Mercy

I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread. When He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of Me." After the same manner, He also took the cup when He had supped, saying, "This is the cup of the new covenant, or New Testament, in My blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death until He comes.

Father, help us to wrap our minds around this. It can become just a religious thing that we do, even as I just said that we do this as a tradition at Calvary Chapel on the first Sunday. It can become just a thing that we don't even think about, and yet it's supposed to be something that directs our thinking to You.

So, Lord, would You direct our thinking right now? I know that there are so many things that are battling for our attention at any given time. We're often told that our current culture and society is one that has a short attention span. God, would You direct it? You have the power to do that. Remind us, Lord. Stir us up by way of reminder.

I am stirred right now as well by the reality that there are many in our fellowship who are sick and suffering right now through illnesses or loss. Lord, we just lift them up into Your hands right now. We pray that You would minister to them wherever they are, at home. Just minister Your grace, Your merciful touch.

Speak to us now, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.

From 1 Corinthians 11, would you turn to the right just a few books to Ephesians 2? Paul reminds the church at Ephesus of glorious truth here in Ephesians 2. "And you has He quickened, or made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, among whom also you had your conversation or your conduct in times past in the lusts of your flesh, fulfilling the desires of your flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the others."

And then two very important words in verse 4: "but God." We know our condition, and we are reminded of our condition by the enemy regularly. We're reminded of our sinful condition, especially when we look into the perfect law of liberty, as James calls it, the Scriptures. He says that it's like a mirror. When we read God's Word or are brought to a Bible study, we are reminded of how sinful we are and how lost we are.

The closer we draw near to God, the more His light shines upon our lives. It exposes darkness and reveals those areas where we are so terribly lost. What it should do is remind us of how great a salvation we have in Christ. You and I were dead in trespasses and sin, completely lost and completely separated from God. Because of that lostness, we conducted ourselves as lost individuals. We engaged in wicked practices and walked according to the course of this world.

The wide path to destruction that Jesus speaks about involves doing things that are pleasing and gratifying to our flesh, but these actions are disgraceful before God and fall far short of His glory. We were created for His glory and for His pleasure, yet we completely disregarded that. In times past, we walked according to the course of this world, following the direction of the enemy, our adversary, who bids the world to come this way, contrary to God's way. Our conduct was shaped by the lusts of our flesh, desires that were against God.

But God intervenes. How does God intervene? We know very clearly that He came to intervene. God, who is rich in mercy, has this attribute of character that increasingly impresses me the longer I walk with the Lord. The mercy of God is one of those words that now jumps out from the pages of Scripture every time I read it. Each time I come to the word "mercy," it feels like a spiritual speed bump that stops me and causes me to think about God.

The attributes of God are innumerable. If we were to take time tonight and go around the room asking for an attribute of God, we would hear responses like "truth," because God is truth. We would hear "love," as God is love. We would also hear "justice" and "sovereignty." We could continue this list all night long, compiling an endless array of the character attributes of God, because they are truly innumerable. We cannot fully comprehend how awesome His character is.

There are places in Scripture where He reveals His character, saying, "I am just. I am holy." Often, when you ask people to tell you about God, many will point to His holiness, and that is good. We should recognize that God is holy and just, completely separate from sinners. However, if God were only holy and just, this opportunity to come before Him—those who are dead in trespasses and sins—and have fellowship with God would not exist. This communion allows us to come into fellowship with Him.

With Him, we are having a relationship with Him. There is no possible way that could happen if God were only holy and only just, and those were the attributes of God that were exalted above all others. I don't want to diminish His holiness in any way because it would be a sin to diminish the holiness and the justice of God. It would also be a sin to diminish His sovereignty; He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He answers to no one and takes counsel from no one. I never want to bring those things down, but I believe that God Himself exalts His mercy in the Scriptures. Repeatedly, He exalts His mercy because if it weren't for His mercy, we would be completely and rightly consumed. There is no way that we could ever approach Him, and God makes that very clear in a number of places, especially in the Old Testament, where He reveals just how far we are from Him and how separate we are from Him.

