GOD-WHO-FORGIVES
Ps. 99:8, NKJV
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: Nuns And Greed
1. There was a very large nun who dearly loved her food. She was cautioned by the Mother Superior on the subject of greed. ‘Remember,’ she was told, ‘the Bible says that we are temples of the Holy Spirit, and therefore we should respect our bodies and show restraint.’
2. For a while the lesson apparently went home and it was noticed that the nun ate much less than before. But then, alas, it became obvious at meal times that she was back to her former ways.
3. Again she was on the carpet for a reprimand. ‘You seem to be forgetting what I said about being temples of the Holy Spirit sister,’ said her Superior.
4. With a beatific smile the nun replied, ‘Well, it was while I was praying the other day Mother, that I seemed to hear a voice that said, “Sister, you are not a temple of the Holy Spirit, you are a basilica.”
B. TEXT
1 The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; let the earth be moved! 2 The Lord is great in Zion, and He is high above all the peoples. 3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name—He is holy….4[Who] also loves justice. 6 Moses and Aaron were among His priests, and Samuel was among those who called upon His name; they called upon the Lord, and He answered them. 7 He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar; they kept His testimonies and the ordinance He gave them. 8 You answered them, O Lord our God; You were to them God-Who-Forgives, though You took vengeance on their deeds. 9 Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy. Ps. 99:1-3, 6-9.
C. THESIS
1. I was doing my daily Bible reading last week, reading through the Book of Psalms. I was reading Psalm 99 in the New King James Version when I got to verse 8 and was startled with their translation.
2. I checked a few other translations then looked at the underlying Greek, and how the phrase was used, and was shocked to realize that God had another Name I hadn’t heard about till now – the GOD-WHO-FORGIVES.
3. The more I thought about this the more revelation came, so I knew God wanted me to preach on it.
4. We’re going to look at how unusual this Name is, what a contradiction of God’s nature it is, how God is unique in this attribute, and how this effects us. The title is, the “GOD-WHO FORGIVES.”
I.HOW UNUSUAL THAT GOD SHOULD FORGIVE
A. GOD’S NATURE AS HOLY & JUST
1. “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Isa. 6:3. God was identified not by His love, but by His holiness.
2. The Hebrew word “holy” means “separate.” Why is God “separate?” God is nothing like us.
3. We and the angels are created; God is uncreated. We are creatures of time; God is outside of time. We are contaminated by sin; God is separate from sin, pure, holy, sacred.
4. God is as far above angels as He is above a worm, because the difference between angels and worms is not much, but the distance between created things and the Creator is infinite!
B. HE IS MORALLY PERFECT (separate from evil)
1. Hab. 1:13, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.”
2. Job 25:5, "Yea, the [angels] are not pure in his sight."
3. “Do not come any closer.” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” Ex. 3:5.
4. God will judge and destroy all the wicked (Ps. 9:5; 37:38; 92:7; 101:8; 145:20; etc.).
5. God judges all with perfect justice, punishing the wicked and exonerating the innocent.
6. Listen to the solemn declaration of Heb. 2:2-3, “For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?”
7. In God’s justice, the smallest infraction will be punished. No detail will escape God’s notice. It will be like the FBI investigating your past. All will be exposed. There is no escape from your sins.
C. ILLUS.: IMPOSSIBILITY OF PARDON
1. Alexander III was Tsar of Russia from 1881-1894. His rule was marked by repression, and in particular by persecution of Jews.
2. His wife, Maria Fedorovna, provided a stark contrast, being known for her generosity to those in need. On one occasion her husband had signed an order consigning a prisoner to life in exile. It read simply “Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia.”
3. Maria changed that prisoners life by moving the comma in her husband’s order. She altered it to “Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia.” In Christ, God has moved the Comma! [Sources: biography.com and Today in the Word, July 14, 1993.]
II. GOD’S NATURE AS FORGIVING
A. CONTRADICTION OF JUSTICE?
1. Forgiveness seems to contradict the holiness and justice of God! How can One Who holds everyone accountable dismiss the wrongdoings of people?
2. Yet that is what God does. In Ex. 34:6-7, God declares Himself to be - “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”
3. “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins…” Ps. 103:2-3. See also Jer. 31:34; 33:8; 36:3. God says, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” See also Mk. 3:28.
4. Surely Jehovah is unique in this quality. Micah declared, “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?” (7:18).
