Did he blow it? Yes. Did he make mistakes? Yes. But somehow he knew about God, David. And the Psalms are filled with a man who cries to God for his mercy and his forgiveness, who has a heart to repent and to get right with the Lord. I tell you, when I look at all that, I say, hey, maybe there’s hope for some of us, huh? The wonderful mercy of God.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
And it’s a blessing to have you with us for this Friday edition of Hope for Today. Somewhere, there’s a man who thinks he’s outrun the mercy of God. A woman who thinks she’s failed too many times to see God’s mercy. Maybe a heart that says, God may love other people, but he doesn’t love me. He can’t. You know something? The God of the Bible does not deal in cheap sentiment or empty religion. His mercy is not weakness. It’s not compromise. And it’s not God pretending that sin doesn’t matter. His mercy is holy. His mercy is righteous. And His mercy reaches down to guilty sinners without ever ceasing to be true. Today we continue our series on the attributes of God as Bible teacher David Hawking returns with day two of his message on the mercy of God. Stay with us as we open the scriptures once again and behold the God whose mercy is new, new every morning. First, I want to tell you about the Hope for Today monthly ministry letter. Each month, it’s a way for us to stay connected with our listening family, to share what’s happening through the ministry, and to let you know how you can be praying for Hope for Today. It also gives us an opportunity to invite your financial support so this broadcast can continue going out with the Word of God clearly, faithfully, and without compromise. To receive the monthly ministry letter, the Hope for Today monthly ministry letter, or or to stand with us financially and in prayer, visit davidhawking.org. Use the contact form. Or call us at 800-75-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. In Canada, 888-75-BIBLE. Bible by the numbers 24253. And here’s David.
SPEAKER 03 :
psalm 103 11 to 12 for as the heavens are high above the earth so great is his mercy toward those who fear him as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us boy i tell you i read that and i say praise the lord they’re gone now there are always folks around who remind you of them have you noticed that But according to the Bible, they’re gone. The other day I was talking to a guy that was experiencing the results of his many years of drug addiction. And he’s still having a few problems mentally and physically. And he was asking me, you know, if the Lord has saved me, why am I experiencing this? The only thing I could think of is an old story of how a father took a son out to explain this to him. And he had the boy pound nails into a piece of wood. He pounded all these nails into the wood. And the boy kept asking, well, why do you want me to do that? Just do what I tell you. So he pounded all these nails. Then he said, now pull them all out. Well, what for? Why should I put? Just pull them all out. So he pulled all the nails out. He said, now what’s left? He said, the holes. In this life, we are going to experience scars as a result of our decisions to walk away from the Lord. Do you know that? There are some of us that physically are still suffering from the result of decisions that we made, maybe as young people. When God says He has removed it, He’s not only removed it from a positional standpoint, though the scars remain now. But my dear friends, the hope of the gospel is that when Jesus Christ comes again, we’re going to get a brand new body, and we’re talking total removal. No more evidence whatsoever. The holes will be gone, and we’ll be made brand new outwardly as we are made brand new inwardly. When we come to Christ. The Bible says if we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I don’t know why it is, but it almost seems like a devil’s trap to get us to remove the word all. To think somehow when we bring our sin to a merciful God that there’s something that remains that therefore I have to atone for. According to the Bible, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. That’s why we like to say to people, hey, you could have a clean slate starting right now. If you wanted to. You talk about forgiveness, and what is it rooted in? The fact that you’re such a worthy possession? Are you kidding? Or that you have such great potential for the Lord? Which is some of the preaching of the pulpits of America, but that’s not rooted in the gospel. It’s rooted in the character of God as to why you’re saved. And God is merciful to you. And no matter how gross you are, or how you’ve messed up, or blown your brain and life away, let me tell you something, God’s character is limitless. And no matter how much sin is in your life, where sin abounds, grace did much more abound. You could be cleaned up in a moment of time. And that’s the gospel. And I thank God for His mercy. It involves complete pardon. Turn to Psalm 86, please. Verse 5. This is a wonderful theme, and you cannot get it into your system enough, because a lot of us are really into performance in our kind of culture. And I’m afraid it has dominated the Christian community so bad that even the best among us, and I include myself, have a tendency to tip towards performance every now and then, even for the believer. Nobody cleans up his act either in coming to Christ or living the Christian life by performance in spite of what we teach. The only method of cleansing that God ever had is through His Son, Jesus Christ, and the mercy and compassion and grace of our Lord. That’s why it’s such a frustrating thing. You want people to walk with the Lord. You want them to do right. Parents feel