Thank you once again for listening to Cultivating Growth. I'm excited about our conversation today. We began a new topic last week really surrounding salvation and we'll spend some time talking this month about salvation and all the things that encompasses it. Last week we really spent our time talking about what is man's greatest problem?

Why is there even a need for salvation? Well, man's greatest problem is sin. And we will spend kind of the next couple of weeks and talking about how the Bible then will, you know, helps us to understand how we deal with that. God certainly plays a prominent role in that. We're gonna talk about that a little bit today, but also our role that we can play as well, which we'll talk about in a couple of weeks.

So I'm looking forward to this conversation. Let's get to it.

Well, we mentioned last week that if, if the conversation ended after week one, we'd be in a very dark place. But thankfully the conversation doesn't end after week one and God doesn't leave us in the darkness of sin. He gives us opportunity to find forgiveness in him, and he does so through his grace and his mercy, and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins.

And so we're gonna spend some time talking about some of those topics today. I, I know sometimes, especially when we talk about grace and mercy, we can kind of start with those two. Mm-hmm. They oftentimes get lumped together. Mm-hmm. The Bible lumps them together quite frequently. They're similar. In the way that we define them, but they are different words and they do carry different meaning.

You know, we think about mercy. It's, it's the withholding of punishment that we rightfully deserve, right? Someone has done something wrong. They deserve punishment, but that punishment is withheld. Mercy has been shown to that person, and we think about grace. We think about something being given a gift, being given something is given to someone that doesn't deserve that.

But it is the kindness and the love of the giver to provide that to them. And God does both of those things. He gives us mercy and he gives us grace as he approaches the topic of sin and fixing man's biggest problem. His answer to that is in his mercy and his grace. Yeah, I mean, you're exactly right.

When you think about mercy, you know, and, and just the definition of that. Not getting what we, well, what we deserve is death. That's what we deserve. As sinners, we deserve death. And so when God shows mercy, it, it is withholding that from us and, and we deserve death. But when we then couple that with grace, it's not just that he is withholding what we.

Deserve, he then bestows upon us something that we don't deserve. Mm-hmm. And that's eternal life. It, it is. You know, I'll often use the analogy of, you know, let's say I'm out driving, you know, out on the road and I, I run a red light and I get pulled over by the police officer and, and I have run a red light.

I. I deserve a ticket. Mm-hmm. But he chooses to just let me go with the, with a warning. He has shown mercy. I deserve a ticket, but it is a ticket that he doesn't give. But then he reaches into his pocket and he pulls out a hundred dollars bill, and he hands it to me. Well, that would then be Grace. I don't deserve that a hundred dollars Bill Uhhuh.

He, he just out of the goodness of who he is, he would hand me that a hundred dollars bill. And so, you're right. These things are talked about together a lot. Ephesians chapter one and two specifically. Yep. You know, does that, and there's another word coupled with grace and mercy in that passage specifically that tell us that.

God's mercy and his grace is even different than what our mercy and grace is because Paul will use the words rich. He is rich in mercy, chapter one and verse seven, he is rich in grace, chapter two and verse four, right? He is rich in these things and certainly if we're. Interested in mercy and grace. We want it coming from God.

We, we absolutely do. And, and sometimes it's, you know, especially when we think about the seriousness of the problem as we did last week, it, it really heightens then our awareness of just how great. God's mercy and grace is when, when we have, we have been the ones that have chosen to turn our backs on him, and yet he then steps in as the solution to that problem for us.

And it really is just remarkable to think about the love that is required on his part to do that for us. And, and you're right. I mean, you've, you've mentioned Ephesians, chapters one in verse three. One chapters one and two, and, and those two chapters just are incredibly beautiful in the way they describe this mercy and grace that God has shown to us.

And, and Paul very clearly identifies for us in chapter two that it is this grace that we find salvation in, right? That we can't do anything ourselves to fix this problem. I, I can't, I can't fix what I have done, but God has given me a. Gift he has provided to me this amazing gift that through faith I have access to, that solves man's biggest problem for us.

It, it is a remarkable thing to consider and it's no wonder why the New Testament writers especially speak of this in such beautiful language. As they seek to paint the picture of really what this does for us. Paul does that in Ephesians chapter two. He does that also in Romans chapter five, one of my favorite passages of scripture where he's talking about the fact that we, we were enemies of God.

That's what sin has made us. We've made of enemies of God and yet. Even in that state, God saw fit to send Jesus as a propitiation for us to bring grace and mercy into this world so that we could be justified in him. It's just almost mind bog. We talked, you know, last month about how hard it is to put words to some of the characteristics of God, right?

I think the same truth applies when we talk about the grace and mercy that he's shown to us. Well, by definition, when you talk about certainly grace and mercy, you can't show grace and mercy. Yourself. Yeah, that's true. You, you just, you just can't do it. It has to come, even the, the weak analogy that I used with the police officer, that that has to come from someone.

You can't show mercy, grace to yourself. And, and so it, it is, it is God. It is God's choice. It is solely out of God's love for man, that he has extended mercy and that he has extended grace and it, it is. You make a good point, and I'm searching for the words that just aren't there. Right? Because it, it is, it is mind boggling because it is solely out of his love for man.

