all who are poor in spirit. That's a continual thing. You really believe that you have
nothing but Christ. You don't have anything that
would recommend you to God that you've done, thought, or been. Poor in spirit. All who mourn
over their sin, and this mourning is before God. You mourn over your sin. You mourn when you can't make
it go away. And you mourn. All who are meek
before God, they believe that whatever God does is right because
he did it. They might not enjoy it, but
because he did it, they bow. All who hunger and thirst after
righteousness. Now, everybody that's poor and
everybody that mourns and everybody that's meek, they hunger and
thirst after righteousness because they know righteousness must
come outside of them. It's gotta be given to them.
And they hunger and thirst for this righteousness. And this
is present. This is a hunger and thirst that
you'll always have as long as you're in this flesh until the
Lord takes the flesh away and you'll be in His face, beholding
His face in righteousness. But as long as we're here, we
hunger and thirst, feeling this need of His righteousness. And
all who hunger and thirst after righteousness without exception are merciful people. Every one of them. Only these merciful people shall
obtain mercy. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy. Listen to this scripture from
James chapter two, verse 13. He shall have judgment without
mercy, who has shown no mercy. You show no mercy? God will judge
you without giving you his mercy. And mercy rejoices against judgment. Mercy is an attribute of God.
And mercy rejoices against judgment. And let me remind you, mercy
is not a sentiment. It's compassion in action. It's not just wishing well. It
is compassion in action, acts of mercy. Now somebody's thinking
the way this scripture reads, does that mean we'll only be
shown mercy if we first show mercy? It could be read like
that. Well, if you know the gospel,
you know that's not what it means. Every scripture can only be understood
in the light of all the other scriptures. And if that's what
it meant, that would mean salvation by words. That would mean your
acts of mercy are meritorious before God. And if that is what
it means, you might as well say you'll only be shown mercy if
you keep the Ten Commandments perfectly. And if you keep the
Ten Commandments perfectly, you don't need mercy in the first
place, do you? Obviously, it does not mean you will only be
shown mercy if you are first merciful. It's very much like
forgiveness. The Lord said, if you forgive
not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive
you your trespasses. Now, we're not forgiven because
we forgive. We forgive because we're forgiven. We're not shown mercy because
we're merciful. We're merciful because we have
been shown mercy. The mercy of God. We're merciful because we've
been shown mercy. And I know this, I need mercy. I love what David said. Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according
to the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgression. Wash me throughly from my sin. Cleanse me from my iniquities.
I acknowledge my transgression. My sin is ever before me. That's
the man after God's own heart speaking. I need the mercy of God. Now let's talk for a few moments
about the mercy of God before we consider this thing of being
merciful. Mercy is an attribute of God. I've heard people say, he must
be just, he may be merciful. No, he must be just and he must
be merciful. That's an attribute of God. That's his character. The scripture
actually says he delights in mercy. Isn't that wonderful? When he proclaimed his name to
Moses in Exodus chapter 34, We read, the Lord passed by before
Moses and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God merciful. First thing he said, and gracious,
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. that will by no means
clear the guilty. Now I want you to think about
that. He forgives iniquity and transgression and for sin and
yet by no means under no circumstance whatsoever will he ever clear
a guilty sinner. Now how can those things be?
The gospel of Jesus Christ. Psalm 8510, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed one another. This is what took place on the
cross. The reason God can never clear a guilty sinner is because
he's just. If he could clear a guilty sinner,
he'd be unjust. What would we do about a human
judge that cleared guilty sinners? He'd lose his office, wouldn't
he? We wouldn't want to have a judge like that. God is absolutely
just. He will by no means clear the
guilty. God is merciful. He gave his
son to put away the sins of his people so that they are not guilty
before him. They stand before him having
never sinned. The glorious gospel of the blessed
God, how God can be just and justify the ungodly. God's mercy
is God's character. Now let me tell you two things
about God's mercy. Number one, it's always saving.
