Good morning. If you'll turn
with me to Psalm 145. Psalm 145. Our subject this morning
is good news. I love good news. There's nothing like it. I love
good news, and this book, God's Word is absolutely full of good
news. It's called the Gospel, God's
Gospel. And the reason we need to hear
it, receive it, and believe it is because this book is also
full of bad news. The bad news is you and I have
sinned against a holy God. No exceptions. You and I have
sinned against a holy God. We've broken His law. Completely
broken it. Let me quote you a few verses.
For all have sinned, all, and come short of the glory of God.
There is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth
not, not a single one. There is none good, no, not one. The scripture hath concluded
all under sin. And as a result, the soul that
sinneth, it shall die. We're in trouble. We're in bad
shape. Soon we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. The day is coming. And he's a
righteous judge. He's gonna judge righteously. He must punish all sin. Do you
need to hear some good news? I pray you do. I sure do. The
bad news is in who God declares us to be, sinners. Sinners, nothing but sin from
the sole of my foot to the crown of my head, nothing but sin,
that's the bad news. But the good news, praise God
for the good news, is in who God declares himself to be. And that's what I want us to
see this morning. Look with me at Psalm 145, verse eight. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is gracious, full of
compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. That's good news. And the next verse says, the
Lord is good to all. That's good news. Now for our message, I
want us to look at each of these four points in verse eight. and
I pray God will enable us to rejoice in this good news of
who he is. First, the Lord is gracious. God is gracious. What is grace? First, grace is God's. Grace
comes from God. Grace belongs to God. It's his.
It's his to give. Grace is a sovereign gift. That means God has the right
to give it to whomsoever he's pleased to give it. The Lord
told Moses, he said, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And in Romans chapter nine, Paul
quotes this and he said, oh, well, that's not fair. Nay, oh
man, who art thou that replies against God? He said, I will
be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. I pray that none of us will see
that as bad news. Hear this, I will be gracious.
Isn't it amazing that God would choose to be gracious to someone
like us? I pray we never get over that. I will be gracious. You see, grace is not something
that we earn. Grace cannot be earned by us. Grace is unmerited favor. Unmerited favor. God does not
owe any of us his grace. But oh, it's all my hope. Grace is a free gift. Free gift. Ephesians 2, eight and nine.
For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Salvation's the gift of God. From start to finish, it's
of the Lord. Faith is the gift of God. Christ is the author
and finisher of it. And grace, the gift of grace.
And that gift is a saving gift. God's grace is saving grace. Paul said that the grace of God
which was bestowed upon me was not in vain and it never is.
God's grace is never in vain. God's grace saves. By grace,
ye are saved. God's grace is irresistible. Think about grace as a gift.
We give gifts. They may not use it, they may
throw it away, they may re-gift it, they may return it, not God's
gift. God's gift of grace is always accepted, and it's always
received gladly. Oh, it's always received joyfully.
It cannot be resisted. It's received every time, and
we can't give it back. It's irresistible, it controls
us, it moves us. God's grace is effectual. The gift is effectual from start
to finish. It's efficacious. It gets the job done. Don't you
love that? God's grace gets the job done. That's why we sing amazing grace.
That's actually saved us. God's grace actually saves. That's
good news. Good news. I want to show you
the first time the word grace is mentioned in the Scriptures.
Turn back to Genesis chapter 6. Genesis chapter 6, verse 5. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. You know, God sees the same thing
today. It's not changed. God looked down from heaven.
He sees the same thing right now. Only evil continually. Look at verse six. And it repented
the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved
him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy
man. whom I have created from the
face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping thing
and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made
them. Why? Why did it repent God that
he made them? Why did it grieve him at his heart? Because he
hates, he hates sin. And if you want to see what happened,
read through chapter seven. All flesh died. God destroyed
man from the face of the earth. God will destroy every soul that's
ever sinned against him. What hope do we have? Verse eight,
but Noah found grace. What a way for this word to be
introduced to us. Man's evil, I must destroy man
because I'm a holy God, but Noah found grace. You mean there can be hope for
someone like me? Absolutely. Noah was saved by
grace, and that's the only way we'll be saved. As Paul said,
here's how Noah found grace, this is what Paul said, he said,
but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb, and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me. How did Noah find grace? Noah
was no different than the rest of the world. It pleased God
to reveal his son in him. That's what grace does. And notice where Noah found grace.
