights and I know how to be abased. You know, that's satisfied. Being satisfied isn't having everything you want. Being satisfied isn't being necessarily comfortable. Satisfaction is a state of mind. It's a state of being.
[11:46] You know, an airplane pilot, someone who flies airplanes, they have to know how to abound to the heights of 30 plus thousand feet. They have to know how to handle that airplane up there where the air is thin, where the air is, there's not turbulence up there. It's a lot easier to go up to those heights and fly. He also knows, has to know how to be abased and come back from the loftiness, from the heights and up rising above all the turbulence and the storms and all that. He has to know how to come back and ascend to the earth and land on that tarmac. Up there when the airplane pilot, and I'm not a pilot, I don't know all about it, but I've read a couple things. But what I know, when an airplane pilot ascends up above the clouds and he goes up and he gets up there high above the earth and he's up and he rises above the turbulence and above the storms, above the mountains, above everything, and he's above all the turmoil of the earth. The air is thin and it's smooth. You can make all kinds of headway go about 500 miles an hour and it's easy to fly way up in the sky where there's no turbulence and it's easy.
[13:05] But you know, the tendency when you're way up in the sky is to freeze. The higher up you get, the colder it gets. And that airplane pilot, he has some controls on the airplane and the airplane itself, it takes the heat generated from the turbines and it distributes it to all the other parts of the airplane to keep the thing from freezing. And Christians, don't you know, once you're rising above the turbulence and all the storms and the trials and all the heartache down here on this earth, the tendency when the bills are paid and the family is good, your health is good, the tendency for you when everything is going smooth and easy, the tendency is to freeze over. And you've got to make sure that you're taking proper measures and you're in the book and you're in prayer and you're doing the right things to distribute that heat and making sure you're not freezing.
[13:57] But on the other side of that coin is true. Once you're, you begin to descend back to earth, back to reality, and you come back from the loftiness, from the heights of the Christian life where everything is easy and smooth, and you come back down to the earth and you're coming back down through the clouds and you start hitting that turbulence. And you come below the clouds and the storm begins to rage and the thunders crash and the lightning is flashing and you're coming back down to the earth and you're trying to find the landing zone where you can find some safety in the hangar. The tendency when you come back down to the earth is to crash. The tendency, Christian, when you start hitting the turbulence and the lightning is flashing and the thunders crashing and all the storms are, the tendency is to crash when you start coming back down and you're abased. The key is to know how.
[14:52] How? It doesn't matter if you're way up there and up there in the sky and you're making, you know, you're flying to 500 miles an hour. It doesn't matter if you're coming back down and you're hitting some turbulence. The thing that matters, the key is to know how. To know how to be abounding and how to be abased. And to abide satisfied, in my opinion, is one of the key elements in the Christian life.
[15:22] One of the main things you need to work on in, especially as an American, is learn how to be satisfied. Learn how to be satisfied. So here's a few points real quickly on on how to abide satisfied.
[15:36] Go back to Proverbs 19 real quick. I'm going to start off and my first point might not sound like it makes a whole lot of sense, but you'll see in a minute. But back to our our first verse here, Proverbs 19 verse 23. If you want to be satisfied in this life, number one, fear God. Excuse me.
[15:57] The fear of the Lord tendeth to life and he that hath it shall abide satisfied. You'll never be satisfied in life until you learn to fear God. You can't do it. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom and so on, and it produces satisfaction. You know, fear is a basic instinct and it's one of the most powerful motivators in life that motivates you to do wrong.
[16:33] Christian life or just secular life. The fear is a very powerful, it motivates you to do right. And it's a very satisfying feeling when you're doing right. The fear of God is a fundamental aspect of the Christian life. One of the most fundamental aspects of your Christian life is going to be fear God. You never want to lose your fear of the Lord.
[16:56] I believe the love of God and the sense of duty, excuse me, ought to be, man, ought to be the main motivating factor in the Christian life. I believe it should be. But let's face it, man, fear is really the main thrust of when you're going to do right, if you're going to live right. Fear is usually somewhere in the background driving you and pushing you towards doing right. It's the most productive motive there is. Over in Proverbs 1.7, fear produces knowledge. And in Proverbs 9.10, it produces wisdom.
[17:32] In Psalms 19.9, the fear of the Lord produces cleanliness. In Psalms 85.9, the fear of God produces salvation. In Psalms 1.19.74, the fear of God produces gladness. Psalms 10.27, the fear of the Lord produces long life. And so, uh, Proverbs 14.26, the fear of God produces strength. And in our text here, and there's others, but in our text, the fear of God produces satisfaction. It seems odd, doesn't it?
