Hephzibah

Q: What does the Bible say about God's delight?

The Bible teaches that God delights in His character, justice, righteousness, and in His people. Scripture reveals that God's delight is found in His own glorious character, particularly in aspects such as loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness. For instance, in Jeremiah 9:23-24, God instructs us to glory in understanding and knowing Him, emphasizing His attributes of loving-kindness and justice. Furthermore, God delights not only in His attributes but also in the righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He views as His beloved. He also expresses delight in His people, as noted in Isaiah 62:4-5, where it states that God rejoices over His people like a bridegroom rejoices over his bride. This portrays a deep and personal connection between God and His people, underscoring His joy in their existence.

Q: How do we know God's justice is satisfying?

God's justice is satisfied through the sacrificial work of Christ, which fulfills the requirements of the law. God's justice is evident in Romans 8:1-3, where it highlights that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. This signifies that God's wrath against sin was fully satisfied through the sacrificial death of His Son. The scripture explains that Christ, representing His people, condemned sin, thus allowing God to be just and the justifier of those who have faith in Him. The concept of satisfaction in God's justice is not one that God delights in punishing sin in individuals but rather in executing His justice through Christ, who bore our sins and fulfilled the law on our behalf. This is a profound truth reflecting God's mercy and righteousness toward His chosen ones.

Q: Why is God's election important for Christians?

God's election is important as it affirms His sovereign grace and love towards His people. The doctrine of election emphasizes that God, in His sovereign will, chose certain individuals for salvation before the foundation of the world, as seen in Deuteronomy 10:15. This doctrine assures believers that their salvation is not based on their merit but purely on God's grace and purpose. God delights in His election, meaning He takes joy in His choice of people to redeem and call to Himself. This foundational understanding shapes a Christian's identity and assurance in God’s everlasting grace, encouraging them to live in response to His kindness and love. Recognizing that God’s election is a free act of His sovereign will allows believers to trust in God's character and His providential care throughout their lives.

Q: What brings delight to God according to the Bible?

God delights in loving-kindness, justice, and the genuine relationship with His people. The scriptures indicate that God delights in several key attributes and actions. First, He takes pleasure in loving-kindness, which signifies His compassion and mercy toward His creation (Micah 7:18). Second, God delights in justice, representing His commitment to righteousness and truth, ensuring that sin is properly addressed through the work of Christ as our substitute. Additionally, God delights in His people, celebrating a relationship marked by genuine faith and obedience, as illustrated in Isaiah 62:4-5, where it expresses how God rejoices over His redeemed ones. This triad of loving-kindness, justice, and relationship showcases the depth of God's character and His desire for fellowship with humanity.

Q: How does God view His people?

God views His people with delight, as He sees them through the righteousness of Christ. According to the Bible, God delights in His people, considering them precious and beloved. In Isaiah 62:4-5, we see a beautiful metaphor where God expresses His joy in His people, signifying that they are no longer forsaken but cherished. His delight in us is not based on our merit or actions but on our identity in Christ; we are accepted in the beloved. This means that God sees us through the lens of Christ’s righteousness. As a result, believers can understand their worth in God's eyes, leading to a life of worship and service, reflecting gratitude for His grace and love towards them.

I can't think of anything that gives me more pleasure and satisfaction than bringing delight to someone in you. I think that's the most pleasing thing I ever experienced on this earth is bringing delight to someone. There's something about giving delight that causes delight.

But think about this for a moment. What do you suppose brings delight to God Almighty. What will it take to cause the Holy Triune God, the Almighty, the only true and living God, what will it take to cause Him delight? If I can use such language and be understood, what would it take to bring to the face of the infinite God a gleaming smile?

I've looked in the scriptures to find the answer to that question. And as you might suppose, there are very, very few things about which the scripture says God delights. Very few. In fact, I can only find three things. There are actually three categories of things, but I can only find these three things, which the scripture says bring delight to God Almighty. I hope that's vicious to you. Let's begin in Jeremiah chapter nine. Jeremiah chapter nine.

