And I would like to talk to you this morning or tonight, the God of mercy, the God of mercy. I want you to turn to, I have this Bible, this Bible, and this iPad. So my Spanish Bible and King James Bible, I was trying to look for you and try to find you, trying to see if I could, use my ESV Bible but I didn't see you so I'm gonna try to and if I call you to read please do okay my first language is not English so it's kind of difficult to read the the King James and I just you know I just appreciate if you if you you help me on that but anyways lamentation chapter three there's only five chapters in lamentation chapter three and verse thirty three and I'm going to ask somebody to stand and to read that now you have to understand something about lamentations it's only five chapters and the heart of lamentations is verse chapter 3 verse 33. Every chapter has 22 verses except chapter 3. It has three times which is 66 verses and basically is the heart of the book and I believe that Jeremiah wrote it and It's about the destruction. It's basically, it's a poem about the funeral of Jerusalem, basically. And he was an eyewitness of what happened to that city. And I want you to read that, because when we read in the Old Testament, sometimes we find that God is wrathful. And sometimes we can get the wrong idea about who God is. And some people have said that in the Old Testament, you find the God of wrath. And in the New Testament, you find the God of grace. And I said, it's the same God. There's not two gods. There's only one. It's always been grace and mercy, always, always, since the beginning. But we have to understand that because there's verses in the scripture, but I want somebody please to stand and read this. Verse 33, please. In chapter three. Just one verse. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we bow to you. You're merciful beyond my comprehension, beyond my own mercy, Lord, because I have such a short amount of mercy toward others. But you are, your ways are so high. So I just ask, Lord, that by that mercy that I see on the cross that you will help us, help the hearers and help the preacher. We ask you, Father, in Christ's name, amen. So we find here the heart of lamentation. He doesn't, the Bible says, afflict the sons of men willingly. Now the word willingly is very interesting. I would like to talk to you about six things about the God of mercy, six things. Let me give you a little background about the God of mercy. Gerald Boehm, This Jeroboam took the people of Israel and divided them. And that's when the nation split. And since then, they've been worshiping a wrong God. And he taught them how to worship other gods but God. And you might say, well, God is merciful. Yeah, he is. And how long did it took for them for the exile? About 450 years. That was how long? It was a lot. It was a long time. And I want to show you through the scripture that God joyfully is merciful to people. He is Abundantly merciful. To the most wicked man or woman, God is so patient. The temple was destroyed around 586 in July or August, just about. I don't, I wasn't there, but I'm just telling you what I, what I found out. And, and Jeremiah saw that and he writes lamentation. And in, in, in, in lamentations 348 and 49, he actually starts crying and, and weeping for, for the city. And you find that too in Jeremiah chapter 27 29 when the Lord tells him to cry aloud and he's crying about the city. Listen, we have never seen destruction like that. like them. And, um, you might think, well, God is a God, a very wrathful God. He's just, he's just, but he's very merciful. He's very merciful. And, and the first thing that I would like to see here in, in the verse 33 is that the origin of affliction, it is not the devil, right? People try to put off God and, and, and saying, you know, is the devil, or the world, or we've fallen, or whatever. But the Bible teaches that that affliction came from God. He did this to them. And there's no question about that. It is right in scripture, not only that verse, but all the verses. He promised, he told them, every single prophet, he said, if you don't repent, this is gonna happen to you. And the Lord promised that, and he did that. And the origin of affliction is the Lord. The word here, willingly, okay, in the King James, the ESV translates it as heart, willing from the heart, because the word willing can be translated, or the word Hebrews, lave, which means can be translated to heart. And the majority of the times in the Bible, There's, I think, 156 times in the Bible that this word is used. The majority of the time, it's translated heart. So many times can be translated, he's not doing this from his heart. He's doing it, but not from his heart. This is not an act of joyfully doing something to the people. He's not doing it out of from his heart, basically. And the Bible teaches that he did this, but it wasn't his heart for them to do that. Actually, that's the first thing that I see in this passage. The second thing that I see here is that his tendency is always mercy and mercy through people, mercy. He doesn't do it. His tendency in his heart is not to afflict man, but for man to repent. There's no reason, listen, there's no reason you're listening here right now, tonight, that you should spend eternity in hell. There's no reason. There's no reason, absolutely no reason that you will die. Jesus