Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 345 | Jase’s Elevator-Operating Troubles and Why Mercy Is Just as Important as Forgiveness

Episode Date: September 13, 2021

Jase remembers going up against an elevator in Israel. Spoiler: The elevator won. Al shares an emotional story from a listener who placed his entire faith in Christ. Jase has a major fishing fail. Jase and Al tell encouraging stories of believers on their deathbeds. And Phil, Jase, and Al discuss the true meaning of mercy, God's mercy vs. human mercy, and how we can be more merciful. - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? I mean, Al, you're not, if you look over, you know, the fellow staff members, they're not putting the time in. Well, you understand that I've been doing this a long time. So there's a reason why that I'm doing a sermon series that coincides with a podcast series because I've got triple action going here. Yeah. You know?

Because usually I'm preaching. is a, kind of a lonely business because it's just kind of your thoughts and Holy Spirit and the Word of God. But it's kind of nice for me because I kind of got y'all to bounce stuff off of. Jason is doing some late night. I spend at the most on notes before Sunday morning, I'll pick up my Bible. I'd say less than five minutes, 90% of the time, 95. Yeah, because your situation is.

Sometimes 10 minutes. But your situation is unique because you're basically just given a different sort of a version of the gospel every week because you got people coming in that are seeking and searching. So it's a little bit different setup. I'm at a situation where I got some of the same people I've been talking to for 30 years. It's hard to motivate people that you've been talking to 30 years. Especially people over 40. That's exactly right. They've heard a lot. So I had to come up with an argument and it was when I say, why do you keep repeating the same thing?

I said, I know what I sound like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, don't it? I said the same story. You just went BCB, booktatch a burrow. And I'll look, and I said, okay, you already know this. I said, but the person seated next to you is from Iowa. They've never heard this. I'm not given to you. I'm giving it to them. We're representing God.

Jesus is the image of God. You introduce Jesus to people who don't know him. That's it. I have learned from the beatitudes after my conviction, which lasted a few hours, I thought, I'm not good at these qualities. Yeah, this is something I need to grow. Yeah, I need to revisit. So I wanted to mention last time, but I decided to hold it to kick us off today, Jays,

that those first four beatitudes, we're in Matthew 5, by the way, if you're new to it. The last one, we kind of opened this up. And Jays kind of broke it down that the first four is your heart to God, the first four of these beatitudes, blessed are. and then the second half are to each other or other people, which we're going to talk about. But I thought about the perfect illustration, or I guess I should say example of people that I observed this in.

There's a lot of people. I've seen this in people. And usually it's older people, usually mature, wise people. But one of our old mentors, Jay, is Carl Allison, his wife Barbara. Both of them have fallen asleep of the Lord. They're waiting on the resurrection. Wonderful people. when I was able to speak at Carl's funeral,

and I said then, and it's still true to this day, that he's the best man I've ever known, including myself. And he was just a good man. He was solid. He was a numbers man, which was funny,

because I said one time, I know what your favorite book in the Bible is. I've said that too. And he said, what's it? I said, numbers. But you know what? His favorite line was always this line right here.

guys the best days are yet to come. The best is yet to come. You know what's funny? He taught me something one time because I was making fun of him of keeping up with all the numbers. And, boy, he, that's why you got to be careful when you take on, I think, icons in the faith. Because, boy, he made me speechless one time. He said, well, brother, because I was making fun of him about. He would do the count every Monday, like they would, who was there the day, but.

numbers are up, you know, and I was, because in my mind, I'm thinking, does it really matter that we know all the numbers of all the groups? Because we meet in homes, there are meetings in outside an apartment, but he would gather all those numbers. And he would say in, in meetings, hey, the numbers are up. Or the numbers are down. He's the one that offered me some advice when I said, So Carl, just so, you know, you're older, and I am. I said, when does this sex thing just play out? And he looked at me, he said, brother, you're going to have someone older than I am. Then he came back with a, hey, hey, Phil, just because there's snow on the mountain,

doesn't mean there's not fire in the furnace. That was his life. So I made some joke about numbers, and he went, oh, and then he said, well, brother, do you know how Jesus knew? that he had lost the one sheet. And I was just perplexed with that question. He said, because he counted them. That's good.

I never heard that before. I said, tusha. Well played, sir. You know, we never, you never hear that in the sermon. He's got 99. He lost one. How do you know he lost one? If he hadn't counted the hundred.

