Your Mercy Reaches Unto the Heavens - 240107

SPEAKER A Hello. Welcome to let God speak. I am your host, Uriah St Juste. Did you know that the psalms were written as songs to be sung? Sadly, while the words remain, the musical notation is lost, so we do not know how they were meant to be sung. What we do know, however, is that the psalms contain some of the most beautiful and uplifting words of praise and prayers to God. Today, we will reflect on one aspect of God's goodness as we study the lesson. Your mercy reaches unto the heavens. On let God speak. On our panel today, we have Gayl Fong and Kylie Fisher. Welcome, Gayl and Kylie. SPEAKER B Thank you. SPEAKER A Let us pray. Our father in heaven, we reach up to you, Lord, and we pray that you will reach down to us and give us your grace and your mercy. We are here, Lord, to study your word. And we pray that the words of scripture may bring comfort and hope to someone who may be desperately in need of it today. Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with your presence. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. SPEAKER C Amen. SPEAKER A According to NASA, which is the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the universe measures 94 million light years across. That is, the distance light would travel in 94 million years at the speed of 300,000 kilometres per second. This measurement is too big for me to wrap my head around. Yet the Bible informs us that God's mercy is bigger than the universe. Gayl, we often use words like mercy and grace, but what do they mean? Do they mean the same thing or are they different? SPEAKER C Well, looking at the dictionary, and if we go to the Webster dictionary, they have mercy there as compassion or forbearance, which is especially shown to an offender. And they also say grace, while grace is unmerited, divine assistance to the humans. So when we receive mercy from God, we do not get the punishment we deserve, and because of his grace, we also receive the favour which we do not deserve. SPEAKER A That's wonderful. So, Kylie, is God's mercy the same as human mercy, or are there any unique aspects to God's mercy? SPEAKER B So I would say, yes, there are unique aspects to God's mercy, because there's always going to be a distinction between the creator and what he has created. And so God is really. I think it's in Luke, chapter six, verse 48. It says, be you therefore merciful as your father, which is in heaven, is merciful. God is like the model for our mercy and mercy originates with God. There's some beautiful verses in Exodus 34 that describe the character of God. So Exodus 34 and verse six says, this is speaking about a time when Moses asked to see God's glory. And it says there the Lord passed before him, that's Moses. And proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abounding in goodness and truth. So God is the origin, he's the originator of mercy. It's part of his character. Whereas for us, any mercy that we express is modelled on what we see in God and often for us is like awakened by feelings of pity towards someone that's suffering. Whereas with God, we don't have to earn his mercy. SPEAKER A God is not really moved by his feelings when he extends mercy. It's just part of who he is. SPEAKER B Yeah. SPEAKER A Now, Gayl, in psalm 136, it's a beautiful psalm. It's called the great Hallel, where we get the word hallelujah from. Actually, it was used in jewish worship in the synagogues for various festivals. What is special about psalm 136? SPEAKER C Well, as you said, this verse is a praiseworthy one. And I love that because it contains 26 verses. And in each verse, Israel, and by extension, all of God's people, are called upon to give thanks to God. And they give thanks to him for who he is and for what he has done. And each verse lists God's wondrous works. And we begin with God in creation. Then it moves to the God who rescued them through the exodus, through slavery, and then it moves to during the conquest, and then in history, it moves to the nation of Israel. And, of course, it ends. And it's so relevant for each of us today, for all the struggles that we have. So each verse repeats the phrase, for his mercy endures forever. It's a wonderful one to memorise. And I was looking at that word mercy, which comes from. Translated from Cheshire. And that appears to be a word that we don't really have one word to describe in English, but literally, it's for to eternity. His love, his lovingkindness is for eternity. So that is 26 times that we are actually reminded of God's mercy that will never end. SPEAKER A Amen. That's a wonderful thing to be reminded of. Now, let's go a little deeper into psalm 136. Kylie. The nation of Israel was surrounded by nations who worshipped other gods, false gods, we may say. How does psalm 136 act as Israel was singing this psalm in worship and in festivals? How does that act as a witness to the other nations? SPEAKER B Yeah. So let's have a look at verses two and three, and I'll read those verses which says, oh, give thanks to the God of gods for his mercy endures forever o give thanks to the Lord of lords for his mercy endures forever. And so to me, that is really very plain and a very bold statement. If it was said in the wrong tone of voice, it could almost be boastful, because it's presenting God as the sovereign above all other gods, these gods that the nations