Being perfect and complete in himself, the Lord God delights in his own glorious character. Now, for any man to delight in his own character is the utmost folly, arrogance, and pride, because man has nothing about him worthy of delight in himself. But God Almighty is perfect. And it is altogether right that perfection should delight in itself. God is infinite, complete, perfect, and he delights in his character.

Look at this ninth chapter of Jeremiah and verse 23. The apostle Paul quotes from this passage in an indirect way. He refers to it and gives us the sense of the text in 1 Corinthians 1. Thus saith the Lord, let not the wild That fades quickly. That fades quickly. Neither let the mighty man glory in his might. An ox is stronger than you are. Young men get to pumping iron and sometimes old men get to acting like young men. They want to start pumping iron and build up our bodies and get strong again. Well, that's not much an ox can excel you at that real quick.

No glory in your strength. and certainly don't glory in the strength of your imaginary free will or your imaginary purpose and determination. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. God gives it and God will take it away. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.

Do you? Do you know God? Do you know God? To know him is life eternal. To know him is salvage. To know him is to possess all things. Do you know the living God as he's revealed in Jesus Christ? That he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercise loving kindness, saved the Lord.

God delights in his character and here he describes his character in a threefold sense. First he says he delights in loving-kindness. Oh what words can describe the infinite loving-kindness of our God. His compassions they fail to kindness toward his people. Judy often sings for us a hymn. I love to hear her sing it. Awake, my soul, in joyful days, and sing thy great Redeemer's praise. He justly claims a song from me, his loving kindness.

Oh, how great. He saw me ruined by the fall, yet loved me notwithstanding all. He saved me from my lost estate. His loving kindness, oh, how great. Though numerous host of mighty foes, though earth and hell my way oppose, he safely leads my soul along. His loving kindness, oh, how strong. When trouble like a gloomy cloud has gathered thick and thundered loud, he near my soul has always stood. His loving kindness, Oh, how good. God delights in his loving kindness. His loving kindness revealed to us and experienced by us in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, his dear son.

And then the text says here that God delights in judgment. Justice and judgment, the psalmist said, are the habitation of thy throne. Now, judgment is the exercise of justice. God delights in that as fully as he delights in his loving kindness. Yes, God delights in judgment.

The text of course is Christ Jesus, our substitute. Isaiah chapter 28 verse 11 makes it very plain that the judgment of sin in the wicked is God's strange work. Yes, God in his justice will punish the wicked. God in his justice will send people to hell because of sin. There's no question about that. He must do so. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness.

But the scripture nowhere speaks of or delight in the punishment of sin in the individual sinner. But here the text speaks of God delighting in judgment. Delighting in judgment, not in the judgment of sin upon the individual, but in the judgment of sin upon the sinner substitute. Now God looks on Christ his son.

The satisfaction of justice by the sacrifice of his son, Rex, read about it just a little bit ago. And looking upon the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work, whereby he, through his sacrifice, through his one offering for sin, has satisfied justice and made it so that God can be just and yet justify the ungodly. God delights in that. He delights in that.

He sent his son to condemn sin, to put away sin, and he's done it. Look in Romans chapter eight. Hold your hands here in Jeremiah and look in Romans chapter eight for just a moment. The Lord God has had his heart and mind and soul, if I can use human language to describe the purpose of God. He has been determined from everlasting to put away sin by the sacrifice of his son for the glory of his name. And when it's accomplished, he was satisfied and delighted with it. Look here in Romans 8 in verse 1.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, never, never, never could the law do, in that it was weak through the flesh.

God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Do you see that? Who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. So God has sent his son to satisfy justice by the execution of his wrath upon his son. And now the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who believe on his son. And God delights in it. He delights in it. Look at the text again. He delights in righteousness. righteousness.