How do you know he lost one? Well, he was sitting there count. I look forward to running with Carl Allison once we get in the immortality. So I wonder, now that we're kind of just telling a little bit about him, Carl was a, he's a man's man. He was an all-American football and baseball player at the University of Oklahoma. He's been recognized as one of the top 100 players in the history of the University of Oklahoma. Amazing.

Which is pretty amazing. All-American, he was a catcher. He had offers from the Chicago Bears, New York Yankees. to go either a professional sport, turned them down because he had married Barbara, and they had their first son, Dirk. And he said, you know what, if I go play pro ball, it probably won't turn out well for me fiercely. And so instead he went and started the first football program.

That was one of the reasons I didn't pursue it. He was the dean at the school that Al and I went to the Bible school. And I'm not going to lie because I was the only troubled student out of the four classes, freshman, sophomore, juniors, and senior, I spent more time in the dean's office. And I'm not going to lie, Phil, even though he was showing me love and stern grace and mercy, I could see it in his eyes a few times. I knew what he was thinking that he, at that moment, he wanted to line up and just stick his shoulder right in my chest and send me through that wall. And he could have done it. You remember days when we were, you and I were late?

Because we were driving in from out here. So we kind of got in a little pattern there. We were just, because chapel is where you went first. And we were slipping into chapel. We were just like five minutes late there, about two, three times. A little Carl called us both in. He said, well, I've been noticing you boys been a little late coming into chapel. He looked at Jason.

He said, you got some water in your alarm clock down there on the river? I remember what he said that. He said, let me tell you. if you leave at a time where a red light could determine whether you're on time or late, you're leaving way too late. His philosophy was it's better to be an hour early than a minute late. So Carl, the reason I bring him up, obviously we love him. His daughter was my administrative assistant at the church for 15 years, and she's still there.

She's wonderful. But the reason I want to mention it was because I looked at that days when we were going through this last podcast. poor in spirit, meaning Jesus first. That was he and Barbara. Meek, absolutely, but strong. I mean, meek doesn't mean weak. That's right. Very strong.

And then this one about mourn and then hunger and thirst for righteousness. So Carl, I'm not sure how old he was, but his second son, Darren, who you coached and taught dad when he was a teenager. He got married, had a baby girl. And one night they were, he and his wife were killed in a car wreck. Terrible back in the early 80s. And so Kellett tells the story. He went over when he found out Jim Moran came to him, which is another one of our elders. And so we got to go over and talk to meet a state trooper at Carlin Barber's house because Darren and Susan have been killed.

And we're going to tell him. Of course, Kellett's the youth guy. You know, he's young. And the baby survived. The baby survived. Yeah. And so they show up over there. The state troopers comes.

Carl and Barbara don't know anything yet. They're in their house. So the state trooper comes in with Jim Moran, Mike Kellett, and tells them that their middle son, who was, I think, around 30 at the time, late 20s, and his wife were killed in a terrible car rate in Mississippi. But their granddaughter had survived, although she had broken her hip and some legs, and so she had some injuries. And Mike says, as soon as he said it, of course,

Barbara began to cry and weep because I thought about this mourn. And Carl didn't cry, but he just put his arm around her and he said, well, Barbie, this is what we raised him for. Because we know he made it. He's in heaven. And I just thought in that moment to get that word, that news about your son and don't know, I thought that's how I want to mourn. I mean, of course you're sad. You know, you've lost your son. But at the same time, he didn't have any doubts that.

Heaven was real, and that's what it was all about. So I thought about him. It never slowed him down one bit. Never did. He never felt sorry for himself. I never saw him and Barbara do anything except continue to be. Blame God or, you know, it's like, that's why when you're around people who are more mature in the faith like him, they, these are not just words on a page or something you're a part of to make you feel better. I mean, Jesus's resurrection you could tell was real to him.

I mean, he had thought about it on a daily basis, so you wouldn't have that response. Right. That's exactly right. And I'll say this. At the end of anybody's day, that's all you have. So I'll say this. So when Carl was about to pass away,

and so I went over to see him, he was in his bed at his house, and I think he only lived a day or two more after this conversation. But I went over, and he was still lucid, you know, but he was, he was, he was waning, he was ready to go. And I left there super encouraged. He did just what he always does.

You guys are going to take it to the next level. Best is yet to come. We help let you lay the foundation, you know, he said, just build on what we did. I mean, I left out of there. He had me, I went to encourage him, like, you know, and then he encouraged me. That's the way I was with Kathy Freeman, you know, a couple years ago. Because I thought, Missy and I was fixing to go in there, and they're like, literally has hours and I thought boy this is you know what am I going to say I don't

this is going to be tough and and so when we walked in she said come over and she's I can't get up she was she was laying in her bed she said y'all come come beside me and so we just piled up you know right next to her in the bed and she took over the conversation she's like I just want you to know I'm just I'm filled with joy because my kids are found Jesus and here's what I would like to happen. I mean, she just had everything lined out and was genuinely excited. Yeah. She's like, this is, this is where I want to be.

