The Magnificence of Mercy | Part 2

Aren't you thankful God Welcome to Love Worth Finding. As Adrian Rogers revealed in part one of today's message, mercy is not softness. It is compassion in action. And the magnificence of mercy is that those who have received it can show it to others. When Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10, he revealed the symbolism of our salvation. When others passed by us in our despair and need, Jesus rescued us, healed and cleansed us, covered our debts. Jesus calls us to do the same for our neighbors, that when we are merciful, we are acting like God himself. How can we develop a spirit of mercy for others? If you have your Bible, turn to Matthew chapter five, as Adrian Rogers reveals more about the magnificence of mercy. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

This is a God-like characteristic that is in the heart and mind of those who have been born again. And the way it shows is by having a heart full of mercy. Those who have received mercy beyond the shadow of any doubt of peradventure will show mercy. Now, what is mercy? My dear friend, it is compassion in action. That's what mercy is.

Not softness, not sentiment, but compassion in action. Now, I want us to think about this beatitude, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. First of all, think with me, if you would, about the beauties of mercy. Did you know that the quality of mercy is one of the most beautiful characteristics of God? And when you're merciful, you're acting like God. Lamentations chapter three and verse 22, it is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. You think about it, because his compassion fails not. There God links mercy with compassion. It is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed.

His compassion, they fail not. And then he goes on to say, they are new every morning. Every morning, you can wake up and greet the mercy of God. Have you ever thought about the fact that for you to fail to live this day, God doesn't have to take your life? All he has to do is stop giving it. Every day is a gift from God. His mercies are new every morning. It is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed.

My dear friend, listen. Jesus Christ has shown every one of us mercy. And mercy is not softness. It's not sentiment. It is compassion. Compassion in action.

And oh, how we need to learn the message of mercy, not with the indifference of the priest and the Levite, not with the iniquity of those who beat up the man, but with the involvement that life calls for. I don't know where you live, my dear friend, but in your city, I want to tell you the three classes of people. Let me tell you what they are. They are the beater uppers, the passer uppers, and the picker uppers.

That's all the world's made out of. The beater uppers, those people who would rob and kill and destroy. Every pornographer is one of them. Every beer baron and liquor dealer, as far as I'm concerned, is one of them. Every abortionist is one of them.

Those are the beater uppers. I'm telling you, we have people today who have been bruised and battered. Some are wounded domestically. Some are wounded psychologically. Little children who have been abused and battered, some of them sexually abused. Some of them are wounded economically. They're victims of slum lords, unfair economical practices. Some are wounded spiritually. They've been caught up in the cults and false doctrine and liberalism.

When they've gotten into those movements, they're twice full, the child of hell. I'm telling you, the bruised and the battered and the beat up are all around us. There are the beater uppers.

There are the passer uppers, and many of them, God help us, have their names on church rolls somewhere, but then they're the picker uppers. You're one of the three, my dear friend. Either you're like those thieves who said what's yours is mine and I'm going to get it, or you're like the priest and the Levite who said what's mine is mine and I'm going to keep it, or you're going to be like the good Samaritan who says what's mine is mine, but you can have it if you need it. I'm here to share, and I'm here to serve, and I'm here to minister. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Quickly now, I want you to think with me not only about the beauties of mercy. I'm telling you, my dear friend, that mercy is a beautiful thing because it is God-like, but what is the basis of mercy? The basis of mercy. How do you show mercy? Well, my dear friend, let me say this. There can be no mercy without proof.

Did that sink in? There can be no mercy without truth. I'm talking to you about the basis of mercy. Now let me give you a verse. Psalm 85 and verse 10. Mercy and proof are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. I took my concordance and I looked up place after place where God links mercy and truth together. I knew it was there, but I was amazed at the verses in the Bible where God conjoins mercy and truth. All real mercy is rooted in truth. Now what I mean by that is to show mercy is not to minimize sin. Mercy is not sentiment. When you show mercy, you withhold judgment. And when you withhold judgment, that means that judgment is really needed, really expected. Mercy is the withholding of judgment. Have you ever heard anybody say, is it fair for God to do this or fair for God to do that?

Or have they ever gotten in the silly discussion with you about whether God is fair or whether God is not fair? Praying God is not fair. Don't ever expect God to be fair. God is not fair.

Now wait a minute. I'm not finished yet. God is not fair. Do you know when I expect somebody to be fair to me, that means I have it coming to me.

Give me what I have coming. Be fair. In other words, I deserve this. See, that's fairness. You give me my part.

It's like children arguing about a will. It's not fair that you get this and I don't get that. That's fairness. God doesn't deal with us on the basis of fairness.

God deals with us on the basis of mercy. We don't deserve anything. When a man is looking for fairness, he's not happy when he gets what he deserves because he figures I deserve it. He's only mad because he didn't get it sooner and doubly mad if somebody else gets more.

I mean, that's the object. That's fairness. God is not fair. God is just and merciful. The justice of God says that sin must be punished.

