[0:00] How come that guy's way ahead of the other one?
[0:11] Is he like anticipating, I'm next! Overachiever? Overburner? Afterburner?
[0:25] Take out your Bibles with me, please, and turn to Psalms. Psalm the 103rd Psalm.
[0:39] This is a beautiful psalm. It sounds to me a lot like the New Testament. It preaches the gospel quite boldly.
[0:50] Our plan is this week, Psalm 103. Next week, Psalm 110, which is a very clear prediction of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
[1:05] The one, in fact, Jesus confounds the Jews with. Saying, who is the Messiah and why would David call his son his Lord?
[1:17] So we're going to look at Psalm 110 next week, and that will be it for the Psalms for this round. Then we will jump to the end of the Bible and look at the last book of the Bible, the study of the concordance.
[1:33] No, study of Revelation. Revelation. We're going to launch into that and have some fun. No, not some fun, but we will see what is quite relevant to us today.
[1:49] There. Meanwhile, let's be encouraged by the reading of God's Word, Psalm 103. If you're able, please stand as I read from Psalm 103. A Psalm of David.
[2:04] Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles, the Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
[2:56] He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
[3:13] He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
[3:32] For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.
[3:44] As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
[4:01] For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass.
[4:13] He flourishes like a flower of the field. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.
[4:41] The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones, who do his word, obeying the voice of his word.
[5:03] Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion.
[5:18] Bless the Lord, O my soul. So reads his word. Let us pray. Father, grant us today, as always, insight into your word.
[5:32] Help us to really hear it. Give to us ears to hear. And Father, soften our hearts to be receptive to these great truths.
[5:47] Remind us. Cause us to think and dwell upon the great benefits of knowing you, of trusting you.
[6:02] Remind us again of these great miracles miracles that we have experienced from your hand. Encourage us, lift us up.
[6:14] Give us the good news. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. Amen. Amen. So, so, So, forgetfulness.
[6:30] I don't know if you have this problem. You know, it's probably just me, but this forgetfulness thing.
[6:42] You walk into a room, and you had a reason. There was a purpose. You walked into a certain room. I mean, you were just in the other room. You said, I'm going to go to that room.
[6:53] And you go into that room, and you go in there, you go, why did I come into this room? Well, forgetfulness.
[7:04] Ten steps. I've forgotten. Now, this probably doesn't happen to you. But, but, I'm a master cook.
[7:18] In the microwave. In the microwave. In the microwave. So, I take these dishes that Delinda has prepared and made, and, and then I, you know, enjoy it for the first time, and then the next day, I will have it again.
[7:34] I will put it on a plate, and I'll put it in the microwave. I'll close the door of the microwave, and I'll stand there. And I'll look at those numbers, and I'll just stand there.
[7:47] What am I supposed to do next? It's like, it, there are things that I put in the microwave, every day, same time, you know, 99 seconds, 55 seconds, or, I, I never put 90, I put 99, because that's quicker, 55.
[8:13] And I will, so, I, I'll do that, and I'll do that in the morning, and I'll, I'll put it in there, and I'll just stand there and go, I, I don't know what numbers I'm supposed to do.
[8:27] I have forgotten. I know one day is going to happen, where, Delinda will come in, and I'll just be standing there, in front of the microwave, and I won't know what to do.
[8:38] So, so, so, 222. 222. That's safe. 222. I never do 666, just so you know.
[8:50] Um, yeah, that's the end if you do that, right? That's, that's, you can't do that one. So, so, do we forget, because we just simply get distracted?
[9:07] Are we forgetful because, we lack concentration? I don't know. Is it because I'm older? No, I'm not going there.
[9:19] Um, what about spiritual forgiveness? So, we can laugh about, you know, we walk in a room, blah, blah, blah. What about spiritual forget, forgetfulness? You know, Jesus purposefully told us to come to the table, regularly, to remember, right?
[9:40] To remember. We take the cup, and we take the bread, and we're to remember. Why did he tell us to do that? Because we tend to forget.
[9:51] He knows us. So, why does David say here, forget not? He doesn't say, remember, he says, forget not.
[10:03] Why does he take the negative term? Nah, David, he's negative, right? Why does he do that? See, I don't know if you're like that when you read the Bible, but I get like that.
[10:15] It's like, okay, why did he use, why did he say it that way? Because that seems like the, not the normal way. Instead of just simply saying, remember, he says, forget not.
