Beacon Sunday Service: August 18th, 2024

This morning, I know that my family and I haven't been coming out to the beacon for a few months now, and it's just a such an honor, such a privilege to come and be able to lead you all in worship this morning. Um just all stand and uh if we could just greet one another with uh just greet one another this morning with grace and peace uh grace and peace to you all um so if we can get back to our seats and look to the screen for to uh for this morning's call to worship and our call to worship today comes from Hebrews thirteen and eight.

Let us worship Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever, and all together, we trust in our unchanging Savior and lift our heart in praise, amen a thousand generations falling down in worship, sing the song of ages to the land, and all who've gone before us, and all who will believe will sing the song of ages to the land your name is the highest your name is the greatest your name stands above them all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, your name stands above them all and the angels cry holy all creation cries, you are lifted high, holy, holy forever if you've been forgiven, and if you've been redeemed, sing the song forever to him if you walk in freedom, and if you bear this name, sing the song forever to end, sing the song forever and amen.

The angels cry you are lifted high holy holy forever sing to the King of Kings You will always be holy forever your name is the highest your name is the greatest your name stands above them all thrones and the minions all powers and positions your name stands above them all and the angels cry all creation Christ you are lifted high holy holy forever seeing of Jews holy you will always be holy forever you will always be holy forever my hope is built my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame but holy on Jesus name on Christ the soul rock I stand all of the ground is sinking sand all the round is sinking sand when darkness fails his lovely face I rest on his unchanging grace in every high stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil on Christ a soul in rock I stand allother sinking sand all other round is sinking sand so with his cover and his blood suck for me in the world me flood when all around my soul gives way he then is all who I will hope and stay on Christ a sole rock I stand all the round is sinking sand, all of the round is sinking sand and he shall come with a trumpet sound.

Oh may I then in him be found dressed in his righteousness alone for this to stand before the throne on Christ the soul rock us, then the ground is sinking sand, all the other round his sinking sand on Christ the soul rock us, all the ground is sinking sand, all the other round is sinking. This morning we will confess our faith using a catechism for Christian growth. In this question and answer, we will confess about what the best evidence is that our salvation is genuine.

Question, what is the best evidence that our salvation is genuine? First John gives us three evidences of genuine salvation, a repentant faith, consistent obedience, and a love for other Christians. James says, faith without works is dead, and so we see that the best evidence of our salvation is sanctification. Every genuine Christian will grow in holiness and produce fruit. What an amazing truth that we just proclaimed and um professed. Maybe follow up with uh with this next song, make me broken, so I can be you're so callous, and now I can feel I want to run to you with heart wide open, make me broken, make me empty, so I can be filled, cause I'm so holding all to my will, and I'm completed when you are with me, make me empty till you are my one desire till you are my one true love till you who are my breath, my everything, Lord.

Please keep making me make me lonely, so I can be yours, so I want no one more than you, Lord, 'cause in the darkness that I know you will hold me. Make me low thee. Till you who are my one to reside. Till you who are my one true love, till you who are my breath. My effort thee.

Lord, please give me. Until you who are my one who is until you who are my one true love. My breath, my health.

Lord, please keep making. Today's confession of sin is a reminder that we recognize our shortcomings. And that it is through the Lord who gives us mercy that He has He will forgive our sins and allow us to walk in His ways. So let's recite together. Holy and Merciful God, in your presence we confess our sinfulness, shortcomings and offenses against you. You know how often we have sinned by wandering from your ways and wasting your gifts. Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we are ashamed and sorry. Forgive our sins and help us to live in your light and walk in your ways, for the glory and sake of Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Amen. Please be seated. Let's take in a time of individual private confession of sin to God.

He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love.

Amen. Today's prayer topic is one very specific. Um it's about praying for our leaders. And not just the leaders of your church, knowing that we have a pastor, we have elders, we have deacons, but praying for actually the leaders of our city of our state, of our country. It's important for us to recognize that the it is God who ordained these leaders, even though they may not be saved, even though we may not agree with them politically, it is God ordained. In Romans thirteen one, it says, Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist, those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists authorities, resist what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

Let's pray for the leadership of where we live. We know that it's challenging at times. We know that it's not easy. We know that there's a lot of hardship in where we are at this time. But pray. Pray for who you know, our mayor, our governor, our president, and just pray that they make pure and honest decisions for the well-being of us, their citizens, the people that they are in charge of, and pray that it is God's ordination and his will for the direction of those decisions being made. And ultimately, we pray in the midst of uncertainty that God will prevail, that God is the true authority over all things, and that his will will be clear to all of those who live here. So let's pray.

