INTRODUCTION

1. Many lessons were learned by the children of God

a) About themselves

b) About God

2. Painful lessons learned about the sinful nature

a) Rebellious

b) Stubborn

c) Carnal

d) Unbelief

3. There were painful episodes

a) When chastening took place

b) When punishment was sometimes severe

 

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S ATTRIBUTES REVEALED

The Lord is merciful and gracious,

Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. Psalm 103:8

1. This set of truths was revealed to Moses personally first

2. God’s Personal Declaration to Moses

5 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God,

merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,

7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,

by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and

the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” Exodus 34:5-7

1. God’s attributes highlighted

a) Merciful and gracious

b) Longsuffering

c) Abounding in goodness and truth

2. God’s Justice

a) He can and will forgive “iniquity and transgression and sin”

b) But He will judge those who are not repentant!

3. God revealed these truths

a) To the children of Israel

b) In His dealings with them

c) These lessons were taught and exemplified over 40 years!

 

GOD’S RELATIONSHIP REVEALED

He will not always strive with us,

Nor will He keep His anger forever. Psalm 103:9

1. The strife between God and man

a) Because of iniquity, transgression and sin

b) The strife was very real and personal

2. The anger of God

a) God is slow to anger

b) To provoke God to anger suggests that gross sins have been committed

c) But God will not keep His anger forever

d) He does not wish to remain angry

 

DEALING WITH SIN

He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

Nor punished us according to our iniquities. Psalm 103:10

1. The chastening of the children of Israel

a) Being bitten by serpents

b) Sentenced to wandering for 40 years

c) This seems overly severe

2. The reality

a) God had not dealt with us according to our sins

b) He has not punished us according to our iniquities

3. The Covenant law that warns of God’s severe punishment

He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

Nor punished us according to our iniquities. Psalm 103:10

18 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

19 I will break the pride of your power;

I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.

20 And your strength shall be spent in vain;

for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

21 ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me,

I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.

22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children,

destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate.

23 ‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,

24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

25 And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant;

when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you;

and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

26 When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven,

and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.

27 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,

28 then I also will walk contrary to you in fury;

and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.

30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on

the lifeless forms of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you. Leviticus 26:18-30

 

CONCLUSION

1. Let us bless the Lord for His graciousness

2. Let us be grateful for His love for us

3. May we ever thank God!