God’s Loyal Love

Exodus 34:6–7 “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

ILL. Keith Kiser

piddlin’ in the office; can’t say that; I’ll give you a tinkle on the phone!

Words have meaning! But some words are so impactful that it takes numerous words to convey their meanings!

The Meaning of Chesed

Daniel Block: “Chesed cannot be translated with one English word. This is the covenant term, wrapping up in itself all the positive attributes of God!

goodness

favor

pity

kindness

mercy

mercies’ sake

unfailing love

steadfast love

covenant love

covenant loyalty

As a matter of fact, this word is so amazing that it’s repeated in the text! Yahweh keeps mercy for thousands of generations!

“an act of promise-keeping loyalty motivated by deep personal love and care!”

Genesis 32:10 “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.”

I am not unworthy! Well, Jacob was never worthy! It has nothing to do with Jacob— it never has! Chesed is about God fulfilling all of His character and grace to sinners!

Psalm 36:7 “How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.”

Lovingkindness is the word for all that God does for us!

In 1537 Miles Coverdale translated the Bible into English. When he came to passages like Psalm 36, he didn’t know how to encapsulate all that God is…all that God does….and all that God wills..So, he made up this word. How excellent is thy lovingkindness!

quote: Chesed is the

So, I want to illustrate the meaning of this word from the Bible.

Nehemiah 9…

setting- a rebuilt Jerusalem with walls repaired by Nehemiah

fasting

sackcloth

ashes

6 hours of reading Scripture

6 hours of confession

speakers- all of Israel

scope- it’s the entire OT in 1 chapter

5-6- creation

captivity

exodus

conquest

kingdom

captivity

The Message of Covenant

Nehemiah 9:17 “And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.”

Nehemiah 9:31–32 “Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God. Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.”

BACK TO THE MOLTEN CALF

Genesis 12- a promise

Genesis 12:1–3 “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

TO SAVE THE WORLD- ALL FAMILIES WILL BE BLESSED

Genesis 15…

couple with AARP benefits dealing with infertility! WE NEED A SIGN!

GOD TO GIVE ABRAHAM THIS COVENANT PROMISE- HIS SIGN OF ULTIMATE LOVE!

the covenant ceremony-

bull, goat, ram, bird

Abraham fell asleep

God walked through the covenant Himself

GOD WANTED TO SAVE THE WORLD THRU ISRAEL AND HE WOULD DO IT HIMSELF

IF BLOOD WAS TO BE SPILLED, IT WOULDN’T COME FROM ISRAEL— IT WOUD BE BLOOD AND DEATH FROM GOD HIMSELF

Exodus 34:6 “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,”

John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

The Motivation of Christians

Nehemiah 9:38 “And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.”

We all live betwen two motivations:

in order to

because of

GOD’S CHESED IS UNLIKE OUR CHESED. Hosea 6:4 “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your (chesed) is as a morning cloud, And as the early dew it goeth away.”

Nehemiah 9:32 “Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.”

9- parted the Red Sea

10- freed them from slavery

10- led them by cloud and fire

14- He provided them a Sabbath

15- He gave manna, water, and a land to enjoy

SIN

17- He didn’t render evil for evil

20- led them by His Spirit

21- He sustained them

23- He multiplied their seed

25- He spoiled cities and vineyards for them

SIN

27- He gave them judges to defend them

28- He heard them from Heaven

SIN

3 types of grace:

TRANSACTIONAL- If I will, He will

UNILATERAL- He will alone

TRANSFORMATIONAL/RECIPROCAL- He will, so I will…He has, so I will

1 John 4:19 “We love him, because he first loved us.”

1 John 3:16 “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

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1 Samuel 18:3 “Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.”

2 Samuel 9:1 “And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”