WEBVTT 00:00:00.903 --> 00:00:05.713 Where can contentment be found? 00:00:05.713 --> 00:00:08.945 And so often, Christians admire contentment 00:00:08.945 --> 00:00:10.325 and they long for it 00:00:10.325 --> 00:00:13.764 and they confess they're strangers to contentment. 00:00:13.764 --> 00:00:15.359 They make it so unattainable. 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:18.434 "Oh, if only I had the second blessing 00:00:18.434 --> 00:00:20.416 how contented I would be." 00:00:20.416 --> 00:00:22.053 And they blame their upbringing 00:00:22.053 --> 00:00:23.673 and they blame their personality. 00:00:23.673 --> 00:00:25.594 They say, "My mother was discontented," 00:00:25.594 --> 00:00:27.045 "my grandmother was..." 00:00:27.045 --> 00:00:30.035 and I'm discontented too. 00:00:30.035 --> 00:00:35.024 Paul says he learned contentment. 00:00:35.024 --> 00:00:38.143 He learned it. He learned it. 00:00:38.143 --> 00:00:40.804 It didn't come to him on the Damascus road. 00:00:40.804 --> 00:00:45.062 One moment, driving, rabbinically furious, 00:00:45.062 --> 00:00:47.095 and then the Damascus road, 00:00:47.095 --> 00:00:52.225 and after that he was just laid back from then on. 00:00:52.225 --> 00:00:55.254 It wasn't like that. He learned it. 00:00:55.254 --> 00:00:57.566 He was in a meeting once - a prayer meeting - 00:00:57.566 --> 00:00:59.795 and an old Christian got up and he said, 00:00:59.795 --> 00:01:03.431 "Let's think of Psalm 23... 00:01:03.431 --> 00:01:04.973 'The Lord is my Shepherd, 00:01:04.973 --> 00:01:08.634 and so I will not be in want.'" 00:01:08.634 --> 00:01:11.166 The Shepherd - like my Lord? 00:01:11.166 --> 00:01:14.063 The King of the universe is mine? 00:01:14.063 --> 00:01:16.784 Oh, I'm not going to be in want. 00:01:16.784 --> 00:01:18.344 I'm going to trust Him. 00:01:18.344 --> 00:01:21.383 I'm going to be content. 00:01:21.383 --> 00:01:22.833 Paul listened. 00:01:22.833 --> 00:01:25.272 Paul learned like you learned 00:01:25.272 --> 00:01:29.043 coming here Sunday by Sunday. 00:01:29.043 --> 00:01:30.402 He learned it. 00:01:30.402 --> 00:01:32.116 And you have to learn it too. 00:01:32.116 --> 00:01:33.224 What did he learn? 00:01:33.224 --> 00:01:34.543 He learned one: 00:01:34.543 --> 00:01:38.214 being discontented is a sin. 00:01:38.214 --> 00:01:40.454 It's against our whole position 00:01:40.454 --> 00:01:42.903 that our Lord looks after us and cares for us. 00:01:42.903 --> 00:01:47.703 All things are working together for our good. 00:01:47.703 --> 00:01:51.376 You know, we can parade our discontentedness 00:01:51.376 --> 00:01:54.303 because: "I love her, but she doesn't love me." 00:01:54.303 --> 00:01:58.631 "She won't marry me and I'm sulking 00:01:58.631 --> 00:02:00.268 for the rest of my life." 00:02:00.268 --> 00:02:02.772 You're saying Jesus made a mistake then 00:02:02.772 --> 00:02:05.645 in closing that door. 00:02:05.645 --> 00:02:07.505 Being discontented is a sin. 00:02:07.505 --> 00:02:11.567 Secondly, it's possible to be contented. 00:02:11.567 --> 00:02:16.526 Those of you who've had a very trying upbringing, 00:02:16.526 --> 00:02:20.293 it's possible for you to learn contentment. 