Good morning. If you want to
be turning there, our text for today is taken from 1 Timothy
chapter 6. And as you turn, let me wish
everyone a happy Father's Day. Good to see you here today. The
idea for today's message came from a book I've been reading
concerning various aspects of Christian worship. And in one
section, verses 5 and 6 of 1 Timothy 6 were cited. In verse 5, as
inspired by God the Holy Spirit, Paul warns Timothy of men destitute
of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness. And he adds,
from such, withdraw thyself. That is, stay away from them.
And then, immediately in the following verse, he adds, but
godliness with contentment is great gain. Well, that contrast
between these verses concerning godliness stirred up my curiosity,
and I hope it does yours as well. What's meant by these two phrases?
One, Paul says, stay away from those that suppose gain his godliness. Withdraw from them. Well, clearly,
then, to suppose that gain is godliness is bad, evil in God's
sight. But he immediately makes this
contrast by saying, but godliness with contentment is great gain. That means it's good for you.
And I wanted to understand this better, and that prompted some
further study. And as a result of that study,
I came to conclude that this godliness with contentment that
he says is great gain describes the contentment of every true
Christian. And so I titled today's message,
True Christian Contentment. And I'm speaking of a contentment
with which every true Christian should be able to identify. Now,
most of my focus today will be on verses three through six,
actually mostly five and six. But I want us to see it in the
broader context. So let's read the first 12 verses
beginning in verse one. Let as many servants as are under
the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor. Or so that,
that, so that, the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. In other words, he's saying don't
let your behavior in this manner give others an excuse to speak
against your gospel doctrine. And then in verse Two, concerning
these master-servant relationships, which we can apply certainly
to our current day employer-employee relationships, he adds, and they
that have believing masters, let them not despise them because
they are brethren, but rather do them service because they
are faithful and beloved partakers of the benefit. These things
teach and exhort. And then beginning in verse 3,
Paul instructs Timothy to reject false doctrines saying, if any
man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, and look
here, he adds even or and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ
and to the doctrine which is according to godliness. So this
includes the doctrine of Christ, the gospel that promotes true
godliness in our hearts and in our lives. And in verse 4, he
says, any who teach contrary to it, that he is proud, knowing
nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words. In other
words, he's saying he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse
disputings of men of corrupt mind. and destitute of the truth. That's bankrupt, destitute, totally
lacking the truth of Christ who is the truth. See, knowing nothing
of him savingly and of the gospel, the word of truth. And then he
describes them, as we mentioned earlier, as those who suppose
that gain is godliness. From such withdraw thyself. But
godliness with contentment is great gain. And we're going to
focus on that in a lot of detail later on. But let's continue
on now through verse 12. Verse 7, he says, for we brought
nothing into this world, and it's certain we can carry nothing
out. When I read that verse, I'm always
reminded of a story that I'm sure some of you've heard as
well, where two fellows were attending the funeral of a man
they knew to have been very wealthy. And one of them was curious as
to just how rich the deceased fellow was. And so he turned
to his friend and he said, how much do you reckon he left behind?
And his friend simply replied, all of it. And that pretty much
sums it up, doesn't it? I mean, we don't take any of
it with us. And so Paul says in verse 8, and having food and
raiment, let us be there with content. Now, raiment here means
covering, so that could include not only clothing, but shelter
as well. He's speaking of the necessities
of life and saying if you have that, be there with content.
Verse 9, but they that will be rich fall into temptation and
a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown
men in destruction and perdition. That means, that's referring
to their utter ruin. For the love of money is the
root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have
erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows." When I read that, pierced themselves through, it reminded
me of the thorny ground here in the parable of the sower.
You remember some of the seed, the word, was spread among the
thorns. And as Christ then explained
the parable, he described those thorny ground hears is those
who heard the word, but the care of this world and the deceitfulness
of riches choked the word so that he became unfruitful. And
notice the wording in verses nine and 10. He's not referring
to the rich, but rather they that will be rich. And I think
he's referring by that to those seeking riches at almost any
cost. In verse 10, That verse is often
misquoted to say money is the root of all evil, but it's the
love of money that is the root of all evil. So I think, again,
he's speaking of kind of an insatiable desire or at least an inordinate
love for worldly riches, so much so it would lead them astray.
