Fellowship in the Word

Bil Gebhardt: We changed the clocks today, and this week, Matt and I realized that last week we didn't remind you that we were changing them. Apparently, we didn't need to remind you because you made it, but I know enough folks that are usually here that aren't that we probably should have reminded them last week.

Remind, definition: to bring to mind again. That's what the "re" is, to do it again. It doesn't always mean with words. How many times have you said, "This smell reminds me of something else"? What's interesting to me is that there are a lot of synonyms to reminding: warned, prompted, alerted, nudged. But one thing that amazed me is how often in the word of God does God constantly remind us.

You wonder why does he keep reminding us of these things? It's simple, because we need to be reminded. All I'm going to do this morning is give you a reminder, and hopefully, you'll have heard enough of it by the end of the hour. I invite you to open your Bibles to Psalm 136. Please look at that because I'm going to give you a test. I know that this group is a very sharp group, and they can pick up on little things. So I'm going to read the Psalm, and then I'm going to give you a little quiz. So I want you to really pay attention to what I'm doing here.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his loving kindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of gods; his loving kindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the Lord of lords; his loving kindness is everlasting. To him alone who does great wonders; his loving kindness is everlasting. To him who made the heavens with skill; his loving kindness is everlasting. To him who spread out the earth above the waters; his loving kindness is everlasting. To him who made the great lights; his loving kindness is everlasting. The sun to rule by day; his loving kindness is everlasting. The moon and the stars to rule by night; his loving kindness is everlasting.

To him who smote the Egyptians in their firstborn; his loving kindness is everlasting. He brought Israel out of their midst; his loving kindness is everlasting. With a strong hand and an outstretched arm; his loving kindness is everlasting. To him who divided the Red Sea asunder; his loving kindness is everlasting. And made Israel pass through the midst of it; for his loving kindness is everlasting. He overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea; for his loving kindness is everlasting. To him who led the people through the wilderness; for his loving kindness is everlasting. To him who smote great kings; for his loving kindness is everlasting.

And he slew mighty kings; for his loving kindness is everlasting. Sihon, king of the Amorites; for his loving kindness is everlasting. And Og, king of Bashan; for his loving kindness is everlasting. And he gave their land as a heritage; for his loving kindness is everlasting. A heritage to Israel his servant; for his loving kindness is everlasting. Who remembered us in our low estate; for his loving kindness is everlasting. And has rescued us from our adversaries; for his loving kindness is everlasting. Who gives food to all flesh; for his loving kindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of heaven; for his loving kindness is everlasting.

Jason Gebhardt: Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bil Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church, located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bil Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world.

Bil Gebhardt: What do you think? Did you pick up on anything there? It's an amazing thing when you think about it. Forty-one times in the Old Testament, "for his loving kindness is everlasting" is written. Twenty-six of those are in this Psalm. Twenty-six out of forty-one. It's the ultimate reminding Psalm.

It was based on a liturgical fact that when this was done, it was likely the chorus part, "for his loving kindness was everlasting," was part of liturgy where the priest would chant one part and then they would sing this part. That's the way this whole thing worked. Now, the most important thing is the word there, "loving kindness," is the word *hesed*.

I've said this in the past; except for probably Yahweh, it's my favorite word of the Old Testament. It is the word *hesed*. I'll say it as *hesed*, but it's not the correct pronunciation. It's *h-hesed*. You have to do that in the back of your throat. Now, I'm not going to do that because you'd realize just how annoying that would get over the next 30 minutes of me just saying that over and over again. But it is the *hesed* of God. Here's the thing about it that's so amazing to me.

There's no Greek equivalent to it, none, and there's no English equivalent to it, none. So the translators are often caught off guard by something like this. What do we do with it? The Greek Septuagint, the Greek translation by Jews of the Old Testament, they translated it mercy. And that's only one of the aspects of *hesed*. The New American Standard translators at least tried to put two words in it: loving and kindness. Both of those are also part of the definition of *hesed*.

This word *hesed* could mean all of this: love, mercy, grace, kindness, loyalty, a pledge, a covenant. That's what this word means, and it's all in one word. The Jews understood the meaning of the word. We're not really sure how to interpret this word. Consequently, you can see that God keeps reminding them over and over again.

I believe the reason for this is real simple. If you understood what this reminder is, no matter what happens in your life, no matter what circumstances you find yourself in, you will have peace. No matter what, you'll have peace. Paul called it a peace beyond all understanding. That's why this is such an important thing. So that's what I want to look at, this reminder.

The first four verses, *hesed* is part of God's very nature. It is certainly part of God's nature, just the way that God operates and acts. He says, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his loving kindness is everlasting." The goodness of God. You know, when you think of the word good, it almost seems inadequate when you're talking about God. I mean infinite, almighty, powerful, holy—those all make sense. Good.

I mean, lots of things—think how you use that. Some of you will go to lunch today; "Boy, this was good." I don't want to use that word when I'm describing God, except this word for good is intrinsic goodness. It really means this over and over again. It's one of the things about God. In Psalm 34 it says, "Oh, taste and see the Lord, for he is good; blessed is the man who trusts in him." In Psalm 100, "For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting and his truth endures to all generations." Consequently, there's no doubt about it: God is good.

The local radio station here that we're on all the time, what's their phrase that they've used for many years? "God is good all the time." It's a great phrase if you really think about it. It's part of God's nature. That's the way this works. Secondly, he says, "Give thanks to the God of gods, for his loving kindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the Lord of lords; his loving kindness is everlasting."

What's he mean there? He's sovereign. Sovereign over what? All other gods, all other lords. He's the God of gods; he's the Lord of lords. God is sovereign over everything: everything in heaven, everything on earth, everything that has ever happened in your life or mine or all of ours collectively, he's sovereign over it all. You see, that's an amazing aspect. Notice when he says about God is sovereign over all, then he says, "and his hesed is everlasting." He's always been sovereign over it all, and his *hesed* is always there. That's the way this works.

Let me show you this on a more personal level. Go with me now to Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. We've been to this verse many, many times. For a lot of us, and I'll explain in a moment why this verse bothers us, or maybe more importantly, when does this verse bother us. He says in 28, "And we know," so he assumes that the Romans already knew this to be true, but he wants to remind them of this. "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose."

God causes all things to work together for good. All? That's what all means. I think things cover everything. God causes all things to work together for good. How can he cause this terrible thing to work for good? I was just in a conversation this week with a man who's facing a very, very difficult fatal disease.

How in the world can this be good? You see, it didn't say all things were good. It said God causes all things to work together for good. How can he do that? He's sovereign over everything. I often realize this: anything that ever came into my life only came through the filter of God's wisdom. He didn't say, "Oh, what's happening to Bil now? What am I going to do?" He never does that. He's sovereign over everything.

But here's our problem. That's a wonderful truth, and his loving kindness is everlasting. But it's hard to buy it when you're in tremendous pain and when you're really suffering. You see, it's very difficult for us. How do I deal with it when I'm in that kind of pain? I want to show you even better people than us have struggled with this. Go with me now to the book of Lamentations, chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 17, right after Jeremiah. Same author.

Now, Jeremiah was a prophet. He was known as the weeping prophet. He was trying to stop them from going into exile, and you can't hardly blame him for weeping. First of all, the nation was already past the point of no return. But think of this, when God called him to be his prophet, he said, "Ever since you were born, I'm calling you to be my prophet, to speak for God." Oh, by the way, no one will ever believe anything you tell them. Well, that's a career. I'm going to go out there and I'm going to talk to people, and no one's going to believe me no matter what I tell them.

God already told him that would happen. So here's Jeremiah. He says in verse 17, "My soul has been rejected from peace." We always say today he's clinically depressed. No peace. My soul has been rejected. I have no peace in my life. He said, "I have forgotten happiness." You ever experience that? It's a terrible experience.

Every day seems despairing. You've kind of forgotten when you were happy. That's really a tough spot to be in. He says, "So I say my strength has perished, and so is my hope from the Lord." Physically I have no strength left, and spiritually I have no hope. Just imagine what it's like to live without hope. It's a very important thing for us. When you take away somebody's hope, it's amazing the destruction you do to their spiritual or soul-ish life. You just take it away. I have no hope at all.

He says, "Remember my affliction," here's his prayer, "and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me." His prayer is short: God, remember me, please. Here's what's funny about this in an odd way. It's not so much that God remembered Jeremiah, but Jeremiah remembers God and his loving kindness is everlasting. Watch.

"This I recall to my mind." Now Jeremiah says, "I thought about this. You know, I really thought about this. Therefore I have hope." Wait a minute, you just said two verses ago you didn't have any hope, and now you have hope. How in the world did you get hope so fast? Watch. "The Lord's loving kindness indeed never ceases." That's just what I've been reading in Psalm 136. I thought about this, and the Lord's loving kindness, his *hesed*, his love, mercy, grace, loyalty—it never ceases, and now I have hope again.

You see, he's good, he's sovereign, and I have hope. He said, "For his compassions, they never fail." Wow, how do you know his compassions never fail? He's sovereign over everything. "They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I have hope in him.'"

