Insight Into God's Mercies 2 (biblical Examples)

[Music] [Speaker 1] Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. We are grateful oh Lord. We are grateful Lord. We are grateful oh Lord. Hallelujah, for all you have done for us. Amen. Hallelujah, we are grateful oh Lord. We are grateful Father. We are grateful oh Lord. We are grateful Lord. We are grateful oh Lord. Hallelujah, for all you have done for us. Amen. Hallelujah, we are grateful oh Lord. Our Father, indeed we are grateful. We are grateful for all that you have done for us. We bless your holy name. We give you glory, we give you honor, we give you adoration. We say Abba Father, thank you, thank you, thank you for diverse mercies that we have received, we are still receiving, and we will yet receive. We say blessed be your name in the name of Jesus. Lord, we are connecting together again this evening to look into scriptures, to search scriptures together, to learn at your feet, to interact in your word. Lord, we pray for ourselves, our brethren on Mixlr, our brethren on Telegram, we who are here physically. Oh Lord, as we all connect again together this evening, Lord we pray, let your spirit work among us. Let your spirit work within us. Meet with us at the points of our needs. Instruct our heart. Teach us your ways. Lighten our darkness. Give light oh God to the path into which we ought to go. Lord, teach us to profit. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Last week we started a topic, Insight into God's Mercy. In doing that, we looked at the mercy of God shows up in three ways. Many times when people don't understand these diverse manifestations of God's mercy, it gives them a lot of problem. They start thinking that the Bible contradicts itself. That is why you may see somebody says, "Look, God will save who he will save, it doesn't matter what you do," which we call fatalism. But we saw last week that the mercy of God actually appears to man, what we see in the Bible, it comes in three ways. It comes in three ways. Before I do that, does anybody have something particular they want to say, for those of us who are here physically? You have something particular you want to say? Let me allow one of the persons to say one or two things before I give a summary, just a brief summary, and then we move on today. [Speaker 2] The last week's lesson really impacted me. When Daddy was saying we have three types of mercy: the one as fear of God, the one that God's sovereign power and precedence. It doesn't matter maybe you are holy or you are prayerful or something. And Daddy gave an example of Nineveh, that type of mercy God showed to the people of Nineveh. That was why Jonah could not even understand what was happening until God was able to convince him that He decided to have mercy upon them. The same thing David in the book of Psalm 73. Since then, I saw what Daddy said, "God is awesome." God is awesome. I have not seen that type of factor that because I myself personally, I feel like what is the essence of us, why are we suffering ourselves? If some people will just do something, just pass some corner and they just get what they want. Because I want to stand for what is right, I will see people will be praising them. I am serious. I have seen somebody that he did an exam in a bush somewhere and people are praising them as if they are the best. They will be seeing them as the person who passed knows how to read. While we are sitting, retaking, retaking, retaking. I am serious. There was a time they went to do the exam inside a bush somewhere to write the exam. But for Daddy to have said that at the end of the day, God will still reward faithfulness. God will still reward those people that know God. That is where it really struck me. Those people that you know the truth and you abuse that sovereign mercy, that your own judgment is more, if I am getting Daddy right, than those that did not even have that grace to be told or to know good or bad, they just do their own. God just show them mercy. Their own judgment will be lesser than we that we have understood now that we should go for [inaudible]. Thank you very much. [Speaker 1] Thank you. Honestly, God is awesome. If you don't see God that way, honestly, the way of righteousness is something that can be very, very confusing. You wonder why certain things happen to godly people. Just like the disciples, they were wondering why should Jesus die the way he died. But God is awesome. One of the hymns that speaks so much to me about the sovereignty of God is SS&S 516. God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. He plants His footsteps on the sea, His footsteps on the sea, and He rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable mines of never-failing skill, He treasures up His bright design and He works His sovereign will. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan God's work in vain. God is His own interpreter and He will make things clear. It's something that really shook me many, many years ago when I encountered that hymn. It was an encounter with that hymn. Honestly, when the Bible said that the ways of God are on the mighty waters and His paths in the sea, how do you trace His footsteps? Can you trace a footstep on mighty waters? His ways are in the mighty waters and His paths are in the sea. Honestly, it's so mysterious. God is awesome. That is the summary. The sovereign mercy of God makes us to see that God is awesome. It's something that makes life a puzzle sometimes. Life is like a puzzle. You feel that some people shouldn't have, they should die in their wickedness and God meets with them. Then you begin to wonder, why did God meet with such people? Why is God making it to rain upon both the good and the evil and all of that? Then we saw the other dimension of God's mercy. The mercy of God that comes as a result of your action toward men. There's another dimension of God's mercy that comes as a result of your action toward men. What you do toward men determines whether or not you will get mercy. That's another dimension of God's mercy. It does not have anything again to do with the first one. They are just