May I please God to continue
to help us as we meditate in his word on the Sermon on the
Mount and this evening we'll speak on verse seven. Verse seven
and the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. And it reads,
blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Well, I wonder especially our
young people what they think would make us desire and want
to be merciful in our life, merciful to the people that we meet with. What really is the overriding
factor that should make us merciful in our lives? Well, I hope you
would know the answer. And the answer, of course, is
that we have a great and glorious example, a wonderful favor in
that God has had mercy upon us and it's a wonderful blessing
if we do know that God has had mercy upon us he's been merciful
to us and to think that none of us deserve his mercy none
of us can say well I'm a good person and I merit some acknowledgement
of it and therefore I deserve mercy you know we've all offended
God and if you read the Old Testament you will see there that there
wasn't much requirement in offending gods to bring terrible consequences
upon people. And so we can thank God today
surely for his mercy toward us. I hope we can. It's a wonderful
blessing to realize that God has had mercy upon us, and he
has had mercy upon us when he's looked upon us, and he has had
mercy upon us when he's spoken to us, and he has had mercy upon
us when his light has shone into our hearts. So, may we have the
evidence then of God's mercy toward us. And if that is so,
then I'm sure there will be that concern and that desire to follow
out the exhortation that we have here, where we're told, blessed
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Well, we need to
be merciful in our lives. And there are so many opportunities
for us to be merciful to people that we meet with from time to
time. in the epistle of Paul to the
Colossians much instruction in that short epistle but in that
epistle and in the third chapter of that epistle and the twelfth
verse we can read this put on therefore as the elect of God
holy and beloved again it's directing us to those who are called those
who are chosen bowels of mercies and that really means to have
pity, bowels of mercies means to have pity and to suffer people. Beloved bowels of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. Well of course
we already touched on meekness in the previous verse on those
blessings, but here more particularly we have this favour to put on
these blessings of pitying people. and drawing alongside of them
and encouraging them. You know how many people today
need pitying, don't they? They need pitying because of
their lack of knowledge of their Saviour. And we shouldn't just
go alongside in a condemning spirit but to plead with them
that they might indeed receive the mercy of God and might turn
to God as their great and glorious Savior. Well, the God's servant
James in his little epistle, he also speaks of this mercy,
this mercy in the second chapter. Towards the end of this chapter
we read, If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily
food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye
warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things
which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? So we're
not just to speak words. There are those actions required. When we see brothers and sisters,
especially those in Christ, you know, we are told to do good
unto all men, that means to have mercy upon all men, but especially
unto the household of faith. And therefore, if there are those
who are in need, we should not pass them by. We have that great
example, of course, in the parable the Lord gave to us of the Good
Samaritan. where that man went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho and was robbed and left half dead and
those church people well they passed by on the other side they
didn't want to get involved but that stranger that Samaritan
he came where he was and he band up his wounds they took him to
an inn and he paid the bill all that was necessary and that which
was to come well you see how Naturally, we would say, well
that was a very generous man. Well, may we take examples from
those things in our lives. Because the Word of God tells
us, freely you have received, freely give. And let us always
remember that everything that you and I have, everything that
you and I possess, God has given to us. And therefore what an
important aspect it is that we heed such a statement as this
because remember it's an encouragement those who are merciful are blessed
it's not as though there isn't any reward there isn't any encouragement
but those who are merciful are blessed and more than that it
goes on to say for they shall obtain mercy And of course we
all obtain mercy. We all need to obtain mercy.
So what an important consideration it is that you and I might be
directed to such a situation as that. Now of course these
things are not just limited to the New Testament. We can very
easily think well of course this is just New Testament teaching. It doesn't really refer to the
Old Testament. What it does, if we turn to the
Old Testament and the prophecy of Isaiah and if we read chapter
58 and a couple of verses there from verse 7 is it not to deal
thy bread to the hungry that thou mayest and that thou bring
the poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest them
naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thyself from
thine own flesh. And then the Lord says, then
shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health
shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go
before thee. The glory of the Lord shall be
thy rare reward. Then thou shalt call, and the
Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry, And he shall
say, Here am I, if thou take away from the midst of thee the
yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity.
And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the
afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and
thy darkness be as the noonday. Well, that's wonderful instruction,
isn't it? and guidance to us today. We should not think, well, that
only applies, of course, to those who lived at that time. Not at
all. It applies to the Church of God
today. And there is that wonderful word
which is so gloriously proved, it is more blessed to give than
to receive. And therefore, this is worked
out really in such a statement like this. Blessed are the merciful
for they shall obtain mercy. Well it's a good thing you know
if we're blessed with that true desire to walk in that way. Now we can read also in the Gospel
the Lord really speaks of these things many times in his lessons
that he spoke to the disciples and also to the multitude and
in the 11th chapter of Mark the Lord tells us these things he
says and when you stand praying forgive if you have ought against
any that your father also which is in heaven may forgive you
your trespasses but if you do not forgive, neither will your
Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses." Well, to forgive
surely is to have mercy, is it not? And so here we have an important
statement because the Lord has told us, therefore I say unto
you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you
receive them and ye shall have them and then he goes on as we
read and when ye stand praying forgive if he have ought against
any so therefore what a word of instruction that is it's very
easy isn't it to find that we have reason to be angry against
people and object perhaps to the things that they've said
and done but what should we do We should follow the greater
glorious example of the Savior, who forgives his people of their
sins. And you just ponder for a moment
and think of the sins that you and I commit day by day, hour
by hour, minute by minute virtually, and yet to think that our God
has mercy upon us. And so therefore, we should not
hold anything against other people. If you have ought against any,
That's comprehensive, isn't it? It doesn't say, well, you may
have some big things. No. Whatever it is, however small
it might be, if you have ought against any, you see, we are
to forgive them, that your Father also, which is in heaven, may
forgive you. your trespasses." So it's a gracious
word of exhortation, isn't it, to us? If we were blessed with
much grace to walk more closely in accordance with the Word of
God, and perhaps we might just say more closely in accordance
with these verses which the Lord spoke so wonderfully when he
was on earth, when he went up into the mountains, and spoke
these words to the people and to realize what a wonderful blessing
it is to be called blessed and I'm sure we do want to be called
blessed and here is the statement blessed are the merciful so may
we indeed follow this exhortation and then perhaps just one last
reference and that's in Matthew towards the end of the Gospel
of Matthew and chapter 18 and we read this in verse 35 where
the Lord says he says so likewise let's read the 34th verse and
his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he
should pay all that was due unto him you will no doubt remember
the account he says so likewise shall my heavenly father do also
unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every man every one
his brother their trespasses now that is very striking really
because it means it's not just words you see it's quite easy
to say well I forgive you in actual fact we don't We still
hold a grudge against that person. And in our hearts, we're not
forgiving them. But here is a very important
aspect. If ye from your hearts forgive
not everyone his brother their trespass. Well, may God give
us that grace to pray to him that we might, in our lives,
be found like this, classified as those who are blessed because
by the grace of God and you know it'll only be by the grace of
God naturally we're not really merciful and yet you see when
God pours forth his grace it makes us merciful blessed are
the merciful and then the wonderful promise for they shall obtain
mercy I know how we all need to obtain mercy so may God give
us grace in our little lives to obey such a gracious exhortation,
and thank God that we have such a word written here. Blessed
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Amen.