Well, good evening. Renee, good to have you with
us tonight. And Donnie and Jeanette, all
the way from Grenada. Uh, we're glad you're here. They're
going to be here for like three or four weeks. Right. Okay. Um, and everybody is everybody
that's anybody that does music is not here tonight. So, uh,
so you guys are going to have to put up with me and help me. Let's stand together and open
our spiral handles to number 22, number 22. And I don't know how to operate
the music box. So it's all acapella. Okay. We were ruined by the fall. Adam's sin defiles us all. By our deeds and by our birth. We deserve the lost great curse. ? Helpless, hopeless sinners
we ? ? Never can our souls retreat ? ? But the blessed Son of God
? ? Came as man in flesh and blood ? ? He fulfilled the lost
demand ? and in death stretched out his hands on the cross of
Calvary Christ redeemed and set us free in the time which God
had said the spirit came for his elect ? To regenerate and
call ? ? From the ruin of the fall ? ? By his power and by
his grace ? ? We were born for God's own praise ? ? Now your
purpose we fulfill ? ? Saved according to your will ? ? Sing
this song of joyful praise ? ? For the glory of your grace ? ? Blessed
Holy Triune God ? ? Hear our praise through Christ our Lord
? Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 51. Psalm 51. I prepared a message tonight on
the need that we have for God's mercy, and I thought it would
be appropriate for us to read these very familiar words where
King David is pleading the mercy of God. Have mercy upon me, O
God, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions, wash
me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For
I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin as ever before me.
Against thee, and thee only, have I sinned, and done this
evil in thy sight. that thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I
was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the
hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear the joy, to hear
joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and
blot out my iniquity. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from
thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver
me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and
my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open
thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou
desirest not sacrifice, else I would give it. Thou delightest
not in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are broken
spirits. broken and contrite heart, O
God, thou will not despise. Do good, and thy good pleasure
unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
and burn offerings, and hold burn offerings. Then shall they
offer bullocks upon thine altar. Let's pray. Our gracious and merciful Heavenly
Father. What great hope we have in knowing
that your justice has been satisfied through the sacrifice that the
Lord Jesus Christ made of himself. In order that you might delight
in showing mercy. Lord, like King David. We are
centers. For centers, Lord and. And. Our sin so afflicts us. We pray, Lord, that you would
be pleased this hour to reveal Christ to our hearts. We pray
that you would increase our faith. We pray that you would cause
us, Lord, to rest our hope in His glorious person, that you
would enable us to rejoice in Him. Lord, we We're glad that you delight in
showing mercy, that you are a God of mercy. Lord, we're dependent
upon that mercy all our lives. We pray that you would reveal
more of it to us tonight. We thank you for it in Christ's
name, amen. All right, let's stand together
and turn again in our spiral hymnals to number 40. Number 40. He is Lord. He is Lord. He is risen from the dead and
he is Lord. Every knee shall bow, every tongue
confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is Lord. He is Lord. He is all my righteousness, and
he is Lord. Every knee shall bow, every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is Lord. He is Lord. He has satisfied the law and
he is Lord. ? Every knee shall bow ? ? Every
tongue confess ? ? That Jesus Christ is Lord ? ? He is Lord
? ? He is Lord ? ? He redeemed all his elect and he is Lord
? Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord. Amen. Will you turn with me in
your Bibles to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. And we'll read from verse 132. Look upon me and be merciful
as thou used to do unto those that love thy name. I had someone one time criticize
me for referring to believers as mercy beggars. I said, They
said, I'm not a mercy beggar, so I've already gotten mercy. And then they went on to liken
their heavenly father to their earthly father. And I thought,
there's the problem. There's the problem. You have
made him to be altogether such a one as thyself. The problem
with likening heavenly father to our earthly fathers. Our earthly
fathers aren't holy. Our earthly fathers don't know
every thought and intent of the heart, even before we think it. The law has not required our
earthly fathers to put us to death. Well, if the If the law
required your earthly father to put you to death, you might
be asking him for mercy. Your earthly father is not omnipotent,
he's not all powerful, and you're not completely dependent upon
your earthly father for your life or for your salvation. Scriptures are clear of examples. of how we remain beggars of mercy
throughout our spiritual life. We are always looking to him
and dependent upon him for his mercy. Notice what David says
in verse 132. Look upon me. Lord, if you look upon me, you'll
see that I'm in need of mercy. If you'll look upon me, you'll
see that I'm a man to be pitied. If you look upon me, you'll see
the mess that I've made and the mess that I am. Lord, if you'll
just look upon me, you will discover that I am one who is in need
of constant mercy. The Lord told a parable of a
publican and a Pharisee that were praying one day in the temple. And the publican prayed like
this. He said, God, I thank thee that
I'm not like other men. He began by giving credit to
God for his morality. He said, I'm not an extortioner.
