Let's open our Bibles again to
Psalm 17. Title of the message this evening
is Satisfied with Christ. I took the title from the last
verse, verse 15. As for me, I will behold thy
face in righteousness. I should be satisfied when I
awake with thy likeness. That is true of every believer.
Every believer says that same thing. I'm not going to be satisfied
until I awaken glory in Christ's likeness. But you know, we don't
have to wait until glory to be satisfied. The believer is satisfied
with Christ right now. And that's why I want us to see
from this psalm this evening, the believer is satisfied with
Christ in every way and in every step, in every need. We're satisfied
with Christ. So here's the first point. The
believer is satisfied with Christ right now. So I want to be heard
in Christ. Verse 1. Hear the right, O Lord. Attend unto my cry. Give ear
unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips. Now I'm
satisfied with Christ. And the person who's satisfied
with Christ is comfortable coming into God's presence pleading
only Christ, having only his merit without any of mine added
to it. That's what David says here,
he says, hear the right. He means hear me in justice,
in absolute strict justice, hear me. God can't hear a sinner. He can't hear me and accept me
as I am in my sin. So David can only be pleading,
hear me in Christ, who satisfied your justice for me. And you know, we will always
be heard if we come to God in Christ, pleading His merit, pleading
to be heard in Him. Our Lord told us that, John 15,
verse 16. Whatsoever you shall ask of my
Father in my name, He'll give it to you, asking in His name. If we cry in Christ's name, the
Father will condescend to hear us because He can only hear us
in Christ. And this cry is not going to
come from false humility. It's not feigned lips. It's not
just lips that know the right religious jargon to say. This
cry comes from a broken heart. It comes through lips that are
not feigned because it begins in a broken heart. It begins
in a new heart that God gives his people. I know God cannot
hear me in my own merit. So if I'm going to be heard,
it has to be in Christ. And I'm satisfied coming to God
only in Christ because the Father's satisfied with me. If the Father's
satisfied with him, he'll be satisfied with me. And knowing
that will give the believer confidence to call on God at all times in
prayer. Look at verse 6. David says,
I have called upon thee. Why, David? Why did you call
upon the Lord? For thou wilt hear me, O God, incline thine
ear unto me and hear my speech. If we come to God in Christ,
you know, we sure should come confidently because He's going
to hear us in Christ. We come confidently because of
not who we are, but in who our Savior is. Here's the relationship
that the believer has with the Father, the relationship a child
of God has with our Heavenly Father. We call out of our abundant
need. We call and He answers. We call, He answers. We call
in our great need, He answers in His great power, His great
mercy, His great grace, His great love for His people. We call,
He answers. It's Christ that enables us to
cry so confidently to our Father, to come before the throne of
grace confidently, knowing because of who our Savior is, we'll find
grace to help in time of need. I'm satisfied coming to God in
Christ. All right, here's the second
point. The believer is satisfied with Christ. So we desire to
be judged in Christ. Verse two. Let my sentence come
forth from thy presence. Let thine eyes behold the things
that are equal. Thou has proved mine heart. Thou
has visited me in the night. Thou has tried me and shalt find
nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall
not transgress. David says, Lord, your eyes see
everything that's equal. What he means is your eyes see
everything as it really is. Then let my sentence come from
you. You see everything as it really is. Then you judge me.
David says here, prove me. You have proved me. You visited
me. Prove me. You've tried me and you shall
find nothing. Is that too strong of a statement?
Not if we're in Christ, it's not. The only way any of us can
say this is if we're judged in Christ. In Christ, the Father
will find nothing to charge us with. He'll find nothing in us
because Christ took it all away. And that's a miracle of God's
grace. This is what God's done. I was born in the darkness of
sin, the darkness of unbelief and rebellion. But God came to
me, he came where I was in the dark night of my sin, when he
visited me in the night, he visited me in the darkness of my sin
and my rebellion and my unbelief, and he gave me light. He gave
me light. That's what he does for his people.
God delivers his people from the power of that darkness, the
power of that dark night, and translates them into the kingdom
of his dear son. So now, when I lie awake at night,
and I can't sleep. You'd think after the weekend
we just had, you'd think I'd sleep and sleep and sleep. I
wasn't able to sleep a wink the other night. And this is why
I laid there thinking about all the embarrassing things that
I've done. All the sin, all the failures,
all the rebellion, all the just disgusting things I wish could
be expunged from my record. When I lay awake at night thinking
about that, thinking, boy, 20 years has gone by fast. 20 years, I'll be more than 70. Those years aren't guaranteed.