That is truth. And once you see that truth, then you cry out for mercy. Then you cry out for mercy. God is not some maudlin sentimentalist who just says, oh, tut, tut. Yeah, you've sinned, but I'm a merciful God. I'm a merciful God. That's all right.

Friend, let me tell you something. If you refuse the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's no hope for you. Don't think that you're going to come to the judgment one day. You refuse Jesus. You trample underfoot the precious blood of Jesus. And then you say, well, God is merciful.

I'll just come to the final judgment and I'll just stand before God and I'll say, well, yeah, God, that's right. I denied you. I refused you. I cursed you.

I ignored you. I went my own sinful way. Here I am at the judgment. Have mercy, Lord.

Do you think you'll get mercy? Let me give you a verse of scripture. Listen to it. It's one of the most frightening scriptures in all of the Bible. Hebrews 10, verses 28 and 29, he that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. In the Old Testament, when a man saw the law of God, he said, I don't give a rip about the law of God. He sins. God says he'll die without mercy. Well, you say, that's Old Testament. All right. Now, let's continue to read in verse 29.

Listen to this. Now, you think that was bad? You think that was bad? Of how much sorer, S-O-R-E-R, of how much more radical deep punishment suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified and unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? Do you think, do you think, that Jesus Christ could have died in agony and blood for you, and you sit in a church building and hear a preacher preach about the love of Jesus Christ, that he died for you? And then do you think, my dear friend, that you can walk out without Christ, refuse the Lord Jesus Christ, and trample beneath your feet the blood of Christ?

You say, I wouldn't do that. My dear friend, everybody in this building will walk out either under the blood or over the blood, put it down big and straight, one way or the other, and has done despite to the Spirit of grace. My dear friend, the Holy Spirit of God is speaking to you. He's the one who is speaking. I'm just a Western Union boy, that's all.

He's the messenger, the message. You say, well, I don't want that. I refuse that.

Then do you think you're going to come to the judgment and say, oh God, have mercy? Suppose you get sick and you call your doctor and your doctor comes to you. Your doctor looks very worried. You say, well, doctor, I don't like that look on your face.

Give it to me straight. The doctor says to you, I am sorry to tell you this, but you've asked me and I'm going to tell you. I see no hope for you. You're going to die. You say, well, now wait a minute, doctor.

I don't want to die. Doctor, you've got to do something. Isn't there something that the medical art can do that will save my life? And the doctor says, well, I have read of a new serum, a medicine that may work in your case.

It's very, very, very new and very, very, very expensive. Well, you say, doctor, it's my life. You've got to do something. Well, the doctor says, do you have much money? Well, no, doctor, I don't have any money. But, doctor, you just can't let me die because I don't have any money. Doctor, can't you do something? The doctor says, well, let me see what I can do. You're there in your home languishing upon your sick bed.

After two or three more days, the doctor comes back. His hair is disheveled. His beard has a two-day's growth. His eyes are sunken back in his head with dark circles under his eyes. His clothing is torn. There's blood on his shirt. His hands are trembling. You look at him and you say, doctor, doctor, what has happened to you?

Where have you been? He said, I went to get this medicine for you. He said, I went to several foundations and I got some money, but I didn't get enough money. Then he said, I went to my own bank account. I took all I had out of my own bank account.

Have you ever known a doctor do that? And then he said, I didn't have enough, so I mortgaged my house. And then he said, I got the medicine. And on my way over here, I had my precious son in the car with me. And I was driving in such a way to get to you in time that I wrecked my automobile.

We've had a tragic wreck. The blood that you see on my shirt, is the blood of my little boy. My son, I've just come from the morgue.

My son has died. But here it is. Here's the medicine.

Take it. I believe you'll live. Suppose you took that vial of medicine, whatever it may have been, precious as it is, looked at it for a while, and you looked at it for a while, and then threw it on the floor. And it broke.

And the contents ran out in the rug, never to be retrieved. And then suppose you pointed a finger in the face of that doctor and said, doctor, if I die, it'll be your fault. Have mercy on me, doctor. Don't let me die. You say that's unthinkable.

That's unthinkable. I'll tell you something else, mister. It'll be unthinkable for you to come to the final judgment and say, oh God, have mercy upon me and don't let me die when God put his darling son on the cross and bankrupt heaven in order to buy you salvation.

Amen? Listen to me. Oh, listen to me. God is a God of mercy. And if a man despised Moses' law and died under two or three witnesses without mercy, of how much sore punishment shall he be thought who has trampled beneath his feet the blood of the covenant, counted it an unholy thing, and is done despite unto the Spirit of grace. The basis of mercy is truth. Listen.

Listen. The Bible teaches us that mercy and truth are linked together. Let me talk to you for just a moment about the blessings of mercy. Oh, the blessings of mercy. You see, Jesus here is giving blessings.

And Jesus says, blessed, blessed, blessed are they which to hunger and thirst they'll be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Well, that doesn't mean that we are forgiven because we show mercy. It means we show mercy because we're forgiven. And the more mercy we show, the more mercy we get.

It's just a cycle. And you show mercy because you have received mercy. Let me give you a verse of scripture.

