—Bible Study with Grandpa!DO 23747/86

1. (David: Thank You Jesus for this time that you provided, Lord, so that Grandpa can give us a little Bible class! Please help us to really understand it, Lord‚ and help it to be a real blessing for the whole Family! Help us to be good listeners, in Jesus' name, amen!)—Amen! PTL! TYL!

2. We went over the first 11 verses of Psalm 37 last time, and that's my favourite part! That seems like a good place to stop, because the rest of it is all about the wicked and the wars the wicked have. But it's encouraging to know that even though there's war and wickedness and trouble, the Lord's always going to give you the victory and He's always going to take care of His Own! So I was never too fond of reading that part, it's kind of gory. It has its place for certain times, but right now is a time of peace. (Maria: Would you rather read another Psalm?) I'd rather read you something else really. Is that all right if I read you something else instead? (Children: Yes!)

3. I was required to memorise most of these Psalms, and usually because I'd been naughty! I had to stand in the corner with a Bible and read the Psalm and memorise it. Well, it did me a lot of good, because I still remember them! This is one I remember that I had to memorise because I'd done something naughty, and it's commonly called the Repentance Psalm, in which David asks for forgiveness for his sins. (Techi: When Nathan came?) Yes‚ after Nathan came. In fact it says it right here: "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the Prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba." You know what that means, don't you? "Gone in to" means he made love to her. (Techi: Then afterwards he killed Uriah.) Yes.

4. So do you know what number the repentance Psalm is? That's okay, you don't have to remember it, but it's Psalm 51! You can remember that 5 and 1 is 6 and we always think of 6 as being a bad number because of 666, and that I had to memorise this Psalm because I was a bad boy! (Maria: But 6 isn't always a bad number.) No‚ not at all! God has many sixes throughout His Creation. (For example, snowflakes, honeycomb, etc.) Anyhow, this is a good one for this morning, Psalm 51!:

LISTENER'S GENEROSITY!

5. "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions!" Now you don't have to have what's known as "listener's generosity" for this Psalm and say, "Oh, that was good for David to say that!" Who else is it good for? (David: That's called listener's generosity?) Yes, when you say, "Oh, that's good for sister so-and-so! Oh, that's good for brother so-and-so!" A lot of people in church would say "amen" to what the preacher was saying, and they were thinking, "Oh my, that's good for so-and–so, that's good for somebody else," not applying it to themselves, see?

6. They were always passing it on to somebody else‚ and that's called "listener's generosity." Instead of accepting it for themselves, they gave it to somebody else. In this case that's not good generosity. A lot of times people would be thinking about somebody else when I was really talking to them and they're the ones who needed it! After a sermon, people would shake hands with the pastor and say‚ "Oh my‚ that was such a good sermon for so-and-so!" So in this case, don't be generous, accept it for yourself! We can all say this Psalm‚ we all need it!

WHAT IS MERCY?

7. "Have mercy upon me!" What is mercy? You use words lots of times and you know what it means‚ but it's hard to explain what the word means. But that's something a parent is always doing‚ because children are always asking, "What does that word mean?"—And then you have to try to figure out how to explain what it means, and it's a little bit difficult. (Techi: Mercy is forgiveness.) Yes, in a way, forgiveness is a form of mercy. (Techi: It's the opposite of being hard.) (David: About the only way you can explain it is to give an example.) That's a good way to explain it, to give examples. (Maria: Did you have an example, David?) (David: Yes, let's say there was somebody who lent some money to somebody else and he couldn't pay it back‚ so the person who loaned him the money had mercy on him and didn't bring him to court.)—That's right!

8. Another example of mercy is if God forgives us and doesn't give us the punishment that we really deserve! He loves us and forgives us instead of punishing us. Because we're sorry, we repent and we ask the Lord to forgive us and ask Him to help us not to do it any more, then He gives us another chance. Mercy, in a sense, is like another chance. God gives you another chance of not socking it to you the way you really deserve! So that's what David is praying here and what we all need to pray: "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness."

