Understand God's Mercy by: Dr. Pete Norris

Today on power in the word good things come to those who love the Lord who are called according to his purpose You and I got to understand that his mercy on our lives is bigger than anything that we can ever do wrong See, it's not about the right and wrong anymore. It's not about heaven and hell anymore. It's not about being right or wrong It's about accepting the fact of the finished work of Jesus Christ into our lives And now we're led by the Holy Spirit That's living continuously inside of us and teaching us all things and bringing all things that remembers that he said unto us It's not about us doing everything right? It's about Jesus did everything right? And the cost of that he's made us, right? Welcome to power in the word We hear much about grace and mercy, but what is the difference? Well today dr. Nars shows us in the Word of God that there is a distinct difference and knowing that difference Can remove guilt and shame from your mind and transform your life It's a great message so you stay with us and be encouraged I want to talk about understanding God's mercy How many of you know what mercy is? You know great grace is receiving a blessing or favor that you don't deserve Mercy is not receiving a punishment that you do deserve How many of you know that God's merciful to? How many of you really know he's merciful How many of you see ever spared when you should have got in trouble and you didn't how many ever has he ever looked after you in your in your times of making bad decisions and Driving when you shouldn't have drove Doing what you shouldn't have done and he still spared you and didn't get you in trouble Amen, you deserve trouble, but you didn't get in trouble. So does anybody know anything about God's mercy? So today we're going to talk about God's mercy because I think a lot of people understand grace, you know That's what you get when you that you don't deserve But there is a time under mercy that there's a thing you do deserve that he still keeps you from getting And you know, we've been blessed haven't we I want you to look at somebody they say you've been blessed Now I want to talk about mercy under the Old Covenant a little bit because I want you to understand that we're still under the Old Covenant and The Old Covenant is perfect You just got to see Jesus in it, right?

Now when I say we're under the Old Covenant that don't mean we're under the Ten Commandments That means under the Old Covenant we read it and see Jesus everywhere throughout it And if we can understand and see that we'll be able to understand that it's not about a place I'm going to go to but it's a place I've become look at somebody say I'm becoming some kind of some Let's go to John chapter 17 verse 3 and this is eternal life. That was eternal life If you notice there's no heaven in here anywhere and This is eternal life that you go to heaven. No, that's not what he says this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you've seen now I want you to get something here and this is eternal life that you would know who that they would know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you've seen so we're talking about two different individuals here, right? They have you know, we know the true God is only known through Jesus Christ So in other words what I'm trying to get you to understand is that we understand that we can only know the Father through Jesus Everybody believes there's somebody greater That created everything most people believe that you know I had a guy to write me a letter this past week and he's an atheist and he wrote me a letter and he said I don't believe anything and I wrote him back. I said you believe that you don't believe anything. So he believes something, right? Correct Now think about it a minute. What do we believe? Most people believed in God before they believed in God Most people believe that Jesus died and resurrected Before we ever accepted Jesus as our personal Savior. Most of us believe that right? Did we not probably believe that? Stay with me now. Do we probably believe that even before I believe that I heard it one Sunday when I was a little boy You know, yeah, I can grab that But I didn't know him as my father I Didn't know him as my Savior because there was something in my life I didn't want to get rid of to have him in my life because there won't no way you could have both of them You can't have two gods guys

