Speaker 1: In our written and read series, we're talking about the revolutionary ideas of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And I always encourage you to take notes.
Speaker 1: I believe that helps us to remember what it is we've heard.
Speaker 1: And we can always go back and reference it.
Speaker 1: We've been talking about the fact that Jesus is teaching the sermon on the Mount.
Speaker 1: Maybe one of his most famous messages is definitely the longest one we have in scripture.
Speaker 1: And he is at the very beginning of his ministry.
Speaker 1: And he is, he is beginning to open up the revolutionary ideas that he holes within him.
Speaker 1: And his words are leading the way we've said from the beginning, that words change worlds.
Speaker 1: If you want to change the world that you're living in, if you want to change the home that you're living in, if you want to change the business that you're working in, or that you're leading, if you want to change the world that you're in, change your words, and you will see that the world around you will begin to change.
Speaker 1: And Jesus is saying, these words are they're revolutionary.
Speaker 1: They're they're blowing people's minds.
Speaker 1: And he says, first blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Speaker 1: And we learned that the first work of the Holy spirit in your life and in mine is the work of conviction.
Speaker 1: And then the first work of grace in your life, and mine is the work of repentance.
Speaker 1: And then he said, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.
Speaker 1: Mourning is the external expression of internal grief.
Speaker 1: And when we are addressing hurts, those hurts can heal.
Speaker 1: And so we learned that addressed hurts heal and Matthew five verse four, and then he said, blessed are the meek
Speaker 2: For, they shall inherit the earth
Speaker 1: Learn that meekness is controlled strength.
Speaker 1: It's maturity in action.
Speaker 1: And we discovered that we are heirs of Christ.
Speaker 1: We are going to inherit the world, the earth so that we, so we can operate with meekness.
Speaker 1: We can choose meekness even when we have the right to, to kind of bow up a little bit and be excited about who we are.
Speaker 1: We can operate with meekness because we know that he is our father and he is giving us what we need.
Speaker 1: We will inherit let your future empower your present.
Speaker 1: And then verse six, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.
Speaker 1: We learned last week, that righteousness means meeting God's standard.
Speaker 1: And the way that we deal with that in our world, our natural proclivity is to first question the standard, then try to change the standard.
Speaker 1: It's how humanity works.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately for you, unfortunately for me, unfortunately for all of humanity, humanity is not good at this.
Speaker 1: And our plans rarely work out the way that we thought that they would.
Speaker 1: In fact, they often lead us in a path that we never anticipated and certainly didn't intend.
Speaker 1: And so God says, I want you to desire things.
Speaker 1: And if you desire, right things you'll pursue right actions.
Speaker 1: And if you pursue right actions, it will lead you closer and closer to this thing called righteousness.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately we discovered as well that our righteousness is never actually going to hit the Mark.
Speaker 1: And so, even though we're trying, it seems like God is calling us to this unhittable Mark, where we will certainly be a failure.
Speaker 1: But what he says to us is you shall be filled, you'll be filled.
Speaker 1: And so he said, I'll tell you what, if you will bring the desire, I will insure the destination.
Speaker 1: And that's where he's, he's left us.
Speaker 1: And I praise God for that today that we have that promise through Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: And then we stepped next into this verse seven.
Speaker 1: It says, blessed are the merciful for, they shall obtain mercy.
Speaker 1: And I don't think it's any accident that Jesus is talking about mercy here, right after telling us blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.
Speaker 1: Because here he is talking about the, the greatest and highest Mark that we can possibly hit.
Speaker 1: And then he's telling us we cannot hit it without him.
Speaker 1: And then he's saying, so be merciful because if you're merciful, you're going to receive mercy
Speaker 3: Back in return.
Speaker 3: He's giving us
Speaker 1: This very mercy that he's showing us in.
Speaker 1: Verse number six of Matthew, we've been defining terms.
Speaker 1: And so blessed means supremely blessed, happy, fortunate, and well, well off it's a, it's a great place to be.
Speaker 1: And then he says the word merciful, the word merciful there means compassionate in word.
Speaker 1: And in action.
Speaker 1: It means that one is driven to compassion.
Speaker 1: It means that they're benevolent benevolently merciful.
Speaker 1: It means being concerned enough about people's situation, about their hurts about their needs, that it spurs you and I to do something
Speaker 3: About it.
Speaker 3: It's not just saying, Oh, I ain't that bad.
Speaker 3: It's it's doing something about it.
Speaker 1: And then he says the one who is merciful,
Speaker 3: We'll obtain mercy.
Speaker 3: Now
Speaker 1: That means to feel sympathy with the misery of another especially sympathy, which manifests itself and action.
Speaker 1: So if you do that towards someone, he saying, you're going to receive that from someone in your life.
