Merciful Christians

As you know, I travel over to East Africa and drive through areas that are very remote, and some of the experiences over there are unusual compared to what we go through over here. And so it was not too unusual to drive up to an unknown border to me at Busia on the border of northwestern Kenya, traveling into Uganda in a car that I had rented, and try to pass through that border, which has a lot of paperwork, a lot of regulations, forms that you're not necessarily familiar with. But knowing that I would be passing through this border, I had arranged with the company that had rented the car to provide the paperwork necessary to go into a foreign country, which included ownership documents, insurance documents. Sure enough, when it came time to hire that car, the paperwork was given to me, and, you know, it's different-looking paperwork, and put it in there, and away you go. Well, after visiting across the country various congregations, it came time to cross this border, and the border was a very, very busy place, and it's a very disorganized place, very disorganized, big trucks trying to move through, and small, cramped offices of people handing paperwork over people's back to try to get it through the cracks in the window to get somebody inside to deal with it, and the person inside has seen it all and done it all, and, you know, there's things going on there, and all in foreign languages, and you're the only mazungu, you know, a white guy. And so going through the border can be a little bit of a daunting process, and at this unusual border, I finally got to the person at one of the desks, I think it was one of the first desks, and I gave him the paperwork, and I said, I'd like to cross the border, and he looked at the papers, and looked at them, and he said, where's the ownership papers? I said, well, this is what they gave me. Well, they didn't give you any ownership papers. What you have here is some insurance papers for a car, but let's see the car. So outside we go, and you know what? The license and the VIN number on this paperwork does not match the car that you're driving. Where's the rental agreement that you have? Well, they had me sign the rental agreement, but they kept it. Okay, so you have documents for a car that you don't have. I said, well, tell you what, let's call the owner, because I have a cell phone number, I'll call the owner, and you talk to him. Okay, so, all right, so he's talking to the owner, and they're talking in a foreign language, and finally he calls back up and says, well, he's a nice gentleman, but his name doesn't appear on any of these documents. You could have called anybody you wanted. So he says, there's no way that you can be processed out of Kenya to go a few feet and start this process again in Uganda to pass through their immigration process. He says, it just can't happen. The reason why is people are always stealing cars and taking them out of the country. It's obvious by your paperwork what you're trying to do.

Well, this is a fine mess. Now, the purpose for going to Uganda was to meet a contact over there who wanted a council for baptism. We'd been talking for some time. This was all set up at a hotel reservation. We had an appointment where we were going to rendezvous. That was an important, you know, drive across central Uganda, the capital city, to find this man.

Surely there has to be a way. Well, it gets a little deeper. I went outside, I thought about it for a while. Some local customs helpers who you pay a fee to, and they help push your paperwork through. I said, I see you're having some problem there. Can I help you? And I said, no, I do this before at other borders, but I haven't done it here and it seems to be a problem with the paperwork. And the young man says, give him a bribe. That's all these guys want is a bribe. I says, well, I don't, you know, this is not the way the government's supposed to work. The new government's not supposed to. Oh, just give them a bribe. They always take a bribe and then off you go.

Now, what if, you know, this isn't right. And if you give a bribe, and what if they don't accept bribes, you know, this isn't right. So anyway, I went back in the office. I thought, I've got to talk to this guy again. So eventually I got up to him and he says, I saw you talking to that guy outside. I just want you to know, don't even think about offering me a bribe. Do not even go there. He says, all my comrades in the office already think that, you know, I'm doing something special just talking to you because your papers are all out of sorts. So he says, there's, he says, what I need to do is impound your car and hold it because of you trying to steal it. And then, I'm not sure what he's going to do with me.

He says, that's, that's what I need to do. I thought, wow, they're going to take the car. I'm going to be left in Busia, which is in the middle of nowhere, out on this border. What am I going to do? Why am I going to go to jail myself? Who knows? But his next words were, well, but because I promised you I would let you go through, I don't know why I'm doing this, but you better bring this car back. You're cleared to go. Because I thought, well, yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. I will bring the car back. Yes, sir. You bet. Ah, but those words rang in my ear because I promised you that I would let you pass through. I will let you go. He never promised me. He never said anything about it. He talked about taking my car.

That was a merciful act by God in allowing us to go over.

