WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.279 Our reading is from Psalm 103. It's page 605 in your Bible. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:23.640 ! Praise the Lord my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord my soul, 00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:30.480 and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 00:00:31.380 --> 00:00:38.859 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies you, 00:00:39.620 --> 00:00:47.760 your desires with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord works 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:55.159 righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the 00:00:55.159 --> 00:01:02.719 people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:11.939 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever. He does not treat us as our sins 00:01:11.939 --> 00:01:19.519 deserve, or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, 00:01:19.899 --> 00:01:28.700 so great is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed 00:01:28.700 --> 00:01:35.459 our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion 00:01:35.459 --> 00:01:43.839 on those who fear him. For he knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals 00:01:43.839 --> 00:01:51.439 is like grass. They flourish like a flower of the field. The wind blows over it, and it is gone, and its 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:59.780 place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with those who fear 00:01:59.780 --> 00:02:07.079 him, and his righteousness with the children's children, with those who keep his covenant, and 00:02:07.079 --> 00:02:15.379 remember to obey his precepts. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. 00:02:16.300 --> 00:02:24.319 Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:31.479 all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works, 00:02:31.699 --> 00:02:39.900 everyone in his, everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, my soul. Amen. 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:45.560 Thanks so much for reading, Lucia. Let's pray as we come to God's word. Let's pray. 00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:51.959 Heavenly Father, we do ask for your help this morning. 00:02:54.319 --> 00:03:03.479 Maybe many of us are anticipating going back to work tomorrow. Maybe we're still pondering on the 00:03:03.479 --> 00:03:07.639 things that have happened over the last week as we've celebrated with friends and family. 00:03:08.739 --> 00:03:13.879 Lord, we want to quieten our hearts. We want to listen to what you say to us in your word. We want to 00:03:13.879 --> 00:03:20.560 not be those who look at your word and just go away and are unchanged and unmoved by what you say. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:27.319 We want, Lord, to pay attention. We want, Lord, you to work. We want you to be glorified. 00:03:28.140 --> 00:03:30.080 We want to be changed and transformed. 00:03:31.340 --> 00:03:37.980 And Lord, we know that these extraordinary things that you do come to us through the ordinary means of 00:03:37.980 --> 00:03:45.659 looking at your word together. And so we pray that you would be at work. In Jesus' name. Amen. 00:03:45.659 --> 00:03:45.840 Amen. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:53.139 It's sometimes difficult to know what to do on the first Sunday of a new year. 00:03:53.819 --> 00:03:59.639 And so we're doing just a one-off on just a couple of verses from Psalm 103. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:06.039 And so we're going to zoom in on just verses 11 and 12 of the psalm that Lucia read for us. 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:10.180 And maybe we can begin by reading these verses aloud together. 00:04:10.180 --> 00:04:18.579 I have a sort of side quest this morning, which is that you might learn verses 11 and 12 of Psalm 103. 00:04:18.900 --> 00:04:24.519 And that if you forget anything that I have said or everything that I have said, you might remember 00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:28.399 these words from Psalm 103. So let's read them aloud together. 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:35.659 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. 00:04:36.159 --> 00:04:42.839 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 00:04:43.339 --> 00:04:46.139 Now, so committed am I to that side quest of you learning them. 00:04:46.219 --> 00:04:49.979 We're going to say those verses a few times on the way through, and we're going to sing them 00:04:49.979 --> 00:04:53.879 in a song that you might remember because it was quite popular quite a long time ago. 00:04:54.339 --> 00:04:56.299 We're going to sing those at the end. 00:04:56.300 --> 00:05:02.879 What I want you to see, though, as we start is that as David, who writes these words, as he writes them, 00:05:02.960 --> 00:05:08.680 he wants you and I to have a very specific response to these words as we hear them. 00:05:09.460 --> 00:05:17.180 What I mean by that is that the very hearing of these words is meant to engender a certain response 00:05:17.180 --> 00:05:19.939 in your heart. You're meant to do something. 