[10:29] Is that because he was prone to forget? I think so. And why would we forget? How could we forget such miracles?
[10:43] How could we forget we're forgiven? We're healed. We're redeemed. We're crowned. How do we forget such incredible, amazing, undeserving gifts?
[11:01] How do we forget that? So, David tells himself, he calls himself, he says, oh, my soul.
[11:14] He's talking to himself. He's preaching to himself. Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, and forget not all his benefits. And then he lists them.
[11:26] Then he lists them. Who does what? He does this, this, and this, and this, and this, and this. And then this is who he is. This is who he is. This is how he treats us.
[11:38] Never forget that. This is what he's doing. I want you to notice quickly some structure here. He begins and ends the same way.
[11:49] He begins with, bless the Lord, oh, my soul. And then notice the very last line in the hymn is, bless the Lord, oh, my soul. So he begins and ends with that call to bless himself.
[12:01] Not himself, bless the Lord. He uses that phrase, bless the Lord, oh, my soul, three times. Twice, once in verse 1, verse 2, and then again in verse 22. So that's important.
[12:13] It's repeated. He starts with personal praise, and then he ends in verse 20, 20, through 22, with the call to all creation and to worship the angels and the hosts of heaven and then all the works of God, in other words, all of creation, to bless the Lord.
[12:33] So he starts kind of with himself and then he gets broader. So we notice that structure. The other thing I want you to notice is that in the first five verses, he's preaching to himself.
[12:48] Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, and all that is within me. He's preaching to himself. Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, and do not, never forget all his benefits.
[13:03] Who forgives all your, singular, speaking to himself. All your iniquity, David, all your diseases, David, your life from the pit, David, he's preaching to himself.
[13:20] Now, if you had the King James, you would know that's singular there because it would say, all thy iniquity. Remember when English used to mean something? Remember when English used to have rules?
[13:33] There was a difference between thy and your. We lost. We don't care anymore, do we? So just notice that. So, and then in verses six following, now he starts to include others.
[13:45] Now he's preaching to all. Now he's going to talk about our, not just mine, but our iniquities, verse 10. Our sins, verse 10.
[13:58] Okay? So he's, he's preaching to, so he starts with himself, preaches all. So that's the structure I wanted you to see. Now, the theme of this psalm, I believe, is forget not his benefits.
[14:12] Forget not the benefits of knowing the Lord. Of believing in the Lord. So we titled this, you know, what is the advantage of faith? Because we've been talking about for several weeks in the Psalms, these laments, these hardships, the sufferings that God puts us through.
[14:32] You know, so we get the impression over a while that, okay, what's good about believing in God? Because we see a lot of bad. We see a lot of suffering.
[14:43] We see a lot of hardship. We see a lot of trials. And we get it that, you know, it's not about your best life now. It's about, that's about later. But now, trusting God, having good things, joy in the experience, but, get the impression, what's the advantages?
[15:01] Are there any advantages now? Or are they all later? No, they are now too. So, that's why I wanted to come to this Psalm, to kind of finish up this Psalm journey with the benefits, the advantage of trusting the Lord.
[15:19] So, he says, forget not all his benefits in verse 2, and then he begins to name them. In verses 1 through 5, he names the personal advantages, the personal experiences of the benefits of God's working in our life.
[15:39] And then from verse 6 through 18, he expands it to not just what are the personal benefits, but then what are the common benefits that we all have as believers in the Lord?
[15:55] Okay? So, we can look at it in two ways that way. So, personal categories, and then, and then more of the, the, the church, or the, the community of faith experience.
[16:09] So, we bless the Lord, first of all, for our personal experiences of his, of his salvation. That's what I would summarize these verses 1, verses 2 through 5, what he lists there are, are results of salvation.
[16:26] These, these are experiences and benefits of personal salvation. salvation. So, so, notice he, as I said, in verses 1 and 2, he's calling himself to bless the Lord.
[16:39] What does bless mean? We use it, you know, somebody sneezes, we say, bless you. What do we mean by that? I mean, I hope you don't sneeze again. What do we mean by that?
[16:51] What does that mean? It's one of those Bible words, we just throw it around. There are different words in Hebrew and Greek for bless and, and Psalm 1, Psalm 119 talks about blessed is the man, right?
[17:10] Blessed is the man and that is a different Hebrew word that means to go straight, right? It means to, to walk in the way of God. The blessed person is on the right road, right?
