Mercy Now

1 Peter 2:10 | April 5, 2020

Do you have a personal motto that you live by?

A slogan or mantra that drives how you think or make decisions?

Maybe one of these…

• Carpe diem
• Eyes on the prize
• YOLO
• Gunga galunga

Or maybe you don’t have a motto or a slogan, but you are working through a bucket list as your approach to life.

You might have things on your list like:

• Write a book
• Learn a new language
• Plant a tree
• Get in the Guinness Book of World Records for eating the most boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese during a quarantine

Companies are also known for having mottos and slogans. 

You may have seen some of the made-up slogans that are out there for certain companies. 

A few of them are kind enough for a chuckle:

• Chapstick – you’ll misplace it before the tube is empty
• Coffee Mate – helps you pretend to like coffee
• Starbucks – we serve you decaf if you’re rude
• Ikea – we throw in extra parts just to mess with you

Life principles and mottos and slogans can be good and helpful.

But they also have the potential to be discouraging. 

How?

Well, what if they don’t work out like you thought?

If we carpe diem it and stick with YOLO and those things on our bucket list don’t get checked off like we hoped, then all of a sudden time becomes our enemy.

And we begin to think things like:

• What if I don’t get my scout badge?
• What if I don’t get my driver’s license?
• What if I never get a thousand likes on a post?
• What if I don’t get to go to prom?
• What if I don’t get married?
• What if I don’t have children?
• What if I don’t get my job back?
• What if I never make it to the Grand Canyon?
• What if I never get to skydive?
• What if I never learn to play the guitar?
• What if I never see the second largest ball of twine on the face of the earth?

You see?

That motto or that slogan that can be super good and super helpful has the ability to be super dangerous and super discouraging. 

So, what do we do?

Well, we need a better motto. 

We need a motto that works at full capacity no matter what’s happening with school or work or travel or the government or the economy or our health or our emotions?

Is there such a motto?

Yes, there is.

Simon Peter was one of the closest friends that Jesus had on earth and he wrote a letter to some folks that were struggling. 

• They were suffering
• They were stressed
• They were afraid
• They were anxious
• They were feeling unloved
• They were feeling forgotten
• They were feeling like nothing was going to change

Anybody feeling like that today?

So, what does Peter to say them?

Listen to 1 Peter 2, verse 10:

10 for you once were not a people,

Well, that sure sounds encouraging, right?

You once were bunch of nobodies!

That’s always a good way to win friends and influence people – throw an “L” up on your forehead and immediately call them a bunch of loser nobodies.

But what’s he talking about?

He’s talking about identity.

What is the most defining question in life?

The question that defines every aspect of your life?

Who am I?

More often than not we are quick to define our identity by the titles we have in life.

• I’m a son
• I’m a brother
• I’m an uncle
• I’m a husband
• I’m a father
• I’m a son-in-law
• I’m a brother-in-law (my sister in-law’s favorite)
• I’m a friend
• I’m a pastor
• I’m a South Carolinian
• I’m an American
• I’m a baconarian
• I’m a doughnutatarian

What are your titles in life?

• Are you a student?
• Are you a sibling?
• Are you a spouse?
• Are you a parent?
• Are you a teenager?
• Are you a senior adult?

Some people try to find their identity in their:

• Favorite sports team
• Favorite brand of truck
• Favorite style of music
• Favorite superhero character
• Favorite political party
• Favorite charity
• Favorite hobby
• Favorite brand of soft drink

Those things can be used to describe who you are to a degree but none of them ultimately define your identity.

So, what ultimately defines your identity?

That question can only be answered with another question and that question goes like this:

Where are you in relation to God? 

There are about 7.5 billion people in the world. 

Generally speaking – there are about 3.6 billion people that believe in the concept that there is only one God.

That means that – generally speaking – there are about 3.9 billion people that do not believe in the concept that there is only one God – just a reminder don’t ever use any math you hear from me for a term paper or a social media meme.

The picture I’m trying to paint is that most people in the world would not agree that what ultimately defines a person’s identity is connected to where they are in relation to a God that they do not believe in. 

