I was assigned to speak about the subject of God's grace and mercy I first went to Hebrews 4 and worked on that for a while and then realized that to do both attributes is just way too much so we hear a lot about Grace so I'm going to focus on Mercy I'm calling this Chapel God's tender mercy and so as I read this chapter Psalm 103 please uh notice how often the word mercy comes out in this chapter of God's amazing love bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless His
holy name bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who Health all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and Tender Mercies who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles the Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed he may known his ways into Moses his acts to the children of Israel the Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in Mercy he will not always chide neither will
he keep his anger forever he hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities for as the heaven is high above the Earth so great is his Mercy toward them that fear him as far as the East is from the West so far hath he removed our transgressions from us like as a father pth his children so the Lord pith them that fear Him for he knoweth our frame he rememberthe are dust as for man his days are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourisheth for
the wind passeth over it and is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more but the mercy of the Lord is from Everlasting to Everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto children's children to such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all bless the Lord ye his angels that excel in strength that do his Commandments hearkening to the voice of his word bless ye the Lord all ye his hosts ye
Ministers of his that do his pleasure bless the Lord all his Works in all places of his Dominion bless the Lord oh my soul let's pray great God of plenteous Tender Mercies visit us in this Chapel with the sense of this glorious attribute that we may listen in Worship in Corum Deo reflecting on thy mercies that are new every morning that it may humble us and move us to praise thee to bless the Lord oh my soul so go with us now and be near to us and bless every every person in this audience this
morning and all who will come online to to listen to this Chapel oh God fill us overflow us with thy plenteous Tender Mercies in Jesus name we pray amen well I don't have to tell you that the world we live in is grasped by the clutches of misery that's been so since the fall it will be so to the end of the world it's true physically sickness disease disability pain aging and ultimately death it's true emotionally depression fear anxiety hatred a host of other miserable feelings can fill our hearts it's true spiritually man is born
and lives and often dies lost in sin alienated from God under bondage to Satan misery misery misery and we all know that we we're well acquainted with this undesirable misery every day the news is packed around the world with grief and loss and Corruption and confusion so why begin this Chapel with this Grim picture well because precisely because it's against this back black backdrop that God's tender Mercy shines most brightly and is most astonishing the amazing truth is that God meets us in our miseries with his astonishing Mercy that's true of Israel all throughout the
Old Testament after they made a golden calf worshiped it at Mount Si it appeared God's Wrath was going to destroy the nation situation was bleak but God says I give it I give my opportunity now to show you abundant Mercy he reveals himself to Moses and says the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and Truth Mercy the first of all the attributes listed in God's tremendous self-proclamation so God responds to Israel's miserable condition in a way that really ought to shock us they committed blasphemy and God shows mercy God
is incredibly good and so from Psalm 103 and number of other texts I want to look at this topically this morning this subject of God's tender Mercy in four four thoughts first first defined Mercy second General Mercy third saving mercy and fourth withdrawn Mercy Mercy defined it's General Mercy savior mercy and mercy withdrawn the word merciful in Hebrew is related to the term for a mother's womb it expresses the compassion of a mother or father for a child Isaiah 49:15 parents Express an extreme sensitivity to the physical and emotional suffering of their children you're a
dad or a mom you you know that you'll go to the greatest lengths to to bring your son your daughter relief but that's only an Earthly shadow of God's incredible mercy God is Not insensitive to our weaknesses our troubles our cries he has the compassion of a father and of a mother but God also uses another verb translated in Hebrew for Mercy as can best be translated to pity or to spare to pity or to spare for his fatherly tenderness toward repentant Sinners Malachi 3:17 God says of his wward people they shall be mine say