Death is coming quickly. And after that, I'm gonna face
God in judgment. The only peace I can find when
I think of that is the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm satisfied to stand
before God with absolutely nothing except the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nothing to plead but His righteousness. Nothing to plead but His blood
that paid for my sin. I'm completely satisfied to stand
before God and be judged in the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ.
because I know I'll be found not guilty in Him. He obeyed
God's law perfectly. I am satisfied with Christ. So
I'm satisfied to stand before God with nothing but being washed
in His blood. If I'm washed in His blood, God,
whose eye sees everything as it is, will see me as spotless,
holy, and pure. I'm satisfied with Christ. I
have no other hope, no other plea to have nothing except the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I can have that confidence.
I'm so confident in that because the Father was satisfied with
Christ. He said so that he's going to
be satisfied with me. When he sees me, he sees the
blood of the Lamb. He sees me as worthy and not
as I am. And I can say with David, I'm
satisfied with Christ. So I'm not afraid for God to
examine my heart. Not afraid whatsoever. It's a
heart he gave. It's a heart that he made pure.
That's what Dave is talking about here in verse three. You proved
my heart. Lord, you've tried it. You've
examined it. You found it to be perfect because
you gave it. The Lord has examined my heart
and you know what he sees there? There's nothing to condemn. There's
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
because Christ took all my sin away. And he was condemned for
me. And all that's left in my heart
is Christ. David is really saying the same
plea that Peter did. Remember when Peter denied the
Lord? Three times he denied the Lord. Then he went fishing. He went back to the profession
of fishing. And the Lord appeared to him. John said, it's the Lord.
Peter jumps off the ship and swims to shore to get there as
fast as he can. Lord's got him a meal all prepared for these
doubting, weak, rebellious disciples. He told them, stay put till I
appear to you. Appear right here. And they didn't. They went fishing. He appeared,
had him a meal all prepared. When they ate, the Lord said,
Peter, come here. Peter, do you love me? Lord,
you know all things. You know I love you. That's what
David's saying. Lord, you know my heart. You
know my love for you. You know that I have a pure and
holy heart because you see everything. This is the heart that you gave
me. And even when I don't see it, I can't look in me and see
it. When I look inside me, I don't
see it. You can't see it. I guarantee you, you watch me,
you're not going to see it. But God does. He sees everything
just exactly as it is. Lord, you know I love you. You know I trust you. It's the
heart you gave me. You know, David said earlier,
you know, Lord, my cry has not gone forth out of feigned lips
because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
If my heart is unfeigned, my heart is genuine and pure, then
the cry of my lips is going to be too. If what's in my heart
is Christ, the cry of my lips is going to be Christ too. That
is the only way the Father will ever be pleased with me in judgment,
is in Christ. And I'm completely satisfied
to be judged of the Father in Christ. Alright, here's the third
thing. The believer is satisfied with
Christ. I'm satisfied with Him right
now. And I know in eternity I'm going to be satisfied when I
awake in His presence, when I see Him as He is, when I'm made like
Him, when I have His likeness, I know then I'll be perfectly
satisfied. What's going to keep me from
here to there? I'm satisfied that Christ keep me from here
to there. I'm satisfied. I'm so confident
that He'll keep me for His sake. I'm confident He'll keep me for
who He is, because of who He is, and because of what He's
accomplished for me. That's the only reason I've been kept so
far. Verse four. Concerning the works of men,
by the word of thy lips, I have kept me from the paths of the
destroyer. I've been kept from the paths
of the destroyer, from Christ, by Christ, from all of eternity. I was kept safe in Christ in
the covenant of grace. Kept safe in Christ the surety.
I was kept safe in Christ. when Adam fell. I wasn't destroyed
because I was kept safe in Christ. I was kept safe in Christ as
the man, Jesus of Nazareth, obeyed the law for me as my representative.