Dan McGee and I were traveling together at that time, driving across. Merciful to let us escape, as it were, with the vehicle. Got to meet the individual, baptize the individual, talk about establishing the church over in Uganda and proceed back into Kenya. It was a wonderful thing. And it was wonderful for that individual to have that kind of mercy. He said, you know, I can lose my job over this. If you don't come back with this car, my job is history. So why would he let me go away with a car that I had no registration for, no rental agreement for, no insurance for? Why would he allow that? Well, he obviously saw that somebody had made mistakes. I had not gone through the paperwork. I had not familiarized myself with the paperwork, as I now do, every time I go over.

And he had mercy on an individual who was in a fix, a real fix.

There was another instance that happened over in East Africa. Each year for the Feast of Tabernacles our brethren really want to come to the Feast. They look forward to coming to the Feast, but they have no chance of attending the Feast because the cost of travel alone is more than the small amount of festival tie they could ever save.

Just the small feat would take to transport themselves to the Feast, let alone housing and food for eight days. And so consequently, the Church assists them once they have shown themselves to be fully dedicated and devoted to living God's way for over a year's time. And if they are earning a living, they tithe faithfully, as the Bible says. And so in doing their part, they receive this tremendous blessing to be able to attend the Feast of Tabernacles. And what a blessing it is for some who live out in the rural area, which most of them do, to be able to come to a staging point and get on the big buses that we hire and come to the Feast site, wherever that is.

But you know, even that first step is sometimes impossible for some because just coming from their rural village to the staging area, as it were, the central area to get on the buses, again, costs more than what many of them have. And so we try to, or in the past, have given congregational leaders some funds to make sure they get everybody together and bring them that distance, that first initial distance. I remember one year, one of our more remote congregations, the brethren were really wanting to come to the Feast, hoping to come to the Feast, listening for word to come to the Feast, hoping that something would, a little bit, would come to them so that they could transport themselves to that staging area.

And we indeed did give an individual money for that congregation to make that first trip. And the individual is very excited about it. He returned home with it, and he made sure that he and his family made it to the staging area. But at the Feast of Tabernacles, at the Feast of Tabernacles, I asked the question, you know, where's everyone else? Well, he didn't mention it to anyone else. He never told them. He never mentioned to anyone else in the congregation that, you know, this opportunity that you've been looking forward to, funds have arrived, and you're going to be able to come to the Feast.

He didn't mention that to the others. He wasn't thinking about helping them out of their plight, out of their situation. And so they stayed home that year. In Matthew, Jesus Christ makes the statement, The Way to Your Matters of the Law. It's in Matthew 23, 23. But that statement, The Way to Your Matters of the Law.

One of the Way to Your Matters of the Law is mercy. The three are justice, which the Greek word kitesis means separation, doing what's right, separating yourself from wrong, doing what's right, and justice. That's what God wants us to do. And the second is mercy, aelios, which means kindness towards the miserable, kindness towards somebody who is in a dire circumstance, a problem, a need. Mercy is assistance or kindness towards one who is in a miserable fix.

And then faith, which is faithfulness. It's strong convictions. So we are to be people who are doing right, who are full of separation from wrong, who are kind towards others, and faithful, and have that proper, strong conviction to doing what's right. Today I'd like to examine this topic of mercy. As Jesus said, it's one of the big ones. It's one of the weightier matters of the law.

And yet, how often in your life, in my life, do we think of mercy as being all that important? Or even know what mercy is even about? We know all about the law and doing what the commandments of God, what Christ told us to do, and we focus on those things. Just as the Jews did there in Matthew 23, verse 23, he's talking to the Jewish leaders, and he says, you know, you do all these fine little details, but you ignore the big ones.

Just as mercy and faith. What about you and me? Can we find ourselves there? Sure, we can. Is it just the Pharisees and the Sadducees that had the problem? No, it's human nature. And so let's look at mercy today and see how you and I can be merciful Christians. What is the reason for suffering? Now, the church puts out a booklet called, Why Does God Allow Suffering? It's inconceivable that a God of love would allow suffering until you realize that the purpose of life is to build character, and character comes through choices.

All the little choices, decisions that you make and I make in my life add up to the character that we have. Choice-making is cause and effect. You make a choice, it creates a cause for an effect that follows. And causes and effects have certain built-in penalties or blessings, depending on what the cause is or how it's done. Some important lessons for life are involved in this ability to choose. In Proverbs 5, verse 21, it says, For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord. God sees your and my way, the way which we are going. And he ponders all of man's paths.

