God Who Is Rich In Mercy

Introduction

Tonight we’re going to talk about two familiar terms that probably there is a lot of misunderstanding about. And those terms are grace and mercy. Perhaps you’ve explained or heard explain the difference this way, that grace is what God gives us that we don’t deserve. And mercy is when God doesn’t give us what we do deserve. And so is there a distinction between the two terms? Well, maybe a little.

That the likes of us, considering our past, considering how undone and broken we were, more on that in a moment, that we can approach God’s throne. We can approach the throne of a holy God because of his grace toward us. Not only can we approach this awesome God, but we can do so with confidence. And when we do that, what can we find? That we may receive mercy and may find grace to help. Okay, we’re going to find both of those things when we go boldly to the throne of God’s grace, we’ll find mercy and grace. Wait a minute, I thought we already had possessed grace. But remember, God is still doing things beyond our initial salvation on our behalf. We may find even more favor from God, that we may find grace to help in time of need.

Isn’t it awesome that when we have need, as it pertains to perhaps our spiritual condition, as we’ve read in the previous verse, he sympathizes with our weakness, one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin, that we can go and find even more grace and mercy to help in a time of need. So, what are these terms about? What does the word grace mean? I’ve loved this acrostic, I’ve used it for years. God’s riches at Christ’s expense. The favor that God has bestowed upon us was evidenced in what Christ gave, as we shall see momentarily. Mercy, on the other hand, has to do with clemency, not giving us what we have deserved. The best way, I think, to illustrate this is when a president leaves office, what happens?

1. God Was Rich in Mercy

Presidential pardons are issued. There are people who are in prison for crimes that they have been convicted of. And a president might waive the sentence. He might let people go free for one reason or another, and he just arbitrarily chooses these to whom to extend a presidential pardon. Maybe this would help us to appreciate our condition, to know that we’ve received something even greater than a presidential pardon. The title of our lesson comes from Ephesians chapter 2, which I think clearly demonstrates the marvels of God’s grace toward us. Because this whole chapter begins with us being dead in our transgressions and sins. We need to appreciate that. We fear death. When we anticipate our physical death, we experience concern. What’s that going to be like? Do we realize how much worse is the death that Paul describes?

Being separated from God, in which we walked our own way, he says in verses 2 and 3, indulging the desires of our mind, and by nature, children of wrath. The wrath of God should be frightening to us. It is what we deserve. It is what we have merited or earned. But God was rich in mercy. Because of his great love with which he loved us. And even though we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with him, and he raised us up with him. And by grace have you been saved through faith, he goes on to say in verses 8 and 9. Titus 3 says this also to us. But when the kindness of God, our Savior, and his love for mankind appeared how?

Appeared in the person of his son. He saved us. Not on the basis of all that was good about you. Not on the basis of deeds that we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy. Do you see how dependent we are? Salvation did not come to your doorstep because you’re all that wonderful. Or I’m all that wonderful. But because God was rich and in mercy. And thus we can experience the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly. Okay, that’s that’s grace. Though the word grace is not used in verse 6, that’s grace. The favor of God which he poured out on us richly. That same idea of poured out is used about the grace of God in 1 Timothy chapter 1, passage we studied recently.

2. The Grace of God Has Appeared

The favor of God manifested toward all people. I love Titus 2, verses 11 through 14 in this regard, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. Now, when I first read some of the newer translations, I’m going, maybe that’s not right. Because all people aren’t saved. But if you’re just thinking in terms of the favor of God, just like he sends rain on the just and the unjust in Matthew 5 and verse 45, the favor of God is bestowed on everyone. He doesn’t wish that any should perish. He desires all men to be saved in 1 Timothy 2 and verse 4. Scott studied that with you.

This is what the grace of God instructs us to do to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives. Waiting for the blessed hope. Again, more on that next week. The appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from lawlessness to set us on a different course is the idea. And to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. So when we talk about the grace of God, we’re talking about the favor of God manifested toward all people for salvation. And it is no more clearly defined than in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 9. I couldn’t get that graphic any bigger, so you might have to look at it in your Bible.

