Amazing Mercy (Part 2)

Sovereign Grace Family Church iconSovereign Grace Family Church

2 views

0 comments

Reformed Theology (Part 3)

00:01
I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew.
00:08
Matthew chapter 5.
00:22
In a few moments, we're going to be reading verse 7.
00:28
We have been studying the last few weeks the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount.
00:38
The introduction of the Sermon on the Mount, of course, is what is referred to as the Beatitudes or the Blessings.
00:47
The word Beatitude means supreme blessedness or supreme blessing.
00:52
The Beatitudes are the blessings of Christ on a particular people.
00:59
He stands, or rather sits, because that's what the text tells us.
01:03
He sits down to teach His disciples and He proclaims the blessing.
01:08
He says to them, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
01:13
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted, and so on.
01:17
And what we have recognized in our study so far is something that I think is missed by a lot of people who read this.
01:27
And that is that the blessings that are being pronounced are not blessings on individual, different people.
01:36
Like, there are some who are poor in spirit and there are some who mourn and there are some who are this or some who are that.
01:43
Rather, it is a continuation of one idea.
01:48
The person who is poor in spirit recognizes that they have no righteousness to bring to God.
01:55
They recognize that they are wretched sinners before the Lord.
01:59
You know, there was a time in the history of the faith when we actually recognized our wretchedness.
02:03
We used to sing, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
02:08
And it's sort of changed now to, you know, amazing grace, how great am I, God's glad to have me.
02:15
You know, it's sort of where we've gone.
02:17
You know, it's good that God has me.
02:19
You know, it's sort of the attitude we have.
02:20
But there was a time we understood that wretchedness.
02:22
We understood the poorness of spirit.
02:25
And that naturally leads to mourning over our own condition.
02:30
It leads to a brokenness before God, which is good, because before God heals us, we first must be broken.
02:39
So the mourning is the result of being poor in spirit.
02:42
And then after that, we are humbled before God.
02:44
And that's why Jesus said, blessed are the meek.
02:46
Blessed are those who are humbled before God.
02:49
And then after that humility comes a hungering and a thirsting for righteousness, a desire for what we don't have.
02:57
A desire for change, a desire for newness, a desire for wholeness.
03:02
You know, the Bible says that when we come to Christ, that old things pass away and the new things come.
03:08
And that's this desire for this newness to come.
03:15
And what we recognized last week was those first four things, poor in spirit, mourning, meekness, and hungering and thirsting for righteousness, are all in relationship to God.
03:26
But then in the fifth beatitude, there is a change where it becomes not so much about our relationship with God as much as it is now focused on our relationship with one another.
03:41
It becomes about behavior.
03:45
Because it says in the fifth beatitude, our study of the mourning, it talks about our mercy.
03:52
So let's stand and we'll read and pray and ask God to be with us as we study.
04:02
In verse 7, it simply says this, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
04:12
Our Father and our God, we thank You for this opportunity to again study Your Word.
04:17
I pray that You would first and foremost keep me from error, that You would help me stay focused intently on the text and what it says and help me to be a solid mouthpiece for Your truth and Your instruction.
04:30
And we pray that Your Holy Spirit would ultimately be the teacher instructing hearts and minds in accordance with Your will.
04:38
We pray that You would open the hearts of the people to understand Your Word.
04:42
And that through all of this, that You will be glorified and Your people will be edified.
04:48
We thank You for all Your blessings.
04:50
We ask that You continue to be with us as we study.
04:53
In Jesus' name we pray.
04:55
Amen.
05:00
Now I know that some of you were not here last week.
05:06
But I want to make mention of what we talked about last week because this is actually, the sermon had to be split into two parts.
05:14
I actually started the sermon on mercy last week.
05:18
But when I opened up my sermon notes, I looked at it and I said, this is too much information for one sermon.
05:24
It was just too much.
05:26
So I split it into two, so you are getting the second part of what would have been one really, really long sermon.
05:35
So you can thank me later for separating it out and not making a two hour long, one sermon that was two hours long.
