All right, open up your Bibles to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter four, verses 11 through 13. Probably a pretty familiar passage of scripture for you. Philippians chapter four, verses 11 through 13. The title of the message today is Christian contentment in a world mad with evil. Christian contentment in a world mad with evil. Evil abounds all around us. And people have gone absolutely mad with it. They revel in it in ways that should and does cause distress among those who love God. It is just every day I think, well, I've seen it all now, only for tomorrow to come and something worse happen or whatever, be in the news, whatever. And it is, it can be discouraging. But what I want you to know, and what I want to try to communicate to you this morning is this. As Christians, we can have a contentment that surpasses the discouragement that we have to deal with every day. We can't help but be discouraged What we can do about that is look to Christ and set our eyes upon Christ and upon His word and there are some things from the scriptures that should help us to arrive at a sense of contentment. So brothers and sisters, we must not be distressed. But let's be encouraged because we serve a sovereign God who reigns over His creation and he accomplishes whatever he wants to. So let us cultivate in ourselves the ageless grace of Christian contentment. Philippians chapter four, verse 11. We find Paul here writing, of course, to the Philippians. He writes to them. from prison, essentially. He had been arrested by the Roman government. And he speaks of wondrous things for one who is imprisoned, okay? He says, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. That last verse, I feel like it's abused. and used to justify just about everything, but I find greater comfort in knowing that He is speaking there to us about spiritual things. Yes, He provides material blessings and we should be thankful for those that we receive from Him, but how much more wonderful and valuable are those spiritual things that Christ provides for us? So let's bow our heads again for prayer before we go into this message. Dear Heavenly Father, again we come before your throne of grace to praise your name. And we ask, Lord, your blessing upon the reading of this passage of scripture and those that we shall also read here this morning. and we pray for your Holy Spirit to teach us, to speak to us, to convict us, to draw us to you, whatever you desire, oh Lord, because we know that's what's best for each of us. So Lord, we pray for these things to happen this morning, and we pray that your name might be glorified. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So this morning, I wanna give you five things that if God the Holy Spirit is pleased to establish them in our hearts should bring us great encouragement and contentment as we live in this world gone mad with sin. The first of these is the purpose of God. All things that have ever come to pass in this world, both great and small, both prosperous and adverse, both pleasing and painful, both good and bad, all things have come to pass according to God's eternal, immutable, unalterable purpose. If we learn this in our heart, then we will learn how to be content. Turn to Romans chapter 11, if you will. Romans chapter 11, verse 33, we'll read a few verses there. The purpose of God. God has a great purpose, and we lose sight of that when we look out at all this that's going on around us and get discouraged. We must remember God has a great purpose, that He is working that purpose out according to His plan and in His timing. and everything he has purposed will come to pass. Romans 11, 33, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out, for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor? Now I can give you a whole list of folks that think they know the mind of the Lord, and yet what they utter forth from their mouths are so far away from the truth and from God's word that it's shameful. Let's continue, verse 35. Note this, or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever, amen. What can we give to God, first of all, that he hasn't given to us to begin with? Our ties? Well, who gave us that? God did. And we give back to him. Our talent. Our time. Our treasure, those are all things given to us first by God himself and we should give back to him of those things. But we should know where they came from. We should know where our blessings come from and recognize that and praise God for that and know this, God's not through blessing us. He has more in store for us. We don't deserve it, but He gives it out of His love for us, for His people. He has a purpose for us. That purpose is to prepare us for an eternity with Him. And part of that purpose will involve Him giving to us the things that we need. And when we realize that, when we know that God has a purpose, and that it is good, then that will bring contentment to our hearts. Secondly, the providence of God. Everything in heaven Everything on earth, everything in hell is sovereignly ruled and governed and manipulated by God, who works in His infinite wisdom according to His own holy purpose for the eternal spiritual good of His people. Nothing in this universe breathes or moves without God's decree and God's direction. Turn to Romans 8, 28, a verse you also should know well. But we know that God cares for his creation. He sustains it. He keeps it going. But we also can know this, he