[18:03] How can fear make you satisfied? I mean, when I'm afraid, my heart's pounding and I'm afraid and I'm cowering and hiding and all that kind of stuff. And it seems kind of odd that the Bible would say, the fear of the Lord tendeth on life and he that hath it shall abide satisfied. But when you think about it, it is a satisfying thing. Uh, you know, when I'm driving down the highway and the speed limit says, uh, it's 65 miles an hour. If I have a healthy fear of getting a ticket and I'm driving at 65 miles an hour, it's satisfying to drive by that police office parked by the, on the side of the highway waiting for me. I can just wave by him and have no fear of getting in trouble. But when I'm driving in excess of the speed limit, if I see a car parked off, uh, the Bible says the wicked flee when no man pursue it, but the righteous are bold as a lion. And when I see a vehicle parked to the side of the highway and I'm doing 85, let's just say hypothetically, I never do it. Let's say I'm driving 85 miles in a 65 mile an hour zone. And I see a vehicle parked on the side of the highway, man,
[19:13] I'm going to step on those brakes, you know? And that the funny thing is most often it's not even a police car, it's just some down vehicle. The wicked flee when no man pursueth. But the righteous are bold as it's satisfying to do right. It's satisfying to have a, a good, healthy fear of God. It's satisfying.
[19:37] You know, because I fear God, there are certain things I don't do. I don't drink alcohol because I have a fear of God judge me for it. And I have a fear of what that'll cause in my life. I don't, there are certain things I don't do, certain places I don't go, certain, there's just some certain things in life I try to abide, abide, adhere to, excuse me, because I fear God. Because I fear the law. And it's satisfying when I do right. I mean, I try to tell my kids that whenever they get in trouble. I tell my children, you're not, if you would just simply have obeyed me, you would have not gotten a spanking or not gotten punished or whatever it might be.
[20:23] And I can think back in my own personal life when I was a child, the times that I did right by my mom and dad, I could easily have fellowship with them. So many Christians lose out fellowshipping with the Lord and that satisfaction of that close walk with God because they're not fearing God and they're doing their own thing. Fear of God produces knowledge and wisdom and gladness and, and all those things.
[20:50] And it produces satisfaction. So if you want to be satisfied, number one, you got to learn to fear the Lord, to fear God. The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good.
[21:02] And if you really think about that verse, boy, that'll, that'll put some fear in you when people aren't watching. That'll make you have a second thought about what you're clicking on that computer and that, the cell phone. If you have some fear of the Lord, it'll, it'll, it'll kind of guide you.
[21:22] If you're starting to go off track, it'll, you'll, you'll start to think within yourself, God sees this. He really sees what I'm doing. He sees what I'm thinking and it'll, it'll make you do right. Look, go to Psalms chapter 90. The fear of God produces satisfaction. And if you want to be satisfied, fear the Lord, here's another guideline, another rule of, uh, if you want to be satisfied in life, look at Psalms chapter 90, man, Psalm 90 verse 14. If you want to be satisfied, rest in God's mercy. Oh, satisfy us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. You know, I am so thankful that I serve a God who is defined by his mercy. I, I mean, I I'm thankful for that.
[22:18] I was saved at a young age. I was five years old when I got saved and, uh, I threw a whole lot of years away. I was raised right. I was raised in a Bible believing Christian family all my life, raised in most of my life in a Bible believing church. I had the preaching. I had the teaching.
[22:41] I had the admonishment. I had all that stuff. I had all the, even the iron that sharpens iron. I had all that. And you know what? For a long time, many, many years, I refused to read my Bible.
[22:55] I refused to have a prayer life. My coward mouth was closed. I never witnessed to a lost soul. And I found myself, I mean, as a young man, just wayward, uh, far away from God. I mean, I was the worst kind of backslidden Christian there is because I stayed in church. I'm not saying get out of church, but, but hear me out. I was, I was backslidden as could be, but I loved my friends and I didn't want to be embarrassed and have people coming after me. So I, I played in the orchestra. I sang in the choir. I did all the activities. I wore the suit and the tie and I was backslidden. I mean, my heart was way, way into the far country. I was doing things, saying things, thinking things, folks, I was wayward. I was grieving the spirit of God. I was, I mean, God had every right to, to crush me, to ruin me. And I thank God for his mercy. I was in that,
[24:04] I told you last time I was here, I was in that helicopter crash. It messed up my back and neck and other things happened. And I'm telling you, that was the mercy of God. God breaking my, other things, that stuff was God's mercy coming after me. And I'm thankful for it.