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:22.560 What is it that you're supposed to do? 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:27.759 Well, somewhere deep inside, you're meant to go, wow, God is amazing. 00:05:28.540 --> 00:05:29.620 God is incredible. 00:05:30.280 --> 00:05:34.379 Now, you can see that that's what David wants you to do in response because that's how his psalm starts. 00:05:34.459 --> 00:05:36.699 He starts with, praise the Lord. 00:05:37.160 --> 00:05:39.860 Praise the Lord, my soul, and all my inmost being. 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:41.019 Praise his holy name. 00:05:41.019 --> 00:05:43.639 Literally, he says, adore God. 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:46.039 Fall on your knees. 00:05:46.579 --> 00:05:53.439 Worship him with everything that you are, all that is inside of you, because he is amazing. 00:05:54.899 --> 00:05:56.719 We'll return to that purpose in a moment. 00:05:56.819 --> 00:06:00.620 But before we do that, let's spend some time on the content of verses 11 and 12. 00:06:00.620 --> 00:06:07.620 Because verses 11 and 12 make you say, wow, God is amazing, by showing you two immeasurable distances. 00:06:08.340 --> 00:06:12.319 One up and down, and one right to left. 00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:14.780 Read the verses again with me, and it will come out. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:14.939 Ready? 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:21.660 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. 00:06:22.019 --> 00:06:28.100 As far as the east is from the west, so far he has removed our transgressions from us. 00:06:28.100 --> 00:06:33.080 They're the two immeasurable distances, up and down, and right and left. 00:06:33.660 --> 00:06:38.800 Firstly, an immeasurable distance to explain the scale of God's love for us. 00:06:39.280 --> 00:06:45.300 And secondly, an immeasurable distance to indicate the scale of God's forgiving power. 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:50.000 In other words, God's love is so immeasurably great. 00:06:51.300 --> 00:06:55.780 And God's forgiving power is also immeasurably great. 00:06:55.779 --> 00:07:02.319 We can say more again on the content of those, but just think about how those immeasurable distances make you adore God. 00:07:03.359 --> 00:07:09.459 The psalmist's point is that you cannot get into your head the scale of God's love for you. 00:07:09.459 --> 00:07:19.560 If you think you have arrived at the edges or the perimeter or the boundaries of God's love for you, you haven't understood it. 00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:27.759 If you think you've run to the end of God's love, you are by definition wrong because his love is immeasurable. 00:07:28.219 --> 00:07:31.279 It is beyond your imagination of greatness. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:34.199 That is how great God's love is. 00:07:34.199 --> 00:07:36.659 It's the same with his forgiving power. 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:48.219 If you still can't see past your past sins, if you imagine that God has not taken away your past sins or dealt with them, you are wrong. 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:55.000 His forgiving power is so great that your sin is immeasurably far away from you. 00:07:55.939 --> 00:07:56.620 It's gone. 00:07:56.620 --> 00:08:09.879 You know, you have more chance of tracking the perimeters of the universe than you do of finding your past sins in the mind of God. 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:11.300 Isn't that incredible? 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:13.399 They're gone. 00:08:13.980 --> 00:08:14.620 They're forgotten. 00:08:15.259 --> 00:08:16.040 They're put away. 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:23.980 And as you ponder on that, on those immeasurable distances, you're meant to go, wow, God is amazing. 00:08:25.180 --> 00:08:28.200 So let's think a little bit more about immeasurable love, verse 11. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:33.620 Now, we need to be careful here and make sure that we understand what David is saying about God's love. 00:08:34.139 --> 00:08:36.860 It's easy just to see the word love and go, oh, we use that word. 00:08:36.920 --> 00:08:38.220 We assume we know what he means. 00:08:38.680 --> 00:08:41.639 And anyone could tell you that God is love, right? 