Open in your Bibles with me to
the book of Philippians chapter 1. I preached out of Philippians
1 last week and I want to just read the last few verses of this
chapter leading up to our text this morning in Philippians 2.
The title of the message is Four Provisions of Grace. It's a marvelous thing that when
you come to an understanding of the marvelous and matchless
grace of God is that in reality, in Christ, God has provided for
His people everything that He requires of His people. A false
religion doesn't believe that. They don't rest in that fact.
But God in Christ has provided already everything that He requires
of His people in Christ. Now, in Philippians chapter 2,
we have encouragements, exhortations to humility, humility, something
that the natural man knows nothing of in the sight of God. We have
encouragements, exhortations to love and to unity, unity in
Christ, humility before God in Christ, love of Christ shed abroad
in our hearts and unity. And in the one most important
passage here, beginning in verse 5 of chapter 2, he speaks of
the mind of Christ, and he gives us the great motive and goal
in Christ and his example. Our motive is God's grace in
Christ. Our goal is to be like him. But
he started back up here in verse 27 of chapter 1. Look at this
with me. He says, only let your conversation be as it becometh
or as is appropriate or befitting to the gospel of Christ. That
word conversation, I dealt with it last week. It's citizenship.
It's our position in the kingdom and family of God by His grace. We are so blessed among men and
women. And we take that blessing for
granted. I mean, that's, you know, you say, well, we ought
not do it, but we do. We take the blessings of God
in Christ for granted. All of us. And that's why we're
met together this morning. That's why we have to glean and
feed upon the Word of God. That's why God puts us through
the fire and through the water, some through the water, some
through the flood, some through the fire, but all through His
blood. And we're going to go through a lot of things in this
life. You're going to have different
experiences than I have. You're going to have different
decisions to make, different problems. But all of it, when
it comes out in the wash, you know, it's our only hope is through
the blood of Christ. Isn't that right? And there's
no way that any of God's ministers or preachers can stand up and
address your particular problem in a sense, but in a way we can.
We know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin,
and we are a people who are cleansed from sin. With all of our problems,
with all of our shortcomings, with all of our sin, we're cleansed
in the sight of God. I'm going to preach tonight on
that issue, how Satan, he won't stop accusing the brethren, but
his accusations have no place, because before God, we're justified
in Christ. And that's how God, when He looks
at me, He sees Christ. Somebody says, well, He doesn't
see me. Well, He sees me, but He sees me in Christ. And that's
the issue. And so when He says, let your
citizenship, let your conversation, that's your whole being. That's
who you are. That's how you are identified.
That's what He's talking about here. What is my identification? You know, some people, the first
thing, if you meet somebody new, the first thing they'll ask is,
what do you do? Because they identify you with your work.
And that's how, you know, anything from a doctor to a ditch digger,
that's how they identify. Well, how are we as the people
of God to be identified? Well, we're to be identified
as citizens of the kingdom, members of the household and family of
God Almighty through Christ. And that's to be our identification.
It's what Believer's Baptism is all about, a public identification. of that fact already in the annals
of God's purpose and in our reality. So act like people who are blessed. I made a statement last week.
I said if you were the richest man in the world, you wouldn't
live eating out of a garbage can, would you? Well, you shouldn't. Feed upon the glories and the
riches of God's grace in Christ. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. So he says you're saved by grace.
You're honored and blessed by God, washed in his blood, clothed
in his righteousness. Now let's act like it. That's
what he's saying. Somebody says, well, we're in union together.
Well, I read a story last week. A fellow said, you know, you
can have union without unity. And he used this example. He
said, if you take two cats and tie their tails together and
throw them over a clothesline, you've got union. But you don't
have unity. Well, let's have unity. That's
what we want. Our union is in Christ. Our union
took place 2,000 years ago when we died with Him, was buried
with Him, and rose again the third day with Him. That's our
union. And we're brought into that union
by the Spirit in the new birth when He lets us in on it. And
now let's be unified in our hearts, in our minds. This is what Paul
is saying. Look here in verse 27. He says, He says, that whether
I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs,
that you stand fast in one spirit, like a soldier in the army of
the Lord, standing fast in one spirit. See, not five different
people going five different directions, but all in one spirit, by the
Spirit of God, with one mind that is in agreement on this
issue. Now, there's going to be a lot of things we don't agree
on. That's all right. But we agree on this. We agree
on how God saves sinners. We agree on how it's by His grace
in Christ, that Christ is our all in all. We agree that our
goal is the glory of God and not personal ambition, not personal
preferences. You say, I prefer something else.