Speaker 1: And this is absolutely revolutionary in the days that Jesus is teaching completely revolutionary.
Speaker 1: This is, this is if you can picture somebody sitting there listening to Jesus and their mouth just drops open, and they're scribbling notes really fast and dipping the Quill and scribbling notes and dip in the Quill and then blow it on it for the ink to dry.
Speaker 1: Okay, we weren't actually doing that, but that's what they would have done in any anyway.
Speaker 1: And so they're, they're doing all, they can to take this in because this is, this is absolutely not what their culture would, would be teaching them and what they would be understanding through culture.
Speaker 1: See if they were Jews.
Speaker 1: And most of the ones listening to Jesus in this moment probably were, they would have been taught from childhood that if you were going through a problem, if you were having a difficulty, if you'd mess up and now, now you were in trouble.
Speaker 1: That's because you had sinned.
Speaker 1: Your parents had sinned or your grandparents had sinned, and now God was getting you.
Speaker 1: And if God's getting you this, nobody wants to stop that from happening.
Speaker 1: We don't get between God and his getting.
Speaker 1: And so, and so they would have been taught from day one, that God was punishing you.
Speaker 1: If you were going through hardship in your life right now.
Speaker 1: And if you, if they were of the Grecian world or of the Roman world, it wouldn't have gotten any better.
Speaker 1: The reasoning would have been different, but the reality wouldn't have been any better because they believed that mercy was a vice stoicism had risen up.
Speaker 1: And the common thought was that mercy was a vice that B the young, the children and the very old people could get away with, but was only excusable in those two parties.
Speaker 1: Anybody that was strong and doing something in life, mercy was a vice that they could not afford.
Speaker 1: In fact, it led to terrible effects and they would have taught.
Speaker 1: They would have been taught by their parents and by their grandparents, that, that if you showed mercy, that was actually weakness in your life.
Speaker 1: And you were going to destroy all kinds of things.
Speaker 1: And I'm talking about thinkers and teachers like Plato and like Aristotle and Cicero.
Speaker 1: And later on, you had Seneca that were, that were all, all teaching along these particular lines and leading people down this thought where we're literally mercy was a negative thing to show.
Speaker 1: So the Jews would say, Hey, if you show mercy to someone you're getting in the way of God's punishment in their life, we don't do that.
Speaker 1: And if they were Greeks or Romans, then by showing mercy, you could be ruining the system.
Speaker 1: You could be ruining the culture.
Speaker 1: You could re ruining people and communities, families.
Speaker 1: And so think about the fact that this is the group of people that, that crucified folks that, that when, when the Roman emperor Nero wanted to make a point, he took Christians, tied him to poles and lit them on fire.
Speaker 1: And the world didn't cancel him.
Speaker 3: He was emperor.
Speaker 3: He was setting the tone.
Speaker 1: And so this is a harsh world that you and I, we get all offended when somebody says something mean to us on social media and that's bad in our standards, but that's not bad in their standards.
Speaker 1: They'd be like, Oh yeah, okay.
Speaker 1: I'll take that over crucifixion today, over being stoned,
Speaker 3: I'm good.
Speaker 3: Their
Speaker 1: World was very different than the world that we think about.
Speaker 1: And Jesus steps into their world and says, let's it?
Speaker 3: What for?
Speaker 3: They shall receive mercy.
Speaker 1: And so what is he teaching?
Speaker 1: He's teaching grace across the board.
Speaker 1: He says, if you're poor in spirit, that's grace in relationship to God.
Speaker 1: He said, if you're, if you're one who mourns, you'll receive grace in relationship to self, he said, if you're a meek person that you'll see, see grace in relationship to those around you.
Speaker 1: He said, if you're hungry, if you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you'll be filled.
Speaker 1: And there's grace in relationship to the ambition of our lives.
Speaker 1: And now he's saying
Speaker 3: The merciful have
Speaker 1: In response to the mistakes that they make
Speaker 3: In life, the mistakes that they make in life.
Speaker 3: And here's our big idea today, choose mercy.
Speaker 1: When judgment is warranted,
Speaker 3: Choose mercy
Speaker 1: When judgment is warranted.
Speaker 1: And that is the difficulty with mercy,
Speaker 3: Because
Speaker 1: Mercy is only valid.
Speaker 1: When in moments, when judge
Speaker 3: Judgment is equally valid, the mistake has been made.
Speaker 1: They're wrong.
Speaker 1: The wrong has been done.
Speaker 1: There's no taking that back.
Speaker 1: There's no changing.
Speaker 1: It
Speaker 3: Happened.
Speaker 3: The person has been hurt.
Speaker 3: You have been hurt or you've been hurt.
