Walker Cain (00:00)
1965, the Rolling Stones released the song I Can’t Get No Satisfaction. And in the first lines they keep singing, I can’t get no satisfaction. I can’t get no satisfaction. And I try. And I try and I try. But I can’t get no satisfaction. They sang about something that we so often face in our lives. Little Ayos, he couldn’t get satisfaction.
And so now he’s not in the auditorium anymore. But we know that we can be satisfied. However, how many in the Bible tried to look for satisfaction, but they looked for it in the wrong places? Think about Eve. Where did she look for satisfaction? Well, she took of the fruit. She thought that it would make her wise as though she were God, know the difference between good and evil. She thought it looked good for food.
She thought it was going to please her body, it also pleased her eye. She thought that it would be satisfying. There is also Abel. He he not Abel, but Cain. Cain decided that he, instead of following God’s way, when he was rebuked by the Lord, he decided vengeance was going to be what satisfied him. A false vengeance where he was mad because somebody did what was right, so he was going to kill his brother because he did what was right. Was he satisfied after what he did?
There is also Lot. He thought he was going to be satisfied when he took that land over on the other side where Sodom was. He pinched his tent towards Sodom, and little by little he inched his way into that city. When Abraham was willing to go to the other place, he was selfless. He said, You know, you go where you want to go, and I’ll take the other. Lot looked for satisfaction. He looked for the pro what would profit his sheep. What did it bring him? It bring brought him harm, it brought him hurt.
When that city burned, was he likely satisfied? There was Lot, there was also Solomon, seven hundred wives, three hundred concubines. We don’t have to ask whether he was satisfied or not. The Book of Ecclesiastes shows that when he followed after the women, he followed after everything else, he followed after being a workaholic, he followed after being a pleasure seeker. None of it was worth it, including all of the women he chased. Now he would have found satisfaction if he did it God’s way.
One man, one woman for life, and with that doing everything else that has to do with following God’s way. He says that himself. Fear the Lord and keep his commandments. That is the conclusion of the matter. That is the whole of man. That is where satisfaction lies, not in what he was face wanting to ch chase with pleasure. There was Judas. He was the one who chased silver.
He chased having those things, those riches, and then when Christ rebuked him, when he slapped his hand and said, What this woman does is a good thing, and she’s going to be remembered for it. When he said, Why do you waste this money? Why do you waste this perfume and put it on Christ? Well, after that, Judas goes and he sells his Lord away. He sells him for thirty pieces of silver. That’s not a lot. That was the price of a wounded slave. What he gave Christ for
He didn’t just do it for money. This had to do with his pride as well. He was doing something showing Christ, You know what? I’m going to one up you here. Was it satisfying to him? Was it helping him? And then there was Demas. He is the one who forsook the he has forsook. Paul told Timothy, Do thy diligence to come to me shortly, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica.
Demas, if he continued on that path, was he going to be satisfied? All these characters in Scripture, and we’ve only scratched the surface, do any of them find fulfillment in the things of this world? Let’s think about our modern day. We can have the workaholic, someone who is similar to what Solomon experimented with in Ecclesiastes. The Proverbs writer will say that there is a man the man that laboreth, laboreth for himself.
For his mouth craveth it of him. He craves the work, he craves the fulfillment he gets in getting up early and going to bed late, running every 12-hour shift seven days a week, whatever he needs to do, and then enjoying whatever profit he might have in the bank afterward. But in the end, even though he might feel fulfilled while he’s doing it, he thinks he’s working toward a goal. Where is that goal going to lead him? And then we have the addict who, he’s not chasing work, he’s chasing the dopamine dump.
He’s chasing rather than what’s going to fulfill him and be productive, he’s chasing what’s easy, that instant gratification. Where does it lead? When we see that car that is crashed on the side of the road because of a DUI, where do we think that that addiction leads? When we see lives that are wrecked because someone chased and embraced, where did it lead? And then there is status. There can be those who
Look for you know what, I want to be up there in Hollywood, or not in Hollywood perhaps, but wherever they think is the highest they can go in the latter. Eve was like that as well when she took of the fruit so that she could discern between good and evil, so that she had that wisdom. And then there is money which just connects to status and connects to everything else we’ve just mentioned. There is no satisfaction in any of this.
