Well, good morning, everyone. I feel like I need to wear a
hello, my name is tag. My name is Gabe Stoniker. But
it's good to be with you. I'm very humbled that Brother
Todd would call me and ask me to come. And I pray he'll bless
us this morning. Let's all have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we
come before you. We're so grateful to be gathered
in your name. Lord, we're so humbled to be
called your people. We're so grateful to you for
all of your kindness to us, and we're so grateful to you, Lord,
for not leaving us to ourselves. Very thankful to have a house
to meet in. We're thankful to have a word
to read and hear and believe. We're thankful, Lord, for the
true gospel of Christ. And we pray that we might gather
around it today and feet on it and gather at your
feet and hear from you. We beg you Lord for your spirit
and we pray for all of the teachers right now who are teaching the
children. We pray that you'll be with them
and be with the children in these classes. Lord, I pray for this
ministry here. I'm so thankful for this ministry
and I pray your hand and blessing will be on it. We pray for Brother
Todd as he continues here throughout the years. We pray for him this
morning in Houston. Be with the meeting there and
we ask Lord that you would just leave, not leave us to ourselves,
but meet with us. Bless us and forgive us. And
we ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen. Turn with me if you
would to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. Because this time
is set aside to be a Bible study, I thought that we could study
a word in the Bible. Study a particular word in the
scripture. One of the greatest words that
has ever been spoken. Mercy. One of the greatest words
that's ever been known, ever been heard. God's mercy. Psalm 107 verse 1 says, O give
thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth
forever. I'd like for us to study the
word mercy and see everything that we can see about it in this
amount of time that we've been given. But before we get into
it, let's acknowledge this right here. Look with me if you would
at Genesis chapter 32. Genesis 32 verse nine says. And Jacob said Oh God of my father
Abraham and God of my father Isaac the Lord which said unto
me return unto thy country and to thy kindred and I will deal
well well with thee. I am not worthy of the least
of all the mercies. and of all the truth which thou
hast showed unto thy servant." Let's start with this right here. When it comes to God's mercy,
we're not worthy of it. We don't deserve it. We do not
deserve it at all. A few decades ago, there was
a man who went to court with his son. and his son was about
to be sentenced to prison for something he'd done, and it wasn't
going well for him, and the sentence was about to come out, and this
man asked if he could say something to the judge before the sentence
came out, and the judge allowed him to, and he said, your honor,
is there any room for mercy? And the judge said, based on
what your son has done, he doesn't deserve mercy. And he said, that's
true, your honor, but if he deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy. We do not deserve mercy, but
here's the good news. Mercy is for the undeserving. That's who mercy's for, the undeserving. That makes mercy for us the undeserving. All right, now with that being
said, let's look at mercy itself. Go with me if you would to Deuteronomy
chapter four. Deuteronomy 4 verse 31 says,
For the Lord thy God is a merciful God. Mercy is an attribute of
God's character, it tells us who he is, it tells us what he's
like, it tells us of his person, it's who he is. If you have italicized
words in your Bible you see that the word is is in italics. The
Lord thy God, a merciful God. It's an attribute of his character. He goes on to say, He will not
forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant
of thy fathers which he swear unto them. David said in Psalm
116 verse 5, Gracious is the Lord and righteous, yea, our
God is merciful. He is mercy. He's not just merciful, he is
what mercy is. Mercy is of God. It can only come from God because
he's the only source of it. He is mercy. Now to say mercy is of God, who
is God? Jesus Christ. God the Father
said to God the Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. In
the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word
was God. The Word was made flesh. The
Lord Jesus Christ. God is three persons but all
of the fullness of those three persons is seen in the Lord Jesus
Christ. So mercy is of him. It's in him. He is mercy. Look with me now
at Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63 verse 15 says, Look down from heaven and behold
from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory where is thy
zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels. Sounding means
multitude and bowels means heart. The multitude of thy heart and
of thy mercies toward me are they restrained. Mercy originates
in the heart of God, it originates in the heart of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When we get a glimpse of mercy
we are getting a glimpse into the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. We get to see what is in his
heart. Micah 7 verse 18 says, 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. He delights in mercy. He delights to show mercy. Think
about it this way. It's what he enjoys doing. You
want to know something about God? You want to know who He
is and what's in His heart and what it's going to be like to
be with Him and hear from Him and talk with Him? What is He
like? Well, He enjoys showing mercy. It's what He delights to do.