Speaker 1: It's all, it's all already happened and it's not good.
Speaker 1: But the risk
Speaker 3: Fonts is your choice.
Speaker 3: And my choice and Jesus is saying, choose mercy,
Speaker 1: Choose mercy.
Speaker 1: And those who live, who live mercifully, they will also receive mercy in their own life.
Speaker 1: And I have three thoughts for us today and thought, number one is this everyone
Speaker 3: Meads, mercy.
Speaker 1: Every one of us needs mercy, because we've all done something wrong.
Speaker 1: We've all messed up.
Speaker 1: We've all jacked something up along the way.
Speaker 1: Now we use mercy and grace often as synonymous terms, but they're not sending thems.
Speaker 1: Grace is unmerited favor.
Speaker 1: Grace means that, that you are, you're blessed regardless of what you do and how you do it.
Speaker 1: Just for some reason, the blesser looks at the Blessey and says, I'm going to bless you.
Speaker 1: You may be on the top of your game.
Speaker 1: You may be at the bottom of your game, but the one who's going to show grace in your life or give you grace, offer grace in your life.
Speaker 1: They are one.
Speaker 1: Who's not doing it based upon what you've done or how you've done it.
Speaker 1: They're doing it because they just choose to do that.
Speaker 1: It's an earned or unmerited favor.
Speaker 1: Mercy.
Speaker 1: On the other hand is compassion shown to one in a situation from which they can't escape.
Speaker 1: This is somebody who's done it wrong.
Speaker 1: You and I have done it wrong.
Speaker 1: And now we just, we're just asking that we don't die because
Speaker 3: Of it.
Speaker 3: In fact,
Speaker 1: Moses asks for mercy in numbers, chapter 11, he feels like God's being harsh with him.
Speaker 1: And he's saying, God, if you're going to be, if you're going to get me, I can't escape.
Speaker 1: I'm helpless before you.
Speaker 1: And I'm just asking for your mercy in my life right now, David, throughout the Psalms and consistently asked for mercy, have mercy too with me.
Speaker 1: Oh Lord have mercy on me.
Speaker 1: Oh Lord, I need your mercy
Speaker 3: Today.
Speaker 3: The woman
Speaker 1: She comes to Jesus.
Speaker 1: She has a daughter that's possessed by a demon.
Speaker 1: And she's saying, Hey, would you have mercy on me?
Speaker 1: I don't know why.
Speaker 1: Remember she would have been taught from from days that she was very young, that the reason this has happened is because she's done something wrong or her daughter did something wrong, or her parents did something wrong and God's punishment is there.
Speaker 1: And she's saying, Hey, I can't change this.
Speaker 1: I need your mercy.
Speaker 1: In this situation,
Speaker 3: You have the blind men.
Speaker 3: As they hear Jesus coming by on that
Speaker 1: Killer day, he's walking down the road and suddenly you hear the cry come from the crowd.
Speaker 1: Jesus son of David have mercy on me, have mercy on me.
Speaker 1: His, the cry for mercy is there.
Speaker 1: Each one of them is in a desperate situation.
Speaker 1: Each one of them is at a difficult place that they cannot rescue themselves from.
Speaker 1: And they're just calling out.
Speaker 1: Can somebody help me?
Speaker 1: And they hear about Jesus.
Speaker 1: And so their approach
Speaker 3: Him, and some people deny a need for mercy,
Speaker 1: The pride Wells up in us.
Speaker 1: And we say, you know, I got this.
Speaker 3: I can handle it all.
Speaker 3: But eventually all of us cry for it.
Speaker 3: All of us want it.
Speaker 3: All of us need it
Speaker 1: Go Christie.
Speaker 1: And I were in a tough place financially and I was working two full-time and we were still really tight.
Speaker 1: And I came home from work and I heard Talon our two year old at the time crying.
Speaker 1: And I said, Christie, why is talent crying?
Speaker 1: And she said, well, cause he's hungry.
Speaker 1: And I said, great, well maybe wasn't too.
Speaker 1: Cause they can eat green beans if they're too right.
Speaker 1: So he was younger than that.
Speaker 1: And so I said, why is he, why is he hungry?
Speaker 1: She said, because I haven't fed him yet.
Speaker 1: I said, well, you have nothing else to do with your entire life all day long.
Speaker 1: I did not say that.
Speaker 1: Well, standing here right now.
Speaker 1: I said, I said, why don't you feed him?
Speaker 1: And she said, I can't feed him because we don't have any food.
Speaker 1: And I went through the house and I found one can of beans.
Speaker 1: I was like, okay.
Speaker 1: And I said, well, let's go to the grocery store and get some food.
Speaker 1: She said, we can't because we don't have any money.