This world will pretend that it can give you whatever you want. Think about the marketing of this world. The next iPhone. ⁓ so a new one’s come out. The iPhone Duo, ⁓ this one’s special. This one has a screen on the outside and one on the outside where you flip it open and it bends. It’s special. You really need to go out and spend two thousand dollars and get this new phone. It’s going to make your life better.
There’s nothing wrong with getting something that is nice technology wise. If you have the means and you have earned that, good for you. Go and do it. But let’s let’s wait and see what happens when the next generation comes out. Now, there’s likely the fact here that those who are here don’t really care about what the next phone is that’s coming out. But whatever it is that interests you, think about the thing in your life where when that commercial comes on, it’s tempting. This world wants to offer satisfaction, but all they’re offering is for you to get closer to it.
So they can get you to buy the next thing. This world offers a trick. Just as Satan offered a trick in the garden, this world offers a trick today. But we want to ask, where can we truly get fulfillment? Where can we truly have our hunger satisfied? Philippians 4 11, Paul would write, Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Paul learned in all that he faced, in his shipwrecks, in his beatings, in being rejected by his own people, he learned in all things to be content. And in that he learned also how to be abased, as we just mentioned, but also how to abound. When he had everything, it seemed like, he was still able to be content. He did not let it get the better of him whether he was in poverty or whether he felt like he had all the riches in the world. Paul was satisfied.
If you will, turn back to Philippians 3 and look at verse 17. Philippians 3, 17 through 21 show a contrast between two groups of people. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which so walk as ye have us for an example. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly.
Whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. There is a group who are the enemies of God, and why are they the enemies of God? It’s because their God is their belly. If we are trying to chase our own hunger, if we’re chasing just our own straight desires, it’s not going to lead to satisfaction.
It’s interesting how hunger seems like it’s going to bring you everything you want if you pursue it, if you submit to it. But if we do that, are we anything more than a slave to our own impulses, to the own chemical reactions going on in our minds? Are we anything more than animals if we just chase our bellies? Those who do this are the enemy of God, but there’s another group. For our conversation or our citizenship,
is in heaven. From whence also we look for Jesus, the Lord, we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. There is the group who mind the things of this world, who they’re looking for the next best thing, or they’re looking for the next sin that they can follow. But then you have the group
Who their conversation, their citizenship is in heaven. These are the ones who are looking for what is beyond. They realize that one day, if they live as though they are trying to emulate Christ in their lives today, they will one day have a spiritual body that emulates who Christ is on the next side. How beautiful is that! If we simply decide to act like Christ now, we can be like Christ then. Their satisfaction.
When we who are made in the image of God pursue living in the image of God, we can be satisfied. We are doing what we were designed to do. Sin came to this world and offered everything to us, but it’s never going to give us what we really want, because that is never what we were made to have. We have these desires, we have these aspects that God designed us to want. We are designed to be hungry. We are desi designed to want love and compassion.
But if we chased after those things in a wrong way, that is sin. But if we do it in God’s way and do it with a focus most of all on the end of our conversation, the end of our citizenship citizenship, which is in heaven, then we can be we can have what matters most to us. We can have that which God wants us to have. It’s interesting that this says the end they are want the end of their conversation, the end of their citizenship.
What what country is home for you? ⁓ well, most likely America. You’re most likely an American citizen. Home is where the heart is. If your heart is in the things of this world, if your heart is in chasing the things that satisfy your belly, you’re a citizen of this world. But if you are chasing the things of God, if you are pursuing what he desires, you are submitting to his will, then you are a citizen of him.
Home is where the heart is. We must ask where are our hearts? Are they with our Lord or are they just going after the things of this world? There are some questions that we can ask to ensure that our hearts are aligned with what God desires, rather than just following the things that please us in the moment. If we desire to know if we are following Christ, we can first make sure that our rejoicing comes from fellow Christians.