It is solely out of his desire to have a relationship with man, that that's what he wants. And he knows, he knows how devastating the problem of sin is, and it's devastating to him because it separates man from him and he wants to have a relationship with man. Listen, I, I could see here all, all day long and try to figure out why he wants to have a relationship with man, but he does.

Yep. And so it is his mercy and grace. Now that is extended, certainly forgiveness, which we'll talk about, I'm sure here. Mm-hmm. You know, in just a moment. But it, it is his mercy and grace that is extended and for man, for, for anybody to turn their back on that or to say. No thank you. Mm-hmm. To now verbalize a centage such as that it, it starts to sound like the most ridiculous thing that man could ever do.

Yeah. Well I think it is, and you know, Jesus speaks to this as he's nearing the end of his life and I. And we see in, in Matthew chapter 26, he's gonna institute the Lord's Supper as he protects of the Passover feast with his disciples. But, but he clearly understands what his sacrifice is going to do for man.

He says the very thing in Matthew 26 and verse 28 for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. For the remission of sin. So to your point, when Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice and brought God's grace and mercy into this world, it cost him his life right in order to do that, but that life that he was willing to shed, the blood that he shed for us, it brought forgiveness of our sins, that that means that the slate gets wiped clean.

When, when, when we. Bring ourselves to the cross of Jesus and allow his blood to cleanse us. Our slate gets wiped clean there. There's no more, remember, our sins are remitted, they are forgiven. And, and that type of language is it, it's, it's difficult again, for, for us to really process because when somebody wrongs me.

I can forgive them and I should forgive them, right? It's very difficult though to forget entirely what happened, and if I'm not careful, I can allow some of those past experiences to still impact my relationship with that individual. God is able to completely forgive. He, he, those sins are gone. It's as if they never happened.

And again, to go back to Romans chapter five, we're justified in the eyes of God. That means, that means the gavel has been hit. We are innocent and that that is a very ama again, a difficult thing to fully comprehend and wrap our minds around to think about the fact that because of something Jesus has done for me, I've been justified in the eyes of God.

Yeah, I mean it, it is. It's a powerful picture that we have of, you know, this love that certainly God and Jesus, you know, portrays in the giving of his life and that sacrifice that was made. But you know, it, it's interesting where that accentuates really another attribute of God. You know, last week we've spent, you know, time talking about how God is, has perfect knowledge and he has perfect power and he has perfect presence, right?

He has all of those things well. He is perfectly just. Mm-hmm. And, and you know, sometimes people think, well, how can you be perfectly just, and, and operate in grace and mercy? Those things seem to contradict one another. Well, he, he operates with perfect justice in the way that forgiveness has taken place.

And so you can have, I know we've made reference to it, but Ephesians chapter one and verse seven, in him, we have read. Redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. And so this is something that, you know has occurred. God and, and the way that he has laid out, you know, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, it becomes clear that sacrifice, that blood, that death needs to occur in order for sins to be forgiven.

Mm-hmm. God understands that he built that. And so here he, he goes way beyond what occurred in the Old Testament to now a sacrifice. One time for the sins of all man. And you're right. And the fact that not just that they're wiped away, but they're wiped away and forgotten. And that is the power, certainly of his grace, and it's the power of his forgiveness.

And one of my favorite passages on this is in one John chapter two, verses one and two, because it, it kind of brings together. This great problem that man has of sin and the solution that we find in Jesus. And he says, my little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. That's the objective.

Right? Right. Don't sin, but if anyone sins, we have an advocate. With the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. I love that word, advocate. It. It gives me this picture of Jesus pleading my case before God. He, he is.

He is there pleading my case for me. He wants me to be saved. And he sacrificed himself in order to do that, and it's because of his advocacy in that way that my sins can be forgiven. He has taken my place and, and he has given himself so that I don't have to suffer because of this, that, that this summarizes so.

Clearly for me, Jesus's role in all of this, he was that sacrificial lamb, and he now serves as an advocate for me before God. I mean, we certainly don't have, you know, any time here in the last couple of minutes, but it's the entirety of the book of Hebrews. I mean, if you're looking for, you know, you're listening to this and you're looking for, you know, some additional study or meditation time, you know, we've given you passages like Ephesians, chapter one and two.

We've given you passages like. Romans chapter five and six, the entirety of the book of Hebrews, I mean, the Hebrew writer will make the point over and over and over about the power that Jesus specifically has in the role of dealing with the problem of our sin, and that's what grace and mercy and forgiveness is all about.

It is that acknowledgement that we have this big problem. There's nothing I can do about it. Mm-hmm. Well, thanks be to God that he has provided me a way to do something about it, and that is his grace, his mercy, and the forgiveness that came through the sacrifice of his son. Well, let's wrap this conversation up in Ephesians chapter two.

We've referenced Ephesians one and two several times over the course of this conversation, but let's finish up in Ephesians chapter two and verse number eight. And just listen for how Paul describes God's grace and the benefit that it is to us. Ephesians chapter two and verse eight, for by grace, you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Thank you for listening this week. If you haven't already done so, we'd appreciate it if you would take just a second to subscribe to the podcast, whatever platform you're listening, rate and review the show so we can continue to spread the good news of Jesus widely and effectively as possible. Thanks again for joining us this week, and we'll talk again next week.