Satisfied - Philippians 4:10-23 (March 13, 2016)

All right, well, you can turn in your Bibles to Philippians.

We're going to be closing out this book and uh looking at uh the latter part of the final chapter, chapter four, uh, looking at verses uh 10 uh down to 23.

So get your Bibles open and uh pens ready, uh ready to roll through this here.

Now, hey, I'm uh I don't know about you, but uh I am a tremendous sucker for comfort food.

Right?

Obviously, some of you are with me on that.

Uh you love it uh as much as I do.

Now, uh I do try to eat as healthy as I can uh most of the time.

I try to go for that.

Um, but if someone like orders a pizza or something like that, uh it's game over for me.

Right?

And like all self-control uh just goes out the window.

You know, and Ange will say to me, Well, you know, you could just eat one or two slices, to which I scoff, right?

You can't you can't do that.

No, it's like give me the whole wheel.

Like I want the entire thing.

Settle into some nice garlic dipping sauce with that, and uh, and life is uh life is good.

Um and I don't know what it is for you, I don't know what your comfort food is.

Maybe it's uh it's something like that.

It's uh uh it's pasta, it's uh maybe you like uh more the fine dining and like going to fancy restaurants.

Uh for you it's something maybe sweet, you like uh the ice cream or uh or chocolate or something like that.

Um but we all have something, right?

We all have uh a weakness for sure when it comes to uh comfort food.

Now we love it so much, we love it so much because we think, okay, we think that it will satisfy us.

That's what our approach is to all of this.

Uh we think it's gonna satisfy us, but really uh what it does is it gives us temporary pleasure.

It gives us temporary pleasure, maybe, maybe a lot of temporary pleasure, um, but that's really all it is.

Because all it takes is for us to wake up the next morning and we've got like a stomachache or something, or or the shame and the and the regret of like, man, I'm on a diet and I'm trying to lose weight or I'm trying to get in shape or something like that, and uh, we realize that we weren't truly satisfied uh at all.

Now uh now, as Christ followers, uh we crave satisfaction.

Okay, we crave it on a spiritual level.

Okay, we long for that.

That's what our hearts want, whether we realize it or not.

We long to be satisfied.

And so the question for us, really, then, is are we satisfied in the Lord?

Are we satisfied in the Lord?

Um, are you are you learning to be satisfied in the Lord?

Maybe that's a better way of putting it.

That's actually how Paul talks about it uh in this text.

Are you learning that?

Are you on the journey to that?

Um, or are you looking uh in the wrong places uh for your uh satisfaction?

Uh well, the final part here of Philippians 4, Paul talks about being satisfied.

He uses the word content.

I've learned to be content.

And so let's take a look at this now and find out how we can become individuals and ultimately a church body who is uh who is contented, uh deeply satisfied in the Lord.

So why don't you stand as we honor the Lord and as we read from his word here, uh Philippians 4, starting in verse 10, follow along.

It says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your concern for me.

You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Yet it was kind of you to share in my trouble, and you Philippians yourselves know that when that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only.

Even in Thessalonica you sent help for my needs once and again.

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

I have received full payment and more.

I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

And my God will support every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.

The brothers who are with me greet you.

All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

God, we do come before you now as we open your word.

Um Lord, we eagerly, uh, we're desperate, Lord, to hear a word from you.

God, by your spirit, would you um would you touch our weary souls, God?

Would you instruct our minds?

Would you uh turn our will, Lord, our our stubbornness, Lord, that just we want our way, we want to do things the way we want it done.

Lord, would we submit all of that?

Lord, would you soften us to just want your will your way all the time?

Lord, forgive us when our pride rules.

Lord, lead us to repentance early and often.

God, as we look to find our satisfaction in you, Lord, would you have mercy on us?

Lord, would you help us to do that, to not chase after other idols, Lord, other good things that become God things, Lord, would you do this in us?

Lord, we need you desperately.

We pray all of this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.

You can take a seat.

All right, I will be satisfied in the Lord.

That's what we're looking at here today.

And here's the first thing as you uh follow along in your notes, then.

I'll be satisfied in the Lord when I have the love of God's people behind me.

When I have the love of God's people behind me.

Take a look at verse 10 here as we start to work through this verse by verse.

And this is uh the Apostle Paul, he says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.

Okay, so Paul, what is he doing here?

