New Mercies

What is mercy? How do we get it? Why does it matter? Listen in and find out. 

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Father God, in the name of Jesus, we come before you this afternoon just to say thank you, Lord. Thank you that you have allowed us that you have allowed us once again, Lord, to come before you and to serve you. We thank you for all that are here. We thank you for each person that's represented, each family that's represented by those that are here. We ask that you be with them. Lord, we know that they're sick among us. We call the name of Sister Mrs. Eloise Wilson on today. Lord, if it be your will, heal her body and strengthen her. We call the name of the Williams family, Lord. They're still bereaving and mourning for Brother Joe Williams. So we we ask that you be with that bereaving family. Lord, we ask for your health and well-being for Sister Carolyn Cohen, Sister Loretta Kite, and Brother Lawrence Williams. We lift up prayers for our school children on today, Lord, and for their safety, for the teachers, administrators, bus drivers, lunch room workers, custodians, and the staff that serve our future generations. Be with them, Lord. Put your arms of protection around them here locally and all over this country and world. We need you, Lord, to protect our children. We ask that you be with our government leaders, all elected officials. Help them be mindful that they are God's workers and their agenda is not their own, Lord, but it is yours. We thank you, Lord, for what you're doing in the midst of all of us. We ask now that you would allow your Holy Spirit to come into this place. Please, Lord, to teach us, to lead us, to guide us, to inspire us, to show us the way. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen on today, everybody. And our lesson today, our scripture comes from the book of Lamentations. Lamentations chapter 3, verses 22 and 23. And this is what it says. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I'd like to use for a subject for this noonday hour new mercies. New mercies. In this Christian journey, we often refer to the twins grace and mercy. We know that it is by God's grace through faith that we are saved. But you may ask, what exactly is mercy? Mercy is God's gift of undeserved kindness as He compassionately withholds punishment from us that we rightly deserve. He holds back, He doesn't punish us, but He gives us undeserved kindness. The Bible records when people were struck down, and it could be very well have been one of us, be one of us today. There were people in the Bible that were struck down dead because of unrighteous acts. The Bible records in Leviticus ten, Aaron's sons were killed because of offering God strange fire during an unauthorized burning of incense. In Numbers eleven, God sent a plague and struck down a great multitude of people for complaining about their food while the food was still in their mouths. What about us? Don't we complain? In Second Samuel, God struck down Uzzah for touching the Ark of the Covenant to steady it. We're not to touch the Ark, they were not to touch it, and they knew disobedience. And in Acts two, God struck down Ananias and Sapphira for lying to the Holy Spirit about property they had sold. And how many times do we trespass? Things like calling the Lord's name in vain, telling lies, withholding from God thanksgiving and praise that He so rightly deserves? How many times have we not forgiven our brother or sister and so many other sinful acts that we commit daily, and yet God does not strike us down when he justifiably could. Our God is patient and kind. He gives us time and more time, again and again to get ourselves together. He gives us chance after chance to get it right, while meanwhile he holds back our punishment, holds back what we deserve to get for what we have done. What a mighty God we serve. The song says angels bow before him, heaven and earth adore him. What a mighty God we serve. I don't know about you, but I need God's patience because I can be a very slow learner at times. Some things on this Christian journey are just hard to do. Then there are other things that are hard not to do. And then it takes decision making, good decision making, and sometimes it's a hard thing to know right from wrong what things to do. So I appreciate God's mercy. Because of the sins of the people, we see that in the Old Testament there was a chest known as the Ark of the Covenant. And on top of there was a lid that covered it, known as the mercy seat. The mercy seat was made of pure gold with two golden angels at each end facing each other with their wings outstretched to cover the lid of the covenant of the Ark of the Covenant. And inside the ark, inside that chest were two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments, the law that was given to Moses, which condemned all types of sin, along with the golden pot of manna and Aaron's rod. But the mercy seat, you see, was on top, because it was the place where the people's sin was covered and where atonement was made. Because once a year the high priest would enter the holy of holies, that place in the temple which was behind the sacred curtain. And he would sprinkle the blood of a sin offering onto the mercy seat to make atonement for the people. So by placing the mercy seat with the blood on top of the law, the law underneath it, being covered. This was done to symbolize God's mercy and how it triumphs over judgment. This was a foreshadowing of Jesus coming, who would be our kind of mercy seat. Today we don't have the Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments inside and the mercy seat on top so that the priest or the pastor, the reverend could sprinkle blood of sacrificial lamb on top to atone for our sins. No, today Jesus represents that for all of us. And I don't know about you, but every time I think about the fact that I don't have to go to church carrying a perfect innocent animal to be slaughtered on behalf of my sin. No priest has to drip blood on the mercy seat for me, that Jesus Himself is my sacrificial lamb. I am eternally grateful. I am grateful, and my soul cries out, hallelujah! Glory to God. So in this book of lamentations today that our scripture talks about, we see that the prophet Jeremiah was lamenting and grieving over the destruction of Jerusalem and the devastation of his nation. He was crying out aloud, weeping, because the life as he knew it was now changed forever. The great temple that Solomon built was destroyed. The city was destroyed, and the people were taken into exile. But a funny thing happens. Right in the middle of this book, right when Jeremiah is in the depths of despair, there shines a ray of hope. Jeremiah thinks on the goodness of God and remembers his compassion and his mercy. Cece Wynan sings a song entitled The Goodness of God. She says, I love you, Lord, for your mercy never fails me. All my days I've been held in your arms from the moment that I wake up until I lay my head. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. Because all my life you have been faithful. All my life you have been so, so good with every breath that I am able. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. And I feel that same way. I love that song because it echoes just what I feel. So today, as we look around and we see all the evil of our world, as we hear about rising costs, and we know that gas prices are going up. We see friends and family struggling, struggling to make ends meet. We see people that have had have been devastated in one way or the other. Fires, storms, wars. Many are sick among us. The news is bad. Husbands and wives are rising up against one another, killing one another, children killing parents, parents killing children. We ourselves are struggling with one thing or another. The news is bad. And if we focus on that, we will fail. We will fall ourselves into the depths of despair. But like Jeremiah, we can have hope because of three things. God loves us, God will never abandon us, and God is preparing a great future for us. First, God loves us. Romans 5 and 8 says, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So God didn't wait on us to cry out. He knew what we needed and he provided it. There's a song we used to sing called Jesus Can Work It Out. It says that problem that I had, I just couldn't seem to solve it. But I turned it over to the Lord and He worked it out. That's what we need to do. Turn it over to the Lord. He says his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Bring all our cares to him. Another song says, while we're trying to figure it out, figure it out, God has worked it out. Remember, nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. And if God is for us, who can ever be against us? Nothing can come against us unless God allows it. Not the president, not our boss, not our neighbor, governor, not our enemy of any kind. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. God loves us. And the second thing is God will never abandon us. God will fight our battles. Deacon Chance used to sing, he's a battle axe in the time of the battle. He's shelter in the time of a storm. When you consider the great giant Goliath, great in terms of size, that is, him fighting against the young boy David, who was much shorter, smaller, much weaker. And yet Goliath fell from one smooth stone hurled at him by the boy David. And then David ran to him, pulled the giant's own sword from out of his sheep, and cut the giant's head off. David cut the enemy's head off with the enemy's own sword. How? Because God was with him. Remember the gallows, the wooden stake, the lynching tree that Haman had built for Mordecai? To execute Mordecai the Jew on? Not because Mordecai had done anything, but just because Haman hated Mordecai and all the Jews, and he wanted to make an example of Mordecai and then execute them all. Well, they prayed to God. The Lord will fight your battles. He will never leave you nor forsake you. And then the third and final thing is that God is preparing a great future for us. Let's not ever forget that this world is not our home. We are just pilgrims passing through. God is preparing a place for us, a mansion, a city not made by man's hands, where the streets are paved with gold, where every day will be like Sunday with no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more tears, no more pain, no more death. We will all get new resurrected and glorified bodies. No more pain, no more suffering, no cancer, no heart disease, no diabetes. Everyone will be at peace. This is the future we have to look forward to. So let's not get discouraged. Let's not give up hope. But until then, my brothers and sisters, right here, right now, God is still merciful. He gives us a fresh start, new mercies every day. He loves us. He never abandons us. And while we are yet here on earth, he is preparing for our future with him. So chin up. Despite what you might be going through, it is only temporary, and it does not compare to what is to come. Enjoy the new mercies of each day, here and now, and know that there is even better yet to come. God bless you. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for the reminder that we walk by faith and not by sight, not by looking around and seeing all the bad and the evil in our world. But Lord, we know you have our best interest at heart. We know that you're in control of all things. And even though we see and we understand that this is just temporary, we live in it right now, Lord. But we have the faith to know that you will take care of us because you love us, you will never abandon us, and that you're constantly weaving good into our lives, new mercies every day. And we just say thank you, Lord. We thank you that the sun is able to shine every day, the moon at night. We thank you for the stars that you place in the sky. We thank you for food on our table and clothes on our back. We thank you, Lord, that you woke us up this morning. We thank you that you woke us up this morning. Lord, we thank you. We thank you for all things. Because we know that all good and pleasant things come from you. We thank you, Lord, that you're helping us to be salt and light in this world that we may be witnesses of you to those around us. So help us now, Lord, be encouraged to know you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen, everybody. I thank you for being with us on today to hear this sermon entitled New Mercies. I thank you each and every Friday that you join us. And I ask you to please share the link with someone else that they might enjoy inspiration on a Friday as well. Now let us repeat our benediction. Now unto him who's able to keep us from falling, present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power, both now and forevermore. Let us all say Amen. Now go and be great for God and go to church on Sunday. God bless you.