All right, we're in a series called My Best Friend, The Father.

And we've been talking about The Father, and I thought

Pastor Tom's message last week was wonderful, and the Father is Sovereign.

I listened to that at 9 o'clock.

This week, we're going to talk about the father is

just and merciful. The father is just and merciful. All right? And I want to

remind you that we're talking about the attributes of God.

And what I want to remind you about when we talk about the attributes of God is we're not talking about things he does. We're talking about things he is. We're not

even talking about things he has because if he just has mercy he might lose it. He might misplace it. He might use it up.

So we're not just talking about that God is merciful, but the reason he is merciful is

because he is mercy. The reason he is just is because he is justice.

And let me explain to you what justice and mercy are.

And I'll also bring Grace in, even though we're not going to talk about Grace this week,

we'll talk about it later, but give you a simple definition here.

Justice is giving you what you deserve.

Justice is giving you what you deserve.

Mercy, and I'm stepping over so we can kind of have a distinction,

mercy is not giving you what you deserve.

You got these two? Justice is giving you what you deserve. Mercy is not giving you what you deserve and just so we can have

the distinction also,

grace is giving you what you don't deserve.

Grace is giving you what you don't deserve.

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