We read here of the death of
Isaac. And Isaac gave up the ghost and
died and was gathered unto his people.
That means he went to heaven and was among the redeemed, his
people. Being old, and full of days. Satisfied. Satiated. Content. Now that describes the death
of five different men in scripture. This was said of Abraham, Isaac,
Job, David and a priest by the name of Jehoiada. They died satisfied. What a way to die. They died
satisfied, satiated. I've given this story before
of Bill Borden, and it moves me every time I think of this
particular story. He, Bill Borden, was born in
Chicago in 1897, and he was heir to the Borden Dairy Products. Maybe you've heard of Borden
before. Well, he was the heir of all
of that. I don't know if it's still around.
It may be. But as a teenager, he was a multimillionaire. Now,
back then, being a millionaire, I guess that'd be like being
a, I don't know, maybe a hundred millionaire. But he had a lot
of money. And the heir to the Borden dairy
products. And he turned his back on all
that against the wishes of his parents. and gave it all up that
he might be a missionary to China. And they were upset about this,
but off he went. He went first to Egypt. He was
going to seek to preach to the Muslims that live in China. I
didn't know there were any, but evidently there were. And his
desire and goal was that they would hear the gospel. And so
he moved to Egypt in order to study the language, to equip
him to go to China. Three weeks later, he got spiral meningitis and
died. Didn't do any of the things he
wanted to do. He went against the wishes of
his parents and It didn't end up doing any good. He died before
he could even get to the mission field. Now would that be considered
a wasted life? They buried him in Egypt. They
couldn't ship someone back to the United States at that time.
He was buried in Egypt and his belongings were sent back home
and his father picked up his Bible and looked in that Bible
And it said in the back, no reserve, no retreat, and no
regret. I wanna serve the Lord like that,
don't you? No reserve. Not keeping something back. No
retreat, not going back. No regret. I don't want to regret. I love that story and it inspires
me. I wanna be that way. But that being said, I don't
find satisfaction in anything I have ever done. Not once. Now when I prepare
messages, it's always important to me to know I've done my best.
I don't get up unprepared. I've sought the Lord. I've prayed. I've studied. I want to do my
best. But there's always something
missing. I've never preached a message that I thought, well,
I'm satisfied with that. I've never given a gift that
I'm satisfied with that. I've never prayed a prayer that
I'm satisfied with. I'm always left short and I can't
look at anything that I've done that I can say I have no regret. I don't think I'm going to be
on my dying bed and look back at my life and say, I have no
regrets. I'll have plenty of them and
you will too. So what is said about these men
who died satisfied? Isaac died satisfied, satiated,
content, full. How does someone die satisfied? Let me say three things. about
spiritual satisfaction before I look at what the scripture
says about this. Spiritual satisfaction is being
satisfied with what God is satisfied with. Nothing less. I think of that passage of scripture
in Isaiah chapter 53 when it says, He shall see the travail
of his soul and be What? Satisfied. Completely satisfied. God is completely satisfied with
what his son did. Completely. He's not looking
for anything else. He's not looking for anything
out of me or you that will add to that. He is satisfied with
what his son did. Completely satisfied. The Lord Jesus Christ is completely
satisfied with what he did. The Father shall see the travail
of his soul. Christ shall see the travail
of his soul and be satisfied. He knows that he has done everything. And everybody he died for, God
the Father is completely satisfied with. And he's satisfied with
those people too. The scripture says concerning
them, because of the travail of his soul, every one of them,
according to Colossians 1.22, are holy, unblameable, and that's
the only thing I can be satisfied with. Holy, unblameable, and
unreprovable in his sight. God the Holy Spirit is satisfied
with what the son did and what the father sent for him to do
so that this is what he testifies to us. Satisfaction in Christ. He satisfied the father. You know what? I'm satisfied
with what he did too. I'm satisfied with what God's
satisfied with. Complete satisfaction in our
experience will not happen on this side of the grave. And David
expressed that in Psalm 17 verse 15. He said, as for me, I will
behold thy face in righteousness. It hadn't happened yet in so
far as my experience goes. I believe I do, but I will behold
thy face. And when I think of that, looking
on his face, beholding it, not looking down in shame, not looking
down in regret, but beholding his face, the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ in righteousness. I will. I can't help but think that if
I saw him right now, I'd just have to look down. Look down. But I will behold his face. Then David went on to say in
that same verse, I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. Until then, I want to learn what
Paul learned. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Philippians chapter 4? I am satisfied only with what
God is satisfied with. While in the flesh, I will not
find full satisfaction as long as I'm still a sinner. Now, if
I didn't have any sin, I could be satisfied, but as long as
I have a sinful nature, I will not find complete satisfaction
until I do behold His face in righteousness, satisfied, awaking
in His likeness. Paul said this in Philippians
chapter four, beginning in verse 11. Not that I speak in respect of
want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content,
satisfied. I know both how to be abased. I know how to see that I am nothing
but sin and the good that comes from that. I know how to be abased. And I know how to abound. Grace
abounding toward me. Everywhere and in all things
I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry. Never just
one, both. Full in Christ, hungering after
him. Both to abound, grace abounding. and to suffer need. I need thee,
precious Jesus, for I am full of sin. My soul is dark and guilty. My heart is dead within. I need
the cleansing fountain where I can always flee. The blood
of Christ, most precious, the sinner's perfect plea. I want to show you from the scriptures
what satisfaction is. Isaac died satisfied. Abraham died satisfied. Job died satisfied. David, Jehoiada, There's only
five men in the scripture that this is a description of him.
