“HE DELIGHTETH IN MERCY!”

Micah 7:18

I am certain that our views of God and his grace are weakest right here – None of us have any idea how exceedingly willing he is to forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin! At this point, we all think that God is such a one as ourselves. What shameful unbelief! We forget that “HE DELIGHTETH IN MERCY!”

When we think, talk, and preach about Christ, the Son of God, and God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit, when we and speak of God’s mercy, love, grace, and forgiveness, let us ever throw open to guilty sinners, to the widest extent possible the doors of mercy. Ever remember, “HE DELIGHTETH IN MERCY!” Let us never be guilty of restricting, in thought or in word, the great mercy of our great God, who “delighteth in mercy!”

I am sure that every attribute of God gives him pleasure in its exercise. But, here, mercy is singled out by divine inspiration as his favorite. Though all the Divine attributes are eternal, mercy was the last to be revealed. His wisdom and power are seen in the creation of the world. His wrath is seen in the damnation of Satan and the angels who fell. His justice is seen in the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden when his law was broken. But in mercy he spared their lives. In mercy he promised a Redeemer. In mercy he provided a sacrifice. In mercy he clothed the fallen, naked, guilty pair with the garments of his salvation!

Spurgeon suggested -- You might say that, mercy is God’s Benjamin, and he delights most of all in it. It is the son of his right hand. But it might also be called the son of his sorrow, for the mercy of God came to be revealed in the sorrow and death of God’s well-beloved Son.

Who is a God like unto Thee?” He is gloriously sovereign. He is infinitely just. He is perfectly holy. He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, incomprehensible, and eternal. And “he delighteth in mercy!”

It is the glory of God and the pleasure of God to show mercy to sinners for Christ ‘s. The Lord our God is not a cruel tyrant, or a relentless sadist. Though he is holy, just, and true, he is a God who delights in mercy.

God’s mercy is in Christ. God’s mercy in Christ is full. God’s mercy is free and unconditional. God’s mercy is forever. It is, like himself, immutable. “Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”

If God delights in mercy, how much more ought we to delight in mercy? --Not just in receiving it, but in extending it? “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us.”

Grace Baptist Church of Danville - Grace For Today Radio Message #664

2734 Old Stanford Road - Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438

Donald S. Fortner, Pastor -Telephone 606-236-8235 - Email grace@mis.net