00:08:41.740 --> 00:08:44.879 Even a three-year-old who's very rarely been to church could tell you that. 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:50.159 But David has a very specific point about God's immeasurable love that he wants us to see. 00:08:50.620 --> 00:08:52.820 So let me just show you two things about this love. 00:08:53.139 --> 00:08:56.980 The first is regards to its nature, and the second is regards to its direction. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:08:59.139 So firstly, regards to its nature. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:00.399 What is this love like? 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:02.059 What is the nature of this love? 00:09:02.360 --> 00:09:03.439 What is it made of? 00:09:03.460 --> 00:09:04.320 What is it like? 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:07.360 You've got a different Bible translation. 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:14.179 The word steadfast or faithful might have been inserted before the word love in verse 11. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:23.399 That is because the word there is the word heses, which is a technical Bible word which carries a particular meaning and significance. 00:09:23.860 --> 00:09:27.600 And it's the significance that is explained by Exodus 34. 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:31.639 So in your church Bible, turn to Exodus 34. 00:09:31.820 --> 00:09:33.559 It is on page 93. 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:40.199 And while you sort of try and find your way there, let me try and explain some of the details of it to you. 00:09:40.899 --> 00:09:49.159 In case you're not familiar, Moses, the great Old Testament prophet, has led God's people out of captivity in Egypt. 00:09:49.319 --> 00:09:53.500 He has brought them through the Red Sea and brought them to Mount Sinai. 00:09:53.500 --> 00:09:59.799 Now on Mount Sinai, God has spoken to the people and given them the Ten Commandments. 00:10:00.460 --> 00:10:07.919 That the people hear the voice of God giving the Ten Commandments and they are utterly terrified by it. 00:10:08.700 --> 00:10:10.340 They are so terrified. 00:10:10.500 --> 00:10:14.279 They say to Moses, listen, Moses, please don't let this happen again. 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:18.720 Please will you go and listen to God and come and tell us what he says? 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:20.220 Because we don't want to listen. 00:10:20.340 --> 00:10:23.420 We are so afraid of the voice of God. 00:10:24.300 --> 00:10:32.519 And so Moses goes up onto the mountain and receives from God further instructions on how God is to be worshipped and what it means to be his people. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:37.700 But while Moses is up on the mountain listening to God and receiving those instructions, 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:43.379 the people down at the foot of the mountain are, well, they're wandering away from God. 00:10:43.379 --> 00:10:50.600 They ask Aaron, who is Moses' brother, to say, listen, Moses has been gone an awfully long time. 00:10:51.080 --> 00:10:52.299 We don't know what's happened to him. 00:10:52.659 --> 00:10:53.740 We don't know where he is. 00:10:54.419 --> 00:11:00.559 Would you make for us some representations of this God who's brought us out of slavery in Egypt? 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:08.600 And so Aaron makes for them a golden calf and they worship the golden calf, saying to the golden calf, 00:11:08.940 --> 00:11:11.100 you are the God that brought us out of Egypt. 00:11:11.100 --> 00:11:16.600 Now, if you read the account, you'll know that what happens next, which is perhaps unsurprising, 00:11:17.060 --> 00:11:22.740 is that both God and Moses are very angry that the people are worshipping this golden calf. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:31.580 So Moses comes down from the mountain, smashes the two stone tablets that God has written the Ten Commandments on, 00:11:31.860 --> 00:11:38.360 and he grinds the golden calf to dust, sprinkles it on the water, and makes the people drink the water. 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:44.399 Now, we're nearly in Exodus 34, but one more thing to get straight before we get there. 00:11:44.460 --> 00:11:50.399 In Exodus 33, just as all of this has happened and just before Moses goes back to listen to God, 00:11:50.860 --> 00:11:55.899 in Exodus 33, the people are commanded by God to leave the mountain, and God says, I'm not planning to come with you. 00:11:55.899 --> 00:12:00.720 You go, but if I go with you, I will consume you. 00:12:01.819 --> 00:12:08.480 But Moses won't leave it there with God, and he pleads with God, please don't leave us, please don't abandon us, 00:12:08.620 --> 00:12:11.699 please come with us, please send your presence. 