Mastering the Model of Mercy: Mercy Given is Mercy Gained

Introduction

Today, we once again find ourselves back in Matthew Chapter 5 as we continue on in our study of Jesus all encompassing, one of a kind, sermon on the mount.

Over the last 4 weeks now, we have been soaking ourselves in a series entitled “The Be-Attitudes of Blessing 9 Character Traits for Christian Application.”

Last week was actually a transition verse, as we finished looking at the first 4 beatitudes that deal with us personally and our attitudes toward God.

This week, we will be transitioning to looking at our attitudes towards others.

Over the next 5 weeks, we will finish out our study of the beatitudes by focusing on how we ought to be acting and treating our fellow man.

As I’ve stated every Sunday, these are attitudes that ought to be found in every born again believer.

These attitudes are what sets us apart from the rest of the world but let me be clear about one thing, not a single one of these attitudes come naturally to the man/woman who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.

Only when one has been born again and has become a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit from on high, will he/she be able to exude the attitudes set forth by the Savior here, for the natural man cares nothing of the things of God!

Today we are going to be looking at Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 7 and then we will flip over to Luke Chapter 10 a little later and look at a parable of our Lord to help us gain a greater understanding of mercy.

I love what John Phillips said about this beatitude...

Justice was the heart and soul of the law; mercy is the heart and soul of the gospel. He who shows no mercy destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass. — John Phillips

The title for today’s message is Mastering the Model of Mercy: Mercy Given is Mercy Gained and if you have your Bible’s turned to Matthew Chapter 5, I’d ask you to stand with me as we read Verses 1-12 for context.

Matthew 5 Verse 1, if you have it would you say, Amen.

The Meaning of Mercy

The first thing I want us to understand and look at this morning is what exactly is the meaning of “Merciful?”

Jesus says here, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

But what exactly does the Bible mean here when it uses the word “merciful?”

To begin, it is the Greek word (eleēmōn) and is only found 2 places in all of the New Testament. It’s found here and then again in...

Hebrews 2:17 when speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ it says...

17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

But what is mercy?

What does the word mercy really mean?

Being merciful towards someone means to have compassion on them, to have pity on them and it speaks not just of the thought but it is to be accompanied with action.

One writer said it like this...

Merciful means “full of mercy.” Just as a graceful person is one full of grace, the merciful person is the one who is full of the fountain of mercy, who is full of God. Mercy moves the merciful to bestow mercy. The merciful man is the man who is full of love, and who loves with the love of God. He is the man in whose life the cross has done a transforming work to conform him to Jesus Christ; that which is not a natural characteristic of his life becomes the character and pattern of his life. But just as the Lord tells his people to be holy because he is holy, he also calls for his people to reflect his mercy. — Precept Austin

In that same place it went on to say this about the word merciful...

Merciful refers to one who is actively compassionate or one who is benevolently merciful involving thought and action. It reflects being concerned about people in their need. The idea is that they possess a compassionate heart leading one to acts of mercy, the purpose of which is to relieve the suffering and misery of the object of that compassion. Mercy is not simply feeling compassion but exists when something is done to alleviate distress. — Precept Austin

The great theologian William Barclay stated that the Hebrew word (hesed) for "merciful" carries the idea of "the ability to get right inside the other person's skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings."

Australian New Testament Scholar Leon Morris said, "These are people who show by their habitual merciful deeds that they have responded to God's love and are living by His grace. They will receive mercy on the last day."

The most important point we need to take away from the meaning behind the beatitude before us today, is that being merciful is yes, having and showing compassion and pity towards others but it’s more than that!

It’s seeing the needs of those who are less fortunate than ourselves and doing something about it!

It’s easy to look at someone and say, “oh, I feel so sorry for this person or that person and I’ll be praying for them.”

But being merciful is seeing that same person and feeling compassion and pity for them insomuch that it causes us to do something about it!

It causes us not to just be mindful of their situation but to move to make their situation better!

That’s what it truly means to be merciful!

Adrian Rogers said, “mercy is compassion in action!”

I love what Pastor, Author and Teacher Ray Pritchard said about mercy. He said, “mercy includes three elements…

1. ”I see the need”—that’s recognition.

2. “I am moved by the need”—that’s motivation.

3. “I move to meet the need”—that’s action.”

