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Tonight we will consider God's love and grace, and we will also touch the subject of God's mercy.
Many times the Old Testament says that salvation is of Jehovah. This indicates that salvation does not originate with us. Since sin is committed by man we would naturally think that salvation also originates in man. But even the thought of our salvation did not originate with us; rather, it originated with God. Although man has sinned and is destined for perdition, it is not his intention to seek salvation. Though he has sinned and ought to perish, it was God who took up the thought of saving him. Hence, the Old Testament mentions again and again that salvation is of Jehovah. The reason for this is that it is God who wants to save us. Man has never wanted to save himself.
Why is salvation of Jehovah? Why is God interested in man? In a general way, we can say that it is because God is love. But more specifically, it is because God loves man. If God did not love man, He would not need to save him. Salvation is accomplished because, on the one hand, man has sinned and, on the other hand, God has loved. If man had not sinned, there would be no place and no way for the love of God to be manifested. And if man had sinned but God had not loved, nothing would have been achieved either. Salvation is accomplished and the gospel is preached because on the one hand God has loved and on the other hand man has sinned.
Man's sin shows us man's need. God's love shows us God's provision. If there is only the need without the provision, nothing can be done. But if there is the provision without the need, the provision will be wasted. Salvation is accomplished and the gospel is preached due to the two greatest facts in the universe. The first is that man has sinned and the second is that God loves man. These are two immutable facts. They are two facts that the Bible emphasizes. If you drop either of these two ends, salvation will be lost. You do not need to drop both ends. As long as one end is gone, there will be no possibility for salvation to be accomplished. God has love and man has sin. Because of these two facts, there is salvation and there is the gospel.
The Bible never fails to point out the love of God. In our Bible study this time, we will cover the truth of the gospel only in a sketchy way. We will mention a lot of things, but will not consider them in detail. Tonight I cannot cover every aspect concerning the love of God found in the Bible. I can mention this matter only briefly. We must consider three aspects of the love of God. First, God is love. Second, God loves man. And third, the expression of God's love is in the death of Christ.
Let us come to the first point: God is love. This is recorded in 1 John 4:16. Here it does not say that God loves. Nor does it say that God may love, or that God can love, or that God has loved or will love. Rather, it says that God is love. What does it mean to say that God is love? It means that God Himself, His nature and His being, is love. If we can say that God has a substance, then God's substance is love.
The greatest revelation of the Bible is that God is love. This revelation is what man needs the most. Man has many conjectures and theories about God. We ponder all the time about what kind of God our God is, what kind of heart our God has, what intentions God has toward man, what God Himself is like. You can ask anyone about his idea of God, and he will give you his concept. He will think that God is this kind of God or that kind of God. All the idols in the world and all the images made by man are products of man's imagination. Man thinks that God is a fierce God or a severe God. He pictures God this way and that way. Man is always trying to reason and to explore what God is like. In order to correct the different conjectures man has concerning God, He manifests Himself in the light of the gospel and shows man that He is not an unapproachable or unfathomable God.
What is God then? God is love. This statement will not be clear to you unless I give an illustration. Suppose that there is a patient person. He has patience no matter what he encounters and no matter how difficult or bad the conditions are. For such a person, we cannot say that he has acted patiently. The adverb patiently cannot be used to describe him. Nor can we say that he is patient, using an adjective. We must say that he is patience itself. Perhaps we would not refer to him by his name. Instead, behind his back we would say that Patience has come or that Patience has spoken. When we say that God is love, we mean that love is the nature of God. He is love from inside to outside. Therefore, we would not say that God is loving, using an adjective, or that God loves, using a verb. Rather, we would say that God is love, applying the noun to Him.
In our friend Patience we cannot find rashness. The man is patience itself; he is not simply patient. He is just a lump of patience. Would you think that with such a person there could be rashness? Could he lose his temper? Could he exchange sharp words with others? It is impossible for him to do such things because there is no element in his nature to do such things. There is no such thing as temper in his nature. There is no such thing as rashness in his nature. He is simply patience.
The same is true with God, who is love. God as love is the greatest revelation in the Bible. For every Christian, the greatest thing to know in the Bible is that God is love. It is impossible for God to hate. If God hates, He will not only have a conflict with whomever He hates, but will also have a conflict with Himself. If God hated any one of us here today, He would not have a problem with that one alone; He would have a problem with Himself. God must develop a problem with Himself before He can hate or do anything in a way that is not in love. God is love. Although these three words are most simple, they give us the greatest revelation. The nature of God, the life-essence of God, is just love. He cannot do anything otherwise. He loves, and at the same time, He is love.
