Psalms 103, I'm gonna read verses eight through
14. Eight through 14. Psalms 103 begins, the Lord is merciful
and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither
will he keep his anger forever. 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. Like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear Him. For He knows our frame, and He
remembers that we are dust. I was actually going to come
out of verse nine, he will not always chide, neither will he
keep his anger forever, but this thing is kind of conglomerated
into something different. The main premise is this, I believe
it is always good to ask why. When we read the scriptures,
You know, who's talking, what's the context, these are all important,
but I've always been asking why. Why, when the scriptures are
read, when we read this section here, why? Why is this happening? Why is God showing either mercy
or wrath in a passage? Why? Did God pass judgment on
one particular group of people, and why did he pass by the iniquity
of others? Why did he show mercy to wretches
such as we are, which could be found in this passage? He hasn't
dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities. His great mercy towards them
is as high as the heavens. Why? Why? Why is that so? Why? Well, let's look at this
starting in verse eight in Psalms 103, we see the mercy of redeeming
grace. But keep that in the back of
your mind, why? Why is all this happening? Why is the Lord merciful
and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy? Well, we
know it's his attributes, but oh, the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is how the believer now
sees our Lord to be to us, where the people are, when they accuse
us of being too Old Testament or too much the God of wrath
and anger and all this kind of thing. Well, we just try to preach
him as he is, as he's revealed. But this verse is just starting
in verse eight. This is how the believer now
sees his Lord and Savior. He is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Mercy is not something
that we deserve. No, we deserve damnation. We deserve separation and judgment
from God, but only in and only through the worth and merits
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we get love for our hate. We get righteousness for our
unrighteousness. We get peace for our war. We get hope for our misery and
truth for our error. Why? Because the Lord is merciful
and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy, only in Christ. Praise his holy name, the Lord
is merciful. Verses nine and 10, I'm gonna
read them, but we'll get back. This was my thought on why. He will not always chide, why?
Neither will he keep his anger forever. There's gotta be a reason. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. There's got
to be a reason. God doesn't just formulate a
plan after the fall. No, we know that we are chosen
in him from before the foundation of the world. Before there was
ever a fall, there was a scheme to rescue fallen man. But we'll
come back to that a little later. But verses 11 through 14, and
as far as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is
his mercy towards them that fear him. Look at the grace. God and the character and the
attributes that are of in Christ so great mercy so great so great
is his mercy in verse 11 verse 12 he hath removed our sins from
us for us to heaven I'm sorry verse 12 as far as the East is
from the West so far has he removed he removed our Transgressions
from us. These are facts. These are truths These are promises Look for a
promise. There's these are many He's the
father who pities us verse 13 like as a father pitieth his
children So the Lord pities them that fears him. I He is. This is how the believer sees
him. This is scriptural truth. And he ever knows us and is acquainted
with us. For he knows our frame, he remembers
we are dust. We're nothing. We're less than
nothing. We're dust, or as Genesis says,
Genesis 3, we're ashes. That's where we came from before,
from dust and ashes. That's where we're gonna go back.
I thought it was interesting, and I like to look at this every
now and again. Look at what the word dust means. It means mud. That's what we are, mud. We came from the ground, and
this is where we're gonna return. It's a good understanding of
what we are. Man at his best estate is mud. Man at his best estate is mud. Man and woman and boys and girls
is mud. But I wanna go back to verses
nine and 10 and ask that question when we read the scriptures,
why? To take a interest, a further interest Why? Why will God not
always chide? Why will that word chide? He
will not always chide. He will not always find an occasion
against us. For when we were born, we're
born in trespasses and sins. He's against us. He's not for
us, as far as we're concerned. We're not talking about eternity. We're past, or we're talking
about at that moment. We're born in trespasses and
sins, just like everybody else is. Why? Why does he not always chide
or have a cause against us? Why does our great, holy, and
powerful Jehovah God not deal with us after our sins? Verse
11 or verse 10. Why will he not deal with us
after our sins or reward us according to our iniquities? And we could
also ask, why does he pity us as a father? Why does he have
not removed our sins as far as the East is from the, why has
he removed our sins as far as the East is from the West? Well,
let's look at Psalms 30, not to answer that question, but
similar line of thought, a similar line of questioning. Psalms 30
in verse five. Psalms 30 verse five, for his
anger endures but for a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Okay,
why? Isaiah 57. Isaiah 57 and verse
16. This is God's words to the prophet.
Isaiah 57 verse 16, for I will not contend forever, neither
will I be always wroth, for the spirit should fail before me
and the souls which I have made. These are promises, but sometimes
you can peek behind the promise. Sometimes God says it and that's
it. But why will God not always contend forever? And then Micah,
Micah chapter seven, and verse 18. This does partially answer the
question which will lead to our bigger explanation in Leviticus
chapter 16. Micah chapter 7 verse 18. Who
is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passes
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth
not his anger forever because he delights in mercy. There is
part of the answer. He delights in mercy. The short
answer is that. Why? Why will he not chide forever? Why will He not deal with us
after our iniquities? Or why has He not dealt with
us? Well, the short answer is He delights in mercy. But I want
to know how and why can it be that God can be both just and
justify the ungodly, and therefore show mercy? He shows mercy, but
why? How, why can our sins, though,
as Isaiah chapter one says, they are as red as crimson, but they
will become White as wool, white as snow. Why? Turn to Leviticus
chapter 16. And I had no intentions of going
here, but I'll thank Mr., I told Nathan, I didn't find anybody
that said anything about this. J.C. Philpott did. He dropped
one line. I'm like, what is he talking
about? So I had to do some looking back and forth. And like Bruce
said, he got excited this morning. I got excited this morning as
well, last night. when you were talking in Romans.
