-Transcript-
00:26 Amen. Glory to God. Welcome to the program.
00:29 Welcome to the cafe, Pastor Clark Covington from Heartland Community Baptist Church out of Kings Mountain, North Carolina. So glad you could join me here today. Thank you for being here.
00:39 Hopefully you’re having a wonderful day, a wonderful week. And we are going to have a two-part series here on delighting God. Wouldn’t it be nice to delight God?
00:51 Do you know that you can delight God or you can upset God? That God is a spirit and desires to be worshiped in spirit and truth? I think oftentimes we’ll look at the Bible and wonder, you know, does God have any kind of feelings?
01:14 And the word feelings that I use can’t really be applied to God the spirit, but he does let us know that he’s happy about some things and not happy about others.
01:18 And I’m going to give you both Old Testament and New Testament here, because some people will hear the Old Testament and say, oh, that was just the Old Testament.
01:26 But there’s actually a lot of scripture in the New Testament about how we can delight God.Isaiah 65:12, therefore will I number you to the sword and you shall all bow down to the slaughter, because when I called, ye did not answer.
01:39 When I spake, ye did not hear, but did evil before my eyes and did choose that wherein I delighted not. Isaiah 66:4, I also will choose their delusions and will bring their fears upon them. Because when I called, none did answer.
01:57 When I spake, they did not hear, but they did evil before mine eyes and chose that in which I delighted not. And so Isaiah 65 and 66, both are referencing the Israelites rebelling against God and doing things that did not delight him. They did not delight him.
02:11 They did not make him happy. Amen. They did not please God.
02:18 And again, this is a concept that feels almost abstract when we’re speaking of God, the creator of the universe, that we as people can actually make him feel some kind of certain way, amen.
02:30 But it’s important to understand that God loves us, amen, that he made us. We’re fearfully and wonderfully made, that we are created with an end in mind that’s a peaceable end, amen, that he has a plan for us, amen, that he delights in the prospering of his servants, amen.
02:47 And so that is our God. Our God is a real God. Our God is close.
02:51 Our God can be pleased with us or not. What were the Israelites doing that was making him so mad that he was going to number them before the sword, that he was going to give them those delusions that was going to bring their own fears upon them?
03:05 What were they doing? Well, number one, they weren’t listening to him. Isaiah 66:4 tells us, because when I called, none did answer.
03:12 When I spake, they did not hear. See, oftentimes we can tune God out, amen. We can tune God out and be rebellious in that way.
03:22 And you know, I think we’re all guilty of this, that the Lord, by the working of the Holy Spirit, if we’ve been saved, amen, because you know that if you’re saved, you have the Holy Spirit living within you, and we know the Holy Spirit is the third part of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
03:37 So if you’re saved, you have the Holy Spirit working within you, and that Holy Spirit’s bringing about discernment over God’s Word and over your life, that the Bible tells us the Holy Spirit is the one that convicts us of sin, that helps us understand the sin in the world, that convicts the world of sin, amen. The Holy Spirit’s the one that helps us discern the things of God.
03:58 It’s literally God living within us. And so when we say the church isn’t the church house, well, technically the church, in terms of God himself, is living within us. We have Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the Holy Trinity, the three-in-one Godhead, the fullness of God.
04:19 The way God designed it was God the Father sent God the Son to die on the cross for our sins, and then when we’re saved, when we understand that we have a sin nature that we can’t resolve on our own,
04:24 and when we’re saved by the blood of Christ, we are born again, we believe on Jesus as Lord and Savior, and we believe and have faith on him at the cross of Calvary, we are saved, amen, for what he did for us.
04:35 And once we’re saved, now we have that Holy Spirit living within us, and now that Holy Spirit can be grieved. The Bible tells us that we shouldn’t grieve the Holy Spirit, and boy, does that happen today in this day and age.
04:53 I believe it over and over. Last night at a revival meeting, the preacher was talking about how long-term members of church have decided to stop going to church. That would grieve the Holy Spirit, and I have the scripture here, how we can grieve the Holy Spirit.
