Too bad my wife is teaching children's church this morning. This is her this is her favorite verse, her life verse, Psalm thirty seven four. We're going to read actually the first nine verses and then we'll we'll focus back in on verse four but I want you to get a sense of the context in which we find this verse. So, Psalm 37 and we're going to read verses one down through verse nine. It says, fret not thyself because of evildoers.

Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgement as the new day. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Seize from anger and forsake wrath.

Fret not thyself and any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off but those who wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for your word today. Lord, may you use it mightily in our lives.

May your holy spirit give us understanding and conviction today and Lord, if there be one here that's never trusted you as Lord and savior who does not have a relationship with you, we pray that you would work in their heart to show them their need today. We thank you Lord for your word and the encouragement we find therein. I pray indeed it would be encouragement to all that are here this day. In Jesus name, amen. This verse, verse four, let's read it again one more time.

Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. This verse is like an if then or conditional statement. It doesn't have the word if or then in it but you could sort of read it like this. If you delight yourself in the Lord, then, he will give you the desires of your heart. If you delight yourself in the Lord, then, he will give you the desires of your heart.

Sort of like, if you work hard at your job, you will be paid well by your employer or if you study hard at the books, you will succeed on the test or if you exercise regularly, you will grow healthier and stronger. These things are statements that one thing follows the other. If you do the first one, then you can be relatively sure that the second one will follow. But in this verse, you cannot only be relatively sure, you can be specifically sure, you can be very sure because God always keeps his part, does he not? Doesn't God always keep his part?

Do his part? Yes, he does. So, we know if we we do what he asked, delight ourselves in the Lord that he will give us what? Desires of our heart. We can count on it.

We can trust him. He will do that. God is making a very simple and yet profound statement. If you want the desires of your heart to be fulfilled in life, embrace God and his word and you will and you will. He doesn't say you might, doesn't say you could but you want.

You will. God will. He says, if you delight in me, I will give you the desires of your heart. There's a lot of things in life that we don't have those kind of promises about. You don't know for sure that your employer is going to pay you generously if you work harder.

You don't always know that if you study hard that you will pass the test. You might have one of those funny teachers that likes to put trick questions on the test and trip you up. But we do know, if we delight ourselves in the Lord, he will give us the desires of our heart. We're going to start with the second part and work our way back to the first this morning. Your desires.

Let's start with them. Your desires. What kind of desires are we talking about? What does the word desires mean? Well, the word desires can also be translated requests or petitions.

The petitions of your heart. The desires of your heart. What your heart desires? The petitions that it brings before your God. Concerning what?

Well, concerning your well-being. We have certain desires concerning our well-being. We would like to live to a a ripe old age. We would we would like to be at least in part healthy. We would we have certain desires concerning our well-being.

We have certain desires concerning our work or career. We have certain desires concerning our family and our loved ones. Our church, it's ministry, and its members. Our growth, spiritual, and intellectual, and our future. Do you not have desires considered?

Do you have not heartfelt desires for your family? That you want to see happen? Certainly. Do you not have desires for your church, for your career, for your personal growth, for your future? You do.

There are desires in our heart for those things. We can't make all those things happen but I know someone who can. Desires particularly in response to yourself like being loved and having the opportunity to give love. Where did that desire come from? That desire to love and be loved.

Who put that desire? God. He desires to love and to be loved. Desires like being at peace and secure. Every person wants to have security in their life.

Lot of people think it comes with dollar bills in the bank. Sad to say that that's not always the case, is it? Desires like being successful in your pursuits whether they be work or or hobbies or family related. These are desires of our heart. These are things we believe will make our life what?

Fulfilling satisfying to love and be loved, to have peace and security To be successful. With the exception of church and ministry, even the vilest person has desires which they believe will make them satisfied and fulfilled in life. Now, those desires, these desires of our hearts do differ from person to person. Other not all exactly the same. Particularly, when it comes to the redeemed saint versus the lost sinner.

The Psalm ist is working off the assumption in this verse that your desires are not in conflict with whose? With God's for you. But in accord with God's desires for you. As a Christian, the Bible says that God has made you a new person in Christ Jesus. He has given you a new heart.

