24-0204a Transcript

Preacher: Mike Mathis

(0:49) Good morning, everyone. (0:51) To the visitors. (0:53) To those that are on the phone. (0:58) Good morning.

(1:00) Now, it falls upon me to give the lesson this morning in our rotation. (1:12) And my lesson is going to be, God is merciful. (1:17) Man seems to keep turning away from God.

(1:22) And why is that? (1:24) They only see one side of God. (1:28) We’ve got some that when you tell of God and the fact that he judges wickedness, (1:39) punishes those who do wickedly, (1:45) and we tell them that there is a day of judgment coming, (1:52) and that those who are not obeying God, (2:00) that on the day of judgment that they will be cast into fire. (2:10) Oh, it seems to me that God wouldn’t do…​ (2:16) God loves us.

(2:18) Yes, he does. (2:21) But if we sin, we will have judgment brought upon us, (2:34) and we are told that the unrighteous will go in to an everlasting punishment, (2:47) which is the lake of fire. (2:50) And it was made for the devil and his angels.

(3:00) But they will say, I can’t see that God would do that to man, (3:09) that he would send them to a place of fire. (3:17) On the other hand, there are those that see God. (3:22) In the Old Testament, as a God that seemingly is a bloodthirsty God, (3:37) and one who is guilty of mass murder, or at least causing mass murder, (3:44) they’re accusing the wrong person when they accuse God of being a mass murderer.

(3:53) They need to accuse the devil as Jesus as being guilty of murder. (4:05) You know, when Eve begot Eve in the garden to take the forbidden fruit, (4:21) then that caused God to drive out the man and the woman, (4:29) because not only did Eve eat the fruit, so did the man. (4:35) He took the fruit and he ate it.

(4:39) And that is when they realized that they both were naked. (4:47) So we find that God is a merciful God. (4:53) Now, the reading from Romans 9 that Roger read in your hearing, (5:07) the Apostle Paul in writing to the Romans in this chapter 9, (5:14) he is quoting Moses from Exodus 33, verses 17 through 19, (5:24) in which I’m going to read.

(5:27) And this is after the Israelites, through the leadership of Aaron, (5:37) who’s supposed to be the high priest, made a molten calf, (5:47) and they fell down and worshipped it, (5:50) while Moses was up on the mount receiving the commandments of God, (5:58) so that Moses in turn could give those instructions to the people. (6:06) But then this is what Moses was feeling at times also. (6:18) So the Lord said to Moses, (6:22) I will also do this thing that you have spoken, (6:26) for you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name.

(6:33) And he said, that is Moses, please show me your glory. (6:43) Then he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, (6:49) and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. (6:55) I will be gracious to him, I will be gracious.

(7:00) That is, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful, (7:09) and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. (7:16) So the Lord is saying that he will have mercy on whomever he wills, (7:24) and he will have compassion on whomever he wills. (7:29) He will show mercy to.

(7:34) Hebrews 8, 12 says, (7:40) For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, (7:44) and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. (7:52) Yes, we can say God is merciful. (7:58) With that in mind, I should have read Matthew 5, 7, (8:09) which, as I quoted, (8:13) Blessed are the merciful, for they shall see mercy.

(8:20) Man, in turn, should be merciful. (8:29) We should show mercy. (8:31) But we know that when man is considered, (8:36) there are times when man does not show mercy.

(8:44) He is unmerciful. (8:46) He shows no kindness to whomever it is. (8:54) He can do the same with the innocent as he does the guilty.

(9:01) But God doesn’t do that. (9:07) And we’re going to find that out. (9:12) And dropping down to verse 43 in Matthew 5, 43 through 48, (9:21) Jesus is telling His disciples, the people there, (9:27) His disciples and all the people, (9:32) He says, Love your enemies.

(9:35) Do good to those that despitefully use you. (9:39) He once prior said, (9:45) For those that are considered enemies, the people’s enemies. (9:55) And He said for them to do good unto.

(10:03) He says, starting in verse 43, (10:07) You have heard that it was said, (10:10) You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. (10:14) But I say to you, love your enemies. (10:18) Bless those who curse you.

(10:21) Do good to those who hate you. (10:23) And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. (10:41) Romans 12, 20 speaks of this.

(10:52) And the Apostle Paul is instructing the Roman brethren (10:58) in how they are to treat those about them and even their enemies. (11:11) He says in verse 20, (11:16) Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him. (11:21) If he is thirsty, give him drink.

(11:25) For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. (11:32) And I thought that since Jesus said, (11:38) You have heard it said, (11:42) You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. (11:47) Now He’s saying you love your enemies.

(11:50) That this is going to be a New Testament thought. (11:56) But it’s not. (11:59) For what Paul says in verse 20 of Romans 12, (12:12) A footnote says, (12:15) Yes, Proverbs 25 verses 21 and 22.