Five is the number of grace. I think there's a significant
reason as to why there were five men. Five is the number of grace. You say, where do you get that?
Well, all the tabernacle, everything is divisible by five. And there
is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. So first of all, we see
that it's only by grace we die. Satisfied, satiated, fulfilled. Now, first, when Moses, this
is found in Deuteronomy chapter 33, verse 23, he was given the
prophecies of the sons of Jacob. And this is a long time after
all of them were dead, but he's talking about the tribes. And
he says this with regard to the tribe of Naphtali, and his name
means wrestling. And I think he represents the
wrestling that every believer experiences, the flesh lusting
against the spirit and the spirit lusting against the flesh. His
name means wrestling. And the scripture says that he
will be satisfied with favor. He's wrestling. And the only
thing he will be satisfied with is pure, free grace. Let me give you the New Testament
commentary on this. Paul was struggling, fighting
with a thorn in the flesh. Who gave it to him? God gave
it to him, that he might not be exalted above measure. Three
times he asked the Lord that that thorn might depart. It's
useless to try to figure out what it is, we don't know. I
know it's a thorn in the flesh. I know a thorn in the flesh won't
kill you. I know a thorn in the flesh is greatly painful. And the Lord sent him this thorn
in the flesh to buffet him, the messenger of Satan, the scripture
says. And what a, getting beat black
and blue with it. Once again, we don't know what
it was. And he said, I asked the Lord three times if it might
depart from me. And he said, my grace is sufficient,
is all that's needed to satisfy you and make you content. Are you content? Are you satisfied
to be saved by sheer grace? I am. I am plumb satisfied to
be saved by the grace of God. In Psalm 22, 26, we read, the
meek shall eat and be satisfied. The meek. shall eat and be satisfied. Now what about Psalm 22? What
is Psalm 22? If you read that, you know that
it is preeminently the Psalm of the cross. How does it begin? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? In that psalm, the Lord says,
they pierced my hands and my feet. It's preeminently the psalm
of the cross. That's what Psalm 22 is all about. And the meek shall eat thereof
and be satisfied. Who are the meek? Well, the same
people who the Lord describes blessed are the meek. For they
shall inherit the earth. Every believer is meek before
God. Now, the world thinks of meekness
as weakness, but meekness is strength. What is meekness? It's an attitude toward God.
It's not so much my attitude toward you, it's my attitude
toward God. that believes that he is God
and whatever he sends my way is right because he does it and
I bow. That's meekness. Now who these
meek people are, they're made meek by the Spirit of God. This
is part of that great description of a believer, the Beatitudes,
and they shall eat and be satisfied. Now the only thing that I'm satisfied
in The only thing that I can eat and be satisfied is this. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know I can
be satisfied, truly satisfied in glorying only in the cross. Now I love, it was the Apostle
Paul who wrote this. Paul, the man God brought into
the third heavens. Paul, some could argue the chiefest
apostle. He said he's the least of the
apostles, but the Lord used him to write most of the New Testament.
Oh, the experience of Paul. What does Paul say about his
experience? God forbid that I should glory,
that I should rejoice, that I should have confidence in anything. Save the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, that's not talking about
glory in that one cross. That's talking about glory in
what Christ accomplished on that cross. His achievements, the
complete salvation of his people. I can be satisfied with that. Psalm 65, verse four, go ahead
and turn here. I probably had a look at these.
