Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. If you would, let's go ahead
and get started and turn to Hebrews 10 to start with. Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, and I want to read
verses four through 10. Hebrews 10, four through 10. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written
of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first that he may establish the second, by the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once. And I'm gonna stop right there. My title today is My Son is a
Lunatic. And this is a title, just a catchy
title, but it is from scripture. And I want to talk about Jesus
Christ today. And in talking about Jesus Christ,
I want to talk about the mercy, mercy that only comes from him.
And I hope to show how the title relates to this message a little
later. And I know my text does not specifically talk about mercy
or use the word mercy, but it does relate to mercy as it talks
about the Lord of glory and what He accomplished. God Almighty,
as we read in the Old Testament books, purposed for there to
be animal sacrifices. So what is this telling us, what
we just read? It is saying that God did not
intend for those things to take away sin. They only pointed to
that which would once and only once take away sin for many. Christ was to come down and be
born of a virgin made under the law that he, the kinsman redeemer,
might redeem many. Those who are under the law from
every kindred and tongue and people and nation. In other words,
all. We read right here, it says,
lo, I come in the volume of the book, it is written of me. This
is Jesus Christ the Lord speaking. First Peter 1.3, we read, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It was the mercy
of God to send his son to die and pay for our sins, and I'll
say again, once, and to beget us to a living hope, and that
is eternal life. By his resurrection from the
dead, him now living and seated at the right hand of God. God
is a merciful God, and I thank him that it is this way because
I need mercy. What did our Lord tell the Pharisees
in Matthew 23, 23? Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and
have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy,
and faith. These ought ye to have done and
not to leave the other undone. These Pharisees did not see that
the law condemned men in their flesh. But they also did not
see that our Lord was seen in the law as the one sacrifice
made to be condemned in our stead. They also did not see the law
made it necessary that we need mercy because we are condemned
being sinned. But they also did not see mercy
in what God would do by sending his son. They did not see that the law
pointed to faith in what God would do. They also did not see
that it would be the faith of Christ in doing what he did that
would be the propitiation for his people, and it would be this
faith whereby we would be enabled to believe him. We also get from
this that the Pharisees ought to have done these. They ought
to judge the law as that which condemns us to eternal death
without a sacrifice acceptable to God. but instead they looked
at keeping the law. They ought to be merciful to
those who need mercy, just as God, that they say they serve,
is merciful to those who are undeserving of his mercy. They
ought to believe God, who is the sacrifice, and was the needed
sacrifice for sin. But they did not. They only looked
to themselves and what they should do. Those who were shown mercy
ought to realize or recognize that others are in the same place
as them and be merciful to them. Just as mercy has been shown
to them of God, not that these Pharisees had been shown mercy.
They could not see this as they had not been shown mercy because
they saw no need of having mercy. But those who have been shown
mercy ought to be merciful. to those who know their need
of mercy as God has shown to them. Matthew 9 13, we read,
but go ye and learn what meaneth. I will have, but go ye and learn
what meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Mercy from the law will not happen. The law says do this and live,
but you and I cannot do it. The Lord will provide himself
a sacrifice, and he does this for sinners, sinners only. So let's look at today who needs
mercy, the recipients of mercy, and what are some of the actions
from those we see from scripture is what that point is covering,
and then the God of mercy. So who needs mercy? You will
hear men today say things like, give your heart to Jesus. Or
they will ask it in a form of a question like this, will you
give your heart to Jesus? They use this type of ploy, these
emotional pleas to men and women to give their heart to Jesus.
