Our Compassionate God

What is God like? Now, there’s a good question. If the God of the Bible is to be the center of our lives, then what could be more important than understanding what kind of person He is? It is sad to think that many Christians miss out on joys and comforts that are actually theirs because they do not understand their God very well.

Something from Jeremiah fits here.

Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24

To understand God is to be a priority for us. There are many blessings for us to enjoy.

Obviously, this is a huge topic. So, let me narrow it down a bit for this morning using this from Psalm 103. Listen.

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103.13,14

What I’d like to do is to examine one way in which our kind Father shows His compassion to us. The route that I’m going to take in this may well seem odd and roundabout, but I think that it will make sense by the time that we get to the end. Doing it this way may stretch you, but my hope is that it will be helpful to you.

Here’s the idea that I want to start with so that we can explore God’s compassion. God uses visible things to assure us of invisible realities. Let me give a couple of examples of this.

The first comes from Leviticus.

The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock. If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. And Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.’” Leviticus 1:1-9

Now, imagine yourself there in the desert with Moses and all the others, when an Israelite brings his sacrifice to the tent of meeting. What would you see? You’d see some animal killed and burned. That, pretty much, sums it up, no? There are lots of details about exactly how it was to happen, but that summary describes pretty well what happened. And yet, according to that Scripture, more was going on. This killing and burning did something.

… it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

Something visible happened. The animal was killed. And, at the same time, something invisible also happened. Atonement. The man’s sins were forgiven. God uses visible things to assure us of invisible realities.

Here’s another example. It has to do with the time when Saul became king of Israel.

Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on [Saul’s] head and kissed him and said, ‘Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies.’ 1 Samuel 10:1

Again, if you were there, what would you see? You’d see a man pour some olive oil on another man’s head. It might look messy, but that’s what you’d see. But again, more was going on. With that anointing, God made Saul to be king over Israel. Something visible happened: pouring out some oil. At the same time, something invisible happened: Saul was given God’s authority to rule as king over His people. God uses visible things to assure us of invisible realities.

We don’t sacrifice animals for forgiveness these days, and there isn’t much anointing with oil either. But God still uses visible things to assure us of invisible realities.

So, let’s take that and apply it to your baptism. If you’re a member here you’ve been baptized. Let’s put aside how old you were when that happened and how much water was used. All I want is for each of you to be thinking about your own baptism, whenever and however that happened. Here’s the thought that I want you to apply to your baptism: God uses visible things to assure you of invisible realities. We know that this applies to your baptism because of what we find in Scripture.

Listen to how Paul recounted his conversion to a crowd. After he described seeing Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul said this.

And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’ Acts 22:12-16

Again, if you were there with Paul and Ananias, what would you see? You’d see one man talking to another and then applying water to him. And how did Paul understand what that water was doing? It was tied to the washing away of his sins. God uses visible things to assure us of invisible realities.

Peter says the same sort of thing on Pentecost to a different crowd.

Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins … Acts 2.38

Luke reports that some three thousand were baptized. That is, three thousand got wet. That’s what you would have seen. But is that all that was going on? No. According to what Peter promised, the forgiveness of their sins also happened. God uses visible things to assure us of invisible realities.

That’s the basic principle except that I need to add a very important qualification and clarification. To gain the benefit of the invisible reality, more is needed than simply doing something with visible things.

Saul was anointed king. He was granted God’s authority. However, Saul later lost what God had granted him. Listen to what Samuel told Saul.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king. 1 Samuel 15.23

The anointing was not something that automatically made Saul king forever. There were conditions to be met, and Saul failed to meet them when he rejected God’s command which Samuel had told him. As a result, he forfeited the blessing he once enjoyed.

The same thing applies to being granted atonement. There were many in Israel who sacrificed animals just like Leviticus told them to. And yet, instead of being blessed with forgiveness, they were cursed with destruction. Listen to Isaiah as he speaks God’s words of condemnation.

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! ​What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. Isaiah 1:10-11

God is rejecting the sacrifices of the people. No atonement for them. And why is this? Isaiah goes on to explain.

How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. ​Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them. Isaiah 1:21-23

Forgiveness was supposed to lead to a changing life, a holy life. But in the case of those to whom Isaiah spoke there was no holiness, but rather foul sin. So, instead of atonement there would be destruction.

God uses visible things to assure us of invisible realities. But more is needed than just the use of some visible thing. And what is that more? A most important question. What is needed is believing what God associated with the invisible blessing He was granting. Anointing for rule is a great blessing but only to those who pursue that rule according to God’s ways. Sacrifice for forgiveness will result in that forgiveness, but only for those who acknowledge and turn from the sin that needed forgiveness.

God does bless when He uses visible things to assure us of invisible realities. But He only blesses those who respond to His gift appropriately.

Let’s take this and, again, relate it to your baptism. God used water to assure you of something. What? Earlier Peter and Paul answered that for us. God used water to assure you that your sins are forgiven, washed away. But that blessing will be true of you only as you respond to it appropriately. Sins are washed away for those who acknowledge that they had sins that should condemn them. Sins are washed away for those who resolve to turn from those sins. Or to say the same thing differently, sins are washed away for those who believe the Gospel being portrayed by that water.

So, as you consider your baptism, believe the Gospel that is displayed there. Consider your baptism and then tell yourself, ‘Jesus has washed away my sins. I know that the Gospel promise of forgiveness belongs to me. God assures me of His forgiveness by using my baptism. God uses this visible thing to assure me of an invisible reality.’ This assurance is yours as you believe the Gospel displayed in your baptism. Your sins have been washed away.

Now, back at the beginning I told you what the sermon would be about. I didn’t say that it would be about baptism. And it isn’t. At least, that’s not the main point. Back at the beginning, I mentioned that important question: What is God like? And then, I focused on one particular aspect of who He is to us. He is our compassionate Father. What does all of this about visible things and invisible realities have to with God’s compassion toward us? It’s this. He understands who we are. Listen again.

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103.13,14

What are we? We are just some dust. A decent breeze will blow us away. What a good picture of our weakness, of our profound weakness.  There are all those ups and downs, doubts and questions, temptations galore - things we face, and all too often mishandle, because of our weakness.

How many struggle with knowing that all is well when it comes to their relationship with the Father? How many struggle to be assured that they are fully accepted by Him, warts and all?

So, aware of our weakness, especially when it comes to something as invisible and intangible as our relationship with Him, God decided to use visible things to help us. They are crutches for us. God knows that we need them.

That will make more sense when you consider this. God could have simply said to us, ‘I’ve done enough. I’ve told you that if you repent and believe your sins will be forgiven. That should be good enough for you to be certain of where you stand with Me. If you still struggle with that, it’s on you. I’ve done enough.’ But there are times when it really isn’t enough, is it? We really are so very weak.

So, to bolster our certainty when it comes to the reality of our forgiveness, of our full acceptance before Him, God decided to institute baptism. Something visible happened to each of us. And as a result, we can be assured that something invisible has also happened.

Now, we can take heart all those times we fail to live well. We are fooled by Satan’s schemes and again give in to his temptation. But we can take heart when the question again rises up, ‘What does God think of me now?’ As we repent and believe, we can know that everything is fine between us and the Father. Each of us can tell ourselves, ‘I know that all my sins have been washed away - including this awful sin I just confessed. I can know that because of the Gospel portrayed in my baptism. The washing away of sin was applied to me. What a kindness of my Father who understands my weakness.’ 

So, when you consider the question, ‘What is God like?’, include this in your answer. He is your compassionate Father who really does understand how weak you are. He works to make it as easy as possible for you to know that things are good between you and Him. Enjoy His compassion.