Sermon- The satisfied soul
- Last week I raised the question of why isn’t revival happening.
- A big reason lies in the fact that we are in the middle of what seems to be a time of
prosperity.
- Now, Think of what it means to prosper.
- I know being financially secure usually lands at the top of that list.
- You know, just as well as I do, that to be financially secure only lasts for a
season.
- In a moment things can be turned on their head.
- All it takes is one surgery, & it can change your prosperity.
- That’s why there is no revival. It’s because we simply cannot see passed the
temporary, & when the temporary is gone, we’re too depressed to come the
only One who will prosper us.
- Last week I had the theme of a sinking soul, because when we’re sinking an
answered is demanded, Will I die, or will I live.
- Open your Bibles to one verse, Psalm 62:5, & as you turn there ask yourself,
Q- Where does my help come from?
Psalm 62:5
5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.
- If all your physical prosperity crashed, like Job’s, you would still be joyous, because
you don’t receive joy from those physical things you receive it from the Lord.
- That’s the idea of a satisfied soul.
Prayer
- There’s a lot misconception that goes along with prosperity.
> The oil field (http://jokes.christiansunite.com/Bible/The_Oil_Find.shtml)
Two old friends met one day after many years. One attended college, and now was very successful. The other had not attended college and never had much ambition.
The successful one said, "How has everything been going with you?"
"Well, one day I opened the Bible at random, and dropped my finger on a word and it was oil. So, I invested in oil, and boy, did the oil wells gush. Then another day I dropped my finger on another word and it was gold. So, I invested in gold and those mines really produced. Now, I'm as rich as Rockefeller."
The successful friend was so impressed that he rushed to his hotel, grabbed a Gideon Bible, flipped it open, and dropped his finger on a page. He opened his eyes and his finger rested on the words, "Chapter Eleven."
- When we’re following the Lord it’s easy to put ourselves in front of God.
- We often get the idea that we know all there is to know about God, & there’s not
much else we need to learn.
- Believe me, There’s nothing farther from the truth!
- Along with that idea comes a level of expectancy that we expect things to go the way
we want it, or think it should go.
- Now we’re talking about a satisfied soul, & that means a soul that is complete/full.
Q- How can a soul be complete when it’s hurting?
- Let me read you another Psalm, Psalm 146:5-10, & the psalmist confides In us
where his strength comes from.
Psalm 146:5-10
5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:
6 Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:
7 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners:
8 The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous:
9 The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
10 The Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord.
- The Psalmist is exclaiming that I will wait on the Lord, because He is able to deliver
me.
- Now notice that he did not say when God will deliver the people, when the Lord
will reign, or even how it was going to happen.
- What he did say was, I know it will happen.
Q- How could he know that it was going to happen?
- He knew because he sees how much God loves us.
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
- When our heart is breaking, & life is too much. God says, wait on Me.
- Now the form of wait on Me.
- I don’t believe that’s the picture of a monk, sitting Indian style, humming.
- The prevalent form is talking with God, it is often a prayer of need, & a prayer
that we offer up fervently/continually.
- So When we’re asking God for the same thing over & over again we seem to
think that’s not the picture of a satisfied soul.
Q- Really?
- Let me read you a parable.
Luke 18:1-8
1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
- Jesus says He will always be with us.
- He hears us, & will avenge us.
- A satisfied soul is one that never gives up on the God that can.
- Now we go into the part that destroys our position on the satisfied soul.
Q- What about when God’s answer is no?
- Death is always at the top of the list on this one, but add to it a new job, a good
grade on a test, or a means to get something.
- We’ve prayed continually for these things, but He hasn’t come through on them.
- I want our focus to be on Jesus, & I cannot think of a greater example of God’s
answer to prayer being no, than at the Garden of Gethsemane.
- I know we know the event, as I love to pull nuggets of truth out of this moment,
but one word reveals the picture of a satisfied soul.
