Join me this morning again in
the book of Ezra. Book of Ezra chapter three. Ezra
chapter three. I would like to read the last
verses of this chapter, verses 10 through 13, and Lord willing,
we'd like to look at a few thoughts in verses 10 and 11. Last week
we looked at a little bit at verse 10, but I'd like to just
review that momentarily And then go on to verse 11. Ezra chapter
three, verse 10. And when the builders laid the
foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in
their apparel with trumpets and the Levites, the sons of Asaph
with symbols to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David,
king of Israel. As we can witness this very scene
in our mind this morning, to watch the workers as they laid
the foundation of the temple, what blessings to watch this
scene as the stones come together. And in the book of 1 Kings, would
you just lay your hand there back up to the book of 1 Kings
for just a moment, 1 Kings chapter 7. The foundation of the temple
was made of great, costly, beautiful, huge stones. 1 Kings 7 and verse
10. 1 Kings 7 and verse 10. And the foundation was of costly
stones, even great stones, stones of 10 cubits and stones of 8
cubits. And I mentioned last week that
those cubits could be put into stones that were 10 and 15 feet
cubed. I had a friend share with me
after the services last week that those largest stones were
over 500,000 pounds. Just taking the weight of granite
by the square foot or the stone marble by the square foot and
multiplying it out. To put that a little closer to
what I could understand because I hauled a lot of hay by the
ton, it's 285 tons. were those large stones. It must have been something to
watch as these stones were being put together to make the foundation
of the house of the Lord. No wonder there was some awe
as they watched. And then it says they began to
sing. And one commentator said that
one group sang one part and one group sang another part. As it
tells us there in the book of Ezra, going back to the book
of Ezra, In verse 11, they sang together by course and praising
and giving thanks unto the Lord because He is good for His mercy
endureth forever toward Israel. They sang giving thanks unto
the Lord because He is good and the other side said for His mercy
endureth forever. I can't imagine a choir of 100
or 200 folks singing that out loud as they witness the foundation
of the temple of the Lord once again being put back together. There's a great difference here
as we think about it. There were some that just saw
them putting stones back together and there were some that said,
I can see the temple. If the foundation be this great,
What shall be the glory of this temple? And then there were others
that said, well, we're just putting stones back together. That's
as far as it went. And one time, a long time ago,
I read about a guy that went around to talk to some people
laying or working on a cathedral and some men said they were laying
bricks and some said we're building a cathedral. What a big difference
that is just to be laboring or being able to see what it's going
to look like in our mind. As we think about this temple,
in its grandeur that it once had, and then to be a second
temple that was built. Some of them that saw the second
temple as it was being built, and in the conclusion of it,
they wept because they remembered what the other one looked like.
And yet, all of that put together is summed up in Hebrews chapter
10 and verse 1, where it says, for the law having a shadow of
good things to come, and not the very image of the things.
All of this, even though the grandeur, the size, the color,
the beauty, and then anticipating what the temple would look like,
it still was just a shadow. As it goes on in the book of
Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 1, it is not the very image of
the things. They can never, with those sacrifices
which were offered year by year, continually make comers thereunto
perfect. So the shadow could make nobody
perfect. The pictures that are here could
make nobody perfect, but the reality, the full image, could
do that very thing. The law, the building of the
temple, the foundation of the temple, all the wood that went
into it, the gold that went into it, the mercy seat that was in
the original, which does not appear to be in the second one
as it was carried off, and the things that were there, they
could not even compare to the real, and the real is the Lord
Jesus Christ. They sang together as it tells
us, and it tells us several times in the scriptures, particularly
in the Psalms. The Psalms have often been put
to music, and they were in that time, but they were chanted or
spoken of a cappella. And it tells us in the Psalms,
oh come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise
to the rock of our salvation. And sometimes that's all I can
do, but I want to make a joyful noise because he is the rock
of my salvation. Let us come before his presence
with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with his Psalms.