By the time he was 21 years old it has been estimated that the Apostle Paul had the equivalent of two Ph.D.’s and at one time he super hated Christians – enough that he was involved with and oversaw the persecution and execution of Christians. 

But then something happened to that intelligent, educated, zealous, successful man and he started writing things like this.

Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

What does that mean?

It means that around the world today as every continent engages with the unknown dangers of unseen germs, there is one thing that is being pressed in every single man, woman, boy, and girl.

And what is that one thing?

The conscience.

What is your conscience?

It’s not a little angel and a little devil on your shoulder. 

Here is a definition that I think is super helpful:

Joe Carter

Conscience is an internal rational capacity that bears witness to our value system.

The witness of what you value.

And what Paul is saying is that around the world today people might fight it and ignore it and push against it or reject it but every single person has been created with a witness inside of them and that witness proclaims that there is one Creator God.

And that one reality pours all the weight of your identity into that one question:

Where are you in relation to God?

C.S. Lewis wrote a super fun series of books known as “The Chronicles of Narnia”.

One of the books is called “The Silver Chair” and there is a scene in the book where the character known as Jill is lost and exhausted and tired and thirsty and she comes up on a stream.

As she walks over to the stream, she suddenly notices this massive lion sitting by the edge of the stream.

The lion is the one true King of Narnia and his name is Aslan.

But Jill has no idea who he is, she is just a girl all alone in a strange world looking at a massive lion. 

She is crazy thirsty but she’s also crazy scared of this lion.

She asked the lion some questions and his answers did not cause her fear to fade and finally Jill says that she’s not going to come and drink and the lion says, “Then you will die of thirst.”

And Jill says, “Oh dear! I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”

And the lion graciously and firmly responds, “There is no other stream.”

By the design of the Creator, a person’s conscience has been fashioned with a witness that graciously and firmly says, “There is no other God.”

Where are you in relation to that God?

Paul said this to the folks in a place called Ephesus:

Ephesians 2:12

remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

When it comes to being in relation to God, there are only two options – you are either with Christ or you are without him. 

To many that sounds mean and exclusive and unkind.

But for someone who was really hoping I would get points for just writing my name on the SAT I am super thankful that the most important reality in the universe is simple enough for an 8 year old to understand and an 80 year old to embrace.

And that’s how Peter is trying to encourage those folks who were suffering and stressed and anxious and afraid. 

He starts with the bad news – they once were not a people – they were separated from Christ. 

So, what’s the good news?

Listen to the next part of verse 10:

10 but now you are the people of God;

Two of my favorite people in the world are Brent and Marian Martin.

Their daughter Tess turned 12 three months ago.

A few weeks after Tess came into their lives Brent was preaching at our church and I’ll never forget these words from his sermon that day:

Brent Martin

You don’t earn adoption. Tess was chosen. She was not looking for us. We were looking for her. And the first second my eyes met hers, she had status. It was instant. She was a Martin. 

Brent Martin

Everything I had, or would ever have, was now hers because she was now mine. In the seconds before I saw her, I had never known her and the moment I did see her she had have everything that would ever be mine.

And then he said this:

Brent Martin

This is what God does. We get the family name and all that He owns.

That’s what it means to be in Christ, to be with Christ, to be in family of God. 

You get the family name and all that he owns!

It would have been enough for God to send Jesus to die on the cross for the penalty of our sin. 

But God went one step further and through Christ, he adopts us into His family!

The cross meets the basic, desperate need of your soul. 

But adoption brings us into the family of God where we are lavished with the love and affection of the Almighty!

Without Christ, God is your Creator, but you are not in his family.

You cannot rest in and enjoy the great love and care and comfort and satisfaction that God pours out upon his adopted children. 

Maybe today is the day that you will no longer push back or reject or excuse away the reality of God and the good news of his gospel. 

Maybe today is the day that you repent and believe in and rely on and trust in and cling to Jesus as your ultimate hope and salvation and satisfaction and treasure. 

