“I Will Have Mercy”...the Wayfarer...3/13/14

“I Will Have Mercy”

3/13/14

“But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

(Matthew 9:12 & 13)

When Jesus Called Matthew to be a disciple, those of the Pharisees who thought themselves to be paragons of God’s laws, and in actuality above those laws, since they considered themselves the betters of any not among their chosen ranks, and those not within those ranks far less worthy than themselves, they questioned His disciples as to why He would choose to eat with sinners.

Having accepted all the by-laws of their sect that added all kinds of things to God’s law, they would not accept those who did not acknowledge those by-laws in place of given scripture, and commandments given by God, not by man.

Their mercy extended only to those they could force to accept the teachings they took, not from God, but from their own unique perversion of what was given only by God.

“And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.

And he said, I beseech thee shew me thy glory.

And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.”

(Exodus 33:17-19)

Before Moses was even given the law that the Pharisees chose to ignore for their own purposes and to replace with their own views as to who was worthy to receive, either grace or mercy, God told Moses that the decision on who was worthy was His, and His alone!

As Jesus faced off against those Pharisees who saw Matthew as beneath their contempt, and Christ as unworthy because he chose to sit at the table of that sinner and share the meal with both him and others, He chose to quote scripture to attempt to show them the error of their thought process, and educate them to the fact that God himself is in charge, not men.

While the Pharisees questioned the righteousness of God’s Son, Jesus proclaimed the righteousness and mercy of His Father to ALL willing to receive it, not just those who saw only through the eyes of their own concepts handed down by imperfect men attempting to proclaim a perfection not their own, but, belonging only to God!

“Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us: he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and the former rain unto the earth.

O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.

Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

But they, like men, have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted by blood.

And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

Also, Judah, he hath set a vest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.”

(Hosea 6:1-11)

When man wanders from the teachings of God, to his own teachings, and those of other men, he would place himself in God’s place, thereby attempting to assume God’s righteousness as his own.

Each time man chooses to make himself righteous, he fails to acknowledge that any righteousness may only belong to God.

As this happens he also forgets that any grace to be given, any mercy to be given, must be given by God, in His righteousness, not though the righteousness of men who seek out only means to denigrate that mercy and that grace by proclaiming their own views and teachings as being above those of God himself!

“Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.

Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.”

(Psalm 85: 10-13)

Again, righteousness looks down from heaven, not from below through men. Mercy and truth must go hand in hand. Neither mercy nor truth is to be had through the directions of man, but only through the instruction of God.

Jesus himself is that very truth! It sprang from the earth as he chose to walk among us as a man to be sacrificed in the place of man to provide us that truth.

The passage from Hosea referenced the fact that we are first to be torn by God, then healed by God. It gave a timeline of three days, within that requirement, a timeline met only by Christ Jesus, and no other living or dead!

Psalms and Proverbs, the prophets, major, and minor, each of the gospels, the writings of Paul and the disciples all hold many references to mercy, and to both the gift of and withholding of that mercy.

The phrase “HIS mercy endureth forever.” is repeated time after time.

All are explicit as to where that mercy comes from. All give guidance as to what is required to receive that mercy.

The final authority on that mercy, and the grace given though it is none other than Christ himself!

Mercy is not acquired through any showing of righteousness, but through showing of that mercy to those around us. Christ told us:

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

(Matthew 5:7)

The absolute first requirement to obtain that mercy is to ask for it, not from fallible and imperfect men, incapable of giving mercy through their refusal to admit where that mercy comes from, but, by asking that mercy from God himself, then having the needed faith to know that that mercy will be given, by HIM to those meeting HIS requirements!

Jesus continually faced the denigration and denial of the religious leadership of his time, continually answered their persecutions with quotes from the scriptures, and, with the love given by the Father; while continually attempting to correct their false teachings and misleading railings about what he taught with that same love.

They chose not to see that love, not to see the need for mercy, not to even begin to understand where that mercy came from, and to hound Him until they finally were able to crucify Him only because of that very love that he preached above the self-righteousness they chose to follow.

