In special music, I love a song
that glorifies the gospel, that's of the gospel. I love to hear
a beautiful voice sing it. And I especially love to hear
somebody sing it that believes what they're singing. That's a great blessing. I've entitled the message for
tonight, Godliness with contentment. Godliness with contentment. Now, in the latter part of verse
five of first Timothy chapter six, Paul speaks of those who
suppose that gain is godliness. They suppose godliness to be
a means of gain. A way to better yourself. Now
understand this. Godliness is not a means. Godliness
is an end. Great is the mystery of godliness. Now to say that godliness is
not a means of gain is not to say that godliness is not great
gain. Look in chapter four, verse seven
of the same book. But refuse profane and old wives
fables and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. Give yourself
unto this thing of godliness. For bodily exercise profits little,
or for a little while. But godliness is profitable unto
all things, having a promise of the life that now is and of
that which is to come. Godliness is profitable. There's a great gain in godliness. Now here's the question, what
is godliness? You know, that word I found to be kind of scary
before. I don't know how else to say it, godliness, because
I think of godliness and I think godlikeness is what comes to
my mind. I think am I very much like God
and I don't feel like I, um, Live up to what that means, but
what the word actually is made of two words, which means well,
devout, well, devout. Paul actually uses this word
as a title for the gospel. Great is the mystery of godliness. That's a title for the gospel.
God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world and
received up into glory. This is the title of the gospel. I looked up the word in two dictionaries
and Strong's, you've probably got a Strong's concordance. He
defined godliness as the gospel scheme. I like that. The gospel
scheme. Vine, in his dictionary, defined
the word as a Godward attitude. I like that too. I like both
of those. The gospel scheme, a Godward
attitude. I know this. Godliness is a gift
from God created by divine power. Turn with me for a moment to
second Peter chapter one, verse three, according as his divine power. Now that's omnipotence. It's
exactly what his divine power is. Omnipotence. according as
His divine power hath given unto us, hath gratuitously bestowed
upon us. This is talking about the freeness
of this gift. According as His divine power
hath given unto us, all things that pertain unto life and godliness. You see, this is a gift from
God, given by God. And He gives us all things that
pertain to life and godliness. Now, godliness has something
to do with spiritual life. If I have spiritual life, I have
this thing called godliness. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. It's also a part of what Paul
called in Titus 1.1, the faith of God's elect, the acknowledging
of the truth, which is after godliness. Whenever there's a
true acknowledgement of the truth, a true embracing of the truth,
a true rejoicing in the truth, receiving the love of the truth,
it ends in godliness. Paul spoke in first Timothy 6.3
of the doctrine, which is according to godliness or after godliness,
truly godliness is great gain. If I have godliness, it means
the Lord's done something for me. And godliness is also, as
I've already said, that's a title of the gospel. But notice what
Paul says back in our text in first Timothy six, verse six,
but godliness with contentment is great gain. Now, most folks,
if you asked them if they were content, they'd say, yes, I'm
content. I'm satisfied because nobody
wants everybody to know how discontent they are, I suppose. But godliness
with contentment, there is such a thing as true contentment. Godliness with contentment, with
satisfaction, with sufficiency is great gain. The word contentment
means adequate, needing no assistance, sufficiency. Turn with me to
a passage of scripture in Philippians chapter four. I hope this is
something we can all enter into. Philippians chapter four, beginning
in verse 11, Paul says, not that I speak in respect of want, For I have learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content." Satisfied. Everything's good.
Sufficient. And look what he goes on to say.
I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. I know
how to be brought low. I know how to be made to see
that I am nothing but sin, period, in and of myself. You know, when
the Lord brings me to that, it's easy for me to trust Christ as
my only righteousness before God, because I really know that
I don't have one. And his righteousness is my righteousness.
I know how to be abased. I know how to be brought low.
And I know how to abound. It's abounding grace. I know
anything I have. If I abound in love, I know it's
the love He gave me. If I abound in faith, I know
it's the faith He gave me. If I abound in humility, I know
it's the humility. You go anything, any grace of
the Spirit, I know how to abound. I know it's of His grace. Look
what he says in verse 12. Everywhere and in all things,
I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry. Full and hungry
at the same time. How do you go about doing that? In Christ, I'm complete. I'm full. I can't get any more
saved than I am right now. Can't get any more love, can't
get any more accepted. I'm full. All God requires of me, I have.