05:43
But I do want to kind of give you a heads up about what we talked about last week because I broke the sermon down into two parts.
05:50
What biblical mercy is not and what biblical mercy is.
05:55
So last week we talked about what biblical mercy is not because I thought it was important because I think most of us have at least some understanding of what you think mercy is.
06:05
And I wanted to make sure that we didn't have any confusing views of mercy before we start studying the biblical view.
06:12
Because we get confused by worldly pursuits.
06:15
We get confused by worldly education.
06:17
We get confused by how the world sees things.
06:20
And we allow that to temper our understanding of the word of God when it really shouldn't.
06:25
The word of God should help our understanding of the world.
06:27
Rather instead, the world often influences our understanding of the word.
06:30
So we get confused, especially by words like mercy.
06:34
And what we said last week, just to overview, we said mercy is not, number one, it is not a natural affection for others.
06:43
We said there are some people that are just nice.
06:45
They're just naturally nice people.
06:48
They're nicer than other people.
06:50
Just by nature, they have a pleasant disposition.
06:54
And we might think, well, hey, that's the mercy that Jesus is talking about here.
06:58
Jesus is not talking about a natural disposition.
07:02
He's talking about a supernatural change.
07:05
Everybody understand the difference? Because there are some people that are just naturally nice people, but if they are unbelievers, they're not who Jesus is talking about.
07:13
Because there are some nice atheists.
07:17
Well, so do I.
07:18
But that's not the merciful that Jesus is here referring to.
07:22
That has to be understood.
07:24
The merciful that Jesus, He could not be referring to atheists or unbelievers, because the Bible says that apart from faith, everything is sin.
07:34
Whatever we do outside of faith is not pleasing to God.
07:37
That's so much to be understood.
07:39
So it's not just a natural disposition.
07:41
The second thing that it's not, mercy is not.
07:44
Number two, mercy is not permissiveness.
07:50
This is the one I think we got kind of hung up on last week.
07:53
I want to make sure you understand what I'm saying.
07:57
Mercy is not permissiveness.
07:59
To simply allow a child to be blatantly disrespectful and blatantly poor in their behavior and say, well, I've got to be merciful to them.
08:10
That's not being merciful.
08:11
If we don't discipline children, if we don't seek our own discipline, if we don't discipline each other within the church, if we don't seek righteousness from one another, that's not being merciful.
08:21
The churches and the parents that are permissive actually open the door for more and more rampant sin.
08:30
So it's not a positive thing to just have a permissive spirit.
08:35
And we'll see today what mercy is.
08:37
So we'll understand this.
08:39
But just know that it's not permissiveness.
08:43
And we talked about last week that when Jesus had that woman thrown at His feet, they were going to stone her.
08:49
When it was all over and said and done with and Jesus saved her life, He stood her up and what did He say? Go and continue sinning just as you've been sinning.
08:56
No, He didn't say that.
08:57
He said, go and sin no more.
08:59
Because even Jesus, His heart wasn't that we continue to sin, but that we go and sin no more.
09:04
So that must be understood.
09:06
Mercy is not a natural inclination, a natural disposition.
09:09
And it's not permissiveness.
09:12
And thirdly, it's not a meritorious work.
09:16
Meaning that mercy is not something that we do to earn God's grace.
09:22
Because we can't earn God's grace.
09:25
We can't earn God's mercy.
09:27
And some people read it and they say, Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.
09:32
And they say, well, I guess I have to be merciful to receive mercy.
09:36
That's not what it's saying.
09:37
It's not saying one earns the other.
09:41
But rather what it is saying is that the merciful heart will be the heart of the person who believes in Christ.
09:51
And we ended last week by saying this.
09:54
If a person is not merciful in nature, merciful in spirit, merciful in heart, then they're not a follower of Christ.
10:06
It's simple.
10:08
Because what's the opposite of mercy? What we're going to learn today is cruelty.
10:15
The opposite of mercy is cruelty.
10:17
And who could rightly say, well, I'm a cruel Christian.
10:22
Could you say that? Could you say, well, I have a heart that's marked by cruelty, but I follow Christ? Many have tried to say it, but it's wrong.
