His Mercy Never Fails

We're living in the most critical, crucial times in human history, I believe. These are tough, transitional times. Changes that used to take decades are now happening almost overnight. The days are indeed evil, and we need to be redeeming the times and claiming God's promises. And we need to come to gather and bear one another's burdens as never before, because the road that lies ahead is going to be rocky, as you heard in the sermonette. Christ warns us in Matthew that one of the great traps that people will fall into in the times that lie ahead is betraying one another as this age draws to a close. Instead of drawing together and doing the things they need to do, some will betray each other. Let's note in Matthew 24, verse 7, what Jesus speaks here in response to the question, the sign of your coming, the end of this age.

Verse 7, Matthew 24, nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places. Some agency of the UN announced this past week that over one billion people in the world go hungry every day, and that number is increasing, and the food supply at the same time around the world is decreasing. He says that these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, shall kill you, shall be hated of all nations from a namesake. And many shall be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another, the very opposite of what we need, and what God extends to each one of us, and what we need to extend to each other. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many, and because iniquity, lawlessness, shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. The spirit of the times, everybody else is doing it, so it must be all right. And about the only law that is now espoused by the liberal media is to tolerate all forms of behavior. The greatest sin is not to be tolerant of whatever vice it might be, it seems. But he that shall endure into the end, the same shall be saved. How will we avoid falling prey to the spirit of the times and the deception of this present evil age? I believe that an understanding of three of God's greatest characteristics, and you might call them two, because they are closely related. Two of God's greatest characteristics will help us through the times we're facing. Of course, we're admonished in 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 10 and 11, to love the truth. Because they love not the truth, God shall send them, notice it says, God shall send them grand delusion that they should believe the lie. The lie is that the one who sits in the temple of God saying that he is God, doing great signs, wonders, and miracles, they will believe that he really is the returning Jesus Christ and be deceived thereby. So loving the truth, knowing that God is love, and he always has our best interest at heart. The two characteristics, and you might call it three, that I want to focus on today, will be found, first of all, in Exodus 34, verse 5. Let's go to Exodus 34, verse 5. Next, it's verse 34, verse 5.

This is after the table of stones had been broken, the Ten Commandments, and Moses went back to receive the commandments again after those had been broken. And he told Moses to come alone.

Let's pick up Exodus 34, verse 4. He hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, did it with his finger, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up unto Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Now, when you're reading the Old Testament, it might be helpful. I think I pointed this out one time in the past. In the Old Testament, when you see all caps, L-O-R-D, that's Yav-A-D, which the I am that I am, the Eternal. When you see all caps, G-O-D, that's L, the strong one. And then when you see uppercase G, lowercase O-D, that's Elohim. Basically, the three primary names that you have there in the Old Testament. Though Elohim is actually a compound word, and it is plural. We used to say it's a uni plural. God said, let us, Elohim, make man in our image. So in this case, we have Yav-E passed by before him, and proclaimed the Yav-E, the Yav-E-El, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children under the third and the fourth generation. Note how the word merciful is coupled with long-suffering. The Lord God is merciful and gracious, long-suffering, merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, and He shows mercy. First of all, I want to look at the word merciful. Let's take a close look at the word merciful.

The Hebrew word for merciful here is rakum, and this particular Hebrew word is translated merciful eight times in the Old Testament and compassion five times. The words use 13 times in the Old Testament. Now the definition given by Strongs is compassionate, so merciful has to do with compassion. In fact, as we pointed out, sometimes it is translated as compassion. So, mercy has to do with compassion, and how would you describe compassion? Remember, as we face the times that we're living in, you just look at our prayer lists, look at the prayer lists locally, you look at the prayer lists nationally, and you think about the people of this world, how they are suffering, the pain, the agony, the misery that abounds throughout the whole world. Now we're also admonished in Ezekiel 9 to sign cry for what we see. On the other hand, we're told to lift up your head because your redemption draweth nigh. So these are paradoxical times. They are critical crucial times. They are tough, transitional times. We're living in paradoxical times. Compassion came into the English language from the Latin, and the Latin word is compasses, and it also means to sympathize, and then the French word co, which means with, and patit, p-a-t-i, to suffer. Thus, compassion means literally to suffer with.

And the Bible says here that the Lord is merciful, or compassionate, or suffers with, and He's gracious, and He's long-suffering.

