The High Cost of Mercy
By David Wilkerson August 4, 2008
Dearly Beloved:
MAY THE JOY OF JESUS FLOOD YOUR SOUL. Economic conditions keep growing worse. News reports are fueling the panic, and even people of seasoned
faith experience pangs of anxiety. The second largest bank in America,IndyMac, was taken over by the government, and we saw pictures of
hundreds lining up trying to get their money out. But where do you put it then? There are no more safe havens. Truly God’s Word is fast being fulfilled: all is being shaken, exactly as we were warned. NOW IT IS PROVING TIME! We who know God as Father — we who have boasted all
these years that he is our strength, our provider, our hiding place, our strong tower, our protector, our deliverer — we must now show the
world that the God we serve will do all he promised. We will be facing times that test us beyond our ability to endure. But that is why God
sent the Holy Spirit to abide in us. He is truly the comforter, our guide, for times like these. If we find a place alone with the Lord daily — pouring out our hearts to him, putting our fears on him, asking the Holy Spirit to guide us each day — we will not live in panic. Fear is a tormenter. And Jesus has told us, “Let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” To do this, we must make a new commitment when we rise to face each day. This is a commitment of everything — every situation, every relationship —
into the hands of the Lord. We are going to find our God has everything under control. Indeed, his angels are on assignment even now to keep you
from falling. We support so many new missionary undertakings around the world: orphanages, feeding programs, housing for disaster victims, care of widows, homes for addicts and alcoholics in various nations including Muslim lands. It requires much faith on our part to keep providing for our commitments. But we have no fear. The God who helped us over the past 50 years will see us through. He has, and he will. God will also
provide for you. Thank you for caring and for putting others first. Love in Christ, DAVID WILKERSON DW:bbm 8.4.08
Newsletter: The High Cost of Mercy
August 4, 2008 “Love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the
children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful”
(Luke 6:35-36, my italics). Throughout the Bible, a powerful theme rings out: “The Lord thy God is a merciful God” (Deuteronomy 4:31, my italics). This theme of mercy is at the very core of the Old
Testament. We read it again and again in Deuteronomy, Chronicles, Nehemiah and Psalms: “The Lord your God is gracious and merciful.”
Likewise, we see the same theme of mercy in each of the Gospels and throughout the New Testament: “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). The Scriptures tell us
something of what God’s mercy to a sinful world cost him.The Lord did not give up on this sinful, godless, lust-consumed world. When he looked
down at the outbreak of debauchery on the earth, he didn’t turn away from his creation. Instead, he sent his own Son into our midst. And, in
his tender mercy, the Lord offered up his Son as a sacrifice. He laid on Christ the iniquities of us all. Think of the high cost of mercy that
Jesus paid.
The weight of such a price simply cannot be calculated. No one can measure Christ’s pain at taking upon himself the sins of the
world. Yet Scripture does give us clear details about the cost Jesuspaid for the mercy he ministered here on earth. First, Jesus was
rejected by the entire religious world. The leaders of his day turned on him with outright venom. Moreover, he was mocked and despised by
rich and poor, educated and illiterate alike. And his message was refused by all but a few. According to the Psalms, Jesus’ name became
a song of drunkards. Finally, the whole of society spat on him, abused him, nailed him to a cross and killed him. As the beneficiaries of
God’s mercy, you and I know something of the cost to Jesus for extending such mercy to a lost world.
His tender mercy found you personally in your sinful bondage. He heard your heart’s cry and
delivered you. He changed you, opened your eyes, filled you with his Holy Spirit. And he made you a vessel of honor to proclaim his gospel.
Make no mistake: it is a costly mercy you have received. We preach that God’s mercy is free, that it is unmerited and therefore of no cost to
us. The price for it was paid in full by Christ’s shed blood. And, indeed, all of this is true. God is fully satisfied by the price Jesus paid to bring us his mercy. And now we have received heaven as an inheritance. His mercy provides assurance of eternal life to every true believer. Yet there is a price on the human side — our side — of God’s mercy. What is the cost to us? It is the high cost of becoming a true witness to the power of the mercy we have received. The fact is,
offering the same mercy that has been given to us will cost us dearly here on earth. It is a cost we can expect to pay in our everyday life. You see, Jesus commands us, “Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 5:36). And, as
Christ showed by example, to be merciful as the Father is merciful is very costly. Jesus paid the price of that mercy in his flesh. And you
and I can expect to pay the same price. Like him, we will face total rejection. As messengers of the gospel, our words will not be accepted
by the world. In fact, the more Christ is exalted in our lives, the more we can expect God’s mercy to be ridiculed and rejected. The first cost of mercy to Jesus was his heavenly position. Mercy moved him to come to earth to take on human flesh. And ultimately, the mercy he offered to the world cost him his life. Yet Jesus’ example of mercy is a model to all who would follow him. He tells us, in essence, “Let my life show you the cost of mercy. It is total rejection by this
world.” Paul paid the same high cost of living out God’s mercy that Jesus paid on earth.Jesus warned us, “Remember the word that I said
unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). The apostle Paul testified to this truth: “(We) labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring [scum] of all things unto this day” (1Corinthians 4:12–13).