Much of the Old Testament scripture was written in a form of psalm. It was written not as literal
words, but it was like a psalm would be written. There was poem
to it, poetic to it. There was verse to it, and it
rhymed. And in the translations, we can
never get exactly what it said. But oh, how beautiful it is just
to read some of the psalms. Psalm 105, would you turn there
with me? Psalm 105. We're gonna end up
over in Ephesians and Colossians, but Psalm 105 in verse one and
two, first of all, as these were hymns. This was the hymn book of Israel,
the Psalms. And in Psalm 105 and then in
verses 1 and 2, we have these wonderful statements made that
we could sing about. Psalm 105, verse 1 and 2. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. That's
one of the things I noticed about our hymns this morning. They
made known his deeds among the people. They made known his salvation
among the people. It was a declaration of the gospel. As we sing and make melody in
our heart, that is what we want to do. If we were to sing in
a grocery store a hymn, people might look at us a little strangely,
but they're not gonna call the doctor. But if you sit there
and talk to yourself, they might do that. So go ahead and sing,
making melody in your heart. All right, it goes on to tell
us here, sing unto him, sing psalms unto him. God is one that
loves to hear his children speak about his glory. It is good to
sing psalms of praise unto God. He loves to hear his people speak
about his wondrous works. And we can do that as we read
the psalms or as we look at the hymn books usually and more often
in the older ones where they actually have words that were
taken from scripture and put to music so that we can sing.
That is glory. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God Almighty that comes from Isaiah chapter 6. And when we
sing that, we're singing psalms of praise and glory unto God
about His most glorious attribute, His holiness. Psalms and hymns,
there it says, sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye
all of his wondrous works. And we go on through the singing
of the psalms, we find those very things. Psalm 136 this morning,
started over here and ended up over here with his people Israel. Took them out of poverty in Egypt
and brought them into the land and the events that took place.
Do you think those who understood something really enjoyed singing
that psalm as they heard their dad and mom talk about the events
of Egypt and through the wilderness wanderings and brought them into
the promised land? How glorious that is and it is
nothing different than what happens to God's people when he reaches
down. into the depths of that pit and lifts us out, we have
been given a new song in our heart, singing glory unto Him. Over in the book of Ephesians
chapter 5, we have a comment there made about singing, and
we can admonish one another in the hymns. Oftentimes as we sing
the great hymns of the faith, those that have been brought
down to us over time, those who were written by folks who knew
something and not speculation. people who read the Bible and
not just some figment of their imagination. Those who were filled
with the Spirit and those who knew something about grace and
those who knew something about salvation and those who knew
something about the mercy of God. We have the words there
and the music there that causes our heart to just raise in melody
unto the Lord, speaking about His great feats and his wondrous
attributes and characteristics. And here in the book of Ephesians
chapter 5 verse 18, Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18, it says,
and be not drunk with wine wherein is an excess, but be filled with
the Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in
your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Singing and making melody in
your heart. Some people may not even understand the words you're
saying because it doesn't mean anything to them, but to us it
does. Oh God, I love your sovereignty. God, I love your love. God, I
love your mercy. And singing and making melody
in our heart. And then in the book of Colossians chapter 3,
Colossians chapter 3 verse 15, we have this record. Let the
peace of God rule in your hearts. To which also, Colossians chapter
3 verse 15, to the which also ye are called in one body, be
ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. I'm caused to remember the comment
of a young girl when she sang the song Amazing Grace. Oh, what a wretch I am. And she
asked her mama what that was and she said, when she found
out what it was, mama, I'm not one of those. What a testimony
that song was that day when she found out what that meant. And
the author of that hymn knew what it meant. And he knew that
only God can save worms, a wretches, and he does all the time. Everybody that's been saved has
been saved by the grace of God, by the mercy of God, and he saved
wretches. Singing songs, because he is
good for his mercy endureth forever toward Israel. We'd like to spend
the rest of our time this morning speaking about some things about
mercy because that's what we find over in the book of Ezra
chapter 3 and verse 11. They sang together by course.
