Are You a Vessel of Mercy? | Lessons From the Lord's Brother Season 2

The reason I'm preaching from the book of, we say in Hebrew, Ya'aqov, so James's Hebrew name is Ya'aqov. The reason I'm preaching from Jerusalem on the book of James is because James was the leader of the Jerusalem church. So we're continuing now today and I'm going immediately to the second chapter in the thirteenth verse. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. So first of all I want to make the point that the scripture says judgment will be merciless to the one who has shown no mercy. Boy, this is really a truth that should guard our hearts because the enemy prowls around the earth like a roaring lion. And one of the things that he does is he tries to put us under his spirit. The devil has no mercy. It's impossible for Satan to show mercy because it's completely opposite his nature. The devil is a hater, he's a murderer and he's been a murderer from the time that he fell from heaven. And what he tries to do is to exert his spiritual atmosphere over our minds and our hearts so that he wants to get us in agreement with him. So that rather than showing mercy to people, instead we judge them and have a spirit of condemnation and hatred towards them. And God warns us that mercy will have no mercy to the one that shows no mercy. Judgment will be merciless, the scripture says, to the one who has shown no mercy. So we have to recognize this truth and cleave to it, hang on to it, bite into it with our teeth because oftentimes we look at people and the devil is hovering right over our lives wanting us to condemn people, wanting us to judge people, wanting us to have no empathy and no sympathy for people. Spirit of condemnation. And how many times have you sensed the enemy hovering over your soul trying to bring you into agreement with him to judge people?

Are you walking in a spirit of judgment or are you and I walking in a spirit of mercy? And we're always having that choice in front of us. The devil devours the weak. And who does the devil want us to condemn? Who does the devil want us to judge and to hate? Weak people. And so we need to really guard our hearts against not showing pity, not showing mercy, not having a spirit of love and mercy towards people. Do you know what I'm talking about? I hope I'm able to communicate it in a way that you can understand what I'm trying to say that people all around us are falling and failing, doing the wrong things. We hate people that are weak. That's the devil's mindset. He hates the weak. How many times have you had hatred in your heart? And how many times have I had to resist having hatred in my heart towards the weak? Why is that hatred there? Because it's the devil. It's the devil. It's the spirit of the accuser of the brethren. What's the difference of mercy? Accusation. Where does the spirit of accusation come from? It doesn't come from God. Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world. So when you and I have a spirit of condemnation towards someone, a spirit, listen now, of accusation towards someone, we have to recognize where that's coming from, and we have to resist it and guard our hearts from it, because if we come into agreement with accusation towards especially our brothers and sisters, towards the weak, towards those that are less fortunate than we are, if we agree with Satan, who is the accuser, we find ourselves in a position

where we're going to be judged. The scripture says, judge not, and ye shall not be judged. So listen again to this very simple but profound truth. Judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. So I want to encourage you to step out of being an accuser, step out of judging people, and step into the Ruach HaKadosh, the nature of the Holy Spirit, who's merciful. God is merciful. merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity and sin. Jesus didn't come to condemn the weak. He came to save the weak. So let's guard our hearts, beloved ones, knowing that if we judge others, we ourselves are going to be judged. If we hold accusation towards others, we open up a door in our heart for Satan to come in and accuse us. So if you want to walk in a spirit that's free from self-accusation, from condemning yourself, you need to strive to show love and mercy to other people. Because when you do that, it closes the door for Satan to operate in your life. This is a very important truth. I mean, it sounds simple, and I can speak about it for the few minutes that I have, but in reality, this is a battle that we all fight every day. Every day, all day long, we're making choices about how we're going to project our heart towards other people, what we're going to agree with in the spirit world about other people. I hope this brings some conviction to us

because we need to warfare to walk in a spirit of mercy. Let's move on. James says, "'For judgment will be merciless "'to one who has shown no mercy. "'For mercy triumphs over judgment.'" So the second portion of this verse, it's a separate concept, is this. Mercy triumphs over judgment. What does this mean? Yes, we may be guilty, but God's mercy triumphs over our guilt. God could judge us, right? I mean, we're guilty before God. The whole world's guilty before God. All of us every day are falling short. None of us are loving God perfectly with all our heart, strength, soul, and mind every second of every day so that every thought that we have is 100% in agreement with the mind of the Holy Spirit, with all our heart, strength, soul, and mind. No one even lives a single day on this planet walking to 100% perfection in the fullness of strength, loving God. I don't believe anybody does because the Bible says, now we see through the glass dimly. We're growing. We're on a journey towards perfection,

but none of us are perfect. John tells us in one of his letters, he that says he has no sin is a liar and the truth is not in him. All of us have sin. It doesn't mean we're practicing willful sinning, but it means that none of us are perfect yet. Rather, we're on the journey towards perfection. Every day we're increasing and walking in holiness and walking in sanctification and walking in the joy and the beauty of the Lord. And so how is it that even though we're not yet perfect, we're still loved by God? We're still accepted in the beloved. Why? Because mercy triumphs over judgment. Do you get it? Love covers a multitude of sin, including yours and including mine. So if God died for us and loved us, even while we were yet sinners, he's calling us to walk in that same spirit. Don't judge other people. If you don't show mercy, you're not gonna receive mercy. Mercy is gonna be merciless towards you because that's not who God is. But on the other hand, if we practice showing mercy, because mercy triumphs over judgment, it's greater than people's sin.

