FINDING SOUL SATISFACTION BY DRINKING FROM THE CUP OF FAITH
Ps 54:1-13
I. WE ALL ARE SEEKING SOUL SATISFACTION.
A. Everyone is
1. No matter what country they live in
2. No matter what their economic condition
3. No matter what their educational level
B. None of these things matter
1. If they are a human being—they are seeking soul satisfaction
*When you go home today and watch TV-every person you see that over 12 years old is seeking soul satisfaction
2. They may not know that soul satisfaction is what they are seeking
3. They only know there is a gnawing, a yearning deep down inside them that demands to be satisfied
*The billion dollar advertising business is built on this truth
*They know there is this yearning deep
*They promise to satisfy it if we will buy ...
C. We all have this yearning for soul satisfaction because God made us this way.
1. Augustine recognizes this: "You have made us for yourself," he writes, "and our hearts are restless until they can find peace in you." [1.1]
2. The French philosophy Pascal said “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man that can only be filled with Jesus Christ.”
D. You have this yearning for soul satisfaction in your heart—that’s a fact
1.The only question is how are you seeking to satisfy that yearning?
D. In our passage today David tells us how we can find that soul satisfaction we thirst for
E. Read Ps 65
The key is found in v. 4—our verse of the month
II. SOUL SATISFACTION IS FOUND IN AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD (4)
How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You To dwell in Your courts.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.
A. David said we would be satisfied.
1. Heb word speaks of being filled—full after eating a meal—to have one’s hunger satisfied.
*This word was used to speak of the Israelites being full on the manna God gave them in the wilderness.
*You know the satisfaction you have after eating your favorite meal
*You are full and could not eat another bite.
B. David is speaking about a soul satisfaction
1.A deep sense of contentment
2.A deep sense of inner peace
3.A deep abiding soul satisfaction
C. Notice where David says we can find this soul satisfaction.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.
1. Is David talking about going to church when he says “Your house, your holy temple”?
2. Is he saying the key to soul satisfaction in to live at church—church building?
D. No. Remember in the Old Testament God’s presence was in the temple, in the Holy of Holies—between the cherubim
1. What David is talking about is dwelling in God’s presence—close intimate relationship with God.
*Heb word “draw near” has the connation of a intimate relationship
*It was used of Moses drawing near to God on Mt. Sinai when he received the 10CC
2. David is talking about drawing spiritually close to God—the living fountain of life.
3. It is in a close intimate relationship with God that we will find soul satisfaction.
4. It is in the reality of His presence ...
E. But—you already knew that didn’t you?
1. You already knew God’s presence is the answer to your soul’s yearning.
2. The question you have is “How do I get that intimacy with God that will satisfy my soul?”
Illus. It’s like you are in the desert dying of
thirst—and you see this fountain of fresh, clean water in the distance. Is it a mirage?
You walk over to the fountain that you know can quench your thirst but when you get there, there is this shoulder high wall between you and the fountain. If You reach over the wall then perhaps you can get some water in your hand and bring it to your mouth.
But, to your disappointment you can only reach it with the tip of your finger. You can only get a drop at a time on your finger. So close but so far.
Then you notice a cup on the ground under a bush. Now you can hold the cup to the fountain, it fills with the fresh clean water. All you needed was a cup to enable you to drink freely. The cup was not the water but it was the means to getting the water.
F. Does this describe you?
1. You know God is the fountain of fresh, clean water that can satisfy your thirst.
2. But you just cannot seen to be able to get close enough to drink.
3.You need a cup!
G. This morning David gives us a cup that will enable us to drink freely and fully from God the living fountain.
1. The cup is the cup of faith.
2. Faith is not God—not what will satisfy your soul
3. Faith is the cup that will enable you to get to God—the living fountain—your soul’s satisfaction
H. David gives us 5 truths about God the living fountain.
I. But to drink of these truths that will bring the intimacy with God and satisfy your soul we must use the cup of faith.
