God's Love Found in The Book of Psalms, by Lindsay Stephens

Lindsay begins by discussing the misconception that the God of the Old Testament was a harsh God and emphasizes that He was and is a God of love. He then focuses on the expressions of God's love in the Psalms, specifically highlighting God's love as forgiveness and compassion. He provides examples from various Psalms to support this. Lindsay also mentions that repentance is necessary for receiving God's forgiveness and that God has compassion on us like a father does for his children. Hello, everybody. Happy Sabbath to you, and the Sabbath day is a great opportunity for us to get together in fellowship. And it is a forerunner of a greater fellowship that we're going to have in the Kingdom of God. And isn't that something to look forward to? We know in today's world, there's a lot of people who do not believe in God. And those who do believe in God think that the God in the Old Testament was a harsh God who was only for the Jews, only relevant for the Jews. He was a harsh God, laid down the laws, and if you break the laws, then you suffer the penalty. And there didn't seem to be much love in that. So what I want to do here is to present to you that in the Old Testament, indeed, there was a God of love. And I want to emphasize this in the Psalms today. There are a few things that I want to bring out, a couple of criteria. The first thing we want to go to is in the book of John, in verse 1, in chapter 1, verse 1, where it says this, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, the Word was. And all things came into being through him, and not one thing that was created came into being without him. So Jesus Christ was there from the very beginning. He was the Alpha and the Omega, mentioned in Revelation 22, verse 13, from the very beginning. And he was the God of the Old Testament. Another thing I want to bring out is in 1 John 4, verse 8, it says, God is love. Now going on that basis, we can recall in Malachi 3, verse 6, it says, I, the Lord God, do not change. And relating that to Hebrews 13, verse 6, it says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. So in other words, Jesus Christ, the Jesus Christ of the New Testament, was the God of the Old Testament, who was a God of love. So I just want to establish that first. And what I want to bring out, there are some expressions of God's love that I want to bring out in this message today. And it's almost exclusively in the Psalms, which is what I want to concentrate on. The first expression of God's love is, God's love is forgiveness. Love is forgiveness. We know that sin entered the world in Genesis 3, in the tree of Satan tempted Eve, in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And unfortunately, Adam and Eve both took of the fruit, which they were not meant to do, and sin entered the world. And from that time on, there has been sin in the world. And the result of this, in Romans 3, verse 23, it says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And the result of this, the result of sin, it comes to Romans 6, verse 23, where it says, the wages of sin is death. But the gift, there's a gift that can be redeemed through Jesus Christ, through his death. So the first psalm we want to come to here is chapter 51, which is very familiar to us all. King David, after the sin that he had with Bathsheba and with Uriah the Hittite. Okay, so it says here, have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness. According to the greatness of your compassion, blot out my transgressions. So, in verse 2, it says, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. You think of being cleansed by the washing of the water by blood, in Ephesians 5, verse 26. Okay, verse 3, for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. God does love repentance. Because once we repent, then he certainly has something to work with for our grace. In verse 4, against you, you only have I sinned. Now all sin, all sin is against God. And that is the reason why Christ had to die and done evil in your sight. That you might be justified when you speak and be in the right when you judge. Be in the right with God. We go to verse 6. Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts and in the hidden parts you make me to know wisdom. The inward part, it's the part that's hidden from the world. The world doesn't know what's inside us, but God certainly does. He knows where we fall short. In verse 10, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. And that's repentance after each mistake. We make mistakes. We sin and we need to repent after each one. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. So God will not cast a repentant person out from his presence. Because he wants each one of us to make it into his kingdom. We go to another psalm in relation to this. Psalm 32. I'll bring it up. Psalm 32 in verse 1. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. So if we expose our sin, it is covered. God covers it up. But if we cover it, it is exposed. Just think of David when he covered his sin, God exposed it. It was exposed. In verse 5, I acknowledge my sin to you and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. By recognising our faults, we open the door to healing and restoration. In Psalm 86, this verse here. Verse 5. For you, O Lord, are good and ready to forgive and rich in mercy to all those who call upon you. God is waiting for each one of us to repent from our sins and is ready to forgive at any time. So God has an unforgiving nature. And we can compare that with a parent of a child. A child often falls short. And the parent is willing to forgive. In Psalm 103. In verse 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquities. Who heals all your diseases. Who redeems your life from destruction. Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies. If there is repentance, he will forgive. There is no sin that he won't forgive. Just think of some of the people who committed great sins. Think of King Manasseh. King Manasseh, who for 55 years was an evil ruler. But he repented after 55 years and God forgave him of all that. That's the extent of God's forgiveness. In verse 12. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. And it's all on condition of repentance. He will remove the sin from us. That is just one example of the extent of God's love. Human beings are frail. There is human frailty. There's always hope in seeking God's forgiveness. In Psalm 130. Psalm 130. Verse 1. This is a cry for help here. Out of the depths I have cried unto you, O Lord. O Lord, hearken to my voice, and let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who should stand? That points to Romans 3.23, as I mentioned before. Romans 6.23. If it wasn't for Jesus Christ, or his death, the question is asked, who shall stand? Incidentally, of these Psalms, of 150 Psalms, 73 at least were directly directed to David, who wrote these Psalms, and probably a lot more of them. In verse 4. But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. This is through the sacrifice of Christ. In verse 8. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Being Israel in the second resurrection, which is physical Israel, and with us, being in the first resurrection. In Psalm 25. In Psalm 25. In verse 8. Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he will teach sinners in the way. And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. It's on 14 verse 6. The meat he will guide in judgment, and the meat he will teach his way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. Going to the new covenant. It applies to the new covenant. In verse 11. For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. So, it's a need, it's a need to repent every day. The sin, now this, we have the sin within, within us. In verse 12. What man is he who fears the Lord? He shall teach him in the way, the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth. That's the promise that God has given to us. And this is, you know, we are the firstfruits, being the firstfruits, we've been given that promise. In verse 14. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him, and he will show them his covenant. Show us God's plan. God's plan is revealed to us through the Sabbath and Holy Days. We come to another version of God's love. Another attribute here of God's love, and this is love is compassionate. God is full of compassion for us. He knows us, he loves us, created us specifically, intimately, with a purpose, and can see, he can see through the complex minefield human emotions. And the psalm I want to start off with here in this attribute is number 139. Where he says, from verse 1, O Lord, you have searched me, and have known me. You know my sitting down, my rising up. You understand my thoughts of far off. By, you know, by the Spirit in man. You measure my going about, my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but lo, O Lord, you know it altogether. Okay, in verse 14, he says, I will praise you, for I am awesomely and wonderfully made. Your works are marvelous, and my soul knows it very well. So, God is love, as I mentioned before. God is love, and he formed us with love. Let me go back to Psalm 103, depend on this a bit. In verse 13, In verse 13, As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. And we think of, I think of little things that children worry about. Children, they're worried about little things that mean nothing to us. And they certainly meant something to us when we were children ourselves. But we help them, we support them. We have compassion on them. In verse 14, For he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust. And in Isaiah 55, verse 8 and 9, it says that my ways are not your ways. Your thoughts are not my thoughts. And God is love. So it's the same sort of comparison with us with little children, when we're training them to grow up to adulthood. In Psalm 145, in verse 8, In Psalm 145, in verse 8, 145, in verse 8, It says the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. So, abounding means he has a lot on him. In verse 9, The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. And moving forward to Psalm 111, In verse 3, Verse 3 of Psalm 111, His works, his work is glory and majesty. His righteousness endures forever. Well, that's a promise that has been given. He has made a memorial of his wonderful works. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. Made a memorial. We think of a memorial as a Sabbath day. It's a memorial to God's creation. And also points to his future in the millennium. Something to reflect on, that we can reflect on every Sabbath. And closely related to compassion is his tender mercy. In the Longest Psalm, which is Psalm 119, a couple of verses there which mention his tender mercy. And we'll come to that. In 119, In verse 77, Let your tender mercies come to me, so that I may live. For your law is my delight. This is eternal life. In verse 156, Great are your tender mercies, O Lord. According to your judgments, give me life. And often in the Psalms, we do see a cry for help. So, I'm here in Psalm 116. Psalm 116. In verse 4, Then I called upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, I beseech you, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. Now, we could think of the simple as being the uneducated, or we could also mean the humble, or those willing, those who are willing to learn, learn God's way of life. Think of Jesus with little children, having the mind and the attitude of little children, who are willing, willing to be taught. I was brought low, and he saved me. So, it is God who saves us. Number three, with God's expression of God's love, his attribute is, love is powerful. We think of God as, we think of God who is reliable, solid as a rock, we think of God who is reliable, solid as a rock, and everything else around us cracks and crumbles and fails. And God's love is perfect and powerful. It goes all through time. We think of from the time of creation, what God did, the children of Israel, bringing them out of Egypt, did that through his power. So, the psalm that does think in terms of God's power is Psalm 18. So, we come to that. Psalm 18. It says, I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge. We think of the rock from Corinthians 10, verse 4, where it says, that rock was Christ. He is my shield. And we think of, again, Ephesians 6, 16, as the heart of the armour. The horn of my salvation, my high tower. I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies. In referring to, love does rescue us from God's power. And Psalm 18 does teach us to hold on to that. In verse 30, we go down to verse 30. As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. And we think of the armour of God, again. For who is God besides the Lord? Who is a rock except our God? The God who girds me with strength and makes my way perfect. It is God who perfects us. And we are to become perfect. In verse 35, You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Which is the shield of the faith, Ephesians 6, 16. And your right hand has held me up. Your judgment has made me. So another psalm dealing with God's power is Psalm 27. We come to Psalm 27. In verse 1, it says, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Christ is the light of the world. I have that scripture on me. Christ is the light of the world. The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, my enemies and my foes, come upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. John 8, verse 12. Jesus is the light of the world. We do have many foes in this world. Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not be afraid. Though war should rise against me, even then I will be confident. Confident. God, thou protect. The shortest psalm in the Bible is Psalm 117, but there are so many aspects of God's love in that, including God's power. So we come to Psalm 117. Psalm 117. There's only two verses. Oh, praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise him, all people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Into eternity. Praise the Lord. The next attribute of God's love, or expression of God's love, is God gives us hope. And by definition, hope is the optimistic expectation for a certain thing to happen. It's our way of expression, expressing God's promise, God's promises. Part of our faith to God is that God will be true to his promises. So in Psalm, let's see, we actually diverge a verse, something like that. If we go to 1 Peter, in chapter 1, the apostle Peter says something about hope. In verse 3 of chapter 1, it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the dead. Very encouraging for us. We come back to the Psalms, writing hope, and we go to Psalm 71. Psalm 71, beginning in verse 1. In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge. Let me never be put to shame. Deliver me in your righteousness and cause me to escape. Incline your ear unto me and save me. Whatever the circumstance is, whatever the circumstance is, whatever the situation is, and there have been many dire circumstances in our lives, they come up unexpectedly and that's the time that we call out to God and save us. Find his ear to us at the time and save us. And God will. If we have faith in him, he will. In verse 3, be my strong rock of refuge. It's been the rock mentioned so many times in the Psalms. To which I may always go, I have commanded to save me for you are my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and ruthless man. For you are my hope, O Lord God, my trust from my youth. The Oudown of verse 14. But I will hope without ceasing. I will praise you more and more. Another Psalm regarding hope is Psalm 62. In verse 5, my soul, wait in silence for God alone. For from him comes my hope. He only is my rock, my salvation. He is my strong tower. I shall not be moved. The rock is mentioned so often in the Psalms as I mentioned before. In Psalm 33, verse 20, mentions something else. Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. David had hope in his creator even after all his trials and David had so many trials. And after he had that sin with Bathsheba and died a Hittite, he had no end of trials with his family for the rest of his life. Come to the longest Psalm, 119. There's a couple of verses there that I want to bring out. Verse 49. Remember the word to your servant upon whom you have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction that your word has given me life. So much comfort in that. And the final verse, the final verse we have noting hope in the Psalms is 130. Psalm 130. Verse 7. Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him there is plentiful redemption and Christ is our Redeemer. Okay. We come to another one here, another attribute of God's love for us. The expression of God's love, that is, love is steadfast. And being steadfast is being fixed in direction. Steadily directed, firm in purpose, resolution, faith and attachment. So. Okay. Human beings are very limited. Human commitments, they are fallible and have limitations. So. So we think of that in terms and compare that with God's great love for us. So Psalm 109. Verse 1. You read, Oh God, my heart is fixed. I will sing. I will give praise even with my glory. So anything, anything good comes from God. Awake harp and lyre, I will awake early. And think of that as a type of type of the resurrection. I will praise you, oh Lord, among the people and I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your mercy is great about the heavens and your truth reaches under the clouds. In John 17, verse 17, Jesus says, Your word is the truth. In verse 5, Be exalted, oh God, above the heavens and your glory above all the earth. And these verses here are repeated, actually repeated in Psalm 57. Verses 7 to 11. We won't turn to that here, but they are repeated. Is God limited with his love? Is there a limitation to it? Let's look at Psalm 100. Psalm number 100. In verse 3, Know that the Lord, he is God. He has made us and we are his. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Give thanks unto him and bless his name. For the Lord is good, his steadfast love is everlasting and his faithfulness endures to all generations. We think of all generations expanding into the millennium, expanding beyond the millennium, into the ages of eternity. No limit to it. In Psalm 69, we have another aspect of it. In verse 16. Yes, verse 16. Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good. Turn unto me according to the multitude of your tender mercies and hide not your face from your servants for I am in trouble. David appeals to him when he's in trouble. Answer me speedily. And in God's time, well, in the context of eternity, it is speedily anyway, even though with us, sometimes it may seem longer than what we would want. In Psalm 86, some of these psalms may be repeated. Some of the verses that I come to may be repeated, but they still apply to the attributes that bring out here. In verse 15, Psalm 86, verse 15, I'm sorry. But you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and truth. God's steadfast love abounds. In Psalm 119, verse 76, I beseech you, let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant. So we need to ask this continually. Our life is limited with time and what we can do in this life. There's so much we want to do and we can't do. We need to ask God continually to make best use of it. For the next psalm, I'll relate to that a bit more. In 103, Psalm 103, in verse 8, The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in mercy. And going forward to verse 15, As for man, his days are as grass and as a flower of a field, so he flourishes and that is in the prime of life. In the prime of life, people like to think they're pretty good. And in the world we have we have these celebrities, we have these sports people and many of them think, like to think, look at me, aren't I great? I remember one great boxer, Muhammad Ali, little champion, quite a few of his. And one of the statements he said was, I am the greatest. If we come to the next verse, verse 16, For the wind passes over it and it is gone and its place shall know it no more. Well, in the after a few years, Muhammad Ali, he got Parkinson's disease and I believe that later in life he became a very humble person. In verse 17, But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him and his righteousness is unto children's children. The theme of Psalm 136, is God's steadfast love, the whole theme of it. It's actually mentioned in every verse. We'll just come to 136 and just do the first and the last verses. Where it says in verse 1, O give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his mercy endures forever. And in verse 26, it says, O give thanks to the God of heaven for his mercy endures forever. Another attribute I want to bring out here is that love teaches trust. It means that however we suffer, we believe that God will use our trials for our good and for his glory. And if we trust in God it gives us peace of mind. And trusting, we know that we can't always trust people. And we certainly can't trust the world the way the world is. God's Word, in God's Word says that we need to trust him and him only. So the psalm that brings that out is Psalm 37. We come to verse 1. Do not fret yourself because of evil doers and do not be envious against the workers of iniquity. There's plenty of iniquity in the world today. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the herd. So there's an end to their evil. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and cherish faithfulness. Trust is actually putting into action what we believe. Verse 4. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. What is our desire? Eternal life in the kingdom of God. Psalm 91 is another one that relates to trust in different circumstances under trials difficulties. So we come to Psalm 91 where it says He who dwells in the secret place boasts high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord he is my refuge and my fortress my God in whom I will trust. So this is about trusting God for protection and there's so much that we need to rely on God for protection in the world today. More the evil said. Surely he will deliver you from the fowl's trap and from the destroying pestilence. He shall cover you with his fence and under his wings you shall take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and buckle. And we think again of the armour of God in Ephesians 6 verses 10 to 18. And how do we do this? Well in verse 14 Because he has set his love upon me therefore I will deliver him I will set him on high because he has known my name and we're going to be set on high and see it blast. And in Psalm 62 depressive of the confidence love that we have love that God has for us. Verse 1 Only for God does my soul wait in silence from him comes my salvation he only is my rock my salvation he is my fortress I shall not be greatly livid. He too Even when sin comes along we are never greatly too far from God. If we repent God is never never far from us. Psalm 118 Number 118 verse 8 It says here It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Nine It's better to trust in the Lord than to trust in princes. And look at the politicians in the world today. Do they keep their promises? How many promises don't they keep? Just think of the books that could be written on broken promises. So God always keeps his promises. Another another attribute here the expression of God's love is love is patient. In today's fast-paced secular selfish society it's hard to be patient. But it is necessary to live by God's word live God's way. It's necessary to be patient. And in the love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 in verse 4 it says God is patient and kind. And although in the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5 verse 22 and 23 patient is not actually mentioned but long-suffering and self-control is. And both those fruits require patience. In Psalm Psalm 103 verse 8 I know we've been there before but it's hard to read that. The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and is patient and abundant in mercy. In Psalm 27 we're showing that God is the light of our past light of truth and illumination of our salvation. And Jesus is the light of the world John 8 verse 12. Now in Psalm 27 verse 14 27 and verse 14 Wait for the Lord be of good courage and he shall make your heart strong. Yea, wait I say wait on the Lord. So it is you have to be patient. And why do we need to do this? Well we come to verse 4 where it says one thing I have desired from the Lord that I will seek after and I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Well that's something that's worth being patient for. Something well worth waiting for. Another aspect of patience is in Psalm 40 Psalm 40 in verse 1 it says I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit. Think of we can think of Jeremiah he was in a pit. Out of a miry clay and set my feet upon a rock on Jesus Christ this rock in our salvation and established my steps. So that we can think of it as bringing us out of the sinful world our sins and putting by putting on Christ. In Psalm 37 we come back to Psalm 37 because it has an element of patience in Psalm and verse 7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret yourself because of him who prosters in his way the evil person because of him who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret yourself it leads only to evil. A flow in verse 9 for evil doers shall be cuddled so their days are ended are going to be ended. Those who wait upon the Lord they shall inherit the earth. And Matthew 5 verse 5 is but a little while so in the context of eternity it is only a short time and the wicked shall be no more now you shall diligently consider his place as he shall be there but the meek shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5 verse 1 And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace and Jesus Christ is the prince of peace Isaiah 9 And we come to conclusion God's love in the psalms God's love in the psalms is so extensive that I really didn't read the preface even. There's so much in the psalms about love of God and that certainly we think of the Protestants the harsh blood and certainly if you look at the read through the psalms it certainly certainly leads to that. God's love in the psalms is so extensive so I just want to repeat the expressions of God's love that I mentioned and there's probably plenty more of them 1. Love is forgiveness 2. Love is compassionate 3. Love is powerful 4. God's love gives us hope 5. Love is steadfast 6. Love teaches trust and number 7. Love is patience Third I do hope that you have received something out of this. It's an expression of God's love and God's love for us which will go into the ages of eternity and so we wish everyone a happy Sabbath rest of the Sabbath and thank you.