All right, cool. So the song Rock of Ages is one of these songs that the author was picturing Christ and the rock out in the wilderness. There was a rock that poured water from it. He had an opportunity to go hide in a rock and was picturing that same rock. And there's a number of really cool metaphors in this song about hiding in that same rock that water came out of that is compared to Christ being the rock. But there's a number of things here that the author says, well, look, there's a lot of things we could try for our salvation. We could try tears, but no, that's not true. Christ is the only one who can save us. There's nothing that we can bring. We just cling to the cross of Jesus. That's what's in here. That we have nothing to do but to look to Christ for grace. We are foul, it says, and we got to run to the fountain that will cleanse us from our stains. And it's Christ, who's the rock that we get to hide in. And that kind of fits into the idea of what it is that we wanted to look at today. Today we're talking about Christ, being merciful and gracious. In fact, specifically we're looking at the Old Testament to see how God the Father reflects that same attitude towards us. Merciful and gracious. Raise your hand if you had a chance to read these two chapters this past week. Hey, that's better. Keep it up guys. I want to encourage everybody to continue to read. There's two specific passages. The first one that we're going to look at comes from Isaiah 55 verse 8. And I just wanted to ask, God in the Old Testament, God in the Old Testament, how, as you picture God in the Old Testament, how does that impact your life today? Just God in the Old Testament. He is the same. Yes. That's a true statement. Yes. Steve? I guess he's proved his faithfulness to his covenant people in the Old Testament, and he's promised to do the same for us. Yeah, yeah, very good. Jen? I'd say it highlights his power and his majesty and his magnificence, but it also is a progression of God wants to have a relationship with us, and everything he did is to have a relationship with us. Yeah, okay, cool. Here's a Here's another question, change the subject slightly. What do you think when you hear somebody say, or when you say it, God's ways are not our ways? Yes? I feel like something that might first pop in your mind is like, oh, he did something in a way that I wouldn't do. Right. Absolutely. And that's fair, right? Because God's the claim. My ways are not your ways. And so, any other thoughts? Yes. That one usually gives me hope because I'm usually in a desperate situation when I think of that one. I don't know what to do. I'm, I'm beyond my mental capacity of what's going on. Okay. God's got it. His ways are not my ways. Yeah. God's providence is a weird and uh, we're going to figure this thing out, right? Because I don't have to worry about it. God's got this one. I'm going to pray. I'm going to put it in his hands. I'm sure he's put me here for his reason. Yes. It brings me to a discussion we were having recently where folks want God to think like we do. You know, why would God do this? Why would God do that? So that phrase makes me think of that because we're not God and he doesn't think the way we think. He created everything that is. I did not. So, yeah, his ways are definitely not... Yeah. Can you guys close that door? Absolutely. You know, let's just say, I don't know, something bad happens, and I've always grown up when something bad happens, and I know that God's sovereignly in control, this is the thing that I would be like, oh, well, God's ways are not my ways, I know He's in control, and I know He's got a good purpose for whatever is going on, whatever's happening. Both the author and John Calvin say that's not the right way to interpret that passage. So if you've gone around your life carrying that verse, thinking that that's what that's about, The author says no. So strap your seatbelt on if you haven't had a chance to read the chapter. And let's dive into this and take a look at it. Last week we started looking at the heart of God in the Old Testament. We're continuing to do it this week. And let's pause just for a minute and let's seek God on this. Heavenly Father, I know that your ways are not my ways, because your word asserts that that's true. And I pray, Heavenly Father, that you'd help us to understand your intent when you said that, to understand it rightly, to see your words in their context in the way that you intended to say them. I thank you, Heavenly Father, that you've given us your word in English. so that we don't have to learn some foreign language and foreign concepts and foreign ideas, I'm sorry, in foreign ways to understand what you have to say, but really smart people have done a really good job of translating the Bible to us. And I thank you, God, that we can read it in our language. I pray, Heavenly Father, that as we interact around these thoughts and these ideas today, that you would help us to understand who you are more rightly. that you would incline our hearts, that we would push past the things that veil our eyes and the inclinations that our heart has to think the natural ways. And I pray, Heavenly Father, that we would think