dimensions to this mercy. God cannot fully be comprehended. There are mercies you will never receive from God except you show mercy to people. How that works with the first is honestly overwhelming. Then there is a mercy you will never receive except you exercise fear toward God. If you don't exercise fear toward God, you will never be able to receive that mercy. Except fear is exercised toward God. When that fear is not exercised, that mercy cannot be received. My mind today was that we were to move a step further to the next topic that is before us. But in the course of the week, in fact, after that Monday, I was just meditating and I see the Lord saying that, no, you are not through with that topic yet. You are not through with Insight into God's Mercy. In my notes, I was thinking we'll be moving to the next thing that we have here in our topic, but we will not be doing that today. Rather, we want to look yet a little further in this matter of Insight into God's Mercy. The dimension that I see the Lord wanting us to meditate further, to study further on these things is biblical examples. Biblical examples of these dimensions of God's mercy. We want to look at the Bible, we want to take biblical examples of these things. So, like I told the technical that they should now put it as Insight into God's Mercy Part 2 and then in brackets, Biblical Examples. We just want to look at biblical examples of these things that we said last week and see how God exercise these things in different ways. The reason I have come to learn something under God, and that is why I so much believe that scriptures at different points told us or is filled with these writings. If you look at Psalm 1, it says, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of God." Again, when you leave that place, you come to Joshua chapter 1 verse 8, you see the same thing. "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth." When you leave that place and you come to Psalm 119 verse 11 and verse 12, "How shall a young man make his way pure but by taking heed to your word? Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you." When you go to Psalm 119 verse 105, you find a similar thing again. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." When God was speaking to Moses about the leaders for Israel, He said they should make sure that the Book of the Law is always in the hand of the king, that the king may study it so that he may know what is inside it. If you leave that place and you come to the New Testament, the Lord Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." When you leave that place and you move on to the epistle, Apostle Paul told us inspired by the Holy Spirit, he said, "Let the word of God dwell in you richly." One thing I've come to realize, there's nothing wrong in making our life taking example from our life of the things that happen to us. But the reason why you see so many stories, so many sometimes marriage story, cultural story, different stories, some look like just irrelevant stories in the Bible, all of those things, the reason why they are there is so that we can see how God have dealt with people and we may know, we may take lesson from it. Those things that are written down, Romans chapter 15 verse 4, he said whatsoever things were written down, they were written down for our learning. They are written down so that we can learn. God wrote those things down because He wants you to pay attention to them. Every time I notice that when God have taken me through something over and over and over again, I mean in my own personal life, and I want to move on, God will say second, let me show you what I've done with people. Let me show you biblical example of what I'm trying to say. Then God begins to show the matter over and over and on and on. I want to beg you, some of these stories may look like very familiar stories, but trust the Lord for fresh instruction as we look at these stories. Don't become too familiar with scriptures. That is one danger of the scripture. Don't become too familiar with scriptures. I have read the Bible over and over and over again and I'm telling you till this morning, the word of God was still new. Some of you have not read the Bible, I mean the whole Bible over and over. I've read the whole Bible over and over. In fact, I've read some books up to ten times and I'm telling you that every time I pick those books again, you see dimensions of God, I mean dimensions you have never known all your life. Please don't become too familiar with scriptures because scriptures is God. God is unsearchable. Scriptures is beyond the letter. The spirit of scripture is awesome. I pray that we continually encounter the spirit of the scripture every time we open the scriptures in the name of Jesus Christ. So quickly, I want to point our attention to biblical example of the first one. Let's see biblical example of God's providential mercy. God's providential mercy. I want to take us in that to the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 4. Let's see something there about God's providential mercy. Daniel chapter 4. Let's see what God was raising with the man Nebuchadnezzar. You will wonder what when Daniel, sorry, Daniel chapter 4 not 2. Daniel chapter 4. Let's see Nebuchadnezzar already had a dream, so we will not be reading the whole of the story. This was when he had a dream, the dream of seeing a tree that grew and the tree was indeed mighty, the tree was great and birds of the air were in that tree and then suddenly there was a decree that let the tree be cut down and let the stump remain in the ground and let seasons pass over it and then the tree was now restored again. He could not interpret it until they brought Daniel to interpret it. Let's go to the place of the interpretation. That is where I want us to go actually where Daniel was to give the interpretation. I want to read from verse 18. Daniel 4:18-25: "This dream I King Nebuchadnezzar have seen. Now you Belteshazzar declare its interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation, but you are able for the Spirit of the Holy God is in you. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonished for a time and his thoughts troubled him. So the king spoke and said, 'Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation trouble you.' Belteshazzar answered and said, 'My lord, may the dream concern those who hate you and its interpretation concern your enemies. The tree that you saw, which grew and became strong, whose height reached to the heavens and which could be seen by all the earth, whose leaves were lovely and its fruit abundant, in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt and in whose branches the birds of the heaven had their home—it is you, O king, who have grown and become strong; for your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens, and your dominion to the ends of the earth. And inasmuch as the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, 'Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field; let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let him graze with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him.' This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and you shall eat grass like oxen.'" Why is God now doing this to Nebuchadnezzar? We're talking about sovereign mercy. Why is God in His power doing this to Nebuchadnezzar? It is because when you look at Jeremiah chapter 27, look at what the Bible says in Jeremiah 27. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, "Thus says the Lord: Make for yourselves bonds and yokes and put them on your neck and send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, the king of Sidon by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. And command them to say this to their masters: 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, thus shall you say to your masters: I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on it by my great power, by my outstretched arm, and I have given it to whom seems proper to me. Now I have given all this land into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant.'" You wonder, how can a godless king be the servant of God? He was a godless person. He has no reference to God. He has nothing. But what did God say? "The heaven is mine, the earth is mine, and what have I done? I have given them to Nebuchadnezzar." Nebuchadnezzar was a very proud and arrogant man. You will say God resists the proud and He gives grace to the humble. But even to the proud and wicked and a man who feels, "this is the Babylon which I have made by my own power, by my own wisdom," for you to know the kind of heart that he has. And yet, what did God do? God gave everything to him. And God gave that to him, it will be his own. Even when he misbehaved, God only corrected him. He's not a believer. God corrected him, God made seven years to pass over him, God brought him back to the kingdom. God made him to know that, "Look, I'm the one that gave you." God was dealing with him as if he's a believer. And yet, he's a complete unbeliever. He's a godless man. He has no regard for God. He worshipped his idols. He's still going on worshipping what he wants to worship. And yet God was working around his life. When he was away for that seven years, God made sure his throne was not taken. Do you know what that means? God preserved the throne for him. You know what it is when a king goes and become mad and they throw him into the bush. Ordinarily, you not expect that there would be rest in such a global kingdom, when there are people that could take over. And yet, He said let it remain there for that seven years. Nobody could take the kingdom until he came back and became king again. And eventually, when he was to conclude his story, you will notice that he said something. Look at what Nebuchadnezzar said when he was to conclude his story and back in Daniel. I'm now toward the end of that chapter. He says, I read from verse 30: "The king spoke, saying, 'Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?' While the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven: 'King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.' That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws. And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, 'What have you done?'" What am I trying to say about Nebuchadnezzar? Look at the dealings of God with a godless person. What do you call this? He has no reward for God, He has no reference for God. And yet, God just spoke through Jeremiah, "The earth belongs to me and I'm giving it to Nebuchadnezzar. I will give him, I will give his children, they will do that. After him, his children will rule, his son's son will rule, and it will go on like that for years." Why? Because He chose to do so. He chose to do so. He chose to do so. And when you leave that point and you come to a similar thing that you are familiar with, how do you explain the case of Rahab? How do you explain Rahab? Who was Rahab? Rahab was a prostitute. That was Rahab. She bring all kind of people into her house and they do everything. And that was the woman that God spared. Before the spies came, God had begun to deal with the heart of Rahab because he said, "We have heard. We're already afraid. Everybody is afraid of you." So Rahab had begun to believe the God of Israel. And that was why when the spies came, what did she do? She protected the spies and said, "Please remember me." How will a prostitute of all people, of all people in the land, was the one that God spared? I mean in a whole country. Would there not be people that are better than prostitute ordinarily? But that is God. That's His sovereign mercy. It has nothing to do with what they did or they did not do. He decide to go ahead to show it. We can multiply this example. But one of them that I really want to point to you that really think, every time I read about this man, I just wonder. Deuteronomy chapter 7. Look at what the Bible says in the verse 1 of chapter 7. "When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites..." What is the name of the first nation? The Hittites. God is going to wipe out these nations before Israel. So as far as God is concerned, the Hittites, these other six nations, what is the mind of God about