"The MERCY of God"

Mercy is God's tender-hearted compassion toward the miserable and the guilty. It is the pity of a holy God stooping down to the helpless sinner not because He must, but because He delights to. Mercy is the overflow of His eternal love relieving the wretched, pardoning the guilty, and raising the fallen. From the beginning, God's mercy has been on display. It spared Adam and Eve in the garden. It delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt. It sent prophets to warn the rebellious nation. And in the fullness of time, it sent the Savior to redeem His people. Mercy is not a reluctant gesture it is the joy of God's heart. "God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ!" (Ephesians 2:4-5) 

God's mercy is not exhausted by repeated sins, nor limited by the depth of our guilt. The dying thief found mercy in his final breath and so may any who call on the Lord. Yet God's mercy never sets aside His justice. Mercy does not sweep sin under the rug it satisfies God's justice. This is the wonder of the cross where divine justice was upheld, and mercy was poured out. God did not overlook our sin He condemned it in Christ. At Calvary, mercy and justice met; righteousness and peace kissed! (Psalm 85:10)  

If we have received such undeserved mercy, then how can we withhold it from others? Shall we, who have been forgiven much remain unmerciful? Let us be as our father kind, compassionate, and forgiving. And let us never forget we stand by mercy alone. Here is our hope and our song that God delights in mercy, and His mercy never fails. 

[A. W. Pink] 

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Titus 3:5 ... Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Psalm 103:8 ... The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. ❤

All The Mercy!!

Christian, all the mercy in the heart of God belongs to you! As great as your necessities may be, my dear brother, all the mercy that is in God belongs to you and is engaged to meet your case. 

Let me put it in another light: If there were no other person in the world but you, and God loved you infinitely and exclusively then would He not be able to do much for you, if all of His omnipotence was devoted to your good, and if all of His grace centered upon you, and you were the focus of all His wise and loving purposes? 

"Oh yes!" you say, "I would be favored indeed!" You are just as favored as that, for the multiplicity of the objects of divine love, necessitates no diminution to anyone. God can love a million and love each one as intensely as if there were but one to be favored! 

Our little minds are distracted with many objects. We cannot concentrate upon many; we are therefore confined. But the full concentrated love of the eternal God is set upon each one of His dear children! Is there not great comfort here? 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

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Psalm 118:1 ... O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.

Psalm 89:1 ... I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 118:4 ...  Let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

Psalm 103:17 ... But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;

Psalm 100:5 ... For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.❤

All Short of This is Mercy!

In order to awaken self-abasement and gratitude I should consider both what I deserve, and what blessings I have in Christ. If the righteous Lord were to deal with me according to my deserving, I would at this moment be under the rack of excruciating pain; or under the pressure of most abject poverty thus experiencing the foretaste of eternal woe. If thus dealt with in strictest justice, Death would receive his commission to hurl my affrighted soul into the gulf of endless misery, there to remain an everlasting monument of the vengeance of a holy God! All short of this is mercy! 

Do I enjoy a portion of health? It is all mercy! Am I undergoing a sanctified affliction? It is all mercy! Do I partake of the bounties of Providence? It is all mercy! Do I possess affectionate friends? It is all mercy! Do I experience the love of God in Christ, pardoning my sins, and purifying my heart? Oh! this is mercy beyond the power of language to praise or to express! 

Rejoice in such a Savior, who mercifully snatched you as a brand out of the burning! 

[Thomas Reade] 

Ephesians 2:4-5 ... But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Titus 3:5 ... Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

1 Peter 1:3 ... Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ❤

Common Mercies

That sun which shines unremittingly every day, is a stupendous exertion of God's power an astonishing exhibition of His omnipotence! In adoring the providence of God, we are apt to be struck with what is new and out of the usual course, while we often overlook long, habitual, and uninterrupted mercies. But common mercies, if less striking, are more valuable because we always have them. 

The ordinary blessings of life are overlooked for the very reason for which they ought to be most prized because they are Divinely bestowed every moment. Common mercies are most essential to our being. And when once they are withdrawn, we then find that they are also most essential to our comfort. 

