This may sound preposterous at first, but I believe the gospel teaches us that all who sin “deserve” to receive mercy from God. This is not because of what we have done, obviously, but because of who God is. If we are talking about the wages of sin, then what we get is death (Romans 6:23). However, remember that those are the wages of sin, not the wages of God for sin. Deadly separation from God, that is, death’s power and the fear of it, are what Satan holds over us (Hebrews 2:14-15). Satan deals in death. God gives life.
When we are talking about what we receive from God based on his divine nature of love, then the answer is mercy. Such mercy has nothing to do with us except the fact that we need it. The nature of grace is that it comes solely and entirely from the love of God.
It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:15–16
Paul says he received mercy because he was such a horrible sinner. He certainly did not receive mercy because somehow his actions were good. Mercy did not come because of his faith, repentance, or good deeds. God was merciful because he knew that Paul stood in need of it.
We ought not imagine that mercy is only something serene and pleasant. Is not mercy also severe? We need a fierce mercy which destroys sin, obliterates death, burns away all corruption, and rids us of all deadly affections, even though we may want to desperately hold them close. If any of this were left we cannot say we have received mercy in any substantive way. The physician who does not undertake all measures to cure the patient, even treatments that may cause extreme discomfort, is hardly merciful to the one suffering from sickness.
Though a human doctor might not be able to fully cure every disease, God is not similarly limited. The Great Physician is able to rid us of all that ails us spiritually, raising us to new life from within the death of sin’s grip. This fiery mercy of God burns away all the chaff, uproots all the weeds from among the wheat, and is able to cut even to the separating of bone from marrow. This mercy will burn away all straw and worthless things, so the person escapes as through the flames (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).
Talking about how God will cleanse us and make us holy, through the mercy of a refining fire, is disconcerting because we would rather be simply forgiven than made righteous. If the removal of our warped inner ways of mind and spirit, to say nothing of the habits of the body, might entail suffering, even though the result will be godliness, we often hesitate.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:17
The breaking of tainted spirits, hard hearts, and the eradication of our sinful affections, whether held ignorantly or willfully, is the mercy we need and deserve. God will give us nothing less.
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