Ryan Swanson: Hello and welcome to the Satisfied program here on the Thee Generation podcast. Good to have you here listening once again as we start our third episode. Here on Satisfied, we seek to be less gratified and more satisfied with Jesus Christ. We’re going to look at a key truth here at the beginning from Romans chapter eight, and then we’re going to launch into a practical step from Ecclesiastes chapter four. Okay, so here we go, Romans chapter eight, verses 12 and 13.

I’ll read you these verses and then I’ve got a quick question for you. It says, therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the spirit do mortify or kill the deeds of the body, ye shall live. So the question I’ve got for you today is in what ways are you choosing to mortify the deeds of the flesh?

In what ways are you deciding daily to kill that desire to please yourself, that desire to be gratified. Remember we talked about the difference between satisfied and gratified. Satisfaction is a delight and an eternal purpose. But gratification is the demand for immediate pleasure. It’s what we want right now.

So what decisions are you making to prove to your body, to prove to your flesh that it can’t have what it wants when it wants it? Well, to find that decision that you need to make, ask yourself first, What things am I doing in a day just because I want to? Just because it feels good. Now you’re probably going to end up with some answers there of things that are not wrong, at least not inherently. But in turning to those things, you’re actually using them.

They’re becoming a coping mechanism because you’re turning to them to be gratified. So take eating, for example. There may be downtime, you may be discouraged, you may be in one of those moments where you have so many things to do that you don’t want to start on anything. So you just go and eat something. And to you, that could be a point of gratification where you’re turning to and where your flesh is learning that, hey, I can get what I want when I want it.

So when you’re tempted to go and look at something, you’ve already trained your flesh that you can have what you want when you want it. Where does that stop? So instead you need to teach your flesh another lesson. You need to put it in its place. So why don’t you do something like declare a fast and take a time, a meal, two meals, a day, two days, whatever the Lord leads you to, that you’re saying, you know what, I’m not going to turn to that thing at all.

I’m not going to give my flesh what it wants when it wants it. Okay, then what’s another area that maybe we’re being gratified that we can make a decision this week to mortify the deeds of the flesh? Well, you’ve probably not considered this one maybe, but think about a shower at the end of a day, maybe a long day where you’re tired, a long day of school or work and you’re tired and you come. And man, that water turned up to that certain heat just gets you and that is just so easy to stay in there as long as we want to just because it feels good. Remember, just because we want to.

Now, don’t worry, there is no way that I want to suggest a shower fast for the teenagers of America. Uh-uh, that would not be a good thing. But I do want to just reference a young man from this last month who realized that the shower was an opportunity to declare to his flesh that it couldn’t have what it wants when it wants it. So you know what he did? Two things.

He set a timer, left it in another room. So he knew that if he didn’t get out there in time, that timer’s gonna be going off and everyone else in there is gonna be wondering what’s going on. So he’s gotta get in and out of that shower. So in the time aspect, he’s limited that to a time he had purposed. And then he even went further to make sure that the water temperature was not even as hot as he liked it.

He made it a little bit colder so it’s uncomfortable and he’s just in and out of there. Man, he took that opportunity to mortify the deeds of the flesh. Now that’s super practical and down to earth, but in what ways are you being gratified? And what steps can you take to prove to your flesh that uh-uh, you can’t have what you want when you want it. The Spirit’s in control from now on.

This is how you set yourself up to be less gratified. More satisfied with Jesus and a walk in the spirit. All right, now I want us to turn over to Ecclesiastes 4:9–10. Let me read this to you, and then I’ll explain why this is one of the most crucial passages in the battle for moral integrity. It says, “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.” Last summer I was going into Milwaukee where I’d been working with and discipling several people and families there. And as I walked into this area, there’s a man named Dre, middle-aged guy who was sitting on a lawn chair outside of his house. And as I was walking up, he spotted me and he happened to have in his hand a full bottle of vodka that he had just cracked the top off of and was about to down. And he saw me coming up. And he quickly just held that out there in front of him and turned it upside down.

And both of us stood without a word, just watching every last drop of that vodka drip onto the ground. It was honestly kind of comical, but he didn’t think it was funny at all. He felt terrible. And he looked at me and he apologized up and down. He said, I don’t know how I could turn back to this after everything you’ve taught me.

And I spent the next probably half an hour there just talking about how he could turn back to Jesus now. So let me ask you, what was it that made the difference from him drinking every last drop of that to him dumping every last drop of that vodka on the ground? It was just simply the presence of another believer there. There was something about when he was no longer alone, that sin looked completely different for him. And that stuff didn’t look good at all.

There’s no way he would have put a drop of that in his mouth with me standing there. But if I hadn’t been there, he probably would have drank the whole thing. Now, of course, he had no excuse whether I was there or not. It was wrong regardless. But in the presence of another believer, there is safety.

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him that is alone when he falleth. In what ways are you alone? And we talked about last week, actually a way that you can be accompanied by someone even on your technology, even if they’re not there physically by having a filter in that episode last month called Buy a Filter or Be a Filter.

So we talked about Covenant Eyes software and there’s other softwares as well that just make it possible for others to view and be aware of what you’re doing on your technology at all times. So in that way, now we’re not alone in the way we’re using our technology. That’s great, but what about in our minds? That’s where the smallest and the first compromises happen that lead to bigger things. So how in the world are we going to be accompanied in those times in our mind when no one can see what’s going on?