His own iniquities entrap the wicked man. There's an effect for a specific cause. And it's important that the wicked man has an effect that will teach him something.

And he is caught in the cords of his sin. He shall die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. Cause and effect, blessing and cursing, choice. That's what choice is all about. Now you know this, and I know this, when we make a mistake in our life, there's a penalty that comes along. And sometimes our lives can kind of be miserable, because certain penalties bring along a certain amount of misery. Enter mercy. What? Mercy? Mercy doesn't fit here. What's mercy? No, we're cause and effect. We're law. We're obedience and disobedience. We're life and death. We're all about black and white. Throw mercy in there, and whoa, what is mercy? Mercy takes away the effect of something done wrong. Well, it doesn't fit. Right is right, wrong is wrong. Good and bad. What's mercy? Well, God is a very merciful God. And yes, God also is a God of truth and light and perfection, but he's a God of mercy at the same time. You'll remember there was a young man in the Bible who was arrogant. He knew everything. He was the special favored child, Joseph. He kind of rubbed it in a little bit, a little bit too much, in fact. He got himself sold off as a slave to Egypt. That was his due. He had it coming. Come on, cause and effect. That's why he was down there. And there he was rotting away in an Egyptian jail. And the Bible simply records Joseph. God was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor with the keeper of the prison. He didn't need to do that, but he was merciful to him. And all of a sudden, things changed in the life of Joseph. And you probably are familiar with the rest of that story. Your life and my life is very similar to Joseph's because we all mess up. We all make mistakes. We all get a little heady and high-minded. We all get a little bit arrogant, self-serving, and then the results start to pour in. Well, we need mercy. Other people need mercy. We need to realize that God intervenes mercifully in certain situations. Not in most situations and not for most people. Mankind in general does not receive the mercy of God. It says in Psalm 30, verse 10, "...many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him." So there's a relationship with God that brings on mercy from God. And oftentimes, something similar happens with humans. When we have a relationship that's good with other humans, oftentimes they will respond mercifully to us in our times of trial. It says here, verse 11, "...but be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous, and shout for joy all you upright in heart." See right there, the correlation between those God is being merciful to and those he is not. There is a differentiation that God makes. Why does God deal differently with different people?

In Psalm chapter 62, verse 12, David said, "...O Lord, to you belongs mercy, for you render to each according to his work." Let's not begin to think that God is soft-headed and soft-hearted. God says, I am a God of mercy, just as he does here, but you are a rewarder.

And you render to each one according to his work. Cause and effect is important. God wants character developed. He's not going to just take away all the bad effects of the mistakes that we make. However, a genuine individual who is fully committed and trying sometimes receives mercy from God. You'll remember that the Ten Commandments contain a statement about this very thing. In Exodus chapter 20, verse 5, "...for I, Jehovah, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon some of the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me." Wow! That's pretty defined. And God, who later became Jesus the Christ, said those words. Define that and put it in the Big Ten. And, he says in the next verse, "...and showing mercy to thousands of those that love me and keep my commandments." So, I think we need to understand, first of all, that mercy is shown to those who are of a genuine heart, of a genuine conviction, those involved in the way to your matters of the law, of the justice, of separating ourselves from falseness, falsehood, from a false way, being devoted to God, mercifully helping others, and being faithful, being fully committed to God. Mercy is a part of that. God shows mercy to those who repent. It says in Isaiah 55, in verse 7, "...let the wicked forsake his way." Who are the wicked? Well, that would be me.

