Commence our service this evening
by singing hymn number 886. The tune is Samuel, number 560. I seek and hope to find a portion
for my soul, to heal a feverish mind and make a bankrupt whole,
a cup of blessing for the poor that's free and full and flowing
o'er, Whatever I wish or want can come from thee alone. Thou
canst my heart content, then let thy grace be shown. I choose
thee for my portion, Lord, supply me well from mercy's board. In number 886, June Samuel, number
560. ? Stand to thank the push of the
golden sun ? ? To live a free British life ? ? And make the
land of Britain strong ? God bless thee, O Lord God bless
thee, and all thy people. ? Blessed is the heaven ? ? That
brought me to this world ? ? Where for shallow worries ? ? Dare
not contend ? O say can you see, by the dawn's
early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's ? God save the Queen ? ? Thy portion
evermore ? ? For our good they told me ? ? Never to fear ? ? I do ? ? My head beholds the
handsome one ? ? There by the oil and grain he doeth ? O come, O come, Emmanuel O come,
O come, Emmanuel O come, O come, Emmanuel ? Reconciliation ? ? The beauty
of our culture, Lord ? ? Some might be proud of her as it should ? Let us turn together in God's
holy word to Psalms 37. Psalm 37. Fret not thyself because of evildoers,
neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For
they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the
green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good,
so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires
of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. and he shall
bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment
as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for him. Fret not thyself because of him
who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake
wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise
to do evil, for evildoers shall be cut off, but those that wait
upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while,
and the wicked shall not be, yea, thou shalt diligently consider
his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the
earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The
wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his
teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him,
for he seeth that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn
out the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and
needy. and to slay such as be of upright
conversation. Their short sword shall enter
into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. A little
that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many
wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall
be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. The Lord knoweth
the day of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in
the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish,
and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs. They
shall consume into smoke, shall they consume away. The wicked
borroweth, and payeth not again, but the righteous showeth mercy
and giveth. For such as be blessed of him
shall inherit the earth, and they that be cursed of him shall
be cut off. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he
shall not be utterly cast down, For the Lord upholdeth him with
his hand. I have been young, and now am
old, that I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed
begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth,
and his seed is blessed. Depart from evil and do good,
and dwell forevermore. For the Lord loveth judgment,
and forsaketh not his saints, They are preserved forever, but
the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall
inherit the land and dwell therein forever. The mouth of the righteous
speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law
of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide.
The wicked watches the righteous and seeketh to slay him. The
Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he
is judged. Wait on the Lord, and keep his
way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land. When the
wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. I have seen the wicked
in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not. Yea, I sought him, but
he could not be found. Mark the perfect man, and behold
the upright, for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors
shall be destroyed together, and the end of the wicked shall
be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord.
He is their strength in the time of trouble, and the Lord shall
help them and deliver them He shall deliver them from the wicked
and save them because they trust in him. May the Lord add his
blessing to the reading of his word and may we help to continue
in prayer. ever-merciful and almighty God,
King of kings and Lord of lords, sovereign ruler of the skies,
we bow before thee once more at the throne of grace, thanking
thee for the privilege of prayer, that we who are the creation
are able to approach thee, the creator. Thou who art holy, we
who are sinful are able to come through thee, living way made
by thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank thee for
the throne of grace. We thank thee that we can obtain
mercy and help in our time of need. We thank thee for our great
high priest who ever lives to intercede for us. We thank thee
that he is able to be touched with the feelings of our infirmities
and with tried and tempted in all points as we are yet without
sin. We thank thee for the the gift
of the Holy Spirit that thou hast granted unto thy people,
that we may be taught this evening hour how to pray, that we may
offer up requests according to thy own will, and that thou grant
us the answers to our petitions. We do acknowledge, O Lord, that
there is nothing that is too hard for thee, that no man can
stay or stop thy hand or say unto thee, what doest thou? Thou
art able to do far more than we can ask or think. Thou art
able, Lord, to make the mountains become a plain. Thou art able
to make the crooked things straight. Thou art able to bring a sinner
from darkness into light. We do acknowledge, O Lord, that
even in our own lives, every detail is known by Thee. And we are able to lay the small
things at the throne of grace and the big things also. We do
thank Thee, O Lord, that Thou art the loving Heavenly Father
of Thy people. We thank Thee, O Lord, that through
the Lord Jesus Christ, we can approach Thee as our King and
yet as our Father. And we thank Thee, O Lord, for
the wonderful way in which Thou art able to work in the lives
of Thy people, to bring them to that knowledge of Thyself.