See, taking priority over love for and trust in God and his
gospel. But verse 11, he says to Timothy,
but thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith.
Lay hold on eternal life, wherein to thou art also called and hast
professed a good profession before many witnesses. Lay hold on eternal
life. He's saying, don't allow the
primary focus of your life to be on that which is temporal.
And see, that only makes sense. It only lasts this little sliver
of time that makes up this brief lifespan of ours. See, that's
a tiny, tiny sliver when compared with the timeline of a never-ending
eternity that we all have to spend. Now I hope this broader
context here will aid us in our understanding of what Paul means
in verses 5 and 6. And I think it's particularly
true of verse 5 where he warns Timothy to stay away from those
who suppose gain is godliness. And you can see how that ties
in. We just read verses that teach us you can't take it with
you. Be content with the necessities of life. The love of money is
the root of evil. So in light of that, understandably,
most agree that this description in verse 5 certainly would apply
to preachers or to others who worship, go up there religious,
who make a profession of godliness, but do so for their own gain. be it monetary or otherwise,
either for now or in the future. It could also apply to seeking
the gain of an enhanced reputation or to gain a following or to
garner more respect from other folks. I've known men, as I'm
sure some of you have, who openly admit having chosen to join large,
prominent churches in the community for the purpose of furthering
their career or business interests. And clearly, such ungodly motives
are set in contrast with those who are truly godly. That is,
those who exercise this godliness with contentment. And in light
of the context, we know that there is a tie-in with being
content with the necessities of life, as we read, so that
we don't covet the treasures of this world to an extent that
it would cause us to neglect true worship or prompt prompt
us to participate in religion with these ungodly mercenary
motives of gain. And I agree that's part of what
is being taught here in 1st Timothy 6. And also I think those who
suppose gain is godliness would include folks who have been blessed
with some measure of of temporal prosperity in this world. And
on that basis, mistakenly conclude that means God's spiritual blessings
must be upon them as well. They must be doing something
right, see? They're thinking their temporal blessings are
gained to be evidence of their right relationship with God,
their godliness. You've heard folks suggest, I'm
sure as I have, when things are going well for someone, they
say, wow, he must be living at the foot of the cross. The Bible
does not teach that kind of reasoning. No, in the Bible we see, we read
where God causes it to rain on the just and the unjust. Now,
I want to dig a little further into this. This Greek word that's
translated godliness is a compound word that means good worship
or good reverence. It refers to a God-fearing worship. In other words, a worship that
centers around a regard for who God is. in the honor of his character. It's a hard attitude toward God,
which affects our conduct and our worship. I counted either
15 or 16 times in which this word that's translated godliness
is found in the New Testament, and four of these are right here
in 1 Timothy 6. So even from our text today,
we will see that its meaning is often derived by its context. And I found it interesting, too.
You know, we're reading from the King James Version of the
Bible, but other translations of the Bible, they qualify the
godliness of verse 6 by inserting the word true, so as to have
it read, but true godliness with contentment is great gain. And
that certainly seems appropriate, because we have the contrast
here made between that which is mistakenly presumed to be
godliness, good worship, in verse 5, but isn't, with the true godliness
of verse 6. So true godliness would denote
the worship of God in spirit and in truth. Over in 2 Timothy
chapter 3 verses 5 through 7, I believe Paul was describing
those who he says back in our text, who suppose gain to be
godliness, when he spoke of them as having a form of godliness. In other words, they're religious,
they're going about a form of worship, but denying the power
thereof. He said, from such turn away.
