1 00:00:00,903 --> 00:00:05,713 Where can contentment be found? 2 00:00:05,713 --> 00:00:08,945 And so often, Christians admire contentment 3 00:00:08,945 --> 00:00:10,325 and they long for it 4 00:00:10,325 --> 00:00:13,764 and they confess they're strangers to contentment. 5 00:00:13,764 --> 00:00:15,359 They make it so unattainable. 6 00:00:15,359 --> 00:00:18,434 "Oh, if only I had the second blessing 7 00:00:18,434 --> 00:00:20,416 how contented I would be." 8 00:00:20,416 --> 00:00:22,053 And they blame their upbringing 9 00:00:22,053 --> 00:00:23,673 and they blame their personality. 10 00:00:23,673 --> 00:00:25,594 They say, "My mother was discontented," 11 00:00:25,594 --> 00:00:27,045 "my grandmother was..." 12 00:00:27,045 --> 00:00:30,035 and I'm discontented too. 13 00:00:30,035 --> 00:00:35,024 Paul says he learned contentment. 14 00:00:35,024 --> 00:00:38,143 He learned it. He learned it. 15 00:00:38,143 --> 00:00:40,804 It didn't come to him on the Damascus road. 16 00:00:40,804 --> 00:00:45,062 One moment, driving, rabbinically furious, 17 00:00:45,062 --> 00:00:47,095 and then the Damascus road, 18 00:00:47,095 --> 00:00:52,225 and after that he was just laid back from then on. 19 00:00:52,225 --> 00:00:55,254 It wasn't like that. He learned it. 20 00:00:55,254 --> 00:00:57,566 He was in a meeting once - a prayer meeting - 21 00:00:57,566 --> 00:00:59,795 and an old Christian got up and he said, 22 00:00:59,795 --> 00:01:03,431 "Let's think of Psalm 23... 23 00:01:03,431 --> 00:01:04,973 'The Lord is my Shepherd, 24 00:01:04,973 --> 00:01:08,634 and so I will not be in want.'" 25 00:01:08,634 --> 00:01:11,166 The Shepherd - like my Lord? 26 00:01:11,166 --> 00:01:14,063 The King of the universe is mine? 27 00:01:14,063 --> 00:01:16,784 Oh, I'm not going to be in want. 28 00:01:16,784 --> 00:01:18,344 I'm going to trust Him. 29 00:01:18,344 --> 00:01:21,383 I'm going to be content. 30 00:01:21,383 --> 00:01:22,833 Paul listened. 31 00:01:22,833 --> 00:01:25,272 Paul learned like you learned 32 00:01:25,272 --> 00:01:29,043 coming here Sunday by Sunday. 33 00:01:29,043 --> 00:01:30,402 He learned it. 34 00:01:30,402 --> 00:01:32,116 And you have to learn it too. 35 00:01:32,116 --> 00:01:33,224 What did he learn? 36 00:01:33,224 --> 00:01:34,543 He learned one: 37 00:01:34,543 --> 00:01:38,214 being discontented is a sin. 38 00:01:38,214 --> 00:01:40,454 It's against our whole position 39 00:01:40,454 --> 00:01:42,903 that our Lord looks after us and cares for us. 40 00:01:42,903 --> 00:01:47,703 All things are working together for our good. 41 00:01:47,703 --> 00:01:51,376 You know, we can parade our discontentedness 42 00:01:51,376 --> 00:01:54,303 because: "I love her, but she doesn't love me." 43 00:01:54,303 --> 00:01:58,631 "She won't marry me and I'm sulking 44 00:01:58,631 --> 00:02:00,268 for the rest of my life." 45 00:02:00,268 --> 00:02:02,772 You're saying Jesus made a mistake then 46 00:02:02,772 --> 00:02:05,645 in closing that door. 47 00:02:05,645 --> 00:02:07,505 Being discontented is a sin. 48 00:02:07,505 --> 00:02:11,567 Secondly, it's possible to be contented. 49 00:02:11,567 --> 00:02:16,526 Those of you who've had a very trying upbringing, 50 00:02:16,526 --> 00:02:20,293 it's possible for you to learn contentment. 