And number two, it's always sovereign. God's mercy. Number one, it's
always saving. Ephesians chapter two, verse
four says, but God who is rich in mercy. Don't you love that
description? He's rich in mercy. For His great
love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ. Now understand this, God doesn't
offer anybody mercy. He shows mercy. His mercy is
His act. His act of compassion, He shows
mercy, and everybody He shows mercy to is saved. God's mercy is always Saving,
mercy. Now in that passage of scripture,
we read of mercy and we read of grace. But God who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
are you saved. And every believer says amen
to that. I know it's by grace that I'm
saved. Now, here's two words, mercy and grace. What's the difference
between the two of them? Well, grace is God giving us
what we do not deserve. Mercy is God not giving us what
we do deserve. Grace. God doesn't have to find
a reason in you to give you his grace. There's nothing in you
that moves him to give you his grace. His reason for giving
grace is found in himself. He doesn't need to have a reason
in you to give you grace. He gives grace because he's gracious. Mercy is different. Mercy is God's compassion toward
the miserable, the needy. You know, if you say, well, I'm
not that bad, that's not gonna move God to extend his mercy
to you. Well, I'm better than so-and-so,
that's not gonna work with God. No way. God's mercy is toward
those he deems miserable. That leper, full of leprosy,
came and fell down before the Lord and worshipped Him and said,
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Now that's the only
way to come in the Lord's presence. You come any other way, you're
not going to be heard. This man came the right way. Lord, I'm
unclean completely. If you will, it's up to you.
If you will, you can make me clean. And the scripture says
in Jesus, moved with compassion, reached forth his hand and touched
him and said, I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy
was cleansed. Immediately he had the flesh
of a baby and he had been filled with leprosy. Everyone he extends his mercy
to, he saves. Now, don't miss this. He saves. Well, what's that mean? He saves everybody he has mercy
on from their sins. There's a lot of other things
we could say. He saves us from ourself. I'm my worst enemy.
He saves me from himself. He's the one who could destroy
me and send me to hell. The devil doesn't put people
in hell, the Lord does. He saves me from himself, but he saves
me from my sins. Matthew 121, thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's what I need to say, from
my sins. I can't make them go away. He saves his people from
the condemnation of sin. He saves his people from the
power of sin. There was a time when I could
not believe I can now because I've been saved from the dominion
of sin. And he saves his people from the presence of sin. I'm
not going to experience that until I'm in heaven and I put
down this dead body. But the scripture also says we're
seated together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. I'm saved from
the presence of sin in the person of my beloved right now as he's
seated at the right hand of the father. Mercy is always saving,
and God's mercy is always sovereign. If it's not sovereign, it's not
mercy. He has mercy on whom he will
have mercy. He said, I'll have mercy on whom
I will have mercy. He had mercy upon whom he will,
and whom he will, he hardens. We just read back in the back
about the Lord hardening Pharaoh's heart. I mean, he actively hardened
Pharaoh's heart. That's what the Bible says. Somebody
says, well, didn't Pharaoh harden his own heart? Yes, he did. You
know, all God's got to do to actively harden your heart is
nothing. Nothing. That's all it takes.
Nothing. And your heart will become as
hard as a millstone. My heart will become as hard
as a millstone. Now, he has mercy on whom he
will have mercy, and whom he wills, he hardens. Now, if the
thought enters our mind, how can that be fair? How can that be fair? For him
to just harden my heart? How can that be fair? When we make that objection,
we've left the realm of mercy and are entered into the realm
of merit. That's what we've done. Do you want God to be fair with
you? Do you want him to give you what you have earned, what
you deserve in and of yourself? That's a place me and you don't
want to go. Fair? I think of that scripture in
Romans chapter nine. Verse 18, therefore, hath he
mercy on whom he will have mercy? And whom he will he harden? Thou
wilt say unto me, why does he yet find fault? If he hardens
my heart, how can he hold me responsible? That's not fair.