And we thank Thee for the wonderful blessings that are bestowed upon
thy people, that we are no more strangers and foreigners, but
we are fellow heirs of the kingdom of God. We thank thee that we
have been adopted into thy family, and that thou dost care for us,
and that thou dost know the things that we have need of, even before
we ask of thee. Thou art more acquainted with
our own lives than we are ourselves. And we pray, Lord, that as we
have come for a little while to worship thee this night, we
pray that the power of thy Holy Spirit might be known amongst
us, and that thy word might be taken and applied to our never-dying
souls, that we may feed off the spiritual word this evening hour. Lord, we have come from many
different places, many things have occupied us during the day,
many thoughts have been processed in our minds, Many labours have
been undertaken by our bodies and we come now to worship thee,
our creator. We ask, Lord, that all distracting
thoughts might be removed from our minds this night and we might
know the peace of the Holy Spirit. And we pray that each one who
has gathered this evening hour might have known that they have
seen no man save Jesus only. We pray, Lord, to work amongst
us. Let us know the conditions of
the hearts and minds of each of us this evening. And we're
able to see us laid out before thee. And we pray, Lord, that
each need might be met. We pray for those who are struggling. Lord, we ask that thou undertake
and bless them. Do grant strength where strength
is needed. Do grant calmness of mind calmness
of mind is needed. We pray for those who are anxious
about the future pathways and those, Lord, who are troubled
by the things that they hear. We pray for those who are troubled
in their minds. We know we live in a high-pressured
society in a modern age, and there are many who travel with
weaknesses of the mind, with mental health issues, Lord, We
pray that Thou undertake and help them. We pray that they,
this night, might know the peace of the Holy Spirit and the comfort
of Thy holy word. Thy word might be applied to
bring about a calming of the troubled mind as the sea was
calmed on Galilee. We pray, Lord, that the storms
of people's lives may know that resting and that peace that passes
our understanding. We pray, Lord, for those who
are not feeling well, unable to be with us this night, to
undertake for them and grant healing. And we think of Mr. Rutt also. We thank the Lord
for the many mercies that are bestowed upon him, travelling
mercies and taking him to Canada. And we pray that thou bless his
labours there. We thank the Lord for the news
of the moving of thy spirit and encouraging one and another to
follow the Lord Jesus Christ through a baptism. And we pray
that Thou bless those who have ventured forward in faith to
grant them that desire, that ability to follow the Lord Jesus
and to shine as a light in a dark place, enable them to be faithful
and true to the Lord Jesus, to help them, Lord, in their new
pathway. and we pray that they may know
the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich. We thank thee that
thou hast brought him home in peace and in safety, and we pray
that he may recover from his journeyings, and that he may
be restored to the pulpit on thy day, and do grant him freedom
and liberty in the ministry of thy word, and do pour in, Lord,
that he may pour out, and we pray that thou bless congregation
and bless the church continually through his labours. We pray,
Lord, for this village also and those who live round about this
chapel. And Lord, we ask that thou work in their hearts. We
pray that there may be a moving of thy Holy Spirit in this neighbourhood
to bring about a conviction of sin, to bring about a condition
of being in want that this world will not be able to satisfy.
We ask that they may view the text upon the chapel building,
that thy word may have an effect upon their souls to bring them
into conviction of their sins, if it could please thee. We pray,
Lord, that thou render heavens and come down and do work in
a mighty way in this area, that thy truth may be proclaimed and
that thou have a people to worship thee and call thee blessed. We
pray, Lord, for the young people that attend this place of worship
and the children. We ask for thy blessing to rest
upon them and do keep them, Lord, we pray, as the apple of thine
eye. We ask that thou watch over those
who go to school, do keep them, Lord, from the many temptations
there, and we pray for those who are homeschooled also, we
pray for them, that thou help them and guide them in their
lives, and we pray for the parents that they may be granted great
wisdom and understanding and discernment to know how to raise
the children in thy knowledge and fear. We pray, Lord, that
thou help us and do grant us that ability to know and to do
thy will in all things and to know how to answer their hard
questions and know what to allow and what not to allow. We pray
for guidance and help. Most of all, Lord, we would ask
that that they might be born again. We know that we cannot
change a hard heart, O Lord, but we would ask Thou to do so. Do work, Lord, in the hearts
of the children, that they may seek Thee early and find Thee,
that they may knock at the door of mercy, and that Thou open
it unto them. Do enable them to sit at the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to partake of that one thing
that is needful, Do show them, Lord, that this world is passing
away and do show them, Lord, their need of the Lord Jesus
Christ as their only hope of eternal salvation. We pray for
the younger people, also the decisions that they have to make
in life. Think of college and university. We pray for guidance
to be given to them, enable them, Lord, to commit their way unto
thee and to trust also in thee. We pray that they may be guided
as to thy will in their lives. We pray that they may be guided
also to suitable partners in life. Do enable them, Lord, to
commit these things into thy hands, that they may look as
guided and directed by thy Holy Spirit. And we pray for those
who labour to provide for their families. Do undertake for them
and grant them strength and ability We pray for those who are self-employed.