He said, I'm not an adulterer. I fast twice a week, certainly
not like that publican over there. And then the publican, the Lord
said, would not so much as look up, but smote himself upon the
breast and cried, God have mercy upon me, the sinner. And the Lord asked that rhetorical
question, which one of those two men went home justified? Now I want to be justified before
God. If I'm going to be justified before God, the law is going
to have to be satisfied. And God's going to have to show
me mercy. Not just because he delights in showing mercy, but
because he's able to show mercy according to his holy nature,
having put away my sin. by the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. David said in Psalm chapter six,
verse two, have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak. O Lord, heal me. Mercies for the weak, mercies
for the poor and for the needy, mercies for the sick. The Lord
said that the well don't need a physician, I came to save sinners. David said in Psalm 25, have
mercy upon me for I am desolate and I am afflicted. And we just read in Psalm 51,
have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. This
is the teaching of God's Word that we are to be mercy beggars. Barnabas, the blind man, the
poor blind man, as Jesus passed by, cried, Jesus, son of David,
have mercy upon me. The Syrophoenician woman came
to the Lord and said the same thing. Jesus, son of David, have
mercy upon me for my daughter is severely afflicted. And we're afflicted. And if the Lord doesn't have
mercy upon us, we're blind. Lord, look upon me. You see that
in our text, look upon me and be merciful unto me. Lord, if
you'll just see what I am, you'll see my need for mercy. Now the
Lord Jesus Christ is the cause of that mercy. Mercy cannot be
given without justice being satisfied. And you remember in Luke chapter
one, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist was finally
given his ability to speak. And, uh, and they said, we're
going to name your son Zacharias. And he said, no, you're not going
to name him John. And then he prophesied of what
John would do. And he said that this child came
to perform the mercy promised by our fathers. and to remember
his covenant. And that's what John did. John
pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who taketh away
the sins of the world. There can be no mercy apart from
that. Micah chapter seven. Will you turn with me there in
your Bibles? Micah chapter seven. You're familiar with verse 18.
Who is God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth
by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage. Lord,
there's no other God like you. There's no other God like you
that passes by and passes over the sins of his people. Now the
Passover was only possible because the Paschal Lamb was slain and
the blood was placed on the door. Otherwise there would be no passing
over. And so, yes, the Israelites depended upon God's mercy, but
they looked to that blood and the Lord said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass by you. And he retained not his anger
forever because he delighteth in mercy. You see that? Our God
delights in showing mercy. You see, this isn't a matter
of pleading with a God who's reluctant to be merciful. He
delights in being merciful. Turn, look at verse 19. He will
turn again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquities and thou will cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. That's where he puts them, buried
them in the depths of the sea. Thou will perform the truth of
Jacob. That's what Zacharias said. This
child is going to point to the one who will perform the promises. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did. He didn't come to just make an offer to us. He actually performed the promises
given to our father. He actually performed the putting
away of our sin. He actually buried them in the
depths of the sea by the sacrifice of himself. This is the ground
upon which we come. And this is the hope that we
have that our God delights in showing mercy. He's full of mercy. Look, that will perform the truth
to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou has sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. This has been his promise from
the beginning. The covenant of God established in eternity past. where the father agreed to give
to his son a bride and the Lord Jesus Christ entered into that
covenant as our surety and promised to bear our sins and to satisfy
the justice of God, that God might be just and justifier,
that he might be able by his holy nature to be merciful. That's why Paul said in Titus
chapter three, verse five, not by works of righteousness, which
we have done. See, it's not a matter of justice.
Justice demands a payment, but we don't want justice. You talk
to people about the gospel of God's free grace and the finished
work of Christ and God's electing grace and God's sovereign grace
and that God chose a particular people and Christ actually fulfilled
everything necessary for those of God's elect. And what do they
say? Well, that's not fair. And we say, we don't want fair. We want mercy. We want mercy. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he has saved us
by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but by his mercy, he has saved us. Pouring out the full fury of
his wrath on his darling son, in order that we might have our
sins put away and delivered from the wrath that is to come. That's
mercy. Mercy is God withholding from
us that which we deserve. And mercy beggars always understand
that apart from Christ, I am a hell deserving sinner and I'm
constantly in need of God's mercy. The scripture says, as you received
Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in him. How did we receive
him? We received him as mercy beggars.
