All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Psalm 103. Those are good hymns, aren't
they? Psalm 103. I don't know another psalm that
gives me more peace and comfort and hope. If I had a favorite,
I don't know, this might be one of them. And if I had a favorite
verse or two, it would be verses 13 and 14. the title and text and subject,
like as a father pitieth his children. So the Lord pitieth
them that fear him, for he knoweth our frame, and he remembereth
that we are dust. He knows what we are, and he
pities us. It's a message of great comfort. I was surprised. I went back and looked at some
old notes. You remember I told you the first time that I ever
came here to preach to you was 1985, four years before I came
again to stay. And 1985, I was looking at some
old notes and this was the very first message I preached here
to you, this right here. That's fitting. And I listened
to my pastor preach this today. He preached it when he was about
my age. Preached it many times. But some few things that he brought
up that I learned. He said that, it's a psalm of David, we're
not sure when he wrote this, but we think, my pastor said
that he thought it was when he was older, much older. He said, an older believer has
a greater awareness of sin. A keener awareness of sin. And David talks about that all
the way through here. He thanks the Lord so much for
forgiving his iniquity, redeeming his life from destruction, and
being merciful and slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy, and pitying
him, that He has separated His sins as far as the east is from
the west. An older believer has a greater
awareness of sin. And then an older believer ought
to have a greater appreciation for
God's mercy and God's grace. The older we get, the more we
ought to appreciate and be more thankful for God's mercy and
God's grace. keeping us all these years. He also brought to my attention
that there are no requests in this psalm. No requests. He doesn't ask for one thing. And we concluded that it's because
we have so many blessings. It's almost like David said,
I have enough. I have all I need. I have enough
to be thankful for, all I want, all I need. I need no more. I
just thank You for what I have. One of the old writers said about
this psalm, he said, this is a Bible unto itself. This one
psalm, like Isaiah 53, Romans 8, full, complete. This is a Bible in itself. But we started last week through
the first 12 verses, forgiveness. I hope you heard that. And then
today, tonight, like as a father pitieth his children, so the
Lord pitieth them that fear him. Pity. Pity is a good word. It means to have sympathy for.
It means to have tender feelings toward. It means to actually
feel the sufferings of another. Have compassion for one. tenderness and empathizing and
sympathizing with them in their suffering. As a father pitieth
his children, and no one surely pities another more than a father
or a mother does their children. And how much more does a heavenly
father pity his children than even we pity our own. Pity. Now the first thing we need to
look at though is he says in verse 11, he pities them that
fear him. He says that three times. You
notice in verse 11, them that fear him. Verse 13, them that
fear him. Verse 17, the mercy of the Lord
is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him. That's
important. Fear means to have an awe a reverence,
a respect for a profound sense of someone's greatness, his presence,
his name, so as to worship and honor and not want to offend
and disrespect. It's not to be afraid of with
a slavish fear, afraid of someone that's going to hurt you, but
just to be aware of his awesome holiness and purity And think
like this, how could I think or speak or act or conduct myself
before Him in any way but reverence and respect? It's very obvious
that many people do not fear our Lord. They don't worship
Him. They don't give Him a thought. They blaspheme His name. But
God's people fear Him. They fear Him. If you feel any
of that fear toward Him, be thankful. Father, pity of you. He must
be one of his children. He says in verse 11, now this
really struck me again today, as the heaven is high above the
earth. How high is the heaven above
the earth? Can it be measured? So great is his mercy for them
that fear him. Verse 12, as far as the east
is from the west. How far is that? You can't measure
it. It's infinite. So far have He
removed our transgressions from us. They're gone. They're forgotten. Never to be remembered. They're
over. Like it didn't happen. For those
that fear Him. Do you have anything in your
past? Recent past? Or even today? That you think,
I wish I hadn't done that. Anybody? There's not a person
in here that doesn't have something that they think, why did I do
that? What was I thinking? Oh me, woe is me. If I could
only go back and take it all back and erase it and wipe it
out. Anybody? Everybody. Well, our Lord says, it's gone. All those that just fear it,
all those that believe it, all those that trust it, He said,
it's gone. It's forgotten. It's blotted
out. Because He's our Heavenly Father. Verse 13, like as a father pitieth
his children. Tell me, any of you fathers, would there ever be a time that
your son or daughter came to you Ask Him for forgiveness. And
you turn Him away. Do you think there would ever be
a time, no matter what they've done, that they would come to
you, repentant, sorrowful, and ask you to forgive them, that
you would turn them away? Huh? Never. But our Lord said,
if you... Oh, how much more? What little
bit of mercy we have, love we have, we got it from the Lord. Everyone who shows any, the Lord
has given it. How much more? As the heavens
are higher than the earth. There's never a time where a
child of God will come back to the Heavenly Father, no matter
what they've done, no matter how far they've strayed, no matter
what they've done. There's never a time that they
would come back to Him and ask Him to forgive them, that He
would say, not this time. Never a time. Scripture says,
to whom coming? It says, keep coming. Keep coming
back. We all, in a sense, play the
prodigal all the time, don't we? And we come back and ask
Him for forgiveness, and He says, it's all forgiven. They're all
forgiven. Like a father who pities his
children. James chapter 5. Look over there. This is a wonderful
verse that goes with this. You need to mark this in your
Bible. James chapter 5, verse 7. Be patient therefore, brethren,
unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman, that's
our Heavenly Father, our Lord, he waited for the precious fruit
of the earth and had long patience for it. What he's talking about
is he's waiting for his His sheep to be brought into the fold.
