Blessed are the Merciful

Driving home: For as Mr. Tozer says, what I be, what I am, is the root of what I do.

Martin quotes A.W. Tozer: 'what I be, what I am, is the root of what I do,' to emphasize that God is more concerned with character than actions, setting the stage for the Beatitudes as descriptions of character.

and many of these other detailed precepts concerning what we as Christians are to do, you can never understand them until first of all you've come to grips with the detailed, detailed description of what we are to be as the children of God. For as Mr. Tozer says, what I be, what I am, is the root of what I do. And so God, and the scriptures continually set this forth, is far more concerned with my character, what I am, than he is with what I do.

0:44 - 1:21 Read in full sermon

Driving home: For as Mr. Tozer says, what I be, what I am, is the root of what I do.

He uses the analogy of a pear tree with peaches hung on it to illustrate that fruit evidences character but doesn't create it, reinforcing that the Beatitudes describe the nature of a true child of God.

It's not made by its fruit, but a tree is known by its fruit. Take a pear tree and hang peaches on it, doesn't make it a peach tree. The character of the tree is evidenced in the fruit, but the fruit is nothing but the expression of the nature of that tree. And so as we have been studying the Beatitudes, we have been approaching them as the God-inspired description of the character of the true child of God.

1:40 - 2:10 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He reviews the progression of the first four Beatitudes (poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, hungering for righteousness) as a 'climbing up' to being filled, and then…

The first four Beatitudes are described as 'climbing up the rungs of a ladder' (poverty, mourning, meekness, hungering), climaxing in being filled, and the subsequent Beatitudes (like mercy) are 'descending in some of the fruits' that flow out of that filling.

A man having been filled, having been met by God in the righteousness of Christ, and what is the first evidence of that? He who has received mercy from the Lord Jesus said, Now will become a merciful man. So the first four Beatitudes have been, if we may use a physical description, a climbing up the rungs of a ladder, poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, climaxing in this hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and now we're descending in some of the fruits that flow out of that filling that we find mentioned in verse 6,

4:30 - 5:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine yourself: Am I a merciful man or woman? For only those that are merciful shall obtain mercy.

Martin asks if anyone would want to stand before God within the next hour and be dealt with on the basis of pure justice, highlighting humanity's desperate need for mercy.

they shall be filled. Now, lest we come and approach this with a sort of indifference, may I remind you of the promise we'll consider in detail later on in the message. But Jesus said, Blessed are the merciful, for they, and the emphasis is in the original so strong that what he is saying, for they and they only shall obtain mercy. Is there anyone here who would like to stand before God within the next hour and be dealt with on the basis of pure justice?

5:13 - 5:53 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He defines mercy by examining God's character, particularly in Exodus 34 and Ephesians 2:4. Mercy is not overlooking sin, but God's disposition to be moved with pity at…

He uses the analogy of words as symbols, like in a Sunday school teachers' meeting, to explain that understanding the meaning of 'mercy' is crucial for the sermon's message.

When Jesus said, Blessed are the merciful, he meant something by that word mercy. And words are funny things, as we found in our Sunday school teachers meeting the other night. A word is just a symbol. And unless we know what that symbol signifies, that word is meaningless.

7:24 - 7:44 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He defines mercy by examining God's character, particularly in Exodus 34 and Ephesians 2:4. Mercy is not overlooking sin, but God's disposition to be moved with pity at…

The story of Moses praying to see God's glory in Exodus 34 is used to introduce God's self-revelation as a merciful and gracious God, providing the primary definition of mercy.

Now, what does mercy mean? Well, the best way I know to answer that question is to relate it to God, for mercy is one of the characteristics of God. Moses prayed a wonderful prayer in the book of Exodus. He asked God for three things.

7:44 - 8:04 Read in full sermon

Driving home: For God is a God who takes note of sin, who is angry with sin, and who will punish sin. And yet he's declared to be the God of mercy, the Father of all mercy.

He imagines gathering all the tears, broken hearts, and miseries of the world, stating that over them could be written: 'God is not responsible,' as all misery is self-inflicted by sin, setting the stage for God's merciful response.

And all the misery that has come into this, if we could take all the tears that have been shed over broken hearts, and over every funeral bier, and if we could take together all the broken hearts of mothers whose sons have gone wayward, and those who've lost their sons and daughters in war, and heap together all the miseries that the world has ever known in any form, over those miseries we could write these words, God is not good. God is not responsible. All the miseries that you and I have experienced, the naggings of conscience,

13:42 - 14:25 Read in full sermon

Driving home: So that God has secured the honor of His law. But He has spilled forth the expression of His pity. Moving Him to do something for us.