He has put a new song in our mouth and this obviously affects our what? It does affect our desires and as we delight in the Lord, God will continue to strengthen the desires that are in accord with the lost sinner in the world may desire mainly ease and pleasure. Where the child of God desires holiness and victory over sin. I know one of the desires God has placed in my life is to be holy and to get victory over the temptations and sin in my life. That is something that is is always before me.

Is it before the lost? I doubt it. They're mainly concerned with ease and pleasure. The lost sinner may desire the acclaim of men. Whereas the child of God desires to please who?

If you're a child of God, then then your desires are different. You want to please God in what you do. Not just please The lost sinner may desire for his family to be wealthy and accomplished. While the child of God desires for his children to be servants of the Lord and faithful to him. Above all else.

You see how those desires differ? Now, it's not I don't want my kids to be wealthy and accomplished but that's second there. To them knowing who. Knowing and serving. For those desires differ.

Particularly, if you're a child of God, those desires should reflect. The desires that God has for your If your desires are the same as the world and therefore in conflict with God's interest, then you will likely not receive the desires of your heart. If they are temporal and selfish in nature, only the world can fulfill them, not the Lord and if your desires do not reflect his, then what evidence is there of your true conversion? The Bible says, faith without works is what? Dead, there should be fruit and one of the first fruits that should come into your life when you get saved, when you become a child of God is new and different what?

Desires. Now, some of the things in our life take a while to change. One thing that should should begin to change right overnight is our desires because we have a new home, because we have a new father. We have a new reason and purpose in being here as children of God. We have a new spirit that lives inside of our heart that has given us new desires.

Desires for life that are in line with the desires of our redeemer and our creator. If you're a child of God, those desires should be different and getting stronger. As we learn to delight ourselves. Those are the desires that he's talking about. What does it mean to delight?

What does it mean to delight? You say, okay, pastor, I got it. You know, just because I desire a 1965, red, hard top, convertible, Stingray, doesn't mean I'm going to get it, okay? No, we're talking about the desires particularly that God places in our heart that bring fulfillment and joy to the heart and life of God's children. But what does it mean to delight?

What does it mean to delight in the Lord? To delight in something. What does that mean or or to find delight in it? It means to enjoy it. It means to welcome it.

It means to look forward to it. For instance, I delight in football. That doesn't mean I like playing football as much as I like watching football. And I look forward to, I when September rolls around and football starts back again. Now, not so much this year because of a few issues in football.

One, the name of my favorite team no longer exists. They are now the Washington football team rather than the Washington Redskins. But I delight in watching football. I delight in steak and potatoes. Anybody else like steak and potatoes?

I like, I love, I really delight in steak and potatoes, and I also delight in Doctor Pepper too much, I am afraid. I delight in spending time away with my family. I don't get to do that very often, but I really delight in getting to spend time away with my family, and seeing my extended family, which have been in other states since I got married, and so we don't get to see them all that often. I delight in music. I delight in playing my guitar and particularly in praising God in song.

It is not, some of you may think that, you know, it is a a burden for the pastor who is a preacher to lead singing on Sunday morning. It isn't. It is my delight. I love to sing praises and and to lead in the singing in the worship on Sunday. I find delight.

I find pleasure in these things. What does it mean therefore to delight in the Lord? Well, first of all, it means to enjoy him. Do you enjoy the Lord? Do you enjoy spending time with him each day?

Do you enjoy spending time reading his word? Do you enjoy spending time in prayer? Do you enjoy coming to Lord Jesus and his word with other people? Do you enjoy singing his praises? I hope so because that's what it means to delight in the Lord.

If coming to church and singing praises to God, is a chore and not an enjoyment. If if taking time each day to get out your Bible and spend some time, that's a chore and not an enjoyment, then I hate to tell you this but you are not delighting in who? You're not delighting in the Lord. There's something else that you delight in that's taking precedent over him and you're having to not do that to spend time with him because that thing you delight in more than you do him. And that's not good.