Do go before them, Lord, and we would ask that they may see
thy hand in the providings of the day-to-day work. Do give
them that ability and provision to provide for their families.
We pray for the mothers also. Do bless them, Lord, and be with
them, help them. Those who stay at home and those
who have to go to work, we ask for thy help to be given to them,
and Lord, that they may be guided and that they may be enabled
to shine as a light and to be faithful witnesses of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We pray that they may be helped
in raising the children to be Godly examples in the home and
in the workplace. We pray that, Lord, that thou
help us to have our mouths seasoned with salt, that we may speak
wisely and we will never be left to bring shame upon thy holy
name. We ask that we may be faithful
witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of great opposition
in our land. Help us, Lord, not to have fear.
Help us not to worry and to be concerned. Help us to commit
all our way unto thee and to be directed and helped. We pray,
Lord, for the older generation and we ask for thy blessing to
rest upon them also, to help them as they feel their bodies
wearying and to grant those who are in need of the assurance
of their salvation. We pray that, Lord, that thou
shed light on the page, that thou shed light in their hearts,
that they may lay hold of Christ and know, Lord, that they are
loved with an everlasting love. We pray thou grant them the assurance
that they need that all is well with their never-dying soul and
that the sting of death has been removed and they can pass from
this world to the next and they are able to remove all fear from
their minds. Do work, Lord, we pray. Those
who are still in old age yet, how do you not know thee? We
ask, Lord, that they may be woken up from their deathly sleep and
given eyes to behold the Lord Jesus Christ as their only hope.
To give them faith, Lord, we pray, to lay hold of the garment
of the Lord Jesus Christ and to trust in his righteousness
alone. We pray, Lord, that they'll work in our lives, that we may
lose sight of our own goodness and our own righteousness and
to lean heavy upon the Lord Jesus as our only hope for salvation. We pray for our nation. Have
mercy, Lord, upon our government. Do work in their hearts bring
them to their knees and to change our laws that they may be according
to thy holy word. We pray, Lord, for our land and
the great unrest that there seems to be at this moment in time.
We think of the soldier who was assaulted yesterday. We pray,
Lord, for him and for his family. Do lay thy healing hand, Lord,
upon him, if it could please thee, and do use this, Lord,
if it could please thee, for the benefit of his never-dying
soul and for that of his family. We pray for the unrest and the
seemingly advancement of hostile Islam in this land of ours and
the hatred which that seems to bring about. We pray, Lord, Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ may go forth with power in this land
of ours, that peace may be known in their hearts, that they may
be changed from the ways of Satan, the ways of darkness, to the
ways of light. Lord, and if, Lord, Thou hast
seen fit to bring judgment upon this land, we pray that Thou
help us to be faithful. Help us to be faithful even unto
death. Help us to remain faithful and true to Thy Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and for the cause of truth. Enable us, Lord, to
live our lives as lights in a dark place. Help us to be faithful
witnesses of the Lord Jesus. Help us to overcome the sins
which so easily beset us. Help us, Lord, not to relax and
to become lukewarm, but to work in our lives to enable us to
bear the name of the Lord Jesus Christ day by day. We pray, Lord,
that there may be working in this land of ours, that the gospel
may go forth with power to bring a great change, a lasting change
to this nation of ours. We pray for the world, for the
unrest and the wars and rumours of wars. Do bring peace, Lord,
we pray. Hear the cries of thy people
and do, Lord, work in a mighty way. We ask that thou remember
those who have gone forth also, to proclaim the gospel, to bless
the ministers of the word, to grant them freedom and liberty
in the ministry, enable them to rightly divide thy word as
truth, help them to study, to show themselves approved of God.
We ask, Lord, that they may know the liberty of the spirit in
the ministry and that they may see the signs following their
labours. We ask that the church may grow and be established in
the truth We ask, Lord, that thou go on to build thy church
and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We pray,
Lord, that others also may be sent forth into the ministry,
for the harvest is truly great, yet the labourers, they are so
few. Do, Lord, work, we pray, for thou has bid us to come to
the throne of grace and to unburden our hearts and our concerns. Thou has told us, Lord, to ask
thee, for thou does know the things that we have need of.
