New Salem Baptist Church

God is Happy

Part Three

April 16, 2023

Read Jeremiah 32:39-41.

God is happy! This is the revelation of God about himself. He has revealed that he is happy. He is not just happy now and then. Happiness is his constant and consistent disposition.

Have you known people that seem to be in a bad mood much of the time? Have you known people that complain a lot? Once you are aware that they are like this much of the time, does that make you want to be around them or does it make you want to avoid them? Of course, it is not a pleasant experience to be around such people.

On the other hand, have you known people that seem to be in a good mood most of the time? They smile a lot. They say positive things. They encourage you. I have known two people like this in my life. One was one of my best friends when I lived in Hawaii. His name was John and he was also a brother in the Lord. He would come to visit Josie and I about once a week and, at other times, I might just meet him at his apartment or at the local coffee shop. Every time he came to visit us, my spirit was lifted. I was encouraged! He was always smiling, always telling us stories about his life that were most interesting and a testimony to how the Lord watched over him. He was a happy person.

We want to be around those kind of people. God is that kind of person! He is always happy!

In the previous installments to this theme we saw four things which bring God the Father much happiness.

[1] God has pleasure in the Son.

God delights in Jesus. Since Jesus has always been and will always be, this means that God is in a continual state of delight. Do you see how this must be true? If he delights in the Son and the Son is with him (as he always is) then God is always in delight. What a wonderful condition to be in!

[2] God is happy in Himself.

Since God never changes and since he always exists, he is continually happy!

[3] God is happy in his creation. He takes pleasure in what he has created. Pleasure, of course, is always attended with happiness. God did not have to make a physical world, but he did. And he very much likes what he has created.

Everything God has created in this universe is not only good, but beautiful. Some things are more beautiful than others, but each created thing has its own wonder. Since his creation is always here and still retains its beauty even after the fall, God is always pleased in it.

Genesis 1 describes for us not only the fact of a well-ordered creation, but also God’s response to his creation. Five times God stands back, you might say, and considers what he has done and, each time, the text says, “And God saw that it was good.” (verses 4,12,18,21,25).

[4] We saw that God takes pleasure in all he does.

God is pleased in what he does and he is always actively involved in the world. Therefore, he is always happy!

Today, I wish to conclude this idea of God’s happiness by expanding on this last point – that God takes pleasure in all he does. But, I wish to focus on just one aspect of what he does. That is:

[5] God takes pleasure in doing good to all who hope in him.

I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. ⁴¹ I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. ^[1]

While it is true that this promise was originally given to Israel, it is easily proven that this promise applies equally to us. You see, when Jeremiah speaks of the “everlasting covenant” in verse 40, he is referring to the new covenant of which he wrote in the previous chapter:

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴ And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” ^[2]

The new covenant was originally promised to Israel, but the doors of the new covenant were opened to Jew and Gentile alike. It is the covenant that we are now in! Paul’s entire ministry was the ministry of the “new covenant!” (2 Cor. 3:6)

God makes three promises to Israel in Jeremiah chapter 32, and to us. Let us consider these three promises.

[1] God will not turn away from doing you good. Verse 40 states, “I will not turn away from doing good to them.” He will keep on doing good…to you! “He doesn’t do good to his children sometimes and bad to them at other times. He keeps on doing good and he never will stop doing good for ten thousand ages of ages. When things are going ‘bad’ that does not mean God has stopped doing good. It means that he is shifting things around to get them in place for more good, if you will go on loving him.”[3]

Think about this promise. God says, “I will not turn away from doing good…” When do we think that God might stop blessing us? It is when we have failed him, is it not? But wasn’t this Israel’s problem too? It is not only Israel’s problem, it is all of humanity’s problem! Because we are in the new covenant and God has given us a new heart, we desire to obey God. We yearn to love him and please him. But we still fail.

But also, because we are in the new covenant, God will not turn away from doing good to us even when we fail! This is marvelous and wonderful!

[2] But the promise is greater yet. Not only does God promise not to turn away from doing good to us, he says, “I will rejoice in doing them good.”[4] (verse 41) He does not do good to us begrudgingly. He is happy about doing good to us! “He seeks us out because it is his pleasure to do us good….God is not waiting for us, he is pursuing us.”[5]

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever.[6]

The LSB has “lovingkindness” and other versions have the word, “mercy.” The underlying word in the original language can be translated either way. God loves to show both his lovingkindness and his mercy. God loves to show his mercy. He is not hesitant or indecisive or tentative in pouring out his goodness or his mercy on us!

