Letting Mercy Rule – B

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Today on Real Life Radio.

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What’s going to happen in the courtroom of eternity when those who have never received Christ hear the gavel fall and they’ll hear that ringing in their ears forever because the great advocate Christ was standing there ready to take their case and they wouldn’t invite him in to free them. He wants to give mercy and the Christian should extend mercy.

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This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible. Looking for real answers in real time? JackHibbs.com is your go-to destination for resources on faith, world events, and everything in between. Explore Happening Now, where Pastor Jack Hibbs takes a timely, no-nonsense look at today’s biggest issues, blending biblical insight with the latest headlines. Now, whether you’re curious about the world around you or you want guidance on a personal level, Pastor Jack has you covered. And, by the way, don’t miss the Real Life Network. It’s packed with relatable, family-friendly content that really speaks to everyday challenges and triumphs, offering something really valuable for every member of your family. Now, if you’re new to the faith, you want to refresh your perspective, start with that tab that says Know God, an accessible, welcoming space to learn and reflect and find your footing. Now, whatever your path, jackhibbs.com has the tools and the insights and the encouragement that you need. Tune in, log on, find something real. Once again, the website jackhibbs.com. On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called The Book of James. Today’s message is called Letting Mercy Rule. Now, before it became one of the books of the New Testament, James was a letter sent to the Jews who chose to follow Christ. And as new believers, James urges them to allow God’s mercy to rule over their hearts. You see, none of us are perfect. That’s the truth. And yet that’s what God demands of us before we can enter heaven. But in his mercy, God sent his perfect son, Jesus, to cover our sin. So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that mercy is not giving what’s deserved, which is exactly what Jesus would do. Jesus loves to show mercy, but the question is, do we? Now with his message called Letting Mercy Rule, here’s pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

