1 00:00:01,190 --> 00:00:03,650 Welcome to From the Pulpit in Classic Sermons. 2 00:00:04,010 --> 00:00:05,830 Each week we bring you a different message 3 00:00:05,830 --> 00:00:07,890 from some of history's greatest speakers in the 4 00:00:07,890 --> 00:00:10,350 Christian faith, and powerful sermons from modern preachers 5 00:00:10,350 --> 00:00:10,570 too. 6 00:00:10,950 --> 00:00:11,970 This week we have A. 7 00:00:12,010 --> 00:00:12,230 W. 8 00:00:12,370 --> 00:00:14,810 Tozer with his message, God's Abundant Mercy. 9 00:00:15,910 --> 00:00:19,950 Blessed be the God and Father of our 10 00:00:19,950 --> 00:00:25,970 Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant 11 00:00:25,970 --> 00:00:31,830 mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively 12 00:00:31,830 --> 00:00:34,430 hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from 13 00:00:34,430 --> 00:00:34,870 the dead. 14 00:00:35,730 --> 00:00:39,410 Last week I talked on this, Blessed be 15 00:00:39,410 --> 00:00:42,030 the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 16 00:00:42,030 --> 00:00:42,530 Christ. 17 00:00:42,530 --> 00:00:49,730 Today I would speak on, According to his 18 00:00:49,730 --> 00:00:52,710 abundant mercy. 19 00:00:55,260 --> 00:01:00,600 Now, Peter, just before he said, According to 20 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:06,740 his abundant mercy, had blessed God the Father 21 00:01:06,740 --> 00:01:08,260 of our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:13,400 Now we find there was a clear reason 23 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:15,440 for the outbursts. 24 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,840 He blessed the Father because the Father had 25 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:21,860 blessed us. 26 00:01:23,100 --> 00:01:28,060 If the Father had not blessed us, we 27 00:01:28,060 --> 00:01:30,080 could not possibly bless the Father. 28 00:01:31,300 --> 00:01:33,720 And if we had not been begotten again 29 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:38,000 unto a living hope by the resurrection of 30 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,800 Jesus Christ from the dead, there would be 31 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:45,580 no possibility of our blessing the Father. 32 00:01:46,740 --> 00:01:49,120 So he said, Blessed be the God and 33 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:54,440 Father of Jesus Christ, because he hath begotten 34 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:59,340 us again, and he begot us again, out 35 00:01:59,340 --> 00:02:01,820 of his abundant mercy. 36 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:07,440 Now, I have pointed this out in order 37 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,480 that we might see that there is always 38 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:18,500 a clear link between one truth and another 39 00:02:18,500 --> 00:02:23,100 in the Bible that if an apostle breaks 40 00:02:23,100 --> 00:02:27,540 out into a doxology, he wasn't simply having 41 00:02:27,540 --> 00:02:29,240 himself a spiritual time. 42 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,660 Look what went before, and look what followed, 43 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,700 and you will find there were clear, logical 44 00:02:37,700 --> 00:02:40,980 reasons for the doxology. 45 00:02:41,700 --> 00:02:45,980 And it is always so with New Testament 46 00:02:45,980 --> 00:02:46,460 Christians. 47 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,500 The spirit-led life is a clear, logical, 48 00:02:51,900 --> 00:02:53,500 and rational life. 49 00:02:53,500 --> 00:02:55,680 I must repeat what I said last Sunday 50 00:02:55,680 --> 00:03:02,330 night in a different context, that you and 51 00:03:02,330 --> 00:03:05,430 I must have the courage that belongs to 52 00:03:05,430 --> 00:03:10,410 our sound Christian faith, and we must stop 53 00:03:10,410 --> 00:03:17,150 this ignoble apologizing and cease to take this 54 00:03:17,150 --> 00:03:21,130 quick-spaniel attitude out in the world. 55 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,730 There is no reason why we should, like 56 00:03:25,730 --> 00:03:31,230 a paddled cocker spaniel, look sad and dreary 57 00:03:31,230 --> 00:03:37,050 and apologetic and cringe and crawl before the 58 00:03:37,050 --> 00:03:37,450 world. 59 00:03:38,150 --> 00:03:44,310 The world has nothing we want, and we 60 00:03:44,310 --> 00:03:49,230 have no cause to apologize to the world. 61 00:03:50,990 --> 00:03:57,350 We are believers in a faith that is 62 00:03:57,350 --> 00:04:02,950 as well-authenticated as any solid fact of 63 00:04:02,950 --> 00:04:03,270 life. 64 00:04:04,190 --> 00:04:09,510 And what we believe, and the links in 65 00:04:09,510 --> 00:04:14,710 the chain of evidence, are clear and rational, 66 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,649 so that instead of apologizing, we should boldly 67 00:04:19,649 --> 00:04:24,730 assert that if we believed in ourselves and 68 00:04:24,730 --> 00:04:29,750 in the faith we hold, with the fanaticism 69 00:04:29,750 --> 00:04:35,270 that the Communist believes in his devil-inspired 70 00:04:35,270 --> 00:04:39,490 doctrines, the Church could go off the defensive 71 00:04:39,490 --> 00:04:41,410 and go over to the offensive. 72 00:04:42,670 --> 00:04:44,330 Communists never apologize. 73 00:04:46,030 --> 00:04:47,590 Christians always do. 74 00:04:49,130 --> 00:04:50,730 And that's why we're where we are. 75 00:04:51,790 --> 00:04:54,990 I'm glad that Brother McAfee has the ecclesiastical 76 00:04:54,990 --> 00:04:59,150 courage to announce and join in singing a 77 00:04:59,150 --> 00:05:00,750 song that's an Easter song. 78 00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:06,120 I think that it's time we rescue some 79 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:08,880 of these great songs from one Sunday a 80 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:10,980 year, give them back to the Church where 81 00:05:10,980 --> 00:05:11,620 they belong. 82 00:05:15,290 --> 00:05:18,890 The Church has a right to rejoice. 83 00:05:20,230 --> 00:05:22,990 Christ the Lord is risen today, and our 84 00:05:22,990 --> 00:05:24,970 Son sets in blood no more. 85 00:05:25,550 --> 00:05:30,770 Marvelous imagery, marvelous scriptural imagery that Wesley wove 86 00:05:30,770 --> 00:05:31,550 into that hymn. 87 00:05:32,310 --> 00:05:36,050 And if we had believed it, we'd go 88 00:05:36,050 --> 00:05:38,550 off the defensive and go over to the 89 00:05:38,550 --> 00:05:39,070 attack. 90 00:05:39,070 --> 00:05:43,500 And so instead of crawling before the world 91 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,000 and apologizing in the low, subdued tones before 92 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,900 the learned world, we would frankly and boldly 93 00:05:52,900 --> 00:05:56,320 assert that Jesus Christ is risen, and what 94 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:58,980 are you going to do about that great 95 00:05:58,980 --> 00:05:59,280 fact? 96 00:06:00,580 --> 00:06:03,020 I say that Peter blessed the Lord God, 97 00:06:03,460 --> 00:06:05,780 but he wasn't simply letting himself go like 98 00:06:05,780 --> 00:06:07,040 an old lady in a cab meeting. 99 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:12,380 There were particularly sound theological reasons for saying, 100 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:13,680 Blessed be the Lord. 101 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,760 He blessed him because he had begotten us 102 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:20,940 again, and because it was through his abundant 103 00:06:20,940 --> 00:06:22,180 mercy that he did it. 104 00:06:24,450 --> 00:06:26,810 And the hope he had begotten us to 105 00:06:26,810 --> 00:06:28,750 was a living hope, not a dead one. 106 00:06:31,150 --> 00:06:36,040 I point out that the Spirit-led Christian 107 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:40,080 life is not according to whim or impulse 108 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:41,080 or caprice. 