Nothing raises the price of a blessing like its removal, whereas it was its continuance which should have taught us its value. Novelties usually awaken our gratitude, not considering that it is the duration of the common mercies which enhances their value. We desire fresh excitements. 

We take for granted common mercies, as things to which we have a sort of presumptive claim; as if God had no right to withdraw what He has once bestowed, as if He were obliged to continue what He has once been pleased to confer. 

[Hannah More]

Acts 14:17 ... Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

Psalm 103:1-2 ... Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Psalm 116:12 ... What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? ❤

Sons of God

If we are born into God’s family, it is a miracle of mercy! It is one of the ever-blessed exhibitions of the infinite love of God which without any cause in us, has set itself upon us. 

If you are this day an heir of heaven, remember you were once the slave of hell. Once you wallowed in the mire. If you should adopt a swine to be your child, you could not then have performed an act of greater compassion than when God adopted you! 

And if an angel could exalt a gnat to equal dignity with himself, yet the gain would not be such a one as that which God has conferred on you. He has taken you from the dunghill, and he has set you among princes! 

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

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Acts 26:18 ... To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

Galatians 4:6-7 ... And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Romans 5:8 ...  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Ephesians 1:5-6 ... Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. ❤

It Will All End in Mercy!

If you are a sincere believer in Jesus, whatever may be your present difficult circumstances, however trying, however perplexing: "It will all end in mercy!" You may not think so now. You may be writing bitter things against yourself. You may be misinterpreting the designs of God's providence. You may be doubting the precious promises of God's holy Word. But notwithstanding your mistakes, your doubts, your fears, your false conclusions, "It will all end in mercy!" 

You do not think so; nor did Jacob once, nor did Joseph once, nor did Job once nor did thousands once, who are now in glory! They were mistaken, and so are you. They judged by appearances, and so do you. They changed their minds, and so will you. All your troubles are appointed in infinite love! They are all weighed out by sovereign goodness! They are all limited by perfect wisdom! There is no 'chance' in what happens to the Christian! 

Everything is divinely arranged and appointed! Cheer up, my poor weary fellow-traveler! You will soon arrive at Home; and then you will see clearly and enjoy sweetly the blessed truth that to the believer "all will end in mercy!" Take comfort, poor afflicted fellow-Christian! Your afflictions are God's furnace, in which He is refining you! He is only fitting you to occupy a mansion in Heaven, and to sing the sweet and everlasting song—the theme of which will be, "It all ended in mercy!" Fear not, poor feeble, fickle, faltering follower of Jesus! 

Though your faith is weak, though your fears are strong, though your doubts are painful, though you conclude that your case is singular and your condition hopeless; "the year of release is at hand," and then your doubts will expire, your fears will flee away, your groans will be silenced, your feeble hopes will be realized, for "It will all end in mercy!" 

My brother, are you in poverty, under persecution, or in bodily sickness? Cheer up! Your light shall soon "break forth as the morning!" Write it down in your memorandum book or impress it upon your memory. Or what is better still, pray the Holy Spirit to give you the sweet inward assurance of the fact that "It will all end in mercy.

[James Smith]

 

Romans 8:28 ... And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. ❤

Mercy and Compassion.

Paul speaks of being set apart from his mother's womb, of being called by grace to be saved, of Christ being revealed in him, and of his being made a preacher and an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and he traces up the whole to the good pleasure of God! It pleased God to convert, consecrate, and crown the apostle with such eminent success. There was nothing in him to deserve it, nothing in him to move God to do it. God blessed Paul, just because He would because it pleased Him to do it. 

Just so in our case. Do we differ from others? Do we differ from our former selves? Have we spiritual life? Have we Christian graces? Why were they conferred upon us and not upon others? WHO made us to differ? "Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive?" 1 Corinthians 4:7 

We can trace it to no cause, but the sovereign good pleasure of God! He has mercy, on whom He will have mercy. He has compassion, on whom He will have compassion. 

[James Smith] 

Galatians 1:15-16 ... But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:

Romans 9:13-15 ... As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

1 Corinthians 15:10 ... But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. ❤

"His People"

How much we have to be thankful for. Everything short of Hell, is mercy! 

