I'd like to ask you if you would
this morning to turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 9.
Here in Jeremiah the Lord is declaring
destruction and gloom to the lost. Days of punishment is the
heading of my Bible at the top. And on the page before it, Jeremiah weeps. Folks, a day
of reckoning is coming. Oh, how the world has passed
by teaching and preaching the day of reckoning. It's coming
and we will stand before the throne of all glory and give
an account. The sheaf will be separated from
the wheat. The sheep from the goats. Some
will hear these words as we read in Luke chapter 13 verse 27,
Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity. And others will hear these words,
Well done, thou good and faithful servants. The Lord of all creation
is angry with the wicked. Judgment is coming. And many
in pulpits today are speaking only of a love. A love that's
not even true love. It's a love of their own imagination. And they completely turn away
from the truth of what sin is. The problem with the world is
people don't understand what total depravity is. Have you thought about that? Have you thought about in your
heart, what does it mean to be totally depraved? Have we not looked at examples
in Ezekiel at how the Lord teaches us that the people of God were
just as all the rest of the world at one time? We were all dry
bones? Have we not seen the example
that God gives us in Lazarus of how we are dead and trespasses
in sin, unable to help ourselves, unable to do anything for ourselves? I hate that story that is given
out in some churches. It's like Christ is a medication.
It's right there on the post next to your bed. If you would
just reach out and grab that medication, that's malarkey.
That was close to what Mike said I could say earlier. I thought better of what we were
talking about. It's not in Scriptures. It's not in truth. Our Lord says, it is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. Do you know our Lord hates? Some of you will recall about
the Gideon's representative. He showed up here and he said,
we don't talk about hate. When I asked him about Malachi.
Malachi 1, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Oh, we don't
talk about hate. We only talk about love. If God's
word talks about it, shouldn't we If our Lord gives us warning
after warning after warning of these things, shouldn't we heed
to them? Shouldn't we take heed, pay attention
to? Our Lord, the Lord of glory hates
with perfection, and He hates all sin. Ooh. Wait a minute. But I'm a sinner. Our Lord hates sin with perfection. Sin must be punished. All of
creation has been cursed by sin. When Adam sinned, our Lord cursed
everything. He said, curse it as the ground
that you're walking on. Everything, the earth, the trees,
all of this is going to burn up. The whole universe is going
to burn up. There will be a new earth, a
new creation for God's people in heaven. Yet God has chosen to save a
remnant, a small portion. Do you know what a remnant is?
If you take the hem of a garment and you flip it up and you look
at it, there's a little teeny stream of cloth, of garment that
sticks outside of the stitching there on the underside of the
cuff. That's what a remnant is. It's what's left over. They didn't
know what to do with it. It's just there. He has chosen to save a remnant,
a small portion, a people that he shall call unto himself. Why? Why would God do that? Are you with me in Jeremiah chapter
9? Look at verses 13 through 24. Chapter 9, beginning at verse
13, And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law, which
I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked
therein, but have walked after the imagination of their own
heart, and after Balaam, which their fathers taught them. He's
talking about Israel. He's talking about the religious
folks of the day. He's talking about those guys who dress up
in their garments and go around doing all the little trinkets,
swinging the trinkets and all that kind of stuff. He's talking
about the religious folks, but have walked after their own imagination
of their own heart and after Balaam, which their fathers taught
them. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, verse 15, the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, behold, I will feed them, even this people,
with wormwood. and give them water of gall to
drink. I will scatter them also among
the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known,
and I will send a sword after them till I have consumed them. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
Consider ye and call for the mourning women that they may
come, and send for cunning women that they may come. And let them
make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run
down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. For a voice
of wailing is heard out of Zion. How are we spoiled? We are greatly
confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings
have cast us out." There is the judgment our Lord
is laying upon Israel. But now He changes and speaks
to the remnant, those who have been called out of darkness by
the power of the Holy Spirit. Verse 20, Yet hear the word of
the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of
His mouth, and teach your daughters, wailing in every one of her neighbor's
lamentation, I'm sorry, I got a little bit too ahead of myself
there. We're not quite to that part yet where the Lord is speaking
to us. For the death has come upon our windows. This is continuing. My apologies, I thought I'd been
there already. Verse 21, for death has come
into our windows and has entered into our places to cut off the
children from without and with the young men of the streets.