[17:21] He's on the narrow road. This word bless is a different Hebrew word and it means to kneel. It means to bow down. It's a worship word. So he's saying, kneel before Yahweh.
[17:37] Bow down before Yahweh. Worship Yahweh. Give him praise. And then he says, oh my soul. Now we've talked about soul before.
[17:48] What's soul? The Bible distinguishes the difference between soul and heart and mind, right? Love the Lord. You got with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strengths.
[18:00] There's different nuances to that even though they overlap. But soul primarily has to do with our affections. Our deepest part of us, what we desire.
[18:11] And our soul can both thirst for God. Remember Psalm 42, my soul thirsts for God. Pants for God. So that's a positive thing. And then in Psalm 42, also he talks to his soul, why are you so downcast?
[18:27] My soul. Oh my soul. So the soul can be way up and it can be way down. It's like that. It's flighty. The soul, Jesus said, don't trust your soul, basically.
[18:39] He said, do not love your soul in this world. In fact, hate your soul in this world nor that you might save your soul. So you can't trust it.
[18:50] Your soul wants the easy way, wants the short road, wants the broad road, wants everything easy. Because it's where we feel. It's our ego kind of thing. So he's telling his soul, it's interesting because maybe my soul is what's most forgetful.
[19:07] Because my soul is focused on now. My soul wants good stuff now. So he says, my soul, oh my soul, kneel before him.
[19:22] Bless him. All that's within me. All of my affection, all of my desire, all of my hopes and dreams. Totally offering myself to the Lord.
[19:37] And forget not. Forget not. Don't get distracted. Don't overlook. Don't get to the point where you become used to being saved.
[19:50] Oh, you know what that's like? If you've been a believer for a while, I bet you know what that's like. You can kind of get used to it. It's not novel anymore. And so we can, you know, that's just part of our flesh.
[20:07] And so we become intentional. I think he's saying, call to mind. Be intentional about this. Call to your mind to remember, to not forget.
[20:20] So what do we remember? All his benefits. All his benefits. These results of salvation. He lists five in verses three through five. He forgives.
[20:32] He forgives all your iniquity. Remember, now this psalm uses three different words for sin. It uses the word iniquity. Down in verse 10, it uses the word sins. And then iniquities.
[20:44] And then down in verse 12, he uses the word transgressions. So all three. Remember, sin is the general word, means to fall short, to miss the mark. And then transgress, means to cross over the line.
[20:57] Right? So that's a rebellion. That's an intentional sin. And then there's iniquity, which kind of means the twisted stuff. Not just crossing the line, but then twisting and making up, down and down, up and whatever that means.
[21:12] We all find ways to do that. So he forgives, not just my failures, he forgives my twistedness. He forgives my iniquity.
[21:26] When I'm at my worst, he forgives that. He heals all your diseases. Now, under the covenant in the Old Testament, the one who is faithful to the covenant, who is obeying the Lord and keeping the covenant, has that promise of, you won't have diseases.
[21:48] You won't have disease. You won't be. You're under blessing. You're blessed. Your crops will always come in full. Your enemies will always be vanquished. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
[22:01] Basically, health, wealth, and prosperity. Right? But it's connected to how the Lord does that. Not that you're personally wealthy, but your community is wealthy.
[22:12] So under that, so, and then often forgiveness and healing are tied together. Even in the New Testament, James connects us that, you know, pray, go to the elders and pray. And you're, when you're praying for this overcoming of this sickness, know also that your, your sins are forgiven.
[22:29] Often they're tied together. Not always, but sometimes. I project this to, he heals all your diseases.
[22:40] What did Jesus heal in the New Testament? He healed blindness, lameness, leprosy, death.
[22:53] You name it. Right? He healed. And, and in the gospel of John, remember John said, he, John didn't call them miracles. He called them signs because they signify something greater than just the physical miracle.
[23:10] So when he's healing the blind man, Jesus connects that to, I'm the light of the world. See, I heal your spiritual blindness, lameness.
[23:20] We, we, we cannot walk. I can't keep the law. I can't. But God then gives us the spirit and heals us to begin to be able to walk with him.
[23:33] Right? So, so, so I take that from a New Testament perspective. He not only forgives our Nicodem, but he heals the spiritual diseases that I have. He redeems my life from the pit, from the grave.
[23:47] He saves me. He, he, he, he buys me. Redeem is a price. And then he crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.
[24:03] That's interesting. He, he crowns you. So the New Testament, remember we're saved right by grace. We, we're, we're, we're saved from sin, from death.