THE OBJECTS OF GOD'S CARE. "His people."  Those whom He has chosen for His own, and eternally set apart for His praise. Those whom He has redeemed from the claims of justice, by His blood. Those whom He has called out of the world and consecrated to His service. Those with whom He has entered into covenant, saying, "I will be your God, and you shall be My people!" (Leviticus 26:12) They are His own in the highest, holiest, and most blessed sense. 

THEIR PILGRIMAGE. They are brought into a wilderness. That is, the world becomes a wilderness to them, in consequence of His precious work within them. They have to pass through the wilderness, where they experience spiritual hunger and thirst, and are often sighing for suitable supplies. Nor hunger only, but spiritual weariness for they have little rest or repose. Many foes meet them, oppose them, and come into conflict with them. Dangers in every direction surround them, and many painful privations are felt by them. These and other things discourage them. But it is the way to the Promised Land! Egypt has been left, the wilderness is now being journeyed, and Canaan with all its glory is before us! 

THE MANNER OF GOD'S GUIDING. The Lord leads us by His servants, by His providence, and by His Word. He leads us like a faithful shepherd leads a flock with care, watchfulness, and wisdom; like a kind parent leads a little child with gentle attention and love; like a mother eagle, who teaches her young to fly watches it if there is the least danger, and darts beneath it and carries it on her wings; like only a God could whose patience, love, and grace, are as constant as the day! Thus, the Lord leads us; never taking His eye off us or remitting His care at any time for one moment. 

THE CAUSE OF GOD'S ATTENTIVE LEADING. "His mercy endures forever!" (Psalm 136:1) His mercy fixed upon them and chose them for His own. His mercy took charge of them, to conduct them to the promised land. His mercy continued with them, through the whole of the long, tedious, and trying journey. His mercy was glorified in them, in its constancy and power to supply. In His mercy, He led them to try them, to prove them, to humble them, to teach them, and to do them the greatest good. The Lord always makes the world, to be a wilderness to His people. They cannot feel at home in it, nor will it yield them suitable or sufficient supplies. In the wilderness, they learn His ways. They learn to trust in Him, to look to Him, and to expect everything from Him. In the wilderness, He becomes everything to them! 

In the wilderness, He prepares them for 'Canaan'. He weens them from the world, empties them of self, and shows them the insufficiency of all creatures! All who follow the Lord as their leader, arrive safely in their heavenly home. He does not lead them by the shortest way, nor by the easiest way but He leads them in the right way, which is the best way. Following Him, they escape dangers, find supplies, master difficulties, overcome their foes, and arrive with certainty at their journey's end! 

Reader, what is the world to you? Is it a home or a wilderness? What are you in the world? Are you a resident or a stranger and a pilgrim? Is God leading you through it or are you making your home in it? If God is leading you through the wilderness, then do not be surprised if you meet with changes, trials, difficulties, and troubles; they are wilderness fare. If you can make your home in the wilderness, then do not be surprised if you are excluded from the 'Promised Land'. For only those whom God leads through the wilderness, ever arrive safely there! 

[James Smith] 

Psalm 136:16 ...  To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever.

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Keep Me Entirely!!

Oh! divine Redeemer, out of whose inexhaustible fullness I would daily draw a rich supply of grace into my needy soul, be pleased to impart unto me an undivided heart, that to please You may be my greatest happiness, and to promote Your glory my highest honor. 

Preserve me from false motives, from a double mind, and a divided heart. Keep me entirely to Yourself and enable me to crucify every lust which would tempt my heart from You. Enable me by Your grace to walk in one uniform path of holy, childlike obedience. 

When tempted to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, may I keep steadily Your way until when brought before Your throne, I see Your face, behold Your smile, and fall in ecstasy at Your feet, lost in wonder, love, and praise! 

[Thomas Reade]

1 Peter 1:3-5 ... Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

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Just The Facts.

