 So we're going to continue our concepts series this evening and the concept that we're going to talk about and we're going to study this story in 1 Samuel chapter 18, so keep your place in 1 Samuel chapter 18. We're going to be going all over the book of 1 Samuel, but the concepts, the concept series is going to be a random series that we pop in and out of for the next several months or maybe even in a year or more, who knows. There's plenty of concepts in the Bible, but what I mean by concepts are things that make up different doctrines. They're not main doctrines of the Bible, but they're just concepts that the Bible does teach. And this evening I want to talk to you about this concept of mercy in the Bible. And I want to make a case for you this evening using the story of David and Saul and make a case for mercy in the Bible between the story of these two men. Now this story between David and Saul could be studied in so many different aspects for many, a long time for many different sermon topics, but this evening I want to look at it in the case for mercy. So we're going to look at the concept in the Bible of mercy. And we're going to first study out what is going on between Saul and David and see how God reacts to each of these two men, why he reacts that way, and look at that in the context of what the Bible teaches on mercy. So let's go ahead and do some Bible study first, and then we'll apply that to what it means for us. So you're there in First Samuel chapter 18. Look at verse number six. Just let's re-review this in verse number six. So we see this story here, and I want to first point out to you that Saul at this point in the Bible, King Saul, the first king of Israel, is very envious of David. Now remember to be, you know, to define envy in the Bible. So envy is bad, jealousy, good. You're like, jealousy, good. What do you mean? So jealousy is something in the Bible that you, you know, you are protective of something that belongs to you. Like I can be jealous of my wife because it's my wife. She belongs to me. She's mine. The Lord has given her to me. So it's okay to be jealous over your wife. The Lord is jealous over us because we belong to him. Right? So you'll see that used many times in the Old Testament, especially talking about the children of Israel. The Lord, you know, your God is a jealous God because he doesn't want you turning to other gods. He's jealous. You belong to him. Okay? You belong to God. Now envy is something different. Envy is where you are basically you're upset and you're coveting after something that does not belong to you. Okay? So Saul was very envious here of David. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 18 and verse number six. And it came to pass as they came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine. This is right after, you know, David has just killed Goliath in the chapter previously, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet Saul, to meet King Saul with tabirates, with joy and with instruments of music. And the women answered one another as they played and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his 10,000s. And Saul was very wroth and the saying displeased him and he said, they have ascribed unto David 10,000s. You can almost hear it. They've ascribed unto David 10,000s and to me they've ascribed but thousands. And what can we have more but the kingdom and Saul eyed David from that day forward. Keep in mind at this point, at this point in the story, Saul has already lost the kingdom. Okay? The kingdom has already gone from Saul. Samuel has already told Saul at this point twice in 1 Samuel 13 and 1 Samuel 15 that he's lost the kingdom. Samuel, or Saul has done something wrong. He first sacrificed, he didn't wait for Samuel and he sacrificed himself. You know, Saul, you'll see this kind of pattern of behavior this evening with King Saul. And then you'll see in chapter 15, he didn't obey the Lord. He didn't destroy the entire army. He kept the spoil for himself. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 15 and we can look at that story. Look at verse number 26 of 1 Samuel 15. So of course, Saul knew what he was supposed to do and he didn't do it. And in 1 Samuel 15, 26, Samuel says unto Saul, he says this, and Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. So look, Saul has already been rejected as being king at this point. He knows it but he still is king. Okay? He's been rejected by God as king but he's still the physical king at this point. He's not wanting, you know, this is just a pattern that we see from Saul again and again and again. He's not wanting to obey the word of the Lord. So he didn't obey the word of the Lord and he sacrificed for himself. Saul kind of just does what he wants to do even though he knows it's wrong. He does that again and again and again. In 1 Samuel chapter 15, he just does what he wants to do and Samuel again tells him, you know, the Lord has rejected you from being king and I'm just, and at this point Samuel does not come and visit Saul anymore until the time of his death which is another story. But look, here's the thing, turn to 1 Samuel chapter 9. Saul, here's what's really interesting where you could really dissect this story. If you do a person, I mean, I'd love to do a personality study of these two men. I mean, the big story with these two men is, you know, you got a couple of alpha males