The Loving Kindness of God

Introduction

Well, Michael, I hate. This morning, I’m not going to continue the series that I am doing at the 11 hour. I want as wide of an audience as I can for the lessons on the importance of attendance. But this morning I’m going to do something totally different. I want to start by reading to you a quote from an atheist whose name is Richard Dawkins. This is a very offensive quote. The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction. Jealous and proud of it. A petty, unjust, unforgiving, control freak, a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser, a misogynic, homophobic, racist, infancidal, genocidal, philicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, satomisochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. That is ridiculous. I can’t even hardly pronounce some of those words. But what a terrible thing to say about the God of heaven.

What I want to do this morning is focus on a text that tells us the true nature of the God of the Old Testament that is also the God of the New Testament. Psalm 103.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits, who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion, who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. The Lord performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the sons of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he himself knows our frame. He is mindful that we are but dust. As for man, his days are like grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more. And its place acknowledges it no longer. But the loving kindness 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 his precepts to do them. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his sovereignty rules over all.

Bless the Lord, you his angels, mighty in strength, who perform his word, obeying the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all you his hosts who serve him, doing his will. Bless the Lord, all you works of his in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. That’s the nature of our God. How would you summarize this psalm in a short statement? If you are ever in any of my classes, you know that that’s one thing I like to do is to summarize and to have you summarize chapters and sections. Well, we could summarize this by saying the loving kindness of God. You could also summarize it as bless the Lord, O my soul. Because this psalm begins and ends with that statement.

In verse 1 at the beginning and at the end of verse 22, we see that phrase, bless the Lord, O my soul. Therefore, everything between those two bookends fits into that very idea. Our God knows us. He knows that we are dust, that we are human. He knows our hearts.

And he responds in like fashion. He responds with great grace. God exercises tremendous loving kindness to those who fear him. And his loving kindness is shown in his patience, in his mercy, in his forgiveness, and in his compassion. And all of these thoughts, these synonyms are just kind of swirled together in this beautiful symphony of the compassion and the loving kindness of God that we’re going to just sit back and enjoy this morning. We’re going to focus on what I kind of regard as the crescendo of this beautiful symphony, verses 8 through 14. Verse 8.

1. Compassionate and Gracious, Slow to Anger

This verse succinctly encapsulates the very essence of God’s love toward those who fear him. That God cares deeply.

And he blesses abundantly. This is one of the most significant statements in all of the Bible. And one reason I know that is surely by the number of times that this is repeated throughout the Old Testament. The first time that we find this statement, the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness, is in Exodus 34 and verse 6. So if you’ll be turning back to Exodus, we’re actually going to start in chapter 32 and set the context up here as we talk about Moses. Now back here in Exodus chapter 32, the Israelites are on Mount Sinai. And Moses has gone up into the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments and to receive the law from God. And while he’s gone, the people make a golden calf.

And God begins telling him about this in verse 7 of chapter 32. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, go down at once. For your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. Notice that God is not claiming them as his own.

They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it and said, This is your God, O Israel, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt. The Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. Now then let me alone, that my anger may burn against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of you a great nation. So God’s ready to start all over with Moses. Just eliminate the rest of them, wipe them off the face of the planet, and I’m going to start all over with you, Moses. Well, Moses doesn’t want that. And he pleads with God to have mercy and to spare the people.

And in verse 14, so the Lord changed his mind about the harm which he said he would do to the people. So Moses goes down the mountain and he sees the people worshiping this golden calf, and he’s holding these two tablets that represent the covenant that the people have made with God. But the people are down there worshiping the golden calf. So he throws these two tablets down at the foot of the mountain and they shatter. Did he do that simply out of anger? Well, I think it was symbolic. These people had broken the covenant. What good were these two tablets that represented the covenant? So just as the tablets were shattered, so the people had shattered the covenant that they had with God. The calf was burned, people were punished, three thousand were killed.

And after all of this was all said and done, we read in the next chapter, in chapter 33 and verse 1. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, Depart. Go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying to your descendants, I will give it.