There is a man up in the gallery there, that work as hard as he likes, he cannot earn more than fifteen shillings a week. And here is another man that gets a thousand a year. What is the reason for this? One is born in the palaces of kings, while another draws his first breath in a roofless hovel. What is the reason for this? God's providence! God puts one man in one position, and another man in another. Here is a man whose head cannot hold two thoughts together, do what you will with him. Here is another who can sit down and write a book, and dive into the deepest of questions. What is the reason of it? God has done it. Do you not see the fact that God does not treat every man alike? He has made some eagles, and some worms. Some He has made lions, and some creeping lizards. He has made some men kings, and some are born beggars. Some are born with gigantic minds, and some on the verge of the idiot. Why is this? Do you murmur at God for it? No. You say it is a fact, and there is no good in murmuring. What is the use of kicking against facts? It is only kicking against the pricks with naked feet, and you hurt yourself and not them. 

Well then, election is a positive fact. It is as clear as daylight that God does, in matters of religion, give to one man more than to another. He gives to me opportunities of hearing the Word, which he does not give to the Hottentot. He gives to me parents who, from infancy, trained me in the fear of the Lord. He does not give that to many of you. He places me afterwards in situations where I am restrained from sin. Other men are cast into places where their sinful passions are developed. He gives to one man a disposition which keeps him back from some lust, and to another man He gives such impetuosity of spirit, and depravity turns that impetuosity so much, that the man runs headlong into sin. Again, He brings one man under the sound of a powerful ministry, while another sits and listens to a preacher whose drowsiness is only exceeded by that of his hearers. And even when they are hearing the gospel, the fact is, God works in one heart when He does not in another. 

Though, I believe to a degree, the Spirit works in the hearts of all who hear the Word, so that they are all without excuse yet I am sure He works in some so powerfully, that they can no longer resist Him, but are constrained by His grace to cast themselves at His feet, and confess Him Lord of all. While others resist the grace that comes into their hearts; and it does not act with the same irresistible force that it does in the other case, and they perish in their sins, deservedly and justly condemned. Are not these things facts? Does any man deny them? Can any man deny them? What is the use of kicking against facts? What, then, is the use of our discussing any longer? 

We had better believe it, since it is an undeniable truth. You may alter an opinion, but you cannot alter a fact. You may change a mere doctrine, but you cannot possibly change a thing which actually exists. There it is, God does certainly deal with some men better than He does with others. I will not offer an apology for God. He can explain His own dealings, He needs no defense from me. There stands the fact. Before you begin to argue upon the doctrine just recollect, that whatever you may think about it, you cannot alter it. And however much you may object to it, it is actually true that God did love Jacob, and did not love Esau. 

WHY did God love Jacob? Because of His sovereign grace! There was nothing in Jacob that could make God love him. There was everything about him, that might have made God hate him, as much as He did Esau, and a great deal more. But it was because God was infinitely gracious, that He loved Jacob, and because He was sovereign in His dispensation of this grace, that He chose Jacob as the object of that love. "He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy." And rest assured, the only reason why any of us can hope to be saved is this the sovereign grace of God. There is no reason why I should be saved, or why you should be saved, but God's own merciful heart, and God's own omnipotent will. 

 [Charles H. Spurgeon] 

 Romans 9:15 ... For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

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Knock At Mercy's Gate

 Holy Father, Almighty God,

We feel our weakness, our ignorance, our deep corruptions. We meekly knock at mercy's gate. Regard us in tender love for Jesus' sake. Bend down Your ear and grant Your smile.

We are blind, be our light.  We are ignorant, be our wisdom.  We are steeped in selfishness, pluck all SELF out of us.

In the deep sense of our guilt, we fly for refuge into the wounded side of Jesus!  Be merciful, be merciful unto us whose only hope is in Your unfailing mercy.

Our sins rise higher than the heavens but Your merits in our behalf surpass the very heaven of heavens!

Our unrighteousness would weigh us down to hell but Your glorious righteousness exalts us to Your heavenly throne!

All things in us call for our damnation but all things in You demand our forgiveness.

We appeal, then, from Your throne of perfect justice to Your throne of boundless grace!

