Turn with me to your Bibles to
Romans chapter 11. Romans 11. I titled the message
this morning, God's Mercy. At the end of Romans chapter
11, Paul closes what we refer to as the doctrinal part of his
letter to the church at Rome. And he closes this section talking
to us about God's mercy. That's a good way to sum up the
last 11 chapters in Mercy. The sum of the doctrinal teaching
of the Book of Romans is this, that sinners are justified by
faith in Christ without any of our works. Sinners are justified
by Christ obeying the law for them, not by us trying to keep
the law ourselves, but by what Christ has done for his people.
And we receive everything that Christ is, everything that Christ
has done through faith. So salvation, the salvation of
a sinner, is by grace. And not by works, it's by God's
grace. Grace. Free grace. Is God giving us
what we do not deserve? None of us deserve to be justified. None of us deserve to be saved. None of us deserve to be spared
from God's wrath. None of us deserve to be brought
into God's presence. But God's people, those that
he elected under salvation, They're saved by grace, by grace, because
God gives them what they do not deserve. He gives them what Christ
deserves, what Christ earned for them. The salvation of a
sinner has got to be, got to be, no other option, got to be
through the mercy of almighty God. Mercy is God not giving
us what we do deserve. Now, why should we all love mercy? It's because of what we deserve.
Now, what do we deserve? Because of our sin, because of
our rebellion, because of our unbelief, what is it that we
deserve? We deserve damnation, don't we,
for our sin. But God's elect are saved by
mercy. God does not give his people
what they deserve. Because he gave Christ our substitute,
what we deserve. And we go free in Christ. And
that's our subject this morning. God's mercy. The first thing
I want us to understand, that God's word so plainly teaches,
is God's mercy is sovereign mercy. Look at verse 31 of Romans 11.
Even so, if these also now not believed, I'm sorry, verse 30. For as ye in time past have not
believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.
Even so, if these also now not believe that through your mercy,
they also may obtain mercy. And you know, this is speaking
of the Jews and the Gentiles, but thousands thousands of years,
God dealt only with the Jews. God revealed himself only to
the Jewish nation, not to the Gentiles. Anytime God spoke to
a man, he spoke to a Jew. All the prophets were Jews. The
only people who had the word of God were Jews. So the only
people who could know who God is, is the Jews. The only way
we could know who God is, is by his word. The only people
who had God's word were the Jews. Only the Jews had the priesthood. Only the Jews had the ceremonies.
Only the Jews had the sacrifices. So only the Jews could worship
God. The Gentiles were just left to their own devices and they
worshiped idols. They didn't have any of that for 4,000 years.
4,000 years, that's a lot of years. God passed by the Gentiles. Wow. The only explanation for
that is God saw God's mercy is sovereign mercy. God shows it
to whom he will. God chose at that time to show
mercy to the Jew and not to the Gentile. The end and the fullness of time,
Christ appeared, came to this earth as a man and he came as
a Jew. He was a Jewish man. His parents
were Jews, descendants of David. They took him to the tabernacle,
the temple, to be circumcised on the eighth day to fulfill
the law. He's a Jew. He went through all of the Jewish
countryside, came into his own, the Son of God, the human flesh,
the Lamb appeared. Tell them what all those Old
Testament pictures and ceremonies and all those things meant. He
came into his own. His own received him not. The
Jews rejected Christ. They said, crucify him, away
with him. We have no king but Caesar. Let his blood be on us
and our children. They rejected Christ because
they rejected the gospel of free grace. Free grace through the
righteousness and through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. They wanted the law, not free
grace. They wanted the ceremonies, not
God's mercy. And God gave it to them. The
worst thing God can ever do to a man or a woman is give us what
we want. The Lord took the gospel away
from the Jews and sent it to the Gentiles. Now, God's mercy. God still saves the Jew, but
just a few. Just like in the Old Testament,
there's a few Gentiles, the Lord revealed Himself to, not many.
God still saves the Jew, but not just a few, not many. Most
of the Jewish nation to this day is under judicial blindness.
And what judicial blindness, that's another one of these terms
preachers love to use. Our children, we hear judicial
blindness, got no idea what that means. You know what that judicial
blindness means? It means blindness that came from the judge. The
judge, God, the judge of all there, said, you'll be blind.
See, they didn't want to see Christ. The Jew didn't. They
didn't want to. They said, away with him. They didn't want to see him.