His wandering sheep. His prodigal sons and daughters
to be brought back. They're all going to be brought.
That's the reason the Lord hasn't come back yet. He had long patience
for them until He received the early and latter rain. Be ye
also patient. Establish your heart. Peter once
said, He said, after you have, let
me read it to you. He said, after you have suffered
a while, after you've suffered a while, the Lord will perfect,
establish, strengthen, and settle you. There's going to be some
suffering. Verse 7, verse 8. Be patient, therefore. Establish
your heart. The coming of the Lord draweth
nigh. Lift up your heads. Your redemption draweth nigh.
This goes along, grudge not one against another, brethren, lest
ye be condemned. The judge standeth before the
door. He doesn't hold a grudge against us. Take, my brethren,
the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an
example of suffering affliction. You need to sometime go back
and read Jeremiah, what all he went through, and others, and
Paul's account of all of his suffering. There an example,
verse 10, of suffering, affliction, and patience. Behold, we count
them happy which endure. You've heard of the patience
of Job? What all did Job go through? Oh, my. Everything that any human
being could go through, multiplied. And we've seen the end. Here's
what we need to consider. The end of the Lord. What the
Lord had purposed for him. The end of the Lord. See? Because
the Lord is very pitiful. And makes full of pity. And of
tender mercy. And if you didn't mark it last
week, you need to mark 1 Corinthians 10, 13. You need to commit this
to memory. There hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful. Same. He will not suffer you
to be tempted, tried, tested. Go through, above that you're
able, but will with the trouble, the trial, the temptation, the
suffering, make a way to escape that you may be able to marry.
That's His promise, because He's a Father that pities His children.
He knows our frame. He's very, very pitiful. And
lest I forget this, Before we go any further, shouldn't we be pitiful? Since
he's been so pitiful with us, so full of pity, shouldn't we? He knows us even better than
we know ourselves, and yet he pities us. We don't know each
other. We don't know each other's hearts
and thoughts and so forth. We should think more highly of
one another than we do ourselves. We shouldn't suspect them of
being as bad as we are. Right? So should we pity one
another? Fatherly pity, okay? Fatherly
pity. As a father pitieth and feels
for and looks upon with tenderness and love and compassion, so the
Lord pitieth them that fear him. He knows our frame. He knows
our frame. I remember as a new father, when Hannah was first
born, I remember looking on that little newborn child with such
love and tenderness. And my heart was almost breaking
for her, for having to come out of the womb into this awful place. And she would, you know, you
remember, And pain, first time she ever
felt pain, they had to inflict pain to get her to cry, fill
her lungs up with air. She can't see, you know, she's
cold, but she was in there warm. I remember looking at her, they
handed her to me, and I felt nothing but pity. All I wanted
to do was console her. And so I spoke to her. I kept
speaking to her. I took her over and gave her
a warm bath. I wanted to cleanse her. I wanted to wash her. I
wanted to cover her nakedness. I wanted to warm her. I wanted
to hug her and embrace her. And I did all that. I did it.
