Judgment, Mercy, and Faith

Well, I was working on another sermon for today that had to do with Mother's Day, but I'm going to delay that for a while. This week, I woke up in the middle of the night one night, and there was a verse that was on my mind. I wake up often during the night, and things are on my mind, but it's not often that scriptures are actually on my mind, and as I wake up, a scripture is literally on my mind. So, I thought I should open with that scripture today and talk about it a little bit in context with what it means.

So, if you'll turn with me over to Jude, Jude 3. A verse that's very commanding by Jude as he writes to a church, much of which is like the church of us today that will be facing many things in the days and years ahead before the return of Jesus Christ.

And a verse I hope that crosses our mind every once in a while as we analyze and examine ourselves and where we are and our standing with God and how we are living our lives. In Jude 3 it says, You heard a little bit about faith in the sermonette, but we all should be contending earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

You and I are saints. Back in Revelation 14, or forward in Revelation 14, verse 12, Defines the saints of God that those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, those who are led by His Holy Spirit, those who are believing in Him, and that who do have faith that Jesus Christ is going to return, that the kingdom of God will be set up.

As Mr. Braulmuler mentioned, faith is something that God gives us, but it is something that has to be active in our lives. You know, faith without works, James says, is dead. And a truly, a true faith that we have in God is going to make all sorts of changes in our lives.

You've heard me talk many times when we read the word Believe in the New Testament. It's the Greek word for Stoil, P-I-S-T-E-U-O. And it literally, when you go and look at it, it's a life-changing belief. You believe something so deeply that it changes the way you think, changes the way you behave, changes your whole life.

And that's the type of faith we have to have. You know, there's a whole world out there that says, I believe, I believe, I believe. But it doesn't change the way they are. They've been led to think that all they have to do is believe in the modern sense of the word, and that's not the case at all. Abraham is a tremendous example of faith. He's called the Father the faithful. Let's go back to Genesis 15 and see what God said about Abraham.

Because when he believed in God, when he came to know God and God let him know who he was, it had a dramatic effect on his life. He no longer lived the way he expected to all of his life. No longer lived like the people around him. It had a tremendous effect on him. Genesis 15. Genesis 15 and verse 6 says, He, Abraham, believed in the eternal and God accounted it to him for righteousness.

He believed and he changed the way he lived. He now followed God's way rather than the way of the Babylonians or Chaldeans that he lived before. He now listened to God. He now made changes in his life and put him first in his life rather than his own will. He was willing to move.

He was willing to sacrifice his own son. He was willing to give it all for God. It changed him that dramatically. And that's the kind of faith that God wants in us and the kind of faith that we need. The kind of faith that we need if we're going to be in his kingdom, if we're going to stand from now until the time of Jesus Christ's return.

I'm not going to talk any more about faith. I can give a whole sermon on faith, but I want to talk about something else in context with faith, that faith is a part of. You know, at the conference, the theme this year was judgment, mercy, and faith. And at the conference, Mr. Ashley gave a Bible study, if you will, on understanding the Bible better. And he talked about how the people in the Jewish times knew the Bible. We may think that we know the Bible.

They really knew the Bible. He talked about how it was their life. It was their focus of their lives. And how young boys at 12 years old, and imagine this you 12 and 13 years old, by the time they were 12, they could recite. They had memorized all five books of the Torah. I would like to know, you know, it'd be interesting to see how many of our young people could even name the books in order.

But they knew every verse. It was there in their mind implanted in their mind. It was their life. That's how they live. And so when they heard something, when they heard Christ or someone else talk about something, their mind would go right back to what it said in the Old Testament because they knew it so well. We do the same thing today. I could say something to you, and I don't have to recount every detail. If I say to you, the situation in North Korea, if you listen to the news, you know the situation in North Korea, right?

I don't have to repeat to you everything that's going on in the last six months in Korea and what's going on today. You know it. It's just kind of the way we do things. And Christ did the same thing. When He would say things to the Pharisees, when He would say things that we even read in the Bible, they had an immediate recall of where in the Old Testament that that verse was. And they would be able to bring up those things in their mind.

So when He said things like He says in Matthew 23, verse 23, let's turn back there, they were able to think back to where that was referenced in the Scriptures that they knew. In chapter 23 of Matthew 23, this is before Christ was arrested. Not too long before He was arrested, He became stronger and stronger with the Pharisees as He corrected them and tried to get them to understand that they were no longer living God's way, but living by their traditions instead. And in verse 23, He said this to them, He said, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, you pay tithes of men, denanists and common, and you have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith.

These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. He was saying, yes, yes, it's appropriate to pay your tithes to God, but if all you do is do, and it's not having an effect on the way you live, if the weightier matters of the law that you should be developing, justice, mercy and faith, aren't becoming part of your life, you're missing the boat. And that's what He would say to us today. Now, when they heard justice, mercy and faith, and they heard Christ say that, their minds immediately went back to Micah 6. I hope some of your minds went right back to Micah 6, as I said, justice, mercy and faith. Let's go back to Micah 6 and read what the prophet said back then.