05:07 Ephesians 4: 29-30, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, Paul writes, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
05:26 So Paul’s writing in the book of Ephesians of the church at Ephesus that, look, the Holy Spirit can be grieved. So think of this, if God himself can be grieved living within you, could God himself not be delighted living within you?
05:43 I mean, again, if he can feel that way, I mean, he’s God, I’m sure he could feel the other way.
05:47 And so that’s why I titled this message, Delighting God, because I’m taking the negative, and I’m saying there is an inverse to this negative.
05:53 There is, okay, God tells us that this did not delight him, and he’s very clear that the prophet Isaiah in chapter 65 and 66, that these things did not delight him, that they’re chasing after idols, amen, that they’re not listening to him, that they’re doing evil before his eyes, they’re being rebellious, right?
06:09 And that did not delight him. And so what if we were to purpose to delight him, and you’re saying, well, brother Clark, that’s the Old Testament.
06:20 Well, no, I’ve got New Testament scripture for you too. Number one, Hebrews 11:6 tells us it’s impossible to please God without faith. Now again, if it’s impossible to please him without faith, that if we have faith, that must mean that we can please him.
06:31 Hebrews 11:6, one of my favorite verses in the Bible, but without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
06:41 But without faith, it’s impossible to please him, so that means with faith, the inference is you could please him. Abraham pleased him by faith, Abraham was justified by faith, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, believe that he’s God, right?
06:55 And he’s a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, right? So if we come to God, we have to believe that we’re gonna be rewarded for searching the scriptures, we’re gonna be rewarded for seeking him out, we’re gonna believe that he has the knowledge that we need, and he has the power that we so desire to be applied upon our lives.
07:13 And the reason why I’m bringing this up here today, is I believe oftentimes when I’m preaching, and I really believe this, a small group or big group might think, you know, whoever’s listening,
07:25 I shouldn’t say a big group, whoever’s listening, probably a small group, they say, hey, let’s turn on the Fundamental Christian radio station, you know, okay, that’s a small group.
07:32 And then a section of that group may say, yeah, we’re saved, and that’s all that matters, right?
07:38 And so the idea of preaching of like works and stuff, it kind of chafes up against the idea we’re saved, but I’m not preaching about salvation, I’m preaching to the saved person.
07:49 And I’m preaching about pleasing God, delighting God, right? So once we’re saved, now what, right? I’m preaching from Ephesians, it’s telling us not to grieve the Holy Spirit, right?
08:01 And Hebrews 11:6 saying it’s impossible to please God without faith, amen. And so we need to look at what Israel had done to make God upset, and see if we can do the opposite, right?
08:10 The Israelites, God’s chosen people, weren’t Gentiles for the most part, those listening here today, I’m sure Gentiles, yet we are grafted into God’s holy family, and the Israelites were rebellious against God, so what do we want to do?
08:23 We want to not rebel, and along with that is the Israelites were rebellious against God and there was consequences for their rebellion, but going back to what do we want to do? We want to not rebel.
08:35 We should be obedient to the Lord, amen. Be obedient, 1 Samuel 15:22, and Samuel said, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
08:50 Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. So another great verse I use all the time for Samuel 15:22, it says, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
09:09 What the prophet Samuel’s telling us here is that God delights more in just obeying him. To delight God, we must try our best to be obedient.
09:19 This means listening to God. How do we listen to God? I was talking to our little ones. We have homeschool.
09:26 I’m a homeschool dad. I’m teacher dad, is what my daughter calls me, teacher dad. I’m also pastor dad and just dad, dad, but my daughter says, okay, teacher dad, okay, I’m talking to her.
09:34 We’re, you know, at homeschool, praise Jesus. One of our lessons, actually our first lesson every day for, you know, when we are able to is a Bible lesson. And so today we were talking about listening to God.
09:45 How do you do that? Well, you listen to God through reading his word, because if it’s his word, then when you read his word, essentially you are listening to what God is speaking, right?
09:56 And you are praying to God in earnest response to the scriptures you’re reading. So to listen to God is one way to be obedient, right? Again, not tuning him out and not grieving the Holy Spirit. To listen to God is being obedient.
