Sermon Cloud

We are continuing our study in what is the Lord Jesus’ most extensive and detailed explanation of what it means to be in the kingdom of God.

This is not an instruction manuel on how to enter the kingdom, but a description of those who are already in the Kingdom; a description of all true believers, what it means to be a genuine Christian.

I have noted repeatedly, and will continue to do so, that being a Christian is not about what you do, but is a matter of who you are. God is utterly unconcerned about externals in themselves, but is intensely concerned about the condition of your heart.

The Certainty of your Christian profession is not about what you do, but what defines you in your inner man, your character, your view of God, sin, Christ, self, others, and the world.

This morning we will continue to examine what the inner man of a genuine Christian looks like, by looking at verse 7 of Matthew 5, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

Now, here we are taking a turn in the emphasis of the beatitudes:

1st four emphasized way one views self before God; 2nd seems to put more emphasis on the way that works out in a person’s life.

As a matter of fact, some see here (I would agree) a parallel between the 1st four and the 2nd group of four. (*Review).

Now, in order to better understand our Lord’s teaching here, it will be helpful to first note a few common errors in approaching the beatitudes, and the matter of mercy in particular.

(1) This is not a legalistic standard; He is not teaching us how to earn mercy

(A) Remember, that these are not simply a tree of cherries from which we may pick at random, they are a cohesive unit, a golden chain, a multifaceted look at the single reality of true conversion. That is to say, that all of these will be true, to some degree, in every genuine believer. So, we cannot simply parachute into verse 7, Bible study doesn't work that way; that is how error happens.

(B) Like all of the beatitudes, is the fruit of regeneration. As we noted last week:

Regeneration: Sovereign act of God; imparts life/principle of righteousness in dead sinner.

Justification: sinner now aware of desperate situation, turns from sin to embrace Christ in all His authority and saving benefits. Rom. 5:1 “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” God’s declaring a sinner righteous based on Christ - happens outside the sinner.

Sanctification: new life/principle of righteousness is being worked out on the inside in a process of being conformed to the image of Christ.

(C) Mercy then is specifically a response to the gospel of Christ. It is the fruit of regeneration; one who has responded to the call to repentance; who is poor in spirit, who mourns over sin, who is then meek toward God and men, who hungers and thirst for righteousness. The mercy being displayed here is specifically the response of one who has been shown mercy in Christ.

(2) This is not simply a human act, or emotion.

(A) Many in the world do acts of mercy for the good of humanity, others, yet are not Christians and are excluded from this verse, who will not receive mercy from God.

(1) Now, on the outside an unregenerate person may make greater displays of mercy than a genuinely regenerate person; they may make greater sacrifices for others, and yet are condemned and their deeds unable to do them any good before God.

(2) The reason for this can be found in the greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength” and its offshoot, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Anything deed done that is not out of love for God as revealed in Christ, is not done for His glory, is a rejection of His Person and is sin. As admirable as it may be before men, and even worthy of our acknowledgement for the good it does, it is nonetheless sin before God.

Rom. 14:23 “Whatever is not done from faith is sin;” Heb. 11:6 “without faith it is impossible to please Him” and even righteous religious deeds only bring God’s condemnation: “all your righteous deeds are like filthy rags” (Is. 64:6).

Even your most righteous deed has enough sin in it to send you to eternal judgment. Even our deeds as a redeemed people are not beyond the need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ to make them acceptable to God. This exposes the utter foolishness of any system that says by what I do I can in some measure merit favor with God.

(3) Finally, all human acts of mercy are deficient in that they only address the body and not the soul. It is fine to give a person food and clothes, but, if the concern for that person does not extend beyond that, then ultimately their greatest need has not been met, which forgiveness for sin, and the righteous demands of the Law to be met on their behalf through faith in Jesus Christ (cf. Matt. 4:23-25).

T: So, if it isn’t just a singled out act, or a human act of kindness, what is it?

Definition of Mercy:

(A) Greeks is was, (a) “the emotion roused by contact with an affliction which come undeservedly on someone else.” (b) “the word was often viewed as a sign of weakness, a sentimental inclination to be overly lenient.”

To the Stoics, mercy was regarded as “a sickness of the soul”

(B) Romans it certainly was not prized:

Marriage (Divorce at whim); Children (Murdered, abandoned at will); Slaves (killed, beaten, and mistreated with not repercussions). *Much like today’s society (divorce, abortion).

(C) Jews, mercy was a missing element their self-righteous religion.