Micah 6, let's pick it up in verse 6. With what? Micah 6, verse 6. With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? What can I bring before Him? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the eternal be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body, for the sin of my soul? Is that what He's looking for? Is He looking for us to buy back from Him forgiveness? Is He looking for us to sacrifice our substance? Does He need our sacrifices? Is that really what He wants? Well, He wants the attitude that's associated with yielding to Him and wanting to do those things. But that's not what He's really looking for. He's looking for a change in heart, a change in attitude, where we yield our whole selves to Him.

He has shown you, verse 8, O man, what is good, and what does the eternal require of you? But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. To walk justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. Trusting in Him, following Him, believing in Him, and letting Him change the things in our lives to change because we do those things and because we believe in Him. And so Christ said, judgment, mercy, and faith. In other meetings I was in later in the week, we talked about, or it was talked about, how we treat each other. And that we need as a church to treat each other the way that God would have us treat each other.

After all, it says in John 13, verse 35, By this, O all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love, agape love, if you have love for one another, that should mark us. It doesn't mean we don't do the commandments. It doesn't mean we don't live the way of life. That way of life leads to the love and to agape. But it means we need to live that way and it needs to become us. And as we become that and as the Holy Spirit leads us, we are people who care for each other.

People who are bond closer together. People who look out for the needs of each other. People who are truly family. And not just acquaintances who meet up once in a week and have to rely on something to draw us closer together. That we're growing together as family and understanding that when God put us in a family, there's something He expected us to do. There's something we would learn from that opportunity that He gives us.

Because in the Kingdom, it won't be just individual people out there. It'll be a family that He's working with. His family that's out teaching and guiding and directing. And that's the way it'll be for eternity. It won't be lone wolves. It'll be people working together as a body and we're in training for that right now. But justice, mercy, and faith. I've gotten off of my topic here a little bit. Justice, mercy, and faith.

Well, we would know what justice is or judgment is. Let's go back again and look at Abraham. Abraham in Genesis 18. Genesis 18 and verse 19. As you're turning back there, I'll give you the Greek word that's translated justice. Justice in the New King James and judgment of the Old King James. It's the Greek word chrisis. K-R-I-S-I-S. Looks like chrisis, but it's chrisis. It literally means a decision. Something that we weigh a body of evidence and we make a decision on. Or, that's why it's translated judgment. And we know what that body, that standard that we would judge things are. I would hope we would all know that is the Bible that we live in.

But let's look and see what it says about Abraham back here in Genesis 18 and verse 19. God says of him, I have known him, I've known Abraham, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the eternal. Everybody's saying, you know what? Abraham lives this way. Abraham, this has become his way. He's going to teach his children. It's not just what he does, it's what he lives.

And as with the people around him, they know what he loves. They know what he does. They know that he's going to be that way. And he's going to teach his children because it's a gift. Not just a personal thing with Abraham, but something that all the people around him are going to know. I've known him in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they will keep the way of the eternal, to do righteousness and justice. They'll know what's right and what's wrong, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him. He will do this, and I will answer and give him the promises that I made to him.

Because I know Abraham. I know that what he does and what he believes, he will follow me and he will do right all the days of his life, and Abraham did. Abraham did follow God and was willing to give it all to him. We need to be the same type people. We need to have the same type faith. We need to have the same type judgment that Abraham did. You know, we live in a world where it seems like all judgment has been lost. Everything is upside down, if you will.

If I even go back to when I was a teenager, the things that we knew were right and wrong back then, the world has changed completely. Things that even the most liberal of my friends would never have considered doing is commonplace in the world today. It's lost its direction no longer do people live by the ways that lead to happiness. We better be people who understand right from wrong and not listen to the world. We better be people who, if we really do follow God, if we really do want to be in His kingdom, if that really is our purpose, and we're not just fighting our time here in church and saying things, but it really is our lives, that we would learn how to do that, then we would learn how to discern from right and wrong, even in a world that has lost its way.

Let's go back to Isaiah 5. It's great if we read verses from Isaiah 5, because God here is talking about His people. He addresses it to, well, He's talking about ancient Israel, but we know that we are all Israel. If we have God's Holy Spirit, we are following Him, and we are all, as it says in Romans 8, 14, heirs of those promises, if we follow God. Isaiah 5, verse 7, the vineyard of the Lord, what He's talking about in the verses preceding verse 7 here, the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.

He looked for justice, just as mercy and faith. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression. He looked for righteousness, but behold, to cry for help. He didn't find what He was looking for among His people. Is He finding what He's looking for among His people, you and me today? And then in the rest of the chapter, there are seven woes that are brought on these people who don't live by God's way. They don't understand justice. They don't understand correct judgment. Let's go down to verse 11.

See one of these woes. Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may follow in intoxicating drink, who continue until night, till wine inflames them. That's what consumes their day, what they want to do. The harp and the strings, the tambourine and flute and wine are in their face, plenty of entertainment, things around the clock that keep them amused. But they don't regard the work of the Eternal, nor consider the operation of His hands. How many days do you and I have where we don't consider the work of God?