I love Paul's answer to that objection. Nay, but old man,
who are you to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say
to him that formed it, why has thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump? to make one vessel
unto honor and another unto dishonor. Now, fair. You don't wanna go there. You
know when you need mercy? You know when I need mercy? When
my sin is all my fault and God would be utterly fair in sending
me to hell and cut me off. That person needs mercy. Romans 3 19. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world stand guilty before
God. Now that person is a candidate
for mercy. Let me try to illustrate this. This is a true story. There is
a king, and he thought, I want to extend mercy to somebody. And what they did back then,
the prisoners quite often, it wouldn't just be in a dungeon,
they'd be in a galley as slaves, or on the oars making the ship
move. Can you imagine what a miserable
condition that would be every day, chained? in a galley at
the bottom of a boat, rowing in the ocean all day long, be
it if you, it was a miserable condition. And the king says,
I'm gonna show mercy on somebody. He goes into that galley and
he said, why are you here to one person? He said, well, he
said, I don't really deserve this. What I did did not merit
this kind of punishment. And the king said, He doesn't
need mercy, he needs justice. And he came to another man, and
then the man said, the condition that I was in, I had to do this.
I didn't have any choice. And why am I being punished like
this when I had to commit that crime in order to preserve my
life? And the king said, well, he doesn't need mercy, he needs
justice. And there, He came to four or
five prisoners, it was kind of the same story. Well, I don't
really deserve this, this is not, well, okay, okay, you don't
need mercy, you need justice. He finally came to one prisoner
and said, why are you here? And he said, what I did deserves
this and worse. If I got what I had coming to
me, it would be worse than this. And the king said, this man needs
mercy. And he set him free. You know when you need mercy?
When your sin is all your fault. You can't blame anybody else.
You're not a victim. It's all your fault. When all
your sin is all your fault, you are now a candidate for mercy. Would that be you? Mercy. always saving, and it's
always sovereign. That is God's mercy. Now I want to look at some scriptures
with regard to mercy. You're in Matthew chapter 5.
Turn to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. And it came to pass, verse 10,
it came to pass that Jesus said at meet in the house, behold,
many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his
disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples,
why is your master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard
that, he said unto them, they that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. And this is a quotation from
Hosea chapter six, verse six. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Now, what does that mean? I'll
have mercy and not sacrifice. Does that mean the sacrifice
of Christ is not necessary? God will just have mercy? Well,
you know it doesn't mean that. I'll have mercy, not sacrifice.
Every man, by nature, brings what he considers a sacrifice
to help him with his salvation. I'm going to give up this. I'm
going to sacrifice that. Some kind of personal sacrifice
I'm going to make in order to gain salvation. If I quit doing
this, if I start doing that, that's enough sacrifice. God
will accept that. Christ said no. I'll have mercy,
not your sacrifices. I'll have mercy. I came not to call the righteous
who've got something they can bring, something they can sacrifice,
something they can give up. I came to call sinners to repentance. Now, understand The doctrine
and the practice of the kingdom of God is mercy. Salvation by the mercy of God,
being merciful, like our Heavenly Father. Be ye merciful even as
your Heavenly Father is merciful. Compassion, pity, graciousness, It's to do unto others what you'd
have them do to you. Would you have people treat you
mercifully? Is that what you want? Do you
want people to treat you with compassion? Do you want people
to not put some kind of standard of righteousness on you that
they don't put on themselves and judge you and criticize you? No. I want to be treated mercifully,
graciously. I want to be a merciful person.
This is the kingdom. I want you to turn to Luke chapter
10. Blessed, highly favored of God
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Luke chapter 10, verse 25. And behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and tempted him. You know, that was so foolish
of this fellow. entrap the Lord or tempt him. And he was trying
to get him to say something wrong. And he had no idea who it was
he was speaking to. This is the Lord of glory. This
is the creator of the universe. He's tempting. And here's what he said, Master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, What's written
in the law, how readest thou? And he answering said, I've got
a good answer. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy
strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself.
