Show Mercy | Eld Rosalind Tay

You're listening to a message to go from AXTS church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

So my question to you this morning, maybe let's just

start off with a little warmer question. Okay. Now, if

you are trying to share God to someone, right you

go out and we know that we are all called

we have a mission to go and make disciples of

all nations. Amen. Now you have to start that conversation

with someone right now. If you were trying to tell

someone about God, how would you describe God? Okay, maybe

the first slide can come out. First slide, it's the

character of God? Right now? How would you even begin

to describe him? And what words would you use? Character

of God?

Okay?

Tell me I need response from you. Okay, So this

is not going to be a one way story. This

how we build up the message will be based on

your responses. Okay. So okay, shout out answers. How would

you even what is the first few words that comes

to your mind when you think about God?

The character of God? What would you say?

Faithful? Very good?

What else?

Love?

God is?

Love? God is faithful? What else?

What else?

Slow?

To anger?

Wow?

Okay? How many of you thought of that slow to anger?

Not really right? Okay, slow to anger, but that's really

a characteristic of God. What else? What else? Powerful? Thank you?

Who's that? From the back?

Wow?

Well that thank you Joel. He heard this message reading,

so you know the answer?

Ready?

Yeah, to think right at the back, but still giving answer.

I love it. Okay.

God is powerful. God is almighty. And so you see.

The important thing.

Is because our understanding of God will dictate how we

tell others about what correct what we understand of God.

So many of us have experienced God's faithfulness, God's love right,

God's power to heal diseases and cancel and all that

things right, and so we will begin to explain that

character of God. Now all those are true? How do

you think God would describe himself? Wow? How you know?

Of course we can say a lot of things about God,

but I think it's more important for us to know

what God says about himself. Right, And you know that

this will be found in the word of God. But

what you think would be some of the characteristics that

God want to let us know that this is who

I am? I am? Who I am? Oh? Say I am?

Who I am? Okay?

All right? But what is I am? Who I am?

What kind of character are.

We looking at for God?

Now?

Yeah, he's perfect?

Amen? Have you ever read in your Bible anyway that

says be perfect, just as I am perfect? Oh? I know,

Jessica's like, oh man, that's hard, worse, how do we

even begin to be perfect?

Okay, very hard?

Right? But do you know, okay, Old Testament, New Testament?

What is the main character? Who's the main character in

the Old Testament? Okay? God?

Yeah, good answer.

So so God is definitely the main character of the

whole Bible. But who in the people group that's particularly

in the Old Testament? Israel? Israel? Right? If you don't

know yet, can I tell you that your Bible is

a Jewish book, is written by mainly Jews, for the Jews,

to the Jews, and then for the rest of the world. Amen.

Did you know that? I don't know how you feel

about the nation of Israel or Jewish people, but I

pray that you have a love for them, And as

a church, we really pray pray for them.

Right, that's part of our prayer.

We praise we Class twenty two Every Sunday, pray for

the piece of Jerusalem.

Because you know that God's heart.

Is always for the Jewish people, right, and then from

the Jewish people extended to the rest of the world. Imen.

Imen.

So the Jewish people, the Israelites is sort of the

main character of the people in the Old Testament. And

we want to see what is how God is revealing

himself to the people. Amen. Yeah, that's important, right, because

God is not not a person who like, Hi, it's like, oh,

like you cannot carriacch me, right, God? God is never

like that. God is constantly one thing to be found

by people. If you read the whole many of the

Old Testament, right, the first five books, you will see

again and again God says, I do this so that

they will know.

I do this and this so that they will know.

If you don't believe me, I ask.

You, and I challenge you to go and read your

Bible Genesis, Exodus, Levitic, just Geenesis, Exodus. You see how

many times when God was interacting with his people, he says,

I do this so that they will know, so that

my children will know. So what do what does God

want us to know today? Right?

So let's go to Exodus chapter thirty.

Four, right, And this is the first time God gave

a characteristic listing of himself. Did she even know that? Right?

Many of you who are looking.

For potential partners, boy friend and girlfriend, you have a

list of characteristic right. You're like, oh, you must be tall, handsome,

earning five figures. Okay, some characteristics that you want to

be checked off. And God is saying, okay, this is

my character.

All right, So let's read this together. Can you see

this on the screen?

But before that, can I also encourage you to take

out your physical Bible? Waybe let me if you have it?

Waybe all right? Oh good, you guys are getting this

all right. For those of your neighbor that don't have,

you turn to them and say, bring one next week.

Okay, ah, okay, So.

We are on a campaign to encourage everyone to turn

to our Bibles. Okay, if you didn't bring it today,

never mind, I forgive you. You can use your phone.

But let's let's make it a habit.

Let's make it a habit to read God's word.

Okay, but just for the sake of this and reading

from the NKJV version, are you ready, Let's read this together?

Three two one, and the Lord passed before him and

proclaim the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering,

and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,

forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin by no means clearing

the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the

children and the children's children to the third and the

four generation. Amen.

This is the first time.

God explicitly spoke about his character. Who's saying all this now?

Is it? Moses? Is God himself? This is God declaring

something of himself. And to give you a little bit

of a context, just before this, in chapter thirty two,

remember how Moses was in the mountain and receiving the

ten Commandments on the two tablets. Forty days he was

up there, right, what happened to the children of Israel

the party they were partying before partying, They were saying, hey,

how come Moses so long?

Why never come on?

Right? And so they say they turned to Aaron immediately

and say, make us a god that we can worship.