If you are a sinner today, you may wonder what you must do before God will love you. Many people do not know God's mind toward them. They do not know what God is thinking or what intentions God has. Many think that they should do something or that they should suffer or should be very conscientious before they can please God. However, only those who are in darkness and do not know God will think this way. If there were no gospel today, you would be able to think this way. But now that the gospel is here, you cannot think this way anymore, for the gospel tells us that God is love.
We human beings are nothing but hatred. For us to love is extremely difficult. Likewise, it is equally difficult for God to hate. You may think that it is difficult to love and that you do not know how to love others. But it is impossible for God to hate. You have no way to love, and God has no way to hate. God is love, and for Him to hate is for Him to act contrary to His nature, which is impossible for Him to do.
This is not all. God Himself is love, but when this love is applied to us, we find that "God so loved the world" (John 3:16). "God is love" speaks of His nature, and "God so loved the world" speaks of His action. God Himself is love; hence, that which issues out from Him must be love. Where there is love, there must also be the object of that love. After showing us that He is love, God immediately shows us that He loves the world. God has not only loved us, but has also sent forth His love. God could not help but send forth His love. He could not help but love the world. Hallelujah!
The greatest problem the world has is that it thinks that God always harbors evil intentions for man. Man thinks that God makes severe demands, and that He is strict and mean. Since man has doubts about the love of God, he also doubts that God loves the world. But as long as God is love, He loves the world. If love is His nature, He can conduct Himself toward man in no other way except in love. It would make Him uncomfortable if He did not love. Hallelujah! This is a fact! God is love. He cannot help but love. God is love, and what spontaneously follows is that God loves the world.
We can blame ourselves for our sins, for being susceptible to Satan's temptation, for being entangled by sin. But we cannot doubt God Himself. You can blame yourself for committing a sin, for having failed, for succumbing to temptation. But if you doubt God's heart toward you, you are not acting like a Christian, for to doubt God's heart toward you is to contradict the revelation in the gospel.
I cannot say that you will never fail again. Nor can I say that you will never sin again. Perhaps you will fail and you will sin again. But please remember that for you to fail or sin is one thing, but God's heart towards you is another. You must never doubt God's feeling toward you simply because you have failed or sinned. Although you may sin and fail, God does not change His attitude toward you, for God is love and He loves the world. This is an unchangeable fact in the Bible.
On our side, we change and turn. But on the side of the love of God, there is no change or turn. Many times your love can change or become cold. But this does not mean that God's love is affected. If God is love, no matter how you test Him, what comes forth from Him is always love. If there is a piece of wood here, no matter how you hit it, you will always get the sound of wood. If you hit it with a book, it will give you the sound of wood. If you hit it with your palm, it will still give you the sound of wood. If you hit it with another piece of wood, it will again give you the sound of wood. If God is love, no matter how you "hit" Him — if you reject Him, deny Him, or cast Him aside — He is still love. One thing is sure: God cannot deny Himself; He cannot contradict Himself. Since we are just hatred itself, it is altogether natural for us to hate. Since God is love, it is altogether natural for God to love. God cannot change His own nature. Since God's nature cannot be changed, His attitude toward you cannot be changed. So we see that God loves the world.
Does the whole matter stop with God loving the world? "God is love" speaks of God's nature; it speaks of God Himself. "God so loved the world" speaks of God's action. But God's love toward us has an expression. What is this expression of His love? Romans 5:8 says, "But God commends His own love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." God's love has an expression. If I love a person and merely tell him that I love him, that love has not yet been consummated. Unless love is expressed, it is not consummated. There is no love in the world that is without an expression. If there is love, it must be expressed. If a love is not expressed, such a love cannot be considered love. Love is most practical. It is not vain and is not merely a verbal matter. Love is expressed through actions. If you put a ball on a surface that is not level, you can be sure that something will happen; it will end up rolling down. The same is true with love. You can be sure that it will have an expression.
Since God loves the world, He has to be concerned about man's need. Hence, He must do something for man. We are sinners. We have no other choice but to go to hell, and no other place to be except in the place of perdition. But God loves us, and He will not be satisfied until He has saved us. When God says, "I love you," His love will step up to bear all our burdens and remove all our problems. Since God loves us, He must provide a solution to the problem of sins; He must provide the salvation that we sinners need. For this reason, the Bible has shown us this one great fact: the love of God is manifested in the death of Christ. Since we are sinners and are unable to save ourselves, Christ came to die in order to solve the problem of sin for us. His love has accomplished something substantial, and this has been put before us. Now we can see His love in a substantial way. His love is no longer merely a feeling. It has become a thoroughly manifested act.