Turning to Philippians chapter four and looking at verse ten, Paul says that he rejoiced in the Lord greatly, now that at last your care of me, of Paul, hath flourished again, wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Now remember that Paul in verse eleven is going to say, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. There were some things Paul had to learn, and one of the things
He learned and that we are going to learn from him is the fact that he found joy in his brethren. The Philippians, like any other Christian, in that time were living under the first century. There was persecution, there was hardship. You did not just have the freedom of religion that you have here where we live, and we cling to it and we desire it as long as we can have it, but we will continue to serve the Lord even if it leaves us one day.
They’re living in this time where they suffer persecution, but they are to continue following in the Lord’s way. And Paul rejoices in that. He rejoices that, and he also rejoices in their care. He rejoices that they were willing to look at him and say, You know what? I need this. We need to fulfill your need. Because that is something that Christians do. Not that I speak in respect of want.
For I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. This isn’t just about what Paul needs. Paul isn’t glad that you are giving me what I want. He is glad that he is doing what is befitting of Christians, that they have this kind of care that flourishes, that they want to do what is good, even if they lacked the ability to do it. When we have hearts that are aligned with God, when we are looking to be satisfied with the things of Him, we will see fellow Christians who
They’re studying the Word of God, we can see that they’re getting closer to the Lord, and we will rejoice in that. We will see those who are doing the work of the Lord in it. It won’t make us angry thinking, you know what, they’re just trying to be Mr. Goody Two Shoes. No, we will rejoice in the work that they’re doing. If we are desiring to be satisfied the way the Lord desires it, then we will look at other Christians and their work and allow it to encourage us. But also we will encourage others.
Philippians 2 2, fulfill ye my joy that ye may be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Paul again says that he wants joy, and he wants them to fulfill his joy. And how do they do it? They do it by being of the same love, of one accord, of one mind. Through the book of Philippians, there is going to be this theme of unity.
This theme of the church is the church. It is one body under Christ. If our body has an infection, or if there is a cancer, there is something in the body that has decided not to do what is right, and then the rest of the body is attacking it. It’s not what it was designed to do. It happens, but it’s not what it was designed to do. Now, what about when that the body of Christ
If the body of Christ is not one, if it is not all trying to fulfill its purpose, then we are not going we are not looking for each other’s joy. We are not looking for the benefit of everyone. But if we are truly trying to help one another, pursuing each other’s benefit, then we can rejoice and encourage each other. If we truly look toward Christ, we can rejoice when we let Christians encourage us and when we encourage other Christians.
Well not only will we have rejoicing, we can have contentment, even in the challenges of life. Looking back at Philippians 4, verses eleven and twelve. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, I know how to be abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry.
Both to abound and to suffer need. So often we look to those who we see as older or superior, those who have been in the faith longer, and we look at them and wonder, you know what, there’s nothing that you could do wrong. We j even though we know intellectually that they are not perfect, there’s just this wanting to put them on a pedestal, whether it be an instructor at a school, whether it be a preacher at a congregation.
But you know, those men who are in those positions, who have those responsibilities, they had to learn too. And Paul was no different. Yes, he was inspired. He, as the book of Corinthians shows, was a walking New Testament. But he still had to learn something. And he had to learn how to be content. He is instructed both in how to be full and how to suffer in poverty. Verse 12 I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry.
This is not just something he was born doing, and neither are we. We are going to have to learn how to be satisfied, how to move forward in life. And sometimes what is going to teach us is what is not comfortable. Hebrews chapter twelve looks at that which is not comfortable. We have a race to run, Hebrews twelve verses one and two, and Jesus made that race for us. He ran his race so that we could run as well.
But look down at verse five. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, my son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endured chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he of whom the Father chasteneth not? There is a benefit to this suffering. There is a benefit
To the challenges in life. Now it’s not the fact that everything that happens in life is something God has done to us so that we will learn. But when something happens, will we be willing to ask, you know what? What can I learn from this? Paul had to learn in whatsoever state he was therewith to be content. When the challenges come in life, will we learn that it might just be chastening? It might just be God saying, You have a lesson you need to learn, and then move forward in it.
Not just asking, Lord, please take this away from me, but Lord, please take this away from me after I’ve learned what I need to learn. After I am shaped more to be who you want me to be. We live in a world that we call it wicked and sinful in so many ways it is, but it is also something good. We have so many blessings in this world. We have the blessings of the food on our table. We have the sun that continues to shine and we can depend on until the day the Lord comes back.
