Mat. 5:8
Blessed are the Merciful
Pastor Albert N. Martin expounds Matthew 5:7, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," as part of his series on the Beatitudes. He defines mercy as God's pity joined to action, alleviating self-inflicted misery due to sin, supremely demonstrated in Christ's atoning work. Martin argues that true mercy in believers is a fruit of God's mercy received in conversion, manifesting as tenderness to the faint, help for the physically needy, leniency to those 'over the barrel,' forgiveness of enemies, and evangelistic concern for lost sinners. He concludes by explaining that the merciful obtain mercy both in daily forgiveness and at the final judgment, and experience physical, emotional, and spiritual blessings in this life.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 10 sections · 59 min
- The Beatitudes: Character as the Root of Action 0:02
- The Progression to Mercy in the Beatitudes 2:53
- The Sole Condition for Obtaining Mercy 5:13
- Defining Mercy: God's Pity Joined to Action 7:24
- The Source of Mercy in Believers 21:04
- Manifestations of Mercy: Practical Expressions 26:47
- The Greatest Evidence of Mercy: Evangelism 36:32
- The Promise: How the Merciful Obtain Mercy 43:28
- The Blessings of Mercy: Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual 50:01
- A Concluding Challenge: Are You Merciful? 54:42
Key Quotes
“For as Mr. Tozer says, what I be, what I am, is the root of what I do.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Father, have mercy upon them. Forgive them. Take pity upon them.”
“And that very spirit that was completely devoid of mercy was wrecking havoc upon their physical and emotional and psychological being.”
“It says he that hath shown no mercy will have judgment without mercy. What a terrible thing to stand before almighty God to be judged and to have no wall of mercy between a holy God and his people.”
Applications
Believers
- As a congregation, if we want the mercy of God, we must allow the seeds of mercy to grow into blossoms and produce luscious fruits of mercy, going out after sinners and undergirding the weak.
Parents & families
- Recognize that happiness is not found in popularity and pleasure, but in Christ, and cry to God in repentance and faith for renewal.
All listeners
- Examine yourself: Am I a merciful man or woman? For only those that are merciful shall obtain mercy.
- 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 know?
- 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.
- A man who's received the mercy of God in Christ cannot have a disposition of heart that makes him cruel to animals.
- 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.
- 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.'
- Be involved, actively seeking to rescue men and women from their sin, preaching plainly, searchingly, and earnestly, pleading with them not to be content with mere profession.
- Allow mercy in your heart to move you to alleviate the greatest suffering of all, sin, by engaging in missions and evangelism.
- When one is bruised by gossip, terminate the vicious story. When one is kicked about and unloved, go out to help. When someone is uncared for and ignored, show them Christian kindness.
- If you want more answers to prayer, draw out your soul to the needy and show mercy.
- If you need guidance, forget your own problem and begin to get under the burden of someone else's need, allowing mercy to find expression.
- If you have physical need, forget your need and begin to get under the burden of someone else's need, and your health will spring forth speedily.
- Do not overindulge children by failing to follow through on discipline, as this teaches them that God's 'or else' may not come.
- If the disposition of mercy is not in your heart, cry to God to save and transform you, opening your heart to His Son who offers deliverance from sin and misery.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 159 paragraphs, roughly 59 minutes.
The Beatitudes: Character as the Root of Action
Now we turn again this morning to the Sermon on the Mount in our study in these introductory words of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Beatitudes which form the foundational structure for everything else that follows in this marvelous passage called the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5. And I would remind you that any attempt to take any of the specific precepts of the Sermon on the Mount, such things as turning the right cheek and going two miles with the one that says I want you to go one mile,
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.
For if I am what I ought to be, I will do what I ought to be. Out of the abundance of the heart, Jesus said, the mouth speaketh. Another place the scripture says, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. And again Jesus said, the tree is known by its fruit.
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.
Of the one who by the grace of God has been made a member of the kingdom of heaven. And these things are true of everyone who is in the kingdom of God, at least in some measure. They are to grow, they are to develop. But if...
If they are not resident in germ form in our hearts, then it's simply because we have never been born into the family of God and into the kingdom of God. Now there is a definite progression in these Beatitudes. We've been seeing that as we've studied them. And nowhere is this more true than when we come to study the Beatitude that is before us this morning.
