Okay, now this evening we're
looking at Nehemiah chapter 9. Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 17. Verse 17, our title is taken
from verse 17. And the title of the message
is found in these words, you might want to underscore them.
But thou art a God ready to pardon. A God ready to pardon. Gracious, merciful, slow to anger,
and of great kindness. And the Lord has promised to
never leave us and to never, never forsake us. A God who is ready to pardon. That is our God. Ready to pardon
based upon that covenant in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now two things
stand out. When you read through this chapter
of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter nine, and these same two things
stand out throughout all the scripture as we read all the
scripture. Number one is this, we are great
sinners. We are great sinners. That's
a fact. That's a plain fact recorded in the word. As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. We not only see that
in the Word of God, but we see that among humanity, don't we?
Man, inhumanity to man. I mean, it's just a testimony
to our total depravity. The Lord says in Genesis 6, 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. Now this is going way back in
Noah's day. After the fall of Adam, every imagination, the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. That is our state. That is our
standing, sinners before God. But here's the second thing we
see taught in this chapter and throughout all the Word of God.
Our God, the true and living God is most gracious. We are
great sinners. He is a greater Savior. Our God
is most gracious, long-suffering, and always ready to pardon based
upon the eternal covenant of grace. And that's the only reason
for grace is grace. The reason for mercy is found
in God. He delights to show mercy. Listen
to Exodus 34. what we read earlier, the Lord
passed by before him, that is before Moses, and proclaimed The Lord, the Lord God, merciful,
gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin,
and that will by no means clear the guilty. The Lord is gracious
and long-suffering, and He is holy in all that He does. When you read the history of
Israel, the nation Israel, you'll find that these people were blessed
by the Lord God far above and beyond any other in their day. And yet they sinned against God
in every age, in every generation, upon every occasion, upon every
act they sinned against God. And yet the Lord still shined and showed mercy upon
them. Instead of being obedient and
grateful unto the Lord, they were rebellious and ungrateful,
and yet the Lord never turned from them and yet showed great
mercies unto them. In this chapter, we just read
how many times the Lord brings forth this sad, sad story. But they were disobedient, but
they sinned. God sustained them 40 years.
Rain breathed from heaven every day, gave them water to drink.
Their clothes didn't wear out. Their feet didn't swell. He sustained
them in the wilderness for 40 years and kept them yet. They rebelled against God and
were disobedient, yet the Lord was gracious and merciful unto
them. According to the manifold mercies
thou gavest them, blessing after blessing after blessing." Now,
our personal history is no better. We can beat up on Israel all
we want, that nation of rebels. But our personal history is no
better. All along the way of our life, we've sinned against
God. We've sinned against God. We've come, all have sinned to
come short of the glory of God. We say with David against thee
and thee only have we sinned. Yet the Lord has been and is
so gracious unto us, not because we're deserving, but rather because
God is gracious, God is merciful, God is long-suffering toward
us. He indeed is a God that is ready
to pardon. You remember from the book of
Micah, chapter 7, verse 18, we read this. Who is a God like
unto thee that pardoneth iniquity, that passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
Because he delighteth in mercy. He delights in mercy. I tell
you, we are deserving of nothing but the wrath of God. His longsuffering
and mercy unto us. His storehouse of mercy is never
exhausted. Never exhausted. You remember
from Lamentation chapter 3, it is of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed because his compassion do not fail. And I can say with Jacob as he
prayed, Lord, I'm not worthy of the least of thy mercies.
You know, mercy is something you cannot merit. If you could,
it wouldn't be mercy. Mercy is what God freely gives.
But the storehouse of His mercy is never exhausted. It's new
every morning, every day. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us. His mercy. His mercy. God is
not giving us what we do deserve. I thought about this. In the
Lord Jesus Christ, There is everlasting everything. Everything in the
Lord Jesus Christ, the blessings we have in the Lord Jesus, they're
not temporary. Everything in the Lord Jesus
Christ, there is everlasting everything. Think about this. I thought about these things.