Speaker 1: And I went, when you come home from work and you're working two full-time jobs and you hear that you can't feed your kid because you don't have enough money.
Speaker 1: That's not something that's nice to hear.
Speaker 1: And I, and I said, what's going on?
Speaker 1: So she showed me the checkbook and she said, see here, here's how it is.
Speaker 1: If we ties at the beginning of the month, then we don't have enough money for food at the end of the month.
Speaker 1: And so we've been slowly going into debt, but we're done.
Speaker 1: We have no more ability to go into debt at this particular point.
Speaker 1: And so here's where we're at.
Speaker 1: She said, what do I need to do?
Speaker 1: Do I need to stop tithing?
Speaker 1: I said, no.
Speaker 1: If we ever needed God to be faithful in finances, we need him to be faithful in finances right now.
Speaker 1: And, and we can't earn it, but we're going to be faithful in it and let's see what God will do.
Speaker 1: And so we went to church that night and I was an associate pastor of a church that was one of my two jobs.
Speaker 1: And I stood before a crowd of about 1500 people.
Speaker 1: And I said, God is good.
Speaker 1: And they yell back all the time.
Speaker 1: And I said it all the time and they yelled back.
Speaker 1: God is good.
Speaker 1: And I thought in my mind the entire time, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Gods is so good that your baby's sitting over there hungry right now.
Speaker 1: And you can't afford to feed him.
Speaker 1: That's how good God is.
Speaker 1: And I went over to my chair, which was over here on the stage at the time.
Speaker 1: And I went over there and I said, God, I'm not going to allow this kind of thinking to reside in my head.
Speaker 1: So I just started worshiping him.
Speaker 1: And I worshiped through the entire service.
Speaker 1: And at the end of the service, I went down off the stage and this man by the name of Mike Champlain, never forget him.
Speaker 1: His name.
Speaker 1: He walked up to me and he said he was holding his youngest baby.
Speaker 1: And he said, pastor Mike, I just want to say, thank you for being a good pastor to us.
Speaker 1: And thank you for blessing us and, and for worshiping and leading us like you do.
Speaker 1: And, and he stuck out his hand.
Speaker 1: And when I shook his hand, I could feel rolled up bills his hand and pride welled up in me.
Speaker 1: Oh, you don't have to do that brother inside.
Speaker 1: I was thinking, yes you do.
Speaker 1: Yes, you do.
Speaker 1: Yes you do.
Speaker 1: But, but pride would not allow me to say just thank you.
Speaker 1: I've learned, I've learned.
Speaker 1: But at the time I said, no, no, you don't have to do that.
Speaker 1: And he said, I feel like I do.
Speaker 1: So got Christie.
Speaker 1: And we went to the store and we bought a hundred dollars worth of groceries.
Speaker 1: And from that month on until the time when things broke and we didn't have, and things broken, we weren't broke.
Speaker 1: Somebody gave us a hundred dollars every single month.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it came from two people, sometimes one people, one person, but we never told anybody what was going on in our life.
Speaker 1: They, no one knew that this was happening.
Speaker 1: It just random people.
Speaker 1: Christie came up to me about month four or five.
Speaker 1: And she said, well, I wonder, who's going to give us a hundred dollars this month.
Speaker 1: And I said, what entitled much?
Speaker 1: And she said, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: Look at this.
Speaker 1: And she showed me the checkbook
Speaker 3: Every, every month somebody or several people had had
Speaker 1: One after another, given us a hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: And God allowed us to feed our family faithfully through that entire time.
Speaker 1: And we never stopped having to give.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, I'm just saying, God does some amazing, amazing things.
Speaker 1: And I needed mercy, but pride was in my life.
Speaker 1: And so you might be in a situation today where you've done something wrong.
Speaker 1: You might wonder, well, what did you do that was wrong?
Speaker 1: I tell you what I did.
Speaker 1: That was wrong.
Speaker 1: I made some bad financial choices.
Speaker 1: I made some bad financial choices, choices taking the job at that.
Speaker 3: That's the truth.
Speaker 3: And,
Speaker 1: And we made some sacrifices on one end.
Speaker 1: We thought we're going to work out.
Speaker 1: And they didn't.
Speaker 1: And I needed,
Speaker 3: See, I tried to do what was right.
Speaker 3: And it went wrong.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're in a situation right now where you've made some investments that didn't go the way they were supposed to.
Speaker 1: You said some words that affected people away, that you didn't think it was going to affect
Speaker 3: Them.
Speaker 3: You, you, you, you
Speaker 1: Pushed yourself in a way that you thought was going to be beneficial, but now you've found out it's actually a problem.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've hurt somebody.
Speaker 1: You didn't really mean to hurt them, but you did.
