Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked. That's Psalm 37 16, one of the verses from today's text. It reminds us that earthly abundance, wealth, fame, power, will all come up short. After all, how could our souls ever be fully satisfied with anything other than the Maker for which they were made? We're continuing our Living by Faith series, focusing today on the satisfaction that comes from a confidence and surrender to the Savior.
Let's listen in. This is part three of a message first preached on March 3rd, 2019 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Now, this is our fountain of satisfaction that we are in Christ, that He is my portion.
And you say, Rich, that's fine, but what does that mean for me now? Because all of this sounds kind of future for us. This is what God has for us in the future.
That's wonderful. What does that mean for me now? Well, David speaks to that because he knew you would ask that question. What is the relevance today of these truths? The relevance comes to us in verse 19. Two points here. First of all, significance.
Significance. They are not put to shame in evil times. I think you would agree with me that if we were to describe, if we were to characterize the short, temporary, broken life under the sun, it could be categorized as evil times. That's why whenever I follow a car that has a bumper sticker that says, Life is good. I don't believe them.
It might be good. They might think it's good because they have a shiny new jeep, but that doesn't make life good because it's fleeting. Life is hard. Life is broken. Life is broken. And it does us no good to deny the brokenness and the evilness of this life.
Life is broken. And yet here we are. But God is good. And so they are not put to shame in evil times. And that word shame means to experience the stress of disapproval.
That's what shame is. Experiencing the stress of disapproval. And God says of the righteous, they are not put to shame in evil times. In this evil time, this temporal broken existence under the sun, we who are his are not having to endure the stress of disapproval. You say, Rich, there's a lot of people who disapprove of me. Does it count? Whose opinion are you living for?
The one whose opinion counts, he approves of you if you are in Christ. That should mean something. That should bring great satisfaction to us because it means just simply this, that you as a person, you are not valued by the measurable things of this life. You are not valued. The criteria of your value and worth is not in the same stuff that the world looks to.
You know, as they march down that fancy red carpet and I'm not knocking entertainment, although I think it probably has a little too much of a rule in our lives. But what do they value? They value beauty. They value wealth. They value possession.
They value talent. And these are good gifts from God, but they are not at the foundation of our lives because these things do not determine the worth and the value of the individual. And when we allow them to determine the value and the worth of the individual to shame, we will be disappointed. We will be found wanting. But for the one who is in Christ, the one who is righteous, it says they are not put to shame in evil times. They do not experience the stress of disapproval because they're not valued by measurable things. Historically, how has this played out? Historically, we have some tremendous track records and legacies in history of Christians through history that have put themselves at risk to rescue others when all others are scrambling for safety, when plagues have broken out, those who have gone to foreign mission fields, those who have established hospitals and educational institutions. And we have an example of it, even in our own number with Placido and Tony Mercado, the risks that they have had to endure to minister to the people.
Why would they do something like that? Because their satisfaction is in Christ. They are not valued by measurable things. So significance, the things that are important to God. Things are not the foundation of life, including your own body, but they are tools entrusted in service for the master. And that's how we ought to see it.
They are not at the foundation. They are simply tools. And then secondly, look what he says in verse 19. They are not put to shame in evil times. In the days of famine, they have abundance.
What is that? That is satisfaction. In the days of famine, they have abundance. That word abundance means satisfaction.
It means to satisfy oneself, to eat, drink to one's fill. In the days of famine, why? Because their sustenance, their source is a different source. The foundation of their life is not in the things, the stuff of life. Their foundation is in God.
Now, compare that. This is in the days of famine, they have abundance. Compare that to the abundance of the many wicked, the noise, the turmoil, the hordes, the crowds, the noise that happens in people's minds because we have to acquire these things, and then we have to protect them, and then we have to meet all the expectations of people who heap these expectations on us because we have stuff.
It's quiet desperation. Our lives are not measured by that. That is not an accurate foundation to one's life. It is the noise and turmoil of hordes and hordes of those who counter God. And that's why I said, go back to the opening statement, the foundation of your life becomes the fountain of your satisfaction.
At the conclusion of the last Sunday Night Seminar series that we did, The God Who Speaks, Ligon Duncan said this, take all that I have away, but if I have God, I have everything. That could be a really nice Christian platitude, couldn't it? That could really go well on a coffee cup, couldn't it?
It could really go well on the bumper of your car, couldn't it? But I have a question for you, the same question that Jesus asked Martha before he raised Lazarus from the dead. Do you believe this? Whether you believe it or not doesn't make it true.
It is true, but do you believe it? What is the foundation of your life? So having asked that question, I want to leave you this morning in conclusion with asking yet another question as a conclusion. It's a two-part question. First of all, are you endangered? What do I mean by that?
Are you endangered? Jesus said, what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world yet lose his own soul? What is the foundation of your life? Are you trusting in created things? They will fail. They will let you down. If God is not the foundation of your life, then life for you will end up as a heap of ashes in the consuming fire of a holy God.
It will be a wasted life of fleeting meaninglessness. Now that is for those who are countering God, for those who have not trusted God, those who don't know Jesus Christ. But Christians, put your seat belts on now, okay? I have something for you in this. Are you endangered?
When I studied this, I had to put my steel-toed shoes on. Even they can be dangerous. Comfort endangers our spiritual lives.
It's a truth. Tim Bascom writes in The Comfort Trap, spiritual dangers in the convenience culture. Here is what he writes.
We are too comfortable to be spiritual. Here is how the expression works. Here is how he explains that.
We think we will be able to pursue God better without danger or hardship. And yet, it works in just the opposite way. Listen to this, okay?
Listen to this. Nothing is more difficult than to grow spiritually when comfortable. It's a challenging statement, isn't it? That's why the believer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, his reaction to exile to the Soviet labor camp was to bless it.
Because it was there that he discovered that, and I quote, the meaning of earthly existence lies not as we have grown used to thinking in prospering, but in the development of the soul. The meaning for your existence under the sun in this broken evil world is not so that you can arrive at a particular level of comfort, but it is for the development of the soul. Are you endangered? My last question is this, are you dangerous? You're either one or the other.
Either you are endangered or you're dangerous. What do we mean by that? Well, let me use the words of Jesus here. Mark chapter 8 verse 35, whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's sake will save it. Matthew puts it this way, whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. We're all about discovering ourselves, aren't we?
And yet, how easy it is for us to be looking in all the wrong places. What do I mean by this, are you dangerous? Either you're endangered, you're so comfortable you can't grow spiritually, or you're dangerous. Which means this, you are so satisfied in God that you are willing to risk to put yourself out there to impact another life, God word.
You want to grow? Here's where it is. Be dangerous for the gospel. Because I believe what John Piper said, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. That's living by faith. Because he is the foundation of my life, therefore he is the fountain of my satisfaction. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10am.
