Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment

"Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment" – James 2:13 If there is one thing we do not think about during the day, it is showing mercy; we rise full of care, and that care is only for ourselves. But passing judgment, yes, on everyone. True faith is shown in acts of mercy, and the believer does not seek to condemn, but to restore. To condemn is easy; throwing wood on the fire is easier and more comfortable and even gives more pleasure, but one grows hard and bitter. Mercy is what keeps us alive, and it is one of the most beautiful qualities of the character of Christ.

I. Faith is the evidence of things not seen.

A. At our conversion we came to know faith.

1. Before, if the word faith was spoken, it was not understood: one more word in our vocabulary.

2. When we came to the Lord something began to work in our being, in our soul and in our spirit.

3. There are many things obtained only by faith; salvation is by faith, not by merit.

4. Faith is stirred when sickness appears, when the evil day appears, when what we cannot do by ourselves appears.

5. That is why faith is joined to our spirit, our soul and our understanding, so that we may go on overcoming.

B. There is much to live through, and we take it as we will.

1. What we have, what we await, what looms, what is gone, what has come.

2. Either we turn rebellious, we quarrel, we hate mankind and we look at no one.

3. And that settles nothing, because in the end the evil we must overcome overcomes us.

4. Everything you dodge and do not face grows complicated, and the one who is complicated is you.

5. If you want to hate mankind, hate it; but that hatred returns upon you, and not by ninety-nine per cent: by a hundred.

6. Sow and reap: that is the law of sowing.

II. Mercy rejoiceth against judgment (James 2:13).

A. We do not think of mercy, but we do think of judgment.

1. One rises full of care, and that care is for oneself and at most for the nearest one.

2. But judging, yes, everyone: the neighbour, the other neighbour, the one across the street.

3. If we live troubled and vexed, we will take up that attitude: judgment, and judging about everything.

4. One situation does not undo me, nor two, nor three hundred; mercy is what keeps us alive.

5. We can be happy and blessed: what I am coming to know are the mercies, which are new every morning.

B. True faith is shown in acts of mercy.

1. We must begin to exercise faith in acts of mercy.

2. Throwing wood on the fire is easier and more comfortable, and even gives more pleasure; but one grows hard and bitter.

3. Until nothing looks beautiful to you and you see a flower and it does not matter.

4. Out of the grass itself comes a little flower smaller than a dot, and you say: so tiny, and there it is. Who was pleased to make it?

5. But because we set mercy aside, we say: look, they grow in the grass. And that is already a judgment.

6. And on whom are we passing judgment? On the Creator, the Maker of all.

C. The believer does not seek to condemn, but to restore.

1. To condemn is easy; with children it is easier to set them against the wall and give them half an hour of discipline.

2. We have an average span here; however long you live, one day it will end.

3. And then you go to heaven or to that other place called hell, and there it will be for eternity.

4. It is terrifying to think of an eternal punishment, of flames that never end, of the longing to see those you loved on earth.

5. We depart from the earth at the time God marks, but afterward the soul and the spirit go where you sent them.

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

A. The character of God is reflected in the face.

1. If there is something that gladdens God in us, it is when we show compassion.

2. Your face is meant to reflect the character of the Lord, so that people say: you have something.

3. If what is reflected is anger, strife and the tug of war, that is not the character of Christ.

4. And the one it should sadden is yourself, because you have a conscience and the conscience reproves.

B. You give mercy and mercy returns multiplied.

1. Blessed means happy.

2. In the evil day, in the hard trouble, in the conflict, you will be delivered by the mercies.

3. God never leaves us small: we are converted as children and we grow up to adulthood.

4. And in adulthood is when we have become complete: not in the flesh, but dead to the flesh.

C. Mercy is the character of Christ.

1. If we know the character of Jesus we will live as Jesus, and it will show in your acts and in your manner of life.

2. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance: that is why Jesus came to the earth.

3. The first mercy we understood was the day of our conversion, when someone told us we needed to receive the Lord.

4. The point is not understanding: there the act of faith begins, because your heart is shaken.

5. That is why the Scripture says we should imitate Christ; and what is imitated of Christ is His character.

6. That character shows in how you react and how you look at people, instead of saying: I like him, I do not like him, he thinks he is better than anyone.