Speaker 1: And now it's an issue there and you can't undo.
Speaker 1: What's already been done.
Speaker 1: Maybe you even struck out in vengeance or anger and you did something that you wish you could take back, but you can't,
Speaker 3: Maybe the choice of your life,
Speaker 1: You down a direction that you, sir, you surely regret.
Speaker 1: Don't allow pride to keep you from mercy.
Speaker 1: The fact is we all need mercy.
Speaker 1: Sometime.
Speaker 1: Even the best of us, Paul, the apostle he's writes.
Speaker 1: And he says, Hey, listen, I know what to do.
Speaker 1: I know that I know what's right.
Speaker 1: And then I do what's wrong.
Speaker 1: And then sometimes I know what's wrong and I do it anyway.
Speaker 1: And he said, I am absolutely miserable.
Speaker 1: And that's the, that's the thing about this thing called mercy.
Speaker 1: It often gets us to this place where we are completely miserable, miserable, knowing that we've messed up, knowing that there's nothing we can do about
Speaker 3: It.
Speaker 3: And sometimes
Speaker 1: We spend time trying to justify ourselves, trying to earn the, trying to earn the mercy
Speaker 3: From others.
Speaker 1: We'll see, because this is what happened.
Speaker 1: And, and let me explain it all.
Speaker 1: Let me, let me get it all out there.
Speaker 1: Let me let you understand what all stop trying to earn mercy.
Speaker 1: Maybe just accept mercy.
Speaker 3: Just accept it.
Speaker 1: Can't get mercy from that person.
Speaker 1: No, but you can get mercy
Speaker 3: From Jesus.
Speaker 3: You can
Speaker 1: Get mercy from Jesus.
Speaker 1: And he's saying, right now, he's saying today, let me show you my mercy in your life.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what you've done.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter where you've been.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter how long you've been there.
Speaker 1: If you come to Jesus and say, I need mercy in my life.
Speaker 1: He is faithful.
Speaker 1: And his mercy is they are new every single morning.
Speaker 3: Praise the name of the Lord.
Speaker 3: Jesus mentions a servant who experiences this.
Speaker 1: He borrowed millions of dollars from his master.
Speaker 1: And then the master called the loan.
Speaker 1: There wasn't anything, the fairies about this.
Speaker 1: It was just time to call the loan, but the servant couldn't pay.
Speaker 1: And so the master said, all right, then what we're going to do is I'm going to sell you into slavery, your wife, into slavery, your kids in the slavery, and then I'm to sell all your possessions.
Speaker 1: Now you think, wow, he was mean, but that is exactly how people paid off debt.
Speaker 1: Back in the day, they either went to debtors prison, or they went into servitude.
Speaker 1: They became a slave.
Speaker 1: They were a slave for seven years.
Speaker 1: And then after that, their debt was forgiven and they would exchange all of their time for eventually no debt in their life.
Speaker 1: And so the master hears the servant pleads with the master.
Speaker 1: He says, please don't do this.
Speaker 1: And he begins to, to beg for mercy from the master.
Speaker 1: And the Bible says that the master was filled with pity for him.
Speaker 1: And he released him and forgave his debts.
Speaker 1: Think about what the, what the servant must have felt.
Speaker 1: Knowing that he's being called into his master's presence, that his master is calling alone, that he cannot pay.
Speaker 1: And then, and then feeling the weight of knowing not only is your life, but the life of those that you love, that you care for there, they're going to be changed forever because of the choice that you made
Speaker 3: And the weight that's there.
Speaker 1: Now what in the world can I do?
Speaker 1: And then can you imagine the relief of feeling that weight lift
Speaker 3: Mercy is granted into his life?
Speaker 3: Jesus
Speaker 1: Offers that kind of mercy
Speaker 3: And thought number two is this mercy is an emotion driving an action.
Speaker 3: See the
Speaker 1: Master was filled with pity.
Speaker 1: That's
Speaker 3: An emotion.
Speaker 3: And he released him.
Speaker 3: That's the action.
Speaker 3: Mercy being
Speaker 1: Shown into the life.
Speaker 1: Pity alone.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't have done
Speaker 3: It.
Speaker 3: But pity with release is mercy.
Speaker 1: I sometimes enjoy the emotional feeling of the emotional side of mercy.
Speaker 1: We hear about something happening around the globe or in our community.
Speaker 1: And we go, Oh, that's bad.
Speaker 1: Oh really?
Speaker 1: And then we don't do anything about it.
Speaker 1: It gives us the good feeling of being human and of being caring.
Speaker 1: But it hasn't changed the circumstance of the individual.
Speaker 1: And Jesus is saying, do something.
Speaker 1: You make the difference.