If we are to be found merciful in the eyes of a merciful God this morning, these three things must be said of us…I see the need, I am moved by the need, and then I move to meet the need!

And now knowing the true meaning behind mercy and being merciful, I want you to ask yourself, “Am I merciful?”

Do I exude the quality of mercy?

Am I acting on mercy or do I just see the need and wait for someone else to do something about it?

Listen friend, Paul told the Galatians in Chapter 6 Verse 2...

Galatians 6:2 KJV 1900

2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

This is where we got the name for our St Jude Benefit Auction from for those who may not have known that. We named it “Bearing the Burden” because this is what Christ has commanded us to do!

And notice what it says after that in that verse…and so fulfil the law of Christ!

It’s not enough to see the burden but as born again believers, we are to also help bear the burden!

Compassion in Action!

You may have compassion but is your compassion being put into action?

That’s the question of the day!

And now that we understand The Meaning of Mercy, I want to move on The Model of Mercy and look at a parable our Lord gives in the Book of Luke to help us bring this point to light even more.

The Model of Mercy — (Luke 10:25-37)

Verse 30

Jerusalem — 2490 above sea level

Jericho — 846 ft below sea level — it’s the lowest city on earth

I’m sure you all have heard Jerusalem referred to at some point as the holy city.

So we have the holy city of Jerusalem and then we have Jericho and if you will remember this is where Rahab lived in the Old Testament in the Book of Joshua.

Jericho was a heathen city.

And so we have here in the story Jesus is telling, a man traveling from the holy city to the hellish city. He’s going down and he’s traveling away from God. He’s going in the wrong direction as so many among us are today.

And what you need to see this morning in this little story is that every thing Jesus speaks about is highly symbolic.

Here’s a man and he’s traveling in the wrong direction and then Jesus tells us here that he fell among thieves and these thieves, they stripped of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead!

Dear friend, this is a picture of the devil and the hounds of hell and what they will do to a man who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ!

Listen friend, they lure men in and entice them and then, when they get them right where they want them at their lowest point, they rob them of their dignity and their honor, they wound and warp their minds and tell them they will never be good enough or that there is no way back from where they are or they simply convict them that everything that this world has to offer is better than anything God can offer or that God is just a fairy tale and then after wounding and warping their minds, when they’ve done all the damage they can do and feel it’s good enough, they leave them there, lost and undone, with what seems like no hope in sight!

They leave them half dead!

Then, look what Jesus says happens next.

Verse 31

Here was this man laying on the side of the road, naked and bruised and half beaten to death and the Bible says this priest comes along.

And instead of helping this poor soul, Jesus said this priest passed by on the other side!

Can you imagine! A man of the cloth, a man who is supposed to be an extension of the body of Christ and he looks at this poor soul and says I’m too good to help that guy. Or he’s filthy and I’m clean and I don’t want to get dirty, so he passes by on the other side!

This is what I like to call pious righteousness!

I believe this priest is a representation of religion. So many people now days have religion.

You ask them if they’re a Christian and they say, “oh yeah I go to church at so and so.”

Dear friend, I didn’t ask if you go to church I asked if you were a Christian!

Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ in a personal manner?

Do you talk with him and walk with him?

Do you bask in the presence of the Lord and enjoy it?

You see friend, you can have all the religion you want and die and go straight to hell!

Religion won’t save you.

Church membership won’t save you.

Baptism won’t save you.

Your momma and daddy being Christians won’t save you!

Dear friend, it takes a relationship not religion to get you to heaven!

And this is the point that Jesus wanted to make sure everyone around listening to this conversation understood because there were so many pious, religious elites in this day and time!

The Pharisees, Sadduccees and Scribes, members of the Sanhedrin council. They all had religion but they were missing a relationship with the only one who could truly deliver their souls from hell!

Dear friend, I pray this morning that you have a relationship with Jesus and if you don’t, I want you to know you need one!

So there’s the Priest and there’s religion.

Then, look who comes by next.

Verse 32

Next, we have a Levite who passes by and Jesus says here that this man even came and looked on him and then passed by on the other side.

So, if the priest represented religion then who does the Levite represent?

The Levites were members of the tribe of Levi who were set aside to carry out the priestly duties of the temple. They were priestly officials. They were followers of the law.

