Romans-Related Topical Applications

Holy Desires

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2017-01-11

Synopsis: Pastor John Weaver explores the concept of holy desires from Nehemiah 1:11, emphasizing that true believers should delight in fearing God's name. He contrasts natural, unnatural, and supernatural desires, arguing that holy desires are evidence of God's work in a believer's life. The sermon calls for self-examination, prayer for holy desires, and application of God's Word as proof of genuine reverence.

[John Weaver] Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 1 1st and 2nd Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Nehemiah chapter 1 we're going to read verses 5 through 11 Nehemiah chapter 1 Reading just verses 5 through 11 to give you the context, actually the message is going to be coming from verse 11. The title of the message today is Holy Desires. So look in verse 5. And I said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments.

[John Weaver] Let thine ear now be attentive and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant. which I pray before thee now day and night for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee, both I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandest by thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If you transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations.

[John Weaver] But if you turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out into the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen set my name there. Now these are thy servants, and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech Let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name. And prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer."

[John Weaver] Many years ago, I preached through the book of Nehemiah, and it certainly was a blessing indeed. But back in October, I was in a conference And I was preaching, and other men were preaching as well. And one of the pastors took Nehemiah chapter 1 and spoke on it. However, he did not speak on verse 11. But since it's a very small chapter, he read all of the verses. And as he was reading the verses, I was following along in my Bible, and I got to verse 11, and just something jumped out at me. And I thought, well, let me check into this.

[John Weaver] I looked at that phrase, who desire to fear thy name? And I immediately thought of desires. Everyone has desires. They are multitudinous, and they are variegated. Desires are absolutely fundamental to life. I want you to hold Nehemiah chapter 1, but turn, if you would, over to the book of Ecclesiastes, right after the book of Proverbs. You have the book of Ecclesiastes, and look in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse 5, because in this particular passage, Solomon makes it plain that when you no longer have desires, you're dead. Notice Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 5, he says, also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, And fear shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail. Why?

[John Weaver] Because man goeth to his long home, and mourners go about the streets." So, what Solomon is saying is, if you no longer have any desires, you're dead. Death ends desires. So very few individuals have ever had the opportunity to satisfy all of their desires, or at least most of their desires. Solomon was an exception in that not only he was a king, he was an exceedingly rich king as well, and he could do just about whatever he wanted to do.

[John Weaver] In fact, he did so, and he pronounced it all as vanity, vexation I want you to look in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and notice if you would what he said we could read a lot in this passage but notice if you would in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and let's begin reading there all with verse 8 he said I gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces I get me men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments and that of all sorts. So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them.

[John Weaver] I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on all the labor that I had labor to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. Of course if we took time to read all of this he had gardens, he had animals, he had anything and everything that you could possibly imagine. So Solomon was one of the few individuals that had the opportunity to satisfy most of his desires and yet he pronounced all of that vanity and vexation. Everyone has desires but few have what I would call holy desires. Some of the desires may be holy, but unhappily, most are not. The unsaved, the heathen and the pagans, may have desires equally as do the saved. Hopefully, there is a huge difference between the desires of the pagans and the desires of the saints. But however, in some areas, our desires are the same, whether you're saved or unsaved.

[John Weaver] For instance, when we're tired, we desire to rest. saved or unsaved. When we're hungry, we desire to eat, saved or unsaved. When, of course, we're sick, we desire to be well, saved or unsaved. So in that sense, the word we could say that yes we do have some common desires with the lost, but on the other hand there should be a huge difference as well. Nehemiah and those who were with him had a very different desire. He said very plainly that we desire to fear thy name. Now the heathen and the pagans, those who are lost, have absolutely no desire to fear the name of the Lord.

[John Weaver] So let me ask you a question. Have you ever had a desire to fear the name of the Lord? If so, how do you know that that desire was a real, genuine desire? When you think about desires, we could probably break them down into three areas. Very simply stated, we could say that there is a natural desire, there is an unnatural desire, And there is a supernatural desire. Now, a natural desire is what I've already mentioned. For instance, we all desire sleep and rest. We desire food. We desire also to be loved and to be befriended. It doesn't matter, saved or unsaved, we have those natural desires. But then secondly, there's also unnatural desires. An unnatural desire is that which is against nature.

[John Weaver] is that which is perverted. For instance, whole Nehemiah chapter 1, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 1, and let's begin reading there in verse 21. And I want you to notice as we read this passage there are a lot of other things mentioned because usually when you talk about Romans chapter 1 you immediately think of the perversion of sex. But notice if you would there are far more perversions mentioned.

[John Weaver] And this would be what you and I would call an unnatural desire. But notice verse 21, Romans 1 verse 21, because that when they knew God, that is, they knew who He was, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Notice what they did foolishly, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. So let me just put it bluntly like this. Idolatry is a perversion. Idolatry is unnatural because it is a violation of the one true and the living God. So notice verse 24, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own heart to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. So God just turned them over to their base desires, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever.

[John Weaver] Amen. So they live for themselves, not for God. For this cause, God gave them up into vile affections, for even their women to change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with the men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was mean. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to pay close attention in the next several verses. Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Now the interesting thing is this, when he is talking about perversions and that which is unnatural, he talks about all of these sins and then he talks about covenant breakers and without natural affection.

[John Weaver] You don't have to read long on the internet or in a newspaper before you find some son who has murdered his father and his mother. In fact, I just read this past Thanksgiving, a grown son not only murdered his mother and father, but he chopped them up and tried to dispose of their bodies. I mean, you're talking about without natural affection? which is a perversion. And talk about disobedient to parents. What do you realize?

[John Weaver] Especially the younger children want to obey. They want to please. But as we get older, we become more perverted. That's when we want to do our own thing in our own will. So the interesting thing is about Romans chapter 1, there's a lot of perversions and there's a lot of unnatural things that God is talking about here. So the truth of the matter is this. While not all unsaved people have what we would call the unnatural desire when it comes to sexual perversions, we could say that all unsaved people desire to do that which is wicked and wrong. And the reason being they glory in that which is contrary to God as well as that which is satisfying to their flesh.

[John Weaver] For instance, the Apostle Paul said it like this in Philippians 3 and verse 19. He said, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things. So God talks about the wicked and He talks about the fact that their God is their belly, that is they're interested not just in eating but satisfying all of their lusts and all of their desires. David in Psalm 10 and verse 3 describes their wickedness and he says, For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth or whom the Lord hateth. When you think about the wicked men, and especially those who are powerful and rich and can seemingly do whatever they want to do, you have to understand this. Basically, all of the desires of the wicked are ultimately going to fail.

[John Weaver] So you can ask yourself, where is Pharaoh? Where is Joseph Stalin? Where is Mao Zedong? Where is Pol Pot? Where's Edi amen, so here were men that were very powerful that were very wicked that were very wealthy as well and yet They're now dead and in judgment And if they could not accomplish and do What they desired to do with all of their power and all of their money then very obviously We who do not have that power and do not have that money are going to not to fulfill our desires hardly at all either.

[John Weaver] So, the truth of the matter is this. Everything that the wicked do is ultimately going to fail. I want you to hold Nehemiah chapter one, but look in your Bibles to Psalm 112 and verse 10. Psalm 112, verse 10. Notice what the scripture says. Psalm 112, verse 10. God says, the wicked shall see it and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked shall perish. The desire of the wicked shall perish. Ultimately everything about him is going to perish if you would turn right over to the book of Proverbs chapter 21 and look if you would please at verse 25 Proverbs 21 verse 25 This is a very interesting passage and one that has many applications in Proverbs 21 in verse 25 the Bible says

[John Weaver] the desire of the slothful Killeth him for his hands refused to labor And then the next phrase, he coveted greedily all the day long. Now notice the desire of the slothful killeth him for his hands refuses the labor. In just about every town that I've ever passed through or ever been in or lived in for any period of time, there's always a corner where men just sit around all day long, smoke cigarettes, drink, drink coffee, drink I don't know what all they do.

[John Weaver] But you can go there, and usually they're there morning, noon, and night even. I've seen them with trash barrels burning in the night, sitting around doing what, I don't know. But here they go. Here's a new car going down the road. They say, I sure would like to have one of those things. truck, or some new tractor. But the problem is they will never, ever have anything like that because they refuse to work. They refuse to save. There is indeed a Biblical work ethic. I'm not preaching on a Biblical work ethic today, but the point I'm trying to make is very, very plain.

[John Weaver] The Bible says that it is the desire of the slothful that killeth him. He desires, but he will never, ever get out and do what he is supposed to do. The desire of the sloth will kill them, for his hands refuse to labor." Moreover there is a passage in the book of Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 5 you don't have to turn there. This passage is dealing actually with the king of Babylon because he was attacking God's people. And in that passage the Bible says this,"...Yea, also because he transgresseth by wine, he that is the ruler, is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and keepeth unto him all people." So interestingly even the wicked rulers are never satisfied over those whom they are ruling.

[John Weaver] They always want to rule over more. Now, when you stop and think about the desires of the wicked, you have to understand that their desires are absolutely contrary to God and contrary to the desires of the saints of God. David prayed against the desires of the wicked. So should we.

[John Weaver] Now you're going to say, Why in the world should I pray against the desire of the wicked? Well, here's my question. Do you want the wicked to prosper? Do you want the wicked to conquer? Do you want the wicked to dominate? Why in the world should any saint of God want the wicked to reign? Think of George Soros. Think of the Illuminati. Think of the Clintons. I mean think of the CFR and the Trilateralists. Why would I want them to have their desire and their will in their way? I would much prefer God's will and God's way. So when we pray, as our Lord taught us, when his disciples came to him and said, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught also his disciples, he said, fine. When you pray you say, Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. So when we actually pray that prayer we are praying for the destruction of man's kingdoms and we are praying for the destruction and overthrow of man's will and the establishment of God's will.

[John Weaver] Now I want to show you several passages. I want you to look in Psalm 140 and notice if you would please verse 8. Here is a specific prayer request by David. Look what he says. Psalm 140 and verse 8. He says, grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves. So David specifically asks God not to grant the desires of the wicked and not to allow them to further their wicked device. because ultimately they're going to exalt themselves even against God as well as above God if they could. So turn to Psalm 7 in verse 9. Here's a wonderful prayer request. And I would think that every child of God would be interested in inculcating this in their daily prayers. Notice Psalm 7 in verse 9. Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end.

[John Weaver] establish the just, for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reigns." So here is a prayer request that the wickedness of the wicked would come to an end, and that God would establish the just. And of course the just one is the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, but those who follow Him are just as well. So here is a wonderful prayer request to pray against the wicked.

[John Weaver] So we have talked about A natural desire, we've talked about an unnatural desire, and whether or not it is a perversion in the sense of a sexual perversion, it is unnatural in the sense that it is against God, it's against life, it's against other people. Now we're coming to what we call a supernatural desire. And I would define a supernatural desire as one in which God is involved, or one that would never be apart from God's grace and God's mercy.

[John Weaver] So let me say it like this. When we desire that which is good and godly and holy and scripture, it is a desire that God has worked in our lives. Because by nature, We do not desire to please God. By nature, we desire to please our own flesh and satisfy our own lusts. So if there's anything in us then that happens to be holy and godly, then God put it there. It was the Apostle Paul who said in Romans 7 verse 18, I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And likewise, he also said in Ephesians 2 and verse 3, talking about the saints. He says, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, and the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as others.

[John Weaver] You have to understand that man is totally depraved. When we talk about total depravity, it just simply means this, that that depravity reaches every area of our being. Our mind, our body, our will, our emotions, our intellect, our desires, every area. There's nothing left out when you talk about total depravity. So, if there's anything that is in us that is good and holy, it has to be because of God and God alone.

[John Weaver] In Isaiah 26 and verse 12, the scripture says, Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us, for thou hast wrought all of our works in us. So it is God that works in us. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. And notice if you would please verse 12 and 13. Philippians 2 verses 12 and 13 Paul says wherefore my beloved as you have always obeyed none in my presence only But now much more in my absence Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Wow Well, I thought it was God who saved us. Well, that is true. It is God who saves us from But why is Paul telling them to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling? Look in verse 13, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. So God is the one who works it in. It is our responsibility to work it out.

[John Weaver] In other words, we must act upon and we must apply the grace of God in our lives. Let me say it pointedly. God is not going to live for us. He expects us to act out what He places in us. He gives us holy desires, yet it is our responsibility to nurture them and to use them for His honor and His glory.

[John Weaver] Now, with that in mind, I want you to go back to Nehemiah 1. I want you to look at this prayer request. Nehemiah chapter 1 and verse 11, he said, Oh Lord I beseech thee let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name and prosper I pray thee thy servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of

[John Weaver] this man for I was the kings cup bearer. So Nehemiah praying, and he prays and asks that God would hear and answer his prayer, not just for himself, but also for these other servants who desire to fear thy name. Well, the Hebrew word for desire here is the word kaphets, which literally means to desire, to favor, to delight, to have pleasure in. He says, Lord, here is a group of people that have pleasure in your name. They desire to fear thee.