here. Okay? And look, alpha males can exist together. They can work together. They can, you know, be in the same company together in the same department together. But here's how it works with these alpha personalities amongst men. Let me just explain it to you. It works well as long as they can quickly figure out the order of things. I told you about the rams on the farm. You put a new ram in the ramp end and they fight for half an hour and then they never fight again. The problem is, is when you have two alpha situations where they can't figure out the order of things or one will not accept the order of things, now you have trouble and you'll have just consistent trouble throughout that situation. Now, think about this. Saul has already been rejected from being king. He's already been rejected. That's God's order of things. God's order of things, and this is, this defines Saul's personality right here, is he didn't really care much about what God's order of things were. He just kind of did what he wanted to do. He's like, I want to do this and I don't really care what God's order is. God rejects him from being king and he knows he's given the kingdom to someone else and I believe by chapter 18 or 19 he knows that that is David and he just rejects that order and he keeps fighting that order. Now, this isn't the point of this sermon, but the rest of 1 Samuel from chapter 18 on is Samuel or is Saul that alpha not accepting the order of things. And that's why you see the chaos ensue with which, what ensues. But look, turn to 1 Samuel chapter 9. Are you there? Here's the interesting thing about Saul from the very beginning. Saul looked the part. He looked the part. See, Samuel knew all about Saul and it was something that Samuel knew from the beginning. Look at verse number 2 of 1 Samuel chapter 9. The Bible says, and he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice young man. This is, they're talking about choosing the first king here and goodly and there was not among him the children of Israel a goodlier person that he. Look, that's talking about the way he looks. He's good from his shoulders and upward. He was higher than any of the people. So this was somebody who was not, somebody you would look upon to be like, yeah, that's just, that guy doesn't look like much. This was a guy who looked the part. He looked like a king. He was bigger than everybody. He was not, you know, he was probably looked like a warrior, looked like a soldier. You know, he was a big guy, well built. But look, turn to 1 Samuel chapter 10 and verse number 21. He looked the part, but he was never really what he looked like. Look at verse number 21 of 1 Samuel chapter 10. And Samuel knew this. You say, how do you know? Because the Bible tells us, look, look at verse 21 of 1 Samuel 10. When he had caused the tribe, now they're getting ready to install Saul as the king. When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken and Saul the son of Kish was taken. And when they sawed him, he could not be found. Therefore they inquired of the Lord further, if the man should come thither, and the Lord answered, behold, he had hidden himself among the stuff. And they ran and fetched him thence. And when he stood amongst the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upwards. So look, they're getting ready to make him king. And this is what the people want. They want this big, powerful, kingly looking person to rule over them, just like all the other nations around them have a king. They don't want the judge. They don't want somebody interpreting God who's ruling over them. They want an actual king. And then verse number 24 tells the tale. And Samuel said to all the people, see him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people. And all the people shouted and said, God save the king. Samuel, look, Samuel is almost tongue-in-cheek when he says this. See how great he looks. Isn't this what you wanted? Look, Samuel put up the biggest fight to the Lord, the biggest, you know, not a fight, but the biggest case to the Lord against them having a king. And God finally said to Samuel, like, look, they haven't rejected you. They've rejected me. We're just going to give them a king. And Samuel, you know, they picked this guy, the Lord picks this guy, and he's like, look, here he is, look. This is your king. You know, he's almost tongue-in-cheek when he says it. And he sends, look, look, look at, he's a big, powerful guy. And this is what Samuel's pointing out. But it said nothing. Look, it said nothing about his character. It said nothing about his character. Saul from the beginning was, he was insecure from the beginning. He hid. He didn't want to be, you know, part of all this. He was, he was a man of low moral character, paranoid and insecure from the very beginning. And Saul, or Samuel knew this. Turn back to 1 Samuel chapter 18. So the first point I want to make about this situation, if you look at 1 Samuel chapter 18, go to verse number 10. Go to verse number 10 of 1 Samuel chapter 18. Look at the relationship now between Saul, the rejected king, and David, whom he knows is going to be king, or God has anointed to be king. And it came to pass on the moral that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house. And David played with his hand, as that other times, and there was a javelin in Saul's hand. And Saul cast the