May the Lord be pleased to bless
us tonight as we meditate in his holy word. Let us turn to
the book of Psalms and Psalm 103 and we'll read verses 10,
11 and 12. Psalm 103 and verses 10, 11 and
12. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our
iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. The Word of God, really, from
beginning to end, shows to us a long catalogue of the goodness
and mercy of Almighty God. And the goodness and mercy of
Almighty God to the Church of God, to His people. And to realise
that what David wrote so many years ago, obviously from a personal
experience, is so true throughout the ages and is as true today
as it was when it was written and will continue to be true
down to the end of time. And as we read this psalm together,
it's very wonderful really as we look at the first few words
and the last few words being the same, where David says, bless
the Lord, O my soul. And he concludes with, bless
the Lord, O my soul. Well, all of us have reason to
bless the Lord, O my soul. We have reason too because we
are blessed with so many, many wonderful favours. If we think
of ourselves today, we think of our nation perhaps going back
centuries when there was no Bible. when there was no place to worship. It was a land of darkness. And
then through the mercy of God, the glorious light of the gospel
shone, especially through the days of the reformation. And
that light still continues today. And that light shines forth in
the scriptures. And that light shows to us the
great and glorious mercy of the Saviour, the great and glorious
work of the Saviour, and the wonderful prospect there is for
the Church of God when they finish their life on this earth. And
so how much we should have today, really, to bless the Lord, O
my soul. There's no reason, is there really,
to think that, well, we don't have any reason to bless the
Lord. We do have reasons. Whatever
our situation, however we may be found, we may have many obstacles,
we may have much opposition, we may have many difficulties,
many trials and many temptations. and yet to be able to look through
them, as it were, and be able to bless the Lord, O my soul. And David goes on and expands
that when he says, and all that is within me, bless his holy
name, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. It is good, surely. to be reminded
of these things. Often we can be so self-centered
and so concerned about all the opposition and difficulties in
our life that we forget the many, many benefits that we do receive. As I mentioned in prayer, if
we compare ourselves with many in this world who do not enjoy
the freedom and blessings that we have. What benefits are ours? We have the Bible. The Bible
to read. What would we do without the
Bible? We had no Bible. We had no one
to speak to about the things of God. If we were isolated in
an alien situation, well, no doubt we would find it exceedingly
difficult. we would know that we still had
the same God, but we would know little about the true God and
little about the plan of salvation. And so today, ours is a great
favour and a great blessing. May we indeed, therefore, join
and say, yes, well, in my case, I can bless the Lord. And so as we come down to these
words that we've read tonight and realize that David was able
to speak these words, write these words because he knew how very
true they were. He has not dealt with us after
our sins. And perhaps we can say in a personal
way, he has not dealt with me after my sins, nor awarded us
or awarded me. according to our iniquities. And then it's expanded and he
sees the greatness of God and how relevant and important it
is for us to ever acknowledge the greatness of God. God is
not a little God. He's a great God. He's not a
God made with hands. He's not a God of stone and wood.
He's not an idol. He is the true and ever living
God. And so we're told, for as the
heavens are high above the earth, well, we know the heavens go
on and on and on. A vast, a vast situation, totally
beyond our natural comprehension to think of the vastness of space
and the vastness there is of the heavens and so in these words
we're told for as the heavens are is high above the earth there
we have this comparison so great is his mercy toward them that
fear him Therefore, if we are amongst those who fear God, His
mercy, His mercy is so great toward us. Let us never lose
sight of it. It's a wonderful theme, the mercy
of God. It's a wonderful subject to meditate
upon and to realise, yes, the Lord has not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our mercies. For as the heaven
is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that
fear him. As far as the east is from the
west, it's a tangible position, east from the west, is something
that man can traverse easily today, not in the days when David
wrote it, very different from north to south. That's why we
see here such a description, given as far as the east is from
the west. So far has he removed our transgressions
from us. It really means this, they've
been removed out of sight. It's wonderful, isn't it, to
think that in the eye of Almighty God, all our sins, all our transgressions,
if we are amongst those who truly fear God, they've all been removed
out of sight forever and forever. It's a wonderful thought, isn't
it? It's a great truth. And may we
ponder it and not forget it. Think of that, those words in
the first chapter in Isaiah, where the prophet encourages
the church of God and he says in verse 18, come now. I think it's very beautiful how
that commences, come now, not tomorrow. nor in a week's time. Come now. We can come just as
we are, can't we? Just as we are. The Lord knows