Well, big deal. That's basically what Paul's
saying. Big deal what you prefer. Here's what God says. It's not
what we prefer, it's what he prefers. And striving together,
that is facing opposition together for the faith of the gospel,
for the truth of God's grace in Christ. And that's precious,
isn't it? You see, in order to do this,
I mentioned in another message, the grace of God in action and
attitude, that we're to walk worthy in our doctrine, Somebody
says, I want Christ, I don't want doctrine. You can't have
Christ without his doctrine. You can't. He is the truth. And if you love him, you love
the truth about him. You love the truth of him. You
love the truth in him. And that's so. You can't love
Christ and not love who he is. Isn't that right? We're going
to see that. Walk worthy in doctrine. Walk
worthy in our conduct, in our works. Walk worthy in our attitude
and spirit. Look at verse 28, he says, and
in nothing terrified by your adversaries. In other words,
when people oppose you, when the world stands against you,
don't be surprised. Christ said, marvel not if the
world hates you. It hated me before it hated you.
And he says, their opposition to Christ and his church is to
them an evident token, an evidence of perdition. That's damnation.
But to you, you standing fast. and firm, striving together in
the faith of the gospel for Christ and His glory, that's an evidence
to you of salvation. And that of God. It's not of
you. We wouldn't stand if left to ourselves, would we? No way. We'd phone in a minute. We'd
wilt like lettuce in a hot frying pan, wouldn't we? That's the
way it is. We wouldn't do it. It's of God.
God saves us, God keeps us, God blesses us, and God will bring
us into glory. I've said it so many times, but
it's true, in spite of me, in spite of ourselves. Well, look
at verse 29. For unto you it is given on the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer
for his sake. Faith is not only the gift of
God, it is. That not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God, not of worthless to any man should bow. But this
privilege, and I'll tell you what, now this is tough, but
it's an honor to suffer on the behalf of Christ. And I always
think about the disciples that when they, after Pentecost, when
they were preaching the gospel throughout Jerusalem, and they
were experiencing so much opposition and persecution, they were thrown
in jail, and God led them out of jail, and they went away from
that place rejoicing that they were honored to suffer for the
cause of Christ. That's a gift of God. And then
he says in verse 30, having the same conflict which you saw in
me and now here to be in me. In other words, Paul's saying
just because I'm in prison, don't think that we're not going through
the same things because we are. This is common to every child
of God in some degree. Now, not to every degree. We
live in a day, for example, which we don't have to fear our government,
not yet anyway, in our worship services. We can worship here
this morning freely as God leads us without fear of being arrested,
being killed. But you know, they couldn't back
then. They could not back then. Paul, the first time he preached
the gospel, after God converted him, he had men wanting to kill
him. And they had to let him down
in a basket over the city wall to get him out of town and send
him back home. And you know what he did on the way home? He preached
the gospel. He didn't stop. Now that's the grace of God.
So this is the issue. So that's walking worthy in attitude
and spirit. Well, look at chapter 2. Look at verse 1. I'm only
going to go through verse 1, but the whole thing here, this
four provisions of grace, because there's four things here that
if we don't have a handle on them according to God's testimony,
the rest of it means nothing. He says, now if There be therefore
any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, if, if, if, if."
All right. He says in verse 2, "...fulfill
ye my joy, that ye be light-minded, having the same love, being of
one accord, of one mind, let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory, personal ambition, but in lowliness of mind," that's
humility, "'let each esteem other better than themselves.'" Now,
I'll tell you, that's impossible to the natural man, these things. "'Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.'" And then he
launches out on that great, great portion where he talks about
Christ and His birth all the way up to His glory, who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, Christ the God-man. All of this, you see. Now, this
issue has to do with confidence in Christ. It has to do with
commitment to Christ. It has to do with the courage
of Christ. And then it has to do with contentment
from Christ, to accept humbly His will and His way. And those
are the things that promote fellowship. They promote unity. They promote
love in the body of Christ. They help us to avoid strife,
pride, and self-serving ambition. Now, how is that so? Well, there's
four provisions of grace here, and there are four ifs. Now,
that word, if there, could be translated better, since. It's
almost like he's saying this. It's not a conditional thing.
It's not a conditional if. In other words, he's not saying,
if you will meet these conditions, here will be the result. Here's
what he's saying. By the grace of God, since there
be therefore any consolation in Christ. Since there's consolation
in Christ. Since there's comfort of love.