In this great matter of God's love, we must take note of three things: the nature of God's love, the action of God's love, and the expression of God's love. Thank and praise God! His love is not only a feeling within Him. It is also an action, and even an expression and manifestation. His love made Him do what we cannot do by ourselves. Since He is love and since He has loved the world, salvation has been produced. Since man has sin and since God is love, a lot of things follow. If you are not poor, you will have no need of me. But if I do not love you, even if you are extremely poor, I will not be concerned at all. The situation today is that man has sinned and God has loved; therefore, things begin to happen. Hallelujah, a lot is happening because man has sinned and God has loved. When you put the two things together, the gospel comes into being.
But, brothers and sisters, God's love does not stop here. Since God is love, the matter of grace comes up. It is true that love is precious, but love must have its expression. When love is expressed, it becomes grace. Grace is love expressed. Love is something in God. But when this love comes to you, it becomes grace. If God is only love, He is very abstract. But thank the Lord that although love is something abstract, with God it is immediately turned into something substantial. The inward love is abstract, but the outward grace has given it substance.
For example, you may have pity on a pauper, and you may love him and have sympathy for him. But if you would not give him food and clothing, the most you could say is that you love him. You could not say that you are grace to him. When can you say that you have grace toward him? When you give him a bowl of rice or a piece of clothing or some money, and when the food, clothing, or money reach him, your love becomes grace. The difference between love and grace lies in the fact that love is within and grace is without. Love is primarily an inward feeling, while grace is an outward act. When love is turned into action, it becomes grace. When grace is traced back to its feeling, it is love. Without love, grace cannot come into being. Grace exists because love exists.
The definition of grace is not just the act of love. We must add something else to this. Grace is the act of love upon the destitute. God loves His only begotten Son. But there is no element of grace in this love. One cannot say that God deals with His Son in grace. God also loves the angels, but that cannot be considered as grace either. Why is not the Father's love toward the Son and God's love toward the angels grace? The reason is that there is no destitution and deprivation involved. There is only love; there is no thought of grace. Only when there is deprivation and destitution, when there is no way for one to solve his problems on his own, is love realized as grace. Since we are sinners, we are those with problems; and we have no way to solve our problems. But God is love, and His love is manifested to us as grace.
Hence, when love flows on the same level, it is simply love. But when it flows down, it is grace. Therefore, those who have never been on the low end can never receive grace. Love can also flow up. But when it does, it is not grace. Love can also flow between equal heights. When it does, it is not grace either. Only when love flows downward is it grace. If you want to be above God, or if you want to be equal with God, you will never see the day of grace. Only those who are below God can see the day of grace. This is what the Bible shows us about the difference between love and grace.
Although the Bible mentions the love of the Lord Jesus, it pays more attention to the grace of the Lord Jesus. The Bible also speaks of the grace of God, but it pays more attention to the love of God. I am not saying that there is no mention of the love of the Lord Jesus and the grace of God in the Bible. But the emphasis in the Bible is on the love of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus. How did Paul greet the church in Corinth? "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2 Cor. 13:14). You cannot change the sentence to read, "the grace of God and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." You cannot do this, because the emphasis of the Bible is on the love of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus. Why is this so? Because it was the Lord Jesus who accomplished salvation. It was He who substantiated love and accomplished grace. The love of God became grace through the work of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, the Bible tells us that the law was given through Moses, but grace came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
Thank the Lord that in the love of God, there is not only grace, but another great item as well, God's mercy. The Bible puts much emphasis on mercy also. But we have to admit that mercy is more particularly an Old Testament word, in the same way that grace is more particularly a New Testament word. This does not mean that you will not find mercy in the New Testament. But if you have a cross-reference Bible or a concordance, you will find mercy in the Old Testament far more frequently. Mercy is something of the Old Testament, in the same way that grace is something of the New Testament.
The outlet of love is either grace or mercy. Mercy is negative, and grace is positive. Mercy is related to the present condition, and grace is related to the future condition. Mercy speaks of the poverty of your present condition, and grace speaks of the bright condition that you will be saved into in the future. The feeling that God has toward us when we are sinners is mercy. The work that God does upon us to make us the children of God is grace. Mercy arises from our existing condition; grace arises from the work that we will receive.
