Oh My Goodness – Mercy/ Grace
Sept 19, 2021
Life is hard, God is good
God’s goodness is generous
God’s goodness conveys His generosity. His goodness means far more than His generosity, but it certainly includes His infinitely generous attitude toward us. By nature, He longs to bring joy and blessing to all His creatures. David Jeremiah
This is one of the main messages of Ps. 23 Summary at the end of the Psalm
Ps. 23:6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.
Ps. 23:1-3 The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.
Ps. 23:4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.
Ps. 23:5-6 My cup overflows with blessings Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life
We can easily become habituated to God’s goodness
God created wonders so we would Wonder
God give me ears to hear and eyes to see
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34
And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord: “For He is good, for His mercy endures forever Ezra 3:11
God is generously good in his mercy
Mercy = having the right/opportunity to do punish, but deferring it
God is the judge of everyone
The trouble is that one part of you is on His side and really agrees with His disapproval of human greed and trickery and exploitation. You may want Him to make an exception in your own case, to let you off this one time; but you know at bottom that unless the power behind the world really and unalterably detests that sort of behaviour, then He cannot be good. On the other hand, we know that if there does exist an absolute goodness it must hate what we do. That is the terrible fix we are in. … We cannot do without it, and we cannot do with it. C.S. Lewis
God’s anger and judgement is an expression of his justice and love
Rom. 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts
God hands people over to their own self-destructive
We don’t fully get the good news until to fully understand the bad news.
Lam. 3:22-23 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Titus 3:5he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.
“God just waits for His people to demonstrate that we really mean business. When we come to Him in true repentance, His mercy will just overflow us like the waves of the sea, because He is rich in mercy.” David Jeremiah
“Mercy is not something God owes to us—by definition mercy cannot be owed—but is something God extends in kindness and grace to those who do not deserve it.” Tim Challies
Oh My Goodness
God’s goodness is extravagant in mercy to all who turn to him
