The text I'll be coming from
is in Micah 7. It's Micah 7. And while you're
turning there, the same thing you see on the TV is what I'm
looking at on my iPad. And I've done that so that if
I refer to a certain verse, you don't have to turn there, but
you can still read with me as I see it. And I think that helps
a lot of people. on audio, people are visual, so I hope that we
can enter into this message together. That's my prayer. So Micah 17,
I'm gonna start, or excuse me, Micah 7, I'm gonna start in verse
15 where it says, according to the days of thy coming out of
the land of Egypt, will I show unto him marvelous things. The nations shall see and be
confounded at all their might. They shall lay their hand upon
their mouth. Their ears shall be deaf. They
shall lick the dust like a serpent. They shall move out of their
holes like worms of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord
our God and shall fear because of thee. And this is my verse
that I'll be coming from, verse 18. Who is a God like unto thee,
that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy. There's so much to be found in
this one verse, and I hope to attempt to break it down point
by point. I have five points to make. Who
is a God like unto thee? I'm not equipped nor able to
break the seal on who our God truly is, and I just hope that
for a moment, we can open up to it and share. It will share with what the holy
scriptures say he, who Christ Jesus is. Second Samuel 7.22, it says,
wherefore thou art great, O Lord God. For there is none like thee,
neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we
have heard with our ears. Our Lord God is a great God.
He is great. He made the heavens and the earth.
He created all things, all things for his glory and for his people's
good. Four times in the scriptures,
we can see where it reads, who is a God like unto thee? In 1
Chronicles 16, 25, we see where it says, for great is the Lord,
and greatly to be praised. He is also to be feared above
all gods. Psalm 48, 1, we can see where
it says, great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the
city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Psalm 96, 4. says, for the Lord
is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all
gods. And here in Psalm 145, 3, it
says, great is the Lord, greatly to be praised. And his greatness
is unsearchable. His greatness is unsearchable.
It's unreachable for us, for our puny little minds. But he
shares in these scriptures that he inspired men to write. to
share with us just a little bit of what his greatness truly is.
There's no other God like him, equal or greater than. But however,
there is one that sits behind by him at his right hand, the
God-man mediator, our surety, our guarantee, Christ Jesus.
How did he get there? He was risen. He was raised from
the dead. It says there, the end of Samuel,
according to all that we have heard with our ears. In order
for me to know how great our Lord God is, I need to be under
regular and consistent preaching that is gonna tell me of my heavenly
father, our sovereign God. I need to be somewhere where
I can hear with my ears of this man named Jesus who was sent
to save his people. I need to hear with my ears of
the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, and how he breathes new life
into men and women and gives them a new heart, a heart that
seeks the Lord Jesus Christ. I need to be able to hear with
my ears from another sinner, from a pastor of the true gospel,
how I am nothing and he, the Lord God, the triune, is everything. If you would, turn to Job 42. Job 42 verse 1. Then Job answered the Lord and
said, I know that thou can't do everything and that no thought
can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Here
I beseech thee, and I will speak, I will demand of thee, and declare
thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye see of thee. Wherefore I abhor
myself, and repent in dust and ashes. In verse 2, he says, I
know that thou can't do everything. Thou can do everything. In Matthew, you don't have to
turn there, but Matthew 19, 26, it says, but Jesus beheld them
and said unto them, with men this is impossible, but with
God all things are possible. Who is a God like unto thee?
He is a God where all things are possible. Verse five of Job 42, how can
I know or understand if I do not hear? I've got to hear this
gospel. I need the Lord to breathe his
word into me by the spirit. Romans 10, 17 says, so then faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. These aren't
my words, this is the scripture. Verse six, and here in Job 42,
wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Once
I truly know who I am, by what the scriptures say I abhor myself,
I despise who I am. Who is a God like unto thee?
He's one that shows us who we are and gives us a need, a true
need, Christ Jesus. In Proverbs 3. 11. It says my
son despised not the chest chastening of the Lord, neither be wary
of his correction. For whom the Lord love it, he
corrected even as the father, the son in whom he delighted.
Happy is the man that find it wisdom and the man that get it
understanding. Who is this God like under the?
He is a loving God. Whom he loveth, he correcteth.
Not just one time, not just the time when the spirit breathes
life into a sinner, but continually, and we need that, because we're
like dumb sheep stray, and we need our shepherd to herd us
and get us back in line. Who is a God like unto thee?