The Progression to Mercy in the Beatitudes
Matthew 5 and verse 7, where our Lord Jesus says, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Now notice the ground that we've already covered. The first characteristic of the true child of God is this matter of poverty of spirit. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is the exclusive possession of those who are poor in spirit.
This is that work of God by which we come to discover that we are nothing. We have nothing and we can do nothing acceptable to God. The result of that poverty of spirit is that I mourn my sin and my failure and my perversity before God. And when I have thus seen myself a spiritual pauper and have been broken before God, then I become a meek person, the struck, and the basic ego which wants to parade itself has been wonderfully and blessedly, and damaged by this shattering revelation of what I am in the presence of a holy God.
And then seeing my emptiness, I hunger and I thirst for his righteousness. And my heart cries out that he will give to me what I do not have in myself, righteousness, purity, holiness, acceptance with God. And whenever the spirit of God has brought someone to that place, God says, They shall be filled. Now, here's the matter.
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,
The Sole Condition for Obtaining 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?
Anyone here? Anyone that would like to appear before God within the next hour and say, All right, Lord, I want you to deal with me on the basis of what I deserve. Anyone like to do that? Anyone here?
Have we got anyone like that? I think not. To appear before the presence of one whose holiness, whose purity is such that seraphim cry, Holy, Holy, Holy is Jehovah of hosts, and hide their faces from his burning countenance. We'd say, Oh, if I must appear before such a God, I want to appear with him before him, not on the basis of justice, but on the basis of mercy.
We want to obtain mercy. Now, Jesus said there's only one kind of person that's going to obtain mercy when he stands before God, and that's the person who is himself merciful. Now, if you have any hopes that in the day of judgment, God will deal with you on any other basis than justice, if you have any hopes that he's going to deal with you in mercy, then, dear one, this question ought to be very vital to you this morning. Am I a merciful man or woman?
For Jesus said, Only those that are merciful shall obtain mercy. So I trust now that I've secured your interest by this introduction. Now let's plunge right in to the text itself. What is mercifulness?
Defining Mercy: God's Pity Joined to Action
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.
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.
He said, Show me thy ways. Then he said, Manifest thy presence. If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence. But then he prayed a third prayer, and this outstripped the others in its spiritual heat and desire.
He said, If I have found favor in thy sight, show me, I pray thee, thy glory. I don't want to just know your ways and know your presence. He says, I want to know you as you really are. And God said, Moses, no man can see me in my undimmed glory and live.
But he said, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll hide you in the cleft of a rock, and I'll pass by, and I'll let you see my hinder parts, and I'll proclaim myself to you. Now God fulfilled that promise, and in Exodus 34 we read this, that when God passed by Moses, he proclaimed his name, his character to Moses, and this is what he said, And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.
So as God revealed his essential character to Moses, he revealed himself to Moses as Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious. Exodus 34 and verse 1. Verse 6. Psalm 136, the entire psalm given over to praising God for his mercy that endureth forever.
You know, that's the psalm where after every phrase, for his mercy endureth forever, and then he says another thing, for his mercy endureth forever, trying to impress the people of God that God is a God of mercy. In 2 Corinthians 1.3, he's called the Father of mercies. Titus 3.5,
he declares, he hath saved us according to his mercy. Now, what is mercy? If I can find out what it is in God, then I'll know what it ought to be in me as the gift of God. Now, is mercy what many of us think it is?
Is it a disposition that disposes God to completely overlook sin and act as though sin did not exist? No, for my Bible says of God, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. In fact, this very passage that I've read in Exodus 34, further on it says, though he is a God of mercy and grace, keeping loving kindness, it tells us he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and fourth generation. Now, is this an inconsistency?
How can he be a God of mercy and loving kindness and in the same breath, he says, I'm a God who will not clear the guilty, I'm a God who will punish sin unto the third and fourth generation? So, whatever mercy is, it cannot be a spineless, sentimental attitude that says, oh, y'all, someone is sin, we'll just act as though the sin is not there. No, that is not mercy. Neither is mercy a disposition that has no capacity to be angry with sin.
For again, the scripture says, Thou art of pure eyes than to behold iniquity. Evil shall not sojourn with thee. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. That's spoken of this same merciful God.