III. DRINKING WITH THE CUP OF FAITH
[1] Faith that God hears our prayers (2)
O You who hear prayer, To You all men come.
The fact that God hears our prayers is so old hat to us—I’m afraid we take it for granted!
1.How many of you this morning think you could take my cell phone and talk directly to President Bush? (see your hands)
*he does not have time for me
*he is waging war on terror, seeking to get re-elected
*most powerful man in the world
2. What about Vice-President Chaney?
3. What about Tom Ridge?
4. What about Colin Powell?
5. What about Gov. Perdue?
6. What about your doctor? (not go thru anyone)
7. The principal of your child’s school?
B. Imagine what it would be like if God was as inaccessible as these humans are.
Illus. As we begin to pray we hear...
Thank you for calling your Heavenly Father’s house. Your prayer may be monitored for quality assurance. Please select one of the following options:
Press 1 for prayer requests
Press 2 for prayers of thanksgiving
Press 3 for prayers containing complaints
Press 4 for all other prayers
I’m sorry; all of our angels are busy helping other sinners right now. However, your prayers are important to us and will be answered in the order received, so please continue to kneel.
If you would like to leave a voice mail prayer for:
God (The Father) Press 1 now
Jesus Christ Press 2 now
The Holy Spirit Press 3 now
If you would like to hear the King David Singers sing a Psalm while you are holding, please press 4 now!
C. Thank God this is not the way it is with our Great God!
1. As a Christian, anytime 24/7 you can go directly into the Oval Office of the Universe and talk personally to God!
2. You can share with Him your deepest fears, concerns, longings (that’s great in itself)
3. But even better you can be certain He cares deeply about you—He understands!
D. All of us long to have someone we can talk to at any time—
1. who loves us deeply,
2. whom we can trust absolutely
3. who understands us completely,
4. who cares for us immensely.
D. Our Lord is the only one who can fill that bill.
* You can find soul satisfaction this morning if you will take the cup of faith and drink from the living fountain of our prayer hearing God.
[2] Faith that God forgives our sins (3)
Iniquities prevail against me; As for our transgressions, You forgive them.
We have all sinned and we all feel guilty.
1. Did you know that ever since 1811 (when someone who had defrauded the government anonymously sent $5 to Washington D.C.) the U.S. Treasury has operated a Conscience Fund? Since that time almost $3.5 million has been received from guilt-ridden citizens.
2. Guilt can devastate a person.
Illus— "Guilt upon the conscience, like rust upon iron, both defiles it and consumes it, gnawing and creeping into it, as that does which at last eats out the very heart and substance of the metal." – South
Illus. In Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Tell-Tale Heart” the main character committed murder. Unable to escape the haunting guilt of his deed, he begins to hear the heartbeat of the victim he has buried in his basement. A cold sweat covers him as he hears the beat-beat-beat of a heart, that goes on relentlessly. Ultimately the heartbeat drives the man absolutely mad, not knowing that it was not coming from the body in the basement, but from the heart within his own chest. So it is with a guilt ridden, unforgiving conscience.
B. We can do things to try to relieve our guilt but at best the relief is only temporary.
Illus—There is the story of a taxpayer who needed to ease his conscience. "A taxpayer wrote to the Internal Revenue Service, "I have not been able to sleep well for two years. Here is my check for $1,200 for back taxes." He even signed his name, then added a short P.S. "If I don’t sleep better in a week, I will send you another $1,200.
1. Part of that longing in everyman’s soul is that longing to be free from guilt.
2. There is only one way to get free from the oppressive weight of guilt—God’s forgiveness!
*David said God forgives our sins
*The Heb= covers
*Do not get the wrong idea—God does not cover our sins by simply sweeping them under the rug—that would violate His holiness/justice
*He covers them with the blood of the Lord Jesus
*That is a perfect covering
3. God covers our sins with the blood of Jesus and He remembers them no more!
Illus. In “A Forgiving God in an Unforgiving World”, Ron Lee Davis retells the true story of a priest in the Philippines, a much-loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented but still had no peace, no sense of God’s forgiveness. In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ and he with her. The priest, however, was skeptical. To test her he said, “The next time you speak with Christ, I want you to ask him what sin your priest committed while he was in seminary.” The woman agreed. A few days later the priest asked, “Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?” “Yes, he did”. she replied “And did you ask him what sin I committed in seminary?” “Yes.” “Well, what did he say?” “He said, I don’t remember”
C. God truly forgives our sins when we come to Him in faith.
1.As a Christian, He has taken the guilt away
2.He has covered your sins with the blood of Jesus
3.He remembers them no more!