[24:16] We're made alive. And now we're saved by grace through faith. And then remember Paul talks about how not only are we saved, but he, he, he raises us up with Christ.
[24:27] And he does something else. Remember what Paul says? He raises us up with Christ. And then he, what? Seats us with Christ in the heavenly, crowns us.
[24:41] Now we don't have the authority of Christ there, but we're with him. He's the authority for us. I don't fight demons. He fights demons.
[24:53] I say the Lord rebuke. I don't say I rebuke you. Who am I? Like an axion. All of a sudden you get attacked. I don't want to do that. No, the Lord rebuke you.
[25:04] I don't have the authority, but the Lord has the authority. And he resides right here. So he crowns us.
[25:16] And then interesting phrase, verse five, he satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. I'm not quite sure what that means, but I want that. I mean, that sounds pretty good to me.
[25:26] Your youth is renewed. Now he doesn't say your strength is renewed. He says your youth is renewed. So youth in what way? He satisfies you with good. So God's things are always good.
[25:39] His purposes and plans are always good. And he satisfies you. Remember, Jesus talked about satisfaction, right? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
[25:55] So it's not a satisfaction for earthly things. It's a satisfaction for godly things. There I will find fulfillment and completion.
[26:06] He satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. I'm not sure what that means. I don't know what he means by youth in that way. Like, but there's, but he's talking about renewal.
[26:20] And I want some of that. I want a lot of that more and more. Especially when I forget things. Anyway. So he, he calls himself to bless the Lord, to bow before him.
[26:37] He recounts these blessings of the Lord. And then notice the psalm ends similarly. Calls for blessing. From verse 19 through 22, as he ends the psalm, he now reflects on the Lord as the one who has established his throne in the heavens, his kingdom rules over all.
[26:56] So he's talking more in a broad sense about the Lord at the end of the psalm. He is sovereign. He is over all. He plans and directs and enacts in everything.
[27:09] And we know that from a New Testament perspective, when Jesus was raised, he sat down at the right hand of his father and he is ruling. All authority was given to him in heaven and on earth.
[27:23] Satan still has a measure of authority on earth, but Christ is ruling. And he is putting his enemies one by one under his feet in his time.
[27:36] And I'm convinced that he's waiting and enduring evil things and patient with those things because he has a number of people he is still going to bring into his kingdom.
[27:49] Oh, we're not ending it yet. Cause the Joe over here, Joe's got to be here. I don't know if it's Joe.
[28:00] Probably a good chance. It's Joe might be Jose. I don't know, but he's got people in mind. And so Christ is ruling over all.
[28:10] So then he says, bless, bless, bless. So here we have a quadruple bless. Verse 20, 21, 22. He calls upon the angels to bless the Lord, the mighty ones to bless the Lord.
[28:26] And then verse 21, he calls upon all his hosts, his ministers hosts in the old Testament often refers to the armies of the Lord. Again, an angelic host.
[28:38] And then verse 22, bless the Lord, all his works. So that's talking about creation, everything that he's created. As we read in Psalm 104, it's the mountains and the hills and the stars and the sky and everything that God has created.
[28:51] He calls upon to bless him, to bow before him in all places of his dominion. So we have that context of sovereignty, but then notice, bless the Lord.
[29:04] The case I've already forgotten, bless the Lord. Oh, my soul. Oh, my soul. Bless him. So it's, it's kind of the hint of, of me, especially.
[29:23] He calls everything to worship and bow before him, but me, especially, my soul, especially. So let us never forget what Jesus Christ has done for us.
[29:35] As we look at these great blessings of the Lord, that David himself, before Christ came, could, could bless the Lord for. He knew there was a forgiveness in spite of his disobedience.
[29:48] He had experienced that, hadn't he? He had transgressed the law. He had committed iniquity. He had committed iniquity. And yet the Lord forgave him.
[30:03] Not in the law. The Lord forgave him because God is merciful and loving. So David experienced that too. We know why we experienced that.
[30:14] Not just because God is loving and merciful and forgiving, but because his righteousness and justice was satisfied in Christ Jesus. We know that he hadn't just kind of let something go.
[30:30] So Ephesians reminds us, and particularly we who were not Jews, who have come into this Messiah. Paul tells in Ephesians 1.11, remember, you Gentiles in the flesh, remember that you were at that time before Christ, you were separated from Christ.