(12:25) That this is, (12:28) If you see your enemy hungry, feed him. (12:33) If he’s thirsty, give him drink. (12:37) So it’s in the Old Testament thought that you can do good to your enemy.

(12:45) That is the way to defeat your enemy. (12:49) Make him a friend. (12:53) Give him something to eat if he’s hungry.

(12:59) Give him something to drink if he is thirsty. (13:04) For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. (13:13) So we too, as God, is merciful.

(13:20) God’s been merciful to us. (13:23) And we ought to be merciful to others. (13:29) Well, we’re going to see a couple of examples of the mercy that God has shown from the Old Testament.

(13:41) The first one is beginning in Genesis chapter 6. (13:50) We’re going to see that man began to multiply on the face of the earth. (14:04) When he does so, it says, (14:09) Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, (14:15) and daughters were born to them, (14:18) that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, (14:25) and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. (14:32) And the Lord said, (14:50) There were giants on the earth in those days.

(14:55) And also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, (15:02) and they bore children to them, (15:05) those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. (15:10) Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, (15:19) and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (15:26) And the Lord was sorry that he had made men on the earth, (15:31) and he was grieved in his heart.

(15:38) So the Lord said, (15:40) I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, (15:46) both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the earth, (15:51) for I am sorry that I have made man. (15:56) Now we’re going to see that the wickedness is great on the earth, (16:03) and God is planning to destroy man upon the face of the earth. (16:16) But there was a man named Noah, (16:22) but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

(16:26) This is the genealogy of Noah. (16:30) Noah was a just man, (16:32) perfect in his generations. (16:36) Noah walked with God.

(16:40) So we have this then of Noah, (16:45) that he was righteous, he was a just man, (16:52) says he was perfect in his generations. (16:55) Does that mean that he was sinless? (16:58) No. (17:01) But he did his best to be just, (17:08) to be mature or complete in what he did.

(17:18) And it is said that Noah walked with God. (17:22) Now if he walked with God, (17:24) he was doing his level best to do what God wanted. (17:34) So God, seeing that the earth was corrupt before God, (17:44) and the earth was filled with violence, (17:48) so God looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt, (17:51) for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

(17:57) That’s talking about man. (18:00) But we have a righteous man. (18:05) Out of all the people then that was on the earth, (18:11) one man found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

(18:17) Now when God destroyed the earth, (18:22) when he was going to destroy it, (18:26) was he going to take Noah along with the unrighteous people? (18:34) No, God isn’t that way. (18:38) So what God does is tell Noah to build an ark. (18:43) He tells Noah that he is going to bring a flood upon the earth.

(18:49) He is going to destroy the earth with the flood (18:52) and tells Noah to make an ark. (18:58) He tells him just how to build the ark. (19:01) He tells him the dimensions.

(19:03) He tells him what to put in the ark. (19:07) He tells him what to take into the animals, (19:11) to take into the ark. (19:14) We have this declaration.

(19:18) Thus Noah did according to all that God commanded him. (19:25) So he did. (19:29) Then the Lord said to Noah, (19:32) Come into the ark, you and all your household, (19:37) because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.

(19:50) So out of all the population on the earth, (19:59) only eight souls were saved at the flood. (20:04) That is Noah and his family. (20:07) Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives.

(20:14) Totally eight souls. (20:17) They were saved. (20:19) God did not take the life of Noah and his family (20:25) because they did what God instructed them to do.

(20:33) They went into the ark after it was built. (20:38) So we find here that God’s mercy was upon Noah and his family. (20:50) The rest of the population was destroyed.

(20:55) Everything that lived, even of the animals. (21:03) And that’s the reason that he was instructed to take into the ark the animals, two by two. (21:15) Then let’s go to Genesis 19.

(21:21) We’re going to find another interesting thing here about God. (21:32) And we’re going to notice that in chapter 18, angels came to Abraham. (21:48) There were two things that they did.

(21:51) Number one, they came announcing that Sarah, who was past the age of childbearing, would bear a son. (22:08) And the other thing that they were going to reveal to Abraham (22:14) was that they were going to look upon Sodom and Gomorrah, (22:22) especially Sodom. (22:26) And so Abraham was being told that because of the fact that the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah, (22:41) especially Sodom, because Lot, Abraham’s nephew, lived in Sodom.

(22:54) Well, you know, Abraham asked God, (23:00) Will you destroy the righteous along with the unrighteous? (23:04) Surely you wouldn’t do that. (23:07) He started with 50 righteous, if there are 50 righteous within the city. (23:16) And he kept going down until he got to 10.

(23:24) If there’s 10 found in the city, would you destroy the righteous? (23:33) He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of 10. (23:39) But as it turns out, there weren’t 10 righteous found in the city. (23:49) Now, the angels were there.

(23:56) They came into Lot’s house, and Lot befriended them. (24:07) But the men of Sodom wanted to be carnal with the angels. (24:18) And he tried to.