So you can't have one that's a God to you and then another one that's a God to you when I was gonna lose Right. So when we understand what eternal life is is the only an ability to know God the true God is a father But we know him and the Son and we can only know him through the Son right now go me to first Corinthians 2 and 14 Now we're going to explain today why people struggle with understanding God's mercy, but the natural man That's what you were before you got recreated, right? Does not receive the things of the that's a big ass that means Holy Spirit did not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they're only spiritually discerned." So the Bible tells us very plainly that a natural man cannot understand the spiritual things of God. That's why the spiritual things of God, when you try to talk to people, they're crazy to them, because they've got to be discerned by the Spirit. Without the Spirit, they can't understand the spiritual things, okay? Are we all in agreement with that? We come in agreement also that everybody under the Old Covenant were natural men, right? Because the Holy Spirit hadn't come yet. So everybody under the Old Covenant was a natural man. In other words, they were carnal. They were a natural individual. The Holy Spirit would come upon them, but it didn't live in them. It would come upon the prophet, the priest, and the king for service, but it didn't live inside them. Correct? Now, this man named Goliath, the Holy Spirit went with him. The Holy Spirit came upon David to destroy Goliath. So the Holy Spirit would come upon them for service, but the Holy Spirit did not live in them. So the spiritual things of this inward voice speaking to them did not work under the Old Covenant. We all agree with that. So everything under the Old Testament was natural men. Now let's go to Ecclesiastes 8 and 11. I want you to see how God looked at people under the Old Covenant, because we have a tendency to believe that God was out to destroy people. He was mad at people. He was tort with people. He opened up the ground and 23,000 would be gone in just a minute. But if you read the text, that's not what it says. Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Now God knew that the evil was set

in them because of the fall of Adam. We all agree with that, right? How many of you ever think things and you say, oh man, where in the world did that come from? Okay, only four of us. Where did that thought come from? That thought came from what you allowed to dwell around you for a period of time. The most powerful thing in your life is on your shoulders. I got a word for you. This is not a negative word. You will never, never, ever conquer this. Oh pastor, you're saying that I can't be renewed. Yes, you've got the mind of Christ. And yes, we talk faith. And yes, but your mind is always going to be in a constant battle with what's going on around you. Because your battle is not in flesh and blood, but it's the only way the enemy can come against you to try to destroy you. Some of you in here today are going through spiritual battles in your mind because of things that's happened in the past of your life. Even though you've been redeemed from that, you've been freed from that, you're still living in regrets, and why I did this, and why I responded like this, and why I made this decision, and why I am like I am right now. And so because of that, through our lives, we go through these constant battles with our mind, and we go through regret, and shame, and all those things carry with us over, and over, and over, and over, and we wonder why we can't get past them. Now think about it a minute. You've been recreated. Now I'm gonna be really real with you today, and transparent. You ready? You've been born again, and you've been recreated. Now you've been living this thinking process for 37 and a half years, and all of a sudden you go to church one Sunday, you get born again, you get recreated, and your life is transformed, and you're a new creation, and old things have passed away, and everything's new inside of you. And now everybody in the world wants you to act like that new creation, but you've been acting this way for 37 years, so that old man's gonna try to come back up, and that old mindset of thinking process, and the way you used to think's gonna try to come back, and the Bible said you got to renew that thing over, and over. It didn't say one time. It said over, and over for the rest of your days. Look at David. Look at Paul. Paul had a new creation, but Paul had a temper. David had a temper. David had lust issues. Amen? David's daddy had lust issues. David's

granddaddy had lust issues. Y'all got lust issues, some of you. All of us. So what am I trying to say to you? What I'm trying to get you to understand is that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. He changes not, but God's mercy is in your life every single second. And the thing that you got to understand that you've got, listen to me. I'm gonna be straight up with some of you today. Some of you need to let up on yourself a little bit. Some of you just too hard on yourself. Oh, that didn't go over good either. So what do you want me to say? Think about it a minute. Who's your worst enemy? Yourself. But God's mercy is on your life that he knows that you're gonna make that mistake, or you're gonna miss that mark, or you're gonna say that thing, or you're gonna do that remark, or you'll think that thought. That's his mercy on your life that you don't get the evil that you deserve, that he loves you so much, and he's consumed with you constantly, that you're continuously on his mind. And see, he doesn't say See all the things that you want to see. Now watch this. Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. And so I asked the Holy Spirit, I said, Lord, what is He talking about? And He spoke to me just as plain as I'm sitting here talking with you. This is talking about the nature of God. The law changed how God responded to sin, but the law didn't change God's nature. It changed how He responded to sin, but it didn't change His nature. Now think about it just a minute. He's the same yesterday and today and forever. The Bible said now that me and you are born again, we've taken on His divine nature. We have His nature. Now how many of you, let's look at Jesus when He walked on the earth. How many of you think Jesus had the same desires at 13 that every 13-year-old boy does? Now that's hard to believe about Jesus, isn't it? But Jesus, if He wasn't touched with the infirmities that me and you are touched with, then He wasn't like us. Jesus was walking around and at 17 and 16, He had the same needs that you and I had. He went into the temple, He got mad at what they were doing, exchanging money,