10:34
So that being said, we know what biblical mercy is not.
10:37
It's not a natural inclination or disposition.
10:40
It's not permissiveness and it's not a meritorious work.
10:43
So what is it? What is mercy? When Jesus said, blessed are the merciful, who is he pointing to? Well, the concept of biblical mercy is best described by actions.
11:01
What does biblical mercy look like? Because, quite frankly, it's much like love.
11:09
Mercy is something we do.
11:11
Mercy is verbal in the sense that it's an action.
11:16
It's not just simply a feeling.
11:18
People talk about love.
11:19
Love is a feeling.
11:20
No, love is a verb.
11:21
Love is an action.
11:23
So, too, is mercy.
11:26
In fact, in the Greek language, they actually had a verb for mercy.
11:31
We don't.
11:31
For us, mercy is not a verb.
11:33
But in Greek, in the ninth chapter of Romans, where it says, whom God wills, he gives mercy.
11:40
Actually, in the Greek, it says, whom God wills, he mercies.
11:43
Because it uses it as a verb.
11:45
It's something he does.
11:46
He mercies them.
11:48
We don't have that word in English.
11:49
So, we have to say, have mercy on someone.
11:53
But mercy is something we do.
11:55
So, the best way for me to describe mercy to you is to describe what it looks like.
12:00
What does mercy look like? And I have six things to outline for you.
12:07
Yeah, six-point sermon.
12:09
See why I couldn't put them together? Because you'd have had three points last week.
12:13
N plus six would have been nine points.
12:15
That would have been too much.
12:17
Here we go.
12:17
The six points.
12:19
Number one, the giving of aid to Christians who are in need.
12:28
That's number one.
12:29
The giving of aid to Christians who are in need.
12:34
I couldn't figure out a pithy way, maybe charity, if you just want to write that down.
12:39
But I wanted to make sure we understand it's not just charity for charity's sake.
12:43
It's the giving of aid to brothers and sisters in Christ who are in need.
12:46
When we see fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are in need, our heart should resound to reach out to them and fulfill those needs.
12:59
It should be within our heart a desire to help and love them and to fulfill their need.
13:05
Charles Spurgeon said this, Mercy has given to him, therefore he gives in mercy.
13:11
So far as the good man can do it, he lends an ear to the requests of the needy.
13:18
He goes on to say, no merciful man could forget the poor.
13:22
He who passes by the ills without sympathy and saw their suffering without relieving them might chatter as he would about having inward grace, but there could not be grace in his heart.
13:34
End quote.
13:36
You might say, well, that's awful.
13:37
That's awful.
13:38
Charging of Mr.
13:39
Spurgeon to say, well, if I am not loving of people who are in need, then I don't have grace in my heart.
13:44
That's awful.
13:44
That's awful.
13:45
Judgmental of Mr.
13:46
Spurgeon.
13:46
Well, all he is doing is paraphrasing 1 John 3, verse 17, which says, But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.
14:09
The first way that we show mercy to other people is by seeing their needs and filling their needs.
14:20
Now, I'm not calling for governmental programs and welfares and things like this.
14:25
I'm saying the church has a responsibility.
14:30
The church has the responsibility primarily to meet the needs of its members, to meet the needs of Christians, to reach out in love to believers.
14:43
Primarily, first and foremost.
14:47
It's our job.
14:48
There should be no one in this church who goes without eating.
14:51
There should be no one in this church who goes unclothed.
14:54
There should be no one in this church who goes without what they need for daily sustenance.
14:58
And it should never be.
15:00
The early church actually pulled everything they had together to ensure that no one went without.
15:07
And somebody said, well, does that mean the early church was communistic? No, because you don't know the difference between communism and the early church.
15:16
Everything that was done in the early church was voluntary.
15:19
Communism is demanded goods.
15:21
We demand what you have and we give back to you what we think you need.
15:24
That is not the way the church has ever operated.
15:27
Well, maybe during the medieval times there was a lot of bad within the church.
15:33
But let me say this, it's never the way the church is supposed to operate.