Matthew 9:13 “But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire compassion (lit. mercy), and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Context: Pharisees rebuke disciples for eating with sinners.

12:7 “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion (lit. mercy), and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”

Context: Picking grain on Sabbath b/c disciples hungry.

Hypocrisy and judgmentalism are chief marks of hypocrisy/self-righteousness.

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

(1) These were the religious leaders, who were skilled in the external but void on the internal. He later describes them as “white washed tombs.” *They were enslaved to trivial religious issues.

(2) Jesus identifies that there are parts of the Law “weightier” than other parts; and interestingly, the “weightier” parts are the ones that have to do with the heart; with inner character of humility.

As I have said many times, being a Christian is not a matter of what you do but who you are; this is the point that the Lord is taking great pains to make. The people were steeped in false, inwardly arrogant and prideful (though outwardly humble), harsh, unloving, ungracious, unmerciful, self-centered religion.

T: This is completely opposite the context of the secular and religious culture of the day; and the shocking element here is that God is saying it is actually the “merciful” who are “blessed.” So then, what does it mean to be merciful?

(1) In its most basic sense it means: “To show kindness or concern for someone in serious need” or, “active helping someone because of pity”

(2) However, to rightly understand the Lord here, mercy must be seen in relation to God; thus, it is best to first understand mercy as “the goodness or love of God shown to those who are in misery, irrespective of their deserts.” (Berkhof).

Mercy is very often put in the context of grace and salvation. Thus grace and mercy are very close in meaning, yet distinct.

“The two terms are frequently synonymous; but where there is a distinction between the two, it appears that grace is a loving response when love is undeserved, and mercy is a loving response prompted by the misery and helplessness of the one on whom the love is to be showered. Grace answers to the undeserving; mercy answers to the miserable.” (Carson)

“If the grace of God contemplates man as guilty before God, and therefore in need of forgiveness, the mercy of God contemplates him as one who is bearing the consequences of sin, who is in a pitiable condition, and who therefore needs divine help” (Berkhof)

Mercy is the foundation of God’s dealings with His fallen creatures.

It is God’s compassion in action toward those who are in a miserable, pitiful, wretched position because of sin, rebellion, guilt, and helplessness.

The only way that God could act toward His rebellious creatures in a way other than wrath and judgment, would be through His attribute of mercy.

(A) OT - Foundation of God’s covenant relationship with His people.

In the LXX, the term “mercy” most often translates the Heb. term hesed - which emphasized God’s covenant love for His people. In most of our translations it is very often “lovingkindness,” which is the translator’s attempt to capture the full range of the term that encompasses both an inner motive and an action.

This term is very often attached to other attributes like love and patience.

Ex. 34:6-7; Deut. 4:31; 13:17; *Hos. 2:19.

But notice, that the term does not exclude the idea of justice and wrath, but is in fact set in wondrous harmony with them. Both of these are met perfectly in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This attribute of mercy must be expressed/accomplished in a way that does not violate His holiness.

God can be merciful because of the atoning/redemptive work of Christ on the cross, wherein Christ removed God’s wrath from repentant sinners by bearing it, and satisfied God’s righteousness by granting His to all who are believing in Him. (Rom. 3:25).

In other words, the King-Messiah came first to “save His people from their sins.”

(B) NT - Foundation of Salvation in Jesus Christ

In Luke 1 God’s mercy is mentioned 5x in relation to the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist. Thus, the ultimate expression of God’s hesed love to His people is in the appearing of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

[Mary] (50) “And His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him” [a quote from Ps. 103:17]

[Mary] (54) “He has given help to Israel his servant, In remembrance of His mercy”

(58) “Her (Elizabeth) neighbors and her relatives heard that the lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.”

[Zacharias] (72) “To show mercy toward our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant”

[Zacharias] (77-78) “to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Rom. 9-11, in which Paul focuses in on God’s present and future dealings with the nation of Israel, the term “mercy” is used over 8x (in both the [N] and [V] form).

Trans: God’s mercy is the foundation of His dealing with His creation, therefore, the best way to for us to understand what it is to “be merciful” is to look at God’ expressions of mercy, and then learn how it should be manifest in the lives of those who belong to Him.

Expressions of God’s Mercy.

(A) Mercy is not based on merit.

Character of those on whom God demonstrates mercy:

Dead:

Eph. 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived nit eh lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. *But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us …”

Blasphemer & Persecutor

1 Tim. 1:13 “Even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief” (cf. 1 Cor. 6:11; 1 Thess. “idolaters”;

Murders of Christ

Acts 2:36 “this Jesus whom you crucified … ‘Brethren what shall we do?’ … Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” - about 3 thousand souls were saved.

