| *I am heavily indebted to Sinclair Freguson's book The Sermon on Mount for this sermon Introduction As we read the Bible and as we hear the Bible faithfully preached, the Spirit of God opens our eyes to see whom we really are. We see that we dead in our trespasses and sins. We see that in us, that is, in our flesh dwells no good thing. When that happens, we become poor in spirit, mourn for our sins, and become meek before God. After driving us into ourselves, the Spirit of Jesus drives us out of ourselves and we are enabled to hunger and thirst after God's righteous fully assured that we will be satisfied. Once we discover that we have no resources to save ourselves, we learn to look to Christ for everything. God wants us to turn away from ourselves and turn to his righteousness, and finding his righteousness, turn to others in their need of mercy. Mt. 5:7 – Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. I. The Merciful Are Blessed Because They Will Receive Mercy? A. Does Jesus mean that we will receive mercy only if we ourselves are merciful? 1. That is exactly what he means. 2. But this does not imply that the cause of our receiving mercy will be the fact that we were merciful, as though we had earned God's mercy. B. Being merciful is the natural result of receiving Christ and experiencing the grace of God. 1. If we are not merciful, we cannot have received Christ's mercy. 2. Therefore, we cannot look forward to receiving his mercy in the last judgment. II. Do You Know the Mercy of God? A. The letter to the Hebrews describes Jesus as "a merciful high priest" (2:17). 1. In order to become this type of high priest, Jesus was made like us in every way. 2. As a result, "because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted" (Heb. 2:18). a. The Son of God came to share in our weakness, and even experience our temptations. b. He knows what it is like to be us because he has experienced what we go through. c. In fact, because he withstood every temptation, he has felt their force to the full. d. And he did that in order "to help those who are being tempted!" B. God's mercy in Christ helps us to our feet when we have fallen, and defends and protects us when we are weak and helpless. 1. God's mercy pours the oil of healing into the wounds in our conscience, our heart, our memories, and our personality. 2. God's mercy supplies the place of rest and encouragement we need, in the fellowship of his people. 3. At the last day, this same God will bring final healing and restoration when he transforms us into the image of Christ. Phil. 3:20-21 – For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. C. The mercy of the Lord is inexhaustible. Ps. 103:17 – But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them. Lam. 3:22-24 – Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. "The Lord ismy portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!" Eph. 2:4-7 – But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 1. Do you ever feel that you have sinned one too many times and God is just not going to forgive you again? 2. Do you feel like there is no way that God has mercy left for you? 3. Be assured that that is never the case! III. Because We Have Experienced God's Mercy, We Must Be Merciful. A. We often speak of showing mercy, but what is mercy? 1. Is it kindness? 2. Mercy includes kindness, but it is more than that. 3. Someone has expressed the difference between the two in this way: kindness is a friend calling when you are well; mercy is a friend calling when you are sick. B. The best illustration of the meaning of mercy is found in the parable of the Good Samaritan – Lk. 10:30-37. 1. The parable was giving as an answer to the lawyer's question regarding who one's neighbor is. 2. Notice in v. 36 that Jesus asks who of the three characters in the parable was neighborly to the man who had been mugged. 3. The answer is correctly given as "He who showed mercy on him," 37a. 4. The Samaritan illustrates the meaning of mercy. C. Two things should be highlighted about the Samaritan as an example of mercy. 1. Mercy relieves the consequences of sin in the lives of others – both sinners and those sinned against. a. The Samaritan took responsibility for the injured man. 1) He ministered to his broken and bruised body and did everything he could to provide for restoration and healing. 2) He did not deal with the cause of the man's need by chasing the robbers – though there is a time to do that. 3) He did not complain about the failure of society to meet the man's need – though there is a time to do that. 4) The Samaritan sought to work in the context of the immediate need set before him, and to bring relief. b. Yes, there is a place for seeking justice and there is room for protest when society fails in its duty towards the needy. c. But neither of these things is the exercise of mercy. d. Mercy is getting down on your hands and knees and doing what you can to restore dignity to someone whose life has been broken by sin – his/her own or that of someone else. e. No wonder the early church often used to think of Jesus himself as the Good Samaritan! 1) When Jesus encountered those who were like broken reeds, he did not break them; he healed them. 2) When he met people whose lives were like dimly burning wicks, he did not quench them; he fanned them into flames. 3) Jesus restored the weak and the bruised. 4) He never passed them by, or worse, trampled on them. Mt. 12:18-21 – But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory; and in His name Gentiles will trust." f. Are you like Jesus in this respect? 1) Have you ever stopped for the sake of the bruised and broken? 2) Or have you always found reason to pass by on the other side? 2. Mercy does not hide behind unbiblical reservations in order to protect itself from costly service. a. The priest and the Levite who passed by the wounded man doubtless had their reasons for doing so. 1) They had their own lives to attend to. 2) They might turn the man over only to discover that he was dead, which would make them ceremonially unclean. 3) How then could they get on with their "ordinary routine?" b. The thing is that Jesus really didn't think that their "ordinary routines" should trump being merciful. 1) Jesus would have ignored becoming ceremonially unclean. Lk. 7:14 – Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried himstood still. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." Lk. 8:53-54 – And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead. But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, "Little girl, arise." 2) It is better to run the risk of becoming ceremonially unclean than to fail to show mercy to the needy. 3) It is, after all, not a sin to be ceremonially unclean, but it is always sin to fail to show mercy. c. What are the reasons for the merciless behavior of the Levite and the priest? 1) One reason was their refusal to pay the cost of being inconvenienced. 2) Another was their refusal to die to their own plans and to fit in with the providence of God in their lives. 3) The Samaritan was prepared to pay the cost of showing mercy, and that way, he was like Jesus. d. Too often we underplay the importance of mercy in the Christian life. 1) We prefer talking in terms of right and justice (unless it involves us getting what we deserve). 2) But the Scriptures treat mercy as a divine necessity, which we ignore to our spiritual peril. IV. The Importance of Mercy in the Bible. A. Mercy is not brought to light only by the NT. B. I wonder if the priest and the Levite knew God's Word through Hosea: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings" (Hos. 6:6). C. Surely, they knew Micah 6:8 – "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" D. Perhaps the most illuminating passage of all is to be found in Psalm 109. 1. The striking thing about this psalm is the description of the psalmist's enemy. Ps. 109:16-17 – Because he did not remember to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come to him; as he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him. 2. This "enemy" of Ps. 109 was seen in the NT as a picture of Judas Iscariot (Acts 2:20 quotes Ps. 109:8 and applies to Judas). 3. Lack of mercy is the mark of those who betray Jesus. a. Judas discovered, as Pro. 21:13 teaches, "Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard." b. Judas was not merciful; he did not receive mercy. E. Showing mercy to the broken and needy is a hallmark of a true conversion to Christ. "Look … how they love one another (for they themselves [pagans] hate one another); and how they are ready to die for each other (for they themselves are readier to kill each other)." Tertullian quoting what pagans were saying of Christians F. Without mercy, we are not Christ's, and he shall say to us on the last day (no matter what else we may have accomplished), "I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers!" (Mt. 7:23) Conclusion How is it that we claim to be Christians, yet show so little mercy? Why are we so self-seeking, choosing a lifestyle of convenience rather than a self-sacrificing lifestyle of showing mercy? Is it because we have felt our own need of mercy far too little? Is it because we have only a superficial understanding of the riches of God's kindness to us? Those who have been forgiven much, love much. Those who know they have received mercy, show mercy. And the merciful are greatly blessed, because they will receive mercy from God himself.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2020/08/blessed-are-merciful-matthew-57.html
| 
