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To my heart was the blood of Christ, glory to his name. Glory to his name, glory to his name. There to my heart was the blood of Christ, glory to his name. I am so wondrously saved from sin, Jesus so sweetly abides with me. There at the cross where he took me, glory to his name. Glory to his name, glory to his name. There to my heart was the blood of Christ, glory to his name. Oh, precious mountain where saints cross me, I am so glad I am certain that Jesus saves me. Glory to his name, glory to his name. Glory to his name, there to my heart was the blood of Christ, glory to his name. Come to this mountain so rich and sweet, cast like your soul and your Savior speak. The gentle day and he made the prayer, glory to his name. Glory to his name, glory to his name. There to my heart was the blood of Christ, glory to his name. Glory to his name, glory to his name. Glory to his name, glory to his name. Singing out the first day by day, in each passing moment, strength I find to build my child's name. Singing out loud, all the first day by day, in each passing moment, strength I find to build my child's name. Trusting in my Father's wise resolence, I am lost in the hurry of the fear. He who's heart is guide we all don't measure, he who's done to, he who's saved us, he who's blessed. Loving me is part of faith and pleasure, in returning with peace and grace. Every day the Lord himself is near me, with no special mercy for each child. All my cares, he gave them care and cheer for me, he who's really his counselor and pal. The protection of his child and treasure is the charge that all his soul he gave. As my days, my strength shall be in measure, there's no place to believe in pain. Help me then in every tribulation, so teach me as the Christ is the Lord. Then I lose my faith with consolation, offer him within my holy name. Help me, Lord, my soul in trouble be deemed, and to take as from my Father's hand. One by one, my faith is the moment's key, till I reach him by his hand. We'll begin singing at this time. We'll go through our announcements. All right, we'll welcome the paperwork and send you out. If you'd like voting, go ahead and slip up your hand when we're brought to you. As always, we have our service time today at the left-hand side. We'll be in Genesis chapter 20 tonight. We'll be back this Sunday at 10, 3 a.m. Or if you want to get in here a little early for your donuts, be here at 10 a.m. as we have coffee donuts and articles celebrating their birthdays in the month of June. Also, just a reminder about the heat. Be safe out there. When you're soul winning, whenever you're out there, stay hydrated. Start salt and wet food. Get your electrolytes in. Specifically, when it comes to soul winning, don't be shy about taking breaks, especially on the longer times on Sunday. Also, stay with your partner. Speaking of soul winning, there's going to be a small town soul winning trip to Clifton for anyone who would like to join the technique crew on that. On the back is the big announcement about the Grand Canyon Soul Winning Marathon. That's coming up at the end of next month, so it's right around the corner. I see a couple people have already signed up, and I'll work out some more of the details. I still haven't spoken with Pastor Anderson, so it's not 100% about people staying the night Thursday night if you want to go up there Thursday night. I'm feeling fairly confident it's based on Pastor Anderson's track record that he's going to be fine with that. I know I mentioned it, but don't set that as don't account on that yet. Just know that I am planning on speaking with him, and in all likelihood, that's going to be a group where families want to go up Thursday night and just stay in Tempe at a hotel, and then just join the Tempe group the next morning. That's certainly possible, I'm sure. Wait on that. I'll give an answer by Sunday, so I've got it on my list of things to do. I've just got to look at the list. This will be a lot of good to make these lists. Is that to avoid the day drive? Is that to avoid the day drive? Yeah, just so folks don't have to work, I guess it would be the morning gap. First thing in the morning, otherwise you've got to get up and drive two hours. You can just add two hours to your trip, but some people might not mind. Some people want to go up there and leave on a Thursday night right after church service. You'd be at church a Thursday night, assuming, you could cut that part of the trip out. Just something to consider, but as I said, don't wait to hear from me officially. That's just an idea that I've had, an idea to get approval for before I say that's in fact the case. I'll just try to let you know, so that way you can think about how you're going to do things if you're going to go. Also, at the end of the summer there, or midway through I guess, I'll be able to look at it back in July, several ways out. Don't forget the third annual main conference is coming up, so there's going to be guest preachers every Sunday and Wednesday throughout those dates up in Tempe. At least on the Wednesdays, if you try to make that, I might even be able to make it up there on Wednesdays. The church band will probably be going up every Wednesday throughout those dates. I'd be happy to do that. We'll just keep preaching up there. Always a good time, so mark that on your calendar so you can get up there. I'll have the more detailed itinerary as we get closer. Continue to pray different and expected names in our church. Mrs. Lamb, of course, had her maybe. I haven't got an update recently on how things are going, but the last update I got was positive, so that's good. Things are, you know, they're around in the event. All of this will soon be a distant memory, although the struggles we're having, but praise God that they were able. You know, praise God we live in a place where, you know, there's things that, you know, medical emergencies, you know, we have such a great medical system. We have the ability to just take care of these issues. I always thank God, you know. Obviously, it's no fun to go through those things, but at another time, even in another place today, you know, things might not go as well as they have for us. So, whenever we, you know, hear about things going on medically with one another, just, you know, it's an opportunity to thank God that we've lived in such a great country where we have these nice amenities, right? Also, pray for my family. I'm sure there's probably some other people out sick, like my kids guy with the stomach bug, you know, has gotten me to pray to the devil. But that's typically how it works, and it works its way through, you know, and I'm usually the last one to get it. Very rarely do I bleed off, to be honest. I usually bring up the rear when it comes to getting sick. So, anyway, that will do it for announcements. Let's just quickly count up some soul and ache numbers going back to Monday, the one that got in from Monday. Or April or Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or today. Anything else? All right. We'll go ahead and sing one more song. We'll begin to preaching this week. Please open up your song books. Song number 323. Song number 323. The Lord have Jesus. Song number 223. Song number 223. Sing it out loud. Jesus, Lord, our God, Lord of this praise to others shown, For of his safety, for of his love, who died for me. For more about Jesus. For more about Jesus. For of his safety, for of his seat. For of his love, who died for me. For of our Jesus, let me learn. For of his holy will, this certain Spirit of God, my teacher be, showing the things of Christ to him. For more about Jesus. For more about Jesus. For of his safety, for of his seat. For of his love, who died for me. For of Jesus, in his Word. Holy of him, and with my Lord, hearing his voice in every thought, making his