109 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:44,740 And yet I know Christians who feel you 110 00:06:44,740 --> 00:06:49,700 cannot be spiritual without being capricious, and that 111 00:06:49,700 --> 00:06:52,580 the more impulsive you are, the more spiritual 112 00:06:52,580 --> 00:06:53,200 you are. 113 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:55,740 I remember years ago, I haven't heard of 114 00:06:55,740 --> 00:06:58,280 him now for a long time, he petered 115 00:06:58,280 --> 00:06:59,280 out the way they all do. 116 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:02,920 But he was a very popular healing evangelist, 117 00:07:04,460 --> 00:07:10,020 and he just oozed in or tumbled into 118 00:07:10,020 --> 00:07:12,760 his meetings, just tumbled into them, never knew 119 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:14,200 what anybody was going to do. 120 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:17,360 And he was too busy running around to 121 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,860 ever plan anything, so he just sort of 122 00:07:19,860 --> 00:07:23,360 stumbled into the meetings and muddled through them. 123 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:27,860 And because he was like that, they advertised 124 00:07:27,860 --> 00:07:30,500 him as a man of lightning changes. 125 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:33,540 Why, they said, this brother is just as 126 00:07:33,540 --> 00:07:34,980 likely to get up and take the offering 127 00:07:34,980 --> 00:07:38,020 before the first hymn, or he's just as 128 00:07:38,020 --> 00:07:40,640 likely to get up and preach the sermon 129 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:42,140 and then have a hymn. 130 00:07:42,180 --> 00:07:43,720 You never know what he's going to do, 131 00:07:43,820 --> 00:07:44,300 half-past. 132 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:47,320 Well, brother, I don't know. 133 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:49,720 These men of lightning changes. 134 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,360 Sometimes it's a cover-up for laziness and 135 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:57,160 poor planning and lack of thought. 136 00:07:58,740 --> 00:08:00,960 Sometimes it's simply a temperament. 137 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:04,480 They're usually no good in the Church of 138 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:06,060 Christ, and they wouldn't be any good if 139 00:08:06,060 --> 00:08:08,220 they worked for Ford or General Motors, either. 140 00:08:09,660 --> 00:08:12,360 Imagine, if you will, a fellow who would 141 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:15,400 say to the boss at General Motors, Mr. 142 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:20,060 Jones, I'm one of these impulsive fellows, you 143 00:08:20,060 --> 00:08:21,380 never know what I'm going to do. 144 00:08:21,460 --> 00:08:23,100 I'm a man of lightning change. 145 00:08:23,580 --> 00:08:25,280 Some day I may be out at seven 146 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:26,880 in the morning, and other times it may 147 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:27,800 be three in the afternoon. 148 00:08:29,900 --> 00:08:32,220 Sometimes I may go to my machine, and 149 00:08:32,220 --> 00:08:34,179 another time I may push another fellow off 150 00:08:34,179 --> 00:08:35,039 and take his machine. 151 00:08:35,179 --> 00:08:36,780 I just follow the leading of the Spirit. 152 00:08:36,900 --> 00:08:38,220 You know how long he lasts. 153 00:08:38,980 --> 00:08:41,240 He just lasts long enough to get his 154 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:42,400 pay and get out of there. 155 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:47,380 You can't run things on these impulsive, changeable, 156 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:51,720 and constantly changing men of lightning changes. 157 00:08:53,300 --> 00:08:55,320 There was nothing like that among the Apostles. 158 00:08:55,420 --> 00:08:57,440 They were Spirit-led, and they were likely 159 00:08:57,440 --> 00:08:59,380 to do always what God wanted them to 160 00:08:59,380 --> 00:08:59,700 do. 161 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:02,900 But somehow or other, it so turned out, 162 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:05,700 as it properly should, that what God wanted 163 00:09:05,700 --> 00:09:08,320 them to do perfectly fit in with the 164 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:11,540 total scheme of redemption and the whole will 165 00:09:11,540 --> 00:09:12,760 of God in the New Testament. 166 00:09:14,620 --> 00:09:16,800 So there was no place for the temperamental, 167 00:09:16,940 --> 00:09:17,760 whimsical fellow. 168 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:19,860 Peter was no good to God, and he 169 00:09:19,860 --> 00:09:21,900 got over being whimsical and temperamental. 170 00:09:22,780 --> 00:09:25,220 As long as he was temperamental, scolding the 171 00:09:25,220 --> 00:09:27,420 Lord to glory for this or that, he 172 00:09:27,420 --> 00:09:28,500 was no good to the Lord. 173 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:30,300 He was a pest. 174 00:09:31,060 --> 00:09:32,720 But when he got filled with the Holy 175 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:35,480 Ghost and got a visionary tool and got 176 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:37,680 suffering a little and kicked out of a 177 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:40,860 few places and leveled down, then he became 178 00:09:40,860 --> 00:09:44,440 the great apostle, second only to Paul in 179 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:45,100 the New Testament. 180 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,060 But God had to take lightning changes out 181 00:09:48,060 --> 00:09:51,360 of Peter and settle him down into the 182 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:53,280 harness where he could work for the Lord. 183 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:57,120 Yet I say there are those who feel 184 00:09:57,120 --> 00:09:58,980 that if it isn't clear, it isn't spiritual. 185 00:09:59,220 --> 00:10:01,100 If it isn't capricious, it isn't of the 186 00:10:01,100 --> 00:10:01,660 Holy Ghost. 187 00:10:02,540 --> 00:10:05,320 But I know there's a clear, logical link 188 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:08,540 between everything anybody said in the New Testament 189 00:10:10,180 --> 00:10:12,020 and the reason they said it all. 190 00:10:13,980 --> 00:10:17,040 So that we're not victims of caprice, neither 191 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:18,380 are we victims of the weather. 192 00:10:19,900 --> 00:10:21,920 Nor are we victims of this stage of 193 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:22,520 our health. 194 00:10:24,740 --> 00:10:27,020 Mr. McAfee coughed all night last night, but 195 00:10:27,020 --> 00:10:27,940 he's still around. 196 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:32,300 And occasionally I feel tired, but I'm still 197 00:10:32,300 --> 00:10:34,380 here, and I don't like sticky weather. 198 00:10:34,580 --> 00:10:36,220 But you have to go right on, brother. 199 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:39,280 You can't show up at the house of 200 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:44,060 God just when it's 70 and the humidity 201 00:10:44,060 --> 00:10:44,940 31. 202 00:10:45,860 --> 00:10:47,640 You've got to go to church no matter. 203 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:49,980 And it's the same with prayer. 204 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:51,040 You have to pray. 205 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:55,780 One man said that you're supposed to go 206 00:10:55,780 --> 00:10:57,240 to God and be honest with God. 207 00:10:57,240 --> 00:10:58,800 I said, when you go to prayer, you 208 00:10:58,800 --> 00:10:59,480 go and be honest. 209 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:00,920 I said, tell God the truth. 210 00:11:01,620 --> 00:11:03,420 One other man said, when you go to 211 00:11:03,420 --> 00:11:05,100 prayer and you feel that the whole thing 212 00:11:05,100 --> 00:11:06,620 bores you, he said, don't hide it. 213 00:11:06,700 --> 00:11:08,980 Tell God frankly, God, I'm bored with this 214 00:11:08,980 --> 00:11:09,520 whole business. 215 00:11:09,540 --> 00:11:11,500 He said, God will forgive you and bless 216 00:11:11,500 --> 00:11:12,800 you and straighten you out and get you 217 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:13,560 started right. 218 00:11:13,620 --> 00:11:16,180 But the main thing is, be honest and 219 00:11:16,180 --> 00:11:18,180 pray no matter whether you feel like it 220 00:11:18,180 --> 00:11:18,540 or not. 221 00:11:20,180 --> 00:11:22,400 So that was the way Christians did things. 222 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:26,320 They weren't victims of moods. 