[John Weaver] So think about the implications here. Here were men that delighted in and gloried in and had a heart's desire to fear the name of the Lord. So stop and think about this. Here is my first question. Where are the Christians today that really, genuinely, truly desire to fear the name of the Lord? They have actual pleasure in it. They enjoy it. They love the Lord, and they really desire to fear His name. Now, here's my second question. Where are the pastors today that really desire to fear the name of the Lord? And I mean desire to fear Him more than they fear their people, and more than they fear the government, and more than they fear their denominational leaders. Stop and think about that. Where are they? You have to remember, here's a man that gloried in and delighted in fearing the name of the Lord. Wow. It was the wise man Solomon who said in Proverbs 29 verse 25, the fear of man bringeth a snare, but who so putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.

[John Weaver] And the truth of the matter is whenever we fear man, we're already ensnared. Doesn't matter who the man is, whether he's a fellow believer or governmental agent or someone with a gun. Whenever we fear a man we have been ensnared. What did our Lord say in Luke chapter 12 verses 4 and 5? Remember this passage? He said, And I say unto you, friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that they can do no more. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear. Fear him which after he is killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. So he is saying we need to fear God. So Nehemiah and his friends had a desire to fear God.

[John Weaver] Now the word fear here is the Hebrew word yore which means to reverence, to fear, to stand in awe, to revere, to be afraid of, and to have honor and respect to. So here is what they are saying, we are delighting in, we are glorying in, We have pleasure in honoring you, respecting you, glorifying you. Wow. So here's what Nehemiah is asking. Lord, hear my prayer. Hear our prayers.

[John Weaver] Because we're not praying this for our benefit. We're praying this because we fear your name. And we want to honor you and glorify you. We want your blessings so that we will not dishonor you. Interestingly enough, Matthew Henry, the commentator, said this on verse 11. They desire to fear thy name. They're not only called by thy name, but really have a reverence for thy name. They now worship thee and thee only. According to thy will in heaven, all of all the discoveries are pleased to make of thyself, and they have a desire to do."

[John Weaver] Have you ever stopped to think about the Christian life? The Christian life in reality should be one that has a constant and a continual desire to fear the name of the Lord. We should have in our lives a consistency in wanting to obey Him, submit to Him, honor Him, glorify Him. In fact the word Christian basically means to be Christ-like. And what did our Lord say in John 8 and verse 29?

[John Weaver] For I do always those things that please Him. So let's think about our desires. I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm 37. Psalm 37, we'll look at a number of passages. Think about our desires. We can only really worship God if we have holy desires. We can only accomplish things if we have holy desires. That's what Nehemiah is saying. But in Psalm 37 in verse 4, The Word of God says, Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Look at that. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Now, obviously, this verse does not mean that God is going to give us and grant us wicked and ungodly desires. God is not going to violate His Word. God is not going to go contrary to his nature and dishonor his own person. No. The truth of the matter is, if we're really delighting in the Lord, we're not going to desire anything that's contrary to him.

[John Weaver] So he gives a word here, and he says, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. So if you really desire to be holy, if you really desire to be godly, if you really desire to be obedient, if you really desire to be submissive, God said, I'll give you the desires of your heart.

[John Weaver] Now, let me explain it a little further. Look in Psalm 34, and let's begin there with verse 12, Psalm 34 and verse 12. If I were to ask you, who in this room would love to live Live a long, good, and healthy life. Everybody's going to raise their hand. I never will forget. I've got a sermon, and I use this as an opening illustration. I've got a cousin.

[John Weaver] As far as I know, he's probably lost as a hound dog. But he's always been one of those likable individuals. And he and some other men were standing around talking, and they got to talking about dying and death. And they all stated that they wanted to die of old age, except my cousin. He said, I don't. They said, you don't? He said, no. Well, they said, how do you want to die? He said, I want to be shot and killed by a jealous husband when I'm 150. Well, he was saying he not only wanted a long life, he wanted quality as well as quantity. But, wow. God is telling us here how to live a long life if we will observe, notice if you would, in Psalm 34 and verse 12.

[John Weaver] He asks, what man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good? Everyone in here wants that. Well, God says if you want to live long and if you want to see many days and a good life, keep thy tongue from evil. and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and its ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth." So if you don't want to be cut off, God says, you be obedient, you be godly, you be holy, you do that which is right, you keep your tongue from speaking evil and from speaking guile, you depart from evil, you do good, you seek peace, and you follow it. I know that we should live a healthy lifestyle.

[John Weaver] That's certainly going to help us. But I want to tell you something. Unless you have a spiritual healthy lifestyle, the physical healthy lifestyle means absolutely nothing. I'm all for eating healthy, and I'm all for avoiding junk food and fast food. And I despise it. But I can tell you this. I'm not counting on my broccoli and asparagus to help me live a long life. I'm counting on the Lord and obedience to him. Okay.

[John Weaver] Now look, if you would please, in Psalm 38, you see the truth of the matter is this. God already knows our desires. In fact, he knows everything about us and he knows whether or not those desires are in line with the word of God. Psalm 38 and verse nine, David said, this Lord, All my desire is before Thee, and my groaning is not hid from Thee. We cannot fool God, nor can we hide our desires from Him. No, all my desire is before Thee. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 21 at the first two verses. Psalm 21, verses one and two. Look what David says. The King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation, how greatly shall he rejoice.

[John Weaver] Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. For thou preventest or precedest him with the blessings of goodness. Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked a life of thee, and thou gavest to him even length of days forever. So the truth is that when God and God alone is our whole desire, we will bring our lives into greater conformity to his word.

[John Weaver] Now, I ask you as I begin this message, have you ever really had a desire to fear God's name? And then my second question was this, how would you know whether or not it was a real and genuine biblical desire? And the answer is this, application of truth is the evidence that we really desire to fear His name. The application of His truth is the evidence that proves we really desire to fear His name.

[John Weaver] I want you to look in Psalm 73. I'm going to deal with this passage in the not too distant future. Maybe in the next month anyhow. But I want you to notice what Asap says in Psalm 73 and verse 25. An interesting statement. He said, whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.

[John Weaver] Now stop and think about that. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." Well, is it wrong for me to desire my children or my children to desire fellowship with their parents or for me to desire my wife or my wife to desire me? And the answer is no. But what he is saying is this, God must be first and foremost in our lives.

[John Weaver] We should love Him supremely. We should love Him first. So let me challenge you to do something. I want you to think about this. When you awaken each morning before you ever get out of bed, in your mind you do not have to say it out loud, but you think, Lord, I just want to tell you today that I love And I want to love you first, and I want to love you foremost. And help me to love my family, or my wife, or my husband, or my children, whoever it is. Help me to love them the way you've ordained that I love them. But help me to love you first, and foremost, and supremely."

[John Weaver] And then, of course, you can thank Him for His grace, and mercy, and compassion, and letting you live through the night. But just stop and think about that. So when we tell our wives that we love them, or our husbands, or our children, or even our animals, just say, well, I love the Lord first. And by the way, talking about loving animals, the Bible does say the righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, for the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. So yeah, we can love our animals too, our children, our second children, that is for sure.

[John Weaver] Here's an important question in light of verse 25 where ASAP says whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. In light of this truth how do I pray? How do I pray so that my desire would be to fear his name? How do I conform my life to this? How do I make application of this truth? Well generally speaking we might could answer the way Peter did in John chapter 21. You remember how our Lord asked Peter three times, Peter do you love me more than these? And finally the third time Peter was grieved the Bible says and in verse 17 of John 21 he said, Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee.

[John Weaver] And it is true that God is omniscient. God knows our love. He knows our desires. He knows the depth of them. He knows the quality of them. He knows everything. But here's the thing. Are there some specific prayer requests that we could make that would enable us to fear the name of God in our everyday lives? And the answer to that is yes. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 19. Then we are going to Psalm 119 and I want you to hold Psalm 119 because we will come back to it. But look at some verses and consider these that you could incorporate in your prayers and ask the Lord to enable you to fear His name better. Notice Psalm 19 if you would, verse 12.

[John Weaver] David asks this question, who can understand his errors? on me from secret faults." Have you ever asked yourself, why in the world did I do something like that? That was the stupidest thing. That was the dumbest thing that I've ever done. Yeah. Who can understand his error? You do things and then the next thing you know, why did I do that? I mean, that was absolutely stupid. Well, so he said, Who can understand you? Cleanse out me from secret faults. Do you realize every one of us has secret sins and secret faults? We don't know them that is why they are secret. And David wanted to be cleansed from those things.

[John Weaver] And then he says, keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me, then shall I be innocent, and then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. So he asks that God would cleanse him from secret faults or sins. And then he says, keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. What is a presumptuous sin? A presumptuous sin is something that you do that you know that is wrong. It's not a sin of ignorance. It's not a secret sin. It's kind of like thou shalt not steal. I know God says thou shalt not steal, but I want that bottle of water anyhow so I'm going to take it. That's a presumptuous sin. God says, Thou shalt not commit adultery.

[John Weaver] That doesn't matter to me. I'm going to do this anyhow. That's a presumptuous sin. And it's our errors and our secret sins that lead us to these presumptuous sins. And so David is praying against these sins in his life. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 119. And like I say, I want you to hold this passage. We're going to come back. But I want to pick out two verses.

[John Weaver] The first one is verse 5, which I will point out a little bit later. Psalm 119, verse 5. Oh, that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes.

[John Weaver] Now, that's a pretty good prayer request, is it not? Lord, direct my ways to keep thy statutes. Cleanse thou me from secret sins. Lord, I don't want to do anything. Except Lord, I ask you to direct my steps Then I might keep your statutes. The Bible says that the ways of a man Have been ordained by God and that God delights when that man obeys him So obviously this would be a good prayer request look in verse 80 of the same psalm psalm 119 verse 80 Here's one Let my heart be sound in thy statutes I

[John Weaver] that I be not ashamed. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes. Wow. If we are sound in the word of God, then obviously we're not going to be wandering from the way. Notice if you would, Psalm 141. And this is a tremendous, tremendous passage. In fact, let's begin reading with verse one. We'll read through verse 4. Look what he said. Psalm 141, verse 1. Lord, I cry unto thee, make haste unto me, give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

[John Weaver] Now here is his specific request. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips Let me ask you has anyone in this room ever said anything that they wished they had not said. Oh, yeah Set a watch. Oh Lord before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips watch verse 4 Incline not my heart to any evil things or any evil thing to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity Let me not eat of their dainties.

[John Weaver] I don't even I don't even be around them much less partake of. Incline not my heart to any evil thing." That kind of sounds like lead me not into temptation, doesn't it? So, yes, there's a specific request. Let's go back to Psalm 119 because I want to read in this psalm the first 16 verses. I want you to follow me. I want you to look at them and see how Each of these verses are actually a tremendous prayer request. Psalm 119 beginning with verse 1, blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. So first of all the blessing is upon those who walk in the law of the Lord and they are called the undefiled. He said, blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with a whole heart. They also do no iniquity, they walk in His ways." Now wait a minute, when He says, blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and they that seek Him with a whole heart, they also do no iniquity, that does not mean that they are not sinners, nor does it mean that they do not slip up and fall short in sin.

[John Weaver] When He says, they also do no iniquity, the word iniquity refers to lawlessness. We can't be lawless if we are walking according to His ways and keeping His commandments. So he says, they also do no lawlessness, they walk in his ways. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently, O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. I will keep thy statutes, so forsake me not utterly.

[John Weaver] Now, I told the young men, Here is something that they should remember. And then I said, here's the middle-aged man, something they should remember. And then the old man, something they should remember. Watch verse nine. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from my commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all thy judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of all thy testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect in thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word." Wow.

[John Weaver] Do you realize that when you pray these things, You're in essence asking God to enable you to fear His name. Now let me make just a couple of applications. I want you to look back to Nehemiah chapter 1 and look at verse 11. This is the thought that really hit me. When he said, O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant, this day.

[John Weaver] And grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer. The first application is this. If we really and truly desire to fear his name, God will hear our desires and will grant request what yes look in your Bibles to psalm 10 whole Nehemiah but look in your Bibles to psalm 10 and verse 17 psalm 10 verse 17 look at it psalm 10 verse 17 Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble that will prepare their hearts that will cause thine ear to hear. What? Thou hast heard the desire of the humble. So God not only hears, he prepares or establishes our hearts. And he also causes our ear or causes his ear to hear. In Proverbs 10 in verse 24, the Bible says, The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him, but the desire of the righteous shall be granted." The desire of the righteous shall be granted.