Of this same merciful God, it is said, the wrath of God abideth on those that believe not. This same merciful God will say to great multitudes, depart from me, I never knew you. Into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. So, whatever mercy is, and we cannot find out unless we see what it is in God, it cannot be this spineless, weak, anemic kind of attitude that acts as though sin were not there, that has no capacity to be angry with sin, that has no capacity to judge sin.
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. Now, what then can mercy mean? Well, we look at God's attitude to us.
Here we were, those who had broken his law, and he knew it. He knows the scripture says, even our thoughts. And in the day of judgment, he'll judge men according to the thoughts and intents of the heart. But seeing us in our rebellion and our sin, get this, he also saw us in the self-inflicted misery that sin has brought.
For sin has not only violated the laws of God and offended him, sin has brought tremendous misery upon the creature. It's self-inflicted misery. The scripture says, God hath made man righteous. And that's the way God made us.
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,
the emptiness and barrenness of heart, the sense of frustration and defeat, all this misery, our sin has brought upon us. Now, what is mercy? Well, Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 4 gives us, I think, the best setting to understand what mercy is. Will you notice that passage for a moment in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 4?
God indescribes man in his sin in the first few verses of Ephesians 2, walking according to the course of this world, under the power of the prince of the power of the air, the devil himself, living in the lust of the flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, but now notice verse 4, but God being in mercy. Now, what was mercy? Hear that Paul says, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, or better, dead through our trespasses and sins. Dukes of the devil,
walking about blinded to the truth of God, enslaved by our lusts, but it says God reacted to this in a way of mercy. God looked down upon our self-inflicted misery because of sin, and his heart was moved to do something for us in our misery. And so we read, But God being rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
And so mercy is that disposition in the heart of God which causes him to be moved with pity at our condition, Not only move with pity, but mercy involves that attitude taking steps to relieve the condition of misery. Oh, what a beautiful picture this is of what God did in His Son. God was just. And so He could not simply, because He was merciful, say, Well, I'll forget the sin of man. I'll act as though man never sinned.
And I'll open wide my arms and welcome sinners to me as though they had never sinned. No, no, He's just. And the Scripture says He cannot clear the guilty. But He's merciful, so what does He do in His mercy?
He sends His beloved Son, who takes on Him the form of a man. And in that sinless body He went to the cross and bled and died our death. Why? That the justice of God might be satisfied.
God had said the wages of sin is death. And God's holy law had been violated. And that law had to be satisfied. Either this do and live, or break it and die.
And so in our room instead the Scripture says, He who knew no sin became sin for us. He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. And so God's justice was satisfied. But oh, He gave His Son to die for us, that we might be forgiven.
That we might be renewed. That we might be transformed. And so in the giving of His Son, mercy found its fullest expression. And so in the Lord Jesus, mercy and justice are wedded together in perfect and beautiful harmony.
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. And He has done it for us, not in our misery, in the giving of His own beloved Son.
I don't know if this does anything for your heart, but I bear, God bearing me witness even as I speak of these things. I feel the flesh rise in my back with a tingle of holy joy. That this is what God has done in His Son. This is solid Christian theology.
This is the solid biblical concept of the cross. Not a sentimental hazing. Not the idea that God loved us and sent Jesus, and somehow it all has something to do with me getting saved. No, I had offended a holy God.
Justly provoked His wrath. I should have perished at His hand. But He pitted me in my self-inflicted misery and sin. And sent His Son to bear the just desert of my sin.
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
suffering of a fellow creature, and along with that sorrow an earnest desire, if possible, to relieve it. Mercy does not ask, is the sufferer of my nation, my denomination, my group, my church, does the sufferer deserve relief? No. Mercy simply asks, does he suffer?
Does he suffer? Isn't this what mercy was in the heart of God? God looked down and if he waited for some cause to send his son, he never would have found it enough. We were his enemies, the scripture says, but while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Our hearts stood out in rebellion to him. He didn't wait
to see some little inkling of a disposition that we'd love him and serve him. No, for the scripture says the carnal mind is enmity against God, and yet God looked down upon us as dupes of the devil and slaves of our lusts with all the self-inflicted misery of sin, and he pitied us. And that pity moved him to act, and that act was the giving of his son to satisfy justice and to meet the need of the sinner. This is what mercy is. Now the Lord Jesus says, blessed
The Source of Mercy in Believers
are those who have this same disposition residing in their hearts. This disposition of pity that moves out to relieve the sufferer. This disposition that we see in God that doesn't ask. Is the object worthy? Is the one who suffers of my group or my party? No. It's a disposition
that responds to the pitiable state of men. Jesus said, blessed are those who are merciful. Notice he didn't say, blessed are those who do deeds of mercy, but blessed are those who are merciful. He's dealing with an attitude. Now if we're merciful, we will do deeds of
mercy. But we can do deeds of mercy as sort of an external...
a legalistic sort of an activity we can do at the eat of mercy here and not have an ounce of the spirit of mercifulness in our hearts. So Jesus again is dealing with character. Blessed are the merciful, those who are possessed of this attitude of mercy.
