Thank you for taking the time to listen to one of the recent sermons preached at Wilton Baptist Church. It is our desire as a church to strive together in building a faith, family, and future that honors and glorifies our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If we can be a help to you in any way, please visit our website at wiltonbaptistchurch.com. Thank you for taking the time to listen to one of the recent sermons preached at Wilton Baptist Church. It is our desire as a church to strive together in building a faith, family, and future that honors and glorifies our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If we can be a help to you in any way, please visit our website at wiltonbaptistchurch.com. One grandmother took her three-year-old granddaughter into her lap and began reading from the book of Genesis. And after a while, she noticed the little girl was unusually quiet. And her grandmother asked, well, what do you think of it, dear? Oh, I love it, answered the child. You never know what God is going to do next. She was always amazed just looking at that. And I hope that you come with anticipation like that to our study of the scriptures as well. You never know what God can do in your life. And that could happen in your life even today, something that you would never think of. Alexander the Great was not satisfied, even though he had completely subdued nations. And he wept. He actually started to cry when there were no more worlds to conquer. And he died at an early age in a state of debauchery. Hannibal, who filled three bushels with the gold rings taken from the knights that he had slaughtered, committed suicide by swallowing poison. Few noted his passing, and he left this earth completely unmourned. Julius Caesar, staining his garments in the blood of one million of his foes, conquering over 800 cities, only to be stabbed by his best friends at the scene of his greatest triumph. Napoleon, the feared conqueror, after being a scourge of Europe, spent his last years in banishment and in exile. All of these men had really unquenchable thirst in them for more, and they could not find satisfaction in life. In Psalm chapter 16, we're introduced by David to this idea of satisfaction. And I would like to speak to you on this idea of satisfaction here today. And in verse 5 and verse 6, there are some terms that are used that are kind of like a surveyor type terminology that a surveyor would use. In verse 5, the Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup, thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage." As David was looking around, he looked at his life kind of like a surveyor would look at a lot or a plot of land. And that's how he was perceiving and viewing his life as he was looking around. at how God had blessed and what God had done in his life. Following high school, when I was young, I graduated from high school and the man at our church owned a surveying firm. And he said, I would like for you to work at my businesses. He had several businesses and the job was initially to remodel his building. So I did some remodeling work on some of his buildings. And he thought it would take the whole summer to do that. But I got it done in about two weeks, whatever it was, to work on his properties there. And he said, I would like for you to become a surveyor and to be on a surveying team. I said, yeah, I'd like to try that. And so I became a surveyor for a little while. We traveled to places several hours from where I live. and would work all week and then come back on the weekends. And so I became a surveyor. I like being outside. I like to be able to measure the land. And I really enjoyed putting the property markers down and telling the constructors, the guys building the buildings, where to build the building, because that's what the surveyors can do many times. And so I really liked that job. It was something fun. And I learned a lot from that. As we look at these terms used here, the word lines, and he's talking about a lot here. These are surveying type terms that a surveyor could use. Look at the very top, the heading of Psalm chapter 16. See the word mitzvah right there, mitzvah? That word means a monument or an engraving. And it's usually used for an engraving, like in a poem. And surveyors, I think about surveyors, and they use permanent land markers. And your lot, wherever you're at, no matter how big it is, has some kind of a marker around it. Probably at least four corners and some other places where your land has been permanently marked. for or by a surveyor. And so we find this engraving, kind of like the surveyor, it really engraves the land with those permanent land markers. The phrase mitchem, or word, also means coverings. And we find this title at the heading of Psalm 16, and also Psalm 56 through chapter 16. And each of these Psalms have the idea of coverings, protection from our enemies, and it's believed that whenever a Mitcham song would be read, because of the word coverings that's associated with it, it would be read with the covering of the mouth. Kind of like this, Psalm 16, verse 1, "'Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust.'" Just a covering, I'm depending on God and where he's placed me, I'm satisfied with. Lines that a surveyor would use, they're tools to measure distances and establish angles and the borders of property. And so I would like for you to consider this idea today of surveying your life. Just kind of getting a broad scope of my lot in life and where God has placed me and what God has already given to me. It's true that what you choose to think