But what is Jesus going to do with a heart like yours or a
heart like mine? They tell men and women things
that the Scripture nor Jesus tell them to do. As Joe has said
before, they will not let Scripture get in the way of their doctrine. This is nothing new, but the
scripture has specific things to say about what we are as we
are born in Adam. Specific things it says about
our heart as we are born in Adam. And I've used this a lot of times,
but it's still there, so I'm gonna use it again. Jeremiah
17, nine. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The heart we
are born with is desperately wicked. It is incurable. But it is also a deceitful heart. Not only does it deceive us into
thinking we're a pretty good folk, but it will also deceive
others as much as it can when the opportunity arises. It is
deceptive, and it is good at it. But it's not just limited
to our heart. Isaiah 1-6 we read, from the
sole of the foot even into the head there is no soundness in
it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not
been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. We are one big mass of ooze before
God. We are an abomination to him
as we are born in Adam. Because of what we are, we show
forth this in what we do. Job 15, we read, 14 through 16,
we read, what is man that he should be clean? And he which
is born of a woman, that he should be righteous. Behold, he putteth
no crust in his saints, yea, the heavens are not clean in
his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man which drinketh up iniquity like water. This filthiness is what we, by
nature, try to bring to God. Isaiah 64, six, we also read,
but we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away. So when you hear this religious
world coming to you with a plea of give your heart to Jesus,
The following is what they're asking you to do, and if everyone
remembers, Daniel Parks or Moose Parks pointed this out. He may
have not said this exactly this way, but this is what you and
I do when you desire to give your heart to Jesus. You who
are a big ooze of abomination to God will wrap yourself up
in your self-righteous deeds, your ungodly deeds, your filthy
rag righteousnesses, that is your bloody rags, and present
yourself before him. Here I am. Presenting myself
to you for acceptance of who I am and what I've done. That's
what we do when we say things like that. Do you think God is
going to accept that? There's nowhere in Scripture
where it tells us He accepts that kind of offer. In fact,
the Scripture speaks against those who try to do such a thing.
The Scripture never says anything about us, us giving God our heart
or anything else of ourselves as we are born in Adam. We are
told in Scripture that God will give us a new heart. Not my words,
it is not doctrine that Sovereign Grace Chapel came up with. It is the words from the Sovereign
God of all things that tells us that he will, excuse me. It is the words from the Sovereign
God of all things that tells us that he will take away that
old stony heart of flesh and give us a living heart. that
will be enabled to believe Him. We do not give to God, God gives
to us. Now some might say, what does
this have to do with mercy? If you do not know your need
of mercy, you will never find or have mercy. You will only
know of your need of mercy if God comes to you in grace and
mercy to let you know your need. We are so far gone that we cannot
even know that we offend God, unless he does something for
us first. It seems to be the case in my experience of seeing
it, that when someone is dead, they can do nothing. And I'm
being facetious. When we read in scripture that
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that
we are all dead in trespasses and in sin, It means it. We are dead and totally engulfed
in sin. Unless someone comes to us and
changes our state, we will remain there. If we die in that state,
we may ask for mercy after we are gone, but it will do no good.
Let's look at a familiar account of this. Turn with me to Luke
16, Luke 16. Luke 16 verses 19 through 31. Luke 16 verses 19 through 31. There was a certain rich man
which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously
every day. And there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores, and
desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's
table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked
his sores. And it came to pass that the
beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he
lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am
tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise
Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and thou
art tormented. And besides all this, between
us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would
pass from hence to you cannot. Neither can they pass to us that
would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore,
father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, for
I have five brethren that he may testify unto them, lest they
also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him,
they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said,
nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead,
they will repent. And he said unto him, if they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead. This passage is a scary passage,
because whoever dies in that state will have no mercy, no
matter how much they cry out for mercy. This is not given
to scare someone into the kingdom of God. You are not scared into
the kingdom of God, but it is meant to show the gravity of
believing the record God gave of his son. You are brought into
the kingdom of God by God himself. In grace and mercy, shed on you
through Jesus Christ our Lord and what he has done. This will
cause you to fear for sure. but it will be a fear knowing
who God is and when he speaks, it is so. This will also be a
comfort to you because being a child of the king, he speaks
and it's so. Those who find mercy know their
need of mercy. Those who need mercy are sinners. It says that all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God and that all are dead in
trespasses and in sin. but all do not receive mercy.
Those who receive mercy are those who will ask for mercy knowing
their need of mercy. So this brings me to my next
point. Number two, the recipients of mercy. What are the actions
of those who are recipients of mercy? We just went through those
who need mercy, and those who need mercy are sinners. Psalm
51, 17, we read, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a
broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou will not despise. Those who are sinners, those
who need mercy offer up sacrifices to God, those sacrifices that
God will not despise. The sacrifices they offer up
are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. They do not offer up what they
will do for God because they can do nothing. Our Lord gives
us those in scripture who come to him in mercy, those who have
had this broken spirit, this broken and contrite heart. And
I will only give a few, but if you would, turn with me to Mark
10, Mark 10. I'm gonna turn to a few places
today because we have a little bit more time. But Mark 10, verses
just 46 and 47. Mark 10, verse 46. And they came
to Jericho. And as he went out of Jericho
with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus,
the son of Timaeus sat by the highway side begging. And when
he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out
and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Here is one
who undoubtedly begged often. This man was blind. He had no
way of making money back then. He did not have an accessibility
app as we have today for help to people like this. And I'm
not trying to make fun either. None such as this had no help. They had to beg. If they were
going to get anything, it would come from begging. But he did
this often and never found the mercy that he needed. But when he heard, He heard that
Jesus of Nazareth was there. His begging turns into cries
for mercy. When he did this, it resulted
in people telling him to shut up. But when they did this, he
cried the more and louder. A one who is an object of mercy
from the Lord Jesus Christ, they will not stop crying out for
mercy, no matter how many people don't like it. They will not
be deterred. Their spirit is broken. Their
heart is broken and contrite, and they know their need of mercy. They know who can give it. Turn
with me to Matthew 15. Matthew 15. Matthew 15, verse
21 and 22. Matthew 15, 21, 22. Then Jesus
went thence and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and
cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son
of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with a devil. Here is one who cried out for
mercy. And I see this and my mind kind
of wonders about this, but why is she asking for mercy for herself?