how we are anyway. Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. To think that God graciously
comes down to us, down as it were to our level. He's the great
and mighty God, and yet he invites us to come to him. Come now, and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. And then he tells us, though
your sins be as scarlet, that means they are there to be observed,
cannot be hidden, they shall be white as snow. Though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Yes, they'll be cleansed,
purified, so that we are complete in Him and that we are washed. All our sins are forever washed
away. What a blessing that is. Because
we cannot enter heaven with sin. What a mercy, therefore, to know
the Lord takes our sins, every sin, every sin. Not one is left. David knew it. David rejoiced
in it. Isaiah knew it. Isaiah rejoiced
in it. and the whole of Church of God,
by the grace of God, know it and rejoice in it. Surely tonight, we can and would rejoice in the
great plan of salvation and the great work of redemption. We spoke a little about being
redeemed this morning. And it's a wonderful theme, isn't
it? It runs right through the Scriptures. It's a very important
theme. It's a soul-strengthening theme. It's a theme that we can rejoice
in and bless our God for, to know that because we are redeemed,
therefore our transgressions are removed. If we're not redeemed,
our transgressions still remain. The Apostle Paul, when he wrote
to the Corinthians, reminded them and spoke to them about
the great blessing that this was and in the 6th chapter of
the Corinthians he speaks about this and he tells us finally
in that chapter he says this for ye are bought that means
the price for our redemption was paid because we are redeemed
For ye are bought with a price. The price was the price of blood. The price was the death of our
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. For ye are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body. and in your spirits which
are God's. What a mercy and what a blessing
that is to be amongst those who can rejoice in the goodness and
mercy of Almighty God. Well, the Apostle was very clear
in this. He tells us, Know ye not that
the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? That means
those with any sin who sin remains will not inherit the kingdom
of God. He tells us, be not deceived. Remember, the devil was a great
deceiver. Don't listen to him. Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves and mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkenness,
nor a vilest, nor extortionist, shall inherit the kingdom of
God." And then he goes on to say, and such were some of you. We can't put our hand up and
say, well, I'm not like that. And such were some of you. Yes,
we're guilty, hell-deserving sinners. But then he says, but
ye are washed, but Ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God, the work of the
Spirit, the wonderful blessing of being washed and sanctified
and justified. That means we're cleansed. That
means all our sins are taken away. And we are amongst the
redeemed. So these words that David writes
truly are right and true. The Lord hasn't dealt with us
and he doesn't deal with us as our sins deserve. The truth is
if God did deal with us as our sins deserve, we wouldn't be
here. would be cut off of something
or someone of no value. But by the grace of God, his
people are valuable. His people are those for whom
he's died. His people are those who are
sanctified and justified and forgiven through his glorious
sin atoning death. Oh, how wonderful it is to be
found looking to Jesus and realizing what a glorious work he completed
upon that cross at Calvary. Remember, he came into the sinful
world for the one reason. to redeem His Church. Without
the Saviour coming upon this earth and living that perfect
life and dying that glorious Sinatonian death, there would
be no hope for us today because we could not justify ourselves. You only have to ponder for a
moment, don't you? You only have to think today. Don't go back
any further than that. And realise how we sin. How evil thoughts come into our
minds. Rush into our mind, flow into
our mind. Sinful thoughts. They all need
to be atoned for. They all have got to be paid
for. And we could not pay to put the
matter right. We could not say, well, our sins
are worth so much and I'll pay this to bring myself into that
condition of purity and being justified. We are impure by nature. What a blessing it is then that
we have a great and glorious and merciful God who does not
deal with us as our sins deserve. The eighth verse in this chapter
tells us, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and
plenteous in mercy. It's a good verse, isn't it? It's a wonderful blessing to
know the reality of that, to have proved it in our own lives,
and to say, yes, well, I have, and I can testify that God is
merciful. He has been merciful to me. He
is gracious to me. He is a kind and loving God. And when we try and ponder and
think of ourselves, and think of the holiness and majesty of
God, and think of the great and vast difference between ourselves
and a holy God, to think that that almighty God who created
all things, who spoke the word into being, and yet is so wonderfully
gracious to look upon us to have come to us, come to us. He saw me, hymn writer says very
aptly, he saw me ruined in the fall, that was when Adam and
Eve fell in the Garden of Eden. And all creation fell through
that time. He saw me ruined in the fall,
yet, yet loved me, notwithstanding all. Naturally, how could God
love us? An unworthy sinner of the earth.