His salvation, It's everlasting. Isaiah 45, 17, the Lord has saved
us with an everlasting salvation. His redemption, his redemption,
well, it's eternal redemption. Remember in Hebrews 9, 12, where
he said, that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, with
the blood of bulls and goats, but with His own blood He entered
in once in the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us." And then when we think of His love, His love, the love
of God in Christ is everlasting, Jeremiah 31.3. He said, I've
loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
do I draw thee to myself. His covenant of grace, it's not
a temporary covenant, is it? It's called, and many times in
scripture, His covenant of grace is called an everlasting covenant. David said it's ordered in all
things, and it's sure, this is all my hope, and all my salvation. And then we read about his mercy
in Psalm 100. It says, the Lord is good. His
mercy is everlasting. You see, everything about our
Lord, His person, all of His attributes, all of the blessings
we have in Him, they're everlasting, are they not? His righteousness
revealed in the gospel is an everlasting righteousness. Psalm 119, 144. He is called
the Lord our righteousness. His kingdom Well, his kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom. You see, everything about our
God from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. And the Lord gives
his sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish. Nothing the
Lord gives in the covenant of grace is temporary. He is eternal. Everything he
does is eternal, and everything he gives is eternal, is it not? Now. For a few minutes, I want
us to consider this precious promise that's given to us here.
Peter calls them exceeding great and precious promises. Paul calls
them all the promises of God in Christ are yes, and in him,
amen, to the glory of God. And here's what I want to bring
to you this evening. But thou art a God, verse 17,
Nehemiah 9, 17. But thou art a God ready to pardon. Thou art a God ready to pardon. The readiness of our gracious
Lord to pardon sinners is seen in at least these five things. Now there could be 50 or 500
or 5,000, but we'll narrow it down to at least these five things. The readiness of God to pardon
is seen first of all in this, in his eternal purpose. in his
eternal purpose now let's turn and read that find Ephesians
and the book of Ephesians chapter 3 the readiness of God to pardon
is seen in his eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus
the Lord Ephesians 3 verse 11 you see it according to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. So his purpose, his purpose to
get all the honor and glory, his purpose to magnify the Lord
Jesus Christ and exalt Him is an eternal purpose which he purposed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now think about this, everything
that falls out in time That is, what comes to pass in time was
decreed from all eternity. From all eternity. God said,
I've spoken it, I've purposed it, I'll bring it to pass, I
will do it. And then we read in the book
of Acts, chapter 15, known unto God are all his works from the
beginning. God's foreknowledge of the future
is not based upon seeing what the creature would do and then
reacting. God's foreknowledge of future
things is based upon his eternal decree. God knows all things
because he decreed all things from the beginning. Adam's sin
and rebellion against God didn't sneak up on him by surprise,
did it? Adam's sin and rebellion against
God was no surprise, but rather ordained of God unto his glory. How do we know that? Well, the
Lord Jesus Christ was a lamb slain before the foundation of
the world. Before Adam ever sinned, the
Savior stood. Before Adam fell, the remedy
was already there. Before sin entered in and ruin
entered in, God already had the remedy prepared. Isn't that amazing? The Lord Jesus Christ stood as
a surety and Savior, husband and head of the everlasting covenant
before ruin came into the creation of God, the Redeemer. And the
remedy was already established, pardon, dower to God, ready to
pardon, based upon God, the eternal purpose, dower to God, ready
to pardon. In whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sin according to the riches of his grace. Here's
the second point. The readiness of God to pardon,
the readiness of our merciful God and Savior, And the readiness
of God to pardon is seen in this, in His gracious, gracious provision. Not only in His purpose, but
in His provision. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners of whom I am... What a provision. God so loved
the world that he gave his only forgotten son. That's God's provision. The readiness of God to pardon
is seen in his eternal purpose and in his generous provision
for his covenant people. He provided all things. You remember
his name Jehovah John the Lord will provide he provided all
things for us hadn't he? He generous provision in the
fullness of time God sent forth his son made of a woman made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law God provided
the Savior. Oh, what a Savior we have Call
His name Jesus, He shall save His people from their sin. God the Eternal Son agreed to
be our Savior, our Redeemer, our Husband and Head, and to
satisfy His own offended justice. He did that for us. In order
to do so, Christ had to take upon Himself the likeness of
sinful flesh in order to condemn sin in the flesh that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us. Now, take your Bible and
find Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two. Look
at verse six. Let this mind be in you, which
is also in Christ Jesus. Philippians two, verse six, who
being in the form of God, that had not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men, And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. What a provision God has
provided! Wherefore, God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. He took upon himself, he made
himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. What a provision! that God has provided for us
in the Lord Jesus Christ who is called our great high priest.