[John Weaver] So let me ask you a question. Do you think that God is really more interested in you obeying Him than you are in obeying Him? Certainly God is more interested. And if you come to Him and say, Lord, I want to fear Your name. I want to obey You. God's not going to say, no, I don't want you to do that. No. What did He say? The desire the righteous shall be granted." As long as we desire that which is right and holy and godly, He'll grant it to us. He'll give it to us. Just like you're going to do that for your children and your grandchildren. As long as they want to do what's right, let them have it. That's no problem. So a truly godly individual and a truly godly and biblical desire is always in line with God's will and God's Word.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make another application. I want you to think about this. I asked earlier, where are the Christians who really genuinely desire to fear the name of God? I also asked, where are the pastors who really genuinely desire to fear the name of God? Our country, is still in turmoil. It is still on the verge of destruction, I believe. We're in problems and we're ending up to our neck. But have you ever stopped to think, if there were some committed Christians and some committed pastors, even a few, what we could really do.

[John Weaver] In Acts chapter 17 in verse 6, listen to me. Here is what they said about those early Christians. Listen. Those that have turned the world upside down have come hither also. Those that have turned the world upside, wouldn't you like to turn the world upside down? Wouldn't you like to see our Lord and His truth reigning? Would you not like to see righteousness? Would you not like to see holiness? Would you not like to see peace? Would you not like to see the absence of war? Of course. They that have turned the world upside down have come hither also. Do you realize our Lord initially took 12 men and did exactly that.

[John Weaver] So the question is, are you going to be one of those individuals who really, genuinely desires to fear God's name? If so, it will be evidenced in your prayer, in your obedience, and in your faith. And here's what Nehemiah did. Nehemiah said, Hear my prayer, and hear the prayer of these thy servants who desire to fear thy name. And if you will read the book of Nehemiah, God heard that prayer, and God granted him all of his requests. We have to learn to fear the name of the Lord, and we must desire to fear the name of the Lord.

[John Weaver] You know, I thought about that passage in 1 Timothy chapter 3 where the Bible said, he that desireth the office of a bishop desireth the good work. So you can desire biblically and scripturally. Interestingly enough, sometimes the very word that is translated as lust in the Bible is also translated as desire. So there's a good connotation, there's an evil connotation. You remember our Lord said to his disciples, with desire have I desired to eat this last meal with you. Actually, it's epithumia, the same word that is used for lust. With lust have I lusted to have this last meal with you. So there can be a good desire, there can be an evil desire. Our desire should be to fear His name and to honor Him in all that we do.

[John Weaver] Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. And we ask You, Father, for a holy desire. Enable us to fear Thy name, to live in obedience, to live in faith, to submit to Thee, to worship and serve and honor Thee, and to be a blessing, Lord, to each other, and to our neighbors, and to our friends, and to the lost. Enable us, Heavenly Father, to please Thee, we bow before Thee, and worship Thee in Thee alone, in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

[John Weaver] ♪

Holy Desires

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	NCeidRSjnZE
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans-Related Topical Applications
Genre	Sermon
Date	2017-01-11
Dictation Name
Book	Book 138: Romans-Related Topical Applications — Chapter 16
Source Timed Segments	72

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Scripture Reading

Weaver introduces the message 'Holy Desires' and reads Nehemiah 1:5-11, focusing on verse 11 where Nehemiah prays for those who 'desire to fear thy name.'

Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 1. 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 1, we're going to read verses 5 through 11. Nehemiah chapter 1, reading just verses 5 through 11 to give you the context. Actually, the message is going to be coming from verse 11. The title of the message today is "Holy Desires." So look in verse 5: "And I said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments."

Scripture Reading — Nehemiah 1:5-11

"Let thine ear now be attentive and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now day and night for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee, both I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandest by thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If you transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations." "But if you turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out into the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Now these are thy servants, and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name. And prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer."

Many years ago, I preached through the book of Nehemiah, and it certainly was a blessing indeed. But back in October, I was in a conference, and I was preaching, and other men were preaching as well. And one of the pastors took Nehemiah chapter 1 and spoke on it. However, he did not speak on verse 11. But since it's a very small chapter, he read all of the verses. And as he was reading the verses, I was following along in my Bible, and I got to verse 11, and just something jumped out at me. And I thought, well, let me check into this.

The Universality and Vanity of Desires

Desires are fundamental to life; Solomon's experience shows that fulfilling all desires leads to vanity. Everyone has desires, but few have holy desires.

I looked at that phrase, "who desire to fear thy name," and I immediately thought of desires. Everyone has desires. They are multitudinous, and they are variegated. Desires are absolutely fundamental to life. I want you to hold Nehemiah chapter 1, but turn, if you would, over to the book of Ecclesiastes, right after the book of Proverbs. You have the book of Ecclesiastes, and look in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse 5, because in this particular passage, Solomon makes it plain that when you no longer have desires, you're dead. Notice Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 5, he says,

Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 12:5

"Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fear shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail. Why?"

"Because man goeth to his long home, and mourners go about the streets." So, what Solomon is saying is, if you no longer have any desires, you're dead. Death ends desires. So very few individuals have ever had the opportunity to satisfy all of their desires, or at least most of their desires. Solomon was an exception in that not only was he a king, he was an exceedingly rich king as well, and he could do just about whatever he wanted to do. In fact, he did so, and he pronounced it all as vanity, vexation. I want you to look in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and notice if you would what he said. We could read a lot in this passage, but notice if you would in Ecclesiastes chapter 2, and let's begin reading there all with verse 8. He said,

Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 2:8-11

"I gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got me men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them."

"I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on all the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun." Of course, if we took time to read all of this, he had gardens, he had animals, he had anything and everything that you could possibly imagine. So Solomon was one of the few individuals that had the opportunity to satisfy most of his desires, and yet he pronounced all of that vanity and vexation. Everyone has desires, but few have what I would call holy desires. Some of the desires may be holy, but unhappily, most are not. The unsaved, the heathen and the pagans, may have desires equally as do the saved. Hopefully, there is a huge difference between the desires of the pagans and the desires of the saints. But however, in some areas, our desires are the same, whether you're saved or unsaved.

Three Categories of Desires

Weaver categorizes desires as natural (e.g., hunger, rest), unnatural (perversions against God and nature, including idolatry and various sins from Romans 1), and supernatural (holy desires worked by God).

So let me ask you a question. Have you ever had a desire to fear the name of the Lord? If so, how do you know that that desire was a real, genuine desire? When you think about desires, we could probably break them down into three areas. Very simply stated, we could say that there is a natural desire, there is an unnatural desire, and there is a supernatural desire. Now, a natural desire is what I've already mentioned. For instance, we all desire sleep and rest. We desire food. We desire also to be loved and to be befriended. It doesn't matter, saved or unsaved, we have those natural desires. But then secondly, there's also unnatural desires. An unnatural desire is that which is against nature.

It is that which is perverted. For instance, hold Nehemiah chapter 1, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 1, and let's begin reading there in verse 21. And I want you to notice as we read this passage there are a lot of other things mentioned, because usually when you talk about Romans chapter 1 you immediately think of the perversion of sex. But notice if you would there are far more perversions mentioned. And this would be what you and I would call an unnatural desire. But notice verse 21, Romans 1 verse 21,

Scripture Reading — Romans 1:21-32

"Because that when they knew God, that is, they knew who He was, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Notice what they did foolishly, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things."

So let me just put it bluntly like this. Idolatry is a perversion. Idolatry is unnatural because it is a violation of the one true and the living God. So notice verse 24,

Scripture Reading — Romans 1:21-32

"Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own heart to dishonor their own bodies between themselves."

So God just turned them over to their base desires,

Scripture Reading — Romans 1:21-32

"who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever."

Amen. So they live for themselves, not for God. "For this cause, God gave them up into vile affections, for even their women to change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with the men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient."

Now, I want you to pay close attention in the next several verses. "Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Now the interesting thing is this, when he is talking about perversions and that which is unnatural, he talks about all of these sins and then he talks about covenant breakers and without natural affection. You don't have to read long on the internet or in a newspaper before you find some son who has murdered his father and his mother. In fact, I just read this past Thanksgiving, a grown son not only murdered his mother and father, but he chopped them up and tried to dispose of their bodies. I mean, you're talking about without natural affection? Which is a perversion. And talk about disobedient to parents. What do you realize?

Especially the younger children want to obey. They want to please. But as we get older, we become more perverted. That's when we want to do our own thing in our own will. So the interesting thing is about Romans chapter 1, there's a lot of perversions and there's a lot of unnatural things that God is talking about here. So the truth of the matter is this. While not all unsaved people have what we would call the unnatural desire when it comes to sexual perversions, we could say that all unsaved people desire to do that which is wicked and wrong. And the reason being they glory in that which is contrary to God as well as that which is satisfying to their flesh.

For instance, the Apostle Paul said it like this in Philippians 3 and verse 19. He said,

Scripture Reading — Philippians 3:19

"Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things."

So God talks about the wicked and He talks about the fact that their God is their belly, that is they're interested not just in eating but satisfying all of their lusts and all of their desires. David in Psalm 10 and verse 3 describes their wickedness and he says, "For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth" or whom the Lord hateth. When you think about the wicked men, and especially those who are powerful and rich and can seemingly do whatever they want to do, you have to understand this. Basically, all of the desires of the wicked are ultimately going to fail.

The Fate of the Wicked's Desires

The desires of the wicked ultimately perish; Scripture commands praying against the desires of the wicked so that God's will prevails.

So you can ask yourself, where is Pharaoh? Where is Joseph Stalin? Where is Mao Zedong? Where is Pol Pot? Where's Idi Amin? So here were men that were very powerful, that were very wicked, that were very wealthy as well, and yet they're now dead and in judgment. And if they could not accomplish and do what they desired to do with all of their power and all of their money, then very obviously we who do not have that power and do not have that money are going to not fulfill our desires hardly at all either.

So, the truth of the matter is this. Everything that the wicked do is ultimately going to fail. I want you to hold Nehemiah chapter one, but look in your Bibles to Psalm 112 and verse 10. Psalm 112, verse 10. Notice what the scripture says. Psalm 112, verse 10. God says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 112:10

"The wicked shall see it and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked shall perish."

The desire of the wicked shall perish. Ultimately everything about him is going to perish. If you would turn right over to the book of Proverbs chapter 21 and look if you would please at verse 25. Proverbs 21 verse 25. This is a very interesting passage and one that has many applications. In Proverbs 21 in verse 25 the Bible says,

"The desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labor." And then the next phrase, "he coveteth greedily all the day long." Now notice the desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labor. In just about every town that I've ever passed through or ever been in or lived in for any period of time, there's always a corner where men just sit around all day long, smoke cigarettes, drink coffee, drink I don't know what all they do. But you can go there, and usually they're there morning, noon, and night even. I've seen them with trash barrels burning in the night, sitting around doing what, I don't know. But here they go. Here's a new car going down the road. They say, "I sure would like to have one of those things." A truck, or some new tractor. But the problem is they will never, ever have anything like that because they refuse to work. They refuse to save. There is indeed a Biblical work ethic. I'm not preaching on a Biblical work ethic today, but the point I'm trying to make is very, very plain.

The Bible says that it is the desire of the slothful that killeth him. He desires, but he will never, ever get out and do what he is supposed to do. "The desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labor." Moreover there is a passage in the book of Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 5, you don't have to turn there. This passage is dealing actually with the king of Babylon because he was attacking God's people. And in that passage the Bible says this,

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 2:5

"Yea, also because he transgresseth by wine, he that is the ruler, is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and keepeth unto him all people."

So interestingly even the wicked rulers are never satisfied over those whom they are ruling.

They always want to rule over more. Now, when you stop and think about the desires of the wicked, you have to understand that their desires are absolutely contrary to God and contrary to the desires of the saints of God. David prayed against the desires of the wicked. So should we.

Now you're going to say, "Why in the world should I pray against the desire of the wicked?" Well, here's my question. Do you want the wicked to prosper? Do you want the wicked to conquer? Do you want the wicked to dominate? Why in the world should any saint of God want the wicked to reign? Think of George Soros. Think of the Illuminati. Think of the Clintons. I mean think of the CFR and the Trilateralists. Why would I want them to have their desire and their will in their way? I would much prefer God's will and God's way. So when we pray, as our Lord taught us, when his disciples came to him and said, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught also his disciples," he said, "Fine. When you pray you say, Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." So when we actually pray that prayer we are praying for the destruction of man's kingdoms and we are praying for the destruction and overthrow of man's will and the establishment of God's will.

Now I want to show you several passages. I want you to look in Psalm 140 and notice if you would please verse 8. Here is a specific prayer request by David. Look what he says. Psalm 140 and verse 8. He says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 140:8

"Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves."

So David specifically asks God not to grant the desires of the wicked and not to allow them to further their wicked device, because ultimately they're going to exalt themselves even against God as well as above God if they could. So turn to Psalm 7 in verse 9. Here's a wonderful prayer request. And I would think that every child of God would be interested in inculcating this in their daily prayers. Notice Psalm 7 in verse 9. "Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end."

"But establish the just, for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins." So here is a prayer request that the wickedness of the wicked would come to an end, and that God would establish the just. And of course the just one is the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, but those who follow Him are just as well. So here is a wonderful prayer request to pray against the wicked. So we have talked about a natural desire, we've talked about an unnatural desire, and whether or not it is a perversion in the sense of a sexual perversion, it is unnatural in the sense that it is against God, it's against life, it's against other people. Now we're coming to what we call a supernatural desire. And I would define a supernatural desire as one in which God is involved, or one that would never be apart from God's grace and God's mercy.