There are several places in Exodus that really highlight this. Remember the very first introduction of Moses to God: "I am." God told him to take the sandals from his feet because the place on which he stood was holy ground. The dirt was transformed by God's mere presence. That which we like to wash off of us, that which we don't want on us—especially in our culture that is so into hand sanitizer and cleanliness—we don't want to be dirty. But that dirt became holy because of God's mere presence. It wasn't even the fullness of God's presence because if it had been, not only would the bush have burned, but Moses would have been consumed by God's holiness. It was God's very mercy that allowed Moses to even come there. Is it sufficient to take sandals from his feet, leaving him barefoot?

God's holiness is clearly seen in the separateness of man from God. I find myself constantly going back to the story in Exodus when the children of Israel broke God's law. It is very apparent, even to the point where Moses takes the tablets that God has just given to him and casts them down, and they are broken. It is a visible sign that they have broken it. Just 40 days before, they had said three times in Exodus chapter 19, "All that..."

You have said we will do and be obedient. They profess to God, "We're going to do everything you're telling us to do. You redeemed us. You brought us out of Egypt. You're worthy of our honor. So we're going to do everything that you called us to do."

Forty days later, they're dancing around a golden calf, saying, "This is the God that brought us out of Egypt," abandoning God and turning to idols. They have broken God's law. In His holiness and justice, God has every right to destroy them, to completely consume them. He even tells Moses, "I'm going to consume them. I'm going to, in my wrath, destroy them. We'll start over with you." This reveals God's holiness.

Moses doesn't say, "Oh God, you can't do that. That's unjust." He doesn't say that because it's completely just. Instead, he pleads, "Lord, please don't do that, because then the other people in the world are going to figure you just brought them out here to kill them." He does not question God's holiness or His justice in doing what God says He is going to do.

As God reveals mercy to the children of Israel, who have just broken His law, and to Moses, you may remember that Moses, in absolute wonder of God, says, "God, I want to see your glory. I want to see you." God reminds Moses that he cannot see Him and live because of that holiness, that separation between God and man. However, God makes a neat provision for Moses. He says, "I'm going to pass by you, and you're going to see what you could almost call the afterglow of God."

Imagine if God is so glorious and so awesome that He were to come into this room and then leave; His glory is so powerful that it would linger for a while. God says, "I'm going to allow you to see that lingering glory after I've moved on." He places Moses in the cleft of the rock, and God passes by. Moses is able to see something of the glory of God, which affects his appearance. From that point on, his face shined and scared the people of Israel when he came down because he had a connection; he had a meeting with God, and it was visible in the way that he looked.

So much so that he veiled his face so it wouldn't be a distraction. However, there came a point when that glory started to fade from Moses's face. That sunburn started to go away, and he didn't want anybody to see that it was a fading glory. But God reveals something.

In Exodus chapter 34, we find a passage that I return to constantly because of what God says to Moses as He passes by. If you've studied the Scriptures for any length of time, you know that a name in the Bible is often synonymous with the individual who bears that name and their character. For example, Abraham means "father of many nations," and he became a father of many nations, especially those by faith who come into Abraham.

Jacob, on the other hand, means "heel catcher," "supplanter," or "deceiver." For many years of his life, he was just what his name suggested. He deceived his brother, deceived his father, and deceived his father-in-law. Everywhere this man went, there was a trail of deception until he was cornered by God. In a dramatic encounter, God performed an incredible mixed martial arts move and popped Jacob's hip out of socket. It was a pivotal moment. God then changed his name from Jacob to Israel, transforming him from a deceiver to one governed by God. A significant change took place in his heart and life from that point on.

A name is indeed synonymous with character. In Exodus 34, God begins to define His name, or His nature, for Moses as He passes by. Many of you will recognize this passage because I refer to it often. Exodus chapter 34, verse 5 states, "The Lord descended in a cloud." It is interesting that the Bible describes how God surrounds Himself with a cloud or thick darkness, as if He is hiding His glory. If we were to come into contact with His full glory, we would be obliterated, gone.

So, He comes down in a cloud and stands with Moses, proclaiming the name of the Lord. God is about to announce who He is, and when we see something like this, our eyes should zero in on it, and our ears should perk up. God is going to reveal something about His nature. This is knowledge we would not gain through general revelation. Psalm 19 tells us that "the heavens declare the glory of God; the earth shows forth His handiwork." We can learn things about God by observing creation, but we would never know this specific aspect of God through creation alone. This revelation must come through God's special revelation.

Speaking now, the Lord passed by before Moses and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God." What's the first thing He says? The Lord says, "merciful." I think He did that purposefully. God doesn't do things haphazardly; He says things in order for a reason.