And yet the gospel is there. The gospel is true. It's not
that we loved God, but that he loved us. Now then, it's because
that God loved us, that this word is so true. For as the heavens
are high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them
that fear him. As far as the east is from the
west. So far has he removed our transgressions
from us. Yes, well, we will still find
that we're sinners while we live on this earth. But the Lord still
forgives those sins. Those wonderful words in the
8th of Romans are so glorious, are they not? And if we think
of those opening words in the 8th of Romans, we can perhaps
just go back to the closing words of the 7th chapter, where the
Apostle Paul speaks of himself. Now here was a godly man, a man
with a wonderful conversion, a wonderful man who'd been blessed
mightily of God, and yet he writes to the Roman church and tells
them a little about himself. And he concludes the seventh
chapter with these words. He says, now, if I do that, I
would not, It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. Indwelling sin. I find in the
law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. That
brings us down, doesn't it? He says, for I delight in the
law of God after the inward man. That means his new nature. The
new spirit which God has given him has been born again. He says,
I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another
law in my members, warring against the law of my mind. and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. He's spelling out here the battle
that we have between our old nature, our sinful nature that
we were born with, and the new nature which God has given to
us when we're born again of the Spirit of God. And there is the
conflict between the two. And therefore, the Apostle Paul
is telling us about it and that he had to endure it. And it must
be an encouragement to us to think that, well, we're so bad,
I can't understand myself. Here we have a brother, Brother
Paul, who walked this way, and we can be thankful that he actually
is able to honestly describe it for us. But you see, the significant
is, he doesn't stop there and reside there and say, well that's
it, the end of the matter. He goes on, this is what he says,
oh wretched man that I am. He wasn't content to be like
that. He didn't like sinful thoughts.
He didn't like wrong words. He says, oh wretched man that
I am. Who shall deliver me? from the
body of this death, I thank God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then, with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. You see, our flesh doesn't change. Our flesh is sinful. but bless
God for the grace of God and the spirit of God within our
hearts, which desires spiritual blessings, desires to walk in
accordance with God's holy law. And so he comes on and says then,
there is therefore now, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. who walked not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. He still had it, but he was free
from it because of what Christ had done. My friends, that's
true today. Let us bless God for it. Bless
God that he's seen fit to allow such great truths to be recorded
in the Word of God for our encouragement in the day and age in which we
live. Otherwise, we might despair. We might say, well, how can I
be a Christian? How can it be that I'm such a
bad person? How can it be? Well, thank God
the Apostle Paul spells it out for us. so that we can be encouraged
and strengthened by it. Again, Isaiah tells us these
great truths. We spoke on Isaiah 43 this morning.
But Isaiah 44 tells us a wonderful truth and it's a wonderful truth
to be considered. And in verse 22 he tells us,
I blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions. And as a
cloud thy sins return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. The previous verse tells us,
Remember these, O Jacob, and Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed thee, thou art
my servant. Oh Israel, thou shalt not be
forgotten of me. The Lord does not forget us. Sometimes we might think perhaps
that he has. We may think, well God's just
forgotten me. He just doesn't answer my prayers. He can't hear my prayers. Therefore,
and perhaps I'm not a believer. Well, just remember the word
of God tells us he waits to be gracious. There is a set time,
an ordained time to bless us. God's time is different from
our time. We're told, the Lord tells us,
your time is always, but my time is not yet. See, God's time is
a right time. God's time is a perfect time. As for God, his way is perfect. God never makes any mistakes.
And let us remember that you and I are just very small, insignificant
beings on this earth. And the great plan of God encompasses
the whole world. And we're just one minute speck
on the earth. Sometimes we expect our position
to be elevated. Well, it's good when we realise
we are as nothing, and yet the Lord's looked upon us. We read,
didn't we, in that chapter, David describes himself as dust. It's
a good thing when we feel to be like dust, nothing of any
real importance, and yet to think that God has loved us with an
everlasting love. And so, for as the heaven is
high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that
fear him. Two things here really. First
of all, there's his mercy. And then there is that blessing
of the fear of the Lord. We're told, The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of true wisdom, the
beginning of heavenly wisdom. When God gives us that fear,
that fear to offend Almighty God, really it's a fear which
can best be described as a child with a natural father. The child normally doesn't want
to offend the father. He wants to do that which is
right and good. And so that is so with our Heavenly
Father. As we possess the grace of God,
we don't want to offend our Heavenly Father. We want to do that which
is right. And so to then be amongst those
that fear him, a true believer. The Lord looks at the heart. No one else sees our heart, do
they? But God sees and God knows what is there. He knows what
he's put there. and so to recognise his mercy
toward us. Well, there was that wonderful parable
that Lord Jesus spoke about mercy. And there was the Pharisee. The Pharisee was a very proud
man. And we're told that he may have
thought he was praying to God, but in actual fact he prayed
to himself. And he said, I thank God I'm not as other men are. Or even as this publican that
he saw. And then he gave a list of all
the great good things he did. But then there was the publican. The publican, of course, we know
was a tax collector. probably a man that had done
many wrong things, and now there he is in the temple, and he's
looking down, he can't lift up his head, he smites upon his
breast, and what does he say? He says, well I've been a great
man. He says very simply, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. He needed the mercy of God. And all of us need the mercy
of God. What a wonderful thing it is
when God shows us that we need the mercy of God. You see, it
wasn't a long prayer. It wasn't a prayer with many
words. It was direct and very simple. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And what was the reaction of
Almighty God? This is what God said. I tell
you, this man, the publican, went down to his house justified
rather than the other. It's a good parable. It's a good example for us today. To remember, therefore, that
God hears such prayers. God be merciful to me, a sinner. And so, so great is his mercy. It was great to that publican.
