The Attributes Of God "M"

Well, tonight we're going to resume our series to the attributes of God, and I'm trying to do an attribute per letter of the alphabet, and tonight is M. We're up to M, the mercies of God. And so tonight we're going to look at the merciful God, and we'll specifically look at Luke chapter 10, and just a little bit with the parable of the Good Samaritan, but not quite yet.

Let me start off with some strange but true news, because that's really my outline today, strange but true. Timing is everything. Guido Boldini and his mother, Constance Boldini, pleaded guilty last April to soliciting a hitman to take out Guido's ex-wife, Michelle Huden, after a contentious child custody battle in, of all places, Keene, New Hampshire.

The hitman, of course, was an undercover policeman, and the son and mother are now serving a combined 12 years for the mother and 35 years for the son. However, unknown to the Boldinis, Michelle Huden had been diagnosed with cancer, and in September, she died, Keene Sentinel, November 10th, 2009.

Strange but true. Along those lines, let me use an outline tonight, strange but true, as we learn about the mercies of God. So if you'd like to take notes, tonight is the mercies of God, and the mercy of God as a divine attribute of perfection, with a strange but true outline.

Mercy in the Ancient World and the Need for Divine Mercy

Strange but true, number one, mercy was not high on the list of virtues in the days when our Bible was written. For that matter, in our days, mercy is not really that big of a deal. You can just imagine people in the Colosseum with the gladiators looking over to the emperor, and the foe has been vanquished, at least almost, and then they're looking over and the crowd is yelling either, spare his life, or thumbs down, kill the foe.

The Romans spoke of four cardinal virtues. See if you can find mercy in here, wisdom, justice, temperance, and courage. Mercy wasn't there. Actually, a popular Roman philosopher called mercy, the disease of the soul.

How about that, the disease of the soul, and if you were a real man, if you're a real Roman, you certainly wouldn't be merciful. One man said, for the most part, the days in which Jesus lived and taught were not characterized by mercy.

The Jewish religionists themselves were not inclined to show mercy because mercy is not characteristic of those who are proud, self-righteous, and judgmental. But once God gets a hold of you, the God of mercy, and we'll look at Ephesians chapter two in just a moment, you begin to change, so much so that Chrysostom, the great preacher, the golden mouth preacher, was nicknamed the preacher of mercy.

Bishop Cramner was so merciful that people would almost try to wrong him on purpose because there was a proverb about Cramner because of the grace of God. Do Cramner an injury and he will be your friend as long as he lives.

A merciful preacher. Number two, strange but true, leading up to the parable of the Good Samaritan, a parable about mercy. Strange but true number two, mercy is much more than not getting what you deserve.

Now, for years I taught that mercy is not getting what you deserve, and here's how I would teach it. The children would disobey, the children would be sent to their dad's room, and the children would be asked the question, did you disobey dad?

Yes, you did. Yes, I did, dad. What are the consequences for disobeying dad in the house? Get discipline. What's that called? Justice. Would you like justice? No. No. Somebody else knows the trick. Somebody else knows we don't want justice, although it's just, it's right.

People say, well, God, you know, is not fair. Well, God's very just. That's classic. Somebody listens to me. Tom, thank you. Then I would tell the children, mercy is not getting what you deserve. You don't get justice, you get mercy.

So you deserve discipline, yet you don't get discipline. That's called mercy. Do you want mercy? And the answer would always be, you could see the tiptoed kid, I want mercy, dad. I want mercy. And then I'd also teach that justice is what you deserve to get, mercy is not getting what you deserve, and grace is getting something wonderful, even though you didn't deserve it.

You deserve a discipline, and instead you get ice cream. So which one would you like? Would you like justice, mercy, or grace? Well, I don't know about you, but I think the answer is pretty obvious. In some sense, it's true that mercy is not getting what you deserve, but it's too incomplete.

It focuses too much on the absence of, not the presence of. Let me give you a couple dictionary definitions before I give you the biblical definition, because I think the dictionary definitions are very good.

American Heritage Dictionary excellently describes mercy as compassionate treatment, especially of those under one's power. See my illustration with my children, not getting what you deserve didn't have anything positive.

It didn't have compassion or pity. It's actually from a word where we get the French word merci, which means reward in Latin. Collins Dictionary describes mercy as compassionate treatment or attitude toward an offender or an adversary.