It's greater than people's faults. If we practice showing love and mercy and compassion to people, when we're tempted to hate them, when we're tempted to accuse them, when we're tempted to condemn them, if instead we resist that spirit and say, God, that's not who you are. Jesus, you said, judge not and you shall not be judged. I extend mercy to that person. I can't see into their heart. I don't know what's happened to them in life that's made them that way. But I know, Lord, that if it wasn't for your grace, I would be in that situation as well. But for the grace of God, the Bible tells us this, that you and I, God's children, in the book of Ephesians, we were by nature, listen to this, the scripture says that you and I were by nature, our very nature, children of wrath, just as the rest. In other words, there was nothing different about you and I than anybody else. All of us, the entire human planet, are born into this world in the flesh and we're children of wrath. We're living in the flesh. And that's not living unto the Lord. It's not living in harmony with the Holy Spirit.

We're by nature in the flesh, children of wrath. And the scripture says we were children of wrath, even as the rest, but there's a remedy for this because the next verse says, But God, we were by nature children of wrath, you and I, God's children, even as the rest. But God, that was the difference. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive in Christ. By grace, we've been saved, not of works lest any man should boast. And even the faith that we've received that saved us is the gift of God. And so again, you and I could have been judged because we were no different than anybody else. But God chose to be merciful to you and I, his elect. And now he's calling us to show that same mercy to everybody else. Yeshua said, what good is it if you just love your friends? Even sinners love their friends. I'm calling you to love your enemy. Show mercy to the entire world. Okay, so that's a great truth. And it's not something that we should say, yeah, it's something that we should really think about every day when we're living. And we monitor the thoughts of our mind. We monitor our heart attitude towards other people. And we bring our thoughts and we bring our mind

into harmony with God so that we're walking as those that show love and mercy to the entire planet. Now James moves on to another subject. And he says this, what use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? So we move on from the topic of mercy. And now we're gonna talk about the nature of saving faith. So James continues on and he says, what use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works, can that faith save him? That's a theological question. If a man says he has faith, but there's no works that evidence that he has faith, can the faith that he says he has, if it's not manifested in any way from his life, can the faith that he says he has that's hidden in his heart save him? He says, if a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to him, go in peace, be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead being by itself. So James is trying to color faith now. He's trying to color saving faith. And he compares it to somebody that comes up to a believer and is asking for help. And you just say, God bless you, go in peace.

But you can see that that person doesn't have a nickel and they're starving to death. Does your blessing of them to go in peace mean anything? Does it have any substance to it? He says, even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead being by itself. But someone may well say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. In other words, James is saying, listen, it isn't sufficient to just say you have faith. Anybody can say they have faith. James goes on to say, you say you believe in God. James is gonna say, you do well to believe in God. Even the demons believe in God. It's not enough to say you believe in God. That's not saving faith. James says, even demons believe there's a God. James is saying, faith is the same way. It's not enough to say you have faith. If you have real faith, that faith will be demonstrated by your works. In other words, saving faith is living, and it's powerful, there's a strength to it. So if you have a saving faith, it's gonna be alive through your action, and it's gonna be demonstrated by your works. He says, you believe that God is one, you do well. The demons also believe and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow,

that faith without works is useless? And I'm gonna continue next time, because I'm gonna give the example of Abraham when we get together again, and show you that it wasn't until Abraham acted out his faith that he was blessed. It wasn't until Abraham's faith was manifest in obedience that the blessing of God fell upon his life. And so James says, so too with you. Faith without works won't accomplish anything. Your faith has to have legs to it. And so that's something that should help us to examine ourselves. A lot of people. They go to church every Sunday. They say they believe. They lift their hands in worship. But then when they leave the sanctuary on Sunday morning, there's nothing about their lifestyle that would evidence that they're a passionate lover of Jesus and are pursuing God in their life. They don't carry that faith that they said they had in church. They don't carry that with them into the world with their actions. They're not telling anybody about Jesus. They're not monitoring their behavior by their love for Jesus. They have a faith, beloved, that isn't really saving faith. It's the type of faith that James talked about that demons have. Even demons believe there's a God. James is calling you and I, beloved, up to the next level. He said faith without works is useless. So I want to challenge all of us today. Are we light in this world for Jesus? Are we the salt of the earth? Are we the light of the world? Our faith should be evidenced by our works. That's true for you and it's true for me. In the book of Numbers, chapter 6, the Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron to speak this blessing over his people. And the Lord said, when you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them. Receive the impartation of the Lord's blessings. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift you up by His countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, His peace. God bless you and shalom.