Supernatural Desires and God's Work in Believers

Holy desires are supernatural, originating from God's grace. Believers must work out what God works in, nurturing holy desires for His glory.

So let me say it like this. When we desire that which is good and godly and holy and scriptural, it is a desire that God has worked in our lives. Because by nature, we do not desire to please God. By nature, we desire to please our own flesh and satisfy our own lusts. So if there's anything in us then that happens to be holy and godly, then God put it there. It was the Apostle Paul who said in Romans 7 verse 18,

Scripture Reading — Romans 7:18

"I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing."

And likewise, he also said in Ephesians 2 and verse 3, talking about the saints, he says, "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as others."

You have to understand that man is totally depraved. When we talk about total depravity, it just simply means this, that that depravity reaches every area of our being. Our mind, our body, our will, our emotions, our intellect, our desires, every area. There's nothing left out when you talk about total depravity. So, if there's anything that is in us that is good and holy, it has to be because of God and God alone. In Isaiah 26 and verse 12, the scripture says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 26:12

"Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us, for thou hast wrought all of our works in us."

So it is God that works in us. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. And notice if you would please verse 12 and 13. Philippians 2 verses 12 and 13, Paul says, "Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Wow. Well, I thought it was God who saved us. Well, that is true. It is God who saves us. But why is Paul telling them to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling? Look in verse 13, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure." So God is the one who works it in. It is our responsibility to work it out.

In other words, we must act upon and we must apply the grace of God in our lives. Let me say it pointedly. God is not going to live for us. He expects us to act out what He places in us. He gives us holy desires, yet it is our responsibility to nurture them and to use them for His honor and His glory.

Now, with that in mind, I want you to go back to Nehemiah 1. I want you to look at this prayer request. Nehemiah chapter 1 and verse 11, he said, "O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name, and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of"

The Meaning of Desiring to Fear God's Name

Nehemiah's prayer reveals a delight in fearing God. Weaver challenges Christians and pastors to examine whether they truly desire to fear God above all else.

"this man, for I was the king's cupbearer." So Nehemiah is praying, and he prays and asks that God would hear and answer his prayer, not just for himself, but also for these other servants who desire to fear thy name. Well, the Hebrew word for desire here is the word kaphets, which literally means to desire, to favor, to delight, to have pleasure in. He says, "Lord, here is a group of people that have pleasure in your name. They desire to fear thee."

So think about the implications here. Here were men that delighted in and gloried in and had a heart's desire to fear the name of the Lord. So stop and think about this. Here is my first question. Where are the Christians today that really, genuinely, truly desire to fear the name of the Lord? They have actual pleasure in it. They enjoy it. They love the Lord, and they really desire to fear His name. Now, here's my second question. Where are the pastors today that really desire to fear the name of the Lord? And I mean desire to fear Him more than they fear their people, and more than they fear the government, and more than they fear their denominational leaders. Stop and think about that. Where are they? You have to remember, here's a man that gloried in and delighted in fearing the name of the Lord. Wow. It was the wise man Solomon who said in Proverbs 29 verse 25, "The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe."

And the truth of the matter is whenever we fear man, we're already ensnared. Doesn't matter who the man is, whether he's a fellow believer or governmental agent or someone with a gun. Whenever we fear a man we have been ensnared. What did our Lord say in Luke chapter 12 verses 4 and 5? Remember this passage? He said, "And I say unto you, friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that they can do no more. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear. Fear him which after he is killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him." So he is saying we need to fear God. So Nehemiah and his friends had a desire to fear God.

Now the word fear here is the Hebrew word yore which means to reverence, to fear, to stand in awe, to revere, to be afraid of, and to have honor and respect to. So here is what they are saying, we are delighting in, we are glorying in, we have pleasure in honoring you, respecting you, glorifying you. Wow. So here's what Nehemiah is asking. "Lord, hear my prayer. Hear our prayers."

Evidence of Holy Desires: Application of Truth

Genuine desire to fear God is evidenced by obedience and application of His Word. Specific prayer requests from Psalms help cultivate this fear.

"Because we're not praying this for our benefit. We're praying this because we fear your name. And we want to honor you and glorify you. We want your blessings so that we will not dishonor you." Interestingly enough, Matthew Henry, the commentator, said this on verse 11: "They desire to fear thy name. They're not only called by thy name, but really have a reverence for thy name. They now worship thee and thee only. According to thy will in heaven, all of all the discoveries are pleased to make of thyself, and they have a desire to do."

Have you ever stopped to think about the Christian life? The Christian life in reality should be one that has a constant and a continual desire to fear the name of the Lord. We should have in our lives a consistency in wanting to obey Him, submit to Him, honor Him, glorify Him. In fact the word Christian basically means to be Christ-like. And what did our Lord say in John 8 and verse 29?

Scripture Reading — John 8:29

"For I do always those things that please Him."

So let's think about our desires. I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm 37. Psalm 37, we'll look at a number of passages. Think about our desires. We can only really worship God if we have holy desires. We can only accomplish things if we have holy desires. That's what Nehemiah is saying. But in Psalm 37 in verse 4, the Word of God says, "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Look at that. "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Now, obviously, this verse does not mean that God is going to give us and grant us wicked and ungodly desires. God is not going to violate His Word. God is not going to go contrary to his nature and dishonor his own person. No. The truth of the matter is, if we're really delighting in the Lord, we're not going to desire anything that's contrary to him.

So he gives a word here, and he says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 37:4

"Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

So if you really desire to be holy, if you really desire to be godly, if you really desire to be obedient, if you really desire to be submissive, God said, "I'll give you the desires of your heart." Now, let me explain it a little further. Look in Psalm 34, and let's begin there with verse 12, Psalm 34 and verse 12. If I were to ask you, who in this room would love to live a long, good, and healthy life? Everybody's going to raise their hand. I never will forget. I've got a sermon, and I use this as an opening illustration. I've got a cousin.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 34:12-16

As far as I know, he's probably lost as a hound dog. But he's always been one of those likable individuals. And he and some other men were standing around talking, and they got to talking about dying and death. And they all stated that they wanted to die of old age, except my cousin. He said, "I don't." They said, "You don't?" He said, "No." Well, they said, "How do you want to die?" He said, "I want to be shot and killed by a jealous husband when I'm 150." Well, he was saying he not only wanted a long life, he wanted quality as well as quantity. But, wow. God is telling us here how to live a long life if we will observe, notice if you would, in Psalm 34 and verse 12.

He asks, "What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good?" Everyone in here wants that. Well, God says if you want to live long and if you want to see many days and a good life, "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth." So if you don't want to be cut off, God says, you be obedient, you be godly, you be holy, you do that which is right, you keep your tongue from speaking evil and from speaking guile, you depart from evil, you do good, you seek peace, and you follow it. I know that we should live a healthy lifestyle.

That's certainly going to help us. But I want to tell you something. Unless you have a spiritual healthy lifestyle, the physical healthy lifestyle means absolutely nothing. I'm all for eating healthy, and I'm all for avoiding junk food and fast food. And I despise it. But I can tell you this. I'm not counting on my broccoli and asparagus to help me live a long life. I'm counting on the Lord and obedience to him. Okay.

Now look, if you would please, in Psalm 38, you see the truth of the matter is this. God already knows our desires. In fact, he knows everything about us and he knows whether or not those desires are in line with the word of God. Psalm 38 and verse nine, David said, "Lord, all my desire is before Thee, and my groaning is not hid from Thee." We cannot fool God, nor can we hide our desires from Him. No, all my desire is before Thee. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 21 at the first two verses. Psalm 21, verses one and two. Look what David says. "The King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation, how greatly shall he rejoice."

"Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. For thou preventest" or precedest "him with the blessings of goodness. Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked a life of thee, and thou gavest to him even length of days forever." So the truth is that when God and God alone is our whole desire, we will bring our lives into greater conformity to his word.

Now, I ask you as I begin this message, have you ever really had a desire to fear God's name? And then my second question was this, how would you know whether or not it was a real and genuine biblical desire? And the answer is this, application of truth is the evidence that we really desire to fear His name. The application of His truth is the evidence that proves we really desire to fear His name. I want you to look in Psalm 73. I'm going to deal with this passage in the not too distant future. Maybe in the next month anyhow. But I want you to notice what Asaph says in Psalm 73 and verse 25. An interesting statement. He said, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee."

Now stop and think about that. "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." Well, is it wrong for me to desire my children or my children to desire fellowship with their parents or for me to desire my wife or my wife to desire me? And the answer is no. But what he is saying is this, God must be first and foremost in our lives. We should love Him supremely. We should love Him first. So let me challenge you to do something. I want you to think about this. When you awaken each morning before you ever get out of bed, in your mind you do not have to say it out loud, but you think, "Lord, I just want to tell you today that I love You. And I want to love You first, and I want to love You foremost. And help me to love my family, or my wife, or my husband, or my children, whoever it is. Help me to love them the way You've ordained that I love them. But help me to love You first, and foremost, and supremely."

And then, of course, you can thank Him for His grace, and mercy, and compassion, and letting you live through the night. But just stop and think about that. So when we tell our wives that we love them, or our husbands, or our children, or even our animals, just say, "Well, I love the Lord first." And by the way, talking about loving animals, the Bible does say the righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, for the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. So yeah, we can love our animals too, our children, our second children, that is for sure. Here's an important question in light of verse 25 where Asaph says, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." In light of this truth, how do I pray? How do I pray so that my desire would be to fear his name? How do I conform my life to this? How do I make application of this truth? Well generally speaking, we might could answer the way Peter did in John chapter 21. You remember how our Lord asked Peter three times, "Peter, do you love me more than these?" And finally the third time Peter was grieved the Bible says, and in verse 17 of John 21 he said, "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee."

And it is true that God is omniscient. God knows our love. He knows our desires. He knows the depth of them. He knows the quality of them. He knows everything. But here's the thing. Are there some specific prayer requests that we could make that would enable us to fear the name of God in our everyday lives? And the answer to that is yes. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 19. Then we are going to Psalm 119 and I want you to hold Psalm 119 because we will come back to it. But look at some verses and consider these that you could incorporate in your prayers and ask the Lord to enable you to fear His name better. Notice Psalm 19 if you would, verse 12.

David asks this question, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults." Have you ever asked yourself, "Why in the world did I do something like that? That was the stupidest thing. That was the dumbest thing that I've ever done." Yeah. Who can understand his error? You do things and then the next thing you know, "Why did I do that? I mean, that was absolutely stupid." Well, so he said, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults." Do you realize every one of us has secret sins and secret faults? We don't know them, that is why they are secret. And David wanted to be cleansed from those things.

And then he says, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me, then shall I be innocent, and then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression." Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. So he asks that God would cleanse him from secret faults or sins. And then he says, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins." What is a presumptuous sin? A presumptuous sin is something that you do that you know that is wrong. It's not a sin of ignorance. It's not a secret sin. It's kind of like "Thou shalt not steal." I know God says "Thou shalt not steal," but I want that bottle of water anyhow so I'm going to take it. That's a presumptuous sin. God says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

That doesn't matter to me. I'm going to do this anyhow. That's a presumptuous sin. And it's our errors and our secret sins that lead us to these presumptuous sins. And so David is praying against these sins in his life. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 119. And like I say, I want you to hold this passage. We're going to come back. But I want to pick out two verses.

The first one is verse 5, which I will point out a little bit later. Psalm 119, verse 5. "Oh, that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes." Now, that's a pretty good prayer request, is it not? "Lord, direct my ways to keep thy statutes. Cleanse thou me from secret sins. Lord, I don't want to do anything. Except Lord, I ask you to direct my steps that I might keep your statutes." The Bible says that the ways of a man have been ordained by God and that God delights when that man obeys him. So obviously this would be a good prayer request. Look in verse 80 of the same psalm, Psalm 119 verse 80. Here's one: "Let my heart be sound in thy statutes."

"That I be not ashamed. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes." Wow. If we are sound in the word of God, then obviously we're not going to be wandering from the way. Notice if you would, Psalm 141. And this is a tremendous, tremendous passage. In fact, let's begin reading with verse one. We'll read through verse 4. Look what he said. Psalm 141, verse 1. "Lord, I cry unto thee, make haste unto me, give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice."

Now here is his specific request. "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips." Let me ask you, has anyone in this room ever said anything that they wished they had not said? Oh, yeah. "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips." Watch verse 4. "Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity. Let me not eat of their dainties."

I don't even want to be around them, much less partake of. "Incline not my heart to any evil thing." That kind of sounds like "lead me not into temptation," doesn't it? So, yes, there's a specific request. Let's go back to Psalm 119 because I want to read in this psalm the first 16 verses. I want you to follow me. I want you to look at them and see how each of these verses are actually a tremendous prayer request. Psalm 119 beginning with verse 1, "Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord." So first of all the blessing is upon those who walk in the law of the Lord and they are called the undefiled. He said, "Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with a whole heart. They also do no iniquity, they walk in His ways." Now wait a minute, when He says, "Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and they that seek Him with a whole heart, they also do no iniquity," that does not mean that they are not sinners, nor does it mean that they do not slip up and fall short in sin.