particularly cares for his people. Romans 8, 28, and we know that all All, not just the good things, but even those things that we might call bad, all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are of thee called according to his purpose. Well, who are those who love God truly? Those whom he has regenerated. those whom he has called to himself, those whom he has brought to conversion. That's who loves God, okay? And he works all things for good for them. We should understand that because sometimes we can think that God is mad at us. that he's getting us for something we've done. That's not how God works. Even those things that, again, that we think aren't good or bad, we see them as bad. God works in them, in us, to bring good to us. How wonderful is that? So as I look out there in this old world and I see all this evil abounding, And when I begin to wonder, God, why are you permitting this? Why don't you just strike this down right now, okay? I've got to know that God is working out his purpose. That he has, he is executing his providence to bring about good for his people. And when we get to that point where we can realize that, that will generate great contentment in us. Third, so that we've seen the purpose of God, the providence of God, let's talk about the power of God. Our God is almighty. I love that word almighty. The only time I ever use it and I ever hear it used is in the context of God. Almighty God. He has purposed to do us good and He has the power to accomplish His purpose. He can back it up, that what He has said in His word, the promises that He has made. He can back all that up because He has omnipotent power to do so. Let's ask old Nebuchadnezzar, turn back in the Old Testament for a moment to Daniel chapter four. Rather than get discouraged by all these people prancing about, acting as if they can do whatever they want to, and that God won't do anything to them, Rather than get discouraged by that, I turn to scriptures and I read things like what we're about to read here in Daniel. I'll read about old King Nebuchadnezzar. God had raised him up to be king. He raises up all kings. They're all in his hands, their hearts are in his hands, he turns them like a river, as the scriptures tell us, okay? Whether they're good or evil, whether they believe in him and worship him or not, God has raised up the powers that be. Old Nebuchadnezzar had been raised up. He had been very successful in the way that people look at things, the world looks at things. He had a great kingdom he was ruling over. He had all measure of wealth. He had the ability to give a command and it be carried out. And he got to be full of himself. And he began to think about what a great person he was. And God steps in to remind him that it is God who is in control and that God's power far exceeds any power we might have here on this earth, any individual or group of people or nations might have. God's power exceeds all of that. And in Nebuchadnezzar's case, he found himself out in the pasture eating grass like a wild animal. And finally, in Daniel chapter four, verses 34 and 35, we see, and at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven. and mine understanding returned unto me. And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. Now I think that's a remarkable statement for a man to make. Nebuchadnezzar was used to measuring his kingdom by physical boundaries. We control this land, this territory. From this river to that river, from those mountains to the sea, that's mine. That's how I measure things. Notice what he says about how God measures his kingdom. It's not a physical measurement. It's one that goes from generation to generation. Nebuchadnezzar came face to face with his mortality in all of this, I believe, and he knew that at some point his kingdom would come to an end because he wouldn't be there anymore. But he recognizes that God goes from generation to generation. God supersedes time. That demonstrates or expresses to us a part of the great power that God has. Verse 35. Nebuchadnezzar continues and says, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Now there's been a lot of people who've questioned God. I'm sure you probably have, I know that I have. And that's not a boast. That's a confession of sin. There have been a lot of people that could have said to God, what are you doing? What do us out? But nobody can hold God accountable to answer that. God doesn't have to answer to anybody. He does what he wishes because he is God. He is the Almighty. So what does that have to do for us today? A lot of people are raising themselves up today in defiant, sinful opposition to God and saying they know best, that their way is the best way, and that they're not accountable to anybody. We see it in government, we see it in the public arena, we see it in society, we see it in all kinds of ways. But I'm here to tell you this morning that they are accountable. I'm here to tell you this morning that at some point, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that God is God, that Jesus is King. And it's best that we learn to do that while we're here on this earth. Because if it comes to that day of judgment, and we haven't done that, and we haven't acknowledged that Christ is not only Savior but King, not only King but Savior, at that point, that knee is gonna be forced to bow and that tongue is gonna be forced to confess something that's been denied the person's entire