God’s Mercy
Introduction: In thinking about our recently held Vacation Bible School, and the theme, God’s Ocean full of mercy. I began to think over and over about the main theme song, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord, which was sung every day of the week during VBS.
What is God’s mercy– people not getting what they deserve. (To treat an offender better than he deserves). Everyone here this morning has offended God one way or another and he hasn’t given us what we deserve, He gives us better than we could ever imagine. We should get worse things but we don’t because of God’s mercy.
God’s mercy is infinite, unlimited, and eternal. God showed mercy to Lot and his daughters by allowing them to leave Sodom before it was destroyed. God showed mercy by rescuing the Israelites from bondage in Egypt and taking them to the promised land.
With that in mind, I was thinking to myself, can I tell others about God’s mercies in my own life. What are some of God’s mercies that others could benefit from in their own lives? Can you think of some? Times when we didn’t get what we deserved.
God is Merciful to:
I. The Lost Person– Luke 18:9-14 “God be merciful to me a sinner”.
– Which are you? If you, like this man, ask God to be merciful unto you, a sinner, He will be merciful unto you.
Titus 3:5 “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us,”
– The Bible says that The Lost person deserves Hell, but because of God’s mercy, he/she can get Heavenand eternal life.
– Illustration: “There is no way God can save me.” I’ve been, I’ve done. Etc.
It’s very simple: John 3:16 “For God so loved the World, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.
– I Corinthians 15:3-4 “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures”.
– Acts 16:31- “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”.
– Romans 5:8 – “But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
God will take away your sin and give you his righteousness if you believe on Him, that’s mercy.
II. The Saved Person- Romans 12:1-2 — As a saved person we need to be holy, separated from the world, and not be conformed to this world.
– I John 2:15-17 we should love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. How are we doing with those things?
* READ Nehemiah 9:21-31
Here is the principle of this passage – We are just like them.
– Why does God have to be merciful with Christians? Because just like the children of Israel: we do what we want to do.
– We go after the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
– We are disobedient to God, rebellious, proud, harken not to the Bible, we are increased with goods and don’t care about God.
– God is capable of doing anything and everything to get one of his Saved Children back to Him, but when you do all these things that God is not well pleased with, God gives you mercy (not as a liberty to do what you want) but to show you his goodness and bring you back to Him.
This type of Christian deserves to be consumed, but instead gets God’s mercy to bring him back to a right relationship with God.
• If God shows you mercy while you are in this condition, don’t take advantage of it, God can easily consume you.
– If you are here this morning and you have been on the fence, playing around with sin, your are playing with GOD!
– You’ve been doing things that are not pleasing to God, and God has been merciful and longsuffering with you, and he has cast your sin into the depths of the sea, but you need to repent and get right.
– We need God’s Mercy!
– I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us form all unrighteousness.”
– Hebrews 4:14-16 Jesus Christ was tempted with all these things and he wants us to go to him and obtain mercy.
Don’t abuse God’s mercy that He gives you, stop doing the things that don’t please God and start doing the things that make Him happy. Repent of your sin, get back to serving him, and he will be merciful.
III. The Merciful Person– Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy”.
Psalm 18:25 “With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful”
Matthew 18:23-35 the servant got mercy and didn’t get what he deserved. But when he didn’t do likewise, he didn’t get mercy.
• Do you want mercy from God? Well then, be merciful.
If you are here this morning and you are saved, and you’re not merciful to others, then God will not be merciful to you.
God has been merciful to you, be sure to extend that mercy to others.
Ephesians 4:32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you”
Colossians 3:13 “Forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye”.
Listen up Christian, maybe you haven’t been as merciful as you should be according to God’s mercy, change it today. God has showed you great mercy, show others great mercy too.
Conclusion: God’s mercy is extended to everyone here this morning.
If you are lost, you can have God’s mercy just like that sinful tax collector. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you are saved, you can have God’s mercy if you confess your sins and come boldly unto the throne of Grace.
Lastly, if you are not merciful to others, God will not be merciful to you. Change that, be merciful to others so that God can be merciful to you, believe me you want God to be merciful to you.