Delighting in the Word of God

Book of the Psalms, please, 112. Much of what Cal has mentioned already has been in my own mind. Psalm 112, reading in verse 1. Praise ye the Lord.

Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his commandments. I have been astounded, and perhaps maybe I shouldn't be, but maybe it's just a reality check, that the difficulty of having time of greatly rejoicing in his commandments. Cal has been suggesting already that the time is required to spend that quality time with the Lord.

I do not believe that this is out of, you might say, out-of-date ministry or exhortation, because if there's any time and any date in the day in which we live where our time is absolutely so precious, our activity is pulled from one side to another, and the time that we are allowed to greatly rejoice, to delight, delighteth greatly in his commandments. The word delight simply means to bend towards, to simply lean towards them. So in my little life, there is something I need to lean to, leaning towards something that is going to be able to hedge up my way and able to be able to enjoy in the day in which we live.

I do not think that there is a greater commendation, a higher commendation than to speak of a dear saint, than to say that they greatly enjoyed the commandments. If any of you knew Daryl Duncan, can I talk about Daryl Marvin? Daryl Duncan, as Marvin would know, some of us would call him occasionally, and he says, well, I was just praying for you. And that was real, because Daryl Duncan spent hours in prayer.

Then before I would get off the phone 30 minutes later, he had already given me five different gospel lineups, and maybe he was already enjoying something for the saints, and he would give me something that he was already had put together. Where did he get it from? Google? No, you get it not from an encyclopedia, but that dear man got it by greatly delighting, there's my word, delighting in those commandments. And so it is going to take time.

Time is ever essential if I am going to be able to enjoy this blessed book that we have. The word delight is several times in the Old Testament. How many times is it in the New Testament? What do you think, Paul? I was surprised to discover it was one time in the New Testament.

I figured that I could go to my strong concordance and get several places where the word delighting was. And it's found in Romans chapter 7, when Paul is describing the struggles of the two natures. And he says down in verse 23, but my delight is in the law of God.

Yet I see another law that woreth in the members of my body, the law of sin that is on my mind. So there was a constant battle as far as, as far as Paul was concerned. And maybe your brethren wouldn't agree with a constant battle.

I don't, in a sense, in a sense, I don't think Paul had a constant battle. And I perhaps maybe could clarify that privately, but he knew, did know, he did know that there was a struggle between the old and the new, that which I would not, that I do, that which I do, that I would not. So there is a, there was a struggle with Saul with Paul, the apostle, but he delighted in the law of his God.

So I was strictly, I was greatly encouraged by the fact that he was delighting. Sometimes in order for us to delight, we have to say no to this and no to the other thing. And we have to turn our back on that which is maybe even legitimate and simply to take our book and delight and to pour our souls over this truth that you and I so value, appreciate.

I was in the doctor's office, this comes on my mind, a couple of years ago having a normal checkup and there was two ladies that were sitting across of the waiting room from me. And I regret that the doctor called them in at the particular time that it did because I was just about ready to make my way to them. And here was our conversation.

Obviously there were, there were about 75 years old and they had a bad hearing problem. So when they have a bad hearing problem, they speak loud. So I'm hearing the whole thing across the room.

And one of them says to her friend, she's, you know, my neighbor was over here the other day and she says she wanted to warm up her coffee. And she says, where, where is your microwave? Well, she says, I don't have one. And she says, you don't have a microwave.

No, I don't have a microwave. And my other neighbor was over and she wanted to know if she could use something on my computer. Well, she says, I don't have, I don't have a computer.

It's just, you don't have a computer. No, I don't have a computer. And then the other lady speaks up and she says, you know, I suppose our neighbors think that we're not even of this world.

So there was a couple of ladies that, there were a couple of ladies that was enjoying the fact that they didn't have all these, all these things that bother them, perhaps essential in their own way, but they didn't have all these things to bother them. I was rather amused to see the other day in our paper, Gloria and I are still old fashioned. We still like when we're home, we still like a cup of coffee with a newspaper, not the iPad or the computer, but with a newspaper to have something in our hand.

So we're reading, so we're reading, I forgot, what was it that we were reading? Oh, so we noticed that in the paper that there was a worldly figure and he went on a vacation for one week, no iPad, no cell phone. And he says it was the best vacation he has had in weeks. So I'm just saying this, I'm only making a point that is, we're going to have to maybe say no to certain things if I am going to know what it is to delight.