She's not vexed with the devil. She's asking for mercy because
her daughter is vexed with the devil. Here is a woman who has
a daughter and it's a young daughter as you read in the other accounts. So she certainly has to take
care of her and is trying to raise her. She's responsible
for her. Yet she knows she has no ability
to do for her daughter that which needs to be done to take care
of her. She needs mercy. She needs help from the only
one who we know from this account that she knows can help her.
This woman, it says in another passage, was a Syrophoenician
woman. She was not a Jew, but yet somehow
she knew that the Lord Jesus Christ could have mercy on her.
Our Lord at first did not even acknowledge her having said anything.
It says he answered her, not a word. Did she give up and decide
to do something else because he was talking down to her? No. She could not be deterred, nor
was our Lord trying to deter her. He was getting her to publicly
admit her need of him. She was made to admit, and she
knew she was a dog. But not only that, but she acknowledged
she was her master's dog. She knew she needed mercy. So
now, another one, Matthew 17. Turn with me to Matthew 17. Matthew 17 verses 15. Matthew 17 verse 15. Lord have
mercy on my son for he is a lunatic and sore vexed for oft times
he falleth into the fire and oft into the water. Here we have
a man asking for mercy for his son. He basically says his son
is crazy, and as we read in Mark, it says he is crazy being filled
with the spirit. Let's turn over to Mark 9. Mark
9. Mark 9. Mark 9, 17 through 24. Mark 9, verse 17. And one of the multitude answered
and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath
a dumb spirit. And wheresoever he taketh him,
he teareth him, and he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth,
and pineth away. And I spake to thy disciples
that they should cast him out, and they could not. He answereth
him and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought
him unto him. When he saw him, straightway
the spirit tear him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming.
And he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came
unto him? And he said of a child, and oft
times it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy
him. But if thou canst do anything,
have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou
canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of
the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. We see here another who has a
need. He asks for help of something
he knows he has no power to change. He asked for mercy for his son,
not knowing at first that he is the one that needs the mercy.
Yes, my son is a lunatic. Take that any way you want. But
we are all lunatics by nature. It is only those who are lunatics
who by the grace and mercy of God who will find mercy. It is
not necessarily how they acted in asking for mercy, because
each of these had a little different circumstance and may have used
different words. Although each of them and everyone
who needs mercy will know themselves to be helpless to help themselves
or anyone around them. What is of note here is, and
this is the same with all of them, and it's the same for all
who ask for mercy, it is who they ask for mercy from. Those
who need mercy will go to the only one who can give mercy. This leads me to my next point,
the God of mercy. Ephesians 2, 4 we read, but God
who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved
us. God who is rich in mercy and
it says here for his great love wherewith he loved us. He loved
us and it is manifested that he loved us because he sent forth
his son to be the propitiation for our sin. We need mercy because
we are sinners. Christ died to pay the debt of
sin I owe. Can we see the love of God that
has for us right there? The great love God has for us
is equaled in mercy that he bestows on us because it is for his great
love, it says. He did not die for us to then
not show mercy on, or that is compassion toward us. He knows
our estate and what we need. It is him that causes us to realize
our state by giving us life in Christ Jesus and translating
us into the kingdom of his dear son by his gospel. Titus 3, 5
we read, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost. We are enabled to see the one
who loved us and gave himself for us. God did not and God does
not have to show us mercy. We do not come to him thinking
and telling him he has to do anything. As has been said before,
what would it be like if I offended someone and I came to them and
tell them, I'm going to let you show me mercy?