9. So lovingkindness must have something to do with mercy! Mercy in a sense is really love, and lovingkindness is what? It's really two words, it's loving and kindness. If you're loving you'll have lots of kindness! What is it to be kind? (Children: To share, to love.)—Yes, to share and to love. It's amazing how we know what so many of these words mean, but it's a little hard to explain them! But anyhow, apparently lovingkindness has something to do with mercy, and it also has something to do with blotting out transgressions, to forgive.

10. What are transgressions? (Children: Sins!)—Right! They sometimes have signs up around ranches and farms on the gates that say: "No trespassing!" Because trespassing is a transgression! It means you're going across into somewhere that you don't belong and you're doing something you shouldn't do! (Techi: Like saying, "Don't come in!")—Right, "Don't come in, don't trespass‚ don't pass on my territory!" That's why we pray in the Lord's prayer‚ "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." But a very simple way to say it‚ like I said before, in another Gospel it says sin! (Luk.11:4)

11. I was talking about this to Brother Brown who helped me build the church in Arizona. He didn't believe that he could sin because he was a Holiness man. He believed he'd been wholly sanctified and could not sin because he had received the Holy Spirit. He figured that made him perfect and that it was impossible for him to sin.

TRESPASSING MOSQUITOES!

12. Oh, I got her! TYL! Excuse me, folks‚ I got a mosquito! See, that mosquito was trespassing!—And in this case I had no mercy, I socked it to her and gave her what she deserved! Because they're always biting poor Mama. I'm amazed that that one came over here and sat on my knee, I guess the Lord did that just so I could kill her so it wouldn't bite Mama! (Maria: And so you could use it as an illustration!)—Yes! That mosquito was trespassing, getting on my territory, so I had no mercy, I socked it to her! (Maria: She was transgressing!) She was transgressing, sinning against me‚ trying to poke me and suck my blood! So it's one of the Devil's pests!

13. Now‚ what would I have done if I had been having mercy on the mosquito? If I'd have just shooed her away and not killed her, that would have been merciful. What if I would have let her go ahead and sink her proboscis, that means her long needle nose, into my flesh‚ and thereby sting me? Mosquitoes really don't bite, they sting! They don't bite because they don't have a mouth to bite with! (Techi: It doesn't really hurt, but it feels funny.) It gives you a little tickle usually. Because usually in landing on you if they move even one hair you feel it, because every hair has feeling. Did you know that? It has a nerve in the hair follicle, that's the little pocket the hair grows out of, and when that hair is bent a little bit or touched, the nerve in its root feels it and you feel a little tickle. That's why I told Mama I've gotten into the habit of swatting before I look!—Whenever I feel a tickle. Did you notice how quick I swatted her? I don't usually see'm, but I feel'm! So I just swat! I don't know what kind of bug it is, but I'm gonna sock first and look afterward! Savvy? And I've gotten many a bug that way before it got me.

14. Anyhow, the mosquito sticks her little needle nose into you and injects—that means pushes into your skin—a little kind of fluid which dissolves the red blood corpuscles so that the mosquito can suck the blood back into her body. Because her nose is so small, and the little hole in it is so small‚ that the red blood corpuscles which you can't even see with your naked eyes without a microscope, are too big to come back through her nose. So she has to inject that little bit of fluid into your skin, just a tiny little bit of fluid, to dissolve those blood corpuscles.

15. When I was a kid we used to play a trick on the Northerners who were always complaining about the mosquitoes when they came down to Florida. We'd say, "Oh, they won't hurt you, don't worry about them, just let them have their little feast!—Watch!" And we'd let a mosquito land on our arm or leg, and if you let them fill up with the blood, they'll suck all that fluid back out and you won't have a bite and it won't even itch or sting! I don't know about Mama though, she's so sensitive! (Maria: Even at night mine always swell up!)—Probably because you unconsciously move and the mosquito doesn't get through. They could land on several different spots and inject that fluid and then somehow you feel that little touch or tickle and in your sleep, you move or something and you frighten the mosquito away before she gets that fluid all out and gets your blood. So when you get a good shot of that fluid, that's what makes it sting and swell up and itch.