And she was comforted. Like a father pitying his children. Maybe it's even more true with
a grandfather. You reckon? A grandfather. After learning to be a father
all the times, I was not as pitiful as I could be. Trying to assert
my authority, you know, trying to assert myself as a father,
that I'm in charge. And now I feel even more pitiful
for my granddaughters, what they will go through. I hate the thought
of what they will have to go through in this world. They saw the infinite, didn't
they? They've got to. It's the only way you can learn.
You've got to go through these things. And our Heavenly Father
puts us through all these things. How much more does
the Heavenly Father pity His children, His little children?
You know, our Lord called His disciples. He always referred
to them as His little children. Now, some of them In the 40s,
John picked up where our Lord left off, and he called us, all
of God's people, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, little children. Little children. Though there
are babes in Christ, new, new in the faith, though there are
young men, Strong and robust, and their older fathers supposed
to be wise. Supposed to be. Yet, He calls
us all. And it all comes down to it. Just little children. Just little
children. My little children. He pities
His children. Why does He pity His children
so? Why does He pity? Verse 14, for
you know with our brain. This is a truth that should make
us both fear and rejoice. He knows us. He knows our frame. Perhaps another favorite Psalm
is Psalm 139. Lord, thou hast searched me.
You've known me. You know my down sitting, my
upright. You know when I sit down. You
know when I get up. You know when I lie down. You know when I wake
up. You understand my thoughts afar
off. This should give us both fear and yet comfort. He knows. He encompassed my path. He says, you've got me encompassed. You've got me under your protection.
My lying down, you're acquainted with all my ways. There's not
a word in my tongue. O Lord, thou knowest it all together. He went on to say, you saw me
when I was yet imperfect, before I was born. Members were written
in your book. How precious is this to me? He
said, when I wake up, you're with me. I'm with you. Oh, these
are wonderful. Wonderful thought. Lord pity. It should both make us fear what
we say, what we do, what we don't do, how we act, how we walk.
Hager. You remember Hager thought she
was cast out and done away with. Remember? She thought her son
was a goner, dead, going to die. She thought she was too. She
thought it was all over. But the Lord heard the voice
of the land. They said the Lord looked upon her in mercy. Right
beside her, unbeknownst to her, was a well of water. And Hagar
called that place, Thou, Lord, seest me. Seest me. He knows us. It's ought to regulate
our walk, our talk, ought to watch over our mouths, ought
to keep our hearts, ought to make us ponder our paths and
establish our way. And yet, it should give us great
comfort. Great comfort. He knows our frame.
He knows our makeup. He knows what we're made of.
What are we made of? Flesh. Our Lord is the one that
said that. That which is flesh is flesh. And He knows that. Go to Hebrews
2 with me. Here's another favorite passage.
Hebrews chapter 2. Gene Harmon used to be pastor
in Rescue, California. He now moved to Madisonville,
Kentucky. He's in his 80s now. He and his
wife Judy, two faithful believers. They'd been through many trials
themselves, and they'd moved all the way across the country
to sit there under Brother David. He turned to read from Hebrews,
and he said, I'll just wear this out. I just wear it out. Hebrews chapter 2, how does the
Lord know us? How can He, a holy God, really
enter into what sinful human beings are feeling? Huh? He says He knows, I find. How
can He? Look at Hebrews 2. I love these
verses. Verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same. And I remind you of all of our
Lord's suffering from the cradle to the grave. It was all voluntary
for our sake. That threw death, and he died. We have to face death. But he
did that to destroy death, to remove the sting, Put away our
sin. And destroy him that hath the
power of death, that is, the devil. Deliver them, that's us,
through fear of death all their lifetime, subject to bondage.
Death is the thing that human beings fear the most. Well, the
Lord said, fear not these people. It's not death to these people.
It's sleep. It's just a refreshing sleep.
When you wake up, you're going to be renewed and refreshed such
as never before. And all your troubles will be
over. Why do we dread that? Verse 16, For verily he took
not on him the nature of angels, he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
he that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to
suffer, to help, Empathize together. Pity them that are tempted. See that? Over at chapter 4. You know, teenagers, I remember
thinking this. I told you my story when I got
in my dog's house, feeling sorry for myself and thinking nobody
loved me like my dog. That's so childish. It's so foolish. Self-pity. Little children sometimes, teenagers
especially, they're going through so many emotions. They're going
through so many changes. And they often think things like
this, my mother doesn't understand me. A young lady says, my mother
just doesn't understand me. She doesn't know what I'm going
through. She can't relate. Yeah, right. Sometimes I think
teenagers think that their parents went from 12 to 40 overnight.
