We all know the story of the 3 wee pigs, and the big bad wolf. If you don’t….it’s basically a tale about a big old wolf, wondering about hungry. Mac Donald’s and K.F.C are closed. So he thinks to himself “ There’s 3 wee piggys over there, in that house. They’ll be stupid enough to open their door and let me in, and I’ll eat them..”
So the Wolf goes over to the house and knocks the door. But the wee pigs were smarter than what he presumed; and they wondered who it might be, “Who wants to enter this house?”. So instead of opening the door, they looked through the letterbox, and they saw the big bad wolf.
What do you think they did?
Well, in this story, they moved the piano over the door, the kitchen table, the bed, the cooker…you name it! …and they shouted to the wolf. “ We know what you want , ,and your not going to eat us!!”. If I was one of the 3 pigs, I would do the same. Why allow a big bad wolf in, to destroy you!
For 18 years, I thought Jesus was a big bad wolf, and when he knocked the door of my heart. I made sure the door was closed, and he’d never got in.
But then one day, I changed from that way of thinking, and I thought it was worth a risk, that in order to get to heaven, I would be willing to let this big bad wolf come in, and destroy my life. I wanted to get to heaven, and I was ready for the destruction of my life, as long as I got to heaven.
I’m glad to tell you. The Lord Jesus Christ, is no big bad wolf. But, you might think he is, and the reason you’re sitting there un-saved with the Lord Jesus on the outside, is because you convinced that Jesus is more like a big bad wolf, than what he really is.
This verse, I Hope, will persuade you, that Jesus is not what you think he is. He is loving and gracious, and he only wants to come into your life, to do you good.
We’ll take the verse bit by bit:
“ Who is a God, like unto thee”
This one who comes knocking at your heart, and wants to come in. What’s he like?, What are his attentions?. Who is this God?
Well, the first thing it says about his intentions, and what he’s going to do for you.
“ That partoneth iniquity”
So if you decide to open up your heart, and let Jesus enter in. What will he do?
The first thing Jesus will do. Is enter into your heart, and he’s going to gather up all your iniquity and he’s going to pardon it.
All the physciatrists, social workers and doctors try to understand Why is man as bad as he is?.
Why do we Hate?, Why can we be so Jealous? Why can jealousy and hatred make us murder and declare war. It’s really very not difficult, and you don’t need a degree in physicology. The answer is iniquity. I’ve got it, and you’ve got it. The word iniquity, it means bent. Like a banana. The man in the fruit shop doesn’t bend them. There bent because, by nature banana’s are bent.
That’s why the world is in such a mess. Because of what I’m like, and what you’re like. There’s something wrong with our moral nature. We are bent. Out of that moral bentness, there are sins. Out comes the hate, the jealousy and ambition, and then there comes the violence, the wars and murder. Sin comes from a moral nature which is bent. All of that sin. It stands between us and God, and us in heaven.
But I’ve good news for you.
The Lord Jesus, so loves you, and so wants you to be in heaven, that he is prepared to come into your heart and into your life. The first thing he’s going to do is gather up all of that iniquity and all of that sin, and he’s going to pardon it.
The word “Pardon” means to carry away. It’s no longer there. It’s removed. The wonderful thing is were he takes it too.
“He will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” v19
Now its not literal, it’s pictorial.
Did you know that the Lough Ness is over 2 miles deep. It’s any wonder they can’t find the monster. He’s down there all right, but its just so far down, and so deep and dark, they just can’t find him.
The deepest part of the ocean floor is in North Australia, and is called the Marina trench. 7 Miles deep! If you threw in Mount Everest, it would be lost. So you see God is just telling us, that when he pardons our sin, and forgives our sin, he’s going to deal with it in such a way. They will be gone!
Every Tuesday night . I’m sent round the side of the house, and I get the wheely bin, and the next day, a bin man comes and gathers all of that rubbish, and he takes it away. All of that stuff, it’s rotten and it stinks. It’s of no value, and I’m glad to pay someone to take it away.