I think this is a perfect explanation of grace. After all, it says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That though he was rich for your sake, Paul makes this very personal to his audience. And this needs to be personal for you. That though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. Something struck me as I read this verse on Friday. I’m not sure I will ever fully grasp the depths of either of those things. Much like knowing the love of Christ, what is its breadth and length and height and depth, I marvel more and more at the nature of Christ’s love for me. And Paul says in Ephesians 3 that surpasses knowledge.

And so when I think about this verse, I know that I struggle to really appreciate both the riches that he surrendered and the poverty that he experienced. We were looking at Philippians 2, verses 9 through 13 this morning. The previous verses talk about his descent. Although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but took upon himself the form of a wonderful song out of ivory palaces. If I’ll ever truly grasp the significance of the perfect, infinite Son of God leaving heaven, as he spoke in the garden about going back to the joy that he had with the Father before the world was. That which he surrendered to come to earth, to leave ivory palaces and come into a world of woe.

And not only that, to be so poorly regarded, though you harmed no one, you sinned against no one, you mistreated no one. You only went about doing good. And to be forsaken, to be rejected, to be crucified, for your friends to desert you to suffer even death by crucifixion. I don’t know that I can appreciate that kind of a descent. I just need to stand back and marvel. And praise God for what he was willing to do, what God was willing to do for the likes of me.

That me, through his poverty, I become rich. That I don’t have to remain in my poverty, dead in my transgressions and sins, as we saw in Ephesians chapter 2, but through his poverty, I’m rich. Spiritually, I’m salvaged. Not only am I salvaged and set on a path of goodness and holiness, as we talked about this morning, it’s more than just our redemption and the slate of sin being cleansed. I now am exalted to the high planes of living when I pursue the will of God. And that’s not all. God’s intentions for me eternally.

3. Our Master Has Forgiven Us Such a Magnificent Sum

Until I actually experience them. What it will be like to bask in the presence of God for all eternity. I don’t know if I’ll ever, I don’t think I will appreciate either side of this fully. And that takes me to the story of Matthew 18. And the parable of the debtors. And the one who owed the magnificent sum of 10,000 talents. And that sum is forgiven. And this is all told in the context of how often we should forgive our brother. And of course, Peter said, What do you think, Lord? Seven times. Is that generous? And of course, Jesus uttered 70 times seven. Not that he was saying, at 491, you’re done. Stop right there. No more forgiveness necessary. You’ve reached the limit, 491. He was putting a number out there so high to say, forgive as often as necessary.

And so he tells the story, a parable of a king who wishes to settle slaves with his settle accounts with his slaves, and the one who owed him 10,000 talents. He forgave the debt, but he goes out, and someone who owed him just a hundred denarii in verse 28, he demanded, pay back what you owe. And he would not have patience with him. And so he threw him in prison. Although his master did not throw him in prison for a far greater sum. Now, what’s the difference between a hundred denarii and ten thousand talents? Well, I did some research on that, and this is all very confusing. A denarii was a silver Roman coin, about four grams, and was a day’s wage for the common laborer.

So the second guy owed him about a hundred days of wages. Now that’s that’s almost a third of a year. That’s a decent sum. Now, the talent, though, was a unit of weight for gold or silver that was about 33 kilograms or 75 pounds. Okay. We’re talking about a lot more. 10,000 talents was 60 million denarii. 60 million. Or roughly, okay, let’s put this in laborers’ terms. A hundred days of labor. 200,000 days of labor. Good luck getting there. 200,000 days of labor. My Bible footnote from 1969 when the New American Standard was written, the version that I have, said that the 10,000 talents was equivalent at that time to about 10 million dollars in silver content. But another website suggested, since we’ve got to get into the 21st century, that the modern equivalent is $7 billion.

Now, this is where you come in. Just figure it all out and get back to me, Owen, okay? I know you will. This is right up Owen’s alley. He loves this kind of stuff. He’s going to tell me you were off by a little bit here and there. Alright, so I don’t know exactly how much it is. 10,000 talents in today’s terms, but you get the idea, right? And Jesus made this story the way he did for a reason. We can be so exacting and demanding of others over just a little bit that is due to us. And yet our master has forgiven us such a magnificent sum. I mean, seriously? Can you imagine a $7 billion debt? I can’t. We struggle with $20,000 or $30,000.

You know, $7 billion debt, and the master goes. Read and clear.