We don't consider the operation of His hands, where we may forget. Not that we're doing anything wrong, but that doesn't even cross our minds what God has called us to. The people of Judah became that way. It became a problem with them. And then He says what happens to people who forget, who forget that God has called them, forget that they're part of a work in their personal lives as well as in the body that He has put us in.

Verse 13, Therefore, my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore, sheal, or the grave, has enlarged itself, and opened its mouth beyond measure. Their glory and their multitude and their pomp and he who is jubilant shall descend into it. People shall be brought down. Each man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.

But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness. True judgment. Righteous judgment will triumph. God who is holy will be, and that will be the standard for the rest of eternity. Not the standards by which the world lives today, but by the standards of the Bible sitting in your lap. That's what we're here to learn. That's what we're here to teach. That's what God has called us to, so that we're implementing into our lives today.

So it becomes us, just like it became Abraham, that the people around us and in our families are commanded after God's ways. And we know, and people know what we stand for and what we believe, because we don't alter from it. And we grow stronger in it, day by day. The world around us, they'll say, if you were to approach someone and say, you're living a long life, I don't advise anyone, just go up to someone on the street and say that. But they would say, what would they say?

Don't judge me. Don't judge me. What right do you have to judge me? We're all in training to be judges. We're all in training to be judges. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 6.

Kings and priests make decisions. Righteous kings and priests make righteous decisions. And judgments have to be made at some point. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 1.

Paul writing to the church at Corinth, just like he could be writing to the church here in Orlando. Dare any of you, he says, having a matter against another go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?

If you've got something that comes up before you, something that needs to be determined, you've got a conflict between two of you or more of you, and something needs to be cited. You're the saints. You're the ones who are living by the way of God. You're the ones who keep the testimony of Jesus Christ and keep the commandments. Why would you go? Why would you need to go to someone unrighteous? You know the law. You know what the book of the Bible says. You know how we're supposed to live. You should be able to judge these things yourselves. They say, shouldn't you...why would you go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Verse 2, don't you know? Don't you know that the saints will judge the world? It's kind of a surprising verse, isn't it? I don't know. I think judges have to have practice. Just like baseball players have to have practice, basketball players have to have practice. No one picks up a bat the first time and hits a home run 100% of the time. They have to practice and practice and practice. I think judges have to practice a little bit too. God in this life is saying, practice. Understand what you're going to be. Practice applying the Bible. Make sure it's in your life, but practice it in your everyday affairs as well. Don't you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Can't you decide among yourselves what is right and wrong from the Bible? And can't people who are saints say, oh, yeah, I'm wrong in this case, and I will yield to you? Or vice versa? Can't you judge those things? Don't you know, verse 3, that we will judge angels? How much more the things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? You see the point that He's making here. He's telling them and He's telling us. You've got to practice this. Judgment, mercy, and faith has to be part of your life. It has to be part of something that we are doing. Verse 5, I say this to your shame. Is it so that there isn't a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? Quite a statement that He's making there. Quite a statement that He would be making to us. If we know God's way, if we are all living, if we're all here for the same purpose, the matters that come between us, we should be able to go back to the Bible, and we should be able, as people, to make decisions on what is right and what is wrong and what is in accordance with the Bible. But it takes practice, it takes humility, it takes wanting to reconcile or wanting to have a situation, and it means that we might have to yield ourselves when determinations from the Bible would indicate that we are wrong. Jesus Christ Himself said that we need to be people who develop that ability. Let's go back to John 7. John 7. Christ's words here. I'm going to pick it up. I want to go down to verse 24, and that's the verse I really want, but it's always helpful, I think, to read the context of what is going on here before we pick out a verse. So let's pick it up in verse 15 of John 7.

Christ, of course, having one of His conversations with the people there, the Pharisees, the Jews of His day, in verse 15 it says, the Jews marveled, saying, How does this man know letters having never studied? What college did he go to? What seminary did he go to? What rabbi did he study under? So they marveled because he had such an alice and Jesus answered and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me. The same place our doctrine comes from. Not yours or mine. Not encumbered with yours or my ideas. Not added to or taken away from, but the doctrine that God sent that's recorded in the Bible here. My doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone wills or if anyone wants to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it's from God or whether I speak on my own authority. If you know the Bible, if you're living the Bible, and someone says something, you're able to discern what's right and what's wrong. Is it of God? Is it not of God? Is it something that we would be? Is it something that we recognize the shepherd's voice? If we know the Bible, if we understand the attitudes of the Bible, if we understand judgment, mercy, and faith, if we understand how God works with us and that he wants us to learn to work that same way with each other and the people who will encounter through the rest of our lives, we'll be able to discern. If it's my own idea or your friend's own idea or if it's the idea of the Bible. And it should be the idea of the Bible. He who speaks from himself, verse 18, speaks his own glory. But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Didn't Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keep the law. And you remember the number of times that Christ would tell them, you're keeping the traditions. You've supplanted the commandments of God within your own traditions. Didn't Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keep the law. And then he says, why do you seek to kill me? Because he was at the feast and they were looking to kill him, but they were kind of astonished that you would know that and said, why are who seeking to kill you? And Christ answered to verse 21, and said to them, I did one work and you all marveled. Moses therefore gave you circumcision, not that it's from Moses, but from the fathers, and you circumcised a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? And you remember they called him the Sabbath breaker because he healed on the Sabbath. Don't judge, he said, according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. Understand. Understand the law of God, not just the letter, but the spiritual effect of it as well. As we live it, as it becomes us, as we understand the attitudes, as we understand what God would put in us, that it's not just a matter, and we must keep the commandments, but it's not just a matter of keeping the commandments. It's so much more the weightier matters of the law, if we are truly living God's way of life, will mark us. Justice, mercy, faith, love, agape.

