We Will Be Judges

Well, the title of the sermon is Judges. And although we're not going to talk about the Supreme Court justice, that will have to be replaced in the next six months, as that is great debate. And all the things that will accompany that decision and how we will have to hear that nomination process and so forth. That's the highest seat of judgment we have in this country, is the Supreme Court justice. I would like you to think about how qualified you would be to have even that position. Because the position that God has promised his saints is not only to be a judge, you will also be a ruler and you will be a king.

And you will rule the next world. That's laid out as many of you came from the feast. Those are the messages you heard, hopefully. There's quite a few that we heard. And that we must learn to rule ourselves now before we can qualify.

Before we really qualify to rule over others. And that is a great test for most of us. Because we have areas in which we need to rule ourselves, judge ourselves in. So I want to talk about judges and how qualified you might be. I don't know that there's anybody qualified to judge in this room on the Supreme Court. Your qualifications probably won't match up with the other justices that are sitting up there. But I would probably, in all reality, rather have one of you sitting on that absent seat than I would any one day would appoint.

Because you know you will not just look at the Constitution to which you get to make your rulings, but you will also look at the Constitution for the world that God gave, which is the Bible. But have you thought about perhaps a main quality needed to rule, to reign, and to judge? And what qualities would you need to have more of? What qualities do you need to develop? And what qualities do you need to let shine forth as you walk this daily walk that you are walking in now? As we have heard many times in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 15, it says that Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Sovereign over all is the actual words. And as we know, He is King of kings. Those are the kings that I am looking out here, the potential kings in this room today. We are those potential kings, rulers, judges. We will reign, as the Scriptures say, and we know what Peter said, that we are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation.

And Revelation says we will be a kingdom of priests. So how qualified do you feel? You are. Because most kings require a lot out of their court. And whether you realize it or not, you are part of the king's court right now. You are part of the training. You are the trainees. That God is training to rule in the kingdom of God that will come upon this earth and the entire world. And Jesus Christ will require a lot. Let me just say, great expectations is not just a book written by Charles Dickens.

Great expectations would be the title of what Christ is going to look for in those leaders of his world. Because we've had 6,000 years of examples of people messing it up. Right? And we have as many people messing it up today than we've ever had. Whether it's local government, whether it's the head of the United States, whether it's the Supreme Court, or whether it is at the UN. It seems that judgment is sorely missed in this world today. And we have been asked to train for that.

Now, so I ask, the qualities that might be needed for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. They are quite different, probably, than this world looks at the qualities. David required something of the men who surrounded him. I'd like you to turn there with me. 2 Samuel 23. 2 Samuel 23, starting in verse 8. It lists these men who David surrounded himself with.

And these were his expectations for these men who not only fought and ruled with him, but they were with him day in and day out. These were the qualities that were expected. Bravery, loyalty, obedience, fearlessness, and dedication. Just a few. But let's look at a couple of these men in verse 8.

These are the names of the mighty men whom David had. And it lists there a man who called Adeno, or Ad-in-no, as it's supposed to be, Ad-in-no, the Esnite, because he had killed 800 men at one time. Maurice was giving wonderful sermonette as he talked about a man in battle. Well, these men knew a little something about battle. And it's not talking about, perhaps, war as we think about it, because this goes back over 3,000 years ago. This soldier, as the reference books will tell you, is believed this man killed 800 men by himself in one day. That's quite a warrior. Quite dedication. The fierceness was there. The bravery was there. Because can you imagine that?

Verse 9, and after him was El-Ezar, son of Dodo, Yahweh the Ehuite. One of three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines, who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated. So here's the story of three men, who stood their ground when everyone else retreated. He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand stuck to his sword.

The Lord brought about great victory that day, and the people returned after him only to plunder. So this man fought so long and so hard when everybody else turned back. His hand, he was used to slaying that the muscles were so cramped that it became part of the sword and the hand became one. And that I'm sure men had to pry his fingers apart.

But when all failed, they didn't. They stood their ground. Verse 18, Nabbishat, the brother of Joab, son of Zorai, was chief of another three. He lifted his spear against 300 men and killed them and won the name among the three. So in one battle, this one man with his spear killed 300 men in one day.

And people are impressed with Arnold Schwarzenegger's movies and people that we see on TV. This is one spear, 300 men. And finally, down in verse 20, Benaiah, who was the son of Yehoda, the son of a valiant man, Kabziel, Benaiah, you will read later, was in the court of David, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. Reading the stories on this as they try to put the pieces together, this was not two separate times. This was two of the greatest warriors from Moab that fought two against one.