I think Martin Lloyd-Jones gives my favorite definition, as we move from dictionary definition to theologian's definitions. A sense of pity plus a desire to relieve the suffering. It is pity plus action.

So it's not just you deserve something, you don't get it, but it's pity in action towards a person. Listen to what D .A. Carson says. What is mercy? How does it differ from grace? The two terms are frequently synonymous, but there is a distinction between the two.

It appears that grace is a loving response when love is undeserved. And mercy, listen, is a loving response prompted by the misery and helplessness of the one on whom the love is to be showered. Grace answers to the undeserving.

Mercy answers to the miserable. So it's not what someone deserves, it's what someone needs. Let's turn, if you would, to Ephesians 2. Before we get to the parable tonight, Ephesians 2, you can see this mercy of God in Ephesians 2, 4.

This goodness to those who deserve punishment in their misery, God still does something good for them. He cares for them. And it's, like Carson said, a loving response prompted by the misery of someone else.

It's just the goodness of God as He relieves people out of their trouble. And it doesn't take you very long to look at Ephesians 2, 1 to 3 and see our sorry state of depravity, dead in trespasses and sins, but maybe the two greatest words in the Bible, verse 4, but God, but God, being rich in mercy.

He's not just merciful, but He's rich in mercy. Listen to this. How about John Gershner? He's not just merciful. Maybe that would not be enough to cover the depth of our depravity. Even mercy may not be able to go as deep as our sin.

But listen carefully. But God, who is rich in mercy, rich, maybe rich enough for us bankrupt sinners. Inexhaustible treasury of mercy. God's love is great and God's mercy is rich. Opposite of what Thomas Watson said of Emperor Pertinax, he had a large empire, but a narrow and scanty heart.

Mercy is more than not getting what you deserve. There's actually real assistance given. Strange but true, number three. Strange but true, number three. God shows unbelievers their vileness before He shows them His mercy.

God shows unbelievers, or sinners, their vileness before He shows them His mercy. For those of you that want exposition, we'll get there. We're just leading up to it. Jonathan Edwards said that it is God's manner to make men sensible of His misery and unworthiness before He appears in His mercy and love to them.

The mercy of God, which He shows to a sinner when He brings him home to the Lord Jesus Christ, is the greatest and most wonderful exhibition of mercy and love of which men are ever the subjects. Strange but true, number four.

One of the reasons there is sin is that God... You know, today was a hard, hard day, and so you're going to have to give me a little bit extra mercy tonight. Out of all the days that I need mercy, today is one of the days.

Strange but true, number four. One of the reasons there is sin is so that God can show who He is. Why is there sin in the world? There's lots of reasons, but one is so you can see the mercy of God. Turn to Romans 9, please.

Romans 9, the mercy of God is described in the Bible as great, rich, manifold, plenteous, abundant, sure, everlasting, tender, new every morning, high as the heavens, filling the earth and over all His works.

Why is there sin in the world? Well, one of the reasons God has ordained sin in the world is so you can realize how great His mercy is towards you, the one who's in sin's misery. There's no guilt in the world.

God would still be infinitely merciful, but He would not have anyone to show His mercy to. God's the same before human beings were born, but now He can show who He is. His mercy might have been hidden forever.

But one of the reasons there's sin is so He can show His mercy to us. Romans 9, I don't have time to develop the context. I think you know it. Has the potter, 921 Romans, no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use, maybe dishes, and another for dishonorable use, maybe for a dumpster?

One commentator showing his age said a spittoon. God has the right to do that. He hasn't violated any of His rights when He, out of the same, makes one for honorable, one for dishonorable use. It's not our job, nor it is our prerogative, to call God into question.

God, you have no jurisdiction over those things. Look at verse 22. Fascinatingly, Paul writes, what if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make His power known, had endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?

In order, with a purpose, verse 23, why did this happen? To make known the riches of His glory for vessels of what? Mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory. Now, some people call that decree in chapter 9, verse 23, a decree of hatred.

It's called a horrible decree. It's called a terrible theological statement. It's called a most ruthless statement. But if you just sit for a moment and say to yourself, how many sins did I commit against a thrice holy God?

How many sins did I commit against God Himself, the Holy One? Yet, I did not receive what I deserved. I received mercy. I don't think you'll call it a horrible decree or an immoral decree any longer. Sometime, you should read Jonathan Edwards, and how Jonathan Edwards talks about the judgment of the reprobate as an encouragement to the saints.

