Alright, let's go ahead and get started. Let's turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. Paul writes, this is a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. And so the idea here is as we continue to study through systematic theology, the purpose here is to prepare you guys to know God's Word and be able to handle it in a way that would be pleasing to Him. So we want to know God's thoughts after Him. This is a good work. When we begin to survey the landscape of what's going on, particularly within pulpits, one has to wonder how much do they really know and study of God's Word versus bringing man's wisdom and man's thoughts. There are those who disregard God's Word. There are those who may look at it but then they're relying heavily upon those outside themselves to help them understand and read it. But the question really has to be is that if you desire this good work that Paul talks about here in 1 Timothy 3, then you must be giving yourself to the study of God's Word. And so those that have historically prepared themselves for the ministry have done so at great cost to their own comfort, to their own whatever their desires or wishes were. They set themselves aside for this time. So I'm going to encourage you that if you're not doing so, if you're not going and studying and following up on this, you're not going and meditating on what we're talking about, That'd be really problematic because it's not when the problem happens. It's not when the issue arises that you, whoa, I've got to go figure out what to do now. You need to be prepared. We need to have God's Word in hand and learn how to use it. Well, we've been studying for several weeks now the attributes of God, and we're going to move our attention this week to the will and the works of God. And so we're moving into a new section of study of God as we want to look at His will and His works. In Dagg's manual theology, this is the section that is titled, and if you remember the format of his systematic theology, is he always starts off a new section with our duty. Turn to Psalm 115. Psalm 115. We pick up the reading in verse one. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to your name give glory because of your mercy, because of your truth. Why should the Gentiles say, so where is their God? And the psalmist answers, but our God is in heaven, and he does whatever he pleases. And so what we see here in the psalm is that the psalm writer is delighting in something. What is he delighting in? Well, he's delighting in the very thing that most people want to rebel and push against, which is it's okay for sinful man to do whatever he pleases, but the moment we start proclaiming the sovereignty of God that he does whatsoever he pleases, what does it do? The sinful, fallen, wicked man, well, we don't like that. When trouble comes your way and someone wants to know, well, where is your God? Can you remind them of this? Can you praise the God of Psalm 115, who is in the heaven, who ordains all things to come to pass? And He does whatever He pleases. Even in your darkest hour, and this is where your systematic theology really fleshes out, even in your darkest of hours, can you praise God? The psalmist could. And the psalmist did. In fact, the Psalms are full of praises during what? During some of the most trying of times. Very little, I mean, you don't really have this idea as you read through the Psalms of a pity party and all these things. It was crying out to God to deliver him, to save him, but he always praised God in the process. Think about how trivial we tend to be. We don't get our way, our plans get frustrated. Can we praise God? The pattern that's been set before us is that we should. The Lord Jesus Christ, He could. So that's the standard. with all the allotments of divine providence, happy in the exercises of piety and devotion, joyful in the hope of endless felicity. Heaven is near in prospect, and while on that way to that world perfect and eternal bliss, we are permitted in some measure to anticipate its joys being even here blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We are enabled not only to pursue our pilgrimage to the good land with content and cheerfulness, but even to delight ourselves in the Lord. Our happiness is not merely the absence of grief and pain, but it is a positive delight. And so I don't know if you're reading through, Dag, but as you read through this section, our duty to praise the will and the works of God. When we think of heaven, there will be an absence of grief and pain as part of the glory of that place. But our happiness here, our joy here on this earth is not the absence of grief and pain. That's not the basis of our joy. For example, think of those who seem to, you may think, and I look at them as well and think, boy, they live the enchanted life. You know, they have the enchanted life where they have health and prosperity, but yet their lives are without joy. So joy can't be just tied to an absence of grief or pain. That's not the basis of it. We see this with the wealthy, the famous all the time. Our happiness cannot be tied to our external circumstances, but rather our happiness and our joy must be in knowing the one true God and delighting in His will. Are you prone to complain and murmur about your lot in life, about your situation, about your status? Well, then what is your joy tied to? You see how easy it is for us to fall victim to this, to make our joy based on our external circumstances, rather than saying, I know the true and living God. And so when the pagan and the mocker says, where is your God in your time of affliction? Oh, my God sits in the heavens, and He does whatever He pleases. Praise be His name. Can you say that? Can you do that? Because that's the standard. And this is what we, who are leading