these seven nations? To be cut off. But do you know something about 2 Samuel chapter 11? A very familiar story. Look at verse 3. "So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, 'Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?'" Uriah was who? The Hittite. What was God's intention for the Hittites? They should be wiped off. Uriiah became a man that had better integrity concerning the ark than David. Yet, he was who? He was a Hittite. How did this man find his way to be among the people that are defending the ark of the God of Israel? He said, "Look, Joab is in the field. The ark of God is there." This man was so upright that even when he was drunk, he was still defending the ark. They made him drunk, he still would not go to his house. "No, no, no, the ark is there." And David said, "Ah, this man is too good to be trapped." Then David had to look for another way to exterminate him. But what I'm trying to make you see, the man is a Hittite. Look at what God said about them. Look at how somebody from that place was taken out and that person became significant. Do you know that in all the Bible, before I only talk about women of grace, it was when God pointed me to this man that there is a man of grace? If you go to the New Testament, go and look at Matthew chapter 1. You will see what the Bible says. God kept that record on. Matthew chapter 1 verse 6. "And Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah." God will not close that matter. Do you know when Uriah died? Do you know when the story started? If you look at it, they will say this one begot this, this one begot this. But when it came to that of Solomon, God wanted us to see that David did not just begot Solomon. There is a man that his record cannot be canceled. That man is actually a Hittite by nature. You cannot cancel his record divinely. You cannot cancel his record. He created a record in divine account that cannot be canceled. And yet, he was not an Israelite. He was not. I'm talking about providential mercy. How God decide to have mercy on whom He want to have mercy. God can save whom He want to save. The ways of God, they are unsearchable. His judgment, they are past finding out. The way God kept this record on, the day this thing came to me, the matter that God raised on this matter with me when the Bible says, "David begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah," the Lord was trying to make me see why record cannot be closed. Why case they [inaudible]. But let's leave that, that's not, but what we are just seeing is God's providential mercy. That God can have mercy on whom He want to have mercy. God can save whom He want to save. Let's look at the other one. Mercies that come as a result of action toward God. Mercy, there's another dimension of mercy that you can never receive except you take action. Because sometimes people will say, "Well, God will have mercy on who He will have mercy, there's nothing to do." Anybody who tells you that does not understand the Bible. Isaiah chapter 37 verse 20. "Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God." Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: This is my answer to your prayer concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria." What did the Bible says? Who prayed? Hezekiah prayed. When Hezekiah prayed, what was he asking for? For God to save them from Sennacherib. What was Isaiah's answer? "Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, 'Thus says the Lord God of Israel, because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is my answer to your prayer.'" That mercy could not have come if there was no request. You see another dimension of God's intervention in people's life that have to do with taking action toward God. There was trouble, there was challenges, and it is not, "God will save who He will save." God said, "This is my answer to a prayer." Because you have prayed to me, okay, this is what I am going to do. Because you have prayed to me. Let's look at another one. This one has to do with action toward God. This one we have what looks like a little long reading, but I really want us to see this story. Numbers chapter 14. This was after the spies came back. They went to spy the Promised Land. So we leave chapter 13 out. So the spies have reported back to the people. When they gave the report back to the people, what was their response from verse 1? "All the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, 'If only we had died in the land of Egypt! If only we had died in this wilderness! Why has God brought us to this land to fall by the sword? That our wives and our children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?' So they said to one another, 'Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.'" Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the whole assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied the land, tore their clothes and spoke to the people saying, "The land we have passed through to spy is an exceedingly good land. If God delight in us, He will bring us into the land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord nor fear the people of the land." He wants them to fear God. "For they are our bread, their protection has departed from them and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them." And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now the glory of God appeared in the tabernacle of the meeting before the children of Israel. Now the Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people reject me? How long will they not believe me with all the signs which I have performed among them? I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they." Then Moses pleaded for the people. Moses said to the Lord, the Israelites will say this and all of that. So let's move on to where God began to answer again. So finally, Moses said, "Pardon the iniquity of these people, I pray, according to the greatness of your mercy, just as you have forgiven these people from Egypt even until now." Look at what God now said. Verse 20: "Then the Lord said, 'I have pardoned according to your word.'" That is, God will