Let's open our Bibles to Hosea,
chapter 6. Hosea, chapter 6. I've titled this message, Mercy,
Not Sacrifice. Mercy, what is it? It's God withholding
from us what we deserve. If the Lord ever enables us to
see him for who he is, we will quickly come to the conclusion
that everything about us is sinful, and that if he gave us what we
deserve, we would be separated from him for all eternity. That's
mercy. Mercy and grace go together,
much like faith and repentance. Grace is not the withholding
of that which we deserve, but rather the giving of that which
we could never earn. It's a free gift, grace and mercy. What hope and comfort sinners
have in knowing that they worship a God who delights in showing
mercy and a God who is gracious. There are well over 23,000 verses
in the Old Testament Relatively few of them are quoted
in the New Testament, and fewer yet are quoted by our Lord in
the Gospels. In Hosea chapter six at verse
six, we have a verse that our Lord quoted on two separate different
occasions. And I believe we have in this
one verse a glorious summary of God's free grace, of his salvation
that he has accomplished, and a declaration of his mercy. At both times when our Lord quoted
this verse, He rebuked the Pharisees for not understanding it. He
was speaking to the legalistic, self-righteous Pharisees on both
occasions. And he told them both times,
go and learn what this means. Go and learn what this means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Every message of salvation created
by man makes God dependent upon man to do something in order
for God to be able to save him. Some sort of sacrifice must be
made in order for God to be pleased. We just read in Psalm 51 where
at the very end of that psalm, we know that that's a psalm of
repentance that David prayed. And yet, Lord, if you're pleased,
if you're pleased to show me mercy, then, then I will make
sacrifices. Believers do make sacrifices.
They make sacrifices not for the atonement of their sins,
but from the atonement of their sins. Hosea chapter six, verse six,
for I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more
than burnt offerings. One thing's for certain, if we
ever have a knowledge of God, we will know that we're in need
of mercy. Every single time the Lord reveals
himself to someone in scripture and in life now and for the last
time of God saving his people. When he makes himself known,
the conclusion is clear. Lord, have mercy upon me. Have
mercy upon me. I will have mercy. and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God more than offerings. Let's turn to
Matthew chapter 9 and look at these verses. These two times,
you know, and oftentimes we'll find an event recorded by one
of the gospel writers and that same event recorded by another
gospel writer And that's not the case with this verse being
quoted twice in the New Testament. They're two separate times, both
recorded by Matthew. And the first one is in Matthew
chapter nine, and we'll begin reading at verse 10. And it came
to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans
and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? And when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, they that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. These self-righteous Pharisees
were promoting themselves as righteous and comparing themselves
to other men. And their conclusion was not
that they needed mercy from God, but that God needed something
from them. They knew Hosea 6.6. These Pharisees were very versed
in the Bible. It wasn't that they didn't know
the verse. It's that they didn't understand it. Go and learn what
that means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Republicans and sinners are in
need of mercy. Pharisees, not so much. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
12. And we'll begin reading in verse
one. At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the
corn and his disciples were hungered and began to pluck the ears of
corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not
lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. Because he said unto them,
Have you not read what David did? But I'm sorry, but he said
unto them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry?
and they that were with him, how he entered into the house
of God and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him
to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the
priest." Do you remember that story? David was fleeing from
Saul and I think it was the Lamelech had the showbread and David said,
give it to me. Or have you not read in the law
how that on the Sabbath days the priest and the temple profane
the Sabbath and are blameless? They had made a work out of not
working on the Sabbath. They were believing that their sacrifice,
their sacrifices made on the Sabbath day would would earn
them favor with God. But I say unto you that in this
place is one greater than the temple, but if you had known
what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, you
would not have condemned the guiltless. If you only knew what
this verse meant, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, you
wouldn't be promoting yourselves as righteous and you wouldn't
be condemning others as unrighteous. For the Son of Man is Lord even
of the Sabbath. And when he was departed thence,
he went in into their synagogue, trying to establish their own
righteousness before God, being ignorant of the true righteousness
of God. For Christ is the only one, only
one, that established a righteousness that is pleasing before God.
And when the Lord says through Hosea, and now twice here in
quoting Hosea, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I've read some messages and commentary on these
passages, and they are suggesting that what the Lord was rebuking
the Israelites for in Hosea was that they were not being merciful. Certainly, there is a place for
the people of God to be merciful. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall find mercy. It doesn't mean that the Lord
will bless us with mercy if we prove ourselves to be merciful.