When Peter was looking for a way to encourage discouraged Christians who were feeling overwhelmed and forgotten and unloved and afraid and frustrated and anxious he pointed them in one direction and it was not the direction of religion or ancestry or patriotism or personality or political affiliation or medical safety.

He pointed them in the direction of the Kingdom of God, the family of God, the people of God. 

He pointed them to their identity.

To be in Christ – to be right in your relation to God – is the ultimate definition of identity. 

And having your identity first and most and utmost in Christ means that you are always safe – for his kingdom is the only kingdom that is forever.

But Peter knew how difficult things were for his friends and he knew how much they were struggling so he wanted to give them one more practical thing to tattoo on their brains. 

Listen to the last part of verse 10:

10 you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

There’s the better motto – the best motto:

You have received mercy. 

I may have shared this illustration with you before…

Imagine you are sitting in a banquet hall at a big celebration.

All of your family and friends are there. 

And a man comes in and walks up to the podium at the end of the room and announces your name and asks you to stand up. 

Everyone in the room turns and looks at you.

The man at the podium announces that they have just received news that you have not always done everything right.

And he begins to read through a list of things that you have done wrong in life:

• Lying to your parents
• Cheating on your taxes
• Refusing to help homeless people
• Fighting with people who disagreed with you
• And other things

And then the man reads a decree that says because of the wrong things that you have done in life you will be executed before the end of the meeting.

At that point your Uncle Stan cries out from the other side of the room, “Turn out the lights – the party’s over!”

Everyone would be immediately shocked and upset and more than likely you might start feeling a little bit:

• Scared
• Depressed
• Miserable

But suddenly the man announces a second decree. 

There is a price for your release.

Great news!

Maybe you can go around the room and take up a love offering and get this whole thing squared away.

But then the price of the release is announced:

The price is the life of another person – someone would have to take your place. 

Your heart sinks:

Who would do that?

Uncle Stan?

Probably not.

And then one of your friends at the table behind you jumps up and yells:

“I’ll do it – I will take his place!”

The room rumbles with applause and cheers!

What a hero!

Here is a brave friend stepping up to save the day!

But then the second part of the price for release is announced:

The other person must be perfect. 

The substitute has to be someone who never did anything wrong. 

Your heart sinks again. 

The people in that room love you more than anyone else in the world, but you know none of them are perfect. 

Nobody qualifies.

Your fear and anxiety and misery quickly return. 

Then one of the back doors in the banquet hall opens and a strange man that you have never seen before walks over to where you are standing and says:

“My name is Jesus and I am the only one who qualifies. I will take your place.”

That is mercy. 

Jesus, the perfect Son of God, taking the place of sinners.

If that is not just a story to you – if you have repented and turned to Jesus, then you have received mercy – mercy that no one else could give you. 

Only Jesus can change the math:

You once were not a people, but now you are.

You once had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Two words that have become part of our lives the last month are the words “curve” and “peak”.

I was reading something this week from a couple of years ago and it basically said this:

The highest peak of who we are is who we are in Christ.

The highest peak of who you are – your true identity – is who you are in Christ.

If you have not turned to Christ, then you are not in Christ.

Your true identity is that you are separated from God.

And there is no happy ending to that story.

But if you have turned to Christ, then Marshall Segal describes your identity this way:

Marshall Segal

You are not who you were. You are not what you feel. You are not where you are tempted to fall. Now, you are his.

• You are his!
• You are now a child of God!
• You have the family name and all that he owns!
• You have received mercy!

That’s the only motto that always works at full capacity in every single moment of your life!

You have received mercy!

• If you don’t get that scout badge
• If you don’t get your driver’s license
• If you don’t get a thousand likes on a social media post
• If you don’t get to go to prom
• If you don’t get married
• If you don’t have children
• If you don’t get your job back
• If you don’t make it to the Grand Canyon
• If you don’t get to skydive
• If you never learn to play the guitar
• If you never see the second largest ball of twine

If your carpe diem YOLO bucket list doesn’t get checked off there is one motto that will not and cannot fail and it cannot be taken away from you – you have received mercy!