And they were considered the best of the best of the Moabites. And they actually said at times, if you remember the story of David and Goliath, how they were willing to send one man out to fight their best, and then the other ones would either give up or run. You see, this was even the tradition there. And according to this tradition, the two Moabites, they sent these two men out in front of the armies and said, you send two men out, they defeat us, we leave.

Otherwise, there were going to be thousands of people fighting. And they sent two of their huge, fiercest, most fierce men out to fight. And they sent them out, and David sent one who fought them both at the same time and killed them both. How would you like to be before thousands of men? As a matter of fact, David's army, actually, when he did the count, was over a million men in the army with everything.

How would you like to be standing there, hundreds of thousands, and your hundreds of thousands are watching you, and David turns and says, you. And you walk out there with two of the most fierce men you've ever laid eyes on. And we do that sometimes before millions of angels, when God says, have you considered my servant? We need that sword, we need that shield, so that we can make our Father proud, that He sent the right person into battle. But as I said down here, He also went down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day.

They kept lions in these pits to actually, both armies did, if they had a lion, they would have a pit. And they wanted to keep him fed, so they would occasionally throw dead bodies in, keep him alive, let him eat. But lions prefer warm blood. And so they would actually use this when they captured someone for them to tell where, what the army might be doing, who's behind, and to get information. And if you didn't, they would throw you in the pit with the lion.

One way that they did battle back then. And so these lions were known to be fierce, and they were known to attack as soon as Daniel and the lions did. And it was strange, as soon as something's thrown down there, where all the eat, well, this man just jumped down with a lion. And then he just killed it on a snowy day. And then verse 21, and this same guy killed an Egyptian, a spectacular man, as the man of appearance, or almost as they say, like a giant of a man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, so he went down to him with a staff.

Didn't have a sword, didn't have spear, but he had a staff, a wooden staff. So he rested the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. Man didn't appear too tough then. So as you think about the qualities that David required from his court, think about those that God will require from us. Are we ready for that? Are we training for royalty? Do we have the qualities needed to not only be kings of this world, but masters of the universe?

Do we have the discipline that it requires to not only be a king, a ruler, and a judge? But do we look forward to that? So I want to make the case of one quality that I feel like we are really going to need if we are to be not only a king, a ruler, but especially a judge.

Solomon served as a king. He was a ruler. Do you remember the story of the baby that was brought before him and the two mothers? He had to rule. Would we have that kind of wisdom? Is that a quality you would want as a ruler, as a judge? Wisdom? I sure would. Would you like to have an incredible mind and great intellect so you could remember those cases that went before you? You remember what you read so you could have experience or remember the stories that were told?

Yes, I think we all would. But I would like to tell you today and try to hopefully get you to realize that there is one quality that I consider the main quality if I am to rule, to reign, and to judge with Jesus Christ and God the Father. And that quality is mercy. Mercy. You may say, well, I think I'd rather have wisdom than mercy. Well, let's see what the Scriptures say because I'm going to ask you a question.

Do you have it now? Do you have mercy now? Do you have enough of it? Well, I can honestly tell you I do not. I do not have the mercy that is required for the Kingdom of God. Something I have to work on. The sermon preparing this was part of my training where I looked in the Scriptures and saw just how important it was that I am practicing mercy and not just asking for it. I must inculcate the mercy of God in my character. And hopefully you will see also that that is a very important attribute or trait or quality that you would like to have.

Some of us have more than others. I think my wife has taught me she has more mercy than I do. And I need to work on myself at times, at things, and different situations.

The King of Kings and God the Father, they are so many times in their book defined by their mercy. And sometimes we tend to overlook that.

Like you go with me to Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2. One verse I read from the New King James. Ephesians 2 and verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us. So we see God is rich in mercy, but it's also tied to agape. Agape. It's because He loves so much, He has so much mercy.

We see that there is a Psalm, Psalm 103 written by David, where He mentions mercy. Mercy. Merciful. Mercy. Merciful. Three or four times He mentions it. That I think He wants us to understand that God is merciful. But there's another Psalm I'd like you to turn to with me. You'll turn back to the book of Psalm. Psalm 136. Psalm 136.