Now where does this come from? We've considered what is mercy. Now where does this attitude come from in God's children? Remember now, Jesus is giving us not a map.
How to get to heaven, how to be saved, but in the Beatitudes he's holding before us a mirror. What will be true of us if we are? Where does this attitude of mercifulness come from? All the members of God's kingdom have it.
So the answer is simple.
That mercy which they possess, that merciful attitude, is one of the results of the mighty operations of the spirit of God upon their hearts. Think of the progression in the Beatitudes. Having seen myself as having nothing, being able to do nothing and claim nothing before God, poverty stricken in spirit, having mourned before him my guilt and my uncleanness, having been broken down of the proud strut of the damning ego, having thirsted for righteousness not my own, and having seen by the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ is offered to us in the gospel as our righteousness,
and having been unable to receive him, and having found the joy of God's forgiveness, it's obvious where this attitude of mercy comes from, isn't it? Having been partaker of the mercy of God in Christ,
that disposition of God to me now becomes by the indwelling of the spirit the disposition of my heart to others.
Mercy received into the heart becomes mercy poured forth from the heart. Mercy received into the heart becomes mercy poured forth from the heart. Mercy received into the heart becomes mercy poured forth from the heart. 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. 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.
He went out, he had a large debt, I'm sorry, and then he went out and found a servant under him who had a small debt, and he would not forgive him. He demanded justice, and when the Lord heard of this, he took that wicked servant and delivered him to the tormentors. Why? Listen.
That man never understood the true nature of mercy. If he had understood the nature of the mercy shown to him that his great debt had been forgiven, not on the basis of justice, but pure mercy, then he would have been willing to forgive those who had a lesser debt to him. And when you and I realize that the greatest debt any man can incur is the debt of our sin to a holy God, and when we've fallen at his feet and we've pled for mercy, and we've found that in the Lord Jesus mercy is not only offered but promised, and we've received that mercy into our hearts, that anything that anyone can ever do to me
in any situation, anything they owe to me, is a little debt, and that mercy received for my great debt through Christ becomes mercy poured forth for all the lesser debts that others may have to me. And so the root of this mercy in the heart of God's true people is simply the result of God's mighty operation by the Holy Spirit. Someone has said it's the result of Christ living in us. That's the simple answer.
Was he moved with mercy? Did he look down upon men? Self-inflicted misery? Yes.
Any man that our Lord Jesus met enslaved by his sin, it wasn't the Lord's fault that he was that way. It was his own fault. But whenever anyone said, Son of David, have mercy on me, there was our Lord moved with pity, but pity joined to action. And if that action meant the multiplying of a few loaves and fishes to feed the multitude, as he did it, if it meant the opening of the eyes of the blind, he did it indicating again that mercy is this disposition that moves out in pity, pity that moves to action.
Manifestations of Mercy: Practical Expressions
And if Christ is in us, then he's going to react the same way in and through us as he reacted when he was here upon the earth. There's but one Christ, one Lord. Now, what will be the manifestations of this mercy? When our Lord Jesus said, blessed are, merciful, what did he mean by this as far as the actual expressions of mercy?
And of course, we can't find the answer primarily in this simple statement, but I believe it's the purpose of God for us to relate the other biblical truths that bring light upon this, and I wish to do that this morning. Jesus said, blessed are the merciful, they shall obtain mercy.
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 know?
Well God gives us some very practical indications. One of the first reactions or expressions of mercy in the heart will be a disposition of tenderness to fainting brothers and sisters in the Lord, those who may be swallowed up who may be oppressed by the enemy. If we are merciful men and women, we will find it in our hearts to have a disposition of tenderness towards such. Job 6.14 says,
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.
