Introductory Comments
1. Baptism is a special time. Reminds of of God's promises and our faith. It lets us consider the wonder of life as seen in a little baby.
2. Almost 180 years ago, a little baby girl was born. She was born a healthy baby. After only 6 weeks, she suffered a slight cold. The cold caused an inflamation in her eyes. The family doctor was out so another person came in his place. He recommended they apply some flaxseed to her eyes. The result was tragic - she became permanently blind. A lifetime of blindness because of this one mistake.
3. She could easily have lived a life of resentment. But instead, Crosby’s life was a life that was filled with joy. we hear her joy in the hymn that we just sang. Listen to the words agian. READ. I love to sing them - they are so powerful. They reflect a strong confession of faith, of assurance of faith, and a joy beyond compare. Stress "foretaste of glory divine, perfect delight, happy and blest, filled with His goodness, lost in His love"
4. Crosby wrote over 800 hymns. Rather than experience pain and suffering, she was able to rejoice.
5. The secret to her joy and her faith are found in Blessed Assurance. We see two things - the delight she had in God and the assurance sher had of her salvation.
6. Today we see how these two things - delight and assurance - are closel;y related. And as we do, I ask you do you have the assurance that all will be well, that one day you will be in heaven? And do you have the delight that Crosby had?
Teaching
1. We might say that Crosby delighted in the Lord because she had assurance. To delight is to be glad, to have joy, to make mirth, and to rejoice. She could rejoice because, as we just sang, Crosby had a strong faith in God, in His goodness. She knew that she was cleansed of her sin and that one day she would be in heaven with God. The joy she experienced in this life was but a foretaste, an appetizer of the joy she would experience in heaven.
2. Do you share the assurance that Crosby had? That we just sang about? Do you believe in the promises of God, promises we heard God made again today as we baptized Kyle James? Is this just a human ritual or is this a sign of God’s love and His calling to us to believe in Him? If you have this assurance, you can be glad and you can delight in the Lord.
3. I want to examine a different aspect to the relationship between assurance and delight this morning. I just said that we delight because of teh assurance we have, but we also have assurance because we delight.
4. As your pastor, I desire so much for you to live in the joy of an assurance that enables you to live in joy and hope, no matter what your circumstances.
5. But, also, I want to ensure that your assurance is well-founded. That you do not think that you are saved when you are really not. And what I hope to explain is that it can be the fact that we delight in the Lord that can be the source of our assurance. That we long for God and the things of God. That God is more important to us than anything else. Let's see how this works.
6. Jesus tells us:
Mat 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
7. These words of Jesus were spoken to those who thought they were saved but were really not. Some of them proclaimed God’s word and even performed miracles. Yet their assurance was not well-founded because their faith was not genuine.
8. Jesus says that only those who "do the will of my Father" will enter the kingdom of heaven. This makes it sound that the only way we get to heaven is by obeying the law of God. That we can work or earn our way into heaven. But as we saw last week, God does not just look at the outside of a person, what He does. He looks at the heart. He looks at why we do what He calls us to do. He does not come to us and say "John, you came to church each week, you were a good person, therefor enter into my rest." No, He looks deeper than that.
9. He says "Is your heart turned toward me?" "Do you delight in me?" What does this mean for you and me? It means that we need to examine ourselves to not only see how we are living our lives, but why we are living as we are? It means that it is not enough for us to say "I believe Jesus is the Son of God and He died for sins" Even the devil knows that.
10. It means that it is not enough to live according to God’s word. It means that we love the Lord our God with all our mind, heart, soul, and strength. That we live not to please Him alone, but we find it a pleasure to live for Him.
11. Do you find it a bother to live for God? "If I didn’t have to go to church, I could be out on the lake.""If I didn’t feel I have to tithe, I could buy so many other things." "If I did not need to live a holy life, I could really have fun.' "When I get old enough, I won’t have to come with mom and dad to church anymore."
12. Jesus says Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Is living for Jesus a heavy burden for you or is it easy and light? It depends on our attitude toward the will of God as expressed in His word and His law
13. We read of the attitude that David had in Psalm 119.
Psa 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Psa 119:14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.
Psa 119:15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.
Psa 119:16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
14. Do we delight in God’s word? Do we hide it in our hearts? Do we meditate on it? Or when we act against God’s will, do we truly feel sad and sorrow?
15. Many see the church as a place with rules and regulations. There may indeed be some truth in that. One of worst things a visitor can see when they first enter the church, is a list of rules. No smoking, parents - watch your children, no running.
16. The world sees the Bible as a way of restricting what they can do? As a negative that takes a way their freedom. But a true believer cherishes the word of God, she delights in it.
17. But why would anyone cherish the word of God? When I was in my early twenties, I was a banker for a couple of years. I lived in Sarnia, Windsor, Amhersberg. Every Wednesday was a special day for me. I could not wait to get to my home after work. Because I was expecting something special. A letter from Margaret. I longed for those letters. Why? Of course, because I longed for the one who sent them to me.
18. So too, David the reason David delighted in the word of God, was because He delighted in God Himself.
Psa 119:10-12 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.
19. Faith is a gift from God. It is a gift that changes our heart. From a heart of stone that rejects God and His word to a soft heart of flesh that delights in the Lord. If our heart has really been changed, then you will delight in the Lord. Then we will find our only joy in Him. Then with Fanny Crosby, we can sing "Perfect submission, perfect delight."
20. Then with David, we can say:
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. (Psa 42:2) My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
21. With Isaiah, we can say"
Isa 61:10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God.
22. What is it that gives you the most joy in life? Where do you find your delight? Is it in your accomplishments, in your hobbies, in your sports, in your work? In your abilities to serve God?
23. Or is it in what God does for you? So that when God does not do for you as you hope, you get upset with Him. Or is it simply in Him for who He is. When we delight in someone we do not always understand why we do. When we are asked why do we love someone - it is hard to say why. We simply do. We delight in them. That is what a changed heart does to us. We delight in God because of who he is. We may delight in what He does for us, but our delight in Him is not based on that.
24. Do you live for God or self? Again I ask, in whom or what do you delight?
25. If it is God, then you can rejoice even more. The joy of God is assurance of faith, evidence of genuine faith, which in turn allows us to live with the blessed assurance we then have. If it is not, ask God to change your heart, .search for Him in His word. Ask Him that He will make you delight in Him alone
26. And because we delight in Him, we want to please Him, to live for Him. We seek to do the things that give God pleasure. Especially important for young people. Our decisions are based on our relationship with God.
27. Read story, page 147 of "Whole Prayer" by Walter Wangerin.
28. As so with the writer to the Hebrews, I say to you
Heb 13:20-21 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