Do you enjoy him? Hope you do. And if you're Christian, you should. Do you welcome him? Do you welcome the presence of the Lord into your life each day?

Does the thought of his presence give you peace and joy? As a child of God, it should. It should fill your heart with joy. And peace that passes all understanding. Knowing that God is with you each and every day.

Psalm one thirty nine, David wrote, whether shall I go from thy spirit or whether shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell or the grave, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. Now, does it sound like David is really upset that he can't escape God's presence?

No. He's comforted that he cannot escape God's presence. It brings him comfort. He welcomes it. He welcomes God's presence into his life.

God's leading in his life. That God has his hand upon him no matter where he is, brings him great comfort. And it should us as well. Do you welcome welcome his comfort, his instruction, his correction, or is it a nuisance and a burden? If God's correction, if God's presence, if his comfort and instruction is a nuisance, then I hate to tell you this but you're not delighting in who?

In the Lord. Because he's there to guide you. He's there to to correct you and get you back on the right path. He's there to comfort you when you're struggling and when you're down. Do you welcome his presence into your life?

Do you look forward to your time with him? Do you look forward to the next time you have a chance to sit down and read your Bible? Do you look forward to that? Do you look forward to meditating on his word? Do you look forward to your time in prayer?

Do you look forward to Sunday? So, you could come to church and meet with God's children, sing praises to his name, learn from his word? Do you look forward to revival services when they come? You look forward to these things? Or are they a chore?

If you delight in something, you look forward to it, don't you? They say, say, I look, I look forward to the football season because I didn't watch football. I look forward to going out to eat at a steak place every now and then. So, I can eat steak. I look forward to Thanksgiving.

One of my favorite times of the year because I get to go with my family and go up and see my parents in Virginia. I look forward to those things. I look forward to every Sunday that I get the opportunity to sing and preach and teach. Yeah, it does take a little bit of work. That's true.

But there's no place I would rather ever be on Sunday than do you look forward to those things? Ask my son if he delights and looks forward to spending time with his girlfriend. You don't need to ask, do you? Do you enjoy and look forward to spending time with Do you delight He says, if you do, he will give you the what? But are you delighted?

Turn if you would to Revelation chapter two. Revelation chapter two. You know, what makes us truly fulfilled in life and full of joy and peace and happiness comes from who? It comes from God. It comes from the Lord.

The world can't do that. It can make us momentarily happy at this or happy at that but he cannot fill the void in our heart and bring fulfillment that God can. Revelation chapter two, God is speaking to a church, a church in the city of Ephesus. Today, this would be in Western Turkey. Today, it was in place called Asia in that day in a place called Asia Minor.

It was one of the churches that the apostle Paul was blessed to have a part in planting that church in the city of Ephesus. And in Revelation, John writes to the church in behalf of the Lord and six other churches as well but he starts out with the church of Ephesus and he has several good things to say about the church but one thing that is lacking in particular. Look in if you would in verse one. Under the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. In short, that person is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the head of the church.

Verse two, I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience and how thou canst not bear them that are evil and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars and has born and has Lot of high praise there from the Lord. He praised the church for their works, for their toil, their weariness, for their patience, and endurance. In life, and in dealing with persecution. He praised them for their separation, their ability to discern the true from the false both in doctrine and in prophets. He had high praise for this church.

They were a church that was ministering. They were busy about the Lord's business. And they seem to have a very upstanding testimony. But he continues on. In verse four.

He says, nevertheless, I am somewhat against thee. Because thou hast left thy first Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and I'll remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent. God says to this church, you are doing a lot. You're very busy about the master's business. You do have discernment and wisdom.

You're staying true to the gospel. There's one area in your life that you're lacking and it needs to be dealt with. What was Jesus rebuked? You have left your wife. First love.

What does that mean? Well, it clearly didn't indicate that they were not willing to serve or sacrifice or even suffer for Christ. Because he praised them for those things. There is no indication that they didn't believe in him or that they had no faith in him or had given their allegiance to another. Clearly seemed to be dedicated to the service of the Lord.