So God is saying, I’m not going to go with you. I’m going to send my angel, he will lead you, but I’m not going to go with the people because I will kill all of them. And Moses again pleads with God: Please let your presence be with us. Come with us, lead us. How else are we going to do this? And in verse 17, the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing of which you have spoken, for you have found favor in my sight, and I have known you by name. Then Moses said, I pray you, show me your glory. And he said, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you, and pause there for a moment.

Does that simply mean that the Lord was going to say, My name is Jehovah? No, we’re going to see what it means in a little while. But it means something different than just telling him what his name is. It means telling him who he is and what his nature is. It continues, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. But he said, You cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live. Then the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand there on the rock. And it will come about, while my glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

Then I will take my hand away, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. This is fascinating. And so the next day this happens. Moses gets the two tablets, and imagine this happening. Imagine God coming in this manner and speaking and appearing. And we read down there in chapter 34 and verse 5, the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth. Pause. Do you see that that’s the statement that was quoted by David in Psalm 103 in verse 8? This is what David’s looking back to.

This is the first time that we find that quote, or some version of it. We’re going to see it quoted often, and sometimes it’ll have a word or two taken away, but it’s the same basic quote, the same basic words. This is the name of the Lord. This is his name, that he is compassionate, that he is gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and truth. That is his character. That is who God is. Verse 7 continues, who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. And then the covenant is renewed. The second occasion which we find this quote is in Numbers chapter 14.

If you want to be turning over there to Numbers 14, what’s happening here is that the Israelites have, they have left Mount Sinai, having received the covenant, the renewed covenant, and they are heading up towards the promised land. They actually are at the outskirts of the land in Kadesh Barnea, and they have sent in twelve spies to go and see what this land is like and what the people are like that we’re supposed to defeat. And they come back. Ten of the 12 spies are just scared stiff. And they’re saying, There’s no way that we can do this. I mean, the people in this in this land are big. We’re little. We can’t defeat them. They forgot how big their God was. And so God commands them to wander in the wilderness.

But before all that, we before that sentencing, we read in verse 11 of chapter 14. The Lord said to Moses, How long will this people spurn me? And how long will they not believe in me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they. Does that sound familiar? That’s the same basic thing that was said on Mount Sinai. I’m just going to wipe them out, and I’ll start all over with you. Well, of course, again, Moses pleads with God. Don’t do this. And in verse 17, in the middle of that plea, he says, But now I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as you have declared.

The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness. Pause. Do you recognize that quote? That’s what God said back on Mount Sinai. Exodus 34 and verse 6. That’s what we saw in Psalm 103 and verse 8. That’s basically the same formula. The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness. He’s using this to remind God of what you said back there. Do what you did back there. Be gracious again as you were gracious back there on Mount Sinai. The quote continues forgiving iniquity and transgression, for he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations. Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your loving kindness, just as you also have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now.

Did the people deserve to be forgiven? They didn’t deserve it. But our God is slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and truth.

On both of these occasions, the Israelites deserved and were about to be wiped off the face of the planet, and God graciously spared them in his great love. Is it any coincidence that back in Psalm 103 in verse 7, the verse that precedes the quote, it says he made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the sons of Israel. I think it’s no mistake that we should conclude, then, that David here is referring back in his mind to those very things that we were just talking about. Now, this quote, the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness, was actually also used by Jonah in Jonah 4, verses 2 and 3. But Jonah used that in a way of complaint, because he wanted these Ninevites to be destroyed because of their wickedness, and they were enemies of God’s people.

But he went and preached to them finally, and you know what they did? They repented. And he was afraid that God was going to spare them. You know why he was afraid of that? Because he knew the reputation of God. He knew that God spared those Israelites when they deserved to be destroyed. And he knew that God would have compassion on these Ninevites when they repented. And so he actually quoted this by way of complaint. How wonderful it is, however, that our God’s reputation is such that he can be expected to show mercy and compassion and grace to those who do not deserve it. The prophets made heavy use of this formula in times of Israel’s apostasy as an encouragement for the Jews to repent. We see it in Joel 2 and Isaiah 55 and in Nahum chapter 1.