For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and that would
be houses of worship, and lead captive silly women laden with
sins, led away with diverse lusts. And look at verse 7, ever learning
and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Well,
that coincides with our description in our text of their being destitute
of the truth. I say all this because I want
you to see the importance of this fact, and that is that true
godliness is vitally connected to and is inseparable from gospel
truth. Again, true godliness is vitally
connected to and inseparable from gospel truth. In surveying
the usage of the word, I found sometimes it's used for doctrine,
as we saw in verse 3, referred to the doctrine which is according
to godliness. That means the good worship that's
connected with gospel truth. We often quote from 1 Timothy
3.16, where it reads, and without controversy, great is the mystery
of godliness. And what is that mystery? Well,
he tells us, God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the
spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on
in the world, received up into glory. So we see this mystery
of godliness respects the person and the office and the grace
of Christ and salvation by him, the crucified and risen Savior. You know, often when we speak
of the mystery of godliness, and I know I do this myself,
I tend to emphasize God manifest in the flesh, this unique person
of Christ in his incarnation as the God-man. And that's certainly
part of this mystery of godliness, but as you can see from this
verse, vitally connected to that is the purpose for which he came
into this world, became incarnate. In 1 Timothy, back in 1 Timothy
chapter 1, Paul wrote, this is a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world, why?
To save sinners, of whom I am chief, he wrote. So this mystery
of godliness, it includes his incarnation, his person, his
God-man. But that's not to be separated
from the finished work of redemption on Calvary's cross and his subsequent
resurrection. And listen, the sure and certain
application by the Spirit in each respective generation of
everything that Christ purchased for his people on the cross.
Clearly, that's why he became incarnate, why he came into the
world, as Paul wrote, to save sinners. It doesn't say he came
to try to save sinners. It doesn't say he came to merely
make salvation possible, but to save them. See, just as Paul
told Timothy here, the angel communicated the same to Joseph,
didn't he, when he instructed him to name the Christ child
Jesus, meaning Jehovah, God who saves? He says, call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. So I
say all of this and talk about the mystery of godliness here
because I want you to see again how true godliness, this good
worship, this God-fearing worship, is inseparable from belief of
the gospel, the truth concerning how God saves sinners in and
by Jesus Christ, the God-man, and by him alone. I think you
can see an accurate understanding of the various usages of the
word godliness is derived in large part from the context.
I found that sometimes the words used to signify a Christian's
proper conduct under the influence and power of the Holy Spirit.
Other places, it refers to a particular duty of religion or some particular
grace. And we could go on. In our consideration
of true godliness as set forth in verse six of our text today,
I like John Gill's summary of it. This is what he's called
it. He said it's the holy disposition of the soul towards God, a Godward
disposition. And then he sets that in sharp
contrast to its antithesis, a man's natural disposition towards man,
a manward disposition. So what I'm speaking of, or he
was speaking of, there's two different frames of references.
You know, two different ways of thinking. By nature, see,
we focus manward. We focus manward when, as we
read in our passage today, we are consumed with the things
of this world. It's all about me. And we focus
manward when we first get religious, don't we? You know, even those
who are raised under the gospel, where they are taught the truths
of election, predestination, and so forth, they still, when
they first get serious about religion, it's just natural for
us to say, well, what do I need to do to be sure I'm one of them?
In other words, we ponder questions like, what must I do to be saved,
as did the Philippian jailer? Or we hear preached in pulpits
across our land, have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? They'll
talk much about Jesus Christ, some of them will. and they'll
build their sermon to a crescendo to pose the question. Now, the
real question of questions is, what will you do with Christ? Have you accepted him when the
real question should be focused Godward, trying to see his perspective
as revealed in his word? That is, how can a holy and a
just God accept me, a sinner? See, godliness is the worship
of God in truth. In 2 Peter 1, verses 2 and 3,
Peter wrote to those of like faith, saying this, Grace and
peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God
and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given
unto us, given, given unto us all things that pertain unto
life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called
us to glory and virtue. Again, see how right worship
involves knowledge, knowledge of the truth. It involves knowing
God as he is, him whom to know is life eternal. And true believers
have been given all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
So that which pertains unto godliness would include God-given faith
and repentance, hope, love, every other grace of the spirit. That
word godliness was included there with those other gifts and graces
of the spirit listed in verse 11. In salvation, sinners are
given that by which they can worship a right in godliness. So this godliness that we're
speaking of in verse 6, it's not a product of our own making,
but it's the fruits of the Holy Spirit given to us in Christ
Jesus. So we've reviewed now this clear contrast between those
for whom true godliness with contentment is indeed great gain,
verse six, as opposed to those mentioned in verse five, who
either A, make a profession of worshiping a rite, but do so
for their own worldly gain in one sense or another, or B, who
mistakenly just take comfort in their spiritual state based
upon their having prospered in this life, as if that equated
to doing something right to be found acceptable before God. But I want us to consider today
the many others who, unlike these, they approach worship, and it's
a good thing they do, with little or no consideration of their
own temporal wealth and well-being. They don't buy into the health
and wealth message of today. But who also, in a different
sense, may also be said to suppose gain to be godliness. And I'm
talking about folks, I think, sincerely worship, believing
their worship to be good, and I can identify with this group.
