Matthew 5:7

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” ()

Scripture affirms to us that the one who will not forgive will not be forgiven by our Heavenly Father.

Here those that are merciful people will be shown mercy.

God will measure to us with our own reaped harvest, and those who have been hard masters and hard creditors, will find that the Lord will deal hardly with them.

"For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” ()

Let us not put harsh constructions upon people’s conduct, nor

o drive hard bargains, nor

o pick foolish quarrels, nor

o be difficult to please.

Surely we wish to be blessed, and we also want to obtain mercy: let us be merciful, that we may have mercy.

Isn’t it a pleasant task to be kind?

Is there NOT much more sweetness in it than in being angry and ungenerous?

Also, the obtaining of mercy is a rich reward.

What but sovereign grace could suggest such a promise as this?

We are merciful to our fellow-mortal in pennies, and the Lord forgives, us “all that debt.”

In the brief time that we have for such an important subject, I would like to answer two questions.

1. First, how does a heart become merciful? Or: where does mercy come from?

2. Second, what is mercy? Or: what is a merciful person like?

You can see that this is a very practical and immensely important question.

Why is it that we need to be made merciful?

God’s description of us is entirely different than we think of ourselves.

We’re more like a thorn bush rather than a peach yielding tree baring its sweet fruit.

For example in the catalog of sins describing the person who is under God’s wrath because they suppress the truth in unrighteousness, it’s said of that man that he is: "senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.” ()

Zechariah describes the ancient people of Israel as having hearts like rock. "They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the Lord of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore intense anger came from the Lord of Armies.” ()

Man is even like a viper with its venom."They make their tongues as sharp as a snake’s bite; viper’s venom is under their lips. Selah” ()

By nature we do not send forth the oil of gladness, but poison;

not the oil of mercifulness, but the poison of maliciousness.

Besides the heart issues of the natural man.

Besides the heart issues of the natural man.

The inbred unmercifulness in us has something to do with satan’s work in us.

"in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.” ()

What mercy can we expect from hell?

So if sitting here this morning as a merciful person is soley because of God’s grace.

When the sun shine, then the ice melts, when the Sun of Righteousness once shines with beams of grace upon the soul, now it melts in mercy and tenderness.

A person must be man a new creation (by God’s grace) before one emerges a merciful person.

To answer the first question let’s look at the immediate context.

1. How Does a Heart Become Merciful?

Because you’ll notice that the text says that these blessed ones are ‘merciful’.

Recall how we saw the first three beatitudes in verses 3–5 describing the emptiness of the blessed person:

· verse 3: poverty-stricken in spirit,

· verse 4: grieving over the sin and misery of his condition, and

· verse 5: accepting the hardships and accusations of life in humility without defensiveness.

This condition of blessed emptiness is followed in verse 6 by a hunger and thirst for the fullness of righteousness.

Then come three descriptions of how righteousness abounds in the heart of the hungry and thirsty.

· Mercy in verse 7,

· purity in verse 8, and

· peacemaking in verse 9.

So the answer to the first question is that mercy comes from a heart that has

o first felt its spiritual bankruptcy, and

o has come to grief over its sin, and

o has learned to wait humbly for the timing of the Lord, and

o to cry out in hunger for the work of His mercy to satisfy us with the righteousness we need.

The mercy that God blesses (is itself) the blessing of God.

It grows up like fruit in a broken heart and a meek spirit and a soul that hungers and thirsts for God to be merciful.

Mercy comes from mercy.

Our mercy to each other comes from God’s mercy to us.

The key to becoming a merciful person is to become a broken person.

You get the power to show mercy from the real feeling in your heart

that you owe everything you are

and have to sheer divine mercy.

Therefore, if we want to become merciful people,

it is imperative that we cultivate a view of God and ourselves

that helps us to say with all our heart that

every joy and virtue and distress

of our lives is owing to the free and undeserved mercy of God.

The second question is,

2. What Is Mercy?

Or: what is a merciful person like?

Sometimes it helps get something clear if we can see it over against its opposite.

So I have tried to find where mercy is contrasted with its opposite.

Matthew and Luke give some very helpful illustrations.

First let’s look at ."While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples. "When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” "Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. "Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”” ()

Mercy Contrasted to Sacrifice

In this illustration, the opposite of mercy is sacrifice. Verse 13: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”

This is a quote from where God accuses the people that their love is like the dew on the grass.

It is there for a brief morning hour, and then is gone, and

all that is left is the empty form of burnt offerings.

The point is that God wants His people to be alive in their hearts.

He wants them to have feelings of affection toward Him and mercy toward each other.

He does not want a people who do their religious duties in a mechanical or merely formal way.