Psalm 65. I've got them written down, but
I'd like you to look at them. Verse one, praise waiteth for
thee. Oh God, my marginal reading says
praise is silent before thee. I praise when I have no words
to praise with. Anything is insufficient that
I say. I feel like all I do is ruin
it when I say anything. Praise is silent before Thee. O God in Zion and unto Thee shall
the vow be performed. O Thou that hearest prayer. Aren't you glad He's the God
who hears prayer? O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall
all flesh come. Verse three, iniquities prevail
against me. As for our transgression, thou
shalt purge them away. In the same verse, iniquities
prevail against me. They're winning. As far as our
transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. Blessed is the man
whom thou choosest. Now David is celebrating election,
divine election. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. Boy, I love causing
grace, don't you? Grace that causes me to approach
unto the great King. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causes to approach unto thee that he may dwell in
thy courts. Dwelling in the house of the
Lord Now let me remind you that that's not talking about dwelling
in a physical place at a certain point of longitude and latitude
that's right there. It's not talking about that at
all. Christ is the house of the Lord. How blessed is that man that
dwells continually in this house. Drew, you were just singing about
it, in the beloved. Accepted am I in the beloved. I went to the tree. Oh, blesses
that man that you choose and cause to approach unto thy courts
that he may approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of
thy holy temple. I am completely satisfied to
simply be found in Christ. I find such satisfaction in that.
I only find satisfaction in God seeing me only in Christ. I don't want him to see me in
any other way but in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I find satisfaction
there. I really do. I'm not looking
for anything else. I'm not reaching out for anything
else. I'm plumb satisfied. To simply be in Him, enjoying
the goodness, the mercy, the grace of His house. Listen to this scripture, 1 Corinthians
1.30, of Him are you in Christ Jesus. And that's the house we're
talking about, of Him, of God. Are you in Christ Jesus? I love
that verse of scripture. Somebody says, well, how do I
get in Christ? The only way you can get in Christ is if you're
in Him, of Him, if God put you there. And if He's put you there,
you've always been there. That's just the truth. You've
always been there. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us. Who's the us? Everybody God's
made Him this to. Wisdom. Wisdom. I have the wisdom in
Christ that God can embrace me and have fellowship with me in
Christ. Righteousness. I have the very
righteousness of God that God can embrace me in Christ. Sanctification. Holiness. He's made unto me holiness, and
I have the holiness to where the holy God can embrace me. Redemption. Full deliverance. Oh, in the beloved. accepted
am I. And I am satisfied right there. We don't want to be found anywhere
but in Him. Now in Psalm 90 verse 14, Moses,
the psalm he wrote, Psalm 90, verse 14, you see it's a prayer
of Moses, the man of God, He says, oh, satisfy us early, right
now. We don't wanna be waiting. We
need this right now. Satisfy us with thy mercy, that
we may rejoice and be glad all our days. What's God's mercy? What is God's mercy? Well, here's
how it works. And you have he quickened who
are dead in trespasses and sins. Where in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past. fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath,
just like everybody else. But God, who is rich in mercy,
there's the mercy of God, but God, not but you, but you turn
things around, no, but God. who is rich in mercy, saving
mercy. Now let me say this about God's
mercy. Mercy that's offered to me, number
one, is not mercy. If it's just offered to me, it's
not mercy. Number two, that wouldn't do
me any good anyway. I must have mercy that saves
me. Saving mercy. And the only thing
that will satisfy me is being saved by his but God, who is
rich in mercy. And let me remind you, he's rich
in mercy. He's got a lot of it, infinite. Psalm 103, go ahead
and turn here because I've got several things in this psalm
I want us to look at. Verse five, who satisfies thy
mouth with good, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. Now what does he satisfy our
mouth? What good things is he speaking
of? Well, look at verse one. Bless
the Lord, O my soul. and all that is within me. Bless
his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and
forget not all of his benefits. These are the good things he
fills our mouth with. And I love what he begins with.
