This morning for our Bible study,
I would like you to find the book of Nehemiah. If you don't
have your Bible there ready to study with us this morning, you
can just listen to the verse. Let me read a verse from Nehemiah
chapter 9, verse 16. But they and our fathers dealt
proudly, talking here about old Israel, and hardened their necks,
and hearkened not to thy commandments, And refused to obey. They refused
to obey God. Neither were mindful of the wonders
that thou did, that God did among them. But hardened their necks
in their rebellion, appointed a captain to return to the bondage. But now listen to this. And here's
what I want to camp on this morning. You see the rebellion against
God's command. And rebellion in their heart
against the will of God. But notice what our Lord says
here. But thou art a God ready to pardon,
gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and did
not forsake them." Now here's the phrase I want you to meditate
upon, and we'll talk about it here just for a few moments.
Thou art a God ready to pardon. God's dealings with national
Old Israel, very typical of His dealings with spiritual Israel,
people and believers today. Though we are no more deserving
of mercy than they were, yet God in Christ has been pleased
to choose and justify and pardon God's elect because God is merciful. Thou art a God ready, ready,
willing to pardon Let me give you five reasons we see in scripture
that God is willing and ready to pardon sinners. Sinners. The first one is this. His readiness
to pardon his people is seen in his eternal purpose. His eternal purpose. God saves
sinners on purpose because of the covenant of grace made in
Christ before the foundation of the world, and those whom
he saves, he saves on purpose." Now here's the scripture, Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 11, it says, "...in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of God,
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted
Christ." We must never think that Christ died to make God
merciful. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
is a result of the eternal purpose and covenant of grace in the
Lord Jesus Christ. We read in the Revelation that
Christ stood as a lamb slain before the foundation of the
world, before Adam ever sinned and plunged and fell and plunged
this race, all of us, into ruin. the Lord Jesus Christ stood as
a covenant servitee, as a mediator of his people. He's called the
great shepherd of the sheep, who God brought again from the
dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant before rebellion
ever took place in Adam, the remedy and redemption of God's
elect was absolute, certain, and sure because of God's eternal
covenant purpose. We read in Romans 5, In Adam
all died, in Adam all sinned. By one man's disobedience many
were made sinners. So by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. You see the readiness of God
to pardon is based upon the eternal covenant purpose in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now secondly, here's the second
reason we see that God is ready to pardon, ready to pardon on
the basis of his eternal purpose. Secondly, on the basis of his
gracious provision. Now here's a scripture that teaches
that as well as many others, but turn to Galatians chapter
four. Galatians 4, verse 4, But when the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God
hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son, and if a son, an heir of God through Christ."
In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son. God, at great cost to Himself,
from His own bosom, gave His only begotten Son. God, in His
holiness and strict justice, cannot simply give the sinner
pardon without honoring His justice. The Scripture says the guilty
must die. Therefore, God took to Himself
our humanity. We read that in scripture, 1
Timothy 3.16, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, living at our surety. Our representative, man, the
federal head of God's people, the Lord Jesus perfectly obeyed
God's law for us and by his obedience. to the law of God worked out
perfect righteousness for his people and freely imputes that
to them. That's why Paul so gloriously
quotes from Psalm 32, and he writes in Romans 4, blessed is
the man to whom God would impute righteousness without works. The only thing that entitles
any sinner to glory in heaven is the imputed righteousness
we have for us in Christ. God's provision of salvation. You see, God is ready to pardon
based upon His eternal purpose, based upon that provision of
righteousness and justice being satisfied in the death and righteousness
of Christ. Here's the third reason we see
in Scripture that God is ready to pardon. You see, it's all
based upon what He has done. The third reason is if His satisfying
propitiation, His satisfying sacrifice, Sin demands the guilty
must die. The Lord Jesus Christ, as a God-man
mediator, in our humanity, in our room and in our stead, died
to make sufficient sacrifice unto God. How can God be just
and justify the ungodly? How can He be a just God and
Savior? My friend, the Lord Jesus Christ,
by His death through His person, enabled God to be just and the
justifier. Now we read that in Hebrews 2
verse 16, For verily he took not on him the nature of angels,
but he took on him the seed of Abraham, the seed of Abraham. Hebrews 2 verse 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, and think
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation, to make atonement, for the sin
of his people." You see, the Lord Jesus Christ died as a sinner
substitute. God made him to be sin for us. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, "...who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him." We see God is ready to pardon based upon the substitutionary,
satisfying sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sin of God's
people were charged to Christ. imputed and reckoned to the Lord
Jesus. He said, we read in 1 Peter 2.24
that Christ bore or bare our sin in his own body on the tree
and in doing so he made satisfaction to God's law and justice. The wrath of God poured out on
the Lord Jesus Christ until it exacted its full penalty, death. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross, Philippians 2.8. Now then, God
in His holy justice cannot charge those for whom Christ died. That's
why Paul said, who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God who justified, it's Christ who died. The atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, doesn't change the
character of God, it honors and glorifies His justice and His
mercy. to enable God to be a just God
and Savior. He's ready to pardon on the basis
of His eternal purpose, on the basis of His provision, His provision
that imputed righteousness, that reckoned righteousness Christ
worked out for us, and through the satisfying, propitiating
sacrifice in Christ. He is our atonement. He is our
sacrifice. He is our Redeemer. who redeemed
us from sin. And on the basis of that, God
is ready to pardon. Now here's the fourth thing.
We see God is ready to pardon on the basis of the preaching
and proclamation of the good news of the gospel. And here's
the scripture, Romans 10 verse 13, whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be justified, saved in Christ. 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? It is pleased God
through the preaching of the gospel That's why for these years
we've been on the radio and been preaching the gospel here in
Pikeville and other places for these years that God has given
us this ministry. God has ordained the preaching
of the gospel to the calling out and to the salvation of his
people. God in his infinite wisdom has
devised every simple means to call out his people. God effectively
calls out his elect through the preaching of the gospel. He says,
My sheep shall hear my voice, I do know them, I love them,
and they shall follow me. Wherever God's people are, whoever
they are, God will cross their path with the gospel truth, with
a gospel preacher, and God the Holy Spirit will bless that message
to their heart. Now you see that all through
the book of Acts, God sent Peter down to Cornelius to preach to
him the gospel. God sent Philip. Way down in
the desert country to preach to a eunuch seeking the Lord. And he took that same scripture
from Isaiah 53 and preached unto him Christ. God sent Paul to
Lydia, a woman down by the creek side, wanting to worship and
to know something of God. And God sent her a preacher.
And God was pleased to open her heart to the preaching of the
gospel. You see, the readiness of God to pardon. through the
preaching of the gospel. Now, here's the last thing. The
readiness of God to pardon is seen in this. It's seen in this. He pardoned others. Why not me? We read in Scripture, it's a
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation over in 1 Timothy
1. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. The readiness of God to
pardon is seen in this. He's pardoned others. Why not
me? Why not you? Why not you? You say, well, I'm too ungodly. My friend, the scriptures teach
us that the Lord Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. You say,
well, I'm too sinful. I'm too wicked. We read again
in scripture, he didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners,
sinners to repentance. My friend, never despair of God's
willingness to save the lost. We read in scripture again, he
came to seek and to save that which is lost. In Hebrews 7,
25, we have this glorious promise. He's able to save to the uttermost,
able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Our Lord said in John
6, 37, All that the Father hath given me will come to me, and
those that come to me I will in no wise cast out. The readiness of God to pardon. Well, I pray the Lord will bless
that word to your heart.