You See the problem is right, human beings. It's not

that we don't want to worship. We are all worshiping something,

whether you believe in God or not. There's this innate

hunger in us to worship something, right, So if you're

not worshiping the one True God, you're worshiping something else, right.

And so for the children it was the image of

the Golden carp right. So they told Aaron, make us

a God so that we can worship because you see

a human beings. We want to worship something that we can.

Something that we can see.

And God is invisible to us. Yahweh is invisible to us.

And so they're like, oh, this was is very long,

and we are very impatient, right like right now or

like yesterday, please, and so we make something because we

want to see that thing that we can worship. And

so of course they make that idol, and within what

they started to have a party. They were dancing, right,

and they were feasting themselves, and Moses could hear dancing downstairs,

they could hear music. And he quickly came down from

the mountain and guess what is he? People partying and

worshiping the idol. And what was Moses' response.

Yall know your bible, not.

Okay, can respond to me. What was Moses's response? He

was so angry because hey, guys, come on, He's just

had meeting with the king of kings, a lot of lords, right,

and he's just been given this beautiful inscription of the

tank commandments. And then you come down not even forty

days and the very people whom God had let out

of the land of Egypt were worshiping an idol. Think

about how he would have felt. So there was this

righteous anger that bought us up from Moses Day's like, wow,

He smashed the tablets, and he says, what is this right?

People of God?

How could you turn away from God? So easily? Many

of us are like that.

You know. We can come here on a Sunday worship God,

you know, and then at the next moment we turn,

the moment we step out this right, we turn, we

turn to something else. Right. And so Moses felt this

righteous anger and he smashed it and then after that, right,

you know. So if that's how Moses felt, how do

you think God felt? If an unrighteous person like Moses

can feel this anger at the people's rebellion towards God,

how do you think God felt? Someone says, slow to wrath, right,

slow to anger? Just now, think God's anger was going

to boil over? Right? I mean for me, I would

be like, zap them all, You're gone, right, thank God,

I'm not God, la because none of you will be

here today if I am God. And so God was

like okay, and God right, He said, okay, never mind,

you all go without me, bye bye. You can go

head to the Promised Land, you can go whatever you want.

I will not be with you. That's what God said.

And of course Moses says, God, if you don't go

with us, I no need to go anywhere. I will

not move unless your presence go with us. He's thank

God for Moses. Amen, appreciate con Chin, Thank God for Moses. Right. He'said,

I will not move if you don't go with me.

How many of us in our life, in our situation

you carry that with you? You are saying to God,

I will not move, uless, you go with me.

God.

Many times we go to many places and we know

God's not there with us, and yet we still go.

But God, Moses' heart is like, no, God, I want

you to be with us because I know without you. Right.

Because they had seen again and again how God had

provided for them, right, and so God came out with

this descriptive characteristics of him and guess what is the

first word, first character.

That God said of himself?

Was it love? Was it faithfulness? Mercyful? Why did God

choose this word merciful out of all the wonderful words

that we heard earlier? Right? Why mercy? Why mercy was

the first thing that God would say about yourself? Because

you know that the first thing that you say about

yourself is very important, right, first impression?

And so God is coming to us and saying, I

am merciful.

The very nature of me is merciful before anything else.

Wow.

So if I ask you now you go and tell

other people about the mercy of God, where would you start?

How would you even begin? Like mercy? Or what do

I understand?

But this with mercy?

Tell me what you understand about this word mercy? Forgiveness, forgiveness? Okay,

that's definitely one as one very big aspect, thank you?

Or of mercy? What else? What else do you understand

about mercy, the mercy of God? How would you even

begin telling others about the mercy of God?

Had right?

Because many of us will not choose this word to

talk about God first, right, we will talk about love, faithfulness,

long suffering, But mercy, what do we understand about this

word mercy? And so shall we understand what is mercy? Amen?

All right? So if you go into your Hebrew the

word of God, and this word it comes from this

root work called Rahum or Rahamim.

Okay, you can try and pronounce Raham like ah rahum or.

Rakhamim right, tim I scholar letter like Hebrew scholar. No,

so one Rahim is actually a verb, a verb, right,

an action verb. Rahamim is a noun, all right, So

these are the same words. But I think what's very

interesting that the ruth word of this too comes from

this word called rack ham, and reck ham really basically

means the womb of a woman. Hey, why why are

we talking about the womb? And this is specifically the

womb of a mother if you can see in the picture.

So this word wrack cam comes and the idea that

that God wants to bring.

To us to convey to us, is this understanding.

That the mercy of God is like a mother protecting

the child in the womb. Do you understand that the

compassion of God is like it's likened to a mother

that is protecting her child in the womb. How many

of your mother's here, mother's mothers, mothers. Yeah, do you

do you understand this when you're carrying your chid, when

you're pregnant, right, you you carry that child within you,

and you know.

There's this sense of protectiveness.

Is that you know people come to you, they want

to touch your belly, Hey, don't touch my belly. Private

partis one. It's those simply going to touch people's belly, Okay,

ask for permission verse right. And and so there's this

sense of protectiveness that God is why why is God

talking about this as a very first word to describe

himself that I am merciful, Because God, it's one thing

to say that in my heart towards you, the people

of God is like, I want to be protecting you

in the safety of my arms, in my womb.

I want to protect you.

And that's how mothers feel a lot, right, there's a

very strong bond between the mother and a child. Correct.

Many of you, if you're not mothers, you have a

strong bond to your own mother correct Oh yes, oh, no,

no response. I'm not thinking, oh, okay, you have mother's right.

