Is not that I did choose thee? Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibbert. In Romans chapter 12, verse 9,
Paul said, He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. And this is
a gift of God's grace, showing mercy with cheerfulness, not
in a begrudging narrow, difficult, half-hearted with strings attached
way, but with cheerfulness, a prompt and willing joyfulness in showing
mercy. Now, the most, and I want to
say this very reverently, I hope everything I say, I hope I always
say things reverently. That's the way everything ought
to be said because I almost feel difficult in saying I ever do
anything like God because there's nobody like God. But listen to
this carefully. The most God-like thing you or I can do is to forgive
somebody and to show mercy with cheerfulness. You know, the scripture
says, God delighteth in mercy. The scripture says mercy rejoices
against judgment. Now God is judge. He will punish
sin. But the scripture also says he
delights. Micah 7, 18, he delighteth in
mercy. And the most God-like thing you
or I could ever do is from our heart to show mercy with cheerfulness. Now, for us to have any understanding
of what it means to show mercy with cheerfulness, we're first
going to have to understand what the Bible tells us about the
mercy of God. Now, what is mercy? What is God's
mercy? Well, God's mercy is always associated
with His grace. They're different things, but
they're always together. grace, mercy, and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ was the way Paul generally
opened his epistles. You can't separate mercy and
grace, but they are different things. Somebody once said, grace
is God giving you what you do not deserve. And I sure want
him to give me what I don't deserve, don't you? And mercy is him not
giving you what you do deserve. And I sure enough don't want
him to give me what I do deserve. Oh, being a sinner, how I need
grace. I need for him to give me what
I do not deserve and how I need mercy. I need him to not give
me what I do deserve. Now the reason for grace is found
in God himself. He is gracious. That's his nature. He doesn't give grace to me or
you because of anything in us. He does it because he is gracious. He says, I will be gracious. That's his nature. That's his
character. That's why he gives people grace. But mercy has more
to do with him being moved by the misery. of the object of
his mercy. The misery their sin has brought
upon them, and he's moved to compassion by the misery. Mercy has something to do with
misery. Grace, the reason is found only
in God. Mercy has something to do with
the misery of the object of mercy. God's mercy. Listen to this scripture. Now remember I said mercy is
God not giving us what we deserve. In Psalm 103, verses 10 and 11,
we read, He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded
us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. Now when God proclaimed His name
to Moses in answer to that request, Moses made in Exodus 33, 18,
I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And God said in answer to that,
I'll make all my goodness pass before thee. I'll 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." Now in chapter 34, he begins to proclaim His name,
and we read in verse 5, And the LORD descended in the cloud,
and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD,
the LORD God, merciful and gracious, abundant, 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. Now, when God identifies Himself,
the first word He uses to describe His own name is merciful. When God tells us how He saves,
in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4, we read, 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. Mercy
is the reason God saves. He's rich in mercy. He delights
in mercy. He delights in not giving us
what we deserve. Now, let's see if we can see
what the Bible actually teaches about His mercy. Now, first of
all, the mercy of God is sovereign mercy. I've already read from
Exodus 33, verse 18, where it said, I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and I'll show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. Now, Paul refers to that in Romans
9. Let's begin reading in verse
11 of Romans 9, talking about Jacob and Esau. For the children,
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of
works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated." And in verse 14 Paul says, what should
we say then? How are we going to respond to
God making a distinction between these two children, hating one
and loving the other? How are we going to respond to
that? What should we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God unfair in loving Jacob and hating Esau? Is God
unfair in choosing one and not choosing the other? Here's Paul's
answer, God forbid. 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 it's not of him that
willeth. The next time you hear somebody talk about free will,
remember this verse. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For
the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose, have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy. whom He will, He hardens."
Now, God is sovereign in the dispensation of His mercy. He
has mercy on whoever He wants to have mercy on, and there are
some that He hardens and leaves to themselves, and they end up
being under His wrath and judgment. How do I respond to God's sovereign
mercy? And understand this, if it's
not sovereign, it's not mercy. If I think God somehow is obliged
to give me mercy, it's not sovereign mercy, it's God giving me what
I deserve, what is coming to me, and that's a denial of what
mercy is altogether. Now, if I have a tendency to
think it's not fair, got a problem with God's sovereignty in the
dispensation of His mercy. What I prove by that is two things.