Acts 19 the Ephesians were saved out of “witchcraft”;

Wicked

1 Cor. 6:9-11 “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but your were justified nit eh name of the Lord jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

Titus 3:3-5 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

There is nothing in man to provoke God to grace and mercy, except the opportunity for Him to display it. You, and I, and every person born into this world apart from Christ are a poor, miserable, rebellious, unlovable, creature destined for a wrath we have earned.

Yet, it is precisely our pitiful position that incites the mercy of God to reach down in to the muck of this world to redeem a people that deserve to be condemned with it.

If you are a Christian is solely by the sovereign grace of God in Christ.

Rom. 9:15, 23 (cf. 1 Pet. 2:10) “For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom i have compassion …. And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared before hand for glory, even us, whom He also called …” (cf. 15:9).

Rom. 11:30-32 “For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all” - God’s very design in the gospel is the display of His mercy.

God shows mercy to those who do not deserve it. In the same way, the Christian does not show mercy b/c a person deserves it, but b/c they need it. This is a key mark of Christian mercy. If you show kindness to those who are kind to you, what more have you done than an unbeliever? (5:46-48).

(B) Mercy is shown by forgiveness.

[Turn to] Matt. 18:33 “Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?”

Are you a merciful person? Could your family, your co-workers describe you as a forgiving, or a merciful person? Are you quick to forgive?

Are you one who is quick to retaliate when you have been wronged or offended?

(C) Mercy should show itself in evangelism:

“Came to seek and to save the lost” “He looked at the crowds and felt compassion for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.” A sense of mercy toward those in a pitiful position of God’s damnation should motivate us to be witnesses to the gospel of Christ. Should not see the unbelievers in our lives as the enemy, but the mission field.

I challenge you, do not think of the people in your lives as simply co-workers or acquaints see them as those who need to be rescued from a Christ-less eternity. This takes work, it is so easy to simply go throughout our day. But one of the greatest demonstrations of new life, and of mercy is to have a concern for a persons eternal soul; to desire to reach them with the saving message of Jesus Christ; to warn them of coming doom.

Meeting man’s needs.

All of God’s provisions for men are examples of His mercy:

Ps. 145:8-9, 14-16 “The LORD is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in loving kindness. The LORD is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works … The LORD sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”

Now, man is, by virtue of his fallen nature, selfish and would not show mercy (Rom. 1:31). He had to legislate justice, kindness, mercy. (Deut. 24:12f).

Jesus said the Law could be summed up in two points: (1) Love for God; (2) Love for neighbor; as with the beatitudes, the 2nd flows out of the 1st. And what does this 2nd summary of the law look like? Jesus explains.

[Turn to] Luke 10:37 - speaking of the good Samaritan, “Which one of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?’ and he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same.’”

Jesus Christ is the greatest example of mercy.

Meeting the physical needs of others.

9:27 (cf. 15:22; 17:14; 20:30-31; cf. Mk. 5:19; Lk. 16:24; 17:13; 18:38-39) “Have mercy on us son of David.”

He healed the blind, the crippled, the outcast, the demon oppressed and possessed - many of these were unbelievers.

Remember, Titus reminds us that all of Christ’s work in atonement is an expression of God’s love and mercy.

Meets our needs daily, or those who belong to Him.

Heb. 2:17 “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

Heb. 4:16 “Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

A merciful person is also shown in such things as intercessory prayer, graciously coming alongside someone in dealing with their sin, being easily approachable in times of need, being concerned to meet the needs, both physical and spiritual of others.

T: The one who knowing their own need of mercy from God has responded to the call of faith and repentance and is characterized by mercy toward others. In other words, this is one who is showing themselves to be in the kingdom and thus is assured the present and future promises of the kingdom, namely here that “they shall receive mercy.”

“because they shall receive mercy” (future passive) - again, a Divine passive; God is the force acting on the subject. Subject (“those who are merciful”) will receive from God the final an ultimate mercy when with Christ face to face (“shall receive mercy”).

Eph. 2:7 “So that nit eh ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus”

Jude 21 “Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.”

“For yonder a light shines eternal,

Which spreads through the valley of gloom;

Lord Jesus, resplendent and regal,

Drives fear far away from the tomb.

Our God is the end of the journey,

His pleasant and glorious domain

For there are the children of mercy

Who praise him for Calvary’s pain.”