So compassion is a powerful, deep awareness of someone else's suffering in such a way that you want them not to suffer. The root word is the same as that of passion, something you want so much that you suffer from not doing or having or accomplishing it.

The root word is suffer, or passion is used of Christ en route to His crucifixion. In fact, you remember the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ. God and Jesus were so aware of our suffering, the results of sin, that it drove them to do something about it. Of course, it was planned from eternity. Jesus Christ slain from the foundation of the world, as it says in Revelation 13.8. Notice Acts 1 and verse 3.

To whom also He showed Himself alive after His passion, after His suffering, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. We enter into His sufferings as we follow God in Christ. So we are compassionate with Christ, that is, to suffer with. And as we shall see, we are also to be compassionate with one another and to suffer with. Instead of betraying, instead of doing what flesh might want to do to save one's own skin, the Bible teaches just the opposite. Notice Romans chapter 8 and verse 14. Romans 8 and verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. We have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the Spirit of Oeothecia, which should be translated as sonship. We've received the Spirit of sonship, the very same essence that is in God is in Christ as in us, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God and join heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, see, to suffer with, compassionate, but entering into the passion that Christ had for us and that He was willing to suffer and die for us. If so, be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. And then I said, there is a lot of suffering in this world, and there are a lot of suffering, lots of suffering within the body of Christ. You know, Peter talks about that the trying of our faith is more precious than gold. Gold is representative of the pure character that God wants. If so, be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. In suffering with somebody and showing compassion, they talk about a solidarity developing between you and the one that you are suffering with. And your suffering becomes my suffering. A few people have been said to have empathetic gifts.

That they can actually enter into a part of another person's pain or suffering, and bear with them a part of it that they can reach. They are so concerned that they reach out to that person and sometimes hurt where they hurt. Now, that may sound weird to you, but it has happened. You notice in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is talking about spiritual gifts and how spiritual gifts are given to edify the entire body. And he uses the analogy of various body parts. And then, he comes to verse 25. This is 1 Corinthians 12, 25. That there should be no schism, division in the body, but that the members should have the same care, one for another. That they suffer with, that they be compassionate. God says that he is merciful, compassionate, gracious, and long-suffering. Extending mercy to the children, the third and fourth generation.

Then, verse 26, And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Well, we're so used to in today's world of seeing the suffering, the pain of the whole world, live and in color. We see all those little starving faces with the eyes that are becoming very visible. These little bloated bellies, the flies swarming around the face and the mouth. We see the blood and gore around the world. All of this live and in color. It seems there is so much that we can easily become, in new words, become hardened. And even when a member of the body of Christ is suffering, it would be easy at times just, so much of it, where am I going to start? And how much of it can I bear? So, compassion is more than a mere desire to help. It creates a determination, a decision, to actually help, even if it's only in some small way. Compassion puts something of yourself on the line. Perhaps your power over someone or your time or effort or healing skills. When strong, it overrides angry or vengeful desires. Be filled with compassion. God and Christ are filled with compassion. Now, we use the word also commiseration to commiserate with someone. Commiseration is when that sorrow is expressed to those who are suffering. And then we see that mercy, mercy in the true sense, results in action. So, God was so merciful, compassionate, and long-suffering with Israel, that despite their disobedience, He spared their lives and their children. He led them into the Promised Land, while He didn't spare the adults there that had rebelled. But He was long-suffering and merciful toward Israel on many occasions. Notice 2 Kings 12, verse 23. 2 Kings 12, verse 23. 2 Kings 12, verse 23.

Well, since there's no verse 23 in chapter 12, this must be wrong.

Let's see if it's 1 Kings.

I'm telling you, I am getting somewhat dyslexic.

As I get younger here, well, it's not either one of those places, so we'll just move on. Anyhow, in the verse that I'm looking for, it talks about that in spite of what they did, He was faithful to His covenant and had compassion on them. Now, the Hebrew words for merciful in verse 6, in Exodus 34 and verse 6, and the Hebrew words for mercy in verse 7 are two different words. So let's note the word for mercy in verse 7. We've talked about compassion and how that it means to suffer with the word merciful. It's also translated compassionate or compassion from the Hebrew word racum.