And the pressure was on him, and he didn't know why. This was the great problem. It seemed as though God were angry with him, when all the while the only reason he was being subjected to this was that God was pleased. God said, Have you beheld my servant Job, a just man above all those upon the face of the earth?
And so God said, Because he loved his servant, was willing to draw back the protective veil and allow the enemy to touch his family and his friends and his home and his body. But these people come without what we call an ounce of the milk of human kindness. And they begin to castigate Job. And Job remonstrates and says, If I were in your place and I saw someone who was under the pressure of God, he said to him that was ready to faint, mercy should be shown.
And you've shown no mercy. You've merely heaped insult upon insult.
Dear ones, do we know anything of this? God has searched my heart before I could preach on this this morning. As we behold those who are oppressed and faint and staggering beneath the weight of the load that they bear,
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 second attribute or characteristic outworking of mercy will be a condescension to help those who stand in physical need. Proverbs 14, 21 and 31 give us some very helpful light on this. Proverbs 14, 21 and 31. He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth, but he that hath pity on him on the poor, happy or blessed is he.
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.
Mercy is the disposition that pities men in their need, physical need, yes, and then moves us to do something to alleviate that need.
It will even cause us to be tender to animals. And I don't say this to have a snicker. You know, the Word of God says one of the characteristics of a wicked, unregenerate man is his attitude to animals. Did you know that?
Listen, I'm reading again from Proverbs 12 and verse 10. A righteous man regarded, the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
A man who's been made merciful by the Spirit of God, this disposition of mercy is evidence not only to what we call rational creatures, men and women, but it will be manifest even to animals.
A man who's received the mercy of God in Christ cannot have a disposition of heart that makes him cruel to animals.
It's what they say.
And perhaps whether or not you're a merciful person, it's revealed by your attitude to dumb beasts. It says the righteous man regarded the life of his beast and he looks upon him with mercy and with pity. But he says the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. That even their tenderest is cruelty.
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?
Mercy causes us to back off from what our rights are and to look upon them with pity, remembering that one time we too were over the barrel as we stood helpless before a holy God, stripped of all righteousness, conscious of our sin, fearing that the world's going to end, and the wrath of a holy God would break out upon us and press us down to the deepest hell. God interposed with mercy, and so because we've been recipients of mercy when we were over the barrel, so when there are those whom we could have over the barrel, there's mercy shown.
That's the problem with that man in the parable in Matthew 18. Sure, he had his servant over the barrel. The servant owed him something, and he ought to have paid him, but the servant pled mercy, and he said, I'm over the barrel. I'm at the disposal of your mercy.
He said, you'll get no mercy from me. Legally, you owe it to me. Legally, you pay it to me, or else into the prison you go.
God called him a wicked and unjust servant.
Are we merciful?
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.
If ever justice should have reached out and consumed men, or the earth opened up itself like it did in the Old Testament with those who rebelled against the authority of Moses, and it says the earth opened them up and swallowed them. If ever the earth should have opened up its bowels and swallowed wicked, cursing men who took the Son of God, then he would have been put him on a cross. It should have been. But our Lord Jesus in the deepest hour of his agony says, Father, what?
Forgive them. They know not what they do. Father, they're blind. If only they knew who I was, they wouldn't treat me this way.
But they're blind. The God of this world has blinded them. They're dupes of the devil. They're slaves of their own love.
Father, have mercy upon them. Forgive them. Take pity upon them.
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.
Those who perhaps have said a word against us, those perhaps who don't agree with us, what is our attitude? Is it, Father, forgive? They're blind. Oh, God, there could be pity.
That's what mercy does.
The Greatest Evidence of Mercy: Evangelism
And then mercy will not only react in this way, but I'm so glad this text came on Missionary Sunday.
For the greatest evidences of mercy in the heart is a concern for sinners in an attempt to rescue them from the plight. Think of our definition again of mercy. Mercy is pity drawn to action that seeks to alleviate the situation that's causing the misery. And what greater misery is there than the misery of men bound by their sins?
Death of fierce amenity, eternity of great unknown, nothing but darkness and night and death before them.
If mercy is a disposition to pity men in their misery, what greater misery is there to draw forth our pity? And if mercy is not only pity, but pity drawn to action, what greater action, is there than that action designed to rescue men from sin, to take away the fear of death, to give them to see that eternity can be, through Jesus Christ, the glorious fellowship of the triune God, world without end.
