Wednesday Night Bible Study
by Billy McCool
May 12, 2021 · First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: Bible study
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 12, Philippians 4:4, Jonah 4:10-11, Romans 1:22, Psalms 145:9, Psalms 136:1-16

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/billy-mccool--wednesday-night-bible-study-124
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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praise the lord everyone we greet you tonight in the wonderful name of the lord jesus christ that great high and holy name that name that is above every name aren't you glad you know that name tonight it's good to see so many wonderful folks in our uh midweek bible study and it's important to study the word of the lord that paul said to timothy study to show thyself approved unto god a workman that needeth not to be ashamed study to show thyself and we need to study the word of the lord and i'm looking forward to seeing that program friday night whether i will see it in person or online sister mccool and i i don't know we'll flip coins or what uh but one of us will be here this this friday night and looking forward to such a great time to see these to see these children tonight our study is lesson number 11 and it's hard to believe that two more lessons and we'll be out of this quarter and be going into another here we are in the getting in the middle of the year time is flying i told sister mccool the other day it just occurred to me that i'm realizing more what the scripture means when it says life is as a vapor that appears for a while and then it's gone it banishes the way and i would give admonition to you young folks you middle-aged folks and you old folks we old folks enjoy life enjoy it enjoy enjoy life and oblivious in the 12th chapter of ecclesiastes it tells us to do all your heart desires to enjoy life tells you to but it said just remember this for everything you do you're going to be brought into judgment and he's not against you enjoying life he wants you to enjoy life the bible said the joy of the lord is our strength the book of philippians is filled with the admonition rejoice rejoice in the lord rejoice and again i say rejoice and we need to be rejoicing in the lord some some folks are prone to feeling like that being down and out and sad is somehow godly it isn't necessarily so it was jeremiah known as the weeping prophet but there were many others that had a lot of jobs so let's have joy and friday night we've had so many of these spring programs and they just get better and better and uh some of you that's got grandchildren now probably were in some of those early programs so you see what i mean about life is as a vapor tonight's lesson is a it's a great lesson just the title of it great mercy mercy and the uh the writers of this lesson took a little different turn at dealing with mercy and this is why i like to to teach from a curriculum because i i like to hear what other leaders and spiritual workers and spiritual leaders are especially those who are engaged in the in the teaching ministry how they're thinking uh pastor anthony he every time he preaches i get so many sermons i need to go back on the evangelistic field and preach them home i'd go somewhere and preach them so he won't hear me but that that sermon he preached sunday night was just uh just fantastic brother nate comes along pastor mark mccoo comes along and they just fill me with new thoughts and new texts and things that i've preached for 70 years 73 years and yet it's so fresh and new when you hear other men of god preach it thank you brothers for doing such a great job great mercy the focus thought we must not begrudge god for showing mercy to others because we need god's mercy at all times that that that little statement right there started me to thinking can you imagine we must not you mean there are folks that begrudge god for showing somebody mercy well when i begin to think of that uh jesus uh the the bible records many examples but the two great ones that i'm thinking about in the new testament jesus told about the prodigal son and that that meant that story has been preached everywhere it can be preached up and down sideways and upside down every way and but then the the very last part of that story the older boy was out in the field and and he heard music and dancing and and he said what's going on they said your son that's been gone he's come home and your dad is having a party and he wouldn't come he wouldn't come in because he was jealous he said i've been here all these years and been faithful and he's never pitched a party for me and said here my younger uh rough neck brother of mine had gone out here and wasted his substance on righteous living and now look what dad's doing dad went out to appease him and he said son you've been with me all this time all this stuff has been yours all the time the fatted calf's been here the clothes it's been here all the time you just didn't take advantage of it it was here it was yours i wouldn't refuse you to do anything you need like that and and just think about that he begrudged the mercy and the acceptance that his dad was given to his wayward brother when he should have been so thrilled to see his brother himself and uh it was here son it's been here all the time you could've been enjoying this oh what's the matter you you you've overlooked something here uh let me tell you something as bad as i hate to admit it sometimes we don't say it just that way but when somebody new comes in the church and especially backsliders that would be the equivalent of that wayward son the prodigal they come back in i've heard them say oh here they go again there they're going to get recapped and make some kind of unkind remark and and that's not showing mercy and the real fact is somebody else may backslide openly i may be vaccinated in my heart can i say that again you can be backslid openly and you can be backslid