and He turned the tables upside down. That seems like a Cardinal fit to me. If I'd come in here this morning, turn a couple of chairs upside down, you'd say, that boy's in the flesh. But Jesus said, the Bible said Jesus never sinned. The Bible said He also pulled out a whip and started popping it. He went to a board meeting and said, some of y'all vipers in here. Think about it a minute now. Is it possible that what we acknowledge as sin is not the same thing that God acknowledges as sin? Because if I've taken on His divine nature, then I'm sinless because of the finished work of Christ. And so, He's forgiven me of all my iniquities, past, present, and the future ones. So is it possible that I'm absolutely free and sinless because of what He's done, and I haven't understood that because I don't understand who I am internally? And if I don't understand who I am internally, then my external is going to dominate my internal. Now, I want to go somewhere with you. I want you to go with me to John 8. If you want to find out about Jesus, read John. John knew Jesus different than everybody else. And Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, verse 2. And early in the morning, He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him, and He sat down and He taught them. Now, think about it a minute. If there's anything America needs is they need to be taught the truth. Listen to me, I'm not against self-help, but the church don't need self-help. Self-help is not going to change your nature. It can change your habits. But only Jesus can change your inner man.

You can't change that on your own. But let's go on here. So He sat down and He taught them. Wonder what He taught them. Let's go to verse 3. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought to Him... Oh, they wanted to interrupt His teaching. And they brought to Him a woman that had been called in adultery. Now, if you notice, they didn't bring the man. So they brought a woman that was called in adultery. And when they had set her in the mist... Now, the church folks got this woman and brought her to Jesus. Now, look at verse 4. And said to Him, Teacher, this woman was called in adultery in the very act. In other words, we walked right in on them. Right in the middle. Verse 5. Now, Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do you say? Verse 6. And they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down, wrote on the ground with His finger, and thought. And though He did not hear... As though He did not hear what they were saying. Verse 7. Now, when He continued asking Him, and they continued asking Him, What are we going to do with her? What are we going to do with her? The Bible says stone her. What do you want us to do with her? What do you want us to do with her?

He raised Himself up and He said to them, He who is without sin among you, let Him cast a stone at her first. Now, you've got to understand something. Who in that group could cast a stone? Jesus could have. Because He's without sin. Right? But He said, any one of you scribes and Pharisees, you religious folk, you cast the first stone. Well, pastor, we don't cast stones. Verse 8. He stooped down again, He wrote on the ground. Verse 9. And those who heard it being convicted by their conscience went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. Verse 10. And Jesus had raised Himself up and He saw no one but the woman. He said, Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? They were all gone. Verse 11. Jesus said... She said, no one Lord. And Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. Now, I want to stop with this scripture right here, because this is not understood by the church. Now, immediately she said, no one Lord. She recognized who he was. Immediately she was recreated and born again.

Because the Bible said in the book of Acts, this man called Jesus will be called Lord and Christ after the resurrection. She called him who he was after the resurrection. And he said to her, neither do I condemn you. How many of you know John 3.16? How many of you know John 3.17? John 3.17 said, I didn't come into the world to condemn the world, but through me the world might be saved. He said, I don't condemn you either. Go and sin no more. That's not a verb. That's not talking about smoking, drinking, doing drugs. He said, you don't have a sin nature now, you're not going to sin anymore. This is a noun. So, it's a person, place, or thing. So, he said, go and sin no more. He's not saying go and don't do any more sinning. No, what he's saying is, is go because now you're free and you've been redeemed and you're whole and you're not going to sin anymore because you don't have a sin nature anymore. See, he immediately transformed her life and changed her life by just acknowledging who he was. That's mercy. She deserved to be stoned according to the law, but because Jesus and God was so merciful, he said, you know what? I'll spare her. What she deserves, she's not going to get. That's the Old Testament Jesus, right? So, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John cannot be New Testament, guys.

