TREATED BETTER THAN WE DESERVE
Ps. 103:10
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. There was a man who had a cat named Mr. Peoples. It was an especially obnoxious cat which yowled a lot and loved to pounce on him when he fell asleep in his lazy-boy chair. It would stand around smirking at him.
2. So one day he got enough. So he took Mr. Peoples, got in the car and drove a mile away. He set Mr. Peoples on the ground and drove home. When he arrived, there was Mr. Peoples in the front window smiling at him!
3. So he took Mr. Peoples, got in the car and drove all the way across town – 17 miles away – and set Mr. Peoples on the ground and drove off. But when he arrived home, there was Mr. Peoples in the front window smirking at him again!
4. So he loaded up Mr. Peoples and drove in circular pattern for 4 hours -- into the city and out of the city. Certainly now Mr. Peoples would not be able to find his way home. He set Mr. Peoples on the ground and drove off.
5. After driving around for an hour, he called home. His wife answered. He asked, “Has Mr. Peoples arrived home yet?” His wife said, “Yes, he got here 10 minutes ago.”
6. “Well, would you put him on the phone? I need him to tell me how to get home from here!
B. TEXT
“He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities” Ps. 103:10.
C. THESIS
1. Everybody wants to be treated fairly. We all want the correct change back when we buy something. If we get shortchanged, we’re likely to get in a huff!
2. But do we always want what we have coming to us? That’s the topic of tonight’s message’ “Treated Better than We Deserve.”
3. We’re going to look at Wrong & Real estimations of our blessings, and God’s gracious treatment of us.
I. WRONG PERSPECTIVE ON BLESSINGS
A. COMMON STATEMENTS BY BELIEVERS
1. As a Pastor, I encounter many people facing struggles. I often hear people say that God has failed them in some way.
2. They may say it as,
a. “God must not love me” or
b. “God doesn’t do for me what He does for other people.”
c. They say, “I’ve had trouble after trouble. How can a loving God have allowed this?”
3. The point of all those statements is to judge God and His actions and to say that “God has not treated me fairly!”
4. Or to say “God has not rewarded me adequately” or “God has wronged me.”
B. A CORRECTED PERSPECTIVE
1. That whole line of discouragement is a lie from Hell! It’s a lie aimed at making a person ungrateful for the blessings they have.
2. Instead of looking at what you DO HAVE, you’re focusing on what you don’t have.
3. Everything is seen from a negative light, an attitude of ‘lack,’ bitterness, etc., instead of thankfulness for what we DO have.
4. The old adage says, “I used to cry because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”
5. ILLUS.
a. In Budapest, a man goes to the rabbi and complains, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?" The rabbi answers, "Take your goat into the room with you." The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. "Do as I say and come back in a week."
b. A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before. "We cannot stand it," he tells the rabbi. "The goat is filthy." The rabbi then tells him, "Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week."
c. A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat -- only the nine of us." [George Mikes, How to be Decadent, Andre Deutsch, London.]
II. REAL ESTIMATION OF OUR ADVANTAGES
A. COMPARED TO OTHERS
1. The USA has only 5% of the world’s population but receives 60-70% of its resources.
2. The 3 richest men in the world have more wealth than the 48 poorest countries! Think of the disproportion!
3. We have televisions, beautiful cars, clothes, electronic gadgets, new homes, new tools, new appliances, etc. We have malls crammed with the latest of everything.
4. I’m sure that people from Haiti or Honduras can’t understand why we can’t be ecstatically happy with what we have; we have far more than we need.
B. OUR GREAT OPPORTUNITIES
1. All over the world right now, millions of people wonder where their next meal will come from.
2. Millions have never traveled more than a few miles from their home.
3. Millions have NEVER HAD running water, or access to health care, or the ability to go out to dinner at a restaurant.
4. Millions have only the clothes on their back – and have never owned a pair of shoes.
5. If you own one Bible, you are abundantly blessed; 1/3 of the world doesn’t have access to a Bible.
6. If you have never experienced the danger of war, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation you are more fortunate than 500 million people on earth.
7. If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, $20 in your pocket and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of the world.
8. Oh God, forgive me when I whine! SO, AS FAR AS THIS WORLD, WE HAVE RECEIVED FAR MORE THAN WE DESERVE!
C. HEAVEN IS THE PLACE OF OUR REWARD
1. And we serve a God Who is preparing a place for us in heaven. We have a future and a hope.
2. HEAVEN IS THE PLACE WHERE WE’RE GOING TO BE REWARDED, NOT HERE!
3. So meanwhile, Paul said, “But godliness with contentment is great gain” 1 Tim. 6:6.
III. GOD’S GRACIOUS TREATMENT
A. JUSTICE DEMANDS WE REAP WHAT WE SOW
1. ILLUS. A man taken before a judge. The judge looked at him and said, “I’d bet that you’re one of those who hollers that your people never get a fair trial and that you doubt you’ll get justice in this court.”
2. The man shook his head and said, “Your Honor, I’m not standing before this court to ask for Justice, I’m standing before this court to ask for Mercy!”
3. How true! We shouldn’t want to pay in full for our misdeeds, but since God is compassionate, and takes our human frailty into consideration, we seek His clemency.
B. GOD’S JUSTICE IS FAR TOO THOROUGH!
1. Jer. 17:10 “I the Lord search the HEART and examine the MIND, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
2. THE PENALTY IS TOO HIGH FOR US. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Rom. 6:23.
3. Even our WORDS will be brought into judgment (Lk. 19:22). Who could pass scrutiny of unguarded words over a lifetime?
C. GOD’S JUDGMENT TEMPERED
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy 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 pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” Ps. 103:8,10-13.
1. MERCY, GRACE.
2. FORBEARANCE. Forbearance (defined): patient self-control; restraint and tolerance.
3. PATIENCE. “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Rom. 2:4.
D. GOD’S ROYAL OFFER OF PARDON
1. “25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” Rom. 3:25-26.
2. Jesus fulfilled God’s justice completely, so that God can have mercy on us.
3. 2 Cor. 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
4. Jesus took our sin upon himself (which we didn’t deserve) and then gave us something else we didn’t deserve – His righteous. That’s a double dose of grace!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. During the building of the Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay, construction fell badly behind schedule because several workers had accidentally fallen from the scaffolding to their deaths.
2. Engineers and administrators could find no solution to the costly delays. Finally, someone suggested a gigantic net be hung under the bridge to catch any who fell. Finally in spite of the enormous cost, the engineers opted for the net.
3. After it was installed, progress was hardly interrupted. A worker or two fell into the net but were saved. Ultimately, all the time lost to fear was regained by replacing fear with faith in the net.
4. As we paid nothing for God's eternal grace. What an astonishing thought of the difference between our ‘deservings’ and our ‘receivings.’
5. What we "Deserved" should be written on the floor of hell; but on the door of heaven that this is what we received!
[Richard Baxter, The Free Gift.]
B. THE CALL
1. How many would say “I could stand having my negative perspective adjusted to see things correctly?”
2. How many are going through a tough time and need more grace from God to help them endure their issues?
3. How many need forgiveness for their sins? We’re scheduling a baptismal service ASAP. Would you like to sign up?