223 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:30,680 And if you knew the whole truth, there 224 00:11:30,680 --> 00:11:33,680 are very few Christians whose moods are entirely 225 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:37,060 up on a high level and sustaining level. 226 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:40,400 Sometimes people come to me and they say, 227 00:11:40,460 --> 00:11:42,600 Brother Tozer, could I call you up and 228 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:44,440 say, could I have a half hour with 229 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:44,700 you? 230 00:11:44,780 --> 00:11:46,020 Usually it turns out to be an hour 231 00:11:46,020 --> 00:11:46,840 and a half to two hours. 232 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:48,000 And I say, sure, come on over. 233 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:49,600 So they'll come over. 234 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:56,000 He'll say to me, Brother Tozer, I believe 235 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:57,160 I'm a spiritual man. 236 00:11:57,460 --> 00:11:59,140 I've been filled with the Holy Ghost. 237 00:11:59,300 --> 00:12:01,440 I'm all on the altar and I'm consecrated. 238 00:12:01,580 --> 00:12:04,160 But there's one weakness I'd like to have 239 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:05,640 you tell me how I can correct. 240 00:12:06,620 --> 00:12:10,180 I don't always have the same degree of 241 00:12:10,180 --> 00:12:11,460 feeling and spirituality. 242 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:13,940 Sometimes I'm up and sometimes I'm a little 243 00:12:13,940 --> 00:12:14,280 down. 244 00:12:14,740 --> 00:12:17,260 There doesn't seem to be always that high 245 00:12:17,260 --> 00:12:17,840 level. 246 00:12:18,660 --> 00:12:20,300 What can I do about it? 247 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:22,040 And I say, I wish you'd tell me, 248 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:24,800 because I don't know either. 249 00:12:25,460 --> 00:12:27,640 And I haven't read a biography that I 250 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:28,500 can think of. 251 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:30,380 And as it was Francis of Assisi, I 252 00:12:30,380 --> 00:12:31,400 might accept him. 253 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:33,840 But outside of him, I don't know any 254 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:36,620 honest Christian that ever can get up and 255 00:12:36,620 --> 00:12:39,880 say, I live at consistently high level. 256 00:12:40,060 --> 00:12:42,560 I fly at an altitude of 16,000 257 00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:44,400 feet all the way. 258 00:12:46,890 --> 00:12:48,970 Now, if any of you would get up 259 00:12:48,970 --> 00:12:50,890 and say, Mr. Tozer, I have lived for 260 00:12:50,890 --> 00:12:53,870 19 years now and never had ceased that 261 00:12:53,870 --> 00:12:54,530 high level. 262 00:13:00,500 --> 00:13:01,540 Blessed art thou. 263 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:03,580 And I honor you. 264 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:05,100 But I have never reached there. 265 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:06,160 Pray for your pastor. 266 00:13:07,180 --> 00:13:10,000 Because there are times when my liver's out 267 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:10,440 of order. 268 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:13,840 And there are times when I come to 269 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:15,960 my study with no more desire to pray 270 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:20,500 than a horse, but a little while with 271 00:13:20,500 --> 00:13:22,680 scriptures and a little while with a hymn 272 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:25,100 book, and you're back in prayer and have 273 00:13:25,100 --> 00:13:25,540 it again. 274 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:27,520 And you've prayed it, and I don't mean 275 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,160 to leave the impression that you are always 276 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:32,180 up and down, because that did not accord 277 00:13:32,180 --> 00:13:33,360 with what I said at first. 278 00:13:34,340 --> 00:13:36,140 But I only mean to say that we 279 00:13:36,140 --> 00:13:38,140 are men and women who live according to 280 00:13:38,140 --> 00:13:41,740 the high logic of spiritual truth, not according 281 00:13:41,740 --> 00:13:42,520 to our feelings. 282 00:13:43,500 --> 00:13:46,000 The old writer talked about what they called 283 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:47,320 a frame, or a meme. 284 00:13:48,460 --> 00:13:50,720 They would say, they would put an entry 285 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:53,120 in their diary, it was a very happy 286 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:54,840 frame this morning, praise the Lord. 287 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:57,320 And maybe two weeks later there would be 288 00:13:57,320 --> 00:13:59,540 an entry, it was a very low frame 289 00:13:59,540 --> 00:14:01,240 this morning, it felt very depressed. 290 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,400 But nothing had changed except their frame. 291 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:07,700 And one hymn writer said, I dare not 292 00:14:07,700 --> 00:14:10,900 trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on 293 00:14:10,900 --> 00:14:11,780 Jesus' name. 294 00:14:12,500 --> 00:14:14,920 And I've gone before audiences now and again 295 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,100 and said, now please, anybody who knows, stand 296 00:14:17,100 --> 00:14:17,620 and tell me. 297 00:14:17,660 --> 00:14:18,760 I'll give you a minute to tell me. 298 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:21,360 What does the writer mean when he says, 299 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:23,520 I dare not trust the sweetest frame, and 300 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:25,480 I've never found anybody that knows? 301 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:28,560 Well, we say it a little differently. 302 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:29,960 We say frame of mind. 303 00:14:30,260 --> 00:14:31,060 It's the same thing. 304 00:14:32,060 --> 00:14:33,620 Say, oh, he was in a happy frame 305 00:14:33,620 --> 00:14:35,000 of mind this morning, wasn't he? 306 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:36,940 He said, he was in a very sad 307 00:14:36,940 --> 00:14:37,720 frame of mind. 308 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:40,020 And the writer says, I dare not trust 309 00:14:40,020 --> 00:14:44,420 the sweetest frame of mind, but wholly lean 310 00:14:44,420 --> 00:14:45,580 on Jesus' name. 311 00:14:46,260 --> 00:14:48,800 So you see, brethren, you and I live 312 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:53,500 according to a wholly high spiritual logic, and 313 00:14:53,500 --> 00:14:55,680 not according to shifting frames of mind. 314 00:14:56,540 --> 00:14:56,800 Amen? 315 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:00,940 Now, that's very unspiritual doctrine, some people don't 316 00:15:00,940 --> 00:15:01,480 like that. 317 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:03,700 They say, oh, you've got to be blessed 318 00:15:03,700 --> 00:15:04,460 all the time. 319 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:05,980 Happy, happy, happy, happy. 320 00:15:06,620 --> 00:15:08,640 But if they would just quit lying and 321 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:10,420 tell the truth, they'll have to admit there 322 00:15:10,420 --> 00:15:12,000 are days when they're not so happy and 323 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:13,520 happy as they were the day before. 324 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:15,860 But don't let it get you down. 325 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:19,260 Just read your word and pray and sing 326 00:15:19,260 --> 00:15:22,280 a song and take the means of grace 327 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:24,180 and you'll be as happy the day as 328 00:15:24,180 --> 00:15:24,800 you were yesterday. 329 00:15:26,060 --> 00:15:27,580 Now, it says here, and this is what 330 00:15:27,580 --> 00:15:29,160 I want to really get at, according to 331 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:30,480 his abundant mercy. 