that way towards kids. We feel it about ourselves. And so we try everything under the sun to somehow clean up what we have done. Folks, there is no other method that God has. You say, well, doesn’t it say now you’re clean through the word which I spoke? Exactly right. And it is the word that reminds us how sin is cared for. It’s rooted in the character of God, not in the performance of man. I thank God for his cleansing. Don’t you? In Psalm 86, 5, it says, for you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive. A lot of people think God’s hesitant. He got to knock down the doors of heaven, as it were, to really get his attention. No, you don’t. You tell me in the prodigal son story, when the prodigal son started coming back home, the father had been waiting for him. And when he saw him a long ways off before he ever got to the house to beg his father’s forgiveness, what does the Bible say the father did? He ran after him. God is ready to forgive. You take one step toward our wonderful Lord. You just move a little inch in your heart. Our Lord, ready to forgive. Why? Because He’s merciful. He’s compassionate. The Bible says He’s abundant in mercy, verse 5, to all those who call upon you. You know where the problem lies? We don’t call upon the Lord. We’re using everything else. Talking to our friends. Using every kind of method we possibly can. Somehow get our act together. And the Bible says the Lord is good. Ready to forgive. Abundant in mercy to everyone who would call on Him. Isn’t that sweet? Look at chapter 130, please. Verse 7 and 8. The wonderful pardon of God. In Psalm 130, verse 7, to the nation of Israel, he said, O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is abundant redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Once again, pardon, cleansing, redeem from all his iniquities. Why? Because with the Lord there is mercy. Turn to Numbers chapter 14, and look at verse 18 and 19. The people really deserve to be wiped out for the rebellion in the wilderness. But look at this. The Lord is long-suffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression. But He by no means clears the guilty. He doesn’t sweep it under the rug. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children to the third and fourth generation. If they continue to disobey Him, you’ll see His judgment continue on and on and on and on. But look at the next verse. Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of your mercy, just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now. All that wilderness rebellion, they deserve to be wiped out. And here’s a prayer. God, pardon them according to what? The greatness of your mercy. When you appeal to God, you appeal to his merciful character when you want to be cleansed and pardoned from your sin. It’s God and who he is that can make that happen. Turn to Psalm 103 again. The mercy of God not only involves his person, who he is, his provision, all his benefits, his patience that he will not always strive with us, his punishment, he doesn’t punish us according to our sins, his pardon, he removes them as far as the east is from the west. But it also involves his pity. Verse 13 and 14 says, As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. Parents, listen to me. You know and I know that you have to look at your kids and remember their kids. Amen? And there’s such a tendency among those of us who are parents to want our kids to know what we know and to think the way we think. First of all, your kids as they get older believe that you don’t know anything. And then one day when they become parents, they’ll discover how remarkably intelligent you must have been. Because they themselves are in the same problem again. Now you know a lot of things they don’t know. And sometimes you want them to understand that you do. And you can really drive them crazy, folks, trying to get them to think like you do. And they don’t seem to think that way. The only hope we have is to sit back and say, just wait. Isn’t it wonderful, those of you who have kids who are married, isn’t it wonderful to listen to them now? You’re becoming extremely intelligent now. And they’re looking at you and they almost say, man, I can’t believe it. Was I really like that? And don’t you love to repeat stories about what happened? I remember when you were a little squirt and here’s what you did. You know, you just lay it out. What are you doing? You’re recognizing, whether you know it or not, that kids are kids. Aren’t you glad? That God looks at you that way. He looks at you and says, man, you don’t know the first thing about anything. You’re nothing but a clot of dirt. My translation, but that’s what it says. Look at it again. It says he remembers we are dust. And he looks at you and he just loves you. You talk about mercy. I want mercy from God. I don’t want justice. I want mercy. I know if I got what I deserve, I’d be in hell. I want him to be merciful. And the Bible says when God looks at me, he looks at me like a father would do his little kid. I know all about it, David. I know what you like. I know a lot more than you do. In one sermon I was in, it was one of those sermons where the pastor’s enamored, but the people aren’t. I had so much stuff in that message, I couldn’t believe it. I just was thrilled to deliver it. A farmer came up to me afterwards and he said, you ever fed hogs? I said, no, I never have. He said, well, I didn’t think you had because we don’t dump the whole load on them at once. Obviously, I wasn’t merciful on that occasion to the crowd who could barely turn their Bibles fast enough. Aren’t you glad that God is merciful to you? He doesn’t dump the whole load on you at once. But it involves something else. Go back to Psalm 103 again. It not only involves His pity, it involves His plan. I like this, that mercy is behind the plan of God. And in verse 15 to 19, what a reminder of the plan of God. That man is like a flower to field. He’s passing away. Its place is remembered no more. What significance is He in the overall plan of God? But the answer comes through loud and clear. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. It’s there, folks. That plan is eternal. Psalm 105 says, The Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting. Psalm 138.8, Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever. Yes, it involves His plan, and that plan is eternal. And it never is without mercy in it. That plan is also faithful. Look back to Psalm 89, please, verse 24, to connect the previous message on the faithfulness of God. The plan of God is bathed, saturated with mercy, and it is faithful. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him. Verse 28, my mercy I will keep for him forever. There have been people, and still are, who question what God did for David. I have a long letter from a lady right now who’s really ticked off. She’s been studying the life of David. She said, I can’t understand why God blessed that man and said what he did to him. Look what he did. And to have eight wives and how he’s messed the whole thing up. Committed adultery and murder and set up the murder of a woman’s husband. And he’s a man of bloodshed. He can’t even build the temple. And he has all these kids’ problems and they’re not walking with the Lord. And God blesses him. And there are plenty of people here today, after all we’ve been through in the last decade, who would say, why David? Why David? Let me tell you something. According to the Bible, it’s to exalt the mercy and grace of our Lord. You wouldn’t have chosen, but God did. He said, David, I took you from the sheepfolds to shepherd my people Israel. You wouldn’t have chosen after what happened to him. You would have asked for impeachment. God even had these words to say, which have troubled all of us who studied his life. He’s a man after my own heart. And the Psalms are filled with a man who cries to God for his mercy and his forgiveness, who has a heart to repent and to get right with the Lord. I tell you, when I look at all that, I say, hey, maybe there’s hope for some of us, huh? The wonderful mercy of God. It’s a faithful plan. It’s also a sovereign plan. Turn to Romans chapter 9. The plan of God, which is saturated with His mercy, is eternal, faithful, and sovereign in all that it does, and all backed up and strengthened by His wonderful mercy and compassion. And in Romans 9, 14, dealing with the salvation of people and who gets chosen and who doesn’t. It says, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him who wills. You say, I made that decision. God said it’s not of him who wills, nor of him who runs. Hey look, I’ve done a lot. I deserve that. No, it is not on willing or running, but it is of God who shows what? Mercy. The sovereignty of God’s involved. As he decides to show mercy to people that don’t deserve it. Well, how should I respond to this? Number one, you ought to praise the Lord. In Psalm 86, 12 to 13, it says, I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart. I will glorify your name forever. Why? For great is your mercy toward me. You want to know what your response is to this message? It’s to praise God with all of your heart because of how great his mercy is to you and to me. In Psalm 89, 1 and 2, he said, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. Mercy should be built up forever. I’ll just, with my mouth, make it known to all generations. praising the Lord. In Psalm 136, there are many of them throughout the Psalms. He said, oh, give thanks to the Lord for he’s good, for his mercy endures forever. And he repeats it after every line, his mercy endures forever, his mercy endures forever, all the way to the Psalm. Praise the Lord. Number two, you want to know what your response is to what you learned about the mercy of God? It’s not only to praise the Lord, but it’s to pray for the Lord’s help. Turn to Psalm 69, please. But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord, in the acceptable time. O God, in the multitude of your mercy, hear me in the truth of your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire. Let me not sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me. Out of the deep waters, let not the flood overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up. And let not the pit shut its mouth on me. Hear me, O Lord, for your lovingkindness is good. Turn to me according to the multitude of your tender grace. mercies. Does it motivate you to pray? In Psalm 86, I read, “‘Bow down your ear, O Lord. Hear me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am holy. You are my God. Save your servant who trusts in you. Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I cry to you all day long.'” Psalm 90, verse 14. Oh, satisfy us early, the psalmist says, with your mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Pray. Psalm 94, verse 17. Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul would have soon have settled in silence. If I say my foot slips, your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties within me, your comforts delight my soul. are you troubled understand the lord is merciful come to him for help
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s Bible teacher David Hawking, and this is Hope for today. David will be back to bring our study time to a close. Some additional thoughts and teaching are just ahead, so stay tuned. First, we want to let you know about a couple of really special home Bible study tools.