Since there's fellowship of the Spirit, since there are vows
and mercies, therefore, since this is the case, this is a statement
in view of this fact that it is so. And again, these are provisions
of grace. This is what God provides for
His people. I love those Old Testament passages where it talks
about Israel going into the wilderness. And they left all the flesh pots
and all the provisions and all the ease of Egypt And their question
is asking the Psalms, can God provide a table in the wilderness?
Can God feed you in the wilderness? Can He provide? Well, let me
tell you, can He provide? Oh my, so He can provide more
than we could ever imagine. Well, that's what this is talking
about. So the commandments to love and humility, unity, are
all based upon the divine provisions of Christ. Let me go through
them. Here, the first one is consolation in Christ. Why? because Christ is our consolation. What is that? That's comfort.
That's peace. That's joy in our union with
Christ. That's confidence in Him. Even
though we're sinners within ourselves, we have a perfect, listen, we
have a perfect standing before God in Christ, having been justified
freely by His grace. Even though we are who we are,
and even though we fall short in every way at every turn, Have
you ever considered anything you've done as being perfect?
Well, if you haven't, it falls short. That's what God's law
says. And I want you to turn back to
Luke chapter 2. Christ is our consolation. Christ
is our perfection. Christ is our sin bearer. Christ
is our sin offering. Christ is our righteousness.
That's what consolation in Christ means. He's our great consoler. And look here in verse 25 of
Luke chapter 2. Now listen to this very carefully.
Listen to what this man Simeon says. Behold there was a man
in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This is after the birth of Christ
and marrying Joseph or bringing him to the temple, bringing the
baby Jesus to the temple to be dedicated and all. And it says
this, there was in the temple a man named Simeon. The same
man was just and devout and it says waiting for what? What was
he waiting for? The consolation of Israel. What
do you suppose he's waiting on? It says the Holy Ghost was upon
him. Well, it's the Holy Spirit being upon him and in him that
caused him to wait for the consolation of Israel. And it says in verse
26, it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should
not see death, this man was not going to die, before he had seen
the Messiah, the Lord's Christ. The Holy Spirit told this man,
you're not going to die before you actually see the Messiah.
What a revelation. And it says in verse 27, Simeon
came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents, that is
Joseph and Mary, brought in the child Jesus to do for him after
the custom of the law, it's probably his circumcision and his dedication.
Then took he him up in his arms." Simeon took this baby up in his
arms and blessed God. It means he praised God and he
said, now look at it, he said, "'Lord, now let us thou thy servant
depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation.'" Oh my son, he's holding a baby
in his arms. Flesh and blood, an infant. who
in his humanity can't even speak yet. All of that. And Simeon held this baby in
his arms and said, mine eyes have seen God's salvation. This is the Messiah. Isn't that
amazing? Can you read that and just walk
away unaffected? I can't. Waiting for the consolation. That baby was Simeon's Savior. That baby was Simeon's redeemer. That baby was Simeon's justifier. You see, this is the issue of
the birth of Christ. It's not how many toys can you
buy and sell. It's not a nativity scene. It's
not just getting together and singing Christmas carols. It's
my eyes have seen God's salvation. The salvation that God has provided
for sinners like me. That's the issue, isn't it? Right
there in his hands was the consolation of spiritual Israel. The comfort,
the peace, the reconciliation. All of it right there in this.
The one whom Simeon held in his hands was the God-man. That was
God in his hands. You can't contain God in the
hands of men. But here's the God-man. God in human flesh. The Word made flesh and tabernacling
among us. That baby that Simeon held was
Simeon's lord, Simeon's king. Whatever Simeon was doing for
that baby, it was nothing compared to what that baby was going to
do for Simeon. You see that? If there be any consolation in
Christ, mine eyes, I'm ready to die, Simeon said. I'm ready
to go. Peace on earth, good will. Literally,
as recorded in Luke chapter 2, towards men of God's goodness,
men of God's choice. And it says here in verse 31,
He said, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people,
a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
Now, Orsinian knew that God had an elect people out of every
tribe and nation. He knew this. Look back at Philippians
2. You see, this is the issue. Consolation in Christ. When God
looks down on us who know Him and rest in Him, believe in Him,
He sees His Son. Oh, our main concern is not so
much, are we doing enough? Am I doing enough? Enough for
what? Well, the basic stock answer to that is no. And if you ever
think you're doing enough, the Bible calls that self-righteousness.
and pride. Could we ever repay? And somebody
said, well, you know, God, you know, if you don't do this, God's
going to get payment some way. Could you ever imagine yourself
paying God for what he's given you? Is that possible? Absolutely not. Are we doing
enough? That's not our concern so much,
but this, are we in Christ? Do we rest in him? Do we love
him and his people? When we sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He's my advocate. Behold, what matter of love,
John said, that we should be called the sons of God. We who
are sinners. And the world knoweth us not,
because it knew him not. So that our consolation in Christ
is this, that who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect. It's God who justifies. Who can
condemn us? It's Christ that died. That's
my consulate. He died. He lived a perfect life. He died a perfect death under
the sins of his people. He paid the debt perfectly. He
died, was buried, and rose again the third day because of our
justification. He ascended under the Father.