16. (David: One time I was outside and I looked down and there was a mosquito right here and I just let it go for awhile and she flew away and I never had a bite!) (Techi: One time I was sleeping and I felt a tickle on my finger, and I looked and it was a mosquito. Then I remember hearing the story of you letting it go, so I did, and there never was a bite!) How about that! If you let them suck all that fluid out, then they suck the poison out too and it doesn't itch or swell afterward. If it did itch and swell, it's probably because you disturbed the mosquito before she was done.

17. Well anyhow, to go back to the illustration, what would that have been if I had let her go ahead and sit there on my knee and sting me and then suck it all out and just go her way with a load of my blood? Sometimes they get so heavy with blood they can hardly fly! What would that be if I had allowed her to sting me but not hit her? That would be mercy, that would be forgiveness, right?

18. (Techi: Why do you have to kill'm if you can just let'm stay there?) Well, we don't like'm to keep on stinging, they may give us a few bites, and especially your poor Mama because it raises those welts! They've still got more sting to go around stinging more people more places! (Maria: And a lot of times they have disease germs too.) Oh yes! Sometimes they carry diseases from other people. For example, if they bite somebody else that's got some kind of a disease‚ they can then come over and bite you and give you that disease! And there are certain diseases that are carried largely by mosquitoes. (Techi: Like malaria and yellow fever.)—Right! How did you know that? (Techi: I read it in "Mommy and the Mosquito.") (See LWG Vol.2.)

INDULGENT PARENTS!

19. Well anyway, I'm trying to illustrate what mercy is! She was offending me, she was trespassing and transgressing‚ sinning against me. When I socked her real quick‚ that was quick judgement without mercy, right? But if I'd let her get away with it and not punished her, that would be mercy. It also might be what they call indulgence. Like you say‚ it might be easier to let her go ahead and bite you if you're so lazy you don't even want to swat her‚ and that would be indulgence.

20. You know, some parents are just that lazy! Sometimes they let their kids get away with things because it's too much work to try to teach and train them and even to punish them‚ chastise them or swat'm! (Techi: Like in the Kidz MOP picture where the parents are watching TV and saying, "It's such a good show!" And behind the couch the little boy is pushing the little girl!) They're tearing each other's hair and having a fight while the parents are just sitting there watching television. That's indulgence! (Maria: In other words‚ sometimes you shouldn't have mercy.)—Yes! Sometimes when kids are being naughty and doing bad and evil, if you've warned them not to and they know they're doing something wrong, then what should you do? (Techi: Swat!)—Swat!—Not the mosquito, but the child!

21. I knew that mosquito was about to do evil, she'd just landed, and I decided I'd do her evil first! Before she got me, I got her, bang!

FLIES, MAGGOTS, RATS & ROACHES!

22. Is that another mosquito? (Children: It's a fly!) Here, you take this weapon and you take that weapon! See, when it comes to flies and mosquitoes I have no mercy, I am merciless! Because I don't like'm‚ they're the Devil's pests, they do damage! Flies and mosquitoes both carry diseases. Mosquitoes carry'm in their noses, their proboscis, in their bodies and in their blood, and they inject them into you! Flies carry the diseases and germs on their sticky dirty legs, then they crawl out of the shit and outhouse and the sewers and garbage and crawl on your food and deposit those germs on your food and you eat it if you don't keep the flies away and kill'm! Flies also will lay eggs in food. They will lay eggs in garbage or shit or food or whatever if you give'm a chance! And when their eggs hatch, it's a little worm called a maggot, about two millimeters long, and they're all crawling around in and out. (Techi: And mosquito larva looks like a little tiny worm.)—Yes, a little tiny thing. They swim upright like a seahorse.