worshipped. And if we look in other Bible verses, we see that really when we are not worshipping the God of heaven, we're actually worshipping our own imaginations, or we're worshipping like maybe evil angels or things like this God is placed in contradistinction to these other gods. And it's a very plain and cutting statement. And the Bible is like, that is very bold in the statements. It makes. It doesn't enter into controversy with evil, but just makes these plain, bold statements, declares the truth. Yeah. SPEAKER A And Gayl, that would be a very strong statement for Israel to make, that its God is better than all the other gods. What does the psalmist provide as evidence to support that very bold claim? SPEAKER C Yes. Well, the psalmist lists the successes of the nation of Israel in conquering other nations, but attributes these successes as the work of God. And in Bible times, wars were not just wars between nations and nations, but actually it was a battle of their gods. And of course, the God of Israel, he was the great winner of battles and he came through. So the key in psalm 136 is that Jehovah was the creator or that our personal God, that self existent one. And just reading in psalm 136, verses five and six, it says, to him who by wisdom made the heavens, for his mercy endures forever. To him who laid out the earth above the waters, for his mercy endures forever. So naturally, the God who created the sun is far greater than the sun God. SPEAKER A Amen. Amen. That's very good. Now, King David was a mighty man. He was a very successful conqueror and a very respected leader in Israel. But he had a big problem on his hand. He had committed adultery, sadly, and had a man killed to cover up his sin. Kylie, what did King David do when he was confronted about his sin? SPEAKER B Yeah. Well, he had a different response to some of the characters in the Bible who tried to dismiss the words of the prophets. And so actually he wrote a psalm to express his response. We can see that psalm 51 in the little introductory statement there was in response to when Nathan the prophet came in and rebuked David. And so let's have a look at verse one that says, have mercy upon me, o God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. So, yeah, when David was confronted with his sin, he appealed to God's mercy. He knew that his only hope was in the mercy of God. SPEAKER A And earlier we said that mercy was asking for the offence, the crime to be waived. Gayl, is David here asking God to overlook his sin, to give him a free pass? Is that how mercy operates? SPEAKER C No. The purpose of God's mercy is for reconciliation, rehabilitation and restoration of the sinner. And just reading, continuing in psalm 51, verses six and seven, the psalmist continues, behold, you desire truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part. You will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hisop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. So the sinner is not focusing on escaping from punishment. He recognises his condition, but he desires truth to be told, because this is the only way that we can actually be reconciled with God, is if we admit our guilt. And that's the work of the Holy Spirit, drawing us to want to do that. So he also wants the offensiveness of sin to be removed from his character, from his heart, because he's actually so sorry for what he has done. And only God can wash the sinner clean. Verses ten and eleven. Go on. Create in me a clean heart, o God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence. Do not take your holy spirit from me. This is very well known verse, because only God can recreate. Only God can make something from nothing and he needs that purity of heart which only God can do. Create in me that clean heart. And, of course, don't take the Holy Spirit away. Without the Holy Spirit, we can never achieve purity of heart. SPEAKER A He wants the relationship to be restored. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER A Now we go to a short psalm, psalm 130. Kylie, is there a connection between psalm 130 and psalm 51? SPEAKER B Yeah, well, I think that there is. So let's read verses one and two from psalm 130, which says, out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. And if you go on and look at the next verses, which we'll look at shortly, we can see that it's talking about iniquity and forgiveness. And so, yes, I would say that there is a connection, because both of them are experiences of people that have sinned. So we don't know who wrote psalm 130, but it's clearly somebody that has sinned in some way and they recognise that their only hope is in the mercy of God. Yeah. SPEAKER A And it is quite refreshing to know that God is ever willing to listen and to give his undivided attention, even when we make mistakes and we are in a low point in our life. I just want to read psalm 130, verse three, which says, if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, o Lord, who could stand? Gayl, does God keep a record of sin? SPEAKER C Well, the Bible describes the judgement that God will undertake. And we get a picture of that in the book of Daniel, in Daniel, chapter seven. But just reading verse ten. But the other verses around it also paint the picture for us. But it says, a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. A thousands ministered to him. 