And I think I've accomplished, you know, through Christ, everything I could. And this is an joyous day. And she asked you to do her funeral. Well, yeah, I didn't like that part. But Jason never done a funeral. Yeah. And, which was one of the toughest things I had to do. But it really, I felt at peace after seeing her boldness.

Yeah. You know, in death, I thought, well, who am I to say that, you know, I'm not, she, it's the plant. She's like, this is the plant. That's what you do. You're doing the funeral because there are a lot of people going to show up that don't know Jesus. I would like for you to share that with them.

That's, that's kind of your lane. That's right. And so I'm like. And you had helped leader to Christ and been a part of her kids. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, what's amazing about that funeral days is because you did. great and and so did her son who spoke.

He did. And it just blew me away, you know, because I mean, he far exceeded. I was thinking what it was going to be, but he did awesome. I mean, he just totally honored his mom. Well, he told me, you know, the night before, he was like, well, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to say anything. I was like, okay, that's fine. And so it's that classic deal about the next day we get there.

And I'm like, all right, I'm going to, I was talking to him. And he's like, well, I've decided, you know, I'm going to. do it. Then he pulled out and he had like eight pages of notes. You know, well, I guess if I must. Normally I don't tell but, you know. Yep. And it was really moving heartfelt. And so, yeah, it was awesome. It was real. But I think those are real, the reason I wanted to bring those up, and I'm glad you brought

Kathy to. And we've seen this. So when we read these passages and they're kind of, you know, they were written thousands of years ago. But we all see people that, live this way. Yep. Consistently. And so, and that's a totally encouragement. It's something you've got to be looking for and something you've got to be searching for. And you've got to realize Jesus, there's one prerequisite to following Jesus.

And he proves it on this sermon on the Mount. You got to be searching. Because a lot of this just seems so contrary to everything that's going on in the world, especially in this Jewish setting. Here he's come to fulfill the law, like bring it to another level. love. Yeah. You know,

that people are more important than rules or procedure. Well, these people, let's turn them on their head. So you got to be searching and figuring out what the problem is. And that's exactly what you did. Before we take a break, I'll remind you to rate, review, and share on all our social media platforms.

That helps out the podcast. So be sure to do that. Let's take a break. So, you know, my typical day, yesterday I went fishing over at Willie's Pond. because I just, you know, I'm addicted to eating crappie. And I'm so glad that he's stocked that pond.

And I caught a crappie on, literally on the first time I set it out, bam, almost a two-pounder. Well, the next time, I throw it in there, about a three-pound bass, and it was hard for me to lift him over the bridge. I got a little bitty rod and reel that I'm catching. He's great. It's not designed for large bass, but. But so when I, I was kind of swinging him out in front of me and I, when I swung him over the bridge, he fell off.

And so I threw him back. Well, then every time I would put it, put it out, I got a little cork and I got a jig. And so every time I put it out, I'd get a hit and I'd get the fish up and he'd come off. I mean, this happened for the next hour till slap dark. I mean, I bet I missed 20. I was like, I cannot figure this out. And so I had the one cropy on up, you know, I was going to put him on ice and maybe catch some more. So when I was going to put the hook, you know how you put your hook on the bottom?

It broke up. Yeah, my hook was broke. When the bass, when the bass fell off, it broke my hook. And so my point is I realized, because I was fixed to go steady this. I'm going to check that after. about number two. I wouldn't wait it to 20. Well, that's exactly what I was fixed to say.

I was like, why didn't I stop? And I was going to make this as a spiritual analogy. I wasn't searching the problem. I just kept looking thinking, this is insane. How do I keep missing this? How do I keep missing? What is wrong with it? By the time you got it corrected, they quit biting.

Well, it was dark. I didn't notice it until I was putting it up. Well, I mean, usually your hook doesn't break off. Just think about it. It is rare. I mean, that's a rare thing. But I thought when I went back, I was like, well, I got my motivation tonight to tackle this sermon on the mound and the beatitudes. Because I had skimmed it and I thought, you know, I got nothing.