Verse 11 of chapter 3 and praising and giving thanks unto the Lord
because this is the reason for it. If you have some understanding
about mercy, then it gives you some reason to sing about the
mercy of God and the grace of God. Mercy, like so many words
that we use in our English language, has lost so much of its meaning
over time. If we look at the word grace
and its original meaning, we find that it means totally unmerited
favor. Then in today's time, you can
do works of grace. Totally removed the original
meaning of the word grace. So it is oftentimes that we have
the word mercy. is taken so completely out of
the context that was used in the scriptures. This word is
used throughout the scriptures, and it's very significant in
the scriptures. In fact, as we heard this morning
in the King James, every verse in Psalm 136 ends with, for his
mercy endureth forever. Now, in some translations, and
I'm not going to argue about it, but it uses his love endures
forever. But if you ever learn the true
meaning of mercy, you will say, I appreciate his mercy enduring
forever. For the word mercy comes to us
from a legal term. Mercy presupposes something. If you appreciate the mercy of
God, that presupposes something. Now, if mercy is just a word
like my grandmother used to say, oh, mercy sakes. I loved her for saying it, but
it was out of context. We use, oh, mercy. But I'll tell
you one thing. If you're ever standing before
a judge and have been declared guilty and you plead for mercy,
and the judge has mercy upon you and lets you go, you will
know what the word mercy means. Mercy is something only somebody
who has the authority to grant permission you to go free can
use. Mercy presupposes offense. Mercy presupposes sin, a great
offense. And mercy is when punishment
for that great crime, that great offense, which is quite deserved,
is withheld. It's no wonder we want to plead
the love of God, because the mercy of God demands that we
face something. It presupposes that we are a
sinner. It presupposes that we are a
guilty sinner. It presupposes that we are a
thrice guilty sinner, and if we can get some mercy, we're
going to be thankful for it. We plead the mercy of the court. Mercy is an attribute of Almighty
God, as much as sovereignty is, or holiness is, or all of the
other glorious attributes that we run into in the Word of God.
That He is eternal, that He is unchangeable. And in the midst
of all of that, we have this attribute of God, and that is
the mercy of God. Mercy presupposes sin and mercy
is when punishment for that great crime which the guilt is deserved
is withheld to the benefit of the object of mercy. So we're
the object of mercy and we're the beneficiaries of mercy when
it is called. When the judge says, I will have
mercy. What that means is, I will withhold
just and due punishment. And grace means I will give you
all the rich blessings of Christ and you don't deserve. Mercy is an attribute of God
actively executed toward all God intends to save from their
sins. Mercy can only be exercised toward
sinners from a biblical standpoint. Now if you want to have mercy
on your dog or cat, that's your privilege. If you want to have
mercy on your neighbor, that's your privilege. But when it comes
to spiritual mercy, when it comes to God's mercy, it is only ever
given to sinners. Now, there is a part of God's
mercy that is towards everybody. You know, God would be just in
the moment in our infancy when we cry out a lie, he would be
just in saying, done. Mercy can only be exercised towards
sinners. It is an attribute directed toward
the sick and not the whole. Would you turn with me to the
book of Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. Those folks
that sang about the mercy endureth forever and really meant it,
knew what it was to have a sin offering. When they brought their
sin offering, and there was probably very few that actually did that,
that came before the priest with their best. lamb of the first
year, male of the first year, without spot and without blemish,
brought her before the priest to be slain, though that probably
was very few times that happened from the heart. Because to know
that you're a sinner is a gift of the Holy Spirit. In Matthew
chapter 9 verse 12, Matthew chapter 9 and verse 12, we're breaking
right into a great lesson the Lord is sharing. And for us to
be able to read it is like being there when he said it. And it
has the same effect upon God's people today as it had on them
in that day because it's the same spirit that applies the
truth of his word. Here in the book of Matthew chapter
9 and verse 12, and when Jesus heard that he said unto them,
they who behold need not a physician, but they that are sick. Now,
I have stopped there many times, but I want to read the next verse
because it tells us, 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. I will have mercy on sinners. That's the lesson he's teaching
us. And only upon them. There is no need if you don't
have a sin. If you have never committed a crime, you don't
need mercy. But if we're guilty before God, then God the mercy
giver, how sweet it is when he grants us mercy and said, I will
withhold all that is due you. Now, I mentioned there that to
the world, God shows some mercy. He would be right and just if
the moment I came forth from my mother's womb speaking lies,
he would have all the right to smash us instantly. But he lets
us grow to the time, he said, it is appointed unto man once
to die. But if we leave this life without
Christ, there will be no mercy. So we have this time of mercy,
and it is every time you sin, I haven't killed you. I have
the right to. So there's that mercy. But the
mercy towards his sheep is so much more significant, as we're
going to read here, his mercy puts away sin. There's no more offense. In the
book of Romans, would you turn with me to the book of Romans
chapter 9? Romans chapter 9. The apostle Paul is going to
be led by the Holy Spirit and he is one who knew the Old Testament.