It's Old Testament. Even though it's in the New Testament, it's Old Testament because Jesus hadn't resurrected because you can't have a New Testament until the testator's dead. And Jesus was the testator. He hadn't died at this time. We got to understand who he's talking to. He was talking to scribes and Pharisees here. He said it plainly. He said, go and sin no more. Lord, I don't have any condemners. I don't condemn you either. Go and sin no more. Understanding God's mercy in your life. Every one of us in here deserve hell. We don't deserve his son. Grace is his son and mercy is God. He's not giving us what we deserve. He's giving us what we don't deserve. Go to Leviticus 20 and 10. The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. We wouldn't have a church anymore in America. If everybody that committed adultery and was adulterous was put to death, we'd be empty fellow folks today in this world. But see, look what Jesus did. That was under the Old Covenant. And Jesus come along and said, let me make that clear. He said, if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you've already committed adultery with her. He was not saying that to make the game harder.

He was saying that to show how big grace was. Come on, guys, understand how big his grace was. So Jesus looked and come along in the four Gospels and here's what he said. He said, if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you've already committed adultery with her. They were saying if you committed adultery with anybody, that you'd be put to death. He said, if you even think it. But he wasn't saying that to put them in a darker, deeper, more condemned place. He was saying that to show them how big grace was. Because the Bible said a man that commits adultery lacks what? Understanding. But see, here's the thing. We want to throw stones at everybody for that. But none of us are immune to that. It's only God's grace and mercy that keeps us safe. But Jesus come to give us life. John 10 and 10, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly. Listen to me. I want you to think just for a moment. I want you to close your eyes a minute. I want you to think about how much mercy has been shown in your life. How many of you know that Adam and Eve being taken out of the garden was not an act of mad or anger. It was an act of mercy. They would have eaten of the tree of life because they had a sin nature after the fall. See, his mercy was so wonderful. He said, we got to get them out of the garden because they'll eat of the tree of life now.

They ate of the tree of good and evil. God never intended for me and you to know good and evil. He only wants us to know good. Good things come to those who love the Lord, who are called according to his purpose. You and I got to understand that his mercy on our lives is bigger than anything that we can ever do wrong. See it's not about the right and wrong anymore. It's not about heaven and hell anymore. It's not about being right or wrong It's about accepting the fact of the finished work of Jesus Christ into our lives and now we're led by the Holy Spirit That's living continuously inside of us and teaching us all things and bringing all things that remembers that he said unto us It's not about us doing everything right? It's about Jesus did everything right and the cost of that he's made us, right? That's what it's about Let's go to Genesis chapter 4 verse 15 now watch this The Lord said to him therefore whoever kills Cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold and The Lord set a mark on Cain now. I want to clear something up right here now Listen to me very carefully because this is taught all over the country and it's garbage That is not what a different color person came from The mark is not What a different nationality of people came from But I want you to see I want to clear that up because that's a teaching that's going around and it's incorrect Least anyone finding him should kill him. In other words what he says gonna happen He's sparing whoever kills Cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold What kind of mercy was he showing Cain guys come on That was the first murder in the Bible, right? And He said anybody that takes Cain out vengeance shall be taken him sevenfold Now in an amazing in the New Testament, he goes over and tells me and you that if the enemy can be found He's got to restore back sevenfold How many of you know what sevenfold means infinite perpetual? return

So what was he trying to do to Cain was he trying to protect it was he showing his mercy on Cain's life Now That doesn't mean that Cain didn't have to leave the place that he was at But God's mercy didn't leave Cain Guys, come on. Let's understand the Bible a little bit God loves us He's not mad at people. He's not taking vengeance on people you you got to understand that God showed the first murder of mercy and The law didn't change God's nature. You ever seen that that God didn't show it changes nature God's still a loving compassionate merciful gracious. God good Galatians 524 Those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires Now think about that in just a minute Have you crucified your flesh? From passions and desires scripture says you have those who are Christ's Now does that mean they've all gone away? That's not what that means That means when you become a new creation if you can understand who you are spiritually speaking Your flesh will not respond. Listen to me Your thinking process will always activate your flesh What you think about yourself you're always going to be your thoughts are going to dominate your life What's the bible say? What's ever is in the heart of man? That's what that man is Proverbs 23 7 What are you See here's the real issue in the life Jesus done this and made us perfect without spot without wrinkle without blemish We've been in religion Religion said just hold on baby. Just just hold on God's gonna take you through and one day you'll get to stand before God He's gonna look in that book and he's gonna look in that book and he's gonna look in that book And one day you'll get to stand before God he's gonna look in that book and your name's gonna be there praise the lord

