Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment
This year, Paul Tripp Ministries (PTM) is celebrating our 20th anniversary. We’ve been rejoicing all year, thanking God for his faithfulness to PTM, but this weekend specifically (Friday, October 2, and Saturday, October 3), we’re livestreaming a special online event. I’ll share details on how you can tune in at the bottom of this email.
To prepare you for this weekend’s upcoming livestream and in continuation of our 20th anniversary celebration, today’s Grace & Knowledge will feature my favorite 20 Bible verses, with brief commentary and application on each.
Okay, I get that this is an impossible task! I don’t actually have 20 favorite verses. If it’s true that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable…” (2 Timothy 3:16), then all 30,000+ verses in the combined Old and New Testaments should be my favorite.
I guess a better way to say it is that this G&K is dedicated to 20 verses that I probably return to and reference the most in my ministry. Even so, I found myself needing to make this list at least 200 verses long!
So, below are just 20 of my favorite verses, in no particular order. I pray some of these will encourage, equip, convict, or comfort you with the “right here, right now” gospel, at just the right time, depending on what you are experiencing today in your everyday life.
You can also use this list to dive deeper into a specific section of Scripture today, choosing any of these verses as an entry gate.
P.S. Don’t forget to read to the end of this list. You’ll discover my new favorite verse for 2026, along with an invitation to watch brand-new Bible teaching this weekend for the PTM 20th anniversary livestream.
May God bless you richly, as you continue to discover how the transforming power of Scripture connects to your everyday life, right here, right now.
Genesis 1:1 // “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
These may be the four most important words in the Bible. Everything that was created was made by God and for his plan, his kingdom, his glory. Not us.
2 Corinthians 5:15 // “And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”
Will we live for ourselves, reducing life down to the small confines of our wants, feelings, needs, demands, expectations, and so on, or will we live for God?
Galatians 2:20 // “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
The Bible powerfully declares that Jesus didn’t just die for your past or your future, but for everything you face right here, right now. We need to study, examine, teach, preach, counsel, and encourage one another with the “nowism” of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 3:16 // “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
We are called to handle the truths of Scripture in a way that results in a constant pattern of personal self-examination that leads to honest and humble confession, which produces a commitment to repentance, resulting in a life of increasing spiritual maturity and joyful obedience.
Isaiah 55:11 // “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
The primary purpose of the Word of God is not information but transformation. God’s plan is that when the rain of biblical truth falls on us, it doesn’t just claim our mind; it captures our heart and transforms how we live.
Psalm 119:105 // “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
As a sinner living with other sinners in a fallen world, you encounter darkness every day. On any given day, you probably encounter more darkness than you do truth—both internally and externally. Life is more of a midnight walk through the woods. So, to move forward without danger and get to where you are meant to go, you need something to light your way. In this darkened world, God has blessed you with his word to light your way. Do you shine its light on your everyday life?
Psalm 42:11 // “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
No one talks to you more than you do. You are always preaching to yourself a gospel that causes you to rest in his wisdom or a gospel that produces a bit of panic.
Psalm 51:10 // “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
Our biggest, most abiding, most life-shaping problem exists inside us, not outside us. What we actually need to be rescued from is us. What really needs to be transformed are our hearts. And what’s the bright and golden promise of the cross of Jesus Christ? It’s a new, clean heart!
Psalm 73:25–26 // “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
When you are satisfied with the Giver, because you have found in him the life you were looking for, you are freed from the ravenous quest for satisfaction that is the discouraging existence of so many people.
Psalm 103:5 // “Who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
We do tend to turn God into a delivery system. We get excited about what he can do for us and what he can give us. God is unwilling to be your means to what you call the “good life.” Your relationship with him must be your definition of the good life. “Good” comes in a person, and his name is Jesus. Yes, it is true—Jesus is the “good life” that you need, no matter what is on your wish list.
Isaiah 26:3 // “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Real, sturdy, lasting peace isn’t to be found in picking apart your life until you have understood all of the components. You will never understand it all because God, for your good and his glory, keeps some of it shrouded in mystery. Peace is found only in trusting the One who carefully controls all the things that tend to rob you of your peace.
Matthew 28:20 // “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
When you hit hard times, when your weakness is exposed, be ready for the enemy to whisper in your ear, “Where is your God now?” And be ready to respond, “He is where he has been and always will be—with me in power, glory, and grace. He never goes back on his promise to be with me always!”
2 Peter 1:3 // “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.”
You and I have no natural ability to rise to do what God calls us to do, but he refuses to leave us to our own resources. He is not so unwise, unkind, or unfaithful as to ever call us to a task without enabling us to do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 // “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
God’s care for you is secure because it depends not on your faithfulness, but on his. God will remain faithful even when you’re not, because his faithfulness rests on who he is, not on what you do.
Daniel 4:34–35 // “For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’”
Rest is not to be found in your control but in God’s absolute rule over everything. You will never be in a situation, location, or relationship that is not under his control. Because he is wise, gracious, faithful, and powerful, he is worthy of your trust and is alone able to give your heart rest.
Acts 17:26–27 // “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.”
God is not an “out-there and distant sovereign.” Because God is involved in every detail of our lives, he is near. He is so near that at any moment we can reach out and touch him. This means that every grace you and I will ever need is near and available to us as well. So, reach out today. The Author is near, and he holds grace in his hands.
Matthew 6:19–20 // “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
It’s hard to live with eternity in view. But if eternity is the plan, and it is, then it makes no sense to shrink your life down to the needs and wants of this little moment.
Revelation 21:5 // “And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’”
Are you tired of the futility and frustration of this broken world? Are you exhausted by sin, suffering, and death? Your Redeemer knows, understands, and cares. His grace has been unleashed, and its work will not be done until every last sin-broken thing has been fully and completely made new again.
Lamentations 3:22–23 // “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
In a world where everything is in some state of decay, God’s mercies never grow old. They are form-fit for the challenges, disappointments, sufferings, temptations, and struggles with sin within and without.
James 2:13 // “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
I have to apologize; I don’t have an explanation for this one that could fit in this email. This is a new favorite verse for me, my favorite of 2026, but it’s an iceberg of a verse. Four short and simple words—mercy triumphs over judgment—and underneath, the entire narrative of Scripture and practical application that will transform your everyday life.
So, I invite you to tune in to PTM’s 20th Anniversary Livestream this weekend: Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment. In four brand-new teaching sessions, I’ll explain what each word means and why these four words have the power to transform our everyday lives.
You can go to PaulTripp.com/Live right now to sign up and get a reminder when we’re about to go live. The free event begins at 7:00pm Eastern on Friday, October 2, with the first two sessions, “Mercy” and “Triumphs.” We’ll resume at 9:00am Eastern on Saturday, October 3, for the final two words, “Over” and “Judgment.”
If you can’t tune in live this weekend, you can still sign up now to receive a reminder link to watch the replay on demand.
Join me for PTM’s 20th anniversary celebration this weekend. I think you might add James 2:13 to your list of favorite verses, too!