He ever liveth to make intercession for us, and he's able to save
us to the uttermost. That's our consolation in Christ.
Is your hope in Him? You see, unity and love and humility
is the fruit of our union with Him and our consolation in Him. Now, you claim to be a Christian.
I claim to be a Christian. Well, are you living out of His
grace? Or are you living in total neglect of His grace? Are you
trying to earn His grace? That's what they call an oxymoron. two things that are opposite.
You can't earn His grace, you can't earn His mercy. He earned
it all. So if there be any consolation
in Christ, our comfort, our peace, our assurance is in Him. Look
at the second thing. He says, if any comfort of love. Now what He's talking about there,
since there's comfort of love, He's talking about an assurance
of God's love for us. Now my question is this, how
is that possible? How can I know that God loves me? Are you interested
in that? Somebody said, well, doesn't
he love everybody? Well, he didn't love Esau. Romans chapter 9 and
verse 13 says, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. You say, well, that's not fair.
Oh, yes, it is. God doesn't do anything that's
not fair and not just. Read Romans 9, the whole passage.
That's what Paul's teaching. That's what the Holy Spirit's
teaching there. Whatever God does is right. If God loves me,
it's right. If God hates me, it's right.
Are you willing to submit to that? If you're not, then there's
no humility. You don't know God. Now, I'm
telling you the truth. Whatever God does is right. Whatever
God does is just. Whatever God does is good. You
all believe that? We do, don't we? Something is
not right. Listen, God doesn't do things
because they're right. They're right because God doesn't.
Because he's God. And that's how high above us
God is. You say, well, I can't understand all that. Well, I'm
not asking you to. And I'm not telling you to. And
I believe if you could understand all that, you would be God. And
we should have you up here and we'd all be worshiping you. But
we can't. We're human. We're flesh. We're
clay pots. We're limited. We're finite.
We're changeable. We're sinful. But God, in all
of His mercy and His grace, He does love a people. Somebody
said, well, look back at Proverbs chapter 6. Look at this. Who
does God hate? Well, now, God's hatred. Now,
listen to me. God doesn't hate like I hate. My hate is selfish. My hate is vengeful. My hate
is personal. I mean, you step on my toes,
you know, and that's just old pride. But God, you know what
God's hatred in the Bible is? Now, mark this down. Whenever
you see these terms about God's hate, God's hatred, think of
it this way. Justice. That's what it is. God's justice. Now, if you had
a criminal, who actually committed the crime, and it was proven,
and he came up before the judge, and the law says death to that
man, and the judge pronounces the sentence of death, are you
going to walk away and say, man, that sure is a hateful judge?
He must have hated that fella. No. He's a just man. That's what the law would say.
Now, in us, our hatred is sinful. But in God, it's just. It's just. And it's deserved. Somebody said,
well, why did God hate Esau? The question is, why did God
love Jacob? That's unearned. That's undeserved. How could God love a sinful mess
like me? That's amazing. That's what's
so amazing about grace. And any love that's less than
that is not marvelous. We love, but we love extensions
of ourselves. We love those who are like ourselves.
