The Truth About Mercy

In Christian Communities of the Colonies (United States) there is tendency to commute. There is ever the notion that a Christian must be loving and show mercy to unbelievers and believers practicing sin. Christ is turned into a King who gives clemency, and allows Post Modern values to mingle with Gospel. This image is not only distorted, but false. Mercy cannot exist apart from the Truth, for it is when we acknowledge the truth about ourselves, "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard," (Romans 3:23), and that God in His mercy offers us the olive branch of the gospel, "We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are and Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins," (Romans 3:22, 24). Remove the truth and the result is that mercy and grace disappear, even love no longer exists. There must be standards. The Apostle Paul told us, "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin," (Romans 3:20), and "What then shall we say? Is the Law sin? By no means! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the Law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the Law had not said, "Do not covet." (Romans 7:7). However, we must be careful, for sin uses the Law to trap us, "But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the Law, sin is dead.For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death." (Romans 7:8. 11). The Apostle Paul is on to something here, we discover sin by being condemned by the Law of God, if we remain there, fighting sin with the law we die, but if instead we recognize our sin (repent, contrition, confess it) as Law says and then turn to Jesus Christ who is only one who can whip away the sin, then mercy has found us instead of judgement! The Gospel's purpose is to tell us that our sin is paid for by the Savior Jesus Christ and if we believe in Him we are reconciled to God and have His purpose in our lives. Mercy cannot happened until Truth has its day. A person must stand before the king or Arbiter, guilty and hear their sentence for the crime before clemency can be granted by the said ruler! You cannot be forgiven unless the truth of your sin be revealed and you repent of it! (Revelation 3:19, Romans 10:9-10).

The Gospel is Truth and Love together. We are told by the Apostle John that Jesus is Truth (John 14:6) and Love (1 John 4:8). The Apostle Paul tells us Love rejoices in the Truth, "Love does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out" (1 Corinthians 13:6). If we rob people of the truth, we rob them of Jesus Himself. For the truth is, "It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:10,12). In this post modern world, it is unpopular to tell anyone they are wrong, more than that a sinner or person standing in judgement and destined for second death which is hell fire (Revelation 21:8). However, it is love and mercy to tell people their doom, for by doing so you open their hearts to the good news that Jesus Christ offers salvation from eternal doom and offers eternal life to all who trust in Him for salvation and forgiveness of sins! (John 3:16, John 6:40). By hiding the truth and trying to please everyone with pluralism, post-modernism, and universalism, we are destroying truth, mercy, and love!

Mercy cannot be extended unless someone is first called to account for their evil deeds and are on trial for them. A judge who according to facts of case must sentence a person to electric chair can only show clemency if the person acknowledges their sin and are called to pay for it. Likewise, love and forgiveness don't exist unless someone is found guilty and told the truth that they deserve judgement. For it is Witten, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Romans 5:8-9). This has no impact if we remove sin from our vocabulary and society, instead it would read, "God loves and has mercy on everyone period." There is an intentional assault on standards, truth, and morals. The goal is the desecration and destruction of the gospel, because if you remove Truth, you lose Christ (John 14:6), and if you remove sin there is no mercy or forgiveness, which is at the axis of the Gospel itself. Make no mistake, the philosophy of pluralism and post-modernism are the pollutions that seeks to put the gospel away and are replacement gospels (see 1 Corinthians 11:4, Galatians 1:8). Jesus Christ came to bring us the Truth, that He saves alone, but He doesn't leave us there, He also shows us the Way and Life to live! Hence why it is written by the apostle who first gives us the most beautiful account of god's mercy and love in His Gospel account (The Gospel of John) says this later, "Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:7-8). We do not live righteously to be saved, Jesus Christ alone can save us and His sacrifice is all that counts against our sins, but after becoming born again (1 John 4:9) we are suppose to follow Jesus and live righteously to become more like him, for you are either becoming more like Jesus or more like the devil (see verses above).

Love has standards. It is not loving to betray someone or cheat on them. Mercy has standards, in order for mercy and forgiveness to exist properly there must be a crime and due process of punishment in place for it. Post Modern values are at the forefront of killing Love, Mercy, Forgiveness, and Grace. One cannot even be gracious or forgiving, if forgiveness and grace are no longer believed in, and there is no sin and crimes because they are justified by wicked people who do not want anyone to feel they have wronged anyone or that they are ever wrong. It is written that those who are of this cloth shall despair when Christ appears, "They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!" (Revelation 6:16). When Jesus Christ returns these pluralistic and post modern devils will despair, but until then they are content to lead the church astray via the doctrine of demons and unsound doctrine, "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear," (2 Timothy 4:3), and "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." (1 Timothy 4:1). The teachers of unsound doctrine and the doctrines of demons is Pluralism and Post Modernism, and all other teachings and false gospels that try to remove the power of mercy, which is that we as sinners deserve death and hell (Revelation 21:8) but Jesus in His mercy paid for our sins on the cross and offers us salvation and mercy through Himself.



God can only be Merciful if we acknowledge our sin, wicked deeds, and shameful behavior. For it is written, "With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; to the pure, you show yourself pure, and to the morally corrupt, you appear to be perverse (you judge them back for their perversion)." (Psalm 18:25-26). The Lord Jesus tells us that mercy is catching, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." (Matthew 5:7), "But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins," (Matthew 6:15), and "If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." (John 20:23). Many endeavor to turn these words into a blanket of mercy without judgement, but as aforementioned, mercy comes after conviction of a crime, and so you cannot just show love and mercy without convicting and confronting the sin! (1 Timothy 3:16). This is the shameful practice in many churches today, called unsanctified mercy and "greasy grace" (Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship). Unsanctified mercy does not call people to account, but dispenses a Hippy and Post Modern view of Christ, which isn't mercy. Mercy is when you deserve jail, hell, and judgement, but after your confess (repentance) you are shown clemency (pardon, mercy, forgiveness). For there to be mercy and forgiveness, there must be sin. If you remove sin and tell people they are blameless you take the Gospel away from them, which is what Post Modernism and Pluralism philosophies do; which are untrue because the truth is that we are "sinners," and Christ became sacrifice for our sin and turns us into a saints through His blood (Ephesians 2:8-19).