Luke 1:50 (NKJV) 50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.
Ephesians 2:12 (NKJV) 12 that at that time you 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.
We have been looking at God’s mercy. Although there is much talk about grace, I believe we neglect the truth of mercy. Both flow from the same place in God. Each has a specific purpose and set of characteristics. If we remove mercy from the equation, we may think God’s grace has made us deserving of his blessings. This is dangerous in my culture because we have become a people who believe we are entitled to almost everything. Grace does not mean we are deserving of the blessing. It means we get the blessing even though we do not deserve it.
Mercy is the aspect of God’s love that causes him to withhold what we do deserve. The New Testament is clear that we deserve judgement. God withholds what we deserve because of his mercy. When we remember mercy, we understand and properly respond to grace. On the other hand, if we divorce grace from mercy we forget that he has made us the righteousness of God. We will live in a consciousness of sin that keeps us from receiving (Hebrews 10:2.) We need a healthy understanding of both to properly relate to God and to what he has done for us.
We have learned many things about God’s mercy. This week we have focused on two things. Mercy is a product of God’s sovereignty. He gives it to whom he will. We have nothing at all to do with it. Therefore, we can do nothing to earn it and nothing to lose it. We also have found that mercy, by nature, provides help. Sympathy may make someone feel better. That is a good thing. Mercy does more. It finds a way to help the problem. Grace is the vehicle mercy uses to bring the help we need.
Today I want to look at one more characteristic of mercy. In order to understand God’s dealing with man we must understand covenant. Everything God has ever done in relation to man and his redemption has been through covenants. When Adam and Eve sinned, he covered them with the skins of animals. The sacrifice of those animal’s lives was a covenant action. The end of Noah’s flood resulted in a statement of covenant between God and the earth.
Genesis 9:11-12 (NKJV) 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
Perhaps the most famous covenant was God’s covenant with Abraham. The Abrahamic covenant lead to the establishment of the nation of Israel and eventually the coming of the Messiah.
God’s mercy is tied to his covenant. We have found that mercy is a product of God’s sovereignty. God can give mercy to anyone he chooses. In the Old Covenant, the Lord made it clear that he can grant mercy to anyone but he will always grant mercy to those with whom he is in covenant.
We see this in his dealings with Abraham. On two occasions Abraham is in foreign lands. Both times the king of that land wanted to take Sarah as his wife. Abraham tells Sarah to say she is his sister because he is afraid the king will kill him to get his wife. God visits the king and rebukes him but does not rebuke Abraham. Why would he show mercy to Abraham who was guilty but not the king who was innocent? He showed mercy to Abraham because of the covenant.
In the history of the nation of Israel we see God destroying other nations but showing mercy to Israel because they are his covenant people. We see God withhold mercy and judge Israel when they broke the covenant. Israel went into captivity and bondage because they ignored God’s covenant. Whenever they returned to the covenant, mercy was waiting for them.
Why is this important to us? The covenant guaranteed God would show mercy. In Luke 1:50 we see that God’s mercy is on all those who fear him “from generation to generation.” That is a covenant statement. Ephesians 2:12 tells us that we were without hope and without God in the world when we were strangers to the covenants of promise. God may show mercy to anyone. He has proven that he always shows mercy to those who are in covenant with him. We are in covenant with him.
Hebrews 12:22-24 (NKJV) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
When we received salvation, we entered covenant relationship with God. This covenant is not between us and God alone. It is between Jesus and the Father and we are part of it because we are one with Christ. Jesus is the guarantee that this covenant will never be broken. As long as I am in him, I am part of that covenant. God may show mercy to anyone but he always shows mercy to those who are in covenant with him.
When I choose to sin or rebel against God, I step outside of the covenant agreement. Just like the son in the story of the prodigal, I become subject to the death that is in the world. I submit myself to God’s enemy, the devil, and bad things may result. However, just as mercy was waiting for the son when he came home, mercy is waiting for us. As I said a few days ago, repentance is coming home. It is a joyous thing not a sad thing. You will never come home and find mercy is not waiting for you because the covenant is always in place in Christ.
Aside from forgiveness for the sins we may commit, there is another powerful truth here. The devil loves to deal in condemnation. He loves to bring up the past to ruin our present and future. He loves to point to our weakness and condemn us with it. However, we have a covenant with God. Sin requires repentance. Once repented of it is none of the devil’s business. I have a covenant of mercy with my Father. It is his choice to give it and the devil has nothing to say about it. When we understand this, condemnation will be a thing of the past.
Romans 8:33-34 (NKJV) 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
This cannot become a reason to take this mercy lightly. Our only response to such wonderful mercy is to understand that we do not deserve it. We should do our best to walk in a way that is pleasing to our Father. We should flee sin and walk in the spirit instead of the flesh. We should maintain a heart of repentance as soon as we recognize that sin has crept into our lives.
Nevertheless, we can know that God’s mercy will always be there because he always shows mercy to those with whom he is in covenant. Who can bring a charge against me? The Judge of the universe has chosen to show me mercy. In return I show him the honor, respect, obedience and love connected with my side of this unbreakable covenant.
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