[24:27] If God would have just left me go to myself, man, I would have been just a complete wreck. I think of it sometimes and here I am, me standing behind a pulpit, it makes absolutely no sense. Going to a foreign field as a missionary makes absolutely no sense to me.
[24:45] And what that is, is God's mercy. And it satisfies. I'll never forget that time, man, just on my belly. I'm not even, last time I was here, I say it a lot.
[24:59] When I was on my belly, I was crying so hard, my chest was bouncing off the ground. I had a puddle of tears. Man, I was just begging God for his mercy. And boy, when I cried out for mercy, mercy came running.
[25:12] And I got up off my belly and there was a piece of God, man, it passed, it passed all the understanding I could muster up. God's mercy satisfies.
[25:23] You know, you know how fortunate you and I are that we don't serve a God like Buddha, like Allah, the God that the Catholics have, the God that Harry Christian, all these different gods that are all set up.
[25:42] And what they do, all these different religions and all these different gods, they tell you, do this, don't do this, try to do this, live this way, do all these different things.
[25:54] And at the end of the day, they leave you with a big old question mark. That's not mercy. That's not mercy. Boy, that's fear. That's terror.
[26:06] Somewhere today, Christian, don't you realize what you have here? Because somewhere on this planet right now, as you and I gather, and we're singing about Jesus Christ, and we're talking about him, we're, oh, for a thousand tongues to sing and all that.
[26:24] But somewhere right now, in some place, here in Selma or across the planet, someone who's in desperation, their heart is breaking, they're in some kind of dire straits, and they're walking into some cathedral with all the gold and all the idols, all the ornate features, and they're walking into that building, and they sit down in a pew, and they're staring at these statues that are deaf and dumb and blind, and they stare at their statues, and they're flipping beads through their hands, and they're begging God for some answers, and looking for some help.
[26:57] They want to get out of their trouble. They know they're in trouble, and they have no mercy. They go to that confessional, they pour their soul out to the priest, and they feel that something might change, but when they walk out those back doors, there's still no mercy, and they're in despair.
[27:18] I'm thankful that I have a God I can take my sin to. For the sake of time, I'm not going to run the references, but man, I can claim 1 John 1.9.
[27:30] I can confess my sin, and know that he's faithful and just to forgive me. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten on my knees and said, Lord, I'm so sorry I did it again.
[27:46] Will you please forgive me? And there is just something, when you cry out for mercy, and I, daily, I ask God for his mercy, and there is just something, when you put your faith in his mercy, and you cry out for mercy with a tender heart, there is just something about that mercy.
[28:06] It just satisfies. I don't know how else to put it. It's satisfying. Oh, satisfy us early with thy mercy. Let's go to Proverbs 13.
[28:20] Proverbs chapter 13. Proverbs 13. If you want to be a satisfied Christian, fear God. And by the way, if you're not a Christian, if you're not saved, and I mean, I find it hard to believe a lost soul might enter here on 9 o'clock in the morning on a Sunday, but if you happen to be here by some outside chance, and you're not saved, you'll never be satisfied in life until you fear God, and fear his judgment.
[28:49] Put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ask him for mercy. Ask him to save your soul from hell. You'll never find satisfaction.
[29:00] I was, I got a privilege, and I can't go into it, it's a long story, but man, one of those, you talk about divine appointment. I mean, a divine appointment. I mean, I could see God's hand working from months ago to get me to this one point to witness this one guy up in North Carolina.
[29:18] And I got witnessing to this guy, and I wish I could tell the story, it's a long story though, but I got witnessing to him, and he thought he was saved because he talked in tongues, and his pastor laid hands on him, and they were flopping around, speaking in tongues, all this stuff.
[29:31] And so I started giving him the gospel and the plan of salvation. I got to the end of that thing, and I said, you can be saved right now. You don't have to go to, you can be saved from hell right now.
[29:42] He's like, I don't have to go to hell? Really? I said, yes, Lamont, you can be saved right now, and you can have peace with God. Man, I can have peace with God?
[29:54] And I want to have peace with, and boy, he bowed his head right there in the parking lot of a motorcycle store, and that man got saved and got the peace of God. You know why?
[30:04] Because he trusted in God's mercy. Look at Proverbs 13, verse 25. 13, 25.
[30:15] You want to be satisfied? Now I'm going to be meddling. Proverbs 13, 25. The righteous eateth through the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want.
[30:26] Ouch! I like to eat. I got a pretty good metabolism, so it doesn't show, but I like to eat. I could eat. Man, one of my favorite pastimes is smoking meat, man, and I got into that a few years ago.
[30:41] I like to smoke barbecue and pork and beef and all kinds of stuff. I smoked a tri-tip the other day and made some chili out of that. I could just indulge in that. I literally could eat until I get sick.
