THE MERCY
OF GOD
No
man deserves the mercy of God. No man can make claim to God's mercy by merit.
The scriptures conclude, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of
God" (Rom. 3:23).
The
Old Testament scriptures repeatedly show the sins of the people with statements
such as "we have sinned," "I have sinned" and "Ye have
sinned against the Lord." John says, "If we say that we have not
sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us" (I John 1:10).
And we are told, "he that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil
sinneth from the beginning" (I John 1:8).
Sin
is defined as "transgression of the law" (I John 3:4) -- the
law of God as revealed in the scriptures. The people of the Old Testament had a
law given by God through Moses and the prophets. None kept that law, thus they
sinned by transgressing it. People now live under the New Testament law given
by God through Christ, the Spirit and apostles. When we fail to follow it, we
sin by transgressing it.
James tells us the
steps that lead to sin. "But every man is tempted when he is drawn away
of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth
sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James
1:14-15). Man sins because he fails to resist the temptations of evil and in so
doing violates God's law.
This process of
enticement began with the first man and woman, by the devil (Genesis 2-3) and
continues to the present day. Man was, and is, guilty before God, and Paul
says, "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12).
Do you see why we need
to appreciate the mercy of God? Man had no hope of anything but the guilt of
sin. He was powerless to free himself from sin because he could not withstand
the temptations of evil. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then,
being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through
him" (Rom. 5:8-9). We are told that under the new covenant, "I
will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more (Heb. 8:12).
Thank God for His
mercy. But remember that even though we now have hope through His mercy in
Christ, we can still sin. God's mercy is not unconditional. Just as he showed
mercy to Israel and then took it away because of disobedience, He promises the
same to us.
"For if we sin
willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that
despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of
how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I
will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb.
10:26-31).
Knowing the mercy of
God, as well as our weakness in the flesh, we admonish all to "Keep
yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life" (Jude 1:21), and to "come boldly unto the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
need" (Heb. 4:16).
Jack