15:37
Communism is about demanding and then giving back what we think you need.
15:41
That's not what the church is called to.
15:44
In fact, do you remember Ananias and Sapphira? Do you remember when they sold their property and they brought the money to Peter? And they lied because they said they sold it for a certain amount, but they actually sold it for another amount.
15:55
What was Peter's response? Wasn't it yours to do with what you will? It was your property.
16:04
We didn't tell you to sell it.
16:05
We didn't tell you you had to sell it.
16:07
But you have the audacity to lie to the Holy Spirit of God and say you sold it for this and yet you sold it for...
16:15
You haven't lied to me, you've lied to God.
16:19
You see, people think Ananias and Sapphira were condemned for not giving the whole amount.
16:23
That wasn't the condemnation.
16:24
The condemnation was that they lied.
16:28
You see, they had seen someone else receive a blessing for having given all he had.
16:33
And they said, well, what we'll do is we'll give some of what we have.
16:36
We'll say it's all and then we'll get the same blessing and we'll still get to keep what we have.
16:45
You see, again, it's always been about voluntary sacrificial giving.
16:52
From the very moment of the church's beginnings, it was all about voluntary sacrificial giving.
16:57
It's never been about demanded giving.
17:00
Because demanded giving is not charitable giving.
17:03
You can't say demanded charity.
17:06
The two words don't go together.
17:08
Forced charity is an oxymoron.
17:12
So, what is the first act of mercy that all believers should demonstrate? A concern for the welfare of other believers.
17:22
A concern for those who are in Christ that they never go without.
17:26
Be willing to sacrifice on behalf of someone else.
17:31
That is an act of mercy.
17:34
And that's the first act of mercy I think we never need to forget.
17:40
Alright, second.
17:41
We've looked at the first one.
17:43
The first one, again, is the giving of aid to Christians in need.
17:47
Number two.
17:50
The demonstration of love to our enemies.
17:55
The demonstration of love to our enemies.
17:58
I would say that this is the hardest call of Christ to the believer.
18:09
But I would say it's also the absolutely, incontrovertibly undeniable that Christ tells us to love our enemies.
18:17
He says, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
18:21
It's no doubt.
18:23
The command is there.
18:27
It's the very essence of our faith that we respond to hatred differently than the world responds to hatred.
18:35
While the world hates its enemies, the Christian is called to love his enemies.
18:42
You might say, well brother, what does that look like? Well, Jesus told a story.
18:51
Many of you are familiar with this story.
18:52
I won't make you go read the passage, because I bet in your mind, if I said the word Good Samaritan, you'd automatically think.
19:01
What happens in the story of the Good Samaritan? A man is traveling along a road.
19:09
He's a Jew.
19:11
And he's traveling along the road, and what happens to him? He falls under the hand of robbers, and they rob him, and they mercilessly beat him, and they leave him on the road to die.
19:24
And what happens to the man? Well, first a priest comes by, looks at him, and passes by on the other side.
19:32
And then a Levite, one from the priestly class, comes by and looks at him and passes by on the other side.
19:40
Two men who should have been the most concerned with the welfare of a hurting person, chose rather to extend their distance so as to placate their conscience, get as far away as they could, so they could forget.
20:01
And they're supposed to be friends.
20:03
They're all Jews.
20:06
Here comes the Samaritan.
20:10
Now, Jesus uses the Samaritan because the Jews and the Samaritans did not get along.
20:18
The Samaritans were half-Jew, half-Gentile.
20:22
They were considered half-breeds.
20:23
They were not accepted by the Jewish people as being part of the Jewish race.
20:30
They were considered to be enemies of the faith.
20:32
They couldn't even worship in Jerusalem as Jews did.
20:36
They had to worship outside in Samaria.
20:38
But in the story, Jesus said, here comes the Samaritan.
20:43
And he clothes this man's wounds.
20:49
He cleans him.
20:50
He picks him up.
20:51
He puts him on his animal.
20:53
He takes him to an inn.
20:54
He gives the money to the innkeeper and says, feed him and take care of him.
20:58
And do everything you need to do for his needs.
