Never thought by going to Virginia, we'd come sing my mama out. I know she's, I know she's. I know you've been suffering with the cold and all, but. We lost my song that I wrote, and then I found it. So I didn't sing it any in Virginia, It was in my other Bible. So, I guess we'll sing that. Got any rivers to cross? Got any hills to climb? Got any rivers to cross? Got any hills to climb? Well, Jesus paid it all. He'll show up right on time. Oh, my Lord, He's right on time. Are you burning down with a heavy care? Are you burdened down with a heavy care? Well, Jesus died for you, your pain he wants to share. Oh, my Lord, he's right on time. Are you burdened low with a sin so great? Are you burdened low with a sin so great? Well, Jesus is passing by. I beg you, please don't wait. Oh, my Lord, he's right on time. Have you lost a friend for standing on God's word? Have you lost a friend for standing on God's word? Well, his ears turn to you. Your prayer, yes, he has heard. Oh, my Lord, he's right on time. We're going to be reading in several different places. I listened to Robbie teach a message, and he mentioned something, and we looked it up, and at least the place we found it wasn't exactly just like he said it, but it might be the same thing, but I'm always trying to get our mind around that, and as in reference to, or at least that's what I think it was in reference to, or what he made mention of, is found in Jonah, in the second chapter, and it says, this is the prayer Jonah was praying when he was in the belly of the whale or the fish that God had prepared around him. And it says in the seventh verse, it says, When my soul fainteth within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee and to thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. It doesn't say that they that observe lying vanities forsake the mercy of God, but it says they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Now, I don't know, I was trying to get my mind around it and maybe as we preach the Lord will reveal more to us, but there's the mercy of God that the Bible refers to in Lamentation. This is where we was making mention of in Sunday school this morning. That old Jeremiah was feeling, as it were, he was feeling sorry, not necessarily sorry for himself, and he didn't have no reason to, right? But he bewailed, my Bible says here he bewailed his own calamities, and that he was talking of all that had taken place, and he was more or less saying, that the Lord had done this to him. But as we were reading that, we couldn't help but think that it was all that transpired because he was a prophet of the Lord. And because he prophesied, and because the king and the higher ups within the nation of Israel, or what was taking place there at Jerusalem, didn't want to hear it, they threw him in the dungeon. And we're going to break in, and I would encourage you all to read the whole third chapter of Lamentation, but we're going to break in to the 22nd verse, and it says, It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, because His compassion faileth not. They are new evermore, and great is Thy faithfulness. But yet we find here where we read, Over here in Jonah it says, They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. And yet we hear that the Lord's mercy, that if it wasn't for the Lord's mercy, we'd be consumed because His compassion faileth not and they are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. And so we were thinking about that very thing over here in the 13th chapter of Ezekiel. The Bible says, if you'd want to read there, it says in the 6th verse, it says, They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith, and the Lord hath not sent them. And they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Have you not seen a vain vision? And have you not spoken a lying divination? Whereas you say the Lord saith it, albeit I have not spoken, therefore thus saith the Lord God. Because ye have spoken vanity and seen lies, therefore behold, I am again you, saith the Lord God. And then we're gonna read one more place over here. Well, in Hebrews, in the 10th chapter and the 27th verse, and it says, but a certain fearful looking for the judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversary. And we was just thinking about, I don't know what it's gonna take for some people. Jonah was given a job to do. He no doubt had vowed a vow. but to the Lord, that he was a prophet, we know he prophesied elsewhere, but God had gave him a job to do, a job he didn't want to do, and he had believed the lies of the devil, and thought that when God told him to go one direction, that he could go to another, and when he went that way, that he turned his back as it were, on his very own mercy. I was trying to get my mind around it. We could say we have no mercy except what God has given us. But then we see other people doing odd. and it breaks her heart as we see them living in sin and they're their own worst enemy. The Bible tells us, we know, I think it's in Mark and Luke, I'm sorry, it's in Matthew and Luke where it speaks about the golden rule, and it more or less says this, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But to those that have observed lying vanities, forsake their own mercy. We're starting to see it in our own culture, and it is the curse of God. where when people do unto you as they would have you do to them, it's not a good thing. It's not pleasurable in the least. Somebody, I can't remember who it was, was talking about, I think it was Charlie preaching on it, about a man. laughing when he gave his little child a beer to drink. What kind of a man would do