When He says, "they also do no iniquity," the word iniquity refers to lawlessness. We can't be lawless if we are walking according to His ways and keeping His commandments. So he says, "They also do no lawlessness, they walk in his ways. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. I will keep thy statutes, so forsake me not utterly."

Now, I told the young men, here is something that they should remember. And then I said, here's the middle-aged man, something they should remember. And then the old man, something they should remember. Watch verse nine. "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from my commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all thy judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of all thy testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect in thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word." Wow.

Do you realize that when you pray these things, you're in essence asking God to enable you to fear His name. Now let me make just a couple of applications. I want you to look back to Nehemiah chapter 1 and look at verse 11. This is the thought that really hit me. When he said, "O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant, this day."

Applications and Conclusion

God grants the desires of the righteous. Believers should pray for holy desires, evidenced in prayer, obedience, and faith, to impact the world for Christ.

"And grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer." The first application is this. If we really and truly desire to fear his name, God will hear our desires and will grant request. What? Yes. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 10. Hold Nehemiah, but look in your Bibles to Psalm 10 and verse 17. Psalm 10 verse 17. Look at it. Psalm 10 verse 17. "Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble. Thou wilt prepare their hearts, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear." What? "Thou hast heard the desire of the humble." So God not only hears, he prepares or establishes our hearts. And he also causes our ear or causes his ear to hear. In Proverbs 10 in verse 24, the Bible says, "The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him, but the desire of the righteous shall be granted." The desire of the righteous shall be granted.

So let me ask you a question. Do you think that God is really more interested in you obeying Him than you are in obeying Him? Certainly God is more interested. And if you come to Him and say, "Lord, I want to fear Your name. I want to obey You." God's not going to say, "No, I don't want you to do that." No. What did He say? "The desire of the righteous shall be granted." As long as we desire that which is right and holy and godly, He'll grant it to us. He'll give it to us. Just like you're going to do that for your children and your grandchildren. As long as they want to do what's right, let them have it. That's no problem. So a truly godly individual and a truly godly and biblical desire is always in line with God's will and God's Word.

Now, let me make another application. I want you to think about this. I asked earlier, where are the Christians who really genuinely desire to fear the name of God? I also asked, where are the pastors who really genuinely desire to fear the name of God? Our country is still in turmoil. It is still on the verge of destruction, I believe. We're in problems and we're ending up to our neck. But have you ever stopped to think, if there were some committed Christians and some committed pastors, even a few, what we could really do.

In Acts chapter 17 in verse 6, listen to me. Here is what they said about those early Christians. Listen. "Those that have turned the world upside down have come hither also." Those that have turned the world upside down, wouldn't you like to turn the world upside down? Wouldn't you like to see our Lord and His truth reigning? Would you not like to see righteousness? Would you not like to see holiness? Would you not like to see peace? Would you not like to see the absence of war? Of course. "They that have turned the world upside down have come hither also." Do you realize our Lord initially took 12 men and did exactly that.

So the question is, are you going to be one of those individuals who really, genuinely desires to fear God's name? If so, it will be evidenced in your prayer, in your obedience, and in your faith. And here's what Nehemiah did. Nehemiah said, "Hear my prayer, and hear the prayer of these thy servants who desire to fear thy name." And if you will read the book of Nehemiah, God heard that prayer, and God granted him all of his requests. We have to learn to fear the name of the Lord, and we must desire to fear the name of the Lord. You know, I thought about that passage in 1 Timothy chapter 3 where the Bible said, "He that desireth the office of a bishop desireth a good work." So you can desire biblically and scripturally. Interestingly enough, sometimes the very word that is translated as lust in the Bible is also translated as desire. So there's a good connotation, there's an evil connotation. You remember our Lord said to his disciples, "With desire have I desired to eat this last meal with you." Actually, it's epithumia, the same word that is used for lust. "With lust have I lusted to have this last meal with you." So there can be a good desire, there can be an evil desire. Our desire should be to fear His name and to honor Him in all that we do.

Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. And we ask You, Father, for a holy desire. Enable us to fear Thy name, to live in obedience, to live in faith, to submit to Thee, to worship and serve and honor Thee, and to be a blessing, Lord, to each other, and to our neighbors, and to our friends, and to the lost. Enable us, Heavenly Father, to please Thee, we bow before Thee, and worship Thee and Thee alone, in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Holy Desires vs. Worldly Desires

Summary: Believers should cultivate holy desires that delight in fearing God, in contrast to natural or unnatural desires that lead to vanity or sin.

Evidence: Nehemiah and those who were with him had a very different desire. He said very plainly that we desire to fear thy name. (442.0-502.2)

The Fear of the Lord

Summary: Fearing God means revering, honoring, and standing in awe of Him, which should be the believer's primary desire and delight.

Evidence: The word fear here is the Hebrew word yore which means to reverence, to fear, to stand in awe, to revere, to be afraid of, and to have honor and respect to. (1750.2-1792.0)

Total Depravity and Divine Enablement

Summary: Human nature is totally depraved; any holy desire is a supernatural work of God, who enables believers to will and do His good pleasure.

Evidence: By nature, we do not desire to please God. By nature, we desire to please our own flesh and satisfy our own lusts. So if there's anything in us then that happens to be holy and godly, then God put it there. (1323.4-1381.0)

Prayer Against the Wicked

Summary: Believers should pray against the desires and devices of the wicked, seeking God's kingdom and will over man's rebellious plans.

Evidence: David specifically asks God not to grant the desires of the wicked and not to allow them to further their wicked device. (1197.2-1265.7)

Application as Proof of Desire

Summary: Genuine desire to fear God is proven by applying His truth in daily life, including specific prayers for cleansing, direction, and obedience.

Evidence: Application of truth is the evidence that we really desire to fear His name. (2315.9-2345.5)

God Grants Righteous Desires

Summary: When believers desire what is holy and in line with God's will, He hears and grants those desires, as seen in Nehemiah's answered prayer.

Evidence: The desire of the righteous shall be granted. (3142.1-3203.0)

Key Arguments

Desires define life; death ends desires.

Summary: Solomon teaches that when desires fail, a person is dead, emphasizing that desires are fundamental to human existence.

Evidence: Solomon makes it plain that when you no longer have desires, you're dead. (170.2-233.4)

Fulfilling all desires leads to vanity.

Summary: Solomon, who satisfied every desire, declared it all vanity, showing that worldly fulfillment is empty.

Evidence: Whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them... and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit. (324.9-395.5)

Unnatural desires are perversions against God.

Summary: Romans 1 lists many unnatural desires, including idolatry and various sins, which are contrary to God's design.

Evidence: Idolatry is a perversion. Idolatry is unnatural because it is a violation of the one true and the living God. (533.0-603.8)

The wicked's desires will perish.

Summary: Scripture declares that the desire of the wicked shall perish, and believers should pray against their success.

Evidence: The desire of the wicked shall perish. (890.4-958.8)

Holy desires are supernatural, from God.

Summary: Because of total depravity, any good desire is worked in us by God, who enables us to will and do His pleasure.

Evidence: It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. (1493.4-1522.2)

Fearing God means delighting in His name.

Summary: Nehemiah's prayer shows that true servants delight in fearing God, which involves reverence, awe, and honor.

Evidence: Here were men that delighted in and gloried in and had a heart's desire to fear the name of the Lord. (1604.0-1695.3)

Application of truth proves genuine desire.

Summary: The evidence of a real desire to fear God is the application of His Word in daily life, including specific prayers.

Evidence: Application of truth is the evidence that we really desire to fear His name. (2315.9-2345.5)

God grants the desires of the righteous.

Summary: When believers desire what is holy, God hears and grants those desires, as He did for Nehemiah.

Evidence: The desire of the righteous shall be granted. (3142.1-3203.0)

Scripture References

Nehemiah 1:5-11

Context: Weaver reads the passage as the foundation for the sermon, focusing on verse 11 about desiring to fear God's name.

Ecclesiastes 12:5

Context: Used to show that when desires fail, a person is dead, emphasizing the fundamental nature of desires.

Ecclesiastes 2:8-11

Context: Solomon's testimony that fulfilling all desires leads to vanity and vexation of spirit.

Romans 1:21-32

Context: Describes unnatural desires and perversions, including idolatry and various sins, as evidence of man's depravity.

Philippians 3:19

Context: The wicked glory in their shame and mind earthly things, showing their desires are contrary to God.

Psalm 10:3

Context: The wicked boast of their heart's desire, which the Lord abhors.

Psalm 112:10

Context: The desire of the wicked shall perish.

Proverbs 21:25

Context: The desire of the slothful kills him because he refuses to labor.

Habakkuk 2:5

Context: The proud ruler enlarges his desire as hell and is never satisfied.

Psalm 140:8

Context: David prays that God would not grant the desires of the wicked.

Psalm 7:9

Context: A prayer for the wickedness of the wicked to come to an end and the just to be established.

Romans 7:18

Context: Paul states that in his flesh dwells no good thing, supporting total depravity.

Ephesians 2:3

Context: Believers once fulfilled the desires of the flesh and were by nature children of wrath.

Isaiah 26:12

Context: God ordains peace and works all our works in us.

Philippians 2:12-13

Context: God works in believers to will and do His good pleasure; they must work out their salvation.

Proverbs 29:25

Context: The fear of man brings a snare, but trust in the Lord brings safety.

Luke 12:4-5

Context: Jesus teaches to fear God who can cast into hell, not those who kill the body.

John 8:29

Context: Jesus always does those things that please the Father, modeling holy desire.

Psalm 37:4

Context: Delight in the Lord and He will give the desires of your heart.

Psalm 34:12-16

Context: Desiring life and good days requires keeping the tongue from evil and doing good.

Historical References

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Nehemiah 1:11

Context: Weaver quotes Matthew Henry's comment that those who desire to fear God's name really have a reverence for it and worship Him according to His will.

Pharaoh, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, Idi Amin

Context: Examples of powerful, wicked rulers whose desires ultimately failed and who are now dead and in judgment.

George Soros, Illuminati, Clintons, CFR, Trilateralists

Context: Modern examples of powerful individuals and groups whose desires believers should pray against.

Acts 17:6 (early Christians)

Context: The early Christians were described as those who 'turned the world upside down,' illustrating the impact of committed believers.

Important Quotes

who desire to fear thy name

Significance: The key phrase from Nehemiah 1:11 that sparked the sermon, highlighting the holy desire of God's servants.

The desire of the wicked shall perish.

Significance: Psalm 112:10, emphasizing the ultimate failure of ungodly desires.

Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves.

Significance: Psalm 140:8, a model prayer against the success of the wicked.

It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.

Significance: Philippians 2:13, showing that holy desires originate from God's work in believers.

The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.

Significance: Proverbs 29:25, contrasting the fear of man with trust in God.

Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.

Significance: Psalm 73:25, expressing supreme desire for God alone.

Discussion Questions

What does it mean to 'desire to fear thy name' in practical daily life?

Context: Based on Nehemiah 1:11 and the sermon's emphasis on delighting in fearing God.

How can we distinguish between natural, unnatural, and supernatural desires in our own hearts?

Context: Weaver categorizes desires and challenges believers to examine their motives.

Why should believers pray against the desires of the wicked, and how can we do so biblically?

Context: The sermon encourages praying for God's will over the wicked's plans, using Psalms 140 and 7.

In what ways does total depravity affect our ability to have holy desires, and how does God enable us?

Context: Weaver teaches that holy desires are supernatural, worked by God (Philippians 2:13).

What specific prayer requests from the Psalms can help us cultivate a fear of the Lord?

Context: The sermon highlights prayers for cleansing from secret faults, direction, and a guarded mouth (Psalm 19, 119, 141).

How does the example of Nehemiah challenge pastors and Christians today to fear God above all else?

Context: Weaver asks where are the Christians and pastors who truly desire to fear God's name.

What evidence in our lives proves that we genuinely desire to fear God?

Context: Application of truth is presented as the evidence of genuine holy desires.

How can we, like the early Christians, 'turn the world upside down' through holy desires and obedience?

Context: The sermon concludes with a call to impact the world by fearing God and living out His truth.

Applications

Examine Your Desires

Summary: Evaluate whether your desires are natural, unnatural, or supernatural, and seek to cultivate holy desires that delight in fearing God.

Evidence: Everyone has desires, but few have what I would call holy desires. (395.9-441.4)

Pray for Holy Desires

Summary: Incorporate specific prayer requests from the Psalms (e.g., Psalm 19:12-13, Psalm 119:5,80, Psalm 141:3-4) to ask God for cleansing, direction, and a guarded heart.

Evidence: Do you realize that when you pray these things, you're in essence asking God to enable you to fear His name. (3019.3-3058.1)

Pray Against the Wicked's Desires

Summary: Regularly pray that God would not grant the desires of the wicked and would establish His righteousness, as modeled in Psalms 140 and 7.