21:01
And if I come back and he spent more than I'm leaving with you, I will pay it.
21:09
The key to that story is not the philanthropy, which is beautiful.
21:14
The philanthropy is awesome.
21:16
Here's a man who's willing to give money for somebody in need and he helps them out.
21:21
The beauty of the story is that they were enemies.
21:26
By birth and by nature, they were supposed to hate each other.
21:33
But the Samaritan loved his enemy.
21:40
And we are called to love those who hate us.
21:44
We are called to love those who persecute us and pray for them.
21:51
And it is a difficult call.
21:55
It is probably the hardest part of Christianity.
21:59
For the natural person to accept that we are called to love those who don't love us.
22:07
But remember what Jesus said.
22:09
What good is it to love somebody who loves you back? There's no sacrifice in that.
22:15
I mean, yeah, we love people who love us.
22:18
I love you.
22:18
Hopefully you love me and we have this good relationship.
22:20
But there's no sacrifice in our relationship because we both love each other.
22:25
It's hard to love somebody who hates you.
22:31
But yet, that's the call of mercy.
22:33
It's an extension of love to someone who doesn't reciprocate.
22:38
And it's hard.
22:41
But it's there.
22:42
The call is there.
22:46
That was number two.
22:47
So, so far we have seen two.
22:48
We have seen biblical mercy.
22:50
It's the giving of aid to Christians in need.
22:51
It's the demonstration of love to our enemies.
22:56
What's the third one? Oh, I know that cry.
23:02
I've heard that one more than once.
23:09
The third one.
23:11
How do we demonstrate mercy to other people? Number three, evangelism.
23:18
Evangelism.
23:21
How is evangelism an act of mercy? Beloved, it is the highest act of mercy which we can give to our fellow man.
23:30
Because it is the most precious gift that we can give to someone who doesn't have it.
23:36
And that is the gospel.
23:39
Telling someone who is under God's wrath of their condition is sometimes seen as unloving and offensive.
23:49
And certainly the gospel is offensive to those who are perishing.
23:53
The Bible tells us it's offensive to those who are perishing.
23:56
But to those who receive the message, the one who God opens their heart to believe, are the recipients of the greatest of any gift of mercy that we can give.
24:08
Consider how unmerciful it would be to know that a person does not know the gospel.
24:16
And refuse to tell it to them.
24:18
How cruel is that? Remember what we said earlier? The opposite of mercy is cruelty.
24:26
And how cruel is it to know that a person doesn't know the gospel and refuse to give it to them.
24:34
It would be like a person who is starving for bread, dying of hunger, and refusing to tell him where to go get bread.
24:48
How do we salve our consciences? Well, I don't want to offend them.
24:54
Beloved, if he was starving for bread, would you be afraid to offend him by telling him where they were giving away free bread? Would you be afraid? Well, I don't want to offend him.
25:05
He's poor and he's going to be offended if I tell him he's poor.
25:10
He's starving! And you're offended to tell him where to get bread.
25:19
Evangelism is the greatest act of mercy because it is telling the person who is dead in their sins where life, the only source of life, can be found.
25:34
It's the greatest act of mercy that we can give another living soul is to tell them about Christ.
25:41
And you might say, well, I don't know anybody who's never heard of Jesus.
25:44
I know a lot of people that I meet all the time who have never heard write about Christ.
25:50
They've heard about Jesus.
25:52
They've heard TBN.
25:53
They've heard these crazy, kooky pastors.
25:54
They've never heard the gospel because they haven't heard about sin.
26:01
They haven't heard about condemnation.
26:02
They haven't heard about judgment.
26:03
They haven't heard about grace.
26:04
They haven't heard about mercy.
26:06
All they've heard is come to Jesus.
26:07
He'll make you happy, healthy, and wealthy, and wise, and all these stupid things.
26:11
They haven't heard about condemnation and sin and judgment and death and hell.
26:15
And they haven't heard about grace and mercy in heaven and glory.
26:19
They haven't heard the truth.
26:23
And it's the greatest act of mercy we can give is to tell somebody about the gospel.
26:30
So that's number three.