Adrian Rogers said, “this man represented rules.” He went on to say, “the law can condemn us, and the law can describe us, but the law can't redeem us.” — TARLC

How many people today still look to the law for salvation?

Well, if I do this and this and this and I follow this commandment and this commandment and this commandment, I’m sure to get to heaven!

If I do this good deed and this good deed and this good deed, I’m sure God will see my good works and let me in!

Friend I hate to be a bubble burster this morning but what these people need to understand is that it’s not about them!

It’s about Jesus!

It’s about His blood that was shed on Calvary’s hill.

It’s about His redeeming grace!

It’s about His atoning sacrifice!

And it’s about His power to sanctify!

Salvation is all of Jesus and none of man for if man could get there by keeping the law or being good on his own, there would not have ever been a need for the one and only Son of God to step out of the throne room of heaven, robe himself in flesh and die for the sins of the world!

If man could get there somehow on his own there would be no need for a Savior!

But the reality is that man cannot, shall not, and will not get there on his own no matter how good he is, no matter how many good deeds he does, now matter how many commandments he follows, the only way anyone is entering those pearly gates is if they have believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ!

Religion cannot save.

Self Righteousness cannot save.

The law cannot save!

A RELATIONSHIP with the Lord Jesus Christ alone is the only thing that can save a man!

Now, look with me at what happens next!

Verse 33

Jesus tells us a third man came along. This time it was a Samaritan. In the eyes of undoubtedly a Jewish crowd, this was the most unlikely of all to stop and help the half dead traveler.

You see, the Jews hated the Samaritans, despised them and concluded that they were but mangy dogs in the sight of God because they had tainted the Jewish race by intermarrying with non Jews.

They treated the Samaritans horribly and therefore, I believe when Jesus says here “a certain Samaritan” although he was a full blooded Jew, the symbolization I believe he’s referring to is himself.

A certain Samaritan and I just love this next part, came where he was, he looked on him and had compassion on him!

Two men pass by and look at this man, broken, beaten and half dead but our Lord, oh our precious Lord, you know what He does when He sees a lost soul wondering aimlessly in their sins?

He sees us in our condition, our sad, sinful state, and He comes to us, and He looks upon us and praise God He has compassion on us!

I don’t know about you but I’m glad many, many years ago He saw me in my sinful state and He came to me and had compassion on me!

Now listen friend, this is where most people stop. Jesus had compassion on this man. He felt sorry for him. But here’s where we have to get to.

Jesus didn’t just say poor, pitiful guy and keep on going but He stopped, He went to this man and then look what He does.

He bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine and set him on His own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him!

Adrian Rogers says here that the oil represents the Holy Spirit and the wine is representative of the blood of Christ and to me that’s just such a beautiful picture of salvation!

And if that weren’t enough Dr. Rogers goes on to point out something even more beautiful…this man, this Samaritan takes this man who is in such bad condition that he can’t do anything for himself and he places him on his own beast.

And what Dr. Rogers brought out about this is how it is so much a picture of the substitutionary atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This Samaritan came riding on his own beast but now he places the man on the beast. He traded places with the man.

Can I tell you this morning that Jesus wants to trade places with you?

You say what do you mean preacher?

What I mean is this…He died so that you might live and He wants you to believe that, believe in Him so that He might take your sin and you might take His righteousness!

Now you’re probably thinking, why would He want to do that? Why would He want to take all the bad things I’ve ever done and give me something I don’t deserve?

Dear friend, because He’s a merciful Savior! No other reason than that!

His mercies are new every morning the Bible says and God has shown His mercy toward mankind by making a way for him in all his guilt, in all his shame, in all his sin, to get back to a holy and righteous God.

That way is through the provision of grace demonstrated in the death, burial, and resurrection of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ!

Grace is getting something I don’t deserve, while mercy is not getting what I do deserve.

We all deserve hell but because God is gracious, because God is merciful, by believing in His Son we can be born again, made new in the eyes of God!

This Samaritan put his compassion into action and dear friend we must too!

And if you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted in Jesus, then you need to put that measure of faith that God instilled within you into action and believe upon Him today!

This Samaritan takes this man to an inn and cares for him and then, when the next day rolls around, he tells the innkeeper, take care of him and whatever else you spend to get him back to health, when I come again I will cover it!

