Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Yeah. So in February last year, Natalia had to travel to Johannesburg with her dad after doctors in Zimbabwe had died that said that he needed a single stent after suffering a minor heart attack.
[00:00:16] And once I arrived in South Africa, further tests revealed that he actually needed a quadruple bypass.
[00:00:24] So having lost my own father to cancer, I felt that I needed to travel to Johannesburg and support my wife.
[00:00:34] And when I walked into that hotel room, hospital room, I saw my father in law after open heart surgery connected to all those machines, all those pipes coming out of his mouth.
[00:00:53] My own heart sank.
[00:00:55] And in that moment, I was immediately reminded of my own father and the fear of losing him.
[00:01:05] So fear gripped me and my thoughts immediately turned to my wife and I began repeatedly praying, Lord have mercy.
[00:01:16] Lord have mercy on Natalia and Lord save her father.
[00:01:25] And on that Sunday, Natalia and I were honoured enough to attend a 412 church in Benoni which is led by Ryan Kingsley. And on that, on that Sunday morning, Ryan preached a message on God's mercy.
[00:01:42] And that message has stuck with me and stayed with me ever since.
[00:01:48] And since that day, I have seen God's mercy at work in countless lives and situations.
[00:01:59] There are many things that we think we need and there are many things, many prayers that we will pray.
[00:02:05] But perhaps the greatest prayer we could ever ask is lord, have mercy.
[00:02:16] The question for us today is, are we praying that prayer?
[00:02:19] Are we regularly asking God for His mercy?
[00:02:26] What's happened?
[00:02:30] That question naturally leads to Scripture.
[00:02:34] And before we can actually ask God for His mercy, we must first understand who God really is.
[00:02:42] And David paints this picture in Psalm 89:14 in the New King James Version, where he says, righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. And thank God it doesn't end there.
[00:02:56] It goes on to say, mercy and truth go before your face.
[00:03:03] So the Israelites understood God as both judge and king, and his throne was established on righteousness and justice. Therefore, God could not overlook sin, he could not excuse evil, and he could not compromise his holiness.
[00:03:22] Yet David reveals something so remarkable.
[00:03:27] Righteousness and justice is the foundation of God's throne.
[00:03:33] Yet mercy and truth go before his face.
[00:03:38] So in other words, when people encounter God, they encounter his mercy.
[00:03:43] And throughout Scripture, whenever people encountered God in their time of need, there was one continual cry that arose. Lord, have mercy.
[00:03:53] Lord have mercy was a shout of a blind man sitting on a roadside with nothing to lose.
[00:04:00] Lord, have mercy was what ten numb lepers cried from a distance, energized with the hope of new life.
[00:04:08] Lord, have mercy was the position of A foreign Canaanite woman when she wanted Jesus to heal her suffering daughter.
[00:04:18] Lord, have mercy was the plea of King David in times of fear and moments when he bordered on insanity and at points when he put his kingdom at risk. This man, after God's own heart, ask for mercy more than anyone in the Bible.
[00:04:38] Lord, have mercy was one of the most prayed prayers in the Bible. And get this, there is not one time in the Bible where God denies that request.
[00:04:51] What is mercy?
[00:04:54] What is mercy?
[00:04:55] According to the Oxford Dictionary, mercy is compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to forgive, sorry, to punish, or to harm. Let me say that again. It's compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.
[00:05:20] And this is exactly what God does.
[00:05:23] Because God is just, we deserve judgment. But because God is merciful, he offers forgiveness.
[00:05:33] Justice gives us what we deserve and mercy withholds what we deserve.
[00:05:42] So God is both perfectly just and perfectly merciful. So why do we need mercy in the first place? Well, because the Bible teaches us that all humanity stand guilty before our holy God.
[00:05:58] And in Romans 3, verse 9 to 18 in the NLT version, it says, well, then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others?
[00:06:08] No, not at all. For we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scripture says, no one is righteous, not even one.
[00:06:21] No one is seeking God. All have turned away. All have become useless. No one does good. Not a single one. They talk is foul, like the stench of an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies. Snake venom drips from their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. They rush to commit murder. Destruction and misery always follows him.
[00:06:48] They do not know where to find peace.
[00:06:50] They have no fear of God at all.
[00:06:57] Now, having seen our true condition before God, we begin to understand why mercy is our greatest need.
[00:07:07] So here's the thing.
[00:07:09] Justice and mercy travel on the same road.
[00:07:14] But mercy goes further.
[00:07:16] And the most dangerous prayer we could ever pray is, lord, give me justice.
[00:07:22] Because if we receive perfect justice, none of us could stand before a holy God.
[00:07:29] And instead, the prayer of every believer should be, lord, give me mercy.
[00:07:36] The greatest display of God's mercy came through Jesus Christ at the cross where God's justice and mercy met.
[00:07:49] God remained just because punishment, sin, was punished.
[00:07:55] And God remained merciful because Jesus took that punishment in our place.
[00:08:03] But God's mercy did not begin at the cross.
[00:08:08] Right throughout Scripture, God always reveals himself as merciful and Long before Calvary, when Moses wanted to know who God really was, he prayed, lord, tell me your name. Tell me who you are. I want to know you. I want to really get to know who you are, God.
[00:08:27] And in Exodus 34. Six in the NLT.
[00:08:35] Okay, I'll read.
[00:08:37] Says the Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out yahweh, the Lord, the God of compassion and mercy. I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
[00:08:55] We live in a world obsessed with fairness.