Let me turn back now to Leviticus 19. I'm going to talk about something, but before I go any further, I want to go back to Leviticus 19, because there's things that should mark our judgment. We're all in positions.

I know everyone here has had something that they've seen or something that has come their way, and you've had to make a decision on it. Sometimes those decisions are, it is within the law, or usually we're looking at someone else and not enough time at ourselves, as we will say.

But judgment in the world can be pretty spotty. Now we know we've seen the things on TV where those with money sometimes seem to have more justice than those without money. If you can hire a great lawyer, he can twist and turn things in your own way. Not so with the judgment of God. Leviticus 19, verse 15. You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. The same law, the same standards for everyone, regardless of station, regardless of position. What is there for you is the same for me, which is the same for every other member of the church around the world that ever lived, and that will live and be called into the church. When Jesus Christ comes to judge the world, He's not going to say, look at all those things you did, and so I'll excuse your sins. He's going to say, I was looking at a life of overcoming. I was looking at a life, did you demonstrate love? Did you demonstrate justice, mercy, and faith? Did you do these things? And He won't be in favor to the poor either. He will hold everyone to the same standard, the standard of the Bible, the same standard that we need to hold ourselves accountable to. I won't turn to Matthew 20 or Proverbs 24, 23. You can write that down. It says the same thing that's there. How do we learn to judge? If we're supposed to be practicing it, how do we practice judgment? If God says that's a part of our lives, something we should be doing now and something that is part of our lives now, whether we want it to be or not, what do we do? Well, first of all, we, as I've said many times already, we follow the standards of the Bible. We have to know the Bible. We have to understand the voice of the Bible. We have to be in tune with God. We have to be praying to Him. We have to understand the shepherd's voice and as it leads us. Without prayer, without Bible study, without meditation, without fasting, without living the way you can never be, the judge that God wants us to be, that goes without saying.

Second of all, judgment has to begin with us. Let's go back to Matthew 7. Matthew 7. Very easy to see the pulse in other people. Very easy to look and say, this person didn't do this. They didn't comply with this aspect of the Bible. Not so easy and not so fun to see those same faults in ourselves. Here in the Sermon on the Mount, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, as chapters are divided in chapter 7, verse 1, Christ talks about this whole concept of judgment.

The world looks at verse 1 here, and they want to chronicle it. That's where the cry, who are you to judge me or don't judge me? Chapter 7, verse 1 says, judge not, that you be not judged. Well, that word, that Greek word judge, is not the same word, chrisis, that we read back in Matthew 23, 23.

It's another form of the verb, k-r-i-n-o, kreen-o, but it has a different meaning. That's why in your margin, it has in mind, that it could be translated, it should be translated, condemn not, that you be not condemned. And I think it's in Luke, when his account, he says, condemn not, that you be not condemned. It's a final judgment. That's reserved for God. None of us make the determination today that you are condemned and that you would do that.

This is another aspect of it. So he's saying, your job is not to condemn, but understanding John 7, your job is to judge, your job is to make a determination of what's right and wrong based on the standards of the Bible. Judge not that you be not judged, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged.

If you're really harsh, if you're condemning, you know what? What we give out, we get in return. That's kind of the way of the Bible, right? If God gives us faith, he expects us to use that faith. If we judge harshly, he'll be harsh with us. For with judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with measure you use, it'll be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye?

But don't consider the plank in your own eye. How can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite. First, remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

So judgment begins at home. Judgment begins with us. We need to look at ourselves. We need to look at our actions through the eyes of the Bible, through the eyes of God, and say, No, I didn't measure up in that aspect. I didn't handle things correctly. I misspoke. I lost my temper in that argument. I didn't do what God said. And we might have some more glaring problems than that that we have to acknowledge and address. And before we criticize others, or before we judge others, and sometimes judging and criticizing become one and the same, they shouldn't be, we have to look at our own selves.

Are we cleaning up our lives? Are we letting God change us and motivate us? Are we letting God see what's in us that needs to be changed? And all of us, including me, have those things. And sometimes we can have a blind spot. God can remove that blind spot. So judgment begins first with us. We go back and we look at the Bible. I'm not going to turn to 1 Corinthians 11. Remember the times before Passover we read about judging.

Remember the verse back there in chapter 11, verse 31, that says, If we would judge ourselves, we wouldn't be judged. If we would examine ourselves, if we would look at ourselves honestly, if we would make the choice, the decision, what we're doing is wrong. This attitude needs to change. I need to change this behavior. I need to do more of this, less of this, give up some things in my life. If we would do that, we wouldn't be judged.