I do not know if you are clear about this or not. Suppose there is a destitute person here with us. You love him and have pity upon him. You feel sorry for his difficult situation. If you did not love him, you would not suffer and grieve for him. But by doing so, you are having mercy on him. But such mercy is negative. Your mercy on him is in sympathy for his present condition. But when is grace accomplished? It is accomplished when this person is rescued today out of his poor condition to a new position, to a new realm and a new environment. Only then does your love to him become grace. This is why I say that mercy is negative and for today, while grace is positive and for the future. The future I am talking about is the future in this age, rather than the future in the coming age. I do not mean that the Old Testament speaks only about mercy. The Old Testament speaks about grace, too. It is not true that we no longer need mercy. No, we still need mercy. God was merciful in the time of the Old Testament, because His work was not yet completed. Therefore, the Old Testament was full of mercy. God showed mercy for four thousand years. But today, in the New Testament age, we have grace because the Lord Jesus has accomplished His work. He has come to bear our sins. Hence, what we have received today is not mercy, but grace. Hallelujah! Today is not a day of mercy, but a day of grace.
If there were only mercy, we could only have hope. In the Old Testament, there was only hope; hence, the Old Testament speaks of mercy. But thank the Lord, today we have obtained what was hoped for. There is no need to hope for it anymore.
Mercy comes from love and issues in grace. If mercy has not come from love, it will not issue in grace. Since it originates in love, it arrives at grace. In the Gospels there is the account of a blind man receiving his sight (Mark 10:46-52). When he met the Lord, he did not say, "Lord, love me!" or "Lord, be gracious to me!" Rather, he said, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" (v. 48). He asked for mercy because of his present condition, his present difficulty, and his present pain. He knew that if the Lord Jesus were to sympathize with him, He would not stop at showing mercy to him; He would surely do something.
In the New Testament there are also a few places where mercy is mentioned. In most cases, mercy is mentioned in reference to the situation at the time. Some may ask, "Since the love of God is so precious, why must there be mercy? Love is very good as the source, and grace is also very good as the result. Why then is there the need for mercy?" It is because man is destitute. We have no courage to go to God and ask for His love. We are of the flesh and do not know God well enough. Although God has revealed Himself to us in the light, we still do not dare come close to Him. We feel that it is impossible for us to go to God and ask for love. At the same time, we do not have the adequate faith to go to Him and ask for grace, telling Him that we need such and such a blessing. We have no way to ask for God's love, and we do not have enough faith to ask for God's grace.
But thank the Lord. Not only do we have love and grace; we also have mercy. Love is manifested in this mercy. Because God is merciful, if you hear the gospel and are still unable to believe, you can cry, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" You may be afraid to ask about other things, but you need not be afraid to ask this one thing. I dare not ask the Lord to be gracious to me. I dare not ask Him to love me. But I can ask Him to be merciful to me. For other things we dare not ask. But we can be bold to ask for mercy. God is pleased with this. God has placed His love among us so that we would have the right to come to Him. But if there were only love, we would still be afraid to come to God. Since God is also merciful, we are able to come to Him. I dare not ask God to love me, nor do I dare ask Him to show grace. But I can ask God for mercy. I can at least ask for that.
Last year I met a man who was very old and was suffering from a serious illness. When he saw me he cried. He told me that he was not bitter toward God, but that he was indeed in much pain. I told him that he should ask God to love him and be gracious to him. He said that he could not do this. When I asked him why not, he answered that for sixty years he had been living for himself and not for God. Now that he was dying, he would be ashamed to ask God to love him and be gracious to him. Had he not been so far away from God, had he drawn closer to God during the past few decades, had he developed some affection for God, it would have been easier for him to ask for love and grace. But such as he was, away from God his whole life, how could he ask God to love him as he lay on his deathbed? In spite of my persuasion, he would not believe my words. I told him that God could grant grace to him, that He could be gracious to him and could love him. But he simply could not believe it. I went to see him many times, but I could not get through. Then I prayed, "O God, here is a man who will not believe in You. Nor will he believe in Your love. I have no way to help him. Please open up a way for him in his last hour." Later I felt that I should not speak to him about grace, nor about love, but only about mercy. I went to him again rejoicingly. I said to him, "You should forget about everything now. Forget about the love of God or the grace of God. You should go to God and say to Him, `God! I am suffering. I have no way to go on. Have mercy on me.'" Immediately he agreed. And as soon as he agreed, his faith came and he prayed, "God, I thank You that You are a merciful God. I am weak and suffering. Have mercy on me." Here you see a person being brought to the presence of the Lord. He realized his destitute situation and asked for mercy. In his present condition, he asked God to be merciful to him.