Isaiah 9, 6 says, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, And
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He's the Father, he's
the Everlasting Father. Moreover, his name shall be called
he Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. Revelations 1.8 says, I am Alpha
and Omega. The beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come,
the Almighty. He is the first, the last, the
beginning and the end, which was and which is to come. Our
God is the Almighty. If you wanna turn to Revelation
21. Revelation 21, verse one. Revelation 21 verse 1, and I
saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow
nor crying. Neither shall there be any more
pain, for the former things are passed away, And he that sat
upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he
said unto me, write, for these words are true and faithful.
And he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that
overcometh shall inherit all things. And I will be his God,
and he shall be my son. He will dwell with them, and
they shall be his people. God himself shall be with them. Who is a god like unto thee?
The one part I really picked up on here, it says in verse
four, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and
there shall be no more death. Neither sorrow nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed
away. He shall be called counselor, wiping away all our tears, no
more death, no more pain. Verse five, it talks about how
all things will be made new. And he says right there at the
end, All words, these words are true and faithful. This is who
a God, who is a God like unto thee. Verse six, and he said
unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of water of life freely. He gives that
fountain of water. Same fountain that's filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. Verse seven, he that overcometh
shall inherit all things. He who prevails, he who gets
the victory, he who comes off victorious will inherit all things. Those are all words that relate
to overcometh. He is the believer's inheritance.
He is the believer's victory. He is the believer's God. He
calls the believer son. Isaiah 54 seven. For a small moment have I forsaken
thee, but with great mercies have I gathered thee. In a little
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee. Sayeth the Lord, thy redeemer. Can you think of any other kindness
that is more everlasting than that that comes from the Lord,
our God, our Redeemer, Christ Jesus? It's everlasting, that's
of divine existence. There's nothing that we can provide,
only He can. Deuteronomy 7.21. Thou shalt not be affrighted
at them, for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and
terrible. You know, when you think of the
word terrible, you're like, oh man, that's really bad, you know? Not here,
terrible means awe. Inspire reverence, awesome. Thy God is among you, a mighty
God and awesome. Who's a God like unto thee? The
mighty one. He is reverence, he is to be
loved, and respected because he is greater than any of us.
Point number two, that pardoneth iniquity. In order for someone
to be pardoned, they would have to be guilty, and this is the
case. We are all guilty of disobedience.
We are guilty of sin. We have this problem that we're
born with called sin. We inherited this sin debt. We
did not need to be taught. It's naturally comes to us. Our
father Adam in the garden, God said, do not eat of this forbidden
fruit, but he did it. And forever we were stricken
with sin, a sin inherited iniquity. But how sweet to read there,
if you read the, Our first point, one and two together. Who is
a god like unto thee? He pardoneth iniquity. We're
gonna see several ETHs, eth, pardoneth, passeth. And I'm a
big lover of that because he didn't say pardoned, or I pardon,
he said pardoneth, continually. I'm thankful for that because
making no excuses, but you know very well I'm not perfect. I'm
surprised I'm up here communicating to y'all right now. I don't feel
worthy. To be before you speaking. But
I'm glad we're not here to talk about me. We're here to preach
Christ in him crucified. And praise him. As I was studying
for scripture reading last last week, you know, I really like
like Brother Marvin does share words. What do words mean? Words
that mean to us every day don't always mean what they mean in
here. And so I read from Psalm 107,
it was 107-8, oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness
and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Praise. Praise is to celebrate, to laud,
to give thanks. Let us celebrate Christ and his
accomplished work. Let us celebrate God Almighty
who pardoneth iniquity. If you would, turn your Bibles to
Jeremiah 10. Jeremiah 10, verse 10. what makes him almighty. But
the Lord is the true God. He is the living God, an everlasting
king. At his wrath, the earth shall
tremble, and the nation shall not be able to abide in his indignation,
to abide in his anger. Thus shall you say unto them,
the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they
shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens. He
hath made the earth by his power. He hath established the world
by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. When he uttereth his voice, there
is a multitude of waters in the heavens. And he causeth the vapors
to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh lightnings with
rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. He is Lord. He is a true God. He is the living God. He is a living God. From the
beginning of time to the end, Alpha and Omega, these idols,
these little g-gods, they're not living. They're man-made. They can be pushed around. Man
can tell them what to do. Not this God. He is living. He
is an everlasting king. Verse 12, it talks there, he
hath made the earth by his power, the world by his wisdom, the
heavens by his discretion. He didn't need anybody's help. When he uttereth, he uttereth
with his voice. Deuteronomy 32.4 says, He is
the rock, he is the strong, he is the mighty one. His work is
perfect, for all his ways are judgment, a God of truth and
without iniquity. Just and right is he. Yes, amen,
just and right is he. How does he pardon iniquity?
