What does God's grace and mercy mean

Curiouscallie

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Okay now I've learnt a lot about why Jesus died on the cross and am very grateful for all of your help and will continue to reread and process your responses until it makes sense.
Now another question or two.
Where does grace and mercy come in. Why is this so important to know and understand . Obviously it has to do with the death of Jesus on the cross but How. I have been asked in the past if I know or have experienced God's grace and mercy...I have not nor do I understand the importance of it.
 

morse86

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Grace is something God gives you but don't deserve it. Mercy is forgiveness. Not all sin is equal, some things should be forgiven.

Also, there are enemies of God and enemies of you. Two different things. Enemies of you should be forgiven.

Proverbs 25:21:
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
 
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Doug Melven

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Grace = Getting what we don't deserve.
Mercy = Not getting what we deserve.

One of my favorite acronyms for grace is

God's Riches At Christ's Expense

Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Ephesians 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
 
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faroukfarouk

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Okay now I've learnt a lot about why Jesus died on the cross and am very grateful for all of your help and will continue to reread and process your responses until it makes sense.
Now another question or two.
Where does grace and mercy come in. Why is this so important to know and understand . Obviously it has to do with the death of Jesus on the cross but How. I have been asked in the past if I know or have experienced God's grace and mercy...I have not nor do I understand the importance of it.
Isaiah 53 and Ephesians 2.8-9 have answers to your questions. :)
 
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sunshineforJesus

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Grace = Getting what we don't deserve.
Mercy = Not getting what we deserve.

One of my favorite acronyms for grace is

God's Riches At Christ's Expense

Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Ephesians 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

This is a great explanation.
 
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tdidymas

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Okay now I've learnt a lot about why Jesus died on the cross and am very grateful for all of your help and will continue to reread and process your responses until it makes sense.
Now another question or two.
Where does grace and mercy come in. Why is this so important to know and understand . Obviously it has to do with the death of Jesus on the cross but How. I have been asked in the past if I know or have experienced God's grace and mercy...I have not nor do I understand the importance of it.
The apostle Paul defined grace in Ephesians 2:4-5:
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
That kind of grace expressed to us ought to make us so grateful to Him that we would love Him with our whole life, and do all that He asks of us.
TD:)
 
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FutureAndAHope

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Okay now I've learnt a lot about why Jesus died on the cross and am very grateful for all of your help and will continue to reread and process your responses until it makes sense.
Now another question or two.
Where does grace and mercy come in. Why is this so important to know and understand . Obviously it has to do with the death of Jesus on the cross but How. I have been asked in the past if I know or have experienced God's grace and mercy...I have not nor do I understand the importance of it.

Grace and mercy (from God) come in different ways. There is the grace of forgiveness, God forgives our sin. We can all say God has given us the grace of forgiveness. But each of us may have a different level of appreciation of that grace. Take the story of the prostitute in the bible who washed Jesus feet with her hair. She came to a realisation that Jesus had come to forgive, and cleanse her of her past sins. Because she had so many sins, she was grateful to a large, or big degree.

Luke 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

The verse shows us that she "loved much", the grace provided to her, why? Her sins had been many. If we have not done anything really bad in our lives, we may have less love in regard to having our sins forgiven. Because we may not see the need as clearly.

Then there is the general grace and mercy that comes from God's love for us. The mercy of blessing. Jesus comes to bring us rest. Although we may go through a time of trial the general attitude of God is to make our lives better. Many experience this blessing and are grateful to God for it. This blessing is for a part tied to our abiding in Christ, and our obedience to Him, in the OT anything that remained in the presence of God became blessed.
 
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Soyeong

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Okay now I've learnt a lot about why Jesus died on the cross and am very grateful for all of your help and will continue to reread and process your responses until it makes sense.
Now another question or two.
Where does grace and mercy come in. Why is this so important to know and understand . Obviously it has to do with the death of Jesus on the cross but How. I have been asked in the past if I know or have experienced God's grace and mercy...I have not nor do I understand the importance of it.

According to Psalms 119:29, David wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey His Law. According to Titus 2:11-14, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do things that perfectly describe what God's Law was given to do. According to Romans 1:5, we have received grace in order to bring about the obedience that faith requires. According to 2 Peter 3:17-18, growing in grace is contrasted with falling into the error of Lawlessness. According to John 1:16-17, grace was added upon grace, so the grace of Christ was added upon the grace of the Law. According to Jude 1:4, the ungodly pervert God's grace into license for immorality. According to Strong's, "grace" is defined as "the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life" and when God's will is reflected in our lives, it takes the form of obedience to His commands, so grace is the power of God to overcome Lawlessness in our lives and it is by grace that God teaches us to walk in His ways in accordance with His Law.

The goal the Law is to teach us how to walk in God ways and to thereby grow in a relationship with Him based on faith and love. The goal of punishments for breaking the Law is to bring about reformation in our behavior. The goal of mercy is in the preferred hope that we will bring about reformation of our behavior on our own without the need for punishment. However, mercy is given to us with the expectation that we will change our behavior and be merciful to others, but as the the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:21-35, the full punishment can be reinstated if that expectation is not met. In other words, mercy is about delaying punishment in the hope that the punishment will not be necessary.
 
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