Number one, I really believe mercy is merited. If it's not
fair for God to withhold His mercy from somebody, then I think
His mercy is owed to someone, which is a denial of what mercy
is in the first place. And secondly, If I think it's
not fair for God to show mercy on one and pass by another, all
of a sudden I have become God's judge. He who is holy and me
who is sinful, all of a sudden I sit in judgment on him and
declare something that he does is not fair or not right. Oh
no, that's no way to approach anything about God. He's right
and we're wrong. We know that, don't we? Whatever he does is
right, and I believe that. shall not the judge of the earth
do right." No, we're not going to sit in judgment on God. Whatever
He does is right, but still understand this. His mercy is sovereign
mercy, and His mercy is saving mercy. You see, mercy is never
offered. Mercy is not an offer. He has mercy. Paul said in the
book of Titus in Titus chapter 3 verse 7, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. Now, if he's determined he's
going to have mercy on you, nothing can stop him. While Lot lingered
in Sodom, the angels of the Lord grabbed him by the hand and pulled
him out, the Lord being merciful to him. Nothing can stop his
mercy. You see, his mercy is the very
reason he saves. David said, Make thy face to
shine upon thy servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake. David said in Psalm 51.1, Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according
to the multitude of thy mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Now God's mercy is sovereign,
God's mercy is saving, and God's mercy is eternal. The scripture
says in Psalm 103 the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting
to everlasting. on them that fear Him, it never
had a starting point, and it will never have an ending point. His mercy is eternal mercy. How many times do we read in
the Psalms where the Lord is thanked because His mercy endureth
forever? It never stops. And God's mercy
is always operative. It is never dormant. It is always working. David said in Psalm 94 verse
18, when I said my foot slippeth. Now, when's the last time you
fell and you know you're going to hit the ground? And there's
no, you know that there's nothing you can do to stop it. You're
on your way down. Your foot has slipped. Have you
ever slipped in the ice and you're getting ready to thud and that
instant before you hit the ground, you feel so completely vulnerable.
You so feel so completely helpless. There's nothing you can do to
stop it. Now, David said in Psalm 94 verse
18, when I said my foot slippeth, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. When we feel as though we're
falling and completely vulnerable, God's mercy is holding us up
all the time. All things working together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his mercy. When you are crying for mercy,
God preceded that cry by causing you to cry for mercy. You wouldn't
have done it unless He had not already had mercy on you and
done something for you. When you cry out, like with David,
I've gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant. Well, he's already sought you
out, and he's already caused you to pray that prayer. He's
on your trail because he's on the trail of all of his sheep. You see, our hope of being accepted
by him hinges on his mercy. Now, I realize the only hope
that I have of being in heaven is because Christ died for my
sins. That's why if you tell me that he died for everybody's
sins and some of those people he died for are going to wind
up in hell anyway because they didn't do whatever it takes to
make his death work for them, you've taken away my only hope
because the only hope I have is that Christ died for my sins
and put them away and made my salvation something that justice
demands because I have no sin to be judged for. That's what
my hope of heaven is. But it was the mercy and grace
of God, the love of God that sent him. So actually all of
our hope is founded in his mercy. We can truly say with David,
behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him. on them
that hope in His mercy. David said, Let thy mercy be
on us, O Lord, according as we hope in thee. All of our hope
is in His mercy. Psalm 147, 11 says, The Lord
taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, and them that hope
in His mercy. That's where all of the believer's
hope is. It's in the mercy of God. And
really God's mercy in Christ is the only grounds we have for
assurance. Now David said in Psalm 138 verse 8, the Lord will
perfect that which concerneth me. What assurance? He didn't say,
I hope the Lord will, or maybe the Lord will. He said, the Lord
will perfect that which concerneth me. I'm going to be brought perfect
in judgment. Now, how do you know, David?
Well, he gives this as his reason. For thy mercy, O Lord, endures
forever. That is why I know the Lord will
perfect that which concerns me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the work of thy hands. He's saying my salvation is the
work of your hands. Your mercy endures forever, and
that's how I know I will be perfected. The Lord will perfect that which
concerns me. Now, being sinners, needing mercy,
mercy is the only thing we can be satisfied with. Pure, free
mercy. If you put one work in salvation
that makes salvation somehow dependent upon me, I don't have
any satisfaction. I'm scared to death. I don't
think I'm gonna make it. I think something's gonna go wrong. But if you tell
me it's all by the mercy of God. Moses said, oh, satisfy us early
with thy mercy. The only thing that can satisfy
me and give me assurance and peace is that salvation is purely
and completely by the mercy of God. Jeremiah said, it's of the
Lord's mercies that we're not consumed, because His compassions
fail not. They're new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. There's a hymn that was inspired
by that statement. Now, do you know how I can tell
if God has had mercy on a man? And I can. I can tell if He's
had mercy on you, if I'm talking to you. And here's what we're
going to talk about. We're going to be talking about
Christ and how you respond. to this. Now, in Galatians chapter
6, Paul makes this statement in verse 16, as many as walk,
as many as, everybody that walks according to this rule, peace
on them and mercy upon the Israel of God. That's the true child
of God. As many as walk according to
this rule. Well, what rule, Paul? What are
you talking about? Well, he says in verse 14 of
this same chapter, but God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul was the chief apostle. Paul was a man brought into the
third heavens and taught the gospel directly by Christ himself. You can read about that in 2
Corinthians chapter 12. Paul wrote more scripture than
anybody else. God used him. used to found churches. You look at all the suffering
Paul did for the cause of Christ. What a man! And Paul says, I
don't glory in any of these things. All I glory in is the cross of
Christ. All I glory is what He achieved
for me on Calvary Street. I don't take credit, I don't
glory, I don't boast in anything else save the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
avails anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy upon
the Israel of God." If you glory only in the cross, God's had
mercy on you. And if you glory anywhere else,
God's never had mercy on you. You've never really believed
the gospel. because every believer will glory only in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ." Now, God's mercy. Do you know that
there's not one example in Scripture where somebody sought God's mercy
and He refused them? If you seek mercy, you will have
mercy. There's never been anyone who
sought the mercy of God that was turned away. Now, somebody
may be thinking, well, what about Esau? Scripture says he sought
repentance with tears, and he couldn't find it. Well, he was
seeking a change of mind with his dad about the inheritance.