Well, he's he's being thankful.

Right?

He's so he's so grateful to the Philippian church, the people, the individuals there, for how they have shown such great concern for him, as he has been uh locked away uh in a Roman prison.

And I mean, you can just tell how much their care for him uh meant to him.

And I mean, put yourself in his shoes for just a second.

Think about him in prison.

A lot of people believe that he was under house arrest.

Um, but he was um, and so some people might think, well, that's that's not so bad.

He's he's just living in a house and he's probably got like a Netflix password, and he's probably like just love and life, right?

Well, no, he wouldn't have been.

He didn't have all any freedoms.

He wouldn't have been able to do uh anything like that.

His needs would have been met just barely.

Uh, he would have been chained to a guard the entire time.

Uh so zero privacy, uh, a lot of fear.

He wouldn't have known what was gonna happen to him.

And am I gonna be convicted?

Am I gonna be killed here?

What's gonna happen to me?

A lot of a lot of stuff to think through, a lot to wrestle with for sure.

And uh and that's why he says here, uh, I rejoiced greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.

You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

Now, uh, we're not really sure why they had uh no opportunity at this point to uh to care for Paul.

Maybe it was just that they were busy uh doing their own thing, right?

They had a lot of other uh people to take care of uh in f uh in Philippi.

And so maybe uh they'd lost touch with Paul a little bit, um, because um we do know, and as far as the timeline works out here, is that it had been about 10 years since Paul had spent some time with them, since he had been with them uh in their church.

And uh and they had been uh big time supporters of his ministry, as uh as we just read.

We're gonna see more of that as uh we read on in this passage.

Uh but then you see in verse 18 there uh that the church had been able to uh send a guy named Apaphroditus, obviously some kind of a leader, somebody who was of high repute uh to him, and with him uh they sent um uh gifts, right, to minister to Paul, to take care of his needs.

Not sure what the gifts were, but some kind of a care package, and uh they were able to uh support him, and that was on uh their behalf.

Now I remember um about uh about eight years ago or so uh when Angie and I uh first moved, we were living uh in New York at the time, working at a camp down there, and uh we got hired, I got hired on at uh the harvest up in Barrie.

And I remember when we uh moved up there, uh we didn't know a soul.

We didn't know a single person, and we had our U-Haul uh truck, and uh we brought that up there and uh we met.

It was really cool.

We pulled up to this uh little basement apartment that we were renting, and there was a crew uh waiting there for us, people that we had never met before, and actually just remembered this week.

Ralph, remember you were one of the guys there to help us unload the first day uh I ever met Ralph.

He's been supporting me ever since.

Actually, in fact, he sent me a text just earlier this morning and said, Hey, Valley View, okay.

Remember I said that it was on Young Street, it's actually on Davis.

Right?

So there you go.

Ralph just helping me out, continuing uh his support that started eight years ago.

And so him and a bunch of students uh as well were there ready to just unload us, and they became a huge part uh of our uh of our ministry there.

And we had um even somebody, not even exactly sure who it was, completely stocked our fridge with food.

And it was just one less thing that we needed to worry about, and and bought us a bunch of cleaning supplies for our apartment, and just we were so well loved, uh so well supported.

They were just showing love to their new youth director, guy and his wife, who they didn't even know uh at that point.

And uh, you better believe that it meant the world to us.

Right, it really did.

Um, we had the love of God's people uh just supporting us.

Now, again, just imagine how a gift or a care package uh would have meant to Paul, right?

Being in prison, I think his needs were probably a little bit greater than Ang's and mine were uh eight years ago when we went to bury.

Um it uh it would have brought him such encouragement, right?

Such satisfaction knowing that that the Lord was answering his prayers, that the Lord was using this church uh to help him out.

Now, I mean many of us know this, we've experienced this before.

We know that that churches uh can develop problems, right?

And problems can get out of hand and things can get uh real ugly uh real fast.

Some of us have experienced that before, but hey, listen to this.

Listen, there's nothing like the church.

There's nothing like the church when the church is operating well.

There's nothing like it, nothing compares.

When people are loving each other and supporting each other and and taking care of each other's needs, that's the kind of church I want ours to be uh for sure.

And you know what?

We're well on our way.

We really are.

I mean, I've already heard so many stories from uh from certain individuals and uh and families who have been so blessed by uh people here uh in this congregation.