God would be pleased with the decisions that He sees making in our lives and the choices that we make. And He wouldn't have to judge us because, as His Holy Spirit leads us, we would be complying. And others wouldn't judge us either because, as each other, we would see the improvement in the growth in each other. If we would judge ourselves, we wouldn't be judged. In 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5, He says, Examination isn't just for the few weeks and months before Passover.

It's all the time. We're always to be looking at ourselves. When we read the Bible, we see something in it. And we say, that's not how I typically did that. We need to change our thinking. If we truly believe God, if we have faith in Him, if we really believe He's going to return, if we really want His kingdom, if we really want to be kings and priests, if we really believe that's going to happen and it's not just a nice thought that we have in our minds that kind of makes us feel good, if we really believe we would do that.

And we have to look at...I lost my train of thought for a minute. 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5, I think, is what I was talking about. We would examine ourselves and we would make those changes. Oh, and we would listen sometimes to what others have to say as well, wouldn't we? You know, someone long ago told me, you can learn a lot about yourself by what others say about you.

And sometimes, you know, our spouses can say things and we can think, ah, that's just your idea. But if we listen, if we listen, we might learn some things about ourselves that we can truly analyze and focus on. And our children and our bosses and our friends, and not just cast it off, but think, ah, I keep hearing this thing. Maybe, just maybe, God is letting me know that I need to look at myself and make some changes. There's an interesting verse back in Jeremiah. God will let us know, you know, He will let us know He is interested that we all become blameless. He is interested that we all are purifying our lives.

And He will let us know those things as we work with Him and walk with Him and follow Him to the Kingdom. But sometimes, it's not just people. Sometimes, it's not just us. The words of the Bible sometimes were thick-headed. And Jeremiah 2.19 is a very interesting verse here. Something else we can look at, if this might mark something that happens or will happen in our lives.

Verse 19 says, your own wickedness will correct you. Isn't that an interesting statement? Your own wickedness, your own simple nature, the things that you do wrong, those things will correct you. And your black slidings will rebuke you. Because, you know, we often bring things on ourselves, don't we?

When we make wrong decisions, when we have a lifestyle that's aberrant to what God has called us to, there could be problems in our lives, recurring problems in our lives, continuing trials. And sometimes, people will say, it just never stops. And I know God tests us in many ways. None of us should be judging why someone's going.

But maybe sometimes, when we have endless trials or something going on, we would look at ourselves and say, is it something I'm doing to bring this on myself? Something I need God to correct? Something that I need to look at? Are you correcting me? Show me what it is. Your own wickedness will correct you and your back slidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken, the Lord your God. And the fear of me is not in you, says the Lord God of hosts.

Well, He wants us to be there. And He will get our attention. But we have to listen. It's not always in the same way that we might find out about ourselves. But we have to listen and we have to stay close to God. And we have to be with Him and in tune with Him and ready to hear what He has to offer. Let's go back to Galatians 6. You know this area of judgment. Judgment, mercy, and faith. Judgment is an act of love.

Judgment is an act of love. Does that surprise you? Maybe not in the world's way of thinking is judgment an act of love. Someone comes up and criticizes me. I don't immediately think, well, that was an act of love. But I would hope that if one of you came and said, you know, this and that or whatever, that you had my best interest at heart, that you really wanted me or you, or someone says it to you, that your interest is that that person is going to be in the Kingdom.

And you see something that they're missing, see something that they're doing, and that you want to correct them so that they stay on the same or the correct path to the Kingdom. And if it's done in that way, it's an act of love. Judgment, mercy, and faith. Judgment begins with us, but there are times when we are going to become privative things or see some things that we think that isn't the way.

And if they continue in that way, they won't be in the Kingdom. And sometimes it takes intervention from other people, and sometimes that inner Vener is us. General Galatians 6, verse 1. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