I'm full. I'm not looking for anything else. And at the very
same time, I'm hungering for righteousness, feeling like I
don't have it and I need it and I want his righteousness. I'm
full and I'm hungry at the same time. I see and I'm blind at
the same time. He goes on to say in verse 12,
both to abound and to suffer need. Do you know the best place
that I can be is in need. Needy. Poor and needy. Needing the Lord Jesus Christ.
Needing Him to do something for me. Needing His grace. Needing
His favor. Needing the forgiveness of sins.
Needing Him. Oh, how I need Him. I'm abounding. I have all I need. and how desperately I need him
right now. Paul says I've learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. Contentment is sufficiency. Godliness
with contentment. Satisfaction with what one has. Satisfaction with what one has. Now, does that mean I'm satisfied with everything
materially? Well, I ought to be. I ought
to be. But that's really not what that's
talking about. It's not talking about satisfaction with material
things. I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine. Now what do I have? I have all. If Christ is all,
and he's mine, I have all. All that God requires and all
that I even want. I have the forgiveness of sins. I have The promise that Christ
has made to me, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
I have the promise that God's for me, if God be for us. Oh,
I have this promise that God, the living God is for me. He's
on my side. He's taken my part. He's the
one acting in behalf of me. If God be for us, who could be
against us? I have justification. That doesn't mean that I have
a perfect standing before God. It means I'm perfect before God.
Big difference. It's not just a piece of paper
that says you're okay. I'm perfect before God. I'm just
before God. I have sanctification. I am holy
before God. I really am holy. I mean, the
holiness that I'm going to have in heaven, I got right now. You
know, the only way you can know that's by faith, but it's so.
I'm not going to be any more holy in heaven than I am right
now. Now, my sinful flesh will be
taken away. Thank the Lord for that. I love that phrase in that
song where sin and sense molest no more. I look forward to that
so much, to not be molested by sin or sense. But one of these
days, I have the promise, I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. I have Christ in me, the hope of glory. I have his spirit. I have the intercession of Christ.
Just like he said, Peter, I prayed for you. He says, Todd, I prayed
for you. that your faith fail not. Now be content with such things
as you have. I love that scripture in Hebrews
13, 5 where it says, let your conversation be without covetousness. And the only way you can not
covet to have everything. Because if there's anything you
don't have, you will covet after it. I guarantee you. But if you've
got everything, there's nothing to covet. Be content with such
things as you have for he has said, I will never leave thee
nor forsake thee. Truly, godliness with contentment
is great gain, isn't it? Now back in our text, he says in verse 7, For we brought nothing into this
world. And it's certain we can carry
nothing out. September 9th, 1959, don't know
what time, a child was born into this world, me. You know what
I brought? Nothing. Nothing but need. Nothing but helplessness. Nothing
but dependence. Didn't bring anything to the
table. If I would have been left to
myself, I would have died real soon. I brought nothing. And it's certain that I will
carry nothing out. And you know, we'd had a lot
of death in our midst. Buried Frank Singleton Saturday. Lynn and Leanne and Chuck's dad
died six weeks ago. Paul Almsley's mother just died.
Susan Sly's dad seems to be at the verge of death. We're born. We live for a very short while.
Joyce died not too long ago. Julie died. Jim died. We've had
so much death in the last year. Death, death, death. We're born, we live for a short
while, and we die. Now, I've been somewhat involved
in taking care of things after Charlie Moore's death. He was
born January 22nd, 1931, and he came here with nothing, just
like I did. And during his time here on earth,
he accumulated quite a bit of stuff. I've been going through
his house. I mean, quite a bit of stuff. You know where he left here?