I think none of us will be here with the

all mothers okay. So I don't know what their relationship

like is your mother. But you see the thing is

God says that I want to protect you. And you

see this analogy and illustration is throughout the Bible. Wow,

you didn't God only use it once in Exodus. Let's

go to Isaiah. Let's read Isaiah forty nine. It turns

to your Bible. I give you some time. Let's learn

the practice to turn to the word of God. Isaiah

forty nine. Isaiah forty nine, Okay, reading from verses fifteen

to sixteen. Okay, It says this, can a woman forget

her nursing child and not have compassion on the son

of a woman. So God is saying, hey, moms, will

you ever forget your child? Hard Lee? Right? Okay? John

say passa Johnson saying yeah, okay, I don't know what

kind of mom he's encountered before, but we must pray

for her. God is saying, can a woman forget her

nursing child right and not have compassion on the son

of a woman. Surely? God is saying, surely they may

forget like what Pazza, John say, they'll forget, Yet I

will not forget you. Wow. God is saying that even

if your mother who gave birth to you, forget about you.

God is saying, I will not forget you. Wow.

Amen, God is saying I will not forget you. He says,

see in verse sixteen, I have inscribed you on the

palms on my hands. How amazing is that thought, guys,

that God has each one of us by name inscribed

on his hands. And he says that your walls are

continually before me. Wow. This is the kind of God

that we, sir friends has Is your mind blown away already?

I got how he's constantly thinking about you, And how

God constantly uses this term how long I long to

gather you, you know, as chicks under my wing? Who

said that? How Jesus? Jesus says, I long like a

mother hand to gather you as chicks under my wings.

To protect you. Wow.

You see this is not a one time thing, you know.

And God is trying to convey to us his children

that he's like the protective mom always and he's using

this word rakamin Rahom to say I am mercyful. Right.

So this is God's character.

Amen. Good so far.

So that's the first point I want to bring to you,

the character of God.

And the very first character is God's mercy, God's mercy.

And I pray that when we go through this the

message today already, that you will even begin to understand

a little bit more the mercy of God, the mercy

of God. And this is a divine mercy. Mercy can

only come from mercy. Amen.

Amen. So that's the one characteristic.

There's a lot more of the words study that we

can go through, but I just want to focus on

mercy today.

Is that okay?

Because it's the very first thing that God talks about himself.

I am mercyful? What does it even mean? Now?

Character of God?

So God is the main character right now, let's go

to the other side. And my second point is this.

I call this the calculativeness of men. Okay, why because

I'm an accountant and I come very good. All right,

I'm very calculating. How many of you would say that

you're a calculative person. Oh, don't put up your hands, lah,

Only I put out my hands because I'm very calculative,

trained for many years as an accountant, extra calculative right now. See,

I think in a start contrast to the character of God,

there is men, correct, And I use this, and who's

the character that you think we're gonna study after this Jonah? Correct?

All of you have heard of Jonah before, one way

or another. So we'll make this very fast, right, because

there's more things that I want to talk about. Now,

what do you okay? If you are just how we

talk about the director of God? Right?

Okay?

All that. Now, how would you describe Jonah from what

you know, from what you've learned before? How would you

describe the character of Jonah? Rebellious? What else? Rece averse? Wow,

very good word, rece averse, reserverse? Okay, okay, what else?

What else?

Don't know?

You know the story of Jonna, not know the story,

but don't know how to describe him? Right? Where? My God?

Is this a trick question? No trick question? The shout

out whatever you know? Okay, never mind. So there's some

words that we heard earlier this morning. We heard the

word he was a very scared man, and then someone

else said, no, he's a very brave man. So depending

on how you look at it, right, you can describe Jonah. Now,

do you know there's a reason why Jonna is in

the Bible? Was he a perfect man?

Not at all? But he was a prophet for God.

Right, and God wants us to learn something from all

the characters that is in the book because these are

real lives. Imen, do you know that Jonah is not

a fiction story? Hello, it's not fiction. Many of us

read the Bible as though it's like, oh, some storybook

and then we can learn some moral stories from it.

But hello, can I tell you that when we meet

Jesus again and with the cloud of witnesses, Jonah's gonna

be there. Hey, hello, you guys are gonna meet with Jonnah. No,

she can't be Jonah. How is it our three days

in the belly of a fish? These are real people,

all right? So let's go to the book of Jona. Now,

turn to your bibles. Do you know where Jonah is somewhere?

Go to your your book of Contents. Go to the

book of Jonah. Jonah is after Obadiah. You're up with

to Obadiah. Where is Obadiah? Jona?

Jonah?

Are you there?

Okaya?

Turn turn to it. If you're there, say yay, oh

not not very excited to read the Word of God.

If you're there, saya, all right, okay, So let's read

together the Word of God. Amen.

Okay.

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the

son of Amitai, saying, so, God's what came to Jonah

verse to arise, go to in anyway the great city

and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come

up before me verse three. But Jonah arose to flee

to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Amen, Now

what do we see here? Firstly, God's what comes to us? Imen.

Correct, God's what is for you?

And it says, arise, go to a city and cry

out against it. All right? And what did Jonah do?

He flee?

What did he flee away from? He's calling?

He flee away from his calling, the word of God

that had come specifically to him. But you see, the

thing is when we flee away from God's word to us.

And I can say right now, God's word to all

of us is to go and make disciples of our nations.

When you flee away from that, what are we running

away from? When we run away from the call of God?

We are running away from the presence of God. Do

you see that? Do you see that? Jonah? It's written

in such a way. He didn't say God fled away

from his calling.