I just appreciate it so much. Once in a while it happens. I'm
studying for a lesson, and I'm just kind of away from the scriptures,
and lo and behold, a verse of scripture from some place that
I wasn't even thinking about drops into my mind. Think about
the Apostle Paul as he's preparing to write here The Holy Spirit
is giving him the utterance but to recall a passage of scripture
from the Old Testament That bears witness to this in the book of
Romans chapter 9 verse 11 We have the Apostle Paul dealing
with a subject that there was a whole bunch of folks in Rome,
as well as Ephesus, and Corinth, and the Dalles, and Dufur, and
Boardman, and wherever we live. Whole bunch of folks says, that
is not fair. I don't want it. Well, the Apostle
Paul didn't care whether we wanted it or not. It's kind of like
that Maccaea this morning in the Bible class. He's been called
out to say, would you prophesy? The king says, he's always prophesying
against me. Say, please, would you agree
with the 400 that have already said it's okay, the king goes.
He said, I can only give you what the Lord has given me, and
that is not the truth. What those other guys have said.
All right, Paul said, I can only do one thing, and that is deliver
the message of God, the message of grace, the message of mercy. And mercy presupposes one important
thing, sin. And God saves sinners. All right, here in the book of
Romans 9, verse 11. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand. Not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. For what shall we say then? Is
there unrighteousness with God? He's already been given the answer
to the question that hasn't even been asked yet. Isn't that unfair? And he says, God forbid. For
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then it is not to him that
willeth, nor to him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Oh, to know a merciful God. In the book of Exodus in chapter
33 and chapter 34, this is found where Moses was told by God,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. There are sinners
everywhere, but I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy.
Don't find fault with him. Thank him that he saved one. For it takes the mercy of God,
it takes the love of God, it takes the grace of God. But this
word mercy presupposes that there are some offenders and they will
be shown that they are offenders and then they will be shown that
there is a God of mercy who will eat with sinners. Would you turn back with me to
the book of Micah? The book of Micah. One of the
small in length prophet. For you who know where the great
fish is, it's the next book. In Jonah, then Micah. Micah chapter
7. Micah chapter 7, Micah chapter
7 verse 18. I like what we heard this morning
because in so many of the books when these prophets come out
and they are sharing ruined by the fall, ruined by the fall,
you are ruined by the fall. We come to the conclusion and
they say, there's hope in God. And that's what we find here
in Micah chapter 7 and verse 18. Who is a God like unto thee? Now notice this, that pardoneth
iniquity. Who is a God like thee who pardoneth
iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? Who is a God like this that can
go by his heritage, by the remnant of his heritage, and say, I have
forgiven you, and forgiven you, and forgiven you, and forgiven
you. In other words, I have shown mercy. I will withhold what you
deserve. You deserve death, but I will
withhold that because of my mercy and not your actions. The only
time we really plead for mercy is after we've been born again
and have some quality about us that knows something. I will
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. Here he says, a God like
thee that pardoneth iniquity and passes by transgression.
Most of my religious life, there was nothing ever said about sin
and iniquity. It was about doing a better job.
Here it goes on. He retaineth not his anger for
ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 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. Thou will perform the truth to
Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou has sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. We have a covenant God decreeing
that I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and in showing
mercy, he says, I will put away all your sin. Who pardoneth iniquity? Who puts it away? Who says there
is no more? Who makes us perfect before God,
righteous before God. The imputed righteousness of
Christ is now ours because of the mercy of God. In the book
of Lamentations, now that's just right after Jeremiah. Jeremiah
was used to write the book of Lamentations and it is lamentable. He brings up a lot about ruined
by the fall. But right here in the middle,
Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3, we get
one of our hymns from this. Lamentations chapter 3 verse
22, the scripture says, it is of the Lord's mercy that we are
not consumed. Oh my. The religious world is far different
than what God has to say about mercy. Mercy is so valuable to
us. It is the mercy of God. I will withhold what you deserve. You are guilty before me and
I will withhold judgment. I'm not going to make you pass
through part of it. I'm not going to make you pass
through any of it. I'm going to put this judgment
on someone else so I can show mercy to you. There we find our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose name is mercy. Well, let's
read the rest of this. In the book of Lamentations,
chapter 3, verse 22 says, it is of the Lord's mercy that we're
not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every
morning. Great is thy faithfulness. His mercy is new every morning.
What's that mean? He takes care of everything.