332 00:15:32,260 --> 00:15:34,720 Whatever God did and whatever he's doing is 333 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:36,240 according to his abundant mercy. 334 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:38,580 And we have the adjective abundant here to 335 00:15:38,580 --> 00:15:39,840 modify the word mercy. 336 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:42,300 It describes God's mercy. 337 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:45,380 And you know that word abundant comes from 338 00:15:45,380 --> 00:15:48,220 a Greek word which at least has these 339 00:15:48,220 --> 00:15:49,480 associated meanings. 340 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,700 It means largest number, it means very large, 341 00:15:53,860 --> 00:15:56,880 it means very great, it means much, and 342 00:15:56,880 --> 00:15:57,540 it means many. 343 00:15:57,540 --> 00:15:59,380 It can mean all those things. 344 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:03,540 According to his largest number, his very large, 345 00:16:03,620 --> 00:16:07,560 very great, much, many mercies, God has begotten 346 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:08,160 us again. 347 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:14,180 And I'll give you a note here on 348 00:16:14,180 --> 00:16:18,440 that word abundant, that everything God has is 349 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:18,980 unlimited. 350 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:24,140 That is, God being infinite, everything about him 351 00:16:24,140 --> 00:16:26,540 is infinite, which means that it has no 352 00:16:26,540 --> 00:16:27,580 boundary any place. 353 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:28,960 Now, that's hard for you to think. 354 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:30,880 I remember I preached on the infinitude of 355 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:33,620 God here one time, and only one man, 356 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:36,640 and that was Brother Kramer, came down congratulating 357 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:38,440 me and telling me he'd gotten my sermon. 358 00:16:39,260 --> 00:16:40,920 But so far as I know, everybody else 359 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:42,560 just wrote that one off. 360 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:46,500 But you and I need to get hold 361 00:16:46,500 --> 00:16:48,380 of that, and even if it hurts your 362 00:16:48,380 --> 00:16:49,960 head, you need to get hold of that. 363 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:51,440 It's good for you to know that God 364 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:56,280 is infinite, unlimited, boundless, with no posts anywhere 365 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:58,080 saying, this is the end. 366 00:16:58,540 --> 00:17:00,160 There's no such posts in the universe. 367 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:03,839 God Almighty fills it and overfills it, and 368 00:17:03,839 --> 00:17:05,380 he is infinite and unlimited. 369 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,859 So that we do not need any enlarging 370 00:17:09,859 --> 00:17:10,339 adjective. 371 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:12,800 When we say God's love, we don't need 372 00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:14,700 to say God's great love, although we do 373 00:17:14,700 --> 00:17:15,040 say it. 374 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:17,700 When we say God's mercy, we don't need 375 00:17:17,700 --> 00:17:19,619 to say God's abundant mercy, though we do 376 00:17:19,619 --> 00:17:19,980 say it. 377 00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:22,920 And the reason we say it is to 378 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:28,400 cheer and elevate our own thoughts, not to 379 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:30,760 tell that there is any degree in the 380 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:31,520 mercy of God. 381 00:17:31,940 --> 00:17:34,280 There are no degrees in the mercy of 382 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:34,460 God. 383 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,200 There couldn't be, for God is degree-less, 384 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:39,160 limitless, and infinite. 385 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:44,220 Therefore, when you say God's mercy, you're talking 386 00:17:44,220 --> 00:17:47,800 about that which is so vast that the 387 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,800 word vast doesn't describe it, because it has 388 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:52,280 no limits anywhere. 389 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:57,420 Its center is any place, and its circumference 390 00:17:57,420 --> 00:17:58,780 nowhere. 391 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:04,640 These adjectives are useful when we talk about 392 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:05,420 earthly things. 393 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:08,460 We talk about the great love of a 394 00:18:08,460 --> 00:18:09,440 man for his family. 395 00:18:11,100 --> 00:18:13,540 We talk about little faith, or great faith, 396 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:15,540 or much faith, or more faith. 397 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:18,140 We talk about wealth. 398 00:18:18,980 --> 00:18:20,920 We say he was a man of considerable 399 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:21,500 wealth. 400 00:18:22,700 --> 00:18:24,920 But if you have a little more tucked 401 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:28,460 away somewhere, we say he is a man 402 00:18:28,460 --> 00:18:29,100 of great wealth. 403 00:18:29,100 --> 00:18:31,780 But if his bank account is still larger, 404 00:18:31,940 --> 00:18:33,880 we say he's a man of very great 405 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:34,140 wealth. 406 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,300 And if he really owns it, we say 407 00:18:38,300 --> 00:18:40,160 he's a man of fabulous wealth. 408 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:42,540 So we go anywhere up and down the 409 00:18:42,540 --> 00:18:44,840 scale from considerable to fabulous. 410 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:47,440 You know where you belong on this, in 411 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:54,020 this scale, because wealth, human wealth, is that 412 00:18:54,020 --> 00:18:57,060 which may vary up and down the scale, 413 00:18:57,060 --> 00:18:59,760 from practically nothing at all to so much 414 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:00,620 you can't count it. 415 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:03,920 But when we come to God, there is 416 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:06,280 no such degreeing of things. 417 00:19:06,940 --> 00:19:10,780 When we say that God is rich, God's 418 00:19:10,780 --> 00:19:13,920 riches, we include all the riches there are. 419 00:19:14,580 --> 00:19:17,040 God isn't richer, or less rich, or more 420 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:17,400 rich. 421 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:18,400 He's rich. 422 00:19:19,020 --> 00:19:21,360 So he isn't more merciful, less merciful. 423 00:19:21,620 --> 00:19:22,320 He's merciful. 424 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:26,180 For whatever God is, he is in fullness 425 00:19:26,180 --> 00:19:29,000 of unlimited grace. 426 00:19:29,380 --> 00:19:31,040 But you say, then, why does the word 427 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:32,040 abundant occur here? 428 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:33,860 Why do they say his great love, wherewith 429 00:19:33,860 --> 00:19:34,420 he loved us? 430 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:37,180 Those adjectives are put in there for us, 431 00:19:37,260 --> 00:19:37,900 not for God. 432 00:19:39,540 --> 00:19:41,460 It was in order to elevate our mind 433 00:19:41,460 --> 00:19:43,760 to the consideration of the vastness and the 434 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,140 unlimited mercy of God that Peter said it 435 00:19:46,140 --> 00:19:46,840 was abundant. 436 00:19:49,850 --> 00:19:51,530 Now God's mercies are equal to God. 437 00:19:52,350 --> 00:19:55,370 And for that reason, all comparisons are futile. 