Lord, I've got to have your mercy. And we continue to walk in faith,
looking to Christ and dependent upon him for his mercy. And David
said, look upon me. God, if you just look upon me,
you'll see that I'm a man in need of mercy. I'm a man needing
to be pitied. I'm a man that has made a mess
of things. I'm a sinner. Lord, look upon
me and be merciful unto me." Now we don't, we don't pray this
way. In fear, we pray this way in
confidence. The scripture says in Hebrews
chapter four, we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize
with the weaknesses of our afflictions. He understands, for he was tried
in all ways that we are, yet without sin. The Lord Jesus Christ
understands the horror, the shame, the guilt, the judgment, the
wrath, the heaviness of sin, all infinitely more than you
and I could ever begin to understand. We take our sin so lightly. The
Lord Jesus Christ bore the full weight of it, the full fury of
it. And the Lord says we have a high
priest. We have one who has gone into
the heavens. who's seated at the right hand
of God, whom God has made to be a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek, whoever lives and makes intercession
for us. I write these things unto you, little children, that
you sin not. But if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And
what does that next verse in Hebrews chapter four say? Therefore,
therefore, in light of the fact that we have a priest who loves
us and who has died for us and has ascended back into glory
and is presenting himself on our behalf as our righteousness. The word of God did not return
unto him void. It accomplished the purpose for
which God sent him. What was that purpose? To save
his people. And so the scripture says, therefore,
let us come boldly. That word boldly doesn't mean
to be cocky. It doesn't mean to be over confident
in yourself or to be presumptuous. It means confidence in Christ. And so we come before the throne
of grace with boldness that we may obtain mercy, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of
need. Now the difference between grace
and mercy is grace is God giving us that which we don't deserve
and mercy is God withholding that from us which we do deserve.
There's two sides of the same coin, aren't there? Oh Lord,
grace and mercy, that's what we need. And His mercy, the scripture
says, shall follow us all the days of our lives. You know,
the first mention of mercy in the scripture, I brought this
out this past Sunday about the law of first mention and the
word holy was first used in Exodus chapter three at the burning
bush, when the Lord told Moses, take off thy shoes from off thy
feet for the land and the ground on which you stand is holy ground. The presence of God was there
and Moses was to expose his sinfulness, his creatureness before God by
taking off his shoes and acknowledging the holiness of God. Well, the
law first mentioned as relates to the word mercy is found as
it relates to lot. Now, if it wasn't for 2 Peter
2, we'd have a hard time proving from Scripture that Lot was a
believer. I mean, his life, you know, he had some shameful things
going on in his life. And the Scripture tells us that
he was a righteous man, and it tells us that he was just. And
when the angel came to bring Lot out of Sodom, the Scripture
says that Lot lingered. You ever had that problem? You
linger in your sin. And what'd the Lord do? Took
him by the hand, pulled him out. There's mercy. Oh Lord. As a matter of fact, you've got
your Bible still open to Psalm 119. Look at the next verse. Order my steps in thy word and
let not iniquity have dominion over me. Lord, I'll linger in
Sodom. and sin will have dominion over
me if you don't have mercy upon me. Look at me, Lord. Just look at me. Look at the
mess I am. You'll see that I'm a man in
need of mercy. And when the Lord was taking
Sodom, Lot out of Sodom, the Lord told Lot to flee to the
mountain. And Lot said, Oh God, have mercy upon me. You send me to that mountain,
I'm gonna die. Let me go over to this little city. You remember
he went to Zoar, which translated means insignificant, insignificant. Lord, that's what I am. But have
mercy upon me. Lot's the first one to use that
word mercy in the scripture. And he was begging for God. And
in that plea, he asked the Lord to preserve his life. In spite
of all the reluctance and rebellion of his heart, he asked the Lord
for mercy and the Lord was delighted to show him mercy. We never grow beyond asking for
mercy, do we? Matter of fact, the more we grow
in grace and the knowledge of Christ, the more we see of his
holiness and of his perfection, the more we see of our need for
his mercy. The more we see of our own sin, We just increase
in our need for mercy as we mature in the faith. Turn to Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15. Mercy beggars. That's what we
are. What a glorious prayer. Just
go before the Lord and just say what David said. Lord, look upon
me. Just look at me. We want other people to see the
best part of us, don't we? And that's the way it ought to
be. We don't go around exposing all of our evil thoughts to man. We want to present ourselves
well to one another. We come before God, He sees it all. He sees it better than we see
it. What do we say? Where, you know, we can fool
one another and we can fool ourselves, but we're not gonna fool Him.