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On the outside, you and I might look real fine on the outside. What’s going on on the inside? You might be saying, I wish this guy would shut up and get going so I can go eat breakfast or something. Shame on you. You might be thinking, you know what? And it might be sin. And you’re sitting here and having no problem. You look fine. I don’t know your heart. You don’t know my heart. Paul the Apostle was radical. Paul was such a guy, a Christian guy. Paul goes, I don’t get frustrated over anybody judging me. Paul says, I could care less because their judgment’s worthless. In fact, Paul says, I don’t even judge myself. God knows my heart. I don’t even know it. God knows. Man, that’s freedom. Freedom to walk with Christ. Now, when he says here in verse 10 that whoever shall keep the holy law yet stumble in one point, he’s guilty of all. He’s talking about how our opinions bear nothing upon the reality of God’s truth. It stands no matter what we might say about it. In Romans chapter 3 verse 19, the Bible says, now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that is trying to keep the law. That every mouth might be stopped and the whole world might become guilty before God. And you might say, Jack, don’t tell me anymore. I can’t take it. This is good. Good. Hang on. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, or by you doing your best, shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. But listen, Galatians 3.10 says this, For as many as are of the works of the law are under its curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue to keep all things written in the book of the law, and to do them. but that no one is justified in the law in the sight of God. It is evident. Why? For the just shall live by faith. You come to faith by Christ. God doesn’t grade on a curve. Then why does he state it this way? And why is James saying such a thing? To evoke in us a response. In this room, you will either respond to this in one of two ways. You will either say, I don’t want to hear the word guilt one more time. And you’ll harden your heart against God, and you’ll shake your fist, or you’ll say, I’m not going to go back to that church. I can’t believe they talked about sin and guilt. You’ll harden your heart, or you’ll say, I’m guilty. In the depths of your silent soul, you’ll say, I am guilty today. I have sinned. I’ve broken the laws of God, either, as Jesus said, In thought, remember Jimmy Carter, President Jimmy Carter? He was a terrible president, but he’s a really neat Christian brother. Did you know that? He’s a neat Christian man. I don’t think he had a clue what was going on in the presidency, but he’s a nice guy. And Jimmy Carter, by the way, is the founder of Habitat for Humanity. He goes and builds homes for poor people. He loves the Lord big time. Remember way back when Playboy magazine interviewed him when he was president? And they asked him the question, have you ever committed adultery? And President Carter said, yeah, in my head, in my heart. And you don’t say those things to Playboy magazine because you remember what happened to him. They don’t understand. Jesus says, if you look at a woman with desire for her in your heart, you’ve committed adultery. If you look. How many people are saying, hey man, I’m into it. Just look, don’t touch, you know. What are you, nuts? Jesus says, if you look and you think, you’re guilty. That means we’re all guilty. I had a guy tell me this last week. He goes, I am going to heaven on my own righteousness. I said, you know, you’re a young guy. I asked him, have you ever looked at a woman and had a desire, thought in your mind for her? And he says, nope, never, not once. I said, are you a homosexual? He said, no, I’m not a homosexual. You’ve never had any lustful thought in your mind about any gender? He said, no. I said, I’ll tell you what, we need to drop down a few lines right here, because one of these commandments right here, let’s continue down this list, right here in Exodus chapter 20. It says, thou shalt not lie. And I said, you’re lying. You should have seen his face. How dare you? You, boy, he let me know. But the great part was he didn’t speak any English. He only spoke Russian. So I didn’t understand a word he was cursing at me about. My translator was going, oh my, oh. And I’m saying, what, what? It was so great because he’s going. And I’m going, what, what, what? What, what? What’s he saying? Tell me. No way am I going to tell you. No way. And the translator’s turning all red. And I’m like, what? What? He was guilty. So what do you do with guilty people? According to the law, you judge them. Is that not right? Is that not true? If they’re guilty, they’re to be judged. Been to the Supreme Court of the United States of America. You walk in there. If you’ve been in there… The Ten Commandments are front and center over the Chief Justice’s back, right over his shoulders. Ten Commandments. They’re on both sides of the seat of the throne up there, the thing. And I asked the guide, because, you know, they’re all attorneys taking you on the guide. There are about 60 of us