26:33
Number four, reproving Christian brothers and sisters of sin.
26:45
Reproving Christian brothers and sisters of sin.
26:49
And, beloved, that is not often seen as merciful.
26:53
In fact, some churches flat out don't allow it.
26:56
They teach against it.
26:58
They refuse to enact any form of discipline.
27:00
And the rebuke of sin is not within their walls.
27:04
But let me tell you something, beloved.
27:07
If any of us see a person who claims to be a Christian, who is living in unrepentant, impenitent, absolute rejection of God, and they're living in their sin, and we refuse to rebuke them because we don't want to offend them, we are perpetuating their sinful condition, and we are not being merciful to them.
27:28
We are being cruel to them.
27:33
And it's not about being judgmental.
27:35
It's not about being a fault finder.
27:37
It's not about telling somebody off.
27:41
Just be like, well, I'd like to tell that person off about their behavior.
27:44
Then you've got the wrong attitude.
27:46
You need to repent.
27:47
If that's your attitude, the goal of discipline, the goal of reproof is always what? Restoration.
27:56
Always.
27:58
It's always restoration.
28:00
It is never to tear down.
28:01
It is always to build up.
28:03
The goal of reproof is always to seek that a person come back to where they should be.
28:11
And that's why it's merciful.
28:16
It's why it's merciful is because it's an act of love.
28:19
It's like Thomas Watson wrote.
28:21
He said the surgeon cuts and lances the flesh, but it's in order to cure.
28:29
They are healing cuts.
28:31
So by cutting reproof, we lance a man's conscience and let out the blood of sin.
28:38
And by that we are exercising spiritual surgery.
28:41
We're showing them mercy.
28:43
Yes, it doesn't feel good to be reproved.
28:46
It doesn't feel good to be called out.
28:48
I've been there.
28:49
I've been on the receiving end of some of many reproofs.
28:57
And at the moment, it is not comfortable.
29:00
The first thought often is justification.
29:03
Well, this is why I had to do what I did or blah, blah, blah.
29:07
But when it really comes down to it, the cut of that reproof is the first step toward healing.
29:17
And that is a call of mercy for the Christian.
29:25
We are merciful to other Christians by being honest.
29:28
Not again, not fault finding.
29:30
There is a difference.
29:31
And it's always the heart.
29:33
If my goal is to build you up, then I will come to you in a different spirit than if my goal is to tear you down.
29:40
And I think you would recognize that as I would with you.
29:43
But we are called to reprove one another as an act of mercy.
29:52
Just like you wouldn't let your child run around in traffic.
29:57
Somebody goes out and grabs their child out of traffic.
29:59
Somebody might say, oh, what a mean parent.
30:02
No.
30:04
Because that's dangerous.
30:07
And if we see a brother or sister in Christ who is going after a sin, and we don't reach out and help them, then what's the difference in letting our children run in traffic? It's not merciful.
30:23
It's cruel.
30:25
It's cruel.
30:28
Which one are we on? Four or five? I didn't number them.
30:32
Number five, prayer.
30:36
Prayer is an act of mercy.
30:39
It's one that is called to be given both for our friends and our enemies.
30:44
Jesus said in Matthew 5.44, which we're going to talk about more when we get there, because obviously that's part of the Sermon on the Mount.
30:50
But he said, I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
30:54
And praying for those who persecute is hard.
30:58
Praying for enemies is hard.
31:00
But I'll tell you how I do it.
31:03
Maybe sometimes methods help.
31:05
Sometimes giving you an idea of help.
31:08
Because I will tell you this.
31:12
How do you pray for a government leader who seems to consistently be leading our nation away from righteousness? How do you pray for somebody that hurts you and is always trying to get you in trouble at work? How do you pray for somebody who is always trying to get you in a bad way with your family members or trying to cause drama in your family members? How do you pray for that person? How do we pray for those whose desire is to hurt us through harsh talk and gossip? How do we pray for those who intend our misfortune or even our demise? Well, I'll tell you what you don't pray for.
31:40
Don't pray for their prosperity.
31:43
Don't pray for their success.
