Walk

329. Dead people can’t obey God’s laws.

They need mercy and a miracle!

There are thousands of Scriptures indicating that God is merciful, and that He wants us to express His mercy towards others.

These are just a few:

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Matthew 9:13).

“When Jesus departed from there, two bind men followed Him, crying out and saying, ‘Son of David, have mercy on us!’” (Matthew 9:27).

“But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless” (Matthew 12:7).

“And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed’” (Matthew 15:22).

“‘Lord, have mercy on my son,’ he said. ‘He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water’” (Matthew 17:15).

“Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow-servant just as I had on you?” (Matthew 18:33, NIV).

“And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, ‘Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!’” (Matthew 20:30).

“Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, ‘Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!’” (Matthew 20:31).

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone” (Matthew 23:23).

“Jesus did not let him, but said, ‘Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you’” (Mark 5:19, NIV).

“For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all” (Romans 11:32).

Definition of Mercy:

According to Strong’s-Greek concordance, mercy means “kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them.”

“He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given” (Proverbs 19:17).

“He who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who hides his eyes will have many curses” (Proverbs 28:27).

“He who by charging excessive interest and who by unjust efforts to get gain increases his material possessions, gathers it for him [to spend] who is kind and generous to the poor” (Proverbs 28:8, Amplified Bible).

“He judged and defended the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not [all] this [what it means] to know and recognize Me? says the Lord” (Jeremiah 22:16, Amplified Bible).

“For to him who has shown no mercy the judgment [will be] merciless, but mercy [full of glad confidence] exults victoriously over judgment” (James 2:13, Amplified Bible)

“And you [He made alive], when you were dead (slain) by [your] trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1, Amplified Bible).

“Then the just and upright will answer Him, Lord, when did we see You hungry and gave You food, or thirsty and gave You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger and welcomed and entertained You, or naked and clothed You? And when did we see You sick or in prison and came to visit You? And the King will reply to them, Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least [in the estimation of men] of these My brethren, you did it for Me” (Matthew 25:37, Amplified Bible).

Definition of Poor:

Taken from Strong’s-Greek concordance: “oppressed in mind or circumstances, brow beaten, afflicted, especially in feeling, meek, poor, accepting their bondage, dangling weak thin and needy, feeble empty dried up, impoverished, not being equal.”

Definition of Pity:

Taken from Strong’s-Greek concordance: “to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to favor, bestow, be fair, deal, give, grant, be gracious, merciful, have mercy on, have pity on, pray, make supplication.”

The Good Samaritan

“And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?’ So he answered and said, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” And He said to him, ‘You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.’ But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Then Jesus answered and said: ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, “Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.” So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?’ And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise’” (Luke 10:25-37).

According to the above Scriptures and according to the theme of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, when we pour ourselves out to assist and have mercy on the helpless, we are doing it to Jesus. How is that? I submit that since He and the Cross are timeless, that in some way perhaps our mind cannot totally grasp the fact, that He is in those suffering people actually feeling their pain.

In the Good Samaritan story, Jesus defines our neighbor as the Samaritan. I think most people think that the neighbor was the dying man on the side of the road. Jesus said that the neighbor was the Samaritan, and that must be Him. It also must be Him in us doing the same thing for others because He said, “Go and do likewise.” The whole point of the story was to answer the question, “Who is the neighbor we are supposed to love?” He said that the two most important commands were to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

I submit that when you break this story down, that loving the Lord and loving your neighbor is exactly the same. You can’t love the Lord with all you have got, unless you are giving undeserved mercy to someone who needs His mercy.

I know it’s kind of a mind twister, but think about it. In the story, the religious folks who passed by had too much on their mind. They had a sermon to preach or something to do in the Temple, and they were running late. After all, “we can’t miss church.” Also, had they helped this dying man on the side of the road, they would have become “unclean” and they needed to do their work in the Temple; how could they do it in an unclean state? Notice, that both the Levite and the Priest passed by on the other side of the road and really avoided this poor guy. Do you think that made their conscience feel better? You know, like, “Oh, what man? I didn’t see anyone.”

Maybe these religious guys should have stopped on the side of the road and asked the dying man if he went to their church, or if he has tithed regularly, or if he was pro-life or pro-abortion. Then perhaps they could have reached the bottom line of his “problem”. After all, if he really was “living right” he wouldn’t be there, right? Perhaps they should have invited him to their Temple so that he could “make a decision to live right.”

Job’s friends were so sure that they were perfect and knew all the answers, and they kept telling Job that he needed to do this or that. The Bible tells us that Job was lacking some attitudes, sure, but it was his friends’ task to help him, not to criticize him.