Thus saith the Lord, even the carcasses of men shall fall as
dung upon the open field, as a handful of the harvest men,
and none shall gather them. Now, thus saith the Lord, let
not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty
man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches,
but let him that glorieth glory in this. that he understandeth and knoweth
me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment,
and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord." For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord." Now, you'll notice that in the scriptures
your Bible may have the things italicized. That means it's not
in the original language. I purposely held that out this
morning of my title. For in these I delight. In these what? Wait a minute,
we just heard about how the Lord is condemning Israel, the people
of God, those who were chosen by God to be representatives,
a picture of His chosen people throughout all time, throughout
all nations, throughout all tongues. He just condemned them for turning
away from His statues, and yet here He says, I delight in something.
What is it the Lord delights in? I'm interested in that. Are
you? Are you interested in what delights
the Lord God Almighty? Oh, I sure hope you are. In these,
what is in these? First it says there in verse
24, The Lord. Do you think that's something our
Lord delights in? I am the Lord. Then He says this, which exercise
loving kindness. The will of God. Do you think
He delights in the will of God? In His own, in exercising of
His own providential means? Then he says judgment. He delights
in judgment. Exercising judgment. He delights
in exercising righteousness. In the earth, for in these I
delight. Our Lord says in these, in those
things we just mentioned. We're going to look at those
as four points. We're going to look at I am the Lord, exercising
loving kindness, judgment, righteousness. Now first let's turn a few pages
to the left to Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31. I'll give you a moment to turn
there. Jeremiah chapter 31. We're going
to consider what are the things that our Lord delights in. He
delights in being Lord of all. Look at Jeremiah chapter 31 verses
31 through 35. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in that day, in the day that
I took them out by the hand and brought them to bring them out
of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although
I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord, but this shall be the
covenant that I will make with them, the house of Israel, after
those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts,
and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they
shall be my people." And they shall teach no more every man
his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord.
For they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest
of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more. Thus saith the Lord,
which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of
the moon and the stars for a light by night, which divided the sea,
when the waves thereof roar, the Lord of hosts is His name. Our Lord delights in being the
Lord. He is the Lord of all things.
In Isaiah 45, 7 we read this. He says, I form the light, I
create darkness, I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord,
do all these things. It delights our Creator to reveal
who He is to His people. He declares who He is to all
the earth, but the earth rejects Him. The people of the earth
make themselves out to be gods. That's the free willism of the
world. We make ourselves out to be gods when we say, it was
by my will that I chose to come and follow after Christ. I exercised
my freedom. I made a decision and came to
the front of the church. No, that's not what God's word
says at all. That's making your will over
His. Listen to these familiar words
of wisdom in Matthew 16, 13. When Jesus came to the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, some say that
thou art John the Baptist, some, Elias, others, Jeremiah, one
of the prophets. And he said to them, but whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, thou art the Christ. the Son of the Living God. He's
Lord of all. Peter declared Him who He was. And He said unto Peter, Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. God the Father has to reveal
who His Son is. He declared Himself God of everything
to the whole world. He even committed miracle after
miracle after miracle in front of people, and they still didn't
believe it. He went on to say, after telling
Simon Barjona that, blessed art thou, he said, and I say unto
thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock, in other words,
on the rock of Jesus Christ, I will build my church on the
rock that I am God Almighty in the flesh. I will build my church
on the rock that I have done all the works necessary for salvation. I will build my church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The rock our Lord
is speaking of Himself. The fact that He is Lord. And
because He is Lord, nothing can separate His people from Him. Again, familiar words. And Jesus
walked in the temple of Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round
about Him and said unto Him, How long dost Thou make us to
doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. And Jesus answered,
He says, I told you, and you believe not. The works that I
do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me. But ye believe
not, because ye are not My sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep
hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." Folks, the Lord Jesus
is Lord of all. And it is His delight to reveal
Himself to His chosen remnant, to His people. Listen to what it says in the
first chapter of John. John 1, verse 10. He was in the
world. And the world was made by Him,
and the world knew Him not. You say, John, we know all these
words. You use these words for almost
every message. We know this. I love to tell you about my Lord's
mercy for His people. I love to tell you about His
grace for those that He has died for and given His Son for. Why do I read these words again?