Evidence: David specifically asks God not to grant the desires of the wicked and not to allow them to further their wicked device. (1197.2-1265.7)

Apply God's Word as Evidence of Fear

Summary: Prove your desire to fear God by obeying His commandments, keeping your tongue from evil, and doing good (Psalm 34:12-16).

Evidence: Application of truth is the evidence that we really desire to fear His name. (2315.9-2345.5)

Delight in the Lord Supremely

Summary: Make God your first and foremost desire each day, loving Him above all else, as expressed in Psalm 73:25.

Evidence: When you awaken each morning... you think, 'Lord, I just want to tell you today that I love You. And I want to love You first, and I want to love You foremost.' (2378.3-2429.9)

Trust God to Grant Righteous Desires

Summary: Believe that as you desire what is holy and in line with His will, God will hear and grant those desires, just as He did for Nehemiah.

Evidence: The desire of the righteous shall be granted. (3142.1-3203.0)

Impact the World Through Holy Fear

Summary: Commit to being a Christian who genuinely fears God, so that through your obedience and faith, you can help turn the world upside down for Christ.

Evidence: Those that have turned the world upside down have come hither also. (3265.4-3316.8)

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T19:01:37Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:14:10Z

Clean Transcript

Holy Desires

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 1. 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 1, we're going to read verses 5 through 11. Nehemiah chapter 1, reading just verses 5 through 11 to give you the context. Actually, the message is going to be coming from verse 11. The title of the message today is "Holy Desires." So look in verse 5: "And I said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments."
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"Let thine ear now be attentive and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now day and night for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee, both I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandest by thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If you transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations."
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"But if you turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out into the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Now these are thy servants, and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name. And prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer."
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Many years ago, I preached through the book of Nehemiah, and it certainly was a blessing indeed. But back in October, I was in a conference, and I was preaching, and other men were preaching as well. And one of the pastors took Nehemiah chapter 1 and spoke on it. However, he did not speak on verse 11. But since it's a very small chapter, he read all of the verses. And as he was reading the verses, I was following along in my Bible, and I got to verse 11, and just something jumped out at me. And I thought, well, let me check into this.
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I looked at that phrase, "who desire to fear thy name," and I immediately thought of desires. Everyone has desires. They are multitudinous, and they are variegated. Desires are absolutely fundamental to life. I want you to hold Nehemiah chapter 1, but turn, if you would, over to the book of Ecclesiastes, right after the book of Proverbs. You have the book of Ecclesiastes, and look in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse 5, because in this particular passage, Solomon makes it plain that when you no longer have desires, you're dead. Notice Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 5, he says, "Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fear shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail. Why?"
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"Because man goeth to his long home, and mourners go about the streets." So, what Solomon is saying is, if you no longer have any desires, you're dead. Death ends desires. So very few individuals have ever had the opportunity to satisfy all of their desires, or at least most of their desires. Solomon was an exception in that not only was he a king, he was an exceedingly rich king as well, and he could do just about whatever he wanted to do.
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In fact, he did so, and he pronounced it all as vanity, vexation. I want you to look in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and notice if you would what he said. We could read a lot in this passage, but notice if you would in Ecclesiastes chapter 2, and let's begin reading there all with verse 8. He said, "I gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got me men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them."
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"I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on all the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun." Of course, if we took time to read all of this, he had gardens, he had animals, he had anything and everything that you could possibly imagine. So Solomon was one of the few individuals that had the opportunity to satisfy most of his desires, and yet he pronounced all of that vanity and vexation. Everyone has desires, but few have what I would call holy desires. Some of the desires may be holy, but unhappily, most are not. The unsaved, the heathen and the pagans, may have desires equally as do the saved. Hopefully, there is a huge difference between the desires of the pagans and the desires of the saints. But however, in some areas, our desires are the same, whether you're saved or unsaved.
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For instance, when we're tired, we desire to rest, saved or unsaved. When we're hungry, we desire to eat, saved or unsaved. When, of course, we're sick, we desire to be well, saved or unsaved. So in that sense, we could say that yes, we do have some common desires with the lost, but on the other hand, there should be a huge difference as well. Nehemiah and those who were with him had a very different desire. He said very plainly that we desire to fear thy name. Now the heathen and the pagans, those who are lost, have absolutely no desire to fear the name of the Lord.
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So let me ask you a question. Have you ever had a desire to fear the name of the Lord? If so, how do you know that that desire was a real, genuine desire? When you think about desires, we could probably break them down into three areas. Very simply stated, we could say that there is a natural desire, there is an unnatural desire, and there is a supernatural desire. Now, a natural desire is what I've already mentioned. For instance, we all desire sleep and rest. We desire food. We desire also to be loved and to be befriended. It doesn't matter, saved or unsaved, we have those natural desires. But then secondly, there's also unnatural desires. An unnatural desire is that which is against nature.
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It is that which is perverted. For instance, hold Nehemiah chapter 1, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 1, and let's begin reading there in verse 21. And I want you to notice as we read this passage there are a lot of other things mentioned, because usually when you talk about Romans chapter 1 you immediately think of the perversion of sex. But notice if you would there are far more perversions mentioned.
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And this would be what you and I would call an unnatural desire. But notice verse 21, Romans 1 verse 21, "Because that when they knew God, that is, they knew who He was, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Notice what they did foolishly, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things." So let me just put it bluntly like this. Idolatry is a perversion. Idolatry is unnatural because it is a violation of the one true and the living God. So notice verse 24, "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own heart to dishonor their own bodies between themselves." So God just turned them over to their base desires, "who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever."
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Amen. So they live for themselves, not for God. "For this cause, God gave them up into vile affections, for even their women to change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with the men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient."
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Now, I want you to pay close attention in the next several verses. "Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Now the interesting thing is this, when he is talking about perversions and that which is unnatural, he talks about all of these sins and then he talks about covenant breakers and without natural affection.
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You don't have to read long on the internet or in a newspaper before you find some son who has murdered his father and his mother. In fact, I just read this past Thanksgiving, a grown son not only murdered his mother and father, but he chopped them up and tried to dispose of their bodies. I mean, you're talking about without natural affection? Which is a perversion. And talk about disobedient to parents. What do you realize?
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Especially the younger children want to obey. They want to please. But as we get older, we become more perverted. That's when we want to do our own thing in our own will. So the interesting thing is about Romans chapter 1, there's a lot of perversions and there's a lot of unnatural things that God is talking about here. So the truth of the matter is this. While not all unsaved people have what we would call the unnatural desire when it comes to sexual perversions, we could say that all unsaved people desire to do that which is wicked and wrong. And the reason being they glory in that which is contrary to God as well as that which is satisfying to their flesh.
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For instance, the Apostle Paul said it like this in Philippians 3 and verse 19. He said, "Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." So God talks about the wicked and He talks about the fact that their God is their belly, that is they're interested not just in eating but satisfying all of their lusts and all of their desires. David in Psalm 10 and verse 3 describes their wickedness and he says, "For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth" or whom the Lord hateth. When you think about the wicked men, and especially those who are powerful and rich and can seemingly do whatever they want to do, you have to understand this. Basically, all of the desires of the wicked are ultimately going to fail.
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So you can ask yourself, where is Pharaoh? Where is Joseph Stalin? Where is Mao Zedong? Where is Pol Pot? Where's Idi Amin? So here were men that were very powerful, that were very wicked, that were very wealthy as well, and yet they're now dead and in judgment. And if they could not accomplish and do what they desired to do with all of their power and all of their money, then very obviously we who do not have that power and do not have that money are going to not fulfill our desires hardly at all either.
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So, the truth of the matter is this. Everything that the wicked do is ultimately going to fail. I want you to hold Nehemiah chapter one, but look in your Bibles to Psalm 112 and verse 10. Psalm 112, verse 10. Notice what the scripture says. Psalm 112, verse 10. God says, "The wicked shall see it and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked shall perish." The desire of the wicked shall perish. Ultimately everything about him is going to perish. If you would turn right over to the book of Proverbs chapter 21 and look if you would please at verse 25. Proverbs 21 verse 25. This is a very interesting passage and one that has many applications. In Proverbs 21 in verse 25 the Bible says,
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"The desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labor." And then the next phrase, "he coveteth greedily all the day long." Now notice the desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labor. In just about every town that I've ever passed through or ever been in or lived in for any period of time, there's always a corner where men just sit around all day long, smoke cigarettes, drink coffee, drink I don't know what all they do.
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But you can go there, and usually they're there morning, noon, and night even. I've seen them with trash barrels burning in the night, sitting around doing what, I don't know. But here they go. Here's a new car going down the road. They say, "I sure would like to have one of those things." A truck, or some new tractor. But the problem is they will never, ever have anything like that because they refuse to work. They refuse to save. There is indeed a Biblical work ethic. I'm not preaching on a Biblical work ethic today, but the point I'm trying to make is very, very plain.
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The Bible says that it is the desire of the slothful that killeth him. He desires, but he will never, ever get out and do what he is supposed to do. "The desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labor." Moreover there is a passage in the book of Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 5, you don't have to turn there. This passage is dealing actually with the king of Babylon because he was attacking God's people. And in that passage the Bible says this, "Yea, also because he transgresseth by wine, he that is the ruler, is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and keepeth unto him all people." So interestingly even the wicked rulers are never satisfied over those whom they are ruling.
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They always want to rule over more. Now, when you stop and think about the desires of the wicked, you have to understand that their desires are absolutely contrary to God and contrary to the desires of the saints of God. David prayed against the desires of the wicked. So should we.
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Now you're going to say, "Why in the world should I pray against the desire of the wicked?" Well, here's my question. Do you want the wicked to prosper? Do you want the wicked to conquer? Do you want the wicked to dominate? Why in the world should any saint of God want the wicked to reign? Think of George Soros. Think of the Illuminati. Think of the Clintons. I mean think of the CFR and the Trilateralists. Why would I want them to have their desire and their will in their way? I would much prefer God's will and God's way. So when we pray, as our Lord taught us, when his disciples came to him and said, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught also his disciples," he said, "Fine. When you pray you say, Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." So when we actually pray that prayer we are praying for the destruction of man's kingdoms and we are praying for the destruction and overthrow of man's will and the establishment of God's will.
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Now I want to show you several passages. I want you to look in Psalm 140 and notice if you would please verse 8. Here is a specific prayer request by David. Look what he says. Psalm 140 and verse 8. He says, "Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves." So David specifically asks God not to grant the desires of the wicked and not to allow them to further their wicked device, because ultimately they're going to exalt themselves even against God as well as above God if they could. So turn to Psalm 7 in verse 9. Here's a wonderful prayer request. And I would think that every child of God would be interested in inculcating this in their daily prayers. Notice Psalm 7 in verse 9. "Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end."
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"But establish the just, for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins." So here is a prayer request that the wickedness of the wicked would come to an end, and that God would establish the just. And of course the just one is the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, but those who follow Him are just as well. So here is a wonderful prayer request to pray against the wicked.
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So we have talked about a natural desire, we've talked about an unnatural desire, and whether or not it is a perversion in the sense of a sexual perversion, it is unnatural in the sense that it is against God, it's against life, it's against other people. Now we're coming to what we call a supernatural desire. And I would define a supernatural desire as one in which God is involved, or one that would never be apart from God's grace and God's mercy.
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So let me say it like this. When we desire that which is good and godly and holy and scriptural, it is a desire that God has worked in our lives. Because by nature, we do not desire to please God. By nature, we desire to please our own flesh and satisfy our own lusts. So if there's anything in us then that happens to be holy and godly, then God put it there. It was the Apostle Paul who said in Romans 7 verse 18, "I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." And likewise, he also said in Ephesians 2 and verse 3, talking about the saints, he says, "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as others."
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You have to understand that man is totally depraved. When we talk about total depravity, it just simply means this, that that depravity reaches every area of our being. Our mind, our body, our will, our emotions, our intellect, our desires, every area. There's nothing left out when you talk about total depravity. So, if there's anything that is in us that is good and holy, it has to be because of God and God alone.
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In Isaiah 26 and verse 12, the scripture says, "Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us, for thou hast wrought all of our works in us." So it is God that works in us. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. And notice if you would please verse 12 and 13. Philippians 2 verses 12 and 13, Paul says, "Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Wow. Well, I thought it was God who saved us. Well, that is true. It is God who saves us. But why is Paul telling them to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling? Look in verse 13, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure." So God is the one who works it in. It is our responsibility to work it out.
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In other words, we must act upon and we must apply the grace of God in our lives. Let me say it pointedly. God is not going to live for us. He expects us to act out what He places in us. He gives us holy desires, yet it is our responsibility to nurture them and to use them for His honor and His glory.
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Now, with that in mind, I want you to go back to Nehemiah 1. I want you to look at this prayer request. Nehemiah chapter 1 and verse 11, he said, "O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name, and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of"
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"this man, for I was the king's cupbearer." So Nehemiah is praying, and he prays and asks that God would hear and answer his prayer, not just for himself, but also for these other servants who desire to fear thy name. Well, the Hebrew word for desire here is the word kaphets, which literally means to desire, to favor, to delight, to have pleasure in. He says, "Lord, here is a group of people that have pleasure in your name. They desire to fear thee."
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So think about the implications here. Here were men that delighted in and gloried in and had a heart's desire to fear the name of the Lord. So stop and think about this. Here is my first question. Where are the Christians today that really, genuinely, truly desire to fear the name of the Lord? They have actual pleasure in it. They enjoy it. They love the Lord, and they really desire to fear His name. Now, here's my second question. Where are the pastors today that really desire to fear the name of the Lord? And I mean desire to fear Him more than they fear their people, and more than they fear the government, and more than they fear their denominational leaders. Stop and think about that. Where are they? You have to remember, here's a man that gloried in and delighted in fearing the name of the Lord. Wow. It was the wise man Solomon who said in Proverbs 29 verse 25, "The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe."