We pray, Lord, for the advancement of the gospel in other lands
also. We pray for Thee, one church,
that Thou art to bless our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ
throughout the world. We pray that Thou art to keep
them faithful. Remember the ministers of the word who are in prison.
Do help them, Lord, and do provide them, if it could please Thee,
with all that they need. We pray for those who seek to
translate Christian books and the scriptures into other languages. Do, Lord, grant them all that
they need, the funding and the ability to translate faithfully
thy word. We pray that we may see a moving,
an advancement of the kingdom of light into the kingdom of
darkness. Lord, we pray that thou go on to do great things
if it could please thee. We pray then, Lord, that thou
draw near to us once again. Lord, we desire to worship thee
in spirit and in truth. We know, Lord, that we are full
of our own selves, no natural ability, and that we pray, Lord,
that this day, this night, that thou draw near unto us, to enable
me to speak in thy name and to rightly divide thy holy word. You pour in, Lord, that I might
be enabled to pour out, that thy strength might be perfected
in weakness. And we pray that thy word may
not return unto thee void, but it might accomplish that wherewith
thou wouldst send it. Do send it, Lord, into our hearts,
we pray, as we ask all of these things with the forgiveness of
our sin. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. We continue our service by singing
hymn number 626, the tune is Beautiful Zion, number 444. Sinners who on Jesus rest must
eternally be blessed. All Jehovah's love can give,
they from Jesus shall receive. Matchless Jesus, May we be wholly
taken up with thee, and in every deep distress lean upon thy truth
and grace. Hymn number 626, tune Beautiful
Zion, number 444. Oh, say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave I call Thee and shall receive
Thee O come all ye faithful joyful
and triumphant O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave May our hope be not denied, And
may God be glorified. Thee, O Jesus, have I come, Thee,
O Jesus, have I come, O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the
bombs bursting in air, O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave? is the life of every living being.
? Hail, oh Christ, the light divine
? ? E'er this world has gone with time ? O praise the Lord, O praise the
Lord, O praise the Lord, O praise the Lord, O praise the Lord,
O praise the Lord. O God, your spirit shall stay
with me. I will be one love with thee. God be loved in every person. We have all thy truth and grace. Seeking the Lord's help to grant
me the ability to speak to you this evening, I'd like you to
turn with me to the chapter that we read together, Psalm 37, and
the text you'll find in verse four. Delight thyself also in
the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. As we read through the psalms
together, you'll notice that there seems to be a battle going
on in the soul of the mind of the psalmist as he examines those
things that are going on around about him outside. and as he
sees what is going on inside his own mind and the oppositions
that that brings to his thoughts and that battle which is taking
place round about him. and how often we read the psalms
and we begin to enter into the experience of the psalmist for,
although they were written many, many years ago, yet they experienced
the same oppositions of Satan, the same oppositions of the world
and the same doubts and fears and hostilities that you and
I, as the believer, feels today. And so he writes his experience
for the pathway in which he was passing through at the time. David says he was writing it
as an old man and he was looking back at his, no doubt his life
and the experiences that the Lord had led him through and
he's able to lay it all out as a song, as a psalm for the people
of Israel to sing of their own experiences. and he writes about
fretting and about trusting and about delighting and about committing
and about resting in the Lord. And so there are those truths
in which he lays hold of to help him to combat the experiences
that he is passing through. He saw the prosperity of the
wicked and that caused worry and fretting and anxiety to be
found within the mind, but then he encourages himself in the
Lord by reminding himself, trust in the Lord, delight thyself
in the Lord, commit thy way unto the Lord, rest in the Lord. So he reminds himself, he encourages
himself in the attributes of God and in seeking to to encourage
himself in the way that the Lord was leading him. And in verse
four, he says, delight thyself in the Lord. We know by our nature,
the nature that we are born with, there is no delight in the Lord. We do not delight by nature in
the things of God, our hearts by their nature are hostile to
the things of God and they take delight in the things of the
world. Verse 1 it says, fret not thyself
because of evildoers and by our nature we are the evildoers,
we are the ones that are prone to evil, we are the ones who
have sinned against God, we are the ones who are in the darkness,
we are the ones who are enemies of our Creator. And so by our
nature there is no delight in the things of God only, a delight
in the things of the world. We delight in things and we see
round about us how this is manifesting itself in the lives of our children,
in the lives of the unbelievers round about us, in the lives
of our neighbours and towns. There is that obsession with
