The Key To Happiness

The Key to Happiness

Intro: The search for happiness.

Psalm 119:2: Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

M.O.S.: Find happiness by knowing and serving Jesus.(read and pray)

I. Be Satisfied by keeping God’s testimonies

a. God as creator knows what’s best

i. God created the order of this world

“Bees are attracted to the Coryanthes or, Bucket Orchid. The surface of the orchid is slimy. The bee slips and falls into the ‘bucket’. Because of the angle and slipperiness of the interior walls, the bee is forced to exit through the narrow ‘escape tunnel’, conveniently aided by a step and hairs suitably placed near the surface. As it does so, the plant squeezes around the bee and pollen sacs are glued to its back. When the glue dries the orchid releases the bee. The bee then visits another flower, and the process is repeated, except this time the flower has a mechanism for removing the pollen from its back, completing fertilization.”

1. Lightning changes the gas nitrogen into the nitrates that are essential for the survival of plants. – gravity – thermodynamics

2. Law of reaping and sowing (moral law)

b. God has given us independent minds, and, our minds can discover the holiness and truth of God’s laws

i. Sometimes, like the prodigal son, we learn that God is right the hard way

1. Sin starts sweet and ends bitter

ii. We can realize that it’s not just because God says that something is bad that makes it bad. God says that something is bad because it is bad.

Oppressed by the noonday heat, a tired farmer sat under a walnut tree to rest. Relaxing, he looked at his pumpkin vines and said to himself, "How strange it is that God puts such big heavy pumpkins on a frail vine that has so little strength it has to trail on the ground!" And then looking up into the cool branches of the tree above him, he added, "How strange it is that God puts small walnuts on such a big tree with branches so strong they could hold a man!" Just then a breeze dislodged a walnut from the tree. The tired farmer wondered no more, as he rubbed his head ruefully and said, "It is a good thing there wasn’t a pumpkin up there instead of a walnut."

c. God as the source of love governs best

i. God gets more glory because His government produces happy servants.

ii. Jesus loves us more than any Earthly friend or parent

d. We must get the testimonies and keep them

i. By reading God’s word

1. God’s word has revealed what will make us most happy in this life

ii. We must let those testimonies affect our behavior

1. Don’t be a “forgetful hearer”

II. Beware of the Sorrow of not keeping God’s testimonies

a. Our own ways lead to sorrow

i. Pro 14:14 The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.

ii. 1 in 3 Americans have seriously considered suicide; most more than once

iii. The man who will spend the rest of his life in prison for drunken vehicular homicide

b. Our own ways lead to pain

i. Child abuse

ii. Rape

iii. Adultery (almost 1 in 3)

iv. Murders

1. Abortions and euthanasia

v. Thefts

1. The people who do such things often think its ‘ok’

c. Our own ways lead to death

i. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Pro 14:12)

ii. “Everyone to his own way”…therefore, we needed a Savior

1. The man who accepts the Word and keeps Him is a happy man

III. Be Seeking God with your whole heart

a. Half-hearted commitment to God doesn’t satisfy

i. Seeking God half-heartedly will not find Him for He knows the heart

1. Appearances don’t impress God

2. “you cannot serve God and mammon”

ii. To the degree that we seek self or the world we will be dissatisfied

b. Whole-hearted service to God satisfies

i. Psa 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

1. When we submit to God’s governance we will be satisfied

ii. The word of God will make you want a close relationship with God.

1. Truly understanding God’s testimonies will lead to love and admiration for Him

iii. When you truly want a close relationship with God you will have it

1. But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. (Deu 4:29)

2. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jer 29:13)