something like that? A man that is, as it says here, forsaken his own mercy. I don't know no better. The Bible says, as we read here in Lamentation, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. And it says here, it is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, because His compassion faileth not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The people are looking for the Lord to be faithful to him. But he is faithful to his very own character. And if we come underneath his mercy, we will be drawn unto his character and we'll be faithful to him. Why would you, God? that people would not turn their back on the very mercy they would show somebody else. Because they believe in lying divinations. Because they believe in lying vanities. What does it mean, vanity? We can look it up. We had it here. on her phone as y'all pray. The Bible says that each and every one of us, that we need to make sure that we don't believe in lying vanities because when it's sin done, we won't even believe in the mercy that God has bestowed upon us. each and every day. We will reject it. We will reject the mercy that we once would even have shown to ourselves. It says vanity, emptiness, a want of substance dissatisfied is our uncertainty. It says here, vanity, fruitless desire or endeavor, trifling labor that produces no good, emptiness, untruth. So the vanity of lies or lying vanities come to no avail. They are a lie. That is fruitless. Have you ever met somebody that'll lie to get themselves out of trouble? But there are those, those lying vanities that will lie to get themselves in trouble. And they know there's no good that'll come of it. but they don't believe in the golden rule. They don't believe. Why is there those that do good to others? Because they know there is retribution, first and foremost, because we've been shown mercy. We show mercy to others. If you could fully see the mercy of God, I truly believe that me and you I could change our communities by being moved by the God that provides us mercy, day in and day out. He's not looking to provide us with acceptance of mercy, the definition of, is this, no answers. dictionary. It's the benevolence, the mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries and to treat an offender better than he deserves. The disposition that tempers justice and deuces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries and to forbear punishment or inflict less than law or justice. We are warned, in this sense, there is perhaps no word in our language precisely synonymous with mercy. That which comes nearest to it is grace. Then it goes on to say, It implies benevolence, tenderness, mildness, piety, or compassion, and clemency, but exercised only toward offender's mercy is a distinguishing attribute of the supreme being. The Lord is long-suffering. and of great mercy, forgiven iniquity, and transgressions, and by no means clearing the guilty, that's in numbers, an act or exercise of mercy or favor. It is a mercy that they escaped. I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, That's in Genesis of the 32nd chapter. Piety, compassion manifested toward a person in distress. And he said, he that showeth mercy on him. When the question was asked, right, who is my neighbor? And then it says, clemency and bounty, mercy and truth. Preserve us the king and his throne is upheld by mercy. That's in the 27th Proverb, I believe it is. And it says, charity or the duties of charity and benevolence. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. That's in the ninth chapter of Matthew. Grace, favor. Eternal life, the fruit of mercy. Pardon. And I cry, I cry thee mercy with all my heart. The act of sparing. Will the forbearance of a violent act expect it? As the prisoner cries for mercy. And then one more example, it says to be or to lie. Now listen, this is what it's talking about. Oh, in Jonah mentioned about lying vanities. or will turn you against your own mercy. It says here, to be or to lie at the mercy of, to have no means of self-defense, but to be dependent for safety on the mercy and compassion of another, or in the power of that which is irresistible. as to be at the mercy of a foe or of the waves. So we find here, as we listen to what it said over here, but Jonah, they that observe lying manatees forsake their own mercy. You have to understand that God in his mercy has allowed us to live today. I don't care how holy you think you are. I don't care how wicked you are, even to the point that God said because you have promised somebody and said those that ought to die should live, and cause those that live to want to die. I believe it says that. In Ecclesiastes, he said, I've turned you over, I am again you. Oh, but even then, by the mercies of God, are from day to day. They are a long suffering. And even when God is against you, he has extended his mercy. Why? Because you're not dead. And if you're not dead, you have a space of time to repent. But will you repent if you haven't even got mercy for yourself? Church, this is where we ought to intercede on the behalf of those because oh, Jeremiah said the Lord's against me. And why was that? Because he knew ultimately God's in control. And when he declared the truth and he found himself in a dud jam, he blamed God for it. Not in the sense that God had done something unto him that he shouldn't have. But he acknowledged the magnificence of God and His power. And to be quite frank, he was struggling. But if I speak the truth, why do I find myself in the mar of a dungeon? And then he said, about this one thing I remember, that God's mercy, as he said here, and I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord, remembering my affliction and my misery of the wormwood. and the gall, and my soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humble in me for a soul remembered. This I recall to my mind. Therefore I have hope. It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed because His compassion faileth not. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness because even though He declared the truth and was thrown into a dungeon, and there's a lot of people that have thought, oh, why would God allow this, when all he did was tell the truth? But his mercy endured forever. He preserved him in that dungeon, and God gave him the eyes to see, just like he did with Jonah. Jonah thought he was his own man, until he found himself in the belly of the fish. Listen to me now. You can be thankful on the top of the ground, on dry land, or you can be thankful in the belly of the whale. We need to intercede. on the behalf of our loved ones. I don't care enough for themselves that they go headlong into sin. And we say, oh my God, what are they gonna do for another? They don't even consider what to do for themselves. What are they gonna sustain from? because of the righteousness of it all, because they believed in the lying vanities. They don't even have mercy for themselves. Oh, but did you hear what the Bible said? If it wasn't for the Lord's mercy, we'd all be consumed because his compassion fell on. They are new every morning. Great is his face on earth. When you want out of the mercy of God today, aren't you glad? There's always tomorrow. And if the Lord will extend his mercy, and that's where we need to intercede like Moses did. God said, I've had enough. I'll destroy every one of them. I'll raise you up. I'll raise up a nation out of you, Moses. But what did he do? Because of the lying vanities of the children of Israel, they did not fear God. and they wouldn't even extend mercy unto themselves, because they didn't believe God, and they didn't believe the truth. They bought into a lie, and they lied, and they lied, and they lied again. Oh, Moses said, Lord, what will the enemies of God say? When's the last time you've interceded on the behalf of your daddy? Last time you interceded on the behalf of your lost mama, or your sisters, or your brothers. Somebody communicated to me that they seen somebody self-righteous looking down their nose for how they had scarred their body. and covered it up with all manners of pagan symbolism. And when their own brother has done the same thing, do you hear what I'm saying? If we don't acknowledge the mercy of God and say but for the mercy of God, there goes me and there goes you, we'll have no mercy for the stranger who's being swallowed up and by the iniquities. And we'll not have no compassion for our brethren. And we'll think somehow that the mercies of God will cause Him to be faithful to me and you. But that's not mercy. Faithfulness and mercy are two different things. And listen, God is faithful to His Word. People want Him to be faithful to them. But the only way that you can benefit from the faithfulness of God is to come under His Word. To acknowledge that we need mercy. To acknowledge that we ourself and all of our self-willed and all of our pride and all of our own means in which that we would make an attempt to prove to anybody, including God, that we are righteous until we realize that that's not what will allow us to enter into heaven. It won't be my righteousness and it won't be yours, but it'll be the mercies of God. It'll be because he has extended mercy unto us, and because he extended mercy unto us, He allowed us to come unto Him and gain access to His faithfulness, to gain access to His salvation. And great is His faithfulness. Amen? This ought to be one of those messages where the sinner ought to wring his hands and the saints of God ought to shout. Why? Because without the mercy of God, me and you would have been consumed in our mama's arms. Without the mercies of God, we'd have been consumed the very first time that we had a mind enough to know that we was a filthy sinner and that we sinned. and God said, no, you need to repent because his mercies are removed. Every day we can rejoice in knowing that we was not destroyed in our iniquity, that he has extended his mercy to me and you, even to this day, even though you have rejected the sweet drawing of the Holy Spirit time and time and time again. But there's coming a day where the Lord will say it is enough for you in particular and for the world in general when he says, my mercy will not always that my Holy Spirit will not always strive with man, which is genuinely an act of mercy that me and you, though we wouldn't care for ourselves, though we wouldn't show mercy even to ourselves, God yet extends it unto us. Might it be because somebody was praying. You know, there are people I think they have everybody deceived, including God. But why He has not destroyed them as of yet is because of His mercy. Jeremiah, when he remembered who God was, he rejoiced in his affliction that it was the mercy of God that brought him out of that. It was the mercy of God that preserved him in the darkest hour. and He'll do the same for you. And toward the end of that verse, it says, Lord, bring judgment on these that have done these things. It wasn't you, God, but you bring judgment on these that have done these things. But you know what? God showed mercy to them. And though that you might find yourself in the position where you won't even show mercy to yourself, where if you do unto others as you would have them do, you would commit a sin against them. We live in a culture today