In part 1, I went through several verses exposing why we must exceed the carnal righteousness of the Pharisees if we are going to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, which is crucial to understand because the prophets are declaring we have crossed over into the Kingdom Era. One of the verses pointed out that they omitted the weightier parts of the law – Judgment, Mercy, and Faith.
Matthew 23:23 – Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Let’s get a bit nerdy for this second part and look up the definitions of those words for more clarity. Having the correct definition is essential because if we think a word means homosexual when it was originally defined as happy, otherwise our interpretation of scripture will be way off. I’ll also include other verses that use the same word for deeper understanding. Stay with me here because these definitions are key to understanding the Kingdom era we are shifting into and the phariseeical church era we are leaving behind.
Each word has 3 parts – the Strong’s concordance definition, scriptures with the same word for better clarity, and my 2 cents.
Judgment – G2920 – Krisis –
I. a separating, sundering, separation
A. a trial, contest
I.selection
II.judgment
. opinion or decision given concerning anything
i.esp. concerning justice and injustice, right or wrong
A. sentence of condemnation, damnatory judgment, condemnation and punishment
III.the college of judges (a tribunal of seven men in the several cities of Palestine; as distinguished from the Sanhedrin, which had its seat at Jerusalem)
IV.right, justice
Scripture example:
Matthew 12:18 – Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment G2920 to the Gentiles.
Matt 23:33 – Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation G2920 of hell?
Jn 12:31 – Now is the judgment G2920 of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
My 2 cents:
Judgment is not criticizing or making someone feel bad for doing something a person doesn’t agree with. It is separating wickedness and iniquity from the presence of the Most High God. That is the very reason Jesus came to shed His precious blood so that by His blood sacrifice, we could be restored to intimate relationship with the Most High God while sin suffered the punishment as it was separated FROM us.
If we are spiritual, we can follow Jesus’ model by executing judgment upon the demons by casting THEM out and healing the sicknesses that sin caused, thereby bringing people back into fellowship with God and man. If we are carnal and spiritually blind like the Pharisees, we will be blind to the demons being the source of torment and execute judgment against the human in bondage. The carnal-minded will be oblivious to how they are participating with demons through their rebellion against God’s commandments and unforgiveness as they bemoan why their lives are such a painful mess. The defiant will declare they aren’t the problem, blaming God for all His “impossibly strict rules” or the church for their misrepresentation of God, yet they will be eternally separated from God and His love, peace, and joy as long as they cling to their defiance. If they do not release the demons or their sin, they will be separated from God along with them.
Will we release life to those around us or death with the power of our words in this Decade of the Mouth? I recently heard Isaac Pitre say something along the lines that intimacy is mouth to mouth. When the LORD’s mouth is in our mouths and we declare only what He is saying, we have entered into a new level of intimacy with our Judge and King.
Mercy – G1656 – Eleos
I. mercy: kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them
A. of men towards men: to exercise the virtue of mercy, show one’s self merciful
B. of God towards men: in general providence; the mercy and clemency of God in providing and offering to men salvation by Christ
C. the mercy of Christ, whereby at his return to judgment he will bless true Christians with eternal life
Scripture example:
Mat 9:13 – But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, G1656 and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Matt 12:7 – But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, G1656 and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Titus 3:5 – Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy G1656 he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
James 2:13 – For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; G1656 and mercy G1656 rejoiceth against judgment.
My 2 Cents:
Abba Father’s desire was so strong to rescue us from our wretched sinful state and bring us freedom that He sent His Son to take our place. We didn’t deserve His mercy, yet he freely gave it BEFORE we ever asked! So why do we demand people on earth to deserve ours? If Jesus has already paid the penalty to make us all guiltless, why are we trying to demand people come up with their own payment for their sin? Do we not realize that our failure to show mercy means we rob ourselves of mercy also? Rather, mercy is introducing people, or more often inside the church reminding people, how to possess the payment by repenting of their sin, which is disobeying God’s commandments, and own the fact that the sin is GONE, it’s paid for. Now make sure we don’t repeat that same sin and make a new stain reappear in the old spot by continuing to walk in rebellion, for we have no further sacrifice if we trample upon the Spirit of Grace and the blood of His covenant (Heb 10:26-31).
It takes transparency, vulnerability, and humility to admit we HAVE sinned and can do NOTHING to earn our salvation; we simply need to receive unmerited mercy. It shows strength of character and gratitude for His priceless gift to say, “Thank You” with our change of actions to live up to the potential the Holy Spirit births within us to accomplish even greater things than Jesus did. That means we will have to do things the way Jesus did – in obedience to the Father’s house rules, saying what the Father said and doing what the Father did.
Faith – Pistis – G4102
I.conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it
A. relating to God
i.the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ
B. relating to Christ
.a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God
C. the religious beliefs of Christians
D. belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same
II.fidelity, faithfulness
. the character of one who can be relied on
Scripture References:
Matt 9:22- But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith G4102 hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
Matt 17:20 – And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith G4102 as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mark 11:22 – And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith G4102 in God.
Romans 3:27-28 – Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith G4102 without the deeds of the law. Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
My 2 Cents:
While mercy is freely given and freely received, faith will cost us our lives and our wills. Do we truly BELIEVE that Jesus Christ is the master and boss of our lives? Or do we treat him as our sugar daddy that will give us whatever we want while we remain lovers of self and serve “I, Me, and My”? We are to live out the Law of faith that freely justifies us by BEING faithful ourselves to establish the Law in our own lives!
Faithfulness is defined as the character of one who can be relied on. We are created in the image of God. He and His word are faithful to be relied upon. The lady with the issue of blood stood upon Malachi 4:2, that the Sun of Righteousness will have healing in His wings (kanaph). She would have known that the border on that garment (kanaph) was a reminder to obey the Law (Num 15:38-40), which Jesus did perfectly. She would have also been aware that those who repent and return to obedience to God’s commandments will have all disease taken away (Deut 7:12,15) so she chased after the One who could restore her to righteousness with her God. She would have known that Ruth purposefully chased after Boaz, her Kinsmen Redeemer, and covered herself with his skirt (kanaph) – her action, not his – which unlocked blessings being freely given that she didn’t have to earn BEFORE he fully manifested her redemption. She put her faith in Jesus’ faith into action and got results.
We often question His faithfulness when really it is our LACK of faithfulness to fulfill the conditional obligations required to manifest the blessings that is the problem. Our Heavenly Father has given us His house rules. Children, obey your parents in the LORD for this is right. Fathers discipline the children they love. Just like biological families, you can often observe from appearance & behavior who belongs in the same family. Will we prove ourselves to be faithful children that live up to the role model of our sinless brother Jesus and the expectations of our Heavenly Father or be rebellious children that deserve to be stoned?
The opposite of faith is unbelief. Will you open your heart to trust Him with His faithfulness and respond with your faith? In Malachi 3:10, we are given permission to test God in the area of our tithes. It wasn’t JUST the 10% tithe because it says titheS…that’s plural. You know how to read, so you can study for yourselves the tithes the LORD was being robbed of. Will the LORD find faith in the earth this year? That’s up to you, just like it was up to Ruth and to the woman with the issue of blood.
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