438 00:19:56,190 --> 00:19:58,250 God's mercy is equal to God. 439 00:19:59,370 --> 00:20:01,410 If you want to know how merciful God 440 00:20:01,410 --> 00:20:04,530 is, then you will know. 441 00:20:07,540 --> 00:20:10,220 Just see how great God is, and see 442 00:20:10,220 --> 00:20:11,720 God, and then you will know how merciful 443 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:12,140 God is. 444 00:20:12,180 --> 00:20:16,820 I remember Brother Clark telling us, Missionary to 445 00:20:16,820 --> 00:20:20,160 Africa, telling us about a deacon in a 446 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,900 church in Congo, a great, big, fine fellow. 447 00:20:26,380 --> 00:20:28,760 And he, of course, had the job of 448 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:30,720 disciplining the converts. 449 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:34,740 And one young convert hadn't gotten all the 450 00:20:34,740 --> 00:20:37,360 devil out of him yet, and he inclined 451 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:38,980 to break the rules and do things he 452 00:20:38,980 --> 00:20:39,340 shouldn't. 453 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:41,820 And they disciplined him, disciplined him again and 454 00:20:41,820 --> 00:20:45,840 again, and finally this big, strapping Christian deacon 455 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:47,820 called in his erring brother. 456 00:20:48,900 --> 00:20:53,480 And he said, Now, brother, you have been 457 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:57,720 failing us and disappointing us, disgracing your Christian 458 00:20:57,720 --> 00:20:59,080 calling about enough. 459 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:02,440 Now, when we started with you, we had 460 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:04,120 a bottle of forgiveness. 461 00:21:05,540 --> 00:21:07,280 But I'm here to tell you, young man, 462 00:21:07,340 --> 00:21:11,560 that bottle is just about empty, and we're 463 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:12,940 just about through with you. 464 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:14,680 The missionary got a chuckle out of that. 465 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:17,180 He thought it was a very quaint and 466 00:21:17,180 --> 00:21:19,660 picturesque way of explaining that they were about 467 00:21:19,660 --> 00:21:20,620 done with that house. 468 00:21:21,500 --> 00:21:24,500 But you know, that bottle of forgiveness that 469 00:21:24,500 --> 00:21:26,680 God has, has no top nor bottom to 470 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:26,880 it. 471 00:21:27,500 --> 00:21:30,500 And God never says to a man, never 472 00:21:30,500 --> 00:21:32,600 and never has said to a man, Now, 473 00:21:32,660 --> 00:21:35,760 the bottle of my mercy is about empty. 474 00:21:36,500 --> 00:21:39,360 God's mercy doesn't run out of a bottle. 475 00:21:40,180 --> 00:21:42,940 God's mercy is God acting the way he 476 00:21:42,940 --> 00:21:46,320 acts toward people, and therefore we can say 477 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:47,800 that he is abundant mercy. 478 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:51,980 Now, I might point out something here which 479 00:21:51,980 --> 00:21:55,060 you may have overlooked, that every benefit God 480 00:21:55,060 --> 00:21:56,580 bestows is according to mercy. 481 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,500 You know, there's a sort of a pardonable 482 00:22:01,500 --> 00:22:05,780 heresy abroad, that God deals with some people 483 00:22:05,780 --> 00:22:07,360 in mercy and some in justice. 484 00:22:08,670 --> 00:22:11,110 But God deals with everybody in mercy. 485 00:22:12,090 --> 00:22:14,430 If God did not deal with everyone in 486 00:22:14,430 --> 00:22:18,070 mercy, we would all have perished before we 487 00:22:18,070 --> 00:22:19,270 had time to be converted. 488 00:22:20,310 --> 00:22:23,930 We float on this vast limitless sea of 489 00:22:23,930 --> 00:22:26,970 divine mercy, and it's the mercy of God 490 00:22:26,970 --> 00:22:28,510 that sustains the worst sinner. 491 00:22:29,750 --> 00:22:31,650 If we have life, it is according to 492 00:22:31,650 --> 00:22:32,590 the mercy of God. 493 00:22:33,170 --> 00:22:35,770 If we have protection, it is according to 494 00:22:35,770 --> 00:22:36,670 the mercy of God. 495 00:22:36,670 --> 00:22:39,410 If we have food, it is God's mercy 496 00:22:39,410 --> 00:22:40,450 that gives us food. 497 00:22:42,390 --> 00:22:44,670 And if we have providence to guide us, 498 00:22:44,730 --> 00:22:46,350 it is God's mercy. 499 00:22:47,590 --> 00:22:50,090 David said, Have mercy upon me and hear 500 00:22:50,090 --> 00:22:50,790 my prayer. 501 00:22:50,970 --> 00:22:52,210 Was he just using words? 502 00:22:52,290 --> 00:22:52,730 No. 503 00:22:53,330 --> 00:22:56,890 Again, a sound, clear, logical statement of theological 504 00:22:56,890 --> 00:22:57,270 fact. 505 00:22:58,830 --> 00:23:01,390 According to thy mercy, hear my prayer. 506 00:23:02,710 --> 00:23:06,290 Mercy even enters into the hearing of prayers. 507 00:23:07,570 --> 00:23:10,170 Mercy must enter into the holiest act any 508 00:23:10,170 --> 00:23:11,550 man can ever perform. 509 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:15,740 And it is a constant mercy on the 510 00:23:15,740 --> 00:23:16,460 part of God. 511 00:23:16,740 --> 00:23:19,160 The fact that I'm sane instead of somewhere 512 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:21,700 committed to an institution is an act of 513 00:23:21,700 --> 00:23:22,920 mercy on God's part. 514 00:23:23,620 --> 00:23:25,080 The fact that I'm free and not in 515 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:26,480 prison is a mercy of God. 516 00:23:26,940 --> 00:23:28,960 The fact that I'm alive and not dead 517 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:30,480 is God's mercy over me. 518 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:31,520 The same for you. 519 00:23:31,740 --> 00:23:33,420 And the same for every man, Jew and 520 00:23:33,420 --> 00:23:36,600 Gentile and Mohammedan, whether they believe it or 521 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:36,880 not. 522 00:23:37,660 --> 00:23:39,340 So you and I float in a sea 523 00:23:39,340 --> 00:23:40,480 of the mercy of God. 524 00:23:40,980 --> 00:23:42,560 I admit it when you enter the sanctuary. 525 00:23:43,460 --> 00:23:45,140 I admit it when you come across the 526 00:23:45,140 --> 00:23:47,160 threshold into the kingdom of God and mercy 527 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,420 becomes sweet and we identify it and recognize 528 00:23:50,420 --> 00:23:50,820 it. 529 00:23:52,300 --> 00:23:57,660 And it's certainly intensified and pointed up, and 530 00:23:57,660 --> 00:23:59,580 it's through his mercy that we're begotten again, 531 00:23:59,580 --> 00:24:02,160 and that that same broad mercy of God 532 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:05,180 kept that sinner through maybe 50 years of 533 00:24:05,180 --> 00:24:05,680 rebellion. 534 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,860 My father was 60 years old when he 535 00:24:10,860 --> 00:24:11,640 was born again. 536 00:24:12,460 --> 00:24:13,900 Sixty years! 537 00:24:15,540 --> 00:24:18,060 He had sinned and told dirty stories and 538 00:24:18,060 --> 00:24:25,200 sworn and lied and cursed. 539 00:24:26,260 --> 00:24:28,920 Then he gave his heart to the Lord 540 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:32,480 Jesus Christ and was converted. 541 00:24:33,180 --> 00:24:33,760 He's in heaven. 542 00:24:35,220 --> 00:24:37,080 And the mercy that took my father to 543 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:39,880 heaven is a great mercy, and we celebrate 544 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,400 the mercy that took him there. 545 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:45,420 But it is no greater than the mercy 546 00:24:45,420 --> 00:24:48,240 that kept him and endured him 60 years. 547 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:52,660 I've told this story before, but it perfectly 548 00:24:52,660 --> 00:24:53,200 fits here. 549 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,240 An old Jewish rabbi in Old Testament times, 550 00:24:58,360 --> 00:25:00,140 a man came to his door and asked 551 00:25:00,140 --> 00:25:00,980 to stay overnight. 552 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,120 It was dark, and he was a traveler. 553 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:06,040 He said, I've made it to your house, 554 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:06,860 could I stay overnight? 