And I mean, Ange and I ourselves, we already have countless stories of people's support and people's kindness to us and to our kids and our family as uh as we serve here.

And I know that there have been uh small groups uh that have taken uh individuals and other families, and in some cases, other families that don't even go to our church, it's just somehow gotten this connection and blessed them uh just to show the love of Christ.

And I know there are even more stories that I haven't even heard about yet.

Uh and so keep that up.

I love that.

And when that happens to you, you're gonna find that you'll become deeply uh satisfied in Jesus Christ because you've got the love, you've got the support of God's people behind you.

You've got like this army cheering you on and taking care of you.

I think that's one of the reasons why small groups are so great.

All right, we love our small group ministry because it provides a place for you to have your needs met, right?

People know you, they know what's going on in your situation, and they can they can take care of you, and and of course it also gives you an outlet to love other people as well, right?

And that's one of the great things about small groups for sure.

Okay, but two things here before we move on.

Two things here.

Okay, if this is your church home, hey, if you've decided, yeah, you know what, harvest is the place for me, harvest is the place for my family.

I want you to think about this, and I want you to I want you to first of all keep an eye out for people in need.

Have an eye for that.

For some of you, this comes really naturally.

And I already talked to uh somebody this morning who was like, hey, what about this person?

Haven't seen them in a while, right?

Love that.

I just want to make sure people aren't falling uh between the cracks, right?

We need to, we need to watch out for them.

And I mean, some needs, some of the needs that people have are gonna be great.

We're gonna have uh examples that are that are basic uh that are extreme, right?

Paul's example was extreme.

He was in prison uh and he needed a lot of help.

And other needs are gonna be uh much smaller, maybe more uh manageable uh for sure.

Okay, but look for ways that you can be uh used by God to contribute to somebody else's satisfaction in him.

It's a powerful uh responsibility and uh and quite a joy.

The Lord wants to use you like that.

Do you realize that?

He wants to use you, and he'll work through you uh to meet someone else's needs.

They love that.

I think about Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Right?

The church was brand new, they were just kind of figuring some things out, and and they were gathering together in uh in homes.

They were also worshiping uh in the synagogue as well.

But Acts chapter 2 uh in verse 42 and 45, it says this.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

It says, And all who believed were together and they had all things in common.

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

Right?

Love that.

Just had a had an eye for people and wanted to make sure that people were taken care of and that uh that people weren't hurting.

Right?

Awesome to see the church uh do that.

Okay, so the first thing is keep an eye out for people in need.

Second thing here, let the church love you.

Okay, or allow the church to love you.

Okay, what I mean by that is uh is don't let your pride get in the way.

Right?

Like I don't need help, I can do this on my own.

Right?

I I I you know it'd be weakness to show need uh to people.

Okay, don't let that attitude stop you from receiving something the Lord's trying to give you.

He might be trying to uh satisfy you uh in himself.

He's trying to love you, he's trying to care for you, and he's gonna use God's people to do that.

Now you better believe it.

He wants you to find your satisfaction in him.

He's gonna use each other to do that.

I mean, there's just such a ton of uh of joy, there's a ton of satisfaction and fulfillment when I know that I've got the love of God's people behind me, supporting me, pushing me on, encouraging me, and all of that.

Okay, I'll be satisfied in the Lord's second thing here.

Uh when I see God's strength carry me through everything I face.

When you see God's strength carry you through everything you face, take a look at verse 11 now.

Verse 11 says, uh, not that I am speaking of being in need, for I've learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

To be content, there's that word there.

Now he's talking about being satisfied no matter what comes his way.

No matter what happens, uh I am content.

Keep going here.

He says, he says, I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

And so he's saying, hey, listen, I have learned as I have grown with the Lord, I have learned how to handle the tough times.

I've learned how to do that, all the tough times, without panicking and worrying and having all my contentedness, all of my satisfaction leak out of me like uh like a flat tire and go out the window and and being all down in the dumps and just wondering, well, hey, when is the Lord gonna bless me and when is he gonna be there?

Hey, listen, I I've learned how to be satisfied even when things uh aren't going so well.

He's learned to find contentment when he's got massive needs.

And then on top of that, on the flip side, the other end of the spectrum, he's saying, hey, I also know how to handle the good times as well.

Right?

I know how to handle that without without casting God aside, right?

You ever you ever receive something good from God and you're like, thanks, Lord, I'll take it from here.

And then you kind of get distracted and you become all kind of worked up in the good thing, you start treating the good thing as the main thing that you need, and maybe the Lord takes a bit of a back seat.

He's like, No, I've learned that too.

I've learned that the good things are great, I'm gonna see them as blessing, but ultimately I need the Lord above all else.

He's like, I've gotten to the place where I know how to handle kind of whatever comes my way.

He's learned to be satisfied, whether he's got plenty or he's got nothing.

And then he says, This in any and every circumstance, I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

You might be, well, hey, what's the secret?

Well, I want you to let us in on that, Paul.

I want the secret.

What is it?

Well, he says it right here.

He says, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

That's a secret.

I mean classic verse, right?

So, so good.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Now, hey, something I have to point out here before we move on is that verse, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Uh, this is one of those, again, kind of classic verses that Christians and churches seem to love to rip out of context.

You ever notice that?

Right?

We we do we do that.

I remember once in uh in a Christian school that I was in, um, I saw a poster hanging and it was like a kid rock climbing.

He had like, he was going for it.

And uh at the bottom of that it was, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Right?

Do you think that's what that verse uh is trying to say there?

Um I don't think so.

But I think sometimes we have um kind of this, we use this verse as a way of trying to get the Lord to bless any kind of crazy idea uh that we have.

I can do whatever I want.

The Lord's gonna bless me, I can do it through his strength.

Right?

I I can climb Everest, or you know, I can I can start this business against all sound judgment, or I'm I'm gonna pursue and marry this girl, even though everyone else is saying she's troubled, get out, walk the other way.

Right?

I can do it all because God's gonna give me the strength.

He's gonna bless my stupidity, right?

He's right, and that's how we treat it sometimes.

We do.

See what I'm saying?

We have to understand here, and this is really important, that word all in the text, take a look at that.

All things, um it's limited by the context.

I actually have that written down in the margin of my Bible right here.

Um I and I would encourage you to do that.

Circle that word all and just write, limited by context.

It's limited.

When it says all, it doesn't mean every single thing you could ever think of doing.

Um, the Lord will uh will bless that.

Okay, when he says all, all things, he's actually referring to uh what he's just been talking about.

Right?

He's referring, there's a certain context, and that's what we have to look at when we're trying to understand what this verse means.

And what he's saying is that he can handle all the circumstances that God leads him through.

He can do all of that through the strength that Christ provides.

And so we as a church, we need to be really careful that we don't, that we don't isolate those little verses and rip them out of the context that actually sheds meaning on what the verse is all about.

You know, I remember my first year of Bible college, uh, we had a we had a professor there that would always be like, context, context, context.

And I'll never forget that.

You've actually heard Pastor Paul say the exact same thing because it's so, so important that we understand what is God trying to say to us.

And we don't want to take these verses and make them mean uh whatever we want them to.

Okay, so again, what's Paul getting at when he says this?

Well, he's saying that he's at the point in his walk now, as he's been serving the Lord, he's had so many different experiences, he's had so many ups, so many downs.

He's seen the Lord come through again and again and again, and he knows that no matter what, the Lord's gonna be there, and I can handle all of it.

And I'm not worried about the future.

Whatever happens, happens, and I know that God is gonna be there for me.

He's had as he's had seasons where all of his needs are met.

He's had seasons where he's had like crazy near-death experiences, and I don't know if I'm gonna last to tomorrow and all of that.

But hey, God is there.

Those situations aren't gonna make me doubt, they're not gonna make me fear the good times, they're not gonna make me spiritually aloof and cast the Lord off to the side and uh and all of that kind of thing.

Whether I have rough patches or whether it's smooth sailing.

Okay, God's strength is gonna carry me through all of it.

And that's what we need to understand, that's what we need to uh remember here as we grow in the Lord.

So can you and I say that though?

Can you and I echo Paul's thoughts?

I don't just mean say the words.

Anyone can say words.

Do you feel that?

Do you believe that?

What Paul says?

Do we have a deeply rooted satisfaction in our God?

Do we?

Because at the end of the day, we know.

Not like, hey, well, maybe it'll happen, or I hope that it happens, or I'm not too sure if it's gonna happen.

No, we know.

Okay, zero doubts, full confidence that God Himself will give us the strength that we need.

Do you believe that?

Listen, we all need to get to the place where we are so deeply satisfied in the Lord that we're not mangled and sent into the ditch, into a spiritual tailspin by our difficult circumstances.

And then again, on the flip side, that we're so satisfied in Christ that when he does give us blessings and those kinds of things, we're not tempted to elevate those blessings and those provisions over the Lord Himself.

Okay, whether good or whether bad, I'm content.

And everything is from him, and I can trust him.

I know what he's doing.

I know that if he's putting me through something difficult right now, he's doing it for my good.

He's doing it for my growth, he's doing it so that I can learn to trust him more.

If he's given me good stuff, I'm gonna receive that as a blessing.

I'm going to receive that as a gift.

I'm going to enjoy it.

I'm going to praise him for it.

And I want to encourage you.

I love how Paul puts this.

He says that he's learned the secret of facing plenty and facing hunger.

It's something that is learned.

Okay?

Being content, being satisfied in Jesus Christ.

It's not something you're just going to get.

It doesn't happen the moment that you get saved.

It's all part of sanctification.

It's all part of this growth that we have in him.

It's all part of our this movement towards maturity.

As we learn to become more satisfied in him.

So keep plugging away at your walk with him.

Keep plugging.

Don't give up.

Don't get discouraged in all of that.

He's working, he's there.

You may not feel it, you may not have seen it for a while, but he's there.

He's trying to teach you some things.

Keep clinging to him, keep praying hard, keep reading scripture, keep talking to people, get people to pray for you.

Keep pressing into him.

And over time you'll learn, as Paul did, about contentedness, about how awesome God's strength is in your life.

Okay, third thing here.

I'll be satisfied in the Lord when I long to see others blessed and the Lord worshiped.

You'll find satisfaction in that for sure.

I mean, don't you just love, don't you just love to see the Lord at work in other people's lives?

Right?

I love that.

Like people clapped when we talked about baptism just a few minutes ago.

Right?

It's because, yes, I love to hear testimonies.

I love to see what God is doing in people's hearts and people's lives.

We love that kind of thing.

It's one of the greatest things about being a pastor.

I get a front row seat to that.

I get to watch out over you when I get to deliver a message.

And some of you are like tracking along with that.

Yeah, you see, and I pray with people after the service, and some people come forward week after week to get prayer, and you see the light bulb turn on, and you see growth happen, and you see their encouragement rise up, and you see maturity start to take root.

You see that here.

It's a powerful thing.

But hey, it's not something that I just get to enjoy.

It's for the whole church to enjoy.

And that's a big part of community.

We all get to see it happen.

Just take a look at verse 14 here.

Verse 14 says, Yet I was, yet it was kind of you to share in my trouble.

And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnerships with me in giving and receiving, except you only.

Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again.

And so here he's just telling the story about how they've taken such great care of them.

And then he says, This, verse 17.

He says, Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

To your credit.

Man, I love that mindset that Paul has there.

He's not just looking for handouts from these people.

Like, come on, give me, give me, give me.

I just want stuff.

Right?

Back up the truck, pour out the blessings on me.

That's what I want.

No, that's not what he's, that's not what he's looking for here.

What he's really all about is that when they care for him and provide for his needs, it allows him to serve Christ more effectively.

And then in turn, what happens?

It ends up bearing fruit that blesses these people back.

That's his heart.

That's what he loves.

He's like, I love your gifts because it allows me to be strengthened so that I can just serve you better, right?

So that I can equip you and the Lord can use me in your life.

And that is his heart.

He loves to see them blessed.

He loves it.

And man, I so appreciate the selflessness of Paul here as he writes to this church.

He seeks their blessing more than he seeks his own.

I mean, the guy's in prison, and he's thinking about them.

That's incredible.

He's like, man, I love helping you guys.

I love seeing the Lord at work in your life.

I think it's awesome.

But you can tell it just brings him such satisfaction, uh contentedness.

That's what he loves.

And hey, I think I think it really says a lot about us when we see the Lord at work in other people's lives and we don't like it.

Doesn't that reveal something pretty ugly about our hearts?

Right?

And I'm sure we all struggle with that on some degree.

Right?

Our hearts are wort from sin, and there are times that we can get jealous.

We see God doing things and he's blessing them, and why isn't He doing that in me?

And why is their situation working out so well and mine isn't?

And maybe even some of us get angry about that and we and we get bitter and we don't like the fact that the Lord is working in them.

I think it reveals a kind of a lack of humility and an ultimate lack of satisfaction in the Lord.

And if you find yourself in that place, I would just say admit it.

Right?

Admit it.

Don't try and pretend that it's not really there.

Don't bury it down deep.

Face it head on.

Bring it to the Lord.

Say, Lord, I don't like this ugly part of me.

Lord, would you forgive me?

That's what repentance is.

It's turning away from that attitude, turning away from that mindset and that mentality.

Continuing to come in, Lord, would you change me?

Soften my heart in this.

Don't let any of that kind of thing, don't let any of that thing hold you back from all that God wants to do in your life and in the church.

Okay, keep going here.

Verse 18.

Verse 18 says, I have I have received full payment and more.

I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gift that you sent.

And then he says this he says, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.

To God our Father, I love it.

Be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

And what this really shows us here is that Paul longed to see the Lord worshipped.

That's what he loved.

It says that their gifts to him pleased the Lord.

Right?

It pleased him.

It was worshipful to God.

And he wants God to get the glory forever and ever, it says, right?

He wants that.

Listen, we'll never get the satisfaction that we long for, that we crave, until we get our eyes focused outwards.

Not focused in on ourselves and our wants and our needs and all the things that we lack and all of that.

We'll find satisfaction when we get our eyes outwards on what the Lord is doing in other people's lives, away from the, you know, the my wants, the my needs need to be taken care of, the me, me, me, that whole thing.

And onto the Lord and onto his people.

That's what it's about.

You know, again, getting to that place, it's a process, right?

It's something is learned.

And it's constantly humbling ourselves and realizing day by day that hey, I need the Lord to do this.

I need him to humble me.

I need him to change me.

It's constant repentance, it's it's constant prayer, it's constant coming into contact face to face with the Lord with God's word and praying over and over again that he would change us.

Last thing.

He gives me more than I deserve.

Verse 21, take a look at this.

He says, This, greet every saint in Christ Jesus.

The brothers who are with me greet you.

All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household, which shows us that he was writing it from Rome.

Right?

And then he says, Um, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Okay, that word grace there is the word I want you to really focus on here.

Okay, write this down.

Okay, here's a definition for grace, one that I've found helpful.

Okay, grace is uh grace is getting a good thing that you don't deserve.

Okay, that's grace.

Getting a good thing that you don't deserve.

Okay, grace is different from God's mercy.

Sometimes we have this kind of twisted up or backwards.

We're not sure what the difference is between the two.

Um, this is God's mercy, though, and here's another definition for you.

Uh, mercy is not getting something that you do deserve.

Not getting something that you do deserve.

Okay, so God's mercy to us is that because of our sin, we deserve punishment, right?

We deserve death, we deserve hell for eternity.

Okay, but in his mercy, he chooses not to give us that punishment.

Right?

He chooses us not to give us that bad thing that we actually do deserve.

Okay, mercy's awesome.

Okay, but so is grace, and that's what this is talking about here.

Grace is when God gives us good things that we in no way deserve.

I think of 1 John 1, verse 9.

1 John 1:9

It says that if we confess our sins, and so many of you know this verse, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cure and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Okay, God's grace in this instance is that he forgives and purifies us.

We don't deserve that.

We don't.

Okay, all of those things are completely undeserved, completely unmerited.

We don't earn them.

Nothing that we can do can earn forgiveness, earn purification.

God gives them to us by his grace as a gift.

Okay, that's another word for grace.

Another word for it.

They're gifts.

Now, some of us here today, um, you need to receive that gift.

You need to receive that gift of salvation.

And uh I'm not sure where you're at, but uh maybe you would admit that, you know, you know, I don't know Jesus.

And I'm, you know, maybe just kind of figuring this out, or maybe you sense that the Lord has pushing, uh, been pressing on your heart, that you need to receive the gift of salvation.

Do you realize that?

Do you realize that God wants to invite you into a relationship with himself?

That he wants to give you salvation, he wants to forgive your sin.

And in fact, that's the entire reason he went to the cross.

Because do you realize that you, you are the one that deserved to be hanging there?

You're the one that deserved to be punished for what you've done.

Because all of our sin, mine, yours, everybody in the entire world, all of our sin is against our Creator, against our God who made us to know him.