[30:53] alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise that God gave to the Jews, having no hope and without God in the world.
[31:04] Remember, you used to be lost, but now in Christ Jesus, you once who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
[31:17] It's the blood of Christ that has brought you, that has redeemed you, that has paid the price for you to come in. For he himself is our peace, who made both, made us both one, Jew and Gentile, and made us into one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances.
[31:41] Did you know you had hostility with the law of God? You remember that? Remember having hostility with the law of God? Do what?
[31:56] I can't do that. I don't, and back then, I didn't want to do that. And I hated God for it, because I knew deep down I was supposed to do that.
[32:10] So hostility, so Jesus removes that hostility between the law and me that keeps me separated from a gracious heavenly father. Jesus abolished it.
[32:23] He fulfilled it so that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, bringing Jew and Gentile together, and so making peace. And now he reconciles both of us, not only together, but to God in one body through the cross.
[32:40] So the cross brings Jew and Gentile together, and the cross brings man and God together. He reconciles us both ways. Thereby, through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
[32:54] He came and he preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to you who were near. For through him we both have, here's another benefit. We don't only have peace with God, but we have access in one spirit to the Father.
[33:10] No more temple, no more sacrifices, no more you can only go this far. You stay away, stay alive, now it's, I'm going through that wall, I'm going through this wall, I'm going through the curtain, going all the way in.
[33:26] And I'm not going to die. Because the Father sees Christ. I'm wearing the coat of Christ, so to speak.
[33:37] I'm Jacob wearing Esau's clothes. I'm wearing the clothes of my older brother, not to deceive, but because he's given them to me. To come to the Father.
[33:47] And accept the blessing, not by deceit, but by joy. So now I'm in. Now I'm in. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, you Gentiles, but now you are fellow citizens with the saints, and members of the household of God.
[34:04] You are now included. Do you remember? Do you remember? Do you remember before Christ saved you? Remember? Has it been a long time?
[34:17] Remember? You were lost. You were an outsider. You were without hope. You had no meaning, no purpose. You may not have said that or admitted that all the way, but until Christ started getting a hold of you and you started recognizing those things were true.
[34:33] Or you knew it, but now he's kind of circled in and he's showed you exactly what is missing. And now Christ changed everything.
[34:44] He took your sin. He gave you his clothes. He gave you peace with God. You now have access. Now you're included. You're in. So we bless the Lord for all our personal experiences of salvation.
[35:03] Now in verse six, he begins to expand it now. We not only bless the Lord, we don't only worship him because of what we've personally experienced in our salvation, but now because of what we together commonly experience.
[35:18] Together we experience the steadfast eternal love of God. It's ongoing. It wasn't just once. It wasn't just then to save us. Now we're on our own.
[35:29] Now it's up to you. No, he continues. He crowns us with love and mercy and we continue to experience his love and pardon. In fact, now our relationship with God instead of being separated is now reconciled and he continues to treat us according to love.
[35:48] It's amazing. So here's how David breaks it down. He begins to talk about who Yahweh is.
[35:59] Verse six, the Lord. Literally he says, Yahweh. Anytime you see the Lord and it's all in caps, it's the divine name Yahweh.
[36:13] Yahweh works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. That's who he is. Verse seven, he made known. He's a revealer.
[36:23] He made known his ways to Moses. He revealed himself. Remember to Moses, he revealed himself in a new way. He called himself Yahweh. That was the first time you had made known that name. Tell them, I am sent you.
[36:37] And then Jesus adopts that name. Remember, I am the bread. I am the life. I am the way. I am resurrection. On and on.
[36:49] Before Abraham, Jesus said, I am. And they got it that time because then they picked up stones to kill him. He's claiming to be Yahweh.
[37:04] So Yahweh is the revealer. He is the actor. Verse seven, to the people of Israel. Then verse eight, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
[37:15] That's who he is. He's merciful and gracious. He's verse six, righteous and just. Verse eight, he is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.
[37:26] But how does he treat us? Then we look at verses nine through 13. And how does he treat us?
[37:38] These are the words that to me sound like New Testament. He, he, verse nine, he will not always chide. He will not always reprimand.
[37:50] He will not always reproach. He will not always. Um, can't call out your sin. He will not always, nor will he keep his anger forever.
[38:01] Now he does get angry, but he will not keep it forever. Yeah. You know, God is a person, right? I mean, we're made in his image.
