15th chapter of Deuteronomy. I want us to read verses 1-11
again. I want to look at this precious truth of death's counsel
again. Let's look at it from a little
bit different perspective this afternoon. Let me begin in Deuteronomy
chapter 15. Let's read these first 11 verses
again together. At the end of every seven years,
Thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the
release. Every creditor that lendeth ought
unto his neighbor shall release it. He'll cancel it, cancel the
debt. He shall not exact it of his
neighbor or of his brother, because it is called the Lord's release.
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it. For that which is thine with
thy brother, thine hand shalt release. Except when there shall
be no poor among you, for the Lord shall greatly bless thee
in the land which the Lord your God giveth thee for an inheritance
to possess it. Only if thou carefully hearken
unto the voice of the Lord your God, to observe to do all these
commandments which I command thee this day. For the Lord your
God blesses thee as He promised thee, and thou shalt lend unto
many nations, but thou shalt not borrow. You shall reign over
many nations, but they shall not reign over thee. If there
be among you a poor man of one of your brethren within any of
thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou
shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy
poor brother. But thou shalt open thy hand
wide unto him, and thou shalt surely lend him sufficiently
for his need, and that which he wanteth. Beware that there
be not a thought in your wicked heart, saying, The seventh year,
the year of release, is at hand, and thine eye be evil against
thy poor brother, and thou givest him not. And he crying to the
Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely
give him, and thine heart shalt not be grieved, when thou givest
unto him. For this thing the Lord thy God
will bless thee. in all thy works, and in all
that thou puttest thy hand unto. For the poor shall never cease
out of the land. Therefore I command thee, saying,
Thou shalt open your hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor,
and to the needy." Now this chapter here contains precious truths,
so many precious truths, and they are calculated to warm the
hearts of Israel. That is why the Lord gave these
Israelites these laws, these rules, to warm their hearts. I imagine, as we said last week
concerning the cancellation of these debts, how it thrilled
the debtor when he had run up a large bill and he had nothing
to pay. And the man is frankly and freely
forgiving him. Can you imagine how that man
rejoiced? He rejoiced that he'd been forgiven all his debts. And that's what he tells us there
in verse 1 and verse 2. Every seven years thou shalt
make a remission of debts. And in verse 15, in verse 2,
it's called the Lord's release. So it has to do something with
what the Lord is doing in his own heart. It's a reflection
of who and what he is. And to encourage them to loan
to their brothers and their neighbors and to forgive them, because
you know it would get in their hearts just a year to release. And if I loan him a thousand
dollars just a year from now, I've got to forgive it. But for
the Lord to encourage them in doing that and forgiving the
debt, He tells them there in different places, but in verse
10, look in verse 10 again. Thou shalt surely give him, and
your heart shall not be grieved when thou givest them to him,
because that for this thing the Lord your God will bless thee
in all thy works that thou puttest thy hand unto. See how the Lord
encouraged them to forgive debts? He said, if there's just a year
left and you'll have to forgive him all of his debts, forgive
him freely, and when you do, I'll bless you. I tell you, they
weren't going to forgive debts and bring themselves into poverty.
That's what the Lord said. And you know a heart, you take
a heart today that is a gracious heart, that is a forgiving heart,
that is a patient heart, along a suffering heart, that person will never come to
poverty. You know that. You've got a forgiving
heart. You've got a tender heart towards
people. A forgiving heart towards people. The Lord will see to
it that you'll never come to poverty. He's blessed you to
have a heart like that anyway. And I'm telling you, He'll continue
to bless you. And that's what He's teaching
the children of Israel here. He's teaching them Forgive. Forgive debts. Do it joyfully. Do it lovingly. Do it mercifully. And as you do, I'll enrich you. You'll not be any poorer for
forgiving your brothers and your poor friends their debts. That's
the first thing the Lord is teaching them here. But another thing
the Lord is teaching the children of Israel, by doing this and
telling them this, was so they would be like Himself. to farm his image in their hearts. What he required of them in counseling
debts and being generous to their fellow man, their Jews, their
poor Jews, it was just a reflection of what was in their God. When
they forgave debts, it was a reflection of how joyfully he forgave debts.