He does not delight in the self-righteous works of men. I can't stress that sufficiently. I can't say it emphatically enough, we are so horribly, so horribly, so horribly self-righteous by nature. We presume that somehow we have something about us that kind of distinguishes us and sets us apart from those other folks, you know, who aren't quite as good as we are, and we look down our nose on them and despise them and we strut the dust, worms, and a dunghill, men and women who are worthy of nothing but God's almighty wrath forever and ever. God does not delight in your presumed goodness. God never will delight in the works of your hands, but God delights in righteousness.

I mean real righteousness, real perfect righteousness. He delights in his own righteousness. Our righteousnesses are filthy rags in the sight of the holy Lord God, a stench in his nostrils, but God delights in the righteousness of his son. Righteousness in the earth. Righteousness which has been imputed to us by His grace and by His mercy. So that the righteousness of Christ is laid to our charge and just as Christ was made to be sin for us, we are made the righteousness of God in Him by divine imputation. And that righteousness it is. which makes us worthy of and fit to receive the inheritance of everlasting life and eternal glory in heaven. Now, the proof of God's delight in the justice of the judgment of sin in Christ and the righteousness of Christ imputed to us is demonstrated in so many ways. When Christ finished his work, I cried, it's finished.

And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost and said, father into thy hands, receive my spirit. The scripture says that the veil in the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. That veil, that thick, thick, thick veil, which separated the holy of holies, the manifest presence of God, the symbol of God's glory, where His love and His justice was manifested on the mercy seat, where the sacrifice was offered once a year. That veil was rent from the top to the bottom.

And God said, all right, now the way's open, sinners can come to me. He demonstrates that He delights in the finished work of God calls the dead to rise and walk the streets. Say, what does that signify? Now, honestly, I don't have any idea what all is involved in that, but I know that there were some dead folks who were raised by the power of God from their graves to walk the streets of Jerusalem the night the Savior died, and God declared, this is the reason I delight in what He's done.

And you too shall be raised to everlasting life by what He has done. The Lord Jesus Christ is enthroned in glory. He's seated there on the right hand of the majesty on high and God declares he delights in all that he has done. And we are now accepted in him.

Now turn to Micah chapter seven. God delights in loving kindness, in judgment or justice and in righteousness. And here in Micah chapter seven in verse 18, the prophet gives us another description of God's character in which he delights. Who is a God like unto they? Oh, where can you find a God like this?

Among all the mythology of the ancient Greeks, among all the philosophies of men, among all the pagan imaginary deities, where can you find Freely. Freely. Search out your history books. Take the time. Just take the time and search out your history books and read about all the religions of the world. Read about all of them. Study every one of them. You won't find one where there is a God represented who pardons iniquity freely. Not one. Not one. Only he who is the living God pardons iniquity.

Oh, he puts away sin. He so thoroughly pardons iniquity that he removes it from us. He passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger forever because, get it now, he delighteth in mercy. God delights in mercy. Imagine that. God Almighty delights to be merciful, gracious, and kind to sinners. Depth of mercy, can there be? Mercy still reserved for me? Can my God his wrath forbear? Me, the chief of sinners, spare? Yes, he can, for Jesus died. By his blood, God satisfied. See the Savior on his throne. Thus I know the work's all done. There for me the Savior stands, holding forth his wounded hands. God is love, I know, I feel. He delights in mercy still.

Now, do you remember this morning back in Hosea chapter two? Haven't the Lord God described how he would betroth us unto him in the promise of his covenant mercy? In verse 19, Hosea chapter two, the Lord God says, I will betroth thee unto me forever. I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, in judgment, in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will betroth you unto me in those attributes of my holy character in which I delight.

Loving kindness, righteousness, judgment, justice, and mercy through a substitute, Christ Jesus the Lord. Now turn to Isaiah chapter 42. God delights in the glorious character of his own holy being. Here in Isaiah chapter 42, we read that the Lord God delights in his son, our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.