00:12:12.759 --> 00:12:19.199 Ask that God then might show himself to him, that he might see and know what God is like and know him even better. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:27.520 God amazingly listens to Moses' prayer, and he answers him and says, listen, you hide yourself in this cave and I will pass by. 00:12:27.660 --> 00:12:33.240 So Moses goes back up Mount Sinai with two more tablets to be written on, hides in a gap in the rock, 00:12:33.340 --> 00:12:36.460 and then Exodus 34, verse 4, right, we're there. 00:12:37.140 --> 00:12:38.080 This is what happens. 00:12:38.800 --> 00:12:45.480 Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning as the Lord had commanded him. 00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:48.560 He carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 00:12:49.139 --> 00:12:54.300 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 00:12:54.759 --> 00:13:02.860 And he passed in front of Moses proclaiming, the Lord, the Lord, the gracious, sorry, the compassionate and gracious God, 00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:10.820 slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. 00:13:10.820 --> 00:13:13.460 Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. 00:13:13.540 --> 00:13:17.940 He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation. 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:21.440 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 00:13:21.760 --> 00:13:26.540 Lord, he said, if I found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. 00:13:26.640 --> 00:13:33.580 Although this is a stiff neck people, forgive our wickedness and our sin and take us as your inheritance. 00:13:33.580 --> 00:13:41.220 Now, bring all of that back to Psalm 103, because that's what David is reflecting on in Psalm 103. 00:13:42.040 --> 00:13:43.920 And it's not difficult to see that. 00:13:44.300 --> 00:13:49.120 Verses 7, 8 and 9 of Psalm 103, David quotes those events directly. 00:13:50.400 --> 00:13:57.060 And then he comes to this word love, steadfast love, which has been explained by Exodus 34. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:01.500 And steadfast love then is not God's drippy affection towards his people. 00:14:01.500 --> 00:14:07.299 God doesn't feel about humanity the way that children feel about cute puppies. 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:09.700 That is not God's love. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:21.100 God's steadfast love, Exodus 34, God's steadfast love is his voluntary and solid commitment not to treat people according to their sin, 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:25.460 but instead to go with them and be their God. 00:14:26.019 --> 00:14:30.960 His steadfast love is his covenant, his promised affection. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:33.460 Which will not give up on his people. 00:14:34.160 --> 00:14:37.840 He will hold fast to them, show them mercy and loving kindness. 00:14:38.940 --> 00:14:46.259 So steadfast love finds its root in the unchanging character of God to keep his word and do what he has promised. 00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:51.759 God's love is explained by who God is, not by who you are, right? 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:56.840 When God says he loves you, it's not saying you are lovely and adorable. 00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:01.759 He is saying, I am a God who is lovingly committed to you and your salvation. 00:15:02.220 --> 00:15:03.500 I will be your God. 00:15:03.620 --> 00:15:05.139 I will go with you. 00:15:05.139 --> 00:15:13.319 David also tells us not only the nature of God's love, he tells us the direction of God's love. 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:14.480 In other words, who is it for? 00:15:14.779 --> 00:15:15.340 Who is it for? 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:16.860 Look again at verse 11. 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:21.120 Notice that it is directed towards those who fear him. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:26.179 So great is his love for those who fear him. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:36.299 In other words, this immeasurable, steadfast, covenant, promise, commitment of God, love for his people, is for those who fear him. 00:15:36.539 --> 00:15:39.060 It's not for perfect people who deserve that love. 00:15:39.139 --> 00:15:42.820 That would make no sense given what we've already seen and what's coming in verse 12. 00:15:43.259 --> 00:15:47.580 Rather, it is for those people who are in a relationship with him. 00:15:48.220 --> 00:15:49.840 Who hold God in the right place. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:55.639 It's for those people who know that God is God, trust him as Lord, fear him, worship him, belong to him. 00:15:56.379 --> 00:16:03.379 In other words, this immeasurable, steadfast love is not only, it's not a kind of soppy affection based on the cuteness of humanity, 00:16:03.680 --> 00:16:07.740 nor is it a blanket love that covers everybody all the same. 00:16:09.060 --> 00:16:11.100 I think this is perhaps more surprising. 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:15.860 Psalm 103 is not saying God loves everybody all the same. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:19.680 It's actually saying the opposite of that, isn't it? 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:27.360 It's saying that God's steadfast, committed love is for a particular group of people. 00:16:27.940 --> 00:16:30.800 So there is a sense in the Bible which God loves everyone. 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:33.460 God loves the world that he's made and everything in it. 00:16:33.460 --> 00:16:40.480 But this covenant promise, loving kindness that the psalmist is talking about, this is for his people, he says. 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:43.440 Directed towards them. 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:50.060 Let me try and illustrate these two aspects of God's steadfast love if I can. 00:16:50.059 --> 00:17:00.959 Imagine for a moment that you're walking down a street and you see a 10-year-old child deliberately scratching a car. 00:17:01.099 --> 00:17:04.319 They're running a stone down the side of a car. 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:13.579 And as you walk down the road and you get closer to it, you notice that this car that they're scratching is not just any car, but it's your car they're scratching. 00:17:13.579 --> 00:17:24.339 And as you get even closer, you realize that this 10-year-old child who is deliberately scratching your car is not just any child, but it's your child. 00:17:24.339 --> 00:17:32.679 Now, as you walk towards them, how is it that you are feeling towards that person, towards that child? 00:17:32.919 --> 00:17:35.519 I am guessing that there is going to be some anger. 00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:37.819 You are going to be angry. 00:17:37.939 --> 00:17:39.799 This is mindless vandalism. 00:17:39.899 --> 00:17:41.659 You are ruining my car. 00:17:42.740 --> 00:17:49.519 But because it's your child, it doesn't mean you're any less angry at the mindless vandalism. 00:17:49.679 --> 00:17:51.639 But there's something else going on, isn't there? 00:17:51.939 --> 00:17:54.079 You're in a relationship with this child. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:55.299 You are his father. 00:17:55.439 --> 00:17:59.659 You have a covenant commitment to care for them, to train them in the way they should go. 00:17:59.919 --> 00:18:02.159 You have steadfast love towards this boy. 00:18:02.619 --> 00:18:06.839 Certainly not on the basis of his loveliness, because at that moment there's almost no loveliness at all. 00:18:06.899 --> 00:18:07.819 They're scratching your car. 00:18:08.220 --> 00:18:14.759 Rather, it comes flowing from who you are in relationship to them, specifically because they are your son. 00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:16.559 And that's it here. 00:18:17.379 --> 00:18:20.819 God's steadfast love is a function of God's character, not our loveliness. 00:18:20.819 --> 00:18:26.559 And we receive it, even though we don't deserve it, because of our relationship with him. 00:18:26.619 --> 00:18:27.419 We're his people. 00:18:27.559 --> 00:18:28.539 He's our heavenly father. 00:18:29.179 --> 00:18:31.700 And he loves us, even though we're rebellious and undeserving. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:34.679 Listen, perhaps I can speak. 00:18:34.740 --> 00:18:35.919 Maybe you're not a Christian this morning. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:37.439 I'm so glad you're here this morning. 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:39.399 It's really brilliant to have you. 00:18:39.460 --> 00:18:40.899 You're welcome every week. 00:18:40.900 --> 00:18:48.540 But it may be that you're slightly offended at the idea that you seem to hear me saying that God doesn't love you in the same way as he loves a Christian. 00:18:49.380 --> 00:18:49.920 I get that. 00:18:49.940 --> 00:18:50.680 That is offensive. 00:18:51.980 --> 00:18:55.580 And it is difficult to accept, but it makes total sense when you think about it. 00:18:56.380 --> 00:19:00.700 It's not right to read the Bible and assume that God's love and forgiveness is automatic. 00:19:00.700 --> 00:19:07.220 To assume that God loves everyone and forgives everyone, even while they remain totally passive and disengaged. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:10.740 It's not that love is deserved by God. 00:19:10.819 --> 00:19:12.680 It's not earned by being nice. 