These are qualities that I struggle with that I think everybody does. And they're like, they're seemingly the opposite of the way we naturally react to things. So how do you practically do this? But Jay, you may have a good point when you said that, things you struggle with because we get a lot of, you know, feedback from our audience. And they always say, well, I just, I want to be like you guys. I want to, I want to be able to, you know, study like you study. I want to, you know, and they keep making it out like we've got this thing figured out,

but we don't. And because anytime you approach a text, I'm always lacking. But I decided a long time ago, if I had to be, you know, perfect or how. had to be like on top of something I was preaching, I would never preach. That's right. Who could preach and teach if you didn't have, if you had it down? There's no having it down. There's no having it down and you struggles.

But I will say this. You know, these are at, you know, somebody called them attitudes, and I think that's right. And you're struggling, you're trying and you're searching to put these things into your life through the spirit. But I will say this. If you, there's a lot of false teachers out there. and a lot of people who are not mature in the word or in the faith. Yeah.

You know, if you have a leader when you watch their character or how they operate, and you start going down this list and you're not seeing any of these qualities, it's a really good way to look at somebody. I mean, there's a difference in struggling, being aware of your problems, and then having a guy who possesses none of these qualities. It's a gauge of sorts. I, you know, I agree. I mean, especially because it really covers everything.

I mean, you think about, you know, later on you find out that some secret sin, you know, and you're like, well, he wasn't really hungry and thirsting for righteousness. He was hungry and thirsting for the wrong thing. Well, right. So today we're going to look at the second half of the beatitudes, which are just as challenging as the first half of their relationship with God. But I did a little study on the first one because I thought this was my biggest struggle. Because look, when you read this verse, Blessed or the merciful, for they will be shown mercy, it's just hard to be merciful.

Especially when somebody does you wrong. Yep. Yep. It's just hard to do. Now, you know, you tend to look at, I think this starts when people say, well, what does it mean to be merciful? I think most people think forgiving those who don't. don't deserve it or helping those who can't help themselves. That's a pretty good idea of what most people think.

But I think the more I study, there's way more to it than that. And I think, here's the, here's the internet definition, mercy. Compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm. So, you know, just the word itself, it's phrased like, in other words, you extend to them compassion or forgiveness when they really, you could punish or harm them for what they've done. So that's not a bad definition. So there's a lot of verses. I mean, I think the one thing is you've got to realize that God is merciful.

I mean, there are literally hundreds of verses. And it doesn't just say he's merciful. there's a phrase that I kept seeing which says God who is rich in mercy. So when you think about us being poor in spirit, it does coincide with God being rich in mercy, which is awesome. And you also got to realize that we all as humans, everyone past the age of a little kid, needs mercy at some point in their life. Yep.

So, you know, James addresses this. There's a whole section in James. but I'll just read this, James, 2, 12, and 13. So speak an act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, which is in contrast to every other law that we know of. Because guess what you have with the law system and any kind of nationalistic, you know, judgment, no mercy. They worry about giving you mercy.

And they're sure as heck not worried about giving you freedom. Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. And then it says mercy triumphs over judgment, which flies in the face of everything that we really think that brings success. Right. Because you have to have, when it comes to laws and criminal activity, you have to have a legal system. Just imagine if we didn't have that. Where punishment and judgment for your act wouldn't work. So then you said, well, how come God's mercy?

works in in in in this realm so how how would y'all answer that just as far as an overview of god's mercy because in god's case it does it still doesn't take away from that there's judgment i mean even though he's rich in mercy he's also very clear that he's also our judge and he being god had the authority has the authority right to not extend mercy that's right here's the law you know the law was that is so the trespass may increase. We studied in the book of Romans. Yeah.

In other words, in the law and everything about it, pointed us to the author of mercy. You know, that's in Galatians. Remember he said the law was given for a reason? Right. It's to point us to Jesus. So you're no longer under the supervision of the law. Right.

Mercy triumphs over judgment. It's a wonderful thing. Well, my short answer, Jay's, is that the way. is rebellious toward God at some point in their life. The way that God, the Father, still is able to extend judgment and mercy at the same time is he offered all the mercy through Jesus Christ, his son. That was the way. That is correct.

So if the sin is put on him. So then no matter where you are. And there was a horrific price to be paid in order to be merciful. Part of himself became a human being and died. Well, and I think in this context. You look at the price, you know, what bought you? In our legal system, you know, it's all about what you can prove. You have representatives and, you know, some of them may be shady, some of them not,

but you might have done it. You might have got, you know, there's so many loop-up. But with God- But you got a high dollar defense attorney to try and to make you look as best he can. That's right. But with God's plan, well, he knows your heart. He knows what happened exactly. You're like, oh, no, no, wasn't me.