Jesus does the same for us spiritually and morally, he takes our sins away, and we don’t pay him. That’s not the activity of a big bad wolf. But of someone who loves you.
“...and passeth by the transgression ”v18
To “pass by” means to cross over to the other side. A while back, when my son was a baby, and it was dinner time, he used to sit in his baby-chair, and I would try and feed him. It was sausages and baked beans. But everytime I tried to feed him, he would throw it over his shoulder, on to the floor.
Now, that was a defiance of my will. I could have smacked him, put him behind bars in his cot, I could deny him sweets for the rest of the week. But what did I do? I bent down, picked up the sausage, wiped off the fluff, set it on his table, and said “ Sausage into your mouth, into your tummy”. It was a clear expression of my will.
Well, he thought about it, giggled and threw it over his shoulder again, and he was probably thinking “ Daddy, what are you going to do about it?”
What was I going to do?
Smack him, put him in jail.....or denial.
But again, I picked up the sausage, wiped off more fluff, and made a firmer declaration of my will. “ No son, not on the floor. In your mouth!”
This went on for ages, So eventually, I thought he wasn’t hungry, and I let him go and play.
If I had of decided, that every-time he defied my will there would be punishment......he would have been in crutches! He would never know the joy of a lolli-pop, and he would be behind bars of his cot, at the age of 5.
It’s just that I’m gracious, merciful, loving and a real softy. I took it on the chin and bare with it. That’s God, and He’s been like that for thousands of years!
I wonder what state the world would be in, if God decided at midnight, that every-time we sinned, there would be judgement, the world would be destroyed at midnight.
But God you see, just takes our sin on the chin, and bares it. He longs for our repentance. He longs to save us, and he waits and waits. That’s our God, and he’s waiting yet again.
The Sins you’re committing now, and in 5 minutes time, an hour......ever sin you commit, he takes it on the chin, and he waits mercifully and graciously to forgive us and save us.
How long will you keep him waiting?
“......he retaineth not his anger for ever ”v18
The one who knocks on your hearts door, doesn’t retain his anger forever. He does get angry, and when I look at the world, this country and man’s relationship with fellow man. I get angry. God must get very angry, of the way we’ve messed up his world. Abuse each other and the animal world.
Retainth means to be bound to something. Tied to something. Like shoes are tied to my feet, but I choose when to take them off.
Human beings are enslaved to their anger, but God is not enslaved to anger.
A farmer had a dog, who always use to sit on a thistle-plant. It wasn’t a smart dog. He didn’t have the intelligence to sit somewhere else. he preferred to sit on a thistle and howl about it.
Where good at that. Our two communities are brilliant at sitting on thistles and howling about it. One community says to the other: “ 800 years ago, you lot did this to us, and we’ll always remember it, and we won’t forget!” and they’ll teach their own children to sit on the same thistle, and they pass the thistle down through generations. The other side is just as good: “ You lot did this to us” and they will pass their thistle down.
It also happens in friendships, marriage and in families.
I’m glad God’s not like us. Are you glad?...God’s not enslaved to his anger, and I make God angry, and so do you, by our sinning.
But the God who is there, who wants to be your saviour, is the kind of God who is not enslaved to his anger. he can set his anger aside so easily, and then turn around and offer grace, mercy and forgiveness. That’s who’s there, and he’s waiting and waiting for you to appreciate that mercy and grace. To open up your heart’s door, and say “ Come into my heart, be my saviour and take my sins away. Take me to heaven when I die.”
“......because he delighteth in mercy. ” v18
Have you ever wondered what makes you delighteth?
Christmas?, Birthdays?, Holidays?
Do you know what delighteth God?.......When he see sinners coming with their sin, and saying “ God, these are my sins...and I’m sorry for them.....would you be merciful to me”
As soon as God sees a sinner on his knees, pleading for mercy. There’s a smile on the face of God, and joy in his heart, as he offers mercy.
That’s our God!
“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”(N.I.V)