Now, obviously, this text is not talking about God, the father, delighting in his son as his son in the Holy Trinity. That's obvious. The Lord Jesus Christ was always the delight of his father in the sense of his being the co-equal son of God in the Trinity. But the text is talking about our Lord Jesus as the servant of Jehovah.

It's talking about him as the surety of the covenant. It's talking about him as the incarnate God-man, our redeemer, our substitute, our mediator. And the Lord God looks on that man. And he says, here he is, the man in whom my soul delights. The only man ever to live on God's earth in whom God delights is Jesus Christ.

The only one, the only one. God Almighty cannot, will not, never could, never would, be delighted with you or me in ourselves. No, sir. No, sir. God can't tolerate sin. God can't accept sin. God cannot embrace sin. God cannot be delighted with sin. And all we've got to offer God by Pontius is sin. That's all. That's all. Our best, highest, noblest, most holy thoughts are full of sin and corruption.

God can't be delighted with that. But the Lord God looks at his son. And twice in the New Testament, when our Lord Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist to fulfill all righteousness, the father spoke from heaven and said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And when the Lord Jesus was transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration and was about to be received up into glory on the basis of the death which he should accomplish at Jerusalem, the father spoke from heaven again and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The father is delighted with his son, the Lord Jesus Christ as our mediator. He's delighted with the obedience of his son. Our Lord Jesus said, therefore, doth my father love me? because I lay down my life, lay it down for the sheep that I might take it again. Now, the father loves him as our mediator in response to his obedience.

Not because, not in the sense that he loves him as God, but he loves him as the God-man, our mediator, and the Savior has earned his love by his obedience to God. Now, his obedience involved two things. The theologian is classified as active obedience and passive obedience. Actually, that's not a very good classification because our Lord certainly wasn't passive in his death.

But by his active obedience, they refer to his life of righteousness. He came to do the will of God. And for 33 years, a little more, this man did the will of God. And the father said, I'm delighted with him. He brought in righteousness. He fulfilled everything that we could never fulfill and did righteousness. But then, Our Lord Jesus by what they call his passive obedience. Again, I emphasize that's a poor choice of words.

But our Lord Jesus was sacrificed at Calvary under the wrath of God Almighty. And yet at the same time, he voluntarily gave himself into the hands of his enemies and voluntarily laid down his life as our substitute. Our Savior, by his death at Calvary, accomplished redemption for us and thus fulfilled all things. with regard to the will of God. This is the will of God which he came to do, by the which will we are sanctified, made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ one time for all his people.

The Lord God now delights with his son's intercession. Jesus Christ, the sinner's substitute, is seated upon his throne in heaven as the only priest ever to sit upon a throne and the only priest profiting king who makes intercession for us before God. There he sits in heaven's glory, now an advocate for sinners, making intercession for transgressors. And he pleads for his people. the people given to him before the foundation of the world, the people for whom he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and now he pleads for us. And he pleads with God, not our innocence, not extenuating circumstances. He doesn't offer up to God excuses for our sin, but rather he pleads with God for the non-imputation of sin, on the basis of righteousness fulfilled and justice satisfied. He says now, Father, as Mark hints, the child of our love, he's guilty as hell itself.

But I have obeyed the law for him. I've satisfied justice for him. Don't punish him. Do not impute sin to him! Justice has been satisfied. See, here's the paper. And God will not impute sin to that man who's worthy of nothing but wrath. Understand that?

That's Christ's intercession. He pleads with God. And he is now the delight of his father as our intercessor. And soon he shall delight, God shall delight in his son in the ultimate accomplishments of his work when he presents the kingdom to the father. That God may be all the knowledge.

And he says, lo, I and the children, which thou hast given me, not one of them is lost. Not one. God delights then in his own glorious character. That's not surprising. God delights in his son. Certainly that's not surprising. But now turn to our text this evening, Isaiah 62. I think you'll find this a little surprising. Astonishing. Amazing. Words can't describe it. Here the prophet tells us that the Lord our God delights in his people.