2,000 years ago, the crowds shouted to Jesus:

“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

And today the gospel is shouting to you:

“Blessed and happy and fortunate and satisfied is the man or women or boy or girl who trusts in the name of the Lord.”

Why?

Because now you have received mercy!

Message by Dow Welsh |

April 5, 2020 © Holland Avenue Baptist Church

 

more |

Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not sermon transcript

Sermon scriptures NASB unless otherwise noted

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at www.preceptaustin.org

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/know-who-you-are-not

 

 

Do you have a personal motto? You know, like a little catchphrase slogan. I mean, just like something in your life that you use for all your decision making. Something that drives who you are. Maybe one of them is something like carpet diem or eyes on the prize. Or YOLO or Gunga Gunga. Maybe you got one of those. Some people may not have a motto. They may not have a slogan their their life. It's functioning through their bucket list. Yeah, they're trying to make sure that they get all these things in life, and that's kind of where their focus is. Maybe you've got a bucket bucket list and one of the things on your list is is to write a book or toe toe, learn a new language, maybe plant a tree. Maybe on your bucket list is to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for eating the most Kraft macaroni and Jesus during a quarantine. Maybe Maybe you've got that is gold, you know, cos they have slogans, they've got mottoes. Some folks have gone to great lengths to create some that are fake and and phony and a little funny. So I picked just few, some kind ones that I thought would give us a bit of a chuckle. Chapstick is a good one, Chapstick. You'll misplace it before the tube is empty. That's true. Coffee, mate. Helps you pretend toe like coffee. Yeah. You know who you are. This is a good one, Starbucks. We serve you decaf If you're rude. Yeah, This one actually has to be true. Bless their hearts. Kia. We throw in extra parts just to mess with you. We've all experienced that early. Some of us that your slogans mottoes bucket list. They're they're good, They're they're helpful. We can use them for so many different things in so many different ways. But they can also be discouraging. How? Well, what if they don't work out like you thought they would? What if that carpet diem YOLO Bucket lists doesn't get checked off the way you hoped it would? When that happens, someone has said wisely that all of a sudden in time becomes our greatest enemy because we begin to look it at all those things that were not able to do. What if I don't get that scout badge? What if I don't get my driver's license. What if I don't get 1000 likes on my social media post? What if I don't get to go to the prom? What if I don't get married? What if I don't have kids? What if I don't get to see the Grand Canyon? What if I don't get a job? What if I don't get the skydive? What if I don't get to see the world's second largest ball of twine? You see how that works all of a sudden this'll list that could be good and helpful. It it turns dangerous and discouraging because it might not happen. We might not be able to check those things off the list. And so what should we do? Well, we need a better motto. We need a motto that has the capacity toe work. No matter what's happening, we need a a motto that works at full capacity. No matter what's happening with our health or our emotions or the government. No matter what happens with with travel or money or school or work, we need a motto that never fails. So is there a motto like that? Well, there is Simon. Peter was one of the closest friends that Jesus had on Earth, and he wrote a letter to some friends who were suffering. They were anxious. They were frustrated. They were afraid. They felt unloved. They felt like they had been for gotten, and they felt like nothing was going to change anybody feeling like that today. So Peter wants to encourage them. And how does he do it? Well, let's find out First Peter, Chapter two, Verse 10 for You Once were not of People. That's definitely not encourage somebody, right? Just throw a big L on your forehead and say, Hey, you're a bunch of losers. Nobodies. That's it. That's a good way to win friends and influence people. So what's he doing here? What is this about? Well, what he's talking about is identity. He's talking about identity. What is the most defining question in your life? What is the one question in your life that influences every single aspect of your life? It's a question that the ghost like this, who are you? Who are you? You know when we find ourselves in that moment when we're looking in the mirror, we're driving down the road and we begin to ask Who am I? You know what we usually do. We We usually start with the titles that we have in life. Like for instance, Um, I'm a son and I'm a brother and I'm an uncle and I'm a husband and a father. I'm a son in law. I'm a brother in law, my sister in law's favorite. By the way, I am a South Carolinian. I'm a pastor, I'm an American. I'm a doughnut, a Terrian and a bacon area. I have a lot of titles in life. What about you? What are your titles in life? Are you a student? Are you a sibling or you a