God Jonah, Jonah fled away from his calling?

Right, He didn't say that. What did he say? He says,

Jonah fled away from.

The presence of God?

Hey, Church, can I tell you something that if you

run away from your calling, you're running away from the

presence of God. Sometimes we find ourselves in a position

where we're like God, I cannot hear you. You know,

I feel so far away from you. I'm in the wilderness.

And many times when we are in the wilderness, it's

because we.

Have not obeyed God. We have fleed away. Is that

such a word? I don't know.

Flat we have flat, thank you, Sarah. We have flat

from the presence of God. There's a theme there, right,

Moses said, I will not go if your presence don't

go with me. Yes, and Jonah here right now, but

personally flat from the presence of God. Right? And you

know what happened after he you know you know this story? Okay,

tell me what happened after Jonah fled away from the

presence of God. He got into a ship and they

were sailing to a place called Tashish, right, which is

opposite or where he was supposed to go. And what

happened after that there was a big storm. Okay, we

have the exist teachers here, that's why you know she's

telling the story. There was a great by the way, guys,

do you know there was a great big storm? Yes, okay,

great big storm. And then what happened after that? What happened?

What happened? Okay, you're reading reading mind.

They threw him away, okay, So but the sailors that

was on the ship, right, they didn't just throw him about.

They actually feared God.

And they knew, actually, right, Jonah was the cause of

this whole situation, this storm, right, and so they feared God,

and they went and asked.

Him, he Jonah, what should we do?

Right? They didn't just throw him about. They asked him, hey, hello,

what were we supposed to do? Why you're sleeping here? Right?

He was sleeping? And Jonah said, okay, it's because of me.

I fled away from the presidence of the Lord. Hey,

by the way, that's return Okay.

That the sailors knew because he told them that he

was he splain from the presence of God.

How many of you will tell your friends that, hey,

I'm running away from God? Anyways, so they threw him

aboard and of course there was a great calm and

end of story. Right is it an a story? Hey?

I thought, that's all we want, right, piece and harmony,

that's it?

Okay?

So no, we know that he threw him aboard, and

then he went down into the belly, right, went down

into the belly of the fish for three days, three nights. Now,

how many of you, what would you do if you're

thrown into the pit.

For a long time? What is your response?

Cry?

Cry?

God? Where did you perceive me?

Sometimes?

I don't know. I don't know what you would do

when you're in the in the pits of despair?

What would you really do? Honestly?

Right?

And for me, the only when once.

You hit rock bottom, the only way is to look up, right, amen,

The only way is to look up and praise God.

Jonah, look to the Lord. Amen.

So let's let's read chapter two of Jonah. And this

is what his prayer was Jonah Chapter two, Verse one.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord He's God, from the

fish's belly. And he said, I cried out to the

Lord because of my affliction. And he answered me, a man,

can I prophesy to you that if you cry out

to the Lord. God will answer you a man, Amen,

God will answer you. There's a matter which pit you're in,

whether it's a pit of the belly of a flesh

or it's the pit of I don't know, a financial

crisis in your family. If it's the pit of a

relationship crisis that you have, when you cry out to God,

he's gonna hear you.

Remember again, the mercy of God is.

What He's compassionate. He's constantly looking out for us, right

like a mother looking after a child. God is constantly

compassionate towards us. And in verse seven he says this, right,

when my soul fainted within me, I don't know how

many of your souls feel like fainting this morning. Sometimes

many of us are going through that right. We feel that, Man,

I don't know how to get out of this pit.

When my soul fainted within me, I remember the Lord.

Can I encourage you? Remember the Lord? Would you remember

that when you're in the depth of despair, don't think

about anything else. Remember the Lord, and my prayer went

up to you into your holy temple. Verse eighty says

those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy you

see this word again, mercy. But I will.

Sacrifice to you with the voice of thanks.

I will pay what I avowed. Salvation is of the Amen.

He knew.

Jonah knew that salvation was of the Lord.

He prayed and he repented, right, and then of course

the fish there vomited him out from the depth of

the belly. And then happy ending and our story. Yes, no, hey,

got some more, got some more? Okay, let me ask

you a question. Why why did Jonah run away? Why

did Jonah run away? Because?

Sorry, say again, he's not he's not mercyful, okla, okay,

and sorry readly we can close.

Really, you see, the thing is right, we humans, we

we have this sense where we love to receive mercy

and yet to dispense mercy.

It's not there within us, correct.

It's like, Hey, my birthday coming up, please give me

the best gifts, right, But when it's your birthday, I'm like, oh,

what is the second hand item thing? What gives that

I don't want? I can give to you that kind

of thing, right, And and so we are very hung

up with this idea of justice. Okay, how many of

you believe that God is a just god? Just let

me see is full of justice? Yes, yes, okay? Do

you like justice in this world? We like justice. Justice

means if you do good, what will we do if

you if you did well, if you you did a

great job, you did good reward?

Right? Justice is this system?

Right, you know, you know how they depict the symbol

of justice is like it's it's what do you call it,

a Dutching scale? A scale? Right, If you did good,

you get your reward. If you did bad you get

get punishment. And we like the idea of justice, right,

We like the idea of justice because we say, hey,

it must be fair. Right, if you work three hours,

you get three hours wages, If you work ten hours,

you get ten hours wages. Correct. So that is the

idea of justice and we like it. You know, in

this world we say, well, all the bad people should

go to jail, correct, and then all the good people

like us church people already go on, we.

