Evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 223 and the hardbacked hymnal 223.
And let's all stand together. Arise, my soul, arise, shake
off thy guilty fears. The bleeding sacrifice in my
behalf appears. ? Before the throne my surety
stands ? My name is written on his hands ? My name is written
on his hands ? He ever lives above ? For me to intercede His
all-redeeming love, His precious blood to plead, His blood atone
for all my sins, And sprinkles now the throne of grace, And
sprinkles now the throne of grace. Five bleeding wounds he bears,
Received on Calvary. They pour effectual prayers,
They strongly plead for me. Forgive him, O forgive, they
cry, Nor let that ransomed sinner die, Nor let that ransomed sinner
die. The Father hears him pray, his
dear anointed one. He cannot turn away the presence
of his Son. His spirit answers to the blood
and tells me I am born of God, and tells me I am born of God. ? My God is reconciled ? His
pardoning voice I hear ? He owns me for His child ? I can no longer
fear With confidence I now draw nigh. Abba, Father, cry. And Father, Abba, Father, cry. Please be seated. Good evening, everybody. For
our scripture reading, could we go to Psalms, please? Psalms, Psalm 1. Psalm 1, verse 1. Blessed is
the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners. nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in
his law doth he meditate day and night, and he shall be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth
fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Our God and our Father, Lord,
We ask God that in your mercy that you would make this time
yours, God, that you would come in power and give me grace to
preach, Lord, and give us grace to hear. God, we have sinned
and we do need your precious son to redeem us. We need your
spirit, God, to quicken us. Please give us a spirit of worship,
Lord. Let us see you. We ask this in
Jesus Christ's name, amen. Number two in the Spiral Gospel
Hymns Hymnal. Let's all stand together again,
number two. Lord, we come before thee now. At thy feet we humbly bow. O do not our suit disdain. Shall we seek thee, Lord, in
vain? Lord, on Thee our souls depend,
In compassion now descend. Fill our hearts with Thy rich
grace, Tune our lips to sing Thy praise. In thine own appointed
way, now we seek thee, here we stay. Lord, we know not how to
go till a blessing thou bestow. Send the message from thy word
that may joy and peace afford. Let thy spirit now impart Christ's
salvation to each heart. Please be seated. Good evening, everybody. It is
a pleasure to preach while our pastor is gone. Could you turn
to Micah chapter seven, please, tonight? Micah chapter seven. And we'll
look at verses 18 through 20. I've been really blessed lately
looking at all the phrases that God uses in the scriptures to
describe gospel preaching. teaching and preaching on the
kingdom of God. Preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ. Make all men see what is the
mystery. And my favorite, speak all the
words of this life. It will take us an eternity to
see just the blessedness of these descriptions God gives that we
often just read right over in the scriptures. That's what God
calls gospel preaching. And my prayer is that he will,
by example, show us that tonight. Over in Micah chapter seven,
verses 18 through 20. So it was about 10, maybe 11
years ago now, the first time I opened a Bible and I read it. I really didn't know anything. Nobody was there to teach me
about it. All I know is that what I once enjoyed, I couldn't
anymore. What used to not bother me now
did about myself. I knew that God is, I knew that
the Bible, whatever it says is his word. It felt like whatever
I had been standing on the floor now disappeared. The hard thoughts
that I had about God and about his people now seem shameful. That's all I knew. As in creation,
God had not said to me, let there be light, but the spirit of God
was moving upon the face of the deep. I didn't yet know what
David had said that when he wrote in the Psalms that he that is
our God is the God of salvation. I didn't know these things. I've titled this message, The
What and the Why. To know somebody, means that
you know something of what they do and why they do it. If you say, do you know Jeff?
And someone says, yes, but they go on to describe things that
I don't do and for reasons that are foreign to me, then you have
the wrong Jeff. This is the what and the why
of God. And I know that there's enough
material in these few verses here for a saving knowledge of
God. Let's read them. Who is a God
like unto thee? That's the chorus, that's the
refrain. Everything that we read comes
back to that. Who is a God like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever. And why? That's what he does,
why? Because he delighteth in mercy. What does he do? He will turn
again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquities, and thou will cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. Thou will perform the truth to
Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou has sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. That's why, because he's sworn. He does these things because
he delights in mercy and because he is sworn, promised. Mercy. Now to be in heaven, to be blessed,
to be loved by God, I need to have never sinned one time. That's what the scriptures teach.