23. I think I told you once upon a time about the outhouse at the ranch, at TSC. I went out there and they hadn't been putting enough lime on the BMs after they BMed. Lime is a kind of white powder, I think it's got lye in it, and it kills the larvae or the eggs of the flies. It kills germs, it kills bugs and stuff like that. Well, they'd been careless, they ran out of lime and the lime bag was empty. So all these people would go to the toilet...(Techi: Just on the floor?) You've never seen an outhouse, have you? It's just a little wooden house and you go in, shut the door, and you sit down on a little bench that has a hole in it. And your BM just drops into a pit underneath that bench. The bench is all closed in and it has a lid so that the flies shouldn't get in there and so that not so much of a smell will come out. It's just a little wooden building with a little wooden bench all closed in with a lid on top of the hole.

24. But the flies had been getting in because some people had forgotten and left the lid up and let the flies in and they weren't putting lime on it. And I looked in there and to my amazement‚ I could hardly believe my eyes! There were so many maggots in that dung that it looked just like it was boiling! The whole thing was just moving like that‚ just one great giant mass of maggots!—Like a little song we used to sing when I was a little kid: "The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out‚ the worms crawl round and round about!" (Techi: Is that the whole song?) That's all I know of it and I shouldn't have learned that much! But anyhow‚ that's what worms do and what maggots do and why flies are bad, they carry diseases. Flies carry diseases like typhus, typhoid fever and tuberculosis, they can carry all kinds of diseases! Well‚ go ahead and get the fly, quick! Thatta boy, you got him!—Without mercy! My oh my, what a long lesson about flies and mosquitoes!

25. So we don't have mercy on villains that are wicked and bad and do bad things all the time and hardly ever do anything right, you've just got to exterminate them. In fact, there's a whole bunch of men and that's their main job, and they're called exterminators. In other places we've lived, we used to send for them to come to our house to exterminate the roaches, remember? They'd spray this poison all over the ground and in the sewers and everywhere to get rid of the roaches. Because that's another creature I hate‚ roaches! They're dirty‚ filthy and they crawl around and spread diseases. They crawl around in the garbage and the sewers and in the shit and then they come out and crawl on your food! When we first move into a house we go to work on it and we really clean it up!

26. At one house that we rented a few years ago I told them, "The day you haven't found another dead rat from the poison or killed a rat, then I'll move in the next day!" And finally after about two weeks they didn't find another dead rat! The place was infested with rats! The rats had even built a nest in the oven of the kitchen cookstove! Can you imagine how dirty those people must have been? (David: And Sara opened the closet and the floor was black and then she screamed and all the maids laughed at her! And when all the cockroaches went away from the white marble, it was all white!) In other words, it was just black with cockroaches, so many cockroaches!

27. In some countries their attitude about cockroaches and rats, etc. seems to be live and let live! But my attitude about cockroaches, rats‚ mosquitoes and flies is live and let die! I'm going to live and let them die! But some people just don't seem to mind them so much, it's live and let live!—Or maybe they just think it's impossible to get rid of them. (Techi: If they'd be cleaner they wouldn't have such a problem, and also they probably can't find fly swatters or anything.) If they'd be cleaner in the first place they wouldn't be attracting all those flies, bugs, cockroaches and rats, etc., and they'd always put the garbage in a sealed container and never leave food lying around.

28. But to get back to the subject, I have no mercy on the Devil's pests and his little demons and rascals like rats and roaches and mosquitoes and flies and snakes! Now, if they're good snakes, they're not poisonous and don't bother you, that's different, but I don't know which is which, so usually we get rid of them!