When they gave to their poor brothers, it was just a reflection
of how generous their God was. He was working in them to conform
him to their enemies. That's why we're told here in
verse 2 that it's the Lord's release. The Lord's release. And that's what I want to dwell
on a few minutes this afternoon. What are debts? What are debts? It must have been serious here
because they were things that needed to be counseled and forgiven.
Well, you know debts in the Scriptures are sins, aren't they? Listen
to the Lord, how He taught us to pray. Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. What He calls sins in the first
part of that prayer, He calls debts in the second part of the
prayer. So sins are debts. You and I, as human beings, are
bound to obey God's law. That's his rule of life for humanity. He gave the law as a rule of
life for humanity. When we sin against God's law,
what is that? We incur a debt, don't we? We
incur a debt. A debt we can't pay. When we
sin and come short of God's glory, if we sin in thoughts, If we
sin in motive, if we sin in word, if we sin in deed, we come short
of God's glory. And what is that? Debts. Debts. Every sin is a debt. And these
debts can dismount up. They can mount up and they can
mount up. And we don't have anything to
pay with. And then what happens? Then what
happens? We're charged with them, aren't
we? We're charged with the debts. And what is the punishment for
this? I want you to look at a passage
with me. Take your Bibles, hold Deuteronomy
chapter 15, and look over to Matthew chapter 18. You know, I never read in the
Scriptures, in the Holy Bible, where they had bankrupt laws.
You couldn't file bankruptcy back then. Like we can today. You know, you can get in debt
today and go file bankruptcy and get out and under your debt.
But you know, the Bible never says anything about that. But
it does talk about debtor's prison. In Spurgeon's day in the 1800s
in London and England, they had debtor's prison. And if you got
in debt and couldn't pay, they would separate the man from the
family. They would put him in debtor's
prison. And his family would just have to fend for themselves
until you could pay your debts. And seemingly that's what they
had here in the New Testament. They were familiar with this.
Look here in Matthew chapter 18 and look in verse 21. Peter
was concerned about this very thing of debts. Matthew chapter
18 and verse 21. Then came Peter to him and said,
How often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?
Until seven times? Look what Christ told him. Jesus
said unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until
seventy times seven. Four hundred and ninety times,
Sheldon. That's a lot of sins against you, ain't it? Four hundred
and ninety times. Peter is talking about seven.
Four hundred and ninety times. Look in verse 23, Therefore is
the kingdom of heaven lacking to a certain king, which would
take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon,
one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. They tell us that is a lot of
money. But look at this in verse 25,
But forasmuch as he had nothing to pay, his lord commanded him
to be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had
in payment to be made. That's what they did, I guess.
If you didn't have the money to pay, they sold everything.
Your family, your children, your possessions. And his servant,
therefore, fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience
with me and I will pay thee all. But he couldn't have. But look
at the compassion of his Lord. Then the Lord of that servant
was moved with compassion and released him and forgave him
the debt. But the same servant went out
and found one of his fellow servants which owed him a hundred pence,
just a few pennies, and he laid hands on him and took him by
the throat, saying, Pay me what you owe me. And his fellow servant
fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with
me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and
cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. And when
his fellow servants saw what was done, they were sorry, and
came and told their Lord all that was done. And his Lord,
after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked
servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because you desired me.
Shouldest not thou have had compassion on your fellow-servant, even
as I had pity on thee? And his Lord was wrought, and
delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was
due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly
Father do unto you, if you from your hearts forgive not every
brother their transgression." So sins are debts, aren't they?
And they have to be paid. And if they're not paid, there
was a debtor's prison to put you into. But you know something,
brothers and sisters, we could give all our possessions that
we have. You could give your property.
You could give your children, your precious children. You could
give your bank account. You could give your body. You
could give your soul. And you can't pay the debt that
you owe to God. You can't do it. And what is
the wages that has to be paid? Death, isn't it? The wages of
sin is death. But death will pay the wages.
That's why death is eternal. The debt for sin is eternal death. In hell and in the lake of fire.
And it's impossible for us to pay our debts. No wonder the
Lord Jesus taught us to pray like this. Forgive us our debts. Forgive us our debts. God must
forgive us or He must charge us with them. If He forgives
us, what do we do? We go on away rejoicing, don't
we? We're happy. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. They're all pardoned and now
I'm free. They're all taken away. We rejoice, but what if He holds
them against us? What if He charges us with our
debts? See the seriousness of debts, counsel. If He charges
us with our debts, then we die. We are put in debtor's prison.