We sing about this in some of our songbooks. Psalm 136 in verse 1. O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good for His mercy. See? Endures forever. Mercy endures forever. O give thanks to the God of Gods, for His mercy endures forever. O give thanks to the Lord of Lords, for His mercy endures forever. To Him who is alone, verse 4. To Him who alone does great wonders, for His mercy endures forever. Verse 5. His mercy endures forever. 6. Mercy endures forever. His mercy endures forever. His mercy endures forever. His mercy endures forever. Every single verse of that entire chapter ends with, and His mercy endures forever. 26 verses, 26 times in a row, His mercy endures.

How long? You think we get it? I did after reading that. Mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy. It used to be a psalm. Mercy, mercy, me. Anybody remember that psalm? Mercy, me. You know? This is telling us God has mercy forever. His mercy endures forever.

Do we accept that? Do we believe that? I think after reading that chapter, you'll read 26 verses of it. I think that's enough. We realize that His mercy endures forever. Which is really good because I'm glad it didn't end yesterday. How about you? I'm glad that He has some mercy. And I'm glad it's not going to be at the end of 2016.

But it goes on forever and ever and ever and ever. Which means those people who are resurrected in the Second Resurrection, a thousand plus years from now, they're going to come before God and they will have mercy.

If they want it, they reject it. That's a great thing. He doesn't enforce it. He'll give you justice if you require justice instead of mercy.

You know, there's a story of Jonah. Can we go to Jonah, if you will? The story of Jonah. You remember the story? Jonah...

An interesting part here that you have to kind of read into the Scripture. Because it points to something here.

Jonah forward. And you know the story. You know the whale story. Whale of a tail. And then he spit out and then he's told because he didn't want to tell the Assyrians they needed to repent and turn to God because he thought they wouldn't.

And he couldn't stand them because they were vicious. And they deserved harsh punishment. They deserved justice. Jonah said, not mercy. And he did not really want them to repent. He just wanted God to wipe them out because God had told him 40 days and they don't. I'm going to wipe you out. And in 40 days, God is right. He would have wiped them out. Somehow they believed him. But here in chapter 4, after they had repented, and even the king had told everyone, guess what? You're going to repent and we're going to go without food and water. And we're going to show God. This God. They had many gods, but they believed that this was the one true God at this time, obviously. They repented and they even made their animals fast. You ever made your animals fast on atonement?

Mary thought it was silly when I wanted our dog to have to fast on atonement one day. He didn't understand. Well, do you think these animals understood? No. But I'm sure they recognized something was different where they normally got fed. So he wanted to make sure that it wasn't good enough repentance that everyone, the 120,000 plus in the city, repented. He wanted to make sure God understood that even the animals were going to repent.

So when they did, in verse 10 of chapter 3, then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God relented from his disaster that he said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it. Verse 4, chapter 4, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.

I want to see some blood. I want my pound of flesh. Right? I don't want to see them. I want to see them. Get it.

How about us? Have we ever been that way?

And he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord and said, How do you like that? You want to start your prayer? I don't think I want to start mine out talking to God this way. Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish. For I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant and loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm, the same one that had forgiven Jonah for as many sins. But it is not good enough for other people. You see, this great lesson we are learning about mercy.

One who relents from doing harm. Therefore, now, O Lord, please take my life from me. It is better for me to die than to live around these heathens and these pagans that you gave mercy to. Well, it is interesting that he said that when I was still in my country, he had these thoughts. That God, you are just going to turn around. This prophet knew something about God's nature and knew that he might do this thing.

And he didn't want it done. Have you ever seen a case where somebody received mercy from someone instead of judgment and you were going, they should have stuck it to him. Boy, they should have got her. Man, they should have laid it on her.

Man! Hmm.

Jonah convinces us here that God is a merciful God, even to sinners, pagans, murderers, rapists, and killers. Which starts with repentance. Which tells me I'm in pretty good shape as long as I'm a repinter. Should tell you, pretty good shape, as long as it starts with repentance. Remember the story of the prodigal son came to himself, and the father in the story pictures God himself. And once he repents and comes back, and is working his way back to God, and repent, and turn 180 degrees, which he did, and came back and gave up their lifestyle, and was coming back to his father. A beautiful story shows us that God doesn't just stand there and say, Come bow, you heathen pagans, you Christians. What does he do? He runs. He ran to his son. He wanted to show mercy. Son had done what he needed to now. God the father will do, and he's just not going to do it and go, Come here. He runs. He runs. Wow. That's a merciful God. That's a wonderful story for us. Perhaps you have a story of mercy, do you? Something you remember. Perhaps you remember more. I do. I'm just not saying for all of you. Perhaps you have a story more of where somebody showed mercy to you than you showed mercy to them.