things. People delight in the things
that they can see. They delight in self. We live in a self-centred society
where everyone is delighting in their own body and in their
own enjoyment, in their own pleasures. And so there is no delight in
the things of God. People delight, as the Pharisees
did, in their religion, in their religious ability to fulfil the
law and to seem to appease God. We have the other religions that
are round about us and they delight in their worship, in their rituals,
in which they believe are pleasing their God. And so, people delight
in everything but the one in whom they are meant to be delighting
in. Maybe even tonight, there are
those you'll hear embody out of a ritual, out of a habit,
out of an appeasement to their flesh, but in your heart, there's
no true delight to be here. You're not delighting yourself
in the Lord. You are seeking to appease your
flesh, your conscience, or even your mother or your father, but
you yourself. There's no delight in the things
of God. And if you examine yourself,
you will see that you delight in other things. There are other
things that you place in a higher priority. than the one true living
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, his Son and his beloved Word. If we are honest with ourselves,
if we have any delight for the things of God, it is not a natural
thing. It has been something that has
been given to us by God himself. Our world was once our home. But now we are not at home in
the world anymore. We do not delight in the things
of the world because we have been changed. And if our home
is the world, then we will see that there is no change. We think
of the thoughts that have occupied us during this day. What have
been the majority of those thoughts? how much of those thoughts have
been taken with the delight of the things of God or how much
of them have been taken up with the delight of the things of
this world and by the percentages we can see how much God really
is our delight and how much is the world our delight. Our thought
process reveals to us what takes place within our hearts, what
occupies us during the day. We look at the world round about
us and they're obsessed with self. And self is their delight. Self is their God. It's all about
me. It's all about my happiness,
my enjoyment, my life, my success, my will. And there is no thought
of God crossing their minds. Maybe self is your God tonight. Maybe this one true living God
in whom we are to delight in and who we are to worship has
been knocked off the throne by yourself. And we delight in ourselves. In verse 37 of this same psalm, It tells us there, mark the perfect
man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be
destroyed together and the end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. He is their strength in time
of trouble. Another place it tells us to
depart from evil and to do good. Verse 27, depart from evil and
do good and dwell for evermore. And as the world's delight is
in the things of evil, the scripture tells us to depart from evil
and to do good and that the salvation of the soul is to be found in
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is only through
that transformation of the heart that one is able to turn from
that delighting in the things of the world, that one delighting
in the things that he can see, to adoring the invisible God
and his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is, depart
from evil and to do good, and salvation of the righteousness
of the Lord. He is their strength in the time
of trouble. And so the psalmist has been
brought from that delighting in the things of the world to
delighting in God. He had experienced the transformation
of heart. He had experienced the transformation
of his soul. He had been born again. And in
being born again he saw things in a new light. He saw the world
as passing away. He saw the world as fleeting
and fragile. and he took delight in the one
true living God. So he encourages the believers
who are passing through that time of opposition as they walk
the narrow way that leads to life with the warfare that goes
on around about them. He encourages them, don't fret,
but delight thyself in the Lord. To delight is to have pleasure
in. to have pleasure in the Lord. We cannot know the Lord unless
we know the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture tells us, Jesus
himself says, you cannot know God except you know me. No man
comes to the Father except they go through me. And so to have
any delight in God, we have to have had a delight in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our hope. He is our happiness. He is our pleasure. He is our
source of delight. He is our only hope of salvation. The scripture says the beloved
son of God, and he becomes the beloved savior of his people
through his work that he has wrought in their hearts. And
he is their source of delight. Do we look at the world around
about us? What are they seeking for? They're
trying to be satisfied all the time and everything that they
lay hold of, they have a delight in it for a little moment and
then it vanishes away. They're never able to have full
satisfaction, full contentment with the things that they have
because they're constantly passing and fleeting and they can never
satisfy. But the Lord Jesus Christ, is
able to satisfy the soul and he is their delight for time
and for eternity. As I was holding my baby today,
thinking on this word, I remembered how he is when he sees his mother.
