How Can I Be Satisfied — E.A. Johnston

Solomon’s Wealth and Earthly Success

I'm sure you have heard of King Solomon. He was not only a very wise man, but a very rich man. In fact, the Bible says King Solomon was wealthier than any man before him or after him. King Solomon was so rich he could stick Bill Gates and Warren Buffet in his shirt pocket.

The Bucket List and the Pursuit of Pleasure

I know some of you have a bucket list of things you want to do in life and places you'd like to visit. I know I had a bucket list for traveling. I wanted to visit the Parthenon in Athens and see the Colosseum in Rome.

I wanted to visit the Blue Grotto on the Isle of Capri and see that fantastic blue water of that cave. Well, I got to do all those things and more. Some of you have achieved much in life and have done much of what you set out to do.

You can say you were satisfied by achieving these things. Well, King Solomon was like that. He had a big bucket list in life and he had the means and the money to fulfill his wildest desires. He says in his book, Ecclesiastes, I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven.

I said, my heart, go to now. I will prove thee with mirth. Therefore, enjoy pleasure. So King Solomon set out to experience all the pleasures of life, all the pleasures that money could buy. Can you imagine, friend, having so much money that you could go where you want, when you want, buy what you want, when you want, with no limits?

Solomon’s Possessions and Limitless Wealth

That's the kind of dough this old boy had. Listen to what he did. I made me great works. I builded me houses. I planted me vineyards. I made me gardens and orchids. I planted trees of them and all kinds of fruits.

I gathered me also silver and gold. I remember when I was young, the price of silver was going through the roof because some Texas millionaires, the Hunt brothers in the 1970s, were trying to corner the silver market.

Well, I took all my savings and I bought bars of silver and I kept them hidden up in my parents' attic. I thought I could get rich quick in silver, but I soon needed money for a car, so I ended up having to sell those silver bars to a neighbor for about what I paid for them.

But people today hoard silver and gold coins, hoping to get rich from it. They even put money in bitcoin. It's just crazy. Well, King Solomon told himself, and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them.

When you read about this man Solomon, you will soon learn he had in today's dollars over a hundred million dollars in gold coming to him every month. He got the gold bug. And his throne was a great throne of ivory overlaid with pure gold.

All his drinking vessels were pure gold. None were silver. In fact, this guy was so rich when the Queen of Sheba came to visit him, she said she had trouble believing the fame about him until she came and saw it for herself.

And she said that it exceeded the fame she had heard. King Solomon was a man who had it all. He'd been everywhere, done everything. He was the man of the world. In fact, he owned a good portion of it.

The Emptiness of Wealth, Pleasure, and Unrestrained Desire

But the craziest thing about this guy is the fact that the Bible says King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Well, that's a train wreck getting ready to happen. It's hard enough for a man to keep one woman happy, let alone a thousand.

Can you imagine the credit card bills? But with all this money and with all those lovely ladies, King Solomon says a startling thing. He says, I hated life. Money can't buy happiness, friend. I remember watching a TV interview years ago with the actor Peter Falk, who played Detective Columbo on TV.

He said all his Hollywood friends, the producers and the actors that he knew, he said no matter how much money they had, every one of them was miserable. That's what he said. You know, you can taste so much of life, friend, that you realize it's just all an empty bubble.

It's like this. Here is man. And it's as if he's riding in a boat in the river of life, going along with the current, tasting life's enjoyments and pleasures as they come and go. And after a while, things begin to lose their taste, lose their excitement.

Some people who chase the world end up with the whirlwind, and they hate life. That's why so many of the rich and famous have committed suicide. Life no longer satisfied them. They were chasing the wind.

King Solomon determined that all was vanity. In all the supposed pleasures of life, he found no satisfaction. The more he tried to find happiness in the things of this world, the more he hated life. He learned some things, though.

Mortality, Vanity, and the Coming Judgment

He wrote, One generation passes away, and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever. He saw that death came to all men alike, and no one was exempt from it. One event happened to them all, and that was death.

He saw that man was no different from the beast, as one died, so did the other. He observed, All go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. King Solomon declared, Regarding mankind, I saw vanity under the sun.

There is no end of all its labor, neither is his eye satisfied with riches. In other words, there is man, there in his boat, going downstream, tasting all he can of life's pleasures, drifting along, continually being pulled by the tide.

But at the end of the journey is a vast cascade, waiting where man will tumble over it into a vast void of death. He'll one day leave this world for another world. Life is short. Eternity is forever. Solomon came to the end of his life much wiser than he was at the beginning, for he had learned repentance toward God, and he came to a final conclusion of life.

The last two verses of his book Ecclesiastes declare, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.

True Satisfaction in Jesus Christ

I don't know about you, friend, but I found out a long time ago that this world does not satisfy. There is only true satisfaction in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came down here so we can go up there.

In John 14, 6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Here, Jesus answers the three greatest questions of the human heart. How can I be saved? Jesus said, I am the way.

How can I be sure? Jesus said, I am the truth. How can I be satisfied? Jesus said, I am the life. And in John 6, 35, Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

The Gospel Invitation to the Hungry and Weary

Listen, friend, the gospel is for the hungry, the weary, and the thirsty. Are you hungry for God? Are you weary of your sins? Are you thirsty for Christ? Christ is the bread of life. He invites poor sinners to come to him and believe on him.

The duty required is to come, and he has a pure gospel promise to all who come. And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Get to Christ, friend, before it's too late. Only Jesus can satisfy.