Remember this: God is happy about doing good to you and he is happy to show you mercy! He likes to! He rejoices in it! Some versions have, “I will take delight in doing good to them.” (verse 41)

Psalm 35 reaffirms this thought:

Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication;

And let them say continually, “The Lord be magnified,

Who delights in the prosperity of His servant.”^[7]

God delights in our prosperity! He is the one who creates it!

[3] He will not just never cease doing good. He will not just delight in it. But he will rejoice in our good with all his heart and all his soul!

This is an expression of full commitment and full desire. It’s the kind of commitment and love that a groom has for his bride:

For as a young man marries a young woman,

so shall your sons marry you,

and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,

so shall your God rejoice over you. ^[8]

This is how much God’s heart is for you! Its like the rejoicing of a groom with his bride! This verse is about a honeymoon – one of the most delightful experiences of humankind. Our honeymoons come to an end. But not so with God. With God the honeymoon never ends…not from his side. His heart is for you – all of his heart! That is what he promises!

Remember the parable of the prodigal son. That parable reveals a father’s rejoicing over the return of his son with all his heart. While his boy is returning, still a long way off, the father sees him and his heart warms with love and compassion (Luke 15:20). He doesn’t wait to see what the boy looks like close up. He runs out the front door and runs down the road. Don’t miss the force of this scene. Well-to-do, dignified, aristocratic, aging men don’t run. They walk. They keep their composure. But Jesus tells this story to illustrate God’s love for his own people. The prodigal’s father represents God. He represents how God feels towards his own children when they return to him.

The parable doesn’t say so, but don’t you think that, when the son saw his father running towards him, he ran towards his father too? I think he must have. What a scene! When the father reaches him he embraces him and kisses him. This is the kind of expressive love that the Father has for you when you come to him!

The son expresses remorse but his father doesn’t even let him finish what he was going to say. He orders the best robe to replace the rags that the son was wearing, new shoes, a ring, a banquet with musicians! This is rejoicing in his child’s good with all his heart!

These are what the Father has for you if you belong to him: a robe, new shoes, a ring, a banquet, and music!

The prophets had revealed that this is the way God’s heart is, although Jesus makes it so personal with this parable. One of those prophets was Zephaniah:

The Lord your God is in your midst,

a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing. ^[9]

This is the scene of a festival. Minstrels may have been called to sing but then the Father himself leads the singing! That’s how glad he is that we are here! God exults over us with singing!

Do you believe that God feels this way about you? Someone might say, “I can’t because I’m too guilty. My sin is too great. Or, my sin is too frequent. God has judgments against me. God could never rejoice over me this way.”

Maybe Zephaniah foresaw your hesitancy:

The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; ^[10]

The condemnation has been lifted because he bruised his own Son in your place…if you will believe it.

Someone else might think, “God could not rejoice over me because I don’t stand up for the truths of the gospel as I ought to. My enemies mock me and criticize me if I bring up anything about the Bible.” But Zephaniah has something to say about that too:

Behold, at that time I will deal

with all your oppressors. ^[11]

And,

he has cleared away your enemies. [12]

God makes merry over you…with all his heart! He does so despite your failures. He does so despite your enemies and opposers. He does so despite your unworthiness!

How ought we to respond? Sometimes, when I instruct you on how to apply what you have learned in a message (which I do in every message), I might give you three or four things to do. But how we should respond to the happiness of God in us is quite simple. There are just two things for you to do.

1. You must believe that God is happy with you. Why must you believe it? You must believe it because he is! This is why we have just considered six passages that prove this –

• Jeremiah 32
• two in Psalms
• Isaiah 62
• Luke 15
• Zephaniah 3

You simply must believe what God has spoken. Every blessing of God comes through faith. Don’t place your faith in your feelings. Place your faith in God’s promises.

2. The only other thing left for you to do is enjoy God’s pleasure in doing you good! God is inviting you to participate in his happiness with you! Enjoy his pleasure in you!

Yes! It’s that simple: believe and enjoy! Experience just a small fraction of God’s happiness and you will be changed!