Mercy Defined: Distinguishing Between Grace and Mercy

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

In this podcast series, we're going to be looking into biblical words that have great significance to our faith.

The name of this series is called the Word of the Week, where once a week we will dive deeper into these words that we are familiar with in scripture.

So come along with me.

Let's study the Word of the week.

Pastor Josh here with another word of the week.

The word of the Week this week is mercy.

You hear a lot about the word mercy in scripture, and many times the word mercy is equated with another word called grace.

And though mercy and grace are related, there is a distinction between mercy and grace.

And I'd like to go over just the definition of mercy, biblical mercy, and, and look at some examples from scripture describing that type of mercy that God extends to us in his love for us.

So, so yes, mercy and grace are, are closely related and they, they have similar meanings.

Like I said, though they're not exactly the same.

If you look at the idea of mercy, biblical mercy is, is having to do with extending kindness and compassion to somebody.

And in many ways, some people describe it as God withholding punishment from us in the sins that we deserve.

So grace is likened to a gift of grace or favor that God extends to us.

And so you could see it as mercy being an element of God's grace.

But I would say that one of the ways that we could picture it or identify mercy is, is equating it with God's removing us from the judgment that we deserve.

And so you could liken it to God's deliverance.

So, so grace is extending a blessing to someone who doesn't deserve it.

Mercy is withholding something that we actually do deserve.

And so the Bible speaks of God's love to us.

And, and so in that love, he extends mercy.

We know that the Bible teaches that all have sinned and come short the glory of God.

We all deserve the payment for sin.

And the Bible says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So mercy is God withholding His righteous judgment upon us because of his love for us and because of our faith.

And so it's, it's one of God's defining attributes, along with holiness and, and many of the other ones that we'd like to discuss.

But the Bible speaks over and over again about God being full of mercy.

I like one of the references to his mercy in, in Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 4.

You might be familiar with the Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 8, 9.

For by grace are you saved.

But, but with that grace is also his mercy.

In Ephesians chapter four.

Excuse me, Ephesians chapter two, verse four.

It leading up to verse four, it's talking about the, the sin of the individual, the, the guilt that we have and, and who we were before we came to Christ.

And then we see two words there at the beginning of verse four, and that is this.

But God.

So who we are in our sin is, is broken.

Is, is, is, is, is leading a path of destruction, ultimately the destruction of, of sin and death.

But then the Bible says God comes on the scene.

It says, but God who is rich in mercy.

I love how that's phrased, that God is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us.

And, and so the Bible tells us there that God is characterized by his rich mercy.

Second Samuel, chapter 24, verse 14 speaks of, of.

Of God's great love for us.

And it says that his mercies are great.

And so mercy is, is given to us in the actions of God or the, or the lack of judgment from God in the moment of our faith.

And so it demonstrates his faithfulness to us, it demonstrates his love towards us.

And so it is a very difficult thing for us to understand because God's mercy is so complex.

And the idea of what this looks like, it's more than withholding something from us.

There's compassion there, there's love there, there's, there's favor, there's faithfulness.

And so there's a lot of different examples of God extending mercy to us.

So the greatest act of mercy is the mercy that extends to us in salvation.

And that's seen there in Ephesians chapter two.

Obviously we're called to have that type of mercy.

So, so understanding God's mercy allows us to have mercy in our lives.

And so mercy in our lives is, is treating people with compassion, specifically those that are going through difficulties.

Mercy is, is a, a character trait that we can try to live out in our life in, in regards to helping those that are in need.

And so it's understanding the forgiveness that we find in God and understanding his mercy that he gives us in salvation and be able and being able to demonstrate that type of mercy to those around us.

And so we're reminded over and over again about God's mercy.

Ephesians, chapter 2, Matthew chapter 9.

All throughout the Gospels we see Jesus's actions in mercy.

And so I, I like to think about it this way, it's, it's God's mercy that motivates us to sacrifice.

It was, it was God's mercy that motivated Jesus to, to give his sacrifice for us.

So therefore, you know, how can we put others before ourselves?

It's understanding the mercies of God.

Mercy motivates and, and I think that that's something to think about when it comes to our own lives is, you know, I think always it's about us.

It's about getting what we want, getting what we think we need.

But the Bible says that when we have mercy for others, that motivates us to put others before ourselves, which we know the Bible tells us to do.

Another passage of Scripture in the New Testament that points to the, the mercy of, of Christ is one of my favorite passages of Scripture.

Titus, chapter three.

And if you look at verses four through seven, it says, but after that the kindness of, the kindness and love of God our Savior towards man appeared not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, God's mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which is shed, which he shed upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

And so the Bible tells us very clearly there that it is only by the mercies of God that we have what we have in our salvation.

And so, as we understand that beautiful mercy that's extended to us in salvation, we then are called to have mercy to others.