We love this book, don't we, brethren? We love this book. We love this book so much. And I asked myself more than one occasion, and I've asked myself more than one occasion on various times in my little lifetime, why don't I spend more time in this book? But here's my problem.

I'm beating on doors and I'm thinking to myself, this is where the work at. But you see, as I'm beating on doors, I'm thinking to myself, I should be home studying. I should be home studying and getting to know my the Gospels better.

And when I'm on the Gospels, I'm standing home in the study. I said, well, I should be out beating doors. So there's that conflict.

There's that constant battle. But we do know this, dear brethren, that when we love this book. See, what's better than one piece of banana cream pie? Two pieces.

So when we love this book, one bite out of out of the book should make us more to have two bites out of the book. And I've told younger Christians when they have come for, I've said, just take 10 verses or five verses. If I find out he can't, he doesn't like to read, then I just simply say, take five verses a day, just five verses.

Because past experience shows that if a young man can take just five verses a day, those five verses are going to quickly multiply into 10 and to 15 verses. Because once you get something, dear Christian, you want more. And I cannot, I cannot prosper.

I will never prosper. Younger people get this. I will never prosper.

And my enlargement of Christ will never develop. And my enlargement of the book will never increase unless I have some degree of loving to read. And if you don't love to read, see one of my older brethren here who have a shepherd's heart, and maybe they have some recipes.

Because loving like reading is ever so essential, again, to develop for God. I have mentioned that there are several times that the word delight is mentioned in the Old Testament. I just mentioned a couple of them before we go further with our study.

You've noticed already in Psalm 16 that to the saints and to the excellent in whom is all my delight. So God is actually looking down to the saints and to the excellent. And he is saying at B-Town today, at Lancaster today, at the assemblies that we are in fellowship with in Wisconsin, and thank God I've been appreciating the assemblies in the Midwest, and the Iowa and the Wisconsin assemblies that can work together and harmonize together and go to one another's assemblies and be associated with the same truth, understanding the same word under the same conviction.

Marvelous. So the God of heaven is delighting in his people. Also in Psalm 37, a well-known verse that likely we've learned in early years, delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give the desires of thine heart.

Delight thyself in the Lord. The only thing I want to say about that verse in Psalm 37 is this, that I don't read where the Lord gives me a time limit when that is going to come. When is this delight what I'm going to delight in? When am I going to receive that? When will we be the recipients of it? In Psalm 40, obviously, there is, lo, I come in the volume of the book that is written of me, I delight to do thy will.

So we've noticed very simply that there is a delighting, God delighting in his saints. There's something that is of Psalm 37 that I can delight in the Savior. And obviously the Lord Jesus was delighting in his God and the sovereign.

But I want to notice this for a few minutes this morning of a delighting in the scriptures. That's why I've read Psalm 112 in verse one. Number one, I'd like to suggest that their character is formed when I delight in the scriptures.

The children are influenced. The crown is earned. We'll just look at those points very briefly.

When I delight in the scriptures and I delight in the commandments, my character is formed. And you cannot help, you cannot help but see that, dear Christian, because when we come to John chapter 16 and reading in verse about 13, when he, the spirit of God shall come, he shall guide you into all truth. So when I'm delighting in the commandments, I'm delighting in the scriptures, I come to John and I feel, I see, I sense that the spirit of God is guiding.

He guides. He, the spirit of God, a real person will guide. So my character is formed in view of being guided.

Number two, when I come to Ephesians chapter four, I notice a little verse like this, that be kind one to another, a tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. So not only is my character formed is my guidance. I'm guided.

I'm not left to myself. I have to stop here. Dear Christian, do not we have it 10 to one over the world? Maybe it should be a hundred to one.

When the poor world, they have, they have no anchor. Number one, they have, they have no shelter. They have no guidance.

They have no shepherd. They have no guidance. As far as the scripture is concerned, we know we can look into the book.

Am I to do that? Am I to go there? Am I to think about this? Am I to work there? Am I to preach there? We have all of our guidance right here. And is it any wonder that I say to myself, I graduated with, I think 42. And I don't know how many believers are in that class of 42.