Father, we submit to the authorities that you've appointed in our lives, and Lord, we pray that we we pray for them. We pray, Lord, for uh just and wise decision making, not based on who provides more funding to them, not on personal self-interest, but based on just the well-being of their people that they oversee. We put we pray, Father, for blessing upon them, for just um just our city here. We know that it's just hard with all the crime and and the homelessness and the the drug uh epidemic, and we pray, Father, that going forward, our leaders will just make good decisions, that they would do things that would make progress instead of hold us back. And ultimately, Lord, we know that in our city, in our state, in our country, Lord, every uh every one of those leaders that makes these decisions, Lord, we just pray, Father, that um they too would know who you are, know you, and make um just fruitful decisions, uh, knowing that there is a God who is watching over them and judging them and has appointed them, and we pray for your will to prevail, Father, for uh all of our sakes, Lord.

We thank you, and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Uh, children, you're dismissed for Sunday school. Please follow teacher Tiffany out. Please have a good lesson with her today. As the children are being dismissed, uh, we only have a couple announcements. The first one is um if you are part of the assistant or uh teaching rotation for children's ministry, uh, as you know, there is a signed up sheet in the back, but there's also the sheet that allows you to uh make adjustments. If you cannot uh take your rotation of any given week, please make sure to find your replacement. Uh do your due diligence, make sure that it's done for for uh Tiff or Stephen so that they don't have to chase someone to help them.

Uh and secondly, we have our offering options, our Zelda Vemo, Cash and Check. If you're visiting today, please don't feel obligated to give. But if you're a member, we ask that uh you give as the Lord has blessed you in your life. Past Masson. Hey, thank you. Let's uh we're gonna go back to wisdom. We have been looking at this, you can see this is part three. Actually, it was a month ago or so before I went to New York that we looked at it the first time, and then last week we jumped back into it again, but especially in James chapter 3, verses 13 through 18 on wisdom. And what I've said to you is this wisdom is the ability to see things from God's point of view. So here's what happens in our society.

I said to you a month or so ago, name somebody in your mind who you can think, oh yeah, they're really wise. I I would go to them if I needed some wisdom. I I think, and we know in scripture, uh Solomon was the guy who asked for wisdom. And God said, Oh, because you asked for wisdom and not money and not not long life and stuff like this, I'll give you wisdom. But I said to you that he had wisdom, the ability to see things from God's point of view, but he didn't always put it into practice. So, Philip uh in Proverbs chapter 4, verses 5, 6, and 7. So that ought to be easy to remember. I've said to you, chapter 4, chapter 4, verses 5, 6, and 7. So it's just following one after another there. He says, get wisdom.

Wisdom is the most important thing. Get wisdom, but with all that getting, get understanding. And that's what Solomon lacked. He knew wisdom. That's the ability to see things from God's point of view, but he didn't have understanding, and that was the ability to apply in his life what God showed him from his point of view. Now, there are people in our society, you think, what are they doing? Sometimes you think, this is the craziest thing. Uh let me give you some examples here. Uh, when somebody is rock climbing and coming up, you know, this steep cliff. Sometimes you've seen it in Yosemite at Half Dome Rock, and the people climb up it, and sometimes they they don't make it throughout the day.

So they sleep in a kind of a hammock right on the side of Half Dome, and I'm thinking, that's not me. You're you're never gonna get me up there. And sometimes, like in Chicago, there's a there's a building that you can step out onto glass. You're a hundred stories or more up, and you step out onto the glass, and you can just look straight down, and you're thinking, will that glass hold me? And by the way, that glass did crack at one point, and they so they kept people off of it until they replaced it. But I I think, man, that's not me. That's where is their wisdom in there doing that? Or or look at this. This guy's getting ready to climb up dawn. D-A-W-N. That's the name of this mountain, this peak.

3,000 feet. Think of 3,000 feet. 3,000 feet is 10 football fields end on end. And he's gonna climb that. Oh, but here's the deal. Not only do people do kind of foolish things, I'm contrasting that with wisdom. Not only do they do foolish things, if your daughter was gonna climb up this, you'd say, No, you're not. And by the way, they're gonna climb up this freestyle, not having any support from above. So here's what he says. He's getting out of the van. Um, Abraham, we have some sound on this one, so you want to be ready to bring it up, okay? Every generation is able to really bring it up more experience the evolution of climbing. And I saw the Donwall as the last big wall that hadn't been pre-climbed.

When you stand at the base and you look up, it just looks like 3,000 feet of blankness. There's nothing there. It's deep, it's intimidating. That's what you seek in the climber. You want to find something that looks absurd and figure out how to do it.

