2025.03.11 - Reliance - God Pities His Children

[00:00:00] Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Who forgives all your iniquities. Who heals all your diseases. Who redeems your life from destruction. Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies.

[00:00:22] Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

[00:00:43] He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger, forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

[00:01:07] As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so He flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. And its place remembers it no more.

[00:01:30] But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them. The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.

[00:01:59] Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. God, thank you for your tender mercies. Thank you for redeeming our lives from destruction. Thank you for your loving kindness. Thank you that you have put our sins as far as the east is from the west.

[00:02:29] Thank you, Lord, for forgiving our iniquities, for healing our diseases, for setting us free, for your justice, your faithfulness, your tenderness, your truth. Thank you, God, for who you are. Help us, Jesus, to see you high and lifted up. Help us to understand what it is we are called to do in this generation.

[00:02:58] Help us, Lord, to represent you properly. Help us to show your love to this generation. Help us, God. Strengthen our faith. Forgive our transgressions for your glory and for the sake of your great name. Let your kingdom be established in our hearts and all around us. God, you are good and your mercies endure forever. We bless you.

[00:03:26] We praise you for your precious promises. Please bless those who are listening today. Bless them in their minds. Bless them in their souls. Bless them in their bodies. Bless their families. Bless the work of their hands. Use their lives. Call them, Lord. Be with them. Let them know a greater sense of your presence. Give them words of wisdom. Words of knowledge. Words of encouragement.

[00:03:56] Redeem this time. Overshadow me and anything else. And make sure, God, that everything we do is edifying to you. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Jesus. In your precious name we pray. Amen. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him.

[00:04:25] For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. There are times when being a parent is challenging. There are times when minor annoyances and missteps and the need to correct and discipline and the desire, the deep desire to show love all come to bear.

[00:04:49] And we, as human beings, we as parents, we as fathers, may forget that our children are small and growing and needy and are still exploring so many things. We would do well to remember.

[00:05:12] We would do well to remember where they are. And that place of security and understanding. Not to be confused at all with the kind of permissiveness that can masquerade as love.

[00:05:37] But rather, to be established as a backbone, as a foundation, as something of our character that our children recognize and know. And even if we don't have children, for whatever reason, it is still wise to know that others, other people who upset us, who wrong us, who anger us, who oppose us,

[00:06:04] that we would remember the same about them, and particularly that we would remember this about ourselves, that we are dust. We are fallen. We are fallible. And that the proper attitude is one of humility and one of appreciation.

[00:06:34] Now, it is not exactly one of those things that we can just apply the fake it till we make it principle on. We must understand where these principles come from so that we can put them into action and do so under the leading and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Not that we're going to get everything right. But directionally, as we understand the character of God. Seen here in powerful ways.

[00:07:03] Revealed by Psalm 103. As we understand God's heart and his word. And we have the Holy Spirit speaking to us through it. That we could, for a moment, let go of so many of the things that encumber us. So that we could be equipped. So that we could understand.

[00:07:31] That the Lord, our God, who is a consuming fire. A mighty warrior. Omnipotent. Ruling and reigning. Is also forgiving. And tender. And merciful. And that he pities his children. When the Lord sees our plights.

[00:07:57] When he sees the sins that so easily beset us. When he sees us. When we are in Christ. And we are under the blood. And we have placed our faith in him. And we are saved. It is Christ's righteousness. That God sees. Let us not take that for granted. Let us not use that.

[00:08:26] As a permission slip. To do whatever we want. It would not be appropriate. Brothers and sisters. To take the things that we do. And excuse ourselves. Saying we can just put all of it under the blood. Even if we can. Even if. There are no sins. That sincere repentance. And the turning to God.

[00:08:54] Cannot be expunged by. We must not make light. Of the power of the cross. And the power of the blood. But on the opposite side. We must also not imagine. That God does not have. These qualities. That he is not merciful and gracious. That he is not slow to anger and abounding in mercy. Because he is. His word declares it to be so.

[00:09:25] And it is a right understanding. Of God's character. To appropriate these things. And it is. All together fitting and good. For us to. Remind the Lord in prayer. Of his word. Of his character. It is appropriate to do so. He has not forgotten. Who he is. But. It is a glorifying thing. When we acknowledge. Him properly.

[00:09:54] And that. We understand. At least in some small measure. What Jesus taught. That the greatest commandment. Is to love the Lord your God. With all your heart. With all your soul. With all your mind. With all your strength. And to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said that on this. Hang all the law. And all the prophets.

[00:10:22] God understands who we are. He understands who you are. He understands what you have done. He even understands what you are planning to do. He understands everything about you. He made you. And he looks upon you. And declares. Come to me. Repent. And put your faith in Jesus. And be forgiven.

[00:10:52] Be spared from the wrath. That is justly due. Upon the iniquity. That has so plagued us. As far as the east is from the west. So far has he removed our transgressions from us. And to that. We should say yes and amen. Let it be so. So who are we to be in this generation? We are to be people.