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Who healeth all thy diseases. Well, I've got a disease he hadn't
healed me of. That's just the means he's going
to use for your being healed completely. If you die of the
disease, you're healed. You're healed. Who redeemeth
thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness
and tender mercies, who satisfies thy mouth with good, so that
thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. You know, that's all
about justification. He executed righteousness and judgment in
your salvation. It's a just salvation. He made known His ways unto Moses,
His acts unto the children of Israel. Revelation, He made known
His ways. The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He'll not always chide,
neither will He keep His anger forever. He's not dealt with
us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, So great is his mercy
toward them that fear him, as far as the east is from the west. So far hath he removed our transgressions
from us, like as a father pitieth his children. So the Lord pitieth
them that fear him, for he knows our frame. He remembers that
we're dust. As for man, his days are as grass,
as a flower of the field. So he flourisheth, for when the
wind passeth over it, it's gone. and the place thereof shall know
it no more, but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting
to everlasting, upon the fear him and his righteousness unto
the children's children. Satisfied with good things. Psalm
107. He satisfyeth, verse 9, someone
who said in verse 9, He satisfyeth the longing soul and filleth
the hungry soul with goodness. He satisfyeth the longing soul. Now, I've already touched on
this, but what is it that I personally, and I know I'm speaking as a
representative of every believer when I say this, What is it that
I long for? I long to be found in Christ
and everything that's associated with that. That person who longs to be found
in Christ, guess what? He satisfies them. Turn with me to Proverbs chapter
19. Verse 23, the fear of the Lord
tendeth to life, and he that hath it shall abide satisfied. The fear of the Lord. Now, I
really believe this, and I think it's scriptural. The fear of
the Lord and faith in Christ is the same thing. The fear of the Lord is that
fear and reverence and awe and respect of his person that makes
you afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone at all times. That only satisfies. Faith in Christ. satisfies. The fear of the Lord satisfies.
As a matter of fact, the psalmist said in Psalm 19, the fear of
the Lord is clean. It is clean! And the fear of
the Lord satisfies. Two scriptures from the New Testament. 1 Timothy 6. Verse three, if any man teach
otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according
to godliness. He's proud. Knowing nothing,
but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh
envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings
of men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain is godliness. He's talking about preachers.
He's talking about anybody who believes that way. But what he's
primarily talking about is these preachers. Supposing that gain,
here's the evidence of godliness. God's blessing, His material
blessing on you. From such withdraw thyself, but
godliness with contentment is great gain. Now what is godliness? The word God is not in the word. It is well reverent. Well reverent. I wanna be that,
don't you? Godliness with contentment. Satisfaction
is great gain. Four, verse seven. We brought
nothing into this world, Naked came I out of my mother's womb,
and naked shall I return. I like what somebody said about
a very wealthy man that died. And they said concerning him,
well, what did he leave? Everything. Everything. We brought nothing into this
world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out. And having
food and raiment, let us be therewith content, satisfied. Now, just materially, you got
food, you got clothing, be satisfied. I have no doubt that Paul is
not only talking about having food and clothing be satisfied,
but having Christ as your food, having Christ as your clothing
be satisfied. What else do you want? But they that will be rich, that's
their desire. They that will be rich. They
that want more than food and clothing. Now that's talking
about covetousness too. You know, what horrible things
are brought into the world by them that will be rich? They'll
step on everybody in order to get their riches. They that will
be rich. But what about they that will
be rich having something more than Christ as their food and
clothing? They that will be rich fall into temptation, and to
snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men
in destruction and perdition for the love of money. Not money, the love of money. Covetousness, greed. 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. Having food and raiment, let
us be therewith content. Last scripture, Hebrews chapter
13. Verse 1, Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds,
and I have no doubt he's talking about for preaching the gospel,
as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity, as being
yourselves also in the body. You suffer with it. Marriage
is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers
and adulterers, God will judge. Let your conversation be without
covetousness. and be content with such things
as you have. Do you know that you cannot be
content and covetous at the same time? If you're content, you're not
coveting. You're satisfied. And if you're
coveting, you're not content. Now what does he mean when he
says be content with such things as you have? What do you have? I have my beloved and he is mine.
I have him. I have his grace. I have the
promise of his eternal grace. I have a righteousness that's
his righteousness. I have a new heart. I have faith. I have hope. I have love. I have everything that God has
given. Scripture says, He has blessed
us with ALL spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That's what I have. Be content
with such things as you have, for He has said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. Now when I lay my head on my
pillow tonight, I want to do so satisfied. Now I know in the flesh I'm not
going to have complete satisfaction, but in my new man, I do. And I want to die just like Isaac
did, full of days, satisfied. And let me repeat, that is not,
I want to live like old, that guy did. I want to serve Christ with no reserve, with no retreat. and with no regrets. I want to
serve the Lord that way. But do I find satisfaction in
my service? No. My satisfaction is in that
which He is satisfied with. And I am satisfied. Let's pray.