Remember the context: the children of Israel have just broken His law. He just told Moses a chapter before, "In my justice, in my holiness, they deserve complete wrath and destruction." He could have said, "The Lord, the Lord God, just," and no one could stand up and say, "Time out. He is just," right? Completely. He could have said, "The Lord, the Lord God, holy." But He chooses to say, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful." I'm defining my nature for you.

I believe God exalts this character attribute because if it weren't for His mercy, we would all deserve just punishment. So He says, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful." Well, then maybe second, He'll say, "holy." He doesn't. He says, "gracious." I'm merciful. Add to that, I'm gracious.

Now, maybe we need to step back and define for just a moment the difference between mercy and grace. Many of you already know it, but if you don't, mercy is not getting what we deserve. We deserve wrath. In the context of the children of Israel, they deserve wrath. They're not getting what they deserved.

Grace goes a step further than mercy. Mercy would be sufficient if God just said, "Okay, I'm not going to obliterate you in hell." But then He goes a step further and says, "I'm going to be gracious to you," which means I'm going to give you what you don't deserve. I'm going to bestow upon you all the riches in heavenly places. I'm going to give you an inheritance with my Son. We are joint heirs, as the book of Romans says, joint heirs with Christ. We're getting the same inheritance as the very Son of God would receive.

So, mercy is not getting what you deserve. You deserve wrath, but no, I'm not going to give you wrath.

I'm going to go beyond that and extend grace to you—a gift you don't deserve, a gift you'll never be able to earn, but I'm giving it to you. Why? Because God is gracious. He doesn't just do gracious things; it is in His character to be gracious. If you want to comprehend what grace is, study God and get to know who He is, because that's where you learn what grace is all about.

The first two things He uses to define who He is are: "I am merciful" and "I am gracious." The third thing is, "I am long-suffering." The Lord, the Lord God, is long-suffering. He doesn't just act patiently; it is in His nature, in His character, to be patient and long-suffering, willing to wait for His people. He is abundant in goodness and truth.

Look at all these great attributes that God is exalting for Moses in the context of the sin of Israel, who completely broke His law, knowingly breaking His law. Many of us sin out of ignorance, due to a lack of knowledge or understanding of God's law. But they committed a trespass; there is transgression and there is trespass. They knowingly and willingly sinned, saying, "God told us to do this, and we're going to do the opposite."

And He says, "I am merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth." He keeps mercy for thousands, meaning His mercy is not drained away; it doesn't evaporate. In Lamentations, we are told that His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness! There is no drought of God's mercy. There is never a time when you come before the throne of grace, as Hebrews tells us, to obtain mercy and grace in your time of need, and God says, "Oh man, I'm really sorry. Alan took the last bit of mercy I had today. You're going to have to come back tomorrow." He never does that. He keeps mercy for thousands. He forgives and pardons iniquity, transgression, and sin.

Now, this doesn't diminish His justice. It doesn't diminish His holiness.

Because God's mercy, grace, patience, goodness, truth, justice, and holiness all exist in perfect harmony, it may seem like a paradox to us. However, that's okay because God is able to be outside of our thinking. If we could fully comprehend Him, He would not be worthy of all devotion. He wouldn't be God if we could, with a finite mind, comprehend the infinite.

The fact that His mercy, grace, goodness, and truth exist in harmony with His justice and holiness may be hard for us to completely understand, but it does. Hopefully, as we explore this further, we can look a little bit at how that works in God. He keeps mercy for thousands and forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. Here is where His justice comes in: He does not clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children to the third and fourth generation.

He makes it clear that He does not simply overlook guilt. He helps us understand that He is just and will deal with guilt, but His default is mercy. His default is grace.

What about us? What is our default characteristic? What do we revert to when we're tired? When we've had a long day? I confess that I tend to be a bit grouchy. My wife would confirm that if you asked her. She would probably stick up for me because she is a loving, wonderful woman, but I do default to being grouchy. Can anybody else relate to that?

That's our flesh. When we're tired, spent, or have had a long day at the rummage sale or at work, we probably default to being less than merciful. In contrast, God defaults to mercy. He defaults to grace. He is long-suffering in that He does not simply say, "Alright, that's it. You're done."