But they completely skipped all that trouble time. A young boy says, my dad doesn't
know me. He doesn't understand. He doesn't know what I do. That's just not settled. What
it is is a child doesn't understand. They don't know themselves. They
don't know what they're going through. They don't know what they need.
And one day they'll wake up and realize just what their parents
did know. As someone said, the older you
get, the smarter your parents become. When we wake up one day, a young
person will wake up and realize how much they put up with us
and how much they really cared. And while all that time didn't
care much for them, didn't do much for them, what about God? How many years? And still, we
still act like that. Oh, isn't it a good thing His
mercy is higher? We provoke Him. Brother John
read from Psalm 106 how often they provoked Him. But in another
psalm it says He remembered. He remembered what they were.
Hebrews 4, verse 15, We have not a high priest which cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmity at all points tempted
Like as we are yet without sin, let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need." The Lord is very, very pitiful. And in verse 2 of chapter 5,
it says, He has compassion. He can have compassion on the
ignorant, them that are out of the way, for He Himself was compassed
with infirmity. See that? When our Lord was in
the garden, He began to feel. what we're feeling. On the cross,
that's when He was really made sin, on the cross. And He knows. He knows. He knows our prayer.
He went through it. He knows. He knows our sinfulness. He knows we're born that way. He brought us out of the womb.
He knows we're born that way. Come forth from the womb, speaking
life. Shaping and iniquity. He knows
that. And He is the One who begat us
again, a new creature, a new birth. And He said of this new
creature, that the old man perisheth, but the new man is renewed daily. And He said the old man will
not have dominion over him. He's not going to be the best
of you. That's what He said. I love that verse, don't you?
Sin shall not have dominion over you. That's what He said. He
knows us. He knows our sinfulness. He knows
our sin. That old nature, He knows it
better than we know it. He knows our tendencies. He knows
what we're capable of. He knows. He knows our sins,
every single thing we've ever thought or done or said or not
done. He knows our pride. I remember as a young man boasting,
I was around with some of my friends while we were talking,
and I was bragging and boasting, you know, little fellas do that,
talk big, you know. And I turned around, there's
my dad standing. And he just wilted me. He knows me. He knows me. But he didn't, he
just walked away. Kind of humbled me. He knows
when we're proud, and he'll Elevation. He knows when we're
cold. He knows when we're ignorant. He knows our ignorance. He knows
our foolishness. He knows our selfishness. And
He rebukes us. But He knows us. He knows us. And in spite of our best intentions,
in spite of what we try, He knows our weaknesses. He knows our
inability. In spite of what we say, I'll
never do that again. He knows us. Now, isn't that
comforting? And he says, like a father pities
his children. And children are little, you
know, they try so hard, but they just can't do anything. And they
can't do much. So parents don't expect much of them, do they? Parents don't expect much of
their children. He knows our weakness. He knows
the weakness of our faith. Can anyone in here say, that
you have strong faith. I'm ashamed of my faith. I stand Sunday after Wednesday
trying to strengthen your faith, but when I have weak faith. He knows the weakness of our
works. He knows the weakness of our knowledge. I've got the
scripture on my desk that says, the way I'm going to look at
it. I don't want to misquote it. I've already forgotten it. That's
why I got it up there. The first Thessalonians 5.13
says this. It says, comfort the feeble-minded. Some people are going to be feeble-minded
all their lives. And the older you get, you start out Real young and
real weak and feeble-minded, alright? And you get somewhat
strong, robust in your mind, your mental state, and then you
go back to old age and you get feeble all over again. Comfort the feeble-minded. Support
the weak. Some people stay weak all their
lives. Weak in the faith. Weak in works. Weak in knowledge. Weak in wisdom. Be patient toward all men. Be patient toward all. Our Lord
knows our weakness. He knows. He just doesn't expect
much. He urges us. He exhorts us. But
He doesn't expect much. Aren't you glad? He knows. He
knows. He knows our weakness of mind
and heart. He knows we're easily tempted.