life. But they will, because he is God. How many examples from Scriptures do we need to see, to know that He is powerful? We see it demonstrated all throughout the Scriptures. I've seen it demonstrated in life, in experience. I know what it means to surrender to God. I'd always, growing up, I'd always heard that term that a man had surrendered to the ministry or surrendered to preach. I didn't fully understand that until God called me to preach. And I ran. And I tried to avoid it and deny that God had put that call on my life. And I absolutely came to a point Or in prayer, I'm like, God, I can't do this anymore. I can't run from you. I don't understand it, but I know that you are calling me to preach, and I yield, I give in. I can't fight against you anymore. I know what that feels like. I know that he's powerful. And I know that when he is good and ready, that all this evil around us will be judged. I believe that judgment's already begun, in fact. Now how he carries it out, that's in his hands. And all I can say is, to God be the glory. Whatever pleases you most, Lord, Now I pray, Lord, if it please you, bring a revival to sweep this land. I pray that you've reserved to yourself thousands who haven't bowed the knee to Baal that will, when you're ready, you will regenerate them and bring them to conversion, and I pray for that revival to come. And if so, then to God be the glory. But if it's to be judgment, I'm prepared still to say, to God be the glory. Whatever pleases Him the most. Because He is that powerful. He is God Almighty. We can safely trust in Him. His mighty power, therefore, provides contentment for us. Fourth thing. Purpose, providence, power, and now the presence of God. We need to keep our lives free from the things of this world, particularly the love of money and things. And we need to learn how to be content with what we have As Paul told the Philippians in our opening text. Turn to Hebrews chapter 13 now. You see something I think we don't value enough. Maybe I should say at least a lot of people I think don't value greatly enough. is how important the very presence of God is to us. We cannot get through a day without the presence of God. He gives us air to breathe, first of all. He gives us the other things that we need. He takes care of us. But it's more than that. It's that relationship, it's that closeness we can feel to God. And if we're not feeling that, that's not God, it's not His fault. It's because we have embraced sin and we've turned away from God. But that very presence of God is so important for us. Hebrews chapter 13, verse five, Let your conversation, you know, this is King James English here, so conversation is a lot of times more than just the words we say, it's also the things that we do, okay? Our actions. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For he has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Okay? How often do we get looking around at people in this world who are living obviously sinful lives and they seem to be blessed with abundance. They have all the material things they could possibly want, yet they covet more. And we begin looking at that and sometimes we covet and we want that, but we have something far greater. That's the very presence of God. He has said he will never leave us or forsake us. Verse six, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what men shall do unto me. Here's a trap that a lot of Christians fall into, a lot of believers, and they have over the centuries. This trap is we begin to gather to ourselves material things, And then the world comes along and wants us to compromise and take on worldly actions, worldly thinking, contrary to what we know the scriptures teach us. And because we don't want to give up those material things, we go along. I think a prime example of this is a lot of congregations today, or at least so-called churches today, who have been blessed materially and they want to keep that going so much so that the bodies and the buildings and the budgets become more important than simple obedience to God. And when that happens, these churches compromise. They compromise doctrinally, and they begin to accept practices that they wouldn't have before, but they accept them now because they don't wanna lose what they have. They're afraid that bodies are gonna walk out the doors. And that's a horrible place to be. If not compromising with the world means that you have less people worshiping in your congregation, then so be it. Because what we need to keep our eyes on is the very presence of God with us. To just bring in bodies just to bring in bodies will bring in division, it will bring in deviation from doctrine, and it will create a kind of separation between you and God. Not that God removes himself from us completely, not from his people, he doesn't, but we'll feel like that because things aren't gonna be right, and we'll know it. Praise God, we can repent and turn back to Him when this happens. And He receives us and He takes us in and He reminds us of His presence. But let us learn to value that presence so much that we don't so quickly walk away from it to embrace sin. If you are one of God's believing children, then the omnipotent eternal God is with you. And surely the presence of God with you should give your heart contentment at all times. And then the last one, the promises of God. Open the book of God's promises. and you will find a rich source of contentment for your soul. Turn to 2 Peter chapter one. Verses three and four. 2 Peter chapter one verses three and four. You see for, Everyone who is in Christ Jesus, we have been given access to the greatest promises that we could ever imagine. 