Blessed Jesus, we hide ourselves in the sure covert of Your wrath-appeasing wounds!

Grant us to hear Your voice assuring us: that by Your stripes we are healed; that You have been bruised for our iniquities; that You have been made sin for us that we might have Your divine righteousness; and that all our vile and grievous iniquities, are forgiven and buried in the ocean of Your sin-concealing blood!

We are guilty, yet pardoned!  We are lost in ourselves, yet fully saved in You!

Enable us to cling firmly to Your cross even as we now seek safety and repose beneath its sin-atoning shelter!

Let floods of sustaining grace from Your inexhaustible treasury, enrich our poor and weary souls.

If the enemy approaches, quicken our steps to flee into the wounds of Jesus as our sure refuge! Sheltered in the ark of safety, may we cease to tremble at all alarms. May You our good Shepherd lead us this day into the green pastures of His refreshing Word, and cause us to lie down beside the rivers of Your divine comforts.

These prayers we humbly offer in the name of Jesus Christ, and trusting only in His saving merits. Amen.

[Henry Law]

Isaiah 64:6 ... But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

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Solitude Sweetened

 Are believers in the valley of tears? Is their dwelling place Bochim and Baca? Well, God's mercy outstretches all their misery! Promises of grace dispel the mental gloom, and bear away the ponderous loads of grief! The soft handkerchief of love wipes off the furrowing tear! An inspired penman begins the glorious sentence with an unanswerable question. "If God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up to the death for us all, how shall he not also with him give us all things?" (Romans 8:32) Comfort, then; you sons of sorrow; comfort, my soul! There is more in this verse than can be comprehended! And there is more love in the heart of God, than any language, or idiom of speech, can convey to finite creatures!

If, for my sake, he has given his Son, what will he withhold in all the creation? Is his creation the breath of his mouth better to him than his eternal, co-eternal Son? Is the work of his hands dearer to him than his well-beloved bosom Son? And has he given him to the die for you and then will he deny you any necessity? No! He who feeds the soul with heavenly manna will support the body with daily bread! He who gives drink out of the wells of salvation will not fail to afford a cup of cold water! He who has provided a robe of righteousness, to cover the shame of my sin will also give wool in the cold season. He who furnishes my inner man with all the armor of God, will put a covering on my head in the day of battle and war. (At this time the Author had a view of entering into the navy, being time of war, as he did some time after.) He who, in the counsel of peace, from eternity, secured my peace, will also shine upon my path, and decree what shall come to pass. He who has written my name among the living in Jerusalem, will also preserve, (this my faith pleads and expects,) my character, that I shall not shame what I profess in the world. He who has destroyed spiritual death, will also for me un-sting natural death, and spoil the grave of its victory!

Again, how can it be possible that God should give his Son, himself, his all and yet deny me any good thing? Will not he who is to crown me with glory above strengthen me with grace below? Will he not bless me with peace of mind who is to be my peace forever? Triumph, O my faith! all things are Christ's, and Christ is God's! And God, Christ, and all things, are yours! Time is his, and in it I have my years numbered! The air is his, and in it I breathe! The world is his and on it I dwell; its fullness is his and I am fed! Grace is his and in it I stand! Faith is his gift and by it I overcome the world! Tribulations are from him and in them I glory! Perfection is his and towards it I press! Death is his and by it I arrive at home! Heaven is his and there is my mansion! Eternity is his, and there is my treasure and glory forevermore!

[James Meikle]

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The Pouring Forth

Mercy is God's Alpha, justice is His Omega. When God's mercy is despised then His justice takes the throne! God is like a prince, who first hangs out the white flag of mercy; if this wins men they are happy forever! But if they remain rebellious, then God will put forth His red flag of justice and judgment. If His mercy is despised, His justice shall be felt!

God is as just as He is merciful. As the Scriptures portray Him to be a very merciful God, so they portray Him to be a very just God. Witness His casting the angels out of heaven and His binding them in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day.