29. Well, we were talking about things we have mercy on and the things that we don't have mercy on! We have no mercy on the Devil's pests! We don't forgive them! We don't let'm get away with it! We sock it to'm right off the bat! We don't say to a fly, "Well, you can sit on my food this time, but next time I'm going to get you!" We don't have any mercy with these perpetually wicked little Devil's pests at all! We try to get'm before they get on the food and we try to kill the mosquitoes before they bite, and we try to get rid of all the rats, if there are rats, etc., like there have been some places. Those little Devil's pests are like the Devil's children. But with our children, God's children, if they do wrong and make a mistake, we try to give them another chance.

BROTHER BROWN, TRANSGRESSIONS AND TRESPASSES!

30. I was telling you about how Mr. Brown didn't believe he could do any sin or do any wrong! He was now so perfect and wholly sanctified! He'd had what he called the "second work of grace" that eradicated all of his sinful nature, his bad self was gone and therefore he was now sinless and he couldn't do any wrong! So I said to him, "But every once in awhile, even while we're building here, Brother Brown‚ you've made a mistake, you've done something wrong‚ even accidentally." He said, "Oh, that wasn't a sin, that was just a mistake!" I said, "Well‚ even in the Bible‚ Jesus, in the Lord's Prayer says, 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’" He said‚ "Well, a trespass, that's just a mistake, it's not a sin." I said, "Well, even in the Bible, Jesus, in the Lord's Prayer says, 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’" He said, "Well, a trespass, that's just a mistake, it's not a sin." I said, "Well‚ then how come in the other Gospel it says 'forgive us our sins, like we forgive others who sin against us'?" (Luk.11:4) Well, he didn't have an answer for that!

31. But transgressions are sins, like trespasses, they're doing something wrong. And in most states and countries and cities, the laws are that if there's a sign posted, "No Trespassing," and you climb the fence and go over that property, they can shoot you and say you were trespassing, that you were threatening them, so they shot you in self-defense. Or if they catch you, they can call the police and tell the police to come and get you and put you in jail for trespassing. So does the System consider it a sin? Trespassing and transgressions are sins, even in the System.

32. But the Lord is very merciful, and if we're really very sorry and we ask Him sincerely to forgive us and we'll try to not do it any more, He may not punish us this time. Right? He may forgive us and let us off the hook, so to speak. That expression "off the hook" comes from my fishing days! When I was a little boy I used to catch fish, and sometimes if they were so small—it was illegal to catch them under six inches and keep them, you had to throw them back in—but sometimes, regardless of the size, I was just sorry for them, so I'd take them off my hook and throw them back in the water, I let them off the hook! Sometimes we get caught for doing something we shouldn't do, but we're really sorry and the Lord lets us off the hook and throws us back in‚ and that's mercy, that's lovingkindness‚ that's being forgiving! So that's what mercy is.

33. The Lord has mercy with us like we have mercy with you children! I'll say, "I told you several times to do that‚ now David, you must do it!" And David says he's sorry and he'll do better next time, so I don't have to punish him. I just scold him or warn him. Has Grandpa done that with you sometimes? I'll say, "Now don't you do that any more, or next time I'm going to have to give you something to remember it by!" What do I mean by that? Well, you guys have had so few swats or spankings you can hardly even remember them, because you've been such good children! (Maria: Or else your teachers and Grandpa and Mommy have had a lot of mercy on you!) See, that's the difference between judgement and mercy.

34. Justice means to give you what you deserve! If you deserve a punishment, that's justice and you get judgement! If the wicked don't repent and say they're sorry and stop doing it, next time God's going to give them justice‚ all right, but what will the justice be? Justice means rightness, what they deserve! What will it be?—Judgement! He'll put His judgements on them—curses and punishments! And if they're so bad He'll even kill'm!

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT!