And now God, the judge, has given them blindness so that they cannot
see. And for 2,000 years, almost exclusively,
the gospel has been preached to the Gentiles. The only explanation that's possible
for that is God's sovereign. God's mercy is sovereign. He
shows mercy to whom he will. He sends his gospel to whom he
will. He puts his gospel in this place
and not in this place because God's sovereign. Now, by nature,
nobody believes God, whether they're Jew or Gentile, it doesn't
matter. We're all blind by nature. We're all born blind, whether
you're a religious person or whether you're heathen. Everybody's
blind. The only reason any of those
Jews in the Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, the only
reason any of those people had faith in Christ, the only way
they saw, how did Abraham, he took Isaac up there to offer
him as a burnt offering, how did he look past that and see
Christ? God's merciful. That's the only reason, God's
merciful. How could he look past that and rejoice? Because God's
merciful. He gave him eyes to see past
those pictures and those shadows and those types and to see Christ. The only difference between Abraham
and Ishmael, just take your pick, the only difference is God's
mercy. Abraham obtained mercy. He didn't earn it. He obtained
it because God gave it to him freely. Not every Jubilee did
it, but a few of them did. because God was merciful to them. And the only reason anybody today
believes God, there's some folks that believe God, just a few.
But the only reason they have faith, you hear this morning,
do you believe Christ? Is He all of your hope? Do you
believe Him? Do you trust Him? The only reason
is God's been merciful to you. You've obtained mercy. Not because
you earned it, not because you're better than anybody else, but
because God gave it to you. just because he would. It's his
sovereign right to give it to whom he will. And I tell you
how God grants this sovereign mercy to his people. It's through
the preaching of the gospel. The gospel came to the Gentile
world, came to you and me, because the Jews rejected it. Mercy came
into the Gentile world through the preaching of the gospel because
the Jews rejected it. Why did it have to be that way? Brother John told us Wednesday,
God gives his account of his matters to no man. God's suffering.
It happened that way because that's the way God determined
to do it. God's suffering. And it's right because God did
it. When God shows mercy, some poor
sinner is always suffering mercy on whom he will. And nobody can
question why. Look back here at Romans 9 verse
15. For he saith to Moses, I'll have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then, this matter of salvation,
this matter of obtaining mercy is not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. God's mercy
is sovereign mercy on whom he will. Why does one person believe
the gospel and another one does not? Two brothers, why does one
believe the gospel and the other does not? Two friends, one believes
the gospel, the other does not. One sees Christ in the scripture,
and the other one can't see Christ, no matter how hard he looks,
all he can see is law and moral stories. Why does one person
see one person blind? The only difference, the only
difference is God's soft and merciful. Jacob and Esau were
the examples that Paul used. God makes one to see and he leaves
the other in their blindness. God gives one faith to believe
Christ and he leaves the other to their unbelief. God crosses
the will of one and reveals Christ to him and in him and he gives
the other what he wants. That's sovereign mercy. God showing
mercy to whom he will. God shows that mercy. He always
saves that sinner. The end result of God's mercy
is always the salvation of the soul. Now there are so many people,
Jew and Gentile, many people who do not believe on Christ
right now. Is there any hope for them? Is there
any hope? Yes, there is. They've got a
hope. They've got one hope. It's God's soft mercy. It's that
God will not leave them where they are. That God will not leave
them to their own devices. That God will not leave them
to their own will, but He will have mercy upon them. Not because
their works are going to be good enough, They're not going to
be. They're not good enough. If they trust in their works,
they'll be damned. But if God shows mercy to them, they will
be saved. If God grants them faith in Christ,
they will be saved. You know, many people wonder,
well, will God turn back to the Jew? Will there be a revival
among the Jews? I don't know. I have no idea.
It will if God intends it to, but I don't know what God's going
to do. But I can tell you this. If the Jews as a nation, many
Jews, it's not going to be all of them, but you know, if many
of them, if they obtain mercy, I can tell you how it's going
to happen. It's going to happen through the preaching of the
gospel. Same way, if there's a revival among the Gentiles
in Eastern Kentucky, I can tell you how it's going to happen.
It's going to happen through the preaching of the gospel.
That's what verse 31 means. Even so, have these also now
not believed that through your mercy, they also may obtain mercy? Now, you know this isn't saying
the lost are going to be saved because we're merciful. No, the
lost are saved because God's merciful. That's the only reason.
