In a famous line from a song, Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones sang, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” But he was wrong; he could have gotten two types of satisfaction. These two types were both free for the asking. He just never asked for them or looked for them in the right place. What he really meant was that he couldn’t get any satisfaction in the places he was looking.
Only God Himself can provide true satisfaction for us. When we seek deep satisfaction in anything less than God, an emptiness and hollowness creep into our hearts. Sometimes people who have left God out of their lives go so far as to try to fill the vast emptiness of their hearts by committing sin. They might as well try to fill the Grand Canyon by dropping tiny pebbles into it. It just isn’t going to happen. They can try, and try, and go on trying until they die, but they will never find what they are looking for.
Only God can satisfy the deepest longings of our souls for the simple truth, “The love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (Ephesians 3:1919And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. (Ephesians 3:19)). The height, the breadth and the depth of His love are infinite. Love brought the Lord Jesus to this earth, and love led Him to give His life on the cross. His wounds that were opened up on the cross are wounds of love. He arose from the grave and lives forever. From heaven His love is seeking lost sinners to bring them back to God in repentance and faith. This love is enough to fully satisfy our hearts, and nothing else can.
MORE SATISFACTION
This is one type of satisfaction. The second type of satisfaction is equally marvelous. It is the satisfaction for sins the Lord Jesus made at the cross. Our sin has earned each one of us a debt of eternal punishment. “The wages of sin is death,” and they are fearful wages indeed. The debt of sin is a debt that far exceeds our ability to pay. If that debt goes unpaid, we will end up cast out of God’s presence for all eternity in hell.
We owed because of our debt of sin and could not pay it. God could pay it but didn’t owe it. What was to be done? In the wisdom of God, Christ became a man. In a moment of time, He who was God from all eternity also became a member of the human race in what is known as the incarnation. As a man He could suffer and die and pay a debt He didn’t owe. His death on the cross has an infinite value to cancel the debt of sin. Because of His sacrificial death, all who believe in Him may receive the forgiveness of sins. This is the second type of satisfaction. It is the satisfaction for sin that the Lord Jesus made at the cross. Because of this, sinners who come to Christ may have their slates wiped clean. “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 13:3838Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: (Acts 13:38)).
Where are you looking for satisfaction? Are you going through life looking for satisfaction in places you’ll never find it? Are you trying to find it in sin, which will only further alienate you from God? Or will you come to Christ so that you may know His measureless love? What you do with Christ will make all the difference in your life for time and eternity.
She’s Got a Ticket to Ride is another song with lessons hidden in it.