We are put in hell. Deuteronomy not only teaches
us the remission of debts, but it teaches us something else.
Did you notice that word there in verse 1? There is a word there
that has a great meaning behind it. At the end of every seven
years. Now, if you study anything about
numerology in the Bible, you know that seven indicates perfection. It indicates fullness. Completeness. You study that number sometime
and let me read you some places. Where it is first mentioned,
it talks about completeness and perfection. The heavens and the
earth were finished. Remember Genesis 1? And all the
host of them, and God ended all His work, and He rested the seventh
day from all His work. Why did He rest the seventh day? The creation was completed, it
was full, so he rested the seventh day. We read in the scriptures
of the seven churches. Why seven churches? That is the
fullness of Christ's body. We read of the book of God's
mystery as predestination. It was sealed with how many seals?
Seven seals. That's why it took the Lamb to
open it up. Perfect concealment. Seven seals. We read about the
Lamb Himself. We're told that He has seven
horns. Horns means power. He had seven. Complete, perfect power. Had
seven eyes. Now this is symbols. He doesn't
have seven horns. He doesn't have seven eyes. But
symbolically it was to teach us that He has perfect eyesight.
He knows us, doesn't He? He knows all about us. Our downside
is not rising. Everything is naked and open
in the eyes of Him with whom we have to do it. That's seven
eyes. We read about the seven angels and the seven life's plagues
and the seven vows of God's wrath. So seven means complete. It means fullness. It means perfection. So when we talk about deaths
forgiven, every seven years, deaths were forgiven. So what
does that teach us? When God forgives deaths, He
perfectly forgives death. They are forgiven in full. Complete. Lacking nothing. That is what
He has meant to teach us here. How often shall a brother sin
against me, and I forgive him? Four hundred and ninety times. Would our Lord require us to
do what He is unwilling to do. If he required this of Peter,
to forgive 490 times, would he refuse to be that generous himself? Is he going to tell you to do
something and me to do something that he wasn't willing to do
himself? He's showing Peter, and he's showing the children
of Israel, and he's showing us the reflection of what's in his
own heart. How he forgives sin. And every
sin, brothers and sisters, that we commit, if I sin 490 times
against Shannon, I've sinned 490 times against God. Because
all sin is against God. Would He forgive that many sins? That's a bunch of sin. Listen, how many sins do you
think we commit? Now, let's be honest about this.
Most of the time, when we confess sin, it's because we know it.
We come to the knowledge of it. And when we come to the knowledge
of it, we confess it. But listen, can God not see any
further than we can? Just because we don't know that
we've sinned, does that mean we haven't sinned? What if His
all-seeing eye watched over our hearts every moment and detected
every motive, every thought, and marked it down? How many
times in one day do you suppose we may have sinned? Ignorant
sins. Though He wished it not, the
Bible says, yet is He guilty and shall bear His iniquity.
I wonder if God kept account for a few days and watched over
us with His all-seeing eye, and the law discerned everything
that was going on in our heart, how many sins would we commit? I think it was Charles Spurgeon
who said something. One of the old preachers, Charles
Spurgeon, a loved one, said, if the truth be known, if God
showed us every sin that we committed, if we could start on the East
Coast And every time we took a step to confess a sin, we'd
run out of room before we got to the West Coast to confess
our sin. We'd still be walking with sins
confessed by the time we got to the West Coast. You say, Bruce,
I just don't know that about myself, if I believe that about
myself or not. What does the Bible say? Look
over with me in Isaiah chapter 44. Look at Isaiah chapter 44. Look in Isaiah 44. You've probably seen
these commercials. You've seen them in the newspapers,
maybe commercials on your TV set or something, where these
telephone companies are advertising cell phones And one company will
have a few dots scattered around, and the next cell phone company,
man, they got dots all over the United States. They're just thick
dots everywhere. If you had to put your sins on
a big map, you know something? You couldn't see the map. It would just be thick paint. And you say, Bruce, you've got
to show me that. Okay, look in Isaiah chapter 44. And look in
verse 21. Isaiah 44, 21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel,
for thou art my servant, I have farmed thee. Thou art my servant,
O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out as
a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins, return
unto me, for I have redeemed thee." What kind of symbol is
this for your sin? We've all seen the little thin
clouds come over and you can see the sun through them, can't
you? But what happens when a thick cloud comes over? Can you see? Can you? The cloud is so thick,
it literally shuts out the rays of the sun and gets dark. Is
our sins that way? He said they were so thick that
I had to take them and blot them all out. Deaths. Deaths. That's pretty bad, isn't it?