But if they believe the gospel, if they hear somebody daring
to preach the gospel of God's sovereign mercy, and they believe
it, they will be saved. Now, that ought to encourage
us to be kind enough, to be merciful enough, to be generous enough
to preach the gospel of God's sovereign mercy everywhere we
can, in every way that we can. Here in this pulpit, on the radio,
on the internet, wherever God gives us the opportunity, we
ought to be kind enough to poor sinners to tell them the truth
and preach the gospel of God's sovereign mercy to us. If God
saved you, that's exactly the way he did it. Somebody cared
enough to tell you the truth. That's how God's going to save
all of us. We ought to be kind enough to
preach the gospel of God's sovereign mercy to sinners and tell them
the truth. God's mercy is sovereign mercy. You can't do anything
to get God to show mercy to you. You can't bribe Him. You can't
twist His arm. God's mercy is sovereign mercy.
He's just going to show mercy on whom He will. Now, where does
that leave you and me? It leaves us, don't think, well,
God's mercy is sovereign mercy. God's going to save who He will.
No matter what I do, God's going to say there's nothing I can
do. I'll just sit here and do nothing. No. No. If you think that, you
don't understand sovereign mercy. I'll tell you where God's sovereign
mercy leads you and me. It leads us in begging for mercy. Begging God for mercy. And you
know, begging God for mercy is the best place a sinner can be. The best place you can be is
at God's feet, begging Him for mercy. Because He reaches mercy. You can pray. You can ask the
Lord, Lord, would you be merciful to me? You said you can be merciful
to somebody. Would you be merciful to me?
We can beg. God has plenty to give. It's
his to give. We can beg him for it. I came in this morning and
got an illustration for this point. Not only is this an illustration
for my point, this is a not so subtle commercial for Sunday
school classes for our children. I saw laying here on one of the
chairs a list of review questions that the children had, I think
this must be Terrace class, after they had their lesson on Sunday. The lesson must have been on
Boaz, the kinsman redeemer. These are important lessons.
Number one, Boaz was a near kinsman. Who is a kinsman? A kinsman is
one that has the right to redeem. But to eat means to buy back.
Naomi told Ruth, lie down at the feet of Boaz. Naomi must
not have been a woman's lover, was she? She said, you're going
to lie down at that man's feet. Why? This was a way of begging for
mercy. This lesson isn't just for adults,
is it? It's for children. You're never too young. You're
never too old. to beg for mercy. That's the
teaching of God's Word. God's mercy is sovereign mercy. He'll have mercy on whom he will.
Where does that leave you and me? Begging God for mercy. Oh, God, be merciful to me. That's my prayer every day for
me and for you. God, be merciful to us. Saving mercy, mercy that saves
a sinner, has got to be sovereign mercy. Because a sinner can never
earn it. A sinner can never deserve it.
God's got to give that mercy. It's mercy that saves a sinner.
You've got to give it freely. Got to give it freely. We can't
earn it because we're all dead. We can't deserve it because mercy
is not for good people. Mercy is not for people who are
kind of bad, but they've got a few faults. No, mercy is for
people who deserve to be damned. That's the very definition of
the word. That brings me to my second point. God's mercy is
sovereign mercy. Second, God's mercy is undeserved.
Verse 32 in our text. For God hath concluded them all
in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all. Everyone, every
son of Adam, every man, woman, boy and girl, every one of us
are guilty of sin. So I tell you what we deserve
from God's justice. We deserve to be damned. Sin
must be punished. And our best efforts at being
good are not good enough. Our best efforts at keeping the
law are not good enough. You know, just by nature, this
is what everybody tries to do. Even somebody who's never read
a Bible before, even somebody who's never seen a Bible, everybody
tries to be good enough for God to accept them. Everybody tries
to be good enough so God will be happy with them. And no matter
how well we think we're doing, it's not enough. Our best is
not good enough. We hear the gospel and this is
our problem. This is our problem. By nature, nobody believes. Nobody will believe Christ. God
says they're all in unbelief. None of them will trust Christ.
Can that once and for all do away with this thought that election
is God looking down through the telescope of time and seeing
who would believe Christ so he chose them? No, God did. He looked down through time.
He looked down on all men. All of them. You know what He
concluded? None of them will be saved. If they're going to
be saved, God's got to have mercy on people who don't deserve it.