No? They had they had lost. That is they had left behind that love as in the first. When they were saved, that passion for knowing who? Knowing God, for knowing Jesus.

A passion that Mary demonstrated. When she sat at Jesus' feet while Martha was doing all the work. Remember, Jesus came to Mary and Martha's Martha's house. These were the sisters of Lazarus who Jesus raised from the dead. They lived in Bethany which was just on the other side of the Mount Of Olives from from Jerusalem.

She had Jerusalem. You had the Mount Of Olives and then you had the town of Beth Any and Jesus when he came to Judea from Galilee would often stay at Mary and Martha's house and as Jesus was there for supper, Martha was very busy getting the food ready and she was running around and she was setting up the table and she was cooking this and cooking that and she was getting this here and and again, everything set up. You know what Mary was doing? Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus while he taught her and talked to her. While Martha was busy doing all the stuff.

And Martha got upset. Well, you can imagine. Here Martha is. She's doing all the what? She's doing all the work.

When her lazy, good for nothing sister is just sitting there doing nothing. She was upset. If you are a person who has a a servant's heart and and you're you're the worker and you're the doer, then, then, you kind of get aggravated sometimes when it seems like nobody else is pitching in either. Don't they know better? But what did Jesus say to Martha?

She says, Mary has chosen the better Leave her alone, Martha. Let her sit and listen. Why? Because Mary was taking time to spend with who? With Jesus.

Listening to Jesus. Martha was delighting in cooking. She was delighting in being a hostess. Mary was delighting in who? In Jesus and in his word.

Now, there wasn't nothing wrong with what Martha was doing. That's not what Jesus was saying. But you also have to spend time delighting in who? The Lord. You see, the church at Ephesus, they were busy.

God, God commended them for that but he said, you forgetting something. There's something vitally important and if you don't get this, if you leave this behind, if you let it go, you're going to lose out as a church. I'll remove my blessing from you. And the peace and fulfillment that follows. If you don't get this right, you have left your first love.

They had traded affection and wonder for routine. For some of us who have been to church most of our life, it's easy to trade affection and wonder for routine when we get up on Sunday morning, we get ready, we eat, we do this, we go to church, we come back, we eat supper, we eat lunch or dinner, You know, we we do our thing. We go through our routine. And they've lost the affection and wonder. Jesus.

This is about Jesus. Have you lost your affection and wonder at Jesus? They took for granted the Lord Jesus in their lives and their daily walk with him began to suffer. It's true of any relationship. If you take the other person for a while, they're always going to be there and yeah, they're there and they're talking and they're and you're kind of half hearted listening and but you're busy doing other things then, what happens?

The relationship begins to what? Suffer. Happens in marriage a lot. Marriage partners thought out. They're all in awe and wonder at each other.

Affection and and then they get busy. Stop spending time with each other. Stop listening to each other. Bigger and better things take president. Preparing for retirement.

Saving up for vacations. But not daily love and affection. And the wonder begins to dissipate. And the relationship suffers. That is what was happening at the church of Ephesus.

They were busy right now going through the motions but you know something? You can keep going through the motions and working and doing but if you lose your relate, if you lose your first love, if your fellowship with God begins to suffer, eventually, it will affect what? Will affect your ministry. It'll affect your work. It'll affect every area of your life.

Therefore, you can't leave your first love. You need to learn to delight in the Lord. Or you'll lose what is most important. His blessing. In your life.

Did you know Jesus is a person? I think most of you knew that. If he's a person, he has emotions and feelings. Where do we get emotions and feelings? From the one who created us.

He wants to spend time with you. Not just with your checkbook. Or with your church duties. But intimate, personal time. Hearing from you.

Speaking with you through his word. He wants to spend time. He delights in who? In you. He wants you to delight in him.

To return to that first love when things were new and fresh and you were eager and undistracted and boy, when you when you grow up, you start working, you got a family, you got a job, especially if you got a career, you're trying to climb the ladder. Oh, it's so easy to get what? Distracted. And your relationship with God sort of wanes because you're not delighting in him and when that starts to wane, guess what? You're not going to get the desires of your heart because they come from who?

