The Mercy of God
Notes
Transcript
Slide 1
Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers And sinks within me. This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
(The cry-baby book)
I read this passage at my graduation from Teen Challenge - Where we all experienced God’s mercy
(Maybe show a slide show of my past)
Jeremiah comforts himself with God’s mercy, even as he gazes on the rubble of a nation under divine judgment.
There is irony here, when he says God’s mercies are new every morning.
This experience shows how powerful God’s mercy was back then and how it can be for us today.
Slide 2
grace vs. mercy
grace: getting what you do not deserve
mercy: not getting what you do deserve
Slide 3
His mercy is…
His promise of compassion expressed in - His consuming commitment, to bring us into - His everlasting covenant (binding promise of great importance) with Himself.
“Mercy” here, describes the Father’s intense emotional desire for a disobedient people.
We need His mercies more often than we may think, whether we feel weak or strong.
Slide 4
My soul still remembers And sinks within me. This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
Jeremiah had almost given up hope (20)
My souls still remembers and sinks within me
Then he remembered something that restored his hope again (21)
This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope
This was the mercies of God (22)
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not
Mercies (Hebrew hesed) can be translated “covenant love” or “steadfast love.”
It is linked with compassion (Ps. 103:4), truth and faithfulness (Ex. 34:6), and goodness (Ps. 23:6).
The ability to offer sacrifices was gone and everything seemed hopeless, but God’s hesed (mercy) remained.
Where do you need to experience His mercy?
Slide 5
In His compassion toward us even when we deserve punishment?
His commitment to restore us
His covenant of love expressed at the point of our greatest foolishness.
Where grace emphasizes God’s love toward us, mercy stresses the freeing of our lives from our disobedience.
Rom. 5:1, 2/Ex. 4:14
Story: Testimony from Frank at “Tres Dias”
People all around us need to experience this same mercy, God’s mercy!
The parable of the Good Samaritan:
Slide 6
And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
This is my prayer for you