Is it about counting your blessings one by one? It's not enough time,
it's impossible. While we were thankful for heavenly
blessings, God rains down upon us, but there's not enough time.
Is it by being a good person? No, because the scriptures say
five different places very simply, none that doeth good. Is it by
following the Ten Commandments? No, once again, impossible. If
we break just one by word, deed, or thought, we've broken them
all. Does this mean I just go along breaking them just haphazardly
and just doing what I want No, I'm thankful for the law of Moses
that the Lord gave him. Because the law, that's the standard,
but we're not going to meet it. But Christ Jesus did, and that's
what we're thankful for. God, the Son of God, God pardoned
our iniquity by sending his son to the earth. to walk the land
as a man. He went all into the lands. He
preached the gospel. He did miracles. He did his father's
work. He trusted his father's plan
and will. He was hung on Calvary's cross,
shedding his blood for the remission of sins, taking on the sin of
all his people, all the sheep, all those predestinated, the
elected by God before the world began. And as we so often refer to,
and I'm so thankful we do, 2 Corinthians 521, for he, God, hath made him,
Christ, sin for us, his sheep, who knew no sin, that we, the
sheep, might be made the righteousness of God in him, Christ. That's
how he pardons iniquity. Christ died in my stead. Christ
died instead of me. He was made sin so that I would
be made righteous. That's hard for me to grasp,
honestly. Not in this life, but one to
come. Lord will. If you would, turn
your Bibles to 1 John 5, verse 10. First John 510 says, he that
believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that
believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth
not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that
you may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this, this
is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything
according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him. How doth he pardon iniquity?
Through eternal life in his Son, the Son of God. That's how he
pardoned iniquity. I can't say it enough. And verse 15 is so powerful. And actually, it's actually 14. And this is the conference that
we have here. That if we ask anything according to his will,
he heareth us. We pray, we have many prayers,
and we ask things of the Lord. But some things we ask, guess
what, they're not according to His will. But let me tell you,
if they're according to His will, if we know He hears whatsoever
we ask, we know we have the petitions that we desired, it will be done. It will, His will will be done. Jeremiah 33, I just have two
verses, so. Verse eight says, and I will
cleanse them. This is, once again, how he pardons
iniquity. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity,
whereby they have sinned against me. And I will pardon all their
iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have
transgressed against me. And it shall be to me a name
of joy, a praise, and an honor before all the nations of the
earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them, and
they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all
the prosperity that I procure unto it, that I appoint, that
I bear, that I accomplish. He will cleanse them from all
their iniquity. When they have sinned against
him, all their iniquities will he pardon. And verse nine, so
beautiful, and it shall be to me a name of joy. It shall be
a joy to him to pardoneth their iniquities, and an honor before
all the nations of the earth. Jeremiah 50, 20 says, in those
days and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought for, and there shall be none, and the sins of
Judah, and they shall not be found. for I will pardon them
who I reserve. I will pardon them whom I reserve
or preserve. I pardon them whom are mine elected
to the Son of God. I will pardon them who are preserved
in Christ Jesus. I will pardon them. I'm thankful
that he will pardon them, those that he preserved. Isaiah 43, 25. I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine, O sake, and will not remember
thy sins." He doesn't blotteth out transgressions for you. It's for his will. That's what
it says right here. I blotteth out thy transgressions
for mine, O sake. For my will, for God's will,
he says, I will not remember thy sins. Who is a God like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity? He blotted out transgressions
for his sake. He will not remember thy sins.
Point three in this verse, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger forever.
He passeth. He passeth over. Overlook, he
forgives, the transgression which is rebellion, sin, trespass. What is this remnant? According
to Blue Letter Bible, it is what is left. It is residue. It is the remainder. The remnant
of his heritage, those that remain looking to Christ and God's will
now. Through trials and tribulations
and afterwards, it is a residual group. It is all, it is all,
excuse me, it is not all people, it is the many. It is his elected
before the foundation of the world. Consider Noah and his family
after God flooded the entire earth. While everyone who was
not in the rock was lost, who was not in the ark was lost,
those who were left, the remainders, were found safe, safely in Christ
Jesus. Noah and his family were the
remnants. His heritage, this heritage signifies
an inheritance, a possession passed down. It emphasizes belongings
to God, and being a part of his covenant and plan. Proverbs 1911, not to turn there,
says, the discretion of a man deferreth his anger, and it is
his glory to pass over a transgression. That word defer means makes him
slow to anger and pass or overlook. Talked about that before, passive,
overlook. This discretion of a man makes
him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook over a
transgression. I can read the scriptures about
eight different places, but only one where it says the Lord is
slow to anger. Psalm 103.8 says the Lord is
merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plentuous in mercy. His mercy is abundant. The Passover
look at transgression truly shows how merciful and gracious the
Lord God is, how slow to anger he is. That abundance word means
more than enough. This is our Lord, more than enough
in mercy. How can he overlook a transgression?
