The Mercies of God

Introduction

As we have talked about several times, what motivates your life

What motivates your mood?

What makes it a good morning for you?

Consider the believers around the world enduring suffering for their faith

 thrown in prison, facing persecution, or even human trafficking.

 What sustains their faith and makes it a good morning?

If you can’t find God in the darkest corners of life then you’ll have no hope when you end up their.

Why do you follow God

Parents expectations, Piety, Duty, Guilt?

Like Job, what if everything were stripped away and there was no earthly reason or advantage to follow God?

Welcome to the Church of Rome

Christians had no earthly reason to be a Chirstian. Doing so at the time was difficult and it was about to be come unbelievable painful and deadly once an emporer named Nero took power.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul seeks to give the readers a solid gospel foundation for why they would seek to follow God.

A motivation that in Romans 12:1-2 Paul would then go on to say that the only reasonable, or logical or worshipful response would be to become a living sacrifice unto God.

Paul appeals to the “Mercies of God”

D Martyn Lloyd Jones states that the first motive for living a Christian life is understanding the doctrines of Christianity, summarized in Romans 12:1 as “the mercies of God.”

No other motivation lasts, no other reason will stand the fire of persecution or the darkness of living in this world.

If you want to build a resilient faith that will last through the trials of life then you need to start with your why.

The only motivation that can fuel resilient faithfulness is the mercies of God in salvation

What motivates and stimulates our behaviour in attempting to live worthy lives is the grace by which we have been saved.

R. C. Sproul

The Mercies of God

But what are these mercies that Paul speaks of in Roman’s 12:1?

Well it points back to the doxology that is found right before in Romans 11:33-36.

And that doxology is a culmination of the gospel message Paul started in Romans 1:16

The Need for Mercy (Romans 1:18-3:20)

First Paul indicts the whole world

They knew God but refuse to acknowledge Him as God. (1:18-23)

Gentiles are without excuse because the Law was written on their hearts. (2:14-16)

Jews break the Law they have and will not be exempt because of their circumcision.

2:17-29

Paul then reiterates the real state of all men (3:9-20)

The Mercy of Salvation

But After Darkness, Light.

After Paul gives us an honest look into our soul and who we really are, He shows the mercy of God in through Christ and salvation

We are justified and declared righteous (3:21-31)

We have peace with God (5:1-10)

Reversed the curse of Adam fulfilling the proto-evangelion (5:18-19)

The Benefits of Salvation

United us with Christ (6:1-5)

We are set free (8:1-2)

We are set free from sin (6:7&14)

We are set free from death (6:9)

We are free from the condemnation of the Law (7:4)

Coheirs with Christ (8:15-17)

The Indwelling Holy Spirit (8:9-11 & 26-27)

Sanctification (8:29)

Glorification (8:30)

Inseparably loved by God (8:33-39), 

God’s Sovereign Mercy In Redemptive History

God’s Sovereign Right to choose (9:14-24)

God’s inclusion of the Gentiles (9:25-29)

Salvation is God’s mercy for all people (10:9-13)

God will not forget His people (11:25-32)

Doxology For God’s Mercies (11:33-36)

Our Response to the Mercies of God (12:1-2)

John MacArthur- “In the first eleven chapters of Romans, Paul lists 20 ‘mercies’—a reference to everything God has done for you as a believer. What should your response be to the Lord for His benefits to you?”

Next week we will dive into this part of the passage

PERSONAL REFLECTION 

• Do I live out of a response to God’s mercy—or out of guilt, duty, or tradition?

• How does knowing I am inseparably loved by God (Romans 8:39) shape how I face suffering, failure, or shame?

• When was the last time I truly meditated on God’s mercy in saving me?