That's what Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount. He said,
what of it if you love those who love you? He said, the heathen
do that. He said, love your enemies. Now,
that's where it hits the road, doesn't it? Love your enemies. Well, look here in verse 16 of
Proverbs 6. This is God speaking. He says,
These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination
unto him. a proud look, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood, and heart that deviseth
wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord
among brethren." God hates them. That's the description of a man
without Christ. or a woman without Christ right
there. That's why God hates them. The thing about it is, the Bible
says, Psalm 5, 5, "...the foolish shall not stand in thy sight,
thou hatest all workers of iniquity." Psalm 11 and verse 5, "...the
Lord trieth the righteous." Who are the righteous? Sinners saved
by the grace of God. "...but the wicked, and him that
loveth violence, his soul hated." Now here's the question. Turn
to 1 John 4. How can I know? How can I have
any comfort? I'm a sinner. How can I have
any comfort of love and know that God for certain does not
hate me but that He loves me? Huh? Well, look at 1 John 4. He says in verse 6 of 1 John
4, We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God, and is born again by the Spirit of God. The love of
God shall be brought into his heart, and knoweth God. He that
loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love." Now, back to my
question. How can I know that God loves
me? That's what that comfort of love is talking about in Philippians
2. I'm assured of it. Well, look at verse 9. In this
was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent
his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through
him, hearing his love. Here it is. Now, it's not complicated. It's not deep. It's not something
you have to strive for all your life. Here it is, he says, not
that we love God. You say, well, when I'm such
a sinner, my love is so pitiful, therefore I cannot be assured
of God's love for me. Not so. Herein is love, not that
we love God. If God's love could only be assured
and engaged upon our love for him, we'd all be lost. All right? If God loving me were conditioned
on my loving him, then the only thing I could be assured of is
God's hatred. But here it is, he says, not that we love God,
but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins, the sin bearer, the sinner. Now, here's the issue. Comfort of love is connected
with consolation in Christ. Who's your consolation? Who's
your comfort? Who's your hope? Who's your peace? Where do you find rest and relief?
If it's in Christ, that's the objects of God's love. There's
the comfort of love. For He is our comfort. He's the
God of comfort, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. In Him are all the promises of
God made sure and certain. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock
I stand. And all other ground is sinking
sand." Now that's an object of God's love. There's the comfort
of love. I'll tell you, look to Christ.
You want God's love? Herein is love. Not that you
love God. You didn't. And I didn't. We
do now, but that's by His grace, isn't it? And even our love now
is so pitiful and imperfect. We have to pray, God forgive
me for the weakness of my love. But here it is that He sent His
Son to be the comfort, the consolation, the sin-bearer, the righteousness
of His people. Here's the third one. He said
in Philippians 2, if there's any fellowship, since there's
fellowship of the Spirit. This fellowship of the Spirit
is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Paul described it in
Ephesians chapter 4. Look with me. What it is, is a bond of union
that cannot be broken. And listen to me, it cannot even
be broken by us. And sometimes we try. To our
shame. Sometimes we who are children
of God do not walk worthy of the gospel of Christ. A saint is what? A sinner saved
by grace. I read a description of a man
in history who used to quote scripture, write religious pamphlets,
talk about the mercy of God, the rule of God, the destiny
that was set for him of God. You know who was describing?
Adolf Hitler. Isn't that amazing? Adolf Hitler. And I read in the scripture of
a man who was a murderer, an adulterer, who couldn't control
his own family. You know who's describing? The
sweet psalmist of Israel, David. The world doesn't like to hear
talk like that. Preacher, preacher. You're going to give every one
of these people in this building an excuse to go out here and just do anything
they want to do. You know what? The world cannot
accept the reality of grace. And we who know the reality of
grace have a hard time with it sometimes, don't we? You see, the church has to be
a hospital for sinners. And who are we in fellowship
with? I'll tell you where our fellowship is, our union is.
We're all sinners and we all need Christ. That's the common
bond of union. We need the grace of God. If
God were to come down into this building right now in the person
of His Son and mark iniquities, charge, in other words, charge
our sins to our account, who among us would stand? Would I?
No, sir. Would you? No. You see, we're
all in the same boat. And some of us may try to jump
out, but you can't because He holds us. He holds us. Fellowship of the Spirit. Look
at Ephesians 4 and verse 1. He says, I therefore the prisoner
of the Lord. Paul was in prison when he wrote to Ephesus. He
was in prison when he wrote to Philippians. He said, I beg you,
beseech you that you walk worthy of vocation wherewith you're
called with all lowliness and meekness and long-suffering forbearing
one another and putting up with a lot." You say, how much? More than you can count. That's
what he told Peter. How much? How many times am I
to forgive this person? Seventy times seventy. That's
not, don't get out your calculators. Don't do that. Oh, he's simply
saying there's no end to it, Peter. Because that's how I've
forgiven you. He says, endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit. That means that we ought to work
hard to keep the unity. Remember what I said. We're in
union in Christ. We who know Him. But we're to
endeavor to keep the unity, not to be saved, but because we already
are, since there's fellowship of the Spirit. That's what Paul's
talking about in Philippians 2. We don't make our fellowship. If we made our own fellowship,
we wouldn't be together here this morning. Some of you would
be home watching a ball game. Some of you would be out doing
this. Some of you would be out doing that, whatever your particular
interest is. God brings this fellowship together.