in your heart the bible said thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill but it also says thou shalt not covet is there anybody in here can say you have never coveted anything and anybody else has if you if you're one of those you you can step forward for the the prize the fact of the matter is err the bible says all have sin and when we hold ourselves up to where we can criticize or ridicule somebody else that's showing a lack of mercy and the bible says blessed are the merciful for what they shall obtain mercy judge not lest ye be judged see we set up we set up our own pattern of of what people are going to think of us the way we behave and act toward others and and we show that in another way and we really can control this and we really should control it you know somebody you can know them too well you know things about them in their younger life or in their wayward life or in their temporary stumbling backsliding state did things and yeah i make it my job to tell others about it i want to did i tell you about what she did what he did the bible says speak evil of no man speak evil of no man the bible said there are some things just not one time to be mentioned among you and as a church family we need to learn this what i'm saying this is simple talk tonight but it's it's bible study and it's teaching not preaching somehow we got the idea the preaching has got to be yelling and spitting and and stomping and and that's good because i've done i've done my share of it and i don't intend to stop anytime soon we must not begrudge god for showing mercy to others another example that i thought of as i read that focused thought when some very religious men brought a a woman of probably ill refuge and they they brought in those days religious law was civil law they had the authority to enforce their jewish law even though they were under roman dominion and they all fellows had stones and they weren't as tempting jesus but they said this woman was caught in the very act of adultery and then they put him on the spot they they said they thought they did they said the the law says we're supposed to stone her to death oh you know i can be so self-righteous and so religious when somebody else does something i can i can tell them how bad they have been but when it's a member of my family when it's me myself that somehow we find a way to we can call it make an allowance or we could call it grace and so jesus realizing that he had some religious men that that were basing their actions upon real scripture they were basing their behavior upon the law so what's jesus going to do you know the story it's as old as time he reached out beginning right on the ground and i don't know if he looked up or not but he said let him that's without sin cast the first stone cast a stone and then he reached them began to write again he looked up and they were all gone jesus the woman didn't leave she just stood there she knew she was guilty and jesus said woman where arthane accusers said lord i have none he said neither do i condemn they would go and send the mourn and we as a as a church as a church family or or me as an individual christian i need to put myself in that place every time i'm faced with the opportunity of criticizing someone or telling somebody else somebody's fault it's lots better left unsaid than to to say it and there are many other examples but you can you you can think of of one yourself right now of something that you know this this happened our uh focused verses is jonah 4 10-11 and this lesson tonight is all about jonah and we've heard that story many times then said the lord thou hast had pity on the gourd for the which thou hast not labored neither made us it grow which came up in a night and perished in the night and should not i spared nineveh the great city wherein are more than six court a hundred and seventy five thousand purses is what we're talking about they cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand all so much cattle now look how valuable they are look what they're talking about but now see what had happened god had jonah in his own condemnation of god and and really he was he was accusing god god called him to go to the end of it and preach to that great city and tell them that in 40 days they're going to be destroyed and jonah got him a ticket got on a ship but he went and the other direction instead of going to nineveh he headed to tarsus he went to he went to miami beach he went to a vacation resort or we thought he was and uh and on the way god stirred up a storm and i want to tell you something friend when you start running from god god knows how to stir up a storm in your life he can stir up a storm that you can't imagine and and i call it anthony quotes me i i heard him a couple three times that papaw says that uh 23rd psalm the lord is my shepherd i shall not want and pawpaw interprets that it's god's got two old shaggy shepherd dogs that she got on your trail and you're not going to get away they're going to trail you to the gates of hell they're they're after you too late you give up and turn your life over to the lord and if you're here tonight if you have a loved one that you know that's lost backslid no matter what they've done remember this all of sin god's got there's two old shaggy shepherd dogs love and mercy they're on on your trail you might as well give up and say yes lord but uh jonah was on that ship went down the side of the ship found him a comfortable place and went to sleep and god stirred up a little high pressure over here and a little low pressure over here and he put a little wind over here and put the elements together and he stirred that thing up to a great storm at sea and i mean to tell you that that old ship was reeling and rocking and those experienced mariners they were frightened that they were terrified they were throwing things overboard yeah the the the the cargo that they were supposed to deliver it was out there floating this thought