Maybe the reason that it took a Samaritan to be merciful to the hurting guy was that the Samaritan had been persecuted all of his life, called a nothing, a racial half-breed, a godless person, uneducated, unimportant. He knew what it was like to be down, to have nobody care about him, and could not bear seeing a poor soul on the side of the road be treated that way.

If I look back over my life with the Lord, every time He leads me to repentance and to confession of a lousy attitude or sin, He does it indirectly; by showing me His love and grace, not by confronting me with a “do this or die” type of attitude.

I really like the Hebrew definition of “pity” stated above, especially the part that says “having mercy on an inferior”.

I’ll never forget the real religious person to whom I mentioned that about six years ago. They said, “Oh yeah, I even sit and eat with someone whose skin is not my color.” You missed the point fellow! There is only ONE who can bow to an inferior, and that is the Lord Himself. How can it be, that the Creator became a servant and washed the dust off of the feet of a bunch of grizzly fishermen, the very ones He created from the dust? So how can we bow to an inferior? Only Christ in us can do that, and we need to empty ourselves, submit to Him, and He does the work! When we see hurting people and all we want to do is to bash them with the Bible, then it is time to confess our sin and let Christ in us take over!

How much credit can we take for “making a decision for Jesus, or accepting the Lord, or becoming a Christian” if He says, “while you were dead in your sins I gave you life”?

Dead people don’t make decisions! Dead people can’t obey God’s laws. They need mercy and a miracle. The kindness of God leads men to repentance. Humans are seeking for unconditional love. Only God through us can provide that.

The Pharisees: Jesus called the Pharisees blind guides, blind fools, money hungry. He said, “You tithe but that you omit the more important matters like judgment and mercy and fidelity.”

I submit that this was a direct reference to Zechariah 7:9-14 (Amplified Bible) which says, “Thus has the Lord of hosts spoken: Execute true judgment and show mercy and kindness and tender compassion every man to his brother; and oppress not the widow or the fatherless, the temporary resident or the poor; and let none of you devise or imagine or think evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to listen and turned a rebellious and stubborn shoulder, and made heavy and dull their ears that they might not hear. Yes, they made their hearts as an adamant stone or diamond point, lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore there came great wrath from the Lord of hosts (and the wrath of God was satisfied on His Son fully… nothing was left out). So it came to pass that as He cried and they would not hear [He said], So they shall cry and I will not answer, says the Lord of hosts, But I will scatter them with a whirlwind among the nations whom they know not and who know not them. Thus the land was desolate after they had gone, so that no man passed through or returned, for they [the Jews by their sins] had [caused to be] laid waste and forsaken the pleasant land (the land of desire).”

So many Christians today are complaining about the sin of America or the sin of our culture and society and how our culture is going down the drain if we don’t turn back to God. They complain about abortion, about secularism in schools and other such matters. This all is true and cannot be denied. However, I submit that the bigger issue is that if God’s people don’t stop beating down everyone who is not like them, that the promise in Zechariah 7:13 will come to pass: “So they shall cry and I will not hear.” Who? The people who get abortions? No. I submit it is the ones who call themselves God’s people. We will no longer hear from God unless we start exercising mercy and true judgment and begin to show kindness and tender compassion, every man to his brother. The poor folks out there don’t know any better… we should!

Jesus told the Pharisees, “You filter out a gnat and gulp down a camel” (Matthew 23:24).

“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8, Amplified Bible).

Jesus told them, “you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but within they are full of extortion (prey, spoil, plunder) and grasping self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25, Amplified Bible).

This may be hard for some, but I submit that when we demand that the poor sinners act like we do, that they live according to the law which is written on our heart and not theirs, that we are being selfish and self-indulgent.

We want things for our convenience! We want a “Christian” government so that we don’t have to sweat things, we want this and that law, or some law done away with. We demand morals here and there. Even the disciples wanted to change the government, but Jesus never did.

Sure we want the best for our children, but we have the spiritual resources to live a supernatural life in this world just like Elijah did, just like Paul did, just like Peter did and just like John did.

Our attitude should be that:

1) We are going to heaven.

2) We have overcoming power for the here and now. We have it made! We need to spend ourselves to show the kindness of God to the lost; they have it hard enough without us beating them over the head! Jesus said that when you fed the hungry, clothed the naked and visited those in prison that you were doing it to Him. I doubt that those folks who are hungry, naked and in prison are those who we would even have over to dinner!

This lesson is the sole property of ISOB. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this lesson must contain the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright (C) 1998 by ISOB."). This lesson may not be used without the permission of ISOB for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold.