Satisfied 1977

I'd like to read a few verses from Ephesians chapter 3 starting at verse 14 and to consider that while this was written to a group of believers in the city of Ephesus many years ago by Paul, certainly it applies to us and the prayer that Paul was praying was preserved, I believe, by God's grace so that not only does it apply to their lives but it applies to our life and think of it as being prayed for yourself. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may have the power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think to him be glory in the church in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever amen every failure that we may experience in our walk with Jesus can be traced back to a weak or a narrow view of what God will really do for us a low expectation most of the time we have no conception in our minds of how far God is willing to go for us you know how earnestly how eagerly he desires to satisfy every need in our hearts that you might be filled with all the fullness of God Paul prays and just imagine what would actually happen in an assembly like this if that prayer were literally being answered this hour which it could be just imagine what would come over this flock if suddenly each one of us all of us together were filled with all the fullness of God picture what would take place not only in terms of the praise and thanksgiving that would well up from us with or without the liturgy with or without hymns or prayers but also picture the changes which would take place in our lives our daily living as we would go out of here to be filled with all the fullness of God would certainly mean that each of our hearts now begins to reflect the nature of God and our eyes see things from God's point of view instead of our own and our tongues become the tongue of a living God prophetic the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5 6 and 7 is a description i believe of the life that is meant to be lived by every follower of Jesus and it's a set of radical commands that seem absolutely outlandish too much respect from people like ourselves but it begins with a sevenfold promise that we can be filled with God's fullness blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven the fullness of God blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted with the fullness of God blessed to meet for they shall inherit the earth along with the fullness of God blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled with the fullness of God blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God in his fullness blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy which is God's fullness blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God because they are filled with God's fullness. And this life which Jesus describes there is absolutely within reach for us.

It is a life that we can live provided we are filled with God, so that our hearts are finally joined to the one for whom they were made, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. When you consider that, it sounds really absurd to think that flesh and blood people like ourselves could contain God. How can you put the Atlantic Ocean in a quart jar? And yet Paul prays this prayer for the Ephesians and for us, because he knows that it can be fulfilled, that somehow it is possible for every aspect of God's nature to be in us.

Jesus says that if we love him and walk in his word, he and the Father will come and make their dwelling inside us. And when the Godhead comes to dwell inside these flesh and blood bodies, it doesn't come with only half of what it has. It's not like God says, well, okay, I bring you my wisdom, but I leave my love back in heaven.

Or I fill you with my light, but my peace you'll have to wait for for some other time. But when God comes into us, he comes into us with everything he has. And the effect of being filled with God's fullness is that we are satisfied for the first time in our lives, truly, deeply satisfied.

All our problems come from dissatisfaction. For instance, if I have a drinking problem, you know, even including, considering all the physical aspects of addiction to alcohol, the real problem underneath, I'm convinced, is that I'm not satisfied. I'm unfulfilled.

And I'll go on having some kind of problem until I'm satisfied in my heart. When God, in his fullness, satisfies my inmost longings, then I will be able to take charge of these cravings and bring them under control. Or if I'm addicted to drugs, as some in our midst right now may be.

You know, the truth of the matter is, you know, that this addiction is not just physical, it's mental and it's spiritual. You know, and even though I hate myself and I say I'm never going to do this again, I'm going to go right back to it and continue because deep in my heart I have found all my satisfaction in drugs. And until some satisfaction greater than this comes, I'll be bound and imprisoned, trapped in this thing.

And as far as I'm concerned, I believe that there are only two things that can satisfy the heart more than drugs. One is a life-consuming hatred and the other is the fullness of God. Or if I live in a world of fantasy, you know, in which I'm forever going off on some kind of adulterous or perverse adventure, it's because I have begun to believe, as we're constantly being told through all the forms of media, that fulfillment comes through lust.

And so I'll go on and on in one adulterous adventure after another, real or imaginary, with all kinds of help from Hollywood and Madison Avenue and the clothing designers, until I have begun to experience the liberty and the satisfaction of God's fullness in my heart. Or if it's money, you know, it's amazing how many times people say, oh, money doesn't mean anything to me, and yet they live for it. If it's money that we're after, you know, we're always playing the numbers, always dreaming of the day we're going to hit the lottery, always scheming a way to make some more, or accumulate, or hang on to what we got.

The reason is that our hearts find their satisfaction there. And you can preach until Thursday to somebody who's finding satisfaction in money. It's not going to make any difference.

They're going to go on finding the satisfaction there until a greater satisfaction replaces this, until I am filled with God, and in the light of God see money for what it is, the unrighteous manner which can only be sanctified by God. Or if I have a need, at least once an hour to be admired by somebody, always looking around to see whether people notice me, whether they look up to me, whether they respect me, whether they like me. You know, I can know better, but I'll forever be chained to other men's eyes until I have found freedom in beginning to live for the eyes of a living and true God, finding my satisfaction there.

All right, so somebody says, okay, if that will do it, if being filled with the fullness of God will set me free so that I can live that kind of life, why doesn't God do it? Why doesn't God send that mighty rushing wind into our midst right now, cause those flames of fire to descend upon each of our heads, fill us with the Holy Spirit as He did those people on Pentecost, that we may now enjoy that kind of life? And the answer is, God wants to do that for us more than we desire it, and He has already sent His Spirit into our midst right now. But in order to have sunshine and fresh air in your house, you have to open the shutters and throw up the windows and open the doors and pull up the shades. If you keep the whole thing closed up, there may be sun shining outside, you're still sitting in the dark.

And that's the way many of us are right now, always waiting for God to do something for us, and He's doing everything within His power. One thing He will not do, He will not violate our wills, He won't force His way in, He waits for us to open something up, so some light can stream in and our lives can begin to change. God is seeking to fill us with His fullness in four ways, and the question in each of these areas is not, why doesn't God do something, but rather, why don't we let Him? For instance, God desires to strengthen us with might by His Spirit in the inner man.

For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory, He may grant you to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. Each of us has an inner man or woman that's really more real than the outer man or woman. And the inner man has eyes and ears and a mouth, but the inner man is weak.

And all the problems we're having with our outer man stem from the fact that our inner man is so shaky. We have all kinds of good intentions, we want to do this and we want to do that, we don't do nothing until the inner man becomes strong, until the inner man is truly strengthened with the Spirit of God. And the question is, is my inner man giving God half a chance? Where do the eyes of my inner man look? Do they look to God, or are they forever looking to something else? Where my ears truly turn, and to whom does my mouth call in the inner man? Half of the time, the only thing that goes on in the inner man is grumbling and complaining and self-pity and whining.

When I open my inner man to the Spirit of God who is truly here, and He strengthens me. The second thing God desires more than we could begin to imagine is that Christ should literally dwell in our hearts by faith. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

But are we letting this happen? No. Are we giving Him half a chance? He knocks on the door, He waits, knocks again and waits. How many times He's knocked on the door of our hearts even this week, perhaps even this day? We have to open it.

Lord, come in! That has to be a genuine desire before anything happens. And He dwells in our hearts through faith, which means that I put my trust in Him, you know, that I really rely on what He tells me. I dare to throw the weight of my whole existence on Him, and believe that He's going to look after me and take care of me.

There's no other way. And if I don't let this happen, it isn't going to happen. Nowhere, I mean, the evil one may try to violate our wills, but Jesus won't do that.

The third thing that God desires is that we should be absolutely surrounded and pervaded by His love, God's love, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth. But that only happens where we're rooted and grounded in love in our true actual living, only when with an active will we choose that the atmosphere of God's love is to be the territory in which we live. God is love, says John, and He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in Him.

But God is going to ram it down your throat. You're going to choose to dwell in love, which means that you open your heart to receive that love, constantly, and you turn around and show that same love to your brother and your sister and your neighbor, constantly, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge. To know it, the love of Christ is all around us, staring us in the face.

It's in the bread and wine. It's in the kindness that's been shown to us again and again by brothers and sisters. You know, it's amazing how we can remember all the nasty things our brothers and sisters have done, how many times they've neglected us, and how quickly we forget the kindness that has been shown to us by God through brothers and sisters.

And it's in the word of encouragement which God speaks in our hearts continuously, right now even. But nothing happens until we will, to recognize that love of Christ, choose to behold it and appreciate and see it and thank God for it. Who of us can honestly say that we know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge? If we're honest, all we can, the best that we can say is that we barely tasted it.

Any of us, we barely opened our eyes to behold it. God help us to open our eyes and begin to see that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. That's God's desire.

He wants to satisfy the inmost heart of each of us. And when we desire that one thousandth as much as God desires that for us, it will be. God help us to open the doors of our hearts today.

God help us to yield now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. To him be glory in the church in Christ Jesus for all generations forever and ever. Let's pray.

Father God, the only one we know who sees what's really happening inside each one of our hearts is you. You know our need, our desperate need. And you know how even this day our minds have roamed in a thousand places trying to satisfy themselves in a way that only you can satisfy.

And we pray that this hour you would help us to turn away from everything and draw near to you. And we pray that every thirsty heart, every longing soul may this day be filled and refreshed by your Holy Spirit. We ask it in Jesus name.

Amen.