When I was commended to the work, I wrote a letter to every single one of them, told them how I was saved, simply telling them when, where, and how that I became a Christian. The Al Christofferson that you graduated with is a different man. And I hope that would have erased a few memories maybe back then, but is a different man.

I only got two replies back of the 42 and both of them were just thank you notes. Oh, I don't know how many, how many have professed to be saved or not. That's not for my, it's not for me to judge.

But all I know is we have it. We have our guide. We have it all.

So, so marvelously over the world and we have no savior. So in John 16, my character is formed by the way I am guided. But when I read Ephesians four, as I had just quoted, my character is formed by a spirit of graciousness.

So there's that gracious spirit that you have manifested. Why are the Christians so gracious? Because they have been delighting in the commandments. They have read, read verses like Ephesians four and verses of the kindnesses of God throughout the scriptures.

When I come to Luke chapter 10 and I look at the good Samaritan who came alongside a boy that was beaten and left for half dead. And I look at that good Samaritan and I noticed what the good Samaritan does. He doesn't turn the eye and turn the head like the other, like the priest and the Levi, but he goes to him and he stoops down to him and he bends the knee to him.

He shows compassion to him. So not only in my guidance, not only in my graces, but there's goodness. So when I look at, when I look at the good Samaritan, how can you not look at the good Samaritan and not come away thinking, my, the next time I see a man who's got, who doesn't have it all put together, I'm going to show him some kindness.

When I come to first Timothy chapter six, my last one, as far as my character, when I come to first Timothy chapter six, but thou O man of God, flee these things and follow after, follow after what? Follow after righteousness, faith, love, patience, and meekness. Now I skipped one in there. Which one was it? No, I'm not looking for feedback, but you know your book.

Which one was it? Follow after righteousness, flee these things and follow after righteousness and godliness. Can't do it. Faith, meekness, love and patience.

So dear Christian, when I delight in his commandments and I read the first epistle of Peter, I'm sorry, first epistle of Timothy, godliness is mentioned six times and I'm a poor one to talk about godliness, but I'm just going to mention it is mentioned six times in first Timothy. If you read first Timothy and it takes you about 20 minutes to read it. And if you read that every day for one week straight, would not a bit of godliness come from your character? Why? It's because you've been delighting at it.

And when I delight in a certain truth and I feed on them and I grew in it and I delighted in it, I was responsible for Romans chapter 7 and I asked the brethren at Ankhon, why did you give me that chapter? That's one of the hardest chapters in the book of Romans. But you know what, dear brethren, I found out that I poured my soul over Romans chapter 7 for two full days. It's not boasting and it's not bragging.

Shame on me if I can't take something away and say that I know more in Romans 7 today than I did last. Today's what? Monday? Then I did last Monday. I do.

Why do I, why do I know more in Romans 7 than I did last Monday? Because I poured myself, I was delighting in it and I was searching it. Cannot grow, dear Christian, dear young man, you've got a farm to take care of. You've got a business that you've got to run and rightly so.

But don't let the business run you and don't let the farm run you. You make sure, dear Christian, dear brother, the assemblies need you. The assemblies need young men.

They need young couples and they need them to be vibrant. They don't need them to come and go like a door in its hand, to be active and to be in it. Mr. Library Senior asked another man, was you, was you in the meeting this morning? The man that Mr. Library Senior asked, what do you mean was I in the meeting this morning? I sat, I sat just two rows ahead of you.

You surely saw me. I didn't ask you, Mr. Library Senior says, if you was at the meeting, I asked you if you was in the meeting. Big difference.

So, dear Christian, there's something about it. This has been stirring my own soul that the results of delighting and maybe that the example that our brother Robert has given about a couple leaving and so on, maybe they could probably have all different kinds of excuses, but maybe if the truth was really known and maybe if you dug into the circumstances that you might be thinking of, I wonder how much they really were delighting in the scripture. How much time, how much time did they take? So my character is formed and now here you are and I'm looking at a, I'm looking at a group of people, by the way, thanks for the air conditioning, Marvin.

I don't know if you had anything to do with it, but I noticed by the magazine that it was air conditioned and in truth and tidings it was air conditioned. I thought there's going to be standing room only for sure. But now my character is formed.

Have you got the four points? Do I know what it is to be guided by the spirit, to be gracious with men and women, to be goodness shown and then of course to have that godly spirit. That character will develop that way. Dear Christian, you will develop into this character if you're delighting in the word.

