Well, this morning, I want to address the subject of contentment with you. And more specifically, I want to address the subject of Christian contentment. Now, if you're like me, you may immediately be questioning if there is any kind of meaningful distinction between what I just called Christian contentment and the kind of contentment which may be commonly possessed by all people alike, whether they be believer or an unbeliever. Let's refer to this second kind of contentment as common contentment. For I agree that contentment itself, wherever it is found, is a virtue. And where we find it, we really do find a good thing. Nevertheless, I submit to you that we are greatly helped by a proper distinguishing between commitment, which may be common to all and can be experienced in some measure by regenerate and unregenerate men alike, and a distinctly Christian contentment, which is formed in us wholly by the grace of God. Now, immediately, distinguishing between common contentment and Christian contentment introduces to us an additional challenge. This is due to the fact that for the believer, this reveals that discontentment is not the only ditch that we may find our way into. But we may also have the ditch of common contentment on the other side that we need to mark and avoid. Such is life, right? Ditches usually exist on two sides of whatever road we are traveling on. And most of us will find ourselves in either ditch at various times in our Christian lives. In other words, for the Christian, discontentment is not the only danger to the contented life. There is another ditch. There is an imposter to Christian contentment, and we must be watchful of his deceitful ways. This imposter's name is Mr. Common Contentment, and he may go by other names, such as Mr. Worldly Contentment, or as some identify him, Mr. Complacency. I fear that there are many Christians who have welcomed this imposter into their home, into their life, and are unable to distinguish between the real grace-filled thing, Christian contentment, right, from the counterfeit, common contentment. So how is Christian contentment distinguished from common contentment? Well, here's my attempt at an answer to that important question. Whereas an unbeliever may experience what we may call common contentment, Christian contentment is alien to an unbeliever. Now, one reason for this is because Christian contentment has as its source the all-satisfied God. This does not mean that an unbeliever cannot make some sort of peace with the condition and situation that he may find himself in, but we have to recognize that is a common contentment, which is surely to be short-lived. It is, by definition, temporal. It will be easily tumbled, right, by some affliction, or maybe some drastic change in circumstance. or it will vanish away completely when that person is face to face with his creator and judge. Christian contentment, on the other hand, is an eternal virtue, which has as its source the eternally contented one. It is a virtue enjoyed by Christians in this life partially, yet increasingly. And once it is perfected in us at our glorification, we'll only grow more satisfying with the passing of time into all eternity. Now if you're anything like me, you've found yourself in the ditch of discontentment more times than you may like to admit. Maybe you're even there now. The discontented heart is restless, it is unquieted, it is generally uneasy. Discontentment finds frequent trouble with life's circumstances and is given to worry, to fretting, or maybe a flurry of action to alleviate some circumstance, only to find that discontentment tends to follow whatever circumstance may arise. Discontentment makes the soul sick, and it is itself the fruit of a sick soul. My aim this morning is to show you the path that we are to walk, the path of Christian contentment, and together, I hope to take a few steps with you along the path this morning. We'll consider this in four points. First, we will see what is required for us to make progress along this path. Say it differently, what are the prerequisites to Christian contentment? Secondly, we will see that Christian contentment is the good life, and it is a life which does not come to us automatically. It's a condition of our soul which must be learned. It is a life which bears the fruit of righteousness. It is a life which increasingly displays the all-sufficient goodness of the one who made us and set the parameters of our existence. And third, we're going to see that Christian contentment is not merely an individualistic pursuit. No, by the work of the Holy Spirit, the Bride of Christ, the Church, is herself learning to find rest and contentment as she battles discontentment on the one hand and complacency on the other in a world which continues to wage war against the Creator. And fourth and finally, I hope to show you where the remedy for this frailty of ours can be found. And I pray that as we look at that, it's a place that we return to every single time we gather in this place. Now, I do have a disclaimer for you. Given that this subject is seeking to address some of the most hidden places of your heart, I pray that the Holy Spirit will apply this message to you on an individual level as you wrestle with your discontentment or maybe complacent heart before the Lord. There's no way that I can adequately apply this message to each and every one of you, to your individual situations, and so for this, we desperately need the Lord's help. So let's begin with a good, concise definition of Christian contentment. What is Christian contentment? There's really no better place to go in terms of a succinct definition of what the Bible teaches about this topic than Jeremiah Burroughs' English Puritan writing in the 17th century defines Christian contentment like this. Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. I'm gonna read it again because it's so important to today's message. Christian contentment is that sweet, inward quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. Go ahead and take your copy of God's word and turn with me to Jeremiah, I'm sorry, Psalm 131. Last week, Eric preached through Psalm 31, and that was a very good companion sermon to this one, so these two should be taken together. It just so happens that they are 100 Psalms apart. So turn in your Bible to Psalm 131. In this brief Psalm of David, he will guide us as we contemplate the glory of our self-contented God, and as we learn the art of Christian contentment. Hear God's word. Oh Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty, nor do I involve myself in great matters or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul like a weaned child rests against his mother. My soul is like a weaned child within me. Oh Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. This is the word of the Lord. My first point for you note takers out there is this. Christian contentment requires humility. Christian contentment requires humility. The psalmist begins his ascent with these words. Oh Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty. I do not involve myself in great matters or in things too difficult for me. That's verse one. Now recall who's writing this psalm. What does it say above the number there? It says a song of ascents of David, right? This is a psalm of David. And I hope for you Bible students out there that the irony of this verse is immediately landing on you. I do not involve myself in great matters, says the psalmist, right? I do not attempt things too difficult for me. Well, let's just rehearse and recall some of the great matters or difficult things that David was involved in. Was it not the boy David who single-handedly killed the lion and the bear when they threatened his flock? Was it not the boy David who slew the Philistine giant Goliath? Was it not David who honored his enemy Saul while Saul pursued him to death? Was it not David who applied himself to study and obey God's law? And finally, was it not David who would ascend the throne and would eventually become Israel's king? What does David mean when he says that he does not involve himself in things too high or too difficult? It's a good question. Now, I think it helps to know that this psalm was penned by David early in his life. It was penned before he ascended the throne and would become king over God's covenant people. We see here that the throne was not something which occupied the imaginations of David's heart, as though it was something that he aspired to achieve. Just remember, whenever God called David, what was he doing? Little shepherd boy tending his father's flocks while Samuel overlooks all of his older, stronger in some sense brothers, until finally the Lord chooses David. David's mind was occupied with the responsibility at hand, which for him at the time was tending the flocks. David recognized again and again his station in life, and he humbled himself before his God. It was God who would exalt him to a place of leadership and authority over his people. 1 Samuel 13, 14, for God looked on David's heart and saw a man after his own heart and raised him up to be involved in things of great matters, the great matter of ruling his people. In his early years, it seems unlikely that David was sitting around daydreaming of slaying bears and lions with his bare hands, right? David did not bring lunch to his brothers on the day that Israel was threatened by Goliath, secretly hoping that he would have a chance to take a hit at Goliath himself. This was not something which occupied his thinking, right? Now, but we know that when these needs, these various needs would arose, he would be there and he would do just that. This opening verse reveals to us an important corrective, I think. A composed and quieted soul, which is where David's gonna go in just a minute, a composed and quieted soul, think Christian contentment right there, does not mean that we are to live a passive life. It does not mean that where you find a composed, I'm sorry, it does mean that where you find a composed and quieted soul, you will find a heart which is not proud and eyes which are not haughty. This must be the case because a heart that is proud is unable to discern the things which are great matters, things too great for itself or things too difficult for itself. By definition, a proud heart thinks highly of itself, and from this position of highness, there can be no quietness, no composure. So at the very least, we can conclude a lot of things from this first verse, but at the very least, we must conclude that a quieted soul is not the portion of the proud. A quieted soul is not the portion of the proud. It is the portion of the humble. In sum, to grow in Christian contentment, keep ever-villagent against the blinding sin of pride. Where you find it lurking, it must be crucified. Humility before God is a prerequisite to Christian contentment. This brings us to our second point. Christian contentment must be learned. Christian contentment must be learned. The psalmist continues his song of ascent by declaring this. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul like a weaned child rests against his mother. My soul is like a weaned child within me. Verse two. We have here in this verse the reverse side of the coin that we examined in verse one. In verse one, David acknowledges that his heart is not proud, his eyes are not lifted up, and here we see that his soul is composed and quieted before God. His condition is illustrated for us by comparing his soul with that of a child who has been weaned and is at rest against his mother. In an analogous way, David's soul is at rest within him. Now I find it interesting that David chose a child who has been weaned to describe the condition of his soul before God. That's an interesting analogy, I think, for him to draw out. And I think this highlights a point that we've already made, which is that Christian contentment does not come to us automatically. It is something which must be learned. Just like a child, learning to be weaned is a process where he learns. He doesn't be born automatically weaned. That'd be nonsense, right? A weaned child has learned that his mother provides sustenance for him in a different way, and that she no longer is the direct source of his next meal, right? And because of this, the child is able to be at rest against her without that natural childlike restlessness, okay? That naturally comes with the idea that she's about to provide him or her his next meal. Christians who are immature in the faith may know intellectually that God is their provider for all that they need, all that they could ever need, but that's a very different thing than a mature saint who has come to know that from experience, from a mature saint who has been trained to know that. The first is tempted constantly to improve his or her condition or his circumstance, and is therefore restless. He's not quite sure where his responsibilities end and where God's begins. The mature saint, on the other hand, has learned to conduct his affairs in a spirit of quietness and complete trust. that God has already provided all that he needs and will continue to do so, whatever station in life he may find himself in. The Apostle Paul makes this point in Philippians 4, 11 through 12, kind of that classic verse on contentment, reads this, Paul in Philippians 4, 11 through 12, not that I speak from want, for I have come to be content in whatever circumstance I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret. Okay, that's the key idea. I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both having an abundance and also suffering need. Jeremiah Burroughs, again, makes a similar comment. He puts it like this. Contentment is to be learned as a great mystery. And those who are thoroughly trained in this art, which is like Samson's riddle to a natural man, have learned a deep mystery. So I ask, why is Christian contentment a great mystery for Burroughs and a great secret for Paul, both of which must be learned? Well, It is the mystery explained by nothing other than the gospel which answers the question of how that which is created, that which is finite, that which is sinful, and that which is weak can be joined with that which is uncreated, infinite, perfect, and strong. It is through the gospel that we are united to Christ by the complete forgiveness of our sins and the indwelling of the spirit that we began to learn the mystery. Paul says in Romans 15, 13 that through this gospel we have union with Christ and we have access by that union to a myriad of great and precious promises which produce in us increasing faith, hope, joy, and joy in the Holy Spirit. By this indwelling and by these promises, we have access to the eternal throne. I think this is such a key idea to this mystery. We have access to the eternal throne, all of which trains the Christian's mind and heart to grow in true contentment by fixating on that which is immovable, that which is heavenly. Lloyd-Jones makes this helpful point. And just think about yourself as I read this. Think about your own life. The men and women who are most happy to be in this world are those who are most happy about the next world. The men and women who are most happy to be in this world are those who are most happy about the next world. The gospel awakens our minds to see the world which is to come. Now let's contrast this with the one who does not know Christ, and in some senses the discontented Christian, but to a lesser extent, right? But the one who does not know Christ and who is beset with this great disease, this disease which plagues his soul and which hinders his focus, heavenly word. For this man, the weight of eternity is a weight that they are unable to bear, and they cannot escape their restlessness. By contrast, the contented Christian is joyfully aware that this life is a kind of rehearsal for the life which is to come. Now we know it's a bit more than a rehearsal, right? For in Christ, the reality of eternal life and light, which we share in God, presses ever upon us, even now, as we learn and grow and become more and more comfortable with this eternal weight of glory. Christian contentment is not automatic for the believer. It is not imputed to us upon our conversion the way that righteousness is. It must be learned. And in the learning of this mystery, in the mystery of Christian contentment, it joyfully receives that which is revealed to us by the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit, and is therefore poised to receive infinitely more than it already possesses. When we learn Christian contentment, we are trained to keep one eye on the infinite joys of the life to come, and the other eye fixed on our various callings in this life. Christian contentment never teaches us to escape from this life, but rather it trains us to keep all things in their proper proportions, and all things in their proper perspective. Part of this learning includes a constant reckoning with divine providence. This is probably the first place many of us go whenever we're struggling with contentment is to recognize God's providential, divine, sovereign care over our life. As the soul humbly submits itself to the very station which God has placed it in, Christian contentment accepts that our Lord has already secured for us eternal redemption, and that all things are at work in our life by the sovereign hand of God for our good. Okay, probably most of you have Roman 8, 828 memorized, and for good reason. For there is nothing more, think about these things, for there is nothing more that the Lord can do for us than what he has already done for us in Christ. Additionally, there is nothing that the Lord might do to us now that would somehow make us less fit for eternity. Those are two very, very big thoughts that should be a tremendous amount of comfort