Everything. He brought nothing with him. A lot of times when people die,
they say, well, what were they worth or what did they leave? Everything. Everything. We brought nothing
into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. We make such a big deal about
houses and lands and material acquisitions and being successful
in this life and having plenty of money in the bank. And let
me tell you what it all is. Vanity. Vanity and vexation of
spirit. And it will end with nothing. Now, we brought nothing into
this world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out, verse
8, and having food and rainment, let us be therewith content,
satisfied, finding sufficiency in that. Now, the word food is
sustenance, and the word clothing is actually a covering or a shelter. Let me be content with that because
covetousness is such a horrible thing. Look in verse nine, we're
gonna talk more about this next week. But look what verse nine
says, but they that will be rich, you know it's better to stay
poor, better to stay poor. And I'm not really even talking
about poor materially right now, but it's better to stay poor
spiritually. What happened to the church at Laodicea? They
became rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing. You know what happened to them.
The Lord said regarding them, you stay that way. You're lukewarm. I'll spew you out of my mouth.
I want to stay poor in that sense. But this desire to be rich, even
materially rich, but they that will be rich fall into temptation. You place yourself in a place
where you're tempted. And what happens when you're
tempted? You fall. You fall. and a snare, a trap,
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition. For the love of money is the
root of all evil, which some coveted after. They've erred,
they've wandered, they've been seduced from the faith, and they've
pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Having food and
raiment, let us be therewith content. But if all we see in
that is the need to be content with a rather meager amount of
material possessions, we've missed the main lesson. Now, materialism,
understand this, materialism is vastly overrated. It really
is. And the older we get and the
more experience we have in life, we see more of the vanity of
those things. Stuff just doesn't matter. People
ruin their lives and they ruin relationships with others to
live in bigger houses and drive nicer cars. For what? For what? What should it profit
a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his soul? What
should a man give in exchange for his soul? But the word food
here is the only time this word is used in the Bible and it is
literally sufficient sustenance. Sufficient sustenance. Now I
had an experience seven and a half years ago where I had that esophagectomy
and I couldn't eat very much. And anybody that's ever known
me knows how much I love to eat. I love to eat. It's my favorite
thing to do. And I had these little small
meals and I would get nauseous and I felt cheated. I felt cheated
every time. I'm not getting enough to eat.
I never felt content. So this thing of getting just
a little bit and then being satisfied, no, no, I have to have sufficient
sustenance. I have to have enough to satisfy
me and it's got to taste good. How many times have you gone
to a restaurant and put out money for food and it didn't taste
good? What's that do to you? It makes you mad, doesn't it?
You're not content. I remember one time I drank a
cup of coffee, and I like strong coffee, and it was weak. I said, man, this stuff is awful.
And this lady said to me, this religious lady, she said, I've
learned in whatsoever state I am there with the Beacon Tint. I'm sorry. I don't like coffee
that tastes like dishwater. I don't. I've got to have something
that actually satisfies me. Satisfies. Now, this is sufficient
sustenance. And the word translated raiment
is also only used this one time in the scripture. And it means
a covering. A covering. Now really, this
food and raiment, yes, we ought to be satisfied with food and
raiment. That's plenty. We all live like kings. We don't
need anything more. I realize that. But this food and raiment
is Christ as my food. And Christ as my covering. Christ
as my shelter. Having Christ for my food, having
Christ for my covering, let us be there with content. Now, Christ himself is our sustenance. He's our food. He's who we feed
on. He that eateth me, even he shall
live by me. We really do live off of Him.
We eat and drink the Lord Jesus Christ. And we draw all of our
strength by looking to Him. Looking to Him, when I'm not
looking at myself, when I'm looking to Him, I have all sufficiency. Don't need anything else. I have
such confidence when I look to Him. I need nothing else, but
Him only. He only, as everything, is the
only thing that satisfies my hunger. Anything else leaves me hungry.
He only, as everything in my salvation, I'm feeding off Him.