I was kept safe in Christ in that hour of hours when the Holy
Son of God was made sin for me. He took my sin away. He went
to the tree to suffer and die to put it away. He blotted it
out with the blood of His sacrifice. I was kept safe in Christ while
God's justice and wrath was poured out on my sin, on the person
of my substitute. I was kept safe. I was kept safe
in Christ as he lay in the tomb. He lay there dead because he
died for my sin. And I was kept in Christ when
he arose again for my justification. When he arose, I did too. And
even now, I'm kept safe in Christ. seated with him in heavenly places
as he's seated on the right hand of the Father, ever living, making
intercession for his people. I've always been in Christ. That's
the only way I've ever been kept. The Lord keeps his people from
the sinful works of this world concerning the works of men.
How have I been kept safe from them? By God's word, the word
of his lips. It's the word that keeps God's
people How? By revealing Christ to you. It's
the Word that cleanses God's people from the ways and the
works and the thoughts of this world. A young man and men and
women of all ages are cleansed one way. By the Word of God. We're kept by the Word of God. Salvation for sinners is revealed
only in this Word. This Word reveals who and what
I really am. Nobody but this Word will tell
the truth about who I am. Everybody else will sugarcoat
it. And anybody that tries to make it bad can't make it bad
enough. Only the Word tells me the real story of who I am. I'm
ruined in sin. I can't be fixed up. I can't
make a decision. I can't walk an aisle. I can't
do anything. I'm ruined in sin. So if I'm
going to be saved, I must have Christ for safety. This Word
reveals a Savior who always saves His people. He never fails. He
didn't come to try to save anybody. He didn't come to try to save
everyone and just hope people would accept Him. No. He came
to save His elect. And He saved those people by
dying for their sins. He satisfied justice for their
sins. He shed His blood to put the
sins of those people away. And they're cleansed. They're
spotless. They're justified. They're saved. You only hear
that in God's Word. This Word reveals how are those
people ever going to know about Christ. The Word reveals the
Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to those
people and calls them to Christ. And they'll never come unless
He calls. They will not and they cannot. But every time the Spirit
calls, they come home. Irresistibly drawn to Christ.
And this Word reveals how God keeps His people. He keeps them
by His power, by His love, by His grace. He keeps them, and
He'll never let them go. That's the only reason I've been
kept so far, is by the power of Christ. That's the way He's
always kept me, and I'm satisfied He's going to continue to keep
me that very same way. Verse 5. Hold up my goings in
thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. This is what David's
praying, Lord, you've always kept me. Don't stop keeping me
now. Don't leave me to my own devices
now. Lord, always keep me. I know I can't trust myself,
but I'm satisfied with Christ. I'm satisfied that He'll keep
me. And even though we're confident
in that, we still plead, Lord, keep me. I know He'll keep me.
I know He'll keep His people, but we still plead, Lord, keep
me. Lord, hold me up lest I fall. Because I will fall if you don't
hold me up. My feet will surely slip if you
don't hold me up. But also, I think it was Spurgeon,
someone I read about this said this, hold me up also means this,
slow me down like the rider of a horse holds up that horse and
slows him down by pulling on the reins. This is my prayer,
Lord, hold me up. Slow me down so I don't run headlong
into danger. You think how many times that
we've wanted to do something. We've just wanted to do it so
bad we just put everything we got in doing something and the
Lord stops it. He holds us up. He just doesn't
let it happen. Every time he's done that, he's
held us up from running headlong into danger. Something that would
destroy us. Lord, keep me. Look at verse 8. Keep me as the
apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy
wings. Lord, keep me as someone who's very important to you.
Keep me as the apple of the eye. And in the original Hebrew, you
who have daughters will understand this is how important this is,
what David's saying. In the original Hebrew, this
is, Lord, keep me as the daughter of your eye. Daughters are pretty
special, aren't they, Wayne? Keep me as the daughter. What
would you do for your daughter? That's what David's praying here. Keep
me with that, that kind of fervent love, that protective love. Now
we can only say this about ourselves. Calling ourselves the daughter
of God. We can only say that about ourselves
in Christ, can't we? Lord, keep me like you would
keep your own darling son. And the eyes are a good illustration
of this. God made the eyes. He set the
eyes in our bodies to be protected. He put bones sticking out all
around it. Put a socket of bones sticking
all around it to protect that eye. He put eyebrows above it
to keep things from falling down into it. Sweat and dirt and whatever. He put eyelashes in front of
it to keep little bits of dust and things away. He made our
eyelids to just blink automatically. You don't have to think about
it. Your eyelids just blink to keep your eye Whatever it does
when you blink, I don't know. You don't even have to think
about it. It just does it. If something's coming at your
eyes, you don't have to think about it. Your eyelids just automatically
slam shut. You can't keep them open. All
that God made to protect the eye. The hand automatically goes
to the eye. You don't even have to think
about it. Just an automatic reflex goes to the eye to protect the
eye, to soothe the eye if it gets hurt. That's how God protects
His people. automatically, without even thinking. Everything about God is designed
to protect His people, that none of them will be lost because
they are very important to Him. Lord, protect me as the daughter
of your eye. But this all comes back to Christ.