If you see someone doing something wrong, now I'm not saying the first time you see something that you would do it, if you begin to see a pattern. If you see someone, for instance, continually not where they should be on a Sabbath day. If you see someone that may be going along in a doctrine and have a little bit of different thoughts apart from the Bible, and you know that the doctrine or whatever they're thinking is different than what the Bible teaches. It's not wrong. You want to pray about it? You want to consider it carefully? You want to be very gentle? And in love, you want to go to that brother and gently bring that to his or her attention. If you really, genuinely want them to be in God's kingdom, if we love each other that much and that we're concerned with each other, that we're all in this together, we need each other, we love each other, and we all want to be in the kingdom, we pray for each other, that that's one thing we would need to do. Now, sometimes people aren't comfortable in that. And I would say, if you're not, but you see something, and it's a recurring pattern or a difference in thought or something different about the person. Pray about it. Think about it. If you don't want to do it, take it to someone else. Don't gossip about it, right? I didn't read Leviticus 19-16. It says, don't be a tailbearer. If we see something, we don't go out and tell everyone else in church to say, well, I saw so-and-so in doing this. Should they be doing that? This is what they're spreading around. No, no, no. That isn't what we do. That's not the reason that we make a judgment. We do a judgment, or we make a decision to help the person, to get them back to where God wants them to be. But bring it to Mr. Went. Bring it to me. Bring it to a deacon. Bring it to someone so that we can do that if, because it's an act of love. When Paul talks here in Galatians, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Be gentle. Be loving. Not accusatory. Not demanding. And let me throw in here, before you're doing it, you're getting every side of the story. You know, the Jews and Christ, they didn't get every side of the story. And how many times have we been involved in something where we thought, wow, this is just absolutely wrong. And then we hear the other side of the story, as it says in Proverbs 18-17. And we realize, oh, it's not what we seem. You've got a lot of work to do in judgment, in judging righteous judgment, in love. Know the whole story. Find out things. Make sure that you're not coming in an accusatory nature. And it's very interesting what he says here in chapter 6-2 at the end here, or chapter 6, verse 1. Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Well, we could be tempted if it's a window of doctrine, that we could begin believing that. But we would want to be absolutely sure of what the Bible teaches. But I think he means we could also be tempted because there's a danger in going to someone and saying, you're doing something not right. You're believing something not right. We could develop an attitude of superiority, couldn't we? We could think, huh, I'm so much better than you.

Look what I know, and I'm the one having to tell you what you're doing wrong. That's not at all the attitude. If that attitude is at all there, if we're trying to put ourselves in a position above someone, to direct someone, or to put ourselves in a position that we don't belong in, it's a wrong attitude. And we can become a bigger part of the problem than they are. An attitude of gentleness, an act of love, to turn them back to God, to keep them on the track, to the kingdom.

And to everlasting life. But not anything that we would look to look at ourselves and make ourselves appear more spiritual and holier than them. Because I guarantee you, whatever problem they have, you may not have the same one, you've got another. And I've got another. And we all need to be aware that God is working with us. And what we don't have a problem with, we have others. We have others that we need to be aware of and learn as well.

Let's go over to James 5 as well. James 5 and verse 19.

And I know this is a tricky subject, and I don't want... I don't want... And I say this jokingly, but I also say this to you, I don't want to see everyone running through their brother, okay, through church. And telling you, this is something you take very seriously. It is an act of love.

And when Christ said, judgment, mercy, and faith, He was judging, He had made a decision what the Pharisees did, He wanted them to turn around. He wanted them to turn to God. They just never did. And when we do it, it's because we want our brother to turn back to God and turn from where they're going. James 5, verse 19.

Isn't that a noble thing to do? Not just sweep it under the carpet, not just when you hear someone talking about a doctrine that's different than what the Bible teaches, who finds themselves and, you know, looking on the Internet and now all of a sudden has this definition or this occasion of what's going on in life, different. But you don't let that go on, but you bring Him and restore Him back to the truth that God has called us to.

When someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns the center from the area of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. Judgment. Judgment, mercy, and faith. Do it in love. Pay attention to yourself. We're not... none of us are exempt from self-judgment.

Know the Bible. Get counsel. Pray about it. You can go through the Proverbs. How many Proverbs talk about the wisdom in getting counsel in something before you do something? Don't do it in haste. Make sure you know what you're talking about and do it in love. Now we're in the book of James. Let me transition. We talked about judgment. Let's transition to mercy. James 2, verse 13.

Pies, judgment, and mercy together. Just like Jesus Christ did. James 2, verse 13.

Well, that says a lot, doesn't it? Judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Now mercy is something that God has shown all of us. Not one of us can say we have received no mercy.

Because if we were judged for what we have done, we would all be dead men. There would be no hope. There would be nothing going forward. Jesus Christ came to earth. Jesus Christ died for our sins. He mercifully gave Himself to us and He pardoned our sins. Now what He did for us, we need to be willing to do for others in the scope of things. Judgment and mercy and faith. Judgment comes first, but mercy comes after judgment.

Let's go back to Exodus 20. The world misuses mercy a lot. You can turn on TV and say, Jesus Christ's mercy. He forgave all our sins. We're not accountable for anything we do anymore. He's forgiven our past sins. He's forgiven our future sins. Well, you know what? He is just and He will forgive us, but it's not just because He did what He had to do. There's something He's looking for us to do as well. Let's go back to Exodus 21 before I do that. Here are the Ten Commandments. As God is re-educating Israel, they lost all the knowledge of the way of God as they were centuries in Egypt. They forgot what Abraham knew. They forgot what Abraham and Isaac and Jacob lived and knew during their times. God is re-educating them. In chapter 20, verse 4, 2nd commandment, You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Eternal, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the childrens of the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me. Now how does God do that? Well, Jeremiah 2, 19. If I teach my children the wrong way of life, they're going to follow my example, and they're going to pay the same prices that I do in life. They're going to be unhappy. They may suffer divorce. They may suffer heartache. They may suffer health problems because they follow my example. It's incumbent on us, just like it was on Abraham, that we teach our children and teach our families the way that God taught us. Because if we don't, they'll just continue making the same mistakes and having the same results over and over and over again, until someone breaks that cycle.