the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him and then there's a similar closely related term often translated in the King James version as bowels not referring to the organs of digestion but the higher organs of the body the heart the reins or kidneys which ancient people regarded as you know as the seed of human conscience and affection so this word is often used for God's sympathy and compassion toward his adopted people God says of Ephraim my
bow s you could say my Mercy is troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon Him Seth the Lord Jeremiah 31 so in the New Testament bowels is also frequently used to portray Christ's compassion Jesus was moved in his bowels that moved with Mercy toward people in grave physical and spiritual need so when we talk about having Mercy on someone we often think of not giving that person the punishment that he deserves but for God Mercy is far richer than that we might Define it this way God's Mercy is his compassionate kindness to people
in their misery so that when people cry out have mercy upon us God has a heart of inclination to show Mercy Edward Lee said that God's mercy or compassion is a sense of another's misery with a prompt and ready inclination of the will to help his creatures freely so when people suffer God sees hears knows their pain his Mercy moves him to help them so God cares not only for what people deserve but also what they need Mercy said Thomas Watson is this darling attribute Micah 7:18 says he Delights in Mercy he Delights in Mercy
and our children were young I used to ask them about every other year I want to check on their concept of God I would say to each of them first thing what do you what do you think of when you think of God first thing they would say love or they would say grace but one time one of our children said Mercy I said why do you say Mercy well because of Micah 7:18 he Delights in Mercy I love the description of Thomas Watson it's the great design of the scriptures to represent God as merciful
the scripture represents God in white Robes of Mercy more often than with garments rolled in blood with his golden scepter more often than his iron Rod Mercy is his darling attribute which he most Delights in the bee naturally gives honey it stings only when it is provoked so God does not punish till he can bear no longer Mercy is God God's right hand that he's most used to inflicting punishment is called his strange work in Isaiah 28 there is no condition but we may spy Mercy in it in all our afflictions we may see some
sunshine of Mercy that outward and inward troubles do not come together is Mercy Mercy sweetens all the other attributes of God it makes his godhead appear amiable and lovely God's Mercy is his glory his Holiness makes him illustrious his Mercy makes him propitious Mercy is an attribute of God's moral goodness intimately related to Grace and love yet slightly slightly different Mercy emphasizes God's kindness shown to those in misery Grace his free generosity to someone who absolutely is owed nothing in fact has Dem merited his generosity it's God's favorable disposition towards someone not because of Any
Merit in them but just because of his generosity so though they're intimately related Mercy is God's inclination to relieve those in a miserable condition Grace is God's favor and kindness toward the undeserving his Good Will toward men there's a difference too between mercy and love they're close if God gives Relief by his mercy and favor by his grace then he gives himself by his love he Bears a tender affection toward his image bearing creatures and particularly the children whom he has redeemed as we'll see momentarily he is to them a father and a husband so
God in Mercy brings relief from misery but God In Love Delights in his people and pursues affectionate communion with them as the Puritans used to point out the persons of the Trinity do not show Mercy toward each other since they possess no misery to be pied or alleviated but the father son and spirit dwell in perfect love and have so from all eternity that's why John could say God is love love is a tender self-giving affection Mercy is a tender misery alleviating pity so Mercy has its own Nuance in the rich prism and Panorama of
the attributes of God and God displays this Mercy in a general way to all mankind to all his creatures and in a special saving way to his people let's talk about both of those broadly speaking Psalm 145:9 says the Lord is good to all and his Tender Mercies are over all his works not just to people but to to the Animal Kingdom to his whole creation God has a a general Mercy the Earth Psalm 119 says oh Lord is full of thy mercy so mercy God gives to all acts 17:23 life and breath and all
things and this General Mercy can be understood as God's kindness and compassion plenteous kindness and compassion Psalm 103:8 says by sustaining by relieving and by restraining let's look at each of those just just a minute God's General Mercy sustains everything your next breath is God's General Mercy the upholding of the universe is God's General Mercy the changing of the seasons is God's General Mercy Mercy rain and sunshine are God's General Mercy he maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth Reign on the just and on the unjust General Mercy