When babies are born, they begin to cry. And we use that illustration
as a sign of spiritual life in the life of a person. When someone
is born again, they begin to cry. They begin to cry out to
God. There is life. But the next phase of a child's
life is they begin to smile. And there is a smile which we
say comes from their toes. It takes over their whole body. And as they begin to recognise
people, then they begin to delight in seeing them. And especially
when they see their mothers, their bodies begin to be stimulated,
and from their toes up through their bodies into their arms,
and then there comes a wonderful smile. And they are delighted
to see their mother. Why is that? because they know
that this face, this person is the one who gives me everything
that I need. This person feeds me and provides
nourishment for my body and satisfies the cravings that are going on
in my stomach. This face that I see, she feeds
me. This one that I see, she cuddles
me and when I'm crying, she holds me. She loves me and she cares for
me and provides for me. And so when the baby sees its
mother, it delights in seeing her because everything that he
wants is satisfied in her. And so the believer delights
in seeing Christ. Because everything in him satisfies
them. He provides everything that they
need. He provides a salvation for them. He provides a robe of righteousness
for them. He cleanses them from all of
their sin. He adopts them into his family. His blood, the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ cleanses them from all of their sin. And He is a
brother to them. He delights in them. He is a
friend to them. And they, in response, take delight
in Him. With the baby example. they delight
to hear the voice of their mother. And so we as believers delight
to hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of
our storms and anxieties of life, Christ comes and he speaks from
his word to us and blesses us in our soul and it brings peace,
it brings a delight to the soul, it brings a contentment, it brings
happiness, it brings pleasure, it enables us to persevere and
to go on knowing that we have a God who loves us in Christ
Jesus. And Psalm 1, it tells us there,
Verse one, blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel
of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits
in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law
of the Lord. And in the law of the Lord does
he meditate day and night. And so the delight, to delight
in the Lord is also to delight in the law of the Lord, God's
holy word. It is the delight of the believer
to hear the word of God and to be fed and satisfied by the milk
of the word as the little baby is satisfied by the milk of his
mother and by the sound of her voice. So the believer is satisfied
by the milk of the word and by the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ
to bring about comfort, the peace of his still. And so he's satisfied
by the law and he delights in the law of the law. Yes, the
whole law has been fulfilled in his beloved Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and yet he seeks to follow his master. He seeks to follow the believer
in obedience because he knows what his will is for them as
it's revealed for him in the Word of God. And so he delights
in obedience to the Lord Jesus. He delights in his law and in
his ways. Psalm 40, it tells us there. Another delight, verse 8, I delight
to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. And so the delight of the believer
as he delights himself in the Lord, he delights himself in
the law of the Lord, and he delights himself in the will of the Lord. As a child grows up, a good child
likes to please its mother and its father. And so the beloved
children of Christ desire to live in obedience to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and they desire to know and to do His will. That
is what motivates them. They say with Christ, not my
will, but thy will be done. As with the Apostle Paul, he
said, what will thou have me to do? And so the delight of
the believer is to know and to do the will of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We know that his will for his
people is that they would be holy, but also providentially
they seek direction and guidance. If he wants them to go right,
then they go right. They seek for the movings of
providence, the workings out of his will in their life, as
he hedges up their way, as he puts obstacles there, as he guides
them straight forward or left or right, because they love him. because they want to please him,
because they want to obey him, because they delight in his smile
and his favour upon their lives, they want to be obedient to his
holy will. And so to delight ourselves in
the Lord is to delight in his whole person, in his attributes,
in his character, in everything about him and even in meditating
upon his holy word and seeking that guidance and direction in
our lives. And as we meditate upon Christ
and we seek to delight in him and to live in that constant
knowledge of his love and favour towards us and seeking to have
those thoughts of love and joy in his word and in prayer and
in meditation. How often it's just for a fleeting
moment. How often the delight that we
have is quenched. by fretting. David experienced that battle. We would love to live in a constant
basking of the favour of God in Christ, but it doesn't happen. There are moments in our lives
when we experience great blessing and union with Christ. We hear his voice and our hearts
go out in delight to him. But it seems just for a moment. We can never live in constant
basking in his presence because we live separated from him, housed
in a body of sin and death. David experienced it and every
believer experiences it and how often those moments are snatched
away. We may sit under a blessed ministry,
a blessed word. We may have great meditations
and experience a great nearness of the Lord. But it's just for
a moment. It's like he's gone. And we fret. David gives us some reasons why
we might fret. If we lived in perfect faith,
we would be able to live under the favour of God and delighting
ourselves in the Lord, as Christ did. But because of the battle that
we are in, Because our eyes are still carnal, we often lose sight
of the great favour that we have had in Christ Jesus. He says in verse 1, fret not
thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against
workers of iniquity. Verse 7, partway through, fret
not thyself because of him who prospers in his way, because
the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass, cease from anger and
forsake wrath, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. We would use the word fret as
in worry, don't worry. In the original languages it
has a deeper meaning of to burn or to be jealous or to be almost
like boiled up, to become hot with anger. So it's not just
about worrying but it's about a worry that has taken hold of
you and that has caused you to be filled with jealousy by looking
at those people around about you. because of evildoers, because
of the workers of iniquity, because of those who prosper. You see,
our delight in the Lord is not just to be a delight when things
are externally good, but the delight in the Lord is to be
in times of trouble and in times of joy. Often the Christian life
is a life of constant opposition, of trial and difficulty. And therefore when we look at
the people around about us who are unbelievers and that their
lives seemingly are going smooth and they don't seem to have any
problems. Whatever they put their hand to it seems to go well.