Isaiah 62 verse 4, Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate, but thou shalt be called Hezbollah, and thy land Beulah, for the Lord delighteth in thee. Imagine that. Imagine The Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. Oh, God Almighty delights in thee. Be astonished. Oh, my soul, God in his holiness, looks on me in his son and delights in me.

As I said earlier, God cannot and will not delight in us personally in ourselves or because of anything that we do or think or imagine. but he does accept, he does delight in, he does rejoice over us in Jesus Christ in whom he has made us accepted in the beloved from everlasting. Now though we were and are by nature full of sin through the sin and fall of our father Adam, though we were cast off, forsaken and desolate by nature in Christ, Every sane sinner is married to and the delight of the living God. That's just. That's more than I can get hold of.

God Almighty looks on us in his son with such complacency and satisfaction that he delights in us. Our name is handsome. I delight in her. I delight in her. The one speaking in our text is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, God our Savior. He gives this name to his church and to every believer in his church. The name by which our Savior speaks of his people is my delight is in her.

Turn to Zephaniah, the little book of Zephaniah. Start back at Malachi and work your way back. Zechariah, Haggai, and then Zephaniah. Zephaniah chapter three, verse 17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing.

Imagine, God delights in us. The Lord Jesus Christ delighted in us from everlasting as the objects of his love. He says in Proverbs 8, 31, my delights were with the sons of men. He delighted in us at Calvary when he endured the cross and the painful, shameful, ignominious death of the cross as our substitute. This was the joy set before him that he should have us with him in glory. He delights in us now. as the objects of his love washed in his blood, robed in his righteousness, and adorned with the beauty and grace of his spirit. He delights in our company.

He says in the Song of Solomon, chapter 7, that our company is to him pleasantness. He delights to hear our voices, to see our faces, and he will delight in us hereafter when he presents us to himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Now notice verse five for a moment.

Our text reads, for as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. Now our translation given there, if it is retained, simply means this, that many shall be born into the church and kingdom of God, and being born of her of her being born of the church as we are the instruments of God for the conversion of his people. They then bind themselves to his church and people and marry her in the sense of commitment and covenant responsibility to her. But the text might better be translated, so shall thy restorer marry thee. I say it's a better translation for the simple reason that it fits the context better. The Lord Jesus Christ is our restorer, our redeemer and our savior. And he's married to us. And he rejoices over us as a young man who marries a virgin rejoices over her. That symbolism is used frequently through the scriptures.

A young man courts a young lady and he woos her and he weighs the consequences of marriage and if he's wise he recognizes the responsibilities assuming when he takes a wife to himself and then on his wedding day he waits in front of the church wherever they're married and he watches that young virgin that he has courted and he anticipates taking her to be his own and all the cares and all the anxiety and all the fretfulness is just gone.

Oh, he's just he's delighted. There she is. And she's going to be mine. She's going to be mine. That's the picture of God, our savior, delighting in us. He looks upon us through his imputed righteousness as chaste virgins. And he sees us coming to him. He has assumed total responsibility for us and satisfied all our needs and has met all our needs for eternity to come. And as we come to him, can you picture God the Son just beaming with delight?

There they are. They're mine. And my delight, my delight is in my I will call this church Hephzibah for my delight is in her. Now let me show you very quickly five things about saved sinners in which Christ our God delights and I'll send you home to rejoice in and meditate upon this glorious truth and to rejoice in and meditate upon him who delights in you. Our God delights in his election of us. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 15. Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 15. I hope you're never weary of hearing of God's electing love and grace.

I recall once several years ago, oh, it's been a long, long time ago. I was over at Lexington and Brother Wilbur Johnson got up, started to preach. As he got up, folks sitting around me, somebody said, well, there's... Preach on it a little more and I wouldn't have to talk about it so much.

