The Sparing Mercy Of God

THE SPARING MERCY OF GOD

“It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Mercy is compassion that forbears punishment even when justice demands it. It is an expression of who God is, and His love for us (Exodus 34: 6-7). Mercy triumphs over judgment, but refusing mercy is disastrous and this will invite judgment. God’s judgment for sin is never unjust. His judgment is always the result of mercy that was offered and refused. He wants us to repent, but those who refuse mercy will receive judgment (2 Peter 3:9). The Lord is patient and never wants us to perish.

There is a five-fold mercy of God:

1. REWARDING MERCY - This is the mercy shown towards those who have performed well in a task.

2. PARDONING MERCY – Mercy exercised towards those who have done ill, or towards their past sin.

3. PREVENTING MERCY - When he keeps us from evil, from the evil of sin, or of punishment.

4. DELIVERING MERCY – Though He let us fall into the evil of sin or punishment, yet he is pleased to help us up , and takes us out again.

5. SPARING MERCY – While we are in affliction, God deals gently with us.

Sparing mercy is the lowest degree of mercy, If God deny sparing mercy, he denies all mercy. The Angels that sinned found no mercy, no sacrifice was provided for them, God cast them down to Hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto Judgment (2 Peter 2:4). God didn’t spare the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the Flood upon the world of the ungodly. Neither the Angels who apostatized from God, nor the old ungodly world has any share in sparing mercy.

Mercy is when He spares us from bad things we deserve. God, in his Mercies and Compassion, spares, preserves and saves Sinners from being consumed by his Wrath. In the riches of His Patience, Forbearance, and Long-suffering, he waits on them to be gracious: He reveals his saving mercies to them, he offers it; shows them the way of it, how it can be glorified to them, and then tenderly invites and beseeches them to seek after it and accept it (Romans 2:4). He calls on them by his Word, strives with them by his Spirit, sends all His Ministers to preach the message of salvation.

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed by temporal Judgments, and cut off by the blow of His Hand; and it is yet more of his mercies that our Souls are not roaring under that fire of his wrath, which burns to the lowest Hell.

It is of his Sovereignty, who has mercy on whom he will have Mercy, and has Compassion because he will have Compassion (Romans 9:15).

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. “(Ephesians 2:4,7)

GOD SPARES LOT AND HIS FAMILY FROM THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH (Genesis 19:1-29)

God’s angels arrived at the gates of Sodom and Gomorrah where they were greeted by the gatekeeper Lot. He pleaded with the angels to join him in his house so he could wash their feet and serve them a meal. The angels agreed and went to the house of Lot. Lot was a foreigner to the realm of Sodom and not succumbed to the lustful, degenerate sins rampant in the city.

One of the most prevalent sins in Sodom was the homosexuality of the men, engaging in sexual relations with the other men and boys. After the angels entered the home of Lot, the men of the city surrounded Lot’s house, in an attempt to have sex with them (Genesis 19:5).

Lot fled Sodom with his wife and two daughters. The angels first tell Lot to flee to the mountains, but Lot requests that his family go to a nearby city, named Zoar, to ensure their survival. The LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens (Genesis 19:23-29) but His mercy spared Lot and his family. He remembered Abraham, and brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Out of disobedience, Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

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GOD SPARED THE CITY OF ZOAR FOR ONE RIGHTEOUS MAN

“See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.” And he said to him, “See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. (Genesis 19: 20 -22)