2. What God Does Not Do

Why should people repent? Because the God who commands you to repent is slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. He is compassionate. He is gracious. He longs to forgive. He doesn’t want to punish. He doesn’t want to destroy. He wants to save. He wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And that is a motivation to draw near to God because he wants to embrace you in his love and in his grace. Back in Psalm 103, we continue in our main text now. I place more emphasis on verse 8 than I’m going to in the rest of these verses. In verses 9 and 10, it says, He will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. This passage tells us what God does not do. What he does not do.

I mean, we praise him for the things that he does, and they are without number. You can go your whole life without even stopping to praise him for the things he doesn’t do because he does so many things. But he also doesn’t do a lot of things towards those who fear him. Those things are worthy of his praise. It’s a wonderful thing. If God dealt with us according to our sins, what would be our state? We would all be dead. Not only physically, but we would be spiritually dead. Romans 6 23 says, for the wages of sin is death. And that passage is talking about spiritual death. But of course, the passage goes on to say, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

3. A Vertical Comparison

Thankfully, God does not give us what we deserve. Thank God for what he does not do. This actually is a negative statement that makes a positive statement about God’s mercy. We move on. Verses 11 through 13. In these three verses, God’s love is described using three comparisons. We’re going to see a vertical comparison, a horizontal comparison, and a relational comparison. So first the vertical comparison in verse 11 for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. We keep seeing that, don’t we? Toward those who fear him. Well, how high are the heavens above the earth? Somebody want to get a ruler? Somebody have a telescope powerful enough to just determine how far it is up there, the heavens above the earth.

The point is it’s it’s immeasurable. Sometimes parents will say to their children, I love you to the moon and back. Why not just say to the moon? That’s pretty far. Well, and back, as if to the moon wasn’t enough. The point is, child, I can’t, I can’t really describe to you how much love I have for you. It’s hard for me to tell you how much I love you. You know, you do this when you’re when you’re kids. Well, I love you this much. You know, I love you this much. Well, I love you all the way from that wall to that wall. Well, I love you to the moon and back. The idea here that God’s love is as high as the heavens are above the earth, is the idea that his loving kindness is infinite.

4. A Horizontal Comparison

It’s not just a little bit of love, it’s a tremendous amount of love. It’s an unfathomable, unfathomable amount of love toward those who fear him. Secondly, in verse 12, we see a horizontal comparison. So first is a vertical comparison. Secondly, horizontal comparison. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Again, how far is the east from the west? You want to try to measure that. You can’t measure it. And this passage is emphasizing the forgiveness of our God. That’s how far he has removed our transgressions from us, as far as the east is from the West. Though we might tend to hang on to past sins that we’ve committed and repented of, God doesn’t hang on to them.

You ever think about that? They’re as far away as the East is from the West. They are gone. They are forgiven.

Some of the most beautiful descriptions of God’s forgiveness are found in the Old Testament. Isaiah chapter 1, if you want to turn with me. Isaiah chapter 1. And of course, this is a context of the complete rebellion of the people of God. They’re thoroughly wicked. But God is pleading with them to reason with him. He says in verse 18, come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. Of course, this is conditional, as you see the following verses. So it’s not just that our sins go from scarlet to some lighter shade of red. They go from scarlet to white. That’s the state that we go to when we go from sin to forgiveness.

Those sins are gone, and we are pure. In Isaiah chapter 38. In Isaiah chapter 38, this is in a context of Hezekiah, who had been told by God that he was going to die. And that he prayed, and the Lord extended his life. And we read there in his in Hezekiah’s praise, we read in verse 17 of Isaiah chapter 38. Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness. It is you who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, for you have cast all my sins behind your back. Isn’t that a beautiful picture? God just casting our sins behind his back. It’s beautiful, but it’s not as beautiful as the description in Micah 7. Of course, again, uh the Lord was rebuking his people for their great rebellion, but he offers to them this pardon that is that is in his will.

Verses 18 and 19. Who is a God like you who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. Yes, you will cast all their sins into the depth of the sea. Who’s going to go get them? They’re gone. They’re gone. On the day of atonement in Leviticus chapter 16, the high priest would lay both hands on the scapegoat and confess all the sins of Israel. Then the goat would be released into the wilderness. A vivid picture of God’s removal of transgression. As far as the East is from the West, so far as he removed our transgressions from us.