10:15 To trust him, to have faith in him, it’s just impossible to please God without faith. We have to have faith that the Lord is telling us what to do correctly.
10:28 And again, most people say, well, thank you very much, Lord, for the tip about sin, but I really like this really gory movie, or I really like this music with a bunch of cuss words or profanity in it or lewd images.
10:38 Or I really like this app, even though it’s trashy and there’s all kinds of gossip on there. Or I really like this crowd, even though they’re drunkards and they blaspheme God.
10:47 You know, again, it’s God’s instruction, and then it’s applying it to a very difficult world to live in.
10:54 You know, we are fish out of water as Christians. And so being obedient sounds easy on paper. Okay, he is God, and it’s not going to be that hard to obey him, right? But then the Israelites, look at what they did.
11:08 Moses is up there speaking to God on Mount Sinai. While he’s up there, the Israelites are making themselves molten calves, right? They’re making themselves idols that they’re bowing down to. They’re stripping down and dancing in front of this idol.
11:21 It’s absolutely outrageous. God was literally present. God had delivered them out of the bondage of Egypt, amen. God had saved them from their bondage.
11:26 And so we being saved from the bondage of sin by the work of Jesus Christ, which has already been done, and we accept Christ as Savior, it must be just as much of an abomination when we go back into these sinful things and these sinful idols in our life.
11:43 And you say, Brother Clark, I don’t have a statue in my closet that I bow down to or in a grove or something. No, but you know, maybe there is an actor, an actress.
11:56 Maybe there is a sports team. Maybe your idol is your job. Maybe your idol is your kids.
12:00 Maybe your idol is money, material things. Maybe your idol is status. Maybe your idol is attention.
12:04 Only God knows. But whatever comes before God in your heart is an idol. And so the idea of obedience in practicality, in living it out, is much harder than it is when we just put it on paper.
12:19 But God calls us to be obedient. And when we’re obedient to him, I believe that pleases him. And let’s say God, you know, calls us to go to the park every day, every morning and pray before we go across the street and go into work, okay? And let’s say we go and do that.
12:34 And some days it’s a little rainy, and some days it’s a little cold, and we’re just praying. I don’t believe God’s gonna lead you into a very terrible, dangerous situation, but it’s a safe place. You’re going to pray.
12:44 And, you know, I think even if something doesn’t come from that prayer time where, you know, you don’t have any great ideas that day, or maybe you don’t even have a lot of peace that day, but you’re doing that day in and day out. What you’re doing is you’re showing God he comes first in your life. You’re being obedient to him.
13:01 You feel led by the Holy Spirit to go pray in this park. And who knows what God can do with that? Maybe someone sees you praying, maybe a coworker. Maybe it’s a silent witness to a coworker.
13:10 And that coworker says, look at that Christian. They’re not just talking a talk, they’re walking a walk, amen. And you see, being obedient to God, it pleases him.
13:17 I believe that. You know, I don’t know exactly every single way that we’re called to be obedient, but I know that there are commands that we are to follow. I know that we are to love our neighbors.
13:30 I know that we are to give charitably and sacrificially and to give without being grudging about it. I know that we are not to lie or steal or cheat. I know that we are to be of a sober mind.
13:41 I know that we are to be waiting and watching for the Lord and his coming, his soon coming. I know that we are to gather more and more as we see the day approaching.
13:49 Again, I’m just giving you these things off the top of my head, the Holy Spirit’s laid upon my heart.
13:53 All of these things, not being perfect, but being obedient, pleases God. How do we delight God? There’s many ways, but for today we’re focusing on being obedient. Focus on being obedient.
13:59 Pray to God, ask him to reveal to you how you can be obedient to him. And when you have doubts, just get into his word and pray. Get into his word and pray, and he’ll reveal to you, I believe, ways to be obedient so that we can delight God the Father and so that we can enrich that Holy Spirit instead of grieving that Holy Spirit.
14:23 And we will be blessed in the process. Thank you for listening.
14:26 Tune in next time. Take care. God bless and amen.