Sermon Tone Analysis

God’s faithful love executes grace and compassion for all the oppressed.

God’s love towards His people and His faithfulness to His covenant lead to a compassion and grace that leads us in awe to marvel at His character.

Terrible leadership in the midst of a grievous sin.

Yet, Aaron and Moses aren’t the only ones who wrestle with their own failures and the failures of their generation.

It is a continual pattern throughout scripture.

From Moses, to David, to us, God offers grace to undeserved sinners.

He redeems David from the Pit.

The Hebrew here, שַּׁ֣חַת, is what they would call the physical place of death.

Not hell in our sense, but more like a grave.

For David, God redeemed him from sin and disease, preserving him from the “pit.”

If God is extending grace to undeserved sinners, and redeeming unfaithful kings, who is next?

Maybe you will preach the Gospel to one like a Paul, or one like a Luke.

Maybe you are riveted by the effects of recognizing and repenting from sin.

Maybe you feel like David after sleeping with Bathsheba, or Aaron after building golden calves and facing Moses.

Regardless, God died for you with your sin on His mind.

That’s what a gracious and compassionate God does.

Psalm 103 (CSB)

Of David. 1 My soul, bless the Lord, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 My soul, bless the Lord, and do not forget all his benefits.

3 He forgives all your iniquity; he heals all your diseases.

4 He redeems your life from the Pit; he crowns you with faithful love and compassion.

5 He satisfies you with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle.

6 The Lord executes acts of righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He revealed his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.

8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.

9 He will not always accuse us or be angry forever.

10 He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him.

12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

14 For he knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass— he blooms like a flower of the field; 16 when the wind passes over it, it vanishes, and its place is no longer known.

17 But from eternity to eternity the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear him, and his righteousness toward the grandchildren 18 of those who keep his covenant, who remember to observe his precepts.

19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless the Lord, all his angels of great strength, who do his word, obedient to his command.

21 Bless the Lord, all his armies, his servants who do his will.

22 Bless the Lord, all his works in all the places where he rules.

My soul, bless the Lord!

God’s faithful love executes grace and compassion for all the oppressed.

רַחֵ֣ם

Rahem: Psalm 103:13

Feeling of love, sensation of love, compassion - HALOT

Rahamim: Jr 16:5 “5 “For this is what the Lord says: Don’t enter a house where a mourning feast is taking place.

Don’t go to lament or sympathize with them, for I have removed my peace from these people as well as my faithful love and compassion.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.”

Hos 2:21 “21 On that day I will respond— this is the Lord’s declaration.

I will respond to the sky, and it will respond to the earth.”

Zech 7:9 “9 “The Lord of Armies says this: ‘Make fair decisions.

Show faithful love and compassion to one another.”

Ps 51:3 “3 For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me.”

Ps 69:17 “17 Don’t hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress.

Answer me quickly!” Ps 103:4 “4 He redeems your life from the Pit; he crowns you with faithful love and compassion.”

Interesting, Chesed and Rhamim are used together in all of those verses.

- HALOT

Rahum: Ps 103:8

Mercy, meeting someone where they are at.

- HALOT

חָֽסֶד׃

Chesed: Psalm 103:4, Psalm 103:8, Psalm 103:11, Psalm 103:17

God’s mercy can be attributed to His faithfulness, His covenant bound mercy.

This is where we praise God that we are chosen by God to be His people and that we didn’t choose Him.

It’s His choice to extend us grace and mercy despite our continual failures.

How vast is God’s grace?

How powerful is God’s grace?

There’s so much power in verses 7-8, recalling God’s “righteousness and justice for all the oppressed” by revealing “his ways” and “his deeds” to the people of Israel.

His revealing leads to confidence in how He will deal with us.

Remember, the world will see the faithfulness of God to you, and have confidence He will execute “justice” and “righteousness” to them.

Luke 1:50.

Who can receive God’s grace?

Its mention here (7) reminds us of the sullen ingratitude which God encounters in reply to the forgiving, healing and redeeming of which the opening verses sang.1

1 Derek Kidner, Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary, vol.

16 of Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1975), 399.

God, infinitely wronged, not only tempers wrath but tempers justice (10)—though at what cost to himself, only the New Testament would reveal.1

1 Derek Kidner, Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary, vol.

16 of Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1975), 399.

Moses and the stiff-necked people who worship the golden calf are forgiven.

They are extended grace and mercy even though they break the covenant with God.

So, then God extends grace and mercy and initiates the 10 Commandments.

What now?

Obedience

But be careful, warns the psalmist with a necessary realism.

This love is not to be willfully abused.

Its recipients must respond with respectful awe, he says in a triple p 33 refrain at vv 11, 13, 17.1

1 Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101–150 (Revised), vol.

21 of Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), 32–33.

Praise

The further we move from recognizing sin towards retraining actions, the more likely we are to forget the grace of God in our lives.

We essentially can turn to two different attitudes: 1. thank you God for changing my life 2. thank you God that I’m not like sinners.

That’s where we began this series, with saints thinking they were better than sinners.

If you buy a house it doesn’t make you a better builder than anyone.

If you go to a Ravens game, it doesn’t make you a better football player than anyone.

And, if you overcome sin, it doesn’t make you a better person than anyone.

As soon as you believe that lie you rob God of the glory that He is due for finding you a disheveled and wicked human, yet loving you and extending an extraordinary grace and mercy towards you so that you could even stand in some form of transformation.

It’s by His wounds we are healed, it’s by His grace we are called sons and daughters, and it’s by His Spirit that we will one day be raised from the dead.

Do not leave God’s grace thinking more highly of yourself than you ought.

Instead, see yourself as redeemed by a gracious and loving God who has been faithful to you despite your unfaithfulness to Him.

So, if God redeemed you, will you be a part of Him redeeming others?

Sinners, far from God.

Just like you and me.

Will you be a part of God’s plan?

Like David, will you remember God’s faithfulness to the Israelites?

Like David, will you praise God for His faithfulness to you?

So, who is next?

Who is the next person to be redeemed by God? Next week we take up the challenge of reconciling the world to God throughout scripture.