not kill them again immediately. The pardon is that He will not kill them immediately. "But truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all these men who have seen my glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put me to test these ten times and have not heeded my voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected me see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit." That's why I said, mercy that you can never receive except your spirit is right, except you fear God, except you trust Him. There are some mercies you will never receive. This is another dimension of God's mercy. He said, "Because he had a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring him into the land where he went and his descendant shall inherit it." Now look at what the Bible now says. "Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley. Tomorrow turn and move out into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea." And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against me? I have heard their complaints which the children of Israel make against me. Say to them, 'As I live,' says the Lord, 'just as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you. The carcasses of you who have complained against me shall fall in this wilderness. All of you who were numbered according to your entire number from twenty years old and above, except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your little ones whom you said would be victims, I will bring in. They shall know the land which you have despised.'" May we not despise that which God want to do in our life in the name of Jesus Christ. I'm showing you human action that can also make mercy to be withdrawn. God have mercy on whom He will have mercy, that is true. But let us be careful with our actions toward God. "But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and bear the brunt of your infidelity until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your iniquity one year, surely forty years and you shall know my rejection. I the Lord have spoken this and I will surely do so to this evil congregation who have gathered together against me in this wilderness. They shall be consumed and there they shall die.'" What brought about this withdrawal of mercy? God have mercy on whom He will have mercy, that is true. But let us be careful with our actions toward God. Let us always have a different spirit of fear for God and trust in God. A different spirit. God knows, God marks it. God, you see if you look at 2 Chronicles chapter 16 verse 9, he said the eyes of the Lord run to and fro the earth to do what? To show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart are loyal to him. Please, there is a sovereign mercy of God, but God also look out for men whose heart are loyal to him. If your heart is loyal to God, there is a reward. Don't let somebody tell you that "eh, God have mercy on who He will have mercy, there is nothing," he said, "No, there's another dimension to mercy." 2 Chronicles chapter 16 verse 9. "The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." God was speaking to somebody. He said, "the eyes of the Lord search the whole earth looking for who to show himself strong on behalf of who? Those who are fully committed to Him." Please, no matter what is happening in Nigeria, let us be fully committed to God. God will have mercy on who He will have mercy, that is true. But there's another dimension to mercy. Those whose heart are fully committed to God, there is a mercy. There is something they get. There is a dimension, there is a preservation, there is something that comes for them. He said, may we always speak aright like David said, "Let the word of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you." That is what we saw in Joshua and Caleb. The words of their mouth, the meditations of their heart, they were acceptable to God and they received the mercy. At 80, they were as strong as if they were still 40. That good health that came upon them, they got it by just one event. They were 80 years old and they were strong as though they were 40. That was a miracle. It was a miracle. But how did it happen? They were not just lucky. It's not that, "ah, they are just lucky." It's not luck. Their hearts were committed to God. Please pray to the Lord, "Lord, please consistently help me that in all situation, the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart will be acceptable to you. The words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, they will be acceptable to you." Lord, I pray in every situation, Lord, help me to always be on my guard, help me to always be on the watch. Lord, help me to mind my mind, help me to mind my heart, help me to mind my words that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart will be acceptable to you in all situations in the name of Jesus. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So we move on. Action toward God. The last one I want us to see is in Luke chapter 17 verse 12 to 19. Luke chapter 17 verse 12 to 19. "As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance crying out, 'Jesus, master, have mercy on us!' He looked at them and said, 'Go show yourselves to the priest.' And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus shouting 'Praise God!' He fell to the ground at Jesus' feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, 'Didn't I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?' And Jesus said to the man, 'Stand up and go, your faith has healed you.'" Thank you very much. Brethren, are you following this story? What was Jesus' expectation after he healed them? They would come back to say thank you. I'm just trying to make you see something about God. Yes, God is sovereign, but our actions, they matter toward God. He expected gratitude. He expected them to come back and say "God, thank you, God, thank you, God, thank you, thank you, thank you." And that is why when people do things and they say, "after all, he did it for God, if I have not even thanked him, he should be able to..." I tell people, you don't understand, in fact, I just tell you you are