He knows that we're easily troubled. He knows we're easily influenced.
He knows our fears. He knows our doubts. He knows
our worries. He knows our bodily weaknesses. sicknesses because He sent them. He sent them. He knows our weariness,
the weariness of the flesh. Our Lord was weary. He wearied
Himself. He knows our troubles. He troubled
Himself. He knows our ups, our downs, our ins, our
outs, our follies, our falls, our failures, our good intentions,
our bad intentions. He knows them. He never forgets
our frame. He always remembers. Look at this dust. Look at verse
15. As for man, his days are as grass,
as a flower of the field, so it flourisheth. The wind passeth
over it, it's gone. The place thereof shall know
it no more. As I said, I had nothing but
pity for my daughter and enjoyed her so much when she was very
young. and almost hated to see her grow up. And I feel even
more of that now for my grandchildren. I almost hate to see them grow
up and go through all that they go through. This life, the joys
and enjoyment, the youth, pleasure, just doesn't last very long,
does it? It just goes by so fast. And
like children, we think, Lord, Can't this last a little bit
longer? It's just, it's over. It's over. It's all gone. They were all
waiting to die. That's sad. It all comes to that. Waiting to die. Then what? Lift up your head. Then it all
gets real good and never ends. That's what I'm talking about.
He knows. He knows. William passes over. Here's the thing. Verse 17. The
mercy of the Lord. It's from everlasting to everlasting.
Mercy. That means kindness as well as
not getting what we deserve. It means kindness. Very kind. Very pitiful. Very merciful.
Very gracious. From everlasting to everlasting.
On them that fear Him. And the thing we need is His
righteousness. That's how we're going to be
with Him and be in His heaven because of Christ who has made
sin. Such as keep His covenant, that is, lay hold of His promises
and believe His gospel and believe His sign. To those that remember His commandments
to do them. We remember them, don't we? We
don't keep them perfectly, but we want to. We try. The Lord knows. He knows. The
Lord hath prepared His throne and the heavens, His kingdom
ruleth over all. reigning and ruling over everything,
everyone, everything that happens to us, our children, everything. It's the Lord. And the Lord one
time said to His disciples and us, He said, in your patience
possess your souls. He said, not a hair of your head
falls to the ground without your Father. And whatever it is, He
brought it. And just wait, you'll see. He rules over all, every time.
Bless the Lord. Bless Him. Bless Him. Be His
angels that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening
unto the voice of His Word. Bless Him. Bless Him. Bless ye
the Lord. Worship, praise all ye His hosts,
ye ministers of His, servants of His, that do His work. Bless
the Lord. All His works in all places of His dominion. Bless
the Lord, O my soul. Can you do that? The Lord is
pitiful. The Lord is very pitiful. He
knows us. He remembers us. And here's the
wonderful thing. Like that thief on the cross,
He said to him, today thou wilt be with me in paradise. And very
shortly, it will be one long day. No more night. No more sorrow. No more pain. No more suffering.
No more sin. No more guilt, no more shame,
no more doubts, no more fears, no more worries, no more dust.
Glorious new world. Okay, stand with me. Our Father in heaven, thank you
for your sure and precious promises, exceeding precious promises. Our God who cannot lie has promised
all things. He promised us tribulations and
trials and troubles. He promised those things. He
said we must through much tribulation, much tribulation, till the day
we die, enter the kingdom of heaven. He said that those he
loved, he'd chase them. He said that he would go through everything,
not one single It's not common to man that your people in some
degree will go through. You've promised that it will
be to those you love, those who fear you, all for their good. We believe you. We believe you.
Sometimes we don't understand. As our brother already said,
we don't understand. We ask, we beg, we beseech you
to heal, to raise up, to comfort. Nevertheless, as our Lord prayed,
who asked that the cup be removed from me, and we pray that nevertheless,
not our will, but thy will be done. And so let us rest right
there in your good and perfect will and wisdom and your love
toward your people, your mercy, your grace, your kindness that
you will not put on us more than we're able to bear. He promised
that, and we'll see. We're going to wait on You. We're
going to wait, and we're going to sing again. We ask You to be with these people
that are suffering. Lord, thank You for Your Word.
Make it our comfort and our hope. Bring it back to our memory.
Don't let us forget Thy mercies to us. This is Your mercy. In
Christ's name we pray, amen.