I don't know about you. That's not gonna be me. And uh I doubt that it's gonna be any one of you because you think, let's see. Uh as a matter of fact, we had a guy that's climbed half dome hundreds of times, and he lived in Palmdale, and actually what happened uh just in the last five years, uh, he was climbing it, and somebody dropped something from above, and it hit him and it knocked him off, and he went down, and he was killed, and you think, wow, you know, that's and he was a school teacher in the Palmdale School District, had kids, a wife, and you know, once you reach that stage, you think, wait a minute, there ought to be something that tells me uh wisdom. Probably do I risk my life over this?

Or how about this? You know, is there anyone that has the now? Some of you are skydivers, I don't want to go against you here. But what's interesting about this is who wants to jump out of a perfectly good plane, you know, and or here's another one, you know. They you know, you get up into groups, and sometimes uh 10 or 15 people hook up in the middle of the sky. Uh when I was a youth pastor years and years, about a hundred years ago, one of the guys in the church said he was a skydiver, and he said, I'll pay for you to go up. I'll I'll do everything. I didn't you're not getting me up there because you're thinking, is that a wise thing to do? Or how about this one? You know, you you're on somebody's on your back and they're getting ready to pull the cord because you don't go the first time down by yourself.

It's just kind of crazy. How many know this uh northern Arctic area from England? They were wanting to have a way. Let me put show you where we we're at here. Here's the Atlantic Ocean. Okay, here's the Pacific Ocean. They were trying to find a northwest passage, one way that would allow them to go from England and all the way over, you know, to the south side of the United States, or further, and they they thought instead of going all the way down and around and back up, let's find this northwest passage. Here's can't here's the Arctic Ocean, right below that here's Canada, and just to the uh west, here's Alaska, and just to the north, Russia. What's interesting to me is the Barren Straits, right about the end of where it says Pacific Ocean, Pacific, the Sea on Pacific is the Barren Straits.

The United States is only two and a half miles from Russia at that point. You know, some people don't realize that we think, oh, Russia, that's way, way ways. But two and a half miles, and they're gonna find a way through the Barren Straits, and so in 1845, there was a group that decided they're gonna take two ships and they're gonna sail and make their way through this Northwest Passage for the very first time. It's gonna take them two to three years to make it through the passage. 139 people totally going on two ships, so they weren't small ships. They had opportunities to take coal so that they could run the steam engines in their ships. Twelve days worth of coal. They decided not to take 12 days worth of coal.

You know what they took instead? They took 1,200 books. Because you know how well men read books, right? They're going to be two to three years, and they're going to have to have books to read. And you know what else they took? They took an organ. So you know how you know a lot of men play organ, right? They're going to do stuff, but they didn't take stuff that would help them get all the way through. Here's what it looks like as they're trying to make it through there. Here's another shot at what happens when it's really impacted and iced over to make it there. Needless to say, they didn't make it. All 139 of them died. They found 30 skeletons years later at a place they now name Starvation Cove.

They found another 30 bodies.

And they named it after the ship. One of the ship's names was Terror. T-E-R-R-O-R. Terror. And so they named it the Ter Bay. And that's where they found another 30 bodies. You would think, did they have? Let me go back to where we're going here. Did they have wisdom? If you're going to go out on a thing like this, you want to have everything that you think you need. Probably not books, probably not an organ, but enough food and enough stuff to keep you warm. We call that, we'd call that generally just wisdom. People that have wisdom. But there's a difference between the world's wisdom and God's wisdom. So let me take you to James chapter 3, verses 1 through 13. Who is wise and has understanding among you?

He should show his works by good conduct and wisdom's gentleness. Now we've looked at this twice so far. The same passage. The first week I ask you here are the marks that indicate that you lack wisdom. If you lack wisdom, you'll have certain things in your life. But if you have bitter envying and selfish ambition in your heart, don't brag and deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. So if you have bitter envying and selfish ambition in your heart, that tells you you don't have what? Wisdom. Because it's not something that's from above, but is earthly and unspiritual and demonic. For where envying and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil.

So those were the indications that you lack wisdom. But it goes on. But the wisdom from above is first pure.

The wisdom that's from above is first pure. Then peace loving. Gentle. Those are the first three that we looked at a couple of weeks ago. Full of mercy and good fruits, with without favoritism and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of the righteous is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace. So here's what I said the sermon. If somebody came to you and said, What did Pastor Madison talk about this week? Here's the sermon. You can know if you have God's wisdom. The question is, do you have God's wisdom? Does God look at you and say, ah, there's somebody that's wise in God's eyes? Obviously, Jesus had wisdom because he was God. Solomon had wisdom, but he didn't know how to apply it in his life.