spouse? Or you apparent? Are you a teenager? Are you a senior adult? What are your titles in life? Are those titles your identity? You know, some people try to find their identity and their favorite sports team or their favorite brand of truck or their favorite charity or their favorite political party or their favorite hobby, their favorite brand of soft drinks. There's a lot of different things in life, a lot of different titles that we have the interest in life, so to speak, that define a little bit of who we are to some degree, but they're not the ultimate definition of our identity. Our identity is is deeper. So what is the ultimate definition of our identity? Well, that question can only be answered with another question. And that question goes like this. Where are you in relation to God? Where are you in relation to God? Now? There's about 7.5 billion people in the world in about 3.6 billion of those people. Generally speaking, believe in the concept that there is one true God. That means there's about 3.9 billion people in the world that, generally speaking, do not believe in the concept of one true god. Therefore, mathematically speaking, there were more people in the world who would not agree with the idea that your identity is defined by your relation to God and and that's a fair point that we need to make. And just for those of you watching at home, don't ever use any Matthew here. For me on a term paper are on the social media mean, all right, those are just numbers. I'm just trying to paint a picture that there are many people who do not say my identity is defined by my relationship to or no relationship to God. So how do we respond to that? Well, the Apostle Paul, it has been estimated before he was 21 years old, had the equivalent of two PhDs from from the training that he had. He also was a guy who hated Christians, severely hated Christians to the point that that he was always involved with persecuting Christians, and he oversaw the execution of Christians. But then something happened in his life, and that intelligent, educated, zealous, successful man started writing things like this. Romans, Chapter one, verse 20 For Since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse. Does that mean Well, what it means is that right now, all over the world, as every continent engages with the unknown dangers of unseen germs, it means that every woman and every man in every boy and every girl, all of us are having something pressed and what is being pressed? What's be impressed is our conscience. What's your conscience Well, it's not a little angel on one shoulder and a little devil on the other. Okay, that's not it. I found a great definition that's really helpful for conscience. It goes like this. Joe Carter Conscience is an internal, rational capacity that bears witness to our value system. Marie, that again conscience is an internal, rational capacity that bears witness to our value system with witness of what you value. That's that's your conscience. And so what Paul's getting at and Romans is this. He's saying that around the world today, there are people and they might fight it and they might push against. They might reject it, but they have been created by the creator with a witness inside. And that witness proclaims to their heart and their mind and their soul that there is one truth created and that one reality pours all of the weight of that one question into my life and your life. Where are you in relation to God? C. S. Lewis wrote a Superfund series of books called The Chronicles of Narnia. In one of the books called The Silver Chair, there's a scene where the character known as Jill is lost she's lost, She's exhausted. She's tired, She's weary, She is super thirsty and she comes up on a stream. And when she gets to the stream, she walks up. And as she nears the edge, she looks over and there is this massive lion sitting by the stream. Now The Lion and The Chronicles of Narnia. Book is, is the true king of Narnia Aslund. But she doesn't know that Jill's just some girl who's lost and tired in a world that she doesn't know anything about. And all she knows is there is this massive Lyon city next to the stream that she wants to take a drink out of, and she gets a little afraid. And so she asked the Lions some questions, and the answers that she gets from the lion did not cause her fear to fade. And so finally, she just says, You know what? I'm just not going to drink from the stream, and the lion says, Then you will die of thirst and Jill says, Oh, dear, I guess I will need to go find another stream and the Lion graciously and firmly replies, There is no other stream. Our conscious that that witness inside of us graciously and firmly is sane. There is no other stream. There is no other God and a fast true. Then the question remains. Where you in relation to God? Paul was writing some of his friends at a place called ethicists, and he said this Ephesians Chapter two, verse 12. Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, when it comes to being in relation to God, there's only two options. You either with Christ or you are without Christ. There are no other options and too many people, maybe even some watching today. That sounds mean and exclusive and rude and often. But But as someone who was hoping just to get points for writing my name on the S. A T. I am so thankful that the most important thing in the universe can be understood in such a simple way by an eight year old, and it's so simple that it can keep being embraced by an 80 year old. The beauty of the gospel is that it is the simple message. Come to Jesus. If you don't, you're separated from all of it. Is good and holy and right and satisfying. Peter's trying to encourage his friends that are discouraged. That's who he starts off by giving him bad news. They were suffering. They were anxious. They were afraid. They were frustrated. They felt unloved, they felt for gotten. And Peter says, Well, I would encourage you by telling you you are a bunch of nobodies. You were not a people. So that's the bad news was what's the good news? We tell them next Verse 10. But now you are the people of God to my favorite people in the world. Or Brent Marion Martin, their daughter to test, just turned 12 back in January, just a few months ago. Test was about 2.5 months old when she came in to Brent and Marian's family in a few weeks after tests became part of their family. Brent was preaching at our church, and I'll never forget what he said that day. This is what he said. You don't earn adoption. Test was chosen. She was not looking for us. We were looking for her and the 1st 2nd my eyes met hers. She had status. It was instant. She was a Martin. Anyone home? Everything I had or would ever have was now hers because she was now mine. In the seconds before I saw her, I had never known her. And the moment I did see her, she had everything that would ever be mine. And then he said, This This is what God does. We get the family name and all that he owns. That's what it means to be in Christ. To be with Christ, to be in the family of God, You get the family name and everything that he owns. You see, it would have been enough if all God did was just sin Jesus to the cross tow to satisfy the penalty of our sin. But God goes further. God goes deeper through Christ. He adopts us into his family. He lavishes us with his love without Christ. God is your creator. But but you're not in the family. You don't get lavished with that love. Maybe today is the day that you quit pushing and you quit rejecting you. You quit making excuses. Maybe today is the day that that you repent and you believe in and trust in and rely on and clean to Jesus as your first and ultimate and greatest hope of salvation and satisfaction that you clean to Jesus as your crate. ISS treasure. When Peter was looking for a way to encourage his discouraged friends, his friends who were anxious and afraid, his friends who were frustrated, his friends, who felt unloved and for gotten, he encouraged them by pointing them to their identity, he he moved them in one single direction, and that direction wasn't religion. It was an ancestry. It wasn't patriotism. It wasn't personality. It wasn't political party. It wasn't even medical health. He pushed them in the direction of their identity. He pushed them in the direction of what it means to be in Christ. He pushed them in the direction of what it means to be the people of God. And if your identity is in Christ first and most and always, that according to all that we see in the Scripture, you are safe because on Lee, the Kingdom of Christ is forever. Onley Hiss. Peter knew how difficult things were for his friends. He knew how afraid and flustered they were. So he wanted to give him just just one more thing to chew. One more thing to tattoo on their brain. And this is what he said Last Porter, Verse 10. You had not received mercy. But now you have received mercy. There's the better model. Maybe we would say the best model you have received. mercy. You You have received mercy. Didn't have mercy. You had not been pitied. There was no compassion. But But now you've received mercy. I may have shared this illustration before. I'm not really sure, but imagine that you are in a huge banquet hall at a big celebration for you. Everybody's there all your family, all of your friends, or buys having a fantastic time. And a man enters the banquet hall une he walks over to the end of the room where the podium is and he stands up at the podium and and he calls out your name and he asked for you to stand. And so you stand up and everyone in the room is looking at you. And man goes on to make an announcement that that a decree has been handed down from the highest court in the land and the decree. It's connected to you. And he announces, the decree begins to read, and the decree is that you have not always done the right thing, that you have done things wrong in life, and he begins to read him out. He reads about how you lied to your parents. He reads about how you weren't completely honest on your taxes. He reads about how you did not help that homeless guy that one day when you could. He reads about the different ways that you argued and bickered with your spouse and your kids and other people. If you didn't get your way and on and on and on, he just He kept reading and kept reading and kept reading. And then he finished the list and makes an announcement. He says the decree continues, and the decree continued to say that because of the wrong things that you had done that that day, that you would have to be executed for, you're wrong. You bring the room down pretty quick, Uncle, stand on the other