I just don't see that in the Scriptures. Never do we see God default to just an instant reaction of, "Okay, hellfire, brimstone." There are always long periods of His mercy and His grace. Even upon Sodom and Gomorrah, how long was God gracious and merciful in calling them to return, to turn to Him, to repent? Yet, after a great period of time, long-suffering, yes, He will by no means clear the guilty. He'll deal with sin justly, and He'll be righteous when He does it.

Remember, Abraham asks a question of God in Genesis chapter 18 when God says, "I'm going to go down and deal with Sodom and Gomorrah." Abraham questions the righteousness of God, saying, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" If God is going to judge the earth, then He needs to do it righteously. God acknowledges that with Abraham, saying, "I will be righteous." How so? Well, if there are ten righteous in that city, He will not destroy the whole city.

I'm reading through the book of Jeremiah right now because I'm preparing to teach that at the Bible college next semester. I was reading just this morning, and I believe it was in Jeremiah chapter 3. God says to Jeremiah, "Go out in the city, go into Judah, go into Jerusalem. If you can find anybody who stands up for truth, I will be gracious to the whole city." Now, clearly, Jeremiah couldn't find anybody because the city was overthrown by the Babylonians, which is a sad testimony upon God's people. He could find nobody in that city.

So, God will be just, and He is righteous when He judges, but He defaults to mercy. That's what we see in those two simple words, "But God," in Ephesians chapter 4. What does it say? "But God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, even when we were in opposition to Him, even when we were enemies of God, He has quickened us together with Christ." By what? "By grace are you saved." He defaults to mercy. We deserve judgment because we are children of disobedience, children of wrath, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience.

We're following after all those things. God defaults toward mercy, and He offers us His grace in Christ. If you will trust in Him, if you'll put your confidence in Him, you receive the gracious gift of salvation and God's mercy, which extends beyond just mercy to an inheritance in heaven.

He has raised us up together. This inheritance means He has raised us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places with Christ. Positionally, we who have trusted in Christ are seated in heavenly places. We have a throne in heaven, if you will. We have a position at God's table in heaven because of what Christ has done.

This is not just as the Jehovah's Witnesses teach, that salvation means you will live in a paradise earth for eternity. No, it is not just that. Although that might be in some way merciful, as we don't get hell and instead get to live eternally in some sort of paradise, beyond that, we get to be in the very presence of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the God of all creation, seated at the table.

Because He has, in Christ, seated us in heavenly places, in the ages to come—meaning in eternity—He is going to show us the exceeding riches of His grace. Let me just show you how gracious I am. It is going to take all eternity for God to reveal to us His grace because it is such a huge expanse that we can't even grasp it with our finite minds.

In the ages to come, He will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Jesus Christ. He will be revealing to us just what actually happened there on Calvary's cross two thousand years ago for eternity. He will be revealing to us what this transaction meant between God the Father and God the Son on our behalf.

He who knew no sin became sin for us. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

So, by grace, we are saved through faith. It is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. There is a lot of question among theologians about what the gift of God is here. Is faith included in the gift of God? Is grace the gift? Is it grace and faith, or is it just faith? There are many questions. Ultimately, if you really break it down...

Mine has a Greek background. He's actually from Greece and knows Greek very well. I asked him to clue me in on something. Using the rules of the Greek language, which I don't completely comprehend, I wanted to know what the gift is. He explained that if you break it down, the tenses of the language point to salvation as the gift. This is what we receive in Christ's salvation. However, we should have received justice, judgment, and wrath, but it was poured out on Christ for us.

Romans chapter 3, verse 23 states, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." We are lacking in God's glory. Then, look at verse 24, which says we are being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God has set Him forth to be the propitiation, which is the payment, the atonement, through faith in His blood. This is to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God.

To declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Through the work that Jesus did on the cross, God can justify us.

I believe it's Proverbs chapter 17, verse 15, where Solomon, in his great wisdom given by God, states something profound. Remember, Solomon asked the Lord for wisdom, and God granted it to him. He was a wise man who made a lot of foolish decisions, but in his wisdom, he shared valuable insights.

He says, "He who justifies the wicked is an abomination to God." So how can God, if that's abominable to Him, justify the wicked? How can He justify us and at the same time maintain His justice? How can He forgive us of our sins but still be holy? This is the paradox that we struggle with, and it's answered right here in this passage.