That would be you. That would be any of us when we get on a self-track that's selfish and is not agape, not godly love, not outgoing concern for others. And that wickedness in us needs to be repented of. "...let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to God, and he will have mercy upon him." God loves the humble. He gives grace to the humble, which is forgiveness of sin. It's mercy after somebody has messed up spiritually. "...For he will abundantly pardon, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways, sayest the Lord." In 2 Kings 8, verse 23, he said, "...the Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like you, who keeps your covenant and mercy with your servants who walk before you with all their hearts." Do you walk God's way with all your heart? Well, then you have a God like no other God, he is the only God, who keeps his covenant and is merciful to those who walk with all their hearts. That's why God doesn't intervene sometimes in a negative way or let the end result of things slap us at times. There's a time that he lets us experience them, that's for sure, probably most of the time. But also, God does not require everything out of the genuine at heart. Nehemiah 1, verse 5, "...I pray, Lord God of heavens, O great and awesome God, you who keep your covenant and mercy with those who love you and observe your commandments." Notice the connection again. Love and mercy with those who love you and observe your commandments. Psalm 25, verse 10, "...all the paths..." The Hebrew word for paths there are the ways, the well-trodden roads, as it were, "...all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies." Mercy and truth for those who keep the covenant and the testimonies. Now, you and I are called to be like our Father in heaven. Jesus told us in Matthew, chapter 5, verse 48, "...be you therefore perfect like your Father in heaven is perfect." And the goal, the great model that we have is the Father. Ephesians 4 tells us to grow up into Jesus Christ, into the fullness and stature of Jesus Christ. And 1 John tells us that the embodiment of God and his nature is love. It's outgoing concern. So we are to be like God. Luke 9, verse... I'm sorry, Luke 6, verse 36 says, "...therefore be merciful just as your Father also is merciful." You see the connection here to the God family? God is merciful. We're to be like God. Now he says, be merciful for your Father in heaven is merciful. This is something, brethren, that you and I really need to focus in on. Incorporate more in our life. Come to understand. Come to give to others.

Like Father, like Son, they said. Well, like Father, like child, son, daughter of God. We need to be like our Father in heaven. Mercy goes hand in hand with the mindset that is Christ-like, because Jesus Christ showed great mercy, just as the Father and the whole family shows mercy. Jesus Christ was a great example. You know, he was merciful to thousands of people. He healed multitudes. And were they perfect? No. Were any of them converted? No. But he was merciful to them, and he could even perceive that some of them were in hunger. He would reach out and perform miracles of loaves and fishes. People who were crippled would release them from that, or had spirits or other things. He would release them from that bondage because of the mercy that was within him. In Psalm 85, verse 9, it says, Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, a deep respect and a fear of God. That salvation is close to those. That glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed. Mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, they've met, they've kissed, they are one and the same, they've embraced. In other words, the mentality of God is coming to this earth, and the two are going to meet. They're going to combine. The nature of man is going to become the nature of God. This is a prophecy for the future. Christians are becoming Christ-like. Mercy is a part of that.

Mercy is something that you need to feel. You need to feel a compassion for others and then act on it. A small example that you'll think I'm really puffing myself up here, but I'll tell you this story. I was driving down the freeway out here recently, and alongside of the road, I noticed a pickup truck pulled off well off the road, and two women were outside, you know, kind of looking like this. And the old drive shafts laying down on the ground. The u-joint was broken. And they're like, you know, didn't even know it had a u-joint kind of thing. And it hit me. Oh, these poor gals feel so sorry. Traffic's heavy and felt so sorry. I had, I felt mercy for them because, you see, I was in that situation one time. I was trying to impress my girlfriend, who later became my wife.

And as I dropped her off in front of her house with her parents, I think, watching, I dropped the old, you know, 428 into first gear and floored it. But I had new tires on the car with good traction. And that street had big, knobby rocks coming up out of the asphalt. And the only thing that moved was the drive shaft after the u-joint broke. And it went bang, da-bang, da-bang, da-bang, da-bang. And my girlfriend said, there's a loser. And the parents said, oh, one of those. And so for the next day or so, my father-in-law taught me how to put a u-joint in a car. You see? This is back in the late early 70s. And so, as I saw these ladies beside the roar, I thought, oh, I feel for you. I really do. I really feel for you. Well, you know, having mercy on somebody is, especially when you know how to put it in. I can remember, yeah, I did that 30 years ago. And I've got tools at home. And I really probably ought to stop and help those ladies. That's how mercy can kind of get going in you. You see something, you feel sorry for them. Now, why were they on the side of the road? Well, I'll tell you why they're on the side of the road. They didn't lube the u-joint. You know, it's got a grease-ert stuck in the side of those old u-joints, and you're supposed to lube them every time you change the oil. Well, they didn't lube that u-joint. Somebody didn't do it. And it wore out and broke. But here they are in a pickle, and you say, well, no need for them to learn a lesson. You know, we ought to stop and help them out. Well, in James 2 and verse 14, we find that mercy and showing mercy to others is a very important part. James 2, verse 14, starting in here, My brethren, what profit is it if a man says he has faith and does not have works? Works including mercy. You know, if you can say, yes, I am faithful, and I have conviction, and I have the laws, and I stay home, and I study all day, and I'm just full of truth. But if you don't use it, and it's not about you being filled with truth, it's about you living. Matthew chapter 25 talks about the great king, when he returns, separate the sheep and the goats based on what? What they know? No. What they do with what they know.