And we know that. And that's why we ask for mercy.
Lord, have mercy upon me. Look at me. You'll see that I'm
a man who needs to be pitied. I've got to have your mercy.
And look to Christ as the cause of your mercy for me. Look at
Romans chapter nine and we'll begin reading at verse 15. For he saith unto Moses, I will
have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. Now that's one of the reasons
we are mercy beggars because he's sovereign over who he gives
his mercy to. It's his prerogative. It's his
purpose and will to show his mercy. Mercy belongs to God. We can't manipulate it. We can't
earn it. That's the nature of mercy. And so the Lord says, I will
have mercy upon whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. I'm sovereign in this thing.
Look at, so then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. It's not by our determination
or by our works, it's by God's sovereign mercy. Lord, look upon
me and have mercy upon me. I'm a man in need of mercy and
you're the only one that can give it. And it's completely
up to you whether you give it or not. So then, look at verse 17. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. God says, I raised up Pharaoh
as a vessel of destruction in order to show forth my power
in delivering my people out of Egypt. Therefore, Therefore,
verse 18, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he
will, he hardeneth. How many times you read of Moses,
God hardened Moses' heart. Our God is sovereign. He has
his will and his way with all the armies of heaven and with
all the inhabitants of the earth and no man can stay his hand
or say unto him, what doest thou? We're mercy makers. Lord, look
upon me. Have mercy upon me for Christ's
sake. You're not going to just show
us mercy because he's got a soft heart. He's going to show us
mercy because of what Christ did to put away our sin. And some will say, look at verse
19, Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For
who has resisted his will? If God's gonna have mercy upon
whom he's gonna have mercy, and he's gonna harden whom he's gonna
harden, then how can he blame me? How can it be my fault? I'll just wait and see what God's
gonna do. Nay, but O man, who art thou to replyest against
God? This is not what God says. God
said, ask for mercy. You don't go blame. Well, you
see when a person says, well, if it's up to God to show mercy
or to harden, then it's not my fault. It's God's fault. It's
God's fault. If I go to hell, it's God's fault.
Now here's the simple truth of scripture. If you go to heaven,
it's going to be God's fault. And if you go to hell, it's going
to be your fault. It's just the way it is. Somebody says, well,
that's a contradiction. No, it's not. It may be a paradox
to some, but it's consistent with scripture. It's all on him
if we're saved, and it's all on us if we're not. Lord have
mercy upon me. Who art thou, man, to reply against
God and to blame God for your unbelief, to blame God for the
fact that you haven't pleaded For mercy, shall the thing formed
say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me so? Hath not
the potter power over the clay and of the same lump to make
one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing
to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction
that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels
of mercy. The vessels of mercy. He takes from the same lump of
clay, and that lump is all of humanity. We are fashioned from
the dust of the earth. And he makes some vessels of
honor and some of dishonor. Oh, and here's what? Here's how
do you know? How do I know if he's made me
a vessel of honor? Because I've asked for mercy.
I believe what God has said. And I've pleaded with him, Lord,
have mercy upon me. God is sovereign over his mercy. You see, the mercy of God is
for the poor and the needy. It's for the weak and the wounded.
It's for the fallen and the fearful. They're the ones who need mercy.
The self righteous, the strong. Those who do not believe themselves
to be nothing but sin. They want justice. They want
to be given to them what they are due. That's why you hear
men say, well, you know, I accepted Jesus. I obligated God to save
me by accepting his offer of salvation. That's justice. I invited Christ into my heart. Now God's obligated to save me.
No, he's not. You're not going to do anything
to obligate God. You see, here's the difference
between those who want justice and those who want mercy. Justice requires the full penalty
of the law. I guess you all have seen in
the news where these two ISIS fighters were arrested and They're
bringing them to the United States to stand trial. They're guilty
of the most atrocious murders of some 25 that we know of, Americans,
torture and rape. And Trish and I were talking
about it and said, I hope they get the full penalty of the law.