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:16.880 It's that God's love has to be received by us. 00:19:18.420 --> 00:19:24.160 You're not barred from receiving steadfast love because you're too bad or you're too wicked or you're too undeserving. 00:19:25.080 --> 00:19:27.920 David was an adulterer and a murderer who wrote Psalm 103. 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:32.279 The point is it has to be received. 00:19:33.560 --> 00:19:46.600 In other words, to benefit from this love, to know this love, for this love to be for you, to experience the power of this immeasurable love, you must enter into a relationship with the lover, God. 00:19:47.740 --> 00:19:49.200 It's obvious, isn't it? 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:53.920 You cannot receive parental love without first being adopted as a child. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:58.480 You cannot receive friendship love without first becoming a friend. 00:19:58.920 --> 00:20:05.900 You cannot receive God's steadfast love without first receiving him as God, becoming his child. 00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:14.460 Turning around from living for yourself, stopping believing that you're master of your own destiny, ruler of your own ship, and fearing him instead. 00:20:14.460 --> 00:20:23.740 Giving up yourself to the Lord Jesus and saying to the Lord Jesus, Lord, I'm sorry that I've put myself first. 00:20:24.180 --> 00:20:26.759 I know that I should fear you. 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:33.779 I want to be in a relationship with you that I might receive from you your steadfast, undeserved love. 00:20:33.779 --> 00:20:44.200 Now, if you're a Christian this morning, then these verses are here to remind you that you are a beneficiary of this immeasurable love. 00:20:45.019 --> 00:20:47.139 And that's really exciting, right? 00:20:47.899 --> 00:20:49.099 It means you're safe. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:50.079 It means you're secure. 00:20:50.220 --> 00:20:56.160 It means that whatever happens to you this year, it means whatever happened last year, whatever it is that you're anxious about, whatever concerns you have, 00:20:56.160 --> 00:21:03.380 you can know that God is committed to loving you with a promise-keeping loving kindness that will not let you go. 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:05.340 He will not turn back from you. 00:21:06.320 --> 00:21:08.120 He will show you mercy when you fail. 00:21:08.220 --> 00:21:09.880 He will keep you through all things. 00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:12.320 He will take you home to glory for eternity. 00:21:13.120 --> 00:21:13.580 Why? 00:21:14.740 --> 00:21:17.700 Because of who he is and what he's like. 00:21:18.120 --> 00:21:20.060 And his love is immeasurably great. 00:21:20.440 --> 00:21:23.680 And you will not and you cannot ever get to the end of it. 00:21:25.140 --> 00:21:25.960 Immeasurable love. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:28.080 Secondly, immeasurable forgiveness. 00:21:28.500 --> 00:21:29.279 Immeasurable forgiveness. 00:21:29.460 --> 00:21:30.460 Let's read the verses again. 00:21:31.380 --> 00:21:33.120 For as high as the heavens... 00:21:33.120 --> 00:21:35.000 Oh, yeah, okay, right, let's start again. 00:21:35.340 --> 00:21:41.279 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:48.140 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 00:21:48.840 --> 00:21:51.600 Now, what you need to notice is there's no gap between these verses. 00:21:51.740 --> 00:21:53.200 These two things are connected. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:22:00.480 David doesn't want you to think of God's steadfast love without seeing how it goes in tandem with the removal of our sin. 00:22:01.100 --> 00:22:01.460 Why? 00:22:01.960 --> 00:22:08.500 Well, if you think about it logically, it's because the thing that prevents us from receiving his steadfast love is the break in our relationship. 00:22:08.500 --> 00:22:11.299 What causes the break in our relationship with God? 00:22:11.299 --> 00:22:15.980 It is our sin, our rebellion against him. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:25.740 The problem between God and I, the relational rupture which prevents me from receiving his steadfast love, is my rebellion against him. 00:22:25.740 --> 00:22:27.539 My sin. 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:31.400 Sin here is called transgressions. 00:22:32.039 --> 00:22:34.380 Literally, breaking the law. 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:45.059 In other words, this is the fact that in a moral universe, ruled by a moral God, I live disobeying his moral law, even though that law is written on my conscience. 