And my friends, today, God is a great God and his mercy is
great and what a good thing it is. Because we might think, perhaps,
well, I'm a terrible sinner. I'm a great sinner. I'm a big
sinner. How can God ever have mercy upon me? God's mercy is
great. That's good news, isn't it? We
can't get beyond the mercy of God. We can't get beyond it. We do have those examples. in
the Word of God of a man and a woman. Mary Magdalene as the
woman and King Manasseh as the king. And in some detail their
lives are listed in the Word of God and we can see how bad
they were. And yet they both receive mercy. And so none of us are outside
of the mercy of God. There's never any reason to give
up hope. There's every reason to hope
in the mercy of God. All rejoicing today in what God
has done. And it really comes back to that
great blessing of redemption, doesn't it? That God indeed has
done that for us which we could not do for ourselves. We could not redeem our soul,
but what a mercy it is to know that the Lord Jesus indeed has
redeemed us. What a blessing and what a mercy
to have such a God, such a kind and such a gracious and such
a merciful God. Well, in the epistle to the Galatians,
The apostle writes there and says this. The 13th verse, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law. You may say, what is the curse
of the law? The curse of the law is very simply, the soul
that sinneth, it shall die, no hope, naturally. Christ hath
something accomplished. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. It's hard to
understand, isn't it, that the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the
true God, the second person in the Trinity, was made a curse
for us. He bore the punishment instead. Yes, that which was due to us,
the blessed Saviour bore. Never complained, did He. Never
complained. And how good it is sometimes
to just sit back and trace out what the Saviour did. Remember
the Lord God himself, what he did. He humbled himself and came
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And he humbled
himself to such an extent he was born in the most humble circumstances
in that manger in Bethlehem. He lived that life, a humble
life, with a family, as a carpenter. Lived that perfect life, no doubt
with much opposition. Then of course, when he was 30
years of age, he then was revealed as the Son of God. Many people did not, would not
believe him. But bless God, there were those
who did believe. And for those three years, he
went about doing good, working glorious and wonderful miracles,
teaching the truth of God, wonderful words, which we can read, especially
in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, chapters five, six,
and seven, glorious truths. And then Lord Jesus Christ came
to the time that he come into this earth for, and that was
to give his life as the price required to take away the sins
of his church. We have some little idea of the
agony that he endured, as we can read about it in the Gospels.
when he had to pass through. We know that when he was in the
Garden of Gethsemane, after that time when he preached to his
disciples in that upper room, and that wonderful sermon recorded
in the Gospel of John in chapters 13 and 14, 15 and 16. And then, of course, the higher
priestly prayer in John 17. And we have that wonderful testimony
of what the Lord Jesus then preached and then what he had to endure
as he was taken or before he was taken. He went into the Garden
of Gethsemane and prayed to his father. He knew that in a few
hours time, he would be facing and have to endure that terrible
agony and that terrible death in order to fulfil the requirements
of his father to atone for our sins. Never turn away from Gethsemane. Never turn away from the Judgment
Hall. Never turn away from Gethsemane. Remember, in Gethsemane, the
Saviour prayed to his Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. What a glorious example for us
today to come to our God In like words, nevertheless, not my will
but thine be done. We are on this earth for the
honour and glory of God. We have there a wonderful example
of the Lord God himself suffering, as a hymn writer said, all incarnate
God could bear with strength enough and none to spare. And
then, of course, he came and was crucified upon that cross
at Calvary. And there he endured the hiding
of his father's face. It's impossible for us to recognize
and realize. They never imparted from eternity,
the father and the son. And now the father hid his face
for those three hours. And what did the son say? My
God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? It was done so that you and
I might be redeemed from our sins. It was done so that you
and I might know and glorious blessing that our sins are removed,
our transgressions are taken away forever, as far as the East
is from the West. And then of course that work
was completed. It is finished. Finished on our
behalf. Without it, no salvation. With it, glorious freedom in
Christ. And as the Lord Jesus said, if
the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. It's
in the 15th of John. It's wonderful, isn't it, that
we have such great and glorious words. And so tonight, Let us bless God that we have
a God who is so great, so compassionate, so loving, so merciful, and yet
so high and lifted up. He's come right down to our level. Come right down to convey these
glorious truths to our souls so that we can indeed
rejoice in what Christ has done. The Apostle Paul did. He knew
the benefit of it. He knew the blessing of it. May
you and I tonight bless God for so great salvation and realize,
as we spoke and said, we are bought with a price. that price,
the blood of the Redeemer.