So back to Exodus 34 and verse 7. In Exodus 34 and verse 7, He says, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity. And so you see there is the link between mercy and forgiveness. And we generally think of mercy in the sense of forgiveness, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving lawlessness and transgression and sin that will no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, under the third and the fourth generation. So a lot of the suffering that you see in the world today having to do with suffering being passed on or visiting the children to the third and fourth generation because of what the parents have done.

And with each passing day, parenting becomes, I don't know how you would even describe it in today's world, there is very little loving kind, right kind of parenting that is going on. Now this word mercy here is kesed, which means kindness and or faithfulness. And it is also paired with forgiveness. So the word mercy here also implies forgiveness because it's through God's compassion, kindness, love, and faithfulness He's provided an atonement for sin. Now one of the hallmarks of the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle in the wilderness and later Solomon's Temple was the mercy seat. And that mercy seat above that mercy seat was a place where God placed His presence.

And on the day of atonement, the high priest would go in and sprinkle blood on that mercy seat because it symbolized that which was to come. Let's notice this description here in Exodus 25 and verse 17 about the mercy seat. Next is Exodus 25 verse 17 And you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubics and a half shall be the length thereof, a cubic and a half the breadth thereof. You shall make two carabims of gold, of beaten work shall you make them the two ends of the mercy seat. One carabim at each end. Verse 20, they'll stretch their wings forth.

Verse 21, you shall put the mercy seat on the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony, the ten commandments I've given you. And there, where, at the mercy seat, I will meet with you, I will commune with you from above the mercy seat. His presence fill that holy of holies. That tabernacle when Moses reared it up, he greeted that next to his 40. It also filled the holy of holies in Solomon's temple. Between the two carabims, which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things, which I have commanded you in commandments of the children of Israel.

The mercy seat was absent in the second, or restoration, temple because the ark of the covenant had been either taken away somewhere. Some people claimed that it exists among the fallasha Jews in Ethiopia. You know the movie about the, whatever you call it, Jones movie, where they're looking for the lost ark. And various stories abound of where the ark of the covenant might be.

Some say it's buried under the temple mount. That when they knew that the Babylonians were coming, they took it and buried in one of those tunnels under the temple mount. But anyhow, the restoration temple did not have the ark of the covenant, did not have the mercy seat. And so on the day of the tommat, the priest would go in there to a rather bare place. I guess he may have sprinkled blood somewhere else. I don't know exactly what they did there. But let's notice the second temple, or the restoration temple, pointed toward the spiritual temple.

Now we want to go to Haggai. Haggai. Zephenai. Haggai. Zechariah. So Haggai is between Zephenai and Zechariah. And in Haggai 2, you remember the story here, how Cyrus had given the decree that the temple could be rebuilt.

Joshua and Zerubbabel led a contingent of Jews back to Jerusalem to build the temple, 538 BC. 18 years had passed and not much had been done. And God raised up two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to stir up the people and to help them build this restoration temple.

So we come to Haggai 2. In the seventh month, in the 21st day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai saying, so this was near the end of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Sheol Tiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord, and be strong, O Joshua, son of Joseph, the high priest, and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord, and work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Hosts, according to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. So my spirit remains among you, fear you not. So God's Spirit was among them, but not in them. And when that temple was dedicated, there is no record of God's Spirit filling that house. Yet, you notice in verse 9, the glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of Hosts, and in this place will I give peace, says the Lord of Hosts. So that temple, that restoration temple that did not have the Ark of the Covenant, the high priest went into somewhat of a bare room at that time, pointed toward that which was to come. Today, now, you get a Hebrews 4. As we have a year ago on the day of atonement, the sermon I gave about living in the Holy of Holies, the high priest could only go into the Holy of Holies once a year, and now we can live in the Holy of Holies. We have direct access to the holiest of all in the heavens, and we can come before the very presence and throne of God. In Hebrews 4, verse 14, seeing that you have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tested, tried as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace, the very mercy seat in the heavens, boldly come before it, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. You know, with that mercy seat in that tabernacle, the blood in bulls and goats was only a type of the blood of Christ that was to come that gives us access to the very mercy seat in the heavens. God is long suffering. He's merciful toward humankind in great compassion. He sent His only Son to die for the sins of the world, to redeem us, to buy us back from sin and death. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. In other words, He saved us from ourselves. Yes, He is merciful. He is gracious. He is long suffering. He is full of mercy. There's no greater example in the history of the universe than what God and Christ did for us. Notice John 15 verse 12. So that this mercy, and we all desire mercy, I know that I desire mercy, but there's a lot more that we can learn about mercy, and we're going to learn it hopefully here today. In Matthew 15, in verse 12, I said, Matthew, I want John. I'm sorry. John 15. John 15 verse 12. This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. It's not just any old way, and the Bible definition of love is quite different from that of the world. In the world, they call breaking the Ten Commandments fornication, making love.