and then they finally got their own part of the uh the the the parts of the ship anything they could get light in the boat that they did and looking for something else they went down in the side of the ship and there was somebody asleep wake up man wake up who are you who are you my name is jonah well i'm a hebrew you're a hebrew yeah i'm a hebrew well hebrews believe in a god if you're a hebrew and you believe it you better get to call on your god because this boat's about to go down jonah said i can tell you what's wrong i'm the problem god is after me i've disobeyed god i'm running from god and said throw me overboard and it'll save the ship and they tried again but they couldn't cause the ship to run correctly so they got him up and they gave him the old heave-ho and down he went and there was a large shadowy figure down deep came up and just opened his mouth and took him in and it was a huge fish and when that happened the sea became flat like a glass and the storm stopped everything was still god had got his man but he is a merciful god he was he now he was in the belly of that fish three days and after three days the bible said he had a seaweed wrapped around now i don't know how a man couldn't live three days in the belly of a fish unless it was a miraculous thing but he would he lived three days down there and and jonah himself said from the belly of hell cried i unto the lord david said if i make my bed in hell thou art there i want to tell you something god knows who you are where you are and he knows how to get you some folks are they they must be lovers of misery because they're they're getting in deeper all the time and what you need to do is throw up the white flag and say i surrender i surrender all they also have i surrender all all to thee i now surrender lord i surrender and you know jonah said i turned my face toward jeru and i prayed toward jerusalem and i read that and and i thought well how in the world did he know which way jerusalem was down there in the fish's belly but he prayed toward jerusalem well i think the real meaning of that is that uh he's praying toward the house of god that's where jerusalem is but i i imagined the reason he prayed toward jerusalem he prayed this way and this way and this way whichever way jerusalem went he prayed that way i want to tell you something if you're in trouble with god find a way to pray find the house find jerusalem wherever it is get to 50 20 pleasant ridge road get to the house of god and pray toward the house of god and when he did that god gave a crayon that little fish started getting sick and he took off to the land and he spew him out on the sand and some folks say that jonah uh there was a song or resultation while john was waiting for his clothes to dry i don't think he waited for his clothes to dry he headed toward jerusalem and the bible said when a day's journey into jerusalem it was a city should take three days to to go through he he was he was on the way preaching that they were going to be destroyed in three days and 40 days now what happened you talk about a a successful evangelist behold the king repented he he kept the cattle from eating he got down in sackcloth and ashes he he he even showed that the cattle were not going to eat they were going to be everything was going to exemplify mourning and sadness and and and a repentant attitude the king of everybody well when gentlemen got in a revival of people praying everywhere the whole city jonah found in the hillside they climbed up on that hill and he waited the time out for fire and brimstone to start coming down and when the time came nothing happened nothing happened and jonah said yeah i knew this was going to happen i knew you as a merciful god and i knew i i i just knew you'd make a fool out of me let me preach about all the destruction and now then you're not going to do it god i knew it i knew it this is this look where you've left me you know we worry too much about what we look like we worry about whether we're accepted or not accepted or or whether we've been made fun of or this not any other but so he got up on the hillside and the bible said god caused a gourd vine to grow up out of the ground just a miraculous the fish was miraculous the the the whole story's miraculous but that gourd vine just grew up and formed a got him i got him a booth that was and then in that part of the country uh the the sun can get extremely hot and furious and and there he was and so he sat under that gourd vine and said all right now i'm going to see it come on god let the fireworks go let the fireworks start god you're not going to do it yes i knew it i god let a a worm come through under and cut that gourd vinyl and it just welted immediately and it got so hot that jonah fading fainted and when he when he got god said that jonah the gourd vine didn't mean much to you the earth didn't mean much to you but look at that that was him you would rather me save the gourd the gourd vine you'd rather me save the worm you're and and and destroy all these people so you could say look what i've done said there's a hundred and eighty 000 people out there that don't know the right hand from the left they don't know how deep in sin they don't know what a condition let me tell you something we're preaching to a world right now that's so far from god they don't know how far they are oh can you imagine the insanity of sin professing themselves to be wise they became fools the first chapter of romans paints the picture of what they turn out to to do and be and how far they are from god but listen they need a savior they need mercy he is a god of mercy and we need to exemplify that spirit of mercy and scripture not compromise but compassion loving compassion loving compassion but this displeased jonah exceedingly and he was very angry and and prayed unto the lord and said i pray thee o lord was not my saying when i was yet in my own country therefore i fled before unto tarsus for i knew that