- In Matthew 26:39, 42,44 Jesus prayed to the Father
39.........O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
42...........O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
44............O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
- Jesus, in His fully human trait, was looking at the cup He must drink. It was the cup of
wrath that we deserve, the cup of being cursed by God, & a cup of
death/torment/separation from God!
- Jesus showed to us what the satisfied soul looks like when we read the words
from Hebrews 5:7-12.
- This is my last scripture for the morning.
Hebrews 5:7-12
7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
- Jesus, in tears, in privilege(this is God’s Son/Beloved!), cried out to God.
- God heard Him, but His answer was no.
- The one word is obedience. Lord I want It this way, but You know what’s best.
- Jesus is our Great High Priest. In all things He was tempted, but also He even put
Himself under the (This is a strong word) subjection of God.
- Yes, He always did the will of the Father, but in this one moment His human
side warred with the Godly side.
Q- Remember The Words Jesus spoke to the disciples, indeed the Spirit is willing, but
the flesh is weak?
- Jesus spoke those words through experience.
- Jesus, in the garden, felt the full impact of our sin upon Him.
- His body literally went through a medical condition, caused from extreme
stress & anxiety, that His pours excreted blood instead of sweat.
- As Jesus’ body was literally fighting against what He must do, Jesus said the
words, not My will, but Thy will be done.
- God heard Jesus’ request. He even sent an Angel to minister to Jesus.
- The Angel, who normally was under Jesus, was sent to give Jesus the
strength to perform His duty as the sacrificial Lamb prepared to be
sacrificed.
- Medically speaking Jesus would have died in the garden from His
condition, but that wasn’t God’s plan.
- Neither was taking the cup from Him.
- God isn’t a far off God that we can’t know, or experience.
- No, He’s a God who’s been here from the beginning, & His desire is to give us a
satisfied soul.
- A soul that we can realize God has a great, & perfect plan for us.
- I hope that I’ve stirred your spirit this morning.
- We quickly discredit ourselves from the role in Heaven our name is written upon, but
no, the only thing that changed is we went from satisfied to sinking.
> "I Shall Be Satisfied " (H. McD. year 1916 http://www.cobblestoneroadministry.org/2007/Poem_IShallBeSatisfied.html)
Thou'st shown me, Lord, my sinful heart--
My weakness, and my wilful ways,
I owe to Thee
Eternal praise for this, indeed;
But still, I have not seen Thy face.
When shall it be?
Thou'st shown me all Thy heart of love;
Thy pity and surpassing grace
Are sweet to me.
For this I truly thank Thee, Lord;
But oh, I have not seen Thy face.
When shall it be?
Thou hast taught me that by simple faith
In what on Calvary took place--
Thy death for me--
That I am safe forever more;
But, Lord, I want to see Thy face.
When shall it be?
Thou hast shed Thy glory on Thy Word,
And filled the intervening space
Till Thou shalt come,
With light, and joy and blessed hope;
But how I long to see Thy face
In that bright home!
Thou has taught me, Lord, to lean on Thee Alone,
While I run the race and wait for Thee.
And Thou has been alone my strength;
But when shall I behold Thy face--
When shall it be?
Thou hast given me all my heart's desire,
Filled all my longing by Thy grace
Most graciously.
Thy cross makes earth's vain pleasures naught,
And makes me long to see Thy face
Most earnestly.
Thou hast placed on me Thy blessed name,
And in my heart hast found Thy place--
Eternally.
How could I ask for more? And yet
I do: It is to see Thy face.
Once marred for me.
Mine eyes are held, I see Thee not
For yet a very little space,
Then I shall see...
Faith saith, "I know"
Love "faileth not"
And Hope saith, "I shall see Thy face,"
And dwell with Thee.
And the longing of my heart
Shall be fulfilled when I shall see Thy face.
I shall be satisfied.
- The man’s desire was to one day see God’s face.
- He longed for it.
- He knew one day he would see it!
- In closing, the satisfied soul is described as simply our faith.
- So When we put ourselves down, Let’s ask ourselves,
Q- Who are we being faithful to?
- It’s Christ, He’s never going to forsake you.
- So don’t give up on Him.