Speaker 1: A common phrase in our culture is someone ought to do something about that.
Speaker 1: And Jesus is saying to someone ought to be
Speaker 4: You.
Speaker 1: In fact, this is what James was talking about.
Speaker 1: Whenever he was questioning the validity of faith that made no difference, James chapter two, he says, what good is it?
Speaker 1: Dear brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1: If you say you have faith, but don't show it about your actions.
Speaker 1: Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing and you say goodbye and have a good day, stay warm and eat well.
Speaker 1: But then you don't give that person any food or clothing.
Speaker 1: What good does that do?
Speaker 1: Do you, so you see faith by itself isn't enough unless it produces good deeds.
Speaker 1: It is dead and
Speaker 4: Useless.
Speaker 4: I think about what James is saying
Speaker 1: In the context of our culture today.
Speaker 1: If I really want to have fun this afternoon, I just need to tweet that to the world.
Speaker 4: James
Speaker 1: Would be canceled with a capital C they'd be people would be saying, how can you possibly judge my faith?
Speaker 1: How can you possibly say that my faith is useless or dead or worthless?
Speaker 1: How can you judge my faith?
Speaker 1: And James would say, if you're G if your faith ain't changing nothing.
Speaker 1: Cause James is from Louisiana,
Speaker 4: Then it's pointless.
Speaker 1: If we right now in the foyer, in the, in the lobby, on-site, you're going to see a whole display of we're collecting a bunch of things to help people in our community that are in need that have problems.
Speaker 1: Maybe they've messed something up.
Speaker 1: Maybe they've made bad choices.
Speaker 1: Maybe they've done good, but things have changed in their life.
Speaker 1: We don't know.
Speaker 1: The reason why, what we're saying is there is mercy to be had in the house of the Lord.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: And so we're helping people.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because we don't want to be guilty of a James is talking about saying we care, but then doing nothing with that emotion of caring, we want to show mercy.
Speaker 1: James is saying to the believer, Hey, the same faith that made a difference in your life needs make a difference in the lives of the people around you to faith produces mercy, mercy induces action.
Speaker 1: And that ladies and gentlemen is why we hesitate in the area of mercy because mercy inducing action means mercy always equals sacrifice.
Speaker 1: It always equal sacrifice.
Speaker 3: It's mercy.
Speaker 1: When we give to those who can't give back And you bring something and put it in one of those baskets and we deliver it and it goes to a family, who's, who's needing some of these items.
Speaker 1: We're not, we're not giving them a receipt and getting their phone number and all their contact information.
Speaker 1: And then when we need something, we call them and say, Hey, now return the favor.
Speaker 1: No, it's a sacrifice.
Speaker 1: We, we know it is.
Speaker 1: We're going to all spend money on things for someone else that we never expect to get back.
Speaker 1: It's mercy caring for those who may never care for you.
Speaker 1: Think about the good Samaritan on the guys.
Speaker 1: Beat up on the side of the road.
Speaker 1: The Samaritan picks him up, brings him to an end, pays for his stay, pays for him to get well, takes off.
Speaker 1: Doesn't know if the man's going to be there when it gets back or not.
Speaker 1: Doesn't know if he'll ever see him again, but he's caring for someone who, when he's in a bad place will probably doesn't even know his name and will not care for him in return it's mercy.
Speaker 1: When we sacrifice self-entitlement to make a difference in someone else's life, it's always sacrifice.
Speaker 1: No matter how you look at it, mercy equals sacrifice,
Speaker 3: But there's also a promise.
Speaker 3: Connected a promise, connected and
Speaker 1: Thought, number three is this.
Speaker 1: When you sow mercy,
Speaker 3: You reap the same.
Speaker 3: When you sow mercy, who reap the same.
Speaker 1: And it's the only B attitude where the thing which is lived out is also the thing that is received.
Speaker 3: Think about it.
Speaker 1: He says the poor in spirit, they will receive theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Speaker 1: He says that those who mourn, they will be comforted.
Speaker 1: He said, those who are meek
Speaker 3: Will inherit the earth.
Speaker 1: He said, those who are hunger and thirst after righteousness, they will be filled next week.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about those who are pure in heart.
Speaker 3: We'll see God,
Speaker 1: Those who are persecuted for righteousness sake there's is the kingdom of heaven.
Speaker 1: Those who were reviled and persecuted, their reward is in heaven.
Speaker 1: This is the only one in which Jesus says blessed are the merciful for, they shall obtain
Speaker 3: Mercy.
Speaker 3: He said,
Speaker 1: If you show so mercy into the world,
Speaker 3: You will reap mercy.
Speaker 1: If you show someone else, then mercy will be shown in your life.
Speaker 1: And it may not be from the place that you sewed it.