Isn’t this just a beautiful picture of the atoning blood of Jesus?

I don’t know about you but I sure am glad you can’t exhaust the blood of Jesus amen!

I haven’t made up my mind whether the Innkeeper is representative of the Holy Ghost or of God the Father, I’m leaning more towards the Father but either way, Jesus said to Him, whatever it takes, I’ve got it covered!

One day friend, those of us who have been saved and born again, when we get to heaven and stand before God the Father, Jesus is going to step up and say, “Dad, whatever this one has done, I’ve got it covered! I paid for those sins on Calvary. He/She has been washed by the blood!”

Praise God almighty! Somebody ought to say, “thank you Jesus” right now, Amen!

After Jesus presents this parable unto the lawyer, He then poses to him a very simple question… “which of these three was a neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?”

The lawyer, left with no other answer, said, “he that showed mercy on him.”

Jesus said the man, “go and do likewise!”

Go and love your neighbor!

Go and be merciful to your neighbor!

Go and love others and the Father loves you!

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy!

We’ve looked at the meaning of mercy and then seen a model of mercy in the parable of the good Samaritan and finally this morning as we wrap it up I want to finish it out with The Merit of Mercy.

The Merit of Mercy

Why should we be merciful?

Why should we have compassion on those less fortunate than us?

Why should we put that compassion into action and help any way that we can?

So that we in turn might find mercy in our time of need.

Spurgeon said, “as you hope for mercy, show mercy!”

He also said of the merciful, “They forgive, and they are forgiven. They judge charitably, and they shall not be condemned. They help the needy, and they shall be helped in their need. What we are to others, God will be to us. Followers of Jesus must be men of mercy; for they have found mercy, and mercy has found them. As we look for "mercy of the Lord in that day ", we must show mercy in this day.” — Spurgeon

One writer said, “nowhere do we imitate God more than in showing mercy.”

Close — Piano Play Softly

As we come to a close this morning, I’m going to share with you something that Dr. Adrian Rogers said about this passage of scripture and I hope it sinks in and settles in your heart and causes you to contemplate where you are this morning and what God is calling you to do.

He said,

You go outside these doors, and you'll find that there are three classes of people. You go to this city, I don't know where you live dear friend, but in your city, I want to tell you there are three classes of people and they're right there in that tenth chapter of Luke. Let me tell you what they are.

They are the beater-uppers, the passer-uppers and the picker-uppers. That's all the world's made out of.

The beater-uppers, those people who would rob and kill and destroy. Every pornographer is one of them. Every beer baron and liquor dealer, as far as I'm concerned, is one of them. Every abortionist is one of them. Those are the beater-uppers. I'm telling you we have people today who have been bruised and battered. Some are wounded domestically. Some are wounded psychologically. Little children who have been abused and battered, some of them sexually abused. Some of them are wounded economically. They're victims of slumlords, unfair economical practices. Some are wounded spiritually. They've been caught up in the cults and false doctrine, and liberalism and when they’ve gotten into those movements, they are twice-fold a child of hell. I am telling you the bruised and the battered and the beat-up are all around us. There are the beater-uppers.

Then there are the passer-uppers. And God help us, they have their names on church rolls somewhere.

And then there are the picker-uppers.

You're one of the three my dear friend, either you are like those thieves who said, what's yours is mine, and I'm going to get it, or you are like the priest and the Levite who said, "What's mine is mine, and I'm going to keep it.

Or you're going to be like the Good Samaritan who says, "What's mine is mine, but you can have it if you need it. And I'm here to share. And I'm here to serve. And I'm here to minister." Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. — TARLC

This morning, as get ready to give the invitation, I want you to think about yourself this morning and what class you find yourself in.

Are you a beater-upper?

Are you a passer-upper?

Or are you a picker-upper?

I pray we all can say, “I’m a picker-upper” but I’d dare say there are some folks here this morning that know that simply isn’t the case.

If you find yourself in one of the other two categories this morning, I’d simply ask you to come to as Doug sings us a song.

And if you’re here and lost, if you’ve never come to know Jesus Christ as Lord, God’s been merciful unto you today by giving you another opportunity to come to know Him.

Please don’t frustrate the grace and mercy of God and simply come and surrender to His call upon your life.

Come now, come today, come while there’s still time.