Witness His turning Adam out of Paradise. Witness His drowning of the old world. Witness His raining hell out of heaven upon Sodom. Witness all the troubles, losses, sicknesses, and diseases, which are in the world. Witness His treasuring up of wrath against the day of wrath. But above all, witness the pouring forth of all His wrath upon His bosom Son, when Jesus bore the sins of His people, and cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me!"

As I know not the man who can reckon up his mercies; so I know not the man who can sum up the miseries which are coming upon him for his sins. God is slow to anger but He recompenses His slowness with grievousness of punishment. If we abuse His mercy to serve our lust then He will rain hell out of heaven, rather than not visit for such sins.

Men shall be deeper in hell, because heaven was offered unto them and they abused God's mercy. Sins against God's mercy, will bring upon the soul the greatest misery!

[Thomas Brooks]

Psalm 101:1 … I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.

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Of Affliction ...

Nothing can render affliction so insupportable as the load of sin; would you, therefore, be fitted for afflictions, be sure to get the burden of your sins laid aside; and then what afflictions so ever you may meet with will be very easy to you.

If you can hear and bear the rod of affliction which God shall lay upon you, remember this lesson, you are beaten that you may be better.  The Lord uses his flail of tribulation to separate the chaff from the wheat.

The school of the cross is the school of light, it discovers the world's vanity, baseness, and wickedness, and lets us see more of God's mind. Out of dark affliction, comes a spiritual light.  In times of affliction, we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God.

Did we heartily renounce the pleasures of this world, we would be very little troubled for our afflictions; that which renders an afflicted state so insupportable to many, is because they are too much addicted to the pleasures of this life, and so cannot endure that which makes a separation between them.

[John Bunyan]

2 Corinthians 4:17 … For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;❤

Justice and Mercy!

The salvation of sinners by the substitutionary death of Christ, gives the brightest display of the perfections of God; and particularly of those which belong to Him, as the Supreme Ruler of the moral world. Justice and mercy, duly tempered, and exercised with wisdom is a summary of those virtues which belong to a good ruler. Now these are most illustriously displayed in a happy union in Christ crucified. Justice shines brighter in the cross than if every sin had been punished upon offenders, without any mercy!

Mercy shines brighter in the cross than if every sin had been pardoned, and every sinner made happy, without any execution of justice. Mercy appears in turning the divine heart with such a strong propensity upon the salvation of sinners! Justice appears in that when the heart of God was so much set upon it yet He would not save them without a complete satisfaction to His justice.

Mercy appears in providing such a Savior! Justice appears in inflicting the punishment due to sin upon Him, without abatement; though He loved Him more than the whole universe of creatures!

Mercy appears in transferring the guilt from the sinner upon the Surety, and accepting a vicarious satisfaction! Justice appears in exacting the satisfaction, and not passing by sin, when it was imputed to the darling Son of God.

Mercy appears in pardoning and saving guilty sinners! Justice appears in punishing their sin!

Mercy appears in justifying them though destitute of all personal merit and righteousness! Justice appears in justifying them only and entirely on account of the merit and righteousness of Christ!

Mercy appears in providing a Savior of such infinite dignity! Justice appears in refusing satisfaction from an inferior person!

Mercy appears in forgiving sin! Justice appears in not forgiving so much as one sin without a sufficient atonement!

Mercy, rich, free mercy towards the sinner! Justice, strict, inexorable justice towards the Surety!

In short, mercy and justice, as it were, walk hand in hand through every step of this amazing scheme of salvation by the substitutionary atonement of Christ! God pardons and saves the sinner and yet condemns and punishes his sin! Though innumerable multitudes of rebels are pardoned yet not one of them is pardoned until their rebellion is punished according to its demerit in the person of the Surety! The precept of the divine law, which they had broken was perfectly obeyed. The penalty which they had incurred was fully endured and paid, indeed not by themselves but by their divine substitute. Hence the divine law is magnified, and made honorable, and the rights of government are preserved sacred and inviolable and yet the sinful rebels are set free, and advanced to the highest honors and blessedness!

