God’s Attributes (Part 5) He is Merciful
Here is a hard question for you. In your life thus far, how many times do you think you’ve broken God’s laws, any of His commandments, how many times do you think you have sinned against Him?
– How many times have you lied,
– or used His Holy name in vain,
– or taken something that didn’t belong to you,
– or coveted something someone had.
– Or how many times have you been greedy.
– How many times have you lusted,
– or envied, or plotted evil, or let you anger get out of control,
– or gossiped about another,
– or didn’t help someone in need when you should have,
– or even grumbled or selfishly complained.
– How many times have you gotten downright drunk or stoned.
– How many times have you become impatient,
– or said something nasty about or to another?
How many time have you sinned, intentionally or even unintentionally? Probably more than you can ever remember. And if just one sin was not taken care of it would keep you out of heaven.
If Jesus had not beaten, and nailed to that cross to die for you and the sins you committed, and you stood in judgment before God this day what would His verdict be? Scary thought isn’t it!
Today I will be talking about an attribute of God that is very important to us, and that is His Mercy.
And what is mercy? Where God’s grace refers to Him pouring out unmerited and unearned gifts to us; His mercy refers to Him withholding from us what we really deserve.
How important is Mercy in scripture. Someone once wrote; “God’s mercy is actually a monumental theme in Scripture, the English word appearing some 341 times in the Bible. The four Hebrew and three Greek words associated with this term appear a total of 454 times and are also translated as “kindness,” “loving kindness,” “goodness,” “favor,” “compassion,” and “pity.” Of the 66 books of the Bible, only sixteen do not use one of these words for mercy.” (Henry Morris III)
Ps. 145:9 indicate God mercy is abundant
Ps 136:1 Say “His Mercies edureth for ever:” (NKJ)
Ps 103:17 “from everlasting to everlasting.” (NKJV)
Since we are all sinners (as Romans 3:23 states) we all deserve death or an eternal separation from God. But God choosing not to cast us away and not destroy us is an act of mercy. He chose to withhold what you deserve.
Tomas Watson said that “Mercy is the result and effect of God’s goodness”
This scholar also goes on to mention some other things concerning God’s mercy: His said,
#1. It is the great design of the Scripture to represent God as merciful. This is a loadstone to draw sinners to Him. We are drawn to His merciful, gracious, long-suffering, and abundance of goodness.
#2. God is more inclinable to mercy than wrath. Mercy is his darling attribute, Micah 7:18 says that “He delights in mercy.
#3. Mercy sweetens all God’s other attributes. God’s holiness without mercy, and his justice without mercy would be terrible. His mercy holds back the speedy execution of His Justice.
#4. God’s mercy is one of the most beautiful pearls in His crown; it makes the Godhead appear amiable and lovely. God’s mercy is His glory. His holiness makes Him illustrious; His mercy makes Him attractive.
#5. All experience God’s mercy to some degree.
#6. One act of mercy engages God to another. A parent’s love to his child makes him always giving.
#7. As God’s mercy makes the saints happy, so it should make them humble. Mercy is not the fruit of our goodness, but the fruit of God’s goodness.
So far we have seen that God is all powerful – that most powerful being, period; omnipotent, and sovereign and the creator for all. He is also an eternal being. Time does not past for Him. And because HE is outside the dimension of time He can see all at once and is ever present. In other words He is omniscient and omnipresent.
He is also totally and perfectly HOLY and He transcends all others because of His perfect morality and total uniqueness. And in the last lesson in this series I touched on how His holiness affects all of His other attributes.
And Because He is absolutely holy we would never have the hope we have as Christians if He did not remove our sin. We need to be cleansed.
The salvation God provides is an illustration of both His mercy and His grace. We are sinners we deserve judgment and to be cast from from His Holy presence forever. But because chose to show us mercy, and because we believe in and accept His wonderful gift of Jesus’ saving sacrifice, and accept Him as our Lord and Savior… which cleanses us of sin, He gives us the hope of eternal life with Him… that’s grace, or the unearned, unmerited favor of God.
Romans 5:8 ESV “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Eph 2:3-5 (NIV) “…Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.”
1 Peter 1:3 ESV “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Really that’s what the Christian story is all about. God showing us His love mercy for us His children despite the fact we have messed up more times than we can even count.
So how should we respond to God’s mercy?
Closing: In Joel 2:12-14 the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. 13 Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish. 14 Who knows? Perhaps He will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse.”
He asks you to turn back to Him. If you’ve messed up again, then turn back to Him again. For in Lamentations 3:22-23 we are told “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
What will you choose to do this day? I pray that you will return to Him this day not matter what you did yesterday or the day before. Like the Father of the Profigal son He waiting with open arms for your return.
For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566
All comments can be emailed to: bfronzek@gmail.com
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