That's not quite what love is. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends. If you do, whatsoever I command you, henceforth I call you not servants. For the servant knows not what his Lord does, but I call you friends. For the things that I have heard of my father I have made known unto you. Verse 13 again, Throughout the Bible, especially in the Psalms, we find the writers appealing to God's long-suffering and mercy. We too can appeal to God's long-suffering, his graciousness, his mercy. Sometimes, that's all I have when I go before the throne of God, for your mercy's sake, for your namesake, because I have nothing else to appeal to. But God's mercy. In Psalm 86, Psalm 86.

In Psalm 86 and verse 5, For you, eternal, are good and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy. You'll see forgiveness and mercy linked together. Forgiveness and mercy. Plenteous in mercy. And all then that call upon you. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble, I will call upon you, for you will answer me. Among the gods, O this little G, there is none like unto you, O eternal, O Yahweh. You are great and do wonderful things. You are God alone. Teach me your ways, O Lord. I will walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name. And I will praise you, O eternal my God, with all my heart. I will glorify your name forever, for great is your mercy toward me. And you have delivered my soul from the lowest parts of the grave, shield. Shield.

Verse 15, But you, O Lord, are to God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me. Give your strength unto your servant, and save the son of your handmaid. Time after time, we see in the Bible the psalmist and others appealing to God's mercy. Note, one of the conditions for receiving God's mercy is to call upon him. So, that's in verse 5, that you'll call upon you. Plenteous in mercy unto all that call upon you. Some people are so obstinate and stubborn and stiff-necked that they won't even call upon God in the day of trouble. So, I suppose you could say you can even resist God's mercy. But in one sense, you can't resist his long-suffering because he's very patient, as we shall see.

In Psalm 77, there's an example of a person crying out to God, and in one sense, he is rejecting God's mercy. And in some ways, we do this. Because oftentimes, we want something that is more complex, not quite as simplicity as the simplicity that is in Christ of going before the mercy seat in the heavens. Perhaps a more complex formula for receiving mercy and forgiveness. In Psalm 77, I cried to God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, he gave ear unto me, and he's listening. In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. My sore ran in the night and ceased not. Soar has to do with holding the hands up. The position of prayer in the Old Testament was to lift up your hands like this. If you just hold your hands up like that, even for a minute, you'll probably want to drop them. And especially if you want to do it for several minutes.

Notice, my sore ran in the night and ceased not. My soul refused to be comforted. So in a sense, rejecting God's mercy. God says, hey, I'm listening.

I remembered God and was troubled. And this word in the Old King James translated, complained, literally is communed. I communed. In other words, I talked with God and with myself. A lot of it is talking with self. And when I communed with myself, my spirit was overwhelmed because he looked at the litany of all of his problems and all of his troubles. And his spirit was overwhelmed. There was no way out. It's hopeless. So my soul refuses to be comforted.

Verse 4, you hold mine eyes, waking, a sleepless night, which I'm sure many of us have experience of tossing and turning, praying intermittently through that. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I consider the days of all the years of ancient times. In other words, when things used to be different, things used to be different. Now, I used to not have all these troubles and trials that I have now. Life seemed to be much easier back then, whenever then was.

And then verse 6, I call remembrance my song in the night. I commune with mine own heart, go over my problems again, my spirit made diligent search. And then the four enemies of faith begin to crowd in. Anxious care, fear, doubt, and human reasoning. Will the Lord cast off forever, and will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone forever? Does his promise fail forevermore? Have God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? So it's like, you know, God has just turned to death a year, and I cannot receive what I'm looking for. What are we looking for? You know, in an earlier verse, it says my soul refused to be comforted. So I guess at times we're looking for a big sign that we can just say, okay, I know that God extended mercy in this case because I prayed this and this happens. And sometimes that does happen. But if it doesn't, and then in verse 10, he comes to his senses. And I said, this is my infirmity. What is his infirmity? His problem is his problem, going over and over and over the problem. But I will, the anecdote or the cure, the treatment, I will remember the years of the right hand, the most high. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember your wonders of old. I will meditate also of your work and talk of your doings. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary. What does God dwell in the sanctuary? Who is so great a God as our Halloween? So he got his focus off himself and on to God. And when he did, things turned around. So you can reject God's mercy in that sense. Your soul can refuse to be comforted. The comfort of God is simple. Obviously, it is based on faith. It is based on faith.