strength most daily mine. For more about Jesus. For more about Jesus. For of his saving, for of his seat. For of his love, who died for me. For of our Jesus, for of his love, which is in glory of his own. For of his deep, reassuring peace. For of his love, he creates a peace. For more about Jesus. For more about Jesus. For of his saving, for of his seat. For of his love, who died for me. For more about Jesus. For of his saving, for of his love, which is in glory of his own. For of his saving, for of his love, which is in glory of his own. For of his saving, for of his love, which is in glory of his own. For of his saving, for of his love, which is in glory of his own. For of his saving, for of his love, which is in glory of his own. For of his saving, for of his love, which is in glory of his own. For of his saving, for of his own. For of his saving, for of his own. For of his saving, for of his own. For of his saving, for of his saving, for of his saving, for of his own. For of his saving, for of his saving, for of his saving, for of his saving, For of his saving, for of his saving, a covering of the eyes of all that are with thee, and with all other, thus she was approved. So Abraham prayed unto God, and God healed Abimeleth and his wife, and his maids of his, and they bare children. For the Lord hath fasted the clothes of all the wounds in the house of Abimeleth, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Brother Adam, would you pray for us? Lord, heaven and your Father, just thank you for your goodness and mercy, Lord God, just thank you, Father, good in our lives, good in our lives, either in the glory of our God, and in the glory of our worthy Lord, just put on your spirit, and feel a deacon with your spirit, and understand you in your word, Lord, and Jesus, hold the name of your prayer, amen. Amen. And so in Genesis 20, of course, we're coming off of the heels of Genesis 19, and, you know, Genesis 19 is such a powerhouse chapter, and I want to kind of remind us again of that, in light of what we're seeing again in Genesis chapter 20, we're seeing Abraham repeat an old behavior, okay, where there's kind of, in my opinion, he's having yet another lapse in faith, and this one's kind of striking, because again, Genesis 19 is so powerful, right, because obviously, you know, Abraham is well aware of what's taking place, right, God told him what he was intending to do with Sodom and Gomorrah, and he obviously would have heard about the repercussions, how things turned out, might even have heard how Lot was delivered, you know, the Bible doesn't tell us about that, but probably understood, very well may have known that God even delivered Lot just as he said he would, right, so the interesting thing about this chapter is that Abraham, up to this point, has just seen so many miracles of God, he's seen such God's power on display, right, he's had conversations with the Lord, I mean, Genesis 19, the Lord is coming to him in the heat of the day, Abraham is talking with him, he's feeding him, and, you know, he's barring with him for, you know, trying to spare the righteous in Sodom, and then you have chapter 20, where Abraham repeats this behavior, which I can only describe as a lapse in faith, I mean, how else do you explain the fact that he's giving away his wife yet again, that he's letting his wife just be taken from him because he's fearing for his own life, and again, this is something that we saw in Genesis chapter 12, if you want to turn back there, Genesis chapter 12, this is not the first time, I'll just remind us very quickly, that we've seen Abraham do this, Abraham, obviously in Genesis 20, it says he's going into the south country, and he's sojourns in Gerar, and Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she is my sister, and Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took her, okay? But again, this is something that took place when he went down into Egypt, in verse 10 of chapter 12, it says, and there was a famine in the land, right? And God has already spoken to Abraham, he's made promises that he's going to inherit this land, and Abraham, you know, has a lapse in faith because of this famine, like he's worried about his needs being met, of course he's being called Abram at this point in the story, back in Genesis 12, it says he went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was very grievous, and it came to pass when he was near to enter into Egypt, that he sent unto Sarah his wife, behold now I know thou art a fair woman to look upon, so again, we're getting the motive behind why Abraham does this, why this behavior is even taking place, because he has a fair woman, a fair wife, fair meaning, you know, she doesn't like make sure everybody gets equal portions of chocolate milk or something like that, you know, like kids do, I don't know if you, I had that best friend who was like, everything had to be even, right? There had to be, when we made chocolate milk, there had to be equal amounts of chocolate Hershey's syrup and equal amounts of milk, you know, it had to be fair, that's not the fair it's talking about, meaning fair, like she's of a fair countenance, right? She's very nice to look upon, right? And he's saying, I know you're fair, right? And he's saying, because you're fair, they're gonna take you away from me, verse 13, say I pray thee without my sister, that it may be well for me for thy sake. He's saying, so what's the motive here? To save his own skin, right? This is Abraham, this is Abram, this is what he does, okay? And obviously, you know, and I know I've already given, you know, the warning not to judge him too harshly because he's being asked to do a great thing, he is the father of our faith, he is a great man of faith, obviously, you know, we'll see that played out here shortly later on in the story of Abraham with his son, but, you know, he's still a flawed character as all Bible characters are, as we all are, okay? But, you know, the Bible records this, I think, so that we can take heed to these things and learn other lessons, okay? And the lesson I really want to drive home tonight is that, you know, we need to be merciful, okay? And I believe that's why Abraham is given a lot of slack, that's why God, I think, doesn't necessarily excuse his sin but doesn't always come down on him for it and that's why we also should be understanding of Abraham and, you know, understand that he is flesh and blood like us, right? Because the Bible is making it pretty obvious here that the reason why he's doing this is for his own sake, he's not doing this for any righteous reason, this is a total, you know, flaw, right? This is not good, okay? When you're basically just saying, honey, just tell everyone we're kin, you know? Just tell everybody you're my sister and just let strangers take you from me. Like, that's not exactly what a wife wants to hear, okay? It's pretty much the opposite of what your wife wants to hear. She wants to hear I'm going to protect you, I'd die for you, right? All this romantic stuff, although romantic, you know, should be true as well, right? But he's saying again, you know, it'd come to pass, verse 14, when Abraham was coming to Egypt, the Egyptians beheld a woman that she was very fair, so the narrator is backing up. Abraham is not just like, you know, he's not blind in one eye and can't see out the other, right? He didn't bump his head, she really was fair. You know, the Bible's telling us that, that all the other people around her are noticing this. Which, you know, she's a very old woman in Genesis 20. She's very old and yet it's the same thing. Like, she must have been, maybe by then she just had a really good personality. I don't know, but even as an old woman, she's apparently very fair, right? So, there's hope, ladies, you know? Too bad it doesn't record her, you know, her beauty regime or whatever it