555 00:25:07,060 --> 00:25:09,620 The old rabbi said, sure. 556 00:25:10,580 --> 00:25:12,120 He said, you're very old mannered. 557 00:25:12,220 --> 00:25:13,820 He said, I'm nearly a century old. 558 00:25:15,260 --> 00:25:16,520 He said, all right, I commend you, Mr. 559 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:17,000 Overnight. 560 00:25:18,140 --> 00:25:19,900 The old man came in, they sat around 561 00:25:19,900 --> 00:25:20,340 and talked. 562 00:25:22,570 --> 00:25:25,690 The rabbi said, what about your relation to 563 00:25:25,690 --> 00:25:25,890 God? 564 00:25:25,970 --> 00:25:26,810 What about your religion? 565 00:25:26,990 --> 00:25:28,750 He said, I don't believe in God. 566 00:25:29,770 --> 00:25:32,370 He said, I don't have any faith in 567 00:25:32,370 --> 00:25:33,110 God at all. 568 00:25:33,230 --> 00:25:33,890 I'm an atheist. 569 00:25:34,870 --> 00:25:37,110 The rabbi rose and opened the door and 570 00:25:37,110 --> 00:25:38,930 said, get out of my house. 571 00:25:39,790 --> 00:25:41,990 I won't keep an atheist in my house 572 00:25:41,990 --> 00:25:42,450 overnight. 573 00:25:43,930 --> 00:25:45,670 The old man got up and hobbled to 574 00:25:45,670 --> 00:25:48,250 the door, and the door was shut again. 575 00:25:48,250 --> 00:25:51,150 The rabbi sat down by his temple and 576 00:25:51,150 --> 00:25:54,870 his Old Testament, and a voice said to 577 00:25:54,870 --> 00:25:58,410 him, son, why did you turn that old 578 00:25:58,410 --> 00:25:59,050 man out? 579 00:25:59,690 --> 00:26:01,670 He said, I turned him out because he's 580 00:26:01,670 --> 00:26:05,970 an atheist, and I can't endure him overnight. 581 00:26:07,470 --> 00:26:10,170 God said, son, I have endured him nearly 582 00:26:10,170 --> 00:26:11,610 a hundred years. 583 00:26:12,390 --> 00:26:14,270 Don't you think you could endure him one 584 00:26:14,270 --> 00:26:14,650 night? 585 00:26:14,650 --> 00:26:17,850 He leaped from his chair and rushed out, 586 00:26:17,970 --> 00:26:19,310 took the old man in his arms and 587 00:26:19,310 --> 00:26:20,750 brought him back in, treated him like a 588 00:26:20,750 --> 00:26:21,610 long-lost brother. 589 00:26:22,470 --> 00:26:24,250 It was the mercy of God that for 590 00:26:24,250 --> 00:26:27,910 one hundred years nearly had endured that old 591 00:26:27,910 --> 00:26:28,270 atheist. 592 00:26:29,670 --> 00:26:31,830 So the mercy of God endured my father 593 00:26:31,830 --> 00:26:34,210 fifty years, and the mercy of God endured 594 00:26:34,210 --> 00:26:36,810 me seventeen years, and then has endured me 595 00:26:36,810 --> 00:26:38,130 all the years since. 596 00:26:39,050 --> 00:26:43,850 So let's get away from this semi-heretical 597 00:26:43,850 --> 00:26:48,870 idea that God deals with some people in 598 00:26:48,870 --> 00:26:50,710 mercy and deals with other injustices. 599 00:26:51,430 --> 00:26:53,110 He deals with everybody in mercy. 600 00:26:54,030 --> 00:26:55,630 Everybody is dealt with in mercy. 601 00:26:56,390 --> 00:26:57,910 The Bible plainly declares it. 602 00:26:58,690 --> 00:27:02,670 It says here that his mercies, the Lord 603 00:27:02,670 --> 00:27:04,790 is good to all, and his tender mercies 604 00:27:04,790 --> 00:27:08,410 are over all that works, 145th Psalm. 605 00:27:09,950 --> 00:27:13,550 Now, God never violates mercy. 606 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:17,240 I can see the more I pray and 607 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:19,000 read my Bible and think, the more I've 608 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:20,960 got to write my book on the attributes 609 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:21,500 of God. 610 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:23,200 I've got to do it. 611 00:27:23,260 --> 00:27:25,020 I hope God will let me live that 612 00:27:25,020 --> 00:27:25,340 long. 613 00:27:26,180 --> 00:27:28,960 But this idea that God works according to 614 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,040 one facet of his nature one day and 615 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:32,800 according to another facet and another is all 616 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:33,160 wrong. 617 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:36,940 God never violates any facet of his nature. 618 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:42,780 When God sent Judas Iscariot to hell, he 619 00:27:42,780 --> 00:27:44,620 did not violate mercy. 620 00:27:46,540 --> 00:27:49,700 And when God forgave Peter, he did not 621 00:27:49,700 --> 00:27:50,800 violate justice. 622 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:56,480 But everything God does, he does with the 623 00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:00,520 full protection of all of his infinite attributes. 624 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:04,480 So when a sinner, though he lived to 625 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:06,260 be a hundred years old and sinned against 626 00:28:06,260 --> 00:28:09,440 God every moment of his life, he is 627 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,360 still a partaker of the mercy of God. 628 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,100 He still floats on a sea of mercy. 629 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:16,760 And it is from the mercy of God 630 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:17,760 that he is not consumed. 631 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:24,040 Now there will be a day when the 632 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:30,450 sinner will pass out from the realm where 633 00:28:30,450 --> 00:28:32,470 God's mercy supports him. 634 00:28:33,310 --> 00:28:35,390 And he will hear a voice depart from 635 00:28:35,390 --> 00:28:37,410 me, I never knew you, ye that work 636 00:28:37,410 --> 00:28:37,850 iniquity. 637 00:28:39,310 --> 00:28:42,910 And hell will be the just desert, justly 638 00:28:42,910 --> 00:28:47,870 apportioned, of those who refuse redeeming mercy. 639 00:28:49,170 --> 00:28:51,450 But there has been a providential mercy that 640 00:28:51,450 --> 00:28:53,770 has kept the sinning man all his lifetime. 641 00:28:55,510 --> 00:28:58,850 So we Christians, we didn't come in through 642 00:28:58,850 --> 00:29:02,630 the door of mercy and then live apart 643 00:29:02,630 --> 00:29:03,590 from that door. 644 00:29:04,290 --> 00:29:06,450 We're in the room of mercy and the 645 00:29:06,450 --> 00:29:08,770 very sanctuary is a sanctuary of mercy. 646 00:29:09,570 --> 00:29:11,570 And God, you've had mercy upon you all 647 00:29:11,570 --> 00:29:12,550 your life, sir. 648 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:16,640 We must not become self-righteous and imagine 649 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,180 we're living such wonderful lives that God blesses 650 00:29:19,180 --> 00:29:20,200 us because we're good. 651 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:21,440 That's not so. 652 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,000 God blesses us because of his abundant mercy, 653 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:27,620 which he bestowed on us. 654 00:29:28,380 --> 00:29:30,940 Not because of any goodness, though he's busy 655 00:29:30,940 --> 00:29:31,920 making us good. 656 00:29:33,500 --> 00:29:35,800 I do not believe that even heaven itself 657 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:38,860 will ever permit us to forget that we 658 00:29:38,860 --> 00:29:40,840 are recipients of the mercy of God. 659 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:43,020 The very angels that burn round the throne 660 00:29:43,020 --> 00:29:45,220 are there because of the goodness of God. 661 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,220 The very seraphim with their six wings are 662 00:29:49,220 --> 00:29:51,060 there because of the goodness of God. 663 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:53,800 So you and I will never be permitted 664 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:58,440 to forget Calvert, a little old morbid song 665 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:01,540 says, lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget 666 00:30:01,540 --> 00:30:04,000 dark Calvary, but there's a modicum of truth 667 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:04,800 in it at any rate. 668 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:08,900 We must never forget that we live because 669 00:30:08,900 --> 00:30:09,640 God's merciful. 