The Mercy of God

What a couple of weeks it has been! My wife, Jenna, and I have finally settled into our new residence in Birmingham, AL and are really enjoying getting to know the area. Sunday, we visited the Church at Brookhills, and really fell in love with it. It has been so nice reconnecting with friends around the area.

            As you can imagine, setting aside some time to do any writing has been almost impossible, but now that things are settling down, I’m looking forward to diving back into the attributes of God. Last time, I highlighted the justice of God and how it was carried out for believers at Christ’s crucifixion. Today, I want to take a look at the mercy that God grants towards sinners.

            Many people imagine that mercy and grace are fairly similar, but in reality, they are very different. God’s mercy is His act of withholding the penalty due us sinners for our sins. As we will see in the coming days, the Lord’s grace is displayed when He gives us what we don’t deserve (adoption as His children, our co-inheritance with Christ, etc.).

            The Lord absolutely loves mercy. As the prophet Micah wrote, “Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgressions of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy” (7:18). The Lord is rich in mercy (Eph. 2:4), and His mercy towards His children is everlasting (Ps. 107:1).

            Every single person who has ever lived has experienced the mercy of God, even unbelievers. The very moment that we sin against the holy God who lives, we ought to be cast into eternal hell. Yet, the Lord in wondrous mercy, delays that punishment so that we might come to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus for the salvation of our souls (Lam. 3:22-23, cf. Rom. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9). Daniel was correct when he wrote, “To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him” (Dan. 9:9).

            The Lord’s mercy is everywhere (Ps. 119:64), and is new every morning (Lam.3:22-23). He will not chide the repentant sinner but is tender (Ps. 25:6) and caring (Joel 2:13). His mercy gives us reason to hope in Him. “The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy” (Ps. 147:11). It is the only sure foundation of our escaping punishment for our wickedness (Is. 55:3). Today, if you have not responded to the longsuffering that God has displayed towards your sin, I urge you to be reconciled to God through Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:20-21).

Justice Served at Calvary

     The God of the Bible is a just God who rejoices over righteousness and rejects all sin and wickedness. Injustice is far from Him and He is not clouded by partiality. “The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He” (Deut. 32:4). His justice is abundant (Job 37:23) and unfailing (Zeph. 3:5). Just as He is perfectly loving and holy, He is absolutely just.

For humanity, the justice of God is both comforting and terrifying. First, it’s comforting because unlike the false gods of mythology, the true God of the Bible is unwavering in His committment to righteousness (Job 3:8). He cannot be accused taking bribes and has never turned a blind eye to unrighteousness. “Surely God will never do wickedly, Nor will the Almighty pervert justice” (Job 34:12; cf. Deut. 10:17; 2 Chr. 19:7).

That comfort is quickly replaced with extreme fear when we understand that we ourselves deserve justice. Just imagine that you only commit one sin per day–that equals almost 24,000 sins in your lifetime (lifespan of 65) that demand action from God. We may believe that we are pretty good people in comparison with others, but the standard that God uses is not others’ lives. The Lord commands that we be blameless before Him (Deut. 18:13), but all of us have failed (Rom. 3:23). We love the justice of God until we realize that because of our sins we are due punishment. We desire God to punish the wicked until we realize that we are the wicked.

Some believe that God should just let bygones be bygones. But we would never accept that on a human level! When someone is convicted of a crime, his good works do not excuse the fact that he failed to live up to the standard that is set in place by our government, nor do we simply let the matter go. It’s the same with God. We have committed innumerable crimes against Him, and His justice demands that He punish us. He cannot turn a blind eye to our wickedness because that would cause Him to commit injustice Himself!

So what is the solution? The cross of Christ. At the cross, the Lord punished Christ for the sins of those who would believe in Him for salvation. “Much more then, having now been justified by His [Christ's] blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom. 5:9). For believers, your sins have been covered and you are blessed. As the psalmist wrote, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Ps. 32:1-2). For those who have not committed their lives to Christ’s work, I plead with you to do so. The Lord will not justify those whose sin has not been covered; He will not justify the wicked (Ex. 23:7). As we saw above, your good works will do nothing for you, and you will not be saved by them (Rom. 11:6).

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:18-21).

A Love Worth Experiencing

I thoroughly enjoy reading and writing about Christ. He truly is my passion, but there are many times when the words simply fail to capture His grandeur. A few days ago, I attempted to write of His holiness only to find myself highlighting the wide chasm that exists between His perfection and my sinfulness. With the silly notion that I at least somewhat correctly expounded on His absolute holiness, I want to turn our attention to His love. And once again, I’m experiencing a difficulty finding the words.

The vastness of His love and care makes a description of it almost impossible. However, one picture continues to rise from the pages of Scripture: the cross of Jesus Christ. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10). If you want to see the love of God look at the cross of Christ. In fact, every attribute of the Lord was on display during Christ’s suffering. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Let those words sink in–the love of God caused Him to send His only Son for your sins and mine.