immoral. When people do things and you say "after all, after all, what did he even do self, after all..." and you cannot have gratitude in heart. You see, Jesus healed people and he felt that, you know, they would say "have mercy on us," "go and show yourself." The expectation is that by the time they show themselves to the priest, a miracle would have taken place. He already knows that. He knew that that is what is going to happen. The next thing would have been to come back and say "God." So the person who climbed that ladder of further blessedness, commendation, and recognition was just a man. He climbed a ladder further in the mercies of God. The remaining nine, they were at a level. This one climbed yet further to commendation, to recognition, to perfection. And it happens a lot between people and God. God has done certain things, you are not grateful for this, you cannot show gratitude for this, you cannot, in fact, this is, it's only what God have not done that you can talk about. You are never happy, you are never glad, you are... look, God expect gratitude. It makes you climb another ladder of recognition, of commendation, of perfection. It takes you beyond the general multitude who keep receiving but cannot say thank you. The act of gratitude, as small as this is, Jesus was expectant. He didn't say "come back," but he expected that human action. And the funny thing in this story is that it was a Samaritan. You know why Jesus mentioned a Samaritan? You know exactly what the Bible is saying when he said, "if a man cannot provide for his own house, then he's worse than an infidel." There are sometimes when even those who don't know God have better behavior. They have better morals. Better morals than so-called born-again, so-called converted, so-called tongues-speaking believers. They have better morals. He said so nobody could come back except only this Samaritan. The Samaritan don't have things to do with the Jews as at this time. Please don't forget, Samaritan is the northern part of Israel. You know the kingdom was divided. Samaritan is the capital city of the northern kingdom that Jeroboam began. Jeroboam, then the Jews were in the southern kingdom by Rehoboam Solomon. So enmity had begun since that time. So there's always this they are there, so these ones they are evil people, this one don't have things to do with them. Because don't forget that Jeroboam established a new set of worship of worshipping idols. That continued till the fall of that kingdom, that continued in the northern kingdom. It is in the southern kingdom that you have people who feared God. From Jeroboam till the last king, nobody feared God in the northern kingdom. So it is a history of godlessness, of idol worship, of not recognizing God, even though their father could be traced to Abraham. So the point I'm trying to bring out, the Jews have nothing to do with the Samaritan. They are defiled, they are useless people, they are not people that they want to relate to. So for the Samaritan to come back, it should not be the Samaritan that will come back and say thank you to a Jew, who was Jesus. It should be the Jews that should come back. And in fact, that is where I'm going. They just think that "okay, of course, isn't that Jesus the son of the carpenter? Isn't that Jesus..." People who know his brother and sisters, "ah, the carpenter's son, he did something, there's nothing to recognize about it, I don't know." I'm just trying to give... people sometimes come with a mentality that you know that they are foolish. I'm saying that because you see that while there is a sovereign mercy, there is also a mercy that has to do with our actions toward God. And it's the same thing in our relationship with human beings. Please I keep telling everybody, man reflects the image of God. Man is made in God's image. And so you begin to see that there are people that the only mercy you will enjoy with them is their sovereign mercy. Whether you are good or you are bad or whatever you do, it doesn't affect who they are. They do good to you because they love their enemies, they do good, they move on. But there's another level of mercy that you can also receive from them. The mercy that has to do with your actions toward them. And you will notice what I want to make you see about this action, you will notice that when God have shown people sovereign mercy and brought them into a relationship, He began to expect more from them. Do you notice that? So that you begin to see that it is to whom much is given that much is expected. So the reality should be that the fact that God saved us even when we were way sinners, and have given us such a mercy, is the reason why we should be people whose heart are committed to Him, who wants to show gratitude. Dimensions of God's mercies. These mercies don't contradict themselves. They are just dimensions. They operate in a way that you cannot just explain them. They are dimensions of His mercies. And the last one that we look at last week, the biblical example, is the one that has to do with mercy you cannot receive from God, this other dimension that has to do with your actions toward people. And I will just quickly use two illustrations for that. I've take you the familiar one that is in Matthew chapter 18 from verse 21. We are familiar with that story. That was where Peter was saying to the master, "for how many times will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus' answer, Jesus said to him, "I did not say up to seven times but seventy times seven times." Can your brother offend you in a day for 490 times? Let's even put it in a year. Because some argue that it's not talking about in a day, it's talking about in a lifetime because people could not relate to it. Let's don't argue whether it's a day or a month or a year, but let's look at it, 490 times in a lifetime. If you want to put it that way, if that is how you want to see it. But the point that is just here is just making us to see how large our heart should be. If you don't have a large heart, there are mercies you will never receive from God. If you don't have a large heart, there are mercies you will never receive. Let's look at the story. Jesus gave a parable immediately after that. The reason why he was saying He said, "Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle account with his servant. And when he has begun to settle account, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he should be sold with his wife and children and all that he had that payment be made. The servant therefore fell before him saying, 'Master have patience with me, I will pay you all.' Then the master of the servant was moved with compassion, released him and forgave the debt. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, 'Pay what you owe me.' So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, 'Have patience with me, I will pay you all.' And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved and they came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master after he has called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not have had compassion on your fellow servant just as I have had pity on you?' And his master was angry and he delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So your heavenly Father also will do to you to each of you if each of you does not forgive his brother from his heart their trespasses." The point here, I want you to get something about this principle that Jesus is putting up here. The point here is that we are not saved, we didn't receive God's mercy because we had mercy on people. We were sinners when God save us. The point here that Jesus is putting up for us is that you need to understand, God accepted you and He gave you righteousness and you remain righteous before God and the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse you from every sin and God made you acceptable to Him. There is nothing anybody want to do that can be compared to the mercy that you have received from God. That is the point of the story. The point is that because God have shown you mercy, it becomes expedient for you, you become duty bound to do what? To show mercy. That is the principle of the kingdom. So what we do, what we don't do with people, have a lot to do with what we do and what we don't do. Likeness of heart in terms of what we do to human. Look at it in another way. This has to do with forgiveness or no forgiveness. But the last one has to do with... this is a very familiar story that we are familiar with. We will not read the whole story again. That's 1 Samuel chapter 30. That is when the Amalekites destroyed the whole of all that David has worked for for his life. And everybody began to weep for his own child and for his children. So we just quickly go to the import of that story there and we move on. So after that had happened, they took everything and they went with everything. Everybody cried and cried and cried and cried and then David also went to God and then David prayed because he didn't know what to do again. He said, "But David strengthened himself in the Lord." And he prayed. So David inquired of the Lord saying, "Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?" And he answered him, "Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover them." So David went, he and six hundred men. God had promised him what? The promise of God that he would get everything. Okay, so he went and then they crossed the brook, they keep pursuing them. David pursued, he and four hundred men, two hundred have stayed back while they continued. David found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and they gave him bread and he ate and they let him drink water and they gave him a piece of a cake of fig and two clusters of raisins. So when he had eaten, his strength came back to him for he had not eaten bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights. Then David said to him, "To whom do you belong and where are you from?" And he said, "I am the young man from Egypt, servant of an Amalekite. My master left me behind because three days ago I fell sick. We made an invasion of the southern area," he just told David what they did and they burned the city of Ziklag. And then David said to him, "Can you take me down to this troop?" So he said, "Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hand of my master and I will take you down to the troop." And when he brought him down, there they were and then you know what happened. So David attacked them, of course he was able to recover all. Please look at this story. What is the moral lesson in this story? Inquires from God on which direction to go. God showed him the direction to go. He says you should pursue them. This has nothing to do with forgiving people but mercy to people. They found somebody, they did not know who that person is. What did they do? They were merciful to the person. They showed the person mercy. They brought him, they showed kindness, they did all of that to that person. And when you did all of that to that person, what immediately followed? That person become the answer to their prayer. God had promised he will give something, but their kindness connected them with their miracle. Telling you that there are so many things that God will promise that He will do for your life, but they are tied to the kindness that you will show. I'm talking about the principle of this kingdom. This kingdom that you are in, they are tied. And the people who God destroyed, they were destroyed because of their lack of kindness. You have a servant, the servant was ill, so the basis is to throw the servant away so he can die as if it is goat or fish or hen or chicken. And that being not merciful led to their own destruction. Action toward men. I cannot stop this. The examples are many. But I want to stop because it's already 6:30. But I cannot but mention this to you. Don't ever forget that the servant that Abraham sent to go and get a wife for Isaac, when he got to the place, he didn't know where he was going. He prayed to God that God let it be that the woman that will do this, that will do that, that will do this, let him be the person. Rebekah was not aware of any prayer. Rebekah simply saw a man that said, "please help me." "Okay, the stranger, let me help