The Secret of Satisfaction | Part 2

What is the secret of satisfaction?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. To love worth finding, as we just heard from Adrian Rogers, the secret of satisfaction is rejecting any trace of covetousness from our lives. Covetousness is a very deceptive and debasing problem. Not many acknowledge that they struggle with this sin.

It also lacks proper perspective. A covetous person is a person who has not put his eyes on the Lord, for contentment is found in Jesus Christ alone. How can we live with satisfaction? If you have your Bible, turn to Exodus chapter 20 and look at verse 17, as Adrian Rogers presents part two of the secret of satisfaction. Now the Bible says, don't covet.

Now what does that mean? To covet means to have an unlawful desire, an unlawful desire for that which is not rightfully yours. And covetousness is not limited to money.

It could be with influence, with fame, popularity, power, appearance. Thou shall not covet your neighbor's salary. Don't covet his education. Don't covet his advantages. Don't covet his good looks, his automobile, her dishwasher.

Just don't covet what belongs to your neighbor. Now it's not a command against lawful desire. When God saves you, he doesn't neuter you. He doesn't make you a person without passion. It's not wrong to have ambition, godly ambition. It's not wrong to desire things.

It's the Lord thy God that giveth thee power to get wealth and every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above, from the Father of lights in whom there's no variableness nor shadow of turning. And God knows that you want to love and be loved. You have a God-given desire for friendship and a home and happiness and joy and success and victory and peace. These things are not wrong. It is the unlawful desire that we're going to be talking about.

The Bible calls that covetousness. And this command is the last command in this chain of ten links. And why is it the last one? Because it sums up all of the others. You see, all of the others deal with action, but this one deals with attitude.

All of the others deal with deeds, but this one deals with desire. Three things I want you to notice today as we look at the secret of satisfaction. First of all, I want you to see the perplexing problem of covetousness and what a problem it is.

And you know why it's such a big problem, folks? I'll tell you, first of all, it's such a deceitful thing. Very few people realize that they're covetous. You see, this covetousness, it's so deceptive, it is so depraving, and it is so destructive.

It'll destroy you. Why do people steal? Covetousness.

Why do people lie? Covetousness. Why do people commit adultery? They covet somebody else's wife. They covet. All of the commandments are broken when we have that spirit of covetousness. Don't think this is a small sin. As I say, this is the mother of all the rest of them. This is the root of all of the rest of them. Now, there is what we call a perplexing problem.

It is there. But now, let's talk not about the problem, but a proper perspective. How do we deal with this? Well, we've got to back off.

We've got to back off. We've got to get another perspective on this whole thing. We need to understand who we are and what we have. Let me give you a great, great verse on covetousness. It's found in the book of Hebrews, chapter 13, verses 5 and 6, and it really is dealing with the secret of satisfaction and the answer to covetousness.

Listen to it. Let your conversation... and by the way, the word conversation means lifestyle here. Let your lifestyle be without covetousness. Now, that's just a restatement of the tenth commandment. Let your lifestyle be without covetousness. Now, here's the next thing. And be content with such things as you have.

For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. You will always be covetous until you learn contentment, because all of us need satisfaction. And covetousness is just trying to find satisfaction in the wrong place. So let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have.

Well, now, that's a very interesting thing. What do we have? What do we have that ought to content us? Ernest Hemingway, brilliant writer. And I've been entertained by Ernest Hemingway. But he died a suicide. Let me tell you what Ernest Hemingway said. Now, you would say this man, he had it. I mean, he's brilliant.

He's witty, praised, adored, lionized. But he died by his own hand. And here's what he wrote. Life is just a dirty trick, a short journey from nothingness to nothingness.

There's no remedy for anything in life. Man's destiny in the universe is like a colony of ants on a burning log. Kill himself. He said, it'll make sense.

It's a joke and a bad joke. Now, you think about the man who doesn't know God. And he gets all of these things, and there's still a hole in his soul. And he says they don't satisfy. I'm getting older.

I'm getting sicker. All I can look forward to is a hole in the ground to rot and decay. There's no answer. There's no meaning from nothing to nothing. It's a shame he didn't know Jesus, isn't it? It's a shame he had not found satisfaction and joy and meaning in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He didn't have a perspective that we have. Now listen, what does this say? Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. Well, what do you have?

Think about it. If you're a child of God, twice born, blood bought, in the family of God, what do you have? I'll tell you what you have. First of all, you've got God Himself. I mean, you have Him, and He has you. Psalm 73, verses 25 through 26, whom have I in heaven but thee? And there's none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart. You've got Him. You've got Him.

What else do you have? Well, you've got family. Whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good thing. You've got children. Low children are a heritage of the Lord, Psalm 127 and verse 3. If you have children, count your blessings. You say those pesky little ankle biters, yeah. Those little rugrats, yeah.

Those little curtain climbers, yeah. Thank God for them. You know that people today don't want to have children because they want things. They say, well, you know, children, children, they make a rich man poor.

You've got it backward, mister. They make a poor man rich. A rich man can take his riches to heaven. I'm taking my children to heaven. Thank God for the children.

And they're the heritage of the Lord. If you've got children, you're blessed. You say, well, I don't have any children. Well, if you can't have some, let me suggest that you do. If you can't have any, may God bless you.

Maybe you can adopt some. You know J. Paul Getty? Have you ever heard the name J. Paul Getty? Well, the richest man that ever lived, he had an estate that exceeded $4 billion. He wrote his autobiography.

And it was quoted in the Los Angeles Times in 1981. And this is what he said, talking about covetousness. I've never been given to envy except for the envy I feel toward those people who have the ability to make a marriage work and endure happily.

It is an art that I've never been able to master. My record, five marriages, five divorces. In short, five failures.

Billions of dollars. But then have a happy home. If you've got a happy home, you're rich. You're rich.

You're blessed. If you have friends, you're blessed. Proverbs 17, verse 17, a friend loveth at all times. If you have friends, you are a rich person. If you have wisdom, how rich you are. Proverbs 3, verses 13 and 14, happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold. And I'm going to tell you something, and God is my witness, I would not trade my knowledge of this book for all of the money, the rubies, the diamonds, the gold and silver that this world has put together. You think I'm lying? There's a God in heaven that hears me right now.

I know what I'm saying is true. Friend, the truth of God's Word. There are millions who sit in darkness who would leap for joy to know what you know, to have wisdom. It's better than silver. It's better than gold. Satisfaction.

Do you have that? Can you say I've learned in whatsoever state I am there with to be content? Can you say that with the apostle Paul? Can you say not only is Jesus necessary, He's enough?

I'm satisfied. Friends all around me are trying to find what the heart yearns for by sin undermined. I have the secret.

I know where it is found. Only true pleasures in Jesus abound. Jesus is all this world needs today. Blindly they strive for sin darkens their way.

Oh, to pull back the grim curtains of night. One look at Jesus and all would be light. I am satisfied with Jesus.

I am. I'm not satisfied with my Christian life. But there is the peace that passes understanding in the Lord Jesus Christ. I was witnessing to a man. He was standing in front of his house.

I couldn't get very far with him. He was very seemingly satisfied. He said, Mister, I've got a good income.

He said, I don't owe anybody anything. He said, You see that house? I own that house. It's paid for. Do you see that car? I own it. It's paid for. My wife is in that house.

She loves me. He didn't say it, but he reminded me of that man in the book of Revelation who said, I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, that church. I said, Sir, all right, I want to ask you a question. Will you be honest with me? He said, Sure.

No. I said, No, no, no. Don't just say, don't say it lightly. He said, Come up close. I want to ask you, will you be absolutely honest with me?

I knew I had him because he was a man who prided himself in his honesty. He said, Yes, I will. I said, All right, I'm going to ask you a question, and don't you tell me anything but the truth. Do you have peace in your heart? He said, I told you, I said, No, I'm not talking about all that. I said, You said you would answer the question, Do you have peace in your heart? His chin started to quiver, his eyes brimmed with tears. He said, No, I don't have peace in my heart.

How did you know? I said, Because the Bible says there is no peace, saith my God to the wicked. And these things cannot fill the longing of your heart. You need Jesus. And, friend, if you have Jesus, you have the peace of God that passeth understanding.

And if you have that, you are a rich person. Have you ever heard the name John Muir? If you go to San Francisco sometime and you go near there, you can visit Muir Woods. He was a naturalist, and these big redwoods and so forth are there as a tribute to his instincts to help preserve these beautiful trees.

Muir Woods. John Muir one time was speaking to a railroad executive, a magnate, a man who had acquired millions and millions of dollars. And Muir said to this man, and John Muir, by the way, lived a very simple life, Muir said to this man, Mr. Harriman, I am richer than you are. Harriman said to Muir, he said, Well, how is that? He says, Because you have millions, but you are not contented.

And he said, And I have enough. Think about it. You see, to whom little is not enough, nothing is enough. And so what you have to do, look, get a perspective. Understand who you are.

Let your conversation be without covetousness. For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Now, let me go from a problem to a perspective to a practice and give you very quickly about three or four things that will help you to teach your children how to keep this commandment.

Things that you need to display in your home if you would have a home that wins. Number one, give your heart to God. Find your satisfaction in the Lord. Let him meet the deepest needs of your heart and turn your eyes upon him. You see, God engineered you so that this world will not satisfy you.

You were made for God and it's in him that we live and move and have our being. You'll never deal with covetousness unless you give all you know of you to all you know of him. Let go of this world with both hands and take hold of him with both hands.

Now, here's the second thing. Develop in your children and demonstrate it by your life a spirit of gratefulness and thankfulness. Be thankful and thank God for what you have. Take this list of things that I've just mentioned. Add to them. Keep a family scrapbook of blessings and let your children know how blessed you are. Think often, talk often of your blessings. Teenage girls with a closet full of clothes will say, I can't find anything to wear.

Kids with a computer and a bicycle and a baseball glove and the latest toys say, I'm bored. Women with a hairdresser, the perfume, the jewelry, I just don't feel good about myself. We have failed to be grateful.

We've failed to see what God has given us. Thirdly, learn to love. If you're a covetous person, you don't love. You might love things, but you don't love people. Nobody can be a covetous person who loves people. When you covet what somebody else has, that means you don't really love them. If you love them, you would rejoice in what they have. I make it a practice when I go into a fine home or see somebody that has nice things, whatever it may be, in that home, they don't know I do it, but I make it a practice to bow my head and thank God for His blessings on those people.

I've just visited my children and they've been doing some remodeling and some decorating and Janice took me around and said, Papa, look at this and look at this. My heart's just so singing with joy. I didn't say, well, I'm jealous because what they have is nice and pretty, or I wanted it.

I didn't want it. I rejoice because I love them so much. Every person who loves another person rejoices in what that person has. Celebrate God's grace and celebrate God's goodness to somebody else.

Teach your children that somebody else's blessing is not your loss. Do you know the problem that many of us have? It is not wanting more. It is wanting more than somebody else. We have a fine home and we're so grateful for our home until we go see somebody else's. We have a fine car and we're so grateful for it until we see somebody else's. We have a good job and we're so grateful for it until we see somebody else's.

And we want more than they. Just love them. Thank God that He has blessed them if He has. Learn to love. Learn to love. Next, understand who you are in the Lord Jesus. Teach your children who they are, that they're saints, that they're the righteousness of God in Christ. Teach them to understand to get their identity not from Madison Avenue, but from the Word of God and to celebrate their distinctiveness and to celebrate their differences.

And last of all, and I don't know of anything that will kill covetousness, deader and quicker than this, learn to give. A pastor friend was talking to a U.S. Congressman. And this Congressman said, Pastor, I'm going to tell you what God taught me about giving. He said, I took my son to McDonald's. My son wanted a large package of french fries. And he said, I bought him a large pack of fries.

We're having father and son fellowship. So he went to sit down at the table and he said, I just thought I would have two of them. So he said, I reached over and started to get a couple. And that boy put his hand on my hand and said, those are mine. He said, that just went right through me. And then he said, in a moment, in less time than it takes to tell it, God had spoken to my heart.

And God had given me one of the greatest lessons about stewardship I've ever learned. He said, I thought three things about my son. Number one, he evidently forgotten where those french fries came from.

I'm the one that bought them. He doesn't understand I have the power to take them all from him. Or if I wanted to, I could buy 20 more big fries and bury him in french fries if I wanted to. And he said, thirdly, if I wanted more fries for myself, I've got the money to go up and buy them and sit at another table and eat them all by myself if I wanted to. My son has an attitude problem.

It's a bad one. And God said to me, and that's exactly the attitude you have sometimes, sir. You need to remember where these blessings have come from. I'm the one who gave you these things. And you need to understand, secondly, that I have the power to take them from you or to give you more. And you need to understand, thirdly, I don't need your french fries. I don't have to have what you have. I can have my own. For Him, God doesn't need us.

We need Him, don't we? And how sweet it is to have fellowship with Him when we say, Lord, of your own have we given unto you. And nothing will dynamite the covetousness out of our hearts than learning to give to God and to give to others.

Teach your children to give and show them how, and you'll have a home that wins. Let's bow in prayer. Now, folks, I want to say again, the problem is not that we break the commandments.

That's only a symptom of the problem. The problem is our hearts. We need to be saved. We need to be born again.

And keeping the Ten Commandments won't get anybody to heaven. You have to be saved by receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And then He gives you the power to live as you ought to live. And I'm going to lead you in a little prayer right now. And in this prayer, you can invite Jesus Christ into your heart to be your Lord and Savior. Let me lead you in a prayer. You pray this way. Dear God, just pray out of your heart. Dear God, I know that you love me and I know that you want to save me.

And, friend, He does. Jesus, you died to save me and you promised to save me. If I would trust you, I do trust you, Lord Jesus.

Would you pray that prayer? I do trust you, Lord Jesus. I believe you're the Son of God. I believe that you paid my sin debt with your blood on the cross. I believe that God raised you from the dead.

I believe it. And now by faith, like a child, I receive you into my life as my Lord and Savior. I'm sorry for my sin.

I turn from my sin, forgive my sin, cleanse me, come into my life and begin now to make me the person you want me to be. Save me, Lord Jesus. Pray that from your heart. Save me, Lord Jesus. Pray it and mean it. Save me, Lord Jesus. Did you ask Him?

Ask Him from your heart. Save me, Lord Jesus. Then pray this way if you mean business. Thank you for saving me. I receive it by faith like a child and that settles it. I don't look for a sign.

I don't ask for a feeling. I stand on your Word. You promised. You're now my Lord, my Savior, my God, and my friend. And begin now to make me the person you want me to be.

Begin now to make me the person you want me to be. And help me, Jesus, never, ever to be ashamed of you because you died for me. In your name I pray.

Amen. If you prayed to receive Jesus Christ today, we'd love to celebrate with you and invite you to our Discover Jesus page at the website. There you'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith.

There's a response section. You can see a video from Adrian Rogers and you can share your testimony. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus at the top of the page. Welcome to God's forever family.

Let us hear from you today. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, request one by the title, The Secret of Satisfaction when you call 1-877-LOVEGOD. This message is also part of the powerful series of Perfect Ten for homes that win. For the complete collection, all 10 insightful messages, you can call that number to order 1-877-LOVEGOD or go online to lwf.org slash radio. Or you can write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. We're so glad you were able to study with us in God's Word today.

If you want to live a life of satisfaction, remember to trust in the Lord, develop a habit of thankfulness, learn to love other people and learn to give. And we hope you'll tune in next time for more timeless truth right here on Love Worth Finding. A listener reached out to us not long ago and gave this encouragement.

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