Sermon - The Lord is merciful outline
- There is something that I don’t think this world gets a clear picture of, & that’s mercy.
Q- How Do we rate ourselves towards how merciful our Lord is?
- Don’t worry, we all fail this test. It’s a test that just shows us how great our Lord is.
- In this opening question, we find the beginning of our lives.
Q- Where would we be, if it were not for mercy?
- God is great, powerful, just, & mighty, but listen to what He is as well.
1. The Lord’s mercy is great. Numbers 14:18
Numbers 14:18
18 The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
- God is patient, & of great Mercy!
Q- Can Great Power mix with great Mercy?
Q- Would we seem to be as powerful, if we show some form of mercy?
- It’s unheard of for someone with great power/dominance to also have mercy!
- Here’s our God who took up a form, as His creation, & gave His life for His fallen
creation.
- With such power that He could wipe the slate clean, & start over. Instead, He
has mercy for those who could not!
- Think about that first picture of mercy, & let’s pray.
Prayer
- All in that one verse we saw that God is merciful, but it also confirmed, He is just.
- God is merciful, but unless you go through Jesus, His Son, you will receive His wrath!
- As People we all want to get good things. I don’t think there’s anyone who wants to
receive a bad gift, bad day, or something they don’t want.
- It’s in our human nature to try & get good things.
- The only problem is, we often can’t tell what is good, & what is bad. So the thing
we’re striving for either corrupts us or makes us better.
- I find one of the scariest things about being an online church is there’s new
obstacles we have to overcome.
Q- So we ask, is all this worth it?
- The thing of it is, there will always be struggles no matter what we do.
Q- But, What do we receive for pressing on, to continue through the struggles?
- Listen to King David describe it.
21:6
Psalm 21:1-6
1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
2 Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.
3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.
5 His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.
6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
- With every step of his journey, David has come to realize the great blessing, the
plenteous blessing that comes, not from the things, but from being in the presence
of Almighty God.
- There is richness, purity, & completion Standing in the presence of God.
- David found that. I think he found that, even more, as he hid in caves fleeing from
King Saul.
Q- So, Where do all these blessings flow from?
- They flow from a God that is plenteous in mercy!
2. Plenteous in mercies. Psalm 86:15
Psalm 86:15
15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
- I have wondered how God could extend so much mercy towards all this world.
Q- I know that He is patient, but how long would He wait?
- The psalmist gave the answer, His mercy is abundant, plenteous.
- He will wait until the very last person to be saved, is saved.
- So God is patient.
Q- Could God ever get tired of one of His own?
Q- Could that His mercy ever run out?
3. Everlasting in extent. Psalm 100:5
Psalm 100:5
5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Q- So, Have you sinned too much?
Q- Have you backslidden too many times?
- Here’s your answer! God’s MERCY is everlasting.
- When God has showered His mercy over you, & saved you by the blood of His
cross. You are His! You are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of
redemption.
- I hope that you’ve had the chance to read my Wednesday night Facebook
lesson on Matthew. When Jesus arose out of the water & the dove descended
upon Him. That symbolized the Holy Spirit sealing Him, just like He seals us.
- The Spirit never left Jesus, it was through the power of the Holy Spirit that
Jesus performed His miracles. Showing to us the triune God!
Acts 10:38
38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
- Remember the position Jesus took. He became like a bondservant for us.
Philippians 2:6-8
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
- It was also by the power of this Holy Spirit the He offered Himself up for us.
Hebrews 9:14
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
- Jesus was fully God, & fully man, & the Spirit to worked through Him.
That was the importance of the dove, The Holy Spirit!
- The Spirit rests on us, seals us.
- When we are doing wrong/sinning, The Spirit is grieved, & the blessings of God’s
mercy are not felt.
- Our God is merciful. Look at what He has done for us
- The second we repent, His mercy is there, it never left us.
- You feel His presence, & the blessings don’t stop flowing, as we allow Him to
bless us.
- So, as I start to close this message.
Q- What are we looking for?
Q- Are we looking for something that will corrupt us, or something that will bless us?
- Abraham left his home Ur, heading towards a land he did not know.
- He went on faith, & that faith is where God’s blessings come from.
- We simply trust that He has saved us.
- My last scripture,
Hebrews 6:13-20
13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
- God’s Mercy is sure, it’s steadfast, & it is immutable? It cannot be changed!
- If you can’t feel His blessings Let’s pray together as I close, & let’s restart the flow
of His blessings.
Prayer
