He Is Both Sovereign And Merciful Isaiah 40:10-11 Isaiah 46:8-10 Daniel 4:35 Psalms 115:3 Job 23:13 Job 42:1-3 Ephesians 2:6-9 Psalms 37:3-7 Romans 8:28-32 Psalms 84:11-12 03.26.21

 

HE IS BOTH SOVEREIGN AND MERCIFUL

BREAD

¹⁰ See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him.  See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. ¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.   Isaiah 40:10-11 (NIV)

 

⁸ “Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.  ⁹ Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.  ¹⁰ I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.”  Isaiah 46:8-10 (NIV)

 

³⁵ All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”  Daniel 4:35 (NIV)

 

³ Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.  Psalms 115:3 (NIV)

 

¹³ “But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?  He does whatever he pleases.”  Job 23:13 (NIV)

 

¹ Then Job replied to the LORD: ² “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. ³ You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.   Job 42:1-3 (NIV)

 

⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.   Ephesians 2:6-9 (NIV)

³ Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.  ⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.  ⁵ Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: ⁶ He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. ⁷ Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.   Psalms 37:3-7 (NIV)

 

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. ³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Romans 8:28-32 (NIV)

¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. ¹² O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.   Psalms 84:11-12 (NIV)

 

BUTTER

“God knows what shall happen and the order that it will be brought upon the stage of the world.  If God is eternal, how bold and foolish it is for a mortal to question His counsels and actions.  How can we who are so weak creatures that we cannot understand yesterday, presume to measure the motions of eternity by our scanty intellects?  We are not able to foresee an unexpected accident that falls to blast a well-laid plan.  If we cannot understand the motions of the sea or the nature of light, how shall we dare to censure the actions of an eternal God that is so infinitely beyond our reach?  The counsels of a boundless being are not to be scanned by the brain of a silly worm that breathes but a few minutes in the world.  How can eternity be judged by a creature of time?  Whenever, therefore, any unworthy notion of the counsels and works of God is suggested to us by Satan or our own corrupt hearts, let us look backward to God’s eternal existence and our own short duration, and silence ourselves as did Job.”  Stephen Charnock

“God is in ultimate control of the world from the largest international intrigue to the smallest bird-fall in the forest.”  John Piper

“If the Sovereign, Omnipotent, Omniscient God is on our side, as His child, seriously, what do we have to fear?  He, Who loves us with an everlasting love, Who ever has His eye upon us, Who never leaves us nor forsakes us, Who not only died to save us but has also given us the Grand Deposit of the precious Holy Spirit to empower us to walk in a manner worthy of our high calling all the way Home – this God, this very God is for us and not against us.  No matter what the circumstances of your life may be bellowing out.  The world shouts fear while God whispers peace.  He will never let the righteous fall and we can trust Him with our lives and with the lives of all we love and hold dear.”  BHY        

“Hard-core realists who breathe the air of skepticism will always be with us.  They will mock our faith in a crucified Jew and ridicule our trust in a God we cannot see.  They will laugh at your love for the Savior who has cleansed you of sin’s defilement and given you spiritual life by His atoning work on the cross.  Nevertheless, believe.  Have faith – not faith in faith, which is spiritual nonsense, but faith in the omnipotent, sovereign Lord Jesus whose authority and power are absolute and know no rival.”   Daniel L. Akin

“God’s ways are higher than man’s ways, and He is worthy of complete trust even in the most desperate of circumstances.”  Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible

“The way you ask God to move your mountain is to not focus on the height of your mountain but the depths of God’s mercy.”  Ann Voskamp

“God’s sovereignty means that this design for us cannot be frustrated. It cannot fail.  Nothing, absolutely nothing, befalls those ‘who love God’ and ‘are called according to his purpose’ but what is for our deepest and highest and longest good.”  John Piper 

“Sin is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love.”  John Bunyan

“There is a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea.”  Frederick William Faber

“Mercy imitates God and disappoints Satan.”   John Chrysostom

 

“God's mercy is vast and beyond our comprehension. He will never reject anyone who turns to Him for mercy. Nor will He force Himself on anyone who chooses to live without Him.”  Michael Youssef

“God’s willingness to show mercy appears by His joyfulness when sinners take hold on His mercy.  God’s goodness is that He rejoices at the salvation of sinners and is glad when His mercy is accepted.  God rejoices when a poor sinner comes in and takes hold of His mercy.  What an encouragement to believe in God!  He is a God of pardons.  Mercy pleases Him.  Nothing prejudices us but unbelief.  Unbelief stops the current of God’s mercy from running, shut God’s bowels, closes the cavity of Christ’s wounds, so no healing virtue will come out.  As far as the heavens are above the earth, so far is God’s mercy above our sins.  What will tempt us to believe, if not the mercy of God?”   Thomas Watson

 

“Among the attributes of God, although they are all equal, mercy shines with even more brilliance than justice.”   Miguel de Cervantes

 

“All God’s ways are loving even if we cannot readily discern that with our eyes of flesh.  None of us can see the entire picture yet God makes known from the beginning from ancient times what is yet to come.  His purposes will stand and He will do all that He pleases.  He is a good and loving and faithful God Who only allows what is best for every heir of mercy.  We can trust Him with our lives.”   BHY

 

“I love Him because He first loved me.  His goodness and mercy and compassion to me are new every day.  And my assurance is lodged in these aspects of His character.  My trust is in His love for me as His own.  My serenity has as its basis an implicit, unshakable reliance on His ability to do the right thing, the best thing in any given situation.  This to me is the supreme portrait of my Shepherd.  Continually there flows out to me His goodness and His mercy, which even though I do not deserve them, come unremittingly from their source of supply – His own great heart of love.”   Phillip Keller

 

HEART SAVOR

 

• ·         Our God is totally other – both Sovereign and Merciful.
• ·         Nothing comes to His children that has not passed through His hands.  He is never taken by surprise – never.
• ·         What He allows in the lives of His heirs of mercy is always beneficial and always works together for their good.