House of Hope Online

March 19, 2023

Here is the audio version:

Or, if you prefer Spotify, listen here:

One of the most endearing characteristics of our God is His mercifulness.  Mercy is defined as:

• compassion or forbearance shown to an offender;
• leniency;
• a blessing or an act of divine favor; and
• compassion for those in distress. 

Forbearance is a term used in business contracts like lending agreements.  When the borrower has violated the terms of the agreement, the lender has a right to take action, such as foreclosure on the property.  However, sometimes the lender chooses to forbear, which means it will not exercise it rights and will instead enter into a forbearance agreement with the borrower.

And so mercy is a form of forbearance by God.  Because we were and are sinners, He has the right to condemn us to hell, but He forbears and does not exercise those rights.  The forbearance agreement is the covenant He established for us with Jesus. 

In the Old Testament, Almighty God established a mercy seat for the forgiveness of sins before Jesus came.  God would dwell in a cloud above the mercy seat and talk with Moses.

Numbers 7:

 89 Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, so He spoke to him. (NASB)

The mercy seat was where the sins of the people were forgiven.  The High Priest would sprinkle blood from the animal sacrifice on and around the mercy seat.

Leviticus 16:

 14 “Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle [it] with his finger on the mercy seat on the east [side]; also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

 15 ¶ “Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.

And so, God has always been in the mercy business.  The blood on the mercy seat symbolized and prophesied Jesus’ spilled blood from the cross, which is our mercy seat.  The difference is that Jesus is the sacrifice for our sin once and for all and forever.  There is no need to repeat the sacrifice as they did in the Old Testament.  Jesus has paid the price for sin forever.  When we sin today, there is no need for an additional blood sacrifice.  We simply repent and receive the mercy and forgiveness that comes from the cross.

God is forever merciful toward us, and not just since we accepted Jesus.  He was lovingly merciful toward us even when we were unbelieving sinners, and even today when we again fall short of His glory.  The Apostle Paul is a perfect example because the Lord had mercy on him even while Paul was persecuting Christians.

1^st Timothy 1:

 12 ¶ I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service;

 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. And yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;

 14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are [found] in Christ Jesus.

 15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost [of all.]

 16 And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

In verse 13 Paul calls himself a violent aggressor.  He murdered Christians, but in verse 14 he says that the grace of our Lord was more than abundant.  Verse 16 is also significant.  Paul was allowed to find mercy so that Jesus might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for others.  The message for us here is, instead of focusing on the error of the sinner’s ways, perhaps we should share with the unbeliever the mercy that God has extended toward us, so they might understand His mercy, love, and forgiveness.

I have previously shared two testimonies of how the Lord moved in my life to draw me into the gift of faith.  One was the miracle that He performed to save me from an automobile crash that would have surely taken my life, and the second was the day I accepted Jesus in my heart.  In both cases, I was not exactly begging for His help or forgiveness.  I was living a selfish, prideful, independent, and unrepentant life.  I would have died in the crash, but He had merciful compassion for me in my distress.  When I accepted Jesus, I went kicking and screaming.  I was disrespectful and lacked a humble spirit.  I dared Him to solve a problem I was having as the president of the Board of the Indiana County YMCA.  I was offensive toward Him, yet He had compassion for me; He was lenient and gave me divine favor, in which I walk even today.

In Ephesians 2, Paul further describes the mercy of our God toward us when we were yet sinners.

Ephesians 2:

 1 ¶ And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

 4 ¶ But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly [places], in Christ Jesus,

 7 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God;

 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

Verses 2 and 3 described me perfectly – walking according to the world, in the lusts of my flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind.  We indulge our flesh and minds when we worship our own intelligence or natural abilities.  But thankfully, verse 4 describes God as “being rich in mercy” and having great love for us.  Even while we were dead in the sin of this world, He made us alive in Jesus, and raised us up with Him, and seated us in heavenly places.

And I love verse 7.  He had mercy on us so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Jesus.  Think about that for a minute – surpassing riches of grace in kindness toward us.  Kindness is so rare in today’s world that we need to appreciate the Lord’s kindness toward us in the form of mercy.  Never would He insult us the way the world does.  And never would He forsake us because He wants all to be saved.

I don’t know about you, but before I came to the Lord, I wasn’t aware of the riches of His kindness toward me.  I was a bit scared of Him because I knew I was not living up to His standards, and really didn’t want to.  Perhaps mercy came as a surprise to me because I wasn’t very merciful toward others back in the day.  But the Bible teaches us to be merciful toward others.  In fact, the Bible teaches us if we are not merciful after receiving mercy, then Jesus will have an issue with us in the final judgment.

Matthew 5:

 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

In Matthew 18, Peter asked Jesus how many times he must forgive someone who repeatedly sins against him. Jesus answers with a parable to teach the necessity of extending mercy to others.

Matthew 18:

 21 ¶ Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

 22 Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

 23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.

 24 “And when he had begun to settle [them,] there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents.

 25 “But since he did not have [the means] to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made.

 26 “The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything.’

 27 “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.

 28 “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and [began] to choke [him,] saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’

 29 “So his fellow slave fell down and [began] to entreat him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’

 30 “He was unwilling however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.

 31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.

 32 “Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me.

 33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?’

 34 “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.

 35 “So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”

What is interesting about this parable is the amount of debt that was owed in each case. Ten thousand talents represented a huge amount of money.  To illustrate, one denarius represented a day’s wages in Roman currency, but one talent equaled 6,000 denarii.  If we assume a day’s wage equals $50, which is low by today’s standards, the man whose debt was forgiven owed $3.0 billion, yet he refused to forgive $5,000 that someone owed him.  Verse 35 means, if we do not forgive others their minor offenses, then Father God will not have mercy on our grave sin of unforgiveness.  If you are having difficulty forgiving others, ask the Holy Spirit to help you do it.  While others may not know the pain you feel when you are hurt by someone, Jesus does know what you are feeling.  He was rejected and murdered by the very people He loved.  He is therefore willing to send the Holy Spirit to help us forgive.

Jesus also rebuked the Pharisees over their unwillingness to extend mercy to others.

Matthew 23:

 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

Finally, we are warned in James 2 to walk in mercy.

James 2:

 13 For judgment [will be] merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

And so I feel like the word of the Lord for us today is to realize the depth of the Lord’s mercy toward us.  His love, kindness, grace, and forgiveness were extended even before we received Jesus, and His mercy will extend to generations that follow us, as we continue to revere Jesus and walk in mercy toward others.  But let’s not keep that to ourselves.  Let us share it with others, and let us teach mercy by being merciful ourselves.

Father God, thank You for our mercy seat, which is the cross that Jesus died on before You raised Him from the dead.  Thank You for being merciful toward us even before we accepted Jesus, and thank You for mercy toward the generations that follow us.  Help us Lord, by Your Holy Spirit, to tell others about Your mercy by being merciful toward them.  Help us to forgive others.  In Jesus’ name, we pray.  Amen.