Here in Jesus saw sinners as sick and miserable people in need of a physician,

even though they were the rich money movers of the day,

the tax collectors.

They were sick. He had medicine.

But all that the Pharisees saw was a ceremonial problem with becoming contaminated by eating with sinners.

Their life seemed to be a mechanical application of rules. (Like how some treat church bi-laws)

Something huge was at stake here.

But they could not see it or feel it.

They were enslaved to the trivial issues of

ceremonial cleanness when

eternal sickness was about to be healed.

The opposite of mercy is bondage to religious trivia.

Mercy Contrasted to Straining Out Gnats

Let’s look at another example of this same thing in .

"“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, and yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These things should have been done without neglecting the others. "Blind guides! You strain out a gnat, but gulp down a camel!” ()

What is the opposite of mercy in these stinging words of the Lord?

The opposite of mercy is the straining out of gnats.

The opposite of mercy is when your religious impulses are exhausted

after you have decided whether to

tithe your gross income or your net income or your birthday gifts.

The lesson we learn from the words of Jesus when he says, “I desire mercy not sacrifice,” and when he says, “You strain out a gnat and gulp down a camel,”

is that a great obstacle and enemy to mercy

is the preoccupation with trifles in life.

The bondage to triviality is the curse of the unmerciful.

When Jesus says, “Don’t neglect the weightier matters of the law,” he means,

· “Beware of going through the day doing only trivial things,

· thinking only trivial thoughts,

· feeling only trivial feelings.

The Lord wants us to pinch ourselves again and again

lest we be found passed out in front of the television,

making no plans for the weighty matter of mercy.

Blessed are the merciful.

Therefore, if you want to be blessed, you must fight against the bondage of religious and secular trifles, and

devote your life to the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, faithfulness.

Mercy is no trifle. It is one of the weightiest matters in all of life.

Mercy in the Parable of the Good Samaritan

Another illustration of the opposite of mercy is found in the parable of the Good Samaritan in .

"Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” "“What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?” "He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.” "“You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.” "But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”” ()

The man asked Jesus how a person should act who may expect to find mercy at the judgment day and inherit eternal life.

And Jesus answers that the persons who will receive the mercy of eternal life are those who have

· loved God with all their hearts and their neighbor as themselves.

In other words, “Blessed are those who are merciful now to their neighbor, for they shall receive the mercy of eternal life in the future.”

So this story is very relevant to our text this morning: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

This will be even more obvious when we look at the parable that follows.

The lawyer asks, “Who is my neighbor?”

And Jesus answers with the parable of the Good Samaritan in verses 30–37.

"Jesus took up the question and said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. "A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. "In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. "But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. "He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. "The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’ "“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” "“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”” ()

Here we have a very sharp photograph of mercy and its opposite. Mercy has four dimensions in this parable.

1. First, it sees distress (verse 33: "But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man….”).

2. Second, it responds internally with a heart of compassion or pity toward a person in distress (verse 33: “When he saw the man, he had compassion on him”).

3. Third, it responds externally with a practical effort to relieve the distress (verse 34: "He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.”).

4. And the fourth dimension of mercy is that

it happens even when

the person in distress is by religion and race an enemy (verse 33: “But a Samaritan …”).

A half-breed Jew with a warped religious tradition stops to help the Jew who hates him.

· An eye for distress,

· a heart of pity,

· an effort to help,

· in spite of enmity

—that’s mercy.

And its opposite?

Isn’t it remarkable that this parable makes the same point as ? There Jesus said, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ ”

Here he says, “Go and show mercy like the Samaritan, not like the priest and the Levite.”

The priest and the Levite stand for the same thing in the parable

that the word “sacrifice” stands for in , namely, empty religious formalism.

Jesus made up this story.

Why did he choose to illustrate the opposite of mercy with a priest and a Levite?

With a pastor and a minister of music?

Is it not a warning to all of us

that there are far too many people

who are caught up in the mechanics of religious activity

· with no eye to see distress,

· no heart to respond with compassion, and

· no effort to bring the relief of the gospel?

So in answer to our second question, What is mercy? we should say that mercy is one of the weightier matters of life.

It is always in danger of being neglected because of our preoccupation with trifles, whether secular trifles like

o watching too much television or

o consuming yourself with some hobby, or

o religious trifles.

What’s a religious trifle?

A religious trifle is any religious activity (from preaching to praying, from teaching to tithing)—

any religious activity (at all) that does not cultivate a heart

that is taken up with the weightier matters of life, like mercy.

The proof of the religious pudding is in the power to

o see distress,

o feel pity,

o perform relief, and

o all of that even toward an enemy.

When Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (), it is no isolated remark.

It flows from both the fourth beatitude, describing our hunger, and the first.