and guiding within our churches, should be proclaiming. and that's been lost. And it's interesting when you read through someone like Dagg, it wasn't lost. That's why I love reading his systematic. His manual of theology is so encouraging to me because he writes in a way that's more in alignment with God's Word than when I see the more modern day systematic theology books that are placed out there. Now sure, maybe the systematic theology of the modern day gets into more of the polemical side of things and they get on the thorny issues and the thready issues about how many angels can fit on the head of a pen or whatever it is they want to argue about. But they miss an element here. And the element they're missing is what Dagg is saying. Our duty is to praise God for His will and His works, not only for who He is, which we looked at when we dealt with the attributes of God, but we should learn to praise God for His will and His works. We are to delight and love God for who He is in nature, and we are to love and delight in God for His works and His will. Now think about the things you find delight in or the things that other people might find delight in. What do you find delight in? Most of the time it's the simple things of life. But many find it difficult to just simply find delight in the God of the creation, the God of the scriptures. We tend to delight in the gifts of God but not necessarily the gift giver. So Dagg reminds us that we are to have a delight in God, and as a result, we should have a delight in His will. To refuse to delight in the will of God is to refuse to delight in the nature of God. We are to delight in the commands of God and His eternal pleasures. And Dagg writes, divine truth is not only sanctifying, but it is beautifying. I don't know if we think about truth in that way. Divine truth is not only sanctifying, but it's beautifying. To the ancient saints, it was sweeter than honey in the honeycomb. The early Christians, in believing the truth as it was in Jesus, rejoiced and with unspeakable and full of glory. And so the true saint of God, who knows his God and knows his ways, knows the ways of his God, can delight in God. You say, I don't know if that's possible. Well, you're not the basis or the standard for whether or not you can delight in God and His will in His works. God's Word is. God's Word says we should. And then God's Word shows us people who have, who have found comfort in God. And so when we study out the God of the Scriptures, God is not simply existing, but God is very active within His creation. In heaven, the angelic host loves God for who He is and what He does. Turn over to Revelation 1. Think about it. In heaven, they love Him for His attributes, His nature, and they love Him for what He does. Revelation 1. I don't know about you, but I find this very convicting about when I start murmuring and complaining. How pathetic. How pathetic for me to complain when we have this, when we know the true and living God. But do you see how fast it is? How quick, how subtle murmuring, complaining, doubting, unbelief can creep in. I think this is why it's so important that we stay submerged in the Word of God. Revelation 1, look at verse 12. Then I turned to see the voice that spoke to me and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about in his waist with a golden band. His head and his hair were white like wool, and as white as snow, and his eyes like a flaming fire." And I just want you to pause and think about this. What we have here is a picture of Christ, and what is this picture teaching us? Well, it's teaching us something of the purity and the holiness and the majesty of Christ, the majesty of God. But look at verse 16, because then we see something of his works. He had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun, shining in its strength. The seven stars, which are the seven messengers, when you go down to verse 20, you would see that. But out of His mouth comes His Word, which is His will that flows from His nature. So we see something of the beauty of the nature of God, the majesty of God. We see His works. Turn over to chapter 4 and look at verse 8. The four living creatures, which having six wings, were full of eyes around and within, and they do not rest day or night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come, whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, The 24 elders fall down before Him, who sits on the throne and worship Him, who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist, and they were created. He is worshipped for who He is, but He's also worshipped for what He does within His creation. And this is the pattern that we are to follow. As creatures of God, we are to worship Him and serve Him because of who He is and what He does. And so as elders, you must learn to teach those under your care to worship God in this pattern. They must learn to delight in the God for who He is and what He does. And so when we contemplate God, He's not anything like the God of man's creation. The vain imaginations of man comes up with all kinds of gods. They'll never come up with this God on their own. This God must be revealed to them. God's will, and this is what we want to understand as we move into the will and works of God this morning, God's will is never arbitrary. When we talk about arbitrary, what we mean by that is that there's no purpose to it. In other words, God's will is never arbitrary in that way. In man's finite thinking, we see the will of God If you look around the religions of the world, the will of God really has no purpose. But our God always has a purpose, and that purpose is always holy, His purpose is always good, and it's just. So unlike the false gods of fallen man, our God is not sadistic. The false gods of men like to torture men for