Number two, as a result of developing this character, there's going to be decisions. There's going to be the right choices. I'm going to say under my heading that children are influenced.

And I'll tell you why I chose that heading is simply because if I make the right decisions, I'm not saying my daughter is going to make the same right decision, but she could be influenced. Number one, Job, he chose, but there's something about Job in all of his difficulties and the great trial that he was in. He, in spite of the fact he chose and he chose to feed, esteeming the reproaches of, no, esteeming his words above his necessary food.

So Job was a man who set aside as far as that which he was going through and he chose to feed. I'm thinking of Moses and Moses in chapter 11. It's not hard to see what Moses chose.

He chose, he chose to forsake because in Job, rather in Hebrews 11, he could have had a position that he could have had a, had a position that would have been the top position, but he chose to suffer affliction with the people of God. Imagine that choice, choosing to suffer affliction with the people of God. Moses, are you feeling okay? Somebody could have asked him.

Yes, I'm feeling just fine. I see a people here and I say, God is for those people. I want to be linked with those people.

And regardless of what come, Moses chose to suffer affliction with the people of God. If Job chose to feed and Moses chose to forsake, then Joseph chose to forgive. Joseph was a man, head and shoulders above most, I would say.

And after what he went through, there he stands. I'd love to dig into, love to go into Joseph's life a little bit, but there he stands before his brethren. And I try to put myself in those brethren's shoes.

And as he stands before his brethren and he reveals himself as to who he is, I can see the mouth of those brothers simply drop. This is him. It reminds me of the woman at the well in John chapter four, I that speak when the Messiah's cometh, he will tell us all things.

And the Messiah simply said, after he paused for just a bit, I that speak unto thee am he. I can see that dear woman gasping. This is really him.

I can see those men in Genesis chapter 45 practically gasping. Is this him? You mean this is him? We sold him, we threw him in the pit and this is him? And I love the words of Joseph directly after that. Mean it, he says, God meant it for good.

Do not be angry and do not be upset with yourselves. God meant it for good. And then he told them why he was now second in command.

Uh, there was a brother yesterday that give us a little word in Ankeny from out of town. Spoken forgiveness. And he just mentioned that portion in Luke, or it was my duty to forget.

And I said to him, how come you had to come to Ankeny? It was my duty to forgive. I pinched because it is not easy. It is not easy.

It doesn't come easy for depraved people. It doesn't come easy for decapitated, rotten human flesh, but taking the words of Joseph who forgave. Mary, my fourth one, Mary in Luke chapter 10, she sat at the feet of the savior who opened the door in Luke 10 to the home.

That was Martha. Martha welcomed him in one of my welcoming houses that I like to speak from welcoming, welcoming in. But the very next verse, Mary sat at his feet to what? To learn.

And as he sat at his feet to learn there, she knew what it was to have fellowship. I like Paul's, uh, I like to end on Paul as far as that is concerned, the way in which what he chose the second Timothy chapter four, he chose to finish because he said, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course henceforth.

No, I kept, I forgot a phrase, didn't I? I have fought a good fight. I have finished the course. If I was writing that I would have said finished at the end.

But Paul says, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith.

And because he kept the faith, he chose to finish. He had Alexander coppersmith who could have steered him wrong. He had others who know what it was to undermine what Paul, an amazing, an amazing way that sought to plant and sought to water and sought the shepherd and sought to feed.

He had all kinds of disturbances and this. He had his own brethren that forsook him. The discouragements that Paul had, but he chose to finish.

I'm not going to, I'm not going to drop down. I'm not going to, I'm not going to quit. I've got a little newspaper article that Ross Vanstone printed up many, many years ago.

I got it. I got it. Scott's taped right on my desk top.

I look at it every, every week, if not every other week, quit with a question Mark. Is it, what does it say? Is it possible to quit? And then he goes on to that little article about only about a three inch article, the width of one column of why we can't. I read it often.

So dear Christian, the younger believers here never think about that. But when you get past your 50th birthday, which I did a couple of years ago, then there is Elaine don't laugh. Then there is a thought of at times of quitting.

Can't do that. Can we? Now the children are influenced. How these choices that you have made over the years, you have chosen, you have chosen to feed.