godly ways after you, because you are kind and loving. It's your testimony that you are abounding in loving kindness, that you are slow to anger. And I pray, Heavenly Father, that we would truly understand more deeply, that you would give us the ability to truly understand more deeply the love that you have for us, as you explain it to us, not based on our inclination, our gut feel, or anything, but what your word tells us is true. And that we would trust that, and that the truth of that would sink down deep into our hearts. Help me, Heavenly Father, and us to communicate well. We need your help this day, God, as we talk through these amazing truths about who you are. Amen. You know, we are made in the image of God. There's an aspect of God that we share. Anybody tell me some examples of things that we share, aspects or nature that we share with God. Yes? Creativity. Yeah, fantastic. What else? Yes. Relationship. Relationship. Fantastic. With one another, God has relationship inside the Trinity. Yes. Yes. Love for justice. Oh, yeah. Love for justice. And God is just. Yes. Emotions. Oh, yes. Emotions. Fantastic. These are all really good examples. God loves and so do we. God expresses, God is infinitely wisdom wise, and we have some knowledge of wisdom and things like that. It's oftentimes though, when we strive to perceive who God is, it's like standing on a mountain, trying to look through a hazy day to another mountain range off in the distance. There's, I can sense that there's a, There's something there, I can see the outline of it, I can understand because what God has revealed is truth, but I don't see the grandeur of that until the clouds get wiped away and then you can actually see the immensity of what's there, the majesty, the glory, the beauty of what's there. And as we study God's word, the clouds of our perception of who God is start to clear away. As we grow in sanctification, because That also happens because our sin nature in the fall veils who God is from us. It clouds our vision and our understanding of who God is. And so, we naturally see ourselves in God. And as we see ourselves in God, what we start to do is we start to ascribe our selfishness to God. we start to ascribe our impatience to God. We start to ascribe to him things that we have inside of us that we struggle with, or that we enjoy, right? That we start to think, well, if I'm like that, then God's like that too. We either do it subtly, not even thinking it through, or we do it actively. I would never do that, therefore God. I've heard people say this before, I could never worship a god that... Let's open our Bibles up to Isaiah 55. I think Isaiah is one of my favorite books in the Old Testament. But it's not my favorite by a lot, because I got a lot of favorites. It says, starting with verse one, but really where I want you to start to pay attention, but this is so glorious, I want to read the whole thing. Where I really want you to start paying attention is when we get to verse six through nine. Verse one, come, everyone who thirsts. Come to the waters. and he who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligent to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live. and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and hills before you shall break forth in singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. I'll stop there, but I like to keep reading. And so, Here, right in the midst of this verse, this passage, we have this concept, this idea of God's ways not being our ways. But look at what is in this passage. If we just look at verses six to nine, what is the command, or maybe I should say, what are the commands in this passage? Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, all right. What's another command that's in the passage? Forsake your way. Anything else? Right. What else? Return to the Lord. Yeah. That's all I thought that was there. I'm going to assert to us that seek the Lord and call upon Him are parallel commands. It's the same thing saying it two different ways. So the command is to seek the Lord will just double them up, repent, and then there's a following command that says, return to the Lord, which also sounds to me like seeking the Lord. So God's desire here, God's desire is for the people of Israel, and by extension, us who are grafted in, what is the command? for us. How do we act out this command? What's an example of doing this? Obeying his statutes. Okay. That's potentially a derivative of that. Why do you say though, let me make sure I understand you correctly, Why do you say obeying his statutes is the same as seeking the Lord? When I think of the statutes and the commandments, I look at them as a reflection of his character. Seeking the Lord and obeying the statutes. Okay. Alright. Statutes of God reflect His character, so seeking God and obeying, yeah. I gotcha. Alright, cool. Yes, yes. Yes, Greg. I mean, going back to last week's message, you know, the great commandment that they were testing Jesus, you know, He said, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and strength. And that's it. And everything derives from that, being faithful and obedient and desiring his word, you know, fellowshipping