the sake of torture. In other words, with sadistic delight. The Bible teaches us that God is good to all of his creation, and this is why Ezekiel teaches us that God does not take delight in some kind of sadistic way in the destruction of the wicked. But he will punish the obstinate sinner, and his justice will be rejoiced over. His justice must be rejoiced over because he is right and he is good. Whatever God does is right and good. But notice that God is not sadistic, but rather he is serious about sin, and that's the problem. Fallen sinful men, what do you think they want to do? They want to rationalize and justify it. You guys in here, you're big boys, you're old enough to know, most of you, as you look at a young child who wants to continue in his sinful ways, his deceitful patterns or his disobedience, what does he want? He wants a parent that's permissive and not so much serious about sin. However, the moment you are crossed, the moment your rights as you perceive your rights are violated, what do you want? You don't want a permissive parent anymore, do you? You want someone who takes sin seriously. Well, that's the kind of God we have. He's not a sadistic God when He punishes sin. He's a just, good, and holy God. So understand, God's will is never arbitrary. Now, the two primary ways in which we think about the will of God and the kind of will that we delight in is His will of command and His will of purpose. So there's two ways to look at the will of God, His will of command and His will of purpose. God's will of command is expressed in His law. What God has commanded, we refer to His precepts, His judgments, His testimonies. And in the New Covenant, for example, New Covenant members receive a new heart. And within that new heart of the New Covenant member, remember, there's no New Covenant member that doesn't have this work of grace within their life. That's a distortion and once again a man-made law or man-made idea. But the idea here is that within the New Covenant, New Covenant members receive a new heart. And what does Hebrews tell us? In Hebrews 8, it says, within that new heart, God does something. He writes His law upon that heart. Turn over to Hebrews 8. Look at it again. Hebrews 8, look at verse 10. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. So those who are in the new covenant will have something that they didn't have at one time. You see that? What do you think it is they're gonna have? They're gonna have this delight and love of God's law. That's the point of what he's saying here. I will be their God. They will be my people. Well, in what way would that make sense that, well, they're my people, but they hate everything about me? You're not His people if that describes you. But rather, if you love God's law, take delight in His will of command, that's a work of grace that was not there prior to the work of regeneration. Turn over to Psalm 1. And I hope your wheels are turning as you think through what I just said. Very practical. Isn't this theology here very practical because now it starts making you ask yourself, do I delight in the law of God? Do I really love it? Has this work taken place? Is He my God? Am I His people? Psalm 1. Think about what Dag's saying. It is our duty and our responsibility to delight in the will and the works of God. Blessed, Psalm 1 says, is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of the sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But notice, his delight The blessed person, he does delight in something. What does he delight in? In the law of the Lord. And his law, he meditates day and night. He shall be like the tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. Now think about this, what he's saying. This person delights in the law of God, and what does he do? He meditates on it once a week. When the pastor forces him to open the Bible. Do you see the problem within the church today? Do you see the problem maybe within your own life? Do you meditate? Are you this blessed man? Do you meditate day and night? Do you see the benefit and the purpose of meditating upon what? The law of God. That's not legalism. The question is, do you desire to study it out? Do you desire to delight in the law of God, God's will of command? And this is Dag's point. If we are confessing Christians, in other words, those who truly have the work of grace, those who do have a new heart, he says we should have a love, we should have a delight in God's will of command. So the question for you is this, do you rejoice in God's will of command? I think we all recognize this, that there are far too many who profess to be believers but don't have this delight and the joy that we read about here in Psalm 1. Think about it for a moment. It's not my definition of what we're talking about that matters, is it? What does God's Word say? The blessed one is the one who does not find his delight walking in the counsel of the ignorant and the fool, the ungodly, right? The blessed one is not the one who stands in the pathway of sinners and say, boy, it looks like they're having a good time over there. That's not the blessed man. The blessed man is not the one who sits in the seat of the scornful, those who mock God, those who are scornful and bitter. Ah, but it's delight. He does have a delight. The blessed man does delight in something. It's in the law of God. And in that law, he meditates on it day and night. Has the Word of God become alive to you? Or is this all still academic? Do you see keeping God's Word that it truly brings Him delight? Or do you find your delight in pleasing Him? I mean, this is what is so disturbing about going in many churches today. We see people who don't find their delight in pleasing God. We see parents encouraging their children with respect to salvation, but yet the