Blessed are the merciful. To have mercy as a disposition of heart means that we have got to be involved. Bindedly and actively, somehow, in seeking to rescue men and women from their sin. Beloved, it's the mercy, what little bit God's put in my heart, that causes me to seek, week by week, to preach plainly, to preach searchingly, to preach pointedly, to preach earnestly, and to plead with you not to be content that you've merely got the form of godliness, that you've merely got the form of godliness, or you've made a trick to an altar.
It's because some of you are in the pitiable state of having profession without possession, and I know that the yawning mouth of hell waits to receive you, and that's why I plead with you to be content with nothing less than the mighty operations of the Holy Spirit making you a new creature, and I entreat you to cry to God in a way of repentance and faith, until you know that he's renewed you. Young people, this is what makes me stand and plead and talk plainly to you. My heart breaks with pity
when I see you deceived and deluded by the devil into thinking that happiness in life is found in popularity and pleasure, in being one of the crowd. My heart breaks with pity. I'm not angry with you. My heart breaks with pity that the devil is here, that the devil has so blinded you and deluded you and deceived you that with all your pursuing that which will leave you with nothing but dust and ashes and brokenness and hell, and I plead with you to recognize that there is no true light apart from him who said, I am come that you might have light.
God, have mercy on me if there's not enough mercy in my heart to preach plainly, to preach earnestly, and God knows there's precious little there. Is this evidence of mercy in your life? Mercy that is seeking, as Paul said, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. He says they have a zeal for God, but it's not according to knowledge.
Being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own, they've not submitted to the righteousness of God. Paul's worst treatment was received from the Jews wherever he went. Right? You read the book of Acts.
He'd go into a city, into the synagogue, start preaching to Jews, and they'd run him out of town. They'd cause a riot. Some of them followed him wherever he went. All over the place, trying to disrupt him.
Paul says, for that crowd I have a yearning. He said, I could wish myself a curse from God for that bunch. Why? He said, they're blind.
They're ignorant. He said, they know not what they do. Mercy expressed itself in pity. It moved into action in seeking to present Christ.
Maybe this is why our number of missionary candidates all through evangelical Christianity in the United States has fallen off in the past several years. Could it be that we're just failing to see real spiritual births which are bringing into the hearts of our young people some mercy? I'm convinced with all my heart that if we see real spiritual births amongst our young people here, going out to the mission field will be not the exception.
It'll just be the normal outflow of the mercy and compassion of God in the heart. And if they don't go, it'll be because God has turned them aside if they sought to go. And wherever they settle down here, they'll know they're there by divine appointment. I frankly confess to you again today, going to the mission field, and praying to be willing to go has never been a problem with me, nor with my dear wife.
Our problem has been and is to this day, and God keep us willing to stay here. But we have so much opportunity, so much prayer. Is there mercy in your heart moving you to alleviate the greatest suffering of all, sin? Jesus said, Blessed are the merciful.
Mercy is that disposition that will cause us when one is bruised by gossip to terminate the vicious story. That's what mercy does. When one is kicked about and unloved and unwanted, mercy goes out to help. When someone is uncared for and ignored, mercy moves us to show them Christian kindness.
The Promise: How the Merciful Obtain Mercy
Now we close with the promise of the Lord Jesus, which perhaps has caused trouble to some. Blessed are the merciful. We've tried to define what is mercy. Where does it come from?
What are its manifestations? Now we come to this promise. They shall receive mercy. Now what does it mean?
Well, on the surface, you say it's obvious what it means. Those that are merciful, those that make themselves merciful, they'll get mercy. They'll get forgiveness from God. Now it cannot mean anything that will contradict the rest of the whole teaching of the Bible.
May I give you a little principle here of Bible study? Never interpret any verse in such a way that it makes you contradict everything else that the Bible says on that particular subject. We must never hold any scripture at the expense of honestly dealing with another scripture. We must never do it.
Now, some would like to teach, alright, Jesus said, Blessed are the merciful, they shall obtain mercy. If we, by our own self-effort, will obtain a merciful spirit, then God will be merciful to us and will forgive us. No, it can't mean that. For we saw at the very outset of our study today, where does this mercy come from?
This mercy in our hearts is the result of His mercy received in Christ. It's not a root, it's a fruit of something that God Himself has already worked in us. Alright then, in what way is it fulfilled? What did Jesus mean when He said, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy?