We can depend on the weather to be sustain to sustain life until the Lord comes back as well, no matter what any politician says. The Lord is going to keep us safe in this world and allow us to prosper physically, even though there are the specific instances where this world is going to bring tragedy. However, this world in its tragedies, it has a purpose. We live in a world that is shaping souls.
Each of us is not just a body. This world is not about what you see here. It’s not about what wakes up and those feet that go down on the floor. It’s not about the hands that continue to work. It’s not about the mouth you feed, but the soul that is inside the body. We need to remember that in this world because this world has this suffering, it has this affliction, but it’s to shape something on the inside. It teaches us hardship so that we can appreciate blessings and opportunity.
So that we can one day appreciate a blessed eternity with God. How well would we understand God shall wipe away every tear? How much would we appreciate that if there were no tears to wipe away in this life? We can take this life and look at its blessings and even its hardships as something we can learn from, and we can be content in all of it. In the things of this life, we must learn both.
In what is good and what is bad to be content. The Proverbs writer in Proverbs chapter thirty verse seven says two things I have required of thee. Dem 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 fool 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.
There is a balance here. Son, don’t let me have everything that I ever wanted, because if you do that, then I’m going to feel self-sustained and I’m going to curse the Lord and say, Who is he at all? Or if you give me ri ⁓ poverty, if you make it to where I am poor, then I will steal, and I will go and chase other means of fulfilling my needs. There is a balance that the Proverbs writer wants. He realizes that it is easiest.
To follow the Lord when he is poor enough to see his need, but rich enough to where he does not chase his needs in a way that is sinful. He is asking for this balance. But we must recognize both whether we are in that rich state or whether we are in that poor state, that we can follow the Lord’s way no matter what. We seek the middle ground, but we know that we can serve God no matter where we are in life.
We can be content when we let challenges educate us, and when we do not let treasures or p poverty deter us. We can have this rejoicing, we can have contentment, but we can also have strength. Philippians 4 13. I can do all things through Christ which thre which strengtheneth me. This isn’t just for being on the back of a helmet. This isn’t just something that should be on a gym wall or wherever else.
It’s not just something that’s about, you know what, I’m going to overcome when it comes to this health issue. This is about our lives for Christ. This is about going through those things that are hard and also staying with Christ even when we have it all. I can do all things, whether I am rich or poor, through Christ which strengtheneth me. I can continue to serve Him. I can continue to be His and satisfy Him because of
of Christ because of what He has done for me and because of the example that He has left. Christ gives us strength. Now we know that this just this is about us serving Christ through a physical world rather than overcoming in just physical things because of the power Christ has given to us. Looking at Ephesians chapter six, starting in verse ten, what is the power that Christ has given to us?
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Okay, so we are to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. But what is this power? Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. We have this power, and this power is not against a physical enemy, it’s against that which is spiritual, it’s against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We have everything we could possibly need to go against the wickedness of this world.
Even when it seems dark, even when when it seems like you can’t go across the street without seeing a billboard with sin on it. When you seem when it seems like you can’t vote for anyone without one of them having something wrong, when you live in a world where you just see wickedness on every side, we can know that we can stand for our Lord, and he gives us an armor so that we can do it. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be with it me w
Bless it, may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quit quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
It’s interesting that all the things we just read, all of them come with what comes in verse seventeen. When we have the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, we can then have everything else that follows. That is when we have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We don’t know the gospel of peace unless we have the word. We do not have the truth, we do not have that breastplate of righteousness if we do not have the word.
This is the power that we have, and if we do not hold on to it, brethren, we have nothing. Let us hold to this word, for it is where our strength lies. We can have joy in fellow Christians. We can have contentment in learning how to take the challenges of this world and making the most of them. We can have strength even when it seems like we are at our weakest time, and we can also have plenty when we work with one another.