I'm looking to Him. I'm looking away from myself,
looking to Him. Oh, I'm satisfied. Oh, I'm content. I'm not looking for anything
else. When content with beholding His face, my all to His pleasure
resign. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. When blessed with a sense of
His love, a palace, a toy would appear. And prisons would palaces
prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. Oh, how satisfied we
are in looking to Him. But Whenever I look to my works,
whenever I look to my evidences, whenever I look to my experiences,
I lose my assurance. If I try to look at my life and
figure out, am I saved by looking at my life? I always will conclude
that I'm not. When I start looking at that,
that's the wrong place to look. That is the wrong. If you can
look at your life and say, yeah, I make the grave. Boy, you're
blind. You're blind. When the Lord gives me the grace
to remember, Ephesians 1, 6 says, he hath
made us accepted in the beloved. I love that language. He made
us. It is he that made us and not we ourselves. He made us
accepted, graced us, completely accepted. Everybody wants to
be accepted. I want y'all to accept me. I want you all to
love me. I want to accept you. I want to love you. Everybody
wants to be accepted. There's no question about that.
But if y'all don't like me and he accepts me, everything's okay
though, isn't it? Accepted without reference to
any good thing about me, without reference to any bad thing about
me, accepted in the beloved. In the Beloved accepted am I. 1 John 4, 17. This is what
I feed on. This is what satisfies me. Remember,
we're talking about a true inward satisfaction. 1 John 4, 17 says,
As He is, so are we in this world. How is He? He's holy. He's accepted. He's righteous. He's altogether
lovely to the Father. He can't get any more high than
he is. As he is, so are we in this world right now. Now that satisfies me. If you take anything away from
that, I've got no satisfaction. But I am plumb satisfied to simply
be found in Him. By grace are you saved. Through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God. not of works, lest any man
should boast. Turn with me to second Corinthians
chapter 12. Paul says in verse six, for though I would desire to
glory and you know, you're going to
glory in something. All of us will. There's just a natural
urge in everybody to glory in something. And Paul says, for
though I would desire to glory, and he's referring to what all
God had done for him. He had been taken up into the
third heaven. He had the Lord teach him the gospel directly.
He was the great expounder of the gospel more than anybody
else. Really. He was the, he called himself a wise master
builder and he did so without arrogance. I mean, he was a wise
master builder made wise by God brought up into the third heaven.
He said, I didn't know whether I was in the body or out of the
body. I don't know. I was caught up into paradise and I heard
unspeakable words which are not lawful for a man to utter. Now,
can you imagine if you'd experienced something like that? I know,
I know that if I'd experienced something like that, I would
somehow think myself above you. I know I would. Now, what does
Paul say the Lord did to remedy this problem? He says, for though
I would desire to be to glory, I shall not be a fool for I'll
say the truth. But now I forbear, lest any man should think of
me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth
of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance
of the revelations there was given to me. Who gave it to him? God did. A thorn in the flesh. It had something to do with his
flesh. And it was a thorn in the flesh. Now, a thorn in the
flesh won't kill you, will it? But how painful is a thorn in
the flesh? When's the last time you got pricked by a thorn? It
hurts tremendously. And Paul said, I asked the Lord
to take this from me three times. I think that just simply means
a whole bunch of times. I don't mean just three. I mean, how
many times have you prayed about something hundreds of times,
maybe thousands of times, and seems like nothing changes? He
said, I asked the Lord to take this from me. You know what the
Lord did? He didn't say, no, I'm not gonna remove that thorn.
He didn't say, all right, I'll remove that thorn. He said, neither. He said, my grace is sufficient
for thee. My grace My saving grace, my
effectual grace, my sovereign free grace, my electing grace,
my redeeming grace, my regenerating grace, my preserving grace, my
great grace, my abounding grace is sufficient for thee. Are you satisfied with the sufficiency
of his grace. Let me ask this another way.
Are you satisfied to be saved by sheer free grace? I am. The word clothing in our text.