670 00:30:09,900 --> 00:30:11,840 We are recipients of the mercy of God. 671 00:30:12,100 --> 00:30:14,600 I'm here this morning because God's been merciful 672 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:16,420 to me, not because I'm a good man. 673 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:19,680 Although God wants his people to be holy 674 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,340 as he is holy, he does not deal 675 00:30:22,340 --> 00:30:23,880 with them according to the degree of their 676 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:26,100 holiness, but according to the abundance of his 677 00:30:26,100 --> 00:30:26,540 mercy. 678 00:30:28,220 --> 00:30:30,360 Honesty requires us to admit this. 679 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:32,540 I pray that we may all be perfectly 680 00:30:32,540 --> 00:30:34,060 honest and admit it. 681 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:44,580 Now, the unjust man will soon pass from 682 00:30:44,580 --> 00:30:45,380 mercy to judgment. 683 00:30:47,180 --> 00:30:51,240 A hundred years the old atheist sinned against 684 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,040 his God, and God was willing to bear 685 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:55,460 with him overnight, yes. 686 00:30:56,460 --> 00:30:57,940 But the day will be when the old 687 00:30:57,940 --> 00:31:00,120 atheist will die and pass from mercy to 688 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:00,380 judgment. 689 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:03,760 So I believe in justice and I believe 690 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:04,240 in judgment. 691 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:10,420 And I believe that the only reason mercy 692 00:31:10,420 --> 00:31:15,060 triumphs over judgment is that God, by a 693 00:31:15,060 --> 00:31:20,280 divine omniscient act of redemption, fixed it so 694 00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:25,680 man could escape justice and live in the 695 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:26,620 sea of mercy. 696 00:31:28,300 --> 00:31:30,020 The just man, that is, the man who 697 00:31:30,020 --> 00:31:32,680 believes in Jesus Christ and who was born 698 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:35,020 anew and who is a child of God, 699 00:31:37,700 --> 00:31:39,020 lives in that mercy always. 700 00:31:39,500 --> 00:31:43,020 The unjust man lives in it now in 701 00:31:43,020 --> 00:31:45,760 a lesser degree, but the time will come 702 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:47,400 when he will not stand in the judgment. 703 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:50,320 Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, 704 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:51,900 for the Lord knoweth the way of the 705 00:31:51,900 --> 00:31:54,000 righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall 706 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:54,340 perish. 707 00:31:55,500 --> 00:31:57,360 For the unjust sinner, though he is kept 708 00:31:57,360 --> 00:31:59,940 by the mercies of God, kept from death, 709 00:32:00,060 --> 00:32:02,500 kept from insanity, kept from disease, kept a 710 00:32:02,500 --> 00:32:06,360 lifetime through the mercy of God, yet he 711 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:08,260 will violate that mercy and turn his back 712 00:32:08,260 --> 00:32:09,620 on it and walk into judgment. 713 00:32:12,730 --> 00:32:14,130 And then it's too late for the man, 714 00:32:14,210 --> 00:32:15,950 for the ungodly shall not stand in the 715 00:32:15,950 --> 00:32:16,230 judgment. 716 00:32:17,490 --> 00:32:20,950 But in the meantime, you and I stand 717 00:32:20,950 --> 00:32:21,830 in the mercy of God. 718 00:32:22,290 --> 00:32:24,070 So remember, when you kneel down to pray, 719 00:32:25,710 --> 00:32:27,150 don't do like the man who went to 720 00:32:27,150 --> 00:32:31,230 the altar and said he got down on 721 00:32:31,230 --> 00:32:33,490 his knees, he was under terrible blistering conviction, 722 00:32:34,450 --> 00:32:36,210 and he had learned the Ten Commandments when 723 00:32:36,210 --> 00:32:37,210 he was a younger fellow. 724 00:32:38,270 --> 00:32:39,750 He got down on his knees there and 725 00:32:39,750 --> 00:32:41,150 he began to talk to God about his 726 00:32:41,150 --> 00:32:41,490 sins. 727 00:32:42,170 --> 00:32:44,170 He had them numbered, I mean the Ten 728 00:32:44,170 --> 00:32:44,870 Commandments numbered. 729 00:32:45,010 --> 00:32:47,530 He said, Now, Father, now, God, remember, I 730 00:32:47,530 --> 00:32:50,090 admit I have broken number one, number four, 731 00:32:50,250 --> 00:32:50,910 number seven. 732 00:32:51,810 --> 00:32:53,850 Remember, Father, I kept number two and number 733 00:32:53,850 --> 00:32:55,610 three, number six. 734 00:32:56,730 --> 00:32:58,670 How foolish, how unutterably foolish. 735 00:32:59,830 --> 00:33:02,550 We should go to God and dicker with 736 00:33:02,550 --> 00:33:03,370 him like that. 737 00:33:04,150 --> 00:33:07,750 We should go to God like a storekeeper 738 00:33:07,750 --> 00:33:10,850 and portion out our goodness. 739 00:33:12,130 --> 00:33:15,970 I'd rather follow Thomas Hooker, the old Puritan 740 00:33:15,970 --> 00:33:16,410 saint. 741 00:33:17,310 --> 00:33:18,610 He came to die and he had been 742 00:33:18,610 --> 00:33:22,130 a man elevated way above the average in 743 00:33:22,130 --> 00:33:23,610 his spiritual life and holy living. 744 00:33:24,190 --> 00:33:27,390 They said, Brother Hooker, you go to receive 745 00:33:27,390 --> 00:33:28,170 your rewards. 746 00:33:28,230 --> 00:33:30,290 No, no, no, he said, I go to 747 00:33:30,290 --> 00:33:30,970 receive mercy. 748 00:33:31,790 --> 00:33:34,690 Brother Hooker went out, although he rated high 749 00:33:34,690 --> 00:33:37,910 up in the level of holy men. 750 00:33:37,910 --> 00:33:39,950 He went out not to look for his 751 00:33:39,950 --> 00:33:42,350 reward, but to look for still more of 752 00:33:42,350 --> 00:33:43,170 the mercy of God. 753 00:33:45,660 --> 00:33:47,700 Blessed be the God and Father of our 754 00:33:47,700 --> 00:33:50,020 Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant 755 00:33:50,020 --> 00:33:50,420 mercy. 756 00:33:51,780 --> 00:33:53,320 I think that's about enough. 757 00:33:54,380 --> 00:33:56,080 The sun shines on the just and on 758 00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,980 the unjust and we float along in a 759 00:33:58,980 --> 00:34:04,220 glorious shimmering sea of the limitless, boundless, infinite 760 00:34:04,220 --> 00:34:06,400 mercy of the Lord our God. 761 00:34:07,300 --> 00:34:09,360 How wonderful is God's mercy. 762 00:34:11,250 --> 00:34:13,190 I remember years ago I preached on the 763 00:34:13,190 --> 00:34:19,159 text, Thou, God, forgive us sin. 764 00:34:19,699 --> 00:34:21,639 Thou art a God who forgives sin. 765 00:34:22,900 --> 00:34:24,500 I didn't know it, but a woman was 766 00:34:24,500 --> 00:34:24,840 present. 767 00:34:26,139 --> 00:34:28,380 Some long time afterward she told me. 768 00:34:29,060 --> 00:34:31,080 I got it somehow through a letter, telephone 769 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:32,420 conversation or some way. 770 00:34:33,860 --> 00:34:36,460 She said that night, that night, as you 771 00:34:36,460 --> 00:34:39,300 repeated the text, Thou, God, forgive us sin. 772 00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:44,840 That night I believed God, and my sins 773 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:46,040 were pardoned. 774 00:34:46,820 --> 00:34:48,020 And I'm a Christian now. 775 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:50,980 And what could I say more than this? 776 00:34:51,300 --> 00:34:53,320 Thou art a God of abundant mercy. 777 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:57,240 So don't look in at yourself, look away. 778 00:34:58,260 --> 00:35:00,920 Then Ellen said, Trying to straighten yourself up 779 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:02,040 and fix yourself over? 780 00:35:03,140 --> 00:35:04,100 No, don't do. 781 00:35:04,100 --> 00:35:06,080 Don't come as you are. 782 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:08,700 With this I close. 783 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:12,460 Paul Rader told about the artist. 784 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:16,060 He wanted to paint a picture, for some 785 00:35:16,060 --> 00:35:18,180 reason he had an art head, to paint 786 00:35:18,180 --> 00:35:21,040 a picture of a tramp, a real tramp, 787 00:35:21,500 --> 00:35:22,560 a bum off the street. 