I guess he thought he'd done it. How blind. And I love the Lord's answer.
And he said unto him, thou hast answered right. And I'm sure
his chest was a little puffed out when he gave that answer.
He thought, man, I've got this down. And the Lord said, you've given
the right answer. This do, and thou shalt live. The Lord met him on the ground,
he came. This do. and thou shalt live. But he,
willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who's my
neighbor? I can see him saying this kind of in a smart aleck
way. Who's my neighbor? I guess they thought their neighbor
was the Jews. They didn't need to be neighbor
to the Gentiles. But look at this parable the Lord gives.
And Jesus answering said, a certain man, went down from Jerusalem
to Jericho and fell among thieves. You know, Josephus writes about
this path from Jerusalem to Jericho,
and he said it was just fraught with dangers, thieves, and you
were taking a, if you go by yourself, you know, you were asking for
trouble. People would always go in big
groups to try to protect themselves, but this man goes by himself.
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell
among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded
him and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance, by coincidence,
somebody says, I thought you said there's no such thing as
chance. There's not, but the Lord uses this language by coincidence
in God's eternal purpose. By chance, there came down a
certain priest that way. And when he saw him, he passed
by on the other side. He saw him. He saw his problem.
He passed by. Now this priest represents the
law. The law can see you. It can see
everything about you, but it's you can pass by. The law doesn't
know anything about mercy. All the law can do is expose
sin. What about that Levite? Well,
A priest had to be in the tribe of Levi, and the Levites had
to help out the priest. They were all in the same tribe,
and they would do a lot of the labor. They wouldn't offer the
sacrifice like the priest, but they were all Levites, and so
it has to do with everything in the law. What does the law
do? Passes you by. Looks at you. Passes you by. That's all it
can do. It can't do anything for you.
It can see you. It does see you. It sees all
your transgression, all your sin. It does see you. But what's
it going to do? It's going to pass you by. Verse 33, but a certain Samaritan,
They hated Samaritans, the Jews did. They hated them. They couldn't
stand them. They thought they were both,
they were half Jew and half Gentile, and they adopted certain parts
of the Jews. The Jews hated them. They thought
these are not purebred Jews like we are. They hated them. This is the one who had mercy,
the Samaritan. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, he came where he was. The others
passed him by. He came where he was. Now that's what I need. I need
the Lord to come to me where I am, not where I ought to be.
I need him to come to me where I am. He came to him where he
was and went to him. It says when
he, but a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to him
where he was and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. That's mercy. He had compassion. And went to him and bound up
his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. and set him on his own
beast and brought him to an end and took care of him. And on
the morrow when he departed, he took the two pens and gave
them to the host and said unto them, take care of him. And whatsoever
thou spendest more when I come again, I'll repay thee. Which
thou of these three thinkest thou? Was a neighbor unto him
that fell among the thieves. And he said, he that showed mercy
on him. Then said Jesus unto him, go
and do thou likewise. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
18. Verse 21, then came Peter to
him and said, How shall my brother sin against me and I forgive
him? Until seven times? Now he thought he was being magnanimous
with this seven times. I'm going the extra mile that
way. Jesus saith unto him, I say unto
you, not until seven times, but until 70 times seven. Now obviously that doesn't mean
after 491, you don't have to do it anymore. I mean, that's
just all the time, continually. Forgive, forgive, forgive. And you know, when I say something
like this, when I'm thinking about that, I'm thinking, the
Lord might try me. The Lord might try me to where I'm
called upon to forgive, forgive, forgive. And I pray the Lord
doesn't try me like that, but if he does, I pray he'll give
me the grace to forgive. 70 times seven, but let's go
on reading. Verse 23, therefore is the kingdom
of heaven like unto a certain king, which would take account
of his servants. And we've begun to reckon one
was brought unto him which owed him 10,000 talents. In today's money, that would
be $225 million. If you owed somebody $225 million,
could you pay him back? Of course you could. But this man owed his Lord $225
million. Verse 25, but for as much as
he had nothing to pay. Isn't that me and you? Nothing to pay. His Lord commanded
him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had
in payment to be made. That was an impossible situation.
