God delights in You

Intro

God’s love is foundational. It is the beginning, middle, and end of our Christian life (1 John 2:14-15 “I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” It is the message that the Holy Spirit brings to us (Romans 5:5 “and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Yet we lack a good understanding of God’s love today:

God’s love means more than “God will help me become a good person.”

God’s love means more than “God wants me to be happy.”

God’s love means more than “God lets me make my own choices.”

So, during the next three weeks, we are going to unpack God’s love:

God’s love means he delights in you (tonight)

God’s love means he defends you

God’s love means he disciplines you

What does it mean to “delight” in someone or something?

Simply put, it means that someone or something becomes the source of your joy.

So now, let us put it this way - God’s love means that you are the source of His Joy.

Q: Do you believe this? Why or why not?

Isaiah 62:3-5

Isaiah 62:3–5 CSB

You will be a glorious crown in the Lord’s hand, and a royal diadem in the palm of your God’s hand. You will no longer be called Deserted, and your land will not be called Desolate; instead, you will be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land will be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you; and as a groom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

Hephzibah/Marriage

My delight is in her = The word “Hephzibah.” A name, derived from from four words: Hephz-I-B-ah, which means “delight-mine-in-her.” In context, this is both a picture and a promise of restoration.

2. The word “hephetz” indicates a strong desire or source of joy. This makes it an ideal word to describe the passion unites people in marriage. And that is precisely what we find in Isaiah 62:4, with marriage.

Q: Would you say that partners in marriage should be the source of each other’s joy?

“A husband and wife should pursue their own joy in the joy of each other. There is scarcely a more hedonistic passage in the Bible than Ephesians 5:25–30. This text makes very clear that the reason there is so much misery in marriages is not that husbands and wives are seeking their own pleasure, but that they are not seeking it in the pleasure of their spouses… By nature we love ourselves, that is, we do what we think in the moment will make us happy. And Paul does not build a dam against the river of hedonism; he builds a channel for it. He says, “Husbands and wives, recognize that in marriage you have become one flesh; therefore, if you live for your private pleasure at the expense of your spouse, you are living against yourself and destroying your own highest joy. But if you devote yourself with all your heart to the holy joy of your spouse, you will also be living for your joy and making a marriage after the image of Christ and his church.”

Proof is sacrifice, Christ laying down his life like a husband for his bride, Ephesians 5:24-30.

Youthful Marriage/Song of Solomon

Now, this is not just any marriage, it is a youthful marriage. Note in verse 5, “as a young man marries a woman.” In other words, here is what God says… Even though your love for me grew cold, and even though you cheated on me, I am still in the honeymoon phase. Something happens after Spring break.

How many of you have heard that in marriage, there is a time when the initial passion fades and then there is a season in which you really need commitment, sort of moving from spring and summer to fall and winter. That is true, and the Bible recognizes and warns against that. But the Bible says that God has guarded his heart against that.

This has led many people to draw illustrations of God’s love for us from the Song of Solomon. Especially Song of Solomon 2:16

Song of Solomon 2:16 (ESV)

My beloved is mine, and I am his;

I see your face, and my own breaks out in a smile

I hear your voice, and it makes me sing

I touch your hand, and mine starts shaking

I smell your perfume, and stop in my tracks

Is He your delight?

God loves us, do we love God?

If we are the source of His Joy, is He the Source of Yours?

1 Peter 1:8 (ESV)

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

Spurgeon, one of those Song of Solomon guys, asks these probing questions:

Hast thou taken hold of Christ by faith?

Is Jesus dear to thee above all thy possessions?

Dost thou love him beyond all earthly objects?

Is Jesus so fully thy hope and thy trust that thou hast no other?

Do your thoughts go after him?

Do you long for Christ’s company?

Have you ever enjoyed communion with Christ?