The ultimate display of love occurred as Christ hung on the tree. “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Sometimes we simply skim over verses that we have read time and time again, and they fail to reach our hearts. Don’t let that happen to you right now. Just think of it: The Lord knew of every deep and dark sin that you would commit, and He still sent His only Son to die the death you deserved! “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Eph. 2:4-5).

Not only is the love of God amazingly large in its scope but also in its certainty. Paul wrote that nothing was able to separate believers from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:39). Jeremiah wrote, “The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you’” (Jer. 31:3). How beautiful to know that nothing can ever snatch us from the love of God.

The Sad Reality of False Prophets

      The fact that May 21 did not mark the end of the world has caused reactions ranging from disappointment to ecstasy. Atheists celebrated with large parties while those prepared to leave the earth began the difficult process of rebuilding the lives that they gave up to follow after the predictions of Harold Camping. No doubt, many of them are wondering how they could have been so mistaken. The ridicule that has already been directed at them has been cruel and unrelenting. I think of one man who I read of who moved his entire family in order to be with a large group of followers when the Rapture was to occur. What is going through his mind right now? A man who believed he was leading his family in the ways of God is now wondering how this will affect his relationship with his wife and children. Have they lost respect for him? Will they ever follow him again?

What about those who celebrated the fact that we are all still here? Already established in their belief that God does not exist, May 21 marked a day when they became even more fixed in their ways. The terror that would have overcome them had the actual Rapture occurred has been replaced with a renewed confidence that they will never be called to account for their actions and unbelief. “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape” (1Thess. 5:3).

False prophets have always been a favorite weapon of Satan. Paul wrote that because Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, “it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” (2 Cor. 14-15). You see, false prophets are effective because their teachings are so carefully veiled in Christian terminology. Jesus warned of them when He said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matt. 7:15).

Harold Camping did not err in warning people about the coming of Christ. In fact, all believers should earnestly pray for the coming Christ and warn others about His impending return (1 Thess. 1:10; 1 Pet. 4:7). He went wrong by going beyond the Bible. He claimed to have been given a special revelation that went beyond the teachings of Scripture. Like the false prophets of the Old Testament, Harold Camping did not prophecy anything that was from the Lord, but spoke from “the deceit of [his] own heart” (Jer. 23:26).

So on the Monday following the revelation that Harold Camping is simply another false prophet, where do we go from here?

1. We reach out to those that have been deceived by Mr. Camping. If you have family or friends who have fallen for this demonic deception, you should reach out to them with the truth of Scripture.

2. Within the church, we should return to preaching the Bible. There can be no doubt that many of these people were so easily led astray because they were not prepared by the churches that they attend. Sermons based on anything but the Bible are worthless to defend against the attacks of Satan and should cease immediately.

3. We should continue to call people to repentance through the Gospel. Jesus Christ is coming back, and it could be today. Until He does return, we are to work to make His salvation known to all.

A Holiness Worth Knowing

     If the God of the Bible truly exists, it is critical that we have a right understanding of Him. Failure to truly know God as He is leads to confusion, fear, and ultimately condemnation. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God said,

Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth (Jer. 9:24)

     Holiness is not a mere characteristic of God as if something outside of God’s influence could also be holy; it is not simply a description of Him. The Lord is holy. He is the very Beginning and Source of Holiness. Nothing apart from God can be described as holy, nor can it ever become holy. Everything separate from the Lord is unholy unless He acts upon it.

     Holiness carries the idea of pure righteousness that is fully separated from all stains of sin and imperfections. It is the Lord who sits enthroned above the earth and whose holiness is absolute. “No one is holy like the LORD, For there is none besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God” (1 Sam. 2:2). Moses wrote, “Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Ex. 15:11). The psalmist proclaimed, “Your testimonies are very sure; Holiness adorns Your house, O LORD, forever” (Ps. 93:5).

    The Lord’s holiness is also the cause of our separation from Him. As sinful men and women, we do not possess the perfection that God demands of those who dwell with Him. In fact, the Lord cannot even look upon evil (Hab. 1:13). The writer of Hebrews cannot make our predicament any clearer: “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). We are doomed apart from the Lord working in our lives. Remember, everything (including man) is separate from the very source of holiness, and unless we become holy, we will not see God nor dwell with Him for eternity. “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Eph. 5:5).

     Fortunately, God has not left us in our pitiful state. The Lord has called all men to repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ Jesus. When a person is granted the gift of faith and repentance (Eph. 2:8; cf. 2 Tim. 2:25), he puts on a new self, “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24). “For our sake He [the Father] made Him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Believers’ sins were placed upon Christ and punished once and for all. This opened the door for His perfection to be placed upon those of us who have placed our faith in His sacrifice. True believers have been made holy through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God “has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Tim. 1:9).