javelin, for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice. And Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him and was departed from Saul. So look, the first point I want to make is that Saul, and we will see this again and again and again, showed David no mercy. He showed David no mercy at all. Twice here, he tries to kill him by throwing a javelin at him. And then, look, later in the chapter, he's trying to just snare David with one of his own daughters. He's trying to, he's like, hey, I don't want to lay my hands on, you know, the Lord's anointed, or someone that the Lord is with. He's like, but what I can do is I can use my daughter and him wanting to marry my daughter to get him to go fight the Philistines, and then he'll die in that battle. And then it wouldn't be him that killed him. So what does David do? You know, he gets the second daughter, you know, David wants to marry Michael. And he's like, you got to go kill 100 Philistines. Well, David goes and he kills 200. He's like, ah, you know, that didn't work. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 19. So then Saul, he takes it a step further and he talks to his son. And he talks to his son and says, hey, why don't you and your friends get together and kill David? Well, Jonathan and David were like best friends. So Jonathan, you know, doesn't want to kill him. But then he sends assassins to David's house and his wife, Michael gets word of it, lowers him from the window, saves him. Now David's on the run as the story goes. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 24. I'm sorry. In 1 Samuel 19, one, I'll just read it for you. And Saul spake to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants that they should kill David. Of course, Jonathan, you know, rejected that idea. He didn't want to do it. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 24. He even tells Jonathan in 1 Samuel chapter 20, he tells Jonathan, he's like, look, he's like, the reason, this tells you the character of Jonathan, by the way, he's like, the reason that you're not going to be king is because this guy's alive. He tries to use the fact that he knows David will be king to get Jonathan to want to turn on him and want to kill him. He says, look, you are not going to be king because of David. As long as the son of Jesse is alive, you will have no kingdom is what he tells Jonathan. Jonathan doesn't care. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 24. We'll get verse number two. Now Saul is chasing David down. I mean, look, it's just merciless. He is just after David. He wants to destroy him. He tries to kill him personally. He tries to have the Philistines kill him. He tries to have Jonathan kill him. He tries, and then he just takes his own army and goes after it. I mean, he is mercilessly, relentlessly pursuing David. Look at 1 Samuel 24 verse two. Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men out of Israel and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. David is hiding. David is fleeing. He's hiding. And he came to the sheep coats, by the way, where there was a cave and Saul went in to cover his feet. That means he went to use the restroom just for everybody to understand that without getting into too many details. And David and his men remained in the sides of the cave. So he goes inside the cave and David and his men are in the darkness of the cave hiding in there. And the men of David said, Behold, the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. Look down at verse number 10. So David's men say this is the time. The guy's alone, we can kill him now. He's like, God has delivered him into your hand. And David instead sneaks up and just cuts a piece of his robe off. And at verse 10, the Bible says, Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how the Lord had delivered thee into mine hand in the cave. So David is now shouting to Saul, and some bade me kill thee, but mine eye spared thee. And I said, I will not put forth my hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed. So he's telling Saul, he's yelling down at Saul after they let him go. He's like, I could have killed you. You were right there, I could have killed you, but I would not raise my hand against the Lord's anointed. Moreover, my father see ye the skirt of thy robe in my hand. So he has proof. This is how close I was to you. For in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not. Know thou and seeest that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee, yet thou huntest my soul to take it. Look at verse 17. He tells him he could have killed him and he gives him the proof. Verse 17. And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I. This is Saul replying. I mean, look, Saul knew, Saul always knew what the right thing to do was. He knows it now. He knows it now in verse 17. He said to David, Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me good where I have rewarded the evil. He's like, you're correct. You're a better man than I am. Turn to 1 Samuel 26. Then it happens again. He keeps hunting him. He leaves for a while and then he goes out to hunt David again. 