[30:54] Every day. I just like to eat. The belly of the wicked shall want. Now we make fun of these things and I know what I'm doing here. I know I'm meddling, but that's Bible.
[31:06] I'm not meddling. It's Bible. The Bible says, if you're a man given to appetite, put a knife to thy throat. Man. The Bible tells you very plain that gluttony is a sin.
[31:20] I started doing a study a while ago on just the word belly. Boy, that's a scary study. I'm not going to get into it, but it's one thing to eat until your hunger hormones are satisfied.
[31:36] You know, the ghrelin, they call it. It's one thing to eat until, okay, you're full. But it's another thing to eat when you're full and then to keep on eating and keep on eating and keep on eating until you're hurt.
[31:49] So, moderation. And this goes into, again, secular life or Christian life. If you want to be satisfied, you've got to be moderate.
[32:00] The Bible says, let your moderation be known to all men. And that goes beyond just eating. That's a very easy illustration to kind of pull out of the Bible. But that goes beyond just your eating habits.
[32:11] It goes into every aspect of your life. Let your moderation be known to all men. You know, when you go out to buy a car and, boy, this is me. When I go out to buy a car, I want the nicest car.
[32:24] I want to get all the bells in the way. Actually, I want the biggest truck with the biggest engine. I want it to sound loud and mean. I want to crawl up a mountain straight up.
[32:35] You know, I like that kind of stuff. But I don't need all that. You know what a car salesman does? He feeds off of your dissatisfaction.
[32:47] That's all he does. And a good car salesman can tell that you're dissatisfied with the car you have. What they'll do, they'll show you, obviously, you'll tell them, okay, I can afford X amount.
[33:00] I can afford whatever it is, $10,000. I can afford that. That's what I budgeted for. And what he'll do, he'll show you a car that's $18,000. And, man, all the bells and the whistles and all the, I mean, it's got the shiatsu massaging chair.
[33:14] I mean, it's got everything in there. It's got all the bells and the whistles. It drives itself and all these different things. And then you say, I can't afford that. And then he'll show you a car that's about $5,000 below your budget and he'll make you look at that thing and it's got nothing.
[33:30] It doesn't have power windows. The AC is an automatic. All these different things. And then he'll bring you up to a $14,000 car. It's just outside your, but see what they do?
[33:41] They feed off of your dissatisfaction. And then you start just, well, I can stretch my budget here. I can sacrifice this. And before long, you're going outside.
[33:52] It's not moderate. Now, I think moderation can kind of be, oh, what's the word I'm looking for? Relative. You know, to your circumstance and your area, all that kind of stuff.
[34:05] But you need to get with God and find out, learn how to live moderately. The Bible says, let your moderation be known to all men. It's not for your sake necessarily.
[34:16] It's for their sake. Well, let's move on. But you know, that immediate gratification, that immediate gratifying feeling of buying, whether it's a new car or a new house or whatever trinket it might be, that feeling begins to wear away after the bills keep coming month after month after month.
[34:40] moderation is the foundation for satisfaction. Moderation is a foundation for you to be satisfied. And that's, I know it's easier said than done, but learn to live moderately.
[34:56] I'm thankful for my wife. She's frugal. She's satisfied with the little things. I like to just go all out. But I've learned it's not satisfying. I'm learning as I go that it's, it's, life is more enjoyable when you're not always going for the biggest, the most grand things.
[35:16] Let your moderation be known to all men. Let's move on. Go to Isaiah, or I'm sorry, Psalm 63. Psalm 63. If you want to be satisfied, fear God, rest in His mercy, live moderately.
[35:32] And then here's another one. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Psalm 63, verse 1. O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee.
[35:44] My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. To see thy power and thy glory so as I've seen thee in the sanctuary because of loving kindness is better than life.
[35:59] My lips shall praise thee. It's a good verse. Thus will I bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness.
[36:10] Verse 5 says, my soul shall be satisfied. But verse 1, it starts out by seeking God. Early will I seek thee. It is a great tragedy.
[36:21] I mean, it is an absolute tragedy that the body of Christ is not seeking the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians are not seeking the Lord.
[36:33] It's a tragedy. No, Christians will seek pleasure. They'll seek entertainment. They'll seek social status and comfort and all these things they're looking for.
[36:44] We got to get the right guy in office so we can live our comfortable, easy lives. We got to do all this. They're seeking for all these things. And the Lord takes kind of a back burner position.
[36:57] It's a tragedy. Folks, the more you seek the earthly, the less valuable the heavenly. And I have found in my Christian life that the more I seek the Lord, the more satisfied I am with Him.