Think about it. Why is it so ingrained in our mind when someone shows us such incredible mercy at one time? Is it because it is so rare in the world today? It is so rare in our lives that we see someone who sees that mercy can be handed out our judgment. They say, given us what we deserve, they give us mercy, what we don't deserve.

I say that because, yes, it is rarely seen today, because God is rarely seen in this world today. Isn't he not? Jesus Christ, when He gave the greatest sermon ever given, thought it so important, in Matthew 5 verse 7, He said, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive justice.

Let me say that, did He? Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

So is He saying, wait a minute, if you don't, you won't? If you don't, you won't? I think so. I believe He is. He's trying to get us into a practice of mercy. Now, does that mean we just let everything happen, and no matter what? No.

Because He tells us exactly what God requires in Micah 6, right? He said, to do justly means He expects people. To do what's right. But the second is to love mercy. You ever thought about that?

What does the Lord require of us? To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. The memory scripture, Micah 6 verse 8, right? But it's interesting there, He's not...we all love mercy when it's towards us. But do we love to give mercy? That is the question. That is the point. I love it when Mary asked me to do something while I'm out doing some errands, and she says to pick something up that I don't pick up. And I walk through, and she goes, oh! Did you get...and there's a silence. Because I'm trying to come up with something really good to say. Can't lie, but is there something that will appease her?

But I love it when she says, that's okay, honey, I'll get it later on today. And it's like, ah! Yeah, yeah. Married a righteous woman, I love that. Yeah, love that. Let's show some more of that. But then it's real tempered when I ask her for something, or...and something doesn't get...because then I have to go, ah! Right? So there's that give and get kind of thing. And any of you that are married, Humberto's been married longer than anyone here, in the Melita. Right? You have to realize, Mercy, she starts laughing. She knows Mercy's required. Right?

For a marriage. For at the last, you both have to have Mercy. Even when you don't want to give it, it's very important. Well, God's looking at us the same way. She's like, He said, Man, and why shall we come one, one flesh? Well, what does He say about us?

Jesus Christ said, that they may be one in you.

And He wants us to. So it's very important that Mercy is not one-sided in our relationship with God.

Waitier matters of the law.

Matthew 23, 23. Jesus Christ said again, The waitier, the heavier matters of the law. Justice, Mercy, and faith. Very important. Mercy seems to just show up. It's all through the Bible.

It's like that song, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy Me. Right? Let's go to 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 1.

2 Corinthians 3. And verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to do what? Comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

You see why it's so important? He wants us to have this.

He's the Father of Mercy, and He comforts us when, you know, we've all had trouble, we all had problems, we've all been through tribulation, we all have issues. And sometimes when we have to repent for something we did, we really feel bad, God actually comforts us and says, Guess what? He's gone.

And we know He's forgiven us. We get up off our knees and we're able to carry on.

And He's saying, Can you do this with someone else? Someone else who's a real pain?

Someone else that you really don't want to do it to?

What kind of judge would you be?

I wouldn't want to have to be that judge now, over people's lives, their futures. I do have to make judgments in the church. I have to hand down some things I don't like to do sometimes. I like everything to go smooth, but don't we all? All of us got jobs. Wouldn't it be nice that every day you had no problem? You'd just go on through and, No! Everybody's happy. How are you? Oh, it's great today! But it doesn't work that way, does it?

And so we have to make decisions, judgments on things.

There was a famous judge, I don't know if any of you knew. He's probably the, well, besides Supreme Court Justice, that have lived like Thoroughgood Marshall and various people, down through the years. There's a very famous judge in America. He lived in the 1800s, and his name was Judge Isaac Parker. You would know him by his nickname, The Hanging Judge. The Hanging Judge. The Hanging Judge was very, very smart. He became a judge, ran a legislator, he was Congress, he was all this, but he finally became a judge at the age of 36 years of age. Because he was so impressive to everyone else, that was very young for the judge back in the 1860s and 1870s.

And so they wanted to appoint someone, I think it was actually Garfield that might have appointed him. They wanted to appoint him to a post that was needing of a judge, because the area and territory were so corrupt. And it was still Wild, Wild West. This was in the 1860s and 1870s. Because law and order had come to the West, but had not gotten as far as Oklahoma. Oklahoma was considered the Wild, Wild West. And after the Civil War, there were so many criminals who were used to, after using a gun and having that way of life, fighting and shooting. So many criminals, we know them as bad guys today, would get in trouble back in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Ohio. They would get in trouble, and so they would take off because they didn't want to be caught by the law and hung. So murder was nothing for them. And so they took off, as this was first known before the Badlands, were actually Badlands, as Badlands in Oklahoma.