Oh, yeah, it was you. I saw you. I saw the whole thing. And he even knew what you were thinking before you did it. You're never going to slit one by him. But that changes everything. Hang on, let's take a little break. That changes everything. You're not going to. The one who extended mercy, that'd be Jesus.

I mean, for him to be merciful, you would have had to been God. Right. To say, I'll forget. give you. Right. Yeah. And really the only way to miss the mercy is to miss Jesus. Oh, yeah. I mean, now, to me, people talk about how hard it is, but it's really not that hard. It's just a, it's a hard decision to make. But the pathway to mercy is not that difficult if we're willing to be poor in spirit and allow Christ, right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And so I wanted to read this Ephesians 2, 3, because it kind of, you know, we were running around, verse 2, as members,

of the kingdom of the air, which is not God, you know, the evil one. And it says, verse three, all of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. And like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath, which there's the judgment. But verse four says, but because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, because I wanted to read one verse for it. It says that hundreds of times. But maybe, maybe us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you've been saved. So really, when you go back to Matthew 5 and why Jesus is doing this, you know, he's setting

a foundation to show and prove his love by saying, look, the law was intended for you to realize that you can't keep it. You need help. You're going to break God's law because that's what's saying is. And if in your heart, you are extending forgiveness, you would only do that if you were merciful. Without mercy, forgiveness, it doesn't come. It doesn't come.

It's not there. That's accurate. You're like, hmm. You say, well, judgment, you're like, if I'm just going to letter of the law, for it to work, you say, be merciful, I'll forgive you. Right.

So that's why. That's one of the hardest thing for human beings to interact with each other to do. That's right. It's just, why don't you just forgive them? Whether or you begin to. You don't realize what they did. You say, well, you put conditions.

What they did to Jesus. Remember when Peter was, I think it was Matthew where Peter asked Jesus, he said, how many times we forgive, Lord, three times, you know? Yeah. Seven times. I mean, like, there was a, what's the thing? the number, the magic number, but then Jesus tells them a story about it's not about a number,

seven times seven. You can, it's not a number. Because they kept trying to make it back to a legal this is how many times. That's why, in America, you don't even get three strikes. No, right. You get one. But that's why God sets this up. You know, in Romans 13, he set up the government's in all, you can actually be a criminal, be locked up for the good of society, which we're all supporting, and we support our, you know, police, and you have to have this. But you actually can be free in Christ, which is our job. That's why we have prison ministries and different things. While you're under lock and key.

Yeah, I mean, God has provided this. You can be a captive in a nation locked up and still. Death row. Yeah, live because of God's mercy of surrendering in Jesus. But you're going to have to go back to where it started and have these types of qualities which have been absent, I will guarantee, is why you wound up there. You weren't pouring spirit.

You weren't mourning about anything except getting caught. That's right. Which, you know, masters of manipulations. So, Jay, to that point, our old friend Randall, who does our prison ministry from our church, he was in federal prison for he was a drug mule as a trucker. So he's in federal prison in Oklahoma. and he comes to Christ, to your point.

He finds mercy. And so he starts sharing with people. So he's sharing with this Mexican guy and, you know, just tell him about Jesus. And they had a really good conversation. And this guy walks over to him. He says, why are you talking to him? He's why I was just telling him about Jesus, how much you changed my life?

He seemed pretty open. He said, do you know who that is? He's one of the top cartel guys from Mexico. I mean, this guy, you don't even look sideways at this. He'll kill you. other people. And he was like, well, I just shared Jesus with it. This guy winds up coming to Christ.

And he had no chance to get out. He should have never gotten out. But for some reason, he got out. They changed some whatever. He goes down and starts a church in Juarez, Mexico. And the cartel thought he had been busily running dope back in the way. Now he started to church, starts preaching. All these people, a thousand people come to Christ.

The cartel thought he snitched. The only way he got out. how did he get out? They knew he had a double life sentence. So they kill him. He was martyred. This just happened last year. They martyred him in front of his church and in front of his church people.

Kill him while he was there. While he was there, Randall said he was singing when they kill him. So this is something like right off the pages of acts. Yeah. And so the cartel thought, oh, we'll shut it down because we're taking, you know, we cut the head off this night. We show you, we're in charge. Randall said that about 500 members when they killed him. He told me today, two of his brothers have taken over the church.