Well, in a special way, they'll obtain mercy because God has special mercies for His children. Those that are merciful are merciful because they've been born again. They're God's children. Now, as those that are His children and born again, they will express mercy, and because of this, as God's children, they will be rewarded with obtaining mercy.
Psalm 103 says that, Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth everybody, no, those that love. Fear Him. God has a particular love for His own people. He sends His rain upon the just and the unjust.
There's a problem in modern theology, this idea that God loves everybody all the same. It's not scriptural. God has a special love for His own people. Special love for His own people.
And He says here that, Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth those that fear Him. 2 Samuel 22, 26 says, With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure. What does this mean? It simply means that God's children who have been given these dispositions of purity and mercy will receive more of the same from the hand of the God who first gave it to them.
To him that hath, Jesus said, shall be what? Shall be given. And to him that hath not, shall be taken away that which he hath. So in a special way, this promise is fulfilled that as the children of God, we receive mercy.
Every time you've sinned as God's child and you come and ask God for forgiveness, what are you doing but receiving mercy? Isn't this what you're receiving? You're not receiving justice, you're receiving mercy. But not only is it true day by day, but it's true in a special sense, for this is in the future tense, they shall receive mercy.
It's true in the day of judgment that when as God's children who've demonstrated mercy we stand before God even in that day, He will deal with us, not in terms of justice, but in terms of mercy. Notice this wonderful passage which gives some light on this in 2 Timothy chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, 16 and 18. The Lord grant mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently, and he found me, now get this, the Lord grant unto him to find mercy of the Lord in that day.
This man Onesiphorus heard that Paul was in a pitiable state. He was there in prison, in chains. And it says that his mercy moved him with pity to Paul and that moving caused him to seek Paul out and to help him and to minister to his needs. And now Paul says he's shown mercy to me.
The Lord grant that he'll find mercy in that day. Now that doesn't mean he's got to wait to know that he's saved until the day of judgment. No, it simply means this same thing. As a child of God who was merciful, this man Onesiphorus expressed his mercy to Paul.
Now God says because he's expressed mercy, he'll be dealt with in mercy in the day when he stands before his God. And our Lord Jesus spoke something in a parallel passage in Matthew 25. Do you remember where he talks about the sheep and the goats and then the different activities? And he says to certain ones, I was sick and you visited me.
I was hungry and you fed me. Naked and you clothed me. They said, when saw we thee hungry, sick and thirsty? He said, inasmuch as you've done it unto the least of these, my little ones, you've done it unto me.
Enter into the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. But to those who had no bowels of mercy, remember what he said to them? Sick and you visited me not. Hungry and you fed me not.
Naked and you clothed me not. He said, we never saw you in that state. He says, your failure to do it to my children was a failure to do it to me. You see, they came to the judgment and were dealt with on the basis of justice because they never showed mercy.
And the fact that they never showed mercy was a proof that they had never been born of God. For all that are born of God and are in the kingdom of God have been given a disposition of the mercy of God. So this promise is fulfilled in a special way to God's children because God is merciful to those who are His. Now in forgiveness, then in judgment.
The Blessings of Mercy: Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual
But this is also true in a second respect. There's a built-in law in all the activities of human relationships that what we sow, we reap. And the man or woman who shows mercy, God sees to it that that man or woman receives mercy. But the man or woman who falls to show mercy, this will have effects even upon him physically.
I want to read a verse, again, from the book of Proverbs. It's a very revealing one along this line. Proverbs 11 and verse 17. Notice this.
The merciful man doeth good to his own soul, but he this fool troubleth his own flesh. Isn't that quite a statement? The merciful man does good to his own soul. The word soul here, as you read the parallel next phrase, sometimes soul means life, sometimes it means my spirit, the eternal immaterial part of my nature.
But here it's obvious that he's talking about he doeth good to his own being, his own life. The merciful man, he receives mercy. His very health, his very being, his whole manhood is blessed in the act of showing mercy. But he says, the cruel man troubleth his own flesh.
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.
Scripture says that. He that is cruel troubleth his own flesh. So in a physical sense, he that is merciful, he receives mercy and he experiences the mercy of God in buoyant, vibrant, and pure spirit. And so, he that is merciful, he receives mercy and he experiences the mercy of God in buoyant, vibrant, and pure health at times in the will and purpose of God.