Because we could be just like those that are going through
this world and go through that doormark death and have never
been revealed the truth of who Jesus is. And knowing that I deserve the
very thing that the rest of this world is going to receive, knowing
that that is what I deserve, magnifies my Lord's grace and
love to me in a way that I want to share with others. You see,
if the Lord loves you, He will not lose you. If you're one for
whom He wrote your name down in the book of life before the
world was ever made, He will not lose you. You will come to Him. He makes
us willing in the day of His power, in the day of His love. He's God. Is He going to lose
anything? No. I like hearing that. Especially in a world that we
live in where doubt is all around us. I'm sitting there this morning, and like you all, some of you
maybe, some of you not, like most, the world around us is
going through my mind. Who can I believe? One tells
me you don't need to wear a mask. The other one tells me I have
to. One tells me it doesn't do any good. The other one tells
me it does this. One tells me to get a shot. The other one
tells me it's not going to do any good. Who do I believe? Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Do you trust in Him? Don't get me wrong. I'm not telling
you to jump off of a bridge somewhere. It's not what we're talking about
at all. I tell you what I'm telling you
is I just don't know who to believe anymore. Except yet I do. I do know who to believe and
I want to tell you about Him. He who is merciful. He who came
unto His own and His own received Him not. But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. Even to them that believe on
His name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of
man, but of God." We must be born again. That's a simple thing for any
of us to understand, right? How are we going to be born again?
By the power of God, He who can do everything. That brings me
to my second point. And we're going to go through
these last three pretty fast. God delights in exercising His
loving kindness. He is not bound by the works
of man. Our Lord delights in mercy. Look with me over at Romans chapter
10. You know, I'm sorry, Romans 9.
Look at Romans chapter 9 if you would please. Our Lord delights
in mercy. You say, John, how do you know
that? Because mercy is the only reason anyone would be saved. You and I can't do anything to
earn or deserve salvation. Salvation is of the Lord and
of the Lord alone. It is by His mercy, His grace,
and His love that He saves anybody. That's what I was trying to say
a moment ago. We understand, as children of God, as true believers
of God's Word, we understand that through God's Word we deserve
hell. We deserve what the Lord was
saying to Israel. And it is only by His mercy and
His love for me that I am not walking the wide path to destruction. Look at verse 9. For this is
the word of the promise, that at this time will I come and
Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebekah
also had conceived by even one, even by our father Isaac, for
the children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It is said
of her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he
saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." Our
Lord delights in having mercy. He doesn't have mercy and grace
to people because they've done something. He does it because
it delights Him. Jump over to verse 21. Hath not the potter power over
the clay? The same book, Romans chapter
9. Hath not the potter power over the clay, the same lump
to make one vessel into honor and another into dishonor? What
if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known,
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath, fated to
destruction, those who are on the wide path to destruction,
that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels
of mercy which He had prepared unto glory? Even us, verse 24,
whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles,
as he saith also unto a sea, I will call them my people, which
were not my people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it
shall come to pass that in the place where it is said unto them,
ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of
the living God. Isaiah also crieth concerning
Israel, though the number of children of Israel be as the
sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved." That's that remnant we spoke
about. God's mercy. Saving a people
unto himself. How shall they be saved? That's
our third point. God took delight in exercising
judgment on His Son. Look over at the 53rd chapter
of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 53. Once again, very familiar words,
but good to look at. Good to keep in touch with. Good
to be a reminder of. Just as we come to the table
to remember what our Lord has done, we come to Isaiah chapter
53 to remember how it pleased our Lord to exercise judgment
on His Son. That's how the people of God
are saved. Our sins were laid upon Him.
He who knew no sin was made sin, that we would be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Folks, if you're not perfectly
righteous, you can't be with God the Father in heaven. And there's no way you can be
perfectly righteous in this flesh. Because everything we do in this
flesh is tainted with the sin of the flesh. Here in Isaiah
53, we're talking about the things that delight God Almighty. These things that He delights
in. Look at these words declaring His Son. Who hath delivered us? Who hath believed our report?
writes Isaiah. Who is going to believe what
we've said? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For
he, our Lord, shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as
a root out of dry ground. He hath no form, no comeliness.
And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it
were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. With his stripes
we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord
hath laid on him, laid on his son, the iniquity of us all."
He was oppressed. He was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, as the sheep before her shears is dumb, so he opened
not his mouth. He is taken from prison and from
judgment. And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off of the land
of the living, for the transgressions of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in
his death, because he had no violence. He had done no violence,
neither was there any deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased."