1 Samuel 26. Look at verse number seven. So David and Abishai came to the people by night and behold Saul lay sleeping within the trench. Like Saul's army is again out in the field and they sneak out to Saul's army and his spear stuck in the ground and his bolster. So here David and Abishai, you know, one of the mighty men, you know, Joab's brother, you know, this is Abishai's no slouch. Okay? So Abishai is one of David's most powerful warriors. And if you know, you know, the history of David's warriors, you know, Abishai is a tough guy. So David and Abishai sneak into this camp and they come upon Saul and his spear is right next to him and he's sleeping. Then Abishai, then said to Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thy hand this day. Now therefore let me smite him I pray thee with the spear even to the earth at once. And I will not smite him the second time. He said, let me take his spear and I'll just stick him right to the ground with it. Because I'll put it right through him into the ground. And David said to Abishai, destroy him not. For who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord, Lord's anointed and be guiltless? David said furthermore as the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to die or he shall descend into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the Lord's anointed. But I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster and the cruise of water and let us go. So he spares him again. And of course then he shows him the spear and he tells, you know, there's a lot of good dialogue there as well. But the point is that, you know, Saul keeps coming after David. David has a chance to kill him and he doesn't. But look, God, I mean the story ends, you know, shortly after this, where God finally has enough of Saul and not only has he judged Saul with the kingdom, taking the kingdom away from him, he finally sends the army against Saul. Saul ends up killing himself and that is the end of Saul in the Bible. So look, he was unmerciful towards David, someone that had done nothing wrong to him. David did nothing that was unrighteous to Saul. So what could we learn from this? Look back at First Samuel chapter 24. Let's look at some lessons this evening, some lessons in mercy from this story. Look back at First Samuel chapter 24 and verse number 17. First Samuel 24 and verse number 17. The Bible says, and he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me good where I have rewarded thee evil. So the first point I want to make tonight is that being merciful shows your righteousness. Being merciful shows your righteousness. You say, what am I, what are you talking about? Turn to James chapter 1 in verse number 26. So the Bible teaches, look, when it comes to our salvation, when it comes to us getting to heaven, you know, God is going to see Christ's righteousness. That's what's going to cover us. That's what's going to get us to heaven. But look, how do other men see us? They see us through our works. That's how they see our righteousness. Look at, that's the whole point of James chapter 1 and James chapter 2. Look at James chapter 1 and verse number 26. The Bible says this, it says, if any man among you seemed to be religious. So here's the Bible is saying, look, if you see somebody that seems like they're religious, and yet bridaleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is in vain. Look at verse 27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the Fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. The Bible is saying in these two verses to show your righteousness to the world, it comes from your works, it comes from your heart, it comes from the things that you say, because what's in your heart will come out your mouth. Okay, so the Bible here is saying that, look, without this, so without, and that's exactly what Saul is saying to David, he's like, you're more righteous than I am. So Saul's unmerciful, David is full of mercy, and Saul is saying, you're more righteous than I am. And he's correct, because the Bible here says in James chapter 1 that, look, if you say that you're religious and you want to be religious, your religion is in vain unless you have these outward works that show that it means something. These words that you say and these actions that you take and that you're unspotted from the world, that's your works, folks. So look, Saul knew that David was more right than God, than him, he knew it. He just wouldn't change it. Think about that. He wanted him gone, he was insecure, he was envious, and that overrode whatever he thought was right. It overrode everything. What he wanted, that, look, that right there was Saul's problem. Was that what he wanted in his flesh overrode almost exclusively, almost all the time in his life, it overrode what he knew to be right. Turn to Luke chapter 12. Now look, that's not a great place to be. That is not a great place to be. Read the story of Saul in the Bible, everywhere you can hear about Saul, and tell me if you think that that's the life that you want as a believer. Now, here's just a side note, not the point of the sermon, but look, decisions like this, decisions like the one that Saul made all the time, where he knew what was right, but he wanted something different, and he made the choice for himself. Decisions like that will cost you dearly in your life. Look at Luke chapter 12 and verse number 47. I mean, look, full honesty here. This is the downside of coming to church here. Full disclosure. Luke chapter 12, look at verse 47. Look what the Bible says. This is Saul right here. This is Saul. Don't let it be you. And that servant, which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. Look, the servant that knew what to do, he knew what God wanted. You know what God wants, yet you just didn't do it, is what this is saying, but you knew what to do. He's like, you're going to be beaten unmercifully by God. You're going to be chastised hard by God, but here, look at verse 48. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. So look, the Bible here is saying you'll be granted. Look, if you know what the right thing to do, like Saul always knew, you will be granted little mercy. And that is exactly what you see with Saul. If you ever wonder why, man, he just, he just, he sacrificed. He just got a little impatient. I mean, he just didn't kill some sheep and a couple kings. I mean, what's the big, and then just God just came down on him like a ton of bricks every single time. Look, he is beaten with a lot of stripes because he knew what the right thing to do was. He knew what the right thing to do was. Look, you would be better off. You would be, it would be better off, you know, it would be better off for a saved person to stay home and never come to church and never read their Bible. And just, you know, if they're just going to continue in all the sins of their life, then come here and know what the right thing is and know and be told, you know, what the God wants for your life and what, you know, you should be doing and then to just go against that. Look, you're going to be beaten with a lot of stripes because you know that and you're choosing to not do it. Your consequences will be severe. But the person that never comes to church, I mean, running into these people all the time, some saved person, they just don't go to church. They haven't gone to church for years. And they're just, I mean, they're either not in church or they're in a lame church. You know, it's few stripes because they don't know. They don't know anything. You're like, it's not fair. Well, you know, that's the Bible. You know, it is what it is. I hate that statement, but I mean, that's what it is. If you don't know, it's better than if you do know and you still do the wrong thing. That was Saul. Okay, from the beginning. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 15 in verse, I'll just read it for you. And so, and Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou has rejected the word of the Lord. Now when you put it in that way, it makes a little bit more sense because when you think about it, when you think about the fact that you're in your life and you come to church and you know what the Bible says and you're soul winning, you're doing all these things and you know, I mean, you know how to use the sword like we talked about this morning. You know what the sword says. You know everything about it and then you're just actively just you're rejecting the word of the Lord is what you're doing. And the Bible says, look, that is rebellion. You're rebelling against the word of the Lord. When you put it that way, it sounds a little bit more severe, doesn't it? So look, even after he had the kingdom pulled from him and David was anointed king, he rejected that too. As he tried to kill David throughout the rest of 1 Samuel, he's rejecting the word of the Lord. He's rebelling against the Lord. Look, finally, God kills him. He kills him. He kills him dead. So look, he's pursuing David and look, he's just being unmerciful to David. Now look, David, David on the other hand, let's look at the other side of the coin here. Look, David shows Saul nothing but mercy throughout his entire life. I mean, there's never any indication in the Bible of David challenging Saul's leadership. I mean, he knew he was anointed by God. I mean, David could have been up to Saul being like, I'm king. Buddy, what are you even doing here? Get out of here. David never said that at all. David never challenged Saul. I mean, David, he could have killed him twice. He could have killed him dead and just been king, just like that. But he just showed mercy both times. Now, turn to 2 Samuel chapter 12. You say, what's the point? Here's the point. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 12. Now, here's what's interesting. In 2 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 13, we see David has already committed the sin of adultery with Bathsheba and he has murdered Uriah, who was once again another one of the mighty men. He's murdered Uriah and several other soldiers that got put in that situation. He's committed murder and he's committed adultery. Nathan in 2 Samuel chapter 12 is the prophet that has given the task of confronting David with this sin. And in verse number 13, look, the Bible says this. It says, and David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Nathan tells David, David says right away, I've sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the Lord has also put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Well, look, here's what's interesting. Because David was so merciful in his life, God was merciful with David. God showed David mercy. Look, God pardoned David here. And I understand that there was other consequences for David and his family, but God for sure pardoned David. In Leviticus 20, adultery is punished by death. In Leviticus 24, murder is punished by death. David deserved the death penalty here and God pardoned him. He let it go. God showed David mercy. Oh, why did he do that? Turn to Matthew chapter 5. And here's another thing. Whereas God showed Saul little to no mercy in his life. When you read the stories of Saul, you're just like, God is just really hard on this guy. He's just coming down on this guy. When you read the stories of David, you can almost see that you're just like, man, God really likes this guy. I mean, that's, that's, you just can't miss that by reading the stories of David in the Bible. You're just like, God just really loves this guy. God just really, I mean, is just really extremely merciful to David throughout his entire life. Look at Matthew chapter 5 and verse 7. Blessed are the merciful for what? They shall obtain mercy. So that is what the Bible teaches, and that is the story of David's life. It's not that God just likes David. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 19. But look, I mean, it comes across like, God just really just loves the guy. But it's because he was merciful and God was extremely merciful to him. I mean, look, David was merciful not only to just Saul. Look at 2 Samuel 19. Look at verse 21. Look, after David is kicked out of the city and his son takes over the kingdom, which is one of his punishments for, you know, the sins that he committed that we just talked about. But look, I mean, this guy is just cursing him and swearing at him. And, you know, once again, you know, his soldiers are like, let me go over there and kill him. Let me go cut his head off. You know, it'd be nice to have some guys that just walk around with you all the time, like, should I cut his head off? I'm like, nah, you know. But look, that's another story in itself. But 1st, 2 Samuel chapter 19, look at verse 21. Now they come back into the city. They've conquered the army. They're coming back victorious into the city. And here's this guy that was cursing him, kicking him when he was down. But Abishai, here's Abishai, the son of Zariah, answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this because he cursed the Lord's anointed? And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zariah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? For do not I know that I am this day king over Israel? And therefore, the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die, and the king swear unto him. So first of all, in verse 22, I love the end of verse 22, for do I not know that I'm king over Israel? So you have certain kinds of leaders, right? This is a side note too. You have these leaders that are constantly having to remind you that they're the leader, right? I mean, you have these guys like, if I had to get up here, look, if I had to get up here and tell you, listen, I'm in charge here. If I have to do that like every 10 minutes, like every other sermon, like that's failed leadership right there. And David's sitting here and he says, he's like, look, I know that I'm the king. I can do whatever I want. He's like, nobody's going to die today. And he grants mercy to Shimei. This guy that cursed him, sweared at him, kicked him when he was down in his lowest moments. Look, David was a merciful man. There is no doubt about it. And that's why God showed him mercy. Okay, so look, what can we take from this? What can we take from this? First of all, mercy, this idea of mercy turned to Matthew chapter 9. Mercy, you know, we know that what Saul said is, you're more righteous than I am. Saul said to him, because of this. And look, mercy will define, it will be an outward way for people to see our relationship with the Lord. It will be an outward way for people to see. It will define where your standing is with God. Where are you personally with the Lord? Mercy is one of the measurements of that. Okay, now look, turn to Matthew chapter 9. Here we have a story of the Pharisees. They're criticizing Jesus because he's hanging out. So here you have these religious leaders and they're all about the looks and the show and the outward, you know, look at me. I'm so religious. They're the literal definition of what was happening, you know, what James 126 and 27 is talking against is the Pharisees. But they're criticizing him for hanging out with the tax collectors and the sinners and the harlots and all this kind of stuff. And Matthew 9.13, the Bible says, go ye and learn what that meaneth. And the Bible says, Jesus says, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So now what is Jesus talking about here? Because Jesus says, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Turn to Hosea chapter 6. He's quoting something from the Old Testament in Hosea. And he's talking about, you know, he's blaming, he's accusing the Pharisees of something that Old Testament Israel would do, that Old Testament Israel would do. And look at Hosea chapter 6 and look at verse number 6. This is what Jesus was quoting and I'll explain to you what he's trying to get across to the Pharisees. Look at Hosea 6 and verse number 6 and the minor prophets towards the end of the Old Testament. You'll find the book of Hosea. So he's explaining. He's like, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. So he's saying, instead of sacrifice, instead of all this outward stuff, he's like, I will rather have mercy, is what Jesus is saying. Okay, and look at Hosea 6.6. The Bible says, for I desired mercy and not sacrifice. And it kind of gives us a better definition here. And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. So God, look, God wants people's hearts to be right, not just outward