Delights in it. It's an attribute of the character
of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He delights in mercy. Beautiful, that's beautiful,
altogether lovely. All right, turn with me now to
Exodus 33. Exodus 33 verse 18 says, And Moses said, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory. And God said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. God's mercy is sovereign. It
is sovereign mercy. It originates with him. It's
in his heart. It belongs to him and he gives
it to whoever he is pleased in his heart to give it to. Whoever
he purposes to bestow it on. Now, to a Pharisee who thinks
that he deserves mercy, that is terrible news. That's not
the gospel. That's bad news. He thinks that he is owed mercy. He thinks that he has earned
mercy. And he thinks that those who
have not earned it shouldn't receive it. So that's terrible
news. But to a broken sinner, to someone
who truly knows he's a sinner, to find out that that mercy is
freely given to whomsoever God purposes in his heart to give
it to, that's the greatest news he's ever heard in his life.
And it's because he knows that even though he's not worthy of
it, God might give it to him anyway. He freely gives it to
whoever he purposes to in his heart. And he may give it to
me. He said he gives it to sinners,
and that's what I am. So a true sinner will cry, thank
God for sovereign mercy. Thank God for sovereign mercy.
All right, go with me over to Lamentations chapter three. Lamentations 3 verse 21 says,
This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail
not. They are new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. Mercy is what demands our salvation. Mercy demands our salvation. Titus 3 verse 5 says, not by
works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to
his mercy. He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. His mercy demands
our salvation. There was a preacher years ago
named Ed Hale from South Louisiana, and he wrote quite a few songs
that have been sung over the years. You may know Oh How Merciful,
and there's a song called A Ransom Was Found. And in that song,
a ransom was found, the chorus says a ransom was found, a payment. If somebody's being held hostage
to get them out, you got to pay a ransom. You got to pay the
payment. A ransom was found. Yes, a ransom was found. Love
paid the price. Love is a person. Christ paid
the price on Calvary's mound. Judgment was met. Meaning God's
wrath and God's punishment was poured out as it should have
been. Judgment was met and the law
satisfied. The law said the wages of sin
is death and Christ died. Judgment was met, the law satisfied
and mercy was born when a ransom was found. That's where mercy
was born. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Mercy was born
when Christ got what we deserve right there on that cross, punishment,
wrath, death. The mercy that was in the heart
of God. Came forth and it was openly revealed. When Christ
paid that ransom price for us. With that price being paid, mercy
says, turn him loose. A ransom has been found. It demands
our salvation, the salvation of all of God's people. I love
this verse, just listen to this. This is Psalm 94 verse 18. When I said my foot slippeth,
thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. When I started crying, I'm slipping,
I'm falling, your mercy held me up. It demands our salvation. All right, now here's where we
are so far. Mercy is an attribute of God's character, the attribute
of Christ himself, who he is, what he's like. It is sovereignly
given to whoever he purposes in his heart to give it to. It
is what demands the salvation of that sinner. It is a payment
in full. And look with me, if you would,
at Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 verse 3 it says incline
your ear and come unto me here and your soul shall live and
I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies
of David. God's mercy is bound by covenant. Bound by a covenant. The covenant
of Christ himself, he gives it to a sinner, and once he gives
it to a sinner, he will never take it back. That's the greatest news a sinner
could ever hear. Someone who perpetually sins,
he will never take it back. The gifts and calling of God
are without repentance. He'll never change his mind.
You ever felt a certain way about somebody and then got to know
them and changed your mind? He'll never change his mind.
Never. He changes not, therefore his
mercy changes not. And that's why we're not consumed.
Solomon said in 1 Kings, at the dedication of the temple, he
was praying to God, he was giving thanks for all of his goodness
to his people. giving him a house to worship
in. And as he opened his prayer, these were his first words. He
said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven
above or in earth beneath who keepest covenant and mercy with
thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart. He
said, thank God for binding his mercy with a covenant. Thank
God. That's where our peace comes
from. That's where all of our rest comes from. That's what
will let us settle down from the works and deeds of the law.
And it'll give us just a moment to rest in peace, knowing that
the mercy that demands our salvation is bound by God's covenant. It
is ordered and sure. It cannot be undone, and I cannot
mess it up. I cannot mess it up. All right, go with me if you
would to the Psalms. Let's look at a couple more things and we'll
be done. Go to Psalm 25. Psalm 25, verse six. Remember O Lord thy tender mercies
and thy loving kindnesses for they have been ever of old. God's
mercy is tender. It's very tender. Tender means
compassionate and it means pitiful. It's very very pitiful. The center margin for tender
right there says bowels that means heart. The mercy that comes
from God's heart, it's compassionate, it's pitiful, it's loving, it's
kind, it's tender. God is so tender with his people. His mercy is so tender. It's what makes him bow down
his ear toward us. Why would he take the time to
hear us? Why would he take the time to
bow down his ear and hear our cry? It's because his mercy is
tender. He's tender towards us. Lord,
would you please, and this is what we're constantly saying
as God's people, would you please hear my cry? Please, Lord, please
hear my cry. Would you do it for your compassionate,
pitiful, tender mercy's sake? David said, have mercy upon me,
O God, according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude
of thy tender mercies. blot out my transgressions. Would
you do it because your mercy is tender? Would you do it because
your mercy is compassionate and full of pity? You know what the
Lord says when a sinner cries out for that? Yes, I will. I most certainly will. I love
that leper who came to him crying, Lord, if you will, and that's
how God's people approach him. If you will, if it's your will,
if you will, he said, yes, I will. Greatest news he'd ever heard.