That's pretty bad. And they either stay there as
a thick cloud, hide His face, hide His grace, and hide His
love, or He has to blot them all out and let His love and
His grace and mercy shine through in Christ's good. Debts. Sins. 490 times. Well,
it sounds bad in here, doesn't it? A thick cloud. A thick cloud. That's the first thing. That's
the first thing. Blot them out. Many, many sins. All brothers and sisters, He
knows us better than we know ourselves. He sure does. The second thing, to get just
a little bit more technical, if we talk about a complete cancellation
of our debts, our sins, to be a complete cancellation now,
a thorough cancellation, perfection in cancelling debts, each and
every debt must be cancelled. Each and every debt must be counseled. All. Not one little dot can remain
down here in the corner somewhere to be held against us. Each and
every debt must be counseled. Oh, you don't have the number
seven involved in it. You don't have perfection involved
in it. Maybe everything is blotted out, but the one big thing, you
remember one big thing? You remember any sins of your
youth? That's what used to burden David. Maybe some secret sin. Maybe some sin that you're ignorant
of. You ever worry about some sins?
Are all of them forgiven? Each and every one of them forgiven?
It's got to be a thorough. It's got to be a complete, a
full forgiveness. All sins. All sins. Look in Jeremiah
chapter 33. Just over to your left, just
to the right, just a little bit more. Jeremiah chapter 33, and look
in verse 6. Boy, here's the blessing about
thorough forgiveness, complete forgiveness. Look what he says
in Jeremiah chapter 33, and look in verse 6. Behold, I will bring it health,
speaking of His people, and cure, I will cure them, and will reveal
unto them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the
captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will
build them as at the first. And I will cleanse them, look
at this, from all iniquity. whereby they have sinned against
me, and I will pardon all their iniquity whereby they have sinned,
and whereby they have transgressed against me." All of it? Each sin? Not a monster left? Pardoned it all. Pardoned it
all. In verse 9, And it shall be to
me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all the nations
of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them,
and they shall fear and tremble for the goodness and for all
the prosperity that I procure unto them." All iniquities forgiven. You say, Bruce, that's the Old
Testament. I like the New Testament. Okay, let me quote you a verse
from the New Testament. Listen to this. Listen to Colossians
2, verse 13. And you being dead in your sins,
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with Christ, having forgiven you all transgressions, all trespasses,
all sins, all of them, every last one. It's a thorough forgiveness. Listen to Jeremiah 50, verse
20. Now listen to this. You talk about the beauty and
the wonder and the joy of forgiveness. In those days, and at that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none. Who's seeking for it? Well, the
devil for one. Who's seeking for it? My conscience
for another. Who's seeking it? Some accusers
that don't like it. Is any found? Not one. It shall be sought for, and there
shall be none. Why? He's forgiven it. And the
sins of Judah, and they shall not be found, for listen, I will
pardon them whom I reserve, saith the Lord. He's got some people
He's reserved for forgiveness. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have
somebody you have that's unforgiven, and He's reserved you for forgiveness?
And tonight, He's going to forgive you. He's reserved you for forgiveness. What a wonderful, blessed verse.
I will pardon them whom I reserve. And how much does He pardon?
All. Every offense that's been committed
against Him, He is so good and He is so gracious that He forgives
all. He forgives all. Thirdly, about
this perfect and complete cancellation of death, It must be done in
such a way never to be charged to the debtor's account again. Never to be remembered again.
It must be pardoned in such a way. Can you imagine a wealthy farmer
loaning his neighbor a thousand dollars? At the end of the seven
year, he forgives it and goes back a month later and says,
I've come to collect. That couldn't happen, could it?
That was against the law. It had to be freely forgiven.
So for sins, for God to forgive our debts, our sins, it must
be done in such a way that a year down the road, or ten years down
the road, He cannot and will not come back and say, I remember
it worse than I thought it was. Heard of some spouse that's unfaithful
in the marriage. And it comes out. And the other
spouse tries to forgive. But boy, they can't forget. They
can't forget. And the wedge is driven. The
mistrust and the jealousy is there. Because they thought they
could forgive. They thought they had forgiven.
