The Father’s Love - Final Version

The Father’s Love

Jason Varnon / General Adult

Psalms / Forgiveness; Mercy; Patience; God’s Longsuffering / Psalm 103:8–14

God loves us in spite of our sin and waywardness. If we seek and trust in Him for forgiveness and mercy, He will grant it. Through Jesus, our sins are forgiven and forgotten.

Essence of the Sermon

•     By trusting in Jesus as savior, we can personally experience the mercy, grace, patience, love, and forgiveness that God has for His children.

Introduction/Illustration

•     If you can, think back to a time when you were either learning to tie your shoes as a child, or maybe you were teaching your child or grandchild how to tie shoes…think about those first few attempts at trying to loop everything the correct way, fit your fingers into the knots just right, and maybe pulling the knot tight enough at just the right time. If you remember as a child how many times you had to try to tie the knots just right before you figured it out - you may remember how frustrating that was - or maybe you felt like you would never get it figured out…  or maybe as the parent or grandparent teaching a child how to tie his or her shoes, you remember thinking, “wow, this might take a while”, or maybe you recall the moments of frustration throughout the time it took to finally see the end result of a shoe being tied properly; those moments of “how many times have I got to show you….no, not like that…no, that’s not the way; do what I said to do”…we most likely all experienced those moments throughout the process. If not with learning how to tie shoes, then think about the process of how we grow from an infant, who cannot do ANYTHING on their own - except maybe make a mess; they can’t drink by themselves, sit up, feed themselves, dress themselves…completely helpless! As they get a little older they learn to crawl, sit, stand, eat by themselves, talk, clothe themselves, and eventually grow toddlers, into teenagers, young adults, and then adults…but wow, what a process that is - not only a process of time, but of progress, failures, setbacks, injuries, broken arms and legs, crooked teeth and braces, time outs, spankings, etc. - lots of moments of one step forward and two steps back.

•       …think about this part…even though it took time, even though there were those setbacks, or moments you thought “we’ll never get this figured out”, as a child you didn’t stop loving your parent or grandparent over the momentary frustration of having to learn something new, and as a parent or grandparent, you didn’t stop loving your child or grandchild because they struggled and came up short, or messed up, throughout the process did you? No…at least, let’s hope not.

•     Now…think about our Heavenly Father for a moment - we’re going to see from David’s words in the Psalms just how patient, merciful, forgiving and loving He is. He does not and will not give up on us when we fall and stumble if we are His children - if we trust in Him and what Jesus did to save us - He keeps guiding us and teaching us - through His Word and the Holy Spirit He molds believers to be more like Him. Let’s read part of a wonderful Psalm of David, Psalms 103:8-14 together and see what characteristics of God are revealed in this passage.

Psalms 103:8-14

1. The Father's Patience Towards Us

The first characteristic of God revealed to us in this passage by David, is in verses 8 and 9, and that is the characteristic of the Father’s patience towards us as His children.

God is actually even patient with those that don’t believe in Him - the common graces of food, water, shelter, money, etc. - those types of blessings and gifts are evident in the lives of believers and nonbelievers alike.  The words “slow to anger” as we see in verse 8 are characteristic of a Father that many today may not comprehend - not only because we often times see fathers neglecting the role they are called to, but also because our society and world seem to be in a stage of wanting “instant” retribution, retaliation, or vengeance. From world governments, the media, all the way down to us as individuals. Many will go directly to Facebook, Tik Tok, or other social media sites and share how they have been wronged and that people need to stop messing with them or bad things will happen! Or we’ll see people drop little quotes and memes with a “hidden” message that is either directed at someone else or defending their previous post.

How many times has that actually worked though? Not too many arguments are settled over Facebook or other social media sites, - they usually just get stirred up more.

My point is this - often times we as humans can be “quick” to anger - we react before thinking about what we say and do, and it can lead to the ending of relationships, the loss of a job, distrust, or in the worst cases,  even a life - many sit in a prison cell today because they reacted and were “quick to anger” with no thought given to possible consequences. Just two weeks ago, a young man in Texas lost his life because another teenager stabbed him to death over a seat at a track meet. He lost his life because someone else wanted that seat. In addition, back to our quick to anger point, people on social media immediately took sides and began to argue incessantly over who was the real victim in the case. Quick, reactionary anger - a desire to want to “win” the argument and prove a point - to make sure others know we have been wronged and that “it is just not fair.”