child shows no delight in pleasing God. And we must understand that salvation includes something. It includes regeneration. And regeneration includes a new nature that delights in pleasing God. I'd be curious to see if in our discussion time does anybody have a passage that says otherwise. What would be the purpose of bringing someone from spiritual death who is dead in their sins and trespasses to life just so that they can despise God's law? Seems kind of odd, doesn't it? Also, it misses the whole point of the New Covenant, doesn't it? This is why it's a better covenant, built upon better promises. The Old Covenant was not like that. You could be in the Old Covenant. All you had to have is a mark in the flesh. But you could still be so far from God, not in the New Covenant. Do you see that? New covenant members have this work of grace that has taken place. And when this work takes place, there is a true delight. Turn over to Psalm 119. And I just want to read some verses out of Psalm 119 just to kind of back up what Dag is saying. Psalm 119, look at verse 14. The Lord is my strength and song and He has become my salvation. I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong chapter. Let me get over to 119. Verse 14, I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches. So when we talk about the law of God, we're talking about his testimonies, we're talking about his precepts. So there's different words that are used for this. But notice here, I have rejoiced. You see the duty, the responsibility? I have rejoiced in what? That you let me do whatever I want to do? I rejoice in the fact that you let me be autonomous? No, he says, I rejoice in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches. And so throughout this psalm, there's a great love for God's law. There's a great love for God's word. So what is God's law? It's whatever comes out of his mouth, right? Many of you may rejoice in riches. You look forward to it. You try to figure out how you're going to gain it. But the believer rejoices in something else. The believer rejoices in God's testimony. Look at verse 16. I will delight myself in your statues. Notice the word, the delight. There's joy, satisfaction. In what? In your statues. And I will not forget your word. So the reason why the psalmist is delighting in the testimonies of God is that they perceive from the very mind of God. Has your mind been humbled by the greatness of God's mind? And the reason why he delights in this is that this comes from the very mind of God. And so because they perceive from the mind of God, his testimonies are most perfect. Verse 18, open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from where? Your law. Do you see the law of God as something wondrous? Or do you see God's law as, oh, man, he's such a killjoy. He doesn't ever let me have any fun. Be careful if that's the way you think of God's law, because that's going opposite of what Hebrews 8 is teaching about new covenant members. New covenant members find delight in God's law. Look at verse 20. My soul breaks with longing for your judgments at all times. So the child of God longs to know how God's verdicts will come down on issue. He wants to have thoughts after God. So do you desire to know God's judgments? Do you desire to know how God comes down on all issues? Look at verse 24. Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors. Where do you seek counsel? Do you find delight in finding counsel? from God's testimonies. Well, the psalmist did. Look at verse 35. Make me walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in them. Verse 47. I will delight myself in your commandments, which I love. Look down to verse 70. Their heart is as fat as grease, but I delight in your law. So the child of God can look at the world and allow them to feast upon their own self-indulgence and have all the trinkets of this world. But the child of God delights in one thing. God's law. Because you see it as God's most perfect and holy will, and that's what you want for your life. Why? Because He's done a work of grace in your life. He's given you a new heart. His Spirit has written the law of God on your heart. Look at verse 77. Think about it. What is it that you delight in? It's whatever you're giving yourself to at this moment, right? What are you thinking about when you leave here? Are you thinking about spending maybe a little time with God's law? His word, His testimony, His statutes, His principles. Why? Because I love it. Because I want to know the mind of God. I want to see, I find my delight there. My concern is that we're finding our delight everywhere else but here. And so this is what maybe characterizes or dictates what takes place in your life day in and day out. Look at verse 92. Unless your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. And do you understand that? Do you see how gracious God is that you live in such a time that you have been brought into the presence of God's testimony, His precepts, His law? Unless your law had been my delight, what would have happened? You would have perished. You would have perished. There's a reason why. God's law has driven you to Himself. It has seen your need for a Savior, assuming you have bowed your knee before Him. And as a result of this work of grace that has taken place in our lives, we desire to look like Christ. And He's left us a testimony. This is how we are to look like Christ. We are to follow according to these precepts. Look at verse 97. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. I mean, we have a song in our hymn book about this. But this is the verse that everyone should be meditating upon. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Is it? Is it? Look at verse 103. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Are the words of God sweet to you? I see one of the first things that empties out on our dessert table each Sunday is the dessert, or what do you call it, our table there where we have all the food each Sunday at lunch. You can tell what people have a taste for. It's that sweet side of the table because it never goes back full. I mean, you know, we may bring crockpots of certain foods back home that people don't have a taste for. It's not sweet to their mouth, right? But that sweet side of the table is always gone. Why? People purpose for it. They love it. They crave it. They desire it. And this is what he's trying to get us to understand. Do we desire? Do we crave this? How sweet are your words to my taste? This is a little convicting, isn't it? It's hard to teach. And we must understand how easy and how prone we are to be distracted by other things, the substitute rather than the substance. Is this sweet to us? Look at verse 111. Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever, for they are rejoicing of my heart. So the world in which we live will mock and make light of God's law, and we should expect that from those who love this world too much. But the Christian is a stranger here. He's a pilgrim here on this earth, and so he finds his delight in something else. He finds his delight in the law of God. Be careful when you become too comfortable with this place. Ask yourself, as you look at the landscape of churches, including our own, would you say that our church is characterized by a congregation that finds their delight and meditation upon God's law. And I'm not simply asking you to judge other people. I'm really asking you to personalize it yourself. Would you say, based upon you and based upon me, our church truly defines itself by having a sweetness, having this taste and this delight in God's law? Do we meditate upon it? Look at what's verse 13. I hate the double-minded, but I love your law. So here's the question. Do you hate vain, empty thoughts? That's what he says. I mean, it's a pretty strong language. I hate the double-minded. Do you love God's thoughts? And how you answer these questions really says a lot about yourself. And as you think about the landscape of the churches that are out there today, would we say they delight? I mean, can they really personalize Psalm 119? Can you personalize it? How we answer these questions really says a lot about us, doesn't it? If we understand what Hebrews 8 is teaching, if we understand the work of grace, if we understand regeneration, How we respond to these questions says so much about us. And if you love God's thoughts, that implies that you are meditating upon His Word. How do you structure your life? Do you need to get up an hour earlier? Do you need to go to bed an hour later? Is your life so busy with things that bring you away from this that These words are foreign to you. It's not sweet to you. You're not meditating upon them day and night. You're not making this the desire of your soul. That's not where you're finding your delight. Your delight is somewhere else. You're finding your delight in some external. This is the areas I think we ought to be praying for one another in because, I mean, we'd be fools to think that these attractions of the world and the pulls and the snares are not real. They're very powerful. They're very tempting, aren't they? And so what we need to be asking ourselves is, do we have this delight of God's law? Look at verse 162. I rejoice at your word, at the one who finds a great treasure. This is the picture of a Christian who is digging for truth, is digging for hidden treasures, and he finds it. Do you have such a love for God's law? How do you approach your time of meditation in God's Word? Do you see it as, well, this is time for me to learn more about the mind of God, His expectation, this is what brings His pleasure, and my delight is pleasing God. I'm going to spend time in the Word of God. There's great hidden treasures within God's Word. But here's the thing, if you don't love God's Word, if you don't love God's law, You're never gonna appreciate, you're never gonna find the hidden treasures that are found here. Look at verse 70. Is it 174? Yeah. I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. So do you see the connection between salvation and God's law now? I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. Do you see the connection? God gives us a desire and a delight for His law. The redeemed, those who have been saved, they're not saved by the law. That's not what we're talking about. But they do have a delight in God's law. They see it as His most perfect will. The psalmist does not say, I long for salvation so that your law has no place in my life. That's not what he's saying there. But that would be pretty much typical Christianity today, right? I want salvation. I want the benefits and the blessings of salvation. But I don't want anything to do with your law. Well, that's carving some things out of the scriptures that are very fundamental and very basic when you think about it. Rather, he says, I long for your salvation and I delight in your law. We should delight in God's law because it shows us something of His perfect, holy character. It also brings him pleasure when we align ourselves with his law and have thoughts after him. I think this is what the heart of being created in the image of God, we're to reflect something of God in this creation. It's a desire and a delight in his law. And we know that his desire, I'm sorry, we know that his law is most perfect. And so we should desire to see it and expect to see it within our lives. So we're to delight, Brother Dagg tells us in his will of command. And this is what Dagg is talking about when he says, you should delight in God's will. And this would be in alignment with the teachings of Christ where he says, if you love me, you'll do what? Keep my commands. If you find delight in me, you will keep my commands. Turn over to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, look at verse 4. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. Therefore, when He came into the world, He said, Sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for Me. And burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come. In the volume of this book it is written of Me to do what? To do your will, O God. Here's your great example. The Lord Jesus Christ who delighted in one thing. What? What did he delight in? To do the will and the works of God. Christ was delighted to do the work. And there's your great example. Not only are we to delight in God's will of command, but we are to delight in God's will of purpose. Turn over to Daniel 4. Daniel 4, look at verse 34. You're familiar with this story, and at the end of time, this is after Nebuchadnezzar ate grass like an animal, he says, Notice this, I bless the most high and praise and honor him who lives forever for his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will in the army of his heaven and among all the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done? At the same time, my reason returned to me and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor, my splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me. I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice, and those who walk in pride He is able to put down." Notice that Nebuchadnezzar has now come to his senses, and what does he do? God, how dare you make me look like an animal? You embarrassed me. You made me look like a fool in front of my kingdom." He didn't say that, did he? When he came to his senses, right, he began to praise God's what? His will of purpose. His will of purpose speaks of what he has determined. And when you read through the Bible, you notice that the saints are content to trust in God's will of purpose. There may be things about the purposes of God that baffle us, but it is our duty to delight in His will of purpose. There are things that will come into your life that you don't understand why they're there. But can you still delight in God? Can you still delight that His purpose is the most perfect purpose? And it's good for you. It's good for me. It brings about the ultimate good for me. So no matter where you find yourself, at any moment, whatever comes into your life, It's God's most perfect will for you. You understand that? Unless you're the ones out there, I mean, there's plenty of them out there who just think, well, the good stuff comes from God, but the bad things, well, that just comes from something else. As though God's asleep. Or as though God's not capable of dealing with things. Or that, well, God certainly wouldn't want to violate my free will. Well, what do you do with Nebuchadnezzar? You think Nebuchadnezzar sat around and delighted and thought about, boy, I wish I could just dig around on the ground like a dog. No, not at all. Think about the sovereignty of God and the child of God must learn to find delight in God's will of purpose. Think about the saints who've gone before us, who were martyred or put into prison. If you read the latest versions of The Voice of the Martyrs and find out what's going on around the world right now, it's not a good thing, humanistically speaking, what's taking place to Christians around the world, being beheaded, raped, tortured. But as you study out the martyrs who have gone before us or those who have been put into prison, what do you read about the true saints of God? What are they always doing? They're praising God. Oh, but I don't feel good this morning. Me and my wife had an argument. I'm in a bad mood. My brother made me mad. My sister made me mad. That girl across the congregation said something to me and upset me, right? I mean, do you see how sad we are relative to those who have come before us? We look at what God's Word has to say here. The saints that have come before us have praised God in far more extreme circumstances than anything we've been exposed to. Think about Job. At the moment his family was being wiped out, the moment he was being inflicted with all these painful bulls and skin diseases and whatever else he was going through, all he knew at the time was the afflictions that plagued him. All he knew at the time is that he lost everything. But the Bible says he never sinned and never brought a charge against God. Can you delight in a God that baffles you at times? You see, the God who is unable to baffle us is not really much of a God, is He? Turn over to Romans 9. Romans 9. Look at verse 7. Well, go back to verse 6, but it's not that the Word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are Israel, nor are they all children, because they are the seed of Abraham. But in Isaac your seed shall be called. That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise, at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac, For the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls. It was said to her, the older shall serve the younger. And as it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then, it is not of them who wills, nor of him who runs, but God who shows mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show my power in you, and that my name may be declared in all the earth. Therefore he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens. And you say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will? But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me like this? Does not the potter have power over the clay? from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor. What if God, wanting to show His wrath to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory?" Now, this