5. God forgiving sins is not a side issue, but is mentioned 91 times!
B. ARE OTHER SUPPOSED DEITIES FORGIVING?
1. ALLAH. In their article, “Does Allah Forgive All Sins or Doesn’t He?”, Sam Shamoun & Jochen Katz show that Allah DOES NOT FORGIVE ALL SINS:
a. He only forgives if the sin was done in ignorance and was soon repented of (Quran 4:17-18);
b. There’s no forgiveness for one who intentionally murders a Muslim believer (Quran 4:29-31; 4:93);
c. He won’t forgive those who worship Allah and also worship an idol (syncretism) (Quran 4:116-117; 17:39; 39:65).
d. So even though Allah is depicted as being “all forgiving and merciful,” in reality if the sin is ‘high-handed,’ or repented much later, or was murder, or syncretism – the person will not be forgiven, even if they repent. Allah picks and chooses.
2. In HINDUISM, if you do wrong, the Law of Karma says there are “unalterable consequences that are attached to every thought and action….If you do bad deeds, the law of karma will ensure you reap bad.” There is no forgiveness of your evil deeds; you will suffer for them with subsequent more troublesome reincarnations.
3. Likewise in BUDDHISM, the Law of Karma dominates; “our own past actions…are responsible for our own happiness and misery. We create our own Heaven. We create our own Hell. We are the architects of our own fate.” The law of sowing and reaping is unalterable. Therefore there is no forgiveness for the transgressor; they must suffer the fruit of their actions.
C. THE BASIS OF JEHOVAH’S FORGIVENESS?
1. Being a just God, He CAN’T just dismiss the transgressions; EVERY ONE OF THEM MUST BE PAID FOR! But that’s what Jesus came to earth to do.
2. “And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” Isa. 53:6. “…and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” Heb 9:22. “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” 1 John 2:2.
3. So JESUS FULFILLED THE REQUIREMENTS OF JUSTICE by taking our sins on Himself, and suffering the death penalty in our place. We who were locked up awaiting trial have now been freed!
That’s why the words for “forgive” mean:
a. “To Cover” – Gr. Kalupto
b. “To Bestow a Favor” – Gr. charidzomai
c. “To loose” – Gr. apoluo
d. “To Dismiss, Release” – Gr. aphesis
4. If we repent of our sins, forgiveness of ALL OUR SINS is available through Jesus’ atonement. “…and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin” 1 John 1:7.
5. What a blessing to be forgiven! David marveled, “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered!” Ps. 32:1.
6. All our (repented & confessed) sins have been blotted out; our criminal record has been expunged, our souls purified and dressed in Christ’s righteousness. We are sinless in the sight of God. Marvel of marvels! Praise God for His matchless grace!
C. ILLUS.: ‘NO ONE TO FORGIVE HER’
1. ATHEIST. Not long before she died in 1988, in a moment of surprising candor in television, Marghanita Laski, one of our best-known secular humanists and novelists, said, “What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me.”
2. That God that not only does God forgive us, but because HE does, then we can forgive ourselves for our wrongdoings.
3. Have you forgiven yourself?
III. HE’S THE GOD WHO “LIFTS”
A. AN ALTERNATE MEANING
1. The Hebrew which describes God in verse 8 is translated in almost all versions as “forgives,” for that is what the context indicates.
2. But this Hebrew word, nasa or nasah, actually means “to lift, carry, take.” It’s translated as “forgive” 17X, as “carry” 45X, as “take” 60X, and as “lift” 135X!
3. So this phrase, which incorporates God’s Name, “El-Nasa,” is also accurately translated as “the God Who Lifts!”
B. HOW DOES GOD LIFT US?
1. LIFTED UP FROM SIN: God lifts us up out of the muck and mire of fallen nature and sets our feet upon the Rock of Christ!
2. LIFTED ABOVE TEMPTATION. “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” Lk. 10:9.
3. LIFTED INTO THE REALM OF THE SPIRIT. “He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem…” Ezek. 8:3.
4. LIFTED TO PLACES OF PROMINENCE: Joseph and Daniel were promoted to high positions. “He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles” 1 Sam. 2:8.
5. LIFTED ABOVE SICKNESS. Acts 3:7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
6. LIFTED TO HEAVENLY PLACES. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” Eph 1:3.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. In a dream, Martin Luther found himself being attacked by Satan. The devil unrolled a long scroll containing a list of Luther's sins, and held it before him.
2. On reaching the end of the scroll Luther asked the devil, "Is that all?" "No," came the reply, and a second scroll was thrust in front of him. Then, after a second came a third. But now the devil had no more.
3. "You've forgotten something," Luther exclaimed triumphantly. "Quickly write on each of them, 'The blood of Jesus Christ God's son cleanses us from all sins.'" K. Koch, Occult Bondage and Deliverance, p. 10.
B. THE CALL
1. Let’s go to God and ask Him for His forgiveness for our sins.
2. Now if God can forgive you, then you have permission to forgive yourself. I mean, if the highest authority says it’s ok for you to be forgiven, can’t you make peace with those bad deeds from your past? Let them go. Release them. Be at peace, once you’ve repented and confessed!
3. Prayer.