is. Is that what you call it, right? The routine that she has, you know, what oils she put on and what masks she wore. I don't know, I don't know anything about that stuff, so. Beauty is vain, but a woman that feared the Lord, she shall be praised. And it says here, of course, they saw her, they take her, we all know the story, and it's interesting in this story, because the Lord doesn't come to him like he does with Abimelech and warn him and give him a chance to get it right. He just starts plaguing Pharaoh's house, right? Because it says, and he entered, verse 16, and he, Pharaoh, entreated Abram well for her sake, and he had sheep and oxen and asses and men servants and maid servants and she asses and camels, and the Lord plagued Pharaoh in his house with great plagues because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. So, no dream, no vision, no coming to him and speaking to him tonight, just immediately plaguing him. And it's interesting that Pharaoh immediately recognizes, oh, this is God, like, oh, I'm used to this. Like, oh, yeah, this is what God, this must be the Lord again, right? He just understands immediately why this is happening. And he goes and, of course, he talks to Abraham. We know the story. They send him away and his wife and all that he had. He goes away with great abundance. Go back to Genesis chapter number 20 where we were. So, the same thing's playing out again in the story, right? Abraham has not, is still a flawed character. You know, that should be a warning to us or at least help us to be a more understanding and empathetic people, you know, with ourselves, more patient and patient with other Christians, right? Patient with other people. Is that no matter how great somebody is, no matter how great faith they have, no matter, because at this point in the story, you know, Abraham's been walking with God. We've seen other great things that he's done. You know, he's still a great man of God and yet he's still flawed. You know, that should be a lesson to us that nobody's perfect including, you know, your favorite preacher, your favorite pastor, or, you know, whatever Christian that you look up to for, you know, who's been living the Christian life forever long, you know, they're still a flawed person. They're still gonna make mistakes, they're still gonna do things wrong, they're still gonna slip up, okay? And what I'm saying today is that, you know, we need to be merciful with those people because God is merciful with those people, okay? And if we're merciful with those people, you know, God will show us mercy. And I guarantee you, whether you realize it or not, you're gonna need mercy from God one day. You're gonna need mercy from other people. Now, let me just start out by saying that I'm not saying, this is some kind of a blank check for sin, right? Where, you know, if I'm merciful enough and I'm kind enough that that just gives me a right to just go out and be a sinner, right? And everybody just has to forgive me, okay? Obviously, there's, people learn behaviors, they get into patterns of things, kinda, so we kinda see with Abraham, this is just kind of a pattern of behavior, it's something he's, a sin he's kinda falling into, he has a proclivity towards this, it's something he does, you know, habitually, as odd as it is, right? I think, even if that's not the case, that's the application we can make here tonight. You know, so that's one thing, right? Like, we all have, you know, things that are gonna slip us up easier, more than others. Okay, everybody has, you know, triggers, you know, patterns of behavior, things that they're gonna fall into. If they're not careful, obviously, that's one thing, right? To turn around and find out, oh man, did it again, right? It's another thing to premeditate and go out and act on it, that's called the presumptuous sin, I've preached on that, the Bible, you know, there's no guarantee of mercy on that one, okay? Obviously there's never any guarantee of mercy ever, okay, but what I'm saying tonight is that we're seeing Abraham as a, you know, again, repeating a behavior that is not good, and yet God is coming basically on his behalf and preserving Sarah, right? He's correcting the situation, right? And Abraham walks away blessed, right? He walks away better off than he came, in spite of the fact that he's doing this again, okay? So God does show mercy, but that's not a blank check, that's not means we can just go out and do whatever we want, and, you know, as long as we're, cover our bases elsewhere, I think everyone gets what I'm saying. Verse three, it says, But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said, Behold, thou art but a dead man, right? He's saying, I'm gonna kill you. For the woman which thou hast taken, for she is a man's wife, right? So God's condemning adultery here, but Abimelech had not come near her, and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? He's saying, look, I haven't done anything wrong here. Yeah, I took her to my wife, but, you know, I haven't gotten around to, you know, having that relationship with her, right? He just, he's just kind of, maybe he's one of these guys, these kings, just wants to add her to the harem or something, okay? And, you know, and he's kind of protesting here, saying, well, I haven't done anything wrong, you know, so God's interceding before anything could happen physically, right? Said he not unto me, she is my sister. He's like, it's your boy, that's the problem, right? It's like, I didn't know she was somebody's wife. He said she is my sister, and she even herself said he is my brother. He's like, they're a couple of liars, and you know what, he's not wrong. That's exactly what they did. The narrator tells us that, right? She said he's my brother. He said she's my sister. It's like, you know, in the integrity of my heart and in the intensity of my hands, I have done this, and God sent unto him in a dream, yea, I know that they did this in the integrity of thine heart, right? So it's kind of like if God, God knew that he was innocent from, you know, trying to commit adultery, right? But he comes on pretty strong, doesn't he? You're a dead man, right? And I believe the reason why he's doing that is because he's trying to protect Abraham for the promise's sake, right? For the promise, for the child of promise. For Isaac's sake, really. God is interacting here not because, necessarily because he's just trying to protect Abraham, or he's just giving Abraham a pass, but it's because he has to preserve that promise that he's made that the seed would come from Sarah, right? That Isaac, the child of promise, would come through her. Because again, it's a miraculous thing, having a child in their old age so that people would know this is the hand of God. So, you can see why God's taking this so seriously, right? Look, I'm sure Abimelech, this is kind of, he's probably collecting wives, like guys collect, you know, cards, nowadays or something, right? Like this is, this is what they did. This was the culture back then, okay? I don't know why, you know, but that's what they did, right? And, you know, God's kind of interjecting here, and he's not rebuking him for this behavior, necessarily, although God does not condone polygamy, we understand that. He's getting involved, he's being, he's coming, getting, before anything can happen, because he's trying to preserve the promise more than anything. He's not just, you know, looking out for his boy Abraham, right? He's trying to make sure that his word, his promise comes true, okay? So, I think that's really what God, why God's getting involved here. Verse seven, he says, Now therefore restore the man, his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live, and if thou restore her not, know that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine. You say, you know what? I'll just wipe your seed right off the face of the earth. No one will even know your name. Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, that's a good time to get right with God, right? Don't wait on that, and called the servants and told all these things in their ears, and the men were so afraid, and Abimelech called Abraham and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? And what have I offended thee? He's like, dude, you're trying to set me up. Like, why are you laying a snare here for me? Why are you setting a trap? Are you trying to get me killed? That thou hast brought on me and in my kingdom a great sin. Now, isn't it interesting here that, obviously we don't know a lot about Abimelech, but this isn't, he does call himself a righteous nation, but that's him speaking, right? And obviously he did do this in the innocency of his hands, but we don't know necessarily this is a nation that's worshipping the Lord. I highly doubt that, right? But isn't it interesting that even what I'm pretty sure, I think it's safe to say, is a heathen nation that isn't following the Lord is not, is calling adultery a sin, right? Now maybe he's trying to play it up here, right? Because he knows God's listening, right? But we know that he's saying in truth that he didn't know this was Abraham's wife. And when he finds out it is, he rebukes Abraham. And not just because he almost got him killed by the hand of God, but because why are you trying to bring sin upon us, right? We're a righteous nation. You know, it's interesting that even back then, that there's just, even in the heathen, you know, who don't have the law of God, they have the law of God written on their hearts, right? They know that adultery is wrong. This is what's so, you know, it's so frustrating sometimes when people get offended when you preach about adultery. Or you preach about fornication. You preach about any sin, really, because everyone knows that it's wrong. Everyone knows it's wrong. And you preach on it and people get upset. And it's like, well, why are you upset with me for preaching what's right and what's wrong? You know, Abimelech here, he gets rebuked. He's like, whoa, let me make this right immediately. Let me get up in the morning. And he's doing some rebuking now. Now, he's calling out Abraham. He's not getting mad at God going, well, what's wrong? Why can't I just commit adultery anyway? I mean, he lied about it, right? That's what always kind of surprises me sometimes is that when people are doing things that are wrong and you call them on it, and you go to them about it, or you don't even know what's going on. You just get out and preach it. You just preach something and it offends people because they're guilty of it. It's like, well, and then they turn around and take it out on you for preaching it. It's odd. It's strange. It's unmerciful, first of all, right? You get mad about that. And to get bitter and angry, okay? Anyway, that's kind of a side note and it just kind of came to me as I was reading this, but Abimelech, in his nation, at least they understand they have some respect for morals, right? He's not calling it an affair, right? Like, in our nation, okay? Anyway, let's move along through the story here. Then Abimelech called Abraham, verse nine again, he said, What hast thou done to me? What have I offended thee? Thou hast brought on me in my kingdom a great sin. Thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. He's saying, you shouldn't set a guy up like this. You shouldn't put somebody in this position where you're going to commit adultery with another man's wife. And Abimelech said to Abraham, What sawest thou that thou hast done this thing? He's like, explain yourself. Like, what is it? What's your motive here? And Abraham doesn't really have, you know, any good answer. He says, but I, he says, and he said, because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place. Well, that was the wrong assumption to make. And they will slay me for my wife's sake. Isn't that, this is Abraham that's saying this. Abraham, who's like, conversed with God, has walked with God, has seen God, he and three other hundred men have gone and delivered Lot. Remember when the kings came and they attacked Sodom and they carried away Lot captive? He gets three of his own trained servants and goes and delivers him? I mean, that's miraculous. He meets God in the heat of the day. Just the chapter before, he's seeing God pour out his wrath. He's seeing Lot spared again. And yet, here we are again where he's just like, well, I thought you guys were going to kill me for my wife's sake. It's a lapse of faith. You know, and this is kind of something that he struggles with apparently. And it just goes to show us that even men of God, even people that should know better sometimes, have flaws. That they're flawed people. That they have character faults just like anybody else. And nobody's perfect. And they deserve to be shown mercy just like anybody else. Now, again, I'm not saying that there aren't certain things that, you know, people have to be held accountable for. Okay? And Abraham is being kind of held accountable, isn't he? He's basically being rebuked publicly, right? And he said, verse 12, And yet indeed she is my sister, she is the daughter of my father. So we find out this is his half-sister. Everyone freaks out, right? You know, this is way back down when, you know, the law hasn't been handed out on this kind of thing. God doesn't condone this kind of stuff. But, you know, I don't think it would have been as big a deal genetically back then. You know, maybe sin hadn't corrupted you know, our DNA to the point where there wouldn't have been these outcomes that we would have today if this kind of thing took place. But anyway, that's what the Bible says, And she became my wife, and it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is the kindness which thou hast shown to me, at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. So now he's just really kind of coming clean, right? You know, we've seen it happen in Egypt. We saw it happen here with Abimelech. We saw it with Pharaoh and Abimelech. We saw two instances, but now we find out Abraham said, Hey, everywhere we go, anywhere we go, anywhere we sojourn, this is what we're going to do, right? Now, I don't know that it happened more than that. I'm not saying that, but that was his mentality. Well, this is what I'm going to do. Of course. And he's even acknowledging it was like, Well, God caused me to wander from my father's house. So yeah, I'm following God. I'm doing what God said. I'm serving God. I'm a man of faith. I stepped out in faith to do this great work that God has called me to, but I'm also going to go ahead and farm out my wife anytime I get a little afraid of what might happen to me. It's kind of a paradox with him. He's this great man of faith, and yet he's flawed. Who'd have thunk? But God is showing mercy here. Primarily, again, let me make this point again. Go to Genesis chapter number 17. God's not just giving Abraham a pass because he's Abraham. Therefore, he gets a pass. Well, he's a man of God. He's interceding here because of the promise that he made to Abraham. Remember the promise in Genesis chapter 17, verse 15. God sent Abraham, As for Sarah thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless thee, and give thee a son also of her. Yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations, kings of peoples shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is 100 years old? And shall Sarah that is 90 years old bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee. Because remember, he's already had Ishmael of Hagar. And God said, Sarah, thy wife, shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him, for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him, and ask for Ishmael, I have heard of thee, behold