about impacts your happiness, it impacts your direction, it impacts the satisfaction that you find in life. So survey the satisfaction of your life. Now all of us need to know this. Satisfaction is a choice. I can choose to be satisfied or to be dissatisfied. You fill in the blank with whatever it is, the idea or topic is that you're thinking about. I choose to be satisfied or not. Contentment may not describe each of us today. Lust and envy, gluttony, covetousness, more, more, more. It could. Those terms could be descriptions of us or some of us today. Now, while we should never be satisfied in our current spiritual condition, we're told to strive, to walk, to run, we're told to renew, we're to grow, to find, to finish, we're to be transformed, we should never become stagnant and satisfied spiritually. We should all desire to know God more, and to also make Him known, tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ. And so do not find spiritual satisfaction today. I believe many Christians become spiritually satisfied. And here's the reason why. They become so dissatisfied with what the world offers that they just become kind of content spiritually. I'm lusting after, wanting after, coveting after all the things the world has that I'm just I'm doing OK spiritually. And they kind of grow stagnant like that. It's a dangerous place for a Christian to be in. We should be content in where God puts us, in the people that God has put in our lives. Be content in the church He's planted us in, in the abilities that I have or do not have. And I'm not saying don't sharpen your skills, but there is a limit to how much I'm able to do. And God, thank you for what I can do or even what I cannot do, all of the abilities from you. I'm thankful then, I'm content with the spouse he's blessed me with. Or maybe I don't have a spouse, I can be content. I can be content with the house that I sleep in, the car that I drive, you could just say the stuff that he's given to me. And if we were all honest, we have a lot more stuff than we really need. So are we a content people? Psalm chapter 145, verse 16 says, Thou openest mine hand and satisfyest the desire of every living thing. Psalm 103, five. Who satisfies thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles? Who is that? It's God. It's God who really can satisfy the deepest longings, the greatest desires, and the real needs that we have in our life. Here's some questions to ask yourself about satisfaction. Here's some questions. You may want to write these down because it will help you determine, am I living satisfied? Am I content in my spirit today? Number one is this, is my wanter healthy? And you are hearing that right. It may not be a word, but it's a word that Natalie and I talk about, about wanting. And we are all born with healthy wanters. I want this and I want that. Go to some nursery sometime, and if one kid has it, the other kid wants it. You know what I'm saying? I want that too. We have healthy wanters from the time we're this little until we grow up as well. And if we're not careful, we'll want things and we'll want things to the neglect of the things that God really would desire for us in our lives. We tend to want things when we compare to other people. If we are very busy at shopping online or looking at the magazines and walking around in stores, our wanters are fed that way and they really grow. We should desire to starve our wanters in some ways. In Philippians chapter 4 verse 11, and by the way that's hard to do, here's a verse about this, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever states I am therewith to be content. Paul said, I have learned to be content. Did you know that contentment does not come naturally? It does not come naturally to you. I'm just content. You know, you made a choice to be that way and you made a choice to learn to be content. That's something that parents, that's part of your obligation to your kids, is to try to teach them, to learn them, if you would, to be content. Well, I don't have this or I don't have that. You teach the contentment that they need. And all of us as adults, we need to teach ourselves this idea of commitment or contentment, rather, as well. Paul went on to say in verse 12, I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." He said, whether I have a lot or if I have nothing, I will be content. So is my wanter healthy? If you have a real healthy wanter, and most of us do, then go ahead and start to starve that a little bit so that it's not as healthy as it is. Number two, do I have all that I really need in life? Do I have all that I really need in life? Our friends, the family that we choose, That's a great statement of friends. Friends are the family that we choose. Okay, so you have some friends that are your family. Do I have all that I need? I have food on the table to keep me alive, to help me have energy, to keep me healthy. I have shoes on my feet, a coat on my back. I have shelter over my head. And the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6, 8, in having food and raiment, let us be there with content. I would suggest we have a lot more than food and raiment. We have a lot to be thankful for. So is my health, is my wanter healthy? Do I have all that I really need in life? Number three, am I restless? Am I restless? Am I complaining or am I comparing a lot to other people? Here's what happens. It happens a lot of times, maybe even in a wintertime because we kind of get cooped up in our houses because of the cold. And I love the wintertime and I don't mind being cooped up as long as we can get