[38:13] We have traits that we get from him. Ours are not perfect. Like his, ours have been tainted, tainted, but, but he is person.
[38:26] He gets angry. He feels and, and he will not keep his anger forever. And then verse 10, he does not deal with us according to our sins. Really?
[38:36] When I read the old Testament, it says, no, if you sin, you're out. Where's David getting this? He will not. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
[38:51] But isn't it say in the old covenant that if you sin, if you do not keep, then you will be cursed and you will return to dust and you will have plagues and you will have diseases and your crops will fail and your enemies will advance.
[39:10] Where does David get this? He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. Why does he do that? Because verse 11, as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.
[39:26] How higher is the heaven above the earth? Do we have a measurement on that? We're still counting. According, like last week, we said, you know, what's the, what is the heavens, right?
[39:39] And the more we look, the greater telescopes we get, the heavens are bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger than we thought they were. So as high as the heavens are above the earth, that's how great his love is.
[39:51] How great is his love? Can't see the end of it. I cannot see the end of it. I mean, I keep looking and it's still going.
[40:05] Wow. Maybe that's why he made the heavens so he could make that reference. No. And then he says, verse 12, as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
[40:22] Now that's fascinating as well. He removes our transgressions from us. That's not Old Testament language. Old Testament language is he will cover. Right?
[40:34] Temporarily. One day a year, you will go in for the atonement for the covering, because he will sprinkle blood and it will cover. But the next year, same time of year, you got to do it again.
[40:51] Because why? Because you've sinned again. So you're going to have to get covered again. It's not removed. It's just covered. And it's right there on top of the ark.
[41:03] And inside the ark is the two tablets of the law. You're just covering the law. You're not going to take it away.
[41:17] But so where does David come up with this? As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us, not our... Leviticus talks about you can bring a sacrifice for what kind of sins?
[41:34] Unintentional. Unintentional. How did you say it, Diane? Unpremeditated. Sure, yeah. You weren't planning to do it. You just goofed. I didn't mean to touch that dead body, and now I touch that dead body.
[41:47] Now I got to sit out for a while. Right? Or you just goofed. You weren't intending to sin. You're just human. I made a mistake.
[42:00] Transgression. That's different. Here's the line. Thou shalt not murder. David, what'd you do? Well, I didn't do that one right away.
[42:12] First, I did the don't commit adultery one. I did that. What about the murder one? Well, I had to do that to cover up the other one. What about the lying?
[42:24] Yeah, I had to do that too. The coveting, yeah, that's where it all started, didn't it? Yeah, he's up on the roof instead of out on the battlefield.
[42:34] See, how does David know all this? Verse 13, As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
[42:48] Why does God do that? Because he knows our frame. He remembers. We forget, but he remembers. He remembers that we're, what does he call us?
[43:00] Dust. Dust. Dust of the Adam. Dust of the ground. See, Adam gets his name because he's mud.
[43:16] You're going to be Adam, mud. Dirt, ground. Because that's where you're going back. So where does David get it?
[43:29] He gets it from his own experience, doesn't he? He had committed adultery. Willingly. Intentionally.
[43:41] Premeditatively. And then he murdered. Had one of his very best warriors. One of the mighty men.
[43:52] One of the 30. Put him out in front. Pull the army back. Are you sure, Commander?
[44:05] Do it. Wow. His whole army knew what happened that day. That's because she said those words, right?
[44:17] I'm pregnant. So he had to cover it up and he couldn't get Uriah to sleep with his own wife during a time of battle when the king is not battling.
[44:32] David's one of our best, isn't he? He's one of the best. He really is. I mean, in spite of, he's the one with his heart after God. He's not like Saul.
[44:44] He trusts the Lord. He stands for the Lord. He fears the Lord. He serves the Lord. He writes half of the hymn book. The man loves the Lord.
[44:57] And he fails as bad as anybody. He's our best. One of our best. He says, But he ain't the one we can trust.
[45:11] But he understands mercy, doesn't he? Because he had no sacrifice he could bring. He says in Psalm 51, I cannot bring a sacrifice for this.
[45:22] I've committed a sin that has no sacrifice for forgiveness. And so I can only appeal to mercy. According to your steadfast love, forgive me.
[45:33] According to the greatness of your compassion, please blot out my sin. So David understands. Oh, he really is a God who does not deal with us according to our sins.
[45:46] He does not repay us according to our iniquities. He escaped the law by the mercy of God. And he's not the only one.