I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful. Verse 21, But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, and which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this time set in the next year. So God, I believe, is interjecting first and foremost because of that promise that he made. It's gonna be Sarah. So that's why he can't have another man taking her and her potentially having a child by that man. Because that would disrupt God's things. God might have to break that promise. So that's the primary reason, but it also shows us that God does show mercy to those that are merciful. Because if you remember, Abraham is a very merciful man. God, I do believe, shows mercy to people who do his will. And again, I don't want to be taken the wrong way saying where, you know, if you do enough of God's will, then you have some credit with God or you can go sin a little bit. But the fact is, we're all gonna sin. You know, you and I, all of us, probably do things that upset God and we don't even know about it. Whether it's, you know, things that we actually do or just maybe even thoughts that we have, attitudes that we have, behaviors that we have, we probably say, think, or do things that make God mad and we don't even realize it. And yet God doesn't drop the hammer on us every single time. You know, God's not just waiting around the corner with a bat to take our head off when we step out of line. You know, God is long suffering. He is full of mercy, full of compassion. God is very tenderhearted towards us. You know, and I do believe that if we are doing will of God, God will be more inclined to show us mercy. But you know, if we're not doing God's will, you know, to him that is, you know, of whomsoever much is given shall also much be required. You know, the servant that knew his Lord's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes. But the servant which knew not his Lord's will shall be beaten with few stripes. There is an accountability, right? So if we know God's will and we're not doing it, you know, that probably means God's going to be even more prone to come down on us, okay? And you see this in Scripture, and I don't know that I have a whole lot of time to go through all of this, but there's other examples of this. There's great men of God that do horrible things that are incredibly flawed and yet God gives them mercy. And not just because, well, you know, he's got an in with God or something. That's my boy, right? I'm just looking out for my boy, right? He's just, because he's just loyal, right? Or God's a respecter of persons. The Bible's very clear that God is not a respecter of persons. But God does show mercy, you know, he does punish, but maybe not even to the full extent that he could have, and he shows that mercy to those that are doing God's will. There's several examples of this. Go to 1 Kings chapter number 2. We'll knock out two of them right there, 1 Kings chapter number 2. It says in verse 1, and this is when Solomon's kingdom has first been established, right, at the beginning of his kingdom, and right out of the gate was Pharaoh king of Egypt. So he's going and making friends with, you know, making this political league with the heathen nation in Pharaoh, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David until he made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord and the wall of Jerusalem round about. That's not a good start, okay? You know, he's not to be taken into a strange wife, and we know that eventually his many strange wives, and not strange in the sense that they were weird, but strange that they were foreigners, that they were of another religion, that eventually that got to Solomon. In the end, he worshiped many strange gods, and this is kind of the beginning of that. It says in verse 2, only the people sacrificed in high places because there was no house built under the name of the Lord until those days, and Solomon loved the Lord. The Bible's telling us that. Solomon loved God. Walking in the statutes of David and his father, only he sacrificed and burnt incenses in the high places. Now, I don't believe this is talking about idol worship at this point. He does fall into that later in his life, towards the end of his life, because it just got done telling us that the people were doing that because there was no place to worship the Lord at that point, okay? He's going to get to that and build the temple. And the king went into Gibeon to sacrifice there, for there was a great high place, a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon the altar, so he's worshiping God. In Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon and dreamed by night, and God said, ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, thou hast showed unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy, according as he walked. David was shown great mercy, according as he walked, before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee. And thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. So that phrase right there, has shown him great mercy, meaning exceeding mercy, not just your run of the belt mercy, according as he walked. The proportion to which he was shown mercy, or his mercy was proportionate to his walk, basically, right? That's what he's kind of saying there. And I'm sure we're all thinking of it, you know, what was one of David's great sins? Adultery, right? He's not even, like Abimelech's got a leg up on him on this one, because Abimelech honestly did this, and he was on the brink of adultery, didn't even know, but didn't know it. He thought in the infancy of his heart, hey, this is, they're brother and sister, there's nothing wrong here, she's not married, right? But David knew who Bathsheba was. That's why he was able to get her wife, her husband killed, right? That's why he was able to have Uriah sign his own, take his own death warrant to the battle, and to get himself killed. I mean, imagine how wicked that is. You know, imagine after the service, you know, someone came up to you and handed you an envelope, and said, hey, go deliver this to somebody, and it turned out to be a hit man who said, kill this man. You know, and the reason why he wanted it done is because he's been sleeping with your spouse. I mean, it's wicked, right? It's horrible, but that's what David did. He hung on it. What did he say? He said, thou art the man, right? And David said, I have sinned. And what did Nathan say? Thou shalt not die. Nevertheless, right? Your house is gonna be troubled, and we know everything that happened with Absalom later. David, it did not go well with him. He even said that in the last words of David, though it be not so in my house, right? It destroyed his family, right? But he wasn't killed for it. So he was shown great mercy because the Bible punishes adultery with death. Now why was he shown mercy? I believe in part it was because of the fact that he walked with God. Was he perfect? No. But you know, he is a man of great faith, and as wicked as it is, you know, obviously, you know, he's a flawed man. And again, I'm not saying like, oh, if we do enough good, we can go out and do these horrible sins. No. That's not what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is, as God told Moses, I will show mercy unto whom I will show mercy. Okay? And if we want God's mercy for when we mess up, when we do things, and again, I'm not saying let's go commit adultery, you know, let's do enough soul winning and attend church and read our Bibles enough so we can go commit adultery. You know, I've heard people make that accusation, oh, you guys say that, you know, then you can sin a little. I've never preached that. That's not what I'm saying tonight. I hope it's not being misconstrued that way. What I'm saying is, you're gonna, you're gonna done mess up one way or another. Whether you serve, you know, whether you serve God, whether you walk in the statutes of God, whether you endeavor to walk righteously or not, you're going to sin. There's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sineth not. You know, there's none good. No, not one. I'm saying we're all going to sin. We need mercy. How do we get it? Well, let's walk according to God's word. Let's walk in righteousness so that maybe, you know, when we do mess up, when we do do things, when we do make mistakes, God will take it easy on us. I'm not saying he's gonna pass, but maybe he won't drop the hammer like he might if we weren't serving God. That's all I'm saying. You say, well, I don't, I'm just telling people they could sin if they go, if they solo it or something. Well, you know what? Take it up with the Bible, my friend. Take it up with David. You know, that's just what I see in the scripture. Thou has showed unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy. And again, let me remind you once more what mercy is. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. That's the definition of mercy. Right? It's kind of like the name uncle, right? Who's ever played uncle? No? Seen me after the service. No, I'm just kidding. Right? Where, you know, I had a stepfather who loved to play games like that with me, right? Man, if you wonder why I am the way I am, right? The torture I endured. No, I'm just kidding. But there was some time, there was time, I can't remember, you know, where something was being bent or twisted or rubbed or whatever, and it was say uncle, say uncle. His favorite game was called whistle or lose it. Where he'd grab you right on the chest and twist. And he'd say, whistle or lose it. And you'd go, sss, sss. It's hard to whistle when someone's twisting right there. Right? But, you know, that's kind of like that, when you get somebody say uncle, what are you really saying? You want mercy? Ask for it. And I'll show you mercy. I'll stop hurting you, right? Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Now obviously no one deserves to be physically tortured like that. I didn't do anything to deserve to play whistle or lose it, okay? But you're asking for mercy. Stop hurting me, right? Mercy is not getting what you deserve. And that's what it means to be a merciful person. If I'm going to extend mercy to somebody, it means I'm not going to punish them according as I could. You know, if people have trespassed against us and done things or offended us or wronged us in some way, that's an opportunity for us to show mercy if we want to, right? See, people think mercy and grace are synonymous, that they mean the same thing. Grace is not getting what you, mercy is not getting what you deserve, grace is getting what you don't deserve. If someone's being very gracious, you know, they're being very kind, very generous, you didn't do anything to warrant this behavior, right? If someone just came up to you and said, hey, you know, I want to do this super nice thing for you, I want to help you in this way, you might even say that's very gracious of you, right? Because they're doing something you didn't deserve. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. And the Bible's saying here that God showed David, Solomon's father, great mercy. And why did he show him that? According as he walked. So he said, you didn't give David, my father, what he deserved because of the fact that he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and uprightness of heart. So you know what, it's there, it's black and white in the Bible, this concept, that if we serve God, it doesn't mean we're never going to be punished, but it just means that God's going to be more merciful with us. God's going to be more inclined to show us mercy. And I kind of see that in the story with Abraham. Obviously, he's interceding because he's trying to preserve the promise, but this is kind of a, you know, he's coming to Abraham's defense, he's preventing this sin from happening because he's got to have the child come through to preserve that promise of Isaac through Sarah. But he's not really rebuking Abraham either for it. And you know, look at verse 13 of where you are in 1 Kings chapter 2. We know that he comes to him and he says, ask with thou wilt and I'll give it to you and he asks for wisdom, right? And he says in verse 12, or verse 11, And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked, this thing has not asked for thyself long life, neither has asked thyself riches, nor has asked the life of thine enemies, but has asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment. Behold, I have done according to thy words. Lo, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee, neither shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. That's a promise from God. Look, you want to live a long life? Serve God. You know, I'm all, you know, people doing things for their health and taking care of themselves, that's great. But, you know, there's plenty of people out there that are doing all these things for their health and I don't give God a second thought. And it's like, you know, I don't care what vitamins you're taking, I don't care what exercises you're doing, the best thing you can do for your health is serve God. You know? And again, that's not saying, you know, as long as we're serving God, you know, we can just treat ourselves poorly and do whatever we want and expect to live a long life. I'm not saying that either. But I am saying it, you know, it's a factor. You know? It is a factor. So, what's the main message I want to get across tonight, and I'll wrap this up, is that we want to be merciful people. Okay? And if you want mercy, serve God. If you want mercy, if you want to merit mercy in your life, and let me just go ahead and tell you again, you're going to need it. At some point, we're all in need of it. Be a merciful person. Okay? Go to Matthew 7, we'll wrap up here in the New Testament. We'll go back and finish up in Genesis in a minute, but I'll remind you again what David said, the psalmist, in chapter 18 of Psalms, verse 25, With the merciful, thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with an upright man, thou wilt shew thyself upright. The Bible says in Lamentations chapter number 3, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because as compassion fail not, they are new every morning. Matthew 7, look at verse 1, Judge not that you be not judged. You know, that's the liberal Christian's favorite verse. That's the only Bible verse they know. It's the only one they have memorized. You know, and we kind of, we point that out, right, that people misunderstand this. That doesn't mean we should never judge. But what Jesus is actually trying to get across here is that if we're going to judge other people, then we can't be hypocrites. And we have to understand that if we're hypocrites, you know, God's going to hold us less accountable. We have to practice what we preach, is what he's saying here. Judge not that you be not judged, for of what judgment you judge, ye shall be judged. God's going to hold you to that same standard. With what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And that's why we don't want to go around just doling out unbiblical standards for other people. You know, especially if they're ones that we ourselves aren't meeting. And that's not good. God's not going to take kindly to that. We're not going to get mercy. Verse 3, Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but consider not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how shalt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote of thine eye, and behold, the beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite. So what's the problem here? Judging? No, it's called being a hypocrite. First, cast out the beam of thine own eye, then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote of thy