Should get a ticket to heaven.

Correct.

That is all mindset. And so we start off with

that place.

And the reason why Jornah didn't want to go to

Ninive it's not because he was a bad person.

He's not bad.

He had been caught profit he had been going around

giving prophecies of God.

Hey, hello, guys, it's not a bad person.

But you see the things right, And what he carries

and many of us carry, is this sense of justice

because he knew that God. The Niinivites are very wicked people, bad,

bad people.

And what do bad people deserve punishment?

Lah? Hello, right, you did something wrong already? What right?

And so Jonah is like, hey, they deserve to be

struck by lightning and thunder and be swallowed up by

the earth. That's what they deserve.

Correct.

And you see the things right in God's scale between justice, right, right,

and wrong?

Where with the ni invites right or wrong?

Wrong? They have disobeyed God. They've done bad things to

each other wrong, wrong? And what is the punishment for sin?

Death?

Okay, So ninivites death? And who gets to stay here

on the right side?

If I ask you, where would you.

Be on the scale of God's justice? Sin or sin less? Sin? Oh? Okay,

So sinner, I agree? Everybody? Oh, don't want to agree.

I'm not a sinner. I never kill anybody. God says

for all sinners. Okay, that's the word of God. Okay,

if you don't ask, don't trust me, then trust God's

Wla for God says ays, all have sin and fallen

shot of the glory of God. And so if we

stand on the stage of justice, we are all sinners,

and sinners deserve what punishment, and punishment by that that

is what we all deserve. So so we do do

we still like this idea of justice? Hey, my colleague

is something very bad to me? Ah stole my idea,

you know, for the project. And I think this person

needs to fall down somewhere and crack her head.

It's just this, what how can this person do.

This to me?

Hey?

My husband, who never even wish me, you know, for

our aniversary, was this, don't need cooklave for dinner, Sila,

you eat what.

Sila, Cela?

Maybe I can put some prickly thing on his bait. Right,

forget love, forget someone you see you forget. My mother

never cared for me, so now she's sick. I don't

have to care for her. Just this, ma corrected for that.

Teeth for tat right, teeth for ted and eye for

an eye, a tooth for a tooth. That we like it.

We we think that's the right way to rule the world.

And God is a god of justice. But you see

the things, right, I didn't see that characteristics of being

described as he was describing himself. He didn't say I

am full of just this, because what is the difference

and what brings God further from just a sense of justice?

Because guess what, guys, if God just hung up on justice,

we will all be what do we deserve? We deserve death,

all of us we deserve death. There's a finality to it.

All right. But then God takes it a step further.

And he's now saying, I am going to show you

my mercy. And what is mercy? Mercy is not giving

you what you deserve. Remember again, justice you deserve. You

deserve that. All of us deserve death. Everyone in this world,

the eight villion of us, we all deserve death. So

don't you go and say, like, oh, how can good

God right allow suffering in this world? Guess what was

caused by us, not him? Every food shortage, every climate

change is caused by us.

Don't blame God.

Don't blame God for poverty of this world. God says,

I send enough rain and sunshine. There is enough food

in this world to feed every single person. But guess

what our selfish greed and our desire for power causes

some nations to have so much until we eat and

eat and eat, and there's so much wastage. Malaysia very

gooda our buffet spreads and all that we waste a.

Lot of food.

And then you have another part of the world who

don't even have a meal to eat.

So we can't see God, where where are you? We

caused this to ourselves.

And so imagine now if God, I'm looking at this,

Oh wow, you guys are like kind of poking each

other at the back.

You're stabbing each other.

And so what am I to do? Right? So I think,

if I'm just gonna purely stay on my character of

God of justice, all of you are gone. That's it

and no storyla right, and a story. But God goes

a step further. And because his first character is mercy,

It's like, I'm going to extend my hand of mercy,

this protective arm around the children of Israel, right and say,

even though you have deserted me, rebel against me, you

have built a calf, I will still feed you, I

will still clothe you. Do you know, the children of Israel,

that one great act of God's mercy is that the

children of Israel forty years in the desert.

God gave them food every day, new.

Brain every day, manner birds, even to eat their shoes,

never wear would you want shoes like that? You know,

like you say, out of fashion? Really for the years

off is very old. But by the way fashion keeps changing.

On right, it's coming back again, the old fashioned God's mercy,

because he could have just strike them dead.

Actually that's his right luck all right, this is right.

But God extends his hand on mercy and says, I

will provide for you even though you have rebelling. You know, parents, Parents,

I'm speaking to you. No matter how naughty your child is, right,

you will still say, give you food to Ela, Yeah,

change your diaper, La. Even though you spit in my face,

you pee in my face, it's not really Babies will

pull in your face. And there's a trajectory and I

cannot before poohoa, I can't say who. But even with

all of that done in your face, in God's face,

he saying, I'm gonna clean you up, I'm gonna provide

for you, I'm gonna love you.

This is God's hand of mercy. Can you see that?

And of course, moving on further to that, he says,

not just mercy, I will extend to you mercy. Okay,

what's the difference between mercy and grace? You know the difference? Yes, okay,

only pass Sarah and continue the rest of you. We

have to explain, right, what's the difference between mercy and grace? Now,

mercy is not giving you what you deserve? Remember, we

deserve death, right, and God says, no, I will not

give you death. No. Further from mercy is grace.

Grace.

Grace means I'm gonna give you what you don't deserve.

I'm gonna give you life even though you deserve.

That is grace.

And that is how far God goes from a place

of mersey, a place of justice, to mercy to grace.

