DUNCAN/He answered, forgave, and avenged

If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to Psalm 99 as we continue to make our way through the Fourth Book of the Psalms. There are three things we learn from this Psalm. In verses 1 – 5 we see that God should be praised for his justice, righteousness, and holiness. In verses 6 – 8 the psalmist shows that God forgives and punishes sin. Lastly, in verse 9, the psalmist emphasizes that true Christianity is personal. 

I. God Praised for His Justice, Righteousness, and Holiness 

In verses 1 – 5 we that God’s people delight in and praise God for His justice and righteousness and holiness, and not just His mercy and grace. Notice how this is emphasized especially in verses 3 – 5: “Let them praise Your great and awesome name! Holy is He! The King in His might loves justice. You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God: Worship at His footstool! Holy is He!” Repeatedly in those three small verses the psalmist puts before our eyes the holiness of God, the righteousness of God, and the justice of God, and he puts it before us as matters of praise. I think there are at least three kinds of people who are most apt to praise God for His holiness, righteousness, and justice.

The first are people who have experienced injustice in this world. They’ve experienced in their own lives the consequences of the unrighteousness of other people, or even the oppression of those who have been given civil authority meant to be used for the general welfare but have used it so that people are taken advantage of. And people who have experienced that kind of injustice and unrighteousness and oppression are apt to praise God for His justice and righteousness and holiness.

There’s another kind of a person who is apt to praise God for His holiness: People who have perceived the misery of this world as the work of sin, and who long to see justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everlasting stream. When you look out into the world and you see all of the trial and tribulation, and when you see all of the disasters and tragedies, and when you see the travails of this fading world and when you realize that it’s a consequence of sin, you’ll long for God to reign in His justice and put everything right, and you’ll be apt to praise Him for His righteousness and justice and holiness.

But ultimately the people who are best equipped to praise God for His holiness are those who understand the gospel, because at the very heart of the gospel is God’s holiness and righteousness and justice. Now we as evangelicals might be apt to say that at the heart of the gospel is God’s grace, and of course that’s true. But listen to how Paul puts it in Romans 1: “The gospel is the power of God unto salvation…” [For in the gospel what is revealed?] “…The righteousness of God is revealed.” And God’s people thus will celebrate God’s righteousness and holiness and justice. That’s one thing that we learn from this Psalm.

II. God Forgives and Punishes Sin 

Second, in verses 6 – 8, we are taught about God’s forgiveness and His punishment of sin. Look at verse 8: “O Lord our God, You answered them; You were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.” Now isn’t that an interesting verse? This verse makes it clear that God can forgive and still punish. Very often in our minds we think that if God forgives, He cannot punish. But in this verse, we see a picture of what played out in the lives of Moses and Aaron and Samuel. That is, in the wilderness God forgave Moses and Aaron and the people of God for whom Moses and Aaron prayed. He forgave them for their sins in this sense: He did not give them what they deserved. They deserved to be put to death in the wilderness. We remember that Moses and Aaron interceded for the people of God. But even Moses and Aaron sinned against God, and they deserved to die for their sin, and God did not give them what they deserved. But as you know, there were consequences for their sins, and Moses and Aaron both had to face the consequences of their sins. God’s punishment for sin does not prevent His forgiveness of sin, and God’s forgiveness of sin does not prevent His punishment.

Let me just say one thing about this, because we could really explore this for an hour. God’s punishing of the sins of believers is always an act of grace, because God is attempting to separate the believer from that which would destroy his or her soul. God’s punishment is never retributive; it’s never an act of vengeance against the believer. It’s always an act of grace. And what’s it designed to do? It’s designed to drive a wedge between the believer and the enemy of his or her soul, which is sin. Because sin will destroy you. So when God manifests His punishment on those who are forgiven in Christ, it is always an act of fatherly chastening to bring them back to Him and to drive a wedge between them and that which would destroy them. “You were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.”

III. True Religion is Personal

And then one final thing. If you look at verse 9, we learn that Christianity, true religion, is personal and it personally embraces God. Verse 9 says, “Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy mountain; For the Lord our God is holy!” Notice that the psalmist personally embraces God as his God. See, it’s not enough to say that God is holy. You have to say, “My God is holy.” It’s not enough to say that God forgives sins. The true believer says, “O Lord, You have forgiven my sins.” It’s not enough to say that Christ died for sinners. You must say, “Lord, I am a sinner, and Christ died for me.”

Notice the personal embrace of this truth about God, which is an essential response to the gospel. We do not simply generically affirm aspects about God’s person and work, we personally embrace those things, because He is our God. This is the essence of a believing response to God’s overtures in the gospel. When He says, “Christ calls sinners,” our response is not simply, “Oh, Lord, it’s so nice that You call sinners.” It’s, “Lord, I’m a sinner! And You’ve come for me, and You’ve called me, and You’ve died for me, and I embrace You as my Savior.” This is the essence of true religion. It is personal, and personally embraced. Do we personally embrace the living God as our God, and His promises to us? This is essential for true worship.