Martin quotes someone who defined mercy as 'his pity joined to action' and another who defined it as 'sorrow at the suffering of a fellow creature, and along with that sorrow an earnest desire, if possible, to relieve it,' to succinctly capture the essence of mercy.

But sent Him to deliver me as a poor sinner. So that now God's mercy and God's justice are with me. justice are wedded together at Calvary. So someone has said, mercy is, as we behold it in the heart of God, his pity joined to action. Another one has said, it is sorrow at the

19:13 - 19:37 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Mercy received into the heart becomes mercy poured forth from the heart. And where there is no mercy poured forth, no mercy has ever been received.

The parable from Matthew 18 about the servant forgiven a great debt who then refused to forgive a small debt is used to illustrate that mercy received should lead to mercy poured forth, and the consequences of its absence.

And where there is no mercy poured forth, no mercy has ever been received. There's a long parable given by our Lord in Matthew 18 which deals with this very thing. We don't have time to read it in detail, but it deals with those two servants, you remember? One had a small debt, and it came time to reckon with his master, and the master forgave him.

24:03 - 24:25 Read in full sermon

The point: How can I know if I'm merciful? How can I know if I have truly, indeed received the mercy of God in Christ? And this mercy received into my heart is now the disposition of my heart to be expressed to others. How can I kn…

The story of Job and his friends is used as an example of a lack of mercy, where Job's friends castigated him instead of showing kindness to one who was faint and oppressed.

To him that is ready to faint, kindness or mercy should be shown from his friends. Either of the Almighty, or the marginal translation, else he might forsake the fear of the Almighty. You see, Job's friends were not merciful. Here was Job under the permissive will of God experiencing the oppression of the devil.

28:24 - 28:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Do we say, Oh, well, they're in that condition. They ought to have known better. Oh, yes, it's self-inflicted misery, perhaps. Yes. But it says to him, It is in this situation mercy should be shown.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is referenced to illustrate that mercy involves pity that moves to action, not just looking at someone in need but actively alleviating that need.

God says the blessed man is one who has pity. Ah, pity in terms of God's mercy. It not merely looks at the man in his need as the Levite did in the parable of the Good Samaritan, but it was the Good Samaritan whose pity moved him to action and he bound up his wounds and poured in the oil and the wine. This is what mercy does.

30:55 - 31:20 Read in full sermon

The point: When we have someone 'over the barrel' legally, mercy causes us to back off from what our rights are and to look upon them with pity, remembering God's mercy to us.

The phrase 'over the barrel' is used to describe a situation where someone is legally indebted or vulnerable, and mercy causes one to back off from their rights, remembering God's mercy when we were in a similar state.

This attitude of mercy will cause us to be lenient with those that legally we have over the barrel. You know what I mean by that? Someone's brought himself to a place in relationship to us by their own default, and by their own foolishness, they've brought upon themselves a situation, maybe they've indebted themselves to us in some way or another, and legally we've put them over the barrel and we could bleed them to death. What does mercy do?

32:48 - 33:14 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Father, have mercy upon them. Forgive them. Take pity upon them.

Christ's prayer 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do' while on the cross is presented as the clearest example of mercy towards persecutors and enemies.

It causes us to be willing to forgive our persecutors and our enemies. The clearest example of mercy that I know in the scriptures in this attribute or activity of mercy is our Lord Jesus hanging upon a cross, the victim of the cruel, mocking, scourging, cursing, spitting cross.

34:28 - 34:51 Read in full sermon

The point: When faced with enemies or those who speak against us, our attitude should be, 'Father, forgive? They're blind. Oh, God, there could be pity.'

He draws a modern parallel to crucifixion, imagining being strung up on a telephone pole, to make the severity of Christ's suffering and His mercy more relatable.

How do we react to our enemy? None of whom yet have spitten in our faces or dragged us out to the corner of Bloomfield Avenue and strung us up on a telephone pole or a power line and shot us full of holes. That would be the modern parallel to crucifixion.

35:50 - 36:10 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And that very spirit that was completely devoid of mercy was wrecking havoc upon their physical and emotional and psychological being.

Martin shares his observation that he has met people whose physical, emotional, and psychological problems seem to stem from a spirit completely devoid of mercy, always condemning and vindictive.

And do you know I've met people that I'm convinced that all their physical problems, all their emotional problems, all of the things that seem to tie them up into knots and put premature wrinkles upon the brow, because they knew not the first thing about mercy. They were always condemning something and somebody, always castigating something or some other person, always vindictive, always nasty. And that very spirit that was completely devoid of mercy was wrecking havoc upon their physical and emotional and psychological being. The total person was affected.

51:22 - 51:59 Read in full sermon