So he says here, if a man has faith but does not have works, can faith save him? If a brother, he uses this analogy, if a brother or a sister is naked in destitute of daily food, and if one of you says to them, oh, go in peace, be warm and filled, but you don't give them anything, what good is it? Kind of reminds me of driving down there. I'm feeling merciful to these women at the truck, but I was running late for an appointment, folks. And I hadn't changed a U joint in 30 years, 35 years, and besides, probably they're only a few blocks away from help, and it's not easy to stop on the freeway, and a whole other bunch of reasons why I didn't stop. Oh, I felt mercy, but it's kind of like he says, you know, what if you say, be warm and filled?

Well, you know what?

If it says here, verse 17, even so, if it does not have works, faith is dead being by itself. So it was mercy. You might feel merciful. Say, oh, poor guy, poor loser, you know, poor idiot, you know, didn't do this, didn't do that, didn't, you know, and now look what's happened because of it. Did you ever say that about somebody? Well, you know why they're an at-pick-all, because they never do this. They don't do that or whatever. So they kind of have it coming, don't they? They kind of have it coming. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 3 says, let not mercy and truth forsake you. Notice how those two keep coming together. Do you see that? Mercy and truth. We kind of like to separate and think, well, as an individual, myself and Christ, myself and the Father, we have this walk, this journey we're on, we have this direction, this path, this goal. Mercy is part of it. It goes hand in hand with truth. Don't let these forsake you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the midst of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.

Mercy should be part of our mindset. We need to apply it when proper to do so. I don't think it's my job to go down the highways and fix people's cars. You know, unless they're way out in the middle of nowhere, then it's a good thing to do that, to help them out. But, you know, with all the road services we have right along the freeway here and the various services that people subscribe to and all the facilities and the police that are involved, when I drove back by, that person wasn't there. Neither was their truck. And they probably had somebody fix it who really knew what they were doing.

But there is a time to apply mercy, and there is a time, perhaps not to apply mercy. When should we show mercy to others? Proverbs 28, 19 says, He who tills his land will have plenty of bread. We all know that principle. Proverbs talks about going by the house of the slothful, and it's all overgrown and grown up and probably falling down. There's a time to learn to be diligent. It says, But he who follows frivolity will have poverty enough. Sometimes there are lessons that we need to learn in life and not have that tough love with even with our children. And let them experience what happens when you don't work hard, or when you're not diligent, or when you decide not to study and you just want to go have entertainment and fun all the time. There are some responsibilities that need to come along. At the same time, when kids get in trouble, there are times to show mercy. I can remember when I was a child, my father was very dedicated to getting me to be a responsible adult in the end. And the process along the way must have frustrated him and my mother quite a bit, because I was a pretty fun-loving teen and had quite a nice childhood, enjoyed it. But I got into trouble at times. Not big trouble, just little trouble. But I remember one day, dad told me, John, you know, you really messed up here. Dad, you know, I really did, and I really have messed up. And he says, you know what? I'm not going to require anything. I'm just going to let this go. I'm going to let you go on this one.

I'll bet that had more of an impact on me than a hundred penalties that I've had to pay. It was powerful. It was moving. It was shattering. In fact, I kind of was speechless for a long time. I just thought about it. My dad let me off. Wow! And I thought about what I did, and he let me off. And I thought about it so much, I didn't do it again. It was powerful. So there are times for that as well.

There are times, however, when an individual should pay a particular penalty, as it were, so that they will learn and won't repeat their mistakes. We find in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 in verse 10, the Apostle Paul says, for even when we were with you, we commanded you this. That if a man, if anyone, not a man, but if anyone would not work, neither should he eat.