It was with that love, that he chose Matthew, despite his profession that was seen as sinful and beneath contempt by those Pharisees. It was with that love that he chose to take his word to those in need of it despite the attempts to deride Him for doing so. It was with that love that He allowed Himself to suffer the cross and death of the mortal body to allow the salvation of the souls of men despite the power He held to simply walk away and give up on mankind, as so many would do today.

It was that love given on that cross that opened my own eyes as to what sin is, and that love that I knew alone could be the only means of escaping that sin.

It was through the requirement of repentance to Him that I was able to accept that love and, with it the promise of eternal life. It was through the knowledge that that repentance given to HIM, and no man, was sufficient to keep me while I continue in this imperfect skin suit subject to fallibility and failure until I am able to finally divest my soul from all hold it may have ever had or now has on that soul.

It was that love that demanded my humility, and comprehension that as long as I am contained within that skin suit that no righteousness of my own could ever nor will ever be sufficient to extend that love to others in need of that same love I have been given.

It is that love… that can come only through mercy accorded me by God Himself… that may allow any mercifulness toward others, if I am to continue to receive the blessings that come with that mercy.

It is that love that demands that His message of redemption through repentance continue to be carried forward, and that any denial of that message of His ability alone, to provide both mercy and grace be rejected and denied.

It is because of that grace given and mercy shown that humility and confession of my own inability to contain any righteousness of my own, must be preached to those still seen as unworthy, and beneath the contempt of those choosing their own way, that refuse to attempt to truly reach those who are reachable only through that love, only teachable through that love, only salvageable with the gift of that love still offered them by Christ despite any unworthiness of it that may be perceived, and conceived by men.

It is the comfort of that love, given only through Christ, and the comforter, the Holy Spirit, that must guide all attempts to either teach or reach those otherwise lost to the world, and to its ways promoted by Satan, never to experience that love, because they never see it exhibited by those who only attempt to condemn them themselves, instead of realizing that the only condemnation that can lead to that love, comes through that same Holy Spirit, that offers that love.

Condemnation must be preached, but not the condemnation of men.

Condemnation must be accepted, not that of men, but of God himself, when the fact of that love is given as well.

Condemnation through the words of Christ, when received by a sinner is righteous condemnation, and is truth.

Condemnation of men through their imperfections is imperfect condemnation, destined to be imperfect in the way it is received by those given it…incapable of preaching or teaching the love intended to replace it.

 That love must also be preached and taught, as must the requirement of repentance to receive the redemption of that love.

John 3:16 must be taught, and so must John 3:17.

Humility must be taught to be acceptable. Self-righteousness and glorification must be rejected for what it is, an affront to that humility required to receive that love, and to give it to others as well.

Without that humility, and admission of humanity that does exist in each of us, that love can never reach those in most need of it.

“But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

(Matthew 9:13)

I close in prayer that that love available be accepted by all, that all hear the message given not by me but by Jesus to:

“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

I remain that which I am, and nothing more, a simple sinner on whom mercy was shown, by GOD, turning me into a sinner saved by the grace given by GOD through my faith in the ability of that God to save me through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus, and the blood given for my inadequacy and sin, trusting not in any works, not in any righteousness of my own, humble enough to realize that I have none and cannot until it is accorded me, once this body no longer exists in its imperfection.

I remain also, as I must, the soldier, chosen to carry forward the love given me, the hope given through that love, the promise  and surety of eternal life, and continuation of that love that is a gift only of God, while still combatting all who would deny that love, or the requirements for it, those who would steal it from any seeking it, who would steal it from those yet in need of being reached and taught, until the battle for their souls is decided, until that battle for truth is won as has been promised.

I remain in that fight, and will endure through the love given me, through the grace provided me, by God, not by man, until such time as my portion of that battle is ended.

2 Timothy 1:12 ¹²For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen
the Wayfarer