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And the truth of the matter is whenever we fear man, we're already ensnared. Doesn't matter who the man is, whether he's a fellow believer or governmental agent or someone with a gun. Whenever we fear a man we have been ensnared. What did our Lord say in Luke chapter 12 verses 4 and 5? Remember this passage? He said, "And I say unto you, friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that they can do no more. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear. Fear him which after he is killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him." So he is saying we need to fear God. So Nehemiah and his friends had a desire to fear God.
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Now the word fear here is the Hebrew word yore which means to reverence, to fear, to stand in awe, to revere, to be afraid of, and to have honor and respect to. So here is what they are saying, we are delighting in, we are glorying in, we have pleasure in honoring you, respecting you, glorifying you. Wow. So here's what Nehemiah is asking. "Lord, hear my prayer. Hear our prayers."
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"Because we're not praying this for our benefit. We're praying this because we fear your name. And we want to honor you and glorify you. We want your blessings so that we will not dishonor you." Interestingly enough, Matthew Henry, the commentator, said this on verse 11: "They desire to fear thy name. They're not only called by thy name, but really have a reverence for thy name. They now worship thee and thee only. According to thy will in heaven, all of all the discoveries are pleased to make of thyself, and they have a desire to do."
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Have you ever stopped to think about the Christian life? The Christian life in reality should be one that has a constant and a continual desire to fear the name of the Lord. We should have in our lives a consistency in wanting to obey Him, submit to Him, honor Him, glorify Him. In fact the word Christian basically means to be Christ-like. And what did our Lord say in John 8 and verse 29?
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"For I do always those things that please Him." So let's think about our desires. I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm 37. Psalm 37, we'll look at a number of passages. Think about our desires. We can only really worship God if we have holy desires. We can only accomplish things if we have holy desires. That's what Nehemiah is saying. But in Psalm 37 in verse 4, the Word of God says, "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Look at that. "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Now, obviously, this verse does not mean that God is going to give us and grant us wicked and ungodly desires. God is not going to violate His Word. God is not going to go contrary to his nature and dishonor his own person. No. The truth of the matter is, if we're really delighting in the Lord, we're not going to desire anything that's contrary to him.
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So he gives a word here, and he says, "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." So if you really desire to be holy, if you really desire to be godly, if you really desire to be obedient, if you really desire to be submissive, God said, "I'll give you the desires of your heart."
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Now, let me explain it a little further. Look in Psalm 34, and let's begin there with verse 12, Psalm 34 and verse 12. If I were to ask you, who in this room would love to live a long, good, and healthy life? Everybody's going to raise their hand. I never will forget. I've got a sermon, and I use this as an opening illustration. I've got a cousin.
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As far as I know, he's probably lost as a hound dog. But he's always been one of those likable individuals. And he and some other men were standing around talking, and they got to talking about dying and death. And they all stated that they wanted to die of old age, except my cousin. He said, "I don't." They said, "You don't?" He said, "No." Well, they said, "How do you want to die?" He said, "I want to be shot and killed by a jealous husband when I'm 150." Well, he was saying he not only wanted a long life, he wanted quality as well as quantity. But, wow. God is telling us here how to live a long life if we will observe, notice if you would, in Psalm 34 and verse 12.
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He asks, "What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good?" Everyone in here wants that. Well, God says if you want to live long and if you want to see many days and a good life, "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth." So if you don't want to be cut off, God says, you be obedient, you be godly, you be holy, you do that which is right, you keep your tongue from speaking evil and from speaking guile, you depart from evil, you do good, you seek peace, and you follow it. I know that we should live a healthy lifestyle.
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That's certainly going to help us. But I want to tell you something. Unless you have a spiritual healthy lifestyle, the physical healthy lifestyle means absolutely nothing. I'm all for eating healthy, and I'm all for avoiding junk food and fast food. And I despise it. But I can tell you this. I'm not counting on my broccoli and asparagus to help me live a long life. I'm counting on the Lord and obedience to him. Okay.
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Now look, if you would please, in Psalm 38, you see the truth of the matter is this. God already knows our desires. In fact, he knows everything about us and he knows whether or not those desires are in line with the word of God. Psalm 38 and verse nine, David said, "Lord, all my desire is before Thee, and my groaning is not hid from Thee." We cannot fool God, nor can we hide our desires from Him. No, all my desire is before Thee. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 21 at the first two verses. Psalm 21, verses one and two. Look what David says. "The King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation, how greatly shall he rejoice."
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"Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. For thou preventest" or precedest "him with the blessings of goodness. Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked a life of thee, and thou gavest to him even length of days forever." So the truth is that when God and God alone is our whole desire, we will bring our lives into greater conformity to his word.
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Now, I ask you as I begin this message, have you ever really had a desire to fear God's name? And then my second question was this, how would you know whether or not it was a real and genuine biblical desire? And the answer is this, application of truth is the evidence that we really desire to fear His name. The application of His truth is the evidence that proves we really desire to fear His name.
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I want you to look in Psalm 73. I'm going to deal with this passage in the not too distant future. Maybe in the next month anyhow. But I want you to notice what Asaph says in Psalm 73 and verse 25. An interesting statement. He said, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee."
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Now stop and think about that. "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." Well, is it wrong for me to desire my children or my children to desire fellowship with their parents or for me to desire my wife or my wife to desire me? And the answer is no. But what he is saying is this, God must be first and foremost in our lives.
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We should love Him supremely. We should love Him first. So let me challenge you to do something. I want you to think about this. When you awaken each morning before you ever get out of bed, in your mind you do not have to say it out loud, but you think, "Lord, I just want to tell you today that I love You. And I want to love You first, and I want to love You foremost. And help me to love my family, or my wife, or my husband, or my children, whoever it is. Help me to love them the way You've ordained that I love them. But help me to love You first, and foremost, and supremely."
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And then, of course, you can thank Him for His grace, and mercy, and compassion, and letting you live through the night. But just stop and think about that. So when we tell our wives that we love them, or our husbands, or our children, or even our animals, just say, "Well, I love the Lord first." And by the way, talking about loving animals, the Bible does say the righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, for the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. So yeah, we can love our animals too, our children, our second children, that is for sure.
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Here's an important question in light of verse 25 where Asaph says, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." In light of this truth, how do I pray? How do I pray so that my desire would be to fear his name? How do I conform my life to this? How do I make application of this truth? Well generally speaking, we might could answer the way Peter did in John chapter 21. You remember how our Lord asked Peter three times, "Peter, do you love me more than these?" And finally the third time Peter was grieved the Bible says, and in verse 17 of John 21 he said, "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee."
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And it is true that God is omniscient. God knows our love. He knows our desires. He knows the depth of them. He knows the quality of them. He knows everything. But here's the thing. Are there some specific prayer requests that we could make that would enable us to fear the name of God in our everyday lives? And the answer to that is yes. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 19. Then we are going to Psalm 119 and I want you to hold Psalm 119 because we will come back to it. But look at some verses and consider these that you could incorporate in your prayers and ask the Lord to enable you to fear His name better. Notice Psalm 19 if you would, verse 12.
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David asks this question, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults." Have you ever asked yourself, "Why in the world did I do something like that? That was the stupidest thing. That was the dumbest thing that I've ever done." Yeah. Who can understand his error? You do things and then the next thing you know, "Why did I do that? I mean, that was absolutely stupid." Well, so he said, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults." Do you realize every one of us has secret sins and secret faults? We don't know them, that is why they are secret. And David wanted to be cleansed from those things.
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And then he says, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me, then shall I be innocent, and then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression." Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. So he asks that God would cleanse him from secret faults or sins. And then he says, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins." What is a presumptuous sin? A presumptuous sin is something that you do that you know that is wrong. It's not a sin of ignorance. It's not a secret sin. It's kind of like "Thou shalt not steal." I know God says "Thou shalt not steal," but I want that bottle of water anyhow so I'm going to take it. That's a presumptuous sin. God says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
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That doesn't matter to me. I'm going to do this anyhow. That's a presumptuous sin. And it's our errors and our secret sins that lead us to these presumptuous sins. And so David is praying against these sins in his life. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 119. And like I say, I want you to hold this passage. We're going to come back. But I want to pick out two verses.
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The first one is verse 5, which I will point out a little bit later. Psalm 119, verse 5. "Oh, that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes."
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Now, that's a pretty good prayer request, is it not? "Lord, direct my ways to keep thy statutes. Cleanse thou me from secret sins. Lord, I don't want to do anything. Except Lord, I ask you to direct my steps that I might keep your statutes." The Bible says that the ways of a man have been ordained by God and that God delights when that man obeys him. So obviously this would be a good prayer request. Look in verse 80 of the same psalm, Psalm 119 verse 80. Here's one: "Let my heart be sound in thy statutes."
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"That I be not ashamed. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes." Wow. If we are sound in the word of God, then obviously we're not going to be wandering from the way. Notice if you would, Psalm 141. And this is a tremendous, tremendous passage. In fact, let's begin reading with verse one. We'll read through verse 4. Look what he said. Psalm 141, verse 1. "Lord, I cry unto thee, make haste unto me, give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice."
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Now here is his specific request. "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips." Let me ask you, has anyone in this room ever said anything that they wished they had not said? Oh, yeah. "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips." Watch verse 4. "Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity. Let me not eat of their dainties."
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I don't even want to be around them, much less partake of. "Incline not my heart to any evil thing." That kind of sounds like "lead me not into temptation," doesn't it? So, yes, there's a specific request. Let's go back to Psalm 119 because I want to read in this psalm the first 16 verses. I want you to follow me. I want you to look at them and see how each of these verses are actually a tremendous prayer request. Psalm 119 beginning with verse 1, "Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord." So first of all the blessing is upon those who walk in the law of the Lord and they are called the undefiled. He said, "Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with a whole heart. They also do no iniquity, they walk in His ways." Now wait a minute, when He says, "Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and they that seek Him with a whole heart, they also do no iniquity," that does not mean that they are not sinners, nor does it mean that they do not slip up and fall short in sin.
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When He says, "they also do no iniquity," the word iniquity refers to lawlessness. We can't be lawless if we are walking according to His ways and keeping His commandments. So he says, "They also do no lawlessness, they walk in his ways. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. I will keep thy statutes, so forsake me not utterly."
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Now, I told the young men, here is something that they should remember. And then I said, here's the middle-aged man, something they should remember. And then the old man, something they should remember. Watch verse nine. "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from my commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all thy judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of all thy testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect in thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word." Wow.
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Do you realize that when you pray these things, you're in essence asking God to enable you to fear His name. Now let me make just a couple of applications. I want you to look back to Nehemiah chapter 1 and look at verse 11. This is the thought that really hit me. When he said, "O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant, this day."
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"And grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer." The first application is this. If we really and truly desire to fear his name, God will hear our desires and will grant request. What? Yes. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 10. Hold Nehemiah, but look in your Bibles to Psalm 10 and verse 17. Psalm 10 verse 17. Look at it. Psalm 10 verse 17. "Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble. Thou wilt prepare their hearts, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear." What? "Thou hast heard the desire of the humble." So God not only hears, he prepares or establishes our hearts. And he also causes our ear or causes his ear to hear. In Proverbs 10 in verse 24, the Bible says, "The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him, but the desire of the righteous shall be granted." The desire of the righteous shall be granted.
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So let me ask you a question. Do you think that God is really more interested in you obeying Him than you are in obeying Him? Certainly God is more interested. And if you come to Him and say, "Lord, I want to fear Your name. I want to obey You." God's not going to say, "No, I don't want you to do that." No. What did He say? "The desire of the righteous shall be granted." As long as we desire that which is right and holy and godly, He'll grant it to us. He'll give it to us. Just like you're going to do that for your children and your grandchildren. As long as they want to do what's right, let them have it. That's no problem. So a truly godly individual and a truly godly and biblical desire is always in line with God's will and God's Word.
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Now, let me make another application. I want you to think about this. I asked earlier, where are the Christians who really genuinely desire to fear the name of God? I also asked, where are the pastors who really genuinely desire to fear the name of God? Our country is still in turmoil. It is still on the verge of destruction, I believe. We're in problems and we're ending up to our neck. But have you ever stopped to think, if there were some committed Christians and some committed pastors, even a few, what we could really do.
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In Acts chapter 17 in verse 6, listen to me. Here is what they said about those early Christians. Listen. "Those that have turned the world upside down have come hither also." Those that have turned the world upside down, wouldn't you like to turn the world upside down? Wouldn't you like to see our Lord and His truth reigning? Would you not like to see righteousness? Would you not like to see holiness? Would you not like to see peace? Would you not like to see the absence of war? Of course. "They that have turned the world upside down have come hither also." Do you realize our Lord initially took 12 men and did exactly that.
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So the question is, are you going to be one of those individuals who really, genuinely desires to fear God's name? If so, it will be evidenced in your prayer, in your obedience, and in your faith. And here's what Nehemiah did. Nehemiah said, "Hear my prayer, and hear the prayer of these thy servants who desire to fear thy name." And if you will read the book of Nehemiah, God heard that prayer, and God granted him all of his requests. We have to learn to fear the name of the Lord, and we must desire to fear the name of the Lord.
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You know, I thought about that passage in 1 Timothy chapter 3 where the Bible said, "He that desireth the office of a bishop desireth a good work." So you can desire biblically and scripturally. Interestingly enough, sometimes the very word that is translated as lust in the Bible is also translated as desire. So there's a good connotation, there's an evil connotation. You remember our Lord said to his disciples, "With desire have I desired to eat this last meal with you." Actually, it's epithumia, the same word that is used for lust. "With lust have I lusted to have this last meal with you." So there can be a good desire, there can be an evil desire. Our desire should be to fear His name and to honor Him in all that we do.
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Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. And we ask You, Father, for a holy desire. Enable us to fear Thy name, to live in obedience, to live in faith, to submit to Thee, to worship and serve and honor Thee, and to be a blessing, Lord, to each other, and to our neighbors, and to our friends, and to the lost. Enable us, Heavenly Father, to please Thee, we bow before Thee, and worship Thee and Thee alone, in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.
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♪
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T19:01:37Z