We want justice. That's what the prosecution of
the law says. We want justice. If I was on the other side of
the equation, a defendant proven guilty, I'd be begging for mercy. Now that's the difference between
the law and grace. The law requires justice and to be satisfied with
nothing less. And the only way that the law
can be fully satisfied is in the justice that it poured out
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believe. Mercy or justice. In the day of judgment, the self-righteous
who wanted justice will be will be pleading for justice. Even
in their condemnation, they will say, but Lord, we've done many
wonderful works in your name. We want to be repaid. We want
justice. We want to be rewarded for all
the things that we've done. We've cast out demons in your
name. We've prophesied in you. We've done all sorts of good
things all our lives. We've been good people. And the
Lord's going to say, you want justice? Depart from me, you
workers of iniquity, I never knew you. That's what justice
does. Men who want justice for themselves
will get justice. Those who want mercy will look
to Christ for having fulfilled all the justice of God. And they'll
plead with the father for his mercy. What did Paul say in Galatians
chapter four? You that desire to be under the
law, do you not hear what the law says? You want to be judged
by the law, you got to keep the whole law in heart and soul and
attitude and mind all the time. That's what the law requires.
And that's what the Lord Jesus Christ did. Turn with me to that
passage, Galatians chapter four. Let's read a few of these verses
together. Verse 21. Tell me, you the desire
to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? This
chapter begins with, or chapter three begins with, oh, foolish
Galatians who have bewitched you. What do you want to go back
to the law for? Try to be saved by justice? Christ
fulfilled that. Do you not hear what the law
says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid
and the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh, but he was of the free woman was
by promise. Ishmael, that was man's attempt
to try to help God out, wasn't it? according to the flesh. But Isaac was a miracle boy. That was a miracle birth, a birth
made by promise, which things are an allegory of the two covenants. There's a covenant of works and
a covenant of grace. Covenant of works goes like this. If you believe God will save
you. The covenant of grace goes like
this. I have saved you and you shall believe. The covenant of work says, if
you repent, God will forgive you. You got to do your part
and God rewards you for doing that. He's made the offer. You do your part. That's, that's,
that's justice. Demanding from God equal pay.
And the covenant of grace says, I have forgiven you. I've put
your sins away and you shall repent. You shall repent. Covenant of works says something
like this. If you serve God, he'll bless you. You just serve
him and you can obligate God to bless you by your service. That's a covenant of works. God
says, I have blessed you. You know, people say to me, people
say to you too, they say, God bless you. And I generally don't
say anything, but I want to say he already has. He already has
infinitely in Christ. All the blessings of God are
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus right now. And I am seated in
him. And the covenant of grace says,
I blessed you. And you will serve me. You'll
be willing to serve me. You're not going to do it reluctantly.
You're not going to do it begrudgingly. You're going to do it lovingly
because I blessed you. And the Lord says, you want to
be under the covenant works. You're going to have to keep
the whole law. And here's the end of that. Look at, look at
verse, verse 29, but as then, He that was born after the flesh
persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it
is now. When we tell men about the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, about being a mercy beggar and
trusting Christ alone for all the hope of our salvation, and
about how God cannot be obligated to save anyone, and that you
can't obligate God to bless you or to forgive you or to save
you, that that's completely His work of grace. You see, it robs
them of their hope, doesn't it? It robs them of their righteousness.
And they'll hate you for it and despise you for it. Nevertheless,
what sayeth the scriptures? That's the only question that
we ever have to ask, isn't it? What does God say? Because that
settles all controversies. What sayeth the scriptures? Cast
out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman
shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then brethren,
we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ has made you free and don't be entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Don't go back to the law. Don't
try to obligate God, but don't look to justice. Look for mercy,
mercy. You see that? Everybody, everybody
is either looking to God for justice or they're looking to
God for mercy. pure mercy. What did David say? Look upon
me, O God, and you'll see that I'm a man in need of mercy. You'll
see that I've got nothing to offer you. You'll see that I
can't obligate you in any way. You'll see that I have no righteousness
in me. You'll see that I am a worm.