31:48
And don't pray for their health.
31:52
Pray for their repentance.
31:59
Pray for their repentance.
32:02
Pastor, how do I pray for somebody who hates me? Pray that they would repent.
32:08
Pray that God would change their heart.
32:11
Because some people think the only way we can pray for people is we pray for their health, their prosperity, and these things.
32:16
No! The number one thing we should pray for anyone is their repentance, especially those who hate us.
32:23
We pray that God would change their heart.
32:26
When I pray for our government, I pray that they would repent.
32:33
That they would turn from wickedness and turn to godliness.
32:37
That is the prayer.
32:40
When I pray for somebody who hates me, I don't pray just generically, Lord, bless them and be with them.
32:52
No! God, break their heart over their sin that they might come to You in full repentance and faith.
32:58
That we might be restored in our relationship which has been broken because of sin.
33:04
That's how you pray.
33:07
That's the method for praying for somebody.
33:09
Because you know what? When you pray like that, you'll start hoping for their repentance rather than their demise.
33:15
You'll hope to see vestiges of repentance in their behavior.
33:19
You'll hope to see changes in their walk.
33:23
Because that's what you're praying for.
33:27
So prayer is an act of mercy for people we are at odds with, for people that hate us, for our enemies.
33:34
It's also, of course, an act of mercy for believers.
33:37
When you are sick, we pray for you.
33:40
When you have needs, we pray for you.
33:42
When you have a joy, we praise God for you.
33:45
We pray for each other as an act of mercy.
33:49
So prayer is an act of mercy.
33:52
And finally, in number 6, of all the 6, this is the one that I think...
34:01
I said the one was hardest.
34:03
I said the enemy's one was hardest.
34:05
This one's even harder, I think.
34:09
And that's forgiveness.
34:13
Real, true, heartfelt, godly, Christ-like forgiveness.
34:24
And it is probably the most precious act of mercy which we can provide anyone.
34:34
John Stott said this.
34:35
He said, Our God is a merciful God and shows mercy continuously.
34:41
The citizens of His kingdom must show mercy too.
34:48
That's our job.
34:49
We are citizens of a kingdom which is built on forgiveness.
34:55
We are.
34:55
We are citizens of a kingdom which is founded on forgiveness.
35:02
We are the recipients of cosmic forgiveness.
35:09
We don't like to think about it this way, but we were traitors against God.
35:12
We were criminals guilty of having broken His laws.
35:16
We were rebels against His kingdom's commands, and yet He forgave us.
35:21
And now He calls us to the same type of forgiveness.
35:28
One of the...
35:30
I was thinking about when I was writing this.
35:33
I thought about when Peter came to Jesus.
35:36
Matthew 18, if you want to write down the reference.
35:39
Matthew 18-21 Peter came up and said to Him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times? And Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
35:56
Now what's interesting is this isn't just math for math's sake.
36:04
During the time of Peter, during the time of Christ, there was an understanding sort of similar to today's standards.
36:11
It's sort of like three strikes and you're out.
36:14
If you forgive somebody three times, that was the most that anybody ever deserved.
36:20
Maybe one time they made a mistake.
36:22
Maybe a second time was another mistake.
36:26
But the third time, after I've forgiven you three times, you can't get it anymore.
36:30
So when Peter comes to Jesus, he says, Lord, should I forgive him seven times? He timesed it times two and added one.
36:39
He thought he was being really gracious.
36:42
If I say seven times, well, hello, I'm the holy of holies.
36:48
Now I'm rocking seven forgivenesses.
36:52
And Jesus said, I do not say to you seven times, but 70 times seven.
37:04
And some people say, well, does that mean 490 times? My math teacher, that's 70 times seven, right? 490 times, does that mean on the 490th one that we're sitting there, we're checking it off.
37:24
Because on that 491st time, we're going to be on you and no more forgiveness.
37:32
Obviously not.
37:33
Obviously, Jesus' reference here was what? To not keep count.
37:39
No one can keep count 490 times plus one.
37:44
It's not in the purview of Jesus' language.
37:48
Jesus is commanding us to forgive and let it go.