Holy Desires

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

Pastor John Weaver explores the concept of holy desires from Nehemiah 1:11, emphasizing that true believers should delight in fearing God's name. He contrasts natural, unnatural, and supernatural desires, arguing that holy desires are evidence of God's work in a believer's life. The sermon calls for self-examination, prayer for holy desires, and application of God's Word as proof of genuine reverence.

Introduction and Scripture Reading

Weaver introduces the message 'Holy Desires' and reads Nehemiah 1:5-11, focusing on verse 11 where Nehemiah prays for those who 'desire to fear thy name.'

Scripture Reading — Nehemiah 1:5-11

"Let thine ear now be attentive and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now day and night for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee, both I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandest by thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If you transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations." "But if you turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out into the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Now these are thy servants, and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name. And prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer."

The Universality and Vanity of Desires

Desires are fundamental to life; Solomon's experience shows that fulfilling all desires leads to vanity. Everyone has desires, but few have holy desires.

Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 12:5

"Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fear shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail. Why?"

Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 2:8-11

"I gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got me men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them."

Three Categories of Desires

Scripture Reading — Romans 1:21-32

"Because that when they knew God, that is, they knew who He was, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Notice what they did foolishly, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things."

So let me just put it bluntly like this. Idolatry is a perversion. Idolatry is unnatural because it is a violation of the one true and the living God. So notice verse 24,

Scripture Reading — Romans 1:21-32

"Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own heart to dishonor their own bodies between themselves."

So God just turned them over to their base desires,

Scripture Reading — Romans 1:21-32

"who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever."

For instance, the Apostle Paul said it like this in Philippians 3 and verse 19. He said,

Scripture Reading — Philippians 3:19

"Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things."

The Fate of the Wicked's Desires

The desires of the wicked ultimately perish; Scripture commands praying against the desires of the wicked so that God's will prevails.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 112:10

"The wicked shall see it and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked shall perish."

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 2:5

"Yea, also because he transgresseth by wine, he that is the ruler, is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and keepeth unto him all people."

So interestingly even the wicked rulers are never satisfied over those whom they are ruling.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 140:8

"Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves."

Supernatural Desires and God's Work in Believers

Holy desires are supernatural, originating from God's grace. Believers must work out what God works in, nurturing holy desires for His glory.

Scripture Reading — Romans 7:18

"I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing."

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 26:12

"Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us, for thou hast wrought all of our works in us."

The Meaning of Desiring to Fear God's Name

Nehemiah's prayer reveals a delight in fearing God. Weaver challenges Christians and pastors to examine whether they truly desire to fear God above all else.

Evidence of Holy Desires: Application of Truth

Genuine desire to fear God is evidenced by obedience and application of His Word. Specific prayer requests from Psalms help cultivate this fear.

Scripture Reading — John 8:29

"For I do always those things that please Him."

So he gives a word here, and he says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 37:4

"Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 34:12-16

As far as I know, he's probably lost as a hound dog. But he's always been one of those likable individuals. And he and some other men were standing around talking, and they got to talking about dying and death. And they all stated that they wanted to die of old age, except my cousin. He said, "I don't." They said, "You don't?" He said, "No." Well, they said, "How do you want to die?" He said, "I want to be shot and killed by a jealous husband when I'm 150." Well, he was saying he not only wanted a long life, he wanted quality as well as quantity. But, wow. God is telling us here how to live a long life if we will observe, notice if you would, in Psalm 34 and verse 12.

Applications and Conclusion

God grants the desires of the righteous. Believers should pray for holy desires, evidenced in prayer, obedience, and faith, to impact the world for Christ.

Holy Desires

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	NCeidRSjnZE
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans-Related Topical Applications
Genre	Sermon
Date	2017-01-11
Dictation Name
Book	Book 138: Romans-Related Topical Applications — Chapter 16
Source Timed Segments	72

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Scripture Reading: Weaver introduces the message 'Holy Desires' and reads Nehemiah 1:5-11, focusing on verse 11 where Nehemiah prays for those who 'desire to fear thy name.'
The Universality and Vanity of Desires: Desires are fundamental to life; Solomon's experience shows that fulfilling all desires leads to vanity. Everyone has desires, but few have holy desires.
Three Categories of Desires: Weaver categorizes desires as natural (e.g., hunger, rest), unnatural (perversions against God and nature, including idolatry and various sins from Romans 1), and supernatural (holy desires worked by God).
The Fate of the Wicked's Desires: The desires of the wicked ultimately perish; Scripture commands praying against the desires of the wicked so that God's will prevails.
Supernatural Desires and God's Work in Believers: Holy desires are supernatural, originating from God's grace. Believers must work out what God works in, nurturing holy desires for His glory.
The Meaning of Desiring to Fear God's Name: Nehemiah's prayer reveals a delight in fearing God. Weaver challenges Christians and pastors to examine whether they truly desire to fear God above all else.
Evidence of Holy Desires: Application of Truth: Genuine desire to fear God is evidenced by obedience and application of His Word. Specific prayer requests from Psalms help cultivate this fear.
Applications and Conclusion: God grants the desires of the righteous. Believers should pray for holy desires, evidenced in prayer, obedience, and faith, to impact the world for Christ.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Desires define life; death ends desires.

Solomon teaches that when desires fail, a person is dead, emphasizing that desires are fundamental to human existence.

Solomon makes it plain that when you no longer have desires, you're dead. (170.2-233.4)

Fulfilling all desires leads to vanity.

Solomon, who satisfied every desire, declared it all vanity, showing that worldly fulfillment is empty.

Whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them... and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit. (324.9-395.5)

Unnatural desires are perversions against God.

Romans 1 lists many unnatural desires, including idolatry and various sins, which are contrary to God's design.

Idolatry is a perversion. Idolatry is unnatural because it is a violation of the one true and the living God. (533.0-603.8)

The wicked's desires will perish.

Scripture declares that the desire of the wicked shall perish, and believers should pray against their success.

The desire of the wicked shall perish. (890.4-958.8)

Holy desires are supernatural, from God.

Because of total depravity, any good desire is worked in us by God, who enables us to will and do His pleasure.

It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. (1493.4-1522.2)

Fearing God means delighting in His name.

Nehemiah's prayer shows that true servants delight in fearing God, which involves reverence, awe, and honor.

Here were men that delighted in and gloried in and had a heart's desire to fear the name of the Lord. (1604.0-1695.3)

Application of truth proves genuine desire.

The evidence of a real desire to fear God is the application of His Word in daily life, including specific prayers.

Application of truth is the evidence that we really desire to fear His name. (2315.9-2345.5)

God grants the desires of the righteous.

When believers desire what is holy, God hears and grants those desires, as He did for Nehemiah.

The desire of the righteous shall be granted. (3142.1-3203.0)

Scripture References

Nehemiah 1:5-11: Weaver reads the passage as the foundation for the sermon, focusing on verse 11 about desiring to fear God's name.
Ecclesiastes 12:5: Used to show that when desires fail, a person is dead, emphasizing the fundamental nature of desires.
Ecclesiastes 2:8-11: Solomon's testimony that fulfilling all desires leads to vanity and vexation of spirit.
Romans 1:21-32: Describes unnatural desires and perversions, including idolatry and various sins, as evidence of man's depravity.
Philippians 3:19: The wicked glory in their shame and mind earthly things, showing their desires are contrary to God.
Psalm 10:3: The wicked boast of their heart's desire, which the Lord abhors.
Psalm 112:10: The desire of the wicked shall perish.
Proverbs 21:25: The desire of the slothful kills him because he refuses to labor.
Habakkuk 2:5: The proud ruler enlarges his desire as hell and is never satisfied.
Psalm 140:8: David prays that God would not grant the desires of the wicked.
Psalm 7:9: A prayer for the wickedness of the wicked to come to an end and the just to be established.
Romans 7:18: Paul states that in his flesh dwells no good thing, supporting total depravity.
Ephesians 2:3: Believers once fulfilled the desires of the flesh and were by nature children of wrath.
Isaiah 26:12: God ordains peace and works all our works in us.
Philippians 2:12-13: God works in believers to will and do His good pleasure; they must work out their salvation.
Proverbs 29:25: The fear of man brings a snare, but trust in the Lord brings safety.
Luke 12:4-5: Jesus teaches to fear God who can cast into hell, not those who kill the body.
John 8:29: Jesus always does those things that please the Father, modeling holy desire.
Psalm 37:4: Delight in the Lord and He will give the desires of your heart.
Psalm 34:12-16: Desiring life and good days requires keeping the tongue from evil and doing good.

Historical References

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Nehemiah 1:11: Weaver quotes Matthew Henry's comment that those who desire to fear God's name really have a reverence for it and worship Him according to His will.
Pharaoh, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, Idi Amin: Examples of powerful, wicked rulers whose desires ultimately failed and who are now dead and in judgment.
George Soros, Illuminati, Clintons, CFR, Trilateralists: Modern examples of powerful individuals and groups whose desires believers should pray against.
Acts 17:6 (early Christians): The early Christians were described as those who 'turned the world upside down,' illustrating the impact of committed believers.

Important Quotes

who desire to fear thy name

The key phrase from Nehemiah 1:11 that sparked the sermon, highlighting the holy desire of God's servants.

The desire of the wicked shall perish.

Psalm 112:10, emphasizing the ultimate failure of ungodly desires.

Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves.

Psalm 140:8, a model prayer against the success of the wicked.

It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13, showing that holy desires originate from God's work in believers.

The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.

Proverbs 29:25, contrasting the fear of man with trust in God.

Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.

Psalm 73:25, expressing supreme desire for God alone.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

What does it mean to 'desire to fear thy name' in practical daily life?

[Context]

Based on Nehemiah 1:11 and the sermon's emphasis on delighting in fearing God.

[Question]

How can we distinguish between natural, unnatural, and supernatural desires in our own hearts?

[Context]

Weaver categorizes desires and challenges believers to examine their motives.

[Question]

Why should believers pray against the desires of the wicked, and how can we do so biblically?

[Context]

The sermon encourages praying for God's will over the wicked's plans, using Psalms 140 and 7.

[Question]

In what ways does total depravity affect our ability to have holy desires, and how does God enable us?

[Context]

Weaver teaches that holy desires are supernatural, worked by God (Philippians 2:13).

[Question]

What specific prayer requests from the Psalms can help us cultivate a fear of the Lord?

[Context]

The sermon highlights prayers for cleansing from secret faults, direction, and a guarded mouth (Psalm 19, 119, 141).

[Question]

How does the example of Nehemiah challenge pastors and Christians today to fear God above all else?

[Context]

Weaver asks where are the Christians and pastors who truly desire to fear God's name.

[Question]

What evidence in our lives proves that we genuinely desire to fear God?

[Context]

Application of truth is presented as the evidence of genuine holy desires.

[Question]

How can we, like the early Christians, 'turn the world upside down' through holy desires and obedience?

[Context]

The sermon concludes with a call to impact the world by fearing God and living out His truth.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:14:10Z