No sinful spot in my conduct, no wrinkle in my thoughts and
in my motives, not one blemish in my heart. I need to be as
holy and as perfect as God himself is. The scripture says, of heaven,
nothing that defileth shall enter therein. We are defiled. I have to have never sinned.
I need God, God to be able to say that in his sight, I'm holy
and unblameable and unreprovable. That's what the scriptures teach.
But the scriptures also teach that we are nothing but sin.
Out of the heart, the Savior said, out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, theft, false witness,
blasphemy, and as a man thinks, as a man thinks in his heart,
so is he. The scripture says the way of
man is forward and strange. It's not only that we've sinned
along our way, it's that our way, our course, our nature, is foul and it's offensive to
God. The whole head is sick, the whole
heart is faint. God says they are all together
become filthy. This is God's word to mankind. They are all together become
filthy. Have you ever tried mopping a
mess with a dirty mop? You can't clean up a mess with
something dirty. You just spread it around. And
that's what God's people find when they try to improve themselves.
Most are content to go through life presuming themselves to
be the darlings of heaven because there's another person out there
that they can point to who isn't as bad as them. Well, here's
what God says about them. Their mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness and their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction
and misery are in their ways and the way of peace have they
not known. Their way is forward and strange.
There is no fear of God. before their eyes. There is no
fear of God in the eyes of a sinner. God can bring sickness, earthquakes,
famine, sword, plague. These things should wake a man
up out of his stupor. They should cause people to repent
and turn to God. It only causes them to get angrier
at God. The scripture says they gnawed
their tongues for pain and they blasphemed the God of heaven
and they repented not to give him glory. That is God's description
of mankind. Only the invincible power of
the Holy Spirit giving a new heart will ever turn a man to
God because we're sinners. Why? Now what is the fountainhead
of this sinful stream coming out of us? It's this, we worship
ourselves. That's what we do, that's the
problem. The word worship really means worth-ship, ascribing worth
to someone, ourselves, that only God has. We ascribe worth to
ourselves. Listen to how unbelievers talk.
They call it self-esteem, but God calls it setting their mouths
against the heavens. Listen, they ascribe worth to
themselves. They say, I am worthy to decide
for myself what's right and wrong. I'm worthy to make my future
and decide my fate. I am worth obligating God to
bless me. I am worthy to have my thoughts
and my feelings known to everybody. I'm worthy to be happy. Self-worship,
worth-ship. The scripture says we feed on
ashes, a deceived heart has turned us aside. We have a lie in our
right hand and we don't know it. We can't say is there not
a lie in my right hand because we're dead. Who is a God that
takes somebody like that and blesses them? Who is a God? who
heals sinners and brings them to heaven, who is a God like
that? Someone who deserves nothing
but eternal death. The scripture says a righteous
king, and we've never seen one and we never will, but a righteous
king sitteth on the throne. A righteous king hates evildoers. He doesn't love them less or
different. A righteous king hates evildoers.
God is angry with the wicked every day. Proverbs 20 verse
8, which I was about to quote, it says, a king that sitteth
in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes. Is Jesus Christ a king? Yes.
Does he sit on a throne? Yes. I read that his eyes are
as a flame of fire and he doth judge and make war. He scatters
and burns wicked men. Scripture says, as wax melteth
before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. Who is a God like this? We have
done nothing but sin, but to be blessed by God, we must have
never sinned. Yet, there are those who are
blessed by God. There are those in this earth
who have an eternity of joy awaiting them. Who is a God like this? This is what I didn't know when
I was reading my Bible alone all those years ago. Who is a
God like unto thee? I need to know that God. Who
is a God like unto thee? It's not a question awaiting
an answer, it's a joyful exclamation. Who is a God like this who pardons
iniquity, retains not his anger, turns again, has compassion,
subdues iniquities? I want to know him whose ways
are past finding out, whose judgments are a great deep eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God. Who is this God? Like I said,
to know somebody is to know something of what they do and why. So let's get into this. Let's
read verse 18. Who is a God like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage. Now lots of people have seen
things about me that I'd rather they hadn't, and they don't pass
it by. But if God passes by my sins,
I have everything I need. Now in Genesis, or Exodus chapter
12, The children of Israel were told to kill a lamb and put the
blood of that lamb on their doorpost. This is the Passover. This is
when God went through Israel to kill all the firstborn. Now,
if your doorpost had the blood of the lamb, your firstborn would
not die. If there was no blood on the
doorpost, there was death. The point is the blood of another
who died is what saved you from death, the blood of another.