Don't turn, let me just read this one to you. Hebrews 2, 17,
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, atonement for the sins of the
people. What a provision we have. What
a provision we have. In his faithful obedience to
the holy law of God, the Lord Jesus Christ honored every precept
of that law, whereby working out for us a perfect righteousness. The righteousness we enjoy before
God is the Lord Jesus Christ who worked out a perfect righteousness
for us and then freely give that unto us. He magnified the law
of God and made it honorable on our behalf. Now here's the
third thing. These all have a P with them. His purpose, his provision,
God is ready to pardon. The readiness of God to pardon
sinners is seen in this, in his propitiation, in his propitiation,
in his atonement for our sin. Here in his love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us. And he sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. It's not just enough. It's not
enough for the Lord to just take flesh and blood upon himself
as a real man. He must also to honor his own
law and satisfy his own law, die under the penalty of that
law. The guilty must die. That's what
happened at Calvary. propitiation, atonement. God
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be
made to righteousness of God in him. There must be a payment
made for sin. There must be a suitable sacrifice
for sin by the anointed, appointed high priest. Not any sacrifice
will do. be the one of God's eternal purpose,
the one of his providing, the one of his propitiation. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. We're not redeemed with corruptible
things, silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. We read
in Hebrews 1 when he had by himself purged our sin, sat down at the
right hand of God." Aren't you glad the readiness of God to
pardon is seen in this, in that propitiation? He's ready to pardon
based upon that atonement, is He not? Sure He is. Here's the fourth thing. The
readiness of God to pardon His elect, His covenant people, is
seen in this too. And here's the fourth one. It's
seen in this, in the preaching of the gospel. in the preaching
of the gospel. Now I want you to turn and read
this with me. Find 1 Corinthians chapter one, we're doing a TV,
Pastor Mahan TV message transcribing it. And this week the message
was 1 Corinthians chapter one, verse 17. Well, Christ sent me
not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Now Paul's not minimizing
the importance of baptism, But he is emphasizing the necessity
of preaching of the gospel. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of word, lest the
cross of Christ be made of none effect. For the preaching of
the gospel to them that are perishing is foolishness, but unto us which
are saint, the power of God. the power of God unto salvation. And then you read down there
in 1 Corinthians 1, you see verse 21, for after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. We see the
necessity of preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jeremiah
50 says, In those days and in that time, saith the Lord, the
iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none
in the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found, for I will
pardon them whom I do reserve. A pardon for sin based upon the
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has ordained the preaching
of the gospel to call out His elect. That is why we must take
great care in every service we conduct to make sure the gospel
of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ is declared. Now we come
here each time we meet and our service usually lasts about an
hour. That is this service and the Sunday morning worship service.
usually lasts about an hour, and most of that time is taken
up with what? With the preaching and the teaching
of the word of the Lord. Not entertainment, not program,
not this scheme and that scheme and all the other schemes. but
the bare preaching and teaching of thus saith the Lord." The
Lord will bless that. He said, my word will not return
to me void. That's why we take great care
in every service we conduct to make sure that the gospel of
God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ is preached. Now let me
show you how necessary that is. Turn back to Romans chapter 10.
I know in most places that they call churches Preaching has been
relegated to the scrap heap now. They have testimonial meetings
They have all these different kind of entertainment programs
But there is a necessity of true preaching the preaching of the
gospel of God Concerning Christ and the Lord will bless that
turn to Romans 10 verse 13 For whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved At the glory's promise is it
not? Whosoever is a wide big word, is it not? Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? A preacher that is sent of God.
