God's Mercy and Grace and You

When you consider the topic of God's Mercy and Grace, you will find quite often how they work hand in hand, like 2 sides of the same coin. When God shows His mercy you can often see how Gods grace is also working.

If God wasn't merciful then there would only be God's wrath in judgement; because God hates sin.

Romans 1:18 says  "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness," Since we are all sinners, as it says in - Romans 3:23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God - we would all experience the wrath of God if God didn't show his mercy and grace through Jesus Christ, the sinless one.

It helps to have a basic understanding of what these words mean in light of Gods word, so you can refer to them later as you read down through this article.

Mercy - God's mercy is defined as the compassion, forgiveness and steadfast love He shows to humanity by withholding the punishment people deserve and by not receiving the negative consequences of your actions, but rather experiencing God withholding the punishment humanity deserves despite our shortcomings. God has mercy toward us because sin is universal and touches everything that is touched by humanity.

Anything this side of hell is God's mercy upon you. There is nothing that keeps us even one moment out of hell, but the mercy of God.

Grace - God's grace is the free and unmerited favor, love, and blessing shown by God to humanity. It means God gives good gifts and forgiveness to people who do not earn or deserve them. God's grace touches and effects every aspect of a believer s life, it impacts our growth, stability, and service, and not just our salvation. You cannot talk about grace, without taking sin seriously. The difference between saved sinners and lost sinners is the grace of God.

God's grace is a very important doctrine and much in the Bible speaks on aspects of His grace. But we need to be careful about saying that grace covers everything; there is much taught on grace that misrepresents it. It is said that "Grace" has been a much used, much misused, and much abused word and concept in Christian theological thinking. The Biblical word "grace" for many Christians is an almost meaningless word, or a word with misconceptions and inadequate definitions.


I am going the breakdown Mercy and Grace into three categories:

1/ Mercy and Grace to the non Christian or unrepentant person
2/ Mercy and Grace in salvation or justification
3/ Mercy and Grace in living as a Christian or saved individual

1/ Mercy and Grace to the non Christian or unrepentant one: text here

If you are not a Christian which means you have not acknowledged first to yourself and also to Jesus Christ that you are a sinner and believe or trust that Jesus died on the cross for your sin and you have not repented of your sin and asked Jesus to save you and come into your life; then there will be a day in the future when you will pass from this earth, it wil be too late; that you will face the wrath of God and be cast into hell for ever and ever.

It is while you are still alive that God will often extend His mercy and grace to you. This is because He is long suffering and wants you to come to Him by trusting what Jesus did for you on the cross. Note the Bible says; Matthew 5:45b  for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  Often during your life, God is extending His mercy and grace to you, but if you never repent and ask Jesus to save you, when you leave this earth, that time of His mercy and grace runs out and it's only God's wrath left.

2/ Mercy and Grace in salvation or justification: text here

As noted above God's mercy and grace reaches to us. See here in Psalm 86:15: "But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth." and also in 2 Peter 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

As I mentioned before Gods mercy and grace rains down on the unjust; it's because God is not willing that any should perish (end up in a Godless eternity in hell) but that all should come to repentance. Gods patience will only last so long and if you continue to ignore His great plan of salvation, then time runs out and its only His wrath left.

When you become saved, it is because of God's grace; Eph 2:8,9  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast.  you see here that it is a gift that God will give you if you repent of your sin; there is nothing you can do to earn your way into Heaven.

You can note that up until you gave your life to Jesus, God's mercy has often been extended to you and now especially His grace in saving you, but you must come to Him for forgiveness of sin.

3/ Mercy and Grace in living as a Christian or saved individual text here

Now lets consider how God's mercy and grace is working out in a Christian's life. After we become saved we have the Holy Spirtit of God within us, but we also have the old nature in a tug of war within out mortal bodies. meaning we still will sin from time to time.

The Bible asks Christians “to love mercy” Micah 6:8  He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?  and Luke 6:36 “be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”. Believers must show the same mercy and compassion toward one another that God demonstrates toward them.

Concluding Toughts

Sin and transgression cannot be removed but by the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

We should never take the mercy of God for granted, His mercy is so great upon us; sinners that we are against such a loving God.

The only way to heaven is through the forgiveness of our sins, not our own holiness or good works. God takes the ungodly sinners that we are and saves those who come to trust in Him through Jesus Christ.

When God calls a sinner to repentance, He sends His Holy Spirit to work a change in that sinner's heart, enabling them to see their sin, leading them to faith in Christ alone for salvation.

Consider some of the other messages on this site as many will add to what's said here, to give better clarification to different aspects of this message.