In Exodus 12, 13, God says, and the blood shall be to you for
a token, a token. And when I see the blood, I will
pass over that the plague be not upon you to destroy you. The first time we see the word
token, In scriptures, it's in Genesis 9, verse 14, when God
talks of rainbows, he says, when I see the bow in the cloud, and
I will remember my covenant. He's talking to Noah. When I
see the bow in the cloud, I will remember my covenant between
me and thee, and between every living creature. that the waters
no more, never again, become a flood to destroy all flesh. That rainbow was the token. And you know what I love about
that there? I love how God didn't ask Noah to do anything to activate
that covenant or to live up to his end of the deal. He didn't even ask Noah If he
wanted there to be a covenant for God to look at the rainbow,
God just decided, and then he told Noah, who's a God like that? It works the same way with God
passing over our sins. He promises to see the blood
of Christ and pass over our transgressions. He sees the blood of the new
covenant, which is shed for many on the cross. And he promises
that the plague of your sin will not destroy you, and that the
floods of his wrath will not overtake you, shall not overflow
thee, is what Isaiah said, I believe. This is what he does, and who
is a God like unto him? In Isaiah chapter 53. In Isaiah chapter 53, we read of
Jesus Christ being brought as a lamb to the slaughter. I remember
as a young boy, I was helping my grandfather shear sheep. And he made one wrong move, my
grandpa did, and he cut that sheep. And it just took a little
bit of blood on that white wool. It stood out. I remember how
much that blood stood out against that white wool. It was grotesque,
really. When our sins, our blood guiltiness
was laid on Christ, the father saw that which was so contrary
to everything. He is, and he slayed his son. I remember how calm that lamb
was. Didn't move, he didn't make a
sound. even after being cut, and the scripture says, as the
sheep before her shears is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Who is a God like this, though?
Who is a God like this who makes a promise that when he sees his
token, that token, he won't see our sins? He passes by the transgression. He didn't even ask us. He told
us that that's how it would work. This is what he does. This is
what we need. And these aren't the sins of
all people, but look in verse 18, he passes by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage. Jesus Christ said, I give my
life for the sheep. And he also said, my father,
which gave them me, is greater than all. He also said, other
sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And he also said to others, ye
are not of my sheep. That means that some people are
sheep and they have always been and others are not sheep and
the sheep are who he died for. This is his heritage, the remnant
of his heritage. Now his church, his sheep was
given to him. Now an inheritance is what you
get because of who your father is. Can we turn to Ephesians
chapter one please? Go to Ephesians chapter one. We have Christ as our inheritance
because the father gave him for us and he gave his flesh, his
humanity for the life of the world he said. And Christ has
us for his inheritance because the Father gave us to him. He says, in John chapter 17,
he says, Father, thine they were and thou gavest them me. In the Psalms, the father says
of his son, ask of me and I will give you the heathen for thine
inheritance. He passes over the transgression
of his Inheritance. Let's we're in Ephesians chapter
one. Look at verse 14. Now, Paul has just said that
after they believe the gospel, they were sealed in verse 13
with that spirit of promise. Verse 14, that spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase
possession. unto the praise of his glory,
until we're taken into glory, that is the down payment. This
is our inheritance in verse 14. Now verse 15, wherefore I also,
after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto
all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention
of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom
and of revelation in the knowledge of him." All wisdom and all revelation
comes from Jesus Christ. In Revelation, John, Writing
that book, he tells of a time where he fell down to worship
an angel, and the angel said, why are you coming to me? Worship
God, because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Now, when we're given knowledge
of God, what happens? It's what Paul prayed for right
here, the exact thing Paul prayed for in verse 18. The eyes of
your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the
hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints. This is his inheritance being
us. In verse 14, it's our inheritance. In verse 18, this is Jesus Christ's
inheritance. He passes over the transgressions
of the remnant of his heritage. Who is a God like that? And all
because he delights in mercy and because he's promised it. Who is a God like this who by
his obedience unto death secured unto himself a people and every
spiritual blessing to give them Who is a god like, the lines
have fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly
heritage, he says. Now the wicked husbandmen in
the parable Christ told in Luke, those wicked husbandmen, the
unbelieving Jews, they gnashed their teeth against Christ and
said, this is the heir, come, let us kill him, that the inheritance
may be ours. Well, they did kill him, but
the inheritance is ours. Who is a god like unto our God? who has a beloved people given
to him, his inheritance, and he is their inheritance. Jesus
Christ himself is our inexhaustible riches for all eternity. Who
is a God like this? Back in our verse in Micah, who
is a God like this? Who retains not his anger forever? You know that God has never properly
been angry at one of his elect people ever. While we're in unbelief
as we come into this world, we suffer the effects of being estranged
from God, being without hope and without God in the world.