788 00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:26,020 We're talking about all the time down here 789 00:35:26,020 --> 00:35:26,520 in Skid Row. 790 00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:30,200 So he went to Skid Row, and he 791 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:36,720 hunted up the most disreputable, run-down-at 792 00:35:36,720 --> 00:35:44,720 -the-heel, stray, dirty, disheveled, ungroomed bum that 793 00:35:44,720 --> 00:35:45,260 he could find. 794 00:35:46,420 --> 00:35:48,360 And he said, I'd like to have you 795 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:49,340 come to my studio. 796 00:35:49,540 --> 00:35:50,500 I want to paint you. 797 00:35:50,780 --> 00:35:52,060 His face brightened up. 798 00:35:53,100 --> 00:35:55,300 His old baggy, bleary eyes took on a 799 00:35:55,300 --> 00:35:55,740 new light. 800 00:35:55,740 --> 00:35:56,480 He looked at that and said, You mean 801 00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:57,600 you want to put me in a picture? 802 00:35:58,420 --> 00:35:59,680 He said, Yeah, I want to paint you 803 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:00,420 into a picture. 804 00:36:00,580 --> 00:36:01,200 Would you come? 805 00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:02,140 He said, Yeah. 806 00:36:02,260 --> 00:36:03,380 How much will it mean to me? 807 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:04,440 Well, he said, I'll tell you. 808 00:36:04,460 --> 00:36:05,620 I'll give you a good fee. 809 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:07,480 I want you to come several times. 810 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:09,660 He said, I'll tell you what I'll do. 811 00:36:10,780 --> 00:36:13,340 I'll give you $25 now, and here's my 812 00:36:13,340 --> 00:36:13,880 address. 813 00:36:14,420 --> 00:36:16,980 You show up there tomorrow morning, and I'll 814 00:36:16,980 --> 00:36:17,800 tell you what to do. 815 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:23,120 Next morning, the doorbell rang, and the artist 816 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:23,820 went to the door. 817 00:36:24,580 --> 00:36:28,800 Here stood a fine-looking fellow with a 818 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:34,500 white shirt on, clean tie, haircut, new hat, 819 00:36:36,340 --> 00:36:39,400 and his pants having a reasonable facsimile of 820 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:39,860 a frat. 821 00:36:41,910 --> 00:36:44,110 He said, Morning, what could I do for 822 00:36:44,110 --> 00:36:44,350 you? 823 00:36:44,530 --> 00:36:47,010 He said, Don't you know me, boy? 824 00:36:48,030 --> 00:36:50,630 He said, I'm just set for my picture 825 00:36:50,630 --> 00:36:51,370 this morning. 826 00:36:52,230 --> 00:36:54,070 The artist said, Are you the fellow I 827 00:36:54,070 --> 00:36:54,550 hired? 828 00:36:54,550 --> 00:36:56,050 He said, Yeah. 829 00:36:56,930 --> 00:36:58,210 He said, I didn't want to come to 830 00:36:58,210 --> 00:37:00,950 your fine place looking like a bum, so 831 00:37:00,950 --> 00:37:04,110 I spent this $25 getting myself fixed up. 832 00:37:05,090 --> 00:37:07,070 The artist said, I can't use you. 833 00:37:07,210 --> 00:37:08,110 He said, Goodbye. 834 00:37:08,390 --> 00:37:09,050 Dismiss him. 835 00:37:09,590 --> 00:37:11,470 He wanted him as he was. 836 00:37:13,890 --> 00:37:15,570 Two men went up into the temple to 837 00:37:15,570 --> 00:37:17,730 pray, and one said, Here I am, he 838 00:37:17,730 --> 00:37:17,830 said. 839 00:37:18,930 --> 00:37:20,210 I'm all fixed up. 840 00:37:20,310 --> 00:37:21,590 Every hair's in place. 841 00:37:22,650 --> 00:37:25,170 And the other one said, Oh, God, I 842 00:37:25,170 --> 00:37:26,870 just crawled in off a skid row. 843 00:37:27,430 --> 00:37:28,950 Have mercy upon me. 844 00:37:29,330 --> 00:37:32,210 God forgave the skid row bum and sent 845 00:37:32,210 --> 00:37:35,430 the other man away pardoned and unforgiven. 846 00:37:37,150 --> 00:37:39,110 Blessed be the God and Father of our 847 00:37:39,110 --> 00:37:41,550 Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant 848 00:37:41,550 --> 00:37:45,010 mercy has begotten us again. 849 00:37:46,150 --> 00:37:49,690 So come just as you are, friends, and 850 00:37:49,690 --> 00:37:51,070 God will show you what to do. 851 00:37:51,770 --> 00:37:52,910 He'll straighten you out. 852 00:37:54,310 --> 00:37:58,190 There's no contradiction there in the slightest between 853 00:37:58,190 --> 00:38:00,410 what I've said now and all my preaching 854 00:38:00,410 --> 00:38:01,050 on repentance. 855 00:38:01,530 --> 00:38:04,450 For God does require repentance, as I've said 856 00:38:04,450 --> 00:38:05,950 many times. 857 00:38:06,070 --> 00:38:07,310 But that's something else again. 858 00:38:08,270 --> 00:38:10,350 And when the human spirit comes to God 859 00:38:10,350 --> 00:38:14,870 feeling that it's better, more acceptable, it automatically 860 00:38:14,870 --> 00:38:17,270 shuts itself out from God's presence. 861 00:38:18,290 --> 00:38:20,430 But when the human spirit comes to God 862 00:38:20,430 --> 00:38:22,490 knowing that anything it gets will be mercy, 863 00:38:23,710 --> 00:38:26,170 then repentance has done its proper work. 864 00:38:26,890 --> 00:38:28,570 And God will forgive and bless that man 865 00:38:29,490 --> 00:38:32,530 and take him into his heart and teach 866 00:38:32,530 --> 00:38:35,250 him that all God's kindness is through mercy. 867 00:38:35,750 --> 00:38:37,450 You go out on the sidewalk, mercy will 868 00:38:37,450 --> 00:38:38,490 let you stand there. 869 00:38:39,330 --> 00:38:41,690 You greet your friend with a singing mind 870 00:38:41,690 --> 00:38:43,850 and a clear voice, mercy gave you that. 871 00:38:44,370 --> 00:38:46,010 You go sit down to a good meal, 872 00:38:46,130 --> 00:38:47,450 mercy gave you that meal. 873 00:38:47,730 --> 00:38:49,710 You rest on a nice soft couch this 874 00:38:49,710 --> 00:38:51,730 afternoon, take a little nap, mercy gave you 875 00:38:51,730 --> 00:38:52,050 that. 876 00:38:52,850 --> 00:38:54,010 You get up and go to your work, 877 00:38:54,090 --> 00:38:57,570 mercy did that for you, for all recipients 878 00:38:57,570 --> 00:38:59,070 of the mercy of God. 879 00:38:59,770 --> 00:39:04,350 The Christian knows it and has taken that 880 00:39:04,350 --> 00:39:09,030 mercy and used it, so to speak, to 881 00:39:09,030 --> 00:39:11,730 assure his abundant entrance into the kingdom of 882 00:39:11,730 --> 00:39:12,070 God. 883 00:39:13,190 --> 00:39:16,510 The sinner is a recipient of God's providential 884 00:39:16,510 --> 00:39:17,210 mercies, too. 885 00:39:17,210 --> 00:39:21,090 But he trackles it under his feet and 886 00:39:21,090 --> 00:39:23,150 prepares himself for an endless hell. 887 00:39:25,150 --> 00:39:26,970 Which are you doing? 888 00:39:28,190 --> 00:39:36,350 Father, we pray, bless thou this truth. 889 00:39:37,190 --> 00:39:40,110 O God, thy mercies are abundant. 890 00:39:41,670 --> 00:39:44,270 Are not thy mercies full and free, and 891 00:39:44,270 --> 00:39:46,690 have they not, O God, found out me? 892 00:39:47,410 --> 00:39:52,030 We thank thee for thy mercies, thy many 893 00:39:52,030 --> 00:39:54,270 abundant, full mercies. 894 00:39:56,340 --> 00:39:58,420 Now we pray that thou wilt help us 895 00:39:58,420 --> 00:40:01,600 to lean back upon thy mercy and trust 896 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:04,580 and not be afraid, hate sin and love 897 00:40:04,580 --> 00:40:07,880 righteousness, flee from iniquity and follow after godliness, 898 00:40:10,210 --> 00:40:12,570 but always know that in all that we 899 00:40:12,570 --> 00:40:15,850 do, mercy is around us like the air 900 00:40:15,850 --> 00:40:18,830 underneath us, as the earth above us as 901 00:40:18,830 --> 00:40:21,870 the stars, and we live in a merciful 902 00:40:21,870 --> 00:40:25,470 world to serve a merciful God, and live 903 00:40:25,470 --> 00:40:27,470 and swim and move and have our being 904 00:40:27,470 --> 00:40:31,210 in the abundant mercies of the triune God. 905 00:40:31,890 --> 00:40:34,550 Graciously grant us, we pray thee, properly to 906 00:40:34,550 --> 00:40:37,230 understand it and to apply it to our 907 00:40:37,230 --> 00:40:37,530 life. 908 00:40:38,450 --> 00:40:43,790 You've been listening to From the Pulpit in 909 00:40:43,790 --> 00:40:44,830 Classic Servant Series. 910 00:40:45,350 --> 00:40:47,350 This week you heard A.W. Tozer with 911 00:40:47,350 --> 00:40:49,250 his message, God's Abundant Mercy. 912 00:40:49,250 --> 00:40:51,530 Tune in next week to hear Keith David 913 00:40:51,530 --> 00:40:52,510 talk about Hell. 914 00:40:53,090 --> 00:40:54,830 On From the Pulpit in Classic Servants.