to you. God in Christ has done for us all that needs to be done, and there is nothing that he would do to us now that would in any way make us less suitable or less fit for eternity. Word of application, Christian contentment is indeed a high pursuit. Christian contentment is to be pursued regardless of your station in life. Since this pursuit seeks to find quietness in God, it has as its ultimate aim our satisfaction in Him, which of course results in His glory. This doctrine has much to offer the rich, has much to offer the poor, for the simple reason that it has its anchor set firmly in the seas of eternity. This doctrine has much to offer those who are satisfied with their careers and those who are not. This doctrine has much to offer for marriages that are strong and those that are weak. This doctrine has much to offer those who are parents and those who are childless. This doctrine has much to offer those who are single as well as those who are married. This doctrine has much to offer the sick as well as the strong. This doctrine has much to offer those who are deeply unsatisfied and worried about the direction of our country and the state of the world. I'm not gonna say, and those who aren't, because I don't think there's probably many of those out there, right? Whatever your station in life, make it your greatest aspiration to learn Christian contentment, to unlock its secret, and to live by its rule. Christian contentment does not mean that we are forbidden or prevented from pursuing a richer, fuller life. This is another corrective that I think we need to hear. If you are unable to provide for your family, it is right for you to seek to improve your financial situation so that you would be able to do so. If you want proof of that, go to 1 Timothy 5.8. If you are concerned about the state of our country and society, it is right for you to pull the legitimate levers to influence change. If you desire to be married, it may be right for you to pursue a spouse. As you pursue these things, simply do not forget that learning Christian contentment is the higher calling. It is the path to a richer, fuller life. And it is a richness and a fullness which will intensify into all eternity. In sum, to increase in Christian contentment requires a life of committed learning and committed discipline. Our third point this morning. Christian contentment is a community project. Christian contentment is a community project. The psalmist concludes his song with this plea. Oh Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever. Now it would be a mistake to make the quest for Christian contentment a purely individualistic affair. If Christian contentment is to be learned by individual Christians, it is best learned in the schoolhouse of the church. From the preaching and teaching ministries of the church to the ordinances of baptism in the Lord's Supper, everything the gathered church does instructs and reminds the parts, think the individual believers, and the whole, the corporate church. Reminds us what God has accomplished for us through Christ and instructs all in the ways of righteousness. The resulting goal of the church's ministry is to present and preserve a people for God who have found a hiding place of quietness and contentment in the Lord. This brings me to a point of great concern. There are many individuals in our time today, in our country, in our culture, in Lubbock, Texas, wherever it may be, there are many individuals who may claim the name of Christ, maybe even point to some kind of personal faith in Him, and yet they see no real use or no reason for their deep involvement within the local church. Now I understand that many churches have failed Christians, in some cases horribly, They failed them in properly executing their duty to so proclaim the truths that Scripture proclaims, rendering many Christians unable to see the value in church membership. This is a serious error that the church needs to repent of. A church who has set aside or has lost its way in preaching and teaching of the gospel is a church which has turned into a social club, at best maybe, or maybe some kind of an activist organization at worst. Point is is that neither of these things will form within its members that which we speak. Still, the New Testament is clear that God, through his spirit, works primarily and ordinarily through the institution of his organized church. It is the place where people gather together to worship him. It is the place where they together submit themselves to the preaching of the word. It is the place where they together feast at the Lord's table. It is the place where we together encourage one another and experience the bonds of Christian fellowship And it's the place where we bear one another's burdens. It's the place where we confess our sins to one another and experience the joys of forgiveness. And it's the place where we together remind ourselves of the great hope that we have in Christ. It's the place where we minister to the lost who are in desperate need of a savior. It's the place where we together will be for all of eternity as we behold the very face of God, as we enjoy each other for all time, our eternal rest. Friends, I hope it's clear to you just by recounting that list that learning and achieving this rare jewel of Christian contentment apart from the people of God, the church, is a fool's errand. For how can the immature learn from the mature except by frequently sitting at the mature saint's feet? I fear that many who claim the name of Christ and have given up on church are at best deeply misguided and will at best scarcely attain that which is being proclaimed this morning. Or, perhaps at worst, they are Christians in name only and they will see whatever sense of security and peace that they claim vanish away like chaff on the day of judgment. If you're a visitor this morning and you are a Christian, and you do not have a church home, I hope you consider