And as they entered this Oklahoma, they came there, and there were five civilized Indian nations that had been moved there. And with the government, they gave them virtually all of Oklahoma to live. They still had the hunting. They had all this. It was the first peace that the United States of America had actually had with the Indians.

And they left them alone. They would actually do some trading, so they were actually prospering. Until these bad guys started going in there, bringing alcohol in, bringing guns, robbing, stealing, raping. All this to these civilized or settled Indian nations that we had promised them that it wouldn't happen. And it did. And so they needed a judge that would actually crack down and be fair to everyone. To the Indians, to the white man, to the black man, everyone at that time. And the only name that came up were all three was the hanging judge, Judge Isaac Parker, because he didn't get the name until he got there.

And he actually quoted, said, this was his famous line, Do equal and exact judgment. Permit no innocent man to be punished, but let no guilty man escape.

And he actually overturned a lot of former rulings. He also, when they were brought before him, if there were witnesses, even though he himself fought later to abolish the death penalty, he actually sentenced 160 men to hang, of which 79 actually did hang. But he would listen to their stories, and he actually did use this to help him make his decisions.

It's actually out of Fort Smith, Arkansas. And he actually brought law and order to the Oklahoma Territory for them.

But if you ever want to read a story, read about Isaac Parker, and you see the things that he went through at 36 years of age trying to be a judge, and what all it took. And how people did bad things, and they were also very repentant people. People that he worked with, that he gave them other forms of punishment. But it's funny because that's his legacy, the hanging judge. When he tried to do what was right, what about us? What kind of judge would we be? Would we get a nickname? As I said, mercy is easy to show, but a lot of times it's easy to show to people that we care about. What about other people we don't care about? See, God is merciful to all. His mercy endures forever. We see that in 136. You can read all that. I'd like to go back and read this story, if you will, with me as we begin to wrap this up. Matthew 18.

There are actually a couple of very good videos on YouTube on Matthew 18 here. So we see it. They lay it out pretty well. It's a very good visual, but most of you can just read this story and pick up the visual. Matthew 18, verse 21. Then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times. Jesus said, I did not say up to seven times, but seven times seventy, which means on and on and on. Because God is merciful forever. He's asking us the same thing. We need to be merciful forever. Do we be merciful for every case? I think he's about to lay this before us here. He said, therefore the kingdom of God is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. Would that be you, king?

And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. Okay? Let's get that in modern English today. Somebody that was working for the old Jew, somebody.

And so you bring forward and you say, well, how much does this man owe us? Oh, us. And in today's dollars, I want you to understand this. Seventeen million dollars.

Seventeen million dollars. Now, I have had people owe me a few hundred, even a thousand.

A couple thousand. Nobody's ever owed me a million dollars.

How about you? What's the most someone's ever owed you? And didn't pay it back. Because I always say, never a long money you can't afford to lose, right? So here, he owed him ten thousand talents or seventeen million dollars. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold. Debtors prison then. With his wife. Sorry, you're not getting out of this either. You had that, you were driving that BMW. Woman. Wife. So you don't get it either. And the children. You know, you had all the greatest toys and you had, you know, all those game boys and everything else. You're going to prison, too. You're going to go to debtors prison or you're going to work it off. And that payment be made. So justice is done. Right? You owe, so you pay. That's justice. The servant, therefore, fell down before him saying, Master, have patience with me. I will pay you all. Really? You're going to pay it all? You're going to pay it all? You're $17 million in debt. How are you going to pay that?

Then the master of the servant was moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the $17 million debt. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. $17. You get this? $17.

$17 million, $17.

But he grabbed him by the throat and said, Pay me what you owe me. So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, Have patience with me and I will pay you all of it. All $17. And he would not, but went and threw him into prison that he should pay the debt.

So when his fellow servant saw what he had done, they were very grieved and came and told the master all he had done. Then the master, after he had called him, said, You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers till he should pay all that was due to him. So my Heavenly Father also will do to you. If each of you, from your hearts, do not forgive his brother or his trespasses.