The heavens seem shut up to us and they should. We're unbelievers. But he retains not his anger
forever. He'll move that cloud out of
the way and reveal himself. And it's because, now we've been
saying what God does, here's why. Verse 18, because he delighteth
in mercy. Mankind in his fallen state,
man worships earth, he worships birds and bugs, he worships the
stars. There's something all those things
have in common, they don't delight in mercy though. That verse in
Psalms that says, our God is in the heavens. He hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased. For some reason, I would always
read that just thinking about his providence, the events in
this world that God does. And it is about that, but it's
about having mercy. It pleases God to have mercy. and he shall and he has done
just that because it pleases him. Do you remember after Adam
and Eve sinned, what was the very first thing God said? Adam,
where art thou? He said that for Adam's good.
He wasn't asking, it was for Adam's good that he said that.
This is a God who delights in mercy. A horrible crime is committed
against him and the very first thing that he does for the offender
is for their good. God delights in mercy who is
a god like unto our God. There's the Arminian God who
you can stop even though he's God. There's the God of fear
and duty, the God of the legalistic religion who seems like a prize
on top of a mountain that you can never climb. There's pagan
deities for thousands of years now. They always seem petty and
self-absorbed though. But who is a God like unto our
God who delights in that which is our greatest need? He delights
in it. The psalmist said, thy mercy
is great unto the heavens. If you look up, does it ever
end? Is there a wall there? And his promises stand forever.
Verse 19 in our text here, he will turn again, he will have
compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities. Now, I've read
a lot of people who say that when he says subdue our iniquities,
that's speaking of Christ going to the cross and he subdued our
iniquities. When I read the Bible, I don't
believe Christ subdued our iniquities on the cross. I see that he made
them not to be. I believe this is talking about
salvation, not just from the penalty of sin, but from the
power of sin. God subdues our iniquities, and
that's what we pray for. That's what we pray for. And God subdues our iniquities
by the preaching of free grace, by reminding us that this world
is fleeting, two things, preaching free grace and preaching that
this world will be done, it'll be over with so soon. The psalmist
says this, he says, by fear of the Lord, men depart from iniquity. by a reverence and an awe and
a right, a healthy fear of disobeying our Father. That's how God subdues
our iniquities. He draws forth love for him who's
done all for us. Let's go to 2 Peter 3. Because
he delights in mercy, because he's promised mercy, he subdues
the iniquities of his people. 2 Peter 3, please. showing us the difference between
us and unbelievers, reminding us that we could be just like
them. Does that not subdue our iniquities? The congregation of the dead
need whips and rules and laws and accountability partners to
subdue iniquities. But for God's people, I've found
that just the preaching of the gospel makes sin seem exceeding
sinful. Makes me want to just get away
from it. 2 Peter 3, verse 3, knowing this
first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking
after their own lusts. Why are you not a scoffer? Why
aren't you? You could be. And saying, where
is the promise of his coming? That's what the scoffers say.
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation. This is describing the ungodly
who say, well, because it hasn't happened yet, I've never seen
it, therefore I don't believe it. For this, they willingly
are ignorant of that by the word of God, the heavens were of old
and the earth standing out of the water and in the water. Why
are you not willingly ignorant? Who made that difference? Why
aren't you willingly ignorant? Verse six, whereby the world
that then was being overflowed with water perished, but the
heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word, the
same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the
day of judgment and perdition, destruction of ungodly men. God keeps us sober minded by
reminding us That this world is just a stage. It's just kept
in store. It's waiting and it will be over
with soon. Awaiting judgment. And what's
the wait for? Why? What are we waiting for? Look at this, verse nine. The
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God subdues
our iniquities by drawing us into wonder and amazement at
knowing, reminding us, just like here in verse nine, that he has
a people. He has a people and he will not let one of them perish
because he loves them. Who is a God like this? And all
shall know me from the least to the greatest of them. Verse
10, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also
and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing, then,
that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought ye to be, in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens,
being on fire, shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found
of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. Be diligent. What manner of person ought we
to be? We who have some understanding
of these things, who have some understanding that all of history
itself Time itself is for the purpose of God drawing his church,
drawing you, if you're a believer, for the purpose of drawing you
to himself, and it cannot end until you got there. What kind
of people should we be who have some understanding that God could
have left us with the other scoffers? We could be scoffers right now.
We who have some understanding, manner of people should we be
who understand that the earth is just kept in store by the
word, it says, by the word of the same one who gave us that
desire for godliness and to be found of him in peace. The same
one who gave that desire in our heart, his word is keeping this
world in store. This keeps us sober-minded, does
it not? This is how God subdues iniquities,
and who is a God like that? We understand the universe will
be dissolved, burnt up with fervent heat, and I don't even know how
to explain that or describe it, but it will be in the twinkling
of an eye. And maybe best of all, we understand that he's
promised us a new heaven and a new earth where nothing that
defiles shall enter therein. This is how God subdues iniquities. I wasn't going to. Let's go to
Revelation chapter 21, please. Revelation chapter 21. I can't
barely read 2 Peter chapter 3 without reading these verses. Revelation chapter 21, verses
one through five. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away, and there were no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy
city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he
that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write, for
these words are true and faithful. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. This is how. John heard a great
voice, the same voice that Isaiah says we would hear behind us
saying, this is the way, walk ye in it. This is how God subdues
iniquities. These words are true and faithful,
it says in verse five, because they're spoken by our Father
who does all for us. He delights in mercy and he's
promised it and his words are true and faithful. Let's go back to our text. Verse 19, it says, he will subdue
our iniquities and thou will cast all their sins into the
depths of the sea. Galatians chapter one verse four
says that Christ gave himself for us that he might deliver
us from this present evil world. When you look around right now,
this present evil world, it is presently corrupted. It is presently
lying in darkness, but we're delivered from that. We've already
been delivered from it. We will be taken from its very
presence soon. Jesus Christ gave himself. He
didn't give advice. He didn't give time or money. He gave himself. Because God has promised mercy
because God delights in mercy. He says that he will cast all
of our sins into the depths of the sea. You know, there's things
that we all have done that not a single other person in this
world will ever know about, because they're so shameful. They're
so terrible. We will take that to our grave.
There's things that all of us, I'm sure, have done not a single
other person will know about. We'll never say it to anybody,
and they'll never know. But you know what? God doesn't
know about it either. and their sins and their iniquities,
well, I remember no more. Christ, in his death on the cross,
he was cast into the depths himself. He was cast into the sea with
our sins laid on him, and he left them there. He was plunged
under the waves of God's wrath. He says in Psalm 69, the waters
are come unto my soul. He felt the weight of a broken
law that we had broken. Our sins became his. And he said, I went down to the
side of the mountain. The earth with her bars was about
me forever. He hung for our sins. He who knew no sin was made to
be sin. He was made a curse for us that
the blessing of Abraham might come on us. Those that he died
for are ruined sinners on their own. And every imagination of
the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually, but he
hung on the cross and he was made sin for us that that punishment
can never come to us. He is that rainbow. of Genesis
chapter nine, he is that Passover lamb that God looks to. Our sins
are gone, thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of
the sea. Why? Because God has promised
it, because he delights in mercy. Who is a God? Who's a God like
unto our God? Let's read verse 20 quickly.