1,500 people have now come to Christ. I thought, man, what a story. I mean, that's the ultimate mercy story and how that the evil one sets out to destroy. But he says, no, you can't kill what we're trying to do. That's right. I wrote down a few points about this merciful, but I thought we had to talk about that system there.

but the first thing I wrote down was we're merciful with the little stuff. And what I mean by that is we all have things about our personalities, and especially when you get into marriage context, you're going to have to overlook certain things. That's right. And the verse I thought about was this in Ephesians 4 when he said, Paul said, as a prisoner for the Lord. Now, he was in prison because he was out.

sharing Jesus, but he says, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling. And then he has these types of attitudes that we've been reading about. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient. And then there's this phrase, bearing with one another. And I thought, what is that mean? There's where the little stuff comes in. That's exactly right.

Because no matter what you do and anybody's been married over a week. Speak for your sound, Jay. realizes that some day. I'm not going to say a year at least. A week. Well, because the honeymoon week, everything pretty well goes smooth. Unless you have strep throat in Hawaii. Yeah.

There are exceptions to the week. But you realize that there are some days that no matter what you do or how your attitude is, it ain't going to happen. You walk in and it's just not going to happen. I mean, so you have to be merciful in those moments. And I mean these little things about it's just some, your partner or your friend's going to have a bad day from time to time. We have a lot of interaction with the homeless where we meet. And they're on the streets and we marry some.

And we give them enough money that they can, instead of their honeymoon being under an overpass, we provide a where they can go to a motel. And someone says, why would you spend that kind of time and effort with those people? Yeah. Well, look, because mercy triumphs over Jessica. Because all people are worth it. Let's take a break, yeah.

Well, one of the points, I had this later, but I'll go out since you brought that up, one of the points was that mercy should be premeditated, which is the opposite of premeditated murder. Great point. But premeditated mercy. that's the heart part in all this. Well, it's where you're looking for the outcast and the lonely and because that's what Jesus did. But the reason I bring this up, and I'm glad you brought up about the homeless,

is that Matthew, who let's face it, was an outcast. He's a tax collector. And the reason they had such a bad reputation is because they had so many kickbacks going on. You basically are the representative. You were getting wealthy all for your job. Guess what? the Romans won't ten whatever the name of the denari and he goes gives the Romans you know four and he keeps six and I mean these people were just scoundrels yeah but he was an insider first because he was

from the tribe of Levi that was his other name was Levi which meant he was a Levite so he was set apart to be a priest but then became a task he was legalistic of the core is the reason I bring him up is because later on in Matthew nine you said what's a He's going to do with Mercy. 9-9 said Jesus went on from there, and he saw a man named Matthew. Well, this is a guy writing a book, which is awkward. You know he's awkward because he's put this in chapter 9. I'd have put this in chapter 1.

And he says, follow me. And he told him, Matthew got up and followed him. And I read this in other translations, which I think is really cool because this next verse 10 says while Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, it says many tax collectors and sinners and some of the other translations has were invited. You know, sinners are in quotation marks. Yeah, right. But it says they were invited and they came and ate with him and his disciples.

And because I think that's a key word because when you think, well, what are these, what are these people doing here? Well, you never would think that they would say, well, we invited them. That's right. I mean, who invite? Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and centers? Yeah. Which then launches that covers a lot of ground.

That launches a three-year battle about this. I mean, we're talking. That was my point a while ago. Two thousand years later, we've had more than one say, why do you food with them? Why would you invite them? Yeah, when you think about a pimp or human beings, drug pusher or, you know, all that, you're just like, well, nobody likes these people. Which is fair enough.

You get him out of jail, and some of them said, so you're paying the bail to get them out? And the last brother, we did that with it, a few of them. He said, I thought y'all forgot me. He said, we didn't forget. So look what he goes on to say. And he says this many other places, but he says, verse 12, here's my point. On hearing this, Jesus said, it is not the healthy you need a doctor but the sick. But watch the next verse.

but go and learn what this means. I love this, because he's looking at teachers of the law and all these debaters, and he quotes this Jose 6-6. He says, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I have not come to call or invite the righteous, but sinners. Well, that turned them on their head. And really, when you think about this on what that verse means, it's like when you read Romans 12 and it says offer your bodies as a living sacrifice this is your

spiritual act of worship but when you put it in context of this verse it almost makes you think that being merciful is actually more important than worshiping itself it is basically while you're there and Matthew 9 there it's not the hell they said why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners on hearing this Jesus said it's not the healthy who needs a doctor but the sick. But go and learn what this means, because it's a tough thing. I desire mercy,

not sacrifice, for I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners. When Jesus says go, when Jesus says go learn what this means, that means you should have a timeout. Plus it doesn't come automatic either. But to your point,