[00:08:59] And from childhood, we always hear, it's not fair.
[00:09:12] And as adults, we continue saying, it's not fair that I lost my job.
[00:09:18] It's not fair that others are being blessed more than me. It's not fair that their family.
[00:09:25] It's not fair that my family is facing this or that.
[00:09:28] But Scripture teaches us something so meaningful.
[00:09:32] Our starting point should not be entitlement.
[00:09:36] It should be mercy.
[00:09:39] And if we truly understand our condition before a holy God, we will stop saying, lord, give me justice, and start thanking God for his mercy.
[00:09:53] We often forget how much mercy we've already received. And the greatest miracle in our lives is not financial breakthrough breakthrough. It's not the healing which we're seeing among us every single week. It's not promotion. It's not that new job you just got. It's not success. The greatest mercy that God has ever shown us is forgiving our sins through Jesus Christ.
[00:10:19] Every other mercy flows from that mercy.
[00:10:24] And just for the record, the only truly unfair thing that ever happened was was that the innocent son of God suffered for guilty sinners like us.
[00:10:34] And because of Christ, mercy triumphs over judgment.
[00:10:41] Yet, as humans, when tragedy strikes, our perspective changes.
[00:10:48] And when our son Ethan was very young, he was diagnosed with itp. Now, bear with me. I'm going to try and say this.
[00:10:55] Idiopathic thrombocytopenic porpora. And there was every temptation to say, lord, why us? And I'm sure I even said, lord, this isn't fair.
[00:11:06] But mercy should change that question. And instead, in those situations, our prayer should be, lord, you have already shown me mercy through Jesus Christ.
[00:11:18] Show me mercy one more time in this situation.
[00:11:23] And if mercy becomes the lens through which we view life, it should also shape how we respond to life's challenges.
[00:11:34] So are you facing sickness?
[00:11:36] Instead of asking, why me? Cry out, lord, have mercy. And trust that God's mercy is greater than any circumstance.
[00:11:47] Are you facing financial hardship?
[00:11:49] Instead of demanding answers from God, approach him with humility and faith and pray, lord, have mercy on my Family and provide according to your goodness.
[00:12:04] Are you running from past sins, carrying that guilt?
[00:12:10] Do not hide from God.
[00:12:12] Run towards him. The cross proves that mercy is available through Jesus Christ.
[00:12:19] And cry out, lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
[00:12:27] Are you experiencing disappointment or loss like Bartimaeus? Do not refuse to stop calling upon Jesus.
[00:12:37] Others may tell you to give up.
[00:12:40] Your circumstances, may tell you to quit, but continue to pray, Lord, have mercy.
[00:12:49] Are you angry because life feels unfair?
[00:12:54] Remember, if God gave us only justice, we would all stand condemned.
[00:13:00] And everything we have beyond judgment is mercy.
[00:13:05] Every breath, every day, every answered prayer, every opportunity to repent, every promise in Christ is mercy.
[00:13:21] So as we come to a close, we return to where we began. The greatest prayer in the Bible is not, Lord, bless me, Lord, promote me, Lord, increase me. The greatest prayer is Lord, have mercy. And the good news of the gospel is this. There is not one sincere cry for mercy that God ignores.
[00:13:44] Because when we look into the face of God through Jesus Christ, we will discover that mercy still goes before Him.
[00:13:54] And as we finish today, I want to leave you with one of the greatest declarations of God's mercy, unchanging character in all of scripture.
[00:14:04] Jeremiah wrote these words in the middle of heartbreak and devastation. His circumstances hadn't changed, but his view of God had not changed either. He declared in Lamentations 3, 22 and 23, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
[00:14:26] His mercies never come to an end.
[00:14:30] They are new every morning.
[00:14:32] Great is your faithfulness.
[00:14:37] So today, whatever situation you may be in or be facing, let your prayer be, Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.
[00:14:50] This is an invitation for anybody who wants God's mercy right now. It's a free gift. It's an invitation.
[00:15:00] I want to call on anybody who feels that they would. They really want God's mercy in whatever situation, in your finances, your health, in your positions, any mercy that you are asking for right now, I really just want to encourage you guys just to stand up and come to the front so we can pray with you.
[00:15:30] Yeah. Well done, guys.
[00:15:43] Yeah. Shall we play some music for them?
[00:15:49] Yeah. And if there's.
[00:15:52] If there's anyone that feels that they've probably taken God's mercy for granted and you'd like to repent, now is a chance.
[00:16:03] Every opportunity to repent is mercy.
[00:16:13] Yeah. Lord, we just. We just glorify youy name. We thank youk that yout mercies are renewed every single morning.
[00:16:22] Lord, as we stand before youe today, we raise our hands to youo, to the one true God, the God of mercy.
[00:16:32] And we ask that yout mercy flows from heaven right over us right now. Lord we thank you Father that you love us so much that you gave us your only begotten Son to take sin and punish it. Put it in its place.
[00:16:50] Father, we ask that your mercies flow right now over every one of us today and where we have taken your mercy for granted, we repent right before you right now. Lord, your word says where two or more gathered in My name, I am there. So Lord, we ask that you hear our prayers and do not ignore our plea. Lord have mercy on each and every one of us today. You know our situations. You know where we are at in our lives. We ask Father that as we come to youo and we draw near to youo, draw to us Father and have mercy on us in Jesus name.
[00:17:32] Amen.
[00:17:35] Thank you.