Philippians four verse fourteen. Turning back to Philippians chapter four, verse fourteen. Notwithstanding ye have well done that ye did communicate with my affliction. Now ye Philippians know that in the beginning from Macedonia no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity, not because I desire a gift,
But I desire fruit that may abound to your account. Remember earlier we discussed the fact that Paul wasn’t glad that he had what he needed now. He was glad that they were willing to give. And now Paul himself says, I am glad that you might have fruit that abounds to your account. He wants them to do what is right, because it is going to be what is best for them. But also as they do what is right, the church is cooperating. Now we could go into a whole history lesson about
Cooperation in the church going too far, people wanting to set up societies that rule over the church and what have you. But that’s not what we are talking about here. What we are seeing is when congregations or even just fellow brethren are willing to work with one another. Paul was supported by multiple congregations. He says that other congregations supported him when he did not allow the Corinthians to do so because he thought it would be a hindrance teaching them the gospel.
That being one of the reasons that he sowed tents, he made tents. With all of this, Paul was still attempting to do what was going to be best for the brethren, and he wanted them to do what was best for everyone else as well. Galatians six verses two through ten. With all of this looking toward one another.
For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. There are two lessons being taught here. There is the lesson that
We must do what is we must bear our own burden. We must be willing to take our responsibilities and do them. And if we do not follow our own responsibilities, how are we ever going to help anyone else? And that’s the second lesson here. Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. When we are looking toward each other, we are first we are doing what’s required of us. Part of our own burden is looking toward others’ burdens.
And second, not only are we benefiting ourselves in that, we of course are benefiting others as well. We can have plenty when the church works together. In Acts chapter 2, they did not set up a government where we are going to give all our money here, and then the government is going to give it to us. No, that it wasn’t teaching communism when the church gave to each other such as had need. But what was happening was the church was saying, you know what, I have plenty.
I’m going to give so that you can have what you need, so that we all can have those needs fulfilled. They were all satisfied because they were looking toward something better. And as they were satisfied with what was spiritual, they had what was necessitated in the physical. When we look toward what God desires, when that is our target, everything else will fall into place. And we can have plenty. We can have all and abundantly beyond what we need.
spiritually and we can have just what we need here on this earth. We can have this joy, we can have contentment, we can have strength, we can have plenty, and finally we can have confidence. Philippians four verse nineteen.
But my God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Paul does not say, but my God, He He might supply your need. Now, when we see the word will, that word shows that something is going to take place. But the word shall, that brings even more emphasis on the fact that this is going to happen. And Paul says, My God,
shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. God is going to give us what we desire, and we can have confidence in that. Chapter 1, verse 6 of Philippians. Being confident in this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. There is this confidence again and not only in God, but also confidence in those who are doing
This good work. We can have confidence in God, we can have confidence in the brethren. Verses twelve and thirteen of Philippians two. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Paul says, Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always done this, as not in my presence only, but even when I’ve been away.
Work out your own salvation. You’ve done it before, you can continue doing it. Paul has confidence in them. He is giving them a charge to continue doing what they have already done. I can’t get no satisfaction. This world can sing that all day long. But what do we as Christians have? We have joy. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, Philippians four four.
We have strength in our Lord. Strength to go against everything that this world throws at us. We have contentment. We know that we have what we need and we have abundantly beyond what we could ever deserve on the next side of this life. Romans 6, 23. We have plenty and we have confidence, knowing that our Lord is going to give us what we need. What could we ask for besides that?
Now when are we going to have these things? We have these things when we are Christ’s, when we follow what He desires, when His love is reflected on our lives and we look at His love to the point that we want to show Him the same love. Brethren, when we have Christ, when our all is Christ, we have it all. When Christ is our all.
We have it all. If Christ is not your all today, if you have not been following Him and faithfully serving Him as a Christian, He desires your repentance so that He can offer you forgiveness. But if you are not a Christian today, there is no way to continue to have this plenty, to have this rejoicing, to have this contentment, to have this strength, to have this plenty.
To become a Christian you must hear His word Romans ten ten. And you must believe that Christ is the Son of God. Mark sixteen sixteen. You must repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, confessing Christ as Lord, Acts two thirty eight and Romans 10:10 And continue to walk in newness of life, Romans six twenty three. If you are not a Christian today, He desires you to be blessed abundantly.
If you have any need of coming and taking of the forgiveness of God, will you come forward as we stand and as we go?
