Exploring His

Excellencies

He is Merciful
John Isaacs
June 28, 2009
Kingsway Community Church
 What is
God like?
Who is
God is who the
Bible (in its
totality)
reveals Him to
The Bible Reveals
God To Be …
1. Good
2. Powerful
3. Wise
4. Eternal
5. Holy
6. Just
 Justice
When a person
receives
what is due.
 Justice
Whatever God
wills is Just.
 Just
• He is originally just.
It begins with Him.
• He is essentially just.
It is His nature.
• He is infinitely just.
You can’t measure His holiness.
• He is immutably just.
He has never been more or less.
1 Peter 4:5
But remember that they
will have to face God,
who will judge everyone,
both the living and the
dead.
Judgment
God distributes
rewards and
punishments.
Job 37:23
We cannot imagine the
power of the Almighty;
but even though He
is just and righteous,
He does not destroy us.
Lamentations 3:21-23
But this I call to mind, and
therefore I have hope: The
steadfast love of the LORD
never ceases; His mercies
never come to an end; they are
new every morning; great is
your faithfulness.
 God
is
Merciful
 Mercy
Not receiving
the punishment
we deserve.
 Mercy
The
compassionate
outward
manifestation
 Mercy
Doesn’t consider
what a man
deserves but looks
at what he needs.
Exodus 34:1-10
1
The LORD said to Moses, "Cut
for yourself two tablets of stone
like the first, and I will write on
the tablets the words that were
on the first tablets, which you
broke. Be ready by the
2

morning, and come up in

Exodus 34:1-10 cont.
the morning to Mount Sinai, and
present yourself there to me on
the top of the mountain. No
3

one shall come up with you,

and let no one be seen
throughout all the mountain. Let
no flocks or herds graze
Exodus 34:1-10 cont.
opposite that mountain." So
4

Moses cut two tablets of stone

like the first. And he rose early
in the morning and went up on
Mount Sinai, as the LORD had
commanded him, and took in
his hand two tablets of
Exodus 34:1-10 cont.
stone. The LORD descended in
5

the cloud and stood with him

there, and proclaimed the name
of the LORD. The LORD
6

passed before him and

proclaimed, "The LORD, the
LORD, a God merciful and
Exodus 34:1-10 cont.
gracious, slow to anger, and
abounding in steadfast love
and faithfulness, keeping
7

steadfast love for thousands,

forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin, but
who will by no means clear the
Exodus 34:1-10 cont.
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers on the children and the
children’s children, to the third
and the fourth generation.”
8
And Moses quickly bowed his
head toward the earth and
worshiped. And he said,
9
Exodus 34:1-10 cont.
"If now I have found favor in
your sight, O Lord, please let
the Lord go in the midst of us,
for it is a stiff-necked people,
and pardon our iniquity and our
sin, and take us for your
inheritance."
God Reveals Himself
1. Merciful and Gracious
2. Slow to Anger
3. Abounding in Steadfast
Love and Faithfulness
4. Unwavering Love
5. Forgiving Iniquity,
Transgression and Sin
Abounding in Steadfast Love
and Faithfulness

Un
er
g

w
An

av
er
to

in
w

g
o

Lo
Sl

ve
Merc ng I ni q ui t y,
and G iful Forgivi n d Sin
sio n , a
racio
us Transgres
Exodus 34:7
But who will by no means
clear the guilty, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers on the
children and the children’s
children, to the third and the
fourth generation.
Joel 2:12-13
12
"Yet even now," declares the
LORD, "return to Me with all
your heart, with fasting, with
weeping, and with mourning;
13
and rend your hearts and not
your garments.“ Return to the
LORD your God, for He is
Joel 2:12-13 (cont.)
gracious and merciful, slow to
anger, and abounding in
steadfast love; and he relents
over disaster.
Jonah 3:10 – 4:2
When God saw what they did,
10

how they turned from their evil

way, God relented of the
disaster that he had said he
would do to them, and he did
not do it. But it displeased
4:1

Jonah exceedingly, and he was

Jonah 3:10 – 4:2 cont
angry. And he prayed to the
2

LORD and said, "O LORD, is

not this what I said when I was
yet in my country? That is why I
made haste to flee to Tarshish;
for I knew that you are a
gracious God and merciful,
Jonah 3:10 – 4:2 cont
slow to anger and abounding in
steadfast love, and relenting
from disaster.
Forgiveness
1. God’s mercy is for
the repentant.
2. God’s judgment is
for the unrepentant.
 Grace
Receiving a
reward that we
didn’t earn.
Eph. 2:4-7
4
But God, who is rich in
mercy, because of His
great love with which He
loved us, even when we
5

were dead in trespasses,

made us alive together with
Eph. 2:4-7 (cont)
Christ (by grace you have
been saved), and
6

raised us up together, and

made us sit together in the
heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, that in the ages to
7
Eph. 2:4-7 (cont)
come He might show the
exceeding riches of His
grace in His kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus.
Abounding in Steadfast Love
and Faithfulness

Jesus

Un
er
g

w
An

av
er
to

in
Christ
w

g
o

Lo
Sl

ve
Merc ng I ni q ui t y,
and G iful Forgivi n d Sin
sio n , a
racio
us Transgres
We are to be
gracious and
merciful to
others.
Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall receive mercy.
James 2:13
For judgment is without
mercy to one who has
shown no mercy. Mercy
triumphs over judgment.
 Showing Mercy
1. Gracious and kind to the
downtrodden.
2. Giving to those in need.
3. Praying for the lost.
4. Sharing the “Good
News” about the love of
Christ.