per group. He’s, this is Hammurabi, this is, goes around all the list about the great law givers. And I said, what are those two tablets there in the middle? He didn’t mention those two tablets up there. He says, you know, I’m not quite sure what those are. This is gospel truth. I’m not quite sure what those are. I said, well, how about Roman numerals? It’s in Roman numerals, 1 to 10. And some guy in the back goes, I think it’s the Ten Commandments. And the attorney said, I’ll have to look into that after the tour. I am not kidding. Yeah, I want that guy to defend me. The law was given. The Ten Commandments are in the courtroom to point the finger and say you’re guilty. And if you’re not guilty, then you’ll be released. You’re supposed to anyway. Be freed. You’re supposed to be convicted based upon the law. And we’ve been convicted. and judged by the law. But what would be wonderful if you and I were terribly guilty? What would be great if the judge comes from his chambers and all rise? Have you ever been in an environment like that? It’s very, very intimidating. I’ve been on too many trials where there’s been a jury, and I’ve been in there too many times. All rise and the verdict’s gonna be read. And the judge turns to the jury and says, in the eyes of the peers of so and so, what is the rendering of your verdict? And you say guilty on all counts. And the judge then points to the person who has just been convicted and says you will spend 15 to 35 years in prison. Down goes the gavel and a chill goes up your back. And if that happens in a courtroom of earthly things, what’s going to happen in the courtroom of eternity? When those who have never received Christ hear the gavel fall and they’ll hear that ringing in their ears forever because the great advocate Christ was standing there ready to take their case and they wouldn’t invite him in to free them. He wants to give mercy and the Christian should extend mercy. We need to be a merciful people. In verse 11, he says, for he who said, do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder. Well, gee, I mean, okay. A little obvious. Why is he bringing this up? Because the whole context of chapter 2 is in relation to partiality. Partiality, remember? Adulterers. What do you do with them? You stone them to death in the Old Testament. Remember, the Pharisees caught the woman in the very act and they drug her to Jesus. Remember that? And they come up and they’re dragging her. She’s probably naked or wrapped in a sheet. They’re dragging her to Jesus’ feet and they said, and it says that they were trying to tempt Christ to sin and to pit him against Moses. in the law. And they said, Moses says this woman should be stoned to death. We caught her in the very act of adultery. The word says they caught them there together. I wish I would have liked to have just peeked over Jesus’ shoulder and said, ask them what were they doing there watching? We’ve caught her in the very act. Moses is killer. What do you say? And Jesus says there, he stooped down and he wrote in the dirt. Then he stood up and said, let he who is without sin cast the first stone at her. And you could see these guys, pride puffed faces, arrogant, self-righteous snobs in their robes. They’re standing there. Okay. Jesus stoops back down. He begins to write in the dirt again, it says. And then it says, as he wrote in the dirt, from the oldest priest to the youngest priest, they went away. Why do you think the oldest one left first? Because Jesus was writing in the dirt. And what he wrote in the dirt was Isaiah. Let’s say his name’s Priest Isaiah. Isaiah. You’ve committed adultery five times and you’ve robbed the offerings and you’re a thief. Next guy, Josiah. Josiah, you were out behind the 7-Eleven with bubbles on Tuesday night. What’s your name? Micah. Micah. Micah, you have filthy thoughts in your mind. It’s all you think about. You’re a pervert. Jesus writes in the dirt. And it says, as he wrote in the dirt, they were convicted and they went away, the oldest down to the youngest. The youngest one was the last one to leave. Why? The younger one had less amount of time to cure sin. The older guy went, aye, aye, aye. And he goes. So Jesus is woman. Can you imagine looking into the eyes of God? Woman, where are your accusers? And she says, Lord, I guess I have none. He says, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin or practice this no more. That is called mercy. Mercy says, I know he’s guilty. I know she’s an offender. But mercy says, Stay the order. Remove the gallows. Not giving what is deserved. The word can also be translated to be, this is a very weird word, it’s to be upset or stirred up in your bowels. The word can be translated intestines or spleen. It’s the word used when Jesus looked on the hilltops and the valleys and saw all the people there as sheep having no shepherd, and it says he was moved with compassion. The word means that Jesus’ bowels, his tummy, below, somewhere around where your belly button is, in that region, you feel this incredible compassion. You ever felt that for somebody? You almost double over. It’s so powerful. That’s the word, mercy.