4. Extend Grace to Other People

And it’s not even close to that amount. This is God’s grace. Now, what are we going to do about that? Let me talk about grace for a minute, then we’re going to move on to mercy and we’ll be done. You know, we’re being called upon in Matthew chapter 5 to imitate God’s grace. When someone compels you to go a mile, you go with him too. You give more than is asked. If someone smites you on the cheek, you turn the other chief. You give to him who asks you. You love your enemies. And the question that’s raised in that context, what do you do more than others? What’s the most distinguishing thing about a Christian? Certainly it is the love that we display in relationships, John chapter 13.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, but it is also a love that is demonstrated by grace. Showing favor, just showing favor to others. And doing it intentionally and purposefully to demonstrate our genuine concern and care. Just like God has done with us. If we’re going to be Christians, we need to learn to extend grace to other people. What do you do more than others? That’s that’s a legitimate question for us. And that’s why he says, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 48. I’ve been preaching this everywhere I go about that verse. I think it’s totally misunderstood. He’s not saying I’m expecting absolute perfection from you. And if you don’t, you’re done. What he’s saying there as you go on to read in chapter 6 about the religious actions of others that are to be seen of men.

And he says, look, your father who sees in secret will repay you. Go pray in your closet. And when you’re giving alms, don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. Don’t let it be about show and impressing other people. The standard is not other religious people. The standard is God Himself. God’s grace, his love is the standard by which you operate. And let me just show you this, how it illustrates that truth. Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good in the direction of edification, that is strengthening and building up things, that it may give grace to those who hear. What about your speech graces the moment, shows favor, makes things better, heals, uplifts, encourages, is positive and cheerful.

Does your speech out there give grace to others? Or is it always about justice, judgment, and fairness? Aren’t we glad that God showed us favor? I think about the 1 Timothy 5 and verse 4 text in passing about requiting our parents.

My parents are now in their 80s. And I try to be a good son. I try to give them attention and respect. But when I think about the life they gave me, I didn’t have maybe everything a kid might want. I think I only had two or three pairs of blue jeans total.

Warm Monday and Tuesday, hopefully the laundry got done, so I wear them Wednesday and Thursday to school. But I had a carefree life. I had a good life. I didn’t worry about where the next meal was coming from. And they taught me about God. How much can you? How can you really repay parents who taught you the ways of the Lord?

5. Continue in the Grace of God

MasterCard. It’s priceless. I could labor for the rest of my parents’ days and never repay them for what they gave, for what they taught. And it’s even more true of the favor of God. Amazing. Amazing grace. But please understand, grace was never intended to be a covering for lawlessness. So often it is misconstrued. People were saying about Paul’s message of grace. He’s saying, let us do evil, that good may come. The more you sin, the more grace can do. Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? May it never be. Romans chapter 6 and verse 1. We must not turn the grace of God into licentiousness. God’s favor was never intended so that people could just wallow in sin. And thus we see this text, and boy, if we could just see the context of this one.

And working together with him. Okay, that’s what Christians are called to do. Working together with him, we urge you not to receive the grace of God in the Linda Black. Vain. What do you mean? Wait a minute. I thought the grace of God took care of everything. But you can receive the grace of God in vain. And if you go back to the foregoing context, he is challenging his audience to be reconciled to God once again. He reconciled us to himself that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And there are problems in Corinth when Paul writes this. If any man is in Christ, he’s a new creature. Why? Because the grace of God, we must embrace the grace of God and we must continue in it.

6. I Need the Mercy of God

And he urged his audience. He urged them. As he urged the Corinthians, working together with him. I urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. He urged the audience of Antioch to continue. Continue in the grace of God. That’s what we are admonished to do. For the last few minutes, I want to talk about the other side of this. So often I think when we talk about the grace and mercy of God, we think about the day of judgment and say to ourselves, I’m going to need grace. Maybe there is an aspect of God’s favor when the doors are swung open and a way into the eternal kingdom of our Lord is supplied to us. I love that, 2 Peter chapter 1. Because we were adding to our faith and doing so diligently that we were not barren nor unfruitful, but we made certain of his calling and choosing us by the way that we devoted ourselves, we evidenced that we belong to him, that we were his servants, that we appreciated his grace.

And as we continue in the grace of God, then he’s going to abundantly supply an entrance into the eternal kingdom. More on that next week. But ultimately on the last day, I think instead of the grace of God, and maybe there’s not a great deal of difference as I’ve suggested. I’m going to be more concerned about the mercy of God.