It's all against him.

And he could have just flicked us off the face of the earth.

He could have said, Be done with you.

And he didn't because he loves us.

He says, I want to fix the problem for them.

And I want to make salvation available as a gift that they cannot earn.

My son already earned it through what he did on the cross when he died.

And there's somebody here, I just know it, there's somebody here that needs to receive that gift here today.

And here's what you need to know: to receive that gift, all you need to do is admit that you're a sinner.

Right?

That's it.

And then understand that what Jesus did on the cross was enough to secure your salvation.

Your morality doesn't cut it.

None of the good things you do cut it.

What Jesus did cuts it.

And you can receive that by admitting your sinfulness and asking him to be your savior.

It is really that simple.

It is.

You don't have to jump through a million hoops, you don't have to do a bunch of Hail Mary's or have flawless church attendance or hold doors open for ladies, right?

You don't have to do those things.

Those things could never pay back God for the wrong that we have done.

So I would encourage you, I would plead with you, I would implore you, receive the gift of salvation today.

You just receive it, just open your heart to receive that.

Ask for it, he will give it to you.

He promises that he will.

And remember, I already read 1 John 1 9.

If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness.

He is faithful.

He is faithful to do it.

It's not, it's not an empty promise.

It's gonna happen.

And he is just to do it.

In other words, it is good for him to do it because he's already paid for your sin through Christ.

He's already paid for it.

He is just and he is good.

Listen, if you've got questions about that here today, if you're not sure how to proceed, if something's still unclear to you, or you're still wrestling with something about that, please come talk to me.

Come talk, talk to the person who you came with.

They would love to walk you through.

What does the scripture say about that?

What is the Bible saying?

The Lord wants to bring you in as part of the family, start to change you, uh, start to make you new, transform your life.

Now, Paul, he he closes his letter to the Philippian church here, this church that he uh loves dearly by reminding them and encouraging them with the awesome truth that God's grace, his unmerited favor uh will continue to be with them always.

He's like, it's not gonna be there sometimes, it's it's not gonna just be there five days a week and then take the weekend off.

No, it's with you always.

Always.

Now, if we were to let that like marinate, I mean to really uh soak in there, uh you would realize that there is unlimited satisfaction in that.

Unlimited.

No matter what you encounter, no matter what you come up against, as you head out of here after the service, no matter what the future brings you, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ will be with you.

It will be with your spirit, the verse says.

Awesome.

He will continue to draw near to you, he will continue to bless you, he will continue to provide for you when you have needs.

He will continue to give you way more than you deserve.

We deserve none of it.

And yet he gives us beyond all of that.

I want to encourage you, church, let that sink in.

Let that soak into your hearts that you have more than you deserve.

Next time you're tempted to complain or be frustrated, remind yourself of God's grace.

Remind yourself of what he has done for you through the gospel.

Remind yourself of our awesome God who continues to give, continues to pour himself out.

He gave you his life, and he will give you so much more.

Let that cause your uh your weary soul, your your stressed out mind, your restless heart to rest.

Allow that to happen.

Secure, satisfied in him.

Okay, we're gonna pray right now.

And uh then we're gonna respond uh to the Lord in worship.

You ready to do that?

You ready to respond with some passion, with some heartfelt joy?

As you focus your hearts, you focus your minds on him, on what he has done, on who he is, how he is transforming you, how he is changing you, how he's blessed you this morning alone.

And you will continue to do it.

Let's respond in worship, folks.

Let's do that.

Let's pray.

God, you are so, so good.

Lord, you are infinitely good.

God, forgive us for the times that we think that, you know, we don't have enough.

And Lord, when are you just gonna help us out?

When are you gonna answer our prayers?

When are you gonna give us just one thing, God?

Lord, forgive us for our pride and our lack of understanding.

Lord, forgive us for, Lord, doubting.

Forgive us for our anxiety about all that.

Lord, would you help us to learn, as Paul says, learn to be people who are deeply contented.

Lord, satisfied by the riches of your glory and goodness.

Lord, would you continue to challenge us and strengthen us and teach us?

Lord, you continue to magnify yourself in us.

Lord, we love you.

Lord, I pray that as we worship, we would worship from hearts that are excited about this, excited about you, who you are, and what you continue to do.

We pray all this in Christ's name.

Amen.