Why? Because you realize what they got is what we deserve, but we didn't get what they got. Did you get that? What they received, wrath, we should have received. Yet, Jesus steps in between the Father and us and absorbs that wrath.

By the way, this isn't in my notes, but you'll just have to indulge me. All the silliness going on today saying that Jesus' death was just an example. It was an example of love, wasn't it? But taking away substitutionary atonement, did you know there are a lot better examples?

If dying on the cross was only an example of love, I can pick better deaths than Jesus' more peaceful, more quiet, more trusting in who God is, and they just went to the gallows and died for Christ with peace, tranquility.

You can read the Fox's Book of Martyrs and see people who have died for the Lord, and they seem to die a better death than Jesus if Jesus was only an example. Why did Jesus act the way He did according to Hebrews 5 with loud cries?

Why the sweat, why the toil, why the angst, if you will? Because it was a lot more than just an example. Jesus absorbed the wrath of Almighty God that we deserved. Jesus' death wasn't just merely an example.

Mercy as Protection and Compassion in the Parable of the Good Samaritan

Strange but true, number five, God is merciful to Christians for keeping heaven free from sin and from sinners. You know it's the mercy of God that there'll be no sin in heaven and there'll be no sinners in heaven?

Turn to Revelation chapter 21. Again, tonight's just the exposition hasn't yet started. We're working through the attributes of God. We're up to M, 26 attributes. There's an infinite amount of attributes, but we're just picking 26.

God is merciful to Christians for keeping heaven free from sin and of sinners. By the way, sin is not some abstract thing. Sin is found in sinners. We have this thing where we like to say God loves the sinner, but He what?

Hates the sin. Somehow like, I'm different than my sin. It's kind of like, you know, there's a sin that kind of just sets on my shoulder or something and it's just different from me. No, I am sin. I am sinful.

And look at Romans, excuse me, Revelation 21 verse 8. There's no sin apart from a sinner or sinful angel. God is good. When you get to heaven, no sin, no sinners. Revelation 21 .8, but as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

Now, if you think like a Jew back in those days, here's a city and there's walls around the city. For those of you that go to Jerusalem with us in February, there's still walls around Jerusalem. And what were the walls there for?

They were there to keep people out like marauders, bandits, prostitutes, thieves, foreigners, the same kind of idea here. God keeps them out. That's the mercy of God. Look at verse 27, and nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it.

John Bunyan was asked a question about heaven, which he could not answer because the answer was not found in Scripture. What do you do? Here's some advice. This is worth tonight. Somebody asks you a question about heaven and you don't know the answer, then do what John Bunyan did.

The man that John Owen said was a greater preacher than he was. John Bunyan said, I don't know the answer to that question, but I advise you to live a holy life and then go and see for yourself. It's the mercy of God that when you get to heaven, no sin.

Verse 27, but only those names that are written in the Lamb's book of life. Strange but true, number six. I have more, but I think we're going to skip right to the parable. Number six, strange but true.

Most everyone knows the most popular parable in the Bible, but they rarely understand it. Let's turn our Bibles to Luke chapter 10. To be merciful as God is merciful, Luke 6 .36 talks about. Let's go to Luke chapter 10 and look at the parable of the good Samaritan.

I used to go to hospitals and they even named hospitals after this man. Now, context is always the key and we've got to find the context. So go backwards to chapter 10 verse 21 and let's pick up the context.

If you ever study anything in the Bible, the first thing you should do is read a few verses before it and a few verses after it and you should be in pretty good shape. Luke chapter 10 verse 21. Let's see the context of this parable as we learn about the mercies of God.

Before I go any further, let me say this. Some attributes of God are communicable. You can mirror who God is in a faint way, in a way that's not perfect. But if God is kind, can you be kind? Yes, you can communicate those back.

If God is sovereign, can you be sovereign? See, some you can't. But mercy, when you learn the mercy of God, the desire is that we would say, by your grace, Lord, I'd like to be more merciful. Now, 10 .21, I've had a great time studying this.

I think you're going to really be glad to hear our favorite preacher in the world, Jesus Christ, the true Prince of Preachers. In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, revealed them to little children.

Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. Verse 22, all things have been handed over to me by my Father and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

Then turning to the disciples, he said privately, blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings desire to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.

The blessings that you are going to get, people only know about God when He reveals Himself to them, and you men have had this revelation and you're so blessed. And behold, verse 25, it's like this big interruption.

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? It's almost kind of added in somehow, it just doesn't seem right. By the actions of the lawyer, it's not right.

He stood up, I don't think he's asserting himself, if I'm preaching here and one of you stands up, I would think you're trying to assert yourself. By the way, just try it sometimes and see how fast our undercover policemen will take care of you.

I'll never forget the time I met Grace Church, MacArthur's preaching. He's preaching on the atonement. Jesus was an example of death, yes, an example of love, yes, all these things, but most importantly, He was a sin bearer.

Even though He never sinned, He bore our sins. And there was a penal, P-E-N-A-L substitution going on there. And John said, and if you don't believe that, you don't believe the truth. And this guy stood up, were you there, Steve?

This guy stood up right in front of me and start saying to MacArthur, you're a liar. He stood up, you're a liar. And I just kind of, if you've ever looked at a large room, there's 3000 people and you can just see things happening like little busy bees just scurrying.

And all the LAPD were just going, but he stood up for a reason. I'm going to show you my authority and I'm against you. Never saw that guy back again, by the way. So, so far in almost 14 years, nobody has stood up while I was preaching to try to yell me down.

It's coming though, I can tell. This no compromise thing is going to get me in a lot of trouble. I know it. People have probably yelled down the radio, but they're too polite to do it here. This is more just social custom where you stand up as a sign of respect.

There's the rabbi and stand up and ask the question. I don't know if the question is very respectful, but the student stands to address the teacher out of courtesy. You know, the teacher would be seated often.

And so the student stands up. Legal heirs get eternal life. Legal heirs get an inheritance. So Jesus asks a question, 1026. He said to him, what is written in the law? How do you read it? Actually, we're going to hear something pretty good.

Combination of Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19. Love God and love your neighbor. He answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

Good answer. Correct answer. Who here thinks that's a correct answer? More people should raise your hand. Verse 28. And he said to him, you have answered correctly. Do this and you will live. You have answered orthos, orthodoxy.

You have answered correctly. Do this, present imperative. Keep on. Keep on doing this and you will live. Verse 29. But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? Kind of cutting, jiving here, ducking jiving.

Wanting to soften these demands of Jesus. Minimal obedience, total obedience. And Jesus is going to turn this passive question, who is my neighbor, into a very active sense. My neighbor as my fellow Israelite is probably what this man is thinking.

Verse 30. Jesus replied. So now we're getting context here. By the way, Pastor Steve probably made the point of this this summer as he taught the men how to teach parables. Parables always have a context.

So what's the context? We've just found out the context. 1030, Jesus replied. A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.

How many people here have gone between Jerusalem and Jericho? Nooks, crannies. You can just go there even now and you think, if I had to walk between these two places, even now, there's all kinds of potential for bad people to come out.

Pompeii had to wipe out strongholds of these kind of bandits because the Crusaders were getting attacked all the time. These raiders. Kind of a scary place. What happened to this person? He fell among robbers.

The place where the Romans called it the red and bloody way. Why would you call that path the red and bloody way? Pretty obvious. Josephus says that at one time Herod the Great dismissed 40 ,000 men who had been employed in building the temple.

And now they have no job. So 40 ,000 people working in Jerusalem, building Solomon's temple, the Herod's redo of it, and now you're all laid off of work and what do you do for money? We're going to go to the red and bloody way and when people travel back and forth, we'll take their stuff.

People didn't have a lot of money then, so you take their clothes and that's exactly what happened here. Stripped him. This was valuable. Clothes were valuable. And they beat him. You want to know what the Greek word for beat is?

They plagued him. When you have a plague, it looks like you've been beaten. They plagued him. And this man is what? What does the text say? He's half-dead. He's half-dead. He's unconscious. And if you were a Jew, I guarantee you a million trillion shekels, you're going to be thinking this person's Jewish.

This person's Jewish. The beaten man's Jewish. He's a good Jew going down the bloody highway. Now if you saw somebody back in those days, how would you tell what kind of religion they were, especially if they had hardly any clothes on?