where there are monsters amongst us that prey on the very innocence of the youngest of our children. And they think they are doing them a service. Why? Because they are doing to them as they not once would have to be done unto them, but as they would see it in their own pollution today. Every one of us, if we did unto others in the innocence of our childhood. Do you remember? Some of us might have a vivid enough memory to remember the first time you was lied to. You didn't have to know that the Bible says thou shalt not bear false witness to know that it was wrong. The first time that you was lied to and you experienced the loss that comes from that, you knew it was wrong. You didn't have to know book, chapter, and verse in the Bible. You didn't even have to know that there was a God that existed. You could have been raised in an atheist home where nobody ever even mentioned a God of any kind. but in your innocence when you were lied to and you counted that lie to be the truth and you carried on as this lie that was told to you was the truth only to discover. They did it to deceive you. They did it to manipulate you and to get you to do what they wanted to and you felt the pain and the anguish from it. You knew it was wrong right then. and you knew how it hurt, but it weren't very much longer after that. You used that within your toolbox of tools to get what you want, and why is that? Because even in our fallacies, even in our wretchedness, our wickedness, doing unto others as we would have them do unto us does not hold true. Why? Because we have turned our back on the mercy of God. We have turned our back on the mercy we even showed ourself at one time. And the things we once wouldn't do, we do with much vigor. And we do it to others. And because we believe in lying vanities, we'll even say I'm lying to save this one or that one from the pain of truth. I'm telling you that you are so far removed from the knowledge of God that you can't find Him, that you'll not know where He's at unless He extends once again tomorrow as He done today, His mercy. And He brought you once again to a place of repentance. and not even care how somebody that I love deeply mocks and scorns the ways of God as just a silliness and just a means of which somebody manipulates somebody else. But the mercies of God and His faithfulness has nothing to do with manipulation. Because God's mercy is extended to mankind. He's allowed me and you to be faithful who had no faith. To be truthful when we knew not what the truth was. To be virtuous. when we knew not what virtue was. And so we choose not to do these things and somehow we think that we're going to get by. Why? Because we have believed in lying vanities. And at some point, even when as he is now, God might be against you. He's extended mercy unto you and that he's not instantly killed you. Do you remember what Hannah and I and Sapphira did? They sold a piece of property, and they wanted everybody to think well of them. And they went into a league, this man and his wife, and said, we will say we sold it for this much and give it to the church. Well, in this particular instance, the mercy of God in that moment had ran out. Or the husband come in, and he said, we sold it for this, and he dropped dead. And his wife then come in, and they said, and so how much did you send it? And it was Peter, I believe, that said that the same man that carried your husband out is going to carry you out. And she dropped dead. I don't know why God chose in that moment and in that time to manifest Himself and to withdraw His mercy from those two individuals. What did they want? All they wanted to do was for people to think well of them. All they wanted to do was to get the praise of men. Surely today, people are doing much worse, and yet they live. Why? Because God being God, He extends mercy on whom He extends mercy. And on whom He judges, He judges, right? The Bible says here in the 13th chapter of Ezekiel, And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread?" See, he declared a judgment on the prophets and on the prophetesses, if that's a word. And he said to the women, you have polluted me for a handful of barley or for pieces of bread to slay the souls that should not die and to save the souls of life. that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies." You know, judgment came upon them. Did it come instantaneously? No, it did not. And so we, there are some people that think, have you ever heard somebody, I can remember working for this one fella, or working with this one fella, and he would always say, if I'm lying, I'm dying. Well, you know what, we're all dying. But what he was acknowledging was, look, if I'm telling a lie, may God strike me down dead. It's more or less what he was saying without calling God's name into the conversation. He was saying, if I'm lying, I'm dying. But you know what? Every one of us are dying. But are you going to raise in Christ Jesus? That's the important thing, right? Are you going to raise a child of the Most High God? Or are you going to die and for all eternity experience a death and never reaching any kind of peace at all? Any kind of respite? Any kind of rest? Any kind of tranquility that you otherwise could receive if you place your faith and trust in the One that can bring life eternal. Have you received the mercy of God? Yes, we all have. Have you and will you be numbered with those that are found faithful? Have you come to the faithfulness of Christ Jesus? Because there are many that God is against. And because they are not dead today, they think that somehow He's pleased with them. I trembled when I heard someone right on