And this is the God that we serve in man, friends, church,

do you do you understand?

And do you see God's character?

Now, many of us are stuck in the calculativeness of

men right. We're saying right right for right, wrong for wrong, yes,

and so we get stuck with this. And you see

the thing is right after Jonah, after Jonah had seen

the great weakness of the city of Nineveh, and he

says they deserve punishment. And then God came again to

him right and said go again right second time, God

to what came, and he says, okay, now I will go.

And of course the people of the city repented, Amen

repented towards the towards God. They put on sacked ashes,

and God says, okay, let's reach Chapter three, verse ten.

Chapter three, verse ten, he says, and then God saw

their works, that they turned from the evil way, and

God relented from the disaster that he has said he

would bring upon them. And he did not do it. Hallelujah,

Praise the Lord. And no story not right? Is it?

Any story? But Jonah didn't end in chapter three because okay,

ex church, if we know that there's a people grow

up that repented and tends to God, what will we do? Yeah,

we rejoice. It's correct because even if one turned to God,

the whole heaven rejoices. Right. What about the city of Ninevea,

How many turned back to God? One hundred and twenty

thousand people? That is right there? Ten church plans for you,

ten church plans. You know, Wow, then we almost be busy.

How many of us here one hundred and fifty. All

of you need to be homes leader ready by now? Okay,

all of you because there's this great influx of people

that came, and then God is saying, now I need

to provide a place to disciple them. Right, are we

ready or not? Church? Oh? You're not ready? A sometimes? Right?

I mean we always say this right that God doesn't

give us because we're not ready. We cannot handle it.

Go one homes So so like, I don't know what

if got brought one hundred and twenty thousand people to

our church?

Are we ready?

Not?

Never mind?

Let's get ready, Okay, Church, Let's get ready and say

to ourselves like, I'm gonna be ready for this inflow right?

So okay? Anyways, we will say that we rejoice because

one hundred and twenty thousand people came back to the Lord.

What a great rejoice.

A revival? Right, revival came. But what is Jonah response?

One hundred and twenty people came to know the Lord. Wow,

that's reading chapter four. So but it displeased Jonah exceedingly. Wow,

it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry, angry, Wow,

twenty people, hundred and twenty thousand people came to know

the Lord angry, so he prayed to the Lord and said, Ah, Lord,

was not this what I said when I was still

in my country. Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish. Now

get this, h read this for I know this is Jonah.

He's saying, he knows that you are a gracious and

merciful God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness,

one who relents from doing harm. Is this familiar?

Guys? See this earlier in Exodus. Do you see how.

Jonah understood that this was God's character? And he's very angry.

He's saying, why God, should they deserve your mercy? Why

they are wicked people, wicked, wicked people, and they deserve death. Right.

That is this self righteous anger coming up upon Jonah.

And that's many of us.

We feel that the person out there who did us

something wrong don't deserve God's forgiveness, They don't deserve to

know about Christ. Right, And he's saying that, Wow, you

see the thing is right. What Jonah feeled to see

was he was equally as wicked as the people of kneaningway.

Do you see that.

Many of us, when we carry this self righteousness. We

think all the bad people should be putting to jail, right, correct,

all the bad people, because we are the good people.

We come to church. We are on the good side

of God. But if you take a set back on

God's skill of justice, we are all found one thing.

There's nothing to comment it for us.

Guys. It doesn't matter your character. It doesn't matter how

much you have in your bank account, it doesn't matter

who you know, it doesn't matter how many PhD you have.

We are all found one thing in God. And Juhna

didn't see that. He's like, I'm a prophet. What I've

been doing God's work? Therefore the mercy of God is

only for people like me and not the others. Let's

see how then, how does God depict this mercy? Right?

And the greatest act of God's mercy?

You can see all this right, God's provision right, God's

provision for the children of Israel. Re redeemed them again

and again when the enemies came and attack them. If

you read the whole Old Testament, God save them right,

God save them again and again. Now, the greatest act

of God's mercy is what is God's greatest act of mercy.

Would you know what is God's single greatest act.

Of mercy, Jesus.

Can you see how God, in his nature he's protecting

right he loves and his nature who wants to protect

and care because he's constantly, deeply emotionally connected to Jesus.

And for someone like that, someone who's so protective and loving,

to give this up, to give this child up and say, okay,

now you can kill him, what did that take out

of God? It's like saying, I have a child in

me and I'm gonna give it up to be killed

by someone else who do not deserve anything from me

except my wrath and punishment.

And yet I am willing to give up my son.

Even though it goes against every nature of me to

protect this child within me. I am gonna take the

next step and say I'm gonna give this because you see, God,

he's not just a God of wrath. He's not just

an angry God waiting to see us get punished. He's

a God who's saying, I want to redeem the God

of salvation. I want to go the extra mouth or

you and me who do not deserve this. This is

God's greatest act of mercy upon us. Amen. God's compassion

for us is is unthinkable. Why would anyone do something

like that? Why would anyone choose to sacrifice the biggest

thing in his life for someone else who don't even

look at him twice, for people who don't even care

about him and rebel against him all the time.

Why it's God's act of mercy. It's just merciful.

He cannot he cannot look at you who are suffering

and say, okay to Belah, guys, you're on your own.

You're on your own. You you you did this on

your own, right, you did this to yourself. Hey, guys,

you did this to yourself. Like hello, So the natural

thing to do is you you kinda deal with it

on your own. But God, in his compassion, he's like,

I can want I cannot see people suffering and turn away.