35. God is not a pacifist who never believes in killing anybody! In some countries they've abolished the death sentence‚ but that's not Scriptural! (David: Abolished?) Abolished means to get rid of it. Instead, they're going to put them in jail for all their life. (Techi: Put them in jail all their life?)—Instead of killing them. Of course‚ everybody dies sooner or later unless they live to the Rapture. But that means all these murderers and criminals will know, "Well, at least I'm not going to be killed. If I land in jail I can have three square meals a day and free room and board and free clothes and maybe I might even get out some day!" So they're apt to do more wickedness now since there's no longer the death sentence.

36. Some people think that's mercy! They think that's mercy to let people get away with things that they shouldn't get away with and letting them off the hook and not punishing them, but that's foolishness! If they really deserve punishment they ought to get it! When they kill you for doing something you shouldn't do‚ that's called capital punishment. "Capital" means head, like cutting off your head. Some countries cut off their heads! They still have decapitation or the guillotine in France. Do you know what a guillotine is? It's that big knife that's on the big slot. In France after the French Revolution they cut off the heads of a lot of the rich people, kings, princesses and wicked rich people. (Techi: Why?) Because they'd been very wicked, they robbed the poor! (Techi: In Arab countries they cut off their hand!)—Yes, if they steal they cut off their hand, and if they catch them stealing again they cut off a foot or something! That's really tough justice! But they don't have much crime in those countries either, because the criminals are really scared to do anything!

37. But in the Mosaic Law they had 26 different crimes for which you could be killed! I counted them up one time when I was in the Army. When I was in the hospital I had lots of time to read my Bible and I was reading that part where there are 26 different crimes in the Mosaic Law for which you could be killed‚ which is one reason they didn't have much crime! (Techi: It would be better if the System had tough rules.)—Yes! With tough rules there's less crime. But when they go soft on the criminals like they're doing now in a lot of countries, there's going to be more crime!—Because the criminals find out they can get away with it!

38. But the Lord's Law of Moses was real tough on the criminals! And do you know how they killed them in those days? It was a very painful death! They didn't just quick chop off their head or quick hang'm or quick shoot'm or quick electrify'm in the electric chair, they made'm stand out by a wall and threw stones at'm until they died! That's a horrible cruel kind of death, but apparently God thought their sin was bad enough that that's what they deserved. And it certainly acted as what they called a deterrent. It deterred them, it made them think twice before they did anything wrong and they were afraid to do anything wrong for fear they'd die that way.

39. If a child who was grown up enough to know better—like you, David—would curse his mother or father, that was punishable by death! Or if he would strike his mother or father, if he would slap'm, it was punishable by death. That taught kids to respect their parents! They really respected their parents and they didn't strike'm or curse'm! We never had to do that with you. But we have spanked you a few times, not too hard. We've spanked you because you were doing something naughty.

40. Anyhow, in some cases we shouldn't have mercy, like with those insects and Devil's pests we were talking about. We need to kill them quick before they do any more damage! And even God, with people who are just going to go and do more damage if He lets them get away with it, says you should just kill'm before they go around killing more people, before they go around doing more damage! (Techi: Sometimes the Russians would put the Christians on the ice naked.) Yes, take off all their clothes and put them out on the ice! But that was wrong, because they were trying to kill the good people.

KING DAVID'S PLEA FOR MERCY!

41. So, going back to the theme of this one verse‚ a Bible study about mercy, David is asking for mercy. What does that mean? He meant that he deserved to be punished‚ he deserved even to be killed under the Mosaic Law‚ he deserved to be stoned to death because he'd stolen another man's wife, and then he killed the man on top of it! (See 2Sam.11) So he deserved to be killed according to Mosaic Law. But he asked the Lord to forgive him‚ he's pleading for mercy here. (Techi: But then the Lord did do something that really made him repent.) Yes, that's true, the Lord did punish him, but He didn't kill him. That's mercy. He deserved death, but the Lord forgave him because he repented and said he was sorry. My Mother used to say he had a great sin but he had a great repentance, so he got a great forgiveness, he got mercy because he was very sorry and prayed and asked the Lord to forgive him.