Hmm. That's pretty, that's pretty firm. If a person won't work, neither should they eat. Now, usually you find out when they're hungry. Oh, I'm starving. I haven't eaten all day. You got some food? Well, you should have worked. Well, I know. Well, then don't eat. Huh? See, that's a good time for a person, perhaps, to learn that, you know, you really need to work if you want to eat, because people who are hungry are hungry to do what it takes to get fed. There's a time for that. There's also another time. You know, Ecclesiastes says there's a time for all things. You might say, a time to be fed, a time to go hungry, because there may be a time when an individual has had a devastation, an unforeseen event. Maybe they got fired. Maybe a disaster came through. Maybe there was a drought. You know, we all face things in our life that are unforeseen, and we end up in a situation where we need help. And a time like that is a wonderful time for someone to sacrifice on our behalf, take away the penalty of whatever has happened to us, and show us mercy. The penalties can come to us for many different reasons. Laziness, as we've mentioned. Procrastination. Forgetfulness. Stenginess. Our selfish sins. Foolish risks. They need to learn from their mistakes. It can be on the tip of our tongues. That person just needs to learn from their mistakes. But if we always applied that philosophy, we would never show mercy, would we? We would be merciless people, because we're so knowledgeable, so wise, so perfect. Always do it right. And these people, they just need to learn. You know, they just need to learn from their mistakes. You need to learn to not be forgetful. They need to learn to not, not, not, not, not, not, not, whatever it is. Well, are you perfect? Am I perfect? No. But sometimes we like to look down on others in their plight, in their situation, and say that, well, they really need to learn something here, and we can always be so wise that we never get around to being merciful. And that would be wrong. So when should we show mercy? Well, remember, do you ever make a stupid mistake, a blunder? Probably not. It's probably reserved for the rest of us. But once in a while, maybe, perhaps, you do have a difficult penalty that arises, and it may shock you from where it comes from. You may claim it not to be your fault, but what do you do with it? Matthew 7, verse 12, Jesus simply gives us this. Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. I can look back in my life, and I can see situations that came up. I'm a church pastor. I'm a responsible person. But sometimes things happen. Unexpected things happen, and you feel kind of stupid, you know, when you do something and, oh, no, I didn't realize that you can't go to Aruba with cash only. I thought you could. See, Mary and I, I took her to Aruba for our 10th anniversary, and I'm the pastor of three churches, and we were so careful and frugal, and we didn't have a credit card in those days, you see, because we were cash only people trying to get by, and had all the fees calculated, took the money for that. We were being very frugal. The problem was at the end, when you go to check out of your room, they didn't tell us there was 35% gratuity in taxes. They didn't tell us that there was a government airport fee to be able to leave the country. Hello, we're kind of stuck, you see. And what do you do? Well, you kind of feel foolish. You know, you plan the best you can, you think you're doing the best you can, and suddenly you can't go home, unless somebody is merciful to you.

Wire transfers back in those days took a week. What do you do? You're calling, you're deaconing back there, like, can you help me? We tried, but no. But I'll tell the congregation to pray for you. Oh, thanks!

Some nice person by the pool says, you know what, you know what I'll do? You write me a check when you get home, because you didn't bring your checkbook either, and send it to this address, and I'll give you the cash, and you can go home. Wow! That's mercy. See? And then you learn. You learn from those things. We all fall into those situations, and Jesus said, whatever you want men to do to you, do that to them. For this is the law and the prophets. This is the way of God. This is what it's all about.

You know, we're all human. We all make mistakes. What we need to do is share our problems. We need to bear one another's burdens, the Bible says. Help shoulder some of that. Bear the loaves. Help others out of their messes. You know, when you read what love is, this agabe love, in 1 Corinthians 13, we call it the love chapter, go to verses 4 through 8, broken down. It's covering. It's enduring. It's bearing. It's helping. It's supporting. That's what love's about. It's contributing. That's what we want to be. That's what God is. That's what his mind is. That's what we're to be growing in.

We need to share some of these problems with one another.

In Matthew 18, verse 21, let's go over there and read a passage here. Peter came to Jesus and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I shall forgive him? Up to seven times? Oh, Peter was just being magnanimous. Up to seven times?

Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Wow! He just blew the roof off. He says, you know, you always help others out of their problems. You show mercy to them. You show grace to them. You forgive them. You help them out of the conflict with you or the situation they're in as an ongoing thing. In verse 22, Jesus said, I do not say to them up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. So here are people who are in challenges and problems and trials. Now we're going to enter into this and apply this seventy times seven principle. How many of you have—don't raise your hands—have a mortgage, a car loan, a home equity loan, something you owe somebody, something you borrowed from somebody? You know, you feel this little weight, don't you? Even if it's a respectable loan that everybody has, wouldn't it be nice the day you get to pay that off? Wouldn't it be nice to be free of that? Well, here comes a king and he wants to settle some debts. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. Now that doesn't mean a whole lot until you define it in modern terms. Ten thousand talents at one hundred pounds per talent is one million pounds of silver. I don't know where you would find a million pounds of silver today, but that's what the debt was. A million pounds of silver.