You see, God puts things where He wants them. Now, men gripe
and complain. And they say, I don't prefer
it that way. What did I say before? Big deal. Big deal. It doesn't matter what I prefer,
what you prefer. And that's what he's talking about, in the bond
of peace. The unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Not like
those two cats dangling from the clothesline. And he says,
here's the basis of it. Verse 4, there's one body, one
Spirit, one church, one Holy Spirit. Even as you're called
in one hope of your calling, one Lord. Christ is the head
of the church, not me. Not the elder. Not anybody. One faith, that's one gospel.
One baptism, that's our union with Christ. That's not talking
about believer's baptism. There's only one mode of baptism.
That's believer's baptism by immersion. But that's not what
that's talking about. That's talking about our unity,
union with Christ. One God and Father of all who is above all
and through all and in you all. You see there? That's the fellowship
of the Spirit. It's a common participation in
the same thing. The glory of God. the salvation
of sinners and the edification and growth of the church. Look
at the last one, Philippians 2. He says, if any, bows and
mercies. Now what he's talking about is
affection and mercy. The bows there, that was a physical
emblem of the seat of our feelings and our emotions and our affection. So if there's any affection and
mercy, now there's got to be affection and mercy. That's a
provision of God's grace. Has to do with compassion and
care. We who have been the objects
of such unearned grace and mercy and forgiveness. Oh, my soul. How could we not be forgiving,
compassionate? Remember, grace is God giving
good things to those who are undeserving. Mercy is God not
giving bad things to those who are deserving of love, compassion,
care, forbearance, forgiveness to those who do not deserve it.
That's what he's saying. That's what mercy is. Somebody
shows mercy. That means they they show mercy
to somebody who doesn't deserve what they're showing. They're
giving to somebody who doesn't deserve it. You say, well, he
don't deserve it. Neither do you. When God saved your soul,
did you deserve it? When God sent His Son in the
world, did He do it because we deserved it? When God loved us
with an everlasting love, and that's what the Scripture says
it is, from before the foundation of the world, did He look down
through the telescope of time and find out who deserved it?
No. Here is love. Not that we love
Him. Undeserving. The Bible says,
blessed are the merciful. Look over at Matthew 5. Let's
look at this in closing. Matthew 5. And you know what? When you start
looking at people and saying, well, who deserves this? Who
deserves that? That's the same thing as what Christ said when
he said, judge not that you be not judged. You see, somebody says, well,
you did this, you did that, you've got this moral problem. Listen,
before you start picking out the splinter in my eye, remove
that great big beam in your own. That's what Christ said about
that. That's right. Are you going to pass judgment
and all that? Who deserves what? No. He says in verse 3, he said,
blessed are the poor in spirit, Matthew 5, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they'll be filled. Blessed
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Mercy for the merciful. And it's all by the grace of
God. Look over at verse 39. He says in verse 39. He says,
I say in you that you resist not evil, but whosoever shall
smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. You
know, we read over those scriptures and we talk about Christians
and Christianity. I mean, that's a reality there
now. And listen, you ought to read the commentators on that
one, how they try to finagle that one around. Look at verse
40. If any man will sue thee at the
law and take away thy coat, well, let him have thy cloak also.
He's going to take away your outer coat, let him have your
inner coat too. Just give him the whole thing. And whosoever
shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him too. Give to him
that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow thee, turn
not thou away. You've heard that it hath been
said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, but I've
seen you love your enemies. Bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you." Now he says in verse 45, it says,
that you may be the children of your father. The sense of
it is because you are the children of your father. which is in heaven. For he maketh his son to rise
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and the unjust. For if you love them which love
you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the
same? And if you salute your brethren
only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so?
Be ye therefore perfect." That's a high calling, isn't it? Even
as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. Well, that's a goal. And again, it's not to be saved,
as I go back, it's all provisions of grace in Christ, in the comfort
of His love. But what does the Scripture say?
Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted. Tender-hearted means to be understanding
and compassionate, keeping in mind that but for the grace of
God there go I. Forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. You're already
forgiven. Paul said, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and
beloved. In other words, you're the elect
of God, you're already holy and beloved in Christ. Put on vows
of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering,
forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. If any man have
a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do
ye. And remember that. If thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Verse 4 of that
same chapter 130 in the psalm says this, But there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. There is forgiveness
with God, that he may be worshipped and served. Those are four glorious,
gracious provisions that God gives in Christ. I hope that
has been helpful to you.