Well, you say, well, you know, they've got a turban and now people who wear turban, oh, they're Muslim. Well, you know, how do I see their face? Do they have special features, their nose, their eyes, their face, their chin?

What do they look like? This guy's all beat up. He's plagued. He's beaten. He has no clothes. How do you know what kind of person he is? By the way he talked, he's not talking. By the way he walked, he can't walk.

How do I know the nationality of the person? And more than that, who will help him? Who is this person? Answer, this is an image bearer of God who is needy. And you know, I'm sure clergy would stop and help.

Robbers treated him poorly, but Jewish clergy are going to do the right thing. Let's find out. Luke 10, 31. Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road and when he saw him, he ran over and administered first aid, took his jacket off, wrapped him up.

First of all, when you see there by chance, for those who are visiting tonight, if you ever say to me, you know, that was really lucky. I'll always say to you over and over and over, what? That was really lucky, pastor.

Pardon me? And then you think I've got a hearing problem and you'll say, that was really, and then it dawns on you that I don't believe in luck. It's the sovereignty of God. No fate, no chance. Well, what is Jesus saying right here?

By chance. This is not random chance outside the sovereignty of God. This is just as it happened. This is the story. That's all. Coincidentally, from the human perspective. Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road, that bloody road.

Priests served in the temple for two weeks and then they go back to Jericho. So, we live in Jericho. It's my turn for priest duty, 52 weeks in the year. I get two weeks. I go up to Jerusalem. I do my duty in the temple and now I go back home.

And on my way home, I get blasted by these robbers and thieves. Priests were upper class. When they saw him, they noticed how rich he was, what he had in his clothes. Well, he didn't have any clothes on.

When he went down that road and when he saw him, he's beat up, unconscious. He passed on the other side. Probably didn't even establish any eye contact. Can't almost blame the guy. The Lord said to Moses, Leviticus 21, speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, no one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people.

If you go over there and you touch the person, they're dead. You're defiled. You've got to pay for the funeral costs. Who wants to go do that? Imagine going back to Jericho. Yes, how was your trip in Jerusalem?

My trip was really excellent. I served the Lord for two weeks in Solomon's temple, and then I came down the road and I touched somebody and I'm defiled. Nobody would want to say that. You can hear the cadence here, can't you?

Came, saw, passed by, way on the other side. Verse 32, so likewise, a Levite. A Levite was kind of a deacon to our elders. There's the priest, and they went there for the duty two weeks of the year, and now the priest comes along, and they're kind of the deacons and helpers and servers.

They were from the tribe of Levi. They had an office of the Levites, and they helped the priest do what the priest did. And you can feel the progression again. Went to the place, saw him, passed by on the other side.

Pharisees had a thing that they said if you had the shadow of a dead person touch you, you were still defiled. I don't know how that would work if the dead person was laying down unless you propped him up like some kind of scarecrow.

I don't know how that goes. Every morning that priest and that Levite got up and said, the Lord our God is one God. Every night repeated it. Love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. My neighbor is myself.

Verse 33, everything changes now. There's still the cadence, except it's for the good. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He had compassion.

Now, you all know Samaritans, they're not supposed to have compassion. Because you know what Samaritans are? Half-breed mongrels. Samaritans in 6 BC desecrated the temple so the Jews could not celebrate Passover.

And they took human bones and threw bones all over the temple. That'll get you on the good side of the Jews. Jews tried to stay pure during the Babylonian captivity. Samaritans intermarried with the Assyrians.

Rabbinic prayer of the day, let no man eat the bread of the Kuthites, Samaritans, for he who eats their bread is as he who eats swine's flesh. And dear Lord, while I'm at it, do not remember the Samaritans in the resurrection.

Kind of a sinful, imprecatory prayer. Can't even eat with them. But the issue is not who you are, but what you do. God has compassion, this person had compassion. A certain Samaritan, do you see that?

That was not something that Jews liked, true or false. When some of the Jews didn't like Jesus, they said to him, not only you have a demon Jesus, but you're what? You are a Samaritan. You know, this is not your typical, you know, your mother wears army boots kind of slam.

You know, don't talk about my mother. Times 100, you are a Samaritan. We've said rightly, you're a Samaritan. But this Samaritan takes compassion. He's merciful. The Greek word is to take pity from your gut.