Always, forever, for all his people, for all time. They will
never meet him with a stain of sin. They'll meet him only in
the perfect righteousness of Christ. God saves us not on the
basis of deeds, which we have done, but according to his mercy,
he saves us. He's never saved anybody because
they did a good deed. It's His mercy and mercy presupposes
something and that is presupposes sin. We have a nature of it. We commit it. It's all about
us. It's in us. And yet this mercy is that I
will withhold from you what you deserve. We are When we are cognizant of this
great sin, we cry for mercy. I would that you turn with me
to the book of Luke chapter 18. The book of Luke chapter 18. In here we have a comparison
between those who commit great works and those who plead for
mercy. A publican. In the book of Luke
chapter 18 verse 13, I'm not going to read this entire section
here, there were two men that went down to the temple. One
of them thankful, I'm better than everybody else. And then
in verse 13, in fact, the guy that was thankful for all he'd
done, made mention that I'm not like this guy. Verse 13, and
the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up his eyes unto
heaven, But smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me,
a sinner. The summation right there, God,
be merciful to me, a sinner. Withhold what I deserve. A great example of mercy not
only is found there, but it is declared to us in Genesis chapter
3 and verse 21. Unto Adam also and his wife did
the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. I was working on this last night
and this example came to me. Can you for a moment, for a few
moments this morning, imagine owning a very valuable, thriving,
profitable, environmentally clean, good, beautiful business and
you tell your son one day that you'll be gone on a trip and
be back in the evening. Upon your return, you find your
son squandered the entire business because he knew best. He destroyed
it all and all that was left was a nuclear holocaust that
affected every atom of the universe. What would you think and what
would you do if your son did that? I'm so mad. I'm really upset. I think probably
the only thing that I can do is just barely, well, I'm going
to beat you within an inch of your life. Now, we find out, that when Adam
sinned, and he knowingly knew that he sinned, and he knowingly
knew he was sinning against a sovereign God who had already told him
something not to do, and he went ahead and did it anyway, and
the entire universe was affected. Every atom of the universe was
affected, every blade of grass, every atom of every blade of
grass. And when God came down in the cool of the evening that
day, and Adam made up his lie. What did God do? He took his
wrath out on an innocent lamb and took the skin of that innocent
lamb and put it upon Adam and his wife. That's mercy. Adam was a chief of sinners that
day. And God showed mercy and clothed
him just like God shows mercy and clothes every one of his
sheep with a robe of righteousness. Now how could that happen? Somebody
is going to have to pay because God will not clean the iniquities
unjustly. He will not just throw them out.
There's something's going to have to happen. They need to
be paid for. That's his promise. So he took all the sin of all
his people and put those on an innocent lamb, the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And he made that lamb suffer
all the justice of God that should have been ours. And only then
can I show mercy, cuz they're paid for in Christ on the cross. You will not be separated from
me, but you'll be welcome from me because he was separated from
me and now he's welcome back. One final verse, I think. Yes,
one final verse. Would you turn with me to Matthew
chapter 11? Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11 verse 19. This next quote comes from one
of the bulletin notes that the pastor who brought me the gospel
wrote many years ago in the 1980s. And he used this text, Matthew
chapter 11 and verse 19. And the son of man came eating
and drinking, and they say, behold, a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber,
a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified over
children. The Lord's speaking about himself,
about what other folks are saying about him. The Pharisees called
our Lord the friend of sinners. They thought to brand him with
shame, because they weren't. If they walked along and their
shadow touched a leper, their shadow, touched a leper, they
went home and bathed themselves and washed their clothes. They
were not friends of sinners. They thought to brand him with
shame and hold his name up to ridicule. But what they thought
to be shame is his chief glory. He's a friend of sinners. Therefore,
he can have mercy. He is indeed the friend of sinners.
Thank God he is. That is what makes the gospel
good news. This is no shame gospel that
we preach, but it is real salvation for real sinners. It is real
grace for real guilt. We preach no gospel of merit
for moralists. We preach good news and pardon
and forgiveness for men who are nothing, have nothing, and can
do nothing. A hymn writer once wrote, And
we have this entire hymn in our green book, but he said, come
ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus
ready stands to save you full of pity, love, and power. There
is one thing that always comes out of the gospel. There is hope
for sinners. There is hope for sinners. He
came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. There is hope for sinners. That's
the gospel. So they sang the great hymns
those days as the temple foundation was being laid. And they said
great things about God because His mercy endureth forever. Thanks be unto God that He changeth
not or you sons of Jacob would be in jeopardy. Brother Mike.