00:02:20.293 --> 00:02:22.115 Not just a few people who are 00:02:22.115 --> 00:02:26.485 self-integrated and intelligent 00:02:26.485 --> 00:02:29.025 and sensible men and women. 00:02:29.025 --> 00:02:31.586 Not just them, but you 00:02:31.586 --> 00:02:33.285 with all the pressures and strains 00:02:33.285 --> 00:02:34.819 that your life has been under, 00:02:34.819 --> 00:02:37.511 you can be a contented person. 00:02:37.511 --> 00:02:41.327 And no circumstance, no set of circumstance 00:02:41.327 --> 00:02:43.526 can take that contentment from you. 00:02:43.526 --> 00:02:44.938 That's the Christian life. 00:02:44.938 --> 00:02:47.628 I have learned in whatsoever state I am 00:02:47.628 --> 00:02:50.725 therewith to be content. 00:02:50.725 --> 00:02:52.934 And then thirdly, 00:02:52.934 --> 00:02:55.025 Paul discovered how - 00:02:55.025 --> 00:02:56.975 how to be content. 00:02:56.975 --> 00:03:00.946 Well, I've taken over the Hilton in San Antonio. 00:03:00.946 --> 00:03:04.746 It's only $100 you have to pay next weekend. 00:03:04.746 --> 00:03:10.626 I'll be giving lectures on how to learn contentment. 00:03:10.626 --> 00:03:14.276 Not. Not. 00:03:14.276 --> 00:03:18.106 I'll tell you without money and without price 00:03:18.106 --> 00:03:20.084 how to be contented. 00:03:20.084 --> 00:03:22.235 You go to God 00:03:22.235 --> 00:03:24.565 and you say to God, 00:03:24.565 --> 00:03:29.175 "Thy will be done." 00:03:29.175 --> 00:03:31.373 That's it. 00:03:31.373 --> 00:03:33.874 Thy will be done. 00:03:33.874 --> 00:03:36.585 I don't want my own will. 00:03:36.585 --> 00:03:38.906 I want Your will. 00:03:38.906 --> 00:03:41.956 And that's why so often I'm a discontented person 00:03:41.956 --> 00:03:44.157 because I don't like God's will. 00:03:44.157 --> 00:03:46.919 I don't like what God has done with my life. 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:49.326 And there's no way I'm going to wear 00:03:49.326 --> 00:03:52.639 the red jewel of Christian contentment 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:54.816 without taking my stand on this: 00:03:54.816 --> 00:03:56.944 what I want in my life is the will of God. 00:03:56.944 --> 00:03:59.155 And then when God says, "Alright, My child, 00:03:59.155 --> 00:04:02.037 this is My will for you." 00:04:02.037 --> 00:04:04.947 "This is the way I want you to walk." 00:04:04.947 --> 00:04:07.906 "I want you to be brave." 00:04:07.906 --> 00:04:10.002 "I want you on the narrow path." 00:04:10.002 --> 00:04:14.697 "I want you to be looking unto Me every day." 00:04:14.697 --> 00:04:19.268 And then when I know, well, it's God's will, 00:04:19.268 --> 00:04:22.156 and I'm not frustrated, 00:04:22.156 --> 00:04:24.605 I'm not discontented, I'm not depressed, 00:04:24.605 --> 00:04:26.124 I'm not plaintive, 00:04:26.124 --> 00:04:28.247 I'm not self-pitying 00:04:28.247 --> 00:04:30.910 because this is my Father's will. 00:04:30.910 --> 00:04:36.315 And so I rejoice to do Thy will, O Lord. 00:04:36.315 --> 00:04:38.997 And Jesus could say that perfectly. 00:04:38.997 --> 00:04:41.706 And that's my righteousness. 00:04:41.706 --> 00:04:43.590 That He's left me and example 00:04:43.590 --> 00:04:46.196 and I walk in His steps. 00:04:46.196 --> 00:04:50.175 And I want to be content too following the Savior.