Many of us like that.

We see people suffering, were like, oh okay, stay far away, bitter.

This one very difficult person to deal with, very difficult

person to talk with. And so when I see the person,

I turned the other way, pretending to be busy on

my phone, because that person is not deserving of my mercy.

The person is not deserving of my time? How many?

How many times.

Have we turned away, ran away from our calling and

turn away from the presence of God? Do you know

that in the act of dispensing mercy, God's presence has

to be there with you? Do you know mercy is

divine yah humanly impossible, humanly impossible, not possible for you

and me to dispense mercy, not on our own ability.

But it's when you are feel with the mercy of

God that now when you see the things right. I

always remember this parable. It says, right, there were two

people in the temple. Correct, two people at a temple

and one you have the Pharisee that's there. He's like, wow,

I thank you God. He's standing in front of me.

I thank you God.

You know I pay my ties, you know I past

twice a week.

I'm a pretty good person. God, thank you pretty good.

I'm pretty good. I didn't I didn't do anything wrong.

And at the back of the temple, not even daring

to come into the temple, he's down there on his knees.

He's beating his chest. God, forgive me for I'm a sinner. Okay,

I have nothing to show, but forgive me. And the

Word of God says, it was that man who went

home justified before the Lord.

Amen. So we understand God's character, We.

Understand our character, our nature which is always so calculative

with others, like you did that to me, I'll do

that to you double time you did go to me.

Okay, I will pay back.

But God is asking us to be that one step

further from just justice.

He wants us to show mercy. And so we were.

Going to go to the last one, which is the

compassion of Jesus. Imen, let's go to Matthew. Turn to

your bibles with me. To Matthew, and I think this

concept is very very important. All right, Matthew chapter nine.

This is what Jesus is asking us his disciples to remember.

Okay. Now let's read from Matthew chapter nine. Okay.

So the context of this is what's happening is Jesus

was ministring to people, right and he says in verse ten, okay,

chapter nine, Verse ten, Chapter nine, verse and he says,

now it happened as Jesus sat at the table of

the house that behold many text collectors and sinners came

and sat down with him and his disciples. How many

of you want Jesus to sit with you, amen, And

it means sinners lay corac no, Jesus said, with sinersa

and it says, okay, let me get and he says,

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples,

why does your teacher eat with text collectors and sinners?

Why why are you going to sit with the person

that nobody wants to talk to. Why are you going

to talk to the person that is very difficult in

class in your work place? Why the boss who eats

people up for breakfast, why are you.

Going to sit with them.

When Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who

are well have no need of a physician or a doctor.

But those who are sick. Do you see how Jesus

saw us. We are sick, and can I give you

news as well that the very many people out.

There, they are sick.

There is this disease that we carry, and that disease

is called sin. All of us have this disease in us.

In our DNA is heredit terry. By the way, this

disease that we carry is called si n and we

all carry our children would carried. And Jesus says inverse thirteen.

But go, So this is Jesus telling his disciples, right, Go, okay,

I'm telling all of you this because we all got disciples, right,

Jesus says, but go and learn what this means. I

desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I did not come

to call the righteous, but sinners to.

Repentance.

Jesus is saying, I am not here because you are well.

I'm here because you are sick and you need healing,

and Jesus is the only one who can heal imen.

So there is this sense of I don't know. Sometimes

some of us may be like a Jonah, a bit

self righteous, like the Pharisees. Then we say, I think

I'm okay, right, I don't need a doctor. I'm well,

And Jesus says, yeah, it's okay. If you think you're okay,

then okay, like you don't need me. But Jesus said,

with the sinners, and is it? It's because they are

sick and they need a physician. They need a doctor,

and therefore I am here to heal them. So Jesus

condemns those who that they are guilty. You know the

sinners are guilty. Correct. We established that already sinners are guilty.

But Jesus said with them, let's go to another portion

of scripture. This is just a few chapters down. Let's

go to Matthew chapter twelve. Matthew chapter twelve. And so

this is the case. When the disciples were there eating

and harvesting the grains to eat on the Sabbath day, right,

the disciples are guiltless people, innocent people, innocent people. And

Jesus said this in verse five. Let's read that, or

have you not read in the law that on the

Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and

are blameless. Yet I say to you that in this

place there's one greater than the temple. He's trying to

teach write his disciples, and verse seven he says this,

but if you had known what this means, I desire

mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless,

For the Son of Man is lord, even on the Sabbath.

Jesus was trying to teach us and tell us that

regardless whether you think that you are guilty as a

sinner or that you are guiltless as the disciples harvesting

grain on the Sabbath. They're doing something harmless, even against

traditional law of men. God says, my deepest heart was

not to catch you right or wrong.

My deepest desire, my deepest.

Heart, was to show mercy. It's not about the sacrifices

that you made, you know, it's not about how much

time that you spend serving the Lord, God's greatest heart,

because this is him right. His character is I want

to show mercy. I want to show compassion, and he

desires that all of us catch this heart of compassion

and mercy for others. Can I tell you that your

greatest act of mercy, now, it's not doing good works.

It's not giving tuition, it's not going from mission strip,

it's not even about serving. The greatest act of mercy

that you can show to others around you is that

you give them the good news about Jesus. Do you

know that sometimes we stop short?

Right?

Like I can give food, I can pray for the sake. Yes,

that's all part and puzzle of compassion. But the greatest

act of mercy that you can show them is to

point them towards the God of mercy. Amen, I hope

that you catch something in your heart this morning, because

just like Jonah, just like the Pharisees, we can put

on this cap that wow, I'm a Christian. God saved me.