42. The Lord still punished him, though, because he lost the little baby boy that was born to Bathsheba as a result of their marriage. (See 2Sam.12.) (Techi: And another one of David's sons died later.)—Absalom! David's favourite son then actually stole the kingdom from him, ousted him out of the kingdom from the throne, and David had to flee into the wilderness with his family and his people and the loyal soldiers who were with him. His favourite son stole his kingdom, stole all his other wives... (Techi: Probably because Absalom was spoiled.) Yes‚ I think you're probably right. Maybe David was too merciful to him.

DEBORAH SPOILED BY EVE!

43. Sometimes you can be too merciful and you call that indulgence.—Or you had a good word for it, Techi, you spoil them. If you don't really train your children and be strict with them, if you let them get away with too much‚ they get spoiled‚ and that's being too merciful. You're not being good to your children by doing that, you're hurting them if you don't train them up in the way they should go! Children need to be disciplined when they misbehave. You don't necessarily have to use a literal rod, but you have to impose some measure that will make them sorry for their deeds and not want to be bad next time.

44. My first family were not as good as you children and they did more naughty things! I think one reason was that their mother spoiled them a lot. Deborah, the oldest, was the most spoiled of all, her mother just let her get away with almost anything, and that's why she went the way she did. Every time I'd go to punish Deborah or try to child–train her and try to teach her and I'd go to chastise her or anything, her mother would stand between us. She'd stop me and say, "Oh, she didn't mean to, she's sorry"—always defending her. Well, you can see what happened to Deborah! She grew up the wrong way because she wasn't trained in the way that she should go, her mother stood in the way. I was tough on her and trained her, but her mother was always standing in the way.

45. And you can see what happened to Deborah! She went against the Lord and against us and against the Family, and what God's going to do to her I don't know! He's merciful to have even let her live this long! But she suffered a lot too. All of her children have now gone bad, her sons have been in jail, her daughters have been on drugs. (Techi: Were they in jail for killing people?) (Maria: For robbery.) She has gone astray from the Lord, so the Lord has let her suffer the same thing by letting her children all go astray. Because she left the Family, took her children out of the Family, put them in the System and now they're a mess! Well, we don't want to spend too much time on the gloomy and the dark side and the bad side of things, but we've talked a lot about what mercy isn't. There's a time to have mercy and there's a time not to have mercy, right?

AUNT AMANDA & THE FLAT IRON!

46. (David: Didn't one of your relatives believe that she was one of the Holiness people, but threw an iron?)—Yes, Aunt Amanda. She was one of those Holiness people, and when my Mother was a little girl she was visiting her Aunt Amanda and she told her, "You know, Nina Virginia, I'm perfect, I can't sin, because I've been sanctified and I've had my bad self removed by the Holy Spirit, and I'm sinless!" And then she got mad at Uncle John and picked up the flat iron, which was about twice as big and twice as heavy as this tape recorder, and threw it at him! And after that my Mother no longer believed in Aunt Amanda's holiness! My Mother liked Uncle John, she thought he was nice.

47. (Techi: What is a flat iron?) In the old days, Honey, they didn't have electric irons. Have you ever seen an electric iron that you iron clothes with? (Techi: Oh, yes!) Well, they had what was known as a flat iron. It was shaped the same way and had a flat bottom and flat back and pointed nose like a boat. It had a little removable handle and you'd put the iron on the big wood stove until it got hot, then you'd pick it up with that detachable handle‚ take it over and iron the clothes until the iron began to cool off. In the meantime you had another flat iron sitting on the stove getting hot. And you'd take the one that was getting cold back to the stove, put it on the stove‚ then pick up the hot one and come back and iron the clothes. It was a very heavy sharp thing‚ though‚ it could have killed Uncle John if it had hit him! But my Mother said she lost her faith in holiness and sanctification and sinless perfection of the Holiness people when she saw that happen. That's the illustration she used to use. But anyway, we're not talking about Holiness right now, let's not get on too many stories, we've got to finish!