[46:03] In verses 15 and 16, he talks about the temporariness of men who are frail and fragile and vulnerable, who flourish like a flower, but then fade out altogether.
[46:15] In contrast, verse 17 and 18, the love of God, the love of God is everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him. Those who fear him.
[46:26] He keeps saying that. He said it in verse 11, verse 13. He's going to say it again in verse 17. For those who fear him. Who are those who fear him? What's so important about fearing him?
[46:40] Does it mean to cower in the corner like a whipped dog? No, it's not that. I don't, that's, David didn't do that. Peter didn't do that. But Peter did show some fear of Jesus, didn't he?
[46:52] Remember? Remember? Remember Peter's been fishing all night? And he hadn't caught anything. Jesus came in, throw your nets on the other side. Lord, we've been fishing all night.
[47:05] I'm a professional. I know what I'm doing. But okay, just because you said it, I mean, because you said it. I'm sure he said it very humbly.
[47:17] Because you said it, I will throw my nets on the other side. And then he, what? Can't even pull in the nets, right? What does he do? Get away from me, Lord.
[47:29] I'm a sinful man. A little bit of fear. Who is this? Jesus, he's my friend. Oh, but he's more than a friend.
[47:40] Or remember when Jesus calms the storm, and the waves and the wind listen to his command, to hush, be still. And what do the 12 disciples do at that point?
[47:53] They were terrified. Not like a whip dog. But like men who recognize, okay, Jesus is much, much, much more than a man.
[48:12] This is my creator. This is my Lord. So fear of God is not this cowering fear that he's going to hurt me somehow, but a recognition who he is.
[48:25] He's much, much greater, lest I ever forget that. We love that we can come to Jesus. We love that he welcomes us into his arms. We love that he is friend.
[48:36] We sang, he's a friend of sinners. Yeah. But he's also Yahweh. Notice there's a little bit of a conflict here, and I've kind of referred to it already.
[48:56] Verse 10 says that he does not treat us according to our sins. He doesn't repay us according to our iniquities. But then at the end of verse, in verse 18, he's talking about the steadfast love that comes to those who fear him.
[49:12] And then he defines it, verse 18, as to those who keep his covenant. And remember to do his commandments. Oh, he's bringing the law back in.
[49:24] So there's a little bit of a tension here. How does he not treat us according to our sins? And then, oh, but there's the law. And you are required to keep the covenant and to remember his commandments.
[49:36] That hasn't gone away, in other words. Oh, it's all grace now. It's all good. We can do whatever we want. No, no, there's still, he still has standards.
[49:46] Even when Jesus fulfills the law, he still says, there's a law. I give you one. You shall love one another as I've loved you.
[49:59] This is, this is my new commandment. Because if you do that, you do everything else. You will not break the 10 commandments if you do that.
[50:12] Because if you love one another, that means you love the Father. Because loving one another isn't always easy.
[50:27] People in the family. So I will love them because I love him. So I'm keeping the commandments. That's not the issue at all.
[50:39] I just give you one. But there's still one. So it seems like a confidence. So he does, so, so, is it conditional?
[50:49] Is his love that we get, is it conditional on me keeping the covenant? Is it conditional on me keeping the law? How does that work? When God forgives us, God, God does.
[51:02] But he still says, you shall. if you love me, you will. I would say it this way.
[51:14] We do not receive forgiveness because we fear God. We fear God because we're forgiven. So don't get it backwards.
[51:25] He acts first. He changes us. And because he changes us, now I want to do that. I don't fear him in order to get forgiveness.
[51:37] He's forgiven me. Now I want. And I must. And I know him, so I do fear him. In the right way.
[51:49] Does that make sense? So I said David understood this, but it wasn't just David. Before David, this very phrase from verse 8 was spoken in Exodus.
[52:04] The phrase, verse 8, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love, steadfast love. That's an exact quote from Exodus 34, 6. And if you don't know, Exodus 34, 6 follows Exodus 32.
[52:21] I mean, just kind of connect those dots there. You can write that down if you need to, but it's 34 follows 32. Okay, I'll give up.
[52:37] What is the significance of Exodus 32? Exodus 32 is while Moses is still up on the mountain, the people began to play. While Moses is still on the mountain filled with smoke and fire and thunder and trumpet blasts, they began to play.
[53:02] And they made a God for themselves and said, we don't know where this Moses is. Hint, hint. Well, we don't want to know where this Moses is. Here's your God, Israel.