came to die for sinners like you and I. God, in the scripture, tells us how much he loved the world and he gave his son. So he's so merciful that even in our rebellious, continual attitude toward God, he's so merciful to us. That even now, even right here, right now, that you have not come in repentance and faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, you are living on his mercy. He doesn't desire that the wicked will perish. He would rather you turn from your sins and come to him. He would rather that. In fact, Jesus says, whoever comes to me, in no way I will cast out. So the first thing is the origin of affliction. Second thing is that it is not from his heart to be wrathful. It is a strange thing, the Bible calls it. I want you to see this with me. But first of all, before we go to that verse, I want to tell you something else, that the promises of God to destroy to people they are not willing to bow to the Lord, real turn with Joshua chapter 23 verse 15 the Lord promised them and told them he told them he said if you don't do these things if you put some other God before me I will be against you he promised that You see, the mercy of God doesn't take away from his justice. When we talk about theology or the attributes of God, many times we compromise, you know, wrath and love and all that stuff. But listen, that's one of the things that might be wrong with that. Because he is not only that or only that. He's all these things. He has, he's all these things at one time. So you cannot say, well, he's only love or he's only justice. He's all these things in as a person, as a being. Looking in Joshua chapter 23, verse 15 and 16. Can somebody stand up and read that please? 23, 15 and 16. Look at the promise that God made. Yes. as all the good words which the Lord your God spoke to you have come upon you. So the Lord will bring upon you all the threats, until he has destroyed you off this good land which the Lord your God has given you. When you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you Look at the words, it says quickly. But when I read that, I said, Lord, it took 450 years. because he forbear them. He was patient toward them. And listen, you're here right now and you heard the gospel and nothing has happened to you and you might think that the silence of God toward you is fine because you're at peace on that. Listen, the reason right now you haven't been destroyed and maybe you didn't read your last last night is because God is so merciful for you it is not because he's okay with you it's just he's forbearing you that's the thing and he says right here quickly if you do these things you put another guy I will deal with you quickly And I read the story of Israel and it took 450 years and prophet after prophet after prophet after prophet in the patience of God. What he was showing you was that he's a God of mercy toward the sinner, to the rebellious. You know, you start thinking about people that need the Lord. A woman that had three kids and every single child is for a different man. What does she need? Well, she needs mercy from God. She needs mercy from the Lord. You think about a man that goes to church all the years from his youth, but he's lost. He needs mercy from the Lord. So what do we need? We need mercy. We need mercy. And He is the God of mercy. He delights in being merciful. This is His heart. He promised destruction, but yet, and He says quickly, He forbears. And He doesn't send them right away. And He's patient and longsuffering. And he says, one, two, three, and he gave them the word. And he tells them, Jeremiah, you see all those prophets. Tell them, tell my people to repent. But they won't. But yet, he's patient. The fact that he's merciful, it does not cancel his judgment. You're sitting here, and you're thinking, oh, God loves me. Yeah, he does. In a way, he does. You are his creation. But don't think for a minute that because he's merciful to you, he's going to wink his eye to you in judgment and let you pass. This word, this word will not pass away. You cannot break this truth. Whatever he says right here, it will happen to you. If you repent, he will save you. If you put your trust in the Lord, he will save you. If he comes to me, I will know why he's cast out. You might be the weakest, the most ignorant of a person, but if you come to the Lord in humility, he will receive you. So his promises to destroy doesn't cancel his mercy. There's a passage that I want to read in Exodus 34, six. Let me see if I can read it, brother. Is that okay? If I read ESV, um, 34 verse six. I'm a Spanish person. Whenever we present ourselves to people, we sometimes put too much butter in our bread. Yes. But when the Lord presents himself, he's not lying. It will be wrong. It will be a lie if he doesn't tell people his attributes. Look what it says, the Lord passed. This is Moses. He asked him, Lord, show me your glory. I would like to see you. He put him on a cliff of the rock. And he said, the Lord passed before him and proclaimed. You see, what we're reading right here is not a prayer for Moses. It is actually God speaking about himself. He said, Lord, the Lord, the Lord, a God. Merciful! That's the first thing. I know in Isaiah chapter 6, the serpents say, the Lord is holy, holy, holy, holy. That's what Christians said about God. What does he say about himself? What attribute does he give out to