And he will yet again be merciful. This time with spiritual Israel.

I don’t know that we can provide a definitive answer to that question. What’s the day of judgment going to be like? What’s it going to be based on? I know to whom Him is given much is required. And we are all admonished to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, what does that mean that he expects from you? Does he expect from you what he expects of me? He has given us talents according to our abilities. Some produce in the kingdom 30-fold, some 60-fold, some 100-fold. According to the parable of the sower. I’ve often said about that too, that we like to say, I’m the 30-fold guy.

And so let’s keep expectations low. But what if you’re actually one capable of a hundredfold and you’re holding out on the Lord? I don’t know what yield you’re capable of. I would just suggest that you need to seek maximum yield. And not worry about where the numbers fall out in regard to other people.

I mean, everyone’s circumstance is different. You know, if you’re the Olympics and you have 45 kids, the Sean O’Lennox. The DeWid O Lennox only have three. But three kids can be a handful, right? Especially Thomas. Oh, sorry. I still owe him for Willy Wonka.

I think we’re almost even. You have nine kids. That’s going to require a lot of your time and attention. No, that’s all a part of, I mean, nurturing those souls are all a part of our Christian walk. Your kids, don’t forsake your family serving other people. You need to serve those closest to you as well. You have a peculiar responsibility for those kids. Perhaps you’re caring for a sick relative. Perhaps you’re dealing with some physical limitations. Perhaps you’re not an energizer bunny like brother or sister so and so. Perhaps you can’t go at the same pace that they can, or perhaps you can’t go at the same pace that you used to be able to go. Ability, opportunity, and growth.

You know, there’s not a passage that says, okay, when you get here and here and here and here, you’re done. That’s it. You’ve achieved it all. Do we ever achieve it all as servants of the Lord? Well, okay, so that means on the day of judgment, here’s what we might could have achieved, and here’s where we are. And we’re haunted by songs like You Never Mentioned Him to Me. That soul that you could have taught.

We need to work on our confession. I need to preach on that, I guess. We need to talk about how we confess the Lord. I think we think evangelism is, like Mark Roberts said in a meeting years ago, how many notches do we have on our baptistry? I was responsible for five people who were baptized into Christ. Check. Well, if I could have converted five, maybe I could have converted ten. Look, results are God’s business anyway. He gives the increase. My job is just to confess. Just confess. We need to do that more regularly. But you know, are we going to get to the day of judgment and say, I could have confessed more? Could have done more. I could have served more diligently. Do you think there’s going to be any would’ve, could’ve, and should haves from anyone in this audience tonight?

There are going to be would’ve, could’ves, and should’ve with everyone in this audience. And I want to tell you what that means. That means I need the mercy of God. And I only need one text to demonstrate that. Can I just plunge headlong into a sinful course without restraint, without effort to overcome, and expect God to give me mercy anyway? Because I’m still better than a lot of other people. Isn’t the New Testament telling us that we need to take seriously our battle against sin?

Don’t think. The mercy of God’s going to cover this, so I don’t have to sweat the details. I don’t read that in the New Testament. But here’s the passage.

Onociphorus. I’ll just like saying his name. As my friend D. Bowman said years ago, his friends called him Oni for short. I’ll tell you about an Onociphorus. He comes to Rome and he’s looking for Paul. You know, it’s not like he could call him on the cell phone. Track him. You know, he’s he’s got to, you know, there’s no social media place he can go to find him. He’s got to find out where Paul is. He eagerly sought him and he found me. And you know, when he was at Ephesus, the kind of services he rendered there, Timothy, you know what kind of man Onociphorus is, right? And he was not ashamed of my chains. And he often, he often refreshed me. Paul says, this guy means so much to me.

He’s done so much for me. And then he says what? The Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. Wait a minute. You haven’t said anything negative about Onociphorus. But on the last day, he’s gonna need mercy. And not just him, but his people. The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onociphorus.

Conclusion

When we pray for each other, I wonder if those prayers should include prayers for mercy. Mercy on you. Mercy on your house on the day of judgment. May God give the Decker Prairie Church, each of her members, mercy on that day. Just keep plugging away. Continue in the grace of God and plead for his mercy. We sing the invitation song if anyone needs to respond.