with him. So it all flows out of that. So that's seeking that, doing that, and loving him. Yeah. Loving him. That's the thing. The last part that you said, And I understand obedience and loving God are tied together. But when I think of seeking the Lord, I think of my affections. I'm thinking, and Joel, that was tied in with what you said as well, and I appreciate that. That seeking the Lord is something that I don't think can be done without relationship with God. Drawing near to God means spending time with God. Spending time listening to what his word has to say and understanding his precepts. Absolutely. And a returning and a repenting, repenting is forsaking those sins and I think that it's an interesting thought that sins are the things that we tend to hide. and would be the primary thing that keeps me from drawing near to the Lord. And you see this clearly reflected in the garden. The very first thing that Adam and Eve did after they sinned was they went and hid because all of a sudden they knew that they were naked. And when we sin, we also recognize who we are. We're exposed before God in ways that we don't want to be exposed. It is a barrier to drawing near. And so repenting, repenting and forsaking those things removes that barrier and a humble repentance allows us to draw near to God. So not only is it loving God and spending time with God, but drawing near or seeking God, I think is tied in also with a spirit of humility that says, God, I know that I have been wrong and I agree with you, and I would like to draw near to you again. And in fact, it's just a few chapters before this that God, acknowledging the sin of the people of Israel, has the prophet write down, all of us like sheep have gone astray. That's in Isaiah 53. And so in verse 7, what does God say his response is going to be to the command? We're exegeting this together, by the way. What does God say his response is to those people who seek the Lord, call upon him, repent, and return to the Lord? Yes? That sounds stingy to me. No! Abundantly means, you know, you show up to dinner and somebody not only pays the bill, but they tip the bill too. You know what I mean by tip the bill? 100% tip. Yeah, so that's like abundant, but then even more so. In this case, you think about it like this. Picture a lot of money in your head for one quick second. Maybe it's $5,000. Maybe it's, I don't know, more than that. It's teeny compared to God's abundance. And in this case, the abundance of the Lord is pardon. How often, when we come to the Lord, do we recognize the abundant pardon of God that's available to us? that we don't have to go through some kind of heroic act to get God's favor. That it's been done already, and God's own testimony is, those who seek me, he will have compassion on them and abundantly pardon. The story of the prodigal son, right, the son comes back, he's, if you follow the story, basically he said, hey dad, I want my inheritance, which is basically saying, I wish you were dead and I could have my money now. And then he went and threw it away. and he had nothing, and he came back to his dad. After completely insulting and doing everything wrong towards his dad, and his dad sees him far off, and he runs to him. He runs to him, and his son has his speech prepared, right? And he can't even get his speech out. He's like, dad, I, and he's like, shh, shh, shh. Hey, kill the fat cat. That's abundantly pardoning. The son deserved to be able to get his speech out. The son should have been in the dirt for a long time to get that kind of pardon. He deserved to grovel for a little while. The dad should have had his opportunity to say, I told you so. When you took that money, when you made me, when all these things happened, Let's ask another question. Have you ever had a child that drives you crazy? No. I know enough about the people in this room. And the answer is yes. But your heart inclines toward them. They make you nuts. And you need some space because otherwise you're going to get into arguments and stuff like that. But you can't wait to see them. When you see them, you miss them, your heart's towards them. You want them to seek you. You want them to ring the phone. Hey, I was hoping that you could tell me something. You would go crazy and nuts for them to go, I'm sorry that... And I agree with you that you were right. And you would be thrilled to abundantly pardon your child. You are not God. And you know a small piece of who that is, because you're made in the image of who God is. God says, I will abundantly pardon. I will have compassion. And the compassion of God extends from His love. And you know what Paul says? His love is so deep. and so wide that we can't understand it apart from Him enabling us. And even then, it's unfathomable love. Yes? So, the more we talk about it, the more I feel like we, collectively, as believers, not just the person it's from, but just globally, Specifically in America. I don't think we get the whole concept of abundance. Of what that is, or who God is. And what was said earlier about loving God with all our heart, mind, and soul. I don't think we get that. And I think we don't get it because God is an intellectual entity for us. And