you." And she fetched. She entered into the divine purpose for her life by the kindness that she showed. Look, a lot of people will miss God's plan for their life because of their action toward people. Maritally, I can't let time allow me to multiply example for you. Marital, career, different things in our life, prosperity, provision, because you are not merciful. You'll just be there praying "God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God," okay, continue. Continue and be thinking that it is only about that. I'm not saying we should not pray. Those who are close to me know that I'm a man of prayer. But I'm telling you, there are connections between our relationship to God and our relationship with men. It is so connected together, you cannot separate them. May you not miss your visitation. May God strengthen us in moral, in character. Character is very, very important. Being thankful, hardworking, respectful, giving to service, serving people. These things may look like [inaudible] but I'm telling you they are connected to many things that God will do in your life. Let us pray this evening. It's already 6:30. Biblical example of Insight into God's Mercy. God's mercy. All of these are mercies of God. But that's what I want you to see. It was God's mercy upon Rebekah to marry into the house of Abraham, their kindred. It was what God have done, but that mercy was connected to kindness. I want you to pray, I want you to ask the Lord to help you. These things, they are written down. They are written down for our learning. Don't overlook these examples. Don't just see them, Bible story. They are not just stories. They are divine instructions. They are divine instructions. They are telling us how to pattern our life. They are telling us how to arrange our life. They are telling us the correct way to live. The Bible teaches us how to live, how to pattern our life, how to adjust, how to... you know, it helps us to know what is wrong about our life. Some things may be wrong, we may not know it. But as we look into scriptures, we adjust our life. We correct our life. We adjust it, we modify it, we align our life with scriptures. I want to invite my wife to close this meeting. Olorunola please come and close this meeting for us. [Speaker 3] Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, thank you for speaking to us again. Thank you for not hiding your word from us. Thank you for on this mountain you always speak your word. We return all glory unto you in the name of Jesus. Thank you from the well, the everlasting well that does not run dry. Thank you Holy Spirit for utterance, thank you for your help. Thank you Father in the name of Jesus. Thank you also for sending the word because it is when you want to do us good. It is so that we will not come in vain. It is because you do not want us to seek you in vain. That's the reason why you send your word and your Bible say you send your word to heal and to deliver. Thank you for the healing and deliverance we have received tonight. We give all the glory in the name of Jesus. Father we go in this strength, we go in this great work that you have done in our life. Our life, oh Lord, will bring forth the desire fruit in the name of Jesus. We will not be forgetful hearers. We will not be land that receives and take in nutrient from you and will not bring out the required fruit. We will not be barren in the name of Jesus. By the reason of this word of healing and deliverance, every barrenness, anything that will not make the word of God to profit us, that will not make the word of God to bring forth fruit to God's glory and the benefit of mankind, we say such barrenness or such hold over our lives be broken in the name of Jesus. Lord, we believe in you, that Lord you will help us. We believe in you. If you will not help us, you won't send us your word. And Lord, we will not be like them, oh Lord, that will just disdain just like you told the Israelites, they see my work several times, these ten times, I have passed among them, but they kept disgracing me. They kept embarrassing me. Lord, we will not embarrass you in the name of Jesus. Your word that we have seen that you have sent to us, your miracles, this word they are life and they will carry out life in us in the name of Jesus. Every process of death, every lifestyle, everything that is contrary to the word of God, we say we put an end to them tonight in the name of Jesus. Our life will bring out life, the life of God, the life of God. Everything contrary to that will no longer work in our life in Jesus' name. Lord, we pray oh Lord for your son, we ask Lord more of you, more of your grace, unction, utterance, insight, inspiration, revelation, everything that he need, oh Lord, to take this message to everyone you have sent him to. Lord, we assure you will not deny him of this in Jesus' name. Lord, for this that you have done tonight again, we ask for replenishment. That you replenish, you will renew his strength and he will also Lord that you have always been helping him to be with doers of your word and not hearers and speaker only in the name of Jesus. We pray oh Lord, as we all go tonight, your presence will go with us. For everyone in their different homes, in different places listen online, the blessings of this meeting will never leave us. This blessing will be with us till the work of Christ is done in our life here on earth in the name of Jesus. Thank you, faithful God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The grace in fellowship. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore. Amen. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and marriage through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission aid. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class every Monday 5:00 PM, Adolescent and Singles club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, Marriage Forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, family life seminars, regular school outrages and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Idijare road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033361384. God bless you all. [Music]