Beacon Sunday Service: June 2nd, 2024 Part 2

But God sent his son to lay down his life while we were enemies, not friends. This guy was willing to give his life because the only way to take down that flight 93, because he had no missiles, was he said to his the other person that was flying the other jet, I'll I'll ram the cockpit of flight 93. That was when you ram the cockpit and you're in the plane. Guess what's going to happen to you? It's going to be, you're done. This guy's not a believer. And he's willing to give his life for somebody like that. And God says to us, look, how about if you love your neighbor as yourself? Okay, let me give you these five. Don't show favor to them. Don't focus on a parents. Don't look down on the poor.

Don't lack love for your neighbor. And oh, don't fail. If we fail to show mercy to others, he says that becomes a stain on our lives. People know when you're not merciful. What does that mean? Here's the text. Speak and act. Remember the first week I said in the verse, any 13 verses, how he climaxes with, here's what I want you to do. I want you to speak and act as those who will be judged. That's the purpose of this. And so don't let these things stain your life because you're going to be judged. And then he goes on speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of freedom. For judgment is without mercy to the one who hasn't shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Did you catch what he's saying there?

Mercy. That's why Howard had us sing all these songs this morning about mercy and about God's love. Because what do we do? We love our neighbors and ourselves and we show mercy. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 18. Now let me quickly throw this out because I'm already over time here. Matthew 18 is where he talks about church discipline if somebody lives in sin. And that's Matthew 18, verses 15 to 20 or so. Right after that, he says, let me illustrate it. The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began to settle accounts, one who owed 10,000 talents was brought before him.

Let me ask you this. What is 10,000 talents? Let me just drop it in here so you know. A talent was the largest unit of currency, equivalent to approximately six thousand days worth of wages. One talent, six thousand days worth of wages. This guy, 10,000 is the highest single number that can be expressed in Greek. Okay. And so now let's go here and say, if one talent is 6,000 days, and he owes 10,000 talents, then how many days is he going to have to work? 60 million days to pay off that debt. Or let me take the 60 million days and say, let's pretend that you worked for five years a week, 52 weeks a year. That would be 260 work days a year.

So you could pay this debt off in 230,769 plus years. Do you get that concept? This is massive. Okay? So now let's go back to the text. Since he had no way to pay it back, no kidding. You know, it was gonna go on forever. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt. At this, the slave fell face down before him and said, Oh, be patient with me. How patient do you want me to be? I'm gonna work every day for the rest of my life into eternity. Be patient with me, and I'll pay you everything. Then the master of the slave had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan. But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred denarii.

He grabbed him, started choking him, said, Pay what you owe. What's a hundred denarii? Deneri is the plural of that. So let's just go back and talk about a denaris. A denaris was a Roman silver coin. It was the wages that ordinary laborers were paid for one day's work. What look at look at me for a second? That guy owed him a hundred days worth of pay. Two hundred and thirty thousand plus years. And now he's going after the guy that owes him a hundred days. At this, his fellow slave fell down and began begging him, oh, be patient, the one that owed a hundred days. Be patient with me and I'll pay you back. But he wasn't willing. On the contrary, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what he was owed.

When the other slaves saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened. Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn't you have had what? Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow slave as I had mercy on you? But his master got angry and handed him over to the jailers and to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. Mercy. God says, Look, if if you're lacking mercy. Now, let me let me just have you look up here a second. I want you to understand that our sin is such a debt that we could never pay it.

One songwriter put it this way where the whole realm of nature mine. That'd be a present far too small. If I could give in the whole world, my debt because of my sin. Do you know how people get saved? Jesus said there were two people that went down to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee, the other a sinner. And uh the Pharisee smote upon his chest and said, Oh, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people. I do this and I give the tenth and I do this and I do this. And the the sinner smote upon his breast. God's word said, swore upon his breast and said, God, here's how people get saved. God be merciful to me. Oh, what? A sinner. He asked for mercy. So my heavenly father will also do to you if you do not uh to each of you uh does not forgive his brother in his heart.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, you pay a tenth of mint, Dylan Kuhn, yet you have neglected the more important matter of the law, justice, and what? Mercy. I want you to realize your lives are gonna be stained. The world thinks that you judge other people and you have no mercy. That's why we have mercy, even when people are in sin. We confront the sin, but we do it in mercy. Because God, Jesus said it this way in the Sermon on the Mount. The merciful are blessed, for they will be what? Showing mercy. Are you willing to be merciful to other people? So you can have mercies onto you? What? These are the five things that can stain your life. When you show favoritism, when you focus on appearance, when you look down on the poor, when you're lacking love for your neighbor, when you're failing to show mercy to others, and you know the question that I have for you is, you know, is your life, is your testimony stained by the world.

Do you act like the world? You show favoritism. You look down on the poor. You don't give them mercy. You know, for you and for me. God says, look, let's cry out for mercy. If you're here and you don't know that, if you were to die right now, if you don't know you'd go to heaven, then I would want you to cry out to God that would teach us how to have a testimony before you and that our lives would not be stained as it were by the sin that can so easily sidetrack us.

Can I challenge you today? If you don't know you're going to heaven, and you wouldn't want to go to heaven, you realize that Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again. He paid the price of that debt that you could never pay. And today, can you say to him, Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Come into my life. Live there. Save me. Thank you that your mercy never ends.

That your love is an amazing grace that sets us free. Would you use today now to cause us to glorify you? In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. God is so merciful. May we respond in worship to him because of his great mercy. In this next song we're going to sing uh uh as a response. I just want to read out verse three that says, We stood neath a debt we could never afford. And that's so true of all of us as sinners. We have a debt to God that we can never afford, and yet God uh has lavished his kindness and his grace by giving his son Jesus Christ for our sin on our behalf. So may we rise and sing together. Praise the Lord.

His mercy is more stronger than darkness, new every morn. Our sins they are many. His mercy is more.

Our sins, they are many his mercy. Praise the Lord, his mercy is more stronger the darkness through everyone. Our sins they are many, his mercy is more. What patience, what patience would wait as we constantly roll. What Father so tender is calling us home, he welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor, our sins, they are many, his mercy, praise the Lord, his mercy is more stronger than darkness, do every more sins, they are many, his mercy and more.

Our sins, they are many, his mercy, praise the Lord, his mercy is more, stronger than darkness, through every more sins, they are many, his mercy, praise the Lord, his mercy is more, stronger than darkness through every more, our sins, they are many, his mercy is more.

Thanking God for that mercy. Heavenly Father, thank you that you are a merciful God, that your mercy endures forever. And so, Father, we pray that you would move in our hearts each one of us, that we would cry out to you for that mercy, and then help us this week to show that mercy to others, for it's in the name of our Lord we pray,