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matt why did god choose to destroy the first civilization except noah and his family in this global catastrophe of the genesis flood find the answer inside david hawking’s engaging study of genesis 1-11 titled the beginning from creation to the flood and why can we have confidence in the biblical teaching of divine authorship in creation versus the popular notions of evolution how about lessons from creation that will build our faith and encourage our walk with the lord today yeah you’ll find them with supporting scriptures
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Inside the beginning, from creation to the flood.
SPEAKER 01 :
Matt, our culture is incredibly confused regarding values, ethics, and the meaning and purpose of life. And one reason is our failure to understand the origin of human life. And David tackles this concern inside the beginning, from creation to the flood. There’s so much inside this 156-page work by my dad. And Matt, we cannot overstate the importance of Genesis 1 through 11. And our feature book for May, The Beginning from Creation to the Flood, takes you on a dramatic journey through it. And the cost is $15. And friend, your purchase or donation will help the Ministry of Hope for today. And please pray for hope for today.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, amen. We also want to mention the Attributes of God radio series. That’s our current radio series. We have 16 messages in the series, and it takes about two to three days on the air to cover a message. Well, we have a collection of all the messages on MP3. The complete pack is just $20. You can also order the sermon notes and outlines that David used to tease these messages for just $10. They are excellent to help you follow along as you listen to David. And if this study has been a blessing to you, these resources are a simple way to keep David’s teaching close at hand and continue searching the scriptures for yourself and share it with somebody else. To order, visit davidhawking.org or call us at 800-75-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. 800-75-242-53. And in Canada, call 888-75-BIBLE. 888-75-BIBLE. 242-53. And listen, if you’d like to support Hope for Today financially, to send a donation by mail, you can write to us in the U.S. at Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. Your prayers and support help keep this broadcast going out with the Word of God clearly and without compromise. So reach out today, request these resources or make a donation, and by all means, let us know you’re praying for us and how we can pray for you as well. Well, here’s David to bring our time in God’s Word to a close.
SPEAKER 03 :
Turn to Hebrews chapter 2 and look at verse 17. Speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, it says, Therefore in all things he had to be made like his brethren. That means he became flesh and dwelt among us. Why did he do it? That he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. To make propitiation for the sins of the people, for in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. He can help you because he’s a merciful priest. We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. What is my response to the mercy of God? It’s not only to praise the Lord, it’s to pray for the Lord’s help. One last thing. It’s not only to praise the Lord and to pray for the Lord’s help. But according to the Bible, the proper response to God’s mercies is to present our bodies, our whole life to God. Romans chapter 12. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the, what? Mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. That’s a reasonable thing to do in the light of it. Do not be conformed to this world. A lot of us go that way and get messed up bad. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. In the light of the mercy and the mercies of God, what am I to do? Present my body to God. Whatever it is that’s tying you down, whatever the world’s offering you, whatever domination it has over you to be cool or accepted or wanted or whatever, cut the strings. And give yourself totally to a God who loves you more than you could ever dream. Father, you know how many of us need to right now run in our hearts to you. A lot of us are staying away from you, ignoring you, neglecting you, when you’re the only one who can really minister to us. Father, I pray for those in our audience who are not sure if they die now they’d be in heaven. That right now, Lord, you’d open their hearts to Jesus Christ and they’d know that he is a merciful high priest. one who cares about them like no one else does. Thank you that you do not punish us according to our iniquities. Thank you that you do remove our sins as far as the east is from the west. Thank you that you pity us like a father does a child. Oh God, help us to come to your heart, to stop running away. Father, I pray for Christians here who know they have settled their relationship with you by faith in Christ, but frankly have been enmeshed and bombarded and controlled by the world, its thinking, its processes, its goals, its dreams, its ideas. And here you are, merciful God, waiting for us, patient, loving. May there be people here who say, that’s it. He loves me more than anybody in this world does. I’ll give my life to him. to use me in whatever way he wants. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER 02 :
Amen. Friend, if you’d like to know more about how you can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, how you can have him as your Lord and Savior, or if you’re new to the Christian faith, in either case, we’d love to send you a free booklet by David called What Is Christianity? And also a free Bible study by mail. These resources will show you what God’s Word, the Bible, has to say about being a true believer in Jesus. Call 800-75-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Bible is 24253. And we’ll send them to you at no cost. Who is God? Not the God men invent, edit, or explain away, but the God of the Bible. Well, David Hawking continues our series on the attributes of God next week here on Hope for Today.