expressions, is what he is saying. And look, without loving the Lord, the outward appearance, without loving the Lord, the outward appearance of the Pharisees was doing nothing for them. Okay, it's good to have that love for the Lord that produces that outward James 1, 26, 27. That's good. But when you have nothing but the outwardness, that's what Jesus is talking about. He's saying, look, I mean, this is the story of Israel in the Old Testament is that they constantly, what did they do? They constantly turned away from the Lord. And many times they kept the sacrifices going. They kept all the outward looks stuff. They kept going, but they're worshiping other gods. And the sacrifices at that point, they mean nothing. That's what Jesus is talking about when he's relating that to the Pharisees. He's like, look, he's like, mercy is more important. He's like, I will have mercy. He's like, forget all this, this outward garbage that you're doing. So look, likewise, this applies to us. You say, how? Because look, if you're church going, you're soul winning, you know, I mean, you're just, you look the part. And then towards others, you are just unmerciful. That is who you are. You are exactly who Jesus is talking about when he's relating to the Pharisees. Look, you're no different. Don't substitute, don't turn these traditions. Don't turn these things, you know, church, soul winning prayer, Bible reading, you know, don't trade that in for an unmerciful heart. Look, the mercy in your heart should produce those things. Don't just replace those things and then just have an unmerciful heart because look, eventually, eventually that unmerciful heart will kill your desire for those other things. Now, look, I mean, we have, I mean, you know, soul winning here this morning or this afternoon. Look, we have almost, in this church, we have almost a 100% soul winning representation. Like everybody that comes to church, pretty much 100% goes soul winning. Look, that is a great, that is a great metric because that, you know what that shows? That shows that we have, we have a lot of mercy. That shows that we're merciful towards people because look, that's why, I mean, that's why I go soul winning, right? But don't let us get to the point where we go soul winning to be soul winners and so we're soul winners and they don't soul win. We soul win here, they don't soul win. We soul win for the mercy for the lost. That's why, but that's what that metric shows because eventually if we're soul winning for the wrong reasons and we're going out for the wrong reasons, eventually that 100% is going to go to 90% and then 80% and then 70% and pretty soon we're not going to have that many soul winners. That's why, you know, it's hard to get a lot of churches, they don't have a lot of soul winning. They don't have a lot of people that want to go soul winning because look, people are just unmerciful and that's where your desire to go soul winning should come from is from that mercy in your heart. Okay, so look, eventually it might be a nice front at first but eventually it will kill your desire for those things, for those, you know, traditions, those outward things. So look, don't, from this morning, don't let the fact that we're so right make us wrong. Just remember and it's, and it's easy. You're saying, well, how do I, how do I gauge this and measure this? It's really easy. Okay, let me give you what I do. Just remember, just remember your wheelhouse. That's all you have to do. Think about it from my perspective. Think about it from my perspective, just for a minute. Put yourself in my shoes. Just imagine, if I was just like constantly harassing you all and I was just like coming to your home and I was just like, what are you doing here? Come over to dinner, your house like, what's this? You're gonna let your kid read these books? What's the matter with you? You know, I'm just all over you. I'm like, you know, you need to do it this way. You need to be like this here. You need to be, and I'm just constantly like, you know, every time you walk in the door, I'm like, I need to talk to you. And I'm just telling you all these things that you didn't even ask me. I'm just, I mean, and it's just like, I'm just a constant beat down to you. Think about that. Number one, I mean, you would hate me. All right, maybe not hate, okay, but you would, you know, you would not like being around me if I was that way. It's like the boss who's constantly hovering over you at work and he's like, just let me do it. He's like, you're not doing it right. And maybe you're not doing it right, but he just pushes you out of the way and he just shows you how to wire it right or he shows you how to, you know, write it correctly or he shows you how to fix it properly. And he just like, let me just do it. And he just does it. And he just just constantly just blasting into your, I mean, look, you would, that would drive you insane. That would drive you nuts. Look, it would suck the life out of you is what it would do. But really, at its core, at its core, that's just what that is, is an unmerciful attitude is what that is. So, you know, don't, don't be like that to people. We're not to be like that to people. It's not, it's not Christian. It's not what the Bible teaches. You say, you know, yeah, but, you know, these people, they're wrong. Yeah, but it's none of your business. Just leave it alone. That's the answer. Just remember