What are we to make of this rejection? Jesus answers us: “Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for behold, your reward is great in heaven” (Luke 6:23). This is a difficult truth to swallow. How can we rejoice and be glad at harsh persecution?
Beloved, it is all part of the high cost of mercy. As it was with Paul, who was seen as scum, so it is for Christ’s body, the church. There is
a price we all must pay when we preach Jesus and his mercy. Yet this high price isn’t only rejection by an unbelieving world. It is not
only the disapproval and rejection of the atheistic liberal media. We also face denunciation and condescension from the compromised religious world. Jesus warned his disciples: “Men shall hate you, and…they
shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake” (Luke 6:22).
Everything Jesus describes here happened to him at the hands of the religious system of his day. At one time in his life, the apostle Paul
had been a powerful force of such persecution. Indeed, the more he harassed “Jesus people,” the more the religious leaders heaped
praises on him. With every believer Paul cast into prison, those leaders applauded him and his reputation grew. His name was Saul at
first, and he was a young and powerful zealot. He was without a fault according to the Jewish law and enjoyed the praises of high officials
of the synagogue. What is our first glimpse of this upstanding man in Scripture? We meet Saul as he stands by, approving the brutal stoning
of Stephen. Saul was known throughout that region of the world as the number-one persecutor of
Christ’s church. He was determined to wipe out Jesus’ name from the face of the earth, to snuff out the church in its infancy. But the day
came when mercy shone on Saul.
I picture the zealous Pharisee at the beginning of that special day. He had asked for an audience with the
high priest: “The young man who persecutes the Jesus crowd wants permission to take his crusade to Damascus. He vows to jail them all.
He thinks he is able to put out this ‘Jesus fire.’” With the blessing of the Jewish rulers, Saul rode out of Jerusalem with his band
of men toward their next mission. Imagine the scene as they were cheered by the high priest and all the scribes and Pharisees. But then, just
outside the township of Damascus, mercy shone upon Saul. How did mercy act upon this lost, misguided man? It did not try to confound him. It
did not accuse him. It did not try to destroy him. Instead, the fully paid, free mercy of the Lord laid Saul face down on the ground. And a
voice spoke to him, saying, “Saul, Saul, this is Jesus. Why are you persecuting me?” (see Acts 9). Christ’s message to this zealot was clear: “It is me you are touching, Saul. With every Christian you have jailed, you have done it to me.” Saul was overwhelmed by this revelation. Temporarily stricken blind, he was led to the home of a
praying, Spirit-filled man in Damascus named Ananias.
In a small room there, Saul called on the name of Jesus. Ananias explained to him the
high cost of the mercy he had received: “Now, Saul, you are going to suffer for his name’s sake.” Think of the costly mercy Saul
received that day. With his conscience pricked, he surely thought back to Stephen’s stoning…recalled every believer he had thrown into
jail…saw again the faces of all he had abused. Oh, the costly mercy this man received. Renamed Paul, the apostle spent the rest of his life
preaching and writing about God’s mercy. And he testified continually of the high cost of living out that mercy in a wicked world. For two
millennia, Paul’s writings have reminded the church of what Jesus said to us: “Men will hate you. They will withdraw from you. They will reproach you and cast out your name as evil. But that is the time to rejoice and leap for joy!” Satan fears, loathes and hates the power of God’s mercy.It is mercy, pure and simple, that has decimated the devil’s kingdom on earth. Satan never thought he could lose his power over the addicted, the hopeless dregs of humanity. But mercy has brought release for multitudes he once held captive. Now Satan realizes we are at the end of the last days. And he is determined to narcotize an entire generation, to numb them to their need for God’s mercy. He wants to erect barriers in the minds of young people so God’s mercy won’t touch them. So he has unleashed demonic hordes of drug growers and producers to bring about this evil.