Speaker 1: I might sow into your life and you never returned mercy to me, but somehow some way mercy is going to come back to me.
Speaker 1: The scripture tells us that we reap where we do not.
Speaker 1: So, so sometimes we will, we will receive a benefit from a place that we did not actually put a seed, but it does not mean we did not put a seed anywhere.
Speaker 1: We sow somewhere.
Speaker 1: And then we reap the harvest as God brings it forth, as God commands it into our
Speaker 3: Lives.
Speaker 3: And I
Speaker 1: Don't think it's by accident, that it follows the Jesus teaching that we are to pursue righteousness.
Speaker 1: If we pursue righteousness that we will be filled.
Speaker 1: I think it's almost like Jesus saying, okay, I'm going to show you mercy by filling your life with this thing that you cannot earn yourself.
Speaker 1: And while we're on the subject, while we're on the subject of mercy, that I'm showing you, you show mercy to others as well.
Speaker 1: And let's listen to what the end of that story of that servant.
Speaker 1: Remember the servant that I told you about the borrow of millions of dollars from his master, his master showed him great mercy.
Speaker 1: Well, that same servant then went out
Speaker 3: From that place.
Speaker 3: And he found another servant who owed him money.
Speaker 1: He owed millions of dollars and it was forgiven to him.
Speaker 1: This servant owed him$2,000 and the scripture tells us that he demanded payment for that$2,000.
Speaker 1: And the servant that owed him money, begged him said, please, please allow me more time to pay off the debt reminds you of what that servant had.
Speaker 1: Just cried to the master.
Speaker 1: But this servant wasn't going to give any mercy.
Speaker 1: And the scripture tells us, Jesus tells the story that he sent that servant to debtor's prison.
Speaker 1: We don't have a debtor's prison today, but basically what that meant was if you were in debt and somebody turns you in for the debt that you could not pay, you went to prison.
Speaker 1: And then your family, your friends, those people that cared about you would start paying off your debt because you can't work while you're in prison.
Speaker 1: See how that works.
Speaker 1: And so your friends, your family would start paying off that debt until your debt was paid, and then you would be released.
Speaker 1: And so the servant sends him to debtor's prison.
Speaker 1: Well, people around heard what had happened and they knew what had just the master had just done for this one servant.
Speaker 1: And so they went to the master and they told him, he said, this is what the servant that you just showed mercy to.
Speaker 1: This is what he just did.
Speaker 3: Now on one hand,
Speaker 1: We look at that servant.
Speaker 1: We say, how could he,
Speaker 3: But on the other hand too often, you and I are guilty of the same thing too often.
Speaker 3: We desire mercy for our failures while offering judgment for the failures of others.
Speaker 3: We want you to show me mercy when I mess up.
Speaker 3: But if you mess up, I will hold the right to judge you.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 3: Why is that?
Speaker 3: Is that because we're all just really bad people.
Speaker 3: No, I don't think so at all.
Speaker 3: I think it's because I know my story, you know, yours.
Speaker 3: I know how I got there.
Speaker 3: I know what I did.
Speaker 3: I know that I meant to do good and yet I did bad.
Speaker 3: I know that I tried to do right.
Speaker 3: And yet I did wrong.
Speaker 3: I know that I didn't mean to hurt you the way that I did, but I hurt you.
Speaker 3: Anyway.
Speaker 3: I know that that I didn't get there because I'm just a bad person, a mean person.
Speaker 3: And I'm trying to do everything I can to hurt everybody possible.
Speaker 3: No, I know my story.
Speaker 3: And so I have a chain of events that I can walk you through in great detail and explain why I got to where I got.
Speaker 3: But ultimately, when it comes down to it, I just need mercy.
Speaker 3: And you need mercy to mercy is only valid in moments when judgment is equally valid.
Speaker 3: So, so here's some, some moments of judgment versus mercy judgment could be this.
Speaker 3: Why don't you have clothes?
Speaker 3: James is talking about people who don't have any clothes.
Speaker 3: Well, why don't you have clothes?
Speaker 3: You, you have the same opportunities that I do.
Speaker 3: So if you have the same opportunities that I do and I have clothes, why don't you have clothes?
Speaker 3: What did you do wrong to not have clothes in your life?
Speaker 3: Mercy says, here's a coat to keep you wrong, warm.
Speaker 3: And here's a track to move you forward.
Speaker 3: Maybe.
Speaker 3: Why are you hungry?
Speaker 3: If you manage your money better, you wouldn't be hungry that way.
Speaker 3: No, I mean, if you follow the Dave Ramsey plan, the way that we told you to, or if it was my momma talking, if you'd have balanced your checkbook, the way I showed you, how 50 million times mercy said here's food to fill your belly and a track to move you forward.