2 Peter 1 verse 3, according is His divine power. So it's not up to me and my power. It's not up to me and what I do. It's all about God and His power. According, as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Here's that word all again from our Bible study. All, and it's qualified here, right? We know what all things are. They are all things that pertain unto life and godliness. What is the most important thing to the believer? Life and godliness. The fact that we've been given spiritual life and then the fact that we can live lives that are pleasing to God because we obey His word. Obedience. What are these things? Well, they may include physical or temporal things, but I think it much more refers to spiritual things, such as spiritual life and all that comes with that. So, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. How amazing is this, okay? These exceeding great and precious promises. That by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. You want to escape all this corruption around us? Partake in the divine nature by experiencing the promises that God has made to his people. These promises are not just reserved for heaven. Praise be to God for those that are in heaven and that we will experience in heaven, but we are given these promises for right now, as we live life now. And they are amazing. And for the Christian, for the believer, the true believer in Christ, these things should be more precious to us than silver and gold. These things should be more precious to us than power or authority or fame. First Timothy chapter six, I'm gonna read this passage as well, starting at verse six. But godliness with contentment is great gain. Obedience and being pleased, happy to be obedient, content to be obedient. How often do we obey grudgingly? How often do we obey Because, well, I have to do this. That's a measure of obedience. But how much better is it to obey with joy? Even if we don't understand, even if we don't know exactly what's going on, even if we don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring, we are still content to obey God's word. How wonderful is that, and how good that is for us. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us therewith, let us be therewith content. So God's great promises, Guarantee for us riches beyond what this world can provide, and what contentment that should provide us. I wanna go back to the opening text, Philippians chapter four, and read that one more time. Verse 11, not that I speak in respect of want. If anyone could have been appealing to the people for help, it was the Apostle Paul. And there were times he did ask for certain things. that how often do we see prominent pastors today begging for money to be sent in, or begging for this or that? You don't see Paul doing that. He says, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned. And whatsoever state I am, whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content, I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things. For Paul, that meant I can get through this prison sentence. For Paul, that meant I can face execution and martyrdom. because I know God is with me and I am content. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. If you're not at that point in your life where you both know what Paul is talking about and you've gotten to that point yourself, then you better soon do that. Because at the rate things are headed, judgment is gonna grow more and more severe, and things are gonna get more and more difficult around us. Now I fully believe God will take care of us, and he'll see us through those things. But that could mean martyrdom in some people's cases. It could mean a great amount of suffering. God will still see you through it. And we must learn how to be content so that we're not drug kicking and screaming through whatever it is we're gonna face. But rather we can march through whatever we're gonna face with a smile on our face and a conviction in our hearts that we are serving Almighty God and that His will is being done. Let us learn and cherish and practice Christian contentment with all manner of confidence and enthusiasm. This vile world around us needs to see that in God's people. It may please God to bring some out of that number, regenerate them and bring them to conversion and set them on that eternal path to glory. But it also might please God to take our example and on judgment day say, you were warned. Whichever it is, God will be glorified. Let us learn contentment in serving God. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we again wanna thank you so much for your grace and your mercy and your love for us. And we thank you, Lord, that you have not just left us alone here in this world, but that you are with us with your purpose, your providence, your power, your presence, and your promises. We thank you that you are indeed an almighty God. Help us, Lord, to be more faithful to you and to serve you in contentment, with Christian contentment. Lord, I pray that you would take your word, that you would work upon the hearts of all those who have heard it or will hear it, and that you'll work in their lives, Lord, as you please. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.