I most certainly will. His mercy's tender. All right,
look with me at Psalm 86. Psalm 86 verse 5 says, For thou, Lord, art good and
ready to forgive and plenty us in mercy unto all them that call
upon thee. There is plenty of it. There
is plenty of mercy. God's mercy is tender and there's
plenty of it. Verse 13 says, For great is thy
mercy toward me, great amounts of mercy. Ephesians 2 says, But
God who is rich in mercy, an indescribable amount of mercy. Verse 15 says, but thou, O Lord,
art a God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering,
and plenteous in mercy and truth. We just read a minute ago in
Lamentations 3 that his mercies are new every morning, brand
new every morning. They start over brand new every
single morning. A man came up to me a few months
ago a man who has come out of the bondage of the law. The Lord has revealed to him
that Christ is the end of the law.
And he has questions and he's constantly asking questions and
they're so good. This man is in my heart. I just
have him in my heart. I love him. But he, He's constantly
worried about his sin. He knows he's a sinner. He's
constantly worried about it. And he came up to me and asked
me before the Bible study. We have a Bible study just like
this and then a morning message. And before the Bible study, he
was asking me about his sin. And I told him, all of that is
covered in God's mercy. God shed his blood and paid the
price. cry out for mercy, cry out for
mercy. So we're talking mercy, mercy,
mercy. Okay, so he went and sat down
and we had the Bible study, and then between the two services,
he pulled me to the side and he said, as serious as he could
be, he said, how much mercy does God have for me? I said, it's
infinite. It never runs out, it starts
over brand new, because he knows he's a sinner. And I sinned. And I said, it starts over brand
new every single morning. And you'd have thought I just
told him the greatest joke he'd ever heard in his life. He started
laughing as hard as he can. And he said, that's the greatest
news I've ever heard in my life. It's plenteous. There's plenty. You need more? There's plenty.
It'll never run out. It's tender and it's plenteous.
Go with me to Psalm 100. I'll be very quick. Psalm 100. Verse 5 says, For the Lord is
good, His mercy is everlasting. It's tender, there's plenty of
it, and once you receive it, it's everlasting. No end. No end to God's mercy. Psalm
103 verse 17 says, But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting
to everlasting. upon them that fear him and his
righteousness unto children's children. And that is my hope
and my cry. The Lord has been merciful to
children's children. Children's children. And I pray
children's children's children. I pray for my children. I pray
for these children down here. Lord, be merciful to us. Be merciful
to our children. Psalm 106, verse 1, it says,
Praise ye the Lord, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good,
for his mercy endureth forever. Mercy is an attribute of God,
it's sovereign, it's what demands our salvation, it's bound by
covenant, it's tender, it's plentiful, and it's everlasting. And if
God has shown mercy to you and me, Here's how we'll know it. It's sovereign. He gives it to
whoever he wants to give it to. Has he given it to me? If God
has shown mercy to us, this is how we'll know it. Don't turn
over there. But in Ezekiel 36, the Lord declared all of these
glorious things that he was going to do for his people. He said,
I'm going to do this and I'm going to do this and I'm going
to do this. And he just kept going. all of the mercy he was
going to show to him, all of the salvation he was going to
give to him. But he said in verse 37 of that chapter, they are
going to ask me for it. He said, I will yet for this
be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for him. If God
has shown mercy to us, this is how we will know. We will spend
the rest of our life on this earth begging for mercy. That's how we'll know. We'll
ask for it, and we'll ask for it, and we'll ask for it, and
we'll ask for it. If God has shown mercy, we will
be beggars of mercy. That's what we'll be. If your
heart never gets past crying out to God for mercy. If that's
where you started and that's where you still are, I need mercy. Then rest in his mercy. Rest in the mercy. Everyone who
asked for it has already received it. Truly asked from the heart
has already received it. It's an evidence of mercy. Begging and crying out for mercy.
It's the evidence that we've already received something directly
from the heart of God, already received something sovereign,
something that demands our salvation, something bound by a covenant,
tender, plentiful, and everlasting is mercy. Our text, Psalm 107
said, give thanks, and we do. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for he's good, for his mercy endureth forever. All right,
you're dismissed.