joining this church. Okay? If not this one, find a different one. If you're a visitor passing through and you live in a city or a community that does not have a healthy church, feel for you. But I do offer this advice. Pray. Pray for the churches in your community. Pray for them. Number two, work hard to join a church that at the very least understands and believes the gospel. So even though the preaching may be weak and the worship may not be to your liking, you need to accept, as we all do, that no church is perfect, and yet the Lord is at work, even in what may appear to be the most unlikely of places. Another point, resist the temptation to substitute online preachers and teachers and YouTube services for the local church. These things can make great supplements to your Christian walk, but they are lousy substitutes for the local church. And finally, if necessary, relocate to a different city where there is a church that you can join. If it comes to that, that may be what would be best for your soul and for your family. Now, if you attend this church regularly but have not joined, as I said, join the church. If you have not joined the church, or if you have joined the church, then show up late on Sunday mornings and leave before the final amen. Just offer this encouragement. Stop doing that. If you're a member of this church, we believe that the Lord has brought you here for a reason, and we need you. We need more of you. Let us commit to help one another on this journey as together we learn the joys of Christian contentment. Let us join with the psalmist and declare in one voice, oh church, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. And some to increase in Christian contentment, surround yourself with other Christians and bind yourself together with them within the context of a gospel-believing church. My fourth and final point, so stick with me. This is the one that I think we, that weighed heaviest on my heart this morning. Fourth point, Christian contentment's source is the Christian's self-contented God. Let's say that again. Christian contentment's source is the Christian's self-contented God. So let's recall how David began this psalm. It was the first two words, oh Lord, oh Lord. It's here that we are driven to conclude our time together this morning, to focus on the Lord our God is fitting, because he is where all of life begins and all of life ends. God, the Lord, Yahweh, okay? It is to Him to whom the psalmist ascends to address in this prayer. No other audience would be appropriate to receive words such as these. He is the one who marks out our days. He is the one who teaches us to quiet our souls before Him. He is the hope of eternal rest for His people, and He alone is worthy of this confession and plea, because He alone is the only source of our eternal rest. Now, we have already mentioned the importance of recognizing the Lord's providential care over all of our life. I wholeheartedly agree that the truths of God's sovereignty and providence are great truths which teach us how to learn Christian contentment. I wholeheartedly believe that. I apply that to my life. It is a great source of comfort and stability. Now, I think we too frequently stop here. And by stopping here, I don't think that we learn all that we need to learn to experience the quietness of soul that David speaks of in Psalm 131. Let's press together a little bit deeper. It was interesting this morning in Sunday school, Stephen spoke about Genesis 1 and how it reveals God's self-sufficiency. Just an interesting timing because it's a thread that gets picked up even in this sermon as well. So if you came to Sunday school, you're getting a double dose of this. The God we worship is a self-satisfied God. This may be very conceptual for some of you, but he is a self-satisfied God. He alone is appropriate for this title, for all things live, move, and have their being in Him. For a created thing to be satisfied in itself, ultimately, would really be a form of idolatry, right? Because it lives, moves, and has its being, not in itself, but in another, in the creator. God's self-satisfaction is tied to the doctrine of his self-sufficiency, as I've already mentioned. He's satisfied in himself. He is wholly sufficient in himself. And this is closely related to the essential divine attribute of his aseity. This is probably the first time some of you have heard this term, his aseity. The Latin root for this term is asse, which simply means from himself. So asseity, asse, means from himself. So when we speak of God's asseity, we mean by this that God is being in himself, and this being is derived from nowhere other than himself. Joel Beakey and Paul Smalley make this point, the triune God does not derive any of his life from an outside source, but rather is the source of all being and all life outside of himself. This attribute of God means that God depends on nothing, he lacks nothing, he needs nothing, and he cannot be improved by anything. No good can be added to him. Why? Because he himself is goodness. He is complete in himself, and therefore he is completely satisfied in himself. When a creature is self-satisfied, we recognize this rightly as a great sin. For anything to be satisfied in itself is a form of, as I said, idolatry. It's unstable. This is not true with God. Job puts it like this in Job 22, verses two through three. Big thoughts here coming from the book of Job. Can a vigorous man be of use to God? Or a wise man be useful to him? Is there any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous? Or profit if you make your way perfect? By insinuation, the answer to these questions is no. A strong man, a wise man, a righteous man does not in any way add any profit or benefit to God. This way of thinking that God can somehow be improved is a great error. since it introduces the idea that there is unmet potentiality in God that can only be met through the contributions of his creatures. This would