The Lord Has Shown You Mercy (Romans 5:6-10)

I. Introduction. A. Orientation. Its clear by now That God saved you That you might become like Him That you might reflect His nature Or, which is the same thing, That you might become like His Son.

Paul says you have been predestined To become conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). Thats not something He means to happen When you die But something He begins in this life And completes in the next.

He wants it to begin here So that He might make you a living testimony To the fact that His Gospel is true. He gave you His Spirit To make you more like Him

2 To prove its true. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35).

Thats also why it shouldnt be surprising That when the Lord looks For someone to use His eyes light on those of you Who have made progress.

The more you are like Him, The more you stand out, The more He will use you; And the more He uses you, The more your life will be fulfilled, And the more you will be rewarded in the end.

If thats what you want And all of you who are believers do Then you need to pay attention To what He says Hes looking for in you.

B. Preview. What else, then, can we learn About what catches His eye?

Today, were going to consider That Hes looking for someone Who is willing to show mercy. This is another way You are to reflect His image.

This morning, Well look at the mercy He has shown you. This evening, Well consider that He wants you To show the same mercy to others.

Lets focus first on the mercy Hes shown you By looking at two things: 1. What you deserved. 2. But what the Lord gave you instead. II. Sermon. A. First, what did you deserve? You deserved nothing more or less Than what your condition demanded.

1. What was your condition?

a. Paul says first, you were helpless (v. 6). The word means weak or sick,

It means you were unable To do anything to help yourself. Hes not talking about Your physical condition, But your spiritual condition.

You were in trouble But you were completely helpless To do anything about it You werent even able To reach out And take the spiritual medicine He offered, Because you were unwilling.

b. Why were you so helpless? Because, Paul says second, You were ungodly (v. 6).

He means that God Was the last thing on your list of priorities: You werent concerned about Him, You didnt want to know Him personally, Or even to learn about Him Even though you knew very well

5 That He made you And had cared for you Your entire life You certainly werent interested In joining with a church And worshiping Him, Or living the kind of life That would please Him.

This is simply to say You were rebellious You had no interest in God Or in His plan for you.

c. And why was that? Because Paul says third, You were a sinner (v. 8).

You had a sinful heart. Perhaps he has in view here The fact that you bore The guilt of Adams sin That sin he committed When he stood for you in the garden And failed the test God gave him

By rebelling against His command Not to eat of that tree.

But he certainly has in view The corruption that was in your heart As a result of that sin. You were helpless and ungodly Because you had a rotten heart You hated God.

d. Thats why Paul says, fourth, You were His enemy (v. 10).

Most Christians today dont believe this Usually because theyre not taught this But you were at war with God, And He was at war with you.

The usual characterization That God loved you And had a wonderful plan for your life Simply wasnt true At least at one level Though it is true That if you are a believer now,

He did love you And had a plan to save you.

But it also wasnt true That you had a desire In your heart for God Some goodness left over from the Fall That gave you the power/ability To reach out to God And receive His kind offer Of salvation in Jesus Christ. You hated God Thats all that was in your heart Regardless of what you might have thought.

And He hated you, Because you were wicked. If you have any questions about this, Consider Psalm 5:5, The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. When you hated God You hated His ways And all you did was iniquity.

8 2. You were ungodly, sinful and so Gods enemy. And so what did you deserve? Paul says, Gods wrath (v. 9).

God is holy; He is just. He cant just ignore sin And pretend it didnt happen. He has to bring every sin into judgment.

And what does every sin deserve, Even the least sin? It deserves infinite punishment Because its committed Against His infinite majesty. It deserves Gods wrath.

Thats what you deserved Because you were guilty Of Adams sin, And of all the sins you committed From the time you entered this world Until now.

You would have deserved it

9 For no other reason Than that you hated God, Because thats also sinful And offensive to God.

What this means Is that you deserved hell Thats what His wrath is. You deserved To suffer there for an eternity To be roasted alive In that eternal furnace.

Because you can never suffer enough You must suffer forever.

B. But now, the point Paul is making is this: This is what you deserved, But this isnt what God gave you. He showed you mercy.

1. He didnt leave you To die in your sins And agonize for all eternity. He sent His Son

10 The One He loves more than any other To save you.

And Jesus showed you mercy By being willing to come Obey for you, And die for you (vv. 6-8), So that He could justify you Make you righteous in Gods eyes (v. 9).

Because God is holy Because He loves what is right And hates what is evil so strongly He cant let a sinner into heaven. Habakkuk writes, Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and you cannot look on wickedness with favor (1:13). He will only let Those who are perfect in. But who is perfect? Are you perfect? No.

Theres only One who is, And thats Jesus. Hes the only One The Father could let into heaven

11 Because Hes the only One Who loved Him with a perfect heart And showed that He did By doing only the things That pleased Him.

The Father will let Him in Because He alone is just. But heres where The Father shows you His mercy: He will not only let the Son in, But everyone who trusts His Son To get them in as well.

Jesus didnt do what He did Just for Himself, He did it for you, As your representative At least He did, If youve trusted Him And turned from your sins.

Just as Adam represented you And condemned you in the garden Through His sin,

12

Jesus represented you, And saved you Through His obedience. Not only that He also keeps you saved By His continuing work in heaven, So that you will never perish (John 10:28).

2. But again, dont forget your condition When He set out to save you. You were helpless, ungodly, sinful and His enemy. You were not good.

How many of you Would be willing to lay down your life For someone who is good? If someone is important enough to you, If you love them enough Such as your children, Or your spouse, Or your parents You will.

But how many of you would do this

13 For someone that hated you, Or had done many things To offend and hurt you? How many of you would be willing To do this for your enemy? None of you would Apart from Gods grace.

But God would. He was infinitely offended By your hatred and sins against Him, But yet He was willing To give what was most precious to Him To reconcile you, To bring you into His family, And to bring you safely to heaven. He didnt give you the hell you deserved, He gave you heaven instead. This is mercy.

3. Why does God want you to know this? a. For one thing, So you can appreciate What He has done for you.

14

You werent just a notch below perfect. Jesus didnt just give you A little nudge to push you over the hump. You were a helpless, ungodly, sinner. You would have roasted in hell forever. But God had mercy on you.

You have to see this, Before youll ever be as thankful As you should be.

b. But second, You need to understand it Because God calls you To follow His example And the example His Son gave you: He wants you To show mercy to others. Thats what were going To consider this evening.

The more you understand His mercy The more is should move you To show mercy.

15 And the more you show mercy, The more God will see you, Use you for His glory, And reward you in heaven. So come back this evening To be encouraged to excel more In this gracious characteristic. Amen. http://www.graceopcmodesto.org