That is, you must believe the promises of God. Now let's go to Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Psalm 103 will want to begin in verse 6. Here are some of the most comforting words in the entire Bible.

Some of the most comforting words in the Bible, especially to those who are spiritually minded and can discern spiritual things, who are not caught up in a physical type of conversion, but spiritual conversion.

Psalm 103 verse 6. The eternal executes righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. May not be now, but it's coming. God is just, and you will eventually receive God's deliverance. He made known his ways unto Moses, his action of the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither will keep his anger forever. He had not dealt with us after our sins. You know, I fall into that trap from time to time when I have a trial and say, oh, well, it's because I did X, Y, or Z, and sometimes it's something I did 40 years ago. It's because of that. And we're having this trial because, or I'm having this trial because of that. That is not God's way, as we shall see. God does not want you or me, and as I say, I have trouble with it. I don't know if you do, of dragging up the past and saying it's like I'm saying that God does deal with us according to our iniquity, even the past. Now, there are some things that you can do from the past that will be with you for the rest of your life. You can make foolish decisions. You can destroy your body practically by drugs, alcohol, or any number of things, and you'll have to live with it. But it doesn't mean that God cannot and has not forgiven you if you repent and ask for his forgiveness.

I want to read it again. He has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our lawlessness. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, and that's infinity. So far as he removed our transgressions from us. I do not believe there are any bounds in the universe. And more and more, as they explore space, they're coming to understand that just more and more and more and more and we're out there. And it seems we can't... where is that boundary? As far as the east is from the west. Verse 13, Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him. He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. We're not yet spirit, but we can be led by the spirit and spiritually minded. As for a man, as for man, his days are as grass as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. And the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the eternal is from everlasting to everlasting. In other words, it never ends upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto children's children. To such as keep his covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them. He has promised that he will never leave us nor forsake us, though I am with you even to the end of the age. Now we go to 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

You know, in the times in which we live and the trials that all of us are facing, I doubt there's a person in this room, maybe some of the younger, perhaps, most of you adults, most of us adults, not just you. It includes me, my family, and lots of people I know are involved in going through lots of trials and difficulties.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 3, "...blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. But as I pointed out, you have to accept that comfort. And to a large degree, it is by faith that you come to understand that if God be for you, who can be against you? For as the sufferings of Christ should abound in us, remember compassion has to do with suffer with. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ." You know, pride and stubbornness can prevent a person from being recipients of God's mercies. Pride and stubbornness can cause a person to resist the mercy and compassion of God and cause us to try to pay for our sins through self-inflicted punishment. Well, you may say, well, I don't ever resist God's mercy. I know I have by dragging up the path. And I bet you have as well.

You think, well, if I go back and redo that and say 100 times, I please forgive me that, I'm really sorry for that. But somehow that makes it all better. No, believe God what He says. If you repent it, ask God for forgiveness, go on.

And some fall into the trap. And sometimes to me, this is just like an excuse of, you know, I don't deserve God's mercy and compassion because I am so sinful or have been so sinful. The failure to understand the conversion process can lead to such traps. The conversion process is spiritual, and it cannot be wrought through our works of righteousness. You may say, oh, well, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, aren't we to do works of righteousness? Yes. But we have to listen to this sin, which has been repented of for past years, is not the business of the brethren. It is in the realm of the love of God. You know, some people like to talk about what so-and-so did last year, five years ago or 10 years ago. And each individual has to repent, exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ, and receive God's Spirit.

So the sins of the past must not be brought to mind. We have to forgive others and if we don't, God won't forgive us. So if we expect our sins to be forgiven, then we have to forgive others. I want to look at two verses there. Let's go to John. I don't know why I'm doing it. We'll go to Matthew 6. Matthew 6. Matthew 6 and verse 12. No, I want to begin in verse 9. Matthew 6-9.