David prays, Lord, keep me in Christ. Keep me because of His
sacrifice. A lot of the writers talk about
these, the shadows, the shadow of thy wings. referring to a
mother hen, how she protects her. She's out there in the barnyard,
she sees a hawk circling, she gets those chicks up under her
wings, up under her to protect them. And it may refer to that. But you know, every once in a
while, that mama hen, she loses one of those chicks, doesn't
she? I mean, the hawk sometimes gets one. I don't think that's
what David's talking about. I think he's talking about the
merciless. Those cherubim with their wings
spread abroad over the mercy seat, shadowing the mercy seat. The mercy seat is covered with
blood. Lord, keep me in the sacrifice of Christ. See me in Him. See me washed in His blood. No
one's ever been lost there. I'm very well satisfied to be
there in the shadow of the wings on the mercy seat. And then as
I go through this world, There are a lot of dangers. A lot of
dangers we go through. But I'll tell you the greatest
one. That's the greatest danger I
need to be protected from. Lord, keep me from myself. Don't leave me alone like you've
left other men alone, because I'll be just like him if you
do. Verse 9. Keep me from the wicked that
oppress me, from the deadly enemies who compass me about. Keep me
from the wicked who are all around me, but I tell you more importantly,
keep me from the wicked that's in me, because that fellow's
deadly. He's going to lead me to hell
every time. Lord, keep me, protect me from him. Verse 10, they're
enclosed in their own fat. With their mouth, they speak
proudly. Lord, don't let me become so
fat on the things of this life that I speak proudly. Don't give
me too many of the things of this life to where I start to
think I don't need you. And speak proudly. Why would
we be proud of anything we've got? Any gifts, any talents,
any money, any whatever. Why would we be proud? God gave
it all to us. He can take it all away on top
of that. Why would we be proud? Lord, keep me from myself. Let
my lips be unfeigned lips that speak of God's mercy and grace.
Let my lips brag on Christ, not on me. Verse 11, they have now
encompassed us in our steps. They've set their eyes bowing
down to the earth, like as a lion that is greedy of his prey. And
as it were a young lion lurking in secret places, Lord, keep
me from that bull who's lowered his head to charge me. That's
what David means here when he says, They've set their eyes bowing
down to the earth. It's like that bull who's lowering
his head, just ready to charge at me. Lord, keep me from him.
I'm defenseless from him. Keep me from that old lion, the
young lion and the old lion, who lurking in secret places.
He destroyed me. If he could, I'm defenseless
against him. The only way I can be satisfied and feel safe as
I go through this life is if Christ is my shepherd. If he's
leading me, if he's guiding me, Verse 13, Arise, O Lord, disappoint
him, cast him down, deliver my soul from the wicked, which is
thy sword. For men which are thy hand, O
Lord, for men of the world, which have their portion in this life,
and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure, they're
full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their
babes. Now David says, I am defenseless,
so arise, O Lord, and defend me. by controlling the situation. And you know, He always does.
It's the Lord who's always controlling the situation. The wicked aren't
just running around, just doing whatever it is they want to do.