But poor things, they can't forget. It's not that way with God, brothers
and sisters. He has the capacity when He forgives
to forget. It will never be brought up again. I want to show you that. I want
to show you that. Look over in Hebrews 8. Look
in verse 10. I've often said, Hebrews 8, verse
10, that there was a time in my Lost life. But I couldn't remember my sins.
And God couldn't forget them. Put the shoes on the other foot
now. Now I can't forget them and He
can't remember them. Ain't that wonderful? We have to be careful when we
say God can't do this and God can't do that. But when He restricts
Himself, He does it that we may rejoice in that. And He says
there are some things He cannot do. One, He cannot lie. He cannot
fail. And He cannot remember sins once
He has forgiven them. Look in Hebrews 8 and look in
verse 10. This is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their
hearts. I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
They shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the Lord. For they shall all know me from
the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more." Once it's forgiven, it's gone,
brothers and sisters. That's why you don't ever dare
bring any of God's children's sin up that they committed before
the Lord saved them. They're gone. He don't remember
them. And what a shame if we did. They're
new creatures. Their sins are gone. And He'll
never remember them against them again. The Scripture talks about
God having a back, doesn't it? I don't know where that is. I
don't have any idea how God could have a back. But he said, I've
cast them behind my back. He's put them in that sea, hasn't
he? We can't get to them. We can't see them. And he can't
see them. Perfect, perfect, a full, complete counseling of death. And fourthly is this. Not only
every sin blotted out, all of them, never to be remembered.
But it has to be done in a way that fully satisfies all the
attributes of God. He has to be satisfied in forgiveness
of sins. His justice has to be satisfied. His mercy has to be satisfied. His will has to be satisfied.
You ever heard of a prosecutor? This happens sometimes where
they're trying to find something to charge somebody with, and
they'll go back and get an old law that's very seldom used. They're on the books. They're
not taking it off the books. And the fellow's about to get
out, and they can't find him or can't try him or whatever,
and they'll go back and get an old law off the books and say,
man, we found something to try this man with. You know what
I love to think about? when the Lord Jesus Christ is
hanging on the cross. Do you know what I love to think?
Now, this is for my good. And the Lord speaks sometimes,
I think, to us to teach us. Not to help Him or to teach Him,
but to teach us. Do you know what I love to think
about sometimes when I think of the cross? When the Lord Jesus
is hanging there groaning in His dying hours. I love to think
that the wisdom of God opened up the books of the law and searched every paragraph,
searched every sentence, searched every word of the book of the
law to make sure there was nothing left undone to charge his people
with. I like to think that all the
attributes of God were made to come and march around and stand
there at the cross and look up at the bleeding Savior. You've
got justice standing there with his sword drawn and a scarring
face. You've got mercy standing there
with her weeping eyes. You've got grace standing there.
You've got love standing there. You've got all the eternal attributes
of a perfect God. And as they stand and look up
at the bleeding Savior, all of them swear. All of them take
an oath. As soon as they hear him say,
it is finished, as soon as they see the blood flow from his side,
all of them swear to it that I am fully, perfectly, and eternally
satisfied. Justice says, I'll never curse
again. Wrath says, I have no wrath in me. Mercy says, I'm
satisfied. Love is fulfilled. Every demand
of God, if you can comprehend such a thing, was met there at
the cross for our debts. Every last debt was paid, brothers
and sisters. All of it. All of it. And it
was paid in such a way that a year or two down the road, none of
God's attributes can come back and say, wait, the case was worse
than we thought. The sin was worse. It was darker. It was more aggravated. We found
this law that we didn't know was on the books. No, it's done
in such a way. Isaiah 53, verse 11 says, God
saw the travail of His soul and was satisfied. Satisfied. All of His demands were met by
the cross in our Lord Jesus Christ's death. I love 1 John 1 and 7. Listen to this. If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just. You know the justice of
God calls for the release of every sin that Christ was punished
for. Would it be right for God to
punish His Son for sin and then send that man to hell for whom
Christ was punished? So what does he say? He's faithful
and just to forgive us our sins. He's given Jesus Christ what
He earned, the glory for paying our sin debt. And he turns around
and says, now, He's paid your debt, and now you're forgiven.