God's mercy is undeserved. Is there anybody here who wants
to be saved? Is there anybody here who's lost
and knows it and wants to be saved? My friend, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Look across the page,
Romans 10, verse 11, Paul tells us that. For the scripture saith,
this is God's word, God who cannot lie saith, whosoever believeth
on him shall not be ashamed. Verse 13, whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But this is our problem. The nature we're born with, cannot
and will not believe Christ, will not call upon Christ. So
what do we need? We need mercy. We need God to
show mercy on those who do not deserve it. And that's the good
news of the gospel. God's mercy is for those who
do not deserve it. So again, where does this leave
you and me? Don't try to be good enough.
So God will say, don't do that. Don't try to be good enough so
God will be happy with you. Because if you think that, you
don't need mercy. If you think you can just do
so far and then Christ make up the difference, you don't need
mercy because you're almost good enough. Mercy is for people that
do not deserve it. Mercy is for the guilty that
don't try to deserve it. Just come to God begging for
mercy because you don't because you don't deserve it. That's
someone who's an object or a candidate for mercy. Come to God in all
of your sin, in all of your guilt, and don't try to hide any of
it, and just beg God for mercy. Because God shows mercy to people
who do not deserve it. Look back at Genesis chapter
19. You've heard many times about the law of first mention. The
first time the word mercy is used in the Bible it refers to
Lot. Lot is a very good example of
what we've been talking about here. Genesis 19, you know the
story here, verse 15, how the angel came down and told Lot,
you've got to come out of this city because I'm going to destroy
this place. Genesis 19, verse 15. And when the morning arose,
then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife
and thy two daughters, which are here, lest thou be consumed
in the iniquity of the city. Now, I mean, he just warned him,
get out of this place. I'm going to destroy it. Now
you'd think he'd run and run and run and never look back,
wouldn't you? But he didn't. He didn't. He lingered. And while he lingered, the men
laid hold upon his hand. They took hold upon, they let
him do what he wanted to do. They took hold upon his hand
and upon the hand of his two daughters. The Lord be merciful
unto him. And they brought him forth and
set him outside the city. He wouldn't go of his own free
will, did he? So they took him by the hand and set him outside
the city. That's mercy. That's mercy. Lot didn't deserve mercy, did
he? Why was Lot in Sodom? He chose it. He chose those well-watered
plains. He could have stayed with Abraham.
He could have stayed with that wise man. Maybe he learned something.
Maybe he just had a few less cattle, a few less sheep. Maybe
he learned something. Maybe, but no. No, he didn't. He chose
to be there. He got down to that wicked city.
He prospered there. He became one of the head guys
sitting out there at the gate, you know. No, he didn't deserve
it, did he? God's mercy is for those who
do not deserve it. And God's mercy, sovereign mercy,
For all the people on that plain, those men laid hold on three
people, Lot and his two daughters. Everybody else was destroyed. God's mercy is sovereign mercy. God's mercy is for those who
do not deserve it. Here's the third thing about
God's mercy. God's mercy is good reason for sinners to praise
the Lord. Verse 33 in our text, Romans
11, verse 33. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
his judgments and his ways past finding out. Now, can you picture
in your mind's eye, Paul sitting here, he's writing this epistle
to the Roman church. He's thinking about what he's
writing. He's been thinking about God's mercy. The Holy Spirit's
come upon. These are inspired words. Just, I mean, I just can't
imagine what that was like. And he just burst out into praise
for God's mercy. He said, oh, the depth of the
riches of God's mercy. God's mercy is deep. Oh, the depth of it. God's mercy
reaches the lowest sinner. There's no sinner that's so vile,
that's so lost, God's mercy cannot reach him. You can be too good
for God's mercy. But you can't be too guilty.
Can't be too vile. Can't be too lost. Can't be too
sinful. God's mercy is deep. You know, when something is profound,
we say, that's deep. God's mercy is profound. That's
deep. That's deep. You'll never reach
the bottom of it. You'll never fully understand
God's mercy. But you don't have to understand
it to praise God for it. No, God's people Those objects
of mercy, they never get tired of hearing about mercy. It never
depends on them. It's always dependent upon God's
mercy. And the objects of God's mercy, praise God for it right
now. And you know what they're going to do for all of eternity?
Praise God for His mercy. Oh, it's deep. God's mercy is
rich. God's mercy is rich enough to
make the poorest sinner rich in Christ. God's mercy magnifies
the whole character of God. God's sovereign mercy to those
people who do not deserve it show us the wisdom of God. God
found a way to justify sinners without violating his justice.