00:22:45.059 --> 00:22:48.619 You know, you don't have to teach people to feel guilty, do you? 00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:50.460 They know it instinctively. 00:22:50.740 --> 00:22:50.819 Why? 00:22:51.740 --> 00:23:02.619 Well, because my personal guilt is just an echo of the fact that I live in a moral universe, ruled by a moral God, who will hold me morally responsible at the end of my days. 00:23:03.419 --> 00:23:04.019 That's why. 00:23:04.819 --> 00:23:05.859 That's why I feel guilty. 00:23:05.859 --> 00:23:08.299 And I cannot ignore it. 00:23:08.740 --> 00:23:12.559 And he cannot ignore my sin, because he is a good God. 00:23:13.579 --> 00:23:16.139 But here's the news of Psalm 103, verse 12. 00:23:16.339 --> 00:23:17.859 God can deal with lawbreakers. 00:23:19.179 --> 00:23:22.000 Again, as before, this is for those who fear him. 00:23:22.399 --> 00:23:24.179 He removes our wickedness. 00:23:24.719 --> 00:23:28.579 He puts an immeasurable distance between it and us. 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:36.399 David, who wrote Psalm 103, writes before the time of Jesus's earthly ministry. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:47.659 And he's thinking here of the temple and how that demonstrates how God forgives sin in the sacrificial ministry in the temple as animals shed their blood in the place of people. 00:23:47.660 --> 00:23:55.180 But all that points forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, who works that forgiveness and fulfills that work on the cross. 00:23:55.600 --> 00:24:05.259 As on the cross, Jesus Christ gives his life in the place of his people, shedding his blood in place of theirs, giving his righteousness to cover our wickedness. 00:24:05.779 --> 00:24:13.500 So that we might know that this work of putting our sin as far from us as the east is from the west is not some kind of legal fiction. 00:24:13.500 --> 00:24:20.500 This is not God just ignoring his moral code for a while or turning a blind eye to our transgressions. 00:24:21.500 --> 00:24:32.519 Rather, it is God miraculously achieving what could not otherwise be achieved by coming in the person of the Son himself to die in our place on the cross. 00:24:34.619 --> 00:24:35.299 Here's the reality. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:36.559 Let me try and say this slowly. 00:24:36.759 --> 00:24:39.440 If you're a Christian this morning, let this just sink in. 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:47.900 If you're a Christian this morning, God has dealt with all your moral culpability before him. 00:24:49.360 --> 00:24:51.039 God has dealt with your sin. 00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:53.039 He's removed it. 00:24:53.900 --> 00:25:01.299 I think sometimes we imagine that God might have locked our sins away in the kitchen cupboard somewhere for him to bring out at any given point where you let him down. 00:25:01.380 --> 00:25:04.580 Say, well, listen, I have evidence to know that you would have done that, right? 00:25:05.160 --> 00:25:06.240 I know what you're like. 00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:08.160 People do that to us, don't they? 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:13.259 You know, when they're crossed with you, they wheel out all the things that you've ever done to annoy them, even things you thought they'd long forgotten. 00:25:13.700 --> 00:25:15.259 That's not how God works. 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:17.620 That's not how God forgives. 00:25:18.259 --> 00:25:21.259 He doesn't keep past sins within easy reach to throw back at you. 00:25:21.560 --> 00:25:27.960 Rather, he puts an immeasurable distance between you and them so they can never be returned. 00:25:28.900 --> 00:25:30.400 God's forgiving power has no measure. 00:25:30.500 --> 00:25:31.779 Our sins are thrown away. 00:25:31.980 --> 00:25:33.740 Guilt, shame, repraisal is gone. 00:25:33.740 --> 00:25:37.259 Now, that doesn't mean, and we need to be careful there, don't we? 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:40.880 It doesn't mean that we won't still face the consequences of our sin in this life. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:47.460 We might still face broken relationships, lack of trust, particular temptations and weaknesses. 00:25:48.019 --> 00:25:49.640 David experienced all of that. 00:25:50.380 --> 00:25:54.960 But still, still, our sin is no longer a barrier to our relationship with God. 00:25:55.339 --> 00:25:57.200 He has done away with our sin. 00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:03.319 You know, if this morning you're trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and you're fearing him, this is the reality that you live in. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:10.559 You and I might find it really easy to call to mind our past sins, you know, to peg ourselves with guilt and shame. 