Now let us look at a few verses. Ephesians 2:4-5 says, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in offenses." Paul said that God was rich in mercy because of something. That something is His great love with which He loved us. Without love, there would be no mercy. In what situation was He merciful to us? He was merciful to us when we were dead in offenses. His mercy had to do with our present distressing situation. Because we were dead in sins, He had mercy on us. He had mercy on us based on His love toward us. What happens after mercy? Verse 8 goes on to tell us that He saved us by grace. Hence, mercy was shown to us because we were in a situation of being dead in offenses; then, grace was given to us for our salvation, indicating that we received a new position and entered a new realm. Thank God that there is not only love and grace, but great mercy as well.
In 1 Timothy 1:13 Paul says, "Who formerly was a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insulting person; but I was shown mercy because, being ignorant, I acted in unbelief." Paul explains here how he obtained mercy. His obtaining mercy had to do with his life history. It had to do with his being a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insulting person. Before he was saved, he was in a condition of being a blasphemer, a persecutor, an insulting person, and an ignorant and unbelieving person. While he was in such a condition, God had mercy on him. So you can see that mercy is negative and has to do with the hard and difficult situations of our past. Grace, on the other hand, has to do with the positive aspects related to us. The two must be distinguished and should not be considered the same.
Titus 3:5 says, "Not out of works in righteousness which we did but according to His mercy He saved us..." There is no righteousness in ourselves. While we were without righteousness and were in a suffering and helpless situation, God had mercy on us. Thank the Lord that there is mercy! We saw earlier that mercy originates in love and terminates in grace. When mercy extends itself, we are saved. He had mercy upon us in the condition that we were in, and as a result we were saved.
Romans 11:32 says, "For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all." Why did God shut up all in disobedience? It was so that He might show mercy to all. God allowed all to become disobedient and has shut up all in disobedience, not for the purpose of making them disobedient, but for the purpose of showing mercy to all. After He has shown mercy, His next action is to save them. Therefore, mercy has to do with your condition, not the condition after you became a Christian, but the condition before you were saved. But thank God that He did not stop with mercy. With Him there is also grace.
There is one place in the Bible that shows us clearly that our regeneration is of mercy. First Peter 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." All of God's work in grace was planned according to His mercy in love. His grace is directed by His mercy, and His mercy is directed by His love. It was according to His great mercy that God regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Hence, both regeneration and the living hope are related to mercy. Because there is mercy, there is grace.
Jude 21 says, "Keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." This verse shows us that today we should keep ourselves in the love of God. Until the Lord comes again, that is, until He appears to us, we should await His mercy unto eternal life. Before we are raptured, we should await His mercy. Today while living on this earth, we receive not only mercy, but also grace. Thank the Lord that we have been saved and belong to God, but there is still one problem. Our bodies are not yet redeemed. Although we are no longer of the world, we are still in the world. It is good not to belong to the world, but this is not enough. Sooner or later the Israelites had to leave Egypt. Sooner or later Noah had to leave the ark to enter into the new age. Sooner or later Lot had to leave Sodom. And the day must come when the Christians must leave the world. While I am being attacked in this world, I await the mercy of the Lord Jesus. While I am being entangled by sin in this world, I await the mercy of the Lord Jesus. While I am being buffeted by Satan in this world, I await the Lord's salvation. Hence, while we are living on earth and keeping ourselves in the love of God, we await the day when the Lord will show mercy to us. Therefore, it is still necessary for His mercy to be upon us. We have to await His mercy until the day that we are raptured.
The Bible shows us one thing more concerning mercy and grace. Both in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament, the word mercy is always preceded by either show or have. Mercy is something that is shown, and those who are shown mercy are said to have received mercy. Why does the Bible say "to show mercy" instead of "to give mercy"? It is because mercy does not require our doing. Grace, on the other hand, requires some doing. When we obtain grace we obtain something definite. But when we receive mercy, it is only a receiving; all that we have to do is to receive.
Hebrews 4:16 exhorts us to come often to the Lord to pray. When we come to pray before the Lord, we will receive mercy and find grace for timely help. Some versions use the expression obtain mercy. But actually, in the original language, the word is not obtain. Obtain is something too active. The word is more passive in Greek. It should be translated "receive." We are to receive mercy and to find grace. What is to receive? To receive means that everything is here; it is always ready for use anytime. What is grace? Grace is something that you have to "find," because it is something that God will do. Grace is something positive; it is something to be worked out. That is why it says to "receive" mercy and to "find" grace. The Bible is very clear about mercy and grace. There is no confusion between the two.