brother's eye. He's not saying never point out somebody's flaw, never hold anybody accountable, never point out the mote, the little speck of dust that's in somebody's eye. He's saying just don't go around doing that when you have a giant two by four sticking out of your own head. Be a merciful person. You know, sometimes, you know, we hear things or see things or people do things and we're kind of like, ugh, you know, it bugs us, maybe we're even offended, maybe we're even hurt, but you know what? We should examine our own selves first. And just say, you know what? Give them a pass. Why? For my sake, for your own sake. You know, I'm just going to give that person a pass because I want mercy. And here's the thing, it's like, we're not everybody else's dad. You know, sometimes Christians, it's like, it's kind of funny to me to see that they think that they're everyone's dad or something. They got to go around correcting everybody and straightening everybody out. It's like, actually they have a father which is in heaven. You know, a lot of times you just have to say, God, you know, you deal with it. They're your kid. That's your child. Go to Matthew 18. Matthew chapter 18. The Bible says in Proverbs 19, of course, whenever you preach about this very famous verse that comes up, it's one I think about a lot. The discretion of a man defereth his anger and it is a glory to pass over a transgression. It's a glory to pass over a transgression. You know, a transgression when someone has actually done you wrong to the point where it's made you angry. I mean, don't you get angry when people do you wrong? Do you dirty? Yeah, it's upsetting. No one likes that. People hate that. But you know what? The Bible says you can have discretion and just say, you know what? I'm just going to forgive. I'm just going to be merciful. I'm just going to defer anger. I'm not going to go nail that person on the wall. I'm not going to go tell them what I think. I'm not going to give them to be merciful. Because a lot of times when we do those things, you know, we end up doing it in the flesh. You know, a lot of times people like that kind of stuff sometimes. People like to be angry. Right? They like to feel like, you know, superior in some way. You know, they like to be able to like put somebody down and, you know, like blah. Makes me feel bigger. Right? But the Bible says it's a discretion of anger. The discretion of a man. And it's discretion. And that's what I'm trying to get across tonight is that you have some wisdom, have some discretion when it comes to this. Because people are going to offend you. People are going to do things that are wrong to you. It's going to happen. And it's your discretion that will defer that. Rather than letting them have it, you're going to say, you know what? They get a pass. And it is his glory to pass over a transgression. You know, how's that going to come back on you? Well, one day you're going to offend God and God's going to go, well, you're merciful. I'll show you some mercy. You know, and maybe we do something really bad. And God's like, well, you know, I normally would have gone this far with it, but because you're walking in my statutes and trying to live for God and you're trying to live a righteous life and you've deferred your anger and you've shown mercy, I'm only going to take it this far. I could have done this. Right? So, you know, that's a reason for us to like, well, let's be like David. Let's walk, you know, not in some ways, obviously, it's not going to come in adultery, but let's walk in his statutes. Let's live righteously. Let's, you know, and let's be merciful people. So that when we do mess up, when we do make mistakes, when we do do things that we don't even know are upsetting God, we don't get this. We might get this. Or maybe nothing at all. Who knows? You know, the parable here, I'm sure everyone's familiar with about the king who had two servants and there was one brought to him, verse 24, which owed him 10,000 talents. Okay? But he had not much to pay and his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and his children, all that he had and payment to be made. The servant, therefore, fell down in worship saying, Lord, have patience with me and I'll pay thee all. What's he saying? Have mercy. Be merciful. Be patient. Be merciful. Be patient. Don't sell me and my family into slavery. The Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him all the debt. 10,000 talents, he said, forgiven. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him 100 pence, owed him like a fraction of what he owed this guy and had just been forgiven. And he goes and finds another guy that owes him just nothing, a pittance. And he takes him by the throat. He laid hands on him and took him by the throat. He's throttling. Pay me what thou owest. Give me my pence. This guy just got forgiven 10,000 talents. Way more. And now he's throttling this other guy over this nothing that he owes him. And he would not. But he went and his fellow servant, verse 29, this is important, fell down, sound familiar, and besought him saying, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. You know, that should have rang in that guy's, is there an echo? You know? You just got done saying that. And the guy showed you compassion. But he would not. And he cast him to prison until he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw what was done, they were very sorry and told their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after he had called unto him, said, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirest me, shouldest not thou have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that he was due unto him. What's the point of the story? Verse 35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. That's a very stern warning from God, from the mouth of Jesus. Forgive your brother or God won't forgive you. Forgiveness and mercy and patience is kind of a big theme in the Christian life. It's a major theme in the Bible. Why? Because God has forgiven us. We can't even begin to reckon back to God how much he's forgiven us. You know, our sins are as the sands of the sea and God just said, Forgiven. And not only forgiven, forgotten. Cast away the sins of the sea and not forgotten. Cast behind his back, never to be brought up again. You know, we get saved, we confess and forsake our sin. You know, if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, we do that. And then, you know, if you went back and brought that same sin up to God, God would be like, I don't know what you're talking about. All I see is the blood of Christ. God said, I forgot about that. And God's saying, that's the manner to forgive our brethren. You know, and some people don't like it when I preach this, but this is what the Bible says. And the people that don't like this kind of preaching, that disagree with me, they're the ones I've noticed that have the problem with this. Of letting things go, of forgiving people and giving people another chance. You know, they just mark people, once people have offended or do something wrong, they just mark them down. And you know what? Those people, here's why I get nervous with people like that because it's only a matter of time until they do it to you. Then they, you know, here's the thing, if I know you're the type of person that just holds a grudge and doesn't let things go and doesn't forgive and doesn't forget, I'm gonna be on eggshells around you. Think about it. You know, because believe it or not, I know, you know, you might get a different impression from sometimes the way I preach. I'm not trying to go out of my way to offend people and hurt people's feelings. I'm really not. I've just accepted the fact that that's part of the job of getting up here and saying the word of God. It's gonna offend, okay? But I'm not trying to go and offend and hurt people's