John the Baptist was said to have wisdom. I'm going to give you the following marks. Your life should be marked by these things if you have wisdom. There are eight of them that are listed in this passage of scripture. Pure, peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy, full of good fruits, without favoritism, and without hypocrisy. Now last week we looked at the first three. Pure, peace, loving, gentle. Let's start with this one today. Compliant. What on earth is compliant? Are you a compliant person? Now, how are you going to know if you have wisdom if you don't even know what compliance is? By the way, if you looked at all of these, the first one is pure. If you have the first one, you'll probably spill into the second and third and fourth and fifth.

But if you don't have purity, you won't have any of the rest.

So when he's talking about those blessings in Matthew chapter 5, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are they that mourn, they'll be comforted. Compliant is this. Who is wise and has understanding among you? He should show his works by good conduct with wisdom's gentleness. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peace loving, gentle, and what? Compliant. Again, I'm saying, well, what is compliant? Here's the Greek word for compliant. You paythais. You paythes. And why do we even look at a Greek word for compliance? Because when the New Testament was written, it was written in what language? The Greek language. So if you really want to get back to understanding what is going on, you want to get back to, oh, what's the Greek word here?

Because sometimes the English words that we use change. That's why you have so many different translations of Scripture. The King James translation, done in England, was paid for by King James. And so that's why you call it the King James Version of the Bible. It was done in the 1600s. So the words that are used in it sometimes aren't the same words we use today. And so we want to use words today that we use. And then today it's kind of crazy because we use words that you say, what does that mean? You look at a person and you say, oh man, John looks sharp today. He looks sharp. When I talk about somebody looking sharp, we know that, hey, he's really dressed up. But if I use the word sharp, am I talking about cheese?

That cheese is a sharp cheese. That's a sharp cheddar. Or if am I talking about a knife? Oh man, that knife is really sharp. Or am I talking about a copy machine? The sharp company makes that coffee machine. So we use these words and we go, what does it mean? So you you pay those. What does it mean? What does it mean to be compliant? So let me just divide it because it's in two parts in the Greek, okay? You pay face. I'll separate it out. You and the root of this is patho. Patho. So what does it mean? If I'm asking you to know whether you have wisdom from God, you ought to be this. You pay that oh. So what am I asking you to be? Oh, compliant. What does that mean? The first part of the word, little prefix, means good.

We use it in several English words. You. I'm gonna start just saying it. You and what words do you think we come up with in English that start to mean good? When you're all excited and everything's going well, and you are just on an all-time high. Do you know the word that we use for that? I heard it. I think I thought it. Euphoric. And euphoric means, wow, you're feeling so good, so high. Wow, this is terrific. Because it's good. Euphoric. There's another word that's used. You go to funerals, and you're gonna have somebody come up and say some good words about the guy that or the woman that's just passed away. And they're gonna give a you know what it is?

Eulogy. They're gonna give a eulogy. Would you say the eulogy? And so people, we use that word, and and most people don't even know what it means. And so they don't they get up there and they're they don't know what to say, and sometimes they say terrible things about somebody that's passed away. And no, you're supposed to be saying good things. And you means good. The second part of the word is from our Greek word logos, logos, and logos is the Greek word for words. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and the word became flesh and dwell among us. So the word there is the Greek word logos. So when you put these two together, eulogy, you're saying good words about the guy that passed away.

So what's the second part of the word mean? The second part of the word, because he's saying you need to be compliant. If you're not compliant, if if that mark is not on your life, you lack wisdom. So what am I asking if you had if you have this? The second part of the word means to persuade. Pathos. So let me let me embed in here what this whole word means, then. It means to be good and open to what? Persuasion. Not persuasion about biblical things. Because the Bible is clear. You know, it's wrong to lie, it's wrong to steal, it's wrong to commit adultery, it's wrong to cheat. I don't have to be persuaded about that at all. Here's what God says. If you even went further, God is so clear in both the Old Testament and the New Testament that marriage is one man and one woman, not two men, not two women.

Even though our society wants us to believe that's okay, God in his word says, you know, if if people do this, that's an abomination to the Lord. So I don't have to be persuaded in that. But I have to be persuaded in issues that, oh, let's say, let's say in our church, uh, some people just want hymns. Oh, just have great, great hymns of the faith. And contemporary, no, not contemporary music, but just old hymns. And then some people want just contemporary music, and are you gonna argue about it? No, you're you're open to persuasion about this because God is open to it. He says it doesn't matter. If the words glorify him, use the words to glorify him. Go to a church that you feel comfortable in.