How you should live above the common trials and troubles of the world! Since sin is forgiven, can it matter what happens to you now? Luther said, "Smite, Lord, smite, for my sin is forgiven; if You have but forgiven me, smite as hard as You will"; and in a similar spirit you may say, "Send sickness, poverty, losses, crosses, persecution, what You will, You have forgiven me, and my soul is glad."
D. Take the cup of faith and drink deeply from the living fountain of our forgiving God and find soul satisfaction!
[3] Faith that God Brings us near (4)
4 How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You To dwell in Your courts.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.
A. If you are a Christian the truth is—God chose you long before you ever chose Him!
1. The Bible says we love Him because He first loved us.
2. Jesus told His disciples “You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you may go forth and bear fruit.”
B. God did not choose you because of anything in you—it was by His sovereign grace!
C. The God of the universe chose you because He loves you—
1. He knew every sin you would ever commit but He chose you anyway!
2. Having chosen you, He will never reject you!
D. He chose you to bring you into a intimate personal relationship with Himself!
* Imagine that!
E. What soul satisfaction we can have when we take the cup of faith and drink from the living fountain of gracious God who chose us to be His own special treasure!
[4] Faith in God’s sovereignty (5-8)
A. David speaks of God’s power over creation, nature, and mankind
B. God is the supreme ruler of the universe
1. He works all things after the counsel of His will
2. Therefore nothing can come into your life that does not come through the hand of God.
C. He is the trust—hope of all Christians everywhere. (5)
Jer 17:7 How blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord.
1. You can trust Him in whatever trail or adversity you find yourself in.
2. You can trust He will not abandon you.
3. You can trust He will cause all things to work together for good
4. You can trust His grace will be sufficient
D. Whatever circumstance you find yourself in today—take the cup of faith and drink deeply from the living fountain of our sovereign God and find satisfaction for your soul!
[5] Faith that God withholds no good thing from His people (9-13)
A. David talks about God’s provision for His people.
1. How God brings the rain and causes the grain to grow.
2. He causes the flocks to flourish.
3. He provides all His people need.
Ps 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD gives grace and glory;
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
B. Can you take the cup of faith and drink from the living fountain of our God who provides all that is truly good for us?
C. Oh what soul satisfaction you will find if you will really believe God does not withhold anything that is truly good for you to have.
III. THE ONLY SOURCE OF THE SOUL SATISFACTION YOU THIRSTS FOR IS THE LIVING FOUNTAIN OF GOD.
A. You cannot drink without the cup of faith!
B. Will you take that cup of faith this morning and drink?
1. from the God who hears your prayers
2.The God who forgives your sins
3.The God who has chosen you
4.The God who sovereign rules in your life
5. The God who will not hold anything back that is good for you?
Illus—William Randolph Hearst invested a fortune collecting art treasures from around the world. One day Mr. Hearst read the description of a valuable art item which he sent his agent abroad to find. After months of searching, the agent reported that he had finally found the treasure. To the surprise of Hearst, the priceless masterpiece was stored in none other than the his own warehouse. The multi-millionaire had been searching all over the world for a treasure he already possessed.
(Today in the Word, December 13, 1995, p. 20.)
C. As a Christian you already have the source of soul satisfaction within you.
1. You do not need to go all over the world to searching for it.
2. Jesus is in you
3. You just need to by faith find Him to be your All in All!
4.By the cup of faith satisfy your thirst with Him