he's saying, I don't want to be an intellectual entity. I want to have a relationship with you. And my personal observation is that most of us do not have that relationship that he's talking about, or even on track for that relationship. Because we are just looking at, we're still legalistic in our minds. Do this, don't do that. And that's not who God is. That's just an outflow from that relationship. Well, here's something that I need you to do. to keep that right relationship with me, et cetera. But he wants a relationship. And a relationship is an emotional thing, as well as something that we do. When you first, I'll speak for the guy, when you first see that woman that you think you want to marry, you're just crazy. It's an emotion. And although you have to intellectually make a decision, it's emotion and you're all in. At least until you say, I do. So, but I think we miss that with God. He wants Doug to be intimate with him. He wants Ricardo to be intimate with him. And I just think that we miss it. And so even though we intellectually talk about it, I think we still miss it. And everybody does. But there are some who have come close to getting that. You know that David came close to it because he said, as a deer pants for water, so my soul longs for the Lord." That's emotion. That's passion. In fact, that approaches what God is saying is the response to the command that's written here. Draw near to me. Seek the Lord. Call upon me. That's what God's talking about. And, you know, we think a lot of times, well, I got to pay back something before I can. And I think a lot of times that's because that's how we treat other people. And that's how we are. And we're reflecting us in the God unjustly. Anyway, I think that's something to repent from. And the good news is, is God already told us what he's going to do when we repent. Abundantly pardoned. He will have compassion on us. You know, we're a lot like little children to God. My sons, grandsons, my grandsons yesterday got their first crabs. And there's a picture, I can show it to you afterwards. I would love to show it. They both have unopened crabs. They're sitting there red with Old Bay on them and stuff like that. And all they have is their hands up like this with mallets. My grandson said, I smashed a crab today. Pulverize it. Wank, wank, wank, wank, wank, wank. And that's cute. But if I do that at a seafood place, you all would be like, Doug, what's going on? That's not how you're supposed to eat a crab, right? God looks at us like the little kids. I think that sometimes He's like, you're being so cute, but you're wrong. Come here. Come here. I have compassion for you. I have pardon for you. Let my spirit help you. Let my spirit help you to counsel you and to guide you. That's why I put Him inside of you. And God will abundantly pardon you. It wraps His arms around us. Why does God abundantly pardon? Because His ways are not our ways. Yes! God abundantly pardons because His ways are not our ways. Look at this. Look at the amazing, what He says. For he will abundantly pardon, for, that's the word there that attaches it back, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways. It goes both directions, right? Your thoughts are not my thoughts, my ways are not your ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. I don't know what the people of Israel thought about the height of the heavens, but I know the truth about the heights of the heavens because they got telescopes that look at it. And I know God understands the height of the heavens. What that's saying is the Andromeda galaxy is not close enough to describe how much higher God's ways are than my ways. He is literally light years more loving, more forgiving, more compassionate than I am. If you want to test this out, just take this as a homework assignment this week. Be slow to anger. That's my homework assignment last week and the week before. Yeah, just go ahead and keep trying it. We'll take notes together. See how many minutes you last when somebody steps on your toe. I'm just going to stop driving. Yeah. Stay off the roads. Don't associate with people. And then you hurt your back and you all of a sudden are no longer long suffering, right? Blah, blah, blah. Yeah. My ways are not your ways, says the Lord. It's like a wise adult saying it to a three-year-old who's crying because the bug died that he stepped on. Or his Lego got broken and he could just put it right back together again. Yes, I see some parents of Lego children in the room. And I can't play with the toy right now because my sibling has it. That's why God abundantly pardons. We live in a land of reciprocity. Does that make sense? There's a, there's a, I got a score sheet. I've got a mental score sheet in my head. It's always, it's always towards my favor. That's just the truth of all of us. I know you well enough. It's always a little bit skewed towards my favor. And I always want to be ahead a little bit. That's where I am. As long as I'm ahead a little bit, the score is balanced. That's not the way God is. Anyway, by the way, God's infinite. and owns everything. And fairness, our fairness, often favors ourselves. God doesn't feel like, and this is my