Once in a while, I like to teach you Greek words. So here's the Greek word for guts. You say, why do you want to teach us that Greek word? Because it'll make you wake up, number one. And number two, when you feel compassion for someone, the Greek would say, I have compassion in my bowels for you.

It's just the way they talk. So here's the Greek word to take pity. A feeling of sympathy and empathy in your gut. Splankna. God bless you. That's what it is. If this was a charismatic church, they'd say, turn to your neighbor and say, Splankna.

Verse 34. Here's Splankna. Here's mercy. Mercy is not just, you don't get what you deserve, but I see your misery and I act. He went to him. Excuse me, sir, are you a Roman? Are you a Jew? Are you a Samaritan?

No, he just went to him and he began to work. He began to act. Bound up his wounds. Pouring on oil and wine. And he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. Bound his wounds.

You want to know the Greek word for wounds? This is Greek night, I guess. Traumata. Traumata. Only used here. And the next day, verse 35, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper saying, Take care of him and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.

Just like God's mercy. It's not done until, it doesn't stop until the job is done. Robbery is taking place. There's no money to pay for the inn. He pays for the inn. How dangerous for the Samaritan to say, By the way, I'm paying for this guy's room.

They'd know he was a Samaritan by the way he looked. Robbers rob. The Samaritan pays. Robbers leave before dying. The Samaritan takes care of him. Robbers abandon. The Samaritan promises a return. And here comes Jesus.

And he says now in verse 36, Don't forget, rich young ruler conversation. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? The wrong question is, Who is my neighbor?

Let me say that again. Who is my neighbor? Wrong question. The right question is, Who acted like a neighbor? And you don't say to yourself, Well, who is my neighbor? You say to yourself, Who can I treat neighborly?

Remember back in 1029? Who is my neighbor? No. Who acts like a neighbor? I counted six compassionate things this man did. Six merciful things. He comes up to him. He binds him. He anoints him. He loads him on the mule.

He takes him to the inn. And he spends the night. Concerned about other people in need. It's more than a feeling. It's an operating principle of intentional kindness. Turn to Hebrews chapter 2 if you would.

We're almost done. Hang in there. Hebrews chapter 2. If you think of mercy, I love to go to Jesus' preaching of mercy. But I also like to see who Jesus was in contrast to the merciless Judas. Hebrews chapter 2.

Hebrews chapter 2. So we know who is our great merciful high priest so that we can look to him and then express mercy to other people. Hebrews 2 verse 17. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a what's the word? Merciful and faithful high priest in the service to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Now back to Luke. Back to Luke. I just wanted to show you where that was. Fascinated with Hebrews lately. I'm already trying to plan what I preach after first Corinthians but that's going to be in about three years.

But if I had to do it today it might be Hebrews. Last week I said I'm going to preach through John when I'm done with first Corinthians. Luke 10 .37. He said the one who showed him mercy. Jesus I know what you have just said.

I have to agree with it but I cannot get the word Samaritan out of my mouth. Which one showed mercy? The priest? The Levite? Or the Samaritan? That one. The last one. Number three. The one who showed him mercy.

I can't even say his name. And then with emphasis the Greek is with Jesus talking. You. Go and you do the same. Mercy is showing. Your lack of mercy, lawyer, is showing that you're not a believer. You're self-righteous.

You're a legalist. Go and do likewise. Go and act like a Samaritan. Remember those Michael Jordan commercials? Be like Mike. You call yourself a Christian? Act like one. James 1 .22. You call yourself a Christian?

Prove it. You want to be like Michael Jordan? Act like it. You say you're a Christian? You're a follower of God? And God is merciful? So prove it by acting mercifully to other people. Go and act like a Samaritan.

That had to just kill the guy. Go and do present imperative over and over and over. Romans 1 says, Unbelievers by definition are unmerciful. Listen to James 2. If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace.

Be warmed and be filled. And yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so, faith, if it has no works, is what, congregation? Dead. Mercy gets down on its hands and knees and scrubs, binds.

Joseph Addison said, When all thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys, transported with the view, I'm lost in wonder, love, and praise. So what's the point? The point is, if God is merciful and you call yourself a follower of God, what?

Be merciful. Be merciful. Titus 3, He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His, what? Mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

How do you look at other people when they're needy? I think one of the most convicting things for me, is sometimes I look at unbelievers without the view of mercy. Because unbelievers can do horrible things.