Because in the remnants of his heritage, the transgressions
have been blotted out with the blood of his son. When he passes
over his remnants, he doesn't see my sinful nature, he sees
the perfect and satisfied work of his son. He sees a finished
work. As Exodus says, when I see the
blood, I will pass over you. Thank the Lord for his glory
and majesty. Point number four, he retaineth
not his anger forever. Retaineth, especially take, keep
hold of, seize, grasp. For those of you who believe,
you truly believe that God Almighty is your Heavenly Father. A child
is not one to upset or anger their father. At least for me,
our parents taught us kids the difference between obedience
and disobedience and what the repercussions were if we disobeyed
it. And so in most cases, my dad was the authoritarian But
if my mom wasn't there, she would do it. But we feared our father
because we feared him out of love and out of respect because
we knew what the repercussions were. And we knew what he was
capable of in regards to imposing punishment. Psalm 103.13 says, Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Normally
when you think of that word pity, you like feel sorry for someone
or something, that's how I see it. But pitieth to love, love
deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection, have compassion. Like a father, have compassion for his children
so the Lord has compassion for them that fear him. Natural man
has no respect for who God Almighty truly is and therefore does not
fear him. They think God is their puppet
and he's to do what they need when they're in trouble. I'll
tell you this, if you read the scriptures regularly over and
over again and you sit around a Christ-earned pastor who's
going to shoot straight with you, you're going to learn really
quick I need to be fearful because my Heavenly Father is a all-powerful
being. If I am made to truly believe
in the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Triune God, then
I will be shown how I have no ability in myself to save myself,
not through silly prayers, childish walks down an aisle, high horse
on what I think a little G God needs, or or me letting what
a little G-God do. I say that because our God, the
one and only God of this universe, doesn't need me to do anything. I don't have the ability to let
him do anything. You learn very quickly how little we are, how
frail we are, and how mighty and powerful he is. How can man
not believe because they don't want to? They'd rather go against
scripture and lean on their own understanding than what God has
said. Turn to Jeremiah 7, please. Jeremiah 7, verse 23. Jeremiah seven verse 23 says,
but this thing commanded I them saying, obey my voice and I will
be your God and you shall be my people and walk ye in all
the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well unto
you. But they hearken not nor inclined
the ear, but walked in the councils and the imagination of their
evil heart and went backward, not forward. Since the day that
your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day,
I have even sent unto you all my servants, the prophets, daily,
rising up early and sending them. Yet they hearkened not unto me,
nor inclined the ear, but hardened their neck. They did worse than
their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto
them, but they will not hearken unto thee. Thou shalt also call
unto them, but they will not answer thee. but thou shalt say
unto them, this is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the
Lord their God, nor receiveth correction. Truth is perished
and is cut off from their mouth. Verse 24, excuse me. This just really inspired me
because talking about how people are doing what they want to do
And we see it like, we think that things are a lot, you know,
the world is so horrible right now, and it is. The world's been
horrible a long time. And I mean, we can see it in
the scriptures right here, where people do what they wanna do,
basically. Walking in the councils and imagination
of their evil heart. And without the grace and the
mercy of our Lord, we would be the exact same way. Be fearful. Our God sent water to this earth,
destroyed because of disobedience. Be fearful. Our God sent fire
and brimstone to Sodom and Gomorrah because of disobedience. Be fearful. In Acts 10.35, it says, but in
every nation, but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh
righteousness is accepted with him. The Lord, which God sent
unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. But in every nation, he that
feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted to be accepted in
him. It's wonderful. We are still on point four. He retaineth not his anger forever.
He retaineth. He doesn't grasp his anger forever. Psalm 35 says, for his anger
endureth but a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. The anger
is just for a moment, but the joy cometh in the morning. Acts 13, 26. Men and brethren,
children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth
God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. Whosoever among
you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.
if you would, turn your Bibles to Joshua 7. I just want to show in here how
he retained, if not his anger, forever. And I'm going to skip
through different verses in here, but we're going to read it together.
So Joshua 7, verse 1 says, But the children of Israel committed
a trespass, and the accursed thing for Achan, the son of Carmi,
the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah,
took of the accursed thing, and the anger of the Lord kindled
against the children of Israel." If you go down to verse 11, it
says, Israel have sinned. and they have transgressed my
covenant, which I commanded them, for they have even taken of the
accursed thing, and have also stolen and disassembled also,
and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore, the
children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but
turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed.