If you like hymns, go to that hymn church. You want contemporary music, go to that contemporary service. But don't argue about it, be open to persuasion. There's nothing wrong with it. Even if there are people that try to impose their American society on scripture. And listen, God, God in his word never says not to drink alcohol. I I wish he had at times. It would be easier for me to say, you know. But I can't say something that's higher than what God says. Now God does say drunkenness is what? A sin. So to be a drunk, God says that's wrong. And he's and he warns us about strong drink.

But he doesn't say, thou shall not drink. So we want to be open to persuasion. I don't drink.

But one of the reasons, do I have the freedom to do that? Yes, I have the freedom to do that. Because the Bible doesn't talk against it. However, do I drink? No, I don't drink. And why don't I drink? Well, because I this doesn't appeal to me at all. And that, and spending money on that kind of stuff doesn't appeal to me. But the main reason I don't drink is because I don't want somebody else to say, oh, you know, Pastor Madison drinks. So they start drinking and they turn into an alcoholic because my freedom indicated to them that they could drink. So I limit my freedom. I step back from that freedom so I don't cause somebody else to stumble. Follow that. The word path means literally easily persuaded, easily persuaded.

But let me clarify that. The word is used only once in the entire New Testament. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. The New Testament was written in Greek. One time in the Bible. So what's difficult about this is I can't go and say, oh, here's how it's used in this passage. Here's how it's used in this passage. Here's how it's used over here to really say what it's what's going on. Now there are some people that would disagree with what this statement says. And I'll tell you why. Because it's used one time in the apocryphal books of Scripture. Do you know what the apocryphal books are? They're books that the Roman Catholic Church has included in their Bibles that the Protestant church doesn't include in theirs.

Nor the Jewish people allow in theirs. They're Old Testament books that some like Bell and the Dragon. Bell and the Dragon's a part of Daniel. And so some of those apocryphal books, Maccabees, first and second Maccabees. Books that even the Jewish people say, no, they're not scripture. So if the Jewish people said they're not scripture, then we as New Testament believers say, oh, okay. They might be good history, but they're not considered scripture. This word appears once in the apocryphal books. But just one time in the New Testament. What is meant is not a weak, credulous gullibility, but a willing deference to others when unalterable theological or moral principles are not involved. If God's word's involved, there it is.

Doesn't change. Is it wrong to commit adultery? Yes, it's wrong to commit adultery. Is it wrong to steal? Yes, it's wrong to steal. It is never right to do wrong in order to do right. Can I say that again? Teach this to your kids. It's never right to do wrong in order to do right. I'll give you an example of that. I know somebody that needs food. They don't have any food. And so, and I don't have any money to give them food. So I go steal what they're gonna need. Because it's right. I need to give them things. I need to give them, I need to help them. It is never right to do wrong in order to do right. Okay, here's an old testament example of open to persuasion. Okay, let me give you the background.

This man from Maan is a rich man. And David has taken and helped him out over a period of years, but this man doesn't know it. David has 600 men that are following him. David has been crowned king of Israel, but Saul is still king. So David is running from him. David has 600 men with him that he has to provide food for at times. So here's what happens. A man of Naon had a business in Carmel. He was a very rich man with 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. And was shearing his sheep in Carmel. The man's name was Nabal. And his wife's name, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man was a Ningramus. No, no. But the man, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.

I would say you can find that a lot of the times. Woman beautiful, thoughtful, whatever. Man, harsh, going after it. So that's the background. He was harsh and evil in his dealings. What is his name? Nabal. While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men instructing them. Go up to Carmel, and when you come to Nabal, greet him in my name. And then say this.

And peace to you, to your family, and to all that is yours. I hear that you are shearing. When your shepherds were with us out in the field. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them. And nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel. You know what? Do sheep ever wander off? Yeah. And when they wandered off, what did David and his men do? They didn't go, oh, hey, look, let's have some food. They took it back. So he's saying the whole time, this is what happened. We we took care of you. Ask your men, ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on a feast day. Please give whatever you can afford to your servants and to your son David.

David's young men went and said all these things to Nabal on David's behalf. And they waited. Nabal, wait, we took care of your sheep and everything. And we have 600 guys now that need to be fed. Here's his response. Nabal asked them. He kind of laughs at him. Who's David? Who is Jesse's son? He's the one that's been now named king of Israel, but he doesn't, Nabal doesn't know that. Who is David? Who is Jesse's son? You know, many slaves these days are running away from their masters. Am I supposed to take my bread? My water and my meat that I have butchered for my shears and give them to these men. I don't know where they've come from. So that's his response. When Nabal's wife, Abigail, here's how Nabal treated David.