After this manner, therefore, pray you. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the kingdom would come? But when you read the book of Revelation and you understand the preparation that was talked about in the sermonette and the things that must come to pass and what we read in Matthew 24, it's going to be a very good time. Coming of the kingdom is going to be quite a trying time. Nonetheless, it should be one of our greatest and most persistent and consistent prayers. Your kingdom come. Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. And then on the heels of this, like connected with it as a part of it almost, for if you forgive men their trespasses, in other words, if you show mercy, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, if you don't show mercy to them, neither will your Father forgive or show mercy to you.

I think sometimes we forget that. Now, 1 Peter 3, verse 8. 1 Peter 3, verse 8. Finally, be all of you of one mind, having compassion one of another. Love is brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrary wise blessing, knowing, that you will be faithful. Be faithful, be faithful, be courteous. Be faithful, be faithful, be courteous. Now, we're going to note the word long suffering. We've looked at merciful, our compassion, and we have looked at mercy. Let's look at long suffering. God is plenteous in mercy, gracious long suffering. The word long suffering, Hebrew, makrathemayo, makrathemayo, be of a long spirit, not to lose heart, to persevere patiently and bravely in enduring misfortunes and troubles. To be patient in bearing the offenses and injuries of others. To be mild and slow in avenging. Slow to anger, slow to punish. I suppose we've all heard our mother or father say, My patience is running thin. You better come here now before I come get you. Or you better stop doing that. The human tendency is to strike back immediately to react instead of bearing offense patiently. We all have difficulty with this. I know I do. It is something that I fight. Human beings were created with involuntary and voluntary responses. For example, you blink your eye without thinking when a foreign object comes flying your way. You cough when something gets in your windpipe. You don't have to think about it. It's there. You sneeze when pollen or black pepper get in your nose. You jerk your knee when someone strikes your patellar tendon. It's called the inverse myotatic reflex. You stretch that tendon, boop. The knee is going to come out. So you've heard of the knee-jerk response. Many people live their lives in the knee-jerk response mode. You did that to me, so I'm going to do this to you. It seems that this is just the way we're wired, and we have to overcome it. Patience and mercy just seems to allude some people. The humans are, by nature, the children of wrath. Let's go to Ephesians 2.3. See if that is confirmed by the Bible. We become the children of wrath. We weren't created as children of wrath. We were created neutral, not having sinned. But at some point, we tune in on Satan's waveling, and we were created subject to sin and death and vanity. In Ephesians 2.1, You hath he quickened or made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, where in times past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conduct in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But we're not to stay there. We're to come out of it. We can have the new mind. We can have the spiritual mind. We can rule over the flesh. So if we are that way by nature, we have to learn the other way. So long suffering and mercy are ingrained, as we have seen in the very nature and character of God. I believe you could safely say that God is in the mercy and compassion and long suffering business as a part of His being and extending that to us.

Now we go to Hosea, and maybe we learned something perhaps here you have thought about. I wondered exactly what this means. In Hosea 6, Hosea of course deals with the hoardings of the northern kingdom with Israel. Oftentimes, Israel is called Ephraim in the generic sense. In the book of Hosea, when you see Ephraim, it's not just referring to the one tribe. It's referring to the ten tribes because Ephraim was the leading tribe, as you recall the birthright went to Ephraim and Manasseh.

In Hosea 6.4, O Ephraim or Israel, what shall I do unto you? O Judah, southern kingdom, what shall I do unto you? For your goodness is as a morning cloud and as the early dew it goes away. I mean, it is, if there is any, it doesn't last very long. Therefore, have I hewed them by the prophets? I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and your judgments are as the light that goes forth. For I desired mercy and not sacrifice. What does that mean? I desired mercy and not sacrifice. And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. You see, Israel, even the northern kingdom, after Jeroboam had set up priests who were not of the tribe of Levi, they set up a sacrificial system. They built a temple that rivaled the temple in Jerusalem, and they were diligent to offer sacrifice. The southern kingdom was also diligent to offer sacrifice most of the time, and they thought that that perhaps was where righteousness was. Now, let's notice, let's follow this through at a moment. In Matthew 9, verse 10.

In Matthew 9, verse 10, it came to pass, as Jesus said at meat, or he was eating lunch or dinner at this house, Behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Why eat your master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that behold need not a physician, but they that are sick. For go you and learn what that means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. And forward into Matthew 12, Matthew 12, and verse 1.