Put this down. Boy, this is another frightening verse. James chapter 2 and verse 13, for he shall have judgment without mercy. That means there are some who are not going to come to the judgment and have no mercy.

Listen. He shall have judgment without mercy that showed no mercy. For mercy rejoiceth against judgment. There's judgment, but mercy just overcomes it. But my dear friend, you will have judgment without mercy if you show no mercy. Here's another verse.

Put it down. Psalm chapter 18, verses 25 and following. God's, Psalm has said to God, with the merciful, you will show yourself merciful.

With an upright man, you will show yourself upright. My dear friend, when you're upright, then you show mercy. And when you show mercy, you get more mercy. The more mercy we show, the more mercy we get. But we can't get it until, first of all, we have come the route of being poor in spirit, repenting of our sin, yielding to God, receiving Jesus Christ, God's righteousness.

And when we've received that mercy, then we show it. A man was blinded in an accident. He was a young man. He spent most of his life with perfect eyesight. And then in an industrial accident, he was blinded. He was bitter, hurt, filled with remorse, confusion. After a while, he knew he had to go to a school for the blind.

He dreaded it. But he went into the school and went into the president's office. The president talked to him for a while and said, we're glad to have you here. We want to be a friend to you. We want to help you. And you can live a very wonderful life.

Not as though you had sight, but there are many things that the blind know that others don't know. We're here to help you. Then he said, there's someone here who, an instructor, who's going to show you around the campus. An instructor came in, and they greeted one another. And this instructor said, come on out on the porch with me.

They went out on the porch. He said, listen, I just want to help you to get acclimated here. And said, no, I'm not going to help you. And said, here's what we're going to do.

I'm going to walk you around the campus, first of all. He said, now we're going to walk down the steps. He said, there are 10 steps. He said, count them as we go down. There are 10 that come out of this building. Count them.

Try to remember how many there are. Then he said, when we go down the steps, he said, we're going to turn right. And as we turn right, we're going to go out through the garden. And he said, we're going to circle the campus. And said, I want you to get acquainted. So they began to walk. And he said, and don't worry.

I'll be right here at your elbow in case anything goes wrong. That gave the young man some assurance. They went down the 10 steps. They turned right. They went out into the garden.

They took their time. The man felt the flowers and smelled them. There was a water fountain there. He got a drink from the water fountain. Then they sat on a stone bench there in the garden.

And then they continued their route around. And when they made the entire circuit of the campus, the young man was feeling better. He felt like, you know, I know where I am.

I feel a little bit at home. Then he said, let's go up to the dormitory where you'll be staying. Let's go in the room.

They counted the steps into the room. He went into the room, showed him where all of the furniture was located, where things were put up, where things were kept. And then said, listen, I'm here to help you. I'm here to show you.

It won't be too long before you catch on. By this time, the young man was feeling at home. He said, I want to thank you so much. He said, I had so much fear when I came here. But you've been such a friend. You've helped me so much.

I want to thank you. He said, you've been very understanding. He said, you know, it's hard for someone to understand how you feel when you're blind. Oh, he said, I can understand.

I'm blind also. You know, those who receive mercy know more how to show it than anybody else, don't they? If you haven't received mercy, no wonder you don't show mercy. Oh, my dear friend, if God in love has forgiven us, how much more should we forgive one another? Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to pray for you. Father, I pray for many today that they might say an everlasting yes to Jesus, that they might hold God, receive His mercy. In His dear name I pray. Amen.

Amen. If you've accepted the mercy of Jesus Christ in your life today, we would love to celebrate with you. And we invite you to go to our Discover Jesus page on the website. You'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith.

There's a response section. You can share your testimony. You can tell us how this message has affected your life. It's all at lwf.org slash radio and click the tab at the top that says Discover Jesus.

Again, lwf.org slash radio. Welcome to God's forever family. We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of this message, The Magnificence of Mercy, you can call us at 1-877-LOVE-GOD. This message is also part of the Insightful Sermon on the Mount series, The Keys to the Kingdom.

For the complete collection, all eight powerful messages, call that number 1-877-LOVE-GOD, or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. In today's world of getting even and taking what you do, I can't think of a more healing word than this one from Adrian Rogers. You are not saved by the plan of salvation. You're saved by the man of salvation. Show the mercy of our Lord and Savior today in your relationships.

Forgive those who've wronged you and tell them about the hope that you have in Jesus. And we hope that you'll tune in next time for more profound truth simply stated right here on Love Worth Finding. You know, at Love Worth Finding, our daily mission is to help Christians grow deeper in their faith through the timeless biblical teaching of pastor and author Adrian Rogers. This year alone, we proudly launched four new resources to help you share the only love worth finding this Christmas season. Our two new books, His Story and Discover Jesus, tell the story of our Savior in a fresh and exciting way. And our two new card sets, Profound Truth Simply Stated and Names of God, are the perfect gift for loved ones of all ages. One of our Love Worth Finding friends has given a generous gift with the hope of motivating you to give above and beyond here at the end of 2020. Would you consider giving a special year-end gift today and help share the good news of the gospel in 2021? You can log on to lwf.org slash radio.