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You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And for now, let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.

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I’ve told you before that Napoleon, there was a defector found in Napoleon’s ranks. And Napoleon had ordered a decree to kill this man. And this man fell down to Napoleon’s feet and he said, have mercy on me. And he said, you should die. You’ve betrayed France. You’ve betrayed my orders. You should die. And then his mother, this young boy’s mother threw her… life down Napoleon’s feet which is not too far of a fall to go down to and she said have mercy on my son have mercy and he says he deserves judgment and she says I know that I’m asking for mercy that’s perfect that’s it the Bible says every one of us demands judgment but God steps in and extends mercy Jesus says there was a man who was forgiven a great, great debt. And when he was forgiven that debt, he turned and the man that owed him a couple bucks, he went and grabbed that man by the neck and said, you’re going to pay me every little penny you owe me, buddy. And when news came to that great landowner who had relieved that man of that tremendous debt, he said, why is it that I relieved you of a $20 million debt and you turned to your friend and couldn’t forgive him of a couple of nickels? you merciless man. I will cast you now into prison because he didn’t show mercy. He says, now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law, verse 11. Verse 12 says, so speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. So speak, so do. We only believe as much Bible Truly, in our lives is what we practice. What am I practicing in my life? That’s the level of amount I practice is how much I believe of the Bible. Think about that. How much of the Bible is at practice in your life and my life? That’s how much we believe. God forbid, if we believed more than that, we’d be hypocrites. In verse 13 he says, for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Christians, this is written to Christians. You want to get in big trouble. You want to get in big trouble with God. You start to show partiality instead of mercy and you’re in big trouble. You and I are supposed to have mercy one to another. Mercy. Mercy. Mercy implies that you’ve done something wrong against me. You’ve said something about me, or you’ve done something about me, or I’ve done something about you, or I’ve said something about you. And mercy is that I don’t react in judgment, but I issue forgiveness and a pardon instead, and vice versa. Have I wronged you? If you’re upset with me right now this morning for something, actual or perceived, then you are to extend to me mercy. If you have wronged me, I am to extend to you mercy, or else don’t, or else I cannot call myself a Christian. It’s a farce. Someone says something about you or your family or whatever the case might be, how do you act? Do you get back at him? God says, watch it. Show mercy. In Matthew 5, 7, Jesus says, blessed are the merciful for they shall what? Obtain mercy. I know it’s not humanly possible to be merciful. I know most of us have our driver’s license and that’s difficult. The fact is we are to show mercy. That guy’s cutting it. He’s trying to get on the freeway. It’s like this incredible unity comes together with everybody in the area on the freeway. Keep them from getting onto the freeway. Everybody pull up. Draft one another. Keep them from getting on. Then somebody wants to get off the freeway. Keep them from getting off. You know, when you get by those carpool lane change off and the exit’s right there, you know someone’s going to jet across this. Like, okay, who’s out there? Oh, we’re taught to drive defensively. No, we ought to drive mercifully. with mercy. Finally, I want to close with this in verse 13. When he says, therefore, judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy, it means exactly this. What you measure out to people, that’s exactly how Christ is going to deal with the Christian when you and I appear before the judgment seat of Christ. So James says, listen, this is so wonderful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Are you afraid in a godly fear as I am to stand before the throne of God? That fear keeps me out of trouble. In our lives, I want to be merciful to you. And if all else fails and all motives fail, one should be because I want to receive mercy in the end. Martin Luther said this, and will be done, I promise. The great reformer said, partiality, favoritism, and a prejudiced spirit is proof positive that such a man is of a damned soul and awaits the judgment of God himself. from which he shall neither escape nor see one bit of mercy from the one who would have loved to have granted it. I don’t care how many stickers there are on your car and how saved your car is. Are we merciful? James wonderfully with tremendous love says, I’m gonna give you a little bit of a help here. Mercy triumphs over judgment. And the word triumph means this. It is such a precious word he used. It means to get in the face of another one, to boast or to brag. It’s a very brazen word. James used a cool word. James says mercy is going to get right in front of judgment. And judgment is going to be looking at you one day and me someday. And it’s going to stand there and it’s going to be the law. And mercy is going to get right in its face. And judgment is going to say, move over, I’m strong. And mercy is going to say, I’m stronger. Move over, I’ve got a job to do. And mercy says, I’ve got a bigger one to do. Judgment says, he deserves to die. And mercy says, but I’m going to let him live. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Rather than pointing the finger, extend the heart. We need to get right in the face of judgment and be just like Jesus. And there’s a law of liberty to all of this. Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you so much. that mercy triumphs over judgment. We just would ask of you, Lord, that in our lives we would be merciful people, really putting into practice and being doers of the word. Father, we ask you to touch this body now, to descend by the presence of your spirit, to take your word that was spoken this morning and use it that it might not return void. Christian, this morning right now, while your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed, you and I should say, my God, forgive me for not being more merciful. Lord, make me like you. As today, I proclaim you as Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Letting Mercy Rule. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Book of James. It’s a series on being doers of the word and not just hearers only. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

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So as you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you’d like to know what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life personally, we would love to help you out with that. Go to jackhibbs.com slash know God. That’s K-N-O-W God. And there you’ll be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you’ll find in knowing God. Don’t miss out. That’s the know God tab at jackhibbs.com.

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Did you know that along with the radio program, Pastor Jack also has a TV show with more of the Pastor Jack Hibbs content that you like. It’s called Real Life TV. If you enjoy Pastor Jack on the radio, you’re going to love him on TV. So check out your local listings or visit jackhibbs.com and catch the latest episodes. That’s jackhibbs.com. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.