All the wicked are, are tools in the hand of God. He's using
them and directing them to accomplish His purpose. David says, the
wicked, which is thy sword, and for men which are in thy hand,
they're all in God's hand. He's just using them to accomplish
his purpose. And you know, the Lord often
blesses them. I mean, the wicked that he's using to do these things
to his people to accomplish his purpose. Often the Lord blesses
them with riches and material blessings and They just, they
get fat. They got plenty to eat. They
got plenty of money hid away in secret places, you know, security
or deposit boxes, safety deposit boxes. They got, they got plenty
of everything. They're happy. They got happy,
healthy, prosperous children. They had just big old family
reunions where everybody's happy and everybody's got plenty. And
boy, they just got more than the heart could desire. And whatever
they got left over, they're going to leave to their babes. and
all their babes are going to be well set up. I mean, wow,
all they've got. But David says that's going to
be the end of their blessing. All their portion is, is things
of this life. They're going to find out just
like that rich man in hell, their portion was in this life. And
the things of this life are a mighty poor portion. We just need to
be careful chasing the too many things of this life. We need
to be careful. It's a very poor portion. And the things of this
life, try to accumulate them. Money, fame, wealth, power, jewels,
whatever it is you think's gonna make you satisfied, no matter
how much you get of them, you'll never be satisfied. Never. The
rich in this world are always looking for more. They're never
satisfied. And they won't be satisfied with
those things in eternity either. But the Lord uses those wicked
to accomplish His purpose right now. Now, we can't understand
that. That's certainly not the way
we do it, is it? You know, we bless God's people with a bunch
of riches and let them do things in this life, but that's not
the way God does it. We don't understand how or why
the Lord does it that way, but He does. So just be very careful
about ever mistaking earthly blessings for the love of the
Lord. You see people that got riches,
and they say, oh, the Lord loves you. All of them. I see these
rich people in their friend's town. Oh, the Lord loves you.
The Lord loves you. Well, you better not be determining that
based on earthly blessings. I'll give you an example. Farmer's
got a bunch of cows. I know a man. He's got some.
He's got cows. That's what he does for a living.
He raises cattle. Danny Belcher. He's got those cows out there
in the field. And they just stay out there in the field. They're
out there in the open air in the element. They're eating grass.
When it rains, it rains on them. When it's wind blows, wind blows
on them. They lay down and sleep in the grass at night, sleep
in the mud, whatever. They're just out there in the
open field. But then Danny, a certain time of year, starts bringing
some of those cows he leaves out in the field. Some of them
he starts bringing into the barn. He is very meticulous. He takes
that cow every day. He makes that cow stand up on
his knee and he weighs it. He gives it feed. He gives it
special feed. He mixes stuff in there to make
it taste good. That cow don't go back out in
the field. That cow stays in the barn. Oh, he's sheltered
from the elements. He's got plenty of hay to lay
down on. He's just, I mean, Danny's just,
every time that cow turns around, he's sticking some grain, you
know, a bucket of grain in its mouth. He's got everything the
heart could desire. Whatever a cow's heart desires,
buddy, he's got it. Danny's giving it to him. All
those cows up there in the field are thinking, man, I'd like to
be in them. I'm getting all this good food, and a good bed, and
a good roof over your head, and here I am out here in the mud.
They think that, until one day, Danny starts loading up the truck.
He puts that cow in that truck, takes it down to the slaughterhouse,
and kills it. Brings its meat back home. Danny's
purpose was always in this. He's going to feed his family.
He's going to provide for his family with that cow. He's either
going to sell and get money or he's going to have it chopped
up and his family is going to eat steaks on the grill and roast
on Sunday and hamburgers on the grill. His purpose was always
for the good of his family. Never that category. And that's
what David's praying. Lord, keep me from that. Keep
me from being like the people of this world. Don't leave me
alone. I want to be like Christ. I don't want to be like I am
in Adam. I want to be like Christ. Lord, make me an object of your
grace. Make me an object of your love and mercy. That's what I'll
be satisfied with. Keep me from here to there. And
fourthly, the believer is satisfied with Christ. Do you know how
you can tell if you're satisfied with Christ? If your desire is
preacher, Show me more Him. Just tell me more about Him.
That's how I know I'm satisfied with Christ. Verse 7. So thy
marvelous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand,
them which put their trust in thee, from those that rise up
against them. By God's grace, I can truly say
this. I've seen Christ. And I'm satisfied. I'm so satisfied. But I'm not
satisfied with how well I see him. I'm not satisfied with how
much I know about him. I'm not satisfied with how well
I believe him. I'm not satisfied with how well
I love him. I'm satisfied with him. But boy, I sure would like
to see him more clearly. I'd like to know more of him.
I'd like to hear his name more often. So David says, show me
more of your marvelous loving kindness. God's loving kindness
is marvelous. It's marvelous. It's marvelous
in its eternality. If God loves you now, He's always
loved you. There has never been a moment
God has hated His people. He's always loved them. Even
when He knew what we'd be, He's always loved His people because
He loves them in His Son. God's loving kindness is marvelous
in its faithfulness. God never changes. He never changes. His loving-kindness never goes
up or down. It's always pure and perfect.
