His mercy is more

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us…” Ephesians 2:4

Every week when we gather to worship as God’s children, we get a glimpse into God’s judgement. It could be while singing a chorus, when someone exhorts or gives thanks, or when we hear from the sermon. We get a reminder that our sins are much more than we imagined they’d be, and it sometimes seems more than we can bear. But we also get a reminder of a God who is greater than our sin, one who cleanses it by removing it as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). It is only because of God’s mercy that we are not consumed, because His faithfulness is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

The hymn His Mercy is More, written by Matt Papa and Matt Boswell, was inspired by a pastoral letter by John Newton, who wrote: “Are not you amazed sometimes that you should have so much as a hope, that, poor and needy as you are, the Lord thinketh of you? But let not all you feel discourage you. For if our Physician is almighty, our disease cannot be desperate and if He casts none out that come to Him, why should you fear? Our sins are many, but His mercies are more: our sins are great, but His righteousness is greater: we are weak, but He is power…”

The song was inspired by John Newton, who wrote: “…If He casts none out that come to Him, why should you fear?”

According to Papa, the lyrics from this hymn contain truths for all time, all places and all generations.

A love that will not let you go

What love could remember no wrongs we have done
Omniscient, all-knowing, He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Have you ever heard of someone who loves people unconditionally, despite the wrongs they have done, someone who does not hold their sins against them time and again? 1 Corinthians 13:5 says that love keeps no record of wrongs, and no one is a better example of this than our Lord Jesus Christ, who blotted out all our transgressions for His own sake (Hebrews 8:12; Isaiah 43:25). 

It’s not that the all-knowing God doesn’t remember our sins (even the ones we do in secret). He does — but He chooses to forget them when we confess them. As Hebrews 4:13 says, “Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” But what’s amazing is that He is merciful towards our wrongdoings, so much so that he tosses them into the depths of the sea, where they sink like a stone, never to be remembered again (Micah 7:19).

A voice that calls you home

What patience would wait as we constantly roam
What Father so tender is calling us home
He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

We’re well aware of the glorious mercy of God, yet we constantly roam and dive into worldly pleasures. Whether it’s the shameful stuff we’ve done in the past, or the relationships we’ve ruined, the words that hurt a fellow brother or sister, or the faith we struggling with, we’re sometimes convinced that it’s too late for God to forgive us. Deep down, we believe God could never love sinners like us. 

It’s not that God doesn’t remember our sins. He does — but He chooses to forget them when we confess them

The song says that even if you fall or walk away, no matter if you’re poor, rich, healthy or bedridden, no matter how far away from the Lord you’ve wandered, He is still waiting with open arms to welcome you home. For we are like sheep that have gone astray; each of us turned our own separate way (Isaiah 53:6), and the Shepherd is the most concerned about the flock who have wandered away. He patiently waits for His sheep to hear His familiar voice and come back to Him. Until then, whether it takes months or even years, His mercy still abounds in their lives.

A sacrifice to save you from death

What riches of kindness He lavished on us
His blood was the payment, His life was the cost
We stood ‘neath a debt we could never afford
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Chorus:
Praise the Lord, His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness, New every morn’
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Like all human beings, we entered this world conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5) and under the judgment of God. The only fair and obvious judgment for our sin was death (Romans 6:23) — a debt we’d never be able to pay. But Christ paid the price in full, voluntarily and with His blood. 

This is a kindness we never deserved. Like Jacob prayed in Genesis 32, we are unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness He shows to us. But Titus 3:4-5 says, “When the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.”

But Christ paid the price in full, voluntarily and with His blood. This is a kindness we never deserved

God’s mercies are poured out to us every morning, without fail, and they are new every day. Think about this for a second. It is because of His mercy that David, even though a murderer and adulterer, became a man after God’s own heart; Paul, who loved persecuting Christians, was called to be His apostle; the children of Israel, despite being rebellious and ungrateful, were saved from their enemies over and over again. And it’s only because of His mercy that you and I are not dead today for all the sins we’ve ever committed and ever will, because He chose not to dispense the full consequences of our sins upon us. Mercy is an undeserving gift from a loving God, especially when we were deserving of death. What incredible good news! What reason to respond by praising His name!

Sometimes, we wonder if God will really take us back amidst all our failures and shortcomings. We wonder whether God’s mercy could go so far to cover us, even when we test His patience relentlessly. May we always remember that His mercy is greater than the sum of all our sins!

(Video credits: Guitar and male vocals – Ryan Rives; female vocals – Lauren Murray)