your wheelhouse. You know, don't go just start stepping outside your wheelhouse everywhere. It's all going to go wrong. I guarantee it. You know, as it was said this morning, the best way to have influence is look, this is where this is where everyone hates this word or this phrase of lifestyle evangelism. Because, you know, the reason that lifestyle evangelism gets such a bad name is because people replace actual evangelism with lifestyle evangelism, right? Like I'm not going to go preach the gospel to anybody. I'm just going to show people how nice, how good of a Christian that I am. No, that's not, that's not it. We're to go and preach the gospel. We're to go out and preach the gospel. But look, lifestyle evangelism comes into play. It comes into play in your life. Because look, it's important that you have a strong testimony, because that's what will give you influence over people, especially people that you know. Okay. And look, have part of this lifestyle evangelism, part of this testimony that you should have a key concept, right? We're talking about concepts. A key concept of this lifestyle that you need to show people is mercy. That is a key gear in that machine. And then you know what? When people see that you are just like, no matter what, and no matter in the face of whatever, you are just like this constantly. I mean, look, because it's not normal. If you're just like constantly, you know, people get annoyed very quickly with things and with people and all this stuff. But look, if you're just constantly just have this overabundance of mercy with people, people are going to notice that. People are going to notice that there's something different about you. And then maybe people want to know what you have to say about stuff. Maybe people want to know your opinion about things. They start asking you about things. How did you do that? What did you think about this? All this because look, you're getting some credibility as we talked about this morning. So look, once again, your level of mercy, and here's a big one, turn to 1 Samuel chapter 13. Your level of mercy in your life. I just want to leave you with this one. Okay. And just if you don't remember anything from tonight, remember this. Okay. Your level of mercy in your life. Let me turn there as well. This is the first time, 1 Samuel 13. Look at verse number 14. This is the first time that Samuel ever mentions to Saul that he's losing the kingdom. In 1 Samuel 13, look at verse number 14. The Bible says, But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought him, a man, after his own heart. And the Lord has commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee. Twice in the Bible, the Lord uses this phrase to describe David, that David is a man that is after God's heart. I mean, that's a pretty powerful statement. Look, your level of mercy shows the state of your heart towards God. If you don't remember anything, remember that. So if you have no mercy, and you're just like, I just can't. I just snap on people and I just want to go off on people right away. There's something wrong with your heart towards God. There's something wrong with that connection between you and God. It's a sign that there's something not right. As Saul said, you're more righteous than I am. If you have no mercy and you have a hard time showing mercy to people, you have a serious heart problem. It's not just a heart problem, it's a heart problem towards the Lord. And that is serious business that needs to be taken care of, or that is going to start manifesting itself and showing itself in ugly places in your life. Saul, shimmy eye, we see this with David. It was just nothing but mercy. And these were, look, these were terrible people. These were terrible human beings. Turn to Mark chapter 7. Turn to Mark chapter 7. These were terrible people. Sometimes I think we look at people around us and people that we deal with and we're like, man, how am I supposed to be merciful to somebody like that? Look, you need to look at some of these people in the Bible. Saul was a terrible human being. I'm not saying, I mean, look, I mean, he was saved. And he was a terrible human being. All right? It has nothing to do with works, which means the bad side of that coin is that you can have a person with terrible character that does terrible things, that does wicked things, that's saved. I mean, that's what it means. Look at Mark chapter 7 and verse number 6. He answered and said unto them, Well hath asias prophesied of you hypocrites as it is written, these people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Look, God wants your heart right first. So are you unmerciful with people? If you are, it's a heart problem. You need to fix it or it will manifest and affect. Look, it'll affect what we do here. If this becomes, look, if this becomes a problem with you and becomes a problem that spreads to others, look, don't you, I mean, you better believe that that will affect an entire ministry. I mean, look, if I as a leader become this unmerciful person that's just ready to just crush every single person at the drop of a hat, that's why a pastor is supposed to be long suffering, the Bible says. It will affect this ministry. It will affect what we do. God wants the heart right first and that is a major sign. It's a major concept that we must get right in the Bible. Mercy. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.