In the eyes of the Lord. And a couple verses down, God
said, make thee an ark. That ark is Christ. That ark
is gonna be your salvation. That ark is Christ. When God
bestows his grace upon a sinner, what that means is, God put that
sinner in Christ. And that's how we're saved, in
Christ, by grace. God's grace is only in the Lord
Jesus Christ, Do you need his grace? Do you need his grace? Romans 5 verse 20 says, where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. No sin, no need of God's grace. This is good news for sinners.
Because if there's anything I know, it's sin abounds in here. I'm
nothing but sin. Praise God, where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. Praise God, the Lord is gracious.
Now look back at our text. Verse eight. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. The word means love. God is love. That's good news, isn't it? And
God is full of love, he's full of compassion. He told Jeremiah,
yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. That means I've always loved you. Does that
not melt your heart to just consider the thought of God having loved
you from eternity? Before he ever even spoke this
world into existence? Amazing. Now I want to show you
Turn to Ezekiel chapter 16 with me. I wanna show you what God
calls the time of love. This is beautiful. Ezekiel chapter
16. When God makes his grace known
in the heart of a sinner, that's the time of love. And here we'll
see what that time of love is. Ezekiel chapter 16 and look at
verse one. Again the word of the Lord came
unto me saying, son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. In love God reveals to his people
their abominations. Only then will we realize, will
we learn, that that which is highly esteemed among men, that's
what we strive for in this life, isn't it, by nature? We want
to be highly esteemed among men. God says it's abomination in
his sight. And when God sends his spirit to us, this is what
he convicts us of, our abominations. Cause Jerusalem, his people,
to know her abominations, verse three. And say, thus saith the
Lord God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is of
the land of Canaan. Thy father was in Amorite, and
thy mother in Hittite. And as for thy nativity in the
day thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou
washed in water to supple thee, thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all. None I pitied thee to do any
of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou wast cast
out. in the open field to the loathing
of thy person in the day that thou wast born. That's exactly
how we all came into this world. Cast out to the loathing of our
person. Helpless, totally helpless. A
baby can't do anything. Literally nothing. Totally helpless,
hopeless, bound to perish. That's us. Look at verse five
again. None I pitied thee to do any
of these unto thee, and no one had to do anything for us. Look
at verse six. And when I passed by thee and
saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when
thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live. What a picture. Why would God
do this? Why would God pass by me and
say live? Because that's who he is. God
is love. He is love. Look at verse seven.
I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field. And
thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent
ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned and
thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. When Adam sinned, it says their
eyes were open and they knew that they were naked. Spiritually,
we're naked. We need to be covered. And if we're gonna be covered,
if we're gonna be saved, it must be by God's doing. It must be. Verse eight. Now when I passed
by thee and looked upon thee, behold thy time was the time
of love. Oh, what compassion. What love. Why would God pass by and look
upon me? Because it's my time of love.
This is not up to chance. This has been purposed from eternity.
The time of love. I don't deserve it. Not in the
least. I didn't look for it. I didn't
seek it. This is all my hope. This is all my desire. All my
desire. It's been appointed. Praise God,
the time of love has been appointed. Verse eight again. Thy time was
the time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee and covered
thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. What Christ has done for me,
he covered my nakedness. He covered my nakedness, how?
By washing me in his precious blood. You see, I was polluted
in my own blood, but I've been washed in his blood. Our blood stains. Literally and
spiritually, our blood stains. His blood cleanses. Isn't that
amazing? He takes something that's impossible
with men. Blood could never cleanse. Blood
only stains, but not his blood. His blood only cleanses. I love
thinking about that. Whiter than snow. Wash me and
I shall be whiter than snow. What is this covenant? He said,
I entered into a covenant with thee. Here's what that covenant
says. You're mine. I've purchased you. You're mine. And I'm never going
to let you go. Never. What a covenant. what he couldn't. Lamentations
3 says his compassions, his love, his compassions fail not. They're
new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. God's love never
fails. That's good news. Such good news. Back at our text again. Psalm 145.8, the Lord is gracious
and full of compassion, slow to anger. The Lord is slow to
anger. Now that does not mean God is
not angry. Psalm 7 verse 11 says the Lord
is angry with the wicked every day. God is angry. He is an angry
God, but he's only angry with the
wicked. God is not angry with any of his people. No, he is
not. He is patient. He is slow to
anger. He is long-suffering towards
all of his own. Turn with me to 2 Peter 3. 2
Peter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3 and look at verse
9. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward. not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance." God is not angry with his people. God is long-suffering to usward. That's his people. Read in 1
Peter 1 who Peter was addressing. You'll see that very clearly.