[00:11:22] Who acknowledge the character of God. In full measure. God's justice. His strength. His wrath. And his righteous anger against sin. And also. His mercy. His grace. His tenderness. God's. The phrase. His Father. Of God's tender mercies.

[00:11:50] Is something that has grown. Clearer. And clearer to me. As. I have raised my children. who are still young and who are still coming to grips with what it means to be alive, what it means to exist. Not even in an articulated sense, of course, because they're too young for that.

[00:12:16] But just experiencing what it is to be a person. And there is something transcendent in that journey. I now know that my oldest daughter is capable of making memories that will in some form or fashion be with her throughout her life.

[00:12:43] And that's not a warning to me, like, oh, I should watch what I say or I should go above and beyond to do these extraordinary things. But if I can establish for her that she has a father who is merciful and gracious instead of impatient, if I can be present for her in a real way,

[00:13:12] if I can listen to her and spend time with her and my other children and see their heart and give them space to express it while at the same time giving them proper guidance and guardrails and correction and structure and teaching,

[00:13:34] then I can see the way that the Lord will bless those efforts and establish them on a firm foundation where flourishing is possible in all the right and proper and best senses of that word. There are plenty of statistics about Christians and about Christian households,

[00:14:02] plenty of data about people leaving the faith, getting caught up in the secular ways of doing things, of succumbing to the world, of conforming to it. But that is not a law. That is not an inevitable construct of nature. There are ways to do things according to God's principles

[00:14:30] where there is forgiveness and love, but there is also structure. There is also proper teaching. There is also the right kind of guidance. And if we are not going to be paying attention to those around us, to those in our household, to those who we have charge over in any domain, how are we going to know? How are we going to receive the wisdom to know what to say,

[00:15:00] to know how to react to specific situations? We have to look to the character of God. We have to understand His tender mercies and His righteous power that has been put forth and put into practice so that we would be set free, so that we would be unchained from sin

[00:15:27] and from the captivity that it holds people in. There are so many who are asking questions, struggling, battling, exploring, trying to figure things out, trying to figure any way out of some of the messes and the challenges and the difficulties that they're in. And so many situations would be brought into proper balance

[00:15:57] by us just having a much better, a much stronger, biblically supported understanding of who God is, of what His attitude is towards us. We can get so many things wrong. We can rely on man-made religious traditions that put us in a position that we're not supposed to be in. We will inevitably accumulate

[00:16:27] and accrete different kinds of extra-scriptural and other beliefs that can come in and adulterate the pure word of the gospel and deal with the whole counsel of God in a way that is improper. We can add and we can subtract and we are guilty of both of those things in this generation

[00:16:57] and different people and different structures and different groups are guilty of both of those things but in opposite ways. It is challenging. It can feel like a minefield at times. It can feel like the straight and narrow is so straight and narrow that even if you look to the left or the right it is to topple off. But let us understand, brothers and sisters, that there is nothing and no one that can take us out of the hands of God.

[00:17:27] Let us know who we are in Him and if we are going to do that we have to know who He is. We have to know the God who we serve. We have to know that the Lord pities those who fear Him. He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. We will inevitably experience the kind of challenges of faith,

[00:17:58] the kind of difficult questions, the kind of situations where we feel like we are not in the right place. We feel and understand that because of our own actions or because of circumstances beyond our control seemingly, we have found ourselves where we are not supposed to be. And we understand that the Holy Spirit has been grieved and that the peace of the Lord

[00:18:27] has left our hearts. to get to get overly sensitive to getting bogged down in those moments. In light of eternity, what matters is will we reorient ourselves again? Will we receive from the Lord the forgiveness that He offers again? Will we move forward? Will we be bold and respond

[00:18:57] to the Holy Spirit at the first call? At the first sign of correction? Brothers and sisters, how wonderful would it be for those of you who are parents if your child obeyed flawlessly or even if they didn't, if they received correction and implemented it properly the first time? We all know that that is not the case. And yet, we continue to love our children

[00:19:26] and provide for them and give them more opportunities. How much more will our Heavenly Father who understands exactly who we are, who understands our thoughts, our dispositions, our hearts, our circumstances, how much more will He continue to show mercy and grace and pity

[00:19:55] and forgiveness? How many times has the Lord been there for you? And how many times have we delayed that kind of reconciliation for far too long because we have believed a lie, because we have not immediately gone back to the character of God, because we have not

[00:20:25] sought out His presence in those moments, in those situations? The Lord, like the father of the prodigal son, at any moment would have been ready to welcome us back, to be restored in the rightness of that relationship. God has always been ready and will always be ready to forgive.