God found a way to be merciful to sinners by satisfying his
justice through the death of the substitute. Who else could have thought of
such a thing? Nobody, nobody, who else would have done such
a thing? Who else would have brutally
sacrificed their only begotten son to show mercy to rebels? Nobody but God. Father made his
son sin. But you know what? I don't understand
that. This is what I understand. I
don't understand how that can be. I don't understand what all
that means. But this I understand from God's Word. That sin's gone
under the blood of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
past finding out. It's past fully comprehending
that we can praise God for His mercy. Oh, the mercy God showed
His people by saving them through the sacrifice of His Son. I feel a little bit foolish talking
about that. How can we thank God enough? How can we use words that are
good enough to rejoice in God's mercy to sinners? Those are three
true statements. God's mercy is sovereign mercy.
God has mercy on whom He will. God has mercy on people that
do not deserve it. And that will make sinners Rejoice. I understand the flesh doesn't
like that, but God's sovereignty will never make a sinner mad. God's sovereign mercy will always
make a sinner rejoice. God's mercy for the undeserving
will never, ever, ever make a sinner mad. Imagine some fella sitting
on death row. He's going to be guilty. He's
going to die. They're going to stick a needle in his arm. He's
going to die tomorrow. But the government, issues apart. That man is going to rejoice.
He will never ever demand my rights. He will never ever demand,
let me just attempt to satisfy justice myself and go free myself.
Mercy never makes a guilty man mad. Mercy always makes a sinner
rejoice. I know that's contrary to our
nature. I hope there's nobody here that just hates to hear
about God's sovereign mercy. You know, anything that's contrary
to our nature, we ought to listen to it. Anything that's either
true or good is contrary to our nature, so we probably ought
to listen to it. Paul asks three questions here
that'll make any honest thinking person agree with God's sovereign
mercy for people that don't deserve it. Verse 34, he says, For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? For who hath been his counselor? Now God's mercy's
got to be sovereign mercy. The plan of mercy, the purpose
of mercy can only come from the mind, the wisdom of God. Who God shows mercy to is up
to God because he thought it up. It comes from his wisdom.
Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who could ever have understood
God's way of salvation if God didn't show it to him? Not one
person. Nobody's smart enough. You know,
we hear about salvation. We hear about how God saved sinners.
And we say, that's deep. That's profound. Well, it is. That's deep. The angel's desire
to look into it. Only God in his wisdom could
have provided a way for salvation from sin and make sinners just.
Who else could have figured that out? We couldn't have. If God left us to ourselves and
our ignorance, you know what we'd have done? We'd have said,
well, salvation's got to come by us keeping the law. God gave
the law, so we got to try to keep it. And that's how we'll
be saved. Well, that would be our way. That would be the way
of blind, dead flesh. But that would mean there's no
salvation for any son of Adam, because we cannot keep the law. We can only see it. But God and
his wisdom found a way. Salvation by grace. Salvation by mercy that God gives
to whom He will. God's mercy is sovereign mercy.
God is sovereign in everything He does. Who can understand God?
Who can understand why God does things the way that He does?
Nobody. Nobody. Who has been the Lord's
counselor? Think you're smart? Did you give
counsel? advice to the one whose name
is counselor? Which one of us can say, I got
a better idea how sinners can be saved? No, not one person
who's qualified to go argue with God about this. Nope. God asked Job, Job, where were
you? Well, I laid the foundations
of the earth. Job, where were you when I purposed the covenant
of mercy? Where were you when I did all this? Job, you weren't
anywhere but in the mind and purpose of God. You're not qualified
to be God's advisor. But you know what we are qualified
for? To beg God for mercy. We're just fit for that, to beg
God for mercy. God is so wise. He's the only
one who could have done all this. If it was left up to sinful man,
nobody would be saved. Because none of us can find a
way to put sin away. You know, just the very, very
core of false religion is always this. Just do better. Just do
better. Just do better. Do better all
you want. But you know what that never
takes care of? What about all the sin I've already committed?
I mean, even if I could start keeping the law from here on
out, who's getting rid of all my sin? None of us could ever
find a way to put sin away. But God in His wisdom did. God
found a ransom. That ransom is the sacrifice
of His beloved Son. None of us could change our nature. We don't know how to change our
nature, so we will believe Christ. But God knows. God doesn't change
that old nature. You know what God does? He gives
a new nature and a new birth. And that nature can't not believe. Can't not believe Christ. See,
it all comes from God's purpose, from God's wisdom. This is a
way that sinners can be saved in justice. Then mercy has got
to be softened mercy. It comes from God, giving it
to whom he will. Salvation's got to be by the
will of God, not by the will of man. Because man's not smart
enough. All right, verse 35, here's the
third question. For who hath first given to him, and it shall
be recompensed unto him again? Who can earn anything from God?