[37:15] The Bible says the eyes of men are never satisfied. I got to skip a whole lot of stuff here, but the Bible says the eyes of men, Proverbs 27, 20, the eyes of men are never satisfied. You know why that is?
[37:26] Because the eyes of men are seeking the wrong things. And here's the thing. The eyes of man can only seek the wrong things.
[37:37] Your physical eyes can only seek corrupt things. That's it. Your eyes can only see the outside shell of a person.
[37:50] Your eyes can only see the things that are tangible and physical. Therefore, the eyes of men are never satisfied because things, tangible things, tangible people cannot satisfy.
[38:06] And that's why you need to start looking through spiritual eyes. There's a thing called empty carbs and empty sugars.
[38:17] They're empty. Your normal table, you know, your white sugars that come in candies and cereals and things like that. They're empty. They might satisfy, they might, empty sugars and empty carbs, they will subdue the hunger hormone, but they cannot satisfy your nutritional needs.
[38:40] They can't. And folks, in the spiritual realm, there are some things that might subdue the inner longings for spiritual things, but they can't satisfy your spiritual needs.
[38:55] There's some things that only the Bible, the words of God, your walk with the Lord, your seeking His presence, only those things can truly satisfy what's really valuable on the inside.
[39:11] And, you know, you've got a Bible promise that if you'll seek them, you'll find them. But, you know, the tendency during the storm and all the hard things in life is to immediately look towards the physical things to satisfy whatever trouble you're going through.
[39:32] But, you know, you need to start looking for Jesus. It's seeking Him. See, there's an effort to that. There's an effort in seeking the Lord. There's an effort in putting a knife to your throat.
[39:42] There's an effort in all these different things. But, you know, satisfaction comes from seeking the Lord. And I wonder how many Christians sought the Lord before they came to church.
[39:58] A lot of Christians come to a local Bible-believing church, they sit down in a pew and they get angry at the preacher and they didn't spend any time before they came to church seeking the Lord.
[40:10] Well, why didn't the preacher give me this? Why didn't the preacher give me that? Why isn't the preacher why aren't you seeking the Lord before you come to church? And Christians sit in a pew and they get bitter and dissatisfied and angry and strife and contention and discord.
[40:26] It festers and it grows. And, I dare say, they're not seeking the Lord. And lastly, I'm not going to go there, I'm already out of time, but if you want to be satisfied, don't be lazy.
[40:41] I mean, how much more can I say? Proverbs 20, well, we'll go there pretty close, but Proverbs 20, verse 13. Proverbs 20, 13. Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty.
[40:55] Open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread. Don't be lazy. That's a very simple concept. I mean, no successful person in any enterprise is a lazy person.
[41:06] Whether you're a musician, lawyer, doctor, whatever, you're not going to be successful if you're lazy. Very simple concept. I don't really have to say a whole lot about that, so we'll just leave it at that.
[41:17] Just don't be lazy. You know, Luke 10, 2, the Lord says, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. You know why there aren't very many missionaries today?
[41:28] Not a lot of missionaries are being called to the mission field. Not a lot of men are being called into the pastorate. You know why? Because there's not a lot of laborers. God's not going to use a lazy person.
[41:38] He says, pray ye therefore the Lord that he'll send forth laborers into his harvest. You've got to be laboring before the Lord calls you to anything. If you want to be satisfied, get to work.
[41:49] Get to work. God wants us to be satisfied. He wants us. There's no reason why a Christian ought to live in a constant state of dissatisfaction. I mean, we have salvation and beyond that we have Christ in us, the hope of glory.
[42:03] We have all these things that he's added to our salvation. And we don't have, there ought not to be dissatisfaction in the body of Christ. We've got to learn to find ways to be satisfied.
[42:17] Over there in Psalm 17, 15, talks about, we'll be satisfied, we shall be satisfied with his likeness. And George Whitefield at the end of his life, he says, I shall be satisfied.
[42:28] I shall be satisfied. And as he's dying with his last breath, he said, satisfied. One day, we'll be forever satisfied. But right now, we live on this earth and we have an opportunity.
[42:42] This life, man, Christian, this life is an opportunity to be satisfied in spite of all the things going on around us. In spite of all the things that oppress us and depress us and all that stuff.
[42:55] It's an opportunity to tell the flesh to be quiet and just be satisfied. And there are some principles in the Bible. Fear God. Rest in his mercy. Don't be lazy.
[43:07] Lift them out. There are some principles in the Bible that if you'll follow those, you will be a satisfied Christian. And I think God wants us, he desires us to be satisfied in this Christian life.
[43:18] Thank you.