How shall they preach except they be sent? Those who were
sent of God all preached the same thing. They all preach Christ in Him
crucified as the only way of salvation. They lift up Christ.
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace, that bring glad tidings of good things, and that comes
from Isaiah 52, 7, where it says, Behold, thy God reigneth. He's
sovereign in mercy, He's sovereign in salvation, and the gospel
is the gospel of peace. Peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Lord's commanded His church
to go into all the world and preach the gospel, the gospel
to every creature. Now I can't personally go, and
you can't personally go to every creature in all the world, but
we can tell the gospel and preach the gospel to those who are within
our influence in the world in which we live, we can go and
preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we, through
this electronic age in which we live. Back years ago, those
old timers, when the printing press came around, that Gutenberg
press, when it came around back in Germany years ago, Martin
Luther took advantage of that printing press and printed his
books and printed literature and sent it, flooded Europe with
the gospel. And in our day in which we live,
I tell you, we have such Ready means at our fingertips with
the internet and with radio and sending out the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I've noticed just recently I
look at this every morning when I come into work. And I come
over here, I told someone recently, they asked me, how often do you
go to work? I said, every day. I don't take
a day off. Come over here seven days a week.
But every day when I come over here, with the exception of Sunday,
I look at this number. Sometimes I look at it on Sunday
morning as well. But I always bring up sermon
audio and go to that down at the bottom where it says, I forget
the icon and what it says. Subscriber or it's your own homepage
file where you can go in and look at the downloads. Can't
remember exactly what it's called. But I've noted just recently
that the number of sermons that are going out of here is just
kind of exploding. This week, Just in the last week,
5,000 to 6,000 sermons in one week. That's almost 1,000 a day. 1,000 a day go all over this
world. There's folks right now who are
listening to this message on Sermon Audio because it will
be put up in the morning. And people on Sermon Audio, it
may be in Arabia, it may be in India, it may be in some of those
foreign countries that are listed each month, usually about 60
foreign countries. Some of them I've never heard
of. And yet the gospel has been pleased to go out from this place.
It's amazing. The Lord said the gospel will
be preached in all the world, then cometh the end. We're close to it because the
gospel is going out in all the world. And we have a part in
this. All of us. This is our ministry.
The Lord's given us here. The Lord's ministry, He's given
unto us. And here's the last thing. The readiness of God to
pardon sinners is seen in this. With God, all things are possible. Who then can be saved? Well,
with men it is impossible, but not with God. With God, all things
are possible. You see, our salvation is based
upon the Lord's performance, not ours. The Lord's performance,
not ours. At Psalm 52, don't turn to me,
just read it to you, where it says in Psalm 52 that he hath
performed He hath performed all things, 57 too. That's what I
want. I will cry unto God Most High,
unto God that performeth all things for me. Did you notice over here in Nehemiah
chapter 9, I believe it's verse 8, where it said, I say to his
seed, and has performed thy words, for thou art righteous." All
that God has said will come to pass, not one promise will fail. The readiness of God to pardon
sinners is seen in this, with God all things are possible. Upon the Lord's performance,
upon the Lord's faithfulness, not ours. Turn to Galatians 2,
16. Galatians 2, 16. Upon his performance, not ours.
Upon his faithfulness, not ours. Galatians 2, 16. Knowing that
a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. Not by the
works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh
be justified." Notice, by the faith of Christ. By the faith
of Christ. That's salvation. By his faithfulness,
his performance, not ours. Both faith and repentance are
precious gifts of God that he gives to his people sovereignly
and willingly to whom he wills. Not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. He will have
mercy on whom he will have mercy." That's what he said over here.
In Exodus, don't turn, let me just get it for you again. You
remember in Exodus chapter 33, he said, I will make all my goodness
pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. I will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. When will a sinner be saved?
When it pleases God to reveal His Son. in Him. And that's what the Apostle declares
over here in Galatians chapter 1. 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 that I might preach him among the
heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. When
will a sinner be saved? When it pleases God. As many
as were ordained to eternal life believed, and we believe according
to the working of his mighty power. Thou art a God ready to
pardon. And I'm thankful. I'm thankful
he pardoned me for Christ's sake.