In God's patience, His long-suffering, and His mercy, He was forbearing. He was long-suffering for all the sin that we had done in the past, for all the things that humanity had done before Jesus came on the scene. God forbears; He is long-suffering and merciful. He defaults toward grace and mercy, but He has to maintain His justice. He has to address the issue of sin. There has to be a payment.

Jesus is the propitiation. On Calvary's cross, God pours out all of His just wrath upon Jesus for our sin, who became sin for us. That transaction maintains God's justice. It proves that He is still just, and yet He is able to forgive our sins in Christ Jesus. That's what we remember—all that theological significance—when we partake of the bread and the cup.

Jesus told His disciples what Paul recounts in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. When He had given thanks, Jesus broke bread and said, "Take, eat. This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Remember what I did. What did I do there on Calvary's cross? He who knew no sin became sin, taking all of our sins—past, present, and future—upon Himself. God the Father poured out all His just wrath upon Jesus so that He could give us mercy because He Himself is merciful.

Beyond His mercy, He also gives us grace. But there had to be that transaction. "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." After the same manner, He took the cup when He had stopped.

Shedding. This is the cup of the new covenant, the new covenant which is established in my blood. Without the shedding of blood, Hebrews chapter 9 says there can be no remission, no removal of sins. The first covenant, the old covenant, the Old Testament, was established upon blood—the sacrifice of lambs, bulls, and goats, which could never fully take away sin.

But Jesus comes and He says, "This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood." As of a lamb without spot or blemish, John the Baptist says, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." He doesn't just cover; He takes away the sin of the world. This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.

So, we are remembering when we partake of the bread and the cup that God became a man. He took on a human body that was given for us. That's why He came—always for us. There was blood coursing through that body, through those veins, and that blood was shed as the sacrificial lamb, as the atonement, the propitiation for us, so that God could maintain His justice when He says, "I'm going to be merciful to you." That's what took place at the cross. That's what we're remembering.

Why are we covering all this? Because it can become something we just do without thinking about it. I think it's wonderful when we take the time on a Sunday morning, the first Sunday of every month, to partake of communion. There is one of the pastors or one of the elders that gives a devotion, and I’m always encouraged by the devotions that are given. However, sometimes we can lose sight of the fact that what we're doing here is remembering what secured our relationship with God the Father.

We would not be a people; we would not be a church if it were not for what we're remembering. His body—God became a man and gave His body for us, shedding His blood for us to maintain His justice when He says, "You're righteous," when He imputes to us His righteousness. It's phenomenal.

We will spend, as Ephesians chapter 2 tells us, eternity grasping the manifold grace of God in this act that He did. This is why He told us, "I want you to do this. I want you to do this until I come."

He comes? Because when He comes, we'll have the visible representation of it. We will see Him as He is. We won't need bread or a cup to remember that He's the Lamb slain. What does John see in heaven in Revelation chapter 5? A Lamb that was slain. He sees Jesus as a Lamb who was slain. That's what we're going to see when we see Him. We won't need bread or a cup any longer.

But here and now, we need it because we're so prone to forget. Jesus established for us just two sacraments, two visible things that He wants us to do: one, baptism; two, communion. Baptism reminds us of what? We died with Him, buried with Him in baptism, and He has raised us up to newness of life. It's a very clear illustration. You can't get any more clear than that.

Then there is the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. So what we're going to do is continue to worship, and the communion elements will be here for you to come up and take them back to your seat or partake of them here in the front. If you need prayer, Dave, would you mind coming and standing up here in the front? Pastor Mark will be up here as well. If you need prayer, these guys will be available to pray with you, or you can pray silently in your chair.

But we're just going to sing praises to God to remember Him and partake of that bread as the Lord would lead you, maybe with another brother or sister or alone. Partake of the cup and remember all that took place.

Let's pray. Lord, I love that You said, "As often as you do this," and so we should do it regularly. We should plan to partake as we do here at the church, but even as a family at home and in home fellowship, wherever we are, to stop and remember Your body and Your blood. Lord, thank You. Thank You for loving us. Thank You for being merciful, although we don't deserve it; gracious, although we could never earn it. Lord, thank You. Help us to be mindful of this when we're going through crisis.

We need to remember this when we are experiencing ecstatic joy. Sometimes, those two things on either end of the spectrum can distract us from Your grace and Your mercy.

But, Lord, keep us mindful. In the mundane day-to-day things, help us remember that You have been gracious and merciful to us because of Your great love, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins.

Lord, thank You. We praise You.