37:55
I know what some people ask, because I've asked this question before.
37:58
And if you haven't ever asked this question, maybe now you might be thinking about it.
38:04
Well, what if the person keeps committing the same sin over and over and over and over? They keep repenting, but they keep committing the same sin over and over.
38:15
Are they unworthy of forgiveness then? Well, I want to ask you a question.
38:22
I want you to be really honest.
38:24
I want you in your heart to be really honest, because this is something I've thought about many times.
38:28
It actually brings me comfort.
38:31
But for a time, it bothered me.
38:33
But now it brings me comfort.
38:34
And it's something I've thought about.
38:37
Do you have a particular sin or group of sins that you fight with all the time? Do you fail with any type of frequency? And does God always promise to restore you in your failures? Absolutely.
39:10
And thus, when you are asked to forgive, who are you to hold back because someone has a failure in their life? Our call of mercy demands forgiveness.
39:29
It is hard.
39:31
It is hard to put it away from us.
39:34
It is hard to start fresh with somebody who has hurt us.
39:38
But that is what is supposed to make us different.
39:44
That is what is supposed to separate the Christian.
39:49
It's that we have a love that can be hurt, but never destroyed.
40:01
And our forgiveness should know no end.
40:09
Because God's forgiveness to us knows no end.
40:21
I want to finish with Matthew 18.
40:23
If you'll turn in your Bibles, I want to show you one last thing.
40:28
I would be remiss if I did not read this to you on the subject of mercy.
40:34
If we went through two sermons on mercy and I didn't read this passage, I would know that I was wrong.
40:42
So turn in your Bibles to Matthew 18, verse 23.
40:46
This is the parable wherein Jesus shows what a heart that lacks mercy looks like.
40:58
It says, verse 23, Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
41:07
When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents.
41:14
And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had in payment to be made.
41:22
So the servant fell on his knees imploring him, have patience with me and I will pay you everything.
41:30
And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
41:40
But when the same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii and seized him.
41:50
And he began to choke him saying, pay what you owe.
41:55
So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me and I will pay you.
42:01
He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.
42:08
When his fellow servant saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed and they went and reported to the master all that had taken place.
42:16
Then his master summoned him and said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt.
42:46
So also, my Heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.
43:00
Beloved, how could we who claim to have received the greatest single act of mercy in history ever make an attempt to hold back mercy from another? I've been saying all day and I hope that this pierces your heart.
43:25
The opposite of mercy is cruelty.
43:29
And the believer in Christ must be marked not with a spirit of cruelty, but with a spirit of mercy.
43:40
If our lives are not marked by mercy, it could rightly be said that we are not in Christ and thus we too will not receive mercy.
43:47
Not because mercy earns the mercy of God, but because the mercy of our hearts demonstrates that we understand the mercy which we are recipients of.
44:01
I see many of you with many hard-looking faces because you're thinking about all of the things that I've said today.
44:10
And they are hard things.
44:13
The hard things should inspire us to be better.
44:17
The hard things should inspire us to grow deeper.
44:25
They should cause us to evaluate ourselves and to make changes where we need.
44:36
So don't shrink away from that which is hard, but use it as a foundation for growth.
44:45
Let's pray.
44:50
Our Father and our God, we thank You for this important lesson that we've had today on the subject of mercy.
44:57
And Lord, it is hard to consider all that You've called us to.
45:02
But yet at the same time, Your Word tells us that we do not go through these things alone, but we have the mighty power of the Holy Spirit to encourage us that even though our flesh may want to do one thing, our spirits cry out to do that which is in accordance with Your will.
45:20
We pray now as we finish the lesson, Lord, that if there are those today who are here who do not have mercy in their hearts, whose hearts are filled with cruelty, that You would convert their hearts and draw them to You.
45:37
And Lord God, if there are those who are not in Christ, we pray that it would be in accordance with Your will that You would draw them to You, change them, and make them ready to begin that process of becoming like Your Son.
45:57
We thank You.
45:58
We bless You.
45:59
We praise You.
46:00
In Jesus' name, Amen.