mean that God is mutable, which is to say that he's apt to change. making him not much different than you and me. If God were to be mutable or to be changeable, it would mean that he lives and moves and has his being in someone else, which would make him not God. Malachi 3.6 says this, for I the Lord do not change, therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. If God were to change, we would all be consumed. I hope that this doctrine is a great comfort to you, and I hope it stabilizes you. When you think about the all-satisfied, all-sufficient God in whom we place our trust, that He alone is worthy of it, and He is the only one who can satisfy the deepest longings of our heart because of who He is. Beaky and Smalley make that point by saying this. Knowing God's aseity and sufficiency with faith and love is a source of great practical help in the Christian life. A heart knowledge of these doctrines empowers us to worship God with great joy and to trust him when our circumstances are dark and discouraging. Friends, here lies the great source of our Christian contentment and the quietness of soul for which we all long, the revelation of God himself as he is to the human soul. Another 17th century Puritan, Wilhemus Abrakel, helps us out with this point. God, with his all-sufficiency, can fill and saturate the soul to such an overflowing measure that it has need of nothing else but to have God as its portion. What a lovely thought. God, with his all-sufficiency, can fill and saturate the soul to such an overflowing measure that it has need of nothing else but to have God as its portion. That is Christian contentment. Christian contentment, because it possesses God as its prize, recognizes that the soul can be improved by nothing other than its unimprovable God. It has been trained to cling to that which it longs for, namely communion with the living, self-contented God. Point of application for you as we begin to wind our time up this morning, study the doctrine of God. Particularly pick up a study about his attributes. Train yourself to meditate on his nature. In addition to reminding yourself of his providential care over your life, find peace and comfort in knowing that though the world may rage and your situation may appear grim, he exists, I'll say. He exists, I'll say. He is self-sufficient. Nothing takes him by surprise. He is improved by nothing, nor is he discounted by anything. He is the unchanging one who holds forever your life in his hand and nothing can threaten you ultimately because nothing can threaten him. What a source of comfort and stability this is in these troubled times. So in sum, to increase in Christian contentment, become enamored with the nature and character of God. Study the divine attributes. Accept his providential care over your life while also seeking to behold him as he is in himself. Christian contentment is the sweet fruits produced by a spirit-filled and a spirit-led life. This pursuit is impossible apart from the operation of God's grace in your life. Thankfully, he delights to bestow this grace upon his children. And if you are in Christ, that is if you are united to the Son simply by receiving what he has done for you in his death, namely making atonement for your sins, you are his child. He gives to you what you already need to learn Christian contentment. Now for those who reject God as their highest aim in their pursuit of a quieted soul, Everybody's pursuing a quiet soul. Everyone's doing it. But there are those who reject God as their highest aim in this pursuit. The best that they can hope for, the best that you can hope for, is to learn to make some kind of peace living in the ditch of discontentment. Or, if you're adequately clever, maybe you can get to the other ditch, the ditch of common contentment, only to see it vanish away on judgment day. Repent of your pride. Repent of this folly. Go to Him. He will receive you. He will instruct you. Parting thoughts from yet another 17th century Puritan, this time Stephen Charnock, summing up all that I've said this morning in just a few much more elegant words. If apprehensions of his excellency did possess our souls, they would be fastened on him, glued to him. We should not listen to that rabble of foolish thoughts that steal our hearts so often from him. Were our breathings after God as strong as the pantings of the deer after the water brooks, We should be like that creature, not diverted in our course by every puddle. Beloved, were God the all satisfying object of your eye, he would carry your whole soul eternally along with him. To all, as we close, I simply invite you to come. Join us, come and humble yourself before our maker, and come learn with us, his people, the way of righteousness which results in our eternal contentedness as we behold forever the face of our ever self-contented God. Pray with me. Father, we are thankful for a vision of you, Lord, that does help us to recognize, Lord, that there is no source of comfort in life. There is no source of comfort in death. There is no stabilizing reality greater than what you have revealed to us in yourself. So Father, train our minds, train our hearts to be enamored with you. Father, I pray that we would find the light that we see in the face of Christ far more compelling and far more entertaining and far more satisfying, far more fulfilling than the lights that we see on our telephones or the lights that we see on our television screens. Father, convict us of sin. Help us to be unmovable. Help us, Father, to know that as we live our lives in the palm of your hand, Father, that we are completely safe. And no matter what circumstance may arise, a heart that is discontent with such things, a heart that is complacent in the matters in which you've called us to live, this is a heart, Father, which is not resting in you. So convict us, we pray. Help us in these things. Help us, Father, to learn the art of Christian contentment. Amen.