God brings the greatest good out of the greatest evil! God pardons and saves the sinner and yet condemns and punishes his sin! God gives the brightest display of His justice in the freest exercise of His mercy! God gives the richest discovery of His mercy in the most rigorous execution of His justice! God magnifies His law in justifying those who had broken it! God reveals the utmost hatred against sin in showing the highest love to the sinner! What an astonishing God-like scheme is this! 

What a stupendous display of the infinite wisdom of God!

[Samuel Davies]

Psalm 85:10 … Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

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Matchless Exhibition

If you desire to see the most dreadful specimen of God's wrath, I ask you to come with me now, to a place called Calvary. I want you to gather together on that little spot just outside the city, and see such a sight as Moses never saw when he beheld the bush burning. I want you to see on Calvary, the Lord making Himself known by the judgment which He executes.

Who is that upon the tree in agonies and blood? The answer is, Jehovah's Son! What, His beloved Son? Yes, His beloved and only Son. But mark His agony. Do you see that ashen face, furrowed deep, turned up to Heaven? Do you hear that anguished cry that seems to pierce the clouds, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' (Matthew 27:46)

When the Lord looked at the adorable Jesus, He saw in Him not only His own Son but the sinner's substitute. He saw on Him my accursed sins, He saw yours also! And oh, solemn truth, although the Substitute was His own Son, He would not, He could not spare the blow! That heaving bosom of His beloved Son, was made the sheath of the sword of His inflexible justice!

God must un-deify himself, before He can wink at sin or fail in the execution of His threatened wrath against iniquity. He must cease to be the Holy One, before mercy can ride rough-shod over justice and truth. But righteousness and mercy, truth and peace all meet in the sin-atoning sacrifice.

'The Lord is known by His judgment which He executes.' Above all, by His judgment of sin at Calvary!

Oh, am I speaking to any who imagine sin to be a trifle? I beg you to measure sin by the woes of Christ! If you think that iniquity is but a small thing, understand that iniquity can only be understood as it is measured by the agonies of a dying God. Probe those wounds and fathom that depth of anguish if you can. Tell me how hot the fire burned within that loving heart; and when you have told me that you have told me how much God hates sin!

While Calvary is the most matchless exhibition of mercy, it is also the most dreadful exhibition of holy wrath! In one and the same person, and at one and the same time there is illimitable love to the sinner, and there is illimitable hatred to his sin. Go to Calvary, not to Sinai, to learn how much God abhors this accursed thing, sin!

[Archibald Brown]

Psalm 9:16 …  The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.❤

Everything On This Side of Hell

Oh! labor every day to be more humble and more low and little in your own eyes. "Who am I," says the humble soul "to complain of trials. I am not worthy of the least mercy, I deserve not a crumb of mercy, I have forfeited every mercy!"  It is only pride that puts men upon complaining and contending with God.

A humble soul will lie quiet at the foot of God; it will be contented with bare necessities. A dinner of green herbs is relished to the humble man's palate; whereas a stalled ox is but a coarse dish to a proud man's stomach.

A humble heart looks upon small mercies as great mercies; and great afflictions as small afflictions; and small afflictions as no afflictions; and therefore sits mute and quiet under all.  Do but keep humble, and you will keep silent before the Lord.

Pride kicks, and grumbles, and frets but a humble man has still his hand upon his mouth. Everything on this side Hell is mercy much mercy, rich mercy to a humble soul; and therefore he remains mute under God's smarting rod.

[Thomas Brooks]

Psalm 39:9 … I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.

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Great Mercy

His mercy is so great, that it forgives great sins to great sinners after great lengths of time and then gives great favors and great privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great Heaven of the great God!

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

Psalm 103:11 ... For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

Psalm 145:8 ...  The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.

Ephesians 2:4-5 ... But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)❤

Substantial Happiness

O what a mercy to be persuaded that whatever may be our circumstances, God is with us, directing and overruling the whole for our good and for His own glory. To know that He is ours and that we are His. To draw near in faith, telling Him all that is in our hearts, conscious of having the ear and heart of Jehovah towards us. Is not this true, substantial happiness?

[Mary Winslow]

Hebrews 10:22 ... Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.



Romans 8:28 ... And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Song of Solomon 2:16 ... My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.❤