#97 - Kyle Thompson // God’s Attributes According to Himself: Faithful & Forgiving

We explore God's attributes in Exodus 34:6-7, focusing on His faithfulness and forgiveness as revealed directly by God to Moses. These divine qualities provide a foundation for understanding God's character and how we should respond to others.

• God is faithful, meaning He overflows with truth and always fulfills His promises
• God's faithfulness demonstrated through promises to Abraham, Israel's exodus, and David's eternal throne
• God's forgiveness covers all types of sin: iniquity (wandering), transgression (rebellion), and sin (missing the mark)
• Forgiveness isn't a feeling but a decision to cancel someone's debt
• Our willingness to forgive others serves as evidence that we've truly experienced God's forgiveness
• Unforgiveness often stems from forgetting the immense debt Christ has already forgiven us
• Withholding forgiveness prevents us from experiencing the abundant life God intends

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Daily Blade.
The Word of God is described asthe sword of the Spirit, the
primary spiritual weapon in theChristian's armor against the
forces of evil.
Your hosts are Joby Martin andKyle Thompson, and they stand
ready to equip men for the fight.
Let's sharpen up.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Alright, guys, this week we're looking at Exodus 34,
verses 6 and 7, where Goddescribes his attributes.
So let's go ahead and readExodus 34, verses 6 and 7 in the
New American Standard Bible1995 edition.
Then the Lord passed by infront of him this is Moses and
proclaimed the Lord, the Lord,god compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding inloving, kindness and truth.
Who keeps loving kindness forthousands, who forgives iniquity

(00:43):
, transgressions and sin.
Yet he will by no means so,guys.
In these two verses Goddescribes seven distinct
attributes of himself.
So far this week we'vediscussed these four God is
compassionate, god is gracious,god is slow to anger, and we've
also looked at God's lovingkindness.

(01:04):
Today we're going to focus onthe next two God is faithful and
God is gracious.
God is slow to anger, and we'vealso looked at God's loving
kindness.
Today we're going to focus onthe next two.
God is faithful and God isforgiving.
So the word for faithful hereit basically means overflowing
in truth.
So essentially, god is going todo what he says he's going to
do because he has to, becausehe's God, and God's faithfulness
is literally all over the Bible.
So if we go back to Genesis 21,we have God's promise to Abraham

(01:27):
being fulfilled.
So Genesis 21, verses 1 and 2,.
The Lord visited Sarah, as hehad said, and the Lord did to
Sarah as he had promised.
And Sarah conceived and boreAbraham, a son in his old age,
at the time of which God hadspoken to him right.
So, after years of waiting, godfulfilled his promise to
Abraham and Sarah and they gavethem their son, isaac.
And then we also see Goddelivering Israel from Egypt.

(01:47):
So Exodus 12, verses 40 through42.
So this is kind of a summary ofthis area.
But at the end of 430 years, onthat very day, all the hosts of
the Lord went out from the landof Egypt and it was a night of
watching by the Lord.
So God's faithfulness is seenin him fulfilling his promise to
free Israel.
And then we look at what God'sdoing to keep his promise to
David.
So if we go to 2 Samuel andthis also goes into Luke, so

(02:09):
I'll read 2 Samuel 7, verse 16.
And your house and your kingdomshall be made sure forever
before me.
Your throne shall beestablished forever.
And then we go to Luke 1,verses 32 and 33.
He will be great and will becalled the Son of the Most High
and the Lord, god, will give himthe throne of his father, david
, and he will reign over thehouse of Jacob forever and his

(02:32):
kingdom will have no end.
So God made a promise to Davidand it is ultimately fulfilled
in Jesus Christ, who is in hisline, proving that God's
covenant is righteous and he isgoing to be faithful to his
covenant.
And God is certainly faithful,but he is also forgiving.

(02:52):
Now, the word here for forgivingmeans to carry, okay.
So my pastor, dr Mark Hitchcock, at Faith Bible Church in
Edmond, oklahoma.
He points out that God usesthree words for sin and wants us
to know that they're allcovered.
So that's what we see here inthese verses.
The first is iniquity.
So so this is turning away fromthe path, this is getting off
the tracks, right.
And then the second istransgression.
This is essentially directrebellion.
And then we have sin, andthat's to miss the divine mark.

(03:13):
And so to point, or I guess thepoint in using these three
words is that God is willing toforgive any and all kinds of sin
.
He can carry it all away, okay.
But forgiveness for us can be ahard thing to wrap our minds
around, because for many of uswe're currently in the process
of withholding forgiveness fromother people, right?

(03:33):
So Job actually talks about thisin chapter seven of his latest
book, run Over by the GraceTrain.
So the entire chapter is aboutforgiveness, and he uses Jesus's
words from Matthew 18 to helpmake his point.
So I want to read a quote toyou from that actually refers to
Matthew 18, verse 35.
And so I'll read the verse andI'll read an excerpt from Job's
book.
So here's Matthew 18, 35.
My heavenly father will also dothe same to you if each of you

(03:58):
does not forgive his brotherfrom your heart.
So let me read the shortexcerpt here from chapter seven
of Ran Over by the Grace Train,verse 35, a very scary verse
"and do not tone down Jesus'words.
So also my heavenly Father willdo to every one of you if you

(04:18):
do not forgive your brother fromyour heart".
To be clear, jesus is not sayingthat if I forgive, then I open
myself up to be forgiven by God.
This would then mean that byyour good work you can save
yourself.
You can't, you cannot, earnyour salvation.
He's saying it the other wayaround.
He's not saying thatforgiveness earns forgiveness
from God.
He's saying that ourforgiveness is evidence that we

(04:38):
have been forgiven by God.
Once we are, we do.
Forgiven people, forgive people.
It's just the way it works.
Here's the point.
Forgiveness is not a feeling.
Forgiveness is the willfuldecision to cancel someone's
debt against you, because at thecross Jesus canceled our debt.
Or the redneck way I would sayit from Dillon, south Carolina,

(04:59):
is if you ain't given it, maybeyou ain't got it.
That's what Jesus is saying.
Scary verse.
How in the world could God lookat you and cancel all of your
debt?
And then we look at someoneelse who sinned against us and
not forgive them?
It's usually at this pointwhere in your mind, if you're
being honest with yourself,you're thinking yeah, but listen
, man, that's easy to say, butyou don't know what happened to

(05:19):
me.
You don't know what he did tome.
You don't know what she did tome.
You don't know how much moneyit was.
You don't know the number oftimes they betrayed me, abused
me, took advantage of me overand over and over.
You're right, I don't.
I get it.
I'm not suggesting the sinagainst you is not a big deal.
It's a really big deal.
The sin against you is such abig deal that Jesus had to die
for it.
But here's the truth Any Christfollower who does not offer

(05:43):
forgiveness has taken their eyesoff the cross.
Anybody who withholdsforgiveness has gospel amnesia
about the forgiveness they havereceived.
Unforgiveness is keeping fromyou the abundant life that God
has called you into.
I mean, guys, I don't knowreally what else to say there
other than amen and amen, andthat should be a huge thing for

(06:03):
you.
Forgiveness is not a feeling,it is a decision.
So, guys, if you wanna know theattributes of God, let's take
him at his word.
God is faithful and God isforgiving.
Don't forget that.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Make sure you're here tomorrow so we can wrap up the
week.
Thank you for listening totoday's episode Before you go.
If you want to help equip othermen for the fight, share this
podcast around and leave us afive-star rating and review.
Stay sharp.