matthew 5 :7

Intro

were going to talk about 3 beatitudes today

focus

pinpoint how you can apply them to your life

and I promise , your relationship with God will get better.

Matthew 5:7 ““Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

What is mercy-

we always here mercy Is God not giving you what you deserve

and that is good

We deserve punishment for our sin

but in His mercy

He sent His son to die in our place

and to make a way for us to be saved

that was out of His mercy

Ephesians 2:4–5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”

on the other hand grace

grace is giving you what you dont deserve

in His mercy He did not give us His just punishment for sin

In His grace He Gave us His salvation that we dont deserve

Now this passage says

you are happy and filled with Joy

when you are a merciful person

God is wanting you to mirror His attributes

this is sanctification

as you draw close to Him

you start to become like Him and

blessed you are

This act of being merciful

is more than just not giving people what they deserve

it is a characteristic that has to do with compassion

Compassion is Key

there are 2 main reasons compassion is key

for one

it is foundationally at the heart of God

its who He is

He is merciful

the second is that

we are blessed when we are compassionate and merciful

and why would we not want to be blessed by God

we are blessed by being happy and satisfied in the core of our being ‘

and we are also blessed because we recieve mercy back from God

as a christian

it should be in our dna to be merciful

to be compassionate to our neighbor

compassion is when our heart wells up

for the well being of others

and it drives us to action

in alleviating the stress and suffering of others

an example may be

if someone is being bullied

your heart moves with compassion

and you go and talk to them

and tell them its going to be ok

compared with the opposite

where you would join in

or stand in the background

God is saying here that if your heart is changed to live

in a merciful way

this is evidence of relationship with Him

and by Grace

you too will recieve the mercy of God

but lets look at the opposite

1 John 4:20 “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

the unmerciful

will not recieve mercy

Lets position our heart to give mercy

to all

and to be compassionate on those

who are hurting and less fortunate

Matthew 5:8 ““Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Do you want to see God?

of course

we know that if you have seen the son, you have seen the father

thats in John ch 14:9

We want to see God face to face

Have you ever imagined

what it would be like

and no I am not going to finish the song lyric

but I am going to say the same thing

have you ever imagined being face to face with Jesus

there will be a day

when this will happen

and if your heart is pure

you will see Him

in His Glory

There is a notion here as well that

the pure in heart will

have close relationship with Him on earth

and see the beauty of His friendship and presance

pursue purity of Heart

so what does it mean to be pure in heart

this relates to the sincerity of faith

and the clean and upright moral character

that is in step with godly living

simply put

you cant live like the devil

and expect to see God

therefore we must pursue the purity of our heart

now the heart was described as the essance of who you are

mind will and emotion

now this is what the bible says about the human heart

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

in our nature our heart is cursed

and the only way to a pure heart is through faith in Christ ‘

you may say , what about the atheist who does good things

even good things done apart from God are not good

a good thing may be done

but its motive is self

it takes glory from the one who made that person,

and gave him the ability to do the good thing

Ezekiel 36:26 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

This is the way to a pure heart

When we trust in Jesus

He gives us the new heart

and His spirit starts to transform it

and wash it clean

this is our desire

to ursue the pure heart of Christ

and through faith

we are given His heart

our heart must be pure to mankind and pure to God

Matthew 5:9 ““Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

The third blessing we are going to look at is

the blessing of peace makers

The children of God are those who

strive for peace

Strive for Shalom

Shalom is the hebrew word for peace

it means completeness and harmony with God

Blessed are those who have shalom with men and shalom with God

How do we have peace with God

Through faith in Christ

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

Gods wrath remains on Sin

but see How God

removes our sin

and grants us peace

through the forgivness of sin

Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This is huge ‘

salvation brings forth peace with God

you go from enemy of God

a person who only lives for himself

and therefore makes himself his own god

and then God transforms you

into His friend

and His will is that the whole world become his friend

and come to peace with Him

once you recieve shalom with God

it will make your heart want shalom with others

in this way we strive after the peace of all

and we strive to share the peace we have recieved in Christ

in this way

we are the ambassoders of peace

but not in the way the world sees it

the world wants everyone to accept everything,

thAT IS LEADING PEOPLE TO WRATH NOT PEACE

Matthew 10:34–36 ““Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.”

Jesus did not come to bring peace between all nations

He has told us wars will continue to rage on

but he came to bring peace with God

let us strive for that peace

and then do good to all men

Romans 12:18 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”

In conclusion we

have looke dinto 3 more beatitudes

and we learned that compassion is key

that is the mercy of God we get to display to others

we learned to pursue purity in heart

and we learned that it comes only when our heart is transformed by God

and we learned to strive for Shalom

first and foremost Shalom with God

I promise pursue these things as some of the most important things in your life

and you will draw closer to God

this is the best place for your spirit to be

this is where there is peace

true Shalom…

lets pray