But, as we go on, He will visit them to the third and fourth generations, but shows mercy, verse 6, to thousands, to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Who does He show mercy to? To those who love Him and to those who keep His commandments.

There's a responsibility in mercy.

Let me give you Hebrews 9, verses 1-5.

Hebrews 9-5 talks about the Holy of Holies and the tabernacle.

You remember the Holy of Holies one time a year. The high priest was able to go into the most holy place, and only he went into it. And it was in the Holy of Holies that there was the Ark of the Covenant.

And you remember in the Ark of the Covenant was the tablet that contained the commandments. There was in there the rod of errands that blossomed. There was the manna.

And then above that Ark there was the mercy seat.

Called the mercy seat, and the chair of them above that. When God says mercy is above judgment, and even in His Ark He showed mercy is above judgment. These are the things that led you. These are the things that are your life. These are the things where I showed myself to you. That you should have learned faith in me, and that you learned to follow me. But above all that is mercy.

Judgment, mercy, and faith.

Mercy is simply a hallmark of God's way of life.

And Jesus Christ demonstrated it perfectly. It's certainly in His death, but in His physical life as well. Over in John 8.

We have a very familiar story of the lady who was caught in adultery. And she had all of her accusers around her. She was caught in the very act, it said. And those Jews and those people who caught her in the act said, You know what? This woman was caught in adultery. And what does the law of Moses say? She should be stoned to death. And they brought her to Christ, and they said, What do you say, Christ? Or Jesus, I guess they would have called Him by His first name. What do you say, Jesus? What should be done to her? And then He did something that caught their attention. And in something, I'm not going to tell you that. I'll let you do a little thinking on it. But in something that they did, that brought to mind something to them about the Old Testament and the things that they read, He started scribbling or tracing something in the sand there. And one by one, it says in verse 9, Those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, I mean, John 8, verse 9, They went out one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last, And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst, All those who were gathered there to stone her. To make the final judgment on her. And she had done wrong. And she deserved what her punishment would have been. The two of them were left. And Jesus, when He raised Himself up, And saw no one but the woman, said to her, Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? And she said, No one, Lord. And he said to her, Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more. Did He exercise judgment? He knew. He knew that what she had done was wrong. There was no question about that. She wasn't falsely accused. There was no doubt that that had happened to her. Could He have been right if He said, Yeah, you're right. The law of Moses is stoner. Yeah. He would have been right to say that. But what did He do? He showed her mercy. Saved her life. Showed her compassion. But when He gave it to her, He said, I don't condemn you, But He said, Go, and sin no more. Go, and sin no more. When God called us, or called us out of our existence, And when we had our sins forgiven, He showed us mercy. When we were baptized, all our sins were forgiven. What He would tell us is, Go, and sin no more. Live your life by the Holy Spirit. And yes, we make mistakes, And He is quick to forgive those when we ask for forgiveness. Go, and sin no more. Live a life of mercy. If He gives mercy, then we need to be living a life of mercy, And that mercy is given when we sin no more. The world's adage that mercy is for everyone, And for every sin that's ever been committed, Regardless of what we do, is absolutely and utterly false. Nowhere in the Bible is mercy given to those who do not go and sin no more. Nowhere in the Bible is mercy given to those who do not repent, Who do not choose to follow the way of God, Who recognize their way of life was wrong, And they begin to live in the pattern that God set for them. Nowhere in the Bible would you find that. And if you find it, show it to me. Because there's nowhere in the Bible that mercy accompanies anything but a life of change, A life of repentance, a life of turning to God. Go and sin no more. Mercy is without judgment to those who show no mercy. Let's go back to Isaiah 55. In Isaiah 55, it's clearly shown to whom mercy is expended. Isaiah 55 and verse 6.

Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake His way, and the unrighteous man His thoughts. Let Him return to the eternal, and He will have mercy on Him. And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Call on Him, seek Him, turn from your way to God, and He will show you mercy. That's what the Bible says. That's what Christ says. That's where mercy is. Well, how do we show mercy? Well, first of all, if we ever are in the situation that we see someone doing something or we learn of something. Now, we've made the righteous judgment. We've looked at all the angles. We've examined the Bible. We know what's right and what's wrong. We've gone to both or heard both sides of the story. We've gotten counsel on it. We've prayed about it. And we go in the attitude of gentleness with the attitude of turning someone in love back to God. Because we love them and don't want them to leave what they've been called to. If we do all those things, then we don't hold a grudge against them. We don't look down against them. We forgive them just as God forgives us. If someone's done something to us, we forgive. If they've asked to be forgiven. Just like God shows mercy to us and forgives us. We don't lord it over people. We don't hold it. Hold them some kind of debt and debt to us. That's simply what God does. He forgives it and he forgets. But he trusts that we're going forward, living the life that he wants us to live. Let's go back to Psalm. Psalm 103. Certainly, when we have mercy, compassion is part of what we do. Jesus Christ, he had compassion on us. He had compassion on the woman who was called an adultery. We have compassion. We love one another. We want people to be in the kingdom. Psalm 103 and verse 6. Psalm 103 verse 6. We find some things here. Some principles. The Eternal executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He's the righteous judge. He'll make the determination. He executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. He makes known his ways to us, and he makes known to us what we need to do. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. Slow to anger. Not jumping off the handle, not coming in like a raging bull over something. Gentleness. Restore one in gentleness. Slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. And that attitude should always be with us. Let's drop down to verse 11. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who fear him. And part of the fear of God is living his way of life, knowing the Bible and living it. As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As the Father pities his children, so the Eternal pities those who fear him. For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. And we have a great intercessor on Jesus Christ who lived in the same fleshly body that you and I live in. He knows the temptations, he knows the proclivities, he knows what the lusts of the flesh and the eyes and the pride of life are. He overcame them all. And he has mercy on us and a great intercessor for us as God, as he pleased with us while on our behalf, to be patient with us and to forgive us.