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. The court was seated and the books were opened. So here we see that there is a court seated. It's in the heavenly realm. And there's evidence that there are books, books there that have records, obviously, of our lives. So we can also read in the book of revelation, revelation twelve, sorry, 20 and verse twelve. And we read, this is quite a deep study, but we're sort of skimming over the surface here to the very end of time. And we read in verse twelve of chapter 20. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. So it's very clear we see here that the wicked actually, that those who do not accept God's gift of salvation, that they are judged out of the books as well, those things, the record of their lives, the choices we've made. SPEAKER A So everything that we do, God keeps a very accurate record of it. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER A What about those who accept God's gift of salvation and are saved guilt. What about them and the record of their sins? SPEAKER C Well, it says in psalm 130 and verse four, but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. SPEAKER B Praise the Lord. SPEAKER C We can do a praise there. God's mercy is extended to those who accept his gift of salvation. I'm so grateful for that. There is forgiveness for my sins. There's forgiveness for our sins. And this ties us back to psalm 51, that beautiful psalm that expresses so well a prayer of repentance. Psalm 51. And as Kylie read before in verse one, have mercy upon me, o God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. And then in verse nine, hide your face from my sins, blot out all our iniquities. So all my iniquities, I should say. So those who accept God's gift of salvation have the benefit of having their sins not only forgiven, but blotted out, totally erased from the record forever. So they do not receive God's eternal punishment, but eternal reward. SPEAKER A Amen. And God actually says that he remembers them no more. He even actually erases them from his own memory. And I want to read psalm 135, verse 13. Sorry. Psalm 51. Sticking to psalm 51, verse 13. It says, this is David writing, after God forgives him of his sin, then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted to you. Here, David promises to God that if his sins are forgiven, then he will teach others God's way. Kylie, how is this point fulfilled in psalm 130? SPEAKER B Yeah. So let's have a look at verses seven and eight, and I'll read those. So, psalm 130, verses seven and eight says, o Israel, hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him there is abundant redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. And so the person that was writing this psalm, his own personal experience of God's mercy, led him to tell others and to a whole nation that they could be forgiven. And I think we were speaking about Daniel just before. I think Daniel, the prayer of Daniel in Daniel, chapter nine is a real example of that. And it's really based on that psalm and that wonderful hope that's there. SPEAKER A It's wonderful that we could share with others that we have had forgiveness with God, so that when we feel burdened and weighted down by the guilt of sin, we can let them know that there is a God who forgives and who erases that sin. And they can feel a lot lighter carrying less of a burden. Now, we look at two other psalms that reflect two separate aspects of God's character. Gayl. Psalm 113. What is the focus of psalm 113? SPEAKER C Well, psalm 113, that's a beautiful psalm. And it begins by calling for God to be praised and to be praised continually. I like that. So this praise is called for in the context of God's majesty. And just reading psalm 113 and verses four and five, the Bible says, the Lord is high above all nations, his glory above the heavens, who is like the Lord our God, who dwells on high. So he portrays God here, the psalmist, as high and exalted, of which he is. And the same God is also portrayed, though, as not being too aloof, that he does not enter into the realm of mankind. And if we read on in the next verses, verses five, and six, it says, who is like the Lord our God, who dwells on high, who humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens? And, of course, verse seven, he raises the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy out of the ash heaps. So from the high and exalted God down he comes down to the very lowly to lift us up. He's interested in all the affairs of our lives. It really shows that mercy and that compassion of God. So he's not too high and exalted to be interested in our lives. SPEAKER A And I love that the psalmist is very careful to describe this particular attribute, because when we talk about praise to God, we're talking about a God who's so grand, so big, that he is bigger than even the universe, but he is also intimately involved in our lives. He descends even to the lowest of the low and reaches and touches them. Kylie, what about psalm 123? What is the message in this psalm? SPEAKER B Yeah, so this psalm is quite a contrast, actually. As you were saying before, there's quite a contrast to psalm 113. And it says, sort of, there's a statement before even verse one which says, a song of ascents. And so this was believed to be sung by pilgrims as they were going up to Jerusalem. Because when you