In this message, our Visiting Teaching Pastor, Bryan Loritts, continues our series “Who Is God” from the book of Exodus and teaches on the distinction between God’s mercy and grace. How are these wonderful characteristics of our great God seen in our lives each and every day? That’s what we explore in this teaching.
Sermon Notes
“Merciful and Gracious”
Exodus 34:1-9
I discovered the most frustrating thing in life- trying to be good on my own terms outside of God’s grace does not satisfy. In fact, trying to do good outside of God’s grace leads to two kinds of people: Self-righteous, arrogant people, or irreligious people who give up on the faith because it’s too much of a burden for anyone to handle.
Trying good things, or trying bad things will never satisfy us. It is only when we try God- a God full of grace and mercy- where we find true satisfaction
Grace and Mercy Exist Because My Sin Exists
Exodus 34:1-2
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. 2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.
“Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior”- John Newton
Grace and Mercy Secures My Relationship with God
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”- Romans 8:38-39
Grace and Mercy Covers Every Aspect of My Life
Exodus 34:6-7
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, 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.”