She quickly intercedes so that David won't kill Nabal and his men. She persuades David not to shed innocent blood. David's response. It's found in 1 Samuel chapter 25, verses 32 and 33. Then David said to Abigail, oh, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today. Your discernment is blessed, and you are blessed. Today you kept me from participating in what? Bloodshed. I didn't go after him. I was persuaded. David at that point was given wisdom from God. Rather than going out and killing somebody. You can know you have God's wisdom. What are the marks? Well, you'll be compliant. What's compliant? You'll be open to persuasion about issues that aren't biblical.

I won't even go to the political issues, but there are a number of them out there. Some of them are biblical issues, and some of them have nothing to do with the Bible. Full of mercy and good fruits. That's the second indication in the text. Here's what it says: the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy, and good fruits. Now I'm going to combine a couple of these together because we have five of them, and we're not going to get through them. By the way, just so you know, the new pastor's coming, and we're we're really looking forward to that day. But he's starting in October. The last, my last Sunday preaching here will be September 22nd. We're not going to make it through the book of James.

We've been through the we've been going through the book of James all these months that I've been here, and we're in chapter three right now. It goes five chapters. So we're not going to make it. But I want you to know, look, these, if we get through these five today, he was full of mercy and good fruits. What's it mean to be full of mercy? Let me give you this example. I'm going to blank this for a second so you can't read it, okay. What does it mean to be a mercy? In Matthew 18, we have something that the Lord gives us that's rarely used in churches today. And it's when a brother or sister is living in sin, you go to them and you say, What are you doing? You know, for instance, if I have a if I have a brother, and I pastored the church in Palmdale for 34 years.

I started it and pastored it. Probably 10 times in the 34 years we had to do this. Where maybe some guy, he's married, has kids, and he's out with some other woman and wanting to commit adultery, committing adultery. And I go to him and I say, hey, I don't know what's going on. What's what's going on in your life? This appears like they you're committing adultery. And if he's open and he repents, that's where it stops. You say, Oh, praise the Lord, you know, get back with your wife, get things squared away, do what's right before God. And he does. And it stops there. If he says, you know, I don't care what you say, I don't care what the Bible says, you're just a sinner just like me. I say, Yeah, I am a sinner just like you.

The difference is when I know I'm sinning, I want to say, Oh, dear God, forgive me. I want to repent. And what you're doing is saying, I don't care what God says, I'm gonna go with this other woman, and I'm not gonna go with my wife. I'm gonna go with this other woman, even though it's hurting my kids and destroying my family. So I go to him. If he refuses to listen, God's word says, take two or three witnesses back with you and say to him, Am I misunderstanding you here? Because sometimes I misunderstand. That's why you take two or three witnesses, so they can say, No, Pastor, you got this wrong. He's he's not committing adultery, you know, and they square it away. And he is with his wife, and uh, and I just misunderstood.

That usually is not the case because when you know somebody's running around with another woman, so you take two or three witnesses and you warn him. You warn him that the next step is we bring it to the church. He's a part of our church. And we're trying to win him back so that he spends eternity with the Lord. So when we tell it to the church, you don't tell them his sin. That would be gossip. And then I need to be disciplined. But you simply say, you know, we've gone to a brother, and we've gone in Matthew 18. We went once and he refused to listen. We went twice with others and he refused to listen. He says, I'm going to live in sin. I don't care what you say. So we're telling you, the church today, and we're telling you so the next time you see them, you say to him, hey, how's it going?

Are you pursuing righteousness? Are you walking with the Lord? And that's all you say. You know, you're still open to him. But if he says, you know, I don't care what the church says, I don't care what the Bible says, I'm going to live any way I want, then you treat him as an unbeliever. As a brother in Christ, and yet you separate from him. You don't even eat with him. Because it's like leaven. It permeates the whole dough. It permeates sin permeates the church. And it destroys other people. Because you let other people go, well, if he can get away with it, maybe I can get away with it. And some other man commits adultery, and some other man commits adultery because you've never set a standard.

That passage, let's go back to the text here. That's just before Matthew 18, verses 21 and 22. Then Peter, after Jesus tells him what to do to bring it to the church, then Peter came to Jesus and said, Lord, how many times could a brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times. Peter's going, hey, hey, seven times. I'd be a cool guy, wouldn't I? I'd be a good guy. I forgive him seven times. Jesus says, by the way, this is this is the only place it's found in Scripture. This passage. I tell you, as many as seven, uh, I tell you, not as many as seven, Jesus said to him, but seventy times seven. Peter's going, what? You know, if the guy's, if the guy keeps committing the same sin again and again and again and again and again and again, I don't think he's asking forgiveness.

The text goes on. 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. A talent. Let me have you catch this. Listen carefully. A talent was one of the largest bills that they had in those days. You know, I don't know. I is the largest American bill, a hundred dollar bill. I don't know if we have a $500 bill or a thousand dollar bill. I've never seen one of those. But the largest they had was a talent. The man who owed 10,000 talents was brought before him. Talent was the largest unit of currency. One talent was equivalent to approximately six thousand days of work.