Wow, new every morning. He said, no matter how bad you're in a state now or how bad the past has been, no matter what's happened to you or no matter how many things you've done that bring this on to you—this kind of despair and no hope—the Lord says, "My loving kindness is everlasting and my mercies to you are new every morning, every morning."

Well, what's that mean? It means it can change your perspective. One of the things that a Christian should never live in, ever, is the past. Ever. You see, that's the point. Remember what Paul said? Paul said to the Philippians, "forgetting what lies behind." Wait, Paul, you know some stuff lies behind, how about the idea of the arrest and probably death of many Christians? I forget it, pressing on to what's in front of me. That's something to remember.

If you can't remember that, maybe you can remember this: the windshield is always quite a bit bigger than the rearview mirror. Try to remember that. That's where we're moving forward. Because notice what he says. He said his compassion will never fail, it's new every morning, great is your faithfulness, and that's the way this works. And I'm telling you people, it does work. There's no doubt about it.

These last few months for me have been the most painful of my life, no question about it. But what I want to tell you is that pain was overwhelmed by God's peace, overwhelmed by it. The peace of God smothered the pain. That's what happens. You see, and the reason for that is the loving kindness of the Lord is everlasting. It's always there. It's new every morning. It's there for you, and it's there for me as well.

Now, back then to the Psalm, and in verse 4, "To him alone who does great wonders." You see, that is a summary of that section. Only God can overcome the worst circumstances of your life. Only God can overcome the pain and suffering sometimes that human beings go through. Now, our medical community would say, "No, but we can numb it, we can medicate you so much that you'll be numb, you won't feel any more pain." But all you've done is numb the pain. God says, "I can take the pain away." And you know why? My loving kindness is everlasting. See, that's his point. You have to count on this; this is such an important thing.

So then the second point is his *hesed* is evident in all the things he's ever done. So that's what he says. Notice the first thing that he's done. He said, "To him who made the heavens with skill; his loving kindness is everlasting. To him who spread out the earth above the waters; his loving kindness is everlasting. To him who made the great lights; his loving kindness is everlasting. The sun to rule by day, for his loving kindness is everlasting. The moon and the stars to rule by night, for his loving kindness is everlasting."

God's creation. But he says something else about it. One thing we know about the creation, it's unbelievably perfect and intricate. One of the sidebars I've always loved is astronomy and astrophysics and stuff like that. And it is so interesting to see in the last 20 years the changes that are being made. When you not just think of our earth, but our solar system, and then you think of the Milky Way, and then you think of the infinite universe that we're in, and the more science keeps looking at this, you know what they see? Perfection.

So much so that there's a whole group of secular scientists now, a whole group called infinite design scientists. This had to be designed infinitely. I can remember not reading long ago that so many there was a book that had about 50 different things that had to be perfect on the earth, in our solar system, and in the Milky Way galaxy, or there could be no life on earth at all, no matter what. And they just went with one argument after the other scientifically.

If we were a little bit closer to the sun, there'd be no life here. If we were a little bit further away, there'd be no life here. If our atmosphere was a few thousand feet higher or thicker, we'd have no life here. And if it was lower, we'd have no life here. If the sun didn't give us exactly the amount of energy that it gives us when it gives it to us, there'd be no life. But if the moon wasn't there, in the sense for the idea of our tides and everything, we'd have no life here. And it'd go on and on and on with this.

So you think, "Well, yeah, God created it, he just spoke it and there it was." That's tremendous. But there's something else in this creation. He just gave us the creation, and after every phrase about the greatness of God's intricacy, what's it say? "The loving kindness of God is everlasting." What's that tell you? Why did he create it? Because his loving kindness. You see, you remember that? Remember in Genesis when he's writing and he gets creation, and after he creates something, what did he say? "And it was good." Not just great, not like intricate, good. That's God. He said, "If you look at my creation, it's a wonderful thing because my loving kindness is everlasting."

Now, the second thing he does is he talks about redemption. Notice verse 10. He said, "To him who smote the Egyptians in their firstborn; his loving kindness is everlasting. And he brought Israel out from their midst; his loving kindness is everlasting." Well, wait a minute, what's he saying in there? He's talking about his loving kindness, but what he says is this: understand this, there's more to me than just loving kindness. I'm also holy and just. I do judge sin, and that's why we're so grateful what happened on the cross. But the point of it is those who reject me, I will judge. Those who accept me, I will bestow my loving kindness on. And that's exactly what happened in Egypt.

Jason Gebhardt: You've been listening to Pastor Bil Gebhardt on the radio ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you'd just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast but also many of our previous audio programs as well.

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If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bil delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnoia.org. That's f-b-c-n-o-l-a dot o-r-g. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bil's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title.

Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnoia.org. For Pastor Bil Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.