That is sacrifice, not mercy. What the Lord is saying is that
the blessing of God is that we are merciful because we have
received mercy, just as it is the blessing of God that we would
be forgiving because we've been forgiven. to have compassion on the afflicted,
to have empathy toward those who are suffering, to show forgiveness
toward the penitent, to be like our Heavenly Father and being
merciful, surely, surely that is a trait of the child of God. giving to others that which we
would want them to give to us, and more importantly, giving
to others that which we need God to give to us, mercy, mercy. That having been said, I do not
believe what the Lord's saying here is that you missed the point
of being merciful. I will have mercy. can be just as well understood
as, I will accept those and only those who come to me on the ground
of mercy. When the Lord told the story
of the publican and the Pharisee in the temple, and the Pharisee
praying to himself. God, I thank thee that I'm not
like other men. And he recounted all the things
that he thought obligated God, all the sacrifices that he had
made. I fast, I tithe, I don't, I'm
not indulging my flesh and the pleasures of this world like
this publican over here. I'm not like other men. That
was his sacrifice. That was his offering to God,
believing that it would force the hand of God. The publican,
on the other hand, would not so much as even look up, but
smote himself upon his breast and cried, have mercy, have mercy,
have mercy upon me, oh God, the sinner. And then comes the question. Which one of those two went down
to his house justified? Which one of those two left the
church that day right with God? The one who sought mercy. Go
and learn what this means. In both of those cases in Matthew
chapter nine and in Matthew chapter 12, one where in 12 where the
disciples were breaking their Sabbath rules, the commandments
of men, the other where the Lord Jesus was publicly identifying
himself with sinners and publicans, shameful people, the Lord rebukes
them by saying, go and learn what this means. Go and learn
what this, this is the heart of the gospel. No wonder the
Lord quotes this verse twice in the New Testament out of all
the Verses in the Old Testament, what a glorious summary of our
hope. And our God delights in showing
mercy towards mercy beggars, mercy beggars. And I want to
put a little warning on that term, mercy beggar, because that
can very quickly turn into a sacrifice. being a mercy beggar can very
quickly turn into a work, a work of penance, a work of humility,
a false humility. You know, if I just, you know,
there's been times in the past where they would have mourners
benches in the front of the church and people would come and if
you knelt and prayed and cried enough and felt sorry enough
for your sins and showed enough shame and repentance, then you
would qualify as a mercy beggar. But in fact, that only turns
mercy into a work. Yes, we are mercy beggars. We
have no place else to go. We come to the Lord poverty stricken. We don't have anything. We can't
obligate God. We can't provide a sacrifice
that would show his hand of mercy toward us. But being a beggar is just acknowledging
that. Lord, we're just saying it, Tom. I have nothing in my hand to
bring, but only to the cross do I cling. The Christ of the
cross is who I'm clinging to. It is his sacrifice that makes
the mercy of God so glorious. Now, When the Lord says, I desire
mercy, he's not saying, I'm looking to see how merciful you are before
I'm going to save you. That's a sacrifice. No, I desire
my mercy. I delight in showing mercy and
I get all the glory for salvation because you're saved by mercy. for mercy's sake, the Syrophoenician
woman who came before the Lord, and she cried, oh Lord, have
mercy upon me. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the evil spirit. And the Lord's response to her
was what he does to us. Often he proves whether or not
we're coming on that ground. Not that he has to have proof
of it. He already knows our hearts.
But faith always has to be proven in order to show it to be true
faith. And so for our benefit, the Lord
ignores her. The disciples shame her. The
Lord calls her a dog. And what is the end result? She's
still begging for mercy. Truth, Lord. Oh, she needed mercy. As every sinner does, Lord, it's
the only ground on which I can come. And the only hope that
I would have mercy is not the depth of my sorrow or the sincerity
of my faith, but the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus made in order
for that mercy to be available for me. I will have mercy. That man who brought his son
to the disciples who was possessed with the devil and the disciples
weren't able to cast him out. And the man came to the Lord
and said, if you can, help me. And what did the Lord say to
him? If you can believe, all things are possible to him that
believe it. And what did the man say? Oh, Lord, have mercy. Have mercy on us. Help us. It's
the cry. We come before the God who has
revealed himself as holy, as sinless and sovereign and omnipotent,
and as sinners we cry for mercy. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. What we read there in Psalm 51,
Lord, if it was sacrifices that you wanted, I would bring them.