Neither will I be with you anymore, except you destroy the accursed
from among you. And then scrolling down to verse
19, it says, And Joshua said unto Achan, My
son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and
make confession unto him, and tell me now what thou hast done. Hide it not from me. And Achan
answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord
God of Israel, and thus, and thus have I done. When I saw
among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment and 200 shekels of silver
and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight, then I coveted them and
took them. And behold, they are hid in the
earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it." And
then down to 24, it said, and Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan, the son of Zerah,
and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his
sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and
his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had. And they brought
them unto the valley of Acre. And Joshua said, why hast thou
troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this
day. And all Israel stoned him with
stones, and burned them with fire after they had stoned them
with stones. And they raised over him with
a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from
the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore, the name of that place
was called the Valley of Acre, or Trouble, unto this day. I read all of Joshua 7 to show
you that difference, where in the beginning where the children
of Israel had sinned against the Lord, and he said, the anger of the Lord was kindled,
or burned, against the children of Israel. And basically there
was an investigation done and things were taking place and
there was repercussions for those actions. But in the end, his
anger did not last forever. He did not retain that anger
because he said, so the Lord turned from the fierceness of
his anger. Jeremiah 312 says, Go and proclaim
these words toward the north and say, Return thou backsliding
Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to fall
upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not
keep anger forever. He will not retain his anger
forever. And my last point is number five,
because he delighted in mercy. Coming in here today, I didn't
know what I was going to title this message. but I titled it
Our God Delighteth in Mercy. The Lord could have inspired
this in a couple different ways. He could have said he is merciful.
He could have said because he is merciful. He could have said
because he delights in mercy. No, he said because he delighteth
in mercy. Once again, ETH, continually,
he continually delighteth in mercy. And if you look closely
there, even more so, what I like is that N, that two-letter word
I-N is in italics. The writers added that there.
Because he delighteth mercy. Let's get straight to the point
here. He delighteth mercy. He doth continually delight mercy.
In Exodus 26, just this one verse, it said, and shewing mercy unto
thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments, shewing
as in do. He do mercy unto thousands. Exodus
34, six says, and the Lord passed by
before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth. Keeping mercy for thousands. Forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty of visiting
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's
children until the third and to the fourth generation. Keeping
mercy for thousands. He do mercy unto thousands and
he keepeth it too. For the Lord God to be merciful,
he would have to be gracious An abundant goodness. It's amazing. If you would, turn your Bibles
to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, verse 1. And you
hath he quickened, made alive, who were dead in trespasses and
sins, wherein time passed, you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, and
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God, but God who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace,
ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come
he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast." This is a common verse, but I
really read it for verse four, but everything before it and
everything after it all fits together. Where in times past,
he walked according to the course of this world. We all can relate
to that. Walked according to our own understanding. The spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
desires of our flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the
children of wrath. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us." I just, I really
love that. I love it in the scriptures when
you say, but, but God. Psalm 1038 says, the Lord is
merciful and gracious, slow to anger, plentuous in mercy. Plentuous in mercy. Their mercy,
we talked about the other day, is his loving kindness. Merciful
and gracious, slow to anger. He's plentuous in loving kindness. Psalm 59 verse 16 says, but I
will sing of thy power, yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy
in the morning, for thou hast been my defense and refuge in
the day of my trouble. Unto thee, oh my strength will
I sing, for God is my defense, the God of mercy. I will sing
of thy power, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning. because He's my defense and He's
the God of my mercy. If you want to turn one last
time to Psalm 86. Psalm 86 verse 3 says, Be merciful unto me, O Lord,
for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice, the soul of thy servant,
for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul, for thou, Lord, art
good, ready to forgive, and plentuous in mercy unto all them that call
upon thee. Do you seek the mercy of the
Lord? Call upon him. Do you seek the mercy of the
Lord? Cry unto him daily. Cry unto
him daily, because he is plentuous in mercy. unto all of them that
call upon Him. Psalm 103 11 says, For as the
heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward
them that fear Him. This verse really touched me.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, we can't even see
it. We don't know where it is, but it's up there. As high as
the heavens above the earth, so great is his mercy." How undeniably magnificent that
is. As high as the heavens are, we
can't even see them with our penny eyes. Now, that's how great,
how significant, extraordinary, immense, and boundless his mercy,
kindness, his loving kindness is towards them who fear him.
Who is a god like unto thee? that pardoneth iniquity, and
passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage.
He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. I truly pray that the Lord blesses
this message. I pray he blesses it for his
glory, his glory alone, and for his people's good.