A TIME FOR MERCY!

48. There's a time to have mercy, like the Lord did with David and with us. When we're very sorry and we ask the Lord for forgiveness and we try not to do it any more, the Lord has mercy. But if you keep on doing it and you won't stop and you keep hurting people and doing things you shouldn't do or whatever it is, there's a time not to have mercy! And what does the Lord do then? Just like we do with our children, if you keep on doing it then finally we've got to punish you, swat you or deny you certain privileges or make you stand in the corner and read the Psalms and memorise them like my Daddy used to do with me! I thought I was a pretty good boy‚ but I must have been pretty bad sometimes! I learned an awful lot of Psalms, ha!—Including this one! (David: You were probably good compared to those bad boys.) Yes‚ I was, but they were trying to make me perfect‚ of course. Usually the little things I did were not doing something I was told to do or saying something I shouldn't say. They weren't real bad things, but they were bad, I shouldn't have done them and I should have been a better boy.

49. But anyway, there's a time for mercy and to forgive, if the person is really sorry. In fact, what does the Lord Himself say? His disciples asked Him, "How many times should I forgive my brother? Should it be seven times or what?" And what did the Lord say? He said, "Seventy times seven!" (Mat.18:21,22) How much is that? That's 490 times! Now what did the Lord mean by that? Did He mean that you could forgive him 490 times and then on the 491st time you ought to sock him? He meant that every time he's really sorry and asks you to forgive him, you should forgive him! Of course, I don't think a guy is very sorry if he keeps doing it 490 times! But I wouldn't be surprised if some of us have done things 490 times for which we should be sorry and have kept on doing them sometimes!

50. Anyway, the Lord is very merciful to us to forgive us for all of our sins, many more sins than 490, and having real mercy on us and lovingkindness! So that is the right kind of mercy. Because of that He saved us, He took our punishment for us, so that we could be saved. Not because we're perfect, not because we never do anything wrong‚ but because He loves us! So that's real mercy and that's when you should have mercy. We have mercy on you children not because you always deserve it, but because we love you and we want to save you and not hurt you, so if you're sorry we forgive you. But of course if you're not sorry, then we have to punish you! But that's what mercy is, it's forgiveness, lovingkindness and sometimes not punishing when you really deserve it, if you're sorry!

51. Well, we had a big long lesson about mercy today! One reason these lessons are so long is because there are three teachers! My Assistant Teachers here are always bringing up very good points to illustrate all these things and good stories!—Just like their Grandpa, one thought leads to another! But we like participation! That's audience participation, taking part in the discussion, and that's good! That's why I stop and I let you! I don't just ride over you roughshod and say, "Be quiet, David and Techi!"—Although maybe I should sometimes! Maybe I should say, "Now David and Techi, hush, that's enough!" Maybe I should say that so we can get done with the lesson and it won't be so long! (Maria: It was only one hour and five minutes!) But maybe it would have been a half-hour if we hadn't gotten off on so many discussions! But maybe we do learn something!

52. Okay, Techi, it's your turn to pray! We can hold hands spiritually even though some of you are far removed. PTL? ILY! (Techi: Praise You Lord! TYJ! Amen, Jesus, thank You for a fun Bible Study and thank You for this good day. Help us to be loving and have mercy and help us to know when to have mercy and when not to, and thank You for being merciful to us too, Lord!)—Amen! TYL! As we pray Your prayer together, Lord: (Prays the Lord's Prayer.) PTL!

53. Well, we ought to call this our daily bread! This is daily bread, right? You get some of the bread daily—daily bread! You always have a little bit of Word every day, don't you? Okay, well you had a whole lot of Word today! So God bless you, it's time to quit! Come kiss Grandpa goodbye! Thank you for your patience! My‚ you kids can sure sit through long classes! ILY! Bye-bye! Lord bless and keep you and make you a blessing!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family