God's Mercy for our Great Need

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>God's Mercy for our Great Need</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id489.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Justice and Mercy of God (Part 2)"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id492.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gods Faithful Promise"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>"God's Mercy for our Great Need" </B></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, December 4-5, 2004</B></div> <bR> <div>      In his book, <I>No Wonder They Call Him the Savior</I>, Max Lucado tells this story (pp. 158-9): "Longing to leave her poor Brazilian neighborhood, Christina wanted to see the world. Discontent with a home having only a pallet on the floor, a washbasin, and a wood-burning stove, she dreamed of a better life in the city. One morning she slipped away, breaking her mother's heart. Knowing what life on the streets would be like for her young, attractive daughter, Maria hurriedly packed to go find her. On her way to the bus stop she entered a drugstore to get one last thing. Pictures. She sat in the photograph booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she could on pictures of herself. With her purse full of small black-and-white photos, she boarded the next bus to Rio de Janiero. Maria knew Christina had no way of earning money. She also knew that her daughter was too stubborn to give up. When pride meets hunger, a human will do things that were before unthinkable. Knowing this, Maria began her search. Bars, hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for street walkers or prostitutes. She went to them all. And at each place she left her picture-taped on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth. And on the back of each photo she wrote a note. / It wasn't too long before both the money and the pictures ran out, and Maria had to go home. The weary mother wept as the bus began its long journey back to her small village. It was a few weeks later that young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her brown eyes no longer danced with youth but spoke of pain and fear. Her laughter was broken. Her dream had become a nightmare. A thousand times over she had longed to trade these countless beds for her secure pallet. Yet the little village was, in too many ways, too far away. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother. Christina's eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling invitation. `Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn't matter. Please come home.' She did."</div> <div>      In the same way, we wander from God, and we are in need of his mercy and kindness. And he freely offers it to all who will recognize their need and turn to him.</div> <div>      We saw last week in the destruction of Sodom that God will judge sin and evil, as judged by his standards. But he shows mercy to those who will turn to him.</div> <bR> <div> <B>I. God is abundant with his mercy.</B></div> <div>      There is a note of interest in the genealogy of Jesus in <A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Matt+1:1-17" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>Matthew 1:1-17</U></A>. Four women are listed (besides Mary), who have "questionable" reputations. Three of the four were guilty of sexual sins (Tamar had children with her father in law; Rahab was a prostitute; Bathsheba engaged in adultery with King David). Three of the four were foreigners to Israel (Tamar, Rahab and Ruth). Yet they are <I>highlighted</I> as being in the line of Jesus the Messiah. What is the point of that? All along the way, God was working through imperfect, spiritually needy people, to bring his salvation into the world. Jesus came, because he "would save his people from their sins" (<A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Matt+1:21" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>Matt 1:21</U></A>). It was through the messy stories and circumstances of human beings that God brought about salvation for the world.</div> <div>      One of those "questionable" women is Ruth, and she was "questionable" because she was a foreigner to Israel; she was from Moab. Which brings us back to the story of Lot.</div> <div>      In <A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Gen+19:30-38" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>Genesis 19:30-38</U></A>, Lot's daughters are impregnated by their father without his knowledge. This is the beginning of Israel's neighbors and rivals Moab and Ammon. They owe their existence to incest, but, more importantly, to God's merciful deliverance of Lot, and ultimately to God's blessing upon Abraham.</div> <div>      Interestingly enough, we find Lot's offspring Ruth in the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah. All along the way, God was working through messy, less-than-ideal circumstances and situation to bring the Savior, Jesus Christ, into the world. </div> <div>      But he didn't intend for the ones he saved to stay messy, to willingly continue to live our lives in the messiness of our sins.</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. We who have received God's mercy through Jesus should leave our sinful lifestyles behind.</B></div> <div> A. Lot was a righteous man (<A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=2Pet+2:7" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>2 Peter 2:7</U></A>), but it was hard to tell. </div> <div>      He lived a morally ambiguous, morally complicated life. He became comfortable with the wickedness around him, though he had a sense of right and wrong. He lived <I>near</I>, then <I>in</I> Sodom, and become one of its leaders. He called the rape-intending crowds' actions wicked, then proposed wickedness himself by offering his daughters to them. His sons-in-law did not respect him - he had no credibility with them because of his moral ambiguity. His wife turned back from follow him to safety. His daughters engaged in incest with him to father their children (and why shouldn't they after what they saw their father do in offering them to the crowd?).</div> <div> B. If you have received God's mercy, it's time to leave the sin-filled lifestyle behind.</div> <div>      Refuse to live a morally ambiguous life. If you live a morally ambiguous life, there are three things you can expect: 1) Expect that you will experience confusion in trying to make difficult moral decisions, and you probably won't get it right. 2) Expect to have little spiritual impact on unbelievers. 3) Expect your children learn from your example, and expect them to take your ideas farther than you intend.</div> <div>      If you want to have a clearer understanding of right and wrong, if you want to have a positive influence on the world, if you want to teach your children the difference between right and wrong, live a righteous, God-honoring life.</div> <div>      Few Americans are totally <I>anti</I>-God. But few live <I>all-out</I> for God. Most everyone believes that Christmas and Jesus are about salvation from our sins, but it affects very few people's lives after December 25. Most are somewhere in-between, much like Lot was. In response to God's great mercy, become a fully-devoted follower of his.</div> <div>      To conclude the story of Sodom and Lot, consider the teaching of 2 Peter 3:9-15a. "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation..."</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2004, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>