This is NOT how our Father loves and operates - these verses tell us that in addition to being “slow to anger”, He is also “merciful, gracious”…actually “abounding” in mercy. Not just a little mercy, or occasional mercy, but “abounding” in mercy. “Abounding” is defined as “plentiful…overflowing…full of”. In verse 9 where it states that He will not always “strive” with us, the definition of the word strive that we use today doesn’t mean exactly the same thing as here in the text. In modern times, when we say strive, we usually mean it to say that we are “making an effort” or to “labor hard” at something. One example might be to say, “you need to strive to make straight A’s at school” or you need to “strive to get better at listening” (which I often hear that phrase from my wife). In this passage however, the word “strive” means to “contend with” or to “dispute” or “quarrel”. David is saying here that God will not always be upset or angry with us - His anger won’t last if we repent and seek forgiveness. This all points back to his patience and mercy we discussed earlier.  He does NOT run out of or stop exhibiting these characteristics as people often do. We might not exhibit these characteristics when we are tired, or had a bad day at school or work, or when we are sick…but God does not operate that way. He doesn’t show his mercy and grace based off of what “mood” He is in. And if we doubt that; if we struggle to believe or comprehend that, then we should always refer back to passages of Scripture such as this one that declare the truth of His word - not what we “feel” like the Word might say.

So what can we learn from these truths about God? Why does this matter to us and what do we need to do?

As believers and followers of Jesus, we need to rest in the fact that we are truly loved - really loved - with a love that does not fade with the times, or because of God being in a bad “mood”. Even in the New Testament we see where Paul writes to the Corinthians and says the following:

Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

That is how the Father loves us! We need to truly seek to understand just how much we are loved by our Heavenly Father!

And when we DO begin to understand this, and when we allow the Word and the Holy Spirit to teach us and shape us, as believers we can extend the same patience, mercy, and grace to those around us. Our family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, classmates…they are in the same need of grace and mercy that we are, and what better way to demonstrate the love and mercy of God than by showing it to others through how we treat them and love them?  Is this always easy? Of course not…it’s something that we can only do when we allow ourselves to be changed by the Holy Spirit – as we allow the Spirit to guide us and help us “put the old man to death” and “die to ourselves daily”, then we can in turn learn to show the mercy, grace, and patience of the Lord to others in our lives.

It gets even better though - because of God’s mercy, grace, and patience - the abundant, never-ending mercy, grace, and patience we just talked about; we have forgiveness, which is another characteristic the text here reveals to us about God. Real and lasting forgiveness - not temporary forgiveness of sin that God brings up and reminds us of a few months or years later. Forgiveness that is often times hard to understand with our human mind because it is so opposite of what OUR sinful nature desires to do. Let’s look at what verses 10-12 say about the Father’s forgiveness for us:

2. The Father’s Forgiveness For Us

Read Psalm 103:10-12

To fully understand and grasp this, we must first understand and realize we are sinners and need forgiveness. We need forgiveness, because as a Holy God, God cannot permit sin to go unpunished. It’s not in His nature and he would not be Holy if he did permit sin to go unpunished. He exhibits absolute moral purity. Isaiah 6:3 clearly states, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory”.  Hopefully, all of us in here have realized that and understand our need for a Savior and forgiveness. However, let me give us a quick reminder of our sin from God’s Word. I would like to add: I realize that this may be tough to hear, especially if you are hearing it for the first time. Many, maybe, all of us in here have most likely heard this before, but I did want to mention that in case. In addition, and especially for our children and teenagers today,  society and the world tell us that we are “ok as we are” – the world doesn’t teach us a message of confronting and dealing with our sin – it often condones it and outright promotes it as the right thing to do, so I understand the message of being a sinner can be hard to hear, but hang with me – there is hope for us.

Scripture tells us is in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. That means me…and that means you as well. In Romans 3:10, Paul references Psalm 14 when he writes that “There is none righteous, no, not one”. Not a single human alive is free from sin and the bondage, shame, and sorrow it brings - we cannot free ourselves from that; and while there are many other examples in Scripture that reveal how man is sinful and depraved, including how Cain murdered his own brother, how the Israelites bowed to idols multiple times, and the sin of David with Bathsheba,  we can also look around our world today and see the depravity of man in many ways. The selfishness, the hatred of others that leads to crimes such as murder, political and national anger and wars, attempts to redefine manhood, womanhood, marriage, and more.  We are ALL guilty of sin before a Holy God and we deserve punishment for our sins, because we commit them of our own will.  Keep in mind, God is a holy God that cannot allow sin to go unpunished. Again, that’s part of what makes Him holy.

Think for a moment of the sins you have committed in your life; I know it’s not fun to do that, but think of the sins you committed that others know about, and even the private ones - the struggles with sin that only you may know about it…

...all of those sins are deserving of punishment and the wrath of God...and that would be fair! That would be just! God didn’t make us commit those sins; we freely chose to do so...

BUT... God knew we would do that; he knew we would choose sin, our own way - and we don’t have to stay in that sin and guilt.

In His love for us, He made a way for us to NOT have to pay the price for our sins. Even in the words of the Old Testament, in the early writings of Moses, the sacrificial system that was established, the priesthood, ALL of that pointed to God providing a way for sin to be forgiven!

In the very garden where God placed the first man and woman he created, Adam and Eve, after they gave in to temptation and chose to sin, God Himself provided a sacrifice of an animal to create coverings of skin for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21) He made the “covering” for their nakedness and shame.