At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn, and his disciples were hungry, began to pluck the ears and to eat them. When the Pharisees saw it, verse 2, they said it was unlawful to do that on the Sabbath. Jesus said in verse 3 that when David was hungry, he went into the house of God and ate the showbread. And talk about the priests doing work on the Sabbath. Verse 5, Have you not read in the law, had that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. And when he was departed there, he went into their synagogue and he healed the man on the Sabbath. And of course, they accused him of breaking the Sabbath for that.

Verse 11, He said unto them, What man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will not lay hold on it, and lift it out. How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do good or well on the Sabbath days. So what does it mean I will have mercy and not sacrifice? You can do all of the physical things perfectly. Now, Christ didn't have to, in His disciples, pick grain on the Sabbath day and eat it, I don't think. But He showed them that it was more important to do the spiritual intent of the law and spiritual things than it was physical things. You could offer your sacrifices and your burnt offerings until the moon turned blue, as they say. But if your heart is not right, then it is a non-effect. So Israel came to the point that they thought righteousness could be achieved through strict adherence to the law of offerings and sacrifices, and strict observance of certain traditions that could be measured by physical observation. So let's go to Romans 10 and notice how the Apostle Paul explains in different words what I've just said. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. See, to really understand mercy has to do with repentance, accepting the sacrifice of Christ, crying out for God's mercy and forgiveness, to be baptized and receive God's Spirit. It has to do with faith. Romans 10, verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. And we could ask ourselves, have we submitted ourselves to the righteousness of God? The righteousness of God far transcends just doing the physical rote things. Now, you can get into the debate, can you keep the spirit of the law without keeping the letter of the law? You have to obey the law, but you have to go beyond that in the spiritual intent.

Verse 4. For Christ is the, and it's unfortunate translation, the Old King James, the word end is T-E-L-O-S, tailos. And it means outcome or result. Christ is the outcome or the result of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. For Moses described the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which does the things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, say, not in your hearts who shall ascend unto heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep, to bring Christ up again from the dead. But what does it say? The word is nigh even in your mouth and in your heart. See, it is what you really are. It's not just something that you force yourself to do. Now at times you have to force yourself to do it. But God wants us to become that way. In your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith which we preach. That if you shall confess with your mouth that the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God will erase him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with a heart man believes unto righteousness, and with a mouth confession is made unto salvation. Now I don't have to go hopefully farther here into a discussion of law and grace. We know that to believe means also that you must obey, and to have faith you have to obey. So the righteousness of God can only be imparted through faith in God and Christ. And anything that is of God has to be imparted to us through his Spirit. The Bible says that we can become partakers of the very nature of God. So this afternoon let's ask ourselves some hard questions.

Am I on a knowledge trip or am I on a conversion trip? We should ask ourselves is my conversion a physical one or a spiritual one? A physical conversion is based on putting sacrifice before mercy. In other words, doing the physical things instead of understanding what mercy in God's way really are. God says he would have mercy and not sacrifice. Once again, sacrifice represents trying to become righteous through your works. That is not to say that works are not necessary.

But let's note Psalm 145 verse 9. Psalm 145 verse 9. Psalm 145 and verse 9. Psalm 145 verse 9. The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. And in Psalm 147, just across there, Psalm 147 and verse 17.

Psalm 145 and verse 17. Once again, that is a wrong reference. Verse 11. The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him to those who hope in his mercy. So the works are necessary, and his works are done in mercy and graciousness. And none of us, I know I don't, deserves God's awesome mercy and compassion. You know, David was an adulterer, a murderer, disobedient to God and numbering Israel, resulted in the death of thousands, yet he was forgiven of his sins. None of us have sinned in the letter to that magnitude. Now, we may have sinned in the spiritual sense in that magnitude. And of course, the wages of sin is death, whether it's one sin or a thousand. Paul killed and persecuted Christians and was forgiven, became a great instrument in God's hand. So all of us can be forgiven if we're willing to forgive and show compassion, mercy to others. It is God's glory to pass over a transgression.

Perhaps we should turn and read that verse, Proverbs 19.11. Proverbs 19.11. Now, as we bring this to a conclusion here today, these last few things are very important to understand in relationship to everything else we've said. In Psalm 19.11, the discretion of a man defers his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. Now, just because you pass over a transgression doesn't mean that it is forgiven. Now, listen to what I'm about to say. Let's go to James 2, verse 8.