He experiences something of the clarity of mind and the serenity of his whole psychological makeup. He isn't in this terrible world that is putting everybody and his brother on the psychiatrist's couch. And it's happening with a lot of professing Christians too. But in a wonderful sense, this is true not only physically and emotionally but spiritually.
For God says in Isaiah 3, verse 58, if you deal your bread to the hungry, show mercy to them. Bring the poor that are cast out into thy house. And when you see the naked, that you cover him. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning.
Thy help shall spring forth speedily. Thy righteousness shall go before thee. Thou shalt call and the Lord shall hear. Thou shalt cry and he will say, here I am.
The Lord will guide thee continually. Satisfy thy soul. All of these promises are hinging upon this condition. If we draw out our souls to the needy.
Do you want more answers to prayer? Do you want it such that this is true when you cry? God will say, here am I. And God says you've got to show mercy.
Draw out your soul to the hungry. Some of you need guidance. You just can't seem to get the will of the Lord on a certain thing. Just forget your own problem.
Begin to draw out your soul to the needy. Allow the disposition that God has implanted by the Holy Ghost. Allow it to find expression. And God says what will happen?
Your light shall break forth as the morning. That's what He said. Perhaps some of you have physical need and you plead with God to intervene and undertake. Maybe you need to forget your need and begin to get under the burden of someone else's need.
And God says, lo and behold your health will spring forth speedily as you draw out your life. Blessed are the merciful they shall obtain mercy. Do we want the mercy of God in dealing with us as a congregation? Then beloved we've got to allow the seeds of mercy to grow up into big blossoms and then produce luscious fruits of mercy.
A Concluding Challenge: Are You Merciful?
Going out after sinners and seeking to undergird the weak. And I tell you as I mentioned earlier in the message God has plowed my heart with this text that I've shown so little of the expressions of mercy in my life. Well, this is the text. I believe I've sought before God to deal with it honestly.
And I close with the question that I would lay upon your conscience as a Christian. You profess to know him to be saved to be his child. Here's the test. Are you merciful?
You got somebody over a bough and glorying in it? Or when someone is indebted to you is there a disposition that delights to let them off easy? Now again this is not to mean when you've told your son or daughter do this or else that you don't follow through. God have mercy on any parent who doesn't keep his word in the area of discipline.
Don't wonder if they don't learn that God means what he says. I've yet to see a child overindulged by parents since they've yet to but I've seen very few overindulged who never respected the word of their parents. They said this do or else and the or else never came. Then they begin to hear God says repent or else.
No, God must be like that's the way the human mind works. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about those situations in our relationships one to another where we could press our legal right but mercy's there and takes pity upon the one in need. Is there this mercy toward sinners outside of Christ?
Toward the brother or sister who's oppressed and swallowed up with grief? Oh yes we know their grief is self-inflicted they ought to have known better but it's grief nonetheless. Mercy and mercy go out. May I speak to some of you who perhaps know nothing of this whose attitude is run well if they've done it let them, they've made their bed let them lie in it.
Oh what a frightful word we find in the book of James. It says he that hath shown no mercy will have judgment without mercy. What a terrible thing to stand before almighty God to be judged and to have no wall of mercy between a holy God and his people. What a terrible terrible thing terrible thing.
So if this disposition of mercy is not in your heart beloved there's only one way it'll come and that's as you cry to God to save you transform me and if you're here tonight today and say oh but I've made such a mess of my life I've fouled it up I've wrecked it I've ruined it I've run after things my conscience told me they'd never satisfy but I went anywhere my life is bound by my lust oh dear ones I tell you today God looks down with mercy and he sets his beloved son before you and says the proof of my mercy is my son and I offer him to you as your savior and your deliverer as the one
who can break the chains for whom the sun sets free is free indeed oh that you'll not despise his mercy but that you'll open your heart to the blessed son of God who looks down with pity and self inflicted misery of your sin and wants to deliver you may God grant that your eyes will be holding and your heart will receive shall we pray Lord how unlike thee we are thou who has forgiven us in infinite debt in thy great mercy and how slow we are to forgive one another
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
This is the primary text, defining and exploring the characteristic of mercifulness as a Beatitude.
This passage is expounded to provide the theological foundation for understanding God's mercy as pity joined to action, which then informs the believer's mercy.
Texts Expounded
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