Did he chastise them? Absolutely. Were there consequences? Yes. Serious consequences - that led to physical death and judgment, not only for Adam and Eve, but for all of mankind. However, he still showed them love, mercy, and forgiveness when he did not kill them immediately and continued to provide for them even - if it wasn’t in the Garden of Eden - yes, they were kicked out of the Garden as a result of their sin, but God still provided for them. From that first sacrifice in the garden to ultimately Jesus Christ coming, who served as the final and ultimate sacrifice, God had a plan from the beginning - the Son coming to earth, willingly suffering, dying and resurrecting for our sins so we didn’t have to pay the penalty due. That is all due to the loving, merciful, and patient nature of God. That's forgiveness beyond measure - and it should serve as an inspiration that leads us to forgive and extend grace to those “who trespass against us”.

Now, do note that this doesn’t mean to not use discernment or wisdom, and just allow others to continually abuse us in the name of mercy. Forgiveness is taught in Scripture, but so is truth and repentance - think back to what we just read and talked about - Loving like the Father means loving with truth. I do want to make sure we understand that part as well.

Finally, another characteristic we see of the Father in Scripture is that he has compassion on us. Let’s read verses 13 and 14 again real quick.

3. The Father's Compassion On Us

Psalm 103:13-14

The word pity…it’s still around today, and the context of how it is used today is very similar to how it was used here in this text. Pity can be defined as John Pilch wrote, “a complex emotion characterized by a feeling of pain or sorrow in response to witnessing undeserved suffering or distress in others. It is closely related to compassion and mercy, often motivating acts of kindness or benevolence towards those in need.”

Who can possibly be in more need than a sinner in need of grace, mercy, and forgiveness? What greater need could there possibly be than the need to be freed from the shame, doubt, guilt, fear, and sorrow of the burden of being a sinner, helpless to save him or herself? Are even earthly needs more important than that? Can money, food, or transportation save us from the eventual judgment from a Holy God? Can health save us? Can good works save us? Can anyone or anything other than trusting in Jesus Christ and the finished work of the cross save us? Absolutely not!

Peter makes this as clear as possible in Acts 4:12 when he writes, immediately after confronting the rulers and elders of Israel for rejecting Jesus,  “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”. We see it again in 1 Timothy 2:5-6 when Paul writes “For there is ONE God and ONE mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all”. So, only by trusting in Jesus Christ can our sins be forgiven.

However, this is all due to the COMPASSION of the Father; his Compassion for us is part of what led to the plan of salvation through Jesus. God knew we would not be able to live a sin free life and would need a savior. This path to salvation exists because, as David writes in verses 13 and 14 of this Psalm, “So the Lord pities those who fear Him; For he knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust”. David is not talking about a type of fear here where we are scared of the Lord and just waiting on Him to drop the hammer of justice and punishment on us every time we mess up. The word “fear” here is used in the sense of saying “to revere” or to “hold in honor”; to have a sense of “awe” and “wonder”.

And by saying that God knows our “frame”, David reminds us that God is our creator - He made us! He knows us down to the last molecule in our body - this means He also fully knows our weaknesses and struggles - and He shows compassion on us due to those facts. Verse 14 states that the Lord remembers we are “dust” - dust, or dirt, is made up of particles that can’t hold themselves together - if you pick it up and throw it, or try to throw it, it dissipates almost like a vapor and just goes everywhere - it can’t do anything productive on it’s own or serve a real purpose by itself. Does that sound familiar? We, are as dust - helpless without our loving Father. Oh, that we can all see and understand that…

God knows we need Him desperately. And thankfully…He has made himself known to us; He has shown us How we can have a relationship with Him - through His Word, through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection, and through empowering believers with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 

Because of the compassion our Heavenly Father has shown to us, and because we see that He understands our weaknesses and frailties, we should learn from Him and also “strive” to compassionately relate to others in the same way - In how we speak with others, love others, and even in how we chastise and offer correction and discipline when called for - and it will be called for at times; again, real love involves tough truths at times, - but may our actions in those areas reflect a heart filled with compassion, just as it has been shown to us by the Father.

Closing

If you are a believer and follower of Jesus, then hopefully you understand a little about our Father’s patience, forgiveness, and compassion. Hopefully that is what drew you to Him in the first place – the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart and calling you to respond to the invitation of forgiveness and salvation. If not, and if you struggle with grasping and understanding these characteristics of our Father, continue to pray for guidance and clarity from His Word. Dig back into Psalm 103 as often as needed…dig into the entirety of His Word as much as you can…from Genesis to Revelation, it reveals His nature more and more, every time you read it.

If you are here tonight and are not saved, or not a believer in Jesus, then I pray that the Scriptures and concepts we discussed tonight will weigh on your heart and remind you that it is not a sign of weakness to admit that you are a sinner in need of mercy, grace, and forgiveness. You have a Creator that made you and knows your weaknesses - and He still loves you. Yes, it is absolutely true that He is Holy and cannot and will not condone or permit sin to ultimately go unpunished – but that very same Holy God made a way for you to receive an eternal pardon and to experience a lasting forgiveness if you will just trust in what Jesus has already done for you. Don’t leave tonight trying, or thinking that you have to do it on your own.

Thank you.