Paul says in Acts 17 God gives to all life and breath and all things we're all sitting here this morning with air in our lungs because of God's General Mercy all our life our health our talents our knowledge our wealth our Liberty our mercies from God God mercifully gives these good gifts even to his enemies down to the very food we eat God is merciful in sustaining but God is also merciful in relieving Psalm 103 speaks of his plenteous Mercy the word plenteous there has theot idea of overflowing it's like a a picture of a
of a of a stream that overflows its banks and floods over everything but this is a positive flood God's Mercy is covering everything he gives relief in the midst of sickness disease and pain so Mercy that our pains are not worse than they are that they're not more constant than they are it's a mercy that we have doctors and hospitals and medicines from the hand of God God also gives relief from sorrow and depression and relief from hard blows that hit us and seem to knock us down relief from the depths of dark despair he
enables us even apart from Christ by Nature to no laughter and family and friendship and some sense of purpose in life he speaks generally when he says God Seth a solitary in families so while fullness of joy is only found of course in Christ even the unbeliever is blessed with many rays of merciful light in this life but then God's General Merc is not only sustaining and relieving but also restraining God in his General Mercy restrains man's sin I was thinking of a example of this and I was thinking of Abraham when he sinned and
said Sarah my sister and the king of the land aimc took Sarah for himself but he was kept he was restrained from having how do you explain exp that from having intimate relationships with her well it's God's restraining hand he tells AB him like I withheld thee from sinning against me therefore suffered I Thee not to touch her God preserves Sarah here in spite of Abraham's sin so how is it that unbelievers do outwardly good works not inwardly or savingly but outwardly Paul tells us that no one does good not even one but why is
it that unbelievers sometimes even put us to Shame by their generosity and kindness well it's God's plenteous restraining mercy so that they don't live out there total depravity it's God's restraining Mercy that we're not all killing each other and all robbing banks and doing huge sins all the time all outward evidences of love and goodness in man fall under God's restraining and helping and sustaining Mercy at every point when the church knows any measure of Peace in this world it's because of God's restraining Mercy the world is set against Christ and his people wherever there
is even the slightest degree Dee of religious liberty or tolerance of Christianity in a nation it's the Lord's Mercy or when persecution breaks out in God's mercy he turns it to be actually a means of advancing the gospel the whole book of Acts is a testimony to God's General Mercy as Christianity spreads around the world despite persecution but in times of Peace it's the Lord's mercy so we focus a lot and rightly so of course on God's saving mercy and saving grace but too often we take this General Mercy for granted don't we we can
do it in our families we can do it that with breakfast this morning if if you're married and you got up and you're and and your wife did something for you for breakfast we just take it for granted but this is all God's General Mercy but when it comes to his children you see this General Mercy is also dipped in the blood of Christ Richard sib said everything that comes from God to his children is a mercy it is all dipped in Christ's blood in Mercy before it comes to us every good we enjoy every
sorrow we avoid is a mercy and CBS goes on to add there's not more light in the sun there is not more water in the sea than there is Mercy in the father of mercies it is his nature and his name to be be merciful so we need to recognize that everything we have every breath we take it's mercy of God God is good to all his plenteous Mercy as Psalm 103 calls it Psalm 145 calls it other places call it is over everything he is made but then there is God's saving special saving Mercy
so while his General Mercy is astounding we need more than that if all we have is God's sustaining relieving restraining Mercy we will perish in our sins God's General Mercy still leaves us in our miserable Fallen perishing condition that's where PM 103 is so beautiful verse 13 14 17 like as a father pth his children so the Lord pth them that fear Him for he knows our frame he remembers we are dust you see if you are a Christian and I trust we are you've been adopted into God's family that is huge saving Mercy he
loves you with a love so big you cannot measure it he forgives you with a forgiveness so great you cannot find the guilt of your sins anymore this is tender Mercy as verse four calls it and everlasting Mercy as verse 17 speaks of it from Everlasting to Everlasting God is merciful and this Mercy is first of all saving Mercy incarnate it's in Christ nowhere is saving Mercy more fully displayed than in God sending his son into the world and bringing him to the cross the Messiah comes Zechariah said in his prophecy in Luke 1 through