He wasn't seeking mercy. What about Judas? He was so sorry
over what he did, he went out and hanged himself. He never
asked for mercy. Because if he would have asked
for mercy, he would have found it. Now, if you come for mercy. saying, Lord, don't give me what
I deserve. You're confessing that you deserve
nothing but his wrath. You confess that in asking for
mercy. You confess personal guilt and
you don't blame it on somebody else if you do that, because
that's that's not really confessing your guilt. If you come with
a rope around your neck, agreeing with God, taking sides with God
against yourself, not trying to vindicate and justify yourselves,
but asking for mercy, not expecting it by way of entitlement. You've
been around people who think that you should forgive them.
It's your duty to forgive them. That's like telling the Lord
it's his duty to show mercy. That's not even asking for mercy.
If you come to the Lord that way, it's not really asking for
mercy. You come with a rope around your neck, not thinking you have
a right to it, but you come just like Bartimaeus did. Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. That's all he could ask for is
mercy. If you do that, you will have it. You'll hear the same
thing the leper heard when he said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. The Lord said, I will. Be thou
clean. If you come for mercy. you will have mercy. Now, if
somebody says, well, I've asked for mercy and I'm still not saved,
you didn't ask for mercy then. You were bargaining with God.
You were trying to strike some kind of deal with him. If you
do this, I'll do that. And God won't have any of that.
But if you come sheerly for pure, free mercy, you will have it. Now, I can tell you precisely
when a man will show mercy to somebody else with cheerfulness,
when he has been shown mercy. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy. Now, they don't obtain mercy
because they're merciful, but they're merciful because they
have, in fact, obtained mercy. Now, if you ever see God's mercy
toward you, if you ever see all your sins forgiven and blotted
out and canceled and made to be no more, If you ever hear, I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities,
I'll remember no more. If you see the Lord's been that
way to you, you will be merciful. And you will be merciful with
cheerfulness. Now in light of God's mercy to
me, in light of how sinful I am,
not how sinful I used to be, but how sinful I am right now. And yet His mercy toward me,
how full, how free, how bottomless, how boundless, how absolute has
His mercy been toward me. You see, let me tell you three
things about His mercy. First of all, it's free. There's
nothing you need to do to earn it. It's free. It's full. It's never partial. He forgives
all your sins and all your iniquities if you're a recipient of His
mercy. And it's everlasting. Being everlasting, it is irreversible. It depends on the eternal value
of the Lord's atoning death and the unshakable, immutable faithfulness
of God. That's what His mercy depends
on. Now, if somebody does you wrong, and they will, they will.
If somebody's ever done you wrong and if you've received mercy,
you can be mercy cheerfully to that person in light of the mercy
you have received. Now I want to end up in Matthew
chapter 18 in a very important passage of scripture. We read
in verse 21 of Matthew chapter 18, then came Peter to him and
said, Lord, how off shall my brother sin against me and I
forgive him? Until seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not
unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven.
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king,
which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun
to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand
talents." Now that's millions and millions of dollars. It was
an incredibly large sum. But for as much as he had nothing
to pay, this man who owed him millions of dollars, he had not
a penny to pay. His Lord commanded him to be
sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment
to be made. And the servant therefore fell
down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me,
and I will pay thee all." Now that just wasn't so. That just
wasn't so. He didn't have anything to pay.
There's no way he could pay him back all these millions and millions
of dollars he owed him because he didn't have anything. He didn't
have any way of getting it. Look what the scripture says.
Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion. That
word compassion is mercy. and loosed him, and forgave him
the debt." Now, that's the way God's mercy works. You see this
fellow, and the Lord's moved with compassion. And He sets
him free and forgives him all the debt. That's the way the
forgiveness of sins is. But the same servant, we read
in verse 28, went out and found one of his fellow servants, which
owed him 100 pence, $15. And he laid hands on him, and
he took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou ow'st. And his
fellow servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying,
Have patience with me, and I'll pay thee all. And he would not,
but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very
sorry, and came and told unto their Lord all that was done.
Then his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him,
O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou
desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have
had compassion on my fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? And
his Lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he
should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly
Father do also to you, if you from your hearts forgive not
every won his brother their trespasses." Now, here's another way of saying
this, show mercy cheerfully. And if I don't show mercy cheerfully,
I won't have mercy. But if I have experienced mercy,
I will show mercy cheerfully. Now we have this message on DVD,
CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's our prayer. Amen. To request a copy of the
sermon you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
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