You'll see that I am that What did Job say? Behold, behold,
I see something I've never seen before. I am Bile. Before God,
what am I going to do? Look upon me and have mercy upon
me. You'll see that I'm in need of
mercy. In Luke chapter 17, when those
10 lepers came to the Lord, Jesus, master, had mercy on us. And the Lord healed every one
of them. And one of them came back and acknowledged that mercy. The rest of them got what they
didn't deserve. They got healing. They didn't get salvation. The
one who acknowledged Christ for his salvation knew that he was dependent upon
God's mercy. Mercy or justice. You know, the sad thing is, brethren,
every time we get angry or complain about our circumstances, in essence,
we are insisting on justice. We're saying this is right. I
don't deserve this. I had a religious friend text
me about this storm headed towards the Gulf Coast, because we have
family and friends where it's headed. And I wrote him back
a verse out of Nahum that says that the clouds are the dust
under his feet and that he controls the wind and the storms are in
his hand. And I just said, it's all good. God's in control. And he wrote
me back and said, He said, yeah, we have to look for the best
in our circumstances so that we can increase our faith. And I thought, that's not what
I said. We're not looking for the silver lining in the cloud.
We're not. This isn't the power of positive
thinking. This is believing that God is
in control of the storms and he's going to do all things well. But we don't always remember
that, do we? We complain and we criticize and judge, professing ourselves to demand
justice and to be unholy of them now. or we fear the removal of God's
mercy due to our sin. What's that? What's the thinking
behind that? That God may stop showing us
mercy and may leave us to ourselves because we've committed some
shameful sin. What is that? That's justice
thinking, isn't it? It's our sin that drives us to
Christ. Lord, I just need more mercy.
I need more mercy. Let's turn to Matthew chapter
9 in closing. Matthew chapter 9. The Lord says, I will have mercy
and not sacrifice. Lord, look upon me. If you look
upon me, you'll see that I've got nothing to offer you. You'll see that in me that is
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. You'll see that I can't
obligate you at all. You'll see that I'm a man to
be pitied and I'm in need of mercy. Lord, look upon me and
have mercy upon me. And the Lord sets that mercy
in contrast to justice here in Matthew chapter nine, look 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. The publicans and sinners were
never afraid to come into the presence of Christ. Why? Because his mercy invites mercy
beggars. His mercy invites mercy beggars. And so the sinners and the publicans
were not afraid to come into his presence because he was saying
to them, you a mercy beggar, I'm full of mercy. I'm the one
who can satisfy your need for mercy. Come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. My burden
is light. My yoke is easy. Look at the
next verse. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they were the ones who wanted justice. They wanted to be paid
for what they had done for God. They wanted to be rewarded. And
when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, why
eateth your master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard
that, he said unto them, they that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick. You and I get sick enough, we're
gonna run to the doctor. A lot of us just kind of, You
know, if we're just a little bit sick, we can put it off.
We'll think, you know, I'll get over this. You get sick enough,
you're going to go to the doctor, aren't you? That's the problem. You see,
men aren't sick enough. They're not sick enough. They haven't
been burdened. They don't need mercy. They're
still looking for justice. But go ye and learn What this
meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. How did David
start out Psalm 51 that we read earlier? Have mercy upon me,
O God, according to thy lovingkindness. Purge me with this, O Lord, my
sin is ever before me. And then how did he conclude?
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite
heart, that he will not despise. Why? Because he gave you that.
And then in the end of the chapter, he says, then we will make sacrifices
and bullets to you. We're not doing it in order to
get mercy. We're doing it because we've
gotten mercy. I will have mercy and not sacrifice
for I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Lord, look upon me. Look upon
me. I need mercy. Let's pray. Our merciful heavenly Father,
bless your word and have mercy upon these poor sinners. We ask
it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand together and
open Our spiral handle to number 40, number 30, number 30. Number
30. ? Glory, glory, I'm forgiven ?
? All my sins are washed away ? ? Christ, by his great blood
of atonement ? ? All my sin has put away ? ? Sin imputed to my
Savior ? ? When he died upon the tree ? ? As the substitute
for sinners ? ? God will not impute to me ? ? Glory, glory,
I'm accepted ? ? Robed in Christ, O righteousness ? ? I'm a child
and heir of heaven ? ? Saved by God's almighty grace ? Christ's
obedience to the Father is imputed now to me. In God's sight I'm
pure and holy. He declares me so to be. ? Glory, glory, I'll not perish
? ? In Christ's hands I am secure ? ? He who saved me sure will
keep me ? ? By God's grace I shall endure ? ? This is not a vain
presumption ? ? I just take him at his word ? Christ has sworn
they shall not perish, who believe on me their Lord. Amen. Amen. Today is Robert's 84th birthday. No, he looks 90,