Moses? The first one is merciful. God is merciful. merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. God is so merciful. The heart of God is full of mercy and grace. You know how I know that? Look at the cross. Look at the cross. You and I don't deserve a savior like him. Look at the cross. He sent his own son to die for sinners, rebels. I don't care if you've been in church all your life, you are the same way as the person that is outside. He died for such a people as us. His heart is a heart of mercy. They have a question in Ezekiel chapter 33. Ezekiel 33. Ezekiel is preaching to a people that have been taken to exile. Ezekiel 33 verse 11. His heart is a heart of mercy. They're asking how shall we live that verse 10 they're asking that I mean they already know that their sins is upon them verse 10 says and you son of man say to the house of Israel thus have you said you see the Lord knows what they were talking about and they were saying that surely our transgressions and our sins upon us And we run away because of them. How then can we live? How in the world can we live? We have denied our God. We have spit on his face. We have bowed down to other gods. How in the world can we make amends on this? And that was a question. You know, one of the greatest graces that a church has is a pastor, a man of God. that stands Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday after Wednesday, preaching the Bible to people, teaching the Word of God. That's a mercy. You might not see that, but that is a mercy from God to that congregation. Why? Because if not, we are left many times in our ignorance. And the Bible says that he has sent preachers to teach. So they're asking, how in the world can we live? Our sins are upon us. And what does God do? He sends a word to whom? To Ezekiel, to tell the people what is the answer. Verse 11 says to them, as I live, declares the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. but that the wicked turn from his ways and live. Turn back, twice he says, turn back, turn back from your evil ways. For why will you die, O house of Israel? The persistent attitude of a sinner. Listen, you know why? You heard the gospel. But every single time you hear it, you judge God and you judge his preachers and you judge the Bible saying, that's not for me. I'm not such a bad sinner. I'm not that bad. I'm a good guy. And God answers them mercifully. What is the answer? Repent. Just turn. Turn to Him. That's the biggest lie of the devil. Listen, that's the biggest lie that the devil puts in your mind, even now, right now. That you are too bad, far off, far gone. There's no hope for you. That your sins are too dark for God to forgive you. It's a lie. It's a lie. Because God is a God of mercy. God answers in verse 11. So his heart, his promises are mercy, upper mercy. God doesn't work, number five, doesn't work like me. Have you ever, be honest, have you ever written somebody off? Be honest. You don't have to tell me anything, but have you ever made this guy, he was coming in, he made a profession, now he's in sin and there's no way, there's no way. Look what Isaiah 55. And my brother Barney told me yesterday, look at the context of the passage. Verse six and seven. Isaiah 55, six and seven. We use this verse, we use verse 9. Sometimes when people are going through things and difficulties, well, God's ways is higher than your ways. He's not talking about that. Look at the context. It's not talking about God's ways, when you're going through difficulties. He's talking about mercy here. Look what it says. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord. Return. At one time he was going right, but at one time he left, and something happened, and what is he saying? Return to God. that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will be abundantly, what? Pardoned. And that's where the verse comes in, for my thoughts. I know your thoughts. I have very little mercy compared to God. Yes. I can write somebody off, or I can say, you know what, in my mind, not in my heart, not in my words either, but in my attitude, my ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither your ways are my ways, declares the Lord. In this thing of mercy and forgiveness, He is beyond that. He is higher than us. We can write down or write off a man or a woman that is in sin, but God hasn't done that. He's merciful even to that man, and yes, even to the uttermost, He can save them. So He's a God of mercy. My ways are not His ways. Yes, praise the Lord for that. And we find verse after verse in the Old Testament about God's mercy, especially in Lamentation, Exodus. I mean, you find it everywhere, everywhere in the scripture. He's merciful to the sinner. You're here right now and you might not be a Christian. What do you need to do? You need to repent of your sins. And you need to put your trust in Christ. But my sin is too much. It is not for God. It might be for me. It might shock me to hear the things that you have done. It might shock the pastor here. But God, my ways, I know your ways, says the Lord. And we think, well, God is a different God in the Old Testament knowing you. It is the same. Same God, Jesus. The Bible says he was full of grace and mercy. Shocking things that the Bible talks about Jesus. I want to show you some things here. Look in John 1 16. What it says, from His fullness, we have all received, all