When Jesus blesses the poor in spirit, he promotes mercy, for the poor in spirit are merciful.

When we recognize our spiritual poverty, our weakness and sin, we see the weakness and sin of others differently.

If we are poor in spirit, we come to understand our own failings and develop a certain patience with them.

As a result, we learn to be tender, empathetic, patient, and compassionate with the failings of others.

Then we no longer condescend, asking,

o “What’s wrong with him?” or

o “How could she ever do that?”

We know that we could do (or have done) the same things.

When we see a troubled friend, we empathize. We ask,

o “How can I help?” NOT

o “How did he ever get into that ridiculous situation?”

The feeling of compassion also leads to action.

The poor in spirit are merciful.

We offer help to others, whether they have a claim on us or not.

Mercy is a gift to mankind, yet a demand from God.

He says, “I desire mercy” (; ). Jesus says that mercy is one of the “weightier matters of the law” (23:23; 25:31–46).

But, as we saw before, the Beatitudes are also a portrait of Jesus.

His demand is also his gift.

The Father bids us to conform to the Son.

Demand what You will dear Lord, and give what you demand.

We show mercy because we have received his mercy ().

God promises to give His mercy to those who live by His mercy.

The miracles of Jesus show how mercy breaks into action.

Compassion moved him

o to heal crowds (; ),

o to feed four thousand hungry followers (15:32),

o to restore sight to the blind (20:34), and

o to bring a widow’s only son to life ().

We do not perform miracles, but we can say what Peter once said to a needy man: “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you” ().

So let us ask, when we see the needy: How can I help? What can I give?

Need takes many forms.

We may meet it with a meal or a bed, with our time or with our counsel.

Whatever the need may be, if we are hungry for righteousness, we will show mercy.

How do we apply our text to our lives?

Should a merciful person always show mercy?

Or: can a Christian be a prosecuting attorney?

Real life is very complex for followers of Christ who

seriously want live out their faith in a sinful world.

What would you answer to these questions?

• Can a Christian be consistently merciful and yet be a parent who spanks a child for disobedience instead of turning the other cheek to the child’s disrespect?

• Can a Christian be consistently merciful and yet be an employer who pays good wages for excellent work but dismisses irresponsible employees who do shoddy work?

• Can a Christian be consistently merciful and yet be involved with a church that follows the biblical mandate for church discipline and excommunicate a member for unforsaken, public sin?

Each of these three questions corresponds to a sphere of life:

o the sphere of the family,

o the sphere of business and,

o the sphere of the church.

And my answer to the questions is that it is God’s will that

as long as this age lasts

there be a mingling of mercy and justice in all these spheres.

A Mingling of Both Justice and Mercy in This Age

God’s will is that sometimes we recompense people with what they deserve, whether punishment or reward (call that justice).

And God’s will is that sometimes we recompense people with better than what they deserve (call that mercy).

In upholding the claims of justice, we bear witness to the truth that God is a God of justice.

And in showing mercy we bear witness to the truth that God is a God of mercy.

• A biblical parent must follow the wisdom that sparing the rod spoils the child (; ).

But there will be times when a child’s fault will be forgiven

without punishment to teach the meaning of mercy

and woo the child to Christ.

A biblical employer will usually pay a fair

wage and insist on good workmanship ().

But there will be times when he will pay more than a person’s work deserves, and

go an extra mile, with a sick or aging or distressed or inadequately trained

employee.

And a biblical Elder will call public sin in the church to account and exercise

discipline and even exclusion from the fellowship (),

but will also remember the parable of the wheat and the tares that teaches

patience with the imperfection of the church till the end of the age ().

SO, should a merciful person always show mercy? is a qualified “no.”

No, you will often support the claims of justice and recompense a person the way he deserves,

in order to bear witness to the truth of God’s justice.

But I say it is a qualified “no” because if you are a merciful person, then even

o the way you spank a child or

o dismiss an employee will be different or

o put a person out of the church will be with tears

The mercy will show.

o The parent may cry.

o The employer may pay for remedial training.

o The heart of mercy will show.

Therefore, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

The great profit of this doctrine of mercy is that it:

1. It shows us what a blessing evangelism is to others.

There’s simply no greater mercy bestowed that the preaching of the gospel!

The preaching of the word is nothing but shewing mercy to souls:

This is a mighty and glorious engine in the hand of the Lord of Hosts for the beating down of the devil’s strong holds.

The ministry of the word not only brings light with it, but eye-salve,

anointing the eyes to see that light.

It is a sin-killing, and a soul quickening order, it is ‘the power of God to salvation.’

And 2. it serves to reprove those this morning, that have no mercy to souls.

What will you do on the day of Judgment? To you who see others going on in their sin but say nothing about it!

Other’s poison souls with error.