The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise! Thou the resolve by God and King, thou triumphs of his grace!
This is Lacerre Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Lancers, save your freedom, glory, be thy love and grace proclaim! Thou art mighty, thou art holy, glorious is thy matchless name! Glorious is thy name, O Lord! Glorious is thy name, O Lord!
From the throne of heaven's glory to the cross of sin and shame, thou didst come to die a ransom guilty sinners to reclaim! Glorious is thy name, O Lord! Glorious is thy name, O Lord! Come, O God, immortal Savior, come and take thy royal throne! Come and reign and reign forever, be thy kingdom all thine own! Glorious is thy name, O Lord!
Glorious is thy name, O Lord! I'm thankful for this opportunity to come your way once again, bringing the message of God's grace that is given us through Jesus Christ, our Savior. If the message is a blessing to you, I hope you will write and let us know.
We will appreciate your support, which is necessary if we're going to remain on this station. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Or if you prefer a more convenient way of making a donation, you can go to our website at baptistbiblehour.org.
There, you can read The Baptist Witness, and you can also hear both our Sunday and daily broadcasts. I ask for an interest in your prayers, that the needs will be supplied. We're so thankful for the opportunity we've had through all these years to bring the message of grace, and we want to continue doing so as long as the Lord will enable us to do it.
So we would appreciate your help if you can send us a gift at this time. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Hallelujah, what a friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end. Jesus, what a guide and keeper, while the tempest still is high! Storms about, be nigh, He who takes me in my life, and He hears my cry. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Hallelujah, what a friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end. I want to read from the book of Micah, chapter 7, begin with verse 18. 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. Mercy assumes need on the part of the receiver, and resources adequate to meet that need on the part of him that bestows it. By definition, it speaks of benevolence, tenderness, pity, compassion, and clemency.
It is exercise only toward offenders. God's Word has a lot to say about His mercy. How thankful we can be for it. To appreciate the mercy of God, there first has to be a recognition of the need, the need of it. There is a need for mercy because we are all sinners. Romans chapter 3, verse 10 says that there is none righteous, no, not one. Romans chapter 3 says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That means every member of Adam's family, every human being, every person in this fallen sinful race is contaminated, corrupted, condemned by sin.
No exceptions. Somebody may say, well I just haven't done a lot of bad things preacher. I certainly have never taken up some of the terrible habits that have troubled other people's lives.
I've basically done a pretty good job. We turn to the book of James, reading in chapter 2, to find out that the best that man can do is not adequate. James chapter 2, verse 10 says, for whosoever shall keep the whole law, yet offend in one point he is guilty of all. It would indeed be a remarkable thing for a person to live a long life, maybe reaching the age of a hundred. We know this is an impossibility, but if it were possible for a person to live to be a hundred and never sin, never do anything wrong, and then on their hundredth birthday they committed one sin, you and I would probably say, well that's okay. You did a good job for all those years, and we're not going to hold one thing against you.
That's okay. But you see, God is a holy God. He cannot tolerate sin. He cannot excuse sin.
So he says, if you have kept the whole law, but just offended in one point, you just sinned one time, you're guilty, you're condemned. The book of Jeremiah chapter 44 paints a vivid picture of man by nature being a rebel, and consequently being in desperate need of the mercy of God. Jeremiah 44 verse 2, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah.
And behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein. Judgment has come, God has sent judgment, because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. They had violated the greatest of all commandments. They were to have no other gods before them.
Jesus summarized the law by saying that you're to love the Lord God with all your mind, heart, soul, and strength. These people who had been uniquely favored, delivered from Egyptian bondage, spared in their wilderness wanderings, brought into the promised land, now turned to false gods and began to worship them. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants, the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, O do not this abominable thing that I hate. I sent you my prophets.
They brought my message. They warned you, saying, O do not this abominable thing, I hate it. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore my fury and my anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they are wasted and desolate as at this day.
My, what hardness of heart, what a rebellious spirit. God directs men, calls them, sets them apart as prophets to deliver his message. They come and cry out against the sin of the people. They call them to turn from their idols, and they refused. And God therefore sent judgment and devastated their cities because of their rebellion. Verse 10, they are not humbled even unto this day, even after the judgment came, even after their cities were left desolate. They weren't humbled. Neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all Judah. Judgment came. Still they were rebellious.
They were not humbled. They were not repentant. And God said, I'm going to set my face against you. I'm going to deal further with you in way of judgment. I'm going to punish you because of your iniquities. Verse 16, as for the word that thou has spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.
Can you imagine it? For people to be so bold, so rebellious, to say we will not hearken to the word that you have sent us. Now maybe you have never spoken those words. You've never said at the conclusion of a message, I'm not going to do what that preacher talked about. I didn't care for that portion of scripture.
I'm not going to apply that in my life. You never would say those words, but your action proved that was your attitude. You heard a message that pointed out your sin, that convicted you of the error of your way, that showed you you were wrong.
But you continued on the same course. You may have even acknowledged at some point along the way, Lord I've been wrong. Even asked for forgiveness. These people hadn't done that. You may have. But then you returned to the same sin.
You went back to it once more. How sad. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth. Talk about rebellion. Man is a rebellious creature by nature. He's a sinner.
He's an enmity against God. He's determined I'm going to have my own way. I'm going to do what I want to do and nobody's going to interfere with it. Nobody's going to tell me that what I do is wrong.
I'm my own person. To burn incense unto the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her as we have done. We and our fathers and our kings and our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of vittles and were well and saw no evil. We're going to keep on making these sacrifices to the queen of heaven.
To false gods. Because when we did that we were getting along great. We were prosperous. Everything was going well. We had plenty to eat. We saw no trouble. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her we have wanted all things and have been consumed with the sword and by the famine.