You see, this matter of being alone is not just physical because you can be sitting in a classroom, you can be sitting in church and be absolutely slaughtered on the battlefront in your mind and completely give in and people sitting all around you have no idea what’s going on inside your mind. You’re the only one that knows. You are alone, even in an environment like that you are completely alone. So what is it really talking about to be alone here? And how can you solve that?

The question is, are you answering to someone for what’s going on inside your head? Or is that matter of what you think on completely isolated from anyone else? Over the next several podcasts, we are going to look at a strategy for accountability. Something that I think is not the only thing for victory. But in a lot of cases, it’s the only thing that’s missing.

It will make all the difference and it’s coming from these passages, especially this one in Ecclesiastes chapter four. We’re going to study this out through the next several podcasts and there’s exciting truth coming. But let me say, it has to start with one thing. This matter of honesty and letting other people know what’s going on inside your head, it must start with confession. Now you say, I know Ryan, I’ve tried that and it didn’t work.

I’ve tried that multiple times. And I know where you’re coming from because I can think of times as a teenager when I was at the same spot. I’m thinking I’d hear a preacher preach on confession and I would just think, why? I’ve tried that. It does not work.

Well, let me tell you what our problem is with our view of confession. When you and I, and you can probably think times back to when you’ve done this before, we go and confess things to our parents or to a pastor or to someone in authority. We confess it to them and then honestly we feel really good inside all of a sudden. Like we’ve taken a proper step and there is a liberty and a freedom that comes and we actually can trust in that feeling as the actual feeling of victory. And we think because I’ve done this, oh yes now I finally kicked it.

I’m free. I don’t have to worry about this anymore and we depend on the actual confession instead of our Savior who’s waiting to take us on the next step of the journey, that confession is just the start of it. And so generally even within days, we’re falling back into where we were, sometimes worse. It’s so discouraging and it’s a cycle. And most of us have been there.

So I’m not presenting to you that confession is the only step to victory. And you know, let’s be honest, that’s lots of times how it comes across in preaching. If you’ll just confess this, That is the answer and you will be free. Confession is not the only step to victory, but it is always the first step. You know the verse Proverbs 28 13, He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

If I spent this whole satisfied program focusing on how to forsake, which is honestly really exciting, but if we never preceded that with a confession that has to come first, it wouldn’t work. You have to get honest. Dr. Jim in his podcast last week, we heard another part of his message on the coinfections of moral impurity, and he talked of deceitfulness. The matter of how good we get at hiding and covering for our sin.

Well, you know, a great way to put our flesh in its place this week is to get help and go to confess, get honest with someone. Don’t be alone. Go to a parent, a pastor, the ones that need to know. Open up and be honest with them now. They may not totally understand what you’re going through, but that’s fine.

That’s not their fault. Number one, they probably grew up in an environment that was quite a bit different from ours. The material was probably not as readily available to them as it is to us, and they probably were not exposed to pornographic material as early as many of us were. So they may not understand the severity of this addiction in your life, but you need to get honest with them. Lay it out there, ask them for help, tell them in ways that you’ve compromised and ask them to be a part of your victory.

Again, it’s not the only step, it’s not the last step, it’s the first step. But in every step after this, your parent, your authority needs to be a part of it. They need to be a part of your victory. So it must start there. Look, maybe in the past you’ve done that and you’ve kind of felt like you’ve been left alone and haven’t known the next step to take.

Well, we want to help and we want to lead you. And there are steps in a battle plan to be taken up after this and as we continue on in Ecclesiastes chapter four, it’s going to be awesome. And I promise you, you’re not going to be left without knowing what the next steps are. But this is the first one. I know it’s difficult to get honest, but I don’t know of anyone who has won the battle on moral integrity that has fought it alone.

You can’t do it alone. You need help and start with those that deserve to know. Now, because I know this is a difficult decision and it’s hard to know when to have that conversation. And it’s easy just to procrastinate, put this off more and more. Here’s what I’m going to offer to you and suggest to you.

Sit down right now and shoot me an email at satisfied@theegeneration.org and just say, Ryan, here’s, I’ve got some things you don’t have to tell me what, but I’ve got some things that I need to confess to my parents. Will you pray for me? I’m planning to have this meeting at this time. Okay. You sending that to me is already doing several things for you.

Number one, you’ve got someone praying for you. I will be praying for you by name during that time that the Lord will give you grace and boldness. Number two, you’re already coming to a point of honesty by just at least telling me those things. You’re already mortifying the deeds of the flesh by doing that and getting honest even just putting in an email that you need to confess is going to help you take a step towards actually getting honest with those that need to know. And thirdly, you’re putting a stake down.

You’re saying I’m going to do this. You’re putting a time and date saying, plan to do it this time. I’m not going to procrastinate it. I’m going to do this. There’s no backing out now.

Look, all that can be done in a simple email. So send that to satisfied@theegeneration.org and I will be praying for you. Look, next month’s podcast is entitled The Threefold Cord. It’s going to be a powerful look at what biblical accountability is supposed to look like. It’s also going to be from this passage in Ecclesiastes chapter four, as we look at the next couple of verses.

We will look at who you should be regularly accountable with, how often and what should be communicated. I’m convinced that this passage holds a key truth that will unlock the victory that so many men and women have been seeking after. Join me next time, but until then take that step the Spirit is leading you to do right now to be less gratified and more satisfied.