out and run around once in a while. But this idea of being restless, some people get antsy. we get antsy, and we kind of get jittery about something new in our life. And maybe if I got a new car, or if I got a new toy, or if I had a new relationship, or if I had a new church, or if I got a new job, or a new house, and I'm just kind of jittery here, I'm going to get antsy for a big change in my life. Sometimes we get like that. Am I restless is a good question to ask. The adrenaline of the moment is normally, the adrenaline of the moment is normally what really the person's looking for. And when they get the new church, and when they get the new job, or they get the new car, and the bill that comes along with that, and they realize I stepped outside the will of God, I made a mistake. I mean, I did something that I kind of regret. They can live a life then. of regret. When a big change is made, it was not needed. Just because of being antsy, they declined the will of God. Am I restless? Ecclesiastes 7.9 says, Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. The hasty and impatient person is so because things are not the way that he thinks it should be. and I'll be hasty about it, I'll be quick about it, or I'll get angry about it. And a hasty or soon to angry person does so because he's restless in spirit. That word spirit in that verse, he's restless in spirit. And so after asking these questions about self-satisfaction or satisfaction, then we need to understand that satisfaction is a choice and all of us can choose to be satisfied So take a measurement of your life, take a survey of your life today. Let's bow together and ask the Lord's help. Father, we thank you that David penned these verses that you gave to him that we could look at today. And as we've studied this idea of satisfaction already, we ask that you would teach us. We've already been challenged as we ask ourselves, am I really content with where I'm at and what you've done? Lord, let us answer the question from the scriptures and find the solutions that you have for us in these pages here today. I pray you bless each listener here this morning. We thank you that they're here. We pray you meet the spiritual needs in our lives today. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. So let's look at our lives. Take a measurement this way. Number one, we need to see the benefits of being satisfied. Here's the first tool. There's benefits to being satisfied. Look in verses one through four. Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, thou art my Lord, my goodness extendeth not to thee. but to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellence in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God. Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer nor take up their names into my lips." See the benefits of being satisfied. One person said that God wants to give us something but cannot because both of our hands are full and there's nowhere for God to put it. There's something that God wants to put in our life, and it's not just possessions and stuff and things, it's the very person of God Himself, because God is enough. And David was looking at his life, and he was saying, I am satisfied. I'm looking at my lot, I'm looking at where God has placed me, and I am satisfied. I'm satisfied because He preserves us, He preserved me. Like in verse 1, "'Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust.'" But not only does God preserve us, He is good to us in verse 2. "'O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord. My goodness extendeth not to Thee.'" Now that phrase, can be very easily misunderstood or misread. What that phrase means when you figure this out is, I have no good beside you. He's looking around at his life, and God, you are the greatest. You are the good. You are the good. That is, in my life, there's nothing good in my life besides you. That's a good perspective to have when you walk with God like that. God is enough. He also gives godly friends in verse 3. The saints that are in the earth, through the excellent in whom is all my delight. David delighting, he delighteded in having excellent, God-fearing people in his life. And what an encouragement that is, when you have God-fearing people that can encourage you. Who are your closest friends today? I mean the ones who influence you the most. Do they kind of help you get back to the Lord, or think biblically, or think accurately as God would have you to? Or do they feed the worldly type ideas to you? Who are your closest friends? David delighted in God-fearing, friendships. Who do you allow to influence you the most? So God is enough, and there's no one like our God. In verse 4, He talks about their sorrows shall be multiplied, and he's speaking about those people that hasten after another god. Notice it's lowercase g-o-d. He's talking about false gods. Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. David refused superstitious living. You know people like this? I knew baseball players like this. You know, they had to take their batting gloves and they had to do this little back and forth and on and everything the same way. I understand there's patterns, you can have patterns, but they were superstitious about it. And you know people that are superstitious about it. David didn't care about superstitious type things, good luck charms and doing certain things like that. Folks, rabbit's feet are better left on the rabbit. It don't help you any to take the rabbit's foot off. And so he refused superstitious living. He renounced false spirits. And you find that last phrase there. He wouldn't even utter their names. He said, I don't want to even offer them a sacrifice, whatever the false gods would demand. And by the way, it was all man-driven ideas that this is some kind of deity and we need to do this type of sacrifice for it. He said, that's not for me. He said, that's not true at all. I serve the one true God, that's who he was interested in. And David renounced these false spirits. He had better things to do with his life than to be superstitious. Next is chapter 15, verse 11. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Psalm 95, verse 6. O come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. And 1 Corinthians 6, verse 20. Ye are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." And so David had this, he knew what it was to worship God alone and to find satisfaction in Jehovah God. Folks, there's nothing and no one that can replace God in our lives. Really, you can't find it. You can look all around. People look all over the place for it. You can have a lot of stuff. You can have people. You can have things. You can have your own bright ideas or the bright ideas of others. But a hole is left in our hearts when we put other people or other things before our God. There's an emptiness. and a lack of satisfaction, and that really describes people who are without God in their life, and they're running after things, religion, and good works, and being nice, and I mean, you can fill in the blank with whatever it is. They're running after fame, and money, and all these things, and they will not find satisfaction of benefits. of being satisfied, it's found in God. There are blessings then of satisfaction. This is what God does then in our life. So he's in our life, but here's what he does in and through then our lives with these blessings. Notice in verses five through eight. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. There's the spiritual inheritance in verses 5 and 6. And with a description similar to the supernatural allotment that God did for the 12 tribes of Israel when He said, I want you to take this portion of land and this portion of land, when He divided up the land, In similar wording, David says, this is how the blessings of the Lord have fallen out unto and in my life. And he's satisfied. He's satisfied in the place that God had placed him. Notice the word lot. This is where God has placed me, and I would suggest to you today that wherever God has placed you, physically speaking, I'm just going to be content in that. Thank you for that. Does God move us? Yes. Does He call us to other places? Yes. Do we need to move houses sometimes? Yes, we need to do that, but we need to find contentment. We need to do that if God calls us to those places. In the meantime, we find contentment to where God has placed us. He said, I'm content with this place that God has put me in. and God you have maintained my lot." Notice he says cup. We should be satisfied not only in the place that God has placed us, but be satisfied in the provisions, the cup, that God has given to us as well. Have you ever been there where you said, I really wish I had a little bit more money? No, I've never been there before, preacher. I'm ultra spiritual. Yeah, you've been there before. You know what it's like? Oh, I just, I wish I had something so I could do this for somebody or help with that or whatever the case is. Maybe you've been like that. When it comes to our provision, I'm talking about food, the rain that we have, the stuff that we really need for life. Lord, thank you that I do have what I really need. I mean, the cup's full. You've given me what I really need in life. Are you satisfied and content? Remember the healthy wanters? Feed contentment with healthy thinking and starve the wanter with Bible truth. Next then, a specific instruction. In verse five, we are maintained by God. We need to keep this maintenance in our sight in verse five and be thinking about this, God maintain us a lot. The word maintain us means to sustain or to hold up. If we were to examine every minute detail of our lives, even if we were to expand it to some bigger areas, all of us could see in the big things and even the small things, God did that. God worked this out. God maintained what was needed in my life. God took care of the details I had no idea about. We are maintained by God in sight. We need to acknowledge on a daily basis what we see God doing. A lot of times we just say, oh, just time and chance, you know, and the scriptures speak about time and chance, but we just think about, well, it's just the way it happened. God's doing something in our lives. And we need to acknowledge that. We need to think about it. A specific instruction next is to meditate on God with the light in verse seven and eight. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. Meditate on God with the light. The word counsel means to advise, to deliberate, or to resolve. It has to do with guiding or giving purpose. And friends, when we meditate on this book, it gives us purpose. When we study the scriptures, it changes our life and it gives us guidance. We need to meditate on, what does God want me to do? As a teenager, what does God want me to become with my life and to use my life to serve the Lord? As adults, how does God want me to conduct my business? How does He want me to live? We meditate on God's word with the light. Think about the Bible. It's God's counsel to us. and we need to marvel in God at night. Notice at the last part of verse 7, Marvel in God at night. Now, when I was a surveyor, we'd go out to these corn fields and soybean fields, and we'd put in land developments for housing tracts and things like that. Sometimes we'd work along highways and interstates, put in roads, and things of that nature. And some nights out in those soybean fields, we would work, I mean, long weeks. There were many weeks where we would go 70 to 80 hours a week. I was young. I was single. I had nothing better to do. And I was two hours away from my home anyway. We'd stay in an apartment, and then I'd go back on Saturdays to be able to teach Sunday school and go to church on Sunday. Then I'd go back to the workplace. And we'd drive out a couple hours to the work site to where we'd be for the rest of that week. And so we'd work 70 or 80-hour days. Now, if you're working with daylight, you need that daylight to be able to accurately get your laser set up and make sure your measurements are correct. So you need to be able to see that I'm setting this the right way. And many times, darkness would come. And we were really close to getting this last last stretch here measured or putting another marker in or something. And so a lot of the guys that I was with, they would smoke. And so I'd say, give me your lighter. I can barely see this. And I'd light their lighter. We'd get the last little measurement in. But you know what happens? Eventually, the light goes out, doesn't it? I can't see anymore through the work. You know, when you get into a dark moment, in the dark moments, sometimes you don't see the light like you did during the daylight. It's not there to guide you. guide you like you think you need to be guided, maybe in the nighttime. And maybe in the nighttime it's times when we're so discouraged or disappointed or difficulties really seem more intensified in the nighttime. But notice how David said here, my reins instruct me. David purposed in his mind that he would control his mind. He would control his thoughts. Even when things were dark and it seemed like in despair, even when there was trouble all around him and difficulty, he was going to have right thoughts. in those moments. Are you down today? Sometimes we covet things in the dark because, well, it's just easy to do. Maybe if I get this, it'll make life better. Maybe we are wanting things. We're wishing with envy. Maybe we begin to compare with other people and, well, that would fix it if I just got this, or if he would be like that, or if she would do this. And in the night, sometimes we get our eyes off. We need to remember what God has shown us in the light. And we need to remember what God has already made very clear to us. And that hope in God. In the darkness, it could be cancer. It could be sickness. It could be job loss. There could be problems. Maybe a son has gone astray. Maybe a daughter's wandered off into sin. Maybe there's some other great problem in your life. Maybe marriage issues or something just so big. And it seems like there's darkness all around me. It's then when I need to remember the light of this truth. that my hope is in God. It's not in this person over here or this circumstance to get better over there. My hope is ultimately in the Lord Jesus Christ. Never doubt in the night what God shows you in the light. Just keep looking to the light of the word of God, to the light being Jesus Christ as well. Friends, it's in moments like this we could resonate with Charles Dickens when he said, Oh, if I could just be like them, if I don't have to think like that, I don't have to have something new to be at peace with God, to have satisfaction and contentment in my life. The best things, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, the best things are the nearest things. Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, and the path of God just before you. He was talking about just the next step. I'll just go. I can be satisfied in life. See the benefits of being satisfied. See the blessings of satisfaction. Number three, see the behavior of the satisfied. As we round out this short chapter in verse 8, I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. I like this poem, For the heart that finds joy in small things, in all things, each day is a wonderful gift. or the heart that finds joy in small things in all things each day is a wonderful gift." Notice how David had a singular devotion. He had one devotion here. There's no God before my God. No God at all. No one. Nothing compares to God. God is with me. He's at my right hand. Have you ever thought about that? That's an amazing phrase that David says. Here's David, and David says, my God is at my right hand. That's amazing. When our primary devotion is to God first, the rest of our relationships can work themselves out. I'm glad that my wife, her name is Natalie. Some of you know her. I'm glad that she loves God first instead of me. Does that make sense? Because she loves God first, she can love me, and that's hard to do. So she has her primary devotions to God, and then in a secondary way, and that's actually a good saying. I'm glad that my parents love God more than me. You see, the singular devotion is what can motivate us to do right. in all the other relationships, a singular devotion to the Lord. When we find or try to find satisfaction in people and in stuff, we will be disappointed every single time. People will fail you. There will be disappointments, there's gonna be hurt, misunderstandings, and problems. That's just life, that's the way it is. And it won't get any better until we go to heaven. That's just life. when we try to find satisfaction in people, we will be disappointed. Some husbands expect things out of their wife that she