Merciful

Intro

Matthew 5:7 NASB95

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

 In Reader’s Digest Jim Williams of Butte, Montana, writes:

I was driving too fast late one night when I saw the flashing lights of a police car in my rear view mirror. As I pulled over and rolled down the window of my station wagon, I tried to dream up an excuse for my haste. But when the patrolman reached the car, he said nothing. Instead, he merely shined his flashlight in my face, then on my seven-months-pregnant wife, then on our snoozing 18-month-old in his car seat, then on our three other children, who were also asleep, and lastly on the two dogs in the very back of the car. Returning the beam of light to my face, he then uttered the only words of the encounter.

“Son,” he said, “you can’t afford a ticket. Slow it down.” And with that, he returned to his car and drove away.

Sometimes mercy triumphs over law. So it is for sinners who call out to Jesus.1

1 Craig Brian Larson, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 342–343.

Sometimes, giving mercy is easy, and sometimes, it is very hard

regardless, we are to give mercy. As believers in Christ who are to be imitators of him who shows mercy

we too are to do the same

Studying the Beatitudes

we have seen need for a savior, understanding the cost of our salvation, and our thrive for righteousness

today we are told to be merciful, for then we will receive mercy

Mercy is Compassion

Seeing a hurt or a need and acting upon it

“a sense of human wretchedness coupled with the impulse to relieve it which issues in gracious ministry.”

“Grace takes away the fault, mercy the misery.”

mercy is compassion

it is seeing the condition of the human heart as it breaks yours

drawing you to action

Mercy, like compassion, does not exist without action

As Christians, we are given a heart of compassion and mercy

Col. 3:12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;

Not pretend mercy

Matthew Henry, “The most merciful and charitable cannot pretend to merit, but must fly to mercy. The merciful shall find with God sparing mercy, supplying mercy, sustaining mercy…they shall inherit the kingdom prepared for them; whereas they shall have judgement without mercy who have shown no mercy.”

Mercy over Judgement

Mercy is forgiveness

James 2:13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

when someone has hurt you in some way, forgiveness is showing mercy.

it is seeing the condition of the human heart as it breaks yours

drawing you to action

Just as was done to us

Christ saw the condition of the human heart and was drawn to action

We focus on the big things, we focus on being holy and looking right but we neglect the basics, neglect our first love

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

Let’s not be like these scribes and Pharisees.

let’s not forget the weightier provisions…justice, mercy, forgiveness

Showing mercy is letting someone “get away with it” it is showing the heart of God to another

Matthew 5:7 NASB95

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

  Grace is getting what we do not deserve.

Justice is getting what we do deserve.

Mercy is not getting what we do deserve.1

1 Michael P. Green, ed., Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 Sermon Illustrations Arranged by Topic and Indexed Exhaustively, Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989).

Mercy like God

An Exposition of the New Testament, Volumes I–III Matthew 5:7

To shew mercy is very delightful to, and desirable by God; it is what he requires, and is one of the weightier matters of the law; it is very ornamental to a child of God, and what makes him more like to his heavenly father.

To shew mercy is very delightful to, and desirable by God; it is what he requires, and is one of the weightier matters of the law; it is very ornamental to a child of God, and what makes him more like to his heavenly father.1

1 John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament, vol. 1, The Baptist Commentary Series (London: Mathews and Leigh, 1809), 38.

Matthew 5:7 NASB95

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

When you’re merciful, you’re God-like. To be unmerciful is not to be like God1

1 Adrian Rogers, “The Magnificence of Mercy,” in Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust, 2017), Mt 5:7.

His mercy never ends

Lamentations 3:22 The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.

Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

We are to be like Him

Luke 3:36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

He saw the condition of our hearts and was drawn to action