One of another.

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is found in Micah, chapter six, verse eight.

And it says, he has showed thee, O man, what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee?

So, so what does God expect from those who believe in Him?

Well, to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.

So, so the idea for us as believers would be to walk in that mercy, to love that mercy, to.

To rest in the mercy of God as he's been merciful to us.

And even in the Bible, I think it's, it's Luke, chapter six.

Yes.

It says, be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

So right then and there, that's as clear as day.

As God is merciful to us, so we are to be merciful to others.

So, so we are to show compassion to others.

So we're to withhold our anger to others and extend grace and love and compassion.

And so believers are supposed to mirror that type of mercy in our lives.

And so if you have a difficulty resting or understanding the mercies of God, I think one of the passages of Scripture that frames it for me so well is not only, not only do I understand the mercies of my past, what God has done for me, but what he continues to do for me.

And, and I find that In Lamentations, chapter 3, verse 22 and 23, it says it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not.

And so we see there that it.

The Bible is clearly teaching us that the only reason we have anything in our life, the only reason we have life itself, is because of the mercies of God.

It's only because of his mercy that we're not completely consumed.

Why?

Because his compassions fail not.

So we see that mercy is linked to compassion.

A mercy motivates.

And then it says this.

And, and this is what I wanted us to really think about here in this study.

It says here in verse 23, they are new every morning.

So, so we never get.

We never, we should never get to a place in our life where we feel like God is not extending mercy to us.

Why?

Cause it says they're new every morning.

Great is thy faithfulness.

And so God's mercy is tied to his compassion.

And it says there in verse 23 that it's tied to his faithfulness.

His mercies are new every morning.

So when we wake up in the morning, that's mercy.

When, when we are able to demonstrate the love of Christ, of friends around us and loved ones around us, that's his mercy.

The beautiful sunrise, the beautiful sunset, the.

The good day that we had, the challenges that we might face, these are all linked to God's mercy.

And so that mercy motivates us to extend that compassion and faithfulness.

So as God is compassionate to us and faithful to us, we are compassionate to others and faithful to others and ultimately faithful to Him.

And so that's the idea of mercy on a very judicial level.

It is God withholding judgment.

But there's a deeper meaning, and that is God extending compassion to us, patience with us, to, to the point where it's demonstrated.

Mercy is something, though it's withholding.

It's not inaction.

It's a demonstration of compassion.

It's a demonstration of love, and it's a faithful demonstration thereof of that type of love.

And so tender mercies is another way that love is described in scripture.

And I like that phrase there, tender mercies.

It's having a soft heart to those in need.

And even the Bible speaks of having that gift of mercy to those that are struggling.

And so, you know, I think all of us to some degree struggle in those areas of mercy.

Now, some are naturally supernaturally gifted in those ways.

But I think all of us can grow in that area of understanding the mercy that God extends to us and then reciprocating that mercy to others around us.

So I like to think about those.

There's so much more that we could talk about with the, the term mercy.

But if you could go back and you could look at it from a very basic definition.

God withholding this judgment that we deserve because of his compassion, because of his love, because of his, his grace, and because of his faithfulness.

He's.

He's compassionately faithful to us.

And so we are called to have that same purpose in our life.

But God, who is rich in mercy.

I love that phrase.

You, you, me, all those that came to Christ, before we came to Christ, we were broken.

We were on the path of destruction.

We were dead in our sins.

And the Bible says, but God, it is God who changes the heart.

It is God who revives the soul.

It is God who redeems us.

And so it is God who is rich in mercy, who extends that gift of salvation to us, who changes us.

His mercy is great.

His mercy is new every morning.

And I hope that we can all rest in that mercy today.

So as God has extended you mercy, so we are to extend mercy and grace to others around us.

So another word of the week, mercy.

Remember that God is great in mercy, that he is merciful, he is rich in mercy, and that he is faithful and giving us new mercies every day.

So think about those mercies today.

Give him thanks for those mercies today and try to demonstrate those mercies to those around you.

Well, God bless you.

We'll come back again next week with another Word of the week.

I hope that this study has been a blessing for you.

And I look forward to continuing these studies in scripture here in the future.

And I hope that you can share this with a loved one.

Share this with someone that you might think will.

It would be a blessing for and I look forward to coming back to you here very soon.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

God bless you.

We will talk to you soon.

Hey, I really appreciate that you listen to the Word of the Week podcast.

If you have any questions about the podcast or about our church, Middletown Baptist Church, you can find more information about us on Facebook or YouTube or you can find the podcast on NBCPodcast.org you can contact me directly at Josh Massaro at middletownbaptistchurch.org stay tuned for future Word of the Week episodes where we dive deeper into words that impact our life according to scripture.

Thank you so much.

God bless.

We'll talk to you soon.