What a story! What a story for each and every one of us future judges and kings and rulers. There's justice and there's mercy. There's mercy here and then there's justice. When they actually added this up at the time and looked at the weight of a talent, which was actually a weight because it wasn't a dollar value, it was actually weight 85 pounds, as you can see. And an ROI equaled one day's pay. So when various scholars put this story and put it together using all the facts and figures, realizing what people made at the time then, it would take the man who owed, let's say, in a modern technology, $17, at that time it would take four months of an average person to pay that off. So the one guy was going to be sent, who owed the $17, or we're saying one to Nara, he would be sent to prison or jail, or you had to pay, you earned your way out of there, or somebody didn't pay, then you had to earn and go earn labor. It would take him four months.

Now, when they put the figure together for the $17 million guy, you know how long it would take? At the average wage? One hundred and fifty thousand years.

One hundred and fifty thousand years.

Doesn't that tell us a good story? Doesn't it tell us how God at the first has forgiven me, probably at least 150,000 times, and he's not done yet, and I can't forgive somebody for doing something to me one time. Ten times. This is a training, brother. This is a training. So what's really important in this life today? Well, I turned on when I was actually at the gym yesterday morning. Actually, I got up because I knew I needed to. I don't know about you. I ate too much at the feast. Okay. Yeah, somebody laughed. Who's that? Okay. Grace, you did too? I guess we're the two only honest people in this room, I think.

But I was watching TV, and so on the elliptical, and I changed channels, and at 5.30 in the morning, there's nothing but about infomercials on most channels. So I'm changing, and it dawned on me as I was going through the sermon in my head, that's what's really important to a lot of people.

Because if it weren't, if it wasn't important, and people wouldn't pay for it, it wouldn't be on TV, would it? It's like if they didn't sell it, and it wasn't, you know? So what is really important to this world? Friday morning at 5.30 in the morning? Well, one was that it's very important that men join hair club so that they can get hair, because they can grow hair. Okay? Because they showed on this commercial, this hair club, it makes you a man again, is what it was showing. And the guy that had little hair, and then he had hair added, all of a sudden, on TV, there was, he had a boat, and he had women. Okay? What is that telling you? That to be a real man. So that's maybe what is a desired, desire of you. And then there's plastic surgery for women. Enhancement in all various places, I won't go there. Very important, because that commercial came on. And then, of course, for men, it's ED, and I won't go there any farther, other than there was a commercial tube for that, is something that's really important in this world today. And then there was, to get your body in shape, hip-hop ads, or Chantiz dance party. That was just on these things that I had to try to remember and write it down. See, there's some qualities that is very important to the people, but you know, there wasn't a single commercial on the 45 minutes I was on the elliptical on teaching you how to have mercy. Can you believe that? Mercy's not something that people are willing to pay for today, are they? That's not a quality that they really want to do.

In case someone drags you to court for your fault, not your fault, anybody's fault, do you want a merciful judge? I do. I've had to go to court a time or two. I had my business for various reasons. Car wreck, vehicle problem, had to go. I wanted a merciful judge.

What about you?

I'd like to go, as we... one more scripture that I'd like to turn to. I'd like to turn to James 2. James 2 and verse 13. James 2 and verse 13 today, and I want to read this from the New Living Translation. If you don't, I'd just like you to sit and listen to this. James 2 and verse 13. There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others, but if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when He judges you. I read it in the New King James, and it was kind of read in King James, but I found that New Living really translated it very, very well.

So why? Well, we want mercy, but God wants us to learn to show mercy more than request it. He wants us to learn to be merciful. Why? That's who He is. That's how He's defined, as I said earlier. That's what He and Christ are. They are full of mercy, and they have it for a very long time. And if we're going to rule with them for eternity, don't you think they want somebody who is like them? Right? Natalie? You married this young man. I take it this is your husband, better read. You married him because you think you can get along with him, right? As it worked out pretty good? Well, so far. Oh, I had to put that in them at the end there.

You want to be able to be on the same page because life goes a lot better when you're on the same page. That's God with us in the Kingdom. That's why it's so important that if you're going to live eternally with God, that you're going to be on the same page. Why? Luke 6 and verse 36. You don't have to turn there. I just want you to remember what it said. Jesus said in Luke, be merciful just as your Father is merciful. He wants us to be like Him. It's a family trait. And unless you develop that trait, I can honestly see in this book that He didn't want you as part of the family. Because it's so important to Him. You'll be like all his other kids. Be merciful just as your Father also is merciful. Brethren, mercy is so important now because it is training us for the Kingdom of God, but it's really important there.

One more question. God's mercy endures forever. Will ours? Will ours?