And His loving-kindness is marvelous when you consider the objects
of His love. God's loving-kindness must be
marvelous if it enables Him to love a sinner like me. It's marvelous
loving-kindness. Show me more of that. I like
to hear more about that, don't you? I'm satisfied with his loving
kindness, but I sure would like to hear more of it. Show me more
of Christ. I've seen him, but show me more
of Christ. Christ is the right hand of God's power. He's the
right hand of God's grace who saves his people. So show me
more of him. So I'll trust him more. That's
what I implore every one of us to do right now. Trust Christ. Trust him fully. He saves everyone
who trusts Him. Anyone who's ever trusted in
Christ has never been disappointed. They're always satisfied. Then lastly, now we come to the
last verse. The believer is satisfied with
Christ in every way, in every step, no matter what it is. If
I'm going to be kept, if I'm going to hear preaching, if I'm
going to appear before God, if I'm going to call on God in every
way, I'm satisfied with Christ. But I won't be completely satisfied
until I have full possession of what He's purchased for me,
until I'm made just like Him and I can be with Him where He
is. Verse 15. As for me, in opposition
to the men of the world, as for me, I will behold thy face in
righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. I'm satisfied with Christ. That's
why I long to be with Him and I long to be like Him. My soul
will be completely sanctiated when I behold His face in righteousness. That seeing Christ as He is, I'll be satisfied. Unadulterated
joy. to see Christ as He is and be
made just like Him. You think, and we can't even
imagine this, to close your eyes in death and to immediately,
to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord,
to close our eyes in death and immediately have our eyes blink
open and be staring at the face of the Savior. To just intent
Look upon that face. Just study that precious face. We had a wedding here last Saturday. Several people noticed it. I
noticed it. The bride and the groom just
couldn't take their eyes off one another. They just couldn't
take their eyes off each other. You reckon it'll be that way
when we see the Savior? I think it will. Just unadulterated Joy. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. To intently look on that face
with nothing between. Just be able to study it. Just
be able to look on that face. To awake and look in the face
of the Savior. Well, if that's going to happen,
it's not going to happen in these bodies, is it? These bodies couldn't
take it. These bodies have got to die.
These bodies have got to be changed. You know, these bodies don't
look like much now, do they? That's what we read to open the
surface. It does not yet appear what we shall be. We don't look
like anything like what we're going to look like. These bodies
certainly don't look like anything when we bury them, do they? They
just don't look like much. But you know, now, this time
of year, it's a good time to think about that. What's going
on right now, people are planting. People are planting dried up,
shriveled old seeds that look dead, that look useless. It just
doesn't look like there's any hope for this thing. But after
they're planted and they decay under the ground for a little
while, they're going to rise up out of that dirt as a glorious,
beautiful, fragrant flower. They're going to rise up as juicy,
wonderful fruits and vegetables. That's how these bodies are going
to rise. They're not going to arise looking like they do now.
They're going to arise in the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. To say we'll be satisfied, I
don't know that we can, the word satisfied does it justice, does
it? To be satisfied, to completely, just in complete joy, spend eternity
with our Lord Jesus Christ, we may just like Him. That is the
end of everybody who trusts him. That's the end of everybody who's
satisfied with him now, to spend eternity with him, made just
like him. I can be satisfied with that,
can't you? Our Father, how we thank you
for this precious portion of your word, this precious promise
that despite all the darkness of this life, all the sin that
does so easily beset us, all the decay of our bodies, our
minds, our thoughts, our decay of us in rebellion of this world
around us, all the trials, all the tribulations, even all the
happiness and all the joy that we have of this life. When it's
all put away, when it's all said and done, the believer shall
be satisfied looking into the face of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, Father, how we thank you for him. How we thank you that
you revealed your son to your people in this life, that we
can be satisfied with him now. Father, make us satisfied with
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need nothing else.
We need no other message other than him. We need no other righteousness
other than his obedience. We need no other sacrifice other
than his blood. Let him be our all and in all. If we'll be completely satisfied,
completely taken up with Him in glory, Father, cause us to
be a whole lot more taken up with Him now. Father, bless this
message to our hearts. Bless it to your glory that we
might leave here satisfied with our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in
His precious name we pray and give thanks.