the tender mercy of our God God is moved with pity toward his sinful miserable creatures and he sends his son to become man the second person of the Trinity the creator of the world a human like us overshadowing holy spirit overshadowing Mary's womb so that he would be free of original sin and free of ultimately actual sin and the child that shall be born from your womb Mary Shall be Called holy the Son of God it's astonishing no one could even have dreamt it up no other religion in the world is a godman mediator Mercy
lives in God's heart and it works its way cifically through Jesus Christ to his people so Christ's human heart has this incredible capacity for kindness and mercy like no other heart of any other man or Angel all gospels are full of this aren't they he always he healed all that were brought to him he's full of mercy and particularly toward his people in Christ God is infinitely merciful so Christ Humanity does not make him more merciful but makes him merciful in a way exactly suited to our needs he's always been infinitely merciful from eternity but
now he's merciful in this sense that he's not only the Son of God who's Almighty to save us but he's also human and was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin so that as our high priest he understands our infirmities so the Incarnation does not increase God's mercy but it brings God's mercy near to us Thomas goodin said go Christ adds not one drop of love to God's heart but he draws out the love and brings it to us the son's merciful heart is just a manifestation of the father's merciful heart
wherefore in all things that behooved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God Hebrews 2:17 says so Christ is able to sympathize with us because he shares in our nature tempted in every way that we are except sin so he not only sees our misery but he has experienced our misery so whatever trial Temptation or misery you suffer Christ in its Essence has endured that trial and having endured it his heart is moved to relieve us in our distress and ultimately
he's earned the right to do all of that cifically for us by laying down his life upon God's altar upon God's cross for us our sakes he bore the Wrath of the almighty that we might be delivered from it is there ever any Greater Mercy than that so think of it Divine Mercy induced the sun to Bear our misery so we could find Eternal relief spiritually emotionally physically and we as Christians experience part of that in this life but one day fully fully there'll be no sin there'll be no temptation to sin there'll be no
misery of any kind we'll be ever with Christ we'll have perfect Souls wed to perfect bodies living in a perfect world of perfect love all purchased through the miserable agonies of the Incarnate Son of God what Tender Mercies Christ gives us but then that Mercy is not only incarnate it's also received it's also received by us through faith in that savior who redeemeth verse four says of Psalm 103 who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and Tender Mercies God raises us from the dead and be made alive we are redeemed
and saved by grace through faith so what should we do as we reflect on these saving mercies well we should respond we should respond in tremendous ways of gratitude and the first way is to keep growing in our understanding of God's mercy here in this life we've actually only begun to understand Mercy we're just beginning I have a very close friend who who is very has been LED very deeply into the character of God and the love of God and when his wife who had struggled with Assurance of Faith all her life but just got
s Assurance right at the end died he called me about 10 minutes later and I said to him your wife now knows so much more of the mercy and love of the triun god than you and I do and she's a better Theologian now that than than than you are and you know that's that's amazing thing we're just starting we're just babies in Grace here even if we're mature in faith we're we're just beginning compared to what we'll know in eternity but it it should be our desire to search the scriptures to to understand this
Mercy to to grasp it somewhat in our minds more and more to understand it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not they are new every morning great Is Thy Faithfulness so for God's people Mercy is is totally Dem merited and unmerited to set up Merit is to destroy Mercy said one of the Puritans if God were to show Mercy to such only as are worthy he would show Mercy to none at all say not then I am unworthy for Mercy is free his Mercy cannot fail a people
he has purchased from eternity the father's Covenant is sure the son's blood is sure the spirit's application is sure therefore Mercy is sure you see Mercy makes things right for God's people and it keeps right things right within God's people Mercy pies them in misery relieves them in Affliction Comforts Us in distress counsels Us in difficulties enlightens Us in darkness and pardons are sin God's Mercy is an everflowinglife is eternally all his people shall bathe themselves in the their Triune God's ocean of Mercy without ever diminishing its abundance 26 times in one chapter David sang