Speaker 3: Judgment says, why are you poor?
Speaker 3: We live in the most prosperous nation on earth.
Speaker 3: So why are you poor?
Speaker 3: Are you just lazy?
Speaker 3: Are you just addicted?
Speaker 3: Are you just needing to work harder?
Speaker 3: Why don't they just get a job?
Speaker 4: Mercy says, let me help you get on your feet.
Speaker 4: And here's a track forward.
Speaker 4: There's a whole lot in me that wants to give up
Speaker 1: A lot of caveats here because God never takes stewardship
Speaker 4: Out of the equation, but he's calling us to mercy,
Speaker 1: Mercy that he gives to us.
Speaker 1: He's calling us to give
Speaker 4: To others.
Speaker 4: And then Jesus closes out this whole story,
Speaker 1: Sorry, this parable on this wicked servant.
Speaker 1: And he says that the master changes his mind and says, listen, since you didn't show mercy to anybody else, I'm re revoking the mercy that I gave to you.
Speaker 1: And I'm casting you out into outer darkness where there's weeping and wailing and now
Speaker 4: Washing of teeth as bad.
Speaker 4: And that's where you're going.
Speaker 4: And then Jesus, the loving, caring savior of the world
Speaker 1: Gave his life so that you and I could be saved.
Speaker 4: He says the following words, that
Speaker 1: That's what my heavenly father will do to you.
Speaker 1: If you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters,
Speaker 4: Your heart.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 4: But
Speaker 1: You don't know what they did.
Speaker 1: They does serve
Speaker 4: Judgment.
Speaker 4: Yes they do.
Speaker 4: They did wrong.
Speaker 4: Yes they did.
Speaker 4: They hurt me.
Speaker 4: True.
Speaker 4: They messed up.
Speaker 4: Yes they did.
Speaker 4: They're wrong.
Speaker 4: Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Speaker 4: Wrong.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 4: And mercy is still what our savior commands from us.
Speaker 4: The mercy extended to you, fuels the mercy given through you.
Speaker 4: Now there will come a time when God will judge.
Speaker 4: He will separate the righteous from the unrighteous.
Speaker 4: But until
Speaker 1: Then, I am so grateful in my own life that his
Speaker 4: Mercy flows freely.
Speaker 4: And if you're saved today, then his mercy has been extended in your life.
Speaker 4: We all need it.
Speaker 4: And you've received it.
Speaker 1: What the Bible says in Ephesians two, maybe one of my favorite passages of scripture in all of the Bible.
Speaker 1: It says once you were dead because of your disobedience
Speaker 4: And your many sins, you still live in sin, just like the rest of the world.
Speaker 4: Obeying the devil.
Speaker 4: Now that's a pretty heavy statement right there.
Speaker 4: Obeying the devil, the commander of the powers of the unseen world.
Speaker 4: He is the spirit at work, in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
Speaker 4: All of us used to live that way.
Speaker 4: Following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature.
Speaker 4: By our very nature, we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else.
Speaker 4: But God is so rich in mercy that he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life.
Speaker 4: When he raised Christ from the dead, it is only by God's grace that you and I have pin saved.
Speaker 4: Praise the name of the Lord.
Speaker 4: I'm grateful for his mercy today.
Speaker 4: Would you bow your heads with me right now?
Speaker 4: Holy spirit, would you open up our hearts to see that area in which we need to offer mercy today?
Speaker 4: That's hurt us.
Speaker 4: Somebody that's done us wrong.
Speaker 4: Somebody that's hurt someone.
Speaker 4: We love not even us, but someone.
Speaker 4: We love somebody that's messed up.
Speaker 4: Maybe they didn't hurt me, but, but to help them is going to take a sacrifice.
Speaker 4: Nice.
Speaker 4: Let mercy flow like a river from our lives today.
Speaker 4: My God.
Speaker 4: And as you have shown us, mercy, allow us to reflect your mercy into the world world around us.
Speaker 4: We need mercy today.
Speaker 4: I pray that our pride would not be so great that we would refuse to ask for it, but that we would humbly approach you today.
Speaker 4: And just say, I need mercy.
Speaker 4: I deserve judgment, but you're offering mercy and I need it right?
Speaker 4: And now I need it right now.
Speaker 4: I need it right now.
Speaker 4: Somebody has done it wrong.
Speaker 4: It gets me.
Speaker 4: I pray that you'd give me the courage to offer the mercy, to reflect the mercy.
Speaker 4: You've given me into their life.
Speaker 4: Give me the strength to do that today in Jesus' name.
Speaker 4: If that's your prayer, why don't you just say, man, Hey man, let's stand on our feet and let's close this service with worship.