In other words the attitude is it appears to us when we were worshipping this god they call the queen of heaven. We were prospered. Everything was going well. When we quit things went bad so we have no choice.
We're going to keep worshipping the queen of heaven. You might have had a similar experience. There may have been a time in your life that you were convicted of some things you were doing that you shouldn't have been doing and you turned from them. And then it seemed that troubles became more numerous.
You say I don't get it. Here at this very time I'm trying to make a positive turn in my life. It may have been that you were concerned about pleasing God. And say why is it then when I try to serve God I look around and find that my former associates, people who aren't serving God, people who are still living the way I used to live, they're getting along a lot better than I am.
And so you were inclined to go back and you did. Do you not see with this kind of an independent self will rebellious spirit that there is a tremendous need for mercy? These rebellious people claiming to be the people of God deserved nothing but his wrath. They could not claim that because Abraham is our father that surely all should be well with us. Jesus said to the Pharisees in his day if you were the children of Abraham you'd be doing the works of Abraham.
So while you might be of his natural lineage you're certainly not related to him spiritually. Isaiah chapter 64 the sixth verse, but we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. A person will begin to look back and try to think of some noble things, some good deeds, something that's worthwhile and say what about this, what about that, what about the other. Is this not all pleasing to God? He says even your righteousnesses, the things that you deemed to be worthwhile are filthy rags. Without faith it is impossible to please him. So if a person just according to human nature says I'm going to live a respectable life, I'm going to adhere to certain moral principles and that ought to be my witness to heaven. The fact is it doesn't work because even those actions that you consider to be so commendable God says are as filthy rags. We think of the Pharisee that Jesus described, he saw no need of mercy. He attempted to recommend himself to God. I thank thee God that I'm not as other men. I'm not unjust, I'm not an extortioner.
As a matter of fact I fast twice in the week and give tithes of all that I possess. No plea for mercy, he saw no need of it. And indeed there are multitudes of people today who see no need of mercy. They feel perfectly satisfied that somehow when it comes down to the hour of death that all will be well with them. That since in their mind they haven't done anything terribly wrong, they assume the good works will outweigh the bad and therefore they have no concern. They don't think in terms of needing mercy.
And then the Pharisee not only was attempting to recommend himself, he judged the publican. I thank you Lord that I'm not like this poor publican who is smiling upon his breast saying God be merciful to me the sinner. When a person fails to see the need of mercy, they become judgmental, become very critical of other people. If you recognize your need of God's mercy on a daily basis, it's going to change your attitude toward other people. You're not going to be quick to judge, criticize and condemn. So we see the need of mercy.
Let's think about the proof of it. In spite of all of your sin, you're here today. That in itself is an evidence of mercy. No doubt there have been times in your life when you have given no thought to pleasing God. You were so caught up with your own interests, your own plans, pursuing your goals, whether it was making money, seeking entertainment, gratifying the lust of the flesh, whatever it was, you weren't thinking about God. Jesus says you're to love the Lord with all your mind, heart, soul and strength.
You showed no evidence of loving him at all. Times that your sin had been blatant, that you indeed followed the lust of the flesh. You sought only to fulfill the desires of the flesh and maybe used his name in vain. You went to the wrong places associated with the wrong people. And if that were not the case, if it were not these outward things, it would be so evident to anyone that you were following a sinful course. You know, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? So it may then down to the depths of your heart, you were prompted to have evil thoughts and desires. And you had an attitude toward other people that certainly was not pleasing to God. In old times, the penalty for breaking the law was death. Someone who committed adultery was stoned to death. A rebellious teenager who did not honor his or her parents was stoned to death.
Parents continued to have problems with a rebellious child. They brought him to the priest. He was stoned to death. What would it be today if the strictness of the law were meted out upon you? The fact is, if it were not for the mercy of God, none of us would be here today.
We would be in hell. Furthermore, there is proof of it. By the great number who are saved, they are trophies of the mercy of God. Revelation chapter 5 verse 9. And they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for Thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Think of the teeming multitudes that have been saved by the grace of God since the morning of time, since Adam and Eve, we believe, after the fall, were saved by God's grace because He gave them the promise that there would be that one who would come to bruise the serpent's head.
People from all over the world, people from varied backgrounds, people who may have lived upright lives, acceptable to society, but certainly not to gain an admission to heaven, people who had sunk to the depths and lowest of sin, but saved by the grace of God. What are they doing? They're singing. They're singing a song of praise. They sung a new song, Thou art worthy to take the book. They're singing praise to the one who had redeemed them, purchased them, washed them in His blood. Revelation chapter 19 verse 6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thundering saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Just think of it, if you've been saved by God's grace, you're going to be in that multitude someday. We sing about that. We sing about what a glorious thing it's going to be when we all get to heaven. We sing many songs about heaven. We hear many sermons about it.
But do you not find it difficult to try to really grasp it? What will it be in that time? What will it be after you have a resurrected body to stand in the presence of Jesus Christ with all the teeming multitudes saved through the ages by God's grace, lifting up a chorus, rejoicing, no interference, no guilty conscience to deal with, no consequence of sin now to suffer at this time, no division, a united chorus of redeemed souls giving glory to the Lamb that was slain, giving the praise and honor that is due Him. That's mercy. How wonderful to consider the mercy of God. When we've been convicted of our sin, we recognize our unworthiness and know that God is not obligated to us. But to know that He gives us mercy through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ gives us great joy and we want to continually praise Him for it.
I hope that you were right this week. Until next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. Those grace that gave me to the Lamb, Who all my sorrows drew. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217.
That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. While pressing on to God. Praise God, my soul to pray, and make my eyes o'erfold. And will not let me go. Praise all the world shall crown, through everlasting days. When the top holds stone, and well deserves the praise.