[53:15] And as Aaron said, I just threw the gold into the fire and out popped this, out popped this calf. It was a miracle, Moses. Yeah, right. Yeah, Aaron, you're all right.
[53:27] Right, so they did that. That's 32. Remember? The law comes in Exodus 20, revelation of that law all the way through 31. 32 says, meanwhile, back at the ranch, the people are playing.
[53:44] They've already forgotten. They had made a promise and they've already forgotten. And how did God treat those people?
[54:04] If you break my commandment, I will kill you. What did he do in 34? He did not kill them. He did not kill them.
[54:17] He did not curse them. Now, he was angry. So Moses comes down, remember, and he has these brand new tablets with the writing of God, the covenant, and he sees it and he throws them down and breaks it, right?
[54:38] So chapter 34. So there's a little crisis moment in chapter 33 of Exodus between Moses and God because Moses is a little bit like, because God's threatening to kill him.
[54:51] You know, Moses, you know, because he's such a big influence on God, changes God's mind, right? As if God, you know, changes his mind. So it says, you know, God, you know, what will Egypt say?
[55:05] What will, you know, you took your people out and killed them? Anyway, God says, okay, okay, okay. Then Moses says, okay, but I need something before I lead these people any further.
[55:15] I need something. I need to know, one, that you're going with us because I'm not taking these people by myself. And two, I need to see your glory. I need to see you.
[55:28] Show me your glory. The Lord says, Moses, I don't, you can't see me from the front and live, but I'll do this.
[55:40] I'll put you in a little crevice of the rock and I'll go by and I'll let you see my backside. Okay, that's as far as I can go because otherwise you're dead. And I kind of want to keep you around for a little while longer.
[55:53] So here it is. So here's, here's that setup. Okay, so Exodus 34, four, Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first because he broke the other ones. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai for the second time as the Lord had commanded him and took in his hand the two tablets of stone for God to once again write out those commands.
[56:15] The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of Yahweh. And Yahweh passed before him.
[56:28] So here's that, right? He's in the crevice. Here's that coming by. And he passed before him and proclaimed, Yahweh, Yahweh, a God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
[56:45] Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. There's those three words again.
[56:58] Forgiving, not just sin, but transgression and iniquity. But, wait a minute, okay, the other shoe's gonna fall. But who will by no means clear the guilty?
[57:10] Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the children's children to the third and fourth generation. That's God's statement. That's who Yahweh is.
[57:20] Moses quickly bowed his head to the ground. Bless the Lord. And worshiped.
[57:30] And he said, If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us. Please come. Please, you've got to come with us. For it is a stiff-necked people and if you don't come with us, I'll kill them.
[57:44] That's probably the underlying message there. And Lord, please Lord, pardon our iniquity and our sin. And take us for your inheritance.
[57:58] This is after all the law has been laid down. Moses will ask for God to pardon our iniquity. Iniquity.
[58:13] How can a holy God forgive? Well, as a holy, righteous, just God, he can't just ignore sin and rebellion.
[58:24] He cannot. If he did, he would not be holy and righteous. He can't just let it go. Now, he is patient.
[58:34] He is slow to anger. He is a forgiving God. Yet, he is also righteous and just and he must do the right thing.
[58:47] He must always do what's just. He may delay that, but he must do it. And he resolves the tension. How can a holy God forgive?
[58:58] He resolves the tension by sending his own perfect, holy son to fulfill that perfect law and to take our place.
[59:10] To pay the debt, to nail, as Paul says in Colossians, he nails the law to the cross as fulfilled. and now he calls everyone.
[59:26] Everyone, that means you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you. Did I get everyone? You. He calls everyone to come to him, believe in his son, to turn from your sin and then you will bless the Lord for all his benefits.
[59:52] Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me. Amen. Let us pray. Father, thank you for your word.
[60:04] We thank you for this incredible, far-seeing psalm of David that sounds like promises of the New Testament and it is.
[60:17] It is. You are a God. You're not just a God after Jesus came that became compassionate and forgiving. You've always been a God that is compassionate and forgiving.
[60:27] even for people who were under the covenant of law that as they feared you, though they failed, they could be forgiven.
[60:42] And Father, we thank you that we can hear this good news that you are a God that does not treat us according to our sin. You are a God who to those who take you serious, who come to you who are willing to forgive and to bless and to set upon us your crown of goodness and love.
[61:09] Thank you, Father. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[61:29] Bless the Lord.