I kind of wonder why he's getting a little louder, because that
sounds like me when I start getting excited. I'm not mad. I'm not
hollering. I'm excited. Let's look at Leviticus
16, starting in verse 20. This is how Aaron shall come
into the holy place and take care of the sins of the people
in type. And when he hath made an end
of reconciling the holy place, that's Aaron, and the tabernacle,
the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring a live goat. And
Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat,
this is that scapegoat, which is a picture of Christ, and confess
over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, not leaving
anyone out for whom this was, this was for, it wasn't for the
tribes around them, it was for the people. It's like Christ
became our sacrifice and our sacrifice only and all their
transgressions and all their sins, putting them upon the head
of the goat. That's a picture of Christ. But
there's another picture of Christ, I believe. He put him on the
head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit
man into the wilderness. Now, who's that fit man? That's
Christ Jesus. And look at this, verse 22, and
the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land
not inhabited, and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
Never to be remembered again. Who is that fit man? Now, why? Why does God delight in mercy?
Well, because this fit man, the God-man, the Christ Jesus, has
taken them all away. That is our sin. Oh, did you
hear, we sing that song, did you hear what Jesus said to me?
They're all taken away. My sins are all taken away. I bear them no more. Now here's
the beautiful thing is, and I don't know Greek and Hebrew, but I've
got tools that show me these things. That word fit means timely. Timely. Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter three. Uh-oh,
I messed up already. Well, let me look at this again
here. Okay, start at Galatians chapter
4, starting in verse 3. Even so we, when we were children,
were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness
of time, the fullness of time The fitness, this fit man, he
came in a timely situation, in a timely circumstance in his
time. Fullness of time was come, God
sent forth his son, this fit man, made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive
the adoptions of sons. And because your sons and daughters
and children of the most high God has sent forth the spirit
of his son into your hearts crying, Abba Father. That's the fitness of this man. Ezekiel chapter 16. And there's more on this time,
but I'm just going to pick one Old Testament, one New Testament.
Ezekiel 16. I'm sure you're familiar with
this. Versus Ezekiel 16 verses four, and as
for thy nativity, the children of Israel, and our story in Leviticus,
or all of his elect throughout all time, in the day that we
were born, our navel was not cut, neither was thou washed
in water to supple thee, thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled
at all. None I pity thee to do any of
these things to you, to have compassion upon thee, but thou
was cast out in the open field to the loading of thy person,
in the day that thou wast born. And when I, God, passed by, and
I saw thee in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast
in thy blood live, and I said unto thee, when thou wast in
thy blood live, and I caused thee to multiply as the bud of
the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and art come
to excellent ornaments. Thy breast are fashioned as thine
hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked. And I passed by thee and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time. Not only was it right for
God in his timing to redeem those whom could not redeem themselves,
but in the fullness of time, God started it, God initiated
it. But we have a time, too. I don't
know when that was. I know it was before the foundation
of the world, but there's a time, in time, that He makes Himself
known to each and every one of us. Behold, the time was a 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. Leviticus 16. Now, I don't know
about the Subtuagint in the Targum. I don't know about these. These
are just Gil and all these people use
these other renditions or other editions of the Hebrew. But the Subtuagint, the word
for fit is ready, is ready. Christ, he was ready. He was the only one that was
ready to take upon him All of our transgressions. And the Targum,
it's appointed, the word is appointed or prepared. Now who is that? It's all about the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's none as fit as him. And
in a margin, it's opportunity. There's none as opportunistic
as this man. There's none as holy, harmless,
or undefiled as he. He's the only begotten of the
Father, always doing his Father's will, and he always did it cheerfully. He has taken our sins into an
uninhabited land. This land was taken by this fit
man, bearing the iniquities, a land not inhabited. What's
that mean? Well, the short of it means they're
gone. What does our text say in Psalms
103? Verse 12, as far as the east
is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. They're gone. They're gone. That's why he's a God who's plenteous
in mercy and compassion. He's taken our sins into an uninhabited
land, never to be found or heard from again, never to accuse us
or slander or harm us eternally again. Romans 6 says, Reckon
yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. He, Christ, by that one grace,
sending away, as it is in our text, in verse 21, putting them
upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand
of a fit man into the... They're sent away. They're covered. They're buried. They're gone. They're gone. Has forever put
away, says Romans 9, sin by the sacrifice of himself. They're
gone, gone. And if our sweet near kinsman
does not bring up our sins, why do we? Why do we? We have one that accuses the
brethren Satan. But oh, how sometimes we can be really hard on ourselves.
We cannot trust ourselves. We cannot trust a word. I say
trust ourselves. We cannot trust a word. Unbelief creeps in. The fit man, who's right on time, has taken them away. Has taken
them away. Galatians chapter two, you don't
have to turn there, but Galatians chapter two says it this way.
This is something I wish we all could just, the Lord, we would
get a hold of, as Ephesians 4, put off the old man and put on
the new. I don't know, that's language that sounds, it sounds
like something we do, but we can't do it apart or on our own. It's got to be in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're just like that baby out
in the field, cast out to the loathing of our person. But now,
in grace, We have a benefit. Not only these sins are gone
and they're taken away, but in Galatians 2, verse 20, I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself for me. He was the fit. He's the only
fit man. I think this is the only place
in the whole scripture that that's used. I close and I want us to remember
we are but dust. That's all we are. We are but
dust and dust cannot do anything pleasing or anything that God
will accept. It's mud. It's mud. So I ask you and I ask me to
look away from self, fully and completely come to Christ to
be washed in that blood. And trust that fit man. There's
never anyone fitter or more fit, however, whatever English I want
to use, like our Lord Jesus Christ. He is that fit one. May we gather ourselves around
him and him alone. Nathan, would you close us?