feelings, you know, and, if I, and here's the thing, it's like I get nervous around people that I know that can't forgive and forget because it's like it's only a matter of time until I do it to you. I mean, it's literally like part of my job to reprove and rebuke. There's nothing fun about that. You know, that's not a carnival ride that you can go buy tickets for. Step right up. Get reproved. Get rebuked. No one pays for that. People avoid that like the plague, right? It's like, but that's what I've been called to do. So I get really nervous when I see people who can't forgive other people and let them go and I just go, well, it's only a matter of time. It's only a matter of time until they get bitter at me and upset with me and you know what? Maybe even I do do something that's, you know, beyond just biblical preaching where I actually do something on a personal level that hurts someone's feelings. That I actually wrong some people. Because guess what? You know, I'm no better than Abraham. Abraham was flawed. So am I. And so are you. Right? And it's like, I'm going to be on eggshells around people that are like that. I can't be myself. I'm like, well, I don't want to offend that person. I don't want to say anything that's wrong. Not that I, you know, would. But it's just like when you see people that can't let people, let things go and forgive people. Mark it down, my friend. It's only a matter of time until they're angry and bitter and resentful at you. It's true. You know, I think that's part of the reason why Abraham is being given mercy when it comes to this thing. Right now, at the end of the story, he is being reproved by Abimelek. And so is Sarah. Because, you know, very quickly, he said in verse 16, unto Sarah, he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes unto all that are with thee and with all other, and thus she was reproved. Right? Like, he's supposed to be a covering of the eyes. You know, meaning, I believe, like, he's supposed to protect Sarah from other people, you know, desiring her, wanting to take her. It's kind of a difficult saying to get the exact meaning of what he's saying. I've struggled with that. I think I'm starting to get it. But the point is that, whatever that means, the last thing that it says there in that verse is thus she was reproved. So she's being reproved. So Abraham prayed unto God, and God healed Abimelek and his wife and his maidservants, and they bear children. Right? So there is some justified reproof going on here. Abraham's being reproved. Sarah's being reproved. What they did was wrong. But notice in the story, God's not coming down on them. And obviously it was wrong what they did, and God is certainly interceding, but on behalf of the promise. Right? For the promise of sake. I can't help but think that part of the reason why God is kind of sparing Abraham is because Abraham is somebody who has spared others. You know, a lot comes to mind. Well, he heard when Lot went and pitched his tent towards Sodom. I mean, Abraham could have been said, well, and you know, remember, he was abducted, again, abducted by the kings. Abraham could have just been like, what did he think was going to happen? When you go hang out in Sodom, that's the kind of stuff that happens. You never know how life's going to turn out when you're just giving over the world and giving over to all this filth and sin and worldliness. You never know. But no, he goes and spares him in spite of Lot's own flaws. He says, let's go get our brother back. Let's go get our kinsman back. Let's go rescue him from that. He shows mercy, right? He's sparing him. He's not just writing him off to, you know, to his fate. He's interceding on his behalf. He does that twice. He just read it last week in chapter 19, where he's praying God down. He's begging God down to spare the righteous in Sodom. It turns out Lot was the only one. And he's living in Sodom. I mean, at that point, I would've just been like, you know, Lot, you got it coming. You know, humanly speaking, wouldn't that have been such a bad response? At first glance, we've been like, well, yeah. You want to go live in Sodom, buddy? You're going to go down with the ship. What were you thinking? Lot? You idiot. But that wasn't Abraham's attitude. He spared Lot. And I'm sure it's because he loved Lot, he cared about Lot, but because he spared Lot, I believe Abraham is being spared also. When he does things that are wrong, God says, you know what? Mercy here. And shows him forgiveness. And even in the story, Abimelech, you know, although he was kind of strong-armed by God pretty much, when God comes to you in the night and says you're a dead man, you're going to do whatever he says. But, you know, in a sense, he's also showing mercy. He's getting it right. He's reproving, but he's also giving them silver, he's sending them away, restoring them, sending them off better than when they showed up. And as a result, what does the Bible say? God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservant and they bear children. The Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. God shows them mercy. He does what he's supposed to do, he follows the commandments of God, God shows them mercy. You know, again, mercy, forgiveness, it's a major thing. It's a major thing because, you know, we need mercy, we have been forgiven, we need forgiveness. You want that? You want to merit mercy? You need to extend that to others. I mean, it's literally in the Lord's Prayer, right? Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Right? That's what Jesus, when they said, teach us to forgive, forgive us, forgive us, that's what Jesus, when they said, teach us to pray. Here's something, and not rote memorization, he's saying, here's something you should pray about. Help me to forgive other people even as you have forgiven me. That's what he's saying. So, kind of a major theme in the Bible and I think tonight this is a good example of that, once again. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the mercy and the forgiveness and the grace that you've shown towards every one of us, every one of your children and Lord, help us on it. We can't even begin to understand, Lord, the Bible says, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. What a great honor to be forgiven and to be called your son, to be an heir with Christ. What a great standing, Lord, and we know it's all by grace and mercy that we even have that. That it's only through your love that we have the free gift of salvation and Lord, I pray you'd help us to extend that same grace to others through preaching the Gospel and Lord, to reconcile others unto you and Lord, help us to be merciful with our brethren, merciful with other people in our lives. Help us to forgive even as you have forgiven us. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we are dismissed tonight. If you could please open up your song, the books of Psalm, number 389. Psalm 389. Sing it out. Tis the shepherd's voice I hear, having the desert darkened year, calling the sheep who've gone astray, far from the shepherds all the way. Bring them in, bring them in, bring them in from the fields of spring. Bring them in, bring them in, bring the water close to Jesus. Hold them with the wish shepherd kind, help bring the wandering ones to flight. Hold bring the lost ones to the throne, where there'll be shelter from the poor. Bring them in, bring them in, bring them in from the fields of spring. Bring them in, bring them in, bring the wandering ones to be on the shore. Help bring the desert, hear them cry. Help from the mountains wild and high, who art in the master speaks to thee. Go find my sheep are ready. Bring them in, bring them in, bring them in from the fields of spring. Bring them in, bring them in, bring the wandering ones to be on the shore. Amen. piano plays piano plays piano plays piano plays