passage has caused many to really struggle because this is not the God that many have ever been taught. But can you delight in the God of Romans 9? That's the real question. It's interesting, you go and you read Wesley's commentary on this section and there's nothing. Can you worship this God? This is the God who is, and Paul can praise this God because he summarizes in chapter 11, look at verse 33. Oh, the depths and the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become his counselor? Or who has first given to him and it shall be repaid him? for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever." I mean, look at this. Paul is the one who just wrote Romans 9, right? And he gets to the end of this great description of the purpose of God, and he's still baffled, right? But despite that, because when he says... I mean, you can tell he's running out of language to describe the grandness and the majesty of God when he says, Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments? He's saying, I don't know what else to say about him. He's far too grand and far too great for me to speak beyond my capabilities of language. And so Paul is able to praise the God that baffles him. Can you? Who has known the mind of God? He has revealed His mind to us in His will of command, but His mind, God's mind, is far above us so that all we know to do is bow before it and rejoice in it. We are to delight in God's will of purpose. I want you to ask yourself this question. Is His will your delight? His will of command, His will of purpose. Can you delight when His will crosses your desire? Can you delight in God when His will crosses your will? Job could. Remember? It's Job that says, it's the Lord that gives. It's the Lord that takes away. I want you to think about what happened. He lost his family, didn't he? Many of his possessions. He lost his health. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. What's the rest of it? Blessed be the name of the Lord. Can you find the light in the will of God? Turn over to 1 Samuel. Do you remember the prophecy given to Eli? Do you begin to see the problem here? People say, well, you know, sure I'm a pastor at a Presbyterian church or sure I'm a pastor at a Reformed Baptist church or this kind of, you know, maybe I'm a Reformed pastor and I'm hiding somewhere in a Southern Baptist church, but I want to talk about the doctrine of election because, you know, that's divisive. Do you begin to see why, if you don't teach on this, you're not preparing the people of God to handle God's will of command or handle His will of purpose? I think it's a very simple thing to keep this from the people of God. Turn to 1 Samuel 3. Let's just read the beginning in verse 1. Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was rare in those days, and there was no widespread revelation. And it came to pass at that time while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was, And while Samuel was lying down, that the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, Here I am. And so he ran to Eli, and he said, Here I am, for you called me. And he said, I did not call you. Lie down again. And he went and lay down. And the Lord called again, Samuel. So Samuel rose and went to Eli, and he said, Here I am, for you called me. And he answered, I did not call you, my son. Lie down again. Now Samuel did not know the Lord, nor the word of the Lord yet revealed to him. And the Lord called to Samuel again a third time, and he arose and went to Eli and said, Here I am, and for you did call me. Then Eli perceived that the Lord had been calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, Go lie down, and if he calls you, you must say, Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. So Samuel went down and lay down in his place, and the Lord came, and he stood and called as other times, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears. Then the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli. Notice this. In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from the beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows because his sons made themselves vile and he did not restrain them. And therefore I've sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by the sacrifice or offering forever. So Samuel laid down until the morning and opened the doors to the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. And Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, here I am. And he says, what is the word that the Lord spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all the things which he said to you. Then Samuel told him everything and he hid nothing from him. How would you respond? You know what's going to happen. This is the word against you and your family. How would you respond? Eli says, it's the Lord. It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him. Can you delight in God's will? This is a man who delighted in the purposes of God. Eli knew that God was right. And what he was going to do, if you go back a couple of chapters earlier and find out what his boys were up to, and he didn't do anything about it. Here's the test of your delight in God. Can you delight in God even if He judges the sins of your children? Can you delight in the purposes of God? It's also a reminder to you young people, God will judge your sins. Learn to repent of them. Learn to be humble and seek His mercy, seek His grace. This is important because we deal with the doctrine of the sovereignty of God and when dealing with the doctrine of the providence of God, we're going to be talking about some difficult stuff because we're going to be dealing with some things that goes against your flesh. But you have to ask yourself, can you love this God? Can you love and delight yourself in the God