went to Jerusalem, you always went up, was on such a high mountain. So, yeah, I'll read verse. I'll read verse one, which says unto you, I lift up my eyes, o you who dwell in the heavens. And verse two says, behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy on us. So while psalm 113 praises God for his majesty, this verse praises. Or this psalm, I should say, praises God for his mercy. And, yeah, his mercy is such an important part of his character that sets him apart from all other gods. And so as we look at verse three, it says, have mercy on us, o Lord. Have mercy on us, for we are exceedingly filled with contempt. And so the person writing this psalm was experiencing like oppression from their enemies. And so he was pleading for God's mercy, for God to stand up and defend him. Yeah. So that's what the focus of that. SPEAKER A Very good. And I can't help but notice in verse one, it says unto you, do I lift up my eyes who dwell in the heavens? So as they were walking, marching towards Jerusalem, their eyes were not on Jerusalem. Their eyes went beyond to the God of Israel who dwelt in the heavens. Now, Kylie. Psalm 103 and verse one, I'm just going to read this. Verse 103 and verse one, it says, bless the Lord, o my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name. I am familiar in the Bible with God blessing people. God blessing us. How can we bless God? Is that even possible? SPEAKER B Yeah. So it's one of these words that has different meaning depending on the context. Like, you might say, where is the trunk? Well, it might be on the face of an elephant or holding up the branches of a tree or whatever. It has a range of meanings. And it's sort of the general meaning is like favour. And so when God favours us and blesses us, he confers a benefit. But when we bless God, we are praising and worshipping God. So I think the answer for this is in psalm 116. And beginning at verse twelve, it says, what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. So when we worship God, when we praise him, when we pray to him, when we sing songs to him, all of these things are ways that we can bless God. SPEAKER A Amen. Especially when we do it publicly, we are witnessing to his goodness. We are extending the influence of people that can know God. It is a blessing to him. Now, Gayl, psalm 103 calls on us to not forget any of God's benefits. We have been studying God's mercy in today's lesson. How is God's mercy reflected in psalm 103? SPEAKER C Well, the psalmist describes God here in verse, psalm eight of psalm 103. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. Sounds a little like in Exodus. Kylie was reading earlier. So the God is merciful. That is who he is, and he is filled with mercy. But this suggests an infinite supply of mercy. And then reading verse ten, he has not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our iniquities. So there's a classical definition there of mercy operating on our behalf. And then in verse eleven. For as the heavens are higher above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who fear him. So finally, we're sure that God's mercy. It's huge. It's as vast as the universe. SPEAKER A Wonderful. SPEAKER C We cannot understand it. SPEAKER A Now, I cannot end without reading psalm 57, verse nine and ten, which says, I will praise you, o Lord, among the peoples. I will sing to you among the nations. For your mercy reaches unto the heavens and your truth unto the clouds. Kylie, what would it be like if we do not praise God? SPEAKER B Yeah. So I think reading a verse outside of the psalms, Matthew 516 says, let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. So if we don't praise God openly, and in fact even to other people who don't acknowledge God, then he loses the glory and the honour that's due to his name. And so many people today are wandering away from God. More and more, the world is forgetting God. And when we praise God especially for his mercy, that's what the Bible calls on us to do. That's how we can bless God. SPEAKER C Amen. SPEAKER A Thank you, ladies. That's all the time we have for today. Thank you very much. In many countries of the world where there is a king or a queen as the head of state, there is what is called the prerogative of mercy. This is the power of the sovereign to grant a pardon to a convicted criminal. While the prerogative of mercy frees the criminal from the sentence of their conviction, they are still guilty in the eyes of the law. However, when God extends mercy on the sinner and pardons their sin, not only are they free from the penalty of sin, he also frees them from the power of sin, the presence of sin, and declares that they are innocent and their record is wiped clean forever. I don't know about you, but I would rather have pardon from God than any earthly ruler. We are glad that you have joined us today on let God speak. Remember, all past programmes plus teachers notes are available on our website, 3abnaustralia.org.au. That's the number 3 and the letters ABN australia.org au. Or you can email us on [email protected]. join us again next time. God bless. SPEAKER D You have been listening to Let God Speak, a production of 3ABN, Australia. Television. To catch up on past programs, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au Call us in Australia on 024-973-3456 or email [email protected] We'd love to hear from you.