5. A Relational Comparison

So we’ve seen a vertical comparison, a horizontal comparison. And thirdly, now we see a relational comparison in verse 13 of Psalm 103. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. I know what it is to have compassion on children. I know what it is for them to look to me as the provider, as the one who gives them food and shelter, safety, comfort. And I know what it is to care for my children above all other children. I like children. I like little people. But I don’t like any little people as much as I like my little people. Because they’re mine. I care for them so much. And you who are parents, you know exactly what I mean.

It’s hard to define that love, isn’t it? Is there anything you wouldn’t do to protect your child? If someone was trying to hurt your child, is there anything you wouldn’t do to protect your child? If your child was sick, is there anything you wouldn’t do to help your child to be better? There is nothing you wouldn’t do. You would give your life, literally. There is great compassion that a father and a mother has for a child. What a beautiful description this is, then, of the love that God has for his people. What a sweet portrayal of God’s compassion. In Hosea 11, and in verse 3, again a context of the wickedness of God’s people. They were wicked despite how much God had loved them. And it says in that verse, Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk.

I took them in my arms. What a beautiful, sweet picture of a parent just taking their child and teaching this child to walk.

We should respond to him with such love towards him. In Luke 15, Jesus tells a very famous parable. You might turn there to Luke 15. Beginning in verse 11, and he said, A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me. So he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country. And there he squandered his estate with loose living. Verse 14.

So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into the fields to feed swine. That was an unclean animal to the Jew. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. But when he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread? But I am dying here with hunger. I will get up and go to my father and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men. So he got up and came to his father, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.

But the father said to his slaves, Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the cat fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and has been found. So they began to celebrate. And of course, as the story goes on, the other prodigal son was uh, he was also uh, well, he was in a state of jealousy, really, is what he was. And he resented the fact that his brother was received in such a way. But we see that in this story, the father is God. And the sinner represents the sinners that Jesus was reaching out to, that the Pharisees were resentful about, that Jesus was receiving them.

And we learn in this story that no matter how far a sinner has gone, no matter what a sinner has done, no matter how much he has disrespected God or turned his back on God, how far he has gotten away from God, that when he turns in humility, in repentance, with a sense of unworthiness, and chooses to come back to God, that God receives him with open arms, that God runs to him and embraces that person as his child and freely bestows on him the blessings that are there waiting. It’s a beautiful picture. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

Conclusion

Why would God have such compassion on us? Why would he be so patient with us? He created us. And he knows what we are. We’re human, we’re frail. This is given as a reason for God’s compassion towards us. In this Psalm, God’s loving kindness is seen in his patience, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion towards those who fear him. The question is, do you fear God? Do you revere him? Do you respect him? Do you come to him and give him your life and agree to keep a covenant with him? That’s the only way you’re going to receive this kind of a response from God. Otherwise, you’re going to get just exactly what your sins have earned, which is separation from God, not only now, but separation eternally and the fires of hell.

And that’s not something that I would wish on anyone. So why don’t you come with a humble heart to our God? Not just in one step of coming to the Lord and becoming a Christian, believing, repenting, confessing, and being baptized, but give him your life of service, a life of fearing him. And imitate his son. You know, we could study Psalm 103 all day and learn a lot about loving kindness, the loving kindness of God, but I don’t think we’re really going to understand it completely. I guess we’ll never understand it completely. But we’ll come a lot closer to it when we see what God did by sending his son. But God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5 and verse 8. That’s the best way to understand the love of God. Look at what he did.

Bless the Lord, O my soul. Would you bow your head with me in a word of prayer? Our Father, our God, we praise your name. You are so good.

For the fact that you don’t give us what we deserve when we come to you fearing you, but you cleanse our sin. As high as the heavens are above the earth, as far as the east is from the west, Father, we just praise your name for that. We praise your name for your compassion towards us as a Father has compassion on his children. We pray that we may not disappoint you, that we may not hurt you. Despite all that you’ve done for us and cared for us, we pray that we will not turn and do what the Israelites did, Father, but that we will be faithful to you as a child is to his loving Father. Be with us throughout the rest of today that we may learn much in our Bible classes, and that we may praise your name and worship your name in spirit and in truth at the 11 o’clock hour.

Through your Son, we pray. Amen.