Merciful Holiness
The Identity and Attributes of God
September 8, 2024
Rev. Dr. Gabe Sylvia
Tonight's sermon emphasizes God's merciful holiness — his loving, saving disposition toward those in Christ, contrasted with his moral holiness and the just judgment owed to sinners.
Summary
As part of an ongoing series on God's holiness, this message focuses on God's merciful holiness: the loving, saving concern he shows for his covenant people in and through Jesus Christ. While God's moral holiness — his unchangeable, perfect righteousness — confronts every sinner with deserved judgment, his merciful holiness rescues and heals those who come in faith (illustrated by the woman in Luke 8:42–48). Not everyone receives saving love, and the responses God gives to faith may not always be dramatic, but believers constantly need and experience his mercy.
Key Points
- Series context: four months into a study of God's holiness (wonder, splendor, exalted, moral holiness).
- Distinction: moral holiness = God's unchangeable, perfect righteousness; merciful holiness = God's saving love toward those in His Son.
- Not universal: God's saving love is for his covenant people; unrepentant sinners rightly face eternal judgment.
- Christ-centered: God's merciful holiness can only be fully understood in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Biblical example: the woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8:42–48) illustrates God's merciful action in response to faith.
- Ongoing need: believers continually require God's merciful holiness, and answers to faith may not always be dramatic.
- Pastoral note: the sermon closes with prayer.
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