understanding, is that God doesn't feel like fairness has to be balanced towards himself, because he's God. And so he's ready to pass these things by and bring us all back together towards himself. Draw near to me, he says. Come here. Calvin wrote, talking about Isaiah, but the prophet's meaning I think is different, talking about this statement, God's ways are not my ways, right? and more correctly explained, according to my judgment, by other commentators who think that he draws a distinction between God's disposition and man's disposition. Men want to judge and measure God from their selves, for their hearts are moved by angry passions and are very difficult to be appeased, and therefore they think they cannot be reconciled to God when they have once offended Him but the Lord shows that he is far from resembling men." What Calvin is saying is that, look it, we're slow to respond when somebody draws near to us. You've offended me and we have not settled this debt yet. And that's not how God is. You draw near to God and God's like, that's cool, let's go. We're right back here. We'll forget about it. I know that thing happened. We all know that thing happened, but let's restore our relationship now. Let's restore our relationship. That's who God is. The author has some really powerful and creative words in this chapter. Our lethargic apprehensions of the uproarious joy of divine pardoning lower the ceiling on whom we perceive God to be, but they do not limit who God in fact is. Does this match your perception of who God is? Does this, this concept right here of God being abundant and compassionate and quick to draw us towards himself, does that match your concept of who God is? If not, hey, I say repent, because that doesn't match what God's word reveals himself to be. But even in that, don't repent like, oh, woe is me, I don't get God. You know what I mean? It's like, okay, we're just going to turn from that thought. I'm going to try with all my strength to set that thought of who God is aside and try to embrace who God reveals himself to be. There's a really cool parallel passage here. to his ways are higher than our ways. Can I ask a general question for anybody? What are the steps to repentance? What are the steps to building a better relationship with God? Not his part, but our part. I've kind of been thinking about this, that we're only pardoned and His ways are not our ways. And I think where we see that is when we bring up to mind our sins, either before salvation or when we stumbled after salvation. We pray and ask forgiveness for those, but we still bring them to mind. Then we'll pray again, forgive me. And so we, and you've heard that phrase, forgive and forget. Well, we tend not to do that. But we're told that as far as the east is from the west is how far he pardons us. He separates us. And when he looks at us through Christ, he no longer sees that sin. And that's amazing. where His ways are not our ways. We still call to mind past sins, like I said, but He will, even though He's God and He's omniscient and all-knowing, yet He chooses, as He looks at us through Christ, that He no longer sees that sin staying on us. He sees us through Christ, that spotless Lamb. And that's pretty amazing. His ways are not our ways, you know. And, you know, in glory, those things will be removed and, you know, we'll no longer call those to mind. We'll have that complete. Yeah. That partly, I think, answers your question. How do we... Ask the question again. How do we repent? Yeah, what are the steps? What are the steps to repentance? What are the steps to building a relationship? you know, a restorative relationship with God. And again, not his side of it, but our side of it. Yeah. Yeah. And I would even add to that, how do we now retrain our guts to think rightly of who God is? Because I think that that information, deep down inside of us, will inform and direct that. And, me, that's my thought. What else do you guys think? I want to reflect back on what Greg was saying. What I heard, not the words, but what I heard or saw was that he's reflecting. on God deeply, that he's thinking about these things. And I think that's part of the answer, because he's like, hey, I want to connect with you. So I'm thinking about who you are and what that means to me. And he's not just reading the words. And so even though he didn't say that, that's what I gathered from what he just said, because to me it was deep. I'm reflecting on you, and I think that's part of it. For me, that's how I continually build that relationship with him. It's the reflection, the thinking, the applying. It started here. It started here and it ended here. Yeah, I think so too. That concept of saying, hey, Wow, this is something Christ paid for also. Which I think feathers in with what you were talking about. And to know, oh, this was really terrible. This was a wrong thing, that was embarrassing, or whatever. Christ paid for that too. Joel. For me, back to what Greg and Ricardo were saying, I make it a point to make sure my repentance is consummated with joy in the sense that I'm very convicted of the fact that I think repentance is the single act that gives God the greatest magnitude of glory. in the