They come from God. He wants us to delight in his word, to pour over it day by day, like a like a love letter. You got a love letter from your girlfriend when you were younger and you got that and you read it and you just read it once and you put it away and you never looked at it again, right? No. You read it and you read it and you read it and you put it away and then a month later, you pulled it back out and you read it again.

That's how God wants us to treat his word and it's how we should because it is his love letter to us. Are you delighting in his word today? The way you did when you first came to Christ? Are you hungry for it? Are you eager to share it?

You know, one thing I'm glad that this church may not be as great in number as other churches and and certainly, we would love to to add to our congregation, to see more people come into the kingdom. We're praying for that and striving for that but you know something, one thing I am very glad about at this church. There's a lot of people here that are hungry for the word of God. They are eager to learn. It is exciting to them.

Some of you come Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Tuesday morning. To hear the word of God. That is encouraging to your pastor and that is delighting in the Lord. And it will make a difference in your life and in our church. Are you molding your life based upon the teachings of his word?

Do you look forward to its proclamation? Do you pick, get up often, and read and meditate it? Meditate upon it and him that says in first Peter two two, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. It doesn't mean you stop desiring it once you start to mature. As a Christian, your desire should just grow what?

Stronger, not less, not less. I want this Psalm nineteen seven to 11. The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

The commandment of the Lord is pure and lightening the eyes. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned and in keeping them, there is what? Great reward.

Are you delighting in his word? Are you pouring over it like that love letter that it is? Do you dig into it each day looking for what God has for you? Are you delighting in the Lord? He delights in you.

Are you delighting in him? He wants to give you the desires of your heart but he can only do so if you choose to make him the delight of your life. If you will, he will grant you you the godly desires of your heart but if you have lost your first love, then you will feel empty and unsatisfied. How do you feel today? How do you feel?

Is God, do you feel God meeting the desires of your heart? Do you feel the peace and joy that he gives? Or are you empty and unsatisfied? If you're empty and unsatisfied, then it's not God's fault. Not his fault.

He's, I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I'll give it to you. Delight in me. Call upon me.

Ask and it shall be what? Givens, seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be open unto you. For he that asketh receiveth, he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Are you knocking on his door?

Are you knocking on it today? Will you knock on it tomorrow? You say, let me in. I want to spend time. Is God not hearing a knock from you?

Because you're just busy. About other things. If he and his word have been crowded out by the busyness of life or the pursuits of fame and fortune, then you will see the joy and fulfillment in life seem to slip through your fingers, the harder you try. The more you try to work for that bigger house and that bigger car and things that the world prizes. As the love.

The more of those things, the joy that you're looking for will just slip through your fingers like sand. But if you will delight in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart. Please get it right. Matthew six thirty three, but seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things, they shall be added unto you. You'll never regret it.

Put God first He will give you the desires of your heart. But you have to make that choice and you have to make it today and you have to make it tomorrow and the next day. They say love is not just an emotion. Love is a what? Love is a choice.

Delighting in God is a choice. A choice we make. A choice that we will never regret. He delights in you. You delight in him today?

And if you're here today and you don't know Christ as savior, then you don't have a relationship with him and you do not know the delight of which we speak. But you can. He he invites you to. He is knocking at your door. Will you open it?

And come in and let him in to your life? Will you receive him as your Lord and savior? You can today. If you'll come as we give this hymn of invitation. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord. For your word, thank you. For delighting in me, for delighting in us. So much that you sent your son to die on the cross for us. When we were yet sinners, Lord, you cared about us.

You wanted us to be part of your family and for those of us who have trusted and received you as Lord and savior, you live in our heart every day. We know you're there. You've changed our desires but Lord, sometimes, we just get so distracted. By the busyness of this world and Lord, sometimes we we allow sin in our life to remain there and hinder the fellowship that we should have with you. Lord, I pray today that as you ask the church at Ephesus to repent, that we would repent, Lord.

We would see where we have fallen. And we