You have chosen to forsake. You have chosen to forgive. You have chosen to have fellowship.

Now, what has that done? That has simply, it has left a commitment with others, that commitment that others have seen. And especially right in your own home, the commitment that now has been seen by others. And that commitment is going to be, hopefully will be put into practice in their life.

Their conscience is going to be instructed. Commitment is going to be important. What are we going to do today? When Sunday morning comes along the questions, well, shall we go to the meeting today? That doesn't even, that doesn't even enter into our home.

That's an automatic, but there are homes where that does enter in. Well, I don't feel good today. I'm going to, there's a headache coming around the corner.

I can just feel it. Well, there's all these excuses. So the commitment, the commitment factor is there.

The conscience is instructed. I love Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10, when the writer to the Hebrew says, having a high priest over the house of God. In verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us draw near. As a result of salvation, the heart and the conscience has been applied. The blood has been applied.

And as a result of the labor, we've gone to the labor. What's the labor? Dear Christian, the labor is this. We come to the labor and we feed and we have our steps clean.

We have our feet that have been defiled and we get a good bath at the labor. We get cleansed. So having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, Paul, the apostle tells to Timothy about a seared conscience.

That's not a sprinkled conscience. A seared conscience is altogether different than a sprinkled conscience. But, and as a result, these are choices will be influenced.

So dear Christian, when I greatly, can I emphasize that again before I sit down? We could take, I don't know how much time, uh, I don't know how much time you spend time reading. Uh, there's times when you don't feel like reading. I know that because the speaker up here today doesn't always feel like reading, not in the mood to read.

Maybe that might come as a shock, but I'm not always in the mood to read. Sometimes even two cups of coffee doesn't get me revved up to, uh, to read. But there are times when I read when I don't feel like reading.

And guess what happens? I get that one piece of coconut cream pie and then I keep on reading. Just come to my mind. I was reading on January or no, I was reading when we was in Rapid City, wondering what to do.

It just wasn't working. Men and women that had professed salvation had taken a different turn. A man had steered them wrong and it wasn't me.

And I read in the book of Genesis, I was going to stop at Genesis chapter 29, but I kept reading. And when I come to Genesis 31 and 13, it's not hard to remember 31 and 13. Return to thy kindred from whence thou hast come.

I didn't expect to get that that morning. Didn't expect it at all, but it just leaped from the page. What you don't know, Dennis DeGroat, had called me six months before that and said, Al, pack your bags.

You're coming home. Can you hear Dennis say that? You need to work in Iowa. I said, Dennis, thank you, brother, very much.

He says, I have a truck. We can load you up in one truck. Six months after he called, I called him.

I said, Dennis, you remember your phone call? He said, I do. I said, is that offer still good? He said, I'll be there in the morning. He brought a huge truck.

I want to say an 18-wheeler, but I don't think it was quite that big. And I remember still today the ramp going up that side of that truck. He didn't know whether the ramp was going to hold the refrigerator or not, but we made it.

And we loaded all the stuff into the truck. We went back to Iowa. And we left several people who had really gotten to Christ.

My wife was doing more of a work with a kid than I was. But we had to go. It began to scatter.

They began to not pay any attention to us anymore. And the work dissolved. We're going out there hopefully in a few weeks to see if we can talk to some of the crumbs, pick up some of the crumbs that's remained.

Paul had an Alexander Coppersmith. Al Christofferson had an Alexander Coppersmith. I was feeling sorry for myself one day.

Jim Smith and I had a little talk. He says, cheer up. I've had two of those men.

Alexander Coppersmith did me much evil. When I delight in his commandments, sorry, when I delight in his commandments, my character is formed, my children are influenced, and my crown is earned. There's henceforth in the same chapter, second Timothy four, a crown is earned.

Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness and not to me only, not to me only, but to all them that love is appearing. Why does he say and verse down to the next verse? It has that the Lord, the righteous judge. Why does he say the Lord, the righteous judge? Because Paul knew very well that he was associated in a world that was unrighteous judges.

And there were judges that did not rule and reign and make decisions righteously. But in Paul's Timothy, there is a righteous judge. And he is going to give a reward of righteousness, not to me only, but to all them that love is appearing.

Dear Christian, can I go in for more in 2016 in delighting in the commandments?