of us receive grace upon grace. And that repetition doesn't end. Right now, we're receiving grace. Right now, we are swimming in grace. The only reason that I have this feeling and it's all for God is because of grace. The only reason that you're here right now and not over there getting drunk and doing all kinds of nonsense is because of grace and mercy. That's the only reason we receive grace upon grace. He is the God of grace. He is, look what it says, verse 17, for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came to Jesus Christ. No one, no one have seen the Father. The only God who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known. You wanna see God? Look at Christ. Luke has his mercy. Jesus told the disciples before he was going to the cross. I have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear. The things that you need, I'm telling you right now, I'm giving you these things so your job may be complete. Look at Matthew 12 verse 20. I am that 20 verse right there. Verse 20 is me and you. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smothering wick he will not quench, until he bring justice to victory. MacArthur said that the reed was to use for a flute sometimes. And sometimes, you know, you get every, you get piece of reed everywhere and sometimes they split and you throw it away. But God doesn't do that. God doesn't do that. Christ didn't do that. We can put brothers away in our mind, in our heart, right? Peter, three times. One is enough. But three times, what did the Lord do? Peter looked for the Lord, right? He went fishing. And the Lord looked for Peter. He didn't tell him you still in the corner for two years. Maybe see Maybe you can cry two or three buckets of tears over there. Maybe you we can we can see that you truly repent it Maybe I'll use you later on you do that Not only that brother he preached the Pentecost God used him Bruce Reed, smothering wick, all smoky, fire gone. No good. Next. Jesus said, I will not do that. But really, we all like that. Bruce Reed said, our fire goes out and we just need fire, bro. But Jesus says, I will not do that to the weakest. I have a passage that the Lord in his incarnate, he's in glorified self. Even now, he's merciful. Look in Revelations 20, 20. Who's talking in Revelations 20, 20? Who's talking to the seven churches? Is it not the Lord? 220, Revelations 220. Sorry. Did I say 2020? My bad. It's 220. How would you like a woman prophesying in your church, Brother Barney? and causing his servants to... seducing servants and practicing sexual immorality. The thing that is shocking to me is not what she's doing, but what Jesus did. Because Jesus is talking here, right? To the servant. But I have this against you that you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servant to practice sexual immorality to eat food from sacrificed idols or yeah. I gave her time. I gave her time. Will you give her time? I don't know if I give him too much time. My ways are harder than your ways. What is he doing? He says right here that he gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent from sexual immorality. Behold, I throw her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into a tribulation unless they repent. He's even dealing now with them in patience and dealing with them so they can repent. Is that what he wants? That's what he says. Am I wrong on this? No, sir. He's saying that. Maybe today you should repent. You've been hearing the gospel, and you've been hard toward God, and the Lord is just giving you time to repent. He's merciful. If it wasn't for the Lord, my friend, I'll be long gone. I'll be long gone. He condescends in my ignorance, even now. He condescends in my inability, even now. He tolerates many times in dealing with people. And many of us, it wasn't the one time that he'd call us to himself. How many of you just the first time you heard the gospel you went? How many times the Lord had to call you? I don't want that. He was merciful enough to come back to me. I hear you Lord, but I'm too busy. I hear you Lord, but I can't. I hear you Lord that, but not today. But the Lord was merciful enough. He is the God of mercy. The last verse that I would like for you to see is the mercy of God in Christ is in Matthew 11, 29. Verse 28 says, Come to me. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. And you will find rest for your souls. For my joke is easy, and my burden is light. He's a God of mercy. From Genesis all the way through Revelation, he's showing mercy to all of us. What do you do with a God of mercy? Lord, you love me. Beyond words, here I am, Lord. Do whatever you want with me. Do whatever you want. Lord, you love me. Do as you please with my life. I hope you can say that by grace today. I hope you have surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the God of mercy. He is very merciful. But if you don't, in this lifetime, his mercy will not trump his justice. Those things that he says about you not coming to him and rebelling against him will happen. You have, hopefully, time. I don't know. But I will tell you this, that we all, at this point in our lives, we need grace. Whatever situation we're in, we need grace. Sinner friend, if you're away from the Lord, you are away from the Lord, you need grace. You need to come to Christ. You need to surrender your life to the God of mercy. Let's pray.