side of the room is that way. During that lights Party's over, let's go home and you you would be rattled. You would be a little afraid, a little confused. Hey, hey, what's going on here? But then the man continues to read the decree and he goes on and and he says that there is a way for release from the decree. Goodness, great. Finally. And he says, there's a price that could be paid for relief. Fantastic. I will pass the hat around the room. My family or friends here Will will take up a love offering. We'll get this whole thing squared away. But then he kept reading, and he continued to read that the price was unique and the price for your release was that someone would have to take your place. You could escape the penalty that someone would have to take your place. You started thinking, man, he's going to do that. Uncle Stan. Cousin Eddie. Probably not. And so your heart, it sinks a little bit. And then suddenly what do your friends from high school jumps up? I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll take his place. And then the room just rumbles with cheers and applause. Here's here's a hero. Here's a brave friend. He's going to step in and save the day. But then the man continues to read the decree, and he says that the person who is going to take your place, that person has to be perfect. They have to be someone who has never done anything wrong, and your heart sinks again because you're in a room full of the people who love you the most. But you know, none of them are perfect, and those feelings of fear and frustration and confusion and anxiety they get deeper and deeper. They start pressing in on you. And then suddenly, on the other side of the banquet hall, a door opens and a man walks through the door and he walks all the way across the banquet hall and he walks right up to where you're standing. And he says, My name is Jesus. I'm the on Lee won that is qualified and I will take your place. Friends, that is mercy, that's mercy. Jesus taking the place, substituting himself for helpless people in need of being rescued in need of having hope. You see, Jesus is the only one who can change the math. Jesus is the only one who can take things from where you are, not people to now you are the people of God. Jesus is the only one that can take things from where you have no pity. You have no compassion. You have no mercy toe where you have mercy. Where you have hope, toe where you have salvation, you know, to the words that have become a part of our life over the last month are the words curve peak. We hear these all the time. I was reading something this week from a couple of years back. And basically what it said was this the highest peak in your life is who you are in. Christ, Don't Don't miss that. That the highest peak in your life your truest identity is who you are in Christ. So if you have not turned to Christ, then you are not in Christ. You are separated from God. You're separated from all that is eternally good and holy and right and beautiful and satisfying and perfect and happy. And being separated from Christ does not have a good ending to the story unless you turn to him. So we plead with you to turn to Jesus today But if you are in Christ, then your identity in Christ just became your peak. Your peak that cannot be removed. Your peak that cannot be taken away from you. Marshall Siegel says this about what that means. Love this. You are not who you were. You are not what you feel. You are not where you are tempted to fall. Now you are hiss. That's that's worth repeating. Just marinate on these words for just a moment. You are not who you were. You are not what you feel. You are not where you are tempted to fall. Now you are his. You are hiss. You are now a child of God. You are now part of his adopted family and all of that love and all of that grace and all of that mercy. All that he owns, it is yours. You are now part of the people of God. Why? Because you have received mercy. You've received mercy. That is the Onley motto that functions at full capacity. No matter what's happening in your life, at every single moment, the mercy of Jesus conquers all. So if you don't get that scout bats, if you don't get your driver's license if you don't get 1000 likes on your social media post. If you don't get to go to the prom if you don't get married. If you don't have kids, if you don't get the job. If you don't see the Grand Canyon. If you don't get to sky dive if you don't see the world's second largest ball of twine. If your carpet diem YOLO Bucket list doesn't get checked off, the way you hoped it would, there is this model. There is this slogan. There is this moment that cannot fail. You cannot be taken away from you, and it is simply this. You have received mercy you have received. mercy, mercy. 2000 years ago, Jesus rode into town on a donkey and the people they sound. Oh, Santa. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And today, Dear Christian, the gospel is shouting to you, blessed and happy and fortunate to be envied, content and satisfied is the man or the woman or the boy or the girl who comes in the name of the Lord who believes in the name of the Lord who follows after the Lord. Why? Because you have received. mercy. You have received mercy and that Mado cannot fail. You have received. mercy. Go, run! Live in the mercy of Jesus.