I've said the salvation prayer, I'm serving in God's house.

I give my tides. I'm okay with you, got peace.

But God is saying, now I need you to go.

You don't just stay where you are comfortable. God is

saying I need you to go. I need you to

go because compassion not it's not just a feeling. Are

you you tell me your story or very set? Or

you're no money to eaither? John?

John, that's so skinnier. Can you see pass John?

He's so skinny because why he gave all his food

away to the campus student. Not.

But by the way, that's quite real.

I heard this before that he will save money on

his own line so that he can bless the camper students.

True right, God bless him, God bless him. But you

guess what God wants to bless you too? To be

so so we we think that it's it's enough to

live a.

Good Christian life.

But God, God's heart is always asking us to go

go to that city, go to your office, go to

your colleague, Go to your neighbor, go to that little

child at the playground. I don't know what is your context,

but go, Amen, Go because the heart of compassion that

is deep within you will move you to action. You

will start to have this mind you're thinking about, Oh

my goodness, the people around me, they are lost. The

people around me, they are lost without God. Do you

have those kind of eyes on it that you can

begin to see the people out there? They are sick.

They are sick with this disease called sin.

And no matter how beautiful their live is or on Instagram,

no matter how many holidays that they go for, they

are still sick, but sick on the nice Yola, sick

on a nice holiday in Paris.

But they are still sick without Jesus.

And so the greatest act of mercy that you can

show them is to go to them and tell them repent,

turn towards God, Turn towards God. Amen. Amen, let's close

with this. I want to read to us from Matthew

now Matthew nine, Matthew nine, Matthew nine.

Verse thirty six.

So this is jesus compassion right, and he calls all

of us to have this compassion he says.

In verse thirty six.

When he saw the multitudes, Jesus saw with his own eyes.

Are you seeing with your eyes? When Jesus saw the multitudes,

he was moved with compassion for them because they were

weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd Verse thirty seven.

Then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful,

but the laborers are few.

Church.

Can I mobilize us because we are called to be

the laborers.

Verse thirty eight.

Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out

laborers into his harvest.

Amen.

Amen. Amen. We're not just laborers that will work and

work and work and not reap any rewards.

Amen. We are laboring for the Kingdom of God.

If you labor for your own kingdom or your own households,

that's what you will receive.

But Jesus is asking.

Us to go beyond that and to labor for the

Kingdom of God. Amen. And this is what Jesus taught

us in Luke six. I thought, I just want to

read this to you, because you know, when it came

to me, I'm like, oh wow, So how do we

show mercy? Right?

How do we show mercy to others.

Let's go to Luke six. Are you there, Luke six?

And this was after Jesus taught about the beatitude. Is

someone on the mound? This is what is on jesus heart. Guys,

if you want to catch Jesus heart, listen to what

he says after he talked about the beatitudes. Right, Let's

go to verse thirty twenty seven. He says this, But

I say to you who hear love your enemies.

Do go to those who hate you?

Guys?

Do they deserve on all? Do our enemies deserve our love?

If you're thinking about justice, nola, right, But if you're

thinking about mercy, then he say, yes, do go to those.

Who hate you.

Anyone hate you, anyone persecute.

You, do go to them.

Bless those who curse you, while have you been cursed

at recently? Or gossip? Jesus is bless them, war, bless them.

Pray for those who spitefully use you. Someone's been using

you if you're like really unfair man, work until so

top for clod every day, use me like you know,

use me, And Jesus says, pray for them. To him

who strikes you on one cheek off for the other

also wall. And from him who takes away your cloak,

do not withhold your tuning or either give to everyone

who asks of you, And from him who takes away

your goods, do not ask them back. Someone borrow something

from you, don't ask them back. And just as you

want men to do to you, you also do to them. Likewise.

But if you love those who love you, what credit

is that to you? For even sinners love those who

love them. And if you do go to those who

do go to you, what credit is that to you?

For even see 's do the same. And if you

lend to those from whom you hope to receive back,

what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend

to sinners to receive as much back Verse thirty five.

But this is how we show mercy.

Love your enemies, do good and leard, hoping for nothing

in return, and your reward will be great, and you

will be sons of the most High, for He is

kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore, this is I'm

gonna close with this worshiping.

You can come up.

Therefore, be merciful, just as your father also is merciful.

Amen, I know this is this is a very high calling.

Right. This is not a teaching that is easy for

us to think about, and when you think about it

on a practical level, this is even harder. I know,

philosophically we all get it. Yes, I will tell you

the answer. You know, what must you do to your enemies?

Love them?

You will tell me that, I say, great, So did

you pray for your.

Enemy this morning? So did you bless them? And say?

Maybe the person, the colleague that took away your promotion?

Would you bless them and say God, give them more

of promotion, give them more salary.

Would you say that.

The person who hurt you? Would you say, God, I'm

going to forgive You know what mercy is, right? Mercy

is giving up your right.

Correct.

God had every right to punish all of us. With

the step of mercy, he gave up his right to

punish all of us, and for many of us. Forgiveness

is like that, we are saying, God, I'm giving up

this right. I know this person, right, don't deserve anything

from me for all the wrong things that they've done.

They only deserve death and punishment. But I'm gonna give

up that right. I'm gonna say God, I'm just gonna

love them. I'm gonna love that neighbor that's very difficult.

I'm gonna love that sister that's so annoying, that's so blur.

I'm gonna love. I'm gonna show mercy.

Amen.

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I hit for you. God bless