Because, see, I too once thought that my salvation, listen, a
salvation I presumed to have gained for myself, resulted in
me being right with God and worshiping in a good way, in an acceptable
manner. And I believe that's in keeping
with the context as well here. Remember how Paul began chapter
six? encouraging proper conduct so
that the doctrine of God, which includes the gospel, would not
be blasphemed by others. Then he warned about those who
talk contrary, he said, even to the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness. This
is speaking of gospel, of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ.
It's tied to truth. So in keeping now with those
two frames of reference, as I mentioned, a manward disposition, versus
a Godward disposition, well, consider, as you've heard before,
how despite all the many differences and all the religious thoughts
in the world, that they all can be reduced to fall into one or
two categories. And one involves that natural
manward disposition, and that's embodied in the false religion
of works. Or two, there is that Godward
disposition, a regard for the honor of God's character that
is embodied in the one true religion of grace. Grace or works? The Bible makes it clear that
those who will gain the eternal riches of glory, this great gain
that we read about, riches far beyond anything, see, this world
has to offer, are those who are saved under which religion? Well,
it's real clear. They're saved by grace. As we
so often quote from Ephesians 2, for by grace are you saved
through faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So
I'm speaking of those who embrace the doctrine of Christ, who see
all the conditions for their salvation having been fully met
by the doing and dying of Christ, their substitute and surety,
whereby they are found accepted, accepted in the beloved, in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's grace. And believers
saved by grace, it is great gain. They actually possess, see, by
God's gracious imputation, the entire merit of the obedience
unto death of the spotless Lamb of God." And that's great gain.
See, being one with Christ, they have His perfect righteousness
that was rendered in full satisfaction to the law and justice of God.
And they have it graciously and freely imputed to them, accounted
unto them. Listen, just as their sin debt
was paid in full based on that very same principle, the demerit,
the guilt of their sins having been imputed or placed to the
account of their sinless substitute, so that he might bear the just
penalty due unto them. That's the glorious exchange
we often read of in 2 Corinthians 5 21. And the only one who could, the
God-man, did in fact pay that sin debt in full for the full
remission and forgiveness of the sins for everyone for whom
he lived and died. And true believers are content. They are satisfied with that
because that satisfied God. as evidenced as we read in Acts
17, he's given assurance unto all men and that he hath raised
him from the dead. Evidenced by his very resurrection
because just as sin, if you don't think sin, the imputation's a
real principle, then think again because Jesus Christ died for
imputed sin. The spotless lamb who offered
himself, the scripture says, without spot. And just as that
sin demanded death, the perfect satisfaction to justice he rendered
thereby. Righteousness demands life, and
he had to come out of that grave. And so do all whom he represented
in his doing and dying. Likewise, they shall live both
spiritually and eternally. True godliness with that contentment
that I just described, it truly is great gain. Now, we're talking
about two frames of reference. two religions, grace and works.