Did you catch that? That's the same
word. That's the same word as delight.
It pleased. It pleased our Father to strike
His Son for our sakes. Why? Because that's the only
way we can get to Heaven. It's through His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. We must be washed in the blood
in His blood. It is His blood that cleanses
His people, yet it pleased the Lord, verse 10, to bruise Him. He hath put Him to grief. When
thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed,
He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His
soul and shall be satisfied. That's the same word. Oh folks,
our Lord delights in the fact that His Son gave Himself for
us, because it means you and I, God's chosen people, will
spend an eternity with Him, praising Him, glorifying Him for His mercy
and grace upon us. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities." Our Lord said this in Matthew
17, 5. While he yet spake, Behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the
cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. Hear ye Him." And this brings
me to my last point. God delights in the righteousness
of His Son. Folks, there is only one righteousness
God will accept, and that is the perfect righteousness of
His Son. Our sins must be punished. If it were not for the loving
kindness of our Lord that He has for us, if it were not for
the perfect judgment laid upon our Redeemer, if it were not
for His perfect righteousness, all would be spent eternity in
damnation, never able to satisfy the justice of God. Yet justice
for God's elect has been met. Our iniquities were laid upon
Him. Our sins were made His. Turn
over to the Psalms, if you would, to the left, Psalms 103. While you're turning there, allow
me to read from 2 Corinthians 5.21. For He hath made Him. For
God the Father hath made God the Son to be sin for us, who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. Are you with me in Psalms 103?
Look at verses 1-22. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless His holy name. This is
what I'm talking about. This is the song that has been
placed in our heart. A new song. Bless the Lord. We don't sing the song of, I
decided to follow Jesus. We don't sing the song of, I
made a decision to come to the front. We don't sing the song
of, I prayed the prayer, now God has to save me. We praise
the Lord for salvation. Salvation is of Him and of Him
alone. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Who forgiveth
all thine iniquities? Who healeth all thy diseases?
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction? Who crowneth thee with loving
kindness and tender mercies? Who satisfy thy mouth with good
things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles? The
Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are
oppressed." See, that's the problem with the world. Like I said earlier,
they don't even know they're oppressed. I didn't. Ah, I've heard about hell, but that's
not for me. I was never afraid of where I
was going until the Lord showed me what I deserve and where I
should be going. And then he took that fear away
by showing me my Lord went there for me. He made known his ways,
verse 7, unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in
mercy. He will not always chide, neither
will He keep His anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions
from us. Like as the Father pitieth His
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For he knoweth
our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his
days are as grass as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it and is gone, and the place thereof
shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his
righteousness unto children's children. To such as keep His
covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them,
the Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom
ruleth over all. Bless the Lord, ye angels, that
excel His strength. that do His commandments, hearken
unto the voice of His word. Bless ye the Lord, all His hosts,
ye ministers of His that do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all
ye works in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, all
my soul. The Lord God Almighty has loved
His people from the foundation of the world. Before anything
was ever created, He set things to be purposed according to Himself.
He is loved of people that He has sent to receive His mercy,
to receive His grace, of people to be called out of the darkness,
the darkness that all mankind were born into. And as we all
once walked in that darkness, we see His loving kindness towards
us, the very thing that He delights in. We see it pleased the Lord to
bruise His Son, to put judgment upon His Son Jesus for our sakes. We see that it pleased the Lord
God in the flesh to stand in our stead, that we might experience
His grace and give Him all the glory. Look at verse 22 again
of 103. Bless the Lord all His works, in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. What delights my Father in Heaven? The Son of the Living God, Jesus Christ. There is no John Reeves other than being a recipient of His love for me that pleased the Lord. All blessings, spiritual, all spiritual blessings
are in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's all through Him. What delights my Father in Heaven,
the Son of the Living God, Jesus Christ, and those who are found
in Him. Let's close, if you would, turning
to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Everything I've listed to you
this morning that God Almighty delights in, that God Almighty
is pleased in, is in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The One
whose name is above all names. The One whose name every knee
shall bow to. The One who will not share His
glory with another. Are you with me in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1? Let's close with verses 26-31. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world and things which are
despised hath God chosen, yea, the things which are not to bring
to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. We sing a song. To God be the glory, great things
he hath done.