sense that, exactly as Greg said, you're acknowledging this wide chasm between man and God, and you're like, who could possibly save me again? Here's Jesus Christ. I mean, imagine the amount of glory and testimony that you're just giving out in the midst of your repentance. I mean, there are powers and principalities in all of creation, but if you're repenting, they're like, what's going on here? And you're like, you're horrible, you know what I mean? Ultimately, that consummates in joy for you. Yeah. And that joy is a step of faith. There's a book I read called Spiritual Disciplines and I think that helped me kind of just get some practical ways to do this. So for example, one of them, practicing the presence of God. Just remembering that God's always with you. Things like journaling, if you want to put it into just more practical instead of just out there, repent, pray, you know, that kind of thing. There are books out there that really pinpoint, and you don't do, there's no way you can do all of them, and it's not a list of roles, but it's just some ways that help, oh yeah, this really connects with me, this is how I, You know, if journaling is my thing, or whatever it is, some practical tips on how to do it. And it does, it keeps your mind just continually focused. You know, as I think, God is right here next to me, I can talk to him whenever, that kind of thing, just remembering that helps. I know someone, he's a pastor, and he journals. He encourages everyone to do it, but he always shares. But his journal is so personal with God and with everyone else. And so you can see his dialogue with God, because that's what he's journaling about. It's not like, oh, I've got to pick flowers today. Right, exactly. If you pick flowers, it's the experience that he had knowing that God created that flower and the beauty of the flower. So it's really this connectivity with God on so many different levels. I think our relationship is strengthened through practice. Practice. Let's talk about what I mean by that. If anybody ever played any sports, or even played at sports I should say, or anything that requires, let's say playing an instrument, or something that requires a little bit of muscle memory, when you're at it, you start to get sharper and sharper, even video games by the way, you get sharper and sharper and sharper as you play it. And some things now you start to do without having to think about it. And if you step away, even if you step away from the gym let's say, and then some period of time later you come back to it, you are a klutz compared to what you were before. And I think our relationship with God can be the same sort of thing. If we are practicing at the relationship, this is true with people as well, If I'm practicing at a relationship and building a relationship with people, there are things that just start to become natural. There are things that we will laugh about together quickly without having to explain it. There are things that we'll enjoy together and we'll perceive together without having to work through that thing. And I think that there is a, this stuff with God starts to come together in our minds as we're about the daily, I'm just hanging out with God. I'm just there. Your word today, God, is my sustenance, is another way of thinking. And I think that that also builds what you're talking about because it informs and it deepens and strengthens our relationship with who God is. Any other thoughts? Yes? I would just say, like, with that question, it's a really good question, and I thought there's already been amazing answers. For me, it would just be, it's very easy, but it would just be knowing who God is, not from people's opinions or anything like that. just simply what people and God says about himself and seeing what God describes what he's done and it's amazing when he talks about it if someone else is like to speak how God speaks about himself you would think arrogant very proud very proudful but when God does it he just speaks the honest truth of who he is merciful when he speaks to Moses I am exceedingly merciful exactly it's not like I'm arrogant it's just the truth And when you read what it's specifically, not people's opinions on how God is, when you actually read on how God is from Him Himself, from His Word. Long story short, like if you look at the book of Ephesians, two halves, first three chapters, last three chapters. First three chapters is all about who God is, what He's done for us, everything like that. Then the last three chapters are why we do what we do, how we should live for Him, but it's important that Paul started with what God has done for us first, just to kind of answer the question of how can I repent from feeling how God is from my personal ways to believe in what he says. It's rather simple, I mean, not very complex, but to answer it simply, believe in what he says about himself, nothing of what anyone else says, just purely what he says about himself. Yeah, absolutely. Turn to Psalm 103. Steve, I'm afraid we're not going to cover much of chapter 18, so you can pick that up next week and cover the other two chapters that you have on top of that. You'll have to do two songs next week also while you're at it. Psalm 103. The reason why I want to go to Psalm 103 is because this is the one passage where it talks about as high as the heavens are up here, which is a direct tie-in to what we just saw in Isaiah 55. Look at Psalm 103, starts and ends with, bless the Lord, O my soul, and then gives gazillions of reasons for us to do that. That's the encapsulation of Psalm 103. But if you look down, well, let's look at it, right? Let's not forget all God's benefits. Who forgives your iniquity, which is kind of like what we've been talking about. Abundantly pardoned. He has compassion. He heals your diseases, which I think is tied into our disease of sin. Who redeems your life from the pit. Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy. Who satisfies you with goods that your youth is renewed like the Eagles. Not the Philadelphia Eagles. But look at all these things that God does. Look at how amazing and kind and compassionate our Lord is. And we can camp out on this. Ricardo, this kind of gets back also to the question that you were asking. How do I do that? Memorize passages like this and contemplate and meditate on who God is. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. Wait, when did God do that? He's gonna explain it to us. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Anybody recognize that? We just talked about that last week, didn't we? I'm sorry, here in Psalm 103, David's pointing back to what God said about himself when he revealed his glory to Moses. It's right here. merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, he will not always chide nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgression from us. As a father, he shows compassion to his children, So the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. Anybody want to understand, just read that and picture how much God forgives us. How compassionate God is. The abundance of God's love and kindness that he would take our sins and go, nope, gone. And he does not repay us according to our iniquities. That is a gracious loving Heavenly Father who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Oh God, help us to see. Open my eyes. And that's another thing. Earnestly praying that God would help us to see who he is and that it would impact our lives so that we would grow in sanctification and treat other people the way God would treat us. Oh, to grow in sanctification. It puts a different target on what sanctification means. Growing to be like God, in that sense. Let's turn the page, and I'm going to spend just a few minutes talking about, let's see how far down I can scratch. Because the next chapter in the book, any thoughts or questions? The next chapter of the book is from Jeremiah, Jeremiah 31. And in case you haven't had a chance to read it recently, I recommend reading Jeremiah 30 all the way through 31. What you see there is probably one of the most treasured passages, and describes and explains the New Covenant. And it's echoed again, and it's that God would take the people of Israel. In fact, if you look at the context of Jeremiah, he spends the first 29 chapters saying, losers! He's like, I told you. Repent! Come back to me! Come back to me! You sinned again and again and again! 29 chapters, and it gets to chapter 30, and God says, I'm going to be gentle to you. I'm going to be kind to you. I'm going to make you return to me. And the verse that the author wants to draw us to, and we've got time. Turn to Jeremiah 30. Let's not hurry through this. It is a rich treasure. Let's see who God is. Here's the people of Israel. Right? Verse 12. For thus says the Lord, your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous. There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you. All your lovers have forgotten you, they care nothing for you. That's the people of Israel. And then he goes down, if we jump forward a little bit, to verse 18. Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and have compassion on his dwellings. The city shall be rebuilt on its mound, and the palace shall stand where it used to be. Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving. Oh, verse 22. And you shall be my people, and I will be your God. Behold the storm of the Lord. The wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest. It will burst upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind. In the latter days, you will understand this. Go forward to 31. At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus says the Lord, the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness when Israel sought for rest. The Lord appeared to him from far away, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. God had wounded Israel but had not forgotten his love for Israel or his promise. The author describes it like this, if God has a setting, a trigger, his default trigger is towards compassion and loving kindness. You have to, God, and we talked about this the last time, God's default is loving kindness, but God's justice will demand that it is just and punishes. But if you look down here, I'm going to try to discipline myself. Because I love this chapter. If you jump down, you look at verse 20. Is Ephraim my dear son? Ephraim, by the way, is the one tribe that represents Israel. Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? This is a rhetorical question. The answer is yes. For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore, my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord. You know, I asked the question before, do you have a child that drives you crazy? And you might complain about that child to people. You might grumble a little bit. You might think, ah, they make me nuts. But the fact is, what's here? that child is still your dear son. And we might speak against that child, but they're on our hearts all the time. And again, I say, how much more God? How much more God that his heart inclines towards the people that make him crazy. This chapter says, is titled, yearning bowels in the book. Anybody remember why it's called yearning bowels? Yes? Because the first he uses, the chord he uses for heart is more accurate, like the bowels in your innards, the core. Yeah. And God here is using anthropomorphism to describe how deeply compassionate He is towards Ephraim. And those who are in Christ are already made right in Christ. And if I can extrapolate from that, that God's bowels yearn for Ephraim, Think about the comforting place that we're in, the security that Christ places us in. Think about when God sees us, he sees us with the imputed righteousness of Christ. And then he yearns for his son and his adopted children and wants us to draw near to him. And that's why in Jeremiah he says, they shall be my people, and I will be their God, because God causes the people of Israel. I think this is a future national thing that's gonna happen, is that God's gonna cause the people of Israel, generally speaking, to become a people that seeks after God, truly seeks after God. I don't think we see that now. I think Christ, Dying on the cross and putting His Holy Spirit inside believers is that same thing. To make us a people for God. I think we can go about the process of ignoring our relationship with God and it can grow cold. But the intent here with God is that we would be His people and that He would be our God. I say set aside the things that keep you busy. If you're too busy, evaluate that. There is a stewardship that we're all entrusted with. It's called 24 hours. And it's important for us to make sure that we're doing the things that are important. If you remember Mary and Martha, Martha was busy. And Jesus had Martha. You're doing busy stuff, but Mary's chose what's better. That's a paraphrase. It's important for us to choose what's better. To be about the business of building into our hearts this relationship with God that he has brought us to. And to repent from the idea that we sometimes ascribe to who God is, but that we truly do be in the business of ascribing glory to God. All right, so I've talked a lot. Any questions or thoughts at this point? I want to call us all to spend time reading this coming week, chapters 19 and 20 of the book. Also for homework this week, I want to encourage us all to tell somebody else about the heart of God this week. I think that will also help encourage our hearts. Because if you can explain it to somebody else, you've already explained it to yourself. So, look for an opportunity this week to say to somebody, can I tell you what I know now about God's heart towards me? Class is quiet today, I don't know if people are a little on the tired side, or if I talk too much to get you guys engaged. But I know that sometimes these can be challenging things to think through, so spend some time thinking about these things and considering them. Don't let the busyness of this life distract you from the joy of your Maker. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, I trust that you and your Word is sufficient for the things that we have in front of us. I pray, Heavenly Father, that you would help us to think rightly about who you are, to correct our thoughts about you, to remember, Heavenly Father, that there is nothing that will separate us from your love. It doesn't matter if things are strong or tall or deep There's nothing that can separate us from your love. Thank you, Heavenly Father, that you have a desire for us to be your people, for you to be our God. I pray, Heavenly Father, that you would strengthen our hearts, that you would open our eyes more clearly, that we would see you, not from far away, but we would see you close, that we would understand your heart, and that our hearts would hunger and thirst after you. I pray, Heavenly Father, People wouldn't have to teach us who you are that we would already know. I pray, God, that you would grow us in sanctification because we're in your light already. I pray, Heavenly Father, that you would help us to be able to say rightly who you are and what you will do based on your revelation. And dear Lord, I thank you for the time that we've had together today. I pray that you would help us to understand truly what your heart is, how your inclination is, and where it goes. In your name we pray, amen. Alright guys, don't forget the homework this week, and I will see you next week. Steve will be teaching next week, and then we're getting close to the end of this class.