the floor of the church tell a lie that I knew was a lie because they didn't know what I was privy to. But praise God. God's mercy was extended to them. And though God might be against you, or though God might be against me, As long as there's breath in our lungs and there's a brain in our head with the mind enough to know that we have sinned and we need to repent, there's still hope. But I don't know when that door of mercy will close. We see preachers preaching with such earnesty week after week. A revival is being extended and going two weeks and three weeks. And at the end of the revival in a lot of instances, there is no new convert at all. And so if the Lord is speaking to you today, do not turn His mercy away. For the very words that will convict you today could very well anger you tomorrow. The very words that would cause you to see your need to repent today could be the very words tomorrow that will cause you to turn your back on your very own mercy. The mercy that God has extended to you or the mercy that you once extended to others will all be removed because we have believed in the lies of vanity. It's worthless. There's no substance to it. And when God says to us, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. Satan says, but not today. Not today, children. You don't have to confess today. You don't have to bow today. Is it true? Or is it a lie? It is true. But there'll come a day when that lie will consume you. And there'll come a day where you'll no longer be able to put it off. But you won't be in the belly of a fish. You'll be standing before an Almighty God. And the Bible says every knee will bow. And every tongue will confess. And it don't matter if you strive to be the most spiritual person, if you strive to be the most blessed, The Holy Spirit will communicate to everybody who are His and who's a counterfeit. And we ain't got nobody fooled except ourselves. Did you hear what we read? We ain't got nobody fooled except ourselves. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. What's that telling you? Who of us here would not call on the mercy of God? Would there be some so arrogant that they think that the mercy of God they can forsake? That the mercy that they would show another doesn't need to be shown to them? I would encourage every one of you to read Ezekiel the 13th chapter and the 22nd chapter. That took place a long time in the nation of Israel. Actually, it was in the nation of Judah. But you know what? Every one of us, the nation of Judah, every one of us needs to realize that there is no new thing under the sun. In the same lies that had Jonah convinced he could go the other way, There are the same lies that are convincing men and women today to turn their back on the mercy of God and the mercy they would show anybody else. You know, you could ask somebody. There's people today that if you ask them and said, are you my friend? That their initial thought is, what have you done for me today? You know what? There are people that I know in particular that their very own family won't help them. and I've helped them in certain situations. But it ain't today. Today, all I've done is come to church and worship the Lord and preach the message God has given me. And so what have I done for them today? Well, if you'll hear and heed the Word, I have done very little, but God has done much. And when we come to the Lord, it's quite alright. You can come to me and say, Darrell, what have you done for me today? And by that standard, I reckon you could say that I'm not your friend. But you know what? If we have that same attitude toward God, well then what has God done for us today? The person that has that attitude will not see that his mercy is from day to day. And that without his mercy, we would be consumed. Oh, was it Jeremiah that said he would to God that he had never been born? Oh, that the day that he was born would not be remembered? You know what? We might wish that for ourselves. But without the mercies of God, we would have died in our mother's womb. You say, well, Darrell, that would have been mercy. And so it is. But you've not died in your mama's womb. You are here today. And everyone within the sound of my voice is going to One day, stand before a righteous God, and He's going to ask you, what have you done with my mercy? Let's get some song to sing. What have you done with my mercy? You know, the unfaithful steward, he took his talent and he buried it. And the master was not pleased. And was he not cast into hell? What have you done with God's mercy? We can rejoice and we can shout that He's extended His mercy unto each and every one of us. But what? What have we done for the Lord today? See, the people that have that question with everyone that they interact with, they never ask it of themselves. You know why? Because they have believed in lying divinations. They have put their faith in lying vanities. And they have not extended the mercy that they would otherwise give somebody else to themselves. Because that is really, when you say, what have I done for the Lord today? It's to allow the mercy of God and His benevolence to work in you. And that we are more than objects that are to receive the blessings of God. And yet, live our life without returning the favor that's been shown to us. That's not the Christian walk. That is something entirely different and has nothing to do with the Christian walk. It is a lying vanity. It is a divination that comes from hell and not from God. And on and on, we live in a culture where people are constantly redefining who God is. But it'll all come to naught. And He will ask you, what have you done with my mercy?