Text: 2 Corinthians 1:3-11
(3) Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
(4) Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
(5) For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
(6) And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
(7) And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
(8) For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
(9) But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
(10) Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
(11) Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
The Father of Mercies = Merciful Father
He is “the author, or source of” mercy. “Mercy proceeds from God…he is the source of it…it is his nature to impart mercy and compassion.” Jesus is the Father “of all true joy. It is one of his special and glorious attributes that He thus produces consolation and mercy.”[1]
Mercies = “Compassion, pity, mercy. Bowels in which compassion resides, a heart of compassion. Emotions, longings, manifestations of pity.”[2]
All throughout the book of Psalms (13 times) and the Gospels (13 times) there is a phrase that keeps popping up: “Have Mercy.”
Turn to your neighbor tonight, look them in the eyes, and in your best Elvis Presley impression say, “Have mercy.”
Mercy.
It is what we seek when have sinned, or when we are at our wit’s end.
Our sin is so great that we simply don’t know what to do and we call out to Jesus, “Please, forgive me.” It is a call for the Father of Mercies to take pity on you and to release from your guilt and from the penalty attached to sin.
Have Mercy, is the sincere prayer of the heart crying out for God’s compassion and help to come along help in a time of great struggle.
Have Mercy.
13 times in the Psalms:
- 4:1, “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.”
- 6:2, “Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.”
- 9:13, “Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:”
- 25:16, “Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.”
- 27:7, “Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.”
- 30:10, “Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper.”
- 31:9, “Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.”
- 51:1, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”
- 86:16, “O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.
- 102:13, “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.”
- 123:2, “Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
- 123:3, “Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.”
13 Times in the Gospels:
- Jesus – Matt. 9:13, “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
- I will have mercy, and not sacrifice – 1 Samuel 15:22, “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
- According to Adam Clarke, These are remarkable words. We may understand them as implying,
- 1st. That God prefers an act of mercy, shown to the necessitous, to any act of religious worship to which the person might be called at that time. Both are good; but the former is the greater good, and should be done in preference to the other.
- 2dly. That the whole sacrificial system was intended only to point out the infinite mercy of God to fallen man, in his redemption by the blood of the new covenant. And
- 3dly. That we should not rest in the sacrifices, but look for the mercy and salvation prefigured by them. This saying was nervously translated by our ancestors, I will mild-heartedness, and not sacrifice.[3]
- Matt. 9:27, “And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.”
- Matt. 12:7, “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.”
- Matt. 15:22, “And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.”
- Matt. 17:15, “Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.”
- Matt. 20:30-31, “And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.”
- Sometimes, your need will push you beyond your limits, past societal niceties, and you will get to a place where you don’t care what anyone thinks – as long as you can get to Jesus.
- Mark 10:47, “And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”
- The Rich Man in Hell, Luke 16:24, “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”
- There is no mercy in Hell, no matter how long you cry for it.
- The Ten Lepers – Luke 17:13, “And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
- The Blind Beggar – Luke 18:38-39, “And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
These all were all healed, or found deliverance.
Why? Jesus is the Father of Mercies.
ECHOES OF MERCY: Isaiah 58:10-12
(10) And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
(11) And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
(12) And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
When you extend mercy that’s been granted to you, the echo of the mercy you received and then passed forward will be remembered for generations.
Mercy is ready tonight to triumph over Judgment, all you need do is cry out to God – HAVE MERCY!
Ephesians 2:4-10
(4) But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, [The Father of Mercies]
(5) Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
(6) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
(7) That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. [Echoes of Mercy]
(8) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
(9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.
(10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
[1] Albert Barnes’. 2 Cor. 1:3.
[2] Thayer’s
[3] Adam Clarke. Matthew 9:13.
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