Thou will perform the truth, that means give. The word perform
there means give. Thou will perform the truth to
Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou has sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. God gave the truth to his church. This is a perfect reminder that
we never ever separate the living word from the written word. God
gave the truth in the written word is what this verse is saying,
because Psalm 147 says, he showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes
unto Israel, and he hath not dealt so with any other nation. As for his judgments, they have
not known them. Thou will perform the truth to
Jacob. He also gave, performed the truth
by sending Jesus Christ to Jacob. Because Jesus Christ is himself
the truth, who redeemed Jacob. And the mercy unto Abraham, which
thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. Who is
a God like this? Why does he say, why does God
say that he will perform the truth? to Jacob and the mercy
to Abraham when Abraham had been dead many, many, many years when
Micah wrote this prophecy. How is it future tense for someone
who has already been dead? Because as Galatians says, ye
all by faith, you are all the children of Abraham by faith
in Jesus Christ. This is God's word to his church.
God will perform the truth. to his church. You know, God
swore, he promised the land of Canaan. He promised it to Israel
to typify heaven. And he made that promise to Abraham
in Genesis 15, 17, and 21. And he promised that his seed,
Abraham's seed, would inherit that land. And you know what,
if the inheritance, Galatians says, if the inheritance be of
the law, it is no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by
promise. If I tell you, if you go and
do this for me, I will reward you. If you perform some law
duty, if you do something good, I will give this to you. That's not a promise because
I can't guarantee that you're going to do the thing that I
told you to do to get the reward. But God gave it to Abraham by
promise. If it be of grace, it is no more
of works. And they got that land in just
that way, by God's grace. And we get heaven just that way,
by God's grace. Let's go to, really quickly,
Joshua. Joshua chapter 21. God will perform
the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham which he has sworn
unto our fathers from the days of old. In Joshua chapter 21
now, Joshua is really about Joshua's military campaign. His years
long campaign takes up most of the book, but let's look in chapter
21 now, verse 43. And the Lord gave unto Israel
all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers, and
they possessed it and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round
about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers. And there stood not a man of
all their enemies before them. The Lord delivered all their
enemies into their hand. There failed not aught, nothing,
zero. There failed not aught of any
good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel. All came to pass. God did it
all. And that is how he brings sinners,
ruined sinners to heaven. Because he delights in mercy,
because he's promised it. This is what God does and why. He blesses us with every spiritual
blessing in Christ. God can promise this mercy. that
he delights in, he's able to promise it because his delighting
in that mercy never waivers. You've probably, I bet you have,
you've promised to do something for somebody. And at the time
you made the promise, you delighted in doing that thing. But when
the time came around to do it, it was drudgery. And well, I
mean, hopefully we still do it, but our delight goes up and down. Well, God doesn't have dials.
He cannot delight in something more than he does now, and he
can never start delighting in it less. That's why God can promise
mercy, because he delights in it. The Lord is not a man that he
should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Has
he promised, and shall he not do it? You see, this is the what
and the why. These are the things I didn't
know yet. God hadn't shown me. This is
what I didn't know. Lying awake, reading my Bible
by flashlight at night all those years ago, I didn't know this.
This is what God does and this is why. And he's never ever turned
away anybody who's come to him. Amen. Let's close with hymn number
six in your spiral hymn book, and let's all stand together.
Number six in the spiral hymn book. ? Who is a God like unto thee ?
That pardoneth iniquity ? Jehovah God, the great I Am ? Forgives
our sins through Christ the Lamb ? Who is a God like unto thee
? ? That hardeneth iniquity ? ? His anger he retains no more ? ?
His grace and mercy shall endure ? The God of truth must punish
sin, but in His love He sent a man. ? To satisfy the law's
demands ? For sinners numerous as the sands ? Who is a God like
unto thee ? That hardeneth iniquity, his anger he ? Retains no more
? His grace and mercy shall endure ? Behold His love and compassion
? In the death of Christ His Son The precious sin atoning
blood Reveals the love of God Who is a God like unto thee That
hardeneth iniquity His anger He retains no more His grace
and mercy He shall endure ? He passes by the transgressions
? Of all his loved and chosen ones ? In mercy God delights
we see ? He casts our sins into the sea ? Who is a god like unto
thee ? That pardoneth iniquity ? His anger he retains no more
? His grace and mercy shall endure One more. ? None can with our
great God compare ? He gives his son sinners to spare ? His
anger he retains no more ? Christ died and God requires no more
? Who is a God like unto thee ? That pardoneth iniquity ? His
anger he retains no more ? His grace and mercy he shall endure Class is