KNOWING
GOD’S MERCY
(Psalm 103:8-14) Pss 103:8 The Lord [is] merciful and gracious, slow
to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
Pss 103:9 He will not always chide: neither will he
keep [his anger] for ever.
Pss 103:10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins;
nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
Pss 103:11 For as the heaven is high above the
earth, [so] great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
Pss 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, [so]
far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Pss 103:13 Like as a father pitieth [his] children,
[so] the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
Pss 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth
that we [are] dust.
If you think about it, every one of
us at one time or another has been shown mercy. Not having to pay a bill, not
receiving a deserved punishment, not being penalized for handing in a late
paper, receiving help on a job or project around the house, that was your own
responsibility.
*The greatest shower of mercy who
ever lived is God.
Lamentations 3:22-23 – It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not
consumed, because his compassions fail not. [23] They are new every morning:
great is thy faithfulness.
God shows mercy to everyone, or we’d
all be dead. We’ve all sinned. We’ve all violated God’s holy laws. And yet God
does not immediately cast us into hell when we violate His commandments. If he
did, earth would have been unpopulated long ago!
God’s greatest show of mercy was at
the cross of Calvary where His Son died for your sins and mine. Romans 8:6-8
Now, through faith in His Son, God
shows us the mercy of forgiveness and ever lasting life. Ephesians 2:8-9
God’s mercy is such a tremendous
blessing, not just at the moment of salvation, but throughout the life of the
Christian.
Psalm 103:8-14 gives the believer a
clear understanding of some of the mercy of God. It also gives the one who is
yet to come to Christ some encouragement to be born again.
*We want to continue our series on
knowing God this morning by concentrating on Knowing God’s Mercy, as found in
Psalm 103:8-14.
1. THE
DECLARATION OF GOD’S MERCY
( ANG PAGPAPAHAYAG NG AWA NG DIOS. )
Psalm 103:8 – The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger,
and plenteous in mercy.
In this verse God declares outright
that He is the God of mercy. “Merciful
is the adjective form of a word which means to “love deeply”, “be
compassionate”, or “have mercy”.
When God described Himself to Moses
he said in
Exodus 34:6, …The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Because God is compassionate He cares
about you!
*He is concerned about your well
being, your needs, your eternal life!
With God you are not a number on a
computer printout. You are a real person!
God is also gracious. We think of
grace as “unmerited favor”. Because God is gracious to us, He is showing us
favor that we do not deserve.
Not only does this verse declare that
the Lord is merciful and gracious, but slow to anger.
*There are many of us who can lose
our tempers at the drop of hat. But God is holy, and does nothing unholy.
Although God’s righteous wrath is a
terrible thing to experience, God is slow to anger.
*If God was not slow to anger, the
children of Israel would have never made it to the Promised Land. Between their
complaining, immorality, and idolatry, there was enough for God to wipe them
out!
*This verse also tells us that God is
plenteous in mercy.
This means that God abounds in love
or in loving kindness.
*Get this through your head, beloved.
God loves you.
This is not just a trite saying.
2. THE
DESCRIPTION OF GOD’S MERCY
(ANG MALIWANAG NA PAGPAPAKITA NG AWA
NG DIOS.)
Psalm 103:9 – He will not always chide: neither will he keep his
anger for ever.
*In relation to God’s children, God
does not always chide. That is, He is not always scolding us!
Could God find reasons to scold His
children all the time?
Indeed, He could!
*None of us are perfect. We could all
do better.
*However, as justified as scolding us
would be, God realizes that we would easily be discouraged if all we ever heard
was scolding.
*When He scolds us He is correcting
us so that we confess our sins and do better.
*Hebrews 12:6 – For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
*Also note that God does not keep His
anger forever. Psalm 32:5
*As Christians, Christ died for our
sins.
*When we sin as Christians, we do not
lose our salvation, but we lose our fellowship.
*When we confess our sins, our
fellowship with God is restored, and God is no longer angry with us.
And when we arrive in *Heaven, and
face the Judgment Seat of Christ and receive our rewards, and our
embarrassments, that will be the end of it. There will be no more anger for any
of our sins.
Psalm 103:10 – He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor
rewarded us according to our iniquities.