But this is a glorious, glorious doctrine. Glorious doctrine of Holy Scripture. Listen to what God says in Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 15. Only the Lord God had a delight in thy fathers to love them. And he chose their seed after them. even you above all people as it is this day. Now election is a blessed, blessed doctrine of Holy Scripture. God chose somebody and chose them to save them. He chose somebody because he loved them. He chose a great multitude of sinners and he determined from everlasting that he would be their God and they should be his people. I cannot imagine for the life of me anybody getting upset with that. I can't imagine for the life of me anybody except somebody who hates God. That's all. That's all.

Can you imagine, can you imagine that our governor should go down here to North Point Training Center or should go to one of the other prisons in the state and find the vile, the base, the profligate, the wicked, the horrible criminals who've been suffering away their lives in prison.

And he walks down and he just starts passing out pardons. Can you imagine one of them walking out there criticizing him because he didn't pardon everybody? Can you imagine one of them saying, well, I can't take that because he should have pardoned everybody. You're going to pardon me? Oh, no. Pardoned criminals rejoice in pardoning mercy. And we were pardoned criminals, criminals against God Almighty.

And he said, I'll be gracious to you. I'll be gracious to you. to be gracious to you. And God chose us. It was His delight to do so. God delights in the objects of His choice as fully now as when first He chose us before the world began. His delights were with us from eternity. And hard as it is for me to imagine, He still delights in it. He still delights in you. Can you get hold of that? God never ceases His own to cherish. He delights in us. God's election, therefore, are always to delight us. Every time you hear or read about God's electing love, you ought to be like David in your heart, leaping and dancing with God chose me. God's delight is with me. God's delight is always with me.

The election is one of the most inspiring doctrines in all the Bible. Look here in Deuteronomy 10 again, verse 16. Circumcised therefore. You see that? He's referring back to God's delight in election. He says, circumcised therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff-necked. He says, repent, repent.

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God and the mighty God and the terrible, which regardeth not persons nor taketh reward. Now that text of scripture, as it was quoted by Peter in Acts chapter 10, is so often torn out of context and Arminian free will workmonger religionist come along they say well God's no respecter of persons election can't be true.

The very doctrine of election is a declaration that God is no respecter of persons. God doesn't look on your appearance. God doesn't look at who you are and what you've done or what you might do. God's choice of his people is totally free and totally sovereign without regard to what they are or without regard to what they might become. He loved us and chose us because he loved us. "'Tis not that I did choose thee, for, Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse thee, hast thou not chosen me." Secondly, the Lord God delights in the godly fear and hope we have in him.

Turn to Psalm 147. Psalm 147. Verse 10, He delighteth not in the strength of the horse. He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. God delights in those who fear him. The great curse of our age, the great curse of this generation is that there is no fear of God before their eyes. No fear of God, no regard for God, no reverence for God, no trembling before the Almighty. But every man presumes that God's in his hip pocket and he can do with him whatever he wants to.

There are a few people, though. There is a remnant, according to the election of grace, who yet fear God. Now, the fear that he's talking about here is not the dread and terror of a legal fear. That's not it at all. But rather, it is the filial fear of a child, the reverential fear of one who loves him.

To fear God is to reverence him. whatever I can do as his messenger to exalt his character, to display his holiness and his glory and his majesty so that you think of him reverently. That's what I want to do. Reverence God. Reverence God. Children of God, now listen to me a minute, listen please.

Cease from speaking lightly of God. Don't think lightly of Him. Don't speak lightly of God's character, His name, or the things of God. Don't think lightly of those things. Don't take God's name in vain by speaking His name without the intent of glorifying Him. Reverence Him. Reverence Him. Trust Him.

That's what the fear of God is. It is a reverence arising from a heart of trust, and a heart of trust that's obedient to Him. The fear of God causes men and women to look upon Him with reverence, with love, with trust, to obey Him willingly and seek His glory in everything. And the Lord takes delight in his people for they fear him. And God delights in those who hope in his name, who hope in his mercy.