thou art a gracious god and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repentance thee of the evil well one thing he's confessing that he knew that god was a merciful god and the only difference he wanted mercy for himself in the gourd vine and the belly of the whale the ship the storm but he did not want mercy for the city of nineveh let us be careful about we should not wish the judgments of god upon anyone if there's any way god can save somebody i know i know the plan of salvation i've preached it so many times and i i haven't deviated in 73 years i preached the same identical gospel i did 73 years ago but i often have folks that try to put you on some but brother what if so and so if they don't do this and what what if they've never heard of her what if they well i'll tell you this i make this statement sometimes if i get to heaven and adolf hitler's sitting at the marriage supper of the lamb and judas is at the other end i'm not going to put in for a transfer i'm going to say not my will but thy will be done your mighty god you can what does our song say that you're you're just too you're not too dirty to accept his worthiness he's worthy no matter how dirty you are and i'm trying to tell you that tonight if there's anybody here on wednesday night mostly i i'm presuming maybe i'm judging myself but when it wednesday night uh maybe there's not that many sinners or many backsliders but you know somebody who is and and may god place within us a spirit of strong compassion instead of looking at the down and out the drug addict the the prostitute the the the boy or the girl the man or the woman that's done something that's that's quite despicable and and quite loathsome look at god they're yours that's yours now god i pray that you'll have mercy i pray let us be a merciful church and re if it's your loved one those folks that you know right now that's that's backslid and i've seen folks with an attitude of resentment when they do come in there should not be a spirit of resentment the elder brother was pouting and inside they were partying you can pout or you can party i tell you what i choose when when a backslider comes in i'm going to join the party i'm going to join the music i'm going to enjoy the singing i'm going i'm going to praise god look what god has done just look what the lord has done oh hallelujah therefore now lord take advantage of my life for me for it's better for me to die than to live then said the lord just thought well to be angry jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city and there made him a booth sat under it shadow till he might see what would become of the city lord god prepared the gourd made it to come up over jonah that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief so jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd you know our our our values what are we what are we the most proud of look at that again and jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd but he wasn't glad that 180 000 people had been spared because of his preaching think about that oh how how slanted and how reckless our values are and i don't i don't say this throwing off one bit on what god has done for us in our beautiful building my first sermon in this building was our holy our beautiful our holy and beautiful house and that's the way i still feel about it it's a holy and beautiful house and oh how i thank god for it but without without god without it being a soul-winning station it would make a poor hay barn this building would be hard to get rid of if it was not a church it it it wouldn't make a good warehouse it's not laid out right it wouldn't make a good restaurant it would it wouldn't make a good hardware store it wouldn't make a good kmart or walmart it's made for one thing our goal is sold and we've slanted the floor so you can see over somebody's head we've got a lot of exit signs and and we've got the it's the most convenient church building i've been in in my recollection and but that all those things are beautiful but it's just a sheep shed that's what it is it's just a place where we bring people in and lead them to the lord jesus christ give the lord a hand clap oh but john was glad of the lord god prepared a worm the things that we value so much can be taken so quick the car you drive it don't matter how much money it's worth one intersection one drunk driver one somebody running a traffic light can render that vehicle totally destroyed and you in it just like that the things that we value the home you live in the the the fire detection the smoke detector can go off tonight and that thing can go up and flame and be gone the things that are valuable those children around you your family your loved ones the boy or the girl that may be sowing their wild oats or they may be backslid or what have you are you listening to me can you hear me what would you give to see that loved one come in what would you give to find that that that drunk that somebody that's thrown his life away came to pass when the sun did rise god prepared a vehement east wind the sun beat upon the head of joel that he fainted and wished himself to die so it's better for me to die than to live and god said jonah dost thou well to be angry for the gourd and he said i do well to be angry even to death boy he was defiant to the end wasn't he then said the lord thou hast had pity on the gourd for that which thou hast not labored neither made us did grow which came up in the night that perisheth in the night and should not i spared an enemy a great city wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and much cattle psalms 145 talks about the mercies of god and albert barnes a commentator has a commentary i consult uh quite often here's his comments on psalms 145 speaking of god's mercy and his tender mercies are over all his works that's what it says his tender mercies are over all his works here's his comments and all that he's made there is evidence that he is a kind and