This is a terrific verse for the
Christian.
He has not dealt with us after our
sins, or we’d be in hell, or at least on the way!
God has decided to deal with us in
mercy.
Our sins and iniquities He dealt with
at the cross and put them on the back of His Son instead of on our backs.
3. THE
DIMENSIONS OF GOD’S MERCY
( ANG LAWAK NG PAGPAPAKITA NG AWA NG
DIOS SA ATIN. )
Psalm 103:11-12 Pss 103:11 For as the heaven is high above the
earth, [so] great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
Pss 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, [so]
far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
In these two verses we have two
pictures of God’s mercy.
One picture deals with height, the
other with width.
Psalm 103:11 – For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great
is his mercy toward them that fear him.
How high are the Heavens above the
earth?
The distance of the Heavens above the
earth are like the Engergizer Bunny, “They keep going, and going, and going”.
The space above the earth goes for
billions and trillions of miles.
That’s a lot distance.
That’s a lot of mercy!
My friend, I may not know why or how
you are hurting today. But I can assure you of God’s mercy in your life.
His mercy toward them that fear him.
If you’ve feared Him enough to trust
the Lord Jesus as your Savior His mercy is there for you.
As you fear, that is reverence and
respect, Him in your Christian walk you will see evidences of His mercy every
day! I suggest that you look for them!
Psalm 103:12 – As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he
removed our transgressions from usIf you travel north you will eventually
travel south.
If you travel south you will
eventually travel north.
South and north meet at the north and
south poles.
However, you can travel east forever
and never start heading west.
And you travel west forever and never
start heading east.
If it were possible to walk straight
into space in a straight line, we could head east, and never see someone who is
heading west.
When it comes to our sins, God sends
them in one direction, and us in the other, never to meet again!
My friend, every sin you’ve ever
committed is paid for. Every sin you will ever commit is paid for!
When you commit a sin as a Christian,
that will not keep you out of Heaven, for your sins are paid for!
This does not give you license to
sin.
Romans 6:1-2 – What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin,
that grace may abound? [2] God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live
any longer therein?
Because we have received so much
mercy from God, we should not want to sin.
We should not want to add to the list of things that Jesus had to die
for!
Because we love our loving God and
our wonderful Savior, let’s make every effort to flee from sin, and of course,
keep short accounts with God by confessing our sins.
4. THE
DELIGHT OF GOD’S MERCY
(ANG KASAYAHAN NG AWA NG DIOS SA
KANYANG MGA ANAK.)
Psalm 103:13 – Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord
pitieth them that fear him.
Unfortunately, for some this verse is
not significant because they have not experienced the love of a Father.
The Psalmist is saying here that as a
good Father loves his children, God loves those who fear Him.
* Ang kagalakan ng Dios ay lagi
Niyang ipakita sa pagiging maawain Niya sa Kanyang mga anak.
(Romans 8:35-39) [35]Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword?
[36]As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all
the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
[37]Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us.
[38]For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come,
[39]Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
( Psalms 121:1-8 ) [1]I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from
whence cometh my help.
[2]My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven
and earth.
[3]He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that
keepeth thee will not slumber.
[4]Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither
slumber nor sleep.
[5]The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade
upon thy right hand.
[6]The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon
by night.
[7]The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he
shall preserve thy soul.
[8]The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy
coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
5. THE DESIGN
OF GOD’S MERCY
( ANG PAGKAKADESENYO NG AWA NG DIOS
SA KANYANG MGA ANAK. )
Psalm 103:14 – For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are
dust.
God knows our frame. He knows that He
made us from dust. He never gives us more than we carry can for He’s always
there to carry us!
a. God knows the weakness of His
Children because God created us as a weak frame.
b. God always support His when we
fall.
(Psalms 37:23-26) [23]The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD:
and he delighteth in his way.
[24]Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast
down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.
[25]I have been young, and now am old; yet have I
not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
[26]He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed
is blessed.
HE WILL NOT OVERLOAD YOU WITH TRIALS
HE WILL NOT OVERLOAD YOU WITH
TEMPTATION
HE WILL NOT OVERLOAD YOU WITH TASKS
* God bless you all always *
No comments:
Post a Comment