The Message of Mercy

Text: Matthew 5:7

Intro:

• Blessed are the merciful. Jesus said those are the happy people. Those are the ones to be congratulated. That is what man should be like. The Beatitudes not only show me what I am, but what I am in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I. Mercy’s Attitude:

a. The Bible places great emphasis upon our being, rather than our doing. It stresses more upon our attitude than our actions. It is more concerned with what you are rather than what you do. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ deals with our character first. Later, He deals with our actions. A true Christian is something before he does anything; and we must BE a Christian before we can act as a Christians.

b. Being is more important than doing; attitude is more significant than action. It must always come first. We are Christians and our actions are the outcome of that. We are not meant to control our Christianity; our Christianity is meant to control us. I am governed by the truth because I have been made a Child of God by the Spirit of Truth.

II. Mercy’s Magnificence:

a. When you’re merciful, you’re acting like God. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed”— think about that—“because his compassions fail not.” So, God links mercy with compassion and then He goes on to say—“They are new every morning.” What is the magnificence of mercy? When you’re merciful, you’re God-like. To be unmerciful is to be unlike God. Ephesians 5:1, “Therefore be imitators of God” or “Be ye therefore followers of God.” Literally, “be God-like.”

III. Mercy’s Foundation:

a. There can be no mercy without truth. Psalm 85:10, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Genuine mercy is rooted in truth. To show mercy is not to minimize sin. Mercy is not sentiment. When you show mercy, you withhold judgment. And, when you withhold judgment, that means that judgment is really needed and expected. The justice of God says that sin must be punished. That is truth. Once you see that truth, then you cry out for mercy.

IV. Mercy’s Blessing:

a. Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” That doesn’t mean that we are forgiven because we show mercy. It means we show mercy because we are forgiven. In Psalm 18:25, the psalmist said to God, “With the merciful [you will] shew [yourself] merciful; with an upright man [you will] shew [yourself] upright.” When you’re upright, then you show mercy. And, when you show mercy, you get more mercy.

b. But, we can’t get it until, first of all, we have come the route of being poor in spirit, repenting of our sin, yielding to God, receiving Jesus Christ, God’s righteousness—and when we receive that mercy, we show it. If God in love has been merciful to us, how much more should we be merciful to one another! What a blessing! That’s the Message of Mercy. “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”