He couldn't pay back. How's he gonna pay him back when
he's in jail? He's gonna be there eternally. Verse 26, the servant therefore
fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with
me, I'll pay thee all. He couldn't do it, but yet he's
saying, have patience with me, I'll pay thee all. Would you
listen to that? Verse 27, then the Lord of that
servant was moved with compassion. This is the Lord, moved with
compassion. And he loosed him, he set him
free, and he forgave him the debt. Now, think of this. He's
not a servant anymore, and all of his debt is paid. Loosed. All debt paid. Can you imagine
the liberty and the freedom this fella felt and how good he felt? Verse 28, but that same servant.
Went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him
100 pence. How much is that worth? $17. I guess two people could eat
at McDonald's for $17. It's not a lot of money. All he owed him
was $17 after he had been forgiven a debt of $225 million and set
free. But the same servant went out
and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him 100 pence, and
he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, pay
me that thou ow'st. I mean, he was choking this guy.
And his fellow servant fell down at his feet beside him saying,
have patience with me. I'll pay thee all. And he could
have done that. You could come up with $1,700 or $17 somehow. This guy could have done that.
And he would not but went and cast him into prison till he
should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw
what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto
their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he
had called him, said unto him, O thou, what? Wicked servant. Somebody that doesn't know anything
about mercy is a wicked servant. That's all they can be called. O thou wicked servant, I forgave
thee all that did, because you desired me. Shouldest not thou
have had compassion, mercy is the word. Shouldest thou not
also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had
pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered
him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto
him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if you
from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespass. This man obviously had no appreciation
of what his Lord had done for him. And he proved that by his
actions. He had no understanding of mercy. Now, how blessed of God you are
if you're merciful. That's God's favor toward you.
He's had mercy on you. That's the only reason you're
merciful. because he's had mercy on you. The reason you're mercy
is because you've seen how merciful God has been to you for Christ's
sake, and you feel you must be merciful to others, and your
great desire is to be a merciful person. And I'm not talking about
grudge mercy. I show mercy. I love the way
Paul said that he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness, cheerfulness,
enjoying doing it. One last scripture, Luke six, verse 27, but I say unto you, which here,
Oh, I want to be one of those people. Don't you? Not everybody
hears. He says, I say unto you which
hear, O Lord, give me hearing ear, so I hear. I want to hear
what you're saying. I say unto you which hear, love
your enemies. Do good to them which hate you. Bless them that curse you. And pray for them which despitefully
use you. And unto him that smiteth thee
on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh
away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every
man that asketh of thee. And of him that taketh away thy
goods, ask them not again. And as you would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if you love them
which love you, what thank have you? I think this is very interesting,
that word thank is the same word translated grace. If you love them that love you,
what grace have you? For sinners love them that love
them. And if you do good to them which do good to you, what grace
have you? For sinners also do even the
same. And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive,
what grace have you? For sinners also lend to sinners
who receive as much as give. But love ye your enemies, and
do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward
shall be great, and you shall be called the children of the
highest, for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as
your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not
be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not
be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto
you. Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running
over, shall be given to your bosom. For with the same measure
that you meet with all, it shall be measured to you again. Blessed
are the merciful. They have already obtained mercy,
and they shall obtain mercy. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
saving sovereign mercy. How we thank you that you're
a merciful God. How we thank you for extending
your mercy toward us. And Lord, please, by your grace,
enable us to be merciful men and women to everybody. In Christ's name we pray, amen.