And as we're taught in Romans 11, these two cannot be mixed. Now, what that means is that
right now, if you're religious at all, you're practicing the
religion of works or else the religion of grace, and there's
no mixing, no in-between. Now, sadly, many, if not most,
who practice the religion of works do so somewhat unwittingly
because they are told, and they, hey, I used to quote Ephesians
2, 8, and 9 all the time, all the, well, all the time practicing
the religion of works, you see. They're told that Christ, you
know, saves people, God saves by grace, and yet their doctrine
screams otherwise. So those who are destitute of
the truth, who are said to suppose gain to be godliness, would include
those who approach God for acceptance based on that false religion
of works, whether they call it works or whether it's just a
cleverly disguised system of works under the name of grace. Here's how you can tell. It's
to imagine that your salvation, at least in some part, at least
in some degree, is to be ultimately gained by something done by them
or through them or some decision they've made. And that is to
be destitute of the truth of salvation by God's grace in Christ
alone, supposing that gain is godliness. See, to believe that
salvation is by the will or works of men is divinely imagined at
your determined efforts. See the man with disposition
there? Your determined efforts. or your decision to gain salvation
for yourself actually accomplishes that. And so many like myself
in years past who wrongly presumed such to be saved by something
they've done or some decision they made, they sincerely worship. I was sincere and I don't question
the sincerity of many in that situation, but they're worshiping
an idol of their imagination. one they're taught, one that's
preached in their pulpits under a false gospel. And like me,
again, they may be sincere, but tragically, they're sincerely
wrong. See, remember, we all start out
in spiritual blindness. So we all begin deceived. And
in that deception, we may well believe our worship to be good
worship. I once thought that, but there's
cause for rejoicing because God delivers his people. And God,
if he's delivered you from that blindness, if he gave you the
spiritual faculties of life to see differently so as to cause
you to withdraw from such as you turn to Christ for all salvation,
then that's truly cause for rejoicing. It is sad that so many including
many who worship under the banner of so-called, quote, Christianity,
they suppose that gain is godliness in the sense I just described.
But again, in contrast, what wonderful news for believers
to discover that this true godliness with contentment isn't something
they muster up. It was purchased for them. Yeah,
and I know I'm not always as mindful. In fact, I'm seldom
as mindful as I should be. of how marvelous and great this
gain is, but we're going to ponder that some this morning before
I close. How wonderfully blessed are all who've been given that
blood-bought gift of faith and repentance along with all the
other fruits of the Spirit whereby we can and we do worship God
aright. Godliness with contentment. With contentment. Let's think
about that a moment. Obviously, given the context
of our text today, we see that certainly ties in with being
content with the basic necessities of life, the portion God's blessed
us with, so that by God's grace and his preserving grace, we
aren't plagued with this inordinate covetous desire for worldly gain
or riches to an extent that would draw us away from worshiping
around the true gospel. But as I've already explained,
this contentment can also be understood to our being content
with that which satisfied God. The word translated contentment
means fulfilled, sufficient, or satisfied. Recall how the
prophet Isaiah said, he, God the Father, shall see of the
travail of his soul, the suffering and the death of the promised
Messiah, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
So when Paul speaks of a true godliness with contentment being
great gain, he's not suggesting that if you'll develop an attitude
of contentment with the things you have and add that to what
you presume to be good worship, then you're going to find great
gain as a result of your determined efforts to be content. That's
works, that's not grace. See, the truth is that because
of remaining sin, no matter how determined we may be, we're gonna
struggle with being content with all the various temporal circumstances
we endure during our lifetimes. As the Bible says, life's short
and full of trouble. But there is a spiritual contentment. What I am referring to this morning
is true Christian contentment, given, given, to the justified,
redeemed. regenerated believer. That is
the foundation, see, upon which believers strive to be obedient
and strive to be content with food or raiment in our temporal
circumstances. It's from that whole different
frame of reference that we have now. We no longer strive to obey
in hopes of gaining something from God, but rather out of gratitude
for what God has gained for us through Jesus Christ. So Paul's
not talking about a godliness plus a contentment that we must
stir up. No, the contentment I'm speaking
of now, I want you to know there's no true godliness apart from
this spiritual contentment, apart from our being satisfied with
that which satisfies the judge of all. The righteousness established
by the Savior through his obedience unto death, through the travail
of his soul. So here's the question, does
that suffice for you? When it comes to your hope for
eternal life, are you content with the doing and dying of Jesus
Christ, and the righteousness thereby established being imputed
to you? Are you content with that as your sole ground of salvation? Is it enough for you? Well, for
many it's not. But as Paul told believers in
Colossians 2.10, he said, Christ is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and ye are complete in him. as we read in Daniel, he
put an end to sin. He finished the transgression. He is fully sufficient. And when
I say fully sufficient, I'm not, as some in the past have suggested,
saying, oh, Christ, everything he did is sufficient to save
you, but you must make it effectual. No, I'm talking about one who
is fully sufficient, as Mark spoke today about the effectual
work in the previous hour of Christ. He's fully sufficient
so as to effectively save his people. And believers find their
contentment there. But those who insist, there remains
something to be done, some decision to be made by the sinner in order
for them to be saved. And listen, I'm not putting down
faith. The Bible teaches, they that
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. They that believe
not will be damned. Belief, faith is absolutely necessary. But the key is, we do not believe
in order to be saved. If you believe this gospel, you
believe it because you have been saved. by the doing and dying
of your substitute. You see, there are many who buy
into that popular lie, God's done his part. The rest is left
up to you. And they thereby, in that message,
expose a discontentment. See, an insufficiency in that
God dishonoring view of Jesus Christ and his work of redemption.