[00:20:54] And when we turn away from that, regardless of the reason, it is a profound slight to the character of God. It doesn't bring glory to Him. It is palpably unfair and unjust of us. If an offer of forgiveness

[00:21:23] is presented, if a pardon is volunteered for us, paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ Himself, paid for in full by God, who are we to decline and refuse the benefits of that forgiveness and of that pardon for even a moment longer than is necessary? Who are

[00:21:53] we to refuse to accept God's word that we can be forgiven? God knows who we are. He knows our struggles. He understands us. He understands you. Turn and go to Him. He is slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He is merciful and gracious. He will not always

[00:22:23] strive with us. And when the challenges inevitably arise, when we find ourselves under conviction of having made a mistake, of having not dealt with our own situations, with our own relationships, with our understanding of God properly, we know that God's justice has been satisfied on

[00:22:53] the cross and that even now he has not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our iniquities. We all have testimonies of God sparing us. We all, if our minds are oriented properly at all, would understand that we do not deserve what God has provided for us. But we also don't deserve to be in a place where we should be justified

[00:23:23] in any way refusing the free gift that God has extended. Something infinitely valuable, the pearl of great price, the kingdom of God, relationship with God the Father. To turn that down, to turn our backs on that is a profound waste. At the very least, it is a waste of time. The time

[00:23:53] can be redeemed by God. But why wait? Is it a misunderstanding of God's character? Potentially. Maybe we've been taught wrong things about who God is. Maybe we have been taught the right things but we haven't understood. Maybe we've been taught the right things and we understand them but we don't care. Any one of those situations is grievous in its own right. And if you happen

[00:24:22] to find yourself in one of those camps in one of those ways, please let God's word reassure you. Read Psalm 103, our motivating text today. Sit with it. Understand what it's saying. The language is plain. It describes who God is. If you are a father, if you are a parent, it carries additional

[00:24:52] force because we understand the nature of that relationship. And nothing in this Psalm does anything to abrogate or contradict the nature of God and his character described elsewhere in the Bible. God is just. Wickedness, iniquity, sin do not go unpunished. But the consequences for our

[00:25:22] sin were paid by Jesus on our behalf. Will we spend extra time wallowing in that? Will we model something different for our children? Will we refuse to be bold and to declare who God is in our own homes and to this generation? God forbid. The Lord

[00:25:52] executes righteousness. justice for all who are oppressed. The Lord knows that we have been oppressed by sin and a culture that has stretched itself out and struggled with all of its might and with all of its strength to drive people away from the one true God. The Lord knows what we are opposing and the Lord knows what is opposing us. And

[00:26:25] the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him and his righteousness to children's children. It is a promise, a promise of an inheritance, an inheritance of righteousness, of peace, of joy in the Holy Spirit. The Lord has given us more than we could ever imagine and his promises are yes and amen.

[00:26:55] His word will never perish. It will never fall to the ground void. God will never change. His character is steadfast in the truest sense of give you. He will heal you. He will redeem your life. He will redeem the time.

[00:27:25] He crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies. He crowns us with these things. He satisfies us. He guides us. He leads us. He comforts us. He delivers us. He heals us. He forgives us. He shows us mercy. If we do not understand and experience the character of God and know

[00:27:55] him in this way, then how will we grow? How will we mature? How will we raise up our children in the way that we should go? How will we model the right kind of behavior, the right kind of perspective, the right kind of character? Even if we have as propositional knowledge in our head, how do we live it out? How do we actually be the people who we are called to be?

[00:28:26] Well, it is not through our own strength, but by the grace of God, through the strength

[00:29:00] of desire, the God of the Bible, the one true God, our Lord Jesus Christ is here. He is awaiting all those who would turn to him and place their faith in him. So who are we to ignore God's character? Who are we

[00:29:30] to malappropriate it? Who are we to not declare what he has done and who he is to this generation? Understanding that the character of God and the word of God demonstrate that he will equip us to accomplish what he has called us to do. No more excuses, no more lies, no more deception, no more

[00:30:00] misrepresentation. Whatever is in the past, whatever is in the present, whatever the future might be, let's lay it all down at the foot of the cross. Let's approach the God of the Bible, the one who is merciful and gracious, the one who pities his children, the one who knows our frame and remembers that we

[00:30:30] are dust. And let us follow him. Let us follow his word steadfastly. He is the one whose mercies are from everlasting to everlasting. No one else, nothing else. He has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules over all. Let it rule over our lives as well. Lord,

[00:31:00] thank you. Thank you for your tender mercies. Thank you for the exceeding great and precious promises of your word. Thank you for leading us. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for helping us. God, you are good and your mercies endure forever. Touch the lives of those who have heard these words. Let the power in your

[00:31:29] word be amplified, Holy Spirit. Let it go exactly where it needs to go into the hearts of those listening. Let it strengthen what needs to be strengthened. Let it remove what needs to be removed. Let it correct any misapprehensions. Let it accomplish what you have set it out to do in the minds, in the ears, and in the hearts of all of those who are listening.

[00:32:00] God, help us to have a proper understanding of who you are and your character. Help us to take that understanding and then apply it to every area of our lives. Show us how to do this, Lord. Put us in the right place. Equip us with giftings. Give us insight and wisdom and knowledge. Show us, Lord, who we are. Show us how you see us. Bring your word to life, Lord,

[00:32:30] and nourish us with it. Help us to be who we are called to be in a generation that needs to know you, needs to understand your character, and needs to be redeemed. We love you, Lord. You are faithful and good and holy and righteous and true. from everlasting to everlasting. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Amen.