(24:20) He begged them not to do them any harm. (24:26) And for, I can’t understand, he offered his daughters that were there (24:33) for them to do with them whatever they were intending to do with the angels. (24:42) But they wouldn’t have it.

(24:45) And when it appeared that Lot was in danger, (24:51) the angels pulled him back in the house and blinded the men, (24:58) and they just couldn’t find the door. (25:05) And so what the angels did was to drive out Lot and his wife and daughters out of Sodom. (25:16) Because, he says, we can’t do anything until you leave.

(25:23) Now, he said, don’t look back. (25:27) But on the way, Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. (25:34) And that left Lot and his two daughters.

(25:42) You know, it was said of Lot that he was a righteous soul, (25:48) so that he begged his soul over the sinfulness that Sodom was doing. (25:58) But Sodom and Gomorrah, they both were really sinful cities. (26:06) And so the cities were destroyed.

(26:11) But Lot and his two daughters, after his wife was driven out, (26:20) but Lot and his two daughters were left. (26:25) So mercy was shown to Lot. (26:31) I would say that Lot, after he made the decision that Abraham, his uncle, gave him, (26:44) when Lot’s herdsmen and Abraham’s herdsmen were back in Fearing, (26:56) he gives Lot the choice of which way to go.

(27:02) Lot chooses Sodom. (27:06) I would say that Lot regretted that choice, (27:12) because it came that the things that were going on just vexed his soul. (27:20) You see, the mercy that God provided for Lot and his family.

(27:29) But we’re going to see the mercy here in the Old Testament. (27:36) God is merciful. (27:39) If we would just look in the Old Testament.

(27:45) We need to balance it out, though. (27:47) Yes, God took care of the evil. (27:52) Yes, these people were destroyed.

(27:56) But why were they destroyed? (27:59) Because of wickedness. (28:01) And why did he spare Noah and his family, and Lot and his family, (28:11) driving them out of the city? (28:14) So the destruction came. (28:16) Yes, God is merciful.

(28:20) But he also brings judgment upon those that are wicked. (28:25) We need to balance these things out. (28:29) God is merciful.

(28:32) And as Paul was telling the Romans, (28:39) that God said, (28:40) I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. (28:45) I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. (28:52) But we’ve got two things that people will do.

(28:59) That God is so loving that he will not punish the wicked. (29:07) A God that loved us was going to send us to a devil’s hell. (29:15) But look what he did to those people.

(29:17) He destroyed the earth with a flood. (29:20) He rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah. (29:26) He destroyed those cities because of the wickedness.

(29:30) But he saved Noah and his family in the earth. (29:38) He saved Lot and his family, (29:44) but driving them out, or having them driven out of Sodom. (29:50) He was merciful to them.

(29:53) Now, we can see that God wants to be merciful to us. (30:01) He sent his Son to come to this earth to make a way for us. (30:11) The reason that he sent his Son was that his Son could die in our place.

(30:23) That through the death of his Son, we could have salvation. (30:33) But it’s our choice. (30:36) Some will make you believe that you can’t respond to the invitation that is given.

(30:48) You know, Jesus says, (30:50) Come unto me all you that are heavy laden. (30:57) We can respond to that invitation. (31:01) Whether we are alienated from God, or whether we have obeyed the gospel, (31:12) we can come to him obeying what he said for us to do.

(31:21) Obeying the gospel by believing and being baptized for the remission of our sins. (31:31) And even throughout our lives, when we live for God, (31:38) we can keep going to God because we’re still by our burdens. (31:47) But he can have mercy on us when we do.

(31:52) You know, people may holler loud and long (31:58) that when we say believe and be baptized, (32:04) or that you be baptized for the remission of sins, (32:08) that’s a word. (32:12) So is belief. (32:14) They depend on belief.

(32:18) Yes, belief is a word, but it is not faith only. (32:24) It’s not belief only. (32:27) It’s an act of belief.

(32:29) And that is what saves. (32:31) And even though we work, we can work and work and work until we drop, (32:39) that doesn’t obligate God to save us. (32:42) It’s still grace.

(32:44) It’s still mercy that he gives us and he saves us. (32:53) Yes, God is merciful. (32:58) And why not, if you haven’t done so, why not come to him? (33:05) Why not obey him? (33:07) Yes, we can obey him.

(33:10) We can obey his gospel. (33:15) Why can we not do so? (33:18) We have the choice. (33:21) You have the choice.

(33:23) Why not take that choice? (33:25) If you need to put him on in baptism, (33:30) why not do so now while you have the time? (33:36) If you have obeyed the gospel but you’ve been led astray, (33:41) why not come to him, have the church pray for you (33:45) that he will restore you back into his soul? (33:52) If there’s any other thing that is on your mind that you’re bearing the burden, (34:01) take it to Jesus. (34:03) Take it to him. (34:05) Why not come and why not see the mercy of God upon you? (34:13) Why not do so while we stand and while we sing?