it's a learning process. To your point. think about this. So he's speaking to these people who are supposed to be the spiritual leaders of Israel. You're the ones. You've studied it. You've done it. You've worshipped in the temple. All this stuff. He's basically saying you've missed the whole point because you're only concerned about people that look like you. And so when I read that, Jay's, I think about from Jose's day all the way forward. So we're talking about hundreds of years, these people have gone to the temple and they've made their sacrifices, their goat, their lamb, their doth, their lamb, their

dove, their whatever it is they bought to sacrifice. And yet their heart, they're saying, that's it. That's it. They can walk out and have no mercy. I fulfill the law. And he says, you know what, I don't want the sacrifice. That's not why we design that. I want your heart to be merciful. I want you to be like me. And so to me it was an indictment. When I read that, I thought, what an indictment on them. That's right. Because you should have been the ones leading Israel in this. Instead, you didn't. Well, that's why he did that. this over and over. You remember the story? Because I think this comes under the category of you've got to love your neighbor. But what if your neighbor is not the same color as you or has done

horrible things or whatever you can come up with? We still have in America, white churches and black churches as the norm. I'm like, of all the places, you should not see that. It's the churches should be known for everybody being that. All people. people. This is exactly right. I agree. Well, you remember the story Jesus told about the guy, this is in Luke 10, you know, a man was going down from Jerusalem, Jericho, and they stripped him of his clothes and beat him and went away, leaving him half dead, and a priest happened to be going down the same road. And when he saw the man, he passed on the other side. So too, which meant, Jay, is that nobody passed him, but he moved over.

So he didn't have to be right next to her. He avoided the wreck and carnage. Let's take our last break. That are supposedly not supposed to associate with other people. He traveled and came where the man was. Well, he saw him, took pity on him. He didn't care who he was where he was from. He went and bandaged his wounds and he poured on oil and wine.

He put the man on his own donkey, took him to an end, took care of. of him. He took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, look after him until I return. And so Jesus asked the question, which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the handle of the robbers? And the reason I'm reading this is because what the expert in the law replied, he says, the one who had mercy on him. Yep. And Jesus said, go and do likewise. was. So, I mean, that was a point that is, it's not just like something he threw in the beatitude. You see this over and over and over. He quotes that Josea 6, 6 over and over. And to your point, the Samaritan reference would be to racial impurity because they had been

taken away 700 years earlier and never were the same. They were occupied by, you know, another country. And so the Jews of Southern Israel, Judea and Jerusalem, they looked up north to their neighbors and said, no, don't have anything to do with them because they're not pure like us. So it's right to your point that the impure person, and I say that in air quotes, is the one who offered the mercy and the sacrifice, which is Jesus' hopeful. Exactly. Well, another one I wrote down is the merciful recognizes the source of the persecution. And you say, what do you mean? And I want read this in 1st Timothy 1. I think this was really good.

Because when you realize even to go back to the, you know, a married situation where there might be having a bad day or whatever in the world, you got to realize people who are doing all this persecuting and hurling abuse, because there's a lot in here about

falsely saying all kinds of things about you, well, we have in 1st Timothy 1, I think, a blueprint for how this happens. in verse 13 it says Paul said even though I was once a blasphemer

a persecutor and a violent man so he brings up when he was the one hurling abuse on people following Jesus I was shown mercy because and he he puts down in here the source because I was acting in

ignorance and unbelief the grace of our Lord was poured out on abundantly along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Well, then he goes on and says this, here's a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I was the worst. But for that reason, here's this phrase again, I was shown mercy so that in me the worst

of sinners, Christ Jesus might display as unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. So that's what happens. So cut to the chase, the only way you're getting out of here is to be shown mercy. That's it. We're all in need of mercy. And he was saying, look, I was acting in ignorance and unbelievable. When someone persecutes you or falsely says something, instead of getting angry,

you know, Ephesians 4, I think 30 says all that, get rid of all rage and bitterness. malice and because people are going to do you wrong. But it's instead be kind and compassionate. Y'all, you'll remember that phrase. Because you got to realize what will hurt people do? They hurt other people. Yep.

You realize they're ignorant. They don't believe. They don't know this. So you have to kind of go beyond what's on the outside. And okay. And remember, Jay said the mercies in Christ, because look what he finishes that section out with in verse 19 to Timothy.

He gives him some instructions. He says, some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith among them Jimenez and Alexander whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. Now, that shows you right there. There can still be judgment, but of people that cross a line, which they crossed, and Paul said, look, these people are not doing us any good. So I have said away from us.