benevolent god he has a heart to love to bless what he's made everywhere arrangements are made for happiness he's not disposed to cast off the feeble the airing and the suffering he's willing to receive back again those who have wandered from him to pardon the offending to wipe away the tears of the sorrowful i thought that little little paragraph was noteworthy to share with you in simple language that's what our god is and then i thought of a message i preached i got i got to check and i preached this message on july the 20th 2003. what's that 18 19 years ago and i titled the message how you would know god if god didn't have a name if god entitled if god didn't have a name it's trouble you forgot says good memories you remember these things and brother jimmy devos used to corner me after every service brother mccoy you preached on this he dated it he carried his bible one thing he let me know he was carrying his bible and was keeping up with what was being preached of course we we we gouge each other out every now and then you preach that such and such and my remarks would be well jimmy if you'd obeyed it then i wouldn't have to preach it again but that's all in great fun we have we we have great fun but let me give you the the scriptures quickly from this message i preached in july uh the the 20th 2003 from psalms 136 starting at verse 1 oh give thanks unto the lord for he is good wait a minute there's a colon there if you know anything about your uh english and grammar and so forth you know what a cult means that means don't stop reading that there's something important to come oh give thanks to the lord that's a semicolon for he's good for his mercy endureth forever oh give thanks unto the god of gods for his mercy and doeth forever i'm not going to give you the verses just quickly because i'm going to don't go over time tonight oh give thanks to the lord of lords for his mercy and doeth forever to him who alone doeth great wonders for his mercy endureth forever to him that by wisdom made the heavens for his mercy and doeth forever to him that stretcheth out the earth above the waters for his mercy endureth forever to him that made great lights for his mercy in death forever the son to rule the day for his mercy endureth forever the moon and stars to rule by not far now that word far keep that word far in mind now somebody said they met god oh you met god you did you sure was god yes sir he made the heavens he said well i want to know one more thing he made does his mercy endure forever to him that stretches out the earth above the waters colon for his mercy if god didn't have a name i'd know him because it he's the only creature the only entity that his mercy endures forever to him that made great light his mercy and doeth forever the sun to rule by day for his mercy and earth forever the moon and stars through room at night for his mercy and earth forever to him that smote egypt in the firstborn and their firstborn for his mercy and earth forever and brought out israel from among them for his mercy and earth forever with a strong hand and with the stretched out arm for his mercy and earth forever to him that divided the red sea and departs for his mercy endureth forever and made israel to pass through the midst of it for his mercy and earth forever for he overthrew pharaoh and his host in the red sea for his mercy and death forever to him which led the his people through the wilderness for his mercy and death forever to him would smote great kings for his mercy and doeth forever and salute now if any one of these there's there's there's several more verses i i'll go by with those but any one of those things if it said he did this and he did that but his mercy failed he's not god he's not my god he's not god if any one of these he did all of the everything in this passage if he did every one of them yet he failed in his mercy he's not god and i've got news for you right now would you stand your feet with me his mercy is extending to you and me tonight and as we go from this place may we may we understand that god's mercy continues endures now endureth that that may not be always easy and joyful but it endures forever and whoever you are tonight no matter how many times you have failed the lord he's extending his mercy to you tonight once the peter asked him what it was peter said lord if someone sins against you shall we forgive him seven times in a day jesus said no seventy times seven in one day think about that whoever you are tonight husband wife mother daughter friend loved one somebody's hurt you you've been offended there's some things that that you don't care for in this life remember jonah and remember god's mercy and he is our example for his mercy endureth forever let me repeat that friday night 7 30. i've been looking for a scripture that says church supposed to start at 7 30. but i hadn't found it yet i went for years and years and years we had service that started on on 7 30 at night but i'm teasing now but uh it'll start we do we we follow the seasons and things that everybody seems to like the 6 30 time and if you like it i like it but this week it's going to be seventh or one thing he gives the people a little more time to get here to to see and hear their children in the program and you want to you want to be here to hear and see that and help me pray for the lost let me pray let us pray father we thank you for this service tonight we thank you for the word of the lord i pray o god that you will let this word sink deep into the hearts of men and women and lord may we understand the real meaning of god's grace and how we too should extend that to others because we're going to need in ourselves we already need it i need it lord i need needed blessed are the merciful i need that mercy because of my own life and help me to extend it to others dismiss us from this place but not from your presence bring us back friday night for this great program of our children in jesus name we pray amen