Sometimes, and of course we run into this very often in the ministry, and especially in school administration, you run into it as a parent. Somebody does something wrong, and they come before you and say, I have repented, and they may say, you know, I've repented before God, and I know that God has forgiven me. Why can't you? And you say, I can forgive you, and I'm going to forgive you, but I'm also going to spank your behind.

So, forgiveness doesn't necessarily mean that there is no punishment in the interim sense, but when it comes to God's forgiveness of sin, he forgives our sins. Now, there are some things that have a natural consequence that says with regard to whatever the sin is, and I've already mentioned, drug use or alcoholism, God can forgive you for that, but you may still bear the scars of that in your mind and body, and a lot of people do.

In James 2, in verse 8, If you fulfill the royal law according to Scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well. But if you have respect to persons, you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point his guilty of all, for he that said, do not commit adultery, and said also, do not kill. Now, if you commit no adultery, yet if you kill, you become a transgressor of the law. So speak you, so do you, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment. Now, you might read this and say, well, mercy rejoices against judgment, and therefore mercy should be extended without regard to the judgment. But here's what I want you to understand here. Mercy, in the ultimate sense, cannot be extended until judgment is exercised. You say that again. You say that again. Mercy, in the ultimate sense, cannot be extended until judgment is exercised. Now, see, sometimes we confuse long suffering with mercy. God is long suffering, does not deal with us after sins, but ultimately sin must be judged before God extends his mercy. In other words, you have to come before God and say, I have sinned, have mercy on me. See, the judgment that I am a sinner proceeds the ultimate extension of mercy. And then when that mercy is extended, it glories against judgment, because the judgment in and of itself without mercy would mean death. I am a sinner, but if there is no mercy, I am going to die. But, since God extends his mercy, mercy glories against judgment, and that judgment of the death penalty is wiped out. The handwriting of transgressions, our debt, is nailed to the stake with Jesus Christ, as it says in Colossians. That debt that carried Okraphon, dogmasun, that handwriting of offenses against us, it's nailed there. And so God's mercy glories against judgment. But in order to receive that mercy in the ultimate sense, you have to judge yourself. Remember, the weightier matters of the law are judgment, mercy, and faith. You judge yourself, you cry out for God's mercy. He says, Go walk in faith, I have forgiven your sin. Mercy glories against judgment. And the sins are wiped away as far as the east is from the west. Never to be remembered again, as far as God is concerned. But if we don't let Him forget, I don't know what He, what do you do there?

And so that is an act of faith.

So, brethren, what I urge us all to do today, allow ourselves to fall into the merciful and compassionate arms of God through confession and repentance. He is glorified. Mercy glories against judgment. He is the only one who can provide the ultimate comfort, love, mercy, and forgiveness that we also earnestly desire. And even when we don't judge ourselves and repent, God is long-suffering. That is, He bears patiently with us. He gives us time and space before He executes judgment. Look at Malachi 3.6. Now, this verse is often partially quoted without us understanding the extent of what it's saying or all of what it's saying.

We quote the first part usually, I am the eternal, I change not. We leave off. The rest says, Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. In other words, if we received just judgment, we would be destroyed.

And if He executed judgment immediately and was not long-suffering, we'd be destroyed. But He is merciful, gracious, long-suffering, and full of mercy. And so, therefore, He may bear with us for a long time. But ultimately, in order for the ultimate mercy to be extended, we have to repent. So, yes, the Lord God is merciful. He's gracious. He's long-suffering, abundant, and goodness and truth. In the spiritual sense, we were and still are from time to time, prodigal sons who need to fall into the Father's merciful and compassionate arms. It was as the prodigal son said, I will arise and go to my Father. Because He knew that His Father would, and He did, He ran to Him and embraced Him. And they fell upon each other's neck. And the Father welcomed Him home with open arms. Now, the son had stayed at home. He was upset by this. He didn't like that. He didn't kill the fatted calf or me. And this one who's wasted your inheritance, He came back and you killed the fatted calf. And the Father said, well, son, I had you here all the time. We could feast every day and enjoy fellowship. But now that your brother has returned, it is fitting that we do this. And so from time to time, we need to arise and go to our Father and fall into His arms. So let's do that. Let us arise and go to our Father and claim His mercy. For His mercy never fails.