51 00:02:20,293 --> 00:02:22,115 Not just a few people who are 52 00:02:22,115 --> 00:02:26,485 self-integrated and intelligent 53 00:02:26,485 --> 00:02:29,025 and sensible men and women. 54 00:02:29,025 --> 00:02:31,586 Not just them, but you 55 00:02:31,586 --> 00:02:33,285 with all the pressures and strains 56 00:02:33,285 --> 00:02:34,819 that your life has been under, 57 00:02:34,819 --> 00:02:37,511 you can be a contented person. 58 00:02:37,511 --> 00:02:41,327 And no circumstance, no set of circumstance 59 00:02:41,327 --> 00:02:43,526 can take that contentment from you. 60 00:02:43,526 --> 00:02:44,938 That's the Christian life. 61 00:02:44,938 --> 00:02:47,628 I have learned in whatsoever state I am 62 00:02:47,628 --> 00:02:50,725 therewith to be content. 63 00:02:50,725 --> 00:02:52,934 And then thirdly, 64 00:02:52,934 --> 00:02:55,025 Paul discovered how - 65 00:02:55,025 --> 00:02:56,975 how to be content. 66 00:02:56,975 --> 00:03:00,946 Well, I've taken over the Hilton in San Antonio. 67 00:03:00,946 --> 00:03:04,746 It's only $100 you have to pay next weekend. 68 00:03:04,746 --> 00:03:10,626 I'll be giving lectures on how to learn contentment. 69 00:03:10,626 --> 00:03:14,276 Not. Not. 70 00:03:14,276 --> 00:03:18,106 I'll tell you without money and without price 71 00:03:18,106 --> 00:03:20,084 how to be contented. 72 00:03:20,084 --> 00:03:22,235 You go to God 73 00:03:22,235 --> 00:03:24,565 and you say to God, 74 00:03:24,565 --> 00:03:29,175 "Thy will be done." 75 00:03:29,175 --> 00:03:31,373 That's it. 76 00:03:31,373 --> 00:03:33,874 Thy will be done. 77 00:03:33,874 --> 00:03:36,585 I don't want my own will. 78 00:03:36,585 --> 00:03:38,906 I want Your will. 79 00:03:38,906 --> 00:03:41,956 And that's why so often I'm a discontented person 80 00:03:41,956 --> 00:03:44,157 because I don't like God's will. 81 00:03:44,157 --> 00:03:46,919 I don't like what God has done with my life. 82 00:03:46,919 --> 00:03:49,326 And there's no way I'm going to wear 83 00:03:49,326 --> 00:03:52,639 the red jewel of Christian contentment 84 00:03:52,639 --> 00:03:54,816 without taking my stand on this: 85 00:03:54,816 --> 00:03:56,944 what I want in my life is the will of God. 86 00:03:56,944 --> 00:03:59,155 And then when God says, "Alright, My child, 87 00:03:59,155 --> 00:04:02,037 this is My will for you." 88 00:04:02,037 --> 00:04:04,947 "This is the way I want you to walk." 89 00:04:04,947 --> 00:04:07,906 "I want you to be brave." 90 00:04:07,906 --> 00:04:10,002 "I want you on the narrow path." 91 00:04:10,002 --> 00:04:14,697 "I want you to be looking unto Me every day." 92 00:04:14,697 --> 00:04:19,268 And then when I know, well, it's God's will, 93 00:04:19,268 --> 00:04:22,156 and I'm not frustrated, 94 00:04:22,156 --> 00:04:24,605 I'm not discontented, I'm not depressed, 95 00:04:24,605 --> 00:04:26,124 I'm not plaintive, 96 00:04:26,124 --> 00:04:28,247 I'm not self-pitying 97 00:04:28,247 --> 00:04:30,910 because this is my Father's will. 98 00:04:30,910 --> 00:04:36,315 And so I rejoice to do Thy will, O Lord. 99 00:04:36,315 --> 00:04:38,997 And Jesus could say that perfectly. 100 00:04:38,997 --> 00:04:41,706 And that's my righteousness. 101 00:04:41,706 --> 00:04:43,590 That He's left me and example 102 00:04:43,590 --> 00:04:46,196 and I walk in His steps. 103 00:04:46,196 --> 00:04:50,175 And I want to be content too following the Savior.