ANB 42, Mercy that Endures

Well again this week I feel I should discuss the things that I have been thinking about recently.
One such thing is mercy. I was recently at a church service where the choir sang a complete
song with only one line, ‘His mercy endureth forever.’ Over and over again, with hi’s and lo’s,
in beautiful simplistic unison, they sang this line. ‘His mercy endures forever.” Just say it over a
few times. You will feel the power of that statement, the truth of God’s person that it
encompasses, His mercy endures forever. Praise God. If you are one of those who have
obtained mercy through salvation through Jesus Christ, then how much more intimately do you
feel these words? Mercy meant nothing to me until I understood I needed mercy. I would go
into that, but the Lord told me that the only one who holds onto my past sins is me, and I do this
when I talk about them. So, I will walk in the full mercy of God, being forgiven and having my
sins forgotten, I will forgive myself and strive to forget my sins.

As I sat in that seat I thought on God. I thought how He had bestowed this perfect everlasting
mercy on me, one who did not deserve it. In truth I deserved it far less than most, for I sinned in
willful disobedience, always knowing the perfect difference between right and wrong. Most
people just sin in their ignorance. But God has made His face to shine upon me, and now I am a
happy partaker of this mercy. “Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.” (2 Chronicles
20:21). What a powerful statement. His mercy endures forever. This phrase is repeated a
minimum of 42 times in the Bible.

As I sat there I also thought about the many people I know who have yet to obtain mercy. There
are many, many people out there who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ. Yes, God loves them,
for He sent His Son to die for us while we were yet sinners. But if you meet Him without having
accepted Jesus Christ, you will not go away from that meeting believing Him merciful towards
you. You will, however, understand your sin and you will understand why He judged you the
way He did. You will also see you had an opportunity to become a partaker of this mercy and
you failed to do so.

Well, since we are all (I pray) partakers of this perfect mercy, let us examine what it truly means
for our lives. I believe there are two ways to look at this (1) what does my obtaining mercy
mean for my relationship with God and (2) how can I strive to be merciful like God. I must
confess, I have been focused lately on the latter, so let’s discuss this.

“Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” (John 6:36)

“He hath shown thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to
do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” (Micah 6:8).

So how do I show mercy to others, and how do I love mercy. I’ll tell you how I think about it in
my life. I am not perfect, I won’t be until I go up to Heaven, praise the Lord. I sin, and I have to
go before God and repent. But, and I am not tooting my horn or anything, please don’t read that
(I stopped caring what other people think of me, good or bad, some time ago) I do certain things
to live by the Word. I have made sacrifices, I strive to show others the ways of God. I didn’t do
this because I am so smart, I did this because God so mercifully showed me His ways and taught
me the reasons to do these things. And I am blessed abundantly because I serve the Lord.

But, as I serve the Lord and strive to teach others, I see many who don’t operate the system. I
see many who can’t make it to church on Sundays or spend any time in the Word. I see
Christians who continue to keep unclean and sinful things within their houses. I even see
Christians who believe false doctrine and lead others into incorrect teachings.

I see all these things, I am tempted to judge, and I am tempted not to pray for God’s mercy. It’s
like my flesh wants to say, ‘I operate the system Lord, please bless me, and because these other
people don’t operate the system, don’t bless them. Show them that I am right and they are
wrong. Then, and this is truly evil, I think of the people who have heard the Gospe of Jesus
Christ and have not received it. Then I think, and my flesh delights, that they will see the error
of their ways one day.

The above paragraph I believe is evil, and vanity, and does not capture the Father’s heart, and I
will not have those thoughts in my life. Instead, I ask the Lord to abundantly bless everyone,
sinner and saint. I will ask God to let His mercy rain down on even misguided or uncommitted
Christians. Will the Lord do these things, probably somewhat because I ask for them
(intercession is a powerful thing, see story of Moses later). I will love His mercy, and I will ask
that He show His mercy to all men. I pray that if someone didn’t receive the Gospel when I
preached it, that they will receive it when they hear it the next time. I pray that God would send
laborers to the field so that others may hear and receive salvation. I pray that God would open
the eyes and the hearts of the people, so they would learn to sanctify themselves and come to
God.

The nature of man is to want to be proved right, to want to be vindicated in the sight of other
men. I used to have this expression that went something like ‘the sweat smell of vindication.’
What an evil thought. Yes, I do always want to be right, for I always want to preach sound
doctrine and Godly Wisdom. But I don’t always want to be right at the expense of someone else
being wrong. My greatest desire is not to leave every discussion the victor, it is that we both
leave the discussions in agreement. This is unity, I pray for this. I want unity with all men.

And as I want this, I do want unity on some things that I believe and they don’t. For I know that
certain things that other men disagree with are right and nothing can change them. Jesus Christ
is the only way by which man can be saved. Nothing will change that, there is no other way. I
will do whatever I can to ensure this is preached. But I will not pray that God judge those who
don’t receive this. I will pray that God bless them and have someone else tell them again.

I will pray for God’s mercy on everyone, the sinner and the saint. Yes, I do instruct people on
what is sin and how we are separated from God. But I believe this is Godly, for God says, “My
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6). What God is talking about is the
priests who have not shown the people the laws and ways of God. This is our job, to show others
God’s ways so we can all be saved and come into true fellowship with Him. Praise God. So, if
someone is doing wrong and is separated from God by rebellion or allegiance to ANY OTHER
religion, I will likely tell them. But I will not take delight if God executes judgment on them for
their rebellion, I will pray for His mercy over them at all times (I even might lend a few of my
assigned angels to them, Praise the Lord)

Let me leave you with one last story. Now Moses we have all heard of. God gave His law
directly to Moses. For this reason Moses is the well known ‘law – giver.’ Even though God
alone is the true Law-Giver. Moses was more like the law-distributor. At any rate, Moses well
knew the blessings of keeping the law and the consequences of transgressing the law.

“And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me? And how long
will it be before they believe Me? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit
them, and will make of you a greater nation and mightier than they. And Moses said unto
the Lord . . . And now, I beg you, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou
hast spoken, saying, ‘The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity
and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting, the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beg you, the iniquity of
this people according to the greatness of Thy mercy, and as Thou hast forgiven this
people, from Egypt even until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy
word.” (Numbers 14:12-20)

The sin of the Israelites was great, God was going to kill them all and make of Moses a great
nation. Think of the honor and opportunity this was for Moses. Moses, the man with greater
knowledge of the law than any other man, he did not rejoice that God would cut off the people.
No, Moses went before the Lord with His Word, showing God how He had said He would be
merciful. Moses interceded for the people, and God relented.

That is a man who loves mercy. I will pray and strive to feel the same way.