Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. As we consider what God has to say to His people in Isaiah 54, an image of His heart emerges clearly. God brings His people from shame into honor, from emptiness to abundance.
He is a God of relationship, redemption, and restoration. Because of Christ, we move from lonely despair into the tender care of our Heavenly Father. Let's listen to this message from the series titled, Behold Your God. This is part three of a message first preached on July 14, 2013 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
To hear the entire message, you can visit www.delightingrace.com. This is God's intent for you. It is so important for us to know God for who He really is. Do you know God this way?
There is an implied therefore, then, as we read this chapter. Remember, this is God's intent for you and me. And as we look at the therefore of this, we can consider where the word chesed is used in other portions of Scripture. Consider, first of all, Psalm 26, verse 3. For your loving kindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in your truth.
Your loving kindness is before my eyes. What is He saying? The psalmist is fixated on the loving kindness of God. It is his gaze. He's looking at it. He's staring at it. He doesn't let it out of his sight.
It is therefore always on his mind. He always, moment by moment, remembers the loving kindness of God. Therefore, he does what? Walks in his truth. Walks in the truth of his loving kindness. Every step that I take, I am remembering the loving kindness of God and it radically impacts my life. So the therefore of that chesed of God, the loving kindness of God is walk in His truth.
Remember His loving kindness. Secondly, Psalm 33, verse 5. He loves righteousness and justice because He is a holy God. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. That word goodness is the word chesed. So I look around me and I understand that all the good things, the provision of life and the common graces, they are all manifestations of the kindness of God.
I could not exist without them. And therefore, I reflect His goodness. That word reflect is important because like the sun and the moon, does the moon have its own light? You see the moon shining brilliantly at night. Does the moon have its own source of light?
No. The moon is but a reflection. The sun is shining upon it and it reflects the light and that is what we see. And we reflect the light of God's goodness and His kindness, His loving kindness. I like what the psalmist says in Psalm 63, verse 3. Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you.
Again, the word chesed. Because your loving kindness is better than life. Christians, I am challenging you to know this verse. And Psalm 16 that goes along with it. In your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand or pleasures ever more.
You know what the psalmist is confessing in this? Your loving kindness is another way of saying, in your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand or pleasures ever more. That is better than life.
What does he mean by that? The fact that I know that in your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures ever more, that is better to me than hanging on to this temporal life as if it's the ultimate thing for me. Folks, when you get to that point, I guarantee you this, it will radically transform your life. But when we have to hang on to this temporal life as if it's all that we have, then we're forgetting his loving kindness. That in his presence is fullness of joy at his right hand or pleasures ever more. Amazing verse.
But how will it transform your life? My lips shall praise you. The stuff that comes out of my mouth is all about the chesed of God, the loving kindness of God. And that is a radical life transformation. Here's another one now as we turn to the New Testament.
Now that's in Greek, so it's not the word chesed. But in Romans chapter 2 verse 4, do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Do you know that God wants to lavish upon you all of his goodness and kindness? The therefore of the loving kindness of God then is to turn, it's to repent.
Turn away from whatever it is that you think is bringing you satisfaction that's not God and turn back to him. The goodness of God leads you to repentance. And finally in Titus chapter 3 verses 1 to 8, this paragraph encapsulates the idea here. Because it says according to his mercy, but when the kindness and love of God appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Spirit. And then it says at the end in verse 8, it says that those who believe in God should be careful to maintain good works.
What does he mean by that? Those who believe in God are to remember his loving kindness. Those who believe in God as he truly is. We don't come up with just our own idea of what God is like. But we are to remember how God has revealed himself and how God has acted in history. Those who believe in God as he truly is remember his loving kindness in the context of your brokenness. God is like what God has done. Let me say something challenging right now, okay?
Because I've had conversations recently along this line, but listen to me. Anyone who is disappointed with God has forgotten the cross, has forgotten the gospel of grace. Those who are disappointed with God or even angry at God, ultimately what you are saying is God hasn't given me what I deserve.
Do you really want what you deserve? I call you back to remember the cross and the gospel of grace. There can be no question of the kindness of God. Go back and read Isaiah 53 and understand that God went that far so that he can lavish upon you all of his goodness.
That's what he wants to do. That's why he created you. And so we who believe in God are to be careful to maintain good works.
That idea of being careful to maintain good works just simply means this, that my primary focus as I am the moon reflecting the light of the sun, my primary focus is to devote myself to reflecting his loving kindness. But that means that I am constantly fixing my gaze upon the God who is Chesed. He is a God of loving kindness.
But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you and my kindness shall not depart from you. That is the God that we worship. That is the God of the Bible. Do you know God this way this morning? Do you know that your sociology reflects your theology? The way you treat others is a reflection of what you think of God.
That's a challenging thought, isn't it? If you know God and you have your gaze fixed on him as the God of Chesed, the God who is bent on lavishing his goodness upon you, then that will be reflected in your life. May God rescue us from thinking of him simply as a wrathful God who judges. That's not his nature. You see, he doesn't delight in the death of the wicked.
His nature is Chesed. Know him that way and your life will be transformed. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