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:12.360 I'm the worst person in the room. 00:26:12.420 --> 00:26:14.240 I'm the worst Christian in this church. 00:26:15.500 --> 00:26:16.600 But God doesn't do that. 00:26:16.599 --> 00:26:22.500 He has made it so that he is unable to do that. 00:26:23.099 --> 00:26:27.000 Because through the cross, he has put our sins away so they cannot be found. 00:26:28.579 --> 00:26:35.480 So as we finish, just think how are we supposed to react as we understand these verses, as I ponder those two immeasurables. 00:26:36.119 --> 00:26:37.079 I meant to say, aren't I? 00:26:37.199 --> 00:26:37.659 Wow. 00:26:38.500 --> 00:26:39.779 God, you are so amazing. 00:26:40.980 --> 00:26:43.240 Your love for me is beyond measure. 00:26:43.240 --> 00:26:47.460 Your forgiving power towards me is immeasurably great. 00:26:47.900 --> 00:26:49.259 So I worship you. 00:26:50.359 --> 00:26:56.380 Now, for sure, that worship comes, doesn't it, as an emotional response at one level. 00:26:57.640 --> 00:27:04.220 You can't but be moved emotionally by the love that God has for you and the forgiving power that he has for you. 00:27:04.500 --> 00:27:07.640 This is unlike any other relationship you have, yeah? 00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:12.540 Everybody else's love for you is conditional on what you're like. 00:27:12.660 --> 00:27:17.160 And everybody else's forgiveness is sort of like they haven't really forgotten it. 00:27:17.460 --> 00:27:18.540 Not God's. 00:27:19.060 --> 00:27:20.440 So there is an emotional response. 00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:24.680 But actually, the wow is more than just an emotional response, isn't it? 00:27:24.680 --> 00:27:27.440 Look at verse 1 of Psalm 103 with me, just as we finish. 00:27:28.220 --> 00:27:29.560 How does verse 1 put it? 00:27:29.559 --> 00:27:34.659 Praise the Lord, my soul, all my inmost being. 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:36.500 Praise the Lord. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:43.220 That's the psalmist's way of saying, I say wow with everything of who I am. 00:27:45.079 --> 00:27:47.599 Everything about me is saying wow to God. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:28:04.799 God's immeasurable love and forgiving power calls out of me a response of worship which fills my emotions and my life and my activities and my actions and my desires and my hopes and my dreams. 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:07.579 I praise the Lord with all that I am. 00:28:08.299 --> 00:28:10.000 All my inmost being. 00:28:10.199 --> 00:28:11.139 Praise the Lord. 00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:12.459 I want to live for him. 00:28:12.460 --> 00:28:21.620 In 2026, I want to praise the Lord with all that I am because he loves me in a way that I cannot even begin to measure. 00:28:22.600 --> 00:28:26.559 And he has put my sin away from me so that I cannot get it back. 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:28.420 Wow, God. 00:28:29.700 --> 00:28:31.039 Praise the Lord, oh my soul. 00:28:31.840 --> 00:28:33.640 Let me pray for us. 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:34.779 Maybe I'll leave a moment of quiet. 00:28:34.860 --> 00:28:36.059 You can pray in your own heart. 00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:39.500 And then I'll lead us in a prayer. 00:28:42.460 --> 00:29:12.440 Thank you. 00:29:12.440 --> 00:29:12.920 Thank you so much. 00:29:15.740 --> 00:29:17.519 For what you've shown us in these verses. 00:29:19.259 --> 00:29:27.799 Maybe if we'd wrote them we'd be perhaps brave enough to write that your love is very big and your forgiving power is very great. 00:29:29.299 --> 00:29:32.680 But you tell us that your love is immeasurably big. 00:29:34.380 --> 00:29:39.580 You tell us that your forgiving power is immeasurably great. 00:29:39.579 --> 00:29:43.279 And Lord, that is so reassuring. 00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:49.160 Lord, we love you in a failing and frail way. 00:29:49.259 --> 00:29:53.960 But we offer all of ourselves in praise and worship of you this morning. 00:29:53.960 --> 00:30:09.480 We pray that in 2026, we would live lives driven by, rooted in, growing out of this great love and forgiving power that you have for us in the Lord Jesus. 00:30:09.480 --> 00:30:15.319 May we be resolved to think all about what he has done. 00:30:15.319 --> 00:30:21.120 That what we do might just pour out from that fountain, we pray. 00:30:21.799 --> 00:30:22.980 In Jesus' name. 00:30:23.740 --> 00:30:24.059 Amen. 00:30:24.059 --> 00:30:24.240 Amen. 00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:26.640 Amen. 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:26.640 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:56.620 Thank you.