They desire to do this and they do it. And yet in the life of
the Christian, as he's seeking to know God's will, God says,
no, I don't want you to go that way. I want you to go this way.
And we are directed through a pathway that seems confusing. And yet
we look at the world round about us and we can become envious. We can fret because of their
seeming life of prosperity and ease. It's because we've looked
away. away from the Lord Jesus Christ.
We've taken our eyes off the Lord Jesus. Instead of running
the race with patience, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, we
have been beset with the many sins and snares that are around
about us. And we begin to be overcome and
jealous and angry of their prosperity and our struggle. And we say
to ourselves, well, their life is better than my life. Maybe that's how you've come
today. You have been out today and you've looked round about
and you think, why am I struggling? Why is there so much opposition?
Why is everything going, it's so difficult for me and yet this
person who seems to be such an unbeliever, everything is going
fine for them. and that jealousy has riled up
in your heart and you fret and the delight of the Lord has gone
and you've lost sight of his ways, you've lost sight of his
wonderful salvation and you've been fixed upon the material
prosperity of the wicked. And the scripture says don't
fret because in fretting you lose the delight and favour and
love that you have to the Lord. When we examine the pathways
of other people, we immediately become dissatisfied with the
pathway that the Lord is leading us in. And when we become dissatisfied
with the pathway that the Lord is leading us in, it's then that
we become dissatisfied with God. Because we see that he's made
a mistake. We're saying, I want to be on
that pathway and I don't want to be on this one. But if we
believe that God is sovereign and he leads his people in the
way that he would have them to go, then where you are is where
God would have you to be. And if you look and say, well,
the grass is greener in that field and you go over there,
you find it's just the same. God has put you in a path. And
that path is for you and your love. And to walk it and not
to look at other people's paths and to worry and to be jealous
and to be concerned about their lives because in doing so you
become dissatisfied with your own life. Look at what social
media does to the young people and to adults as well. They look
at the lives of other people on their phones and they see
just glimpses of what they think is perfection and they immediately
become dissatisfied with their own life and what they have got.
It's exactly the same when we look at the lives of other people
and we say, well, theirs is better, theirs is easier. Why is mine
so difficult? We're saying, well, I don't like
the path that God has put me on. We trouble ourselves. with the
concerns and the affairs of other people, but then it has a detrimental
effect on our walk with the Lord. Think of Peter. Peter could have
continued walking on the sea to the Lord Jesus Christ if he
stayed focused. But because he looked away, It
had a detrimental effect to his faith. It had a detrimental effect
to the experience that he was in. Because he looked away, he
could have walked to Christ, but he turned his eyes off the
Lord Jesus Christ and was fretting and troubled by the waves and
the billows round about him. And David says, don't fret because
of evildoers. Don't worry about their prosperity.
Don't worry about their seemingly ease. Consider what is going
to take place in their life. They can't take it with them.
Their ease, their wealth, their seeming contemplate is just fleeting
and passing and then they're going to die and they're going
to face God and they're going to be cast into hell for ever
and ever. Psalm 73 The psalmist here says his feet were nearly gone. He says, as I looked round about
me and I saw the prosperity of the wicked, I nearly slipped. Because he looked around. He
says, I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked. And he goes on of the different
things that he sees in their life. They're no bands in their
death, but they're strength and firm. They are not in trouble
as other men. They're not played like other
men. It goes on and on and on about
what he sees about them and what he envies in their lives. But then he remembers when he
went to the house of the Lord and he saw the holy of holies,
as he saw the temple, as he saw the sacrifices and as he saw
the priests and the high priests, then he is reminded the end of
the wicked is eternal death. You see, Peter, when he realised
he was sinking, he realised his sin, he cried out, Lord, save
me. And Christ saved him and said, thou of little, why did
thou doubt? And it's doubting, isn't it?