If you have a good day on sunday morning and you die the right time Your name's gonna be in that book and you're gonna walk in and say there's grandma and uncle percy and everybody That's not what this is about man. It's about jesus done a finished work. We're outside of the laws of religion We're under grace and god's mercy and god's passion and god's love in our life and we're consumed with him And now we're just like him. We're exactly what he says We are we can do what he says we can do we can have what he says we can have and he's given us all These blessings and favor and abundance in our lives and we're sitting here saying well i'm just not who I am Listen to me when jesus walked on the earth. He knew exactly who he was Now watch this He looked at peter and he said peter. Who do they say that I am? He said some of them say you're jeremiah. Some of them say you're john the baptist. Some of them say you're elijah He said but who do you say I am? He said i'm you're the christ. He didn't say well. No i'm not You know, I ain't peter that ain't come yet. I can't be boastful. I can't I can't be who I am That's not who I am peter. Don't tell nobody He looked right at peter and he said flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, buddy You only got that by the holy spirit and that's what i'm going to build my church on he never denied who he was See you deny who you are because you don't know who you are. You think you are what you do And what you do is not who you are you are who's got you It's not what you got that's got you, it's who's got you that's got you. You with me? Jesus made you a new creation and old things have passed away and everything's new and now you're some kind of something and you don't realize it because of how you behave. Your behavior has nothing to do with the status of who you are. Who are we? All Jesus was trying to get Peter to do is that if Peter could find out who Jesus was, he'd find out who he was. You're never going to find out who you are till you find out who Jesus is because you're in Christ before the foundation of the world. He was chosen in him before the foundation of the world. You were made accepted in him before the foundation of the world. He had written your name in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. The Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world. You were already some kind of something before you ever created. He'd already spoke a word over you in time

before time ever existed in you. Oh my Lord, see if we could understand that you existed before time took hold of you. Hallelujah. He said I knew you in your mother's womb before I formed you in the secret dark place. I knew you, I uttered you, I spoke to you. I called you out before you ever created. I knew exactly what I planned I had for you and it was good and it wasn't evil and it had an expected end. I knew that you were called for such a time as this. Have you ever read Psalms 139 and recognize who you really are? That he knew you in your mother's womb? What did he tell Jeremiah the prophet? He said I called you in your mother's womb. He pinpointed time and you started existing at that time and you went toward that direction. Let's go to Galatians 3 and 19. Now watch this. What purpose does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made and it was appointed through the angels by the hand of a mediator. Now let me ask you something. It was added for what? What was the law added for? What is the law? What was the law added for? Without the law guys you couldn't get the promise. Right? That's God's mercy. Remember the word seed? Who's the seed? Christ. See the seed? Till the seed could come. In other words the law was here to keep you knowing you needed a Savior and needed a Redeemer until Christ could get here which was the seed of all creation that was going to manifest and bring forth the new creation because he was going to do away with the transgressions of man. Gosh is that not wonderful? Is it not wonderful that we understand God's mercy on our life? That we're like under open wing and it's raining down mercy everywhere and there's nothing the enemy can do about it. There's nothing darkness can do about it. There's nothing destruction can do about it. He's raining down mercy on your life. Every morning you get up there's new mercy. I think about it a minute. That mercy is raining down on mine in your life every day. Not just grace that we get what we don't deserve that you don't get what you do deserve. He pours down his mercy on your life. Thank you for joining us today at Power in the Word. All of us here at Harvest Fellowship Church want you to know that God is not mad with you but he loves you so very much and he has a plan for your life. Please feel free to

contact us here at Harvest Fellowship Church at our website HarvestFellowshipChurch.net. So until next week please remember there's power in the word.