you know the chapter Psalm 136 without repetition his mercy endureth forever 26 historical events everyone his Mercy endures forever when I was a kid I still remember reading Psalm 136 and just not being able to understand I thought why all this repetition now that we're a bit older we understand don't we behind every event of our life every year of our life every day of our life is mercy endureth forever you see God's mercy in one sense covers all the benefits of Salvation his Mercy in in our election makes him justify us adopt us glorify
us one act of Mercy engages God to more acts of Mercy we need to grow in our understanding of this amazing Mercy but secondly we need to worship God we need to worship God for his Mercy this is the response of Moses when the Lord proclaimed to him his merciful goodness Exodus 24:8 and Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the Earth and worshiped when we think of Mercy we ought to just say oh Lord who am I what is my house that thou has brought us hither to I worship thee enter into his
gates with Thanksgiving into his courts with praise be thankful to him and bless his name for the Lord is good for for his Mercy is Everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations Thomas Watson said those are the best prepared for the greatest of mercies that see themselves Unworthy of the least of mercies and then third not only seek to understand God's mercy and to grow in it and seek to worship him for his Mercy but imitate your father and the son and the spirit in showing Mercy to others beware of getting caught up in
legalism that judges people over relatively small matters and fails to show them kindness remember that God considered not only what you deserved but what you desperately needed forgive others as God has forgiven you be a Good Samaritan a Good Samaritan who's willing to give practical help to those in need be merciful blessed are the merciful for they shall receive Mercy well let me close this uh Chapel By looking briefly at God's mercy withdrawn this is a solemn subject but there's coming a time where there'll be no more General Mercy for those who remain in darkness
and go on in sin no more light no more laughter no more kindness God will pour out the vials of his wrath without General Mercy he's patient but he's also just it comes a point where the Lord says Ezekiel 7:9 my eyes shall not spare any longer neither will I have pity I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thy Abominations that are in the midst of thee you shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth thee what would it be like to be without the smallest drop of the mercy of God after
my dad had one of his heart attacks I went to visit him in the hospital and he was I found him weeping I thought he was in great pain he said no no he said a nurse just came in and moistened my lips with an ice cube Ice Cube I said well why are you crying over an ice cube he said because the rich man had and not one drop of water to cool his tongue have you ever been thankful for the mercy of an ice cube you see no drop of water in hell no
ice cube there Jesus gives us a sobering Parable concerning the withdrawal of Mercy in hell in the richual man you know it from Luke 16 very well the rich man things in this life Lazarus the evil things rich man cried out in Hell Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this Flame but it was too late there was no more mercy no more sustaining mercy no more relieving mercy no more restraining Mercy 150,000 people
in this world die every single day did you know that 150,000 on an average day most of them we fear go to merciless hell justly forever God forbid God forbid that that would be any of us but we need to Proclaim that to others we need to do it soberly John Kelvin said that when God's law shows us our sin our guilt and the threat of Eternal death then we cannot Escape until we flee to God's mercy alone as the only Haven of our safety and that haven is yet open to the greatest of Sinners
as long as they're alive so preach Brothers preach to the unsaved that that Mercy is available not just general Mercy but saving mercy and they to flee to that savior before even the general Mercy is allog together removed from them let's praise God for his tender mercy and magnifying and worship him and end in Mercy day by day let's pray gracious God we thank thee for thy plenteous mercy that breaks the little streams of our lives and overflows the banks of our lives and covers our entire life oh what a God of Mercy th art
full of Mercy judgment is thy strange work Lord humble us beneath thy mercy and may we stop taking it so for granted but treasure it and see thy hand of Mercy as a Puritans say spy out thy hand of Mercy in every detail of Our Lives we thank thee Lord that thou are a god of Mercy we ask all this in Jesus name amen