Now, in verse 17, the mercy of the Eternal is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him. Not everyone, regardless of what they do, on those who fear him and his righteousness to children's children. To such as keep his covenant and to those who remember his commandments to do them. You want God's mercy? The Bible shows what we need to do. Let's go back to Colossians 3.

Colossians 3 and verse 12.

In the verses leading up here to verse 12, Paul is making a point. He's talking about putting off the old man, putting on the new man, and he makes a conclusion. Therefore, as the elect of God, that's you and me, the elect of God, the saints, who are, if we are really truly following God and hear for the right reasons. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, put on kindness, put on humility, put on meekness, put on long suffering. Be patient with your brethren. Galatians 6.1, bear with one another. I think it's Galatians 6.2, bear with one another. Don't condemn and write people off. Bear with them. We're all at different levels of our calling, all at different levels of the growth and development God has for us. Bear with one another. We are all family. Bear with one another, verse 13, and for giving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Put on agape. Put that on. God will give it to you. God will develop you. Judgment, mercy, and faith. Now, let's go back to Hebrews, Hebrews 10.

I want to, one more time, refute the common perception of the world that mercy is extended to everyone regardless of what we do. So many false assumptions out there among the world's Christianity. Once saved, always saved. Once forgiven, always forgiven. No matter what we do, Christ has died for our future sins, and we don't have to do anything because you realize how difficult life is. It's all garbage. It's not what the Bible says. Hebrews 10, verse 24, there is a responsibility when we are extended mercy. Actually, I want verse 26, but again, the verses leading up to verse 20 to verse 26 in Hebrews 10, we talk about them often. You know, consider one another to stir up love and good works. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. It's a big one, isn't it?

Specifically mentioned there, as is the manner of some, and even do this even more so as you see the day approaching, as God is watching how we work with each other. He's watching what we do, how we do it, where we are, how much, how close attention we put to Him, what our priorities are, and what we allow to come between Him and them. They're all part of what He's doing and watching to see, are we the people who are being developed?

And are we wanting by our actions and our decisions to be where He wants us to be? In verse 26 it says, if we sin willfully, if we turn back from God, if we just kind of go back and do our old way of life, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains the sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

It's pretty clear, isn't it? If we go back and we kind of just live our lives the way before and think, oh, God is going to cover all those sins, Jesus Christ did, and we don't have to do these things, not at all true. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment do you suppose will He be thought worthy, who has trampled the Son of God under foot, counted the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified, a common thing, just took it for granted, nothing to really be treasured or nothing to be very cautious of and guard, and insulted the Spirit of grace. We insult the Spirit of grace when we act against God and we sin against Him and count those things that are against Him. Don't ever buy into the concept. Buy into the concept of judgment, mercy, and faith, because those are implicit in things that God wants us to do and things we will develop as we grow, as we grow individually, as we grow as a body, as we work with God, and as we allow Him to bind us together and as we allow Him to develop us, all loving one another, all realizing we need each other, all realizing that God has put us here for a purpose, and all realizing that we all need to follow Him and look at ourselves, honestly, in many cases. Let's go back to Jude. Let me conclude the same book that I began with. Jude. Jude 3. We began with this verse, and we went from faith to just this mercy and faith. Jude 3, beloved. While I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, we've all been called to be part of God's kingdom. We all are called and know the way to salvation and through whom it comes. Concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. And then Paul, I'm sorry, then Jude goes through and he talks about the things that have happened and the people who depart from God and their effect on us. Let's drop down to the end of the chapter here. Verse 20. But you, beloved, again speaking to you and me, but you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a difference. You can make a difference. The New Testament, Jude, King James, says distinction. Difference is a better translation there than the Old King James. Make a difference. Make a difference in their lives by what you do. Verse 23. But others save with fear. Sometimes you're going to have to shake them, like Jesus Christ did in Matthew 23 with the Pharisees. But others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. If they've gone astray, if they're believing wrong things, they've got an action that continues with them. If we love them, we will know how to approach them, and we will just bring them back. Sometimes it takes putting the fear of God into someone. But others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment, defiled by the flesh. Don't let their problems rub off on you. Be sure in what you know stands fast in the way of God. Let me just conclude here with verses 24 and 25.