I would bring them. And don't you know that by the
time David wrote Psalm 51 was some 10 months after he had done
what he did with Bathsheba and Uriah and living in the guilt
of that, I just feel certain that David over those 10 months
had gone to the temple, the tabernacle, and made sacrifice after sacrifice. attempting to atone for his sin. And finally, when Nathan came
to him and said, Thou art the man. And then David said, Oh,
I've sinned. And Nathan reminded him and the
Lord has already forgiven you. Now he realizes that all those
attempts that he made to atone for his sins and make himself
right and and savage conscience and and put away his guilt Lord,
if it was sacrifices that you want, I'd keep making them. But the sacrifices of God are
what? A broken spirit and a contrite
heart. What is a broken spirit and a
contrite heart? It's a mercy beggar. It's a person,
Lord, I don't have anything. You've made me this way. I've
seen you for who you are. And what does he say? That you
will not despise. God never despises a broken spirit
and a contrite heart. God never despises one who comes
to him for mercy. Never. It was he that made us do that. It was he that revealed himself
in such a way as to leave us with no place else to go, but
to seek mercy. Blind Bartimaeus, how oftentimes
we're reminded of blind Bartimaeus, and yet once again, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy upon me. And he cried all the louder
and he kept crying, mercy, Lord, mercy. Be of good cheer, Bartimaeus,
the master calleth thee. And he dropped that filthy robe
right there on the curb. And he went to the Lord. Showing all of us, all of his
need, all of his filth, not hiding anything, not pretending, not
offering to God something. No, Lord, I'm here for mercy. Mercy. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16 says
that we come boldly before the throne of grace. We come confident,
not in the sacrifices that we have made. We come before God
confident that the sacrifice that Christ made warrants mercy. And so he says, The Lord tells
us to come boldly before the throne of grace for what? To obtain mercy and to find grace
in your time of need. What a blessed promise. What
a blessed promise. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Go and learn what that means.
You learn what that means, you learn the gospel. You'll learn
the gospel and you'll come like those publicans and sinners in
Matthew chapter nine. And you'll look to me as your
Sabbath and rest in me and quit your pretended law keeping in
hopes of establishing your own righteousness. I will have mercy
and not sacrifice. Do believers make sacrifices?
Oh, yes. First and foremost, it's the
sacrifice of our lips. It's the calves of our lips.
It's the confession that salvation is of the Lord, that Christ made
the sacrifice that was pleasing to God. I desire mercy. that
what the Lord Jesus did is what the father desires on our behalf. And then he puts it into our
hearts to desire what he desires. What a gracious God. Let's go back to Psalm 51 for
just a moment and read that last verse in Psalm 51 again. Verse 17, the sacrifices of God
are broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou will
not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure
and desire and build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then, then
shall thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness and
with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then shall they
offer bullocks upon thine altar. We do, we offer our gifts. We
offer our worship, we offer our praise, we come to him in prayer. These are the sacrifices that
we make, but we make them not for mercy, but from mercy, from
mercy. It is natural to cover up sin with religion. People do it all the time. And
there's a story in 1 Samuel chapter 15, I'm sure you remember it,
when Samuel told King Saul, to annihilate the Amalekites. Annihilate them. He was very
specific. God had told Samuel, you tell Saul to do this. You
kill all the men. You kill all the women. You kill
all the children. You kill all the animals. You
don't leave anything alive. Now, the Amalekites were the
ones that were that were killing the Israelites when they were
wandering through the wilderness. They were picking the weak ones
off at the end. They were the ones that, you
remember when Joshua went to battle against the Malachites
in the wilderness, and Moses held up his hands, and as long
as his hands were held up by Aaron and Ur, then the Malachites
were defeated. But when his hands came down,
the Malachites got the advantage over Joshua. and the Amalekites
were never completely destroyed. The Amalekites are a picture
of the works gospel. That's what they're a picture
of. And so the Lord told Saul to wipe them out. Don't leave anything. And Saul
defeats the Amalekites But they keep some of the sheep and the
oxen. And more importantly, Saul keeps
Agag, the king of the Amalekites. And when Samuel shows up, Saul
says, we did what you said. And Samuel says, well, what is
the bleeding of sheep that are here and the The lowing of the
oxen, what is that that I hear? And you remember what Saul said?
Oh, we kept those so that we could make sacrifice to God.
We kept those as a blood sacrifice. And what does Saul say, or Samuel
say to Saul? To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to hearken than the fowl lambs. Now, interestingly, Agag
translated means, I will, I will. What is it that, what is the
picture here? If you think about these, we
We read this story where God told them to annihilate everything,
every living thing associated with the Amalekites, annihilate
them. And we have a difficult time fitting that into our moral
standards perhaps. But it's a gospel picture. If
we're to be saved, if we're to be saved, God's gonna have to
do all the saving and we're gonna have to annihilate everything
that has to do with our works and with our will. But what is
it that men keep? They keep a few things that they
can offer up as a sacrifice to God. And more importantly, they
keep their will as the hope of their salvation.
The freewill works gospel must be completely annihilated. Everything about it must be destroyed. in order for us to be saved.