One talent. Did you that? Six thousand days. One talent. How many did the guy owe? Ten thousand talents. So, let me put this on the screen. This parable is only found in Matthew. He owed 10,000 talents. Every talent was worth six thousand denarii. Six thousand is one talent. That means that this man owed the guy sixty million days of wages. Do you get that? This is the story that Jesus is telling. Sixty thousand, sixty million, excuse me, days of wages. Now you divide that by 365 days a year. That means that this guy could pay his debt off in a hundred and sixty-four thousand three hundred and eighty three years.

If he worked seven days a week. That's a pretty big debt, isn't it? Okay, let me even give it further. If he worked five days a week, it would take him 230, 769 years to pay his debt off. Okay? So now you got the background. Jesus telling the story. Since he had no way to pay it back, is that the understatement of the year? I mean, if he worked 200 and some odd thousand years to pay it back, since he had no way to pay 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, and I'll pay you everything. Really? You're never gonna live long enough to pay it off. But here's what happened.

Then the master of that slave had compassion, released him, and forgave him alone. But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, Pay what you owe. You remember how much a denari was one day's wage. He owed him a hundred days of wages. He just got forgiven over two hundred thousand years, and he wouldn't forgive somebody that owed him a hundred days. The Daraniah was a Roman silver coin. It was the wage and ordinary labor was paid for a day's work.

At this, his fellow slave fell down and began begging him, be patient with me, and I'll pay you back. But he wasn't willing. On the contrary, he went and threw that guy into prison until he could pay what 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.

Shouldn't you also have had mercy? Did you catch what he's saying there? You should have mercy on your fellow slave as I had what? As I had mercy on you. What does that tell you about that guy? He lacked what? Wisdom. Because what's one of the marks of wisdom in your life? Let me give you one other story. You know the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10. The good Samaritan. You remember that a guy went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell among the thieves. Three people passed by a priest, a scribe, and a Samaritan. A Samaritan was known, nobody wanted anything to do with Samaritans. The Greeks lived in the north of Israel. The Jews lived in the south of Israel. And if a Greek married a Jew, their children and family had to live in Samaria.

That was between Galilee and Israel. Here's Samaria. Some people say there was SOME, some area in between. The Greeks and the Jews. They lived there because their dad or mom was from this nationality, and their partner was from this nationality, and they were called half-breeds. That's, we don't even think of that today. That's not even a that's not even an issue. That's not a problem. It was never a problem to God. But for them it was a problem. So here's the story. Jesus says, this guy was going from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among the thorns, and they beat him and took everything from him. And the priest passed by, this Jewish guy, and wouldn't help him. The scribe passed by, wouldn't help him.

But the Samaritan, the half-breed, that nobody wanted anything to do with, he's the only one that helped him. A Samaritan on his journey came to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him, bandaged his wounds, poured on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave to the innkeeper, and said, Take care of him. When I come back, I'll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? The one who showed what? Mercy. Mercy, if you have that as a part of your life, I'm not talking about you, you get pulled over on every panhandler out there.

You know, you're gullible on everything like that. I'm just saying, you know people that you are said to care about and you do nothing about. But if you do something for them and you show mercy, you have the mark of wisdom. So let me go back here. You can know you have God's wisdom, and there are marks for God's wisdom. Do you have these marks? Are you compliant? Are you open to persuasion about non-biblical issues? Or you say, ha, my mind, hey, my mind is like concrete. It's it's thoroughly mixed up and permanently set. You can't change me. I'm I'm concrete, man. Now, when it comes to the word of God, we're concrete. When it comes for non-biblical issues, we're open to persuasion. Secondly, full of mercy and good fruits.

Third, without favoritism and without hypocrisy. Here's what the text says. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy. Here's the Greek word that's used for hypocrisy. And a patakatos. It's used letter for letter to make the English word hypocrisy. Letter for letter. The Greek, there are a couple of words in Greek that just get transliterated into English. One of them is baptizo, to baptize. King James said to the translators, don't translate that word. Don't say what it means. Just translate baptize. Baptizo is the Greek word. Baptizo. And English is baptize. The reason he said don't translate it is because it means to put into.

And there are people that say, oh, sprinkling is okay. And some people say, no, no, you need to put into. And so he said, let's, if we're going to have people want to use our Bible, and I'm going to pay for this translation of the Bible, don't translate that word. Just transliterate it. That's what they did with the word hypocrisy. So he said, you cannot show favoritism. Favoritism means to waver back and forth. I'll give you the treat this time. I'll give you the treat. You know, show favoritism to your sons or your daughters or people in the congregation. Don't show favoritism. If you show favoritism, you lack wisdom. Don't be a hypocrite. On the screen, I have two masks. That's where the word hypocrite comes from.