D. Compassion for the one who suffers, and love instead of judgment.

1. We must all be striving for the character of Christ; we are not going to turn eighty and have no one love us.

2. Our own nature grows sharper as long as we do not decide to follow Christ as He requires.

3. Giving judgment is the tastier thing; the hard thing is giving mercy.

4. We think the mercies belong only to God; but whom do we imitate? Christ.

5. Jesus teaches us plainly: to peace. For when we do not come to peace we live always in a quarrel, always as a judge, and that comes back on us.

6. What did Jesus do when He came into our life? He did not condemn us: He restored us, and what we never thought we could be, free, we were that day.

IV. He saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them (Matthew 14:14).

A. Jesus had mercy on the needy.

1. Think that Jesus is passing beside you and is ready to act according to the need we have.

2. We are needy of the Lord every day; you already made a covenant with Him, and you already have His character.

3. His blood covers you, has cleansed you and forgave all your sins the day you were converted.

B. Forgive us our debts.

1. The Lord's Prayer is a pattern for every day.

2. Jesus leaves us His essence and gives us His character; the one who takes it is you, the day you were converted.

3. But you must keep watch over yourself, because you still have your human nature.

4. You could have done good to someone and did not; you could have loved and did not. That becomes our debts, and debts are paid at a price.

5. We are not converted to a fantasy: we are converted to a life with God and a character of God.

6. Father, forgive me, I failed you in this; and every prayer ends in the name of Jesus.

C. He did not come to condemn.

1. Jesus saw the multitude in disorder and could have accused them.

2. And what He came to say was: repent. There is no more beautiful word on the earth.

3. When one has done wrong, he asks the Father in the name of Jesus, because He paid all your wickedness, all the hatred and all the strife.

4. He shed His blood on the cross so that when you speak to Him directly, He knows it is already paid.

V. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him (Mark 1:41).

A. A leper came to Jesus.

1. Everyone would run, because leprosy spreads easily; in that time there was not the protection there is today.

2. And Jesus did not draw back: He put forth His hand and touched him.

3. If we were able to fill our lives with compassion, we would know how to fight.

4. He had power to have healed everyone on earth, but He was fulfilling what eternity had appointed for that time.

VI. He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her (John 8:6-11).

A. Judging is delicious.

1. See, I was right, I knew it; and that is celebrated. But what good did we do? Not one good.

2. This passage shows the mercy, the justice and the wisdom of Jesus before sin and before the hypocrisy of all ages.

3. Hypocrisy is a double mind, and we should consider that we were not born to be hypocrites.

4. What ought to matter to each one is his own house; the family is more than enough, and there is no time to be watching another.

B. Their intent was not justice, but to tempt Jesus.

1. They did not care how she lived: what they wanted was for Jesus to accuse her.

2. And when we take that same course, in the end we are tempting Jesus.

3. He that is without sin is no permission to fall: it is that if you are going to judge someone, check yourself first and examine yourself first.

4. If someone must be admonished and spoken to, it is done in private.

5. I am not a judge, I am a minister: it is knowing how to carry the truth without shielding or covering, but without seeking a judgment.

C. Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

1. It is the voice of mercy and the voice of truth.

2. Jesus did not approve the sin, but neither did He condemn her, because He knew His mission was to save and not to destroy.

3. He saw in her not only a fault, but an opportunity for restoration.

4. That is mercy: not to deny the sin, but to offer a way out. At pointing out sin we are masters, but we do not know how to present the way out.

5. And He did not tell her to go on the same: He gave her a new direction of life.

6. The mercy of Christ does not cover sin, but frees from sin; it gives pardon and also a call to transformation.

VII. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world (John 3:17).

A. The world will have its sentence in its time.

1. It will be after the rapture and after the thousand years, when there will be a new earth and a new heaven.

2. Meanwhile the earth runs its course: you can neither hasten it nor delay it.

3. And where is the power? In God.

B. It is not our work to uncover what is in people's houses.

1. If there is something to put right, the Holy Spirit moves it, because the one who guides the church is the Holy Spirit.