I have hope because he's gracious. I have hope because he delights in mercy. I have hope because he passes by iniquity. I have hope because he is And he's given me in the Valley of Acre. We hope in his mercies, in his compassion, in his faithfulness, in his goodness, in his loving kindness, we hope in his salvation.

Thirdly, turn to Psalm 37. Psalm 37 in verse 23. Our Savior delights in the way of his saints. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. I could spend a good while preaching on that. Let me tell you exactly what the text is talking God Almighty takes his chosen from the womb of the morning and in infinite wisdom, he has ordered every step in the lives of chosen saints, every step, every step, every step.

What about the man's rebellion? God's still taking care of things. What about the man's sin? He's responsible as he can be. God's still taking care of things. He's ordered every step, every step. His way is the way ordained, planned, and predestined by God. His way is the way in which God preserves and keeps him under the time of his calling. His way at last brings him face to face with God in perfect reconciliation And God says, I delight in that. I delight in that.

I look back over my life. I'm not just talking to you now. I'm telling you the truth as best I know my heart. And I realize I don't know it much, but best I know my heart. I look over my life and I am full of shame and sorrow. for what I have been and what I have done. I look at my mother and dad and I think about the pain and misery and shame I brought on that parent.

Nobody outside hell deserves what I gave my parents, nobody, nobody. And I lament, I lament, but if I could change anything, Now listen to me, and listen carefully. If I could change anything, Ron, there's not one thing in the past 45 years I changed. Not one thing. Because God has graciously ordered my steps, overruling even the corruption of my life and of my heart, to bring me to this place before him and before you. And when he's done, when he's done, He's going to present me with the presence of His glory.

And God delights in it. And when I get to the other side and I see things like He sees them, I'll delight in it too. That's right. I'll delight in it too. The steps of every man made good by grace, our order of the Lord. He delights in His people. Fourth thing, our great God and Savior delights in the character of His people.

You see, the believer is a new creature in Christ. God changes a man's character. Somehow in the marvel of his wisdom and goodness, God takes a man and the man remains the same person and the same personality with the same intellectual and physical attributes and talents or blemishes and thoughts. He's the same person. But when God comes to him in saving grace and makes him a new creature in Christ, he gives him a new habit. And that new character is Jesus Christ formed in you. And that new character lives in righteousness of rightness and holiness. And God delights in it. Turn to Proverbs chapter 11. Proverbs chapter 11. Let's look at a few of these things. Proverbs 11 in verse one. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. You know what a just weight is?

It's honesty. It's honesty. I'll tell you what God will do for a man. He'll make him honest. Grace makes a fellow honest. It just does. Now, I recognize we live in a society and we live in a religious world in which a person's religion doesn't seem to have much bearing on his behavior. But I'm telling you, no, God tells us and tells us plainly, the grace of God has every bearing on your behavior. Every bearing. The grace of God makes a man honest, makes him honest with his wife and with his children. Makes him honest before God, makes him honest in business, makes him honest in his dealings with folks. He's just honest. You can count on him, he's honest.

Look in verse 20 of Proverbs 11. They that are forward are an abomination to the Lord. That's the way with man. I'll have my way, I'll do my thing, get out of my sight. For such as are upright in their way are his delights. And grace makes sinners upright. Upright. You say, well, I don't know what uprightness is.

How do we know what's right? How do we know what's right? We hear that from imaginary philosophers and educators and intellectuals all over the world. How do you know what's right? Who's to say what's right? God. That's right. God says what's right. God says what's wrong. Nobody else counts. Nobody else's opinion matters. Not yours. Not mine. Not the education system. Not the president. Nobody. Just God. He determines good from evil. And look what he says is upright in verse 13.

A tale bearer reveals secrets. You know, Well, I sure don't want to gossip any, but you know, Merle Hart, I tell you what, I just feel like I've got to tell somebody. I've got to tell somebody. A tail bearer does. Look at this though. But he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. Uprightness is protecting a man's character as well as his life. I don't have much that I think good about Mike Tyson. I'm not his promoter. I'll leave that to Don King. He makes enough money at it.

But I heard him on news conferences then when I was out in Texas. And I just, I thought I wish I'd been there. I wish I'd said that. when the news reporter asked him some kind of a question and Tyson just stopped. He said, let me talk to you a minute.

You fellows are character assassins. You're just character assassins. Some fellows go out and assassinate a man by putting a bullet in his head, you assassinate him by assassinating his name. I thought, man, hand it to him. That's just about what most news media is, just character assassins. But that's just about what most people are, character assassins, not God's people. No, God's people will protect your character. They'll protect your reputation. It's safe. Your name's as safe with them as your life is. They'll protect you.

That's uprightness. What is uprightness? Look in verse 15. Proverbs chapter 11, verse 15. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it, and he that hateth surety is sure. What he's talking about here is faithfulness. The surety sweareth to his own hurt and he stays with it. Grace makes sinners faithful.

I have often told you there's nothing I admire more about the character of God than faithfulness. And there's nothing I admire about the character of a man or a woman than faithfulness. Oh man, I love dogged dependability. Just dogged dependability. And God makes folks dependable. Faithful in everything. Faithful in religion. Faithful in worship. Faithful in the service of God. Faithful in their homes. Faithful in business. Faithful, faithful, faithful men. That's upright, man. God delights in it because God makes them such. and God delights in grace, virtue, and honor. Look at verse 16.

A gracious woman retaineth honor. Like a strong man retains riches, a gracious woman retaineth honor. Doug told me a while back, my son-in-law, he said, my dad told me As a young man, he said, son, I can't give you a pot of gold, and I can't give you the world, but I'll tell you what I've given you. I've given you an honorable name, see to it you keep it. All gracious folks do. They retain honor. They retain honor. They walk honorably. They walk honorably. We have received a name from God. His delight is in me. Let us then walk honorably before our God, retaining honor for our God. And God delights in mercy.

All grace makes sinners merciful. See verse 17, the merciful man doeth good to his own soul. The merciful man is that man who walks before others mercifully. He looks upon others and gives the best possible construction to their words, their actions, their behavior. And he deals with them in mercy, always in mercy. And it's good to his own soul as he does.

God is true and he delights in truthfulness and he makes his people truthful. Look in chapter 12 of Proverbs, verse 22. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. But they that deal truly are his delight. God's people deal truly in earthly material things and they do deal truly in eternal spiritual things. God makes them truthful because he's true. Now look at one more thing. Look in Proverbs 15 verse 8. Not only does God delight in the character which he creates in his people, but God delights in the prayers of his people. In Proverbs 15 verse 8, the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. Doesn't matter what he brings. Doesn't matter what he brings. It's an abomination. Doesn't matter how big, how expensive, how costly or how often. It's an abomination.

But the prayer of the upright is his delight. I got a letter yesterday, I believe it was, maybe the day before. A friend who'd been listening to him on the radio asked for some instruction in prayer, and I feel so totally incompetent to give answer to his letter. But I know this.

God delights in prayer. not the form of prayer, not the repetition of learned prayers, but in prayer. Prayer is the cry of the renewed heart to God. Prayer is the opening of my heart to God. God delights in it because all true prayer comes from God. goes to God, bows to the will of God, glorifies God, and delights in God. He delights in Him.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. As God called you and me, Hephzibah, B'Athos. God says, my delight is in you. So, can you get hold of that? God says to me, my delight is in you. Then let us, to whom God himself is married, be to him alone for a people. As he delights in us, let us delight in him. As he loves us, let us love him. As He is faithful to us, let us be faithful to Him. Amen.

Hephzibah

What does the Bible say about God's delight?

How do we know God's justice is satisfying?

Why is God's election important for Christians?

What brings delight to God according to the Bible?

How does God view His people?

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Hephzibah

What does the Bible say about God's delight?

How do we know God's justice is satisfying?

Why is God's election important for Christians?

What brings delight to God according to the Bible?

How does God view His people?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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