Hypocrite means when people used to play act in dramas, they couldn't afford to pay people to be actors and actresses. I mean, they had to, they were just making enough money to provide food. So what happened is somebody that's going to be an actor or an actress back in the old days, they would have to do one or two or three parts in the play. And so when they played the one part, they'd put this mask on. And when they go to play the next part, they'd run change masks and run back out on the stage and play the other part. They were, listen to me, look at me. They were too faced. Do you hear that? He said, don't be too faced when you're around people. I I heard somebody say to somebody one time, hey, you know, there are two things I like about you.

Oh, and the guy said, What? Oh, your face. Did you get what he's saying? He's slamming the guy. You're two-faced. You know, there are two things I like about you. Your face. Your two-faced. You act this way around me, you act this way around somebody else. You act this way at church, you act this way in the world. He said, don't act that way. A two-faced person. Now, it's always hypocrisy has always been considered bad until you get into uh the third, fourth, fifth centuries when they started to have drama and do the two-faced things. And when people ask, oh, what do you do for a living? Oh, I'm a hypocrite. That's what they said. And it wasn't a bad thing because they said, Oh, he's an actor.

I'm a hypocrite. It's like saying, I'm a doctor, I'm a pastor, I'm a loyal lawyer, I'm a hypocrite. But hypocrisy is what Jesus spoke against. He said, don't be like these religious leaders. They're whitewashed tombs. They're dead inside, but they look nice on the outside. They're hypocrites. And he went after them. You know, so those, Kent Hughes says this way, those full of wisdom from above, never play act. What you see is what you get. No masks, no frame sincerity, no pretense. They're just real. Now these are the marks of wisdom. And the question I have for you is do you have these marks?

Are you compliant? Are you compliant? When I'll say it to your daughter. When your parents try to persuade you. Are you open to persuasion? You know. If you are, you have wisdom. And that's where God wants us to be when it's not a biblical issue, a biblical issue. They're they're black and white. God is God, no other gods before him. Adultery is sin. You know, those. Here's one. A biblical issue. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Did I say what you asked me to say? No, I mean, this is who chose your parents. God did. And so when you want to have wisdom, ask your parents. And sometimes you want to say to your parents, I'll do whatever you say.

But just remember this. God's gonna hold you accountable. As parents, you know. Can you, and then parents aren't as likely to say, because they say, oh yeah, supposed to make sure I'm saying what God wants me to say. I'm wanting you to have God's wisdom. God's wanting you to have his wisdom. See things in your life from his point of view. I'm asking you today. Do you have these marks that indicate to other people that you have God's perspective? Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you for what you've done in our lives, and that you want to give us wisdom from above. Father, I'm praying that today we'll begin to have these marks on our lives because your word has spoken to our hearts that we'll be open to persuasion on non-biblical issues, that we won't be so pugnacious, such a fighter, but we'll trust you.

Help us to follow you and obey your word. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Uh Pastor Madison on wisdom in church. Um, you know, that's a completely good question. Do you have the mark of wisdom in your life of God's wisdom and God's perspective? Um, if we can stand and respond in worship, um listening to song, my worth is not in what I own.

Not in the strength of flesh and bone, but in the costly wounds of love at the cross. My worth is not in skill or name, in win or lose in pride or shame, but in the blood of Christ that flow at the cross. I rejoice in my redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul. I will trust in him no other. My soul is satisfied in Christ alone.

Summer floods, as summer flowers we fade and die. Fame, youth, and beauty verlife eternal cause to us at the cross.

I will not boast in wealth or might or human wisdom's fleeting light, but I will boast in knowing Christ at the cross. I rejoice in my redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul. I will trust in him, no other.

In him alone. I rejoice in my redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul. I will trust in him, no other.

To wonders here that I confess my worth and my unworthiness, my value fix, my ransom paid at the cross. In my redeemer, greatest treasure, well spring of my soul, I will trust in him, no other, my soul is satisfied in him alone. I rejoice in my redeemer, greatest treasure, well spring of my soul, I will trust in him, no other, my soul is satisfied in him alone.

Heavenly Father, we close a service in prayer, not because it's just repetitious and something we want to do, but Father, as a pastor, I would pray now that your blessing would rest on these people, that having heard your word today, they could leave here seeking your wisdom this week, seeking your wisdom to give to others this week. We pray that you would bless and intervene in their lives this week. In the name of Christ we pray, Amen. God bless you.