He's writing to the elect. You see, God is not willing that
any of his people should perish. because he's loved them with
an everlasting love. He sent his only begotten son
into the world to die for their sins, to redeem them from the
curse of the law. God's not angry with him. He's
not angry with him. Absolutely not. Why? Why is God not angry with his
people? Here's why. Because Christ made
peace. In Colossians, it says that he
made peace by the blood of His cross. And I wanna show you something
in Ephesians chapter two, if you'll turn with me there. Ephesians
chapter two, verse 13. Verse 12 tells us that we were
without Christ, all of us. We were aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. We were strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, but
now, in Christ Jesus. Ye who sometimes were far off
are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace. All of it. He is our peace. We were born
enemies of God. At the carnal mind, our carnal
mind, this fleshly mind, this fleshly heart was enmity with
God, but now, God has been pleased by his grace to reveal his son
in us, but now, in Christ, we who sometimes were far off are
made nigh by the blood of Christ, and he is our peace. By his death,
Jesus Christ has reconciled us to God. That means made us one
with God, and he has given us peace. He satisfied an angry
God whom we could never satisfy. Try as much as we may desire,
we can never satisfy holy God. This flesh cannot please God,
but Christ did, and therein I rejoice. He is our peace. Go back to our
text one more time. Psalm 145 verse 8. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. Great in mercy. Do you need mercy? There's just one thing I need.
That's the mercy of God in Christ. And I love a hymn we sing. It
says, mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there
was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary in Christ. Don't you love that word? Mercy. Mercy. Not getting what I deserve. You know what I deserve. This
is what we all deserve. By the works of this flesh, this
is what we deserve. We deserve to spend eternity suffering the
just reward, suffering what we've earned for our sins, our sin
against God. That's what we deserve. But God,
Ephesians 2 verse 4, but God, who is rich in mercy. Our Lord said, there were some
Pharisees that confronted him, because he was eating with publicans
and sinners. He said, they that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy, and not sacrifice. For I am not come
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. What he was saying
was, here they come. Your master's eating with sinners.
Doesn't he know they're sinners? And the Lord said, listen, they
that behold don't need a physician. He said, you all have sinned.
All have sinned. The question is not, well, will
God be gracious to me? Oh, will God be merciful to me?
That's not the question. Here's the question. Are you
sick? Are you a sinner? Sinners are the only people who
are ever going to find God's mercy. You know what I cry? God be merciful
to me a sinner. Another song I love to sing, only a sinner saved by grace. That's all I am. I'm nothing
special, but in God's sight, it says we're the apple of his eye. Are you a sinner? God has mercy
on sinners. I wanna show you one more verse
here, Micah. Micah, chapter 7. Micah, chapter 7, verse 18, glorious
verse. 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,
because he delighteth in mercy. I pray that that's good news
to you. Oh, it's such good news to me. Do you need mercy? God delights to show it. He's
never withheld mercy from one who needs it. You remember blind
Bartimaeus, he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was coming by and
boy, did he start to cry. And when others told him to hold
his peace, he just cried the more. That's what it is. Oh,
I pray God will cause us to cry out for mercy. Because we'll
find it. We'll find it. The Lord is gracious. God's grace is in Christ. The
Lord is full of compassion, full of love. His love is in Christ. The Lord is slow to anger in
Christ. The Lord is of great mercy, and
that mercy is only in Christ. You see, Christ is the gospel. We preach Christ. He is the good news for sinners,
I pray, God's been pleased to reveal his good news to you today. All right, you're dismissed.