Who can do something that God's got to give us a paycheck for? None. Nobody. There's none righteous. No, not one. We've got to conclude
the same thing God does. We're all dead in sin. We're
all just in our stubborn unbelief. The only thing we can earn from
God is His wrath against our sin. If God's going to show mercy
on somebody, it's got to be on people that don't deserve it.
It's just obvious if you'd just be honest with yourself. So Paul
asked those three questions that just strengthened those first
three points. And he just burst out into praise for God's mercy
again. Verse 36. For of Him, and through Him,
and to Him are all things. To whom be glory forever. Amen. Now everything is of Him. Everything is of the Lord. Everything in creation, everything
that you see in this creation is of the Lord. He spoke it all
into existence. It was created by Him and for
Him. Creation came of the Lord's wisdom, of the Lord's power,
of the Lord's goodness to His people. And everything in providence,
all the events of the world, all the events of our lives,
it's all of the Lord. It all happens by His will. God's working all the events
of our life, all the events of this creation, He's working it
together for one purpose, for the glory of His Son and the
redemption of His people. It's all of the Lord, of His
will, of His purpose, of His doing. Everything in salvation,
everything in mercy is of the Lord. Mercy is of the Lord's
character. It's His character to be merciful
to sinners. Mercy is of the Lord's wisdom.
Mercy is of the Lord's purpose, to save a people through the
sacrifice of his Son. Mercy is of the Lord, without
any input or help from the sinner whatsoever. Everything's of the
Lord. And everything's through the
Lord. Salvation is through the Lord, through the whole Godhead.
Salvation is through the purpose of the Father in eternity, electing
a people to save. Salvation is through the obedience
of Christ as a man made under the law. Salvation is through
the sacrifice of Christ as a sinner substitute. Salvation is through
the work of the Holy Spirit, giving life and faith in the
new birth. And salvation is through the
keeping power of God, who keeps those who cannot keep themselves. Mercy is for people that don't
deserve it, and mercy even keeps people that can't keep themselves.
Salvation is not by works, is it? It's all through the Lord. It's all through the mercy of
God. It all begins and ends with God. It's of the Lord, it's through
the Lord, and everything has a purpose. Everything is to the
Lord. You know why God has done it?
Everything he's done, everything, is for one reason, for the glory
of the Son. That's why. God created this
world for the glory of His Son. God allowed Adam to fall for
the glory of His Son, that His Son will get glory in saving
a people from Adam's fallen race. God's done everything He's done
for that purpose. It's all to Him for the glory
of Christ. So that Christ will have the
glory and the preeminence forever and ever. The goal of salvation
is that we will do what Paul is doing right here. Praise Christ
our Savior. Maybe God be merciful, let's
start doing that. Start praising Him now and forever. To praise Him for His mercy. What do you got to say to that?
What do you got to say to that? Well, I'll tell you what a sinner
says, what a guilty sinner says. Amen. So be it. That's the way
an object of God's mercy loves it. That's the way an object
of God's mercy wants it. Thank God. for a sovereign mercy
to those that don't deserve it. Let's bow together in prayer. Our God, how we thank you for
your mercy. Mercy on the most vile, the most
guilty, the most miserable. Oh, how we thank you for your
mercy. How we thank you for mercy that's in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we thank you that he took all of the sin, all of the sickness,
all of the everything that sin is and took it away from his
people and put it away under his precious blood that in justice
he might show mercy to your people. Father, we're thankful. Father,
I pray that this morning you'd be merciful to us. Be merciful
in enabling us to hear. Be merciful in enabling us to
Take these things in our heart and keep them with us and think
upon our Lord Jesus Christ and rejoice in Him. Father, be merciful
this morning to those who are here that do not know you. They're
still in the flesh, still in unbelief and hardness of heart
in this flesh. God, we pray you'd be merciful.
You said you'd be merciful to some. Would you be merciful this
morning? Open the eyes. Give a new heart. Open the ears. and draw one of your children
to you, we pray. We know it's all because of your
mercy, not because of anything we've done right or anything
about us whatsoever, but of your mercy. Our only plea is your
mercy. God, be merciful to us, we pray.
It's in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ we give
thanks and we ask this great blessing.