And justice says, Amen. Amen. See, God has to forgive
in such a way that it doesn't violate His nature and His character. It's got to be according to mercy.
David said, Lord, according to your tender mercies, blot out
all my transgressions. Tender mercies? I thought it
was according to my works. No. Tender mercies. If works
has anything to do with my forgiveness and my debts, then I'm going
to have to pay them all. It's according to tender mercies.
He pays them all. Or you pay them. You pay them. We've got two sides of this thing. We've got those on one side that
says, well, the Lord, because He's so good, He just forgives
you. And you ask them, on what grams? They don't know. They've
got a forgiveness that's not even just. It must be just. Then you've got them on the other
side that says, we've got to earn it, brother. You're going
to have to earn it. What's mercy got to do with it?
Why was David pleading mercy? According to your tender mercy,
Lord, have my transgressions." And you know something else that's
got to be satisfied in this and that is satisfied in this in
forgiving debts? A will. He's got to have a will,
hasn't he? He's got to have a will. I read
it to you here in Hebrews chapter 8. Our wills be merciful. And their sins, well, I remember. I will remember them no more.
Listen to what he said over in, I think it's in Ezekiel chapter
36. Listen to these wills. I will cleanse them from all
their sins. I will sprinkle clean water upon
you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness. I will cleanse
you. I will give you a new heart. I'll put a new spirit within
you. I'll put my spirit within you. I will, I will, I will.
Remember when that leper came to the Lord Jesus there in Mark
1, and he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Remember what the Lord Jesus
said to him? I will. That's what he said to
him. He said, Lord, if you will. What does the will of God have
to do with you being purged from your sin? What does the will
of God have to do with you having your debts counseled? Everything. Everything. Do you want to be
saved contrary to His will? The happiest person in this room
tonight is to know that the Lord has forgiven you simply because
he willed to do it. What's the difference between
you and those who out here are not forgiven? We've got multitude
dying without forgiveness. What's the difference between
them and you? Is it found in you? It's in His will, isn't
it? In His will. I will. I will. I will. Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. I will be thou clean. I will. I'll close with this. The old
Martin Luther. Back in the 1500's when he was
in Catholicism. He had such a wrong concept of
God. It just hardened his heart. Hardened
Luther's heart. His heart got so hard. I read
where he made a statement one time. He said, I hate God. He
said, I hate God. One of his fellows asked him,
why do you hate God? He said, because He's hard. God's hard. He watches over us. He demands
things that we can't do. And then when He sees us fail,
He accuses us and condemns us. He makes these promises to us,
but when He sees the least failing in us, then He mocks us and withholds
the promises. He said, I hate God. I hate this
God. Is that the way God is? No. If
God is that way, if He's so hard, if He's got such a close fist
and unwilling to have mercy and forgive, then what's Deuteronomy
chapter 15 about? How is He commanding us to forgive
these debts? and do it in just a joyful way
and a cheerful way. And give and open your hand and
open your heart and give and give and give. And them have
closed fists themselves. He won't give himself. God is merciful, isn't He? He delights to show mercy. Listen to Jeremiah 32.40. I will
make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn
away from them to do them good. Yea, I will rejoice over them
to do them good. I will plant them in this land
assuredly with my whole heart and my whole soul." Now, God
has a big heart. And He has a big soul. And He
said, I'm going to do you good. I'm going to forgive you great
debts. I'm going to open my hand and be so generous to you, and
I'm going to do it with all my heart and all my soul. You think
it's a burden to God to forgive you your sins? He's rich in mercy. You think
He doesn't want to share it? He's great in His love and His
grace, and you think He's such a close-fisted God, He won't
have mercy and forgive you your sins. He's not that way. He's not that way. I'm telling you, He owes us nothing,
but He's willing to give us everything. We're the criminals. We're the
hard ones. We're the doubtful ones. We're
the ones that have the false concept of this good, generous,
gracious God. If you're here tonight and you're
lost and you think He's just so unmerciful and so hard, He
won't share His grace and mercy and give you life and salvation,
then you go to Him and say, You go through and through the blessed
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll see how generous He is.
And then when He forgives you, I mean, all sin is gone. Every sin that you ever committed,
that thick cloud that was between you and Him, it's blotted out.
It's washed away in such a manner that God is pleased to do it. May the Lord bless His Word.
Brother Glenn, would you dismiss us?