of the Scriptures? If you cannot, then you're an idolater. You're creating a God of your own imagination. Resist the temptation of rationalism that says, well, the God I worship would never do that. He's a loving God. That's not what Eli says, is it? Eli says, well, if that's what the Lord says, let him do what seems good to him. Can you resolve yourself to that end? So in this study, I think our pride is really going to be challenged. And so either this study will drive us to humble ourselves before the God of the Scriptures, or it's going to increase our pride as we rebel against the God of the Scriptures. Let me give you another one to think about. This is all introductory work. Turn to Acts 21. But this is laying the foundation because when Dax says, it is our duty to delight in the will and purposes of God, Many of you may be sitting there saying, well, yeah, that's obvious. Of course I will. But we're talking about the totality of the will of God. And when His will crosses your will, when His plans frustrate your plans, you still going to delight in it? Or are you going to say, but I know better? Of course my plan and what I want to do is better than yours. Why are you frustrating this? The child of God must learn to submit himself to the will of God and say, if my plans are being frustrated, this is the perfect will of God in my life. Acts 21, look at verse 10. And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And when he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and his feet, and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. And then Paul answered, what do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I'm ready not only to be bound, but to also die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. So when he cannot be persuaded, we cease saying, the will of the Lord be done. Notice Paul understood something of the will of God. God purposed that Paul would die for his namesake. In fact, go back over to, hold your place here, go over to Acts 9. In Acts 9, remember, he's on his way to Damascus. He's there to go and persecute Christians. And there he is confronted with the risen Lord Jesus Christ. But notice what Christ says to him in verse 15. But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. And he said, Sign me up for that ministry. But look at verse 16. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. How many of you are willing to sign up for that ministry? Turn over to 2 Corinthians 11. Keep your hand there in Acts 21, though. We'll come right back. In 2 Corinthians 11, in verse 23, are they members of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more. and labors more abundant, and stripes above measures, and prisons more frequently, and deaths often. From the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I've been in the deep. In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of Gentiles, in perils of the city, in perils of the wilderness, in perils of the sea, in perils among the false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides other things, right? What comes upon me daily, my deep concern is for all the churches. Christ says, I got a ministry for you. You're gonna speak before kings. How did he end up before kings? In chains, as a prisoner. That was the will of God for him. The brethren who love the apostle Paul in Acts 21 says, don't go, don't go. Paul says, you're breaking my heart. That's the Lord's will. I must go. I must go. He found great delight in the will of God, didn't he? What do you find him doing in prison? Singing praises. He found an honor to suffer for the sake of Christ. In Galatians, the very end, chapter 6, as he's dealing with these Judaizers, he let them know. He says, I bear the marks of Christ in my body and my flesh. What is he talking about? What we just read in 2 Corinthians 11. is the purpose of God for his life. And we don't read anywhere about him commurmuring, complaining, saying, well, my plans are frustrated. I had this great idea for this ministry. I was thinking I'd be before kings. Christ says, I've got a ministry for you. This is my will that you suffer for me. Can you delight in the will of God? This has definitely been missing in the church. This teaching doesn't get much attention in the church today. But we must lay down this foundation because we must not only delight in the person of God, but we must delight in His will and His works. So we'll stop here this morning because we're going to get more into the details of the sovereignty of God, the providence of God, the decrees of God. So we'll start looking more at this in more and more detail. But let me end with prayer. Our Father, we come to you and we ask for your forgiveness because we don't delight in your will. We don't delight when our plans are frustrated. We murmur and complain and Father, we just ask that you'd help us to see that your will is most perfect, is most holy, and that the safest place for us to be is always in your will. So, Father, we ask that you give us hearts to love and praise you and take the words of Brother Dagg to heart, that we may learn to have a heart of prayer and adoration and just thankfulness for everything you do in our lives, and that it is good for us when our plans are frustrated. Because if left to ourselves, Father, it would just lead to more selfishness. So Father, we pray that we would learn to delight in your will, that we praise your name correctly. We pray for those who have heard your word. We pray that your word would continue to do his great work of conformity. We pray that your spirit would do his great work, that he would just give us hearts that love you. And so Father, help us this day to meditate upon your law, to give you thanks for your purpose within our life this day. And it's in Christ's name we pray, amen.