Christ is our food. Having food, sufficient sustenance. And when you look to Christ,
you really do. You see him as altogether lovely. You're not
hungering for anything else. You know, I've had people say
to me before, after hearing the messages from preachers, they
say, well, there's got to be something else. You just haven't seen. If you've
seen, you wouldn't say that. There's no improvements on this. believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
I mean, that's the highest thing to simply believe. This is the
work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent. What
a blessed thing that is. Now that that's our food. But
you know what else we need? We need shelter. We need a covering. We need clothing. And that word
clothing is literally a covering. That's what clothing is, a covering
to hide our shame, to Protect us to make us warm. Food's what
is done in us. Clothing is what is done for
us. And the same one who is our food
is our shelter. The same one who is our food
is our clothing, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the robe of righteousness. He is the wedding garment. He
is the fine linen. clean and white. This is the
righteousness of the saints. And the righteousness of the
saints is nothing less than the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here's another question. Do you
find sufficiency in having his righteousness as your only covering? as your only garment. Do you
find satisfaction in that? When the Lord looks at your heart,
does he look at someone who's actually content with the righteousness
of Christ and not looking anywhere else? You don't want a patchwork
covering of his righteousness and yours, his only. Are you satisfied with his righteousness
as your covering? That's the work of Christ for
you. The food is the work of Christ in you. The covering is
the work of Christ for you. He's both. Are you satisfied? Are you content? Having food
and raiment, let us be there with content. Now, a couple of
things came to my mind as I thought about this. The work of Christ
in us, the work of Christ for us. Christ is our food, Christ
is our clothing. I couldn't help but think about
Noah's Ark. Noah's Ark was a big ark. A lot
of animals got in that ark. And the scripture says it was
to be pitched within and without with pitch, a black tarry substance. I don't know where they got it,
but they had pitch. And the word, same word, is translated
atonement. Pitch and atonement, the same
word. Now, you look at that big black
ark. You know, that ark was black.
You would have seen this big, huge, black sailing vessel with
all kinds of animals and some people in it, but it was black.
Black. The Lord Jesus Christ became
black on the cross with the sins of his people becoming his. But
oh, those people in him, they were clean and perfect and holy
and without anything. What kept the wrath of God away
from them? the atonement, the pitch. If
he didn't have that pitch, all the water would come in before
the boards, it would have sunk and they would all be dead. But
that pitch, the atonement kept the boat afloat. It's what kept
the wrath of God out. But you know what else? It was
covered on the inside with pitch. What keeps me on the inside? In the scripture, turn with me
for a second to Psalm 130. I've just been thrilled with
this for some weeks now, this Psalm. Psalm 130. David says, Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou,
Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But
there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. What comes first? The forgiveness. And when the forgiveness is there,
that's when the true fear begins. That fear of God, that's the
beginning of wisdom. There is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord. My soul
doth wait, and his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy,
and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel. from
all his iniquities. And that keeps, that's what keeps
me on the inside. His blood, the power of his blood, I'm forgiven. That's what causes me to persevere
in the faith. Not fear of what'll happen if
I don't. That's not even perseverance, that's bondage. But what is it
that keeps us on the inside? The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now having Christ as my food
and my covering, let us be there with content. One other scripture,
turn to Genesis 33. Now here's the difference between
a believer and an unbeliever. It's a story about Jacob and
Esau. Now Esau saw all these droves of material
blessings coming his way that Jacob sent him. Remember, Jacob
was scared to death that Esau. So he sent a bunch of sheep and
then a bunch of cattle and a bunch of, I mean, just one thing after
another, servants, trying to butter him up and everything.
Because he said, I'm trusting the Lord, but he didn't trust
him very much, did he? I mean, he said he was, but...
He wrestled with the angel and said, if you'll do this, but
here he is in the next chapter going back to his old ways. He
always does that, Jacob. And so we read in verse eight,
this is Esau speaking. And he said, what meanest thou
by all this drove which I met? And he said, these are to find
grace in the sight of my Lord. Look the way he talks to Esau. And Esau said, I have enough,
my brother. I've got plenty. Keep that thou
hast to thyself. I don't need your material goods.
I've got enough. Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee,
if now I found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my
hand. For therewith have I seen thy face, as though I had seen
the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. Take, I pray
thee, my blessing, which is brought to thee, because God hath dealt
graciously with me, and because I have enough." Now, that word
enough is a completely different word than the one used in verse
9. In verse 9, I have plenty. Verse 11, my marginal reading
says I have all things. I have everything. And if I have Christ, I don't
just have plenty. I have everything. everything God could possibly
require. He could ask no more of me. I have everything. Having food and raiment, let us be there with content. Let's pray together.