It happens among the faithful. It does. So it's really interesting that you can have a mercy base but still have judgment, which is how we see God. He's always going to be perfect and righteous in his judgment, but he's also going to be merciful through Jesus. Well, I mean, I've kind of combined a lot of these things as we talked about that I wrote down. But I think the point he was trying to make, which he's going to make, which is uncomfortable for people who are Ferriselko and teachers of the law. and even our modern religious kind of ritualistic type settings, is that Jesus put people over the law.

That's why he had all these moments where he healed people on the Sabbath. And he's like, well, man was made for the Sabbath, not Sabbath for man. And, you know, they're out there picking grain, you know, on the Sabbath. Well, they were hungry. And he took up for them. And so all these situations that happened, Well, that trickles down to us, and you realize, you know what, people are going to make mistakes. People may be ignorant of, you know, I remember when I was in Israel, and I get on an elevator,

and I'm like, this thing, something's wrong with this elevator. You know, it would go to the next floor, and the door would open. There was nobody there. It was like, you know, 12 floors. I'd go to the next floor. It would open. I was just getting so frustrated. Well, by the time I got to whatever I was doing, and,

got back, I went over the day, I was like, hey, somebody did this button this stuff. And so my friends I was there with, they were like, no, today's the Sabbath. Because the reason it did that, because if you had to push the button, you would be working on the Sabbath. You are kidding. Yeah, but look, I've lost my mind because I'm stopping because I was ignorant of what was going on. I'm mad over something that now I'm really mad over, because I'm, like, Jesus put that on the cross.

They're like, yeah, but we don't believe that. And so it just shows you how there was no mercy from my end or their end, but I sympathize, you know, and that wasn't like that was hundreds of years ago. That was a couple years ago. They're still doing that. You can't push the button on the elevator on the Sabbath. It's right back to the, you're not helping the ox out of the ditch. You know what I'm saying?

It's the same. It's just a new set of rules and examples. You're talking about frustrating. Oh, my goodness. So I got to give them mercy because they're not giving people mercy because they're under a legal law system. But guess what? Everybody's mad.

Everybody's angry, judgmental and better. And I know that's wrong. So my point is that mercy, you're going to have to, that being premeditated about it, especially when on the little stuff with your marriage and all, you're going to have to have a plan for that because because your nature is not to be merciful that's right and it's going to lead then to the rest of the things you mentioned understanding where persecution comes from but also the two we didn't talk a lot about purity pure in heart in other words i want to be the real deal is what i would call that and then of course he says a peacemaker so if you're going to tend if you if mercy rules you're going to

tend to be much more at peace with people than at war with people that is true which is what you were describing. Well, I think that pure and heart, which is much needed in our country. I think that pure and heart, yeah, you get in difficult situations. And if your heart is trying to help other people on purpose, no matter what the situation is, there's something about that that's a calming, you know, just aura in all kinds of conflict. I mean, it doesn't mean you're going to get it right or you know what exactly the answer is. but if you think, you know, I'm going to put God first and I'm going to love you.

And let's sit down and just say, how can we help this situation? There's something about that purity of heart that I believe is what God is after. Exactly. And I think that's exactly where Jesus is going to go with the rest of this sermon. Everything after this is going to be a comparison between people who live by law and self-righteousness versus who live by a heart of purity towards God that just wants to follow it. Yeah, well, a lot of people in the church think that, oh, I just need to keep my mouth shut. Well, that's not being a peacemaker.

Now, I mean, there are times where you're like, best thing I can do, probably say nothing. But there's a difference in fighting and, you know, not saying anything but being bitter. And then actually trying to be a peacemaker. I mean, being a peacemaker is difficult. Oh, it is. And me as a church leader through the years, all of us, but especially my role is, you know, there's conflict between people in the body. And so I don't want to ignore it. We've got to get together and figure out what we need to do here.

And so mature people, you know, so we're challenged to get it right with your brother. If you can't get it right, bring in somebody to help you get it right. So that's the idea. You don't ignore it, which is what you were talking about. But in all this, as hard as it's difficult to see, God said, look, you want to be happy? on earth, you want to be blessed, you have these qualities. And at some point, you just got to take his word for it. As difficult as it is for every sinful nature inside of us to do the opposite,

I think you trust God here. And look, he gets to the end, very seldom does he ever say, look, you do this, you're going to be rewarded. That's right. I mean, he actually just comes out and says, there's reward for having these qualities in your life. Who doesn't like a reward? Exactly.

All right. We'll get more, get back into it next time. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to Blaze TV at blazed.com slash unashamed.