In fact, that's not, that's no redemption at all. To many, his
doing and dying just didn't quite get the job done. Why, if you
imagine any for whom he died perishing in hell, then by default,
it's gotta be something you do, something else. So his work didn't
quite get it done by that way of thinking. It was insufficient.
And that shows a discontentment in believing that his precious
blood is not enough. Dare we place our sin-tainted,
pitiful faith in a position of rivalry with what it actually
took, the precious blood of Christ. Think of the dishonor that cast
upon our Lord and Savior. Well, my prayer is that you find
Christ to be all sufficient when it comes to your hope for eternal
life. See, the only true godliness, this good worship under the one
true gospel of grace is this godliness with contentment. And
this contentment I'm speaking of always accompanies true godliness
because it is a spiritual fruit, just like God-given faith in
the gospel and the doctrine according to godliness. And this godliness
with contentment is indeed great gain. So let's close with pondering
that. See, if God has so brought you
to worship him aright, given you this godliness with contentment,
then here's the gain. It means you possess the satisfying,
durable, and unsearchable riches of grace. It's great gain. It's truly profitable because
it means all your debts are paid. Spiritually speaking, you're
rich. It's to be richly clothed and deliciously fed, and it's
to be in a good family, the household of God. You adopted children
who previously presumed to owe a debt to God's justice. when
you thought there's something left for you to do to seal the
deal for your own salvation, a debt you really had no hope
of ever being able to pay, what gain to find out that those debts
are freely forgiven? You who were as others, by nature
like the children of wrath, see appearing to be metaphorically
in rags with nothing to cover your naked souls from the just
wrath of God, only to come to discover that you've been clothed
with a change of raiment." You know, that's good news, isn't
it? I tell you. That just thrills me. You know,
we read we're to be content with food and raiment. Well, believers
have a raiment with which they shall be eternally content. And
it's none other than the robe of God's imputed righteousness,
the garments of salvation. So those who are spiritually
starving, they discover they're actually heirs. Heirs of God
join heirs with Christ. Man, I love that word inheritance.
You can't earn that. And so they have the God-given
right, and listen, the suitableness for the heavenly inheritance.
And me, a sinner, suitable for that? Yeah, all because His righteousness
has been made mine. We're talking about folks who've
been made kings and priests to God. And even now in their present
lifetimes, you see, they have God to be their portion and exceeding
great reward. They've been given an interest
in Christ and in all spiritual blessings in Him. And look, they
have the Holy Spirit as the earnest, as the guarantee of their certain-to-be
future inheritance. If you are looking today to Jesus
Christ alone for all of your salvation, do you realize that's
the work of the Spirit? And that's a guarantee of this
riches untold that I'm speaking of, this inheritance. You see,
they're rich in faith and good works, because they're His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Their souls which
were lost, they've been found by the Good Shepherd, brought
into the foe, They have been and they shall be saved with
an everlasting salvation. And when this little sliver of
time, we call our lifetimes here on earth, has passed for them,
they'll come to possess all the riches of glory, the incorruptible
inheritance. That means one that lasts forever
and ever and ever. See, believers truly have all
grace here and all glory hereafter. How great is the gain of godliness
with contentment. True Christian contentment, as
Paul wrote in Philippians 3.9, is to be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law. No requirement
or rule that I'm meeting, no law keeping, but that which is
through the faith or faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. And I pray you find your contentment
there as well.