When he had come before this individual, as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold. Wow, a terrible thing. Back in that day, you could sell people, or you could sell yourself as an indentured servant or as a slave, become the property of someone else. He would lose his freedom. He was to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had. Now, there's some bad news when you get home to face the wife with. The servant, therefore, fell down before him saying, Master, have patience with me and I will pay you all. Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. He had mercy on him. What would it be like to be freed from a debt that you could never repay? That's very synonymous with the debt we have because of our sins, which would require our not living forever. Now, going on, verse 28, but now that servant who had had the million pounds of silver released went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. A denarii was the principal Roman coin that was used, and at this time it was a silver coin that weighed 0.3898 of a gram. Just a little over a third of a gram, a very small silver coin. This individual owed him a hundred of these. So a hundred times that equals 0.898, sorry, 8593 of a pound. Not a pound, less than a pound. He owed him less than a pound and said, that's not much.

Small amount of silver. He owed him a small amount of silver.

He laid hands on him. He took him by the throat saying, play me what you owe! So his fellow servant fell down on his feet and begged him, saying, have patience with me and I will pay you all. And he would not. But he went and threw him into prison till he should pay his debt. So when his fellow servants saw what he had done, they were very grieved and they came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all the debt because you begged me.

Should you not also have compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. Now, notice verse 33 or verse 35. So my heavenly Father also will do to you.

God will do that to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses.

See what this mercy is all about? It's really at the heart and core of our being forgiven by God, receiving mercy from God. Intervention for the mess-ups we make, grace for the sins that we commit. This is, it's got to be all of God's mind, all of God's way, or none of it. It can't just be all about me and I'm going to be perfect, I'm going to get in the kingdom. No, it's got to be about bringing your brothers and sisters along. We need God's mercy towards our sins as well. Why is that? Well, in Jude, verse 21, a small book of the Bible right before the book of Revelation, it's a profound statement. Jude, verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Ah, if you want eternal life, you've got to have that mercy. Sometimes it's probably more often referred to as grace, but we need that forgiveness, this grace, this forgiveness through the blood of Christ, which comes following repentance. It's not just thrown at it, it's not just given out. No, it comes through a repentant heart. It comes through the mercy that God gives after an individual says, I have messed up. Please forgive me that which I owe, that which I am indebted to. And God has grace on the humble, and we are forgiven through the blood of Christ.

Romans chapter 3 and verse 23 shows this process. Romans 3, verse 23, verse 24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That is where this redemption comes from. It is through the grace of God, this pity, as it were, for one who is repentant. Remember in Acts chapter 2, verse 38, Peter told them, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sin, and then you'll receive God's Holy Spirit. Repentance precedes forgiveness. Now we find that all have sinned and fallen short.

Jesus Christ, verse 24, verse 25, whom God has set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness. God is righteous. God is fully righteous. It's wonderful to pray to God and say, you know what, I appreciate the fact that you are perfect, you are righteous. You're not only holy, but you are it. You are the sum total of everything that is good and right and true and pure. And I'm coming before you because I want to be that way, and I need your help. And I've messed up a little, and I want to be forgiven today, but I want to get back on track. I want you to feed me through your word, and I want to be like you. And God is faithful to forgive us our sins if we confess our sins, the Bible tells us. There in 1 John. So going on. Because in his forbearance, God has passed over the sins that were previously committed. He demonstrates at the present time his righteousness that he might be just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. That is what we're looking for. And if we are looking for that, we need to be helping our brothers and sisters find that as well and obtain that. We should be receiving and sharing it, mercy and grace and truth with one another, and helping each other being faithful and fully committed to God's way.

In Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8, we find that this grace is the thing that is saving us.

Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8. For by grace you are being saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. So you see, it's really not ourselves that is bringing the grace on. It is the response that God has to a certain heart, to a certain mentality, to a certain way. And he responds to grace. It doesn't come through us. The grace is God's response to our intent, to our desire, to our efforts. I remember Mr. Armstrong used to say that a good definition for grace is unmerited pardon. It's not something that is merited to us, but God responds in that way because he is a merciful God. Going on. It is the gift of God, it says. Now, verse 9, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. It's not of good works, but we are created for good works. And faith without good works is dead. If we're not doing what God said, if we're not keeping his law, well, you know, that's hypocritical.

But we are created for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Part of our good works is being merciful to others, thoughtful, considerate, compassionate, helping them. Again, when the great shepherd returns, the great king, he's going to separate the sheep from the goats. And the sheep are those who helped people. We're merciful in food, in clothing, in sickness, in prison. These challenges that people found themselves in. And they were merciful. God is a God of the merciful. We need to really be focused on this concept of mercy, especially during the Passover season, as we are reminded of the great sacrifice made for us. And then we are told to emulate Jesus Christ and go out and do the same for others, to wash others' feet, to help them walk the walk, to encourage and hold them up and draw together and encourage and help one another. The definition of grace from Thayer's I find fascinating. Just listen to this. We tend to think of grace as grace, well, that's a forgiveness of sin. But here's what the Greek word grace means from the lexicon. That which brings joy.

Pleasure. Delight. Sweetness. Charm. Loveliness. Second definition of grace is goodwill, loving kindness, favor. Are these the terms that you typically associate with grace? The joyful, happiness, delight, sweetness, and this loving kindness and favor. Third definition of the merciful kindness by which God strengthens and increases an individual in Christian faith. Wow, that's a, that's what a word that is. It's not just, well, we're gonna forgive us in there. No, to bring that kind of joy and support and encouragement and motivation and goodwill. Wow. The terms of grace are very similar to those of mercy to be a receiver of grace. You have to be a giver of grace. Mark 11 verse 25. Jesus said, and whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him. That your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. Ooh, we see a qualifier here. We have to forgive others if we want to be forgiven. Verse 26, but if you do not forgive, if you do not apply grace to other sins, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.

If you can't bring the joy, if you can't restore the happiness, the goodwill to someone who has sinned against you, a spiritual sin, has harmed you, if you can't bring that and restore them to their Christian walk, God won't do that for you. That's what He's saying. So, like Father, like Son, you're either going to be like me or you're not going to be around. That's what really God is saying.

Mercy shown to us by God is conditional, and the condition is you have to give it to others. You have to give it away. You have to be a giver as well as a receiver of mercy and of grace. I'll read you a couple of scriptures. James 2, 13, for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Wow. We don't want the judgment of God to be without mercy, do we?

We certainly don't want to be without mercy to others because it would be hypocritical. Oh, I want to be just like God. Merciless, cold, hard-hearted. No.

There's a reason why these things are conditional. Colossians 3, verse 12 says, Therefore, as the elect of God, we are godly, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, brethren. Not just mercy, but tender mercies. This isn't a whole bunch of, well, you really had that coming. Turkey. You know, you need to learn some lessons here. I'm going to just turn a cold shoulder to you. No. Tender mercies for people's mess-ups. Tender mercies. Kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

So, what goes around comes around. Cause and effect.

In conclusion, humans are imperfect. That includes me. That includes you. We are learning. We are learning character. Through the choices we make. And not all the choices we make are wise choices. Some of them are brilliant. And some of them are, you know, just as un-brilliant.

But we all make mistakes.

In Psalm chapter 36, I'd like to start reading in verse 5.

Your mercy, O God, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Mercy and faith.

Verse 9. For with you is the fountain of life.

In your light, we see light. You and I have no reason to be here. We have no business being here today. We should not see the light. We should not know the light. It's not by you or me that we are here. Jesus said, None can come to me except the Father, draw him. It's only by the grace of God, the mercy of God, that you and I can even understand what God wants for us today. And it is because we see the light that God has shined on us.

We don't have any reason to not help others, to not be merciful to others, to not be humble around others. Because this great blessing and honor has come to us, which none of us have deserved. O, continue your loving-kindness to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright in heart. That is us, brethren. That is all the people that God is calling, all the people that God is working with, and ultimately the entire world, when God will call them. And we need to be there for one another. We need to be merciful to everyone. We need God, and we need each other. As we seek mercy and grace, let's remember the words that Jesus Christ gave us. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Pleasant Sabbath to you all.