Christ must get all the glory. He must do all the work all by
himself. To obey is better than sacrifice. To believe God. Don't spare anything. Amalekite, translated, means
dwellers of the valley. Dwellers of the valley. And in
the valley, there's ease and comfort. In the valley, there's
those things. And the gospel's up on the mountain. It's in the hard places. It's
in the thin air of altitude. What is the Lord telling us?
Don't save anything from the valley dwellers. Don't save Agag. I desire mercy, not your sacrifice. You'll make sacrifice. Your whole
life will be a life of sacrifice. Your whole life, but you won't
consider it to be a sacrifice. But it will be. you'll be a servant. As a believer, you'll be a servant
of your God the rest of your life. You would have said with
that servant, I love my master, I love my children, I will not
leave. And he will bore through your
ear and give you an ear for the voice of God the rest of your
life. And you will find yourself bowing
and worshiping and serving and praying and giving and doing but not for mercy, not for mercy,
but because you have received mercy. There is no mercy apart
from the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus made. It's the only sacrifice
that provides mercy. God satisfied what the Lord Jesus
did. Let's spend just a moment at
the latter part of this verse, because this is not quoted in
Matthew 9 or Matthew 12, but it is implied, and the knowledge
of God more than burnt offerings. To know God is to know why we
need mercy. If God's ever pleased to make
himself known, that will be The conclusion, there will be no
other way to be saved other than mercy. If anyone thinks that
he can offer to God something, he doesn't know God. If he thinks
he can offer God something to save himself or to atone for
his sins, he doesn't know God. He's got a very low view of God.
He's never seen God. God's never revealed himself
to him. We see the Lord, we're gonna be just like Isaiah. Woe
is me, I'm undone. Lord, I need mercy. The knowledge of God. Jeff, you
preached from John 17, verse three, just a few weeks ago.
And this is life, eternal, that they might know thee, the only
true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. To know God is so much more than
just knowing some things about God. This word to know is first found,
the same word that we find in Hosea 6, 6, and the knowledge
of God. The first time this word knowledge
is used in the Bible is when the Lord talks about the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. of which Adam and Eve ate. And then after they ate it and
they fell, the Lord said, they've become like us. They know now
by experience. That's the point of this word
knowledge. Adam knew his wife, Eve, and she conceived. It wasn't
that he was just cognizant of some things about Eve or where
she was or what she was like. He knew her intimately. It speaks of experience to know
God. We can know something about doctrine,
know something about the doctrine of depravity in the Bible that
all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but not
until God makes you to be a sinner do you believe yourself to be
in need of mercy. We can know something about the doctrine of particular redemption
or limited atonement or that what Christ did on Calvary's
cross was specific for God's people. But until we're able,
by God's grace, to rest in Christ, that doctrine doesn't mean much
to us. We can know something about the
sovereignty of God. But until God puts us in a place
of trouble and we're able to say with Eli, it's the Lord. Let him do whatever seems good
to him. And we haven't really believed
that God's sovereign. The knowledge of God. Interesting, and I think it was
probably Jerry Seinfeld that popularized the saying, yada,
yada, yada. This is the word yada. It's the
word knowledge. And when a Jewish person says
yada, yada, yada, or someone else is saying it, they're using
Hebrew language saying, I know, I know, I know. I got it. Don't worry about it.
I know. discounting what they think they
know. And I think most times people
read the Bible and say, yada, yada, yada. I know. No, no. The knowledge of God
is going to make you a mercy beggar, one who depends upon
him. If we know Him, we love Him. Peter, lovest thou me? Three
times, yea, Lord, feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. It's to rejoice
in Him. It's to delight in Him. It's
to know that the mercy that He has shown us was so unmerited. I'm so I would say this about
about you all. I'm so very thankful because I think our Wednesday
night group is I know I don't know how to say this, but it's
just your need to worship, to be with God's people, to love
him. It's such a blessing to my heart. And it's evident. It's evident. You know, you love
somebody. You want to be where they are.
You want to spend time with them. You want to talk with them. You want to defend their honor. Someone speaks ill of someone
you love and you stand up for them. You want to please them. You want to do that which makes
them happy. And with the Lord, it would be
to obey him and his commandments are not grievous. We delight. in what he's revealed and desire
to follow him and to walk with him. Let's read this verse one last
time. Verse six. For I desired mercy. Go and learn
what this means. I'll have mercy. I'll have mercy,
not sacrifice. And the knowledge of God, more
than burnt offerings, to know him. Let's pray. Our heavenly father, Lord, remind us often by your
spirit of your mercy, and of your grace
and of your love. Lord, how free it is and how
unworthy and undeserving we are of it. Lord, we know that we
will love you if you will show us your love and Lord will be
merciful and We'll seek to know you better if you cause us to be reminded
that I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more
than burnt offerings. Lord, we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Tom. Number three in the spiral
hymnal. Let's stand together.