The Call of God to Mercy

Joel 2:12-13 ~ “’Yet even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.”
 
A day is coming unlike any other. It is the Day of the LORD and it will bring upon the earth a day of terror and calamity for all who inhabit the earth. But that day is not yet. There is still an invitation from the Almighty God to find His gracious mercy and be delivered from that dreadful day. Much is made of God’s impending wrath, and that wrath causes our hearts to tremble with fear. But, my friends, let us not forget that with the LORD is mercy. Consider Psalm 130:7, “O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.”
 
Have you sinned? Are you in that condition where the impending justice of the Almighty God hangs over your head and you have no where to run? Then hurry and run to the LORD. Do not wait, for our text this day is a plea from the Savior for one such as you. He says, “Even now…” why hesitate? Should you wait until a more opportune time? There isn’t one. Paul says this very thing in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” And what are you to do, even now? God tells you to “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” The only means of returning to the LORD is with sorrow and anguish of heart over your sin. There will be no way of convincing the LORD that your sins are not so very sinful. Let there be a true brokenness of heart when you come before God. For there will be no audience before the King of kings if you have a sense of indifference toward your sin.
 
And no religious plea will avail you before the LORD. We are commanded to “rend your hearts and not your garments.” Many will make the mistake of trying to show the LORD that they have been so very dedicated to the religious duties of their current life that there should be a pardon for their sins. They have served and worked and even done the outward show of remorse in the rending of their garments. But that does not gain you any advantage if your heart remains untouched by the grief of sin. James 4:9-10 illuminates a repentant heart, “Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” Do you take pleasure in sin? Do you laugh when you should mourn and find joy where there should be gloom? Then pray… and pray and pray some more until the LORD grants you that godly sorrow that leads to repentance (see 2 Corinthians 7:10).
 
Then, beloved, when your heart is rent, when sorrow over your own sins has taken hold of your heart, then do as you are instructed—return to the LORD. What will you find? A God who is ready to take vengeance upon you? A King who will crush you under the weight of His majesty? Oh, my dear friends, you will find a Savior—a King who pardons and a God who forgives. As our text declares, “he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” God has more mercy than you have need, for that gracious mercy He offers was paid in full through the sacrifice of the LORD Jesus. Consider Psalm 30:5, “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
 
I have noticed a troubling thing—and perhaps you’ve seen it too. Those who know their sins, and who know the righteous judgment of God hangs over them, still reject the call to flee from their sins and turn to the LORD who will pardon them. I would beg you today, do not let this be you. Do not wait. Even now—this very moment—is the moment God has given you to abandon your sin and find His abundant grace. This merciful invitation from God Almighty is given for any who will respond in humility and brokenness and run to Christ. You will find Him to be a forgiving and merciful Savior.
 
In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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