cannot do. Some wives expect things out of her husband that he cannot live up to. True and lasting satisfaction can only come from God. Now, when we compare God to our complaints, our complaints fail. When we compare God to our problems, our problems fail. And when compared to God, there's nothing in this world that compares. And notice the last phrase in verse 8. He says, I shall not be moved. He had a steadfast spirit. Do you have an unwavering and a very steady spirit about you when it comes to spiritual things? I shall not be moved. No matter what I'm facing, I shall not be moved. Whatever disease, whatever issue, I shall not be moved. He was very unfaltering. He was not double-minded. Now, I plan to watch the second half of the Super Bowl tonight. And we have church tonight, and I'm looking forward to a good church service. And the games are always won in the second half. I mean, even if it's blown out, they could come back or not. You never know until the second half. So I plan to watch that. David McCourtney of the New England Patriots says this about Bible reading. When I wake up in the morning, I grab my phone, log into my Bible app, and I read it before I get up. He reads his Bible every day. Josh Harris of the Atlanta Falcon says, it's easy to pull your phone out, any inspiration you need, whatever struggles you're going through, you've got everything you need right there. Now, you think, these guys are just talking about their phones. They travel a lot. They read their Bibles on their phones. That's what they do. And these two fellows this morning when they got up, and this is the biggest This is the biggest sporting event in America in a year. I mean, every year it comes. It's the biggest event in a year in America. And these guys woke up and read their Bible and spent some time with the Lord. There's some unwavering and unfaltering commitment to somebody who does that. David said, I have this unwavering mind about God. I will not be double-minded. Think about this. The world is one-dimensional. They just think about the body. Whatever feels good, do it. They think about the body. Religious people in the world, they are two-dimensional, body and soul. And they're focused on things like that, you know, ritual and things like that. But then the Christian, he thinks three-dimensionally, body, soul, and spirit. We need to think in spiritual terms as Christians. Then there's the supernatural outlook in verse nine. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall rest in hope. A supernatural outlook. Gladness means to brighten up, to cheer, to be gleesome, and it has to do with on the inside. I have joy on the inside. My glory means weight. I'm talking about I weigh 190 pounds, that's weight. That's what the word means. He says, my glory, he talks about my weight, my splendor, my being, my person. And then he says, we'll rejoice. Now the word rejoice means to spin about. It's something that you do on the outside, to spin about, to be glad or to be joyful. So gladness is on the inside and rejoicing then is on the outside. And it's not just an eternal joy that's on the inside, an eternal joy or an internal joy that David has, but he also has an outward demonstration of joy. Didn't that happen on occasion when the Ark of the Covenant was coming back. Didn't David jump for joy? He was really excited. And the Bible says he was leaping, he was dancing. He was really excited about that. What was on the inside was then expressed on the outside by what he was doing. And so a supernatural outlook. My heart is glad and I can demonstrate joy and happiness on the outside. Now I ask you this question, do people know you as a satisfied person? a discouraged person or a depressed person. How do people perceive you? Do they know that you're a joyful person? If they do not, change the heart on the inside and let it affect your outside as well, because real inward joy is not contained. Real inward joy is not contained. People who insist on happiness every day cannot find joy because happiness is the result of favorable circumstances and are very transient in nature. But joy can remain even during unfavorable circumstances. Joy is the calmness that runs beneath life's storms. It's a delight that stills the heart and anchors the soul. You know John Wesley of Methodism and John Wesley He came down for breakfast, and he was very melancholy one morning. He was miserable. Sensing the situation, Mrs. Wesley went upstairs and dressed all in black. She dressed all in black and came down to join him for breakfast, and Wesley looked over at her. She was dressed all in black, kind of like for a funeral, and he said, who's that? Who's dead? She said, God's dead. He said, what? She said with a response to that, I thought so from your countenance. Did you know that people who know you're a Christian, if they see you souring all the time, angry all the time, disappointed all the time, depressed all the time, that's a small impression to them of who God is. It really is. He brightened up and changed his conduct from then on out. It makes a big difference if I'm content or not. We need to find a sitting position then in verse nine. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth my flesh. He's talking about his body also shall rest in hope. Don't you like to sit down? You've been working a lot, you just want to sit down and take it easy, rest, get back in your recliner or something. That's the idea that he's displaying here. We're communicating a sitting position. Did you know that you can have a life of rest? You have a life where you worry less and stress less. Are we still going to have problems? Yes. But how we approach them, how we deal with them are totally different. How am I going to pay for the house? I can't pay for all the toys that I want. We can't afford Christian school. We cannot afford to send our kids to Christian Bible camp. I can't afford to go to the couples retreat. And it just feels like I just can't, and I can't, we can find rest in our flesh. When I do what I am supposed to be doing, I can rest. When I do what I know I am supposed to be doing, I can find rest and you can as well. We should also say thanks in verse 10 and 11. Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither shalt thou or wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life, in thy presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Here are some verses that are really incredible verses, verse 10 and 11. They're cited by Peter, in his book and also in Psalms here. Paul quotes it as well in Acts 13, referring to the resurrection of Jesus. And this is an idea of a protector and a defender, and the language here is both illustrative and predictive of the Messiah. Now, it refers initially to David and his future resurrection. He's looking forward to that. But it's also found prophetically in Jesus Christ, and that he is the one who is the ultimate deliverer from death. He's the one who came out of the tomb. David was prophesying in these verses about Jesus, the Messiah, who would deliver us from death, because after he died, he resurrected and came out of the tomb. It's only Christ who's not seen corruption. Notice how it speaks about the Holy One here, and that's speaking of Jesus Christ. Folks, we can say thanks for a lot of things. Just from verse 10 and 11, here's some ideas for you to think about. We can thank God, I'm not going to hell. I'm not going to see corruption. I'm not going to suffer like that. Jesus did not see corruption. He did not stay dead in the grave. He rose from the dead. Jesus paid for my sins so that I would have no sin debt. Believer, you have no sin debt. Jesus took all of it. He paid for all of it. You can rejoice. There's something to be happy about, even on the worst day. God has a path for my life. There's a plan to follow. I can live happy in Jesus. I can have joy. We'll develop this idea another time. Jesus, others, and you, joy. And God provides more than I really need. At thy right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. The necessities of life, but God does not stop there. Truly, the pleasures that we have now and the pleasures that we have forever are because of the Lord. Here's our problem. Before you close your Bible, here's our problem. Most of the time, we settle for cheap imitations. Cheap imitations. The bright lights, the glitz and glamour that the world offers. We say, oh, if I get that, man, I'm gonna be satisfied. Or we'll compare to other people. If he was like her, like him, or if I was like her, then I'll be, we'll start to compare to other people. We need to be satisfied. We need to find satisfaction in the Lord Jesus Christ and develop. Remember, it's something that you learn. I've learned whatsoever state I am there with to be content. I must develop contentment in my life with the help of God. Here's three ways to do that. Express thankfulness and prayer every day. Lord, thank you where I'm at. What you've done, I thank you for my spouse, I thank you for my marriage, I thank you for my kids, I thank you for the fact that I'm single, I thank you for the fact that I'm healthy, I'm thankful for the fact that there's medicine in spite of my sickness, I'm thankful for, you just fill it in. I'm thankful to God, express thankfulness. Exercise, then, by counting your blessings, and a lot of times we just get lazy, we don't count our blessings. We count our problems, but we don't count our blessings. and we need to start counting our blessings. And number three, exhibit a thankful attitude to others. So express thankfulness to God in prayer, exercise in your mind by counting your blessings, and make sure that translates to the outside so that other people can see that God is working in your life. One preacher told about how he was pushing through and walking down some crowded streets, and he felt a tug at his sleeves, and at first he thought that someone was trying to get ahead, but the tug kept coming persistently, and he looked down at a little girl dressed in rags, and she was holding something wrapped up in some dirty paper, and she held it up to him, and he said, what is it, my dear? She said, I want you to have my candy. My candy, why? Why would you want me to have your candy? She said, sir, I have a new daddy at home. He was never sober. But last Saturday, you had a special meeting. And he was sober at that special meeting that you were preaching in. And he came home a different person. And he started to cry. And he realized that this little girl was grateful for a brand new daddy. He was no longer finding or trying to find satisfaction in the bottle. He found satisfaction in the Lord Jesus Christ. And friends, listen to this today. Whether it's a bottle, a body, a building, a bank account, or a ball, nothing can satisfy us like Jesus. Let's bow together in prayer. Thank you for your good listening here today. Take a measurement of your life. Take a measurement of your life today. Survey it. Do I see the benefits of being satisfied? Do I see the blessings? Do I see God's blessings in my life and am I satisfied with that? And then the behavior of the satisfied. Am I really living like I'm a satisfied person in the Lord Jesus Christ?