2. He provides the moment and carries it; and then comes the pastoral labour, and it is not from one day to the next.

3. If one does not live as Jesus wants, everything is dragged down with him.

C. Pray every day for the people who concern you.

1. And I am speaking of praying, not of doing a devotional.

2. Reading a portion and saying bless my family is a devotional.

3. Prayer is when you go deep with God, face to face: what makes you groan, what casts you down, what feels like it will burst.

4. Because you know you stand before a living God, sovereign, King.

VIII. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy (Psalm 103:8).

A. The character of God, full of love.

1. His heart is full of mercy and compassion, always ready to forgive and to give us new opportunities.

2. God does not hasten to judge, but to love, forgive and restore.

3. There is much that could be handled in judgment; but most of the time the heart falls silent and the impulse passes.

4. One is bound to live fixed in mercy; it is not oneself, it is the mind and the marks of Christ.

B. Look at God's love, His pardon and His restoring.

1. How long God has taken; and it is not delay: He does not restore by our times, but by His own.

2. He restores in each one according to how you decide to want the character of Jesus.

3. And then the Father, through the Holy Spirit, begins to renew in our life, to restore so many things.

IX. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful (Luke 6:36).

A. Treat others as God treats us.

1. Jesus teaches us to treat others with the same love and the same compassion with which God treats us.

2. To be merciful means to forgive, to help, to understand and to be patient, even when others do not deserve it.

3. As God shows us mercy every day, we too must reflect His heart in our actions and in our words.

X. Who is a God like unto thee… because he delighteth in mercy? (Micah 7:18).

A. He pardons and forgets when we repent.

1. There is no one like God.

2. But there must be the act of repentance, when you say: no more.

B. He retaineth not his anger for ever.

1. You grow angry and it lasts you a month. Some things do break; but anger is what must not remain.

2. What does anger do? It embitters you and keeps you in constant vexation. It is not fitting: take it out and throw it away.

C. Because he delighteth in mercy.

1. His love is not exhausted, and His love always looks for how to restore, not to destroy.

2. God rejoices in forgiving; you came to the Lord with much sin, and when God forgave you, He rejoiced.

3. When in prayer we ask Him for what is ours to ask, He rejoices. But bring it out, leave nothing, because the one who is harmed is you.

XI. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love… hath quickened us together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5).

A. It is by grace; it is free.

1. Though we lived far from God because of sin, He loved us so much that He gave us new life through Jesus.

2. If He did it in you, why should we not understand that He can do it with more people?

3. He did it not because we deserved it, but out of His love and His infinite mercy.

4. Our salvation is a gift and not a reward, because we have all sinned and we have all done wrong.

XII. Not by works of righteousness… but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5).

A. Not by works of righteousness.

1. Today we want to do good deeds and tomorrow we want to get even with everyone.

2. He cleanses us within and gives us a new life by the Holy Spirit.

3. Salvation is a gift that comes from the love of God, not something anyone can earn.

4. Some want to show they are more spiritual, that they are little angels; that is vanity and that is pride, for let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

B. The washing of regeneration.

1. We were born again the day Christ came into our lives.

2. Regeneration came when we repented of our trespasses and our sins.

C. And the renewing of the Holy Ghost.

1. There are areas we must keep active, but we get spent and weakened; renewal is what falls to us.

2. You used to be a cheerful giver: you saw a need and offered yourself. And there comes a moment when you say: I spent more gasoline, they dirtied my car.

3. You used to see someone and be concerned: are you well? do you have a fever? That must be renewed.

4. The day you were converted, doing good, helping, loving and having compassion came naturally; and there came a moment of: look what they did to me.

5. Take care, for it can happen to you: one builds a shell, and another, and ends up living entirely alone.

6. Judgment does not build us up: judgment fills the heart with hatred; and when one hates, he begins to find fault with everyone, and there your life is annulled.

7. And the most perfect place is to say to Jesus: I want to be like you.