It's doubting the sovereign hand and the wisdom of God in our
pathway when we look at somebody else's pathway and we say, it
is better. So the psalmist says, then I
went to the house of the Lord, then I understood their end. David also seeks to bring the
mind back to the eternal destiny of those who reject God, who
reject the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, for they shall be cut
down like grass. and wither as a green herb. Fret not thyself because of him
who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked
devices to pass. For yet a little while the wicked
shall not be. Yea, you shall diligently consider
his place, and it shall not be. The wicked trotteth against the
just and gnashes upon him with his teeth. And the Lord shall
laugh at him, for he sees his day is coming. And so when Satan
tempts us to turn aside from looking at the Lord Jesus and
to try to satisfy our flesh with those things round about us and
we find our hearts being drawn after those things, remember
the end of those things. The word of the Lord is everlasting,
yet this world, it is passing away and fleeting. It has no
true pleasure, it has no true delight. Our delight is to be
found wholly in Christ and to be satisfied by him and him alone. He grants true spiritual blessings
to his people who desire to follow him wholeheartedly, who want
to delight in his word, who want to delight in his will. There is a wonderful promise
in verse 23. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he
shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with
his hand. David, we know, fell. He sinned against God in a public
way, And yet the Lord had mercy upon him and restored him although
he was punished. And the Lord's people, although
they desire to be satisfied wholly with Christ, and yet it troubles
them when they fall. It brings them to sorrow. It
brings them to seek for forgiveness and cleansing. They ask to grow
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. They're not
content with their resting in that weak condition. They don't
want to fall back, but they want to press on and they want to
delight themselves wholly in the Lord. There is a wonderful promise
then that goes with it. and he shall give thee the desires of
thine heart. When God is our desire, our delight,
when God's word is our delight and his law is our delight and
his will is our delight, then Our delight and love to God is
going to regulate the way that we pray. You see, if you were
to say to an unbeliever, the scripture says, pray for anything
and God will give you the desires of your heart. All manner of
things will come out. Give me a bigger house, give
me a bigger car, give me more money in my bank, make me more
successful, make me more handsome, more beautiful and all manner
of things. But the believer who is delighting
in the Lord, delighting in the law of the Lord, only wants what
God wants. Jesus says, not my will, but
thy will be done. And the desire in the life of
a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is that motivates and
regulates his prayer to ask for the things that God wants him
to have. We don't want things that will cause us to deviate
from the course of life or take our hearts. Jesus says, if it
is possible, let this thing pass from me. So we can pray for help. In our times of trouble, we can
ask, Lord, the thing is too great for me. Lord I am buckling under
the weight, are you able to deliver me from it? Not my will but thy
will be done. Enable me to have more grace
to persevere under the trial. Enable me to have more of a focus
on eternal things. Help me not to be so distracted
by the things that I am living amongst. Those who go to work,
you can pray that the Lord grant you the ability to have ears
that are shut to the filthy conversation of the wicked. We can pray for
things that assist us in our Christian walk, that we can pray
for contentment in the pathway that the Lord has given us to
walk. We can pray for greater manifestations of the Holy Spirit
in our lives. for greater graces, for greater
knowledge of sin, a greater holiness, a greater ability to overcome
the besetting sins of our life, and a greater delight in the
Lord. When our will is knit together
with God's will, He will give us the desires of our heart. We don't want prayers that our
carnal mind has been motivated to ask for, that God grants us
things that are not benefiting to us in our lives. The scripture
tells us he knows the things that we have need of. He knows. May he give us that ability then
to delight ourselves in him. Delight thyself also in the Lord
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Delight thyself
in his law, delight thyself in his will, delight thyself in
him as that little baby as it looks at his mother and is consumed
with delight May we look to Christ and be consumed with delight
that in Him, in Him is everything that we need. This world is passing
away, but Christ is able to satisfy the soul for all eternity. Delight thyself also in the Lord. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. our service this evening by singing
hymn number 1137. The tune is Calverton, number
676. God of our salvation, hear us. Bless, oh bless us ere we go. When we join the world, be near
us. Lest thy people careless grow. Saviour, keep us. Keep us safe
from every foe. In the day of thy appearing,
when the trump of God shall sound, may we hear it, nothing fearing,
though all nature sinks around, by our Saviour raised, and then
with glory crowned. Hymn number 1137, tune Calverdon,
number 676. O come, O come, O come, O come, O come,
O come, O come, O come, to Bethlehem. ? When we joined the world in heaven
? ? Earth, water, people, and the sun ? ? Heaven and earth
become one ? ? In the great wide universe ?
? Where man, woman, and child stand ? ? Hail ye, hail ye ? ? Long may
he reign ? ? The whole nature sings of thee ? ? Glorious Savior,
praise the Lord ? May the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God the Father with the fellowship and
the communion of the Holy Spirit to be with us now and forevermore. Amen.